Chapter 29 – The Beginning of the End

Reversal Mountain

The plan was set, our allies gathered at Lentimas Town ready to march towards Reversal Mountain the location of Team Annihilation Reborn's base and possibly Latias inside just waiting for us. It was our final battle with Shiny Latias, one that could end in two ways; Shiny Latias proving victorious in the battle, and the other with Shiny Latias' defeat.

Early in the morning of the day we would walk up to Reversal Mountain possibly marching to our doom, the last of our allies had arrived in town eager to fight alongside us. Most I knew well, others on one or two missions together in the past but people I trusted and knew they could help out.

Sakato, Herman, Doug, and Elijah were four soldiers who had worked with The Savior's for a long time and had helped me and Espeon with a mission when we infiltrated a Team Doom warehouse. After The Savior's of the Unova region had fallen leaving only a small amount of members left remaining, the four went into hiding but keeping in touch with other members left they could trust, not wanting to expose their location to those wanting to hunt down the last remaining members, those who had followed or been controlled by Shiny Latias. A huge cash reward was granted to whoever captured a member of The Savior's left. At first it was silent, but when the cash reward came, a few thousand at first and then into the millions, you'd be surprised at how many Savior members were found, friends and sometimes families calling to say a Savior member was hiding close to them or gave Team Annihilation Reborn the exact location. I was surprised to see them again after so long, happy for them to be with us to join in on the fight. As much as I would've liked to say hi to them or to catch up, the time they arrived we would have to leave Lentimas Town within two hours, they had to prepare for the battle and didn't have much time to talk. But when they did arrive and walked to the building where others entered to get their gear ready, our eyes met when I was walking down a street. We knew we didn't have time to stop and talk, but the only thing we could do was wave and nod, silently wishing for the other to make it through this and then we could talk.

Ren, Jessica, and Rose had entered the city last night at around midnight, finding a place to sleep for the night and prepare for tomorrow's battle as soon as they woke up. In the morning, after finding out they had arrived, I introduced the three to Aqua, told Ren about his niece and nephew Kairi and Light, and also all about Midnight. The only thing I told him about that, especially in front of the others was that Midnight was imprisoned inside a Team Annihilation Reborn laboratory, not explaining in detail how she looked or the terrible treatment she received while living there. Ren and Rose even talked about wanting to start a family together sometime after the fighting had been done, the two of them wanting to help others, those most affected by Team Annihilation Reborn and the damages they had done, they wanted to help rebuild the world back to the way it once was.

Gardevoir walked with me on our way through Reversal Mountain to get to the destination where we would start our attack, or prepare for it until all of us were ready. I was growing nervous with every step we took, not because we were getting closer to the destination, but because we were literally in enemy territory and so close to Shiny Latias, I didn't want any of them to hurt because of her. To help with my nervousness, Gardevoir showed me a page from her dictionary pointing at a word on one of the pages. "Anxious, that's what I am feeling right now." Well, it kind of did help with my nervousness, but at least this was better than silence.

"Me too Gardevoir, I don't know if I am rushing in on this battle, not knowing if we needed more time, but with Shiny Latias about to start her final phase of her plan…" I sighed.

"We do have a lot of amazing fighters on our side, I'm sure we're ready for this." She said as she turned her head to look back at Devon's team trailing behind us, and then looking forward at my Pokemon and Maia flying ahead of us. "Lisa and Brent helped us train yesterday; they told us we were all ready for the battle today. See, I told Espeon that I wasn't constantly reading from my dictionary nonstop while living in that safe zone." She stretched out her arms as she walked. "I have been doing a lot of training in my spare time, learning new moves, mastering them, learning combination moves."

"I wasn't there much for the training, but did the others do well?"

"Oh, most definitely. Totodile can run fast for a little guy, Bayleef can handle herself even when faced with multiple targets, Golurk can defend itself well against almost anything, Lugia can fly incredibly fast, and I can support the rest with my moves." She closed her eyes briefly and smiled, hugging her dictionary close to her chest. "Lisa told us we trained very well and that we would be ready for the battle for today. They told us to go all out in the training but not overboard we might end up putting one or more in the center for days, to see how we would react and how we would fight if our lives were on the line. It was a good thing I included some support moves in my training before we got here and mastering them." She then looked down at me. "But you don't feel good about Aqua being close to the battlefield, do you?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't. I want her to be away from all of this, from the fighting, Team Annihilation Reborn, close to Shiny Latias at any moment show up and try to control us. I know she is staying at the destination point; a little ways outside the main base… she could be targeted by them if some break through Devon's team. But she can help with her medical experience and foresight."

