Plot-Scorbunny 9: The Boy With The Ancient Pokéball Part 2
"No way! The Black Rayquaza's come here?!" Roy gasped in astonishment.
"This is horrifying! It's here again and we're far from ready for it!" Liko whimpered in fright.
Sprigatito and Fuecoco cowered behind their trainer's feet as the terrifying sight of Rayquaza loomed over them. As Roy had said, this was a black Rayquaza. The species was usually green but this one was black instead with all its other colours remaining the same as before. The yellow and red body markings and its yellow eyes stood out impressively against its dark, scaly body. Rayquaza was a Dragon/Flying type Pokémon first discovered in the Hoenn region was the master of the wind like how Groudon was the master of Earth and Kyogre was the master of water. It had a long serpent-like body, small arms with three fingered hands, fins on three segments of its body and the tip of its tail and four horns on its head. Curiously, this Rayquaza also seemed to have a crystalline coating around its body, making it look as if it was in the middle of Terastilization but hadn't finished the process. While the usual green Rayquaza took care of the Earth and was usually the peacekeeper between Groudon and Kyogre, this Rayquaza didn't seem to serve any real purpose and had once been an occupant in the ancient Pokéball that Roy now possessed. It also looked as if it was in no mood to make friends. It eyed the humans down below with its small, fearsome eyes.
"So this is your runaway Rayquaza you're after?" Sapphire inquired.
"That's it alright!" Roy confirmed.
"In any other case, I'd have been fascinated seeing a Rayquaza of a different colour!" Ashley exclaimed, "But in this case I'm terrified it's gonna Draco Meteor us to bits!"
"We'll fight it off." Sapphire declared, "Maybe we can weaken it and Roy can then return it to his ancient Pokéball. But first, we need to evacuate the island. I won't have my students being in harm's way while it attacks!"
"Excellent Sapphire! That's just what I was hoping you'd say!" Mustard said proudly, "Honey, you and I will evacuate everybody. Sapphire and Ashley will deal with Rayquaza!"
"And once everyone's off the island, we can help too." Honey added.
"Do you want us to go too?" Liko asked.
"I'd appreciate it if you did." Sapphire insisted, "I won't have you two risking your lives against that thing."
"But I wanna help! It's my Pokémon after all! I gotta beat it and get it back in its ball!" Roy protested.
"And you will, but you're NOT fighting it alongside me and Ashley." Sapphire said firmly, "You and Liko are way too inexperienced to fight a Legendary Pokémon so for the love of Arceus, please don't argue with me and evacuate now!"
"Come on Roy. We must obey the Dojo Master." Liko insisted, grabbing onto Roy's arm, "We're in danger if we stay here."
Roy wanted to stay put and fight the battle alongside everybody. But deep down, he knew it would be foolish of him to stay. What chance did he had against a Legendary Pokémon? He could barely hold his own against his own friend who was similarly a rookie! With a sigh, he looked to Liko.
"OK, let's go. You guys be careful out there!" he called to Sapphire and Ashley.
"Don't sweat it kid. Me and Sapph have had experience with battling Legendries in the past." Ashley said confidently, "This Rayquaza won't know what hit it!"
The girls whipped out a Pokéball each while Mustard and Honey hurriedly evacuated the students from the dojo. Everybody filed out of the building with the Dojo Master and Matron guiding them to Armour Station. Nowhere on the island was safe for the students so they had to be flown back to Galar immediately. Liko and Roy followed the crowd. The two took one last glance over at Rayquaza, who seemed to be watching Sapphire and Ashley with curious interest. Liko could imagine what was going on in its head right now: will these two humans fight me or not? She prayed that they would survive this encounter should a battle begin.
"Do you think they can do it?" Roy asked as if reading Liko's thoughts.
"I would like to believe they can." Liko answered, "You remember the story of Sapphire and that evil Zeraora? She and the combined forces of this island helped to defeat it. So if she can handle that, maybe she can handle Rayquaza too."
"I only wish we could help." Roy muttered, "I don't want to just run away like this."
"But we have to. We're only getting in the way if we try to help." Liko insisted, "We're actually being more helpful to Sapphire by evacuating."
Roy still felt annoyed that he was being forced to run and hide while Sapphire did all the work. Rayquaza was HIS Pokémon so he really should help defeat it! If only he'd had more time to train before running into it again then maybe he'd be able to help!
