Chapter 7: Full Power

At the bottom of the stairs, the Beast Riders encountered a corridor that branched into three paths; on the left, a rainy passage accompanied by constant lightning strikes; on the right, a swift water current impassible by even the fastest of ships; and in the middle, a winding tunnel with a floor of molten lava. All three Beast Riders became confused.

"How are we supposed to get across here?" Ace asked.

"I think this is a test," Aravan asked. "What kind of test, I do not know."

"It's a test to see if we trust our beasts. I know that if we put our trust in them, they will see us past here. Raikou, let's go! Into the passage on the left!" Josh said as he took off for the lightning-stricken passage.

"What courage he has," Aravan said in admiration. "I think if we just run straight through and trust them, we will be fine."

"Just trust in me, Ace. I will see to it that you are not hurt." Entei put its complete trust in Ace; now it was Ace's turn to trust Entei. It would be like the two of them were one in spirit. "All right. You would not put me in harm's way carelessly. I trust you. Let's go!" the beast's rider responded as they raced off down the lava-filled tunnel. Aravan was watching them until they disappeared down a corner. Entei showed no signs of pain, and saw Ace become less tense. That calmed Aravan's fears.

"Are you ready for this? There's only one way to get across this water. When you're ready, I'm going to jump into the water and swim as fast as I can. Just hold on and try to relax. I'll get you across this water. Don't panic, just hold on." Suicune tried to comfort Aravan.

"I'm ready. Suicune, let's get going!"

With that, Suicune jumped into the water. Though at first the beast was being carried backward by the current, it overcame the force of the water, and began rapidly swimming forward. As the beast accelerated to top water speed, Aravan tightened his grip on Suicune. The two of them had no problem with the rest of the trial, and were to make it to the other side safely.

Ace, likewise, had few troubles with his path as well. After a minute of his mount running across the lava, Ace let out a big sigh of relief. "I didn't know you could run across lava, Entei! Wow!"

"It's just like running over solid ground."

Josh and Raikou, however, faced the most difficult of the three paths. "How are you going to get me across here?" he asked.

Raikou offered a simple solution. "I can deflect the lightning bolts with a simple Spark attack. Just hold on as I rush across the path."

Josh was surprised at the answer Raikou had to the problem. "OK. I was second-guessing myself for a second about the feasibility of the approach, but I trust you won't electrocute me." He then let out a big sigh. Oh well, here goes nothing, I guess. Raikou! Spark attack!" Raikou and its rider became surrounded by a sphere of electricity. When the field first appeared, Josh's hair stood on end. But several seconds later, he realized that the electricity was not harming his body. The Legend of Thunder suddenly accelerated to a high speed, nearly throwing Josh into the electricity. His heartbeat jumped dramatically, pounding from the close encounter with death.

"Raikou, don't do something like that!" Josh said as he tightened his clutch on the beast's back.

"I will not let you fall off, Josh. Just trust in me. Have faith."

The beast had accelerated to nearly one hundred miles per hour by this time. Though everything was going fine for him, Josh could not relax like he did on that open field north of the college campus. There was something in his mind keeping him tensed up. Suddenly, a gap in the floor appeared in front of them. "Raikou, jump it!" Josh yelled. The beast made a low leap into the air, clearing the gap by a large margin.

Raikou continued to deflect lightning bolts for several more minutes before reaching the end of the path. The three paths merged into a large room as the Beast Riders slowed their Pokémon to a stop. At the end of the large room were three glowing swords, each stuck in a pedestal. The beasts then spoke to their riders about what their purpose was.

"Josh..."

"Ace..."

"Aravan..."

Raikou's voice overshadowed the others. "Listen to us. We will take you to the other end of this room. You are to remove the sword of the same element as the one of us that you are affiliated with. Josh, remove the Lightning Sword from the pedestal on the left."

"Ace, remove the Crimson Blade from the pedestal in the center."

"Aravan, take the Crystal Brand from the pedestal on the right."

Josh jumped off Raikou's back and announced to the others, "I will go first." The Raikou Rider stepped toward the pedestal on the left, and pulled on the yellow blade that was infused with the power of the Beast of Thunder. At the instant he removed the blade, a column of lightning bolts surrounded him. Josh screamed and panicked at this. "Josh! No!" Ace yelled.

As the lightning bolts rotated around him, a coat of lightweight, but effective, yellow armor appeared on Josh. Thirty seconds after he gained his armor, a yellow helmet of the same lightweight metal appeared on his head. The metal was struck by lightning, but Josh was completely unphased by it. A sword sheath also appeared at his side; it was a wide sheath to accommodate the lightning-bolt shape of the blade. When the circle of lightning bolts disappeared, revealing Josh's new armor, Aravan and Ace dropped their jaws in awe.

"Josh! Is that you?" Ace asked.

