Ch. 26 Battle With Diancie Pt. 2

            ~What is the big deal, anyway?!~ Diancie demanded angrily, still being held in the air by Kidd. ~I took your trainer, just go find a new one or something!~

            <You didn’t just take our trainer!> Zagg insisted. <You took our friend!>

            <And we’ll be taking her back!> Popp added.

            Popp attacked with an Ominous Wind, sending waves of dark mist and energy at Diancie. It passed through her still raised Reflect and hit her. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she clenched her teeth, showing it had some kind of effect on her, but it didn’t seem to be much as she didn’t react beyond that.

            Zagg and Farr fired attacks at the same time. Zagg used the Thunderbolt Vye had taught her, while Farr used an Aurora Beam. Both attacks hit Diancie at the same time and she again showed signs of being under strain but still didn’t seem to be damaged or worried about her situation. After they were finished, Diancie waved a hand at them, sending out another wave of rocks.

            Depp floated in front of the group and fired a Psybeam back at Diancie’s attack. He was able to destroy most of the rocks heading towards them. The ones he missed were easily avoided by his friends.

            Lukk didn’t have any special attacks to use against her, so he had to make sure his attacks counted if he was going to use them. When he avoided the rocks from Diancie’s attack, he jumped up against one of the mirror walls and then up at some stalagmite. Then with all the force he could muster, he jumped off of it and hurled himself at Diancie. He shattered the Reflect when he hit it and went right on through to Diancie. He rammed into her which flung her down to the ground. He pinned her down to the cave floor.

            Diancie grunted with the impact against the ground. Then she glared up at Lukk furiously.

            ~How dare you?!~ she hissed.

            The crystals on Diancie’s head started to glow brightly. She sent out a blast of pink energy that hit Lukk and flung him off her. He winced at the attack, but landed safely a few feet away from her. Diancie floated back up into the air and waved a hand. She put her Reflect back up into place.

            <This is pointless, Diancie!> Lukk yelled. <You have no right to take our trainer from us!>

            ~Wrong!~ Diancie argued. ~I have every right to do what I believe is best! It’s you that doesn’t have the right to question me! This is my home! My domain! Now if you don’t want to be more grateful, feel free to leave!~

            Diancie waved her arms again and more rocks flew at the group. Popp and Depp fired an Ominous Wind and Psybeam which stopped her attack.

            Diancie glared over at the group. She then held her hands up and spun around as if pulling on something invisible. At first the other Pokémon didn’t know what to make of this at first. But suddenly they were hit from behind by more floating rocks.

            Each of them were flung down and except for Depp, all hit the ground. This also hit Kidd who stopped glowing once she hit the ground. She clenched her teeth in pain from the blow and the glow around Diancie faded as well.

            Diancie smiled and started to glow with the pink light again. The mirrors followed suit and she started floating towards one of them. Depp saw this and he pointed two tentacles at her. He started glowing this time and then the same glow surrounded Diancie. She once again was held in place with his psychic energy.

            Diancie realized she had stopped moving and desperately started reaching for the mirror. It was just outside her reach.

            Zagg climbed to her feet and fired off another Thunderbolt. Diancie winced a little when the electricity hit her. The pink glow left her body and the mirrors.

            Kidd coughed and groaned a little as she climbed to her feet. <Good job, Depp,> she said. She held a hand towards Diancie and the glow surrounded her body again. <I’ll help hold her.>

            Diancie growled, facing the group again. ~Rurgh!~ she snarled. ~You are all so infuriating!~

            <You aren’t leaving!> Zagg persisted.

            ~You can’t possibly believe you can beat me!~ Diancie smirked again. ~Even with all of you here, you don’t stand a chance!~

            <Doesn’t matter if we’ll win!> Lukk argued. <We have to try!>

            Popp used Ominous Wind again. Diancie countered this time as well, creating and sending out a wave of crystals. The two attacks clashed and stopped each other. For a brief moment, Popp had a faint glow around his body. He quickly sent out another wave of dark energy that moved faster and was thicker and stronger than the first. Diancie didn’t have a chance to react to the second attack so this one made contact.

            Despite all the attacks she had taken, Diancie still didn’t seem phased or intimidated by the Pokémon at all. She only seemed to be getting more frustrated and annoyed with them all. She lifted her hands to point them straight upward. She held them there for a moment, and then swung them down to the ground.

            Nothing seemed to happen for a moment. But then the cave around them started to shake and rumble. Debris started to fall from the ceiling and cracks started to form above them as well. The group of Pokémon looked up at the ceiling as giant pink crystals started to emerge from the cracks above them. Lukk twitched in a panic.

            <Watch out!> he called to the others.

