Chapter 11: The Battle of Mt. Battle
The door opened to a metal path leading out over the interior of the mountain. It shut behind them. After dramatically looking back, they continued along the path to reach a large helipad emblazoned with a huge red number one in the middle. Standing on it was a woman in a pink dress.
"Oh, hello," she said, "Um… I guess now I… I guess I battle right? Oh my, but two challengers? Can we just… go one at a time?"
"We need to see Vander," said Michael, "Tell us where he is."
"Um… he's helping in Area… um… 3 with helipad repairs," the woman said.
"Teddiursa," Michael said, a low growl in his voice. Teddiursa stepped forward. Then, out of nowhere, the little bear Pokémon jumped at the woman, grabbed onto her shoulder, and put its claws at her neck, glowing with a Slash attack.
"Where is Vander?" Michael asked more threateningly. The woman remained silent, sweat beading on her forehead. Michael raised an arm to let Houndoom attack, but then the woman spoke.
"They're being held… in the checkpoint of this Area!" she gasped. Michael raised his arm and Teddiursa jumped off of her and ran back over to him.
"Thank you," said Michael, "You may leave now." The woman stared at him for a few seconds. Then she swiftly reached for her Poké Balls.
"Pikachu!" Ash called. Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder and zapped the woman. She fell to the ground on her knees.
"That pretty much confirms my suspicions," said Michael, "Cipher is everywhere around here."
"Got that right kid," said a voice from behind them. They both turned. A goon was walking onto the helipad towards them. More footsteps came from the opposite direction. Ash alone looked over at the bridge to the next helipad. Two more goons were on their way to Ash and Michael's current position.
"We can take 'em," said Michael as the boys faced opposite directions. Six Pokémon appeared on the helipad from the Poké Balls of the goons.
"Pawniard, Doduo, Butterfree, Mankey, Vivillon, and Roselia," Ash thought as he got ready to throw Muk's Poké Ball. The girl who had been talking to them stood up with a struggle.
"Get them," she said, breathing hard as she prepared to fall back. Muk burst out just as the goons' Pokémon were rushing forward. Michael brought forth Jolteon at the same time, evening the number of Pokémon at six.
"Flamethrower! Thunderbolt! Metal Claw!"
"Electro Ball! Sludge Bomb! Aerial Ace!"
Their commands were dished out simultaneously. Each of the enemy Pokémon took a hit. Mankey was immediately defeated by Ledyba's Aerial Ace. Vivillon went down from Teddiursa's Metal Claw. Sludge Bomb wiped out Roselia. The Pawniard blocked Pikachu's Electro Ball with Night Slash. The Doduo and Butterfree took direct hits from Thunderbolt and Flamethrower but neither of them went down. The three Pokémon that had been defeated were returned to their Poké Balls. One of the goons began to lead the woman Pikachu had zapped up the stairs.
"Reinforcements!" he yelled upwards. Ash was about to call out another Thunderbolt at them but the Doduo slammed into Ledbya and used Peck. Ledyba rolled across the helipad and almost fell off.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on that Doduo!" Ash called. Pikachu did so. The Doduo took the attack but was left unfazed.
"Keep going Pikachu!" Ash called as he ran over to Ledyba, "Muk, protect Pikachu!" Ash picked up Ledyba off of the ground.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Ledyba's eyes shot open and she gave a nod. She flew out of his hands and held up one of her fists. Ash nodded. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Pawniard running at them, blades glowing.
"Mach Punch!" Ash yelled. Ledyba shot towards the Pawniard and caught it in the face. The Pawniard rolled backwards along the helipad and skidded on its feet, using its blade to slow down. Sparks flew as metal ripped across metal.
"Again!" Ash yelled. Ledyba made a move to punch the small Pokémon again but before she could get there, Muk fell backwards on top of it. Ash's eyes quickly shifted to what was going on in front of Muk. The Doduo was still standing and had knocked her over.
