Chapter 21 - "Encounter With Legend"
Part Three: Endgame
"It has been a long time, Suicune" Ho-oh said to him. He remained silent. I knew something was wrong. His eyes looked vacant, like he was in some kind of trance. Suddenly, he attacked Ho-oh using hydro pump! She was clearly taken by surprise at his attack, and the gushing water from his mouth pinned her to the wall. She then fell to the floor. "Suicune, what are you doing?" I shouted. Ho-oh got up off the floor and launched a fire blast at him, which he evaded. Instead, it burned a hole through the wall. He responded by hitting her with hyper beam, which sent her crashing to the wall and onto the floor once again. She was being severely beaten by his attacks. But I couldn't understand why he would be attacking her. The legend said nothing about this! I ran to the window and looked outside. Down below stood about a dozen Team Rocket agents. "Team Rocket! They must be controlling Suicune! But how?" I asked out loud to Flamefox and Firestorm, who looked out the window with me. Suddenly, Suicune used a powerful aurora beam on Ho-oh, before she could even get up from her last attack! She now lay on the floor, helpless. "We've got to do something!" I said to Flamefox and Firestorm. I knew my Pokemon were no match for Suicune, but maybe they could buy me some time to come up with a better idea. I released all of my Pokemon. "Tauros, use take down!" I shouted. Tauros charged full speed at Suicune, but Suicune launched another hyper beam, and it knocked out Tauros before he could even reach him. "Tauros, no! Okay, Jolteon! Maybe you've got a better chance. Use thunder!" I commanded. Jolteon took in lightning from the storm outside and directed it at Suicune. He took the hit directly, but just stood there, like it was nothing. Then he hit Jolteon with a hyper beam, as well, and knocked him out. I was greatly outgunned, and I knew it, but I had to try to stop him! "Vaporeon, use aurora beam!" I ordered. She did so, and the attack just bounced right off of him. Then he launched a very powerful water gun at her, which pinned her to the wall, and then she crashed to the floor, knocked out. I was quickly losing contenders! "Scyther, use fury cutter!" I commanded. Scyther flew at him, slashing his scythes, but Suicune didn't even seem to feel it, and he knocked out my Scyther using another hyper beam. Unlike most Pokemon, this powerful legendary beast seemed to have no trouble recharging after using hyper beam! It was down to Flamefox and Firestorm now, and they didn't stand a chance against him! I tried to size up Suicune and see if there were any weaknesses my fire foxes could exploit, when I noticed something on the crest of Suicune's head. It was a mechanical device. I was willing to bet that was how he was being controlled. I stared into his vacant eyes and realized I had to get that off of him. "Okay, guys, I'm just gonna need a distraction. Whatever you do, don't get hit by any of his attacks! Use your agility to avoid them. But keep using your most powerful fire attacks on him. While he's distracted, I'm gonna leap onto his back and try to pull that device off his head." Then I looked both of them in the eyes, and said, "For the record, if I get killed, this was a bad idea." They looked at me, worried, but confident in my plan. "Go!" I shouted. They began to run around in a blur, in opposite directions. Firestorm launched his fire blasts at him, and Flamefox launched flamethrowers at him. He couldn't follow both of them, but kept trying, launching his water guns towards them. While they had his attention, I snuck up behind him and leapt onto his back, and I grasped the crest on his head. He jumped up in the air and kicked up his back legs like a wild Tauros! I held on tightly to his crest. My fire foxes discontinued their fire attacks while I was on his back, but they each tried to use their quick attacks on him to slow him down. Then he hit Firestorm with his hyper beam, which crashed him to the wall, and then he fell, defeated, onto the floor. "Firestorm, no!" I shouted, as I pounded on the device with my hand. I pounded as hard as I could, and the next thing I knew, Flamefox was also hit by his hyper beam and knocked out. I managed to loosen the device, and I gripped it with both of my hands, just as Suicune threw me! It came off! I continued to grasp it in my hands as I crashed against the wall. "Ouch!" I said loudly. Suicune shook his head, and the vacant look left his eyes. He was in control again. He looked around at the room full of fainted Pokemon, and then he looked at me with his deep red eyes, and in my mind, I heard him say, "Please, forgive me!" At that, he turned and leapt out the window. I got up and ran over to look outside, and I watched as he attacked the Team Rocket agents with his hyper beam, and he knocked them all out! Then he ran off. That was the last I ever saw of him. I ran over to my