This is the second of four chapters today.
"Update from Mossdeep in Hoenn!" reported one of the men at the screens. "They say that they're preparing for exo-atmospheric operations as soon as possible – current estimate is roughly ten minutes for the first wave."
"Thank you," the head of Ariadospace nodded. "Let them know they have anything of ours they need – that's still the best chance."
He turned to another member of the team, still filtering in owing to the extremely early hour. "Any progress on the teleportation?"
"Some," the scientist replied. "We've dug out the old teleport-distance-to-power curves, and we think some of the most powerful Psychic-types in Kalos – a few Alakazam, at least one Reuniclus and two Gardevoir – could sustain a lunar insertion teleport with a payload."
He rubbed his temples. "The problem is, they need to be paired up just to make the return journey, in most cases. Diantha's Mega Gardevoir is so far up the power scale it could do it both ways, but apart from that..."
"It's good enough," the director decided. "Get them here as soon as possible – and try to make sure we've got more lined up. Recruit from other regions as well… see if Unova's doing anything critical, I know Caitlin's got some powerful Psychic-types."
"On it."
"What about when we get there?" the director added. "We were going to send Pokéballs up to start with – which Pokéballs?"
"Vaporeon are one of the important ones," he was told. "Some Vaporeon that work in the construction industry can produce silica out of manipulating their own water. If we can provide a heated, airtight environment for them – they can build a permanent dome."
"That sounds good. Try-"
"Sir!" came a shout, interrupting him. "Diantha and her Elite Four have arrived."
"Director," the Kalos Champion greeted him, entering almost on the heels of the announcement. "How bad is it?"
"Well, Mossdeep are preparing a mass Legendary spacewalk, Canaveral is coordinating a disaster mitigation scenario and we're trying to set up evacuation to the moon." The director gave a shrug. "So – you know. Bad."
"Ouch," Drasna said faintly. "How can we help?"
"Diantha's Gardevoir is going to be very important," the director told her in no uncertain terms. "Do you have any Dragon types able to breathe in space?"
"Not… to my knowledge," Drasna admitted.
"Aegislash and Klefki are Steel-types who require no air to breathe," Wilkstrom said. "But apart from that… no, wait. Perhaps Ghost-types are what you need."
"That sounds like a good plan," agreed the director. "Blanche, you add that to the search parameters."
"Actually, sir, I found something else we should try first," Blanche replied.
He maximized something on his screen as the Elite Four and his boss crowded around.
"That's… Hoopa, right?" Malva asked. "I thought it was a legend."
"If it is a legend, it's a very persistent one," Siebold chuckled. "And one with a sense of humour. Yes, I've met Hoopa – what do you want with him?"
"Well, Hoopa's ring portals don't seem to have a maximum range," Blanche told them. "Even if that's not the case we should test it, and if it is true then we've got a sustainable link."
"Hoopa can't go through his own portals," Siebold warned. "But if he's willing to help – yes, I can see he would be useful."
"Sir! Sir!"
A young boy in a jumpsuit came running up. "Sir, I've – I mean, uh, we've finished the prototype!"
"Clemont," the director nodded. "I'll want to see it in a minute, but I'm sure you did well."
"Who's this?" Drasna asked, blinking. "He must be… what, eight?"
"Clemont and the other students from the Academy of Sciences were here on a trip," the director explained. "They're helping with the work downstairs -this young man impressed me very quickly, and he's been working on a collapsible lunar environment shelter. It'll help keep Pokémon and trainers safe on the moon, at least for as long as it takes to set up a colony either in or over the regolith."
Clemont saluted. "Champion! I – well, I'm kind of surprised to meet you!"
"Actually..." Diantha frowned, thinking. "I do remember you. Didn't you want to start a gym in Lumiose at some point?"
Clemont blushed. "Um – that's right, ma'am."
"Well, I'm sure you'll do well," Diantha pronounced. "Siebold – I think you should go and contact Hoopa as soon as possible. Drasna, can you help transport him?"
"Of course," Drasna agreed, already rummaging through her Pokéballs. "Where are we going?"
