The Pokéball spun through the air and then suddenly burst open, striking a spot on the left side of Groudon's left foot. It split in half and sucked in a shapeless red light before resealing itself and landing on the ground with a metallic sound.
Quietly, it wobbled back and forth as time appeared to stand still. Once. Twice. Thrice it shook before opening up, ejecting a torso-sized red scale which fell limp on the ground with a splat.
"Shoot! It was so close too!" the trainer grumbled while snapping his fingers, before turning towards Lucario with an expression burning with excitement, "Hey, you! Where's Celebi!? I could hear her in my head! I wanna see the legendaries!"
"… Priorities, stupid!" Lucario shouted back, entering a coughing fit which allowed his innards to rearrange in a way that proved to be both painful and very inefficient at letting him get up and run away. The trainer's expression softened, he was unfamiliar with Pokémon speech but quite familiar with seeing Pokémon suffering.
"Oh boy, you look pretty hurt…" he said as he approached Lucario and reached into his bag again, "Here, let me help you."
Lucario didn't even register the boy's presence anymore, he was too busy staring at Groudon, wondering when the giant would deal the final blow. Or, more accurately, why he hadn't just stepped on them like two cockroaches 30 seconds ago. Groudon actually seemed fascinated by the little human, remaining steadfast and following his every move with those dark eyes. Like a well-fed lion gazing at a sheep which stumbled into his den, whose curiosity superseded his killer instincts.
A liquid suddenly sprayed all over Lucario and sent a dozen chills up his spine all at once. Wondering what the FUCK had just happened, he very slowly turned towards the kid and saw him sitting there with a bottle in cheerful colors. All too aware that whatever it was it sure as hell wasn't water, he felt the pain wracking his body fade away almost instantly.
"Whoa," Lucario exclaimed with gratitude as he hastily stood up and backed away, twisting his torso around and realizing everything was back in its rightful place, "Thanks, kid."
"So you wanna be my first Pokémon?" the trainer asked earnestly. Ignoring his hopeful expression, Lucario arose and tried to remember wheat he had been doing before finding himself lying in a broken mess and accepting death.
"Zerobi!" he burst out in realization and gazed towards the massive legendary. Much like when Celebi had approached Groudon earlier, its rage seemed to have calmed down to some degree, and Lucario hesitantly examined the large underbelly for a red smear or any other telltale signs of his partner.
"… Shit…!" he uttered breathlessly and ran towards the stunned Groudon. Instead of attacking he went under its shin, really hoping the legendary wasn't about to lie down to get a better look at whatever was so interesting about that boy. If Zerobi was still alive he had to find her fast and carry her away from this nightmare.
"Damn it. Why does that never work?" the trainer muttered with disappointment. He turned his attention back to the legendary who had been staring at him for quite some time now. Inside Groudon's tumultuous mind, there was no recognition nor comprehensive thought, merely the sensation that there was something… Special about this creature. Perhaps even more so than the small green one. Unlike the annoying blue and black things, it stirred and old feeling within him. A long-forgotten desire for something he once had.
"Zerobi! Celebi!" Lucario shouted over and over as he climbed out of the crater left from the earlier bodyslam. Zerobi had been even closer to the impact than him, so if she had not been wiped out in an instant she'd be lying crippled or wounded somewhere. If only he could find her he could rob the kid of his spray and heal her, or give her some of his blood, or take her and run, anything.
"What the hell happened?! I can't sense you, you have to answer!" he continued, noticing that his voice was weaker than before. Whatever that spray did it didn't seem restore him to full health, at best it was working as a splint for his messed-up organs and a painkiller. Celebi wasn't there to heal him anymore, in fact Celebi wasn't there at all – Both sisters were gone and couldn't even find their remains.
"You think I can solo this thing?! Damn it! ZEROBI!" Lucario bellowed as he pounded his fists on the ground. There had to be something! If she had been buried by the debris then he'd never find her, maybe she was lying right underneath him and slowly choking to death... He tried to think, but was being sized up by panic with every passing second.
