Hard Enough - Chapter 349 - Smart Villians

“Hello there!” I announced to the group of Cipher Peons that were standing guard on the beach of Fire Island. 

The group stared at us. Or at least I hoped that’s what I thought they were doing. It was kind of hard to judge with the visors that they all wore.

Visors that Sabrina and I were also wearing.

“Where’d you come from?” growled one of the burlier men as he raised his firearm in our direction.

Sabrina slowly gestured to us all while Erika snapped her hands upwards and replied quickly. “Woah sorry! We were with Admin Venus but I…” she trailed off only for Sabrina to cut in. 

“She got one of Flowerina’s songs stuck in her head and started humming it! Venus… ordered us to swim over here.” 

“Y-yeah! Things were pretty touch and go there.” Erika rubbed at her elbow nervously. “Think Venus will mention that? When we are done?“

I stared at Sabrina and Erika. 

If I didn’t know it was Sabrina wearing that Cipher outfit, I’d have believed her to be someone else, and Erika’s back up of their little excuse was pretty on point as well.

Damn, she was an amazing actor. I made a mental note for her to use this trick in her show to highlight how good she was as I redirected my attention back to the Peons.

All of whom were relaxing. Some of them even laughed at us. “You idiots! Don’t you know Venus is number one in Orre for a reason? Urgh! Those underground idols are just… the worst.”

Others in the group shook their heads. “Urgh this guy eats all the stuff they feed him.” They waved for us to join them. “Next time only think of Venus’ songs alright? She’s vain as anything.”

Sabrina coughed sheepishly, and we trotted over to join their group.

I pumped a mental fist. Ha! Disguising yourself as one of the bad guys henchmen! A classic trope for heroes to exploit! These guys were especially susceptible to it with their face covering masks!

I shot Erika a smug look that she ignored. She hadn’t believed we were going to get away with this!

I stepped up to the burlier guy and made a show of looking around. “So… any trouble here?” I asked, like I was trying to appear useful. I might not be as good an actor as Sabrina but I could pretend to brown-nose like a champion.

The man scoffed. “Nah, we missed our shot at the red bird cause it took off so quick. Our big bird is smashing it though,” he said, where sure enough Moltres was now in retreat, coming back towards us.

“We’ve just got to watch the ocean for any locals,” the man continued. “Admin Ein is up near the volcano. Don’t piss him off,” the man warned seriously.

“Hmmm, hmmm, is that so?” I replied with a nod.

The man nodded back only to tilt his head. “Say you smoke?” the man said, offering me a cigarette.

I waved him off and shot Sabrina a look. She nodded and we went active. I swiped my hands across my pokebelt and my pokemon erupted from their balls. 

“I think I see something over there!” I shouted as I pointed to the side. 

The Cipher Peons, caught off guard and halfway to their pokeballs paused to turn in the direction I’d pointed only to see that nothing was there.

My pokemon fell upon them smacking them aside or stripping them of their pokeballs or Dark emitters which resulted in Sabrina locking them down.

Within seconds we had them dismantled, either tied up or out cold.

Erika had several Cipher women trussed up in Tangrowth.

I coughed. Should I say something?

Erika glanced at me and coughed. “They’re taken down alright!” she cried while flapping her hands about, daring me to say anything more.

I decided I wasn’t going to touch that. 

Unlike Tangrowth that appeared to be… nope, nope, not going there.

Sadly, even with how quick we’d been, we were still too slow as Moltres limped its way through the air back to its nest. 

“Shit! We’ve got to get up there. Jorm!” I ordered.

He lowered himself so Sabrina and I could hop on, and a moment later, we were powering up the slope with our pokemon charging along with us. Erika chose to ride her Tropius but as soon as they started to get higher I noticed she was falling back as the heat Moltres and the island were sapping her pokemon of strength. 

Moltres noticed our advance and exhaled a line of fire that created a wall in front of us. We all recoiled from the sudden intense searing heat. Tropius tried to turn and flee with Erika having to work to soothe it.

Damn it. It was a mistake to bring her here.

“Damn it, we’re trying to save you!” I shouted at Moltres at it, as it tucked its wings and disappeared into a cavern in the side of the slope.

“Shrek! Tide!” I ordered as the sound of fighting broke out within the cavern.

