Pokemon: Rise

by Intimidates JC

Pessimistic hater of Pokemon, Adam, is forced out of his home and into the world of battling with just 500 dollars in his pocket and an egg his parents gave him. He must learn to fend for himself against a hateful Pokemon gang and deal with his rivalry with his older brother while attempting to collect all the gym badges and beat the Ilragorn League.

35. Fuji Jungle

Chapter 35: Fuji Jungle

Miles and miles away from the bright lights and dance music reverberating throughout Naporia City, it was the polar opposite in the neighboring Fuji Jungle, which took up most of the remaining land on the Isle to shelter the native pokemon. The jungle had a slight appeal over the Gord Woods or Exeter Forest back over in Exeter as the Isle of Naporia just in general housed cleaner air and a healthier, more diverse living environment than its neighboring island. It was dark and relatively quiet being the middle of the night throughout nearly all of Fuji Jungle, with only a few wisps of noise coming from Noctowls munching on their Spinarak dinners high up in the thin, spindly trees.

But there was a spark of red and yellow light in a patch of open land hidden far in the jungle where the trees had been cut down and salted long ago in order to preserve this secret spot for nights like tonight. In that patch of land, a small campfire had been started to illuminate the large clearing and three people were standing around it in a discussion that was clearly as heated as the flames, as their voices were all escalated above the norm.

"Why can't you just let it go and let the poor kid rest in peace?" one of the figures, a gorgeous young woman's troubled voice, pleaded. "You're making us come all the way out here in honor of some sacred Elite 4 tradition before the league, that's fine, that's what I agreed to. But, Bob, come on. You brought us here under the promises that we'd be here to drink and celebrate and remember what it means to be an Elite on the final night before the League begins, not go over your conspiracy theories over and over again. Why you gotta keep bringing up Morgan's accident every chance you get, Bob? Why can't you just let the poor kid go?"

"Because it wasn't a fucking accident, Tyra, how many times do I have to repeat that before it goes through your head?" snapped Bob, his glasses almost hopping off his nose while he was practically jamming his pointer finger into his own shiny bald head for emphasis.

"Oh, Arceus, here we go," Tyra rolled her eyes as she recognized that Bob was about to go off on another one of his tangents about Morgan being hit by Team Anonymous rather than a cave in, with the cave in just being a cover-up to dull their worries.

"Guys, guys, ease up," the third figure around the fire joined in, and his strong jawline, handsome features, and wavy brown hair made him instantly recognizable as the heart of the Elite 3, Kristopher. "Both of you - this is not the way to go about helping any of us get over his death. We're a family, we're supposed to lift each other up, not drag each other down."

"See, Kristopher doesn't think it was a murder, either. You lose, Bob. Just let it go. Once the League ends in a week and we have our finalists, someone will be placed in his rank so we can return to the Elite 4 status and things can return to normal. It's not healthy hanging onto him like this, Bob."

"That's not exactly what I-" Kristopher tried to say, but was cut off by Bob's furious reaction toward Tyra.

"I trained and tutored Morgan since he was 9 years old and I was just a schoolteacher over at Wintervale Elementary. I saw so much potential and talent in that little guy from the first day he entered my class, and 10 years later, we both ended up in the Elite 4. Even with all those years between us, that little kid had enough heart and drive to push himself all the way into the League and to the very end on the exact same playing field that I did. He didn't beat Ava, but he got enlisted into the Elite 4, and at his age, that's, I think, far more impressive than anything I've done. I loved that kid, he wasn't just some co-worker to me or just a rank in the Elite like you clearly saw him. I know that kid was far too gifted and perceptive to end up getting himself killed in a cave in when he's got the kind of experienced mons he's got watching his back. He went to that cave every year, all the time, for years since he got his Mawile! He knows that cave in and out! He was killed, Tyra, and no matter what you or Ava or Kristopher want to tell yourselves to make it easier, it's the truth."

"You're wrong," Tyra said simply, unconvinced, infuriating Bob even more based on his bulging eyes behind the wire framed spectacles. Kristopher remained neutral and quiet while Tyra and Bob just glared at each other while the campfire danced between them.

"Oh, wow, the Elite 3! I'm a big fan." A fourth voice came from behind Kristopher, startling all three members of the Elite into jumping and whirling around to face the new arrival that for some reason was out in the middle of Fuji Jungle in the middle of the night instead of in the city with everyone else on the island. This instantly aroused suspicion from all three members on this newcomer, who was a young man in black sweats with tousled black hair and a dangerous look in his eyes, plus six pokeballs attached to his trainer belt.