A deep rumble sounded from behind him. Whatever had kept Groudon at bay was now gone as the giant was turning around, completely ignoring the small human. Clearly it did not perceive the child to be an actual threat. However, the young trainer was finding himself in a bit of a pickle as the beast's massive flat tail was now heading straight for him like a horizontal guillotine. Naïve but not suicidal, the trainer hopped onto his bike and sped in the other direction.
It was a short trip – Groudon's tail twitched and lifted up a bit before slamming down, and brought about an earthquake which rocked both boy and vehicle as he flew off his bicycle and scraped up his knees. Quickly realizing no band-aid on earth would fix what was about to happen to him, he saw a shadowy figure in the corner of his vision in front of the approaching tail.
"Help!" he cried out as the figure didn't stop, but swerved towards him. He felt a sharp kick in his belly that lifted him off the ground, before being caught by something and carried off to safety. Somewhere far away there was the noise of metal being cut and crumpled before he was unceremoniously dumped on the ground.
"Noooo! My bike!" he lamented loudly, letting his dizziness subside as he looked up to see a Weavile standing over him with a perplexed expression.
Conflicting thoughts arose in Zerobi. She knew that Lucario had been human once and a Pokémon trainer to boot, not to mention that a lot of unexpected and weird events had already taken place in the past 40-50 minutes. But even for someone as thrilled by the occult as she was, she felt rather skeptical.
"… That's not you, is it?" she stated bluntly as the trainer hastily stood up and smiled, blood dripping down his nose.
"Holy shit, a Weavile!" he shouted in exasperation, "You wanna be my starter?"
Ignoring the delusional kid, she examined the area for any signs of Lucario or her sister. All the dust made it hard to distinguish any red stains on the ground, but the smell of blood – No – The feeling of blood was in the area, and it wasn't all human.
"… Shit!" she spat under her breath. Her escape had been beyond narrow, freezing a line in the grass and sliding along it at maximum speed. The shockwave had still sent her flying and the fall had done something nasty to her left arm. None of this mattered though, she was still alive and until she could say the same for her sister and Lucario she wasn't about to give up and go home. Groudon had come this way to finish off Lucario, most likely stirred by the aura in his pants, but where was he?
Lucario continued digging down with his bare hands, putting his ear on the ground. It was no use, whatever sounds might be coming from down there was being drowned out by the footsteps of Groudon who was now very close. In his desperation he looked around the area one last time. It was a complete mess, debris and ravaged soil everywhere; it would take him hours to turn every rock looking for his friend and he didn't even have seconds anymore.
"Damn it…" he groaned before falling over, the shockwaves of the approaching giant making it difficult to maintain balance. He had to leave; he knew he had to. The footsteps suddenly stopped as he heard an ominous 'whoosh' from behind.
"DAMN IT!" he screamed as he jumped away with all his might, not seeing the attack but feeling it as Groudon's front leg slammed down on where he had just been, the vacuum left in the wake of his swing making Lucario tumble around in midair. His head connected hard on a nearby overturned rock with a nasty-sounding crack, pain returning to his body in an explosive manner.
"UGH! You piece of-" he growled and made it up to his knees, blood running down his forehead and travelling across his long nose. Trying to stand up, his ankle finally gave in and forced him to remain immobile, and dizziness from the blow to his head seized him. His heart stopped – He couldn't move! And as if things couldn't possibly get any worse, those dreadful footsteps were heading towards him once again.
"Why… Me…?" Lucario wheezed tiredly as the blood in his eyes made it a little hard to see, "Can't you go… Blow up another city…?"
He closed his eyes to try and focus, but he could only sense one aura – That of Groudon. No Zerobi, no Celebi, not even his own. About an hour ago they had all been together, smiling and feeling ready for whatever might come their way. Now they were gone, and if they hadn't been crushed before he got there in his failed attempt to rescue them, they were most certainly dead after that last series of attacks. Remembering how he had felt after fleeing Darkrai and imagining Celebi and Zerobi's faces in his mind, he wondered how he could possibly go on without either of them. Not like he could even save himself anymore. Immeasurable hopelessness struck him as he forced his eyes open one last time but saw nothing but red.
