Note: So funnily enough, the author of Pokémon the Series: When Pokeworlds collided has actually coming back to continue that project. I wonder if they caught wind of this fic (and my incredibly brief thoughts on their works).

Anyhow, enjoy.

Hoenn chapter 7: Flygon of the Valkyries!

Ash could never hate a pokémon. He'd been harmed by so many in the past, both malicious and otherwise, but he knew that they were always just pokémon. He could never fear any pokémon too, for the exact same reason. Sure, superficially he might have been scared by one at any given moment. No one wanted to be on the jaws end of an angry, charging Tyranitar. But actual fear? The feeling of your muscles tensing up and breaths becoming shallow. Before recently, never.

But the current situation was testing his resolve. He stared at the group of Gyarados who now stood at the edge of the beach, all staring up at Rayquaza who was regaling to them the details of their operation.

It's not that Gyarados was a particularly frightening pokémon… well it was, but he had met his fair share of them in the past, a fierce individual even belonging to one of his oldest friends. But at this moment, all he could see was the massive serpentine monster charging at him at Lake Moon. He remembered the hyper beam launching at him while he was already at the brink of consciousness, the raging energy engulfing his entire vision…

He didn't realize he was shaking until a soft hand clasped his own. Serena stood beside him, her arm interlocked in his, a look of concern clearly present on her face. She didn't say a word. She didn't have too.

He smiled. For the moment it was just them on the Hoenn beach. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to fear.

From a way away, the other trainers sat on a set of rocks, running through the plan again and again in their minds. As attacking from the sky seemed destined to fail, they decided to attempt an aquatic approach. Luckily for them Rayquaza was quite knowledgeable about the tower, including the fact that a group of Gyarados had made the surrounding area their home, patrolling the shoreline to keep out unwanted guests. The hope was that the combined power of Rayquaza, the flying dragons and the Gyarados could punch a hole through the dark matter, at least long enough for a group of trainers to get inside the tower, retrieve the shard, and destroy the core. On paper, a simple plan.

Yellow fiddled with the crystal in her hand. She could… feel the power that radiated within it. It felt oddly familiar, like when she utilized her own healing powers. But this felt a lot stronger, even stronger than her own abilities were back in their prime.

"Chuuu?" Pikachu sat next to her, also eyeing the crystal. Though she didn't intend to ignore him, Yellow didn't answer.

"Got a lot on your mind, senior?" She hadn't realized that Ruby and Sapphire had moved over to her rock, now sharing the space.

"Yeah. Guess I do."

"Thinkin' 'bout Red?"

Always. "No. Just…"

"Right. No, we get it," Ruby said. "Gotta keep our eyes on the mission and all that. Can't let ourselves be distracted."

Yellow nodded. Ruby had a lot of respect for the capabilities of their seniors, but he couldn't even imagine how she kept it together all this time. If he lost Sapphire… well…

He almost had, and it was all his fault on top of it. But this was so different. Yellow didn't even have the solace of knowing why Red had disappeared. The love of her life, wiped from the face of the earth.

"I appreciate your concern, junior, but I'm still your senior. So I should be the one asking if you are ready."

"Are ya kiddin'? Of course we're ready to kick that who-knows-what outta that tower!"

Good to see your fire hasn't wavered. The trainers looked to see Rayquaza had finished conversing with the Gyarados, and had now turned to them. The plan is set. Now you must decide who will fly alongside me, and who will ride alongside the serpents.

"Splitting up, huh? And there's an even number of us. Perfect split…" May said, the trainers now congregated around each other.

"Me and Ruby can take the aquatic approach, and we can bring Yellow in with the crystal." Sapphire noticed how Ash was reacting to the Gyarados. Maybe it was best if he didn't…

"No. You and Ruby fought with Rayquaza before. You two understand it better than the rest of us." Ash said.

"Well… you can still come with us, if you want," Ruby offered.

"No, I…" he stuttered. He knew it didn't really matter where he went. But still…

"I'm good for both," May said.

"I… want to go with the Gyarados," Yellow said, the crystal clutched in her palm. Truthfully she could have just handed it over to someone else.

She just really didn't want to.

"Ash…you don't have to ride the Gyarados." Serena said quietly next to him.

"No… I should. I'll go with the Gyarados," Ash decided.

"I'll go too!" Serena said.

"Guess I'll be flying. Altaria's not gonna be too happy," May said.

Excellent. Rayquaza flew over to Ruby, Sapphire and May. Yellow, Ash and Serena moved over to the Gyarados, who awaited patiently.

The largest individual swam over to the trainers, eyeing them intently. The trainers matched its gaze.

"Looks like the leader," Yellow said.

