Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! And thanks for catching the repetition KooraX, I can definitely try to keep it to no more than one per chapter! ^^;
Sorry for the delay on this chapter! I meant to have it out last weekend, but the chapter went on for four pages longer than I expected. The action came out so much better than my initial drafts though, so I think it was worth it. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 38: Counterattack
A thick air of tension hung in the air as the four of us—me, Ajia, Rudy, and Darren—flew toward Indigo. I was riding Swift, Rudy had Fearow, and Darren had Skarmory. Mew had transformed into an Aerodactyl, flying alongside Ajia's own Aerodactyl, no doubt intending to take advantage of that form's incredible speed.
The idea of four of us going in alone to fight Rockets was completely insane. But I kept having to remind myself that it wasn't just us. The Legendaries would be joining us, and the Rockets would be way more inclined to pay attention to them. And the rangers already knew to watch out for anyone suspicious at the tournament site and they had the Elite Four backing them up. This was nothing like the old Rebellion missions. Just had to keep telling myself that.
After a while, the trees thinned, and I could see the buildings of Indigo on the horizon. Smoke still billowed upward from the scattered fires Moltres had started around the tournament site. As for Moltres itself, the firebird seemed to be soaring in a wide arc over the whole city. Our group landed on the roof of a building on the western edge of the city, far from its current location.
"So how many Legendaries are going to be helping us?" I asked Ajia.
Ajia folded her arms behind her head. "Well we've got Mew, Lugia, and Ho-oh for sure. Mew was working on recruiting a few others, but hasn't had much luck so far—they're too concerned that this is a trap."
"I mean. It pretty much is."
Ajia chuckled. "Maybe so. But we've got a trap of our own. Oh, and Latias isn't going to fight, she'll be staying invisible and defending the others."
That was good. At least, it helped ease the fear that all this mission would accomplish was getting our allies captured. The biggest problem was that we didn't know how many Rockets were scattered throughout the city. While Lugia and Ho-oh could easily take down Moltres, we had no idea how much danger they'd be in. Which was why we had no choice but to split up, to cover as much ground as possible. We wouldn't be able to watch each other's backs like I thought. I really wasn't too happy about that.
I turned to face Rudy and Darren, giving them both a serious look. "If anything goes wrong, get the hell out and regroup back here, alright?"
"Don't gotta tell me twice," Rudy said, face full of determination.
"No worries," Darren said calmly. "Alakazam can make sure of that."
I wished I had some of that confidence. But then, Alakazam was the reason Darren had made it off Midnight Island with no casualties. There was no reason not to trust him.
"Good luck," I said.
Rudy held out a fist, "We got this." He gave me and Darren a stern look until we returned the fist bump. Then he flashed a thumbs up to Fearow, and the bird spread her wings and took off, swooping down into an alley and out of sight. Darren gave a small wave, and soon he and Skarmory were gone as well.
I turned back toward Ajia and Mew, struggling to think of what to say. Ajia was the one who broke the silence. "See you when we're done," she said with a reassuring smile.
I forced a grin. "Yeah."
Swift took off, and the two of us soared low over the tournament site. Had to keep our eyes out. While Swift focused ahead of us, I constantly turned my head in all directions, scanning for any enemies sneaking up on us. I was not going to let us get caught off guard again. Occasionally Moltres crossed into the airspace overhead, and I held my breath until it passed. We weren't the target here—had to remember that.
It was now easy to see the squads of rangers taking formation north of the city. And from what Kari had said, the Elite Four had to be among them, ready to strike back if Moltres got too close. There were probably enough Pokémon there that they could take down the legend in an all-out fight. But the idea of actually fighting a Legendary wasn't exactly high on anyone's priority list. The fact that we even had a mental idea of how many regular Pokémon it took to bring down a legend… It was something I took for granted, but would register as totally foreign to anyone else.
In any case, couldn't get distracted. If Moltres was mainly sticking to the northside, then that was where we'd find the Rockets. I pointed this out to Swift, and he took us in that direction. I knew we had to find them, but the back of my mind, I was desperately hoping that we wouldn't. Each empty street and bare rooftop gave me a small relief, but it could only delay the inevitable.
Suddenly, Swift jerked his head to the left. I followed his gaze and caught a flash of blue between buildings. What was that? The Pidgeot swerved back around to take a closer look. And there he was. The executive who had confronted us during the initial attack—Ender. He was sitting on the back of his Altaria, perched on a low balcony that gave him a good view of the air without putting him in full view. I wordlessly motioned for Swift to land on the roof of the closest building. His flight was softer than Aros or Firestorm's. Faster than them too. That was why I'd picked him for this mission. But our opponent had the power advantage, so we couldn't afford to give ourselves away.
