Chapter 80; Destiny fulfilled
Team rocket admin Petrel laid on his cell bed, staring at the ceiling, awaiting any move from his comrades anxiously.
The day of reckoning was here. The operation had to begin by dawn when everyone was at their most vulnerable.
Petrel smiled sinisterly. If – no. When- his comrades busted him out, their victory would be complete for the most part.
Only regret he had was not being the one to destroy team Sonic.
"At least that echidna is no more" he thought with an evil grin, remembering his fight with Knuckles.
The sound of a key rotating in the keyhole brought him back to reality.
His cell door opened and in walked Archer.
"Took you long enough boss man" he said sarcastically but with a hint of joking.
Archer managed to crack a smile as well. He hated when someone failed him like Petrel did, but it didn't matter anymore.
"Come comrade. Victory awaits us".
"Is everything ready?" Petrel wanted to know eagerly.
"Yes. Right as we speak, our moles are freeing our captured comrades. Ariana is already at Goldenrod, preparing for her own role in the grand plan".
"Will everyone be joining?"
"Everyone. Not that we need everyone. The goddess of victory is already smiling upon us".
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's bring back the glory days" Petrel said with passion.
Archer couldn't agree more.
"Yes. Let's do it".
As the villains were setting everything into place, the heroes were fighting exhaustion, struggling to continue climbing mount Tensei.
Tails was the most tired of the three, his flying now uneven and sometimes failing causing him and Sonic to almost descend rapidly.
Knuckles was in no better shape either. While he was used to hardship, he had never had to climb a mountain. And certainly not without any sleep beforehand.
Looking up, he saw the mountainside end.
"Guys" he called out to then despite the massive exhaustion "we're almost there. Just hang in there a little longer".
Taking a deep breath and groaning in pain and exhaustion, Tails ascended one final time, carrying Sonic whose arms were now completely numb from the continuous holding on to Tails as well as the cold.
Knuckles also used his final bit of strength to climb to the top. Right before climbing over, he heard his two friends roll on the ground and panting heavily.
Finally climbing over, he saw the three had reached the peak. The ground was surprisingly very smooth despite the mountainside being extremely rough as they were climbing.
Dropping on his knees as well Knuckles too started panting heavily. That climb was insanity from the beginning.
Sonic suddenly walked to him and asked to borrow the binoculars. Knuckles was too exhausted to object and so Sonic took them and went to the edge of the peak overlooking the rest of the Johto mainland.
"I see Goldenrod" he told his friends with hope in his voice "everything seems ok! We're not too late!"
He looked around, trying to find the path leading down.
"Guys get off your asses. Help me find the path down".
"I… I can't… I can't go on Sonic. My whole body is hurting" Tails complained.
"What? Tails there's no time! Team rocket could attack any second. We don't have time to waste!"
"I hate to admit it" Knuckles spoke up "but Tails has a point. That climb was brutal. We need to rest, just for a little bit Sonic".
The hedgehog looked back towards Goldenrod. His entire being was screaming to keep going, that they had no time to waste.
But he also knew his friends deserved a rest. They had been climbing for hours with no sleep. Or to be more accurate, Knuckles was climbing while Tails was carrying Sonic up.
"Alright. One hour of rest. Then we continue ok?"
Tails felt tempted to object but knew deep down they had no time. Even this hour of rest was a risk in itself.
"Better than nothing I guess" he complied "Brrr… it's cold up here" he said shivering.
Knuckles proceeded to take a huge blanket out of their stash of supplies.
"Come here. We need to keep ourselves warm".
The three friends bunched up in the dark, only illuminated by the stars above.
"Damn it's still very cold" Sonic said as they tried to stay warm by sharing body heat.
"Less commenting more resting" Knuckles reminded them.
"True. Alright get some shut eye guys".
"Won't you sleep?" Tails looked at him in question.
"Someone's got to make sure we don't oversleep. You guys did all the work climbing. I'll do my part now".
"You sure?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes".
Tails and Knuckles pondered a few more seconds whether they should let him do it on his own before falling asleep almost instantly from the exhaustion.
Sonic looked at them by his sides, his inner conflict about turning himself in raging inside him.
It was for the greater good but at the same time the very concept of the life he was giving up tortured him.
A life of adventure with Raichu. With his friends, his brother.
"Jaz" he thought closing his eyes and remembering their kiss by the lake of rage again.
By the time he was presumably released she would probably have moved on.
To soothe himself, he allowed his mind to create a scenario where Looker just let everything go and team rocket was successfully stopped. Nothing would keep him and Jasmine apart if that was the case.
