The air grew thin as we climbed to the top of the mountain. I was worried that Solana would be too cold (she was still wearing only the ranger uniform jacket and her hospital gown) but she seemed chipper and energetic. Murph was as well—he seemed to be glad to be out of that horrible place and out in the fresh air. Me, well, I was still being a huge downer. I worried about everything: what challenges lay ahead of us, the well-being of the injured rangers, and especially the tremors that continued to go off below our feet.
We rested at the top of the steps. The air was too thin for trees, but there were various crumbled ruins in the hillside. The wind was still, and the sun's rays warmed us. Slowpoke and plusle napped in some soft grasses. It was peaceful, and the view spanned all of Fiore and beyond. Murph took out snacks to share.
"Wait, didn't they strip search you?" Solana commented.
"Yeah, why?" Murph answered.
"…Where were you hiding these?"
"Oh, no, I picked these up while we were running around in the base. They were just lying around in people's rooms."
"Oh, Murph. We'll always know where your priorities lie," Solana joked. I munched with them, but I couldn't bring myself to joke along. This was easily the hardest day of my life, and I was experiencing too much emotion to just push it aside. Solana noticed that I seemed down. She came and sat next to me.
"What's bothering you, Lunick?" she asked, putting an arm across my back. I really didn't want to ruin their good mood, but she had asked.
"It's just… what happened in there. I violated the Ranger's Oath. Are we just not going to talk about that?" Both of them were quiet. Yep, mood ruined.
"I think that was one of those situations where it might have been okay," Murph said. "I mean, they didn't hesitate to use that tyrannitar to kill us, and you technically didn't hurt anyone."
"But I tried to! And the circumstances aren't supposed matter- you're never ever supposed to do that!"
"Sometimes rules just need to be broken," Solana put in. "You weren't supposed to complete the temple's fourth challenge either, but I think your reasons were still justified." I looked into her eyes. "And for the record, I don't know if I ever thanked you for that. So, thank you, Lunick, for saving me."
"Yeah, me too," Murph jumped in. "I saw that you were looking at me before you directed metagross. You were trying to stop them before they hurt me. I'm the only one they haven't hurt yet, and I really, really appreciate what you did, no matter how 'illegal' it supposedly is." They were both still smiling, but only to try and comfort me.
"I committed a forbidden sin for both of you," I observed out loud.
"Then I guess we're just going to have to be friends forever then, huh?" Solana said, pulling me into a hug. My spirits felt elated for just a second, until we heard a roaring from further up the mountain. We turned to look, and saw that the top of the Fiore Temple was starting to gather great, dark storm clouds out of seemingly nowhere. Silently, we agreed that break time was over and it was time to see just what the hell was going on up there.
And as we climbed ever higher through the ruins, it became apparent that the villainous threat was not completely over. Those bastards were crawling all over, accompanied by their hypnotized Pokémon. Thanks to my experience with the scizor, I knew that a successful capture with my ranger styler would break the spell on these Pokémon and send them running. And having friends with me didn't hurt—there is safety and confidence in numbers, so I was able to actually face these horrible people.
The sky grew darker as we proceeded up the temple's central pyramid. I grew righteously anxious for what might wait at the top, and gathered a party of friend Pokémon. There were plenty of high-level grunts trying to slow me down, and they did a good job at it. I needed several electric Pokémon to help recharge my styler. But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that for the whole climb up, we could hear—music?
The peak of the Fiore Temple's pyramid is the highest point in all of Fiore, and the whole place was engulfed in storm clouds. In the furthest corner of the highest platform stood a man playing the largest, most electro-punk organ I had ever seen. Lightning flickered around us as the man played his ominous tune.
"I've heard a lot about you three," the man said without turning around.
"What, from your kids?" Solana said with a smirk. He turned around, looking confused.
"I- what? What are you talking about?"
"Well, there's the family resemblance, you all play music, you're all involved in this evil organization-"
"And Billy did straight-up say 'we have orders from dad,'" Murph put in. "Also this is the most cliché villain setup I've ever seen-"
"Alright, enough!" the man shouted. "So what if I appreciate this grandiose setup? I happen to like organ music!" I forced down half a smile. When he saw that we were amused by his antics, he straightened up and composed himself. "Well, if you aren't going to take me seriously, I might as well show you what I can do." He turned around and played another ominous tune on the keyboard, but this time working in some other buttons on the device.
