The room was nearly pitch-black, save the tiny, red light emanating from The Man's cigar as He watched His captive slowly regain consciousness.
"Finally," The Man stated as Secret Agent Looker opened His eyes once more, "I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to do this myself."
The Man threw His cigar to the ground and stamped on it, crushing it beneath His foot and grinding it to ashes.
"You have caused me much trouble, Agent Looker."
"How do you know my name?!" Looker demanded, thrashing about. He looked down at himself to see that he was bound in rope and his pants were currently the only clothing on his body. He could feel his nose was broken from his previous encounter with that Tyranitar.
"It wasn't very difficult. You really shouldn't keep so much information on one device, Jason."
The Man turned to reach for something on His desk. He turned back to Looker with a shining, cocky grin amidst the darkness surrounding the rest of His body. In His hand, He held Looker's laptop.
All Looker could do was scowl at Him, but this only widened The Man's grin.
"You fool," The Man spat with the grin still evident on His concealed face, "You have delved into business you have no place in."
The Man pulled out something shiny and metallic from His pocket and with a loud bang that forced Looker to wince, half of the laptop fell to the ground with a light thud. He kicked it over to the imprisoned agent, earning a growl.
"I have no place in this?!" Looker demanded, "I know your connection to the Ultra-Beasts! I know how dangerous they are and how you connect to them!"
Looker winced as another bang filled the room, making his ears ring. He tilted his head to the side in reflex as something hot and loud whizzed by his head.
"You know nothing of me," The Man countered, His grin gone, "And you do not know even a fraction of what the Ultra-Beasts are capable of."
"You're insane!" Looker shouted, "You'll get everyone killed!"
The Agent's eyes opened, bloodshot as another bang filled the room. His leg felt like it was on fire, but he had been trained not to scream when in pain, so he simply gritted his teeth and did all in his power to accommodate his title and training.
"Wrong," The Man spat, "I will save this world from itself. The Ultra-Beasts are only the beginning, Looker."
The Man pointed the metal object towards Looker once more, glare coating His face, or what Looker could see of it anyways.
"My goal is to save humanity, ...which makes it a shame that I must do this."
Upon inspection, Looker found that what The Man was carrying was an old handgun. He hadn't seen anyone use one of those in ages, since Pokemon could normally outperform a gun with ease.
"I'm sorry, Agent Looker of the International Police," The Man stated in finality, "But I cannot let my plans be known to anyone else. You have dug your own grave this time. You've accepted your last mission."
Looker glared at The Man defiantly, even in his state. His response was this man's disgusting grin returning.
"Nothing personal, but you can take pleasure in the fact," Looker heard a click, "...That I will rid this world of its greatest evil."
One final loud bang amongst the pitch-black was the last thing Secret Agent Looker of the International Police ever heard.
The Legendary Bird of Fire let out a bestial cry as it was sent sprawling across the stony ocean floor now that there was no water to break its fall. Though ironically enough, stone was worse for it than water anyways.
"Is that the best you can do?" The dark creature taunted, "You had better start livening things up before I get bored."
The creature's red eyes pierced the very soul of Zapdos and Articuno, who were fighting desperately to save themselves of whatever fate this thing had in store for them. This thing...it felt like just being in its presence made their very souls tremble in terror.
"Because I can assure you, ...you will prefer what is happening to you now to what I can come up to entertain myself with."
And yet still in defiance, the Electric Bird and Ice Bird of legend screeched at this creature, spewing out electric and icy bolts of energy from their beaks. However, this thing stopped the attacks with the mere flick of its finger, and then erased them with a snap.
"Yes, that's it," The demon chortled, stopping the two beams in their tracks with a finger, "Keep me entertained for as long as you can."
With a chilling, mechanical-sounding laugh, the dark creature disappeared from sight, constantly warping from place to place in circles around the two birds before finally appearing above them and grabbing them by their heads. Before the Legends even had time to react, they found themselves being dragged downward, their heads being forced towards the approaching ocean floor. All they could do was wince before the two were pummeled into the stone, their faces being used to drill into the ground. Suddenly, the creature's palms began glowing white and Zapdos and Articuno were shot further downward into the earth by two white balls of energy. The creature reappeared above the crater in time for a massive pillar of light erupt from it, uprooting the nearby stone.
The creature looked up to see that a storm had brewed, intense rain and lightning coating the area. If those two somehow survived, they'd drown before long. The creature was about to turn and leave when a jet of flame was shot in his direction, though it had no effect. There Moltres was, flying in place looking fit for hours of battle. The creature would have fun turning that lust for battle into pure terror.
Disappearing from sight, the dark creature reappeared behind the Bird of Fire and slammed one of its massive hands upon the backside of its head, sending it careening to the earth below. In surprise, Moltres had no chance to stop its descent in time and bounced forcefully on the rocky ocean floor. Taking the opportunity, the dark creature rushed downwards at speeds beyond sight, pulling back its arm and rammed it into Moltres's back as it bounced upward. Moltres let out a pained screech as the ground beneath it was replaced with a crater.
"You're boring me," The creature warned, "But I'm feeling merciful at the moment,"
The creature held out an arm and one of its protruding arm crystals began glowing a blinding white, forcing Moltres to close its eyes in terror.
"So, instead of torturing you until your weak, fragile little mind is completely shattered, I think I'll just reunite you with your two friends."
A large bolt of crackling electricity combined with a blue, beam of icy energy crashed into his back. Taking the opportunity laid out to it due to the dark creature's distraction, Moltres let out a roar and summoned a bright, crimson red orb of fire around itself that exploded outward, destroying the ground underneath it and hopefully managing to damage its attacker. Using its newfound space, Moltres took off and distanced itself from the creature below. To the bird's horror, the creature stared up at the three birds without a single visible sign of damage even still. And even worse, its crystal was still glowing brightly and its arm was pointed directly at them.
The three Legends scrambled for safety as a dark, menacing cackle rang throughout the night sky and a giant white ball of...something shot upwards at them. The three barely dodged out of the way as the colossal ball of energy skyrocketed past them into the sky. As the three looked up at the passing ball, they were suddenly forced to turn away and shut their eyes tightly as a blinding white light coated the night sky at the ball's explosion. When the light finally dimmed and they could see, Zapdos attempted to look up only for a streak of white to explode in its face. Moltres and Articuno were frantically spinning and flipping, doing whatever they could to dodge as a storm of deadly white streaks of light rained down upon the rocky sea floor, sending up millions of tiny shards of stone as they exploded upon contact. Articuno began furiously firing Ice Beam after Ice Beam at the streaks, doing all that it could to defend itself.
After the initial hit, Zapdos seemed to be doing fine for the most part. It sent out a Discharge, making a dome of intense electricity that made the white meteoric streaks explode upon contact that protected Zapdos from harm. That is, until the dark creature appeared in front of it once more. Unfazed by the electricity, the creature extended its arm towards the bird. In a panic, Zapdos cut off the Discharge attack. But it was too slow, for the creature's index finger shot forward, catching Zapdos by the beak and sending it careening into one of the white streaks. Upon the streak's explosion, Zapdos was sent flying back towards the creature who simply backhanded the bird back into another streak. This went on for quite some time until finally, the creature pulled back its massive fist and shot it into the incoming Electric Pokemon, sending a loud shockwave across the night sky. Zapdos's back arched as the creature drove its fist into its spine until finally, the creature pressed its fist forward and Zapdos was blasted through the air, getting sent into hundreds of the streaks but not one of the following explosions slowing its pace. The creature appeared once more in Zapdos's path, sending out another devastating punch that stopped Zapdos in its tracks, halting all previous momentum. The sheer force of these attacks proved too much for the Electric Bird of Legend, and its eyes slowly closed as its body was forced into shutdown as its wounds overtook it.