Both pokemon created small waves with Surf to bridge part of the fire wall and we advanced. Only for Tropius to still fight Erika. “I’ll guard your backs! I’m sorry!” she announced and I could only spare her a quick nod as he hurtled into the cavern atop Jorm.

Sabrina and I arrived just in time to witness a Moltres collapse as lightning arced through its body. 

“Excellent work Raikou! I’ll take it from here!” shouted a dark-haired man as he raised what had to be another Miasmaball towards Moltres.

“Don’t—” I shouted as I ordered my pokemon to attack.

All of them wound up, but none of them were going to be quick enough as the ball whipped through the air towards the downed Moltres.

Thankfully, Sabrina had her Alakazam out, a pokemon known for battling at the speed of thought. 

The Miasmaball was knocked aside as a small rock shot into its path, sending it skittering along the ground uselessly. 

The man glared at us over the top of halfmoon glasses. “You! You’re not Cipher Peons! You must be Brock and Sabrina! We were warned about both of you!”

“Well, you have us at a disadvantage,” I said, attempting to get the man to talk. The longer we delayed, the better our odds.

Rather than oblige us, the man sneered, whirling to the others with him. “Out the back route! We’re not fighting the Rock gym leader within a tunnel!” he commanded as he beat a hasty retreat, leaving his back seemingly exposed.

Something that Sabrina tried to instantly exploit with rocks firing at his back and legs to trip the fleeing Cipher thugs.

A radiating wave of purple energy shot from the roof of the cavern as a pack of Golbat appeared.

All of them opened their mouths as wide as they could go and I curled in on myself instinctively knowing I wouldn’t like what came next. 

The pack of Golbat Screeched and Sabrina and I buckled slightly under the assault. 

Moltres also screeched in pain. And rather than simply wallow it reacted. The air around its body started to pulse as the cavern’s temperature skyrocketed. 

The sheen about Moltres’ body grew brighter and brighter, like a flame building up. 

The air began to hurt to breathe

Something the Golbat instantly noticed as they rasped and gagged as their Screech was cut short. Most of them chose to turn and flee, while two persisted only to grow faint. They collapsed to the ground, where they began to sizzle like meat on a barbecue. 

Moltres continued to ignite, pouring out more and more heat into the cavern until the room started to glow a cheery red. The floor itself started to slag and soften making my boots begin to sizzle.

“We need to get out!” Sabrina called. “Moltres is defending itself from a perceived threat! We’d need a powerful ice type to get close!”

I nodded and followed her back out and onto the slope, when we hit the outside air it was still hot but no longer threatening to immolate us from exposure.

I dragged out some water bottles and poured them over my head to cool off, tossing another to Sabrina who copied me.

I sucked in large aching lungfuls of air. My throat felt raw just breathing, having been exposed to the heat. “This is probably a good thing. Moltres will get time to recover now.” I said as I shook my head to try and get rid of the ringing echo.

If those freaking Golbat gave me tinnitus… urgh!

“If we have to get close to Moltres again, we need breathing masks,” Sabrina suggested.

I grimaced. The ones I had were for aquatic exploration, not for withstanding molten caves. That would be something to rectify in future.

I glanced towards Ice Island, hoping that Articuno wasn’t about to come over like it had in the canonical movie. Thankfully, it seemed that Articuno was distracted by Shadow Lugia.

“Am I seeing double? Or is there another Lugia out there?” I asked only to spot the different colouration. There was also a… almost peaceful, natural feel to Lugia that wasn’t there with Shadow Lugia.

“No! It emerged while you and Sabrina were in the cavern!” Erika gushed as Tropius dropped down. Her eyes tracked up to the glowing cave, “What happened in there?” 

“Moltres is still free but went into Overheat causing us to get out before we melted,” I replied. 

“We need to find Ein! He went out another tunnel.”

Erika nodded and nudged Tropius away. “I’ll go this way to search for him and message you when I spot him!” 

I took in another shuddering breath as my lungs started to feel normal. Another glance at the fight with Articuno and Lugia hammering Shadow Lugia had me perking up. This was looking good.

Then Articuno attacked Lugia.

I stared, and next to me, Sabrina pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“Did it just…” I asked as next to me titan huffed with amusement like he completely understood what was going on and my reaction was in some way funny.

Sabrina nodded. “It did,” she stated with a dead voice. She raised her head and watched as the fight continued. 

