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 Seven

Desperate Struggle

Lugia and Ho-Oh stood their ground as a barrage of electric attacks were fired at them. Two Jolteons, a Raichu, and an Electabuzz each fired a Thunderbolt attack at the two birds that were trying to shield the rest of May, Ashley, and Melany's pokemon with their durable bodies. The two giant birds grunted in pain as they each endured two Thunderbolt attacks.

"-Hey! Don't overdo it, you two!-" Raikou said as it and the other two of Ho-Oh's servants moved out in front of them. "-You might be tough, but this many attackers will still knock you out!-"

"-Yes, let us thin the herd a bit.-" Suicune added.

Suicune, Entei, and Raikou then went on the attack. Entei and Suicune aimed their attacks at the group of electric pokemon. Entei attacked first, breathing out a swirling cone of flames and dragging it across each of them. Suicune followed up with Hydro Pump, but by then the two Jolteons managed to move back out of the line of fire. The Raichu and Electabuzz were still hit by Suicune's attack, taking enough damage to knock the two of them out. Raikou then fired off a Thunderbolt attack, aiming for a group of Noctowl approaching them, but the bolt suddenly curved and struck a nearby Rhydon's horn instead with no effect on it.

"-Damn it! It would be my attack that misses, wouldn't it?!-" Raikou growled.

The Rhydon was soon joined by two Steelix that burst from the ground beside it. All three pokemon then slammed the ground with their feet/bodies, sending a shockwave toward Raikou, Suicune, and Entei. An Earthquake erupted around the three pokemon, cracking the ground sharply and launching them back. The combined triple Earthquake struck with enough power to knock Raikou and Entei out, due to being weak to the attack, but Suicune managed to endure although in a weakened state.

"Getting two of my pokemon taken down so quickly doesn't seem fair somehow!" May complained as she took two pokeballs in her hand, recalling Raikou and Entei.

"Well we're certainly not dealing with a mindless army of enslaved pokemon." Melany noted grimly. "We'll have to take them down as quickly as we can, or else they'll manage to gain an advantage over time."

"So we'll just take as many out in a single attack as we can!" Ashley said in response. "Groudon, show them a real Earthquake!"

Groudon grinned widely. "-Heh. With pleasure!-" Groudon raised one foot and slammed it into the ground hard, sending a massive shockwave toward the three pokemon that had just attacked. The ground around Rhydon and the two Steelix began to crack and rupture, heavily injuring the two pokemon. Their strong defenses allowed them to endure the attack, but when it ended they were all knocked to the ground and struggled to get back to their feet. One of the two Jolteons, also caught in range of the Earthquake, was knocked out immediately.

"-WHAT?! How dare you survive my Earthquake!-" Groudon growled.

"This would be easier if there was some way for us to just disable all of their collars at once!" May said in dismay. "Do we really have to knock out all of them?!"

"There's probably a control mechanism in the tower somewhere, but getting to it is going to mean going through these pokemon anyway." Melany said to May. "We don't have any other choice, really."

Latios and Latias went on the attack next, targetting the two Steelix that had survived Groudon's Earthquake. They each attacked with their signature techniques, Latias firing a ball of light at one Steelix and Latios firing a beam at the other. The two Steelix had barely survived Groudon's attack and were immediately knocked out.

"Well they went down pretty easy!" Latias said gleefully.

"Well of course they went down easy for you! You have the Soul Dew!" Latios retorted, turning to his sister. "When's it going to be my turn already?! You've had it for days now!"

While Latios and Latias argued, the five Noctowl flying overhead dove down to attack them. The owl pokemon moved so silently that Latios and Latias didn't hear a thing, only looking up when they heard the sound of a Hyper Beam firing off. Rayquaza blasted all five of the Noctowl with a strong Hyper Beam attack, knocking them all out instantly.

"-I long for a better ranged attack than this.-" Rayquaza grumbled quietly. He then glanced down at Latios and Latias. "-You two should be more careful. Fortunately for you, Moltres and I have dealt with your attackers.-"

"-Moltres?-" Latios and Latias repeated in confusion. A stream of flames then suddenly shot past them, completely engulfing a Heracross that had been moving toward them. When the flames died down, the Heracross collapsed.

"-As Rayquaza stated, you should be more careful. Afterall, you are-" Moltres screeched in pain as it was suddenly struck by a barrage of rocks. Having a crippling weakness to rock based attacks, the surprise attack was more than Moltres could endure. It was knocked out immediately. The attacker, an Armaldo, was now standing next to the Rhydon that Groudon had failed to knock out earlier.

"We seem to be losing legendary pokemon at an alarming rate here." Ashley noted bitterly as she recalled Moltres.

