Chapter 18: The Titans of the Elements

Viridian base. The primary headquarters for all of Team Rocket, and the one which all other branches reported to. Where all the highest-ranking agents worked. Where Giovanni himself worked.

It was also the base that Darren and I were currently infiltrating.

"Right, so… no problems so far. You sure you're bad luck, Jade? The way you were talking earlier, I was expecting to get jumped the second we set foot in the place."

I gave him an unamused stare. "Look, it always starts off fine, okay? Then before you know it, you're running for your life and you don't even know why."

The last time I'd been to a Rocket base, it had been nearly deserted. This time couldn't have been more different. All around us, Rockets of all divisions and ranks rushed about, followed by Pokémon carrying assets for them. Almost all of them had combat unit patches on their uniform. After all, Viridian base did have the largest combat unit on the force. Normally this would have been the worst time to sneak around a base, but with how crucial it was that we be here right now, we didn't have much of a choice.

Like Stalker had feared, there was indeed a big combat unit mission coming up. The only problem was, we had absolutely no idea what it was. None of the infiltration teams had been able to gather anything. None of Stalker's allies had gotten anything. We were flying blind.

Well, except for two things.

Mewtwo had been transferred to Viridian yesterday. That would have been a red flag all by itself, but then Entei had been transferred as well. The Kanto force borrowing assets from Johto was apparently unheard of, and Stalker had been particularly concerned about it. The second thing was that Saffron had reported huge amounts of money being poured into tech development. Way more than normal. That, combined with tons of shipments of… something coming from Cerulean, had to mean they were building something.

And that's why we were here. To figure out what the hell was going on, before it was too late. Not that that was a hopelessly vague mission or anything.

"Right, so… Group 2 found the room where Mewtwo was being held. Key word: was," Darren said, reading the rebels' group chat.

Great, we still didn't have a read on Mewtwo. Finding him would've solved a lot of mysteries at once, plus we could've waited and seen what they were doing if they moved him again. But if he'd already been moved… did that mean we were too late?

Darren nudged my side. "I don't know if you've noticed, but almost everyone's been coming and going from that same hallway."

The Viridian base was one floor and all sprawl, with a central area connecting eight hallways branching off in all directions. Railways and moving walkways sped up transport between each division of the base. The primary entrance had been a nondescript warehouse on the outskirts of Viridian, but there were other entrances scattered all over northeast Viridian, including the official gym itself—although that one was only for the boss's inner circle.

The two of us had been sitting at a table in the mess hall part of the commons, which wasn't a separate room like in Cerulean. That way we had a clear view of the goings on in the base without being in the way or looking suspicious. The hallway Darren had pointed out was the largest of the eight, with the most railways going in and out from it.

I brought up a map of the base on my R-com. "That's the transport wing. Think we should check it out?"

"No one else has checked it out yet, so we might as well. Who knows, maybe we'll find the new tech before anyone else—that'd be cool."

The two of us left our watch post in the mess hall and sauntered in the direction of the eighth hallway, avoiding eye contact with any other Rockets and trying to give off an air like we knew what we were doing. Not that there was much chance of us standing out with how many Rockets were busy with their own thing at the moment. Unfortunately, we soon found out why none of the other groups had investigated the transport wing—namely, the guards posted out front.

"Right, they're checking ID at the entrance. Something tells me they're not gonna accept my admin rights as easily as the card scanners," Darren said sheepishly.

Which meant we'd need another way into the transport wing. Yeah, there was the forest entrance near the runway, but that'd be… more than a little conspicuous.

Wait. Spread out as the base was, there were connections between divisions. And the transport wing was so large that it ran alongside the adjacent wings. Which ones were they…? I grabbed my R-com to check the map again. The storage wing and the office wing. My eyes widened. I knew for a fact that there was a connection between the office wing and the transport wing. I'd seen it the day I was kidnapped and brought into the Viridian base so long ago.

"I think I know another way in," I said slowly as the realization hit me. "We have to get into the office division."

"Even if we make it in, I think they might notice two random grunts wandering around looking lost," Darren pointed out.

Hm. He did have a point there. Unless…

"Not if we look like officers." The idea had struck out of nowhere, and to be honest, I was rather proud of it.

"Won't we, uh… look a little young for officers?"

I shrugged. "I'm only a month away from being old enough, and I'm tall, so from a distance I could pass. If you stick with me, you'll just look like a member of my squad or something."

"What, so I get to be your subordinate?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I snorted. "Sure, if you put it that way."

Five minutes later, we'd tracked down and unlocked a supply closet with spare uniforms, and I'd swapped out my boots and gloves for the white with red stripes that signified officer rank at a glance. With that, we set off for the seventh hallway. The office division wasn't nearly as busy as the rest of the base. It was still early enough that the lights were dimmed, and aside from the occasional executive sipping coffee, we didn't see many Rockets still around. Which was good for me, because I kept having to stare down at my R-com to not get lost in the maze of hallways.

"Hey Jade, you're, uh… about to hit a wall," Darren whispered.

I glanced up just in time to freeze with my face inches away from what would have been embarrassing at best and cover-blowing at worst.

"Er… right," I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.