“Legendaries are proud beasts,” she muttered and I nodded, watching as a three-way brawl broke out. 

Lugia for its part, was trying to focus on Shadow Lugia but Articuno was hindering it.

I jerked a thumb at the cavern behind me. “I’m suddenly glad I didn’t have the chance to throw some potions at Moltres. If that is how it will react when it regathers its strength… I think I prefer it being down for the count for now.”

Sabrina nodded. Then she and her team twisted to the side where some boulders were located. The cavern suddenly became blocked up.

“That’ll probably give us an extra… half a second,” she declared.

“Did it feel good?” I asked with a slight smirk as I wiped some water off my face. Sabrina nodded with a smile that time around. 

I glanced around, hoping to catch sight of Admin Ein and his team. “Wonder where that tunnel led off to,” I asked. I flicked a look towards Bertha and she gestured to the northern side of the island.

I nodded and hopped back up onto Jormungandr. “Come on, they can’t have gotten far,” I said as I lifted Sabrina up behind me. We made a quick circuit of the volcano only to find no sign of our quarry. 

Worse, the island was starting to leak smoke, making it harder to see anything from the air. Erika soon flew down and landed with a shake of her head. “I’m sorry, the ash is affecting Tropius’ flight. We couldn’t find them!”

“Hmmm it’s alright,” I replied. I began looking closely at the ground, wondering if they’d taken an underground tunnel only for Bertha to shrug and wave a hand at the slowly leaking volcano.

“We need to make another run,” I announced.

It was only as we swept back around that we caught sight of them.

Ein was riding on the back of Raikou while the handful of Cipher Peons he had with him were riding Mightyena and Kangaskhan away. 

I groaned. “Damn it! I hate it when they run!” 

Sabrina sighed. “It does indicate a level of intelligence on their behalf.” She pointed her hand, and Xatu turned unerringly towards the fleeing group.  Erika followed but her Tropius couldn’t keep up.

“Go ahead!” Erika urged as she and Tropius fell behind. “I’ll regather my pokemon’s strength!” she called and I grit my teeth but accepted it. We couldn’t let Ein get away with Raikou.

Don sped past Xatu with a smirk as I urged him to only harass them. Raikou wasn’t going to be a good match-up for Don which he begrudgingly accepted.

Jorm glowed once more as he pushed Rock Polish to the limit. Our speed increased notably but it was tough to catch up to a pokemon like Raikou.

The Kangaskhan pair dropped back as soon as Don and Xatu began hounding the group. The trainers stepped off their saddles as pokemon emerged around them.

“Don’t think we’re like the others!” shouted one of them. “We’ve been training with our pokemon for months!” crowed the other as he waved a hand forward.

Sabrina and I shared a look. “Well that’s concerning,” I said with a half serious expression.

This earned a nod from Sabrina. “Guess our years of training with our teams just aren’t going to match up!” she replied.

The pair of Cipher Peons shifted. “Eh? You’ve had pokemon for that long? How?!”

I blinked. That hadn’t been the response I’d expected. Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “I suggest you both step to the side as you’re so far out of your league you don’t even understand how this plays out.” 

The pair of Cipher Peons shared a look. Then they looked at our pokemon. The towering juggernauts that were tearing through the ice while others floated. There was a palpable aura of power surrounding them.

Then the pair looked at their own pokemon. Sunflora, Hoppip, Huntail, Slowpoke, and a trio of Golbat that were watching us warily,  not exactly the most intimidating sight. 

The Cipher Peons nodded in unison as they took off their helmets and threw them away. “Never like Team Cipher, always felt like I was unappreciated!” the man of the pair said while the woman nodded along.

“You said it!” she announced as she stepped to the side and bowed.

I pointed towards Shamouti island. “Go to that island, present yourselves to the police! Tell them Brock sent you and stay in jail until this all washes over! I’ll come make sure you’re rewarded!” I called as we sped past them.

I pursed my lips. “I think that was the smartest pair of criminals I’ve ever encountered,” I admitted.

“Self-aware at least. I wouldn’t consider them smart for knowing they’re wildly out of their element,” Sabrina replied as we shifted our attention to the still fleeing Ein who had noticed that we weren’t being delayed.

He raised a remote controller and pressed a button.

