A New Chance For Adventure

by ArcyAnderson

Sequel to A New Chance At Life. Finishing the Johto region while traveling with two Legendary Pokémon, Latias and Latios, was certainly a joyous experience for Ash. With that region behind him, Ash has now set his sights on a new tournament: The Hoenn League. A journey that promises new challenges, new friends and rivals to be met, and a powerful evil ready to rise…

5. A Dark Night Concludes

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Telepathy"

Author Notes: Chapter 5! Ready and here! =)

Last Revision: February 18th, 2016.

Chapter 5 - A Dark Night Concludes

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As Ash and his Pokémon kept fighting across the Oldale Town woods against the Team Magma attack force, the Pokémon Center seemed to have been finally liberated, as it shined with electrical power once more. Even so, they weren't done yet as one lone Grunt was still active and capable of fighting.

In the back of the Pokémon Center, the emergency back door was suddenly tackled down by a Houndoom clad in golden armor, skidding across a few feet in the dirt. "Perfect!" The Team Magma Grunt shouted to his Pokémon as he ran out of the building quickly. He looked around as he thought of his next objective. He had left his partner to deal with the strange psychic girl, and remembered his main duty was to knock out the electricity once more, so he quickly settled on what to do. He ran around the Pokémon Center, towards the front door on the other side of the building. "Almost there Houndoom, let's put this place in the dark again!" The Grunt said to his Pokémon. The Houndoom barked in agreement and nodded as it ran obediently beside its trainer.

As the Grunt was nearing the entrance, he grabbed his two other Pokéballs from his belt and hurled them forward. "Zangoose and Mightyena, come out!" He called as he threw the spheres. They burst open and both Pokémon were released in bright flashes of light. Like the rest of the Pokémon the villainous team had, both were clad in golden-colored samurai-style armor. The Team Magma Grunt pushed the front door of the Pokémon Center open violently and as he did so his Houndoom, Zangoose and Mightyena rushed to his side immediately, all of them in battle ready stances. "Alright all of you, get back to that storage room!" He shouted to all the people crowded around the counter where Nurse Joy was.

Nurse Joy glared at him, not flinching in the slightest at his threat, much to his surprise. "I don't think so. Give up. You've lost," Nurse Joy said coldly, a very odd tone coming from the usually warm and kind Pokémon nurse.

The Team Magma Grunt blinked for a second, surprised, and then laughed raucously at what she had said. "Oh, really? Says who, Miss Pretty Clone?" He asked mockingly.

"All of us say so," Janet spoke up angrily, glaring at him as well.

The Grunt laughed again. "Ah, you wimps? What are you gonna do to me? Send a hoard of Torchic to fight me?" He asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes and laughing harder. His three Pokémon laughed along with him. "You're all so pathetic."

May pouted, since she had a Torchic. "Hey!"

Janet smirked and grabbed a single Pokéball. "This time…" She began as all the trainers in the room began to grab Pokéballs as well, including May, who didn't want to be left behind. "Let's see if you're really as brave as you acted when it was dark and you had the element of surprise."

"Uhh…" The Team Magma Grunt said uneasily, starting to feel nervous as each trainer began to grab several Pokéballs. Now that the ones whose Pokémon were mostly fine had gotten them back from the nurse, and those who already had them were more willing to fight now that there was power, the amount of possible opponents looked staggering for the lone Grunt, who was only armed with three Pokémon. "This calls for a tactical retreat," The grunt said finally. "Let's go back to Field Commander Tabitha!" The Grunt then exclaimed in a poorly executed bravado voice, striking an impressively stupid pose as he did so, clearly trying (and failing) to save as much face as he could in the wake of his cowardly retreat. His three Pokémon nodded enthusiastically and followed him out of the Pokémon center, tails between their legs.

Janet laughed, putting her hand in front of her face as she did so to try and hold it in. "What a coward," she commented, shaking her head in amusement.

Nurse Joy nodded in agreement. "Typical of bad guys like him. We shouldn't let him escape, though. I've already called Officer Jenny, she's on her way from Petalburg City," she informed them all, walking around the counter. Some of the trainers nodded and followed her out of the Pokémon Center, the ones more confident to fight the villain, including Janet.

When they exited they expected the Grunt to already have gained a decent advantage, but to their surprise the Grunt was standing a dozen feet or so outside the main entrance, all three of his Pokémon growling fiercely. In front of him, in the Center's front courtyard, were a once-again disguised Latias and Bianca, standing beside each other.

Bianca laughed. "He was trying to escape? I didn't expect that, but it won't be happening."

Latias nodded. "Neither did I, but at least out here it'll be easier to deal with him." She frowned. "Sadly, all his Pokémon are out already. That leaves disarming him by taking his Pokéballs out of question."

Janet's eyes widened in surprise. In the momentary surprise of the Grunt's intrusion to the lobby, she had completely forgotten that the twins had stayed to fight another one in the storage hallway. "I-it's the twins! They beat the other guy? Wow! But they have no Pokémon!" She cried, stuttering in surprise.

The Grunt glared at the two girls in shock. He certainly hadn't expected to find them out here as he had been more expectant to see his comrade. "How?" He asked in shock, growling. "My partner should have dealt with you two troublesome brats!"

Bianca smirked confidently. Now that the fear and surprise of the sudden attack and the hostage situation had died down, these guys weren't really scary. "Other way around, actually, since we dealt with him," she began, then raised her hand and pointed at him, her smirk widening. "And you are next."

Latias raised an eyebrow at that. "We dealt with him? Uh, I did everything Bianca," she pointed out, stifling a mental giggle.

Bianca chuckled lowly so the Grunt didn't notice and thought her answer to the dragoness. 'I know, I'm just trying to sound tough. Plus, I stayed for…moral support.'

"Ah," Latias said, smiling in amusement. 'It's okay, I wasn't complaining or anything, I was just commenting on it." Bianca nodded at her.

The Grunt looked at them angrily. "I don't know what you did to my squad mate, but I'm going to make sure you two are beat up for it!" He declared boldly. His three Pokémon stood in a line in front of him, ready for a fight, even if their opponents had no visible Pokémon out.

Bianca shook her head sadly and turned to look at the disguised Dragoness. "How about you teach him a really good lesson he won't be forgetting anytime soon, Latias?" She asked her best friend, smirking. Nurse Joy blinked and frowned. When she registered Ash Ketchum for the Hoenn League she had seen that on his active party was a Latias, but… could that girl be the Latias?

Latias nodded at her. "He's definitely earned it for attacking people like that and putting you and everyone else in danger. But, there are humans outside the Pokémon center watching us. Would it be prudent to do so?" She asked telepathically.

"Well, Latios revealed himself to thousands at the Silver Conference," Bianca pointed out. "I don't think it's too bad, plus, it's more important to deal with the threat now."

"True," Latias admitted after a moment's thought. "I'll teach him a lesson for threatening to hurt you and everyone else," she said fiercely, her eyes narrowing as she stepped forward.

"Hey, you're okay with battling, right?" Bianca asked, remembering that it wasn't exactly a favorable topic for the dragoness. "I'm thinking about having you beating him up and I haven't even thought of that, how rude of me," she said, frowning at her own disposition to have Latias battle without properly asking.

Latias smiled at Bianca and nodded once. "Yes, I'm okay with it Bianca, you don't have to feel bad for staging me up to fight the guy, it's alright. I'm unhappy with fighting without a reason, but if it's to protect my friends. I'll fight with all I've got and I will be a dangerous opponent. Plus, I've changed Bianca, you admitted yourself when I defeated the first of these clowns in red back at the storeroom about how different I was now. I feel like I've grown up a little… from that little defenseless weakling I was back at Alto Mare to who I am now. Battling isn't something I should feel repulsed by; now that I've seen more than just Alto Mare I understand a bit more. Life is so different… I am still not a fan of battling…" She said to her best friend, and then threw a glare at the Team Magma Pokémon that made them take a step back, despite her being a human at the moment. "But I understand sometimes it's something necessary, to protect those you care the most about!" She finished, a motivated and proud tone to her telepathy.

Bianca nodded and smiled, feeling very happy and pleased for her friend. "Okay, Latias."

The Team Magma Grunt looked at her, wondering what she was for a second, recalling that earlier she had made herself look just like the squad sub-leader almost perfectly and had deceived him. "Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" He ordered, pointing at the apparent twins. He didn't want to take any chances against this new unknown threat.

Nurse Joy's eyes widened. "No! Get out of the way!" She shouted, her disgust for the Team Magma Grunt rising even more at the fact he had no qualms about ordering his Pokémon to attack humans.

Latias put one of her arms forward, and her eyes glowed a shade of light bluish white as she used her mental powers to generate a powerful psychic shield in front of her and Bianca which deflected the flamethrower, splitting it into many torrents of flames that grazed the shield, but was completely unable to even dent it. Janet's eyes widened. "She did it again! Ju-just what is she?" She wondered. "That seems like too much for a human Psychic!"

Latias smiled, an interesting idea forming in her mind. "Bianca, remember that little drawing you were making before these clowns attacked?" She asked her best friend, looking at her out the corner of her eye as she walked forward.

Bianca nodded. "Yeah I do, I've yet to finish it, though," she answered.

"I'm gonna let you make it real tonight, even if it's not an actual contest. You ready?" Latias asked, smirking lightly as she placed herself a good distance in front of the brunette artist.

Bianca gave a little startled jump, clearly not expecting that. "Bu-but Latias! I'm no-" She started.

"Relax, I'll be very cooperative," Latias interrupted her, giving her a confident nod. Bianca nodded back at the dragoness, taking a deep breath and getting ready. After all, if Latias was making the effort to fight, the least she could do was concede Latias the pleasure of commanding her.

"Just don't expect me to be awesome or something, this is my first time commanding a Pokémon," Bianca warned her friend. Latias gave a curt nod in reply.

Latias' eyes glowed and she was covered in a very pretty and flashy shower of blue sparkles as she returned to her true dragon form, startling everyone except Bianca and Nurse Joy. The Team Magma Grunt froze on the spot, along with his three Pokémon. "Wh-what?" he questioned flatly, having absolutely no other words for what he was seeing.

Nurse Joy stood still, gazing intently at the Latias as realization hit her. "So she is a Latias…" Nurse Joy said slowly. "I was left in doubts when she called her that in the storeroom. No wonder she's such a strong psychic."

A trainer blinked in confusion, turning to look at the Pokémon Nurse. "If she called her that, why doubt then?" He asked in curiosity.

Nurse Joy shrugged. "I've seen people named after Legendary Pokémon, or abbreviations or similar sounding names before. For example, I've heard Latias and similar spellings are common female names in Alto Mare."

Janet looked at the girl in pure shock and then at the Latias, and then back at Bianca. "But… she was perfectly human!" She cried in astonishment.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Yeah… but she's a Legendary Pokémon too, who knows what sorts of magnificent powers she has."

"So… do we fight?" Janet asked curiously, turning to look at the Pokémon nurse.

Nurse Joy shook her head. "I suggest against it, let's let Latias handle it and not get in her way." She stepped back, closer to the Pokémon Center, and everyone else did the same.

Latias giggled to herself. Reactions of people to her shape-shifting powers were something that greatly amused her every time she got the chance to do it, though they failed to surpass her favorite reaction of all, which was Ash's. "Ready Bianca?" Latias asked telepathically.

Bianca sighed to relax herself. "Yes, I am," she answered, trying to put forth as much of her characteristic strong attitude to ease the nervousness of directing a battle as she could.

The Grunt growled, still shocked at what he was seeing, and after a few seconds he was finally able to react accordingly. "No wonder… that girl was a Latias all along since the start… dammit! This is very bad," he mumbled, wondering how he'd get out of this one. He slowly reached for his visor and activated a small camera to record the Latias and send the video to Tabitha's visor. "I'm not gonna lose, you little runt," the Grunt declared, glaring at the dragoness and trying to act as bravely as possible, despite the fear and uncertainty he really had at facing a Legendary. Latias shrugged uninterestedly, her empathy easily sensing his charade. The grunt growled louder, angered by her silent taunt.

"Um, Latias, what were your attacks exactly?" Bianca asked quietly, not wanting the embarrassing question to be heard by others. "I don't really know much."

"Mist Ball, Tackle, Ice Beam, Dragon Breath and Psychic," Latias answered telepathically.

Bianca nodded. "Thanks, Latias."

The Grunt immediately started the fight, the pressure of fighting a Legendary Pokémon getting the better of him. "Houndoom, use Flamethrower to roast that dragon!" He ordered quickly. The large demonic canine took a deep breath as flames began swirling inside its muzzle, preparing the fire attack.

Bianca paused when the first command of the battle was given, looking on as the Fire and Dark-type began to prepare its attack. 'Uh, which attack to use now? What should I do?' Bianca wondered, nervousness eating her up, as this was the first time she commanded a battle.

"How about you order me to use Psychic to block the attack?" Latias suggested helpfully, and then giggled softly.

Bianca nodded. "Okay! Latias, use Psychic to block the attack!" She repeated.

The Houndoom spat the powerful stream of flames towards the Legendary Dragoness, but she didn't look too alarmed by the attack, as her eyes shined a strong shade of bluish white. The Flamethrower was torn apart easily by the dragoness' psychic powers. The Grunt growled in frustration at how easily the attack was shrugged off. "Mightyena, attack that thing with Crunch! Let's see if she likes it!" He ordered, shifting his gaze from Houndoom to Mightyena.

Mightyena quickly ran towards Latias as its muzzle began to gather dark energy, enlarging its fangs and teeth with dark power. Bianca froze slightly, once again not knowing how to defend against such a direct frontal attack. Seeing the Mightyena was getting too close to her and Bianca didn't seem to give any order, Latias decided to simply act on her own. The Mightyena jumped as high as it could to lunge at her, but Latias, seeing its attack maneuver, quickly levitated lower, making the canine Pokémon overshoot her. As it passed right over her, Latias bolted up, smashing her head against its midsection and knocking the air out of the canine as it was sent flying to the side with a pained cry from the sheer force Latias had hit it with. Bianca signed in relief. "That was a good one Latias… I had no idea what to do," she told the Legendary.

