Hard Enough - Chapter 346 - The Evils of Orre

With lightning bringing day to night and thunder rolling over us we stared down at the Cipher group.

We didn’t call out to them. We didn’t signal for them to stand down.

We had locked eyes, and despite the distances involved and the lack of any spoken word, we knew that violence was the only acceptable option to choose.

Sabrina extended her telepathic connection to Visquez, Erika, and me. A few moments later, Ash, Misty and Forrest were also included causing the trio to stiffen up.

“Ash, you need to get that orb and get out of here as fast as you can,” she declared over the bond. 

At the entrance of the shrine Ash twisted around. “Sabrina? What’s happening? Zapdos is here and people are firing flares off!” he wailed mentally. 

“ASH! GET A GRIP!” Forrest roared over the bond. “We talked about this! They’re baddies like Team Rocket! Get the orb and make sure not to drop it again!”

I held back a chuckle, pleased that my brother was handling the sudden shift so well. 

“Look after yourself little brother,” I said as Ash tore into the shrine to grab the yellow orb. 

I stepped forward, eyes still watching the cluster of people on the beach. They spread out and advanced towards us.

Then with a ripple of expanding light an army of pokemon appeared on the beach. 

I matched them with ten of my strongest. 

Titan came out with a roar that was lost in the boom of thunder. 

Behind me I felt waves of air rippling out signalling that the others were bringing out their own pokemon. 

I stepped forward onto the slope with my pokemon as they began to glow or glint. Each step they took caused the ground to rumble.

Sabrina twitched and I leapt backward as Sabrina flashed a warning over our connection.

I wasn’t sure what it was for but I wasn’t about to second-guess her.

The attack came from the sky. Zapdos fired a bolt of lightning that landed well ahead of me causing a splash of gravel and rather than dissipating in an instant, the bolt of lightning continued to arc from Zapdos to the ground. 

I stiffened in surprise thinking that it was about to attack us only to blink as a pokemon that had been little more than a shadow launched itself back and away from where the lightning was.

It landed and shook its head only to raise itself up and growl. 

With what light we had I didn’t want to believe but…that hexagonal crest and that mane…

“That’s a Suicine,” I whispered. And sure enough, before me was a pokemon known for being as fast as the northern winds and as graceful as any pokemon alive.

Rather than the typical soft blue and white this pokemon radiated darkness with its purple mane whipping about. Glowing crimson eyes like blood glowered up at Zapdos as the twin white tails lashed the air. 

Regirock stepped forward and raised its limbs protectively and it took me a moment to catch on.

Regirock was reacting to the threat that had just come barreling up the hill at me, but before that, Zapdos of all pokemon had blocked Suicine from striking me.

My pokemon bristled as the understanding spread. Bertha gave the Legendary electric type a begrudging nod of respect. 

I fired off a quick message to the chat group we had assembled for this incident advising that Cipher had a blasted Suicune of all pokemon. 

And sadly, if there was one thing that I knew from watching the movies or playing the games, where there was one of the Legendary Cats, others were sure to be present. 

“Beware, Raikou and Entei might also be present… in regional variants,” I announced over our shared bond. 

I had no idea what was going on with the wafting darkness from Suicune but the fact that Sabrina had been barely able to react was telling. 

This had to be a regional dark type pokemon. Perhaps still water as well?

Damn it was annoying learning about different regions that I had no experience with. Blasted pokemon games continuing to create new pokemon or worse, variants!

Before I could get too bogged down in being annoyed at the Gamefreak’s success, Titan stomped and began to launch a barrage of boulders down range to the Cipher members still on the beach. 

Cipher responded with their own pokemon firing back. 

Oddly enough there only seemed to be three or four pokemon to a person on average. 

I could see Furret, Octillery, Heracross, Forrestress, Geodude, Vigoroth, Hitmonlee, Koffing, Kirlia, Spinarak, Gloom, Sunflora, Muk, Sandslash, Roselia, Piloswine, Golem, Golbat, Zubat, Glalie, and even a trio of Pupitar appearing around the main group.

