Sky Battle
"A Pokémon, even if it is worshipped as a deity, is still only just a Pokémon."
-Ghestis
Bill felt the adrenalin rush through his veins as he rode his dragon into battle with his team by his side. They were going to hunt this fucking bird down and capture it; no one kills one of Bill Brooke's Pokémon and gets away with it. They sped up as they approached the mountain range where Bill last battled Zapdos. This was it, time to see what this so called 'legendary' bird was really made of.
When they reached the spot of Skarmory's demise, however, Zapdos was nowhere to be found. Bill gritted his teeth and contacted his Sigilyph telepathically; Can you sense where it went? He sincerely hoped Sigilyph could; Bill didn't think he could take the disappointment of losing a Zapdos when it was so close to being his.
Sigilyph, fortunately, was able to sense the aura of the beast and found a bearing for which direction it was headed in. The hunt was on. Bill urged his team forward as they began to fly past the mountain range and followed a river out to the ocean. Sigilyph led the hunt, and tried its best to sense the thinning aura of their target.
Within twenty minutes they had caught up with Zapdos. It was about six hundred meters away from Bill and his team and flying over the ocean. Once the target was in sight, the majority of Bill's team sped up to meet it in open battle. Bill and circled the target from overhead on Salamence to get a good vantage point on what was going on. Sigilyph stayed with Bill to project his thoughts to the rest of his team simultaneously.
As soon as Zapdos realized it was being pursued, it let out a loud screech and sent out a Charge Beam at its opponents.
Everyone spread out and avoided the attack, but Zapdos' special attack raised slightly as it prepared for the fight of its life. From above, Bill sent out the mental command, Surround him! I want Flygon and Hydriegon in the front! Talonflame and Aerodactyl take the rear! Gliscor on the left and Dragonite on the right! Take this fucker down!
As Bill's Pokémon took their positions, Zapdos sent a Discharge in all directions. Most off Bill's team dodged the attack; Flygon and Gliscor didn't even bother, but rather attacked with simultaneous Hyperbeams during Zapdos' recovery.
Zapdos was quicker than they anticipated, however, and dived down to avoid both attacks. It soon found itself dodging another Hyperbeam, (Courtesy of Aerodactyl), and had to spin to avoid Dragonite's Ice Beam. Bill was impressed, but was also surprised when his Talonflame struck with Flame Charge. He contacted her mentally and said, Don't waste time with weak physical attacks! Try to burn it with Flamethrower instead!
Zapdos struck Talonflame with a quick Thunderbolt before diving to dodge another Ice Beam. Talonflame let out an earsplitting screech before she started to plummet toward the sea. Bill quickly pulled out her pokeball and recalled her; thankful that she was only knocked out and not dead.
Below him, Zapdos attempted to escape its foes by making a break for it. Bill and his team immediately gave chase, and the bird of thunder was quickly run down by Flygon and Dragonite. Dragonite slammed into Zapdos with Extreme Speed and sent it flying in Flygon's direction. Flygon used Mud Shot at the speeding projectile that was Zapdos, but missed as Zapdos did a quick aerial recovery and flew upwards to avoid the attack. Flygon gave chase just as Dragonite used Ice Beam. What happened next was completely unexpected; Zapdos somehow turned into a bolt of lightning and disappeared behind Dragonite. The Ice Beam struck Flygon and took him out of the battle. Zapdos took advantage of this moment of confusion to use Thunderwave on Dragonite.
Dragonite moaned as he felt his limbs go numb. Aerodactyl, who had just caught up, used Ancient Power to knock Zapdos out of the sky. Zapdos, however, once again turned into a bolt of lightning and flew straight up in the air. Aerodactyl's attack hit Dragonite, sending him downward to the sea. Bill was furious.
Will you idiots quit attacking each other! This is a TEAM effort! Hydriegon, Aerodactyl; go down there and get Dragonite and Flygon! And be quick about it! We have to chase this bloody thing before it gets away!