"GYYAAA!" The large Gyarados roared directly at the trainers. Serena and Yellow hardly budged. Ash flinched for but a moment. The large pokémon lowered its head towards him. Ash took a deep breath as the massive jaw of the pokémon stood mere inches away from him.

It's just a pokemon. It's just a…

Once again he felt Serena's hand grasp his, though this time his hand was clenched into a fist. She raised their hands slowly towards the Gyarados, pausing midway between it and themselves.

She looked at Ash, both with concern and acceptance. The choice was still his. He took another deep breath as he relaxed his hand.

It's just a pokémon…

The pair placed their palms right above Gyarados' mouth. The pokémon scales were surprisingly smooth, yet quite tough. The Gyarados smiled.

"Looks like you guys are making friends," Yellow said as she approached them, also placing her palm on the Gyarados. "He says we look strong, and he says thanks."

"For saving Rayquaza? It was nothing really. We couldn't just stand by and watch…"

"Heh…" Yellow chuckled. "Not for saving Rayquaza. As far as they're concerned there 'dragonlord' didn't need any help. He's thanking you, Ash, for trusting him."

"Oh… well… of course I trust you," Ash said with a smile.

Why wouldn't he? It was just a pokémon.

The tower loomed like a glistening black blade that cut through the landscape. For the moment it remained placid, through the careful eye could spot the slight hints of movement underneath the deceptively solid exterior.

Ruby, Sapphire and May sat on their Flygons, hovering around Rayquaza who kept its eyes to the ocean, tracking the Gyarados who swam at the surface of the ocean. Sapphire could spot Noivern flying right above them, following along slowly.

The plan was simple really. The Gyarados would make the first move, firing off a wave of hydro pumps at the tower once they could get in range. At that point Rayquaza and the Flygons would assist in the assault, battering the tower until they could create a large enough opening for the trainers to get inside.

"Think a couple of Gyarados is all it's gonn' take?" Sapphire asked.

Perhaps. The dark matter has embedded itself deep in the tower.

"So… that's a maybe," May said.

Do not fret. Just wait for the signal and trust your instincts.

"Solid enough plan, or at least as solid as our fight against the meteor," Ruby said as he scanned the area around them. "Any sign of the distorted pokémon?"

It will take them a while to spawn again.

"Ash and Yellow said they saw trainers and their pokémon trapped in some kinda dark matter cocoon in mount coronet. But the distorted pokémon down there didn't seem to have any trainers with them."

The effects of Giratina's dark matter are mysterious even to me. The answers are likely in the tower itself.

"Of course they're probably in that hideous tower. Lets just hope they can handle whatever's inside…"

Suddenly, they saw Noivern fire a dragon-pulse into the air, the ball of blue draconic energy bursting high above the clouds.

The flare had been lit.

Now.

The airbound trainers saw the Gyarados lined up next to the tower, firing off a series of hydro pumps. The sudden attack set it into a frenzy, the blackened tentacles lashing out at the Gyarados. The Gyarados darted and weaved around them, gliding through the water with surprising ease, quickly repositioning themselves and continuing their assault.

"Chaaarrggee!" Sapphire screamed to the heavens as she flew in, the Flygons quickly swarming the tower while the dark matter entity was occupied. Like before they barraged the tower with a flurry of flamethrowers, dragon pulses, and other powerful blasts of energy that caused the towers dark matter to reel. The substance twisted and deformed as it attempted to swat away the Flygons, with select parts of the tower becoming momentarily visible as it stretched itself thin.

"Altaria! You doing alright?!" May called as she lost Altaria in a barrage of tentacles and Flygons. In the chaos she heard a faint Teria. Looks like she was, for the moment.

"Let! Go!" May turned to see Sapphires Flygon caught by one of the tentacles. It thrashed around in its grip of the tentacle as Sapphire attempted to keep her own on the struggling pokémon. Around her other Flygon were becoming trapped and swatted.

"Sapphire!" Ruby charged towards her, barreling through the other pokémon. "Flygon! Use flamethrower!"

Ruby's Flygon blasted the tentacle holding Sapphire hostage.

"Took ya a while Ruby! Yer' better not be gettin' sloppy on me!"

"As grateful as ever, huh?" Ruby said with gritted teeth, just barely dodging another tentacle.

"I'm just sayin', AH!" A stray flamethrower almost caught Sapphire's head. She ducked out of the way, just in time. "We ain't gonna get nowhere with yer head in the clouds!"

"Sapphire! All our heads are 'in the clouds'!"

"SHUDDUP!"

How they managed to find the time to bicker now was far beyond May's capacity at the moment.

You must scatter…

May turned around and saw Raquaza looming behind them, electrical energy gathering in its palms.