Around a single woman wearing what looked like a crescent moon on her back, a guard of Steelix, Delcatty, Vileplume, and Milotic stood ready.

“Peons! Attack!” the woman’s voice declared as the only person on the beach not wearing a matching armour set swept her arm up towards us. 

The ‘Peons’ all roared and charged along with their pokemon, pulling out stun batons or guns that they began to fire up at us. 

I stepped back as Bertha intercepted the bullets with a growl. 

Visquez yelped as she dropped to the ground. “These assholes aren’t playing around! Light em up!” she ordered.

Her pokemon blazed with electricity and the sky once more flashed as lightning began to descend on the Cipher Peons. 

I grimaced expecting the rock or ground type pokemon to intercept the attacks only for the Cipher Peons to give no such order. Instead they merely weathered the attacks and advanced.

Zapdos screeched with rage as it attempted to blast Suicine once more only for it to evade easily.

“Suicune get—” the womans voice was lost in Zapdos’ shriek of rage as it began to fill the sky with lightning causing Suicune to leap back.

A quick peek around Bertha revealed that the Cipher Peons were still advancing but they were making… a lot of mistakes. I could spot multiple things that they should be doing to make their ascent easier, or at least ways that they could be combating us. 

“Is this a plan or are they just incompetent?” I asked through the bond.

“Please let it be incompetency!” Visquez hollered as a Thunder slammed down into a Heracross to leave it fried and out of the fight. 

“It’s like they’re new trainers!” Erika supplied as her team crested the ridge with Sunny Day behind them. They stayed paired up as the strongest in her team shot Solarbeams downhill. 

“That… does seem to be the case,” I murmured. The Peons weren’t doing anything with regards to using type advantage. They weren’t using protect. They weren’t even making the stronger, more evolved pokemon take hits that the smaller pokemon couldn’t handle. 

They were just firing attack after attack and watching it splash against the various defenses we had assembled. 

I don’t think they understood that water attacks were being negated by my Cradily for instance. 

They were a threat certainly… but in the same way a gang of children would be… only they had guns and pokemon at their beck and call.

I glanced out again. “Are they doing anything for area denial?” I asked. 

“...No, not deliberately,” Sabrina replied and I knew in that moment exactly what she’d do.

She was going to cut off the head of the Arbok. 

_________________________

Sabrina didn’t hesitate. She and her team vanished into a Teleport as soon as the revelation of Team Cipher’s mistakes made themselves known. 

They’d been so worried about fighting a professional force that they’d held back, watching for the trick. The trap. 

It didn’t exist. These were powerful pokemon but being commanded by rookie trainers. 

The only thing they had going for them was that their armour was blocking Sabrina’s ability to affect them with her psychic abilities. 

Armour that a notable member wasn’t wearing. 

Sabrina appeared directly behind the woman that had remained on the beach, hurling insults at her ‘Peons’ to make them move faster. 

Around her four pokemon remained like sentinels. 

Sabrina didn’t care for them. They were too far away to stop her.

Sabrina grabbed the idiotic fashion statement with her hands and wrenched the woman back into a grapple. Koga had insisted she learn to grapple for the times she got dragged into close combat. 

They’d rarely discussed when she’d be the one pushed into close combat on the offensive, but now she was glad for the training as she twisted her opponent into a lock with her legs that had her being choked out.

The pokemon guards twitched as the woman gurgled in shock. 

“Steel!” roared the Steelix as it twisted about to defend its trainer only for it to come under fire as Claydol slammed into it.  

Delcatty found itself hammered by Espeon, Hypno took out Milotic while Vileplume was sent flying by Alakazam.

“Sa-save muh—” she rasped only for Sabrina to tighten her legs as she patted the woman down, feeling for the dark emitter she must have been wearing. Nothing revealed itself and Sabrina cursed mentally. Was this woman like Surge? With an implant? 

The woman in her grasp thrashed and Sabrina twitched as she was pushed against the crescent moon the woman wore about her shoulders. 