"This isn't fair!" Lucario screamed out in despair towards the sky, "I don't want to die!"
Boom. If he had just run while he had the chance he might have made it out alive, but no, he just had to verify their deaths. Boom. Would anyone even know what happened here today? Boom. Their sacrifice? BOOM.
"I told them… We couldn't…" Lucario stammered with regret washing over him, "I can't… Beat you alone…"
He felt too tired to try and crawl away. BOOM. Would he be eaten or crushed? BOOM. Through his hazy vision he could see Groudon finally raising his foot high above him, and his body seized up in terror, ejecting all thoughts from his mind as he prepared himself for utter eradication.
But it came from the side. Something warm and furry tackled straight into him and carried him off. No matter. Pointless. The shockwave would still do the both of them in. The sound of an explosion ravaged the area as Lucario felt all his senses die at once and darkness took over.
Or so he thought. He could still feel the warm fur. What happened to the shockwave? Had the shockwave been absorbed by something else? The warm fur was all that existed. He had never, ever felt something this warm and furry before. It was… Almost surreal. Realizing that he was keeping his eyes close, Lucario opened them in his newfound quest for answers.
The sky was blue. There was a cloud with a big hole in the middle. And Groudon was far away. Lucario sat up and looked down – He was covered from head to toe in long, wavy white hair, almost like he was sitting on top of a cloud in heaven. He had never seen nor felt anything like it.
"What… The…" he exclaimed as he looked around, trying to get a grasp of the situation. Underneath the white hair was something grey and metallic in character, and to his sides there was fur of a rugged dark brown color.
"You are safe," a deep, imposing voice sounded as his seat rumbled. A voice that he recognized, not because of its familiarity but because it was the kind of voice you only heard once and never forgot about. There was another sound in the distance too, but Lucario was too curious about his current situation to pay much note of it. Slowly he stood up and walked towards the sound of the noise, the soft organic ground giving better support to his twisted ankle than hard rock as he leaned over the edge to get a better look at the creature.
All he saw was a spiky mask, made of yellow, red and white metal. And two extremely intense fiery red eyes staring ahead. It was all upside down, but still unmistakable.
"Master Ethan," the voice spoke once more with profound effects on Lucario's psyche. Memories came flooding back, and in an instant he was someone else entirely. Sharing an ice cream with Lyra, working the Berry Blender, and facing the elite four with his trusted companions. These memories disappeared just as quickly, and left behind merely a vision of Saffron, several destroyed motor vehicles and…
"Entei!?" Lucario burst out as he almost fell over and grasped a hold of the spiky mask, which seemed to work perfectly as two handlebars. Almost as if that was an intentional design choice.
"What are your orders, Master Ethan?" Entei replied unfazed and immobile. His voice was so deep that Lucario felt his already rattled innards tingle from the vibrations. Looking down, he realized the legendary dog stood tall at almost 5 meters shoulder height, a beast whose fuzzy exterior belied pure brawn and muscle.
"My-" Lucario started but interrupted himself, "Wait, who told you about-"
Then a sharp noise filled the air, interrupting him once more. It was the sound of battle cries. Thinking that the legendaries had arrived, Lucario looked expectantly at the sky but was only met by the same dull cloudhole as before. Indeed, the sounds were coming from further down, and as he turned around he finally saw them.
Pokémon by the hundreds, every last one of them big and fearsome was charging towards them in a wide formation. Even at closer range he wouldn't have been able to identify most of them. But he recognized who was leading them, and through a speaker he heard an extremely familiar voice amplified three times over.
"Protect No Man's Land!" Zoroark shouted with all her might into a megaphone, "Defeat Groudon!"
A thousand cries roared their reply, nearly overwhelming Lucario's enhanced hearing as well as his vision. This did little to stop him from seeing that the Pokémon were all charging straight towards him.
"Do you have a command for me, Master Ethan?" Entei hinted as a couple of elemental sparks glittered among the warriors heading towards them.
