I FINALLY FIXED THE CHAPTER TITLES!
Diancie aren't fast Pokemon. Well, they can be fast, but they can't be quick, and there is a huge difference between the two. A fast Pokemon can reach high speeds eventually, but a quick Pokemon can reach their highest speeds fast. So even with the boost Diancie received from her Mega-Evolution -which was admittedly rather large- she could never be quick. So when the Spacial Rend that Palkia had been charging shot towards Ash, she was not able to react fast enough to position herself in front of him.
But the electric mouse Pokemon sitting on Ash's shoulder was.
With a blinding speed fueled by Pikachu's outrage at Cyrus daring to attack his trainer, Pikachu catapulted off of Ash's shoulder and into the air in front of him while producing the single largest Thunder attack that Ash had ever seen - and he had seen Thunders from the likes of Raikou and Zekrom. The attack ripped through the Spacial Rend and nailed Palkia with devastating force, knocking the legendary through the air about twenty feet. Then Pikachu, landed, cheeks sparking violently, a low growl emitting from his throat.
It was the angriest Ash had ever seen Pikachu. Without so much as a word from Ash Pikachu barreled forwards, body sparking in the telltale sign of a Volt Tackle.
"Palkia, stop it with a Dragon Claw." Cyrus commanded, but Pikachu wasn't having any part of it. Instead of being stopped by the Dragon Claw, Pikachu overpowered the attack and slammed into Palkia, knocking the legendary over the side of the mountain.
-Ash promptly launched a Master Ball over the cliff-
Unfortunately for Cyrus, the replica Red Chain that he was using was nowhere near as good as the original, and it had a specific range that it could work in. So when Pikachu knocked Palkia off the mountain, Palkia fell just enough to escape that range. Needless to say, the Palkia was pissed.
And, after Misty and Alain took care of the Lake Trio who were powering the chain, the replica shattered with a distinct snap, releasing Palkia from any control that Cyrus would've had over it had it come back into the range.
Had Cyrus not tried to attack him, Ash would've let Palkia take care of the crime-lord. However, that wasn't going to be the case after Cyrus' attempt at his life. So with that in mind, Ash put his hand in front of his mouth and mumbled something quietly to Hoopa, knowing that she'd be able to hear him with Arceus' help.
Sure enough, not five seconds later a massive portal opened up above everyone's heads and out came Dialga, eyes narrowed in contempt.
"Oh, I've heard all about you from my brother. Using the Lake Trio to control him and Palkia? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Dialga didn't even wait for a response from Cyrus - not that there would be one, the crime-lord was practically shaking in his boots- before he started to charge up his Roar of Time.
And then the attack dissipated.
"Ash, Mega Evolve me." Dialga requested.
Ash nervously cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, you see, now that we're back in League territory I can't Mega Evolve more than one Pokemon at a time," Ash gestured over to Diancie, "And I've already used that one."
"Drat. Ahem. Cyrus! I now sentence you to an eternity in the Distortion World!"
Nothing happened.
"Ha. Just kidding, I can't do that. But I can sentence you to an eternity in the nothingness of Time!"
And with that, Dialga unleashed his Roar of Time.
"Hey Pikachu, I've been thinking." Ash looked at the starter that was perched on his shoulder.
"Pi?" Pikachu asked.
"So you know how we've been skipping all the major legendaries in every island?"
"Pi-ka..." Came the more reluctant reply.
"Well, I think that it is about time that we hit those up, whadya say?"
"Chu!"
"Rayquaza, Kuyrem, Yvetal, Xerneas," Ash started counting the names off on his fingers. "And Dialga... Huh." Ash said, frowning.
"I could've sworn that there were more than five, but no matter! Now, who do I choose...?"
"Kachu!"
"...No, I don't think that I'll use you."
"Ka-pi?!" His starter replied, cheeks sparking violently.
"Whoa, buddy!" Ash recovered, arms waving wildly in the air, "Its just that the only Pokemon that you really have an advantage over are Yvetal and Rayquaza; your advantage over Rayquaza if iffy and I was going to use Walrien for Yvetal."