Dark energies always caused an unpleasant feeling.

The fashion accessory?

Sabrina rolled and dragged the woman through the sand. Now out of contact with the dark emitter Sabrina mentally grasped a nearby rock and ripped it towards herself. 

She twisted once more and dragged the woman into the path of the hurtling rock.

The woman spotted it and tried to shriek in fear, but nothing came out as she used the last of her air. The rock slammed into the crescent and destroyed the dark emitter. 

Instantly, Sabrina noticed the difference. 

The woman’s mind was no longer occluded to her. 

Like a candle in the dark of night, the woman couldn’t hide from Sabrina.

Sabrina curled herself in and locked eyes with the tear-stricken, reddening face of her captive. 

“Time for you to show me… everything,” she growled as she pushed the bond with her friends away. She didn’t want her friends and Brock to feel what she was about to do to this woman.

Every second counted. She needed to know everything this woman knew.

Sabrina tore through the mind of… 

Venus.

The woman’s name was Venus. 

A history of being groomed from a young age by a demanding mother unfolded in mere moments.

Sabrina observed, documented and dismissed most of it.

She didn’t care how many Young Miss Orre awards Venus won. Or how she practised singing and dancing long into the night. Well past the time her feet were swollen or her voice cracked.

She didn’t care that Venus’ parents pushed and pushed and pushed.

She noted the manic need for Venus to be seen as better, attractive, or just outright popular by her peers and the civilians of a place known as The Under in Orre. 

Small facts jumped out like this at Sabrina as she noticed other things. 

Orre barely had any pokemon of note. What was there was weak and easily managed. Pokeball technology was present but no more than the basic Apricorn creations that were only used as novelty items or traditionalists in Johto.

Venus’ recruitment into a local criminal organisation had been rather easy to Sabrina’s sensibilities. The group had approached her with a better deal than the other record companies were offering. 

More support, dedicated fan meet ups, Controlled popularity graphs, the works were all laid out for her for the low price of advocating for Cipher and radicalising groups. Drugs were sold openly at her shows driving an addiction cycle in some of her fans but Venus cared nothing for that.

Venus’ mind flickered briefly as the woman tried to muster a smidgeon of willpower to force Sabrina out. 

Sabrina almost wanted to laugh. 

It was easier to swat Venus’ attempt away than it would have been to push over a baby. 

Venus had no idea how to ‘walk’ in this setting while Sabrina had been flying in the mental aspect for most of her life.

A whimper of pain escaped Venus but Sabrina ignored her as she dug more information out. 

Sabrina watched the memories continue to flicker past. 

Meetings with Greevil, the supposed Grand Master of Cipher who made sure to praise Venus whenever they met. 

Sabrina knew it to be a carefully controlled fiction with the man merely placating the simple woman. Compliments seemed like chump change if they allowed him to control Venus and her followers.

More memories…

Venus was performing songs with less and less passion, phoning it in with her performances as her status as the all-time greatest Idol was solidified. 

Meeting the other ‘Admins’ of Cipher. Dakim, tall and fiery. Ein, intelligent and caught up in his own brilliance. Mirror B… a fop with family connections and little more. 

News articles of attempts to expand past the mountains only for powerful pokemon to rise up and destroy the exploration groups. Venus’ family attempting one such trek only for none to survive.

Venus didn’t shed any real tears for them but what was expected of her.

Sabrina paused and probed the exploration of the mountains, forcing Venus to draw up the meager amounts of geographical knowledge she had. 

Orre was supposedly a large valley region surrounded by mountain ranges equal to the Silver Ranges in scope. They also had an ocean that was extremely brutal to live near, let alone attempt to sail on.

Other memories flowed through Sabrina’s grasp as she dug up this information.

Like how any survivors of an exploration group usually returned to Orre babbling of their saviours, the Legendary Cats intervening.

Sabrina wanted to scowl as she found nothing else regarding Venus’ knowledge of where Orre was in the world.

