Chapter 6: The Flames of Disaster
The titan of fire landed in front of the frightened group, eyes glowering down at them menacingly. The flames that emblazoned its wings, tail, and head glowed fiercely as Moltres shrieked at them once again.
"Is this about that time I dressed up for this part?" James squealed in fear.
"Or maybe it wants revenge for us foiling its rage all those years ago!" Jessie shuddered.
"I don't know what it wants," Sonic cracked his knuckles, "but I'm not willing to get barbecued to find out!"
"Hold it, Sonic," Shadow held a hand out. "We need a plan of attack."
"I have a plan," Sonic retorted. "Attack!" With that, he curled up into a ball and shot straight at Moltres' belly, only to be bounced off and sent careening to the ground. "HOT HOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!" he shrieked, running around as fire burned his fur. Finally, he flopped onto the ground, putting it out.
The damage had been done, and Moltres shrieked once again, a ball of fire forming in its mouth. "WATCH OUT!" Tails screamed, and everyone jumped out of the way as a massive blast of fire careened into the midst of them, exploding on the spot.
"Didn't think this through," Sonic grumbled, facepalming.
"I told you we needed a plan, you dolt!" Shadow growled angrily as Moltres roared once again, another ball of fire forming in its mouth. "Leave this to me." With that, a small streak of energy formed in his hand and shot at Moltres' head. It scored a direct hit, and Moltres was clearly angered by it. With a mighty flap of its wings, it took to the air and began spewing fire down at them from above.
"Great! Now what?!" Sonic cried as they ran about in desperation.
"Why didn't we bring our Pokemon along for the trip?!" James cursed as they ran.
"We were told to leave them behind!" Jessie squealed.
"If only we had a Hyper Beam to incinerate that thing!" Meowth cried, desperately holding onto Jessie's hair to keep himself from being incinerated.
"Hey Sonic, I have an idea!" Knuckles called. "Throw me up there!"
"What?!" Sonic exclaimed in shock. "Knuckles –!?"
"Just do it!"
Sonic, not willing to waste any time, nodded and gave Knuckles a strong launch that landed him, with a little luck and maneuvering, right on the titan's back. Moltres didn't know this until the red echidna gave it a strong punch, causing it to howl in pain and thrash about. Knuckles lost his grip and fell back to the ground for a rough landing.
"Well, whataya know?" Sonic grinned, helping him up. "Your plan actually worked!"
"For once," Knuckles shrugged.
"Look out!" Tails cried, pushing them out of the way as another stream of fire barely missed them.
"That was close," Sonic shuddered. "But now what?"
"We have to get it out of the air," James came up to them. "But our hot air balloon is back in the past. And without our Pokemon, there's no way we can hurt that bird."
"We'll have to improvise," Shadow agreed. "That was a nice move with Knuckles, but I don't think he could survive another hit. I say someone needs to distract it while Sonic goes up there and bashes it over the head."
"Leave that to me," Tails nodded, his namesakes already spinning as he took off. Sonic jumped up to him and grabbed his hands. Tails then began swinging his arms until they gave Sonic full launch power, landing him on Moltres' back. Once again, Moltres didn't know anything thanks to Tails distracting it until Sonic slammed it over the head with his homing attack. Moltres roared in agony, its flight becoming increasingly wobbly until it finally crashed into the ground, weakened.
"Nice strategy, Shadow," Sonic nodded as he jumped off the fallen titan's back. "You seem to have a thing for that."
"Unlike some people I know," Shadow retorted, half-jokingly.
Sonic looked down at his feet and saw the Chaos Emerald they found earlier laying there. He picked it up and held it out. "Ready?"
"Ready," Shadow nodded, holding his out. Then they cried out with one voice:
"Chaos Control!"
A small glow appeared in between them, slowly growing more intense until a spinning wormhole appeared, humming a futuristic sound. Sonic looked at his friends, nodded, and jumped in, followed by the others.
The sun rose slowly on Indigo Plateau, showering it with a glorious array of color that no artist could ever hope to replicate. The night had been long and quiet, but at long last the morning birds began singing out their morning song. The sound was pleasant, except to the raven-haired teen sleeping next to the window looking out at the glorious sight. His eyes winced as he tried to shut out the sunlight, but his efforts proved for naught when an electric current shocked his body awake.
"Thanks, Pikachu," Ash grumbled in slight annoyance. "I needed that."
"Pikachu," Pikachu smirked. Ash chuckled and scratched him behind the ears. Then they got ready for the day, showering, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and finally heading outside. Ash looked around, puzzled.
"Where's May?" he wondered. "I guess she's still sleeping."
"Maybe," a familiarly sweet voice chirped. Ash grinned and turned towards its owner.
"You got up early, didn't you?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe," she winked. He just chuckled and pulled her into a warm embrace, kissing her lightly as he did so.
"Probably getting ready for a little battle?" he whispered, a smirk on his face.
"Maybe," she replied again, pulling away so she could look into his eyes, winking. Ash merely chuckled.
Suddenly, a humming sound faded in from behind Ash, startling them. They turned and looked at the source, eyes wide. A strange glowing wormhole had appeared before them, spinning quickly.
"What is that?" he wondered aloud. May didn't reply. Suddenly, a familiar shape jumped out of it, landing right on its feet. Right as it did so, the wormhole disappeared. Ash broke out into a grin. "Sonic!"
Sonic looked up sharply, but he grinned when he saw who his companions were. "Hey, Baseball Head! Bandanas! What brings you here?"
Ash raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "What do you mean? I think we should be the ones asking you that."
"Oh," Sonic blinked as he remembered his predicament. Then he sweatdropped. "Right...heh. My bad. Um...long story…"
"What was that wormhole thing?" May wondered.
"Pika Pikachu."
"Oh!" Sonic perked. "That was a space-time rift. Tails, Knuckles, and I got sent to the future by Eggman, and we used that to get back."
"Eggman?" Ash repeated.
"Oh yeah, you haven't heard!" Sonic exclaimed, realizing. "Eggman kidnapped Misty. He wants something from her and I don't know what."
"Misty?!" Ash exclaimed in shock. "What – where did he take her?!"
"Last I heard, he was headed off to Johto," Sonic explained. "We don't have much time, though: probably a day or two."
"What then?" May asked worriedly.
The blue blur shuddered. "Eggman's ship crashes, taking him and Misty down."
Ash and May gasped. "What?!"
"I can't waste any more time," Sonic stretched his legs quickly. "If I don't stop him, the world's gonna end! Catch ya later!" With that, he took off.
Ash clenched his fists and scrunched his eyes, clearly conflicted. May looked concerned. "Ash?"
"Aw, man," he moaned. "This is exactly what I didn't want to happen."
"What do you mean?"
He looked at her sadly. "I wanted us to celebrate our anniversary together without any disturbance. So much for that."
"Are you gonna go after them?"
He scrunched his eyes again. "I should, but...I promised you that we wouldn't be having any of that until our anniversary was over."
May walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ash," she said quietly, "Misty is one of your best friends, not to mention one of your first mentors. You two have been close for a long time. To abandon her in her time of need is foolish. She needs you. Don't leave her like this."
He looked back at her and sighed sadly. "I'm sorry this had to happen, May."
"It's okay," she smiled. "And besides, you won't be alone. I'll be right there with you."
He lightened up considerably at that. "All right...let's go save Misty!"
"Pi-Pikachu!"