Back at the Master Dojo, the Rayquaza continued to stare down at Sapphire and Ashley. It wasn't sure whether to attack them or just leave them alone. They surely were no match for it anyway so why waste its time and energy on these scrawny humans? Sapphire and Ashley looked to each other and nodded. They had to bring this Pokémon down before it did any more damage. It was clearly dangerous and out-of-control like this so they needed to fight it. Once Roy could return it safely to its Pokéball, it wouldn't pose a risk to anyone else.
"Brace yourself Sapph, we're in for a big one!" Ashley declared, "Zekrom, time ta fight!"
"Celestia, shining time!" ordered Sapphire.
Both girls threw their Pokéballs and out of them came Zekrom and Celestia the Galarian Rapidash. The Dragon/Electric Pokémon roared menacingly up at Rayquaza, daring it to come and fight it while Celestia whinnied and pawed at the ground with her hooves. Not even a Rayquaza was going to scare her in this fight. Rayquaza narrowed its eyes in what might've been either anger or irritation. So these humans wanted to fight it? Very well, it would show them the consequences of their stupidity. Rayquaza raised its head up high and fired a beam of energy up into the sky. The energy exploded into a meteor shower and its Draco Meteor attack came raining down all over the battle arena. The meteors crashed down and caused an explosion of energy with each meteor that hit. Sapphire and Ashley were thrown off their feet by the force of the attack and they lay in a heap down on their sides. Zekrom tried to dodge the attack but some meteors still hit it and brought it down onto its stomach. It cried out as it was bombarded by the attack. Only Celestia was unharmed throughout the terrifying onslaught for she was immune to Dragon attacks. As a result, she was the first to retaliate by using Dazzling Gleam. Her mane glowed fabulously as she unleashed a stream of fairy lights that momentarily blinded Rayquaza and caused it to reel back in pain.
Sapphire picked herself up and brushed dirt off of her kimono. She hadn't expected that she'd be getting her Dojo Master uniform dirty so soon! This day was really proving to be a test of her abilities as Mustard's replacement! She helped Ashley up to her feet and brushed dirt off of her as well.
"You OK love?" she asked.
"Just peachy hon." Ashley muttered, "That crazy Rayquaza's gonna wreck the whole island if it keeps using Draco Meteor! We gotta end this now!"
"It's lucky for me Celestia can't be harmed by it so if she can keep using Dazzling Gleam on it while it can't hurt her, that should do the trick for us." Sapphire hoped.
"But we can't just rely on Celestia. I need ta help her out!" Ashley cried, "Zekrom, use Dragon Dance and give yerself a boost!"
Zekrom picked itself up and growled in response. It had taken a big hit from that Draco Meteor but it wasn't down yet. Zekrom flew up into the sky and spiralled around like a tornado as it performed Dragon Dance. The boost to its Attack and Speed would hopefully give it an extra edge in this battle. But then to Sapphire and Ashley's horror…Rayquaza did the same thing! It copied Zekrom's spinning manoeuvre and flashed with orange and red as its Attack and Speed boosted!
"Well that's just prime!" Sapphire muttered, "It can use Dragon Dance too?!"
"That sucks for us. But we'll still beat it!" Ashley declared, "Zekrom, use Outrage!"
Zekrom charged into Rayquaza with is body coating itself in orange draconian energy. Zooming through the sky like so, it looked like a black and orange missile that had been fired at the enemy. Rayquaza dodged the attack, effortlessly weaving out of the way like a snake slithering out of the way of its attacker. Zekrom whooshed past but it spun around and quickly came back towards Rayquaza. The shiny Pokémon took off upwards and then came back down with its body coated in green energy as it used Dragon Ascent, the signature move of its species. Both attacks collided with one another, creating an explosion of energy that erupted through the sky and made the ground below shudder in response. It was as if the very earth itself was terrified of what was occurring up above. Zekrom and Rayquaza both crashed down to the ground in a heap. The two Dragon type Pokémon looked as if both moves had taken a lot out of them and they were using whatever strength they had left in them just to stay conscious. Zekrom groaned as it sat back up and tried to shake off the pain of Rayquaza's attack. The black coloured legendary raised its head and shook it furiously. Both Pokémon glared at each other. Both were thinking the same thing: they were truly up against a worthy opponent and they would do whatever they could to take the other down.
