On one side, a massive army of some of the smartest people in the world with some of the most powerful pokemon in human possession. On the other, a pokemon whose power controls the very volcano we fought on. Though Heatran was a mighty pokemon, and at any other time I would try to calm it down or run away, I had a mission. To do that mission, I needed to stay alive.

"Lola, Zachary, Sorrel, Sarah, let's go!" I cried. Sorrel, Zachary and Lola roared as their fur stood on end, and each brought a new surprise to the table. The first was Sorrel, whose neck burst into flames as he unleashed a powerful Flamethrower at Heatran, who shrugged it off and charged towards him with fury in its voice as it opened its mouth, coughing up a Lava Plume at Sorrel. He snarled and began to gag, a Lava Plume of his own emerging from his throat. The clash of soot and lava threw both pokemon back, and Zachary and Lola leapt in front. They opened their mouths wide in a throaty roar, and a twisting beam of dark purple energy erupted from them, slamming into Heatran and pushing it back farther.

'You will have to do better than that if you want to live, inferior creatures! Taste my Magma Storm!' It said as it opened its mouth, a violent stream of lava shooting towards us.

"Sarah, Protect!" I commanded as I dove under her flaky shell. Sarah began to glow a bright green as she shielded me from the attack, and when it faded I got up to find that Caitlin and Gothitelle covered herself, Colress and the pokemon in a psychic barrier.

"Now Gothitelle, Thunderbolt!" She commanded.

"Klang, you use Thunderbolt too! Magnezone, use Discharge!" Colress chimed. The three pokemon generated electricity at an alarming rate, the energy crackling around them as they forced the attack towards Heatran. The firey pokemon snorted as it made the volcano erupt, using the speeding lava as a slick to dodge out of the way.

"Sorrel! Blast Burn!"

"Gothitelle, Psychic!" Caitlin and I called at the same time. Both attacks met the lava before it could reach us and parted it so that it flowed harmlessly away from us. Heatran did not like that one bit though, and it slammed its foot on the mountainside, causing the ground to shake and another wave of lava to assault Psychic and Blast Burn. Dragonair slithered away from me and yelled something at Gothitelle and Sorrel. The two pokemon nodded and put more force into their attacks, causing the lava to rise up in a small swell. The two pearls on Dragonair's tail began to glow, and water emerged from them, twisting just like before. Twisting herself, Dragonair brought her Aqua Tail forward and slammed it into the swells, which hardened into a sort of gutter. Thanks to them, lava from the volcano was no longer a threat to us, and we could concentrate our full efforts on Heatran.

'You may have prevented the volcano from helping me, but you are still going to die! Take this!' It yelled at its crest glowed. It fired a massive Flash Cannon at us, but once again Dragonair knew just what to do. The water disappeared as her tail turned blue, and she rushed at Sarah, slamming it on her underside and knocking the Shelgon into the air.

"Sarah, Protect!" I commanded, though it was more out of formality than necessity. Her shell was already glowing a bright green as Flash Cannon slammed into it. Sarah snarled and began turning in the air as she descended, bouncing the Flash Cannon back at Heatran's feet. This only pissed it off further though, and it started charging toward us, a Magma Storm preparing in its mouth, when a heart-shaped beam hit its head, making Heatran glow a bright pink. It wobbled and moaned as though it were drunk, and failed to notice as a large crack in the mountain rushed over to it, making the heavy pokemon fall through into the mountain.

"What the?" I started as two pokemon cried out. I looked down to see a huge Krookodile scaling the mountain at an alarming rate, Grimsley and his Liepard clinging to its back with a strange combination of smugness and fury on their faces. As they finally made it to the cliff where we stood, Grimsley leapt off of Krookodile's back and ran to me, scooping me up in his arms and hugging tightly.

"I leave you alone for a couple of weeks, and then come back to find you fighting off an angry Heatran? Did Caitlin have something to do with this?" He asked, turning to face the Psychic specialist as he teased her. Caitlin stomped her foot and huffed angrily at him.