With a mighty rumble, three great beings seemingly leapt from the clouds and onto the platform before us. It was the three dogs of legend—Raikou, Suicune, and Entei. They snarled and reared up, but stayed in line. I had heard that these creatures existed, and I had my doubts that a styler could even get through to them, but I never imagined that a jailbroken, prototype super styler that was twisted and manipulated into somehow working through music would somehow be able to control the will of what were essentially gods.
"Now that I have your attention, I'll tell you what my plan is." I would have rolled my eyes, but he had actually gotten my attention with the three legendary Pokémon. "My name is Gordor, and I wish to help the people of Fiore! The ranger system is broken. You rangers can control whoever you want, people or Pokémon, because of the political power you have. No one entity should have that much unchecked power! That's why I'm tearing down the government and reinstating a new one. I'll let these three loose on Fiore to cause destruction and mayhem, and just when all hope is lost in the rangers, my people will save the day with these unfailing super stylers. The rangers will be helpless to stop them, and Fiore will turn to us for leadership."
"THAT- that is, uh… that makes a lot of sense, actually," I responded. Gordor seemed shocked and confused.
"What?"
"I agree. The system is totally broken." Murph and Solana looked at me in surprise, but they were listening. "The whole ranger government needs a massive overhaul. Most of Fiore would agree with you- hell, you could've gotten support from within the union! But do you really think kidnapping and torturing rangers, and turning Pokémon against the civilians will get you the support of the people?" The man was still, mouth hanging open. I had caught him completely off guard, and while that was my intention, I wasn't being untruthful. The ranger system had done nothing but screw me over, and I certainly didn't want this bastard in charge, but we were long overdue for a change in infrastructure.
"Well, uh- you still can't stop me! Soon fire will rain down, and floods will-" but he was cut off by a horrible, discordant noise behind him. During his monologue and my distraction, slowpoke and plusle had snuck around the three legendary Pokémon and to his organ, and were now sitting on the keyboard. Without hesitation, slowpoke was dousing the whole thing in water, and plusle was shocking it to short it out. The three dogs reacted immediately, roaring and bucking and letting out plumes of fire and steam.
The three of us sprang into action. My styler was out, and I was trying to calm down the legendaries. Murph and Solana ran around the battle to try and assist their partner Pokémon. Gordor grabbed plusle and threw it across the platform, and he kicked slowpoke away from the organ. He managed to get in a few chords on the keyboard before Solana came running up to him and clocked him right across the face. While she fought him, Murph picked up plusle and slowpoke and ran back to the organ, and assisted them in destroying the instrument.
I did my best to calm down the three legendary dogs while not simultaneously getting killed by them. Suicune coated the floor with ice, which was melted by Entei, and then evaporated by Raikou. It was impossible to capture all three at once, so I focused on one while I kept an eye on the other two in order to not get killed.
First I tried to get through to Suicune. It would create pillars of ice I had to dodge, cover the ground in mist to limit my sight, and create illusions to confuse me. It was arguably the most difficult capture to start with. The wind from the thunderstorm blew away the mist, and I got friend Pokémon to help keep the ice problem under control. Every time I drew a loop around a Suicune hologram, the illusion would vanish. Before long, I had spotted the real one and was furiously drawing loops around it. After a while of that, it finally seemed to understand that I was not a threat, and it was no longer under control of that instrument. It didn't even look at me when it fled.
Next I attempted to calm Raikou's rampage. Raikou called down lightning bolts from the sky and focused great balls of electricity on the ground. And while I was trying to avoid the traps to draw my loops, Raikou was running around at blinding speed. I could barely get a single loop in, let alone enough to calm it down. I once again got the assistance of a friend Pokémon to hold it in place long enough to draw loops. It was angry and scared when I first immobilized it, but I got through, and it understood that it was free to go.
But before I could turn to Entei, Murph and Solana changed the game. Solana was bruised and bloodied from fighting Gordor, and he seemed to be growing tired as well. While he was separated from his control styler, Murph had managed to do some serious damage. Plusle and Slowpoke had shorted the organ out, making it ineffective, but Murph had been full-body tackling it, slowly teetering the top back and forth. And with one great crash, Murph pushed the organ over, off the ledge and into the ruins below.
