Chapter 29 – Into the dragons' land

A few days after setting off from Fortree, James and Aria, now out of the jungle, started to hit mountain. Nothing too hard at first, just rocky ground; but after a few hours the incline grew more severe.

"Are we lost?" Aria asked.

"Probably," James told her, looking around, "Get Pidgeot to fly up and tell us where to go."

"Kay," Aria said. But instead of pulling out a poke ball as he had expected, she simply called out. There was a shriek above them, and the bird pokémon flew overhead. James didn't know why he expected Aria to keep it in a ball – she was a ranger after all. After a few seconds Pidgeot flew back down, a jet of fire following it.

"What?" Aria asked. There was another cry, and a pokémon flew over them, chasing after Pidgeot. However it was much too slow to catch the bird pokémon. The peruser slowed to a stop, then turned, spotting the humans. It yelled at them, before shooting a Flamethrower.

"A Flygon!" Aria said.

"Blaze!" James said, without even taking out his poke ball. There was a flash of white light, and his Blaziken burst into being before him. Its wrists burst into flames, and it moved into the way of the Flamethrower, blocking it with its burning hands.

"Why did it do that? Why is it attacking?" Aria asked, "We didn't hurt it,"

"Maybe Pidgeot went into its territory or something." James said, "Blaze, use a Flamethrower right back!" Blaze shot a burst of fire at the mystic pokémon, however the attack missed completely. It was too hard to hit the fast moving flying pokémon.

"It's a dragon/ground type," Aria said, "Fire attacks are no good anyway!"

"Get back Blaze," James instructed, "But we might need you again." Blaze nodded and walked back to join them.

"Espeon, Psychic!" James said, throwing out a poke ball. Espeon appeared in a burst of red light. It landed on the ground in front of them, and reached out with a Psychic. The dragon type burst straight through its mental restraints however, and flew straight at them.

"Psybeam!" James said. Espeon's attack simply annoyed it.

"Brave Bird!" James said, and Blaze burst into the air behind them. Red and blue light burst around it, and Blaze stretched out its arms, connecting with Flygon with enough power to knock it off its path. Flygon flew down to land in front of them, standing on its hind legs and roaring.

"Does it want to battle?" Aria asked.

"Don't know," James said, "But I don't think its gonna let us go. I might have to capture it."

"Why you?" Aria asked, "Why can't I catch it?"

"Um, sure, go ahead." James said, slightly taken aback.

"Pidgeot, use Quick Attack!" Aria said, and Pidgeot burst out of the trees at Flygon, hitting it in the chest. Flygon flapped its wings, flying upward and kicking up a Sandstorm.

"Whirlwind!" Aria said, and Pidgeot flapped the sand away. The distraction had given Flygon time however, and now it was high above them. It sent a Flamethrower at them, which Espeon caught and sent away with a Psychic.

"Mirror Move!" Aria said. Pidgeot flapped its wings and flames burst forth, which hit Flygon, making it scream.

"Can I have a poke ball?" Aria asked.

"Uh, yea sure," James said, opening his backpack and pulling out an Ultra Ball, "You might need this.

"Thanks." Aria said, "Pidgeot use Whirlwind again!" Pidgeot flew above Flygon and flapped up a wind, blowing it down toward Aria. Aria attempted to aim, and threw the ultra ball up at Flygon. There was a burst of gold light, and the mystic pokémon disappeared.

"Yea, good job," James said, as the ultra ball fell to the ground and Aria ran to it. James was about to follow her when he heard a noise. A sort of buzzing. Within seconds, hundreds of Flygon had taken to the air on the nearby mountain. They formed a swarm, and flew straight at them.

"That aint good." James said.

"They might not be flying at us." Aria said, sounding as though she doubted it herself.

"Somehow I don't think so." James said, pulling his remaining two poke balls from his belt.

"We can't fight off that many," Aria said, "We couldn't fight off one!"

"Right," James said, returning the poke balls to his belt and returning Blaze and Espeon to their own. "Well you have flying types, do you wanna outrun them?"

"We can try, go Flygon!" Aria said, throwing out her new pokémon. There was a flash of gold light, and Flygon appeared. Aria ran to it, and her pokémon allowed her to clamber on. James himself got on Pidgeot, and the pair of them took to the air. As they did so the cloud reached them. Flygon were everywhere, and James instantly lost Aria. Heck, he lost everything. He couldn't see the ground, the forest, the sky, the mountain. Nothing.