"Well, thanks," Kristopher was the first to recover from being caught off guard, being the best public speaker of the group, and decided to learn what he could from this stranger. Bob and Tyra remained silent, though all three had their sharp eyes locked on this mysterious man who came from the trees. "You're a ways away from...well...anything, aren't you?"

The young man laughed much too comfortably for the hour it was and the place he was at. "Well, I'm right in front of the Elite 3 of Ilragorn, and I'd say you three are certainly something." Something about the way the man responded and snickered struck a nerve in the back of Bob's head, an intuitive hunch, a gut feeling that something was off.

"It was him," Bob said, barely above a whisper, standing in the back of the group so that Tyra and Kristopher turned their heads to make sure they heard him correctly. "He killed Morgan."

"Bob, for Arceus' sake-" Tyra tried to argue, but she was interrupted herself.

"He was embarrassingly easy to take down for being a member of the most prestigious battling group on Ilragorn," the messy haired man said through a freakish smile. "Only took one pokemon to bring him and his whole shitty squad down."

"Who are you?" Kristopher asked in disgust while Tyra gasped, taking in all the details about this disgusting human being in front of him, soaking in the reality that the scumbag who killed their friend Morgan had the audacity to come here and rub it in their faces while they were here in mourning over the kid. How did he even know about this place, this is supposed to be a secret area only the Elite are aware of, Kristopher wondered to himself.

"Evan Hunter, the future head of Team Anonymous and the man who's going to finally do to this island what should have been done a long time ago - destroy it and everyone of you useless sacks of shit living on here that have done nothing while things have progressively gotten worse and worse," Evan revealed, only doing so because he had the utmost confidence that none of the former idols of his youth would be leaving Fuji Jungle alive.

This truly felt like a full circle moment for Evan, who had struggled for years to even beat Magenta and acquire the Dark Badge, and so was consistently denied entry into the League which added fuel to any feelings of bitterness he already had. But here he was, at a level beyond gym leaders and other battlers in the Ilragorn League. Here he was tussling with the biggest, baddest fuckers on the playground, and he knew he was better than them, and that just made all the stresses of his past feel worth it, as they were all culminating up to this point for him to test himself against the most powerful battlers there were.

"Your punk ass is going to be the head honcho of Team Anonymous?" Bob gave a chuckle that both Tyra and Kristopher recognized as phony from years of hearing his real laugh, but it was a clear tactic to rile Evan up from the wiser, older trainer. "That's a downgrade from a few of their previous leaders. But, if that's the case, then I suppose we all know why you're here, hm?"

There was a long silence in the cold night air as only the winds answered. Everyone knew Evan was there to finish what he started in the cave several months ago.

"I'm doing this alone." Bob was the first to speak, stepping toward Evan to show he meant it, though Kristopher clearly didn't like this response based on his face.

"I accept that challenge," Evan said confidently, goading Bob to make this even easier than it had to be by not taking on all three Elite at the same time, though Evan was certainly prepared for the scenario.

"No fucking way," Kristopher challenged, stepping in front of Bob for emphasis. "We do this together, that way we make sure Morgan's death isn't in vain and at the same time we put down a huge threat to the safety of this island. It's literally a win-win, Bob!"

"Up until now none of you even believed me when I told you that I knew he was murdered. This is personal, Kristopher. He killed Morgan. This is between me and him." Bob would not be swayed by Kristopher's pleas to fight together - he wanted to fight Evan alone, and Evan was just standing back and enjoying the show as the Elite bickered amongst themselves.

"Tyra, would you back me up here!?" Kristopher turned to the dark skinned beauty of the group for support, but she looked conflicted herself.

"Well...ugh, I'm sorry, Kristopher, but I have to go with Bob on this one. Morgan meant a lot more to him than to any of us...I think he needs this…" Tyra answered earnestly, although it looked like it physically pained her to say each word, as Kristopher was getting increasingly upset by every word.

"What the fuck, Tyra, just shut the fuck up!" Kristopher shouted in annoyance over his plan backfiring as he was now outnumbered with the votes of the group pushing for Bob to face this dangerous challenger alone even though Kristopher's intuition and gut feeling and common sense were all screaming at him that they needed to work together to overcome this threat. But Bob and Tyra were both too blinded with emotion over Morgan to look at the situation rationally.

