Hard Enough - Chapter 350 - Fulfilling the Prophecy

Klaxons blared as red lights flashed about the command deck. 

“Warning! Warning! Structural damage detected! Auxiliary engines engaged! Recommend retreat from active combat!” chimed the A.I.

Janine, wearing the guise of the Wing Commander of Team Hurricane grimaced. 

Two hits on Shadow Lugia. That’s all they’d been able to manage.

It didn’t help that it was incredibly fast, or that the other Legendary birds were often in the way of ideal shots… or that she and her crew weren’t as versed with the weapons on the Flying Palace as they’d have liked but…

The results felt subpar.

They’d taken serious damage from Shadow Lugia’s attack. 

Janine suspected it was some form of specialised Hyper Beam with how it formed and released but it was too different.

When they’d limped their way out of danger Janine had been able to use a Pokedex to track Lugia and Shadow Lugia’s aerial duel.

Doing so had revealed several interesting facts. 

The Hyperbeam variant was actually a Flying-type attack that had never been witnessed before, marking it down as a specialised possible signature move of the Lugia species. 

But that meant nothing to Janine.

She had one of the most high tech airships she’d ever heard of, and she was as good as a joke in this fight.

She couldn’t get close without Articuno, Moltres, or Zapdos frying some external system.

Lugia in one hit had crippled an entire wing that was only holding because of the last-minute additions that they’d implemented thanks to Brock’s friends sweeping the airship.

Trust former criminals to know where an airship would fail. 

“Flying Palace come in, this is Boulder,” said Brock over the encrypted line.

Quickly toggling the comms Jainie replied. “Come in Boulder, what’s your situation?”

There was a pause and Janine realised that the klaxons that she’d been ignoring must have been caught up in the transmission. “Cancel the warning signals for five minutes!” she ordered.

“You alright up there?” Brock asked.

“Fine, just handling some system damage, we’re still airborne! What’s your situation?” Janine repeated.

“Thundercat is a go, we’re looking to locate the big bad. Intel points to them being close to where the big throw down is happening. Can we get a position on them? Visibility down here is pretty poor.”

Janine glanced towards where the fight was happening. Poor visibility was an understatement. 

With Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno fighting a storm that was constantly shifting from Blizzard, to clear air with heatwaves, before jerking back to lightning storms that rained more electricity than it did water was a constant concern.

“I wouldn’t advise going into that situation Boulder,” she said even as she had the sensors begin pinging the area.

“Got to. Intel points Baby Legendary as being captive there. If we want Shadow Lugia healed up we need the kid!” 

Janine scowled, shifting back and forth. Her tenure as Wing Commander of this airship was quickly grating on her. She should be down there with the other ninja.

What did it matter that she’d been able to paradrop a sizable contingent onto Ice island if she couldn’t be down there fighting?

Brock, Sabrina, Erika, Visquez, and her father were down there. 

“Peace young one,” murmured Agatha.

Janine glanced to the former Elite Four member as Agatha patted the air. 

“You’re twitchy. It’s a bad look. If you go out there to fight, you will be too highly strung to do anything as you should. Control yourself. If we need you, you will be out there.”

Janine nodded, turning back to the sensors as something began to ping.

The only reason Agatha was up here was because Agatha was a free agent with no eyes on her. She could roam as she desired.

The report from the Former Team Rocket Trio had highlighted one glaring weakness in the Flying Fortress that would need to be remedied quickly.

There were very few escape pods, and they weren’t anywhere near the command deck.

The few people on the deck therefore were taking a huge risk.

Agatha, therefore as Janine’s insurance policy. Although if things got that bad… Janine didn’t like to think what that might entail.

How Lawrence the Third hadn’t seen the impracticality of such a design flaw… Janine clenched her hands and released it, forcing herself to relax as something on the sensors pinged.

“Enhance that image!” she ordered, and the A.I. did so. The screen zoomed in on a shape before a video feed cut in.

It took a few moments but through the sleet and the lightning… There was a vessel just barely visible that appeared to be stuck in the ice.

“We have them. It’s a sub stuck in the ice!” Janine reported. “Sending co-ordinates now!”

“Copy that Flying Palace. Also, any word on Flower Maiden?” 

“Reached Shamouti and got dragged into helping out with the local shelter it would appear.”