The noise made Entei pause. When it looked over to where the organ was supposed to be and saw it gone, it realized that it no longer had to obey its master's commands. So it turned to Gordor, and let out the greatest roar yet. Solana immediately got off of him and ran to Murph's side.
"I am your master! You must listen to me!" he was shouting as the Pokémon approached. He backed up until he was just standing on the edge of the pyramid. Solana and Murph shouted at him to stop, but I was frozen in the face of what was about to happen. Entei had left plumes and walls of flame across the area, so I was unable to get my capture top to Entei to even try and help. I could only try and block out the screams as Entei devoured the man. This was one of those sobering moments for a ranger when you are reminded that Pokémon are not an absolute good—they are not human, and pushed to their absolute limits, are capable of terrible things. But I suppose hubris takes the man who tries to control the gods.
When Entei had finished killing Gordor, it turned to Murph and Solana. Even though they were the ones responsible for freeing it, it was too enraged to see reason. It stalked closer to them, and they pleaded on deaf ears. I redoubled my efforts to draw my capture line, but the fires raged on. Running the perimeter of the pyramid wouldn't get me there in time, so I decided to do the second stupidest thing I had done all day. I knelt down and grabbed one of the temple's crumbling bricks, ran as close to the creature as I could, wound back, and chucked it at Entei.
The brick hit Entei on the back of the head. Due to its massive size, I was confident that I hadn't hurt it, but I did stop its approach to Solana and Murph. It turned to me. I could see the fury in its eyes, and the blood that drenched its face. I was simultaneously glad and sorry for throwing the brick. On one hand, I had saved my friends. On the other, there was no way I was going to stop it from killing me.
Entei let out another roar, summoning more fire to spout from the ground. Flames surrounded me and the beast, trapping us in a ring of fire. I drew loops and loops around it, but they seemed to be failing. Nothing was getting through! I contemplated crossing the fiery border and meeting an incendiary death, or staying to fight and meeting a bloody one. But I chose neither—I returned my capture top to my styler, and re-holstered it.
I looked Entei straight in the eyes. The roar of flames and my friends' screams faded away to silence. I felt as though I was having tunnel vision. In retrospect, I could have felt this way because the fire was burning off all of the oxygen, but it felt like something more. I wasn't certain if I was speaking, or if the words were only in my head.
"Entei," I pleaded. "The danger has passed. You can go back to your life now." It snarled and continued to approach. "Please! I don't mean you any harm!" I put my hands out in front of me and looked away, both to show I was not armed and an instinctual reaction to keep the danger back.
I remember you. I looked to the great creature. It had stopped approaching, and seemed to be thinking hard about something. You were the one who awoke me and my temple.
"I'm so sorry about that," I blurted out, still terrified. "My friend was being tortured, and it was the only way to save her. Please, forgive me!"
Your friends are very important to you, Lunick. You've risked a lot for them. It didn't even cross my mind to ask how it knew my name.
"I didn't mean to hurt you with that rock, I just wanted you to leave them alone!"
I know.
I looked Entei in the eye. Its rage had gone, and instead its eyes looked understanding and knowing.
"Y-you know?"
I know many things, Lunick. And I am learning more all the time. You've been through a lot today, haven't you? I shivered down to my toes.
"I just want to go home," I replied, tears welling up.
Don't worry, I won't kill you. I sighed in relief. Why did you put your styler away?
"I don't know, I wanted you to see that you could trust me, or maybe I thought that if it worked on Pokémon it wouldn't work on a god."
But I am a Pokémon, Lunick, not a god. Putting away your styler and just talking to me is what saved you, so what kind of ranger does that make you?
"I don't know, a bad one, I guess."
No. You are a great ranger, Lunick Kazuki. But perhaps it's the ones defining what a ranger is who are wrong. I looked it in the eye again, and knew that what it was saying was of great importance. Remember that. There are many trials ahead, but never forget what you are.
With that, the Entei commanded the fiery circle to retreat, let out a last mighty roar, and bounded off along the mountain range. The storm had subsided, and the air was clear and orange in the setting sun. Murph and Solana stared at me silently. What was probably a combination of heat stroke, my adrenaline rush running out, and plain old stress caused me to flop over onto the ground, unconscious.