A moment later, explosions rang out and I stiffened. “What the? Did he just kill his own men?” The fake order Sabrina had used to get the Cipher Peons to divest themselves of their Dark Emitter on Lightning Island suddenly took a sick turn to it.

Sabrina exhaled. “They’re fine. The explosives were in their helmets.” She glared at Ein who was directing the last of his guard detail to face us. This group looked shocked at what had just happened but at the same time there was a grim set to their jaws.

Ein had just forced them into a corner and we were about to apply the pressure.

“Well, any respect I had for the guy just vanished,” I declared as I ordered Don to Hyper Beam the awaiting force of Team Cipher.

Don started to charge up only to adjust as I gave the ice we were running on another look.

I wasn’t sure how thick it was, but firing a Hyper Beam directly at it seemed like a bad idea.

Instead, I had him drop low and fire from a shallow angle. 

This resulted in the Cipher Peons seeing it coming and deploying a wall or Protects.

The ice under their feet all cracked at the sudden impact but otherwise didn’t buckle which I took as a good sign.

A flash of lightning from behind the Peons had us slowing as Bertha advanced to absorb the Thunder that had shot into the air. 

Sabrina scowled. “Ein tossed a pair of electric-type pokemon and tried to snipe us. He’s returning them to their pokeballs now though.” 

Interesting. So this man was smart enough to test aspects like that. It wouldn’t be something a normal trainer would ever consider, but in a dragged out pursuit it was possible to send out pokemon, have them perform a move and then recall them while continuing to flee.

Xatu, Hypno, and Alakazam chose that moment to launch the next strike at the awaiting wall of pokemon.

They timed it perfectly. The Protects were just starting to fade as the Psybeams slammed into the pokemon sending them flying back and in more than a few cases causing them to collect others in their formation.

“Stop them or we’re doomed!” shouted one of the Peons as he raised a gun to fire at us. 

I tugged Sabrina down with me behind Jorm’s spikes while hardening my body. The bullets pinged off Jorm or Barriers that were raised. 

Jorm responded to this aggression by accelerating into a Giga Impact.

I kept my eyes on Ein, watching and dreading what he’d do next.

I wasn’t alone. As we tore through the Cipher formation like tissue paper Ein raised up the remote.

“Don’t!” I growled only for Ein to smirk as he pressed the button.

Around us explosions rocked the ice and I felt it crack underneath us.

The barriers stopped us from taking any shrapnel but we were about to sink into the ocean if we didn’t think fast. 

I returned all of my pokemon, annoyed that this would cost me their buffs but knowing that it was necessary. 

Sabrina caught us in a telekinetic grip and we floated forward to solid ground.

I locked eyes with Ein who faltered at seeing us still on his tail. He turned and fled, casting a fearful look over his shoulder.

Part of me liked that he was scared. He should be.

I released Jorm once more and mounted up. As we took off I gave the area a final look.

“That man has to be one of the most evil people I have ever encountered,” I growled as behind us bodies began to slip into the watery depths. Flecks of red spattered across small icebergs.

Sabrina gently nudged my eyes away with a hand. “We couldn’t help them,” she murmured. “They didn’t know. Venus didn’t have such tools on her… minions.”

That drew a grunt from me. From what Sabrina was conveying through the telepathic link there was some lingering annoyance. To her Venus had been a vapid worm of a woman. She hurt people in petty ways that in another situation would make her evil shine I had no doubt.

But Ein… the man was proving to be an entirely different breed of villain.

Ruthless. Heartless. Calculative. 

Indigo’s current most wanted man, Blaine was notorious for the damage he inflicted on others during the war and then again in pokemon battles but he never used other people like this.

“Where do you think he’s going?” I asked.

“Either Ice island… or towards the Lugia battle,” Sabrina replied. “Fire island is obviously lost to Team Cipher due to our intervention and Moltres’ sealing off its nest as it roosts. Lightning Island there is no point heading towards as Zapdos crashed out on the way back to the island!”

“And Raikou wouldn’t work as well against Zapdos,” I said, connecting the dots.

Sabrina nodded into my back.

“Well let's stop him from influencing any of those fights,” I replied as I signalled for Don to let loose.

If Ein wanted to escalate, he was about to find that we could outscale him easily. 

This time I didn’t bother with aiming shallow. I had Don line him up and unleash. Then I tossed Tide’s pokeball high into the air where he hung.

As gravity began to reassert itself I had him follow Don’s Hyperbeam with one of his own.

