The Type Specialist

"So what's the plan, Ramos? As the one person with the most experience, you're in charge," I said.

Ramos grumbled.

"So yeh let me decide when there's no choice? Sneaky. Well, there’s no change of plans anyway. We keep moving forward."

Diancie placed the Carbink back to the ground and the pair quietly spoke for just a moment longer. As they exchanged words, Diancie slowly became more and more tense before she looked back at us with the most serious expression on her face I'd seen so far.

"Follow. Fight," she sent.

"Well, yeh heard the lady. Seems like we'll be fighting," Ramos said.

Ramos started to move forward and sent out his Victreebel as he did. Ninetales trotted alongside me, and Hope kept her hand hovering over her Pokéballs at her side to send out a team member if needed. Additionally, Dedenne was still in my backpack. Combined with Diancie, the size of our group meant whoever we encountered would stand little chance.

That is, as long as we didn't encounter too many opponents at once

Diancie led the way, but Ramos and his Victreebel stayed close to her. At this point, Ninetales no longer needed to keep up Dazzling Gleam to light our path. Some of the crystals ahead of us were giving off a dim light, and that alongside the other reflective surfaces on the walls meant this entire area was lit with an unearthly glow. It reminded me how in some video games there were areas with no obvious light source, but the player character could see anyway. It felt like this was a location humans weren't meant to be in.

The ceiling and walls became closer together as we moved deeper in, until an unexpected sight made us stop.

"Desecrators! Criminals! Scum!"

Diancie’s anger unconsciously leaked out as she glared at the scene ahead of us.

Rather than a natural cave tunnel leading forward, the crystals that grew out of the wall had been shattered and lay dusted on the ground. Parts of the tunnel had been dug into and expanded, widening the area enough to let a large group move through. We could see footsteps still imprinted in the crystal dust, and I knew if Diancie was a Fire Type, she’d literally be aflame with rage.

“This is already so much,” Hope whispered.

Diancie carried forth, refusing to pause any longer to analyze the damages. As we hurried up to follow her, the tunnel twisted and turned, and the signs of what was most likely Team Flare’s presence continued around us. Diancie began to shake with rage.

Eventually, Ramos halted us in our path.

“Stop. There are people up ahead. Victreebel, grab them.”

I barely had a moment to react before Hope, Diancie, and I were pushed back by one of Victreebel’s vines. It then launched itself forward to grab whoever Ramos had seen.

Within moments, Victreebel reemerged from the darkness ahead carrying two men dressed in bright red-orange suits wrapped in its vines. Their hair wasn't dyed bright red like it was in the games, but from their outfits it was obvious they worked for Team Flare.

They struggled and flailed in Victreebel’s grasp, scratching at the vines wrapped around their mouths that prevented them from calling for help. Their noses were uncovered to let them breathe, but it was still a deeply uncomfortable position for them.

“Tell us yer instructions. Why are yeh here?” Ramos ordered.

The Team Flare members glared at Ramos and refused to speak. Ramos frowned at their unwillingness.

“I think I have an idea,” I interrupted. “Ninetales, can you—”

Following my idea before I even had the time to properly verbalize it, Ninetales hit both men with a grayish beam from Confuse Ray. The contempt in their eyes faded away..

The two Team Flare members, now confused and subjected to Ninetales’s illusions, slackened like dolls in Victreebel’s grasp.

“I think they’ll listen to us now,” I commented.

Ramos nodded, then gestured for Victreebel to release them. As soon as it did, the two Team Flare members collapsed on the floor before immediately straightening up and moving to attention, saluting us.

“Sir!”

“Sir!”

Ramos smiled and tilted his head towards me in thanks.

“Tell us yer orders, and why yer here,” he demanded. “On the pronto.”

“To protect you while you collect the infinity energy, sir!” the one on the left said.

“We’re to guard the entrance so no one can bother you or release the Carbink!” the one on the right added.

Ramos rubbed his chin.

“Collect the infinity energy?” he asked.

“Uh, sir, you didn’t tell us how you were doing that. Just that there was something here that had a bunch of it.”

Diancie shifted back as she took in the two Team Flare grunts. Her large eyes wobbled with conflicted emotions, before she finally seemed to reach a decision. Her gaze darkened and she waved her hands. In moments, the floor bent open and large crystal growths extended outwards. Both members of Team Flare were locked in place thanks to Diancie’s crystal powers.

The sudden pressure on their limbs snapped the men out of their confusion, but with quick thinking on Ramos’s part, he sent out his Jumpluff to put them to sleep with Sleep Powder and returned his Pokémon.

“You, me,” Diancie sent, pointing to Ramos and herself. “Save, heart.”

“You, you,” she sent, pointing to Hope and I. “Save, family.”

“Go.”

Diancie rushed forward in the air, kicking up small clouds of red dust from the crystal powder on the floor. The rest of us only had seconds to process the Legendary Pokémon’s commands.

“Well, yeh heard the lady,” Ramos shrugged. “It’s too late to turn back. We’re moving out.”