"Well, you could have just told me to dodge," Latias answered her. "But it's okay, let's continue, alright?"

Bianca nodded. "Yep," she replied as she turned her gaze back to the battlefield.

"Zangoose, use Crush Claw!" The grunt ordered. If his Mightyena and Houndoom had failed in their attacks, maybe the Zangoose would succeed. The Cat Ferret Pokémon nodded and charged at a rather impressive speed towards Latias, its claws shining a bright white.

"Oh… what to do… wait, Zangoose aren't Dark-types, right?" Bianca asked.

"Nope, they aren't," Latias answered as the Zangoose leaped at her, claws ready.

Bianca smirked. "Okay then, Latias! Hit it with a Psychic Attack!" She shouted. Latias nodded as her eyes glowed, stopping the Normal-type in midair right in front of her.

"Ack, let me go!" The Zangoose growled and struggled as hard as it could against the Dragoness' mental hold in a futile attempt to escape. It then cried in pain as its body was bombarded rather painfully by Latias' psychic powers.

"Okay," Latias answered the Pokémon in front of her, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Mightyena was starting to stand up after she had knocked it away. With a powerful exertion of her mind she flung the Zangoose rather hard towards the Mightyena, crashing them harshly into each other with a loud metallic clang emitting from their armors.

"Oh! I know!" Bianca realized suddenly. "Latias, Ice Beam!" She ordered, pointing at the two Pokémon Latias had smashed together.

Latias smirked, happy that Bianca was getting the hang of it. She turned towards the two Pokémon that were still badly dazed from the crash. She opened her mouth as an orb of icy-blue energy began to form inside it. After she was finished charging it, she spat a beam of freezing energies towards them, freezing them almost instantly in a huge block of ice. The Grunt growled. "Ugh! Not fair!" He complained angrily.

More and more of the trainers and people from the Pokémon Center began to gather outside the building to watch the Legendary Dragoness fight, some with stunned expressions and others with expressions of surprise and amazement, awed at the sight of a Legendary Pokémon. Nurse Joy laughed. "At this rate Jenny's only gonna get here in time to clean up the trash," she said in amusement.

Janet nodded. "Which is actually good, the bad guys will already be beaten!"

"Yeah," May agreed. "She's a really cool Pokémon," she commented. Janet and Nurse Joy nodded in agreement.

The Grunt snarled at the things he heard being talked about behind him. "Houndoom, thaw them out with Flamethrower!" He ordered. The large demonic canine spat a powerful stream of flames at its partners, instantly thawing out both of the frozen Pokémon.

"Ahh! Hey! Attack the dragon, not us!" The Mightyena barked angrily, jumping away from the hurtful flames as well, though that didn't keep its fur from being singed due to its armor heating up from the flames. It panted and whimpered, burns starting to develop on its skin beneath the superheated armor. Who thought it would be a good idea to make it wear this, again?

"Ahhh! Watch it!" Zangoose yelled as it jumped away, some of its fur singed from the brush with the flames, and the armor heating up and burning him further.

Houndoom glared at them. "I got you out of the ice you know! You could be a little bit more grateful!" It told them.

"Attack it at the same time! Use Crunch! Zangoose, you use Crush Claw!" The Grunt bellowed as loud as he could. The three Pokémon stopped their argument, nodded and charged towards Latias. The two canines' muzzles began shining with dark power, and Zangoose's claws glowed faintly in a white light.

Bianca paused and hummed in thought, seeing the three-way attack ordered against her and Latias, but unlike the past attack, she issued an order. "Latias, use Mist Ball to hide yourself!"

Latias nodded. "Good choice Bianca," she told her 'trainer' telepathically. Latias' eyes glowed, and then her body followed, giving off a faint and pretty whitish glow, causing May and Janet to squeal at how pretty and cute she looked. Latias put her claws together; forming a tight red sphere of concentrated psychic powers. Once that was ready, a thick veil of mist surrounded it completely, forming a very strong ball of compressed mists between the dragoness' claws.

As the Team Magma Pokémon began to get close to the Legendary, Latias smirked and detonated the Mist Ball still on her claws, covering the improvised battlefield in a thick red mist. "Dammit, I can't see!" Houndoom complained once it and the other two had gotten into the mist. "Is this a Psychic attack?" It wondered.

"Seems so, we're dark-types, so we shouldn't really care," Mightyena said, smirking.

"Ahhh!" Zangoose screamed in pain, doubling over as the powerful psychic mists started attacking it, causing pain in all of its body as it felt its power being zapped away by the fog.

Mightyena gasped in realization. "Dammit! Zangoose aren't dark types!"

Houndoom nodded. "Let's escape this mist!" Both of them quickly ran to where they heard the Cat Ferret Pokémon's pained cries. They bit on his armor and quickly dragged it out of the Mist field before it could pass out from agony.

Latias chuckled. "Seems that they worry about the other somewhat," she commented as the wind slowly began to dissipate the Mist. "That's refreshing."

"That's a really powerful move Latias," Bianca praised her. "Wow…"

Latias smiled. "Thank you Bianca."

The Houndoom growled at her. "You'll pay for that!" It threatened the dragoness as both Zangoose and Mightyena stood at the Houndoom's side, but the Normal-type still looked very weakened from the effects of Latias' attack. A small crack suddenly got their attention.

"What was that?" Mightyena asked. Another crack echoed.

The Houndoom froze, eyes widening in horror when it realized that the sound was. "It's our armors!" It cried in alarm.

The Grunt gasped in shock at what he saw. "Wha- No!" He cried as well, but there was nothing he could do. The armor each Pokémon was wearing looked in bad shape, all of them filled with dents and ripped off parts. As they looked on, the armors began to fall apart completely, landing beside each Pokémon in a pile of weakened metal.

Latias smirked when she saw that. "Well, it seems like my Mist Ball was too much," she said coolly, remembering that while the Houndoom and Mightyena themselves were Dark-types and thus protected from the Psychic-attack, there was nothing their typing could do to protect their armors.

The Grunt growled. "You're gonna pay for that!" He told Bianca.

Bianca laughed. "Seriously, you think you're in any position to make threats?"

"I remember how you were cowering back at the hallway. Without that little Dragon you're nothing!" He taunted her, smirking.

Bianca shrugged. "So? I have that little dragon on my side, so I can say whatever I want to. And you're hardly one to talk. What would you do without your puppies?" She taunted. She spread her arms a little and laughed. "I'm in the better position here!"

The Grunt glared at her, tightening his hands into fists. "I'll show you… Houndoom, roast the dragon with Fire Blast!" He shouted to his Pokémon. The large Dark-type Pokémon nodded once, inhaled deeply, and then spat a huge five-pointed star of flames towards Latias.

"Uh… what to do now…" Bianca muttered, her eyes narrowing slightly as she saw the Houndoom attack.

"How about you tell me to stop it with Psychic?" Latias suggested helpfully, a teasing tone in her voice and a cute girly giggle echoing in the end.

Bianca nodded. "Yep, sounds good to me. Latias, stop it with Psychic!"

Latias' eyes glowed brightly as she exerted her extraordinary mental powers. The Fire Blast had no hope against the dragoness' powers and was torn apart to nothing but small embers that the cool night wind easily blew away. "Mightyena!" the Grunt called, once again shifting attention between his three Pokémon. "Use Shadow Ball!"

"Watch how it's done! Loser!" Mightyena taunted the Houndoom, causing the demonic dog to growl at it. Mightyena took a deep breath, generating an orb of concentrated shadows inside its muzzle. Once the attack was ready it thrust its head forward, firing it while aiming directly at the Legendary Dragoness.

"Latias, stop it with Dragon Breath!" Bianca countered quickly, pointing at the Mightyena's attack.

Latias blinked in light confusion. "Why not use Psychic again?" She asked telepathically.

'I already used Psychic to block the Fire Blast, let's be a little original and not repeat ourselves, artists like me love originality,' Bianca answered.

Latias nodded and took a deep breath, then launched a stream of white draconic flames at the incoming shadowy spherical projectile. The Dragon's superior attack power made the flames easily overpower the Shadow Ball. The Mightyena yelped in pain as the Dragon Breath collided against it and pushed it back a dozen feet. "Ow! Ow! No fair!" It barked in agony.

Houndoom laughed openly at its misfortune. "Who's the loser now?"

"Shut up!" Mightyena angrily snapped back before hastily shaking its whole body, dislodging some painfully smoldering fur strands from its back. "Owowow! Hothothot!" It exclaimed painfully, prompting another burst of laughter from Houndoom.

"Zangoose! It's your turn now! Hit that damned Legendary with Faint Attack!" The Team Magma Grunt ordered.

Zangoose crouched on all fours as his form suddenly crackled with Dark-energy, then it seemed to blur as it disappeared from sight. Before Latias could react accordingly, she was slammed head on with the Dark-type move right on her chest, causing her to cry out in pain and be pushed back a couple feet due to the attack's type effectiveness. "Latias!" Bianca cried in concern for her best friend's wellbeing.

The Grunt grinned. "That's it!" He called out eagerly, glad that he had finally scored a direct hit. "Finish that runt off with Crush Claw!"

Zangoose nodded and gave a mighty battle cry, jumping high with both claws glowing white. "Take this!" It yelled.

"Oh no… Latias!" Bianca cried again, unsure what to do to aid her friend's predicament.

Latias' eyes narrowed in annoyance as the Cat Ferret Pokémon came closer. Suddenly her claws darted forward, catching the Zangoose's claws in a powerful grip and stopping its jump with relative ease. "And I haven't even learned Dragon Claw," Latias said calmly as the Zangoose looked at her in shock. The Dragoness did a barrel roll right where she was floating while keeping a firm grip on the Zangoose's claws with her own, and with the massive inertia accumulated in the spin she slammed him into the dirt below hard, actually creating a crater.

Bianca sighed in relief. "Wow…that was impressive Latias," she praised her best friend.

Latias nodded. "Thanks Bianca," she said cheerfully as the Normal-type writhed in pain below her, the dust thrown up by the crash beginning to settle slightly. She frowned when she noticed she had just put a little too much power into that. "Um, sorry for that," she apologized to the Normal-type.

Bianca nodded, glad Latias had shaken off those attacks as well as resisted the hit she had taken. "I think this is enough for me, how about you take the battle from here on out all by yourself?" She asked. "It's fun, but I don't think I'm really ready to keep up."

Latias smiled. "If you want to bow out, okay," she answered her friend telepathically.

"Both of you attack it with Crunch!" The Grunt ordered sharply, interrupting the talk going on between the two long-time friends. The two canine Pokémon charged at Latias as their muzzles gained a Dark-typed energy coat, lengthening their fangs and teeth in preparation for the powerful attack.

Latias looked at them fixedly, but didn't retreat a single foot back. She took a deep breath as a flurry of white flames began to swirl inside her mouth and then exhaled a strong Dragon Breath attack at the Houndoom, hitting it directly and sending it reeling back. Just as she did that, her eyes glowed as she telekinetically grabbed hold of the Zangoose below her and flung it towards the incoming Mightyena, crashing them against each other very harshly again and sending them flying back to where the Houndoom was, causing the three Pokémon to end up sprawled on the ground next to each other. "No!" The Grunt gasped, face red with anger as Latias kept easily shrugging off every attack he sent her way.

Bianca smirked. "Had enough?" She asked tauntingly, her tone of voice smug.

The Grunt growled. "Let's see you act so tough if we were alone…"

Bianca laughed. "Once you've lost the element of surprise, you… are actually pretty meek," she taunted. Latias floated right in front of her, ready to continue the fight and back up her taunts.

The Grunt screamed in frustration. "That's it! Houndoom, shut her up already with Dark Pulse!" He commanded angrily, shaking from rage. The Dark Pokémon opened its muzzle, creating a sphere of black and purple ringed dark energy, and fired it in the shape of a long beam consisting of overlapped rings of darkness. Latias quickly dodged to the side with a single fluid motion of her skillful levitation. "Mightyena, use Shadow Ball!" The Grunt ordered. Mightyena opened its muzzle and spat a large orb of shadow energies towards the Legendary Dragoness' location after dodging the Dark Pulse attack.

Latias took a quick breath and countered the incoming projectile with a Dragon Breath attack as fast as she could, forgoing power for speed. The stream of flames collided midair with the Shadow Ball, causing both attacks to detonate violently against each other. "Faint Attack!" The grunt's command echoed. Out of the smoke caused by the blast Houndoom emerged, its form covered in dark energy. It collided against Latias' chest hard, pushing the dragoness back and making her cry out in pain from the super-effective hit.

"Latias! Hang in there!" Bianca shouted encouragingly to her friend as she saw her take another rather tough hit. "You can do it!" She cheered.

"Oh no she can't! Zangoose, hit the damn thing with Hidden Power!" The grunt ordered quickly so he could hit Latias again without letting her recover effectively from the previous hit she had taken. Zangoose gave a mighty battle cry as it put both clawed arms together. An odd energy began to emit from between them, quickly forming a cluster of white orbs. It flung them towards the stunned Latias, hitting her and detonating explosively, making her cry out in pain as her form was hidden by the smoke of the blast. "Haha! Not so tough now, are you?!" The Grunt taunted as his three Pokémon cheered.

Bianca growled at his taunt, her right hand tightening into a fist. "It'll take a lot more than that to beat Latias!" Bianca shouted back, not doubting her friend in the slightest as the smoke began to slowly dissipate, revealing Latias with her eyes closed as she winced from the pain of the attacks.

"We'll see then, but the Latias is done for! Get it with Crush Claw, Zangoose!" The Grunt yelled, trying to hit the dragon once again before she recovered effectively. The Zangoose nodded and ran towards Latias, then took a spectacular jump, aiming directly at the Legendary.

