Chapter 54 (Patreon)

With the help of Ponyta and Gallade, Wally and I managed to find a family of three and we took them to where everyone else was gathering at the Mossdeep Space Center. The mother and father rode with me in my basket, whereas their daughter rode behind Wally on Flygon. Flygon tried to hide it, but definitely enjoyed the scream of delight coming from its back.

Once we reached the space center, we found a number of people gathering. It seems that its elevated location on the island let it be used as a temporary shelter, as the waves hadn’t been tall enough to reach it back when Kyogre was still around.

Watching the battle between Kyogre and Rayquaza earlier was terrifying. The amount of power each attack contained could have fainted my entire team. I remembered Metagross's fight against Rayquaza, and unconsciously shook my head.

There was no way Rayquaza wasn’t holding back against Steven.

Based on what I had just seen, the knowledge of the games and anime, as well as the extremely rare post discussion about myths and legends online, I started to classify Legendary Pokémon into three tiers: True Legendaries, miracle makers, and normal Legendaries.

True Legendaries were beings like Rayquaza and Kyogre, or like Dialga and Palkia in Sinnoh. They were Pokémon that there were only one of, and had such incredible control over a single aspect of reality they practically embodied it. Kyogre had the sea, Rayquaza had the atmosphere, and Dialga and Palkia had time and space respectively. I’d imagine that a Pokémon like Arceus would be considered to be similar, but I was getting the nagging feeling it was far more powerful than any of the others in this tier.

Underneath them, in what I considered to be “miracle makers,” were Legendary Pokémon that were still strong, but didn’t embody some aspect of reality as much as the others. They were Pokémon like Lugia and Ho-oh of Johto, as well as Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf (otherwise known as the Lake Guardians) of Sinnoh.

These Legendaries tended to have been seen throughout history, and had performed “miracles” and the like around humans. It was a known fact that Lugia could temporarily part the sea, and Ho-oh could restore a being back from the brink of death, and the Lake Guardians would grant blessings to people they found interesting. It wasn’t often, but there were accurate and verifiable accounts of these things happening all throughout history, or at least that was what was said online.

The “weakest” category of Legendary Pokémon were just normal Legendary Pokémon. These were Pokémon that were extremely rare and powerful, but have been caught and trained by humans in the past. Unlike true Legendaries, these seemed to actually be entire species, not unique individuals, albeit with extremely small or elusive populations. They were Pokémon like Latios and Latias in Hoenn and Johto, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres across the globe, and even rarely Darkrai and Cressalia. Some were more common than others, but an extremely strong non-Legendary Pokémon still had a chance to beat them.

I had no clue how Pokémon like Mew and Celebi tied in, but considering Mew could learn every move and Celebi could travel through time, I figured they would be somewhere near the top.

Wally and I landed near the crowd of the Pokémon Center, and helped the family that was with us join the crowd safely. I noticed that several Gym Trainers were nearby making sure nothing got out of hand, and actually recognized Clifford standing next to his Mr. Mime and Xatu. I decided to approach him to see if he needed help.

“Clifford, we’re here to help,” I said. “Is there anything we can do to assist?”

Clifford smiled.

“Ah, Alex. I’m glad to see you’re okay. Most people are a little shocked right now, and we’re waiting for Tate and Liza to get back. They left to contact the other League leaders alongside Glacia now that Kyogre has retreated. We’re still keeping an eye out for Team Magma, but we’re hoping that the fight weakened them enough for them not to be a threat.”

“Wait, you have a Xatu!” Wally called out next to me. “Xatu can see the future! Can’t it tell if Team Magma is still around?”

Clifford looked amused by that question, and shook his head.

“No, unfortunately Team Magma tends to be accompanied by Mightyena. Too many Dark Types interfere with predictions of the future, so we can only get vague possibilities at most. It’s why we couldn’t simply predict this catastrophe would happen, especially since the presence of Legendaries blur potential futures as well.”

I nodded, but Wally seemed to be a bit upset his idea wouldn’t work. I opened up to speak, but Xatu jumped up onto Clifford, pushing him down, and Mr. Mime created a large barrier around us and a few nearby trainers.

