With such terrible news landing in my lap, I had to force down the urge to react instantly. To start moving and making calls to anyone and everyone that might have a better idea what was going on.

Instead of doing any of those options, I clapped my hands together and stared at them. Then I released and inhaled. The world shimmered, and I felt my body relax.

First, I needed to see my family’s needs. I activated my transceiver.

“Flint, there’s been an incident. Talk with Yolanda, lock down the house, and make sure everyone’s safe. I’ll have some Gym trainers patrolling the grounds. I need to go see about an issue in the Silver Mountain ranges.”

“I-In the Silver ranges? Brock that’s dangerous!” Flint said.

“It’ll be more dangerous if I don’t go and help deal with the issue,” I said. “I need to make some other calls; talk with Yolanda.” I hung up on him and turned my attention to Dennis, who was standing at attention.

“Sir!” he said, his chest puffing out slightly.

“Dennis!” I nodded at him and resisted the urge to suggest he stand at ease. “Have Rachel cancel any more matches for the rest of the day. Send out a general alert for any trainers in the region to the west of Pewter that there will be unusual movements.” I rubbed my jaw. “Have two groups of two trainers patrolling the reserve together to stop any strong pokemon that might sweep away from Mt Silver… I doubt it will get that bad, ‘cause they’d need to cross Victory road, but just in case.”

Dennis nodded, dutifully writing down my orders.

“Do you need me to come with you again, Brock?” he said.

I considered him. “No, I’ll need to move fast, and for that, I need pokemon that can keep up and fight off all threats. Your pokemon are strong but…”

Dennis grimaced. “I don’t have enough pokemon to fall back on, even if I used some of the Four badge pokemon.”

“Hmmm, you’re better holding down the fort here… unless your family needs you, then assign the roster to…” I had to consider it for a moment. Missy would be technically the next Gym Trainer but there was a better choice. “Tell Yolanda, as she’ll be in charge.” I fired off a message to give her a heads-up as I marched into the medical wing where A.J. was resting. Missy, the trainer who seemed to have been asked to stay with him, nodded. She then immediately stiffened when Dennis punched a large red button that set off a gym alert.

“Brock?! Dennis? What’s going on?” Missy said worriedly.

“There’s been an incident with Mt Silver.” I glanced over at A.J. “Stay here with him until he wakes up and protect this area in case anything happens, alright?” She nodded seriously as Dennis saluted me then jogged away while calling for Rachel.

I handed over some of my pokemon that A.J. had knocked out to Chansey before considering the shelves of pokeballs. I marched past them to a section of the wall that unfolded as I approached to reveal a host of different balls.

Titan’s Greatball resting in the centre announced it as my Elite Team’s pokeballs.

I keyed in a manual code and unlocked them all. I could carry ten pokemon with me, and I intended to go with my ten strongest pokemon.

Titan, my Tyranitar in his Greatball.

Bertha, my Rhyperior. She made two with her pokeball.

Shrek, my Swampert. Three with his ultraball.

Tide, my Lapras. Four with a dive ball

Sanchez, my Alolan golem. Five with his pokeball.

Don, my Aerodactyl. Six with his Greatball.

Selene, my Lunatone. Seven with her Luxury ball

Zephyr, my Noctowl. Eight with his pokeball.

Knight… no. Another water type would be best here considering the usual denizens of the Silver Ranges…

I took my hand off Knight’s Dusk ball and instead grabbed Hypnotoad’s pokeball. As a Poliwrath she’d fit in with what I needed and also offer a fighting type to fight off any Ursaring. She was a solid ninth choice. Which left my final choice…

My eyes darted between two pokemon before I settled on my final selection to take with me.

Jormungandr, my Steelix. Which made ten with his pokeball.

That would leave Shin, Knight, and Gawain to hold down the fort.

“Take care!” Missy called out to my back as I marched out into the reserve and pulled out a whistle. It cut over even the warning tones that rang out with the Gym alert system.

Titan, who’d been standing in the middle of the training field, locked eyes on my position and barked to the other elites to form up on me. I ran my hand across the pokeballs on my belt in a practised motion, and my giant pokemon vanished in bursts of light. Shin blinked in surprise when he was left standing out with Knight and Gawain. I held up a hand to forestall their disappointment.

“I’m going to be entrusting all of you with protecting the Gym and my family if we come under attack.” Shin straightened at that, and Knight puffed out his chest while Gawain shifted nervously. “Gawain. Follow Shin or Yolanda if she gives you any orders, alright?” He nodded hesitantly.

