Chapter Seventeen: Deoxys
The creature had emerged from the shell of the meteorite, but stopped moving after that, it just stared blankly forward, its lifeless eyes wide open.
"Doc, what do you call this thing?!" Drake yelled into the microphone, though facing Dr. Gideon. "Huh? Come over here and say it!"
Instead of waiting for Gideon to come over, however, Drake marched to the scientist and shoved the microphone to his face.
"Well, due to its origins, I named it after deoxyribonucleic acid," Gideon said in a superior tone. "Uh, DNA that is. I call it by the codename 'Deoxys'."
"Good!" Drake shouted and pushed Gideon away. "Deoxys is the first herald of the Beast of the Distortion World, one whose arrival will usher forth an army of creatures from another world and end the age of man!"
"Kris," Wes whispered, leaning closer to her. "This is sounding awfully familiar…"
Kris could only stare. The same Drake who had praised her during their first meeting, had prepared her for the cup, had arranged for her to be privately trained… why was he doing this?
"Why?" Kris asked Drake, holding back tears. "What was the point of all this?"
Drake turned to look at Kris, his previously crazy bulging eyes now almost as dead and lifeless as the Deoxys'.
"The sole point of this cup was to attract as many people as possible," he said plainly. "I chose the contestants from a small pool of people who could threaten my plan. That's all there is to it."
"What about Domino?!" Kris shouted. "Was she in on your plan? Was everything she did for me just a ruse?"
Drake raised his eyebrows. "Hm? Domino?" he asked. "Oh, no, she's just an eager volunteer I grabbed. I knew she could be counted on to do some grunt work but mostly, I just wanted to keep the Cup as legitimate as possible."
Ignoring Kris' sputterings, Drake addressed the audience again.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "you may know me as a member of the Elite Four, but THIS is my true self."
Drake removed his captain's jacket. Apart from revealing him to be unnaturally fit for a man his age, without his collar, his neck was now fully visible, complete with a tattoo of a dark purple circle, with six spikes protruding from every direction from the ring.
"I am Its humble servant!" Drake announced gleefully to a confused crowd. "And as a sign of my loyalty, I am growing the size of Its army by thousands! Not only is Deoxys unbelievably powerful, its origin is that of a virus. As such, it multiplies by infecting hosts, transforming their bodies into more Deoxys! THAT is why you have been brought here!"
More screams, cries and boos from the crowd. Despite Drake's warnings, many tried to flee, prompting Drake to laugh.
"Run all you want!" he shouted. "My troops have blocked the entrances! If you are smart, you will stop resisting and take your place in our new glorious army!"
"Drake," Lorelei said warily, eyes locked at the Deoxys, which still hadn't moved an inch. "It's not too late to stop this…"
"Unfortunately," Drake said and dropped the mic, "it is. Gideon, prepare the capture! Flygon, Dragonb-"
The door Gideon and Tabitha had come through slammed open again, but this time, someone much faster came through, making its way towards Gideon and Tabitha in a blur. Gideon could only look in astonishment as the Master Ball he had taken out was snatched from his hands.
The culprit eventually stopped moving in the middle of the battlefield, an even distance away from Drake, Kris and the Deoxys: an athletically built young woman with curly blonde hair, wearing a uniform of sorts consisting of a black shirt with the unmistakable Team Rocket emblem in it, along with white knee-high boots, miniskirt and gloves extending past her elbows.
Though almost unrecognizable for a second, Kris soon realized who it was.
"Domino…" Kris said, now shaking in disbelief. "What…"
"Kris, take this old fool's advice and shut up for a second," Domino remarked, Drake frowning as he stared at her. "You have no idea what a week it's been. Listening to your endless complaining has taken years out of my life!"
"Wait, you know this woman?!" Wes shouted, his tone unusually angry while his hands were clenched in fists.
"And you do?" Kris asked him.
"How could I forget," Wes said, narrowing his eyes. Shrew, who had heard the commotion, was also struggling to break out of Wes' bag. Seeing its trainer, Shrew quickly jumped in Kris' arms while hissing at Domino. Kris patted the Sandshrew's head absentmindedly, wondering how everyone somehow knew her personal trainer.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Drake spat. "Gideon! You told me there were no more Team Rocket operatives left."
"Hey, good to see you!" Domino said as she waved at the dumbfounded Gideon. "I was wondering if they put old Doctor Weirdo behind bars. Did you end the habit that will make hair grow out of your eyes yet?"