"Dahara City," Siebold said. "I know, it's quite a long way."
"Noivern will get us there," Drasna replied, confidently. "With time to spare, too."
They reached the doors, and she sent out her Dragon-type straight away. "Okay, climb on – and cover your ears, this could get a bit loud."
"What's he going to do?" Siebold asked.
"Jet assist!" Drasna told him.
The Dragon-type's wings beat down, and they rose into the air. Then Noivern's head snaked down under his body, his ears hummed, and he began continuously Boombursting backwards.
The din was incredible, but they were away from the Ariadospace building in seconds and turning to speed towards Dahara moments later.
"Hi!" Ash said, waving to the latest Pokémon to arrive – another Lugia, this one blinking sleep out of her eyes. "Sorry to bother you, it's kind of urgent – thanks for coming!"
The Lugia observed him, then spoke – her voice carrying a strange accent even translated. "You're the one who my relatives mentioned, then. Last time they visited the Land of Ice and Fire they spoke very highly of you."
"Yes, that's him," the more familiar Lugia of Shamouti confirmed.
"Okay, right," Ash began, and looked around at the hangar.
It was full of Pokémon and humans, including some familiar faces like Brandon and Misty – but plenty more were people he'd never met before (or even seen on TV, in some cases). And there were so many Legendary Pokémon it was an amazing sight.
Ash cleared his throat. "Okay, so – Dexter, can you show the plan?"
His Porygon flashed, projecting images onto the wall – the incoming meteorite, the predicted impact, then the changed trajectory.
"Basically, and this is the really short version, we're going to attack the asteroid so much that it misses. Mewtwo's going to get us up into space, and then everyone's going to fire as hard as they can."
Ash paused a moment, then went on. "And – one of the things we need to make sure is that everyone's going to be okay in space. There's no gravity, and Mewtwo's going to be using too much energy doing other things to supply it, so we need to make sure you're okay with zero gravity."
He waved. "Okay, Metagross!"
The Steel-type nodded, and began to glow faintly – and, just like that, gravity stopped in the hangar.
With a gulp, the Icelandic Lugia dove for the door. She landed a little awkwardly on the hard standing outside, and shook her head with a nervous swallow.
"Don't worry," Jin assured them. "That's a perfectly natural reaction, we'd rather not send someone up than have someone be sick up there."
"Okay, status?" MacGuire asked. "Comms check, now – Mewtwo, are you hearing us?"
"Loud and clear," Mewtwo replied – over the radio. "Ash's Dexter is giving me continuous updates on the position/velocity we will require."
"Good," MacGuire said. "Shuttle?"
"This is shuttle Destiny," the voice of Steven Stone called back. "I hope you're monitoring all these computers from down there, because none of us is an astronaut."
"We'll take care of you, Destiny," MacGuire assured him. "Are all the Pokémon ready?"
"Everyone we could find on such short notice," Sidney called from the window. "There are so many Lugia out there, it's kind of crazy! Oh, and Rayquaza arrived a minute ago, so it looks fine from here."
"This is about the most I feel comfortable taking in a single port," Mewtwo told them. "I'm confident of my ability, but I do have limits."
"That sounds like a good reason to me," MacGuire said. "EECOM?"
"Good situation," the EECO manager stated. "We have four large Grass-types lined up, and that should provide sufficient breathable air reserve when Synthesizing."
"Good… Mewtwo, you are FIDO for this phase of the operation, so we have that handled. Guidance?"
"All under control," said one of the other scientists. "Continuous monitoring is coming in from all normal stations, and we have downlink from satellites as well. Positioning is confirmed, we can locate the asteroid to within ten metres."
MacGuire nodded. "Okay, next step-"
He stopped as Jin came in. "Okay, Control has arrived – handing over to him."
"Thank you," Jin nodded, as Apollo switched him into the network. "Shield team, we need your help now."
Out on the hard standing, a half-dozen powerful Water-type Pokémon set themselves. Spaced equally around Mewtwo's position at a radius of over half a mile, they began using Hydro Pump at their maximum safe level.
Water poured inwards, then slowed unnaturally and began to glow.