To the woman’s sensibilities she’d merely gotten on a boat, locked herself in her cabin and come here.

Sabrina relaxed her grip and probed other memories.

She watched as Venus continued to perform her vapid Idol shows.

The only times she roused herself to put on a true performance was when she crushed young up and comers. 

Then something changed and the focus of Team Cipher changed. They became… revitalised by something.

An old contact reaching out. A leader of the organisation in its infancy years, supposedly.

Venus had been there as the ‘Triumph of Evice’ occurred. 

All the Peons and all the Admin were assembled inside a vast hall where Evice strode through them like a conquering hero. 

Greevil, the Grand Master of Cipher had greeted Evice like a long lost brother and Evice had presented the man a working Masterball and the schematics for more.

With Evice returning to Orre pokeball technology took giant leaps with powerful specialised pokeballs entering controlled production. No longer could a person merely own one or two but an entire roster of pokemon.

And Orre… had suddenly gone from Team Cipher having a thumb on the scales of power, to snatching up the entire game.

The mines, rich in minerals, metals and rare elements came under Cipher control. While the unique properties of the Masterball were extremely rare Evice and Greevil found an alternative with a local metal.

Something Venus sadly hadn’t cared to look into, much to Sabrina’s disappointment.

The shift brought dissidents which caused violence to spill out.

With the violence came the Legendary Cats.

Just like Evice had expected. 

Evice and the Grand Master quickly noted something interesting about the Legendary Cats. 

They didn’t like Evice at all and whenever he presented himself in public with the Masterball hidden away they would attempt to cut him down.

Which made them all too easy to predict, and capture.

A surge of glee roared through Venus as the memory of her and a gang of Cipher Peons trapping Suicune was observed. 

A ball that dripped with shadowy miasma was used and Suicune… Suicune was tainted.

Everything was going wonderfully for Team Cipher then. They had total control of Orre. Unchallenged.

Then Team Rocket found Orre.

Rather than put up a fight, Greevil and Evice adopted a wait-and-see approach. They allowed Team Rocket to ‘take over’ assuming itself in power in Orre. 

People railed against this but Evice ordered them to ‘roll over’ for now. In doing so, they dragged Team Rocket into Orre, pretended to bow their heads.

And then, once they felt they had all the information they needed, they struck, casting down Team Rocket and claiming all of the infrastructure. 

Once more Cipher was in control, only this time they had a new target.

They began to build up their forces and plan ways to get back. For this they needed more forces, so Venus drummed up support with her followers, citing how Indigo had struck at them and they needed to defend themselves by attacking Indigo and showing their strength.

Sabrina frowned mentally. The information Venus had…

It was curated, she saw. 

Even the sudden increase in extreme weather events that rocked Orre after the capture of the Legendary Cats was blamed upon Indigo. Flooding events were the work of Indigo water infiltrators.

Earthquakes? Ground type specialists. 

Hurricanes and storms? Flying and Electric types.

There was nothing about the power of the trainers. Nothing about how Indigo was merely part of a larger world. 

Indigo was demonised. 

The Orange Archipelago? A stepping stone and Vassal of Indigo.

No mention of Hoenn.

The drums of war were thundering as loudly as they could to deafen the ears and quieten the mouths of anyone who might speak up against it.

Apparently, ‘spies’ were later captured, but Venus knew little to nothing of that. Supposedly, some pokemon were stolen and handed out, but Venus didn’t care.

She just followed orders and sought to crush those whom she saw as weaker than her.

Sabrina pushed Venus’ flagging mind to its limits, searching for her orders tonight. 

Supposedly, she was to incite Zapdos and then step back but when she’d been spotted she decided to kill the witnesses.

There had been no hesitation. 

There had been a stirring of glee at the thought of killing them, but little else.

Sabrina considered the woman in her mental and physical ‘grip’. It wouldn’t take much to finish her off… But that would be limiting and perhaps there might be more that could be extracted later.

Sabrina also didn’t want to worry Brock.

So, she drew herself back from Venus’ quivering mind, allowing it to begin healing. 

