With this chapter, the Dark Star attack will soon be coming to a close! But that doesn't mean the story will come to a close with it! There's still a lot left and focus on the main characters is going to shift a bit in order to expand the plot, character development, and more, so I hope you'll look forward to it!
Julia kept her eyes locked onto Typhoon as she reached for her last two pokeballs. Both of them were weak to Typhoon's Steel-type pokemon's attacks, but she had to do something. There were too many defenseless people, including her young cousin, that were counting on her. But... what could she do?
"Time's up, kid!" Typhoon called out as he stood next to his Magnezone. "If you're not going to fight back anymore, then we'll just finish this!"
"It's not over yet!"
Before either of the two battlers or Typhoon's Magnezone could turn in the direction of the voice, Dwayne landed in front Julia with his Capture Styler at the ready. His Staraptor slammed into Magnezone, squawking and shrieking as it raked its claws into the Magnet Area pokemon and smacking it with its wings, spreading feathers around the area.
"That's enough!" Dwayne shouted. "You've done enough damage, and your Magnezone is currently getting a serious beatdown! Now you can either stand down and do this the easy way, or you'll be restrained by force!"
"Pfft. 'By force'? Well aren't you confident! Here's a word of advice; don't count your Torchic before they hatch!" Typhoon scoffed. "Magnezone!"
The Magnet pokemon was bashed by Staraptor's body one last time before being knocked to the ground. The impact was almost immediately shaken off at the sound of Typhoon's voice as Magnezone zipped right back to its trainer's side.
"We'll put you under, weaklings! Magnezone, Lorentz Force! Go!"
The antenna atop Magnezone's head began to glow a metallic silver as the two magnets on the sides of its body began to whir and spin increasingly faster. Various pieces of rubble, destroyed metal and debris from the chaos soon began to glow with the same silver aura before levitating off of the ground and clashing together and joining to form what appeared to be a giant wheel of scrap. Julia and Dwayne watched in horror as the wheel began spinning in place while Typhoon simply laughed.
"I don't think we can stop that, Staraptor..." Dwayne gulped. With a metallic shout, Magnezone launched the wheel, with the gigantic mess quickly speeding towards the two teens, the clock was ticking and, for Julia and Dwayne, it seemed like their time was up.
"Hydro Cannon!"
The iron wheel was suddenly blasted by a stream of cool blue water that contained such force that it pushed the wheel back a bit before cleaving right through the scrap, leaving behind bits of what made up the attack soaked and broken as it fell to the ground while the stream of water and white foam continued on. The aura of the Lorentz Force faded as the wheel shattered to bits, leaving Typhoon as well as the two trainers struck dumb. In the midst of the surprise, a man and his Empoleon stood proudly in front of the two students.
"Heh, how'd you like that?" The man huffed. "My Empoleon's the toughest around!"
"Tch... You're Anthony of the Elite Four, the Water trainer, aren't you..." Typhoon growled.
"Yep! I haven't read too much about you and the rest of you Dark Star goons, but from what I hear, you're Typhoon, the admin of Team Dark Star that tends to focus on Steel pokemon. Well your Steel attacks won't even touch my team!" Anthony boasted.
"Humph! Well I don't need Steel moves to take down a pokemon that just made itself a sitting duck! Magnezone, Thunder Bolt!"
In a flash, Julia's eyes widened as she immediately sent out her Wigglytuff. "Use Protect!" She called out. Acting with just as much quickness as Julia, the Balloon pokemon inflated itself quickly and hovered itself in front of Anthony and his pokemon before exhaling all of the excess air and forming a barrier that blocked the lightning attack.
"We were down, but we weren't out just yet!" Julia exclaimed.
"And I gotta thank you for giving us just enough time!" Anthony added, looking back at the girl for a moment before returning his attention to Typhoon. "Now, Empoleon, let's hit them with another Hydro Cannon!"
The Elite Four member's Empoleon let out another powerful shout as it charged and fired another blast of supercharged water at Typhoon's Magnezone. The Magnet Area pokemon only had the chance to let out a surprised yelp as the speed of the attack prevented it from moving. Typhoon watched as his pokemon collapsed onto the ground with his mask hiding a grimace.
"Argh!" He grumbled. "If that twerp hadn't taken down some of my pokemon I could have taken you! I'll give you brats this round, but this ain't over!"
"Yeah, you better run!" Anthony smirked as Typhoon recalled his pokemon and ran off into the smoke of the continuing chaos. Once he left, the Elite trainer turned to Dwayne and Julia. "Seems like I came right on time! You two doing alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Dwayne answered. "I actually came to help out here as an order from the Union. I was told that there was a trainer facing off against a Dark Star admin, but I never would've guessed it was you, Julia!"
"Haha, yeah..." Julia chuckled, looking a bit embarrassed. Her embarrassment only increasing when her laugh faded to a sorrowful look. "But even though I gave it all I had against him, I still almost lost..."
"Hey, don't feel bad, there really wasn't much I could do against just one of his pokemon, and you wore down most of his! If Anthony here didn't show up when he did, we would've been squashed for sure!"
"Well the Champ is doing what he can to keep things under control in his own way. He sent the Elite Four to take on the higher ups of these Dark Star guys and to tend to anyone that's wounded."
"Hey!" A male voice called out. The three turned to see a man with bronze skin and a medical uniform hurrying towards them with a Blissey behind him. As he got close to them, Dwayne and Julia were able to see that the man's eyes almost looked like they were closed since they resembled an Abra's or Makuhita's.
"Hey, there he is!" Anthony chuckled. "The Brockster is in, folks!"
