Today is the day.
I am being assigned to Goldenrod alongside Volkner's apprentice and Head Gym Trainer during his time as the Gym Leader of Sunyshore. Her name is Kayla.
Head Gym Trainer. That title isn't given for show. For a Gym Leader to appoint you as a Head Gym Trainer it means that they had recognised your strength and worth as a trainer. Only a maximum of eight trainers in the entire region could possess such a title at any one time, and Volkner was Sinnoh's strongest Gym Leader until his retirement. As a result, being his Head Gym Trainer is a very prestigious title and an even greater honour.
For Kayla to have held onto that title until Volkner's retirement, that alone spoke volumes of Kayla's ability as a trainer.
"First time?"
"Not really." I shrugged at Kayla's question as we both stayed hidden within a building at Goldenrod along with several squads of Indigo STAR forces.
"Not really?"
"I was present during the Lilycove Invasion and the one at the Battle Frontier."
"Oh." Kayla nodded in realisation while we both used Kayla's phone to watch the celebrations held at Indigo Plateau broadcasted live on TV for the entire world to see like what they did every year.
It's not just us. Right behind us, several members of the STAR forces are peering over our shoulders to catch a glimpse of what is going on as well.
We are all bored of waiting.
"It's supposed to happen during the Rangers' performance, right?"
"According to the plan, yea. Let's just hope everything goes according to plan."
"Who are we kidding? Since when had things gone according to plan in our line of work?"
The casual banter between several members of the STAR forces had me letting out a silent laugh in the cramped room we are in. Kayla and I sat side by side on the floor, keeping our eyes glued to the screen.
"If you have time to talk, you have time to rehearse what is going to happen later." The captain of one of the squads growled out, shutting his subordinates quickly.
"But sir, those two-"
I flashed the STAR forces a cheeky and innocent smile, daring them to comment further.
"They are not my men, are they?" The captain growled out. "Besides, they are working for the International Police. Are you good enough to be included into their ranks?"
"No, sir."
"And neither am I. So shut the fuck up and give them the respect they deserve."
Despite the fact that their captain just shut them up, there are doubtful looks sent my way and also at Kayla. It's not the first time my skills are doubted due to my physical age, but I have to admit it is annoying to have your skills constantly doubted by others for that sole reason.
Although, why are they doubting Kayla? She's Volkner's apprentice.
Kayla didn't even bother to give the STAR forces a fraction of the attention she is giving to her phone screen, choosing to monitor the celebrations in real time instead.
"The police had just finished their job. Anytime now."
The STAR forces were immediately on alert upon Kayla's words. I got up on my feet as well with Fuzzy, Rena, and Archer beside me. Right beside Kayla is a manectric and galvantula.
Our task is to defend the city from the Rocket army we know will be marching towards Goldenrod soon. There are also Rockets that are already hiding within the city, waiting for the right time to cause trouble. However, they are not our concern. That will be the job for a separate group of STAR forces to handle.
"Oh shit."
Kayla's quiet curse was clearly heard within the small room we are in.
"What happened?"
Kayla did not make a verbal reply and instead, flipped her phone around to show us what is going on at Indigo Stadium right now.
"I am Executive Archer of Team Rocket! And today, on behalf of the organisation, I have come to deliver the perfect birthday gift for our nation! What is the perfect gift, you ask? Why, the truth, of course! Nothing but the undeniable truth! Starting from our very own President, Kain Briggs! Everyone, give him a round of applause please!"
"What the hell is going on?!"
Right on the largest screen at Indigo Stadium, a video feed of Executive Archer is played for all to see, broadcasted to the entire world live on TV. This definitely isn't part of our plan.
"Sir, what do we do now?"
"What are you panicking for? Even the girls are not panicking! Act in a manner befitting of your station dammit!"
"Sorry sir!"
"He's swaying public opinions towards Team Rocket by painting themselves as the victim." Kayla deduced quickly while watching the video. Archer is still speaking and already, he has revealed several shocking facts of Kain's past deeds.