“Hmmm, not ideal but still good to hear,” Brock replied. There was a silence on the line for a moment before Brock spoke up once more. “Listen, the intel we got is from… well I think he’s probably one of the worst human beings I’ve encountered and I don’t really trust him at all. Any other backup possible?”

Janine perked up. “I can—”

Agatha lightly struck the ground with her cane. “We need you to remain for appearances sake!” she growled. 

Janine coughed. “I shall inform Father along with the ninja forces that have Ice Island locked down…” 

Janine’s eyes flickered over the map, noting the live feed on various parties they were monitoring. “Brock be advised that Entei and Suicune will be moving to engage as will Lugia. That song the Shamouti Maiden performed seemed to give it a second wind.”

“Good, anything else we need to know?”

Janine’s eyes flicked to a pair of names. “The Fiore Delegates… they’re moving towards the pokemon migration. We’re not sure what to make of that or if we should disrupt it…”

“Hmmmm that’s…” Brock trailed off, apparently unsure what to make of that news.

Agatha’s cane clacked against the ground once more. “What it is is potentially an issue! If the Fiorians are as skilled at winning pokemon over to them as they say, they might be able to direct a small army in the next hour! We’ll be going from facing Cipher to a Fiore-led army of local pokemon that is threatening to grow!”

“So we’re on a clock?” Brock replied. “Great. This is Boulder, heading out. Wish me luck, over!”

“May you bring Giratina’s shadow to your foes,” Agatha replied ominously.

Janine stared at the woman who smirked. “I haven’t said that name in over a year. Don’t worry, I’m safe.”

Janine shook her head. “Now we just need to hope it doesn’t get said twice more today.”

Agatha just scoffed but Janine noted she tapped her cane lightly in a ‘touch wood’ gesture that did not make Janine feel at all relieved.

Saying that name was said to cause it to appear on other’s lips… like it wanted to be spoken.

________________

I stared at my transceiver in surprise. I hadn’t been expecting that from Agatha but then again, if you want luck from a ghost-type trainer it probably wasn’t all that surprising that they’d invoke Giratina of all pokemon.

“We've got our target,” I announced. “We’re also going to get some support. Bad news? The Fiore Delegation is up to something.”

Visquez thumped her fist into her palm. “Hmmm two lots of good news and some bad news is overall good! Let’s woop these Cipher punks and save the day before dealing with whatever those Fiore flunkies have lined up!” 

Raikou growled in agreement and nudged Visquez onto its back.

Visquez winked at me. “Also Brock? I won’t remember you calling up Janine when I have to talk about this later.”

I paused. Shit, I really was bad at keeping secrets. I turned to Sabrina who was watching Lugia turn from Shamouti back towards the fight between Shadow Lugia and the Legendary Birds. “Ready?” I asked.

She nodded, floating to join me on Jorm’s back while my other pokemon returned to their pokeballs.

“I think I understand the feeling of sadness that my premonition had,” she said.

“Oh?” I asked.

“It’s just a parent that has been trying to do right by its child,” she said nodding towards where Shadow Lugia was evading an Ice Beam from Articuno. “It doesn’t want to be here. It’s hurting. I didn’t stop to think about it earlier, but it’s been fighting longer than any of the other pokemon and it’s not going down. It knows that if it doesn’t its child is in danger.”

That made all too much sense to me. “There might be a good part to this, so far Misty, Flannery, and Visquez all mentioned having to demonstrate care to cleanse the Legendary Cats. It might not be as hard for Lugia if it’s doing all of this for its child.”

Sabrina nodded. “We should go faster,” she urged, and I grunted, directing Jorm to power ahead as much as he could.

When we got to points that we normally would have diverted around Sabrina had Alakazam or another pokemon fire Psybeam to blow through the frozen waves as we cut a straight line towards our intended target.

Overhead, the birds clashed and my skin prickled as around us small gusts spun into twisters as hot air met cold and electrical charges dissipated across frozen landscapes. Some of the waves were starting to melt as Moltres swept over them, only for Articuno to once again make a pass and freeze them. It was chaos literally.

Raikou intercepted a stray blast from Zapdos with a snarl and a hoot from Visquez.

“This is living!” she roared. 

Sabrina snorted. “Funny how living for her involves almost dying,” she muttered.

I chuckled only for my amusement to vanish as I spotted a patch of darkness that clung to the land.

Raikou paused on crossing the threshold and Sabrina shuddered. “They’ve been tainting the area around them,” she declared. She steeled her expression. “We need to push onward!”