"That is NOT how you repay the person who nursed you back to health!" She said, her eyes dimming as she started to slump. Gothitelle was at her side instantly and put its arms around her, and Grimsley sighed as he let me go and facepalmed.

"As hilarious as your narcolepsy is, now is not the time to sleep Caitlin. Attract and Earthquake won't distract Heatran forever." He said as his pokemon started growling. Caitlin snapped out of it in time to see Heatran burst up from the hole in a flurry of lava, absolutely livid with us.

'I don't care how many of you show up! You will not stop me! I will destroy you all and protect my home!' It said furiously, firing off another Magma Storm. Keldeo leapt in front of us and produced its Sacred Sword, leaping up to cut the attack in half. But that was exactly what Heatran wanted as it appeared in front of Keldeo suddenly, throwing up a massive Lava Plume that caught Keldeo by surprise. The injured water horse screamed in pain as it went sailing past us, hitting the edge of the cliff and rolling over.

"Keldeo! Krookodile, please go help Keldeo!" I called, turning to my Master's pokemon. Krookodile obeyed without hesitation as it leapt over the cliff after it, flying down and grabbing it in one of its large, red arms as it used to other to clutch the mountainside, halting their descent. I sighed in relief before turning to Heatran, anger burning fiercely in my eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that! You'll pay for hurting my friend, Heatran! Dragonair, Aqua Tail!" I commanded. Dragonair eagerly executed the request, slamming the twisting pillar of water into Heatran, who groaned from the impact.

"Zachary, Lola, Dark Pulse!" I followed up. The two pokemon roared as they blasted Heatran with dark energy, and it snarled in anger as the attacks pushed it back. It stopped and looked closely at all of us, focusing its attention on me as its eyes narrowed.

'You seem to be the leader. Which means if I kill you, your subordinates will lose their will. Die, puny human.' It snarled as it slammed its foot down, shaking the whole mountain. The ground shook so badly, everyone lost their footing and slipped. Unfortunately for me, I was too close to the edge of the cliff, and I ended up slipping over it.

"Master! Lola! Colress! Help me!" I screamed as I clung to the edge for dear life. Grimsley and Colress were at the edge instantly, each grabbing one of my arms and pulling.

"Hold on Vixen!" Colress shouted as they began to lift me up.

'Oh no you don't!' Heatran yelled as it scaled down the mountain.

"Behind you!" Caitlin and I yelled as Heatran opened its mouth.

"Lola, use Dark Pulse!" I commanded. Lola turned her attention away from helping me and focused both blasts of Dark Pulse at Heatran, but it was too late. Another Earth Power from Heatran had already shook the ground, and Grimsley and Colress lost their grip. I saw a bright white light as I plummeted down, Grimsley's screams of anguish echoing as Keldeo and Krookodile tried and failed to catch me while I fell. I tried to cling to the mountain myself, but all I accomplished was making my fall worse, and I began to spin and hit the mountain at odd intervals.

'VIXEN!' Lola cried out in despair as our connection got further and further away.

As I plummeted to my death, I sobbed as all my dreams fell with me. I would never stop Team Plasma, or watch Lola turn into a Hydreigon, or keep my promise to Grimsley. Cory would be the star of Aspertia City that he was destined to be, and I would be put in my place once again at the bottom of the food chain.

No. Not now. I refuse to give up my dreams just yet. I was going to keep fighting to the end, no matter how much the odds were stacked against me. I snarled and righted myself in the air, closing my eyes as I reached out to grab something, anything that would spare my life. I failed utterly to catch something to save myself, but my fall was broken by something else. As I abruptly stopped descending, my hands slammed down on something soft and smooth in front of me, and I opened my eyes to meet a pair of white ones, their black slits regarding me with joy.

I blinked several times as I extended my sight beyond the pokemon's eyes, seeing cool blue and deep red scales. We bounced up and down ever so gently, and I looked to see a pair of large, crimson wings flapping up and down, a long tail rotating carefully. I reached into my bag and pulled out my pokedex to scan the pokemon.

