STEEL CITY WALL (SOUTH END), EVENING
"You?! What are you doing here?!"
Aphot laughs a sardonic laughter at the claydol, "you should know already, it's a darkrai's job to break up legendary conflict when it arises. Or did you forget that it was you who hired the Great Dusknoir to kill them off. Before you try to deny yourself, I already know about your ventures around the world to kill of every single darkrai, shaymin, cresselia, heatran, or celebi, but you know what? You didn't kill all of them, and every single survivor, including shaymin, is after what ever materials dolls bleed, specifically, yours."
Sepullen shakes his head condescendingly, "Aphot, if you already know that, then why come here to me?"
Without waiting for an answer, the claydol rushes forward with slash and cuts the darkrai's stomach. Aphot looks down at the blade, which still stuck into his chest. To Sepullens surprise, he smiles.
"The answer to your question, Relic Master, is that a didn't come here for you, I came here for Kyogre. However, if you must know," he says as he forces the blade out of himself, "I can't be killed, because I'm not from this world. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of something more important."
As he starts to fly away, Sepullen Teleports in front of him, "we're not done here. Even if you didn't come to talk with me, why help them? It gains you nothing!"
Aphot looks him directly in the eye and says in a serious tone, "it doesn't have to gain me anything. I'm going to help them, because I'm determined to put others before myself, even if it means risking my own life. It's called compassion, maybe you might try using it once in awhile."
Relaxing his voice, he shakes his head, "in any case, I don't know why you want to keep me away from them so badly, but I'm going."
Sepullen floats closer to him, "I don't want you going near that battlefield, because one of the fighters is Venomitus and I don't want him finding out-"
"He knows already," Aphot interrupts. "I had Felicia tell him. If you don't mind, I've wasted too much time here. It's time for me to visit some old friends and make new ones."
He moves forward and phases through the claydol. Sepullen tries to fly after him, but is held back my Aubadia's psychic power.
"Just let him go. Think about it, if he's working with them, that means he's on our side."
He shakes his head, "even though I would prefer it that way, even I know that their alliance won't last. I suspect they're just using me as a means to get stronger, so I am going to take advantage of them while it lasts."
"But you know that when the time comes that they revolt against you, then even all of us combined won't be able to stop them, especially not Branna."
"You're right, they will, but I have a backup plan as to keep them under my control.
Rook interjects, "they may be working with us, but we don't hold any advantages over them."
"On the contrary, we have two. If they don't comply, we can threaten the girls life, or, I don't know if you're aware of this, Rook, but Archiea has a Time Gear."
STEEL CITY POWER PLANT, DUSK
"Come one, Money, if you're to help me vis zis, you need to stop dawdling. Now come on, I need ze vrench."
From behind the persian, Rodium shouts, "wrench?! Got it! Money, hand this to Hardware for me."
Mr. Money jumps in pain as the empoleon drops a large wrench on his back. He turns rapidly to face Rodium, "hey! Watch what you're doing!"
"No you watch what you're doing and pay attention when I'm handing you stuff."
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU I DON'T HAVE HANDS?!" Mr. Money yells in exasperation.
Absentmindedly, Rodium says, "Oh, I forgot."
As Mr. Money looks at him, dumbfounded, Dr. Hardware looks at them in annoyance, "come on, zere's no reason to fight vis each ozzer. Ze rest of your team is vorking very hard elsevhere, and zey expect you to do ze same."
"Hardware, when are we going to be done? I'm getting really tired," Rodium says in an obviously dramatic manner.
"Are you… complaining? You haven't even done anysing besides fix a generator and drop a vrench on your friend. Speaking of vitch, ve vould be done vis zis if you vould kindly hand me it already."
Picking up the wrench, Rodium haphazardly throws the wrench across the catwalk and Dr. Hardware barely catching it. Without wasting time, he tightens a bolt on a large control box. Almost immediately, the electronics around them power to life with a strange humming noise.
"This technology looks way different from anything I've ever seen," Mr. Money comments.
