Chapter 52:
Omegageddon, Part III
Team Omega Base, Route 16
"Come on guys, keep going!" Serena encouraged.
To say that things were chaotic would be an understatement. One moment, the girls were inspecting the holding pens inside the large storage room to check if Charizard was any of them, but alas they only found the perennially enraged Nuclear-type Pokemon.
Then, the cages and holding pens opened on their own, and all hell broke loose.
Fortunately, the girls were fast on the draw, and before the Nuclear Horde could pounce on them they were able to send some of their own Pokemon to form a defense: Serena sent Delphox and Pangoro, Decidueye and Vaporeon were Leona's picks, while Mairin chose Chespie and her white flower Florges nicknamed Bebe.
Bonnie didn't even need to send any Pokemon, as her brother's borrowed Bunnelby and Geigeroach were already outside.
A cacophony of roars, screeches and cries signaled the beginning of the battle as the mass of mindless radioactive Pokemon charged forward. Said charge failed to break the impregnable defense the non-Nuclear Pokemon (and Geigeroach) had put, for they made up for their lack of numbers with greater intelligence and their trainers coaching them.
The battle didn't end there, of course. Even if they were disorganized, the Nuclear Pokemon had the advantage of numbers, and they were going to capitalize on that for all that it was worth.
Delphox sent a wave of flames through her wand at a group of approaching Tancoon, forcing them back.
Several Owten and a pair of Eshouten dived from above towards Pangoro, who was busy punching an Arbok back with Thunder Punch. However, he was saved by a powerful Aurora Beam fired by Vaporeon.
Bunnelby fired globs of mud at an incoming Kinetmunk, while Decidueye delivered swipes with the edge of its wings, which were glowing green, to a pair of Baashaun leaping at it.
A pair of Gligar and a Palij crashed uselessly against Chespie's Spiky Shield, and were quickly dispatched by a powerful Needle Arm.
Bebe fired a Moonblast towards a Tubareel slithering towards it, while Geigeroach fired missiles of purple sludge at a group of Corsola.
"Come on guys, keep going, you're doing great!" Leona cheered.
"Pango?" Pangoro asked, as something began to crawl up his legs.
"Ches!" Chespie growled, sharing the panda's predicament.
Being the two largest Pokemon, the Nuclear Horde seemed to focus on Pangoro and Chespie more than anyone, as many smaller Nuclear Pokemon such as Chyinmunk, Costraw and Owten started to climb them while biting and scratching them.
"Bunnelby, quick! Help Pangoro with Double Slap!" Bonnie urged.
"I can help Chespie, but this might hurt a bit!" Leona asked Mairin, but the redhead nodded. "Decidueye, Leaf Storm over Chesnaught!"
"Chespie, hold on!" Mairin encouraged.
As Bunnelby slapped the crawling Pokemon away from Pangoro's large body with swiftness and precision, Decidueye flapped its wings, releasing a barrage of razor leaves at Chespie. The Chesnaught gritted its teeth as the attack washed over it, but the Nuclear Pokemon crawling over its body weren't able to take it as well as the Kalosian starter, and were blown away.
As the Nuclear Pokemon were eventually knocked out, the fight started to wind down, giving the Non-Nuclear Pokemon (and Geigeroach) more breathing room, which allowed them to finish the remaining hostile Pokemon off much more easily, with Bebe blasting the last group of enemies with a powerful Petal Dance.
"So... were those the last ones?" Leona asked.
"I think so. I don't see any more left..." Bonnie said, as she cautiously looked around.
"Still, we better get out of here before they send more through a secret tunnel or something like that," Serena said, who didn't want to risk staying in that trap any longer than necessary. "I think our Pokemon could take down that door if they work together. Perhaps Delphox could-"
Serena was interrupted by the cracking noise of a speaker coming to life.
"Good job with those Nuclear Pokemon, girls," an adult male voice boomed, coming from the roof. "The combat data that you so generously provided has been recorded. It will be worth millions!"
"Who the hell are you!?" Leona yelled at the speakers on the roof.
"That voice..." Serena began.
"Have you heard it before?" Mairin asked the honey blonde.
"It rings a bell, but now I can't put my finger where I have heard it before..." Serena replied.
"Yeah, I think I have heard that voice too, but I don't remember when," Bonnie added.
"But despite your generous contribution, I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to roam this base as freely as you've been doing," the voice continued.
There was a metallic noise, and the gate that had closed behind them, leaving them trapped inside the holding room began to open. Unfortunately, there were three Team Omega members of the kind that used Nuclear Pokemon, two grunts and another one Serena guessed was a higher up, given that his armor was way more elaborate.
"YOU!" Leona shouted, startling Serena. The Alolan was glaring daggers at the large Team Omega member in the middle.
"You know that guy?" Serena asked her rival.
"You bet I do! He and his friends were the one who ambushed and kidnapped me!" Leona stated.
"Now Captain Darren here will escort you back to your cells. Please behave like good girls and don't make his job harder than it needs to be," the voice from the speakers asked in a fake pleading tone, before chuckling and adding, "or not. Darren is a man who enjoys unleashing violence. The choice is yours."
"Don't worry professor. I'll teach them why messing with Team Omega can be harmful to your health," the Team Omega Captain, Darren, said while chuckling darkly. "So, I assume you aren't going to come quietly, are you?"
"If you think I'm going to let you get your hands on me a second time, you'll have another thing coming!" Leona fired.
"We aren't going to surrender without a fight," Serena defiantly added.
Darren brought his head back and laughed. "Heh, I like your grit, girlies! Though, one way or another, you are going to surrender! Gyarados, Pajay, go!"
"Nucleon, to battle!" the first grunt said.
"Let's go, Xenogen!" said the second grunt.
The four Nuclear Pokemon materialized in front of the girls, the Gyarados and the Pajay, wearing mind control collars, in the middle, with Xenogen and Nucleon, who fought for their masters seemingly out of free will if their bare necks were any indication, flanking the former two.
Despite the fact that the girls were fresh out of beating dozens of Nuclear Pokemon, all of them knew that these four alone would prove to be a much greater challenge to beat.
"Xenogen, Fallout!" one of the Team Omega grunts called.
"Oh no!" Mairin cried.
"Xeeeee...!" Xenogen screeched, as its eerie green glow its body produced became more intense. It was quickly followed by the ground turning bright green, with wisps of green mist appearing and vanishing around them.
"Mairin? Do you know about that attack?" Serena asked.
The redhead nodded. "Yeah, it's Fallout. It spreads radiation all around the place for a time, slowly harming non-Nuclear Pokemon and increasing the overall resistance of Nuclear Pokemon."
"So things just got harder from us. Great way to start this battle," Leona commented, suppressing a groan.
"At least Geigeroach will benefit from it," Bonnie said, trying to stay positive.
"No matter what they do, we aren't going to let these guys intimidate us! Come on Delphox, Fire Blast! Make it big!"
"Del, delphox!" the Fox Pokemon cried, the flame of her wand burning brightly, before swinging it forward and releasing a huge torrent of flames shaped like kanji of fire.
"Pajay, Nuclear Wind!" Darren called.
Pajay didn't say anything, and began to flap its wings quickly, forming a tornado of green air. Both attacks clashed in the middle and struggled against one another for a few seconds, before both of them broke down into nothing, much to Serena's shock.
"What?" the honey blonde asked.
"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!" Darren ordered.
Like Pajay, Gyarados remained silent, as it simply opened its mouth and released a deluge of torrential water at Delphox, which hit both her and Pangoro, blasting them backwards.
"Delphox, Pangoro!" Serena cried.
"Decidueye, quickly, jump into the air and use Spirit Shackle!" Leona quickly ordered.
"Cover Decidueye with Mud Shot, Bunnelby!" Bonnie added just as quickly.
"Bun, bunel!" Bunnelby cried as he summoned several globs of mud around his ears before launching them forward with no direction in particular.
"Hooo!" Decidueye hooted as it took off, and using its wing as a makeshift bow, fired a small volley of arrow-shaped feathers coated in ghostly flames.
"Dodge them, quickly!" Darren ordered.
While Pajay was able to move away from the incoming rain of mud missiles and ghostly arrows, Gyarados wasn't so lucky and took both attacks in full. Still, the Atrocious Pokemon didn't even cry in pain.
"Nucleon, Hype Voice!" one of the Team Omega grunts ordered.
"Nu-CLEEEEEEEEEE!" Nucleon screamed, as its body glowed with a vibrant green glow, sparks of the same color jumping around it, as green destructive sound waves barreled from its mouth into Decidueye and Bunnelby, blasting them backwards.
"Hooo!"
"By!"
"Decidueye!" Leona cried, taking her hands to her head.
"Bunnelby, are you okay!?" Bonnie asked, worried.
"Such a powerful Hyper Voice! We better watch out for that Pokemon!" Mairin observed.
"That was no normal Hyper Voice! Nucleon's ability converts Normal-type moves into Nuclear-type ones and gives them a power boost!" Serena quickly explained. "So watch out for it!"
"Our turn, Xenogen! Proton Beam!" the other Omega Grunt ordered. "Aim for Delphox and Pangoro, don't let them get back on their feet!"
"Take the attack, Geigeroach!" Bonnie urged.
Radioactive particles began to gather in front of Xenogen, forming an orb of atomic power with green sparks jumping around it, before said energy was released in the form of a destructive energy wave that barreled towards Delphox and Pangoro, still getting back to their feet. Fortunately for them, Geigeroach jumped in front of the attack, blocking it with his body.
"A noble action, little girl, but stupid!" the Team Omega grunt laughed.
Bonnie smirked confidently, placing her hands on her hips."You think so?"
When the attack reached its end, Geigeroach was still there, none the worse to wear.
