"Dude…?"
Raikou's eyelids struggled to open, heaviness – a side symptom of sudden fatigue – forcing them to be practically glued shut. Tiredness fell onto his muscles as he tried to focus on the male voice that was obviously trying to coax him to wake. The unknown being's voice trailed off to the sanctuaries of the exile's mind, as if it was nothing but a fading dream, although he knew it wasn't and therefore he pushed himself to wake.
But he was…so tired.
He didn't remember much of what happened – what felt like – a few minutes ago, and because of this he was somewhat scared to open his eyes, afraid to learn that he was possibly just found by a human trainer – a trainer most likely determined to catch him.
"Focus, dude…"
The voice trailed off in a dream-like way once more, and Raikou now only noticed the uneducated tone that followed the being's accent. Most likely the said coaxer was drugged on something, which was a situation Raikou definitely didn't want.
A stoned trainer.
Raikou moaned out, wishing that the darkness that encompassed his sight would dissipate, and because of this he struggled to open his eyes, trying his best to get rid of the following blurriness in the wake. Eventually, to his luck, he managed to slide his eyelids up into slits, giving him a narrowed view of the cloudless, morning sky and surrounding trees.
It also gave him the sight of a big, green face that practically blocked out his view like some sort of eclipse. Raikou mentally scolded himself as he tried to focus on the being in front of him, and he was soon able to slide his eyelids fully open, causing the lingering blurriness that occupied his eyesight to diminish instantly. It was then when he recognized the spiky head, green skin, beady, yet somewhat half-closed obsidian eyes, and the droopy facial expression that gave the identified species the semblance of a 'slow' teenager.
A Roselia.
Indeed that's what it was, or rather, what he was, and Raikou backed off slightly, leaning forward from his lying position to a sitting formation. Because he rose to his natural height, the Roselia now seemed much smaller, barely reaching to his knee length. The exile, ignoring the dry blades of grass and tall trees that surrounded him, only turned his confused eyes towards the Roselia, who now had a big grin on his face.
"Yo, dude, you live!" the Roselia chuckled, his accent slow with attributes of a 'surfer dude', which made Raikou assume that he was quite the uneducated type. Of course, the thunder tiger was just happy that it wasn't a stoned human trainer, although the Roselia did seem wobbly enough to be classified as a person on drugs.
"Uh…hi?" Raikou murmured out, still somewhat tired as he tried to remember the things that had happened to him previously, while simultaneously wondering about his current situation. He brought a paw to his pounding head, although he shook it slightly as if trying to regain his jumbled thoughts.
"Sup, man," the Roselia greeted, his slow voice still…slow. The small rose being turned his head around, which Raikou lazily allowed his eyes to follow, and somewhat widened them when another green creature came into view at the far side of the grassy field. This creature however, was about his size.
The Roselia, his droopy expression still showing, put one of his large rose-resembling hands towards his face, as he then called out, "Dude, Skyler!"
The green creature rose its head up, its emerald eyes shining brightly despite the distance between it and Raikou, who cocked his head slightly, still in the process of waking up. The green creature soon stumbled its way over, and that's when Raikou realized that it was nothing but a Flygon, who had an amused expression laid upon its snout.
"Hello, mate!" the male Flygon greeted happily, his Australian accent strong. Raikou slightly fell back, somewhat scared of the new identities he had yet to learn. "Oy, it's okay, mate," the Flygon then assured him, a large smile forming across his lips. "We found you and your friends out here in the middle of this field, mate! Anyway, my name's Skyler!" He turned to the Roselia. "And this here's Jeff."
Raikou frowned, eyebrow quirked. "'Jeff'?"
Jeff the Roselia crossed his arms, his droopy expression gaining an angry hue, although his surfer dude accent failed to give him an intimidating appearance. "You got a problem with that, dude?"
Raikou squeaked slightly before hesitantly shaking his head.
Jeff puffed his tiny chest out. "I didn't think so." His smile then returned. "My full name is Jefferson Drewyer Roselia, dude." He turned to Skyler, his rose hand stuck out in the act of pointing. "And his name is short for…um…uh…" The Roselia cocked his head, his face contorting into that of a teen stumped entirely on a kindergarten math problem.
The Flygon groaned in impatience. "Jeff, I told you; my name is just Skyler." He turned his head to Raikou, his voice now coming out as a whisper into the thunder tiger's ear. "Eh, sorry about that, mate, Jeff can be a little slow at times. He sniffs his own roses a little too much…"
"Yo, I heard that, dude!"
