Chapter 9: Storming the Base
By the time the Beast Riders and Ho-oh began their trek to Birth Island, the data the Legacy Hunters had pooled their data together onto one compact disc. Maxie had given the data to Ernest, who then handed it to Travis. For much of the previous night and into the morning, Travis did nothing but evaluate the information. Several hours before the Beast Riders had awakened, he found within it the key to summoning Lugia; a picture of an ancient tablet that should have been sealed away for all time. But the language on the tablet was ancient and corroded; he could not decipher the meaning of the sacred writing alone, nor could Ernest.
Having expected such a problem to arise, Travis saved a copy of the image onto the computer's hard drive, then opened up a program. The purpose of the program was to digitally reverse the corrosion of the tablet, as well as decode and translate the sacred text on the tablet. Though the program had been running since one AM, it had returned no results even at mid-afternoon. "Ah well, like they'll find us here," Travis chuckled to himself. "We have all the time in the world!"
That same late afternoon, the Beast Riders and Ho-oh were coming closer to the Sevii Island chain. The rainbow bird suggested a strategy for infiltrating the base. "The main priority is to stop them from releasing Lugia. When we arrive, I will keep watch outside. You three are to enter the base and divert their attention. Defeat the leaders before they awaken Lugia." With that, the bird increased its speed, arriving at the fog-shrouded island in a half-hour.
To temporarily dissolve the fog, Ho-oh shot a massive fireball directly at it. The dense cloud broke up in a small area, allowing the rainbow bird to make a landing as the three beasts jumped off the rainbow path and onto the seemingly deserted island. When the bird deposited its passengers on the island, it wished them good luck before flying away to watch for its cousin.
The three riders climbed atop their beasts, hoping that they could sense the secret opening. After looking around the island for a few minutes, Ace noticed a medium-sized pyramid-shaped red object. "Guys, look at this!" he called for his friends.
"What did you find, Ace?" Josh asked. "I see. This must be some sort of password." Ace tried pushing the red block, but to no avail. Entei then charged at it, but still nothing happened. "Flamethrower attack!" The crimson lion shot a burst of fire straight at the object. It slid toward the other end of the island. Josh then heard something click, then a rumbling sound. A large piece of sod had rotated 180 degrees, revealing a large entryway leading down. The staircase was metallic. "Jackpot!" Josh announced. "This is the base of the Legacy Hunters. Time is of the essence! Let's go, Beast Riders! Let's end this!" With that, the three of them rushed down into the base.
Surprisingly, the hallway was empty. The place looked abandoned, but Josh knew better. "I thought this place would be full of Team Magma and Legacy Hunters. But they are nowhere in sight. Keep your guard up!"
Back in the board room where Travis was analyzing his data, Ernest rushed into the room with an urgent message. "Travis, sir! The Beast Riders are here!" Upon hearing that, Travis turned to one side and spit out his beverage in disgust over the news.
"Damn it, Ernest, we still don't have the tablet translated! Buy me some time!" Travis snapped.
"But how?"
"Battle with them! Anything to allow me some time to figure out how to summon Lugia! Go, NOW!"
"Right away, Travis, sir!" At that, Ernest rushed out of the room, headed for a large arena situated close to the board room.
The riders found an elevator leading down. But much to their dismay, they could not use it without abandoning their beasts. "Shoot. Looks like we have to find the stairs around here," Josh noted. The stairs were just around the corner; unfortunately, Tabitha was waiting for them there. When they turned the corner, she spotted them.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the gallant heroes of legend, trying to save their precious town," she remarked sarcastically.
Aravan knew there was no time to lose. "Suicune, attack!" The blue cheetah fired an Ice Beam from its mouth, straight at Tabitha. She was able to release her Pokémon, Blaziken, just in time. A fighter with birdlike agility, it would ordinarily be a difficult Pokémon to take down; but Suicune's Ice Beam was so cold that Blaziken froze solid. Though the enemy Pokémon could not fight, Aravan was still skeptical. He had Suicune run up to the frozen creature, letting Aravan smack the frozen Pokémon with his icy sword. The blade's power created another layer of ice around Blaziken. Tabitha had no choice but to let the three of them pass.