Slowly, one talon at a time, Swift stepped closer to the edge of the roof. He craned his neck to look over the edge. Ender hadn't noticed us. Any second I expected him to snap his eyes in our direction. But no. He was just sitting there. Waiting. Eyes trained on Moltres the entire time. And he was wearing a Master Ball cannon on his arm that hadn't been there last time.
[Well if we weren't sure before, we sure are now. Moltres is definitely bait,] I told Lugia.
[Feels rather foolish to swoop right into a known trap like this,] the legend replied.
[Yeah, well… it also feels pretty stupid to pick fights with an executive.]
[We will both follow our foolish courses of action, then.]
Was that a joke? I decided not to think about it.
Our goal wasn't to fight Ender outright. I knew that much. But my heart still pounded as we waited. The signal would be obvious, I knew that much. Just had to be patient. Couldn't give away our position yet. Just a little longer…
A bright yellow beam of energy shot out of nowhere, striking Moltres right in its heart. The firebird recoiled backward, screeching in pain. Up from the forest, Lugia burst into the air, spreading its wings to loom high above the plateau. It was a bit weird seeing the dragon-bird out in broad daylight, feathers gleaming stark white as opposed to their silvery sheen under the moonlight.
From the opposite side of the sky, Ho-oh soared into view, wings shimmering with a rainbow sheen, blue flames licking its wings. The two zeroed in on Moltres, circling the smaller bird intently. But Moltres didn't retaliate. Instead, it folded its wings back and shot toward the ground, soaring low over the buildings. What was it doing? None of the Rockets had approached it, so it must have been acting on orders that it got previously. Orders to avoid any other Legendaries? Why?
Lugia and Ho-oh paused, glancing at each other. I could only guess that they were confused as well. But then it finally hit me. By sticking low to the city, Moltres was forcing Lugia and Ho-oh to fly low to engage. If they stayed too high, the firebird would have more than enough time to dodge their attacks. And the Rockets themselves were all sticking low to the city as well, so it would be easy for them to fire Master Balls from out of sight. Which meant that for any of the free Legendaries to strike back, they'd either have to put themselves in harm's way, or attack the city. Of all the dirty tactics.
Lugia must have noticed the same thing, because it asked, [Is there any reason we can't simply destroy them?]
Any reason other than the fact that it was implying callously murdering our enemies? Sure. The resulting destruction was exactly the thing we were trying to avoid. We were not turning this into another Viridian incident.
[Let us fight the Rockets, alright?] I said. [We'll be more maneuverable closer to the ground, and that way the rest of you can deal with Moltres. You shouldn't have any trouble with that, right?]
[Fine.]
Had to trust that everything would go according to plan. Couldn't afford to think about the Legendary fight when I had my own mission to focus on.
Ender hadn't taken his eyes off the Legendaries the entire time. His arm was trained upward, left hand hovering over the handle, ready to pull back the moment one of the free legends drew too close. He hadn't so much as glanced in our direction the entire time. It was now or never.
"Open with Tailwind, then go into a Feather Dance," I whispered.
In one smooth motion, Swift leaped from the rooftop and swooped down between the buildings, flapping his wings so fast that a powerful wind current filled the entire alley. The moment that was done, he switched to a light, fluttering motion, scattering countless downy feathers into the air around our opponents. Tailwind would give us the speed edge while also throwing off Ender's cannon fire. Feather Dance would dull Altaria's attacks, at least some of them.
Ender stared back at us with an amused look on his face. "Interesting timing," he said, glancing between me and the Legendary battle raging overhead. "Alright, I daresay it's time to escalate things." He tapped something into a wrist communicator. I held my breath. But he didn't move from that spot. He just went back to aiming at the Legendaries while Altaria kept a single eye trained on us.
I felt a prickle of anger well up inside me. Did he seriously think we were afraid to attack him? Or was he just that unconcerned with our presence?
"Air Slash!" I yelled.
Swift snapped his wings forward, glowing blades of wind already trailing from the tips, shooting toward our opponents. Altaria waited until the last second to raise a Protect, deflecting the blades away harmlessly.
Ender slowly turned toward us, raising an eyebrow. "Playing hardball this time. Alright."
And then way the hell faster than it had any right to be, Altaria dove from the balcony and shot toward us. I pointed down, and Swift didn't waste a second swooping under it and taking off in the opposite direction. We shot down the street, the wind following us and pushing us forward, most likely the only thing keeping us ahead of him. Swift kept his eyes firmly on the road ahead of us. Mine were free to wander. Just how close was he…?
A window ahead of us suddenly exploded with dragonfire, raining shards of glass down from above. I buried my face in Swift's feathers and tried my hardest to ignore the slivers of pain crossing my arms. I'd felt worse. Had to stay one step ahead of him. If he was chasing us, he wasn't firing at the Legendaries. Just had to stay one step ahead. This was what we'd trained for. I could handle this.