His Pokémon dived down to retrieve their fallen comrades. Bill gritted his teeth impatiently as he waited for them to grab Dragonite and Flygon from the see when he heard a rumble up above. Dark storm clouds began to gather in what was previously a clear sky. And then he felt it; heavy drops of rain began to pour from the storm clouds. This was not a good sign; legends of Zapdos always said that the Pokémon had the power to create lightning storms. Was this Zapdos using Rain Dance above them to cause a lightning storm?
His hair began to stand on end as the cackle of thunder was heard up above them. This was not good. Aerodactyl and Gliscor returned with their unconscious team mates. Bill quickly recalled his unconscious Pokémon and told Sigilyph, Put me on Aerodactyl's back so Salamence can fight in her stead! Salamence will not be as vulnerable to that bloody thing's electric attacks!
Sigilyph used Telekinesis to lift Bill from his Salamence and placed him on the back of Aerodactyl. A Bolt of lightning came down somewhere in the distance. Bill covered his ears a yelled, "It's starting! Salamence, Gliscor; take that thing out before it kills us all!"
And they took off. Both Pokémon flew high into the clouds. Salamence was slowed down by the amount of electricity in the air, and soon found herself attempting to dodge multiple jolts of electricity that were flying about in the clouds. Gliscor carried on without her; he had nothing to fear from this electricity.
Higher and higher Gliscor flew, ignoring the sting of the rain against his shell and fighting the wind that threatened to carry him off. He knew nothing of this new and powerful foe except that it was able to take out the rest of his team fairly easily. If Gliscor himself took out this Zapdos, then he would be considered the best of all his master's Pokémon! All he had to do was find it.
And there it was. Hovering above the storm clouds, glowing as it sent electricity flying down below. This was Gliscor's chance! Zapdos was unaware of his presence! He flew up behind the beast and used Ice Fang on Zapdos' neck; crunching down as hard as he could as he did so. Zapdos let out a cry of pain and attempted to shock Gliscor, but the attack had no effect. Gliscor repeated his attack and this time bit down on Zapdos' wing, numbing it. Zapdos cried in pain again and again as Gliscor tore at ever opening with his icy fangs. Blood spilled from Zapdos' wounds and fell into the clouds down below. The fact that Zapdos was even able to stay airborne after Gliscor's repeated assaults was a testament to its will power. In desperation, Zapdos used Protect to knock Gliscor off of it and create enough of a standoff distance to use a counter attack. This strategy worked, and Zapdos freed itself and prepared to take out the little pest with the most powerful Hyperbeam it could muster.
It never got the chance. Zapdos was once again struck from behind; this time by a tardy Salamence and her Ice Beam. Salamence put all of her energy into her attack in hopes of ending this fight quickly. She ended it alright; Zapdos was frozen solid and fell from the sky through the storm clouds that it itself had created.
Bill's Pokémon descended with it. Through the clouds that began to disperse, past their waiting master whom showed surprise at the sight of the falling block of ice that was Zapdos. Bill joined his Pokémon in their decent. The rain had stopped, the thunder was no more, and Zapdos was dead before its frozen body had hit the body of water below.
Bill had pulled out an ultra-ball to catch his now frozen foe, but Sigilyph had told him the news; there was no life left in the once legendary bird Pokémon.
Bill looked up at Sigilyph and said angrily, "What do you mean dead?" He angrily threw the ultra-ball anyway. It dropped into the water next to Zapdos' body. Bill's heart sank. He had come so close, he had found a legendary Pokémon. Hell, he even defeated it. But now, now it could never be his.
He felt as though he were about to cry. He turned to Salamence and asked, "I suppose you delivered the final blow, then?"
Salamence nodded, unabashed. Bill nodded to, "Right. You can carry the body then. We need to have it analyzed. We need to find out where it came from. Most importantly, we need to see if we can find any more of them."
XXX
A week after their encounter with Zapdos, Jet found himself once again standing in front of the Light House of Cerulean Cape. He dismounted his bike and entered the building, making his way up the familiar staircase to Bill's study. Bill had made it public that he had chased down and battled Zapdos to the death. His face was on every TV screen and newspaper for the past few days as he had brought the Pokémon's body back as proof.