"Black Tulip," Gideon grunted. "What's with the-"
"The getup?" Domino laughed. "Nostalgia, I suppose."
"Kris!"
Kris turned to look over her shoulder as Leaf suddenly burst out on the battlefield through the door Kris had used, riding her Rapidash and clutching her laptop bag. Leaf hopped gracefully off the Pokémon's back next to Kris and Wes while Rapidash stopped between the Deoxys and Domino, digging the ground with its hooves menacingly.
"We can't let her do it!" Leaf panted. "She is working for Pryce! He must have told her to infiltrate the Cup for this purpose!"
Kris just shook her head. "What…?"
"There's no way I'd forget that voice, mask or no mask," Leaf grunted, staring daggers at Domino. "She was one of the kids Pryce kidnapped, except out of all of us, she was the one who stayed voluntarily to beat the rest of us to submission."
"And she was at Navel Rock, working for Team Rocket!" Wes said.
"Don't forget the best part!" Domino taunted as she put her hands on her hips. "Little Kris here had no idea she had already met me. In Fiore, and again at the tournament in Almia! I'm so glad the plan went off without a hitch and I can finally show my beautiful face to the world!"
"I thought we were friends…" Kris said, not even aware of how childish her words sounded.
Domino stared at Kris. "Remember that feeling, Kris," she said harshly. "The people around you, so willing to put you on a pedestal, pat you on the back and suck you up… they're only doing it for their own selfish reasons, just like me. And just like me, I bet they're hating every second of trying to pointlessly ego-stroke your worthless ass."
"Gideon!" Drake yelled. "Are you going to stand there all day?!"
"N-no, boss!" Gideon said and pulled out a ray gun straight out of a sci-fi movie. "Okay, Black Tulip, it's been a fun reunion but I must ask you to AHHHH!"
Gideon dropped his weapon as he held his bleeding hand, Kris seeing only a glimpse of Domino slashing him with a knife. Watching and smiling as Gideon walked a few steps in the Deoxys' direction and slumped on the ground holding his bleeding wrist, Domino wiped some blood off the knife and sheathed it.
"Rapidash, take her down!" Leaf yelled.
But once again, Domino was faster. At first, Kris was confused as Domino took out a black flower from her pocket and aimed it at the Rapidash. But a second later, Kris saw a burst of electricity hit Rapidash and the Pokémon go down. At the same time, Tabitha, seemingly forgetting he had Pokémon, charged at Domino, but was easily defeated by a low kick and an elbow to the neck which sent him flat on his face.
"Get her, Flygon!" Drake shouted.
But Flygon was exhausted from its battle against Kris' Snorlax. Domino led Flygon straight towards Deoxys and ducked out of the way. Flygon slammed right into Deoxys, and when the purple crystal in the Deoxys' chest lit up, Kris knew something would happen. Whatever it was, it happened fast, but Flygon was suddenly surrounded by a blue glow and thrown halfway across the stadium until it hit a wall. Furious, Drake had to run closer to withdraw Flygon, Lorelei running after him.
Agitated, Deoxys was now on the move, and the first thing it noticed was Dr. Gideon, who had finished making himself a makeshift bandage out of his lab coat.
"These were my favorite threads!" Gideon yelled at Domino. "You're going to suffer for this! Deoxys! Blast her with a Psychic attack!"
Deoxys, its body actually hovering a few inches above ground, didn't obey, its pupils shifting to look at Gideon.
"Did you hear me, you ugly freak?!" Gideon screamed, completely out of control. "I am your new master! I named you! Without me, you'd still be in your stupid little rock! Now do. As. I. SAY!"
Those words would prove to be Gideon's last, as Deoxys jabbed him with its tentacle. Whatever happened, it happened too quickly, but Gideon collapsed on the ground without making a sound, purple ooze leaking from his wounds, including the one Domino had inflicted on his hand.
Satisfied, Domino threw the Master Ball at Deoxys. Though Kris hoped it would fail, she had already seen the ball in action before. Deoxys was turned into red energy and sucked into the ball, which wriggled on the ground several times before coming to a stop. Domino snatched the ball, waved at everyone and dashed out of the stadium, leaving Kris dumbfounded.
Elsewhere on the arena, Drake had sent out his Altaria, while Lorelei sent out her Dewgong. Despite the lack of water, Dewgong had no problems attacking Altaria, preventing Drake from flying out of the stadium. However, his look of anger soon turned to glee when a bright glow appeared where Gideon had been.
