Lawrence III drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair, as he watched the plots and cameras.

It was hard to maintain his composure. Very hard.

J was having trouble, that annoying trainer was still at large, and all three of the legendary birds had escaped.

And now they were ignoring him! Him, the chosen one!

The fact of the matter, though, was that he didn't have much to use to change that. Hopefully, Lugia would come to him anyway, since he had – if briefly – brought the trio together, and if the great legendary didn't come quietly... that was why he had four capture rings in reserve. The most powerful four, at that.

Another shiver ran through the body of the Hikokyu. Lawrence ignored it, choosing instead to focus on the red treasure of fire on its tray.

What did it mean? Why had this orb suddenly flashed into fiery life?

Something about that boy. The aura adept...

Perhaps that was it. The orbs required aura to fully activate, just as part of what made legendaries so powerful was their aura.

With all three together, he could surely control Lugia.

In fact...

He raised the orb of fire, and concentrated on it. "Moltres," he whispered.

Seconds ticked away, silently were it not for the constant rumble of Pokémon battle outside.

Once nearly a minute had passed with no reaction, Lawrence sighed.

So, they only had power when combined.

It had been worth a try.

The computer cut in. Unauthorized entrant approaching bridge.

Sighing, Lawrence steepled his fingers and spun his chair to face the bridge doorway.

Lucario stood with quiet dignity, facing J and her two remaining Pokémon.

"I suggest you give up," he said, addressing her Drapion. "It would save a great deal of trouble if you did so now."

Ariados and Drapion bristled, raising fangs which dripped with green-purple poison.

J frowned. "Lucario... Fighting and Steel type..."

She sighed. "Bug moves are nearly useless. Poison is completely useless. Normal type moves are at a disadvantage... Drapion! Earthquake!"

The scorpion-Pokémon raised his pincers into the air, then slammed them on the floor.

Lucario took a step forward, then leapt back over the hole in the ship as the Earthquake took effect. The whole vessel shuddered, superstructure flexing and groaning, and the list increased.

Landing on light paws despite his weight, Lucario cocked his head to one side – just slightly.

He closed one eye, monitoring the Aura in the two Poison types.

Ariados he could, essentially, safely ignore. Drapion was the dangerous one, because it knew at least one attack that could hurt him. (Badly, now – more badly than five minutes ago, at least, since his new Steel type wasn't entirely good news.)

A glow built around his paws.

J pointed at him with one hand. "Earthquake again! Kill him!"

Lucario jumped again. His left wrist-spike glowed, becoming a pair of metal claws, and he used them to dig into the ceiling of the corridor. The other forepaw pulsed with light, and launched off a powerful Flash Cannon.

Drapion screeched as the blow hit.

Poison and Dark types... Lucario mused. Not much that's especially effective on them...

Ariados launched a String Shot at him, and he dropped free of the roof to land on blue-glowing hindpaws. His Metal Claw sheared through what little of the string was still aimed to hit him, and he began to craft a staff out of Aura.

There was a little click noise from J's direction. Lucario looked up just as she fired.

J's expression of triumph turned to one of bafflement.

Lucario lowered his free paw from in front of his face, then opened it.

A small metal slug rested on the palm.

"Steel type," he said, though not really sure if she could understand him.

It wasn't the whole story, either – it had taken aura to catch it without it drawing blood, and he was probably going to bruise – but it was certainly impressive.

J's fist clenched. "Drapion! Bring the ship down if you have to, but kill him!"

Both Pokémon clicked their pincers together in reply, then Drapion raised his tail. Ariados fired a Sticky Web over Lucario's head, aiming to catch him if he jumped, and Drapion brought his tail down for the most powerful Earthquake yet.

Lucario adjusted his grip on his staff, and dove – sideways. He hit the window with a crash, the spikes on his wrists shattering through it, and disappeared down past the lip of the window just as the whole ship shuddered.

