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…

22. Rustboro Raid: Grueling Stalemate

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

"Speech."

'Thoughts.'

"Telepathy."

Author Notes: So, Chapter's finished! I'm actually extremely proud of how this chapter came out, and my beta-readers reactions to it. So, let's go! Let me know what you think about it and have fun reading!

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Chapter 22 – Rustboro Raid: Grueling Stalemate

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Aqua Admin Shelly coolly leaned back into a wall beside a large metallic doorway, keenly observing her team of engineers working hastily in front of her. They were in a very well-lit room that spanned a vast area and was lined with hundreds of large racks holding very advanced computers, servers and other intricate equipment. In the center of the room were several large computer consoles and monitors, the main access to the Devon Corp. supercomputer and database. "Any progress so far?" Shelly asked rather impatiently, crossing her arms over her chest while subconsciously tapping her foot on the floor.

"Devon's database is too well fortified and just… too big, Commander Shelly. We'll be unable to extract an entire copy of it as we originally planned. To speed things up, we're exclusively targeting information that's directly relevant to our goals," the lead engineer replied, his eyes never leaving his screen as he furiously typed on his keyboard.

"Fair enough," Shelly responded with a short nod. "Just hurry up. We don't know how much time we have left." She let out a prolonged sigh and quietly resumed waiting. Several moments passed before her acute hearing picked something up. She tilted her head, paying close attention to the faint sounds of footsteps coming from outside the room. She readied herself as the sounds grew louder with each passing second.

The moment a burly security guard rushed into the room she immediately swiped her arm towards the stun gun he was holding. The force of her blow knocked it out of his hands and sent it falling harmlessly to the floor. Shelly then grabbed a firm hold of his wrist. The guard tried fighting back by attempting to whirl around to punch her, but Shelly rapidly twisted his arm backwards and at the same time forcefully kicked at the guard's legs. He let out a short cry of pain, before going silent as he fell down and landed face first on the floor.

Shelly eyed the unconscious guard for a few moments and then motioned towards two grunts that were standing at the other side of the room with a short wave of her arm. They rushed over, and promptly dragged the security guard away to a corner of the room where several other unconscious guards and a few Pokémon were already piled up. Beside them were a few Devon employees who impotently watched the scene unfold.

"Success!" the Team Aqua engineer suddenly exclaimed, raising his arms triumphantly.

Shelly walked over to him, as did a couple other Team Aqua engineers. "You got a breakthrough?" Shelly asked, gazing into the screen while waiting for further explanations. While she was proficient at operating computers, she wasn't a career expert by any means.

"Devon's cyber defenses put up an extremely good fight, but I knew our specially modified Pokémon would win out in the end," the Team Aqua engineer bragged confidently. "Well done, Porygon-Z." The series of consoles the engineer had been operating began to buzz as arcs of electricity surged up through them. The electricity then began to flow into the air, casting a soft yellow afterglow into the room, gathering and growing in size until it rapidly materialized into a small red and blue Pokémon with yellow eyes and circular black pupils.

The Pokémon floated down to Shelly and the engineer, its strange body movements completely erratic while it emitted sounds akin to those of a corrupted computer. The engineer smirked and held up a Poké Ball, which promptly fired a red beam of energy that dematerialized the Porygon-Z back into its Poké ball. "Indeed, we have a breakthrough, Commander Shelly. Thanks to our little fella, we now have access to the sections of the data that we want and have commenced to back it up onto our drives."

"Good job," Shelly praised with a small smile. She turned around and began to walk towards the exit, speaking as she departed. "I'll go and check on the other group. Once you're done, go to the rendezvous point on the upper floors and wait for me."

"Roger!" the engineers and grunts responded as their commander left.

Shelly calmly walked through a long and dimly illuminated corridor. Her pace was rather brisk as she moved ahead. After all, time was of the essence. 'That's one objective down. On to the next one,' she thought to herself. After traversing several more hallways and staircases, she arrived at the entrance to another large room and proceeded to go inside.

The Fossil Research Laboratory of Devon Corp. was a very large room full of numerous pieces of complex machinery both big and small, and a handful of computers scattered across the room in an interconnected layout. The room also featured dozens of Pokémon fossils of many previously extinct species in varying degrees of preservation, with large boards containing information about them by their side.

A large conservatory full of plant species that dated back to ancient ages and a single small fountain made entirely of natural rock occupied a large portion of the right side of the room, with a pair of actual, living fossil Pokémon inside of it. The two Pokémon, a Cradily and Armaldo, were being tended to by a few Devon employees to calm them down and prevent them from being spooked out by the commotion. The rest of the facility's employees were hurdled in a corner, forced to watch powerlessly as Team Aqua's operation unfolded in complete and utter silence.

While walking up to a group of Team Aqua engineers, Shelly casually sidestepped the unconscious bodies of several Devon guards that she had beaten up earlier. "What's the progress?" she asked sharply.

"We've successfully disconnected the Fossil Restoration Machine from the room's structure and it's ready for extraction. However, it's much larger than we originally anticipated. We're still working on a way to actually remove it from the room," the scientist responded, holding his chin in thought as he looked up to the imposing machine that towered a good three times over his height. "It's not going to be easy. This thing has to weigh a couple tons at the very least."

Shelly nodded slowly. "Then it's a good thing I came prepared."

The scientist looked at her in surprise. "Prepared?"

"Nothing the scale of this operation ever goes exactly according to plan," Shelly answered coolly. "That's a fact of life. Difficulties and challenges will arise. But those are meant to be considered, analyzed and then overcome." She reached up to her earpiece and pressed it, turning on the radio. "Sea Titan Battleship. Dispatch cargo Helicopter, location Devon Corp. tower one. Target will be around the middle of the building, exterior section. Look for smoke. Over." She turned off the earpiece and then looked at her engineers. "Make some room, please. It'll get a bit cramped in here."

"Wait, what?" the Team Aqua scientist asked incredulously, while several grunts looked at each other uneasily.

"You'll see," Shelly responded ambiguously. She waited for the grunts and engineers to move aside before reaching into a holster that hung at her hip, grabbing two Poké Balls from it and throwing them out. "Gyarados, Milotic, come out!" she called out.

The two spheres opened in bright white flashes, releasing the pair of water-type Pokémon from within their confines and swiftly materializing them into the laboratory. Gyarados' enormous form stretched imposingly inside the room, occupying a vast portion of it. She let out an annoyed growl when she looked around and noticed how confined she was, unintentionally making several grunts and Devon employees shiver in fear in the process. Gyarados shifted slightly and began to slither slowly, carefully snaking her massive body around several machines in order to try to fit comfortably. Milotic, while still a very large Pokémon in his own right, was able to fit far better thanks to his slimmer body and only had to coil his body in a section of the room that was spacious enough to be comfortable.

"Uh, commander?" one of the grunts asked nervously. "What are you planning?"

Shelly chuckled. "Everyone, cover your ears and brace yourselves," she commanded firmly before walking up to her two Pokémon. "Hey," she greeted them in a friendly manner.

Milotic reached down to her head and nuzzled her affectionately. Shelly let a short laugh and petted the water-type in return. "Okay. Milotic. I want you to use a full power Hyper Beam on that wall," Shelly instructed, pointing at the wall on the far side of the room. Milotic lifted his gaze and eyed where his trainer was pointing to, then nodded briefly.

"Great." Shelly turned around and walked over to her other Pokémon, gently placing a hand on her cheek. "Gyarados, position yourself between Milotic and everyone else to form a shield," she requested.

Gyarados let out a low rumble and, along with Milotic, began to carry out their respective orders. Gyarados began to slither about, snaking around the many pieces of equipment until her body was positioned sideways across the room. She lifted her tail and moved it until it was in front of Shelly, widely spreading the fin on the end to shield her.

As Gyarados did that, Milotic opened his maw and began to charge a sphere of powerful orange energy within it. He thrust his head forward and fired off a potent Hyper Beam that collided against the wall and exploded in a huge blast. The attack tore at the wall's structure and blasted its way through until the explosion tore open a hole in the side of the building. Chunks of the torn structure fell down towards the ground, a cloud of thick smoke enveloped the surroundings and a myriad of fires spread from the gaping hole. The bulk of the shockwave from the attack as well as any leftover energy or cinders harmless collided against Gyarados, whose body prevented the attack from spreading further into the room.

Once the threat had passed, Gyarados lowered her tail. Shelly nodded approvingly. "That will do, good job both of you." She stepped around Gyarados' tail and walked to the large hole Milotic had blasted into the wall, carefully examining it. "Okay. Milotic, please use Hydro Pump to put out all these fires and blow off any pieces of loose debris near the opening," Shelly requested.

