The caldera, and that’s what it was now, bubbled at various points as the few stray transformed Moltes-ditto spread themselves out.
What was left of the flock divided into two, resulting in five Moltres sweeping in opposite directions from each other.
Four Moltres flew towards Erika, causing her to tense up and buckle as the temperature began to spike. In response her pokemon shifted in closer around her, adamant that they would shield her from any harm.
The other four turned their attention towards Pryce.
He held his ground, glaring down at the advancing pokemon only for Koga to appear next to him.
“Regirock, Sand Blast,” I ordered.
If Blaine wasn’t going to—
“Moltres! Fire Blast!” Blaine called, pointing towards me.
The true Moltres turned its long neck and spat a perfect symbol of fire written in Japanese at me. Unlike the usual variants, this was a towering stamp that, from impact alone would have blown me away.
I was forced to turn Regirock’s attack, causing him to swing its arm up and around, spraying a shockwave of sand into the oncoming attack and denying it outright.
Then small orbs of blue fire flitted towards me and mine. I flinched, raising my fire blanket in readiness only for gouts of water to intercept and deny the Will’o’wisp attack from touching me.
“Don’t worry baby! Mummy’s got your back!” called Lola, causing me to grimace.
I resisted the urge to snap at her for the cutesy tone and instead just nodded in thanks.
“Again!” called Blaine, and I swore as I had Regirock step to the side and repeat the Sand Blast attack.
Well, if nothing else, it was tying down Blaine’s ace pokemon.
Sadly, it was also keeping my own Legendary locked down. Thankfully, I had other pokemon that I could direct to intercept the flock.
Sanchez, Titan and Shin darted a few steps forward and to the side to position themselves better to either fade back into my team, or to support Erika.
As they moved, they launched powerful attacks in Thunder, Stone Edge, and Hydropump at the Moltres to force them back and give Erika a bit of breathing room.
“Bertha, prepare yourself!” I ordered, tossing her another batch of X accuracy. “Looks like you’re going to get another shot at a Legendary!” I called.
“Rhy! Rhyperior!” she chanted, and I snorted.
“It’s bird season indeed,” I replied, rather enjoying the joke.
Bertha grinned, her eyes glinting with glee at the chance to settle the score from the last time we’d fought this particular pokemon. Then her eyes began to track the Moltres flock that darted in and out, launching waves of fire to push Erika back even as Karen, Sabrina and I hurled attacks at the flock.
In response, the Moltres began to move faster as a Tailwind came into effect.
“Keep up the pressure! They’ll either falter or fall back and we can take them out when they do!”
“Easy for you to say!” growled Karen as she wiped at the sweat pouring down her forehead.
Sabrina responded by filling the air with Psybeams and rocks thrown via Psychic. Our flak assault caused two of the Moltres to be caught in rock and various attacks. A Dark Pulse orb slammed into the Ditto and Karen crowed in delight as the two Moltres struggled to maintain their flight.
They fell from the sky rapidly, only for the other two to snatch them up and catch them before they could fall. As soon as they had a bit of height the pokemon began to flap slowly, their eyes closing.
“Now!” I commanded, having expected this to be one of the pokemon moves that the Ditto would have picked up from the original Moltres.
Our pokemon locked on and began to launch their attacks in waves once more.
In response, one of the remaining Moltres still active flew in front of the oncoming assault and used Protect.
The other, turned, tucking its wings into itself and dropping like a meteor straight at Erika.
Erika saw it coming, and rather than flinch, she gritted her teeth and stood tall.
“Knock it from the sky!!” she roared, her hand snapping forward as her eyes began to blaze with defiance.
Her pokemon responded by either channeling Energy Ball, or Solarbeam, which with the brightness of the day, formed quickly causing Moltres to go from racing towards her to suddenly running face first into several attacks.
Alone they would have done little to nothing. Together they caused Moltres to flinch and slow down as the beams slammed into it, almost arresting its momentum.
Bertha twitched, spotting a perfectly good target, and so she began to sprint towards her target, only for Alakazam, Starmie, and Hypno to flash into the air around Moltres and launch their own attacks.