Latias cringed as another sting of pain ran through her body, still feeling rather pained from the consecutive hits she took, but looked up as she sensed one of the enemy Pokémon incoming and noticed the Normal-type. She smirked while narrowing her eyes at the way it was attacking. She had it now. Latias quickly put her arms together and generated a Mist Ball between her claws as fast as she could. The Zangoose's eyes widened midair as it saw what Latias was doing. "Oh no…" it muttered in terror, already fearing what was about to happen.

Latias nodded. "Oh yes." As the flying Zangoose came at her, she thrust her arm forward and smashed the Mist Ball into the incoming Normal-type's midsection, causing it to gasp and cry in pain very loudly. Latias pushed the Mist Ball with all her might, releasing the attack and sending both Zangoose and the sphere flying in a straight line, colliding against a tree and almost splitting it in half while the attack exploded in a massive curtain of reddish mist, finishing off and knocking out the Zangoose.

Latias frowned, her empathy feeling the pain the Zangoose had experienced in her rather merciless attack. It was another of the reasons fighting wasn't exactly a thing she enjoyed, her connection to the feelings of others made her all too aware of her opponents' pain. 'Well, maybe one day I'll find a way to sort it out,' Latias thought to herself.

"Houndoom, Dark Pulse!" the Grunt ordered, interrupting Latias' train of thought as the obedient canine Pokémon spat a beam of rings of pure dark energy at Latias. She calmly levitated to the side, dodging the attack. To further the surprise for her next attack, her plumage vibrated slightly with twinkles of light before she completely disappeared, activating her invisibility.

Bianca smirked. "Get them, Latias!"

Latias nodded, even if it was unseen. "Oh, I will," she replied telepathically to her friend.

The grunt laughed. "You stupid Pokémon, I have easier ways to find you if you turn invisible! Mightyena, use Crunch on the human!" He ordered, pointing at Bianca.

Bianca raised an eyebrow. "What?" She asked flatly. "That's really low!"

The Grunt smirked. "Who cares? Attack her, Mightyena!"

The Mightyena charged at Bianca, fangs enlarged with Dark-type energy as it prepared a Crunch attack on the apparently defenseless human. Bianca laughed. "That's the worst mistake you've made so far. You're lucky it's Latias who you're doing this in front of. Latios isn't as nice as her."

The Grunt blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?" He asked.

Bianca grinned. "This." She did not need to say any further as the Mightyena lunged at her, mouth wide open to bite her. But as it leaped at her, it was suddenly tackled extremely hard by an invisible force, followed by a massive explosion of white flames courtesy of Latias' Dragon Breath, flinging the Mightyena right into the same tree Zangoose had been knocked out against. The Dark-type hit the tree a bit higher up the trunk, then slid down and landed on top of the unconscious Zangoose, also knocked out.

"Oh crap," the Grunt said fearfully. Two of this three Pokémon had lost already. He shakily held up their Pokéballs and recalled them. A pair of beams was fired from the two spheres, absorbing the Pokémon inside them in flashes of red energy. "Houndoom, are you still with me?" The Houndoom nodded fearfully. It wasn't the same fighting a Latias in a three versus one advantage than all alone.

Bianca laughed. "You've lost," she stated confidently.

"Houndoom, shut her up already with Fire Blast!" the Grunt screamed in frustration and anger, refusing to admit he had lost. The Houndoom nodded and took a deep breath, preparing the attack. Latias didn't let him. Taking advantage of the massive speed her species were famous for, she crossed the distance between her and the Houndoom before the grunt or even Bianca could blink, tackling it so hard it was knocked out instantly, and sent flying straight towards the Grunt.

"Ahhh!" The Grunt screamed as the defeated Houndoom crashed into him, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He quickly grabbed a Pokéball and returned the defeated Pokémon to get the weight off him and then sat up, looking around and gulping in fear.

Nurse Joy and several of the trainers watching the battle walked up to him. "See? It would have all been easier if you just gave up at the start," Nurse Joy told him, shaking her head sadly. "You would have spared your Pokémon the pain and humiliation of defeat."

"Shut up you… uh, clone thing!" The grunt shouted to Nurse Joy as he turned around to run, but only came face-to-face with Bianca and Latias.

"You aren't going anywhere," Bianca stated, half-chuckling in amusement.

Latias' eyes glowed, and the grunt was drawn to her look. He almost felt hypnotized by the eyes of the Legendary, but he quickly shook his head, trying to free herself from the trance. "No! You won't cap-" He began to say, but the speech died in his mouth, his pupils widened and they lost the flicker of consciousness as he swayed dizzily and dropped the floor, knocked out cold.

Janet frowned. "What did Latias do? She didn't kill him, did she?" She gulped slightly, the idea of a Pokémon capable of doing that with as much as a thought was rather scary.

Bianca smiled and laughed heartily. "Relax. She just put him to sleep, right, Latias?" She put her arm around the dragoness' neck affectionately. Latias smiled back and leaned against her friend, pressing her cheek against Bianca's and giving a little nod to the crowd.

Nurse Joy nodded. "This will make Jenny taking them in a lot easier. Thanks Latias, for saving us from these criminals, we all owe you a debt we can never repay," she said gratefully. Latias nodded and smiled sweetly in understanding, it was another reason she had offered up for this fight, she preferred dealing with it herself than seeing other Pokémon that had more chances of being hurt fight it.

Janet smirked. "I thought you said you weren't even a trainer or coordinator, and yet you turn out to have a Latias?" she asked Bianca, raising an eyebrow.

Bianca shook her head as she spoke. "Oh, I'm not a trainer. Latias is my best friend, but by legal capture she's not my Pokémon, she's a friend's. Remember a boy with a Pikachu that was with me earlier?"

Janet hummed. "I think when I saw you out the corner of my eyes before I saw a kid like that back at the lounge… I think."

Bianca nodded. "She was captured by him, but she does as I say because she's my best friend." Latias nodded happily to back up what Bianca was saying, turning her head and giving Bianca a couple of affectionate licks on the cheek. Bianca giggled at the feeling, petting the legendary dragon's head.

Nurse Joy smiled, examining the Legendary's mannerisms, the look in her eyes and her overall attitude. "I have to say, she looks like a very happy Pokémon. She certainly loves the condition she's in. Happy Pokémon like her bring joy to my heart."

May frowned. "Speaking of Ash, where is he? We haven't heard from him. And what about Alden?"

Bianca gasped. "Oh, right! They're fighting the rest of the bad guys in the ruins. Latias, go and help them, quickly!"

Latias nodded, flying from Bianca's side. Before she departed, her eyes glowed brightly. To everyone's surprise, the front doors of the center opened, and floating through them was the other Team Magma Grunt Latias had taken care of inside, still tied up and unconscious. He was set beside the other one and she arranged both of them in a sitting position. The ropes binding the one from the Center began to untie all on their own almost by magic as everyone watched in astonishment. The ropes then tied firmly around both of the criminals, securing them. "There, this will make it easier to keep an eye on them. I'll go now. You're okay to stay here with May, right Bianca?" Latias asked, looking at her best friend and smiling.

Bianca nodded. "I'm okay Latias, go and help them out!" She told her encouragingly, giving her a light push. Latias giggled and took flight for the forest, leaving Bianca and May at the Pokémon Center with everyone else.

…

Meanwhile, the Confident Grunt was still struggling in his fight against Ash. "Mightyena, get those two runts!" The Confident Grunt shouted, pointing at Larvitar and Phanpy.

Ash laughed. "Oh no you don't get them! Larvitar, use Rock Smash!" He countered. Mightyena charged at the two kids. Larvitar charged forward as well, a bit slowly as he wasn't that fast. His right arm glowed white as he prepared his attack. As Mightyena and Larvitar came closer, Ash decided to follow up with his next move. "Phanpy, use a Rollout attack!" Ash shouted. The little blue elephant-like Pokémon nodded eagerly and curled into a tight ball and started rolling forward.

Larvitar swung his bright glowing fist at the Mightyena, but the Dark-type Pokémon took no chances and immediately leaped to the side to evade the attack, something Ash had been expecting, surprisingly. "Phanpy, roll to the right!" Ash shouted, intending on directing Phanpy directly into a collision with the Dark-type. Phanpy leaned slightly to the left, letting his weight carry him and making him turn towards that side. Ash frowned at the kid's mistake and face-palmed. "No! That's left, to the other side!" Ash shouted, quickly correcting him. Phanpy rapidly corrected and leaned to the other side, managing to make the turn in time and smashed into the Mightyena, causing him to cry in pain and skid backwards.

The Grunt sighed. "Stupid Mightyena…" He muttered, and then shifted his focus to his other Pokémon. "Camerupt, finish up that damn Pidgeot already! Use Stone Edge!" He shouted, pointing at the Flying and Normal-type.

"Camerupt hurt you! You in pain!" Camerupt bellowed as two rings of blue light shined around him, materializing into dozens of very sharp stone daggers.

"Pidgeot, use the trees to protect yourself from that attack!" Ash countered. "When you get the chance, hit him with an Air Slash!"

"Okay Ash!" Pidgeot answered as she flew to the side, zigzagging between trees.

"Arghh! You stay still!" Camerupt roared, eyes crossing in confusion as he tried and failed miserably to aim his attack at Pidgeot, all of the daggers he was firing either colliding with tree trunks or flying aimlessly into the dark forest. When his attack ended, Pidgeot flew between two trees and flapped her wings with exceptional force, sending two blades of wind towards the Camerupt, slashing and breaking off part of his armor.

The Confident Grunt, who wasn't really feeling very confident anymore, sighed and put his face between his hands. "Oh for the love of… stupid Pokémon are stupid indeed. Mightyena, use Shadow Ball, see if that works a little bit," he said in a disappointed tone of voice.

Mightyena frowned at his trainer's tone of voice, but nonetheless still attacked. He opened his mouth and fired an orb of concentrated shadowy energy at the two kids. "Take that! So you two learn who the boss here is!" Mightyena taunted them.

"Phanpy, dodge to the side, Larvitar, dig!" Ash shouted his counters. Phanpy nodded happily and leaped to the side while Larvitar dived into the ground and dug underground, both of them dodging the Shadow Ball.

Ash turned his attention to Pidgeot. "Pidgeot, use Aerial Ace!" Ash commanded. Pidgeot nodded and rose higher into the air, preparing a steep dive.

The Grunt laughed. "I'm sick of this, I'll end it all! Camerupt, use Eruption!" He roared at the top of his lungs.

Camerupt's eyes glowed a bright red from pure rage as he prepared to use his ultimate attack. "Camerupt kills… Camerupt wins! Camerupt… EXPLODE!" He bellowed massively as he reared on his hind legs, magma and ashes emanating from the two stony lumps on his back. The magma spurting from his lumps began to hit the barks of some trees, causing them to catch on fire.

Ash gulped and began to step back. "Uh-oh… that looks bad…"

The Grunt blinked. "Oops, I think ordering Eruption in the middle of a forest wasn't a good idea, but eh, who cares? Take that, kid!" He taunted, laughing.

Pidgeot narrowed her eyes. 'This idiot is crazy! I need to stop that!' Pidgeot dove quickly towards the Camerupt, white streaks of wind forming around her as her speed increased dramatically with the Aerial Ace attack Ash had told her to use. She crashed directly into Camerupt's face, making the large Pokémon topple backwards and cry out in pain, thankfully stopping the dangerous Eruption attack.

Ash sighed in relief. "Phew, thanks Pidgeot!" Pidgeot flew back a little, and nodded to her trainer.

"Camerupt, Flamethrower!" The Grunt ordered. Camerupt grinned stupidly and spat a stream of flames at the avian, who was much too close to him to dodge in time. She gave a cry of pain as the flames washed over her and sent her backwards, smashing her into the ground harshly.

"Pidgeot!" Ash cried in concern. The veil of fire covering the avian was suddenly blasted away harshly with a single flap of her powerful wings. She turned to her side and stood up, panting from the experience. Ash released the breath he hadn't known he had been holding. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

Pidgeot nodded. "A bit singed, but nothing I can't handle," she answered him.

A deafening scream of pain interrupted them all. They turned and saw the Mightyena crying, screaming and whimpering in pain. Using Ash's ordered Dig attack, Larvitar had bitten his tail again. "Ahhh! Get him off!" He cried in pain.

Ash laughed. "Fell for it again!" He commented in amusement.

The grunt sighed in dismay. "Mightyena, use Sand Attack!" He shouted.

Mightyena rose quickly and kicked his back legs, sending dirt into Larvitar's face and mouth… and he didn't really care, and just bit harder. "Aaahhh!" Mightyena screamed.

Ash smirked. "Phanpy, use Rollout!" He ordered again. "Knock out that Mightyena!"

Phanpy nodded and charged forwards. "Take this, you meanie!" He yelled as he jumped forward and curled into a tight ball, rolling as fast as he could.

"Mightyena, jump to the side!" The Confident Grunt ordered. The order was surprisingly very effective. Mightyena jumped to the side as much as he could, yipping in pain as that gave his tail a painful tug, but it also meant he wasn't in Phanpy's path anymore. Phanpy crashed into Larvitar, causing him to yelp and release the Dark-type's tail from his deadly jaws.

"Freedom!" Mightyena cried in happiness, looking over himself to look if his tail was okay, and to make sure it wasn't bitten off.

Larvitar glared at Phanpy. "Hey, I'm on your side!" He reproached his surrogate older brother.

Phanpy looked at him sadly, stood on his hind legs and leaned over Larvitar, nuzzling him, licking his face and hugging him with his trunk. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" He cried. "I didn't mean to, little brother!"

Larvitar gave a tiny laugh at Phanpy's antics, an odd sound coming from him. "Okay, stop it already, Phanpy!"

Phanpy beamed happily. "You laughed! You laughed!"

Larvitar looked away, blushing in embarrassment. "No I didn't!" He said quickly.