"Hmm," The dark creature mused as it held the unconscious Legend hanging on its fist, "It seems we're down a challenger."
The creature's hand that held Zapdos was lit white once more.
"Then scum will die like scum."
A white ball shot out of the creature's hand, carrying Zapdos into the depths of the stormy night sky. The creature disappeared once more and appeared above the dark clouds. Zapdos soon appeared from below it, being forced upward by the ball of light. The dark creature set its gaze upward and extended its arm skyward. The creature's arm-crystal began lighting up in a harsh, blinding white sheen. As Zapdos unwittingly approached the pitch-black creature, said creature's arm shot down in a vicious chopping motion. A massive explosion ensued as the ball that carried the inert Legend was detonated by the unearthly force of the creature's attack. Zapdos's descent lasted but an instant. Neither of the other two birds below even realised their companion was utterly annihilated, only that once the white streaks finally stopped, something behind them crashed with enough force to quite literally blow them away, along with any nearby seafloor that was unfortunate enough to be nearby Zapdos as its limp body was hurtled into the ground. As the two birds regained control of their movements, Moltres jolted towards the crater in an attempt to figure out what it was. Though as the Bird of Fire approached, the dark creature reappeared once more in front of it and promptly backhanded the Legend, jutting its crystal into the bird's face and sending it hurtling off to its side. Articuno was about to give chase to its comrade when the creature snapped its gaze in its' direction, making the Bird of Ice's blood run, ironically, cold. If Articuno knew any better, it'd have thought the dark creature was smirking knowingly at it. Articuno floated helplessly as the dark creature's image blurred in the direction Moltres was sent, a dark, cybernetic-sounding chuckle being left behind.
Moltres, meanwhile, was currently hurtling across the skies, uncontrollably spinning like a drill as its wings were blown backward by the speeds it was soaring at. With a familiar dark chuckle, the creature manifested itself above Moltres, continuously soaring sideways to effortlessly keep up with its prey. Raising its arms, the creature clasped its three fingers and performed a double-handed slam, sending the Bird of Fire on a collision course to the rocky ocean floor. Though, Moltres never made it to its rocky destination as the creature reappeared once more below Moltres. The creature jolted upwards, throwing a ball of white past the Legend and delivering a devastating punch into the bird's chest and sending it straight into the white ball. Upon contact, the ball exploded violently and sent the Flame Pokemon spiraling away. But the creature waited for this. Warping into Moltres's unintended flight path once more, the monstrosity lit up its entire arm, and for the first time in the entire battle, let out something of a roar—some noise signifying that is was using something resembling effort for the first time in the entire battle as it sent its blindingly white fist careening into the Flaming Bird of Legend. Upon impact, the sheer, ungodly force of the punch seemingly split the very forces of nature itself. The ground beneath the battling titans ripped open as if the earth itself was imploding, the clouds above disappeared into thin air, leaving the exposed moon to hang over the night sky, and the punch itself seemingly generated plasmatic, sparking lightning that ripped apart the ground it came in contact with before all the built-up pressure and force of the punch finally sent Moltres flying. Though, the creature mercilessly pursued the bird, reappearing in the bird's path once more to stop it in its track with one final punch.
"Heh heh heh heh…" The monstrosity chortled as it gazed upon its fallen prey, "Remember this, worm. Whoever you may be; whatever you may be...you will bow to me or die in the end."
With that, the demon dropped its prey into the rocky depths below.
In what remained of the nearby oceans, a creature known as the Beast of the Sea slept uneasily, tossing and turning in its nightmares. Finally, the beast woke with a start just in time to see the very ocean around him being forced away from where it slept in the form a wall of water jetting backwards away from...something. Flapping its massive wings, the beast soared upward and gazed around the night sky, searching for whatever might have done this. Its head snapped to its left as it felt a great force being unleashed. The beast attempted to use its Psychic powers to surmise the status of the three elemental birds it was assigned to watch over, only to find one of their life signatures intact. The other two, Zapdos and Moltres, were nearly unrecognizable and diminishing at an alarming rate. But that didn't make sense! Those three had enough energy to fight each other for weeks upon end, and the Beast would have noticed them fighting almost immediately after they started! Perhaps they were fighting something else...maybe the interloper from before had come back? No, even then, their life signatures hardly diminished during that whole ordeal, and from what it gathered, the man trying to capture them was only doing just that: capturing them. And if he were back, the Beast would have sense his life signature as well, yet Articuno was the only one it sensed in the vicinity...whatever happened, it had enough power to push back the ocean itself, and that alone was reason to investigate. With a song-like humm of sorts, the white Beast of the Sea took off in Articuno's direction.
Articuno gazed with horror upon what it believed to be the battered corpse of Zapdos in the large crater that had appeared behind itself and Moltres. The Bird of Ice could only assume Moltres met the same fate due to the horrific sound it'd had heard not too long ago, which filled it with dread at what that...monstrosity had planned for it next.
"Thinking of me?" The creature condescendingly asked as it reappeared soundlessly behind its final prey, making the Freeze Pokemon quickly turn around and jolt away from the monster with a panicked screech.
"I'm flattered. Well, time to die."
Before Articuno could move, it was knocked away by a blurred figure, only to be once again knocked away from its flight path from the back by another blurred blow. Again and again, Articuno was uncontrollably knocked around by thousands of invisible attacks, and yet there was nothing it could do to stop it from happening. Was this its fate? Articuno was sent spiraling across the black sky. Would these Legends capable of bringing destruction to the entire world be tossed aside like trash by some unknown interloper?! The Icy Bird of Legend found itself the victim of a backhand, the creature's arm crystal embedding itself into Articuno's chest. No...this cannot be… Articuno rocketed into the grasp of the creature, the back of its head firmly in the demon's grasp.
"You?" The creature demanded, "YOU are considered a LEGEND amongst your kind?! YOU are considered among your best?!"
This thing could read minds?!
"Indeed," The creature answered, confirming Articuno's internal question, "From what I've gathered from your memories, I guess I would be called a Psychic-Type from my powers among your people."
The creature rammed its fist into Articuno's back, making an audible cracking sound and earning a shrill cry from the Freeze Pokémon.
"But maybe Dark would be more fitting."
The dark creature repeated itself, making Articuno cry out in agony.
"Wouldn't you agree?"
In a berserked response, Articuno furiously released an Ice Beam to no avail.
"None of that, now." The creature chided, tightening its grip to a painful degree to stop Articuno, "Accept your end with dignity."
The dark hand gripping the Legendary Bird lit up at the palm once more and Articuno prepared for the worst. Against its will, Articuno found its mind assaulted with the memories of Zapdos and Moltres. It felt, it heard, it saw...everything. Screeching in agony and panic, Articuno flailed its body wildly in a desperate attempt to free itself of this demon. All the while, the demon only laughed at this display. Articuno figured this...thing was used to doing this…
"Remember my face, worm," The creature spat, "For it will be the last thing your worthless little mind ever comprehends."