In any case, I was pretty sure we were close. All of the offices in the asset management and transport coordination departments had access to the transport wing. I glanced around, my eyes tracing the titles of each door one after the other… hang on, there it was—the asset management department. And sure enough, amidst the various office doorways, I spotted a larger metal door with a card scanner.

"Right here," I said pointing it out. He'd have to be the one to open it since my old account—the one with admin rights—had been compromised.

"What kind of officer need a grunt's help to get through a door?" Darren asked wryly.

I only barely managed to stop myself from snorting out loud. After a quick scan of the area to make sure no one was nearby, I turned and said, "You expect an officer to lower themselves to opening a door when there are grunts around to take care of it?"

"Oh man. Got me there. Right away, officer." With an exaggerated look of defeat, Darren pulled out his ID and held it to the scanner. The door slid open, revealing a massive concrete room. And then a powerful wave of déjà vu hit me in the face. This was where I'd been taken the day that I met Stalker in the woods. The day that I'd seen Entei under attack. The day it all began. Last time I'd been here, I'd been a helpless captive of the Rockets. This time I was here to find a way to ruin them. That realization was… undeniably empowering.

The transportation hangar was a lot fuller than the last time I'd been here. It didn't have any aircraft this time, but the space was full of a dozen or more semi-trucks. Most of the Rockets stood clustered around the loading bay, which connected to the storage wing on the far side of the hangar. Darren and I made our way over to the trucks, moving as quickly as possible without looking totally suspicious. Just had to make it out of sight without anyone getting the wrong idea. Nothing strange about an officer and a grunt walking towards the trucks that weren't currently being loaded. And no one was close enough to see that we didn't have combat unit patches. No reason for anyone to raise the alarm.

After what felt like an eternity, we slipped out of view behind the closest truck, and I let out a huge breath that I didn't realize I'd been holding. It took me several seconds to realize that we now had a perfect view of the truck's contents. And all I could do was stare.

Inside the truck was a hulking black machine—sleek, shiny, and covered in armor. Its wide flat base was supported by four splayed-out legs currently folded up away from the floor. The midsection gave way to a swivel joint topped by a long, cannon-shaped section, flanked by twin shields supporting six folded up antennae on either side. The entire machine was held in place by thick wood blocks spanning the walls of the trailer.

"What… is… this…?" I muttered.

"Whatever it is, I think Stalker's gonna want to see it," Darren said, climbing into the trailer.

I climbed in after him, taking care to step lightly so I didn't alert the Rockets. Meanwhile, my teammate had pulled out his R-com and started snapping photos of the mechanism. Whatever it was, it looked like a weapon. But for what?

Voices nearby. I froze, throwing a wide-eyed look of panic toward Darren. He hadn't noticed—he was still focused on taking pictures. I couldn't say anything—not with Rockets approaching. But I had to do something, and fast. Which meant awkwardly tiptoeing over to him, now very aware of the sound each footstep made against the metal trailer floor, and waving a hand in front of his face. Darren blinked a few times at my behavior and tilted his head in total confusion. I gestured wildly out the opening, feeling like an idiot until his eyes widened slightly and he mouthed the word "oh." Finally!

We had to hide. But the only cover available to us was the giant machine itself. Which meant climbing up onto its flat base, crouching low behind the cannon and desperately praying that we were out of sight. I strained my ears to hear the voices I'd caught earlier. Were they still approaching? What if the only reason they headed over here in the first place was because they'd noticed us?

Oh man, the voices were getting louder. I screwed my eyes shut and clenched my fists. Come on. Leave. Each second dragged on like an eternity. I had no idea how long it'd been. Long enough that my legs had gone numb from kneeling. But I didn't dare shift my weight to regain feeling. Not until they were gone.

I jumped at a sudden metallic scraping sound. What was that?! Wait… it was the trailer door. They were shutting it?! We'd be trapped!

We were frozen. We couldn't move without giving ourselves away, but I couldn't just let this happen!

Darkness enveloped the trailer. Aside from a few pinpricks of light from the seams, I couldn't see anything at all. And man was it unnerving. I wanted out, immediately. But if we forced open the trailer door… we had no way of knowing who would see or hear us. That was not a gamble we could afford to take.

Darren sighed. "Yeeahh, I guess we're stuck here now."

No. No, no, no.

"Just once I wanted to get through a mission without something going wrong," I muttered through clenched teeth, holding back the urge to slam a fist against the wall.

"It's not that bad. Not like they discovered us or anything."

I whirled around to face him incredulously. "You're not scared?"

Darren laughed. "No, I'm totally scared. But there's nothing I can do about that right now. So I might as well try not to let it get to me."

I opened my mouth to say something… but then found that I couldn't think of anything to counter his point. It just seemed ridiculous not to worry. Not when there was so much that could go wrong.

"I guess that wasn't very convincing, huh?" Darren asked.

I took a deep breath. "No… you're right. They haven't found us yet."

Darren nudged my shoulder. "Yeah. Now come on. What do you think we should do?"

He was asking me? How should I know?

"Well, for starters, I hate not being able to see," I said, pulling out Chibi's Pokéball and opening it. The flash of light briefly highlighted Darren and the machine, but the moment it took on the spiky-furred Pikachu's shape, the trailer was plunged into darkness once more.

"*It's dark… where are we?*" the hybrid asked.