            The crystals fell down towards them. Lukk jumped towards Pebb who was still weak on the floor from earlier. He scooped her up as he avoided the falling crystals. The other Pokémon jumped out of the way of the path as they crashed into the ground below. They hit with a loud booming sound and sent out more dust and debris into the air. The floor shook and cracked on impact of the crystals.

            His speed still boosted from before, Popp avoided the crystals easily and before anything had really settled around him, he was already attacking Diancie with another wave of Ominous Wind. Kidd saw this and after she was done avoiding the crystals, she faced Diancie bravely.

            <Depp!> She called. <Psybeam with me!>

            Depp floated safely away from the crystals as well and the two of them fired off a Psybeam at the same time at Diancie. Both attacks struck her and she once again clenched her teeth under the strain but showed no other signs of damage.

            Diancie started to glow pink again and the mirrors around her did as well. She waved a hand towards Kidd and sent out a stream of crystals at her. The attack collided with Kidd who was thrown backward towards one of the mirrors nearby.

            <Kidd!> Lukk cried, leaping at her. Lukk hit her from the side and knocked her down to the ground before she came in contact with the mirror.

            Lukk and Kidd both grunted as they sat up. Kidd held her ribs, obviously in pain after the attack. Lukk was still holding Pebb so he checked on her to make sure she hadn’t gotten hurt. Then Lukk looked Kidd over, noticing the pain on her face, and realizing that Kidd’s typing left her vulnerable to Diancie’s attacks. He took a quick look over at Farr who had a similar weakness but fortunately he had only taken minimal damage from the attack that hit all of them. Diancie had twice seemed to been going after Kidd who was holding her there. Lukk stood up to face Diancie angrily again.

            <You won’t be trapping anyone else in your mirror as long as I’m around!> he promised.

            The glow left Diancie. She glared over at Lukk and Kidd. ~I gave you a chance to leave,~ she told them. ~You should have taken it.~

            Kidd shakily got back to her feet. <D-Don’t let up!> she ordered. <Keep attacking! Everything you got, all at once!>

            The others took her instruction and Popp and Depp sent out their attacks. Diancie blocked their attack with one of her own but after Popp and Depp attacked, Farr and Zagg attacked. Their attacks hit, surrounding Diancie with the cold and electricity. Kidd took her chance to fire off another Psybeam as well. This gave time for Depp to attack again as well.

            Diancie put her arms in front of her face as she started to be barraged by the attacks. When Zagg and Farr started to attack again, she started to growl in frustration again. Her body started to glow brightly. She swung her arms outward furiously.

            ~Enough!!~ she screamed at them.

            The cave started to shake again. The crystals that had fallen from above started to glow and more crystals started to grow and shoot out of them. The group got out of the way of these shards to avoid them but the rumbling around them only seemed to grow.

            The cracks in the floor started spreading wildly. The floor started to give way beneath them. Lukk, Kidd, Farr, Zagg, and Pebb started to fall through it.

            <Depp!> Kidd yelled desperately. <Popp!>

            Popp and Depp floated down after them. Popp grabbed onto Lukk’s hand. Lukk held Pebb in his other arm and while Popp couldn’t carry both of them easily, he was able to slow their decent to a safe speed. Depp shifted his concentration from holding Diancie to catching Zagg with his telepathy. Kidd was forced to do the same to catch Zagg.

            The group had to quickly dart around falling rock from the level they had come from. They managed to land safely on the floor of the caverns below where they had just been. They didn’t get much of a chance to recover or get their bearings as several of the rocks around them suddenly flew back up into the air and attacked the group.

            Each of them were knocked to the ground. The rocks kept flinging themselves at them. Not only were they hitting the Pokémon to cause damage, but it was soon clear the rocks were beginning to pile up on top of them.

            Lukk caught on to what was happening and released Pebb so he could try to force the rocks off his friends. He would kick or punch them to try to keep them away, but they kept coming. He shattered most of them but that just created more bits of rock that would start to float in the air and add to the growing swarm of rocks trying to bury them.

            Kidd lost consciousness after the first wave of the attack. Popp at first seemed able to avoid them but soon too a hit as well and got forced to the ground and pinned there under some rocks. Farr also fell after some more blows. Soon it was just Depp, Zagg, and Lukk battling the growing mountain of rocks and crystals swirling around them. Zagg and Depp were too busy trying to keep the rocks off everyone unconscious on the floor to be of much help to Lukk who was fighting to keep the rocks away.

            The fighting seemed to go on for a long time with no progress made. Lukk caught a glimpse of Diancie floating above them, smirking at them with satisfaction as she watched her attack burying them alive.

            <You won’t win, Diancie!> Lukk shouted.

