"V-Vel?"

"Shannon." I greeted her while trying to mask my exhaustion the moment we met. Going toe to toe with a Rocket Executive, while kind of expected to happen, wasn't right up there on my to-do list ever since Operation Unity was a go. I'm lucky that Looker arrived when he did and that none of my pokemon suffered fatal injuries.

"A-Are you o-okay?! Oh shit do we have a first-aid kit nearby or something maybe even alcohol wipes at least and-"

"Shannon," I repeated myself to try and calm the flustered girl down. My haggard look right now probably isn't helping my cause. "I'm fine, really. Looker is battling Archer right now. Hopefully, he can retrieve the catalyst from him."

"You found it?" Shannon asked in surprise.

"Kel found it, to be exact." I replied. "But what's the status right now? Is there anything else that we can do?"

"Uhm, I do know that the Indigo forces are prioritising evacuation efforts while the Pillars are handling Zapmolcuno." Shannon fidgeted uneasily as her anxiety visibly set in. "Even Mewtwo has arrived to help, so it should be fine, I think."

"Mewtwo?!"

"Y-Yeah. It's surprisingly friendly though, maybe because I'm the Mind's Eye thingy…?"

Shannon's voice descended into a whisper towards the end so that only I could hear her. Our shared secret is not something we'd like others to know.

"Perhaps." I answered with a slight frown. Does our… power? Whatever that is in any case. Does it actually have an effect on legends too?

A songful cry resounded across the battlefield as our eyes spotted a new player into the game. A large white figure with wings let out a roar as the ocean heeded to the call of its power, erecting powerful psychic barriers over Olivine while firing pressurised shots of air at Kanto's very own protectors.

"That is Lugia that we are looking at, aren't we?"

"Y-Yeah. Arrived less than a minute ago." Shannon stuttered. "And uh, Lugia's appearance gave us an unexpected finding. The energy it is giving off is kind of… I don't know how to describe it in layman's terms, but we are starting to be convinced that Lugia's powers are necessary to help separate Zapmolcuno back into what they were before this. Nova had sent word back to us that what we needed to find are a pair of ruby and sapphire crystals. We suspect that the combination of those crystals and Lugia's power are what we need to stop this."

"Ruby and sapphire?" I racked my mind to try and remember if I ever saw any of such items on Archer in the short bout we had. I drew up a blank, but then again Archer could have hidden it away somewhere on his person or at some secluded corner of the world. I can only leave it to Looker to grill the information out of Archer if he manages to defeat him somehow.

Hopefully, Looker is strong enough to defeat Archer. He should be capable of holding his own if Dad's words about him are anything to go by.

"So… what are we going to do now?"

"We… We've done all we could on our part. I guess it's just like what Looker said. We need to have faith." Shannon admitted as we watched the battle unfold together with the rest of the R&D team. Bill, Fuji, and everyone else, we are all watching and praying in our hearts that whoever is risking their lives out there fighting for Johto's survival will win this war and live to tell the tale.

"-ker. -Bzzt- is Agent Looker. Does anyone copy?"

"Looker!" Shannon called out in excitement as she immediately answered the transmission. "This is Shannon speaking! You need to bring the catalysts to Lugia! We don't know how exactly it will work, but it's highly possible that Lugia's powers and the catalysts are needed to revert the birds back to normal!"

"I will get the stones there." Looker reaffirmed from the other end of the line. "But if Lugia is needed, then we probably will need Ho-oh to be here too. I doubt that Lugia alone can stop Zapmolcuno even with Mewtwo and Zygarde helping out. Has Eusine sent word back?"

"This is Vel. Kayla had gone to look for Eusine, no word so far."

"I see. Keep an eye out for any news of them, I will be making my way to the battlefield now. Looker out."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding until Looker cut the transmission. It seems that Looker has won his battle against Archer even if I didn't know how he did it. Wasn't Archer an extremely skilled trainer even by the standards of a Pillar? How did Looker win in such a short period of time?

I closed my eyes for a brief moment to reorganise my thoughts. The mystery surrounding Looker can wait. Right now, I need to focus on trying to track Eusine and Kayla down. If Ho-oh and Lugia are needed to stop Zapmolcuno, then we need to track Ho-oh down ASAP.

"Shannon, anything we can use here to track Eusine down? Or more importantly, Ho-oh?"

"Uh, uh…" Shannon quickly looked around her to check if there is anything that can aid us in our search. She came up with nothing.

"S-Sorry, Vel. We didn't manage to bring everything out before we evacuated. These are all the tools we have left and none of them are suited in-"

"Shannon, relax. It's fine, I understand." I quickly calmed Shannon down before she turned into a nervous wreck once more. I had lost touch with Kayla for quite a while now, so trying to locate Eusine through her is a bust. Still, is there any other way for us to contact Eusine?

"-one there? This is Guardian, anyone there? Goddammit is this thing -bzzt- spoilt?"

"Akamu?" I quickly answered the new transmission. "Akamu! This is Vel! I can read you! Hello? Akamu? Can you hear me? Akamu!"