Sonic had no idea how long his eyes were closed. All he knew was he didn't want to open them. The harsh reality would hit him like a truck.
A loud snore directly into his face roughly woke him up.
It was from Tails surprisingly.
"Huh. So he snores. The more you know" Sonic before his mind started processing their surroundings.
"Wait a minute…" he muttered as he realized he could actually see their surroundings.
It was daytime.
"WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" he screamed.
Tails and Knuckles jolted awake and looked around.
"Oh no! We overslept!" Tails said in realization.
"How did this happen?! Sonic you said you would be ok!"
"I was! I…" he went to say before remembering what had actually caused him to fall asleep.
"I… tried to handle my surrender by thinking of Jaz… the dream swayed me…"
Tails rushed to the edge of the peak and looked with his binoculars towards Goldenrod.
"Shit! I see smoke! We're too late!"
Sonic felt the ground vanish from beneath him.
They had failed. For real this time.
The people of Goldenrod needed them and they weren't there.
Kneeling he let out a scream of frustration and despair as the reality of the imminent return of his archnemesis was now inevitable.
And what ate at him the most was that they could have prevented it.
But they didn't. And it was his fault alone.
Knuckles turned around, the sight of his usually hopeful and confident friend, taken over by despair too much for him to handle.
His eyes met with a strange sight; A huge empty nest.
Forgetting about their predicament for a moment, he walked to the nest and hopped in.
The nest was massive. Obviously something huge lived here. But what?
A bunch of feathers got his attention. Knuckles picked one up to examine it.
The pattern looked very familiar. The colors reminded him of a rainbow.
"Rainbow" he whispered before gasping at the revelation of what they had stumbled upon.
"Guys…" he said with a somewhat unsteady voice "I think we accidentally found Ho-oh's nest".
"What?!" Tails and Sonic exclaimed, rushing to see what their friend was talking about.
The sight of the massive nest filled them with awe. Tails also confirmed there was a very high chance those were indeed Ho-oh wings, also known as rainbow wings in Johto lore.
Sonic's face lit.
"There's still hope!" he said with a huge smile "Knuckles is there any way to call Ho-oh in Johto's legends?"
"Well it is said that waving a rainbow wing and calling out its name could do the trick but it's only a rumor".
"It's better than nothing! Quick grab a wing and get to work!" Sonic said, quickly grabbing one of the feathers.
"You want to call Ho-oh?" Tails looked at him like a madman.
"We can ask it for help in fighting team rocket" Sonic revealed his line of thought.
"There a huge if in there. What if it refuses to help?"
"At least we will have tried" Sonic said without a hint of hesitation.
Knuckles and Tails, seeing no other plan of action, quickly grabbed a feather each and went to the edges of the peak.
"Ho-oh!" they started screaming, their voices echoing in the endless mountaintops "Ho-oh!"
"Ho-oh! Ho-oh!" Sonic was screaming the loudest, praying, begging Ho-oh to show up.
It couldn't end like this. It couldn't end with team rocket winning.
With every scream however their hope was diminished. Ho-oh wasn't showing up.
"Ho-oh!" Sonic let out a scream, borderlining on roar.
"Sonic" Knuckles tried to talk to him.
"Ho-oh! Please come to us! The people need your help!"
"Sonic it's not coming" Tails hated to tell his friend.
"HO-OH! PLEASE GIVE ME A CHANCE TO FIX EVERYTHING!" Sonic gave it one last try.
Again nothing.
He knelt in despair.
Raichu came out of its pokeball and tried to comfort him. Tails and Knuckles joined in.
"Why Ho-oh" Sonic uttered "what did you save us for?"
A loud screech was the reply he got.
The air around them grew hotter as Ho-oh soared from the side of the mountain, just over the mountain peak.
"No way! It worked!" Tails said in amazement.
Sonic was filled with a hopeful smile again.
"Mighty Ho-oh. We need your help! Bad people have taken over Goldenrod city. Please lend us your power so we can stop them".
Ho-oh replied with another, louder screech. And that screech carried an aura of what felt to the three friends like rage.
"Ho-oh?" Sonic managed to say in confusion before a lightning bolt crashed down behind them.
And a roar.
A familiar roar.
Raikou emerged from the thunderbolt.
"Raikou!" Tails exclaimed in excitement "it's so good to see you" he went to approach it.
Raikou however growled threateningly, even roaring at Tails while taking the stance of a predator ready to pounce.