Milotic took a deep breath and then spat out a potent blast of water at one of the small fires, instantly putting it out. He then began to turn his head, aiming at a loose piece of concrete precariously hanging by a piece of rebar in order to clear it.

Shelly briefly looked at Milotic's handiwork before turning around to make her way towards their intended objective. "Gyarados, girl, we'll need your help to move something very heavy to this spot," she explained. Gyarados silently slithered after her, being careful not to crush anything as she moved.

"Everyone," Shelly called out loudly, causing all the grunts and scientists to stand at attention. "Get ready, the extraction chopper will be here soon."

Shelly crossed her arms as everyone got to work, supervising them as they moved about to carry out her demands. She sighed and reached up to her earpiece, frowning at the silence that greeted her. "Matt still hasn't reported about his objective… he should have been done ages ago. I better go check on him after I'm done here."

---

Steven Stone calmly watched the chaotic battle unfold from his spot near the bottom of the Devon Corp. entrance staircase. All around him lay scattered the unconscious bodies of a couple dozen Pokémon and their Team Aqua grunt trainers, an aftermath from their failed attempt to strike him down directly. At the steel-type master's side was a relaxed Aron whose attention was completely fixated on watching his parents, and the rest of his teammates, fight. The youngster's breathing was slow and deep, no doubt winding down from his earlier scuffle.

Steven's eyes moved from side to side as he briefly focused on one of his four Pokémon at a time before moving on to the next one. Occasionally, the former champion would voice instructions or comments towards them to guide them through the fight. Despite the vast and extremely chaotic battlefield full of loud roars, screams, attacks and explosions happening all over the place, his firm voice was carried through the Mega Evolution bond he shared with them, allowing them to hear him as clearly as if he was standing at their side the entire time.

Steven abruptly turned around and gazed upwards, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the top of one of the imposing Devon Corp. skyscrapers. Immediately, his expression became one of clear worry. One of the towers' rooftop was enshrouded by a dense cloud of black smoke that billowed with the wind, marring the otherwise clear blue sky.

Even from his spot on the ground, he could see that several fires were burning on the side of the tower and were spreading to the floors below, as well as see the numerous pieces of debris occasionally plummeting down to the ground from the floors that had undoubtedly collapsed on themselves. 'The battle up there seems to be really intense as well,' he noted with concern. 'Ash and Skarmory must have encountered formidable opposition up there. And they're most likely forced to deal with it head on. It's also highly probable that my dad is caught right in the middle of it all. They could be having trouble…' he thought.

Steven slowly turned around again, surveying his own battlefield once more. Past his immediate area he could see dozens upon dozens of unconscious Team Aqua Pokémon and many grunts littering the now completely ravaged courtyard, having fallen in their valiant but vain effort to stand up to his Mega Evolved Pokémon. By his rough estimates, more than half of the opposing force had already been defeated.

Metagross' telepathic voice gently entered the trainer's mind. "Only thirty-seven percent of the original enemy force remains," they said informatively.

"Thank you." Steven nodded, humming in thought for a brief moment before making his decision. "Mawile and Metagross," Steven spoke up. "Fall back immediately."

Throughout the chaos, his command was clearly heard by both Pokémon. Mawile slid to an abrupt halt on the spot, making the four Pokémon and the two grunts she had been charging towards freeze and observe her warily. Treating them as if they didn't exist and without paying them any second thought, Mawile whirled around without questioning Steven's command and began to run towards his position.

On the other side of the battlefield, a female grunt screamed with an abrupt warning of, "Watch out, incoming!" to her comrades as Metagross rocketed towards them like a missile, their body shrouded in a thick lavender-colored veil of energy from their Zen Headbutt attack.

However, their attack instantly dissipated as they unexpectedly turned around and flew towards Steven's position, completely ignoring what had been their previous targets. "Huh?" the grunt questioned in confusion, with her Pokémon looking at each other in confusion.

"I'm very shocked. You didn't complain about being withdrawn from a fight," Metagross commented drily as they caught up to the retreating Mawile.

Mawile scoffed. "Hush! Well, I'll admit I was totally having fun and being withdrawn sucks. But what's going on is really bad and Steven has to be recalling us for a good reason."

"Even more shocking is that for once you're actually thinking before punching," Metagross teased, throwing her a sly stare.

Mawile rolled her eyes. "I'm going to let that comment slide. For now."

Steven's eyes hardened. "Aggron, Steelix. Stay here. Finish off the rest of the Pokémon and grunts over here. Once you're done, stand guard and prevent any of them from escaping until the authorities get here," he ordered.

"Got it!" Aggron responded from afar. He looked to the side, noticing a Sharpedo had suddenly propelled itself from the fountain it had been in and launched itself at him with a powerful Waterfall attack. Aggron snarled as a powerful veil of silver energy coated his body. With a mighty roar, he charged towards the incoming opponent with an Iron Head attack.

"Leave it to us, Steven!" Steelix replied in the distance. She noticed out of the corner of her eye two incoming orbs of densely packed red energy heading straight at her, no doubt Focus Blast attacks, that had been launched by a pair of Poliwrath. She snorted while speeding up the rotation of the crystalline rocks orbiting around her to the point they became blurs. The two attacks collided against her mighty defenses and were promptly dissipated in two unimpressive explosions. Steelix then proceeded to lift her thick tail just as it began to glow in a powerful grey sheen, and then swung it ahead in a wide arc, smashing a gigantic Iron Tail attack on both Poliwrath with so much force that both instantly fell unconscious despite the type disadvantage and were sent flying a considerable distance away.

Steven smiled slightly at them, understanding their Poké-speech responses thanks to their intimate Mega Evolution bond. As Mawile and Metagross approached his position, Steven crouched down and faced Aron. "Hey, do you want to stay here and watch your parents fight?" he asked kindly. Aron excitedly nodded at him. "Figured. Just be careful."

"Okay! I will, Steven," Aron responded, even though Steven couldn't understand him, before running up the stairs to a place where he would both be safe and get a better look at the battle.

"So, whatcha got for us?" Mawile asked impatiently as she slowed down and came to a stop at her trainer's side. "Hopefully it's something else I can beat up."

Steven chuckled in slight bemusement, placing a hand on the Deceiver Pokémon's left set of protruding jaws. "I'm fairly certain that'll be the case, Mawile."

"Excellent." Mawile grinned eagerly.

Steven then faced Metagross, who had been patiently levitating just behind Mawile. "We're going to the rooftops," he stated. "Their force here has dwindled enough to the point that you two are not needed here. Let's go." Metagross wordlessly lowered themselves to the ground. Mawile easily jumped on top of the large steel-type with one leap. She turned around and extended an arm to help Steven climb.

"Hey, they're preparing to leave!" a grunt shouted, pointing at Steven as he climbed on top of Metagross with Mawile's help. "We can't allow that!"

"Quick, that means there's two less fighters here!" another grunt pointed out loudly.

"We have a chance now!" another grunt agreed.

"Everyone!" the last standing Team Aqua commander shouted, raising an arm among the commotion to gather the attention of the remaining grunts and Pokémon. "Scatter into the surrounding streets and start causing havoc! We can outrun an Aggron and Steelix, they're slow!" He then let out a rallying scream to try and boost the morale among what was left of Team Aqua. Most of the remaining grunts echoed their commander's war cry and then began to run in all directions along with the remaining Pokémon they had.

From the advantageous viewpoint granted by her daunting height, Steelix let out an unimpressed snort and slowly shook her head. "They're so hopeless," she mumbled.

Aggron chuckled. "I agree. Well, you know what to do, dear. It's all yours," he commented.

"It'll be my pleasure." Steelix' massive jaws slowly curled into a savage smirk. She raised her heavy tail high into the air before bringing it down into the pavement in one powerful swoop. The crashing of her tail tore open a crater into the ground while setting off a rough tremor that rattled the entire courtyard and promptly knocked many grunts and Pokémon off balance.

The streets around the courtyard began to quake and crack noticeably, then the asphalt violently tore open as gigantic rocks sprouted from it thanks to Steelix's Rock Tomb attack. Many grunts and Pokémon that had made it to the edges of the courtyard stopped and gawked in horror as a massive wall of stone at least thirty feet high surrounded them, effectively trapping them with Steven's two remaining Pokémon.

Steelix then stood upright, lifting as much of her body into the air as she could to make herself appear even bigger than she already was. "None of you are going anywhere!" Steelix bellowed, her potent voice booming across the courtyard and drowning out all other sounds. While none of the grunts understood a word she said, many gazed at her in fear from her roar alone. Their Pokémon, who could understand her, only paled in horror.

