With a shrill cry from its mouth, Tapu Koko screeched, it's cry echoing for miles. The body of the monstrous earth titan scooped up several large rocks nearby its feet. After charging the stones with its electric energy, the Tapu threw the debris at the nearest airship, hitting it with deadly precision.
As the engines took damage, the electricity sparked a fire in the airships fuel tanks, causing the pilot of the airship to crash land into the ocean.
"Damn it! Abandon ship!" Looker cried out, the entire crew aiming to crash the vessel into the sea before bailing.
After emerging from the waters and climbing up onto the shores, Riley, Looker and his teaM looked in horror as one of their secret weapons now lay as a pile of debris in the ocean.
"We have to stop that monstrous giant! Everyone, concentrate on that Pokémon on the mountains!" Looked said to his men over a pocket radio.
Upon his change of plans, Looker's subordinates changed their target to Tapu Koko, the large titan swinging its hands to swat the oncoming flying Pokémon.
"What are you doing?! The Mind Stone is our priority!" Riley said to the detective.
"My men need these airships to ensure things run smoothly! If we lose yet another one, we've lost!" Looked explained.
Sensing his chances of reclaiming the Mind Stone were soon slipping away from him, Riley decided he would act now. After calling out his partner Lucario from his Pokeball, Riley stormed the shore of Mele Mele, his mind locked into the only thing that mattered to him.
"No, don't! We don't have a plan!" Looker said, turning to one of his agents, handing the man a phone. "Find Agent M and give this to her. And tell her to call me while you're at it."
"Yes sir!" The man said, calling out his partner Blastoise to ride over to Ula Ula.
Back on the cliff where Ash and his Alola Pokémon were, the group finally got up, only for Ash to realize he was more injured than he thought. The punch left in his stomach by the Darmanitan broke two of his ribs and shattered the left arm he raised to defend himself.
With adrenaline being the only thing keeping him from passing out or screaming, Ash turned to his Pokémon, who stood by his side out of concern.
"Don't worry about me." Ash said with the breath still knocked out of his lungs. "Go and help defend Koko. That giant is the only thing that can ensure we keep our home safe!"
His three Pokémon agreed, and as the trio departed from their trainer's company to rejoin the battle, Ash recieved a telepathic message from Sabrina.
"Master, are you ok? I sense you are in pain." The psychic woman said in worry of her Subjugator.
"I'm fine slave. I couple broken bones won't stop me." Ash replied jokingly.
"As I'm sure it wouldn't, Master, but for your safety, I've sent you Korrina from Akala to back you up. She will escort you to the beach on Route 1 where Lana is waiting for you. I wish I could come and retrieve you, but I'm needed at the helm giving intel to your other slaves." Sabrina explained, upset at her inability to safety bring her Master home.
"Don't worry about it, slave. I should be fine." Ash grunted in pain, hobbling along the coastline.
Before Ash could get any further however, he sensed a quickly approaching projectile. Moving down instinctively, Ash just narrowly dodge an Aura Sphere intended for his head. Looking up towards his assailant, he saw Riley and his Lucario, a mere couple hundred feet from his position.
Getting up to defend himself, Ash held up a barrier, his defense weakened by his inability to channel Aura through his broken arm.
"The times run out for you, Ash!" Riley said triumphantly, convinced he had his rival backed into a corner. "You have your fun with that Stone of mine, but I'm taking it back now! As they say, all good things come to an end!"
"What makes you think I even had it on me?" Ash asked the man, making an attempt to counter inform his opponent.
"Oh, but I'm sure you have it with you, Ash!" Riley said confidently. "I mean, when you've completely brainwashed the entire Region to become your subjects, there's hardly reason to not carry it around with you. It makes you feel powerful, untouchable!"
Part of what Riley said was right, however. Ash did get surges of confidence and a sense of being untouchable while using the Stone. He wouldn't let that get to his head though, for he knew his motives were justified.