"Mightyena, use Ice Fang!" The Grunt ordered. The cowardly Mightyena took great advantage of the kids' distraction and charged at them, icy energy enveloping his fangs.

"Hidden Power!" Ash shouted, snapping the two little children out of their odd argument. They turned and noticed the incoming Mightyena. They both nodded as their bodies were outlined in whitish energy, forming small orbs of bright energy around them.

Mightyena's ears dropped in dismay as he sighed. "Oh no… this is gonna hu-" He never finished as he was hit with a powerful double Hidden Power attack, creating a moderate blast that knocked him out instantly.

"Yay! We won! We won!" Phanpy cheered happily, doing a series of happy skips in circles. Larvitar stared blankly at his older brother's antics. He wondered if he should be doing something like that too, after all he was younger. Larvitar tugged on Phanpy's side and walked towards Ash. Getting the hint, Phanpy followed his brother back to Ash, skipping happily instead of walking.

"Ugghh!" The Grunt cried in frustration. "Stupid Mightyena!" He shouted and refocused his attention on Camerupt, who had just recovered. "That's it, let's just destroy everything! Use Eruption again!" He screamed, giving his final command. He turned and looked for his two other comrades. He soon found them in the distance using the night vision mode on his visor and then ran to them, completely abandoning both of his Pokémon to their luck.

Camerupt didn't notice his trainer leaving, he was too busy roaring incoherently as his lumps began to spew lava everywhere as they charged the deadly attack. "Pidgeot, we need to stop that!" Ash cried.

Pidgeot flew a bit higher to avoid the rising column of ashes. "He's drawing power from the previously failed Eruption. I can't stop this one in time!" She cried to him.

Ash nodded confidently. "Yes, we can! When we were training with Latios I asked you about your attacks, and in them you told me your strongest move, now we'll use it! I've seen it in action in the Silver Conference, I know it'll work!" He said, his tone of voice strong and convinced in his Pokémon's power.

Pidgeot nodded as she knew very well what attack he was talking about. "Of course, I'm always ready Ash!" she answered him, spreading her huge elegant wings in preparation for the attack.

Ash smirked and pointed at Camerupt. "Pidgeot, use Giga Impact!" He bellowed as loud as he could. Pidgeot gave a mighty battle cry, chirping loudly in a high pitched tone as she skydived the attacking Camerupt. A massive orb of volatile yellow energy formed in front of her head, and as she sped up, it split into a dozen streaks of energy that surrounded her form. The space between the streaks was suddenly covered in an extremely powerful lavender-colored energy, turning her into a massive yellow-and-purple comet of pure power.

"Camerupt kills you!" Camerupt roared at the top of his fiery lugs, stomping the ground and aiming his lumps towards the incoming avian. Both of the stony lumps exploded in a blast of magma that shot to the sky like twin streams of pure fiery death. Pidgeot sped up and smashed head on into the lava, holding a stalemate as two massively powerful attacks collided head on, Giga Impact versus Eruption. "Explodeeeeeee!" Camerupt screamed as he pumped as much power into the attack as he could, increasing the pressure of the massive torrent of molten lava he was firing at the Giga Impact-powered Pidgeot.

"I will… never… fail… Ash!" Pidgeot squawked loudly, spreading her wings inside the Giga Impact, causing the attack to spread out and increase an additional few feet in size as she poured more power into it, then she flapped her wings and dived. The Giga Impact began tearing the stream of lava apart into many streaks that fell to the ground. With a mighty shriek; Pidgeot gave the final push and collided with the Camerupt at full power, resulting in a massive blast of fire and light that carved a large crater into the ground and caused the nearest trees to be uprooted by its sheer power. Ash stepped behind a tree that was thankfully sufficiently far away from the blast, as did Phanpy and Larvitar, shielding their eyes as the powerful explosion lit up the dark night.

The blast went on for several seconds, and then began to grow dimmer and dimmer as the effect was done and it began to lose power. Ash walked around the tree once it was over, and walked towards the small crater, finding Camerupt lying on his side, knocked out cold, with Pidgeot roosting on top of him, her talons lightly digging into his side, a proud look on her face. "Pidgeot!" He called to her, waving his arm.

Pidgeot turned to look at him and flapped her wing, flying a bit before landing at his side. "You called?" She asked, an airy and proud tone to her voice.

Ash laughed and hugged her. "That was amazing! I'm so proud of you!"

Pidgeot nodded, pressing against her trainer in delight and letting him feel her soft feathers. "So, what's next? Go and help Latios and Pikachu?" She asked. She'd have loved to stay for a bit more to enjoy Ash's praise, but she knew that the situation was still dire and there were things left to do.

Ash shook his head. "No, I have something I want you to do," he answered.

Pidgeot blinked and tilted her head. "Oh? What is it?" She wondered, as not much occurred to her other than assisting Pikachu and Latios' fight.

"Go back to the road near here and then follow it away from the town. You'll come to the Oldale Ruins. There are three more of these bad guys, and they kidnapped Professor Alden, he's a guy dressed in yellow, you should recognize him easily since he's the only one not wearing a silly red hood thing," Ash explained to her. "Go to the ruins and make sure he's okay."

Pidgeot nodded. "Alright Ash, I will." She spread her wings, preparing to take off and follow Ash's order.

"Wait!" Ash stopped her, placing an arm on her right wing to prevent her from taking flight yet. "There's three of these guys, so don't try fighting them on your own. Just stay hidden and watch, and only intervene if Alden is about to be hurt, and if you do intervene, make sure you get him and yourself out and escape. They'd be too much for you, so…" he paused, sighing. "Be careful, okay Pidgeot?"

"Okay Ash, don't worry, I'll be fine, and I'll make sure that human is okay too," she responded to him, reaching forward while leaning down and then lightly nuzzling her trainer fondly by pressing her cheek against his own. She then gently raked the sharp edge of her beak on his neck, causing him to laugh heartily at the funny sensation that caused him. He put a hand on her neck, stroking it gently.

"Hey, that feels funny," Ash said, his laughter quieting slightly. Pidgeot chirped, then pulled back and nodded. She began to flap her wings and took off to the sky, following the road Ash had pointed out to her. He turned to his other two Pokémon and crouched down, petting them both. "You two were amazing, good job," he praised them with a warm smile.

Larvitar nodded. "Thanks," he said appreciatively.

Phanpy nodded happily, grinning childishly. "Yay! Thankies Daddy! I love you Daddy!"

Ash chuckled and petted them a bit more. "I love you too Phanpy. Go back and rest in your Pokéballs," he said, then took out two Pokéballs and returned them. He looked around at the woods that had caught on fire because of the Camerupt's attack and frowned sadly. He had no idea what to do now about then as he had no way of putting out the fire at the moment, so he decided to abandon the scene. "Now… I'll see how Latios and Pikachu are," He said finally. "Maybe Latios will have some idea on how to put out the fires." He turned to where he heard the sounds of attacks and began to walk in that direction.

…

Despite the relentless attacks of the two Pokémon, the Alpha Houndoom refused to admit defeat like this. He was determined to prove it'd take a lot more to beat him. He knew it'd take a bit for the three Pokémon Latios had smashed away with the log to completely recover. "Get the Pikachu!" He barked out loudly to the remaining group of underlings.

"Got it!" One of Mightyena shouted in confirmation. The three Pokémon nodded and immediately charged up their attacks, Flamethrower for the Houndoom and Shadow Ball for the Mightyena.

The three canines fired the attacks towards the airborne Pikachu, forcing him to use up his Thunder attack defending himself rather than for any offensive purposes. He released the potent attack mid air, casing a veil of electricity to surround his small form and shield himself from any damage. The three attacks collided against the Thunder attack and exploded, but were unable to penetrate the powerful bolt attack. Just as Pikachu protected himself, the Alpha Houndoom quickly ran towards the tree trunk, spitting a red hot stream of flames towards it, incinerating the middle and causing it to split in half and fall apart to his sides. He ignored what little was left of the tree in favor of attacking Latios, but to his dismay Latios wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Where are you?" The Alpha muttered, sharp hearing attentive of any sign of Latios.

"I'm here," Latios answered as he appeared beside the Houndoom in a faint glisten of light, no doubt leftovers of his invisibility, whitish flames already swirling wildly in his mouth.

"Damn!" The Houndoom cursed as he tried to leap back, but was unable to do so in time to escape the attack. He growled quietly, expecting the really painful hit from the Legendary's attack, but was instead surprised when a triple Flamethrower struck Latios, causing him to wince and be smashed into the trunk of a large sturdy tree. "Ha!" The Alpha mocked as he saw Latios being flung away. The attackers responsible were the three Houndoom Latios had hit with the tree a bit earlier.

Pikachu landed beside Latios, his cheeks sparkling protectively as the dragon recovered to prevent any Pokémon from attacking him while he was distracted. "You okay?" He asked as Latios got up.

"Yeah, I'm a dragon, fire doesn't even tickle me," he answered. "How about you?"

Pikachu smirked. "All fine, and you lose, by the way."

Latios blinked. "What?" He asked, utterly confused as to what Pikachu was talking about.

"You've taken four hits so far if we count those three Flamethrowers individually, I haven't even been hit once," Pikachu answered, grinning. Latios rolled his eyes, but he admitted he had lost and his Electric-type friend was right.

"Surround them!" The Alpha ordered. The seven Dark-type Pokémon immediately rushed at them, surrounding them in a perfect circle while still keeping a decent distance. "We've got you trapped now!" the Alpha told them, a wicked smirk on his muzzle.

Latios laughed. "Do you think this scares us?" He asked, glancing at the Alpha Houndoom directly. "You'll need to do a lot better than this."

"We're powerful Pokémon of Team Magma, you should fear us!" one of the Houndoom suggested, then chuckled darkly. "By the power of the Lord God Groudon, we'll beat you and fulfill our mission!"

Latios blinked in surprise at what the Houndoom had said. "What? Groudon? What about him?" He asked curiously, his interest spiking at what the Houndoom said.

"It's this group's plan to help him in his war against that bitch Kyogre, the fact that more water covers the planet than earth is an insult!" The Alpha Houndoom barked angrily, growling lowly. "A goal we're more than happy to aid, for Lord God Groudon! He's a Legendary to be admired and respected!"

Latios paused for a second, and then frowned. "Uh, you openly respect a Legendary, yet you haven't realized you're attacking one, namely me?"

A Mightyena nodded. "Yeah, you're a Legendary, but you're getting in our way, we have to deal with you," he explained.

"And we respect and worship Lord God Groudon, not you, Latios," a Houndoom added.

The Alpha Houndoom smirked. "You are nothing next to Lord God Groudon Latios, nothing! It's him we respect, not you; you're just a tiny little unimportant Legendary. You aren't really worth respecting, so we have no problem fighting you to get you out of Team Magma's way," he told Latios, a mockingly sick tone in his voice.

"Just… a tiny little unimportant Legendary you say?" Latios whispered, his eyes closing as he looked down. A growl starting rising from the back of his throat.

"Yes! That!" A Houndoom taunted. The seven Dark-types began laughing mockingly at the Legendary dragon.

Latios' claws flexed a few times, the growl getting louder as he shook slightly. Pikachu gulped and took a step back. "Oh crap…" Pikachu muttered. "He's pissed. Latios can be very bad when he's pissed…"

Latios looked at the Houndoom and Mightyena surrounding him, a very scary glare on his eyes as he growled, baring his very sharp, draconic teeth. "Just… an unimportant Legendary…" he whispered once again, the comment bringing back painful memories of his life as an orphan alongside his sister Latias. "Okay then… I'll show you…" he said slowly. "What… this little unimportant Legendary can do!" Latios roared at the top of his lungs, spreading his arms outwards as a massive blast of Psychic energies exploded from him, so powerful and concentrated the pure psychic energy was clearly visible, like a tidal wave of pure energy.

Pikachu gave a little cry and tensed as the attack reached him, dreading a horribly painful impact, but to his completely surprise, the psychic attack passed over him harmlessly, like Latios was willing it not to hurt him. The same couldn't be said for the rest of the Dark-types. They hadn't moved back since they trusted their Dark-typing to protect them from Latios' outburst, and it did protect them, at least directly, but they forgot one little aspect.

The massive psychic wave displaced the ground below Latios outwards, marking a crater in it and sending a wave of dirt and rocks in every direction. The Psychic wave was the first thing to hit the Dark-types. It didn't harm them due to their typing, but it completely obliterated their armors. All of them cried in pain as they were cut and bruised as the twisted metal remains of the armor was forcefully torn from them, scraping along their skins, and next they were hit by the wave of rock and dirt, sending them all flying backwards and smashing into whatever was in the way. All of the trees in the immediate vicinity were uprooted violently.

"Shit!" The woman Grunt screamed, turning to run away from the dragon's attack, but it was too late to escape.

The superstitious Grunt just braced himself for the imminent impact. "We're done for…" he muttered. "We woke the rage of a Legendary… please let Lord God Groudon have mercy on us," he pleaded silently. Both Grunts were hit by the wave, and were sent flying back a dozen feet, both of them writhing and whimpering on the dirt in pain, knowing it wasn't over yet they struggled to stand.

Pikachu gulped. To his surprise, he was floating amidst the destruction Latios had caused with a single enraged thought, and he was completely unharmed. It was times like these he honestly feared the dragon. He was surrounded in a faint blue outline, it was clear Latios had made sure he was safe through it, but still the Electric-type was scared. He could feel the anger emanating from Latios through the psychic energies the dragon was lifting him with. The link cut off abruptly and Pikachu was dropped to the ground. Latios didn't say anything nor spared him a look. The dragon floated there for a few moments, his eyes closed, then he turned around as he instead flew to find the Houndoom and Mightyena. He had a score to settle with them.

Latios flew around for a bit, looking for any of the Pokémon he had been fighting. One of the Houndoom emerged from the debris, pushing out branches and panting heavily. It gasped when it saw Latios coming at him. "Oh crap! Oh crap!" it cried as it opened its muzzle to attack the Dragon with a Flamethrower attack in pure desperation.

