Ultra Alola.
Lillie and Lusamine were prepared to do battle against two Rainbow Rocket Grunts. While Lillie was confident she could take them alone, she never expected her mother to want to try and protect her. She couldn't refuse that request, so here they stood…battling together to help Moon. It was a strange twist of fate, but it could have been for the best. It was Clefairy and Milotic vs Rhydon and Nidoking. Lusamine had a score to settle with Rainbow Rocket for starting this entire situation in the first place and she intended to pay it back. "Milotic, Aqua Tail!" Miltoic slithered forward at surprisingly fast speeds, rings of water swirling around its tail. Before the two grunts could even make a command, Milotic slammed its tail into Nidoking, throwing it backwards.
"What the…!?" The female grunt gasped as her Nidoking was knocked flat in a matter of a single hit. Lillie's lack of experience made her an easy target, but Lusamine and her Milotic were not here to play any sort of games.
"Rhydon, Mega Horn!" The male exclaimed. Rhydon's horn grew in size and it stampeded forward, lunging ahead to slam its horn right into Milotic's body.
"Twister." Lusamine commanded. Miltoic pointed its tail forward and spun it around. This action created a violent twister that struck Rhydon. Rhydon did its best to stay grounded, but the force of the Twister was too much and it was soon lifted off its feet, flying about helplessly in the air. "Ice Beam!" Milotic opened its mouth, firing off a potent beam of ice that struck Rhydon in the chest, causing it to crash into the ground violently.
"W-What is this woman…!?" The female grunt asked with a sweat drop.
"We can't even touch her…" The male said while gritting his teeth. No wonder Giovanni was so intent on ensuring Lusamine couldn't get in their way, this woman's power was something else.
"Wow…" Lillie mouthed silently. She knew her mother was strong, even giving Moon a lot of trouble when they did battle twice. But it was reassuring when that might wasn't being used for oppressive means. This might was being used to…protect her? For a moment, Lillie was questioning if she even needed to be present for this double battle.
Lusamine crossed one foot in front of the other, placing a hand on her hip. Her head lifted up slightly, her gaze burning a hole into the souls of the two Rainbow Rocket grunts that stood in front of her. "You march into my home, take it over, endanger my daughter and hurt her friend? You've done much more than just incur this mother's wrath. I'm going to ensure that you return that debt in full." The aura coming off of Lusamine was frightening. She had been wronged by Rainbow Rocket and was intent on making sure they didn't get away with this.
"Don't get so cocky! Stone Edge!" Rhydon roared and slammed its fist onto the ground. This prompted numerous stones to rise up, making a fast track towards Milotic and Clefairy to take them both out.
"Twister!" Once again, Milotic created a fast twister. This twister was so potent it destroyed the incoming Stone Edge, now keeping sharp stones flying about in a whirlwind of its own creation. Milotic slammed its tail down, bringing down both the Twister and Stone Edge down upon the two opposing Pokémon for heavy damage, keeping them pinned down.
"Hyper Beam!" Rhydon opened its mouth, releasing a gigantic beam of raw energy. Hyper Beam was so strong it cut through the Twister and Stone Edge, much to Lusamine's surprise. Hyper Beam slammed against Miltoic, causing the beautiful Pokémon to let out a cry of pain as it was flung into the nearest wall.
"Milotic…!" Lusamine gasped. Even her sea serpent was going to need a moment to recover from that.
"Don't let up! Poison Jab!" Nidoking was up next, sprinting towards the downed Milotic to finish it off while it was weak.
Lillie had to make her move. They were so focused on Lusamine's power they completely forgot about her. "Clefairy, Moon Blast!" Clefairy's body gave off an otherworldly shine. Just as Nidoking leapt forward, it was intercepted by Clefairy's Moon Blast, which made it stagger back.
"Forgot about her…Sludge Bomb!" Nidoking recovered from the Moon Blast, now hurling up a toxic orb of sludge that exploded on Clefairy.
"Ah…!" Lillie gasped as Clefairy was thrown backwards.
"Mega Horn!" Seeking the weaker prey, Rhydon now barreled towards Clefairy with full intent to take it out. But it was stopped midway by clashing with Milotic's Aqua Tail. The two were in a fierce struggle as they attempted to overpower the other.