Kris, Wes and Leaf, whose attention had been elsewhere, turned to look. The glow soon faded and emerging from the pile of clothes where Gideon once stood was another Deoxys, looking identical to the previous one.
"What is happening?!" wailed Wes.
"We have to fight this thing!" Leaf yelled. "You heard what Drake said. If we don't stop it here, we're going to be dealing with a thousand more very soon! And if they get out of the arena and unleashed into the world…"
"Right…" Wes said, wiping sweat off his face. "Zebstrika, go!"
"Kris?!" Leaf said, snapping her fingers in front of Kris' face. "We need to do something! Give your Snorlax a command!"
Shaking her head, Kris seemed to be coming to grips with the situation.
"Y… yeah… yeah!" Kris said, more to herself than to anyone else. "This ends here. We're going to kill Domino! I mean Deoxys!"
Leaf and Wes looked in concern, but Kris ran towards Snorlax, who had been dozing off through the entire situation since the battle with Flygon was interrupted. Soon enough, the massive Pokémon was on its feet, ready to fight.
~o~O~o~
Back in the audience, panic was spreading everywhere as they witnessed Deoxys taking down Drake's Flygon and Dr. Gideon. Everyone was running around aimlessly or arguing about the course of action to take. Everyone, that is, except Iris, Elm, Blaine, Dawn and Barry, who hadn't left their seats. Elm was furiously typing on his laptop, Deoxys' schematics appearing slowly on his screen while Rapidash, Zebstrika and Snorlax prepared to fight the new Deoxys.
"I'm going down there!" Iris told the others as she grabbed the Poké Ball from her bag decorated with an Axew sticker. "Kris and the others need our help!"
"Wait!" yelled Elm.
"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I need to do this!" Iris snapped. "I'm a gym leader, after all!"
"Yes, er, I know, I mean wait a few seconds," Elm said, rifling through his own bag until he found something to give Iris. "It's a headset. It'll take a while to scan this Deoxys thing, but hopefully it'll be finished soon, and then I can tell you how to destroy it!"
"You really think you can do it?!" Blaine asked.
"I'm 18% sure," Elm said as he resumed typing.
Everyone turned to look at Wes' Zebstrika launched an electric attack at the Deoxys, which evaded the attack effortlessly.
"Okay, 13 percent."
"It'll have to do!" Iris said as she put on the headset and began making her way down the rows of seats, her small size working for her advantage as she navigated past the panicking onlookers who were too afraid to stay but also too worried of the consequences to leave.
"What about us?!" Dawn demanded and stood up. "I am not going to just sit here and watch!"
"Y-you're not?" Barry asked her nervously.
"That's what I like to hear, princess."
Elm was too busy with his laptop, but Blaine, Dawn and Barry turned to look at Hilda and Hilbert, who had arrived at the stadium, clearly out of breath.
"Sorry it took us a while, can you imagine the gall of that Elite Four lady?" Hilda said casually, trying to mask her exhaustion. "We give her and Wes a ride here, then they take off with his Pidgeot while we have to find a place to leave our boat and then try to get in the arena through Drake's clowns!"
"How's the situation downstairs?" Blaine asked Hilda.
"Bad, but Alder went down there to deal with Drake's people," Hilda sighed. "Unfortunately, a lot of people will be caught in the crossfire so he can't go all out. Since you Sinnoh guys want to help, how's about helping him?"
"YES!"
Barry was the one who shouted in agreement to Hilda, part happy to help and part relieved to get away from Deoxys.
"Come on, Dawn!" he said. "We're gonna race down there and save the day! This will not turn into another Ranger tournament!"
"For heaven's sake, don't use the emergency exits!" Blaine shouted as Barry ran off, almost crashing into someone as he ran, Dawn following suit with a Poké Ball in hand.
"An EXO task force stationed near the island will arrive soon," Hilda said calmly. "They have some EOD people with them to see if Drake really rigged this place to blow."
"Pryce used the same tactic in the Silver Conference," Blaine grunted. "And we won't know for sure if some civilian won't muscle their way through the security and try to make a break for it."
"Yeah, we're going to go and help with the evacuation and clear the way for EXO to arrive," Hilda said, staring at Deoxys. "Can you guys handle… whatever that thing is?"
"I don't know, can we, Elm?" Blaine asked.
"12 percent!" Elm said as he continued typing.