"Well I guess that one was going to show up eventually." Melany muttered, then looked to Sceptile and nodded. "Ok, Sceptile, we'll take this one out. Go in and attack with Leaf Blade."

"Blaziken, you attack that one too!" May called out, pointing at Armaldo. "Use Blaze Kick!"

Sceptile charged toward Armaldo first, slashing in an x-shaped pattern across Armaldo's chest. Sceptile then quickly ducked out of the way as May's Blaziken jumped into the air behind it. With his foot engulfed in flames, Blaziken came down toward Armaldo and struck him with a flaming drop kick. Armaldo grunted in pain and fell back, but was still conscious.

Sceptile and Blaziken's assault on Armaldo was incapable of knocking it out, but unfortunately it also left the two pokemon wide open for attack. The Rhydon and Jolteon that were still nearby. Jolteon fired a bolt of electricity in a wide, low arc. The bolt was drawn toward Rhydon's horn, but the angle it was released at allowed it to hit Blaziken instead.

Rhydon, meanwhile, charged into Sceptile from the side and managed to catch him off guard. Rhydon threw its body into Sceptile, knocking it to the ground. While Jolteon and Rhydon stood victoriously, Latios and Latias took the chance to attack. They both attacked with Dragonbreath, hitting their targets with a stream of blue flames and knocking them out.

"If we keep this up we'll win without any problems!" Latias cheered.

"I still say its my turn to use the Soul Dew." Latios muttered, pouting.

"You seem distracted." Aisha commented to Ashley, who had been far less involved in the battle since Ashley and Melany showed up. "Still thinking about that man you saw earlier?"

"Yeah." Ashley replied, nodding to herself. "I remember why he seemed familiar now. One of dad's old pictures, that guy was in it, looked like they were friends at the time too. They were standing shoulder to shoulder and smiling. I can't figure out why dad would have a picture like that though."

"Well, there will be time for figuring that out when there's no longer an army of pokemon to defeat."

"Kyaa!" Latias screeched as an attack suddenly struck her, seemingly out of nowhere as the pokemon that attacked her moved too quickly for her or Latios to see it. As Latias fell to the ground, a Dragonite was seen standing in her place.

"LATIAS!" Latios moved to aid his sister, forgetting about the Dragonite that was now next to him. Unfortunately, the Dragonite didn't forget about Latios. It already had a Dragon Claw attack ready and slashed Latios across the side. Latios grunted in pain and fell to the ground, losing consciousness almost immediately.

"LATIOS! You idiot! I told you to use Recover before!" Latias cried out, shaking off the Dragonite's attack and floating back into the air. Before she could launch a counter attack, a cold blue beam and a bolt of electricity shot past her and struck the Dragonite. The dragon pokemon cried out in pain and dropped to the ground next to Latios, rendered unconcious by the combined attacks of Ashley's Zapdos and May's Suicune. However, even with the Dragonite's defeat, two Machoke and two Houndoom were already moving to continue the attack.

"Something else is bothering me, these pokemon are way too well co-ordinated to be acting on their own." Ashley thought, speaking to Aisha. "There must be someone calling the shots, but I doubt we can get to them from here."

"May, I have a plan to thin their numbers a bit. Have Ho-Oh and Lugia use Whirlwind." Melany said to May. May nodded in agreement.

"Ok, you heard her!" May called out to them. "Hold those pokemon back with Whirlwind!" Lugia and Ho-Oh nodded and began flapping their large, broad wings. Latias, Sceptile, and Blaziken quickly moved behind the two to avoid getting caught up in it, with Latias dragging her unconscious brother with her. The wind the two bird pokemon were generating then finally picked up, striking Armaldo and the rest of the enslaved pokemon with enough force to blow them all the way back to the tower. Lugia and Ho-Oh continued flapping then, keeping the army of pokemon pinned back as Melany had intended.

"Ok! Regis, go join the rest of those pokemon!" Melany called out, pointing to the pinned army of pokemon. The eyes on the three pokemon flashed, indicating they had received their command. They walked out in front of Lugia and Ho-Oh, at which point the strong winds knocked them over and pushed them across the field until they were pinned along with the enslaved pokemon.

"Melany? What are you planning?" Ashley asked her.

"Taking them all down in one go!" Melany replied, then called out loudly to her pokemon. "Registeel! Regirock! Regice! EXPLOSION!" The three golem pokemon began to glow as energy built up in their bodies. The energy was then released in a violent burst around them, catching the entire army in the blast radius and blasting out parts of the walls of the tower behind them. The dust and debris was quickly blown away by Lugia and Ho-Oh's continuous Whirlwind, which they finally stopped when the entire group of pokemon were revealed to be fainted.