“Jorm! Keep going!” I commanded and he did so.

Riakou followed a moment later. Visquez’s grin was gone. “This place feels worse than an oil spill,” she muttered as her eyes darted around. “Surprised we didn’t see it earlier.”

“It’s a patch of darkness at night,” I replied. “Of course we weren’t going to see it.” 

The darkened ice didn’t stop us from catching sight of a welcoming committee standing around what had to be a submarine. Around the sub several Cipher Peons stood with pokemon staring directly at us.

On the upper deck, four men stood with their arms crossed.

“The one with the afro is Miror B,” Sabrina supplied.

I locked onto him and caught sight of a flash of something dark on his necklace. He had a red and white afro that frankly made him look ridiculous along with tight jeans and an open-fronted jacket that came down to a star belt buckle.

If it weren’t for how serious this situation was I’d want to dismiss the man as a disco nut.

But considering we were in the heart of a storm created by their inclusion… I could only conclude that these people would be some of the tougher trainers on Cipher’s roster.

“Team Cipher! Attack!” roared the man with a feral smile. Each of the men on top of the submarine deck hurled their own teams out and soon the field was strewn with pokemon.

“Is it just me or are they a tad emotional? It seems all they want is to fight or flee!” I shouted as I released my pokemon team.

From the Maw of Houndoom powerful Fire Blasts erupted and soared towards us while Thunder was unleashed from Ampharos and Raichu. 

“That might just be cause they areir assholes!” Visquez shouted as she hopped off Raikou and set her own pokemon to absorbing the electric blasts arcing down towards us.

From Grass type pokemon Solarbeams began to charge up.

Regirock announced itself on the field by meeting a wave of fire and lightning with a swing of its limb causing a wave of sand to erupt from its body.

The attacks spluttered out and I grinned as several of the pokemon had to dive out of the way.

Tide and Bertha countered the Solarbeams with Ice Beam.

I had to give it to them, their pokemon were strong but they weren’t up to our level of ‘strong’.

Lots of them were water, grass, dark, and fighting type pokemon I noted as I watched a cluster of Ludiculo leer at my team. They began to dance around and launch orbs of water up into the air which Sabrina quickly intercepted.

This caused the Dark types to hop forward and attempt to launch Shadowballs and Dark Pulses at her team.

Sabrina had her pokemon expertly dodge the attacks but it caused us to pause and reassess.

Hmmm they’d prepared some counters for Sabrina and I, it would seem.

Once more, a small army had assembled and I grimaced. 

I’d gone from multiple small encounters and fights to multiple battles involving lots of pokemon in one day.

This seemed like a drastic escalation. 

One that was extremely noticeable as pokemon either blasted attacks at us or threw themselves straight at us. Often, to their own team’s detriment, as friendly fire occurred more often than not.

“They’re mad,” I barked. “Regirock! KNock out that left side!” I ordered.

Regirock swung its limb and a swathe of pokemon were taken out of the fight. 

I felt the ice underneath us shift, and I grimaced. Alright, I was going to have to limit doing that again!

Titan snorted and shook himself as a sensation of unpleasantness swept through from him. At first, I thought he’d just felt the same ice shift as me, only for him to shake his head.

I focused on him only to realise that Titan had noticed something I hadn’t. 

“The land’s leaking whatever they’re using in their pokeballs and sub! It’s making them more aggressive than they should be!”

“Ain’t gonna matter if we put them in the dirt!” growled Visquez.

“What I’m saying is that it will affect us as well! Be careful of your own well being!” I growled, feeling the outside influence of the shadowy miasma now that Titan had pointed it out. 

Damn, it was insidious. 

Sabrina nodded. “I… might remain on Jorm if that’s alright with you,” she spoke both to me and Jorm, eyeing the darkened ice with some trepidation. 

I nodded, while Jormungandr let out a roar of acknowledgement.

This wasn’t proving to be a good battlefield for Sabrina. She wouldn’t be able to pull off many of her usual tricks. 

A barrage of Hydro Pumps launched from Cipher’s pokemon and just like that our battle was on.

Visquez stepped forward, and a wave of Thunderbolts blasted the attacks out of the sky. 

I sent Tide, and Shrek forward while Sanchez worked what magic he could from the back.

Link skipped back and forth with Selene, sending wave after wave of Moonblasts out. I noted that the Fairy-type attacks seemed to clear up patches of the ice for a few moments.

That… that had potential. 

