Chapter 6: Utter Failure
With the Raikou Rider's first real test imminent, there was no backing down from the battle with Team Aqua. Josh then realized that Ace was still on the beast's back. "Ace, go with Aravan. He'll need your help," Josh asked. Ace promptly left, and climbed on Suicune. Aravan didn't even have to ask. The two of them sped off toward the other end of the city, leaving Raikou and Josh to deal with Matt.
"I don't like the looks of this..." Matt thought to himself. He then pulled a dirty trick: he called all three of his Pokémon into battle at the same time. They were Crobat, a four-winged bat; Sealeo, a blue Pokémon that lives in arctic waters; and Gyarados, a twenty-foot sea serpent with enough power to completely level even a major city. Though Raikou was clearly more powerful than any of Matt's Pokémon individually, three of them together could be a threat.
"This will be easy, Raikou," Josh remarked. "Just focus on hitting them with gigavolts, one at a time!" Crobat was indeed very fast, but having wings on all four corners of its body hampered its agility, and Raikou was about to take picture-perfect advantage of it. "Track Crobat's movements and keep dodging those attacks!"
Gyarados and Sealeo fired water bursts at Raikou, but they both missed by a very large margin. The tiger stared at Crobat for a few seconds, then struck the enemy Pokémon with a massive bolt of lightning. Crobat fell to the ground like a rock. "Next one, Raikou!" Josh yelled.
"That's not going to happen again! Sealeo, Hydro Pump!" Matt commanded. The aquatic Pokémon fired a stream of water from its mouth, but as with its previous attack, it missed by a large margin. But it was a trap. Gyarados had already fired a second water attack straight to where Raikou had dodged. Though Raikou was clobbered by the attack, it recovered quickly and darted toward Sealeo with a Spark attack.
"Counter with an Ice Beam!" Matt yelled. The Pokémon fired a cold beam at the charging beast.
"Tsk-tsk. Jump and dive at it!"
Raikou, demonstrating incredible agility, jumped over Sealeo's Ice Beam attack and still managed to hit the attacker with a lightning tackle. Miraculously, Sealeo survived the attack.
"But how! Nothing can survive a blow like that!" Josh exclaimed. Matt completely ignored the comment as Gyarados sneaked up behind Raikou. In a surprise attack, the serpent slammed its tail down on Raikou. If it weren't for Raikou's glowing thunderclouds to shock its foe, it would be down for the count after such an attack. Gyarados collapsed after taking the electrical blow, with Sealeo's energy also expiring at the same time. Raikou won this confrontation...barely.
"I have to retreat for now, but we'll be back!" Matt yelled in his haste as he retreated toward the city coast, where he could return to the Birth Island base. Josh then thought of his friends. "I think they could use some help!"
Josh had made his battle with Team Aqua quick, mostly due to Raikou being the Legend of Thunder. With its electric assaults, none of Team Aqua could stand in its way, or Josh's way. Aravan and Ace, however, weren't so lucky. Unbeknownst to Josh, the two of them got ambushed by several Aqua members, and there was nowhere to retreat. The many battles against Team Aqua were wearing allied Pokémon down, and Suicune's watery and icy brutality was of little use against common-type foes. Josh climbed on his now slightly wounded Raikou, and took off for the other end of the city, where his friends were fighting.
It was worse than he expected. The entire southern edge of the city was completely demolished. Furthermore, Aravan and Ace were exhausted from the battles, not to mention their Pokémon. Speeding to the rescue, Josh and Raikou knocked two Team Aqua members out of the way. "There are too many of them! We need more help!" Josh said.
"But where are we going to get help?" Ace asked. "We have the most powerful Pokémon available to us!"
"Not all of them. We need Entei's power!" Josh replied. "You have changed since that day, Ace. Go see Entei and claim the power of Fire! We have no other choice!"
"Fine, then. I guess it's worth a try. Better than getting creamed by these guys."
"Fall back, Beast Riders! Ace, climb on with me! It's the fastest way out of here!"
Ace and Aravan ascended Raikou and Suicune, respectively, as they made a swift retreat back to Ecruteak City.
"Should we follow them?" A Team Aqua member asked.
"No," responded Shelly, second-in-command of Team Aqua. "Our old enemy, Team Magma, should have that covered. They will be arriving at Ecruteak City from Olivine sometime tomorrow or the day after.
About a half hour later, the group returned to the college, ready to relax and let their Pokémon recover. Josh wanted to have Ace tackle Entei's test today, but he didn't feel like it. No one did. For the rest of the day, they did nothing but relax and have fun. That night, Ace had a third dream calling him to the Burned Tower to face Entei.
"Entei! Finish Tropius with your Flamethrower attack!" Ace yelled. The huge lion spewed a huge spray of fire straight at the grass-type dinosaur. Aravan quickly recalled his Pokémon before its body was consumed by the raging flames.
"Ace, you have changed since that day before," Aravan acknowledged. "I submit. I also believe you and Entei make a great team." He then left the arena.