Don fired his and the beam screamed across the frozen ocean before slamming home and causing an eruption of ice and water that shot up high. 

Behind me Sabrina shook her head. “He dodged!” she called as she made a shifting gesture to the right on my back.

I fed the information to Tide and he led the next attack.

Once more, the night sky lit up as a Hyperbeam tore across it with another geyser erupting.

Sabrina took a moment to respond but I felt the smirk forming. “Got him,” she announced.

Jorm raced towards the new pond that had formed and sure enough there was Ein, almost in the middle of the pond. 

He was grasping a sheet of ice desperately but failing to stay afloat which caused him to thrash harder.

“Raikou! Raikou! Sav—” he dropped low into the water before reemerging sputtering and spitting. He drew out a knife from his belt that he stabbed into the ice sheet to get himself better leverage. He heaved upwards scrambling and kicking out of the water.

He got up onto the ice sheet only for it to crack and break apart on him. He hung there, just barely floating as his head twisted this way and that.

I glanced around, looking for Raikou only to find it on the edge of the pond, watching Ein with crimson eyes.

It looked like a predator, waiting for its next meal rather than a pokemon watching for its trainer’s next instruction.

Then again with how Cipher ‘captured’ them I doubted there was any respect that was typically found with a normal trainer-pokemon bond.

“Give it up Ein!” I shouted. “You’re done!” 

“I’m not! I still have Raikou!” snarled the man. 

“Legendary pokemon aren’t to be owned! They are to be worked with! They are protectors!” I countered. 

I scowled as he continued to glare icy murder at me. “Surrender,” I growled.

Ein glanced, his hand sliding to his pokebelt before pausing. If I hadn’t Journeyed with Sabrina, I might have missed it but there was a calculation running through his mind.

He slumped. “Very well, help me out and I shall assist you!”  

I frowned. He was fishing, and there was something going on here. “False surrender?” I suggested.

“Absolutely,” Sabrina replied. “But I suspect that he has a backup if we don’t play along. He’s not used to having access to pokemon and it might be that he doesn’t understand that they can save him from this situation.”

That… kind of made sense. We had a limited window… “Unless he just doesn’t trust another to look out for him,” I suggested.

Sabrina responded with a mental nod. “I’d suggest we pull him in.”

That got a grunt out of me. I didn’t like it but I’d trust Sabrina on this plan. She’d followed me on my schemes enough times before.

I did reach into my back pouch to draw out some handy baseball sized rocks. If he tried anything, I was gonna brain him with Rock Throw.

“Alright! We accept your surrender! However, the best way to get you is for you to deactivate your Dark Emitter!” Sabrina called out. 

Ein frowned before sighing. “I can’t! It’s implanted! Come out and grab me!” he asked.

I chuckled. “Oh that’s adorable he thinks we’re idiots.” That had to be the most doubtful statement I think I’ve ever heard. Like this guy would ever trust another to do surgery on him, or if it was performed against his wishes, he’d make sure it was removed.

I’d barely interacted with the guy and I felt I had a very firm grasp on his character.

He was a smug, oily, brainiac who liked to lord how smart he was. 

Sabrina snorted. “He’s a good liar.”

“Eh, I’ve seen better,” I replied. “What’s the play?” I asked.

“If I can’t lift him, I lift something else,” she replied as she made a show of raising her hand.

The ice sheet that Ein was clinging to rose out of the ice causing him to stiffen. 

Heh, he was starting to realise how screwed he was.

Sabrina floated him over to us. I shifted to focusing on Raikou who was still standing to the side while keeping Ein in my peripheral vision.

I was glad I did as the second he touched down he was up and whipping a gun.

“Ha! You foo—”

I flicked my rock, empowering it with my aura which caused it to zip out and slam into his arms.

The gun he’d been raising up went skittering across the ice, and he reeled back before teetering on the edge of the ice.

He fell back into the water with a loud splash only to come up rasping and spluttering once more.

“M-my arms! You broke them!” he wailed as he uselessly floundered.”I’ll kill you!” he raged.

I clicked my tongue. “Now see, attempting that was what caused me to break your arms in the first place.”

Sabrina just watched as he floundered about in the water. “Now would be a good time to take off your Dark Emitter,” she said with an air of someone who didn’t care either way.

