Chapter 24: Final Leg Before Judgement

Sakura once again found herself at Tokyo Tower with the full moon, which cast an eerie glow. The view was clearer and Sakura saw three figures standing at the base of the tower. Sakura instantly recognized two of them.

'Marina-chan... Volkner-san... Why are they here...?'

The third figure had spiky red hair with a black cape and seemed to be the oldest.

Sakura's gaze lifted to the top of the tower and three figures stood near the top. She recognized Brendan, but not the other two. One with red and yellow hair with a ponytail sticking out at the top, while the other had spiky blond hair with a forest green coat.

'These people...'

Suddenly, a giant silver bird appeared hovering over Tokyo Tower, its eyes glowing like the moon.

'That bird...'

A cry was heard and Ho-oh suddenly flew out into view and faced the silver bird.

'Ho-oh-san...'

Ho-oh looked directly at Sakura, its eyes looking quite weary. Something about Ho-oh's eyes seemed familiar to her, but she didn't know why.

'Who... are you...?'

OOOOOOO

Sakura awoke to the morning sun and slowly got out of bed. She looked over at the sleeping figure of Buizel at the foot of her bed and smiled, knowing that he was trying to help comfort her about Eevee. Sakura walked over to her mirror and looked at her reflection, then smiled.

"I'm all right now. I'm my usual self now." Sakura said as she thought back to when Lucario comforted her.

Sakura never heard him talk with such warmth in his voice and she could tell that he was smiling. Lucario helped comfort her in her time of need and listened to her when she was hurt. She looked out her window at Riolu, sleeping on a tree branch.

'I'm my cheerful self again, thanks to you, Lucario-san...' Sakura thought as she watched Riolu snooze away.

'But my dream... It was much clearer this time... Those people... Why were they there? Are they somehow connected to that bird or Ho-oh-san?' Sakura thought as she started to get ready for school.

OOOOOOO

"Morning!" Sakura greeted as she came down for breakfast.

"Good morning. You're up early today." Fujitaka said.

"Yeah, for a monster." Toya said as Sakura stomped on his foot, making him writhe in pain.

"I have daily chores today and I just woke up, so I leave the newspaper right here." Sakura said placing the newspaper on the table.

"Thanks," Fujitaka said as he went over to Sakura. "I'm glad that you're cheerful again..."

Sakura looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"Sakura-san, you haven't been to happy lately." Fujitaka said.

"Was I acting strangely?" Sakura asked as Fujitaka shook his head and bent down to Sakura's eye level.

"No, but I can tell. Because I am your father, Sakura-san." Fujitaka said making Sakura smile.

"I'm really all right now." Sakura reassured.

"Now that that's taken care of, how about some breakfast?" Toya said placing their breakfast on the table.

"All right!" Sakura said.

After breakfast, Sakura went outside and looked over at the tree Riolu was sleeping in, but saw that he was already gone. She figured he was already roaming around somewhere before taking off towards school.

"It's a little cold, but the roads so early in the morning feel so good!" Sakura said as she skated down the sidewalk.

'Eevee-chan... He really wouldn't want me to be sad, so I'll do my best to be happy for him.' Sakura thought.

"Of course, I'm able to think of it that way all thanks to Lucario-san. It would be nice if I could do something in return..." Sakura said to herself as she continued on her way.

OOOOOOO

Lucario bounded from one tree to the other as he caught all the leaves that fell. At the corner of his eye, he spotted another leaf falling. When he looked over, he saw that it was a cherry blossom petal and an image of Sakura appeared in his mind. His foot suddenly caught on something, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Uhhh..." Lucario groaned as he rubbed his head.

The small petal floated to the ground nearby and Lucario glanced over at it.

Another image of Sakura appeared in Lucario's head and quickly shook his head in frustration, trying to clear his thoughts.

A twig snapped, making Lucario jerk to attention and focused his ears on where the sound came from. He felt a familiar presence and slowly rose to a stand as he narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly, a ball of dark energy shot out of the brush. Lucario jumped out of the way before it made contact.

A black wolf-like creature jumped out of the brush and gave Lucario a threatening snarl.

"I told you I'd be back."

Lucario whirled around to see the sandy haired Pokemon hunter who had gone after Latias.