"In a Rocket truck. Can you light it up with Flash?"

At once, I had to screw my eyes shut as I found myself staring directly at the piercing glow emanating from the electric-type's body. I blinked a few times, willing my eyes to adjust until I could make out the silhouettes of Darren and Chibi, highlighted against the blackness.

Darren nodded approvingly. "Alright, what next?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me?"

"No reason," he said innocently. A little bit too innocently.

"You're just trying to get me to focus on making a plan instead of panicking," I said as the realization hit me.

"Well yeah. Is it working?"

I paused. It… kind of was, wasn't it? Just having Chibi out and being able to see already made the situation feel a lot brighter. Even if nothing else had changed. Not that I felt like admitting that his plan had worked. Although I didn't really need to—from the smug look on his face, he'd already noticed.

"Right, so… we need to know when the coast is clear outside," I said quickly, hoping to change the topic. "Chibi, you've got the best hearing out of us. We'll need you to listen for sounds from the outside."

The Pikachu nodded and hopped over to the trailer door, pressing one long ear against it and closing his eyes in concentration. "*There's voices outside. Distant, but a lot of them,*" he said. That made sense—most of the Rockets had been on the other side of the hangar. But would they hear us if we tried to force open the trailer door now?

"Ugh, if only we could teleport out," I muttered.

"Believe me, I've been wishing that same thing," Darren said.

What were our options? We had a couple of Pokémon that could easily cut through the thin trailer walls—Firestorm and Sneasel came to mind. Of course, if anyone saw the hole, it'd be an automatic giveaway that there were rebels in the base, but if we got outside before everything was put on lockdown…?

"*There's something else,*" Chibi spoke up suddenly. "*A smaller sound, nearby. I'm getting movement from it too.*" He paused tilting his head in confusion. "*Hang on… is someone in the cab?*"

A low rumble suddenly spread throughout the floor. All three of us went rigid as the truck slowly began to creak forward, drawing a low metallic groan from the machine as its weight pushed against the restraints holding it in place. Slowly at first, then more quickly, our ride started to accelerate. This was followed by the distinct feeling of everything leaning backward as the truck travelled up the huge ramp leading outside.

The truck was leaving the base.

"Well, scratch everything. I guess we're calling Stalker now," Darren said, pulling out his R-com.

"No kidding," I muttered. Our simple recon mission had suddenly become a lot less simple.

Darren held his R-com out in front of him so we could all see when Stalker's face appeared on the screen. "We've got an update. Um…"—he glanced back at me awkwardly—"we're trapped."

Stalker gave a small chuckle at the bluntness of Darren's report. "I see. Where are you right now?"

"The back of a truck headed who-knows-where," I answered.

"The good news is you wanted us to find what they've been building, and, well…"—Darren rotated the R-com so that the machine was visible behind us—"here it is."

Stalker nodded. "I've been studying the photos you sent. It's some kind of barrier, like the Thunder Field. What concerns me is the top—it doesn't just look like it projects an energy field… it looks like can fire a concentrated beam."

"What? Wouldn't that take a crazy amount of power?" I asked.

Stalker nodded. "They'd have to get it from somewhere."

But that meant… they'd have to be able to absorb and store energy from Pokémon attacks, not just deflect it like most energy shields. That… wasn't possible… was it? They'd already done it with electric attacks, but that was easy.

"So you're saying… this thing can absorb any element of Pokémon energy? Not just electric?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said darkly. "It looks like anti-Legendary tech." His expression had gone cold with a subdued fury I'd never seen from him before. "I should have known about this," he whispered to himself. "Why didn't I know about this?"

An awkward silence fell over us as Darren and I traded uncertain looks. If we were trapped in a truck that was transporting anti-Legendary tech… did that mean that a Legendary mission was going on right now?

Darren took a deep breath. "Not that this isn't fantastic news, but shouldn't we be finding a way out of here or something?"

Stalker closed his eyes and exhaled slowly before shaking his head. "No. This is the easiest way of following them. Message me your coordinates every five minutes. I'll track your trajectory from each one and figure out the most likely destination while I get everyone else ready to go."

Two incredibly tense hours later, the truck finally started to slow down. By that point I was thoroughly sore from sitting on the rickety metal floor, and desperate to get out. The trailer wasn't exactly small, but something about being trapped in that space with the huge Rocket machine had long since turned claustrophobic. So I couldn't help feeling a massive wave of relief the moment the truck finally ground to a halt.

"Just sent the coordinates to Stalker and everyone else," Darren said. "I'm just trying to imagine the look on Rudy's face when he finds out our 'boring, stupid' intel mission turned into a Legendary mission."

I chuckled. "Yeah, we're gonna get an earful." It would've been nice if that was the only thing we had to worry about. "So now we've just gotta get out of here. We can teleport out now, right?"

"Yeah, but Kadabra can only teleport places he's been before, or places he can see."

I clenched my teeth. Teleporting back to one of his memorized locations would leave us with no way of returning to the mission site. "So we've gotta wait for them to open the door." It was that or run the risk of calling too much attention to ourselves before the others get here. The last thing we needed was for the Rockets to be on guard before the mission even started.