He sent out his Gogoat to ride and follow Diancie, the pair only fitting in the tunnel thanks to Team Flare’s efforts to widen it. He turned to Hope and I to give us one last instruction as he mounted his Pokémon.

“Yeh two. Don’t Mega Evolve too early. It drains your energy too quickly to let you last for this entire operation. Save it for emergencies and if you need to escape. Stay safe.”

Gogoat galloped off, chasing Diancie. The pair disappeared into the dim light ahead. Meanwhile, Hope and I were about to move forward too, with the intention of finding where the mentioned Carbink were being kept when a soft noise behind us caught our attention.

The lone Carbink from before was still here.

“Car. Bink,” it said, its brows furrowed and eyes focused with determination.

Hope and I looked at each other.

“We can’t understand you, but if you want to come to save everyone else, you can,” Hope said.

The Carbink shook its head, causing its entire body to shift back and forth, then shot down the hallway ahead of us. I felt dumb when I realized what it was doing.

“We’re really stupid,” I said. “Diancie left, and we don’t know the path. It’s leading us to the rest of the Carbink.”

“Oh duh. I’m glad it's here. That could have been bad,” Hope added.

We started to jog off after it, and I spoke up to work with Hope on a plan.

“We need to figure out what we’re going to do when we encounter more Team Flare members. I don’t want to risk fighting everything at once. We’re down both a Legendary Pokémon and a Grass Type Master. Do you have a Pokémon that knows Sleep Powder?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Vileplume, Bellosom, and Venusaur”

“That’s good. Let’s stick to just Bellossom. Vileplume and Venusaur are a bit bulky and their size might reveal our presence. Ninetales, you use Confuse Ray to make sure they don’t see us coming, and Hope, you can have Bellossom knock them out with Sleep Powder. Don’t worry, Ninetales and I have done something like this before.”

Ninetales acknowledged my command, and I started to move ahead. However, Hope slowed down ever so slightly in confusion before catching back up.

“...You’ve done something similar to this before?” she whispered.

As we followed Carbink, we were led down a number of tunnels covered in that same crystal dust. These sections hadn’t been widened like the other, main path, but we could clearly see the occasional footprint. We passed by a few crossroads and saw even more shattered crystals down the other ways. I knew that if Hope and I didn’t have Carbink with us, we would have been completely lost.

Following the plan, we knocked out a lone individual patrolling with his Houndour along the way and continued onwards without much issue. Soon, Carbink led us into a large cavern, where Hope and I immediately pulled back.

Inside the expansive space were three large, thick, steel-grate cages filled to the brim with other Carbink floating inside. The ceiling and floor were littered with natural crystal growths, but some of the stalagmites had been smashed to make room. There were a few bright red tents decorated with the flame symbol of Team Flare, and looking it over, I quickly realized this was their main camp.

There were at least two dozen individuals wearing bright red suits, as well as a single person in a fancier version in pure white. Hope frowned.

“Think we can take them?” she whispered.

“Well, with us, Carbink, and Dedenne, we have fifteen Pokémon between us. Ponyta and the two I mentioned will need to sit out because they’re weaker, but I think our power should be able to handle it. I doubt Lysandre’s people have been going out and doing crime like Team Magma, so we should be able to handle it since our teams have fought in a Conference.”

“Wait, why mention Team Magma?” Hope asked.

I cocked my head.

“You didn’t hear? I technically took out their leader. Kind of.”

“...what’s with your weird experiences, Alex?”

We drifted off into silence for a moment.

“I... don’t know. Someone else should be doing this stuff. That doesn’t matter right now. We need to figure out how we’re going to do this.”

We quickly hashed out a plan, readied ourselves from within the tunnel exit, then tossed forward all of our Pokéballs to send everyone out at once.

Immediately, Azumarill, Florges, Altaria, Mawile, and Whimsicott hit the field running. Hope sent out her Vileplume, Cherrim, Venusaur, Tropius, and Sunflora as well. The mass of Pokémon charged out of the tunnel we were in and immediately started to unleash attacks.

Ninetales and Bellossom, who were already out from before, stuck with Hope and I as we tried to move around the side. As part of the assault, Azumarill started to conjure a large wave with Surf as the members of Team Flare were caught off guard and screamed with surprise.

Hope’s team stayed in the back as my team sent forward Moonblasts and a Stone Edge. Mixed in behind their attacks, inspired by Whimsicott, the Grass Types trained by Hope hid their status inflicting powders to paralyze and knock out a handful of Team Flare members before they could send out any Pokémon at all.

Already, large red dust clouds were kicked up and obscured the field.

“We’re under attack! Call for backup!” a scream rang out.

As our enemies scrambled to resist, I glanced to Ninetales and nodded to send her off. She ran off by herself and used Ice Beam to freeze over the entrance to the room we just left, then circled around the side at an incredibly fast speed with Agility to see if she needed to seal off any other tunnels as well.

I sent out Ponyta after she was gone.

“Ponyta, I need you to guide us through a safe path,” I said. “Take us away from the fights but towards the cages. We have to free the Carbink.”