"Earth Power!" While distracted with Rhydon, it left Nidoking free to do whatever it wanted. In this case, it caused the ground to erupt under Milotic and Clefairy. This surge of power blew both Pokémon back towards their trainers, receiving a high amount of damage in the process. Nidoking and Rhydon were standing next to each other menacingly as they managed to swing the battle back into their favor.
"Mother, I…" Lillie was about to apologize, but Lusamine shook her head.
"It's fine. We're not down yet." Lusamine told her daughter.
"That's what you think…" The female said while crossing her arms. She was one of many Rainbow Rocket Grunts who had stolen a Z-ring during the initial invasion wave of Ultra Alola. Now she was going to use it, her ire against the other Lillie fueling her desire to crush this one. The Poisonium-Z resonated with Nidoking, dark purple clouds swirling around them. "You'll drown in these toxic waves! ACID DOWNPOUR!" Nidoking let out a roar as a tidal wave of poison came down towards Clefairy and Miltoic to take them down.
"Milotic, use Surf!" Lusamine wasn't going to back down; Milotic slammed its tail against the ground, attempting to match the Acid Downpour with a large Surf of its own. The wave wasn't nearly as big, but it was doing the job in slowing it down. Z-moves were strong but they could be beaten…!
Lillie narrowed her eyes and looked to Clefairy, who gave a nod. "Clefairy, use Copycat!" Clefairy focused on Milotic, a glow appearing around its body as it temporarily made use of the last move used. Since this was Surf, Clefairy soon created its own large tidal wave that merged into Milotic's. This turned into an even bigger wave that was able to firmly hold off the Acid Downpour.
"Sitting ducks!" The two grunts grinned. Even if Acid Downpour failed this was an opening they were still waiting for. Rhydon and Nidoking propelled themselves into the air, high above the clashing waves. "This is the end for you!"
"No!" Lillie said with a rare smirk. "This is the end for you! Clefairy, use Gravity!" This was a chance she didn't think would come, but now that it was here, she had to take it. Clefairy's eyes shone brightly, intensifying the gravity around Nidoking and Rhydon. This caused their ascend to come to an immediate halt, now plummeting into the middle of the clashing waves.
"Milotic! Finish this with Ice Beam!" Milotic nodded and opened its mouth, firing off one last Ice Beam that completely froze the two waves over. The result was a beautiful purple glacier, where Rhydon and Nidoking were stuck, frozen and defeated. This left the Rainbow Rocket grunts aghast.
"N-No way…!" The female's eyes were wide in fear.
Lusamine took a single step forward. "I think I'll keep these two as souvenirs to add to my collect. I suggest you leave now unless you want to become a part of it." Her voice was low and demanding. This was the only chance she was giving them to flee…and they did without a second thought, dropping the now useless Z-ring in the process. "Whew…"
"We did it, Mother…!" Lillie jumped for joy and clasped her hands together. She even gave Lusamine a hug since it was such a powerful victory.
"Ah…" A hug from her daughter. Lusamine froze for a moment before returning the embrace quickly. "We beat those two, but it's not over yet. We still have to find a way to get Moon back."
Lillie pulled away, giving a firm nod. "Right…! Hang on Moon, we're coming…!"
As the mother and daughter duo resumed their trek through the remodeled Aether Foundation, there was another Ultra Wormhole opening in the Altar of the Moone. A black claw broke through the crack in the sky, slowly tearing it open with all of its might. There was so much light in this world…light it needed to consume.
.
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Matori was commandeering a Rocket ship, staring down the Ultra Guardians, Proton, and Ardos. Every one of these people only served as an obstacle to Giovanni's greatness and she would get rid of them as swiftly as possible. "You're all in the way. I shall remove you posthaste and take your Pokémon in the name of Team Rocket. Fire."
"Yes, ma'am!" A Rocket grunt nodded.
"Fire? What's she about to…" Takeba didn't get the chance to finish her questions. Multiple barrels emerged from the side of the ship, and began firing missiles at the opposing parties. "ACK!"