Several lifting pods crackled and shut down as cumulative damage broke their internal machinery, and the list actually corrected a bit.

J stumbled, and cursed. "We're losing altitude," she said, correctly interpreting the slight shift in sensation. "Looks like you did bring the ship down."

Drapion grovelled.

"Stop it," she said, curtly. "Now, we need to make sure he's dead."

The two insectoid Pokémon nodded, and scuttled over to the side of the ship.

A blue paw grabbed onto Drapion's front foot, and hurled him entirely out of the ship in one convulsive heave.

"What-!" J gaped for a moment, then realized what had happened and stepped back from the edge. "Stop him!"

A blue-glowing bone staff clocked Ariados on the head, and he staggered for a moment before collapsing.

Lucario hauled himself back up onto the floor, the claws on the back of his wrists reforming back into spikes once again.

Then he gave J a cool, collected look. "Well?"

J tapped her goggles, which flashed to on.

Lucario sighed, and decided to exert a little extra effort in order to make his next words understandable. "If you won't let yourself be taken alive, then you're probably going to be killed at some point here. I'm not going to let you go."

He paused. "I would regret your death, but... not very much."

Fire-type and Dragon-type crashed into the waters of the Orange Sea.

Charizard immediately pumped out as much heat as he could, intensifying his tail flame to resist the effects of the sea and abandoning the fight to put his whole focus on trying to get out of the water.

Salamence, who had been coming off generally the worse of the fight, seized this opportunity with all four paws. He lunged for Charizard's tail with his jaw and yanked him back into the water, pulling him down with underwater wingbeats that strained tired flight muscles.

Ash's Pokémon roared, twisting his tail to keep the flame as safe as possible, and blasted down with a potent Overheat. The water in the immediate area turned to steam, buying him a moment's respite as water rushed in to fill the sudden gap.

That was a trick he couldn't repeat, though. Every moment going up and down on high storm waves was highly dangerous to him, eroding away the advantage he'd won over the minutes of combat so far.

"Hands off my big orange friend punch!"

Salamence had just enough time to turn his head and see the incoming turtle before it hit him between the eyes. The impact stunned him, making his jaw go limp, and Charizard climbed gratefully above wave height.

"Thanks!" he called down, panting.

"Don't mention it!" Squirtle replied, standing on the water in defiance of normal logic. "Actually, though, do mention it! To everyone!"

Now recovered, Salamence snarled.

"Seriously, what in the name of Groudon is your problem!?" Charizard asked, exasperated. "J is a complete bitch!"

Salamence did not deign to answer. He roared, his teeth crackling with electrical energy, and snapped for Squirtle.

The unconventional Water-type grinned, and dove into the water.

Salamence simply drove his head into it after Squirtle, letting the electricity short across the surface.

Then a colossal column of water blasted from underneath him, launching him entirely into the air.

"Mere electricity does nothing to me!" Squirtle announced, then coughed. "Well, not that pathetic display of voltage, anyway."

"What was that for?" Charizard asked, as the Water Spout attack's force slowly dissipated now that Squirtle had stopped feeding it. "You know Ice type attacks."

"That's right, I do," Squirtle agreed, and pointed.

The Water Spout had carried Salamence a good couple of thousand feet into the air. Now, he was finally free of the rushing force of the water-

And promptly got hit by a stray Aurora Beam from the continuing three-way Legendary spat.

"But Articuno is much better at them," he finished smugly.

Wings iced up, Salamence plummeted back towards the ocean.

"You know, we should probably make sure he doesn't drown or something," Charizard mused.

"Yeah, probably," Squirtle agreed, then brightened. "Hey! Defeat Means Friendship, so maybe he'll be nicer to us now!"

"Pidgeot pile-drove him into a hill last time, and that didn't help much." Charizard flared his wings, and dropped to only a few feet above the peaks of the waves. "Grab on, I'll give you a lift."

