Episode 48: Delta, Part 1

Niko and his friends looked out at the Sky Pillar, where they had just seen an explosion open a wide hole in the side of the building. Moments later, they saw a salamence flying around the hole, and Zinnia riding atop it.

"How're we going to get there?" JJ asked. "We have to do something!"

"No idea…" Niko said, trying to come up with a solution. It's too far for him to battle from, otherwise he'd send swellow into the fight. "Can we borrow a boat or something?" Looking around frantically, he saw no boat, but did see a metagross flying through the air towards the Sky Pillar, with a tall, familiar man standing atop it. "STEVEN!" Niko shouted, catching the ex-champion's attention. The metagross turned around and descended to the rafts of Pacifidlog Town.

"Niko, Brittany, what are you all doing here?" Steven asked, looking concerned. "You should all get inside. We've got this taken care of?"

"'We?'" Brittany asked. "Unless you mean all of us, all I see is you."

"No, I've summoned Wallace and some of the Elite 4 to help us. From our intelligence, it looks like Team Magma and Aqua are there."

"As well as Zinnia," Niko said, pointing to the dragon flying through the air.

"Right. Anyways, you should find a secure place. This could get ugly."

"No, we're helping. We just need to find a way up there," Niko replied decisively. Steven sighed, realizing it was useless to try and argue.

"Fine then. Skarmory, claydol, come on out!" The ex-champion said, "Let's get these kids up to Sky Pillar. They're gonna help us out."

The two pokémon nodded, and Niko and Jake jumped on to skarmory while JJ got on claydol. Brittany joined Steven atop metagross, and the three were off.

The Sky Pillar was an enormously tall building off on the outskirts of Pacifidlog Town, near Route 131. Niko, Steven, and the rest of the group flew to the western end of the pillar, a couple floors below the site of the explosion. Metagross blew a hole in the wall using psychic, and they all landed safely. Looking around, the inside of the building was quite impressive, albeit very damaged, likely from the battle ensuing on each floor of the pillar.

"Where do we need to go?" Niko asked, looking around before noticing a stairwell leading up. "There?"

Steven nodded, and the five trainers and their pokémon ran off. As soon as they ascended to the next floor—one below the explosion-rattled floor—they ran into a crowd of Team Magma and Aqua grunts fighting it out. The group tried to sneak around them, but they were too large of a group and were near-instantly noticed.

"Hey! It's you kids!" One Team Aqua grunt shouted. "The ones from Meteor Falls!"

"Yeah!" A Magma Grunt shouted in concurrence. "Numel, use flamethrower on them!"

"Wartortle, water gun!"

"Mudkip, water gun!" Brittany and Jake both shouted. "We've got this, guys, you go on!"

"Jake, I'm not leaving you," Niko said, ready to begin fighting.

"Niko, don't worry. I've got him…" Brittany said with a determined expression.

"Same here," JJ said, summoning shroomish. "We'll deal with them."

"Got it," Steven said, "Skarmory, claydol, assist them as much as you can. Niko, you and I can deal with whatever's upstairs, right?"

Niko hesitated, looking back at Jake and seeing the power in his eyes, and then nodded. "Yeah, let's go," Steven grabbed his arm and pulled him up the next flight of stairs where they saw the source of the explosion. There, in a battle with Zinnia and her salamence was none other than Courtney and her camerupt.

"Courtney!" Niko shouted out. The Team Magma leader turned around to face the brown-haired trainer.

"Ah, of course. Niko…" She said with an emotionless tone. "I should have expected you and Steven to show up. Rematch from Mossdeep now?" She said, cocking her head to the side.

"What is going on?" Niko asked. "I don't understand why you're all doing this."

"Of course a child wouldn't understand our plans. It happened last time, and it'll happen again this time."

"I'm NOT a child!" Niko shouted, "Lairon, grovyle, let's go!"

"Niko, don't be so hasty…" Steven cautioned, although he also looked ready to battle.

"No, Steven. I'm tired of seeing these jerks! These evil teams trying to destroy the world, or whatever. It gets old, and I'm going to stop them today. Grovyle, leaf blade on camerupt! Lairon, use iron tail!"