"M-Move! Run!" Lucario shouted and instinctively ducked, Entei hastily dashing off to the side as a dozen giant projectiles of various elements flew over their heads. Feeling his fur stand on end from static electricity, he heard the attacks strike into Groudon with crackles of sparks and flames.
"Closer!" Zoroark's voice rung once more, "Prepare the second salvo on my command!"
Lucario wanted to see what was happening, but riding Entei without a saddle and stirrups was little like being caught inside a bus rolling down the side of a mountain. The start of each leap felt like gravity was malfunctioning and the end slammed Lucario into the thankfully soft mane of the giant lion and the unfortunately very hard mask on occasion.
"Forgive my delay, master Ethan," Entei's deep voice made Lucario's body vibrate, "I have been under the care of commander Zoroark these past months, hidden underground and licking my wounds. I have survived all this time for the chance to ride into battle with you again, my master."
"Sto-" Lucario managed before getting a mouth full of hair which wasn't his own, mingled with the blood still dripping down his head. Somewhere near someone cried out Entei's name, but the voice was distorted due to the high speed they were moving at. Being stuck like a backpack to this beast, Lucario finally remembered why the aura felt so familiar – He had sensed Entei's presence when he was in No Man's Land last year. Mustering up another attempt at expressing his discomfort with the current situation, he felt Entei slow down on his own and finally come to a stop. He lifted his head up and gasped for air while simultaneously spitting fur and blood in every direction, sensing that someone else was near.
Turning to the side, he saw that a crowd of Pokémon had gathered. It was quite a sight to behold; A ghost, a lizard wearing a helmet, a grinning insect and a sleek hunk of metal with sharp eyes. However, instead of looking at the towering legendary dog which could surely use four very small cars as two pairs of roller-skates, or the ginormous Groudon which could use a plane for a toothpick, they were looking at him. Lucario. He was feeling awkward, and rather thirsty.
"Hehe. 'sup, champ?" Heracross snickered with that permanent grin plastered across his face. Ethan blinked a few times, experiencing the same kind of disorientation you get from teleporting or using an escape rope.
"We had our doubts prior," Mismagius whispered solemnly while her ghostly hat bobbed up and down and from side to side, "But something like a bond of destiny. Trainer and Pokémon. Forever bound. We immediately knew."
Ethan stared at them, somehow feeling like decades had passed since he last saw his Pokémon. And hearing them talk was definitively a new experience. Slowking rolled his eyes the way he always did when he disagreed with his teammates.
"I for one didn't realize until Chica told me," Slowking said in a very precise and calculated manner, like a judge reading his verdict, "And I suppose your mannerisms do reflect those of our old Master. I may have been born in a well but I am not blind."
Many, many questions welled up in Ethan's mind, but they were interrupted as a Skarmory threw himself at Entei's feet in a deep bow.
"Great master! I have committed many deeds of heroism in your absence," the metallic bird shouted with a powerful voice, "A whole new generation of EV trained warriors of the finest IVs await your return in Johto!"
"Hehe. Still tryin' to out-loyal Entei?" Heracross snickered from behind as Skarmory's eye glinted.
"What was that!?" Skarmory immediately snapped back and soon the two were at it just like old times. Old, forgotten times. Lucario blinked, feeling like when you wake up from a bad hangover and a crowd of Pokémon are staring at you. He didn't really know who they were, but he didn't want to show it in case they decided to turn on him.
"What do you want?" Lucario asked bluntly, hoping to get a better grasp on the situation without revealing he didn't know who they were. Slowking's face fell and Heracross' eyes widened in surprise, apparently having expected something else to come out of his mouth after all this time.
"We… We came to see you," Slowking elaborated as Skarmory flicked his wings to clear them of dirt from the kerfuffle, "We want to you to take command of us once more."
"What!?" Lucario blurted out in confusion. Why couldn't he remember the last 20 seconds? He located a lingering feeling of familiarity, and somehow the answer was clear to him even though the memory wasn't. These were his Pokémon.
"But I'm not even human anymore!" Lucario said loudly and grabbed hold of Entei's fur, "My Pokémon training days are over, why are you here?"
"Hehe. Boredom," Heracross snickered.