"Ka."
"Alright," Ash said, addressing his massive amount of Pokemon, "For Dialga, I have chosen Torterra!" The crowd parted to let the massive sauropod through as he walked to Ash's side, head held high.
"For Kuyrem...!" Ash started, "I choose Torkoal!" The crowd parted around Ash's slowest fire-type, allowing him the space to leisurely meander his way to Ash, where he promptly laid down with a satisfied "Tork."
"For Rayquaza, I choose... Charizard!" This match-up was simply too good for Ash to pass up. Charizard didn't have any advantage - even his X-Mega was offset by Rayquaza, but Ash would be dammed if he didn't let Charizard try.
For Yvetal, I'm going to have to go with Walrien!" Ash called, beaming over at the Walrus Pokemon, who proceeded to...
'Is he rolling towards me?'
"Xerneas! Tentacruel!" And with that all the water around the north side of Ash's Home Island was displaced as the skyscraper-tall Tentacruel emerged from the sea.
"Cruel!" Came the deafening response.
Freeze Island was Ash's first stop. After arriving via Metagross, Ash quickly pulled out the tool that he would be using to locate Kuyrem - a thermometer. Ash figured that he'd just walk around the island until he found somewhere that was colder than the rest of the island, so with that in mind he started his trek.
...Two hours later found Ash sitting next to a snowbank to let his legs rest. He had finally realized one big, glaring problem with his his strategy - Kuyrem was almost certainly in a cave. So that left him two options. Option one was to find Candice and see if she knew where Kuyrem was, but he doubted she did because the third of the Tao trio was probably pretty well hidden. Option two was to call in Zekrom, and see if he could feel out where Kuyrem was.
Ash being Ash, of course opted for the second option. Quickly calling Hoopa, Ash asked her to send over Zekrom. The portal pokemon quickly complied, sending over Zekrom's Ultra Ball in a flash. The portal dropped Zekrom's Ultra Ball on the ground, causing it to open and reveal the electric-type legendary in all of his glory. The member of the Tao Trio opened his maw and was bellowed a challenge to all of the puny - in Zekrom's view- ice types and Ash could practically feel the eyes of every Pokemon in the surrounding area lock onto him.
'Note to self. Keep Zekrom away from Charizard from now on,' Ash thought.
Unsurprisingly, most of the ice types either fled or hid after gazing upon the legendary, understanding that if the electric-type wanted to, he could knock them out without expending any effort.
However, after a few minutes of stunned silence, an earsplitting roar reverberated throughout the island, startling Ash. Zekrom's head snapped upwards from the ground where he had been glaring at a shaking Spheal (who took the opportunity to roll away) and locked onto a piece of ground about a hundred meters away.
"Ash, that's Kuy-"
And then the ground exploded. Chunks of dirt and ice - even a couple of trees- went flying from where Zekrom had been staring. When the resulting cloud of dust settled, Ash saw the beast that he had come to the island seeking.
Kuyrem had appeared.
Wasting no time, Ash grabbed Torkoal's Pokeball and lobbed into the ice.
"Alright Torkoal, don't underestimate Kuyrem just because he's part ice. He's a dragon too, you know." Once he got a nod from Torkoal he was about to start the battle when Kuyrem unleashed a huge Blizzard that shot over the terrain, destroying the already broken ground even more.
Thinking quickly, Ash yelled, "Torkoal! Counter than with a Heat Wave! Follow it up with an Iron Defense!"
The fire-turtle complied, expelling a massive Heat Wave from his body before retreating into his shell which Ash could just barely see took on a silvery gleam through the colliding attacks. Once the dust settled from the initial clash, Ash was shocked to see Kuyrem flying fast towards Torkoal, icy wing charged up in what looked to be a Slash attack.
"Quickly Torkoal retreat into your shell!" Ash exclaimed, astounded by the aerial speed that Kuyrem possessed. Torkoal barely managed to withdraw into his shell before Kuyrem's attack struck home, sending Torkoal a couple inches into the earth but doing fairly minor damage.
