Arms of Arceus

Sasha, Joan, and Gallah walked through the portal into the clear, open sky of the land known as Ashes. Six Weavile leapt from the nearby foliage to kneel before the council members, their movements practiced and silent. Joan’s Clefable guards admired the twinkling lights in the sky, and the four large, pockmarked moons that seemed to turn in opposite directions. Their ears twitched as they monitored every sound in the vicinity, even as they marveled at the strange beauty of Battleworld’s sky. Gallah’s twelve Gallade stood to attention behind their master, their sharp eyes staring into the night as they searched for threats with their minds. Headpool had stated that, while Wolverine had killed most of the zombies that had plagued his world, the kingdom of Ashes still had a major zombie problem. Thus, the Pokémon had entered with the utmost caution, sending Sasha’s group of Weavile to explore their arrival site first.

“We’ve encountered several large groups of undead, milady,” said the Weavile known as Shatter as she rose from her kneeling position. “We have targeted those with superpowers, and I am proud to report twenty such kills. We have taken no losses, and none of us have been bitten.”

“That’s why I sent you and your siblings in first,” Sasha said, smiling. “You’re the best at what you do. You’re teamwork is equaled only by Lucy and her siblings.”

“You speak of the infamous ‘tie’ in the last Battle Tournament, milady,” Shatter said with a sly grin.

“I speak only of your skill,” the Mega Absol replied, kindly. “It is high praise, and I mean it. Now, where is civilization?”

“To the south. We are in between two small towns on the outskirts of two large cities. These cities are ringed by towns, and each one is a fortress unto itself.”

“Wade told us that Doom planted millions of zombies from the Deadlands in this kingdom for disobedience,” Joan said. “I expected a small island overrun by the undead. Now that I see it for myself, it’s much larger than it appeared on the map. I can feel the minds of millions of humans, not only in the city ahead, but in towns and cities hundreds of miles in all directions.”

“They’re the poor citizens that must suffer the cruelty set upon them by their bloodthirsty god,” Gallah said, sternly. “I wish to speak with their king as soon as possible, and offer our services in ridding his lands of this filth.”

“I’m all for protecting the innocent,” Sasha said. “But our primary concern is the destruction of the dark god’s forces. There’s no telling how many are here, already.”

“We haven’t found any sign of the forces of destruction,” Shatter said, as she turned her gaze to the southwest. “But if we follow this road, we’ll arrive at a shield town called Fort Maria. The humans were attacked, recently. We suspect it was only a precursor, and many more will come tonight.”

“I see them,” Gallah said, as he focused his mind and reached out. He felt thousands of human minds in the direction the Weavile had indicated, each of them hard and strong. “We’ll travel by foot, and perhaps kill some of these undead wretches along the way.”

“I think we should avoid conflict, brother,” Joan said. “This might be the only kingdom that won’t report our presence to Doom. For now, let’s just get to town.”

“Fine,” Gallah said, a bit disappointed. Shatter and her siblings led the way as the group began their journey to the first shield town of the kingdom of Ashes.

Quicksilver and Hyperion had been the first to face the dimension hopping zombies in the reality that would come to be known as Ashes. As a result they had been the first infected. Sentry had fought the zombified Hyperion himself, destroying both of them after being bitten rather than spread the plague to his planet. Wolverine had killed Quicksilver shortly after the speedster had infected half of the United States, though he was unable to stop the spread. As ships and planes full of zombies landed in other countries and the plague went global, Wolverine and Ororo had sought out the most powerful beings they could find for help, only to discover the flesh crazed cadavers of their former friends and enemies. Their resolve unbreakable, they had slain one zombified meta human after the other, all the while calling the world’s survivors to Texas where the soldiers and local militia had built a strong resistance. The actions of Wolverine and Storm hadn’t gone unnoticed, and they had been declared rulers shortly after their arrival in Dallas.

They had come to lead what was left of humanity within their own reality, destroying most of the zombie threat. Then the Incursions had come, reality had been shattered, and the inhabitants of Ashes had awoken in Battleworld. Only three states had been salvageable from the wreckage of their universe. Everything else had vanished into the ether of non-existence. For a time, Logan had protected his people as Baron. They had contained the zombie threat within New Mexico and Oklahoma, and life had slowly improved. That had changed when the king and queen had realized Doom’s true nature. Now they sat in their palace, surrounded by their shield towns while death stalked their people.
Fort Maria had once been a small town on the outskirts of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In better times it had been a friendly, prosperous community with a different name. Now, like all other towns that ringed the two cities, Fort Maria was an outpost full of soldiers dedicated to protecting the innocent lives within Dallas and Fort Worth. Ten thousand soldiers now lived in this town, though their numbers dropped with each attack. Ashes was suffering a long, protracted death in large part due to their unwillingness to go easily. This served Doom’s purpose fine. Each of his barons knew of the fate of Ashes, though none spoke of it, and each of them knew that god would not hesitate to do the same to their kingdom if he so chose.