Sapphire saw an opportunity to land another hit in and ordered Celestia to use Dazzling Gleam again. The Psychic/Fairy Pokémon galloped towards her opponent and tried to attack but Rayquaza suddenly lashed out with its tail and walloped her. Celestia gasped in a mixture of pain and surprise as she was tackled by the serpent-like Pokémon's large tail. She was thrown aside like unwanted garbage and crashed into a nearby cliff face. Sapphire grimaced, feeling the pain of that impact. Celestia had crashed so heavily into the rock that she became stuck and was wriggling furiously to try and get out. Rayquaza took to the skies again and aimed another Dragon Ascent at the psychic powered unicorn. But Zekrom tackled it from the side and knocked it aside. Both Dragon Pokémon tumbled over each other, becoming entangled as they fought and clawed at each other. Rayquaza's long, snaky body coiled around Zekrom and it squeezed it tightly and the red-eyed black dragon winced as it was constricted by its opponent. Rayquaza had a strong grip but Zekrom wouldn't be crushed so easily. It fought back against Rayquaza to try and make it let go. During the scuffle, Zekrom ended up slamming itself against a cliff face to try and stun Rayquaza and make it loosen its grip. Rayquaza cried out but refused to let go, instead tightening its grip. So instead, Zekrom used all the electricity it had in its body to electrocute its opponent and get it to release it. Its tail glowed brightly as it gave Rayquaza a nasty shock. Rayquaza bellowed in anguish and eventually, it was forced to let Zekrom go to spare itself any further pain.
Now it was free, the Dragon/Electric Pokémon ran over to Celestia and pulled her free from the wall. It patted her softly and gave her a soft gaze as if to ask "Are you OK?" Celestia nodded in response. She was hurt but still able to fight. Rayquaza flew up high and then opened its mouth. As it did so, energy began to charge up in the back of its throat. Sapphire and Ashley knew what was about to happen next.
"Brace yourselves! It's using Hyper Beam!" Ashley shrieked.
She was completely correct. Rayquaza unleashed the powerful beam of energy and blasted both Celestia and Zekrom with it. They cried out in agony as they were blasted. It felt like they were being obliterated by all the energy of the universe and they were going to be reduced to atoms. Sapphire and Ashley turned away as clouds of dust and smoke whooshed over them. They were almost swept away by the force of the explosive power that Rayquaza had unleashed. Zekrom and Celestia lay sprawled across the arena together, feeling as if their bodies had been broken beyond repair and it would be a miracle if they could even stand up again. Celestia had taken the worst of the blow for she wasn't a Legendary Pokémon and thus wasn't as endurable as Rayquaza or Zekrom. As the dust cleared, Sapphire could see that Zekrom was still able to fight but Celestia, while still conscious, didn't look as if she could fight any longer. She was too exhausted from the beating she'd taken to fight on so she returned Celestia to give her a rest.
"Hopefully an Ice-type will help me out here…" Sapphire murmured as she sent out Elsa the Froslass in Celestia's place.
It was a wise decision for Rayquaza had a double weakness to Ice-types. A single Ice Beam from Elsa would likely cripple Rayquaza immensely. Ashley nodded in agreement. Elsa would be perfect for this battle. She also understood why Sapphire wasn't using her own Legendary to battle Rayquaza. Iron Fist the Urshifu was a Legendary Pokémon but he was weak to Flying attacks so he wouldn't be much use against a Rayquaza. Sapphire was better relying on type-advantage to have a chance here.
"Let's hope Elsa can turn the tables." Ashley murmured, "I'll get Zekrom to keep Rayquaza busy and then Elsa can ambush it from behind with Ice Beam."