"Are you ready to join your old pal?" Evan catcalled to Bob with a cruel smile. Bob could literally see the evil intentions and dark thoughts swirling around behind Evan's dark, sunken eyes. He could tell this was a bad person just by looking at him.

"One on one. My best pokemon versus your best." Bob grabbed a well-used pokeball from his belt while Evan mimicked him, seizing his own ball.

"Hardly a fair match. All six of mine are eons above your best already." Evan always needed to get the last word in.

The light of the roaring campfire paled in comparison to the huge red bursts of energy emerging from both pokeballs, one forming a massive Tyranitar that summoned up a sandstorm in the middle of the jungle upon his entrance, the other forming a glistening Steelix that looked twice as tough with the light from the fire casting shadows along his angry face.

Both trainers immediately activated the megas stones on their wrists to mega evolve their pokemon to their ultimate forms, both Tyranitar and Steelix sprouting horns and growing in size and other embellishments being added to their bodies to make them become their most dangerous versions of themselves, the raging sandstorm whipping around the clearing at the Elite 3 and Evan, but doing no damage to either Mega Tyranitar or Mega Steelix, who had their eyes locked on each other, M-Steelix lifting his head to match M-Tyranitar's eye level.

"Kick his fucking ass, T-tar!" cheered Tyra from the sidelines, coughing out some sand debris as she spoke through the sandstorm whipping at her face, her faith restored at the sight of how massive and powerful M-Tyranitar was. She had seen him lose less than 3 battles her whole life.

"If you need help at any point, just let us know!" Kristopher joined in, talking to both M-Tyranitar and Bob, who ignored him and kept his attention alternating between M-Steelix and Evan.

"You have a lot of nerve coming out here in the disrespectful way that you did," Bob said across the clearing to Evan, who was a good 50/60 feet away, still standing just outside the treeline where he had first emerged.

"And you have a lot of nerve to claim that you're the Elite trainers on this island when the real elite stands before you. Steelix, Earthquake, hard."

"T-tar, eat it up and Dragon Dance!" Bob ordered, realizing the trees of the jungle were far too thin to support M-Tyranitar's weight so attempting to climb them to escape the Earthquake would be to no avail and he would just take damage for nothing once the trees crumbled under his weight. The open clearing was far too flat for M-Tyranitar to even try to dodge, so Bob went for boosting his speed and attack since he would be taking the hit regardless.

While the ground trembled with great force as M-Steelix batted at the ground with his iron tail, causing an Earthquake across the clearing that caused even the Elite 3 to lose their footing and stumble to the floor from the powerful force. However, M-Tyranitar remained standing upright the whole time, his hands clenched tightly into shaking fists and his eyes shut tight in concentration (as well as a lot of pain). But the rock-formed dinosaur mon successfully performed the necessary movements with his arms as well as focused for about 10 seconds, and as M-Steelix's Earthquake dissipated, M-Tyranitar completed his Dragon Dance and had boosted his already massive strength and speed.

"T-tar, Crunch!"

"Gyro Ball."

As M-Tyranitar charged at the huge steel snake, open mouthed and ready to bite into the M-Steelix's upper body with its threatening jaws, M-Steelix began spinning in place to charge up his own Gyro Ball attack. M-Tyranitar bit down onto the back of the spinning M-Steelix with a strong Crunch, and about a moment after, M-Steelix's spinning tail ended up whacking right into M-Tyranitar's side, knocking the wind out of him and creating an identifiable crack noise that was likely a rib being broken as the rock pokemon fell to his knees, eyes bulging in shock at the propulsion and power with which this new enemy had taken him down using just two moves. Two super effective moves granted, but still. Losing so quickly was very uncommon for M-Tyranitar as well as Bob, who watched in shock as M-Steelix proceeded to slam his steel tail across M-Tyranitar's face, spitting out both teeth and blood as his face reeled from the strong hit, and then he at last fell on the floor of the clearing, unconscious.

"Dodrio, finish it now!" Evan screamed out into the air, and in response, a speedy blur came catapulting out of the treelines from behind Tyra and Kristopher and went whizzing directly over their heads until the Dodrio had used Drill Peck to pierce one of its heads straight through Bob's back and out of his chest, leaving one of the heads of the Dodrio mangled and covered in blood, bodily fluids, and guts hanging off the neck that were steaming as they were exposed to the cold air while the other two heads were cawing in their aggressive way that terrified most wild pokemon from interacting with it. Bob's body was still swaying in shock, the way a decapitated chickens sometimes would, while his face had a look of pure horror mixed with surprise locked on it, hanging like a necklace off of one of the Dodrio's necks until the three heads worked together to pry Bob off with a few well-aimed kicks, his glasses shattering on the ground as they became crushed under the weight of his limp body.

