"All available forces -bzzt- at Olivine! Bzzt- situation is at Level 10! Bzzt-rioritise evacuation and -bzzt-"
Comms are full of static, people are running, and everything is one big mess. People are running away from Olivine while I'm doing the exact opposite, flying my way there through the sky. If there's one thing I picked out over all the static and hoped with all my life that I didn't hear what I heard, it's that the Legendary Birds are here and are now laying waste to Olivine. That's not all. They had somehow combined and emerged as a brand new chimera-like pokemon that people are referring to as Zapmolcuno.
Good grief, wasn't facing Mewtwo enough? Now we have to deal with the Legendary Birds too?
Don't get me wrong, under any other circumstances I would be overjoyed at having the opportunity to catch a glimpse of those legendary flying types, those beings of myths that hadn't been spotted since almost forever. However, I certainly don't want to do that while they are out there destroying practically everything within their sights. I could see all the signs of destruction from afar even before I reached Olivine.
I wonder if my squadron had reached before I did? I would comms them right now but communications are rather botched at the moment, at least for those on my end. What can I realistically do right now when even Legends have joined the party?
Tino's worried cry brought me out of my thoughts and my head snapped up in attention, just in time to see a bright white mass of energy being condensed high up in the sky. That has to be Zapmolcuno's work. I hadn't even reached Olivine, yet the sheer pressure being emitted is enough to make me feel suffocated even from this distance. I could see the silhouettes of numerous figures flying up to meet Zapmolcuno's imminent attack, one of which is unmistakably a steelix's.
Is someone trying to defend the city from harm?
I could see that there was still a huge crowd of civilians trying to escape Olivine from its northern entrance. I could easily see that the city wouldn't be fully evacuated for at least the next fifteen to thirty minutes, and that is if we are pushing it. There are just too many people trying to flee Olivine and too little time to evacuate them all.
And then there was light.
I have no idea how to describe what happened next other than saying that it was like someone had thrown a gigantic flashbang that blinded the entire city while the winds blew at us like a raging tornado. Even Tino nearly lost her balance in the air and was being pushed backwards by quite a fair distance. When my sense of sight was finally working again, whatever attack that Zapmolcuno was charging up is now gone while the silhouettes that I presumed were the ones who defended the city and the people behind them from harm are now falling down from the sky.
My body reacted before I could think, trying to save whoever that was who was currently falling out of the sky, only to stop when a streak of yellow light beat me to the punch. I tried to radio someone, anyone, who could give me a better picture of the situation at hand only to find that all I could hear on my radio was static. From where I am, I could see flashes of energy beams and ice attacking Zapmolcuno while the earth beneath the legendary monster is now moving to meet them in battle. Someone, or someones, had risen to continue to defend Olivine.
There must be something that I can do to help too.
'You can. Find me, and help release me from my seal. I can lend you my aid but you need to hurry. Time is not on our side.'
I let out a short uncontrollable groan as my hand subconsciously reached out to touch my head from the sudden throb of pain, my eyes cannot help but close shut from the sudden migraine I am experiencing.
What was that?
'I apologise for the forceful intrusion, it's been too long since I had spoken telepathically with another human, it always did slip my mind that the human mind is a fragile thing. Seek me out, Flier, you are the only one who can hear me now.'
'How do I find you?' I tried replying back to that unknown voice like how I always replied to Cosmo's telepathic messages, hoping that it will work. Thankfully, my message got through.
'You will know, because you are my chosen one.'
Chosen one? Seriously? Had I hit my head so hard that I am now hearing voices that are not there?
'Follow your heart, Flier, and reach for the skies.'
I opened my eyes, and suddenly everything just suddenly seem to-
Snap
Into
Place
"Tino! Fly forward!"
I have no idea why I gave that command. It just seemed so right to me, I felt as if my decision to forge on ahead can never be wrong when I told Tino to fly straight ahead into the direction of Olivine. I steered Tino through the city as we flew around the battle and stuck close to the edge of Olivine, not wanting to get caught up in the battle against Zapmolcuno and somehow I just know where to go.
Tino's speed in the air allowed us to fly across Olivine in less than a minute, nimbly avoiding the destruction taking place around us. I continued to direct Tino to fly ahead towards the sea as a separate landmass surrounded by whirlpools soon came into our sights. Something within my mind is screaming at me that the island right in front of me is where I should head to. My eyes widened in realisation when I recognised just what that landmass is.
The Whirl Islands. Isn't this place Lugia's home in the games? Does that mean…
"Descend! Parallel drop!"
