Lance felt his stomach lurch the second the power flickered, only for light from a nearby window to brighten.
Instincts that he’d worked to upkeep from his time as a Ranger flared to the fore.
“We’re under attack!” he roared as the light outside brightened. Two pokeballs were launched through the window and a moment later twin Dragonites appeared.
Then the lights in the room returned as backup generators kicked in.
“Hurricane!” he ordered as Lorelei followed up by releasing her Jynx and Lapras into the room itself.
Trainers that had been milling about were only just reaching for their pokeballs when the entire structure shuddered as something hit close by.
People screamed and braced only to glance around in surprise.
Outside, a wave of fire was torn upwards as the two Dragonite worked in tandem to shift the fire.
Lance sprinted to the window to get a better look at the situation only to grimace at what he was seeing. Whoever was out there was throwing more fire at the Hurricane rather than less.
It was causing the construct of wind to glow more and more ominous.
His mind raced at the implications. Whoever was doing this was strong and had an idea how to combat defensive moves that the Blackthorn clan employed during battles.
“Psychics! Teleport us all to the Hall of Fame now!” he ordered, not willing to try something else as he caught the pokeballs he’d thrown earlier only to trigger their return feature.
The psychics, thankfully, were quick to react, and the room flashed as everyone vanished only to reappear at the front of the Hall of Fame. Lance checked his pokeballs and almost collapsed in relief when he saw that both were occupied.
A roar and a huge thump announced the collapse of the fiery Hurricane and Lance turned his attention towards where he’d been holding the meeting.
The entire building that served as the Champion’s office blazed like it was a torch in the night sky.
Lance’s hands clenched as his emotions shifted from worry to a roaring, nearly all-consuming demand to unleash his wrath that rose within him.
“Lance!” Lorelei called, her words acting like an ice pick to his draconic aura and making him flinch.
He should get rid of her, she was a threat— he shook his head annoyed at the old thoughts that were born of Elderly men and women’s whispers to him.
“Thank you,” he bit out.
Lorelei blinked only to nod. “Ah, yes, well. The communication devices are down,” she declared, shifting topics as she raised her wrist and indicated the lack of connection.
Which shouldn’t be possible.
One of Pryce’s priorities as Champion had been the development of basic infrastructure. He’d worked hard on roads, sewerage, and then shifted to communications. Supposedly, he’d been very confused about the transceiver towers until he’d gotten a good use of them.
It had been an oversight of his, but one that he was highly lauded about so he couldn’t grumble about ‘new-fangled towers’ like he might supposedly had initially.
The towers were so prolific that it was possible to wander through most of the Indigo wilds and still have at least some connectivity. It was only the deep wilds that couldn’t be penetrated.
For the Indigo Plateau to have no connection, there had to be foul play at foot.
“They’ve attacked the towers before coming here,” Lance declared. His one hand strapped to one of the psychic trainers. “Go to Mahogany Town and report the situation to Pryce. If he’s not available—” Lance considered the various parties of available trainers. Brock and Sabrina would be his first point of call but getting to them would drain the Psychic. “Go to Karen and pull her from the Raid upon the Violet city data servers.”
The psychic swallowed. “I-I will see it done!” he replied, bobbing his head as he released a Hypno. The pair vanished a moment later and Lance turned to give other orders only to find Lorelei ordering others to begin sweeping the area for civilians and any enemy combatants.
Lance listened for a moment only to nod at her orders. They weren’t precisely what he would do but he wasn’t about to countermand her and slow things down.
They needed to act.
“Lorelei, you’re with me. We need to keep Blaine occupied,” he declared.
And there was no doubt in his mind that it was Blaine attacking them.
The firepower alone…
“I’ll need to keep a portion of my team back,” Lorelei warned him and Lance nodded as most of his team took to the skies.
His starter however, hovered above him, his wings causing powerful blasts of wind to buffet Lance only to be ignored as he strode forward.
“Let’s get his attention,” Lance declared, as he reached for one of his necklaces. The keystone upon the cord glinted in the light of the fire and Lance began to draw upon his aura.
Above them, Salamence growled as he felt the power build up within. The lightshow began as the power of mega Evolution began to manifest itself, acting like a beacon in the night.
