Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 27. As I said in the previous chapter, this chapter is going to be very special. Why is this chapter special? Because the main focus of this chapter is Scarlet and many characters from the Pokémon canon. So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy it.
Scarlet laid down on top of a plane, taking a rest. She'd been flying nonstop towards the Kalos Region, even someone with her power had limits. She'd fortunately found a plane enroute to Kalos and decided to stay on it for a while.
She used her time to formulate a plan to capture Hoopa. The whereabouts of the Pokémon were unknown, but the Prison Bottle, the source of its power, was currently under the care of the Kalos Champion Calem. It would be easy to find and defeat the champion to get the prison bottle, but finding Hoopa itself would be a more difficult task if the champion didn't know where it was.
She got to her feet and floated towards the front of the plane. In the distance, she could see the beautiful region of Kalos. Even from this high in the air, Parfum Palace was easily visible. Its windows glimmered in the sun.
After a few minutes, the plane was flying over the Kalos Region. It started descending, readying for landing. The plane was headed to Lumiose City, the home of the Central Airport, the only Airport in Kalos. That however, was not her destination.
She focused her psychic powers and shot into the air, fire appearing at her feet to help her fly faster. Her destination was the League Palace, a huge palace where the four elite four members and the champion resided. Normally, Calem would be living here.
She rocketed off towards the League Palace. At her speeds, reaching the palace was going to take at least fifteen minutes of serious flying. Fortunately, she'd rested long enough during the journey.
Fifteen minutes later
She approached the League Palace, the beautiful building stood imposingly, the four towers glittering with a huge spire in the middle. Scarlet blasted through the middle tower, shattering the glass dome. She stopped flying and stylishly flipped over, landing on her feet in the middle of the battle floor.
The top of the tower was where the champion resided. It was complete with an expansive bedroom and a luxurious bathroom, as stated by the champion's social media feed.
The rest of the facilities like the kitchen, entertainment room and more were located in another part of the palace that was closed to challengers and the public alike.
Scarlet waited for the champion to arrive. She wasn't in a hurry and figured she'd made enough noise with her entrance. Sure enough, she was right.
"Who are you?" asked a voice threateningly.
Not surprised by his appearance, Scarlet calmly turned around.
"Well hello Calem, champion of the Kalos Region. I'm here to-"s
"I don't care why you're here! How'd you get in?"
Scarlet fixed the champion with a cold glare. "You do not interrupt me. How do you think I got in here? My name is Scarlet, from the Calzei Region. I believe you are in possession of the Prison Bottle. And unfortunately for you, that's what I want."
"Wait a minute," said Calem. "You're Scarlet? I've heard about you, you're that menace the Oak Agency's struggling to deal with. Well you picked the wrong guy to fight!"
In a flash, he sent out six Pokémon. A Greninja, Gallade, Talonflame, Florges, Goodra, and Trevenant appeared. Scarlet knew what Calem was going to do, and decided to see if he could be a challenge.
"Alright team, you know what to do! Hyper Offense Structure! Greninja, lead off with Water Shuriken!"
Scarlet expanded her psychic powers and captured the thoughts of each Pokémon and their trainer. Using this, she took off into the air and dodged the Greninja's Water Shuriken as it sped towards her. The Gallade surrounded itself with a rainbow light as it started to Mega Evolve. The other four Pokémon charged at Scarlet while the Gallade did so.
Scarlet stretched out her hand and caught the Talonflame with her psychic powers as it used Brave Bird. Spinning around, she dodged a Power Whip from the Goodra and threw the Talonflame at it. She dodged a Dark Pulse from the Greninja and threw a huge burst of fire at the Trevenant as it used Horn Leech.
"Gallade, Night Slash! Goodra and Trevenant, attack at the same time! Talonflame, fall back!"
The Gallade, now in its Mega Form, charged at Scarlet. It slashed at her with darkened blades, but she easily saw every attack it attempted and dodged with ease. The Gallade leapt back as the Trevenant and Goodra charged. Scarlet saw this coming and flew upwards, avoiding both Pokémon before blasting them with a huge stream of fire.
The Greninja used Hydro Pump from a corner of the room as she attacked the two other Pokémon. Sensing the attack, Scarlet dodged the attack before sending a blast of fire in its direction. She flew downwards, dodging another Hydro Pump and grabbed the Trevenant with her psychic powers. She flung it at the Greninja and flung the Goodra towards the Gallade before flying after the Talonflame.