"Thank you," Ace said to Tabitha. Turning to Josh, he told them to hurry. They took the stairs down to the bottom floor, where the board room was located. The level was empty, but there was an eerie aura about the area; it was as if Travis had found the way to tame Lugia. "Do you hear chanting?" Aravan asked.
Josh stopped to listen for a few seconds. "I do hear it. Could we be too late!"
"We can't think that way!" Ace corrected Josh. "We have to hope for the best! Entei, forward!" The three of them rushed forward, Ace and Entei in the lead. After checking most of the level, Josh found the entrance to a large room. "Guys, the chanting's getting louder. This way!"
Entering the large room, they found it to be a battling arena. Ernest was on the other side. Aravan wanted to know what was going on. "Who the hell are you!" he asked as all three riders drew their swords.
"I am Ernest, second-in-command of the Legacy Hunters. You must be the Beast Riders of legend. Though your ancestors defeated us once, we will not let that happen, for this time, we have the ultimate power!"
"No! They're already summoning Lugia!" Josh cried.
"Master Travis is translating the ancient text as we speak. If you want to stop him, you have to get past me first!"
"Fine," Ace responded. "We have more than enough power to take you down."
"There are three of you, so it's only fair that I use three of my Pokémon at once."
To begin the battle, the human resource manager unleashed Absol, a black-and-white quadruped known as the "Disaster Pokémon"; Gardevoir, a green psychic Pokémon that seemed to wear a white dress; and finally, Porygon2, an enhanced version of the manmade Pokémon, Porygon. Both consisted entirely of programming code. The three beasts and their riders prepared for battle. All three of them immediately went on the offensive. Raikou charged straight at Porygon2 in an attempt to shock it with a Spark attack. Porygon2 teleported to one side before the attack was to hit. Josh attempted a counterattack with his sword, but the creation of man simply teleported out of the way again.
Entei and Suicune focused their combined efforts on Absol with water blasts, fireballs, and physical abuse. Suicune's Hydro Pump attack went wide left, and Entei's huge foot missed its mark. As Absol jumped out of the way of Entei's paw, Ace slashed at the Pokémon with his flaming sword. There was no escaping this attack. Absol was scorched, but not out of the fight by any means. Instead, the foe backed away from the Beast Riders and performed a Swords Dance. This increased the sharpness of its claws.
Porygon2 generated a wild ice storm after Ace's attack. The combination of wind and snow pushed back the efforts of Raikou and Entei. Suicune, however, seemed to like the attack. Because the attack was split among three targets, the beasts shook it off quickly. Gardevoir closed its eyes, then a blindingly bright beam appeared around Suicune. This was Gardevoir's Confuse Ray. The light would cause foes to turn on each other. But it didn't seem to work on Suicune.
Instead of individual attacks, Raikou and Entei tried to catch Porygon2 in a trap by having Entei bite at it, which would cause it to teleport away...right into Raikou's eight-inch fangs. Unfortunately, Porygon2 teleported to the other side of Entei; it was the side that Raikou was not guarding. Seeing that it went the other way, Josh quickly slashed in Porygon2's direction, and a large static bolt appeared. This effort caused the virtual Pokémon to take significant damage.
Diverting Ace's attention from Gardevoir and Absol, Suicune and Aravan were ripe for the attacking. Gardevoir fired a strange beam at Suicune. The blue cheetah jumped out of the way--only to be slashed by the claws of Absol. Aravan's left leg also got caught in the crossfire. "God!" the rider yelled upon being wounded by Absol's claws. Suicune immediately counterattacked with a vicious Hydro Pump attack. But this attack was directed at Gardevoir, not Absol. Not expecting this, the psychic-type took the full force of the attack and was slammed into the ground. That was not the end of Gardevoir, though. The Pokémon counterattacked with its psychic ability. It lifted Aravan and Suicune into the air and sent the two flying. Suicune threw Aravan off its back before the two of them hit the wall. It was a good thing too; if Aravan was still on Suicune after the attack, he would have been crushed between his beast and the steel wall. After the attack, the rider in blue armor could not stand up. He was barely able to get up on his knees.