Articuno clenched its eyes shut, awaiting the end in terror when a massive orange laser came barreling towards the dark demon. In reflex, the creature held up its open arm to catch the laser, but actually found itself surprised when the laser split apart and flew through the gaps in its fingers straight into the creature's face. In frustration, the dark creature threw its captant into the ground below and turned a deathly glare to its attacker.
"WHO DARES?!"
There the Beast of the Sea was, floating in place and giving the creature a death-glare of its own. The dark demon could have sworn he heard some type of song emanating from this new quarry.
"You must be Necrozma."
Necrozma's form lost its tenseness, once again letting his arms hang to his sides.
"Hmph," Scoffed Necrozma, "I see my reputation precedes me. And who, might I ask, are you?"
"I am Lugia; The Beast of the Sea."
Necrozma scoffed, "I suppose with the sea gone, that means you no longer serve a purpose, correct?"
Lugia scowled at the demon in its wake, "The only one with no purpose here is you, Necrozma. Leave this planet at once."
"HAH!" Mocked Necrozma, "I will leave when this planet is under my foot or under my list of genocides,"
"THEN I WILL MAKE YOU LEAVE!"
"You'll die trying."
The Beast of the Sea roared valiantly and raised its neck upward, charging something in its mouth before releasing a vortex of harsh winds at Necrozma. The Ultra-Beast crossed its arms, letting the winds hit him with full effect. As he expected, they did nothing.
"Your attacks," Necrozma said, "Are but insect stings."
Necrozma disappeared from sight, reappearing directly in front of Lugia's face and bashing his fist into the Beast's forehead, resulting in the guardian careening down to the rocky seafloor below.
"If this is your best, I might as well kill you here as to not waste my time any further."
Five orange lasers shot up from Lugia's position, surrounding Necrozma. The lasers quickly closed in on Necrozma, enveloping him in one massive one.
"You call this attack "Hyper Beam", yes?" Necrozma asked, unperturbed by the massive beam enveloping him, "I admit, it is an interesting attack. Perhaps I might imitate it in the future…"
Necrozma pointed a finger downward.
"Another time, perhaps."
Out of Necrozma's finger, a near invisible pulse rocketed downward, pushing back the laser effortlessly right back into Lugia's face where it exploded upon contact. Though, this did not deter Lugia and it nearly immediately burst out from the smoke surrounding it, rushing up to Necrozma to unleash a pulse of Psychic energy that was intended to blast the Ultra Beast backwards. But of course, it was not meant to be. Unflinching, Necrozma simply held out an arm and blasted Lugia backward with a small pulse of his own.
"I have seen all I needed," Announced Necrozma.
"Does that mean you will leave?" Lugia asked with a scowl, having recovered from being blasted backwards.
Chuckling darkly, Necrozma shook his head.
"Far from it, "Beast of the Sea"."
Necrozma sent a merciless glare towards Lugia, paralyzing it in its tracks in sheer dread.
"It means…"
Necrozma's body seemingly began tearing into dark shreds in the wind until he disappeared completely. Lugia cursed itself for feeling an ounce of hope when a menacing voice spoke from behind it.
"I'VE LET YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH!"
Lugia was struck with the force of a thousand Aeroblast's, sending it into the ground. Necrozma reappeared below Lugia's destination to grab Lugia by the tail and swing it violently around itself repeatedly until the two became a blur, releasing it into the sky with the force to make the ground below them shatter. Darkly chuckling once more, Necrozma once again warped above Lugia to throw a storm of white balls of energy down into its path and warped beneath it so that it struck Lugia in the back and sent both of them careening into the hellish rain, using the Beast of the Sea as a shield to ram into dozens of the balls before finally throwing his final prey violently into the sky and, with the snap of his finger, the remaining balls changed course and viciously hurled themselves into Lugia.
"DIE!"
Necrozma closed his hand into a fierce grip, making the balls explode violently and lighting up the night sky in a bright sheen of white for a moment. When Lugia fell from the blast, Necrozma was far from done with his victim. Appearing once more, Necrozma spun his body around and struck Lugia's wing. Lugia screeched as it felt an audible crack from the punch, but the leader of the Ultra Beasts knew no such thing as mercy. With a monstrous cackle, Necrozma sent his version of a light punch at Lugia to stop it in its tracks. To Lugia's surprise, it suddenly felt revitalized, though the pain did not subside. When it looked at Necrozma questioningly, the monster simply chuckled and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Lugia found itself surrounded by a bunch of what it could only describe as holes in the fabric of reality. Lugia could have sworn it saw a grin from the demon before it raised its arm and summoned a colossal ball of his familiar white energy. The ball itself seemed to blot out the sky until, oddly enough, it began to shrink. It began to shrink to the point where it could fit in Necrozma's hand like a ball. Cackling, Necrozma pointed a finger in Lugia's direction and the condensed ball of energy rocketed towards Lugia. Unwilling to take its chance with the holes, Lugia created a Light Screen to hopefully reduce the damage from the incoming attack. But to Lugia's surprise, the attack disappeared upon contact with one of the holes. Suddenly, Lugia was blown to the side as something struck its underside. Before it could regain its senses, Lugia barely saw a streak of light before it was struck across the face once more. When it saw the streak appear once more from above, Lugia managed to bolt to the left fast enough to catch a glimpse of what struck it. The ball of energy was using the holes to warp from place to place. Seeing another shine in the corner of its eye, Lugia ducked down in time for the ball to soar over its head. Lugia smirked as it deemed it had figured out the trick to this attack and began ducking and dodging the ball whenever it appeared from one portal and raced to the next.
"Getting confident, are we?" Necrozma coyly asked, "Can't have that now, can we?"
Summoning two more of the balls in each of his hands, Necrozma spun in place to throw them into his little pit of pain. Lugia screeched as the two new balls shot into the arena of sorts and collided with the Beast, forcing it into a deadly spin. The Legend soon found itself being assaulted by the three balls of energy, getting stricken across the wings,chest, and face whenever it messed up.
"I don't think you're trying hard enough!"
Throwing another ball of the mysterious white energy towards the dome of wormholes, Necrozma split its fingers outward, making the orb split into ten smaller ones that all began bombarding Lugia to the point that it could no longer move without getting struck. Lugia's eyes opened bloodshot in rage, letting out a bestial roar that had enough force to stop the orbs in their tracks...for a moment. Lugia's lungs found it hard to keep up and soon enough, Lugia found itself once again the pincushion of this monster. It was pelted again and again amidst the storm of endless white orbs, and there wasn't a single thing it could do.
"Do you comprehend your situation yet?" Necrozma demanded, "This is what I make sure all my enemies feel before they die. True. Unadulterated. Fear. Fear and helplessness. This is what it feels like to be completely outmatched in every single way imaginable."
With the snap of a finger, the wormholes disappeared and all the orbs began glowing blindingly. Like its predecessors in this battle...all Lugia could do was close its eyes and wait for the end in terror and agony. Amidst the detonation, Necrozma appeared once more and grappled the so-called Legend by its head and dragged it downwards. Appearing out from the explosion, Necrzoma hurled Lugia downward and punched the Beast dead in its back and making the two crash into the empty sea below like a meteor. Debris rocketed into the dark skies above, raining down onto the rocky seabed like hail.
"Done already?" Taunted Necrozma, "Very well."
As Necrozma lit up the palm of his hand to finish off the meager excuse of a Legend, it noticed something odd on Lugia's back. These blue...flaps were flapping furiously, as if attempting to carry the weight of the enormous being.
"What are these things?" Necrozma asked, grabbing one of the blue frills.