Tino descended as I released Crown from his pokeball. Upon Crown's release, Crown immediately flew parallel to Tino right below her at the same speed. In the next moment, Tino flipped around, allowing me to drop off her back while I twisted in midair to land on Crown's back below where he would catch me. I recalled Tino right after and Crown picked up speed and continued on our flight after seeing that I had recalled Tino.
"Circle around to the back! There should be an entrance there!"
I have no idea why I knew that there is an entrance there despite this being my first time here. Nevertheless, Crown trusted me and did as I told him to. We found a huge cove where many entrances towards the heart of the island could be found. Despite this, I somehow knew which entrance to enter from just a glance.
"Fourth from the right! Fly right in!"
It's dangerous trying to fly within a cave where visibility is poor and where there isn't any much room for flight. It may be a matter of trust in my starter or simply my subconscious mind somehow knowing that we can fly through the series of twists and turns within the network of tunnels, but we did just that. Crown expertly navigated through the cavern network leading down to the bottom of the Whirl Islands without even losing speed or knocking into anything along the way.
This is by far the most challenging aerial obstacle course I ever flew on, period. I could brag about this to Liam for a lifetime if only he could see just what we are doing right now.
We continued to travel downwards with my gut instinct directing me where to go next whenever we reached a fork in the road. On one such fork, I bumped into one person who I least expect to see here.
"Nova?!"
"Skye?"
"Hop on!"
Crown only slowed down slightly in his flight as he flew towards Nova, my hand outstretched to grab onto Nova as her hand reached out to grab onto mine. Our hands caught each other and with a tug, I managed to pull her up onto Crown's back in one swift motion as Nova recalled her pokemon that was with her at the same time. The entire process only took about two seconds in total before Crown shot off to wherever I pointed him to.
"Why are you here?"
"Why are you here?" Was Nova's reply as her arms wrapped around my waist from behind to better secure her position on Crown's back.
"I don't know! I keep hearing a voice in my head to come here so here I am! What about you?!"
"Blob told me to go down to wake Lugia up before he went to stop Zapmolcuno!"
"That small little green thing that is always with you?"
"That one!"
"And Lugia?! Holy mother of Jesus I was really talking to Lugia?!"
We saw an exit in the distance just as our short conversation ended. Crown flew through it in a blur and we now found ourselves in an impossibly huge cavern. It is so huge that even the aviary back home looks tiny in comparison. For crap sake, there is even a freaking waterfall right in the middle of the cavern as well!
However, we are not alone.
"Intruders! To arms!"
"Team Rocket?!"
It's Team Rocket alright. There's a bunch of Rockets in here with some fancy high-tech equipment scattered about here and there. Floating right in the middle of the waterfall is a small glowing orb of light. A slight squint of my eyes led me to believe within the orb of light is an object radiating said light.
'That is the Tidal Bell, an object with the power to call upon me or to seal me. These evildoers are making use of my Tidal Bell to seal me right behind this waterfall. Take them down and free me.'
'You are really Lugia?!'
'Is that really important right now?'
"Come out for battle! Defeat the Rockets!"
I quickly released Glide, Dia, Tino, Echo, Cosmo, and Heli for battle even if I have no idea how long we can last. They are all I have left to rely on after my run-in with Petrel. My remaining pokemon are all exhausted from all the rescuing they had to do since the beginning of this entire mayhem starting from the Indigo Plateau. Thankfully, I'm not alone.
"Nova? I don't think I had ever asked you about your skill level but please tell me that you are good enough to hold your own in battles."
Nova took a single glance at my pokemon before giving my reply.
"Drop me down. Tell your pokemon to pull back, I alone will be enough."
Team Rocket were not kind enough to wait for us to prepare ourselves before launching their own attacks. My team quickly moved to defend Nova and I from the attack as I dropped Nova off and my fellow reincarnator immediately released her own pokemon out to play.
"Remember, Skye, whatever you see me do next is classified."
The only thing I saw next was Nova raising a hand in the direction of where her garchomp is at. An innocuous looking ring that she is wearing on her finger then began to shine just as that garchomp started to glow a bright rainbow hue, just like what had happened to Volkner's gyarados back at Indigo Plateau. The garchomp then began to grow and morph just like what pokemon evolution does to pokemon and when the bright light had settled down, a creature that looks a lot like a garchomp but yet not exactly a garchomp made its presence known with an earth trembling roar.
"What IS that?!"
"National level secret! I will tell you about it later! Core, Bulldoze! Rumble, Sandstorm!"
