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Distorted (Pokemon SI)
(25) Mothims to a Flame

(25) Mothims to a Flame

“OOOMPH!” All the air was forced out of Ben’s lungs as he landed hard on his stomach and got a face full of mud. Wiping the dirt from his eyes the red head scrambled to get back up but felt something sharply push him back down to get another face full of mud just in time to dodge a Hyper Beam that seared past right above him.

Then he was picked up like a ragdoll and put back on his feet.

“Arma!” Armarouge shouted at Ben, pulling him along with him and Ceruledge to avoid being trampled by a stampeding Avalugg.

Wiping mud off his face again with his sleeve, Ben ran alongside Armarouge and Ceruledge, dodging and weaving through trees. They didn’t get far and stopped at a beach, its water teeming with Basculin, jaws eagerly snapping at each other and their prey standing on the beach.

“What the shit?” Ben cursed, looking around for any other way out. There wasn’t any. They were on a tiny island in the middle of a lake, all by themselves. The rest of the team was nowhere in sight.

“Hell no, we’re not hanging around this place anymore.” Ben growled, eyeing the Basculin who were hungrily staring back at him with their cold fish eyes.

“Arma.” Armarouge nodded, blowing a Flamethrower over the water’s surface to keep any of the fish from getting any crazy ideas about leaping out to bite them. Ceruledge grunted in agreement as she deflected a few water guns with her blades.

The trio was startled as a group of Twisters rose out of the lake, funneling water and Basculin up into the air in a fishy tornado. The wind began to whip around, rocking the previously calm lake waters into a frenzy.

A hill of water rose up from the lake, then the water tension broke as a Gyarados reared its massive head, a Hyper Beam already forming in its jaws.

Armarouge raised a hand up and created a Protect, blocking the beam of energy before firing back a series of Shadow Balls at the sea serpent to force it to back off and give them some room.

There was a series of wet thuds it began to rain Basculin. Ceruledge swiped a few away from hitting Ben, the fire type then looked back to the center of the little island where the charging Avalugg before had made its way to the edge of the beach. It was angry.

Armarouge blocked another round of Hyper Beams from Gyarados.

There were two bursts of light as Ben let out Charizard and Talonflame shouting to them, “Hey guys! We need a lift! Like, right now!”

Ducking to avoid a barrage of rocks from Avalugg, Ben and Ceruledge ran and hopped onto Charizard’s back.

The fire dragon snorted and took off, shooting a burst of flames at the wild Avalugg to intercept a burst of Icy Wind before flying up high to get out of range of any attacks.

Talonflame quickly followed suit, grabbing Armarouge by the shoulders and doing a quick loop around Gyarados’s head to distract it from Charizard and dodging a Hyper Beam before flying away.

With a furious roar, Gyarados dived down and then leaped out of the lake, propelling itself upwards with its powerful tail.

Talonflame glanced back and with a nod from Armarouge, threw the fire warrior up into the air. Armarouge whipped around, bracing an arm as it aimed at the sea serpent rushing them down. Yellow armor formed around Armarouge’s forearm and a small ball of ultra condensed fire formed in its arm cannon.

There was a slight delay as Armarouge waited to get face-to-face with Gyarados, who was charging yet another Hyper Beam. There was a series of consecutive BOOMs followed by a powerful shockwave of heat as Armarouge shot a salvo of mini-suns straight into Gyarados’s mouth, colliding with the energy from its charging Hyper Beam, setting everything off like a minefield.

Using the recoil from Armor Cannon, Armarouge propelled himself backward and let himself be caught by Talonflame again. The two watched for a moment as Gyarados shrieked in pain from its mouth being burnt to hell and fell back into the lake.

“Good job guys!” Ben praised his two team members as they rejoined the group. “Those Armor Cannons were phenomenal as usual Armarouge. Fantastic aerial maneuver Talonflame.”

Armarouge held his head high and with a bit of flare, dusted his armor off while Talonflame gave Charizard a smug look.

