Elly had followed Lysandre and Frita down the hallway as best she could. They turned a corner walking away from them, causing the three to wait until they disappeared to finally climb out of the vents. Pikachu went first, landing on all fours, cheeks sparking. Lucario landed next, an Aura Sphere at the ready. Elly landed in a kneeling position, her sword drawn. The three dashed down the hallway, halting at the corner that their targets turned down. A sign hung from the ceiling just above her head. "Entering Building C: Basement" it read.
"Great," she muttered. "How much more of this complex do we have to search before we get to Frita?"
A sudden explosion shook the entire complex, and an alarm immediately began blaring. Red lights began to flash in every hallway, and Elly and her Pokémon looked about frantically.
"This is a code red, repeat; code red! Building A has been attacked! All personnel evacuate immediately!" a voice blared over the intercoms. Elly slumped her shoulders.
"Again with the not calling anyone, Jethro," she said in disappointment. "Woulda been nice to know that was coming."
"Everyone back to the transit vehicle!" Lysandre bellowed. "We move to the secret base now!" Elly and her partners ran off as the tall man and his goons came running out into the hallway, Frita over his shoulder. Just as they reached the transit car, they froze. Elly was standing in front of them, sword in both hands. She stared Lysandre dead in the eyes.
"Let Frita go, you overgrown nutcase!" she snarled.
"You don't understand," Lysandre said calmly. "None of you do. It's not like I want to do this, but this is all necessary. For the whole world!"
"Same story with all the other psychopaths we've come across," Elly said. "Only they never used a human being as a power source!"
"That's where you're mistaken, I'm afraid," Lysandre said with a smirk. "The Grand Champion is far from human." He reached for a Pokéball.
"I have no idea what that's supposed to mean," Elly said, raising her sword, "but I'll sort it out with Jethro later." Lysandre lowered his hand for an underhand toss, but a split second before the ball opened, Pikachu leapt out from the air vent and smacked it back to him. His Pyroar burst from the ball, falling into him and knocking him and Frita onto the floor. The scientists moved to release their own Pokémon, but Lucario came up from behind them and kicked them all to the ground. Just as it landed, however, it was tackled from behind by the other woman's Lucario, slamming into Pikachu. Elly glared at the blonde, who darted her eyes from Lysandre and back to her.
Believe me, I didn't want to have to do this. But I can't risk having my cover blown. I'm sorry, Elly heard her say through telepathy.
She rolled her eyes. Great, she thought. Gotta make it convincing. She lunged at the woman, who deftly- and surprisingly- managed to knock her balance off and toss her into the wall, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Lysandre and the scientists got up, groaning, and Pyroar was returned to its Pokéball.
"What do we do with her?" one of the scientists asked.
"LYSANDRE!" a voice hollered from down the hallway. Everyone turned to see Jethro, Valin, Steven, their Pokémon (that could fit inside), and their captive- being held by the collar in Jethro's Tyranitar's mouth- running towards them. Lysandre looked at them and scrambled to his feet, hefting Frita over his shoulder once again.
"Forget about her," he said. "We leave now!" With that, they scurried into the car, the doors closing behind them.
"No!" Jethro shouted, making a mad sprint for the transit car. Burner rushed past him, flying through the air as it hurled its fist forward in a Thunder Punch attack. It slammed into the glass, but it didn't shatter. Instead, the attack bounced off as the transit car disappeared into the tunnel. Jethro came to a stop at the platform, roared in anguish, and swung his sword into the wall, nearly embedding the front half of the blade. After a moment of heavy breathing, he inhaled deeply and exhaled, pulling the sword free, sheathing it, and turning to Burner.
"Is your hand okay?" he asked.
"I'll be okay," his Pokémon said, shaking and flexing its hand. "Probably a bit sore, but nothing too serious."
"Alright," Jethro said. He looked at their prisoner with a death glare and walked up to him. "Where does that transit car go to?" he asked.
"Straight underneath Lysandre's cafe in Lumiose!" he replied shakily.
"There's gotta be a fork in the rails somewhere down the line," Elly said, returning her Pikachu. "Lysandre said they were heading to a secret base somewhere." Jethro glanced at Elly and glared back at the 'escort'.
"Anything else you're hiding?" Jethro said lowly.
"Okay, okay!" the man squealed. "The base is located outside of-"
"Geosenge," Valin cut in. Everyone looked to him. "That would explain why I lost those goons when I was in Kalos before; they went into their little base from a hidden entrance." Jethro looked to the man once again, and up to his Tyranitar.
