Chapter 22: Under the Blood Sky
Ash stared back up at the blood coloured sky, it appeared he wasn't affected by its hypnotic colour anymore but that was the least of his worries. If what Drake said was true the destruction of this battle could reach far beyond this area. With Rayquaza going on a rampage destroying anything in its path the entire region could be effected and it was up to them to stop it, but what Drake was asking for seemed almost impossible.
"We have to knock out Rayquaza, is that even possible?" Ash asked as the dragon let out a blood curdling roar.
"We don't necessarily have to defeat Rayquaza completely, more knock some sense into it." Drake attempted to play down the monumental task.
"If we can sort of stun or cripple Rayquaza for a few seconds and get it into the water I think that it may cool off so to speak, and bring its rage back down." Drake theorised.
"Not sure if it will work but we don't have a lot of options or time for that matter." Ash stated.
Rayquaza turned its head back towards the ground and targeted its next victim, Kyogre. Charging up a powerful black energy Rayquaza unleashed an even larger Hyper Beam that blasted towards the stationary water type. Kyogre dived under water hoping to escape the blast but as the attack met the water it caused a huge detonation lifting up the very sea bed and sending Kyogre spiralling out of control through the waves till it crashed on a cliff side. Kyogre fell weakly into the ocean leaving a deep impression in the rock till the weakened cliff crumbled into the water were Kyogre had sunk. Rayquaza watched its victim be buried under the rocks when a Hyper Beam struck it in the back, recovering quickly Rayquaza turned around to see the culprit.
Groudon stared back up at the dragon with a challenging glare one that the enraged Rayquaza quickly responded to. Flying down to Groudon's level Rayquaza began to charge up another black Hyper Beam, Groudon was ready though. Thrusting its claws into the ground three sets of Precipice Blades rose out in front of Groudon creating three barriers in between the two legendries, at that point Rayquaza released its Hyper Beam. The overwhelming power behind the attack blasted through the first, second and third barrier breaking them apart like they were cardboard before continuing on and detonating on Groudon and toppling it backwards as cried out in pain. As Groudon crashed on the very ground it had raised Rayquaza let out another incredible cry, a mix of rage, confusion and pain.
"Do you have any Pokémon that can fly Ash?" Drake asked.
"My Charizard but that's it, Gabite can't fly until he evolves I'm afraid." Ash responded.
"Very well then I'll have to use the ones I have on hand." Drake stated.
The older man reaching into his pockets and pulled out two Pokeballs, throwing them into the air two Flygon's appeared and turned towards their trainer.
"I need you two to intercept Rayquaza and take the heat off of Kyogre and Groudon but don't get to reckless." Drake instructed the Flygon before they flew towards their crazed target.
"Drake there is one more thing I have to ask you. Primal Evolution, do you think Groudon and Kyogre will be able to revert into their Primal forms?" Ash asked.
"I doubt it, it takes and incredible amount of energy from deep within the planet to cause those two to Primal Evolve and there are no sources of that energy anywhere in Hoenn as far as I know." Drake informed.
"Well that's one positive I guess." Ash sighed.
"Whenever you're ready Ash we have to get up there and start our attack, I wish I could call for more support but communications in this area are a mess. Now would be a real good time for Glacia to turn up." Drake uttered as he crossed his arms.
The dragon trainer then motioned with his hand and down from the sky descended his Salamence which landed next to him. Drake then climbed on Salamence's back and looked up at the sky now covered in red.
"You know my doctor says I shouldn't even be flying with Salamence anymore let alone battling, after all my body ain't as young as it used to be." Drake reflected.
"But in times like these I can't afford to worry about myself, we've got a disaster to stop and were Hoenn's best bet." Drake stated as he looked down at Ash, with that he and Salamance lifted into the air and joined the battle with his Flygon.
Ash turned around and called in all his Pokémon, Sceptile, Greninja and Gabite came running in with followed by Krookodile who carried Pikachu in his arms. Finally Charizard landed next to Ash, looking over them all the trainer knew his next request would be hard for them, and that was to stay out of the fight.
"Alright everyone Charizard and I are going to fly up there and help Drake try and stop Rayquaza, I want the rest of you to get all the people you just secured to a safe area. Then I want you all to stay put." Ash instructed getting worried looks from a few of them.
"I don't know what's going to happen but no matter what just know, I so proud of all of you and I'm glad to have had you all on my team." Ash told them proudly.