Skyler turned to Jeff, his eyes furrowed, a frown now covering his snout. "Well, you do, mate. It's not healthy!" The Flygon placed his claws on his hip areas like a strict father.
Jeff only snorted, turning away and crossing his arms.
Meanwhile, however, Raikou switched his nervous glances between the two fighting Pokemon, blowing out a sigh of misery. When the two said pals noticed this, they turned towards him, and Jeff walked forward on his pointy feet, a grin now growing on his droopy face. "Oh yeah, dude," he then squealed happily and somewhat amazed, "you're that Raikou, dude. A Legendary!"
The thunder tiger immediately frowned, his eyes darkening with sadness as he bowed his head. Skyler immediately saw this and therefore slowly approached him, his voice soft with slight concern. "You okay, mate?"
Raikou turned his head away. "I'm not a Legendary anymore," he then moaned out quietly, although it was loud enough to cause Jeff and Skyler to display expressions of awe.
"Aw, shucks, dude," Jeff mumbled out, sadness radiating from his voice. "That sucks; what happened?"
Taking in a long breath, Raikou turned to face the two Pokemon and explained the whole story, his stay at Darkrai's island, and the mysterious robotic Pokemon that had attacked it, as well as the cloaked figure that had saved them.
"That's quite the tale, mate," Skyler commented, Jeff nodding in agreement.
"But don't worry, dude," Jeff then chuckled, walking over to the exile and patting him on the forearm with his hand. It was obvious he was referring to the accident that got Raikou exiled. "Things happen, may they be by accident or Fate. The important thing to know is that dwelling on past problems won't fix them now."
Skyler blinked in surprise, while Raikou couldn't help but do the same. Jeff only switched his bewildered glances between the thunder tiger and desert dragon, raising his hands up in the form of a clueless shrug. "What'd I say?"
"Jeff…that was…brilliant," Skyler slowly replied, eyes still widened in a surprised manner. "Such a theorized assurance seems out of your league, mate."
Jeff snorted again, crossing his arms. "Are you inquiring that I'm dumb?"
"No, I'm just saying that you're not as 'fast' as the rest of us."
Jeff narrowed his eyes, while Skyler only stared back emotionlessly, and when Raikou thought that the grass being was going to throw a fit at the Flygon's replication that had obviously implied itself as an insult, Jeff only broke out into laughter. "Gee, thanks, dude!" he squealed, his smile big, and Raikou only rolled his eyes at the clueless-ness that seemed to follow his character. Meanwhile, Skyler slapped his forehead, seeming ashamed to know the Roselia that stood proud in front of him.
The thunder tiger suddenly widened his eyes, his main predicament finally returning to mind. "Suicune!" he then cried, breathless, which caused both Skyler and Jeff to jump back in shock, although the Flygon eventually pointed to the far side of the field.
"Your girlfriend's resting over there, mate."
Raikou slightly blushed at the choice of words before following Jeff and Skyler as they led him to a clear patch within the grass. In this very patch lay Suicune, still unconscious from the cloaked being's teleportation, and as Raikou stared lovingly at Suicune's calm sleeping expression, he finally remembered the unknown person who had saved them as well. At the sound of this, Jeff pointed to a nearby tree, where the cloaked being was sitting up against, his hood down, revealing his face and therefore his identity.
Mewtwo.
Raikou slightly gaped at this, although he knew that it was quite obvious. However, he wondered why Mewtwo would want to help him and Suicune, or any Legendaries for that matter, which such a question convinced him to walk over to the manmade Pokemon. Mewtwo slowly opened his eyes, hints of weakness covering him as his narrowed orbs eyed the approaching thunder tiger, who carried a somewhat nervous expression across his face. Behind him were Jeff and Skyler.
"You're finally awake," Mewtwo mumbled, his deep telepathic voice emitting out loud as if it had been spoken through his very frowning mouth. His ebony cloak still covered most parts of his body, and his amethyst-colored tail swished around at every sound that passed, while he himself remained still against the tree like a fatigued warrior.
"What happened?" Raikou found himself asking almost instantly. "Where are we?"
Mewtwo sighed, as if despising the idea of explaining the current situation. He eventually turned his head up, his serious expression making Raikou feel somewhat intimidated. "The robotic monsters that attacked Darkrai's island…I have no idea on what they were, or who created them. I do know, however, that they have been hunting Legendaries, capturing them and bringing them somewhere."
