Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter Fifty Six

Easy Victory

Rina slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at her surroundings. She could only vaguely recall being knocked out when she was abducted. The room she was in now was completely round and fairly large. A typical battle arena was situated in the middle of the room and several workbenches lined the wall. Rina immediately recognized the devices on the workbenches as being incomplete slave collars, though each one looked slightly different. As if they were all prototypes of some sort.

"What is this place?" Rina wondered, blinking repeatedly to clear the haze out of her eyes. Staring directly across the room she could see, sitting on a stool from one of the workbenches, a large glowing crystal. Shards of rock littered the floor around it. On the wall behind the chair was a large window, which her captor was standing in front of.

"Right...I've been kidnapped again..." Rina thought with a nervous laugh. "I wonder if this guy is going to beat me up like Duke did and take away my..." Rina blinked, her eyes widening in surprise as her hand reached down to her waist. She felt a smooth, round object and looked down to see she not only still had her pokeball belt but all of her pokeballs as well.

"What? Why did he...?"

"So you're finally awake." The cloaked man said, his voice echoing throughout the room as he turned to face Rina. He took a few steps away from the window to stand in front of the chair. "No doubt you have noticed you still have your pokemon with you."

"Why...?" Rina slowly stood up while leaning back against the wall behind her. "Who are you...?"

"Who I am is no longer relevant. Soon I, along with every other pitiful human on this planet, will cease to exist." The cloaked man replied in a flat tone. "As for why you still have your pokemon, I see no need to relieve you of them. As you are no doubt now aware, your pokemon are of little threat to me. With them, at least, you might provide me with some mild amusement."

"What?!" Rina shrieked. "What do you mean humans are going to disappear? Just what are you planning?!"

The man shook his head and sighed. "Really now, I don't feel like explaining this to you." He turned his back to her and waved her off. "I'm sure you can figure it out on your own now anyway." He then folded his hands behind his back and looked at the glowing crystal on the chair.

Rina clenched her fists tightly, staring intently at the strange man. "How would I be able to figure out something like that on my own?" She thought in frustration. "There's no way one crazy guy trying to act mysterious is going to be able to wipe out the entire human race, and he's trying to make it sound easy!" She then followed his gaze to the glowing crystal.

"Wait! What was it he was saying earlier?" Rina thought back to her absent minded conversation with him earlier, when she was analyzing the white rock. "He was after that rock and knew there was something inside. It must be that crystal." Rina gulped nervously. "Is he going to use it somehow to kill every human on Earth? Can it really have that kind of power in it?" She then shook her head. "No! Nevermind how he's going to do it!"

"Why would you even want to do something like that? What could you possibly gain from killing every human if you die too?!" Rina asked him, sounding both confused and angry.

"Why? Hmph." The man slowly turned to face Rina again. "Why does that even matter to you?" He asked in an agitated tone. "Shouldn't you have other concerns? Like trying to stop me or escape? You have your pokemon with you, afterall."

"He...he's trying to talk me into battling him!" Rina thought. "I don't get this guy! Is he really the one who's been pulling the strings this entire time?"

Hearing several pokemon cries outside, the man quickly walked over to the window. Upon seeing what was happening, a wicked grin spread across his face. "Seems I might get my entertainment either way. The final battle begins now."


Outside Trainer Hill, meanwhile, Zapdos came in for a landing near the tower's entrance with Ashley riding on its back. She hopped off once Zapdos had landed and looked up at the tower before her.

"So this is Trainer Hill...reminds me of the place I fought Duke back in Hoenn." Ashley muttered to herself. "I wonder if these things were just a front the entire time..."

"Ashley, be careful! I can feel the Emerald's power nearby!"

"Well that's practically a given, this is the last place they could be hiding it!" Ashley quickly jumped back on Zapdos back, expecting she could be attacked at any moment. Her intuition turned out to be right. Rayquaza, still holding onto the Emerald's power, appeared high in the air over the tower after having been hiding behind it.