"Muk!" Ash yelled. The Doduo, glaring, began to form shadowy light at each of its beaks. It pulled its head backwards and prepared to strike.
"Snag Ball! Go!" A bright light suddenly ensnared the Doduo like a giant closing hand. Then a Poké Ball dropped to the ground, glowing with light for a few seconds. It shook. Then it stopped. The Poké Ball automatically returned to who had thrown it: Michael.
"Michael!" Ash yelled, "How did you do that?"
"I'll explain later," he said as put two Poké Balls back on his belt, "We need to keep moving before they trap us here." Ash hesitantly nodded and ran over to Muk. She was out. He returned her to her Poké Ball and cursed himself for not considering her strength. She needed training and a lot of it.
Pikachu stood in front of him as he looked down at Muk's Poké Ball. Ledyba floated nearby. He prepared to stand up, thoughts sorted out and ready to fight again. He noticed that the other goons had run off. They had left the Pawniard behind. Ash took a few seconds to look down at the knocked out Pawniard.
"Ash!" Michael yelled. Ash looked up to the next helipad. The male goon and the woman that had been heading up were facing off against Michael. The woman had recovered and changed into her Cipher outfit. It was four on three. He saw more goons coming down from higher helipads.
"Let's go," said Ash as he ran toward the stairs to the next helipad. His Pokémon followed closely. By the time he had arrived, the first attacks had already been exchanged. The enemy Pokémon were Granbull, Anorith, Zubat, and Remoraid. Houndoom had used Protect to block each enemy attack for its teammates. Then Jolteon had unleashed Thunderbolt on them. Zubat and Remoraid had gone down. Anorith had managed to protect itself just in time. Granbull had dodged.
The woman gritted her teeth and threw two more Poké Balls, revealing Nincada and Cacnea.
"Ledyba! Aerial Ace!" Ash called as he reached the top, "On Nincada and Cacnea!"
"Houndoom! Dark Pulse!" Michael called, "Jolteon, Helping Hand!" Ledyba blew towards the Nincada and Cacnea at top speed.
"Anorith, use Rock Blast!" the male goon yelled, "On Ledyba!" The Anorith began firing rocks at Ledyba at a rapid rate. Ledyba lost its focus and the Aerial Ace broke. It was forced to dodge frantically. At the same time, Jolteon turned to Houndoom and his eyes glowed orange. Houndoom was enveloped in an orange light as he charged dark energy again.
"Granbull, Focus Blast!" the male goon yelled, "Get that Houndoom!"
"Nincada, use Slash!" the female goon called, "And Cacnea, Needle Arm! Take out the others!" The Granbull charged a ball of blue light and threw it at Houndoom. The Nincada and Cacnea ran toward Jolteon and Pikachu. Pikachu attempted to slam an Iron Tail into the two Pokémon but they dodged and he was hit by Needle Arm, effectively knocked out. Jolteon dodged Nincada's Slash and began to try to protect Pikachu.
"Teddiursa, grab that Focus Blast," said Michael. Teddiursa, who had been hanging out on Michael's shoulder, jumped out. Her paws glowed white and she grabbed the ball of blue light. She was thrown to the ground, but she held on to it. Michael pointed to the Granbull, which gawked. She threw it back. The Granbull was hit hard and thrown across the helipad. The goon recalled it before it could fall off.
"Unleash now Houndoom!" Michael yelled. The Dark Pulse shot across the helipad, effectively defeating the three remaining Pokémon. Ledyba, tuckered out, returned to Ash's arms. Michael ran over to Ash as Ash bent down to pick up Pikachu. Teddiursa returned to Michael's shoulder.
"We need to keep moving," said Michael, "There are eight more zones in this area. We'll probably be fighting through all of them. Do you have any other Pokémon you can use?" Ash shook his head, looking guiltily down into his arms. He recalled Ledyba to her Poké Ball and cradled Pikachu in his arms. Michael's face gave a look of disapproval.
"Really…" said Michael under his breath.
