Chapter 23: The Legend of Hoenn
Ash's Pokémon had finished evacuating all of the New Magma members away from the coastline and now they were hurrying back to where they left Ash despite his last order.
"Come on everyone we have to get down there and assess the situation right now." Sceptile barked as he jumped through the trees.
"Well we're not all as fast as you Sceptile." Krookodile responded barely able to keep up.
Sceptile knew he didn't have time to waste he had to get out there and help Ash and the best way to do that was to get to the battlefield as quickly as possible. They were all Ash's Pokémon and shared that bond but right now actions were necessary over mutual respect. Sceptile accelerated leaving everyone else behind, they would all make it eventually.
As the grass type burst out of the trees and landed in the same area they had left Ash in Sceptile instinctively began scanning the area. The entire area was unrecognisable the cliffs all alone the area had been blasted or crumbled back taking away small sections of forest. Giant sharp pillars pierced through the ocean and land looking like enormous spears embedded throughout the landscape. Hills and large parts of land had been blown away leaving only black scars from powerful attacks.
As Sceptile gazed up he took in the red skyline, they had all seen it and broken its hold on them. What looked like deep red lightning dashed across the sky only outshone by the random attacks that were fired from multiple airborne Pokémon along with the attacks launched by Kyorge and Groudon who even with all their power were almost useless in this fight.
Sceptile continued to watch the fight from the ground realising that none of them could do anything even if Rayquaza was brought in close. At that point the rest of Ash's Pokémon turned up, Greninja was not too pleased with Sceptile abandoning the group but it was Garbite's comment that caught the grass type's attention.
"What in the world is going on here?" Garbite uttered in awe of the scene in front of him.
"Well to me, it looks like the end of the world." Sceptile replied without a second thought.
Ash and Charizard Y desperately performed as many aerial manoeuvres as they could think of to get away from Rayquaza. Even with Charizard's new form they were completely outmatched by the enormous dragon, he had never seen anything move so perfectly in the air. Rayquaza did live its entire life in the ozone of the planet and the way it effortlessly soared and manoeuvred through the air cemented its title as master of the skies and that was the problem, as this was the only way to battle it.
"Ash this way!" Drake called out.
Ash looked to his side and saw Drake had positioned his two Flygon ready to use Rock Slide. Ash turned and flew under them leading Rayquaza right behind him as Ash passed under the Flygon they released their suspended rocks which crashed down on top of Rayquaza causing the legendary to flinch as multiple boulders fell over its body. They had done a large amount of damage but Rayquaza burst upwards and grabbed the Flygon in each hand. The smaller dragon's thrashed around trying to escape but were unable to release themselves from Rayquaza's grip. With its prey captured Rayquaza opened its mouth and began charging up an Ice Beam.
"We've got to save them Charizard, use Dragon Rage and aim for Rayquaza's mouth!" Ash orderd.
Charizard flew closer and fired off the ball of orange energy which continued forward and detonated in the back of Rayquaza's throat making the creature lurch back, even legendries couldn't ignore an attack hitting the inside of their mouths. Rayquaza's grip loosened and the Flygon spread their wings and flew away, shaken but unharmed. Rayquaza exhaled a cloud of smoke before roaring again, the strength of its cry enough to push Charizard back like a strong wind.
At that point May and Drake came from behind Rayquaza on both sides one using Flamethrower the other using Ice Beam. They both soared up Rayquaza's body till they neared its head and peeled off to either side. As Drake did Rayquaza turned its head colliding with Salamence causing them to flail through the air momentarily. Fortunately for the senior Elite Four trainer Rayquaza was distracted by a Hyper Beam fired by Groudon causing the dragon to switch targets and fly down to engage its attacker. It was these moments that gave Ash, Drake, May and there Pokémon a chance to catch their breath before they launched their next attack.
"Come up with any plans Drake?" Ash huffed.
"I'm working on it and what about you, you're an Elite Four member as well and didn't you once tell me you were present for that incident that involved Deoxys and Rayquaza?" Drake retorted.