"I don't think this is the time for jokes, Anthony." The man said.
"Right, sorry." Anthony nodded as he addressed the teens. "Guys, this is Brock, top doctor of Kanto for both people and pokemon."
"You look sort of like Forrest, the gym leader of Pewter City." Julia noted.
"Well, I should!" Brock replied. "He's my younger brother. I gave him control of the gym years ago so I could travel the world and find out what I wanted to do with my future, eventually that lead me into pokemon breeding and medicine, but that's a story for another day. For now, I'll properly introduce myself as Brock, top doctor of the Kanto region for both people and pokemon. I was told there was a crowd of people within this area and I need to make sure that the injured are tended to."
"They're in the basement of the hotel!" Julia quickly responded. "I asked an Officer Jenny to guard them, my baby cousin is with them as well!"
"I see, well if Officer Jenny is with them then they're in good hands, but she may need help keeping track of everyone. I'll go down there and do what I can. Anthony, you go and help deal with Team Dark Star. If you see any innocents, send them over to this location!" Brock ordered.
"Right!" The water trainer assured as he and his Empoleon ran off.
"Now, as for you, what's your name?" Brock asked, looking to Dwayne.
"My name's Dwayne, Rank Nine Ranger sent by the Kanto Ranger Union, sir!"
"I-I'm-..."
"Julia. I know your name." Brock nodded, giving the worried girl a gentle smile. "I've been keeping track of the tournament and I saw your battles. Come on, let's head downstairs so you can see your cousin."
"But... my sister and some of our other friends are still out there! I need to make sure they're alright but... with how bad of a situation I was against Typhoon, how I lost in the tournament and how badly my pokemon are hurt I... I don't think I can last long out there." Julia admitted as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Hey." Brock said, laying a hand on her shoulder and giving her a smile that was gentle, yet firm. "You're managed to go far in the tournament and last as long as you could against a dangerous criminal, giving all three of us enough time to come and back you up and protect a lot of innocent people! You have a lot to be proud of and you can go help your friends as well."
Brock then reached into a backpack that Julia didn't even notice he was carrying and pulled out several medicinal supplies.
"These will get your pokemon back to one hundred percent in no time. I'm giving you the same task as Anthony, go help anyone you can and try to stop as many Dark Star members as you can from hurting people. You can also go help your friends if you find them. Now go, you can leave everyone in the hotel to me, and I promise to protect your younger cousin."
"I... Thank you." Julia beamed as she wasted no time in healing her pokemon and running off to find someone, anyone, that she knew or could help.
The Dark Star grunts stood little chance against Cynthia, as her Garchomp and Lucario swatted their pokemon aside as if they were little more than the common weak encounters one would find on Route 1. Still, their relentless assault prevented her from actually moving anywhere and the revives and potions that the grunts had only proved to annoy the Sinnoh champion as they slowly tired out her pokemon.
Her Lucario kicked an oncoming Arctozolt and Solrock that tried to attack Garchomp and the champ herself while Garchomp kept a group of the grunts' Starmie and Clefable away with a fierce Stone Edge attack. Suddenly, Lucario's eyes widened as the Aura pokemon turned its head and seemed to stare off into the distance for a moment before rushing at whatever it was sensing.
"Ah! Lucario!" Cynthia called out as she and her Garchomp followed after her pokemon. The sudden distraction gave the grunts a chance to strike, but even a Hyper Beam from one of the grunts' Solrock wasn't enough to faze Garchomp as it knocked the Solrock out of the air with another Stone Edge and knocked out all of the non-airborne pokemon with an Earthquake that toppled all of the enemies and their pokemon. With the coast clear for the time being, Garchomp caught up with its master.
Cynthia followed her Lucario for a few minutes, unsure of where it was even going until she heard familiar voices...
"You can still walk away from this, kid." Cynthia immediately recognized the voice as Sirius, which made her sprint in the direction of his voice. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw Renée battling his Mega Steelix with just her Riolu.
"I'm not just going to let you run rampant and hurt people! We're both down to our last pokemon, and if I'm going down, I plan on going down kicking and screaming!" Renée hissed.
"It's really not that serious. We just want to get what we're after and go."
"Well we won't let you get it! We know what your plan is and we'll stop you! Riolu, use Aura Storm!"
"Damn it, kid! You're making this more difficult than it needs to be! Steelix, Hyper Beam!"
The Iron Snake pokemon opened its massive jaw and exhaled a burning orange beam of energy that matched the white beam that Riolu had unleashed from the palm of its paws. The two beams clashed but it was clear that Riolu was outmatched as the Hyper Beam slowly pushed back the Aura Storm.
"RENÉE!" Cynthia screamed as she saw her niece's eyes widen as the beam closed in on her and her pokemon. Feeling Cynthia's fear and panic in her aura, her Lucario quickly acted with Extreme Speed and went right to Riolu's side before joining the Emanation pokemon with its own Aura Storm, their conjoined beam growing in size and ferocity as it pushed back against the Mega Steelix's Hyper Beam.
"Aww damn it, now I gotta deal with the Sinnoh champion, too?! Geez, my team's in no condition to keep going..." Sirius groaned as he saw Cynthia run over to Renée.
"Are you alright?!" She asked, getting a nod from her niece.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thankfully I've been able to hold my own against him, but it's been way too close. How did you find me, anyway?"
"My Lucario." Cynthia replied, looking back at her pokemon. "It must have sensed you and your Riolu and wanted to help."
"Well, with you here, I know things will turn out alright." The strawberry blonde sighed.