Latios never gave him the chance. He charged at him and with his titanic speed Latios crossed the distance in a millisecond, tackling the Houndoom hard. It cried in pain and crashed into a tree over twenty feet behind him, completely knocked out cold. "One down," Latios said coldly. He turned and saw a Mightyena charging a Shadow Ball behind him. His eyes began to glow a solid blue. Two large tree trunks left by his initial destructive attack on each side of the Dark-type Pokémon suddenly came to life, flying and smashing into the Mightyena, sandwiching him between the heavy trees. The attack had been so fierce the Mightyena didn't even have the strength to cry out in pain, and fell limp between the trees, also unconscious. "Two down," Latios added, his tone of voice rivaling any Ice-type Pokémon.

A powerful Flamethrower smashed into the dragon's side, enveloping him in a stream of fire. But not even a second afterwards the flames were blasted away easily by the Legendary Psychic Dragon's powers. He ominously turned to look at the Houndoom that had attacked him, a terrifying glare in his eyes. The Houndoom gulped, nervous. "Oh… uh… I surrender?" it asked hopefully.

"Three down," Latios replied to it. He took a deep breath and charged an extremely powerful Dragon Breath, and spat a massive torrent of white flames that almost looked like a roaring dragon. The Houndoom was hit by the attack and smashed into a tree trunk far behind it. The white flames washed over it and the sides of the tree, burning several branches off and nearly incinerating the tree in half. When the attack ended, the unconscious Houndoom slid to the dirt, landing with a heavy thud and covered in nasty injuries. "Now, who will be number four?" Latios asked out loud, chuckling darkly.

He turned and flew to a different section of the woods, still carefully looking for any sign of the other canine Pokémon. A Mightyena saw him and narrowed its eyes. It crouched low to the ground, silently stalking him and waiting for a perfect chance to attack. Suddenly Latios turned around to face the direction of the Dark canine Pokémon. The Mightyena that had been trying to attack him decided it was too dangerous and tried to run away instead. It turned and fled immediately… when suddenly a tree surrounded in a blue outline blocked its path. It yipped and turned around, and came face to face with Latios. "Oh come on, I give up!" The Mightyena pleaded, shrinking back against the tree in terror.

Latios snorted. "Now you give up, but I am not accepting it. You certainly had fun calling me an unimportant little Legendary. Come on, I dare you to repeat it to my face now!" Latios roared angrily, his face inches from the terrified Mightyena.

The Mightyena whimpered in terror. "I didn't call you that! It was our Alpha!" He argued, terrified.

"But you agreed," Latios whispered as he raised his right arm, sharp claws ready. "Even without Dragon Claw, I assume this hurts anyway."

Before Latios could slash at the Mightyena, another of the Houndoom blasted him with a powerful Dark Pulse, sending Latios away as he cried in pain. "Hurry! Come over here!" the Houndoom shouted, and the Mightyena complied quickly.

Latios' laugh suddenly echoed all around them. "Four and five then," his booming voice rang over the dark woods. Suddenly from behind them, they felt a little heat. Both of the canines turned around in alarm and were met in the face with a massive Dragon Breath attack, which carved a small ravine into the dirt and knocked both of them out. "Now… only six and seven left…" Latios muttered, turning to look around for them. He winced, the pain from the numerous hits he'd taken so far making themselves known, but the dragon ignored it. He flew around for a bit and heard a light breathing. Since he knew they were Dark-types and thus hidden from his mental sight he resorted to another method to locate it. He sniffed the air, taking in any scent that could guide him to his target. Having found it he turned and flew around a tree, and found an already unconscious Houndoom. "Heh, pathetic," Latios commented in a mocking town. "Seems my first attack knocked this one out. So, six down… now where's that little Alpha?" Latios whispered, looking around for him. His eyes glowed as he searched for the humans that owned the Pokémon. "Let's pay them a visit… they're a lot easier to find." He flew towards the trainers, and reached them quickly.

"Come on, stand up," the Confident Grunt said as he helped his teammates stand up after Latios had knocked them away. "What happened?"

The woman winced. "The Latios got mad and attacked us…and you? How'd your fight go?" She asked, holding her mid-section in pain.

"Hopelessly lost," the no-longer Confident Grunt answered in shame, frowning sadly. "Let's get the hell out of here, back to the helicopter!"

The woman nodded. "We've lost here too… so let's go!" She agreed immediately.

The Superstitious Grunt sighed. "See? You jinxed us badly, and look what happened! You just had to babble about trainers with Legendary Pokémon didn't you? Now we got our asses handed to us!" He rambled angrily.

"Oh shut up and let's go already!" The woman snapped, then froze in terror. "Or not."

The not-so-confident Grunt turned in the direction she was looking at and what little confidence he had left drained away. "Crap…"

"We're doomed!" The Superstitious Grunt cried in horror. "Please don't kill us, Latios!"

Right in front of them was Latios, grinning malevolently. "Oh, what do we have here?" He asked, chuckling as he hovered closer to them. The three grunts cowered in terror, backing up to the tree. They were defenseless; none of them had any Pokémon left. As they screamed in terror because Latios floated ominously closer with each second, a Flamethrower flew between him and the three Grunts, separating them and making Latios back off a bit as he turned to look to the side. "Oh there you are, I thought you had run away," Latios said with a smirk.

"I don't back off," The Alpha Houndoom replied, glaring at him. He ran towards them and quickly set himself in front of the three frightened grunts. "You might have beaten my pack, but you're not beating me!"

Latios laughed. "Really? So tell me, did you like what this unimportant Legendary can do?" He asked, looking down at the Houndoom. The Houndoom growled, but didn't answer. Latios chuckled. "I thought so." Latios suddenly charged at him at an extremely fast speed, tackling him hard. The Houndoom cried as he was smashed into tree, the tree shook harshly, branches and leaves from the top falling as the trunk was nearly ripped in half from the sheer impact, and the Houndoom was almost knocked out. The Grunts had barely avoided getting hit because the Pokémon's impact trajectory against the tree had been a bit too high. They turned and saw the defeated Houndoom slide back down the trunk and into the dirt and then glanced back to Latios in terror.

Latios smirked and opened his mouth, preparing a powerful Dragon Breath attack. The Houndoom noticed it and his eyes widened. He struggled to stand, trying to ignore the numerous pains wracking his legs and chest. He had to stand and fight to protect his team. He tried, but he was in too much pain and could only watch helplessly as Latios prepared the attack. The Grunts screamed and tried to run, but their muscles refused to move as Latios held them in place psychically, and that just made their screams become louder because the dragon's psychic grip was a very painful one, they just couldn't get away from the Dragon's attack.

Before Latios could fire the Dragon Breath which would have definitely resulted in severe injuries, if not worse, a powerful Thunder Attack smashed into him, electrocuting him harshly and making him cry out in pain. "Latios! Stop it! That's enough!" Pikachu screamed as he ran towards him.

Latios turned to his friend and glanced at him in surprise. "Why did you attack me?" He asked, shocked… literally.

"Duh! You were out of control! Seriously Latios, calm down!" Pikachu answered. "The puppy's too hurt to stand without falling down again and the three humans are scared out of their minds. There is no need to attack them anymore, we've won already."

Latios sighed. "But they-"

Pikachu growled and zapped him again with a potent Thunder, interrupting him. "Latios, I said, calm down," Pikachu told him firmly once he had finished shocking the dragon. "No buts. Listen, think about Ash. You were going to harm those humans. Would you like what Ash would think and feel if he saw what you were about to do?" He asked, glaring at Latios firmly.

Latios looked down ashamedly, and replied, "No…"

Pikachu nodded. "This is enough, Latios. I know you were angry about their comments, but this is enough. Seriously, you can sometimes lose it badly; I remember when you almost killed me and Ash at the garden when we first met, or those poachers…" He sighed. "Just chill out, okay?"

Latios nodded slowly. "Okay Pikachu," he answered. "I'm calm now…"

Pikachu smiled. "Think about Ash. You know how scared he is when you do stuff like this. I think him being all nice and happy is better than what you can get out of hurting these idiots, don't you agree?"

Latios gave the Grunts one look, and then nodded in agreement. "You're right, Pikachu. Thanks for snapping me out of it."

Pikachu smiled. "That's what friends are for," he replied, and then frowned. "You took them all out; you didn't even leave me a single one to fight!" he complained.

"There's that one," Latios told him, pointing to the Alpha Houndoom. The Dark canine wobbled and succumbed to his wounds, collapsing to the ground. Pikachu laughed as Latios frowned. "Or maybe not…" Latios looked at the Team Magma Grunts, and his eyes glowed. They all clutched their heads and screamed in pain.

"Latios…" Pikachu growled threateningly. Latios rolled his eyes and finished the action with a burst of Psychic power that made it a little less painful. The three Grunts fell down, knocked out. Pikachu nodded. "That's better."

"Brother! What happened?" Latias asked as she rushed in through the tree tops, looking around in concern. "I felt you get very angry through our bond and thought something might have happened! Are you okay?"

Pikachu shook his head. "Nah, he just got pissy over a stupid comment. Nothing bad happened, Latias."

Latias frowned, her empathy picking up Latios' regret. "Are you okay, Latios?"

Latios sighed. "Just feeling a little self-conscious over what I did while I was angry… But don't worry Latias, it's all okay," he answered, and then promptly changed the topic. "How did everything go at the Pokémon Center?" He asked.

"Everything went perfectly. Everyone's free and the bad guys are taken care of," Latias answered.

"Latios! Latias! Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he came over to them, walking between bushes and trees. "Are you all okay?" He asked. His three Pokémon nodded affirmatively to him. Pikachu immediately jumped over to his favorite place on Ash's shoulder.

Ash nodded. "Quick! We need to go and help Alden! I sent Pidgeot over to him a while ago, let's go! Ohh, and also, our fight with the Camerupt left some fires on the trees; we need to put them out, too!" Ash said urgently to them.

Latios nodded, and thought for a second. "Latias, you take care of these three and take them to the Pokémon Center with the ones you took care of," he said, pointing to the Grunts that he had knocked out. "I and Pikachu will go with Ash to put out the fires and help Alden. I think I should be able to put them out psychically."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Latias answered, turning to the three knocked-out Grunts. "Hurry up, we can't let that fire keep going, or leave Alden with those bad guys."

Latios nodded and turned to Ash, floated behind him and put his head under Ash's legs, then rose up neck first, which caused Ash to slide down his neck and onto his back. "Ready, Ash?"

Ash nodded. "Yes, let's hurry up, Latios!" The Dragon Pokémon nodded and took off. Latias, having her own task to do, started immediately as well.

…

As the battles in the Pokémon center and the woods carried out, Tabitha and his team were still in the ruins of Oldale. The Admin of Team Magma sighed as he looked at the tablet he had retrieved from the Oldale Ruins Chamber; he looked at all the information carved into the tablet on each side, all the complex pictures and characters engraved on it. "What does this thing say? What's it for?" Tabitha questioned, those and many, many more questions swirling in his mind.

Professor Alden looked at the tablet in curiosity from his place a few feet away from the villain leader, but he didn't dare move an inch from where he was as the Houndoom was still beside him, watching him intently.

Tabitha looked around at the rest of the ruins, wondering if perhaps another secret could be hidden outside the chamber, in the walls or in the odd pillars that surrounded the place. He frowned at that idea. 'No, I doubt it. I don't think who ever made this place would put something outside of a secret vault-chamber… It's stupid,' he thought as he looked around. His gaze then centered on the entrance of the chamber. "Hurry up!" He called to the two Grunts that were inside the place, recording it with their digital cameras.

"We're almost done!" One of the Grunts shouted back to him, the shout echoing almost darkly across the chamber. Flashes could be seen going off inside the chamber from the cameras.

Alden sighed when he heard that, deeply saddened that the Chamber had been violated like this by bad guys. He had yearned for a long time to finally open the chamber, doing extensive research on it, yet these crooks came out of nowhere and force-opened it within a few minutes? He was infuriated and the feeling of helplessness to do anything to stop them only made him more miserable. "Ash, hurry up…" He mumbled quietly, wishing nothing more than for the trainer and his Latios to be here.

Tabitha turned to him when he heard Alden speak, even if quietly, making the archeologist hold his breath in fear for a second. "What was that?" The Magma commander asked, walking closer.

"Nothing!" Alden lied quickly, shaking his head vehemently several times.

Tabitha growled at that, glaring at the archeologist, who thankfully couldn't see it under his eerie visor, but the fact that his face was mostly concealed by the hood and the visor did make it scary. "Don't try to act stupid on me, or else," he threatened. His Houndoom barked once, backing up the Team Magma villain's threat.

Alden sighed and answered truthfully, if it meant keeping that Houndoom at bay. "Okay, okay, I just wished Ash would hurry up," he said sadly, fearing how Tabitha would answer to that.

"That kid… well, I'm surprised by him honestly," Tabitha admitted, his tone reflecting his surprise. "This is a very small rural town, it was supposed to be an easy mission but inexplicably there's a Latios and Latias here." He sighed. "But he's actually being very helpful to us, even if I have to sacrifice some Grunts to fight him."

The Archeologist blinked in pure confusion. "He's being helpful? How? He's dead set on beating you all up!" he said incredulously, greatly skeptical of what the villain said.

Tabitha nodded. "Yes. Legendary Pokémon are a lot more sacred and complicated than what most people give them credit for. Latios and Latias, two Legendaries owned by that kid… we can use them to find the Legend we are looking for. Who knows? Maybe one of them is friends with Lord God Groudon," Tabitha answered, then shrugged. "With Legendary Pokémon anything can happen, but knowing where a Latias and Latios are is of great help to us. The knowledge of the kid's Pokémon is more valuable than the Grunts I'll most likely lose against him."

Professor Alden gasped. "He has a Latias too? Wow! That's amazing…"

Tabitha nodded again. "Correct, he's got a Latias too."