"What?" the grunt shouted, outraged.
"Now Geigeroach, counter with Leech Life!" Bonnie added, taking advantage of her enemy's bemusement.
"Geige!" Geigeroach cried in his clicking voice, dashing forward as his four forelegs were glowing with a greenish yellow aura. "ROACH!"
The Radroach Pokemon thrust all his limbs into the Nuclear-type Pokemon's flesh, draining its vital force.
"Now's our turn to counterattack! Pangoro, Dark Pulse! Delphox, Psybeam!" Serena ordered.
"Gyarados, Radioacid! Pajay, Mirror Move on that Pangoro!" Darren ordered.
Delphox's eyes began to glimmer with all the color of the rainbow before firing a beam of psychic power of the same colors, while Pangoro cupped his paws before thrusting them forward, releasing a black and purple stream of destruction. Meanwhile, Gyarados expelled from its mouth a geyser of corrosive acid while Pajay fired from its open beak an identical stream of dark power as Pangoro.
The four attacks met in the middle, but unfortunately, it was Darren's Pokemon who had the upper hand as their attacks pushed Serena's Pokemon's attack back.
"Vaporeon, join in with Bubble Beam!" Leona intervened.
"Va, vapo!" Vaporeon cried before firing a stream of bubble, helping Serena's Pokemon push back the Nuclear and Dark-type attacks back to their casters, exploding in their face before they had the chance to avert it.
Unfortunately for the girls, Darren's Pokemon didn't look that hurt.
"Normally an attack like that would have knocked out any Nuclear Pokemon. As long as the Fallout is active, we're at a disadvantage despite our bigger numbers," Serena inwardly realized. "Great timing Leona! Now we need to keep pressing on! Try to keep that Pajay distracted while I focus on the Gyarados. Pangoro, Thunder Punch! And Delphox, cover Pangoro with Flamethrower!"
"Vaporeon, another Bubble Beam, aim for Pajay!" the Alolain trainer offered.
"You're about to learn how huge is the gap between you and me! Pajay, dodge that Bubble Beam and block that Flamethrower with your body! Gyarados, catch that bear with Ice Fang!"
Pangoro dashed forward, paw clenched into a fist crackling with electricity while Delphox shot a stream of flames that sailed above him and Vaporeon spat a barrage of bubbles. However, in an admirable display of agility the Nuclear Pajay evaded the bubbles and intercepted the Flamethrower with its own body. Serena watched in shock how not only Delphox's attack didn't harm it in the slightest, but it caused it to glow with a blazing orange aura in a way that was familiar to Serena.
The honey blonde remembered Ash's match against Tiko, and she realized she had made a mistake. "Pangoro, wait-!"
"Too late!" Darren said with a cruel laugh, seemingly aware of the Kalosian's blunder.
Without Delphox's attack as cover, Gyarados was able to shift its body in order to dodge Pangoro's electricity-enhanced punches before shutting its frost-covered jaws over Pangoro's arm, freezing it almost instantly.
"Gooooooroooooo...!" Pangoro roared in pain, struggling to pull his frozen arm from the tight jaws of the Nuclear-type beast.
"Pangoro, hold on! Delphox, help Pangoro!" Serena pleaded.
"Don't let them, Pajay! Keep them at bay with Nuclear Wind!" Darren mercilessly ordered. "And Gyarados, smash Pangoro against the ground!"
Pajay began to flap its wings as fast as it could, producing a sickly green tornado empowered by the Fallout, forcing the rest of the Pokemon back while Gyarados lifted Pangoro into the air before slamming him against the hard, metallic ground, producing a loud, reverberating noise. Tiny ice shards were flown everywhere as the ice that covered almost half of Pangoro's body shattering on contact.
"Pangoro!"
After bouncing twice on his back against the hard iron ground, Pangoro landed at Serena's feet. He made an attempt to get back on his feet, but lacked the strength to do so.
"P-Pa..."
"Pangoro!" Serena cried a second time as she kneeled to check her defeated Pokemon.
"Ohhhh, you're SO going pay for that!" Leona said, as she struck a pose. "Decidueye, get ready!"
"Hoo!" the archer owl hooted as it landed in front of her, ready to attack.
She began to move her arms and body in a series of poses. "Now Decidueye, Bloom Do-oh crap!" she said in realization, breaking the last pose and noticing her currently bare wrist. "I forgot I no longer have my Z-Ring..."
"Hoo...!" Decidueye hooted sadly, looking back at his trainer.
"Don't worry Leona. Z-move or not, this fight is far from over," Serena said, as she returned Pangoro to his pokeball before clipping it to her belt and picking a second one. "Go Oblivicorn!"
The pokeball opened upon touching the ground, releasing Serena's formerly disobedient mare.
Oblivicorn neighed loudly, raising over her back legs while waving her front hooves in an act of defiance.
"Not a bad Pokemon, girlie, but still not enough to beat me! No little girl who has never seen what real combat is like will ever be close to defeating me!" Darren said full of confidence.
"We'll see about that! Oblivicorn, Charge Beam!" Serena commanded, throwing a hand forward.
Oblivicorn's front horn was layered in crackling electricity, before launching a yellow lightning bolt at the Water and Nuclear Pokemon type.
"Pajay, block it with Heat Wave!" the Team Omega captain ordered.
His Nuclear Pajay flapped its wings, blowing a gust of blazing orange wind. The scorching winds and the electrical bolt met in the middle, resulting in a small explosion.
"Now Sudden Strike!" Serena quickly said. "Delphox, cover her with Psybeam! Don't worry about hitting Oblivicorn!"
Oblivicorn neighed again, her body glowing with a dark aura before barreling forward, leaving behind a fading trail of shadows, while Delphox fired from her eyes a beam of light with all the colors of the rainbow. Pajay was unable to move away in time to avoid Oblivicorn slamming her body's full weight against the nuclear bird, followed by said bird being blasted into Gyarados by the psychic energy stream courtesy of Delphox.
"Bring those Pokemon down, you two!" Darren ordered his subordinates.
"Nucleon, Swift on that Oblivicorn!" one of the Team Omega grunts ordered.
"Nu, nucleon!" the non-mind controlled Nuclear Pokemon cried in a distorted voice, its body glowing once again bright green as sparks of the same color jumped around it, as it jumped and swung its floating tail detached from its body, releasing a flurry of green glowing stars that homing onto Oblivicorn.
"Xenogen, Sludge, same target!" the other grunt added.
Bulges appeared and moved on Xenogen's organic tubes as something flowed through them, before opening its tentacled mouth and releasing a wave of purple toxic muddy substance.
"Chespie, protect Oblivicorn with Spiky Shield!" Mairin was quick to order.
"Che, chesnaught!" Chespie cried, placing itself in front of its teammate and slammed its fists, producing a green shield of glowing energy with spikes protruding from it.
The barrage of nuclear star-shaped missiles crashed uselessly against the defensive construct, nullifying the attack. Unfortunately, the moment it did the shield disappeared, and Chespie was hit by the Sludge, covering it in grime. A cry of pain came from the Chesnaught upon being struck by the super effective attack.
"Chespie, no!" Mairin cried.
"Delphox, Flamethrower!" Serena shouted. "In a wide arc!"
"Del!" the Fox Pokemon cried, motioning her wand in a horizontal motion, releasing a torrent of flames in a wide arc.
While Nucleon and Pajay were able to gracefully dodge the destructive attack, the definitely less mobile Gyarados and Xenogen were not, the latter Pokemon crying in pain upon taking the powerful move.
"Oblivicorn, Horn Attack on that Xenogen! Don't let it take any time to breathe!" Serena said, her eyes burning with anger.
Oblivicorn neighed once again, and charged towards Xenogen at a superb speed, lowering her head so her frontal horn, now glowing with a pure white light, was aligned with the Mutant Pokemon. Xenogen was unable to move in time and let out a screech of pain once the empowered horn sunk into its soft flesh, the resistance boost provided by the Fallout proving to be insufficient in order to dull the power of Oblivicorn's attack, and collapsed.
"Xenogen! Oh, shit!" the Team Omega grunt cursed upon seeing his Pokemon taken out by the Horn Attack.
"Gyarados, Radioacid again!" Darren shouted, unconcerned with his side having one Pokemon less.
"Chespie, quickly, Spiky Shield!" Mairin said.
Once again, Gyarados regurgitated a geyser of glowing green corrosive liquid, showering both Delphox and Chespie. Unfortunately for Mairin, the command came too late and the Spiny Armor Pokemon was unable to call for the defensive move. The acid made a high pitched hissing noise as it burned the flesh of Delphox and Chespie, plumes of green smoke produced as a result.
"Phox..."
"Ches...!"
Both Pokemon cried weakly before collapsing, the Nuclear-type move having made a number on them.
"Chespie!" Mairin cried.
"Delphox!" Serena wailed.
The honey blonde then felt one her pokeballs wiggle on its own, before opening up and releasing its occupant, Syrentide.
"Sy, syren!" Syrentide cried as she worriedly rushed towards Delphox. She held the fox's head with one hand. "Sy?"
"D-Del..." Delphox managed to say, before falling to unconsciousness.
Syrentide gasped in shock, before fixing Darren and his Pokemon with a piercing glare.
"This is our chance now that they're down, Nucleon! Half-Life!" the other Omega grunt ordered.
"Don't let them, Vaporeon! Counter with Aurora Beam! And Decidueye, help with Leaf Blade!" Leona quickly ordered.
As Nucleon fired a string of green glowing rings of radioactive energy towards Syrentide and the fallen Delphox and Chespie. Fortunately, Vaporeon was able to intercept the attack by firing a prismatic colored beam from her mouth. Both attacks clashed, producing a multicolored explosion.