Two Charizard that had been strafing office buildings and dropping what looked like pokeballs from satchels from their stomach turned on a dime as attacks erupted from what could only be the Ranger HQ.
Lance smirked. Heh, Blaine must have been underestimating the Rangers. The old men and women that lead the Rangers weren’t any slouches, and Lance knew that the guards were never lax in their duties.
Still, the movement of the charizard stood out to him. Or rather, their line of sight.
They were watching the light instead of the skies.
With a silent command, Lance ordered his two Dragonite to drop from above.
Both plummeted only for twin lances of fire to erupt from the top of the burning Pokechow building and that of Champion Tower.
“There are pokemon in there?” Lorelei gasped. “Those have to be infernos!”
“Which means nothing to some fire type pokemon,” Lance replied, watching as his Dragonite had to readjust from their dive bombs. He shifted orders and had one attempted a Rain Rance only for it to be countered by a Sunny Day orb arising from the Champion’s tower.
“Flareon and what else could sit within a fire like that?” Lorelei asked.
“A Magmar, or Magcargo could do it,” Lance gritted out. “We need to douse those fires,” he declared. “Can you handle that?”
“I should be able, but you need to watch out for Blaine attacking from your blindspots, he is a master tactician and grandfather had to stay mobile and fight in unusual manners to push Blaine back. Watch out for him sending his Rapidash and Arcanine in from the back as well,” she stated.
“That… is actually great advice,” Lance offered. “Thank you.”
“Good, now don’t read into it too much and make things weird!” she stated with a glacial tone before exhaling and causing a small wave of cold air to sweep away from her. “Also, don’t die, replacing you would be annoying,” she tossed over her shoulder as she strode confidently away.
A shimmer in the air alerted Lance that her newest pokemon, a Froslass, was guarding her back.
He felt oddly relieved and saddened at her departure, which he supposed was growth from when he merely wanted her gone.
Lance mentally adjusted the arrangement of his team, having them circling his position as Salamence roared out, announcing to all that a Mega evolution had occurred.
Lance felt good.
Actually, he felt better than good
He felt great!
Like a jolt of energy through his body, Lance felt like he’d just consumed a six-pack of energy drinks.
With a sweep of his hand, Mega Salamence went from hovering to streaking across the sky like a meteor.
Blaine’s Charizard twisted in a true display of aerial grace that defied the usually ungainly flying pokemon.
It wasn’t enough to stop Salamence smashing it out of the sky with his longer wings.
Wings that swung from a wide arc into a crescent that caused Charizard to suddenly be right in front of the empowered Dragon type pokemon.
Charizard tried to counter with Dragon Claw only for Salamence to toss it into the air where it tumbled for a moment before righting itself and roaring angrily.
Salamence, rather than striking it, switched targets and slammed into the back of the other Charizard.
Exactly as Lance ordered.
The first Charizard twisted, shocked at this turn of events only to be taken by surprise as Lance’s Dragonite hit it with an Aqua Tail only for something to shimmer across its body.
Lance frowned, what was that? A super-effective blow had been negated. Was that some new technology?
He scowled, or was it something much simpler?
Charizard corrected its flight and responded with a wave of blue fire that was easily identifiable as Dragon Breath.
Dragonite skilfully dodged, only for Charizard to duck back and sweep low upon another building with a tongue of flame.
“!” The move caused a wave of anger to build through Lance. Blaine wasn’t fighting, he was merely destroying! Lance began to run to get closer, his pokemon advancing with him and on the watch for any ambushes that might emerge from the various flaming buildings.
Nothing occurred however and Lance found himself swinging at shadows as his pokemon constantly battered and smashed the two pokemon they could come to grips with.
Only for them to be the most resilient Charizard he’d ever fought!
Both had to have consumed Pasho berries as they seemed to shrug off any water type attacks that Lance ordered!
How they did it more than once vexed Lance until he rounded a corner with his team to spot the Charizard evading his Dragonite again only to swoop upon a streetlight with a small bag upon it.
The fire-flying type pokemon devoured the bag whole and shot back up into the air causing Lance to scowl.
Aide stations, there were blasted aide stations set up throughout the Plateau!
A quick look around revealed no less than three other hanging bags in sight!
The Charizard had only been swooping on the bags when Lance’s pokemon couldn’t see them. This must have been why they were so resilient! They kept bolstering themselves with potions and berries!