“Ceruledge Ceru-ruledge.” Ceruledge commented. Armarouge turned his head away from his fellow knight with a pointed, “Hmph!”

They were now soaring over the mainland. Ben and Cerueldge were scanning the forest below for anyone else from the expedition team.

With a bird’s eye view of everything, Ben wondered how the hell the inside of this mountain was this big, it shouldn't be physically possible for it to be so big that he couldn’t see any of its sides from where they were, including the ceiling. It definitely was some sort of illusion trickery going on.

A screech from Talonflame alerted Ben and the others, they had company. A group of mixed Unovan and Hisuan Braviary had joined them for a leisurely flight.

Charizard and Talonflame swerved to dodge a series of Air Slashes. Okay, maybe not. Ben thought. They were at a disadvantage in an aerial battle, with both their fliers burdened with carrying the rest of the team.

“Let’s land!” Ben shouted, “Looks like there’s a clearing ahead!” Charizard and Talonflame instantly dived down into the forest below and into the clearing that Ben had pointed out. Their pursuers followed suit, a series of Air Slashes hot on their heels.

Ben took out a Pokeball and let out Turtonator mid-air, “Shell Trap!”

The fire turtle appeared with its back to their pursuers. Turtonator had an evil grin as it stored up fire in its shell. The Air Slashes hit, BOOM! There was a shockwave treetops shriveled away and began to smoke from the sheer heat from the explosion. Ben returned Turtonator before it could fall too far as the flock of Braviary were engulfed by the explosion.

That was enough to keep the birds away for the time being.

Charizard landed, letting Ben and Ceruledge off. Talonflame swooped down and let go of Armarouge’s shoulders, the fire type neatly landed next to the others with a soft thud.

“Char!” Charizard growled, looking into the forest around them. They were surrounded by a horde of murderous looking Pokemon, just ready to tear them to shreds.

“Yeah, we sure are popular today.” Ben replied, sizing up the Pokemon they were facing. “What a crowd!”

There were at least forty Pokemon surrounding them. Most of their opponents were Luxray, Liepard, Bisharp, Ursaring, and members of the Machamp line. There were a few Hisuan Goodra, Toxicroak, Tangrowth, Rhydon, and an Ursaluna.

The horde stepped into the clearing and began sizing the group up.

“Well, why don’t we give them a warm welcome?” Ben said, pressing the buttons on Big Man, Arcanine, and Turtonator’s Pokeballs, “The others aren’t around so we can let loose a with the heat. Just try not to set the whole forest on fire.”

The temperature steadily began to rise as the remaining members of Ben’s team appeared. The fire turtle heated its shell, Big Man stomped his feet on the ground for intimidation, and Arcanine howled.

Ceruledge raised her swords into a fighting position, a battle-crazy expression forming on the fire knight’s face as she madly cackled. The fire on Armarouge’s head and Charizard’s tail blazed, and Talonflame circled them from above, screeching a battle cry.

The Pokemon horde hesitated as a wave of scorching heat washed over them.

Shrugging off his jacket, Ben snapped his fingers, “Let’s give them the Fire Spin special.” A devilish grin appeared on the red-head’s face. His team mirrored that smile as they collectively summoned the type energy needed for the move.

One of the braver Ursaluna’s took a few steps towards the group and roared a challenge, but was quickly cut off.

FWOOSH!

The ground shook as multiple blindingly bright geysers of swirling blue-white fire exploded upwards, combining and engulfing a circle around them in a raging storm of fire. The plants around them withered and burst into flames. The Pokemon who’d been so eager to attack them stumbled back from the hellish wall of fire and were sent running, hairs and skin burning just from being nearby.

This was Ben’s special brand of Fire spin. Simply being a fire-type specialist wasn’t enough for him, he had wanted a move that was special to him and his team only and that move was a massively improved version of Fire Spin inspired by Big Man’s Magma Storm.

It wasn’t easy to use with non-heat resistance allies around or if you were trying to not cause a lot of collateral damage, else he would’ve used it against the Lord of the Forest. A raging fire like this wouldn’t care who was an ally or not.