"I suppose there are pros and cons for having her with us out here, for example we can communicate to Aqua freely without giving away to the enemy the location of the safe zone. Outside communications we could only speak for ten minutes at a time just to be safe. If we didn't have her here, we would have to call her or her call us and risk the location of the safe zone and everyone in it." Gardevoir patted the top of my head and ruffled my fur. "But don't you worry about a thing. If things get bad, Devon's team will take Aqua and the rest of us out of here to somewhere safe. I believe they have back up trucks nearby so we can get out of here faster, not back to Lentimas Town, but elsewhere… I don't know. Devon almost did let it slip where we would go if the battle gets bad, but thankfully he didn't let it slip. Only a small amount knows the location of this safe place."

"To make sure Shiny Latias doesn't find out if she captures some of our team. We wouldn't want everyone knowing the location of this safe place if one or more of us were captured during or after the battle."

"And when we are travelling to the safe place we all must answer questions or most commonly be rendered unconscious so the ability if one of more of us has been placed under her control will be free of it and we can all arrive safely."

Finally, after a long walk we had reached the destination point on Reversal Mountain, a place very close to the main base of Team Annihilation Reborn, a short walk down a small slope and through an empty sandy clearing and up ahead was a chain link fence surrounding the entire base, and a long run through that tarmac clearing was the front entrance of the base. Devon and his team ordered us to stay low and away from the cliff towards the main base, in a few moments the attack would begin.

The destination point was big enough for all of us to fit inside, keep us hidden from the soldiers and drones up ahead. Rock walls towered above us and large shrubs beside the cliff allowing us cover to look at the base without being detected.

With my Pokemon; Espeon, Gardevoir, Golurk, Totodile, Bayleef, Dewott and Lugia fully healed up and prepared to fight, perhaps to the death. Aqua had a satchel full of all sorts of healing items to heal us all to last us day and possibly the night. I was worried she was here rather than back at the safe zone with the others, but with my Pokemon with her and Devon's team, I knew she was in good hands.

Sakoto and her team; Herman, Doug and Elijah after finishing preparing their weapons before the attack looked a lot nervous, possibly more than I was than I was. They were with Devon's team going over the plan; where to attack, what to focus on, and what to do if this and that happened during the battle.

Lisa and Brent kneeled down both with all of their Pokemon out of their Pokeball's, telling them to stay strong and not to be afraid. Telling each other to watch each other's back and stay close together.

My brother Ren and his friend Rose stood together going over their plan with Jessica, how they would fight against the higher threat of the base; the airships and tanks, possibly the mechas if they were already deployed.

Maia looked down at me and said. "All of us are ready. The soldiers we have are all ready to attack the base. Your Pokemon, Sakoto and her team, your brother and the other Team Doom Pokemon, you human allies, and I am ready to end this. Some of us may not come out of this alive by the end of this, but as long as Shiny Latias is still in control many more innocent lives will be at risk, we must put an end to her evil ways. Are you ready Zack?"

This was it, the final battle was about to begin. This battle could end in various ways depending on our preparations; a quick defeat would result in the death of everyone here, a slow and brutal battle resulting in loses from both sides, or things might go smoothly for us. Latias was in that base tortured every hour, we had to get her out of that place and bring her back home. One last look of all my friends and allies willing to help out, I looked her in the eyes and nodded. "We're all prepared and ready to go. Let's finish this. But where will you be?"

"I will assist Devon's team and stay close between them and this place where Aqua and the injured will be." She placed here paw on my shoulder. "Do not worry; I will protect them with my life."

"Thank you Maia."

We looked up as Devon approached; still wearing the same black suit and tie he had when we first met. I figured he would've worn something more suiting for the battle like his team wore, combat gear. "I just talked to the team, we're all ready to go. How about you guys?"

"We're all ready too."

"My team will move in first and blow the chained fence to get inside the outer section of the base. The team have seen many Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers if various types, close ranged with batons, huge shields, drones, Pokemon, even mechas at the back along with the tanks, so we'll be in for a fight if they activate them."