The Talonflame spotted her and used Brave Bird, charging at Scarlet. She dodged the attack and flung it backwards.
She dodged Water Shuriken aimed for her head before she flipped around and caught the Goodra's horns as it used Power Whip. She picked it up and swung it at the Trevenant before flying upwards and dodging the Gallade.
The fight continued on like this. Despite Scarlet's skills and foretelling powers, the fact she was outnumbered by six, skilled Pokémon that worked perfectly together proved to be a bit of a nuisance.
Tiring of the battle, she charged up a large burst of fire and flew towards the Greninja, dodging its water attacks as she did so. She fired the huge burst of fire as the five other Pokémon came up behind her. The Greninja cut through the fire with a Hydro Pump as the other Pokémon closed in on Scarlet.
Charging up her psychic power, she unleashed a huge burst of psychic energy that threw all the Pokémon backwards. Glass shattered as the brick groaned and rumbled. All occupants of the room were thrown outside, save for Calem, who Scarlet saved with her powers.
"Wha- what, what happened?" stammered Calem, still recovering from the attack.
"I happened," growled Scarlet. "Now tell me where the prison bottle is."
"The Prison Bottle?"
Scarlet scoffed and threw him aside, choosing instead to read his mind. From it, she discovered the Prison Bottle was locked in a vault below Prism Tower. Normally, it would only be accessible from an elevator at the top of the tower using a special key under the ownership of the champion. She also learned that Calem didn't know where Hoopa was located, but he had a hunch that an elder by the name of Kuro did. She didn't bother with the location of the key however, if she could spread fear and terrorism, she would.
Twenty minutes later
Scarlet crashed through the lobby of the Prism Tower, glass shard flying away from her glowing with psychic energy. The receptionist screamed and dove behind the counter.
Scarlet drew fire into her hands and pressed them against the floor, melting it as it grew hotter and hotter. Using her psychic powers, she wrenched the metal from its place with a terrible screech.
She looked into the hole satisfied. She dropped inside, finding herself in the basement of the tower. The basement was dark, so she created a ball of fire to light it up.
She walked through the basement carefully, dimming the fire to keep the light to herself. She pushed out her psychic powers, but didn't detect anybody. However, that simply put Scarlet more on the edge. Why wouldn't there be any guards for a sacred artifact?
She moved through the basement, moving her hand around like a torch. So far, she didn't detect anything. Either the defenses were well hidden, or the fools decided they didn't need extra defenses.
Out of nowhere, four robotic arms came at her from the walls. She surrounded herself in fire just before they reached. The arms detected the heat and reeled back.
Scarlet cursed, these were mere machines. She couldn't read anything from them, but she figured they wouldn't be intelligent enough to stop her. She gathered fire in her hands and blasted it at one of the arms. The arm dodged the attack as the other three came for her. She whipped around, creating a whip of fire. The machines dodged as she slashed at them. One of them curled around her leg and delivered a powerful shock that numbed her leg.
She untangled it with her psychic powers and flew into the air. She used her psychic powers to freeze the arms and tie them together.
Suddenly, the fingers on the arms opened and fired a huge bolt of electricity. Startled, she fought back with a burst of fire. However, the electricity cut through the fire and hit her, causing her to go flying backwards.
With a growl, she grabbed the floor with her psychic powers and forced it upwards, trapping the machine. Looking around, she spotted a camera locked on her position. She melted it with a fire laser and the robotic arms immediately stopped targeting her.
She pulled the floor away and crossed over the robotic arms. She landed on the ground tentatively. Her leg was still numb, so she continued flying.
She continued flying, creating another fireball to light up her surroundings. She scanned the ceiling and spotted another camera. She threw her fireball and incinerated it.
She continued through the room like this. Melting cameras and binding arms. After a while, she found herself at the vault.
She rubbed her hands together and created a super hot spark. She moved it to one hand and put it against the vault door. She intensified the flame as much as she could, turning it into a thin laser. The fire flashed and became blue, turning violet at the tip. Despite the safe's durability, she started cutting through smoothly.