"Well, that was as impressive as I expected it to be," Aggron praised, flashing Steelix a fond grin. "Let's hope that teaches them a lesson they'll never forget about messing with us and Steven."

"Thank you," Steelix responded with appreciation, a satisfied expression on her face. "Now, let's mop up what's left over here."

Aggron chuckled coarsely. "Of course." With that said, he turned around and narrowed his eyes at a particularly large group of grunts and Pokémon that was near him and charged towards them. At this point, with the ground shaking ominously with every one of Aggron's heavy footfalls as the towering Pokémon approached them, most of them elected to simply break formation and flee rather than fight him. Some stood frozen on the spot in fear and lacked any kind of reaction, while a few more tried begging for mercy.

Steelix, meanwhile, headed towards a section of the wall that she had created. As she moved about, her heavy slithering tore large gashes into the already damaged pavement under her. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked sharply to two grunts who had been trying to climb up her wall along with their three Pokémon, two Cacturne and an Octillery. All five panicked and tried to climb faster as the massive metal monstrosity approached them with a very unnerving scowl on her face.

As Steelix's imposing shadow was casted over them, they screamed.

---

"Charge!" Ash shouted courageously at the top of his lungs, raising his arm to point directly ahead from his spot atop Latias' back. "We're not letting them take away Steven's dad, you all know the plan!" he added loudly, rallying up his Pokémon. Latios, Latias, Skarmory and Pidgeot rapidly flew towards Matt's gigantic Swampert, who defiantly stood before them like a towering behemoth.

Behind the formidable water and ground-type Pokémon, the Team Aqua tiltrotor helicopter carrying what was left of Team Aqua's forces and Steven's abducted father took off and began to gain altitude. Matt laughed raucously from the doorway as he eyed the young trainer's rescue effort. "Good-bye, kiddo! You've already lost this fight!" he shouted as loud as he could, his energetic voice somewhat drowned by the roaring sound of the helicopter's engine above him.

Swampert let out a rumbling growl while her eyes shifted from side to side, keenly keeping track of the four incoming aerial Pokémon. She carefully pondered the best way to stop them, being well aware that she didn't have to defeat them and that merely stalling for time was more than good enough. Once she had settled on a course of action, Swampert abruptly dashed to the side and headed towards one of the many collapsed sections of the rooftop. She leaped inside the crevice while her right arm tensed visibly and was coated by a thick veil of white energy.

"She's up to something, stay alert!" Pikachu shouted to his teammates, crouching down to a readied stance on Latios' back.

Swampert smirked savagely and then violently swung her Hammer Arm attack in an enormous wide arc at what was left of the roof all around her. An immense tremor rattled the skyscraper's upper floors, accompanied by a thundering blast that resounded in every direction, as a large area of the ravaged rooftop was completely shattered into wreckage and blown forward in the form of a barrage of hundreds of torn chunks of concrete and steel.

Ash's eyes widened as the sky ahead of them was blotted out by a seemingly never-ending cloud of projectiles. "Incoming!" he exclaimed to warn the four airborne Pokémon, who all took heed of the imminent danger and reacted to it.

Skarmory looked at Pidgeot just as a flaming golden aura began to spread across his metallic body. "Get behind me and use Steel Wing to shield your wings. We have to fly straight through that, we can't lose time by going around it!" he shouted.

"Got it!" Pidgeot nodded and slowed down ever so slightly to allow Skarmory to pass her before moving behind him to use his much more durable body as a living shield. Her large wings glowed with a solid greyish sheen, reading a Steel Wing attack to protect them just as Skarmory had suggested.

Noticing Pidgeot and Skarmory's decision to fly through Swampert's enormous attack, Latias hardened her resolve to do the same. "Ash, stay close. We need to distract Swampert so Pidgeot and Skarmory get through her unimpeded, there's no time to go around!" Latias said loudly, narrowing her eyes just as they began to glow a soft blue shade of light due to her readying her psychic powers.

Ash leaned into her body and wrapped his arms around her neck tightly. "Gotcha, Latias. We can do this. I'm counting on you!" he said confidently. Latias flashed him a brief smile before focusing completely at what was coming towards them.

Latios growled as he saw the other's brave decisions, while taking note that his eyes and psychic senses were struggling to keep track of the massive barrage of incoming projectiles. 'Latias is smaller and more maneuverable than I am, she can probably make it… but, I'm too big to fly through that and there's no way I can psychically clear a safe path. I have to go around it,' he thought as he began to swivel to the side.

The moment Pikachu noticed Latios' decision, Pikachu immediately dashed forward while a faint white outline surrounded his body. "Latios, give me a boost!" he yelled as he ran up the dragon's long neck while using Quick Attack. When Pikachu leaped off his head, Latios' eyes glowed to exert a strong telekinetic wave to push the electric-type onward like a yellow bullet. With that done, he pulled back and flew away to avoid the rock attack.

The vast bombardment of debris began to lose altitude and rained down all around Ash's Pokémon, colliding everywhere with an enormous series of quaking crashes that roared across the building and sent thick plumes of dust and smoke into the air. Swampert's widespread attack completely tore through what little remained of the rooftop, causing it to collapse onto the floors below with a deafening boom.

Skarmory's Sky Attack blazed at full might as he bravely flew ahead, wholly trusting his extremely durable metallic body to resist the oncoming onslaught. Smaller rocks and pieces of concrete began to smash against him, but they were completely pulverized into dust upon impact. The Armor Bird Pokémon held strong and kept plowing right through them, only being mindful to avoid the larger ones that could knock him out of the sky. Behind him, Pidgeot followed and perfectly kept pace with him to stay in the safe area created by his body. Her much larger wings stuck out, but her Steel Wing took care of protecting them from any small chunks of rock.

Ash clung tightly to Latias' back as she flew through the chaos, using her smaller and highly maneuverable body to dart past the larger and more dangerous projectiles while using her psychic powers to crush or deflect the smaller ones that she couldn't evade before they could hit her.

Pikachu gritted his teeth as he flew through the air like a yellow blur and, as his trajectory began to descend from him losing momentum, he zeroed in on an incoming projectile and quickly jumped off it to propel himself forward. He then repeated the motion again on another projectile, and then again once more. Aided by the speed boost of Quick Attack, Pikachu used the larger boulders as stepping stones to rapidly jump through the chaos while fully taking advantage of his diminutive size to dodge the smaller rocks. "Latias, give me another boost! I'm going straight for Swampert!" he called out, making sure that his quick successive jumps gradually kept moving him closer and closer to the red dragoness. With a final jump off a large piece of flying concrete, he mightily leaped towards her.

"Alright!" Latias responded, angling herself to the side and extending one of her arms. Pikachu reached up to it and grabbed a hold of her claws with his paw. Latias smirked confidently. "Go get her," she stated to the electric-type before quickly spinning once on her own axis, releasing Pikachu's arm at the right moment while using a potent telekinetic wave to push him ahead just like Latios had done earlier.

Thanks to Latias' boost, Pikachu rocketed forward once again like a speeding bullet, glaring determinedly at Swampert as he deftly jumped past several boulders. His tail began to glow in a light grey sheen, charging up an Iron Tail. "You're mine now!" he roared resolutely.

"Latias, give him cover with Mist Ball!" Ash ordered quickly. Latias nodded as she flew to the side to evade another large chunk of debris and get a clearer shot at Swampert. She held out her claws and began to generate a red-colored orb of light and mist between them. Once she was ready, she tossed it towards Swampert and Pikachu. Latias' eyes glowed as she used her mind to swiftly propel the Mist Ball ahead, causing it to shoot ahead and overtake Pikachu.

Swampert glared and let out a bellowing roar, rearing an arm back while it was shrouded in a powerful white veil of light. She then swung her monstrous Hammer Arm attack at the incoming yellow electric-type. It was at that precise moment that Latias' Mist Ball detonated between them, exploding into a thick veil of red mist that spread across a large area and mixed in with the dense cloud of smoke already obscuring their immediate environment. Swampert's attack blindly descended into the space in front of her, sending a potent tremor across the structure as it collided with it.

"You missed!" Pikachu taunted her as he dashed up her arm, his cheeks sparkling with electricity as he used a small Thunderbolt to protect himself from the veil of energy still shining around Swampert's muscular arm. With the still considerable momentum he was carrying, Pikachu leaped off her shoulder and swung his tail at full force, smashing a violent Iron Tail straight into Swampert's face with enough force to cause her to wince and recoil.

"Pikachu! Quick! Get off Swampert! Latias, immobilize her by using Ice Beam on the ground below her! Latios, use Luster Purge!" Ash commanded in rapid succession, not wanting to give Swampert any time to react to the ongoing assault.

