(The next day…)
The fireworks and the screams of several Pokemon announced the start of the long-awaited competition of that day. The wind was relatively strong and the waves gently crashed against the rocky shore, ready for an unforgettable flight race. In the stands, different types of Pokemon cheered to support their friends. Luke, who was on the contestants' platform, was able to catch a glimpse of his friends (Rex, Dylan, Rose, Zack, and Mina) supporting him. Then the referees arrived, who were a Chimecho, a Loudred and a Chatot.
"Competitors, your objective in this competition is to reach the Snorlax-shaped islet located about 300 meters away from here, in the East" explained the Chatot, "Once you arrive at your destination, a group of Watchdogs will give you a ring that they must bring back to the starting line and enter it in that post "
He pointed to a tall gold metal post which had a hook at the top.
"Now get ready," Loudred announced in his big voice. At that signal, all the participants prepared themselves by taking their places at the starting line. Chimecho placed next to give the starting bells.
Luke was somewhat tense as he listened to Chimecho's bells, repeating over and over again in his mind: "You can do it, you can do it..."
At the third bell, all the participants jumped into the air. Luke took one last look at his friends before taking flight in an easterly direction with the other bird Pokemon. In the lead, undoubtedly, was Ace, while our young rookie was barely in fifth place.
The sea below the competitors roared with the force of its waves below them, while the air buffeted them all with similar force. The open sea flight was totally unlike any other smooth flight and Luke had barely had any experience the day before, but he managed to continue the flight and rallied to third place. He strained his wing muscles to continue like this. It was a clean competition, so no competitor attacked another throughout the course. Finally, after a few minutes of flight, a group of islets with different strange shapes were visualized; one of them had the shape of a fat beast lying in the sea.
"A Snorlax" thought Luke, "That must be the place"
All the competitors flew into a tailspin, where a group of Watchdogs wer waiting for them, with some rings that were part of the second part of the race. Luke scrambled down as fast as he could to grab one and get back on the run. However, Ace was much faster and had already hit the ground before him.
"You do well newbie!" he yelled at him, "Hurry up if you want to beat me!"
At such motivation, Luke quickly took the hoop from him and then took flight two seconds after Ace did the same. When more or less everyone was airborne again, Luke was in second place. Things were getting more and more serious.
And, it got even more serious when a kind of storm began to appear out of nowhere: at first, the white clouds above their heads seemed to just want to gather into one, the strangest thing was that then they began to form a spiral at the same time that a strong wind began to be felt. Luke was starting to feel trouble and became even more convinced when the clouds began to change to a shade of stormy gray.
Suddenly, a huge bird Pokemon flew past him without warning, nearly knocking him off his feet. Luke noticed that he was heading in Ace's direction.
"Watch out!" he yelled.
Just in time, Ace flipped into an aerial spin and dodged the attack. Recognizing his old rival, Ace blurted out:
"I told you not to bother me in this race!"
"I don't obey you!" the Fearrow yelled furiously and, recovering from the unexpected blow, countered with a quick attack of pecks to finish with a wing slam that knocked Luke to the ground. Then, he gave another to Ace knocking him down as well. Not content with that, he swooped in to finish off his hateful rival.
But, what he didn't expect at all is that Luke's cell phone (which he had under his wing) was now reacting: its glow covered little Pidove's body.
"Pidove evolves to... Tranquill!"
Now, Luke immediately regained consciousness and maneuvering his new body better than before, he launched into a Quick attack.
The blow was so powerful that the Fearrow lost his balance, though he recovered quickly while Luke rescued Ace from falling into the ocean.
"Luke?" asked the Pidgeot in amazement, "Is that you?"
"Yes, it is long to explain…"
"Watch out!"
Ace pushed Luke away from a new attack from the enraged Fearrow. They dodged, but the enemy spun around so quickly that Luke charged forward. Both flew with the intention of colliding. However, at the last moment before the crash...
"Air slash!"
Luke disappeared from the Fearrow's range of vision and reappeared above it at high speed, hitting from a blind angle and in a vital spot. Upon colliding, the cell phone shone again, this time illuminating the Fearrow and stripping it of that dark aura that enveloped it. That aura condensed and took on a strange shape of a Rutherford atom with each of its parts dark. Before Luke could think of what this meant, the atom dissolved into darkness that disappears after being illuminated.
"What?!" asked the Feararrow, seeing himself free and weak from that darkness. However, he didn't have the strength to fight either, so he withdrew but not before warning Ace: "We'll finish this another day!"
The Fearrow took off and the storm slowly faded away. After it was all over, Luke returned to his original Pidove form. Ace took all this surprised, but then realized that he had saved him.
"Thanks, Luke," he told him, "I never thought that idiot would bother in this… dammit! the race! we have to go back to it!"
"Yes, come on teacher!" Luke told him.
So, both returned to their air race and catching up with the other competitors. Fortunately, neither had arrived yet, and both quickly regained their first and second place positions. However, when they were close and had to place their hoops, Ace slowed down without Luke noticing, allowing him to score first and letting him win the competition. By the time the chosen boy noticed, he saw the former champion coming in second.
As in any competition, his friends went to congratulate him and the boy won the prize of 2000 Poké and the title of 'Champion of the Air'. But, when everything calmed down, he approached his flight teacher, the one who had helped him win this competition.
"Master Ace," he said, "why did he let me win?
"You deserve it more" Ace replied, "And... I've also noticed that I'm a little rusty for this: you're younger and I'm sure that if you work hard, surely no one will be able to beat you"
"Thank you very much, for teaching me to fly"
"Do not forget: the wind is your friend, be free and treasure your wings to be unbeatable in the air"
Saying those wise words, the Pidgeot left in a northerly direction, while his apprentice stayed with his friends watching him go until he was out of sight. When everyone had a moment of peace, they started arguing about what happened in the race.
"All right!" Dylan yelled excitedly, "Now we can all evolve! Now no one will stop us towards Azurview!"
"This trip is becoming very exciting" said Flora, "We arrived, we traveled, we evolved and we fought…"
"More than the strangest I would say..." Rex mentioned.
They all looked at him with a worried face. Luke also considered it:
"You're right: first, we still don't know why we came here," Rex explained, "Second, when we evolve, we return to our primary form after fighting. And now…"
Luke finished it for him:
"A kind of dark atom corrupts some Pokemon, giving it more strength"
Faced with such arguments, only one thing was clear: they were barely at the tip of the iceberg.