Leo couldn't shake his uneasiness. As they flew over the land, Leo found himself thinking about what Victini said.
Beware of Arceus' agents...
Leo scanned the surroundings warily, keeping a close eye out for incoming threats. His nerves were on edge and he couldn't sit still. He could see that the others were tense too, especially Sarah. He saw an unusually unsure look on her face. For a moment, she even looked like she might cry. He could see that Amber wasn't being nearly as tough as Sarah, and she was covering her face miserably. Shawn kept petting Serious and glancing around anxiously. Even the usually calm Gloria was obviously disturbed, and she seemed to have resorted to talking to the Houndark. Leo sighed and shook his head. Who was he kidding? He was at a loss himself. Chikosu looked up at him, droning at Leo, and he smiled at the dragon. It was almost as if he was trying to comfort him. He scratched the Flygon between his head-tufts, and earned a contented buzz from the dragon, and a jealous glare from his Growlithe.
"Sarah?" Shawn flew closer to Sarah, leaning over at her, "Hey?"
That tearful look vanished in a moment. "Yes, Shawn?" She grinned at him, and Leo could tell she was hiding behind her smile.
"Are you okay? You look a bit out of it."
Her brother was clearly trying to be casual, but Sarah was evasive with him. "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."
"Really. You were about to cry just now. Is it about what Victini said?"
Sarah flew higher with Zentra, deliberately hiding from him. "I said I'm fine. Leave it."
Liar. She was a pretty good actor though, and Leo had to give her credit for it. He returned his gaze to the region ahead. Just then, Leo noticed storm clouds gathering on the horizon. He made a mental note to fly carefully. Leo realized just then that the clouds were rolling in fast.
Way too fast.
"We gotta drop altitude!" Sarah shouted, "This is looking like it might start raining."
"The rain's not the problem..." Gloria was staring up at the darkening sky. Leo followed her gaze and gasped in shock. He saw the form of a large, bird-like shape hidden in the gathering clouds. As the clouds thickened, the shape suddenly drew back its wings and dove down, screeching. Leo barely had the time to realize that it was going to hit him before the great bird slammed into him and Chikosu. Chikosu took the brunt of the hit, but Leo still had to cling onto the dragon's neck to avoid falling off. He shook his head, straining to see through the increasingly powerful winds. What he did see surprised him. It was a large, green bird with a blue pattern on its breast and along its flight-feathers. Its long, violet tail was lashing in the sky, whipping up a froth of clouds and wind behind it. The Pokémon's proud stance and cloud-tufted head seemed to mark it as a Pokémon comfortable in a storm. He'd never seen a Pokémon like this before. He had no time to puzzle out the Pokémon's identity. The angry bird's eyes flashed black, and it shot a violet-eyed beam at Chikosu. Chikosu took another direct hit, buzzing angrily and lashing his tail at the enemy.
"It's Tornadus!" Shawn shouted, "This is bad!"
Bad was an understatement! At this rate, they'd be shot right out of the sky! Leo grabbed tighter onto Chikosu, "We gotta get away from it! If we fight from here, we're dead!"
"Scatter!" Sarah ordered, "If we split and drop down, it can't target all of us!"
Leo nodded and leaned forward on Chikosu, "Go!" The dragon folded his wings and plummeted down. Leo scrunched his eyes shut, clinging to him desperately in the intense wind. Leo couldn't tell where he was anymore. Chikosu suddenly swooped level, chattering in a panic. When Leo opened his eyes, he cringed in shock.
Tornadus was flying straight below him, glaring in defiance.
"Dammit." Leo shook his head angrily. Tornadus was clearly bent on blocking his escape. A quick glance told him that he was the only one trapped. Everyone else was nowhere to be seen. Leo realized there was no choice. His only escape was through this angry Pokémon. He steeled his nerves and glared back at Tornadus. That bird was going to regret getting in his way. He thought quickly. Tornadus was clearly a bird. Most birds were Flying-types. That meant ice, rock, and electricity were his best bets. He had no delusions about winning. Tornadus was much too powerful a Pokémon to defeat alone. He wanted to deal enough damage to create a diversion.
"Chikosu! Try using your Sandstorm attack!" The Pokémon snorted, shook his head, and chattered at him. Instead of listening to him, the dragon charged at Tornadus, screeching! "Stop! Listen to me!" The insubordinate Pokémon whirled and slapped Tornadus in the face with his tail. This caused the bird to shriek angrily. It charged again, claws spread wide. Leo ducked, but Tornadus slammed directly into him feet-first, snatching him in its mighty talons. Leo screamed in terror as the bird's grip tightened around his torso and it swept him off of Chikosu's back. He scrabbled desperately in mid-air, catching only a glimpse of Chikosu before he saw the land beneath him. There was a thin stand of trees below, and a vast field of grass just past that; all much too far below him for his liking! He thrashed instinctively, trying to break free from Tornadus. Leo felt a huge jolt from above, as though something slammed into Tornadus and him. This made Tornadus release him.