"I'll do everything I can to make sure you and your sister are safe, you know that." Cynthia said, giving the girl a soft smile before turning her attention back to the beam clash. "But we're not out of the woods just yet here. Even with my Lucario joining the attack, they're still even, and we can't afford to sit around here and wait until they tire out."
"That's where I come in!"
The two blonde women turned to see Anthony hurry to their side with another Lucario in tow.
"Mind if I cut in here? I saw the light from those attacks and figured I could turn the tide, no pun intended."
"You, you're Anthony, aren't you?" Renée asked. "We met outside of Rock Tunnel, you're the Water type master of the Elite Four! But, why do you have a Lucario?"
"That's me! I think I remember you, but it's been a while. As for my Lucario, I may be a Water master, but Lucario's my favorite pokemon! Of course I have to have one! Besides, I'm also a soccer superstar and my Lucario helps me practice! But we have business to take care of, Lucario, help those two out with your own Aura Storm!"
"Another one?!" Sirius asked himself. "At this rate they'll be able to push back against all of us...! Steelix, give it all you've got!"
The four pokemon used more of their energy in their attacks as Steelix and the two Lucario each let out a shout of power. The two beams continued to be about even, though they fluctuated to each side at points. The only pokemon that remained silent was Renée's Riolu. The much smaller pokemon strained to put more power into it's beam, no matter how hard it tried. The Emanation pokemon shut its eyes and tried to focus as its paws began to grow numb. Suddenly, a warm sensation began to envelop its body.
'Child...'
Despite the sudden voice, Riolu almost seemed to understand that it came from Cynthia's Lucario to the left.
'Child.' It repeated, its telepathic voice stoic and firm. 'Do not show fear. There is no need to strain yourself.'
'He is right.' Anthony's Lucario added, its voice a bit more gravely yet filled with pride. 'Your potential is great, but you needn't hurt yourself to show it.'
'But... what do I do?' Riolu asked.
'Embrace it.' Cynthia's Lucario replied. 'Accept it and become one with it. Allow the power of the aura that exists within the life around you, the bond with your trainer, and within yourself, to build up inside of you. Let it build up inside you, and then harness it.'
Riolu took a slow, deep breath and almost seemed to ignore the beam clash as the Emanation pokemon tapped into the aura of the environment and everyone in it. The familiar aura that came from Renée tickled Riolu's heart as he heard Renée calling out to him.
"Go, Riolu, give it all you've got!" She commanded.
Riolu's eyes shot open as he felt a great surge of power begin flowing through him.
'Now, Child, let your power explode! Do it now, my Child!'
The sudden surge of power from Riolu made the Aura Storm expand to almost double its size as it overpowered Steelix's Hyper Beam and completely overtake the Iron Snake pokemon, leaving only its tail to be visible as the rest of its body bore the full extent of the blast, which was visible from even the hill on which Singularity continued his battle against Armstrong, Gina, Goff and Anabel.
As the aftermath of the beam began to fade, the three trainers were met with the sight of Sirius recalling his pokemon and making a break for it as he sprinted away.
"Oh no you don't!" Anthony called out as the three began to chase after him, though they weren't able to get far as the grunts that Cynthia had been holding back had caught up to the three of them.
"There you are!" One said. "You're not getting away from us again!"
"Well, looks like we'll just have to knock you losers down!" The water master boasted as he turned to Renée. "You ready?"
"My pokemon are weak right now, but we'll do what we can." Renée replied.
"Be careful, they have a lot of healing items, so this may be a while." Cynthia sighed.
"Hey, don't worry about it! I packed some meds myself, so we can get your pokemon to better shape. Plus we've got a former tournament contender and two super tough trainers, we can take them!"
"Beating them is easy, it's keeping them down long enough for us to get to their bosses that are the hard part..." Cynthia remarked.
Despite the assistance of the wild pokemon, the number of grunts swarming the castle of the royal family only seemed to increase as reinforcements arrived. Princess Bella fought as valiantly as she could alongside the guards of the castle and Christopher, but with Bella lacking battle experience and the wild pokemon not having proper battle training, the odds did not look to be in their favor...
"Oh my... this... this is not what I had in mind when I called for these pokemon to help!" Bella cried as she watched a Dark Star grunt's Drapion slash the Pidgeot she flew in on with a vicious Night Slash that raked at the bird's abdomen and neck.
"Princess, you must flee to the castle!" Christopher pleaded. "Find a place to hide!"
"But I can't leave you out here to fend for yourself!"
"Don't worry, I'll stick with him!" Corey replied, placing a reassuring hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Mauro, you stick with the lady."
"Hiding won't help you, we'll break down the whole castle if we have to!" One of the DS grunts cackled.
"Then we just have to make sure that doesn't happen!"
All eyes around the castle shot skyward as the sight of the three legendary bird pokemon of Kanto flew in from the horizon towards the castle, each bird carrying two people on them. As the birds landed in the courtyard, the six people leaped onto the courtyard, revealing themselves as Erika alongside Dr. Gaster, the gym leader of Fuchsia City, along with his daughter, Muffet. The three were joined by the owners of the legendary birds; the pokemon researchers Blanche, Candela and Spark.
"I believe that's quite enough of this!" Erika huffed.
"What, so we've got gym leaders and some nobodies trying to get in the way now?"
"Nobodies?" Spark chuckled. "Now I may not be the most popular guy, but even I know that saying something like that as if we didn't just ride in on legendary pokemon is not smart."
"Well, leave it to a group of guys that decided to attack during the middle of a live broadcast to make dumb decisions." Muffet shrugged.