Ein, rather than reacting rationally, growled. “Attack Raikou! Thunder!” 

That caused me to whip around as Raikou lit up and sent a massive bolt of lightning up into the sky. 

I was just directing my pokemon to defend against it when Zapdos swept past overhead, intercepting the bolt and absorbing it.

Zapdos screeched in triumph rather than rage, then it beat its wings and surged past us. 

“What’s the bet it’s going to…” I barely got the chance to finish as Zapdos inserted itself right into the middle of the three-way battle of the two Lugia and Articuno.

“Why did there have to be three islands that were perfectly suited to each of the damn Legendary birds?” I muttered as the fighting intensified.

Another flash caused me to glance over to find Raikou attempting to repeat its earlier failed attempt.

Bertha stepped forward and raised her fist into the air while Jorm lowered himself to reduce his risk of being zapped.

The attack struck and did little more than cause Bertha to flex her massive arm as tingles ran through it. She rolled her shoulder and grunted in frustration. I hummed, noting that while she’d not been hurt she did seem to be moving a little slower than she had, more tender in a way.

“Are you done with your tantrum?” I asked, glancing over to find Ein still floundering for a grip on the edge.

He glared at me only to slump. “I… a-a-admit de-defeat,” he said through chattering teeth. “R-r-raikou, stop!”

Raikou snarled at the command but stopped trying to blast us. It did however start pacing back and forth in an agitated manner.

Sabrina snorted. “I can’t grasp the water around him, he’s tainting it,” she declared. 

I sighed and had Tide reach out to pick up Ein by the back of his jacket. 

A quick ping of my transceiver had me relaxing. With all the lightning that was being thrown around, I’d worried that I would have had to resort to firing off flares. 

Something that would have attracted a lot of attention. Visquez was also quick to respond with a short ‘OMW’. With her pokemon I expected that to mean she wouldn’t be long.

Hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I twisted about to catch sight of both Lugia channeling what had to be Aeroblast at one another.

The two attacks discharged with signature fashion with the beams splitting down the middle before reuniting into a more potent attack.

The two attacks slammed into each other and for a second a beam battle ensued with the two Lugia locked, neither able to overcome the other.

I had a moment to exhale in relief only to swear as both Articuno and Zapdos turned their attention towards the closer Lugia.

“Fuuuuuuck those birds!” I growled as they unleashed ice and electricity into Lugia’s back causing it to falter. 

This resulted in Lugia taking a devastating blow that sent it falling out of the sky and back into the ocean.

The only good thing that came of this was that Janine also used the beam lock to line up and fire at Shadow Lugia with the Flying Palace, something that obviously hurt the Shadow Pokemon as it screeched in pain.

When it tried to turn itself on the Flying Fortress Janine had to fly away but Zapdos and Articuno were quick to engage with Shadow Lugia as much as they were themselves.

A screech from behind me had me groaning as Moltres reemerged from its volcanic cavern to return to the fray.

“Oh fuck right off!” I growled as the fighting returned to a fever pitch.

“Hahaha! They are truly just beasts! Dumb brutes that require us to control them!” Ein chuckled.

“Oh, don’t you start! You and yours are the whole reason we’re in this mess! Things might have been tense but the birds were living in harmony until you appeared!” 

Ein sniffed derisively. “You would find that we will be kind to those who submit themselves willingly.”

“You’re deluded if you think that’s going to happen,” I replied, marching up to him and ripping his pokebelt off him just in case he got any more ‘smart’ ideas. 

I also patted him down for other weapons, finding a pouch that had syringes and boosters within it. I grimaced but stored it away for later perusal. There was a temptation to ask him what was in them, but after a moment’s consideration, I realised I didn’t want to know the answer.

Ein grumbled as I opened his jacket to find a necklace that sang to my dark aura. I took it from him and Sabrina’s head snapped around instantly.

Ein paled and his face scrunched up. “No! Stay out of my head!”

“You know vital facts that will determine this battle,” Sabrina replied firmly. “Tell me where your Leader is, where you came from, and what your plan is and I might not tear through your mind!” she declared. 

“I surrendered! You can’t do this!” he whined. 

Sabrina and I both directed flat looks at him. “You falsely surrendered first,” I pointed out. 