"Shield construction is starting," Tate said. "We're bringing in the water from the lake as well – that'll speed things up considerably."
"Good," Jin judged. "I can see it forming from the window – you're doing fine work."
Water flooded in, mounding up and swirling and forming a complete ring around Mewtwo – about a mile around. It rose, spreading from a hula-type ring into a ribbon-like ring, and then grew further – forming a shimmering construct held aloft by every Psychic-type from the Mossdeep gym, and more besides.
"Commencing pre-position," Mewtwo stated, extending his arms. A psychic wind washed through the whole area, and Pokémon began to rise into the air.
So did the Destiny, lifted up like a toy as the most powerful Psychic-type on the planet exerted his will.
They rose, and the ring rose with them. More water poured in, thickening it, and then it spread up and down.
Within moments, the true shape came into focus. The water was making a complete sphere, at least two inches thick, then three – until the whole of the interior was full of shimmering light refracted through the increasingly thick water.
"Switching to freezing," Glacia stated. "Glalie!"
Her Glalie – both of them – and Ash's Glalie, and May's Glaceon and several other Ice-types, all fired Ice Beams at the outside of the sphere of water – now floating freely in the air.
A thin coating of ice developed, instantly making the area in the shadow much darker as the ice reflected away most of the sunlight falling on it.
"We are ready," Mewtwo stated. "I am preparing for teleport."
"Final check!" Jin instructed. "EECOM?"
"Go!"
"FIDO?"
"Go."
"Surgeon?"
"Go."
"Network?"
"Go."
"Guidance?"
"Go."
One by one, the mission specialists confirmed their assessments. Destiny was ready.
"Mewtwo – go!" Jin finished.
There was a frozen moment of pressure, and then the sphere was gone.
-suddenly, they were in space.
The blue glow visible through the ice vanished, replaced by a dazzling shimmer from one specific direction – one which threw rainbows around the inside of the ice globe, as the blazing light of the sun was attenuated and scattered in all directions.
Everywhere else, where the sunlight didn't light it up, there was just – blackness, like the dead of night.
"I guess it worked," Steven said, floating slightly out of his seat before the restraints pulled him back. "Good work – okay, we know what we have to do."
"Indeed we do," Ash's Lugia stated, his psychic voice 'feeling' like a rumble. "Mewtwo, we cannot see our target. What-"
"Ash!" May interrupted. "We might have a problem – Absol just reverted and collapsed."
"What?" Ash asked, then looked down at his now-inert staff. "Oh – right, we just took her Key Stone hundreds of thousands of miles away!"
"She should be fine," Steven said. "I think she was just under strain – Professor Sycamore and Gary Oak did a paper on that."
"Yeah, you're right," Ash agreed, remembering. "But – wait, Sidney!"
There was a long pause, almost three seconds long, then Sidney replied. "Yeah? What's up?"
"Can your Absol use my Absolite?" Ash asked. "I think it would be good to have-"
"Sure," Sidney replied, then stopped. "Wait, how come he's still-"
"Time delay," Jin reminded them. "With how far Destiny is from Mossdeep, the two-way delay is at least two seconds."
"Okay, got it," Ash said. "Anyway, what I was saying was, it would be good to have a Mega Absol in the command centre. Brock, can you check Absol's okay?"
You have your opening, Mewtwo sent, sounding strained. I am currently keeping us on course – matching velocity with the asteroid at a distance of five kilometres.
"Sure thing, Ash," Brock agreed.
As Destiny rotated, attitude jets flaring with little puffs of compressed air, the whole shuttle crew saw it – a circle cut out of their icy spacecraft, revealing the blackness of space.
And, half-filling the hole, the ominous bulk of the meteorite.
Rayquaza fired first, sending a beam of orange light flashing through to detonate on the side. Then two of the Lugia fired, dropping automatically into a sequenced fire regime to keep them from obscuring the sight line, and a series of orange flashes lit up the inside of the sphere as Pokémon after Pokémon Mega-Evolved.
As the ice sphere vanished from overhead, Tate's Alakazam clashed his spoons sharply together.