Bill had kept Jet's name out of the story at his request. AJ, however, had told reporters that Bill wasn't the only one who had chased down Zapdos, causing Jet to once again spend his days dodging reporters. Jet was not happy with AJ for opening his mouth and AJ could give a shit less. Apparently he was still pissed that Jet not only killed his Pincer in battle, but left him behind at the Power Plant to chase after Zapdos. After a heated argument a few days prior, both boys were almost at blows. Now they weren't speaking, and jet didn't mind that one bit.
He had not seen much of Bill for the past seven days as Bill had been doing nothing but telling reporters all about how he chased Zapdos down with his dragon Pokémon and had a sky battle in the middle of a lightning storm. Today, however, Bill requested Jet come to his light house with the promise that there would be no press there. And so here he was, knocking on the door to Bill's study.
"Come in, mate!"
Jet walked in and found Bill talking to a familiar looking pretty brunette. "Ah Jethro, right on time! This is Alexa, a friend of mine."
Alexa looked at Jet and smiled as she held out her hand, "We've met before. At the Beauty Contest, remember?"
Jet frowned as he shook her hand, "The reporter in the green dress." Jet gave Bill a dark look after shaking Alexa's hand.
"Alexa, love," Bill called to the brunette, "See you on Thursday."
Alexa nodded at Bill and said, "Looking forward to it!" She then turned to Jet and asked, "I get the feeling that you don't like me very much, do you?"
Bill laughed, "Jethro doesn't mean anything by it, love! He's just shy around reporters is all!"
Jet gave Alexa a half-hearted smile and said, "Nothing personal."
Alexa rolled her eyes and said, "If you say so," before opening the door, "but you'll catch more flies with honey then you would with vinegar, you know!" And then she left.
Bill grinned as she shut the door behind her, "She's something special, that one! Great rack!"
Jet found himself a seat and asked, "She one of yours?"
Bill chuckled, "I wish, mate! She doesn't seem to be the type. Ah well, have you heard from your old boss? Oak?"
Jet nodded and replied, "They finished the autopsy on Zapdos. He says it's too early to tell exactly where Zapdos came from though. If you ask me though, I think it's nomadic. I mean, don't all the legends say Zapdos spends its days in storm clouds causing lightning storms?"
Bill scratched his nose and said, "That they do. It has to have an origin? I mean, it's not as if thunder just struck and Zapdos was born from nothing!"
Jet leaned in and asked, "You said it turned into lightning? How did it look? I mean, I've never seen anything like that before!"
Bill shook his head and said, "Neither have I. Although, Vaporeon have the ability to essentially melt themselves for short periods of time. It may work similar to that ability."
Jet thought about this. A Pokémon that could turn itself into pure electricity as a defense mechanism; such a power would be invaluable in a Pokémon battle. Jet wouldn't even know where to begin to teach such a maneuver, however. He doubted such a thing could even be taught.
"The question is," Bill began, "If Zapdos exists, what other legends are out there? I know that Noland bloke from Hoenn captured an Articuno twelve years ago, but he was never able to find out where it came from. That is to say, if he did he certainly hasn't made such a thing public knowledge. But that's two legendary birds found in the past two decades! There must be more, I just need a place to start."
Jet smirked, "We just found something that human has seen in over fifty years, I truly doubt we'd find another."
Bill said nothing, but leaned back in his chair in a ponderous state. "What about Mt. Ember?"
Jet looked up and laughed, "What about it?"
"Don't tell me you haven't heard the legend, Jethro!"
Mt. Ember was an active volcano somewhere in the Rainbow Islands. What was unique about said volcano, is the rumors that had started thirty years prior of a Moltres being spotted during an eruption. It is said that this Moltres lives deep within the volcano, and if one could draw it out than they could potentially catch it.
"It's not so much a legend as it is a rumor!" Jet laughed.
"Ah, but a rumor worth looking into!" Bill retorted.
Jet shook his head and replied, "Ok. Say a Moltres did actually live in Mt. Ember; how in the hell would you draw it out? Never mind trying to catch something so dangerous in an environment so deadly without killing it like you did with Zapdos?"
Bill smiled and said, "There's the rub, isn't it? How to catch it? And I have a solution!"