"Hoo, hoo!"
And from the smoke of said explosion emerged one angry Decidueye, the edges of its wings glowing green, as it delivered a pair of powerful swipes at the startled Atomic Pokemon.
"Wild Charge, Bunnelby!" Bonnie ordered, yelling loud enough for her voice to be heard above the cacophony of noises.
Nucleon barely had time to react before Bunnelby, body covered in crackling yellow lightning, slammed into the Eeveelution with the force of a speeding train, blasting the Nuclear-type Pokemon backwards, crashing against a metallic wall and falling down with a thud.
"Nucleon!" its trained yelled, taking his hands to his head.
"Pajay, Heat Wave on those weaklings!" Darren ordered.
Pajay began to flap its wings, blowing gusts of burning hot orange air that washed over the three Pokemon, which had neither the time nor the room to dodge. And while Vaporeon was able to endure the attack thanks to its type resistance, Bunnelby and especially Decidueye weren't so lucky.
"Bunnelby!" Bonnie cried after seeing the rabbit's body covered in burnt marks.
"Decidueye, no!" Leona wailed upon seeing her starter Pokemon collapse.
Darren looked at his pair of minions recalling their defeated Pokemon and clicked his noise in a disapproving fashion. "It seems I just can't rely on you guys to do your jobs, can I? Get out of my sight! I'll finish the job myself!"
The grunts didn't say anything, merely running out of the place, leaving their boss alone with the four girls.
"Oh, so you plan to take on all of us on your own, big guy?" Leona asked mockingly,as she recalled her Decidueye.
"Sure you may have taken down some of our Pokemon, but there's still plenty of fight in us!" Mairin hotly added. Behind her, Bonnie and Geigeroach pulled Bunnelby back, hopefully to keep him away from the battle while he was unable to fight himself.
"Exactly Like this little guy over here! Go, Cocancer!" Leona said, tossing a pokeball forward, which opened releasing the massive Beach Pokemon.
"There won't be any, once I do this," the girls could almost see Darren grin menacingly behind his helmet, as he pressed a button on his gauntlet. Said gauntlet opened up, revealing a marble-sized, rainbow colored object with the picture of a helix inside.
At the same time, a small compartment opened up on the Nuclear Gyarados' mind control collar, revealing another marble, this one red, blue and yellow.
Serena paled. She knew what those items were.
"N-Nuclear Pokemon can't Mega Evolve, right?" Mairin, who had also lost almost all color on her face, asked. Much to her horror, she had also guessed what was going to happen. "Right!?"
"You think they can't?" Darren cackled. "In that case, watch this and weep in despair! Come on Gyarados, let me bring out your true power, and bring devastation of the likes that has never been seen before! Mega Evolve!"
Tendrils of light shot from both the Keystone and the Megastone, merging together and linking trainer and Pokemon. For the first time since it was sent out of the pokeball, the Nuclear Gyarados roared as the transformation took effect, making its body larger and bulkier. The light dispelled followed by the helix of Mega Evolution flashing briefly, allowing the girls to see the fearsome form of a Mega Evolved Nuclear Pokemon.
"The power of Mega Evolution, and the unrivaled might of the Nuclear-type, brought together into a single Pokemon by the genius of the professor!" Darren boasted. "Come on Gyarados, show them the true depths of your power! Hydro Pump!"
The Mega Evolved Pokemon reared its head back before exhaling a massive deluge of water from its open jaws, its scale so big Serena feared it might flood the entire area.
Oblivicorn, Geigeroach, Vaporeon and Bebe the Florges were able to move away to dodge it, but sadly Syrentide and Cocancer were hit by the attack, blasting them backwards.
"Syrentide!" Serena cried.
"Cocancer, hold on!" Leona encouraged, before her eyes fixed on her other Pokemon. "Vaporeon, Aurora Beam!"
"Bebe, use Moonblast!" Mairin ordered.
Vaporeon once again fired a prismatic beam of freezing power from its mouth, while Bebe formed a swirly pink and white orb of energy before launching it forward.
Darren wasn't worried. "Repel those attacks with Nuclear Wind, Pajay!"
Flapping its wings once again, Pajay formed a tornado of sickly green wind. Both the cold ray of light and the pink and white orb crashed against the barrier of noxious winds, exploding uselessly without breaking through it.
"Now Gyarados, Radioacid!" Darren ordered.
"Block it, Geigeroach!" Bonnie quickly ordered.
From Gyarados mouth shot a geyser of corrosive green acid, and like the Hydro Bomb, it was much larger than before. The Radroach Pokemon jumped into the attack, only partially blocking it, letting some smaller streams skip past his body.
"Oblivicorn, Sudden Strike, now!" Serena ordered. "And Syrentide, Ice Beam into the Pajay!"
Oblivicorn neighed loudly, her body glowing with a black aura before barreling towards Gyarados, leaving a trail of fading darkness behind it, while Syrentide fired a beam of chilling power at Pajay. The Nuclear bird gracefully dodged it, only getting its wing graced, but Gyarados wasn't so lucky, its Radioacid being interrupted the moment Oblivicorn slammed into its body hornfirst.
"Yes! Time to attack, Geigeroach! Sludge Wave!" Bonnie said with enthusiasm.
Taking advantage of Gyarados' predicament, Geigeroach fired multiple globs of purple sludge, all of them crashing into Gyarados, leaving it covered in grime.
"I'm getting tired of that insect! Pajay, get rid of him with Brave Bird!" Darren ordered.
After taking a little altitude, Pajay spread its wings, surrounded itself with a light blue aura and dived towards Geigeroach, leaving a trail of fading afterimages behind.
"Geigeroach, watch out!" Bonnie warned.
Unfortunately, the Radroach Pokemon wasn't fast enough to get out of the way, the Flying-type move hitting him with the force of a speeding train.
"R-Rooooo...!" Geigeroach cried, as he was launched backwards by the force of the attack, landing painfully on his back. "Ge... gei...!"
"Geigeroach!" Bonnie cried, as she rushed to check her borrowed Pokemon.
Serena gritted her teeth. As much as she wished otherwise, the honey blonde knew Geigeroach wasn't going to get up from that attack.
The time of caution was over. Now it was time to go all out.
"Syrentide! No more holding back!" Serena said, touching the keystone on her ring. "Now, let me help you bring out the potential that hides deep within you! Mega Evolve!"
As it happened before, tendrils of light shot from both the Keystone and the Mega Stone, merging and linking the Pokemon together. Once the bond was formed, Syrentide's body glowed with a bright light as it changed and grew. The fading light and the helix of Mega Evolution briefly flashing in front of the Pokemon marked the end of the transformation.
"So, you can Mega Evolve? Ha! That makes this fight all the better!" Darren said, cackling arrogantly. It looked like he was about to order his Pokemon to attack, but then stopped. "Say... that Syrentide was the Selkid you took from Zebos' brat, isn't it? She looks really strong. Not gonna lie, you raised her well."
"I'm almost tempted to say 'thank you'," Serena sarcastically replied.
"I'm the one who should be thanking you, girl. With how strong she is, she will sell for way more money than when she was a freshly caught Selkid," the Team Omega captain pointed out.
"You assume you're going to take her back. And such a thing won't happen as long as I'm here. Syrentide is with me now, and she won't be taken anywhere against her will!" Serena declared, her voice full of resolve.
"Sy, syren!" Syrentide emphatically agreed.
"We'll see about that, then! Gyarados, Thunderbolt on that Syrentide!" Darren ordered.
"Serena, quickly! Have her hide behind Cocancer!" Leona quickly suggested.
Seeing the logic behind her advice, Serena nodded. "You heard her, Syrentide!"
As Gyarados's frontal crest began to crackle with blue electricity, Leona's Cocancer placed itself in front of the Mega Evolved Nuclear-type Pokemon while Syrentide quickly hid behind the Beach Pokemon. The Thunderbolt was fired, but it crashed uselessly against the Grass and Ground-type Pokemon.
"That was a big mistake! Come on Pajay, Nuclear Wind!" Darren ordered, clenching a single fist.
"Counter it with Fairy Wind, Oblivicorn!" Serena replied.
"Fairy Wind you too, Bebe!" Mairin added.
Once again, Pajay blew a windstorm of radioactive air towards the Pokemon in front of it. However, Oblivicorn waved her front horn while Bebe did the same with its arms, creating twin tornadoes of pink sparkling wind. The two identical Fairy-type attacks merged together into a single, bigger faerie storm, clashing against the radioactive wind and stopping it on its tracks.
"Ice Fang on that Cocancer, Gyarados!" Darren ordered.
"Don't move and take the attack with Crabhammer!" Leona replied.
"Coca, can!" Cocancer replied, clacking its pincers menacingly.
Gyarados opened its mouth wide, chilling mist pouring from it as its sharp teeth were layered in even shaper ice, the two upper fangs growing much longer, and lunged at the crustacean. Cocancer raised its massive pincers, clacking it a couple times before they were covered in a cloak of torrential water, and closed around the frozen fangs before they could touch it.
"Yes! Now, Giga Drain!" Leona said, pumping her fist.
The sole palm tree growing on Cocancer's back glowed with an emerald light, as it extended towards Gyarados as if it was a tentacle, wrapping itself around Gyarados' thick neck. Small glowing orbs of the same color flowed from Gyarados into Cocancer as the former's life force was slowly transferred into the latter.
And while clever, Leona's maneuver would prove to be a mistake.
"Radioacid!" Darren ordered, his voice without mercy.
"No! Cocancer-"
Being that close, poor Cocancer had no chance to evade the deadly spray of corrosive acid that fell all over its body. Its hold on Gyarados was swiftly broken, as it squirmed backwards, enduring the excruciating pain as best as it could.