Tyra had broken down into screams of shock while Kristopher's heart sank and he cursed himself for not trying harder to sway Tyra and Bob to work as a team. M-Steelix meanwhile had made it a point to continuously pummel M-Tyranitar's head into the ground using his heavy iron tail until eventually the rocky head of the pokemon resembled something more like fine powder.

Distraught at the chaos quickly overcoming them, Kristopher realized with the utmost certainty that he and Tyra had to work together to defeat this new threat, Evan Hunter, if they had any chance to survive. If he had taken down Morgan and Bob with such ease, he was the real deal.

"Tyra, focus! We've got to work together, which is something Morgan and Bob didn't get to do. If we stick together, we can outsmart him. We're the Elite 2 of Ilragorn!" Kristopher hoped to inspire her with his speech, which was his strong suit. He was always the talker, the one to motivate with his uplifting attitude. Tyra nodded, not looking confident but certainly putting up a brave face in light of watching an Elite be slaughtered so easily. It made her question if they really were the deserving Elite.

Working quickly while Evan's mons were distracted with ensuring Bob's demise, Tyra cast the only pokeball she had from her belt out as she hadn't planned on battling at this hour - from it emerged her Gardevoir, which she proceeded to mega evolve. Kristopher chose his own Manectric, which he also smartly mega evolved in order to boost its powers, to battle by his side.

Near the raging fire, a M-Manectric and M-Gardevoir, both powered up offensively as well as their appearances becoming more dramatic looking, now stood guard beside Tyra and Kristopher, all four of them slightly hesitant to battle such threatening presences that had dispatched of Bob so effortlessly but they were backed into a corner with no options left.

"Gardy, Hyper Voice the whole clearing!" Tyra initiated the first move.

"Thunderbolt that bird!" Kristopher ordered.

"Dodrio, to the woods! Steelix, Earthquake again!" Evan responded instantly.

M-Gardevoir screamed, and from her mouth erupted pink sparkling fairy energy that spouted out like a broken fire hydrants water stream, radiating throughout the whole clearing, but most of the attack being directed toward the M-Steelix. He didn't seem too bothered by it, as the resisted hit didn't impede him from pummeling at the ground once again as fervently as before, causing more dangerous tremors in the ground. M-Manectric had fired a sizzling bolt of electricity at Dodrio, but Dodrio had flown back into the safety and obscurity of Fuji Jungle to dodge the incoming attack, evading the dangerous Thunderbolt by the feathers on his back. The new Earthquake began ravaging the ground, but the Elite 2 were ready.

"Gardy, Psychic yourself off the ground!" Tyra urged, and M-Gardevoir responded by using her psychic energy to lift herself several feet in the air, levitating safely above the chaotic rumbling floor.

"Magnet Rise!" Kristopher said, and his electric partner instantly started running through the air as if on some invisible platform several inches off the ground. M-Steelix was left pummeling an Earthquake into the ground that had no recipients. "Don't let up, Overheat this thing for some massive damage! Tyra, make sure we get this hit off, help me!"

Tyra nodded seriously. "Gardy, Psychic and hold M-Steelix still for a few seconds so that Manectric can get a hit off!"

M-Gardevoir had many years of experience in battling against some of the most heavily trained pokemon in Ilragorn, and despite having the appearance of some delicate, magical elf-like princess, she could throw out some of the most powerful beams of psychic energy any members of the Elite had ever seen. Her fairy-affected Hyper Voices and Psychics were renowned for taking down even the bulkiest, fattest of pokemon with just a hit or two. But Evan's M-Steelix was not one of those pokemon.

Though she attempted to hold M-Steelix in place from a safe distance away, both her arms lifted and aimed at the massive behemoth before her as she focused all her concentration into holding him in place, in the end his overall size, strength, and resistances overcame even the great Tyra's M-Gardevoir as M-Steelix wrenched himself free of the invisible psychic hold he had been under.

Just in time for the huge explosion of flames being propelled out of M-Manetric's jagged back to be slathered all over M-Steelix's whole front and roaring face, heavily scorching his shiny steel coat and leaving long black streaks of ash that smelled of scorched rubber along his body. The Overheat had successfully landed, and though it had heavily damaged Evan's partner, M-Steelix was from going down over taking one super effective hit, and everyone there knew that.