The besieged Moltres cried out in pain, and its body collapsed into a puddle of purple goo as the Ditto became unable to hold its transformed state.
The other three Moltres watched on stoically.
I considered them for a moment. They were fighting very well for a group of pokemon without any trainer to direct them.
“... He’s trained his ditto to practise fighting as Moltres,” I called to the others. “That’s why so many of the ditto we faced only used swarm tactics. They’d been specialising in fighting as a flock of Moltres.”
“Huh, well it’s a damn good thing Blaine didn’t want to flood the base with Moltres and keep his ace hidden, cause if we’d faced hundreds of these suckers we’d have been up shit creek well and truly!” Karen called as she tracked the Moltres who, rather than attack, had begun to circle, watching us for our reactions.
It was mildly unsettling to see the clear intelligence on display with these three. They’d attempted to trap us by having us commit to striking down the recovering pair, only for one to block the attacks as the other went on the offensive.
If there weren’t so many of us here, that might have gone another way quickly.
“Brock, focus on the right-hand Moltres,” Sabrina called, and I glanced over in time to see most, if not all of her pokemon suddenly flash once. Ah, that would be Future sight coming into play. If all of them were going to strike at the same time… well that’s one way of—
On the other side of the valley I spotted a Gengar and a Haunter suddenly appear close to the Moltres attacking Koga and Pryce.
Their laughter rang out loud and gleefully as bonds shot out and connected with two of the Ditto Moltres. Then, instead of sticking around to fight those pokemon, both ghosts descended into the valley, hurtling towards Blaine and his pokemon causing him to growl as he directed his pokemon to dispatch them.
The instant those two fell, the Moltres-ditto collapsed in on themselves.
“Dammit you bitch Agatha!” Blaine shouted as Oak stopped retreating and counterattacked with his pokemon shifting instantly from defensive formations to blazing forward.
Blastoise and Charizard both braced and unleashed Hydro Cannon and Blast Burn while Dragonite ascended and struck towards Moltres with Thunder only for the powerful Legendary to evade the strike with a deft twist of its wing.
Blaine countered by sending a wave of lava rippling forward as fire began to arc up into the air like artillery blasts, forcing Dragonite to evade the flame-filled skies as Moltres drifted imperviously through the fires.
For half a second, I considered adding rocks into the mix but then rethought it when I saw how Moltres was using the fire coming up.
When the fires hit Moltres, rather than twist away, it batted the flame down towards Oak and his pokemon.
Venusaur of all pokemon intercepted the strikes with Magical Leaf, causing the fires to catch and drift away from their section of the field.
Damn, if I added rocks into the mix there was a risk that it wouldn’t be just fire but molten slag dropping on them. Hmmm, which wasn’t the same as not being able to do anything.
“Lola! We need to start countering that lava creep!” I called out as I had Shrek, Tide, and Hypnotoad creating a surf, only to recall a moment later that Bertha could help them. She did so but continued to watch the Moltres circling above us with a narrowed gaze.
Oh yeah, she really wanted to lay them out.
For her, it might even be like bird spotting, only with Legendary pokemon she’d flattened. It seemed she still held a grudge that Moltres had taken the hit and been able to get back into the fight.
Another echoing cackle occurred, but rather than striking at Moltres on the other side this time one of the Moltres on our side found itself caught with a destiny bond.
They shrieked indignantly and lashed out at the Gengar who hovered in position, firing a Shadow Ball at one of the other Moltres. With the Ditto distracted, I locked onto the target bird and launched a wave of rocks, smashing it out of the sky and making it stay that way when it tried to adjust.
It hit the ground as a purple puddle and I grinned, happy to have another threat off the table.
Blaine growled and knelt for a moment before rising with a revived Ditto that looked extremely viscous. It wobbled and looked around only for Blaine to growl and murmur something as he continued to glance around.
Oh, that was rather dastardly. If he could transform his Ditto into Moltres, there was nothing stopping him from transforming any of them into Agatha’s ghost pokemon. By making them have limited exposure, she was making sure that Blaine couldn’t do the same.
Not unless he wanted to reveal his own ghost pokemon.