"But we only saw the Latios, how do you know?" Alden asked, again skeptical.

"With this," Tabitha answered, tapping the side of his visor twice. "The agents photographed each Legendary with their visors and sent the image to mine, and as we speak they're also recording their fights with each Legendary and uploading it to my visor. I'll look at the recordings later when I have time. We aren't missing a single detail of the Latias and Latios."

Alden growled lowly. All this time he's been getting recordings of Ash's Legendaries as they fought? 'I'll have to warn Ash that these guys are on to him…' He thought. "How could you do that? He's just a kid!"

Tabitha shrugged. "So? He's just a kid, but he's also a kid who's got a pair of Legendary Pokémon with him. That's the only thing we care for at the moment," he said simply. "His age doesn't matter when talking about Legendaries."

"We're done with the photographing, Field Commander Tabitha!" One of the Grunt's shouts echoed from inside the chamber, followed by some stupid giggles about Tabitha being a girl's name.

"Set the explosives and prepare to move out!" Tabitha ordered sharply, his tone clearly noting he was rather mad about the name thing.

"Yes sir!" The Grunts shouted from inside the chamber.

Alden froze on the spot. "What?!" He screamed, turning to the Team Magma commander. "Explosives? You aren't planning on destroying the chamber, are you!?" He asked desperately, his eyes widening in horror.

"Yes, I am planning to do that," Tabitha answered coldly. "I'll blast that chamber to a million pieces. Got a problem with that?" Tabitha asked darkly, his tone of voice dangerous as the Houndoom beside him growled.

Alden shook his head desperately. "You can't do that! You'll be destroying an ancient wonder of humanity!" He argued back.

"So?" Tabitha asked uninterestedly.

"There's no need to destroy it!" Professor Alden exclaimed in a distressed tone, filled with fear and worry. "You already got what you wanted from it!"

Tabitha glared at the archeologist angrily, even if it wasn't visible under the visor once again. "Not destroy it? If I don't, I'd leave it right open and intact for Team Aqua to come and learn the same things we just did! We've got a big lead over them here; I'm not risking Team Aqua learning the same things we just did. Plus I have it all in the photos. I honestly don't care if I destroy it, in fact, destroying it benefits us because it's one advantage we have over our rivals. Team Magma will prevail!"

"I won't let you!" Professor Alden declared bravely. "Violating the chamber like you just did is something, but I won't let you destroy this!" He screamed as he managed to slip past the Houndoom and ran towards the chamber as fast as he could.

Tabitha laughed and held an arm, stopping the Houndoom beside him from rushing towards Alden. He grinned wickedly and reached to one of the six Pokéballs on his belt. He picked it up and threw it towards the entrance of the chamber; the Pokémon inside of it was released in front of Alden, blocking his way to the Chamber. The archeologist screamed in terror at the sight. Blocking the entrance before him was a Houndoom, and unlike the others it was wearing no armor. However, this one was by no means a normal Houndoom.

The regular Houndoom the grunts had all were normal-sized, reaching around their hips in height. This one went way over that. It was at least three times bigger than a normal Houndoom, despite standing on all fours, the Pokémon Tabitha had released was taller than Alden himself, easily reaching over seven feet in height. "Wh-wh-what the hell?" Professor Alden stumbled weakly at the sight of the Houndoom that towered over him.

The giant Houndoom growled and tackled Alden, hitting him with the rounded base of its horns. The archeologist screamed and was flung a dozen feet away, landing right in front of Tabitha and clutching his stomach in pain.

Tabitha laughed at the sight. "I am an Admin of Team Magma, one of the great three. I am Field Commander Tabitha! Did you really think I'd have the same Pokémon as the regular Grunts? My Houndoom is just the beginning of the arsenal of Pokémon I'm armed with, because I have some that are much worse than he is," Tabitha declared, brushing the bottom of his shirt away and letting the terrified Alden see a peek of the remaining five Pokéballs on his belt. The smaller regular-sized Houndoom belonging to one of the Grunts immediately stepped back in respect as the larger and more intimidating Houndoom began to walk closer to them.

Alden screamed, crying to crawl back as the Houndoom walked closer. The huge demonic canine stomped on Alden, pressing one of his front paws on his chest. The Professor coughed, trying to lift the massive paw which covered a good part of his chest off so he could breathe, but it was too strong and heavy. "Ge-get it off!" He stuttered in terror.

Tabitha laughed again at the pathetic sight and waved his hand slightly, signaling his Houndoom to back off. Professor Alden didn't dare stand back up. "Good," Tabitha commented. Alden glared, feeling impotent to do a thing against the villains.

"The explosives have been planted, Commander!" The two Grunts said in unison as they saluted and reported themselves to Tabitha.

The commander nodded. "Very well, you two. Let's leave. We're done here."

One of the Grunts frowned. "What of the other five members of the unit?" He asked worriedly.

Tabitha clicked his visor a few times, reviewing the latest video feedback of the fight against Latias and Latios. He sighed. "It's too late for them. They're losing badly, and going to rescue them from Latios and Latias would only put us in danger. We already have what we came for. Let's go." He pressed a button on his visor. "Pilot, start the engines, we're leaving," he said over the intercom.

The two Grunts nodded and ran towards the helicopter, each of their Houndoom following them. They opened a large sliding door on the side of the tandem-rotor helicopter and immediately jumped inside, turning and returning their Houndoom back to their Pokéballs. The helicopter's engines began to buzz to life as the rotors began to slowly start spinning. Tabitha walked slowly towards the helicopter with his massive Houndoom obediently at his side, leaving Alden in the middle of the ruins alone. "It's been a pleasure meeting you Alden," Tabitha said ominously, halting a few feet away from the door. "But it's all over for you."

Alden's eyes widened. "Wh-what?" He asked, terrified.

Tabitha grinned darkly. "You've seen too much of the chamber. Team Aqua could still interrogate you, and I think I spoke too much, you know too much, and you might warn that kid with the Legendary Pokémon of our plans, or the authorities…I can't let you leave here alive," the Admin said, pointing at Alden. "Houndoom, Fire Blast," he ordered in a neutral tone. The giant Houndoom turned around from his place beside the Team Magma Admin and spat a massive five-pointed star of fire towards the screaming archeologist as Tabitha smirked darkly. "Game over, one less obstacle in Team Magma's way," he commented.

Suddenly, a loud and high pitched whistling sound echoed around the woods. Tabitha only saw a light beige-colored blur move extremely fast and suddenly get between Alden and the Fire-Blast, and as it did, a massive, massive blade of wind hit the Fire blast attack, destroying the fire with ease and leaving a huge gash on the stone floor of the ruins. Two pillars near the archeologist were split in a perfect clean line from the sheer force of the wind attack. Alden opened his eyes in surprise. There was no fire? No pain? No burns? He gulped, wondering if he was still alive. He looked up and saw his savior, or the back of it.

Pidgeot spread her wings protectively from her place right in front of Alden, glaring dangerously at the Houndoom. She didn't know Alden, but if it was her beloved Ash's order to keep him safe then that was what she'd do. Alden sighed in pure relief, releasing the panicked breath he had been holding. "Th-thank you…" he said gratefully as he stood up, legs wobbling slightly from the terrifying almost-death he suffered. He carefully tried to stay behind the very large avian, who was a bit taller than him. After all, she was capable of carrying a human in flight.

Pidgeot didn't look at him, her gaze still fixed on the massive Houndoom. "Stay away from him, puppy," she warned the monstrous canine.

The giant Houndoom growled savagely at her, walking a step closer. "Puppy? Lift your tail feathers and I'll show you I'm no puppy!"

Pidgeot laughed at his taunt. "Oh? That is such a sad reply," she retorted while shaking her head, and if her beak had been capable she definitely would have smirked.

The Houndoom snarled at her. "You puny little feather bag…"

Pidgeot narrowed her piercing eyes at him. "Petty insults won't irritate me. Go back with your master, before I make you. You're the same as all of the Pokémon these guys have. Acting all tough and babbling about how strong you are but you can't back it up on the battlefield."

The Houndoom laughed. "You don't scare me, you tiny Pidgey. I've hunted little prey like you before, you're nothing. Get out of my way before I kill you along with the human."

Pidgeot spread her large wings even wider, completely hiding Alden behind her. "I won't move away, and if you're so confident, I dare you to try and move me," she said confidently, her voice strong as steel, not a single trace of fear despite her opponent being such a large and intimidating Pokémon. The Houndoom snorted, feeling slightly offended she wasn't scared of him like pretty much everyone was.

Tabitha growled. "Get that Pidgeot out of the way! Use Crunch!" He ordered his giant dark Pokémon.

The giant Houndoom growled. "Let's see if you're so brave now!" He barked as he lunged at Pidgeot and Alden, massive teeth enlarged even more with Dark energy as he prepared a deadly Crunch attack.

Pidgeot looked back as Alden cowered at the sight of the Houndoom charging at them. She slammed her wing into Alden's midsection rather hard, pushing him back roughly half a dozen feet into safety before facing the incoming Houndoom. 'I can't dodge, since that'd leave the human vulnerable…' Pidgeot thought, knowing that she had to fight him off. She narrowed her eyes as her battle plan was made. Both her wings glowed a bright white as she prepared a Steel Wing attack.

"You're done for!" Houndoom taunted as he came down at her. Without flinching, she slashed her wing at him as he opened his jaws. Instinctually, the Houndoom bit on the wing hard, but his Dark-enhanced fangs were unable to penetrate the Steel-hardened wing. Pidgeot grunted and gasped at the pain her wing and her legs felt as the Houndoom's massive weight came down on her, but her plan was fulfilled. Securing a firm grip on the ground below her with her sharp talons, she spun around, using the Houndoom's own inertia and strength against him as he was pulled along by his grip on Pidgeot's Steel-hardened wing.

"Take this!" Pidgeot squawked loudly, smashing her other Steel-hardened wing into his head, breaking his grip on her wing and letting his momentum do the rest. His face was smashed into the dirt from the sheer force her wing came down at him as he skidded out of control. He tried burying his claws into the dirt but it was unable to stop him from crashing into one of the pillars in the ruins and making the ancient stone structure collapse on top of him. The Houndoom's cries of pain echoed across the ruins as the massive debris crashed and piled on top of him. Pidgeot winced and closed one of her eyes as the pain from both her wing and legs hit her, but she still stood strong.

Tabitha's jaw dropped in astonishment as he struggled to accept what he had just witnessed, this Pidgeot beating his giant Houndoom. "Wow, that's one really strong and well-trained Pidgeot," he commented, then growled in disgust, since that was a bad thing for him.

Alden sighed in relief, impressed by the sheer strength demonstrated by the Pokémon that was defending him. "Thanks… uh, are you Ash's Pokémon?" He asked the Bird Pokémon curiously. Pidgeot gave a small nod, but her gaze was still settled on the rocky pile where she had buried the Houndoom.

A loud and demonical growl echoed as the pile of rocks was blasted apart by a massive Hyper Beam that shot skywards. The Houndoom pushed the remaining rocks away and crawled out of the rubble. He was badly beaten up, with many cuts and bruises lining his body, but he still acted like they didn't bother him, because they didn't really bother him. He chuckled darkly, his tone low and sadistic. "You'll need to do a lot better than that to beat me, featherbag."

Pidgeot's eyes widened in shock. 'I made an entire stone pillar collapse on him and he's still getting back up!? Uh-oh… this is bad…' She thought in alarm, getting ready for a second round. This Pokémon wasn't beating her, no matter the size.

Tabitha growled, his visor sending him the images of what he had been dreading. "Damn, the kid's coming here! There's no more time…Pilot get ready, we're leaving!" He ordered quickly. The Helicopter's tandem rotors began to speed up dramatically, creating a very loud noise and sending out a large gust of wind on all sides. Pidgeot didn't look affected, she was used to powerful wind currents.

The giant Houndoom's ears perked when he heard what Tabitha said and moaned in disappointment. "Don't think I'll forget you easily, you dammed Pidgeot. We'll meet again, I assure you, and next time, I'm gonna make you suffer for this. You haven't seen the last of me!" He threatened darkly, growling angrily.

Pidgeot snorted. "You? You're so pathetic I'll forget about you rather easily. I was a proud flock leader for over a year and I've fought dangers a lot greater than you are and always come out victorious. Your threats don't scare me, because I know…" Her tone suddenly shifted to a proud and very confident one as she continued. "How strong I really am. You are nothing."

The giant Houndoom growled angrily. "Until next time, then. We'll see if you're still as confident as you are now," he threatened as he was sucked into the Pokéball by Tabitha, and the helicopter immediately started rising into the sky. Tabitha glared at Alden scornfully once last time, cursing that he was safe, and with nothing else to do he just turned and closed the helicopter's door so they could depart.

The helicopter took off, quickly rising into the sky and flying away. Pidgeot sighed, dropping her defensive battle stance and relaxing. She suddenly winced, a stinging pain coming from the wing Houndoom had bitten. She examined it, it didn't seem too injured, probably just a minor ache from the pressure of the bite. There was no blood, thankfully. 'Wow… he managed to injure it despite my Steel Wing? Impressive…' She thought. Since she had other things to check on she quickly ignored the slight ache in her wing and turned to Alden, who also looked very relieved. "Are you alright?" She asked him, her keen eyes examining him up and down, looking for any signs of injury.

Professor Alden blinked when Pidgeot chirped at him. "Uh… I can't understand you," he said embarrassedly, scratching the back of his head. Pidgeot frowned, mentally smacking herself. Ash's comprehension of Pokéspeech had gotten her used to a human understanding it, but Ash was the only one. "But…" He gently put his hand on Pidgeot's head and petted her gently. "Thank you for saving me. Really, thanks a lot," Alden said appreciatively.

Pidgeot nodded once. "You're welcome," she said, even though she knew he wouldn't understand her.

