The winds seem to chase it as it ran through the painfully cold woods; frost fell from the leaves of the trees, only to be ravaged by the blizzard; the stars, usually peaceful, seemed to glare down forebodingly on it, as it escaped what was behind it. Eventually it came to a large unpassable wall, and turned back to see the natives rushing towards it, spears held aloft, large Cradily and Armaldo by their side. What did they want? Why did they want to hurt it? After all it had done for them, too. Maybe they thought it was too strong? Maybe it was because of the bad fortune that had hung over the island recently. But that wasn't its fault. An old native man stood forward from the gathered crowd and pointed a large wooden staff at it; it felt a strange sensation in its body, but it was too tired to continue running or fight. The force sent it flying back into the wall - but it didn't feel the pain of smashing against it. It seemed like the wall had become a void, and it was being pulled in. As the scene before it seemed to pan out into wall, the last thing it saw was a sun shape and moon shape rising into the sky above the tribe. Then there was darkness.
That all seemed like a day ago; and now it was happening again. Why did these people not like it? These people weren't the island's natives. Why couldn't they leave it alone? It didn't want to go fight. Not again. It stopped, thinking it had escaped its enemies. It was in a small clearing of the woods; everything was silent. The snow sat still on the ground. The wind whispered reassuringly. However, the wind started to howl sinisterly, then the wind changed to a chopping noise; and from above the trees, Giovanni's helicopter appeared, with Marco swinging from its landing beams. Regigigas immediately turned to run, but now they'd tracked it down.
"Giovanni, stop it!" yelled Marco, clinging on for grim death.
"What? Are you still here?" smirked Giovanni. He dropped his now-empty glass, and it smashed into bits on Marco's fingers. He shrieked in pain, but didn't lose his grip.
"You can't take the Pokémon! We have to seal it again! Just look at what's happening so far!"
He pointed to the sea. On the horizon, vicious lightning bolts darted from black clouds, hitting the sea, as the waves grew rougher and rougher.
"Well, people can pay me for shelter." said Giovanni dismissively. The helicopter continued to follow Regigigas over the iced landscape.
Marco looked down over the frozen slopes and snow-covered trees of the island as Giovanni carried him towards the Regi king. He'd managed to throw a leg over the landing beam, so that he didn't need to hang from it; he'd've fell off eventually. Giovanni hadn't spoke; Marco figured he thought that he must have dropped to his doom. Eventually, Regigigas came into his sights. It was standing on a rocky mountain ledge down below, looking exhausted.
"Regigigas" called Marco. The Pokémon paid no attention to him. His stomach lurched as the helicopter swooped and began to descend towards the mountain; Giovanni had obviously seen Regigigas too. The door opened once again and Giovanni looked out, another glass of brandy in his hand.
"Time to come with us, Regigigas." he snickered.
"No! Run, Regigigas!" countered Marco. Giovanni looked down at Marco, annoyed.
"Ugh, I thought I was rid of you," he groaned, "But you're too late."
The helicopter's speed increased, throwing Marco off, and crashing into the side of the mountain. He lost sense of all that was happening as he slid down the rocky cliffside, until he found himself in a large crater, much like an arena. Nursing his most painful wounds, he looked through the dust to see Regigigas not far away from him, and Giovanni's helicopter land on a ledge above, Giovanni's piercing stare burning into his eyes.
"If it can't be caught by other means, I'll use my Pokémon to capture it," he sneered, "Go! Nidoking!"
From the Pokéball came Nidoking, a powerful poison Pokémon with a pointed horn and powerful tail. It roared, showing a set of sharp fangs.
"Oh no you don't..." groaned Marco, putting his physical pain and injuries to the back of his mind, and taking out a Pokéball.
"I know this is your first battle and we've still not became friends," he whispered into it, "But I need you now! Go, Snorunt!"
He threw his newly acquired friend into battle. He and Giovanni both commanded a Take Down attack and Ice Beam attack from their companions simultaneously. Nidoking rushed towards Regigigas, as Snorunt ran towards it too, only aiming its ray of ice at Nidoking instead. The ice touched stopped it in its tracks just before it rammed into the target; however, Regigigas threw both its arms out, sending both Nidoking and Snorunt flying across the arena.
"What!?" exclaimed Marco, puzzled. He then remembered that Regigigas was fighting for itself, not alongside him. He looked into Giovanni's cold eyes, then Regigigas' cold...braille markings. This was going to be one tough battle.
Meanwhile, Tara and Alpharm walked along the coast at the edge of the island, just past the area where they'd discovered the frozen scientists. Conversation was minimal as they surveyed the area for any sign of Solrock and Lunatone.
"I sure hope Marco is okay..." whimpered Tara. Alpharm didn't quite know how to console her.
"He will be..." he said, guessing this would make her feel better. The silence continued until suddenly, Solrock and Lunatone flew closely overhead.
"There they are," said Alpharm, surprisingly casually, "Let's stop them."
They clamboured up the side of the small hill to where the sun and moon creatures were flying around.
"Go, Weezing!" shouted Alpharm, releasing his poison gas cloud Pokémon, its three heads belching green gas. Tara flinched.
"Weezing! Sludge attack!" commanded Alpharm. Tara admired his dominating leadership in battle. Weezing opened its mouths and shot purple sludge at the two Pokémon. It knocked them back, but didn't do any serious damage. Lunatone shot a hoop of light into Weezing; a Confuse Ray. Weezing began to spin around uncontrollably, before falling to the ground. Alpharm winced and recalled his Pokémon.