"I didn't really take notice of the battle I was more concerned with running for my life." Ash responded."
"Deoxys could change its form on the fly to adapt to whatever Rayquaza threw at it plus it was itself a legendry." May put in making Ash focus back on her.
"Well in that case try to target Rayquaza's back but remember it can twist itself around to get at you." Drake put forward.
"One more thing, stay low or we might damage the city not far from here and maybe we can get Groudon and Kyogre to help out." Ash added.
"He's right the reason those two can't hit Rayquaza is because it's too high up if we can get it lower they may be able to land a hit." May reinforced Ash statement but the look he gave her was not one of gratitude.
"Alright then we'll fly low but remember you'll have to avoid Groudon's and Kyogre's attacks as well." Drake told them getting a nod from both trainers.
As Drake descended with his Flygon on either side of him May stopped Ash before he could follow.
"Ash please you must believe that I am truly trying to help you." May pleaded but Ash didn't even look at her.
"If you want to help, than stay out of my way." Ash growled before having Charizard fly past Darkrai and follow Drake.
"I can't blame you for hating me. Darkrai let's get in there." May instructed getting the pitch black Pokémon to fly down towards Rayquaza.
As May followed the others Rayquaza saw them coming in right before Drake's Salamence and Flygon's tried a coordinated attack. Both Flygon fired twin streams of Dragon Breath which crossed over each other creating an X shape that would intersect with Rayquaza but the legendry used its long flexible body and twisted upwards coming right between the two attacks. Drake then came in behind the Flygon with Salamence readying its fearsome Dragon Claw attack ready to strike Rayquaza in the head. But Rayquaza ducked under Salamence completely avoiding the attack, it was Ash's turn now. Coming up behind Drake Charizard released his Flamethrower were Rayquaza exited behind Salamence, he felt for sure they had gotten him. But just like before Rayquaza proved to quick not only avoiding the flamethrower but looping its body around the flames in a corkscrew pattern and then rammed it's head in Charizard's body propelling him and Ash straight backwards.
As they stabilised in the air Ash's vision became blurry, he looked forward as Charizard tried to recover and saw Rayquaza charging at them its body glowing red powered by its Outrage attack. Right before they were hit Darkrai grabbed them from the side and pulled them away.
"Quickly use Ice Beam." May shouted.
Darkrai released the blue beam from his free hand which covered both of Rayquaza's eyes as the dragon cried out Darkrai pulled Charizard out of Rayquaza's path saving them from getting hit. Rayquaza stopped in the air and clawed at the ice on its eyes while Darkrai let go of Charizard.
"Are you two alright?" May asked.
"We're fine." Ash muttered, that was the second time she had saved him from getting hit the Darkrai she had was obviously very quick and powerful if it could cause Rayquaza to cry out in pain.
Their plan to get lower in order for Kyogre and Groudon to hit Rayquaza was at least working, as it removed the last pieces of ice off of its face Rayquaza was hit on both sides by a Hydro Pump and a Solar Beam from the two giants below. Though instead of instantly retaliating Rayquaza slumped its head and took in deep breaths.
"Is Rayquaza finally weakening?" May asked.
"I don't think so look at its body." Ash pointed.
May looked down and saw Rayquaza had a faint glow about it seeming to draw energy from the red sky above it. Rayquaza's body seemed to tense as it drew this power within itself. Rayquaza faced Kyogre and Groudon lifting up its head, the effect to do so caused the dragon to shake slightly as the amount of raw power building up inside of it grew and grew. Opening its mouth Rayquaza revealed a blinding blue light and as it fired its entire body straightened like a cannon and out of its jaws came an unbelievable blast of ice. The blast was so large it covered an area five hundred meters wide and blanketed the ocean beneath Rayquaza. It washed over Groudon and Kyogre freezing them instantly and left the waves and rocks suspended in a blanket of ice. May and Ash stared wide eyed at the aftermath of Rayquaza's attack, both wondering if it released that sort of power on them how could they possible counter it.