Within ten seconds, she'd cut through half the safe. Suddenly, she became aware of a presence approaching her. Six of them. She whipped around, readying her fire. Around the corner came a young woman with five Pokémon. She had long yellow hair tied into twintails and held in place by two lightning bolt shaped pins. She wore a brown dress with short sleeves that had a fleecy skirt at the end with lightning stripes.. She wore short, brown leggings and had a lightning chain necklace. Behind her was a Dedenne, Heliolisk, Electivire, Ampharos, and a Rotom. It was the Gym Leader of the Prism Tower, Bonnie.
"You must be Scarlet. Calem warned me a little too late you were coming. You sure made a mess of the champion."
"And yet you still challenge me?"
Bonnie laughed. "I've mastered the power of electric types, and science shows that electricity can disrupt fire. Even then, we can still win this! Heliolisk, Hyper Voice, Dedenne, Electivire, Rotom, Thunderbolt! Ampharos, Mega Evolve!"
The Heliolisk gave a loud cry and fired loud waves of sound. Scarlet acted quickly and used her psychic powers to seal its mouth before dodging the triple Thunderbolt. The Ampharos burst in rainbow light and Mega Evolved before using Dragon Pulse, hitting Scarlet in the shoulder.
Scarlet cursed, the room was too small to move about easily, especially since Bonnie and her Pokémon blocked the exit.
"Electivire, Thunder Punch! Dedenne, Rotom, Ampharos, Heliolisk, back him up!"
The Electivire charged forward at her, his fist lighting up with electricity. He swung at Scarlet, who smoothly dodged the attack and threw him aside with a burst of psychic energy. She flew around a series of lightning bolts and froze the other four Pokémon before flinging them backwards. She gathered a spark of fire and launched it towards the exit.
"Thunderbolt!"
All five Pokémon let loose a powerful Thunderbolt that cut through the fire. Scarlet tried dodging the attack, but the sheer force from the attack caused her hair to stand up as she was sent flying to a side wall with jolts of electricity. The brunt of the attack smashed into the vault door, causing the door to explode inwards since it was already weakened by Scarlet.
"Ampharos, Power Gem!"
The Ampharos' gem glowed as it fired a series of glowing stone's at Scarlet. Scarlet waved a hand and held back the stones. The Heliolisk raced around him and used Hyper Voice. She held out her other hand and stopped it. The Electivire leaps at her with Thunder Punch, prompting her to stop it as well. The Dedenne used Dazzling Gleam and aimed it at Scarlet, blinding her. The Rotom saw its opportunity and used Shadow Ball. The attack hit Scarlet straight on and sent her backwards. All the Pokémon held by her psychic control were immediately let go of and she hit the floor of the vault.
"I'm tired of this little charade," said Scarlet.
She flew into the air and grabbed Bonnie with her psychic powers. She pulled her towards her and grabbed her neck. Bonnie's Pokémon instantly reacted and fired a joint lightning bolt, but Scarlet levitated the vault door and blocked the attack.
"All of you stand down or else I will kill her!"
All five Pokémon stopped their attack and backed down, growling and glaring at Scarlet. Scarlet only smirked and tossed Bonnie over to them.
"Try anything and I'll kill all of you."
She turned around and floated into the vault. She saw many glass cases full of different artifacts, but all the way in the back, stood the Prison Bottle.
She smiled and shattered the glass with a snap of her fingers. She grabbed the Prison Bottle and felt its power inside. Satisfied, she put it anyway in a satchel she had with her. Then she pulled out a phone and teleported away.
She found herself on the top of Prism Tower, staring down into Lumiose City. She dialed a number and held it up to her ear.
The phone rang seven times before going to voicemail.
"Hi, this is Mia. If I didn't pick up the phone, it's because I don't care. If I declined your call, it's because I don't care either."
Scarlet gritted her teeth and dialed again. After a few rings, Mia finally picked up.
"You-" started Scarlet.
"Why are you bothering me?" demanded Mia, cutting Scarlet off. "I'm in the middle of trying to get my driver's license!"
"You insolent little brat. You dare-"
"What are you going to do? I'm all the way in the Calzei Region, and you took a nice trip to Lumiose City."
"The moment I get back I'll incinerate your video games."
Mia was silent on the other end. "Fine. I assume you want my results about the search for Hoopa. It was actually pretty hard, even for someone as pretty and talented as me. I was able to trace the Prison Bottle and any references of Hoopa to a man named Walter Dunham. He was known to travel mysteriously from place to place, and was rumored to have a seventh Pokémon described as tiny, floating, and partly purple."