Did Fairy type moves have a slightly cleansing effect? Was it due to the inherent emotions tied into them? Or something else?

It would be a hell of a topic to study when I had time, but mid battle it wasn’t something I could focus on.

It did however give Sabrina some more options.

Kirlia suddenly went from hiding behind my pokemon to once more taking the fight to our enemies.

Sadly enough, Team Cipher seemed to have adopted some of our tactics as I saw potion bottles spinning through the air to splash against pokemon that were on their last legs, forcing the weakened pokemon back into the fight.

Pokemon that had been about to collapse suddenly regained their energy and threw themselves at our pokemon.

I saw a willowy Sudowoodo that was staggering towards Tide break into a sprint that saw Shadow energy radiating off it. 

It hit Tide and caused him to flinch, but at the same time Sudowoodo bounced away, landing heavily. 

Whatever move that was, it was strong but had some serious recoil. 

Sudowoodo still rose to its feet with a growl, looking to keep fighting only for Tide to launch a Surf that saw it and other pokemon knocked back. 

Cipher Peons raised guns and a barrage of gunfire that had Sabrina and I hunkering down behind Jorm while Visquez threw herself behind her Magnezone.

“Blast those punks!” she snarled and her pokemon unleashed numerous Thunderwaves to paralyse the trainers. 

Only for the admins atop the deck to begin pegging what had to be Paralyz Heals at their men.

I grit my teeth. We were winning, but it was a slog uphill against pokemon that were all but throwing themselves at us. 

A buzz on my wrist went ignored as I had my pokemon step in to knock back some Golbat that were trying to launch Toxic at us. 

“Regirock! Advance with Hyperbeam! Skim the ice!” !” I ordered.

Regirock strode forward, tanking several attacks before unleashing a Hyper Beam that swept the battlefield sending multiple pokemon hurling through the air while others dove under or attempted to block the attack with Protect. 

The only thing that saved them was how quickly Regirock swept his attack across the field.

It still caused another lull. This time I noted that the ice didn’t shit underneath us. Perfect!

“A-attack that pokemon!” screamed one of the Admins atop the Submarine deck.

Empress snarled and strode forward to begin unleashing Dark Pulse, acting like a dark beacon that cut through the scattered defense while giving Regirock a moment to recover. 

“Reinforcements!” Sabrina called and I twisted, my hackles were up, expecting to see Cipher Peons sprinting in only to blink as I spotted Suicune, Entei, and what looked like Erika riding a Tropius. 

She began tossing out her pokeballs and they disgorged the pokemon within.

Her pokemon landed on the ice heavily but were quick to engage just like Suicune and Entei did.

Suddenly, the momentum drastically shifted and we began pressuring Cipher from a new angle.

The admins split to observe the new threat.

And it was then that I spotted him. 

Koga appeared between one flash of lightning and the next behind Miror B’s back.

His hand darted forward and Miror B threw himself to the side with a kick, only for the attack to miss. 

Another flash of lightning let me watch as Miror B staggered to the side, clutching at a cut along his chest. 

“Poison?” I suggested.

“Most likely,” Sabrina replied.

Chaos erupted on the deck of the submarine as the Admins turned, catching sight of Koga in their midst. 

They fell on him only for him to bat two of them away.

The last of them went low in a strange fighting style that saw him almost crawling before launching upwards. 

It caught Koga by surprise as he hit the railing at the blow. The Admin charged forward like a Tauros only for Koga to regather and match him blow for blow. Something about how Koga was moving had me straightening up in worry.

“Koga’s injured!” Sabrina announced, spotting what I’d noticed a moment earlier. 

“Titan Go!” I ordered, realising I needed to back Koga up right now. 

Titan lunged forward and a corona of power surrounded him as he charged through the army of pokemon. He built up speed until he was like a meteor on legs.

He slammed into the side of the submarine and rocked the entire vessel causing everyone standing on it to lose their footing.

Everyone but Koga who’d seen Titan coming and released his Charizard in time to escape.

Empress followed up with a Hyperbeam to cutdown another line. 

With my escalation, Erika and Visquez matched me with Solarbeam and Thunder blasting across the field to decimate the resistance.

People fell and pokemon collapsed. 

I advanced with Sabrina, eyes locked on the people still fighting.

They seemed manic now. Erika directed her pokemon forward with a Vine Whip to handle them and I turned my attention toward Koga who had released a Muk to lock down the combatant that had given him trouble.