Ben on the other hand was fine with the heat. He had to be if he wanted to be able to train his team to use big moves like this. A few light screens were good enough to protect him from the worst of the heat.

Ben raised a hand and closed it into a fist to signal his team, the combined Fire Spin slowly died down, the area around them looked like it had been bombed. A few trees and bushes were still burning. The entire Pokemon horde had fled the area.

Arcanine howled in victory and licked Ben’s face, its tail wagging furiously. Ben chuckled and patted the fluff on the fire doggo.

“Heh, looks like they couldn’t handle the heat.” Ben quipped.

Armarouge chuckled at the pun. Ceruledge rolled her eyes and poked both Armarouge and Ben in the side with the tips of her swords.

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Celia gracefully rolled with the fall before quickly getting onto her feet and taking a look at her surroundings. Bewear neatly landed right next to her and Alakazam floated onto the ground.

They were in the middle of a dense, almost jungle-like forest. A thin layer of fog clung to the ground.

“Shit, they separated us.” Celia said, looking around. “Alakazam, can you sense anyone nearb–”

The three of them jumped as they heard a shrill scream in the woods to their left.

Alakazam nodded and pointed in that direction with a spoon. That is Marcus. He seems to be in trouble.

“Yep.” Celia nodded at Bewear, “Let’s go. Bewear?”

The cuddly bear picked its trainer up princess style and began sprinting in the direction of Marcus’s scream, choosing to run through trees and using Protect to protect Celia from the flying splinters instead of simply running around them. Alakazam floated behind them, occasionally using its psychic power to prevent tree splinters from hitting it in the face.

With Celia in its arms, Bewear crashed through one final tree and grabbed the trunk before hurling it like a Javelin at the Ursaluna attacking Marcus and his Mr Mime who was frantically keeping the angry bear away with a barrier.

The Ursaluna didn’t have time to dodge and was nailed in the face by the tree trunk, forcing it to stumble back a few paces.

“BeWEAR!” Bewear screamed with an utterly homicidal smile as it charged its opponent. Ursaluna roared back, “URSALUNA!” Its territorial instincts kicking in at the sight of another bear and it rushed at the cuddly murder bear.

Pink fairy-type energy coursed through Ursaluna’s body, boosting its strength as it used Play Rough. The peat Pokemon reared up and began slashing and biting at Bewear, who in turn screamed and stomped its feet, shaking the ground so much that Ursaluna had to drop back to all fours, a grave mistake.

Ursaluna’s skull was instantly pounded into the ground by a powerful Hammer Arm followed by a relentless series of punches and kicks from Bewear that gave the brown bear no room to fight back.

“BEWEAR!” Bewear shrieked, using Superpower to massively boost its strength. The murderous bear then grabbed a dazed Ursaluna by a back leg and swung it around in a circle, gathering momentum until the others could only see a blurred tornado of brown and pink.

Then with a final furious scream, Bewear yeeted Ursaluna into the sky. Everyone watched in silence as the peat Pokemon disappeared into the horizon as for the first time in its life, it learned what it was like to fly.

The pack of Houndoom who had arrived in the middle of the fight flinched as Bewear set its sights on them. They weren’t going to risk involuntarily taking a flight lesson as well so the pack turned tail and noped out.

Now that the threat was gone, Bewear walked back over to where Celia, Marcus, Mr Mime, and Alakazam were waiting.

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While it had been fighting, Celia had helped Marcus patch up the gash in his arm from where Ursaluna had clawed him. The researcher’s clothes were stained from his blood, but besides the arm gash and the shock from being almost mauled to death by a massive bear, he was okay.

Celia helped Marcus up and pat Bewear on the arm, “Thanks for that Bewear.” Bewear flexed its arms, “Bewear!”

Smiling, Celia praised her team ace. “Yes, you are indeed the strongest bear.”

Still a bit pale, Marcus nodded, “Yeah…” He nervously looked around, “Did you guys find anyone else yet?”