His eyes glimmered with determination. Closing them immediately after, he started to trot forward without physically seeing ahead of him, using his Psychic powers to lead the way. Dedenne popped out of my backpack to sit on my shoulder, looking around a bit nervously, and Hope’s Bellossom walked alongside us.

Carbink was no longer with us. It seemed to have split off to take part in the attack, despite us advising it not to.

A large crashing sound echoed out as Azumarill’s Surf had finally built up large enough to smash through Team Flare’s hastily assembled ranks. A few Houndour and a number of Toxicroak and Croagunk were swept away, but several of the froggy Poison Types took no damage due to their Dry Skin ability, healing from the water instead.

I cursed, but Hope pointed to the back of her group. While the rest of our Pokémon were fighting the various, weaker Pokémon the members of Team Flare were using, Sunflora had stayed behind. The petals on the Grass Type glowed as a brilliant ball formed in front of its sunflower face. It held the ball in its leaves, then tossed it into the air, a Sunny Day coming into effect.

Where my team had been doing the most damage before, Hope’s Grass Types were now able to unleash an absolute barrage of rapid-fire Solar Beam laser beams into Team Flare’s Pokémon. The powerful attacks took out anything they hit, and the Sunny Day made any Pokémon with Dry Skin literally feel the heat.

To assist, Florges created a Grassy Terrain to boost the power of the Solar Beams even further, then joined in with the Solar Beam assault as well.

As powerful as that group combination was, a few of the Team Flare members managed to reorganize themselves, sending out a pair of Duosion and a Cryogonal. The cell-like Psychic Types and the large, icy snowflake Pokémon conjured screens that just barely held back our attacks. As a result, the offensive was slowed down partially, but Team Flare was still being pushed back, just at a slower rate than before.

Hope and I continued following Ponyta, and Florges began to jump around the field with Ally Switch. Anyone who had sustained an injury was brought away from their battle and replaced with a much healthier ally. Once in the back, the teleported Pokémon received a well timed Wish from Florges, used before the Ally Switch, and Cherrim, now in its bright pink sunshine form, healed them with Heal Pulse right after.

Despite being an effective strategy, it required Florges to use several high-energy moves back to back. Everyone was staying on their feet as a result, but she was quickly tiring and once she paused, things might be going the other way.

“Florges might get exhausted soon. We need to move quicker,” I whispered to our stealthing party.

Speeding up, Ponyta took us through some faster but slightly more risky paths. At one point, we passed by a Team Flare member applying a Hyper Potion to her unconscious Toxicroak as it got up and jumped back into the fight. Thankfully, we just barely managed to avoid being spotted, and I thought we would make it to Carbink cages without trouble.

That is, until I heard a voice call out from the right.

“Gah! How did you escape? No matter. Seviper, grab that Carbink.”

At first, I thought the man who had spoken had noticed us, but that wasn’t the case. Rather, we had just walked out from behind one of the few still intact stalagmites and found ourselves directly behind him. He was facing a single Pokémon with his Seviper in front of him, and narrowing my eyes, I realized it was the Carbink who snuck off to join the attack from before.

It looked like it was on the edge of tears but was still trying to be as brave as possible. However, the man who had noticed it was the single man in a white suit who seemed to be the leader of the group here, and his clearly well-trained Seviper slithered forward

Following its trainers orders, Seviper lunged to bite down on Carbink. The Rock and Fairy Type tried to defend itself with a well-timed Reflect, but poison dripped from its fangs and seared a hole through the screen. It bit down on the psychic barrier, shattering it, then twisted its serpentine body to slam a purple glowing tail right into Carbink’s stony chest.

It screamed in pain. I couldn’t let this happen.

Without thinking, I ran forward directly at the balding man giving the orders.

“Alex, no!” Hope hissed.

He turned around just in time to get punched in the face.

“Ow! Fu—”

He stumbled back only for me to punch him again in the stomach with all the martial arts training I didn’t have, and he fell to the ground.

“So you’re the trainer that sent out these Pokémon?” he grumbled, clenching his stomach. “You’re a fool. Seviper, use—”

Seviper disappeared in a flash of red light.

The man blinked.

I smirked at him and tossed the Pokéball I grabbed from his hip into the air.

“Should have been paying more attention. Hope, can Bellossom—?”

“On it.”

A quick Sleep Powder knocked him out before he could do anything else. I then ran over to the pained Carbink to scoop it up before returning to the rest of the group.

“We’re close to the cages. Let’s keep going, we’re almost there.”

Carbink squirmed in my arms and moaned. Across its chest was a large dent where the Seviper’s sharp tail had hit it, and I could see faint traces of purple where it obviously poisoned it with its Poison Tail. I gave Dedenne, who was still on my shoulder, a quick order as we ran.

“Dedenne, left side pocket, yellow bottle. I need an Antidote.”

He squeaked in affirmation then crawled back into my pack. Quickly, he returned with the vial I had told him about, which I then took and sprayed onto Carbink.

The Rock Type’s pain quickly lessened as the Antidote cured it of its poisoned condition. It slowly opened its eyes and blinked a few times as I smiled down at it, seeing it was alright.