Large dark spheres shot out from behind the side of a nearby building, and while the Ghost Type Shadow Balls were strong against Psychic Types, Mr. Mime was able to keep everyone protected and a few other Psychic Types joined in to assist.

The crowd of people loitering outside the space center began to scream as a dozen Mightyena ran out from their cover and surrounded us. Following behind them was a set of Team Magma members, and judging by the serious expressions on their faces and the quality of their Pokémon, these were not just the simple thugs that had filled TV Mauville.

At the back of the incoming group, Courtney, followed by that one admin that got scarred by Rotom back in TV Mauville, approached us as well. Now that I was seeing her in person and not a grainy video, I noticed that what I had thought were black tattoos were actually burn marks on her skin. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her hood was down. Her purple hair was both damp and half-frazzled from drying off. She was frowning slightly with a mad look in her eyes.

Next to us, the Psychic barriers were holding, but Team Magma had the Type advantage so it was likely that they would soon fall.

“Ahahahaha. ♪ Looks like everyone’s ...offered up to us. ♪” Courtney said in a sing-song voice. “Attention citizens of Mossdeep. Your League has ...abandoned you, and now you are our hostages. You will be ...traded for Leader Maxie. Feel free to resist ♪”

A few more Shadow Balls created by the Mightyena shot out of their mouths and hit the barrier. The spots where they hit glowed in a brighter light as the Psychic Types focused harder to prevent it from falling. As the attacks were super effective, they were forced to expend more energy than necessary just to keep it up.

My hand tensed on my Pokémon’s Pokéballs as Courtney eyes skimmed over the crowd. Wally and I were lucky we hadn’t returned Flygon and Altaria yet, as it meant we weren’t entirely defenseless and could have them attack as soon as possible. Courtney’s eyes passed over me, then snapped back to my person, rapidly shifting between the Key Stone on my wrist and Altaria at my side.

It was too late to cover it up.

“...You,” she said, staring directly at me.

I turned around to try to pretend it wasn’t me and hopefully make her think she was mistaken, but that just served to make her more mad.

“...You messed ...everything ...UP!” She screamed. “If it wasn’t for your dumb … BIRD ...I would have had the power to ...eliminate those after us! Team Magma could have been ... so much stronger than it is! You forced us into a corner ...You removed our strength. ...YOU TOOK LEADER MAXIE FROM ME!”

Something in her snapped when she saw my Key Stone, and her eyes were even more crazed than before. She held up her hand in a similar motion she had done to control Primal Kyogre, and screamed at the top of her lungs at Team Magma members around her.

“Attack them! Don’t let anyone with Pokémon escape! Demonstrate why the League will fall!”

A few Mightyena jumped forward and bit down on the barriers, the numerous Crunch attacks bringing the Psychic Types maintaining it to near exhaustion. Quickly, the Gym Trainers realized they couldn’t just hide within the barriers, and Clifford shouted out, now back on his feet.

“Defend the civilians! Do not let Team Magma hurt anyone!”

The barrier dropped and the elite Team Magma members engaged the numerous Gym Trainers. Clifford’s Mr. Mime locked a Golbat in a solid box the second it was sent out, and Xatu’s eyes glowed as it created several Future Sights.

Courtney tossed forward two Pokéballs, sending out both Weezing and Camerupt. Next to her, the scarred admin sent out his Chimecho, somehow managing to have recovered it since TV Mauville, as well as a Mightyena and a Torkoal.

I sent out my entire team, except for Ponyta, and Wally, next to me, sent out his team as well. I shouted out instructions towards him.

“Take out the admin! I’ll try to hold Courtney back!”

Wally nodded in acknowledgement and ordered his Gallade forward, supported by a Magical Leaf from Roserade. Delcatty followed behind, and Magneton and Flygon took to the air. The admin ordered his Pokémon to retaliate as Wally and the admin’s battle shifted to the side, making room for the battle between Courtney and I.

She smiled when she saw that the mad chaos around us was mostly avoiding our position.

“I’m going to show you why we’re called Team Magma ♪,” she whispered. “Did you know there are pockets of molten rock all throughout Hoenn? ♪”

I shivered at her cold yet cheerful tone, and I ordered my Pokémon to act.