"Ya know, right now I ain't sure whether it's us what done more damage to their ship, or dem..." Meowth commented, watching the Hikokyu shudder again and begin to slowly drift downwards.

"It's quite a close call, isn't it..." Jessie agreed.

Something went CLUNK.

"What was dat?" Meowth asked.

James gulped. "Speaking of close calls..."

He flicked a switch and wrenched the yoke around, and the fighter aircraft went from hovering in the air to a shallow dive. A couple of seconds later there was another, louder, cough from the engines, followed by a small explosion and half the control panel lit up.

"Oh, great..." Meowth muttered. "We still good, James?"

"Depends what you mean by good," James informed them, punching controls to douse the turbines. "We're not about to crash, but the engines aren't going to be working again today."

The fighter started to gain speed as it lost height.

"What happened?" Jessie asked. "We didn't get hit..."

"Yeah!" Meowth weighed in.

"Well, a giant flying machine just started shedding bits overhead," James pointed out, and shrugged. "I think the intakes sucked in bits of metal."

"Ain't dat just great," Meowth said, chuckling weakly. "The fighter got indigestion..."

"What can we do to help?" Jessie asked.

James started flicking switches. "We've got the ram air turbine, so we've got cockpit power. Meowth!"

"Yep?"

"Use Missile!"

Meowth blinked. "But I don't know no attack called-"

"He means use all the missiles we've got left," Jessie interrupted. "We need to shed weight."

"Right, got it!" Meowth flipped controls on his own panel, disarming the remaining eight missiles, and dumped them in pairs. By the time all eight were gone, the glide path was noticeably smoother.

"Where now?" James added. "We need somewhere to land..."

"Can this do a beach landin'?" Meowth suggested. "Otherwise, we're gonna have to splash. Either way, head for the nearest bit of Shamouti."

"Got it." James banked the aircraft carefully, trying not to shed too much speed, and headed off towards the main island in the group.

The door swung open.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused?" Lawrence asked, watching the boy as he, his Pikachu, and an Ivysaur came through.

"...pardon?" Ash asked, blinking. "You imprisoned three Legendary Pokémon and nearly caused the end of the world!"

"Merest speculation." Lawrence stood, and with a gesture brought up an image of the tablet. "When the treasures are combined, they will tame the beast of the sea."

"Did you even read the rest of the tablet?" Ash began, then stopped. "Okay, what? Don't you think the Beast of the Sea is Lugia?"

"What else could it be?" Lawrence asked, rhetorically. "When Lugia is tamed, this storm will end."

"It's more like the opposite." Ash shook his head. "Okay... you know Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres are the titans, right?"

"Of course," Lawrence agreed, neglecting to mention that he'd decided that merely minutes ago. "Once they are in harmony – that is, all mine – then the destruction they are causing upon the world will end."

Ash gaped. "How does that even..."

He gathered himself. "Right... and the water's great guardian?"

Lawrence frowned. "That, I am not sure of. I am sure it will all become clear in time-"

"It's Lugia, you idiot!" Ash exploded.

"How could the same thing be both Great Guardian and Beast of the Sea?" Lawrence asked. "Perhaps Manaphy is the Great Guardian. I admit I'm curious to see the palace of the sea."

Whatever Ash was going to say about that was cut off by a juddering crash, which threw everyone across the room.

Lawrence steadied himself first, and glanced over at the treasure on its plinth.

It wasn't there.

Looking to the direction he'd been thrown, he saw nothing either. Then he looked back at the boy, who was already back on his feet.

The Ivysaur next to him was grinning, and had the treasure of Fire in its vines.

"Give that back!" Lawrence snapped, his irritation showing in his voice for the first time. "It is my destiny to-"

Another impact, this one even worse and continuous. A long grinding, tearing sound heralded the base of Hikokyu beating itself to ruin on the slope of Ice Island's main peaks.

Ash managed to stay on his feet at first, but the shaking sent him stumbling, then across the room and out the smashed window.