"Aravan!" Josh yelled for his friend. "Raikou, make Gardevoir pay!" The yellow beast, fangs wide open, darted straight for Gardevoir. Again caught off guard, Gardevoir could not get out of the way. The combined power of Raikou's long, skewering fangs and Josh's electrical sword drained the last of Gardevoir's energy. It then collapsed.
Ernest sent out Sceptile, a grass-type Pokémon with ninja-like agility and great physical strength. The six-foot-tall green Pokémon charged at Raikou, preparing to attack with its blade-like claws and leaves. The double-edged attack delivered a massive blow to Raikou and its rider, but Sceptile accidentally hit itself with some of the attack's force. Both sides took considerable damage.
Suicune could see the trouble its comrades were in. In an attempt to rectify the situation, the beast's blue crystal started glowing, and a refreshing aura surrounded the entire party. It was an aura that felt like soothing water; an aura that replenished the life force of each one of its allies. Suicune and Aravan, as well as Josh and Raikou recovered from the assault and were able to stand up. He mounted his saber-tooth tiger again, preparing to get the Beast Riders back in the fight.
Teaming up with Ace and Entei once more, Raikou darted toward Sceptile, ready to sink its fangs into the Pokémon. At the same time, Entei launched a powerful burst of fire from its mouth. Panicking, Sceptile dodged the fire blast, but it dodged right into Raikou's gaping maw. The beast made several incisions into Sceptile's body with the fangs before retreating to avoid a counterattack.
Absol had trouble finding a time to attack. It just stood on the edge of the arena, waiting for the time to strike. Meanwhile, the wounded Porygon2 retreated into the back of the arena, then increased its energy with a technique called Recover. Ace immediately identified the technique and let out a big sigh. Still atop Raikou, Josh commanded it to call down a large lightning bolt straight over Absol. The bolt struck the dark-type in the center of its body, causing it to collapse.
Running out of options, Ernest used his steel-type bird, Skarmory. The wings of the metallic bird were light and hollow, enabling it to fly close to 190 miles per hour. Its wings also double as extremely sharp blades, and can be used to make swords. Upon entering the arena, it whipped up a nasty sandstorm. In response, Raikou chased the sandstorm away with a stronger thunderstorm.
Sceptile ran up to Suicune and tried to slash the water-type with one of its Leaf Blades, but the beast backed off before firing another Hydro Pump blast at Porygon2. Again, it teleported out of the way. It returned fire with a lump of dark energy known as a Shadow Ball. This was fired at Entei, but the crimson lion jumped over it, landing on Porygon2. This stomping assault slammed the virtual Pokémon into the ground before it had the chance to teleport away.
Skarmory would normally fear an electric Pokémon like Raikou. However, it had an advantage in a swift attack called Aerial Ace; it was an undodgable flying assault. The metal bird swooped down at Raikou and Josh, talons wide open. The talons slashed Raikou, but the armor Josh had on saved his skin from being torn apart. Raikou reared up reacting to the injury, scaring Josh a bit. The rider did not lose his grip, however, and fired an electrical beam from his sword. It missed. Entei shot another fire stream at Skarmory. It also missed.
In an effort to take down Suicune, Sceptile charged at the beast for another Leaf Blade slashing attack, but Suicune shot an Ice Beam before the grass-type could make it. The foe was encased in ice, and recalled by Ernest immediately. "You will pay for this, you..." the Admin muttered as he released Dragonite, a friendly dragon bearing great resemblance to dragons found in fairy tales. Though it was friendly in nature, it can be easily angered in battle. If it were to reach such a state, the dragon's rage would multiply its power.
Porygon2 attempted to cause a weakness in Raikou by using one of its Conversions, but it failed to work; the Legendary Beasts could not be given a new set of weaknesses. Busy with Raikou, Porygon2 paid no attention to a massive fireball from Entei's mouth, headed straight at it. The flame was so hot that it slightly melted its foe's body. Aware that its systems would be destroyed if it stayed in battle, the virtual Pokémon shut itself down.