"That's the best you can do?"
"Yes it's the best I can do! This stuff is hard you know! Why don't you fly around and read everyone's minds until you find it? I tried getting more information on this Walter Dunham guy, but it's like he never existed! I had to hack the Hall of Fame records to find out he was a champion after a slight reference. And it turned out he was deleted from the Hall of Fame as well! You think this is easy?"
"You may just be onto something."
"Now you think so?"
"Unless he was hiding something important, they wouldn't go through all the trouble, especially when he was famous at one point."
"Uh huh, and get this. Any mention of his name online gets censored after some time."
"Good job I suppose. Did the name Kuro come up anywhere?"
"Uh, Kuro Dunham."
"Great, find out where he lives and give me the location."
"You think they're related?"
"Now I know for sure."
Thirty minutes later
Scarlet was flying lazily in the air when her phone rang. She picked it up and found Mia on the other end.
"Alright, I got two things. One, I passed my exam. Two, I got Kuro's location. He lives in a small house in Allearth Forest."
"The Allearth Forest? Isn't that where the Diamond Domain is?"
"Yeah so you better steer clear of there. I heard stories about a powerful Diancie living there, capable of Mega Evolution on its own."
"Hmm, that would be a good Pokémon to take control of. I'll control it after I get Hoopa."
"Well okay, I couldn't care less. I'm going to play video games now. I'm sure you can figure out the rest by yourself."
With that, she hung up. Scarlet sighed and flew off, headed towards Allearth Forest. She passed over a small city and blasted forward, flying into the clouds While she was heading to the forest, she started feeling something was off. She'd been using her powers all day and was starting to exhaust them.
After some time, she entered the forest. Mia had sent her coordinates of the house, so she knew exactly where she was going to be heading.
She flew through the forest for a few minutes before she came to a clearing. In the clearing was a small house. She smiled, she had the right place.
She landed in front of the house and knocked on the door.
"Sorry, I know you're wondering why I live in a house in the forest, but I detest visitors."
"Oh don't worry," said Scarlet, flinging the door open with her psychic powers.
A man stood at the door, looking in mild surprise at the ripped open door. He wore a blue and gray kimono and had long gray hair. Scarlet tried feeling through his mind, but something seemed to stop her.
"Well that's pretty interesting," said the man. "You have some pretty interesting powers. It seems I can't read your thoughts either, as you can't read mine."
"An Aura Guardian," said Scarlet. "This should be interesting. But, my matters are not with you. Where is your son Kuro?"
Kuro looked surprised for a brief moment. "I don't know why you want to know where my son is, but I don't know where he is."
"Oh I think I know you know where your son is. And you know why I want to know where your son is. He has Hoopa, and I need it."
Kuro narrowed his eyes on her. "I don't know why you want Hoopa, but your intent is clear. You will not have the Pokémon and I will not give you the location of my son, even if you try to torture it out of me."
"Fine then," said Scarlet, rising into the air. "I will get the location of Hoopa whether you like it or not."
Before she could attack, a Pokémon burst out from another room. She barely had time to dodge before the Pokémon dashed forward and tried to strike her again.
She flew backwards and flexed out a hand, using her psychic powers to try and stop the Pokémon. However, the Pokémon only slowed down before trying to attack her again. She dropped to the ground and shot a burst of fire right as the Pokémon charged at her.
The Pokémon reeled backwards from the flames, allowing Scarlet to see her attack. It was a Lucario, however, it was radiating an abnormal amount of Aura.
"Lucario!" shouted Kuro. "Mega Evolve!"
Powerful Aura radiated from both Kuro and his Lucario. The Lucario exploded in a burst of blue and white light. Scarlet covered her face as a wave of Aura burst out from the Lucario, sending it to its Mega Form.
"This could be an intere-"
The Lucario charged up an Aura Sphere and fired it at Scarlet. She twisted to the side and fired a ball of fire, but it was already gone.
Scarlet scanned around, but she couldn't pick up the Lucario. Suddenly, she heard a sound and whipped around. The Lucario suddenly appeared and struck her with two Aura bones. She was thrown backwards and she broke through part of the house wall.
Scarlet got to her feet and readied her fire. She looked around but didn't spot the Lucario. She cursed under her breath, the Lucario's Aura prevented her from picking it up.