"Ash!" Pikachu called out, running to the edge of the window. "Are you okay?"

Ivysaur followed, rattling off a Grass Whistle to make sure Lawrence didn't interfere, and readied his free vine to try and rescue Ash.

Ash tumbled through the air. He barely avoided hitting the blades of the nearest impeller, one of the many which had shut down due to shock damage.

As he approached the rocky slope he scrabbled at his belt, trying to reach a Pokéball. "Um... gah... Pidgeot!"

The Pokéball still at his waist erupted, forming into his oldest Flying-type. She took in the situation at a glance, snagged his cape with her claws, and swung him onto her back. "Don't worry, Ash, I've got you."

"Thanks, Pidgeot," Ash said, as she pulled up and just avoided kissing the ground. Loose dirt and leaves went flying in her windrush. "Let's go back up and pick up Pikachu and Ivysaur. Up there!"

"Got it." Pidgeot flapped hard, rising back past the stopped impellers, and hovered by the hole. "All aboard!"

Pikachu took the Fire treasure from Ivysaur, who let himself be returned, and hopped onto Pidgeot's back. He scrambled up Ash's backpack and slipped the treasure into it, then clung on as Pidgeot moved away again.

"Do we need to pick up Riolu?" Pidgeot asked.

"What – oh, you didn't hear," Ash grinned. "He's Lucario, now."

"Really?" Pidgeot cooed, interested. "Good to know. Do we?"

"Don't think so," Ash said, after a moment's thought. "He should be fine."

Below, the Hikokyu finally came to a stop, canted a little over on one side. Smoke plumed up from the destroyed bits, and there was a long trail of destroyed and abraded parts stretching into the distance of the crash scar.

"Probably," Ash amended. He closed his eyes, switching to Aura sight. "Yep, there he is. Looks fine to me."

"Right." Pidgeot circled once, then headed back along the route the flying machine had been taking. "We're looking for something, right?"

"That's right, the lightning treasure. No idea where it went."

Misty looked around from watching the chaos overhead at an enormous splash.

For a moment she couldn't see what had happened, as the wave hid her view. Then, as it subsided, she saw a large aircraft settling into the shallow water just off the beach.

The cockpit exploded off, and three familiar shapes climbed out of it.

"Well, dat lasted a lot longer than the usual stuff does..." Meowth commented, helping Jessie up. "I tink I'll miss it."

"Hi, guys," Misty called, waving. "Need help?"

"We're good, thanks," James said, splashing into the water and wading ashore.

"What happened up there?" Tracey asked, as the other two followed him. "We couldn't see."

"We helped!" Meowth said with a grin.

James elaborated. "Ash got on board, then things started exploding. We didn't see exactly what was going on, but it didn't look good for that guy. Or for J."

Misty blinked. "J? Hunter J is there?"

"Now you mention it, that was the most surprising bit," Jessie admitted. "Except when she tried to shoot Ash."

"What's she doing here?" Misty muttered. "Oh, great..."

She frowned. "Wait. Did you hear that?"

"Yeah," Meowth agreed. "Kind of a-"

Tracey pointed. "Look!"

Water bulged up underneath the battling legendary birds, then erupted into a gigantic tornado of water.

To the accompaniment of high-pitched, wordless song, the waterspout rose as high as the birds, coming up between them and separating them simply by being there.

Then it exploded, revealing Lugia.

"Now that's an entrance," James said admiringly.

"Could have done with a motto, though," Jessie added.

I have no idea why you three keep doing this, Lugia said, hovering in mid-air with far fewer wingbeats than it should have taken. What was it this time?

"Articuno and Moltres abandoned their islands!" Zapdos told Lugia quickly. "Therefore, I'm the-"

"Shut up!" Moltres cut across him. "I am-"

Articuno curved around Lugia's position, and fired on both his fellow birds.