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, just breathe. You’ve done great with training, and your matches in the Ace circuit as a Scyther have been spectacular. I’m going to be using you this weekend against Will.” That had him standing taller.

I glanced down at Clefairy. “Sorry, but this is much too early for you, your time will come.” He nodded sadly. I nodded back as running feet approached me.

“Brock! What’s going on? I got your message!” Yolanda said with Crystal and Greta by her side.

“There’s been an incident in the Silver Mountain Range. This will disrupt a lot of powerful pokemon and potentially cause a cascading effect. I need to head out with the rangers and stop whatever is causing this.” On my wrist, another red alert blared out to underline what I’d said.

Yolanda swallowed. “What should I do?”

I knelt down and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Make sure our siblings are safe first and foremost, then see to the Gym. Do the first, and you’ll have done all I need from you, alright? If Dennis needs to leave for his family, Yolanda, you’re in charge, but you don’t need to do everything. Just ask and any of the trainers will help out.”

Yolanda nodded. “A-alright. Are you going to be alright?”

I shot her a smirk, only for another voice to cut me off. “I will make sure he’s safe.” I glanced over my shoulder and grinned at Sabrina. I felt my heart soar when I saw her. I hadn’t yet had time to call her. It said something about her that I didn’t have to ask.

“You’re going to look after me?” I said teasingly.

“Yes, like I have many times in the past.” Sabrina patted Yolanda on the head. “I am well versed in looking after him, don’t worry.” Crystal leered with a light blush, while Greta merely tilted her head innocently. Yolanda giggled as I made a face.

"Alright, you lot, get to where you need to be. Crystal, Greta, you stick together and see what Dennis needs from you, alright?” Both girls nodded seriously and moved off with Yolanda first, before breaking off into the Gym and the assembly area. I watched them go; they probably should have gone there first, but they must have wanted to stick with Yolanda while they could.

I shrugged it off and turned to Sabrina. “So…” I said eloquently. Sabrina raised an immaculate eyebrow, and I found myself appreciating it anew. Had she always been this beautiful to me? I grinned at her as I reached out and took her hand in mine.

With my heart thumping in my chest, I looked deep into her eyes. “Hey, you know I—” Sabrina teleported us and we found ourselves in the middle of the assembly area of the Pewter Ranger base. “—love you,” I said, finishing what I had been in the middle of saying.

Somehow— probably due to Sabrina’s flashy teleport —everyone had stopped what they were doing and a silence had gripped the field as I’d arrived and spoken. Which meant that everyone had heard my profession of love for Sabrina.

She blinked and nodded. “I know.” She turned away for a moment before shifting and squeezing my hand. She turned back to me. “I love you too,” she whispered.

I blushed. I hadn’t planned for this to be such a public display, but now I felt like I had to follow through. I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Sabrina decided to lean in to deepen it.

“Brock, Sabrina,” said Hank, after a few seconds of letting us kiss, “Stop making out and distracting my Rangers.”

I broke off the kiss and coughed sheepishly.

Sabrina frowned at him.

He huffed, letting her look wash over him. “It did a good job of breaking up the tension, though, so thanks for that.” He turned and clapped his hands before stepping up to a box that had been set next to him so he could look out over the small army of Rangers that had assembled.

I felt the blush creep back in as I realised I must have just said ‘I love you’ to Sabrina in front of roughly a hundred people. I was still getting some amused looks as Commander Hank cleared his throat.

“Everyone! We’ve assembled enough Rangers and support to make a trek into the Silver Ranges! The Rangers from Blackthorn are moving from their northern base and will be linking up with Clair, Lance, and the other Elite Four. I have been told that Agatha and Koga are indisposed so only Bruno and Lorelei will be defending the League!”

This caused some murmurs to break out. “Quiet!” Hank barked out.

He swept his hand out to cut through the tension that had started to build up once more. “We’ve handled these situations in the past without their support! Don’t forget that this means there will be upwards of a hundred trainers dedicated to the preservation of natural habitats and the trust of the pokemon within those areas!”

This had a number of trainers puffing up and I had to nod. That was well handled.