"Torkoal, he's close! Use Lava Plume!"
Kuyrem had just started charging up a Dragon Claw when all of Torkoal's spots lit up in a furious red before spewing lava into Kuyrem, which the legendary reacted to by thrusting itself backwards with a flap of its wings. After a couple of seconds however, Ash could see the telltale fire dancing across the legendary's body.
Kuyrem had been burned.
"Torkoal, on my mark use Infreno!" The turtle nodded, charging up the devastating Fire attack in his mouth but waiting for Ash's signal. Ash waited until he saw Kuyrem flinch from the burn before he screamed "Now!"
With that, Torkoal unleashed the Inferno. The attack hit Kuyrem dead-on and actually forced him to one knee. Ash could tell that Kuyrem was nearing its last legs. The legendary had burn marks just about everywhere from the two powerful fire attacks, and was visibly panting.
However, Torkoal wasn't faring much better. The remnants of the original Blizzard, the Slash attack that apparently did more damage than Ash had thought, and the exhaustion from unleashing two extremely powerful attacks had gotten to him and the turtle was near his halfway point.
'That's one thing I'll have to train them all better on - attacking without becoming tired.' Ash thought, already planning how he could do that.
Kuyrem snapped him out of his thoughts however by unleashing another massive Blizzard.
"Ah! Torkoal, retreat into your shell and use Iron Defense! You'll save up some energy and it'll be warmer in there."
Torkoal nodded, legs, head and tail retreating back into his shell before it took on a metallic gleam, protecting him from the brunt of Kuyrem's attack. True to Ash's words, when Torkoal emerged Ash could tell that Blizzard had barely done any damage to Torkoal after he hid in his shell.
"Alright, it's time to end this!" Ash proclaimed. "Use a Smokescreen on Kuyrem and follow it up with a Rapid Spin!"
Within seconds, Torkoal catapulted a ball of inky substance at Kuyrem's face, where it exploded into a smoky cloud obscuring Kuyrem's vision. Not thinking much of it, Kuyrem flapped its wings once to get rid of the cloud but was so shocked by the turtle-shell flying at his face that he didn't react fast enough, and Torkoal's Rapid Spin sent Kuyrem flying across the clearing, where he did not get up.
"Good job Torkoal. Alright Pokeball, let's GO!" Ash exclaimed, hurling the Pokeball at Kuyrem.
The ball opened and scarlet light consumed Kuyrem until suddenly... Kuyrem escaped.
"What?" Ash gasped.
"Do you... Really think..." Kuyrem stopped to catch its breath, "That I will be defeated... THAT EASILY?!" Kuyrem roared, flaring its icy aura in defiance.
"That's fine, right buddy?" Ash looked down at Torkoal.
"Koal Torkoal!" His fire-type agreed.
"Alright then, use Smog!" Ash yelled.
The cloud of poisonous gas drifted over to where Kuyrem stood and wrapped around its face, poisoning it.
'Perfect,' Ash thought, 'Now not only is it burned, but poisoned as well! Let's just wait this out now.'
However...
"Torkoal, just to be sure... Use a Fire Spin!" Ash told his turtle Pokemon. Ash waited until the fire had consumed the legendary before chucking another Pokeball - this time an Ultra Ball- at the downed beast.
It shook once...
Twice...
Three times...
And then exploded in a shower of metal bits, unleashing Kuyrem back into the fray once more, where the legendary promptly used Blizzard.
"Dang it! Torkoal, Heat Wave to counter!" Ash yelled. Torkoal sent out a Heat Wave which was immediately countered by Kuyrem's Blizzard.
Suddenly Kuyrem took to the skies and fired an Ice Beam.
"Dodge!" Ash commanded, but Torkoal was too slow and the Ice Beam smashed into him.
"No! Torkoal, use Lava Plume!" Ash shouted.
Torkoal's Lava Plume hit Kuyrem as he was descending, coating the already burned and poisoned legendary in fire once more.
That had to be the end of it.