"-This must be the welcoming party.-" Zapdos noted dryly. Zapdos quickly flapped its wings, moving back just as Rayquaza fired a Hyper Beam attack down toward it. The ground where Zapdos had been standing was ripped up by the blast, prompting Zapdos to take off and fly away from the tower. Zapdos skimmed along the ground at top speed while Rayquaza followed along behind it with its Hyper Beam attack, almost catching up with Zapdos before it was no longer able to sustain the attack and forced to back off. Zapdos landed and turned to face any potential new threats while Ashley hopped off and took a pokeball in each hand.

"Ok, what kind of power does that Rayquaza have now?" Ashley asked Aisha. Holding out the two pokeballs, she released Articuno and Moltres to stand by Zapdos.

"Its offensive and defensive capabilities are at least doubled, and it will continually regenerate any damage inflicted on it." Aisha explained to her. "Also, using any sort of weather effect now is pointless. Rayquaza's ability to nullify the weather is enhanced as well."

"Sounds like its got quite a bit of power then." Ashley muttered, wincing.

"Melany and May managed to stop Groudon and Kyogre while they had similar capabilities, I am sure you can manage this." Aisha reassured Ashley. "Incidentally, don't you have Groudon with you?"

"Good point." Ashley said, nodding. She took another pokeball from her belt. "Ok, Groudon, come on out!" She called out, holding out the yellow and black pokeball she grabbed and releasing it. Standing about twice as tall as Ashley, a red, dinosaur-like pokemon with large claws appeared standing before her.

"-Finally! I thought I would never be free!-" Groudon growled. Spotting Rayquaza hovering near the top of the tower ahead, Groudon let out another low, more menacing growl. "-Rayquaza...and it has the Emerald's power too. Hypocrite.-"

"-It's interesting how the tables have turned.-" Moltres quietly said to Zapdos and Articuno. "-Last time we were involved with these pokemon, it was Groudon causing trouble and Rayquaza we were siding with.-"

"-We? What's all this 'we' stuff?-" Zapdos squawked at Moltres. "-I was the only one there!-"

"-Zapdos! Moltres! Now is not the time!-" Articuno scolded them sharply. The other two birds dropped the conversation and focused on Rayquaza, which had yet to make another move.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've actually used Groudon in battle." Ashley thought to herself. "Of course, even if it doesn't listen to me, I've still got Rayquaza outnumbered four legendary pokemon to one."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Aisha said to her. Ashley blinked and looked back toward the tower. Two other flying pokemon, Ho-Oh and Latios, emerged from behind the tower closer to the ground. The main door of the tower then burst open from a telekinetic thrust, knocking the doors off their hinges as Mewtwo walked out and joined the two. Rayquaza then flew down from the top of the tower to join them, leaving Ashley facing a group of four legendary pokemon.

"Great..." Ashley gulped nervously. "Talk about tough competition."

"I suggest calling out your other two pokemon as well." Aisha said to her. Ashley nodded in agreement and took her final two pokeballs from her belt.

"I gathered up all my legendary pokemon for this, but I've got two others anyway." Ashley thought as she held out the two pokeballs. "Venusaur! Snorlax! Go!" The pokeballs opened up, releasing Ashley's Snorlax and Venusaur. The two pokemon materialzed next to the group of legendary pokemon that Ashley had already released.

"-Whoa now. This is quite the gathering.-" Venusaur said, looking at the pokemon standing next to him. Looking across the dirt plain leading up to the tower and seeing their opponents, Venusaur narrowed his eyes. "-That's it then, huh? So what's this? Final battle number three now?-"

"-Whatever. Just stay out of my way, I don't need any help to take these guys.-" Groudon said, pounding its fists together.

"-They're about to attack.-" Articuno noted, observing the group of pokemon ahead, then turned its head to address Groudon. "-If you think you can take them all, then by all means feel free to take all four of their attacks.-" Groudon lowered its claws and growled, but said nothing.

Meanwhile, as Articuno noted, the other four legendary pokemon were getting ready to attack. Rayquaza reared its head back, preparing to fire another Hyper Beam attack at the group but holding it rather than firing, while Latios, Ho-Oh, and Mewtwo raced toward them to get at a better range to attack.

"We have to survive this round of attacks!" Ashley said to her pokemon. "If we focus on just one of them at a time and break their collars, they'll probably help us to destroy the rest too!" Ashley's pokemon nodded and prepared to counter with their own attacks.