"Cocancer, are you okay!?" Leona asked in worry. Cocancer appeared to still be capable of fighting, though that attack must have taken quite a chunk of its vitality. "Fall back and heal yourself with Synthesis!"
Cocancer was eager to follow that command, as it crawled backwards and tried to heal itself using the artificial light of the chamber as fuel for the move.
"Syrentide, Hyper Voice!" Serena called.
"Syyy..." Syrentide began, her body shimmering with a pink light as sparks of the same color crackled around her. "TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!"
The Siren Pokemon opened her mouth, releasing powerful pink-tinted soundwaves at both Gyarados and Pajay. The bird was blasted backwards by the power of Syrentide's voice, but Gyarados managed to hold on.
"Gyarados, Thunderbolt! Now that she doesn't have that crab to act as a living shield!" Darren ordered. "Pajay, get behind Gyarados and use Roost!"
As Pajay went to hide behind its partner in order to recover its health, Gyarados prepared to counterattack. Despite being subjected to a very powerful move, Gyarados was still able to ignore the pain – or more likely, the mind control collar forced it to act despite the pain – and once again channeled a blue electric blast through its head crest. This time the attack connected.
"S-Syyyy...!" Syrentide cried, the harm of the super effective move forcing her to interrupt her own move.
"I'm sure you have noticed another advantage my Pokemon have over yours. Pain won't deter them from fighting at their best! No matter how much you hurt them, you will never force them to back down!" Darren proudly boasted.
"Pokemon are more than living weapons, you brute!" Mairin shouted at him.
"Yeah, how can you be so proud of all the suffering your Pokemon go through?" Bonnie chided as well, while holding Dedenne protectively between her hands. She went to whisper something to the Antennae Pokemon that Serena couldn't hear, perhaps some words to soothe the no doubt distressed Pokemon.
"Pokemon only exist to the benefit of their human masters! That's why we issue the orders and they follow them! Even your own Pokemon do that, so don't go lecturing me!" Darren heatedly replied. "Gyarados, another Thunderbolt on that Syrentide!"
"Counter with Ice Beam!" Serena replied.
Once again, Gyarados' crest crackled with blue electricity before releasing it in the form of a powerful lightning bolt, while Syrentide opened her mouth, forming a white glowing orb of cold energy that exploded into a freezing beam. The attacks clashed in the middle, producing an explosion of white mist, ice shards and electric sparks.
"Now Oblivicorn, Sudden Strike!" Serena quickly ordered.
Oblivicorn neighed in agreement, galloping forward as fast as she could, her body surrounded by a dark purple aura that left a trail of light of the same color.
"Not so fast! Pajay, use Mirror Move to copy Ice Beam and fire it on the ground!" Darren said.
Pajay, already recovered with Roost, flew from behind Gyarados and fired a freezing beam from its open beak, covering the ground below it under a thin sheet of ice. Unfortunately, the moment Oblivicorn put her hooves on the ice she lost her balance and crashed against the cold ground in a rather painful way.
"Oblivicorn!" Serena cried.
"Finish off that pitiful mare with Ice Fang, Gyarados!" Darren ordered.
Gyarados wasted no time and lunged at the fallen equine with its jaws wide open, cold mist pouring from them and its teeth covered in sharp ice.
"Vaporeon, protect Oblivicorn with Aqua Tail!" Leona ordered.
"Pore!" Vaporeon cried as it dashed towards the coming Gyarados, its tail quickly coated in a cloak of swirling water. It jumped and slapped the coming Gyarados with its water-coated appendage, managing to break the nuclear monster's momentum.
"Pajay, Heat Wave!" Darren ordered.
"Counter with Hydro Pump, Syrentide!" Serena replied.
As Pajay blew a gust of scorching wind so hot it instantly evaporated the ice it had previously created with the copied Ice Beam, Syrentide exhaled a massive deluge of torrential water from her open mouth. The two attacks clashed, resulting in a loud hiss followed by a cloud of steam, before the Siren Pokemon's water move broke through the fire one. Sadly it didn't reach Pajay, who flew out of range.
"Now Bebe, Petal Blizzard!" Mairin shouted, her voice growing increasingly nervous.
"And Cocancer, Stone Edge!" Leona followed, who unlike Mairin still sounded energetic.
"Floooo...!" Florges cried, spreading its arms wide while summoning a tornado of pink petals around itself, before thrusting its arms forward, directing the attack in said direction.
"Co, cancer!" Cocancer growled, slamming one of its massive pincers on the ground, producing a row of consecutive rising stone pillars.
"Pajay, use Nuclear Wind! Gyarados, Radioacid!" Darren said, his confidence unwavering.
The radioactive tornado blown by the Nuclear-type bird clashed against the storm of petals, both attacks nullifying each other, while a geyser of corrosive acid expelled from Gyarados' mouth pretty much melted the stone pillars before they could reach either Pokemon.
Leona frowned upon seeing her attack countered so easily, while Mairin whimpered a little, covering her mouth with her hands.
"You don't get it, do you? The outcome of this battle was decided the moment it began! You have already lost! No matter what you do, no matter how many Pokemon you throw at me, you will never beat me! I am the fortress of Team Omega, a fortress that you will never breach!" Darren boasted.
"That's what you think, you big meanie!" Bonnie said, not intimidated in the slightest by the large man. "Dedenne, now, use Nuzzle!"
"Nenene!" Dedenne cried from atop the Gyarados' head. He began rubbing one of his cheeks until it generated electric sparks, before nuzzling said cheek against the Water and Nuclear-type Mega Evolved Pokemon.
While the attack didn't harm Gyarados' much, it left the Mega Evolved Pokemon paralyzed.
"NO!" Darren yelled, taking his hands to his head. "How... when did that stupid rat climb Gyarados?"
"Dedenne is small and not as strong as a big Pokemon, but it also makes him hard to spot!" Bonnie said, picking up the Antennae Pokemon after climbing Gyarados down and running back to her. "I whispered him to sneak up on your Gyarados while you were distracted fighting the other Pokemon!"
"If your Gyarados wasn't mind controlled, it would have noticed Dedenne climbing up its body," Serena interceded, a smirk of satisfaction adorning her lips. Now that Dedenne had impaired Gyarados, victory was at hand. "You yourself said it, nothing will distract your Pokemon from following your orders, didn't you?"
"Shut up, you brat! Gyarados, Hydro Pump! Wash them away!" Darren heatedly called.
But it seems that luck wasn't on his side, as Gyarados fell prey to a series of spams as it tried to use the attack, while yellow sparks crackled around its body.
"Everybody, time to strike! Syrentide, Hyper Voice! Oblivicorn, Charge Beam!"
"Bebe, Petal Blizzard once again!" Mairin joined Serena.
"Pajay, stop those attacks with Nuclear Wind, quickly!" Darren ordered, panic seeping into his voice.
"Oh no, you won't! Cocancer, launch Vaporeon into the air with Stone Edge! And Vaporeon, Bubble Beam from above!" Leona intervened.
As Pajay flapped its wings to prepare the Nuclear-type move, Vaporeon was jettisoned into the air by a stone column bursting from under its feet. Once above the target, the Bubble Jet Pokemon righted its body in order to be aligned with Pajay, and fired a stream of bubbles down. The attack connected, the watery explosions pushing Pajay down and preventing it from completing the move.
As this happened, Syrentide let out a loud scream, her powerful voice manifesting into pink tinted soundwaves, while Oblivicorn fired a single electric beam from her horn and Bebe summoned yet another tornado of petals. The three attacks struck the defenseless Gyarados, which on top of the damage it had taken over the course of the battle pushed its resistance over its limit, and collapsed to the ground with a deafening boom, returning to its base form.
"And Crabhammer on that Pajay before it can recover!" Leona ordered.
Before Pajay could take off into the air it was smashed by one of Cocancer's pincers, coated in torrential water. The attack was enough to knock the lights out of the Nuclear-type bird, which fell next to its defeated partner.
"What the... my... my perfect Pokemon... how could they have lost to the likes of you!" the defeated Omega captain asked in disbelief.
"That's what you get for underestimating us!" a vindicated Mairin said.
"Shit, better get out of-AH!" Darren had already turned back to run away, but Oblivicorn and Vaporeon were faster and quickly cut his escape.
"I'm afraid not," Serena said, her voice being like ice. "You aren't going to leave. You're going to be a good boy and stay put here until the Rangers come to take you to a nice, cozy cell. But until that happens, there are a few questions that we'd like to ask you."
"For starters," Leona said, angrily stomping towards the no longer boastful and confident Team Omega member. "Where is the Charizard from the tall boy you captured alongside Mairin. And what have you done with my Z-Ring!"
Then, much to their surprise, Darren smirked.
"Both questions have the same answer," he said.
…
As the girls interrogated the defeated Darren, Ash and Clemont continued their trip through the underground base. From time to time they would encounter a couple of Team Omega grunts who would try to hinder their progress, but the pair of teens would easily sweep them away.
"Alright, according to the base's blueprints, we should be reaching the office of the Team Omega boss soon," Clemont said as he ran behind Ash.
"Good. We'll make sure he gives back Alain's Charizard and Mega Ring, as well as Leona's Z-Ring," Ash said with a nod. "And if he doesn't have them, he'll know where they are."
"Still, if this guy is anything like Lysandre, I doubt he'll comply without putting up resistance," Clemont reminded Ash. "How many Pokemon do you have left?"
"I had to send Dunseraph away to carry Zebos and his son to a ranger station, Frosthra is out, while Splendifowl, Metalynx and Archilles are pretty exhausted. So far, only Greninja is fresh. What about you?"
"I lent Bunnelby and Geigeroach to Bonnie, but I still have the other four," Clemont said, as both he and Ash crossed an automatic door. "Do you think that will be enough?"
