Revival of the Burned

Chapter 5: Chase

"Dreamer, I choose you!" Nathan called out his Flaafy once again. "Use Thundershock!"

"I don't think so," Cristina glared as she pulled a set of small rings from her bag. These metal rings resembled the rings they had used to ensnare Entei, but smaller and more compact. Her Aerodactyl swerved to the side to dodge the Electric attack, then she tossed the rings at Flaafy.

The metallic rings rotated around the sheep Pokémon and zapped it with its charge.

"No! I won't let you take Dreamer, either!" Nathan clenched his teeth.

He kicked the metal cage, but it shocked and repelled him away with its charge. Aerodactyl flew overhead and snatched the cage by a handle-like ring at the top, taking Dreamer away with it.

"Choose, kid. The Entei or the Flaafy!" Cristina cruelly demanded. "Follow me and take the sheep back or go the other direction and find the Entei." She flew off with the caged Pokémon in tow over the treetops. Flaafy cried with fear in its voice.

"Dreamer!" Nathan cried out in distress. He clenched his fist in anger. "What are we supposed to do now? I can't choose between my Pokémon."

"You don't have to," Anna assured him with a hand on his shoulder. "You go after Booster, and Zach and I will get Dreamer back."

"Right," Nathan nodded with renewed confidence.

The teens split up as they raced to find their targets. Cristina watched from a distance high in the air. She dialed her Pokégear to Kaiji's number.

"Doctor, it seems they've decided to split up. They didn't take the bait. That Nathan kid is still chasing after Entei."

Kaiji growled on the other end of the line. "If Plan B fails, I have Plan C. Those kids won't make a fool of me. Activate the drones, then proceed to Phase 2."

"Phase 2?" the assistant seemed confused. "But, sir. We don't have Entei yet. How are we going-"

"Just do it. The power of reanimation will be mine with or without Entei." The phone clicked off with an abrupt beep.

Cristina pressed a few keys on her Pokégear, then directed her Flying Pokémon to land in the woods.

Zach and Anna ran toward the direction Cristina flew. They saw her land somewhere nearby, so they knew she had to be close. A strange light glared at them from ahead.

"That light has to be her!" Zach said as they picked up their pace.

As they neared the light, it dulled until two Pokémon became visible. One was a yellow tiger-like beast with lightning patterns and the other was a majestic blue beast with a flowing purple mane.

"These Pokémon are…" Anna trailed off as her mouth gaped in awe.

"Raikou? Suicune?" Zach asked the beasts. "They must be the other Legendary Beasts Morty had told us about."

"River?" A tear slid down Anna's cheek as she remembered her dead Vaporeon. "River, is that you?"

The Beasts didn't respond to them but ran in two different directions in the forked path in front of the trainers.

"River! Wait!" Anna called out. "Do we follow them? What about Flaafy?"

"They must be leading us in the direction, but why go different paths?" Zach pondered. "Is there something else they want us to find? Let's go, you take that way after Suicune and I'll go this way after Raikou."

I'm sorry Dreamer, Nathan thought as he ran. I shouldn't have let that happen. I promise that I'll get you back. My friends will get you back. I have to trust them.

He followed the blinking dot on his Pokégear's map, which indicated Entei's location. The dot moved faster than he did, so following Entei proved to be difficult. A flash of light caught his attention and Entei stood where he looked.

"Booster? But the map says that you're…" He glanced back at the map, which showed its red dot moving south through the woods. He looked back at the figure in front of him. Entei's eyes flickered with a slight static. Nathan's eyes narrowed. "You're not Booster, so what are you?"

The Entei-like figure glared at him for a moment then dissipated, revealing itself to be a hologram projected from a small machine which levitated in placed with a propeller. A light on the machine blinked and another hologram appeared, this one of Cristina.

"How did you know so quickly?" she asked.

"The eyes. I'll never forget the look in his eyes," Nathan answered with a cautious stare. "Where are my friends? They should've been dealing with you."

"They're falling for the same trap that you just saw through," she replied. "They're probably envious of your chance to see your dead Pokémon again. Who wouldn't be?" A slight strain in her voice indicated some level of emotion behind that statement.

She continued after clearing her throat, "They were all too eager to run after Suicune and Raikou and leave your poor Flaafy here with me."

She still has Dreamer held hostage, Nathan thought. What do I do?

"River, where are you taking me?" Anna continued to chase after Suicune.