Pikachu quickly jumped over Swampert's head and ran down her back. "Get her, guys!"

Now that Swampert's colossal Rock Slide attack was over and Latias no longer had to focus on dodging countless projectiles, she carefully aimed and took a deep breath while opening her mouth widely to allow a teal-colored orb of freezing energy to form inside of it. She thrust her head forward and spat a beam of icy energy at Swampert's feet. The rough terrain under the Mud Fish Pokémon was glazed in a sheet of slippery ice, forcing her to bring her weight down to balance herself after briefly stumbling.

A bright white light blazing from above caught Swampert's attention, making her look up and notice Latios descending from the sky with his entire body shining brightly in a thick veil of white energy. The blue dragon let out a roar and fired off a powerful beam of telekinetic light downwards. Swampert responded by abruptly spitting out of her mouth a powerful torrent of water, courtesy of her Hydro Pump attack. Due to the large amount of recoil exerted by her attack and the slippery ice completely failing to provide a stable surface to support her, she suddenly skidded backwards just in time for Latios' Luster Purge to impact and violently detonate in a large explosion on the spot she had just been a mere instant ago. Swampert let out a defiant war cry and anchored herself to the ground with one of her arms while shielding her face from the blast with the other.

"Dammit, I missed," Latios commented in an annoyed tone as he flew down to join Latias and Ash. "Or rather, she actually dodged that."

"It doesn't matter, Latios." Ash smirked subtly. "Because we just won this round."

Swampert's orange eyes widened upon hearing Ash's words. She swiftly looked around to get a good glance at her surroundings and acutely survey the battle situation. She slowly gasped when it dawned on her that she couldn't see two of her opponents.

Pidgeot and Skarmory had already left Swampert and the tower far behind them.

Matt glared angrily as he looked at the ongoing fight from the relative safety of the departing helicopter's side door. His grip on the door instinctively tightened out of annoyance, denting the metal frame in the process. "Azumarill, use Hydro Pump! Shoot those two right out of the sky!" he ordered furiously, pointing at the two rapidly approaching flying-types. Azumarill nodded, grabbing the edge of the doorway to steady himself. He took a deep breath and then spat out a powerful stream of water.

Pidgeot skillfully maneuvered out of the way, easily dodging the water attack due to having the advantage of being in the open sky. She tilted her body upright and then made a single forceful flap with both of her great wings, sending out a pair of white wind blades towards the escaping chopper. As the two Air Slashes approached it, they began to weaken noticeably until they fizzled out due to the powerful air currents generated by the helicopter's dual rotors. "That's not good," Pidgeot commented with a frown. "How are we going to stop them? I don't think any of our special moves can cause enough damage to it."

"I'm no special attacker, so you're probably right. But I have an idea. Listen, stay back while I bring that thing down. It'll be rough on me, so you'll be on your own for a bit. Be ready to rescue Joseph at a moment's notice," Skarmory replied to her before flying ahead, rapidly overtaking the larger avian. Skarmory's durable metallic body began to glow in faint grey sheen and hardened even further as he used Iron Defense. 'This… is going to hurt,' he thought to himself, not particularly looking forward to what he was about to do.

"Shoot it down! Shoot it down!" Matt shouted repeatedly, frantically gesturing at the incoming Armor Bird Pokémon. His Azumarill spat out another blast of high-pressure water, which Skarmory easily dodged by swiveling around it.

Skarmory fearlessly closed in on Matt's helicopter and then angled himself accordingly. "You're going down!" he bellowed as he flew straight into the helicopter's right rotor. The spinning blades completely shattered upon impact with him, carving deep gashes into his metallic armor in the process, and the rotor's core was torn apart in a burst of flames the moment Skarmory crashed against it. The engine that was connected to the rotors on top of the helicopter's fuselage caught fire, causing the helicopter to dip down and start spinning out of control.

"We're going down, we're going down! Brace yourselves!" the pilot called out to the rest of the helicopter's occupants. They all grabbed to anything they could as a thick cloud of smoke enveloped them.

Pidgeot trailed the out of control helicopter closely. 'The doors are still open and he's close to one of them. If I go in at the right time, I can grab him with my talons and take off before that thing crashes,' she thought to herself, keenly watching the chopper's erratic movements while she awaited the perfect opportunity to swoop in and rescue Mr. Stone.

Matt gritted his teeth as he held on tightly to the doorway, acknowledging that his current predicament was bad. With the helicopter rapidly losing altitude and his vision continuously obstructed by the thick smoke, his eyes narrowed as he took note of a potential way out of the precarious situation. He reached to the side with his free arm and easily picked up Mr. Stone by his midsection, lifting the elder and holding him under his arm. "You're coming with me, old timer," he said sternly.

As the helicopter kept wildly spinning out of control and the relentless flames spread across the upper fuselage, Matt kept a watchful eye on the second Devon corp. tower below him. The moment one of the helicopter's unpredictable rotations took it right above the building at a reasonable altitude, Matt took his chances and valiantly leaped off. Azumarill, upon seeing his trainer's action, immediately jumped after him.

Matt fell down the still considerable height from the helicopter and roared in pain as he landed on his feet. He stumbled forward and had to use his free arm to hold himself steady to prevent falling over, while wincing visibly and dropping to one of his knees in the process. Azumarill fared much better and neatly landed at his side without any visible strain. Matt released Mr. Stone from his grip, roughly placing the elder on the floor at his side.

The burly admin remained in that position for several seconds to recover, taking repeated labored breaths while keeping his eyes tightly shut, and then slowly stood up while groaning loudly. Doing his best to ignore the painful throbbing in his legs and hips, he walked towards the building's security railing and somberly watched his helicopter crash on the street below and burst into flames. Matt let out an exhausted sigh and reached up to his earpiece. "This is Admin Matt. My chopper has gone down, I repeat, my chopper has gone down. My current position is the roof of tower two. Requesting another extraction chopper. Over," he said in a clear voice. He turned the communicator off and scowled at Mr. Stone, who calmly stood up while dusting his elegant and expensive suit off. "You win this round, old man. But, we're not do-"

"Oh no, you don't!" Azumarill suddenly shouted as he quickly moved in front of Matt while an aura of pink light rapidly surrounded his oval-shaped body.

Azumarill's unexpected interruption caused both Matt and Mr. Stone to look up to see Pidgeot aggressively swooping down towards them. Matt rushed forward and grabbed Mr. Stone's arm to keep him at his side. "Azumarill, stop that thing!" Matt ordered fiercely. "Give it the beating of its life right now!"

Azumarill chuckled darkly. "You're mine, you overgrown Taillow!" he threatened with a condescending grin on his face.

"The proper insult would be overgrown Pidgey, dimwit!" Pidgeot replied as she glared at the opposing water-type while picking up speed. An orb of bright golden energy ignited in front of her, which rapidly expanded into a dozen beams of energy that blazed wildly around her.

Azumarill glared back at her. "I don't care!" he hooted back. Azumarill let out a loud battle cry as a violent gush of water engulfed him and then, using the great physical power granted to him by Huge Power and the propulsion of Aqua Jet, he leaped off the ground and shot up like a spear towards the incoming flying-type.

Pidgeot's eyes widened. 'Fast!' she thought urgently, instantly realizing that he would reach her before she finished charging her Giga Impact. Pidgeot tilted her body upright and broadly spread her wings, coming to an abrupt stop midair. However, even though her body had stopped, the Giga Impact energy she had been gathering continued onwards due to its momentum. Pidgeot then folded her wings over her body and dived down to continue ahead.

The remnants of the Giga Impact met Azumarill's Aqua Jet head on, detonating into a small explosion that sprayed water and heated steam in all directions. Pidgeot quickly flew under the blast, well aware that her unanticipated altitude change would cause Azumarill's attack to overshoot her.

Azumarill caught a glimpse of the flying-type moving underneath him and turned around in midair so he was facing the sky. He opened his mouth and fired a Hydro Pump upwards, using the knockback of the attack to rapidly propel himself downwards. Azumarill closed his mouth to end the Hydro Pump and rotated his body again. The pink aura that had enveloped him earlier flared noticeably as he crashed into Pidgeot's back, cleanly intercepting her with a powerful Play Rough.

Pidgeot let out a shriek of pain as they were both sent tumbling down into the roof with a cloud of cartoonish smoke and bright yellow stars trailing them. They violently crash-landed onto the roof, causing several cracks to form and run along the cement from the force of the collision. "Gotcha!" Azumarill gloated triumphantly as he stood over the downed avian, an obstinate grin on his face. However, his celebration was abruptly interrupted by a fierce Steel Wing attack that hit him from behind and sent him flying face-first into the pavement. "Hey! What gives!?" he cried out in annoyance as he used his chubby arms to lift his now scraped face off the ground.

