[attr="class","skullbody"]The meeting of Galar's kings had been of great importance. Strategies, resources, and intelligence were all exchanged between the four cities, ensuring that each would be ready to weather the oncoming storm. However, for Isaac, it had reminded him of something he had forgotten under the pressures of being king.[break][break]
This life of theirs was coming to an end.[break][break]
He'd spent the weeks leading up to the war strategizing with
Caleb Harcourt, true. However, where Caleb was finally growing into the role he'd shied away from, Isaac's head and heart were elsewhere. Perhaps more than anyone, he had forgotten Hoenn. Of his 23 years of life there, only the latest one could truly be considered living, and it was a rollercoaster of his highest highs and lowest lows.[break][break]
In contrast, Galar had been twenty years of forging the future he wished to see. Far from the neglected spare parts, he had reigned as a king whose every word bore fruit. The ugliness of war gave way to unity. Family, both of his choice and his blood, finally gave him a place where he belonged. In every sense of the word, Galar had been the home Hoenn never was for Isaac.[break][break]
Now that he knew it was all going away, he spent his last week savoring it. He enjoyed all of Motostoke's cuisines, from his chef's finest feasts to the simplest tavern delights. He rode along the sprawling train networks that had been created under his watch, savoring the sunset as it rolled by along the horizon. He took in the beauty of the stars in the city's observatory, worried less about prophecy and more about taking in their beauty. He tried his hand at combat in the arena, toured
Aurelie Lefevre's new and improved forges, and even worked a shift in the mines.[break][break]
The last day had been dedicated entirely to
ana fell and their children.[break][break]
Sabrina, the spitfire and mischief-maker who had grown into a fine, fiercely independent young woman. Already, Isaac had to stifle his amusement as she put the courts in their place, every bit the fighter in word as she was with a weapon. Her ideas were big. Her dreams were big. Even her pranks were big. As the crown princess of the city, Isaac knew it would be in capable hands when his time had come.[break][break]
Iris, every bit as sweet as the flower she was named for. She was the anchor among siblings, the feet on the ground when Sabrina's head sailed for the clouds. While more willing to let others take the spotlight, she, too, had already set eyes on dreams of her own. Whenever
El Sunderland visited, she took acute interest in their healing arts. Her fortitude, even at such a young age, never failed to impress Isaac.[break][break]
At times, seeing how the girls bonded was like a window into what could have been.[break][break]
"Atticus." When the girls had gone to sleep, and before he joined Cygne in their chambers, Isaac had turned to the captain of his royal guard for a confession.
"Whether we fall before the Darkest Day, or we triumph in spite of the odds, I fear I may not return to Motostoke. If I am to disappear on the battlefield, please. Promise me that you will keep Sabrina and Iris safe. Promise me that you won't let the courts take advantage of their youth."[break][break]
"Above all, promise me that they'll know I love them above all else. I beg this of you."[break][break]
He may have left his heart behind in Motostoke, but the King of the Aegis would not linger in the face of extinction. In the wake of the echo of Zamazenta, Isaac joined his people on the front lines of the battlefield. Three Pokemon stood perched on gigantic weapons, an entire army of corrupted Pokemon swelling behind them. Five years worth of invasions stood before them today, a threat bigger than any their cities had faced on their lonesome.[break][break]
But on their lonesome, they were not. Ballonlea, Circhester, Hammerlocke, and Motostoke stood as one. Kings, heroes, soldiers, peasants, and oddities stood side by side. Their Dynamax bands crackled. Their hearts beat in sync. Whether an outsider or a resident of this strange dream, they fought with everything on the line.[break][break]
"For fifteen years, we endured invasion after invasion," Isaac said, standing before the armies to rally them with one final speech.
"Every single one of us poured our blood, our sweat, our tears into our homes. And even as the enemy tried to reduce them to rubble, our cities rose as shining jewels along the wastes. Were it not for what you have all brought forth, from the highest king to the noblest young squire, we would not be standing here today."[break][break]
"But stand we do! Even as the odds pile on against us. Even as our enemy regroups with a legion of the damned in his wake. Even as fate itself demands we bend the knee. We stand! We prosper! And now, we fight!"[break][break]
"Today will not go down as the Darkest of Days. No, today will be a day held in glory and renown. Today will be a day that history never forgets. Today will be a day that we hold in our hearts now and forevermore. For this is the day that the people of Galar cancel the End Times!"[break][break]
"To arms, my friends! For homes old and new!"[break][break]
Isaac held his shield high, a beam of light exploding from the gem within its center. As he brought it back down to bear, it was now surrounded by a
Light Screen several times his size. So long as the people of Galar took refuge behind him, energy blasts and special attacks would shatter against the might of his Aegis.[break][break]
Backing him up was a rather unexpected sort of Pokemon. Genesect stood out like a sore thumb in the face of the medieval Galarian landscape. However, across 20 years of buried hatchets and forgotten wars, Isaac's Mugen had gone from a forbidden tool to a Pokemon like any other. He emerged from a combat roll in a flash of red energy, growing to the same towering size as the army that they faced. With a threat display of raised elytra and a booming, staticky war cry, he faced down the Inteleon that stood atop its sniper's perch.[break][break]
Electricity gathered in the nexus of Mugen's battle cannon, intensifying its usual Zap Cannon to a fever pitch.
Max Lightning came erupting from his cannon, static electricity carpeting the battlefield in its wake.[break][break]
6UxTaqwZ[break][break]
TEAL DEER;[break]
Isaac spends his last Galarian week paying close attention to the town he created and the family he treasures.[break]
Isaac inspires the Galarians with one last speech before they charge into battle against the Dynamaxed army of the damned.[break]
Isaac raises his Aegis, prepared to protect his people and his friends with a Light Screen.[break]
Isaac's Genesect, Mugen, Dynamaxes and unleashed Max Lightning on the Inteleon.[break]
1 Salac used.
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[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / M-M-M-M-MEGATHREAD