My ears caught the muffled sound of the truck door opening and footsteps circling around to the back. Darren let out his Kadabra, and Chibi leaped up onto my shoulder, cutting the Flash in the process and leaving us surrounded by darkness once more. We waited with bated breath for the moment that would either save us or completely screw us over. It couldn't be much longer.

There! Sunlight pierced through a crack at the bottom of the trailer door. Kadabra squinted at the brightness, trying to make out a target location. Just a bit more… the door slid open higher and—there it was, trees behind the Rocket and a space beyond them, now within our reach! In the blink of an eye, our surroundings melted into light and just as suddenly reformed into the spot between the trees that we had glimpsed. I whirled around to see the Rocket climbing into the truck, giving no indication that he'd seen anything out of the ordinary.

"Come on, I need the team assigned to this ALR to move it," he called out.

We'd done it—we'd escaped. Just in time. I ducked back behind the closest tree and sank to the ground, arms and legs trembling.

"We made it," I gasped, feeling a sudden rush of exhilaration. We'd actually made it. I couldn't help grinning wildly.

"Told you," Darren said matter-of-factly.

I raised an eyebrow. "No, actually, I don't think you ever did."

He paused, furrowing his brow. "Hm. Well I was thinking it."

"That doesn't count!" I scoffed, shoving him lightly.

Details aside, we'd gotten out. And now we had front-row seats to the Rockets' latest mission. The sinister-looking ALR machine had been loaded onto some kind of wheeled transport cart and was currently being moved into position. With the flip of a switch, its legs folded down and dug into the earth, supporting the machine as the cart was removed. At least a dozen other ALRs had been unloaded from the caravan. They weren't being positioned within the clearing, though—they'd been set up around it, scattered amongst the trees with camouflaged sheets thrown over them. At a glance, it was actually a bit hard to spot them.

The trucks were now leaving the clearing, following the same path we'd taken to get here, seeing as it was the only way out of the forest within sight (and judging by the dark, uneven earth, it must've been stripped of trees recently). Only a large van remained, and it currently had a group of executives clustered around it. I motioned to Darren, and the two of us crept around, hoping to get a better look at what the commotion was all about. The back of the van opened. I squinted, trying to make out what was inside.

And then a huge auburn beast jumped down from the back of the van. There was no mistaking it. That vibrant, crested face. The jagged spikes down the back. The smoky tail, billowing constantly.

My chest tightened. I hadn't seen Entei since that fateful day west of Viridian. The day the Rockets had captured their first Legendary Pokémon. The day I'd vowed to make sure it wouldn't happen again. And its eyes were completely blank. Just like when I'd first seen Razors. Exactly like that.

I was so focused on Entei, I almost didn't notice the second Pokémon to exit the truck. Then my eyes snapped back to it and holy crap, it was Mewtwo. The tall, humanoid feline floated lightly over the ground, his thick violet tail twisting and turning in the air. His eyes were wide, unblinking, and blank, just like Entei's.

An executive was now leading Entei to the center of the clearing while Mewtwo remained behind with the van. The man said something to Entei before returning to the rest of the group. And then the Rockets dispersed, breaking off into squads stationed by each of the ALRs. I tensed up. This was it, wasn't it? It was starting now. Team Rocket was about to target another Legendary, and Darren and I were the only ones to see it. Where was everyone? Why weren't they here yet? Were the Rockets chasing the target? How were they going to herd it here? What even was the target? And what were we supposed to do about this kind of opposition? Even if we got the entire Rebellion here, we couldn't stop Mewtwo.

The entire area fell deathly silent. All eyes were on Entei. The beast inhaled deeply, then unleashed a deep, reverberating roar that shook my entire body. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It… almost felt like Pokéspeech. But at the same time… not. It felt like a cry for help. A cry directed at someone in particular. But who?

Suicune.

The answer suddenly snapped into my mind, clear as day. Suicune was the target. The third and final Johto beast the Rockets had yet to go after. Entei was just the bait. It would probably lose to Suicune in a fair fight, but Mewtwo was the real muscle here.

An unnerving silence fell over the area as the roar faded from the air. We didn't dare make a move—not until the rest of the Rebellion showed up. All we could do was wait. I was practically bouncing up and down with anxiety.

After several minutes, a distant sound finally pricked at my ears. It sounded like… wing beats. Heavy wing beats. Something huge was flying towards us. No wait… multiple huge somethings were flying toward us and rapidly getting closer.

And then my heart jumped into my throat when I laid eyes on them.

Three enormous birds soared into view, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone in the area. The first, a dazzling phoenix, spiraled down toward the clearing, each flap of its wings scattering red-hot embers through the air. The second, a graceful falcon, folded back its narrow wings and dove after the first, swirls of snow trailing behind its long, ribbon-like tail feathers. And the third, soaring high on short, broad wings, was a golden heron, its jagged plumage coursing with strings of lightning.

Chibi's eyes widened with shock. "*Is that it? Is that… Zapdos?*" He stared at the thunderbird, slowly running a paw through his own pointed head feathers.

It had to be—there was no mistaking it. Which meant the other two birds were Articuno and Moltres.

The Legendary Birds of Kanto had arrived.

"All three of Kanto's guardians?!" one the Rockets guarding the nearest ALR muttered incredulously.

"Calm down, we knew something like this might happen," his partner said.