"You just need to stall it and keep it from getting out while we evacuate the place and call in reinforcements," Hilda said. "At least, if Drake doesn't have any more surprises up his sleeve…"
~o~O~o~
Deoxys expertly dodged Rapidash's Flamethrower, using its tentacles to cover its chest, as if preparing for an attack. When Snorlax attempted to swipe Deoxys, it once again moved out of the way effortlessly while charging energy between the tips of its tentacles. Kris tried to warn Snorlax, but Deoxys launched a multi-colored sphere of energy at Snorlax before she could even get a word out.
The sphere collided with Snorlax's stomach. For a moment, time seemed to pause, and then the sphere exploded, sending Snorlax flying halfway across the arena as if it weighed nothing, landing with enough impact to make Kris, Wes and Leaf almost lose their balance.
Kris then realized she had no other Poké Balls with her, unlike Drake. She froze in place as Deoxys turned its head towards her, too far from Wes, Leaf or their Pokémon, while Lorelei's Dewgong was too busy trying to shoot down Drake's Altaria.
As Deoxys spread its tentacle-limbs, however, something swooped down from above, and with one clean slice, two of Deoxys' left tentacles were cut off, dropping limply on the ground.
The culprit was Iris' Haxorus, with Iris not far behind.
"Took you long enough!" Kris gasped, trying not to show her fear.
"Sorry!" Iris said innocently. "Catch!"
Iris tossed Kris a Poké Ball, with Kris extending her arms out to catch it while Deoxys retreated from Haxorus' sharp tusks. Kris quickly withdrew Snorlax and sent out whatever Pokémon Iris had brought her - and to her relief, it was her Feraligatr.
"Croc, use Hydro Pump against that thing!" Kris screamed, her voice almost cracking.
Croc blasted Deoxys with a powerful stream of water, but Deoxys formed a protective bubble around itself. As it did so, small balls of light erupted from where Deoxys' two left tentacles had been cut off. Impatiently, Croc fired another Hydro Pump without Kris' say-so, but the attack just bounced off the protective bubble, and the group was forced to witness in horror as Deoxys' removed tentacles grew back, good as new.
"Uh, Elm," Iris spoke into her headset as she stared at Deoxys. "We have a problem."
"Iris!" Elm spoke, too panicked to hear Iris. "We have a problem. Deoxys can regenerate!"
"Oh… yeah, thanks for the information!"
"You're welcome," Elm said sincerely.
"I don't understand this," Iris said. "Is this Dr. Gideon we're fighting now?"
"This Deoxys has used the mass from Dr. Gideon's body to give itself form. In practice, it's just a piece of the Deoxys that the woman with the Master Ball captured earlier."
"So where is all this new mass coming from?" Iris wondered.
"I would wager that the density of its body is extremely low," Elm said. "Its body could be as brittle as paper, but our scanners are detecting a strong psychic field. It must be using that as a barrier to lessen the impact its body receives."
"So it's a Psychic-type!" Iris said loudly enough for the others to hear. "If we keep attacking it, it must run out of energy at some point."
"Hey, a plan's a plan," Wes said and withdrew Zebstrika, instead sending out Umbreon. "Umbreon, use Dark Pulse!"
But once against Deoxys moved out of the way and retaliated, not with a Psychic attack but a powerful yellow energy beam. Umbreon tried to dodge, but the beam hit the ground below it and sent the Pokémon flying. Once Umbreon landed, it was unable to get back up again.
"Damn!" Wes grunted and withdrew the Pokémon, sending Zebstrika back out.
Meanwhile, the battle between Drake and Lorelei was ongoing. Dewgong blasted Altaria with an Ice Shard, but Altaria formed a Cotton Guard around itself, the shards just bouncing off its fluffy body. Seeing this, Drake smirked and pulled out something from his jacket. Lorelei braced herself as she saw Drake hold what was unmistakably a gun… only for Drake to fire it into the air, sending a flare into the sky.
"What did you just do?!" Lorelei yelled.
"You'll see, though sadly I don't share the pleasure," Drake said as he turned to look at Deoxys, who was now dodging both Croc and Haxorus' swipes. "Losing a capable scientist was a hard blow, but everything turned out perfectly for me. And as fun as this battle was, I feel true satisfaction knowing that a noble Elite Four member will become another mindless Deoxys here today…"
"Ice Beam!" Lorelei yelled.
Dewgong's Ice Beam finally broke through the guard of Drake's Altaria, freezing the Pokémon solid. Altaria dropped on the ground like a rock, encased in a coat of ice, forcing Drake to withdraw it.
But Drake still smirked, pointing up.