"-bzzt- you? Oh thank God someone -bzzt- up. Yes I can read- bzzt- too. Listen, I'm -bzzt- Eusine and we -bzzt- are at Bell Tower to summon -bzzt- I repeat, we are -bzzt- to summon Ho-oh. Hold Zapmolcuno at Olivine for -bzzt- long as you can!"

"We hear you! Lugia, Mewtwo, and Zygarde are holding it back! Be quick about it, Zapmolcuno's strength gets progressively stronger with every second! We cannot hold the line forever!"

"Copy that. Guardian over and out!"

I allowed myself to release a little of the tension within my shoulders. Akamu and Eusine are at Bell Tower trying to summon Ho-oh. This is good, this is good.

I turned to some of the STAR forces nearby who, like me, can do nothing but watch the fight unfolding before our very eyes because we are too weak to be of any help in regards to the battle ahead. However, things have changed now. There are things that we can now do.

"STAR forces, if there is anyone available, please send some of your forces over to the Bell Tower to assist Akamu and Eusine to summon Ho-oh! No, if there is anyone that can teleport us to the Bell Tower right now-"

"Don't worry, kid, I heard the transmission too. We got this." A man who I estimate to be in his thirties reassured me before turning around to bark orders at the men behind him. "Squad Eight! Any teleporters available?!"

"Sir!" A hand shot up into the air immediately. "My psychic is still able to teleport four people to Bell Tower and back!"

"Good! You, and you, you two tag alone with us too! Rest of you that are staying here, eyes sharp! Assist wherever is needed, whenever you can!"

"Yes sir!"

The team of four teleported away without any further ado. I looked back towards the scene of battle taking place above Olivine's sea where legends that you could only once read about in fictional tales are duking it out with their full strength. Evacuations are mostly complete by now and from the looks of it, the casualty count has been reduced to the lowest possible even if I cannot say the same about the damages done to the city. Jasmine may have protected the city from total annihilation, but whatever that took place thereafter had still destroyed a considerable part of the city that was nearer to the coastline.

A visible swirl of darkness rose up from the ground before disappearing altogether when it reached the height of Lugia's flight. That was a really powerful Shadow Sneak and the only people who can use it in that manner are extremely skilled Ghost Specialists like Agatha or Morty. That could have been Looker as well, if he really is as skilled as people claim to be. Maybe Looker had joined the battle and is currently hitching a ride on Lugia's back.

"R-Rainbow! Rainbow! It's a rainbow!"

The excited cheer from someone nearby had all of us looking upwards into the sky. Our gaze followed the direction which her finger was pointing at and true enough, a rainbow is now visible in the sky. Johtonians have a unique fondness for rainbows due to what it represents in their land, it was the promise that their Guardian of the Skies had given them since ancient times.

This time, I cannot help but really smile. Things are really turning out for the better.

Ho-oh has arrived.

A bright burst of whitish blue flames descended from the skies as a loud cry rang out clearly for us to hear. That same cry was accompanied by a songful one as Lugia flew up to join its counterpart in fulfilling their duties as Johto's guardians. We watched as both majestic creatures unleashed their signature moves in tandem, Lugia's Aeroblast fuelling the flames from Ho-oh's Sacred Fire as the flames shone in seven colours of the rainbow and engulfed Zapmolcuno whole. This time, Zapmolcuno let out a real cry of pain, something a lot more different from when it cried out when it received injuries from the previous attacks afflicted on it.

Two separate glows could be seen enveloping Johto's guardians. A deep blue glow shrouded Lugia while a fiery red one covered Ho-oh as they used their combination move once again on Zapmolcuno, the light produced from their attacks brightening the entire sky until everything in my vision turned white as Zapmolcuno screech of pain continues to ring loud and clear.

"Ow… My eyes…"

I could hear Shannon's painful groan as I tried to blink out the spots within my vision that were caused by the light produced by that blindingly bright flame. I squinted and tried my best to make out the results of the battle ahead, something which I am sure everyone else around me is trying to do as well.

Had we won?

A beautiful yet mournful song could be heard just as my sense of sight is starting to work once more. Zapmolcuno is nowhere to be seen and neither are Lugia and Ho-oh. The dark clouds that had always accompanied Zapmolcuno's presence had also disappeared, in its place a clear blue sky with a rainbow overhead. The sea had been calmed instead of the raging torrent it was while under Lugia's control during the battle. It's as if the battle taking place just seconds ago had never happened.

The song had caught us all in a trance until it ended as suddenly as it had come, and it was then that everyone started to snap ourselves back to reality. A swirl of shadows occurred near me as three very familiar figures emerged from it.

"Looker? Nova, and Skye? How… What…"

"We won." Looker stated. He is obviously exhausted even if I feel that he hid it well. "Lugia and Ho-oh have successfully stopped and separated Zapmolcuno into their individual selves. Both Kanto's and Johto's legends have left Olivine. For now, the battle is over."