“That was a good attempt, but that guy was clearly more experienced than everyone else. Don’t worry about it, Carbink. We’ve just made it to your friends right now.”

Carbink made a happy noise, and I placed it into the air where it returned to floating. Ahead of us, the cages full of Carbink lay unguarded. Glancing to my side, I smirked when I saw the rest of Team Flare were now too occupied by our battling teams to notice us here.

Up close, these cages were much larger than I thought they were. There were three of them, and since Carbink could float, the Pokémon inside were crowded together both horizontally and vertically. I saw that some of them were laying on their side on the ground, unconscious. Most likely, Team Flare had knocked them out to properly secure them within the cage.

I clenched my fist in anger and moved over to the door to see if I could open it up. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have a classic lock or handle, but instead, it had an electronic keypad none of us knew the code to.

“Ugh! We shouldn’t have knocked out that bald dude,” I complained. “Judging by his outfit, he probably knew the code.”

“We could start with 1-1-1-1?” Hope suggested.

I frowned. Did we really need to brute force it?

The sound of someone clicking their tongue caught our attention. Hope and I both turned to stare at Dedenne, who was haughtily sitting on my shoulder.

He gave us a knowing smirk, then jumped onto the keypad where he immediately discharged some of his electricity. The electronic components sizzled and fried, and, as a failsafe, the door clicked open.

Dedenne looked extremely smug.

“Great job! I’ll make sure to buy you whatever you want afterwards. We need to do this two more times. Carbink, can you make sure everyone is okay?” I asked.

Carbink shook its head and did something else instead.

Floating forward, still a bit injured, its eyes took on a determined expression to face the other Carbink still inside. I hadn’t missed the fact that none of them had bothered to leave yet.

“Carbink. Car car, carbink! Bink! Carbink carbink carbink. Carbink. Car... bink? Bink! Car, car, Carbink! Carbink!”

It spoke with such ferocity I was actually amazed. If I knew what it said, I would have most likely clapped.

It continued for a while longer, and once it was done, a silence fell upon the rest of the potentially free Pokémon. The small amount of movement inside had stopped, and faint crying and murmuring had ceased. Now, they all looked to the Carbink with Hope and I, and one single sound rang out between them all.

“Carbink!” They all screamed.

The few Team Flare grunts in the back turned around in shock. They pointed at us to try to get their Pokémon to turn around as well, but they were far too late.

An absolute tidal wave of Rock Types flew out of the cage and threw themselves at the unprepared Team Flare members. Smack Downs and Ancient Powers were launched forward, and a number of Light Screens and Reflects were set up to protect the horde. The Team Flare members were unable to defend themselves on two fronts, and started to fall back far more rapidly than before.

Hope and I were motionless, stunned at the swarm fighting in front of us. Ponyta nudged my leg to remind me to get me moving, and I shook my head to refocus myself.

“O-okay. Two more cages. Let’s go.”

After the last two sets of Carbink were freed, Team Flare’s base camp quickly fell to the combined efforts of all the Pokémon there.

Ninetales returned after the end of the battle. A small number of Team Flare members had tried to enter the cavern, but the ice she formed with Ice Beam, supported by her Never-Melt Ice, meant they were making little progress in their attempts to melt it and break through.

I was thankful that the reinforcements weren’t thinking out of the box. If I was in their shoes, I would have had my Pokémon dig through the walls instead.

Florges and Cherrim walked around to treat some of the Carbink. The Rock Types’ surprise attack was too overwhelming for Team Flare to make dents in the extremely sturdy Pokémon, but some of them had been in a bad shape when they were in the cages. The two healers tried to follow the concept of triage to heal the most injured first, but they could barely get around to treat that many due to how much energy they expended before.

Interestingly enough, Ponyta was following Florges and Cherrim as they healed. Considering he was capable of learning Heal Pulse himself, he was most likely studying for the future.

We took this moment to rest and recuperate, our spirits higher but still weighed down with the knowledge that Ramos and Diancie were most likely elsewhere, fighting. Azumarill bragged to everyone who could listen about her heroics in her battle. Or at least, I assumed she was considering the way she kept mimicking some of the moves she used. Despite being free, most of the released Carbink didn’t seem too happy. After all, Diancie wasn’t here.

A rumbling shook the cavern.

Hope and I glanced towards the source. As far as we could tell, it came from the direction Ramos and Diancie left in.

“We need to go,” Hope said quickly. “Nothing Ramos can do would have caused that.”

I glanced over to where Florges and Cherrim were still treating the Carbink. Both of them were barely managing to help.

“Are the most injured in a state where we can leave them? Ramos and Diancie might need healing, too.”

Florges frowned and looked hesitant to say yes, but Cherrim next to her readily nodded that they were. Florges seemed a bit unhappy there were more injured Pokémon, but she relented and I returned her as we ran towards the closest tunnel. As we moved, we slowly returned the rest of our Pokémon, and a few healthy Carbink joined us as well. I recognized that first Carbink we met with Diancie floating at the front of them, sporting a large dent in its chest where it was hit by Seviper’s Poison Tail.