Mewtwo, using its psychic powers to hover across the ground faster than the other pokemon could move, was the first to get into range. It came to a complete stop and made its move, attacking the pokemon it thought it could take out the easiest. Mewtwo's eyes turned completely blue as it held out a hand toward Venusaur, focusing its power on him. A blue aura surrounded Venusaur and he felt a crushing force weighing down on his body, then he was suddenly thrown back and landed on his side. He was still conscious, though, and managed to gather enough strength to roll back onto his feet. A green glow surrounded Venusaur's body briefly, indicating his Overgrow ability had become active.

Latios was the next to attack, opening his mouth and firing a beam of light at Articuno. It had chosen the ice bird thinking that it posed the greatest threat to him. Articuno took the hit to the chest and staggered back, but easily shook it off and fired back with an Ice Beam attack. Latios growled in pain and dropped to the ground as ice formed over his body. It shattered on impact, causing Latios a fair bit of pain as shards of ice jabbed at his body.

After Articuno had made its attack, Ho-Oh attacked next. The giant fire bird came to a stop and opened its mouth, launching a fireball at Articuno. The fireball expanded and took the shape of a stick figure, then smashed into Articuno and pushed it back until the fireball finally exploded and knocked Articuno to the ground. Though it was a hard hit, and dealt a fair bit of damage to the ice bird, Articuno managed to get back up and shook it off.

With their leader being attacked, Zapdos and Moltres decided to retalliate. Since both Latios and Ho-Oh were resistant to fire attacks, Moltres spread out its wings and started to gather energy and focused on Latios. It was preparing to use Sky Attack. Zapdos, meanwhile, fired a Thunderbolt from its body at Ho-Oh. Ho-Oh winced in pain but, despite being weak to the attack, easily withstood it. Groudon then dug into the ground rather than attacking, moving under the field to get closer to Rayquaza.

"Maybe I should have been commanding them from the start." Ashley thought, twitching nervously. She quickly regained her composure to call out attacks for her remaining pokemon. "Snorlax, power up with Belly Drum so we can attack these guys with full power!" Snorlax nodded lightly as though half asleep. She pounded hard on her stomach like a drum, causing a tremendous power to flow through her while she inflicted damage on her body.

"Ok! Now, Venusaur, aim a Frenzy Plant at Mewtwo and crush that collar!"

"-Got it! I won't miss!-" Thick, brown vines shot out of the base of the plant on Venusaur's back and dug into the ground. The vines travelled through the earth until they reached Mewtwo, then sprang up and wrapped all around the pokemon's body. They wrapped especially tightly around the collar on Mewtwo's neck. The vines then squeezed Mewtwo with all their strength, causing Mewtwo to grunt in pain. The crushing force of the vines bent the collar, destroying the circuitry inside it and shutting it down.

"Release me at once!" Mewtwo sharply commanded Venusaur. Knowing that Mewtwo was now free of the collar's influence, Venusaur gladly retracted his vines. Mewtwo then focused its psychic powers and levitated high into the air.

"Wait!" Ashley called out to Mewtwo. "Aren't you going to help us free the rest?!"

Mewtwo snorted. "Not a chance." It replied telepathically. "I thank you for releasing me, but you humans have caused me nothing but trouble. I will have no part in this." Mewtwo then shot off through the air, flying past the tower and Rayquaza without so much as taking a quick shot at either.

"What kind of attitude is that for a pokemon?!" Ashley growled, clenching her fist.

"-We can do this without that one's help. The others will surely pitch in when we free them.-" Articuno assured the rest of the pokemon.

"-By the way, isn't it odd that Rayquaza hasn't attacked yet?-" Zapdos noted.

Rayquaza wouldn't be holding back any longer, however. It finally let loose with its Hyper Beam attack, firing it at such an angle to strike Ashley's pokemon. Venusaur was hit first. Already weakened by a powerful psychic attack from Mewtwo and barely staying conscious, Venusaur was knocked out by the slightest nick from Rayquaza's Hyper Beam attack.