“This place looks like it’s seen better days,” Joan said, softly as they walked past the torched corpses of zombies strewn across the ground. The sun peaked over the horizon, casting a pale light over the wrought iron gates of the fortress town.

“Are you sure it was a wise idea to walk up to the gates like this?” said one of Joan’s Clefable guards. “I can hear the humans preparing their weapons and taking aim at our heads.”

“They won’t fire, Laurel,” Joan said, confidently. “I have faith that the humans won’t do what they’re thinking of doing.”

“I hope so,” said Ada, Joan’s second Clefable guard. “I can hear Laurel’s heart trying to beat out of her chest.”

“That sound worries me almost as much as the weapons do,” Laurel said with a nervous gulp.

“Quiet now, you two,” Sasha said as she walked up to the gates. A single shot was fired at the ground before her feet, though she stared at the wall unflinching.

“What are you?” yelled a man from the high parapets. The group couldn’t see him, but his voice sounded like he had come from the Johto Region.

“We’re Pokémon, and we’re here to help you,” Sasha yelled back, speaking in the language native to Johto.

“Never heard of you,” the man responded. Though he spoke in English, there was a definite note of shock and understanding in his voice. “Can you kill zombies?”

“We can, and we’d be honored to aid you in protecting your people,” Gallah responded, following Sasha’s lead and speaking in the language of Johto. “We believe another assault will come soon.”

“And how do you know that, creature?” the man said, now speaking in Japanese.

“I’m psychic,” Gallah said, reaching out with his mind and speaking directly to the man on the wall. “We can see misfortune coming, and we can help you avoid it.”

“And what do you want in return,” the man yelled back, anger clear in his voice now.

“We ask only to speak to your king and queen,” Sasha responded. “Let us in, and we will help you save your town.”

The next noise they heard was the sound of orders being given and the movement of soldiers across the walkways of the wall. Several minutes passed until the gates opened and the Pokémon were welcomed into the town of Fort Maria.

The Pokémon walked through the gates of Fort Maria cautiously. The soldiers greeted them with hard, untrusting stares and weapons held at the ready. Their body armor was medieval in fashion, but advanced in design. Joan’s trained eye searched them over and found compartments in their gauntlets and shoulders that were meant to fire projectile explosives. The hydraulics of their armor whirred softly as they tracked their guns on the newcomers. Some soldiers wore the full plate armor of a knight and carried long lances and broadswords that glowed with a strange yellow energy. Some wore Samurai armor and carried a katana at their waists. All of them carried side arms, regardless of their main weapons, and all of them had at least one weapon in hand. To Joan, these men and women looked like they had come from Unova, Kalos and Johto. They were hard faced and scarred, though Joan imagined that she would be, too, if she had been in their position.

“Which one of you monsters touched my mind?” said a tall, stocky samurai with a scar running down the right side of his face.

“I did,” Gallah said, bowing his head in respect. The man grimaced, then drew his katana with lightning speed and swung at Gallah’s throat. The Mega Gallade blocked the sword with a single arm blade, and met the man’s withering gaze.

“I don’t like psychics touching my mind,” the samurai said as the repulsor field of his sword crackled against the psychic energy of Gallah’s blade. “But at least you can fight.”

“I am Lord Gallah,” he said as they parted blades. “This is my sister, Lady Joan, and our friend and peer, Lady Sasha. We are among the best fighters of our kind, and we wish to help you.”

“I am Commander Miyamoto Gen,” the man said as he measured the group. “We can’t abide plague. If any of you get bitten, I’ll cut you down myself.”

Joan turned to look at the forces on the wall, unsure of how to respond to the commander’s threat. The soldiers stood facing outward, their eyes locked on the horizon and their rifles held to attention. Four large, mobile gun batteries were mixed evenly throughout the ranks of soldiers. They were shaped like ferocious metal creatures, and they caught the Mega Gardevoir’s attention as she psychically scanned her surroundings.

“There are people in those gun batteries,” she said.