We stopped at the frozen entrance. On the other side, we could make out a set of faint figures trying to make their way in. I sent Ninetales back out and prepared myself to send others out too for support. However, the group of Carbink floated in front of us before I could.

“Bink. Carbink,” the leader said to stop us.

I pressed my lips in a thin line, but still nodded. My Pokémon needed rest, and this set of Carbink were some of the healthiest still here. Hope had similar feelings.

Showing them our approval, Ninetales used her cryokinesis to open a path through the ice, and we stepped aside to let the Carbink move in.

“It’s open!” a voice from the other side called out. “Let’s go!”

Unfortunately for them, the Carbink were first to cross the icy barrier. Hope and I heard the sound of rocks hitting flesh. Soon, several thumps signified bodies falling to the floor.

I grimaced as I stepped over the unconscious Team Flare members in the tunnel.

“It’s like having a group of Carbink commandos with us,” I murmured.

We ran through the tunnels and, internally, I thanked Ramos for telling us to wait for Mega Evolution. While it would have made the previous fight significantly easier, Hope and I would have been too tired to run for this long.

While we ran, every so often the tunnels shook from a massive attack in the distance. Hope visibled tensed after each one. Meanwhile, I was trying to take deep breaths to better focus, but it was hard considering I had little clue what was going on ahead. Returning Diancie to her home had escalated past my expectations.

Honestly, I should have known better.

The Carbink led the way as we ran through a number of curved passages. As we did, Team Flare members kept showing up in the side tunnels to try to stop us. At first, Hope and I reached for our Pokéballs, but each time a member of Team Flare appeared, a member of the Carbink squad would split off to hold them back. Eventually, we saw the tunnel open up ahead, and that first Carbink who had joined, the one that had cried in Diancie’s arms, stopped following to stay behind.

“Carbink. Bink,” it said gravely.

Turning around midair, it conjured two barriers, Reflect and Light Screen, to block off the tunnel behind us. Hope and I understood. It would keep the other grunts back while we continued forward. It was leaving Diancie in our hands.

“Thank you. We won’t let you down,” I told it.

Not long after, we finally emerged into an even larger cavern than before.

This one was in shambles.

Massive stalagmites of crystal lay shattered on the ground, and the ceiling was covered in fragmented, glowing stalactites. A strange machine reminiscent of a tesla coil sat underneath what looked like a pink crystalized water droplet hanging from that ceiling. That machine rapidly shocked that central crystal with lightning.

The tesla coil device had a number of canisters slotted into the base, and considering that the large crystal was glowing almost as bright as the sun, I assumed that it was the source of infinity energy that Lysandre sought.

My assumption was helped by the fact that Lysandre was currently in the room.

Ramos was on his Gogoat, running around at high speed while a Mega Venusaur fought valiantly a ways away. Above the pair, a Jumpluff floated in the air using Fairy Wind to hinder Ramos’s foes.

However, they weren’t anything a non-Mega Evolved Pokémon could deal with.

Ramos wasn’t fighting one, nor two, but three different Gyarados. Unfortunately for him, these three weren’t in their normal forms. Rather than their usual serpent-like shape, the Gyarados had shifted to condense themselves into a more classically fish-like form. A large fin extended out on their back and their stomachs had turned black with hardened scales. They flopped forward after Ramos and Venusaur, giving chase. The way they moved would have been funny if not for the sheer power three Mega Evolved Pokémon represented.

The Gyarados were using a combination of ranged moves like Hydro Pump and Hyper Beam to shoot at Ramos, but despite the massive destruction those two moves contained, that wasn’t where their real power lay. Instead, they had incredibly powerful bodies that cracked and dented the ground with each flop as they chased Ramos, rage clear on their faces. It was no wonder he was desperately trying to stay away.

His Mega Venusaur rapidly moved itself around by slamming Vine Whips to launch it in certain directions. Despite there not being a Sunny Day up, its large flower on its back was locked into a permanent glow of Solar Beam and was quickly firing off attacks at the same rate all three Gyarados were attacking at combined.

I had no clue how Ramos had managed that.

As Hope and I paused briefly just to take in the battle going on, a different sight caught my attention. At the base of the massive crystal, next to the device constantly sending bolts at it, an overweight man with what I could only describe as a red, balding mullet furiously typed on a holographic keyboard. The mad grin on his face was distinctly uncomfortable.

Next to him, the big bad himself, Lysandre, calmly stood back and watched a trio of Pokémon, a Mienshao, Honchkrow, and Pyroar, defend the pair from attacks from Diancie. She desperately conjured Diamond Storms and Moonblasts at them, but each time she used a move, one of those Pokémon either jumped in the way, or used one of their own attacks to deflect it towards a different direction.

Additionally, Lysandre had a strange mechanical device strapped to his back, with a trio of what almost looked like satellite dishes on mechanical arms pointed at the three Gyarados. I didn’t see a Key Stone on him, but I did see a metal gauntlet on one arm with buttons he occasionally tapped to adjust the three Mega Pokémon’s actions.