Celia shook her head, “Nope, just you guys.” She gestured to Alazakam, “You find anything?”

A bit annoyed, Alakazam held up a finger and pointed to a spoon in one direction.

In the distance, a brilliant flare of blue-white fire billowed up above the trees. A shockwave of heat swept through the forest.

“That’s Ben.” Celia noted. Alakazam confirmed Celia’s statement, That indeed is Ben. His teams thoughts are rather loud.

“Would it be possible to teleport if you had Gardevoir’s help?” Celia asked.

Alakazam shook its head, It is not possible. Teleportation has been completely locked down inside the mountain.

Celia sighed, “Damnit.”

“It’s fine, we can walk. It’s not like any of us have lost our legs.” Marcus said, trying to keep an optimistic tone.

“I know Marcus. I just don’t want to increase the chance of us encountering a Noble Pokemon without backup from the rest of the group.

In that case, we do not need to walk. We can fly.

Alakazam rescinded its legs and sat floating in the air with crossed legs. It raised its spoons and lifted Celia, Marcus, Bewear, and Mr Mime into the air.

Marcus let out a surprised yell and covered his eyes as Alakazam lifted the entire group into the air and began flying them in Ben’s direction.

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“Fros-LASS!” The snow land Pokemon screamed, raising its arms as it began to summon a Blizzard.

Angela brandished Aegislash as it coated itself with dark type energy and swung it at the ice ghost, cutting through its form.

“LAAaaaaAaaSSsss!” Froslass shrieked as its form dissipated under Aegislash’s Night Slash.

A salvo of Icicle Spears collided against Aegislash’s King’s Shield with a series of metallic THUNKs. Angela swerved around an Ice Beam and pointed Aegislash at the Glalie who had shot them, firing off a series of Flash Cannons that exploded with super effective damage against the ice type, sending it flying away.

It seems that she had been deemed a bigger threat compared to the rest of the team by the Mountain Lord. Rightfully so. Angela and her team were instantly under attack the moment they had been dropped onto that field of ice and snow. Too bad she and her team were an army in their own right.

Off to their left, a massive purple and green cloud of spirits mowed through a small army of Pokemon, making loud and obnoxious OMNOMNOMNOM sounds and leaving the forms of unconscious Pokemon and black snow in its wake.

The shrill panicked cries of Spiritomb’s victims echoed eerily across the flat surface of the icelands.

A herd of Rapidash’s galloped past Angela in a stampede of fright. One member of the herd stopped next to her and Typhlosion hopped off its back before releasing its hold on the fire horse and letting it flee with the rest of its herd.

“I see you’re having fun Typhlosion.” Angela remarked with a sly smile.

Typhlosion nodded, “Ty typhlosion sion typhlosion.” Then it gestured towards Spiritomb.

“Yes, a bit too much fun it seems. At least they listened to my orders this time.” Angela said with a slight hint of satisfaction that Spiritomb was finally beginning to listen to her.

The ghost-type master put a hand on her pendant–Spiritomb’s stone–and with a bit of strain evident on her face, willed the ghost back in. Spiritomb wasn’t happy but returned with less protest than it usually would have.

A flare of blue-white fire in the distant forest to their right caught Angela and Typhlosion’s attention. That’s totally Ben.

She could see a shockwave of heat sweep through the forest and eventually felt a wave of warmth blow over her.

Gently patting Typhlosion’s head, Angela spoke, “Come on dear, it’s time to rejoin the others.”

Typhlosion looked disappointed that the festivities were over but smiled and nodded, “Typhlosion!” The ghost flame Pokemon twirled its claws in the air, making reality seem to ripple.

Aegislash detached itself from its trainer’s arms and tilted itself as if it was considering what Typlosian had just said and it replied, “Aegi aegislash slash.”

“Yes, the illusion is interesting. I’ll borrow one of those energy reader thingies for you guys to use later.”

“Sion!” Typhlosion’s smile widened.

Suddenly, an Ursaluna came flying from the direction of the forest and crashed into the ground a few meters away from the three.