"Every slave I conquered has only ever told me how happy they were, being made slaves. If you're attempted to crush my spirit, you're doing a poor job!" Ash said through his protective barrier.
"It's not like I cared about that, Ash! I don't care about what the women think about being slaves! All I needed was for you to have them deliver me children gifted with Aura, and this never would have happened!" Riley yelled out. "You could have just listened to me! You could have just gone along for the ride and allowed the Aura Guardians to live again, but you thought you were above it all!"
"I'm not about to make a group of slaves just for your benefit! I've given my slaves freedom from the jobs they were forced into. I won't have my children become part of an empty group with no weight in the world anymore!" Ash said, his last comment in an attempt to waver Riley.
"It's a shame you think like that, Ash. Your latest potential in Aura would have been a sight to see in your offspring. What a wasted source of potential, especially with that former Interpol cop." Riley began to say, his words confusing Ash. "What a child you two would have made."
"What are you talking about?" Ash asked the man, bewildered. "Why Annabel specifically?!"
"Oh, Ash... all this time under my wing, and you couldn't even tell one of your slave's was an Aura user?! Pathetic." Riley said.
These words shook Ash to the core. He had no idea what Riley was talking about. Annabel was a psychic user, like Sabrina. What sort of deception was the man conceiving now, he wondered. Desperate and intrigued, Ash prodded the man for info.
"What are you talking about?! Annabel is a psychic!" Ash refuted the man's statement.
"Yes she is... or is she?" Riley asked his rival. "Don't you find it weird how she's claimed that she could only connect with Pokémon earlier on in her life? That is her lack of proper training at work there."
"I looked deep into her history. As a girl, Annabel was left at an orphanage by her parents, never meeting them once in her life. It was at an early age where she noticed her ability to mentally commune with Pokémon." Riley explained as the sky and ground shook around them, the battle still raging around them.
"As it turns out, her family use to be a pair of Aura Guardians that were part of my guild. They seemed to have a difference of opinion with my Master as to how Aura was to be used." Riley continued. "They offered their child to an adoption home in hopes that my Master didn't attempt to 'indoctrinate' her in his teachings."
"But that doesn't make sense though! She was able to mentally affect a man I fought when we showed up in Alola." Ash said, denying what was put before him.
"Oh, but that is just simply her powers developing on their own. Her parents were truly prodigies in the ways of Aura." Riley said, before somberly thinking of the two. "It's a shame how they both perished before they could come back for their daughter."
"What you are saying makes no sense. If Annabel had these powers, shouldn't she have figured the truth behind them long ago?" Ash asked the man.
"To wield Aura is to wield life itself. Psychic powers have a similar effect in that regard. I suppose the only way you could truly form destination of the two is with the Mind Stone." Riley added on.
"What do you mean?!" Ash demanded of the man.
"When a person of immense Aura is met in the Eyes with the glow of the Mind Stone, their Aura instinctively repels it." Riley explained, then laughing at Ash's ignorance. "How could you have not picked up on that at all, you fool?! If all the times you've used the Mind Stone, have you not ever wondered why You were never brainwashed?!"
Upon the realization of Riley's truth, Ash was taken aback. It made so much sense now as to why he remained unaffected by the Stone's power, and yet anyone in any same given room he was in as well was. Remembering back to when he met Annabel back at the hotel, he recalled the Stone failing to take over her mind, despite how Sabrina's was dominated.
"So I guess you must be telling the truth, then." Ash said, reclaiming his composure.
"Yes I was, but I'm honestly unsure why I needed to tell you. I suppose to gloat, since you won't be needed to worry about that Stone soon enough anyways." Riley said, he and his Lucario forming an Aura Sphere in both their hands.
As the two blue orbs flew at Ash's shield, the man unsure if his barrier would hold against two, a Pokémon jumped in front of Ash to protect him. It was a Mega Lucario!
"Sorry I'm late, Master!" Korrina said to him, running in front of her Master to protect him. "Get out of here! I'll keep you safe!"