"Oh, I can assure you, it won't be," a new voice said.
Both boys abruptly stopped. Upon crossing the previous door they found themselves inside a very large and spacious hallway. And in the middle of said hallway there was a middle aged man with opaque glasses dressed like a scientist. A man both Ash and Clemont already met, though Ash didn't remember who this guy was supposed to be.
"Professor Larkspur...?" Clemont asked, visibly confused. "What... what are you doing here?"
Oh, so that's who it was.
"Have you been kidnapped by Team Omega too?" the lemon blond boy asked.
Larkspur merely chuckled. "Kidnapped? Come on Clemont, you are an intelligent boy. Does it look like I'm a prisoner?" he asked, spreading his arms to the sides.
"If you're not a prisoner..." Ash began, his expression darkening. "Then... you work for Team Omega!?"
"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu shouted, sharing his trainer's indignation.
"Yes, but not exactly. I don't work for Team Omega, Team Omega works for me. I founded it and led it," Larkspur explained.
"You... you're the Team Omega leader!?" Clemont shouted, sounding more disbelieving rather than angry, as if he refused to accept what the balding man had told him. "But... why!? You're the most respected Pokemon Professor in the region! Why are you doing this!? Why do you throw your lot with scumbags who hurt people and Pokemon so much!?"
"Clemont, you're a smart boy, so answer me this: Pokemon can do so many amazing things we can only dream of: immense strength and speed, control over the elements, manipulating nature, hell, even sometimes warping reality itself! And look at us, little more than hairless apes, powerless to do even a fraction of what the weakest of Pokemon can accomplish," the evil scientist began, seemingly ignoring Clemont's question. "Yet we're the ones ruling the world. Do you know why?"
"Because we're more intelligent?" Clemont replied, frowning.
"Exactly!" Larkspur suddenly shouted, clapping his hands once. "Pokemon could have wiped us out a long time ago, but not only did we avoid extinction, but we managed to turn the tables on them; thanks to our superior intellect we made them into our servants, and use their amazing power to our benefit.
"Because, in the end, despite their superior power, we're the ones in charge. Pokemon only exist to serve mankind. To bring us to new heights. To advance our civilization," Larkspur gradiosely said. "That's what Team Omega does. We're forced to act outside the law, because the people in charge are mentally weak pusillanimous who refuse to see the truth. But soon, once we recover the peak of our work, people won't have no choice but to agree with-"
"Oh, shut up already! Do you have any idea how many people like you I have met?" Ash interrupted the professor. "You're all the same; claiming that you act in the service of some grand purpose, but in the end you're only criminal scum hurting other people and Pokemon for their own benefit. Your little game ends now. I know you have Alain's Charizard, so now give it back!"
A scowl developed on the older man's face as one hand reached for a pocket inside his lab coat. "I see. I thought I could convince you to join me, but I see that I'm wasting my time. Do you want your friend's Charizard so badly? Come and get it!"
Pulling his hand out of his pocket, Ash saw that the evil professor was holding a pokeball, which he tossed to the ground. When the capture device opened, it released Alain's Charizard.
Except that he was wearing the same mind control collar carried by the Omega grunts' Nuclear Pokemon.
If they wanted Alain's Charizard, they'll have to fight it.
Ash didn't seem perturbed by this development. "Oh, trust me, we will!" the Kantonian said, pokeball in hand. "Greninja, I choose you!"
"Electruxo, go!" Clemont said, mimicking Ash.
Both water-type starters materialized in front of their trainers, taking a battle stance. Greninja's focus, however, was broken upon seeing Charizard, or more specifically, its current state and the fact that it was fighting for somebody who wasn't its trainer.
"G-Gre...?" Greninja asked, looking at Ash in confusion.
"That evil man stole Charizard from Alain and made it his slave," Ash explained to Greninja. "I need you to free Charizard so he can be reunited with his legitimate trainer!"
"Gre, ninja!" Greninja nodded, and turned his eyes back to the Charizard.
"Two versus one? Not a very fair fight, isn't it?" Larkspur said, as he pulled another pokeball from his lab coat. "Let's even things out! Come out, Garlikid!"
"WHAT!?" both Ash and Clemont yelled at once.
And indeed, from the second pokeball emerged the Hero Pokemon. However, Garlikid had none of the energy it had displayed the first time they saw it, carrying itself in a rigid manner that reminded them of a zombie.
Of course, the culprit was the same mind control collar Charizard was wearing around the Grass and Fighting-type's neck.
"Surprised?" Larkspur asked with a taunting grin, savoring the teen boys' reaction. "I'm not going to lie, this little guy really put up a fierce battle once we tracked it down. But in the end, it fell down to us, just like you two will fall down as well. Charizard, Dragon Claw! Garlikid, Drain Punch!"
Charizard flapped its wings once in order to rise into the air before diving forward, a bright green aura surrounding its claws and extending them, while Garlikid dashed in the same direction, one glowing punch raised.
"Greninja, parry that Dragon Claw with Night Slash!" Ash ordered.
"And Electruxo, stop Garlikid with Mist!" Clemont followed.
As Charizard reached Greninja, the Flame Pokemon brought its empowered claw down on the frog, but it only struck a sword made of dark power generated by the Ninja Pokemon. Meanwhile, Electruxo exhaled a stream of white fog towards the coming Garlikid, engulfing it inside a white cloud, forcing the Legendary Pokemon to stop due to losing visibility.
"Well done! Now Aqua Jet on Charizard!" Clemont said.
As Greninja and Charizard pushed their attacks against each other, Electruxo barreled towards the latter, his whole body cloaked in torrential water, before slamming into the Kantonian Starter, pushing it back.
"Garlikid, dispel that mist with a Mach Punch to the ground, and then use Stone Edge!" the professor barked.
There was a loud boom followed by swishing noise, and the cloud Garlikid was inside was quickly blown away by the wind displaced with the punch to the ground, revealing the Hero Pokemon with its cape billowing behind it. The Legendary Pokemon then stomped on the floor once, generating a row of rising stone columns against Greninja and Electruxo.
"Greninja, Double Team!" Ash called.
"Gree-NINJA!" Greninja cried, as the hallway was filled with copies of the Ninja Pokemon. The Stone Edge dispelled a few, but many of them remained.
"Charizard, fly above them and dispel those copies with Flamethrower in a wide arc!" Professor Larkspur ordered.
Charizard hovered above them once again, and exhaled a powerful stream of flames from one side to another, quickly eliminating all the fakes.
"Quickly Greninja, now that it's wide open! Water Shuriken!" Ash told him.
"Gre, gren!" Greninja croaked, extending both arms, four-pointed watery stars appearing on each webbed hand, before throwing them towards Charizard, who was busy dispelling the last duplicates.
"Now Garlikid, strike that Greninja with Drain Punch!" Larkspur impatiently shouted.
"Don't let it, Electruxo! Stop it with Electroweb!" Clemont quickly interceded.
As the pair of water shuriken flew towards Charizard, Garlikid dashed towards Greninja, one of its fists glowing with a green swirly aura.
"Ele, trux!" Electruxo cried, shooting a sphere of yellow lightning from his mouth towards Greninja.
The moment the electrical orb was close, it exploded into a web of electricity that trapped Garlikid inside a tangle of threads made of lightning, causing Garlikid to trip and fall to the ground facefirst. Meanwhile, the Water Shuriken squaredly hit Charizard.
"And Aerial Ace! Use the Stone Edge as a springboard!" Ash shouted.
"Nin!" Greninja nodded, leaping onto one of the stone pillars before jumping a second time, reaching above Charizard while cupping both hands, which were glowing a bright white, reeling them backwards before slamming them into Charizard's skull, knocking the lizard out of the air and smashing it into the ground.
"What... what the hell's going on!?" Larkspur protested. "How is your Greninja dominating Charizard like that!? Your Greninja has never been able to beat this Charizard!"
"That's an easy question: because that's not Alain's Charizard, but a sad shadow of its true self. There's only one trainer capable of bringing out all the potential that Pokemon has, the same trainer who raised that Charizard into what it's today from a much weaker Pokemon," Ash explained, anger seeping into each word that left his lips. "And said trainer it's not you!"
"Sure, you might have turned both Charizard and Garlikid into your puppets, but in the end, that's what they are, mere puppets!" Clemont joined Ash in his scolding of the Team Omega leader. "They stand no chance against real Pokemon!"
"Oh, you think so?" Larkspur asked, barely keeping his growing anger in check. "In that case, I guess I'll need to up the ante a little bit..."
The professor pulled the left sleeve of his lab coat, revealing Alain's Mega Ring on his wrist. So that's why it wasn't among the rest of his personal effects.
"He... he isn't going to Mega Evolve Charizard, isn't he?" Ash asked. "There's no way he can!"
"Watch me, brat!" Larkspur said, tapping the Keystone with a finger. "Charizard, hear my voice and heed my command! Mega Evolve!"
Much to Ash and Clemont's shock, the Keystone and Mega Stone reacted, glowing bright as tendrils of light shot from them. Said tendrils merged together, linking trainer and Pokemon, as Charizard transformed before Ash's eyes.
"No... it can't be...!" Ash cried.
Ash had seen Charizard transforming many times in the past, and such a sight always filled him with trepidation and excitement.
Now? It filled him with horror.
"How!? How did you do it?" Clemont asked, his glasses almost dropping from his face, which would have been comical if it wasn't for the situation at hand. "Mega Evolution it's impossible without a deep bond between trainer and Pokemon!"