Hank stared out, locking eyes with as many people as possible and making them rise to the occasion. “I’m going to be looking to all of you to stand tall. We will be advancing in teams of two or four depending on the sub-sector that you are assigned. You will be within a quarter klick of another two groups at least with how this needs to be played out! Should you encounter pokemon in the field, make sure to use Ranger balls on them to get them out of danger. Sometimes the most dangerous pokemon of all are those that are hurt! Remember, they can be kind souls and still lash out!” He waved a hand to a number of crates with ranger balls in them. I pocketed a few, not having grabbed any back at the Gym. Sabrina took a few herself.

Hank looked around and locked eyes with as many people as he could, nodding and showing that he was there with them. “Look to your Senior rangers now! Let’s get this under control! Rangers Ho!”

“Ho!” roared back the assembled rangers as one.

Hank nodded and stood down as people started shouting for groups and names to form around them. I waved when I saw Sylvie and Andrew. Both of them were leading groups of their own but they nodded back. A few of the younger-looking Rangers looked relieved when they glanced over at Sabrina and me.

“Strongest in Kanto!” I heard someone whisper.

“Good to have them coming like this!” another said.

I decided to copy Hank from earlier and made sure to lock eyes with people while adopting a stoic expression. Hank approached Sabrina and me.

“Brock, Sabrina, I'm glad to see you both. Thanks for coming.” He stared at me. “I need to use you, Brock. I need you to check in on the Empress. Lots of powerful pokemon are getting provoked. With her proximity to Mt Silver, I need to keep her in check.” He tapped the baton on his side and grimaced as he set his other hand on a Greatball. “One way or the other.”

I locked eyes with him and nodded slowly. “Alright, I think Titan can deal with her if push comes to shove.”

Hank nodded and glanced to the southwest. “It’ll be tough getting there ‘cause of how many pokemon will be disturbed.”

“We can get close with my teleport,”

Hank grimaced. “Don’t depend on that. Don’t get locked in.” He looked to me. “If you have to, remember to run away.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I nodded at his advice, and he nodded back before clapping me on the shoulder and nodding to Sabrina. “Make sure your lady makes it out with you. Stop throwing up red flags like that.”

I blinked before chuckling as I realised what I’d done. “Heh, sorry I didn’t think of that.” Then I paused. “Wait do you—”

“I enjoy certain books, alright!?” Hank growled before huffing and releasing a large Pidgeot. “MOUNT UP!” he roared to the rest of the Rangers. Around him, other flying-type pokemon appeared, while others popped open Rapidash. A trio of jeeps roared to life as supplies were piled into the back en masse.

Then, with a great torrent of wind, the Rangers took flight as others raced off. I turned to Sabrina and took her hand in mine again. We vanished in a teleport and reappeared in a screaming forest. Sabrina stumbled into me and held her head.

I instantly released two pokemon as a maddened Donphan charged me. “Zephyr, put him to sleep! Don, clear the skies!” Zephyr’s eyes glowed as Don snorted and eyed the charging Donphan as it rolled into a tight ball and started to speed up.

It lost its energy halfway towards us and like a wobbly tire rolled to the side and then collapsed asleep. I approached it and checked it over, no injuries, but with it being asleep it might get hurt. I tossed a Ranger ball at it just to get it out of danger. Zephyr ruffled his feathers and turned his head to the sky.

I looked up and whistled at the number of fights taking place.

I could see Fearow fighting Pidgeot. Golbat fighting Noctowl. A flock of Murkrow were fighting a group of Spearow. A Heracross punched through one of the fights and caused the fighters to tangle and the opponents to swap among each other. Then Don was in the sky, tearing into them.

I glanced around as more pokemon cried out from the forest around us. Zephyr turned his head slowly in a full three-sixty before returning to the starting position and looking to me. “Noct?” he said.

I tapped Zephyr and gestured to Sabrina. “Up to carrying both of us buddy?” He nodded.

“Sorry,” Sabrina said as she mounted up in the front position of Zephyr’s saddle. “I only got us within ten kilometres of Empress’ mountain.” I hugged her midriff.

“Don’t worry about that. No one else would have been able to get us this close. Are you alright?”

Sabrina shifted back into me as Zephyr took flight. She tapped a pokeball on her belt, and her Xatu appeared, flapping languidly as it eyed the surrounding area before glancing up at the fight that we were approaching.

Don bowled Pidgeot out of the air and snapped his jaws around Golbat before hurling it away, well and truly in his element, brawling in the sky.

A flash of lightning had me looking away from the aerial battle to see where that attack had come from. Zephyr flew on, with Don linking up with Xatu to circle us.