"Wow...so that's it, huh?" May said, blinking in disbelief. She then scowled and turned to Melany. "Hey! Couldn't you have done that sooner then?!"

Melany shrugged. "If I thought they'd cause us this much trouble then I would have. I didn't think we'd really take so many losses against uncoordinated, weaker pokemon."

"Actually, I think someone really was commanding them from somewhere." Ashley said, looking up at the tower. "Probably from somewhere in the tower at any rate..."

"I don't think it matters anymore. They seem to be out of pokemon." Melany said. "There must have been about two dozen or so in total, so I doubt they had more than that."

"I don't think so! Look!" May called out as suddenly a purple creature shot past the fainted pokemon and moved across the field. It stopped and hovered over their pokemon, just behind Lugia and Ho-Oh, where they could finally see that it was a Gengar that had survived.

"No! I didn't even think about the possibility of a ghost pokemon!" Melany cried out. At the same time, the ground under Gengar burst open and a Golem emerged unharmed. Both pokemon began to glow and released a burst of energy from their bodies, catching each of the girls' remaining legendary pokemon in a double Explosion. Blaziken and Sceptile, however, had managed to distance themselves with Quick Attack to move outside the blast radius.

All of the legendary pokemon were thrown to the ground by the explosion, even the most durable of them being unable to remain standing. Ho-Oh and Lugia, who had suffered some damage prior, were knocked out, as were Suicune, Zapdos, Latias, and even Groudon. Ashley's Snorlax, which had yet to move since using Rest and was at full health still, managed to just barely endure and rolled back onto its feet. Rayquaza, likewise, was able to endure due to being at full strength prior to the attack as well. Unfortunately for the girls, Rayquaza was the only legendary pokemon still standing now.

"I can't believe we fell for the same trick we just used against them!" Ashley said, taking out two pokeballs to recall Groudon and Zapdos. "We should have spread out our pokemon from the beginning, it was too easy for them to inflict damage on multiple pokemon like that."

"Well at least we still have one legendary pokemon left." Melany intoned bitterly, looking up at Rayquaza.

Suddenly, from the tower, a pokemon shot out and sped toward the group. Looking like a pair of spinning stars, a Starmie hit the ground hard in front of them and dug in on an angle. Before anyone had a chance to react, the Starmie fired an Ice Beam attack up at Rayquaza. Rayquaza groaned as the Ice Beam hit it in the chin and fell to the ground in a heap with a layer of ice on its jaw.

"MELANY! SHUT UP!" May yelled, shaking her fist at her. "Everytime you say something they pull out more pokemon!"

"Duly noted." Melany muttered, taking out two pokeballs and recalling Latias and Rayquaza.

Sceptile and Blaziken dealt with the Starmie that had attacked. Sceptile armed his Leaf Blade and struck Starmie while shooting past with a quick attack, knocking Starmie flat. When it got back up, it found itself facing May's Blaziken. Blaziken slashed Starmie across the face, inflicting enough damage on it to knock it out.

"Snorlax, use Rest." Ashley ordered once the Starmie was gone. Snorlax nodded lightly and then drifted off to sleep, fully restoring itself. With the surprise attack by Starmie, and Snorlax barely conscious as it was, Ashley wasn't taking any chances.

May took a pokeball in each hand, recalling Lugia and Suicune. After placing them back on her belt, she took an empty one out of her fanny pack and tossed it at Ho-Oh. Though she felt Ho-Oh might not be happy to be caught in such a way, she felt it was the safest place for it. Ho-Oh was caught without any struggle and then the pokeball May used disappeared, sending Ho-Oh off to storage. With her pokemon taken care of, May took yet another pokeball from her belt.

"Well, at least I still have a legendary pokemon left. Since Groudon won't be an issue now, I can send Kyogre out without any issues." She thought, holding out the pokeball. "Kyogre, go!" The pokeball opened and released a giant blue whale pokemon with red lines going across its body. Clouds immediately began to form overhead and rain poured down. Within a matter of seconds, the girls were soaked.

"Ok, maybe that was a bad idea." May mumbled to herself.

"-Well now, seems I missed quite the battle.-" Kyogre noted in an amused tone. "-Though that leaves me to wonder why I've been summoned here in the first place.-" Kyogre shifted its eyes as if to look back at May, though even with its eyes on the sides of its head it couldn't see her behind it. "-Surely you don't intend to use my great power...for cleanup duty?-"

"Kinda wish I knew what it was saying." May thought.

"You want to hand over the sapphire's power to it then?" Haruka asked sarcastically. "No? Didn't think so."