It stunk of a level of preplanning that caused Lance to feel a gnawing dread take hold of him. How long had Blaine been preparing for this?
As doubt began to grow he continued to look around, his vision blurring slightly as his breath drew in and—
A powerful jolt ran through him as one of his Dragonite swept above him and began beating its wings clearing the smoke around him.
Lance blinked. Oh, he’d been starting to run out of air. “Thank you my friend,” he stated.
Draognite trilled happily and swept its wings around, creating a bubble of clean air before rocketing back into the fight. Lance adjusted his team so that another could see to his needs.
He wasn’t going to help anyone if he blacked out.
Glancing around again, he noted that certain points appeared to be emitting more smoke than they should. He set his Flygon to smothering them while turning his attention to the bags that had so vexed him.
What else was in them?
Lance stepped towards one of the bags only for the hair across his body to stand on end as electrical energy built up.
“PROTECT!” he roared and his closest pokemon, Flygon curled around him and created a shell of protective energies while most of his other pokemon shot away as he’d trained them to. Only one other joined them in the shell.
The world around him turned white with electrical energy to the point that Lance could taste the Thunder that had been unleashed upon him.
He licked his lips as a dull boom rattled the Protect shell, and Flygon cried out as the defensive shield cracked in places but held out long enough for the electrical attack to fade away.
As soon as Flygon faltered, another of Lance’s pokemon, his young Aerodactyl, in fact, took over by forming their own Protect.
This proved to be the right call as another wave of electrical attacks attempted to wipe them out.
This time, the attacks were weaker, allowing Flygon to adjust itself and stab its tail into the ground.
The next time the Protect fell, rather than spend another pokemon’s guaranteed defense, Lance allowed the lightning to hit, only for Flygon to absorb and transfer the attacks into the ground, fully negating any negative effects they might have had.
With his defense ascertained, Lance countered by sweeping the field with Dragon Breath, Hyperbeam and even a Fire Blast as he looked through his pokemon’s eyes and spotted the various Electrode and a trio of Raticates of all things that had assaulted him!
Or at least attempted to.
Unlike the Charizard, when these pokemon got hit, they stayed down, fully unconscious from a single blow. Which didn’t stop Lance from having his pokemon buffet the Electrode away from him, as even unconscious, they were still a form of ordinance.
Blaine had truly mastered area of effect damage with his team.
The sound of clapping caused Lance to stop and look around.
From the shadows, a figure wearing Blaine’s signature scientific outfit emerged.
Lance scowled, only to shake his head and straighten. “I suppose I should have—”
Instincts flared and Lance threw himself to the side right as Salamence swept overhead and caught a lunging Arcanine out of the air. This time Salamence didn’t let it go and instead shot into the air, where the four legged dog pokemon howled miserably.
Lance straightened back up, now glaring at Blaine who merely smirked.
“You’re sick,” Lance declared. “Surrender yourself now! I won’t ask again!” he shouted.
Blaine crossed his arms, not speaking a word.
The shadows shifted and a Gengar launched itself from the side, mouth wide as it prepared to lick Blaine and disable him only for Blaine to melt into a purple goo that revealed itself to be a Ditto.
“Ditto!” chimed the gelatinous pokemon.
“Tch! He’d learned more tricks it would seem,” Agatha declared as she stepped out of the shadows near Lance, their ruse no longer possible.
“Well I unlike so many others never stopped learning tricks as it were Agatha!” declared a voice through several nearby speakers.
Lance glanced at them. “What is your plan here? With this assault on both the pokenet and the Indigo League you have just become enemy number one of the state of Indigo!”
“Ha! You say that like I should be scared! From where I am boy, I hold all the cards! You’re the ones running around headlessly trying to guess at my ambitions!”
“So you do have ambitions? I’m surprised. You always just had studies and advancements to make,” Agatha replied calmly.
“Hmph, it just goes to show you never truly understood me. Still… I won’t say no to collecting a little more data,” taunted Blaine through the speakers. “Did you know Ditto doesn't need to see more than a glimpse of a pokemon to mimic it Agatha?”
The ditto that had been sitting to the side, ignored by both Lance and Agatha suddenly shifted to form a large black mass with a leering face.