“Those Gyarados,” Hope whispered, “they’re in pain.”

“What?”

Looking closer, I realized what she meant. They might have been flopping around and chasing Ramos and his team, but their faces were far more furious than normal, and their eyes were red with rage. My mind briefly flashed with memories of what happened to me in TV Mauville, and my eyes went wide at the realization.

“They’re Mega Evolved, but they’re berserk. Lysandre figured out a way to Mega Evolve and control Pokémon without a Key Stone. Without the human element, there’s nothing stopping them from lashing out!”

Hope paled. The threat of berserk Mega Pokémon had been drilled into our heads so many times we were distinctly aware of how much danger a single berserk Mega Pokémon posed. Even if Lysandre was taken out right now, those Gyarados would still be on a rampage. It’s no wonder that Ramos was putting in his entire focus to fight them off.

However, at the same time...

I glanced over to Diancie, who was still fighting off Lysandre’s Pokémon. She was desperately trying to destroy the device draining the main crystal, but none of her attacks were landing. As far as I could see, she was still in her basic form. I don’t think she had realized.

“Hope. I’m going in,” I said. Dedenne jumped back into my backpack out of fear. “Work with Ramos. Diancie needs my help.”

“What? Why are you leaving? Alex, wait!”

Hope tried to grab me, but I had already ran forward deeper into the cavern, jumping off the ledge that the tunnel opened out to and overlooked the cavern. I slid down the steep slope, then hurriedly sent out Altaria.

Lysandre was the first to look my way.

“Ah. Alex. I was wondering when you’d show up. Clearly, you—”

“Diancie!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, paying Lysandre no mind. “You can Mega Evolve! You can get stronger!”

Altaria began to glow in the air next to me as I just barely managed to start the process with my eyes open. I thanked Gurkinn for drilling the concept of not closing my eyes while initiating Mega Evolution. The phenomenon was far too intense to be able to run at the same time otherwise.

His form changed and his feathers grew out as his Mega Evolution quickly came into effect. As the light faded from Altaria’s new, far fluffier form, Lysandre started to hurriedly hit buttons on his gauntlet. Altaria breathed in, causing wisps of pink Fairy Type energy to form and be sucked into his beak, then opened his mouth and—

Three separate beams of light shot from the side and completely encompassed Altaria. Already injured and tired from before, the triple Hyper Beam from the Mega Gyarados trio practically incinerated him before he could do anything at all. My heart almost stopped and I barely recovered from the shock in time to return Altaria’s now featherless form to his Love Ball right before he hit the ground.

He was significantly injured, but thanks to the boost from Mega Evolution, he managed to withstand the attack. However, he was out of the battle, and he would most likely stay that way for a long time.

Lysandre looked up from his metal gauntlet. He smiled coldly. I shivered.

“Please. As if I’d let you unleash your Mega Pokémon against me. And, your idea of a Pokémon Mega Evolving without a trainer? Ridiculous. The only thing Diancie is good for is generating infinity energy.”

I scowled and stopped running closer.

“Pokémon aren’t just tools!” I yelled, feeling like a shonen anime protagonist. “They’re living beings and our friends!”

I turned to face Diancie. She had unfortunately become distracted when I had charged in and was forced to shift into defense once her attacks stopped. Each of Lysandre’s Pokémon were launching attacks at her that she was just barely stopping with her Light Screen.

“The crystal! It’s filled with infinity energy! Use that!” I yelled.

Diancie’s eyes went wide, and she refocused on the battle. The purple kung-fu weasel, Mienshao, and the crow that looked like a mafia boss, Honchkrow, formed balls of energy in their mouths. The pair launched forward an Aura Sphere and Shadow Ball respectively, but Diancie spun in place and used her Light Screen to deflect the attacks and send them off to the side. From underneath her, Pyroar tried to throw her off with a sneaky Flamethrower, but she jerked to the side midair to dodge, then rushed towards the crystal.

“Stop her!” Lysandre growled. “Don’t fail me!”

His Pokémon immediately turned to rush at her, but she was able to continue to defend and dodge out of her way. It looked like she was having a much easier time now that she wasn’t focusing on attacking. One last Light Screen stopped a final Aura Sphere, and then everything began to change.

The crystals on her stony base grew out and overtook her lower half, becoming a gown-like crystal chandelier. On her head, the large pink stone increased slightly in size, and significantly brightened its glow. Finally, the white “shirt” on her chest expanded out to almost resemble a dress as ribbons also expanded out from behind her head as well.

When she opened her eyes, I saw no brilliant red that would have signified her going berserk. Rather, Diancie was in complete control of herself despite not having a trainer to stabilize her.

“Legendary Pokémon are bullshit,” I mumbled.

Diancie waved her hand and several long, spear-like diamonds formed behind her. She pointed forward and they rocketed out, slamming and shattering into the chests of Lysandre’s Pokémon. The Mienshao tried with middling success to deflect them with its kicks, and the Honchkrow tried to deflect them with a wide-ranged Dark Pulse. While those two Pokémon managed to stay up as a result, the Pyroar fainted outright.