"Believe it or not, Ace, it's still me," Josh answered. "I don't know how good I am with swords, but I'll have to learn, I guess." Aravan stepped forward, excited to see what would happen to him.

"Aravan, it is your turn," Suicune told Aravan. "Remove the Crystal Brand from the pedestal." He walked up and removed the weapon from its resting place. Four water geysers surrounded Aravan as the area where Aravan was standing filled with cold water. As the water touched Aravan's body, a lightweight armor, this one blue, covered him from head to toe. Though Aravan was immersed in cold water for quite some time, he neither froze to death, nor did he drown. In fact, he was receiving the power of Suicune. The geysers shortly quit spewing water around Aravan, and the column of water collapsed, flooding the room. As with Josh, a sword sheath also appeared on Aravan's right side. Aravan subconsciously rested the tip of his new sword on the ground in between his legs. As a result, the ground within several inches of the tip of the sword was instantly frozen over. Aravan jumped.

"What just happened here!"

Suicune answered the question. "The Crystal Brand holds the essence of my powers over water and ice. Because the blade hit the ground, part of the ground froze, just as if I shot an Ice Beam there. Do not touch the blade without that armor on. Otherwise, you could kill yourself."

"Whoa." Aravan was shocked at the power of the Crystal Brand.

"My turn!" Ace shouted as he ran to the center pedestal, situated nearly next to the back wall. When he pulled out the Crimson Blade, a column of fire surrounded him. This startled Ace severely, and he began to lose trust in Entei. As a result, the fire began burning him. "Entei! Get me outta here!" he yelled in his distress.

"Trust me. You can do this." Ace heard Entei's voice in his head again. He then closed his eyes, recalling the moment in that sanctuary where he had ridden the Beast of Fire for the first time. This calmed him down, and the fire stopped burning him. A lightweight coat of red armor appeared around Ace, similar to the ones his friends had received. He also got a matching helmet before the fires died down.

"Entei, this is awesome!" Ace exclaimed. He then swung his sword through the air once, far away from everyone to ensure he wouldn't hurt anyone. Entei noticed something was missing. "Ace, duck down on the ground and hold the Crimson Blade high up in the air."

"OK, but... why?" Ace did as he was told. He crouched, then held straight up the sword in his right hand. Entei then launched a powerful fireball from its mouth, hitting the metallic, red blade of the weapon. It then became ablaze with an unquenchable fire from the legendary Pokémon itself. "Try again, Ace." He slashed his sword through the air again, and this time it left a hot flame line in the air for a few seconds.

"That's even more awesome!"

Raikou looked at the Lightning Sword Josh was holding in his right hand. This reminded it of something. "Josh, slash your sword through the air a couple of times. Go to about the center of the room to make sure you don't hurt anyone." Josh walked to the middle of the chamber and sliced the air several times. Though his swordsmanship was better than Raikou expected, that was not the reason why the beast wanted him to do it. "Hold the blade out. I need to strike it with lightning."

Josh held out his weapon just as Raikou asked. A large lightning bolt from Raikou's thunderclouds struck Josh's sword. It began glowing a brighter yellow, filled with the essence of Raikou's electricity. "Try it again." He assaulted the air with the same multi-slash combination. This time, a large electrical current briefly ran through the air that the blade passed through.

The three beasts followed Josh, Aravan, and Ace to the exits, when they suddenly became barred up. A light emerged from the ceiling as a series of weak wild Pokémon, such as Pidgey, Ekans, and Mankey, dropped in from above.

"Target practice," Josh sarcastically remarked. "Perfect. Well, let's get to work." The aerial targets that were the Pidgey proved to be the hardest to hit. Though Josh's accuracy with the Lightning Sword was near-perfect on the Ekans and Mankey, the other two Beast Riders were just the opposite; they had trouble landing a strike. For some reason, the wild Pokémon were reluctant to fight back; perhaps the presence of the legendary beasts provoked fear in their hearts.

As Josh's electric blade finally connected with a flying foe, Aravan and Ace were getting the hang of things. They were connecting attacks more often than before, and even helped take down one of the more evasive birds. By the time they had incapacitated all of their targets, three new paths opened in the front of the room from which they entered. These three paths were all flat slopes leading back to the staircase the Beast Riders used to enter the hidden room. When they entered the corridors, their Pokémon started running faster than they had in the open field. The chosen ones were used to the speed by now, and handled their land speeds of 130 miles per hour easily. It only took them a scant four minutes to arrive back at the trapdoor.

After they all left the tower, the passage mysteriously closed. Josh then suggested a counterattack on Goldenrod and Olivine. Aravan and Ace concurred. "How will we do this?" Aravan asked Josh.