A shadow passed by overhead. I glanced up, expecting one of the Legendaries, but it was a Rocket I didn't recognize, riding on the back of a Charizard, currently aiming a Master Ball cannon at a target I couldn't see. Could I stop her? But Ender was right behind us, we'd be sitting ducks. I could let out Firestorm, have him target the other—no. No, staying on the run was safer than starting a head-to-head melee, I'd learned that much. It would probably be fine.
Wait. Through a gap between buildings, I suddenly got a much better view of the Legendaries, and they were a lot closer than I'd realized. Moltres was pinned to the ground, thrashing about wildly in the middle of what looked like a battle park. Ho-oh was perched on its back, talons digging into the smaller firebird's wings while Lugia fired concussive pulses of psychic energy.
Dammit, they weren't paying attention and the Rockets were closing in!
Time slowed. A crack split the air, my eyes caught the flash of movement, the Master Ball, its target unaware. In my mind I saw it hit, saw that flash of red from the time I'd fired a ball just like it, heard Lugia's horrified scream and then—
A brightly glowing ball of mist deflected it at the last second, shot from thin air. I gaped at it in disbelief. And then a huge wave of relief crashed over me so hard that I almost lost my grip on Swift. Latias—Latias had saved them from certain capture.
And then out of nowhere, Lugia's voice stormed to the front of my thoughts and yelled, [Warn me next time!]
[Sorry, I'm still getting used to this!] I replied. I'd seen it happen, I could have said something, I should have said something. I'd just completely forgotten that was even an option. But that was the entire reason we had Latias playing defense, right?
A spear of irritation pierced my thoughts like a burning hot iron, and I only barely stopped myself from grabbing my head. Geez, Lugia's emotions were stronger than I thought. I'd known that I'd be able to feel them, but man this was distracting.
"*Are you alright?*" Swift asked, tilting his head to look back at me.
"I'm fine, just keep moving," I managed breathlessly. We couldn't afford to stop. Not while we were still being followed by—
I whirled around. Ender was gone. He was gone. The whole point of this was to keep him distracted. Of course he'd known that. Why the hell had I taken my eyes off him?
"Hold up," I said, pulling back slightly. Swift flared his wings out to slow our flight before making a U-turn back down the street.
Dammit. I'd let Lugia distract me, and then I'd lost Ender. We had to find him, and fast. Letting an executive get free shots at the Legendaries was not an option here.
Movement. Something glinting in my peripheral vision. Flames.
"Look out!" I screamed.
Swift turned his head and raised a barrier just in time for a raging ball of pink fire to crash into it, scattering a wave of sparkling flares. What the hell was that? The fireball kept struggling against the barrier without dissipating, almost as if it were alive. Wait… it was. Altaria was inside the fireball, face contorted with vicious fury. Ender wasn't on its back. I glanced around hurriedly, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The Protect flickered. Another second and we'd be toast. Had to do something, and fast.
"Through that doorway!" I yelled, voice cracking. Swift dropped the barrier and pointed his wings back, plunging toward the ground like a bullet and pulling up at the last second to shoot clean through the opening, immediately braking to avoid hitting the opposite wall. We turned around just as the doorway exploded into splinters. I shielded my face with my arms, squinting at the frenzied ball of magenta dragonfire currently shredding the entrance. Swift took a few hesitant steps backward before darting behind the nearest support column. Altaria charged, tearing through the column like butter, and then the ceiling gave way.
Swift jumped back, turning away from the falling debris, flaring his wings to keep me shielded. I flattened myself against his back, burying my face in his feathers yet again, dull pain assaulting my back with each chunk that hit me. Finally, it seemed to have settled. I cautiously opened one eye to take in the surrounding. The two of us had landed in a crumpled heap, covered by snapped boards and chunks of plaster, a fine mist of dust saturating the air. I coughed hard and breathed in too deep, which only succeeded in filling my lungs with more dust. Ugh. Had to get out of here.
A violent screech jerked my attention back to our opponent. In the doorway, Altaria stood twitching, body still raging with pink flames. We couldn't use Protect. Not enough time had passed. Couldn't make it out of the room in one piece. No other exits. Only a second to act.
"Sand Attack!" I blurted out.
Swift swept his wings forward, and a wave of plaster splattered into the dragon-bird's face. Altaria staggered back with a cough, squinting at us through the dust. And in that split second, Swift flattened himself to the ground right before the dragonfire flared up and Altaria launched itself clear into the opposite wall, tearing right through and landing in another room.
Rubble was still raining down from the second floor over the entrance, and the hole was now mostly blocked. Had to make our own exit, then.
I whirled around and ordered, "Air Slash!"
Swift shook himself free from the rubble, then swung a glowing wingtip forward, unleashing a flurry of blades at a nearby window. Glass shattered, then a gust of wind swept the shards away. The Pidgeot leaped through the opening and launched into the air, beating his wings to take us away from there as fast as possible.
