Chapter 15: Red Moon

The flaming phoenix didn't hesitate to attack Sonic and Hoopa, unleashing a torrent of flames. Sonic and Hoopa dodged this, and Hoopa slipped into Sonic's shadow.

"Keep him distracted!" he called. "I've got a plan!"

"Uh, okay!" Sonic replied, dodging another jet of fire. He ran behind the majestic bird and hopped across its back before curling into a ball and striking it in the head. Moltres shrieked in pain and blew fire all over in confusion. The surrounding forest caught fire and started burning. Sonic was about to attack again when he heard the cry of an innocent Pokemon. He turned and saw a Pokemon he didn't recognize caught in a burning thicket. He rushed to it and pulled it out. It immediately scampered away to safety.

This distraction proved disastrous, as Moltres took advantage of the opportunity and unleashed another jet of flames. Sonic saw it coming and, with precious little time to react, leapt blindly out of the way and smacked head-first into a tree. The impact caused him to see stars before he passed out, falling right on top of Hoopa, rendering them both incapacitated. Angered at their intrusion, Moltres marched up to them, fire forming in its mouth. It raised its head and unleashed a massive torrent of flames to incinerate them.

But instead of seeing them burn to a crisp, massive amounts of hot steam erupted before the fire struck. Moltres was shocked and confused, not to mention blinded by the steam. This left it wide open for a large Pokemon to rush right at it and score a very powerful hit, knocking the Phoenix backward a few steps.

"GROOOOAAAARRRRR!" the Pokemon, a Dragonite, roared.

"KAAREEEEEEEEEE!" Moltres shrieked in response, angered once again. Flames spiraled around it before they launched at the Dragonite. Dragonite responded with a jet of flames, equalling Moltres and putting them at a standstill. The two of them poured more power into their attacks until they couldn't push any more. The fire was so intense the already burning forest surrounding them began to burn even more.

It was at that moment that Ash and his friends came onto the scene. "Oh, this is bad," he said.

"You think?!" Iris retorted. "We need to put this fire out before it gets out of hand!"

"Any time rain wanted to fall would be fine by me," Knuckles said, his teeth clenched and his fists tight.

"Well until then we're taking matters into our own hands!" Ash shouted, whipping out a Pokeball. "Greninja! I choose you!" He threw it and called out his signature Kalos Pokemon.

"Ninja!" it said.

"Greninja!" he said, "Use Water Shuriken and put out all this fire!"

"Ja!" Greninja said, and proceeded to launch a ton of aquatic blades that quickly put out a lot of fire. Things looked to be going well.

But just when all looked good and fine, Moltres and Dragonite's stalemate gave out, as they lost energy to keep it going. The resulting explosion forced the others to take cover, but they couldn't escape the impact. As a result, they were knocked unconscious, along with Moltres and Dragonite.

Several hours later, Sonic woke up. The moon was rising in the sky, indicating that night had only recently fallen. As expected, Sonic was a werehog once again.

"Whew!" he huffed, putting his hand to his head. "Now I've got a headache. I should talk to Knuckles. He probably has some advil. Hm...why did Tails give it to him again? Ah, never mind. He's probably in the city nearby." With that, he walked away, forgetting in the moment about Hoopa.

In the city, everything was quiet, as everyone was asleep. Sonic walked around, curious, and came into a clearing. There, he heard a chattering sound and saw a strange Pokemon he'd never seen before. It moved around a bit, then revealed something shiny it had acquired.

Sonic recognized it instantly. "A Chaos Emerald!"

The Pokemon jumped on hearing his voice and would've scampered away. However, Sonic's instincts kicked in, and he pounced on it. The poor Pokemon squealed angrily as he wrested the emerald from its grip.

"Sorry, drumpy," he said, "but this isn't your kind of food."

"Grrrr," the Pokemon growled angrily but cutely, and it scampered off. Satisfied, Sonic tossed the emerald in the air.

"Drumpy," he muttered. "Where did that come from?"

"Rrrrrrrrrr."

Sonic straightened up on hearing the hostile growl. "Oh, great, he came back with friends," he said to himself. But when he turned around, he saw a very different Pokemon glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Though it was different, it wasn't at all foreign to him.

"A Weavile?"

The Weavile didn't wait to make Sonic's acquaintance. It immediately lunged for him, prompting him to jump out of the way.

"Hey!" he said. "I'm not here to make trouble, okay? Please, I just need to find my friends!"

"Grrraaaaarr!" Weavile snarled, leaping at him with claws sharpened. Sonic backflipped away, grinding his teeth at his foe.

"All right, fine," he said. "But don't say I didn't give you a chance to walk away without a scratch." Weavile leapt at him again, but this time he punched him away. The Weavile tumbled across the ground and then came to a halt, not moving. Sonic rushed to it and put his hand on its back. It was still breathing.

"Sorry, little buddy," he said. "You'll be okay. Maybe next time we can meet on friendlier terms."

"Hey!"

He turned on hearing the familiar voice, but its owner looked incensed. "What the hell did you do to that Weavile?!"

"Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed. "Whew! Boy, am I glad to see you. You still got some of that –"

"Don't speak to me that way, you creature!" Knuckles shouted in response. "What are you?!"