"Looks like even that isn't the last of them! Look!" Ashley pointed to the second level of the tower, where another hatch opened. About a dozen pokemon, three flying, exited from the tower. The nine non-flying pokemon hopped down onto the unconscious pokemon below and charged across the field toward Kyogre, Snorlax, Blaziken, and Sceptile.

"Oh come on already!" May growled. "Kyogre, attack with Hydro Pump!" Kyogre opened its mouth and fired, releasing a wide stream of high-pressure water at the oncoming pokemon. The two lead pokemon, a pair of Houndoom, were struck first as Kyogre sprayed across the front of the pack. They were knocked out immediately. An Arcanine behind them, however, was spared as a Vaporeon shot in front of it and absorbed the water.

"We might be outnumbered, but we've still got a heavy hitter left." Ashley said as her Snorlax began to stir. "Snorlax, attack that group of pokemon with Hyper Beam!" Snorlax stood up and opened her mouth, then fired a massive beam of energy at the remaining pokemon. She first aimed at the Charizard approaching from the air, then hit the Swellow and Xatu that were with it. All three pokemon were knocked out and crashed into the ground. Snorlax finished the attack by hitting Vaporeon, the pokemon that had absorbed Kyogre's last attack, knocking it out before finally being forced to stop and take a rest.

"Ok, let's get ready for another attack and take them out as soon as they get close!" May called out, then waited for the remaining seven enslaved pokemon to get closer. They suddenly came to a stop, however, and stared ahead blankly as if they didn't know what to do next. "Huh? What are they doing?"

"Whatever it is, they're leaving themselves open to attack." Melany said. "Sceptile, go! Attack that Quagsire in behind with Leaf Blade!" Sceptile nodded and charged toward the group of pokemon, moving past the front lines and stopping in front of a Quagsire that was standing in the back. None of the pokemon made any movements to stop Sceptile as he slashed Quagsire with his glowing green blades, knocking the water and ground-type pokemon out instantly and removing another pokemon that could potentially block further attacks from Kyogre.

"Kyogre, wait for Sceptile to move out of the way and then use Surf! Blaziken, finish off any survivors!" Kyogre and Blaziken nodded, and Kyogre waited briefly while Sceptile moved out of the line of fire. Kyogre then summoned a wall of water under itself, rising on top of it. The water moved toward the group of pokemon and crashed down on top of them like a wave, knocking out six of the remaining seven pokemon. The only remaining pokemon, a Meganium, was quickly finished off by a Flamethrower attack from Blaziken, inflicting enough damage to knock it out despite the downpour.

"Something seems odd about the way those pokemon were acting." Melany said. "They could have easily taken out another pokemon or two if they continued the attack, so why stop?"

"Either way, this looks to be our best chance to get into the tower! Let's go!" Ashley quickly recalled Snorlax and started off toward the tower. May and Melany recalled their pokemon as well and followed suit, with Melany only stopping briefly to recall the three Regis and her Armaldo that were left unconscious near the tower entrance.

"For those pokemon to stop like that...did something happen to whoever was controlling them?" Melany wondered before continuing into the tower.


Inside the tower, in a hidden room filled with a vast array of electronic equipment and a platform that looked like a transporter out of Star Trek, an Alakazam was watching the battle between the girls and the army of enslaved pokemon. The Alakazam itself was hooked to a machine that was hanging down from the ceiling, yet able to slide across the room between the platform and monitor. The equipment consisted of a metal plate around Alakazam's head, with four thick wires attached to it. The device granted the Alakazam an immense boost to its psychic powers as well as allowing it to control the enslaved pokemon directly, directing their actions on the battlefield.

Just then, with Alakazam moving its final pokemon to attack, the far wall of the room suddenly cracked open and debris shot through the room. Alakazam could sense its attacker's presence and turned around to see Mewtwo floating through the hole.

"This is quite the interesting setup you have here. It must be providing you with...what? Five times your normal power? Ten?" Mewtwo said to Alakazam, then glanced about the room. "Yes, I remember this place well. It was your increased power that let you use Teleport and bring those foolish slavers here whenever they were in trouble."

"-More than enough to defeat you.-" Alakazam replied gruffly.

"Is that so? Then let's fix that." Mewtwo stretched out a hand toward the machine on the ceiling, focusing its psychic power on it and then making a downward motion with its hand. Alakazam tried to counter, pushing back up with its enhanced psychic powers, but was too slow. By then, Alakazam had lost its enhanced power as the device was ripped out of the ceiling. Ceiling tiles rained down to the floor and the device itself floated in front of Alakazam, held in place by Mewtwo's psychic power and hardly even flinching as Alakazam tried to move it with its own.