"Camerupt, eruption," Courtney began, "And if that's how you want to 'end this,' then so be it. But I will destroy you this time."

"Niko!" Zinnia shouted. "Just go! I can handle her!"

"Clearly not!" Niko shouted back. "It's not like they're leaving!" As he said this, he felt something hit his back, knocking him to the ground. "What the…"

"Surprise, child," Niko turned around to see Team Aqua's leader, Matt, standing above him. The massively tall man in only pants and a bandana stood over him, ready to beat him up. "This is the last time you interfere with anyone's plans."

"Really, Matt? You're just going to kill the kid outright?" Courtney asked in a bored tone. "You really don't have any class, typical Team Aqua."

"Look at you, Courtney! What respect do you have for buildings? You blew a damn hole in it!"

"It's to get rid of that pest in the sky," Courtney said, pointing to Zinnia. Angered, the Draconid's salamence launched a hyper beam, to which Courtney responded by summoning her crobat to take the hit and respond with aerial ace. "Now, camerupt, use earthquake!"

"What?" Steven shouted out. "You'll collapse the floor! All of us—including you—will go down with it!"

"You'd think that, right?" Courtney smirked, showing the first real sign of emotion. "Crobat, come," The large bat-like pokémon returned to its trainer and Courtney grabbed onto it, floating off. Camerupt then began to shake the ground.

"Niko, we have to get everyone to safety!" Steven said.

"Alright, but swellow! Go after Courtney and Zinnia! Use aerial ace!" Niko commanded. Steven, following the trainer's example, called for skarmory to do the same. He then ran down with Niko to the floor under them to alert the room. Realizing what was happening, everyone piled into the stairwell to run down, regardless of their affiliation. Soon enough the floor that camerupt stood on collapsed, and the eruption pokémon was returned as it began to fall.

A crowd of grunts and the group all stared at each other, panting from the adrenaline rush they just received. However, moments later Magma and Aqua grunts were back to fighting each other, with or without their pokémon.

"We will prevail! The world will be covered in land!"

"Never! The seas will expand to create new life for water pokémon!" Grunts from both teams shouted at each other. Niko looked around for his friends, noticing that they were all still safe, and still battling with grunts.

"Steven…what do we do?" Niko asked exasperatedly. "We have no idea what their endgame is, and there's too many grunts here…"

"Niko, we need to take out the leaders. Where is Matt?" Steven asked calmly, noticing that Matt wasn't even on that floor.

"Maybe he went back upstairs?" Niko suggested, turning to grovyle and lairon. Both of them shrugged as well.

"He used the earthquake as a distraction…" Steven said before bolting back up the stairs, metagross behind him. Niko returned his pokémon and followed. When they passed the floor that collapsed, Niko saw swellow rush through the gigantic hole in the wall and slam into the opposite wall, right in front of its trainer.

"Swellow!" Niko shouted, grabbing for his flying type. "Are you alright?" He turned to look at Courtney who, while still hanging onto crobat, pointed to Zinnia. "You…you didn't…!" Niko shouted again. All Zinnia did was fly up and out of sight. Moments later, Courtney followed on crobat, albeit slower. "Steven, we need to keep going!" Niko said angrily before he realized Steven was already gone. Nodding to himself, he kept running upwards, returning his defeated swellow to its pokéball.

He made it to the top of the Sky Pillar as the sun was setting. There stood Zinnia, Courtney, Matt, and Steven, all staring down each other, their pokémon at the ready. Niko pulled out a pokéball of his own and approached the four leaders.

"Someone's going to tell me what's happening!" Niko cried out. "Right. Now."

Courtney, looking bored, answered. "We all want Rayquaza," She said. "But for different reasons, it seems."

"The only pokémon capable of stopping Groudon and Kyogre is Rayquaza," Zinnia explained. "Both of these morons want it so they can control one—or both—of the superancient pokémon."

"Wow, the Draconid is smart," Courtney said, turning back to Niko. "That's our plan in a nutshell. Satisfied?"

"Not until you're defeated. Grovyle, let's go! Leaf blade on camerupt!"