They didn't have time for anymore words or actions as a Hyper collided with the cliff a mere hundred meters away blowing wind across them.
"Get going everyone you all have a job to do." Ash instructed and with a sombre nod from everyone but Charizard they moved off to evacuate the New Magma members.
"I'll go too." Lund's suddenly spoke up, ever since Drake had turned up Ash had nearly forgotten about him.
"Yeah that's probably a good idea." Ash backed him up.
"I'll also do my best to fix the communications in this area as we are also responsible for that as well." Lund spoke as he started walking.
"Alright then." Ash acknowledged the scientist before turning to Charizard who stood ready and waiting.
"You ready to fight old buddy?" Ash asked as he stroked Charizard's head getting a confident nod in response.
"In that case we're going to need this to back us up." Ash spoke as he reached into his pocket and pulled out two items handing one to Charizard.
As a child Ash could fly on Charizard's back with ease, but as an adult Charizard had majorly reduced movement. But the item Ash was about to use would change that, giving Charizard enough power to fly with Ash on his back like he was nothing.
"I was saving this for our fight to become the Champion but this is far more important." Ash stated as he strapped a large bracelet with a stone in the middle to his wrist.
"With this power we may just have the capability to bring down Rayquaza, are you ready Charizard?" Ash asked with determination in his voice getting a deep roar in response.
Charizard held an item of incredible power in his claws and combined with Ash's Key Stone it would unlock one of the greatest powers in the world, Mega Evolution.
"Charizard let's go beyond evolution and merge our powers together. Hear my voice and Mega Evolve!" Ash thrust his hand into the air as six brilliant lights burst from his bracelet.
Six equally bright lights burst from Charizards stone which moved forward and interlocked with Ash's, burning brighter as they did. The stone fused with Charizard making his entire body glow with energy. His wings extended with ragged edges, his skull broadened with vicious teeth, small wings grew on his wrists. His tail extended and three spikes protruded out near the flame which burned even brighter.
The light faded and Charizard's transformation was complete, he was now Mega Charizard Y. Letting out another reverberating roar Charizard felt the new power surging within him and was raring for battle. Ash jumped on his back and got a good grip, this new power would give them an edge in the battle but Ash knew not to underestimate this foe.
"Let's go Charizard!" Ash shouted.
With a single flap of his wings Charizard raced into the air towards Rayquaza. Ash didn't know what the odds were of this plan succeeding were so he pushed that though aside and concentrated on the infuriated dragon, at least he wasn't alone this time.
When Rayquaza had come down from the ozone layer May wasn't able to see the carnage from where she was tied up, she could only hear the sounds of battle. But when Rayquaza lost control and the sky turned red she was pulled into the same trance like state that Ash had been before but there was no one around to pull her out of it.
"What's happening with the sky and why can't I take my eyes off of it?" May spoke out loud as the mysterious red colour drew her in.
She couldn't explain it the longer she looked at it the more drawn to it she became making her mind and body feel almost numb.
'I've got to snap out of it before I loss all control of my body.' May thought as she realised she could barely move.
There had to be some way to break the trance, some way to shut or avert her eyes. Then an idea hit her, her wounded shoulder. Using what little movement she had left May pushed the shoulder that had been dislocated and then put back into place back into the tree sending a stabbing pain through her body. She lurched forward and clamped her eyes shut in response to the trauma. By using pain May had forced her body to react, breaking her line of sight to the sky and the hold it had over her.
May sat there as the pain slowly subsided not sure if she should open her eyes or not in fear of getting transfixed again. That was until something crashed through the branches above her, May looked up just in time to see some sort of Pokémon falling right towards her. She didn't even have time to react before the creatures crashed against the side of the tree she was on. May looked over and saw a Flygon lifting itself up off the ground digging its claws into the side of the tree and in the process cutting into the ropes holding her. The Pokémon didn't even seem to notice her as it cried out and took off back into the sky. May then noticed that she wasn't draw to the harsh red colour of the sky anymore, did her body somehow adapt to it? Or did the hypnotic element of the sky simply ware off?
May didn't waste time sitting around that Flygon had unknowingly freed her from her constrains, she pulled off the ropes around her and immediately grabbed her bag checking all her Pokémon were still there. Once she saw all six Pokeball's May heard another loud cry of an unseen Pokémon a cry she swore she had heard years ago. As she looked up through the hole in the tree line Flygon had created she saw the cause of all chaos.