"Master Ball, for the last time, GO!" Ash exclaimed, not wanting to screw around any longer. He did, after all, have other legendaries to visit and - hopefully- capture today, after all.
Ash looked back at the Master Ball just as it dinged, signifying the addition of another legendary to Ash's team. He walked over, Torkoal at his side, and picked up the Master Ball that now housed Kuyrem.
Ash let out a sigh of relief, sweaty hands holding up the Master Ball that now held Kuyrem in front of his face. Slowly, an earsplitting grin grew on Ash's features.
"Pikachu?"
"Pi?"
"I caught... A Kuyrem!" Ash yelled, left arm thrusting the Master Ball high into the air while Pikachu flashed his peace sign from his right shoulder.
"Pi-kachu!"
"Tor-koal!" His triumphant battler added.
The grin on his starter's face was the last thing Ash saw before getting warped off the island courtesy of Hoopa.
...Well, that and Candice flying towards him on her Articuno.
"GOD DAMN IT, AS-"
"Pikachu, how the hell does Darkness Island have a moon that big? Actually, scratch that, how is there a moon at all?! Its noon!"
Pikachu just shook his head, shrugging.
Ash followed suit, shaking his head to snap him out of it.
"Whatever, that's irrelevant. What matters is finding Yvetal and capturing him." Ash said, pumping his fist in determination.
'Darn, though. I don't have Xerneas yet to track Yvetal down. He could be anywhere in this Arceus-forsaken darkness!' Ash thought.
And then it hit him and he felt stupid for not thinking of it before.
'But I have two Zygarde. Dang it Ash!' Ash mentally berated himself. 'You've gotta remember these things!'
With that in mind, Ash called again for Hoopa to send his two legendaries over. She complied, dropping the two Pokeballs onto the ground where they snapped open with a burst of scarlet light. The two serpentine legendaries glanced at each other then at Ash, tilting their heads sideways in a pose that Ash assumed was inquiry.
Taking that as his cue, Ash explained.
"Welp, basically all you guys need to do is locate Yvetal. You guys can sense him, right?" Ash asked, cocking an eyebrow at the duo before he received two firm nods in reply.
"Great. After you find him, we'll let Walrien do the rest, eh?"
It took the two Order Legendaries exactly twelve minutes to find the darkest member of their trio, which was exactly ten minutes longer than it took Zekrom, but Ash didn't blame them. After all, the island was shrouded in perpetual darkness and fog, save for the rocky hilltops where you could see the massive moon in all of its glory.
Which really was weird, considering how they were in a different dimension and all, one that had only one planet.
...Actually, how were there stars either?
A cry of challenge from one of the nearby hilltops snapped Ash out of his musing. Recognizing the voice as his shiny Zygarde's, Ash sprinted up to the top of the hill where he found his shiny Zygarde facing down Yvetal. Quickly recalling both him and his other Zygarde who was standing a couple meters to the side, Ash ignored the mad squawk from Yvetal and released Walrien. Wasting no time, Ash decided to start the battle.
"Hail! Let's do this!"
Walrien roared before launching a sphere of ice into the air high above the battlefield. Nothing happened for a couple seconds, but then fairly large chunks of ice fell from the sky, freezing the rock where they landed. Quite a few hit Yvetal with mild yet super-effective force where the dark-type had not yet ascended to the skies. Ash saw this and decided to press further.
"Toxic! Lets set Yvetal a time limit!"
Walrien clapped his front flippers together before spitting a glob of poison from his mouth. The poison sailed though the air before it hit Yvetal, doing no damage but badly poisoning the legendary. This finally shocked Yvetal into taking off. Yvetal shot into the air, wincing slightly as the poison coursed through his veins, and let out an enraged cry before coating his claws in blue energy before charging downwards at Walrien.
Thinking quickly, Ash yelled for a Double Team, and Walrien complied, making multiple copies of himself around the icy hilltop and effectively confusing Yvetal enough to crash talon-first into the hill, dislodging both rock and ice around him, The legendary let out another squawk as both the Toxic and the Hail hit, adding to the damage he received from crashing into the rock and ice - both of which had super-effective properties against the now-enraged legendary.