Wait what? They knew? Could Mewtwo really defeat three Legendary Pokémon at once? Maybe, just maybe, the Rockets were in over their heads?

But even if he couldn't… they did have Entei. And the ALRs. This was way more one-sided than it appeared.

The birds touched down around Entei with Zapdos in front, Articuno to the left and Moltres to the right, each folding their wings and gazing at the beast intently.

"*It really is you?*" Articuno cried out, its voice high-pitched and melodious, like the whistling of wind. "*It is so good to see you again!*" The falcon's scarlet eyes were wide with relief.

"*So it's true? You really have escaped?*" Zapdos asked, its tone much more reserved than the ice-type. But it too had relaxed considerably upon seeing the beast seemingly alive and well. "*Suicune refused to believe it—they asked us to come in their stead.*"

"*Guardians of Kanto and all that,*" Moltres said, waving a wing dismissively. The firebird then tilted its head at Entei, frowning. "*What are you doing in Kanto anyway?*"

"*Don't pressure them,*" Zapdos cut in harshly, its words echoing like thunder. The golden heron turned back to face Entei. "*Are you well?*"

But the volcano beast didn't respond. It hadn't moved an inch since the Rockets had given it that order to call for them in the first place. Zapdos's face slowly fell. It craned its neck forward and gave Entei a gentle tap with its long, pointed beak. The lion remained motionless.

"*I don't understand…*" the thunderbird said, its voice falling.

Moltres's sapphire eyes narrowed with suspicion as it glanced around. "*Something's wrong,*" the phoenix snapped.

The trap was set. All three birds were now eyeing Entei uneasily. The attack would begin any second now. Where was the Rebellion?!

"Now!" a Rocket yelled.

At once, the covers flew off the ALRs and Mewtwo shot forward like a bullet. The three birds leaped into the air right as waves of yellow energy shot out from the sides of the ALRs, linking all of the machines together before spreading out to form a massive web around the clearing. Flames erupted from the ground around Entei, enveloping everything within the ALR circle in a raging fireball and making the energy field glow even brighter as it absorbed the attack. The flames cleared, revealing a scorched clearing filled with the charred remains of tree trunks. The three birds circled the air inside the web, facing down Mewtwo and Entei, varying degrees of hurt, anger, and betrayal crossing their faces.

"I knew it! A human trick! Of all the cowardly moves—come at us with your own strength, if you have any!" Moltres called out poisonously.

Mewtwo's eyes glowed, and it fired a violet pulse of psychic energy at the firebird, sending it crashing into the barrier with a wave of sparks. Moltres flapped its wings wildly to regain itself, throwing a wide-eyed glance between Mewtwo and the barrier. It then let a wave of fire dance across its entire body before shooting forward like a missile, striking the barrier furiously. But within seconds, a wave of yellow energy rippled outward from the nearest ALRs, knocking the firebird back with a violent shock wave.

Lightning coursing through its wings, Zapdos fired a massive bolt right at one the ALRs maintaining the barrier. The ray sparked, absorbing the energy and channeling it across the web to the others until finally, it shot back a beam that struck the thunderbird right in the stomach. It recoiled back, wincing in pain right as Articuno was struck by Mewtwo's psychic blast. The falcon retaliated with a piercingly blue beam of icy energy, but then Entei leapt into its path and countered with an overwhelming rush of flames.

The trio couldn't fly away. They couldn't hurt the Rockets. They couldn't do anything but desperately attempt to evade Mewtwo's psychic blasts. Panic was quickly settling into the birds' movements. And we couldn't do anything about it. Not alone.

As if on cue, a brilliant Flamethrower tore through the sky, striking the ALR barrier right at its apex. The Rockets immediately glanced up in the direction the attack had come from. I tilted my head, trying to spot it through the trees. Where had it come from?

A sudden flash of orange! A flying Pokémon? It slowed down as it approached the space directly above the Legendary battle, and—yes, it was a Charizard! Stalker's? But the rider wasn't Stalker. In fact, the fire lizard was carrying two riders. Two girls, from the look of it—one dark-skinned, the other light.

Wait… it was the rebels of Group 1, Mai and Sasha!

A single combat unit squad mounted their flying Pokémon and took flight after them. Charizard bolted the instant they got close enough to start launching attacks. Was it… trying to draw them off? But not very many Rockets had taken the bait. We still had plenty of opposition standing guard on the ground.

"Hey! Group 12, right?" a voice behind us said. A familiar voice, no less.

I whirled around. Standing behind us was none other than the leader of Group 1, and the person in charge of missions in Stalker's absence—Ray.

"You're finally here!" I exclaimed.

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "We've got a rendezvous point set up east of the battlefield. Your third teammate is there."

We followed him through the trees, giving the ALR circle and the Rockets a wide berth before coming to a section of the forest with about half the Rebellion scattered throughout. Every so often, another rebel would appear via teleporter or descend from above the canopy on the back of a flyer. Darren and I barely had a chance to look around and take stock of who all was here—I noticed our partners from the Raikou mission, Groups 5 and 16—before we were accosted by our third teammate, who was… not exactly happy with us.

"Why didn't you guys tell me you were going to a Legendary mission!" Rudy shouted indignantly the second he found us.

"Right on cue," Darren whispered.