Suddenly, the Lucario burst from a tree using Extreme Speed. She whipped around and blasted it with fire. The Lucario created a barrier around it and blocked the attack before leaping back and firing an Aura Sphere.
Scarlet raised the ground with psychic energy and blocked the attack. She pushed it forward to try and hit the Lucario, but it leapt over the wall and dashed forward.
Scarlet flew into the air and dodged the Lucario before flying backwards to dodge another leapt. It landed on a tree and used Extreme Speed to leap at her again. Scarlet dodged again and had to quickly dodge another attack from another angle.
The Lucario bounced around at random with Extreme Speed, hitting Scarlet multiple times. She used her psychic power to move the trees around, but it still landed perfectly and dashed towards the ground before leaping upwards at Scarlet with Bone Rush.
Scarlet surrounded her body with fire and tried countering the attack. She was thrown backwards as the Lucario hit her and she threw a burst of fire at it. The Lucario dodged and leapt for a tree again.
Scarlet gritted her teeth and gathered a huge ball of fire. She blasted the trees with fire at random, setting them alight and quickly causing them to burn down into nothing.
The Lucario leapt backwards as Scarlet burned down the trees. Following its path, Scarlet was immediately able to tell its trajectory as it leapt. She fired a huge beam of fire as the Lucario leapt. The searing beam hit an Aura barrier as it came closer. THe barrier weakened slowly as it closed in on her.
Right before the Lucario reached her, it let go of the barrier and threw a fist. However, Scarlet caught the fist with superhuman strength and brought the Lucario to a halt.
The Lucario struggled for a moment before it started glowing. Scarlet threw the Pokémon down toward the ground. It hit the ground hard and it leapt upwards immediately. Scarlet flipped around and grabbed it before shooting fire in its face.
She threw the Lucario backwards and flew after it. It slammed into a tree before she tackled it in the middle. It fought to break free and attacked her with two bones before attacking her with Aura Sphere. She countered the attack with a fireball and trapped the Lucario with a tangle of roots, earth, and fallen trees.
The Lucario trashed around in its psychic built prison as Scarlet charged up her fire. The Lucario generated an Aura barrier as Scarlet blasted it with a surge of fire. The surrounding matter burst into flames and ate at its barrier as it struggled in vain to escape.
The Aura shield shattered and the Lucario was surrounded in flames. It screamed in pain as its Aura surged to try and counter her flames. Scarlet pressed her attack, sweat gathering on her face as she stressed her power. With a final burst of strength, she created an intense, white fireball. The Lucario's Aura surged forward, but the ball cut through it and struck the Lucario, causing it to faint as it reverted to its normal form.
Scarlet floated down to the ground, weary from the use of her power. She gathered herself and flew back to Kuro's house, entering through the hole she created during the battle.
She found the old man kneeling on the floor, pale faced and weary. Scarlet probed his mind, she could feel that his Aura had diminished severely.
"You were communicating with your Lucario and empowering its Aura the entire time. Too bad it proved pointless. Now tell me where your son is."
"I-I-I'll never t-tell you."
Scarlet sighed. "Well too bad."
She used the last of her power to force access to his thoughts. His Aura was too diminished and his will was weak enough to allow her to force her way through. She smiled as she gathered the location.
"Ah, the Terminus Cave. Well then, I shall be on my way. You lose Kuro."
The old man groaned in pain and tried getting to his feet. Scarlet dismissively waved a hand at him and set him falling to the ground. Too tired to fly, she walked off, leaving his house behind.
The next day
Scarlet stood outside the entrance of Terminus Cave. She looked around for any traps and reached out with her psychic power to detect any presence. She only found two deep within the cave. She smiled, she had her target.
She flew into the cave with a ball of fire hovering next to her, using her psychic powers to discern a path towards Walter and Hoopa. She easily moved through all the twists and turns, choosing the right path every time the cave system diverged into multiple paths.
The entire place was confusing though, designed to easily confuse visitors and lead them to dead ends. However, she felt that something was amiss. She stopped for a moment.
In front of her was a slight purple haze. She looked past the haze at the cave wall, and then looked back at the wall in front of the purple haze. It was slight, but there was a definite color difference. Caves didn't just abruptly become a different color, they gradually shifted. She conjured a ball of flame through the haze. Instantly, the haze and the fire disappeared, changing the scene of the cave.