"Lean down a little, big guy," he said. "I need one more thing from this guy." Tyranitar lowered the man closer to Jethro, and he leaned forward to look the man square in the eyes. He whipped out his PokéNav, causing the man to flinch. "I'd like you to type in the exact coordinates to the base, if you don't mind," he said calmly. The man looked at Jethro and smirked, apparently seeing his kindness as a weakness.
"And if I refuse?" he taunted. Elly put a hand to her forehead, while Valin merely scoffed. Jethro's brow furrowed.
"Then your bravado will be the last act of idiocy you ever pull," he said lowly, bringing the sword to the man's throat. "Now you can either die by a sword in the hands of a furious Pokémon Champion," he said, glancing behind the man, "or you can be eaten by a Tyranitar." He growled his last sentence, wiping all the smugness from the man's face. Steven looked to Elly and Valin.
"Is he always like this when he's angry?" he asked as the captive typed the coordinates into the PokéNav.
"Actually, this is kind of a new experience for us as well," Valin muttered. "At this point, I think he's well past angry. But trust me, he knows what he's doing."
"Let him go," Jethro said calmly. "We got all we need to know." Tyranitar opened its mouth, dropping the man to the floor. He got up and scampered away, whimpering as he disappeared around a corner. Jethro turned to Valin, straightening his back and exhaling slowly. "This time, you lead the way. You know where we're going," he said.
"Before we go head-first into a wall of grunts on the defense," Valin said, "I think it's best we split into two teams. I'll go with Elly, and you and Steven can take Frita's Pokémon."
"Fair enough," Jethro said, turning on his heel and returning his Pokémon. "We need to get moving; Frita and possibly the world don't have a lot of time to lose. He ran back down the hallway, the others close behind him.
As they came outside, they found Charlie and Frita's other Pokémon already prepared to leave.
"The connections we can have with Pokémon," Valin mused. "Always incredible." He tossed two Master Balls in the air, releasing his Latios and Zapdos. They lowered themselves down to the ground, allowing Valin and Elly to get on. Jethro mounted Rayquaza, and Steven hopped on to Charlie.
"Last one to Geosenge is a rotten Exeggcute!" Elly joked as she and Valin took off, heading east-northeast. Jethro and Steven burst forward, leaving the burning complex behind them.
They had only been flying for five minutes before the first wall of defense attacked them. A volley of attacks flew at them from the ground, and Valin and Elly dove in to engage them. A few aerial Pokémon flew towards Jethro and Steven, and they nodded to each other. They urged their Pokémon forward, heading right into the mass of flyers.
"Flamethrower!" Steven shouted.
"Thunderbolt!" Jethro roared as he released Garchomp and hopped on its back to avoid being electrocuted. Fire erupted from Charlie's mouth, singeing half of the opposing forces. Rayquaza unleashed a mass of electricity from its entire body, frying the other half. The entire defense fell back to the ground, and Jethro returned to Rayquaza, returning Garchomp. They flew right over and past the grunts on the ground, pushing on to Geosenge. Jethro opened his Nav and speed-dialed Valin.
"How are you guys doing back there?" he shouted.
"Doing great!" his cousin shouted back, the sound of his sword ringing through the earpiece. "Just keep going, we'll take care of these grunts!" With that, the call ended. Jethro put the Nav away and patted Rayquaza on the back. "Barrel through whoever else may come!" he shouted above the wind. "We're not letting Lysandre destroy anything or anyone!" Rayquaza nodded and flew a little faster. Charlie kept up with it, its face twisted in rage.
"That man is going to pay for this, one way or another," Jethro said to himself.
"You really feeling confident about this?" Eloquence asked as she deflected an attack and commanded Pikachu to unleash a Thunderbolt.
"Confident, like in cocky?" Valin asked back as he ducked to avoid a Hyper Beam and pointed his sword, directing Latios's next attack. "Absolutely not. Determined to get the job done is more accurate. Lucario! Flash Cannon!" he shouted. His Lucario leapt up and unleashed the attack in a straight line, throwing the grunts and their Pokémon all over the place. Valin's Bisharp leapt about, slicing Pokémon down left and right, and eventually running into another Bisharp. The opponent went down in mere seconds, and Valin's partner continued on.
"How much time do you think this is buying Jethro?" Elly shouted as she tossed her Squirtle in the air, allowing it to blast an Ice Beam in a circular pattern, freezing a large amount of foes in their tracks.
"Maybe enough for them to get to Frita on time, but who knows?" Valin asked as he leapt up, grabbed a Beedrill by its legs, and tossed it back into its Trainer. "Lysandre just might be farther ahead than we think!"
"He is!" one of the grunts shouted from a few yards away. "Your friends won't make it in ti—AAHHH!" he screamed as Zapdos electrocute him and flew past, pecking at the other grunts.
"Please hurry, cousin," Valin said. "Frita needs you two."