The electivire proudly smirks and nods his head, "quite, it is based off of a scientist whom I used to know. Zey called him Dr. W-"
A voice from a communication device in Dr. Hardware's other hand interrupts him, "Hardware, we're done on this end."
"I copy, Softvare, ve're on our vey."
Mr. Money then recognizes the same group of wires and cables that he had noticed on entrance to the power plant, "what is that? It looks different from the other equipment."
"Oh zat, I vouldn't touch him, he's been in a bad mood ever since he got flooded by vater."
"That's a pokemon?"
Mr. Money and Dr. Hardware are abruptly swept off their feet when a large jet of water impacts the power plant. To the persian's surprise, not a single drop of water touches him. The water stops flowing as Kyogre's high pitched call echoes throughout the area.
"No not ze machinery! Ve just fixed it," Dr. Hardware shouts.
"Now who's complaining?" Rodium says in a sarcastic tone.
Ignoring him, the electivire comments, "oh, it's you."
Mr. Money looks up to see the mass of cables covering almost half of the powerplant. With a feeling of awe, he asks, "what is it?"
"Zey call him a xurkitree, a pokemon from anozzer dimension," Dr. Hardware answers.
Unimpressed, Rodium comments, "well he could stand to lose some weight. Weren't they supposed to be smaller?"
"Yes, but he kept on adding parts to himself."
In a light, resonating voice, the pokemon says, "you know what, I just love it when people talk about me like I'm not even there. Hardware, you should know not talk about me so generically that you'd fit me in with other xurkitree. I'm nothing like them, I am Pareidolian and no one else."
"I apologize. So vhat vill you do now?"
"Well first, I'm going to go teach this giant fish a thing or two about who, and who no to spit on."
"What giant fish?" Mr. Money asks.
"Kyogre. How did you not see it when it appeared?" Rodium says sarcastically.
The persian grumbles, "you're one to talk."
STEEL CITY SKY, DUSK
I ignore the ice particles tearing away at my skin and look forward. Both Frost and I stare intently at the massive water-type legendary. As we watch it's every move, I notice a small ripple form on its back. The ripple grows bigger until it starts to resemble a pokemon. When the strange form stops growing, Frost looks at it in surprise.
"Rodium? What are you doing up there?"
The empoleon looks at Frost, offended, "how dare you compare me to that idiot. They say twins usually turn out the same, but obviously I turned out way smarter than he did."
"So you're his -INSANE- twin brother?" I ask.
For a moment, the pokemon doesn't say anything, but looking closer, I can see a malicious glare looking back at me, "SISTER! I'M RODIUMS TWIN SISTER, MYRO! HOW HARD IS THAT TO SEE FOR YOU!"
"Oh, that's you?" Frost asks mockingly. "I couldn't tell from all your scars."
"That's not funny, Frost. You know it was you you gave them to me."
With a sudden movement of her hands, Frost forms several Ice Shards in front of her and launches them toward Myro. She dissolves herself into water almost immediately to dodge them. As she reforms, she says, "I didn't think you would be easy to defeat, especially not while carrying that Spawn on your back. So here's what I'll do, I'll just skip to what would usually happens at the end of a fight. I'll change Kyogre and me to our second forms right from the start."
She raises her wing slightly as the Blue Orb forms itself out of water. "I was going to wait till I could have it implanted into me, but this'll do for now."
To my surprise, Myro takes the Blue Orb and swallows it. For a moment, nothing happens, but then a brilliant blue light shines around her and Kyogre.
"Brace yourself, Venomitus, we've seen this before," Frost says as she looks directly into the light in anticipation.
"Indeed, we've seen -Groudon- something like it, but not quite."
"What do you mean?" She asks.
"Last time, when Lyle used the Red Orb's power, he only -HOARDED- applied it to himself, but this time she's distributing it between herself and Kyogre."
In an annoyed tone, she asks, "what difference does it make?"
