Skitty-san, I worked as fast as I could! And I think this is about as far as the spoilers I gave you go…

Digital Shaman, maybe you could write a review on this chapter then?

Lily-san, you're giving me ideas now! xD I'll probably be writing Maxie catches a Squee now… But anyways, they're very cute like that!

:flinches: Ooh, hi Moon! Good to see you're back!

Twenty-five chapters, can you believe it?

Chapter 25

Nothing could wake Groudon from his sleep. They tried splashing him with water, which turned to steam in seconds; they tried attacking him, to no avail. Sara even tried playing the glass whistle around her neck, which refused to make a sound. Sundav, Fiendre, and Solorite watched them all, laughing. The three of them wouldn't help at all.

A couple of hours later, another man came in the room with them. He sounded very cocky. "You know, it would work a whole lot better if you had something to wake Groudon up with."

Elvina turned around to see that a man dressed in a colorful robe was watching them all with a smirk on his face. His hands were folded over, but in them were two shining orbs. The red one and the blue one from Mount Pyre! "How did you come by those?" Maxie asked, making hand signals behind his back, ordering some of them to go around and block the exit.

"They were a gift." He responded airily, "A gift from my Master. You see, I am Phoenix, Dominus's most trusted servant. I took the traitor's place." Phoenix spat 'traitor' like it was a curse. Rio fluffed up visibly, but had the sense not to argue.

There was a shuffling of feet, and many Team Magma grunts walked into the room, while the people and Pokemon that had already been here moved in front of Groudon. Dominus wanted Groudon, now all they had to do was protect him. "You aren't getting Groudon." Maxie hissed.

"No way! We've worked too hard on getting him to get awake!" Star added, squawking slightly at Phoenix. But all the big man did was laugh at them.

"Oh, this is truly priceless! You all think you can stop me?" He said with a laugh and a shake of his head, "Then down you all go. Oxren, I choose you!" Out of one of his own Pokeballs came a Pokemon of ex-legends, one that got kicked out of legendary status because of angering one of the more powerful legendaries: Mew. Oxren, the nightmare of fire.

Oxren, Blatos, and Rikeren were the three nightmare Pokemon actually, three bird-like creatures that could resemble the Pokemon they were built after: Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos.

Oxren stood taller than the hunched-over form of Groudon, its blazing form full of battle spirit. Its wings were bony and long, shaped to have two very sharp points where two dagger-like spines stuck out at the sides. Attached to its long neck was a cruel head in which had two spiraling horns upon its broad brow. A silver beak, hooked sharply, finished off the picture of spines and fire for feathers.

They all could feel it, the tug of dread that a creature like this gave off. It was nowhere near the power of Dominus, who probably had a hand in making them, yet it still struck fear in all their hearts. Sundav had stood up, and her feathers never had looked paler. "So, you all like my pet?" Phoenix asked, patting the monster's side and laughing, "He could have been yours, traitor!"

"I would never want a beast like that." Rio spat back, "Don't you remember what happened in the legends?"

"Oh-ho, the legends!" Phoenix exclaimed, "The legends never hurt me child! They were only created to keep people scared…"

"You are wrong." Sundav growled, in a voice that was meant to enforce her power, yet turned out to be a croak as she coughed and grew even paler. "Legends were created to warn the mortals of this time against making a mistake of the past. Or do you not remember what happened in the end? The ex-legends Oxren, Blatos, and Rikeren ended up eating their old trainers again. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't fancy going down that creature's gullet."

"Aw, shut it, you glowing good-for-nothing! How about you save your warnings for people who care?" Phoenix finally snapped, "Now if you'll all excuse me, I have a Pokemon to wake up."

He whistled to Oxren, who was at the moment glaring at the mortals in front of it. Immediately, it charged, scattering everything in its way and hitting anything that didn't get out of the way fast enough. Nobody got hurt from the charge; it was like they were all expecting it at any time.

Oxren roared and opened his huge beak to engulf the sleeping Groudon in a torrent of flames. Seconds passed, still nothing happened. Finally the creature stopped to marvel at its work. Groudon was still there, glowing red-hot. But he hadn't moved or spoke. It was as if he was a real stone statue that breathed.

"Now, now my pet, we don't do it that way…" Phoenix started, but never got the chance to finish as both Maxie's Mightyena and Crobat clamped down on his side and shoulder. He cried out in pain, and finally the rest of the trainer's got the idea that Maxie had just had. Star and Mellow worked together for once to provide an annoyance for Oxren, who was angrily attacking the sleeping Groudon.