"Nonetheless..." Blanche began, walking towards the front of the group with their Articuno. "I believe fighting this group of enemies with all three of the legendary bird pokemon is rather excessive. Candela, Spark, would you kindly head back towards the Indigo Plateau and help there wherever you are able to?"
"Hmm, yeah, I think it'd be over pretty quickly if we all helped out here." Candela replied. "That'd be pretty boring." A sudden explosion coming from the hill on which the showdown against Singularity was taking place caught everyone's attention, with Candela grinning when she saw it. "Now that looks more interesting! I'll see you guys later!"
"I'll go and try to help anyone who may be hurt!" Spark said. He and Candela jumped onto the backs of Zapdos and Moltres respectively. The birds soon took off into the air with the former heading down to the arenas while the latter headed for Singularity. Understandably, the Dark Star grunts were not happy with anyone getting near their boss.
"Oh no you don't!" "Don't let them get away!" "Shoot them down!" A few grunts called out.
"Articuno, Blizzard!" Blanche commanded. Before any of the Dark Star members could call for an attack, Articuno blasted the castle grounds with a chilling force launched from a single flap of its wings. Snow and ice whipped and chilled the very air around everyone with enough speed to force the heroes to close their eyes to protect themselves. Even though the attack lasted only a few seconds, when everyone opened their eyes the land was layered with an inch of snow and ice that put out any stray fires started from the battles. All of the flowers and plants in the garden had an almost serene, glassy texture to them that contrasted greatly from the harsh war that went on not even five minutes earlier. All of the enemy pokemon were hit hard by the attack, either getting completely frozen, getting severely weakened or fainting outright.
"Incredible..." Bella exhaled, shivering just a bit from the cold.
"So that is the power of just one of the legendary bird pokemon.
"H-H-Hey!" A shivering Dark Star grunt called out as he and some of his group reached for their pokeballs. "Th-Th-This ain't over yet! Some of us can still fight!"
"I don't think that's such a good idea." Erika remarked, raising an eyebrow at the villains before admiring the scenery. "Such a shame, grass pokemon are weak to ice and the cold can damage plants, and yet this all looks so beautiful..."
"It doesn't look like they'll be much of a threat, regardless of us all being here now." Dr. Gaster explained. "We can pick off the stragglers for now. If anyone needs medical attention, I can do what I can."
Bella looked to the new arrivals with a wide smile. In the span of only a few minutes, her panic and fear at what might happen to her, the pokemon that she arrived with, and her closest friends and family vanished. She looked up at the castle, hoping her parents were watching.
Indeed, they had been. The king and queen looked down on the courtyard with a variety of emotions. Sadness at the damage done to their home, fear and anxiety still coursing through them over the whole ordeal, but yet there was something more. It felt like a sort of admiration for the bravery of the people and pokemon fighting for them, most of them not even knowing or caring about their royal blood.
Spark flew over the tournament grounds looking for anyone that looked like they needed help. Most people looked to be too preoccupied in fighting Team Dark Star to notice him, most of the trainers even being able to push some of the villains back or using their pokemon to escape them. Anyone who did notice him fan in fear, which he understood. It wasn't every day that a blonde guy rides on the back of a legendary pokemon, right? Eventually, something caught Spark's eye enough for him to narrow his eyebrows in concern as he ordered his Zapdos to descend to the ground.
"You don't have to continue with this life of villainy. The International Police could use some of the information you have to fight against Singularity and ensure that nothing like this happens again!" Looker explained as he walked a bit closer to Dakota, who still looked like a broken mess at the sight of everything he was involved in.
"But... what if he and the admins find out? What are you and your people going to do to me if I comply? I'm a terrorist now, aren't I? I... I don't want to just give up my pokemon and go to prison for being a part of all this!" Dakota cried out.
"Um, guys?!" Aiden yelled as Yuki looked up in horror. "Giant bird incoming!"
Spark jumped off the back of his bird and put himself between Looker and Dakota, Zapdos' eyes sparking with power as the legend stared down Dakota.
"Mister Looker, are you okay?! This guy didn't hurt you or anything, did he?!"
"Ah, Spark, your timing is impeccable! I would have to assume Candela and Blanche are also helping to ease this chaos. But you can relax. This boy has done nothing to hurt me. In fact, I was just trying to help this boy come to his senses and abandon Team Dark Star's evil ways!"
"Hah! That's Mister Looker for ya'! He doesn't even need pokemon to be a stand up guy!"
"Are we just going to ignore the fact that this guy just casually owns a Zapdos?!" Aiden called out.
"Is that even legal?!" Yuki added.
Dakota backed away from the two men in fear of his life at that moment, and for what could become of his life in the future with the choices presented to him. Noticing his fear, Looker turned back to him.
"You can relax, boy, I can promise you that the International Police will not place you in any sort of prison if you comply with our requests. We will also not restrict you from your pokemon. All we need is some information regarding Singularity, his intentions, and anything you know regarding the high ranking members of Team Dark Star."
"I..." Dakota choked out before letting out a sigh. "There's not much I know..."
"That's fine. Any information helps us. You would be doing us a grand service."
Shaking off her anxiety of being near Zapdos, Yuki approached Dakota with an almost empathetic smile on her face.
"If you really do feel bad about joining those creeps, you can always do the right thing and help us stop them. It's definitely a lot to ask, sure, but you won't be alone. You'll have us watching your back, and you have your pokemon, too!"
"Okay... Okay, I'll do it." Dakota said, letting out a sharp breath and returning the smile Yuki gave him.
"Great, so now we've got another guy who's been in Team Dark Star helping us." Aiden nodded. "But what do we do now? And who's the guy with the Zapdos?!"