"The bloody hell?! Our very own President-"
"Shut up! Now is not the time to lose focus on what is truly important! Team Rocket will be starting a war today, that will not change! No matter how righteous they may paint themselves to be, it doesn't change the fact that they will be committing terrorist acts today nor does it change the fact that they were terrorists even before today! Remember what happened to Johto National Park?! Remember how many died?!"
The captain's words got everyone to remain silent.
"We have to act." The captain decided as he rose to his full height. "We need to start clearing the city and launch a preemptive strike where we know the Rockets have to be at."
"Wait!" Kayla exclaimed, catching our attention immediately. "Look at this!"
Archer's video didn't end there. Not only that, a new player had joined the game.
Mewtwo
"For every single Rocket that the Gym Leaders took down, Mewtwo here will kill the same number of people sitting here at the Indigo Stadium! Starting from Johtonians! Lance Wataru! Where are you?! Come out and defend your people as their Champion! Come, let's see who is stronger! Team Rocket's keeper of darkness, or the Champion of Indigo! Let's have a DEATHMATCH!"
This… isn't good.
"Fucking bastards." The captain growled. "They are not even allowing us to put up a fight! The Indigo Stadium has a seating capacity of 100,000! They just held 100,000 people hostage!"
"Can't the audience just leave?"
"If they could do that they would already have done it, wouldn't they? The Indigo Stadium was built to be a bunker that is famous for being able to keep things in and also protect what is within from external threats. The fact that this video could be played at all means that the stadium's control room had been compromised! It's the only place where you can control the stadium's defense system!"
"And they took control of it." Kayla said with a frown. "If the stadium's defense system can really keep people and pokemon in, then this is bad."
"I don't think I understand the situation." I admitted.
"The Indigo Stadium is built from the hardest materials you can find. Walls, doors, gates, shutters, you name it, they are built of it. They are near indestructible unless you are Pillar level in strength and even then, you need to exert quite a bit of effort to do so. The shutters and gates are placed in strategic positions that can isolate specific sectors of the stadium to minimise collateral damage. Meaning to say, it can be used to trap people in with no way out, or used to prevent people outside from coming in. And the only place where you can have access to the defense system is the control room, which the Rockets had certainly taken over without us realising it."
Well, now this is really bad.
"If we make a move right now, the Rockets at Indigo Plateau might know and start killing off the hostages one by one. But if we don't make a move, then the Rockets will conquer Johto's cities and towns in no time because the Gym Leaders cannot do anything to defend their cities. It's an impossible situation." Kayla said with a frown.
"Sir, I spotted Rockets on the way to the city. They are coming from the south." A STAR member said with a grim voice from where he had been monitoring the situation in the city from his vantage point next to a window overlooking the city.
"If our forces at Indigo don't do something about the hostage situation soon, Johto will be in really deep shit." The captain groaned as he ran a hand through his face, obviously not knowing what to do as well.
"Wait, it's Lance! He's about to battle Mewtwo!"
True to Kayla's words, Lance had just made his appearance along with his dragons. Surprisingly, Mewtwo didn't use the hostages against Lance despite the fact that it could probably easily kill them all with a single thought.
"Can Lance really defeat a pokemon that is said to be on par with a Legendary?"
"Doesn't matter. We are moving out, now!" The captain barked out, making everyone scramble immediately. "As long as that bastard psychic pokemon is too busy fighting someone it won't have the time to use the hostages against us! Now is the time to launch our preemptive strike on the Rockets! Get into positions!"
"Yes sir!"
We deployed immediately as we made our exit from the building we were hiding at. It seems that the rest of the Indigo forces that were stationed here specifically for today shared similar thoughts that the captain had. Already, police officers and Rangers are starting to evacuate the public into the shelters. Droves of combatants are being swiftly mobilised towards the south of the city where the Rockets are marching towards us.
There are so many Rockets that they filled my entire line of sight. I had seen and fought against the armies from Team Magma and Team Aqua before, but even their combined might had nothing on Team Rocket.
No wonder people say that Team Rocket is the largest and most powerful criminal organisation in the world's history. Looking at the sight in front of me, it really is true.