In a frenzied response, Lugia charged a Hyper Beam in its mouth with a glare that could kill and pointed its head directly in the Ultra-Beast's path only for said Ultra-Beast to bring its massive fist down upon Lugia's skull, forcing it shut.
"Now, now." Chided Necrozma as if Lugia were a child, "There's no need to be rude."
"THEY ARE MY SCALES!" Lugia bellowed, "THEY ARE USED FOR AERODYNAMICS, NOW LET ME BE!"
Necrozma nodded simply, "I see."
RIIIP!
Lugia let out a bellowing screech of agony as one of its blue protrusions was ripped straight from its back. Though the Beast flailed furiously and attacked everything in sight, sending sweeping Hyper Beams at everything it lied its diluted eyes on, it could not hope to free itself from Necrozma's grasp.
"Seems a bit too small to be used to make something like you dynamic."
Lugia lost all sense of self-preservation at these words and turned to unleash a colossal Hyper Beam directly into its assaulter, enveloping the dark demon completely and tearing through the walls of the crater they were in...but it was hopeless. Necrozma made it perfectly clear that there was absolutely nothing Lugia could do to repel this monster as the Ultra-Beast simply floated directly through the what-would-be devastating attack and forced Lugia's mouth shut once more.
"Not so fast," He chided. "Anger will get you nowhere."
Necrozma extended its free hand to Lugia's face, enveloping its entire arm in a bright white once more. Lugia's rage turned to fear and then to pure dread once more as it struggled and failed to escape the intense grip of Necrozma. This only seemed to amuse the Ultra-Beast, and Necrozma soon began chuckling darkly. These chuckles turned into twisted laughter and then to cackling as Necrozma watched its dying prey struggle for its freedom. In a last-ditch effort for survival, Lugia used the last of its strength to use a reinforced Light Screen that surrounded its body in a yellow sheen before it was completely overtaken by a massive beam of white energy. The beam ripped through everything it came upon contact with, completely turning the ocean floor that Necrozma was facing towards into one massive, elongated crater. To Necrozma's genuine astonishment, Lugia lied miles off where he blasted the Beast, twitching but very much alive.
"...Very well," Necrozma conceded, warping to Lugia's location. "You have proven yourself more capable than I gave you credit for. I will let you live for now. You will live your final days in terror of when I finally eradicate this planet."
"W-wait..." Lugia managed to cough out, "Why...why are you doing this?! What are you after?!"
Necrozma simply let out a sigh, shrugged, and shook his head as if disappointed in Lugia for asking.
"It's quite simple, really. I do this simply because I want to. I do what I do because once you reach an insurmountable power, one becomes bored."
Necrozma hung his hands to his side once more.
"So in short, I do this for fun."
Necrozma's attention was gripped by a noise from behind him. As he turned around, Necrozma saw colossal waves of water rushing back to return to its original position.
"Perhaps your purpose isn't yet over, Lugia," Necrozma mused, "It seems you will be the Beast of the Sea once more."
Lugia couldn't bring itself to ask more as its vision finally faded, the dulled sounds of waves being the last thing it heard as Lugia's vision faded to darkness and Necrozma disappeared once more.
…
A vibrant green streak descended down from the heavens, stopping in its tracks above the disaster scene. This streak let out a roar that dispersed the green aura surrounding it and it gazed upon the tragedy with disdain coating its face.
"No...I was too late!" The Sky High Legendary Dragon, Rayquaza stated in despair, "I FAILED!"
Ash awoke with a loud yawn, stretching his arms to rid himself of his tensed muscles from sleeping upright in a chair. He rubbed his tired eyes open and raised an eyebrow when he saw every trainer from yesterday standing completely still, their eyes all glued to one singular thing. In confusion, Ash traced their vision slowly, inching his way up where they looked until he saw with widened eyes exactly what they were looking at. On a news monitor, the words, "ORANGE ISLANDS COMPLETELY SUBMERGED IN APOCALYPTIC TSUNAMI. THOUSANDS MISSING. ASSUMED DEAD, BUT YET TO BE CONFIRMED," scrolling across the bottom of the screen in bold, red text.
"What?!" Cried out a girl from somewhere in the crowded Pokemon Center.
"I have family there!" A kid's voice shouted.
"In last night's storm," A woman in yellow commentated, "A fight between the Birds of Legend, now confirmed to exist from the incident five years ago, was believed to result in the Beast of the Sea, Lugia, summoning the great tsunami to submerge the Birds into their respective islands to prevent further battles."
"Lugia did this?!"
"That's horrible!"
"How could it do such a thing?!"
Ash felt a scowl crawl down his face.
"Nevertheless, submerging an entire sub-region resulted in the possible deaths of thousands including the confirmed deaths of Champion Drake and his underlings Danny, Rudy, and Luana. However, rumors of Cissy and her Water-Type Pokemon have been reported being seen escaping, but these have yet to be confirmed. Thousands of Pokemon seemingly sensed the danger ahead of time and have been seen appearing on nearby beaches in Vermillion City and Fuschia City en masse, keeping the Pokemon casualties to a minimum as they rode on one another to escape before the tsunami hit. Now we have an eyewitness survivor by the name of Christopher Lee who will be giving a report of what he saw while on a boat. Here's to you, Mr. Lee."
Ash and the other trainers were visibly blown back as a man with a small brown goatee began screaming furiously into a microphone.
"I SAW WHAT THAT THING DID!" The man bellowed, "IT DIDN'T CARE ABOUT A SINGLE ONE OF US! IT DROWNED THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE BEFORE MY EYES!"
"Ash, are you seeing this?!" Serena whispered to the drowsy boy,
"Yeah," Replied Ash without taking his eyes off the screen, "I see a lie."
Serena was taken aback, "What?! Thousands of people are dead, Ash!"
Ash shook his head, "There's no refuting that, and it's horrible, but…"
Ash turned his gaze to Serena.
"I don't believe for a second it was Lugia that did this."
"Pi, Pika!" Ash's beloved partner exclaimed in agreement.
Before Serena could prod further, all the trainers were forced to cover their ears as Christopher Lee began rambling once more.
"AND WHAT DO THE POKEMON DO?! THEY FLEE! THEY ABANDONED THEIR TRAINERS AND LEFT THEM FOR DEAD TO SAVE THEMSELVES!"
For the first time they saw him, Christopher stopped yelling. In fact, a depressed and genuinely saddened look overcame the man, making him look old and tired instead of the raging attitude he had before.
"I'm just saddened…" Lee said, hanging his head, "Saddened by this turn of events. Pokemon, supposedly our devout partners day-in and day-out...left their trainers...their supposed friends...to die. Like they were nothing."
"Are all Pokemon really like that?"
"That can't be!"
"I dunno…"
Ash just scowled at the monitor screen, Pikachu crackling his cheeks angrily in agreement to his friend.
"This should serve an example," Lee stated, catching the attention of the Pokemon Center once more, "Pokemon aren't what we think they are. They obviously can't be trusted with human lives any longer."
As Christopher Lee's face disappeared from the screen, intense chattering filled the room. Ash growled as he heard things along the line of, "I didn't know Pokemon were like that," and "They left their trainers like that?" It was when he heard "I thought Pokemon were our friends" when Ash finally snapped.
"Shut up, all of you!" Ash bellowed, catching the entire room's attention, "None of you were there, none of you know what happened! One man makes accusations and you all believe Pokemon are heartless?!"