"Raikou? Don't your remember me? It's me".
"Groaaar!" Raikou roared again, sounding even angrier this time.
"What's wrong with it? It was so friendly last time" Tails said over his shoulder in confusion and very unnerved at the sight of Raikou's saber teeth.
Before either Sonic or Knuckles could even guess anything, another roar filled the air.
A ferocious roar.
"I know that roar" Sonic's pupils shrinked as he turned around to find himself and Raichu staring down Entei.
Entei was in the same predator stance as Raikou, growling at Sonic, looking ready to pounce at any moment.
"Guys…is it me or are they mad for some reason?" Sonic asked his friends trying to sound calm.
As if the two were not enough a huge pillar of water appeared and after it so did Suicune, staring Knuckles down with determined and fierce eyes.
Knuckles tried to reach out but Suicune revealed its teeth while growling.
The three friends stumbled back until their backs met.
"Fellas… don't panic… but we're surrounded" Knuckles said looking over his shoulders, realizing the beasts had boxed them in.
Ho-oh landed in its nest and, looking weirdly funny like a giant turkey, eyed the three pairs of trainer and beast with great interest.
"Knuckles what's happening?" Sonic asked, Raichu in its battle stance, neither taking their eyes off Entei.
"I see two possibilities".
"Which are?" Tails asked nervously.
"The first, they're waiting for us to falter so they can pounce and feast on our flesh for trespassing in their father's home".
Tails gulped. That actually sounded like a legit possibility. Ho-oh had left Ecutreak and come here for a reason after all.
"And the second?" Sonic's voice reeked of adrenaline, having experienced Entei's power twice before.
Knuckles' eyes met Ho-oh's and then Suicune's.
"The second… I think… this is a test".
"A test?" Tails looked over his shoudee to Knuckles.
"We asked Ho-oh for help right? Maybe… just maybe… the beasts are this help".
He turned to Suicune again.
"Is this what it is?" he asked it.
To his surprise, Suicune nodded.
Knuckles knew in that very moment what they had to do.
How and why the beasts were connected to them was a mystery. Their entire being was covered in mystery. But one thing was crystal clear now.
If they wanted to save Goldenrod city and Johto from team rocket…
"We need to tame the beasts!" he spoke the last bit of his thought out loud.
"You mean face them in battle?!"
Knuckles nodded.
"And catch them!"
"Seriously?!" Sonic was so surprised he actually looked over his shoulder to Knuckles.
"Think about it. It makes sense. Too many times we met them and you even got close to catching Entei".
Sonic looked back at Entei. While it was still looking as majestic and ferocious as ever there was something different about it.
Something inviting him to earn its allegiance.
"I think you're right".
"So we battle them?" Tails asked.
"Yes".
"What's the plan then?"
Sonic thought it over for a moment.
"Each one of us is connected to one of them right? A triple one on one sounds like the way to go".
He looked over at Ho-oh.
"Is that ok?!"
Ho-oh responded by firing 3 sacred fires, each taking the shape of a ring, surrounding the legendary beasts but leaving enough room like a small arena for each of them.
And each member of team Sonic needed to take one step forward to enter the rings.
"I think Ho-oh agrees" Sonic said with the hint of a smile again.
Tails took another look at Raikou and nodded.
"Let's do this! Good luck guys!"
The three heroes made a power bump and then taking a deep breath each and choosing their first pokemon, stepped in the rings.
Raikou went on the offensive first, firing a thunderbolt towards Tails.
"Steelix go!"
Steelix emerged, nullifying the thunderbolt and roaring at Raikou who roared back.
"Steelix earthquake!"
The earthquake, taught to Steelix by Sonic's nidoking during their time in hiding in Aero town, was fired. Ho-oh flames had the unique effect that large scale attacks like earthquake wouldn't be able to affect their surroundings so only Raikou was hurt.
This seemed to confirm Sonic and Knuckles' respective theories. The beasts did want team Sonic to face them. And it had to be a one on one for each of them.
Raikou despite the massive damage from the earthquake, roared and pounced with scary speed, landing a devastating bite on Steelix.
"No! Steelix bind Raikou!"
Steelix's massive body wrapped around Raikou, applying extreme pressure. Raikou roared in pain and its look of suffering broke Tails' heart.
"Raikou please don't resist more than necessary. I don't want to hurt you".
Raikou heard this and was tempted to stop. Ho-oh gave it a stern look. The meaning was clear.
If Tails was to be its comrade, he would have to earn it.
Raikou roared and prepared a familiar looking move. A dark colored ball.