There was a whoom as the sphere of vacuum left by the teleport was replaced by partial-pressure air taken from about five miles up, making sure the sudden collapse of the vacuum bubble didn't produce a large explosion.
"Good work!" Tate said, patting Alakazam on the shoulder. "Control – this is Tate. Air bubble neutralized."
Several seconds of near-silence followed, broken only by the splitterplish of excess water landing all over the hardstanding and the pants of several strained Pokémon.
Are they going to give us any instructions? Liza asked.
Probably, Tate replied, with an easy mental shrug. I'm sure they're preoccupied with doing their job – specifically, their job related to that meteorite up there.
He rolled his arms. Well, the good news is that it looks like the launch platform's okay – glad there was a point to us doing this all the way out here.
Wind whispered next to him as a Lugia settled to the ground.
"It is a pity I could not be up there," she said, with a sigh. "My kin are fighting for the fate of the world… and I am not sure how I can help."
"I think I have an idea," Tate told her, speaking out loud this time. "Jin said we might need to do this again, so – if you have a few minutes, we can run you through the basics of boosting telekinetic manipulation. That way it'll reduce the strain on Alakazam and the others."
"Tate, Liza, this is Control," Jin radioed. "Shuttle Destiny is up safely and the attack has begun. I'd like you to begin preparing for the return journey – that means getting everyone behind the runway shields, we might not have much warning if they make an emergency re-entry."
"I understand," Tate called back, and focused. Okay, everyone – Control wants us out of the way in case a ball of ice and Legendaries appears overhead. Everyone get to the runway shield baffles, and whoever's tired should get some Sitrus because we might be here a long time!
"We have confirmation," Guidance said, looking up from his screen. "Multiple bursts are reported on three different telescopes – it's too early to detect a vector shift yet, but the flashes are all at the right angle."
"Why does angle matter?" May asked. "I think I get it, but I'm not sure..."
Ethan's holotank began to answer her question, zooming in on 1992f2 and rotating to show it heading towards a digitized representation of the earth.
An 8-bit image of Rayquaza fired a beam of energy at the meteorite from the upper atmosphere, then another fired into it from the side.
From the first position, Rayquaza would be slowing the meteorite down – that would make it miss, if he could do it enough, but it's not the best approach as the kinetics are wrong. Their current position is aimed to make the meteorite hit at a shallower and shallower angle as they hit it, until it passes over without hitting at all.
"Right, I get it," May agreed. "So the problem with what Rayquaza was already doing was that it was much less efficient."
Correct. It was worth interrupting him to get his assistance in attacking from this optimized angle.
"Liza and Tate are clearing the runway," Jin reported. "Any progress on getting a second line?"
Sabrina and her friend Mew are helping coordinate the mass teleports required to seek out additional Legendaries, Ethan stated.
"That's something," Jin nodded. "How is it looking at the moment?"
Yet another hologram appeared, this one showing the Pokémon currently in space in red and possible versus confirmed replacements in shades of blue.
"Hmmm..." Jin mused.
Surgeon spoke up. "Oxygen levels dipped a little at first, but they're holding steady now. Those Grass-types are maintaining the air in the bubble. There's a few concerns with temperature, though, as there's a lot of energy flow in that bubble – we might need to bring it back sooner than planned."
"Let me know when it gets to be a problem," Jin judged. "How's telemetry?"
"Good," TELMU reported. "We're getting good signals on all sensors – better than usual."
"Tell Max and Jirachi, good job," Jin smiled. "That's really made things simpler."
MacGuire looked up from consulting with one of the other scientists. "Is there any chance of recruiting Palkia? It's supposed to be the Pokémon of Space..."
"I don't think that's possible right now," Brock volunteered. "Suicune's always given the impression some Pokémon are currently unreachable."
Sidney's Mega Absol nodded, barking a confirmation.
"Good, so we ain't missing something because of that," Sidney said. "Good to know, I guess..."
"Control – a question from Professor Oak," said EECOM. "He's asking if it would be possible to have powerful Fire-type attacks used against the meteorite."