"You weren't there either," One trainer pointed out, only to be grabbed and hoisted up by Ash in his rage.
"I WAS there!" Bellowed Ash, "I was there five years ago when this calamity almost happened before! I met Lugia! I saw him stop a man who made that fight between Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres to begin with! I watched as thousands of Pokemon made their way to a battlefield where they could have been killed at any time, just because they felt a duty to help save our world!"
Ash threw the trainer onto the ground in a heap before sending a piercing glare at the other trainers, "Pokemon have always been and will always be our devout partners, no, our friends! The only reason any of you are even here right now is because your Pokemon always had your back. You people don't even deserve to be called Pokemon Trainers!"
Ash swiftly turned to Serena, making her flinch until she saw his angered look had completely vanished.
"Serena," Began Ash, "Have you gotten our Pokemon back from Nurse Joy?
"Y-yeah…" Serena shakily replied with a nod.
"Good. Let's get out of here."
"O-okay!" Serena chirped, following Ash to the exit, Pikachu growling at the trainers to get them to make a path to the front door.
Serena walked silently with her head facing downward, hesitant to speak up for fear of upsetting Ash further.
"So," Ash started, making Serena jump, "That was a heck of a battle yesterday!"
"Wha-" Serena attempted to say, but her disbelief at Ash getting over what transpired just minutes earlier, but stumbling over her own words.
"Hmm?" Ash asked, turning back to the fumbling girl, "You okay there, Serena?"
Serena stood, mouth agape for a few seconds before shaking her head. She should be used to Ash's antics by now.
"Nah," Serena chirped with her usual smile returning, "I'm fine. Yeah, that was some battle yesterday! I was shaking the whole time!"
The two young trainers laughed cheerily, chattering away about their previous battle and upcoming endeavors.
"So," Said Serena, "Where to next?"
Ash took out his Pokedex to open up the Map functionality, displaying the Kanto Region's vast landmarks. Ash pointed to Pewter City and dragged his finger across the map to show Serena their next destination: Cerulean City.
"We have to go that far?!" Serena yelped.
"Well, it only seems far because of the mountain range."
Ash nearly tripped and fell over when Serena collapsed facedown in disbelief with a thud.
With a chuckle, Ash hoisted the collapsed girl over her shoulders and continued towards their destination.
"It'll blow by before ya know it," Ash said reassuringly, to which Serena simply let out a faint groan.
Serena's limp body swayed back and forth until suddenly she woke up with a start and yelped as she found herself dropped onto the ground on her behind.
"We're here!" Announced Ash.
Serena sighed, "Wow, you were right, Ash! It did blow by!"
"So," Started Serena once more, "Who's the Gym Leader this tiyieyieeem…"
Serena stared upward with her voice carrying off to see a colossal string of mountains towering over them imposingly; the tip of the tallest of the mountains shining in the way of the sun.
"Nobody said being a trainer was easy!" Ash said mockingly from ahead, quoting his earlier speech from their Gym battle with Flint.
Serena simply sighed, having grown accustomed to Ash's ways by now and gave chase.
Little did they know, the duo was being stalked by three mysterious figures.
"My my, James, is that who I think?" Mischievously asked the first.
"Please don't, Jess, you know my rhymes stink…" Replied the second one.
"Well, hey, ya rhymed right dere, so there's no need to slink!" The third one carried on.
"Team Rocket, BACK FROM THE BRINK!" Cheered the trio.
Meanwhile, Ash was having a ball watching Serena flailing around at Zubats that weren't even there. One flies by and she panics as if she's surrounded.
"Easy there," Ash said, grabbing Serena's arms to prevent her from breaking her hand on a wall, "C'mon, this place isn't so bad."
"Easy for you to say," Serena shot back, "When that Zubat flew by in here...I could feel a thousand screams of pure rage fly by with it…"
"Yeah, this place is weird like that," Ash agreed, "But this place gets prettier the further you go in."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," Ash started, putting a hand to his chin in deep thought, "You wanna see why this place is called Mt. Moon?"
"Uh, sure."
"Pi?" Ash's trusted partner piped up as he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
Pikachu turned around from his position on Ash's shoulder to barely catch a glimpse of something pink darting behind a wall.
"Ka…" Chattered Pikachu as it tugged on Ash's shirt collar.
"Hm?" Inquired Ash, looking over to see Pikachu pointing towards a wall.
"See something?" Serena asked.
"Pi, Pika!" Nodded Pikachu, who jumped off of his perch to pursue the pink creature but stopped momentarily to turn back to Ash and Serena to call for them to follow before running off once more.
"Well, you heard the 'mon!" Ash said with a grin and gave chase, opting Serena to do the same.
"Pikaaa!" Pikachu called out to the pink thing he was pursuing. Though, he didn't actually expect it to stop, resulting in the two of them colliding and rolling into a heap before the pink creature hit its head on a rock, resulting in Pikachu being sent flying into a nearby bush.
"Hey, Pikachu!" Ash shouted, running into the open area.
"Wait up, guys!" Pleaded Serena, still running up the stairs.
"Piii!" Pikachu replied, jumping out of the bush to meet his friends.
"Fair?" A voice piped up, stopping Pikachu and Ash in their tracks to stare at it.
A small, plump pink Pokemon with tiny wings stared at the trainer and Pokemon with its head tilted.
"Wow, a Clefairy!" Serena chirped from the caved path behind her.
"Fairy!" The pink Pokemon exclaimed happily at hearing Serena's excitement of seeing it.
"No, wait!" A high-pitched, nasaly-sounding voice cried out, "Don't touch that Pokemon!"
The four turned their attention skyward where a mysterious figure cloaked in shadow was seen standing on the edge of the small opening's ridge, the moon's light obscuring the figure from being seen. Suddenly, the figure jumped from their perch with a battle cry.
"I will protect you, Clefairy! HAAAAA-gurgh…! ...GAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The figure crashed onto the ground in a heap, kicking up dust that forced the four onlookers to close their eyes and cough to rid their lungs of the tiny dust specs.
Ash was about to give this person a piece of his mind when he saw something...odd from within the debris. The figure from earlier was a slim man in a lab coat who was currently muttering inaudibly and hugging himself while rolling around on the ground.
"Uhh," Serena said with concern, "Are you okay, mister?"
"Gah!" The man suddenly exclaimed, stopping in his tracks to spring onto his unsteady feet to sprint over to Serena, "Never call me "Mister!" "
The man posed illustriously, "I am the great Seymour! Seymour the Scientist! I am a man of science, aiming to discover what lies in the vastness of our beautiful universe!"
The man didn't give Serena the chance to apologise before crouching into another pose, "Knowledge! Research!"
The unsteady scientist sprang up once more, pointing his finger skyward, "I AM SEYMOUR THE SCIENTIST!"
"Well, have fun with that," Ash nonchalantly said, beginning to walk back the way he and Serena came.
"No, wait!" Seymour urged, "I won't let you hurt the Clefairy or the Moon Stone!"
"Moon Stone?" Serena asked, looking up to the sky, "Wait, it's already night?!"
"Yep," Replied Ash, ignoring the fuming Scientist, "This place is called Mt. Moon for a reason. It's baffled scientists for ages why it's seemingly always night here, but they've since given up."
"WRONG!" Seymour shouted into Ash's ear, "For I have spent ages asking that very question; I have spent years dedicating myself to finding the secrets of Mt. Moon!"
"Cool," Commented Ash, "So what have you come up with?"