"This is the STAR forces! We will be leading the defense of the city! Close the city gates! Guard the city walls! Don't let the Rocket bastards enter! Our families and loved ones are behind us! If we fall, they are the ones who will pay the price of our failure!"
The captain's words were heard loud and clear by everyone present as they quickly organised themselves to defend Goldenrod, raising everyone's fighting spirits in an instant. A lady with dark pink hair walked forward as people moved aside for her to get to the front. I recognised her immediately.
She's the Gym Leader of Goldenrod, Whitney.
"Don't worry about the hostage problem, Lance and our comrades at Indigo Plateau have things handled! Focus your attention on beating the Rockets back, we cannot allow them to destroy our beautiful city!"
Whitney's words were met with shouts of approval as members of the Indigo forces and volunteer trainers alike cheered with roaring determination alongside their pokemon.
"I will fire the opening salvo! Everyone, follow my lead!"
With that, Whitney and her team of normal types leapt down from the city's walls and onto the ground below. Immediately, Whitney's monster of a miltank curled up and rolled towards the Rocket army charging straight at Goldenrod.
There was no contest. Whitney's miltank steamrolled everything and everyone in its way, forcefully dividing the Rocket army into two immediately. Whitney and her pokemon immediately went to take on the right half of the Rocket forces, leaving us to deal with the ones on the left half.
"GO!"
A shout from within the crowd spurred everyone into action and we all moved out of the city to meet the Rockets. I released my pokemon as well as we joined the battle alongside Kayla. We all know what we have to do today, we had prepared for this moment.
"Kratos!"
A massive sandstorm brewed almost immediately. The terrain changed into a desert in a matter of seconds as Kratos commanded the sands to swallow his victims whole. Kratos' flashy display had everyone on both sides taking a pause, as if they could not believe that we had just eliminated a large group of Rockets within seconds.
People are going to pay a heavy price if they keep underestimating me because of my age.
"Take down that tyranitar!"
Kratos had immediately become the target of the entire Rocket army. Kratos didn't show any hints of fear. If anything, he is eager to fight against everyone coming his way. I, on the other hand, am not a fan of such an arrangement.
"Whitney can take care of herself! Protect the girl and her tyranitar!"
I have no idea who shouted that, but I am grateful for it. Kratos, however, is obviously unhappy at the notion that he has to be protected.
"Lily, Bigblue, Ness! Protect Kratos and make sure that he can go all out! Only he can match Whitney's pokemon level of destruction! Toothless, Snap! Air support!"
My pokemon leapt into action immediately as Kratos begrudgingly accepted the arrangements made. Kratos wouldn't mind the additional help as long as it originates from our team. Without further ado, Kratos charged ahead with waves of sharp rock spikes decimating our foes in his wake, impaling his unfortunate victims as his bloodlust took over, tearing his foes apart in a brutal manner I haven't seen since the attack at the Battle Frontier. This time, he's doing it with a lot more ease.
Volkner had helped me train Kratos a little too well.
By now, both forces had officially clashed as we started to try and push the other back. I raised my hand, giving my ghosts the signal that they had been waiting for.
My shadows swirled in response and immediately grew larger and larger until it became a blanket of darkness beneath everyone's feet. Even I have no idea just how many ghosts are with me and what species there are. I also have no clue how the number of ghosts in my shadows kept multiplying without me knowing how and why. All that I know is that there are a lot of ghosts that are constantly taking refuge in my shadows at any one time.
On an unspoken signal, they erupted from the shadows.
Our sneak attack had worked to great effect. Rockets are being stabbed, cursed, burned, or tortured in creative ways that I wouldn't have thought about. My ghosts flitted about the battlefield, using their immortality and intangibility to recklessly conduct attacks that are otherwise suicidal. Agatha had been a great help in teaching me how to direct a large number of ghosts on the battlefield by pitting her ghosts against mine in mock battles. It helps that these wild ghosts are willing to take orders from me and fight alongside me. As long as I promise them the power they crave, they will listen to every single word that I say.
Trainer-pokemon relationships are always initially built on mutual benefits. Mutual trust comes much later. This is especially so for ghosts.
