Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
"Speech."
'Thoughts.'
"Telepathy."
Author Notes: So, Chapter's finished! This is the third chapter I've released in the last several months. I'm glad that I'm slowly working on returning to a good writing form. As I said, as of late I've been very motivated about my return to FanFiction writing.
By the way, for anyone interested out there that plays Pokémon Go, they added a new friend and gift feature on it recently. I'm an avid Pokémon Go player myself and for anyone who wishes to add me, you can PM me your friend code! I'm from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. So, for everyone on Europe and USA (where the vast majority of my audience comes from), eggs obtained from my gifts would work wonders for the trade KM Medal.
Anyway, onto the chapter!
Chapter 19 – Rustboro Raid: Team Aqua Strikes
The myriad bright flashes of light coming from so many Pokéballs activating at the same time slowly began to fade away, revealing the gigantic assortment of Pokémon that Team Aqua had released onto their half of the Devon Corp. building complex courtyard. The vast majority of them were water-type Pokémon, with poison-types, ice-types and dark-types being the other prominent types present in their Pokémon army.
The largest Pokémon that were the most easily recognizable from a distance were the five Gyarados that distinctively towered over everyone, each of them roared wildly upon their release right in front of their respective division commander. The rest of the Pokémon present were an enormous array of Corphish, Crawdaunt, Poochyena, Mightyena, Sealeo, Walrein, Kingler, Grimer, Muk, Golbat, Crobat, Seviper, Cacturne, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, Tentacruel, Cloyster, Murkrow, Pelipper, Octillery and Whiscash.
The Team Aqua grunts also took advantage of the numerous water fountains that lined the courtyard to release into them the water-types that weren't too functional on land, filling several of them with Qwilfish, Lanturn, Carvanha, Sharpedo, Wailmer, Huntail and Gorebyss.
Latios gulped anxiously, his bright red eyes widening slightly as he took in the sheer enormity of the opposing force that was facing them. "That's… a lot of Pokémon," he uttered worriedly. "I really hope Steven can handle this."
"Well, let's see what he's got," Latias said, turning to look at Steven's Pokémon just as they finished materializing in front of him in five bright flashes of white energy. Ash, Pikachu and Latios also looked intently, wondering what kind of Pokémon a former region champion would send into such a battle.
Standing in a line in front of Steven Stone were five Pokémon, as his sixth Pokémon was the young Aron that had been walking along with him the entire time. The first Pokémon, the one to the far right of the line, was a large, white, metallic Pokémon with a disc-like body and a large golden 'X' on its face. Four very thick legs that sprouted from it and ended in very sharp claws complemented its odd body structure.
Next to it was a monstrous and heavily armored bipedal Pokémon that was mainly dark grey in color with silver accents on its knees, elbows and head. It sported a very thick and powerful tail, which perfectly mimicked its equally study arms and legs. It had two large horns on its spiky head and blunt spikes on its shoulders.
At the center of the five Pokémon was a gargantuan, silver-colored, metallic, serpentine Pokémon whose entire body was composed of armored boulder-shaped segments. It had three sets of two very large blunt spikes protruding from some of the aforementioned segments, and had a very large head with terrifyingly massive jaws.
To its left was a very diminutive Pokémon in comparison to the previous three. It was bipedal and its feminine body shape made it seem like it was wearing a long skirt. Its body was predominantly pale-yellow colored, and it possessed a pair of black jaws that were considerably larger than its entire body protruding from the back of its head.
The final Pokémon, the one to the farthest left of the line, was a shiny, gray, metallic, bird-like Pokémon with extremely sharp, silver and red colored wings that clearly resembled blades. On top of that, long and extremely sharp talons, a sword-like tail, and an armored metal beak complemented the Pokémon's terrifying arsenal.
One of the Team Aqua commanders growled, glaring at Steven's Pokémon warily. Throughout his years of operating in the Hoenn region, he recognized some of the Pokémon before him from Steven's long and successful tenure as Hoenn's League Champion. "Prepare for battle!" he roared, turning around to face his subordinates. "Everyone, spread out to give our Pokémon more space to maneuver and avoid being easy targets for large scale attacks, maintain battle formations and get ready!" he shouted. His fellow commanders turned and echoed his orders to their own groups. The vast number of grunts shouted several orders to their Pokémon in response, causing the entire army to begin to slowly spread out and organize so they weren't so tightly compact to give each of their Pokémon more space to work with.
"Woah," Ash said in admiration, completely ignoring Team Aqua's Pokémon and Grunts. He didn't know which of Steven's Pokémon to look at first. The young Pallet Town trainer took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the first one, the one to the far right.
The red machine beeped and began speaking in a feminine monotone voice. "Metagross, the Iron Leg Pokémon. Metagross has four brains in total. Combined, the four brains can breeze through the most difficult of calculations faster than any modern supercomputer. This Pokémon can float in the air by tucking in its four legs."
"And it's shiny as well," Latios pointed out in surprise, noting the Metagross' unique white and golden coloration.
Ash nodded in agreement when he realized the blue dragon was right, observing that the image the Pokédex displayed of the same Pokémon had a predominantly dark green coloring. "Yeah. That's fairly awesome!" he gushed before pointing the Pokédex to the next Pokémon.
"Aggron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. Aggron claims an entire mountain as its own territory. It mercilessly beats up anything that violates its environment. This Pokémon vigilantly patrols its territory at all times," the Pokédex said after a beep.
"That's also the final form of Aron, the Pokémon you fought against in the first part of the gym battle with Roxanne," Latias informed him helpfully. "And, also, the little guy with Steven right there," she added.
"Yeah, they do look similar. They sure do grow up to become quite the scary Pokémon," Ash commented in amazement. He looked at the next Pokémon and skipped it, as he already knew what a Steelix was and had fought against it before. He pointed the Pokédex at the diminutive Pokémon beside the Steelix.
The red machine gave a single beep. "Mawile, the Deceiver Pokémon. A cunning and terrifying Pokémon, its cuteness makes opponents let down their guard and then it bites them in half with its huge jaws," it said in a feminine robotic voice.
Ash blinked, looking between the Pokémon and the Pokédex several times while almost refusing to believe what the Pokédex had spoken. "Those are very harsh words for such a cute little guy," he spoke out with a frown. He looked at the final Pokémon but then lowered his Pokédex and pocketed it, as he also recognized Skarmory from his Johto journeys.
"Don't be fooled," Latias warned sharply. "Despite looking cute and helpless, Mawile are very tricky and dangerous Pokémon. That's why they're known as deceivers."
"Yeah, you should be careful around them," Latios said, looking briefly at Team Aqua's army while they prepared for battle before turning his gaze back to Steven's Pokémon. As he gazed at them, he froze abruptly. Latios' eyes widened when he realized that in his anxiety over their opponents and Ash's gushing he had completely failed to notice a very critical part of Steven's Pokémon until now.
Ash gasped when he realized that in his excitement for seeing new Pokémon and checking them out with the Pokédex, he had been overlooking a very distinct feature that four of Steven's Pokémon had. "What are those?" he asked curiously, pointing at a distinct ornament on Metagross' front right leg.
"Those… are mega stones," Latios responded in shock and awe. Upon noting Ash's confused look, he took a small breath before beginning to elaborate. "Mega stones are extremely rare items that allow a certain selection of Pokémon to undergo a temporary yet very special higher transformation called Mega Evolution," the blue dragon explained. "I've never actually seen a Mega Evolution myself, and I only know of them from what little Ho-Oh has told me." The dragon paused slightly. "I do know that Mega Evolution is immensely powerful and not something to be taken lightly at all."
"Mega Evolution," Ash repeated slowly. "It sounds awesome!" he gushed eagerly. "It's exciting enough when a Pokémon evolves normally, now Pokémon can mega evolve? I can't wait to see it."
"Given the fact that there's like a million Pokémon in front of us… I'm very sure we're about to see them," Pikachu said dryly, gazing warily at Team Aqua's Pokémon force.
While Ash and his Pokémon talked about Steven's Pokémon and Team Aqua, Steven and his team had been eerily silent and dead focused on the opposing force ahead, analyzing it keenly and professionally like the champion-level, battle hardened veterans they were. If any of Team Aqua's Pokémon tried a sneak attack, all of them were fully ready to retaliate. "Metagross, give me a head count," Steven said calmly, breaking the icy silence that had permeated them up to that point.
His shiny Metagross' eyes flashed briefly with a blue tone. "We are facing fifty-five trainers and two hundred and thirty Pokémon," the Iron Leg Pokémon replied telepathically, its extremely powerful minds counting the opposing Team Aqua forces instantly.