Upon hearing his slave's confidence in her voice, Ash nodded his head, dropping his shield and running toward the shore line for one of his other slave girls to bring him back home.
"Ah, a fellow Lucario user, and a mega stone user to boot." Riley said, his Lucario getting into a fighting stance. "Let's see if you have what it takes to face mine."
"You asked for it! Lucario, use Aura Sphere!" Korrina called to her partner.
As the Mega Lucario formed an Aura Sphere in its hands, Riley scoffed at its size.
"You call that an Aura Sphere?! Let's show them what that move should really look like!" Riley said, giving his Lucario a smug wave of his hands to form its own Aura Sphere, one far larger than Korrina's Lucario's when compared together.
As the two fired their attacks, Riley's proved to be the far stronger of the two, smashing through the blue orb with ease, hitting the Mega Lucario square in the chest, sending it flying.
"Lucario!" Korrina shouted, looking back at her partner past her shoulder.
Courtesy of its Mega Evolution, Lucario got off its back, returning to the battlefield.
"Power-up Punch!" Korrina commanded, her partner's fists glowing orange as it charged Riley's Lucario.
"Use Bone Rush!" Riley said confidently.
Upon the command, Riley's Lucario formed a staff of sheer energy, tough as bone. After creating its weapon, the normal Lucario charged its Mega Evolved counterpart, sweeping it up from under its feet with its staff.
After grounding his opponent, Lucario sailed away at his defenseless enemy, it's Bone Rush attack striking it across the face multiple times. As Korrina's Lucario lay unconscious in the dirt, it's power leaving it and its mega evolved form fading away, Riley then rushed down Korrina before she could try anything else.
Using her training as a Fighting Type expert to good use, Korrina did well in fighting off her attacker with her martial arts. Sweeping the man off his feet this time, Korrina prepared for land and elbow drop onto Riley's face, until his Lucario intervened.
With the force of a cannonball, Lucario's Aura Sphere hit Korrina square in her chest, the pain knocking her out cold. Seeing that his hindrance stayed down, Riley followed Ash's trail to the beach, seeing as he was making his retreat.
"Oh no you don't!" Riley said, firing an Aura Sphere at the approaching fishing boat.
Seeing that her vessel was taking on water, Lana abandoned ship, jumping to the shore with her Primarina emerging from the sea.
Just as Ash was about to hope aboard Primarina for his escape he looked at Riley in horror. He didn't have enough strength to block another attack and Primarina simply wasn't fast enough on the shore to dodge.
Just as Riley was about to fire another Aura Sphere in unison with his partner, the duo froze, a look of panic covering both of their faces. At first Ash wondered why they stopped, but suddenly, a surge of fear washed over him.
The feeling of an imposing, evil aura was suddenly prominent. Seeing where this suffocatingly malicious aura came from, Ash and Riley looked around, to no avail.
"He's here..." Riley muttered in terror.
Up in the sky, floating above where Looker's leading airship floated was a shimmering light. It's was Giovanni and his Team Rocket engineered stealth ship, it's metal panels made to camouflage it so it be nearly entirely invisible to the untrained eye.
"It looks like things are unfurling better than I hoped." Giovanni said sinisterly aboard his vessel, watching as the chaos continued below him.
"We discovered the targets, sir!" A reconnaissance grunt spoke up from their computer panel. "We have them spotted on the beach there!"
"Perfect, now all we need to do is wait for just the right moment to strike, and then we'll... hmm?" Giovanni began to say, only to be stopped when he noticed two individuals gradually approaching Riley from the back.
"Ash, give me the Stone now, please!" Riley said desperately, holding out his hand.
"You can't be serious..." ash said in disbelief, wondering why Riley began bargaining with him a few moments after attacking him.
"Neither of us could possibly hope to defeat that evil man with just one Stone alone! Only when the two Stones' power join forces can it gain leverage over the Life Stone!" Riley explained in a panicked rush. "Please I beg you! We won't survive this if that man has figured out how to use the Stone!"