Evan hurled a third pokeball from his belt up into the air while the dust was still settling from the attacks of the three megas all colliding with each other, and from it emerged an old favorite of Evan's - his conniving Mr. Mime, who was dancing in mid-air like a leprechaun who had just discovered a pot of gold, so ecstatic over getting to take part in this battle. He had sensed what was happening from inside his pokeball using his psychic energy, but that was no comparison to getting to fight toe-to-toe with the megas of the Elite of Ilragorn themselves. Mr. Mime was both honored and flattered that Evan had chosen him to aid M-Steelix and Dodrio in their battle.

"H-Hyper Voice the both of them!" Tyra cried, nervousness escaping her throat and revealing her fears out loud over the fact that M-Steelix still was not down and now a third member from Evan's party was joining the mix. As if the Dodrio hiding out in the jungle waiting to strike again at any moment wasn't enough of a concern in the back of Tyra's mind.

"Thunderbolt the clown!" Kristopher shouted, who did not display the same trembling in his voice that Tyra did.

M-Gardevoir and M-Manectric both fired their respective attacks, a bolt of electricity that was far less powerful than previously since the Overheat has drained M-Manectric of a great deal of his special attacking energy, and a pink cone of fairy energy that sailed directly through Mr. Mime, phazing right through him like mist due to his Soundproof ability blocking him from being hurt by sound moves. The Thunderbolt bounced off his chest pitifully into a few small sparks, Mr. Mime not even bothering to dodge or stop it. M-Steelix was only slightly bothered by the second Hyper Voice, since his only response was to shake his head in annoyance over the slight headache he was developing.

"Mr. Mime, Dazzling Gleam. Steelix, Iron Tail."

M-Steelix jolted back into movement after being static from taking the Overheat a while ago, and began lifting its backside into the air, its dangerously heavy tail ascending higher and higher as the M-Steelix roared in fury, ready to get revenge on those who had scorched his gorgeous metal coat.

"Gardy, Hyper Beam the Mr. Mime!" Tyra cried, going for her most powerful, 180 base power fairy attack that could single-handedly take down most pokemon in existence. Her M-Gardevoir brough both hands together and began charging up a pink ball that resembled a gigantic bubble, one that was containing huge amounts of fairy power just waiting to burst out for incredible damage.

"Manectric, Overheat Steelix, take him down!" Kristopher declared, his M-Manectric sprinting up to the massive snake pokemon, even with the Mr. Mime floating in the air between them, acting as a guard to M-Steelix.

The first to act was M-Manectric, being the fastest of the bunch. The electric dog had approached M-Steelix quite closely, managing to weave past the levitating Mr. Mime with his superior speed and getting right up under the belly of the beast, or at least a few feet away from it. He fired off his second Overheat of the battle, this one significantly weaker than the first but still landing, the small fires shooting out of his back streaking along M-Steelix's underbelly while he was too preoccupied with ensuring his tail was as high up as he could get it to notice the whizzing M-Manectric cozying up to him.

The next move that would have went off would have been M-Gardevoir, who was just a moment of concentration away from firing off her cannonball of fairy energy, Hyper Beam, when out from the treelines, it happened again. For a second time that night, members of the Elite had let their guard down and it once again cost them greatly. Dodrio had popped out from nowhere once more, flown up behind M-Gardevoir with surprising quietness and efficiency, and just in the nick of time to prevent Mr. Mime from likely going down in one hit to the full brunt of M-Gardevoir's special power, a series of sharp jabs of Drill Pecks were brought down upon the back of her green-haired head by three angry bird heads. As M-Gardevoir was quite frail on the physical side, the offensive prowess of Evan's Dodrio brought the psychic/fairy type to her knees instantly, her green hair matted with red, sticky blotches. Her huge pink bubble of energy containing the Hyper Beam had dissipated quite anticlimactically the moment that Dodrio struck her from behind with Drill Peck, with all that amazing fairy energy just fading away into the night air above the roaring campfire like pink smoke.

"Gardy!" Tyra wailed in agony.

