Blood filled the air…as did death.
Terotrey released a roar as he exposed himself from the clouds, black lightning hugging his figure. The battlefield below was filled with warriors – half of them from his robotic Pokemon army, and the other fleshed half belonging to Raikou: the exiled Legendary who had been attempting to rebel against him and stop his reign over the world from being created. Of course, the arrogant thunder tiger had failed to do so, seeing as how the dragon now held the Legendary essences, giving him complete power beyond all imaginations.
He soared through the air, his large wings flapping. As he flew by, the ground shook, his colossal size making it seem that he was a battleship mere inches away from crashing into the valleys below. However, he stayed afloat, watching in amusement as the rebelling Pokemon, when they were able to escape the robots for a few minor seconds, shot their attacks towards his underbelly. It was all useless; his power expanded theirs by unbelievable levels, and therefore their attacks only felt like simple pricks against his scaly skin.
He slowly opened his jaw as he made another round over the battlefield, releasing a cerulean beam that ate away the ground as it made contact. The dirt and rock exploded from the energy of it all, leaving behind trails of smoke similar to the aftereffects of a building's collapse. Although many of the opposing Pokemon managed to survive the deadly strikes, Terotrey knew it wouldn't be long before they all fell to his power.
He was God, after all.
Raikou couldn't believe his scarlet eyes.
He gazed down at the battlefield, watching as the monstrosity that was Terotrey tore away at it with beams, flying around in the midst of it so that no Pokemon could dare escape his wrath. Sure the thunder tiger himself was distant, as since Terotrey had taken off and began to attack the battlefield, Raikou had convinced his allies to grab the Legendaries' cages and transfer them to a safe location away from the danger zone. If there was hope of restoring the world back to its rightful place - if such a thing was even possible anymore - then the Legendaries needed to be protected until they could regain their essences…
…again: if such a thing was even possible anymore.
Anger suddenly took over the exile while Mewtwo and the others rolled the cages into a hidden cave. Before he realized it, Raikou had slammed his fists down onto the muddy ground in front of him, paying no heed to how wet dirt had splotched across his face in response to it.
Why…why did the world deserve this?
Why…why did the Pokemon in the battlefield had to die like this?
Why…how could he let this happen?
Raikou shivered as he felt tears brim his eyes. Terotrey had proclaimed himself to be the arbiter – the bringer of light. However, all the thunder tiger saw was pain; a moment of liberation had been contorted into a war of misery. How were they going to stop Terotrey? Was there even a possibility that they could do so? He was the pure definition of pain rather than peace; he was the bringer of darkness rather than light…
…and he was the Devil rather than God.
"…Raikou?"
The thunder tiger sniffed, ignoring Mewtwo as the manmade Pokemon cooed his name from behind. The air around them was calm since they were a few miles away from the battlefield, although they could still sense the vibrations of Terotrey's catastrophic attacks as they struck the ground. The exile felt guilty for not being able to do anything; his warriors…his friends were all fighting down there, and for what cause? There was no more heroism in all of this; it was just a bloodbath in which any favors towards them had been pushed away since Terotrey's transformation. Victory was oxymoronic for them, but yet if they even tried to run Terotrey would hunt them down as if they were nothing but mere bugs underneath his flyswatter. And there was also the robots…
Raikou suddenly blinked.
The robots…
Hope began to rise up from within the exile, and although a plan had formed in his mind – a plan that could turn the doubtful tables around - his face was etched with determination rather than even an implication of joy. His allies couldn't help but quirk their eyebrows, seeing as how the thunder tiger was now staring at the battleground in silence when only milliseconds ago he was on the bridge of breaking out into tears.
"Raikou-?"
The thunder tiger turned his head to Mewtwo, eyes glossy, yet they were narrowed all the same. "The robots," he then muttered both short and quickly. Mewtwo frowned in bewilderment, although he watched in interest as the thunder tiger stepped forward to focus his gaze on one simple object among the battlegrounds.
The Rocket base.