            ~I’m sorry,~ Diancie mocked, ~I can’t hear you! Did you say you dug your own grave? You’re right! You’re all getting what you deserve!~

            Lukk could only continue to attack the rocks around them. He kept trying to think of something else he could do but all of his effort and concentration was being taken up by the endless storm of rocks floating around them.

            Then suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. A blue blur flew at Diancie and collided with her. She let out a cry in surprise and pain and was forced against the cave wall behind her.

            The moment she struck the wall, the attack around the Pokémon stopped. The rocks floated in place for a moment, but then fell harmlessly to the ground. Depp and Zagg seemed confused but they just immediately brushed the remaining rocks and debris away from their fallen friends.

            Lukk turned and looked up to see what had saved them. A new Pokémon had appeared. It actually looked similar to a Lucario like Lukk was, but it was a bit taller. Its fur was longer at the waist and it looked more rough and decorated with sharp patterns.

            Lukk hadn’t seen a Lucario like that before. Its attack against Diancie not only had once again broken her Reflect but had also hit her with enough strength to stop her assault and even cause her pain.

            Diancie winced and looked up at her attacker nervously, an expression she hadn’t shown while battling the group of Vye’s Pokémon.

            Diancie and her attacker were near the edge of the hole in the ceiling they had fallen through to get down to that level. Near them, Lukk saw a human walk up to the edge and look down at them. She had bright blue eyes and blonde hair that was sticking out from a helmet. She looked down at the other Pokémon in concern.

            “Hey down there!” She called. “Are you all okay?”

            Lukk felt numb with confusion, but he managed to nod to her.

            The human girl then turned and faced Diancie, frowning and folding her arms in disappointment.

            “Okay, Diancie,” she said scoldingly. “What did you do this time?”

            ~Nothing!~ Diancie lied angrily.

            “Diancie,” the trainer warned.

            ~They started it!~ Diancie insisted.

            “Uh-huh,” the girl scoffed.

            ~She-she took our trainer!~ Lukk interjected.

            Diancie and the human didn’t react to him, but the Lucario did. It glanced down at him, and then looked at its trainer.

            ~That Lucario says Diancie took their trainer,~ he relayed the message calmly.

            The human looked down at Lukk briefly, apparently not having heard him herself. But then looked back at her own Lucario.

            “Is that a fact,” she said. “Well, Diancie, that doesn’t sound like nothing.”

            ~Their trainer is trying to disturb Yveltal!~ Diancie defended. ~I was only trying to help! Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing!~

            The girl glanced back down at Lukk curiously.

            ~That’s a misunderstanding!~ Lukk attempted. ~We have no intention of doing anything to Yveltal.~

            The Lucario nodded at Lukk and then relayed the message once again to the trainer. She looked back at Diancie, unconvinced.

            “Even if what you’re saying is true,” she said, “you can’t just up and hold people against their will.” She held a hand up to the damaged cave floor. “And just look what you’ve done to your beautiful home! Was all this really necessary?”

            ~Yes!~ Diancie snapped.

            “Diancie,” she retorted. “Bring the trainer back and I’ll take care of it from here. Then get to work fixing all this damage you’ve caused.”

            Diancie smugly turned her head away, refusing the request.

            “Diancie,” the girl said again, more firmly. “You know we’re not leaving until you do it.”

            Diancie seemed to take another moment to consider it. She looked back at the Lucario and the trainer.

            ~I have done nothing wrong, you know!~ she maintained.

            “Yeah, yeah, I know,” she sighed.

            The Lucario released Diancie who started to glow. She closed her eyes, apparently needing to concentrate. The Lucario stayed nearby to watch her while the trainer looked back down at Lukk. She waved a hand, motioning him upward.

            “Do you think you can get back up here?” She asked.

            Lukk turned to look at the others. Farr, Kidd, and Pebb were still out, but the others were up. They were clearly tired and injured, but they had made it through.

            Lukk gently picked up Pebb and held her up to Popp. <Can you take her up there for me?> he asked.

            Popp carefully wrapped his strings around Pebb and started floating back up to the upper level. Lukk then bent down to pick up Kidd and Farr. He lifted Kidd onto his back and held Farr under one of his arms.

            <Can you take Zagg with you, Depp?> he asked.

            <Yeah, I can,> Depp nodded.

            Depp glowed softly and that glow surrounded Zagg as well. He started flying up after Popp and Zagg floated up gently after him.

            Lukk turned and started bouncing up and down slightly to test the added weight of Kidd and Farr. He took a few deep breaths and then jumped against some of the rocks still piled near them. He jumped up onto a wall near the hole and up against that to go back up the hole in the ceiling. He landed near the trainer.