"Are you okay?" Skarmory asked in concern as he landed beside Pidgeot, his wings dimming back to their usual silver and red coloration.

Pidgeot coughed several times after having the wind knocked out of her. "I'll be fine," Pidgeot answered slowly after regaining her breath. "Don't worry about me, Skarmory," she added with a wheeze as she planted her talons on the floor and slowly rose up to full height. Her entire front was now covered in dirt and scrapes from her crash landing, which contrasted with the burnt feathers at her side and back from Latios' misfired attack that she had taken earlier, in addition to the myriad of smaller injuries across her body from the prolonged conflict. Her breaths were heavy and slow, and her expression was clearly weary. Nonetheless she proudly stood up, ready to continue fighting. "I used to be a flock leader. I can take long fights of attrition."

"Very well, then. I'll take your word for it," Skarmory answered while giving her an admiring look, clearly impressed. "When Steven sent you guys alongside me on this assignment, I didn't expect you guys to be this good. You've all blown my expectations."

"You've never met Pokémon like us," Pidgeot replied confidently after a brief chuckle. She extended a wing and lightly tapped the deep gashes torn into his metallic armor at his front and side. "What about you?" she questioned. "Will you be alright?"

"Nothing big. I just need a few months of a good metal-rich diet and it'll regenerate," Skarmory answered before turning around to face Matt and Azumarill. "Come on, we're not done yet, Pidgeot," he added, his voice turning stern. Pidgeot nodded, turning to stare with contempt at the Team Aqua members.

Azumarill laughed maniacally, even though he was the last one standing between them and his trainer. "Come on, I'll take both of you on right this instant!" he boasted, pounding his chest twice with one of his stubby arms. "I'll enjoy breaking you two's wings off with my Huge Power ability!"

"…You have a few screws loose," Skarmory deadpanned.

"No you," Azumarill retorted, sticking his tongue out at the steel-type.

"We're coming, guys!" Ash's voice suddenly echoed loud and clear. Latias, with Ash still on her back, along with her brother who had Pikachu on his back, rapidly flew towards the second tower's roof, having left the other tower and its war-torn rooftop far behind.

Matt's hands tightened into fists. "Oh, what now!?" he questioned in a frustrated tone as he looked on at the newcomers. "Not you guys again!"

Back on the other tower, Swampert glared scornfully at the outgoing dragons. Their nimble speed and high maneuverability had prevented her from being able to stop them from simply flying over her and leave her behind. With Matt in great peril, she knew she had to take a risk. Swampert gauged the distance between both towers and after a few seconds of deliberation, she made her decision. She reared back and then charged ahead, running as fast as she could, each of her heavy strides booming loudly across the roof and causing the myriad piles of debris to quake. As she neared the edge, she used Waterfall to generate a massive waterspout that violently erupted all around her, swiftly enveloping her in a dense whirlpool. When Swampert reached the building's edge, she let out a deafening roar… and jumped.

"Huh?" Ash asked to no one in particular as he glanced back, his eyes widening when he noticed Swampert flying right behind them. "Oh no, we've got a problem!" he called out.

Latios' eyes narrowed, an annoyed expression settling on his features. "There's just no stopping her."

"Wait, I have an idea! Quick, turn around and intercept her with Dragon Breath and Psychic!" Ash commanded quickly.

Latios grinned, instantly figuring out where Ash's trail of thought was going. The moment they flew above the other tower, both dragons immediately turned to face the incoming Swampert. Latios opened his mouth, generating a swirling mass of green flames within his maw. Latias' eyes glowed, gathering her telekinetic power. Latios spat out a powerful stream of draconic flames, while Latias released a potent psychokinetic wave. Both attacks flew ahead and collided head-on against the airborne Swampert, slightly slowing down the speed of her mighty jump. "Keep going, guys!" Pikachu urged them on. "Bring her down!"

Ash's breathing became a bit erratic as he expectantly watched Swampert's momentum slow down. 'Come on… come on… Fall… Fall…' he thought desperately.

Swampert snarled and extended her arms forward as the veil of water from her Waterfall attack dispersed. She crashed into the building harshly, with the upper half of her body landing on the roof and the lower half crashing against the side. The railing at the top was crushed under her immense body weight, while the windows nearby burst from the impact and the tower's exterior cracked visibly.

"Dammit, almost!" Ash cursed. "Keep going, guys! If we can knock her off the building, she's effectively out of the battle! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt to help them out!"

"She's part ground-type, it won't help at all," Pikachu responded, giving Ash an awkward stare.

"Not on her, hit the area near her. Maybe we can cause the entire thing to crumble down," Ash clarified quickly.

Pikachu nodded and ran up Latios' neck with his cheeks beginning to release sparks of electricity. As he reached the dragon's head, he let out a mighty cry as he fired a stream of powerful Thunderbolts straight into the concrete Swampert was holding on to, further cracking it and weakening the structure.

"Push with all your might! Bring her down!" Ash shouted encouragingly while pointing at the dangling Swampert. Latios' Dragon Breath, Latias' Psychic and Pikachu's Thunderbolt all increased in size and strength as they poured all they had into it.

Swampert gritted her teeth and growled in response as the green flames and powerful waves of telekinetic energy battered at her face and chest and began to push her back slowly with renewed vigor. Her hands tightened their grip on the ledge and her lower body grinded into the building to hold herself steady. Planting her rear legs firmly, she slowly pushed up and began to fight her way up.

"Quick, let's get to Joseph while your friends are holding her off!" Skarmory suddenly squawked as he flapped his bladed wings and took off.

Pidgeot took off as well, flying past him. "I'll go first and distract that Azumarill, you pull off the rescue!" she said.

Azumarill laughed maniacally at the two incoming flying-types. He began to pound his chest and stomach with his stubby arms repeatedly with as much strength as he could, leaving deep and unsightly bruises in the process. A crimson aura engulfed him, his muscles tensing as a rush of renewed strength and vastly heightened attack power flowed through his body. With his Belly Drum complete, Azumarill threw the pair a deranged smirk. "You two are going down!" he roared at the same time as a violent sprout of water engulfed him. He fiercely charged forward with Aqua Jet.

Pidgeot, knowing full well she couldn't take a direct hit from something like that unprotected, swiftly stopped and flapped both of her wings to fire off a potent Air Slash. As she did that, both of her great wings began to glow in a dim grey light and hardened with Steel Wing. When collision was imminent, she crossed both of her solidified wings in front of her and braced for impact.

"Take this!" Azumarill howled as he rapidly sped towards her, his powerful Aqua Jet tearing the Air Slash in the process, and then crashed against the flying-type at full force.

Pidgeot shrieked as a sharp pain shot up her wings. She was violently blasted back by Azumarill's powerful strike, and finally came to a stop when she crashed against one of the several structures that jutted out of the roof several dozen feet behind her. The cement side of it cracked visibly upon collision, with Pidgeot then sliding down it and landing in a rough heap on the floor along with various chunks of broken concrete.

Skarmory gave her a quick worried glance before carrying on ahead, intending to go around Azumarill to attack Matt directly.

However, still using the speed of Aqua Jet, Azumarill rapidly turned around and headed towards him. "Get back here!" he called out.

'Guess I'll have to deal with him if I want to safely rescue Joseph,' Skarmory thought in annoyance before abruptly turning around to face Azumarill directly. As he turned around, he deftly landed and firmly dug both of his clawed feet into the floor. He raised both of his wings broadly in a defensive position while a golden fiery aura erupted all around him.

"You're next!" Azumarill shouted as he broke out of his Aqua Jet. Using the added momentum of Aqua Jet, he flew straight at the Armor Bird Pokémon at full speed. Azumarill held both of his stubby arms forward and swiftly created an orb of extremely pressurized water between them. "Die!" he roared angrily as he slammed his potent Liquidation attack straight into Skarmory.

The attack detonated into a huge piercing blast of water, making Skarmory wince visibly as small sections of the blades in his wings were blown off. His talons tore several deep gashes into the floor below as he was pushed back across it. However, with a defiant screech, he braced himself forward and completely stopped Azumarill's momentum. "You talk too much and speak big words," Skarmory began, glaring straight into Azumarill's eyes. "Trust me, you don't want to get into a life or death fight with me."

"Yes, I do!" Azumarill responded angrily, pushing forward with as much strength as he could. "Against my Huge Power, you're helpless!" he boasted, struggling to take several agonizing steps forward while pushing back the Armor Bird Pokémon.

