The clearing stood still, the air too heavy, too thick with heat and dread.
Golden light shimmered off the Hydreigon's body like divine armor. It was radiant. Beautiful. Horrifying. There was no corruption here, no twitching purple veins or wild, frothing eyes only a calm, impossible stillness.
Berric didn't hesitate.
His longbow creaked as he drew an arrow to full draw. "We don't wait for it to move," he muttered, steady and practiced. "We move first."
Ren recalled Lucario and Combusken without a word, their injuries too severe to keep fighting. Braviary's Poké Ball clicked open in a burst of light, and the raptor spread its wings with a piercing cry. Fraxure came next, its axe-like tusks gleaming.
Lia had already recalled Persian, replacing it with her Pidgeot. The great bird lifted off the ground the moment it materialized, catching the rising breeze with powerful wingbeats.
Maia recalled her Floette and sent out Vileplume.
Berric's Shiftry stepped forward silently, crimson leaves raised.
The Hydreigon didn't move.
It watched.
Until it did.
Without warning, its center head reared back, and a pulse of blinding blue-white energy exploded forward Dragon Pulse.
The beam carved the air with a sound like thunder, tearing through the mist and the trees beyond. Ren ducked instinctively, Lia throwing herself into a roll, Pidgeot catching the wind and veering left. Maia stumbled, gasping as the blast roared just past her
but Berric…
Ren turned, heart already in his throat.
There was no scream. No time.
Just a body, already half gone.
Berric stood no, staggered before falling, blood steaming in the cold air, the entire top half of his body obliterated in a flash.
His longbow clattered uselessly to the ground.
Shiftry turned.
The Pokémon's yellow eyes widened—not with rage, but with something deeper. Something broken.
It gave a soft, breathless sound half a cry, half a whisper before dropping to its knees beside its trainer's remains.
Maia screamed.
She ran forward, only for Ren to grab her arm. "Maia ,NO!"
Another Dragon Pulse charged in the Hydreigon's mouth.
"MOVE!"
The blast came again.
Lia dove left. Maia didn't react too frozen in grief.
Ren launched himself into her, dragging her to the side. The beam screamed past them, tearing a crater into the earth where she had stood seconds before. The impact burned Ren's back and right shoulder, cloth seared, skin scorched.
He grunted and collapsed with her in the dirt.
Fraxure and Braviary moved on instinct.
Braviary launched a Brave Bird strike from above, crashing into Hydreigon's right wing. The blow landed but it felt like slamming into stone. The beast flinched but barely moved.
Fraxure followed up with Dragon Claw, striking the beast's side, scales flashing on contact but there was no blood. Only light.
The golden Hydreigon didn't roar this time.
It turned its side head toward Fraxure
and bit.
Fraxure screamed as the jaws latched onto its arm and hurled it like a ragdoll, slamming it into a tree hard enough to crack bark and shatter the trunk.
"Fraxure!!" Ren shouted.
The Pokémon fell limp.
Maia sobbed.
Ren forced himself up, shielding her with his body. His back burned. He could barely keep his hands from shaking.
"It's okay," he said more to himself than her. "It's okay. We're not done."
But he wasn't sure he believed it.
Braviary dove again, a blur of feathers and fury. Pidgeot joined, unleashing Air Slash after Air Slash. The twin flying-types tore through the canopy, fighting together in a beautiful, deadly rhythm.
And still the Hydreigon barely moved.
It took the hits like a god watching ants.
Pidgeot swooped back. "More space!" Lia called. "We need more"
The Hydreigon's left head inhaled, and a beam of golden light blasted upward.
It struck Pidgeot's wing.
The majestic bird cried out, spinning wildly as blood trailed behind it. It crashed through the trees.
"Pidgeot!" Lia screamed, voice cracking. Her hands trembled. "DAMN YOU!"
She unsheathed her dagger and sprinted forward.
"Lia, don't!"
Ren's warning was too late.
The Hydreigon's middle head turned slowly to her.
And Smirked again.