The two came to an open clearing which overlooked a lake. Suicune stopped running just as a line of signal static slid down its body. The hologram dematerialized to reveal a metal drone on a propeller.

"Oh, no," Anna gasped as she realized her mistake.

Zach ran after Raikou. Always the skeptic, Zach watched the Beast carefully. It didn't react to him at all. It continued to move forward at a pace that seemed to be just the right speed to keep him from catching up but also not so fast as to lose him. When he nearly tripped moving from the woods to a rocky terrain, Raikou didn't notice nor show any signs of acknowledging him.

"Something's wrong," he said.

At that moment Raikou stopped moving and, for the first time, looked in his direction. But not directly at him. The Beast instantaneously bleeped out of existence and a hologram projecting drone hovered in its place.

"I should've trusted my gut when it said that that wasn't the real Raikou," Zach scolded himself. "So, talk. Whose controlling this gizmo, Kaiji or Cristina?"

"I am," Cristina's hologram form appeared before him. "I've also sent hologram decoys to each of your friends. I am broadcasting this message to all three of you simultaneously. If you want your Flaffy back, each of you must battle me. If any of you leave to find Entei before defeating me, I will take this Flaafy and use it in Entei's place."

"If you want a Flaafy so bad, just go catch one yourself," Nathan quipped. "They live in this area, I believe. So, give Dreamer back to me and go catch your own."

"The doctor wants your Flaafy, specifically, so that we can run tests to see if your Pokémon are more successful in reanimation than our previously failed attempts."

"What?!" Nathan growled. "You want to kill my Flaafy just so you can run tests to bring it back to life? That's sick!"

"Think whatever you want," the researcher's hologram retorted with a distressed tone. "We have our reasons for doing this. But talking about it won't reach any conclusions. So, let's have a battle."

"Fine by me. Go, Chomper. Let's win this and then go save Dreamer."

"Go, Vileplume!" The drone attached to the hologram tossed a Pokéball and from it revealed the rotten smelling plant.

"A battle it is, then," Anna prepared herself. "Go, Violet!" Her Bayleef appeared next to her.

"Magmortar!" Cristina's hologram called out a duckbilled Fire-type.

"Cook, let's do this," Zach called out his Quilava.

"Go, Poliwrath!" Cristina commanded as a brute frog appeared from its Pokéball.

"A Water-type? Shoot, she probably prepared a Pokémon with an advantage against each of ours," Zach said with concern.

"Cook, use Smokescreen!" Zach commanded. Quilava huffed a large puff of black smoke that smothered the surrounding area. "Now, use Quick Attack!"

Cook darted around the smoke covered terrain and collided with its blinded opponent.

"Poliwrath, use Double Slap!"

The frog-like Pokémon swung its big hands around but couldn't hit the speeding weasel.

"My Smokescreen hides me from your attacks. You may have the favorable type match-up, but it doesn't do you any good if you can't hit me," Zach gloated.

"Oh, are you sure about that?" Cristina's hologram smirked.

The smoke started to clear around the battlefield. Poliwrath's hands acted as a fan to blow away Quilava's cover.

"Now, Poliwrath! Hydro Pump!"

"Violet, use Poison Powder!" Anna commanded.

Bayleef tossed a toxic cloud of powder that seeped into Magmortar's body.

"Magmortar, attack with Fire Punch!"

The Fire-type Pokémon lunged its flaming fists at the Grass-type Pokémon. Each hit took a heavy toll on Bayleef.

"Violet, Tackle attack!"

Bayleef charged forward and smacked into the bigger Pokémon. However, the heat radiating from Magmortar seared into Bayleef, burning it.

"Magmortar has Flame Body," Cristina smirked. "Your attack just backfired."

With Bayleef burned and Magmortar poisoned, each Pokémon wheezed from pain.

"Chomper, attack with Bite!" Nathan said.

Croconaw chomped into the Vileplume's petal.

"Vileplume, use Mega Drain!" the hologram commanded.

The Grass-type, as its petals glowed, absorbed energy from the Water-type.

"Chomper! Headbutt!"

Croconaw reared its head back and slammed it hard onto Vileplume's face, which sent the flowery 'mon to the ground.

"Vileplume! Another Mega Drain!" the researcher commanded. Vileplume drained Croconaw again to restore its health. "It doesn't matter how hard you hit me, Vileplume will heal the damage. You won't win this battle in time to find Entei. You've lost already."

She's right, Nathan thought, distressed. I can't win this fight. Run away, Booster. Fast. I don't know what I'd do if they caught you, too.