Lorelei looked up as a large shadow covered her and most of the arena. And then she ducked out of the way as a large blast of fire came hurtling towards Dewgong, knocking the Pokémon out. Everyone else fighting Deoxys were also distracted as a blue quadruped dragon with massive red wings about the size of a truck landed near Drake, though it barely had to touch the ground as Drake hopped on the Salamence's back. Drake raised his captain's hat mockingly as Salamence then zoomed out of the arena with dazzling speed.
Tabitha, who had also recovered from Domino's attack (or had stopped pretending to be unconscious), fled the arena through the door he came from. Screaming Drake's name, Lorelei, with a Poké Ball in hand, dashed out of the arena, leaving the others to deal with Deoxys.
Even Deoxys seemed to be distracted by Lorelei fleeing and Leaf was the first one to take advantage of it. She ordered Rapidash to use Flare Blitz, and after coating itself with flames and ramming Deoxys, Rapidash finally broke through Deoxys' barrier.
As Deoxys' attention moved to Rapidash, which it flung away with a Psychic attack, Kris ordered Croc to use Crunch.
But once again, Deoxys was too fast to counter. Seeing the Feraligatr stomping towards it, Deoxys floated into the air and out of reach. However, to its (and Kris' surprise), Croc jumped into the air as high as it could, managing to grab a hold of Deoxys' lower body with its strong jaws, tearing out a large chunk of Deoxys' right leg, which disintegrated in Croc's mouth.
However, Deoxys didn't even seem to be bothered as it once again raised its protective shield, blocking both Zebstrika's and Rapidash's attacks. As Deoxys once again gathered multi-colored energy between its tentacles, Kris realized which attack was coming next.
"Croc, Detect!" she yelled.
Croc assumed the Detect pose just in time, shielding its head with its arms and concentrating its energy, causing the energy sphere to explode upon colliding with the invisible force field. But while it didn't directly harm Croc, the force of the impact sent the Feraligatr sliding halfway across the arena, taking out a large strip of the battlefield's fake grass with it.
With the shield still around it, deflecting the attacks of the other Pokémon with ease, Deoxys moved towards Kris once again. And once again, Kris was frozen in shock. She knew the Deoxys' intention: to find more humans to infect, just as with Dr. Gideon, and without her Pokémon, Kris was defenseless, as Croc was still staggering to get back on its feet in another corner of the arena.
But she was not out of Pokémon yet. Shrew, who had been watching the battle from Kris' arms, wriggled out and jumped on the ground, pointing its sharp claws at Deoxys. The tiny Sandshrew, only up to Kris' knee, was facing this monster, and Kris was too paralyzed to even say anything. Knowing Shrew could delay Deoxys for maybe three seconds, all Kris could do was close her eyes and prepare for the worst as the shield around Deoxys disappeared and Shrew jumped to attack it.
With only one of its tentacles, Deoxys grabbed the helpless Sandshrew. And at that moment, a fireball flew from the sidelines towards the Deoxys, engulfing its head in flames.
For the first time during the battle, Deoxys seemed to be in pain. It loosened its grip on Shrew, dropping the Pokémon on the ground. Recovering from her shock, Kris ran over to pick Shrew back up on her arms, turning to look up.
Deoxys was still hovering in the air but its tentacles were flailing wildly, and, to Kris' shock and disgust, its head was entirely gone. Haxorus, Zebstrika and Rapidash tried to attack it once again, but even without a head, Deoxys managed to raise its shields, deflecting the attacks. And just as Kris feared, balls of energy began erupting from where Deoxys' head had come off.
Kris then turned to look at who shot the fireball. Standing about twenty meters from her were Lyra and Typhlosion, that latter making Shrew squeal happily. Lyra was standing there awkwardly, as if she hadn't even realized what had happened.
"How many times do we have to kill this thing?!" Wes yelled in a panicky voice as Deoxys' head rematerialized slowly.
"Elm, you got anything?!" Iris asked.
"Yes!" came the voice of Elm through Iris' headset. "But you have to tell me, what is happening to the crystal in Deoxys' chest?"
"Uh…"
Iris squinted to see better. As Deoxys' head had almost grown back, Iris noticed the crystal blinking like a large LED light, though the effect was quite subtle.
"Blinking like a lamp of sorts," Iris said. "Why?"
"I knew it! Er, yes, as you know, Deoxys is a mutated virus-"
"The point, professor!"
"Right, right. That thing in its chest IS Deoxys itself. Destroy the crystal, destroy Deoxys."