From Agatha’s shadow, Old Gengy, her strongest Gengar came awake, rising up until it too had formed.
Agatha eyed the new pokemon and cackled, “Oh Blaine. You poor deluded fool. You have no idea how badly that is about to go for you, do you?”
Gengy launched itself at Ditto with a howling cackle, completely unafraid of the pokemon that was ostensibly its equal.
Gengy began savaging the other pokemon while Agatha gleefully stared right into a nearby security camera. “Unlike some, Gengy has always been able to rise to the occasion.”
Lance shuddered at the imagery that sentence evoked before pushing it aside. Perhaps having a break from the pokenet wasn’t such a bad thing?
From around another corner, the sounds of hooves caused Lance to snap around and release his Gyarados, causing the small herd of Rapidash that had been charging to suddenly find themselves waylaid.
Sparks began to fly as the Rapidash charged towards Gyarados only for Lance to counter by having his Salamence sweep down from above right as Gyarados loosened a Surf upon the herd.
Where was Blaine getting all these pokemon?
On a whim Lance flicked out a ranger pokeball only to see it catch the pokemon and send it away.
Wild pokemon?
“Agatha! Some of these pokemon are wild! I suspect he’s been Hypnotising them!”
“Feh! New tricks indeed!” declared Agatha as she eyed the herd that was regathering around a single, larger, more powerful Rapidash that had evaded Gyarados’ Surf.
“That one!” Agatha called rather pointlessly.
Lance nodded, preparing to have Salamence strike again as the herd built up another electric charge. Was that Volt Tackle? Could Rapidash learn that move?
Right as Salamence turned Lance felt a sudden harsh tug on his aura as the Mega Evolution demand became higher. Lance grit his teeth, not willing to lose it now, not at such—
“Fly!” barked his Flygon, sensing Lance’s momentary weakness.
“Earthquake!” Lance barked, recalling that he had a lot more options than just water moves to combat the fire type. If Flygon was feeling brave, all the better.
Flygon accelerated forward only to twist in the air and slam into the ground feet first, sending a rippling wave of earth towards the herd.
Almost all of them were tossed off their feet.
Once more, the sole standalone Rapidash, the leader of the herd jumped off the buildings along the street, causing them to break with each stride it took only to throw itself straight at Flygon from the side.
“Fllllly!” squealed Flygon as it twisted in a last-ditch effort to evade, only for Salamence to once more swoop in.
Lance hummed, recalling the last pokemon he’d had his pokemon handle in this manner.
He looked up and found himself looking at a man upon a Charizard recalling an Arcanine.
“Agatha he’s above us!” Lance shouted.
Agatha’s head snapped around, and like a Sharpedo scenting blood she attacked.
Her pokemon emerged from shadows around her and discharged a round of Shadow Orbs only for the Charizard to tuck and roll to evade the strikes. Lance started to follow with his strongest Dragnote, who’d been hovering behind him and performing multiple Swords Dance to lock on..
“Take them out!” Lance roared.
Dragonite blasted upwards, causing a shockwave of force that sent Lance sliding to the side and Lance’s cape sailing away as release clasps stopped Lance from being dragged with it.
Dragonite's ascent caused a wave of fire to launch from various buildings, announcing that various pokemon of Blaine’s were still in play.
What? Where was Lorelei? He turned only to find that a significant portion of the plateau’s buildings such as the stadium and pokecenter were coated in frost.
A roar from above made Lance focus back on the fight as his pokemon fought an aerial dogfight.
Dragonite closed on the Charizard only for a Protect to stop him in his tracks.
Dragonite still punched it in annoyance, letting out a small warble of frustration.
“Take out the Rapidash!” Lance declared to another of his Dragonite who nodded and tore after the screaming pokemon.
Lance knew that it was effectively taking one of his pokemon off the field, but at the same time it was true of Blaine’s pokemon.
And Lance had more allies to call upon than—
Lance stared in horror as the Protect surrounding Blaine began to glow brighter and brighter.
A sudden sinking in his stomach preceded his mind.
Blaine had to have another pokemon up there, using Sunny Day along with another move!
“Aim up!” Lance called desperately, knowing that whatever was coming was going to be powerful. “Dragonite retreat!” Lance barked at his starter who shot back to Lance.