"LOOK OUT! ONIX!"
A massive horde of onix charged towards us as they were released from their pokeballs. Kratos immediately went to stop them but even he could not hold all of them back alone. Whitney is still busy handling her portion of the Rockets. There's no way she can spare any time to help us.
"Chill! Archer! Stop the onixs!"
Chill released a massive Blizzard immediately, freezing a few onixs in place. Archer sped around the battlefield in a blur of red steel, cutting down our foes mercilessly like a hot knife through butter.
It was at this moment that I realised just how far I had come as a trainer. As compared to the first time I experienced a siege at Lilycove and the second time at the Battle Frontier, I am now so much stronger, so much more experienced.
I now have the power I need to protect the people and things that I want to protect.
Unfortunately, our performance had drawn too much aggro to us. The Rockets are starting to target me in their effort to quickly breach our defences and storm the city.
"Shock Wave!"
Powerful blasts of lightning rained down from above in quick succession despite the fact that there is not even a single rain cloud in the skies. Kayla put herself in front of me as she commanded her pokemon to defend me.
"Light them up! Discharge!"
Destructive electrical explosions dotted the battlefield as Kayla finally decided to go on the offensive. Unlike Volkner and I who possess a large number of pokemon on our teams, Kayla only trains a select few. However, because her attention is only divided among six pokemon, she is able to give better care and attention to each of them. Each of her pokemon are crazily powerful in their own right.
I wouldn't underestimate anyone who was once Volkner's apprentice.
If Kratos swept through the battlefield like a tidal wave, then Kayla and her electric types rained punishment down on our enemies like a vengeful thunder god. I could see similarities in her battling style and Volkner's. Volkner's style of battling must have greatly influenced hers.
"Chill, Rain Dance!"
Kayla had taken away a large amount of pressure off my shoulders the moment she decided to go all out, allowing me the freedom to give commands to the rest of my team. First of all, we will need to deal with the rest of the onixs that are still charging over here.
"Lily, Grass Knot! Immobilize them!"
Lily immediately snared the remaining onixs in place, allowing our forces to swiftly close in on them for the kill while they were rendered defenceless. Fuzzy had taken off into the air as well, hiding himself within the rain clouds Chill had created for him. Flamel, Kel, Rena, Joy, and Hulk stayed near me while defending me from any foes that had gotten too close for comfort. I narrowed my eyes while trying to search for the one person who I knew had to be here.
Where on earth is Proton?
According to the intel we received, Proton is the one leading the siege on Goldenrod. He is an Ice Specialist. There's no way we are going to miss him because ice types are flashy in what they do.
So where is he?
A large blast of fire exploded from within the Rocket's backlines. I could hear Toothless' roar even from far away. That has to be his doing.
And then, I was given a bigger surprise when Toothless beat a hasty retreat, trying to fly back to where we are while escaping relentless blasts of attacks that are trying to snipe him down. Kratos had spotted Toothless immediately, raising the sands to cover his escape. However, it was for naught when the sands were frozen almost immediately before shattering in the next second.
The Rockets started to roar and cheer as a team of ice types began to carve a bloody path forward for the Rockets. All of a sudden, the tide of the battle shifted into their favour.
"Vel, watch out! He's coming for you!"
Kayla's warning came just when Toothless dove down in a Flare Blitz and Dolly decided to appear within the ranks of the ice types. Dolly let out a deafening Screech, stopping the ice types long enough for Toothless to crash into them before releasing a Blast Burn right in their faces.
And then Toothless screamed.
Toothless immediately put some distance between him and the ice types, a large bloody gash now present across its left shoulder down to near his abdomen. Joy used a Heal Pulse on Toothless immediately, closing the wound. An avalugg charged towards Toothless at speeds it shouldn't possess, attempting to ram Toothless down while it was momentarily grounded.
Hulk came to Toothless' defence and leapt forward to meet the avalugg in battle, forcing the avalugg to come to an abrupt stop. With a twist of his body, Hulk threw the avalugg into the air with a Vital Throw, sending it far away from us.
"Toothless!"