"That's a big number…" Steven mumbled thoughtfully, thinking of the best way to approach the inevitable battle. He had fought battles in which the numbers were against him in the past, but nothing like this.
"Do you know why they are here?" the Steelix asked in a thick and rumbly voice that had a slight feminine undertone in it. She knew that people with clear criminal intent at the Devon Corp. building site were dire news.
Metagross instantly translated Steelix's Pokéspeech into Steven's mind telepathically. Steven hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "I don't know, Steelix," he answered at last, narrowing his eyes. "Which is bad. Knowing their objectives would be a great asset to plan our defenses accordingly. My best guess is that they want to steal something from the company or perhaps kidnap my father."
"Well, whatever they're here for, it doesn't matter." Steelix growled at them. "We have to stop them either way."
"That's correct," Steven agreed.
Mawile grinned savagely. The black set of jaws sprouting from the back of her head turned around to float at her side and echo her grin. "Oh, this is going to be very entertaining," Mawile said in a very soft and feminine voice that betrayed both of her savage grins. "I can't wait to start fighting."
"Mawile, we should still be careful," the Aggron advised, his deep and coarse voice calm and collected. "We're vastly outnumbered."
"I'm very much aware of that," Mawile responded drily.
"Skarmory, fall back," Steven suddenly spoke out. "You won't take part in the battle here. I have a different job for you in mind."
"Understood," Skarmory replied immediately before turning around and walking to Steven's side. His razor-sharp metal talons clicked noticeably on the pavement with every step he took. "What is it?" he inquired curiously.
"I'll let you know in a bit," Steven responded after Metagross had dutifully translated the Armor Bird Pokémon's speech in his mind. Steven threw a hard look at the opposing army as they worked on getting into position to fight him. "Let's do this. Metagross! Mawile! Aggron! Steelix! Move ahead! You four will fight this," the young man ordered in a firm voice as he reached up with his hand to grasp the multicolored stone perched in the castle-like ornament on his suit. "You're all mega evolving." The four steel-type Pokémon moved towards the front, spreading out to give each other more space.
"Here it comes," Ash said eagerly, his eyes wide and attentive. Latias, Latios and Pikachu also watched intently, as it would be their first time seeing a Mega Evolution as well.
A soft and almost charming rainbow glow suddenly began to emanate from the crystal in Steven's hand, the aura of multicolored light shining in slow and tantalizing pulses. Steven took a deep breath and relaxed, letting his mind calm down and be at ease. Metagross, Steelix, Mawile and Aggron also took a deep and soothing breath almost in perfect unison with their trainer.
The Metagrossite on Metagross' front right leg, held in the center of an interlocked metallic band that was wrapped around its leg, was the first of the mega stones to respond to Steven's call. The perfectly spherical stone began to glow intensely, with its powerful pulses of light synchronizing flawlessly with the way Steven's key stone flashed.
The Steelixite located on the center of a thick yet very elegantly decorated steel plate held between the two long ridges that lined Steelix's head was the next mega stone to react, with a powerful pulsing glow radiating from it that instantly matched Steven's key stone.
The last two mega stones activated almost in unison. Aggron's Aggronite was located on a very sturdy, armored shoulder plate that was attached to the blunt spike on the Iron Armor Pokémon's left shoulder. Mawile's Mawilite was held on the center of a metallic, ornamented belt that hugged her waist. Both mega stones released a potent flash of rainbow light that rapidly harmonized with the soft pulsing flickers of Steven's key stone.
"Are you all ready?" Steven asked in a gentle tone, mentally preparing himself for the effort of sustaining multiple mega evolutions, which he knew from previous experience was rather difficult. "This is probably going to be a very prolonged Mega Evolution. Make sure you're all in the best headspace for this," Steven instructed collectedly. His own mind was at ease, constantly reminiscing the years upon years of bonding and friendship that he shared with each of his Pokémon that were crucial for a successful mega evolution. They were with him until the very end, just as he was with them.
"I'm ready," Steelix informed him, her eyes showing a determined glare directed at the enemies on the opposing side of the courtyard. Her own mind roamed freely as well, thinking of her bond with Steven ever since he was a young boy starting out on his journey. She also gave time to think of her own relationship with the rest of the team and the many years they had been together. She gave Aggron a brief glance and smile before turning back to look at her opponents.
"I am too," Aggron agreed, returning Steelix's glance and smile in perfect unison with her before looking at Steven out the corner of his eye and recounting the countless experiences they had gone together.
"Same," Mawile replied while closing her eyes to relax herself. Like the rest of her teammates, she leaned into their collective emotional support for control of the unfathomable power they were about to tap into.
"Let's go," Metagross spoke out in a neutral tone, letting its extremely powerful mind feel at peace. Behind them, Aron and Skarmory watched intently. They did not possess mega evolutions of their own, but they nonetheless let their presence be known for the collective bond and support they knew their teammates needed for sustaining the power of their respective mega evolutions.
"Key stone and mega stones, activate! Give our bond form and bestow upon us the mythical power of Mega Evolution!" Steven shouted loudly, proceeding to give a quick kiss to the key stone before raising his hand high into the air. The four mega stones on each of the Pokémon suddenly discharged a single potent flash of radiant multicolored light that seemed to perfectly wash over them.
Abruptly, sixteen powerful rays of shining golden energy radiated out of the key stone and surged forward, with four separate beams going towards each of the steel-type Pokémon. The mega stones responded in kind, with each of them releasing four equally strong rays of silver-colored energy that joined with each beam coming from the key stone in a clash of pure power that made the ground rumble menacingly.
The wind suddenly kicked up slightly, making the trees and bushes on the courtyard begin to rustle ominously and the water on the fountains to wave in a brisk manner. The Team Aqua grunts and Pokémon looked around nervously as a rather unsettling and heavy feeling began to fall down upon the entire area. Unexpectedly, the sheer presence of Steven's Pokémon had become so intimidating that even the solace they found in their raw numbers began to die down and the enormity of the battle that they had just gotten into became painfully obvious.
"So cool…" Ash whispered in awe. His reddish eyes were wide with pure and unrestrained amazement as he saw the mega stones on each of the four steel-type Pokémon release a second potent burst of light that quickly spread across their bodies, enveloping them in a thick shroud of deep red and golden-colored energy.
"Do you feel that?" Latias asked, glancing at her brother. To her surprise, the sheer power coming off Steven's Pokémon and their mega stones was quite chillingly palpable in the air.
"Yeah, I feel it. Ho-Oh was not joking when she taught me that Mega Evolution was enormously powerful," Latios responded, eyes wide in amazement. "So, this is what a Mega Evolution is like…"
The four silhouettes of red and gold luminosity that were Steven's Pokémon began to grow in size as their physical shapes began to be distinctly altered. All four of them had grown considerably in size, with Steelix and Aggron's already colossal forms growing less in comparison to the rather noticeable size change that Metagross and Mawile had undergone. Metagross' body shape changed radically, with what seemed like four extra legs growing out of its back while its four existing legs changed position to face the front of its body. Steelix's body vastly grew in bulk at the same time as large pieces began to suddenly break off of it, making dozens of massive chunks of steel and diamond-like crystalline stone begin orbiting around her body. Aggron's body became much larger and bulkier under the coat of light, with his already powerful and thick physical accents suddenly becoming even more pronounced to give him the appearance of nigh impenetrable armor. Mawile, on top of more than doubling her diminutive height, had her body shape elongate slightly to give her longer and thicker limbs as well as a more athletic build. A second set of massive jaws sprouted behind her to join the one that already existed, with both of them becoming more vicious-looking and fanged.
With the process nearly over, the dense shroud of golden and red energy coating them suddenly blew up in every direction at the same time a leaf-like sigil of rainbow light appeared in front of each of them for a brief moment before dissipating into bright sparkles. The sudden release of power made the ground under each of them crack and crater visibly as the four mega evolved Pokémon were revealed for all to see. The shockwave generated by the completion of their Mega Evolution was enough to knock a few Team Aqua grunts and Pokémon off balance, make many leaves fall off surrounding bushes and trees, shatter nearby windows, and set off numerous car alarms in the nearby streets. Ash, Steven, and their Pokémon looked completely unharmed thanks to Metagross psychically shielding them.
"Woah…" Ash said in complete admiration, stars in his eyes. Never had he seen anything like this before. It seemed like something straight out of the most outlandish of myths. He took in every detail as he gazed at them with eyes full of wonder, noting how their bodies had changed in design, how many of their attributes were modified and how much larger and more intimidating each of them were now. "This is so cool!"