A moment later he was proven right as the Protect fell away.
“Blast Burn,” whispered Blaine and from a myriad of speakers, his voice carried as a huge Fireball descended upon Lance and Agatha.
“HYPER BEAM!” Lance bellowed even as Agatha and her team shifted towards him desperately.
From the maw of most of Lance’s team, orbs of light grew only to unleash their attacks as powerful beams of energy from a multitude of angles.
Lance gasped and staggered as the energy feeding into Salamence surged once more, causing him to see darkness for a moment. Altaria and Flygon were quick to reach him, supporting him to his feet as they watched several Hyperbeams tear apart the giant fireball.
When they were done, Lance had to blink a few times as the night suddenly seemed so much darker without the beams and the fireball.
“Heh, was that your best shot?” Lance declared, pride swelling through him as his Draconic aura surged.
“No, but it served as a distraction,” remarked Blaine.
Lance blinked at that only to feel his feet suddenly grow much hotter.
He didn’t have a chance to react before a plume of lava erupted around him only for it to pass over yet another Protect.
Lance stared as Agatha held him upright.
“Foolish boy! Blaine never just uses a single attack! He hits and he keeps on hitting! YOu need to catch him unawares to truly have him!”
Lance swallowed. “Thanks for the save,” he offered before looking around. “This would be his Magmar’s work then?” he remarked.
“Most likely. It has always been stronger at attacks such as this.”
Agatha waved her hand and a chill wind cut through the lava, solidifying it only for Gengy to punch it and break them out of the shell that had formed. Lance stepped out first, not wanting Agatha to be exposed.
His own pokemon shifted to guard him and Lance glanced around for the errant Magmar only to blink as a much larger form began to lift itself up out of the ground.
“That’s no Magmar… what is that?” Lance muttered in shock.
“Surprised? Heh, it seems that Brock isn’t the only one to discover new evolutions for his pokemon!” Blaine crowed.
Lance grunted as he finally released his hold on the mega evolution of Salamence.
“Hmmmm, finally run out of time with that little Dragon of yours, haven’t you boy?” declared Blaine proudly.
“If that’s what you think. I never needed it to begin with. You’re a man reliant on tricks and cheap tactics rather than true strength.”
“Hmmm, all is fair in war boy,” declared Blaine. “Hmmm, you offered me a surrender before, but how about you offer your own now? I’ll spare you the shame; let things go back to the way of strength, making right as is proper!”
“You’re more psychotic than I was led to believe,” Lance stated only to shake his head. “And I won’t be bowing my head. Not to you or any like you. I stand for Indigo! I am its Champion and I will show you how badly you have erred!” Lance declared, his pokemon rising as the energy they’d expended returned to them.
All of them were more than ready to keep fighting.
Lance threw his arm outwards, ignoring how he’d only done that to make his missing cape flare. “Dragons attack!” he roared.
Blaine laughed as his Charizard swept into position and other pokemon began to appear.
Lance’s eyes snapped towards the Arcanine that he knew he’d had Salamence hurl into the air, which made a reappearance with a Rapidash.
Blaine had to have support… How else had he gotten those two pokemon out of danger without recalling them?
Pokemon broke off and Lance was pleased to see he was holding his own with his pokemon. Gyarados had to be kept away from Rapidash but that was easy enough with Flygon backing them up.
Flygon and Gyarados worked so well they were able to pin Rapidash in position and were able to put it out of the fight only for a flash of light to reveal Arcanine blocking the strike from Flygon while Rapidash counterattacked with a sudden sweep of electricity.
Gengy the Gengar appeared out of Gyarados’ shadow and caught the blow before it could land, laughing maniacally as electricity coursed through his body.
Then Gyarados struck, knocking Rapidash out finally. Shadowy hands erupted around the fainted pokemon with Agatha’s ghosts attempting to spirit the pokemon away only for a red beam recalling it.
Agatha scoffed and sent her pokemon to join the attack on the aerial pokemon as Arcanine vanished in another Teleport.
“Urgh! Teleport? So that’s how you got away from having that mutt and nag hurled into the sky,” Agatha growled.
Blaine smirked down at them. “Ah, perceptive as always, but late in catching up.”
Lance hummed, observing how Blaine was being pushed back.