"You..." Lucario growled as he jumped onto a tree branch and readied an Aura Sphere.

"Nice to see you again, too." Wes said with an evil grin.

"What are you after now?" Lucario demanded.

"Something pretty big, but I need to get my revenge first!" Wes said as Lucario let out a low growl.

Mightyena lunged at Lucario, teeth barred as Lucario launched his Aura Sphere at it, creating a small explosion at contact. Mightyena landed with a thud as Wes called it back.

"Do you really think you can stop me with the same old tricks?" Lucario said as he readied his Bone Rush attack.

"No, that's why I came up with a new one," Wes said as he drew another Pokeball from his belt. "Go, Zangoose!"

A white and red cat-like ferret creature with razor sharp claws appeared in a flash of light and gave Lucario an evil grin.

Lucario's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the threatening looking creature.

'What's wrong with me...? Why can't I move...? Why am I...' Lucario thought as his body started to tremble.

"Hmm, didn't expect that. No matter! Zangoose, X-Scissor!" Wes commanded as Zangoose lunged forward as its claws started to glow.

Lucario still didn't move as Zangoose slashed at him across the face, sending him crashing to the ground, then was tackled into a tree. Lucario opened his eyes weakly as Zangoose looked down at him with an intimidating grin.

'No! Mother!' Lucario heard a voice in his head as an image of blood flashed in his mind.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!" Lucario cried as he clutched his head in pain.

Seeing his chance, Wes shot a capture pod at him. Lucario's body was bound by a type of metal and struggled to break free. Suddenly, volts of electricity shot through his body, causing him to howl in pain as his mind went black.

Lucario fell to the ground in a smoking heap as he reverted back into a Riolu. Wes walked over to him and picked him up with a look of triumph on his face.

OOOOOOO

"Hoe?" Sakura said as she looked out the window while the students started to enter the classroom.

"What's wrong?" Tomoyo asked.

"I thought I heard Lucario-san..." Sakura said as she gazed out the window.

"Speaking of Lucario, did you think of what you could do for him yet?" Tomoyo asked.

"No, I haven't. I don't know what he would like." Sakura said in disappointment.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out." Tomoyo said.

"Yeah..." Sakura said.

OOOOOOO

"Alright, now that I have Lucario in custody, I can focus on getting the Beast of the Sea to make up for the Latias mess-up. The signal is faint, but is traceable. Mightyena, Zangoose, guard him." Wes said as Mightyena barked in acknowledgement.

Wes hopped onto a Fearow and flew off into the distance.

Riolu was leaning against a Tokyo Tower, still unconscious, but was dreaming.

He was in a forest, a dark forest, running from something. He could hear something chasing after him and didn't dare look back.

'What's happening? Why do I feel so afraid?' Riolu thought, when suddenly he tripped and fell to the ground.

Riolu looked behind him as a Zangoose emerged from the bushes and lunged at him.

A tall woman was suddenly standing in front of him as if she was protecting him. Riolu's eyes stretched out in horror when he saw that Zangoose had struck her instead of him.

"Why...? Why did you protect me?" Riolu said in utter confusion and loss.

The woman looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

"Because... You are my son..." the woman said before she disappeared.

"Wait!" Riolu called out, but got no answer and found himself in darkness, utterly alone.

"What did she mean...? I don't understand!" Riolu shouted as he put his head in his paws as his mind whirled in confusion.

Riolu awoke with a jolt and found himself still bound in the metal case, then let out a sigh.

'That memory... wasn't mine... was it?' Riolu thought as he looked up at the afternoon sky. A bird flew by all of a sudden, catching Riolu's attention. It moved faster than a regular bird and it seemed to have a mo-hawk.

'What was that?'

OOOOOOO

Sakura and Tomoyo went up to her room while Turtwig was looking at the book the Sealed Pokemon were in.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura... You realize you've collected all the Pokemon." Turtwig said in a serious tone.

"Really? Oh, wow! That's great!" Sakura said.

"Congratulations, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo said as Sakura smiled and nodded.

"But, how come nothing has happened?" Sakura asked.

"You haven't gained the approval of all the Pokemon..." Larvitar said.

"Didn't you say, Sakura-chan had collected all the Pokemon?" Tomoyo said.

