Chapter IV: Undercover
There was the faintest glow of light at the end of the tunnel Groudon and the babies ventured through. For the first time since the crisis began, there was light. Groudon reached up and shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness. Phione squealed happily and bounded off of Groudon's back. Groudon looked at the sky and wondered where they were. He took Mew off of his back and held it. It was resting. Groudon finally had time to think. Why had Mewtwo turned on them? Who was this Malunus? Why isn't Arceus doing anything about it? These questions without answers troubled him. But he would have to save them for another time, when the weren't on the run. He looked around. They were in some grassy clearing. Jirachi was rolling in the grass, surprisingly, seeing as Jirachi usually kept to itself and was slightly shy. But now it was happy and out-going. Groudon smiled, but it disappeared as he dove forward to protect the babies as a Shadow Ball whized over his back. Groudon growled.
"You again," he said through gritted teeth.
"Why don't you make it easier for yourself and hand them over," Mewtwo replied.
"The babies? What do you want with them?"
"None of your business."
"You can't have them," Groudon said, "I won't let you."
"Fine, then." Mewtwo's eyes turned icy-blue, and he generated a Shadow Ball. Groudon took no chances and blasted him with a powerful SolarBeam without the need to charge thanks to the Drought. Mewtwo grunted at the impact and flew back into the tunnel onto his back. He leapt to his feet and growled, "Heh, you do know how to fight. Nevertheless, you won't win."
Mewtwo was probably right. He had immense power, but power wasn't everything. Mewtwo grunted again and put his arms outward, his fingertips glowing. The Psychic lifted Groudon off of the ground and hurled him far. All the babies were crying except for Jirachi, who jumped up and caught Groudon with a Psychic of it's own. It lowered Groudon to the ground just in time to catch Mewtwo off guard.
Groudon blasted an Overheat at it's full potential. Mewtwo shrieked in pain as the flames engulfed him. His silhouete was visible in the flames with his arms spread wide. Groudon thought this was a victory, but suddenly Mewtwo chuckled. The flames were blasted away by a psychedelic Barrier surrounding Mewtwo.
Mewtwo was without a scratch other than the three gashes on his face. Groudon was shocked. He really couldn't beat Mewtwo. Groudon blasted another SolarBeam, and Mewtwo held his arms straight-forward, and attempted to block it. The beam made his feet scrape back a few inches, but Mewtwo still held his ground. The deflected beam was shooting up at the sky. Mewtwo had his teeth clenched.
Finally, Groudon stopped blasting the beam and charged Mewtwo, attempting to Slash at him. Mewtwo slid out of the way and whacked the top of his head with his tail. Groudon fell face first on the ground, spun and knocked Mewtwo over. Groudon leapt to his feet and prepared to crush Mewtwo with his own two hands. But Mewtwo was too quick for him and blew him back with a Psychic. Groudon flew eight feet in the air and landed with a thud on the ground.
The babies had done a smart thing and ran, all except for Jirachi, who stayed there and watched. Groudon warily got to his feet and decided to end this. He roared a powerful Eruption, making flaming boulders burst out of the ground. One of them hit Mewtwo square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Mewtwo lay on the ground, eyes closed, barely consious. Groudon walked uneasily over to him. Mewtwo opened his eyes, and stared into Groudon's. They were no longer icy-blue, but the regular amber. Groudon asked one thing only, "Why?"
Mewtwo said nothing, he just closed his eyes and fainted.
It was coming back. Dialga and Palkia could tell. They couldn't waste any more time. They had to find Groudon and the babies. Palkia got to her feet and they started running. The darkness was coming in fast now. Dialga Roared powerfully, slowing it down, and they continued to run. They heard a deafening roar and a serpent-like being zoomed through the sky and blasted the darkness with a Hyper Beam. Dialga was surprised that Rayquaza cared about this entire thing the slightest bit. After a bit, Palkia looked back. Rayquaza was still firing Hyper Beam.
They stopped running after a while and looked around. They were in some grassy field. Palkia heard a noise. A faint "Mana!" coming from somewhere. Palkia ran to the source of the sound. Suddenly, Manaphy came into view along with Phione. Jirachi soon came into view holding Mew. Manaphy jumped into Palkia's arms, crying.
"What happened to Mew?" Palkia asked it.
Manaphy was too busy crying to hear her. Dialga went over to Jirachi who lowered Mew to the ground. It was breathing softly. Jirachi closed its eyes and began a Wish on Mew. When finished, Dialga put it on his back. They gathered the others and asked Jirachi where Groudon was. Jirachi pointed east.
Palkia shrugged and they started walking in that direction. There was a mild wind blowing and Dialga could see one tree in the distance. It was oak, he guessed, and had leaves falling from its branches. It cast a big shadow pointing west, and Dialga thought it would be a perfect place for the children to stay at just in case there was danger.
They neared the tree and set them down, and a sleeping Manaphy began crying. Phione, wide awake, slightly more mature, oddly, tried to calm it down. Palkia told Jirachi to watch over Mew and protect it, they then continued walking east. After walking awhile, there was a tunnel visible in the distance. Near the tunnel was a red being with black streaks all over it's body standing over a lavendar humanoid being. Dialga and Palkia both sped up their walking cycle until it was almost a run to get over to them.
"What happened?" Dialga asked frantically.
"He's out," Groudon replied. Dialga looked down at Mewtwo. He looked natural, his arms crossed over his chest with his tail curved to the side of him. His eyes were closed.
"What should we do with him?" Palkia asked.
"I don't know. It wouldn't be right to kill him. What if he has good in him?" Dialga asked.
"He does. I saw the slightest sign of it before he fainted," Groudon said. "I don't know if we can take him with us. He might wake up or the shadow--" Dialga interrupted, "Malunus." "Er, yeah. Him," Groudon continued, "he might track us down. Who knows what he will do to us or the babies?"
"We should take some time to think," Palkia said.
In the middle of the deserted wasteland that was Glitch City, Kyogre lay, consumed in darkness. But the darkness couldn't hurt him anymore. He opened it's eyes to find no use for them. He closed them again and started back to the house where he would find Malunus. Kyogre didn't know how much longer he had to put up the charade, he guessed until Malunus opened up and showed weakness.
He was unsure about Mewtwo. Was he undercover in the same manner as Kyogre was? Had he been a traitor from the start and just pretended to love them? Or had he been drained of all hope and freedom and forced to do the shadow's bidding? Kyogre had to find out. He couldn't see a blasted thing in the darkness, but he knew where he was.
Kyogre bumped into a weakened Glitch who moaned in agony. Kyogre knew that Malunus would be able to feel if Kyogre had the slightest feeling of pity, but Kyogre could barely restrain himself from helping the wounded civilian. He started walking again. He approached the house without caution, casually opened the door, and strode in.
The cloaked shadow was visible despite the darkness, for he was darker than that. In an inhuman but calm voice he asked, "What happened?"
"I was downed by Palkia and Deoxys," Kyogre reported.
"Don't worry about Deoxys. He's joined his brother now," Malunus replied. Kyogre knew Malunus could see his eyes, but he couldn't read his mind unless Kyogre looked at his. Kyogre dispelled his sorrow and mourn for another time, and asked,
"Why did you let Groudon and the babies get away? Putting the behemoth in a simple room seems idiotic."
Malunus turned to him, but remained in his meditative cross-legged posture. "Did you have a better idea?"
"Well, you could have killed him or something."
Malunus chuckled evilly. "You humor me, leviathan. But killing him right now wouldn't have been quite necessary. Those intolerable children are the only ones I'm worried about," he got up, "go find him. I have a feeling Mewtwo failed me. Pathetic."
Kyogre said nothing more and left. He was following the same path he came and when he walked past the wounded Glitch it grabbed onto his right fin and begged, "Krytinoinwak. . ."
Kyogre knew it had said "Help me" as he learned some Glitch language from the Missingno. across the street from him. In a shaky voice, Kyogre said, "I. . .can't." and shook it off. The Glitch moaned and moved no more. Did Malunus just want to kill everyone? Kyogre knew he didn't, because he said that it was unnecessary to kill Groudon. That had relieved Kyogre. So Malunus was after the babies, but why? Kyogre pondered this as he strode down the sidewalk, bumping into invisible walls and out of place toilets along the way.
Kyogre noticed that some light was returning, and Kyogre assumed that this was the one spot where he could escape. He Ice Beamed it and Body Slammed it. It shattered and was replaced by a portal which he jumped through. He fell for a while until he fell into the murky waters. He looked up at the opening at the end, and took off in that direction.
Voices filled the tunnel and echoed off of the walls. Kyogre remembered that he was supposed to be evil. But what was he going to do? Kill them? Be killed? There weren't much options. He didn't have time either because a yellow beam was coming at him.
Kyogre didn't dodge, he Hydro Pumped it, making it dissolve. Kyogre went under the waters and zoomed at the attacker. He emerged the waters at great speed and hit the attacker head-on. Groudon yelped in pain and fell onto his back. Palkia glanced at him and then Kyogre, and then Kyogre got an Aqua Tail to the face.
It hit him in the nose, and Kyogre groaned and shook off the pain. He growled and blasted Palkia with and Ice Beam that hit her in the face. In that moment's weakness, Kyogre launched himself at her. But he was foiled as Groudon grabbed his tail and swung him around in a circle until finally being thrown into the wall bordering the tunnel. Groudon lurched at him and pinned him by his fins to the wall with his claws. Kyogre couldn't move except his head which he aimed at Groudon.
The sky-blue beam rendered Groudon unconscious and blew him back far. Palkia was already down by the Ice Beam, surprisingly, and stayed on the ground. Kyogre saw Mewtwo unconscious on the grass and went over to him. Then a thought occurred to him. Where was Dialga? Surely he was with them, or possibly hiding. Kyogre observed his surroundings. A grassy field, a tree in the distance, and a ball of light coming straight at him.
Kyogre jumped. It whizzed past where he was and went into the tunnel. It exploded, filling the tunnel with light, and Dialga jumped high and blasted another one from his mouth. This one smacked Kyogre across the face and exploded. Kyogre fell hard onto his back and groaned. He opened his eyes and rolled just in time before Dialga's massive foot would have crushed him. Kyogre back-somersaulted and launched himself into Dialga's chest. Kyogre forgot how hard it was and was temporarily delirious.
Dialga swung his head around and it slammed Kyogre across the grass. Kyogre raised his head a bit, but it dropped as he fainted.