The brilliant green serpent collided with the space rock at almost unfathomable speed, twisting and writhing through it in order to break the monolith into smaller, less harmful pieces. Unfortunately its rider Amy wasn't nearly as good at traveling through solid rock as Rayquaza, and she had lost her grip on the legendary's horns as it annihilated the meteor. Arms flailing, heart racing, and head spinning, she tried to grasp on to something –anything- to keep herself from spiraling back down to the planet's surface... or worse, out towards the moon.

Her floating body gently bumped into a piece of debris, and she held on to it with as much strength as she could muster. She immediately began to search for her new god-friend – surely it didn't leave her up in space by herself; it had seemed so happy to fight by her side against Zinnia at the Sky Pillar. She wasn't left wondering for long, however, when she spotted the large mythical 'mon a short ways away destroying some of the larger chunks of meteor debris. She hadn't known Rayquaza for very long and wasn't as in tune with its expressions as the rest of her team, but she could have sworn that the legendary wore a look of great pride in itself as it vanquished its rocky foe.

Her Rayquaza-watching was interrupted when the chunk of debris she was clinging to roughly propelled itself to the side. Amy managed to hold her grip on the object, silently wondering what could have made contact with the object for it to move in such a way. Surely it didn't move by itsel-

Another sharp jolt cut off her train of thought and knocked her off the side of the debris. Amy attempted to re-establish her grip on the strange rock, but it sharply moved itself out of her reach before she could grab it. Floating helplessly in the blackness above her home planet, Amy could do nothing but watch in absolute terror as four long, thin tentacles slowly emerged from the triangular slab.

The chunk of debris burst open dramatically, revealing what Amy could only describe as the physical incarnation of terror itself. The creature seemed to stretch itself, curling and uncurling the double helix structure of its arms as it examined the space around it. Amy could only stare as its gaze moved to her drifting form.

It was completely prone as it watched her spin slowly in the great vacuum, which Amy decided to be the creepiest thing she had ever witnessed. If she could hardly control her own movements, how could the meteor-alien-thing be completely still? She wasn't sure if she was intrigued or horrified by the creature observing her.

Her Rayquaza was decidedly less troubled with its emotions regarding the extraterrestrial and took the moment of relative stillness to lunge at the creature, fully prepared to battle. Its adversary was quick, however, and deftly moved to the side to avoid the surprise attack. Unfortunately it did not account for Rayquaza's tail, which made swift contact with the alien's side as the serpent swooped past it. The blow sent the creature spiraling back a few feet, but it managed to regain its form and narrowly missed Rayquaza with what Amy thought looked remarkably similar to a Hyper Beam attack.

Amy watched the two creatures fight each other, hoping that she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. Being hurt by a regular Pokémon attack was bad enough- she didn't want to see what the powerful moves the combatants were throwing at each other would do to a human, even if said human was wearing a supposedly indestructible armored bodysuit. It just wasn't a chance she was willing to take.

A sudden thought occurred in her head- if the alien was using Pokémon attacks, what if it was a Pokémon? Professor Birch had told her once that many species of Pokémon were speculated to be extraterrestrials that had settled on their planet, but there just wasn't enough evidence to prove it. If she was able to capture the alien in a Pokéball, it would not only help further Professor Birch's research, but it would also drastically decrease the chances of her being killed in a space battle or unwittingly unleashing an alien invader upon her home planet. Amy tried not to think of what would happen if she failed.

Popping open a small compartment on her forearm revealed a short row of unused Pokéballs, left over from when she was send into the Cave of Origin to quell the legendary Pokémon within it. She hoped that they would be enough.

Removing the first ball in the row and closing the compartment, she waited for the opportune moment to toss the ball at her target. She would have to keep in mind where Rayquaza was and where it was headed so that she didn't make the mistake of hitting it with the ball instead. If they weren't in space, she would call out to the legendary and let it know that she planned on trying to catch the alien 'mon so that the capture could have more of a plan behind it. She missed air already and she hadn't even been in space for an hour.

Suddenly, her chance arrived. The alien was taking a short rest from firing another Hyper Beam at Rayquaza, and said Dragon-type was recovering from being hit by the attack. Amy wound back her arm, trying to get as much power into the ball as she could. Then, she threw it.

The ball left her hand and slowly drifted in the alien's general direction. Amy held back a sigh. She was hoping that the ball would travel a bit faster, but looking back on the idea made it seem foolish. They were in space. The only reason Rayquaza and the alien could move with such ease was because they were Pokémon who had apparently learned ways to overcome the vacuum, or just ignored the laws of physics entirely. She honestly wasn't sure which applied.

Her sudden movement had caught the attention of Rayquaza and the alien, and the two watched the sluggish movement of the thrown ball with differing emotions. Rayquaza was either confused at what she was attempting or utterly baffled that she was even trying to throw something in space. The alien, however, seemed entranced as it watched the ball travel towards it. Time stood still for Amy as she watched the creature cautiously reach out and touch the ball's glossy surface.

It was immediately sucked into the sphere in a flash of bright red light, and the indicator on the ball's release button began flashing. Amy prayed to Arceus that the ball held it. It had fought with Rayquaza for quite some time, and she knew it had been weakened. She had no idea how it would react to an attempt at being caught, but she knew that there would be no other chance to catch it like she had just experienced.

The indicator kept flashing.

Rayquaza slowly flew closer to Amy, preparing to defend her if the alien escaped from the capsule. It was a fearsome foe indeed, and the serpent 'mon was not keen on losing its new human friend to an invader in its territory. Amy gave the side of its neck a gentle pat to congratulate it for doing well in the battle, and silently promised to give it a few Poképuffs when they got back on solid ground. She was unsure what type it would prefer and she was running low on the sweet puffs, so she made a mental note to pick up some more the next time she saw a shop. She would also have to find out what kind the alien preferred, if the ball held... She turned her attention back to the object in question, fully expecting it to burst open at any second and for the battle to resume full swing.

It took her a few moments to realize that the indicator was no longer flashing. The ball had sealed, and the alien 'mon was hers.