Vulpix nodded. "It is true that Sakura-san has collected all the Pokemon, but you are forgetting one very stubborn Representative..."

Sakura thought about it for a moment, when she suddenly realized who it was. "Lucario-san..."

"That's right. Lucario-san never aknowledged Sakura-chan as the nominee." Tomoyo said as Sakura looked at the floor.

"But doing that won't be easy. I mean, he already said that he won't accept you." Buizel said.

"It's been a while since then, so now is the time to confront him on it again." Larvitar said.

"But..." Sakura said.

"... You don't want to fight him, do you?" Turtwig said as Sakura nodded.

"He's turned into a really good friend and ally... Just like Eevee-chan said he would..." Sakura said.

"Sakura, I'm home! Yuki's here too." Toya called from the doorway.

"Yukito-san is here!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

"Sheesh, that snow rabbit is going to distract her from the important issue right now..." Buizel groaned.

"Hey, what's that?" Sakura heard Yukito say.

"It looks like a giant bird of something... Hey! Look out!"

Sakura heard a crash coming from downstairs and quickly ran down the stairs with Tomoyo right behind her.

"Oniichan?! Yukito-san-" Sakura stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her brother slumped against the wall, unconscious.

"Oniichan!" Sakura cried as she rushed to her brother's side.

"Hey there! Long time no see, eh?"

Sakura looked up to see the same sandy haired boy who was after Latias.

"What are you doing?!" Sakura demanded.

Sakura spotted a giant bird outside with a long beak. With a closer look, she saw that someone was on its back. She gasped when she saw an unconscious Yukito was the one who was on the bird's back.

"Yukito-san!" Sakura cried as Wes grinned.

"So you two know each other, how sweet, too bad you'll never see him again!" Wes said as he hopped onto Fearow's back before it took off.

"NO! Yukito-san!" Sakura cried as called out Swellow's Fly and flew after Wes.

"What's going on down there?!" Buizel shouted as he came down the stairs, followed by Vulpix, Turtwig, and Larvitar.

"Tsukishiro-san has been kidnapped!" Tomoyo said with a horrified look on her face.

"WHAT?!" Buizel shouted.

OOOOOOO

As Sakura flew after them, Wes noticed this and ordered Fearow to fly faster. Sakura gasped when they were starting to fly out of reach, but didn't give up. Yukito was too important to her to give up that easily.

'Don't worry, Yukito-san, I'll save you...' Sakura said to herself.

Sakura suddenly realized that he was flying straight towards Tokyo Tower. She spotted the massive structure and suddenly, images of her dream flashed in her mind.

'I have a bad feeling...' Sakura thought as she closed in on Wes.

A sudden explosion went off and Sakura looked over at Wes, who also seemed surprised by it.

Sakura spotted Paul down on the ground, battling against two Pokemon she didn't recognize.

"Rhyperior, use Hammer Arm on Zangoose and Salamence, use Dragon Claw on Mightyena!" Paul commanded as both of his Pokemon sent Zangoose and Mightyena crashing to the ground, knocking both of them out in a single hit.

"Heh, weak..." Paul smirked as he spotted Wes and Sakura in the air.

"Why did you do that?" Riolu demanded.

"Staraptor spotted you all tied up, so I thought I'd do a little investigating." Paul said as Fearow landed a little way off from him.

"What gives you the right to attack my Pokemon like that?!" Wes demanded.

"Does it really matter?" Paul smirked as he looked over at Yukito, who was now lying down on a nearby bench and then back at Wes.

"What are you doing with him? He's useless." Paul said as Wes started chuckling.

"That's what you think..." Wes said. "Fearow, use Pursuit!"

"Rhyperior, Rock Blast go!" Paul commanded as Rhyperior launched rocks from its hands, hitting Fearow with great power.

Fearow collapsed to the ground, knocked out as Paul grinned. "Some Pokemon Hunter you are!"

Wes gritted his teeth as he recalled Fearow. "I guess you leave me now choice..."

"Yukito-san!" Sakura called as she rushed over to him.

Before she was able to get over to him, Wes hit a button and the ground started to shake.

"What's going on?!"

Sakura looked over to see Tomoyo with the other representatives, who had fallen on her knees from the sudden shake.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura cried.