"Well, for now, our primary objectives should remain the same." Looker huffed. "That is, stopping Singularity and pushing back against this Dark Star attack. However, while I understand that you two may want to stop Singularity immediately, I would suggest leaving that to my superiors. I received word from Miss Anabel and another associate of ours that they've found him and are trying to apprehend him as we speak."
"So what do we do then?" Yuki asked.
"We need to clear out the remaining Team Dark Star members within this area and help any civilians that need assistance." Looker explained.
"As for who I am and where I got my Zapdos, that's a bit of a story, hehe!" Spark laughed as the three went to go complete their task.
Despite the damage he had taken, despite all the pain he was going through now, Diego's Charizard refused to leave his master's side. The Flame pokemon's tail ignited and burned hot enough for Diego to feel it from the distance he was still laying, still clutching his leg in pain.
"Charizard!" He called out. His first pokemon didn't need to hear anything else before spewing out another Heat Wave attack that burned the pokemon of the Dark Star grunts and kept them away with a white hot flame. Once Charizard ceased its attack, it was only met with a Fishous Rend from one of the grunts' Dracovish. The sheer power of the attack was enough to finally douse the flames of Charizard's fury as it crashed to the ground by Diego, who tried petting his pokemon to ease some of its pain.
"Finally!" The Dark Star member hissed. "Now we can get rid of the kid."
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" Diego's sister Janie, suddenly rushed in from above, jumping down onto the destroyed arena from her Kilowattrel. The look on her face almost matched the level of fury from Diego's Charizard. "Keep them occupied with Thunder Bolt, Kilowattrel! I have something I need to do!"
With a shriek, the Frigatebird pokemon sent out bolts of lightning that crackled and sparked as it struck the enemy pokemon or near their trainers, keeping them away from the siblings long enough for Janie to get a good look at her brother and begin basic first aid.
"You always seem to be getting yourself in trouble, don't you." She sighed.
"Yeah, but I always have the best people looking after me and watching my back." Diego smiled. While Janie bandaged his leg, she looked concerned as she shifted her gaze to her brother.
"I don't think it's bad, but I'm no doctor. Plus, you know I'm no good with knots..."
"HEY!" Another airborne voice called out. Diego's grin grew wider when he saw Dwayne landing near the siblings.
"Right on time, Ranger Man!" He smirked.
"You're telling me!" Dwayne shook his head. "How bad is it?"
"Definitely broken, but my sister says it isn't terrible and I'm willing to take her word for it."
"Well, Julia and I know where we can get the opinion of a doctor who's supposed to be really good. I can take you to him."
"Please and thank you!" Diego sighed.
"Oh! I think I know who you mean!" Janie added. "He's one of the best around! You two hurry and get to him, I can take care of these guys. Kilowattrel, can you go with them and make sure they get to where they need to?"
The giant bird let out a cheerful squawk as Dwayne got to work preparing a stretcher for Diego. The moment it was done, Kilowattrel and Staraptor grabbed the edges while the Electric bird happily let Dwayne ride on its back.
"Ready, Diego?" Dwayne asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be!" Diego replied as he anxiously gripped the sides of the stretcher and refused to look anywhere but skyward. As the two boys began flying away, Janie watched on, silently hoping for her brother's safety.
"Hey, Princess, you still gotta deal with us!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot about you Dark Star dorks for a second. But a second is all I'll need to beat you for what you did to my brother!" Janie hissed as she sent out a Pachirisu, prompting the grunts to laugh.
"Hahahaha! That little fur ball?! What could it possibly d-" The man was cut off by a swift Thunder Punch to the gut from the EleSquirrel.
"They just keep coming!" Gareth yelled in frustration. The rest of the Vermilion graduates and their allies were soon feeling the fatigue of having to deal with the onslaught of enemies. Beating them down was no issue, but with them constantly healing and reviving their pokemon, they slowly began falling apart. Sinead tended to her Roserade, who collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. Simon let out a concerned yell when Classy was struck by an Air Slash, courtesy of a Dark Star member's Crobat. Even Jethro's Hypno, who tried to keep up both a Reflect and Light Screen was worn down by a constant barrage of attacks while the Ranger tried to use his Capture Styler to keep the enemies at bay. But alas, he and his Hypno eventually failed.
"Dazzling Gleam!" "Electroweb!" "Air Cutter!"
The trainers and their pokemon braced for impact when they were suddenly blinded by the brightness of the Dazzling Gleam. When they opened their eyes they were stunned to see that it was not them that were beaten, but all of the Dark Star pokemon they had been fighting off, with their trainers equally stunned both figuratively and literally as they were wrapped in the electric webbing.
"Seems like we came right on time!"
The young trainers watched as a bald, burly man wearing a black trench coat over a grey military uniform walked to the front of their group with a Swanna by his side. He was followed by a beautiful woman with chocolate-brown skin and long, reed hair wearing a black and red coat with what appeared to be a wine red dress underneath, a Ribombee floated gently by her shoulder. The two were followed by, surprisingly, Lt. Surge, who had a Galvantula at the ready by his feet.
"Seems like you soldiers managed to put up a good fight." He said, looking at the kids with an impressed smile. "We'll take it from here."
"Th-Thanks." Gareth choked out, his Machamp thankful for the rest. "But, who are you guys?"
"We're friends of your International Police teacher. We got a message from him not too long after this whole mess started."
"This brute with me is named Arnold, my name is Lorraine, and I'm sure you all know who Surge is. We received info from Goff about you all, and he asked us to help you out if we saw you."
"Is he alright?!" Sinead asked.
