Chapter 24

A Real Back-Stabber

"Brrraaaa!" The nearly black Lugia screamed. The horrid cry was so loud it echoed through the cave, making dust fall from the hole that Articuno previously made. The creature stayed in the shadows, huffing and puffing as it glared at us with its red, evil eyes.

"Now!" Conner screamed as he laughed maniacally. "Now you will see my power! My true power! Mu-haha-ha!"

Articuno spread her wings wide as frost fell from her feathers, almost like falling jewels that glistened in the sunlight. In the dim room the flakes of snow caught every hint of the light that beamed in a circle nearly ten feet in front of us. As Articuno did this, Mew Three clawed its way over to me and rubbed its head on my arm, making almost a purring noise.

"Articuno?" I asked as I she twisted her head around like an owl, popping her neck. "What should I do… about…"

"Mew Three?" She said, shoving her beak in my face. "Well, what you shouldn't do is stand around and act like a scared little Togepi." She then snorted as she glared at me. "You are a trainer, Kyle. Mew Three is made of nearly every pokemon you trained." She then looked to Lugia as he stretched his wings.

"Lugia!" Conner screamed. "Hit them with a Shadow Blast!"

Articuno took to the air as Lugia opened his mouth, forming a ball of purple energy. I stood and watched as the ball flew from the monster's mouth, heading directly towards Articuno who barely dodged it.

"Again!" Conner screamed. "I want that bird dead!"

Lugia once again shot out a dark purple blast at Articuno, this time striking the tip of her left wing. She cried out as she spun in the air, trying to regain her flight as Lugia let out another blast. This time the blast struck Articuno in the back, forcing her to land on the ground.

"Kyle!" She huffed. "Why are you hesitating? I need your help."

I looked down to Mew Three, who was laying at my feet.

"Arr!" Articuno growled. "Brrraaaa!" "I never should have come back for you. What was I thinking?" She stood up, shaking off her loose feathers as she began to take off again. "If you don't take charge Kyle, we are all going to die!"

I watched as the battle continued. Articuno, even though she was a legendary, wasn't fairing too well against that beast of a pokemon. Why was I not doing anything? Why am I not helping? I took a deep breath, trying to take it all in. I closed my eyes, clearing my mind.

Why? Why did Articuno come back? Why was I here, now? Am I here because of Ricky? No, I don't think so. Am I here because of Giovanni? Or how about Articuno? None of this would ever have happened if I didn't capture Articuno. None of this would have happened if I … went with Shonna that day. None of this.

I opened my eyes, watching as Articuno fell to the ground again, gasping for air. My eyes narrowed as I looked to Ricky. "Whatever the reason, I'm here now." I said under my breath to Ricky, glaring at him as he laughed historically. "If there is anything I have learned, it's that I decide my own fate. Everything that has happened in my life is because I didn't do what I should have. Shonna left because I didn't stop her. I let you fool me, lie to me, and steal my pokemon because I didn't want to believe it was true." I closed my hand into a fist as I screamed. "I will not let it end like this!"

"That's right, Kyle." Articuno smiled as she struggled to stand. "I knew you would come around, eventually."

"End this way?" Conner screamed and laughed. "End this way? How else can it end? One of us is going to die, and it won't be me!"

"You're wrong." I said as looking down at Mew Three. "Nobody has to die."

Mew Three rose up, standing, walking, flying and crawling its way closer to Lugia. "Crraaaaa!" It gurgled as blood flooded out of its mouth. Its skin was tearing, showing its rib bones as it carried itself closer.

"Lugia!" Conner ordered. "Kill that monstrosity of a creature with Shadow Storm!"

Lugia spread his wings wide as dark energy began to emanate from his body in a radial pattern. I watched as the room began to grow dark, but Mew Three didn't seem fazed. In fact, the darkness looked like it stopped when it reached Mew Three. In the middle of the darkness was an orb of fire resonating from ground, blocking out all efforts of the attack Lugia was dishing out. Inside the sphere I saw Mew Three gasping and groaning.

This isn't good. I thought to myself. That Lugia took out Articuno like she was nothing, on top of that Conner said Mew Three only had fifteen minutes left of life, and most of that has already passed.

I then looked around the room as the darkness began to fill. From the corner of my eye I saw Articuno limping her way over to me from the left side, as well as Umbreon, Typhlosion, and Kabutops. From the right I saw Dragonite, Raticate, Beedrill, Primeape, Scizors and Pidgeot making their way over. They all came to my side, glancing up, and down at me.

"The paralysis they were under has worn off." Articuno said as she nodded to me. "I did what I could, but they are not doing very well."

"Thanks." I said as I placed my hand on her head. I then looked back to the rest of my pokemon. "You guys, I'm sorry for everything, but if we are going to end this, we'd better do it now." I reached for the two pokeballs that I still had on me. "And we are going to need all the help we can get." I threw them out as the badly hurt Arcanine and Gyarados appeared before us. "Now." I said, looking at them. "We only have one shot at this, when I give the word I want all of you to attack Lugia together, use your biggest attack. Got it?" I looked at them as they all nodded to me. "Alright, then here it goes. Mew Three!" I screamed out. "Use Hyper Beam! Now!"

When I said this I saw the entire room light up. The shadow attack that covered the cave vanished in the blink of an eye. When the shadows were gone I could see Mew Three tilt its head up to the flying bird with an orb in its mouth bigger than I had ever seen before. I saw all my pokemon, one by one, run in front of me with energy building up in their bodies. They all stood firm, powering up and waiting for Mew Three to release the first attack.