The others found themselves facing off against a Venomoth that was sending out Stun Spore to make their bodies lock up.

Koga landed with Charizard, and rather than stand tall, he leaned heavily against his pokemon, drawing a concerned look from the fire type.

Sabrina and I hopped up Jorm’s body like a staircase to the submarine deck. “You alright there?” I asked.

Koga coughed. “Getting old… but I’ve been hurt worse,” he declared, his eyes flitting up towards the Flying Palace that was slowly limping away from the battlefield.

Koga held up a shadowy ball. “This it?” he asked.

I glanced up towards where Shadow Lugia was now being harassed by Lugia from afar while taking other hits. I could see cuts and gouges all over its form that the Shadowy effect hid from afar. “It’s one part of the puzzle,” I replied.

I knelt next to the twitching Miror B. “Where is the other Masterball? The one containing the child Lugia?” I asked. 

Miror B grinned at me. “Ain’t never giving it up to you!” he drawled.

I narrowed my eyes and began patting him down to find his Dark Emitter.

I wasn’t surprised when I found it hidden in a hairclip at the back of his head. “Wanna try that again?” I asked irritably. 

Sabrina stepped forward and put her hands on either side of Miror B’s head causing me to frown. She didn’t usually need to touch them to read their thoughts.

“The child Lugia. Where is the ball?” she grit out.

Miror B groaned and Sabrina nodded. “It’s in the submarine. In his office,” she said. She marched towards the hatch only to falter when she grabbed ahold of it.

I stepped next to her. “Stay here. I’ll get it,” I said, knowing that Koga wasn’t in any state to be running through an enemy vessel. 

I directed Selene to hover near her while channeling what Fairy Type energy she could. Something Kirlia spotted and duplicated.

Sabrina sighed in relief. “That… helps,” she muttered. Then she nodded to Link. “Take him with you,” she suggested as she offered me the memory from Miror B she had of where the Masterball containing Lugia was along with the code to open the safe.

Link bounded up to me and shot me a grin causing me to chuckle. “Thanks for the back up buddy,” I said, opening the hatch.

The halls were tight as I hurried down a ladder before ducking down another towards the heart of the vessel that Sabrina had shown me. The sub itself creaked and groaned as we made our way through the halls.

I licked my lips, checking behind me every few steps as sounds that I hadn’t noticed above were suddenly magnified.

A brawny sailor emerged from a door to my side I hadn’t seen, only to blink dumbly. 

Then they snarled and threw a huge punch at me that I ducked under.

The punch slammed into the metal wall and rather than sending him howling with pain the man growled and swung again.

 Maybe this dark or shadowy effect did more than we realised? But this was yet again not the time to think about such.

I ducked low, defelcting it before retaliating with a devastating punch of my own that folded the man. 

I was considering throwing another punch at him when Link chirped appreciatively. He slipped past me and as he touched me the aggression I’d been feeling faded. 

Urgh! Did they seriously build their sub from corrosive metal? It’s a wonder they didn’t fall to infighting on the way here!

The next Sailor we encountered didn’t even get to react before being thrown on the ground as Link Pounded them.

This time I gave Link an appreciative nod before opening the door to Miror B’s office. I then moved up to a fake painting that swung open to reveal a small safe built into the wall.

A quick tap on the keypad had it open to reveal a gold and silver ball sitting innocently.

I reached out and claimed it with a flicker of relief.

Then something within reached back and touched me.

I stiffened at the feeling of something… young… young but powerful flickered over me.

I almost called up my dark energy instinctively, but Link put his hand atop mine and cheered as he raised the ball high into the air like he was celebrating… I laughed as I realised he had me assuming the pose of ‘chest opening’ used in some of the Zelda games.

A flicker of delight shot through me as the childish feelings grew along with a hint of desperation. 

“Not yet little one,” I whispered back to the Masterball. “Need to get you outside first.”

I hurried back out the way we’d come, thankfully, no more people or pokemon attempted to stop me and I made it up and onto the deck without issue.

When I emerged, I had to do a double-take.

I’d been gone for at most two minutes.

And in that space of time it looked like everything had changed.

Shadow Lugia was no longer fighting in the sky for one. It was instead laid low on the ice. Its chest rose and fell, indicating it was alive and breathing but for how long became a serious question as I caught sight of oily blackened blood running along the ice.