There was a murmur before it shortly erupted into a cheer. People are hugging each other and crying it out. Some are kneeling on the ground in a prayer, some are simply relieved. In any case, like Looker said, the battle is over.

For now.

"That… was really crazy. You wouldn't believe it." Skye said between breaths as she walked over to Shannon and I before promptly sitting down on the ground, her exhaustion evident. "Oh shit, wait till Falkner hears that I actually rode Lugia into battle. He's going to chew me a new one."

"Y-You were t-there?! On Lugia?!" Shannon stuttered in shock. I didn't say anything, but I am as shocked as she is. Skye suddenly appearing here was one thing, but how did she end up riding Lugia into battle?

"Who else do you think got Lugia out of that stupid island?" Skye pointed to herself and Nova and grabbed the canteen attached to her belt before greedily chugging a large mouthful of water. "Ah, that's refreshing. Want some?"

"Thank you." Nova grabbed onto the canteen and gulped down its contents, albeit a lot more gracefully. "You know, I am starting to think that Volkner and Akamu had the right line of thinking. If this is the kind of situation we have to deal with every single time... Is it too late to quit the interpol?"

"Yes, it is." Looker stated blandly from where he is standing behind us, looking pretty unimpressed at our topic of discussion.

"I'm going to ask for a damn raise."

"You know what, me too." Looker agreed with a cross of his arms and an exhausted sigh. "We were lucky that we were able to get Lugia and Ho-oh involved in time. If they didn't appear when they did…"

"Yeah, bye bye Johto." Skye quipped. "Speaking of which, is it fine to just let Kanto's birds…"

"They will be fine. Like Lugia said, when combined, Zapmolcuno is nothing but an irrational mess of anger and power of unparalleled strength. When separated, however, they are Kanto's best guardians."

'Not doing a very good job at being Kanto's guardians if they can be so easily captured and manipulated, if you ask me.'

The sudden voice in our heads made us all jump. It was not helping when Mewtwo suddenly appeared in front of us just a few feet away.

'Can you humans stop acting so jumpy all the time when you see me? This is getting annoying.'

"Mewtwo." Looker greeted with a controlled voice but I can see the tension from the subtle change in his body language. "How can we help you?"

'Has the annoying one been captured? Killed? Served justice? Or any scenarios similar to those stated above and not in that particular order?'

"Annoying one?"

'Oh right, you guys gave him a name.' Mewtwo replied with a mocking roll of his eyes. 'Giovanni, that is who I am referring to.'

"Last I checked, Professor Oak had gone to personally stop him. We will have to wait until he checks back again."

"Uh, I dropped the professor outside Violet City, near to where the entrance of the Dark Cave is." Skye spoke up in a hesitant voice. "If that helps…?"

'Dark Cave? Violet City?' Mewtwo's eyes narrowed a little before an unnerving smirk appeared on its face, one that sends shivers down my spine just by looking at it. 'The annoying one might still be alive? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I am still not quite done with my murder spree.'

And doesn't that just sound like sunshine and rainbows?

"Wait-"

Mewtwo disappeared before any of us could get anything across, leaving us staring at an empty space.

"Oh shit, I just screwed things up, didn't I?" Skye blurted out.

"Nobody could have predicted that. At least, Mewtwo's targets are obviously the Rockets and Giovanni, so I guess we could count it as an ally." Looker reassured her with a somewhat grim look on his face. "Although its hate towards Giovanni is within reason, its murderous personality is a little… concerning."

"M-Mewtwo was really polite to me when we first met though…" Shannon said timidly. "I-I d-don't think it really is… that cold-blooded... usually…"

"Whatever it is, someone has to keep a lookout on Violet City if that is where Mewtwo is heading to. I will handle that personally. As for you guys…"

Looker turned to face us, catching our attention.

"Take a break. You deserve it."

Looker disappeared in another swirl of shadows as soon as he said that, leaving us alone.

"I need to find and report back to my squadron, there is definitely still work for me to do and people to rescue." Skye said as she stood up and dusted herself. "Uh, see you guys soon, I guess? Whenever I see you guys again."

"Stay safe!" Nova waved back just as Skye released her pidgeot out of its pokeball. Skye gave us one last wave after she climbed up onto her pidgeot's back and seconds later, she and her pidgeot are nothing but a speck in the sky.

Wow, that's really fast.

"So, what do we do now?"

I decided to just not give a goddamn care about appearances and lay with my back on the ground to appreciate the beautiful rainbow overhead. I'm simply too exhausted right now.

"What Looker said. We are taking a goddamn break."

Character and pokemon list:

Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police

Pokemon on hand:

1) Rapidash (Flamel), male

2) Swampert (Bigblue), male

3) Banette (Dolly), female

4) Flygon (Snap), male

5) Absol (Kelsa), female

6) Charizard (Toothless), male

7) Cradily (Lily), female

8) Espeon (Rena), female

9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male

10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male

11) Cleffa (Joy), female

12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female

13) Pangoro (Hulk), male

14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless

15) Scizor (Archer), male

16) Lapras (Chill), female

17) Gengar (Wacky), male