The base had been partially faded away during Terotrey's transformation. Now it looked like ruins among a desert background; but even then it was still intact enough to be classified as in working order. As Mewtwo stared at it like Raikou was, he, too, also rose his eyebrows up in realization.
Jeff and Skyler exchanged looks, Deoxys blinking while Drendan and Heatran waited for the explanation behind Raikou's weird statement. Eventually, though, Raikou turned to them, Mewtwo keeping quiet so he could see if his suspicions of the thunder tiger's thoughts were indeed accurate.
"The robots," the exile muttered again, this time with more feeling. His audience now switched glances between each other, wondering what the still-loyal minions of Terotrey had to do with defeating him. Raikou turned his eyes to the ground, mentally thinking over his plan once more before returning his gaze back to his allies. "The robots…they hunted for Legendaries by their essences, right?" He turned back around to face the battlefield once more, and right as Terotrey unleashed another beam against its already-scarred surface. The Pokemon had grown aware of his attacks, though, and therefore after every one, more and more fighters managed to avoid it. "So how about we turn Terotrey's minions against him?"
The others' jaws dropped, although they kept quiet nonetheless.
"We know that the robots are still loyal to Terotrey," Mewtwo continued for the thunder tiger, seeing as how he managed to figure what the exile had been planning, as well as tie the Rocket base into all of it, "however, we believe that the robots' main source of power lies within the base."
Raikou stepped forward. "If we can head down there, go into the base unnoticed, locate the control room for the robots…" He turned his head to eye the distant monstrosity that was Terotrey. "…we can make it so that the robots hunt down a certain target."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Deoxys then interrupted, moving her hands to motion for the others to stop. She placed a hand on her hip, her other one cupping her chin. "Are you trying to say that you want to go into the dragon's den – pun not intended – and risk getting ourselves killed just so we can walk into the base and try to find a room in it that might not even EXIST?"
"The robots need to be controlled from somewhere," Mewtwo retorted, crossing his arms. "And it wouldn't make sense to be anywhere but within that base. If we can get there, then we can change who the robots attack."
Deoxys shot a look of surprise to Heatran, in which shock glistened among his large eyes despite that his serious face hid it well. Drendan had already found the plan to be their best bet to any source of hope in the battle, while Jeff and Skyler were too busy thinking over the gruesome conclusions that came with Terotrey happening to notice them. In fact, that very fear resided in everybody, even the two who had thought up of the idea. Silence dominated them, and it seemed like their opinions on the strategy were being expressed through mere glances between one another's eyes.
Eventually, though, another ground shake snapped them away from their trance. Raikou immediately brought his eyes to the battlefield, now somewhat fearing that Terotrey could come down and smash in the Rocket base with or without the intention to. If this came to be then the current plan would go down the drain and they might as well kiss their planet goodbye.
"If anyone cares about my opinion," Jeff, who had recovered from his 'high' state quite a while ago, spoke out from atop Skyler's head. All eyes turned to him, but for once he didn't fidget from the gain of attention, and instead stepped forward until he was right on the Flygon's snout. A look of determination covered his expression, which seemed abnormal for the dopey Roselia. "I think it's better that we do that instead of just sitting here and waiting Terotrey to gain control of everything." He blinked at the end of his sentence, and as if he had forgotten something, he added, "…dudes."
No one bothered to point out the Roselia's oxymoronically mature behavior. Instead they narrowed their eyes and nodded to one another in final approval.
The battle wasn't over yet.
They were going to make sure of that.
The pebbles beneath Raikou and the others' feet crunched under pressure as the said Pokemon pushed themselves down the valley and towards the danger zone – the battlefield right in front of the Rocket base. Terotrey had disappeared behind the clouds once again, proving that he indeed was blinded by the arrogant fact that he believed his robot minions would be able to handle the rebelling Pokemon without his need of contribution. However, this didn't stop him from shooting out his beam attack every so often, although the majority of times he did it had lowered.