Squawking, Yvetal unleashed a massive Dark Aura-enhanced Dark Pulse in a circle from his body, hitting Walrien and dispersing all of the Double Teams. Now that he had a target, Yvetal launched himself forward, body glowing with the power of a Dragon Rush, and slammed into Walrien before Ash could say anything, dealing heavy damage on the bulky ice-type.
Ash frowned, seeing as his strategy of simply stalling until Toxic and Hail forced Yvetal into unconsciousness wasn't going to work since the bird could deal that much damage in just two hits.
Ash's frown grew deeper as he tried to formulate a plan, but nothing came to him.
"Walrien! Slide left!" Ash called, seeing Yvetal try to charge Walrien again with a Giga Impact. The Ice Break Pokemon complied, using the ice to his advantage as he slid left and out of the reach of Yvetal's devastating attack, forcing the legendary to sail past him. When the legendary regained his composure, he let out an earsplitting cry.
And then he decided to destroy Walrien's maneuverability. The legendary shot a watery orb into the sky, which ascended about twenty meters before exploding. Suddenly, the hail became rain as the Rain Dance was activated. Quickly, the ice that granted Walrien the ability to move and dodge became slush, something that the Ice Break Pokemon greeted with a low moan of discontent. Walrien gave an unhappy slap of his front flippers before launching another Hail, but Yvetal would have nothing to do with that.
While the icy sphere was still ascending, Yvetal launched a Focus Blast at it. It connected right before the sphere exploded, sending the ice inside flying every which way.
Fortunately, some of the ice hit Yvetal, damaging the legendary who was already on his last legs even more, pushing him that much closer to defeat.
Unfortunately, however, Yvetal's tactic worked - it was still raining.
And then, finally, something clicked inside of Ash's mind.
He had a plan.
"Walrien! Earthquake!"
Walrien complied, slapping his flippers against the ground, sending shock waves through the earth. The attack broke up the ground, forcing chunks of the ground to stick up at odd angles. This created jagged spires of semi-icy rock that stood at twice the height of Walrien. If Yvetal wanted to attack, he would have to get through those first.
However, it seemed that the legendary was going to try. Yvetal's wings became shrouded in darkness before he shot through the air down at Walrien.
Oblivion Wing.
This was it. The final clash in an epic battle. Ash knew it, Walrien knew it, and Yvetal knew it as well, so everyone was going to put their all into this final attack.
"Walrien! Hyper Beam!"
Just as Walrien shot off the devastating attack, Yvetal crashed into Walrien and the icy rocks surrounding him. The collision created one of the biggest explosions Ash had ever seen, and it forced him to grip both Pikachu and his hat against his body and turn away from the light and dust.
When everything finally settled, it took Ash a couple minutes for his eyes to adjust to the total darkness. However, once they finally did, Ash saw something that almost made his heart burst from his chest in pride.
For standing over Yvetal, front flippers resting on the body of the legendary, was a panting, nearly-unconscious Walrien. The ice-type gave one happy, triumphant bark once he locked eyes with his trainer before being recalled, Ash murmuring praise to his Pokeball.
Turning to Yvetal, Ash wasted no time in lobbing a Master Ball at the downed legendary, hitting him in the flank and capturing him.
"Damn Ash." A voice came from behind him. Ash whipped around to see Mark riding his Mandibuzz a couple meters over the edge of the hill. The dark-specialist's eyes were wide as he surveyed the damage that the battle caused to the hilltop. Turning around, Ash scratched his head sheepishly. It was still pouring rain, rock and ice were sticking up in large quantities all across the hilltop, there were craters everywhere, and everything looked to be on the verge of collapse.
"Are all of your battles this intense?" Mark asked, genuinely wondering if he needed to build a support structure for the entire island.
"Well, not all of them are this crazy, but I've had my fair share of insane battles." Ash replied, "How much of the battle did you see?"