The beam then moved across the three legendary birds that stood next to Venusaur, knocking them all to the ground. The beam lingered on them briefly, pinning them to the ground while inflicting further damage. The three birds cried out in pain while slowly being pushed into the ground. Rayquaza's Hyper Beam was destroying the soil under them, digging a hole. The beam eventually stopped and moved on, allowing for Zapdos and Moltres to fly out of the hole. Articuno, however, remained inside. The attack had knocked it unconscious.

Snorlax was the last of Ashley's pokemon to be attacked. The initial blast threw her onto her back, but it didn't linger on her for long after that. Though Snorlax was still conscious, the damage had been done. Being so massive, it was difficult for Snorlax to move quickly and even standing up took some effort. It left Ashley completely unprotected as the beam moved toward her.

"EEK!" Ashley shrieked and tried to run when she realized the beam was targeting her next. It was a useless gesture, Rayquaza could reposition its line of fire faster than Ashley could run. The beam soon engulfed her, lasting only a few seconds before Rayquaza could no longer sustain it. A small crater, the same width as the beam, had been blasted into the ground where Ashley had been standing previously.

"And this is why you should have regrouped with us rather than trying to confront them all on your own."

Ashley blinked and looked around. She was still alive and was surprised to find herself in the arms of a large green lizard. Melany, still dressed as Alex since she didn't have time to change, and May were standing next to her. Several meters ahead, Ashley could see the spot she had been standing only seconds before.

"Its funny, I never would have thought you to be the one to rush in so recklessly." Melany said to Ashley.

"My hero!" Ashley jumped out of Sceptile's arms and hugged Melany tightly. "You came to save me! You really do care about me!"

"...I see this hasn't hurt your ability to tease me though." Melany muttered bitterly.

"Though you say we should have attacked together, weren't you the one who said to stay out of sight and watch her?" May said to Melany, giving her a quick jab in the side with her elbow. "Really! You were planning to swoop in like this from the beginning! Stop trying to act so cool all the time!"

"WHAT?!" Ashley yelled, quickly letting go of Melany. "You almost let me get hit by a Hyper Beam just so you could show off?!"

"Hey! I moved as soon as I realized Rayquaza was targetting you!" Melany shot back. "Anyway, is this really the time to be arguing about something like this?!"

At that moment, with Rayquaza recharging after firing another Hyper Beam, Groudon burst from the ground under it and grabbed Rayquaza by the tail. Groudon gripped Rayquaza's tail with all its might and smashed the serpentine dragon pokemon into the ground. Groudon then proceded to move toward Rayquaza's head and slashed Rayquaza with its claws, which were powered up with a draconic aura. Rayquaza roared in pain but still didn't have the strength to fight Groudon off.

"On that note...Melany, do you have a plan for freeing Rayquaza yet?" Ashley asked.

"I do. But first things first." Melany took her remaining pokeballs from her belt, two in each hand. Though there was a sixth pokeball, it contained a pokemon she didn't have access to. "Registeel! Regirock! Regice! Latias! Go!" Melany called out one after the other, releasing each legendary pokemon from their pokeballs to join Ashley's pokemon on the field. Sceptile then moved forward to join them, crossing his arms over his chest in an x-shaped position and activating his leaf blades.

"Ok, Lugia! I'll let you handle it from here!" May called out while grabbing four pokeballs from her belt. Lugia suddenly dove down from the sky, where it had been out of sight and waiting for an order to attack. Lugia immediately took aim at Ho-Oh, blasting it into the ground with an Aeroblast attack from above. Lugia then landed in front of Ashley and Melany's pokemon and stood up, its large body protecting them from any attacks the remaining three pokemon could launch at them. Ho-Oh quickly recovered from Lugia's opening attack and stood to face it.

"-I swear it, Ho-Oh, I will see that collar removed from your neck somehow.-" Lugia said to it. Ho-Oh gave no response, the collar wouldn't allow it to.

"Suicune! Entei! Raikou! Blaziken!" May called out, pressing the buttons on each of the pokeballs she held to release her pokemon. One by one, Suicune, Entei, Raikou, and Blaziken appeared next to Melany and Ashley's pokemon. The gathered group of pokemon, consisting mostly of pokemon thought to only exist in legends, seemed like overkill compared to the remaining opposition.