"Just what I was thinking." the blue-haired teen concurred, "Elsa's part Ghost-typing will also make it easier for her to hide from Rayquaza and sneak up on it so we may have a chance here…"
It would be risky and the plan could go wrong but it was worth a shot. Ashley turned to Zekrom and watched it stand back up. Despite the power of Hyper Beam, it seemed like her legendary Pokémon could carry on fighting. That was just as well! Ashley doubted her other Pokémon could handle Rayquaza so she needed Zekrom to handle this or else she'd have nothing else. For now Rayquaza couldn't move thanks to Hyper Beam's draw back. It was recharging so that gave Ashley the chance to land a free shot on the shiny Pokémon. Zekrom leapt towards Rayquaza and ploughed straight into it with Outrage. Since Rayquaza couldn't move, it wasn't able to dodge or block the attack and as a result, Zekrom ploughed straight into it and slammed it straight into another cliff face. Angered, Rayquaza walloped Zekrom with its tail and knocked it backwards. Zekrom swung back with its own tail but Rayquaza blocked the attack and lifted its head up to launch another Draco Meteor attack. The energy beam leapt up out of its throat and into the sky but Zekrom was ready for it this time. As the energy ball exploded into meteors and rained down, it was able to dodge them all by using its speed boost from Dragon Dance earlier to weave out the way and boost up and over before any of the meteors could crash down on it. It even used Outrage to smash through the meteors to stop them hitting the ground in an effort to minimize collateral damage. Ashley clenched her fists excitedly. It seemed things were going well and the battle was in their control at last.
Sapphire watched as Elsa materialized up out of the ground and drifted up towards Zekrom. She'd been hiding the whole time so Rayquaza wouldn't suspect her. Now it was distracted with Zekrom, she could launch her ambush. But suddenly, just as Elsa crept up on Rayquaza, it opened its mouth and blasted at Zekrom with another Hyper Beam attack. Zekrom had tried to stop it by flying into it and grabbing it but Rayquaza still managed to fire Hyper Beam. And unfortunately, it just happened to zoom over the Master Dojo and straight towards Armour Station! Mustard and Honey had just finished evacuating most of the students and were about to send Liko and Roy along with their son Hyde into the station to get a Flying Taxi but the Hyper Beam smashed into the station and obliterated the entire roof. The Corviknight holding the cabs were so frightened that they flew away to save their own hides. The station collapsed in on top of itself, forcing Mustard, Honey, Hyde, Liko and Roy to flee before they could be crushed by falling debris. The staff working at the station luckily managed to escape with their lives but it had been a very close call. Mustard looked at the wreckage and sighed heavily. At least they'd managed to get away in time.
"Is everyone alright? Nobody hurt at all?" Mustard asked worriedly.
"I'm unharmed father." Hyde insisted.
"We're fine too! Miraculously…" Liko gasped.
"What was that?!" Roy exclaimed, "Did Rayquaza do that?"
"Likely." Honey murmured, "I think that was a Hyper Beam it used. I bet it was aiming for Sapphire or Ashley's Pokémon and it missed. The station's destroyed and all the remaining Flying Taxis are useless now the Corviknight have flown away so I'm afraid we can't evacuate you three as well."
"But that won't stop us doing whatever it takes to keep you safe!" Mustard declared, "Don't worry children, we'll keep that Rayquaza from harming you."
"Thank you so much!" Liko said graciously, "Although I do have an alternative solution. Me and Roy can call the Rising Volt Tacklers. They can evacuate us in their ship."
"Ah yes. That's how you two got here after all." Honey remembered, "You best call them now before anything else happens."
Liko was about to do so but she suddenly realized that Roy had disappeared. She looked around worriedly.
"Roy? Roy?! Where did you run off to?!" she cried.
"Oh no…" Mustard gasped in horror, "I think I know where he's going!"
His suspicions were proven correct as he looked to the Master Dojo and saw Roy was rushing back towards it. Liko put her hands to her face in shock. Was Roy insane?! He couldn't help stop Rayquaza so what was he thinking right now?! He was going to get himself killed!
"ROY! Come back! We don't stand a chance against that thing!" Liko screamed.
But Roy was too far away to hear her and even if he had, he wouldn't have listened. He could see the battle wasn't going well and Sapphire and Ashley needed help. He wasn't sure how but he was going to help them out in some way! Liko chased after him, which prompted Mustard, Honey and Hyde to do the same. That boy was going to be the death of all of them at this rate!
