Chapter 28: Convergence

Chapter 28: Convergence

Night.

Somehow, it seemed like more than just darkness. There was thickness to the sky. Like smoke. Like despair. We could feel it as we came out onto the roof of the hotel. There, Blaine called out his massive Aerodactyle, and we climbed on slowly.

All of our Pokemon seemed ready to fight. Casey had left her new Tediursa wrapped up in a blanket back in our room. Despite that fact that it was a spoiled, winy little creature, I hoped that we'd be back for it. Hell, at that point, I hoped we would make it back period.

"It's risky," said Blaine. "But I think the sooner we strike, the better. Rook will be expecting anyone who can fight back to be planning, possibly fleeing. The last thing Rook will be expecting, or somewhere down on the list, anyways, will be an attack, especially one from us."

That said, his Aerodactyle took off into the sky and rose above the searchlights. We were hidden in the highest shadows, as high as or higher than the Iris. The city below us looked fragile in the dark. Just a bunch of lights and buildings and big hunks of metal… none of which stood a chance against Rook's super-killer Pokemon laser thing. And the people… I couldn't let all of this be reduced to a smoldering crater. The whole world couldn't wind up like that!

Casey was done crying. I could see it in her eyes. She was determined to finish this, maybe as much as I was. I think there was something she needed to resolve, something that she had to do too.

Whatever it was, I hoped she got to do it.

(-o-)

Two other zeppelins joined them in flight, each presumably carrying more Hermes operatives. Ryoku wanted to ask Volkner or Jasmine about Matt… maybe he could have learned something that would have helped him.

But there was no time.

During the night, all of the champions had seen the flash of gold on the western horizon… a few moments later, Volkner informed them that the Pokemon League Building had been destroyed by the Storm's flying fortress… by the time the airship came into visual contact with Viridian City, the Iris could be seen as well, hovering like a hungry mouth over the lights of the city.

"How long will it be until we get there?" Wallace asked, his impatience clear.

"Approximately one hour," said Jasmine. "I know you are in hurry Wallace, so are we all. But from what I hear from our other operatives, we won't be the only ones attacking the Iris. What we are about to witness will be a convergence of several factions, and it is impossible to see what the outcome will be."

Wallace was silenced.

"Well then," said Tori in mock optimism. "We'll just have make sure we come out on top."

Ryoku chuckled. "I guess so."

(-o-)

There were patrols of bird Pokemon whirling around the Iris. Aerodactyle rose higher up, to where the air wasn't easy to breath, and glided over the flying fortress. No one had seen us yet… maybe we would get in without trouble after all.

Some contradictory fate must've heard my thoughts, because no sooner had I thought that then did three large shadows rise from darkness and fly behind us.

Blaine whispered to his Pokemon and ordered it to fly beyond the Iris and slowly circle back so we could fight. It would be took risky for Aerodactyle to battle with all of us on its back, so fighting off these airborne foes would be up to Richard.

As we came around, u-turning back so that the three Pokemon following us came into view, Richard released Charizard into the sky. A Scyther and two Murkrows.

It happened quickly: Charizard sprang into the sky like an orange cloud and glided forth… only to be stopped by Scyther, which had moved in to intersect him before he could attack. The bug Pokemon's scythe-claw slid through the air, coming dangerously close to Charizard's throat.

The fire Pokemon quickly pulled in his wings and plummeted down, out of Scyther's range. He looped back into flight a few yards below, and came up with a powerful Flamethrower that sent Scyther buzzing off in fear. The Murkrow weren't as intimidated. They latched onto Charizard –one on each side- and began witling away at him with small strikes… Scyther appeared, out of the darkness to deliver a Slash to Charizard's back. The fire Pokemon was struggling, but he wouldn't be able to stay up if he was hit by another attack like that.

It was risky, but there was only one thing I could do: I had to help Richard. He was out numbered, and even if I didn't have a flying type, there still might have been something I could do…

I pulled two Pokeballs from my belt and pressed their activation buttons. Starme and Lickitung appeared.

"Starme, use Rapid Spin to stay in the air. Lickitung, try to hold on."

Starme leapt forth, quickly becoming a purple blur in the night. Its red gemstone glowed, illuminating its arms, which spun like helicopter blades. Lickitung looked pleadingly at me. Poor guy probably thought I was crazy. This idea was pretty crazy, but I had a feeling it would work. Probably.

