Love in the Time of Tenacity

Chapter 28: A Dreaded

Well, here we are. The final battle is nigh. Hopefully you all enjoy and leave a review on it! Time for Chapter 28!

Chapter 28

A Dreaded

"Everyone, close ranks! Pull back to the portal!" Alain swiveled his head from the air, riding atop the back of Charizard alongside Mairin, who was gripping to him. He looked down to the altar, where Lionel had arrived, he and his Banette beating back some of the Ultra Beasts that were daring to draw near to the portal so they could join their comrades inside at full strength. Mairin tapped at him.

"Come on, Alain," the girl said. He nodded wordlessly and Charizard immediately understood the implications. He angled downward, the blue fire from his maw jetting outwards. Alain wasn't the only one moving into position. There were plenty of others flying their way, closing in on the portal that Ash and the others had escaped into some time ago. In seconds, however, he had been one of the first ones to reach the top of the altar, Charizard breaking up some of the stones as he landed. Alain grabbed Mairin and hopped off.

"Charizard, Blast Burn!" he roared, punching towards the ground with his natural ferocity. Charizard mimicked him, punching down on the actual stone. It burned with fire and shot across, ripping away some of the rocky material. Thankfully, there wasn't a problem with destroying such a venerated site, since much of the altar and the canyon around them seemed to be disintegrating bit by bit from their location's connection to the Ultra Space...or perhaps just what lay in it. Regardless, Charizard's fire shot out towards some of the speedier Ultra Beasts. It impacted with one of them, exploding and sending all of them flying into the air.

"Sceptile, Frenzy Plant!" came the familiar voice. Alain, having fully landed safely and regaining his balance, turned to see that Sawyer and Seamus had arrived, along with the rest of the group called Team Nova. Alakazam's eyes were glowing blue, holding the Ultra Beasts in the air while the roots ripped at the stones they were upon in order to beat the beasts away rapidly. It was a slight dent in the enemy forces. Very slight.

"Man, do these things keep attacking or what?" called another voice, this one on the stairs. Alain ran towards it, noticing that some of those Team Skull members were hanging off of the side, as more and more of the steps disintegrated underneath their feet. Things would really become a problem if the whole altar shrunk. They'd have far less means to defend the area were that to happen. Not that it was Team Skull speaking, but one of Ash's friends, instead. "Blaziken, Blaze Kick! You want to join, Mr. Meyer?"

"Don't mind if I do, young lady," Alain heard of the familiar voice. There was an explosion down the stairs, like a jetting rocket going off and knocking a whole herd of Ultra Beasts away.

"Well, with you guys here, there's no need to worry!" Dawn spoke. Alain had started to recognize that catchphrase anywhere, something which amused him. Mairin ran over to where Lionel and a few others were, including Plumeria, both the Team Skull admin and the leader of ARC standing back to back.

"Stop dawdling! This is a fight! Torterra, Stone Edge!"

"Do you always have to be so sour? I mean, you haven't lightened up after how many years?" Finally, the owners of the voices all drew into vision, running up the slowly crumbling stairs. The ground shuddered a bit, even more of the stairs disintegrating, forcing the group that contained Dawn, May, Meyer and Paul to leap over the steps and on to the altar proper. In fact, most of their forces were being pushed or pulled back to the altar at this point. Only the Champions seemed to still be holding off the air, along with Latias, surprisingly still Mega Evolved despite Ash's absence.