Aegislash used King’s Shield to shield the other two from any flying debris. The Ursaluna in question was completely unconscious in the crater it had just formed.

“Looks like the others are doing pretty well. I wonder who did that.”

“Ty typhlosion sion.” Typhlosion replied looking a bit worried.

“Hmm, yeah I’m worried about them as well. Maybe I should’ve pressed harder for Azalea to not come. Hopefully she’s found the others. Ben’s signature Fire Spin is a bit hard to miss.”

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Leo landed hard on his feet and winced as he felt his ankles and knees take the brunt of the impact before he completely lost his balance and nearly slipped off the edge of a cliff.

“GAHH!” Leo’s stomach flip-flopped as he saw the steep vertical drop onto some nasty-looking ice spikes below. Absol grabbed him by the back of the jacket and pulled him backward onto a less icy part of the cliff away from the edge.

Zoroark slashed through a series of Shadow Balls that flew towards them, causing them to explode.

A large pack of Hisuan Sneasel and Sneaseler had them trapped at the edge of a cliff. The fighting-poison types laughed with each other, a few of them mockingly making imitations of Leo’s shout of fright at the long drop.

This wasn’t the best place to battle, and he wouldn’t be able to send out his ace due to how little space there was, but Leo wouldn’t have a problem handling a bunch of overconfident wild Pokemon.

Leo pressed grabbed one of the dusk balls on his belt and let out Mandibuzz. Suddenly an enormous golden Hisuan Braviary swooped out from the clouds and grabbed the vulture Pokemon in its massive claws before crushing the vulture with Crush Claw.

Mandibuzz squawked and shrieked in pain as she struggled to get out. The vulture passed out from the crushing damage before Leo could return her.

“Shit!” The dark-type specialist cursed, taking a step back as the Sneaseler pack took a step forward, brandishing their sharp, poison covered claws for Leo to see.

Shadows flitted overhead as more Hisuan and Unovan Braviary joined their leader, shrieking in impatiently for battle as they eyed Leo and his crew.

“Nevermind, I’d rather take the jump.” Leo thought aloud.

Leo took another step back and glanced at the edge where a few Braviary were flying under. Absol and Zoroark saw and instantly caught onto what Leo was thinking and the three slowly backed all the way to the edge.

The Sneaseler pack crept forward, they were enjoying cornering their prey.

Leo put a hand on his Pokeball belt and waited for Absol to give the signal.

“Sol!” Absol shouted, Leo pressed the button on Zoroark’s dusk ball and turned, running and jumping onto the Braviary who had just passed under the cliff ledge.

There was a shout of surprise from the Sneaseler pack and a screech of surprise from the Braviary Leo had just hitched a ride with. Absol kept the gangly weasel Pokemon from jumping after his trainer with a series of Night Slashes before Leo returned him as well.

The trainer then held on tight to the struggling bird Pokemon’s neck, almost choking it as he tried to not fall to his doom while the giant bird bucked and flew around in circles. The other Braviary circled their flock member, confused on how to help out without attacking their ally.

Burdened by the unexpected weight, the Braviary began to fly lower and lower. Once they were low enough for Leo’s standards, the trainer grabbed Meowscarada’s Pokeball and let the magician Pokemon out onto one of the taller rock slabs in the boulder field below.

“Meowscarada! I could use some help here!” Leo said, gritting his teeth as his arms began to burn from the effort of hanging on.

The grass cat’s eyes widened for a second as he saw the predicament its trainer was in, but didn’t hesitant to help out. With a twirl of his paw, a series of giant roots burst out of the ground and grabbed ahold of Leo and Braviary, gently lowering Leo to the ground and letting the Braviary fly away with a disgruntled screech.

Panting from the exertion and stress of holding onto a giant angry bird so that he didn’t fall to death, Leo had to sit down for a moment. “Thanks for the save.”

“Scarada.” Meowscarada sympathetically patted Leo on the back.

The two looked back up at the cliff as they heard Pokemon shouting to each other and the sounds of claws scraping ice.