As the light fades away, Myro's voice answers her, "because unlike Lyle, I'm a generous person. As you so viciously blurted a second ago, he hoarded the Red Orb's power all to himself. Despite his strength, he still doesn't see that Basic pokemon have more limits then that of Legendary pokemon. So in this case, Kyogre is more powerful with the Blue Orb then he was with the Red Orb. With that power, combined with the power I've enhanced myself with makes us an unstoppable duo."
The light fades out to reveal a terrifying sight. The water making up Kyogre's body is replaced by a sinister looking black and blue liquid. Through this liquid, I notice a pulsating yellow organ that resembles molten lava.
"Y'know, you talk too much," Frost says as her eyes begin to glow. "Venomitus, you're up."
"Are you sure? It'll just weigh you down more."
"Trust me, I can carry all the weight I need to."
With I sigh, I say, "Well, then here it goes."
I grab onto my necklace and will it to activate. Frost closes her eyes in pain, as the raw white and purple energy burns away at every part of her that makes contact with my scales. Despite her being in obvious pain, she ignores it. She then tosses me a distance in the air, as the energy collects, then explodes outward. With perfect timing, she catches me in one arm, and my massive gem in the other. I climb onto Frost's back, only to realize several blue balls of black water floating in front of Kyogre.
"ARE YOU WATCHING, MOON!" Myro shouts in a maniacal laughter. "IF SO, THIS WILL BE THE MOST MARVELOUS SHOW OF DESTRUCTION YOU'VE EVER SEEN!"
The blue balls converge on each other without combining, then spread outward at a rapid speed. They make a sudden stop at various points surrounding Frost and me, then shoot inwards. Not having enough time to dodge, Frost tries to counter with Ice Shard, and I do the same with Power Gem. As our attacks meet Kyogre's, they dissipate, letting the blue balls continue on their path. At the same time the froslass hold up my gem to try and block any of the projectiles she can.
Not being able to do anything else, I duck my head and brace for impact, but to my surprise, the projectiles only hit on the side that Frost defends. Turning my head, I'm surprised to see a very familiar black and red pokemon. He turns his head to look at me and I can almost see a smile.
"How are you, old friend? Did you miss me?"
Without turning around, Frost says, "hey, I know that voice. Is that you, Aphot, the bastard who tried to manipulate me some, fifteen years ago?"
With a less than thrilled expression, the darkrai responds, "oh hi, Frost, didn't see you there. About that whole, 'trying to make you and Team Fade help me put the world in an infinite nightmare' thing. Can't we just let bygones be bygones and move past it?"
In a flash, Frost turns around and gives him a hateful glare, "of course not! You tried to kill me!"
"In all fairness," I add, "you did try to kill me only a few days ago."
"Oh shut up Venomitus, that was a different time."
"It was three days ago," I respond.
"Who asked you anyway? Bedsides, I'm a different person now. Who's to say Aphot here has changed at all?"
"I did just save you, a little thanks would be nice," he complains under his breath.
Frost shakes her head, "you'll get my thanks when-"
"CAN ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND! YOU'RE RUINING THE BIGGEST FANALE OF MY LIFE WITH YOUR STUPID REMINISCING. IT WOULDN'T BE ENTERTAINING IF YOU DIDN'T FIGHT ME, AND I'M TRYING TO IMPRESS A FRIEND!" Myro yells from inside Kyogre.
The froslass looks at the Legendary, then back at Aphot, "I've changed my mind, I'll forgive you if you help me get rid of this loudmouth."
The darkrai nods his head knowingly, "yeah, she's just like her brother."
All of the sudden, a bright light shines from the city below us. I recognize this light to be electricity from the power plant. The three of us look around as the city sparks to life with the sound of heavy machinery being reactivated.
In frustration, Myro shouts, "I MADE SURE TO TAKE OUT THE POWER FIRST! HOW'D THEY FIX IT SO FAST?!"