The Trio of Legendary birds were flying overhead, circling like Honchkrow over a weakened pokemon, only now it was Lugia, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune standing guard around the downed pokemon.

Ash, Misty and Forrest were standing guard with their own pokemon alongside Erika and Visquez. Because of course, they’d found their way out here. 

I shot Forrest a firm look that promised we’d be having words later before turning to the other issue that had developed while I’d been in the submarine. 

That being that there was yet another army of pokemon surrounding us.

At the head of the army, the Fiore Delegates stared down at us from atop a Wailord. Behind them Rhydon, Raichu, Vileplume and other pokemon stood ready.

The migration my mind supplied. The Fiore delegates had gotten hold of the pokemon migration and were now… commanding them? I wasn’t sure on the specifics with this being one of the few times I’d ever seen them ‘use’ pokemon before.

It hadn’t seemed relevant in the past.

“Ah, there you are slaver!” called Fjord. “I see the pokeball within your grasp. Release that pokemon immediately or—”

“My pleasure,” I replied, tapping the release function.

Instantly, the Masterball in my hand responded, disgorging the pokemon within.

I blinked as a gleeful emotion swept through me as a young Lugia, easily a quarter of the size of the Lugia lying on the ground, appeared.

It gave a long cry that caused the Shadow Lugia to stir with a growl.

The child locked onto its mouth and it cried out with despair as it tried to close.

It blew past the defensive line Ash and the others had formed to nuzzle at the downed Shadow Lugia only to cry out in pain when it made contact.

The child Lugia scuttled away in surprise and it was good that it did as a moment later Shadow Lugia’s tail swept around and a growl rumbled through the ice causing the child Lugia to become confused as it wailed to its parent.

“Child, it cannot hear you through the Miasma!” called a powerful voice. I glanced up to see that Lugia was addressing the child which wailed up to the larger Lugia.

Lugia’s head shook back and forth. “No, I can do nothing to aid your parent.”

“I can cleanse it,” Sabrina announced quickly, and I blinked when I caught sight of her leaning against the railing. She looked rather drawn and pale.

“You sure? You look kind of exhausted,” I said, which earned me a smile from Sabrina.

“Eh, I’ll manage. I’m not hurt, just tired,” Sabrina raised her arm, “Help me down there?” she asked.

I nodded, moving to sweep her up into a princess carry. Kirlia followed.

Fjord and Natural, standing atop Wailord watched us suspiciously. “This is a trick Natural. They are merely trying to get close so they can use their pokeball!” she whispered furiously.

“Can’t use a pokeball if it’s broken,” I replied. Holding up my hand to reveal that while everyone had been watching the young Lugia I’d crushed the prototype Masterball.

Fjord and Natural gaped at that with Fjord stammering. “It’s… a trick! It has to be… Indigo salvers would never..” 

I ignored her, instead hopping off the submarine to reach the injured Lugia.

Sabrina giggled and I shot her a look. Was she getting delirious?

She smiled at me and winked as she started humming a familiar tune.

I tilted my head, trying to recall where I’d heard…

Then Sabrina began to sing, and I remembered precisely where I’d heard this song before.

“Life can be a challenge

Life can seem impossible

It's never easy when so much

Is on the line

But you can make a difference

With courage, you can set things right

The gift to dream and make dreams real

Is yours and mine

The power of one~!” 

I stared at her. I’d never thought much about attending the Shamouti festival during our Journey.

 She’d been the Maiden and I the Chosen one, in a festival that then seemed like a fun little ritual that was part honouring the local Legendaries while clinging to an ancient prophecy.

It was supposed to be gimmicky and fun with no meaning beyond checking the place out ahead of time.

But right now, right here? 

Things seemed to click in a way that made me think that maybe Arceus put its metaphorical thumb on the scales to make sure certain things happened to give us the best chance of success. 

Or maybe it was all just a coincidence…

Or perhaps it was just how we had all the Legendary pokemon staring at us as I walked with Sabrina in my arms towards the injured Legend amongst them.

Sabrina’s singing caused Shadow Lugia to stir, but rather than lashing out it observed us. 

I marched past Forrest and Ash and took Sabrina right up to Shadow Lugia’s head.

Sabrina reached out and her hand touched Lugia’s head. “We’re here to help you,” she whispered and around Sabrina a corona of energy pulsed before shooting up her arm and into Lugia.

Touching Sabrina as I was I got a jolt of what had to be condensed love and acceptance shooting through me.