"My Pokemon will move in and focus on the heavy hitters; I want your team to provide cover for them while they focus on them." I said while pointing at Maia. "Maia here will stay close to this area to protect you guys and make sure the enemy doesn't enter this area."

"That's good that we have cover, between here and the chain fence there isn't much cover besides some small crates we'll have to get down behind. The weapons we have are loaded with nonlethal rounds, able to render one unconscious with one or two shots. But these rounds sure are effective against the drones, so no need to use heavy rounds for them. But for the tanks and mechas, well that's for your Pokemon to handle since we don't have explosives or rockets with us. Only the small things like rifles and flash grenades, nothing extreme like explosives or rockets."

All of us got close towards the shrubs beside the edge of the small cliff, a little slide down and a short distance away to the fence after it was cut and we would be inside.

"Yeesh, the only thing missing from this 'enter the battle' scenario is the thunder storm and heavy rain." Espeon looked up at the cloudless blue sky and breathed in the cold air and sighed. "Such a nice sky for a day like this."

"Yeah… let's hope it's a good one and we come out of this all in one piece."

I looked to my side to see Aqua crouched low and approach me. "My vision showed me Zack, Espeon, Lisa and Brent entering the base, no one else entered and stayed outside to battle the soldiers." Aqua said while Espeon helped translate to those who could not understand Pokemon language what she said. "The inside is too cramped up and small, and if we take the fighting inside we may destroy the base, it may collapse. So a small team is best."

"A small team, 'eh? So I'm guessin' it'll be me, Lisa, Espeon and Zack then." Brent said as he took another look through the shrubs at the base. "Bring the soldier's out and we can move in, hunt down Shiny Latias and fight her, save Latias and get out."

Aqua nodded. "I saw you four enter the building together, no one else entered. There are soldiers and controlled Pokemon inside, they use nonlethal attacks, and I think all of them do, outside as well, several hours until you wake up. The same weapons you use are as effective as the ones they use, one or two shots is all it takes to be rendered unconscious."

"Nonlethal rounds, huh? Well at least we won't have to worry about getting killed out there." Espeon sighed. "But that doesn't mean you can just go running out there and going crazy, we need to be careful with this."

Devon crouched low and gestured with his hand for everyone to get ready. "Okay everyone, let's start this. Get in positions everyone." I held Aqua's paw and hugged her one last time before the battle started, prying she would be safe there and her presence unknown to Shiny Latias. We looked into each other's eyes in silence and smiled hoping to see each other soon. Aqua stayed behind while the rest of us moved in ready to start the battle.

So the soldiers in fast to the fence and cut the wires big enough for Golurk and a good amount of soldier's to run through and take cover behind the crates, but as soon as the soldier's touched the wires an alarm alerted the entire base of intruders, and the tarmac clearing between the fence and the main building was quickly filled with Team Annihilation Reborn soldier's and controlled Pokemon running out from the main base firing their weapons and using moves at us. The fence had been cut down and Devon's team moved in fast, running as fast as they possibly could to reach the crates to gain cover.

Team Annihilation Reborn soldier's had set their weapons to stun, not kill as they have done many times in the past when it came to fighting me and my friends. I suppose Shiny Latias wanted them all captured only to be treated terribly later or turned into another one of Shiny Latias' puppets. A small amount had already been rendered unconscious an out of the battle; some more than others didn't even make it through the fence and make it to cover behind the crates, but those that did make it through helped me and my Pokemon take care of those shooting at us while being protected by Maia, using ranged moves to attack a group of soldiers huddled together.

Ren, Rose, and Jessica stayed close to the soldiers to protect them from the controlled Pokemon. The three ex-members of Team Doom had to prevent their abilities from activating since they were deadly on Pokemon or human targets, so they had to fight with their moves; ranged or close, whatever was effective for them.

But seeing a group of nine on the side running towards the base obviously caught a lot of attention from the soldiers, many of them attacking us more rather than focusing on Devon's team, sending various types at us in small waves; Pokemon, drones, anything to do some damage against us. Espeon and I combined our Protects together to form a huge bubble around us to protect ourselves from the tranquilizer rounds being shot at us, but the barrage of bullets being shot at us, the Pokemon attacking the Protect with their moves were all causing the move to shatter, and so thanks to my Pokemon they helped fight off the enemy Pokemon careful not to leave the Protect. Attacks by my Pokemon could get through Espeon and my Protect, but attacks from the enemy could break it.