Sabrina hummed as she watched Venus curl into herself as her body responded to raw emotions and thoughts running rampant. 

“Sleep,” she ordered, applying a momentary squeeze to Venus’ mind.

The woman’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as a deep sleep claimed her.

Sabrina straightened, noting how the fight was still underway.

It had barely been a few seconds since she’d dove into Venus’ mind.

It had been enlightening but at the same time Sabrina felt like she needed a bath.

Behind her Alakazam and Kirlia batted a Banette back and forth. Sabrina raised an eyebrow and directed a questioning thought at her starter.

Alakazam responded with a short memory of Venus’ shadow lunging at Sabrina while she’d been indisposed.

“Ah, carry on then,” she replied, turning to the remaining Cipher Peons that had started to clue on to how they should hide behind the stronger pokemon.

Sabrina scowled. Venus had revealed much, but not enough. She now had some of the puzzle but not nearly as much as she would like. 

The woman had been too vapid and self-absorbed to pay attention to what was going on beyond following simple orders.

The fact that she was an Admin of Cipher…

Sabrina assessed Venus’ form once more. 

She wasn’t even that pretty.

Overhead another bolt of lightning heralded Zapdos’ growing rage.  If that pokemon truly got going…

Sabrina grimaced. If it came down to it, they could take out another Legendary.

Sabrina reached out to her team. “I’m surprised you haven’t collapsed the mountain on them already,” she idly commented.

“Not with you down there!” Erika replied loyally. 

“Waiting until my brother and his friends get off the island first,” said Brock.

“We’re allowed to do that?” Visquez asked.

“You! No! That’s evil! Only villains do that!” Erika shouted through the bond. 

Sabrina flicked her eyes down to the comatose Venus once more. Best not to tell Erika about that then… If she did learn, Sabrina could just point out how Venus have been part of a group that tortured a baby Lugia… that would make it acceptable.

Somewhat.

“Perhaps it’s for the best. They’re rather simple… and Suicune, it turns out is not a variant but a corrupted protector in Orre.”

“They corrupted their Legendary pokemon?” Brock asked. “That’s possible?”

“Apparently, now hold on. I have an idea,” Sabrina announced.

“A good one?” Erika asked but Sbarina ignored. It was like Brock said sometimes you just had to try sometimes.

Venus’ comatose body floated upwards as around her the downed bodies of her pokemon were telekinetically lifted upwards.

Sabrina coughed once. She didn’t have much practice at this but hopefully she could fake it enough to get away with it.

She took a breath, and then with her best vapid girl voice she shrieked up at the Peons. “QUICKLY THROW AWAY YOUR DARK EMITTERS THEY’VE BEEN RIGGED TO EXPLODE!” 

Her voice carried in an unpleasant fashion. It cut through the rumbles and pokemon cries and thunder to reach the struggling men and women.

The group stiffened.

Surely this wasn’t going to work. Venus’ body floated a bit in front of Sabrina to hide her. If the Peons turned they’d see her but more than a momentary look would surel—

Most of the Peons unclipped their dark emitters and threw them away without questioning it. 

A general sense of disbelief wafted through the bond, from the humans and the pokemon she shared a connection with.

These people had no idea what they were up against, did they?

Sabrina reached out and mentally applied a delicate psychic pressure to the now unprotected Peons with a ‘gentle brain punch’.

They folded in on themselves like a house of cards in front of a flying type.

The four Peons that had paused, and not thrown away their emitters twitched and spun around. “It’s a trap!” one of them roared. “Venus has gone rogue!” he announced. 

Sabrina squinted past Venus’ slumped body. 

Forrest was right when he said Stupidity was unlimited. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t contagious.

One of the Cipher Peons slammed a hand to their ear. Their mouth moved but whatever they were saying was lost in the noise of the storm. Something was broadcast however. 

Damn, she probably couldn’t count on that trick working twice. 

