The ground…it was hot underneath his padded footing.
A Lucario bounced across the valley rocks, eyes narrowed into slits, partially because of the blaring sunlight, and also to help focus on any far sights across the canyon that were blurred behind burning air. The aura Pokemon could feel his breath become hard to exhale; fatigue was taking over, and the heat around him seemed to even radiate off the small stream below a large trench, which was the reason why he didn't bother to lower himself to drink some refreshing water.
His scarlet eyes were bright, yet somehow dimmed simultaneously from the seriousness that had placed a frown across his snout. He kneeled down after landing on a sturdy rock somewhat leaning over a deep crevasse, giving his aching legs a rest, allowing himself to calm down since he had pushed his muscles to the limit in order to increase his running speed. He knew all too well that his fur, which consisted of colors from goldenrod on his torso, to cerulean skimming his upper legs and arms before obsidian took over, was not built to keep away heat. In fact, it attracted it, only adding to the harsh turmoil his bare skin was already going through.
He could not avoid this, though, seeing as how the valley was his current home. He did not carry attributes to live in desert-like conditions, but even then he had a reason for staying – a reason the being he could see looking over the valley a few yards away had told him.
With a look of determination gracing his eyes he ignored the stinging pain that brought weakness to his legs and performed one last leap towards the said figure, who was keeping his orbs of scarlet and ebony onto a group of Pokemon that could be seen traveling down a rocky path not too far away. Only when the Lucario landed beside the toad-like Pokemon did he bring his eyes to him, greeting him silently before returning his glare towards the leader of the Pokemon below – Raikou.
The Lucario displayed slight shock as he finally noticed the Pokemon within the group, and for the sake of it he kneeled down slightly, allowing the edge he was looking over to hide his humanoid body. His expression of surprise died down slightly, although he seemed nervous somewhat, delicately moving his paws to the side as if he was scared to cause a small pebble to fall down the trench, which would alert Raikou and his traveling companions that Pokemon were spying on them from above.
"Have you been following them?" the Lucario then brought himself to ask the large toad-like Pokemon next to him. Only a few seconds after his question did he turn his head to face him, admiring how serious the Pokemon's narrowed eyes portrayed themselves to be.
The toad-like Pokemon seemed to sigh, although he eventually nodded, which, coming from him, seemed weird since he lacked a neck. "I believe Raikou is the one who has gotten exiled, Drendan."
Drendan the Lucario turned his eyes downward in the act of pondering. Raikou was the one who had gotten exiled from the council? The thunder tiger was the one whom Terotrey had ignored, therefore signaling he lacked what the silver-haired scientist wanted, which had brought Drendan to believe he was no longer a Legendary? The Pokemon next to him had assumed the same ever since they both began watching the events that happened near the Rocket base within the valley. In the midst of this they had overheard from conversing Rocket grunts that Terotrey desired Legendary essence, and it wasn't long before the news of Raikou's worthlessness spread throughout the building.
"You think Raikou wasn't captured because he lacks his essence?" the Lucario then questioned, this time not turning to eye the lava toad beside him. He, too, kept his eyes on Raikou, his voice coming out as a whisper to avoid detection. He actually didn't need proof, as with his aura powers he could sense that the thunder tiger below was missing the strong semblance Legendaries held, and it didn't take a genius to figure that Raikou was here to rescue the captured Legendaries from the base.
"Yes," was all the following answer contained. The lava toad seemed calm, which most usually conjured the fact that his old age was the cause.
Drendan shifted weight between his shoulders. "Do you think we should help him rescue the Legendaries?"
The question had come out with slight emotion, as the Lucario knew any reference to the Legendaries brought the lava toad to reflect on past incidents. Drendan was sure that, because of this, the lava toad next to him was going to tell him to stay out of the way, and that helping the Legendaries would not benefit them in any way. However, the answer that came from the lava toad's mouth brought the Lucario to display slight awe.
"We will help in anyway we can, because I know what it feels like to be banned from the council."