            Lukk gently laid Kidd and Farr back on the ground. The trainer came over to them and started looking over their injuries.

            “I’m really sorry for the trouble Diancie has caused,” she apologized. “She doesn’t always think things through… But she really does mean well.”

            Lukk wasn’t really sure what to feel about that but couldn’t respond regardless. He turned and looked back over at Diancie to check on her progress with getting Vye back.

            One of the mirrors near Diancie started to ripple lightly. After a few more moments, Vye came stumbling out of the mirror. She managed to find her balance again but immediately put a hand to her head as if fighting off dizziness. Zagg, Depp, and Lukk smiled broadly while Popp just bobbed up and down happily. Diancie and the mirrors stopped glowing.

            ~Vye!~ Lukk cheered initially.

            Vye didn’t respond to him but instead lost her battle with the dizziness and fell forward onto her knees. Lukk jerked and rushed at her, remembering how Vye had a fever before. She knelt down next to her. Her face was still flushed and her skin seemed a bit damp with sweat. She started coughing as well.

            ~Vye!~ he repeated. ~Are you all right?~

            Vye still didn’t say anything and instead started pushing him away from her. She slowly climbed up to her feet. She tried walking but was having trouble keeping her balance so Lukk went back up to her side to offer support. She accepted his help and started walking right towards Kidd, Pebb, and Farr.

            The trainer looked up at Vye as they approached.

            “You’re back,” she noted. “How are you doing? Do you need anything?”

            Still silent, Vye clumsily fell to her knees in between Kidd and Farr. She started taking off her back pack. She zipped it open and went about pulling out medicines, apparently ready to treat her Pokémon right away.

            ~Vye,~ Lukk attempted again.

            “They’re going to be fine,” the trainer tried to assure Vye. “You don’t have to-“

            “Yes I do,” Vye finally spoke.

            Lukk knelt down to her side to try and help best he could. The faster they treated them, the sooner Vye would be able to focus on getting out of there.

            “You don’t look so good,” the trainer tried again, looking Vye over.

            ~She has a fever,~ Lukk said, despite the human not being able to hear his telepathy. ~She needs help.~

            “No, I don’t!” Vye snapped at him suddenly.

            Having missed part of the conversation, the human stared at Vye with confusion and shock.

            Diancie saw that she was currently being ignored, so she turned to leave. She was pouting a little and had her arms folded. She started to float away from the group seemingly unnoticed.

            “Hey,” Vye spoke up again, “Diancie, wasn’t it?”

            Diancie turned and looked at her. Vye just kept focused on treating her Pokémon.

            “I’m sorry,” Vye said to the surprise of everyone again. “I should be more conscious of my surroundings when talking about this Yveltal business.” Vye looked over at Diancie finally. “It’s my fault you got the wrong impression, so I’m sorry about that.”

            Diancie stared at Vye quietly, clearly not sure how she was supposed to react to her comment. Vye just turned back to her Pokémon.

            The other Lucario suddenly glowed softly and when the glow faded, his body had shrunk down slightly and he looked like a regular Lucario again. Lukk looked at him in surprise, suddenly realizing what had happened.

            That had been a mega evolution. A Mega Lucario like he and Vye had talked about. This Lucario and his trainer could use that power.

            The revive medicines Vye had given Kidd started to kick in and she started to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked a bit. She looked up to see Vye kneeling over her and gasped. She immediately jumped up and hugged her tightly.

            <Vye!> she cried. <You’re back! Thank goodness!>

            Vye smiled weakly and patted Kidd gently. Pebb and Farr both started to wake up as well. Farr just sleepily lifted his head while Pebb floated back up into the air slowly.

            “You guys all fought so hard,” Vye pointed out. “I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

            “C’mon now,” the trainer interjected. “It wasn’t just your fault.” She stood up. “But we should get you out of here so we can get you some proper rest and medical attention. I’ll lead you out.”

            Vye didn’t object. She called most of her Pokémon back into their Poké Balls so they could rest on the way. Vye then slowly got to her feet. She wobbled a little so Lukk went to help her again. The trainer and her Lucario started leading the way out of the cave.

            “Remember to fix the cave, Diancie!” The trainer added as they left. “And be sure to behave!”

            Diancie scoffed and glowed again. The mirrors lit up and she floated into one nearby. She light faded and she was completely gone.

            The group walked in silence. Pebb floated next to Vye, looking up at her with curiousity and concern. Vye noticed her and smiled over at her.

            “You finally evolved,” she noticed. “That’s really great. I’m happy for you, Pebb.”

            Pebb stopped floating with a confused look on her face. She hesitated, but then looked down at her hands. She glanced down at the rest of her body and even at how the flower had grown. She was indeed a Floette now.