We passed a small lake with a Dodrio and Tangela fighting it out on the shores of the lake while a Poliwhirl sniped at them. Dodrio replied with what looked like a Tri-Attack. Poliwhirl dodged only for a Magikarp to be zapped. The Magikarp turned with a snarl, and light exploded out of it as it evolved into a Gyrados that drew the attention of all the brawling pokemon.

It unleashed a lightning move as it roared out in challenge.

I grimaced. In how many ponds and water holes are similar fights causing Gyarados to pop up? The Rangers would have their work cut out for them in the following weeks, removing or adjusting to the changed territorial areas based on how things were playing out.

We continued to fly to Empress’ mountain. It just so happened to be the closest to Mt Silver. As we flew more and more battles played out, with what seemed like the whole forest of pokemon enraged. The forest broke and shattered around us as various pokemon brawled in the branches while in the plains, Donphan herds fought off Sneasel.

“This is insane!” I shouted as what looked like Dark Pulses erupted from another section of the forest causing the trees to groan as they were rocked back and forth. “I thought only one of the mountain areas had been affected?”

Sabrina shook her head. “It seems three mountains have been, now. It is causing a ripple effect with so many challenges being laid out as more and more pokemon become agitated. Some of the losers are fleeing into other pokemon’s natural areas and causing pressure.”

I grimaced, looking ahead to see that the mountain we were aiming at didn’t seem to have much action on it.

Then I saw an explosion rip through the peak, and my heart sank. “Shit.”

“Indeed,” Sabrina said.

"Zephyr, we need to get there now!” I said even as my pokemon beat his wings furiously. He hooted and tried to lean in and push the wind to work for us. Then, out of nowhere, we were buffeted backwards as the wind swept us back. Zephyr spun before correcting with a harsh snap of his wings.

He heaved in a few lungfuls before stilling as a keening, mournful roar rang out.

Various fights around us in the skies and on land stopped for a moment.

I shut my eyes and swore again.

That had been the cry of a Tyranitar.

A very, very angry Tyranitar.

For a moment, I had dared to wonder if the Empress hadn’t done us a favour with how every pokemon had stopped. Only to restart as the various pokemon worked out how far away the Alpha predator of this mountain was.

I leaned forward. “Don! Xatu! Work with Zephyr with his Tailwind! We need to reach that mountain now!” Both pokemon nodded, Don being unusually compliant as he gazed towards the mountain.

Another explosion rang out from another mountain peak, and as we flew past, I got to watch a troop of Graveler tumble down the mountain. All of them drifted together until they were clumped up. I watched as the lead Graveler held off the others for long enough to gather the most energy and inertia. Just before it slammed into the forest, light exploded out of it as it evolved.

I turned away. In another setting, that would have been a wonderful experience to witness. Now it was just another powerful pokemon running rampant through the mountain range. From behind the landslide, a pair of Pupitar emerged from their burrows and glanced around.

Nocturnal pokemon, and now subterranean pokemon emerging? This was very strange. Extreme behaviour, even. I toggled my transceiver and fired off a message to Hank to warn him of my observations and the various mountains exploding on us.

He sent back a short ‘affirmative and his estimated time to the edge of the danger zone’. I held in a chuckle at his choice of terminology as Zephyr came in for a landing. As he did, I spotted a white and black cat-like pokemon running away. We locked eyes and it paused for a moment to acknowledge me before continuing on its way.

Damn… an Absol running away.

I pushed what that meant out of my mind as I unbuckled and stood off of Zephyr. “Overwatch with Don,” I said as Sabrina used me to slide off. Zephyr nodded and took flight.

A deep growl ripped through the earth, and I snapped to look to the side as an Urasring approached with its fangs bared. I released my pokemon team, and Sabrina released hers.

The Ursaring stopped in its tracks at the sudden emergence of so many pokemon. Bertha shot it an amused glance and made a shooing gesture.

It growled, and its eyes started to glow. “Bertha, handle it,” I said dismissively as I gestured for my pokemon to move on.

Bertha laced her fingers together and raised them up over her head as Ursaring charged her with a Crunch powered up for her. She dropped her arms into him and hammered the Ursaring like it was a nail.

It groaned in pain, and Bertha snorted over her defeated foe only to power up an Iron Tail and swing her club of a tail around to swat the pokemon away. I paid no attention to it after that. It wouldn’t be badly hurt but it would slink away. We made our way to the peak proper. Instead of the usual clearing I expected, only devastation awaited us.