Raikou sighed in relief as he realized that this was an advantage. As soon as anything silver poked through the raging clouds above, he felt his heart plummet, despite that most of the time it was just a flash from a cackling piece of black lightning. The crimson sky behind it was hidden by it all, and rain tinted red like blood drizzled down, dampening the land beneath. None of this seemed to affect any of the warriors on the battleground, and therefore, regardless of their urges to turn back, Raikou and his allies sped forward towards the Rocket base as if it was Earth's only last hope.
Of course, in this case, it literally was.
They soon merged with the crowd of fighters, getting lost within their vast numbers. They were surprised to know that only a few robots bothered to attack them; apart from that, the unnatural Pokemon kept their sights on the members of the exile's army. Mewtwo and Deoxys flew forward, surveying the path up ahead, but in the process still keeping low so they could be camouflaged by the war. If Terotrey were to emerge suddenly, then they would rather not stick out among the crowd.
Soon they escaped the battlefield, finding themselves in the clear space that separated the danger zone from the base. Raikou could feel confidence build from within him – he was so close! If their theories were true…then the very key to stopping Terotrey resided within the thick walls of steel and concrete ahead -
A roar tore through the air, echoing across the valley and sounding louder than the thunderous stampede of the storms above.
Raikou froze, as did his allies.
Slowly their eyes turned upward to the raging, blackened heavens.
And only to meet a pair of pure-maroon eyes.
Another roar escaped from Terotrey's mouth, and the silver-haired dragon dove downwards towards them, wings folding in. The Legendary threw out his wings right before he landed, though, therefore lowering the extremities of the aftershock as his colossal body slammed its feet to the ground. He stood up tall, his figure blocking the Rocket base that lay only a few inches away from his swishing tail. Raikou could tell by his sudden landing that he held personal hatred for him, thus finding a reason to touch down altogether.
Despite the fear that ran through the exile's heart as the dragon's gaze bore into his, he slowly shifted his sight to the Rocket base, which was visible through the space between the Legendary's legs. Yes, he was practically staring Death in the face, but somehow he felt more courageous than he did before. Surely enough Terotrey was unaware of his plan to turn his robots against him, but that still didn't help the situation.
Suddenly, dozens of Fire Blasts, Hydro Pumps, Hyper Beams, and other attacks shot through the air and collided with Terotrey's front, bringing the dragon to emit a startling roar of pain. He stepped back from the force of the hit, his foot barely missing crashing into the Rocket base and crumbling it into rubble.
Raikou snapped his eyes backward, noticing that a majority of his fellow Pokemon had gathered and struck the Legendary with all they had. One of their attacks did nothing to him; however, all of them combined into a powerful collage had brought the monstrosity to nearly lose balance, the shock from the hit sending vicious pain all across his body. Terotrey snapped away from the lingering disorientation that came from the strike, and forced himself to straighten his posture as he roared out in anger. Without warning he began to charge up a beam that would be stronger than his previous ones – one that was fueled by the immense hatred that resided within him.
However, the process also distracted the dragon, making him oblivious to the fact that Raikou had run forward and between his legs like a treasure hunter escaping through a collapsing cave. He pushed his muscles to the limit to make it to the base after that, and all his allies could do was watch in amazement.
That is, until Terotrey noticed this.
The dragon snapped away from his charging attack, suppressing the blue beam by closing his jaw to cut off its source of origin. He swiftly turned his head around, the ground shaking from his movements, and he felt his face fall at the sight of the thunder tiger entering the ruined base. It was almost then and there did he realize the exile's plan…
…seeing as how he remembered that the control room for his robots resided within.
Terotrey roared out and immediately stepped forward, raising his fist to smash in the building. However, before he could do so, more of the collaged attacks from Raikou's army struck his back, causing him to keel forward and almost onto his knees. He emitted another howl of misery and snapped around to face the attackers, pure-maroon eyes narrowed with the definition of hatred. He knew he had to get rid of Raikou first, though…
Raikou panted as he made his way up fleets of stairs. The drums of war were muffled from the thick walls of the base, although he could see the sky clearly whenever he came across a collapsed ceiling or a puncture in the wall. The building was indeed bigger on the inside than it appeared on the out, but he didn't bother to become disheartened by this; he knew that Terotrey was right outside, as both of his roars for hatred and pain sounded closer than any other intruding sound.