Alden gasped when he remembered something very important. "Crap! The explosives they put in the chamber! We need to take them out!" He turned towards the chamber, but Pidgeot quickly spread her uninjured wing out to prevent him from going. "Hey, let me pass!" He exclaimed, pushing against her wing and glaring at her, but to his surprise he found the wing was very strong and he could barely move it. Pidgeot gave him a look that clearly said she thought he was stupid. "Oh…the explosives could detonate while I'm in there…" Alden realized. Pidgeot nodded. "But… the chamber…" Alden said miserably.

"Pidgeot!" A very familiar voice called loudly. Both the archeologist and the avian Pokémon turned to see Ash arriving on Latios' back, with Pikachu on his shoulder. Ash jumped off Latios' back once he was a safe distance from the ground and ran up to them "Are you okay?" Ash asked both of them in concern.

Professor Alden nodded. "Yes, I'm okay Ash. Those nasty guys left already…"

Ash nodded, smiling. "Glad to hear you're okay, professor…" he said to the archeologist and then turned to Pidgeot. "Are you okay, Pidgeot?" He asked.

Pidgeot nodded to him. "I'm mostly okay, just a little hurt in the wing, but it's nothing to worry about."

Ash gasped. "You're hurt?!" He exclaimed panicked. He grabbed both of her wings from her side and spread his arms to look at them, though they didn't really open much considering his arms were very short compared to her wings.

Pidgeot laughed heartily. "I'm okay Ash, and even if I wasn't, you couldn't really heal me like that," she answered, easily pulling her wings from his grasp, shaking her head in amusement.

"Hey!" Professor Alden called to him. "Sorry to interrupt, but those guys put a bomb in the chamber. Tell your Latios to do something!" He said urgently.

Ash's eyes widened and he gasped in shock. "They what!? Latios!"

Latios nodded. "On it," he answered. His eyes glowed brightly as he exerted his mental powers into the chamber, feeling his way inside it and looking for any odd device that seemed out of place. He quickly found one and grasped it, pulled the explosive device out of the chamber and paused, wondering what to do with it. Having no idea how it worked or how to deactivate it, he shrugged and shot it skywards with as much of his mental might as he could muster. "All done," he said simply as his eyes stopped glowing.

Professor Alden blinked in surprise. "Wow, that was… rather fast and too easy," he commented, and then frowned. "I kind of expected it'd be a little more… complicated…"

Ash laughed and nodded. "He's a Legendary," he said proudly. "So where did the rest of the bad guys get to?" He asked, looking around. "Wow, it's really dark and creepy here at night…"

"They left in a helicopter," Alden answered. "They must be pretty far away by now. Oh Ash, by the way, they saw your fights, they said they might have plans for you or your Legendaries."

Ash nodded. "Okay Professor Alden, I'll keep it in mind, but… if they did escape…"

"I can fly far faster than anything humans have made for flying, I could catch it easily," Latios spoke up, offering his help.

Ash frowned. "No Latios, it's no use now. They left, there's no point in trying to pick a fight with the ones that left already to who knows where, plus we don't know in which direction they headed. And you'd have to go alone and you already fought a long battle, you could be leaving yourself open for capture, let's just stay as we are and imagine they blasted off like Team Rocket," Ash told him. Latios nodded reluctantly.

A loud explosion echoed and lit the night up in a flash like the newly-risen sun. They looked up to see the very distant conflagration high in the sky from the bomb Latios had hurled away. "Wow, that was a pretty high throw," Pikachu commented.

Latios smirked. "Thanks."

"Hey, let's check the chamber," Ash suggested, feeling very curious to take a peek inside. "Maybe they missed something!"

Alden nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda eager to see it, too."

Both Ash and Professor Alden walked towards the chamber, Pidgeot and Latios followed them. "Wow, so this is how it looks open," Ash realized as he entered the room. "It's kinda dark in here. I can't see a thing."

Alden frowned. "Yeah, all the light was from their helicopter… the moonlight barely lights up anything…" He sighed. "Guess this will have to wait for tomorrow."

Suddenly the entire chamber was lit up near perfectly by a very bright and quite pretty white light. They turned to find Latios' body glowing. The Dragon laughed at their faces. "Does this help?"

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Wow, I didn't know you could glow in the dark."

Latios laughed. "Yep, I can. It's a special property of my feathers," he responded, winking.

Alden chuckled. "Well, that solves the light problem. Let's go in deeper," he said as he walked deeper into the lit up chamber. Ash nodded and followed him in. Latios frowned. The doorway was way too small for his 'shoulders' and wings to fit in, so he just stuck his neck inside to see as much as he could, and also so the light given off by his neck illuminated the chamber a bit more, Pidgeot shrugged and just stayed outside the chamber, waiting patiently. "Wow… there's so much stuff written over here…" Alden muttered in amazement as he watched it all.

Ash walked around, not really understanding what the drawings meant so he just looked around to see if anything picked up his interest. And soon, something did. "Wow! Alden, check this out!"

Alden quickly rushed to Ash, and gasped. "Wow…" He muttered in astonishment. They had come across the massive mural of the three Pokémon gods. Alden then noticed the small gash in the middle of the mural. "So this is where the tablet came from…"

Ash turned to him. "Tablet?" He asked curiously, tilting his head.

Professor Alden nodded. "Yeah, those crooks took some kind of stone tablet from inside it."

Pikachu frowned. "Well, that means they got what they wanted," he commented sadly. "They won, despite our efforts."

"Yeah…" Ash said sadly, and quickly went to speak of what had grabbed his interest. "What are those?" He asked, pointing to the three mighty Pokémon on the wall. "They look like Pokémon."

"I'm not too sure… maybe they're part of the reason those hooligans came here?" Alden answered doubtfully.

Ash nodded. "Hey Latios? What can you tell us about this?" Ash asked, pointing to the massive mural carved into the back wall of the chamber. Latios craned his neck to the side to get a clear view of the mural. He examined it for a moment, thinking. "Do you know who they are?" Ash added to his question, pointing for a second to each of the Pokémon drawn.

"Those Pokémon… they're… Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza…" Latios muttered. "Ho-Oh's told me about them. They're three ancient Pokémon, I think they're around Ho-Oh's age, if not just a bit older. She said they created the world. Groudon made the land, Kyogre made the sea, and Rayquaza made the sky," he explained.

Ash's eyes widened in pure surprise. "Wow… seriously?" He asked in astonishment.

Latios nodded immediately. "I'd never doubt Ho-Oh's word," he said firmly.

"Have you met them?" Ash asked curiously.

Latios shook his head. "Not all of them. Remember that before you arrived to Alto Mare, me and Latias lived nearly in isolation over there. I've only met a very small handful of Legendaries, and out of those three I've only met Kyogre, which happened when I was a lot younger than I am now," He answered, pointing at the drawing of Kyogre. "I don't know much about the three as a whole regarding what they're like or much of their powers since Ho-Oh said that'd be better to learn directly from them. I do know however that they are extremely powerful gods, after all they basically created this planet."

"Wow… that's amazing…" Ash muttered. "How did your meeting with Kyogre go?"

Latios shrugged. "It started pretty odd at first. When she swam close to Alto Mare, she brought a rainstorm with her due to her Drizzle special ability. As you know Alto Mare's kinda vulnerable to storms and things like that, so I went out to 'confront' the reason of the storm, and when I found her I seriously had no clue what she was or what to do, so I tried to 'scare' her by acting tough and growling and all that in an effort to intimidate her into leaving Alto Mare, which went terrible for me since all she did in response was laugh and call me cute and adorable. After we sorted that out we talked for a bit, I was a pretty young kid back then. She's visited a few times ever since then," Latios answered. "You could say I'm sort of friends with her."

Pikachu laughed at Latios' back-story with Kyogre while Ash just nodded. "Think I'll get to meet them? They sound and look pretty cool," Ash asked, red eyes glistening with hope.

Latios smirked teasingly. "And I'm not pretty cool?" He asked, feigning a tone of hurt at his trainer's comment.

Ash chuckled. "Latios, I'll always think you're really awesome, but you gotta admit that a guy who made the sky sounds even more awesome."

Latios rolled his eyes, grudgingly admitting that it was true, plus he didn't want to state anything until he met Rayquaza on his own. "That's true I guess, but to answer your previous question, I don't know. You've got pretty good luck when it comes to meeting us Legendaries, so why not? We might meet them."

Pikachu laughed. "What? Hurt they're stronger than you?" He asked his dragon friend teasingly, and in his tone it carried the hidden message of what the Houndoom had said, as a reminder.

Latios chuckled. "Not really, I am a Legendary, and I feel strong and powerful as I am now, but I know I'm far from being among the strongest of our kind. I understand they're stronger and older than me, but that doesn't mean I should feel bad. There's a reason I'm alive and possess the selection of powers I have, and I'll stay happy with what I have. I remember Ho-Oh once told me that all Legendaries have a role and are important, from strongest to weakest. I'll figure out mine one day."

Pikachu nodded. "True, and that's a good thing for you to admit."

Ash looked at the drawing for a few more seconds. "Hey, what does this little guy mean?" He asked, pointing at the human holding out the three orbs before the Legendaries in the drawing.

Latios frowned. "I honestly don't have the faintest idea what he's supposed to be doing. I'll ask Ho-Oh its meaning when I see her again…" He answered.

Ash nodded. "Hey, think you can make me imagine the three Pokémon to their exact looks? They look kinda plain in the image; I wanna see how they look like for real!"

Latios nodded. "Okay Ash," he said as his eyes glowed. Ash relaxed when he felt Latios' presence enter his mind gently, accepting it and putting up no resistance. Latios showed him the mental image of the three Pokémon in perfect detail.

Ash closed his eyes, examining the image Latios was showing him, of the three Pokémon.

Kyogre was a colossal whale-like Pokémon that had two big pectoral fins or "wings", each ending with four square-shaped "fingers". She had a deep blue body and a white chin area with two small spikes protruding under it. Above each eye were two white, oval-shaped spots, and she had red marking stripes around the chin area, eyes, dorsal fins, torso, and on her fins that seemed to resemble runes. The pattern or symbol on the pectoral fins somewhat resembled the letter A. The tail seemed tattered with four trailing parts, the inner ones being smaller than the outer. She also had a huge mouth full of rarely seen, sharp, triangular teeth. Her eyes were small, yellow, and shadowed with black.

Groudon was a massive, bipedal, dinosaur-like creature with a gray underside, and the rest of his body covered in bright red, segmented plates of thick skin which act as armor on the rest of his body. There were also huge spikes that ran along the sides of his head, body, and tail. He had four claws on each hand, three claws on each foot, and four dozer-like blades on the end of his large tail, just like Kyogre, Groudon's jaws were lined with sharp pointy triangular teeth, and his eyes were a bright yellow color. Groudon also had blue marking stripes inside the seams of its armor plating.

Finally, Rayquaza was a large, mostly green, serpent-like draconic creature with red-tipped, rudder-like wings on his shoulders and down his body, and similarly-patterned fins on the tip of his tail. Yellow runic ring-like symbols ran across the length of Rayquaza's body and he had an additional yellow ring on top of his head. Rayquaza had two limbs with three-clawed carpals, and two long, flat, horn-like structures on his head, with two smaller horns below them. Rayquaza had a prominent line of bright red teeth with two discernible fangs on the tip of his upper snout. He had eyes with a prominent black sclera, bright piercing yellow irises and black pupils. "Wow, they're amazing," Ash commented. "It looks like something is missing though…"

Latios smirked. "Their size, or an accurate comparison of it," he answered as he inserted an image of Ash himself into the drawing beside Kyogre, to give him an accurate size comparison.

Ash's jaw dropped comically. "They're… seriously huge!" He exclaimed in surprise.

Latios laughed. "That they are," he said as he withdrew his power from Ash's mind. He paused, froze and then looked around, his gaze sharp.

Ash didn't notice Latios' odd reaction and just kept looking at the chamber's details. "This is so cool…"

"That it is," Alden nodded, feeling kind of left out from the conversation that Ash was having with his Pokémon. "I can't wait to start examining all this carefully…. There's so much to find out… but that will have to wait for tomorrow… it's very late and quite a lot has happened. We should go back to the Pokémon Center and try to sleep through what's left of the night."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I agree, right Latios?" He asked. He got no answer. "Latios?" He turned and saw Latios looking around the chamber slowly, too focused on whatever he was paying attention to hear Ash's call. Ash blinked and walked up to him. "Um, Latios?" He asked again, grabbing the sides of his head and turning him to look at his eyes directly.

Latios blinked, his eyes refocusing on Ash. "Hello?" Latios asked awkwardly.

Ash laughed. "You kinda spaced out or something, are you okay?"

Latios nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Is something wrong?" Ash asked, frowning.

Latios frowned. "Sorry about that Ash, it's just that I really don't like the way this place feels…" he answered. "I picked up something I'm seriously not liking."

Ash blinked. "I don't understand, this place feels normal to me," Ash said to the still somewhat nervous eon dragon.

Latios pulled back from the chamber's entrance, letting Professor Alden and Ash exit. He was still glowing to provide a form of light in the dark night. "Ash, I am a psychic, I can feel things that may make no sense to most humans… I can't help but feel…that something's here, like we're being watched. I honestly don't like this feeling one bit. Maybe Latias could sense more than I can since she's more sensitive, especially with her empathy ability. Leaving that aside, I'm feeling that something's here, and I don't know what, but whatever it is I don't like it," Latios explained. "I think we should just go back to the Center, Latias is waiting for us."

Pikachu tilted his head. "That's weird. Are you sure, Latios?"

"I'm sure, Pikachu," Latios answered, looking at the Electric-type.

Ash sighed. "Let's just go back to the Pokémon Center. I'm hungry, I need some dinner before going to sleep," he announced.

Pidgeot's beak dropped in disbelief. "Ash, you ate before we started training."

"But all this fighting made me hungry!" Ash whined.

His three Pokémon laughed. "Yep, that's our Ash," Pikachu commented amusedly. "Let's get going, then."