"What, you think we knew?" I countered, rolling my eyes. But then a certain Absol and Flygon standing behind him caught my eye, and any qualms that Rudy had with us completely left my mind.

"Aros? Stygian? You two also came to help us?" I blurted out.

Stygian scoffed. "*Don't think you're special.*"

*We agreed to join the fight when we stayed on the island. It's as simple as that,*" Aros added in as disinterested a tone as possible, just in case I got the idea he cared or anything. Whatever, the reason didn't matter. Either way, them being here was going to be a huge help that I hadn't been counting on.

Chibi glanced between the two clones, tilting his head slightly. "*Where's Razors?*"

Aros shrugged. "*He didn't want to come.*"

The Pikachu gaped at him. "*What…?*" He shook his head disbelievingly. "*What do you mean he 'didn't want to come'? What does that even mean?*" he said in a heated voice.

The Flygon huffed. "*How should I know? I didn't ask.*"

Chibi's ears drooped, and he stared at the ground in total shock. I had no idea how to comfort him. I didn't even really know why he was so upset to learn that Razors wasn't taking part in the mission. At the very least, it meant he was safe, right?

With a flash of light in my peripheral vision, Sasha had suddenly appeared alongside her Kadabra, the golden coils of her hair thoroughly windswept. "Hey guys. Mai's keeping 'em busy—Charizard's got enough X Speed to last awhile. So what's the plan?"

"We can make one now that you're here," Ray said simply.

She rolled her eyes. "Ha ha. I get it, you're useless without me."

"Stalker told us those machines are bad news. How bad are we talking?" Ray asked. It took me several seconds to realize that the second part was directed at me and Darren.

"They're rebounding all the Legendaries' attacks back at them. And that barrier is fueled by their power," I said.

"Plus the barrier protects the machines from the Legendaries' attacks, so it's not like they can just destroy the machines from in there, cool as that would be," Darren added.

Already I could see the gears turning in Sasha's head. "What about from the outside? We could attack the machines from the other side of the barrier, yeah?"

I paused. That was a distinct possibility. But then… there was an obvious problem with that plan.

"How do we do that if the machines are all guarded by the combat unit?" a girl asked.

"We take 'em down, obviously," Rudy answered as though nothing were more obvious.

A heavy silence fell over the group. "Are we really strong enough to fight the combat unit head on?" a kid slowly asked.

Ray paused, taken aback. It was written all over his face that he didn't think so. Try as he might, he hadn't mastered Stalker's ability to hide what he was thinking.

"We're not going to fight them head on!" a voice suddenly called out. I whirled around to see Group 5's Zoe giving everyone a determined stare. "They're stuck out in the open guarding the machines—we're not. And we've got a lot of tricks. Stick to the trees, stay out of the line of fire, draw their attention, then strike from behind… use every sneak attack we've ever learned." Once again, she'd taken on the role of motivator, just like she had in Cerulean.

"Stalker had us all learn Protect, yeah? Well now we're using it," her teammate Liam added. "Have Pokémon out in front of you at all times that can alternate using Protect while the others attack from behind. Everyone else… attack those machines."

Slowly, the fear and uncertainty streaking the rebels' faces had started to melt away from all the encouragement. We were stronger now. We had more Pokémon, more allies, and more skills than we did before. We were going to do this.

Sasha grinned a bit to see someone other than her making the plans for once. "If you have any Pokémon big enough to ride, get on them so you can escape quicker," she added. "Protect each other. And for the love of crap don't get killed, got it?"

"Got it!" the rebel nearest to her called out. And with that, the rebels began splitting off into ground teams and sky teams, deciding who would take on which ALR.

"*Jade,*" said a voice near my feet. I glanced down to see Chibi. Any distress from earlier had vanished, and his expression had turned darkly serious. "*You'll need mobility for this. Ride on Aros.*"

I stared at him. "What about you?"

"*I'll be most useful protecting everyone on the ground,*" the hybrid said firmly. "*But we need as many rebels in the air as we can get.*"

I gave Aros a sideways glance. He… really hadn't been keen on letting a human on his back during my last mission.

"Are… you okay with that?" I asked, wincing.

The Flygon turned his back to me. "*Just get on,*" he said flatly. "*We've got to hurry.*"

I took a deep breath and climbed onto the bug-dragon's back, gripping his sides tightly with my knees and clasping my arms around his neck. Alongside me, Rudy had let out his Fearow and was now mounting the tall, shaggy bird.

"I'll stay here," Darren said. "I don't have a flier, but I do have a teleporter, so I can always help with the hit-and-run attacks." Kadabra raised his spoon like he was giving a thumbs up.

Stygian glanced between the rebels, pawing the ground with a bit of a pensive look. "*I'll stick with the main group. They'll need my strength.*" Her gaze hardened, and I wasn't sure if it was directed at Aros or me. "*Don't do anything stupid.*"

"*Got it, got it,*" Aros said, waving a claw dismissively.

I shot a glance at Rudy to make sure we were both ready, then Aros and Fearow took off, shooting up above the canopy and sticking low over the trees so we didn't attract too much unwanted attention. This gave us a pretty good view of the Legendary battle and… it had gotten a lot worse. The birds were reluctant to harm Entei, but that just made it even harder for them to fight Mewtwo while having dodge the lion's flames. Zapdos covered its body in strings of electricity before loosing a wave of sparks all over the volcano beast. Entei recoiled backward, its muscles twitching with paralysis, but then Mewtwo appeared out of nowhere and knocked the thunderbird into the ALR barrier.