Rayquaza's head turned slowly to face the two above it, as May saw its red eyes fix on them she knew that they were next. With a sudden burst of speed Rayquaza blitzed towards them going between the two of them and slashing Charizard.
"Are you alright?" May called out when Rayquaza flew past her and Slashed Darkrai's back.
"Charizard use Steel Wing and cover yourself." Ash called out.
Charizard's wings glowed and hardened, with his Y form his wings were even larger and as he covered his body with them he was better protected from Rayquaza's attacks. Darkrai didn't have any way to defend itself from Rayquaza's attacks and took a beating from each slash as did May who rode on his back. Rayquaza honed in on Darkrai and May finishing off its barrage of attacks with one final heavy slam from its tail across Darkrai's side sending both of them tumbling towards the ground. The two of them landed on the edge of a cliff and May lost her grip and fell off Darkrai tumbling along the ground.
"Damn it!" Ash shouted he was about to retaliate when both the Flygon swooped in and slashed the back of Rayquaza's neck with their Dragon Claw attack and continued to fly on. Rayquaza once again switched targets and gave chase. Ash looked down at May she was getting up but weakly, she had gotten wounded when she fought him and was now pushing herself to keep going. It was then that Drake flew in beside Ash.
"You should probably get down there and make sure she's alright." Drake informed Ash.
"I'm sure she'll be alright." Ash pushed aside the comment.
"Right now we don't have the luxury of being sure or unsure, get down there and help her up. If I remember correctly she travelled with you before, which should be enough of a reason for you." Drake stated.
"Fine." Ash uttered under his breath before getting Charizard to fly down to where May had landed.
May had gotten to her feet but her vision was blurry from the impact and her arm was now constantly aching. She clutched the shoulder with her other hand but it did little to ease the pain, Darkrai was in his own trouble scratching his eyes after getting something in it from the fall. May heard the sound of wings behind her and upon turning around saw Charizard land and Ash jump off his back. From up close May could see the changes Charizard's body had undergone, no doubt this was Mega-Evolution something he didn't use in their last battle and yet was still able to utterly crush her. Ash walked up to her but his usual caring nature was gone, almost as if he didn't want to be there checking on her.
"Are you still able to fight?" Ash asked lowly.
"Yes I can still go on." May stated as she straightened up but she tripped forward and fell.
Ash instinctively moved forward and caught May in his arms as she fell catching her, when he did she clutched her shoulder tighter he recognised it as the one he dislocated earlier. He still didn't trust May however she was still an important asset in this fight and he doubted Darkrai would listen to him. Still holding May Ash signalled Charizard.
"Charizard go and try to melt the ice surrounding Groudon and Kyogre, we need them to keep going." Ash instructed and with a grunt Charizard flew towards the frozen Legendries.
Ash then sat May down and began looking through his backpack. If May was going to fight at her best her injury would have to be dealt with even if he was just able to ease her pain. Ash pulled out a tube with liquid pain killers and faced May again but still didn't look directly at her.
"I'm going to apply this to your shoulder, now just pull down your shirt over your arm." Ash asked.
May nodded and pulled down her shirt slightly but then noticed Darkrai hovering closer to them baring its claws as Ash got closer to her.
"It's alright Darkrai, these people are our allies." May assured her Pokémon making the Dark type back off slightly.
Ash scooped up some of the mixture and gently rubbed it over May's shoulder being around a Darkrai made even the most hardened trainers nervous and it was the same for Ash. They were usually seen as evil Pokémon but Ash knew from his experience in Alamos town that they weren't born evil, it all depended on the trainer and that was what had him worried.
"Ash thank you for doing this." May spoke up.
"As soon as I'm done we'll both get back up there and start fighting." Ash stated.
"I know it's hard to believe that I've changed after everything I've done, but I know what I must do and I'm so sorry for the pain I'm caused you." As May spoke she raised her hand up to Ash's face to try and make him look at her but Ash's hand shot up and grabbed it.
"Don't, just don't even waste your breath." Ash uttered lowly his hand gripping May's wrist firmly holding back his anger.