Ninetales and Mawile were the first to move, with Ninetales running forward to create a Hail and Mawile running next to her. Ninetales purposely slowed down for Mawile to keep up, and the two of them just barely dodged a Flamethrower from Camerupt.

Weezing launched a Sludge Bomb at the rest of the team in the back, but Altaria managed to mostly burn it away with Flamethrower, and purposely positioned himself to tank it so no one else would be hit by a super effective attack.

Altaria flew forward after setting up a Cotton Guard, and with three allied Pokémon occupying the field, Azumarill used this moment to damage herself and buff up with Belly Drum. Florges stayed next to me and used Wish to prepare to heal Azumarill in the future, and Cottonee...

Cottonee was on top of Altaria, hidden within his expanded, white fluff.

Camerupt’s two rocky humps glowed with heat and shot out globs of molten rock with Eruption. My Pokémon tried to dodge, but Mawile ended up getting clipped by one of them and groaned in pain from the super effective Fire Type damage.

“Ninetales, defend everyone!” I shouted.

Sparkling green, red, and purple lights blazed in the air around her, then faded as they spread out. The snow and ice caught on the brilliant colors and stuck to their positions, creating half-solid barriers around every member of the team within the Hail. While everyone was still taking chip damage from the hard ice pelting them, it was worth it to maintain as the Aurora Veil would cut the damage of any of Courtney’s attacks in half.

Altaria used this chance to unleash a Flamethrower at Weezing, but it was unfazed by the attack and opened its mouth to belch out a growing cloud of Poison Gas.

As the black smog rolled toward my Pokémon, Mawile swayed slightly, still recovering from the earlier super effective damage, and focused to set up Misty Terrain around the battlefield. It would still hurt my Pokémon to breath in Weezing’s toxic gas, but the purifying Fairy Type energy contained within the pink mist would heal my Pokémon of any toxins that found their way into the body.

The field was now covered in an amalgamation of hail, mist, aurora, and black gas, making it extremely difficult to see. Ninetales used this to her advantage to try to hide a use of Calm Mind, but Weezing suddenly moaned some infuriating noises and Ninetales was subjected to Taunt.

In fact, all of the Pokémon Weezing saw were subjected to the Taunt, including Florges and Azumarill next to me. Azumarill moved forward angrily towards Weezing, while Florges was too focused on using Magic Leaf to be able to use Ally Switch and heal Azumarill with Wish.

I thought that this situation was awful, as Taunt made everyone focus on congregating towards Weezing, letting Camerupt do as it wished, but this moment was when Cottonee made his move.

Weezing had used Taunt on everyone it saw, but that didn’t include Cottonee. From where he was disguised within Altaria’s feathers, he Pokéd his head out and cheered at Weezing, making excited noises at the Poison Type.

Through the mess on the field, I could just barely make out Weezing actually blushing, as Cottonee used Encore on Weezing and encouraged it to continue to use Taunt rather than any super effective Poison Type move.

Of course, this meant that Weezing immediately used Taunt on Cottonee, effectively removing most of his moves from play, but it seemed that probably wouldn’t matter as Azumarill smashed into Weezing with Aqua Jet and started to wail on its body with Liquidation.

The rest of my Pokémon saw Azumarill playing with her prey, and turned to face Camerupt instead. Courtney, standing behind her Pokémon fuming, groaned in frustration.

“...You. ...Are. ...Infuriating! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!”

“Because you aren’t much better!” I shouted, stumbling over my own words. “You took a city hostage, mind controlled a Legendary Pokémon, and are now attacking innocent people just because you’re upset! Reflect on your actions for once!”

Courtney responded by screaming at me again.

“I WOULD IF YOU RELEASED LEADER MAXIE!”

“I DON'T HAVE THAT AUTHORITY!” I yelled right back.

Camerupt stomped on the ground, causing the terrain to crack and shift as a violent Earthquake shook the surroundings. A chunk of rubble from the street caught Mawile in the chest, and she fell to the ground, horribly injured. Mawile was still just barely able to battle, and was forced to move to the back of the group before she got more hurt. The rest of my Pokémon were able to withstand the move, but I noticed that the Earthquake wasn’t limited to our battle.