"Do you need help getting up?" Turtwig asked.

Suddenly, a giant robot emerged from the ground in the shape of a Groudon as Wes jumped inside it.

"Say hello to the Groudon-E27! This little gizmo was created to combat Legendary Pokemon, so you don't stand a chance!" Wes announced on a loud speaker.

"Dammit..." Paul cursed.

Sakura noticed that Yukito was still on the bench and then looked over at Larvitar.

"Larvitar-san, I need you to protect Yukito-san!" Sakura instructed as Larvitar nodded as his body started to glow.

Tyranitar hurried over to Yukito as Sakura instructed Alakazam to help out as well. Alakazam teleported over to Yukito and created a Safeguard around Yukito.

"Hey!"

Sakura over to see Riolu, who was bound by a metal case.

"Lucario-san?!" Sakura cried as she rushed over to him and tried to pry the case open.

"I know! Gallade, Psycho Cut!" Sakura commanded as Gallade came out of the staff and cut through the metal case with the blades on its arms, freeing Riolu.

"... Thanks..." Riolu muttered as Sakura smiled.

Riolu quickly reverted back to Lucario and charged towards the Mecha Groudon.

"Lucario-san, wait!" Sakura called, but was ignored.

"Take this!" Lucario shouted as he shot an Aura Sphere at the giant machine.

To his surprise, the attack didn't even leave a scratch.

"Hah! Pathetic!" Wes said as the Mecha Groudon launched a stream of fire at Lucario.

Lucario jumped out of the way as he readied another Aura Sphere. But was swatted to the side by one of the Mecha Groudon's claws.

"Oof!" Lucario grunted as he hit the ground.

"Are you okay?!" Sakura said as she rushed over to him. Lucario nodded and glared at up at the Mecha Groudon.

"Weavile, use Blizzard!" Paul commanded as Weavile came out and sent an icy wind at the Mecha Groudon.

The Mecha Groudon launched another stream of fire from its mouth that shot right through Weavile's attack and hit the ground around Paul.

"Nngh!" Paul grunted as flames flared around him.

"Shinji-kun!" Sakura called as one of the Mecha Groudon's claws plunged into the ground where Paul was, sending him flying backwards.

"Buizel-kun!" Sakura cried as Buizel nodded and turned into Floatzel and shot forward.

Floatzel caught Paul on his back and dodged out of the way of another attack from the Mecha Groudon.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Paul demanded.

"Hey! Can't you show any gratefulness to the one who just risked his life to save your sorry hide?!" Floatzel shot back.

Paul glanced over at Sakura and narrowed his eyes.

"Zap Cannon!" Sakura commanded as a ball of electricity shot out of her staff, at the Mecha Groudon, but didn't have any effect on it.

"You see? There's no point in fighting a battle you can't win!" Wes shouted.

"I won't give up!" Sakura said.

Suddenly, fire, ice, and lightning attacks came from above at the Mecha Groudon, creating a huge explosion.

"What was that?!"Wes shouted as fire, water, and lightning attacks hit the base of the Mecha Groudon, causing another explosion.

"What was that?" Sakura said.

The Mecha Groudon seemed to be harshly beaten and Sakura saw her chance.

"Dragon Rush!" Sakura commanded as Garchomp shot out the staff and hit the Mecha Groudon hard, sending it backwards.

"Leaf Storm!" Torterra called out as he let loose a storm of leaves that pounded against the Mecha Groudon's armor as Floatzel hit it with his Aqua Jet attack.

Ninetails let loose a powerful Fire Blast as Tyranitar used Stone Edge.

The Mecha Groudon was beginning to get overwhelmed and systems started to shut down. Wes slammed his fist down on the control pannel and rushed to the escape hatch.

Lucario jumped on top of the Mecha Groudon's head and focused his energy into the palm of his paw before plunging it through the top, creating the Mecha Groudon to overload and start to crack from the inside.

The Mecha Groudon burst, causing a giant explosion.

Torterra shielded Tomoyo from the explosion as Sakura held onto a nearby tree, while Paul braced himself from the explosion.

Lucario was blown away from the explosion and was headed for disaster. Sakura saw this and charged through the rough winds caused by the explosion towards Lucario.