As the power rose in the room, everything went silent. Then Mew Three's attack shot out. The beam was so powerful that it was more like ten or fifteen Hyper Beams being shot at once. When the massive amount of light was released, my other pokemon followed it up. Arcanine and Typhlosion both released stored up Fire Blasts at the flying bird while Pidgeot began to use Air Cutter moves. Primeape and Scizors were picking up boulders, throwing them as Beedrill started to use his Hidden Power attack, picking up shards of rocks and thrusting them at Lugia. Kabutops and Gyarados both began to use Hydro Pump on the monster while Umbreon began to pelt it with Shadow Ball attacks. I watched as Raticate jumped on Dragonite's back, flying into the air with Articuno. Both Raticate and Dragonite released a pair of Hyper Beams, while Articuno built up power for her Ice Beam attack.

It was almost as if time stood still when all the attacks were released at once. I watched, in silence, as the combination of attacks twisted and warped around each other as they made their way to the evil pokemon. I saw the look in Lugia's eyes as the massive powers from each pokemon collided into one impact. The pure force from the collision shook the cave. "BRAAAAAA!" Lugia cried out as all the attacks converged. The ceiling began to cave in, making a large boulder come down on Lugia. The bird fell to the ground, knocked out from the force of the attacks, and crushed by the giant rock that lay on top of him.

I saw Articuno land, and turn away. "I am sorry… my friend." I knew right off she wasn't talking to me, when I saw her not facing the fallen legendary bird.

"No!" Conner screamed as the cave began to shake violently. The walls were crumbling, rocks were falling, and the hole that was previously made by Articuno, now filled in by rubble from the mountain above.

"Guys! Quick!" I said turning away and looking at all my pokemon. "We have to get out of here! Now!" All the pokemon turned to look at me, weak and barely standing.

"KKKk-yy…llleee…" I heard Mew Three gurgle as it made its way over to me. The other pokemon moved out of the way as it fell to my feet. Its skin finally gave way as its organs hit the ground.

"Mew Three!" I said as I kneeled down to it.

"L…L…" It gurgled up, before smiling at me. "Lea…ve…" With that final word, it closed its eyes, and took its last breath.

I stood up, rocks falling all around me as I looked at the dead pokemon at my feet.

"Kyle!" Articuno screamed. "We have to go! And your pokemon won't leave without you!"

"Yeah… I know…" I said. "Lets go, but Articuno…" I then took off my book bag and handed it to her. "Whatever happens," I said, pointing down into the book bag at the yellow mouse. "Get Pichu and my other pokemon out of here." She took the bag in her mouth with a nod as we walking out the door, rocks falling all around us.

"Oh no you don't!" Conner screamed. "I'm not letting you get away! You will die! You will die, now!"

I stopped when I got to the door. I didn't turn around. Instead I just yelled over my shoulder. "Ricky! Please, stop! I don't want it to end like this!"

"Oh…" He muttered as he reached for the switchblade in his pocket. "It won't! I said you're going to die! And you will!" Then, with one quick motion, he threw the switchblade.

I turned around just in time to see the knife leave his hand. It flew fast, and I knew right where it was headed, my heart. I was frozen, I couldn't move. I saw the knife get closer and closer, but suddenly felt a hard push on my shoulder. I was spun around by Arcanine. He tried to push me out of the way of the attack, but he was too late. The knife hit, piercing through my skin and into my ribs, but not where Conner had aimed. From where Arcanine spun me around the knife went into my back, right below my shoulder blade my right side, missing my heart.

The knife sunk in deep, almost coming out the other side. I fell to the ground, screaming out in pain. "Aaaahhhh!" I looked up and saw Arcanine's face. He looked mad, madder than I had ever seen him before. He then looked at Ricky and showed his fangs. Embers fell from his mouth as he began to release a Fire Blast attack at him.

"No!" I screamed, jumping up and pushing Arcanine's head away from his target, making the blast go up in the crumbling ceiling over Ricky. The fire melted the rocks causing a boulder come loose from the roof. "Ricky!" I screamed. "Move! The ceiling!" But it was too late. I watched as the rocks over him caved in, making the boulders fall on top of him. I looked down to the ground, and it was then that I realized I was standing in a pool of my own blood.

I reached my hand back to the knife in my back, pulling it out with one hand. "Ahhhh!" I screamed as tears rolled down my face. I dropped the knife on the ground as I ran over to Ricky. My vision was getting blurry, but I could still make out Arcanine's figure trailing beside me.

When I got over to the pile of rocks I saw that only his leg was pinned down. I kneeled down, reaching my hand to him. "Ricky, come on!" I said. "We can sti-"

He cut me off, spitting in my face. "Get away from me! You will die! I want you dead!"

"Why?" I said. "Ricky, you can start over! Why do this?"

"You took away the only thing I had in my life!" He said. "You stole my only friend! You stole my future! You stole everything! Do you know what it's like to lose everything you ever had?"

"Yes, Ricky, I do!" I said as tears came to my eyes. "I have lost everything as well. Please, let me help you! It doesn't have to end like this!"

"I swear, to God himself." He spat, baring his teeth as he tried to claw his way over to me. "With every fiber in my being I will have my revenge on you! I will make you feel the way you have made me feel before I cut out your heart!"

Then, a loud crumble silenced both of us. I looked up to see half of the room falling in around me. I reached my hand for Ricky's, but Arcanine bit down on my shoulder, dragging me away with his extreme speed. I watched as the roof fell down on Ricky, piece by piece falling on him and crushing his body. Arcanine's teeth sunk deep into my arm as the open gash from the knife continued to bleed uncontrollably. It was then that my vision began to go gray. Everything went black and white, and silent. I saw my pokemon around me, dragging me away. I saw Richard. I saw lights. Then, nothing.