The miasma surrounding Lugia began to vanish like smoke and everyone released a breath of relief only to gasp as the extent of the injuries were revealed. 

Lugia crooned once before turning its head to its child who wailed in despair.

“It’s dying,” announced the still flying Lugia with an air of finality that caused people and pokemon to recoil.

I hummed as a sensation like mourning began to drift over me as child Lugia wailed in despair as it beheld its parent’s injuries.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. 

It was all wrong. 

This day had been all sorts of crazy, and this wonderful pokemon dying after enduring so much? That just struck me as wrong.

Pokemon could be a dangerous world to live in and people got hurt and died all the time.

But this felt wrong.

I turned, with Sabrina still in my arms. “Hey Link, think you have a big hero moment in you?” I asked.

Link beamed as he began to glow with pink light that lit up the ice.

The darkness that clung to the ice melted away causing me to tilt my head. 

Healing Wish wasn’t a Fairy-type move. So it wasn’t about typing. 

Ah, so it was about emotions then? I mused as Link let out one of the largest Healing Wishes I had ever seen him perform.

The light swept into the injured Lugia, and in real time, I saw its wounds begin to close, and a vitality returned to it causing it to lift its head and stare at us.

It nodded at Link once and Link responded by shooting the Legendary pokemon a thumbs up.

Then he crossed his arms and passed out while standing up, causing me to chuckle. I glanced around. “Now might be a good time to give them some food and some potions to help them along,” I suggested.

Misty, Ash, and Forrest spun and began to offer Lugia and the other Legendary pokemon their aide.

I smiled as I tapped Link’s pokeball to return him. “Great work buddy,” I murmured.

Then I glanced down at Sabrina in my arms. “You too,” I said to her sleeping form as I planted a kiss atop her head.

She nuzzled closer into me.

Jorm approached and lay down, which gave me a handy seat that was better than sitting on the ice.

I glanced around, noting how the sky was clearing up now.

Overhead, the Legendary birds were still circling, but they’d widened the gap between themselves and almost lent a joyful air to the moment rather than an ominous one.

Still, it was kind of hard to ignore how much chaos they’d caused in their thrashing. 

I could only hope that Lugia, the local one, had them under control now, cause I was starting to feel the events of the night catch up with me.

“I should demand you release your pokemon,” called an all too grating voice. 

I looked up to find Fjord still looming atop the Wailord. 

Natural was at her side but he was staring at the Legendary pokemon with such focus I doubted he registered how his mother was practically kicking sand at what should have been a wonderful moment of victory.

Before I could snap at her, Titan stepped forward. 

“Tar! Tyran! Itar!” He gestured from me to him, telling her how he and I worked together to make ourselves more. How were partners and brothers in a way.

I grinned at him as my heart swelled. “Thanks bud,” I replied while pushing all of my gratitude to him and the others.

Kirlia and Alakazam, I noted, were now standing next to me and positioned protectively for Sabrina while watching Fjord carefully.

Fjord stared at Titan for a long moment only to sigh and shake her head. “A captive that denies its own state. I shouldn’t expect any different,” she declared only to turn her head away. “Come Natural, we should make sure these wild pokemon aren’t poached for wanting to make sure the world doesn’t destroy itself due to humanity’s greed.”

With that the Wailord she was standing upon turned and began to slide itself back only to slip into water, revealing that the frozen ocean was no more and it was only the patch we were standing upon that remained. 

That must have been by design though as it seemed to continue to hold the Cipher Submarine.

I could see flying types winging away from us while others bearing trainers were moving towards us. 

The sun was just starting to rise which caused me to hum. “Gonna be a better day,” I whispered to Sabrina. I gave her another kiss. “Stay asleep, I think that’s the best call right now.”

I knew I was going to crash out soon enough, but right now I felt too wired from everything that had happened to attempt to close my eyes.

Sadly, I knew that I was going to have a ton of paperwork to fill out.

Such was the price of success sometimes.

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A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!

Yet again a long term payoff of simple notes from the story coming to fruition. Remember that as a former Maiden Sabrina would have been taught the song for the festival. A girl like Sabrina? She’s scary smart and has a memory like a computer!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Shamouti incident! The clean up and aftermath is to follow!

There’s going to be a lot of aftermath from this event as it wasn’t contained in the slightest and had large regional if not international, ripples that have people wondering about some things.

Orre is about to be a hot-button topic that is going to be raised. 

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!