The ground was torn up, and scorch marks were present. In the middle of the blast site, crouched Empress, Titan’s mother and one of the strongest Tyranitars I knew. She shook in the middle of the destroyed landscape.

If I didn’t know better, I'd think she was shivering.

“Titan, let her—” I started to say only for Empress’s giant scaly head to snap around to lock onto us. Her eyes glowed an ominous red. She hissed at us, and no sign of recognition was present.

“She’s using Outrage Brock!” Sabrina warned as her own eyes glowed, and most of her team copied her.

Their use of Miracle Eye did not go unnoticed.

Titan stepped forward and barked a greeting, only to become the centre of her attention as she opened her maw and roared while stomping her foot into the ground. The stomp caused the earth to buckle under her.

Bertha, Jormungandr, and Sanchez all stepped forward and stomped their own feet, or tails, in order to counter the small earthquake. Titan ignored the shaking earth and staggered towards his mother holding out a hand and crooning a whisper.

Bertha barked a warning, and I grimaced. I had to give him the chance, but I really didn’t have much hope with how her eyes were glowing red.

“Brock?” Sabrina asked, watching Titan advance on the other Tyranitar that watched him.

“He needs to make the attempt!” I worked my jaw back and forth. I wanted to send someone to back him up, but I wouldn’t be able to without pressuring Empress.

Titan reached her and crooned lowly before extending a clawed hand towards her. Empress shuddered and for a heartbeat, it seemed like he’d reached her.

Then she roared and swept her hand forward to claw him. Titan caught the blow and snorted in a manner that I interpreted to mean, ‘alright then, hard way it is’. “Ty!” he barked before shifting into a fighting stance, only to have to leap out of the way as his mother blitzed his position, swinging her tail around and cratering a chunk of earth.

“Alright team, let’s get in there and knock some sense into her!” I said. At my side, Sabrina’s eyes glowed and as one her team joined in. Rock rose and shot forward to hem Empress in, only for her to explode with dark energy and roar in defiance at being trapped.

She whipped around again and blew apart a boulder to send shrapnel flying at everyone around her before leaping to attack Bertha. Bertha met her head-on with her fist and the two giant Rock pokemon slammed their fists into each other only for Bertha to skid backwards and clutch at her arm. She rose with narrowed eyes and her expression much more serious.

Alakazam fired off a Psybeam as a trio of water attacks curved around and slammed into Empress’ knee, making her buckle. As she descended, she clenched her fist and stabbed her hand into the ground before swiping it up and out to fling a boulder directly at Alakazam.

Jormungandr broke it apart with an Iron Tail, and then Sabrina’s psychic pokemon grasped it and hurled it back.

Before it impacted her, Empress once more exploded with rage as draconic energy radiated out of her. Her eyes glowed darker red, and I grimaced. Instead of tiring her out, she was further embracing her Outrage and powering up.

When she crouched, all of my pokemon tensed up, only for her to leap towards Tide.

“Skid back by using Hydro Pump on the ground!” I said forcing him back. When she hit the ground she paused as her weight forced her to sink into the mud he’d created. Bertha leapt after her and grabbed one of The Empress’ hands, and then Hypnotoad skidded in on the other side to grab the other. Both pokemon pulled against her.

She hissed and pulled them back. Both Bertha and Hypnotoad groaned as she began to overpower them. “Sabrina, can I get some Helping Hands?” I asked, and she nodded.

A moment later, her Espeon glowed and energy shot forth to Hypnotoad, shoring her up as Slowking walked right up in front of the roaring Empress and Yawned in her face.

She hissed and opened her mouth to blast him, only for a Psybeam to knock her head up where Titan grabbed her, and held her so she had no room to move. Slowking Yawned again, and Empress shuddered.

She growled, and energy began to build up from within her. Bertha shook her head and leaned further back, Hypnotoad growled and copied her; Jormungandr snaked his tail through the mud to chop the back of her knee.

Titan leaned in and crooned into her ear.

Slowking Yawned a third time and Empress wavered before slumping as the fight left her. Her Outrage burnt through and all her energy spent.

She warbled a noise as her eyes glanced around. Titan released her, and slowly the others moved away. Slowking blinked languidly and remained in place, seemingly not at all bothered that an extremely powerful pokemon was free and looming over him.

Empress looked around and growled. I twitched and some of my pokemon prepared themselves to restrain her once more.