You three are impossible! Lugia declared, sweeping a wing around. Stop this at once, before you cause enough chaos to wreck the climate.

The trio considered that for several seconds. Then gave their answer to the Trio Master.

Lugia barely got his Light Screen up in time.

Alright, that's it. The Diving Pokémon flared his shield, and pumped his wings. You're not going to listen to reason, so I'll make you stop.

A Flamethrower went past his shoulder, barely feet away. He rolled slightly towards it as soon as it stopped, and a Thunderbolt shot past where he'd just been.

Articuno accelerated, flying ahead and above Lugia. He countered by diving, trading height for speed, and the Aurora Beam that speared down from above failed to hit him.

Lugia focused his powers into an Agility, building on his speed advantage. The other Legendaries took a few seconds to match him, and he was some way ahead by the time the range stopped opening.

The weather overhead roiled, as the three Birds each tried to manipulate the weather to their own advantage. The Hail, Sunny Day and Rain Dance attacks added to the general meteorological chaos, and Lugia winced slightly.

It would take such a long time to sort all this out...

At least one good thing had come of it, if you wanted to see it that way. They weren't arguing any more.

The feathers on his spine prickled, and Lugia slid sideways away from a Thunder attack. The Blizzard which followed it went wide, though it hit the surface of the water ahead of him – and, thanks largely to the sheer power that Articuno had pumped into it, created a chaos of icebergs and floe fragments. They almost immediately began to crash into one another, the stormy waves beating them together with stunning force.

Lugia smirked slightly. He built up another psychic charge, caught the Fire Blast attack that Moltres launched at him, and crushed it to smother the flames.

He wanted that ice intact.

His wing-fins folded in, and a Reflect formed around him – barely above skintight.

Then he folded his wings, reducing his cross section.

A gap between two icebergs loomed up, shards of ice falling into it as one of the icebergs disintegrated. He dove through with barely a foot of clearance on either side, then jinked in the chill air and passed through a narrow 'tunnel' formed by earlier damage to one of the floes.

Back up into clear air for a second, and then he went in again. This time, the chosen route was a long and twisting tunnel with multiple bends barely within his ability to turn into.

Roll left. Yaw. Slide right. Wings flaring, brake just enough to avoid hitting the walls with bone-jarring force and drop through a hole. Wings back in. Roll again.

The path ended in a hole leading to the open sea. Lugia dove into it without hesitating, and burst back out under the stormy sky four seconds later.

He glanced back over his shoulder to see the results of his handiwork.

Nothing happened for two seconds. Three. Then a great orange globe of fire erupted through the final iceberg, and Moltres – looking considerably worse for wear – emerged through the dripping hole it left.

Articuno came next by battering through the ice with glowing wings of steel, looking better off than his Fire-typed compatriot but just as annoyed.

Finally, Zapdos emerged from somewhere around the middle of the chaos. By the looks of things, he'd finally remembered that they didn't have to follow Lugia through the icy labyrinth.

Pity it took so long.

More attacks lanced out at Lugia, who turned inside them and began heading back towards Shamouti – the better to fight on familiar ground.

"Now that is a fight," Charizard said, shading his eyes with a clawed hand. "It's amazing to watch Legendaries going all-out against one another like this."

"Yeah!" Squirtle agreed, arms folded. "It's as badass as I imagined it would be! There's a bit less Drill than I was hoping for, though..."

Charizard half-heartedly aimed a kick at him. "How obsessed are you?"

"Enough to be awesome!" Squirtle replied, matter-of-factly.

The ice-encrusted Salamence groaned something incomprehensible.

"Shut up," Charizard added, looking at their prisoner. "You're lucky we fished you out of the sea."

Lugia did a quick weave in mid-air, decoying his pursuers and wrong-winging them, then flared his wings up and around in a quick wingover.

Screeching in rage, Zapdos and Moltres piled after him, Articuno a few lengths behind.

Suspecting something was up, Lugia slowed to a halt in mid-air and turned to face them.