Drendan forced his mouth closed, and eventually nodded as he turned his eyes towards Raikou and his companions, who were entering another cave, obviously searching for the Rocket base. As the Lucario stood up, allowing his scarlet eyes to meet the matching ones of the toad-like Pokemon next to him, they both set off down the trench and after the exile.
"The essence extraction process is ready, Terotrey."
Terotrey Horrifiance allowed his maroon eyes to open into narrowed slits, instantly focusing their piercing glare towards the grunt that had entered his office, appearing more nervous than usual. The silver-haired scientist already assumed it was from the fact that their previous leader, Giovanni, had nearly been decapitated earlier that day, but was instead thrown into a holding cell with his face smashed in. Immediately the grunts took a liking towards Terotrey, as they had been doing since he first 'joined' the team, although now he had taken over the role of the organization's boss. It didn't take much to convince the current members to follow him, as he promised them riches beyond their wildest dreams and other goods that would prove worthy of their contribution to the plan of creating a world without sin.
Besides, they were too scared to fight Terotrey anyway.
The man had proven himself to be a monster – a demon rather than the God he was trying to make himself become. He was blinded by his need to fulfill his plot, which meant he tolerated no one that said otherwise, giving them no mercy and usually very tempted to kill them on the spot because of this.
Now, however, his experiment to turn himself into a Legendary that would hold all controls to natural balance was only a few more days away from completion. All he needed to do was extract the Legendary essence from the captive Legendaries and then go on from there.
"Which Legendary should we extract the essence from first?"
Terotrey was snapped away from his thoughts as the grunt suddenly asked the question, and with a smug frown he stood up from his chair, bringing his arms to cross in front of his chest. He really had no bias when it came to which Legendary he would want to suck the energy from first, although he decided to go with the one he admired the most, and as he murmured his answer the grunt saluted in approval before running out of the room like a child trying to escape an angry parent.
"Bring me Darkrai."
Raikou and the others groaned slightly as they entered into yet another cave. They had been walking through trenches, trenches, and more trenches over the last few hours, and they all were tired, nearly dehydrated, and aching in places that made them want to fall over and faint right then and there. Mewtwo, despite how he always strived himself to be strong in even the toughest of situations, felt like he was going to die any second, while Deoxys was displaying the same symptoms, although she managed to confine it all into a simple limp in her step.
Skyler the Flygon couldn't help but pant slightly regardless that his species were built to live in the desert. Of course, ever since he met Jeff, who was lying on top of his head, his rose hands dangling from the sides since he was too weak to lift them, he had lived in the forest with the Roselia, and now his body seemed to had forgotten all the instincts it held when it came to surviving in a dry area.
"This sucks," Jeff commented, his voice becoming muffled from the fact that his face was buried into Skyler's warm and somewhat damp scales. "This sucks worse than the season finale of May's Anatomy – oh, and Desperate Gym-wives."
"It feels like we've been walking for days," Raikou muttered, trying endlessly to convince himself that the Legendaries needed to be saved, although the scolding heat made his vision blur and head feel light and dizzy. Mewtwo tried to come up with a comeback, some sort of assurance to announce that would take the others' minds off the heat, although he couldn't even take his own mind off the temperature to think about a way to take everyone else's minds off the temperature.
Jeff tried his best to raise his hand, but wound up falling over again, nearly slipping off of Skyler's head in the process. "Us Roselias weren't built for the desert," he mumbled. "We were built to live in trees…and shrubs…and plants…and green -"
Jeff had fainted before he could finish his sentence.
Before any more comments could be made, the sound of tumbling pebbles echoed throughout the cave, bringing Raikou and the others to an instant stop. Darkness engulfed practically everything, and therefore it was hard to determine what was what. Silence dominated Raikou as he, frozen in the process of placing his paw on the ground, wandered his eyes over the sea of black that surrounded him, looking for any signs of what could've caused the noise.
Nothing; it was quiet after that, as if only a ghost had made the sound.
Raikou felt suspicion rise from within him, but eventually shook it away as he turned his head to eye the others, who he assumed were behind him. "It's nothing guys, let's just -"
He was cut off when the familiar screeching sound similar to dozens of activated smoke detectors filled the air, waking Jeff up while the others lunged towards the ground to cover their ears. Simultaneous to this, the cold feeling of fear washed through their muscles, as they knew that only one possible being made such a sound.