Lysandre looked furious.

“Xerosic!” he yelled, staring ahead and not even bothering to look at his sole human ally here. “Send out your Pokémon!”

Just like Lysander, Xerosic didn’t even bother to face his fellow Team Flare member.

“And why would I do that? I’m getting results I never would have dreamed of getting! Know when we’ve been dealt a losing hand, Lysandre. I’m going to spend every moment I have left learning as much as possible.”

As the Team Flare scientist said that, Diancie unleashed a pulse of pink energy that caused the stone floor underneath her to shift upwards and reshape itself into crystalline spikes. I was unsure what move it was—most likely, either Diamond Storm or Ancient Power—but it was strong enough to finish off Mienshao.

Honchkrow looked panicked. However, it was clearly still more afraid of Lysandre than Mega Diancie. It shot forward in the air in what should have been a four times effective Steel Wing, but Diancie merely brought her hand up to conjure a barrier of pure diamonds that completely nullified the move.

Honchkrow’s wing bent at an unnatural angle as its entire body weight slammed into what was effectively an immovable object. Before it could even fall, Diancie disintegrated the barrier with a flex of her will, and a close-ranged, super effective Moonblast finished it off.

With that, Lysandre now only had... two Gyarados at his disposal.

Looking over, it seemed that the moment when all three Gyarados used Hyper Beam against Altaria had given Ramos enough leeway to have Venusaur focus one down. With it fainted, there were two left. Since Hope was now helping him with her own Mega Venusaur, the pair could focus on each one individually and were having a significantly easier time of handling the two berserk Mega Pokémon.

I stared at Lysandre and grinned.

“Seems like your plans are falling apart, Lysandre. It’s time to give up.”

He scowled then reached into his coat pocket to pull out a single Premier Ball. The way he held it made it look like he was hesitant to use it at all, but his face didn’t betray any emotions but anger.

Without saying anything else, he tossed it forward, sending out an illegal seventh Pokémon. That Pokémon just happened to be his fourth Gyarados as well, but this one was different.

First off, it was much larger than the two other conscious Gyarados, both of whom were currently Mega Evolved. Second off, it was bright red.

Lysandre laughed.

“Oh, to be pushed this far. Alex, I should have realized you would cause something like this. No one who spoke to me like you did would have done anything else!” Lysandre threw his arms into the air. “Come! See if your ‘Legendary Pokémon’ holds up to the might of my trump card! You’ll find with the right chemicals, even a normal Pokémon can lay waste to thousands!”

Rather than pointing to the three (now two) Gyarados, every dish on Lysandre’s back pointed to the red Gyarados he sent out in front of him. There was a faint humming, and then the serpent’s entire body lurched.

In most cases of both evolution and Mega Evolution, a Pokémon’s form would be obscured by the blinding flash of Type energy overloading their system. Here, however, Lysandre’s machine gave it the complete opposite effect.

Stunned, Diancie and I watched in horror as waves were sent through the towering Gyarados’s flesh. Its entire body pulsated and squirmed with energy as its bones creaked and cracked to reshape into its Mega Evolved form. Its scales grew out and twisted over each other to form a veritable armor of red scales. The fins on its back painfully traveled up its spine then merged and expanded outwards, causing several of the scales to be ripped off and fall to the floor. The teeth in its mouth sharpened to an extreme point, and the whiskers on its face elongated to stretch the entire length of its body.

It jerked occasionally even after the process finished, and it was now bent over and panting from the pain. As a result, we could see each breath it took as a hot mist coming from its mouth. Saliva dripped from its lips. A red glow slowly grew in strength in its eyes, then it brought its head back and roared.

The entire cavern shook.

Lysandre pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet, and muttered only two more words.

“Goodbye, Alex.”

This Gyarados didn’t flop forward like the others. Instead, it flexed its tail with a single action and launched itself straight at me. I realized that no matter what, I wouldn’t be able to move out of the way. I had been too shocked and disgusted to escape.

This was when Ninetales released herself from her Pokéball.

Combining the speed boost of Quick Attack and Agility, she slammed into my side. I was filled with a piercing pain as a cracking sound rang out, and I was sent flying back. Due to my new position off to the side, I watched in what felt like slow motion as the unnatural red Gyarados slammed into Ninetales with a devastatingly strong Thrash.

The sound of the impact nearly deafened me. Ninetales was sent flying into that same cliff I had slid down before. The rocks cracked and bent back when she hit them.

Moving as fast as she could, Diancie just barely managed to conjure large spikes of crystal to prevent the Gyarados from following up its attack, and the Water Type became distracted by her instead. Lysandre returned to watching with an impassive stare.

I’d never hated anyone as much as I hated him right now.

But it wouldn’t do me good to get distracted by that. Ninetales needed help.

I wheezed as I tried to pick myself off the floor, but a sharp pain shot through my side and I fell to my knee. The pain made it obvious there was a bruise forming alongside a case of cracked ribs. I tried to push through anyway. I had to make sure she was okay.