"Surgeon?" Jin checked.
The surgeon-chief shook his head with a frown. "I'm not sure I can say go or no-go on that – I'd need to know more. Why?"
"Apparently Ash Ketchum's Charizard could probably mobilize the entire Charicific Valley," EECOM stated.
"Get them here if you can," Jin decided. "We can make a call after that."
"On it."
After a moment's thought, Jin tapped a control on his headset. "Ground control to Destiny. Just want you to know, everything looks fine from down here. If you see a problem, don't hesitate to report it – don't assume we see everything."
Three seconds ticked away as the message flashed out into space, then the reply sped back.
"Destiny to Ground Control," Steven replied. "We're fine up here – a little tired with how many Pokémon we just Mega Evolved, but fine."
"Glad to hear it, Destiny," Jin smiled.
"Control, guidance update," Guidance said, sounding worried. "We've got the first data point of an orbital shift – it's smaller than we expected, so 1992f2 must be denser than our predictions."
MacGuire took a few steps, bent over the screen, and hissed. "You're right – it's got to be mostly nickel-iron with that density."
"Apollo, what does that do to our margin of error?" Jin asked.
Most of it is erased by this news, Apollo stated. We still have some leeway, but it is closer than would be preferable.
"Let's hope those Charizard can help," Philena said. "Would taking up more air help – or perhaps some kind of dedicated oxygen supply arrangement? No, that would..."
She trailed off, then nodded to herself. "I think it could be done – you'd need a lot more Grass-types than normal, and probably some oxygen cannisters, but it could be done."
Jin nodded to her. "Okay, Professor – work out the logistics of it, get a test done, and we'll line them up."
"We've got another teleporter lined up," reported one of the Ariadospace technicians. "Alakazam. Two-way teleport capable, as well – his trainer was nearby, so he's heading over on a borrowed Dragonite to make sure Alakazam has every erg of power."
"That's good," the director agreed. "But the more important issue is – do we have a location?"
"We're looking through the old lunar maps now," Blanche answered. "There's a couple of old assessments on good sites, but that was with different constraints – we don't necessarily need to worry about a good communication link back to Earth, but long term habitability is critical."
"What's the biggest problem?" Malva asked.
"Well, there's a few," Blanche replied, ticking them off on his fingers. "Water, temperature, sunlight are the big three – even Water-types need natural water to be sustainable, while both temperature and sunlight would also make things much easier on the base."
He tapped the site of the first moon landing. "That one, for example – there's no water there, and while it does get sunlight for two weeks it's dark for the other two. It'd be alternately far too hot and far too cold, and Grass-types would spend most of their energy just keeping up their own Sunny Day powers over the night."
"So..." Diantha pointed. "What about there?"
"The polar craters?" Blanche said, enlarging it. "Well… hm, that looks like it could work, you wouldn't have to go far to get the sunlight no matter the time of the month… I'm not sure if there's ice there, but if that's the only problem we have we're doing very well."
He nodded to her. "I like that idea, ma'am."
"Glad to help," Diantha smiled.
"Okay – sir, we have our locations picked out," Blanche reported. "I'm getting you the high definition pictures and coordinates now."
"Thank you, Blanche," the director nodded. "Who's first for teleport?"
"Sir, this is Clemont!" the student called. "We just had a good test of the collapsible shelter – it inflates fine in vacuum and pressurizes, and it'll function in one-atmosphere as well."
"I can confirm that," added the head of the engineering department. "We've put together an initial teleport package for the first transition – the only problem is, we need at least three powerful Psychic types. One there, one to hold the air shield, and one for the return journey."
"Let's stick with something simple for now," the director instructed. "Who do you have down there?"
"One Reuniclus and one Alakazam," he was told. "The Alakazam can make the trip one way, as can the Reuniclus, but I'm not sure what's safe."
The director tapped his foot on the ground for a moment.
"Send them," he instructed. "Have the Reuniclus handle the teleport, and the Alakazam handle the air shield – we'll relay more Psychics in if we want them to come down. Blanche, send the coordinates down to Engineering."