"Got you!" Zapdos crowed. Lightning sparked off his jagged feathers. "Now!"

With that, the lightning crested and speared out towards Lugia, accompanied by similarly large blasts of ice and fire.

All three attacks cannoned into Lugia's Light Screen, eroding through it in seconds and reaching his slick feathers.

Which flashed silver.

The Mirror Coat bounced back all three attacks, considerately moving them around. Articuno got hit by the Heat Wave attack, Zapdos by the Ice Beam, and Moltres found himself on the receiving end of a Discharge.

Adding to their problems, Lugia stooped down on them with a translucent Reflect ball crackling around him and knocked them physically away before resuming his flight.

Recovering, the trio of Birds plunged after him.

"No sign of it," Ash said, blindfold over one eye. "Where is it?"

"The waves are pretty nasty," Pidgeot volunteered. "It could have gone almost anywhere – if it floated. If it didn't..."

"They're hollow, right?" Pikachu checked. He hefted the fire sphere. "Feels pretty light... I'm fairly sure this would float."

"That's one good thing." Ash leaned further over, then sputtered as spray caught him. "Okay, maybe we're a bit too low. Climb a bit, girl."

"Got it." Pidgeot duly trimmed her tail a bit, regaining height.

"Thanks, I-" Ash paused, looking up. "Hey, look! There's Lugia!"

"About time," Pikachu grumbled, bracing himself on Ash's shoulder. "Where was he when the giant flying fortress was around?"

"Actually," Ash said, then broke off. "Pidgeot, if we haven't found it by now we're looking in the wrong place. Take us up to Lugia, maybe he can help."

That done, he turned back to Pikachu as the Flying-type gained height. "You've got to admit, if he turned up every time there was a giant flying fortress he'd never get any rest."

"Our life isn't typical, Ash," Pikachu countered. His cheeks sparked. "Okay, Pidgeot, don't panic... this should help out."

Yellow-blue electricity danced out from his ears, cheeks and tail, forming a static charge across Pidgeot's feathers.

"If I've got this right, you now basically have my Lightningrod ability," Pikachu informed her.

"Thanks!" Pidgeot replied with a chirp.

Ash pointed. "Wait, I remember this bit..." He fumbled at his waist for one of the currently-empty Pokéballs that had held his team.

A red beam lanced out from it towards Ice Island.

The three birds were around Lugia, now, and a long way apart. They inhaled, then spat long streams of their elements.

The attacks crossed in front of Lugia, and he was forced to stop to avoid running into them. A Mirror Coat formed across his feathers, but the three birds – cannier now – held their fire for a moment.

Inevitably, the Mirror Coat had to drop.

A Light Screen went up to replace it, backed by a Protect, but the attacks came closely sequenced enough that the Protect collapsed. Then it was only the Light Screen-

Ash threw the Pokéball as hard as he could. "Now!"

Charizard emerged into the air, roared, and launched off a Fire Blast directly at Articuno. The Freeze Pokémon had to stop attacking and dodge wildly, with Charizard following him with fire seething in his maw.

Pikachu released a potent Thunder attack straight at Moltres, leaning on his Light Ball to keep the shield protecting Pidgeot up. The Flame Pokémon was hit by the attack, raising a screech of pain, and his attack went wide.

Pidgeot called a war-cry and charged. Zapdos broke off the attack, leaving Lugia singed but broadly safe, and switched targets with a potent Zap Cannon attack.

The blue-white sphere of electrical energy dissipated as it reached the thunder-armour, and Pikachu gasped as a flood of energy hit his Lightningrod. Cheeks crackling, he buffered it enough to start absorbing it, and then both he and Ash went flying as Pidgeot hit her target with Brave Bird.

Neither boy nor Pokémon fell more than a few feet.

My thanks, Lugia said, eyes glowing as he levitated the two. I am sorry, I could not catch your hat.