Rayquaza and Zekrom continued to struggle with each other. Rayquaza had coiled around it again so Zekrom couldn't fight back while it was recharging. Elsa found herself hesitating in the heat of the battle. She wanted to attack but what if she missed and hit Zekrom instead? She would only make things worse. She had no choice but to stay her hand for now and watch what happened next. Zekrom struggled against Rayquaza and tried to shock it again to make it let go but this time, Rayquaza was quick enough to let go before it could get hurt again now it was able to predict what was going to happen. Once Rayquaza let go, it flew back up into the sky and it flew down towards Zekrom using Dragon Ascent once more. It crashed down on top of Zekrom and drove it into the ground. But as it did this, Elsa saw her chance. Once Rayquaza had knocked Zekrom down, she snuck up behind it and used Ice Beam. The Dragon/Flying Pokémon bellowed in anguish as a freezing cold beam of ice blasted into its back. It felt as if it was about to be frozen alive by the hit. Sapphire punched the air in triumph.
"Alright! Great shot Elsa! You got it!" she cried.
"I only hope it did the trick!" Elsa replied.
"It sure looks like you got it good." Ashley observed, "The legendary Pokémon's looking mighty cold right now."
Sapphire could see for herself that Rayquaza hadn't handled that attack well. It was shivering like crazy from how cold the Ice Beam had been and its double ice weakness had only made the attack feel even worse to it. It looked as if one more Ice Beam from Elsa would probably finish it off. Seizing her moment, Sapphire gave the command and Elsa took aim at Rayquaza. She was about to fire another Ice Beam but just before she launched her attack, Rayquaza suddenly snapped of its daze and flew to one side, causing Elsa to miss at the last second. The blue-haired girl cursed in annoyance. Even after all that, Rayquaza was still in no mood to give up! Rayquaza flew in circles around Elsa, attempting to disorient her and confuse her. The Froslass didn't fall for its trick and instead just fired multiple Ice Beams up at the sky, forcing the Rayquaza to stop its flying loop and dodge. In retaliation, Rayquaza flew straight up once more and used Dragon Ascent. It charged straight down into Elsa like a huge serpentine missile that had been locked onto the ghostly Pokémon and it crashed down into her. Elsa cried out from the attack and she was slammed down into the ground by Rayquaza. She lay on the ground panting heavily for the powerful attack had nearly wiped her out completely and she was left with very little health after that blow. Now Elsa was down, Rayquaza saw to finishing her off. Sapphire began to feel scared. Zekrom seemed to be unconscious for it hadn't got back up again since Rayquaza had knocked it down earlier and Elsa wasn't going to be able to dodge its next attack! What could she do now?!
But to everyone's surprise, Rayquaza was stopped in the nick of time. Sapphire and Ashley gasped as a blast of Ember suddenly whooshed up to the sky and hit Rayquaza in the eye. The black scaled Pokémon cried out in agonizing pain as it was hit by the fire ball. Even a Legendary Pokémon couldn't handle something as painful as being hit in the eye. Sapphire and Ashley turned around to see that it had been Roy and his Fuecoco that had done it! The Fire Croc Pokémon cheered excitedly with its perfect shot. Roy cheered with him.
"Great shot Fuecoco! We got it good!" Roy cheered, "Looks like we got here just in time to help out!"
"Roy?! What the hell are you still doing here?!" Sapphire shouted angrily, "I told you and Liko to evacuate!"
"We can't! Rayquaza destroyed the station and the Corviknight flew away so we're stuck here!" Roy protested, "So I thought I'd help out since it seemed you two were struggling!"
"Ya can help by getting out of here and not making yourself a target kid!" Ashley retorted, "A rookie like you will be nothing but a sitting Psyduck for that Rayquaza and me and Sapph can't afford to worry about you as well as each other in this battle!"
"Ash, calm down. We can deal with this later." Sapphire said quickly, "Besides, let's not be ungrateful. Roy's provided us a perfect distraction."
The Rayquaza was still in pain from Fuecoco's Ember hitting its eye. It would soon shake off the pain for Ember wasn't a particularly powerful attack but it had kept Rayquaza busy for long enough so Elsa could get back up again and fight back. Just as Rayquaza shook off the pain of Fuecoco's attack, Elsa struck. Despite feeling weak, she had enough strength left in her to launch another Ice Beam at Rayquaza. Rayquaza reeled back in anguish as it was once again chilled alive by the frigid energy beam. Roy watched in amazement. Who knew this tiny Ice/Ghost Pokémon packed so much power? He could see Sapphire was well-trained to handle a Pokémon this powerful. Rayquaza collapsed onto the ground. It shivered furiously from the cold. Its health was very low now. Sapphire sensed that it wouldn't handle another attack like this. Surely it was weak enough to catch?