"Just a moment, sir," Blanche requested.
"Hello?" Siebold said, unexpectedly. "Siebold here – we have contacted Hoopa. He sounds interested."
"Good," the director nodded. "Very good. Can you get him here?"
"I am afraid not," Siebold replied. "He is not able to leave Dahara."
"Damn, that's going to complicate things..."
"Sir," Blanche spoke up. "We can set up a remote uplink as far as Dahara easily – it shouldn't be a problem to move a few people there and coordinate."
"True, but it would take time," the Director mused.
"Not if Hoopa can get this working," Siebold pointed out. "Hoopa, can you open a Hyperspace Hole to the Ariadospace building?"
There was a voice, inaudible on the other end.
Then a glitter of golden light appeared in the middle of the floor. The director stepped back, startled, and the glow spread into a ring about six feet across.
Siebold waved from the other side, lowering the radio. "You see what I mean?"
As he did, Hoopa giggled. "They were surprised!"
"They certainly were," Siebold nodded. "Okay, this is one of Hoopa's portals. He can keep up – at least three at once, I think."
Hoopa nodded.
"Right," the director said, recovering. "Blanche, get a team and get set up in Dahara as soon as possible. I want to get a portal up to the lunar site as soon as we possibly can."
"First lunar teleport successful!" someone called. "Four of the Clemontic Shelters are being deployed now, and-"
"-pardon?" Wilkstrom said, completely thrown. "Clemontic shelters?"
"I think we know who named them," Diantha chuckled.
Two hundred and fifty thousand miles away, a single Pokémon stood on a flaky rock surface.
The other Pokémon hovered next to him, both arms drooping with fatigue.
Good work, Alakazam sent to his ally. You handled the teleport well.
And I'm nearly exhausted, Reuniclus replied. I'm glad I'm so light here or I'd have collapsed…
He shook his head. Right, what was the next step?
Open the shelters, Alakazam told him, arms spread. His spoons glowed faintly as he kept the air-bubble they'd brought through with them going. And secure them to the rock. Then get the air cannisters out, and we can begin expanding the air bubble.
I'm glad you came along, Reuniclus sent. It's a lot of help to have someone so smart along.
One by one, the four Clemontic Shelters puffed up. They seemed to float like balloons in the low gravity, until Reuniclus began to secure them with pitons driven into the lunar regolith.
That done, he opened one of the air cannisters – letting compressed oxygen and nitrogen hiss out into the area of their dome, which expanded smoothly as Alakazam's psychic will moved outwards – and took a moment to stare back at the blue-green marble of the Earth below.
It looks pretty beautiful, he stated. And there's all the cities on the night side – I can see Kalos!
Reuniclus sobered. I hope there's still cities visible down there in a few hours.
So do I, Alakazam agreed.
Reuniclus got back to work, and sent out some of the Pokémon earmarked as vacuum-capable workers. A trio of Aron were first, followed by a Metang and two Golett.
The first job is to set up the solar panels, Alakazam informed the Golett. Metang, please make sure to help with the force bubble – Arons, your task is to clear a large foundation for the dome.
A trio of high-pitched clang sounds came as the Arons saluted.
"Okay, so… explain your thinking again?" Dawn requested.
"Right!" Barry said, beginning to check points off on his fingers. "Firstly, Lake Verity is known for having Legendary Pokémon – and Legendary Pokémon are something Ash Ketchum has a lot of. Plus, there's that kid who's supposed to have a Jirachi who's a friend of his – so that means people who know Ash Ketchum are more likely to meet Legendary Pokémon!"
"Isn't that just because of him, though?" Dawn asked, frowning – partly because of how on-the-nose the comment was. "I mean-"
"And that means that if I bring you along, because you know Ash Ketchum, not only are we more likely to find the Legendary Pokémon of Lake Verity but it also means it's okay for us to leave town – because of wild Pokémon!" He glanced at Piplup, who was looking lost. "I mean, I know you can avoid Pokémon by running fast, but if we want to find the Legendary Pokémon we can't run fast so-"
"Okay, Barry, stop!" Dawn said. "I can hardly tell what you're saying!"