"All of it," Mark easily responded, "I saw your Zygarde facing down Yvetal - they both look amazing, by the way- and I was about to intervene when I saw you recall them. At that point I hopped on Mandibuzz here and flew a fair bit off so I could watch the inevitable bout. And I think I speak for the both of us when I say that I was awestruck." He patted Mandibuzz on her head.
"Dibuzz!" His avian agreed.
"In case you're wondering, my house is right over there," Mark said, pointing to a cozy-looking manor on a higher hill nearby, "So that's how I saw them in the first place."
"Hey Dialga, before we commence the battle that has the very real chance of decimating this entire island, I just have one question that's been nagging at me for the last couple days." Ash said, looking up from where Torterra was standing over to the massive Dragon/Steel-type.
"Oh?" Dialga responded, rising from the battle stance that he had taken. "Fire away."
"Thanks. Well, you know how we battled Cyrus the other day?" Ash asked.
"Yes," Dialga replied, somewhat guessing where Ash was going.
"Didn't he succeed in getting to an alternate universe?"
"Affirmative" Dialga smiled, now knowing exactly what Ash was going to ask.
"So how did he get back?"
"Ha!" Dialga laughed, "Palkia and I weren't going to let that crap fly! We dragged his ass back not ten minutes after he left! Dumped him in Orre and let him find his way back."
Ash recoiled, trying to process that. Eventually he shook his head and the fire returned to his eyes.
"Huh, that's about the last thing I expected. Nevertheless, let's start this show! Torterra! Earthquake!" Rearing up, the Sinnoh starter slammed his front legs on the ground, sending a shock wave towards Dialga that the legendary deftly jumped over.
Still midair, Dialga unleashed a Flash Cannon, hitting Torterra in the flank and dealing minor damage.
"Earth Power!"
When Dialga landed, he was greeted by the earth opening up and spewing lava in his face. With a groan, the heavy steel-type shook the attack off, powering up an Ice Beam before firing it at Torterra.
"Protect!" Ash yelled. Barely a second after he yelled that, Torterra was covered by a blue dome that nullified the effects of the Ice Beam.
"Lets change the environment to our advantage! Use Sandstorm!" Ash was fully aware that the move wouldn't damage the partial steel-type, but Ash was willing to bet that Dialga didn't train for this exact condition like Torterra did. So while Dialga would be blind, Torterra could, and would, locate Dialga and attack.
"Torterra, knock him around with Earthquake!" Like he did to start the battle, Torterra slammed his front legs into the ground, breaking up the earth around Dialga and dealing super-effective damage.
However, Dialga had a few tricks of his own. Immediately after the Earthquake, a Blizzard came flying through the sandstorm, nailing Torterra. Torterra groaned in pain yet was still able to dodge the subsequent Ice Beam that Dialga fired from inside the storm.
"Torterra," Ash called, "Find him and use another Earth Power!"
Torterra nodded, then spent a couple of seconds peering through the sandstorm until his eyes locked onto something that Ash couldn't see. Without warning, Torterra unleashed the Earth Power into the storm. Ash wasn't sure if it had connected until a few moments later when he heard Dialga roar and a Flamethrower came sailing from the storm.
"Light Screen!" Torterra reacted quickly, creating a pink screen that blocked the Flamethrower.
And then the Sandstorm dissipated and Dialga locked eyes with Torterra.
For a few minutes, no one moved, so Ash took the time to assess Dialga. Ash could see the dents in the armor where Torterra's Earthquakes and Earth Powers hit, and he could tell that Dialga was nearing his limit.
Finally, Dialga charged, whole body glowing with the blue and red energy of Outrage.
This was the last clash between the two titans, so Ash decided to treat it accordingly.
"Superpower!"
The resulting explosion brought down the entire cavern that the battlefield was in.
...Or, at least it would've, if not for the fast reactions of the many Steel-Type spectators who had been surprisingly quiet up until this point. Flashing them a quick thumbs-up and a smile as they worked on repairing the cavern, Ash turned his attention to the settling dust.
Torterra and Dialga were laying side-by-side, both unconscious.
The sight was enough to make the steel-types stop working for a second and gasp.