Robotic Pokemon.
As if on cue a red, electronic eye appeared in the middle of the darkness to the side, eventually lighting up brighter to where it illuminated the owner's face. A robotic Blaziken stared angrily at Raikou and the others' frozen figures, and it wasn't long after that before dozens of electronic red eyes appeared from behind it, all becoming illuminated in an eerie crimson glow and therefore revealing that a large number of robots were standing not too far away from the Blaziken. Ironically the only thing that came as a vocal response from Raikou and the others emitted from Jeff's gaped mouth.
"Aw crap."
Immediately the robots roared in anger, some leaning forward to add emphasis to their intimidation.
"RUN, MATES!" Skyler screamed, and Raikou and the others trampled over their own feet as they snapped around to the opposite side and took off for the first exit they could see – a large opening that led deeper into the caves.
With their breaths quickening, they rocketed down the tunnel, Mewtwo and Deoxys staying somewhat behind to launch psychic attacks towards the robots that were now chasing after them. Only some were knocked back, however, which brought the manmade and space Pokemon to give up and instead run ahead to catch up with the others.
They didn't know where they were going – only the fact that they needed to get away from the robotic Pokemon, who showed no signs of ceasing their determined attempts to catch them. Skyler looked back, only to squeal when he realized that a robotic Nidoking was right on his tail. Jeff, on the other hand, was too busy trying to hold onto one of the Flygon's antennas, which were dashing around like crazy during the heated chase. The Roselia, despite that he was practically dangling off of it now, held on through the whiplashes and stomach-churning turns as they all ran deeper into the caverns.
"Sick! I'm gonna be sick!" he cried as he was flung around while holding onto Skyler's antenna for dear life.
Raikou and the others continued down the caves, ignoring how amazingly deep they ran on. They took quick turns around every corner, sometimes jumping down holes even, advancing more underground to where it was miraculous if they could see anything at all. The robot Pokemon continued to chase them, however, displaying no symptoms of fatigue while Raikou and the others were still tired from the traveling they had done previously.
Eventually in the midst of the chaos, Skyler and Jeff were separated from the group – as they ran close behind Mewtwo, the floor gave out to them and they were sent tumbling down a hole and into an even bigger cavern underneath. They moaned as they recovered from the impact, examining their surroundings for the few seconds they had before they learned that some of the robotic Pokemon had noticed this and were going in after them.
Jeff and Skyler panicked, not knowing what to do. That is, until Jeff noticed there was a deep ditch in front of them, in which the ground was so smooth it was almost as if it was…
Jeff smiled, coming up with a plan.
"FOR SPARTA!" Jeff cried out, and before Skyler could quirk his eyebrow at the randomness of the battle cry, Jeff rammed into him, bringing them both over the ledge and down the slide-like ditch.
The robotic Pokemon ran up to the edge, eyeing the Roselia and Flygon viciously as the two said Pokemon began to roll down the ditch as if it was a wide slide. Without question the robots jumped down and allowed themselves to slide after them.
Jeff gasped when he noticed this, and leaned in to increase his sliding speed, although, in the midst of this, he and Skyler lost their control and began to swerve around, losing all sense of direction as the cold wind of fast movement brushed across their faces. This didn't calm them, though, as their yelps of help echoed throughout the cavern, the robotic Pokemons' screeches following shortly after.
Soon the slide broke out into two separate tunnels, and Jeff and Skyler split apart unwillingly, each going into one. An even number of the robots chasing them broke up as well and took their choice of targets and therefore tunnels.
Jeff screamed as he whizzed through his tunnel, sliding all over the place. He worried about Skyler, not being able to see him through the thick wall of stone that separated their pathways, but before he even noticed the robots above sliding after him, his tunnel suddenly broke off into another large room…
…right at the top.
The Roselia screamed like crazy as he then free-fell down the vertical tunnel, flailing his rose hands around. It wasn't long before he started to smack into ledges that hung off the wall, immediately ricocheting from them and continuing his tumble down the tunnel, in which he emitted painful moans during.
