Chapter 10: Sky-High Showdown

Misty and Ash looked on in horror as Eggman placed the Silver Wing in a hatch next to the ship's controls, an evil grin plastered onto his face as he did so. "Now," he sneered, "at long last, Lugia will be mine!"

"NO!" Ash screamed, standing up and rushing at him. Eggman threw him back with his bare hands, landing painfully next to Misty.

"There's no stopping me this time, Ketchum!" Eggman roared in victory. "With the Silver Wing in hand, I have the power to control Lugia! Now, at long last, I shall tame the beast of the sea!" With that, he slammed a button on his control panel, and the room they stood in started humming.

"We've got to stop this takeoff," Misty said aloud.

"It's too late!" Ash exclaimed. "The engines are running! There's nothing we can do!"

"Let the world cower in fear," Eggman snarled as the ship started to rise. "Lugia will be mine!"

Ash and Misty looked at each other in horror as the ship slowly ascended into the sky. Did we lose? Ash thought. No. It won't end this way. It never did before, and I know it won't now.

After fifteen minutes, the ship suddenly lurched, throwing them around. "What the –?!" Eggman said.

"What is it?" Misty asked.

"The ship!" he exclaimed. "Something's gone wrong! What – no! That can't be!"

"What?"

"Someone tampered with the engine!" he was visibly frightened now, but it quickly gave way to rage as he looked at Ash. "You," he snarled. "You did this!"

"No, I didn't," Ash shook his head. "That robot was lying to you. He's not on your side."

"Bull-crap!" Eggman screamed, seizing Ash by the throat. "You've doomed us all, and now you shall be the first to experience the fruits of your labor!" He began to strangle him.

"No!" Misty cried, pulling at Eggman, but he threw her to the side as Ash struggled to breathe.

No he thought. Please, no...help us…

"HANDS OFF, EGGMAN!"

A sudden kick to the back of the head sent Eggman reeling forward and set Ash free from his murderous grip. "What?!"

"No Baseball Head's going to die today!"

Ash leapt up. "Sonic! You made it!"

"And just in time," Sonic nodded. "This ship took off hours ahead of schedule!"

"You irritating hedgehog!" Eggman snarled. "I'll blast you to smithereens!"

"Not before this ship sends us blasting off again!" Sonic retorted.

"Hey!" Misty shouted. "I thought Team Rocket copyrighted that!"

"Oh, goodness," Ash groaned. "Another Copyright Nazi?"

"I'll leave you all here to die while I fly off!" Eggman sneered. "Nothing will stop me once Lugia's under my –"

He was loudly interrupted by Sonic slamming a hammer onto the hatch that contained the Silver Wing, breaking it open and setting the wing free. "Sorry, Egghead, but Lugia doesn't bow to anyone."

"What?!" Eggman roared in rage. "No! NononononoNO!" He was practically throwing a tantrum now. "I WAS SO CLOSE! I HAD EVERYTHING READY TO GO, AND YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"

"It's just what we do," Sonic stuck his tongue out at him. Suddenly, the ship lurched again, sending them careening toward a window. The sound of glass shattering caused them all to look out, horror lining their faces.

"ASH!" Misty cried as she watched her best friend fall from miles in the air.

Sonic watched him fall, even more horrified, as reality set in again. This was exactly what I didn't want to happen! he thought in angry sadness. I wanted to save him, too! He fought against his tears and turned to Eggman, rage in his eyes. Eggman, however, disappeared quickly and came back in his little one-man ship.

"Now you've done it," he snarled at the evil scientist. "This time, you've gone way too far!"

"Oh, really?" Eggman sneered as a large, flying robot flew up and attached itself to Eggman's little ship. "Then let's make this final battle of ours one to remember!"

"You're going down!" Sonic shouted as another explosion rocked the ship. "And you're never coming back up!"

"Bring it on!" Eggman retorted. "Here I come, Sonic!"

Misty decided to hide herself away, knowing that this was Sonic's fight now.

Eggman started off by firing three missiles at Sonic. The blue blur dodged them, prompting Eggman to charge him head-on with his machine. Sonic took advantage of this by slamming the cockpit. Eggman retorted with more missiles, which Sonic continued to dodge. Then Eggman fired two homing missiles which Sonic ran from, but with so little room to run, he found himself cramped. Thinking quickly, he jumped at Eggman's ship, making it appear that he was attacking so that Eggman readied his defenses, then pulled a backflip so that the missiles slammed into Eggman at the last second. Unfortunately, his defenses managed to ward off most of the damage, but the blow was significant enough that he needed to recalibrate his settings, leaving him open for another direct attack by Sonic. But as luck would have it, flying debris knocked the blue blur back, stunning him a moment as his room for movement grew ever smaller.

"Hahaha!" Eggman sneered. "What's the matter, Sonic? Not enough wiggle room?"

"Shut it!" he shouted back.

"Then brace yourself!" Eggman cackled as he flew at him. Sonic waited until the last second, then jumped up and grabbed onto a horn on the front of the ship, pulling on it in an effort to steer it.

"Hey!" Eggman shouted. "Stop that! You're ruining my flight!"

"That's the idea!" Sonic snapped back as the ship careened towards an exploding engine. He leapt off and back onto his ground for movement, which continued to shrink dangerously, as Eggman's ship took a hard hit from the explosion. For a moment, there was nothing. Then four missiles fired from where the machine crashed. Sonic braced himself to dodge, but the missiles never came for him. Instead, they blasted away even more of his ground so that he could no longer move without risking falling. Then the machine flew out of the smoke and careened towards him.