He instead used this as motivation to increase his speed. He knew that the world was at stake and finding the control room was possibly the only way to defeat Terotrey. He didn't want to ponder on the probability that the robots would be weak compared to Terotrey's amplified power, or even at the fact that the control room was smashed in, the machines inside incapable of doing anything.
No…he kept his hopes up.
Even Legendaries need hope sometimes…
Soon the only thing he could hear was his paw-pads slapping against the tiled flooring, as well as his heavy breathing and quickened heartbeat. Despite the stinging pain that thrashed around within his muscles, he kept going; despite his worries for his comrades outside, he kept going; despite that he could be mere seconds away from death; he kept going.
And soon he found what he was looking for.
The control room was at the end of a long hallway, and inside machines of all sorts lit up with colorful lights and beeped with electronic sounds. Raikou was certain that this was the right room, seeing as how blueprints of various robotic Pokemon flashed across the large monitors in the room. Raikou could feel himself groan at the sight – it looked all too complex to the extent where it seemed like even a genius would have a hard time defining what was what.
His thoughts were subsided, though, when he felt the floor shake, nearly causing him to topple over. He rose his head, slightly disorientated from the unexplained rumble. He felt the cool air of outside rush across his face, the sounds of the now-visible storms above and the war among the battlefield rising in cleared volume. He felt his eyes widen at this, seeing as how he had been staring at a ceiling only seconds ago, and he switched his gaze to meet the pure-maroon eyes of Terotrey Horrifiance.
His heart stopped.
The dragon had torn off the building's roof, revealing every single room that was on the top floor of the base. Unfortunate to Raikou, the control room was one of these very rooms.
He felt his breath become trapped within the bowels of his throat as he gazed at the towering face of Terotrey, although he couldn't help but switch them to a peculiar group of buttons among one of the keyboards that lay not too far away. However, as Terotrey began to snarl, he no longer bothered to think of what the buttons were for…
…and instead lunged forward to push them immediately.
Terotrey grunted in shock from the sudden movement. Raikou kept his eyes on the monitor right above the keyboard, watching as information about the robots' attack strategies flashed across the screen. It wasn't long before files showed up, each showing its contents as planned battle strategies and formations Terotrey had conjured up for every occasion he could think of. It appeared that he had made all types of orders for the robots, even one where you could order them to hunt for one target and one target only –
Raikou blinked.
He immediately selected the aforementioned order, grateful that his fellow Pokemon had distracted Terotrey with another collaged strike. He entered Terotrey's name, and the database immediately recognized him. However, before the order could be final, it asked for the password.
Raikou felt his heart plummet. There is a password?
Terotrey roared, bringing Raikou to realize that he had little time.
He thought over what the silver-haired scientist had said to him. Thinking of possible words that amplified the Legendary's purpose, or what seemed to spark his interest, the thunder tiger began to panic when he realized the probability of him guessing it correctly.
Is it 'god'? he thought to himself, turning around to enter it. The computer flashed red, proving that it was incorrect.
How about 'essence'?
Incorrect.
Okay…'dragon'?
Incorrect.
'Arbiter'?
Incorrect.
Raikou bit his lip, and he struggled to figure the password. He began to think over phrases that Terotrey had said before.
Scorch the sinners from all the Earth. Build anew from their ashes –
Raikou opened his eyes in realization.
He rushed forward and began to enter the three-letter word he was certain was the password.
S
Terotrey recovered from the strike, turning around to face Raikou. He growled and began to charge up a beam that would take out the thunder tiger, as well as the base altogether.
I
Raikou turned to gaze at Terotrey, realizing his attack. Absentmindedly, his claw slipped onto the final letter key for the password.
N
The screen flashed green.