Even though it was now seemingly powerless next to the incredibly powerful Mewtwo, Alakazam remained unfazed. "-It doesn't matter what happens to me now. I've already fulfilled my purpose.-"

"Good. Then you've outlived your usefulness." Mewtwo thrust its hand out toward Alakazam, throwing the large metal device at it so hard that Alakazam was knocked into the monitor and equipment behind it. The monitor was smashed and the control panels below it destroyed, with Alakazam ending up embedded about a foot into one panel. Alakazam yelled in agony as electricity shot through its body from the disabled control panel, arcing across its body to the metal cap on its head and the power booster pressed against its chest. A fuse eventually broke, cutting power to the control panel, and Alakazam fell silent.

"Well I've done my good deed for the decade now." Mewtwo thought bitterly, then turned and exited the tower.


"Berg, go!" Rina called out, releasing Berg from his pokeball. Without a word, the cloaked man released his own pokemon, sending out a Sceptile that had slightly darker skin than most. Rina saw the cold glare the Sceptile was giving her and Berg, sending a shiver down her spine.

"I can tell this guy's pokemon are ruthless." Rina thought nervously. "He has the type advantage too. Should I switch to another pokemon or could Berg catch it off guard with Blizzard?" Rina debated switching for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I think I can manage this."

"Berg, attack with Blizzard and make sure to hit the floor with it!" Berg nodded and took aim at Sceptile. He then lowered his aim slightly, so the attack would hit a large area of the floor, then fired an intensely cold blast of air and snow at Sceptile. Sceptile quickly jumped back, getting itself out of range of the attack. The angle of Berg's attack resulted in the floor being the only thing to get hit, creating a large sheet of ice across the battlefield that reached to Sceptile's feet.

"I'm afraid that won't work." The man said calmly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rina asked, looking slightly annoyed by his statement.

"You were thinking 'his pokemon relies on speed, so a slippery surface will hinder it', correct?" Rina gasped in shock. He was right, that was what she was man chuckled and shook his head. "You greatly underestimate my pokemon. Sceptile, Leaf Blade."

Sceptile crouched down and stretched out its arms. From the upper leaf on each forearm, a long, glowing green blade sprouted. The Sceptile then took a great leap into the air, clearing the ice field in a single bound. Its jump was planned perfectly, bringing it down toward Berg and knocking the water pokemon to the ground with the force of its descent while slashing Berg across the chest with each of its blades. Berg was knocked out instantly.

"No way! I know this guy's pokemon are powerful, but this is insane!" Rina thought, shocked by how easily Berg had been defeated. Even with the type advantage, Rina would have expected Berg to be able to endure at least one hit. The Sceptile, standing on her unconscious Blastoise, shot her a look that sent another shiver through her spine and then started to slowly walk toward her. "What...what's it doing?" Rina wondered. She soon had her answer, her eyes widening in fear as it stopped and raised one of its blades over her head.

"That's enough, Sceptile." The man called out to it. The Sceptile looked at him questioningly. "We're not playing for keeps right now, old friend." The pokemon nodded and backed away, lowering its blade.

"Playing for keeps?! It tried to kill me!" Rina was still shaking from the experience, knowing full well what would have happened had the trainer not called off his pokemon. Realizing what that meant for her, however, she calmed down immediately. "Wait a second...he said he wasn't playing for keeps, so he probably isn't taking this battle very seriously." She thought. "Well as long as he keeps underestimating me I still have a chance to catch him off guard!"

Rina took Berg's pokeball in her hand and recalled him, then placed it back on her belt and grabbed another one. "Ok, this one should be able to take on his Sceptile if he keeps it out anyway, but if he has a dragon or ice pokemon I'll recall him immediately."

"Knight, go!" Rina called out, holding out the pokeball and releasing her greenish-skinned Dragonite. Sceptile immediately hopped back, giving Knight some room, but was then recalled by its trainer. In its place, the cloaked man sent out a fat, pink pokemon with white frills near its arms and around its waist. Rina stared blankly at the pokemon.

"A...Blissey?" Rina thought, recognizing the pokemon instantly. "Why is a guy like him...using a Blissey?" Rina thought for a moment and then shook her head, deciding not to dwell on it. "Knight, start off with Substitute!" Knight

"Blissey, Ice Beam." Blissey brought her stubby hands together and fired an Ice Beam at Knight before it had the chance to complete its Substitute technique. Knight grunted in pain and stumbled back as the beam hit him in the chest, ice forming over his body and partially covering his arms. The ice then shattered, inflicting more damage. It was more than Knight could take. The dragon pokemon fell to his knees and then dropped to the ground.