Mr. Mime had excellent reflexes and his target switched to M-Manectric instantly, aiming the Dazzling Gleam he had originally intended for M-Gardevoir now on the yellow dog that had zoomed past him and was frying up M-Steelix. The Dazzling Gleam, a pink spiral of fairy energy not as wide-reaching as Hyper Voice or Hyper Beam but certainly more concentrated and easier to aim, was fired at M-Manectric while M-Steelix had also readjusted his Iron Tail to come crashing down not on M-Gardevoir who Dodrio had taken care of with ease, but on the nearby enemy that was the only one getting damage off on it.

"Double Team to dodge all that!" Kristopher said, his voice still as confident as ever, even with the odds stacked so highly against him. Tyra has succumbed to holding onto M-Gardevoir's limp body, as Tyra inspected the scope of the damage the horrible bird had done to her beautiful longtime partner, one of the first pokemon she had ever caught, a Ralts in the route just outside her home town as a little girl that was now a Gardevoir, bleeding profusely from the back of her head and several chunks from the back of her neck missing. The Dodrio had eaten some of the top of her collarbone, zapping the Gardevoir of her mega energy, ending the battle, and killing the poor pokemon all in one go.

M-Manectric managed to create a copy of himself, though one was distinctly more ghost-like and shimmery than the other since M-Manectric was under a lot of duress at the moment. Mr. Mime and M-Steelix wasted no time chasing the clear copy of M-Manetric and instead focused their incoming Iron Tail and Dazzling Gleam on the M-Manectric that resorted to running back toward the center of the clearing, away from such close proximity to the huge steel snake.

"Dodrio, Quick Attack!"

M-Manectric spotted the incoming Dodrio out of the corner of his eye, but even his fantastic reflexes could not save him from being tripped up by the Dodrio crashing right into his right side, knocking the dog off his legs, yelping in surprise, and landing with a bark of pain on his left side. That was all they needed.

The Iron Tail landed right on top of M-Manectric just as the Dazzling Gleam finally reached and struck the dog, hitting him with two moves at once to up the pain factor. M-Steelix had the weight of his entire tail and lower body holding down M-Manectric, and if this was a normal gym battle or league match, now would be the part that he would have to stop due to regulations and the need to abide by the law since it was clear that Kristopher's dog was not getting back up after taking all those hits. But M-Steelix did not stop; instead, he pushed his tail harder and harder into the ground, wanting M-Manectric to resemble a pancake when he was done with him, not satisfying with just knocking this pokemon out.

"You fucking psycho!" Kristopher screamed at Evan, accepting the fact that the Elite had actually lost to some nobody he had never even heard of. "If you think you've won-"

"Mr. Mime, Psychic them until their brains are a mess beyond repair," Evan ordered, and Mr. Mime lifted both hands- one aimed at Tyra who was weeping over her dead partner, the other aimed at Kristopher, who was watching teary-eyed but furious as he could do nothing but watch the fall of the Elite.

Kristopher and Tyra were soon writhing on the floor of the clearing, screaming in pain and clutching at the sides of their heads like there some massive, unearthly loud noise going on inside their brains that they just couldn't get out. Tyra had resorted to scratching and clawing with her long, polished nails at her scalp, ripping out some of her own thick brown hair in clumps as she dragged her nails down her cranium so viciously, drooling and wailing like a mother watching her young son's casket go down into the ground. Evan liked to think that Mr. Mime was giving them a psychic lobotomy of sorts, and chuckled to himself.

Everything was going according to plan. He had finally done what Sir had assured him over and over he could do. The best part about it to Evan was that he hardly even had to try. Were the Elite 4 of Ilragorn really that easy to take down or had he just reached a point even beyond what the Elite themselves were capable of?

Evan strolled back into the foliage and treelines of the jungle in order to grab the large suitcase he had been hiding so that the Elite couldn't decipher anything about his intentions here.

Evan brought the mysterious suitcase back into the clearing with a smug look on his face while Steelix and Dodrio had taken to enjoying the sight of the Elite rolling around on the floor in pain while Mr. Mime hovered over them like a deranged puppet master.

"Alright, Mr. Mime, you're good. They're not getting back up. It's time for the signal." Mr. Mime let up on his mental Psychic attack on the humans, and instead Mr. Mime began levitating straight up into the air, higher and higher, until he reached past even the tallest trees of Fuji Jungle.

Mr. Mime fired off one, two, three Dazzling Gleams into the night air, and they lit up the dark sky like small pink fireworks for the briefest of moments. While normally a few sparks of pink light above some trees in the middle of the jungle miles and miles away from any sign of civilization would go unnoticed, someone did notice it. Someone watching out from the seas, waiting for a very long time for a signal like this. And they began advancing.