Seymour the Scientist drooped his body, "Well, umm…"
"You don't have anything, do you?" Serena asked.
"Well... no," Seymour admitted, "But I have a very good reason for putting it off!"
Seymour pointed to Clefairy, "For you see, I am currently researching something of much greater interest! I am researching the very existence of life itself on our planet! I have a firm belief that Pokemon came from outer space millions of years ago to evolve in a different way than what we are used to seeing, becoming humans!"
"That's amazing!" Exclaimed Serena, clapping her hands together.
"Yeah, it sounds...familiar…" Contemplated Ash.
"Ah," Started Seymour, "So you aren't as unaware of my scientific genius as I thought."
"Hey, Seymour, was it?" Ash asked, "Have we met before?"
"An odd question," Said Seymour, scanning the young trainer, "Hmm...it might not be unplausible, though."
Seymour closed his eyes in deep thought, "Hmm, yes yes...I remember you two…"
The scientist's eyes lit up and he pointed an accusing finger in Ash's face, "Yes, I remember you two! You're those Team Rocket thugs who tried to steal the Moon Stone all those years ago! I knew there was something fishy about you! Well if you think I'll just hand it over, you've got another thing coming!"
"Team Rocket?" Serena asked, "Those creeps have been bugging you too?"
Ash nodded, further ignoring Seymour, "Yeah, those guys have been following me for years. It wouldn't surprise me that they would've done something here as well."
"Would you quit ignoring me?!" Fumed Seymour, "I, the Great Scientist Seymour, will not let you persist in your evil deeds any longer!"
"We're not in Team Rocket!" Countered Serena, "We fight those guys all the time!"
"Yeah, right!" Seymour scoffed incredulously, "If you're not Team Rocket, then who is?"
"They're not Team Rocket, that much is true!" A feminine voice said from above.
"Who's that?!" Demanded Seymour, looking around frantically.
"But if they're not Team Rocket, who is it hmm?" A masculine voice echoed back.
"Right on cue," Ash said with a sigh.
"Well, gee, I think I know who!" A heavily accented voice finished.
Serena facepalmed, "It's them, isn't it?"
"Mm-hmm." Ash answered solemnly
Three figures jumped out of a nearby tree, their backs turned to the other group.
"Prepare for trouble." Warned a woman with long, pointed dark pink hair and a white half-shirt that exposed her lower chest. She also sported long, white pants to match.
"And make it double." A man with short, dark blue hair with a matching white suit, though he had a full shirt, warned as well.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce all evils with truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
The woman turned around, a dark smirk showing on her face as she put her hands on her hips. A giant red "R" could be seen in her shirt, "Jessie!"
Her partner turned around as well with a smirk and an "R" of his own, "James!"
A bipedal white cat with a large coin on its head hopped over the two and pointed its claws menacingly at Ash's group, "Meowth, that's right!"
"WOOOOBUFFET!" Cried a tall, blue Pokemon as it erupted from Jessie's pocket.
"Mime, Mime!" A tiny, Pink Pokemon with a clown nose and an odd-looking hat chirped in as well.
"Hey!" Screeched Jessie, "Did I say you could come out now?!"
"You too, Mime Jr., show some restraint!" James chided.
"Here we go again," Ash stated with a groan.
"Wait!" Cried Seymour, jumping in between the two groups, "If you guys are Team Rocket, then who are you?"
"We're just some passing trainers," Serena stated, "That's what I was trying to tell you!"
James suddenly sprung over to Serena, holding his arms out as if to block her from running.
"Passing?" Asked James coyly, "Nobody's passing here until you twerps give us your Pokemon!"
"Indeed!" Jessie agreed, following her partner's actions with Ash.
Meowth took it upon himself to corner Seymour with his sharpened claws, "That includes you, chump!"
"Go, Seviper!"
"Go, Carnivine!"
The two Team Rocket members threw out two Pokeballs of their own, revealing a large, black snake with a blade-like tail, giant fangs, and a gold marking on its forehead. Out from the other Pokeball came a venus flytrap-looking Pokemon with hundreds of green and red tendrils for a lower body.
"Viiipeeerr!"
"CarniVIIINE!"
Ash shrugged, "Might as well just get this over with. Go, Noivern!"
"NO, WAIT!" Seymour cried, scrambling over to Ash to prevent him from throwing the Pokeball, "You can't let a Noivern out here! The decibels of a Pokemon like that would capsize the entire cave!"
Ash sighed, but complied with the scientist's demands.
"You have a point there. How about you, Pikachu?"
"Pii!" Ash's partner enthusiastically agreed, hopping over to face the giant snake and crackling its cheeks threateningly.
Serena was about to throw out a Pokemon of her own when the Clefairy from earlier came bounding over to face the Carnivine.
"Huh?" Asked Serena, "You want to fight?"
"Fair!" The pudgy, pink Pokemon answered, turning to Serena with a nod.
"Awesome!" Exclaimed Serena, "Now, what moves do you have?"
Serena pulled out her pink Pokedex to scan the Clefairy.
"Clefairy. The Fairy Pokemon. Clefairy-"
"Actually, I just wanted to learn its moveset," Serena interrupted.
"This Clefairy knows the moves Wish, Dazzling Gleam, Double Slap, and Metronome."
"Not bad," Serena complimented while putting away her Pokedex, earning a delighted grin from Clefairy.
"J-just what do you want?" Asked Seymour, cowering away from the approaching Meowth.
"We're here for the twerp's Pokemon, of course!" Replied Meowth, "What else?"
"You mean you're not here for the Moon Stone?" Seymour blurted out, covering his mouth once he realised what he just said.
"The Moon Stone, eh?" Meowth contemplated, "That...sounds familiar."
"Nope!" Seymour frantically denied, "No Moon Stone here! It blew up, remember?"
"Oh no ya don't!" Meowth countered, "I heard dat! What's dis Moon Stone ting you're talkin' about?"
"W-what?" Seymour asked, "You don't remember?"
"Nope," Meowth answered, "Why, should I?"
"YOU FORGOT?!" Seymour bellowed, "You three thugs desecrated the lives of every Pokemon living in these caves for the Moon Stone, and you FORGOT?!"
Meowth put a paw to his chin in thought, "Well gee, we do these tings so often, we kinda forget some of our evil schemes from time ta time."
"You can't be serious…" Seymour borderline pleaded in disbelief.
"Enough stallin'!" Meowth shot back, "Now tell us where dat Moon Stone is or else!"
"NEVER!"
"Alright, twerpette," James threatened, "Carnevine, use Seed Bomb, on the double!"
"Clefairy, use Double Slap to send them back!" Serena countered.
The flytrap Pokemon puffed out its chest, intaking a large sum of air to spit out a flurry of glowing orange seeds at the pudgy Clefairy, only for the Fairy Pokemon to literally slap the them away at a blinding speed, making it look like Clefairy had a moving pink wall in front of it.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Complained James, "My Pokemon doesn't have hands!"
"Clefairy, use Dazzling Gleam!" Ordered Serena
"Oh, you're just going to ignore me now?!"
Clefairy bundled itself into a ball and began glowing an iridescent pink.
"Oh no you don't!" Cried James, "Carnivine, use Solarbeam!"
"VIIIIINE!" Screeched Carnivine, glaring at its target intensely until suddenly it drooped its posture and turned to its trainer, smiling apologetically and rubbing its leafy arm on the back of its head.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW SOLARBEAM?!" James demanded, stomping his feet.