Blaine seemed to come to the same conclusion as he bared his teeth for a moment, and his moustache twitched.
A moment later, the Ditto turned and the shimmer that had been hanging around behind Blaine’s head resolved into an actual pokemon
Chandelure hung in the air, ghostly flames flickering about at all the carnage and growing with each beat of Moltres’ wings.
Ah, by performing hit and runs without closing in on his pokemon once more Agatha was forcing Blaine’s hand to use his own ghost pokemon.
The Ditto Chandelure shifted into being only for two things to happen straight away.
Oak’s Alakazam appeared in the air above the Chandelure while it was distracted, and a dark shadow streaked across the ground, only to leap across the moat of lava and resolve itself into Gengy.
Gengy’s eyes glowed hypnotically, forcing Chandelure to keep looking its way even as Alakazam unleashed a point blank Psybeam into the ghost pokemon.
Chandelure slammed into the ground and a sound like breaking glass rang out as parts of its body flickered and cracked before its light went dark.
Gengy turned slowly upon the ditto Chandelure only for it to leap at Gengy.
Gengy twitched in surprise, and for a moment I had no idea what it was trying to do, only for Blaine to raise his hand and unleashed a torrent of white hot flame directly at Gengy.
If he happened to burn through Chandelure at the same time, he didn’t appear phased, especially as the transformed pokemon shrieked in pain. Gengy flinched back and shook its arm only to hiss in annoyance.
Something about that Chandelure-ditto seemed off, though, and I stiffened as I recalled that abilities also got transferred when Ditto used Transform.
"AGATHA, THAT POKEMON IS IMMUNE TO FIRE TYPE ATTACKS IT’S BLUFFING!” I bellowed.
And sure enough, the next moment Chandeurle attempted to lash out with the arm stretching out to claw at Gengy.
Rather than evade or back down Gengy chomped down on the other pokemon, and then began to bite further up the arm, dragging Chandelure into its giant maw.
Chandelure screamed in terror at this while Blaine just huffed and waved a hand, causing Gengy to become the target of no less than three attacks.
A shriek from above drew a smile from me as I realised that Sabrina’s attacks had just struck down another Moltres-ditto.
And then there was one, I thought to myself.
Glancing down at the smoking lava I chewed my lip worriedly. That would still be far too hot to walk on… But we needed to get closer.
"Regirock, advance and use Sand Blast at the ground,” I ordered, deciding that if water wasn't enough to cool it down, it was time to smother it with dirt.
Regirock took a step and swung the large appendages that it called limbs, causing a wide spray of rock and dirt that quickly turned into sand from the power of Regirock's strike.
The sand shot into the lava and caused a large chunk of the lava to simply vanish in the face of the legendary pokemon forming terraformation.
Blaine turned his head.
“You think I’m going to allow you and your walking boulders to get close to me Brock?” he growled.
“I don’t care about you allowing anything!” I called back as I pointedly took several dozen steps towards him, tightening the noose as Lola advanced with me.
Blaine scoffed and reached into his labcoat to draw out what looked like a coil gun.
Not questioning it, I threw myself behind Bertha who grunted a moment later. Through my bond I felt a tingle of pain radiating through one of her armour plates as she reached her large fingers towards it, and drew out a harpoon of metal that was roughly the size of my hand.
If that had hit me…
“Hmmm, mild damage to a pokemon from range,” Blaine clinically observed. “Good, it is standing up to its test results.” I then heard him cocking the weapon again.
Not wanting to let him continue to snipe at me, or, God forbid, one of the girls, I had Titan march forward and create a sandstorm.
Oak would be in serious danger, but there had to be a reason he hadn’t already used it against—
Just as the sandstorm started to pick up, I caught sight of Oak kneeling and grabbing a rock.
He clutched it close to his chest and then with a spinning arm hurled it underarm right at Blaine, causing the man to duck to the side.
I blinked in surprise. That had been an impressive Rock Throw.
It was just a shame he’d used a softball pitch. Who taught him to throw?
An image of a smirking young lass by the name of Daisy came to mind.
Right, that fit her to a T.