"Ice Beam! I didn't expect that from a pokemon like Blissey!" Rina thought, taking out Knight's pokeball again and recalling him. She then placed the pokeball back on her belt. "Still...I bet Knight would have been able to survive that from any other Blissey. Just like Berg would have survived a Sceptile's Leaf Blade. Are his pokemon really this far out of my league? And if I'm struggling this much against them, would Ashley and the others even be much better off? I mean, they're about as strong as me, right?"

"Hmph. This is hardly entertaining at all." The cloaked man said gruffly. "You're incredibly predictable. You could at least try to make things interesting."

"What's he saying? Did he know what I was planning again?" Rina wondered, narrowing her eyes at him. She thought for a moment, then took another pokeball from her belt. "Ok then, let's see how he handles this one!"

"Clyde, I choose you!" Rina called out, holding out the pokeball and releasing Clyde the Clefable onto the field. "Ok, physical attacks are Blissey's weakpoints, but first I'll wait and see if he's switching pokemon."

The cloaked man did just that, holding out Blissey's pokeball and recalling her without a word. He then reached into his cloak, putting the pokeball back inside and taking out another one. From the pokeball he grabbed, he released the poison pokemon Weezing. Lighter than air due to the gas filling its balloon-like body, Weezing floated off the floor but remained at a height level with its trainer's head.

"I think that pokemon has pretty good defense, but how did he know Clyde would use physical attacks?" Rina wondered. In general, Clefable were more capable with special attacks than physical. Rina's Clyde was a bit of an oddity, prefering a straight up fight with physical attacks.

"Right now, you are no doubt wondering how I knew your Clyde was a physical attacker." The man said to Rina, as if he could read her mind. "The fact that Blissey can take special attacks is well known, so no trainer of your caliber would send in a special attacker to deal with it. Especially not now that you know your pokemon are at a disadvantage." He chuckled. "So, knowing that, what will you do now? Switch to one of your psychic-type pokemon? I'm sure you have at least one with you."

"Wh-what?!" Rina stuttered, shocked by the man's statement. "Is he reading my mind somehow? ...No, if he could do that, he'd know I have Deoxys and Mew with me."

"You're far too predictable, Rina." He said to her. "In fact, I already know you won't send out your Mew. You'll try to catch me off guard with luck instead and use Metronome." The man smirked. "Well, go ahead. Spin the wheel. It's the best chance you have, afterall."

"That's...that's exactly what I was thinking..." Rina thought, hanging her head in defeat.

"-Well this one is certainly a peculiar fellow.-" Clyde said, then turned to face Rina. "-Is that what we're going to do then? Or should we try a different approach?-"

"No, that's what we're going with." Rina replied, straightening up. "Even if he knows what we're going to try, he couldn't possibly know what'll happen." Clyde nodded in agreement and turned to face Weezing. He raised his hands, holding up two fingers on each, and waved them around to initiate the attack. He then lowered his hands as the attack began. He slowly levitated into the air while pink sparks shot out from his body, surrounding him in a glowing sphere of energy.

"Alright Clyde!" Rina cheered, recognizing the attack. "We'll get him good now!"

The sphere around Clyde continued to build up in energy until it reached full power, at which point Clyde fired the sparking ball of psychic energy at Weezing and fell back to the ground. The attack, Psycho Boost, hit Weezing head on and exploded with enough power to knock it to the ground. Even after Weezing hit the floor, a few sparks still danced around its body.

"Quite the lucky break on your part, but I'm afraid you'll need to do more than that to defeat one of my pokemon." The man said to Rina, at which point Weezing floated back into the air. The poison pokemon still looked ready for more. "Weezing, return fire with Sludge Bomb."

The largest of Weezing's heads opened its mouth and fired a large ball of sludge at Clyde. The ball exploded when it hit him, splashing a strong purple poison all over his body and knocking him onto his back. Still conscious, he tried to get back up but slipped on the sludge splattered on the ground around him and fell onto his face.

"Finish this with Sludge." The cloaked man commanded. The same head then spat out a ball of sludge as Clyde was making another attempt to get back up, hitting him in the face and knocking him onto his back again. This time, Clyde wasn't moving at all after he was hit. Rina took out Clyde's pokeball and recalled him.

"Even a Psycho Boost didn't gain me much ground...and I'm down to my last two pokemon." Rina thought. "Can Mew or Deoxys really make that much of a difference? Will Deoxys even listen to me?" Rina put Clyde's pokeball back on her belt and took Mew's pokeball in her hand. "I'll save Deoxys for last then and see if I can gain some ground with Mew somehow."