"Regice, Registeel, Regirock, take aim at the collar on Rayquaza's neck with Lock On. Latias, see if you can break your brother's collar somehow." The three golems' eyes flashed and, in the distance, three red bullseyes appeared on Rayquaza's slave collar.

"Got it! I'll hold it with a Psychic attack!" Latias said telepathically. She focused a psychic attack directly on the collar around Latios' neck, causing a blue aura to surround it while she tried to crush it. The collar proved surprisingly resistant to the attack, but Latios found itself held in place as well and unable to move closer to attack.

"Moltres, nows your chance! Go!" Ashley called out while recalling Venusaur and Articuno. She then remembered Snorlax. "Snorlax, use Rest!"

Snorlax closed her eyes and fell asleep, restoring her body to full strength. At the same time, Moltres took off toward toward Latios with a fiery aura surrounding its flaming body. With Latios held firmly in place by Latias' Psychic attack, it was easy for Moltres to target Latios' collar. A sharp cracking noise pierced the air as Moltres smashed into the collar, knocking Latios to the ground while rushing past him. Latias quickly rushed to her brother, hovering over him.

"Latios! Are you ok!?" Latias cried out telepathically. To her relief, he was able to weakly prop himself up and float into the air.

"I'm...fine, thanks..." Latios replied, offering a weak smile. "It'll take more than that for me to stay down..."

Meanwhile, while the girls' pokemon renewed their offense, Rayquaza recovered its strength and knocked Groudon aside as it flew back up into the air. The dragon pokemon then summoned a twister around Groudon that tore at the land titan's body. Ho-Oh chose this moment to launch a counter-attack against Lugia as well, opening its large beak and launching a fireball. The fireball expanded until it hit Lugia and exploded, but Lugia barely moved from the attack and quickly shook it off.

"-Your Fire Blast attack is useless against me.-" Lugia said to Ho-Oh. "-Allow me to remove that infernal device so you may think clearly.-" Lugia spread out its giant wings, firing a barrage of star-shaped rays from them. The rays initially shot past Ho-Oh, but then circled back toward it one by one. Each ray struck Ho-Oh's collar in succession, homing in on the exact same spot until finally the collar cracked in two and fell aside.

"-Your help is certainly appreciated, Lugia.-" Ho-Oh said, now free of the collar's influence. "-Though I am surprised to see you fight alongside my servants.-"

"-I did so only to repay the debt, as you had freed me previously.-" Lugia replied. "-However, I will see out the rest of this battle. While your own goals do not concern me, it seems this battle concerns all pokemon.-"

"-Indeed it does.-" Ho-Oh replied, nodding lightly.

"Ok, this looks like my best chance to attack without Groudon getting caught in the crossfire." Melany thought. "Registeel, Regirock, Regice, attack Rayquaza with Hyper Beam!" Their eyes flashed again and the three golems raised their hands, or what passed for hands, and held them together. A large energy beam fired out from each and immediately homed in on Rayquaza's neck, engulfing it and the collar around it. The combined energy from the three beams reduced the collar into dust and overpowered Rayquaza's defenses, causing it to drop back to the ground.

"-Damn it, I could have handled that on my own.-" Groudon grumbled as it stood back up.

"-After all these millenia, it seems you still have not gotten past your arrogance.-" Rayquaza replied as it rose back up as well. Thanks to the Emerald's power that still coursed through it, Rayquaza's stamina was quickly recovered.

"-And YOU still seem to think you're better than us!-" Groudon shot back angrily, then turned and slowly walked back toward the group.

"-Perhaps with good reason.-" Rayquaza said quietly. Rayquaza flew past Groudon to join up with the group. "-Melany, it seems this reunion was quite overdue. Allow me to return the Emerald's power.-" Melany nodded and took the Emerald out of her backpack, then held it out toward Rayquaza. A green glow surrounded Rayquaza and then disappeared as the power flowed back into the Emerald.

"DAMN IT! How could you be so careless?!" Odari scolded Melany.

Melany handed the Emerald off to May. "Hold this. Its being noisy..."