"Missiles?!" Grace gasped and tugged Salamance to move in a certain direction, to avoid being caught in the numerous explosions. "Is this chick for real!? It's not that serious!" It was, but this was a bit more brute force than she would have liked to deal with.
"What happened to settling everything through a Pokémon Battle?!" Takeba whined as Honchkrow and Ditto did their best to avoid the nonstop missiles.
"That is only a formality." Matori said while adjusting her glasses. "Team Rocket has bigger ambitions and soon, every Pokémon in this world and beyond will belong to our Giovanni." The secretary clarified. The nonstop barrage continued and she truly aimed to shoot everyone down.
"This is problematic…" Scott grit his teeth. They wouldn't be able to last against this type of fire for much longer.
"How about a truce against the lady trying to gun us all down!?" Takeba looked to Proton and Ardos, but they didn't seem interested. This was an all-out war in the skies.
"Never Melt Ice will melt before I team up with an enemy." Proton scoffed and pointed his hand forward. "Crobat, Air Cutter!" His Crobat was extremely agile in the air, weaving through incoming missiles while using Air Cutter to slice right through them. The numerous explosions lit up the sky and the force of them blew all parties away. "This is getting interesting! I can't wait to blow you all out of the sky!" The Air Cutter then slammed against the side of the ship, destroying one of the turrets. This cut down some fire power, but hardly enough to stop the bombardment.
"I don't care about any of you." Ardos said flatly. Aerodactyl remained the king of the skies, flying about wildly to avoid being struck by a missile. Even if they could hold out, the fact of the matter was they didn't have any means to actually stop it.
"Give us your Pokémon and we can end this farce swiftly." Matori spoke to everyone. She had no intentions of stopping even if the ship received some damage. As far as she was concerned, they could do this all day; their budget and supply was extremely high. The money they made from being an underground organization was showing.
"We're not gonna last like this!" Grace told the others.
"We need to hold out for a bit longer." Scott told them. An easier task said than done, but he was confident they could pull out of this situation if they had a bit more time.
"I don't think we have that much time left…" Takeba hated to be the bearer of bad news. "We're stuck on defense! It's not gonna end at this rate! Look at her eyes! Four…cold…evil…"
"I do not have four eyes!" Matori exclaimed. Her cool façade was broken by Takeba's mean words. "Just for that, take out the pink one first." And now she was being petty, too.
"W-Wait a second…!" Takeba's eyes widened as she found a portion of fire concentrated on her and Honchkrow. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"
This onslaught continued…until a sudden explosion rocked one of the engines of the ship. The explosion was so strong it caused the ship to violently rock around, catching everyone around. "What was that!?" Matori demanded to know. All systems were green when they took off, so what was the issue!?
"We lost an engine in the back left!" A grunt frantically explained. "Something struck us! Another one of our turrets are down!"
"That doesn't make sense." Matori narrowed her eyes. "Every threat is right in front of us. They didn't even get the chance to slip around, so how…"
"There's something approaching rapidly from the rear!" Another grunt explained. When the cameras showed what was coming their way, it caught everyone by surprise.
Even though Team Skull planned to go together, Kasumi was the only one with the ability to go ahead, and she did. She was riding Dragonite, who approached at a breakneck pace. The dragon was impossible to stop since nobody saw it coming. "I don't know what's going on here, but I'm putting an end to it!" Kasumi exclaimed. All she knew was that Team Rocket was the enemy and she saw two of them right there.
"Kasumi!" Scott, Grace, and Takeba all exclaimed at once.
"Another one…?" Proton was starting to get a bit tired of how crowded this situation was getting.
"What…?" Ardos turned and his eyes felt like they were deceiving him. That girl was still alive!? That Dragonite…those eyes…without a doubt, that was XD-002, the girl who was the cornerstone of Cipher's new ambitions, and the girl that turned on them at the very last second. She still drew breath!? Ardos was in disbelief before his lips curled up into a menacing sneer. Coming here was fruitful after all. "At long last, Cipher can resume where we left off!"
"Draco Meteor!" Kasumi commanded. Dragonite lifted its head up, an orange orb of energy charging within its mouth. Dragonite then fired this orb higher into the sky, where then then exploded, raining down as meteors upon Team Rocket, Proton, and Ardos. Kasumi was at least aware who the enemies were and who the allies were. "Get outta the way!"