Articuno let out a cry and flapped its wings furiously, stirring up a violent blizzard in the air. Ice crystals formed on Mewtwo's bony arms, but he silenced the storm and shattered the ice into shards with a wave of psychic power from a single hand. Just seconds later, Entei breathed out a white-hot pillar of flames, striking the falcon dead-on. With an enraged screech, Moltres shot forward like a bullet, knocking the beast to the ground and slashing wildly with its talons, giving Articuno a chance to escape. Azure feathers charred black, the ice bird retreated to the side, desperately firing frigid beams at its opposition.

I clenched my teeth and looked away. That wasn't something we needed to worry about right now. The battle didn't matter so long as the barrier was still up. Taking down the barrier was our absolute priority. I scanned the ground around the closest ALR—the Rocket squad guarding it had noticed the commotion going on elsewhere and turned to see what was going on. Three Rockets—all of them armed. Four Pokémon—Arbok, Pinsir, Magneton, Poliwrath. We were going to be in the line of fire whether we liked it or not.

"Alright, disarming tactics, what do we got?" I asked.

"Pikachu can paralyze them with Thunder Wave," Rudy offered.

I nodded. "I don't have much, but both my Pokémon can cut visibility. We'll distract them with ourselves while our Pokémon approach from behind. Swift can fly Pikachu up close to paralyze them and then we can set our entire team against the Pokémon." Between us we had nine Pokémon, counting Aros. Nine against four.

I took a deep breath. "They're gonna be shooting at us. Be ready." In a way, it was more directed at myself than anyone else, but Aros replied, "*No problem.*"

Two Pokéballs opened, and Pikachu was now riding on Swift. Rudy relayed the plan to them and the electric-type grinned mischievously (part of me suspected that she'd been looking forward to something like this). Swift dove down through the trees so he'd have cover when approaching them, and then the rest was on us.

Aros and Fearow dove forward together, putting us right in the Rockets' line of sight. Within seconds, they'd pulled out their firearms and began shooting. I flinched, clutching Aros's neck tightly, but the Flygon was ready. A dark aura wreathed our bodies, and suddenly it was like we had become shadow. This was what Feint Attack looked like from the inside, wasn't it? Suddenly it was like they weren't even aiming at us at all—we were a shadow tracing the ground, and then we were behind them. The bug-dragon swung his tail at the Rockets, knocking them all clean off their feet right before their Pokémon lunged at us. Aros raised a Protect barrier at the last second just as Swift used their distraction to break through the trees. Without wasting a second, Pikachu leaped off of Swift's back right into the center of the fallen Rockets, unleashing strings of electricity all over them. The Rockets cried out in pain as the attack coursed through them, then fell silent.

That wasn't Thunder Wave… that was Thundershock. She hadn't paralyzed them, she'd straight-up knocked them out. Swift took that opportunity to whip up a swirling dust storm around himself, blinding the Rockets' Pokémon before they could retaliate. I whipped out a Pokéball and let out Firestorm. Rudy let out Ebony, Wartortle, Nidorino, and Larvitar to stand alongside Fearow and Pikachu and holy crap I'd never seen them all out and facing down the same opponent at once. Seeing his full team of six ready to go was actually intimidating.

"Let's go, everyone!" he shouted, pointing forward at the Rockets' Pokémon. Their trainers were unconscious, they'd been blinded by sand, and we outnumbered them two to one. This was what Stalker had meant when he'd talked about getting an advantage against opponents who were far stronger than you, wasn't it?

Firestorm and Ebony tag-teamed Magneton, pelting the steel-type with fireballs and flaming fists. The magnet trio struck back with a flood of lightning launched from all three of its units, but its attack was just met with more flames, and its metallic shell was already starting to glow from the heat. Pinsir lunged forward, snapping its mighty jaws at our Pokémon and catching Wartortle in them. But the turtle managed to duck into his shell in time, leaving the bug-type struggling to damage him. Suddenly a half-dozen boulders struck it in the face and knocked it to the ground, thanks to Larvitar. Her first Rocket battle and the little green dinosaur still looked bored with it all, hurling rocks one after another like it took no effort. And then Fearow descended upon the stag beetle, tearing into it with frenzied talon slashes and spearing strikes from her beak.

Arbok crept along the ground into the center of our lineup and lashed out, catching Nidorino in its coils. But he just stood his ground and let all his spikes stand on end, forcing the serpent to release him right before it got nailed with a burst of water to the face, and then a rush of flames as the fire-types had already managed to finish off Magneton. In the midst of it all, Poliwrath stood its ground, weathering the blades of wind that Swift launched at it and the bolts of lightning from Pikachu. The frog braced itself and fired off high-pressure blasts of water that knocked a few of our Pokémon off their feet. But then, without warning, Aros shot forward, catching the water-type's arm in his claws. What the hell?! I clung tightly to his back as he swung his arms in a wide circle, releasing his hold at the last second and letting Poliwrath go flying into the ALR barrier. The frog struck the barrier with a hail of sparks, spasming wildly as the energy surged through it until it finally cried out and fell limply to the ground.