"FAAAAAAAAAIIIIRRR!"
"AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
"VIIIIIIIINE!"
"It's been a while, twerp," Hissed Jessie, "But this time, we've come prepared!"
"Okay," Ash said, "Go for it."
"Erm," Jessie fidgeted, "What?"
"Go for it," Ash repeated, "You're prepared, right? Have at it."
"Uuhhhh…" Jessie procrastinated, looking around until she spotted James and Carnivine imprinted in the wall upside-down.
"James, what are you doing?!"
"Well, I guess you could say I met the light of my life!" James replied with a dumb grin.
Jessie was about to make a snide remark when she caught the twerp out of the corner of her eyes tapping his foot impatiently.
"Hey, don't you have that attitude with me!" Jessie snapped, "Meowth, get over here!"
"Huh?" Asked Meowth, still cornering Seymour to interrogate him about the Moon Stone, "Cool yer jets, Jess, I'm doin' my own thing here!"
"WAS I ASKING A QUESTION, MEOWTH?!" Jessie bellowed.
"AAH!" Meowth cowered, "Okay, okay!"
Meowth quickly rushed over to meet Jessie and the twerp, releasing his claws threateningly, "Alright, twoip, prepare to face the deadly claws of Meowth!"
"That's better," Said Jessie, "Seviper, Poison Fang! Meowth, Fury Swipes!"
Seviper launched itself with a hiss at Pikachu, its long fangs glowing a deadly hue of purple. Meowth elongated his claws and leapt above Pikachu, readying to pounce.
"Thunderbolt!"
Seviper was blasted back in a heap by a quick jolt of Pikachu's electricity, resulting in Seviper crashing into a nearby wall.
"GAAAAH!" Meowth exclaimed in fear as he witnessed the fate of his comrade.
"Iron Tail!"
Meowth erupted into a scream as he saw with widened eyes as his adversary lept skyward towards Meowth and delivered a backflipping Iron Tail to his chest that sent him flying off into the unknown with a ding as the sky flashed for a split second where he once was.
"Meowth!" Jessie shouted, "You're not supposed to blast off without us!"
"I can help with that!" Serena offered, "Clefairy, use Metronome!"
"Fair!" Clefairy exclaimed with a nod.
The fairy Pokemon looked Jessie dead in the eye and pointed its fingers upward, tilting itself back and forth much like the attack's name implied. For whatever reason, Jessie couldn't help but follow the action. James and Carnivine began tilting their heads, seeing as the rest of their bodies were currently incapacitated in rock.
"Why does this…" Jessie started.
"Seem familiar?" Finished James.
Finally, Clefairy stopped tilting back and forth and it pumped its fingers into the air.
"Fair!" It cheered.
Jessie yelped as a blue light overtook her and lifted her into the air. James and Carnivine followed suit.
"Clefairy's using Psychic!" Seymour exclaimed in awe.
"Awesome!" Ash complimented.
"Hmm?" Serena noticed Wobbuffet and Mime Jr. still present, cowering by Seviper's unconscious body.
Soon, Wobbuffet and Mime Jr. noticed that Serena had a gleaming eye aimed in her direction and the two of them began pleading, urgently shaking their heads and waving their hands left and right.
"I think you forgot someone," Serena pointed out to Clefairy, directing her index finger towards the three remaining Pokemon.
"WAAAAH! WAAAAH! WAAAAAHBUFFEEEETT!" Cried Wobbuffet pleadingly.
"Miiime! Mime, Mime, Miiiime!" Mime Jr. Followed suit.
"You know what to do, Clefairy." Serena urged with a grin.
"Fair!" Clefairy nodded, tossing the group far into the skies above.
"Well," Started James, "I guess we weren't dressed for success, Jess!"
"This is a mess," Jessie complained.
"Well, there's no time like the present!" James offered.
"I guess you're right."
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAIIINN!"
"WOOOOOBBUFFEEEEET!"
DIIING
"Well," Ash said, observing the flash of light that followed Team Rocket's departure, his trusty Pikachu hopping on his shoulder, "That's that."
"Hmm," Contemplated Seymour as he gazed upon Ash and his Pikachu. Now that he thought about it, he did look familiar. His eyes snapped wide when his vision blurred and where the proud boy stood was suddenly replaced with a shorter version of him with a pudgier Pikachu on his shoulder. He wiped his glasses in surprise, not believing what he was seeing. When his glasses were returned to their normal spot, the taller boy and sleeker Pikachu were back in the other one's place once more.
Serena was observing the shining phenomenon above as well when Clefairy pulled her skirt to get her attention, pointing down one of the many cavern entrances that surrounded them.
"You want me to follow you?"
The Clefairy nodded and ran off into the cavern it was pointing to. Serena quickly took off after the Fairy Pokemon, urging Ash to follow. Seymour was still in a daze when he snapped back to reality to see the others had already taken off.
"W-wait for me!" The scientist pleaded, running after the two young trainers.
After a few minutes of sprinting, the group stopped in their tracks to behold another opening in the mountainside with a colossal pitch-black rock on a pedestal.
"So that's the Moon Stone," Ash commented in awe.
"It's beautiful!" Serena exclaimed.
"Indeed it is," Seymour proudly agreed after having caught up to the group, "I hold a firm belief that ancient Pokemon used to use these as ships to arrive here."
"Faaaaaiiiiirrrr!" Clefairy called out in a singsong voice.
Out from bushes, trees, and other caverns came dozens more Clefairy who ran up to greet their friend. After a moment of catching up, the group of Clefairy's began dancing around the giant stone, acting as if they were using Metronome once more whilst spinning in circles around the Moon Stone in synchronization before ending the dance by pointing their fingers to the sky and turning away from the stone.
"Fair!" They all chanted in unison as they pointed their fingers skyward.
The group had to cover their eyes as a bright light from overhead nearly blinded them. A giant beam of white seemingly erupted from the moon, impacting the stone to make it glow a bright white and shattering the Moon Stone.
"Oh no!" Serena cried out.
"No," Seymour interjected, "This means the ritual is complete!"
"What ritual?" Asked Ash.
"Why, the Moon Ritual of Evolution, of course!" Replied Seymour with a massive grin, "Every year, a Moon Stone crashes in one of these openings, and the year after that, the Clefairy summon a great power from the Moon itself to shatter the stone so that its power can be unleashed and they can evolve into Clefable!"
Indeed, the remains of the Moon Stone showered the Clefairy, causing them all the glow a brilliant white hue and their bodies began shifting. Where the group of Clefairys once stood, in their place were taller versions of them with a single curl of hair on their foreheads and larger, more developed star-shaped wings on their backs.
"Clefable…" Ash and Serena said in awe.
"Fay! Fable!" One of the Clefable cried out, inching its way through the crowd of its kind to make its way to Ash's group.
"Hey, are you the same Clefairy from before?" Serena asked, to which the Clefable nodded and pointed to Serena's belt.
"Fay! Fable!"
Serena smiled and bent down to embrace the pink Pokemon, "Welcome to the team then,"
Clefable happily returned the embrace as it disappeared in a flash of red into its new Pokeball, leaving Serena to stand proudly holding her new friend.
"I caught," She began proudly, raising the Pokeball to the sky, "A Clefable!"
"Nice job, Serena!" Ash congratulated.
"Indeed, congrats are in order," Seymour said, "Now, you want to get to Cerulean, right?"
"Yeah, how'd ya know?" Ash asked.