Kyogre turns her attention to the power plant and unleashes a massive Hydro Pump in it's direction. However, the water is immediately dispersed, as a strange looking pokemon with spider-like movements unfolds from the power plant itself and covers it. Kyogre lets out a high pitched cry as if further relaying Myro's anger. For a moment, the pokemon stays unmoving, before recoiling, then launching itself in the air. With perfect precision, it wraps it's limbs around the Legendary, then unleashes a close range Zap Cannon.
Myro and Kyogre simultaneously shriek as they, and their attacker, fall out of the sky. I grip onto Frost tightly as she and Aphot dart to the side due to several lightning bolts chaining off of Kyogre's body and onto nearby buildings. As the three pokemon fall to the ground, the darkrai raises his hand and materializes several pitch black spheres in front of him.
"Hey! Watch where you point those things," Frost shouts. "One wrong move and you'll put both of us to sleep."
Aphot rolls his eyes, "at least I'm going all out, this fight would have been over a long time ago if you would have used you Black Sun on them."
"Are you insane?! Braravi is doing her best down there to evacuate all the citizens. How much harder doing you think it'd be if I were to destroy half the city?"
With a softer look on her face, she says, "besides, Branna is still down there with Zapdos and Djinn. If I were to hurt any of them…" She shakes her head, "nevermind that, we have a more important task at hand."
"That's right we do," a voice says from behind her. To my surprise, Zapdos flies up beside us.
"Keep your Dark Void ready, Aphot, because things are about to get serious. I'm going to show you the real reason the city is made of steel in the first place now that the power plant is up and running."
In a hasty voice, Frost asks the bird, "how are Djinn and Branna?"
"Oh, don't worry about them. I placed them outside the city just in case something else comes up."
"What do you mean by that?" I ask.
"In a second, we won't be able to get out of the city, so if a threat were to come at us, we wouldn't be able to detect it."
"Indeed-, it would seem that way," I say. "We have to keep -A CLOSE WATCH- for Lyle and the others."
"Agreed," Frost says as Zapdos darts up into the air, ignoring the sharp ice fragments that cut away at him. As he flies, electrical energy crackles around him with the magnitude of several thousand lightning bolts going off at once. He makes an abrupt stop, then, without wasting any time, he discharges the stored electricity into the atmosphere. Frost dodges to the side as a Thunder strikes past us toward the ground.
To my surprise, the scattered pieces of Lightningrod Palace capture the electricity and chain it to other nearby pieces. Frost and I watch in amazement, as the tower rebuilds itself from the ground up. As it does, the strange pokemon that knocked Kyogre to the ground climbs to the top.
From above, I hear Zapdos shout, "ARE YOU READY, PAREIDOLIAN?!"
"AS READY AS EVER, NOW LET'S GET ON WITH IT!"
Charging up electricity once again, Zapdos aims at thunder at the Xurkitree. As it shoots toward him, he spreads four of his limbs toward the four corners of the city. He intercepts the electricity, then it redirects toward the watch towers guarding the edge of the city.
"Watch out all of you, here they come!" Aphots voice echoes in my head.
Having been distracted by Zapdos' show of electricity, I hadn't noticed several balls from Kyogre's Origin Pulse come up from the city and subtly place themselves around us. I hear Myro's laughter as water rises from below us and forms into Kyogre. She doesn't say anything, instead she launches the balls of energy at each of us with blinding speed. With a sigh, Aphot moves his black spheres in front of them. As the attacks impact each other, they cancel each other out in a massive cloud of smoke.
"FINALLY, WE HAVE EVERYTHING READY! HARDWARE, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME DOWN THERE, ACTIVATE THE STEEL LABYRINTH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE," Zapdos yells.
I start to feel a strange sensation in the air, as the wind picks up. Below us, the metal buildings of Steel City shift and rattle like a giant machine. The sky around us takes on a blurry appearance, and bends the light from the city like a cluster of tiny crystals. The buildings turn the grid like streets into a giant maze that reminds me of…
"Is this what I think it is," Frost asks in amazement.