"Oh, but Charizard and I share a very special bond! That of master and puppet, as you so eloquently have said before," Larkspur said with a sharp, almost demented grin. He then cleared his throat as he pushed his glasses up. "Though, if that answer isn't scientific enough for you – not that I'd blame you if that was the case – think of the bond between trainer and Pokemon as a synchronization, or harmonization process between two different minds and wills. However, since this Charizard has no mind or will of its own, I can simply override it with mine, not only achieving the desired harmonization, but making my control over it even greater! And all this thanks to the Will Suppressing Collar! Isn't science amazing?"
"You... you are demented..." Clemont began, his voice almost a whisper, as body trembling and hands clenching into fists as shock faded into anger. "What you've done is unspeakable! An abomination! You have no right to call yourself a scientist, much less a Pokemon Professor! For the sake of both people and Pokemon of this region, we will take you down!"
"You're welcome to try, kid, but you cannot stop me! No one can! I am the future, and the future is now, thanks to science!" Larkspur bellowed. "Charizard, Flamethrower!"
"Greninja, counter it with Water Shuriken!" Ash ordered.
"Electruxo, Scald!" Clemont ordered.
Charizard took a deep breath before releasing a torrent of blue flames, so hot the air around it started to ripple. Greninja once again threw a pair of liquid shuriken that he had summoned on each hand while Electruxo launched a stream of boiling water from his mouth. The three attacks clashed in the middle, producing a loud hissing noise followed by a cloud of steam expanding outwards.
"Energy Ball forward, Garlikid! Rapid fire!" Larkspur ordered, a hand clenching into a fist.
From within the cloud of steam emerged a barrage of glowing emerald orbs.
"Parry them with Night Slash, Greninja!" Ash shouted.
"Ninja!" Greninja nodded, generating another sword of purple energy between his webbed hands.
As the missiles came, Greninja sliced them to bits with swift motions that were almost impossible to see for the naked eye, leaping from one side to the other making sure no projectile would evade him.
"Now Charizard, Thunder Punch on Greninja while he's wide open!" Larkspur commanded with sadistic glee.
"We won't let you! Electruxo, Aqua Jet!" Clemont replied.
Once again, Charizard flapped its wings a couple times to take off, and dived towards Greninja, right claw clenched into a fist which was covered in yellow electricity. Meanwhile, Electruxo had cloaked himself in swirling water and barreled towards the incoming Flame Pokemon like a blue missile. The mind controlled Pokemon was forced to bring its fist down on the coming Electruxo once it was too close. The two Pokemon struggled against each other for a couple seconds before Charizard ultimately won, and sent Electruxo tumbling down against Greninja.
"Electruxo!" Clemont cried. "Ash, tell Greninja to move!"
"What?"
But the warning came too late, and Electruxo crashed on top of Greninja, causing both Pokemon to fall down.
"Gre!"
"Elec!"
"Now that they're vulnerable! Charizard, Flamethrower!"
"Quickly, move out of the way!" Ash urged. "Roll in opposite directions!"
Hovering over them, Charizard took a deep breath and rained a blue inferno over the two Water-type starters. However, the two Pokemon were able to follow Ash's command and rolled into opposite directions in order to avoid most of the attack, which only charred a section of the metallic floor, and jumped to their feet before Garlikid could join its partner with another move.
"Ash, I don't think Electruxo nor Greninja will be able to take down one Legendary Pokemon and another that's Mega Evolved!" Clemont told Ash. "We need to get on their level!"
"Understood!" Ash nodded, and looked at Greninja while he crossed his arms in front of his face. "Come on Greninja, show them that together, we're so much stronger!"
"The future is now thanks to Mega Evolution! Come on Electruxo, show them what you can do!" Clemont said, as he touched with two fingers the Keystone on his lightning bolt-shaped golden cufflink.
A watery tornado engulfed Greninja, while Electruxo was bound to Clemont by tendrils of light produced by both the Keystone the blond was touching and the Mega Stone on the Pokemon's collar. In a few seconds, both pokemon managed to reach their advanced forms, the helix of Mega Evolution flashing in front of Electruxo as the process finished.
Artificial clouds formed above the combatants, showering them in a thin rain as Drizzle took effect.
Larkspur merely snorted, unimpressed. "A brave effort, kids, but useless. Mega Evolution or not, you won't be able to match my Pokemon!"
"Those Pokemon aren't yours!" Ash angrily shouted.
"They do obey me, don't they?" Larkspur rebutted with a smug grin. "We can discuss semantics all you want, but in the end, that's the only thing that matters."
"It's not! You didn't train those Pokemon, so you don't know how to properly bring their full potential out to the surface! All you did was steal them and..." Clemont fired back, his anger subsiding for a moment as a realization dawned upon him. "The Team Omega grunts using my Aipom Arm and other of my gadgets... I always wondered how they were able to copy them, but now I remember... back in Rochfale Town, I showed you my inventions, blueprints and all. It was you, wasn't it!?"
"Guilty as charged," Larkspur shamelessly admitted. "But try to take it as a compliment rather than an offense, Clemont. Your inventions had so much potential, yet you used them for such mundane applications! As a scientist, I couldn't let such magnificent creations go underused like that!"
"SHUT UP! You are no scientist!" Clemont repeated, as he began to grimace in disgust. "My own creations were used to commit crimes and hurt Pokemon... good grief, I feel so... so...!"
Ash placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "Focus on the battle, Clemont. Yes, I know you must feel pretty awful right now, but think that you can make up for it by bringing down this scumbag."
Fortunately for Ash, this seemed to have the intended effect, as Clemont stopped shaking and grimacing, as resolve returned to his features. "You are right, this is no time for self-pity. I carelessly let my inventions be used by criminals, but I will fix that mistake right now!"
"Well said!" Ash said, fired up. "Alright, time to show this guy we mean business! Greninja, Water Shuriken at Charizard!"
"And Electruxo Scald on Garlikid!" Clemont followed.
"Pathetic! Charizard, dodge, and Garlikid, push through that attack and nail him with a Drain Punch!" Larkspur ordered.
Greninja summoned another pair of watery shuriken to his hands, these being bigger than normal thanks to the rain, and launched them at the airborne Flame Pokemon, who dodged them by flying in a zigzagging pattern, while Garlikid ran towards Electruxo, who was shooting a stream of boiling water from his mouth, before giving him a haymaker with a green glowing fist, sending the Hippocampus Pokemon hurling backwards.
"Electruxo! Hold on!" Clemont cried.
"Charizard, bring down the Dragon Claw!" Larkspur's voice was merciless.
"Parry it again with Night Slash!" Ash replied.
A sword made of dark energy appeared on Greninja's webbed hand, raising it just in time to parry the brutal blow coming from above producing a loud boom and raising a gust of wind, but the ninja frog resisted in place.
Larkspur's mouth curved into a sadistic grin. "Mach Punch!"
Greninja barely had time to react before a green blur blitzed him, sending him rolling backwards by a powerful punch to the face.
"Ugh...!" Ash winced in pain, hands involuntarily going to his face in order to nurse the phantom pain. "Gre-greninja...!"
"Follow up with Thunder Punch before he has any time to recover!" Larkspur shouted.
"Stop it with Scald, Electruxo!" Clemont shouted. "Don't count us out so soon!"
As Charizard slided towards the downed Greninja, claws curled into a fist crackling with yellow sparks, the stolen Pokemon was blasted in the face by a stream of boiling water that pushed it backwards.
"Drain Punch on Greninja, come on!" Larkspur ordered, his face slowly turning red.
Narrowing its red, glowing eyes, the mind controlled Grass-type Legendary Pokemon dived at Greninja, a green aura swirling around its fist.
"Greninja, Double Team!" Ash ordered.
For the second time in that battle, dozens of Greninja duplicates filled the wide hallway just as Garlikid smashed its enhanced fist into one of them, dispelling it instantly and making the whole instance quake when the fist hit the floor.
"That cheap trick again? Charizard, dispel them again with Flamethrower in a wide arc!" Larkspur impatiently commanded.
Charizard took a deep breath before releasing a stream of azure flames from its jaws, albeit a smaller and thinner one than before given the still falling rain.
The Team Omega boss grumbled something unintelligible, probably for making such an oversight. "Garlikid, help Charizard to dispel those copies with a barrage of Energy Balls!"
As the army of fake duplicates were dispelled, Clemont moved closer to Ash, and whispered: "Ash, as much as it pains to admit it, this isn't a fight we can win. You see how Garlikid ran circles around Greninja and Alain's Charizard that other time, there's no way we beat a Legendary Pokemon with a Mega Evolved one helping it. We need to destroy those mind control collars."
Ash nodded. "I see. Who should we liberate first, Garlikid or Charizard?"
"Garlikid. It's the more powerful of the two, and with Garlikid out of Larkspur's control, the fight will be over," Clemont explained.
"Understood. I have an idea to liberate Garlikid, but I need you to make sure to keep Charizard out of Greninja's hair, and be ready to strike when I tell you to," Ash said.
"What are you whispering, you two?" Larkspur shouted at them as his enslaved Pokemon finished the last of the copies. "Coming up with a plan to take me down, don't you? Ha! No plan you can cook up can match the combination of the power of my two Pokemon and my superior intellect!"
"Your superiority lies in stealing somebody else's work! Come on Electruxo, Electroweb on Charizard!" Clemont ordered.
"Greninja, Aerial Ace on Garlikid!" Ash followed-
"Deflect it with Steel Wing, Charizard!" Larkspur countered. "And Garlikid, keep that loathsome ninja away with Stone Edge!"
The Hippocampus Pokemon fired from his mouth at Charizard an orb of yellow lightning. Charizard, meanwhile, folded its wings together, which began to glow with a silvery sheen. As the electrical orb burst into a net of lightning bolts, the stolen Pokemon spread its wings outwards, dispelling the attack. Meanwhile, Greninja rushed towards Garlikid, his forearms and legs glowing with a pure white light, before Garlikid stomped its foot down, summoning a row of rising stone pillars at the coming frog. He dodged them, leaping to the side and continuing forward as the pillars emerged, but one of them almost hit him, forcing him to break his run and jump back, canceling the attack.
