Here it is, people! Sorry if I took a while, but this one is definately my longest! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. But I can dream, right? Right?
Mesprit watched helplessly as the black hole that had stolen his letter disappeared. "No," he whispered to himself. Umbreon looked at him.
"This just does wonders for his confidence level," she muttered. Then a light bulb clicked. "I've got it!" the fox shouted. She let go of Lucario, sending everyone else flying.
"Have you lost your mind?" screeched Kiki. Umbreon winked and grabbed a bit of dust off of the ground. She threw it into the nearest black hole. Swallowing the dirt up, it disappeared, satisfied. Swiftly, Umbreon did the exact same thing until the voids were no more. She turned to her friends. They were stunned.
"Where did...how did...what just happened here?" Mew asked. "How'd you know to do that?" Umbreon looked toward Mesprit, who was shaking his head violently.
"Uh...instinct," she replied. "What I want to know, though," she said, "is why those holes suddenly appeared."
"It must have been a trap," Lucario thought aloud. The group looked toward him questioningly. "And I think I know who set it." His comrades gasped at the mention of the name that they had long ago forgotten.
"No...it can't be," said Mew shakily. But Lucario shook his head.
"It is."
Sitting in her cage, Phione couldn't help but snicker at the sight before her. The two Pack grunts that Ciar had sent to clean up the flooding she had caused had decided to tap dance with their mops. Across the room from her, she could see her father trying to contain his laughter. Azelf, on the other hand, was rolling on the floor of her cage in a fit of giggles. Uxie, obviously, was sleeping. But Celebi, sitting in the cage next to Phione, had quite a serious look on her face. "How could he do this?" she heard the fairy Pokémon mutter for probably the fifth time since she and the other legendaries were forced into here, only to be greeted with a room filled with water. Smiling, Phione still remembered the look of astonishment on Ciar's face when he walked in. And, of course, she just had to add salt to the wound by sticking out her tongue. It was perfect.
...or at least it would have been if Celebi didn't look so down. Celebi was like a mother to Phione. It pained the Sea Drifter Pokémon to see her so sad. "Hey, Celebi," she whispered. The green fairy looked her way. "Guess what I did!"
"You flooded the room," she answered solemnly.
"No, not that! Something else!" Phione glanced back and forth before leaning in and murmuring, "I contacted Lucario."
"WHAT?" Celebi shouted. The other legendaries plus the Pack members turned their heads and looked at her.
"...the heck is on the floor?" she said, trying to quickly come up with something. "You guys missed a spot." The grunts rolled their eyes and got back to work.
"When?" she whispered to Phione.
"This morning," she replied. A smile crept onto Celebi's face.
"Phione, you've just saved us all."
"Target sighted," said Raichu, quite somberly. But Gideon didn't notice. An evil grin was plastered on his face.
"Wonderful," he replied, taking out his secret weapon and staring at it. "This is it."
"Gideon, shouldn't you rethink this..."
"Silence! We will attack them, and we will catch Umbreon, and you will shut up right now." Raichu looked down at the ground.
"Yes, Gideon," he sighed.
Jirachi walked into the large room. "You asked for me, sir?" Ciar nodded his head.
"Yes," he replied. "Lucario and his friends are almost here. They still do not know that you have betrayed them." Jirachi flinched at the word betrayed. "Be sure that they meet you first and not the others, got it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, remember, get me Lucario or the deal is off."
"Yes, sir."
"Be gone with you." Jirachi nodded and walked out the door.
Once in his room (not much of a room-a bed, a blanket, a dresser, and not much else), Jirachi lay down and sighed. "Who knew that it would come to this? Should I do it?" He shook his head. "It's wrong, isn't it? I shouldn't be giving Lucario up to a criminal mastermind just for personal gain." The Destiny Pokémon thought a moment. "But it's not personal gain," he concluded. "It's...
...for her."
Umbreon couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. She glanced over her shoulder every two minutes, expecting to see a rustle in a bush or movement behind a rock. But there was nothing. She brought it up with Lucario.
"If someone was following us," he told her, "wouldn't they attack when we were recovering from the black holes?" Umbreon nodded. It made sense, but she still checked every minute or two, just to be sure.
Clouds gathered in the sky. Soon, rain began pouring down. A thunderclap announced the coming of a huge storm.
"Sheesh. It's raining Meowth and Growlithe out here!" cried Mew.
"Maybe we should set up camp," Kiki suggested.
"But it's only two o'clock!" Lucario said.
The two started arguing. "Oh no," Umbreon sighed. She sat down and kept out of it.
"Fine!" shouted Kiki. "All in favor of staying here and setting up camp raise your hands...er...paws!" Both Kiki's and Mew's hands shot up. "All in favor of getting soaked and keep going!" Lucario and Mesprit raised their hands. "Ha!" she exclaimed. "That means...it's a tie."
"But that's not possible!" said Mesprit. "There are five of us!" Everyone looked at Umbreon.
"Um...," she started, "...hi!"
"Umbreon," said Lucario, "we need to save the others as fast as we can, right?"