I stared at Aros. "I… never would have thought of that."

"*What? It's fast and effective,*" the Flygon snorted. I couldn't really argue with that.

I snapped my attention back to the battle, but… there was no more battle. With Aros's finishing move, all four of the squad's Pokémon had been utterly defeated. We'd done it?

Rudy turned toward me, his eyes wider than I'd ever seen. "Holy crap that was badass," he said, his tone dead serious. I honestly wasn't sure if that was directed at himself, his Pokémon, or all of us, but it honestly didn't matter. I climbed down from Aros's back while Rudy dismounted his Fearow and gave the bird a pat.

"Alright, we've gotta be quick before more of them show up," I said warily, pointing upward. More combat unit squads had taken to the air now—way too many for Stalker's Charizard to distract. Several teams of rebels had joined her, launching attacks at the Rockets any time they approached the ground, basically forcing them to prioritize the aerial threats so those of us on the ground could continue uninterrupted. Chibi was aiding them by calling down wicked bouts of Thunder from the sky, dropping the Rockets' Pokémon left and right.

"Aros, stay in the air and keep the Rockets far away from us. Stick to ranged moves," I said.

"Pikachu, go with him and spam Discharge," Rudy added. With a devious glint in her eyes, the electric mouse leaped onto Aros's back, and the Flygon vibrated his wings to take off.

Rudy spun around to face the ALR. "All right! Time to take down these machines!" he exclaimed with a huge grin. "Ebony, use Inferno! Nidorino, Sludge Bomb; Larvitar, Rock Slide; Wartortle, Water Pulse!"

"Swift, use Air Cutter. And Firestorm…" I took a deep breath. "Well, we've got a giant target and nothing nearby to worry about… use Fire Blast."

The Charmeleon grinned wildly, planted his feet, and took a deep breath. And then he blasted out a thick column of blazing flame. Halfway to its target, the blaze split off into five points, half of them spiraling off into the air uncontrollably. But at this point, it didn't even matter—the sheer amount of fire striking on-target was nothing to scoff at. Blazing flames, blades of wind, bolts of lightning, avalanches of rocks, bursts of water, and balls of toxic sludge all bombarded the machine relentlessly, all of them colliding with the energy field surrounding it. So the ALRs were protected from the outside too? But we'd come too far to give up now.

"Keep going! If we all attack it at once we might be able to overload them!" I yelled.

All around the ALR circle, other groups of rebels were launching attacks at the machines at once. There was no way it could possibly handle all of us, right?!

"*Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos! Attack the barrier with all your power!*" a voice cried out in desperation. I whirled around to see Chibi, who had stopped attacking the Rockets and was now unleashing the rest of his power at the ALR barrier. Zapdos snapped its head in Chibi's direction, gazing at the hybrid with a perplexed look. But then the thunderbird let out a cry and unleashed a wave of lightning from all over its body. Articuno and Moltres did the same, letting loose a torrent of flames and a raging flurry of snow, respectively. Mewtwo and Entei flew backward from the force, the former putting up a psychic barrier to protect them. Sparks flew as the ALR barrier strained to contain the Legendaries' attacks, but this time there was nowhere for the power to go. Every single ALR was absorbing power from both sides and attempting to distribute it amongst the rest, but they all were trying to do it at once. Without warning, the machines starting discharging energy into the sky, turning the airspace over the clearing into hail of thunderbolts.

Was it working? I couldn't tell. We were giving it everything we had! It had to work!

Suddenly, the Fire Blast within the barrier faded as Moltres stopped attacking and took to the air, letting flames burn across its entire body as it made a beeline for the barrier's apex. The phoenix struck it with full force but refused to yield, flapping its wings frantically as it pushed against the overloaded energy field. The effort didn't do anything at first. But then, amazingly, the firebird's beak started to pierce the barrier. Its head slipped through. Then its neck. And then it let out a reverberating cry to the heavens, just like how Entei had lured them here in the first place. A plea for help.

Out of nowhere, a blue aura surrounded Moltres, violently wrenching it back inside the barrier. Mewtwo's arm was outstretched, wreathed in the same aura, fingers slowly clenching, digging the psychic energy into the firebird's body. Then the clone flicked his wrist, sending Moltres plummeting into the ground with a sickening crack.

"Moltres!" Zapdos cried, diving forward to land alongside the phoenix and flaring its jagged wings defensively. Entei had already started advancing on them, flames licking the sides of its muzzle.

"It didn't work," I muttered blankly. "They're still trapped."

But then, out of nowhere, a burst of shimmering light appeared above the ALR barrier, quickly fading to reveal a small, feline Pokémon. It spread its short forelimbs, eyes glowing blue with psychic energy before it shot forward like a bullet and pierced the ALR barrier. Shock waves radiated outward from the collision point, intensifying until the cat was nothing more than a brilliant white blur, slowly but surely penetrating the energy field. Finally, with a whip of its long, thin tail, the psychic cat slipped through the barrier and into the battle zone. Spreading its forelimbs outward, the newcomer's eyes glowed a fierce blue as it unleashed an incredible wave of power from its tiny body. All five Legendaries whirled around in surprise.

Mew was here?!