"A portal," she muttered, passing through where the haze used to be. She continued on, coming closer and closer to the two figures.
She detected a change in their positions and sensed they were moving. They clearly realized that someone was in the cave. Reaching a decision, she used her powers to pull parts of the wall away, creating a shortcut.
She started to sense the unease of Walter and Hoopa; she read that they were considering making a portal. Pushing her power harder, she moved more and more stones out of the way, almost reaching them.
She detected a change of energy and knew a portal had been made. She focused her power and expelled a huge burst of psychic energy, breaking through to where Walter and his Hoopa were. She dashed forward and tackled the Ring Pokémon before it or Walter could enter the portal.
"Hoopa! I'm coming for you!" shouted Walter. He was a short man with long blonde hair and a slightly skinny frame. He wore a kimono like his dad and had gray eyes. Leaping into action, he pulled out a pokéball. "Go, Metagross!"
A giant Metagross appeared on the cave wall. Not pausing, Scarlet collapsed the cave ceiling and flew out of the area holding Hoopa. The tiny Pokémon thrashed in her powerful grip, but couldn't escape. Trying to escape through a portal with Scarlet would only separate it from Walter.
The rubbled behind Scarlet exploded as she flew away. The Metagross gave a roar and flew after her. She pulled more of the cave down on the Mega Metagross, but it punched through the rubble each time.
The cave shook as the fight grew on. Scarlet peered over her shoulder and saw Walter riding on the Pokémon. Hoopa fought in her arms, but Scarlet used her psychic powers to force it to be complacent. Fortunately, she had recharged her powers by sleeping in a nice hotel the day before.
Scarlet gathered fire in her hand and fired it at the Metagross. The Pokémon gave a roar and burst through the fire, flinging rocks at Scarlet.
She easily stopped the rocks and sighed. She wanted to teleport away and leave the Metagross behind, but doing so drained her powers by a lot, and she'd need all the power she could for the rest of her mission today.
She flew as fast as she could away from the Metagross, weaving through the tunnels flawlessly. Even without the aid of her psychic power, she still remembered how to escape the tunnels.
She burst outside long before Walter and his Metagross. She turned around and saw the two rapidly approaching the exit. She created a huge plume of fire and shot it at them. The Metagross' fists were a blur as it used Bullet Punch to clear away the fire. Scarlet focused her power and collapsed the ceiling of the cave directly on top of Walter.
It was over in seconds. A scream was heard, and then silence.
Scarlet didn't bother confirming if Walter was dead or not. She simply rocketed off into the sky, Hoopa with her. It was now time to put the Pokémon under her control, and then the fun would begin.
Zinnia woke up in a panic. She got off her bed in the Sky Tower and headed through the tower. She entered a sealed chamber and unlocked it with a few draconic words. Inside the chamber was a box that was also sealed, she put her hand to it and uttered a few more draconic words. Opening it, she found the Jade Orb inside.
She sighed in relief, the ancient relic was still there. She sealed it up again and sat down in front of the chamber. Ever since her fight with Scarlet, she couldn't help but feel so inadequate, feeling as if she didn't deserve to be Lorekeeper. She looked towards the ceiling. She hadn't felt like this since her last big fight many years ago.
Many years ago
Zinnia was sitting on the edge of Sky Tower, staring out into the night with Aster, her Whismur.
As she looked into the sky, she suddenly felt someone behind her. It wasn't any sort of power, just an instinct of hers.
"Who's there? And what's your business on Sky Tower?" asked Zinnia, not turning around.
"Oh, it's just me," said a voice behind her.
Zinnia calmly got up and turned around. "And who would you be exactly?"
A woman wearing a green crop top underneath a black jacket. She had a black skirt, black knee guards, black fingerless gloves, black combat boots, and a gun holstered at her hip. She flew a few inches off the ground.
"The name's Rachel Ashford. I'm the former leader of Team Majestic, but I don't think it's relevant to talk about it. My business? Well ever since I disbanded my group of loyal followers, I've been pretty bored. So I decided to try and see what would happen if I summoned and fought Rayquaza. So I'd like the Jade Orb."
Zinnia looked at the woman. "You came all the way here, and now you're challenging me for the Jade Orb, so you can have fun. Are you joking? You think all this is a joke?"