A few of the nearby Gym Trainer’s Psychic Types stumbled where they were standing, losing focus, and a few Team Magma Pokémon used this opening to attack them right back. The reverse was also true, as a few Psychic Types were able to unleash attacks in the opening created by Earthquake.

The Earthquake also let me notice that Clifford had fallen down nearby, and rushed over to help him back up, trusting my Pokémon and the training they had done together to help them continue fighting.

I kneeled down next to him and Florges, Ninetales, and Altaria all released a Moonblast towards Camerupt. It defended itself by tearing up the ground and bringing it into the air with Bulldoze, then sent forward a surprise Stone Edge while the Ground Type move obscured it.

Altaira was hit dead on with the Rock Type attack, but his Cotton Guard protected him, and the powerful super effective attack barely hurt him. The same was true for Ninetales and Florges, as Aurora Veil was working double time to protect everyone.

Weezing was still under the effects of Encore while I helped Clifford back to his feet, but I froze when I heard a growling behind me. I wasn’t able to dodge before Courtney’s Mightyena, who seemed to have been released before this battle even started, used Crunch on my shoulder.

I screamed in pain, and a cold breeze blew between my feet. A shadow crawled up my body and, from where it was biting me, traveled onto Mightyena’s body and wrapped around its neck. Bannette formed behind the Dark Type’s head with a pair of dark purple, cruel claws choking the Mightyena out.

The Mightyena was forced to let go as Bannette prevented it from breathing with Shadow Claw, and the pair moved far off, Mightyena running around wildly to try to get Banette off.

My right arm became covered with warm, moist blood, and Clifford hurriedly took off his nice suit jacket to put pressure on my wound. I was feeling a little woozy from blood loss and the pain, but I forced myself to focus on the battle.

After taking a few moments to try to get a better handle on my wound, enough time had passed that the Taunt on my Pokémon and the Encore on Weezing had worn off. Despite my Pokémon’s injuries, they were still pushing themselves against such a strong foe. With Taunt no longer in effect, Altaria had healed some of the wounds inflicted onto him with Roost, which also let Cottonee dismount safely, and Florges was occasionally swapping positions with other battling Pokémon, healing them with Wish and Ally Switch.

Mawile was back on her feet and had switched targets to Weezing, who Azumarill was currently using her entire focus to dodge the super effective Poison Type attacks. The two melee fighters suddenly looked at each other, and Azumarill’s angry face grew cruel and malicious. Mawile took an unconscious step back, frightened by Azumarill even in the middle of the battle, and Azumarill picked her up and threw her at Weezing.

Mawile spun wildly in the air, but managed to smash straight into Weezing. It was knocked back a few feet, but Mawile didn’t fall off. Rather, she bit down with her jaws onto the smaller one of Weezing’s heads, and dealt super effective damage with Psychic Fangs.

It seemed that Mawile and Azumarill were handling Weezing pretty well, since the Misty Terrain was preventing Poison, and Mawile was immune to Poison Type moves as a Steel Type. However, it was Camerupt that was acting as the real threat. It had a wide variety of moves it could use to both defend and attack, and it had too much experience in battle to be fully affected by my Pokémon’s moves. Despite not having any way to recover like my team, Camerupt was still holding strong against their assault.

I fell to one knee, and Clifford put a comforting hand on my other shoulder while he continued to try to staunch the blood flow and commanded his Pokémon in battle.

I glanced over to where Wally was battling, and his team was doing a little better than mine. The combination of Gallade and Delcatty was putting Chimecho on the ropes, and the rest of  his team was handing the admin’s Mightyena and Torkoal.

Wally saw me looking over, and noticing the wound on my shoulder, his face paled. He screamed new orders at his team, and Gallade suddenly jumped back and moved in the way of a Flamethrower from Torkoal to allow Comfey to leave to heal me. I was shocked that he would have his Pokémon do that, but Flygon suddenly swept down to pick up both Gallade and Comfey, moving them out of the way of the attack, then chucked Gallade straight at the Fire Type before dropping Comfey off next to me.

Flygon chuffed arrogantly, then flew off to resume helping in the battle.