She took a deep breath. "Okay, are you saying that we're going to try to find Mesprit? Why?"
"No, I'm saying we're going to find the Legendary Pokémon of Lake Verity, which may or may not be Mesprit," Barry corrected. "You're the one assuming it's Mesprit – which would be cool – and as for why..."
He looked puzzled. "Wouldn't any Legendary Pokémon help with the thing with that meteorite?"
"Not necessarily," Dawn said.
There was a splashing sound as Piplup fired a Water Gun at a Starly.
"Piplup," she admonished. "That's rude… anyway, Mesprit's power is about emotions, not anything to do with meteorites."
Barry waved that off. "I'm sure it's got other powers – you know, like how Rayquaza can calm weather as well as shooting down meteorites. And like how your Piplup can breakdance."
"That's completely different," Dawn sighed. "Well, I guess there's not a lot else we can really help with."
"But this is being productive!" Barry protested. "Besides, like I said, it's not like anyone else around here has that crazy Legendary attracting power, so this is the only way to recruit what could be a really important Pokémon for stopping the meteorite!"
"That's just you guessing, though," Dawn pointed out.
Barry shrugged, and pushed ahead through the last layer of brush – coming out onto the shore of Lake Verity just ahead of Dawn.
Hmmmm… a high-pitched voice said. Interesting.
"Pardon?" Dawn asked. "Barry? That didn't sound like..."
She looked at Piplup, who pointed behind her.
Turning, Dawn saw a pair of cool yellow eyes less than an inch from her own, making her flinch. "Wha-?"
The bearer of the eyes – Mesprit – floated back a bit, tails waving, then inspected her more closely.
Yes, very interesting, it declared. You seem to be familiar with me, when I've never met you… very unusual. Best to take careful note of that. Ask Uxie.
"Dawn?" Barry said. "What's keeping you?"
Mesprit vanished with a flicker.
"If you don't hurry up I'll have to fine you a million-"
"Barry," Dawn interrupted. "I don't think we should bother looking any more. Mesprit didn't stick around."
Barry crashed back through the brush. "Mesprit was here? It really was the Legendary Pokémon of Lake Verity? What did it look like? And how come I didn't see it?"
Dawn shrugged. "Don't ask me..."
Hundreds of miles to the south, a swarm of Fire-type Pokémon flew steadily south and west – wings clawing at the air, straining to achieve as much speed as possible.
Charizard after Charizard swept past, flying in two three-dimensional V formations to make use of slipstreaming, with the largest and strongest of them all flying at the tip of the formation to support their somewhat weaker fellows.
And, right at the front of the whole formation, Pidgeot's wings swept up and down. They spun off eddies which became gales which became a huge, meticulously-controlled Tailwind, keeping the entire Charicific Valley formation moving at six hundred miles per hour straight towards Mossdeep.
"How long can she keep doing this?" Charla asked, between wingbeats.
She glanced over at her mate. "I mean, I know you said she was strong, but this is just..."
"She can do it!" Charizard replied, wings rippling in the distorted air of the Tailwind. "I just saw the tip of Shikoku – we're at least halfway there, and she's the one to get us there on time!"
Charla nodded. "If you trust her, then I trust her as well – but, wow, this is an incredible ride!"
"Just wait until you see the next bit," Pidgeot chirped.
Her wings hesitated for a fraction of a second, then she brought them down in an almighty slam – and there was a ripple around the Tailwind bubble for a moment.
"…I don't get it," Charla said.
"I do," Charizard grinned. "Look back."
Charla craned her neck, then her eyes widened – there was a clear shockwave building up behind the tailwind bubble.
"...is she towing us all at supersonic speed?"
"There's a reason Lugia took her on as an apprentice," Charizard grinned.
"Oxygen levels are holding steady," Surgeon stated. "Conditions in the ice bubble are nominal, so it's a stay from me."
"Stay," Guidance agreed. "We're seeing a real vector change, but it's going to take most of the time we have left to generate a miss."
Philena cleared her throat.
"Professor?" Jin asked. "What's your position?"