In a flash of light, Devon's Farfetch'd Leek joined the two of them as the avoided being scorched by the Oxren's deadly flames. Its pupil-less black eyes blazed the fury it felt as attack after attack was avoided.

Phoenix was scrambling away from the many furred Pokemon, mostly Poochyena from the Team Magma grunts, scratched and bit at him. Foam was now succeeding in doing some damage on Oxren, with the help of Rio's Blastoise, Dorovi, Pocky's Wooper, and Devon's Slowking.

But for all the struggling Pokemon, not one of them, not all of them together, were equal to the power that was unleashed in Pokemon form when Phoenix finally dropped the orbs and they rolled closer to Groudon before being seized up, too late. Maxie held the two orbs now; they were glowing like mad, and emitting a strange, high-pitched sound that held everything's attention and stopped Oxren mid-flame.

It happened fast, the light from the orbs died away and a slight shaking of the ground around them occurred. A minor shake caused by a very large creature; moving. Groudon first regained the lost color from his sleep, making him look normal again in bright scarlet. Then, he moved, sloshing the magma around him around like it was nothing but water. That had caused the slight shake.

Groudon looked down on all the creatures fighting in his domain, to the one almost as large and fiery as him, and roared loudly and with enough strength to get the ground to shake once again. He looked skywards, where there was rock blocking his way. The pull of his ancient enemy caused Groudon to punch through that rock completely, making it shatter and fall like rain upon the people and Pokemon underfoot. And then he was gone, out the hole his size, and away.

Through the skylight Groudon had punched, they all felt sweltering heat form. From Groudon, and his ancient goal of expanding the landmasses until there was no water, no ocean left. They had thought that releasing this creature to combat Kyogre was a good thing, yet now it was regretted by all. They had made a big mistake, yet it needed to be done for the good of all.

Phoenix whistled to Oxren while they were mostly still too stunned to attack, and he got on the huge creature's back and flew off after Groudon from the hole he'd made. Nobody lifted a finger to stop him.

What was thought to be an earthquake started again, sloshing the magma around. But it didn't stop quickly, and seemed to grow in intensity. "This is bad." Maxie finally broke the silence. "We've got to get out of here!" He roared.

"Recall your Pokemon." Tabitha continued, sounding calmer than Maxie, yet looking just as pale and frightened, "Except for those that can fly!"

Doing as they said, only Solorite, Fiendre, and Alkie were left out of the ones that can't fly. "Why?" Drake voiced the thought that they were all thinking.

"Because," Maxie replied as the magma noticeably rose in level, "Mount Chimney is going to blow!" He roared, looking around.

Star, Mellow, Sandsinger, Maxie's Crobat, Leek the Farfetch'd, a Tropius owned by Rio, and Rena's Aiglas Gryff were all out. Together, they could save the trainers here, but what about the rest of the Team Magma people in the base?

The Aiglas was a griffon-like Pokemon. Her feathers and fur was a light auburn, with black accents. Her beak was a pale yellow, and her eyes were dark purple. A fully evolved Aiglas, quite a rare Pokemon indeed. Aiglas are the only Pokemon, other than the psychic types, that have mastered the ability to speak to humans.

The people already were being shuffled into the room, to be flown out by the flying types, since almost none of them had a Pokemon that could fly. Team Magma was utterly unprepared for the magma, and now the lava spewing from the volcano's peak. They hadn't thought it was possible, since the volcano had been dormant for so long.

Star, Mellow, and Leek worked on one person at a time, and did their work quickly. Sandsinger and Gryff carried two people at once, while Tropius and Crobat could only manage one at a time. Their trainers decided to come last, as over a hundred people needed evacuating. This wasn't all the people in the volcano, over half had fled down through secret tunnels, and many were being turned away as too heavy, to go through another tunnel that was close by.

The problems started when the magma from the pool began to hiss and spit when it overflowed completely, blocking one escape tunnel and moving forward. The flying Pokemon were beginning to tire, but just about everyone was evacuated at the moment. Sandsinger and Tropius went up with the last three Team Magma people, while Devon and Rena were on Gryff.

Sundav had left with Fiendre, Solorite, and Alkie, and had not come back. As Sandsinger returned down, she looked exhausted and was breathing heavily. "Humans are heavy." She stated matter-of-factly.