The pack of Sneaseler were climbing their way down the mountain towards them. The flock of now much more agitated Braviary were circling above, glaring down at Leo for his audacity to jump onto the back of one of them.

The Noble Braviary looked rather amused.

Leo sighed and pressed the buttons on Zoroark and Absol’s Pokeballs to let them out. “Let’s get out of here. We need to find the others.”

Absol’s head snapped up and it shot out an Ice Beam from its maw at a Braviary who had dived down at them. The beam hit the eagle in the wing, coating its wing in ice, causing it to swerve off course and cancel out its Brave Bird to avoid diving into the ground.

Above them, a few more Braviary began diving down, one after another. The Sneaseler pack joined in, jumping the last few feet from the cliff and charging the dark type specialist and his team.

“Catch them.” Leo said to Meowscarada.

The magician Pokemon raised both arms with a flare and spun around in a dance as it put Frenzy Plant into overdrive. Massive roots exploded out of the ground, spraying dirt and snow everywhere. The roots whipped around like they were alive, catching the birds and lanky weasel Pokemon one by one.

Seeing the debacle below, the golden Braviary that had hung back dove down to free the trapped wild Pokemon.

“And that’s our cue to leave.” Leo turned and booked it, “Absol, you’re in front.”

The disaster Pokemon nodded and took the lead, dashing ahead and leading them in a curve to the side, using its horn to sense the safest direction to run in.

Behind them, they heard the sounds of talons easily tearing through thick roots. The screeches of Braviary and flapping of wings as they took flight once more.

Absol looked back, and shouted, “Absol!”

Meowscarada jumped, turned, and began to run backward shooting a series of Dark Pulses at their pursuers before blocking the way with a maze of roots from Frenzy Plant.

The team was forced to a sudden halt as a massive brown and gray bear Pokemon with a big red glowing circle on its forehead jumped out in front of them, roaring a challenge.

There was an answering screech behind them from Noble Braviary.

“Hammer and anvil huh?” Leo muttered, grabbing the one ultra ball from his belt, “Go Tyranitar!”

The armor Pokemon crashed into the ground and roared, multiple sparkling gems appeared around it and began refracting beams of energy at Noble Braviary.

“Zoroark, Absol, take care of the bear! Meowscarada, hinder them all!”

Leo’s team jumped into action. Zoroark and Absol began tag-teaming Bloodmoon Ursaluna, Zoroark ducked low under a Hammer Arm from the bear, sweeping its legs out from underneath it.

Absol jumped in, swiping its horn and shooting a Night Slash at the bear as it fell before Meowscarada used Frenzy Plant to entomb it in a cocoon of roots.

Meanwhile, Tyranitar got to work throwing hands with Noble Braviary, having already taken out several members of its flock and a few of the Hisuan Sneaseler with multiple blasts from Power Gem.

The Noble Pokemon flew up and then nose dived towards Tyranitar, orange energy surrounding it.

Narrowing his eyes as he predicted the type of move the golden Braviary was planning to use, Leo grabbed the Terra orb from his belt and threw it at Tyranitar. He had been saving the use of his Terra orb for any dire situations since he wouldn’t be able to recharge it till he went back home to Paldea.

The Terra Orb glowed and burst with power, enveloping Tyranitar with energy. A crystalized crown of dark blue energy appeared above the armor Pokemon and added a deep ultramarine crystal effect to its scales.

Noble Braviary looked surprised but was too committed to its move to back out now. It opened its wings to even out from the dive and lashed out with its talons as it Tyranitar in the face with Superpower.

Tyranitar reeled from the blow, but it wasn’t four times super effective like the Noble Pokemon seemed to have wanted it to be. Tyranitar on the other hand, grinned, it knew what came next after the Terra Orb was used on it and needed no prompt.

Dragon-type energy surged through its entire body and armor Pokemon grabbed the Noble bird in its mouth by the tail feathers.

Noble Braviary screeched, coating its wings with psychic-type energy and beating down on the armor Pokemon, who couldn't care less. Tyranitar’s eyes turned red and it threw the bird into the ground before roaring and trying to bite at the grounded eagle.