"Salamence, the Dragon Pokemon, and the final evolution of Bagon. As a result of its desires as a Bagon, Salamence forced itself to grow wings during its time as a Shelgon, and it is known as one of the fastest flyers in the world." It said as the Salamence chirped. I blinked and put the device away, locking eyes with Salamence.

"Sarah? Is that you?" I asked in shock. The dragon smiled and nodded quickly, craning its neck to lick me with a big, soft tongue. I laughed and threw my upper body on Sarah's neck, hugging her tightly.

"I'm so glad Sarah! And you saved me! You're the greatest, buddy!" I told her. Sarah chirped and nuzzled my back with her snout, but another shake of the mountain let me know that the reunion had to wait as Sarah and I looked up at the curtain of fog.

"Ready to go kick some molten ass?" I asked her. Sarah snarled and let out a piercing roar. With a mighty flap of her new wings, Sarah shot into the fog and up the mountain at a high speed, and I gritted my teeth as I leaned down on her back.

"Sarah, use Dragonbreath!" I commanded as we shot up past the cliff, hovering above Heatran.

"Look! It's Sarah!" I heard Colress say as he took note of our entrance.

'And she's got Vixen! Way to go Sarah!' Keldeo announced, crying out in glee.

"Heatran, I've had enough of you and your rage! Go away and stay away! Get him Sarah!" I commanded. Sarah snarled as she unleashed her pink fire, her rage fueling it and making it grow enough to completely engulf Heatran. Their hope renewed by my rescue, the others called out their own attacks, and every pokemon began to assault Heatran in a combined effort. Heatran screamed in pain as the volcano erupted, and when everyone got too tired to keep attacking, we found Heatran crumpled in a heap on the mountainside. Its body smoked as it panted heavily, too weak to continue but still defiant.

'I cannot lose, I will not lose. I will kill every last one of you.' It said, its mind sounding as weak as the rest of it.

'Not while I reign.' Said the queen as she stood proudly at the top of the volcano. Heatran looked up in terror as the queen glared fiercely, making her descent towards it but in no rush by any means.

'Your majesty! I-I can explain!' It started, but the queen hissed and spit a small Lava Plume in its face.

'Save it. You deliberately attacked our guests, whom I made clear were friends. As far as I am concerned, that is a direct defiance to my rule. You know the consequences for mutiny.' She said angrily. If it were capable of doing so, Heatran would have paled as it struggled to stand up, but the queen raised one of her feet, stamping down without mercy on it as two more Heatran appeared.

'Take him out of my sight and get him ready for execution. He's had his last chance.' She said, making Heatran scream as her two subordinates started to lift him up. He tried to struggle, but the fight left him devoid of any energy to fight back, and all he could do was scream. Call me crazy, but I felt bad for him. Despite all the trouble he put us through, it didn't feel right to let him die. I gently nudged Sarah to take me down as the three Heatran started towards the volcano.

"Wait." I said as we touched down. I carefully slid on Sarah's neck, standing in front of her while she braced my back with her head. The queen turned to me with a curious glance and stomped her foot to make the departing Heatran stop.

'Do you have a few more things to say to him? Bring him here!' She said, the two Heatran bringing their prisoner back. I shook my head and bowed carefully at the queen, depending on Sarah to keep my balance as she dug her claws into the mountain.

"With all due respect, your majesty, please, don't go through with this. Please don't kill him on my account." I said, making everyone except the queen gasp. Even her prisoner, the Heatran that was so concentrated on trying to get rid of me, looked at me in shock.

'Y-you're protecting me? I tried to kill you! You should be begging the queen to watch my execution!' He said, narrowing his eyes at me. I turned to Heatran and huffed, standing up straighter and crossing my arms.

"Maybe I should, but then there are a lot of things I should and shouldn't have done. I shouldn't have been born, I should have let my rival go uncontested, I shouldn't have left the pokemon center in Castelia, I can name so many more things I should have done and not done off the top of my head right this second. But I don't always do what I'm supposed to. Just ask my Master, it drives him batshit." I said, making Grimsley chuckle. Heatran's eyes continued to glare as the queen looked on in silence.