"Loneliness…" Mismagius sighed.
"Great master! I live only to serve!" Skarmory shouted and bowed once more.
"Weeellll… I wasn't really much help in the league…" Slowking said in a more uncertain and casual manner than before, "I think I might sleep better at night if I fully repay you for saving me that day."
They looked expectantly at Lucario who suddenly felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. That was a feeling he'd never forget. Responsibility. And something else. He realized that his steed had yet to say anything.
"And you? Why do you want to be part of my team again?" Lucario asked. For some reason he felt he desperately needed to hear it.
"I never left," Entei replied, "You are my master, now and forever."
And there it was. Importance. Something often denied to him, this rare sensation brought Lucario fulfillment and made him temporarily forget all about the predicament he found himself in. All this time it was all he had ever really wanted, a sense of being important. Being appreciated. Being the man in charge. Perhaps "wanted" was not the correct term, but rather these are all things which had been missing from his life.
A feeling of enlightenment washed over him. Had he really spent his time as a Pokémon trying to regain what he had as a human? Was all this, allying with Zoroark to fix the world's problems and taking the duty of the legendaries into his own hands just a result of him wanting to feel like he was important? The quest for safety had ended when he met Celebi, and his desire to find himself had ended when he met Mew. Indeed, when he was human all of these things were granted to him right from the get-go, but he had still departed on a journey to become the Pokémon champion. He remembered it so vividly, the frustration of being a child. The satisfaction of making something out of himself. Overcoming challenge after challenge until there were no challenges left.
A new, unidentified sensation cropped up. Disappointment? Even more frustration? No more challenges to overcome…? He found himself trembling. And with this bodily motion, he had returned to Entei's back.
"You…" Lucario wheezed breathlessly while looking at the four Pokémon beneath him. He felt humbled, somehow.
"Did you…" he continued and felt like he really needed someone else to talk to right now, "… see a Zerobi nearby?"
His Pokémon stared at him with confusion. None of them could deny that their master was acting pretty weird. Lucario shook his head and slapped himself on the forehead.
"No, I mean, a… Weaver?" Lucario corrected himself, feeling like he was stuck in a bad dream, humiliating himself in front of a crowd of people.
"A Weavile," Mismagius spoke with clarity, "Indeed we did. She was doing an extraordinarily poor job at hiding when we arrived."
"… What, really!?" Lucario suddenly shouted as he sat up straight, "That's great, we got separated and…!"
Once more he was met with expectant stares which forced him to shut up. He could tell that if these Pokémon did not possess the utmost loyalty towards him they probably wouldn't have let him mull about this long uninterrupted. They were here, his Pokémon. His family. And he didn't recognize a single one of them.
"Look, turning into a Pokémon screwed up my memory," Lucario explained distraught, "I've got my own shit to worry about now, so go bug someone else."
His Pokémon were silent for a few moments.
"Hehe. Nah, we're coming anyway," Heracross replied with a bigger grin than usual.
"We WILL be of assistance to you, great master! I swear it by my wife and children!" Skarmory enunciated while bowing even lower than before and shutting his eyes. Lucario felt nothing but reluctance at the prospect, more than used to his followers dying or getting captured. All he wanted was to find Zerobi and get the hell out of there. He dug deep into his memory banks and figured out a solution.
"What I mean to say is, your training is complete! My role as a leader is done, it's up to you to find your own way from now on!" Lucario started, but shifted his tone as he saw some annoyed shuffling coming from Mismagius and Skarmory, "But if you're bored or whatever, how about we beat the ever-living shit out of this cocksucking motherfucking Groudon?"
Suddenly his Pokémon appeared to rise to attention. Mismagius stopped bobbing and Heracross' grin turned into a frown.
"Thought you'd never ask," Heracross said with a serious disposition.
"Entei… Take good care of master Ethan," Slowking muttered with dismay, "Stay alive."
Without another word exchanged, Entei took off. Lucario fell over, and it was but the size of his steed that kept him from falling off. He tumbled a bit but instinctively grabbed a hold of the fur, sensing his newfound compatriots fade off in the distance. Indeed, even the ferocious aura of Groudon appeared to diminish.