The Noble Pokemon let out a burst of pink energy that forced Tyranitar to take a step back, giving it time to take flight again. The Noble Pokemon stayed out of reach of Tyranitar this time and began screaming Hyper Voices at it.

Leo and the others covered their ears. Oblivious to any pain, Tyranitar roared back and began shooting Hyper Beams at its opponent, stomping in fury that the eagle wouldn’t come down and physically fight it.

Leo felt himself being pulled back once again by Zoroark. A massive black stone axe smashed down right where he just was, splitting the boulder he was just standing on.

“Kleavor!” The new Pokemon screamed, horizontally swinging its axe limbs at them. Meowscarada blocked the attack with Protect and tried to trap it, but the roots from Frenzy Plant were easily cut by the Kleavor’s axes.

Everyone there then felt a wave of heat wash over them. Leo spared a glance in the direction where the heat came from. There was a forest in the distance where a massive plume of blue-white fire had appeared.

“Absol!” Absol shouted, dodging a swipe from Kleavor and shooting a Dark Pulse back, making the axe Pokemon flinch. Meowscarada blew the bug-rock type away with Seed Bomb and Zoroark Sucker Punched the axe Pokemon, knocking it out.

“Come on!” Leo returned Tyranitar just as the armor Pokemon tried to bite at Noble Braviary once more and booked it, Absol took the lead once again.

Jumping from boulder to boulder and praying that he wouldn’t twist his ankle or slip, Leo and his team ran for their lives.

Zoroark and Meowscarada would occasionally turn back to shoot attacks or create hazards so the Noble Braviary and its flock would keep their distance.

Whenever the psychic bird tried to trap them by lifting boulders with Psychic, Absol would sense it and immediately negate Psychic with a burst of dark-type energy from Dark Pulse.

Leo sighed in a bit of relief as he and his crew finally hit grass. The forest was less than a hundred feet away.

A bubble of psychic energy formed in Noble Braviary’s claws and burst. A wave of Psychic energy expanded rapidly booming through the area and throwing Leo off his feet.

Unaffected by the psychic type energy, Zoroark and Meowscarada pivoted and shot a double Dark Pulse at Noble Braviary, but the eagle simply shrugged the attacks off.

Absol caught Leo before he fell but was caught off guard by a salvo of boulders suddenly falling down onto them. The disaster Pokemon pulled Leo as they both tried to get out of the way but were unsuccessful There was a sickening crunch and Leo screamed in pain as one of the boulders landed on his shin.

The golden eagle screeched victoriously as it dove, talons outstretched for Leo and Absol as it created another barrage of boulders to shoot at Zoroark and Meowscarada.

Then out of nowhere, a pink and brown blur of homicidal rage came out of the forest and body slammed the Noble Pokemon before grabbing it and hurling it onto the ground with enough force to create a massive crater.

The boulders stopped midair and dropped to the ground.

“BEEEWEAR!” Bewear screamed and landed on top of Braviary with a Stomp before it began stomping even more with Stomping Tantrum, like a child angrily stepping all over a toy bird.

A psychic force grabbed Bewear and threw it up into the sky, Noble Braviary rocketed up and slammed into the murderous Bear with Brave Bird letting it fall, following up with an Esper Wing that slammed Bewear back into the ground.

Noble Braviary flew back up wearily eyeing the motionless bear on the ground.

Leo and the rest of his team stared. “That’s Celia’s Bewear.” Leo winced and groaned as he felt another wave of pain shoot up his leg.

They heard the sound of footsteps running towards them from the forest and looked.

The rest of the team had found them. Celia returned Bewear while Marcus’s Magnezone propelled itself upward with Magnet Rise and sent a few warning zaps of electricity in Noble Braviary’s direction to keep it away.

“Leo! Thank Arceus you’re–” Celia paused and her eyes widened as she got close enough to see Leo’s predicament, “Marcus get Audino out!”