"Thanks to you Roy, I think we've got it down for good." Sapphire said graciously, "Now let's see if it'll go back in your ball."
"OK, here goes!" Roy cried.
The Kanto teen whipped out his ancient Pokéball and held it out. Rayquaza glared angrily at the antiquated orb as if disgusted that Roy actually wanted it to go back inside it.
"There's no running away anymore Rayquaza! Return now!" Roy commanded.
But the Dragon/Flying Pokémon was having none of it. It roared viciously at Roy as if to say "Not on your life puny human!" and it ascended back up into the sky. The teens recoiled in shock.
"R-R-Rayquaza! R-return now!" Roy cried feebly.
"I don't believe it! Elsa hits it twice with Ice Beam, Celestia and Zekrom already hit it with Dazzling Gleam and Outrage a few times and it's STILL standing?!" Sapphire cried in disbelief, "Gosh, even Zeraora wasn't this stubborn!"
"It really doesn't wanna go back in that ball!" Ashley acknowledged, "It must've really hated being cooped up in there for Arceus knows how long! It must be desperate to cling onto its freedom while it has it!"
Roy took this in with interest. Ashley had a solid point. Rayquaza's unwillingness to return, its tendency to attack people, it was just willing to do what it could to stay out of its Pokéball! He began to understand the Pokémon's point of view. What could he do to tempt it back inside? He was snapped out of his thoughts as Liko, Mustard, Honey and Hyde caught up to him.
"Roy! Are you OK? Is Rayquaza defeated yet?" Liko asked.
She quickly found the answer as she looked up at the huge Pokémon and saw it was still looming up above them. Sprigatito shivered anxiously. It hoped Liko wasn't going to order it to fight this creature. Rayquaza looked down at the humans but curiously enough, it seemed to take a particular interest in Liko. It fixed its eyes squarely on her. Liko stared back at the legendary Pokémon. That was strange. It had stared at her last time when it had escaped its ball for the first time. But why? Why did it seem so interested in her? Eventually, Rayquaza made a decision. It was too weak to keep on fighting and more humans meant more trouble for it. It took off into the sky and disappeared up and up into the atmosphere. Soon it was gone completely and no one could see it anymore. Sapphire sighed loudly with relief, clutching her heart as if to make sure it was still beating after that intense workout.
"Whew…thank Arceus!" she gasped, "I'm glad that's over. I'm sorry you lost it again Roy. We really tried to defeat it." she said solemnly.
"Oh it's OK. Don't sweat it." Roy said kindly, "I bet you did your very best and were so awesome when you were fighting it!"
"Heh…I guess I was." Sapphire said sheepishly, "As is young man, you're not off the hook completely." she said sternly.
She folded her arms and glared at Roy. Roy flinched and put his hands behind his back feebly. He smiled nervously. Fuecoco shared his expression.
"You still disobeyed orders and you still put yourself in potential danger." the master-in-training said coldly, "I understand why you couldn't evacuate the island but you could've at least stayed with Mustard and Honey and hid until the danger was over. Yes you did help us drive Rayquaza out of here and I'm grateful for your aid. But you still disobeyed me and that can't be overlooked."
"I know. That was wrong of me and I'm sorry." Roy said apologetically, "You're not gonna kick me out of the trials, are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous. That's way too harsh." Sapphire snorted, "I'm not kicking you out at all. But as punishment for disobeying orders, you'll be on cleaning duties for the rest of today. And you can start by cleaning up the mess in the Master Dojo."
Roy hung his head in shame.
"Yes master…" he muttered as he trudged sadly into the dojo to get started on his work.
Liko watched him go inside and felt sorry for her friend. Even if Roy had disobeyed Sapphire, it still seemed a little unfair that he should be punished at all. But Sapphire was in charge and it wasn't her place to argue with her.
"Please don't be too harsh on Roy. He means well and he only wanted to help." Liko said in support for her friend.
"I know, but I must make an example out of him so no other students will get the same idea." Sapphire sighed, "I just…I don't know what I'd do if I had a dead body on my hands is all. You can't even begin to imagine how harrowing that'll be for me." she added, shuddering at such a thought.