A sandstorm brewed with immediate effect. All I did was to blink once before Nova's evolved-garchomp, Core, vanished from my line of sight and reappeared among the Rockets, flinging them back with a simple use of Bulldoze.
Powerful. So powerful.
Core's scythes are now a lot thicker and longer, its teeth also a lot sharper with more jagged spikes protruding out of its body as compared to when it's still a normal garchomp. Nova's garchomp alone is enough firepower to force the Rockets to be on the defensive as the rest of her ground types spread chaos among their ranks by summoning rock spikes from the ground or overturning the earth beneath to swallow them whole. My flying types provided air support from above as we made a point to destroy every single machinery we could see in here. If I have to make an educated guess, Team Rocket was somehow sealing Lugia behind that waterfall using the Tidal Bell through the use of those machines.
My guess was proven right when the orb of light lost its glow the moment Echo destroyed the last piece of machine in the cavern. Almost immediately, the entire island began to tremble as the miniature lake pooling at the base of the waterfall quickly swirled to form a whirlpool. A large growing shadow could gradually be seen behind the waterfall as the pressure in the air began to build. I could actually feel an invisible weight pressing down on me almost to the point of suffocation and from the looks of it, I'm not the only person that was affected by the sudden change.
'Ah, my apologies, it's been a long time since I had humans for company. I keep forgetting just how fragile you humans are.'
Something burst out of the waterfall just as the telepathic message ended. In the blink of an eye, the remaining Rockets and their pokemon were sent flying away from us by some sort of psychic intervention, ending the battle in an instant.
My eyes travelled to the center of the huge cavern where the lake is at. Hovering right above it is a majestic species of flying type that I had once seen as a game mascot from a life long past. The air of regality surrounding Lugia is one that compels you to kneel in its presence, every fibre of its being screams of power that I never thought could be possibly wielded until I felt it for myself.
All of these, I felt it merely by standing in its presence. Just what kind of power will Lugia unleash when it finally heads to battle?
So this is a Legendary pokemon.
Lugia flapped its wings once, creating a rush of wind that caused all of us to stumble back from the force alone. Lugia slowly descended and landed itself in front of Nova and I, its head lowering a little to get a better view of us as I tried my best to not shy away from it.
'So this is how you look like. Oh hello there, Watcher, I see that you have met my old friend Zygarde. Quite a peculiar fellow, isn't he?'
"Uh, yeah."
The island shook once more and everyone except for Lugia and my flying types fell onto the ground from the impact. This time, it felt like an earthquake had hit the entire island and beyond.
'Alas, we don't have time to chitchat. Both of you, recall your pokemon. Time is of the essence, I will bring us out of here.'
Nova and I were levitated onto Lugia's back by its psychic powers the moment we did as we were told. Lugia gave us another reminder for us to hold on tight before it took an unexpected dive and plunged itself into the lake within the cavern, bringing us all for a deep swim hundreds of meters below the sea.
To my surprise, Nova and I were untouched by the seawater. Lugia had used its psychic powers to maintain a gigantic pocket of air around us with itself as the epicenter, thereby allowing Nova and I to breathe normally underwater and untouched by the water pressure. Lugia quickly swam through a series of twists and turns in a network of underwater caverns and it wasn't long before we emerged from the sea in a massive splash.
'It's been a long time since I last been to the surface. Hmm, I couldn't quite recognise Olivine now. It seems that a lot has changed.'
"Olivine will be changed into a wasteland if we don't hurry." I helpfully reminded Lugia and pointed at where I could see the battle taking place far ahead. Zapmolcuno's rage is still running rampant and laying waste to everything it sees.
'Whoever dared to awaken the Thu-Fi-Zer was either extremely foolish, or extremely desperate, maybe a little of both. Individually, Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno are the embodiment of instinct, valour, and wisdom. Combined, they are wrath incarnate and impossible to be reasoned with. There was a very good reason why they were kept separate from each other and why the ruby and sapphire crystals were stored on the Sevii Islands instead of the Kanto mainland.'
"Are the Zapmolcuno really that powerful?" Nova asked, to which Lugia casually replied while making its way over to the site of the battle with us on its back.
'Have nobody ever wondered why no other Legendary pokemon other than those three made their home in the Kanto region? It's because if their powers ever merged into one, they are near unstoppable, even for us fellow Legendaries. Not only that, their power will steadily accumulate and grow starting from when they first come together as one until somebody separates them somehow. The collective power they wield as a single entity is the reason why nobody wants to make their homes near them.'