fainted Pokemon, and picked up Flamefox. "I'm sorry I had to put you guys through all this, but we freed Suicune!" I knelt down by Tauros and Firestorm, and gently caressed my unconscious Vulpix as the heavy rains continued to fall outside. Suddenly, Ho-oh began to glow. I watched her as I held Flamefox. Soon, her eyes opened and she stood up. She looked at each of my Pokemon, and as she did, each of them began to glow, as well. Then their eyes opened and they stood up. She had recovered herself, as well as all of my Pokemon. Flamefox's eyes opened as I held him. "Flamefox!" I said, and gave him a big hug. "Thank you, all of you" she said to us. "I must now perform my task. Would you like to come along?" I enthusiastically nodded and recalled all of my Pokemon to their pokeballs, except Flamefox, who sat up on my shoulders. I climbed onto the back of the large bird, and she took to the air from the window, flapping her large, colorful wings. As she flew, the rain all around us stopped, and a rainbow appeared. As she gained altitude, she pretty much glided through the air, and only had to flap her wings once in a while. Everywhere we glided, the rain stopped to be replaced with rainbows. It was quite a beautiful spectacle. Flamefox was enjoying this as much as I was! Ho-oh took us on a breathtaking flight over Johto, Kanto, and the surrounding regions - I even saw Professor Oak's lab and Pokemon sanctuary! I think we only flew for a few hours, but it felt like a beautiful eternity. I held onto the soft feathers on her back, and just took everything in.
When she was finished, she flew us back to the Tin Tower. There, waiting for us, was Sage Li. The Team Rocket agents were gone. Ho-oh landed and we got off her back. She looked at Sage Li, who bowed his head to her, and she bowed her head back at him. Flamefox and I stood before her. She then turned her head, and plucked out one of her large feathers. She turned back to me, holding the feather in her yellow beak, and said, "Here. This is for you. You were willing to try to save me at the expense of yourself and your Pokemon. There are few in this world who are that self giving. I am honored to know you. With this feather, you and you, alone, may contact me anytime you need my help." I took the feather. It glistened with all the colors of the rainbow. "In a time of need, run the feather between your thumb and index finger three times, and I will come to you." I replied, "Thank you, Ho-oh! For everything!" She nodded, then flapped her large wings, and took to the skies. We watched her as she flew away. Then Sage Li said, "I knew you were special." I asked him, "What happened to the Team Rocket agents?" He said, "Officer Jenny took them into custody. They will now pay their debt to society." Then I asked him, "So what happens now... with Suicune and Ho-oh?" He replied, "You are the first to ever summon Ho-oh. Now that you have, she will roam the earth freely, just like Suicune, until summoned again. They are meant to be free spirits. With luck, no one will ever summon Suicune again." He looked at the Rainbow Feather and said, "What you have been given is a special gift. I hope that you will use it wisely." I replied, "I will", as I admired the Rainbow Feather I held in my hand. Sage Li took the Rainbow Wing out of the pocket of his robe. "I will return this to the safe place we keep it" he told me. I finally said, "Well, I think it's time we got on with our journey. Thank you for trusting me with this great secret." He smiled and said, "You are welcome. I wish you good luck on your journey." With that, I released all of my Pokemon once again and mounted onto Tauros with Flamefox. "To Olivine City, Tauros!" I said. We were soon under way once again.
Giovanni was furious! He couldn't believe everything had gone this badly! The last thing the camera picked up was Suicune battling some trainer and winning, but then it went blank! After that, he lost contact with his agents at the Tin Tower and later found out they were arrested! Now he had neither Suicune or Ho-oh. But at least he still had the Clear Bell! He could summon Suicune again, and this time, things would go perfectly! He walked into his artifact room, with his faithful Persian, to admire the Clear Bell, now under a bulletproof glass dome, surrounded by a tight, state of the art laser security field. Suddenly, the alarm sounded. There was an intruder in the building! Before he could react, Suicune burst through the door, causing the wood to explode into splinters. Giovanni stood there, in shock. Suicune leapt over to the Clear Bell, and launched a hyper beam, which destroyed the security field and the dome! He picked up the Clear Bell with his mouth, and burst through the other wall. "No!" Giovanni shouted. Suicune burst through to the outside of Team Rocket headquarters and dashed off so fast, he was only a blur. Where he and the Clear Bell now were, nobody knew.