"Mew, go!" Rina called out, releasing Mew from its pokeball. Mew smiled and twirled around in the air, happy for the chance to fight. Weezing was then recalled by its trainer and a beautiful, serpentine pokemon with a beige upper body and long, red hair was released next. With the bottom half of its body scaled like a fish, the pokemon reminded Rina of a mermaid and she wondered if the pokemon she was looking at now was what inspired them.

"Ok, that's definitely a water pokemon." Rina thought. "If I have Mew use Transform, then it'll be just as strong as his pokemon. Even if I don't know what attacks it has, and it'll come down to a war of attrition either way, I'll at least be able to fight on the same level as him!"

"Mew, use Transform!" Rina called out. Mew nodded and then began the transformation, its body shifting. It suddenly gained a large amount of mass to expand to Milotic's size and take the shape of its opponent. Shortly after, however, Rina's opponent recalled his Milotic and sent out a Jolteon in its place.

"Again, I have already anticipated your moves, Rina." The man said to her.

"Oh yeah? Well I have a pokemon that's just as strong as your's now!" Rina shot back. "Mew! I don't know what attacks you have in that form, so I'm leaving this to you!"

"-Ok, Rina! You can count on me!-" Mew replied, nodding affirmatively.

"Cute. But you forget, you're at both a type disadvantage and lacking knowledge of your pokemon's current form." The man replied. "Jolteon, attack with Thunderbolt." Sparks shot across Jolteon's fur and then fired out in a bolt of electricity. Mew cried out in pain as the bolt struck it and electricity passed through its body.

It took a moment for Mew to shake off the hit, but when he did he immediately fired back with a Hydro Pump attack. Jolteon, with its incredible speed, almost managed to avoid the attack by moving to the side but the stream of water fired by Mew still struck a glancing blow along Jolteon's flank and knocked it to the ground. Jolteon quickly stood up and shook off the water from its body, still ready for more.

"Pathetic. Even your own pokemon can't use its new form well." The man said, chuckling darkly. "I will say this, my Milotic had much better responses to an attack from a Jolteon than that. One of which could have knocked it out."

"It did?" Rina blinked and looked at Mew curiously. "Mew?"

"-I...have no idea what attack that would be.-" Mew replied, hanging its head in shame.

"Ok. Revert and we'll take it from there, then." Rina said. Mew nodded and quickly reverted, its body shrinking back down and returning to its natural form.

"Jolteon, finish it now. Thunderbolt." The man ordered as soon as Mew had finished. Jolteon's fur bristled with electricity and the pokemon fired another Thunderbolt at Mew. Although no longer weak to the attack, Mew didn't have the strong defenses that his previous form did. It cried out in pain as the bolt of electricity shot through it and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"No way..." Rina mumbled in disbelief. "You...you planned for that too, didn't you?!" She demanded, clenching one fist tightly.

"You have yet to do anything thus far that I did not anticipate." The man replied. "Now send out your last pokemon so we can finish this. Or will you use your Pikachu too, despite it having little time to recover from that last battle?"

"Pippi...would she be able to fight by now?" Rina wondered. "Even if she did, though, she wouldn't have had time to really recover. Any hit would finish her off, but then again thats how its gone for the rest of my pokemon too..." Rina clenched her teeth together. "How can this guy be so strong? I don't have any choice now, I'll have to use Deoxys! I just hope it'll listen to me..."

Rina recalled Mew, then put its pokeball back on her belt and took Deoxys pokeball in her hand. "You claim I haven't caught you off guard yet, but I'll definitely surprise you with this one!" Rina called out. "Deoxys, go!" She held out the pokeball, releasing the alien pokemon. It quickly, jitterishly looked around the room, scared and confused by its unfamiliar surroundings.

"That you have Deoxys is certainly a surprise, but nothing I am not equipped to deal with." The man replied, recalling his Jolteon. "Judging by its nervousness, however, you are not capable of controlling it yet."

"He's right about that." Rina thought. "Deoxys! Listen to me!" Rina said, getting the pokemon's attention. It turned to her and tilted its head to the side, observing her curiously. "I need you to trust me!" She pleaded. "This guy and his henchmen are responsible for enslaving countless pokemon against their will and I need your help to stop him! You're the only one I can count on now!"

Deoxys paused for a moment and nodded its head. It could remember how it had been enslaved once as well, forced to follow the commands of a woman named Galactica. It could also tell from Rina's tone that she was being sincere, and so it decided it would willingly follow the girl's commands to defeat the human before it. As Deoxys turned to face the man again, it was greeted by a blast of sand hitting its face.

"He's using Tyranitar no doubt." Rina said to herself. "Ok, Deoxys, switch to your strongest attacking form!" Rina called out. Deoxys nodded and began to change, its body becoming slightly thicker and each of its arms turning into a pair of tendrils.