Graceful.

Gyarados were fierce pokémon, and when enraged, they were absolutely barbarous. A thrashing Gyarados would destroy anything in its path, with tact and rhythm being quite forgotten the moment they picked their target. Yet Serena couldn't help but be enamored by the harmonic patterns that the Gyarados moved in to dodge the oncoming tentacles being unleashed by the tower. They worked like a cohesive unit, giving each other enough distance to maneuver while remaining in hydro pump distance.

The trainers didn't have any trouble keeping steady as the Gyarados ducked and weaved around the tower's edge. Noivern held steady, firing energy blasts at any tentacle the Gyarados couldn't dodge. The trainers could see that bits of the actual tower were becoming visible.

"It's working!" Ash yelled over the chaos. Yellow and Serena were barely within earshot of him on their Gyarados.

"A bit more and we might get in!" Yellow screamed.

Their laser focus was interrupted by Rayquaza's voice. It said one phrase, and this time not a passive request like before. This was a demand.

"Scatter?" Ash said as the Gyarados immediately did as they were told, moving out of the towers range. He looked up to see the Flygon were following suit, darting away from the tower as Rayquaza's hands collected electrical energy within them.

"Is it going to…?!" Yellow asked in a panic. Rayquaza couldn't possibly be trying to solo the tower again.

But that's just what it did, as Rayquaza flew directly at the tower. Rayquaza hurtled it's fist towards it, and this time the tower did not catch it. On impact the electric wave seemed to ignite the dark energy, which now squirmed intensely in a dizzying rage. That's when everyone in the area heard a loud crash. It was the sound of hundreds of tons of carved stone blasting out of the back of the tower, creating a gigantic crater near the top of it. Rayquaza slinked away as the dark matter pulsated erratically.

"Oh my…" Serena could hardly say anything as she saw a mountain of debris collapsed behind the tower, slamming into the ocean below. Luckily the resulting waves didn't reach their location, dissipating quickly.

Quickly! Get inside, now!

The lower half of the tower had been rid of the dark matter as it swirled around the newfound opening. The trainers charged forward on their Gyarados.

"Alright!" Ash said as they finally got back in range. "Use hydro pump right at the wall!"

The Gyarados collectively unleashed a barrage of high-pressure water blasts. They tore through the stone, creating a massive hole in the side of the tower.

"Yes!" Yellow cheered. "We did it!"

The trainers Gyarados quickly led them to the edge of the tower, raising their heads to allow them inside.

"Thank you!" Yellow said as she hopped off the Gyarados' head.

"Yah, thanks a lot guys," Ash said as he hopped off as well, taking a moment to pat the large pokémon on the head. "I never doubted you."

The Gyarados smiled before turning back to the rest of it's group. Noivern flew in next to Ash.

"You did great too, bud," Ash said to his Noivern. The group turned around, looking into the murky abyss.

"We can't waste any time! Let's go!" Serena said as she hopped in. Ash and Yellow followed closely behind.

From their perch the airborne trainers could see the Gyarados letting Ash, Yellow and Serena into the tower.

"Yes! They made it in!" May cheered on her Flygon as Rayquaza approached them.

"And it looks like the dark matter is… errr…" Ruby was the first to see it. The dark matter around the tower had stopped pulsating at random. Rather, it began to constrict around the tower, the matter collecting into a single, tubular mass. The clot that blocked off the opening at the top of the tower also constricted, though they could see that the top of the mass began to take the shape of the draconic head. Small, protruding arms formed down the tube, the same ones that blocked Rayquaza lightning spear just a few hours ago. The head of the creature reared up into the clouds, letting out a shriek that ruptured their souls.

"It's… it's…"

Rayquaza.

There was no mistaking it. The head of the creature sported the trademark flatted horns and angular, beaked mouth of the legendary pokémon. Like the other distorted pokémon, it was missing its eyes.

"That's not good…" May said. Her heart sank at the sight of it. She was certain this was the Rayquaza from her world, and it was very likely the real body was somewhere inside the tower. She recalled the times when she had witnessed the legendary pokémon do battle against the enigmatic Deoxys, a pokémon from across space that had found itself stranded on earth. She recalled its power, equal to that of the Rayquaza that now fought alongside her. Terrifying yes, but equally magnificent. To see it reduced to this monstrosity…

The distorted Rayquaza opened its mouth, unleashing a hyperbeam at the trainers. It raced towards them at a surprising speed, far exceeding the lengths of a regular hyperbeam.

"Watch out!" Sapphire called as the beam scattered the Flygon.

We've awakened the beast. We must hold it off long enough for the others to stop it from within.

Easier said than done.