Ace

Chapter 38

  I met Lily on the way to the city square. She was riding on her Sawbuck, its hooves scratched from the rubble on the ground. "Good to see that you're safe," she panted. "Diantha told me you were put in Top 8. Not bad."

  I nodded, running alongside her Pokemon. "Then vines just busted out of nowhere and Lumiose City's under attack. Oh look, we're here."

  Diantha was shouting orders. "The safety of the citizens are our first priority. 20 of you will go across the city and rescue the citizens who haven't left yet, then evacuate them to any nearby cities or towns. 10 of you will dig around in the rubble to make sure nobody's trapped inside. 

  "Team Flare members were found around the city and they're probably responsible for the attack. 10 of you will find as many members as you can, battle them, and once they're defeated Officer Jenny will come to arrest them. And the last 10 will accompany me to destroy the vines."

  We all nodded as Ace Trainers ran off to their duties. I watched as they either jumped on ride Pokemon or dashed at full speed in many different directions of Lumiose City. At that moment, I couldn't help admiring Diantha and the way she seemed to know exactly what to do. She turned to the remaining 10 of us. 

  "The vines might spread to other cities. We have to try to get rid of them no matter what. Let's do this!"

  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  The vines, black and red, were spreading across Kalos fast. They crashed through buildings, broke through the ground and some even targeted people. Luckily, the Ace Trainers in charge of evacuating the citizens managed to save countless lives, making sure that everyone remained safe. And even if they weren't there to help, we would destroy the vines. 

  At one point, I sent out my Pokemon to help, too. I started with Umbreon, then switched to Liepard when it got too tired to continue. After a while, Absol was by my side, ready to go protect Kalos. The vines stood no chance. They were blasted to pieces by Diantha's Gardevoir's Moonblast or gored to shreds by Lily's Sawsbuck's Horn Leech. Absol used its Night Slash and tore many of them apart.

  But one vine evaded Absol's Night Slash and struck back, slapping itself across my Pokemon's flank. Absol fell down, growling in pain. And when thing couldn't get even worse, the ground started rumbling, anticipating another vine breaking through.

  I threw myself over Absol, shielding it from any more vines striking it. I knew that we'd be finished if one would strike us from below, but I didn't care. I would protect my Pokemon no matter what.

  A vine rose from the ground a few meters from me. I clutched Absol closer, bracing myself for a deadly blow--

  A tendril of darkness rose up from the ground and intercepted it.

  The tendril, made of pure blackness, was exactly like the one Karen showed me a while back. It sliced the vine to bits and stood rigid from the ground, like it was awaiting a command.

  Karen's words came back to me: Show the night you're worthy of ruling over it. 

  I was only protecting my Absol. Did that make me worthy of controlling darkness? To try, I pointed at the tendril. It grew even more rigid. Breath growing shallow, I pointed at one of the vines snaking across the buildings. It streaked across the air like a whip and cut the vine clean in half.

  I wanted to freak out. I wanted to run around and scream. But my home was in a critical situation. I could celebrate my new-found powers later. Trying the next thing Karen showed me, I pointed at the ground. Sure enough, a swirling vortex appeared and sucked in every vine around me in a 10-meter radius. 

  I could control darkness.