"Thank you," Steven said appreciatively as he turned around, flashing Ash a grateful smile while he walked towards the young trainer. "Leave this fight to me, Ash. I know you're probably very curious about Mega Evolution and want to see them fight. If you want, I'll gladly tell you about it in detail, but now is not the time for that. Please, go to the rooftop like I asked." Steven glanced at his Skarmory. "Skarmory, please go with Ash and aid him in his battles over there. Keep an eye out for my father in particular. If abducting him is part of this operation then the only way they are leaving with him while avoiding me is through the roof. Don't let that happen under any circumstances. Do your best to guarantee my father's safety and prevent Team Aqua from escaping until I get there with everyone else."
Skarmory nodded once. "I will, Steven. You can count on me," he responded assuredly.
After Metagross had translated Skarmory's response to him, Steven gave him a curt nod and then turned to Ash. "Ash, my Skarmory is more than capable of fighting on his own accord. Don't worry about him. Focus on your own Pokémon, and please be careful out there."
Ash nodded confidently in response. "I will. Don't worry about me." He patted Latios' neck. "We can handle this."
Steven looked up when he heard the distinct sound of Helicopters and noticed two high flying tiltrotor helicopters begin to descend from the sky towards the building's rooftop. "I was right. Well, Ash, get going. There's your opponents."
Ash glanced up and grinned. "Latios, let's do this." Latios slowly began to elevate and angle himself upwards. Once he was ready he accelerated forward and rapidly flew up the building with the invisible Latias following him. Steven's Skarmory flapped his blade-like wings, immediately taking off and flying after them.
Steven looked up and briefly kept track of them as they flew upwards before turning around to face his Pokémon and his opponents. "Well, now it's just us and them."
"Oooooh, this is going to be so fun…" Mawile murmured enthusiastically, sending a chilling glare at their adversaries while already gleefully imagining how many she was going to defeat. Behind her, the two sets of black jaws ground their sharp teeth in anticipation.
"Let's make them regret coming here," Steelix said threateningly, narrowing her eyes intimidatingly. The numerous crystalline rock fragments orbiting around her sped up for a brief moment to follow through with her menacing motions.
"We definitely will," Metagross promised telepathically.
"So, who wants to go first?" Steven asked, raising his voice enough to be heard by the Team Aqua army.
The Team Aqua commanders had been so enthralled by the display of power that Steven's sharp voice seemed to remind them that they were supposed to fight him. The Team Aqua commanders gazed at each other nervously. "Not me," one of them said quickly. "Someone else can have the honors."
"Hey! That's cheating!" another one of the commanders shouted at the steel-type master. "Official Pokémon League rules state that only one mega evolution is allowed per battle!"
"Yeah!" another commander shouted in agreement. "No wonder you're no longer the Champion!"
Steven crossed his arms. "Official Pokémon League rules also state that battles must be between an even number of Pokémon, something you guys are clearly not following," he responded sharply.
The commanders looked at each other. "He's got a point," one of them admitted.
"Oh, forget this," the tall commander said, punching his open palm fiercely. "Like I said earlier. We are all going to attack him at the same time!" he declared boldly.
"Yeah!" the woman commander cheered. She turned around and raised her hand. "Let's go, everyone! HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She whirled around, her six Pokémon standing in front of her obediently. "All of you, use Hydro Pump!" she commanded while pointing dramatically at Steven's Pokémon.
"Use Hyper Beam attack, all six of you!" the voice of another commander was suddenly heard.
"Dark Pulse!" a grunt's voice shouted at his side.
"Hydro Pump!" another grunt's voice was heard from behind them.
"Ice Beam!"
"Hyper Beam!"
"Water Pulse!"
"Shadow Ball!"
"Hidden Power!"
"Octazooka!"
"Mud Bomb!"
"Dark Pulse!"
"Shadow Ball!"
"Swift!"
"Hydro Pump!"
"Water Pulse!"
"Blizzard!"
"Hidden Power!"
"Scald!"
"Hyper Beam!"
The vast number of grunts took to screaming their respective orders to their Pokémon. As the chorus of attacks being shouted by the commanders and their grunt teams filled the air, the myriad of Pokémon got into attack position and released their ordered attacks. Soon, massive beams of volatile energy, beams of icy energy, pulses of raging water, potent streams of highly pressurized water, bombs of sticky mud, orbs of concentrated murky shadow, black and purple ringed beams of dark energies, blasts of scorching hot water, and many other different attacks were flying straight towards Steven's Pokémon.
Steven gazed at the incoming barrage of attacks, his eyes narrowing. "Mawile, Aggron and Steelix, use Stone Edge to form a defensive barrier. Metagross, boost it with Psychic," the former champion commanded. Immediately, his Pokémon reacted and carried out his orders. Mawile and Aggron both reared a fist back before punching the cement floor in front of them harshly, while Steelix smashed her tail brutally against the concrete in front of her.
The courtyard's elegant pavement suddenly tore apart violently as hundreds of massive jagged spires of glowing blue stone emerged from the ground, rising several dozen feet high. Metagross' eyes glowed as he coated the spires of rock with a potent layer of his psychic powers, making them glow with an even more intense shade of blue.
The sheer mass of incoming attacks collided against the rock formations with colossal force, with most attacks exploding violently against them upon contact while the water-type attacks mercilessly beat down on the rock defenses. The countless attacks didn't let up, pounding against the improvised shield of Steven's mega evolved Pokémon relentlessly. The highly pressurized streams of water from the many Hydro Pumps, the explosions created by each detonation of a Hyper Beam, the murky explosions of shadows created by impacting Shadow Balls, it all kept crashing into the Psychic-boosted Stone Edge formations mercilessly.
Steven hummed in thought as he took note that the sheer number of attacks was beginning to very rapidly erode at his defenses, as the attacks had already cleaved through the vast majority of his improvised fortification. With every precious second that went by, more and more Stone Edge spires were disintegrated under the persistent assault. "Steelix, Aggron, move ahead!" Steven suddenly ordered, knowing that he had to change his defensive approach. "Mawile, Metagross, behind them!"
Steelix and Aggron reacted quickly. Steelix slithered forward and then braced herself. At the same time, Aggron made his way forward on heavy footfalls that made the ground rumble with every step he took and got into a defensive position. Metagross quickly moved behind Steelix and Mawile moved behind Aggron, using their two teammates as living shields.
"Aggron, use Iron Head! Steelix, use Gyro Ball!" Steven ordered. Aggron braced himself, planting his heavy feet into the pavement firmly. His armored head began to glow a silver hue, which then erupted into a thick metallic shine that enveloped the entirety of his sturdy body. Meanwhile, the dozens of crystalline rocks and metallic shards that elegantly orbited around Steelix's body suddenly began to spin faster, accelerating to the point that they became blurs. A thick layer of silvery light erupted along the orbits, making numerous rings of dense metallic light surrounding the entirety of Steelix's gargantuan body as a makeshift defensive barrier.
Steven's defensive maneuver came at the right moment, as it was then that the last of the Stone Edges fell. What remained of the barrage of attacks kept surging forward in an unabated way. Steelix and Aggron both roared defiantly as the many attacks collided violently against them. "Hold strong!" Steven shouted encouragingly. "I trust both of you!"
Both Aggron and Steelix mightily tanked the numerous bombardments of direct hits, with neither of them moving back a fraction of an inch in response to the countless attacks that were battering them violently. As the moves reached breaking point in the collision against the energy of their own Iron Head and Gyro Ball, two enormous explosions shrouded them, the sudden blasts carrying enough strength to brutally quake the ground beneath them and generate a violent and deafening shockwave that broke many windows of nearby buildings and cars, as well as knock over a few trees.
"Did we get him?" one of the commanders asked, watching the two huge plumes of flames and smoke rise up to the sky with bated breath, with small chunks of debris landing all over the place.
"No Pokémon could survive that!" another commander declared, cheering wildly.
The female commander smirked. "We got this."
That's when the smoke cleared, revealing that all four steel-types were perfectly intact. "What?! No way!" a commander cried.
"No Pokémon could be that powerful!" a Grunt protested.
Behind his four Pokémon, Steven chuckled slightly. "Mine can. Now, I believe it's my turn to attack. Mawile, why don't you Play Rough with them? Metagross, smash through them with Meteor Mash!" he commanded, motioning forward with one arm.
Mawile grinned fiercely, the two black jaws behind her mimicking her excitement with vicious smirks. A bright pink sparkling aura surrounded her body, playful yet rather violent and dazzling fairy energies freely flowing through her small frame. She tightened her hands into fists, feeling the gargantuan physical strength granted to her thanks to her Huge Power ability coursing through her. "Steven, it'll be my pleasure." She suddenly ran forward and then jumped on Aggron's tail, using it to scale his back and run up the length of his body. The moment she reached his armored head, she used her vast physical strength to launch herself high into the air with a single mighty leap, heading directly towards the Team Aqua Army.