"Silly kid. Camerupt, flamethrower! Crobat, aerial ace!" Both attacks hit grovyle, knocking it backwards. The flamethrower hit second, dousing the wood gecko in a stream of fire. "Finish it off with sludge bomb, crobat!"

"No!" Steven shouted. "Metagross, psychic!"

The iron leg pokemon's eyes began to glow, and crobat found itself being hurtled into a nearby pile of rocks. Matt then pulled out a pokéball of his own to challenge Niko, while Zinnia's salamence turned its attention towards camerupt.

"Sharpedo, let's go!" Matt commanded. "Crunch on grovyle!"

"Manectric, use shock wave!" Niko shouted angrily, his discharge pokémon launching out of its pokéball and conjuring a blue lightning attack against the shark pokémon, hitting it square in the face, causing it to crumble onto the ground. "Grovyle, are you alright?" The wood gecko nodded as Niko was kneeling down to check on it. "Alright, good. Return buddy, you did a great job," Niko looked up, noticing that Zinnia wasn't around. "Steven, where'd Zinnia go?"

The ex-champion shrugged. "No idea. Wait…there she is! Up on that platform!"

It was true—Zinnia had ascended another set of stairs to a raised platform on the top of Sky Pillar. There, her and her whismur stood in the middle as she pulled something off of her ankle, a chain of circular stones. Moments later, both Courtney and Matt noticed what she was doing, and commanded their pokémon to attack. Camerupt and sharpedo both launched flamethrower and hydro pump, respectively, at the Draconid, but it was blocked with salamence's protective shield that it conjured.

"NO!" Courtney shouted out. "You won't get Rayquaza!" She rushed forward with camerupt, but they were intercepted by salamence once more.

"Niko…" Steven said, "Do you think Zinnia is good?"

"I don't know what to think, actually," Niko responded, still looking frustrated and confused. He then ran forward as well, only to be met with resistance from salamence.


Meanwhile, in the Sky Pillar, JJ, Brittany, and Jake were fending off grunts, trying to prevent them from going upstairs.

"What's going on up there anyways?" JJ shouted to his friends, but a grunt responded instead.

"Only what we came here for. Our team's ultimate goal!" An Aqua grunt replied.

"And that is…?" Brittany asked before commanding wartortle to use skull bash on a carvanha.

"To control Rayquaza and Kyogre, and rule the world! Expand the seas!" The grunt shouted, raising his arms into the air.

"You mean Rayquaza and Groudon, you moron!" The Magma grunt shouted. Suddenly, the two got into a fist fight, knocking each other to the ground, allowing the three trainers some room to exit and run up the stairs to see what was going on.

When they got there, they saw a bright light emanating from the center of a raised platform. Atop it looked like Zinnia, and Niko, Steven, Courtney, and Matt were all trying to get past her salamence, but were stopped by its protective shield and its dragonbreath attacks.

"Niko!" Jake shouted to his brother, who turned around instantly.

"Jake! Get away! Brittany, JJ, go!" He replied, but it only caused his friends to move closer.

"No Niko! We're helping you out!" Brittany said as they and their pokémon all ran to the bottom of the stairway leading to it to stand to with their friend. "Wartortle, skull bash on salamence!"

"Marill, water gun!"

"Mudkip, water gun!"

All three attacks hit salamence, but the dragon pokémon swatted them away with relative ease. Over the enormous dragon, they noticed Zinnia's chain beginning to glow a bright green color.

"Is she…is she doing it?" Matt said, astonished at the sight.

"Yeah, she's summoning Rayquaza," Courtney answered. "Camerupt, earthquake!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, causing everyone to fall to the floor, including Zinnia. The bright light that surrounded her faded with her collapse. The chain left her hand and fell to the floor, rolling a bit away from her. It was then that Courtney bypassed a surprised salamence and grabbed the chain, only to thrust it into the air as the Draconid had done. It began to glow a bright red color, and the platform she was on began to shake.

A piercing cry erupted throughout the sky. Dark clouds filled the sky above them. And, moments later, a long, green and yellow pokémon emerged from above the clouds and descended towards the platform.

"Rayquaza," Courtney shouted. "You are mine!"

-To Be Continued-