Tails figured it out a second too late.
"It knows shadow ball?" he managed to think before the shadow ball connected, damaging Steelix greatly and causing it to free Raikou which hopped back, inviting Tails to continue the attack.
Contrary to Tails' battle with Raikou, the battle between Sonic and Entei was taking a bizzare turn. Raichu and Entei began communicating.
"So… you stand before me again. But the question is, are you still the puny and weak Raichu you were last time?".
Raichu, hyperfocused and dead calm, replied with four words.
"Come and find out!"
Entei smirked though it was not very clear because of its facial feature. Roaring loudly, it prepared a flamethrower.
"Quick attack!" Sonic gave the instruction.
Raichu moved like a blur, dodging the flamethrower with ease.
Entei was able to follow Raichu with its eyes but the electric type mouse pokemon had grown at least twice as fast as last time.
Having analysed their two previous battles with Entei, Sonic instructed Raichu to attack Entei's body right below the mane.
The attack worked to perfection. Entei, albeit strong, was clearly affected by the attack, being shoved to the side a little.
"Thunder punch go!"
Raichu, having ricochetted from the attack landed on its paws and immediately jumped again with its move ready.
Entei was so caught off guard by the speed and force of quick attack, it never saw the thunder punch coming.
Taking heavy damage, it kicked raichu away who landed on its feet this time.
"Your strength has returned. Let us now see if the weakness of fear still remains!"
Raichu let out a cry and braced itself.
As his two friends were already engaging in their battles, Knuckles and Suicune maintained eye contact, something about this moment giving the two inner peace.
Although Knuckles didn't know it, Suicune was using the move extrasensory on him, to look into his soul.
What it found was exactly what it hoped.
Inner peace. Knuckles had made peace with the tragedies of his past and was now prepared to fight to the end for his two friends.
His two brothers.
Suicune felt the same kind of brotherhood for Entei and Raikou. They really were the same with Knuckles in that regard.
Its mind made up, Suicune unleashed hydro pump on Knuckles, who dodged the attack and sent out his Victreebel.
"Razor leaf!"
Victreebel fired a barrage of leaves towards Suicune. Once upon a time those leaves wouldn't even tickle Suicune. But Knuckles had had Victreebel train to use its side leaves, which was where the razor leaf was fired from to, to try and slash at trees in order to make them sharper.
Now each leaf felt like a mini stab to Suicune.
Roaring loudly while unleashing a blue aura around it, Suicune fired aurora beam towards Victreebel.
Knuckles warned Victreebel to dodge but the attack still landed, knocking Victreebel out.
Knuckles quickly recalled it, pondering on his next move. Suicune was a very bulky pokemon.
"The leaves did damage it however. That means its strong defense is its special one" he surmised choosing his next pokemon.
"Go heracross!"
The blue beetle emerged, its wings flapping extremely fast as it awaited instructions.
"Megahorn go!"
Heracross charged forward. Suicune responded with another hydro pump.
Knuckles smiled. Sonic's blastoise had helped them train well.
"Break through the hydro pump!"
And against all the pressure, Heracross pushed through and slammed its horn against Suicune, shoving it back and causing it to stumble.
Suicune was shocked. It had never expected the echidna to be so strong.
Its gaze momentarily turned to Raikou, which was surprisingly battling both Tails' Steelix and his butterfree. Steelix was trying to subdue Raikou and butterfree was trying to put it to sleep so Tails would avoid hurting it any more.
"Steelix! Bind it!"
Steelix's body wrapped around Raikou again, as Butterfree's sleep powder rained over the beast of thunder.
Its eyes became heavy but it fought against the sleepiness attempting to bite Steelix.
"Protect!"
Their strategy was now perfected. The protect covered only Steelix's body, unlike during the battle with Gary, nullifying Raikou's attack. Steelix then applied more force on Raikou, trying to get it to surrender.
A thundering crash filled everyone's ears, causing Tails, Knuckles, Raikou and Suicune to momentarily stop and observe the brutal but magnificent battle taking place between Entei and Raichu.
The latter pokemon was in the zone, taking advantage of its speed and smaller stature compared to Entei, dancing around the beast of flames, landing thunder punches and brick breaks left and right.
Entei however was also fighting with all its might. On one occasion one of its sacred fires found its mark, blasting Raichu in the face and sending waves of pain through its body and Sonic's.
The latter was a bit unnerved by the fact that his side of the pain was somewhat dialed up over the last few days. But he refused to back down.