Skarmory's beak grinded noticeably, the golden aura of Sky Attack flaring visibly around him as he held his ground as best as he could and once again forced Azumarill to a standstill. "Trust me, I know a far scarier user of Huge Power than you'll ever be," Skarmory replied sharply. He began to slowly open his wings, beginning to marginally push Azumarill and his Liquidation back. He once again winced visibly, the joints of his wings and his legs beginning to ache from the effort of holding Azumarill's immense physical strength back.

Meanwhile, Swampert let out a fierce howl as she began to push her way up into the roof, despite the relentless onslaught coming from Latias, Latios and Pikachu's combined attacks. Swampert braced herself firmly on the building's side and then propelled herself up with one final leap, managing to put the majority of her body on the roof at last.

"Oh no," Ash commented, punching his open palm in frustration. "And that was a good plan, too."

Wasting no time, Swampert rapidly stood up and ran ahead.

"Quick, dodge to the sides!" Ash commanded. "Pay close attention to who she targets!" he added quickly.

Latias and Latios simultaneously flew in opposite sides, effectively getting out of the way of Swampert's dash. Both kept track of her movements keenly, awaiting to see which of the two she'd target. However, the giant Pokémon surprised them both by ignoring them and continuing ahead. "What!?" Latios questioned in surprise. However, having knowledge of Swampert's immense combat skill made him quickly analyze what her real course of action was. His eyes lit up in realization. "Skarmory, watch out!" Latios warned.

As Skarmory fiercely clashed with Azumarill, he began to feel the very noticeable tremors that Swampert's running generated, and a brief glance to the side was enough to confirm it. His eyes narrowed. Without warning, Skarmory suddenly spun to the side, effectively using Azumarill's own strength to pull him to the side and trip him, resulting in him smashing himself face-first into the pavement once more, this time a lot harder. Without wasting another second, he rapidly flapped his aching wings and flew away before Swampert could attack him. "Sorry, sorry!" Ash apologized as Latias flew towards him, along with Latios. "We couldn't hold her off."

"It's fine," Skarmory replied. "Don't worry about it."

Ash nodded. "Okay." He turned to Latios. "Keep watch on them." He then glanced at Latias' face, patting her neck a couple times in the process. "Let's check on Pidgeot."

Latios flew towards Skarmory, who had landed several dozen feet in front of Swampert and the still recovering Azumarill. Pikachu leaped off Latios' back, landing between the two. "We're not done yet," Pikachu said threateningly, his cheeks sparkling aggressively. Swampert scoffed at them, while Azumarill spluttered and rubbed his stubby arms across his badly scraped face to get all the dirt off it.

Latias stopped at the downed Pidgeot's side and lowered herself, letting Ash step off her. "Hey, Pidgeot," Ash spoke out gently, crouching down next to the large flying-type's head. "She's hurt."

"Yeah," Latias agreed, her eyes scanning the large flying-type. "We've been fighting for a very long while now."

Ash sighed while reaching for his belt to grab her Poké Ball. He took a quick look at the device before pointing it down towards her. "Pidgeot, return." The Poké Ball's central button lit up with a red light as the device activated. However, Pidgeot's wing suddenly moved and lightly pushed Ash's hand away, causing the red beam of energy to miss her and ineffectively hit the ground beside her. "Huh, Pidgeot?" Ash asked, blinking in confusion.

Pidgeot let out a deep exhale, winced thoroughly, and then began to stand up with noticeable strain. "I'm fine, Ash. I can keep going," she said adamantly. Latias' eyes glowed, using her Psychic to push off all of the rocks that had fallen over and near Pidgeot to give her space.

Ash frowned worriedly and put a hand on her side, lightly running it up her damaged plumage while being careful to avoid any cuts or scrapes. "You're really beat up. You should take a rest."

"I just did," Pidgeot replied firmly.

Ash slowly stood up with her, using his arms to support her wing as she rose to her feet. "Are you-" Ash began to speak.

"I'm sure," Pidgeot interrupted. "I'm not leaving you or the rest of the team alone in such a dangerous battle, against opponents this powerful, where the stakes are so high. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to any of you. Especially you, Ash." Pidgeot looked into her trainer's reddish eyes. "I still have fight left in me."

"Okay," Ash relented with a frown. "Be careful."

Pidgeot let out a pained chuckle, lightly poking Ash's chest with the tip of a wing, causing the trainer to hold back a small laugh. "You be careful. It's you who we worry about. Don't go falling off buildings."

Ash scratched the back of his head while holding back a nervous chuckle. "Not my intention. Anyway, good to see you're okay, Pidgeot." He then looked to the side. "Let's rejoin the others, then. We've got a fight to win." Ash headed back to the rest of the team. Latias gave Pidgeot a concerned look before flying to Ash's side.

"Got it. Got it," Pidgeot said with an exhausted nod. She took a few long breaths to compose herself and winced as she spread and folded her sore wings several times, and then leisurely followed her trainer.

As he rejoined the other three Pokémon, Ash frowned. 'This battle isn't going so well anymore. We've been fighting for a long time now.' He looked back briefly as Pidgeot caught up to them. 'Pidgeot is heavily damaged.' He looked to his right, where Latios and Pikachu were. 'Latios and Pikachu haven't taken too many direct hits, but the prolonged fight is taking its toll on them. Both look weary.' He then shifted his gaze to the other side, where Latias and Skarmory were. 'Latias is the same, she's tired. As for Steven's Skarmory, he seems fine except for those nasty gashes on his side. But, Steven said we shouldn't worry about him.' Ash then looked up towards the remaining two opponents. 'That Azumarill seems heavily damaged as well. Swampert, however…'

"I must admit," Matt began speaking, breaking Ash out of his thoughts. "You've proven to be a far bigger hassle than I would've ever imagined. At this rate, I'm honestly not sure if I'm happy or pissed off about that."

Ash's eyes hardened. "I told you we weren't letting you get away. We intend to keep it that way," he responded sharply.

"We'll see, runt," Matt said back. "Because my Pokémon are just warming up! We're not even close to being done yet! Right guys!?" he questioned energetically.

"Oh hell no, I'm not even close to being done yet!" Azumarill responded proudly, puffing up his chest to show off the unsightly bruises on it from his earlier Belly Drum. "I'm giving you all the beating of your lives! Bwahahaha! I'm sending you all to your graves once I'm through with you! I'm totally carrying this fight so hard right now, if it weren't for me we'd have lost already!"

Swampert rolled her eyes at her diminutive teammate and remained quiet. However, her posture remained ready and on the defensive. Should her opponents attempt any surprise offensives against her or Matt, she was completely ready.

"Hey, Swampert!" Latios spoke up, completely out of the blue.

Swampert tilted her head and looked at the dragon, acknowledging him and paying attention to what he had to say.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Azumarill shouted indignantly. "I literally just gave a badass boast! You should be calling me instead!"

"You do realize what happened back there at the other tower, right Swampert?" Latios continued while completely ignoring Azumarill, causing him to fume angrily. Swampert stared at the dragon quietly, waiting for him to elaborate.

Pikachu gave the blue dragon an incredulous look. "Latios. What are you doing?" he asked very slowly. Skarmory and Ash gave the psychic dragon similar puzzled looks.

"Shh, I have an idea. Follow along and back me up!" Latios responded telepathically to the electric-type, so that only he heard him.

Pikachu scratched his head in confusion. "Sure, I guess?"

"So, Swampert. I hope you realize your trainer literally tried to abandon you back there. He was escaping on his helicopter while he left you behind fighting us," Latios explained while pointing with his claws at the other Devon Corp. tower and its war-torn rooftop.

Pikachu's eyes lit up and his jaw dropped slightly, realizing the dragon's plan. 'If Swampert stops fighting for Team Aqua, this fight ends instantly. That's brilliant!' he thought. "He's right, you know?" he interjected. "Your trainer was ready to leave you behind while he escaped to safety. He was abandoning you, Swampert. That doesn't sound like a trainer worth fighting for in my opinion."

Swampert gave the pair a very insulted look. She huffed once, and for the first time since the conflict began she spoke to them in a thick, yet still feminine voice. "You two do realize that I could've just held you back until Matt escaped, and then easily just climbed down the tower and retreated into the open ocean to reunite with him? I've done this type of escape plan dozens of times for Matt and my teammates in the past, and have plenty of planned places I can meet with them later on. I'm more than capable enough to escape on my own." She glared at them, clearly annoyed. "Matt cares a lot about me and I care about him, so don't ever imply that again, please."

"Uh, sorry?" Latios apologized gawkily, flushing in embarrassment.

Pikachu face-pawed. "Okay, that plan went terribly wrong."

"Good try, though. I respect that," Skarmory commented.