“We honestly can’t take your word truthfully.” I offered him a tight, very unfriendly smile. “And Sabrina’s right. You have vital intel. I’d suggest you give her what she wants. Resisting a Psychic of Sabrina’s power?” I shook my head slowly. “Not going to be a fun prospect.”

Ein slumped, looking more defeated than ever. “His name is Evice and he and Grand Master Greevil planned this assault. It was meant to be a method of stealing three more powerful pokemon for Team Cipher, from there we would have struck other known places where powerful pokemon reside such as Mt Silver and the Seafoam islands.”

I grimaced. Cipher must have good intel to know about the latter location. 

Sabrina must have thought so as well as she asked, “Who told you about Seafoam islands?”

Ein grinned. “A foolish boy and his pair of lackeys approached Orre, expecting to find it still a Team Rocket-controlled nation but we’d overthrown them months ago and taken control! When they arrived they expected to be able to extract tools and pokemon from the area but we captured them and interrogated them for everything they had!”

Now why did that sound familiar?

“Was the young boy’s name Carr?” Sabrina asked, and I twitched.

Ein chuckled. “Oh, a friend of yours?”

Sabrina snorted. “Hardly, he is a wanted criminal fleeing from our nation before he could be convicted of the crimes he’d committed.”

The sound of running feet on ice caused our questioning to pause as we turned to find Visquez charging towards us atop a frayed-looking Manetric. 

“Howdy there party people!” she hollered as she got close. 

A boom of thunder made her smile dim a little as she glanced up and scowled. “Damn, things are pretty crazy up there,” she muttered as Manetric skidded to a halt. 

I nodded in greeting. “Did the trio not follow you?” I asked.

Visquez smirked. “Nah we encountered a pair of beaten-up Cipher peons being cared for by Erika but she seemed a bit banged up herself. Jessie insisted on stopping to help them and Erika demanded I keep moving. The pair said you would vouch for them?” 

“Cowards!” snarled Ein form where he was sitting.

Visquez leaned to the side. “Oh! Looky there! You got yourself one of the fancy ones. He needs convincing?” Visquez asked as she drew out a wicked-looking taser that sparked with electrical energy. 

Ein leaned back fearfully. “No! I surrendered! You can’t do that to me!”

“Sure I can, just gotta hide the evidence afterwards, if you catch my drift,” Visquez replied without skipping a beat. 

I coughed. “Let’s allow Sabrina to continue this,” I said, directing Visquez to where Raikou was still glaring at the world like it was thinking about how to murder everyone in it.

“Now you’ll need to approach it slowly and—” 

Visquez hopped off her Manectric and stormed right up to Raikou without any warning. Before anyone, Raikou included, could react she had her arms around its neck.

Instantly, Raikou responded by lighting up with electricity. 

Visquez howled with pain, and I lunged to grab her. I got a hand to her shoulder and tried to tug her off but she was locked in place. With my hand touching her I also began to twitch as lightning coursed through me.

“Raikou! I know you’re hurting cause people are shit! Sometimes that happens! The people we care about let us down! But there are good people out there! I like to think I could be one of them! I’m not sure! But I’m trying!” roared Visquez through the pain.

“Let go!” I shouted at Visquez. “It’ll kill you!”

I felt Sabrina’s telekinetic grip wrap around me and tug me back, but I held onto Visquez trying to get her off. 

“If you kill me! Know that I was just trying to help!” Visquez shouted right into Raikou’s ear.

I grimaced as my pokemon closed, ready to knock Raikou out or drag me away if they had to only for Raikou to suddenly stop electrocuting us both.

I twitched in surprise as I blinked away at the spots. It took a moment but I realised with a start that Raikou was no longer emitting shadowy energy. 

It was its standard colouration and stood gracefully, its mane swept behind it majestically. It blinked as if seeing the world properly for the first time. Then it lowered its head. 

Raikou rumbled something and Visquez chuckled. “Yeah, it’s tough sometimes, but it gets better trust me.”

I fell back onto my butt, body still tingling with the effects of the secondhand electricity running through me.

“Visquez! What the fuck?” I muttered.

Visquez, still with her arms wrapped around Raikou, turned her head. 

“I read the notes you sent out Brock. That was a good plan for a water pokemon but it ain’t gonna work with an electric type. Electric types need to vent sometimes.”

“But you almost died!” I replied with a disbelieving shake of my head.

Visquez turned and smirked. “Nah, I had another couple seconds,” she replied. 