'Why?' He asked.

"Because I follow my own path and make my own decisions. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, and I learn from it when I do. Even if you did die because of this, it's not going to make it not have happened. I will always have to live with almost being killed by a Heatran, and the queen will always have to live with knowing one of the members of her colony tried to kill me. Your death makes no difference in that. Hell, people and pokemon have tried to kill me so many times since I started my journey, I'm finding it really hard to care when it keeps happening. So as far as I'm concerned, you don't deserve to die just because you jumped on the bandwagon." I said, adding the last part for the queen. She and the other Heatran stared at me in silence, and I started shifting uncomfortably, looking down at my friends. Grimsley nodded approvingly at my words while Caitlin and Colress looked at me in pride, genuinely impressed. My pokemon all stared at me in admiration, and I didn't need Lola's mind to know that they were all proud of me too. The queen Heatran grunted, bringing my attention back to her and her subordinates.

'You are quite certain of this?' She asked. I nodded and bowed at her in response.

"Yes ma'am. I would feel horrible if Heatran died just because he attacked me. Frankly, if he hadn't pushed me off the cliff, Sarah wouldn't have evolved into a Salamence to save me. Who knows how much longer she would have had to wait as a ragamuffin before she evolved? I'm actually grateful." I told her. The queen regarded me with her bug eyes, silently considering my words, before she turned to the three Heatran.

'Take him to the spring. The girl is sincere in her plea, so you shall be spared. But mark my words, do not attack the innocent again. This is your final chance. Disobey me once more, and no amount of human words and sincerity will spare you.' She said. My attacker was silent, barely managing a nod as he lost himself in his thoughts, the other Heatran carrying him to the volcano top. With a sigh, the queen turned back to me and gave me a warm smile and she lightly stomped her foot, making me stand up straighter.

'Rise, little one. I am flattered that you would treat me as a human queen, but there is no need for that. I'm truly sorry he attacked you, but I do believe you have given him something to think about.' She said as a pair of claws clamped the mountain inches away from the queen. She backed up as Krookodile climbed up, Grimsley not waiting for it to finish before he ran to my side. He somehow maintained a perfect balance as he pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly with no intention of letting go.

"Stop doing this! I'm too young to die of a heart attack!" He reprimanded, pulling me away from his chest and looking at me. His eyes swam with worry, exasperation, and relief, and the queen took notice of it as I smiled at him.

'Are you the child's parent?' She asked. Grimsley turned to the queen and dipped his head in respect.

"No ma'am, but I might as well be. In truth, she is merely my apprentice, but I indeed love her as my own." He said as he kept his arms on me. The queen smiled warmly as she stomped her feet, making the mountainside crack and descend until we were level with everyone else.

'You taught her well. She will make a fine leader someday.' She said as the others rushed up to me and Grimsley, each finding some way to make sure I was okay. Grimsley finally convinced himself to stop fawning over me by plopping me on Lola's back, and the two heads nuzzled me lovingly, warbling softly.

"I think she already is." Grimsley told the queen as he stepped back to watch the loving chaos. She nodded and hummed in agreement as she stood up straighter, turning towards the tunnel.

'Come. I will escort you out of the mountain towards the human resort. I think you deserve a nice vacation after all that's happened.' She said as she started down the tunnel, once again not waiting. I handed Sorrel his hat back as I recalled him, Sarah and Zachary, thanking them deeply for protecting me. Lola lumbered on behind Heatran while the rest of the group followed, and as I turned to look at everyone, I noticed that Dragonair was still with us, slithering gracefully and patiently behind Lola.

"So Dragonair, what brings you here?" I asked quietly so that Colress couldn't hear me. Not that it mattered, he was too distracted with helping Keldeo fill in Grimsley on what he had missed. Dragonair recognized the attempt at secrecy and slithered up closer to me, thus getting closer to Lola's two heads, and quietly moaned something to them.