Raikou's jaw dropped at this, an instant tone of worry covering his face and eyes.
Mewtwo lowered his determined orbs to the ground before starting again. "I had been desperately trying to find the power waves of Legendaries that were still free, and Newmoon Island was the only location that sported such waves. As you can see, when I got there, the robotic Pokemon had attacked and captured both Darkrai and Cresselia. All I could do was save you and Suicune by teleporting us here, which is a forest near the west coast of the Sinnoh region. Such an act as teleporting took a lot of my energy, and therefore I'm weak now."
Raikou's own eyes displayed determination, and he turned them to Mewtwo.
"I am aware that you have been exiled from the Legendary council," Mewtwo suddenly muttered, causing Raikou to jump back slightly. "However, such a thing may be an advantage to saving the other Legendaries…"
Raikou widened his eyes, and eagerly replied, "How?"
"Somehow those robotic Pokemon can track Legendaries," Mewtwo answered, his voice still slow and deep. "This is why they have been able to hunt every Legendary down despite the various tactics that have been used to fight against them. I believe that since you have been exiled, therefore your Legendary traits have been removed, they can't technically track you."
Raikou nodded, taking in the new information, although his face displayed concern once again. "But how is that really an advantage. I mean, when I got exiled my powers had been taken away, and now I am no powerful than any regular Pokemon."
Mewtwo sighed again. "Yes, this is true. But the people who are trying to hunt the Legendaries obviously don't know this, and therefore such things will probably carry advantages in the fight that is coming up."
"Fight? What fight?"
Mewtwo stood up, nearly falling over as weakness enshrouded his muscles on the spot. He eventually regained balance, however, and allowed his cloak to hide his whole body once again. "Raikou," he then began, "the world is doomed if the Legendaries aren't here to survey the rules of natural order. This is why we need to rescue them as fast as possible, which means I can't guarantee you that this event is going to go without violence."
The thunder tiger turned the other way, not wanting to believe that any of the current events were happening – that everything was fine and happy. However, he knew that it wasn't, and that he and Suicune we're the only beings capable to save the other Legendaries from their prisons.
But…would he just mess up again?
Raikou frowned at this. Such a task as saving the other Legendaries from a villain he didn't even know was one risky job; and so was he even responsible enough to have the lives of the others placed in his paws? His worries about the other Legendaries collided with his debating thoughts, and soon his stomach churned at wondering what was possibly happening to Darkrai or Cresselia then and there, or perhaps…
…Entei.
The thunder tiger's eyes widened. He had to; he couldn't just run away from the ones he loved – from those who had always been there for him despite his majority of flaws!
He had to try. He owed the others that much.
"I am not a Legendary so I can't be tracked," Mewtwo then started again, earning a bewildered look from Raikou. "But even then one of those robotic monsters outmatches me in every way, so I'm going to need help to save the other Legendaries. I want to keep this world safe as much as anybody, which was why we need to rescue them."
After a while, Raikou slowly nodded, his determined expression returning.
"My energy still needs to recharge after that drastic escape from Newmoon Island," explained Mewtwo. "Because of this I can't teleport, so we're probably going to have to travel on foot. We need to search for any clues, may they be anywhere, on where the Legendaries could possibly be located, while simultaneously searching for Pokemon who will be willing to help us rescue them."
Raikou nodded.
Mewtwo shot his eyes towards Suicune, who was still sleeping. "Because Suicune is a Legendary, the robotic Pokemon will be able to track her." At the sight of Raikou's hurt face, Mewtwo added, "I know you love her, Raikou, which was why I don't want to force you to have to leave her separated from us for our own safety. Seeing as how she could be of major help, she needs to stay with us. Due to this, though, we're going to need to be constantly on the move to ensure that the robotic Pokemon have a low chance of catching up with us."
Raikou smiled slightly, happy that they weren't going to leave his counterpart behind. "But where do we go first?" he then asked.
"I don't know," Mewtwo responded, turning back around and sitting down, instantly allowing his back to rest against the tree trunk behind him. "We will figure that out later. Now, however, we will inform Suicune of our plan when she wakes. Until then, let her rest. You should, too, as we're all going to need it."
Raikou sighed through his nostrils before turning to face Skyler and Jeff, who had been listening to the whole story silently behind him. Memories of Suicune telling him about performing a task that would convince the council to give him back his Legendary status came into mind, but he soon scolded himself for thinking that the current situation would be good for that. How could he even ponder on using such a dark time to help regain his glory when the very lives of the Legendaries, as well as on the planet itself, was at stake?