At the same time as Mawile charged forward, Metagross' four front-facing legs tucked inwards, aligning them with the rest of its body while making the deadly sharp claws face ahead. A blitz of cosmic energy suddenly erupted throughout its body, igniting it with an unrestrained blaze of blinding azure light. With a strong exertion of its psychic power, Metagross suddenly began to spin clockwise while shooting forward like a raging meteor. Steelix rapidly dropped down to the floor, pressing most of her body flat to the ground below her to let the Iron Leg Pokémon cleanly pass above her.
"Brace yourselves!" one of the commanders cried as the two Pokémon surged towards them. 'Why am I beginning to think that we didn't bring nearly enough fighters?' He thought anxiously. 'I knew that Champions, or former Champions, were tough, but this… What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?!'
Latios swiftly soared up along the exterior of one of the Devon Corp. buildings, with Ash tightly clinging to his neck. Alongside him, Latias and Steven's Skarmory also flew by at a speedy pace.
Ash gasped as the distinct sound of several large explosions reached him, the shockwave emanating from the blasts down below being powerful enough to make the very sturdy golden-tinted windows of the Devon Corp. buildings rattle ominously. Ash looked over his shoulder to glance downwards, and grimaced when he noticed the two very large plumes of fire and smoke rising from the courtyard. "I hope that Steven is okay…" Ash mumbled worriedly. "I feel bad for not staying there to help him."
"We're helping him by doing exactly as he asked us to do," Latios responded calmly. "Plus, he has four mega evolutions with him and he's a former league champion. He should be alright."
"Hopefully," Latias said, causing a small shower of blue sparkles to trail in her wake as she dropped her invisibility. Like her brother, she knew the best thing they could do was to stick to Steven's instructions. "If it's of any comfort, my empathy didn't pick up any doubt from him or his Pokémon while they got ready. He knows what he's doing."
"Steven will be perfectly fine, don't worry about him," Skarmory announced confidently, his expression not exhibiting the least bit of concern for his friends. "My teammates are going to crush those guys, you'll see. Quality always beats quantity. Especially quality of our caliber."
"Are you sure about that?" Ash asked, turning to look at the steel-type avian. "You seem to have a lot of confidence in your teammates. I don't deny their quality, but the enemy's quantity is still very worrying. I've never actually seen a couple Pokémon fight off hundreds."
Skarmory blinked once and gazed at Ash in a curious manner, rather interested at how fluidly the human had understood and responded to him. "You can understand me? Curious. At first, I assumed it may have just been a little quirk you had going on with your Pokémon, but clearly, it's not. You responded way too quickly and precisely for that to have been a psychic translation by either of your dragons. Does that mean that you can actually understand Pokéspeech in general?" he questioned, intrigued.
Ash blinked at him, slightly taken aback. "Wow, you're very smart. That was a pretty good analysis." He smiled kindly. "Anyway, yeah, I can understand Pokémon myself."
"Oh, that's very impressive," Skarmory commented, fascinated at how a human could acquire such a skill. "We all depend on Metagross to telepathically translate our speech to Steven when we're talking to him." Skarmory looked ahead and then abruptly changed the topic once he saw they were getting close to their destination. "Anyway, we're almost there."
Latios glanced at the steel-type Pokémon briefly. "Are you going to be alright? We're a full team, you'd be fighting on your own."
"I'll be fine. I'm pretty sure I'm stronger than any of you," Skarmory said back, a hint of amusement on his voice as he threw the dragon a teasing look.
Latios rolled his eyes and grumbled something under his breath. Pikachu shook his head and laughed. "Latios, he's a Pokémon on a former champion's team. Odds are that he can mop the floor with any of us easily," the electric-type said between fits of laughter. Skarmory couldn't help but chuckle slightly, already taking a liking to the young trainer and his Pokémon.
Ash chuckled slightly at the Pokémon's banter before looking ahead and narrowing his eyes as they approached the top of the building. "Alright, let's go guys. We can't let Steven down after he trusted us with this!" the Pallet Town trainer said encouragingly as they rounded the rooftop's security railing in time to see the two Team Aqua tiltrotor helicopters finishing their troop deployment.
By now, the rooftop had a sizeable contingent of Team Aqua members on it. Twenty grunts along with their commanders were immediately visible, with most of them amassed near the helicopters while a few of them guarded the perimeter. A couple of them had a Pokémon or two out of their Pokéballs. Two prominent members dressed in personalized attires, clearly of a much higher rank, were close to a large steel doorway that led into the interior of the building along with a large, red, lobster-like Pokémon. Behind them were a group of grunts that had more professional attires than the rest, sporting uniforms more like that of a scientist or engineer rather than typical combat grunts.
"We have company!" one of the grunts that had been guarding the perimeter shouted, alerting everyone to the presence of the newcomers. The grunt's partners, a Mightyena and a Poochyena, both got into an aggressive stance and looked ready to pounce at any given moment. Aqua Admins Matt and Shelly immediately turned to look in the direction of the incoming group, rapidly noting the three inbound Pokémon and the lone trainer on the back of the largest one.
"What the… are those?" Matt began, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Yes, that's a Latios and a Latias," Shelly answered, a scowl forming on her face. "Two very dangerous opponents that also happen to be Legendary Pokémon."
"Stop right there!" Ash shouted, hopping off Latios the moment the dragon had slowed down and lowered to the rooftop. "You're not going to do whatever you came here to do," he declared boldly.
"Bwahahahaha!" Matt laughed aloud, startling a few nearby grunts who looked hilariously short in comparison to him. "Tough words for a kid. What are you? Eight? Nine?" he asked mockingly.
"I'm twelve," Ash grumbled in annoyance. Pikachu glared at the admin from his position atop the trainer's shoulder, his red cheeks releasing sparks of electricity.
"We don't have time for this, Matt. We have our own assignments to carry out," Shelly said sharply to the burly man. "Focus on the mission."
"Fine," Matt grumbled grudgingly. "You're lucky, kid. You won't have to fight me." Matt pointed at a batch of grunts nearby. "You seven, stay here and deal with that brat along with the perimeter guard." He looked at the remaining two grunts and the commander from his division. "You three, with me."
"Yes sir!" all the grunts responded obediently. The seven grunts handpicked by the admin ran forward to join the guard grunt and his two Pokémon.
Shelly looked on as they left before turning towards her Pokémon. "Crawdaunt, use Crabhammer to break down this lock," she commanded, pointing at the armored doorway blocking their pathway into the building.
The water-type Pokémon beside her walked to the doorway, one of its very large and menacing pincers beginning to glow in a bright white hue before getting engulfed in a violent swirling jet of highly pressurized water. The Crawdaunt swung the powered-up pincer forward, impacting the security doorway's lock viciously. The metal at the point of impact twisted and then shattered completely as the door was crushed by the attack. The cement near the lock burst open while the door's hinges broke apart. As what was left of the armored door fell back, the jets of water from Crawdaunt's attack inflicted deep crevices onto the rest of the concrete and metal in the structure.
"Good job, Crawdaunt," Shelly said, praising her Pokémon's handiwork. The red-haired admin motioned with her arm to everyone behind her and then pointed at the opened entryway.
Matt and his team commander, along with the two grunts still with him, ran inside. They were soon followed by Shelly's team plus the scientists and engineers that came with her. Once everyone was in, Shelly returned her Crawdaunt back into its Pokéball and swiftly ran inside. On the other side of the rooftop, the two tiltrotor helicopters that had deployed them took off, flying high into the sky to await further orders.
"So, should we try and follow them?" Ash asked, glancing at Latios and Latias.
"I'm not sure… we're not going to be able to fight effectively in the tight confines of a building," Latios answered. "It'll heavily restrict our mobility and we'll risk causing more harm than good to the people inside of it."
"And there's those guys blocking our path, too," Pikachu pointed out, indicating the eight grunts standing in their way. "Don't forgot about them."
"This is actually good for us," Latias noted positively. "Those were a lot of enemies that went inside. We might be overwhelmed if we try to take on everyone at once. They just divided themselves into more manageable groups."
"So, we-" Ash started to say.
"Let's stay here," Skarmory interrupted sharply, making Ash and his Pokémon look at him. "Like Steven said, whatever they want, they'll have to exit through the roof to get away. They'll have to come back here eventually. Instead of pursuing them and opening ourselves to being flanked or outmaneuvered, let's just bottleneck their only escape route and ambush them here." The metallic avian glared at the opposing Team Aqua grunts. "As she pointed out, they just divided their forces. Let's deal with these guys first."
Ash nodded in agreement. "I like that. Well, guys, let's do as he says." Pikachu, Latias and Latios echoed Ash's nod.
"So, how do we do this?" one of the grunts asked. "One by one? Who goes first, then?" he wondered.
"No, don't you watch any movies, douchebag?" another grunt asked in an annoyed voice. "Why does the side with the numerical advantage always make the dumb mistake of attacking the outnumbered guys one by one and thus throw away their numbers advantage by fighting in a perfectly neat order?" he asked rhetorically. "That's just stupid!"
"Yeah, each of us has four Pokémon. We could just send all of them out at once and crush him!" a female grunt gushed excitedly. "That's a great idea!"
"She's right, let's just all gang up on him, he won't stand a chance at all!" a grunt shouted eagerly while reaching into his pockets to grab all four of his Pokéballs.
"Yeah!" the grunt that had been guarding the perimeter agreed, taking out his two remaining Pokéballs while grinning smugly. Both the Poochyena and Mightyena at his side barked aggressively, echoing his words.
"Wait, aren't there also plenty of movies and TV shows, especially TV shows, where the bad guys do charge the hero all at once, but still get taken out just as easily-" Ash started, only to be silenced by Skarmory.
"Kid, don't give them second thoughts," the veteran fighter warned him.
"Oh, sorry," Ash apologized.
"Go!" all eight grunts shouted at once, hurling their Pokéballs forward. The electronic spheres activated, creating a large flash of bright white light as all of their Pokémon were released at the same time. Once they'd finished materializing, several Poochyena, Mightyena, Sealeo, Corphish, Murkrow, Pelipper and Golbat were now standing or floating in front of the eight grunts. The most notable Pokémon among them were the single Tentacruel, Walrein, Poliwrath, Cloyster, Crobat, Octillery, Crawdaunt and Kingler that were standing in front of their respective trainer, denoting they were most likely their strongest signature Pokémon.
Ash reached towards his belt, grabbing a single Pokéball from it. "Go, Pidgeot!" he said, hurling it forward. The sphere opened in a flash of light, releasing Ash's trusted and longtime avian companion from it.
Pidgeot let out a shrill chirp and spread her wings regally the moment she was released, and then promptly blinked when she noticed the large quantity of opponents. "Wait, what?" she asked in confusion. She rapidly took note of the opposing trainers' pirate-like uniforms, which vaguely made her think of those worn by Team Magma. "Oooh… I get it."
"Yeah, more goons like the ones at Oldale Town," Pikachu explained. He glared at them and let sparks fly out of his red cheeks. "Let's beat them up just like Team Magma."
Latios grinned. "I see lots of poison-types, this isn't going to be as hard as I thought."
"But watch out, there are also lots of dark and ice-types," Pikachu added warningly.
"Yeah, we should be careful about those," Latias noted. "…And all of their Pokémon, in general." She felt slightly apprehensive at the upcoming large-scale fight, but the presence of her brother and teammates near her worked wonders for her confidence. A determined look formed in her face. She would not fail Latios and Ash.
Ash hummed in thought while rubbing his chin, thinking of the best way to approach this. There were many Pokémon he didn't recognize in the opposing crowd and he knew he didn't have the time to go over each one of them with his Pokédex. But, he recognized that Team Aqua seemed to follow a theme of fielding mostly water, dark, ice and poison-types. "Alright, listen up. I'm not sure I can command so many battles at once, so feel free to attack if you guys need to and I'm not paying attention. This is probably going to be chaotic."
"Right," Latios responded.
"Gotcha," Pikachu replied.
"I'm not going to release the others, so I'm counting on you four to get the job done," Ash added.
"That's a good idea," Latias said in agreement. "Phanpy and Larvitar are too young for this, and both would be in terrible matchups against Team Aqua's Pokémon type composition."
"Treecko would be good against so many water-types, but he's still recovering from his encounter with Seviper, so yeah, leave him out," Pikachu commented. "Plus, poison and ice-types."
"Besides, I think we got this," Latios said confidently. "And, don't forget, we have Skarmory on our side. You ready?" he asked, glancing at the steel-type.
"Like you even need to ask," Skarmory responded, spreading his wings and taking flight.
"Everyone, attack!" one of the grunts suddenly shouted, dramatically pointing at Ash and the Pokémon with him. In unison, each of the grunts started shouting their respective commands to their Pokémon.
"Hydro Pump!"
"Water Gun!"
"Scald!"
"Icy Wind!"
"Ice Beam!"
"Dark Pulse!"
"Shadow Ball!"
"Venoshock!"
"Sludge Bomb!"
"Octazooka!"
All of their Pokémon responded immediately, preparing their respective attacks as ordered by their grunt trainers. The Corphish spat vicious streams of water. The group of Poochyena, Mightyena and Murkrow all fired either black blobs of murky shadows or purple and black ringed beams of dark and corrupted energy. The Sealeo released potent gusts of frigid winds out of their mouths. The Zubat and Golbat spat putrid torrents of highly poisonous liquid.
The grunt's ace Pokémon also joined in on the fray, rushing forward and firing their own attacks. The Walrein and Cloyster both released a light blue beam of highly freezing energy out of their mouths. The Octillery fired a stream of thick, bubbling and inky water out of its cannon-like mouth. The Kingler, Poliwrath and Crawdaunt all launched extremely potent streams of highly pressurized water. The Crobat and Tentacruel fired an oozing purple goop of concentrated venom that reeked horribly.
"Latios, Latias, create a defensive barrier with Psychic!" Ash shouted immediately. "Pikachu, Pidgeot, intercept those dark and ghost-type attacks!" he added hastily, knowing those would be especially dangerous to a shield of psychic energy.
The twin dragons quickly carried out his orders, their eyes glowing vividly in a bright blue mystic hue. Uniting both of their mental powers together, they materialized a thick wall of pure psychic power in front of them. At the same time, Pikachu leaped off from Ash's shoulder and deftly landed on Pidgeot's back just as the large avian was taking off. Steven's Skarmory took note of their plan, and decided to take advantage of it. Like Pidgeot, he too raised himself high into the air with powerful flaps of his blade-like wings and then rapidly moved to the side to flank the exchange of attacks.
As Pidgeot elevated higher to get a clean shot over the psychic twin's barrier, her keen eyes rapidly singled out the several incoming Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls mixed into the myriad of attacks. "I'll get the Shadow Balls, you get the Dark Pulses, Pikachu!" she suddenly shouted. Pidgeot flapped her wings with immense strength twice, sending out four potent blades of wind that rapidly cruised along the air towards the incoming attacks.
Pikachu nodded and ran up her back until he reached the top of her head, leaping off as high as he could from it. The moment he wasn't touching her anymore, his cheeks emitted violent sparks for an instant before he was engulfed in a torrent of lightning. With precise aim, Pikachu released a series of strong Thunderbolts downwards.
As the mass of attacks began to collide against Latias and Latios' psychic shield, Pidgeot and Pikachu's attacks rained down upon them. With utmost precision, Pidgeot's Air Slashes cleanly intercepted all of the Shadow Balls that had been flying towards the dragon twins, violently tearing the orbs of shadow energy in half and prematurely detonating them, creating a series of murky explosions of shadows. Pikachu's Thunderbolts, in the meantime, dutifully intercepted all of the Dark Pulses and held them off in a stalemate until their volatile dark energy reached breaking point and then ignited in several bursts of darkness.
Numerous blasts rocked the rooftop, sending ominous vibrations across the upper structure. With the most dangerous attacks to their psychic typing gone, Latias and Latios were capable of holding up the psychic shield against the remaining water, poison and ice-type attacks reliably. "Good job, guys!" Latias praised them, though her voice sounded a bit strained as she struggled against the rest of the attacks.
"No problem," Pidgeot answered, rapidly flying down after the falling Pikachu. She arched her body and expertly caught him in one of her feet, very carefully closing her talons around the yellow electric-type to stop his fall into the numerous attacks flying down below.
Latios grunted, growling in annoyance as his eyes began to shine even brighter. "This is like Roxanne's Probopass all over again!" he shouted as the remaining attacks pushed relentlessly against the twin's psychic powers. "They're not as strong, but there's much more of them!" As the two dragons held strong, large quantities of water and thick, oozing poison began to freeze against the outside of their shield from the ice attacks coming behind them, further adding weight and pressure against their telekinetic shield.
Taking advantage of the fact that all of the Team Aqua Pokémon had been completely focused on attacking Ash's Pokémon and their collective defenses, Steven's Skarmory rapidly flanked them and then went in to begin his own onslaught against them. He flapped his metallic wings violently, sending a pair of sharp blades of air flying ahead. He then angled himself downwards to gain speed and then swooped in. The sharp metal talons at his feet began to glow with a shiny and silver sheen as he used Metal Claw.