He slammed into one ledge.
"Ow, my brain!"
He slammed into another one.
"Ow, my petals!"
He slammed into another one.
"Ow, my nostril!"
He slammed into another one.
"OW, MY FOOT!"
Before he could tumble down anymore, he felt himself be picked up by strong arms, and hurting in every inch of his body he could only groggily open his obsidian eyes to identify his savior, hoping slightly that it wasn't a robotic Pokemon.
It was…a Lucario?
Indeed that's what was now carrying him in his arm, and with determined scarlet eyes the aura Pokemon jumped from ledge to ledge, lowering into the tunnel in a slower, organized, and less painful way than Jeff had been forced to endure. The Roselia was dizzy beyond what he could control, and as he noticed that an unconscious Flygon was occupying the Lucario's other arm, Jeff felt darkness overtake his sight.
Raikou felt constant worry when he realized Skyler and Jeff were absent from the group. He, Mewtwo, or Deoxys didn't have time to ponder on their location, though, as they were still running down the tunnels, trying to escape the robotic Pokemon that were chasing after them. Even with the fact that they felt they had been running for hours, the robotic Pokemon displayed no tiredness, which only added more hardship to the moment of trying to outrun their advanced speed.
They suddenly stopped, however, when a wall appeared in front of them after they took the last turn they could find. They could feel their hearts plummet as they gazed upon the barrier of dirt and rock, and only slowly turned to the approaching robotic Pokemon with pure horror overlapping their glossy eyes.
They had come to a dead end.
There was no way to escape now, apart from fight and hope they could break a hole into the robots' numbers and run back the way they came. However, they were all too tired; not to mention not even powerful enough to keep two or three of them down for more than a minute or two. Despite that they refused to give up hope, they couldn't think of a way to escape –
They gasped when one robotic Pokemon was suddenly flung forward, the strike that caused it to go flying towards them, slamming painfully into the wall, came from behind, so immediately all eyes turned towards there.
Standing behind the robotic Pokemon, its red eyes with black pupils casting a vicious glance towards them, was a large toad-like Pokemon. Apart from its skin, which was red with bright orange splotches – similar to the exterior of raging lava, its head appeared to be made of stone, the same going for other parts of its four-legged body. Its eyes glowed like fire, as if flames served as its irises, illuminating the air around them.
Without muttering a simple word, the lava toad pushed its head up as high as its hunched, neck-less body would allow, only to lash it forward once again, this time opening its large jaw and allowing the vast amount of lava it had vomited up to pour across the floor. The robotic Pokemon screeched in slight alarm, jumping up as the wave of melted rock crawled towards them, bringing them to fall back as they felt their metallic appendages begin to heat up from the exposure. It wasn't long before they flew down the tunnel in a desperate attempt to escape the sudden rise of temperature.
Raikou and the others blinked in surprise as they gazed upon the lava toad, who placed its claw into the lava, which, instead of deteriorating its skin like it would any other creature who tried the same thing, managed to cause the whole wave to solidify into black rock. This made it safe for the exile and his companions to come closer, which they did, as the lava toad that had saved them approached as well.
Although Mewtwo and Deoxys displayed bewilderment towards the lava toad's unknown identity, Raikou gaped in awe as its name came back to him.
"H-Heatran?"
The lava toad brought his eyes downward, appearing transfixed on something important in his mind, while Mewtwo walked forward towards Raikou.
"You know him?" he then inquired, eyebrow quirked, obviously wanting answers as Deoxys did behind him.
"Yeah," the thunder tiger answered somewhat happily, as if he was relieved it was someone he knew. "He's a Legendary."
Deoxys now stepped forward, her own question coming to mind. "If he's a Legendary then why hasn't he been captured yet?"
Before the thunder tiger could respond, Heatran replied, emitting an answer that drove Mewtwo and Deoxys into shock, as well as dishearten Raikou slightly as he suddenly remembered that such a thing had happened.
"Because, like Raikou, I was exiled from the Legendary council."