Except… we weren't trying to escape. We needed to stay close by. Even if my every instinct was screaming to just ignore Ender and his Altaria and go find the others.
"Hold up, we don't want to lose them," I said. Swift responded by pivoting around in midair and landing on the roof of the building nearest the one we had just escaped from. This would give us a decent view of both exits, and then we'd be able to follow Altaria, hopefully to its trainer.
Except nothing happened. I furrowed my brow, staring even harder. It had been at least a minute by now. Where was Altaria? It wasn't trying to find us? And where was Ender, for that matter? If he wasn't on its back when it raged out, then where the hell had he gone?
I pointed downward wordlessly, and Swift glided down from the rooftop, landing in the middle of the street. I kept a tight grip as he cautiously stepped forward to peek through the crumbled doorway. But there was no sign of Altaria anywhere inside.
"Where did they…?"
Out of nowhere, a sudden needle of anxiety pierced my head. Every muscle in my body clenched tightly as I was hit with the overwhelming feeling that this was very not okay, despite having no idea why or how or what was—
Wait. Wait wait wait, this feeling wasn't mine.
[What happened?!] I asked Lugia.
[Ho-oh was hit. Latias was able to destroy the ball before they could recover it, though,] it replied, a slight tremble to its voice.
I let out a deep sigh of relief. The last thing we needed was to have to rescue another Legendary on this mission. Part of me wanted to tell Lugia just how distracting its emotions were, although I already knew that the response would be less than pleasant. It was my problem. I had to get used to it.
"C'mon, let's keep moving," I said to Swift. With a few flaps, the two of us were airborne once again.
Maybe it would be better to stick closer to the Legendaries. After all, that was where the Rockets were most likely to be. Just being in the general vicinity would hardly give away the fact that we were straight-up working with the legends.
I pointed down a street that I was pretty sure led back to the park where the Legendaries were fighting. If the violent screeching and explosive blasts coming from that direction were anything to go off. That was when I spotted her. The female executive from before. Raven, was her name? She was riding the same Flygon as last time—the one that had soundly defeated Aros, this time wearing a blue and white scarf. Why did I have to keep running into all the Executives? Why couldn't Ajia? Or Mew? Anyone who would stand a better chance than me.
I could try to locate Ender once again. Or I could deal with the executive in front of me who currently didn't have any opponents. I didn't get a chance to make that decision before she spotted us though.
"Back for more?" she just said. Then in a flash, she opened an array of Pokéballs. I caught sight of a large, black bird, then some kind of brown blur ducking behind an abandoned vendor stall, then a violet shadow tracing a path down the walls of the nearest building.
Oh hell, she wasn't playing around. No way was I going through the same crap as last time. I let out both Firestorm and Aros, then let Chibi out onto Aros's back so he could freely abuse his lightning. The hybrid didn't waste any time charging up a Thunderbolt to fire at Raven, but her Flygon avoided it so quickly I could have sworn he'd teleported. Swift put on a burst of speed just as a pulsing wave of darkness shot right at us, fired by the Honchkrow.
"Another Tailwind!" I hissed. The Pidgeot looped back, flapping his wings faster and faster, and the resulting wind current swept through the alley, pushing at our backs and against the executive's side. Honchkrow narrowed its eyes at us, struggling against the wind.
A shadowy orb shot from nowhere, smacking into one of Aros's wings. He shook off the blow and glanced around hurriedly, but couldn't locate his attacker. Chibi muttered something to the bug-dragon, and the latter responded by slamming his tail into the wall, unleashing a shockwave that shook the entire building. A dark shadow fell out of the wall, forming into an implike body with a huge, toothy grin. A Gengar. Its eyes flashed red, and a spear of ghostly energy suddenly pierced its own body, trails of red mist leaking out from the hole. Aros tilted his head in confusion, but then more of the same red mist materialized around him… and zeroed in on Chibi, seeping into his fur. The Pikachu shook his head to clear it before retaliating with a lightning bolt, but Gengar had already phased back inside the wall. Chibi winced, teeth clenched like he was in pain. Wisps of ghostly aura danced around his head.
All this time, Firestorm had been circling Honchkrow, breathing out scorching jets of fire to keep the bird off our tail. Raven and her Flygon were mostly hanging back, a good distance from the rest of the combatants. I wasn't sure why, but I wasn't about to question it. The moment they entered the fray, things would get a lot worse.
We couldn't keep this up for too long. I knew that. Sooner or later, we'd be overpowered. But we just had to keep it up long enough to hold Raven's attention away from the Legendary battle. Just had to hold out until then. Lugia would give us the all clear and then we could get the hell out of here.
And then a brown blur leaped up from a nearby rooftop, aiming right for us. Swift flared his wings to stall our flight. Too late. Blood splattered through the air. I stared stupidly, feeling my brain short-circuit trying to process it, my breath frozen, my stomach melting. Kabutops. It had slashed him clean across the neck, staining his feathers bright red.