Bertha stepped back in and punched her in the face.

I stiffened, opening my mouth to order her locked down again, only for Empress to shoot Bertha a look and rumble. Bertha merely winked and rumbled something back. The rest of my pokemon relaxed at whatever had been said.

“She’s just double-checking,” Sabrina said neutrally as Slowking turned and started to walk away from the potential brawl. I resisted the urge to facepalm. This was not a double-tap scenario, damn it Bertha!

Empress sagged down to collapse onto the ground. She surveyed her broken mountain top and then tilted her head back.

Instead of roaring, she wailed.

I could only stare alongside all the other pokemon, as one of the most powerful pokemon I knew cried her heart out.

My mind leapt into action and pieced together what this meant just in time for Sabrina to sadly say, “The explosion broke apart her eggs…” Sabrina lowered her head.

Bertha shifted before sitting down at Empress’ side and offering her a shoulder as Titan took the other. The other pokemon stepped in and put a hand on her and bowed their heads as she mourned.

In my mind, I vowed to make whoever had done this pay.

This… this was a barbarity that took a special kind of villain.

A true Villain.

One that didn’t care who or what they hurt.

“This doesn’t make sense.” I glanced around. Usually, villains had plans. What was the plan here? To cause damage and disruption? To steal away pokemon en masse in the chaos? Who would do such a thing? Team Rocket? This seemed too much just to steal pokemon. If they’d stolen the eggs, I would have pegged them right away. What was going on here?

Sabrina nodded. “No it doesn’t. This tragedy has to be part of a deeper plot. Whoever has done this needs to be so sure of their power that the backlash won’t bother them… or they're so sneaky they can get away with it.”

“Don’t forget, they might just be plain stupid…” I said, but I didn’t believe it even as I said it. You didn’t lace a number of mountain peaks with explosives without a plan. Explosives that would have caused this type of damage weren’t something you could get your hands on easily. The only other option was a bunch of Electrode self-destructing. I doubted that even more, though.

I marched to the edge of the mountain with Sabrina at my side and took in the chaos that was still playing out.

I turned my head to the north and noted that Mt Silver itself was a pond of calm in an ocean of chaos as, all across the mountains, pokemon clashed and roars rang forth. But not a single pokemon came close to the tallest mountain.

I opened my mouth to point out the small mercy that Mt Silver was still intact, only for a beam of purple energy to lance out from another mountain top and slam into the top of Mt Silver.

Sabrina grabbed my arm tightly. “Brock… that was a very powerful Psybeam!” I glanced at her only to stiffen as I noticed all of Sabrina’s team and my Selene were staring at the mountain that beam had originated from.

“I can’t feel much with all the dark energy being thrown around, but I felt that,” Sabrina said.

“Then that means this is Team Rocket…” I said with a sigh. What were they doing here? Was this a snatch-and-grab operation? Sabrina glanced at me as I sent a message off to Commander Hank as fast as I could, my gaze furtively looking up at the mountain.

“Because of the Psybeam? That… would have taken a very powerful psychic-type yes.” She nodded slowly at my words.

I looked at what had been hit. “Think we’re lucky enough that the Moltres that’s up there isn’t home right now?” I paused as I realised something was off. Ever since that Psybeam something surreal was going on, but I couldn’t—

Mountains far to the north of Mt Silver erupted in flame. Volcanoes that had long been dormant were igniting. Had more explosions gone off and caused this? Damn that would cause even more panic among the pokemon. “Sabrina we need to—”

A screech of primal rage exploded out of Mt Silver and a blaze lit up the mountaintop. A heatwave followed the scream and swept over me.

Oh, those volcanic eruptions hadn’t been caused by any explosives.

I shuddered at the sudden temperature change, only to blink in surprise as I noticed the silence that had gripped the landscape. All the pokemon had noticed that attack and stopped fighting.

Everything in the Mt Silver Ranges held their breath.

Hoping and praying for an outcome that was slipping through our fingers.

Two gigantic wings that shimmered with flames rose and fell as an adult Moltres took to the sky.

The top of Mt Silver blazed as it did so, fire blossoming like a flower unfurling itself for spring. It trickled down the mountain, more like water running down a dry creek than fire through the forest.

I did not need my eyes to know that there was a lot of fire. I could feel it on my skin.

I swallowed and took Sabrina’s hand in mine.

She squeezed it as we watched a Legendary pokemon announce its claim over the mountain range.