May lowered her head and pulled back her hand, there was no point in talking to Ash. He was angry and pumped up on adrenaline because of the fight May didn't blame him though, even she knew her actions were unforgivable. Ash had finished applying the mixture and May could already feel her pain subsiding. The Pallet Town trainer walked to the each of the cliff and made a short shape whistle. From across the waves Charizard heard Ash's call and having just melted the ice around Kyogre fly back to his trainer. May watched as Ash simply stepped off of the ledge and moments later flew up into the air on top of Charizard's back. May got up and watched as Groudon and Kyogre broke free of the ice around them and blasted apart the field ice covering the water in their way.
"Alright Darkrai let's go." May said as she got on the dark types back and flew up into the air.
As they flew over the ocean May looked down at Groudon just in time to see Rayquaza slam into it and force it to the ground. May watched as Rayquaza wrapped its tail around Groudon's neck and squeezed making Groudon grab Rayquaza's tail and try to free itself but Rayquaza countered by biting down on Groudon's head. May could see Kyogre was still separated by the ice between them and was about to fly down and help when Drake and Ash pulled up on either side of her.
"Alright you two listen up, have you noticed whenever Rayquaza is attacked it'll instantly focus on its attacker?" Drake asked.
"That's true which makes any offense we use even more dangerous." Ash responded.
"Exactly so my plan is to make a perimeter around Rayquaza and attack one after another in order to keep Rayquaza switching between multiple targets and reduce the risk." Drake informed them.
"That sounds good to me Drake." May spoke up.
"Right then let's do it." Ash declared.
The three of them split off and surrounded Rayquaza while it wrestled from Groudon, as soon as Drake's Flygon were in position he ordered the attack. Darkrai swooped in and used Dark Pulse hitting Rayquaza on the side. As they passed Rayquaza locked onto them and released Groudon in order to give chase. Groudon fell onto its hands and knees breathing deeply, before Rayquaza could pick up speed both Flygon slashed Rayquaza's midsection with Dragon Claw. Their plan seemed to be working as Rayquaza turned its attention from May to the Flygon and began going after them. Ash's turn was up next he and Charizard flew in from the side and blasted Rayquaza with his Dragon Rage. Rayquaza growled angrily as it was hit from the side again focusing on Ash and twisting around to chase him. As Drake moved in on Salamence Kyogre fired a Hydro Pump narrowly missing the dragon trainer and nearly hitting Rayquaza. The large water attack blasted past Rayquaza's face and though it didn't hit it certainly got Rayquaza's attention.
As the enraged dragon turned towards Kyogre the water type roared in anger as it began charging a Hyper Beam in its mouth. Rayquaza held its position and charged up its own Hyper Beam, however Drake was still in the between the two of them and was at risk of being caught in the crossfire. Drake ordered Salamence to fly straight upwards hoping to get out of range in time, as the two legendries fired their attacks they collided together pushing against each other for a few brief seconds before a huge explosion blasted outwards sending a blast wave in all direction. Even Ash felt the shock of the blast from where he was but Drake was much closer and as he flew up was hit from below by the blast. He and Salamence were knocked around and disorientated the two began to fall when Darkrai appeared beside them and stopped their fall saving them from getting caught between the two legendries again.
"Thanks for the save." Drake thanked May as he looked down and saw Rayquaza slam its head into Kyogre creating a mighty bang.
"With attacks of that strength we risk getting taken out by all three of them and we weren't doing much damage to Rayquaza to begin with." Drake stated.
"And I'm guessing we can't just let them fight it out." May asked
"No, records state that previous battles of theirs went on for days and you've already seen what they can in such a short amount of time." Drake replied as Ash pulled up beside him on Charizard.
"My next plan is a combined attack, all of us firing our best attacks at once to form one super powerful blast." Drake informed them.
"You think our strength together will be enough?" Ash asked.
"Probably not enough to knock it out but it will give us an estimate of our maximum power output and that could be very important." Drake informed Ash.
"Alright then let's get close enough so we don't miss." Ash stated and they all flew down closer to the giants below.