"Entei! Wait!" he shouted as soon as he pulled himself together, "You're going the wrong way!"
Stopping with a mighty crash that sent a cloud of dust into the air, Lucario once more found himself falling over the vast landscape of Entei's back. He quickly secured himself by grabbing a sizeable chunk of fur in both his hands before proceeding.
"You stopped," Lucario uttered in-between his frequent attempts to pull some more air into his lungs, "You follow my commands, so... You know it's me? You know that I was transformed into a Pokémon?"
"Yes," Entei replied. Lucario waited a bit for the explanation that was sure to follow, but it never arrived. He was curious to know why on earth someone would believe something so outrageous but wasn't about to test his ally's faith at this crucial moment. The battle was raging on behind them and locating his two friends was growing more difficult by the second.
"You saved my life. I won't forget that," Lucario said as he carefully let go of the legendary and started shuffling towards the edge of the beast, "But now you have to let me off."
"No," Entei replied.
"No!?" Lucario repeated with indignation, "I, your Master Ethan, command you to-"
"Locate the Weavile and defeat Groudon while keeping you safe," Entei finished his sentence. Lucario stopped and thought to himself for a moment.
"… Yeah, that works," Lucario admitted as he clutched all the fur that could fit in his palms, "Good boy."
Groudon turned his head in slight discomfort as two Blastoise, one Slowking, one Octillery and a full Samurott family in unison fired their Hydro Pumps into the legendary's face. His weakness had been determined to be water, as this had more effect than the fantastic 50-man Fire Blast they had sent straight into his eyeball to no avail. The classic ground-type weaknesses of Ice and Grass appeared to be failing as well, although many grass-types had expressed interest in the gigantic vines lying around an area not too far away. They suggested doing some research into the matter, which Zoroark agreed to, but not until the battle was over. "We have 0 casualties, and I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible," he had said, urging anyone not capable of inflicting long-range damage to remain at a safe distance and assist the wounded, should there be any. Groudon was not taking much of an active role in fighting back.
The youngest in the Samurott family kneeled from exhaustion, as his father repositioned to put him in the shade. The strong sun was making it difficult for less hardy water-types to summon up any real force, and the clouds which should have been creating a cool shade had rather a big hole in them, blasting the earth and its inhabitants with scorching radiation. The flying-types were currently resting for a grueling task ahead as the bug-types wove a truly magnificent sheet out of String Shot, the idea being that the flying-types would use it to block out the sun so that their water brigade could work at full efficiency. Things were running smoothly apart from a Skarmory and Heracross who wouldn't stop bickering about something that happened over a decade ago.
An Electabuzz watched the battlefield from afar. He was trembling. He had come here to fulfill his duty as a citizen of No Man's Land, to protect the people he had come to know so well. But he had never seen anything so big in his entire life. Since he was an electric-type he'd been relegated to the sidelines almost instantly with the job to assist the wounded. In truth, he was too afraid to even do that. He wanted to get away from Groudon. Return to the old abandoned power plant. Maybe even risk being captured and stuffed in a PC; Anything was better than this. He was too caught up in his own ruminations to notice that he was being approached by a dark, sinister figure from behind.
"Excuse me?" Zerobi asked, lightly tapping the dazed Pokémon with the almost blunt side of her claws. He turned around hastily, before instantly recognizing the infamous Weavile and falling away from her with a scream.
"No! NOOOOOO!" the Electabuzz burst out in terror, holding up his long arms to protect his face.
"Shut up! I'm not evil!" Zerobi shouted back and tried to compose herself to appear less threatening, "I'm looking for my friend, a Lucario. Have you seen any Lucario nearby?"
"Y-You're just gonna cut his throat again…!" Electabuzz stammered while peering out from over his arms. His heart was racing, but his legs were too weak to carry him to safety.
"No, I-" Zerobi tried to explain but found herself short of an answer, "… How the hell do YOU know about that?!"
