Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 44: The last stand

"The end of the world is upon us, huh? The guy really wants everyone to surrender to him. I wonder if anyone even realises what he is..." Azu remarked, still staring at the dead scenery before us. "That was some sort of telepathic broadcast, so most Pokémon may not even realise what to do or who was talking... but for the most part, the whole world's probably freaking out about all this dead nature."

"That. I mean, just look at this place. The sun isn't even shining anymore... and it's all your fault," Megan stated, pointing at Lucca. To her surprise, the Brionne was grinding his teeth together in anger, and tensed up to try and hide a coughed comment.

"You guys... We need to move, and now. We need to get to Dein Nomos and defeat FinVarra!" he announced. "Angel, how long will it be before you can fly again?"

"Whoa whoa, hold on a second! What, you think that all of a sudden you're off the hook and can just say and do what you want? How do we know that this isn't just to stab us in the back once we get there or some rubbish? And why would we put Angel in that much danger again?" Megan objected, pushing her way in front of him. "We're lucky she's even still alive, damn you! Or are you actually trying to kill her?"

"Megan..." Azu sighed.

"What? These are genuine things we need to be concerned about! And I already told you, there's no way I can forgive and work with you. Not after making things this bad. If we're doing something about this, we need to make sure this guy is in check," she shouted.

"What... you'll have to explain. What can I do to be 'in check', if you mind me asking?" Lucca asked rhetorically. "I refuse to sit here and do nothing, Megan. This is my fault, and I'm going to take responsibility for it, even if it costs me my life. It doesn't matter whether you can understand that or not. I've got to do something."

"There you go again, speaking all noble and rubbish. How do I know that's not some cruddy act? I don't even think you understand what you've really done!" Megan squealed.

"That's enough, stop arguing!" Shelly cried, pushing her way in between them.

"No, I won't stop arguing! Not until you can give me a good reason to-"

"Oh will you just shut up? You always make such a big deal out of yourself!" Shelly shouted in her face. She leaned back in surprise, silencing completely. "We just got given an announcement that the world is ending in three days. If we don't work together and give it our utmost all, we really will all die. And I don't want that to happen, so no matter what it takes, I'm going to give it everything I have."

"Shelly..." I muttered. His childish voice somewhat undermined the moment, but I still found myself impressed anyway.

"I don't trust Lucca. And it's obvious who does and doesn't. But even though he's caused this war and everything, here he is, threatened by it all, by our side and wanting to help as much as he can... that's enough for me to at least work with him. We're all shining warriors; we need each other's powers. Even Lucca's. So we have to just set aside our personal problems and work together," he continued, keeping everyone in silence. Seeing that, he confidently turned to Lucca and nodded. "It's obvious that we can't just fly up to Dein Nomos on Angel, so think of something else. Think of what we need to know, everything you know about FinVarra. That way, we can figure out a plan to beat him."

"I... everything I know about FinVarra?" he repeated.

"Yes. When we all fought him, we couldn't damage him at all. If there's anything you know about that, anything at all, then tell us now, while you can," Shelly clarified. Lucca hung his head to think about that, going quiet for a long while. He suddenly started laughing for some reason, smacking his forehead. "Lu... Lucca?"