Still, it worked, forcing Blaine to duck for cover as his fancy gadget suddenly had to contend with a man with rocks.
“Lola, stay out of the Sandstorm. I don’t want you and the others taking damage, circling around and keep closing the gap on Blaine if you can.”
“Alright,” she replied, watching me as I tugged some goggles into place while drawing out a metal plate that I strapped to my chest. Selene warbled at me, and I shot her a smile.
“I know you won’t let me come to harm, girl, but better safe than sorry,” I replied before stepping into the Sandstorm with my other rock type pokemon and marching towards the fighting.
One thing that rather surprised me as I walked through the Sandstorm was how cool it was. Usually, I was so irritated by the sand flicking at me that I never really noticed the temperature, but by getting out of Moltres’ weather effect, it was almost cool.
“Bertha,” I ordered, knowing that we had a limited window. Blaine had to know I was getting close. There was also zero chance he didn’t have a counter in place for this.
So instead of sticking with the plan, I adjusted it and copied Agatha’s earlier move.
We dove into the ground with Bertha and Titan creating a tunnel for us to follow, Regirock brought up the rear.
We didn’t try to get under Blaine, as I knew that would be foolhardy with the pockets of lava surrounding his and Oak’s fight.
What I did instead was circle around and come from another angle with something he couldn’t adjust for.
“You ready?” I asked Titan as Bertha pouted, annoyed that she wasn’t going to get another shot at Moltres.
“Hey, think about it this way,” I said as a rumble shook the earth around us.
Through Shin’s eyes, I saw that Oak had loosed another Hyper Beam from his Dragonite, which appeared to have caught Blaine’s final Charizard, putting it out of the fight.
Bertha glanced back at me.
“You’re making the ‘gun’ that will nail this Moltres once again. That’s a win right?” I asked.
Bertha stared at me, only to shake her head and grumble.
‘It’s not the same thing’ rang clearly through our bond as she punched the dirt out of our way.
Once we’d angled back around, I had her scratch out the topsoil just enough to give us a view of the battlefield.
It was still ongoing despite our being hidden for the last thirty seconds.
Moltres had dropped down a little more to support Blaine’s flagging pokemon team as the man himself had taken to ducking and weaving as he attempted to revive his pokemon or that of Ditto that we’d splattered early on in the fight.
Adjusting the angle of the tunnel took another few seconds. I wasn’t perfectly happy with what we’d made, but it would do well enough for this situation.
I hoped.
“Selene, this will be up to you,” I said. Regirock shifted, eyes glinting on the target at the end of the tunnel. Giving Titan a once over before considering his target, I drew out a burn Heal and sprayed it all over him preemptively, earning a nod of appreciation from him as he crouched down in readiness.
The Moltres drifted in and out of sight and I licked my lips, waiting for a moment where Moltres paused in the air, feeling rather like a sniper as I got a feel for Moltres’ natural flow of movement.
I just needed it to—
“Now Brock,” Sabrina called to me telepathically.
I didn’t hesitate, and neither did my pokemon as Titan surged forward, Giga Impact energy building as he sprinted up the tunnel.
Regirock waited for a few moments, then, like a hammer coming down on a nail, it swung its limb up, sending a blast of pressure and sand up through the tunnel, launching Titan into the air.
“Parry this,” I muttered darkly.
Like a giant bullet, Titan soared, psychic energies from Selene guiding him on his course as he closed on a shocked Moltres.
It had no time to react and neither did Blaine as his ace was blown out of the sky.
Titan closed his arms around the Legendary pokemon’s neck as a fierce grin stole over his features. Flames licked up his talons and scorched his scales but he didn’t let go even as the burn heal sizzled off within seconds.
Seconds were all he needed as he held Moltres tight.
Then they slammed into the top of the valley on the other side, causing a small avalanche around them.
Perfect. Titan rose, ignoring the shifting rocks and sand, and began to hammer the stunned Moltres, roaring triumphantly as blow after blow rained down.
I grinned as I stalked out of the tunnel.
It was always a good feeling when you knocked a pokemon like that off its perch.