Only Dragonite and Skarmory remained, but they were indeed worthy opponents. The flying behemoth was collecting massive amounts of energy near its mouth. "Everyone, brace yourselves!" Josh warned. The dragon released the energy as an extremely fast, orange beam of pure power known as a Hyper Beam. The beam hit Raikou and Josh directly. "No! Josh!" Ace yelled. He reached in Josh's direction with his right arm. Raikou let out a roar of intense pain as the beam knocked Josh off his beast. Both of them hit the steel wall and collapsed. Aravan started crying.
"Damn you, Ernest!" Aravan yelled. "I will KILL you if Josh is dead!"
Entei and Ace were the next targets of Skarmory's Aerial Ace attack. The attack hit with perfect accuracy, but seemed to bounce off both of them. The backlash stunned the metal bird long enough for Ace to slash at it. The hot metal connected with the bird, as well as the flaming line the sword shot out. Skarmory burned and dropped to the ground.
Dragonite shot a weak static bolt at Entei in an attempt to rob it of its speed and agility. Entei simply shook the attack off, and Ace wasn't affected by it either. The two beasts pooled their strong attacks together to create a violent mixture of fire and ice. The dragon flew out of its way before returning fire with another fast beam, this one targeted at Aravan and Suicune. The beast jumped out of the way just before the attack was to hit. "If only Josh were here..." Aravan groaned.
"Do not worry, Aravan," Suicune comforted its rider, then let out a roar. A blue light appeared over Josh, jump-starting his life force and energy. Realizing that individual attacks would not work, Aravan suggested a combination attack.
"Cling your two swords next to mine and prepare to attack Dragonite. This should be more than enough power to take it down." The three blades started glowing with their respective colors, and let out beams of yellow, red, and blue. The powers of each blade were directed into a sphere of elemental energy. Dragonite wondered what was going on. By the time it figured out that it was a massive attack, it was too late. The intense, white beam powered by the legendary beasts seemed to cut right through Dragonite's defenses. The blast was so powerful that it forced Dragonite right through the steel wall on the left side of the arena. Knowing there was nothing he could do, Ernest got out of the way of the Beast Riders. Suicune revived Raikou in the same way it revived Josh, and drenched the team in its Cure Water.
Out of the silence came a loud "NEE-REU-DEEN-TAA!" from the next room. It paralyzed Josh, Ace, and Aravan with fear.
"Damn it all!" Josh exclaimed. He then cursed again. "Are we too late!"
Entei rammed into the back door, swinging it open. Josh climbed on Raikou and took off with the others. Aravan and Ace were just as worried as Josh was. "We better not be too late," Ace said. "We have to stop this madness!" The three of them rushed through the door and the hallway behind it. Beyond the hallway was the board room of the Legacy Hunters.
The three beasts slowed to a stop before approaching the board room, then quietly walked in to see what was going on. Travis, the leader of the Legacy Hunters, was chanting an ancient text to summon and unleash Lugia. "CRO-MAN-YON! CRO-MAN-YON!" he continued.
"End of the line for you!" Ace yelled as the three Beast Riders made a dramatic entrance into the room.
"Who are--" Travis said while turning around. "If it isn't the three Beast Riders of legend who are supposed to save Johto in times of peril! I didn't think you would find me here. The retreat from Olivine was not in our initial plan, but we got what we came for: the power of the ultimate Pokémon!"
"I knew it," Josh replied. "You are after Lugia's power. I cannot allow you to unlock such a power that could be used to destroy this land! Raikou, fry that computer!"
The beast's thunderclouds became flooded with electricity. It then released a lightning bolt at Travis' computer, destroying it and all the data on it.
"I see you are quite the brave lads. I also see you want to end this conflict the hard way. Very well. I am Travis, the CEO of the Legacy Hunters. We shall battle to determine the fate of Johto," Travis said confidently. He then pushed a switch under the table. The ceiling opened up, and the room, except for the stage in back, rose to the surface of the island.
"Fate and history are on our side, Travis! You cannot defeat us!" Ace contested.
"You little beast-riding punks..." the leader muttered. His tone of voice then changed to become loud and threatening. "Go to hell! All of you!"
The final confrontation between the Beast Riders and the leader of the Legacy Hunters is at last happening. If Travis finished the ancient rites needed to summon Lugia, there would be little hope for the Beast Riders, and for Johto. They need to stop Travis from finishing the ritual by quickly getting past his powerful Pokémon team!