Rachel shrugged.
"You dare mock me like that? I'll put you in your place!"
"I doubt you can. I have powerful psychic abilities. Now give me the Jade Orb."
Zinnia started forward, but then stopped herself. She vibrated slightly on the spot, trying to resist her control. She stumbled backwards and broke free of her control.
"That won't work on me, I've dealt with your kind before."
Rachel sighed. "You see, that's the problem. When someone learns to resist psychic control, and their will is strong enough, it's quite easy to break free of. Of course, I could slowly whittle you down, but where's the fun in that?"
"You'll be having no fun once I'm finished with you! Noivern!"
Zinnia threw a pokéball, releasing her Noivern. Rachel floated backwards and threw her own pokéball, out came a massive Aggron, scratches and scars lining its body.
"Noivern, fly upwards and use Flamethrower!"
"Aggron, deflect the attack and use Rockfall Splitter!"
Zinnia's Noivern put on a burst of speed and shot into the sky. It flew in a circle and exhaled a huge torrent of fire and charged at the Aggron. The Aggron turned its plates against the flames and shield its face as the Noivern passed over. It slammed its arms against the ground and used Stone Edge, creating multiple pillars of stone.
The Noivern flew around the stones easily and swept around to face the Aggron. The Aggron stomped forward, its fist glowing orange. It smashed one of the pillars, creating a torrent of stones that flew at the Noivern. It shrieked as some of the shards hit it and flew in a barrel roll.
"Noivern, return!"
Zinnia pulled out a pokéball and returned Noivern to its pokéball and switched it out for a Garchomp. Rachel raised an eyebrow at this.
"Two can play at this game. Return, Aggron!"
She switched out her Aggron for a Hydreigon. The mighty beast gave a roar and faced down the Garchomp. The Garchomp gave a cry and used Dragon Rush, charging forward at the Hydreigon, it leapt upwards as the Hydreigon flew off to the side, avoiding the attack.
"Hydreigon, Multi Pulse!"
"Stone Edge!"
The main Hydreigon head inhaled and generated a huge burst of draconic energy, the other two heads generated two Dark Pulses and fired them at the Garchomp. The Garchomp created a pillar of Stone to block the attack and then used Earthquake, shattering the pillar and causing it to fall on the Hydreigon.
"Dodge it and use Flash Pulse!"
"Dragon Rush!"
The Hydreigon swept around the rock and used Flash Cannon with its main head and Dragon Pulse with the other. The Garchomp was blown backwards by the attack and dragged its claws across the ground to stop itself.
"Stealth Rock!"
The Garchomp created a layer of stones that floated through the air. The Hydreigon stopped in mid-air and looked around, trying to detect where the stones were.
"Stone Edge!"
"Molten Cannon!"
The Hydreigon flew upwards and created a mix of fire and steel that cut through the stone pillar and melted the Stealth Rocks. It flew forward and used another Multi Pulse. The Garchomp leapt to the side and dodged the attack. It leapt upwards and flew at the Hydreigon while using Dragon Rush. All three of the Hydreigon's heads used Dragon Pulse, blasting the Garchomp downwards.
"Garchomp, burst through it!"
The Garchomp gave a roar and charged through, flying faster as more draconic energy surrounded it. It blasted through the Dragon Pulse and slammed into the Hydreigon.
The Garchomp fell to the ground and lay there, fainted. The Hydreigon was reeling in the sky, unsteady.
"Go, Noivern!"
Zinnia sent out her Noivern. The Pokémon flew into the air and charged at the Hydreigon, using Dragon Pulse. The Hydreigon steadied itself and tried fighting back, but its weakened body couldn't support all three heads attacking at once. The Noivern fried it with a Dragon Pulse and tackled it out of the sky.
"Go, Starmie!"
The star shaped Pokémon burst out of a pokéball. The Starmie flew into the air, spinning at high speeds.
"Hurricane!"
"Thunderbolt!"
The bolt of electricity ripped through the tumult of wind. The Noivern swooped down and used Dragon Pulse, blasting the Starmie as it flew.
"Ice Sphere!"
"Flamethrower!"
The Starmie whipped around in multiple and created a wide stream of ice in a sphere shape. The Noivern cut through the ice with fire and used Dark Pulse, hitting the Starmie.
"Psychic!"