Correct.
Immediately the familiar sounds of dozens of smoke detectors filled the air, and Terotrey cut off his attack once again, turning around with a bewildered look among his face.
And only to learn that every robot of his had gathered into a group in front of the battlefield, the members of Raikou's army ceasing their attacks out of their own confusion for the moment. Apart from the rumbles of thunder above, silence dominated every inch of the grounds.
A robotic Blaziken stepped forward, gaining an intimidating stance as it pointed its metallic finger to Terotrey. It was then when it muttered one word in an angry, hissing, and gurgling tone.
"Essences!"
Terotrey's face fell.
And the robots swarmed forward.
The dragon roared as he struggled to take off, the robots enshrouding him in a veil of silver as they struck every single part of his body. The clashing sound of shattering glass soon followed, and Raikou forced his head up in amazement of it all as he watched one of the containers among the extraction machine break, releasing the essence that was inside.
As the essence flew forward, heading straight towards the hidden Legendary cages, Terotrey howled in pain, his tail thrashing around as he was forced into the clouds once again. The robots clung to him, making him appear that he was covered in metallic locusts, and it didn't help with the case that he felt himself grow weaker from the loss of an essence. Soon his whimpers became distant as he, betraying robots and all, disappeared behind the clouds.
Despite this, every single Pokemon on the battlefield stared up in bewilderment at where Terotrey had vanished.
Had Terotrey been stopped?
Was this the end?
As soon as the air quieted down, Raikou emerged from the Rocket base, breathless from the moment and the fact that the plan had seemed to work. However, before he could ponder on anything else, he remembered the essence that had been freed from the strike, and turned his eyes to the direction in which the Legendaries' cages had been hidden away. While Mewtwo and his other allies ran up to him, asking him dozens of questions about his state and various other things he didn't catch, he ignored them and walked forward. Every Legendary knew that when an essence was left without a confinement of the sort, it returned to its original owner like the opposite pole of an attracting magnet.
But who? Whose essence had it been?
He was about to run towards the area to find out when a form coming from the location soon came into view. His breath became lodged in his throat as he recognized the sea-green eyes, smoky countenance, and albino hair this Legendary was known to hold.
"Darkrai…"
Raikou smiled with glee as he saw his long-lost buddy approach them. His allies grinned themselves, although the thunder tiger couldn't help himself as he ran forward and pounced on the nightmare Legendary, bringing them both to the ground.
"Kid…" the Pokemon heaved, staring at Raikou who was towering right over him. "Kid…get off…oy."
Raikou apologized and stepped off, allowing Darkrai to return to floating. The nightmare Legendary moaned in lingering pain, his eyes appearing to be droopy. "The first thing I remember is getting my essence extracted," he then began, grasping his aching head, "and then seeing you come into the lab before I fainted.
"As soon as I woke up I was in a cage in some cave surrounded by the other Legendaries, although they were all still unconscious. I freed myself and came out here in hoping to find out what the hell happened before doing anything else. I spotted you and…um…" He turned his gaze to the army. "…and them…so I floated over." He ran his hand over his face. "Now…can someone tell what the hell happened? And what in Bill Rogers' name is all this?" He outstretched his hands to everything around him.
Raikou wasted no time in explaining the story of what happened after the nightmare Legendary's fainting, including how the army had been built to fight against Terotrey, the silver-haired scientist's final experiment and what happened when he completed it, as well as how they managed to stop him.
Darkrai stared at him with widened eyes. "Whoa, kid…"
"But we stopped him now!" Raikou squealed with his grin returning, and all Darkrai did was roll his eyes.
"Kid…" he then began, moving closer. "Did you ever think about how we're going to get the other essences freed from that extraction machine so we can revive the others?" His eyes were narrowed, his tone scolding.
Raikou's face fell. No…he hadn't exactly thought of that.
Darkrai crossed his arms. "And how are you sure Terotrey's stopped?" He quirked his eyebrow, although it was in the form of waiting for a satisfying answer rather than actually being needy for one.