"I'd love to hear this one!"
"Masterball." Bill stated.
"'Scuse me?"
Bill stood up and said, "You know Silph Co, right? The company that makes capsules and what not?"
Jet nodded, "What about it?"
Bill started pacing, "As we speak, they are in the process of creating the ultimate Pokémon capsule device!"
"The 'masterball'?"
Bill nodded, "It is supposed to be able to capture any Pokémon, no matter how powerful, without fail!"
Jet rolled his eyes. A Pokeball above all others. Every few years someone tries to make one. No one has been able to effectively invent one as of yet.
"And you think they'll get it to work?"
Bill nodded, "I've got friends in the company that tell me the development process has been going excellent. They expect to start selling the prototypes soon at a price tag of one million apiece."
Jet stretched out in his chair and said, "So let me get this straight. You want to buy a million dollar pokeball, which by the way probably isn't even going to work as advertised, go into a volcano and draw out a legendary bird, and then try to capture said bird with a prototype masterball?"
Bill laughed and said, "Why so skeptical, mate? I figured you'd be all for hunting down a legendary Pokémon! Aren't you the one who once jumped off the back of a Dragonite into a freezing waters to get your Gyarados?"
Jet shook his head in amusement. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying, Bill; try not to get your hopes up too high on this one. That's all."
Bill stopped pacing and gave Jet a kind smile. "I appreciate the concern, mate, but I've got this covered. Anyway, the reason I called you here is not to discuss Moltres or the Masterball."
Jet leaned back in his seat and asked, "What, got a job for me?"
Bill walked back over to his desk and pulled out a small box. He then handed the box to Jet and said, "A little thank you present! You saved my life in those mountains the other day. These won't exactly make us even, but it is the least I can do."
Curious, Jet opened the box to find three Luxury balls inside. The hue on the button of said balls was blue, suggesting that the balls were occupied. Jet was about to ask Bill what was in the Luxury Balls, but Bill answered him before the question left his lips:
"Three Eevee. Two male, and one female. All three free of charge. They were just born a couple of days ago so they're not ready to do any fighting, but that's how you prefer it, is it not? To train them yourself?"
Jet was speechless. Eevee was one of Jet's favorite Pokémon in the world. To get three, (one of which was a rare female) free of charge like this was one of the best presents he had ever gotten in his life! Aside from when he received Thorn, that is.
"Bill, I-"
"Don't worry about it, mate! I have plenty of Eevee to breed with. You deserve those Pokémon. I assume, of course, you need no lesson on how to raise an Eevee?"
Jet grinned, "I think I can handle them!"
Bill grinned as well, "Excellent! Now these have all been bred with a special Munna and as such can all use the move Syncronoise. All other attacks you'll have to teach them on your own I'm afraid; that was the only attack that seemed to carry over from their parents."
Jet stood up and said, "I really can't thank you enough, Bill!"
Bill made a gesture as though he were waving Jet's thanks away, "Really, mate. Don't mention it! Just do me a favor; when you return home to talk to Oak, make sure you give me an update on his study on Zapdos."
Jet nodded, "Yeah, of course!"
A half hour later, Jet was leaving the light house in high spirits. He had pictured buying his own Eevee from Bill one day, but never imagined that he'd own a female Eevee. Potentially, he could bread her and evolve a whole family of Eevee with different types for different battles! Of course, it would not be easy. Eevee usually evolved according to their environment and the conditions it's under. Without evolution stones, evolving his Eevee could be a tedious task indeed. Still, he looked forward to the challenge.
Author's Notes:
When I first wrote in that brunette reporter at the end of chapter 54, I planned on her being an original recurring character. When X and Y announced Alexa,(a reporter that not only fit my reporter's description but was also a globe-trotting Pokémon journalist) the opportunity was waaay too good to pass up. You probably won't see a lot of Alexa until Jet's career get's a little bigger, but I'm introducing her now, Goddamnit!
Is it because she's hot? Yes. Because her job is cool? Yes! Because I want to write in a battle with her Gogoat and Helioptile at some point? Fuck yeah!
Anyways, let me know what you guys think of the new chapter!