'She says she's finally made up her mind about you.' Lo said as she and her twin head continued to lead us behind the queen.

"Oh? And what have you decided Dragonair?" I asked quietly. She rushed forward and moved between Lola and the queen, making both stop to watch and drawing the attention of our entourage. She moaned again, and La started warbling softly.

'She's decided that you are a trainer worthy of her powers. Your cunning, kindness and humility are exactly what she had been looking for in a companion, and would be more than honored to be in your possession.' La said, making me stunned.

"Y-you want to come with me Dragonair?" I asked incredulously. Dragonair nodded and brought her tail forward, curling it around her. I smiled and dismounted Lola as the queen hummed.

'She wants to make sure your power is on par with her own. Battle for me, young trainer.' Said the queen as she backed up to make room. I walked backwards towards the group, standing in between Colress and Grimsley while Lola waited patiently.

"Alright, you asked for it Dragonair. Lola, ready for this?" I asked. The two heads barked as they reared up, slamming their paws back down to make the ground shake slightly.

'Let's do this!' Lo said haughtily, grinning in a way that showed off all her teeth.

'We won't let you down, Vixen.' La said as she crooned. I smiled as Dragonair's tail glowed a light blue, bringing it forward and slamming it down. Lola's heads grinned as she reared up, catching her tail in her claws. Colress adjusted his glasses as he tapped my shoulder.

"Be careful, Dragon Tail has a nasty habit of making pokemon return to their pokeballs when it connects." He told me, and I nodded in response.

"Alright Lola, throw her away from you with Dragon Pulse!" I commanded. Lola swung Dragonair in front and launched a two-pronged attack of Dragon Pulse, the wispy breath weapon sending Dragonair flying past the queen who did not bother to dodge the attack. She did, however, move when a blue light lit the cave, and without hesitation, I formed a counter attack.

"Dark Pulse!" I cried. As Dragonair rushed forward in Dragon Rush, Lola fired two Dark Pulses at her, though this time she was able to dodge skillfully and slam into her chest, making the two heads gag. Lola was getting angrier, and while both heads agreed that Dragonair was the source of that anger, they had different ideas on how to deal with it. Lo preferred a direct attack and wanted to beat in Dragonair's face, but La thought a sneak attack would give them a better advantaged. The conflicting ideas showed in the jagged, uncoordinated way their body moved, trying to respond to both desires.

'Just listen to me you guys. Let me come up with the plans.' I pushed, and the Zweilous stopped moving as Dragonair backed up, covering herself in the blue fires of Dragon Rush again.

"Counter with your own Dragon Rush! Let's end this!" I commanded. Lola's body became engulfed in a bright blue flame as she and Dragonair charged at each other, the two attacks colliding in a powerful way. The flames reached all sides of the cave, and would have caused some real problems for me if Colress and Caitlin's pokemon didn't jump in front of us, taking the brunt of the attack. The fire faded, and I saw Dragonair laying down, her eyes tightly shut, while Lola panted, but remained standing.

'Now is your chance.'

'Do it now!' Both heads cried, and I quickly lobbed an empty pokeball at Dragonair. The ball sailed at a high speed, the button striking her neck and opening up, pulling her inside. There was something weird about this particular capture. The ball had made a sound I did not recognize when I threw it, and as soon as Dragonair was pulled inside, it shook violently before it hit the ground. The ball shook only once before it clicked, ringing a successful capture. I was still slightly confused as Lola walked up to the pokeball, grabbing it with her right head and turning around to bring it over to me, and both Grimsley and Colress made an interested sound.

"Was that what I think it was?" Grimsley asked as I took the pokeball from Lola.

"Indeed. That was a critical capture." Colress responded as I turned the ball over in my hands, and I looked up to the scientist who stared at my pokeball hungrily.