Now if only I could do the same to mewtwo…
Right as Titan drew back for a final strike, something shifted, and in Moltres’ place, Ninetails appeared.
It stared up at Titan only to take a continent-splitting blow to the face, smashing it into the ground. Titan rose to his full height, an angry roar ripping across the valley at his prey being stolen.
I found myself sharing the sentiment as I clenched my fists. How had he… Ah, Baton Pass, I realised as my gaze fell upon Blaine, only to find a battered and bruised Moltres at his side.
He gave it an annoyed look only to turn and glare at me.
“I see Agatha and Koga have been teaching you how to sneak around and stab at weak points.”
“Yeah, works pretty well, doesn't it?” I taunted, crossing my arms into my signature pose as I looked down upon Blaine.
That seemed to piss him off as he drew out multiple potions and began dousing the shuddering Moltres.
“Blaine! Don’t you think it’s time to give up?” Oak called. “Surrender, make this easy.”
“Surrender? Only you would think like that Oak. You forget this is still my base you’re attacking. I have more tricks up my sleeve that you’ve seen yet! As for surrendering. Never!”
He drew out another remote and clicked it.
From across the valley, tubes shot up into the air and opened up.
I tensed, afraid that he’d activated some missile pods or something like that.
Instead, several unconscious Electrode rolled out of each tube.
Blaine stiffened.
A cackle swept over the valley as Agatha reappeared to gloat. “Oh dear, it seems someone disabled your little failsafe. Such a shame!” she taunted.
Karen straightened. “Oi! Piss off Agatha! You didn’t do shit! That was my pokemon slinking around while we drew his attention!” she called, and a Gengar appeared next to her.
Hadn’t that been a Haunter before?
I tilted my head and gave the downed Electrode another look. Were they alive or…
Deciding not to question it, I watched Agatha ignore Karen with a sniff as she too looked down upon him.
Blaine's glare intensified even as Moltres twitched, rousing itself as it began to regather itself.
Bertha stepped forward with a grin. “Rhy rhy,” she rumbled, eyes locked on the weakened Moltres.
I snorted. “Yeah, if it tries anything with us, smash its beak in,” I replied, earning a savage grin from Bertha as she rolled her shoulders, eager to add another Legendary pokemon to her tally.
Blaine inhaled and exhaled, causing the fires around to brighten and dim.
Hmmm, that was mildly worrying.
Blaine drew out a small computer pad and held it up, the light reflecting off the dark metal it was made of. He pointedly shot Sabrina a smug look that told me all I needed to know about the metal.
She wouldn’t be able to steal it from him if she tried.
“I have been launching rockets into outer space to create several satellites that are orbiting the pokeworld!” he announced.
Oak blinked. “That… is quite the achievement. It would do a lot of good.”
“Feh! Good he says, it is a final gambit that allows us complete victory before any other can threaten us.” Blaine tapped a few buttons, and a video feed showing Kanto as a region from outer space revealed itself.
I was starting to get a sinking feeling as to where this was going. I’d grown up on enough Bond movies and sci-fi to know that when the bad guy announced he had satellites orbiting the world, what he really meant was—
“Each of these satellites has a payload capable of leveling ten cities!” Blaine announced.
And there it was, I thought to myself as I clenched my fists.
Blaine grinned triumphantly. “So as you can see, your efforts here mean nothing. You will leave now, and I shall collect my team and once more vanish!” he announced.
Oak glared. “We can’t let you do that,” he declared firmly.
“You don't have a choice!” crowed Blaine triumphantly.
Oak’s hands flexed, and his gaze swept over the battlefield. I chewed my lip and glanced to Sabrina who actually had a calm expression on her face.
I tilted my head. Now why was she—
A powerful gust swept through the valley followed by a blue and red blur that landed off to the side of Oak and Blaine.
Lance jumped off his Salamance, his cape flaring dramatically.
“Blaine! Surrender now and you will—”
I coughed loudly, interrupting his spiel.
He shot me a look, and I made a chopping action at my throat. “We already did that. He’s got a weapon system in space that he’s threatening us with unless we let him go,” I called, summarising the issue as quickly as I could.