"Well, I guess bad guys are still allowed to care about their Pokémon and vice-versa," Ash said with a thoughtful expression.

"Hey, who are you calling bad guys!?" Azumarill questioned angrily. "We're not the bad guys here. You're the bad guys! We're just following our-"

"So, what do we do now?" Ash asked, glancing at Skarmory and completely ignoring Azumarill. "I'm a bit out of ideas here. Your call."

"Stop ignoring me dammit!" Azumarill screamed, his face red with anger as he rapidly jumped up and down. "I just said-"

"Please forgive him," Swampert spoke up, interrupting the smaller Pokémon. "You know what teenagers are like," she pointed out. Azumarill gasped in horror and gave her a betrayed look.

"Yeah, I do know," Pidgeot responded wearily, glancing at Latios and Pikachu.

"Hey!" Both of them exclaimed at the same time.

Ash scratched his head while trying to hold back a chuckle. "So, Skarmory?"

Skarmory hummed. "They have no means of escape right now. We can keep wasting time. Remember, Ash. We don't actually need to beat them. Steven will get here eventually. We just need to prevent them from escaping until that happens."

"So, we just have to stall?" Latias asked.

"Precisely," Skarmory confirmed. "If we can defeat them, that'd be great. But if not, we're doing great so far."

Latias nodded. "We can fly, they cannot. We have the edge here."

Pikachu's ears twitched. "Wait. I hear something."

Ash wearily hung his head in his hands. "What now?"

Pikachu groaned in exasperation. "It's another helicopter."

Another tiltrotor helicopter, also emblazoned with the colors and logo of Team Aqua, suddenly ascended from behind the Devon Corp. tower. The helicopter flew around in a wide arc over the roof and then began to descend behind Matt and his two remaining Pokémon, who were diligently standing guard to prevent Ash's team from interrupting the landing.

Once the helicopter had safely landed, the side door opened. A tall woman with long, bright-red hair neatly tucked under a Team Aqua bandanna stepped out and calmly walked to Matt's side. "I see you haven't finished here yet, Matt," Shelly chided him, much to the burly man's embarrassment. She glanced around, a preoccupied look settling on her. "Where's the rest of your squad?" she questioned.

"All gone," Matt answered truthfully. "Sorry about that, commander Shelly. I'm the only one left. Trust me-" He pointed towards Ash. "-that brat over there is intense. He's by far the biggest fight I've had in months." He grinned excitedly. "Oh boy! We've torn these buildings to shreds with our mighty beat down of each other!" At Shelly's flat stare, he hastily added, "I'd be happier if I hadn't lost my squad in the process, though!"

Shelly shook her head once. "Well, you got the big fight you were craving," she commented. She grabbed a normal Poké Ball from the holster tied to her blue pants, pointed it to her side, and released her Crawdaunt from it. Once the water-type had materialized in a white flash, she gave it a short gesture to stay with the other Team Aqua admin before walking ahead until she was a good distance in front of Matt and his Pokémon, facing Ash directly. "Greetings, trainer. My name is Shelly, I'm the main Admin of Team Aqua," she introduced herself politely, giving the Pallet Town trainer a curt nod. "I believe you're Ash Ketchum, correct?"

Ash looked at her suspiciously, not entirely sure what she was up to with her vastly different approach to the situation when compared to Matt's. "How do you know my name?" he asked uneasily.

Shelly threw him a slightly bemused look. "How else would I know your name other than the one very obvious way?" she asked rhetorically.

"Oh, that's true, I guess. I keep forgetting I'm kind of famous," Ash said with a small eye roll. "But that doesn't matter. What's up with you?" he questioned distrustfully. "You're a lot different than the other guy."

"I don't have much time so I'll go straight to the point. Listen, Ash. You certainly put up a valiant effort in this fight and I commend that. However, it's finished. Please turn back and leave. If you do, we'll let you go for free… despite the troubles and losses you've already inflicted on us," Shelly offered, the tone in her voice oddly genuine. "While you possess two invaluable Pokémon in that Latias and Latios right there with you, they're not within the interests of Team Aqua. Nor is it within the interest of Team Aqua to hurt a kid like you in any way. Take this opportunity to leave safe and sound. If you choose to stay and we do defeat you, I hope you're fully aware we could use that chance to take away your Pokémon or possibly hurt you, and I really don't want this to come to that."

Ash glared at her. "I'm not-"

"Hold it, I'm not finished yet," Shelly interrupted sharply. "Before you go on a heroic 'I won't give up' speech to me, I want you to consider something." She glanced back, acutely examining Matt's giant Swampert for a brief moment before returning her focus towards Ash. "Swampert doesn't look tired or injured. I'm going to bet you've been struggling to fight her on even ground. Well, if you can't defeat Swampert then you stand no chance of fighting me. I'm a far stronger trainer than Matt is. Seriously, you look like you're barely twelve. Don't put yourself or your Pokémon through unnecessary risks, Ash. Leave while the door's open."

Ash gritted his teeth, not entirely sure how to respond to her. As much as he hated to consider it, it was hard to find flaws in Shelly's argument. "I don't know," Ash admitted, though his expression still conveyed deep distrust of the woman's words. "For all I know this could also be a bluff."

"I have no reason to bluff," Shelly responded calmly. "And, I seriously am in a hurry." She sighed and grabbed a blue and white wave-themed Poké Ball from her holster. Her tone noticeably turned darker. "I'll show you exactly what my bluffing looks like. Perhaps you need a bit of coaxing before you see my point."

"Something's coming," Ash warned. Latias, Latios, Pidgeot and Pikachu got into aggressive stances, and Steven's Skarmory did the same.

"Get ready," Matt ordered. Swampert and Azumarill also adopted aggressive stances, intently watching every movement from the opposing group of Pokémon.

Ash crossed his arms and let out an exasperated sigh. "So, let me guess, you got a giant Pokémon too, Shelly?" he asked in a deadpan tone.

Matt gasped in shock. "Wait, how did you know that!?" he questioned disbelievingly.

"Well, every single one of you bad guy admins seem to have one, not much of a stretch for her to have one as well," Ash responded wearily.

"Oh," Matt said, rubbing his chin in deep thought. "That's actually a good point."

"Go!" Shelly shouted, smirking as she threw the Dive Ball to the ground in front of her. The device exploded in a fierce flash of bright red light. The light spread quickly, coalescing into a mighty form that spanned a vast… five feet long at most.

Ash blinked, completely taken aback as his jaw dropped. "That's not so big," he said unimpressed as the light faded, revealing a whimpering white and blue fish-like Pokémon.

"Well, this was kind of anticlimactic," Latios commented with a snort, flashing Shelly and her Pokémon a bewildered look.

Pikachu stared at it incredulously. "What? That's it?" he asked skeptically. "Something's wrong here."

Skarmory's eyes widened in horror, his breath catching painfully in his throat. "Oh no. If that's the small one… I don't want to imagine what it's going to look like really soon."

Ash frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked the steel-type in a confused tone. "Actually, let's see what Dexter has to say," Ash said as he took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the new Pokémon.

"Pokémon unknown. No data available," the Pokédex said in a robotic feminine voice.

"Great," Ash muttered in frustration, tucking the machine back into his pocket. "So, what's that?" he asked, looking at Latios and Latias.

"Beats me," Latias answered with a shrug.

"I don't know either," Latios responded. "I know most other Pokémon, but it's not like I could learn about all of them with just what Ho-Oh taught me from time to time."

"Well, meet my strongest Pokémon," Shelly announced proudly, spreading her arms in a revering fashion. The white and blue Pokémon she released began to flail around haplessly on the floor, its eyes shaky and tearful as he looked at them.

"That doesn't look so scary," Pikachu noted unconvinced.

"It looks kinda cute," Ash admitted. "So, you're stopping us with that, Shelly?" he asked suspiciously. The fish-like Pokémon gave Ash a hurt, impotent stare with tears on its eyes.

"Indeed, I will," Shelly responded, unbending confidence in her voice.

Ash sweat-dropped as he watched the large fish splash around on the concrete floor while crying. "Most impressive," he commented sarcastically. "If that's giant, the regular ones must be the size of a Magikarp."

"They're way smaller than a Magikarp, actually," Shelly corrected.

Ash scratched his head, confused. "So, do we attack it or what?" he asked, glancing at his Pokémon for ideas.

"Yes, actually! Attack it now! Don't underestimate that thing!" Skarmory called out urgently, his voice dire. "Quick, attack him before he transforms!" He opened his beak, a powerful orb of silver light beginning to form inside of it.