"They can hold on a bit longer!" Kiki retorted. "All this rain isn't good for your broken ear! We should stay!" The two started bombarding Umbreon with reasons why she should vote for their idea when a Pokéball shot through the air and hit Kiki on the head, knocking her over.
"Looks like I missed," came Gideon's voice. "But this time, I won't." The group gasped and looked up to the top of a nearby boulder.
"Told you," Umbreon muttered to Lucario.
"This time, I've got my secret weapon!" He held up the Master Ball.
"Crud," the black fox whispered to herself.
"This time, you will be mine, Umbreon! This time, you can't stop me! Your ear is broken, so there goes your handy Metronome! I can't believe..."
"Quick, while he's monologue-ing!" Raichu mouthed to them. Umbreon nodded.
"What are you doing, taking advice from him?" Lucario whispered. She glanced at him.
"Would you rather have me get caught?" she asked.
"N-no," he stuttered.
"Then trust me. I can only use Aura Sphere now, so I need to attack when he least suspects it."
"Nothing else? What happened to all those other moves?" asked Lucario. Umbreon looked upward at her bandaged ear.
"Ears needed."
"Should I help?" The fox thought a moment.
"I'll give a signal," she said at last. "But I'd better act fast, before this lunatic realizes that he's rambling." With that, she quietly snuck out of sight behind the boulder.
"...such a fool, and I am such a genius, and...wait a minute," Gideon said with sudden awareness. "Where'd she go?" But the question was immediately answered, in the form of a large blue sphere to the head. "What the...?" Gideon whipped around.
"Gotcha," Umbreon said with a wink.
"You...," he snarled.
"Now!" shouted Umbreon. Swiftly, Lucario charged toward the unsuspecting Gideon, tackling him to the ground.
"Raichu!" Gideon shouted as Umbreon also leapt on him to hold him down. "Do something!" The electric mouse shrugged and sent a weak bolt of electricity toward Lucario, purposefully missing and hitting his master instead.
"Oops," said Raichu.
"Now...I...am...ANGRY!" Gideon pushed the two Pokémon off of his back and stood up, panting heavily. Enlarging the Master Ball, he screamed, "This ends now!" and chucked it at Umbreon.
The world seemed to slow. Umbreon knew that she couldn't run. She just had to accept her fate. Well, at least she could try to make Gideon's life miserable when she was his. Maybe he'd get so fed up with her that he'd release her! Not likely, she thought to herself as the purple ball slowly cut through the air towards her. But then, the miracle happened.
"NO!" At the last second, Raichu jumped into the Master Ball's path. It bounced off of his head, hit the ground, and sat there. Gideon started to move toward it. When he was two steps away, though, it started to shake back and forth rapidly. It kept shaking and shaking, then, finally, it burst into tiny pieces. Gideon flung his arm in front of his face.
"So that's what happens when you throw a Pokéball at a trainer's Pokémon," said Kiki.
Gideon glared at Raichu. "Traitor!" he shouted. "Turncoat, conspirator, double agent, Benedict Arnold...I've run out of synonyms for traitor." Raichu just stuck his tongue out. "Worthless excuse for a Pokémon," Gideon muttered. "I thought you were my friend!"
"I thought I was, too," the electric mouse replied, "but then I realized that I was more your servant than your equal." Gideon let out a stream of curses, then threw Raichu's Pokéball at the ground and spit on it.
"Fine!" he snapped. "Good riddance!" With that, he walked away. Raichu watched him until he was out of sight. He turned around at the sound of Umbreon's voice.
"Wh-why did you do that for me?" Raichu shrugged.
"I...have my reasons," he said, once again. Umbreon looked into his eyes.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked. The electric mouse nodded. The two went behind the boulder.
"That was strange," said Mesprit, breaking the silence. The others nodded their agreement. Finally, Umbreon and Raichu reappeared. The two hugged, and Raichu went in the opposite direction of Gideon.
"Goodbye!" Umbreon called. "Thank you!" In reply, Raichu raised his paw and continued walking until he disappeared into the horizon.
"What did you tell him?" asked Lucario.
"I told him that, even though he was a nice guy, and that he did a lot for me, I loved you, and nothing was going to change that. And then I asked if we could still be friends. He took it very well."
"Is it just me," Kiki asked, "or are you starting to sound mature?" Umbreon gasped.
"I'd better stop, then!" she said, and suddenly hugged Lucario very tightly.
"Can't...breathe," he stammered.
"Ooh, déjà vu," Kiki said laughingly. The two legendaries chuckled. Their eyes met, and they stopped and stared at each other for a minute, then they turned away, blushing.
"Well," said Lucario, once Umbreon had finally let go of him, "we're almost there! And look! The rain's cleared up!" And it had, leaving a rainbow in its place.
Staring at the stream of color, Raichu let out a long sigh. Silent tears streamed down his face. "Even so," he whispered to the sky, "I still love you..."
"...Umbreon."
And now, I must say that the next chapter will most likely be the last. Thank you all for sticking with it, and please keep R&Ring!
-Umbreon Mastah