With a little nudge from me, Lickitung hopped onto Starme's gem, standing on the point of his one big toe. He looked a little unsteady at first, but finally, after a moment, equilibrium was achieved. Lickitung looked back at me and nodded confidently.

"Flamethrower!" Lickitung's attack came from behind, striking one of the Murkrow and combusting its feathers. The bird Pokemon panicked and let go of its prey, falling down to the lights below.

"Are you crazy?" Blaine screamed from ahead of me. I looked over to see him staring in disbelief at my Pokemon. His mustache twitched, though I couldn't tell whether it was from anger or just the passing wind.

"It's possible," I called back. "But I think it helps at times like these."

I looked back at Richard and nodded. He nodded back with a smile, and we returned to the battle.

Charizard had already thrown off its other avian attacker, and was lunging at Scyther… the bug Pokemon was just too fast for it, though, and managed to stay out of its grasp. Starme whirled in, bearing Lickitung, and another idea came to mind. I shouted it to Richard, who nodded… I just hoped we would both be fast enough…

Charizard fly to the side, turning Scyther's attention in a different direction. My two Pokemon stayed behind, flanking Scyther… the bug Pokemon looked between its two foes and decided that Charizard posed the biggest threat. It turned its eyes on him…

Big mistake.

"Arial Ace!" I called out. Lickitung jumped forward, vanishing with a pink blur. He hit Scyther hard in the back, dropping him down. The force of the impact changed Lickitung's trajectory –he was now going up. Charizard rose a little higher, pirouetted and caught my Pokemon on his back.

Finally, the fire Pokemon pumped out one last blast of flame that caught Scyther dead on and sent it spinning to the ground. We returned our Pokemon, I got a cautious nod of approval from Blaine, and we began our descent… onto the Iris.

(-o-)

Aerodactyle returned to its Pokeball over a shadowy stretch of fortress, and we dropped the remaining feet. It was possible that we had been spotted… most of the Iris' searchlights were turned toward the ground, but that didn't mean they would miss every giant flying Pokemon that came through their airspace.

So we had to move. The four of us ran down the walkways and stairs that took us to the outer edge of the circle –that's where the least amount of activity seemed to be.

"So," said Blaine, as we crouched in the shadow of a small, square structure. "Rook is somehow using Lugia's power to destroy cities…that means that Rook, somehow or another, is controlling Lugia. If we take Rook down -subdue him, get him off here, or whatever- then he can't use Lugia…"

"There's someone else," said Casey suddenly, surprising us all. "There's another person in charge here, higher up than Rook, I just know there is. Don't ask how. He's the one we should be going after. Rook's just a figurehead… a pawn. There's a Director, and he's the one we need to find."

"I think she' right," I said, remembering something. "When I broke into one of the Storm's bases, there was a paper that said that Rook was only Head Administrator. He probably carries out the orders, but the one giving orders…"

"The Director," Casey interjected.

"Yeah, the Director. Well, he's probably the one in control of Lugia. And much as I want to go after Rook and take him down, I think the Director is the one we're after."

Blaine seemed to vanish into thought. "But it could still be Rook. There's no way to be sure, one way or another… it could be either one, in fact. We lose the element of surprise the moment we attack, so we can't attack both…"

"Yes we can," said Richard. "We just split into two groups… I mean, how strong can they be? If we go two against one, we've got a pretty good chance, eh?"

"I suppose…" said Blaine. "That's all we can do, then. Volunteers for Rook?"

I wanted, almost more than anything, to raise my hand… but I had a feeling that Casey would be going after the Director, and she would need me more there. I could let Richard and Blaine at least start the fight… I just wanted to finish my battle quickly so I could get down and fight Rook for myself. And if I didn't get to Rook? Well, I'd just have to settle for taking down his boss.

He beat my brother, I beat his master. Maybe that would be a fair trade…

When no one raised their hand, Richard and Blaine nodded at each.

"We'll take Rook, then."

"He'll be in the center of the ring," I told them, though they already knew it. "He'll have a lot of people with him, but Rook loves a good fight, so chances are that he'll take you on himself. But where do we find the Director?"

"From what I know about Directors," said Blaine, "They like to watch their movies from big comfy chairs and just shout their orders down. He'll be somewhere where he can see everything."

"How about that?" Casey asked after a moment. She was pointing to a large signal tower off along the Iris' curve. It stuck out, standing a good twelve stories above every other building in the area, a needle of pure black interspersed with lights.

"That'll be a good place to start, I should think."