"Ace...indeed, you have changed quite significantly since our previous meeting. Let us race off into the open...together. Climb on, and race across the land like the Beast Rider you are!"
"You mean that?" Ace asked.
"Absolutely. Now, the time has come, Ace." Excited from the bottom of his heart, Ace jumped for joy.
"Yahoo! Entei finally accepts me!" he cried as he mounted the fiery legend. The two of them sped off into the distance at just over eighty miles per hour. Unlike Aravan and Suicune, Ace had the beast completely under control, and was even tempted to push the Legend of Fire faster.
"Did you want to go faster?" the beast asked.
"I was thinking about it...but why not? Entei, faster!" Ace commanded. Entei sped up to roughly 110 miles per hour. The rush of the beast was an awesome feeling for Ace. It ran several laps around a large, open field before making a turn toward the Burned Tower.
"Ace, you need to come to the sacred sanctuary where we first met. I will be ready to test you again. But for now, let us continue racing toward the tower." The beast continued toward the tower at the same pace as before. Arriving at the tower several minutes later, Ace jumped off Entei's back, and went down the stairs to where the two had their battle several days ago. "Ace, do you see that carving of a flame on the back wall over there?"
"Yes," Ace responded.
"Push in on it." Ace walked over to the end of the chamber and did as he was told. When he pushed the loose wall panel, a trapdoor opened behind him, revealing a staircase leading downward.
"Down those stairs is the key to your survival. It's up to you now..."
That was the end of Ace's dream. He woke up and looked at the clock, then realized it was only half past six; so he went back to sleep for another hour and a half before waking for real. Looking out the window, he saw Josh and Aravan mounting their beasts, socializing while waiting for him. He quickly grabbed a bite to eat, changed clothes, and cleaned himself up before meeting with his friends.
"Guys, I have some great news," Ace announced. "I had another dream like the ones we had about three days ago. And this time, I was riding Entei! There's also something else it showed me, but we need to go to the tower first. Josh, could you have Raikou give me a lift?"
"That's great news, Ace!" Aravan replied.
"Indeed, very good news. And I'm sure Raikou will be glad to give you a ride to the tower," Josh added. After Ace got situated atop Raikou, the three of them took off for the tower. They went closer to the edge of the city this time, where they could push their beasts faster without running a big risk of hurting people. Though it was a longer distance, they got there in a slightly shorter amount of time. When they entered the tower basement, they saw Entei already waiting for Ace. "I see you have returned, Ace. I can see...a change of attitude in you. Battle me and I will join you."
"Entei, let's make this fast," Ace replied as he sent his newly-evolved Typhlosion into battle. This Pokémon was a much fiercer Quilava that stood up on its hind legs.
"So Quilava evolved back at Goldenrod, did it?" Josh asked.
"Yep. Thunderpunch it!"
Entei dodged the initial attack by jumping over its adversary, but was caught by a second electrical punch. This inflicted an electrical burn on Entei, significantly reducing its mobility. The beast rammed at Typhlosion to counter the attack, but that effort failed; in fact, it allowed Ace's Pokémon to counter with an electrical uppercut.
"You've done well. Only trainers who truly love their Pokémon can attack like that. Keep it up, Ace."
With only one move left, Entei tried a stomping attack. Typhlosion was able to get out of the way of the beast's huge paw, and deliver more punching attacks. At this, the beast could do nothing else. Being crippled by the electrical attack, it quickly surrendered to Ace.
"Your attitude has changed, Ace, as has your battling style."
"What the hell!" Josh exclaimed. "It's already over!"
"So can I ride on your back now?" Ace asked the Legend of Fire.
"Not quite yet. There is something I need to show you and your friends. Does that wall panel look familiar?"
"There are three of them over there now!"
"One for each of the Beast Riders. Do you understand how you are to instruct your friends?"
"Yes," Ace responded. He then turned to Josh and Aravan. "Get off your Pokémon and come over here. Listen carefully." The two of them did just that. "Entei called me here in a dream last night, and in the dream, he told me to push on this wall panel. The one with the carving of a flame. When I did that, the carving started glowing red, and a trapdoor opened. Josh, do you see that panel to the left; the one with a lightning bolt on it? And Aravan, the one with a snowflake on it, to the right? On three, we push on those at the same time."
"Right," they both responded.
"One...Two...Three!" On the word "three," they simultaneously pushed the loose wall panels. They started glowing yellow, red, and blue, in correspondence to the element of their legendary beast. Right in the center of the altar, a very large trapdoor suddenly opened.
"It has been seven hundred years since this power has needed use," Suicune recalled.
"It is a very potent one, and can destroy the user if not harnessed correctly," Entei warned.
"But it is the only hope for the legendary Pokémon right now," Raikou reiterated. "Riders, climb on, and let us descend into the depths where the ultimate power of the legendary beasts awaits their fated riders!"
With that, the three riders mounted their beasts and descended into the secret passageway that the trapdoor revealed.