"Excellent! Follow up with Energy Ball!" Larkspur eagerly commanded.
Ash smirked. Larkspur had fallen on his trap. "Jump and use Ice Beam, Greninja! Aim for the legs!"
"What!?"
As Garlikid fired the emerald orb, Greninja leaped above the Legendary Pokemon and thrust his cupped hands down, firing a light blue energy beam that left Garlikid's legs completely frozen, leaving the Pokemon pinned to the ground.
"And follow up with Water Shuriken to Charizard!" Ash finally said. "Now's your chance, Clemont!"
"What the...?" Larkspur asked, unable to follow up on Ash and Clemont's tactic.
"Electruxo, Thunderbolt on Garlikid! Aim for the mind control collar!" Clemont said.
As Greninja quickly launched a pair of watery shuriken at Charizard, which found their mark and forced the stolen Pokemon to fall back, if only a little, Electruxo prepared his next attack.
"Eleeeeeee..." Electruxo cried as his yellow fin glowed an electric yellow. "TRUUUUUUUUX!"
Blinding yellow lightning shot from the Hippocampus Pokemon into the Hero Pokemon, more specifically its neck. Garlikid didn't even scream as the electricity washed over its body, the despicable device on its neck forcing it to endure the pain without complaining.
Once the attack was over, both Ash and Clemont waited expectantly for the collar to fall off and for Garlikid to return to its senses.
Too bad for them, said moment didn't come, as the Legendary Pokemon continued glaring at them with its red, soulless eyes.
"It didn't work...?" Ash asked, stumped.
Larkspur, who had watched everything with a bemused expression, broke into laughter. "That was your grand plan? To destroy the Willpower Suppressant? Oh boy, you truly are children..." Larkspur said, the laughter forcing him to bend over. "Don't you think that that's the most obvious thing one would do when facing a Pokemon carrying such a device? And that I wouldn't take it into account to make it as resistant to normal attacks as possible? Nothing short of an attack coming from a Legendary Pokemon will be able to break it!"
"That... complicates things..." Clemont said, gulping a little.
"Just for once, you're not wrong, my fellow scientist," Larkspur said, grinning, his opaque glasses glimmering in an eerie way. "So how about you surrender already? This isn't a battle that you can win, and I'm a man who hates wasting time, not when there are so many things to do."
"Surrender? Ha! The Rangers already know the location of this base, all your lieutenants have been defeated, and your grunts are fleeing in droves!" Ash told the professor. "No matter the outcome of this fight, you have already lost!"
"Yes, you might have a point. Your little incursion here is going to cost me a bit," Larkspur nonchalantly admitted. "However, do you have any idea how much money I'm going to get from that Greninja of yours alone? His capture will make this day end in a positive net gain."
"You haven't captured Greninja yet!" Ash challenged.
"Yet being the key word, my young, dear countryside hick. Charizard, Dragon Claw on Electruxo! Garlikid Mach Punch on Greninja!" Larkspur ordered.
"Electruxo, quickly, Mist!" Clemont ordered.
"Elec, el!" Electruxo cried as it exhaled a huge cloud of white fog, engulfing Charizard and Garlikid, depriving them of any visibility and stopping their attacks on their tracks.
Still, Clemont knew that this had only bought them a few seconds at best.
"Ash, do you have any idea of how we can beat them? Because if freeing them isn't an option..." Clemont whispered to him.
"Who said it wasn't an option?" Ash asked, sounding oddly confident.
"Er... you just saw Electruxo trying to break those collars, he didn't even singe them," Clemont reminded Ash, worried that the Kantonian was starting to go mad. "Larkspur said that nothing short of a Legendary Pokemon could break them."
"It's a good thing we have a Legendary Pokemon at hand then," Ash said, fixing his eyes on Garlikid, who was visible once again after dispelling the mist with the wind created by the blowback of his powerful punches.
"Oh..." Clemont said, realizing what Ash was planning to do. "But getting Garlikid to break Charizard's collar will be complicated. It will require a great deal of precision and synchronicity."
"Luckily for us, synchronicity is mine and Greninja's forte. As we did before, keep Charizard occupied, and make sure it stays on the ground, leave the rest to me," Ash told the blond.
"Alright. I'll leave it in your hands, Ash!" Clemont said.
Ash nodded, and focused his mind on Greninja. For this maneuver to work, Ash and Greninja needed to be one, no words exchanged. The Kantonian boy immersed into the bond he shared with the Kalosian starter deeper than he had ever tried before. Yes, he could feel it... his Pokemon didn't resist the connection... Greninja's thoughts and his own thoughts were one and the same.
Then, Ash found something that wasn't there before.
"Wait, what's this?" Ash mentally asked, but found no response.
If Ash were to describe it, there was a well of power where there was nothing but emptiness before. Something that Ash had never felt in all the times he had harnessed Greninja's hidden power. Especially during the last days, when he tried to master that incomplete enhanced form of the Water Shuriken.
Tentatively, Ash reached into that power, only tapping a bit of it. The effects were instant, as his connection with Grenina solidified even more, manifesting in the form of a faint blue aura appearing around the Ninja Pokemon's body.
Then, Ash felt it. The rain.
It was the rain that filled this mysterious well of power. Was it that simple? Had Ash finally found the answer to the mystery that drove him close to madness? After how much Ash struggled to solve it, it was just something as easy as rain?
"Charizard, Dragon Claw on Electruxo! Garlikid, Stone Edge on Greninja!" Larkspur said.
The evil scientist's voice snapped Ash out of his thoughts. Alright, he had a battle to win, he could focus on his recent findings later.
"Greninja, jump on top of one of those pillars, quickly!" Ash ordered. The command was simple enough, but through their bond the boy was able to tell his Pokemon the true meaning behind it.
"Ninja!" Greninja said, as he jumped on top of one of the rising pillars, elevating him above the ground.
"Electruxo, Electro Ball!" Clemont ordered.
"Ele-TRU!" Electruxo cried as a sphere of yellow electricity shot out of his mouth towards Charizard.
The Fire and Dragon-type Pokemon shattered the attack with a swipe of its empowered claws, but the ensuing lightning explosion did a good job breaking the stolen Pokemon's momentum.
"And now, Aqua Jet!" was Clemont's next move.
Wasting no time, Electruxo covered his body in swirling water and barreled towards Charizard, slamming right into the Flame Pokemon's face, making it tumble backwards.
"Pin Charizard to the ground, don't let it move!" Clemont ordered.
Electruxo continued his onslaught by leaping onto Charizard, using his body to weigh the Fire and Dragon-type Pokemon down, who started to trash wildly in an attempt to get rid of its unwanted passenger.
"You think such a simple tactic is enough to beat my team? Garlikid, destroy those pillars with Mach Punch!" Larkspur ordered.
Garlkid blasted through the pillars, shattering them in one swift punch each. As the pillars crumbled, Greninja jumped to the closest one in order to move away from the Legendary Pokemon, repeating the process until there were no more pillars left.
"Get down, Greninja!" Ash ordered.
As the last pillar was destroyed, Greninja leaped backwards, about to land on a spot next to Electruxo and Charizard, who were still fighting each other.
"Now, while he lands! Drain Punch! Don't let him have any window to dodge the attack!" Larkspur said, his voice growing excited.
"Now's the time, Clemont! Come on Greninja, let's do it together!" Ash said, as he once again immersed into the bond. "
As Greninja landed, Garlikid dashed forward, launching a green glowing fist at the Kalosian starter. However, Greninja was able to gracefully dodge by simply leaning to one side while grabbing the Legendary Pokemon's arm with his hands, and subtly use its own momentum to redirect the attack. More specifically, towards Charizard.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Electruxo jumped out of Charizard's back just in time, while the Kantonian Pokemon got back on its feet.
Just as Garlikid's punch, directed by Greninja and Ash working in tandem, impacted on Charizard's mind control collar, shattering it into hundreds of bits of metal and plastic, and sending the Pokemon crashing against a nearby metallic wall, making a loud clanging noise.
"NO!" Larkspur croaked, taking his hands to his head.
Despite the impact, it wasn't enough to knock Charizard out, who was able to push itself back to its feet, even with some difficulty. Still, it didn't look like it was in good enough condition to keep fighting, given how its legs wobbled and its eyes, no longer glowing red, appeared blurry. Then, all of sudden, white light briefly flashed over it as its body returned to its base state, before losing consciousness and collapsing on the floor facefirst.
"Yes! Without the mind control, the bond of Mega Evolution was broken and the transformation reversed!" Clemont cheerily noted. He pushed his glasses up. "It seemed that the backlash of the bond breaking in such an abrupt way was too much for it to handle."
"Charizard, return!" Larkspur grumbled as he returned Charizard to its pokeball, before pocketing it away. Despite the opaque glasses, Ash knew the professor was glaring daggers at him and Clemont.. "You're going to pay for this."
"I find it unlikely. You may still have Garlikid, but with Charizard out of the way, Greninja and Electruxo can bring it down if they work together." Clemont said.
"Exactly! That's what you get for underestimating us! No matter how powerful they are, you won't beat us with stolen Pokemon!" Ash added.
"Pi-pika!" Pikachu agreed.
Larkspur was about to angrily reply, but words died in his mouth as he took a deep breath, calming himself down. "You know what? You are right. At least when it comes to one fact: I did underestimate you," the professor admitted. "Your Pokemon are strong and well trained, and your teamwork is impeccable. You would have gone far in Team Omega."