Exchanging a look of understanding with Raichu they stood strong.
"Still think I'm weak?" he heard in his mind Raichu call out Entei.
"Show me your power!" Entei roared unleashing another sacred fire.
Raichu dodged but flames engulfed his body. It had been burned by the earlier sacred fire.
Sonic gritted his teeth.
"I hate it when Raichu gets burned. No matter! We're not going down!"
Raichu cried out and prepared another thunder punch as Entei prepared for a bite.
The attacks collided, sending both pokemon back due to the sheer force of the conflict.
Entei roared and tried to fire a flamethrower.
As it did, electricity crawled on its body immobilizing it.
"Paralysis. This ought to even the odds" Sonic smiled confidently.
The other two pairs, their battle passion burning hot, returned to clashing.
Suicune attacked Heracross with extrasensory, knocking it down but not out. Heracross retaliated with brick break, striking Suicune hard.
Knuckles' hunch was right. Its physical defenses were not as good as its special ones. Or maybe this Suicune was more adept to tanking special attacks.
"Heracross! Megahorn again!"
As Heracross was about to land the move again, Suicune, with unexpected speed, hopped to the side and fired a hydro pump at point blank range.
The move was so powerful Knuckles thought heracross would get decapitated for a moment. Fortunately it merely fainted.
Recalling it quickly, he decided to get a page out of Sonic's book, sending out Ampharos.
At this point his two best counters to Suicune had fainted. Tyranitar was strong and so was Typhlosion but weak to water. Ampharos countered water but special moves just wouldn't do as much. His only hope was to try and stun Suicune.
"Ampharos thunderbolt!"
Ampharos fired thunderbolt towards Suicune. The attack did hurt Suicune but it took it leagues better than the earlier razor leaf.
Suicune fought back with water pulse, revealing its final move.
Knuckles smiled. Suicune may be a tough opponent but knowing your opponent was power.
He would beat it.
While this was happening, Tails was in a tough spot. Raikou had managed to break out of Steelix's bind and used thunder on Butterfree, crisping its wings and knocking it out. It then fired another shadow ball on Steelix, knocking out the massive iron snake too.
Tails was also down to three pokemon.
Both friends' exchanged a look, realizing they were in the same predicament.
Tails proceeded to send out Scizor. Ironic. Raikou had helped him defeat Gary's Scizor a few days ago.
"Slash!"
Scizor lunged at Raikou but the beast pulled the same move it had on Gary's Scizor, using thunderbolt first and then pinning it down while preparing thunder.
"Not this time! Protect!"
Having trained with Steelix on this, Scizor protected itself, causing Raikou to get struck by its own thunder.
Raikou stumbled back. Tails felt horrible but also confident.
He was almost there.
"Ampharos! Thunderbolt again!"
The thunderbolt landed but Suicune struck back with icy wind. Ampharos was growing exhausted.
Knuckles gripped his fist. It wasn't getting paralyzed.
Suicune locked eyes with him.
The serene look in its eyes despite the brutal battle, helped Knuckles calm down immensely.
Taking a deep breath he smiled, getting a crazy idea.
"Ampharos! Use thunderbolt from close range!"
Ampharos tried to approach Suicune who fought back with hydro pump.
"I'm sorry Ampharos but please tank this" Knuckles apologized.
The moment the attack landed they made their move.
"Thunderbolt!"
Thunderbolt was fired, travelling through the hydro pump and into Suicune's mouth causing insane damage. By the time the attack was over, steam was coming out of Suicune's body, indicating it had been slightly fried from the inside.
It was getting much weaker.
Knuckles too was close. All that was left was Sonic.
With Knuckles and Tails being so focused on their own battles, they didn't even realize the impact of the clash between Raichu and Entei.
The two pokemon were going the distance, both extremely exhausted. Sonic had tried multiple times to switch Raichu out but the electric type refused.
This wasn't just about earning the beasts' allegiance.
It was personal.
"So tell me" Raichu called out to Entei using its tail to stand up "am I still weak?"
Entei growled.
"You have proven nothing!"
And with that it jumped towards Raichu, preparing a stomp.
"Not this time!" Sonic shouted, as he got side by side with Raichu.
The duo of trainer and pokemon experienced for the third time the familiar feeling of their bodies melting in the face of Entei's might.
But this time.
This time they wouldn't lose. Or draw.
They were here to win.
With a combined battle cry, the two were engulfed by lightning.
Entei was taken by surprise at this as he felt thunderbolt course through its body.