The pair of Air Slash blades were the first to make contact. They hit the side of the Crobat, knocking it out of the sky and causing it to painfully crash into the other grunt's Tentacruel. Both of them cried out in pain as the razor-sharp winds battered them painfully, inflicting numerous deep cuts all over their bodies. The other air blade hit the area between two grunts and their Pokémon, cleaving a deep crevice into the cement of the rooftop. The collision sent debris and smaller blasts of wind in all directions, which painfully assaulted those nearby. A couple of Sealeo, Zubat and Murkrow were hurled to the sides while the two grunts were knocked onto their butts. They shielded their faces with their arms, resulting in many cuts appearing on them from the wind and debris.
Skarmory didn't relent, he kept flying ahead and then angled his body so that his Metal Claw-boosted talons were pointing forward. The steel avian landed claws-first on top of a Mightyena with so much force the floor under it cracked and cratered, the dark-type in question, letting out a deafening howl of pain in response.
"Oh no, Mightyena!" the grunt who owned the dark-type shouted worriedly. "Quick, you two, attack!" he shouted to two of his other Pokémon, a Golbat and a Corphish. "Use-" he began to say, but was unable to finish.
Skarmory rapidly leaped off the now unconscious Mightyena, using his wings to gain a bit of altitude before coming down right on top of the Corphish. The water-type let out a cry of agony as the Armor Bird Pokémon's metallic talons closed right on his pincers, forcing them shut painfully. Skarmory landed on top of the water-type, mercilessly bringing down his entire weight onto the hapless Pokémon. Skarmory paid no mind to the Corphish's shrieks of pain and took full advantage of his downwards momentum to bring his bladed wings down into the Golbat right in front of him with added strength. As the sharp wings came down, potent gusts of wind began to swirl around them in the form of an Air Slash attack. Skarmory smashed the point-blank attack right into the Golbat, making a violent assault of wind blades crash into it that left hundreds of small cuts in their wake that instantly knocked the poison-type out. The unconscious Golbat flew backwards, smashing into the grunt's final Pokémon, a Crawdaunt, with enough force to make it stumble back visibly.
"Corphish and Poliwrath, use Water Gun and Hydro Pump! Murkrow and Poochyena, use Dark Pulse!" another grunt shouted, coming to the aid of his ailing Team Aqua teammate.
Skarmory took to the air once more, carrying along the Corphish whose pincers were still firmly shut in the grip of his metallic talons. Two blasts of water and two beams of black and purple rings flew straight at him, but Skarmory easily dodged the four attacks by flapping his wings energetically and lifting himself far enough to make all attacks harmlessly pass under him.
Skarmory swirled around and then dived down, using Sky Drop in the process. The metal avian took aim and then released the Corphish he had been carrying right on top of the other grunt's Murkrow. The potent collision with the Corphish instantly knocked them out, with both of them hitting the roof roughly. Skarmory glided down and then spread his wings, landing in front of the other grunt and his remaining three Pokémon with an audible metallic click from his talons.
"Poochyena, use Bite! Corphish, use Vice Grip!" the grunt followed up frantically. Poochyena and Corphish immediately ran forward and then lunged towards Skarmory. The steel-type Pokémon's wings were covered in a grey sheen of light as he used Steel Wing. The moment the two smaller Pokémon got close enough to him, Skarmory suddenly spread his wings wide in one fast motion, smashing one wing into each of the Pokémon with enough strength to instantly knock both of them out and send them flying backwards.
As the unconscious Poochyena and Corphish crashed into the floor, the grunt's Poliwrath lunged at Skarmory. It was at that moment that Skarmory noted that the other grunt's Crawdaunt had just recovered and was also lunging at him from behind.
"Poliwrath, use Focus Punch!"
"Crawdaunt, use Crabhammer!"
As both Pokémon approached the Armor Bird Pokémon, one of Crawdaunt's large pincers bean to glow brightly while releasing a potent pulsation of water that surrounded it with several rings of pressurized water. Meanwhile, Poliwrath reared back one of its very large and muscular arms, making a blinding sphere of white energy gather on its large white fist.
Skarmory rapidly noticed both incoming attacks, fully knowing that he wouldn't have time to fly away from them. Instead, he folded his wings to his sides and narrowed his eyes, simply standing completely still. A grey luster suddenly coated him, considerably hardening his metallic body with the use of Iron Defense.
Both water-types swung their respective attacks at the Armor Bird Pokémon with a mighty roar. Poliwrath's Focus Punch smashed into Skarmory's breast at full force, releasing a devastating blast of piercing energy into his metal body while making a sickening metallic clang echo across the rooftop. At the same time, Crawdaunt brought down its pincer onto Skarmory's back, smashing into it with all its might. The Crabhammer attack released potent pulsations of water that violently streaked all around them and aggressively hammered Skarmory's body.
Both attacks collided with so much strength it felt as if a small tremor spread across the rooftop, making the grunts watching stay still and eerily quiet looking on in shock. Skarmory flinched slightly. That was it. That was the entirety of the reaction both attacks had gotten out of him. Poliwrath and Crawdaunt stared at the armored avian, looks of disbelief and horror written on their faces.
"Okay, my turn," Skarmory said, chuckling as he abruptly spread his now brightly glowing wings, courtesy of a Steel Wing attack, outwards. Both water-type Pokémon were roughly swatted away and sent flying back a considerable distance. Skarmory flapped his wings and then took to the sky once more.
"Damn, he's really good," Pikachu admitted, not to too surprised. He smirked and tapped Pidgeot's foot. "Come on, Pidgeot, let's not get outdone by him!" he said energetically.
"Right!" Pidgeot responded enthusiastically, angling her wings down to swoop down closer to the rooftop just as Latias and Latios' shield overpowered the remaining attacks from the Team Aqua Pokémon now that Skarmory's attack had vastly weakened their attack power. The twins mightily pushed back against the attacks with a potent outwards blast of psychic power, completely dissipating them and sending a huge splash of water laden with chunks of ice and frozen poison flying in every direction.
Ash glanced down as the water leftover from the numerous water-type attacks rapidly spread across the roof, grazing the soles of his sneakers and soaking them slightly. "The floor is now wet…" Ash said slowly. He smirked as a wicked idea formed in his mind. "Pidgeot, drop Pikachu! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt and let the water do the rest!" he ordered.
Pikachu laughed in amusement. "Oh, I love this!" he exclaimed eagerly, his cheeks beginning to release sparks of electricity. Pidgeot couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she released the gentle grip her large talons had on the yellow Mouse Pokémon's body, letting him drop down towards the roof. Pidgeot then flapped her wings and flew upwards, rapidly gaining altitude. Latias' eyes glowed a soft blue, telekinetically creating a ring of dry cement around Ash to prevent any electricity from being conducted towards him.
"Mud Sport! Mud Bomb! Mud Shot!" several of the Team Aqua grunts ordered frantically to their respective Pokémon as they watched Pikachu fall towards them, knowing exactly what was about to come their way. Team Aqua's Kingler and two of their remaining Corphish swirled one of their pincers in a wide arc around them, flinging a large torrent of sticky mud in all directions. Meanwhile, the Poliwrath raised both of its arms above its head and began to gather a very large sphere of thick mud between its white hands, which it then hurled to the floor in front of it. The Octillery and Cloyster also responded in kind, with both of them turning to the sides and spitting out a heavy barrage of dense mud projectiles all around them. The volley of mud being released by the several Pokémon spread around them heavily, surrounding them with a thick and sticky mud coating along the floor in a wide circle.
The moment Pikachu touched the rooftop's wet floor, he released a potent discharge of bright yellow electricity out of his body that he expertly focused downwards. The water soaking the rooftop spread his electric attack wildly, turning it a bright yellow in color from the sheer potency of the attack. Ash was completely unharmed, as the water at his feet wasn't touching the rest courtesy of Latias psychically protecting him from the shock.
However, Team Aqua was also unharmed by Pikachu's powerful attack. Their frantic defense proved to be enough as the dense mud patch that was surrounding them effectively absorbed and nullified the electric attack completely. "Ha! You gotta try better than that!" a grunt gloated, while two others sneered at Ash mockingly.
Latios smirked, his eyes beginning to glow as he exerted his psychic powers to take a hold on some of the electrified water at the outside edge of the mud patch. The psychic dragon began levitating it, creating a tentacle of water that quickly darted over the mud towards the invading force's safe area.
"Oh no!" a grunt cried out in horror.