Toothless grunted a reply back at me before taking off into the skies once again, indicating that he is alright. Whitney had taken over the battle Toothless had backed off from the moment she realised that these ice types are nothing to joke about. We cannot leave them rampaging across the battlefield like this.
They have to be Proton's pokemon.
We spotted him soon enough. Proton is riding atop an enormous mamoswine with his ice types clearing the path ahead with beams of ice, freezing anyone and anything that opposes him. One look and I know that he is way out of my league, I cannot possibly defeat him even with Mega Evolution at my disposal.
I can only leave it to Whitney to handle Proton.
Even with Whitney personally engaging Proton in combat, she is being steadily pushed back. Proton has quite a number of defensive battlers that is proving to be a big problem for Whitney. Avalugg, mamoswine, abomasnow, cryogonal, these are pokemon who either boast impressive defensive capabilities or are too challenging to be taken down immediately. Whitney's strength is in her versatility, not in her firepower.
In a game of firepower, Whitney definitely is on the disadvantageous end as compared to Proton.
With Whitney preoccupied with fighting Proton, it leaves the other half of the Rocket army which she is previously taking care of free reign to charge right at the city. Our forces immediately moved to intercept, but without Whitney around to help we are now suddenly stretched thin.
This isn't looking good. Even with the preparations we made, none of it is going to help us for long. There are just too many Rockets to take care of. The Rockets we are facing right now is a lot more than what we were told. It seems that our intel wasn't entirely accurate.
"Vel! Can you handle this side on your own?" Kayla called out to me as we regrouped.
"As long as Proton is not targeting me, I can." I nodded as Flamel let loose a blast of flames at a group of Rockets and their pokemon who had come too close. Our forces are being slowly pushed back towards the city's walls despite our best efforts.
"Good. I won't take long."
Kayla revealed the mega stone embedded in a bracelet that she had hidden underneath the sleeves of her shirt. I quickly caught her hand before she could invoke the process.
"Kayla! We cannot-"
"I just confirmed the latest arrangement with Looker. That restriction has been removed in light of the situation. Use it if you have to."
With those parting words, Kayla ignored me and invoked Mega Evolution. Her manectric roared and began to glow right in front of our very eyes.
"THUNDER!"
A shattering crash could be heard in the distance as Kayla and her mega manectric charged right into battle with the rest of her team following close behind. With Mega Evolution now in play, Kayla is slowly starting to thin out the Rockets. However, with the reckless way she is doing it, I am guessing that she could not assist her manectric in maintaining this form for long. She probably wants to finish this as fast as she could.
Another loud boom resounded across the battlefield. I turned my head around, only to watch in horror as Proton's avalugg had somehow knocked down the city's gates.
Goldenrod has been breached.
"CHARGE!"
"DEFEND THE CITY!"
Fuzzy descended from the skies and began to bomb the area with his nuclear combo, trying his best to not let the Rockets enter the city. He was only successful for a short while because Proton's pokemon were on his case immediately, forcing Fuzzy to make a quick escape.
This Proton, he is good.
Whitney is far from being put down, but she had been pushed into the city as well. If this isn't a defensive battle she is forced to fight in she could probably take her time to dance around Proton's ice types for as long as she wanted. However, life-and-death battles are very different from the usual league-regulated ones. The stakes are different. It's not a simple matter of winning or losing the battle, but rather a matter of whether you could achieve your objectives in the fight you are taking part in.
Proton had achieved his objective. It doesn't matter if he won his fight with Whitney or not, he had successfully breached the city to allow his Rockets to enter. Not only that, he is still holding the upper hand in his battle against Whitney as far as I could tell.
Kayla is still busy wiping out as many Rockets as she could before they could enter the city and so are our friendly forces. A number of them are moving quickly towards the city to help in its defence as our defence lines slowly retreat closer and closer to the city.
Damn it.
Proton had long disappeared into Goldenrod with Whitney hot on his heels in her attempt to stop him. I have no idea where they are now but we absolutely cannot allow more Rockets to flood the city. Already, a number of Rockets had entered Goldenrod alongside Proton. Goldenrod cannot be allowed to fall because if it did, Team Rocket would have gained themselves a very valuable stronghold.