She grabbed at the vest she wore. “Pops showed me this trick,” she announced as she opened her signature vest and revealed that the inner lining had what looked like battery packs throughout them. High-capacity packs that were all blinking green lights.

“Carry empty batteries around with you and when an Electric type zaps you from brushing up against it, it goes into the battery.”

I put my head in my hands  “Visquez that logic doesn’t work with Legendary pokemon!”

“Whelp! I’m still alive so it did!” she declared, and I could only shake my head.

A soft rumble had me look up in time to spot Raikou giving Visquez a lick.

“Awww he’s saying sorry!” Visquez laughed. “I forgive you Raikou!”

I shook my head and turned to look at Sabrina only to find her glaring at Ein. I sighed. “He tried to run away while we were distracted?” I asked.

Sabrina nodded.

Visquez snorted. “He’s dumber than he looks, ain’t he?” 

That got a growl out of Ein, only to turn into a whimper when Raikou bared its teeth at him and snarled.

Bertha huffed a laugh, and I shook my head.

Visquez glanced up at the four-way battle. “So, any idea how we’re going to solve that? Our Ace got blindsided, didn’t it?” by Ace I could only assume she meant Lugia.

I was about to answer when a trio of lights erupted from the clifftop of Shamouti, and a voice began to cut through the sounds of fighting.

The voice was quickly joined by music and I realised I knew this song. I’d heard it hours before… and a time before that… Sabrina had once sung this song.

It was a beautiful song, and I was surprised to see that it caused all the Legendary combatants to stop fighting. 

They even began to pull apart slightly.

Then the song ended, and the birds shivered as if they were shaking off a bewitching spell.

The fighting didn’t start up again, which I thought was interesting. 

Then something shot up at Shadow Lugia, causing it to screech in pain. 

That caused a chain reaction with the other birds reacting by lashing out at everything around them. 

As the fighting resumed, a light began to build up from within the ocean close to Shamouti island.

Lugia erupted from the water and drifted towards the clifftop. “I had forgotten that song existed…” echoed a powerful voice through my mind, only for it to ‘tone its volume down’ until I couldn’t hear it anymore.

Ein stiffened. “It can talk?” he gasped.

“All pokemon can talk,” I answered. “The trick is listening.” 

I turned to him. “Speaking of hearing interesting things. I can’t help but notice that you never told us where your leaders were.”

Ein swallowed but bowed his head. “Grand Master Greevil and Evice didn’t come. They’re still in Orre. They sent us in their place. I believe Miror B is near the place the birds are fighting.”

Sabrina and I shared a look.

I was about to delegate Visquez to look after Ein for us before pausing as another question occurred to me.

“How did you capture a fully grown Lugia?”

Ein smirked. “We have its child. We captured it on the way here.”

I sighed. “Of course you did.” I shared another look with Sabrina. “Time to rescue the kid?” I suggested.

“Fuck yeah!” Visquez barked. “Me and Raikou are ready to rock!” Then her gaze turned towards Ein. “What’re we going to do with him?”

I smirked as a new plan formed in my mind. A moment later, Don swept down and snatched up Ein in his talons. 

Ein shrieked as he was dragged up into the sky and towards Shamouti island.

Sabrina watched for a moment. “You probably need to remind Don to drop him gently, or else he’ll have a broken spine along with his broken arms.”

I huffed. “Why is being the good cop always tougher? I call dibs on being the bad cop next time,” I suggested.

Sabrina just shook her head. “You’re too nice to be the bad cop.”

We turned towards where the fighting was. Lugia was still ‘talking’ with people on the cliffs. If he was there after the song was sung, that had to mean Ash had made it back to Shamouti.

A rumble caused me to look back to the fight only to glance around as Sabrina tapped me on the shoulder. 

She pointed and I whistled as I saw what had to be a throng of pokemon beginning to dot the horizon.

“Looks like the migrations are here,” I muttered. Somewhere, somehow, I just knew Oak and the other Professors were around and freaking out about what this meant.

There had to be thousands if not tens of thousands of pokemon watching on now.

It kind of put things into perspective if this many pokemon were worried about the outcome.

The balance of the world truly was at stake here.

That made me shoot off a message to my brother checking that he was alright. 

He messaged back quickly that he was safe, which got a sigh of relief from me.

Alright then, time to end this.

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

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!