"Well...give me a minute to think about it. For now, let's head to some place away from the college... some place where we won't become celebrities because of the equipment we have." Josh put his sword away; Ace and Aravan did likewise a few seconds later. Josh sat down on the ground, thinking about their attack plan. About ten minutes hater, he finally came up with something. "Right now, Aqua's force in Olivine Port is spread extremely thin. If we can break through that front line, we can liberate the entire city in a matter of minutes. Most of Aqua's strong forces, including their top three executives, are stationed in Goldenrod. I can handle all of that alone. Team Aqua doesn't stand a chance against Raikou's lightning, both from my beast and my sword."

"What the hell!" Aravan was struck by Josh's bravery. He couldn't say anything more; he became lost for words.

"I believe that is exactly why we were given these blades. I was thinking about having one of you stay behind to defend this place if the enemy manages to sneak a surprise attack, but I don't think that is likely. Ace and Aravan, you two can break through the lines at Olivine. I'm going to Goldenrod. When the police can control the situation, I'll come and help out at Olivine again. We'll drive those accursed Legacy Hunters out of Johto, once and for all! Move out, Beast Riders!"

At that, Josh split up from Ace and Aravan. Pushing Raikou to a swift 130 miles per hour, the rider felt wild and free. His heart started racing from the rush of the awesome speed. Though he was a man on a mission, Josh was having a blast racing to the battleground. "Raikou, this is awesome!"

"There's something about you that makes you different from all the others in history, Josh. It's a good difference. I like you. If only I was allowed to battle with you outside of this war..."

"Why can't you stay with me, Raikou? You and I make a great team. So why not just let me capture you in one of my Ultra Balls? That way, we both win. You and I could become partners...forever."

"I'd love to, Josh; I'd really love to. But there is a rule that states we cannot let ourselves be captured by mankind. We can develop friendships and assist whomever we please, but we cannot battle alongside a trainer for sport, nor can we allow ourselves to be captured. But that doesn't stop us from being together after the war is over. You can still ride on my back as fast as you want."

"I did not know that there was such a rule. If there was no such rule, would you have asked me to capture you before? It's kind of a sad rule, actually."

"I would have asked when we raced across that field that afternoon. I think it's a stupid rule, but I understand why it's there. It's to prevent humans from misusing our powers."

The conversation brought out a tear of sadness in one of Josh's eyes and a tear of joy in the other. It was a very thought-provoking conversation that ended as the two raced into the city. At this time, Archie was using the city center as a meeting ground for discussing the assault on Ecruteak City. It was a quiet, orderly discussion; that is, until Josh and Raikou came barreling down the main street of the city. The rider of the lightning-fast tiger drew his sword and shouted at Archie, "End of the line!" The beast let out another loud, thunderlike roar.

"You again, Josh?" Archie said as he turned around. "You're awfully persist--" His sentence was cut off. "Aren't you a little old to be playing with toy swords?" he asked sarcastically as he sent out his newly-evolved Walrein. Since evolution, the Pokémon had grown massive tusks.

"Raikou, jump at that Pokémon!" The beast made a swift jump by the walrus Pokémon's left side. Josh then slashed at the Pokémon with his Lightning Sword. The blade left an intense electrical burn, causing the Pokémon's energy to expire. Raikou then turned around and ran back to its original position. "Did that look like a toy sword to you? This sword is infused with the power of the legendary Pokémon I am riding on. We cannot be stopped. So relinquish control of this city before your other Pokémon suffer the same consequences!"

Seeing the power of the sword bearing Raikou's power, everyone but Archie fled the city. The police were able to deal with them. Many Team Aqua members turned themselves in out of fear of the blade Josh wielded. Archie, however, would not back down. "I have to defend this city! Gyarados and Crobat, take that brat down!" he yelled as he sent his Pokémon into battle. Raikou exchanged scary glances with the serpent.

"That is not going to help you. Raikou, take Crobat out the same way as before. I can help you take that large serpent down," Josh said. The agile beast ran in large circles, trying to lead Crobat into a Thunder attack. Though he was mounted atop Raikou, Josh was not worried about being shocked by the beast's lightning attack. The armor he was wearing had the power to block all electrical attacks.

"Gyarados, charge!" Archie commanded. The serpent flew straight for where Raikou was about to run. But the swift beast altered its course slightly to the left, setting up a painful electrical slash at the hands of Josh. Though the electrical burn was small compared to its large frame, Gyarados could not take any more, and collapsed to the ground.

"I'm done for now, Raikou," Josh said. The beast slowed down enough for Josh to jump off its back. The beast then set up a lightning attack on the speeding four-winged bat, but the bolt missed by inches. Crobat charged straight at Raikou and managed to land a couple of smacks to the beast's head with its wings. Josh ran up close to the Pokémon for another slashing attack. The sword missed--but the attack didn't. A wave of electricity hit Crobat right where it hurt. The fast but fragile bat fell to the ground. The battle was over.