"Indeed, I believe we are -dreaming- seeing a -MYSTERY DUNGEON."
"Yes," Zapdos says as he flies up beside Aphot. "This is the mystery dungeon known as Steel Labyrinth. It's a defense measure designed by Dr. Hardware and Dr. Software, in the case of an attack on the city."
With a shriek, Kyogre tries to ram the crystal barrier with Aqua Jet. To no one's surprise, the attack didn't even crack. The lightning bird shakes his head in amusement as she tries the same thing over and over. After several minutes of trying, Myro halts her attack, then materializes on Kyogre's head.
"WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"Simple," Zapdos says. "It has the same characteristics as a mystery dungeon. A single pokemon can no longer use to many of the same attack in a row. Also, time moves faster in mystery dungeons, so you'll tire out easier and starts to feel hungry after ten minutes, and starve to death by fifteen. Lastly, the only way to get out is by defeating the person who is controlling the machine."
Frost turns to him with a horrified look, "what about us? We'll be affected too, won't we?"
"Relax, Pareidolian and I won't be affected since electric and steel-types are given an advantage here. You and Venomitus will be fine since you're both ghosts, and the power plant isn't even part of the dungeon."
"I can't die either, so I'm good," Aphot inputs.
The Froslass shakes her head, "there's still some things you're forgetting. Venomitus was born a ghost, and I… well, I don't know how yet, but I can bleed, which means I'm still living. Also, Salientia, Blade, and Roselyn are still in the city."
Zapdos is silent and appears to be thinking. After a moment, Aphot nonchalantly waves his hand, "you have nothing to worry about, the odds are in our favour. Look, it's five against two so all we have to do is beat them in less then the time limit."
"Alright," she says with a smirk, "if you want speed, then I can give you that. Venomitus, are you ready?"
"I'M ALWAYS READY."
She takes me off her back, then throws me toward Myro. As I fly through the air, she tosses me my gem. I catched it just it time to see Frost vanish in a cloud of purple snow, then appear in front of Myro and strike her directly in the stomach. With a startled look on her face, she materializes completely and falls backward. Taking advantage of the situation, Frost's eyes glow as she unleashes a powerful Blizzard onto Kyogre.
The ancient fish wails as it's body starts to freeze over. I recoil in pain as my body, moving at high velocity, impacts solid ice. Reorienting myself, I look over to find that I've landed next to half frozen Myro. When she sees me, she darts toward me with an Aqua Jet/Drill Peck combination. I try to evade her by grabbing her head and using Foul Play, but my hand slips and her attack spins me to the side. At the last minute, she stops her combination, but uses the momentum from her spin to strike my side with Metal Claw.
Her claws don't go very deep however, when Frost appears beside her and uses a point blank Shadow Ball. She then grabs onto me, then punches Myro down toward where I would have landed. She floats backwards and sets me down, just as the empoleon picks herself off the ground.
Wiping a small bit of blood from her beak, she says, "you put up a good fight, but I'm not going to lose. The hour of devastation is here and I'm not going to waste it. First things first, I have to get rid of you, then I'll move on to the Legendaries."
Frost and I quickly move in opposite directions as she unleashes a Flash Cannon. Using the blinding light as cover, she rushes forward with Aqua Jet, then combines it with Drill Peck. The spiral allows her to change her direction toward Frost. Seeing this at the last second, I rush toward her with Foul play, this time drawing out my claws to get a grip on her. I then use the kinetic energy from her attack to flip, then swing her off the edge of Kyogre. As she falls, Frost quickly uses Phantom Force to get close to her, then she piledrives her toward the ground. They soon fall out of sight, leaving my attention to the others.
"We'll talk later," Aphot says from above me, "but for now, follow them and deal with Myro."
I nod to him, then jump after Frost and the enemy.
ASHEN WASTES, DUSK
On the west side of Steel city, opposite of the Ion Desert toward the south fork of the Lightning River, Lyle and Pyros watch as Branna and Djinn face the sky from a distance.