Panicking after seeing my wound, Comfey approached me and uncoiled herself to lay some of her flowers onto where I was hurt. A warm feeling emanated out of it, and the pain lessened as she partially healed the wound with Floral Healing. It wasn’t as effective to use a healing move on a human as it was on a Pokémon, (that was one of the reasons Chansey’s Softboiled was so valued: it had its target eat the nutritious egg to heal, rather than using a move directly), but my wound was no longer as painful or threatening. Performing one last check over to ensure I wasn’t in immediate danger, Comfey nodded firmly then floated back towards where Wally was battling.

During that entire process, Ninetales had retreated into her snow and was solely focusing on using Ice Beam to weaken and deflect incoming attacks from Camerupt. Florges was tiring out from her frequent usage of healing and teleporting moves, and Altaria’s Cotton Guard was almost burned away. Meanwhile, Cottonee just looked annoyed that Camerupt kept burning away his Leech Seed.

Credit to him, there was a Leech Seed on Weezing, which was helping sustain both Mawile and Azumarill.

Courtney, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to pull her hair out, and issued a new command to Weezing.

“They’re distracting you! Get to the center!”

Weezing’s expression shifted to be deadly serious, and managed to create an opening by puffing Smog out into Mawile and Azumarill’s faces. It hurriedly floated to the center of where everyone else was fighting, then began to glow with a white light.

Considering I just saw Steven’s Metagross use this move, I knew what it was.

“It’s Explosion!” I warned everyone.

All of my Pokémon immediately moved into action.

Ninetales used Dig to go underground, while Cottonee created a thin layer of energy over his fluff with Protect. Altaria and Florges tried to go as high as possible in the air, while Azumarill tried to dash away with Aqua Jet. Mawile, meanwhile, braced herself behind her jaws with Iron Defense, and Weezing Exploded.

Florges, Azumarill, and Mawile either couldn’t get far enough away or couldn’t withstand the attack and fainted. Altaria only stayed conscious thanks to the remnants of Cotton Guard protecting him, while Cottonee and Ninetales’s moves let them remain completely unharmed.

I returned them before she could permanently harm them, and Weezing was now fainted in the center of the field, leaving only four Pokémon left. Courtney had a mad look in her eye, and shouted one last order to Camerupt.

“Lock them down.”

And then she began to run at me.

Ninetales tried to stop her with Ice Beam, but Camerupt’s Earth Power created a wall of dirt that provided her cover. Ninetales also caused the hail to pick up around Courtney as she ran through it, hurting her but not slowing her down. I saw Altaria fly above the wall of dirt, and Cottonee tried to do that too, but Camerupt shifted its usage of Earth Power into an attacking move and blew it up, pushing the two of them back.

Courtney was on me in seconds, and reached toward where I kept my Key Stone on my arm. I stumbled backwards to try to get away, but she easily outsped my disoriented movements. Clifford, still next to me, swung his cane down to defend me, but she grabbed it in its swing then kicked him in his chest, pushing him back and causing him to fall.

With her so close and no one around to protect me, she grabbed my wrist and tugged. I tried to pull away and swung my other arm wildly, but she nimbly ducked under it and unlatched the bracer with the dexterity of a skilled thief. With that, the now loosened bracer slipped off despite my attempts to fight back, and Courtney held it in her hands.

Courtney had re-obtained her Key Stone.

She giggled excitedly, and both the stone and Camerupt began to glow in a white light. I tried to throw a punch just because of how close she was, but a quick hop back and she was safely far enough away from me.

I didn’t know what to do to stop her from crushing everyone with the power of Mega Camerupt.

However, she suddenly froze and the Mega Evolution was canceled as a deep voice called out.

“Courtney, that’s enough.”

Shadows spread out from the direction of the voice and wrapped themselves around Team Magma’s Pokémon on the field. A number of Dusclops and Bannette grabbed both the other members of Team Magma and their Pokémon.

Courtney and I looked over at the voice, and when she saw who had spoken, she dropped the bracelet containing the Mega Stone to the ground, which I hurriedly ran over and snatched back up.

I initially wasn’t sure exactly who the man was, as he was wearing a button down shirt and slacks like an office worker, but based on Courtney’s sudden reaction and his smoothed-back red hair, I could guess who it was.

Here on the final battlefield was Maxie, the leader of Team Magma who had been captured in the past.