A burst of strength found its way into the Electabuzz's soul as he swiftly scrambled away, and then made a glorious jump towards a crowd of other, less scary-looking Pokémon. Zerobi was left speechless; She had wisely decided to approach these No Man's Landers with caution, but if they knew THAT much about what she had done she's lucky they didn't smoke her the instant they arrived.
"Damn Zoroark," she muttered under her breath and slipped back into the shadows. Of course, most shadows on the flat plains were cast from medium-sized rocks and there was no real place to hide, but Zerobi figured her presence mostly undetected considering the enormous monster taking up a cardinal direction. In fact, that had been the focus of her attention as well, wishing she would spot her sister cutting its belly open from the inside or Lucario dislodging himself from under its feet. She forcefully looked over the area to see if maybe she could spot something useful. Pokémon in type-assorted groups working on various things. Birds roosting. A couple of kids on their bicycles looking on from far away.
And then she saw it.
"What the f…"
"Divide them into groups that take shifts; Nobody stays airborne more than 10 minutes," Zoroark said to his group of field commanders, "Assemble a few Pokémon with Ice-type moves to cool off the resting groups."
"Sir, with all due respect, no flying-type worth his wings would falter from a 3 hour flight," a vicious-looking Talonflame spoke with a regal voice, "I will personally see to it that they persevere, for the sake of our ground troops."
"Alright, just don't pressure them too hard," Zoroark conceded while bringing her hand up to shade her eyes, "This is going to be a long battle and burning out from this blasted sun would be... Be…"
She looked up and for the first time since this battle started, Zoroark found herself speechless. She joined the rest in staring at what was happening, understanding that it was already too late to stop him.
"3…" the Slowking started his countdown as the rest of the water-types buckled down.
"Bob?" one of the Blastoise suddenly spoke up while heaving, his cannons dry as a turtle's shell.
"Not now," the other Blastoise named Bob replied sternly.
"2…" the Slowking continued while throwing a quick glace towards the two Blastoise.
"Bob I think I'm dying," the first Blastoise coughed as he found himself short on precious saliva.
"Suck it up," Bob responded and kept his focus on the target in front of them.
"1…" the Slowking finished his countdown and inhaled. Soon thereafter a glorious torrent of water launched with the force of a tidal wave far, far away where it struck Groudon squarely in the jaw. The giant legendary didn't budge and continued looking on with a somewhat confused and slightly bothered expression. Everyone could tell that this shot was much too weak to have any effect. On Groudon, anyway – The whiny Blastoise gave a short wheeze before fainting in the glaring sun.
"Hey! Get up!" Bob shouted angrily while kicking his friend's shell. There was no response. A deep thud broke his concentration as he looked towards Groudon, but the giant legendary hadn't moved.
Another deep thud. All the water-types stared as a beast of a Pokémon was approaching them from behind. A mane shining so brightly as to put the sun to shame. A figure to take the breath away of anyone nearby, especially those who remembered that fateful day in No Man's Land. And on his back…
"You see it? There, that grey patch in the middle," Lucario whispered before raising his voice, "NOW FUCK HIM UP!"
The ground tremored as Entei set off into a sprint, Lucario holding his mask very tightly with one hand and gathering up his mitochondria in the other. They ran towards Groudon's left foot in such a gallant display that even the hulking titan couldn't help but stare. Entei opened his mouth and inhaled deeply as Lucario's hand burned with blue fire, both of their sights set upon a spot the size of a basketball on the left side of the foot which was now missing a scale.
"DIE!" Lucario screamed and fired off an impressive-looking aura sphere with perfect accuracy into the exposed the grey skin underneath, and a twinge of pain crossed the giant's expression. Then Entei unleashed his tree-sized fire blast which slammed into the left foot with the force of a sledgehammer. The scales repelled most of the attack, but where the aura sphere had struck the effect was immediately visible. For the first time since Celebi's departure, Groudon recoiled with an eardrum-shattering roar as Entei's legendary fire licked the old and rotting flesh underneath his tough exterior. Everyone stared in awe and disbelief as Groudon's expression contorted in pain. Then confusion.
And then pure. Unadulterated. Rage.