No. No no no! At once, I found my hand flying to my belt, fumbling with his Pokéball. Had to recall him before it was too late. Had to recall him before it was too late. Each second felt like an agonizing eternity as my shaking fingers found the button and pressed it and then recalled Swift in a beam of red.
I'd recalled him in time, right? He'd live, right? He had to. He had to.
Falling. I was falling. I'd just recalled the Pokémon I was riding on. But I had to recall him. I had to, it was the only way he'd make it. He was in stasis now. He had to make it. Still falling, had to do something. But he had to make it. Still falling. But Swift—still falling, had to do something.
"Firestorm!" I yelled.
Barely seconds later, I saw a flash of orange as the Charizard swooped under me and caught me on his back. Immediately afterward, I clung to his neck as he barreled to the right to avoid blades of wind launched by Honchkrow.
"*What happened? Where's Swift?*"
I buried my face against his neck, clenching my teeth and trying my hardest to banish that image from my mind.
"*Are you okay?*" Firestorm asked.
"I'm fine, just keep flying!"
His neck muscles tensed. It was obvious he wanted answers, but he was holding back from asking them. My every instinct was screaming that we had to flee, or else risk having what happened to Swift happen to more of us, and—
"*Watch out!*" Aros called out. I looked up to see his diving in front of us, the white light of Protect flaring up just seconds before a massive waterspout crashed against it, scattering a cold mist all around us. Holy crap, that was too close. That Hydro Pump would have knocked us out of the air for sure. Then Chibi had to fire a lightning bolt over my shoulder at Gengar, who'd been sneaking up behind us. Then more movement, out of the corner of my eye. A blurry brown shape. Blades flashing. Not again—
"Metal Claw!" I yelled.
Firestorm swung both arms in front of his neck just in time for the blades to bounce against them with a metallic clang. Kabutops sprang back, crouching on a nearby windowsill before leaping at us once more. But this time Firestorm was ready. He tilted a wing, changing our angle so the blades flew right past us. Then he reached out and grabbed the fossil by the leg, swinging it in a wide arc before hurling it straight into the pavement with a crack.
I let out a deep sigh of relief. Then an agonized cry snapped my attention back to Aros, but… but it hadn't come from him. I stared in horror. Chibi was lying flat on his back, thrashing wildly, purplish flames clinging to his body, eating away at his skin in places.
"What the hell? What's going on? What is that?!"
The red mist. From when Gengar stabbed itself. It didn't seem to do anything at the time, but it had been stuck to him ever since, hadn't it? Firestorm flapped his wings hard, attempting to blow out the flames, but they didn't waver or react at all. Chibi clutched his head, lightning pouring from his body, but it didn't help.
"*What do we do?!*" Aros cried in between breathing out scattered plumes of dragonfire to keep our attackers at bay.
"I don't know!" I didn't know how to help him, I didn't know what this even was, and there was too much to focus on for me to think of what to do, not when we still had to fight off the executive's Pokémon and—
Chibi let out one last feeble cry before slipping from Aros's neck and falling limply through the air. I automatically reached for his Pokéball and recalled him, staring numbly as he dissolved into red energy. Chibi, the most powerful member of the team, out of commission just like that, and I didn't have the slightest clue how.
And then, without warning, Flygon shot toward us like a bullet. I jerked backward in surprise. Dammit, of course she'd needed to wait until Chibi went down before she could really press the attack. It was too dangerous to get close to us otherwise. That was Raven's plan all along.
Aros zipped over to hover alongside Firestorm and me, facing outward so neither of us could be attacked from behind. The opposing Flygon circled us so quickly it was hard to follow it with my eyes. Aros lunged, slashing wildly, but hitting nothing but open air. It was too fast. How the hell was it this fast? What the hell was going on?
"Feint Attack!" I yelled, desperate for something to land a hit on them.
Aros glanced back at me with an uncertain look, but then the dark aura flared up around him and he slipped out of view. Seconds later, he reappeared in the other Flygon's path, swinging his tail straight into its head. It tumbled over in midair, its momentum taking it way off-balance, and Aros didn't waste a second darting in, his claws lit with dragonfire. He tore several wicked gashes across his original's tail before it regained itself. The Flygon shot past him once, raking its fiery claws across his back, and before he could pivot around to brace himself for the second hit, it had already swooped underneath.
I flinched the moment it hit. Aros howled in pain, and I cracked one eye open to a gaping wound running the length of his belly, bleeding freely. My hand flew to a Pokéball and I recalled him in a beam of red.
Ugh, maybe that was too hasty. I'd get an earful for it later. It was a nasty wound, but not near as bad as… as what had happened to… No, I couldn't let it get that bad with any of the others. But now it was just me and Firestorm against her, and somehow I didn't think we had a shot against just her Flygon, let alone the rest of her team. If we took the fight to the ground, I could let out Jet and Stygian for backup. But then—
[Moltres is down!] Lugia's voice rang out in my head.