"Evasive maneuvers!" Proton yelled at his grunts manning the helicopter.
"Evade them!" Matori commanded. Unfortunately for her, the Rocket ship was a bit too large to evade the entirety of the Draco Meteor. Multiple meteors slammed into the surprisingly durable ship, causing it to tremble violently and thrash about all over the place. "Agh!"
"We sustained heavy damage!" A grunt reported. "We have a few engines running still, but it's not looking good! Weapon system offline too!"
"Gh…" Matori couldn't believe how this turned out for them out of nowhere. "We may have no choice but to retreat at this rate…"
"Nice job, Kasumi!" Grace cheered, but Kasumi just glanced away from her, which made her frown.
"Don't relax yet! Crobat, Air Cutter!" While everyone was distracted, Proton made a move. Crobat slashed the air once more, sending numerous blades of wind towards all parties. They all managed to evade, much to his annoyance. "So close!"
"You!" Ardos called out to Kasumi. "You are the one Cipher has been waiting for. We can turn it all around with you."
Kasumi stared at Ardos and…her instincts were telling her to stay far away from this man. She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about. But I'd prefer if you stayed very far away from me."
Ardos wasn't hearing that. Instead, Aerodactyl made a beeline for Dragonite. "Oh, but you think I can allow you to slip away again after that trick you pulled before!? You said that as long as your heart beats, you won't lose to us? I wonder how true that will be now!" Matching his rage, Aerodactyl fired off a Stone Edge that clipped Dragonite in several places, causing it to descend from the sky for a bit.
"Aahhhhhh…!" Kasumi cried out.
"KASUMI!" Not wishing to lose her dear friend a second time, Grace clicked her heels on Salamance and it dove forward as fast as it could, Grace clutching the keystone in case they wouldn't make it in time.
"Oh no you don't! Cross Poison!" Proton didn't know what was going on here, but this was something he could take advantage of!
"Super Power!" Takeba exclaimed. Honchkrow bulked up to supreme levels, putting forth every ounce of effort into slamming its body into Crobat's. The attack was so strong, Crobat instantly went flying. "You're not touching her!"
"Now." Scott snapped his fingers. Just in the nick of time, Future Sight finally came into play. Multiple blasts of Psychic energy suddenly poured down from above, laying waste to Aerodactyl and Proton's helicopter. The bombardment of energy struck the tail of the helicopter, causing to spiral out of control.
"Gh!? What gives!?" Proton grunted.
"We're going down…!" The Rainbow Rocket Grunt exclaimed. Down into the ocean at this rate.
"Gh…!" Ardos had no choice but to pull back as well. "Damn psychic!"
Dragonite was able to recover, shaking off the Stone Edge impact relatively easily. Kasumi let out a slight sigh of relief. "That was too close…"
Takeba glanced to Team Rocket. With their ship damaged, they started to head towards the Foundation to land. "Hey! They're trying to land!"
"Not a bad idea…" Ardos grunted. He wasn't going to win like this…so a tactical retreat was best. Plus Aerodactyl would have to rest its wings for a moment anyway. "Ein! Do you hear me? XD-002 has returned! It was fate that brought us to Aether, we must capture her once more. We can exploit her power!" Ardos spoke into his communication device, passing on the information he learned to the others as well.
"After them!" Scott demanded.
"Right!" Grace nodded. "Kasumi, are you…"
"I'm just the first wave." Kasumi responded to Grace. "The heavy hitters of Team Skull are arriving after me. Team Rocket is the enemy, right?"
"That's…technically true." Takeba replied. She wasn't going to go into the logistics of it. "If you see anyone with an R on their clothes, they're the bad guys." It was a broad statement but perfectly covered their situation. "Glad to have you back on our side! You really saved our butts back there!"
"…" Kasumi didn't say anything. Instead she just had Dragonite fly forward towards the Foundation after Ardos and Matori.
"I guess she still doesn't remember…" Grace pouted. But to have Kasumi fighting with them again…it still felt nice.
.
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Next Time: Together.