Rayquaza flew high in the sky its eyes and golden stripes now as red as the sky itself. A large Hyper Beam raced past Rayquaza who responded by firing his own and then charged downwards out of her line of sight.
"Rayquaza's here to! I can't believe it, how did everything go so bad so quickly?" May asked as she placed both hands over her face unable to bare the destruction she had helped to bring upon this place.
The sounds of explosions and cries could be heard including that of Groudon, May then remembered Ash and his plan to take on New Magma. Had it worked did he defeat them and if so what was he doing about Rayquaza? May needed to find out so she ran down what remained of the path hoping to find answers.
Running down to where New Magma was previously positioned May got glimpses of the battle being waged. Attacks being fired into the air, explosions detonating in the ocean, on the land and in the sky and random flashes of colour as the legendries and what had to be some other Pokémon battled in the distance. As May came out of the tree line to where Fane and the rest of his team were positioned around Lund's machine she saw no body at all, only the unmanned machine.
Suddenly Groudon's large head rose above the cliff in front of her charging a bright beam of energy in its mouth. Groudon faced the sky and fired off its Hyper Beam at Rayquaza managing to momentarily graze it along one section of the dragon's body. Rayquaza was already engaging several other attackers in the air but instantly turned its attention to Groudon bursting forward at such speed May could barely track it. When Groudon was struck in the head by Rayquaza's Extreme Speed attack it was forced backwards, right towards were May was standing. May turned tail and sprinted back towards the trees for fear of getting crushed. When she felt a crash and the earth shake around her May knew Groudon had hit the edge of the cliff, she fell forward and instantly looked back. Groudon had crumbled the section it had fallen on and under the back of its neck was the now crushed machine that had controlled it before.
"Well I guess this mission is a complete failure now." May thought to herself not caring either way.
Groudon pulled itself up and after taking a deep breath in started to move forward, May somehow heard the rustling of someone coming out of the bushes as she looked around she saw one of the New Magma scientists clambering out and looking around. She recognised him as the head of the science division Lund and ran over to him to see what had happened to the rest of New Magma. As she got closer to him Lund noticed her and remembered her as the agent from before.
"What happened here, where is everyone?" May asked.
"Well to cut a long story short we weren't able to control Groudon and Kyogre at the same time. Then Ash Ketchum ambushed us and knocked out everyone but me. Then Rayquaza turned up and our leader Fane went mad wanting to use the legendry for his own needs." Lund explained.
"Fane lost it? But he was the one that said we would only use Groudon and no other Pokémon." May replied in shock unable to believe the man she had followed for so long could fall so far.
"I know and at that point I realised all the problems I had caused and told Ash how to disarm the machine, but it was too late. Rayquaza had started on the rampage you are seeing now, transforming the entire sky." Lund stated.
"So Ash actually did it, wait where is he now?" May asked bringing both hands up nervously.
"He's up there with Drake trying to stop Rayquaza as we speak." Lund informed her.
May turned around and looked back at the aerial battle around Rayquaza, only a small patch of orange gave away Charizard against the red sky. Ash was up there fighting and with Drake alongside him, the question was what was she going to do now.
"You should get up there and help them, I know Fane held you in pretty high regard so you must be strong." Lund told her making the brunette turn back to face him.
"But won't I be disobeying New Magma? It's just that they have 'dirt' on me and if I do this they could leak it." May spoke nervously.
"Then let me ask you, if they didn't have that dirt on you would you go up there and help them anyway?" Lund asked.
"I-I don't, well I, yes, yes I would." May stuttered.
She didn't realise it but Lund had in a way given her the final push she needed to be free of New Magma. Ash had gotten her to this point but Lund would be the one to break the final thread that held her to the organisation.
"Well then get up there and stop Rayquaza and I'll find and destroy whatever they have on you. It shouldn't be too hard I developed their systems after all." Lund grinned slightly.
"Thank you." May nearly whispered feeling a huge weight lift off her shoulders.
"Thank me by righting our wrongs, you might be the only one amongst us who can." Lund spoke before turning around and running back into the trees.
May turned to face the ocean which now looked more like a warzone then the lush tropical paradise it was before. She grabbed her sixth Pokeball and looked over it knowing that the Pokémon inside was her only means of attack, without it she would be useless. She clutched in tight in her hand and looked back up as Rayquaza took on multiple opponents with vicious and deadly attacks.