"I know." Liko said sympathetically, "Friede's always telling me and Roy to be careful too. As he's responsible for us, we matter to him and he can't begin to imagine how horrible it'll be for him or the rest of his crew if we were killed. You're just doing your job and trying to protect your students."
Sapphire smiled appreciatively at Liko's empathy.
"I'm glad you understand. Thank you very much." she said gratefully, "It's no wonder Emerald likes you. You're a really nice girl, and very thoughtful too."
"Th-think n-nothing of it." Liko said shyly.
"Though I am curious about something. Why was Rayquaza looking at you like that?" Sapphire asked.
"Yeah, I wondered about that too." Ashley murmured, "It was looking at YOU specifically. What's that all about?"
Liko shook her head in response.
"I don't know…I really don't know." she replied.
"You really are a walking enigma I swear." Sapphire murmured, "Mysterious pendant, unknown Pokémon in it, seeming connection to Roy's Pokéball, catches the eye of a black Rayquaza…crazy stuff seems to surround you doesn't it?"
Liko just chuckled nervously.
"Th-th-that's one way to put it, I-I guess!" she said meekly, "And it's why me and Roy are on our journeys today, to find out about these mysteries."
"Well my child, I'm sure you'll find your answers one day." Mustard said supportively, "If you carry on travelling the world with that crew of yours and venture with Pokémon by your side, there's no limit to what you can achieve."
"And you two will be welcome here to train as often as you want." Sapphire said kindly, "Anything to help you two achieve your goals."
Liko beamed with pleasure.
"Thanks so much! It's very kind of you all!" she said brightly.
"You're welcome." Mustard said warmly, "And as for you Sapphire, this first day was more…hectic than we anticipated, shall we say?" he joked, "But I feel you handled yourself brilliantly. You've displayed the kind of attitude I expected from you, you've stuck to your training well and you handled the situation with Rayquaza perfectly. Even the way you dealt with Roy's insubordination was well handled. You were firm but fair with him. I am more than happy to declare you ready to take the reins from me my child. You are most fit indeed to stand before us as our new Dojo Master!"
"W-w-what? Y-you really think so? You really believe I'm ready?" Sapphire stammered, "Oh m-master I…I…" she coughed sheepishly and bowed to him, "Thank you master!"
"Oh no Sapphire, now I should be the one to call YOU master." Mustard insisted.
"Congratulations to you Sapphire!" Honey cheered, "You will be a most honourable master for all the students in our dojo!"
And with that everyone clapped for the new Dojo Master. Even Roy paused what he was doing so he could applaud her. It was finally official. Sapphire was no longer an apprentice or a master-in-training. She was the real deal now. She was the new Dojo Master! Sapphire felt so proud of herself that she shed a few tears of delight. Ashley hugged her in congratulations.
"Hey, don't cry about it hon! This is a happy occasion!" the Unovan girl joked.
"I know and I can't even describe how happy I feel right now! Thank you everyone!" Sapphire cried, hugging Ashley back.
Her first day as master had been bigger than expected, but Sapphire knew she was more than happy with how it was going to end. She'd met all expectations and proved herself worthy! And she would continue to prove herself worthy for many terms to come on this island.
She only hoped that the Black Rayquaza wouldn't be back soon…
The black Rayquaza is off again and Liko and Roy will be continuing their adventure to find it back in their show. This'll be the last Plot-Scorbunny for the time-being I plan to write with the duo for now so we bid farewell to them as they fly off to a new adventure. As for Sapphire, I think she's proving to be a fine successor to Mustard. :) Next time, Emerald Silverlock finds herself in the biggest and also darkest adventure of her life as a battle with Dialga causes her to experience "Fractured Time"...
Trivia: So far, the Black Rayquaza has only used Draco Meteor so I have no idea what other moves it can use. Every other move it uses here is based on my imagination only. At the same time, its move set here is based on what moves it can learn by levelling up, hence the use of Dragon Ascent, Dragon Dance and Hyper Beam. :) I can totally imagine it using either of those moves in the show at some point.
Also that bit with it staring at Liko calls back to Episode 6 where it stares at Liko for some reason before flying away. Who knows what that was about but I'm sure that'll be explained as the show continues. :)