"Guys!" Iris shouted. "I have a plan!"
~o~O~o~
In the lowest floor of the stadium, Drake's henchmen were having a bad time. Most of the sailors in Drake's employ had fled, leaving Shelly, Courtney and Matt alone in trying to stop people from escaping the arena. It had gone decently well until the arrival of Alder, whose Bouffalant had stomped Shelly's Sealeo to the curb while Matt's Crawdaunt was defeated with one shot by Alder's Volcarona. Courtney, in the meantime, was struggling as Dawn's Empoleon and Barry's Infernape had teamed up to take down her Camerupt, with even Courtney's stoic expression changing to show frustration as her prized Pokémon fell.
Busy trying to decide on their next strategy, Shelly, Courtney and Matt were powerless to stop the last of the civilians from fleeing the stadium. Next, Tabitha ran over to them, panting so hard that whatever he was telling them was unable to decipher.
"Bro, calm down!" Matt told him. "What's going on?"
"The doc... " Tabitha said as he stopped to lean against the wall. "The doc's dead, guys."
"No way!" Matt exclaimed.
"Bloody hell…" Shelly muttered.
Courtney said nothing, just stared at Tabitha, letting out a small sigh.
"And Drake left!" Tabitha said. "Hopped on his Salamence and gone!"
Shelly steeled herself. "All right, lads!"
Courtney coughed a little.
"All right, lads and Courtney!" Shelly said quickly. "We gotta see this through, with or without the doc. To the rendezvous point!"
Courtney nodded as everyone withdrew their Pokémon, Courtney silently sending out her Weezing and snapping her fingers. The corridor became covered in smoke, and despite Alder's attempts at sending his Pokémon after them, the four managed to escape.
However, not long after, a group of people entered the stadium. Leading them was Looker of the International Police along with two other agents, followed shortly by a large group of people dressed in white uniforms - Aether Foundation personnel. And not far behind were the tall, gray-haired Dr. Kaminko and the Unovan regional professor, Aurea Juniper.
"Inspector Looker!" exclaimed Alder.
"Halt your approach!" Looker told Alder, even though he hadn't moved an inch. "I received the contactment from a human of the female variety called Lorelei? Where is Drake of the Four Heavenly Kings?"
"Allow me to take over," Dr. Kaminko announced as he stepped past Looker. "Champion Alder, did you manage to stop that Mr. Drake who was behind this incident?"
"No, he managed to escape, but we have bigger things to worry about!" Barry said quickly, catching everyone's attention. "Our friends are out there fighting a creepy tentacle monster!"
"Ah right, I almost forgot, the Pre-Beast," Kaminko said thoughtfully and glanced at Juniper, who nodded. "Right, go and secure the area!" he commanded the Aether Foundation personnel.
~o~O~o~
Back in the arena, the fight against Deoxys continued. With Deoxys' head regrown, it was on the offensive. However, the Pokémon was surprised as Shrew suddenly popped out of the ground, launching its body towards the alien Pokémon like a projectile. Deoxys managed to raise its shields just in time, but expecting this, Shrew curled into a ball and quickly rolled away. After landing, Shrew used Rock Slide, hurtling a barrage of sharp rocks at Deoxys, all of which bounced off its shield harmlessly. However, Deoxys' attention was on the swiftly escaping Sandshrew now. Deoxys dropped its shields and extended its tentacles to attack Shrew, and that's when it happened.
"Haxorus, Guillotine!" Iris yelled.
"Rapidash, Horn Drill!" Leaf commanded.
Deoxys reacted, but not in time to avoid a Thunder Wave attack from Zebstrika, who had jumped into the front row seats and was hiding behind the arena's edge with Wes. The Thunder wave kept Deoxys in place for the few seconds needed for Haxorus and Rapidash to leap into the air and use their respective moves to slice all four of Deoxys' tentacles clean off.
Once again, the tentacles disintegrated as soon as they hit the ground, but a psychic shockwave from Deoxys sent Haxorus and Rapidash flying to the ground too. Deoxys raised its shields, but an onslaught of attacks from both Leaf's Rapidash and Wes' Zebstrika collided with the protective bubble around it, slowly whittling it down as Deoxys' limbs regenerated. Kris, seeing her move was coming soon, ran next to Lyra, who, along with Scorch, was watching the process in awe.
"You ready for it?!" she asked, snapping Lyra out of her daze.