Blaine himself seemed just as aware of this. He sighed. “Well it was enjoyable while it lasted,” Blaine stated, only for his head to snap to the side and his wrist to shoot to his mouth.
“Transport on me, now!” he barked as his hands swept across his pokebelt, recalling his entire team.
For a single moment he hung in the air only to begin falling.
Lance felt his heart lurch. Was he about to commit suicide to esc—
An Alakazam appeared beneath Blaine, caught him deftly and then vanished in another Teleport, leaving Lance with little to show for his efforts.
A moment later, four figures appeared.
Brock, Sabrina, and Lola appeared with a Teleport, while in the slowly dawning sky, another Dragonite called out a greeting to Lance’s trio.
On the back of said pokemon was Samuel Oak.
He landed and dismounted deftly, his eyes sweeping the area with an expression that seemed chiselled from stone.
“My apologies for the late response. Blaine had me quite distracted with a surge of wild pokemon storming through my ranch. As well as some other things,” he demurred.
Lance raised an eyebrow. To most people it would seem the ranch had taken precedence, but Lance knew that there were enough strong, and well trained pokemon on the ranch that they’d have been able to defend themselves.
Whatever Oak wasn’t referring to therefore must have been the true issue.
“How did you know to come here?” The League’s com towers are down?” Lance asked.
Samuel chuckled. “They might be down but not the rest of Kanto’s towers. The flames from the League were visible like a glow in the sky from Pewter and Viridian. Young Kaede was quick to call me and inform me of the issue,” Samuel Oak smiled, causing his stern facade to break. “She did well.”
Brock, who’d been surveying the area whistled. “Damn Blaine didn’t pull his punches did he? How many Rapidash are over there?” he asked, pointing at the downed herd.
“I didn’t get the chance to count them,” Lance replied only to snort as he noticed something. “He burned the Devon headquarters the worst.”
Agatha and Oak sighed. “Still Blaine, even when he’s trying to be mysterious he holds grudges.”
For some reason Brock shifted in agitation at that before returning to assessing the area. “This is all well and good, but this level of attack… what purpose did it serve?”
Lance shook his head. “I’m not sure. Perhaps it was a warning?” Lance shook his head only to perk up as one of his Dragonite brayed upon sighting a familiar figure.
Lorelei staggered around the corner, looking thoroughly done with everything.
Her hair was singed in multiple places, her make up had run, and her clothes sported various burn marks across them.
Despite that, she radiated a glacial rage. “Did you know that Blaine has a platoon of Dittos? He had me fighting a mock up team of his own pokemon! I couldn’t even pull out of the fight when I realised it was a decoy as they were that strong! Who trains Ditto to be that strong?” she screamed.
Then she took a deep breath and regathered her cool demeanor. “That is to say, I apologise for being waylaid. I was able to douse the fires on the Champion’s tower, Silph Co, the Financial department, the accounts and also the—”
Lance raised a hand to stop her, a pleased smile slipping into place. “You did what I needed of you. Excellent work Lorelei.”
Lorelei huffed. “Please tell me we don’t have to clean up this mess,” she said, indicating the destroyed street.
Brock began to laugh. “No, worse! We have to do paperwork for this incident!”
Despite himself Lance laughed with him.
Thankfully, as they set about restoring order as good news started to trickle in from the various raids and other sites that had been ‘priorities’ before the Plateau had been attacked.
Funny how what was important could shift so quickly.
Lance rubbed his eyes, glad for the results, but still dreading how he was going to tell the media what had happened here.
Surprisingly, Agatha was the one to approach him. “You did well Lance. You fought strongly and held your own in more ways than one against Blaine.”
Lance stared at her. “You’re not a ditto are you?”
Before Agatha could react to his comment, Oak snorted, only for a chuckle to tear its way out of him.
Lance found himself smiling, and a moment later, Brock put a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, you need a hand, just say the word.”
Lance nodded, grateful at the support. Then he smirked. “Actually, can I have that Charizardit—”
Brock narrowed his eyes at Lance. “I’ll think about it,” he said before Lance could finish.
They stared at each other for a moment only to both break down laughing.
Somehow things didn’t seem so bad when he knew he had his friends helping him out.
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A.N. Thanks got to my Patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!