The Starmie sent out a wave of Psychic energy and threw the Noivern to the side. The Starmie used Thunderbolt and blasted the Noivern, paralyzing it as the lightning spread.
"Dive Noivern, and use Dark Pulse!"
The Noivern tucked in its wings and spiraled downwards. It whipped around and faced upwards, shooting a black stream of dark energy that blasted the Starmie. It spun around while losing altitude and used Ice Beam, hitting the Noivern directly on the back, fainting it.
"Damn it. Salamence, finish this!"
Zinnia sent out her Salamence. Her ace Pokémon gave a roar as it appeared. Zinnia's mega anklet started glowing in correspondence with the anklet on her Salamence. The Pokémon started glowing as it began its mega transformation.
"Starmie, Ice Sphere!"
"Salamence, dodge the attack and use Double Edge!"
The Salamence flew through a gap in the sphere and charged at the Starmie. It dodged multiple streams of ice but was clipped on the side with one before it slammed into the Starmie with a full power Double Edge, fainting it.
"Go, Aggron!"
The Aggron appeared again. This time however, it glowed in a rainbow light. Energy poured from a keystone embedded on one of her gloves into an Aggronite on the Aggron's head.
"Salamence, Dragon Dance!"
"Rockfall Splitter!"
The Aggron created rows and rows of stone pillars. The Salamence weaved through the pillars and used Double Edge, slamming into the Aggron and throwing it backwards.
"Avalanche!"
The Aggron slammed its feet and created a storm of ice that magically rained down from the sky. Zinnia's Salamence flew into the air and tried avoiding them, but its previous attack had increased the magnitude of the Avalanche. A chunk of ice hit it and sent it spiraling.
"Use your momentum for Earthquake!"
The Salamence charged downwards and landed on the ground, hard. This powered up its Earthquake as seismic waves slammed into the Mega Aggron.
"Heavy Slam!"
The Aggron leapt upwards and charged downwards. Zinnia's Salamence used Dragon Dance again and flew out of the Aggron's path. It landed on the ground, cracking the top part of Sky Tower and causing the Stone Pillars to finally collapse. The Salamence couldn't dodge them all and multiple fell on it.
"Rock Smash!"
Before the Salamence could escape. The Aggron broke it free with Rock Smash. Shards of rock hit it as it was sent sliding to the edge of Sky Tower.
"Stone Edge!"
The Aggron gathered its might and slammed its body on the ground, creating one huge stone pillar that threw the Salamence upwards. It fainted and reverted to its base form as it fell off the tower. Zinnia returned the defeated Pokémon and prepared to send out a fourth one when Rachel put up a hand.
"Enough, I only have three Pokémon, so I count this as a win, I'll be leaving now."
Zinnia stared at her. "What?"
"I said I'll be leaving. I never wanted Rayquaza, I was only seeking a battle with one of the best dragon type trainers. I figured that approaching you and asking for a battle wouldn't work, so I decided to pretend to want the Jade Orb. The truth is, I'm pretty done with terrorism. I have a beautiful son to raise and I don't want him growing up in my kind of world. I just wanted to battle you because I was bored. Goodbye Zinnia."
Rachel floated into the air and flew away, leaving Zinnia behind.
Present Day
Zinnia sighed. She had been lucky Rachel was only looking for a fight. Since then, she had trained herself and her Pokémon, to make sure she was fully ready for any fight in the future.
That's when she noticed another feeling. She jolted upwards and flipped around, cursing herself for being lost in her thoughts. Behind her stood Scarlet.
"Damn you," hissed Scarlet. "What do you think you're doing here?"
"I'm getting the Jade Orb and Rayquaza, what do you think?"
"Well you won't get it, I defeated you before and I'll do it again."
"Don't worry," said Scarlet, pulling out a Master Ball. "I'm not here to fight."
She opened the Master Ball right as Zinnia ran and tackled her, the space being too small to send out her big dragon Pokémon. Hoopa appeared from the ball and immediately created a portal. Water flooded into the room as Scarlet forced her through the portal with a surge of psychic energy. The portal closed instantly, trapping Zinnia where Scarlet sent her.
"I wonder how she'll die? Getting crushed by the ocean pressure? Or drowning? Either way, I'm done here. Time to open this place. Rayquaza will be mine, then, I'll collect more and more legendaries. By the end of all this, I'll be queen."