"Let me try!" said Tara, throwing a Pokéball into the air, "Let's go Lombre!"
In moments, the frog-like Pokémon Lombre - complete with small moustache and pond lily for a hat - was standing on the cliff edge, facing Solrock and Lunatone.
"Let's see a Water Gun!" said Tara. Obeying, Lombre shot a jet of water from its mouth, damaging both Solrock and Lunatone.
"It's working!" cheered Alpharm, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. But suddenly, Solrock and Lunatone seemed to ignore the water, and stared menacingly at the group. Solrock shot a Hyper Beam from its topmost point, while Lunatone shot one from its nose. The beams joined together and hit the cliff, causing an explosion. Tara felt the ground give way beneath her, and then she was plummeting into the dust, debris, crumbling rocks, and darkness...
Back on the other side of the island, the battle continued between Marco, Giovanni and Regigigas. Marco was suffering from his injuries, but it wouldn't stop him from stopping Giovanni. Regigigas was currently battling Giovanni's Nosepass, as Marco's Vileplume tried to help it, however, Regigigas was hostile towards all of Marco's Pokémon too.
"Regigigas! I'm trying to help you!" he called to it, hoping it would understand. It paid no attention however, and punched Vileplume away, before grappling Nosepass and pushing it away towards Giovanni.
"Oh, stop. You're pathetic." snarled Giovanni at Marco, "This Pokémon isn't going to listen to you just because you think you're on its side."
"Well, it's not going to listen to you! I won't let you capture it!" retaliated Marco. He recalled Vileplume into its Pokéball, and threw another one into the field.
"I need you! Ampharos!"
The battle continued.
"Urgh..."
Tara crawled from beneath some rocks. She felt pain all over her body, but nothing serious. She coughed, and tried to swat away the dust. All of her Pokéballs were accounted for. Slowly, she got to her feet, squinting through the debris to see the wreckage of the collapsed mountain. She then remembered that she hadn't been alone.
"Alpharm!" she cried, forgetting her pains, "Professor Alpharm! Where are you!?"
"I'm...ugh...I'm here..." came a groan from nearby. She followed the sound and found Alpharm lying on the ground, his head propped up against a large rock. Panicking, she rushed over and knelt down by him.
"Are you okay!?"
"I'll be fine..."
Looking down, Tara noticed his jacket and shirt had been torn, and underneath was a black garment with a red 'R' on the chest. It took Tara a moment to comprehend what she was seeing, then looked at Alpharm's cut face.
"You...you work for Team Rocket!?"
Alpharm was silent for a moment.
"I didn't want to say anything, in case any of you got the wrong idea about me..." he admitted, wincing in pain, "I don't like hurting Pokémon or making profit from them...I just want to research them, and Team Rocket helps me to do so...and I don't need to worry about finances or anything..."
Tara looked into his eyes, before smiling at him.
"I don't think any differently of you. I know how much you love Pokémon."
He smiled back, then reached into his jacket, withdrawing two strange black Pokéballs. He offered them to Tara, who took them gingerly.
"I got these Pokéballs from Team Rocket," he started, "They're prototypes and so do not work properly yet, but they trap Pokémon in them for a much longer time whilst you're trying to catch them."
"So what do you want me to do with them?" asked Tara, looking from the black balls to Alpharm.
"If you can find Lunatone and Solrock, you could trap them inside," he explained, "And it may give you just enough time to return them to the altars where we found them. If they're put back in place, Regigigas will lose its power, and we can seal it again."
Tara's eyes widened. Did he expect her to take on those things by herself?
"I can't do it," he continued, coughing, "I think...I think my leg is broken. Just find Scarlet or Frankston if you can, and get them to help you. I know you can do it, Tara!"
She thought about it again, before standing up and nodding.
"I'll do it."
Back at the arena, the battle raged on. The Pokémon in battle were Ampharos, Nosepass and Regigigas. The latter was showing some fatigue, but Ampharos and Nosepass were fighting fit.
"Take Down attack, now!" bellowed Giovanni to Nosepass. The Pokémon obeyed, and leaped full-force into Regigigas, doubled over in pain.
"Leave it alone!" cried Marco, "Ampharos! Thunderbolt!"
The jewel on Ampharos' head glowed, and sparks of lightning shot towards Nosepass. They ensnared the stubby Pokémon, but it was unharmed.
"Fool!" laughed Giovanni, "Rock Pokémon aren't hurt by electricity."
Regigias raised its arms and glowed; it had been healed again by the power of Solrock and Lunatone. Marco gritted his teeth. What was he to do? He had to stop Giovanni from capturing Regigigas, but he had to stop Regigigas and seal it back in the cave. It was a three-way battle, and two of the three outcomes were unthinkable...
In a small area further away, Tara had tracked down Solrock and Lunatone, and stood facing their sinister profiles. She was glad they seemed to move around together; having to locate them both individually would have been almost impossible. They never seemed to go too far away, either.
"Alright," she began, "Time to finish this! I can't let you bring down the world! This stops here!"
She withdrew a Pokéball from her pocket, containing one of her water Pokémon; they had a type advantage over Solrock and Lunatone. She grinned.
"This is it! Get ready to be captured!"