"GO!" James yelled, and Pidgeot sped in a direction which he hoped was up. Flygon were swarming around them, ripping at each other. It was strange; if the pokémon were trying to attack them, they would have had more luck going one by one. Due to their sheer numbers, they couldn't really reach James. He still felt the occasional wallop, however. Then Pidgeot burst out of the cloud.

"Make for the mountain!" James said. He had no idea why he wanted Pidgeot to do so; just that he thought it was the best place. They must have been near Lavaridge, because that was where the tallest mountains in Hoenn were, thought James. Well not all of them were mountains. At least one, this one, was actually a volcano. They flew around the top, then down into it. James was about to stop Pidgeot, before thinking that it probably was the safest place they could be.

It wasn't

There were three people there.

Three people James had seen before.

Three people wearing blue clothes.

"Awe, you've got to be kidding me!" James said, as Pidgeot slowed down to hover in mid air.

Matt, Shelly, and Archie, of team Aqua.

"Ah," Archie said, looking up at James' voice, "Its you. What was your name? James? How are you, and how is my Latios?"

"It was never your Latios!" James said.

"No, I guess you can argue that," Archie said, "But these are mine." He pulled two miniaturized poke balls from his pocket and threw them. With two flashes of light, a Garchomp and a Walrein appeared.

"That's breaking tradition a bit, aint it?" James said, meaning the dragon/ground type, and taking a step back.

"Garchomp is crucial to our plan," Archie said, "He has utter control over the Flygon, they listen to it."

"Awesome." James said, pulling two pokémon from his belt. A leaf-emblazed poke ball, and a premier ball. A second later his pokémon stood on either side of him, ready to fight.

"Kill them." Archie told his pokémon.

"Knock them out!" James said, and his pokémon rushed forward. Sceptile's leaves turned to blades, and it leapt at Garchomp with awesome speed. The dragon type dodged and shot a Flamethrower, but Sceptile used its leaves to split the fire and dived through it, before slashing both Leaf Blades across Garchomp. Blaze jumped into the air, easily dodging an Ice Ball sent by Walrein, before using Brick Break. Its foot glowed white, and it dropped onto the ice break pokémon, scoring a critical hit.

Sceptile Slammed into Garchomp, throwing it to the ground, before letting loose a Solar Beam. Although it wasn't super effective against the dragon type, it was strong enough to knock Garchomp out cold. Walrein, already teetering on the edge of consciousness after the fighting type attack, received a Blaze Kick to the face, which made it roll over and black out.

Archie, seeing both his pokémon out for the count, laughed.

"Your pretty good, better then that; have you considered a spot on Team Aqua?"

"I'm not joining you," James said, "Nothing that you do is good."

"You see," Archie said, "A few weeks ago, I would have agreed."

"James!" Aria said, as she flew down on her Flygon. The scene obviously looked very strange for her. The hollowed out inside of a volcano, and a large patch of dried lava, on which sat James, Archie, Matt and Shelly. Blaze and Sceptile were both standing, as guards, on either side of James, and Archie's pokémon were still knocked out.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Archies about to tell us," James said, "You ok?"

"Fine," was all she said.

"A ranger?" Matt asked, a smile coming to his face. Aria patted the styler at her hip.

"Might come in handy," Archie muttered.

"For what?" James asked. Archie looked at them for a moment, before sighing.

"I am going to tell you everything, James," He said, "You will understand why when I am done.

A few weeks ago, something strange happened in Kanto. Storm clouds were approaching, everyone was predicting rain. It was the right time of year too. However, before it started to rain, the clouds simply vanished. Since then, no rain has fallen, no due has even formed. The humidity has been so low it is virtually non existent. They've fallen into drought."

"So?" James asked.

"Kanto never has drought, not for centuries," Archie said. "After a few weeks, drought has been announced in Johto. Other regions too, are falling into drought."

"So?" James asked again.

"If you plot the areas affected by drought," Archie said, slightly annoyed, "then it appears that they form in a line. Its as though drought is spreading, in a line, across the Earth. There is only one explanation for this. Someone has captured Groudon."

"That's bad, isn't it?" Aria asked, "I'm not too good with Hoenn legends."

"Groudon made the continents," James told her.

"It also battled Kyogre," Archie said, "Who made the oceans. The battle nearly destroyed the whole Earth, until Rayquaza broke it up."

"Aren't they supposed to be sleeping?" James asked.

"Yea," Matt said, "But that doesn't mean they cant be woken."