Still, with only four left the fight wouldn’t take long. The pokemon now without their trainers milled about uncertainly or cowered as Zapdos swept overhead, still chasing Suicune who was still following Venus’ orders to attack Sabrina’s team.

A flicker of movement to the side saw Forrest and his friends sprinting towards Maron and her ship which was already turned about and ready to speed towards Ice island.

Good, the safety for the local Lugia was still in play.

They just needed to—

A wave of dark miasmic energy erupted behind Sabrina and she whirled only to gasp in shock.

From the ocean, an eruption of energy was occurring, causing a geyser of water and foul shadow to fill the air. 

Then something huge began to appear from the depths of the geyser, forming into a huge orb.

Within the orb a dark purple and silver Lugia appeared that roared out a challenge. 

Overhead Zapdos stopped attempting to destroy Suicune so it could face the new threat. 

It screeched in anger and flashes of lightning filled the air. 

Then Zapdos took off towards the hovering ‘Dark Lugia’. 

Sabrina felt pulses from Ice and Fire island but her breath was stolen from her as something else, something deep in the ocean stirred.

Sabrina swallowed. “We’re going to need more than an old Prophecy and a Song to solve this,” she muttered, knowing that this was going to be a Legendary free-for-all on a scale never witnessed before.

In response to this new threat, Janine chose that moment to announce herself. 

The Flying Palace cut through the clouds and hovered above Shamouti island. 

The original plan had been to have her defend the populace but that was going to have to change. 

She could still play up the ‘Foreign’ force by cosplaying as an Airship Admiral of ‘Team Hurricane’. It was just that Team Hurricane was about to win itself a lot of brownie points for not just scaring everyone but also fighting back Team Cipher that apparently was already on the island.

“Shiiiit!” What are we gonna do about them?” shouted Visquez. 

“It’s going to get worse…” Sabrina admitted with a grimace as ice began to spread from Ice Island.

Erika and Visquez hissed and tensed up only for Brock’s calming presence to sweep out through the bond. “Keep calm and take it step by step. Let’s clear Team Cipher off Lightning island first and then see if we can cleanse Suicune. Sabrina, does Venus have Suicune’s pokeball?”

Sabrina blinked. She hadn’t considered that which was an oversight.

Then again… breaking a pokeball wasn’t something that one did lightly so she chalked it up to a cultural blindspot on her behalf.

Sabrina patted Venus down once more, feeling for the pokebelt and finding a small array of pokeballs hiding out of sight on her lower back.

She pulled out a silvery ball that sapped her as soon as she touched it. She dropped it to the ground. “I think I have it,” she replied.

“Good. Destroy it,” Brock ordered. 

Sabrina lifted two boulders and slammed the pokeball between them only to scowl as it held.

“I need something stronger,” she said looking at her pokemon. Psychic attacks would be resisted by the ball, she could already tell that much.

A stomping march had Sabrina glancing up to find Bertha and Regirock advancing down the hill.

“They’ll do,” she said smiling as both pokemon powered through the faltering Cipher line of defenders. 

Erika and Brock quickly knocked out the rest of the pokemon and soon had the trainers restrained while Visquez played defensive against Suicune who had resumed trying to snipe at them.

When Bertha reached Sabrina she pointed at the Shadowball with a silent command.

“Rhy!” Bertha grunted, cocking back her massive fist and building up power which she unleashed directly upon the Shadowball. 

With a screeching of metal on metal and a crumbling noise the ball shattered. A blast of miasma radiated out and Sabrina had to throw herself out of the way lest she be struck.

She levitated herself out of the furrow in the sand she’d caused to glare at the now destroyed shadowball. 

Hopefully with it destroyed, Suicune would—

“Sabrina!” Brock roared.

Sabrina flinched as she twisted around, the image of a leaping set of jaws enough to have her falling back. Her pokemon turned and began to form barriers in front of her only for Suicune to crash through them.

Then out of nowhere a Thunder slammed home into Suicune and hammered it into the ground.

“HA! GOT YA!” Visquez shouted. “LOCK ON AND RAIN MEAN THUNDER, DON’T MISS BABY!” she thumped her chest in victory before glancing at Sabrina. ”You okay there partner?” 