Lance blinked at this information, then blinked again. He gave everyone a thoughtful look, then turned back to Blaine. “In space, you say?”
Blaine nodded smugly.
Lance pursed his lips in thought, looked up like he expected to see something. “Hmmm I see,” he said with a nod. “Well. Go ahead then. Push the button. Launch your weapons.”
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Blaine snorted. “Cute bluff, Blackthorn, but I’m not bluffing. To prove it, why don’t I show you what will happen to your beloved Blackthorn City?” Blaine crowed as he tapped the pad quickly,
“I’ll even have it projected to everyone in Indigo! Ha! They will all witness your hubris!”
“It’s not hubris,” Lance replied calmly. “It’s faith.”
Blaine snorted and hit a button as his grin turned evil and something about his brows glinted silver, but my eyes refused to budge, instead tracking the video.
Oak twitched. “No! Blaine! You monster!”
His aura spiked and his pokemon team tensed like they were about to throw themselves at Blaine, damn the consequences.
“Peace Oak, I know it seems like a mistake, but have faith. There exists a specific pokemon that has long protected us from threats from outer space,” Lance stated firmly.
I blinked, then blinked again as I realised who he was referencing. Did… did he think Rayquaza was going to bail us out right now?
My transceiver pinged, and I grimaced as a video was brought up. “Lance, Sabrina?” I called out to the two people who seemed to have the best idea as to what we should do. “Sure, we shouldn’t rush him and steal the pad off him?”
Blaine snorted. “This pad is encrypted with a hundred code cyphers that not even your Alakazam could crack!”
Both Sabrina and Oak’s Alakazam gave the pad thoughtful looks, like someone had just waved a Rubik’s cube in front of a puzzle enthusiast.
“Trust me Brock. We’re safe,” Lance called, as he leisurely released his pokemon and began buffing them up while smiling at Blaine.
Blaine narrowed his eyes.
I glanced at Sabrina to double-check, but she looked completely serene.
“Holy shit,” Erika said, causing everyone to blink and stare at her only to find her watching the live feed from the rocket.
Looking at my own, I enlarged the video and blinked at what I saw. The rocket was descending, but in front of it, a long serpentine body was rising to meet it.
There was a few seconds where Rayquaza was visible, then the feed turned to static.
Lance chuckled. "Congratulations, Blaine. Your little satellites have just gone from useful tricks to view the world to scrap. Rayquaza will never allow them to orbit this world while it draws breath.”
I decided not to ruin the moment by pointing out that there wasn’t any air in space and instead focused on Blaine as he realised that all his cards had been played, and they’d come up duds.
He glanced around. And then smirked. “Well, I suppose being shackled to a lab somewhere won’t be too arduous.”
Lance narrowed his eyes. “Hmmm, we’ll see about that.”
Blaine just smirked as he lifted a hand and tapped at his temple causing me to look at the silvery metal he had on. “You’ll see. I’m to valuab—”
Agatha materialised behind Blaine, her hand on his back. Her pokemon appeared before each of his pokemon, hands likewise stabbing into them as their eyes glowed, forcing the various pokemon to sleep with Hypnosis.
Blaine tensed, “Aga—” he tried to snarl, only for it to turn into a guttural gasp as Agatha smiled sadly back at him. I felt a shadow of something final war with a fiery spike of aura only for it to vanish as quickly as it came.
“Goodbye, old comrade. You were useful during the war and afterwards, but you can’t be allowed to live beyond today,” she declared.
Blaine turned pale and something shifted in his body, the headpiece upon his brow darkened like it had become tarnished in some way. Then he collapsed to the ground, no longer alive.
I blinked and stared at Agatha… that… was… shit... I didn’t even know where to begin with what she’d just done.
Agatha turned to Lance, offering up her wrists. “I believe this is where you take me in?” she asked.
I stared, shocked at Blaine’s sudden demise as Lance stared back at her, his face grim as a decision loomed.
It was moments like this that made me forgive Lance’s screw-ups,
Heavy was the crown, it seemed.
Once again, I found myself glad that I wasn’t champion, cause I wasn’t sure what was right, or best in this moment.
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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support.
Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading.