PokeStones of the Dead - Chapter Twenty-One
The final assembly of Lillette's forces were assembled on Cinnibar, where they made their final preparations for the battle ahead. Blaine had retreated back to his own Gym, where he now emerged carrying huge supplies of Pokemon items, whether to dispel poison or paralysis effects, or to simply heal a wearied Pokemon. The massive boost could be attributed to Blaine's prior hoarding of the items for himself, instead of supplying excesses to Pokemon Marts where it could be resold to the trainers at the town, whether residing there or paying a visit. Naturally, this was be a poor business move, as it prevented the Gym Leader in question from earning revenue from these items, but Blaine – as well as Brock and Sabrina – had made up for this loss with heavy taxes. Somewhat ironically, this tyrannical way of governance had actually come in handy for the crucial battle against Lance.
Lillette kept some of the Full Heals and Max Potions for herself, distributing the rest among the other captains of her army. Unfortunately, long-term boosting items like Calcium and Iron had all been used by Blaine on his Pokemon, but such small increases in strength would be negligible if they had been distributed evenly. Lillette supposed it was a good thing that they had been focused on the strongest Pokemon. At any rate, whatever Blaine's motives in keeping such amounts of items, it was a good sign for the attacking force, and there would always be time to ask questions and take action after the battle was won. If they won.
Amazingly, Blaine had more surprises in store for Lillette and Temperance, who was serenely overseeing the legions of Pokemon standing in neat rows. Tapping into the power of his Gym – and his PokeStone next to it – Blaine channelled a fan burst of red energy that was absorbed by every single Pokemon in the rank and file. On receiving this new power, the Pokemon seemed to have some hidden fire in their eyes, their spirits high, their self-belief bolstered. "Inner Fire," Blaine explained, after he was done. "Besides giving them increased stamina and confidence, the spell also allows Fire Pokemon to use their fire-based moves as many times as they want, without feeling tired."
It seemed like the power of the Gym Leaders had no end. Temperance was himself amazed by the skill, until he realised that such moves were mere toys compared with the power that Lance – and soon him – had. The magnitude of the situation hit Temperance again. It would always fade away for a short time, only to come back in fuller force when the opportunity presented itself. Still, what was there to be done? His road had been chosen. And so it was with a feeling of weary resignation – but accompanied with some quiet confidence – that Temperance took to the seas once again, barely thirty minutes after the arrival at Cinnibar, for the final battle at Death Peak.
All the information Lillette had on the number of the opposing force were estimates, based on Lance's semi-outdated notes on his computer. Sending scouts, again, would be more than useless – no matter how fast or now concealed they were, Lance could sense them from a mile away. This meant that the slow march towards Death Peak would be no doubt known about. It was a good thing that Lance's mind-reading skills could not be exercised at the same range as his enemy sensors. If not, their plot about Brock would be discovered by now, resulting in total failure. Soon, Death Peak would be in sight. The mountain, while the highest in the area, was frequently obscured by other lesser peaks and clouds. It would be visible soon, along with whatever horror awaited them.
And as the site of the battle slowly faded into view, a figure could be seen standing at the very top of Death Peak. Or not – on more careful examination, there was a good two to three metres of space between the figure and the ground. Lance. And any doubts to that figure's identity evaporated when a flash lit up the night sky, shooting up from Lance – and raining down as humongous lightning bolts onto the advancing army. The vision that Temperance had seen was once again true.
"Hold ranks! Increase speed forward!"
Lillette immediately gave the order, as some of the wild Pokemon were already breaking free in panic. Bolt after bolt struck down from the sky, randomly striking the advancing army. Lillette now saw the flaw in her plan – Lance did not even need to wait for them to approach. He could simply pick them off like flies from a distance. The ranks were still holding, but many had already fallen, and Lillette was only too aware that at this rate, the force would descend into total disarray. Then, all of a sudden, a brown ball appeared next to the group, anchored to the sea by some unknown force. All the bolts veered off course, hitting the brown ball and dissipating harmlessly. Giovanni this time was the architect of this fantastic lightning conductor that had prevented further casualties to the already disadvantaged group.
As the lightning faded away, repelled by the power of the Gym Leader, there were more surprises from the attacking troops. Zapdos absorbed the remaining bolts that were still in the air, and then combined all of their power in an earth-shattering blast that turned the fast darkening sky into daylight. Surely, that attack would give Lance something to think about – or not, as Lance dissolved into smoke for a second – ample time for the lightning bolt to speed past Death Peak harmlessly. Temperance recalled Lillette's words, "Lance can utilise his Ghost power to fade into the shadows for a second, making himself totally invulnerable. This allows him to dodge projectiles – especially fast ones like lightning bolts."
Then, rain started falling. And not just any rain – acid rain, mixing Lance's powers of Water and Poison. The water was very corrosive, and burned holes in Temperance's outer layer of protective clothing. It was simply another demonstration of Lance's powers – with the effect of lowering the entire army's morale. Janine absorbed the poison from the water, leaving behind only the water, but the Gym Leaders really needed to bind him as soon as possible in order to stop this relentless barrage of projectiles before they even reached Death Peak. And so Lillette ordered a full speed advance. After all, Brock had to be almost at Death Peak by now. Lance had not vaporised him from afar, which was a positive sign – at least Lance had some words to say to him. Their plan had not failed yet. Not by a long way. The foot of the mountain was now just five hundred metres away and drawing ever closer. Then the rain abruptly stopped.
Temperance and Lillette recognised the signs in an instant. Brock was now talking to Lance, preventing him from continuing to focus his destructive powers on the advancing army. It was time for drastic action. There might still be time to save the Gym Leader whom they had betrayed, if fast action was taken. Temperance, along with the five Gym Leaders, jumped onto the three legendary birds and broke off from the group, heading with full speed towards the peak. Sabrina cast some simple camouflage to conceal the birds' ascent, passing above thousands of Dead on the slopes of the mountain. Lance was still talking to Brock – and then they saw Lance's hands glow pink, levitating Brock away from solid ground and off the mountain, where he hung suspended hundreds of metres from the ground.
"And so you die! The one who caused Kanto to languish in such a state, foolishly coming to surrender to me? Do you think this appeases me? It is not enough. Not only you, but now, all of the Gym Leaders, the remnants of the hated former government, will soon be eradicated. And in its place will rise a new Kanto, with me as its head. I had allowed you to come up to the peak – false hope – for me to crush you once and for all. How many times did you promise to improve situations in Pewter? How many times were my hopes extinguished? And now, you know the feelings that I have been facing the day you came into power. Feel it! Allow the despair to sink in – before you fall to your death, a nice meal for my zombies."
Lance was speaking, his voice devoid of any mercy. Temperance now knew that his spirit – he had believed that what he had done was for a good cause – had been corrupted by Dark Mew. He was now simply an instrument of evil, and had to be stopped. He looked around, where the five Gym Leaders all drew a stroke in the air, the multiple colours coming together to form a net, where their colour changed to a pure, blinding white. Temperance raised three fingers, then dropped one and then one more. Finally, with a battle cry, the net of light was released, flung out with full force at the still-mocking Lance. Temperance knew that when the net hit, Lance's power would fail, causing Brock to fall to his certain death down the mountainside, but the situation was far beyond such cares.
All of a sudden, the maniacal rage on Lance's face turned into shock and horror, as the net of light – still too bright to look at directly – wrapped around his body. Without the time needed to set up a defence against the binding, all Lance could do was thrash around wildly in the net, but the bonds did not loosen. The colour of the net was now slowly darkening, fading into the dark sky, as the binding took hold. As the net turned dark grey, Temperance called upon Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno to finish the job. Lance's eyes were wide. He knew what was coming, and he could do nothing to prevent it.
Three relatively minor projectiles struck the helpless Lance – a lightning bolt, a jet of fire, and a shard of ice. But the attacks did not disappear upon contact like normal attacking projectiles. Rather, they remained connected to the three legendary birds, circling the bound Lance while Temperance and the Gym Leaders watched on. Just as how Dark Mew lost a portion of its power all those years ago, Lance's abilities of Lightning, Fire and Ice slowly rose up along the threads and into Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno. Temperance knew what was coming. He ran into the centre of the circling birds, bracing himself for impact.
Three beams blasted Temperance's body, his braced state slowly opening up to accommodate all the power that was entering his veins. It almost seemed as though he was glowing, glowing with the multi-coloured power that was now coursing through his blood. Eyes closed, Temperance absorbed all of Lance's former power, until the beams stopped. And when he opened them again, he was a different Temperance – one that was more powerful than any Pokemon alive at present. It felt good, it felt absolutely wonderful. He found that there was no need to learn how to use the newly-gained power, it was simply instinctive. As the net still binding Lance faded, causing him to fall from his previously hovering state, Temperance was there for him. Flying into the sky with a light touch on the ground, Temperance then tapped into his Ice power, forming an ice spear and burst towards Lance's falling body.
Only for Lance to turn around to face him, using his Dark power to compensate for his new lack of flying. Slowing his descent to the ground, Lance summoned up a steel sword – sharp to a point – and brought it down on Temperance's thrusting motion. Ice met steel, and the battle was on.
Your power does not lie in simple lightning, fire, or ice attacks. If it was just that which was needed, the three legendary birds could just have defeated Lance for us. What your strength lies in is the power to utilise the pure core energy of the three elemental attacks. Your moves are not bound by skills, like Thunderbolt or Flamethrower. Rather, you can create things like fireballs, or perform spinning icy kicks that are not possible on Pokemon. Remember not to think only of moves available to Pokemon!
Temperance noticed the Gym Leaders, along with the legendary birds, retreating back down the mountain for the lesser battle that was now taking place on its slopes. None of it mattered now. The victor here would be able to mop up any remaining opposing forces at his leisure after the other was vanquished. So Temperance faded out everything else from his mind – even Lillette's impending death – and put all his energy into defeating Lance. He knew that he would not get corrupted by Dark Mew's power, as the legendary birds had only drawn out the pure power source that had belonged to Mew – the Creator – before it had gotten corrupted. Of course, that amount of power, no matter how pure, would be tainted by strong fanatic emotion. It was how Lance had been corrupted through his hatred for Kanto's situation. However, Temperance, if anyone, was the prime candidate to be detached from emotion – so the danger of corruption was small. Basically, it was now the fundamental battle of good vs. evil, and Temperance had no intention of losing.
Temperance drew away from the clash of weapons, and rose higher into the sky, as Lance was forced to touch down on Death Peak again – his Dark power could not totally replace flying. With a battle cry, Temperance crumbled his ice spear into tiny icicle shards, and then ejected them at the peak below. Summoning a blizzard to follow the move up, Temperance made use of the time that Lance was on the ground to launch as many attacking moves as he could.
Lance touched off again, a shield of rock protecting him against the blizzard. Temperance was waiting for him to hover up to his level – where Lance would take a lightning bolt in the face. However, Lance did not even rise up to Temperance's height, but fired off a fan of water that arced around Temperance, before coiling itself into the shape of a dragon and striking at the surprised Temperance. Down Temperance fell, with the dragon pursuing him from above, while Lance sped below him, steel sword waiting. Upward was the ferocity of the dragon paired with the flexibility of water, while below was certain impalement. What could Temperance do against such a combination?