"Seems like he's in a tough fight right now." Surge answered. "But he's a smart and resourceful man, he'll be fine. But you kids, you should be thankful that you've had the privilege of having such a fine teacher."
"Oh, we know!" Gareth chuckled while Simon gave a firm nod. "He's the best!"
Before the three could continue fighting back against the grunts, Sirius dashed towards their, signaling for the grunts to retreat.
"Fall back!" He called out. "We're outclassed and we need to head back to base!"
Many of the grunts who could move tried freeing their teammates or running away from the heroes, as Sirius himself turned to face the three newcomers and the students, his eyes widened beneath his mask.
"I'd recognize that voice anywhere." Arnold huffed.
"So it really is him..." Lorraine added.
"Blackwell... I never thought we'd meet on opposing sides of a battlefield like this." Surge shook his head.
"You can still come back to us, mon ami. You can find your boy the right way!" Lorraine called.
"You three wouldn't understand. I'm in far too deep to crawl out now..." Sirius responded before turning his back on his former friends and running after his compatriots.
Snow gasped as her Blastoise was knocked back towards her on its back, spinning a bit on its shell with no power left to even move. The young woman felt her blood run as cold as her name as she heard the RM's chainsaw revving up again. It was as if all the sound in the world suddenly stopped when she looked up and saw the machine suddenly appear in front of her, with its blade aimed right at the center of her Blastoise's shell.
It almost did not feel real when she saw a Bisharp appear from seemingly nowhere and batter the machine in the head with a fierce Sucker Punch. The strike forced the RM back a few meters, but the beast was more than ready to continue, as was the Bisharp.
"Hey, you okay there?"
Snow looked up with relief at the sight of a familiar face, taking their hand and struggling a bit to get to her feet.
"You, you're Martha, the dark type leader of Saffron City, right?"
"That's me!" Martha replied cheerfully. "So this robot's part of that Team Dark Star guys, right? I've been aching to get back at them for what they did to Jack!"
"You know Jack?"
"Yeah, we go way back!" Martha giggled. "But right now we have a bad dog to deal with!"
For the first time in a while, Snow and Martha heard the RM respond to them.
"This battle will cease." It began. "I am receiving word that the gym leaders of both the Kanto and Johto regions have arrived alongside other powerful trainers. Due to this, my superiors within the organization are calling for a retreat. Thus, my commands have been changed and I am now being ordered to retreat."
"What?! You're going to leave, just like that?!" Snow shouted.
"Oh now you don't!" Martha called out. Her Bisharp tried reaching out to the beast in order to attack again, but the RM simply activated its chronal accelerator and vanished into thin air, leaving the two girls alone.
"Well that stinks..." Martha groaned before looking down at Snow's leg. "Hey, we should probably go see a doctor about that. Are you able to walk?"
"Right..." Snow sighed. "Yeah, I should be able to move. But man that thing was tough!"
Shade's Luxray and Celeste's Alakazam both let out groans of pain as they lay on the concrete and at the mercy of Andromeda and her Missingno.. The trainers themselves were quickly surrounded by some of the grunts that were at her side.
"Gyahahaha. Oh wasn't that fun?" Andromeda cackled. "Ah, but all good things do come to an end."
"Empreeeeeeess!"
The shrill tone of Tsar Agus' voice pierced through the air with his catty tone being enough to shatter glass if there was any nearby. The sleaze of Team Dark Star came running at the underboss with Styles and Pandora running after him with Misty and Forrest behind them.
"You fool! You lead more of them right to us when I was about to finish them off! You should be thankful that this will just be more of a test for my wonderful beast!"
"If that thing can last that long!"
A Shadow Ball appeared from seemingly nowhere and crashed right into Missingno., the corrupted monster simply grabbed the attack by using its glitchy body to form a hand and stop it in its tracks.
"Tch! I thought I could get it by surprise!" Alan grumbled as he ran out from behind a piece of rubble with his Gengar.
"Hah! As if a simple surprise attack like that would do anything!" The Dark Star empress huffed pridefully.
"Then how about this! Zapdos, use Mega Shock!"
Spark jumped off of his bird again, landing in front of the group and allowing his pokemon to charge up a blue sphere of electricity at the tip of its beak. With a shriek that sounded like a boom of thunder, Zapdos launched the sphere, which turned into a bolt of blue lightning with bits of black and purple sparks coming off of it. The bolt struck Gengar's Shadow Ball, piercing straight through it and into the body of Missingno.. The Shadow Ball struck Missingno. after, and rather than explode, it almost seemed to be absorbed by the abomination's body, causing it to pulse into a glitchy mass of indescribable shapes and forms.
The beast shifted forms to its Aerodactyl and Kabutops skeletons, to the form of a Clefairy and then a Kangaskhan before it continued changing to other glitch like masses of colors and shapes until...
BOOM!
The creature exploded in a burst of white smoke. Everyone and their pokemon were silent as they watched the smoke clear. In the aftermath of the explosion, Missingno. was completely gone, with the only thing in its place being a set of green bones that appeared to consist of pokemon of various species.
"What have you done...?" Andromeda croaked out. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO OUR BEAST?!"
"M-M-Madame Empress, what should we-" One of the grunts tried to ask before Andromeda cut them off.
"We have to retreat... There's no way we can stop a legendary bird pokemon now..." She disdainfully hissed before pointing right at Tsar Agus. "YOU! Get those bones and follow me!"
Tsar Agus whimpered as he hesitantly ran over to the green bones and grabbed them while the rest of the grunts tossed down smoke and flash bombs at the ground, disorienting the heroes long enough for them to escape...