"That's okay," Ash said, wincing. "Should have guessed."

An explosion below heralded Charizard wrapping himself in Fire Spin. He directed it up at Zapdos, forcing him to clear away from Pidgeot, and Ash's two Flying-types started working together – flying in crisscross banking patterns to scratch one another's tails.

Ash watched for a moment, concerned, then looked up at Lugia. His eyes closed for a moment, then opened full of determination. "Can I ask something?"

You may, though make it quick. Lugia gave a concerned look to the trio. I am not sure how long your Pokémon can hold out against three legends.

Ash nodded. "I know. And – I need to touch you."

Lugia blinked. An unusual request, but I suppose... well, if we are to save your Pokémon, you must ride me anyway. Chosen one.

"You know?" Ash asked, then shook his head. "Sorry, silly question."

Ho-Oh has spoken of you, Lugia informed him, levitating Ash and Pikachu onto his back. I must say, I-

Ash made contact.

-believe him completely, Lugia finished in a rather different tone. You're better prepared than last time.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Sorry, I lost track of the Lightning treasure. We don't know where it is."

I'm sure we will find it, Lugia reassured him. Hold on tight!

Charizard rolled in the air, turning back in on himself with a flap of his wings, and exhaled a roaring gout of flame. His target, Moltres, broke off an attack on Pidgeot and easily evaded the reaching fireball.

Now Articuno was on his tail. He rolled back the other way, right wing pointing nearly straight down between flaps, and hauled himself around – trailing Articuno, who was forced to give up an attack run to avoid a Sky Attack.

He wasn't in the best shape for this.

The fight with Salamence had been close – closer than he liked to admit – and now he was thrown into a battle with three legendaries.

Worse, he was slowing Pidgeot down. She was holding out well so far, but... she did best when able to use her massive speed, and she wasn't able to while she was working with him instead.

Decision crystallized.

"Pidgeot, get out of here!" he shouted, wrapping himself in a Fire Spin and body-slamming Articuno. The blue Legendary screeched in pain, and replied with a pulse of intense cold which snuffed most of the Fire attack in a second.

Charizard dropped a hundred feet before righting himself, and blinked. That had been close – the Sheer Cold attack had nearly dealt with him in one blow...

A Razor Wind hit Moltres as he tried to line up an attack on the dragon, and knocked him wide. The attack had been hastily put together, though, and disintegrated in short order.

"I'm not leaving you to face three legendaries alone!" Pidgeot countered, rolling around an Ice Beam from Articuno and spinning air control layers around herself. "You're already tired, you need help!"

"Not if-" Charizard snarled as a Flamethrower clipped his wing. "Gah!"

Even a Fire-type wasn't immune to the heat of Moltres's flames.

"Charizard, you stubborn idiot!" Pidgeot called. She did a complex wiggling move, and two Double Team doubles split off from her. The three Flying types diverged quickly, one of them flying up high for greater distance while the other two stayed close in.

"I just need to hold out a bit longer," Charizard replied. "And..."

There was a muted whump. Charizard's tail flame brightened, and tinged with blue.

"There we go!" he said, pleased. "Blaze, right on time!"

Another Fire Spin formed, this time held as a Counter Shield. Articuno aborted an attack run and began to circle, eyes on Charizard, while Moltres began trying to hit the Pidgeots.

"Wait," Charizard said suddenly. "Where's Zapdos?"

"This is so much fun!" Ash called, clinging onto Lugia's back with blue-glowing hands and knees.

"It's a bit fast for me," Pikachu commented. "Can you-"

Lugia's eyes glowed, and the windrush died down to a light breeze. Sorry, I'm not used to riders. Is that better?

"Much!" Pikachu patted Lugia's back. "Thanks!"

"I was enjoying it..." Ash said, with exaggerated unhappiness. He swallowed, and his ears popped with the climb.

