Puzzled at the sudden attack on his hometown, half of Josh wanted to take his rage out on the yellow bird, and the other half wanted to run away and figure out why it was attacking such a small city. As the avion heard emergency vehicle sirens, it started to create massive wind gusts with its electrically charged wings, fanning the flames closer to a residential area. More small businesses were set ablaze with no time to save anything; they could only be evacuated.

Fire crews released water Pokémon and armed hoses to put the fire out. Dozens of Water Gun attacks were aimed at the blaze. Zapdos turned around to face the emergency rescue crews, and dropped lightning bolts all around them and their Pokémon as a warning sign. More buildings caught fire, including the Ecruteak Dance Hall. "Stop now," the bird's voice boomed, "or you're next!"

The brave firefighters and their Pokémon continued to pour water over the burning buildings. After fifteen additional seconds of warning time, the sky erupted with lightning, and large bolts came crashing down upon the Pokémon and firefighters. Every single one died instantly from the massive electrical assault.

Aravan pleaded with the Beast Riders that they intervene, and they did. The attacking Pokémon turned around to fan the dwindling fire onto the residential area. Several homes caught fire. Suicune fired an Ice Beam from the crystal on its forehead, but with a powerful wing beat, its target surged toward the sky, out of the beam's way. At the very least, it grabbed the bird's attention. It landed in front of the burning buildings, close to Ace and Entei. All five of them recognized the bird as Zapdos, not surprisingly. What made their hearts jump in fear was the yellow cape floating above it.

The bird turned to one side, revealing a female human dressed in yellow robes, wearing said cape. In her right hand, she held a white rod with a large, lightning bolt-shaped jewel at the business end. No one could tell for sure at the moment, but Josh suspected that it was capable of harnessing some kind of lightning magick.

Possibly the biggest shocker of all was the girl's age. She looked even younger than Shalin, yet had already mastered lightning in the same way Josh did with Raikou. She shouted, "Arceus claims what is rightfully his, and you WILL cooperate with him!" Lightning bolts struck all around Ace and Aravan.

Josh stepped up in front of his other four allies, representing them in the conversation. "Okay, first of all, who the hell are you; second, why are you attacking the city; and third, what specifically does Arceus want?"

"In order, I will answer. First, you have no right to know who I am; second, I am attacking the city as a first step to purge the world of idealists like you and your friends; and finally, Arceus wants to restore the balance of the world. Now it is my turn to ask the questions. By whose order do you command your Beasts?"

"Ho-oh's. Has it taken this long for you to learn of this? We've been with the Beasts for two, going on three years now!"

"Arceus grows tired of your insurgence, as do I."

"And what is an unsolicited attack on a city? Is that not insurgence?"

"It is holy war. Enough meaningless talk, en garde!!"

Zapdos flew back into low-lying storm clouds, finding a Beast Rider to put in its crosshairs. "Aravan," Eron started, "you should put out these fires. We'll focus on Zapdos in the meantime. Aravan and Suicune headed toward the raging fires, and the Beast sprayed powerful water blasts all over the blaze. Lightning bolts dropped around the two one time, then ceased as Zapdos centered its attention on the other four Beast Riders.

"Eron, you're key to winning this fight with Zapdos," Shalin reasoned. "You're the only one of us that can reach it reliably. Try to lure them to the ground so we can hit them easier." Eron nodded, then Zoltin took to the air at tremendous speed, flying directly in front of Zapdos while shooting arrows at its face. It dodged Zapdos' counterattacks with bursts of Extreme Speed. With each successive counter, Eron led the bird lower to the ground, when finally, a pair of bolts struck the rider through his back, right over a vein. Blood oozed out of the electrical wound, making a spot on his back look like a giant rash.

Shalin rushed toward the injured Beast Rider and protected him from further attacks as best as she could while tending to Eron's wounds. Zoltin, miraculously, was relatively unharmed after the attack. Midori helped assess Eron's condition. They deemed the injuries to be serious, but not life-threatening. Josh and Ace didn't even notice their comrade fall; the Raikou rider continued to lure Zapdos around while Ace and Entei let loose blasts of fire.

The legendary bird's rider raised her magick rod into the air. Shortly afterward, a lightning bolt struck it, recharging its power fully. She held it at her side, then Zapdos rushed in wild circles around the Beast Riders, making the female dizzy. The rapid twirling of the rod discharged electrical energy in shock waves, knocking the Beast Riders off their mounts. Entei leaped at Zapdos, knocking it and its rider out of the sky and into a vulnerable position on the ground. However, the legend was far from defenseless. It traded blows with Entei, jabbing its beak into the fire-type and slowing its movements with a paralyzing burst of electricity in return for its rival's Flamethrower.

Just as Entei began charging another Flamethrower attack, Zapdos recovered from the first inferno and flew over to where its rider was. The young female jumped back onboard her Pokémon. "It...isn't over!" she yelled laboriously before Zapdos flew back into the thunderstorm, out of sight.

The damage from the lightning strikes and the battle with Zapdos was heavy. Twenty people lost their lives in the blaze, with sixteen more injured. Two homes and four small businesses burned to the ground completely, with many more buildings suffering fire damage. Early estimates put the damage from the lightning strikes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When the legendary bird had long been gone, Beasts and riders crowded around Eron. "Are you alright?" Ace asked. With a glow of Suicune's forehead crystal, Zoltin and Eron were bathed in a blue healing light. Eron sat up.

"Depends on your definition of 'alright'," he replied. "I'm going to make it, if that's what you mean. But I feel far from alright; I'm in a great deal of pain."

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Josh asked.

"Get me back in bed, with a proper wound dressing, before I lose any more blood."

Rather than Eron flying on his own back to campus, Josh propped him up onboard Raikou, in front of him to be sure he kept his balance. When the five arrived at the dormitory, Shalin placed several large bandages over the electrical burns and tears, minizing further blood loss. After the bandages were in place, Eron's head fell into the pollow on the end of the bed, and he fell fast asleep. From the way his head fell, it looked like he lost consciousness. Josh placed his first two fingers over Eron's neck. "He has a pulse. He's not in a coma, just asleep. We can't do anything without him, so we should relax and rest up ourselves." At that, the heroes of the day scattered to their rooms, assuredly resting after a hard-fought battle.