I guess I don't have a choice.
"Kratos! We are doing it!"
Kratos gave a roar of delight as he charged straight into the mass of Rockets where most of them were congregated. The sight of a massive and violent tyranitar suddenly charging straight at them had quite a number of the Rockets turn tail and run, but an equal number of them stood their ground to stop Kratos.
The stone embedded within the pendant which I wore around my neck started to glow with a bright rainbow hue. Kratos reacted accordingly as he started to glow as well, growing larger as his armour began to split open. The spikes on its armour elongated, giving him an even more menacing look.
Unlike Kayla who could use Mega Evolution for way longer than I could, I could probably only safely sustain Kratos' mega form for thirty seconds. Maybe a minute if I'm pushing it. Anything more than that is playing with fire.
We must make full use of this one minute.
Kratos demolished his opposition the moment he mega-evolved, firing Hyper Beams without rest as his attack vaporised our enemies in an instant. Our team charged into the opening Kratos had created for us as I rode on Flamel's back. We need to be there for Kratos once his one minute is up or else he will be swamped from all sides.
The Rockets thinned out considerably the moment Kayla and I invoked Mega Evolution on our pokemon. I still have no idea what is going on within Goldenrod now that Proton has entered the city together with a sizable number of Rockets, but the only thing I can really do is to have faith that the Indigo forces stationed here will be able to handle them.
As mega tyranitar, Kratos had forgo his command over sand in favour of overwhelming offense, upturning the earth, raising rock spikes, blasting deadly beams of energy that destroyed anyone unlucky enough to be within his range of vision. Heck, I don't even know if he's listening to my orders at this point with how insolent and bloodthirsty he is behaving. All I know is that he is ignoring anyone who is our ally while destroying everyone who he sees as our enemy, so there probably is still some sense of reason left in him. He didn't let the rush of power get into his head.
Or at least, that is what I like to believe.
"Ten seconds, Kratos!"
Kratos gave another loud roar before the earth trembled. It was the only warning he gave before the Rockets and their pokemon around us were being shot into the air with an accurate use of Earth Power. The rest of my team made quick work of them as Kratos fired a Hyper Beam to push the remaining Rockets away from the city, giving us some much needed space.
Kratos glowed as the effects of mega evolution receded, reverting him back into an ordinary tyranitar. My vision blurred for a second as I suddenly slumped from where I was riding on Flamel's back, almost falling from his back. I was not expecting such a violent backlash.
Using Mega Evolution in a real battle is too different from using it during practice. I should have expected such a feedback to happen.
Seeing Kratos going back to normal and my sudden slump as an indicator of weakness, the Rockets began to make their charge once more. Kayla had ceased Mega Evolution too by now. The both of us and the remainder of our forces had regrouped to prevent the Rockets from entering the city. Already, too many Rockets for our liking had slipped past us and entered the city. We cannot allow more to enter or Goldenrod will really fall.
A ear-piercing shriek could be heard from above as a pidgeot dove down and knocked a large group of Rockets aside with a Brave Bird. Seconds later, an alakazam teleported into the battlefield and pushed another group of Rockets backwards with a Psychic. More and more pokemon started to appear on the battlefield as they started to viciously stomp our foes down into the dirt, each of them capable of putting down numerous opponents at once with perfect ease.
A moving flare of fire approached us and stopped before Kayla and I. A majestic arcanine stood beside Flamel as its rider looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"So, you are the girl that grandma had been talking about all the damn time?"
I recognised this man immediately. There's no way I would not recognise him. Gary Blue Oak. This is Gary Blue Oak, Professor Oak's and Agatha's grandson.
"Uh, did she?"
Gary rolled his eyes at my reply while his pokemon took over our task in defending Goldenrod. He is definitely only in his early twenties, and already he is proving himself to be a one-man army. He is beating back all of the Rockets all by himself when the entirety of the Indigo forces here had troubles trying to do so.