"Get them!" a Cipher goon yelled at them from the next area up.
"Come on," said Michael, a note of disappointment in his voice, "There isn't any time." They continued up. The goons didn't wait for them. A Roserade fired Magical Leaf at them from above.
"Flamethrower!" Michael called. Houndoom fired Flamethrower into the Magical Leaf, effectively cancelling the attack.
"Thunderbolt!" Michael yelled.
Jolteon unleashed its attack. The six Pokémon against them were all struck. Two went down. The remaining four seemed unfazed.
"Come on…" Michael said, gritting his teeth. The remaining Pokémon were Quagsire, Phanpy, Vibrava, and Roserade.
"Just give up," said one of the goons, "We're going to bring this whole place to its knees… and take care of you two bugs while we're at it." He pointed at Ash specifically.
"Get them," he said.
"Water Pulse! Hidden Power! Dragonbreath!" The commands came simultaneously.
"Houndoom, use Protect!" Michael called. The attacks were blocked.
"Pin Missile, Jolteon," said Michael. White points of spiky energy flew from Jolteon's fur. The attack made impact with the three Pokémon that had attacked. However, the Pokémon were barely fazed.
"Knock them down," said the head goon, "Come Roserade." That goon and the Roserade began to walk back up the helipads toward a flying station, the checkpoint of the area.
Michael prepared to give a command to break through the goons blocking their way, but the goons beat him to it.
"Earthquake!" All three of them spoke at once. The three ground types before them glowed with brown light and then jumped. When they hit the ground, a shockwave went across the helipads. They began to shake. Ash almost lost his balance and fell off of the system. He held onto Pikachu tightly.
"Teddiursa!" Michael yelled, grabbing hold of the railing. Teddiursa jumped from his shoulder and used the impact of the shaking on the bridge to bounce above the attackers.
"Dynamicpunch!" Michael yelled. Teddiursa fell into a corkscrew, both of her fists glowing with white light. The spinning little bear slammed into the three earthquake-causing Pokémon and left them lying around dazed in confusion.
"Dark Pulse," said Michael, raising his arm to the attackers. Houndoom directed its charging dark energy directly at them and fired it. They were knocked backwards. The earthquake slowly stopped.
"You okay?" Michael asked Ash as it dwindled down. Ash had been knocked to the ground and had barely held on. His eyes were shut. He slowly got up and shook off the impact of the earthquake.
"Yeah," said Ash.
"We need to keep moving," said Michael, "How is he holding up?" Ash looked down at Pikachu. He was breathing heavily, still exhausted from the amount of energy expelled while fighting the Doduo and the strike he had taken from the Cacnea. None of his Pokémon were in fighting condition. Michael recalled Jolteon, who had taken plenty of damage from Earthquake. He handed the Poké Ball to Ash.
"There's a healing machine down in the lobby," said Michael, "I need you to heal your Pokémon and Jolteon and catch up with me. Hurry." Ash nodded and began to run back down. Michael went wide-eyed the second he left.
"Ash, wait!" he yelled. Ash made the mistake of turning around to look up.
"Teddiursa!" Michael yelled, pointing behind Ash. Teddiursa immediately obeyed her trainer's command and jumped over him. Ash turned around… and almost got a Night Slash to the face. Teddiursa got in front of him just in time and slammed the Pawniard in the face with Dynamicpunch. The poor Pokémon was knocked to the ground and knocked completely unconscious.
Teddiursa landed in front of Ash, who took a step back. She was starting to glow blue. The blue light enveloped her and suddenly she began to grow. The little Pokémon suddenly became larger to where she was standing higher than Ash. The light cleared and gave sight to an enormous brown bear with a tan ring on its center. Her eyes were narrowed in rage and her claws were much bigger. Fur hung in strips from her shoulders. She let out a loud bellow.
"Teddiursa… evolved," Ash said in disbelief.