Sabrina exhaled all the tension from her body. “Got the scare of my life but otherwise? I’m good,” she replied, drifting away so Visquez could double-tap the downed Legendary. “Hit it again.”

Visquez blinked. “Uhmmm it just took—” 

Suicune stood, shaking off the sand that coated its body to growl. 

Another Thunder fired only for a Protect to deny it as mist started to fill the orb. 

“Zapdos damn it! It’s got some tactics!” she growled.

Sabrina huffed and her team of pokemon joined Visquez in attacking the Protect.

Suicune was either using Water Veil to trigger some speed boost with a latent ability, or some other Legendary trick, but speed and accuracy wouldn’t matter much if the entire area was saturated with attacks.

Sabrina pulled the trigger and her pokemon fired round after round of Psybeam at the Protect.

The Protect, rather than fade, shattered a moment later with a harsh cry sounding out as Suicune was sent tumbling down the beach. 

“Stop, that’s enough!” cried Erika fearfully. 

Sabrina slashed her hand through the air and her pokemon ceased their attacks. 

This time when Suicune was revealed it didn’t move. It stood, trembling and twitching with crimson eyes that glared out at the world. 

The Miasma still clung to it. It took a step forward before lunging at Sabrina only for Bertha to be there catching the attack on her forearms. 

Sabrina recoiled as the shadowy masma washed outwards from the impact and Bertha grunted but a whine of pain also escaped Suicune.

That attack had injured it?

“Hold it!” Brock ordered. “Don’t let it run!” Brock commanded as a pokeball that he’d been keeping in reserve flickered out and Link appeared next to Bertha.

The gravity around the pokemon intensified and Suicune slumped as it suddenly had to work harder, but despite that it still kept trying to fight at the detriment to its own health. 

Doubt flickered over the bond from Visquez and Erika but a firm resolve swept through from Brock. 

“We’re not out of options yet. Sabrina… can you get Misty?” Brock suggested. 

Sabrina cast her mind out and found Misty along with Forrest, Ash, Maron, and, surprisingly, the former Team Rocket Trio with Melody hurtling across the frozen ocean on a sailboat with its sails deployed. 

Urgh, Teleporting to a moving position… never enjoyable.

Calculations ran through her mind before she decided to just intercept them.

She vanished in a flash and reappeared in the sky above the sailboat. 

“Misty!” she shouted. “We need you! Come with me!” 

Misty’s head snapped upwards and she hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Alright!” and then without missing a beat she leapt off the side of the boat. “Get to the shrine Ash! I’m going to help Sabrina! Forrest look after Ash!” 

“Misty!” both of the boys shouted in shock only for Misty to be snatched up in a telekinetic grip and brought close.

Yet again Sabrina teleported, this time with Misty in tow. She reappeared slightly further away from the battlefield than she would like but she could see that the Miasma was affecting her.

That was bad, if the miasma was starting to saturate the air… we were going to be slower in responding.

A glance towards Fire, Ice, and the middle of the ocean where ‘dead’ spots to her psychic senses were starting to build made her purse her lips. The longer this went on the less mobile she’d be.

“Suicune?” Misty gasped. “I thought it was just a Houndoom or something I didn’t recognise but… that’s Suicune, isn’t it?” 

Brock caught sight of them and sprinted, his steps covering a huge distance, and before Misty could react, he was suddenly in front of them.

“Brock!” Misty squawked. “What’s going on? Why is Suicune being… restrained? And the wrong colour?”

He grinned. “Hey there Misty! Ready to help save the world?” he asked.

Sabrina cocked an eyebrow at him and reestablished the bond. “How confident are you in this plan of yours working?” 

Brock’s grin grew a little wider, and Sabrina realised how much he was forcing it to stay confident and friendly. 

“What plan?” he replied mentally. 

And like that, Sabrina knew they were all doomed. Stupidity truly was contagious. 

__________________

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

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!