Rayquaza had wrapped its tail around one of Kyogre's large fins and pulled the water type across the waves towards Groudon. As they closed in Rayquaza lifted Kyogre out of the water and let go leaving Kyogre to fall through the air before crashing in Groudon and sending both of them crashing down. Drake and the others now took their opportunity to strike, with Drake in the middle, his Flygon below him and Ash and May above they formed a square shape ready to fire.
"Now everyone aim at Rayquaza and fire!" Drake yelled.
"Charizard use Blast Burn." Ash instructed.
"Darkrai use Ice Beam." May called out.
"Flygon use Dragon Breath and Salamence use Flamethrower." Drake commanded.
Five beams of energy blasted forward from the Pokémon moving forward by themselves at first but then combining to form a single spiralling projectile of multiple colours. Rayquaza saw the attack incoming and turned to face it, as it did Rayquaza was able to charge up a Hyper Beam. Firing its own attack at the combined one Rayquaza's Hyper Beam collided with the one about to hit it. The attacks pushed against each other neither giving nor gaining any ground it appeared their strength was equal. That was until Rayquaza began to absorb the energy from the sky much like it have before it froze the entire area with a single Ice Beam. As the red energy pooled into Rayquaza's body the power of its Hyper Beam increased and it slowly began to push back the combined attack towards the group.
'If we don't do something we'll all be blow apart.' Ash frantically though as the Hyper closed in on them.
"Dragon Rush!" A sudden voice called out.
From above Rayquaza a bright blue attack in the shape of a dragon's head and wings dove down and hammered Rayquaza in the back of the neck causing the large dragon to rear its head back and send its own Hyper Beam into the air and away from Ash's group. The Pokémon ceased their attacks unable to keep with the constant energy use. For once Rayquaza didn't focus on the target that just hit it and instead charged straight forward at the cluster of Pokémon in front of it.
"Salamence use Zen Head-butt." Drake reacted.
Salamence raced forward a blue barrier appearing over his head. The two dragons collided head to head shattering Salamence's psychic barrier and flinging him backwards however the effect of Zen Head-butt was activated making Rayquaza flinch. Ash saw Rayquaza was unable to move and took his chance.
"Charizard move forward and use flamethrower!" Ash yelled.
Charizard accelerated forward reaching Rayquaza's head and unleashing a burning column of flame, he kept going leaving a trail a fire that lit up Rayquaza's back as they flew down its long body till they ended at the tail and flew off to get as much distance between them and Rayquaza as possible. The flames however didn't die down instead they continued to burn a fact that had May hesitate to try a follow up attack, it soon became clear that Rayquaza had being burnt and it spread from the back of its neck to the tip of its tail.
The flames died down but as Rayquaza lifted its head and let out an ear piercing roar the flames burst back to life creating a fearsome looking mane of fire that rose of its back and burned in the air.
"As if it wasn't intimidating enough." May stated in awe.
Rayquaza was so enraged it didn't even notice Groudon walking up behind it till the ground type grabbed Rayquaza's tail and chomped down on it. Rayquaza turned around and immediately started attacking Groudon giving May the chance to regroup with Ash and Drake.
"Where did that Dragon Rush come from?" Ash asked.
"Not sure but we'll have to thank whoever it was and hope they can lend more of a hand." Drake stated.
"Hang on there's someone riding a Hydreigon over there." May said as she pointed below them.
"I don't believe it." Ash uttered before racing down to confirm if the person riding the Hydreigon was who he thought it was.
"I knew it, Paul!" Ash shouted out when he was close enough.
Sure enough as the person turned around Ash confirmed it was the trainer from Sinnoh. Seeing Ash fly up behind him Paul turned Hydreigon around and flew next to Charizard.
"Ash what are you doing here?" Paul asked in surprise.
"Long story short I was here when this mess started and now were trying to fix it, what about you how'd you get here?" Ash asked in turn.
"Well long story short I saw the sky turn red in the distance from the city close by then a massive Hyper Beam blasted the roof of a building and I knew I had to investigate. But I never thought I'd be witnessing the three legends of Hoenn fighting like this, and what's wrong with Rayquaza?" Paul asked.