From within the stadium, Jack and Sam continued their fight against the Mecha Dragonite. Together, the two had managed to damage the armor of the machine's legs, leaving them heavily slashed and battered.
"GRAHH, WHY DON'T YOU TWO WURMPLE JUST GO DOWN?!" The pilot shouted as she maneuvered the controls to spin the mech around to swing its tail at the duo.
"Gallade, parry it!" Sam called out.
"Is that even possible?!" Jack asked.
To answer his question, Sam prepared his sword while his Gallade got into a position to brace itself for the attack. Jack and his Gallade watched in amazement as the two swung at the tail at just the right moment to block the attack and push the tail back a bit, giving the two swordsmen the chance to leap up and slash at the tail wildly, slicing off bits and pieces of the appendage before landing and leaving the Mecha Dragonite's tail as a short stump.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE...? WHAT HAVE YOU TWO DONE?!" The pilot screamed. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EXPENSIVE THIS MECH WAS TO MAKE?!"
From the announcers' stand, Dallas and Juanita remained in the enclosure with the latter barricading the door with whatever she could find while Dallas kept his eyes on the fight against the machine.
"Wow!" He called out. "And the swordsman has just chopped off the tail of that giant robot! We'll do our best to keep you updated on everything going on with this attack, folks!"
Before Juanita could call the man out, the door was busted open by more Dark Star goons.
"Freeze!" One of them shouted. "You two are coming with us!"
"Not on your life!" Juanita hissed as she sent out an Annihilape. Just as she was began fighting with some of them, one of the grunts grabbed Dallas and pulled him away from his seat.
"Hey, hey! Watch the hair, I just had it done! I can't leave yet, I need to keep the audience updated and see how this fight against that machine goes! Come on, I placed ¥50,000 on this fight!" Dallas pleaded as he sent out a Hisuian Lilligant.
"Dallas, our lives are in danger and you are gambling?!" Juanita spat.
"Ah shut up!" The grunt growled as he yanked Juanita to the ground.
Perhaps it was the fact that he was getting assaulted, perhaps it was the sight of his Lilligant getting punched by the Dark Star grunt's Scrafty, perhaps it was the sight of his announce partner getting assaulted, but something within Dallas snapped at that very moment as he punched the Dark Star grunt in the face.
"Oh don't pretend like you care!" He shouted back at Juanita as he pulled her up to her feet, much to her shock. "YOU NEVER CARED!" The man then suddenly clutched his head in pain. "Oh there we go! Now I burst a blood vessel! Are you happy now Juanita, ARE YOU?!"
"Hey, we said-"
"I don't care what you said!" Dallas hissed, turning his attention to Team Dark Star with his eyes now bloodshot. "Lilligant, can you get them out of here? Use Mega Kick or something, please!"
With graceful poise, the Hisuian Lilligant struck a pose to escape the Scrafty's grasp before snapping its leg back and delivering a swift spinning back kick to the face of the Hoodlum pokemon, launching it into its trainer and his cohorts before sending the whole group through the wall.
From down below on the battlefield, Jack and Sam remained focused on the mech, which had remained still since its tail was cut off. The pilot now furiously tapping at the controls.
"Those two announcers need therapy..." Sam commented.
"Oh, big time..." Jack nodded.
"ALRIGHT, YOU RUNTS JUST TICKED ME OFF!"
The two men watched as the Mecha Dragonite's right arm began changing as parts shifted with its interior until it finally grew into a blade that was twice the size of the other arm.
"Hey, are you sure this is a good idea?" The co-pilot asked.
"IF WE WANT TO SQUASH THESE BUGS, THEN YES!"
"Fine, fine, but you don't need to be shouting all of this..."
"I think she might need therapy more than the announcers." Jack stated.
"GET CRUSHED, TWERPS!"
"Stop that blade!" Sam ordered. "Jack, I know most of your pokemon are still hurt, but we might need all of their help here!"
"I'm on it, let's go everyone!"
The gigantic blade began to swing down on the two humans and their pokemon, cutting clean through the arena walls as it came down towards the ground. Jack's Kingdra was the first to try to stop it by slowing the momentum of the blade with Hydro Pump. The slower speed allowed Venusaur to send out various vines to surround the blade and try pulling it back. While the blade-arm still came down, it was now slow enough for Jack's Banette and Fearow to start pushing back against it with Shadow Claw and Drill Peck respectively while both Gallade parried the blow with Psycho Cut. While Sam had his own sword to help the pokemon, Jack lacked such a weapon, and so resorted to supporting his Gallade's stance while Jack's Mightyena lacked a means of properly assisting until Jack got an idea.
"Mightyena, use Howl to give everyone a boost!"
The hound's eyes sharpened as Mightyena let out a howl towards the smoky sky, boosting the spirits of the other six pokemon and powering up most of their attacks, allowing them to finally push the blade back towards the mech.
"Now! Throw it!" Sam commanded.
"Are you sure?!" Jack asked.
"Positive!"
With no reason to doubt his master, Jack ordered the rest of his pokemon in assisting Sam and his Gallade in throwing the mech by shifting all of their momentum from stopping the mech's attack to redirecting it above and then behind them, launching the machine over and then out of the stadium.
"Now to finish it, Gallade use Sacred Sword!" Sam called. His Gallade gave a swift nod and began jumping into the stands of the arena before leaping onto the blade of the mech before running along it, slashing at the machine as it went before reaching the machine's neck.