Shelly smirked. "Wishiwashi. Activate schooling!" she commanded. Wishiwashi unexpectedly stopped flailing about, its once terrified and tearful eyes abruptly narrowing in a harrowing glare and his mouth curling into a vicious grin that sent a chill down everyone's spine. A thick dark blue aura slowly spread across the water-type Pokémon's body until it engulfed him entirely, with his eyes gaining an eerie yellow glint.

Ash was taken aback by the change of personality for a moment, but he recomposed quickly and heeded Skarmory's advice immediately. "Latios, Latias. Use Dragon Breath! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! Pidgeot, use Air Slash!" he commanded quickly, fiercely pointing at Shelly's Wishiwashi.

As Ash's Pokémon and Skarmory prepared their respective special attacks, a massive gust of air suddenly emanated out of Wishiwashi that battered them mercilessly, which was then followed by a massive pillar of water erupting all around him. The water shot up like a gigantic geyser into the sky, causing cracks to spread on the floor underneath it as the roof strained to sustain the sheer pressure.

The five attacks unleashed from Ash's side of the battlefield, those being two streams of green draconic flames, two large translucent blades of wind, a large yellow blast of electricity and a beam of silver energy courtesy of Skarmory's Flash Cannon, flew towards the mighty water spout and fiercely collided with the base. The combined attacks blew up in an explosion that further rocked the battlefield, however, they did little to deter the massive rush of water as it continued raising skywards. Only Pikachu's Thunderbolt, aided by conductivity of water, traveled up the massive formation of water and briefly lit it up in a gleam of yellow before it died down.

Whatever damage Pikachu's attack had done was seemingly lost by the never-ending torrent of water that began to split apart and take the shape of dozens upon dozens of fish-like figures that oddly resembled the original Wishiwashi himself, albeit a smaller at just two or three feet in length each.

The water torrent finally stopped, resulting in a massive sphere of water floating high above the skyscraper. It kept elevating higher and higher into the air as it continued splitting into more and more Wishiwashi-shaped water doppelgangers that quickly became hundreds upon hundreds of them.

Then they became thousands. The massive form darkened into a navy-blue color that was reminiscent of the darkness in the ocean's depths. The thousands of water-made duplicates began to move around wildly like a frenzied school of fish and rapidly began to take formation and properly coalesce into a mighty and gigantic fish-shaped water monstrosity that was at least a hundred feet long.

As its tail elongated properly, pectoral fins fell into place, then caudal fins, then dorsal fins, then a wide gaping mouth with two protruding sets of thick teeth. All features became evidently discernible in the fearsome formation once it finished taking shape. Lights coming from the eyes of the duplicates sprang to life from within it, creating a dazzling display before settling on three rings of lights that went around the entirety of its body. Numerous lights adorned the form's various fins as well, with two large white fish-shaped forms lighting into life above its jaws to serve as eyes.

A quaking growl that sounded like shifting tides echoed threateningly all around them as the School Form Wishiwashi swam down through the air towards the rooftop. As it approached, the entire area darkened from the large blue-tinted shadow casted by the titanic water-type. It reared its head back briefly before tilting it forward and releasing a titanic roar that thundered like the destructive crash of a tidal wave. Windows on the upper floors of the Devon Corp. twin towers shattered instantly, which prompted Latias and Latios to erect a psychic shield around their entire group to shield them from the from the intense sound waves as best as they could.

Shelly chuckled as she stopped covering her ears with her hands, her expression shifting to one of glee as she took in the panicked expressions of her opponents. "Still doubting my claims, Ash?" she asked teasingly.

Ash didn't even pay attention to her, as he was completely speechless and frozen still from terror by the full form of Shelly's ace Pokémon. Latias instinctively moved closer to Ash in an overprotective manner, her eyes showing great defiance. She was ready to fly him away from any potentially dangerous situation at any moment's notice. Pidgeot, Latios and Pikachu, shocked as they were, also reacted and got in front of their trainer in a defensive manner. Skarmory joined them, knowing that as the far strongest and most experienced fighter in their party, his presence would be invaluable to reassure them.

Shelly waited a few moments to let the shock die down before loudly calling out to Ash. "Listen!" she shouted. Once Ash snapped out of his shock and looked back at her, she resumed speaking. "I know you really want to rescue Mr. Stone, but you stand no chance of fighting Matt's Swampert, my Wishiwashi and my full team. You can't win this fight."

Matt laughed raucously. "Heck no you can't, kiddo!"

"Besides, I'm sure that Mr. Stone would never forgive himself if he recklessly endangered a child and his precious Pokémon to save his own skin." Shelly looked back at the elder, who up to that point had been perfectly silent. "Now would you? Don't give me any crap. I know that you perfectly know what's going on here. I'm sure you're also fully aware that once we sit down and start doing 'business' and get what we want, we'll let you go. We have no further motivations other than our goals." Shelly gave the elder once last sharp look into his eyes before turning back to Ash. "So, what's it going to be, Ash?" she questioned decisively. "My offer still stands. I don't have any desire to harm you or your Pokémon, but I will if you keep getting in the way."

Ash's gaze lingered on her for a moment before shifting to the side to look at Matt's formidable Swampert, who was still standing guard at his side. To his dismay, just as Shelly had said, while she looked a bit winded, she didn't look exhausted yet. Ash's head then tilted up to gaze at Shelly's monstrous School Form Wishiwashi floating above them all. Finally, his disappointed gaze came to look down at the ground, while a deeply thoughtful expression formed on his features.

"Hey! What about me!? Don't I get a contempt look-over too? I'm here too you know!" Azumarill called out angrily, his face red with indignation. "I'm a big threat too!"

Ash frowned thoughtfully, looking back at his Pokémon while paying the raging Azumarill no attention, much to the water-type's chagrin. "What do you think, guys?" he asked at last. Pidgeot, Pikachu, Latios and Latias looked at him, sharing similar unhappy looks in their defeated gazes.

Before any of his Pokémon could answer, Mr. Stone suddenly spoke up for the first time since the whole ordeal started. "There is no shame in retreat, son," he spoke out, getting everyone's attention. "She's… right. You've already risked yourself more than enough as it is to help me, and I'm immensely grateful for that. Sadly, this has clearly spiraled out of our control and the enemy has won. I'll be blunt. Take her offer. I don't want a child to risk his life or his friends to save me, and I don't want any incident to hang on my conscience if it comes down to the worst."

Skarmory nodded in agreement. "Leave, Ash. Please do. Steven would never hold any ill will to you for that. In fact, I'm sure he'd agree to this."

Ash's hands tightened into fists, he hated the idea of surrendering and letting Team Aqua get away, but at the moment there didn't seem to be other way. "But, what about you, Skarmory?" he asked worriedly.

"I won't leave Joseph alone, so I'll surrender myself with him," Skarmory answered. "It'll do Steven's state of mind wonders to know that one of us is with him."

"I hate the idea as much as you do, Ash," Latios spoke up. "But, they're right. We can't win this fight."

Pikachu nodded with a sad expression. "They win. This time."

Ash sighed dejectedly, and silently reached towards Latias' neck with an arm. She lowered herself in order to allow him to climb onto her back.

"I'm glad you saw things maturely and didn't make any stupid decisions," Shelly praised him. "In that case, I'll fulfill my end of the deal as well." She raised an arm. "Let them leave, everyone. No attacks."

Matt chuckled with a gleeful expression as he watched Ash slowly climb aboard Latias. "I love it when we win!" he said with a broad grin.

"Hold up!" a voice suddenly resounded across the roof.

Immediately upon hearing the voice, Mr. Stone smirked slightly and Skarmory let out a sigh of relief.

A figure shot up from behind the building, arching into the rooftop as it fell down and then landed with a fierce crash right in front of Ash's team and Skarmory. "It's great to see you," Skarmory commented.

"Likewise, Skarm. Good to see you're still in one piece," Mawile answered as she stood up to her full height. She glared at Matt and Shelly along with their Pokémon, with the two large sets of jaws prodding from her head arching around her slim figure, one pointing towards Wishiwashi and the other towards Swampert, to throw each a very unnerving and sinister grin.

Then, from the spot Mawile had jumped from, Metagross appeared, levitating into the rooftop with none other than Steven Stone on top of him.

"Actually," Latios abruptly spoke up. "Let's stay. Things just turned for the better."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, smiling in relief as renewed strength filled him. "This evens the odds so much better."

Skarmory laughed. "Evens? Evens? You give them too much credit. This kills any chance of there being any odds to begin with."

As the three newcomers settled in, Shelly paled. "Oh no. It's him."

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Chapter 22 End

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Author Notes: Well, that's it for today! Pretty big chapter I'd say. We're steadily approaching the end of the Rustboro Raid Saga. Hooray!

On other notes…

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