“Yes, there are,” Commander Miyamoto said. “Those are suits of armor, not unlike the ones we wear. All of our battle tech was first designed by Tony Stark. Now he builds tech for the zombies, though his abilities have rotted with his brain. Our current builder is a child named Hiro, who has proven himself surprisingly talented. Enough about us, though. You wish to speak with our king?”

“We do wish to speak with your king, but only after we have helped you fend off the next attack.”

“My scouts report that it comes soon, as do you. What information do you have?”

“We have seen the enemy forces gathering down the road in the direction of the town of Fort Rose,” Joan said as she turned to the southwest. “They will attack that town, and this one. They number at least thirty thousand, though we suspect they will divide and move out separately.”

“They haven’t brought organized numbers that large in months,” said a short, dark skinned woman in knight’s armor.

“And who might you be?” Sasha asked politely.

“I am Commander Jenna de Miranda, leader of the American and European forces under King Logan,” the woman responded. “The town you spoke of has already been notified, though I don’t know if we can survive an attack of this magnitude without reinforcements from Fort Worth.”

“And would those reinforcements be on their way anytime soon?”

“They’ve just returned to the city from a hard won victory at Corpus Christi. They can come, but it will take time. Excuse me while I radio Prince Daken.”

Commander de Miranda walked over to the side while dialing something into a number pad on her gauntlet.

“You creatures wouldn’t happen to be miracle workers, would you?” Commander Miyamoto asked.

“If by miracle you mean reinforcements, then yes,” Sasha said, grinning. “I think we can work one for you.”

“These wretched abominations will be on us any minute now,” Gallah said as he turned to his friends. “I suppose we should call Ra and have him lead the second wave through.”

“No need to call,” said the deep, commanding voice of Ra from up above. He and his wife floated through a large portal in the sky, accompanied by ten Cofagrigus and ten Froslass. Both Ra and Sakura wore grim expressions, while their guardians scanned the area. Several of the human soldiers panicked and opened fire, but the bullets passed through their ghostly bodies harmlessly. The two commanders screamed for their troops to stop, though they looked up at the ghost-types with gritted teeth and fear.

“Your new friends seem eager to make our acquaintance,” Sakura said as she peered down at the humans.

“They’ve been surrounded by death and horror for a long time, mistress,” Gallah said as he bowed his head in greeting. “This is Commander Miyamoto and Commander de Miranda. They are in charge of the forces here, on behalf of their king and queen.”

The commanders nodded curtly, still unnerved by the ghost-types. Ra and Sakura both bowed slightly in response.

“What brings you here so soon?” Joan asked.

“Unnerving news from Greenland,” Ra said, gravely. “Suzuki discovered an enemy base there. They’ve built a replica of the Ruins of Alph, with at least one hundred Unown floating about it and an army surrounding it. That’s all they were able to see without infiltrating the place themselves.”

The Pokémon stood in shocked silence as the news sank in. Joan felt like she had been punched in the stomach by a Machamp. Her insides were suddenly clenched in fear. She looked to her right to see that her friends were reacting with more anger than she felt.

“What does that mean?” Sasha said, confusion and frustration in her voice.

“We don’t know. We’re here to see if there is a ruin in this land, as well. Suzuki and Torri are preparing to assault the base in Greenland alongside Chompy. If we find one here, we’ll launch our own attack.”

“Is that wise? What if there are more Unown than just the ones on the outside?”

“That is likely. For now, we’re merely observing and planning. Once the number of ruins is known, as well as their locations, we will attack every ruin at once.”

“I have no idea what you monsters are talking about,” Commander de Miranda said, her eyes narrowed critically. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound good.”

“You haven’t explained our mission yet?” Sakura asked her friends.

“We’ve barely just arrived,” Joan said. She turned to the humans to apologize for not being clearer, when an explosion rocked the western fortifications. The hillside walls shook, people screamed, and the cries of the undead filled the air with their flesh-lust.

“Perhaps we should explain later,” Joan said as several large, bloated zombies tore through a newly made hole in the wall. Joan lifted a hand, took hold of the zombies with Psychic, and forced their bodies in on themselves. The Blob zombies cried in pain and rage as they were crushed in her psychic grip, stopping only when they had been reduced to a pulp. The soldiers were already reacting, fighting with all they had, but it didn’t take long for the humans to realize they were outnumbered. That wasn’t meant to last, however.

The Pokémon charged into battle, Ra and Sakura leading the counter attack as thousands of ghost-types poured through the portal above.