"NO NO NONONONONONO!" Both pilots shouted before pressing an eject button and launching themselves out of the machine in their chairs, which suddenly transfigured themselves into helicopter-esque packs. The two wasted no time in escaping as Jack's Fearow flew up to catch Sam's Gallade and bring him to the ground.
"Well..." Jack said, shaking his head, still in awe at what he witnessed. "I think I can safely say that that was awesome!"
"It was definitely some action that I hadn't seen in quite some time." Sam smirked.
"So what now? Should we start looking for the others?"
A sudden explosion atop the hill overlooking the Plateau seemed to answer Jack's question for him.
"I believe that is where you should be heading next. I need to regroup with my team, but from what I heard of your friends from your teacher, they should either be able to handle themselves, or have gotten help from my friends already. But there..." Sam explained, pointing up at the hill. "If I had to take a guess, that is where you'll find the Dark Star boss."
"And I won't let him get away with this!" Jack growled, his face twisting into a wicked scowl.
"You already know this, Jack. But I suggest you be careful."
"You're right. I do know that. But Singularity wasn't careful when he decided to attack all of us and cause all of this hell! Come on, Fearow! We're going up there!"
"Do you get it now?" Singularity asked as he looked upon the fallen forms of Goff, Anabel, Armstrong, and all of their pokemon. The only people still standing were Gina, with her Mega Pidgeot by her side and Candela, who was battling alongside her Moltres. Both women and their avian pokemon looked to be struggling against Singularity, who had sent out a Mega Garchomp, who was able to transform due to the key stone linked to Singularity's Mega Gauntlet.
"It doesn't matter how many of you whelps try to fight back, scum will always be scum. Everyone down on the Plateau will suffer for your failures.
A bright light soon engulfed the hillside, everyone turned their heads to watch the Mecha Dragonite get launched into the air and explode. The sight pushed smiles onto the faces of the International Police agents as they turned to look back at Singularity. The Dark Star boss had his eyes locked on the remains of the arena, his eyes wide but his expression completely blank.
"Well, Paraeah, it seems your ace is now nothing but scrap!" Goff spat as he rose back to his feet.
"My ace? No. That mech was simply a means of causing as much damage as possible to the terrain as possible in order to send a message. Admittedly, I am surprised that it was just destroyed, mostly because I thought it still had more use after this. But Team Dark Star can recover. As for you though, I can at least take out you fools and make sure you don't try to stop us anymore." In a move that surprised the agents, Singularity recalled his Mega Garchomp. "You see, my beast is on the verge of something beautiful, so I believe it should have the honors of destroying you."
As Singularity sent out his Chimera, Candela couldn't help but laugh at the appearance of the amalgamation.
"Pfft, hahahahaha! That runty thing is supposed to scare us? Moltres, use Fire Blast and take that thing down!"
"Laugh all you want, it'll just make your defeat sting more."
Moltres shrieked with power as the fire bird exhumed a blast of white hot flame from its mouth at breakneck speed. However the Chimera easily zoomed right past it, allowing the blast to hit the ground in an explosive burst of flames. The next thing Candela or her Moltres knew, the Chimera was in front of the legendary bird.
"Candela, watch out!" Gina gasped. "Pidgeot, do something!"
"Rock Slide!" Paraeah commanded. As Gina's Pidgeot tried to glide into the Chimera, the abomination of a pokemon created crimson red boulders from the energy within its own body and slammed them down onto both of the flying pokemon. The force and power of the impact left them both as unconscious husks on the ground. Candela was struck dumb by how her legendary pokemon could be beaten so easily while Gina looked over at Singularity with an increasing panic in her eyes.
"Now, are you finished?" Singularity asked, his voice cold and calculated. "I've had quite enough of you. All of you have proven to be thorns in my side that I will not tolerate any longer! My only regret is that I don't have the time to give you all slow, painful deaths. But nonetheless, prepare to die!"
The Chimera raised one of its arms to strike at Gina, who flinched a bit, but opened her eyes to the sight of a Silvally, with a Poison Memory inserted into its disc drive blocking the attack.
"I'm sorry we're late. My mother insisted on coming with us." A man's voice explained, his voice was calm, yet firm.
"I see." Anabel replied, getting helped back up to her feet by a woman. "Gladion, Lillie, I'm glad you came to help." Armstrong rose to his feet as well, lifting Goff up with him.
"Lusamine, are you sure you should be here?"
Despite her usage of a cane to support her, Lusamine stepped over to Anabel. Her age was a bit more visible now, with a few wrinkles appearing on her face. Her hair was still golden and long though, and her outfit was now a bit different from what she wore several years prior. She now opted for a suit with a similar style to her old one, though with a black belt around her waist, blue sleeves and blue leggings and gold high heel shoes.
"Don't worry about me. My treatments have been going well and I should be well enough to support you all. However, Gladion has assured both myself and Lillie that he will be taking the lead here."
"So that means you can leave Singularity to me." Gladion huffed, his Silvally pushing the Chimera off of it and rushing to Gladion's side.
"I... I'll help, too!" Lillie exclaimed, sending out an Alolan Ninetales.
"You can send as many whelps as you want, trash is still trash!" Singularity boasted. "All of you will still fall to my Chimera!"
And that is scene! The next chapter will focus solely on the battle against Singularity, and things are about to reach peak intensity with a lot of surprises and heavy hits! Look forward to it!
New Moves
Lorentz Force
Steel Type (Special or Physical depending on stats)
Power: 120
Accuracy: 80
The user accumulates magnetic energy to create a projectile to smash into the opponent.
Mega Shock
Electric Type (Special)
Power: 80
Accuracy: 100
The user generates an explosive force of electricity to launch at the target, potentially lowering its defenses.