"Basically if we can knock Rayquaza out we might be able to stop this disaster from getting any worse." Ash informed Paul.
"Knock it out? Is that even possible?" Paul responded.
"That's what I said but Drake seems to think it's possible." Ash spoke as Drake and May caught up with them.
"Young man I hate to pull you into this but do you think you can assist us with this fight?" Drake asked Paul.
"Of course, I'm willing to help in any way." Paul replied.
"So Drake what did you learn from out last little power struggle with Rayquaza?" Ash asked.
"When in trouble Rayquaza draws energy from the blood sky so that it can overcome anything threatening it. I believe if we use a combined attack we can knock Rayquaza out of the air however we have to make sure it doesn't absorb any energy from the sky and I have a Pokémon that may be able to help. However in order to make sure this works we'll need Kyogre and Groudon to attack with us and I estimate we'll need at least one more Pokémon.
"Neither May or I have any other Pokémon that can help us in this battle." Ash told Drake.
"My Hydreigon is the only one who can fly and most of my other Pokémon are to low level anyway." Paul spoke up.
"Darn it we're so close." Drake exclaimed before a familiar roar sounded above them, looking up they saw Rayquaza diving straight down with its mouth wide open.
"Scatter!" Ash shouted.
Everyone darted in different directions as Rayquaza dove past them diving into the ocean. May looked down to see where Rayquaza would rise when it burst out right in front of her, it's head so close she could smell it's hot breath. She yelled for Darkrai to use Dark Pulse but even Darkrai's incredible strength did little to push back Rayquaza as it came after them snapping its jaws at the air.
"There's only one other Pokémon I have that can help us now, but not as he is." Ash spoke to Charizard as the battle for Hoenn's future waged on.
On what remained of the cliff face Ash's Pokémon watched the carnage unfold unable to tear their eyes away from the constant destruction. Everyone was on the edge of their seat waiting for their trainer to somehow turn the tide and bring about a win, but with each passing minute the situation looked more and more dire.
"We can't just stand around here, we've got to do something." Sceptile finally spoke up.
"I honestly don't think there's anything we can do." Greninja replied.
"So what were completely useless is that what you're saying?" Sceptile shot back.
"Of course not but take a look, were out of options here." Greninja responded.
"Dammit Ash and Charizard are risking their lives out there, there's got to be something we can do!" Sceptile shouted.
"I know that but I can't see what we can do so if you have a plan by all means tell us!" Greninja threw his hands in the air.
While Greninja and Sceptile fought with each other the pressure was beginning to get to Garbite. The reason Ash had took him on this trip was so he could train and reach his maximum potential. But after all these years he still hadn't managed to evolve. He never took training very seriously thinking he would evolve when he was ready and now because of that he was unable to help his trainer and his friends when they needed him the most. The more he thought about it the more the stress built up and with the sounds of attacks going off, deafening roars and his team mates about to start fighting amongst themselves it all became too much.
"Rawwwwwww!" Gabite yet out a sudden echoing roar that completely silenced Sceptile and Greninja.
Gabite could feel a great power welling up inside of him and as his body began to glow everyone knew what was about to transpire. His body and tail lengthened, fins grew on his arms, his skull broadened and extended. All of Ash's Pokémon watched as Garbite's long awaited evolution took shape. Thrusting his arms to either side of his body the dragon-ground type let out a roar but this time it was a far more loud and vicious one.
"Garchomp, you've finally arrived." Sceptile snickered.
Garchomp looked over his team mates feeling the responsibility of what he had to do weigh on him but with the new strength he had gained he felt it more as their support that would be pushing him forward.
"You know what to do right Garchomp?"Greninja asked.
"Trust me I know, and I won't let you guys down." Garchomp declared and with that Garchomp bent his knees and blasted off into the air like a jet manoeuvring through the air as if he had done it a thousand times before.
"You think they can win now?" Krookodile asked
"I never doubted them for a second." Pikachu replied confidently.