"One more trip." Elvina murmured, patting the Flygon's side as she and Sara got onto her back. It would only be one more trip actually, all the trainers were on or being carried by their Pokemon now.

On the surface, there was nobody still there waiting for them. Maxie and Tabitha were long-gone, to lead their people to safety. Sara returned her Flygon for a fitful rest and sighed. "That wasn't expected, was it?" She asked.

"Nope. And our Pokemon shouldn't have had to do that either!" Rena roared, looking absolutely livid, "They had escape tunnels, why didn't they use them?"

"Uhhhh, that's why." Drake pointed up, where the unnaturally bright sun was still shining, through a cloud of smoke from Mount Chimney's peak, where bright lava was oozing down at an alarmingly fast rate. It was almost to the hole in the volcano they'd escaped from actually, and had covered all in its path. A silent eruption with very smooth, fast-running lava.

"I don't get your- hey, is lava coming from there too?" Rena pointed over to the side, then down, where the base of the mountain was pooling already drying lava. It was coming from the bottom, and the top, probably from a crack in the base of the volcano.

"This is not good." Jacob murmured, "We can't get down, and can't get up either. We should have gone first, darn it!"

"What's the fun it that?" Sundav asked lightly, appearing on Sara's shoulder in a flash of scarlet light, "When teleporting is much more fun!"

Sara opened her mouth to speak, thought better of it, and closed it. "You didn't think I'd let lava roast you all to a crisp, did you?" Sundav asked with a laugh, then a series of coughs as she seemed to grin.

"You always appear at the last possible moment, don't you?" Drake asked, voice touching a bit of sarcasm.

Star squawked from the air, looking absolutely exhausted. "No, she's not here at the last moment." She murmured, losing altitude.

"Star, get away from there! Don't fall into the lava!" Sara screamed. Star chirruped tiredly and stopped flying, going into a sickening dive right down, heading directly for the running lava that was under her. Sundav teleported and would have caught the Swellow, if not for the bright yellow blur that caught her before then.

Mellow cried and back winged franticly, saving Star from the dive finally, even though he was exhausted himself. Leek joined in, grasping Star on one of her wings, just as Star fainted, murmuring something under her breath. "You saved me…"

Star was returned to her trainer as Mellow crash-landed in front of Drake on his way back, fainted. Leek was returned to her Pokeball just as Sundav reappeared. "That could have been avoided." She grumbled, "You were lucky." She looked upon Sara without emotion as the blonde girl cuddled her first Pokemon, tears staining her cheeks.

"Come," She continued, "Let us flee from the damage done today from awakening Groudon. It was meant to be after all, wasn't it? Now all we have to do is pray my brother didn't sense me there…"

Everyone crowded around Sundav as she lifted her wings and teleported them to the front of a Pokemon Center. Mount Chimney was in the distance, dark and gloomy with its rings of smoke and lava. There would be many casualties from this…

Sundav was gone again, nothing left to reveal that she'd teleported them there. Sara was still clutching her Pokemon to her chest, feeling stupid for not thinking of returning her into her Pokeball when she was done lifting Drake up with Mellow and Leek. "Well?" She asked shakily, "What now?"

"Where are Maxie and the Team Magma people?" Elvina asked Maxie's Crobat, who had come with them. He beat his wings heavily and screeched, "They retreated and are hiding in the desert here." She said aloud.

"I could have told them that." Pocky murmured, "Wasn't that exciting guys!"

"NO!" Nearly everyone yelled. They were getting a lot of attention now, looking and smelling singed and all.

"Let us go into the Pokemon Center now and heal our Pokemon!" Elvina said loudly, so every staring person from Fallarbor Town would hear that they weren't doing any harm. It was a good idea, everyone but Rio flocked into the Pokemon Center.

"Aren't you coming?" Elvina asked when he hadn't budged an inch. Rio was looking very nervous.

"Uh… no… I think I'll just stay here and… admire the flowers!" He stammered out.

"Why?" She continued.

"Well, I kinda can't… Nurse Joy will recognize the mark on my cape and… well, we won't go into that. The Joy from Opal Town is tough, I'll tell you that!"

"Can't you take your cape off?"

"Uh… maybe." He untied the cape off and looked at his back, "It's on my shirt too." He flashed a grey mark on the back of his black cape. The moon was full and glittering grey for the mark, with a dark figure that looked awfully like Catastrofate howling and black over it.