"Ash, I'm going to make this up to you, even if it costs me my life."
When Ash had started to fight Rayquaza it was just as he feared, none of their attack seemed to even faze it. They seemed to act only as an annoyance taking the heat off of Kyogre and Groudon which while giving the legendries a chance to attack it made little difference when they almost never hit their target. Rayquaza was able to out speed them in the air meaning they were constantly playing catch up with it especially when it used Extreme Speed. The one saving grace they had was their size and manoeuvrability compared to the giant. Rayquaza wasn't able to hit the smaller targets with its attacks and Ash was able to easily do circles around its long body. That didn't mean they were unaffected though, Ash avoided a Hyper Beam by about ten meters and the shock wave coming off the side of the attack was enough to send Charizard spiralling out of control. He didn't even want to think of what would happen if they took a direct hit.
Finally there was Rayquaza's incredible strength, it had whipped one of the Flygon with the end of its tail and sent it rocketing into the forest. At one point Groudon tried to bury under the ground but Rayquaza had wrapped its body around Groudon's tail and pulled it back up dragging it into the ocean again. That action along with everything else made Ash realise that the situation was in fact worse than he thought. There best hope was to try and wear Rayquaza down at this point.
"Charizard let's get in close, we'll be able to inflict more damage at point blank." Ash instructed.
Charizard raced in towards Rayquaza who was snapping his jaws trying to catch the Flygon that flew right in front of his face. Charizard came up from behind and following Rayquaza's long body released a constant stream of white hot flames, his attacks now extra powerful thanks to his Mega Evolution. Charizard continued up Rayquaza's entire body burning along his back until he rocketed over the dragon's head and continued forward. To cover his escape Drake came up in front of Rayquaza on his Salamence and blasted Rayquaza with his own flamethrower.
Even as Rayquaza's head his doused in flames the creature launched forward mouth wide open trying to bite down on Salamence. Drake was able to pull back in time and then flew past Rayquaza's face making it harder to be followed.
Ash pulled back to a safe distance and watched as the Flygon took over hitting Rayquaza with multiple Dragon Breaths. Ash had more experience than most with battling legendries but this was the first time in years where he didn't know how to act. Rayquaza was now closer to the ocean's surface and Kyogre took full advantage of this by lunching out of the water like a missile trying to ram Rayquaza. But the master of the skies was too quick lifting up its tail and slamming Kyogre between the eyes and sending it wailing back into the ocean. Rayquaza then simply aimed at the spot Kyogre had landed in and fired off another powerful black Hyper Beam splitting the ocean below it for a split second before a giant explosion burst upwards sending huge waves in all directions.
"Alright we need to hit it with dragon, fairy, rock or better yet ice type moves." Ash went over in his head. "Problem is we don't have any Pokémon that can use fairy or ice type moves so we've lost our main advantages." Ash hissed.
Charizard grunted and motioned forward, when Ash looked up he saw Rayquaza had for whatever reason targeted them and was moving swiftly towards them.
"Up Charizard, go as high as you can." Ash instructed.
Charizard flapped his wings and accelerated into the sky blasting upwards so quick Ash had trouble keeping hold of him. When Ash started seeing the red clouds around them he looked back down for Rayquaza, however he was looking in the wrong direction. To Ash's disbelief Rayquaza had already caught up to them and was flying right beside them.
"Charizard stop now!" Ash shouted over the loud winds.
Charizard halted his accent and Rayquaza continued upwards but the giant beast nimbly looped around in the air to face Charizard once again but this time charging up a Hyper Beam in its jaws.
"Charizard use Steel Wing to make us drop as quickly as possible." Ash instructed.
Charizard's already large wings extended and took on a steel colour then facing his back to the ground Charizard flapped his wings sending them down. The added length of his wings and the added weight gave them an extra push to avoid Rayquaza's attack. As the dual dragon-flying type released its attack it missed its target completely but continued through the air over the wilderness and straight towards a city in the distance. The Hyper Beam struck the top of a skyscraper blasting off ceiling of the top floor and then continued till it blasted into one of the streets tearing up the roadway.
Ash hadn't realised until then that the city was even there it was only at this altitude that he could see it. Which meant in order to keep that city out of harm's way they would have to fly below the hills so that any stray attacks wouldn't cause any collateral damage.