I jolted. It was down? Already? Then again, that shouldn't have been surprising—having to fight Lugia and Ho-oh at once, there was no way the firebird would be able to keep up.
[We'll still be nearby in case we're needed, but we're backing off just to be safe,] Lugia explained.
[Gotcha,] I replied. No sense risking the Rockets capturing them when we didn't need to. That also meant that we had absolutely no reason to keep fighting a losing battle against an executive. Time to get the hell out of here. But that Flygon… it would be on us in a second, unless—
"Scary Face!" I called out.
In one smooth motion, Firestorm banked a wing to spin around on the spot, flashing a grotesque snarl at the bug-dragon right behind us. Flygon wasn't ready for that move and jerked backward with alarm the moment it made eye contact. Its wingbeats slowed, muscles losing their tension, and for a moment it was almost frozen in place, so Firestorm took that opportunity to whirl around and bolt in the opposite direction.
"Give 'em a Smokescreen too," I added, and Firestorm breathed out a billowing cloud of thick black smoke in our path. I covered my nose and mouth until it was well behind us. Then the road ended and we emerged into the same battle park where the legends had been fighting previously. I glanced around hurriedly until I spotted it—there, about fifty yards from us, was Moltres, lying prone, wings splayed across the dirt. There was something almost sad about the sight.
Wingbeats caught my ear and my heart stopped, but then my brain caught up—they didn't sound anything at all like the buzzing of Flygon wings. I turned in all directions to see Aerodactyl approaching us from the right, which meant Ajia—no wait, he didn't have a rider. It was actually Mew!
"*Stay close by, this is nearly over,*" she said.
Mew folded her wings back and swooped down to land on all fours right next to Moltres. And then she just stood there. Waiting. She could just teleport Moltres away right now, if she wanted to. But that wouldn't break the mind control, at least not for good. We still needed the Master Ball. She'd be ready the moment anyone tried to recall it; we just had to—
A bright blue jagged beam shot out of nowhere, knocking Mew flying limply backward, frost coating her wings. I turned in the direction it had come from, and—
My stomach plummeted. "What?! Articuno?!"
The ice bird had just soared into view from practically nowhere, its long cobalt wings scattering a fine powder snow throughout the air. Mew shook herself off before launching back into the air, circling Articuno at high speed, breathing out explosive bursts of flame at it nonstop.
[Articuno's here! We need you!] I exclaimed. [But watch out, the Rockets are still nearby.]
[On it!] Lugia replied.
A red beam glinted in my peripheral vision. I turned to look in its direction and… wait. Moltres was gone! They'd recalled it?!
Dammit! Articuno was just a distraction! Where were the Rockets? Who had recalled it? Where was the Master Ball?! I spun wildly in every direction, eyes struggling to find a focus in a sea of details, from the scarred park, to the roads, to Lugia and Ho-oh reappearing overhead, to—
Suddenly, my eyes snapped to it. A Xatu, down by the ground, clutching a Master Ball in its talons. A white glow formed around it, and my stomach jumped into my throat. It was preparing to teleport.
[It's going to escape!] I cried.
[Mew's on it!] Lugia replied.
A psychic glow encircled the bird just as it was flickering out of view. Mew swooped down, her eyes glowing the same shade of blue, and Xatu snapped back into clear view, right before it could vanish. She clenched her wing-hands, and the Master Ball flew out of the Xatu's talons, shooting toward her. And then a second Ice Beam struck Mew dead on, knocking the Aerodactyl spiraling into the side of a building, crashing through a window. The Master Ball dropped to the ground with a clatter, landing in the road on the edge of the park.
Articuno wouldn't have the thought to grab the ball itself. Not without an order from the Rockets. And they were busy right now. I only had a moment.
"Dive!" I yelled.
Firestorm folded his wings back and shot downward. I flattened myself against his back, forcing my brain to shut out everything else. Not the battle raging overhead, not the attacks flying past me, nothing. Just the tiny purple ball sitting alone on the pavement below. Closer, closer—
Blades of wind shot from nowhere and I felt the sting of pain as one tore across my arm. I clenched my teeth, gripping Firestorm even tighter. The Charizard whirled around to locate our attacked, but no one was there. What the hell? I glanced back at the ground to see a shadow materializing next to the Master Ball—a round body with broad wings and an eye-catching crest… Honchkrow! Of course! A dark-type. No way to use psychic abilities to wrestle the ball from it. Mew, where was Mew?!
Hy heart sank. The Aerodactyl had just pulled herself free from the building she'd been knocked through. Ice crystals covered her body; her wings twitched. She'd taken two Ice Beams from Articuno back-to-back, while in a flying-type body no less.