"Take off your shirt? No, no! I'm kidding!" Elvina replied quickly, "Will you be alright out here?"

Rio nodded, "I've been ever since I started wearing the mark. Maybe I'll get new clothes soon… but go ahead without me, I'll be fine."

"Bye Rio." Elvina waved slightly as she entered the Pokemon Center and left him out there, alone.

Rena, Sara, Devon, and Drake were all holding playing cards when she entered and gave her Pokemon over for healing. "My, we have a big crowd today." The Nurse murmured, taking her Pokeballs and smiling, "We will call you when they're alright again."

Maxie's Crobat was curled up and hanging upside down on one of the roof railings, sleeping. He must have refused to be taken into the back and healed. Solorite was stretched over a small couch, resting next to Jacob with his head on his lap. Fiendre was snoring in the middle of the card game, literally.

"What are you guys playing?" Elvina asked as she sat in between Sara and Drake and on a cushion.

"Bs!" Drake cried when Devon had put down three cards face-down and announced 'three fours.' He flipped over the three cards to reveal three different cards and shoved the small pile Devon's way with a grin. "'Tis fun. Wanna play?"

"How can you four think of games when we just escaped from a volcano erupting?" Fiendre asked snappishly as he had been jarred awake by the loud noises Drake was making.

Elvina translated, something she wanted to know herself, "Well, it's not so stressful." Devon suggested.

"No, we're going to be up to our ears in worry as soon as our Pokemon are healed and we're back out trying to foil Dominus." Sara muttered, "So why not have a little fun first?"

"Bs, take them!" Rena shoved the pile at Drake, who was now looking flustered when his eight card turned out to be a five.

"I guess you're right…" Elvina murmured, surprised to see that Fiendre had relocated to her side and curled up again.

"I'm hungry." He growled, like the world should stop at the moment and give him food.

"Good for you! Want some… POCKY!" Pocky exclaimed, looking to be in good spirits as she offered a stick of chocolate Pocky to the old hound. He sniffed it and took a bite carefully.

"What is that?" Fiendre asked sarcastically, coughing and spluttering, "That's human food!"

"It's Pocky! Pocky is good for everything!" Pocky replied, setting the half-eaten stick down and offering some to Sara, the only person who was actually 'normal' for her.

Eventually, Nurse Joy called them over all at once, calling out Pokemon names and handing the correct Pokeball to the correct trainer. When they were all distributed again, there was a lot of them to go around, Sara let out her Pokemon.

Star was looking very tired still, half-asleep. "She didn't attack the Chansey for once." Althea murmured with a slight smirk, "Not fun today Star?"

"Huh-nun? Oooohh, no." Star replied, settling on Sara's lap and falling asleep again like a rock.

"She's a sleepy-head." Sandsinger noted cheerfully.

Karen just purred and rubbed at Sara's side, getting stroked happily. Meep chewed on Rena to get his friend out again, and Squee appeared for him with the rest of Rena's Pokemon. Soon, everyone's Pokemon was out and having a good time. It was a disaster! Together, all their Pokemon took up about one tenth of the large Pokemon Center's space, and were still moving around.

Mellow was very interesting to watch, as he groomed his sleeping Star. He sang for her, and still she slept on, not noticing him at all.

Finally, Star woke up for dinnertime, which was yet another disaster as every Pokemon demanded something different for the most part. Hot soup was distributed for the trainers as well. "So, how do you feel Star?" Sara asked worriedly as she blew on her soup, not noticing as it went everywhere off her spoon.

The Swellow raised her head, ruffled her feathers, and crooned very much like Mellow had been doing to her as soon as they met. Mellow immediately raised his head from his bowl of food and just stared at her for a while, before crooning back and beckoning to her. Stunned, Sara and Elvina watched as the two Swellow shared the same food and eventually started grooming one another's glossy feathers.

"Huh, it only took saving her life for Star to actually talk to Mellow." Elvina stated with a laugh. "I wonder how long this will last." As if to answer her question, Star squawked at Mellow, who had begun to sing for her again.

"Well, I don't think she likes his singing." Rena put in, "But other than that…" She shrugged.

Eventually, the tired group fell asleep in sleeping bags and cuddled next to their trainers. Meep and Squee played for a while after 'lights-out,' and when they finally curled up to sleep next to old Solorite, they saw something unexpected. Star was asleep, snuggled next to Mellow.