I'm sure there'll be time for fun later, chosen one. Lugia swept his wings back and climbed further. Thanks to your gift of knowledge, I now know we must solve this quickly.

The great guardian's feathers began to glow. Pikachu – do you think you can launch a powerful electrical attack at Articuno?

He frowned, and the glow vanished. Aim to knock him out in one blow, if you can. It seems we must use the great song, which means that I can – for once – give them a well deserved thrashing.

"That, I can do." Pikachu began to concentrate, lightning sparking from his cheeks and growing into an aura around him as he Charged repeatedly. "Give me about ten seconds' warning."

Ash looked down, squinting at the tiny figures of the Legendaries below. "What about me?"

Zapdos has broken off from the others. I believe we must follow him, but first your Pokémon should be made safe.

Lugia turned to look Ash in the eye, and gave him a solemn nod. Keep an eye on Zapdos for me, Ash. Pikachu and I are going to be rather distracted.

Ash nodded back, determined, and his eyes sought the tiny yellow-black dot that was Zapdos.

Another glow suffused Lugia's feathers, and then faded.

Get ready, he warned, and banked slightly. Then the right wing went vertically up, the left wing went vertically down, and he turned over into a screaming dive straight down towards the flash and fury of the battle below.

Ice traced a line along Charizard's middle alar phalange, stinging with freezer burn. He snatched the threatened wing away, breathing fire on it to slow the chills, and grimaced as it remained a little stiff even after his prompt action.

That was going to be a problem.

Charizard had to face it – he was losing. Slowly but surely, the Legendary Pokémon were outlasting him, and Pidgeot was looking worse for wear as well.

His Blaze boost wasn't going to keep him in the fight forever, that was one thing that was certain. Already the blue tinge to his flame was fading, signalling that fatigue was overwhelming it.

A roar, and he bathed Moltres in Dragonbreath. The mystic fire burned like normal fire would not have, and caused a screech of pain and rage.

Mostly rage.

Charizard turned inside Articuno, managing to exploit the Ice-type's blind spot, and cuffed him with wings cloaked in fire-spin. He lunged forwards after that contact, trying to get a grip on his opponents' wings, but Articuno dropped and evaded his attempt at a Flaming Seismic Toss.

Flame lanced at his side, scorching some of his scales.

Snarling, Charizard lashed out with a tail cloaked in steel, and clipped Moltres's wing. Then he started to charge a Dragon Rage.

If he was going down, he was damn sure he wasn't going quietly.

-and a ball of opalescent energy materialized off his right shoulder, shot into motion from a standing start, and hit Moltres in the face.

He blinked, staggering in the air as he lost concentration, and a second ball – one which he thought looked a lot like Future Sight – appeared over his left shoulder to smash into Articuno.

Aeroblast.

There was a sound like a piece of paper the size of the Hall of Origin being torn in half. A red beam of light lanced down from overhead, starting to the rear of Moltres and then sweeping across him. The impact was only glancing, but it sent Moltres flying like a rag doll in a storm, tumbling out of control.

"Volt Crash!"

This was more familiar. Articuno had had a little more time to recover, as well, and managed to dodge a little, but the attack still caught him on one wing and dealt a serious blow.

Charizard saw his chance and took it. A full Fire Blast roared forwards, hitting the lamed Legendary in the breast, and exploded into a cloud of smoke.

The panting dragon waited just long enough to see Articuno drop limply from the base of the cloud before succumbing to exhaustion.

Pidgeot took his shoulders in her talons, dissolving her double Double Team team. "Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe."

She looked after Lugia, who had shot past around the time Charizard fired his final attack. "Good luck, Ash."

In the back of her mind, she wondered if she'd get a chance to speak to Lugia after the battle. That had been the most amazing Flying-type attack she'd ever seen.

AN:

Legendary Pokémon are powerful. And Ash's are some of the best in the business.

(I looked at Lugia's strategy in the film, and it's... not great. I tweaked it a bit here.)