Firestorm launched a stream of fire downward. If he missed and melted the Master Ball, that'd help us either way. But Honchkrow snatched the ball and melted into shadow almost immediately. The shadow darted out of sight, past a row of cars on the side of the road, and I could no longer follow it with my eyes. It could disappear into the city, rendezvous with any of the Rockets inside, and then we'd never see the Master Ball again.
[It's getting away!] I yelled to Lugia.
The legend didn't reply, but I felt its heart rate spike and actually had to clutch a hand to my chest. And then without warning, a brilliant yellow beam shot through the air. I froze openmouthed as it cleaved through several buildings like a hot knife through butter. Glass shattered, concrete gave way, the upper floors slowly collapsed inward. I gaped at the destruction in horrified disbelief. We were only a few blocks away from the evacuees! Lugia couldn't just let wild like that!
[What the hell was that?!] I demanded.
[You said it was getting away,] Lugia replied defensively.
I stifled the urge to scream. [How is blasting the city supposed to help?! You could've hit someone.]
[Well if you've got it under control, I'll just go back to what I was doing,] the legend said, its thoughts tinged with irritation.
Ugh. Some help. We'd just have to do it ourselves.
Firestorm's wings strained; he was beating them as hard as he could but we weren't gaining. Was Honchkrow even still heading this way? I couldn't tell. Just had to keep my eyes peeled for where it emerged from the shadow. Where was Ajia? Why couldn't she have been the one to deal with this. Why'd it have to be me, the one least likely to—
Dammit, no, couldn't let myself think like that. I could do this, with or without help. I could do thi—
"Forgetting someone?" a voice said icily.
Stones erupted from the ground in front of us. Firestorm swerved to the right, one of them clipping his wing. Then another stone shot up from that direction, and Firestorm had to throw his wings out to stop in time, then the third wave found its mark, bursting up right from under us. Stones dug into Firestorm's belly, the shockwave from the impact shot through my body, and then we were down, skidding along the pavement before finally coming to a stop. I slowly stumbled off Firestorm's back, dazed and in pain, limbs shaking. The Charizard pulled himself to his feet and clutched at his stomach with a grimace, blood streaming between his claws.
That was all three of my flying mons out of commission. I grabbed Firestorm's Pokéball, ready to recall him when he pushed my arm down.
"*Either we both get out of here, or neither of us do,*" he said, spreading his good wing as wide as he could, keeping me out of view.
Couldn't let him face Raven alone. In a flash, I let out Jet and Stygian. Three Pokémon, one nearly incapacitated, going up against an executive. Her Pokémon were advancing on us now. Gengar, Flygon, Kabutops… the same Kabutops that… that had… (My mind suddenly generated the image of it doing the same thing to Firestorm, and I tried shoving aside but it didn't want to leave, and—)
In an instant, Gengar melted into shadow, Flygon's claws flared up, and Kabutops dashed forward, blades outstretched. Jet and Stygian rushed forward to meet them, the former launching into a waterspout and the latter lighting her blade with dark energy. Firestorm tensed up, taking a half-step forward like he was about to jump into the fray. But then his eyes darted back to me and he didn't move.
A spray of water hit my arm. Gengar's shadow had tried to slip behind us, but Jet had just cut the ghost-type off with a well-aimed Water Gun. The ghost paused for just a moment, shaking itself off irritably, and the Floatzel took that opportunity to lunge forward, dark aura cloaking her fangs. Across the street, Kabutops leaped back and forth, forcing Stygian to turn in all directions just to follow it with her eyes. The rock-type found an opening and darted forward, blades aimed at her neck, but the Absol parried with her own blade. Flygon approached her from behind, ready to tear into her with flaming claws. But then out of nowhere, Jet tackled it to the ground, locking her frost-covered fangs around its arm. That left Gengar free to target us—the ghost flashed a devious smile before letting its fingertips crackle with electricity.
I didn't have to say it. Firestorm raised a shimmering white Protect the instant Gengar let the lightning fly. A shower of sparks hit the asphalt as the bolt crashed into the barrier with a resounding crack. Gengar paused, frowning with disappointment. Without warning, Firestorm dropped the barrier and leaped forward, slashing wildly, his claws shrouded in a ghostly aura. Gengar let out a cry of alarm before dissolving back into shadow and regrouping with its teammates.
I let out a huge sigh of relief. But it was short-lived. My eyes darted back to Jet, wrestling with Flygon, biting it repeatedly with icy fangs. Stygian, staggering backward from the force of a massive blue orb that Gengar had just fired at her. A chill ran down my spine. One of the executive's Pokémon was unaccounted for.