"No thanks. I don't think my mom would have been too happy if I joined a criminal gang," Ash sardonically replied.
Larkspur ignored the snarky reply. "I felt I was so above you I believed I could just toy with you before delivering the final blow, just to show you how hopelessly outmatched you were. And that mistake cost me. But hey, the one good thing about mistakes is that we can learn from them, right? That's why I decided not to prolong this any longer! Get ready, I'm going to crush you with a force you cannot even imagine!"
Larkspur pulled the right sleeve of his lab coat, revealing Leona's Z-ring on his wrist. So that's why it wasn't among the rest of the personal effects either.
"I believe you have already witnessed the power of the Z-moves, haven't you? I would have missed such a thing if it wasn't for one of my Captains, who is an avid contest follower, watching that Alolan girl on TV," Larkspur began. "Now imagine how powerful a Z-move would be if it's used by a Legendary Pokemon! Come on Garlikid!"
As Larkspur and Garlikid made the required poses for the move to work – rather sloppily in Larkspur's case – Ash knew that he had to do something. The professor was right, such an attack had the power to knock out both Greninja and Electruxo, even without taking into account all the damage they had taken so far.
The answer, however, couldn't be more obvious.
"Greninja! We're going to stop that Z-move!" Ash said. "Let's use that attack! I'm sure that this time it will work!"
And if it doesn't... well, it's not like they had any alternatives.
Greninja nodded, and raised his hand over his head. His faint blue aura flared to life with more intensity, before he was briefly engulfed by a spiraling torrent of water, a process Ash had seen before, but this time, the torrent was larger and the water roar was louder.
"GREEEEEEE...!" Greninja croaked from within the water torrent.
Then, much to Ash and Clemont's surprise, the spiraling torrent began to drain all the raindrops falling from above as if it was a vacuum cleaner. Then, not just the rain, but the clouds themselves, encasing Greninja in a tornado of clouds.
"Ash! What's going on? What is Greninja doing!?" Clemont asked.
"I don't know! But this is our only chance at victory!" Ash replied.
The tornado of torrential water and clouds disappeared, revealing Greninja holding above his head a massive shuriken made of water and storm clouds, with yellow lightning jumping from it.
"Pikaa..." Pikachu said in awe.
"What... what attack is that? Is that a water shuriken...?" Clemont asked in amazement, his glasses sliding off his nose.
"No, this isn't Water Shuriken," Ash said, as an indescribable sensation filled his body. He never felt his connection to Greninja so strongly as he did now. "The name of this attack is..."
"This is your end, kids! Bloom Doom!" Larkspur commanded.
Garlikid's body was surrounded by a light green aura, as flowers covered the ground of the hallway. The energy surrounding Garlikid morphed into an orb between its hands, firing it in the form of a massive golden-green beam.
"... STORM SHURIKEN!"
"GRE!"
Greninja launched the newly named attack forward, the projectile of spinning thunderclouds crackling loudly. The two attacks met in the middle, producing an explosion followed by a thunderclap that blew such a powerful wind in every direction that threatened to launch every human and Pokemon away. The shuriken had turned into a veritable furious spinning elemental dome, doing its best to overpower the Grass-type attack used by Garlikid.
"Electruxo, help Greninja with Thunderbolt!" Clemont ordered.
Electruxo nodded, his dorsal fins glowing yellow as they gathered electricity, before releasing it in the form of a single blast, reinforcing Greninja's elemental dome.
A few seconds passed, and it became obvious that no attack would ever overpower the other. Soon, both attacks began to shrink down as they expended the last of their power, until they disappeared completely.
For a few seconds, silence reigned.
"Unbelievable..." professor Larkspur said, his voice filled with shock, as he adjusted his glasses, which had almost been blown out of his face by the powerful winds. "Your Greninja stopped a Z-move on its tracks... just like that..."
"ARGH!/GRE!" Ash and Greninja cried in unison, as they both fell to their knees, the latter returning to his base form.
"Ash!" Clemont was quick to support his friend. "Ash, are you okay?"
"I feel... as if I've been trampled by a herd of raging Tauros..." Ash wheezed, letting Clemont support him. And he had the feeling that Greninja was feeling the same.
"That attack was incredible, indeed," Larkspur said, as he slowly recovered his composure. "The power of that move was simply breathtaking. But alas, it seems to have quite the inconvenient backlash, don't you think?" the professor mockingly asked, earning a hateful stare from Ash. "You may have stopped the Z-move, but in the end, the result was the same. Your Greninja cannot fight anymore, and I doubt Clemont has any Pokemon that can hope to match my Garlikid."
"Garlikid isn't yours!" Ash repeated once again.
"Like I said before, we can spend all day here discussing semantics, but in the end, what matters is that Garlikid obeys me and me alone," Larkspur darkly said. "Now, time to finish that Greninja off!"
"G-Gree...!" Greninja weakly croaked, as he tried to get back to his feet.
"El!" Electruxo cried, standing next to Greninja, but the Mega Evolved Pokemon's body language betrayed his rapidly diminishing confidence in a victorious outcome for this battle.
"No, Garlkid, don't do it! Don't let this evil man control you!" Clemont urged.
"You're a hero! A protector of the weak! A defender of justice! Don't let this man turn you into a tool to harm innocent people and Pokemon!" Ash pleaded as well. "You're much stronger than him! Your will and heroic spirit is much stronger than his mind control collar!"
Larkspur let out a mocking laugh. "Your desperation is so sweet. Plead all you want, there's only one person Garlikid will obey, the same person your Greninja will soon address as its master! Garlikid, Mach Punch!"
"Garlikid, no-!"
Before Ash could plead any further, Garlikid's body tensed for a fraction of a second and barreled towards Greninja, so fast that Electruxo wasn't even able to react despite being next to him, followed by a thud and a swishing noise.
"...huh?"
Contrary to what Ash expected to see, Greninja was still standing. In front of him was Garlikid, right arm stretched, its fist a centimeter away from the frog's face. The Legendary Pokemon's body trembled irregularly, jaw clenched and one of its red glowing eyes twitching.
"It... stopped?" Clemont asked, a glimmer of hope in his voice.
He wasn't the only one taken aback by this new development, not without reason. Larkspur's reaction, however, was the complete opposite. "Garlkid, what are you doing! Finish those Pokemon off, right now!"
But Garlikid didn't move, and remained there, its trembling fist still extended.
"Yes! Come on Garlikid, fight it off! Don't let him control you!" Ash encouraged.
"G-G-G-Ga...!" Garlikid managed to growl, as it slowly began to pull away its fist from Greninja's face.
"NO! This can't be happening!" Larkspur hollered, losing his composure once again. "My Willpower Suppressant Collar is perfect!"
"G-G-G..." a choked noise came out of Garlikid's throat as it slowly brought its hands to the mind controlling device.
"No, stop it!" Larkspur shouted, as he rushed to reach Garlikid. "You can't-"
"Elec!" Unfortunately for him, Electruxo jumped between the evil scientist and the Legendary Pokemon, his dorsal fin crackling menacingly with yellow sparks.
"Well done, Electruxo!" Clemont praised.
"G-G-Gaaar...!" Garlikid began to pull the metallic device in opposite directions with all its might. Cracking noises could be heard coming from the collar as the Legendary Pokemon kept pulling.
"Come on Garlikid, almost there!" Ash encouraged it.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu cheered as well.
"KIIIIID!"
There was a shattering noise, and the Will Suppressant Collar was broken in half in a burst of metal bits, plastic pieces and electric sparks, releasing the Legendary Pokemon, signaled by its glowing red eyes returning to its usual beady black, before falling to its knees in exhaustion.
"Ga... Garli..." Garlikid wheezed, now finally free.
"Impossible..." Larkspur said in a whisper, dropping to his knees as well.
"I told you you wouldn't beat us with stolen, mind controlled Pokemon, didn't I?" Ash said, now able to stand on his own without Clemont's help.
"You are not the future, Professor Larkspur. People like you rarely are," Clemont told the defeated man, his eyes full of righteous anger, but also satisfaction. "Team Omega has seen its last day,"
The defeated Team Omega boss didn't say anything.
Author's Note: And thus, the Team Omega plotline comes to an end. The evil organization is defeated for good, Garlikid is free and Charizard is back to its legitimate trainer.
I hope you enjoyed the battles, all of them. I remember some people asking me to give Bonnie and Dedenne more moments in battles, so I hope you're happy with their contribution to the fight. While I'm not fond of Dedenne in general, I guess it couldn't hurt to give him a moment to shine.
Regarding Larkspur, in the game he has his own team, though none of his Pokemon are anything special and he's not particularly challenging. And given that Larkspur had Garlikid captured in the game as well, I believed it would be great if he used the Hero Pokemon alongside Alain's Charizard. And just like before, rather than beating Garlikid through brute force, it was once of Ash's heroic speeches which gave the walking garlic the push it needed in order to overcome the mind control (I assume that, since Garlikid is a legendary Pokemon, it would have greater resistance to mind control than ordinary Pokemon like Charizard).
And alas, the mystery of the empowered Water Shuriken is finally solved! You probably don't remember, but I dropped a hint to the solution in chapter 49, when Serena mentioned that some attacks only work under specific weather conditions. And given that Ash-Greninja has never fought before under rain (regular Greninja did, though), I decided to take the chance. Needless to say, while Ash won't abuse it, expect to see the Storm Shuriken again in future high-stake battles.
Thanks a lot to Fox McCloude, Lipeghoul, hirowriter, MarcusDarkus87, Guest, BrightNova169 and MegaSalamence64 for reviewing the last chapter.
Next chapter, our heroes take a much needed rest after all the battles. In the meantime, don't forget to drop a review!