"Huh, you have a tyranitar too?" Gary stroked his chin in thought while visually assessing Kratos from head to toe. "Not too bad, I guess. Definitely could be better. No, wait a minute. Where are your army of ghosts that grandma kept talking about?"
I simply pointed far away at a group of Rockets who were steadily being massacred by a large mass of moving shadows. Ghosts of various species phased in and out of their intangible state while murdering our foes in morbid ways. Dolly and Wacky are leading them. There's no need for me to give them any further commands because they really don't need me there. They are right in their element in the battlefield.
Gary whistled at the sight.
"There are traces of grandma's handiwork alright. Do you know why I never had a ghost on my team? This is why. Seeing grandma's ghosts doing things like that when I was five convinced me that I will never want a ghost on my team."
Huh, so Gary suffered a case of PTSD regarding ghost types because Agatha showed him too much, too soon? Who would have thought?
"You guys head to the city to aid Whitney. I alone am enough to deal with these clowns." Gary waved us all off before pointing towards Goldenrod. "You guys let some of those Rockets slip through, am I right? Go clean up your own messes."
Nobody talked back because Gary had the strength to back up his cocky words. Besides, we are worn out. We rather clean up the stray Rockets that had slipped into the city rather than deal with another army of them outside the city's walls. Gary can have the honour of demolishing them all by himself outside the city's gates.
"Volkner! It has to be Volkner! He's here!"
Kayla tugged at my shirt and pointed excitedly up in the sky. Somewhere not too far ahead within Goldenrod, dark clouds swirled and gathered at speeds too fast for it to be natural. Lightning rained down indiscriminately at a scale that outclassed even Kayla's handiwork. That definitely is something Volkner is capable of.
Wasn't he supposed to be at the Indigo Plateau? Is his work there done?
I rode on Flamel's back as Kayla and I quickly headed towards Volkner's location. He probably doesn't need any help, but it never hurts to check.
We weren't expecting for Volkner to be physically restrained by Proton when we arrived on the scene.
We arrived just in time to see Proton pouncing on Volkner, using his body to restrain and lock Volkner in place, ignoring the fatal blows raining on him in Volkner's attempt to get Proton off him. Other than one or two smaller ones, most of Volkner's pokemon are partially frozen, trying to break out of the ice. Proton is obviously desperate. Almost all of his pokemon is down except for a mega glalie.
To make things worse, the mega glalie is about to use an Explosion and is in extremely close proximity to Volkner. Volkner's pokemon will break out of the ice they are encased in, but it will still be a second too late. Proton is planning to take Volkner and his pokemon down with him in a suicide attack.
"VOLKNER!"
Kayla rushed ahead but even I could tell that none of us would reach on time. We need a different approach to save Volkner.
Almost immediately when I came to a decision, as if understanding my intentions, Flamel charged right ahead towards the mega glalie with me on his back. He understands what we have to do. Volkner cannot be allowed to come to harm if we want to win this war, he is just that valuable both as a trainer and as a war asset.
If it's Flamel, we can reach there on time and prevent Proton from taking Volkner down in a suicide attack. We just need to get in range for our plan to work.
Flamel leapt, crossing the remaining distance in a single jump, and I gave him my order the moment we were in range.
The mega glalie exploded.
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Cleffa (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male
Name: Kayla
Pokemon Team:
1. Manectric (Woofy)
2. Zebstrika (Zap)
3. Galvantula (Spinner)
4. Luxray (Star)
5. Stunfisk (Fin)
6. Alolan Golem (Gronk)
Name: Gary Blue Oak
Age: 22
Pokemon Team:
1. Pidgeot
2. Exeggutor
3. Machamp
4. Rhyperior
5. Arcanine
6. Gyarados
7. Tyranitar
8. Alakazam
9. Aerodactyl
10. Heracross
Name: Olwen Lummiki
Team Rocket Executive Proton
Pokemon Team:
1. Cloyster
2. Dewgong
3. Lapras
4. Weavile
5. Mamoswine
6. Glalie
7. Walrein
8. Abomasnow
9. Beartic
10. Jynx
11. Avalugg
12. Cryogonal
13. Alolan Sandslash