With a golden glow surrounding them, Sonic and Raichu pushed back against Entei, sending it flying for a moment and then crashing on the ground hard, struggling to get back up.
Looking over his shoulders as quickly as he could as the lightning dissipated, he witnessed his friends having cornered the other two beasts as well.
"Now or never!" he called out to them as he took out a pokeball.
Tails and Knuckles mimicked him.
With a singular move each member of team Sonic threw their held pokeball.
Entei, Raikou and Suicune were absorbed into the balls which then fell to the ground wiggling.
Each of the three friends stared at their own pokeball with anxiety.
"One…" Sonic said.
"Two" Tails continued.
"Three" Knuckles uttered fully expecting the beasts to break out.
The catch sound echoed on the peak of mount Tensei. Three times.
"WE DID IT!" Sonic screamed as he ran to pick up Entei's pokeball.
"I can't believe it" Tails also picked up Raikou's ball with trembling hands.
Knuckles brought Suicune's pokeball to his forehead.
"Thank you for choosing me Suicune".
Getting side by side again, the three friends, each with a grin bigger than the former's etched on their faces, sent out the beasts.
The three legendary pokemon appeared but were still damaged from the battle.
"Damn we injured them too much. Sorry Raikou".
Raikou, slightly limping, approached Tails and started cuddling with him again, filling the fox's heart with pure joy.
Knuckles approached Suicune.
"I hope there's no hard feelings" he said with a smile as he reached out.
Suicune responded by pressing its head against Knuckles' palm. Knuckles took the chance to pet Suicune.
As for Sonic, Raichu and Entei, they were taking their time. Their history was kind of the roughest of the three pairs.
Sonic understood Entei's stiffness. Ferocity and power was its thing more than socializing.
"Glad to have you with us big guy" Sonic reached out, stroking Entei's fur.
Entei looked into the hedgehog's eyes for a moment before meeting Raichu's.
"It seems you really have faced your fear".
Raichu rubbed its stomach where its wound once was.
"I wouldn't have done it without your father's interference. I am eternally grateful".
Entei nodded negatively.
"My father did save you but it's you who took advantage of the chance granted to you" it said as it knelt to meet Raichu face to face.
"It will be my honor to go into battle with you".
Raichu and Entei shared a nod of understanding as Sonic continued stroking Entei.
Ho-oh, seeing the three trainers having successfully passed its trial, let out another loud cry before taking off and spraying team Sonic and the beasts with sacred ash, healing them and restoring the beasts to their former glory, before flying off into the endless blue sky, entrusting the fate of the region to its children and their trainers.
As the three legendary pokemon roared in pride once again, Sonic remembered the whole reason they had tamed them.
"Oh snap! Goldenrod!" he shouted, getting the binoculars from Knuckles and racing to the edge.
"How bad is it?" Tails came to his side.
Sonic looked for a while before silently gasping.
"Very bad. It's saffron city all over again. Rockets inside. Police outside".
Knuckles bumped him to the side.
"That was then right? So let's take advantage of now and beat the hell out of them!"
Sonic smiled confidently.
The beasts approached them, awaiting instructions.
"We need to get there quickly" Sonic said "Knuckles?"
"Hm?"
"Ask Suicune to get us there".
"Why are you asking me to ask them?"
"Suicune is the alpha of the three right? The leader. And he is with you".
"And I am in team Sonic" Knuckles simply smiled.
Sonic opened his mouth trying to speak but couldn't.
"No time to debate Sonic. You're our leader. So lead us to battle" Tails encouraged him.
Sonic was encouraged indeed.
"Legendary beasts" he turned to them "please get us to Goldenrod".
The beasts proceeded to sit like average felines, allowing team Sonic to ride one each.
The beasts then stood on the edge of the peak with their trainers.
Tails riding Raikou.
Knuckles riding Suicune.
Sonic riding Entei.
"Ready team Sonic?" he asked them with a hyped tone.
"You bet!" Tails replied just as hyped.
"Let's blow those rockets out of the sky!" Knuckles waved his fist in the air, eager to use it soon.
"Rai!" Raichu cried out before being recalled.
The beasts roared once each in the following order: Raikou, Suicune and lastly Entei.
"To battle then!" Sonic gave the signal as Entei roared as loudly as it could before pouncing off the edge, landing on a rock, followed closely by Raikou and Suicune as they started quickly racing down the mountain.
It was time for team Sonic to show the Johto region that hope lived on.
"You will soon learn team rocket" Sonic thought determined "if bad rises, good will always rise up to meet it. You're going down!"