Leo's panic intensified as he realized what happened. Leo screamed again as he fell, tumbling round and round in the sky. He was briefly aware of something green flying past. Was that Chikosu!? Before he could even react, Leo felt a sharp pain in his back as something hit hard from below. His vision swam in a crazy swirl of green and brown as he toppled this way and that, knocking into several more objects painfully. He covered his face as scratches and blows pummeled his body from all angles.
He and finally came to a stop, draped over something long and thick. Leo hung there limp for several long moments, breathing hard and cringing in pain. When Leo regained his nerves, he opened his eyes and looked about weakly. He was several feet up off the ground, caught up in the branches of a large tree. Leo quickly tried to assess his situation. Unfortunately, the moment he lifted his head to look about, the branches cracked, giving way and dumping Leo painfully onto the ground below. Leo could only groan feebly before blacking out, overwhelmed by pain.
Leo slowly opened his eyes, rain streaming down his face. The light had darkened, and he was lying face-down in the dirt. He grunted and pulled himself to a sitting position. His whole body ached, and he felt as though he'd been stomped on by a Rapidash.
Where am I?
When did it start raining?
The others!
Leo glanced about, searching for any sign of his friends. That was when he realized that he was completely alone. Even Flare was missing. He sighed and scooted up against the back of a tree. It occurred to him that being here might be a bad idea in a thunderstorm, but Leo was sore and stiff from his earlier fall. Drawing up his legs, Leo stared up at the sky.
What the hell just happened?
Has anyone else made it?
Am...I really alone?!
AJ leaned back against the door, desperately trying to recollect his thoughts. First, Haunter kidnapped him and AJ in their sleep. Now, this! That Spiritomb was blocking the way out. Sure, he could try running past it. There was that barrier there after all. Who knew how long that barrier would hold though? And the doors leading out were stuck too...
Whose bright idea was it to put a damn hotel on top of a place like this anyway?!
"What do we do now?!" Eeveen shouted, "That Spiritomb's in the way..."
"I guess we don't have any choice. We gotta check this place out," Cheren said, "AJ, can we have another Flash? I think it wore off. I can't see a thing..."
Come to think of it, this place was pretty dark. The dim light gave away few details about the room. AJ looked down at Thorn, who was huddled up against his leg. The poor turtle was looking up at him, as if asking for guidance. AJ knelt down, stroking his partner, "It's going to be okay. We're safe for now. Pull it together, okay?"
"Gro..." Thorn stared at him worriedly for a moment, then nodded.
"C'mon. Let's get some light in here, boy." Thorn seemed reluctant, but his shell lit up once again. The light revealed another long hallway. At the end of the corridor, there was what appeared to be a large office suite of some sort. A long desk dominated the center of the room, covered in papers and bizarre machines.
Wait, weird machines?!
AJ sighed, biting his lip. It figured that Silicon might have something to do with this. As he made his way down the hall, Thorn's light slowly illuminated the room. There was a man with short silver hair wearing a blue uniform sitting at the desk. When he saw them approach, the stranger looked up at them.
"Visitors?" The violet-eyed man stood to his feet, casting a cautious look at the party, "This is a first."
"We're hardly visitors..." Grumbled Eeveen, "We're stuck down here!"
"Stuck?" The man paused then shook his head, "Oh. It must've been Phantom's fault. She's such a troublemaker..."
"Phantom?" AJ guessed that must be the Spiritomb.
"Yes. She's really a facinating Pokémon. She's my research partner."
"What the hell kind of place is this?" AJ snapped, showing more anger than he'd meant, "Are you the one who's trapped us here?!"
"I'm sorry," The man shook his head again, "I really should explain myself. You can call me Doctor Evan. The owner of this hotel agreed to let me use this substructure for my research so long as I keep the guests out of it. I see the padlock clearly wasn't enough." He smiled slightly. "Oh well. It can't be helped now can it?"
"Doctor, hm?" Cheren eyed the man suspiciously.
"That's right, Cheren." Evan nodded, "I've heard all about your work against that Silicon Movement. Pretty intense stuff for someone so young."
AJ blinked in surprise. "How did you...?"
Evan shrugged. "Maybe I should just spit it out. You three look so terribly confused." He took a deep breath and continued. "I am the Silicon Movement's former chief: Solstice's elder brother."