"So where do you guys fit into this?" Aria asked.

"We want to find Kyogre." Archie said, "And make it battle Groudon."

"And what will that do?" Aria asked.

"Make Rayquaza appear, return the wether to normal, and free Groudon." Archie said.

"And why are you telling us this?" James asked, "I know you said that it would be obvious, but it really aint."

"You could help us." Archie said. "You are obviously powerful enough, and we could use all the help we can get."

"What happened to your huge Team Aqua and the hundreds of goons?" Aria asked, a smile on her face.

"I'm afraid we're going the same way that Team Magma did," Archie sighed, "We haven't had new members for a long time, and most of us have left. Anyway, you haven't answered. If I cannot have your support, then we must depart." He stood up and went to Garchomp. Matt went too, and Aria stood up after a few seconds and went to check Flygon. That left James and Shelly, alone together. There was a sudden flash of light, which made James jump, and a Crobat appeared. The bat pokémon flapped over and hovered in front of James, as if trying to remember him. James remembered all right, although he hoped the Crobat didn't. He had once locked it in a cage against its will.

"Don't worry," Shelly said, "Its not going to hurt you."

"I'll take your word for it." James said.

"It wont," She said, "Its not monster. It only attacked you last time because I told it to."

"That makes me feel much better." James said. Shelly held out her arm. Crobat flew over and handed upon it, before rubbing Shelly's head.

"I've had it for years now," Shelly said, "Got it for my first pokémon. My dad comes in on my birthday with a box, and inside is a little Zubat, asleep. Its really friendly, not like my other pokémon, although it doesn't really care for other people at first, unless I let it know that your friends." Shelly held out her arm, and Crobat looked at James for a moment, before fluttering onto his head.

"Last chance," Archie said, once Garchomp was ready to fly out. They were going to ride him, and make the army of Flygon follow. James shook his head. Archie turned and clambered up onto Garchomp. As Matt and Shelly walked over to their leader, James walked over to Pidgeot, and Aria to Flygon. His pokémon were safely away. Time to leave.

He still didn't know what caused it. It could have been Archie or Matt, accidently hurting Garchomp while climbing aboard. It could have been the sight of Aria approaching a fellow Flygon. It could have been that one of the wild dragons were startled by something insignificant. Whatever happened, suddenly every one of the Flygon had taken to the air, screeching. The sudden noise made Garchomp rear, and it slammed the ground using Giga Impact. The hardened lava cracked, and the magma beneath bubbled up, before gushing up and spurting away. Pidgeot took fright, and James, who was sitting on it, clutched at it to avoid falling off. There was nothing but a endless cloud of Flygon for a few moments, before Pidgeot cleared the top of the volcano. They landed, and by the time James had stepped off, Aria's Flygon had swooped down too.

"James!" She yelled, falling toward him. James caught her in a hug.

"You ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," She said, "You?"

"Yea I'm good," James said, as Garchomp landed a few metres away. Matt jumped down.

"Pull yourself together!" Archie yelled at him.

"She's dead!" He yelled back. James felt something drop inside him.

Shelly hadn't made it to a pokémon.

"She wouldn't want-" Archie began.

"Shut up!" Matt roared at him, "This is all your fault! Don't tell me what she would a wanted!"

"Do not speak to me that way!" Archie yelled, using all the authority he could muster.

"Stuff you," Matt said, turning, "I'm off."

"You can't run from what you've started!" Archie yelled after him. In answer, Matt ripped off the blue headband he wore, and threw it to the ground. He walked away.

"So I have lost my last two members today," Archie said, quietly. Before James or Aria could say anything at all, Garchomp had taken off.

"Come on," Aria said, "We'll fly to the closest city and book into a pokémon centre." James nodded, and went to climb back onto Pidgeot. Then he stopped, and walked over to where Matt had dropped his headband. Picking it up, he placed it inside his backpack. There was no particular reason for doing so, however he thought that he should. He was once again about to climb onto Pidgeot, when a screech stopped him. They both looked around, and James spotted Crobat flying from the volcano. It must have escaped somehow, through the storm of Flygon. Crobat fluttered over to James, and landed on the arm James offered it.

It no longer had a trainer. But Shelly said that she had had it for years.

A pokémon trained for years wouldn't be able to cope in the wild, especially away from its natural habitat. However, Shelly had said that it would be fine with whoever Shelly had introduced it to. She had done so to James.

There was a spare poke ball in his bag.