"You seem to know that pokemon's forms well if nothing else." The man said to Rina. "Regardless, this will be another short battle. Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!" Tyranitar, nearly completely concealed within the sandstorm, opened its mouth and fired a massive energy beam at Deoxys. Deoxys quickly moved to the side, easily evading the attack. Although it was in its strongest offensive form, it was still incredibly fast. Faster than almost any other pokemon. The beam hit the wall behind Rina, narrowly missing the girl herself. The wall held strong, though large cracks shot through it and chunks fell away.

"Our turn now! Deoxys, attack with Superpower!" Due to its experience with Galactica, Deoxys already knew what attack Rina was referring to. The room shook as it gathered an immense amount of energy in its body. It then shot through the swirling sandstorm to meet Tyranitar and plant its four tendrils on Tyranitar's face. Deoxys released the power it had built up in its body, engulfing Tyranitar in a massive energy beam and scattering the sand. Tyranitar was pinned to the ground within the blast and was rendered unconscious by the time Deoxys had finished. The man then recalled his pokemon, seemingly undisturbed by the loss.

"Alright! Way to go, Deoxys!" Rina cheered. "Even his pokemon couldn't withstand an attack like that coming from you!"

"Yes, Deoxys does have quite a bit of power in its attack form, and Tyranitar has a crippling weakness to fighting-type attacks. However..." The man held out a pokeball and released Jolteon again. "Quick Attack." Jolteon shot toward Deoxys in a burst of speed, moving too fast for Deoxys to follow. It let out a pained buzzing noise as Jolteon struck it and fell to the ground, where it laid unmoving.

"Deoxys?" Rina called out to the pokemon with no response. Her eyes widened in shock. "No way!"

"As I was saying..." The man continued. "It has quite a bit of power in its attack form, but unfortunately the weakest defense. On top of that, Superpower would weaken its defense further."

"So you're saying you planned that out too." Rina said to him as she recalled Deoxys. "You're saying you let your Tyranitar be defeated by Deoxys so you could defeat it with Quick Attack?"

"Precisely." The man replied. "Even if I am reduced to five pokemon, it hardly matters. I've already won. You can't possibly make a comeback now with one heavily injured..."

"Pippi, go!" Rina called out, releasing Pippi from her pokeball. The weakened Pikachu nearly fell when she appeared, but managed to regain her balance and strengthened her resolve.

"Pikachu." The man chuckled and shook his head. "Is this truly humanity's last stand?"

"-I don't know what's going on here...but if you're still fighting, I'll fight too!-" Pippi said to Rina.

"Right." Rina said, nodding in agreement. "We'll win somehow...we have to!"

"Then by all means, take your best shot." The man replied, gesturing to his Jolteon. "I'll give you a free opening to attack, but know that my Jolteon will endure whatever your Pikachu can throw at it and defeat it with a Quick Attack after."

"He's right...there's not much Pippi CAN do now!" Rina thought. "There's Surf, but given how strong his pokemon are I'll need more power than that to defeat it! There has to be some way..." Rina thought hard, desparately trying to come up with a way to defeat Jolteon. Meanwhile, the crystal was glowing even brighter now. The crystal itself was barely visible under its own glow.

While Rina debated her next move, a stream of flames suddenly burst through the glass behind her opponent. He turned in surprise as a Charizard shot through the hole created by the flames, flying past him and trying to land on the ground in front of him. It was unable to stop on the icy surface that remained from Berg's earlier Blizzard attack, however, and only managed to come to a stop and turned to face him when it reached the center of the battlefield and the end of the ice. Red then hopped off the Charizard, his back to Rina.

"RED?!" Rina shouted in disbelief.

"Quite the dramatic entrance." The man said flatly. "Should I take this to mean you have decided to join me afterall, my son?"

"SON?!" Rina and Pippi both shouted this time.

"No way! That...that guy is Red's father?!" Rina thought, staggering back in shock. "But that means Red is...Red is..." Rina looked at Red, unable to even speak. She anxiously waited for his response, part of her fearing she wouldn't like the answer. Red still remained silent with a look of grim determination.


Author's Notes: I know what you're thinking...

"Wait, a horizontal line? Author's notes? NOOOO!"

Yep. Red's response will wait until next chapter, which will likely be the final chapter of this saga. Expect an inspirational speech somewhere in the next chapter leading up to the climax. I'll be trying to get the first sidestories chapter ready for next week as well, as part of my usual (and hopefully continuing) plan of releasing the first chapter of the next saga the same time I release the final chapter of the current one. So something else to look forward to as well, though compared to Red's response to his father's question that's probably going to look like peanuts. Oh well.