"What?! Knuckles, it's me, Sonic!"

This didn't help anything. It only made Knuckles angrier. "Oh, is that so? Don't even try to fool me. I know what Sonic looks like, and he looks nothing like you, you monster. What have you done with him?!"

"Nothing!" Sonic said, growing desperate. "Knuckles, really! It's me!"

"LIAR!" Knuckles roared, punching him in the face. "I don't know what you've done with Sonic, but whatever it is, you...will...PAY!" With that, he punched him again. Sonic didn't retaliate, and Knuckles knocked him onto his back, punching him in the face so that blood started falling from his jaw. All the while, he was shouting at him, demanding to know where Sonic was.

"Knuckles," Sonic said weakly. "It's...really...me. Please...just listen…"

"SILENCE!" Knuckles snarled. "Now tell me, where is Sonic?!"

He raised his fist to punch him again, but before he could connect, something knocked him off of the werehog. Wet and startled, Knuckles rolled onto his feet and looked up. "What –"

"Get away from him, Knuckles!"

He turned and saw a familiar face glaring at him angrily. "What?! Ash, what are you doing?!"

"Leave him alone," Ash growled, his Greninja following suit, "or you'll get another Water Shuriken to the face this time!"

"Ohoho, how amusing," Knuckles chuckled. "You really think your pet frog can hurt me? Ha! I'll go fishing with it!"

Ash and Greninja both looked incensed at this. "Oh, now you've done it," he growled. "Greninja! Let's make him pay for that remark!"

"Jaaaa!" Greninja cheered, firing another Water Shuriken. This time, Knuckles deflected it and leapt at Greninja. Despite its agility, Greninja was unable to escape the echidna's attack, and before it knew what was happening, Knuckles was swinging it around by the feet. He then let it fly, spiraling in the air before it slammed into its trainer, knocking them both off their feet.

"Argh!" Ash cried. "Ungh...Greninja, are you okay?"

"Jaaa," was the reply.

"Ha!" Knuckles grinned. "Your ninja is poorly trained. Did you forget to promote it to a better class or something?"

Ash and Greninja looked at each other a moment. They didn't speak, but they could understand each other. A sly grin formed on Ash's face, and they stood up to face Knuckles once again.

"Nope," Ash said. "We were just warming up. Now the real fight begins!"

"Well I hope you're ready," Knuckles growled, kicking dust and snorting like a bull, "because here I come!" With that, he charged forward, fists blazing, and punched Greninja. But before his punch could connect, a swirling veil of water suddenly surrounded the ninja Pokemon, knocking Knuckles to the side. "What?!"

"Now let's see you handle some NEW power!" Ash cheered as the veil condensed itself into a large shuriken that rested on Greninja's back. Greninja itself looked different, bearing a greater resemblance to Ash. Eyes roaring with challenge, Knuckles ran forward again to attack Greninja. However, Greninja leapt up and dropped down in a dropkick, smacking Knuckles on the head and causing him to tumble forward. It then knocked him into the air with Mat Block and struck him multiple times in midair before kicking him to the side. Resilient, Knuckles jumped back up and rushed forward, fist raised. Greninja caught it and casually tossed him to the side, folding its arms confidently. Knuckles, in a desperate attempt, leapt up and attempted to strike it with both fists at once. Greninja caught his fists and swung him around, much like he did before, and tossed him into the sky.

"Argh!" he cried as he flew. "Why'd it have to be a Team Rocketttttttt!" Unlike Team Rocket, however, he didn't disappear in the sky. A few seconds later, he appeared again, still screaming with his fist pointed down. Greninja casually moved to the side and let him smack into the ground, creating a large hole with his head stuck in the middle. It looked at its trainer, and the two of them casually smirked and fist-bumped. Then Greninja reverted to its normal form.

"Ash!"

Ash perked on hearing the familiar voice. "Tails?"

"There you are!" he said. "I'm glad you're okay. We were so worried!"

"Sorry about that," Ash said, his face falling slightly. "I was only trying to protect you guys."

"Well, all's well that ends well. Goodness! What happened to Knuckles?"
"Ah, he'll be fine," Ash assured him. "I think you should take a look at Sonic, though. He took a pretty bad beating."

Tails rushed over to his best friend's unconscious form. "Oh, jeez!" he cried. "We need to get him help right away!"

"Go to the Pokemon Center," Ash instructed. "That should make him better." Tails obeyed, leaving the trainer alone with Greninja. "That was impressive," he said. "We haven't tapped into that form in a long time, and yet we did even better than before."

"Grenin," Greninja agreed.

"I wonder why that is," he muttered. "Neither of us even got scratched." As if in response to his observation, the stone in his necklace glowed slightly, startling them both. "Whoa! What is this?" He held the stone up in his hands.

As he did so, the Weavile from earlier looked up, finally regaining consciousness. Its eyes widened when it saw the stone glowing. Its eyes narrowed, and it quickly scampered off to find its trainer.

On the other side of the clearing, a darker, much more sinister figure eyed the stone with ice-cold eyes filled with hatred. As it stood there, hidden from everyone's sight, only one thought ran through its mind:

So I was right. He found it after all. Very well. This will make things much more interesting.