"Huh?" I asked as I handed him the pokeball. He gratefully took it and started inspecting it, pulling out his tablet and opening a hatch on the back of it, producing a suction cup on a wire that he attached to the top of the ball. He started running his fingers over the touchscreen as he became engrossed in his work, and Grimsley rolled his eyes, turning to me.

"A critical capture. It's like the pokeball equivalent of a critical hit in battles. It's somewhere between the general unreliability of a normal pokeball and the surefire promise of a Master Ball. It'll whistle when thrown, pull the pokemon inside, and then shake really fast in the air before it lands. If it succeeds, which it has an incredibly high chance of doing, the ball will only shake once instead of two or three times, before the pokemon is locked." He explained as Colress continued to run his test. I blinked as I stared at the pokeball curiously.

"Really? How did I get a pokeball that would make a critical capture?" I asked. Colress briefly snapped out of his scientific trance and he looked at me with a soft smile.

"You didn't. All pokeballs are made the same way except for certain kinds made by a fellow in the Johto region. They all have an equal chance of making a critical capture. Even a Master Ball is theoretically capable of doing it, though so few of those are made, it's never actually happened. No one knows what prompts a critical capture in a pokeball. Conspiracy theorists say its a glitch in the pokeball's internal programming. Others say it is a reflection of the pokemon's own desire to be with the trainer who makes the critical capture. A select few believe Arceus or some other deity has something to do with it. No one is able to agree on which theory is plausible, and science is still trying to study the phenomenon. As you can imagine, it is difficult to come by test subjects. Thank you, by the way. I got all the data I need." He said, handing the pokeball back to me. I gratefully took the device from him, carefully peeling off the suction cup that retracted back into his tablet, and turned around. I tossed the pokeball up, and Dragonair appeared in a flash of light, looking absolutely regal even though she was clearly tired.

"Thank you for giving yourself to me Dragonair. I promise I will do everything I can to prove my worthiness of your choice." I told her. Dragonair moaned as she leaned down, gently wrapping herself around me in a hug as if to tell me I already did. I stroked her smooth, watery scales and looked into her eyes. A beautiful pokemon deserved a name that was just as beautiful and to the point as it was. I had the perfect name for such a pokemon. As I recalled Lola into her own pokeball to give her the rest she truly deserved, I pulled out of Dragonair's coils and swung my leg over her lithe body much like Carina did on her Serperior, and Dragonair glowed as she began to float, following the queen Heatran who began leading us through the mountain once again. I gently stroked Dragonair's neck as she moved, and she turned around to look at me as I opened my mouth to deliver my verdict.

"Welcome to the family, Beth."

TBC

So we got into a massive fight with a Heatran, Grimsley joined the party, Vixen was almost killed AGAIN (I feel like this should be a given by now), Sarah evolved into Salamance, and Vixen caught a Dragonair. Wow this was a big chappy. And if you'll excuse me, I'm about to have an Oprah moment.

YOU get a new move! He gets a new move! EVERYONE GETS A NEW MOVE!

I swear I didn't mean for all of those attacks to be learned at once XD. I wandered Reversal Mountain for HOURS trying to get enough Blue Shards for Lola and Zachary to learn Dark Pulse, and I was trying to level Lola and Sarah to evolution so I could have the material for the story. I didn't want Sorrel and Zachary to fall behind though, and Sorrel kinda shocked me by learning Flamethrower and Lava Plume in the process. Let's not piss him off shall we?

Critical captures are a real thing guys. I dunno if it happens in Black and White and earlier generations, but in BW2 there is a very real chance of getting a sudden boost in capture probability. It can happen with any pokeball *it's happened to me with both regular and quick balls*. So far, it's only random, but I have gotten so many critical captures that I have a theory that it might have something to do with how many successful captures you make or how many pokeballs you throw in general.

By the way, the attack that Heatran was using to make the volcano erupt was NOT Eruption, it was Earth Power. Oddly enough, Heatran can't learn Eruption, but it does learn Earth Power via level. And face it, using Earthquake or Earth Power on an active volcano, it might as well be Eruption.

We relax in Undella Town next chapter.