Seymour grinned, "Call it an intuition. Now, let's get you two on your way. I know this place like the back of my hand!"
As the two trainers exited Mt. Moon, they turned back to wave a thanks to Seymour for his help, only to be pleasantly surprised to see the whole Clefable population from earlier waving a goodbye as well. Clefable hopped out of its new Pokeball to wave back to its friends as well.
Minutes later, Serena's eyes suddenly lit up and she ran to the cliffside to witness Cerulean City's beautiful lighting in the night.
"Wow!" Serena exclaimed, "It's beautiful!"
"Sure is," Ash agreed.
"Pi, Pikachu!" Ash's partner chirped.
"C'mon," Ash motioned, "It's late out, so we'd better get to the Pokemon Center."
"Uh, Right!" Serena fumbled, running to catch up to the young boy.
As the two entered the Pokemon Center, they were welcomed with a very inviting sight. The place was darkened for the night as to let the trainers and Pokemon sleep easy. The place wasn't nearly as full as they'd imagine it'd be, so it wasn't too hard for them to find a place to lie down. Before they knew it, their eyes slowly closed and welcomed sleep's embrace.
Ash's eyes opened violently as he felt intense heat surround him. His vision was incredibly woozy, and it was hard for him to even stand. As he looked around, his vision blinking in and out, he could make out houses and...fire?! Ash tried to run to one of the flaming buildings, only to find that his legs would not respond. He tried to cough as smoke engulfed him, yet his mouth would not open. What...what was happening?!
Ash stood agape and horrified as he gazed upwards to watch as hundreds of Pokemon raining down from the skies before being engulfed in the flames midair. His attention snapped to his left where one of the burning houses finally collapsed. He could make out muffled voices from inside. He tried everything he could to move his legs, anything to force them to move, yet still they disobeyed.
"ASH!" A familiar voice called to him.
Ash desperately looked around for the source of the voice, finally landing his sight on a familiar figure in red racing through the flames toward him. It was Serena!
"Serena!" Ash wanted to call out, yet still his mouth refused to open.
"AAASH!" Serena continued to cry out.
Ash gaped as streaks of shadows slithered in from seemingly all directions, racing around his feet to meet directly in front of him. An angular, pitch-black figure rose from the ground where the shadows met, its red eyes piercing Ash's very soul with dread. Ash could have sworn it was smirking darkly despite the creature having no visible facial features outside of its eyes. Wordlessly, the creature turned its sight on the approaching Serena, extending a shadowed hand towards her.
Before Ash could even hope to react, a wall of white manifested in front of the shadowy creature, engulfing Serena completely. Ash swore he heard something of a muffled scream amidst the white. He wanted to rush to the creature: to demand what it was and why it was committing such an atrocity; to force it to respond to his rage, yet still he was completely paralyzed. When the cloud of smoke in front of him began dispersing, Ash could see the creature had disappeared along with it. But suddenly, a tiny, red light appeared from the remaining smoke, inching its way toward him. Finally, another shadowed figure appeared from within the smoke, though this one looked almost human. It had a cigar firmly placed in its mouth and a dark white trench coat. A bright, white grin appeared on the thing's face, yet Ash still couldn't see the rest of its face. A dark chuckle seemingly manifested from every direction as the creature grinned and slowly pulled out something metallic-looking from a pocket in its coat.
"YoU fOoL." The creature spoke out from every conceivable direction, "YoU hAvE fAiLed. ThE lEgEnDs HaVe fAiLed. ThEy WeRe FoOlS tO cHoOsE yOu As ThEiR sAvIoR."
"Savior? What are you talking about?! Why are you doing this?!" Ash wanted to scream, yet his mouth refused to open.
The creature's chuckles turned to psychotic cackling, "dId YoU hOnEsTlY tHiNk YoU cOuLd SAVE tHeM?! yOu CoUlD nEvEr SaVe ThEm, No MaTtEr HoW mUcH pOwEr YoU tHiNk YoU hAvE."
Ash heard a click, "ThIs WoRlD sHaLl ReMeMbEr ThE mAn WhO sLaYeD tHe LeGeNdS tHeMsElVeS! tHe FoRcEs Of ThE uNiVeRsE bEnD tO MY WILL!"
"Why?!" Ash attempted to scream out, to no success, "Why are you doing this?!"
To Ash's surprise, the man chuckled once more and shook his head, as if he knew what Ash wanted to say.
"It's just business."
A loud bang reverberated throughout the burning land.
Ash woke up gasping intensely in a cold sweat, desperately looking around the dark area he was in and accidentally waking up his partner. He could have sworn he saw something blue glowing on his hands for a split second before it disappeared.
"Pi?" Pikachu asked with tired eyes.
"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, embracing his confused partner.
"Wait, where's Serena?!" Ash demanded in a panic.
Raising an eyebrow, Pikachu pointed to a nearby bench where the blonde was sleeping contently, earning a relieved sigh from Ash.
"Phew," Ash sighed, "Sorry, Pikachu. I just had one heck of a nightmare."
But Pikachu had already fallen asleep. With a tired sigh, Ash managed to let out a smile and got up to welcome the rising sun. It wasn't like he'd be getting any more sleep.
Author's Note!
Creator- I think it's safe to say this is by far the best chapter yet. The death of Looker and the greatest fight yet, along with the introduction of Team Rocket! ...and...that last thing...yeaaahh, that'll be important later.
Hydra- We wrote this chapter so fast that I'm surprised it took us only a week to upload, at the rate we're going you can probably expect more chapters coming out every week, but don't worry the longest it will ever take us is two weeks.
Creator- Anyways, onto the reviews!
Amourshippingfan
"Yeah, Ash and Serena won their first badge together and I liked how well they worked together and how Serena was able to use Ash's Pokémon and I liked how they survived Delia and all her questions and I hope Looker is okay and I hope Talonflame will get better and learn to control her powers"
Creator- ...oops…
Hydra- ...Sorry...
Lord Metallix
"Did you get those lines from that guy in Mortal Kombat?"
Creator- SMBZ's Mecha Sonic, actually.
Hydra- And General Zod.
TeamPiperM
"Oh crap, Zapdos and the other birds are in trouble. Love the Gym Battle and Serena's development. Also, how does Looker get around so much and where the heck was he during that whole Team Flare thing? (No seriously, he should've been there in the anime. Preferably with a Croagunk.)"
Creator- Trouble indeed, lol. Yeah, the Gym Fight took forever to write, but it was worth it. Who needs Looker when you have Clembot? ...oh wait….
Hydra- I know they should have totally made Looker more involved in the anime it was such a shame they only put him in the Sinnoh region their was so many opportunities that they had where they could've used him.
Johnny Spectre
"Gotta wonder if Marshadow will appear from Ash's shadow like in the new movie"
Creator- Nah, sorry, but no Marshadow here. :(
Hydra- I talked to The Creator on how we could've implemented Marshadow when it was first announced, but it wouldn't have made any sense so we had to scrap the idea sadly.
Creator- So I was wondering, would the reviewers like it if I PM'd them when a new chapter is released? "Cause I'll do it if ya want. Anyways, please leave more Reviews. The more we get, the faster each chapter gets done. They're really big inspirations.
Hydra- Yes pleeaaaaassssseeee review because I always have to call him and try to keep him from getting distracted when writing the story that's a lot of work in itself you'd understand if you we're doing it. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter we'll continue to upload every 1-2 weeks thank you and goodbye.