"Y-yes," Lyra said quickly. "Kris, I'm so sorry I wasn't here to see your fight. I-"
"Lyra, I don't mean to be mean, but I don't care about that right now!" Kris said, grabbing Lyra's shoulder firmly. "Let's do it!"
"Y-yeah! Scorch, get ready!"
"Croc, prepare for it!"
"Nothing going, guys!" Leaf yelled as Rapidash's constant flamethrower attack seemed to do nothing against Deoxys' shield. "It's almost finished regenerating!"
"Iris!" Kris yelled, thinking quickly. "Shrew needs to get up there!"
"Got you already!" Iris responded. "Haxorus, get ready to boost!"
"Shrew, get in there and Slash!" Kris ordered.
Shrew ran towards Haxorus, where Kris was pointing, and as soon as it reached the dragon-type, Haxorus bent over, allowing Shrew to jump on its head. Next, Haxorus quickly stood up and launched Shrew high into the air. Zebstrika and Rapidash stopped their attacks, and Shrew's Slash attack was what finally broke through Deoxys' shield.
As Shrew dropped back on the ground, Deoxys was vulnerable for a split-second, and this allowed Kris and Lyra to call out their attacks.
"Hydro Cannon!"
"Blast Burn!"
Croc and Scorch launched their respective balls of water and fire towards Deoxys. Everyone held their breaths as the spheres collided to Deoxys' chest, just as Kris and Lyra had instructed their Pokémon, with Deoxys' limbs still in the process of regenerating. The spheres exploded upon collision, and finally, the crystal in Deoxys' chest shattered, and soon after, Deoxys' body crumbled into dust.
A wave of relief washed over everyone. There were little cheers, though, just people gathering themselves, tending to their exhausted Pokémon and licking their wounds. Only a few minutes after Deoxys' destruction, people began flooding the stadium: International Police agents, Aether Foundation personnel and the like. Dawn, Barry, Elm, Blaine, Hilda and Hilbert also arrived. But while Iris and Leaf took most of the responsibility for explaining the details of Deoxys and its destruction to the arriving authorities, Kris stayed on the sidelines to tend to Shrew, whose hide was covered in scuff marks and small scars. Nothing that would break the Sandshrew's tough skin, but still had to be treated.
As Kris tended to Shrew alone, Lorelei broke off from the group and made her way to Kris.
"Sorry, your name was Kris, wasn't it?" she asked Kris kindly. "May I sit down next to you?"
"Sure," Kris sighed and turned to look at the ex-Elite. She thought she would be eager to meet a trainer she had seen battle multiple times on TV and owned a trading card of, but the weight of what had happened today just sucked the joy out of the meeting.
"I apologize for interrupting your battle," Lorelei said sadly as she sat down. "And I'm sorry for leaving you to battle Deoxys. Drake was one of the people who was the most insistent on me losing my job with the Elite Four after me and my friend Agatha placed our trust in Red instead of the Pokémon League. I let my personal grudge cloud my judgment, and I wanted to redeem my reputation by being the one to bring him to justice..."
Kris turned to look at Lorelei who leaned back on her arms wearily and turned to look at the sky above the stadium. Clouds were gathering above them, making it a lot darker even though sunset wouldn't be for a while.
"You know, I live on these islands," Lorelei said sadly. "And I still didn't catch any wind of Drake's plans until it was too late. And unlike Agatha, I just did it all to try and get back into the League."
Kris shook her head. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better," she said, staring at her shoes, "but if I hadn't gone along with Drake's nonsense and flattery, this thing wouldn't have gotten so out of hand."
"Don't be an idiot!" Lorelei snapped. "Drake fooled us all. And if you had been in my shoes, you could have stopped him! I saw your earlier battles in the previous rounds, and you held your own against not only Drake, but that Deoxys too."
"Yes she did!"
Kris and Lorelei turned to look, and Kris groaned but nonetheless got back on her feet when a consignment of EXO personnel arrived. Hilda and Hilbert were leading the pack along with four Aether Foundation grunts, but the one that had spoken was Dr. Kaminko, whom Kris had met briefly on Citadark Isle. Following Kaminko were professor Juniper, a woman with large purple hair in a pink and white business suit, and following her, flanked by two of Aether Foundation's personnel, was a tall, slender woman in a white and yellow suit. She had extremely long blonde hair that almost seemed to drape around her like a half-opened cocoon.
"Kris, I'd like you to meet the one who enables our organization to go on," Kaminko said dryly, gesturing at the blonde-haired woman. "This is president Lusamine of the Aether Foundation."