The golden Hydreigon floated in eerie stillness, haloed by glimmering dust and falling leaves.
Lia ran, blades drawn, her feet slamming against the dirt. She screamed as she closed the gap, every muscle burning.
The Hydreigon's center head turned toward her.
Its mouth opened. The light pulsed.
"LIA!!" Ren shouted.
The blast of Dragon Pulse tore toward her blue and gold energy crackling like a bolt from heaven.
A blur of feathers collided with her at the last second.
Braviary.
The flying-type smashed into Lia, knocking her aside just before the beam tore through the space she had occupied. The edge of the blast caught Braviary's wing.
Ren watched in horror as the bones snapped mid-air.
The majestic bird spiraled down, crashing into the earth, unmoving.
Lia rolled several feet and landed with a grunt, coughing violently. Her arm was burned, her side bleeding from where debris had torn her coat.
"Lia!" Ren sprinted to her, dropping beside her and pulling her up. Her face was pale and tight with pain.
"I-I'm fine," she muttered, but her voice broke halfway through. "Where's Pidgeot…?"
Ren said nothing.
Across the field, Maia sobbed on her knees. Her Vileplume had collapsed, scorched and still. Floette's Poké Ball trembled on her belt unusable.
"Why…?" she whispered. "Why won't it stop…?"
The Hydreigon hovered higher.
It wasn't roaring. It wasn't angry.
It was enjoying this.
Its three heads turned slowly curiously to Berric's fallen body, still lying in blood-soaked dirt. The Shiftry remained beside it, unmoving, eyes dim and unfocused.
Then, the Hydreigon charged Dark Pulse not from one head, but from all three.
"No…" Ren whispered.
The blast fired.
It struck.
Berric's corpse and Shiftry vanished in a flash of crackling darkness and golden fire, consumed in an explosion of unnatural energy.
Ren's eyes widened. The echo of the blast slammed into his chest like a hammer. He couldn't even scream.
Gone. Just gone.
This wasn't just power. This was mockery.
This wasn't a Pokémon gone wild. This was a monster.
Lia coughed beside him, trying to stand, only to collapse. "We… can't beat this…"
Maia covered her mouth with her hands. Her voice was a choked whisper. "Berric's dead… Shiftry's dead… We're next…"
Ren staggered backward, shaking. Every instinct told him to run. But his legs wouldn't move. Not out of courage. Not out of resolve.
He was just too scared.
The Hydreigon turned toward him now. The center head glowed again. Another Dragon Pulse.
Braviary was down. Fraxure unconscious. Lucario and Combusken too injured to fight. Lia's Pidgeot was buried beneath fallen trees. Maia's team was gone.
It hadn't even been five minutes.
Ren's breathing grew shallow. He looked around at the broken bodies of Pokémon, the blood in the dirt, the still-smoking crater where Berric had been.
He couldn't stop shaking.
This isn't how it was supposed to be.
I trained. I worked harder than anyone.
I was supposed to protect people.
I was supposed to be strong.
And yet
His legs buckled.
He stared up as the Hydreigon's heads curled together, charging another shot.
Everything slowed.
He saw the swirling glow of the Dragon Pulse.
He saw Lia sprawled behind him, one hand reaching for her belt.
He saw Maia staring at the light like it was her judgment.
He closed his eyes.
I'm sorry.
The world stopped.
---
Far away, under golden light filtering through cathedral glass, a girl with soft pink hair walked through a marble hallway in Ravios Royal Academy. Her boots clicked lightly on the floor as students moved around her in quiet chatter.
Mila paused.
She stopped mid-step.
A strange chill passed through her chest like a breath of wind on her soul.
"Hmm?" her friend asked, stopping beside her. "You alright?"
Mila blinked. "I… yeah."
But her mind was elsewhere. Something gnawed at the back of her thoughts. Something cold and unspoken.
Ren.
She hadn't heard from him in days.
Her heart felt heavy all of a sudden.
She looked toward the window, past the hills outside the academy,
"I wonder how ren is doing.."she muttered