I spotted it a second later, leering at us from between two cars. Upon realizing that we'd noticed it, Kabutops broke into a run, blades flashing through the air with each step. Firestorm took a deep breath. He couldn't use Protect again, so his claws went metallic. A scythe swung for his neck and he blocked it with a clang. Another one, from the other side; his other arm snapped up just in time. The Charizard kept his eyes trained closely on his opponent, watching, waiting… A third swing and this time he lunged forward, locking his claws around both blades at once. Kabutops's eyes went wide, and it jerked its arms back, but the fire lizard refused to let go.
And then my eyes caught movement, over by Raven. At her side, a wisp of dark aura had just faded into view, revealing a large black bird clutching a purple Pokéball. My jaw fell open. Honchkrow? It was right here?! And it still had the Master Ball?!
"Thought we hadn't figured out how you stole Mewtwo from us?" Raven asked, her words tinged with ice.
A bolt of lightning fired from Gengar's fingertips, catching the tail end of a waterjet. The Floatzel inside let out a scream as the electricity coursed through her.
"Thought we didn't know Mew would be here?"
With a vicious snarl, Flygon smashed Stygian's head into the side of a car repeatedly. Fiery claws tore red gashes across her snow-white fur.
"The only question is how you're working together with those monsters."
One after the other, the Absol and Floatzel collapsed onto the road, out cold. All of them down but Firestorm, who continued to grapple with Kabutops, claws locked firmly around its scythes.
"I'm curious to know. But not curious enough."
Kabutops slammed a clawed foot against the ground, and pointed stones burst through the pavement, right under Firestorm. The Charizard's eyes went wide; he coughed hard, blood dripping from his mouth. Then he staggered backward, sinking to one knee before finally collapsing.
There was a moment where Kabutops's eyes flickered between Firestorm and me. Like it was debating going over and just ending him right there. But then it opted to go for me instead. I took a step backward, feeling my blood turn to ice from the fossil's cold, merciless gaze. It wasn't even bothering with the speed anymore—it was just casually walking toward me. What the hell could I do to stop it anyway? Couldn't outrun it, couldn't fight back, no Pokémon left, no other options.
[Lugia!] I screamed mentally.
[Hang on, I'm dealing with Articuno!]
[Hang on?! I don't have time!] I'd be dead before it got here! What the hell good was being chosen if I was going to die alone with my patron nowhere near me?!
And then out of nowhere, Kabutops was knocked flying into the side of a parked car by absolutely nothing. I stared stupidly at the sight, unable to process it. What the hell had just happened? I didn't see anything hit…
Without warning, Honchkrow let out a squawk as something slammed into it, knocking the bird clear down the street. Raven's mouth hung open with a mixture of shock and rage. The Master Ball clattered to the pavement, then lifted into the air just as fast. But there was no psychic glow—it had been grabbed by something invisible.
Then, as if on cue, I felt a rush of wind next to me, and the air distorted into the jetlike shape of a crimson dragon.
"*Get on!*" Latias cried.
She didn't have to tell me twice. I recalled all three of my Pokémon and jumped onto her back. She was small. I didn't fit on her back all the way, and she was obviously having a hard time lifting me. But she didn't complain.
"You can't do that! Who the hell do you think you are?!" Raven screamed after us.
Latias whimpered slightly as a Shadow Ball struck her belly, but she didn't let her flight path waver. My breathing was shallow and my heart was pounding at a million beats a minute. We'd done it. We'd gotten the Master Ball, and we'd escaped, and I wasn't dead. I would have collapsed with relief if not for the fact that we still had yet to make it to safety. There was also the fact that Articuno was still circling the skies ahead of us, filling the air with a vicious Blizzard. Latias shivered, slowing her flight so we didn't get too close. Lugia was forced to hang back while Ho-oh pushed through the storm, blue flames burning across its body.
And then a loud whistle split the air. Articuno broke from the fight immediately, diving below us to land in the center of the battle park. I spotted Ender closing in on it, his Altaria looking worse for the wear, covered in burns and missing plumes on its wings. In hot pursuit was Aerodactyl—the actual Aerodactyl—with Ajia on his back. So after I lost track of Ender, he'd run into her instead. I couldn't help feeling a bit satisfied from seeing how much trouble she'd given him.
I braced myself in case he decided to try anything on us. But he knew better than to pick a fight with Latias. He also knew better than to attempt firing a Master Ball at her. Not with so many opponents close by. Instead, his Altaria took him right above Articuno, where he jumped down to land on the ice bird's back before recalling the dragon-type.
"That wasn't dumb luck… that was planned," Ender called out, loud enough for us to hear him. "You were working together with them the entire time, weren't you?" He laughed. "I think we'll be taking that into consideration next time."
His attention snapped to the other Legendaries. To Lugia and Ho-oh, soaring high overhead, to Mew, still in her Aerodactyl guise, now flying over to meet us.
He tapped a button on his watch and said, "We're leaving."
Suddenly, the same Xatu from earlier materialized right above him. He reached out to grab its talon, and in a flash, they were gone.