"Mate…?"
Raikou snapped out of his thoughts, turning to Skyler, who was gazing at him with soft eyes, his tone gentle with assurance. The Flygon stepped forward before murmuring, "It sounds like you're going to try to start some sort of army to rescue the Legendaries." He shot his eyes towards Jeff, who returned the concerned gesture. "We'll be willing to help, mate," Skyler then finally admitted, and Raikou couldn't help but smile warmly.
"Yeah!" Jeff then roared out as he climbed to the top of Skyler's head, standing right between the desert dragon's long horns. He then raised his rose hand in the air, as if he was some sort of battle general ordering the imaginary troops around him to charge forward. "We're going to kick whoever caught the Legendaries's ass, dude!" He performed cheesy air punches, almost falling off of Skyler's head in the wake. Despite this, though, the desert dragon couldn't help but let out a quiet battle cry as well.
"Thanks guys," Raikou replied, although he soon added with a chuckle: "Welcome to the army."
The thunder tiger then turned the other way to eye the visible sunset that seethed through the slits between the forest trees, his smile now turning into a smirk as the current plan ran through his head.
Yes, he had been exiled.
Yes, the other Legendaries had been caught.
Yes, it seemed weird for the lives of the captured Legendaries to be placed in his paws, but despite all this he knew one thing.
He looked back, watching Jeff and Skyler, the first two newly added members of their slowly-growing army, eye the sunset from beside him.
He – no, none of them were going down without a fight.
Darkrai struggled to regain consciousness, although after opening and closing his eyelids a majority of times, he managed to bring his focus out into the world from the jumbled depths of his mind. With a groan he rose himself up into a float, slowly allowing his sea-green eyes to examine the strange white-tiled room his cage, which had been reinforced with some kind of energy field that shocked him painfully whenever he got close to the iron bars, was in. Turning his eyes to the far corner of his cage, he noticed his counterpart, Cresselia, who was still sleeping from when she fainted due to fatigue.
Still confused on what had happened on his island – on how he and Cresselia had been ambushed while they were talking, Darkrai slowly brought his eyes to the cage next to his, which the fire lion, Entei, was laying down in, although his scarlet eyes were open into a narrowed formation.
"Hey, Entei," Darkrai softly whispered, not wanting his voice to be heard from any inhabitants outside of the metallic door into the room. The fire lion rose his head up, immediately bringing his eyes to Darkrai before getting up and walking somewhat, but not dangerously closer to the bars of his cage.
"What happened? Where are we?" the nightmare Legendary questioned, watching Entei's face contort into one of anger.
"Team Rocket," was all the fire lion muttered, and instantly hues of hatred covered Darkrai's face as well. "Those robotic Pokemon belong to them, and somehow they found me in the midst of hiding. Before I knew it I was beaten until I was knocked out and I woke up here."
Darkrai allowed his eyes to examine the colorless walls of the room, which some displayed the familiar large 'R' of the Rocket organization in red font. The nightmare Legendary turned to Entei once again, his serious voice still coming out as a whisper. "What is Team Rocket planning to do with us now? And how the hell did they even get their hands on such unbeatable monsters as those robotic Pokemon?"
Entei remained silent, and Darkrai didn't need a spoken hint to know that the old Pokemon was clueless to those subjects. The dark-type allowed his eyes to examine more nooks and crannies of the room from behind his cage, noticing then that only his (which he was sharing with Cresselia) and Entei's cages occupied the room, and that any other Legendaries weren't present.
"The others are spread out between various rooms in the hallway," the fire lion explained to Darkrai when he sensed that he was wanting an answer. "We're the only ones in this one."
Worries on the status of the other Legendaries plagued Darkrai's mind, and only when he shot a look towards his sleeping counterpart did he feel slight comfort. However, his attention, as well as Entei's, was snapped away when the metallic door into the room slid open, allowing a thirty-year-old man with long, silver hair to walk in, his maroon-colored eyes reflecting both arrogance and annoyance. Darkrai immediately began to growl, as well as Entei.
"Why, hello," the man greeted with the cheesiest sense of pretended friendliness Darkrai had ever heard, and the man then stared at him and Entei with look a of amusement, obviously mentally teasing them on their imprisoned states. It was then when he said his name, a name that all of the Legendaries, as well as Team Rocket themselves, would soon fear.
"I am Terotrey Horrifiance."