However, the gasp got louder very quickly when everyone saw Torterra rise upon shaking legs and bellow his name in triumph.
"TORTERRA!"
Ash smiled, lobbing a Master Ball at Dialga, who wasn't going to get back up any time soon. When the ball returned to his hand, he took one look at Pikachu before jumping into his victory pose and yelling,
"Alright! I caught... Dialga!"
"Pi-kachu!"
"Terra!"
It was weird, Ash decided; having the Pokemon he considered to be a mentor for his time on the islands in the palm of his hand.
"Pikachu, do you have any idea where we could find Rayquaza?" Ash asked his starter. The duo was walking around Draco Island, where they had been searching - with no avail- for Rayquaza for the last hour or so. Finally, though, it seemed that luck was on Ash's side.
"Alain! How are you?"
The dragon specialist looked over from where he was training his Charizard and smiled.
"I'm doing great, actually! I caught a Sceptile, Garchomp, Altaria, and a Salamence! I'm searching for the Eon duo now. Eventually, I'll go after Rayquaza, but not until I'm much stronger..." Alain trailed off, a wistful look on his features as he stared off into the sky.
Suddenly, he snapped back into focus.
"But we'll get there, right Charizard?"
"Char-izard!" His starter agreed.
However, Ash hadn't heard the last bit, as he zoned out at the mention of Rayquaza.
'Does he know? ...What am I thinking, of course he does! It's his island.'
"Hey Alain," Ash started, "You mentioned Rayquaza. Does that mean that you know where I can find him?"
"Well, I can't say for certain," Alain said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "But I think that he is in that tower of clouds up there."
Sure enough, when Ash looked up, he had to do a double take.
"Is that hovering there all the time?" Ash asked.
"No," Alain replied, looking with Ash at the massive pillar of clouds above the island, "It comes and goes at random." Then Alain seemed to think of something.
"-Wait. Does that mean that you're challenging Rayquaza?" He asked, turning to look at Ash, but the raven-haired trainer was already gone, now nothing but a speck in the sky for Alain.
"Charizard! Let's follow him. This is not something that I want to miss."
As soon as he could, Ash had released Latios and shot like a bullet into the sky towards the sky tower. He decided to skip the entrance near the bottom, instead opting to fly on Latios to the very top of the pillar.
Well, Alain's little hunch was correct.
On a side note, Rayquaza was huge.
Quickly dropping down from Latios just a couple feet away from Rayquaza, Ash respectfully bowed before rising to address the lord of the skies.
"Rayquaza, as you probably know, I am here to challenge you. Just a one-on-one battle for the right to capture you. Is this acceptable?"
To Ash's great surprise, Rayquaza chuckled.
"Ash, there is no need to be formal with me. Yes, that sounds great, but do you really think just one of your Pokemon can best me?" Rayquaza challenged.
"Well, if he doesn't it'll be one hell of a fight. Charizard, I choose you!"
CLIFFHANGER! Sorta... Alright not really, but hey, that seemed like a good place to end it.
Anyways, thanks a bazillion to LaprasIzLife for writing the brilliant battle between Kuyrem and Torkoal! I appreciate you.
Charizard and the Giant Tentacruel will both appear in the next chapter. Don't worry :)
And now... REVIEWS (since I haven't done that in a while)
thedoctorjohnny: And a happy new year! Also, do you realize that no one can type your true username into a chapter? The period fucks everything up :)
kasp7755: Thanks. Happy New Year to you too. May you not fail too many of your resolutions :)
The Creator: Holy shit that was a drawn-out battle between two stick figures. Anyway, its all good. And yes, yes I have been playing me some Super Mystery Dungeon, though, in my humble opinion, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Red Rescue Team is the best damn game that has ever graced this earth with its presence. :) And as for Zero showing up again, no problem. I'm going to try to give the islanders more screen time, though I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do that before the Hoopa League is actually created back near Kanto.
Just as a side note, do you guys realize how damn frustrating it is to spellcheck a Pokemon fanfic? The Pokemon names just fuck everything up man.
And with a kiss, I die!
Or something like that.