He wasn’t alone, either. Next to him was an unassuming tan woman wearing an Alolan top and dress with a large Dusknoir behind her. If it wasn’t for her outfit, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize her if I bumped into her on the street. She was Phoebe, the Ghost Type specialist of the Elite Four.

So the VIP Phoebe was escorting was Maxie, of all people?

Several other members of Team Magma froze as well when they saw him, and his presence on the battlefield caused almost all the fighting to cease. A few Pokémon were still battling, but most of them read the mood and followed their trainers' actions. Maxie impassively looked around, then stared at Courtney pointedly.

“Tell me, what was your goal here?”

Courtney snapped her feet together then saluted by bringing her fist to her chest and raising her elbow up.

“...Leader Maxie. ...Sir!” she said with tears in her eyes. “My plan... it worked. They released you. ♪”

He didn’t react and his face maintained a frown.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Courtney looked shocked, which also shocked me because generally, her face didn’t show much emotion.

“I... ...if we took hostages, the League would ...have to release you. And they did!”

Maxie shook his head.

“I’m disappointed.”

Courtney’s arm fell and she looked crushed. Maxie continued to speak, not taking the time to console his ex-admin.

“Team Magma’s objective was to create a future where humanity and Pokémon alike could reach new heights,” Maxie explained. “You have not been acting towards that goal. You have been resorting to tactics that go counter to our core beliefs, and what you have done has set humanity back instead of bringing it forward. The ends do not justify the means, and the destruction you have wrought is unacceptable.”

Courtney fell to her knees.

“B-but... if I freed you ...you could have ...fixed everything!”

Maxie's frown deepened.

“I am not a god, Courtney. The great Maxie, though great, can only do so much. After my failure last year, the League has introduced me to new people, people that challenged my ideas and pointed out flaws in my beliefs. While I still believe humanity needs more space to grow, forcibly expanding the landmass was not the solution. The base concept of Team Magma was wrong, and was created from a flawed goal that would have never have worked.”

Tears started to fall from Courtney’s eyes.

“Courtney, turn yourself in. I underestimated how deep your loyalties laid, and have led you astray. You still have the chance to fix your mistakes, to push humanity to new heights, but you must give up here. Team Magma is over, yes, but the true Team Magma still remains. Our work to improve the life of everyone has not yet ended, and from the ashes we shall rise anew. Let us work with the League to create a better future, and to start, you have to give up.”

Courtney’s head drooped and she closed her eyes. The entire battlefield had gone quiet, the few remaining fighting Pokémon having been returned or knocked out. A few other Team Magma members were sobbing too, including that one scarred admin I had never learned the name of.

“...I’m sorry,” Courtney whispered.

“I’m sorry, too,” Maxie replied.

Maxie turned to make eye contact with Phoebe next to him, and understanding his intentions, she put her fingers in her mouth and whistled, her numerous Ghost Types pulling handcuffs, of all things, out of the shadows to finally arrest the last few remnants of Team Magma.

The next few minutes were both chaotic and ordered. Every member of Team Magma was led away by Phoebe, while some Ghosts remained to make sure no further fighting happened. A few screams echoed out as the crowd of people behind me either started to cheer or cry. A few people tried to approach me to thank me, but I was having trouble focusing from all the blood I had lost, and Ninetales had positioned herself in front of me to growl at anyone who tried to get close.

My shoulder injury must have been serious considering Altaria didn’t even try to suffocate me.

I faded in and out of consciousness as Wally and Comfey stayed next to me, and soon a number of nurses and doctors found their way onto the scene. I was one of the first to be helped, and barely awake, I was led away to a nearby clinic to have my shoulder treated.

====================================================
Author Note:

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Arceus
Articuno / Zapdos / Moltres
Banette
Camerupt
Celebi
Chansey
Chimecho
Comfey
Cresselia
Darkrai
Dialga / Palkia
Dusclops / Dusknoir
Flygon
Gallade
Kyogre / Rayquaza
Latios / Latias
Lugia / Ho-Oh
Magneton
Mew
Mightyena
Mr. Mime
Roserade
Rotom
Torkoal
Uxie / Mesprit / Azelf
Weezing
Xatu

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