"Bounce!" Sakura commanded as she jumped over to where Lucario was headed and grabbed his paw as well as a tree branch to stop them from being blown away.

"I got you!" Sakura reassured as Lucario looked up at her in surprise.

Out from the smoke, Wes jetted out and disappeared in the distance.

"Dammit, I failed again..." Wes muttered as he flew off towards the sunset.

Once the explosion died away, Sakura and Lucario got down and looked at each other. At first, Lucario had an annoyed look on his face, but then gave Sakura a little smile in thanks. Sakura looked at him in surprise, the smiled back.

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?" Tomoyo called as she rushed over.

"Yeah, how about you?" Sakura said as Tomoyo replied she was fine.

Sakura then looked over at Lucario and walked over to him. Lucario raised an eye brow, wondering what she was doing.

"Lucario-san... I have collected all the Sealed Pokemon, but..." Sakura stammered.

Lucario widened his eyes in realization. 'I'm the only one who's standing in her way...'

Sakura tightened her grip on her staff as a look of uncertainty came over her face. Lucario stared back at her with no emotion, making Sakura uneasy.

Suddenly, a smile came over Lucario's face as he put his left fist against the palm of his right paw and bowed.

Everyone looked at him in surprise as Sakura came forward a little more. "Lucario-san?"

"D-did Lucario just smile?" Floatzel said in shock as Lucario grunted in annoyance, then turned his glance back at Sakura.

"Don't worry, I won't fight you." Lucario said.

"Hoe? What do you mean?" Sakura said.

"I know I said I would never accept you, but... The truth is, I was just being stubborn and stuck to the past... But then you told me to move on, so I could be happy... so..." Lucario said as he got down on one knee and bowed. "I thank you for showing that to me..."

Sakura stood in shock at what just happened as Tomoyo filmed.

"I, Lucario, representative of Metal, accept you- No... Sakura, as the nominee for the next Pokemon Master." Lucario said as he looked up at Sakura and gave her a small smile.

Sakura was speechless for a moment, that was the first time Lucario has ever used her name and had just accepted her. After a moment of awkwardness, Sakura returned Lucario's smile and nodded a thanks.

"And?" Sakura said.

"And... what?" Lucario said with a look of confusion on his face.

"As a Representative, you're suppose to give her a gift." Torterra said as Lucario looked at him in surprise.

"Really? I'm suppose to do that?" Lucario said with a clueless expression as Floatzel, Ninetails, Tyranitar, and Torterra fell down anime-style, while Sakura stood looking at him dumb-founded.

"How can you not know?!" Floatzel shouted.

"No one informed me about it!" Lucario shouted back as Ninetails let out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't think it matters, I'm just glad that you've accepted me. Thank you so much, Lucario-san." Sakura said sweetly, making Lucario blush.

"Oh, this is truly wonderful!" Tomoyo said with stars in her eyes.

OOOOOOO

Once night fell, Tomoyo had gotten her outfit van and had Sakura change into one of her outfits with a pink hat and cape with a bow in the middle.

"Hoeeee..." Sakura said nervously.

"You really are bursting full of cuteness!" Tomoyo exclaimed.

"W-why do I have to change now?" Sakura said blushing in embarrassment.

"Today is a special day, where you have gotten all of the Pokemon and earned all of the representatives respect! On a special day, you have to wear special clothes and take a photograph to mark the occasion!" Tomoyo said as Sakura sweatdropped.

"And that's why you called for your car?" Sakura asked.

"Of course!" Tomoyo said.

"Oh, give me a break!" Paul said.

Sakura and Tomoyo looked at him as he walked over.

"You're forgetting, that there can be only one Pokemon Master, while there are two holders of the Sealed Pokemon. So how is that going to work?" Paul said as he narrowed his eyes at Sakura.

"But it's good that we've gotten all of the Sealed Pokemon." Sakura said.

Paul grunted in annoyance and looked away. "You really are an idiot."

"But I do wonder who will be the proper owner of all the Pokemon though." Tomoyo said.

"Well, you'll all see who it will be, once he shows up."

Sakura whirled around and gasped in shock at what she saw.

To be continued...

You probably won't believe who just showed up, but anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please Review! I love Lucario! (And for a good reason too...)