Ash nodded and walked beside Latios. The dragon lowered his levitation a few feet so Ash could comfortably hop onto his back and get settled. "Okay, let's go," Ash told his Pokémon, smiling.

"Hey, Ash, how am I supposed to go? It's not a long walk back to Oldale Town but its night and I'm tired from the day's experiences… or night's experiences," Alden spoke up, scratching the back of his head Mareepishly, certainly not looking forward to walking back to town in the dark while Ash flew comfortably on the dragon's back.

Ash hummed as he thought for a bit. "Hey Latios, think you can carry both of us?" He asked.

Latios shook his head. "I can, but I refuse to carry another human that isn't you or Bianca."

Ash frowned. "Okay, then… Pidgeot, think your wing is fine enough to fly Alden back to Oldale?" Ash asked the avian. "You did say it was fine when I asked how you were."

Pidgeot nodded. "It's just a minor ache, I should be fine to carry him to Oldale town. It's a pretty short flight anyway, don't worry Ash," She answered as she lowered herself slightly to let Alden on her back. Since he was taller than Ash, it was harder to get a firm fit but Pidgeot was big enough, so they managed, and thus they flew back to the town.

…

A few minutes later, once everyone was in Oldale Town, in front of the Pokémon Center…

"There, all tied up," Latias announced, pulling back as the five unconscious Grunts were tied firmly together on the ground. "All done."

Ash tilted his head. "If they're all knocked out, why do you bother tying them up?" He asked.

"In case they wake up," Latias answered, smiling at him. "And also so the police can take them in easier."

Ash nodded. "Ah…"

Latios hummed, looking at the Grunts fixedly. He still remembered the vivid comments of the Houndoom about Groudon. Were the guys of this odd organization looking for Groudon? He narrowed his eyes as they glowed, intruding into the minds of all the captured grunts and reading them completely, filtering anything useless out and focusing mainly on their organization, their goals, and Groudon. "Interesting…" he whispered as he read through the minds of the five, acquiring tons and tons of information.

Nurse Joy smiled and walked up to Ash. "I can't thank you and your Pokémon enough for saving all of us. You've got quite the team there Ash, when I registered you for the Hoenn league I can now easily see why you ranked so well in the Silver Conference," She told him, a gentle and kind tone to her voice.

Ash grinned happily. "It was my pleasure to help, Nurse Joy!" He said cheerfully.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Could you release all your Pokémon?" She asked. "I'd like to see if the ones still in their Pokéballs need any treatment after the battles they fought." Ash nodded and released Larvitar and Phanpy. Nurse Joy hummed as she examined Ash's six Pokémon. "They all need some treatment and rest. Would you like me to tend to them before you go to sleep for the rest of the night?"

Ash nodded. "Yes please, Nurse Joy. All of us need a nice rest," he agreed.

Nurse Joy smiled. "I must admit… your Pokémon are some of the happiest I've seen in a long while. The way they look at you, the way they hold themselves and the way they act…you're an outstanding trainer. It's very clear your Pokémon love you very much," she praised the boy.

Ash grinned happily. "Thanks!" He beamed. To assert her point, all of his Pokémon nuzzled against him, causing him to laugh.

Nurse Joy looked at them one last time, also laughing softly at how they acted, and then returned her gaze to Ash. "As thanks for what you did today I'll give you a suggestion, a new attack you should try to teach to some of them," Nurse Joy began, immediately catching Ash's total attention.

"Oh? What attack?" Ash asked eagerly.

"Your Pokémon love you a lot, it's very clear. Because of that, I'd suggest you teach some of them the attack; Return," Nurse Joy told him.

Ash blinked. "Return? Isn't that what's said to return them to their Pokéballs?" He asked, confused.

His Pokémon rolled their eyes in amusement as Nurse Joy laughed softly. "No, you see, Return is a Pokémon attack that any Pokémon can learn. It's a Normal-type physical move. The reason I suggest this move for your Pokémon is because they'd wield it very effectively, because Return's power is increased the more the Pokémon using it loves and cherishes their trainer. Your Pokémon clearly love you, so a Return attack used by them ought to be at its maximum power," the Pokémon Nurse suggested. "The Pokémon I'd suggest to learn that attack is your Pidgeot, as the type and category of the attack suits her the most."

Ash's eyes widened slightly as he heard that. "Wow that sounds like a very interesting move. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks Nurse Joy!" He beamed happily, grinning at her.

"You're welcome, it's my way of saying thanks for your actions tonight," Nurse Joy said back.

Ash nodded at her. "So, Pidgeot?" He asked, just to be sure.

"Yes, out of all of your team, by typing and attack category, Return fits her the best, but if you chose to teach it to more of them that's okay," the nurse answered, smiling. "Now follow me into the center, I'd like to tend to your Pokémon. Officer Jenny should be here any minute to pick the villains up," she said as she turned and walked back to the Pokémon Center.

Ash, Bianca and May followed her and soon Ash's six Pokémon followed her in as well, though Latios spared the Team Magma grunts one last look, his eyes worried as his mind raced with thoughts about the organization and everything he had just learned about Team Magma and their plans for Groudon, and also from their minds he learned of the existence of their rivals, Team Aqua.

"Hey, think I can have dinner?" Ash called out to the Nurse.

Nurse Joy paused and turned to look at him in surprise; he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head Mareepishly. "Sure, that too," she said finally. Ash grinned happily.

…

After around half an hour, Ash had his promised second dinner and all of his Pokémon had received a well-earned treatment. Officer Jenny had also taken the captured Team Magma members away, though she had been very surprised that everything had already been dealt with. Now it was finally time to go to sleep. The room they had gotten had two bunk beds. May chose the top one on the right side of the room to sleep in while Bianca slept at the lower bed of the same one. That left the other bunk bed entirely for Ash and his Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu took the lower one while Latias and Latios stayed on the top one.

After a few more minutes, everyone was sound asleep, except for one. Latias shivered and opened her eyes, glancing around the dark room, her enhanced legendary sight allowing her to see in the gloom. She frowned as her empathy began to pick up feelings that she did not like. The air around them had an odd feeling to it… she had no idea how to describe it, but there was an unmistakable feeling of malice in the air.

"Latias, are you okay?" Latios whispered to her, having being woken up by her anxiousness and moving around.

Latias frowned. "Brother… I'm feeling weird… my psychic senses are screaming at me…"

Latios nodded and looked around, and noted that for a second he felt the exact same way he had felt back at the Oldale Ruins. His eyes narrowed, trying to comprehend what was happening. His eyes glowed as he spread his senses across the Pokémon Center, and soon Latias joined in, doing the same. But neither could pick up anything that could be dangerous to them. "Whatever it is its worrying… but there's nothing around. Maybe some Ghost Pokémon. Let's go back to sleep sis," Latios said finally.

Latias nodded, but she couldn't help but whimper slightly. "Latios, I'm… scared…"

Latios smiled and licked her cheek a couple of times affectionately. "It's okay sweetie, I'm here," he said soothingly, and gently pulled Latias closer to him, resting his arm and wing on top of her protectively. Latias smiled and snuggled closer to her older brother, and closed her eyes while letting out a soft happy sigh. Latios kissed and licked her cheek and face a few times to calm her, and then arched his neck around Latias and pressed tightly against her to let her feel his presence. "Good night sister, I love you," he said tenderly.

"I love you too brother," Latias answered as she made the effort to fall asleep, it wasn't easy, but she managed. Soon Latios followed, though he kept his psychic senses sharp, just in case.

…

As Ash, Latios, Latias and everyone else fell asleep, none of them except for the Eon siblings felt the presence that was intently watching them, completely invisible to the eyes of mortals and the very living world itself. Floating calmly just outside the window of the group's room was a spirit, an astral projection to be precise.

The spirit looked at the group fixedly, not losing them from its spectral sight for even a single second, but then its gaze focused solely on Latias and Latios. "Them…" the spirit muttered in an angered and venomous tone at the sight of the Eon twin dragons, again unheard to anyone without the very specialized senses and abilities required to see and interact with a faint spirit.

A sudden surge of rage coursed through the spirit, along with an unmistakable aura of malice and evil, drawn from the spirit's very essence. To anyone with the abilities to see it, it'd appear as if a swirl of pure darkness flowed from the spirit, outlining it in a twisted dark purple aura. "How is it that those two are still alive? How! Hmm, but if they're here now… maybe they killed him…"

The spirit paused for a second, a surge of excitement running through it at whatever idea it was thinking of, but then it growled silently, and a depressed and dark aura covered the dark spirit once more. "No… after holding strong for so many years, they wouldn't slip up so easily now. But I still have to make sure to check on it, just in case…"

The spirit turned around and looked at the far distance, and suddenly it flickered out and disappeared from the outside of the Pokémon Center, and near instantly it reappeared just outside the Oldale ruins chamber. It looked at the place with an almost excited expression, as after all, that's the reason the spirit had appeared, having sensed that someone had finally opened its chamber.

It entered the chamber, looking at the place with a sense of nostalgia. A small feeling of pleasure ran through the spirit as it gazed at the chamber it had ordered crafted so many eons ago, during its lifetime. It came to the back of it, looking at the large carved drawing, its stare focused on what had been itself in the drawing, the small human drawn there holding out the orbs between the three titanic legendaries. "Someone found the tablet I hid here… if it's the correct humans who found it… then it will prove very beneficial for me and my future goals… it will lead the humans who got it to find where I hid my three sacred orbs to control Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. This bodes well for me."

It turned and floated to the exit of the chamber, once again watching quietly in the direction of the human settlement of Oldale. "I need to go and see for myself who are the humans that have my inscriptions and determine if it is prudent or not to let them uncover my sacred orbs, though…" The feeling of malice around the spirit increased to a swirl of hatred and darkness that emanated from its very core, a pure feeling of blinding fury. "It's a shame that Latias and Latios are alive, but I can still use them to my advantage… I can still use them to reach my goals… and most importantly, fulfill my greatest ambition… get my revenge on that damn mother of theirs!" The spirit growled as the dark aura around it turned even darker, the mention of Latios and Latias' mother infuriating it greatly. "I hope the father Latios is finally dead. It'd make everything a lot easier."

It turned and gave the Oldale ruins and chamber one last gaze, then a spiritual dark laugh echoed, again to be heard by no one living. "The time has come…" The spirit began, a spiral of dark power looming ominously around it as it said its next words. "I will have… my revenge!" With that, the spirit flickered out and disappeared, leaving the place as if no one had even been there, save for an ominous wind that rustled forebodingly through the nearby trees, a chilling sound that seemed to lend a sense of darkness to the surrounding area for a moment, before it faded out of existence, leaving the night sounding exactly the same as it had before...

…

Meanwhile, aboard the Team Magma helicopter that was already dozens of miles away from Oldale Town…

Tabitha laughed. "Success! Mission complete!" he declared as he gazed upon the tablet they had gotten from the ruins, excited that they gotten it.

One of the other two Grunts with him sighed. "But Field Commander, we lost more than half the team to that kid," he said gloomily.

Tabitha nodded. "Yeah, that was something I didn't expect in such an easy profile mission. But depending on what's written here in this tablet and the other winnings of this mission, their sacrifice will be worth it," he said back. "Plus, this is a really good jab to the other Admins of the team, Courtney and Mack!" He declared, grinning. "This will get me named second in command of Team Magma, over them!"

The other Grunt blinked. "Weren't there four Field commanders? What about Brodie?" He asked.

Tabitha shook his head. "He's a high ranked specialist, he's not an Admin." He shivered. "And he's a gay cross-dressing freak," he added uneasily.

The first Grunt frowned. "Aside from the Tablet, what were the other winnings?" He asked curiously.

"First, we saw two Legendaries, Leader Maxie will be most interested in that," Tabitha began. "And both teams recorded the fight they had with the Latios and the Latias, giving us a fair idea of their battle prowess. And also, we tested the effectiveness of the attack forces of Team Magma, and also the new armors our Pokémon have… which turned out to be a total disappointment. I'll definitely file a big complaint about that!" Tabitha finished.

The second Grunt looked at Tabitha in confusion. "What's so important about the Latios and Latias? Our target's Lord God Groudon, not them."

Tabitha smirked. "Legendary Pokémon are more complicated than we give them credit for. They could prove a huge help for finding our way to Lord God Groudon, but first we need to see what Leader Maxie thinks," he answered, connecting his visor to a small port in the side-wall of the Helicopter. A screen lowered from the ceiling and began to play back the recordings of the battle Latias had fought on the left half, and Latios' fight on the right half. "This is gold…" he muttered.

"Okay," The Grunt answered. "But go-" He paused, freezing slightly, then shivered.

Tabitha's eyes narrowed as his hand reached for one of his Pokéballs. "Did you feel that?"

The other Grunt shivered. "Yeah, I'm getting Zangoosebumps."

Tabitha looked around for a bit. "I've got the faintest idea that we're being watched… I don't know, it kind of feels like that…"

The second Grunt shrugged. "We can't see or hear anything, it's probably nothing. Maybe it's just the mental trauma of the Latios almost getting us playing tricks on us."

Tabitha sighed. "You're probably right. Let's go back to the mobile Headquarters and start examining this tablet," he announced, wondering what new information they'd find.

The black helicopter kept flying in the sky, disappearing into the dark night…unaware that they were being followed…

---

Author Notes: Chapter's up! How was this chapter? Liked it? :D

Also, just as a little side comment I'd like to add. Keep in mind that this is a very large story, and soon it'll start showing its development with my personal ideas (and make itself different than the anime, as I won't make a plain rewrite of the Hoenn anime).

That means that there will be some people who will not like the stuff I add or change. Keep in mind that I can't please everyone, and that while you don't like some details, someone else may love that very same thing. I write what I believe is right. After all, it's my Fanfic. What I can promise you is that I'll always write it to the best of my ability.

This closes the two-chapter arc of the Team Magma fight. Next chapter, Ash vs. Norman!