"Walrein, Ice Beam!" another grunt shouted desperately. The Walrein obeyed immediately, spitting out a light blue colored beam of frigid energy out of its mouth towards the water the dragon was telekinetically lifting. The cold energy instantly froze the levitated water, preventing Latios from connecting their safe area to the hazardous attack around them. "Aha! Gotcha!" the grunt shouted triumphantly.
"Again!" another grunt added victoriously.
Ash smirked. "Pidgeot, use Giga Impact!" he shouted. Pidgeot, who had been flying high and watching Pikachu's attack, rapidly folded her wings and dive-bombed towards the grunts and their Pokémon. As she headed towards them, a massive maelstrom of blinding purple energy ignited all around her, with stripes of volatile golden aura swirling wildly all around it. Within instants, she had become an explosive and dangerous projectile headed straight to the center of Team Aqua's forces.
"Oh no, you don't!" one of the grunts yelled. "All of you, Dark Pulse and Water Pulse!" he yelled.
"Ice Beam!"
"Hydro Pump!"
"You guys, help out with Icy Wind and Water Gun!" another grunt yelled.
Several other Grunts also joined in, shouting plentiful attacks and orders at their respective Pokémon, which all of them began to carry out immediately.
"Latias, Latios, and Pikachu! Cover Pidgeot with Psychic and Thunderbolt!" Ash countered rapidly. The trio nodded in response and prepared to attack.
It was also at that precise moment that Skarmory swooped in for another series of attacks, using the distractions caused by Ash's Pokémon to his full advantage. He flew in fast and agile, his wings beginning to gleam in a bright metallic hue as he used Steel Wing. He flew through the Team Aqua formation like a piercing arrow, smashing his hardened wings into a Golbat, Murkrow and Pelipper so violently that they were instantly knocked unconscious and brutally struck out of the air. The three flying types collided with the muddy floor several yards ahead, each of their impacts flinging sticky mud everywhere.
As he flew away, Skarmory whirled around and spread his bladed wings wide. He began flapping them in an aggressive manner towards Team Aqua, releasing a massive barrage of diminutive wind blades in the process, no doubt courtesy of his Air Cutter attack. The myriad air blades soared through the air rapidly, striking most of the Aqua Pokémon and grunts. The storm resulted in dozens of pained cries, and many Pokémon and several grunts were knocked off balance or forced to brace and cover themselves.
As Pidgeot descended upon Team Aqua, it was time for the rest of Ash's Pokémon to strike. Latias and Latios' eyes glowed as they released a potent wave of telekinetic power, focusing on all of Team Aqua's Pokémon that weren't of the dark-type. Their collective cries of pain worsened as the twin's psychic assault added to the wind blades currently buffeting them from Steven's Skarmory. It was at that moment that Pikachu's war cry echoed loudly, followed by a series of precise bolts of electricity whizzing across the air towards them. With amazing precision against the dark-types immune to Latias and Latios and avoiding any mud on the floor, the bright yellow Thunderbolts struck the Murkrow, Poochyena, Mightyena and their lone Crawdaunt, painfully electrocuting them.
Only a few Pokémon left in Team Aqua's attack force were capable of launching their attacks despite the combined offensive pressure from Ash and Steven's Pokémon. Their Walrein and Cloyster both spat a potent beam of icy energy, while their Tentacruel fired a sickly stream of purple poisonous fluid out of its mouth. All three attacks rapidly flew skyward, aiming to intercept the incoming Giga Impact-boosted Pidgeot.
"Latios, La-" Ash began to say, but was promptly interrupted by three large blades of air flying in from the side. The extremely sharp Air Slashes collided with all three attacks, cleanly bisecting them and making them lose all of their upwards momentum. The remaining gusts of air that followed the Air Slashes easily shredded the attacks apart, dispelling them completely. Ash looked to the side, noticing Skarmory flying away after switching from Air Cutter to Air Slash. "Thanks!" Ash said appreciatively.
"No problem!" Skarmory called back while watching Pidgeot as she closed in on her targets.
With the Team Aqua Pokémon immobilized by the various assaults of Pikachu, Latias, Latios and Skarmory, none of them were able to move away or dodge in time as Pidgeot loomed ominously above them. The massive purple and gold projectile of pure power that was Pidgeot mercilessly crashed into the center of Team Aqua's formation, crushing several Pokémon underneath her. As she collided, the Giga Impact released a gigantic amount of volatile energy in all directions from the impact zone, making the building's rooftop quake and deep cracks to spread across it. Many Pokémon and grunts were roughly blasted in all directions by the detonation, crying out or screaming in pain in the process. Pebbles and chunks of cement from the floor flew all over the place from the shockwaves, with a large plume of dust and debris marring the rooftop as it spread up into the air.
As the blast of energy and dust cleared, Pidgeot slowly spread her wings and proudly stood up. At her feet lay a knocked out Pelipper, Mightyena and Corphish, all three badly tattered as they had been the ones unlucky enough to be crushed directly by her Giga Impact. Surrounding her, hurled away by the attack's shockwave, were a Poochyena, Murkrow and Golbat, all three of them unconscious as well. Pidgeot had effectively split the Team Aqua force down the middle, as the rest were scattered at either side of her after her Giga Impact's explosion had tossed them away.
The grunts began to recall their unconscious Pokémon back to their Pokéballs, while the rest glared at her as they stood up. "Giga Impact has a lengthy recharge time! Let's attack that thing while it can't move!" a grunt shouted angrily.
"Yeah!" a grunt agreed all too eagerly.
"Attack!" another grunt shouted to his Pokémon, pointing furiously at the immobile Pidgeot.
"We gotta protect her!" Ash shouted to his Pokémon.
"Leave half of them to me!" Skarmory shouted at Ash before suddenly flying down towards one of the enemy groups.
Ash nodded, turning to focus on the half of grunts and Pokémon that were the furthest away from Skarmory. "Pikachu, attack them with Thunder!" Ash shouted. Pikachu nodded and let his cheeks sparkle violently for a moment while he gathered as much electrical power as he could muster. Not a moment later, a powerful discharge of electricity emanated from him, which rapidly flew high into the sky before arching down towards half of the split Team Aqua group.
The grunts reacted frantically, shouting diverse orders towards their Pokémon in an attempt to counter Pikachu's onslaught. Their Pokémon immediately dropped their plan of attacking Pidgeot, turned to face the incoming Thunder, and carried out their orders. The Tentacruel used Venoshock to spit out a heavy torrent of sickly and disgusting purple poison. The Octillery released a beam of frigid light blue colored energy from its long cannon-like snout, no doubt Ice Beam. The Walrein and Cloyster both used Blizzard, with them opening their mouths to release an icy storm of ferocious freezing wind. The rest of the smaller Pokémon in the group, consisting of a Poochyena, Mightyena and Murkrow, countered mainly with Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse, releasing crackling orbs of intense shadows or beams of ringed dark energy alongside the main Pokémon's attacks.
"Latias, Latios, use Psychic!" Ash countered rapidly. The psychic twins grinned, instinctually knowing exactly what Ash had in mind without needing to peek at it. Their eyes glowed with a blue light as they directed their telekinetic attack against Pikachu's Thunder attack. They grabbed a hold of the wild electricity, and then split it into a multitude of smaller bolts. With utmost precision and taking advantage of every bit of space between Team Aqua's retaliatory attacks, the Psychic-guided Thunder attack breezed right through them without colliding with a single one. Team Aqua's attacks flew upwards to meet nothing, their course amiss now that the Thunder attack had perfectly slipped right through them. The Thunder kept wildly surging down, unimpeded by anything.
"That's not fair…" a Team Aqua grunt lamented sadly.
"Yeah, that just sucks," another one agreed, her shoulders slumping.
They, both Pokémon and human alike, screamed as the Thunder rejoined and then engulfed them in a massive near-blinding pillar of bright yellow electricity. The electrical attack was devastating and inflicted a horrifying amount of damage onto their signature Pokémon. The three smaller Pokémon were unable to hold out any longer. The Murkrow, Poochyena and Mightyena all fell unconscious as they were painfully electrocuted.
While Pikachu, Latios, and Latias expertly dealt with their half of Team Aqua grunts, Pidgeot glared at the other bunch of grunts as their Pokémon fiercely lunged at her. The Poliwrath threw a gleaming energy-infused punch at her, no doubt Focus Punch. Kingler and Crawdaunt both reared one of their now brightly glowing and water-coated pincers back and then furiously swung them at her, aiming their Crabhammer attacks straight at her breast. The Crobat, meanwhile, used Poison Fang. It lunged at Pidgeot, its menacing jaws oozing and crackling with nauseating purple poisonous fluids. The rest of the smaller Pokémon with their group didn't move, and just watched as their larger counterparts moved on to attack the immobile Pidgeot.