There was a flash as Audino was released from its Pokeball and it waddled over, giving Ben a stern, disapproving look. Celia jogged over after getting her first aid kid out of her bag.

Under Audino’s direction, Alakazam, and Gardevoir carefully lifted the boulder off of Leo’s leg. The dark-type specialist gritted his teeth and avoided looking at his leg as Celia and Audino began working on it.

In the sky, Magnezone was still eyeing Noble Braviary, constantly moving to keep itself in between the bird and the members of the expedition team below. The psychic bird tilted its head and seemed to be listening to something.

The was a boom and what felt like an earthquake as a massive burst of ghost-type energy swept through the entire mountain. There was a scream of pain from Leo from below as he felt the shockwave go through his crushed leg.

Screeching a swear, Noble Braviary flapped its wings and did a quick turn, flying away in the direction of the epicenter of the earthquake.

“Looks like something big has happened.” Marcus noted as he watched the golden Hisuan Braviary fly away in a hurry. “It’s unusual for a Braviary to run away from a fight.”

The Noble Braviary’s underlings were still flying overhead, waiting for an opening in Magnezone’s guard to attack.

One Braviary did a warcry and dove, out-maneuvering Magnezone and knocking off balance with boost from Superpower. The rest of the flock followed suit and dove down too, knocking Magnezone around and sending it spinning.

“Electroweb!” Marcus shouted to Magnezone, who quickly righted itself and threw a giant web of electricity around the bird Pokemon.

A few Braviary were able to maneuver out of the way, but the eagle Pokemon that were caught squawked as they were trapped and zapped by the web of electricity. Magnezone then swung the net around in a circle a few times before letting goo and watching the captured group of bird Pokemon sail away and fall down somewhere deep in the forest.

The three Braviary who weren’t caught by Electroweb shrieked battlecrys and swung around for another round of attacks.

A sudden burst of fire blasted through the eagle Pokemon. Then a small red blur ricocheted between the trio like a ball in a pinball machine, easily outmaneuvering the larger birds with a mix of Acrobatics and Flame Charge.

With a powerful flap of its wings, Charizard generated a powerful whirlwind with Hurricane that picked up the stunned and burnt eagle Pokemon, blowing them away and ending the sky battle.

The thuds of paws hitting the ground drew Marcus’s attention to the forest where Arcanine with Ben and Angela on its back ran over. Aegislash floated next to Angela and Armarouge and Ceruledge were not far behind.

“Hey guys! We saw the giant gold bird and decided to check that out.” Ben said as he dismounted Arcanine and ran over with a relieved grin. “Looks like everyone’s here!”

“Azalea isn’t here.” Angela added as she hopped off Arcanine.

“Shit! Leo, your leg! It’s all twisted up!” Ben pointed out with wide eyes.

“Thanks, I didn’t notice that until you pointed it out.” Leo dryly stated before wincing and muttering "owowowowowowowow" under his breath as Celia and Audino reset his leg and put it into a splint.

“Sorry man.” Ben awkwardly said before turning to the others. “So I guess that’s everyone except for Azalea and her team. You guys have any idea where she ended up?”

“I’m afraid not.” Marcus replied.

A a slight furrow in Angela’s eyebrows as she considered a few worst case scenarios.

Marcus looked especially worried, he asked the psychic types on the team, “Can you guys sense her or anyone on her team around at all?”

Gardevoir, Alakazam, Armarouge, and Mr Mime all shook their heads no.

“Then keep searching!” Celia shouted, from where she was applying a max potion to Leo’s leg.

“I’ll send out a search team.” Angela said gesturing at her shadow, “Probably should’ve sent a few out earlier.” She added in a quieter tone. A few shadows separate from hers and zoom into their surroundings and towards the epicenter of the outburst of ghost-type energy.

Ben whistled and waved up at Talonflame and Charizard flying overhead, “I’ll send Charizard and Talonflame too.”

“Good.” Angela said, “Make sure they watch out for that Braviary. It’s weaker than the Noble Baxcalibur and Arcanine, but it’s still dangerous.”