Meanwhile, Jeff shot his nervous eyes towards the ground, finding himself gasping slightly when he noticed that a small pebble had begun to shake, soon the rocks around it joining in. "Uh, dudes…?"
Ignoring Jeff, Raikou stepped forward. "Because those robots were built for hunting Legendaries. It wouldn't make any sense if they didn't stop him!"
"-dudes…?"
Darkrai grunted. "He's probably more powerful than Arceus, and you're saying simple tin cans can bring him down?"
"–dudes…?"
"Are you complementing him?"
"–dudes…?"
"Hell no! I'm just saying that if the robots had taken care of him, then shouldn't his body be here right now?"
"-dudes…?"
"Maybe he landed somewhere else!"
"-dudes…?"
"I highly doubt it! What if he's still afloat up there and is right now powering up a beam attack to kill us all?"
"–dudes…?"
"I think the robots got him! We were about to send out a search party to confirm this!"
"–dudes…?"
"Oh yeah, like that would help! What if he's still alive?"
"–dudes…?"
"He's not alive because the stinkin' robots killed him!"
"–dudes…?"
"WHAT?" Raikou and Darkrai roared, turning their eyes to Jeff. Mewtwo and the others, who had been silently watching the debate with bewildered eyes rather than stepping in and voicing their own opinions, also switched their gazes to the Roselia.
Jeff didn't cringe from the hatred that drenched their tones, but instead pointed his rose hand downward. "Does anyone else feel that rumbling?"
Darkrai and Raikou exchanged looks, focusing their eyes to the ground where the rocks were indeed dancing around as if they were having seizures. Soon, the thunderous, stampeding sound that came with it grew in volume, eventually causing the whole ground to shake.
A roar tore through the air, although this time it was close.
Really close.
Raikou and the others brought their eyes upward, watching in disbelief as Terotrey emerged from the clouds, the attacking robots still clung to him. He howled in pain, despite that in his narrowed eyes there was pure hatred instead of misery.
And for some reason, Raikou felt as if the dragon was staring directly at him.
"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"
As Mewtwo screamed out this command, they all followed, rushing out of the way right before Terotrey impacted the ground. Debris as if from the aftermath explosion of a nuclear bomb rose from it, covering the air with dust. Raikou hacked as he struggled to keep up with the others, who had been hidden away behind the sandstorm veil, and as he heard the bewildered cries from the army, he tried to look back to find out what had happened…
…and only to see a wall of silver come flying towards him, wrapping around him and pulling him forward. It didn't take much to comprehend that he had been grabbed by something and when he came face-to-face with the narrowed eyes of Terotrey, he felt his heart stop in movement.
The dragon roared out, and Raikou turned his head to notice that Darkrai had also been caught from the beast's large claw, squirming to escape although the hold was too strong. It wasn't long before Terotrey's other hand came flying down towards the ground, a black hole spreading out wide across it in response. Raikou widened his eyes at this, staring at the sea of purple and black that swirled around within the hole.
It was a portal to another dimension.
The thunder tiger had seen Palkia do such a thing, despite that now, in a desperate attempt to flee the attacking robots, Terotrey, Darkrai and Raikou still in his hold, rolled over…
…and into the gateway.
As the dust cleared, Mewtwo caught a glimpse of this, and rushed forward towards it. However, the hole closed up before he could even get close, and therefore he fell onto his knees as everything quieted down, his eyes reflecting hurt. The others soon joined him, looks of pained shock covering their faces, and Mewtwo lunged forward to slam his fists against the ground. The robots who had been pushed off Terotrey from the escape now only stared emotionlessly at where it had taken place.
"Where are they?" Deoxys questioned, worry for the whereabouts of Darkrai and Raikou gracing her tone.
Mewtwo didn't answer.
He and the others, as well as the entire army, were helpless.
The exile and revived Legendary were in another dimension, in which the ability to travel between different worlds rest within the hands of only Terotrey.
Darkrai and Raikou were on their own now.