Gardevoir had waited until her move was ready, with a short twirl and raising her arms up without turning, she shot a powerful beam of energy at a charging Garbodor knocking it back into other Pokemon attempting to charge at our Protect.

Dewott jumped forward towards the bubble and used Aqua Jet, his body surrounded by water as he was lifted up off the ground and circled around the Protect very fast, hitting the controlled Rattatta, Patrat, and Herdier as they tried to attack the Protect with their own moves.

Totodile and Bayleef merged their moves together using Magical Leaf and Water Gun and firing directly at the Bouffalant and Bisharp's group charging at us. A Barbaracle jumped over the group and used Slash against our Protect, with another jump and preparing to use the same move twice, Golurk had already finished preparing on using a move and used Mega Punch.

Lugia however instead left the Protect bubble to take flight up above the battlefield to fight two controlled legendary Pokemon; Zapdos, and Articuno being released with the many other types of controlled Pokemon joining the fight. The Zapdos had used Thunder sending bolts of lightning downwards in the direction of Lugia as it flew fast towards them, evading the attack, but hit by Articuno's Blizzard, freezing the top of its right wing and slowing Lugia down. Lugia attacked with an Aeroblast hitting the Zapdos, but it wasn't enough to inflict major damage but it was enough for the two legendries to chase Lugia around the base.

When we had gotten close to the main building, our Protect had been shattered and all of us were forced to separate as a barrage of tranquilizer rounds had been fired at us from the Team Annihilation Reborn soldier's and controlled Pokemon charging for us.

"Target sighted; Zack Raines!" shouted three of the seven controlled soldier's after noticing me. The soldier's all aimed their guns at me, but before I could act, four of the seven soldiers were suddenly lifted up off the ground and thrown back.

To my side, Espeon walked up to me and smiled before using a Protect to shield us from several tranquilizer rounds being shot at us. I turned to her and nodded before the two of us ran at the soldiers, attacking those that hadn't got up after Espeon had thrown the three of them. Espeon and I watched out for each other, protecting the other from a tranquilizer round being shot at us. They were kind of slow and easy to see, but it would only take one or two of them to be out of the battle. I rushed up to three of the soldiers and slashed at them with my Razor Shell across the chest while Espeon made sure none of the other soldier's could aim their weapons at me by using her Psychic to force the soldiers to aim at the ground or at each other.

Using Psychic to push two of the soldiers into one of the crates Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers were using for cover against Devon's team, I ran over to assist Espeon as she fought against the last remaining of the seven soldiers giving her a hard time by firing a barrage of rounds at her as she used Protect and Psychic trying to deflect their firing. I had used Scald when I approached, hitting one of the soldier's before teaming up beside Espeon and combing our moves together; me using Razor Shell, and Espeon taking both scalchop's with our Psychic and sent a wave of energy at the soldiers with Razor Shell spinning around us slashing at the soldier's and sending them flying back in defeat. Not an easy thing to do using two moves at the same time, keeping one move active to use another, it sure does tire you out faster, but as long as we rationed our strength out we would be all right to continue on.

But we weren't in the clear just yet, there were still soldiers and controlled Pokemon to push through before we reached the main base front doors. Turning towards the main base near the large steps leading up to the front entrance, I saw Lisa and Brent fighting several soldiers together. Defeating the soldier's and we would be in the clear to head inside the base and find Shiny Latias. The others had to stay out here and fight the controlled. Espeon and I looked at each other, and with a short nod the two of us began to run towards the others and help them defeat the soldiers that had focused on them while the rest returned their focus on Devon's team.

Dropping from the sky, a twenty tall bipedal white mecha stood with its right arm cannon aiming down at me preparing to fire, a green dome for a head. It's sudden and loud appearance like that had startled me, almost freezing me up. It landed a few inches apart, any closer and I would've flattened me into a pancake. "Ah, great! Here comes the dang mechas!" Groaned Brent as he sent his Seviper out to help Golurk and Gardevoir to fight the giant mecha.

Not wanting to just up and leave my Pokemon to face such an opponent, the four of us stayed behind to deal with the mecha before entering the main base. Me, Espeon, Lisa, and Brent fought this mecha while the others continued to fight the soldiers that had turned their focus on them instead of Devon's team.