"But...how could this have happened!" Archie fell to the ground. Josh shook his head in disapproval, then escorted him to the police. All of those Team Aqua members involved in the takeover would most certainly serve jail time for their actions.

"Josh, your swordsmanship is excellent. You would have made a fine warrior back in the day of the war," Raikou complimented Josh.

"Well, we should check on the others. Let's get out of here!" At that, Josh and Raikou sped off for the distant Olivine City. Even at the fastest speeds Josh was comfortable with, it would still be a longer ride than the first one to Goldenrod. This ride seemed to go faster than the last one, though Raikou was running at the same swift 130 miles per hour that it was before.

Meanwhile, back at Olivine Port, Ace and Aravan were making progress on breaking through the enemy lines, but slowly. Though their beasts showed no sign of tiring, the riders were growing fatigued.

"I hope Josh comes to help us soon!" Ace remarked. "I'm running out of gas!"

"Me too," Aravan replied. "I wonder how he's doing?" Vibrava and Growlithe continued to gain ground on the enemy, while their two trainers sat astride their beasts, waiting for the correct time to strike. The fighting went on for ten more minutes before Growlithe's enemy dropped its guard. "Entei, it's time! Charge!" Ace yelled. The huge lion darted forward, allowing Ace to deliver a burning slash to the Mightyena that was the foe. Ace's sword delivered a severe burn to the dark-colored dog, but he also accidentally sliced Growlithe in the process. Both Pokémon fainted.

Vibrava kept using dragonlike breath attacks to overcome the crustacean enemy it faced; that enemy was Crawdaunt. Though both of them were heavily wounded, Vibrava defeated the last Pokémon of the front line of Team Aqua's operations in Olivine City. The Pokémon struck the final blow as Josh arrived on his speeding Raikou.

"Boy, are we ever glad to see you!" Ace shouted.

"You said it!" Josh replied. Growlithe recovered from Ace's sword slash and stood on all fours. It and Vibrava then started glowing with an intense light. Ace and Aravan jumped for joy.

"If you had Fire Stone, why didn't you use it before?" Josh asked.

"I don't have any," Ace replied.

"Then what happened?"

"When Entei jumped up to let me slash the foe Mightyena with my burning sword, I accidentally hit Growlithe."

"So the sword has been forged with the essence of Fire Stone!"

"Apparently so. And I like it!"

The glowing Growlithe increased in size dramatically upon its evolution to Arcanine. The majestic dog stood nearly as tall as Entei, with a land speed close to the legendary beasts. The dog was so big that two adults could ride on its back.

Aravan's Pokémon also grew dramatically in size. It grew large wings on each of its sides. When the Pokémon stopped glowing, it had evolved into Flygon, a dragon Pokémon said to be the desert spirit. The dragon was larger than Aravan, and could give the trainer a ride into the skies. Josh then commented about the recent evolutions.

"Congratulations, Ace, Aravan! You guys are so lucky to have such cool Pokémon. You get to ride on such exotic Pokémon...and I'll just have a large eagle. Still, it's so cool that they evolved. I think that Flygon will be invaluable to us from this point on."

When they reached the port, the Beast Riders saw that it wasn't over yet. Courtney and Tabitha, second and third-in-command of Team Magma, respectively, were executing a retreat back to Birth Island. Tabitha stepped forward to converse with them. "Never did we think that someone would beat us to the legendary Pokémon. But seeing you three in your armor, atop three of the strongest legends known to man...it just infuriates me! But it doesn't matter now. We have what we came here for. All we need now is enough time to invoke the sacred rites that summon the legendary guardian of the sea! HA HA HA HA HA HAH!"

"Guardian of the sea!" Ace yelled.

"If you want to save your precious region of Johto, come to Birth Island! But I doubt you can make it there. If by some miracle or another you can make it across the sea, perhaps we will meet again!" With that, the battalion from Team Magma began their retreat across the sea.

The Legacy Hunters had successfully been driven out of Johto for good. The region was safe from their vile deeds...or so the people thought. But Josh knew that defeating the Legacy Hunters would not be this easy. What is this "Guardian of the sea," and what do the Legacy Hunters have to do with it? That was the question to be answered by Josh, Ace, and Aravan.

"I think Tin Tower will offer some clues as to what they're up to. Let's work on getting there tomorrow," Josh suggested. "I'm exhausted from all this fighting. Let's go home and call it a day." Josh was the only one to ride his beast back to the campus that late afternoon. Ace rode his Arcanine, with Entei following behind. Aravan jumped on Flygon and took to the air, with Suicune running alongside Josh and Ace. He had his dragon do some thrilling aerodynamic maneuvers on the way back to the college. When they reached home base, all three of them went into their rooms and took multi-hour naps. It was too early to go to bed.