"If I'm going down, then you're going down with me!" Eggman roared. Sonic leapt up to dodge just in time as the machine knocked the last of his moving ground into the ocean beneath them. He yanked on the horn once again, steering it into another exploding engine, and leaping off as it impacted. He landed on some falling debris while the explosion enveloped Eggman's machine. The next thing Sonic saw, Eggman bounced up into the air in an ejection seat and started falling.

"This is embarrassing," the doctor groaned as he fell to the ocean below. Another explosion shook Sonic back into reality as he looked around ferociously for an escape.

"Sonic!"

His eyes widened. "Misty!" He ran to her and pulled her out of the gravity of a falling shell. "Are you all right?"

"We have to get out of here!" she cried as the doomed ship continued to break down.

He nodded and picked her up. "Hold on tight! This is gonna get rough!" With that, he dashed forward, jumping from one piece of falling debris to the next. They made sufficient progress towards a small island's cliff. They reached the side, and Sonic jumped up, reaching for the ledge.

His reach was too short, and they began to plummet.

"No!" Misty cried.

"Misty! Don't look!" he told her. They squeezed their eyes shut as they fell towards an exploding ship part, bracing themselves for the searing pain that would soon consume them.

It never came. Instead, they felt themselves get snatched out of the air as it blew past them, roaring in their ears.

"What?!" Sonic exclaimed. "What is –"

Misty's eyes widened. "Charizard?!"

"Somebody call for a lift?"

They looked up and grinned at the voice's owner. "Ash!" Misty exclaimed in delight.

"Baseball Head?!" Sonic exclaimed. "What –?!"

"Hang on!" Ash replied, still grinning. "I'll get us all to safe ground!" With that, they soared high into the sky as Eggman's battleship careened to its doom in the ocean beneath them. After a while, they landed on the small island.

For the first time in a while, all was quiet. Sonic and Misty stood up, while Ash dismounted from Charizard. They all looked at each other a moment, then smiled. Ash started to snicker, while Misty followed suit. Then Sonic busted out laughing, and everyone imitated him, simply enjoying each other's company for the moment.

We made it Sonic thought as he finally suppressed his chuckles. We're all alive. Fate has been changed.

"You guys are the best," Misty smiled at them.

"Well, I had to learn from somewhere," Ash winked at her.

"Hey, where's Bandanas?" Sonic wondered.

"Oh, she's back at the mainland," Ash replied. "She sent Charizard in because of the emergency."

"Is that how you survived?"

"Yep," he grinned, patting Charizard. "This here's one of my stronger Pokemon," he beamed, mockingly proud. "I gotta hand it to him, we've gotten each other through a lot."

Charizard responded in glee by firing a jet of flames. Normally, these would hit Ash, but they actually missed this time.

Guess who got the brunt of them.

"Is that his way of saying 'I love you?'" Sonic asked sarcastically, a deadpan expression on his face.

"Yep!" Ash laughed, Misty joining him. Sonic chuckled as well. "Well, we should probably get back to the mainland. We've had quite a day."

"Wait!" Misty exclaimed. "What about the Silver Wing?"

"Uh-oh," Ash muttered. "Did we lose it?"

"Nope!" Sonic grinned, holding it up. "I got it right here!"

Ash grinned. "Awesome job, Sonic."

With that, they all mounted Charizard, who quickly flew them back to Indigo Plateau. There, Ash reunited with May, while Misty and Sonic took the Silver Wing to a place where it would be safe.

Later that night, Ash and May sat on the top of Indigo Plateau, staring at the starry sky. The sky was filled with the beautiful light of the stars, untamed by light pollution.

"We've had quite a day," May sighed as she rested her head on Ash's shoulder.

"Yep," he nodded. "But it all worked out in the end."

"Do you think Eggman will come back for Misty?" she asked.

"If he does, we'll get rid of him again," Ash shrugged.

May smiled and sighed in content. "I hope not. That way, we can spend the rest of our time together as we planned it."

"I agree."

She yawned and snuggled closer to Ash, blinking tiredly. "Good night, Ash."

He chuckled and kissed her forehead lightly. "Good night, May."

As she fell asleep, he looked out at the landscape around them. It was hard to see at night, but with the starlight he could see enough: the forests, the oceans, the regions of Kanto and Johto...and the dark shadow cast over them by Mt. Silver.

He frowned. Mt. Silver he thought. I still think something's up over there. But what?

Ash.

He froze. "What? Who's there?"

Don't be afraid the mysterious voice whispered again. I'm not here to hurt you.

"Who are you?" he asked, growing uneasy.

What? Have you so soon forgotten?

He clenched his teeth as he recognized the voice. "Mephiles."

I have other matters to attend to, so I'm only here to deliver an invitation.

"What, to death?"

If you wish. The choice is yours. Make it, then meet me at Mt. Silver. I'll be waiting.

The voice vanished. Ash looked at the mysterious mountain, eyes drooping as he rested his head on top of May's.

Mephiles he wondered as he fell asleep. Who is he?

An excellent question, but one that won't be answered here. After all, the story's not over! To read the full story, read through "Silver and the Chosen One" and "Shadow and the Dark Aura Master." Then, stay tuned for the epic last story!