"Err...sure?" May replied, blinking in confusion as she held the Emerald in her hand.

"Great, now I'll have to put up with her instead." Haruka said bitterly.

Mewtwo, meanwhile, had stopped on top of a rocky hill separating the barren route north of Mauville from the desert. From there, it could observe the battle. "They don't even need my help anyway." Mewtwo thought with a shrug. It shuddered as it recalled its treatment at the lab on Cinnabar, where the scientists continually performed experiments on it, followed by its enslavement by Duke. "Like I would ever help humans after what they put me through..."

"Well that was surprisingly easy." Ashley said. "Even with a supposedly unstoppable Rayquaza on their side, we've already freed all the legendary pokemon with strength to spare."

"Of course! You'd need an army to try to oppose us, even if you do have a lot of powerful pokemon on your side." May said, grinning widely.

"About that..." Melany pointed toward the tower. The main door, as well as two other doors along the front were starting to open up. Inside, they could see a swarm of enslaved pokemon waiting to move out.

"WHOA!" Ashley cried out. "Where did all those come from?!"

"They must have been enslaving even more pokemon all this time." May said through gritted teeth. "They were carrying a lot of collars at any time, they could have enslaved any trainer's or wild pokemon they thought would be worth their time! Thats what Duke did when we were in Johto!"

"So much for this being over then." Ashley muttered, then turned to May. "May, why don't you release Kyogre? You have it with you, right?"

"I do, but I don't think that'd be a good idea with Groudon out." May replied, pointing at Groudon as it walked toward them.

"We might not have much of a choice." Melany said to May, watching as the enslaved army of pokemon started to charge out of the tower. "This battle's just getting started..."


"It seems your friends honestly thought the battle was over." The cloaked man said to Rina, observing the scene from his window in the tower.

"What's going on out there?" Rina wondered.

"The legendary pokemon they freed were only the appetizer, so to speak." The man continued. "They will now have to face the army of pokemon that my underlings enslaved for me these past months. Strong as they may be, your friends will be helpless against so many."

"They'll pull through somehow!" Rina said, clenching her fists. "We won't lose to someone like you!"

"I'm afraid thats exactly what will happen, young lady." The man replied casually. "This isn't some fairytale where the 'good guys' always win. I have been planning for this moment ever since I came across the drawings depicted in the Spear Pillar. I ensured this battle, even if a loss, will be drawn out to the point where I will still achieve my goal. The only variable I didn't account for then is here in this room, helpless to stop me."

"You! Your overconfidence is your weakness!" Rina yelled across the room.

"Your faith in your friends is your's." The man replied calmly, turning to face her. "Or have you decided not to rely on them?" He added, noticing she had already grabbed a pokeball from her belt.

"I...I don't care how much stronger than me you are!" Rina yelled, her hand shaking as she clutched her pokeball tightly. "I'll find some way to stop you! I'll make sure my friends won't lose by stopping you and freeing all the pokemon you've enslaved!"

"Oh really?" The man replied, completely unfazed by Rina's fervor as he reached into his cloak for a pokeball as well. "Then let's see you try. But even if you can manage it somehow, do you have enough time? The clock is ticking..." With his other hand, the man gestured toward the crystal sitting on the stool. Rina hadn't noticed it before, but the glowing had gotten a bit brighter...


Author's Notes: I don't know why I wanted to put that quote in really, it just seemed to fit somehow.

This is, more or less, part one of the final battle, which will end up being three parts overall with the final part being the final chapter in the saga. And just for a quick idea of what the group will be up against in that "army", you've already seen some of the pokemon they've made off with. Two Machokes, a Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon, five Noctowls, and an Armaldo. As one might expect, there's more pokemon than that there.

Fun fact, the only pokemon missing from this fight right now is Celebi. I didn't actually have any plans to drag Celebi into it, though I didn't realize before now that it was the only legendary pokemon being left out. Whoops. Might try to remedy that, but I'm not sure how it could even be fit in at this point. Maybe add it to the list of sidestory ideas...

Was going to use a different title originally but I think it'd be more appropriate for the next chapter. I like "Easy Victory" because its misleading in a way, don't you think?