Skarmory rapidly swooped down to protect her, landing in front of her defiantly. He spread his wings out bravely, completely blocking their path towards the larger flying-type. Poliwrath's punch collided against him brutally, releasing a massive blast of energy directly into Skarmory's body. The two pincers from Crawdaunt and Kingler also impacted violently against the steel-type's wings, releasing a torrential blast of pressurized water directly into him. Crobat's maw wrapped around Skarmory's neck, its large fangs and teeth pressing down with a horrible bite that flung toxic and acidic poison all over his neck that had absolutely no effect on him due to his steel-typing.
All four of the attacking Team Aqua Pokémon froze, their eyes widening in horror. Once again, Skarmory didn't show the smallest hint of pain or discomfort. "Are you four done?" Skarmory asked calmly, making the four Pokémon anxiously look at each other.
"Thank you," Pidgeot said appreciatively, spreading and folding her wings several times as she felt the wear of using Giga Impact finally fade away.
Skarmory briefly nodded in acknowledgment to her before glaring at the horrified enemy Pokémon. "You ready to beat them up?" he asked, an icy tone in his voice.
"Oh, yes," Pidgeot responded, echoing his harsh tone.
A vicious gust of wind suddenly engulfed Skarmory's bladed wings, which he then raised high above his head. All four Pokémon in front of him rapidly moved back in an attempt to dodge his incoming attack. Skarmory ruthlessly swung both of his wings down, sending a ferocious pair of sharp blades of wind forward. The Air Slashes collided against the Kingler and Crawdaunt, sending both of them flying back while leaving a deep cut on their shell-like armors.
Upon its trainer's orders, the Poliwrath reared one of its white fists back at the same time as a thick layer of freezing energy began to coat it. Meanwhile, the Crobat followed its trainer's commands by flapping all four of its wings rapidly to send a flurry of diminutive wind blades ahead. The Air Cutter attacked collided first against Skarmory, however, the Armor Bird Pokémon completely ignored the dozens of wind blades crashing and dissipating against his metallic body. Poliwrath lunged and swung the Ice Punch ahead with all its might. Skarmory responded by calmly raising one of his metal wings and blocking the frosty punch with it. The Armor Bird Pokémon didn't seem to mind the dense ice that began to spread on his wing, either.
Pidgeot, meanwhile, took to the air with several flaps of her great wings. Several grunts shouted diverse orders to their remaining Pokémon, prompting the assortment of Sealeo, Mightyena, Corphish and Pelipper to fire their respective attacks at her. Streams of water and both beams of ice and ringed dark energy flew in her direction at a rapid pace. Pidgeot serenely flew to the side, easily evading the numerous attacks.
Pidgeot turned sharply in the air and dive-bombed towards them, her wings beginning to shine a bright grey as she charged a Steel Wing attack. She passed through the Team Aqua formation quickly, striking a Mightyena and Sealeo unlucky enough to be in the path of her hardened wings. The two Pokémon were painfully sent flying back while also knocking them out, with one of them crashing into its trainer and forcefully knocking the grunt over.
Taking advantage of the diversion Pidgeot's attacking movement had created, Skarmory made his move. Completely ignoring the ice coating his wing, he took several steps back. A faint white glow began to surround his body, stirring up the wind nearby in a rather threatening manner. Each passing moment made the energy surrounding him become more and more notable, with the intensity of its shine and the humming sound it emanated increasing rapidly. The light gathered around him suddenly erupted into a fiery golden aura, completely shattering the ice that had formed on his wing.
"Poliwrath, stand back!" the grunt shouted. The Tadpole Pokémon jumped back rapidly, not wanting to be anywhere near whatever Skarmory was about to do.
Skarmory suddenly flapped his wings, taking off the ground and then rapidly darting forward so fast that it seemed almost unnatural, leaving a raging golden blaze in his wake.
"Crobat, dodge!" the Crobat's owner screamed frantically. Thanks to being a naturally very fast Pokémon species, Crobat was able to quickly move out of the way before Skarmory's Sky Attack could hit it. However, the two Pelipper that had been flying behind the poison-type weren't so lucky. As Skarmory flew right between them, his sharp Sky Attack-boosted wings collided against them. Each impact discharged a violent blast of winds and fiery aura into them that sent them flying back until they collided with the wet and muddy pavement, knocked unconscious.
"Corphish, use Water Pulse!" another grunt shouted.
"Sealeo, use Icy Wind!" a second grunt shouted.
Skarmory glared at them and then flew towards them. Both water-types quickly charged their attacks in a panicked way. The Corphish gathered a sphere of tightly condensed, raging pulsations of water between one of its pincers, while the Sealeo fired a gust of freezing wind out of its mouth. Skarmory paid no attention to either attack and continued his path. The golden fiery aura storming around him completely tore both attacks to nothingness, with the Water Pulse bursting into a splash of water instantly and the Icy Wind being completely evaporated upon contact.
Skarmory landed in front of them and then reared his wings back, thrusting them forward and smashed one into each water-type Pokémon. The Sealeo and Corphish both let out agonizing wails of pain as they were blasted back by the rampaging golden aura, instantly knocked out, and were sent crashing into the Poliwrath painfully and caused it to topple backwards.
"Oh no!" the two grunts shouted, running to them with Pokéballs in hand to return them back to safety.
Another grunt growled as his battered but still combat-capable Crawdaunt diligently walked back to his side after recovering from the previous attacks it had taken. "Everyone!" he suddenly shouted. "Recall your fainted Pokémon and regroup!"
As the Sky Attack's rampant aura subsided, Skarmory watched the grunts return their fallen Pokémon back into their Pokéballs before running away. Seeing the opposing force retreat and regroup, he calmly flapped his wings and flew back to where Ash was, joined by Pidgeot.
Pikachu watched as the grunts he had electrocuted returned their fainted Pokémon and then ran back along with their ace Pokémon to rejoin the other grunts. "Yeah, that's right! Turn tail and run, you cowards!" he shouted mockingly.
Pidgeot and Skarmory landed at each of Pikachu's sides, with a smirking Ash walking to the space between Pikachu and Pidgeot. "Are you guys ready to surrender yet?" he asked the grunts.
"Never!" an arrogant grunt shouted once they had finished regrouping. By now, only the ace Pokémon of each grunt remained standing. In front of each of them stood their Octillery, Cloyster, Tentacruel, Poliwrath, Crobat, Kingler, Walrein and Crawdaunt. Some had more injuries and looked more beaten than others, but they were all still standing.
"Yeah, right, you twerp!" another grunt shouted angrily. "We're not giving up!"
"Heh, that's a word I hadn't heard in a while," Ash mused, before his smirk widened. "Well, can't say I didn't give you a chance."
"Wait, they're two Pokémon short," a grunt suddenly noted. "Where are the Latias and-"
It was at that moment that Latias and Latios, who had quietly sneaked away and turned invisible during the ensuing commotion of the other's attacks, both dropped their invisibility and revealed themselves. Latias was flying high to the left side of the Team Aqua group, her entire body glowing with a spectral red aura, and she was holding a massive orb of red colored, tightly condensed, wildly swirling mists in front of her claws. Latios, on the other hand, was levitating high on the right side of the Team Aqua grunts, his entire body wildly glowing in a dazzling and ethereal veil of swirling blue light. "Latias, Latios! Release your Mist Ball and Luster Purge!" Ash commanded with a triumphant tone.
As the grunts frantically screamed retaliatory orders to their tattered and weakened Pokémon, Latias and Latios released their signature moves towards them. The rooftop was lit up in a giant maelstrom of blue light and red mists as the two mighty attacks rained down upon the exhausted and hapless Team Aqua grunts and their Pokémon…
Chapter 19 End
Author Notes: That's it for Part 1 of Team Aqua's assault on Rustboro City and Devon Corp. Stay tuned because Team Aqua is not done yet!
This chapter was very entertaining to write, but I faced several challenges when editing it. I've always taken pride in my ability of putting any kind of action sequence and battle into words and chapters. So, writing a battle with so many combatants going on at the same time certainly proved to be an interesting challenge, I gotta admit. And, we haven't even gotten to the bulk of Steven and his Pokémon's battle which will have even more Pokémon fighting than the battle present in this chapter.
Speaking of that! Let me know what you thought of my depiction of Mega Evolution and the clear foreshadowing of how I plan to oversee and manage that mechanic into my story! At long last it's debuted in my story! I hope you all enjoyed the way I approach it and the way I wrote the actual Mega Evolution process.
Anyway! Leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter as whole, and see you all next update.