Ash looked back up and saw Rayquaza coming right for them. Ash pulled on Charizard's shoulders forcing him to veer off to the side right before Rayquaza's jaws snapped the air where they were just moments ago. Rayquaza kept descending towards the ocean before pulling back up to face them this time charging up an Ice Beam.
"We've got to hit it with everything we've got, Charizard use Blast Burn!" Ash shouted.
Charizard began building up fire all around his body making him look like a bright blue sphere. As Rayquaza fired its Ice Beam up at them Charizard released the stream of flame, but it didn't just come from his mouth it burst from his entire body. The blast was large enough to match Rayquaza's own attack and as the two collided they detonated sending a huge cloud of steam in all directions blocking both of them from seeing each other.
Ash knew Charizard would only be able to remain still in the air until his energy recharged fortunately the cloud of mist would give them enough cover till that happened. That was what Ash thought until Rayquaza burst out of the cloud right next to them, its red eyes locking onto them. Rayquaza coiled up its neck and hovered at nearly touching distance, charging up another Hyper Beam in its mouth. They were to close and Charizard hadn't had enough time to recharge, all Ash could do was stare into the bright light that was about to blast them.
'Is this it?' Ash thought in desperation.
Right before Rayquaza fired a sudden bright blue beam hit the side of Rayquaza's diverting the Hyper Beam off to Ash and Charizard's side. Rayquaza shook its head as ice froze over the side of its face where the random attack had come from giving Charizard enough time to regain his strength and fly away.
Ash looked around searching for the Pokémon that had used the Ice Beam, Drake and his dragons were all too far away to have done it. It was then he saw the black shimmering body of Darkrai racing away from Rayquaza and riding on top of it was the girl he who betrayed him, May. Ash didn't know how she got here or why she just saved him when she could have just let Rayquaza finish him off. He wasn't about to let his guard down around her, he had made that mistake one time to many.
Ash flew after her coming up from below her and blocking her path forcing May to pull Darkrai back and grind to a halt. When she saw Ash's expression she knew that one wrong move and she would end up battling him all over again.
"Why are you here?" Ash asked demandingly.
"I'm here to help stop this mess." May responded.
"Oh please, let me guess once Rayquaza's out of your way that'll be one less hindrance to your plans am I right?" Ash retorted.
"No it's nothing like that I want this destruction to end just as much as you, I'm not a part of New Magma's plans anymore I swear!" May pleaded.
"Everything you'll told me these past few days has been a lie. What makes you think I'm going to believe you now?" Ash tested her getting a loud grunt from Charizard.
"I don't except you to forgive me for what I've done. I would take it all back in a heartbeat I swear to you. But please let me try and undo to of the wrongs I've committed by fighting Rayquaza with you." May responded. Ash was about to tear her down some more when Drake flew up beside him on his Salamence.
"Ash what are you two squabbling about, we've got more important things to worry about!" Drake shouted the hardened captain inside of him showing.
"You don't understand Drake." Ash responded his eyes still locked on May.
"She just saved your life and has the only Pokémon amongst us that can use any ice type moves which is what we seriously need right now." Drake asserted.
"Whatever history you two have drop it and get back in there. We can't do this alone Ash you must have figured that out by now." Drake concluded.
Ash groaned in frustration, Drake didn't know that May had helped cause this or see what she was capable of doing. But he had a point she could add numbers and a major type advantage to the battle, something they desperately needed.
"Fine but don't blame me if she does something stupid." Ash grumbled.
"Don't take that tone with me, your about fifty years too young to be back chatting to me." Drake snapped before flying towards Rayquaza.
May watched Drake go and then turned back to Ash his guard not dropping in the slightest. She didn't necessarily need him to trust her, but it would make the whole situation a lot easily on the two of them.
"I'll be watching you." Ash warned.
May simple nodded before turning around and following Drake to join the battle. Ash watched her go, could she really have just turned her back on New Magma so quickly, granted she was beyond shocked when she saw Groudon and Kyogre fighting but he refused to believe that she didn't have some ulterior motive.
"Keep your eyes open Charizard cause as we both learned, the only one shadier then that Darkrai is the one riding it."
That's the chapter everyone, next up we'll be getting a much more fleshed out battle scene. I've been having trouble writing everything down lately so hopefully I can break this latest wave of writers block. The feedback I've been getting has been great so once again thank you to everyone who leaves a comment. See you all next time!