"I knew it was coming…" Michael said under his breath. He felt a presence behind him. He turned around and faced a whole legion of Cipher goons, as big as the one that he had faced in Drussel City. They filled the helipad above him and an army of Pokémon stood at their front. Michael looked at his PDA briefly to check his new Ursaring's moves.
"Perfect," he said almost smirking, "Ursaring, on my mark!" Ursaring ran past Ash and up in front of her trainer again. The man with the Roserade came out of the crowd of goons.
"Is that all you're going to do?" he asked mockingly, "Sic your little cub on us?" Ursaring growled deeply.
"Houndoom, get ready," said Michael, "Ursaring, use Giga Impact." Ursaring shot forward, enveloped in a huge ball of pink light. The Cipher goons immediately began to clear the helipad. Ursaring blew through the whole legion. When she had stopped in the middle of the helipad, all of the goons that hadn't made it to the bridge had been knocked to the ground along with all of the Pokémon. It was a miracle that no soul had fallen off.
The goons that had escaped gaped. Ursaring's display of power was immense. She stood there, one paw on the ground, breathing hard from the power that had been expelled. Four ghost type Pokémon remained on the helipad that hadn't been affected.
"Dark Pulse, Houndoom," said Michael. Five seconds later, those ghost Pokémon were also on the ground knocked out. Michael walked over to Ursaring and patted her on the back.
"Good job girl," he said. He observed the entire helipad. He watched as some Pokémon attempted to get up. He held his left shoulder, the one with the Snag Machine on it and rubbed the metal. He touched a button on the visor around his head and began observing them from the perspective of an Aura Reader.
Ash, still holding his Pokémon, arrived at the helipad in time to see Michael drop "Snag Balls" on those Pokémon that he could see were afflicted by a closed heart. Ash involuntarily slipped into an Aura Vision and saw the Pokémon the way Michael was seeing them. One by one, dark auras vanished from the helipad until there were none left. Ash slipped out of the vision as Michael began speaking.
"I suggest that you people leave," he said aloud to the legion of Cipher goons, "Leave now and I will have Ursaring show you mercy."
"Don't think you can threaten us!" said the goon with the Roserade, who stood on the bridge to the next helipad. Another goon walked past him and pushed him back.
"We will leave," the goon said. The other goon was about to retaliate but the new goon restrained him.
"As long as that kid turns himself over," he said, pointing his finger at Ash, "Pokémon and all." Ash felt a wave of nerves run through him and he felt weak in the knees. All that stood between him and being captured by Cipher was Michael, his Houndoom, and his super overpowered Ursaring. A rush of thoughts blew through his mind. Why did Cipher want him so badly? First they had chased him in Drussel City, and then Professor Krane had said to run away because they wanted him. He just didn't understand why they were so desperate to get their hands on him.
"No," said Michael simply and powerfully, "Is that your choice?" Ursaring got up again, ready to continue fighting. The goon surveyed Ursaring and then nodded to the goon he was restraining. That goon growled a bit but he spoke up.
"All units!" he called, "Prepare to abandon location. We are done here." Slowly, the army of Cipher goons filed down the helipads and toward the lobby. Many shot Michael and Ash dirty looks as they filed down. Some of them eyed Ursaring as though she was going to do something. After about ten minutes, the whole group was gone, Pokémon and all. Michael turned to Ash.
"What did you do to them?" he asked. Ash didn't answer.
"Never mind," said Michael, "Let's get to the checkpoint." Ash nodded and they started up again. Deep inside, the questions he was asking himself haunted him. Why did they want him so badly? He didn't realize that the answer to his question was right in front of him.
A/N: I just want to thank all of you for your support for this story again. I got 599 views to all of my stories yesterday, a new record for me, and most of those were to this story. That motivated me to actually finish this chapter and to revert my focus to this story. Even though I don't make promises, I predict that this story is going to be updated a lot more often than it was being updated. Again, thank you for all of your guys' overwhelming support. It means a lot to me. As do reviews, so please leave one if you feel led. :D