Under his breath, Lyle shakes his head in annoyance, "why do they have to be here? I don't want to get in a fight, and yet I need to figure out how to get past that barrier."
The normally silent flygon speaks up, much to Lyle's surprise, "whatever you think of, it would be best if you thought of it quickly."
"And why is that?"
Pyros raises his head slightly, "I suspect that they already know we're here, or at least the cyndaquil does."
"Why would he, I'm not talking that loud."
"It's not that. I detect a strong mental presence from him, though not is strong as a ghost or psychic-type, but he still is likely to have sensed us by now."
"I see, so that means there's really no point in hiding anymore," Lyle comments.
Pyros says nothing as Lyle gets up and walks forward toward the two pokemon. Immediately, Djinn throws up a Smokescreen and Branna digs underground.
"LISTEN UP! I don't want to fight you right now, so if you don't try to stop me, then we'll be on our way."
His answer is given, when Branna's vines burst out of the ground and wrap around his arms and legs. In his struggle, he manages to jump, pulling the serperior out of the ground. Lyle lands smoothly on his legs next to Pyros, while Branna is thrown the opposite direction into the Smokescreen.
"Listen, Branna, you're at a disadvantage here, so DON'T THINK YOU CAN CHALLENGE ME!"
He puts a leg forward, then launches himself after her, but falls short of his destination when his body is thrown into a coughing fit. He falls on the ground, panting heavily.
"Curse… this orb."
He lifts his head up, just barely able to see Branna coiled a distance away from him. Seeing the red of her iris' he comments, "determination is in your eyes. Determination to save me from my power. I'll tell you one thing, it is to late for me to join you, because my will is not my own. My will is not Groudons either, it's power. Power is my will, and it's greedy, it wants more. So at the end of your journey, after you've grown strong enough, I want you to take my power away from me, so that I can be how I really am."
He pauses for a moment, then continues, "though don't get stronger by gaining power. Grow stronger in your resolve, your determination, but most importantly, your compassion and will to help others. That is what I want you to do, but for now…"
Lyle lifts himself off the ground, "I told you I didn't want to fight, so I'll make it to where you can't fight me."
His veins glow from under his skin as he slams his fist into the ground. A shockwave reverberates throughout the area, then goes silent, but for only a moment. Branna and Djinn back up as the ground begins to vibrate.
"What are you doing Lyle? Why can't you-"
The serperior is cut off when a massive piece of the ground tears itself from under her and floats upward. More masses of rock and dirt follow and converge on a single location until they start to resemble a pokemon. Branna looks up in time to see the pieces finish collecting. At first, it appears to be a giant stone statue, but then, it flares to life with a deafening roar as lava flows down its side.
"Is Lyle inside that thing?" Branna asks in astonishment.
Djinn backs up slightly, "I do not know, but we better get out of here before we get crushed."
"Good idea."
As they turn away from the creature, the area lights up with the brightness of daylight. Looking up, Branna sees the source of the light is a massive sphere that resembles the sun.
"That's not like any Drought ability I've ever seen," Djinn comments.
"It's not Drought," Branna says as her skin is being scorched. "It's Desolate Land, and that pokemon is Groudon."
Branna starts to slither away from Groudon, but rams into Djinn. She turns to see him staring up at the sky.
"Hey, why did you stop- oh."
Groudon's Desolate Land had cleared up Frost's Hail and revealed the open sky. Floating above the city is a tower made of clouds so large, it blocks out the moon. Echoing over the entire desert comes a powerful yet calming voice.
"Denizens of the ground, do not fear. The floating fortress you see before you is Dragon Gate, also known as the Sky Tower. This is where the denizens of the sky reside, where their purpose as to answer the call of those who would cause disaster, namely Kyogre and Groudon. Normally we would leave incidents like these to the darkrai, but circumstances have called for I, Rayquaza, to interfere. Wielders of the Red and Blue Orbs, be warned. This is your judgement."