In reply, Professor Ivy nodded towards the screen. "I've started to notice a drift developing in the attacks – nothing serious just yet, but I think we're asking too much of our astronauts. They've been up there for at least half an hour, and that's been constant attacks."
"Understood," Jin agreed. "Surgeon, do you have any comment?"
"I think the Professor might be right," Surgeon admitted. "We don't have anything to work from to assess this…"
Jin frowned. "Right, I think there's only one way we're going to be able to handle this – Mewtwo, this is ground control. We need a quick status check on the strike elements, let us know if any are too tired to continue."
"Will do," Mewtwo replied. "I'd also like to report there's been several micrometeorite hits on the ice shield, but it's holding so far."
"Thank you, Mewtwo, and understood," Jin said. "EECOM, check with the runway team that we're ready for a return transfer – it looks like we might need it."
"Roger," EECOM replied. "Tate, Liza, this is EECOM. Control wants a report on the runway status..."
Light flickered around the face of Steven's Mega Metagross, crawling to the tips of the X-shaped metal faceplate picked out in a golden metal. It held there for a long moment, then Mega Metagross flexed his eight limbs and a Hyper Beam went flashing out – passing through the ragged hole in the icy shield, making Mewtwo's air-impermeable membrane pulse slightly, and ramming home into the surface of the asteroid some way distant.
"Is it me, or are those attacks getting further apart?" Venusaur asked, glancing at her fellow Grass-type.
Sidney's Shiftry waved his arms, steadily photosynthetizing. "I've not been paying attention."
A red Aeroblast ripped past, about fifty metres from the white-and-black form of the Destiny shuttle, and exited the hole as well. The Lugia who had fired it kept it up for maybe three seconds, then stopped – panting.
"I have never had to keep this up so long," she stated, twisting in null-g by using her wings as scoops. She took another deep breath, then set herself and began to prepare for her next shot.
Venusaur winced. "If some of the Legendaries are feeling tired..."
She spread her petals and leaves a little more fully, drinking in the diffuse white sunlight coming through the ice, and checked on each Pokémon in turn. Some were still quite hale, like Rayquaza or the Lugia firing dark purple blasts of something, but most were clearly approaching the end of their rope.
Snaking a vine down, Venusaur tapped on the shuttle window.
"What's that?" Steven asked. "Isn't that Venusaur the one your friend May lent you?"
"That's right," Ash confirmed.
"Is she trying to send a message?" suggested Kin Yuan. "You can understand Pokémon – did I hear that right?"
"Yeah, but not through the side of a ship," Ash corrected. "Uh… does someone have a telepathic Psychic type?"
"I've got one," one of the other shuttle passengers said. "Just a Kadabra, I brought her along just in case."
"That sounds good," Steven stated. "Go ahead and send her out."
"Destiny, this is Control," Jin radioed. "Just wanting to check on your status, over?"
"Control, Destiny here," Steven replied. "We believe that May's Venusaur has something to communicate – we'll update if it's urgent."
Kadabra materialized in a flash, took her instructions without complaint, and reached out to contact Venusaur.
Venusaur states that most of the Pokémon in the bubble – Legendary and otherwise – are becoming very tired, she informed them.
"Okay, thanks, Kadabra," Steven told her. "Control, this is Destiny – we have our update, by the sounds of things most of our strike team needs a rest pretty seriously."
"Understood, Destiny," Jin replied. "Mewtwo, Control here – I'm going round the room checking on go/no go for return jump. EECOM?"
"Go," EECOM replied.
Kadabra returned herself.
"Okay, everyone," Steven said, as in the background the check continued. "Time to make sure we're all strapped in, because we are going to end up back in gravity inside a few minutes."
"Right," Kuan Yin agreed. "Should we recall our Pokémon?"
"If you can," Steven suggested.
"Destiny, this is Control. We are go for return jump – you should be arriving a few miles up to minimize the risk of hitting something, but be ready for a jolt as you re-enter normal gravity."
AN:
As you can see, this is becoming a massive effort. Ariadospace is an alternate-universe version of Arianespace, the French space program.