The mecha moved fast for its size, using the jets to move around the area to either evade or attack us, attacks that were mostly firing its cannon at us or trying to kick us with its large legs.

Golurk used Phantom Force, disappearing for a moment but would reappear soon to attack the mecha, so until then we had to inflict as much damage as we could.

The two of us stood together near Lisa and Brent with their Pokemon up front. Brent gave the first command to his Seviper by using the move Nightslash by jumping up and using its long tail to slash the mecha across the upper body. The attack pierced the metal with the blow pushing the mecha back. The mecha after regaining its balance aimed its cannon arm at Seviper and fired a blue energy ball at it, hitting Seviper and came crashing down into the cement. The attack had left Seviper feeling weak, at least we didn't have to worry about being injured by that cannon attack, but its physical attacks using its legs to kick at us or cannon arm to try and melee us was something to be careful of.

Lisa sent Pidgey to attack the mecha with a Wing Attack to slash at the cannon arm, to try and weak it or disable it. The mecha aimed at Pidget with its cannon arm and fired, one shot then two, wherever Pidgey flew up high above the battlefield the mecha tried to shoot it, but each shot failed to hit.

After Gardevoir had attacked the mecha's 'head' with a Moonblast, the mecha ceased its firing and turned to Gardevoir, kicking her with its foot, turning its attention onto her.

As the mecha was about to stomp its foot down on Gardevoir, Espeon quickly jumped in front of Gardevoir and used Protect to shield her from the attack, but the heavy attack although protecting them from the mecha, the move had shattered leaving them wide open for another attack from the mecha preparing to stomp at them again. I jumped up at the mecha's leg and slashed at it with my Razor Shell, cutting into the metal and causing the left leg of the mecha to slow in movement. The mecha then turned to me after regaining balance and prepared to use the cannon once more, the shot fired and I used Psychic to throw the shot somewhere else, but that didn't stop the mecha from firing more and faster shots at me while I tried to throw the attacks away.

Backing up as much as I could, I didn't even see it when fell back after tripping over a small piece of a crate that had been blown up during the gunfight between Devon's team and Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers. The mecha stood over me and aimed its cannon arm at me; a blue hue of light could be seen charging up from within the cannon. Before the mecha fired its cannon arm, Pidgey had just used Wing Attack at the mechas arm sending sparks fly cutting deep into the circuits, the cannon arm fell still hung by small pieces of metal and wires, it had been disabled. Without wasting a second I pushed the Mecha back with Psychic and stood up to join the others for one last attack.

Lisa and Brent both ordered their Pokemon to use Fly and Nightslash once again, Gardevoir used Psyshock, I used Razor Shell, and Espeon used Hyper Beam right into its upper body creating a huge hole through it. The unmanned mecha fell down and exploded upon impact leaving behind scraps of metal and burnt wire, and making the battle safer of my Pokemon and Devon's team.

"Okay, that should do it. We're gonna have to go inside the base now. You gonna be all right?"

"We can hold our own against these controlled soldiers and Pokemon, we got this." Bayleef grinned, preparing to get back into the fighting alongside Totodile and Gardevoir as a small group of controlled Pokemon of various types approached.

"We can do this! Stay alert guys, watch over one another, and good luck!" watching them as they all nodded and descended down the large stairs to fight the controlled. I turned to three. "Let's go."

"Right! My Pokemon are all healed up and ready to move!" Brent cheered.

"Mine too." Lisa turned to face the front entrance. "Well, they need to be ready to climb this."

"Me and Zackary are good to go, we weren't hurt that badly, so our HP is good and still in the green." With that, the four of us walked up the large stairs and pushed the front doors open wide and entered inside it, Lisa and Brent with their Pokemon up in front while Espeon moved in behind preparing her moves should we be attacked by the controlled inside the base.

Before the front doors of the main base had shut behind me, I turned one last time able to see through the large double doors and at my friends fighting the many controlled soldiers and Pokemon out there in the battlefield. I could only watch in silence hoping they would make it out of this and to see them again.

To be continued…

Trivia:

The fifth member and leader of The Five Vladimir Petrov was meant to appear within this chapter as sort of a 'final boss' in a way, but I wanted instead for this chapter to be about Zack and his friends fighting to reach the main base of Team Annihilation Reborn and push Petrov for the next chapter instead.