"You're right. The two Stones are needed to be together." Ash said, looking over his left shoulder. "Just not with you."
Before Riley or his Lucario could react, Ash's Lycanroc jumped from behind the duo, pouncing on Riley and biting away at his jacket before jumping over to Ash.
In their state of panic from Giovanni's Aura, Riley nor his Lucario were able to notice their other foe flanking their rear. Feeling himself to see he was unharmed, Riley only then began to panic as he realized his jacket pocket was torn apart, his prized treasure missing.
Upon looking up at his assaulter, Riley had a mix of rage and fear wash over him. In the mouth of Ash Lycanroc was the box containing the Vigor Stone.
"What?! How did it know where that was?!" Riley asked in disbelief.
"When you were giving me your little speech, I noticed the box bulging from your pocket. I had Sabrina tell Annabel to speak to my Lycanroc so he could steal it from you." Ash explained, petting his Rock Type on the head as it set the box in its trainer's hand.
"And here I thought you were just happy to see me." Ash began to joke, his sarcastic comment throwing Riley into a rage.
"Bastard!!" Riley began to scream, only for a women to hold him back from behind.
"We're retreating!" Agent M said to the man.
"Get off me..!" Riley demanded, struggling in the woman's arms keeping him bonded.
"Look up at the sky!" Agent M told the man.
Looking up at the sky, smoke filling the once clear skies of Alola, Riley saw that the titan body of Tapu Koko had done more damage than he imagined. One of the remaining Interpol airships was currently attempting an emergency crash landing into the sea, with a two more airships already shot down by debris flung by the giant, their metal chassis's sticking halfway out of the ocean.
As the last remaining airship began to retreat over their heads, with every available policeman returning to the craft with their flying Pokémon, Riley realized what was happening.
"No, my Stones! We can't just leave! Nooo!" Riley cried out.
But it was too late, for a pair of police trained Skarmory flew down to grab them. As the first one grabbed Agent M' hand, taking both her and Riley up to the skies, the second one grabbed Lucario, the trio being whisked away to the airship retreating back to home base.
Watching all of this unfurl, Giovanni was struck by a plan of brilliance.
"We're ready to deploy our troops on your mark, sir, Giovanni's assistant told the man.
"Delay that order." The Boss said, raising his hand.
"But why sir? They're wounded and unaware of us." A grunt said.
"One would normally think so, but when in the case with these Aura users, on can never be too sure." Giovanni explained. "Besides I have a new plan. Follow the police airship at a distance."
"But sir-" A grunt began to say, only to be stopped by his boss.
"If we attack now, that means deactivating our cloaking device. The police will see our decent and see that we will obtain all of the Stones of Power yet again." Giovanni explained. "With that special weapon of theirs, they'll shoot our ship out of the skies and we'll be stranded. No, the stones are fine where they are. After this, Interpol won't dare risk another invasion of Alola."
"So what's the plan sir?" A grunt asked the man.
"We buy ourselves time so our development on the special devices for these stones is competed. We can come back at any time. What we need though is time and manpower." The Boss continued.
"I'm not sure what you mean sir." A grunt said, unsure of the point his boss had.
"I'm saying we are going to be making some new friends." Giovanni said sinisterly. "Follow the police. We'll let that brat have this victory, for how minor it is. Soon, in time, I shall get what I want."
As the cloaked Team Rocket ship turned around, following the damaged vessel back overseas, Ash looked in his hand in triumph, smiling proudly before passing out, his mind going blank as he lay sprawled out on the beach.
Author's note. Hello once again dear readers. I do hope you enjoyed the part two to this battle for Alola. With the Vigor Stone in his hands, Ash now has more potential for slaves than before. But first, he must rest himself, for his enemies haven't quit just yet.
I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter, and I hope to hear from all of you in the reviews.