I cannot help but voice my thoughts upon hearing that.
"If what you said is true, that even other legendaries will be wary of Zapmolcuno's power and it will keep accumulating power without limit since its formation, they had already been formed for quite a while. Will you be enough to stop them?"
'Do not fret, Flier, for there's a very good reason why Ho-oh and I chose to make our homes in the Johto region. We are the only ones capable of stopping them if they ever become the Thu-Fi-Zer. Besides, Zygarde is already helping and- oh, who is that?'
Somehow, I immediately know who Lugia was referring to.
"I think that is Mewtwo. A man-made Legendary pokemon, apparently."
'Man-made? You mean similar to a spiritomb or a golurk?'
"Uhh, I don't even know how those pokemon came to existence to begin with. Nova, do you know?"
"There are ancient records left behind that suggest that pokemon like the golurk and spiritomb species were originally artificially created before they managed to proliferate and thereby becoming an entirely new species of pokemon on their own. As to how they were created in the first place, it's still a mystery that we are still trying to find out."
'I see. Well, we can leave this conversation for another time. Right now, we have to quell the Thu-Fi-Zer. Hold on tight!' Lugia instructed us before swinging up higher into the air, finally close enough to enter the battle. Lugia took a breath, and that was all it needed to launch a highly pressurised air cannon from its opened jaws that sent Zapmolcuno spiralling back.
That has to be the fabled Aeroblast, Lugia's signature move.
Lugia's assault didn't end there. Now that it has joined the fray, it immediately took control of the flow of the battle as it fired a barrage of Aeroblasts at Zapmolcuno without rest, each of its attacks hitting Zapmolcuno with pinpoint accuracy. Zapmolcuno was forced to back off further into the skies above the sea outside Olivine with every of Lugia's attack; we succeeded in pushing it out from Olivine.
"Hell yeah!"
'It's too early to celebrate. Thu-Fi-Zer is not that weak, the real show has yet to come.'
It's just as Lugia had said. Zapmolcuno started their counterattack right away after they had recovered. Lugia had immediately used Reflect and Light Screen to protect us from harm but even then, it's obvious that Lugia's barriers were barely able to stop Zapmolcuno's attacks.
'They will only get progressively stronger as time passes. We need to separate them before it gets to the point that nobody could stop them. Already, too much time has passed since their formation if they were almost able to breach my defenses.'
"And how are we supposed to separate them?"
'We need to find the ruby and sapphire crystals. They are essential for bringing them together and also to separate them back into their individual selves. I can only hold them back for so long before Thu-Fi-Zer becomes impossible to go up against, even for me.'
'The humans are already hunting for those stupid stones. We just have to hold the oversized dodrio down until then.'
'And you are…?'
Lugia turned its head towards the source of the unknown voice within our heads. A humanoid psychic pokemon teleported to hover beside us in the sky as its eyes gave us a sweeping yet appraising glance. I jumped a little when I recognised just what pokemon it is.
'Mewtwo.'
'Ah, a pleasure to meet you. It's always nice to have a fellow psychic joining our ranks.'
'I wish I could say the same, but-' Mewtwo raised an arm and fired another powerful blast of psychic attack just as Zapmolcuno fired a beam of ice our way, safely detonating Zapmolcuno's attack prematurely before it could harm us.
'- but right now I have nothing on my mind but to vent all my anger and frustration on this three-headed bird. I possess more than enough power to hurt it, so can I trust you to defend the city and the people behind us?'
'I am referred to as Johto's Guardian of the Seas for a very good reason.'
'Good.'
Mewtwo vanished the moment it made its reply, leaving us alone. The sea below us started to swirl and rage ominously in response to Lugia's power as Lugia let out a battlecry that I'm sure could be heard throughout Olivine, giving us the glimmer of hope that we all desperately wished for right now.
There is hope.
Johto's Guardian of the Seas had risen to protect us in our time of need.
Character and pokemon list:
Name: Skye Bale, 16, Female
Affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Code Name: Zephyr
Pokemon Team:
1. Pidgeot (Crown), male
2. Gliscor (Glide), male
3. Skarmory (Dia), female
4. Crobat (Beats), male
5. Jumpluff (Cotton), female
6. Dragonite (Tino), female
7. Noivern (Echo), male
8. Emolga, (Emi), female
9. Hawlucha (Hawk), male
10. Sigilyph (Cosmo), female
11. Aerodactyl (Aria), female
12. Masquerain (Heli), male