"I am so very glad to meet you," Lusamine said sweetly, her voice having an ethereal, dreamy tone to it. "Your performance against the poor Deoxys was delightful."
"Poor?!" Lorelei said indignantly. "That thing almost killed us all!"
Lusamine closed her eyes, not addressing Lorelei directly. "The poor creature had to be lost and confused, trapped in another world, acting on its instincts. For the safety of people and particularly Pokémon worldwide, we had to stop it, of course. But the true evil are Drake and his men, who had enslaved it to begin with."
"And there's still one out there, in that Domino's Master Ball!" Lorelei said. "If you're the president of the Aether Foundation, then you must know if that thing was an Ultra Beast!"
Lusamine didn't look at Lorelei, but instead glanced at the woman in the pink and white suit.
"Wicke?" she said.
"Yes, ma'am," Wicke said enthusiastically, adjusting her large pink-rimmed glasses. "Deoxys is not an Ultra Beast by classification, but to reach our planet, it had to go through Ultra Space, the dominion of the Ultra Beasts."
"Our extradimensional research division has a theory," said Kaminko, "that Ultra Space is the barrier between our world and the Distortion World, where Giratina resides."
"'In the place where life began, so does the invasion'," Lorelei repeated, which brought a hazy memory to Kris' mind. "And Drake has that mark on his neck…"
"Our troops have the islands under a complete lockdown," Kaminko said firmly. "With the help of the International Police, we have ensured no one gets in or out. That includes Drake. What's more of a concern is Pryce. Based on what she said, that Domino woman must have brought the Master Ball to him."
"Did someone mention Pryce?!" said a loud voice.
Now the group was joined by Alder, who had been talking with the International Police agents. He now ran to the group, his worried expression changing to a smile as he saw Kris.
"Great battle, Kris!" Alder spoke as he slapped Kris roughly on the shoulder. "There aren't many trainers who could stand up against an Elite Four member in a one-on-one battle, and Drake was one of the best!"
Alder then turned to Dr. Kaminko and the rest of the EXO people.
"My men have managed to find Pryce's whereabouts," he said. "He arrived to the islands in a yacht shortly before the beginning of today's match. And since that Domino stole one of our boats to get to him, we can easily track down his location."
"And what about Drake?" Dr. Kaminko asked him.
"Looker's men have stated that he's on his way to Chrono Island," Alder said.
Lorelei grunted quietly.
"Agatha is in trouble," Lorelei told Kris quietly.
~o~O~o~
A yacht was anchored somewhere in the Sevii archipelago, surrounded by deadly currents and well away from the reach of most land-based radars. However, Grand Master Greevil still couldn't hide his anxiety as he paced back and forth on the ship's deck. His two assistants, Ardos and Eldes, observed this silently.
Finally, the short, bald man could take a breath as he saw a speedboat approaching the yacht, driven by Domino. Ardos and Eldes lowered a rope ladder into the water, allowing Domino to bring the speedboat to a stop, hop off and climb aboard, tightly grasping a Master ball in her hand. As Domino handed the ball silently to Greevil, the latter instantly grabbed it and used his free hand to grab a small scanner from his pocket. Muttering excitedly to himself, Greevil scanned every inch of the Master Ball before cackling gleefully.
"It really is here," Greevil said. "Incredible…"
"Good work, Domino," said the deep voice of an old man who had just climbed on the deck - Pryce. Seeing him, Domino bowed respectfully.
"It was my pleasure," she said.
"Is the work finished?!" Greevil asked Pryce impatiently.
Pryce stretched his arms and took his time to answer. "The relevant parchments have all been laid out. The Prison Bottle is also prepared. As soon as you speak the words, it should be done."
"Oh, I know exactly the right time…" Greevil said and turned to his assistants. "Ardos, Eldes, man the helm!" he said, spit flying as he yelled in excitement. "We're taking this yacht to Chrono Island!"
"Your friend Drake is going to be a problem," Pryce warned while Domino sat on a sunchair and began checking her phone. "The news are all saying they destroyed the Deoxys on the stadium. To complete his plan, he will need the one we have."
Greevil just chuckled to himself as Ardos and Eldes hurried to their stations. "Trust me, Pryce, I am not worried at all. Deoxys is going to be nothing but bait. We have a weapon on our side that even Drake cannot oppose. Isn't that right?"
A small pink and gray Pokémon suddenly popped into existence, an insane grin on its face.