Squinting, I looked up to try to make her out from a distance. She wasn’t moving, but she was breathing. I had no clue how long that would last.

I tried to get up to go to her again, but a second step repeated that horrible pain in my side, forcing me back to one knee. Gritting my teeth, I went ahead and sent the rest of my team out. It was a risk to have them present in the face of such a powerful opponent, but it was better to give them the option to escape if needed. Seeing them, I could tell they were still tired from the previous battle. However, we didn’t have a choice.

“Florges, help Ninetales,” I panted.

Grimly, she nodded her head and with a quick Ally Switch, Ninetales replaced her in front of me. I was too terrified to actually look at her wounds in person, so I quickly returned her to her Premier Ball instead. Since the device turned her body into pure Type energy, her wounds wouldn’t get worse and her life could be saved.

“I-I’ll be honest,” I said, struggling with my words. “This is bad. Diancie is barely holding back Gyarados, and Hope and Ramos are still busy. We need to stall so they can help us, or even get us out of here. But... you can’t.”

My Pokémon’s expressions darkened, and I winced as pain shot up through my side. Even though my injury was caused by Ninetales, I only felt gratitude towards her considering she saved my life.

Again.

The cavern shook once more from the red Gyarados’s attacks. The way it was glowing red and slamming wildly around, I could tell that Diancie was barely holding back its Outrage attack. Considering that Outrage was a Dragon Type attack that Diancie should have been immune to, it said a lot about its strength that its sheer body weight meant Diancie could barely hold it off.

“I don’t know what to do,” I mumbled. “Diancie’s losing, even with her Mega Evolution. Altaria’s already fainted, and Ninetales is out of the picture. You guys can’t help without Mega Evolving yourselves. This might be hopeless.”

I hung my head and felt tears form in my eyes. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, for my knowledge to make things so much worse. What’s worse is that I knew my Pokémon wanted to help, but I might have just brought them into a situation where there was nothing they could do.

As I was filled with doubt and self-loathing, the sound of short, quick footsteps caught my attention. Looking up, Mawile began to bravely walk towards the pair of battling Mega Pokémon.

“Mawile, stop!” I yelled. “You can’t fight! You won’t be a match for them!”

She glanced over her shoulder at me, and the expression on her face filled me with so much confusion, I stopped dreading the battle for just a single moment.

Why was Mawile smirking with so much confidence?

Unafraid, she strode forward and reached into her mouth to pull out the stone she loved so much. As she did so, a phrase I heard from the past, back when Professor Sycamore realized what her stone actually was, echoed in my head.

“Unless you find some incredible source of raw infinity energy, which doesn’t exist, I doubt you’ll be able to complete it.”

Mawile yelled to get Diancie’s attention and held up her stone. Diancie barely spared her a glance after creating a massive wall of pure diamond to prevent a charge from Gyarados. The Legendary Pokémon’s hands glowed as she held them forward to maintain the barrier, and finally looked to Mawile.

A grin appeared on Diancie’s face.

Mawile placed her stone in the front of her jaws, bent her knees ever so slightly, then spun with extreme force before opening her mouth to send it forward. As soon as her stone was in the air, she began to run after it, but it moved far faster than she could. Diancie just barely managed to catch the rock right when the barrier shattered, and she rushed back towards the large crystal hanging on the ceiling with Gyarados right on her heels.

As it chased, Gyarados sent Hyper Beam after Hyper Beam at her, but she spun around with movements that were very reminiscent of Florges, nimbly dodging the attacks. As a result, the beams impacted the ceiling, sending several more crystalline stalactites crashing into the ground.

Lysandre merely frowned at the destruction going on next to him.

“Whatever it is you’re doing, it won’t work,” he said. “This Gyarados is the result of years of research on chemically strengthening Pokémon. You’ll find that in its berserk Mega Form, it is undefeatable.”

A smile started to return to my face. I started to feel hope.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I called out. The strain of yelling caused the pain in my side to act up, but I tried my best to ignore it.

Talking to Lysandre would distract him, and plus, I just wanted to brag.

“See, the stone Diancie’s holding isn’t just a normal Hard Stone. It’s Mawile’s special stone. She’s had it for ages, and she’s never let it leave her sight. Do you want to know why?”

Lysandre gave me a blank look.

“Because it’s an incomplete Mega Stone!” I yelled. “You’re standing right next to a source of infinity energy to complete it!”

His eyes went wide, and hurriedly, he tapped on his gauntlet once more. Following his instructions, Gyarados turned to face Mawile, but it was too late.

Diancie finished channeling energy from the crystal into the stone, and swept back down from where she was floating to scoop Mawile up. Gracefully, she placed the stone into the Steel Type’s arms. As far as I could tell, it looked exactly the same, but I grasped the Key Stone bracer on my arm anyway, and using the tricks Gurkinn told me, focused on a single, all-encompassing goal.

It seemed Mawile’s goal was aligned with mine as well, considering she was now glowing.

Her stone’s exterior cracked and shattered, the remains of its surface falling to the ground. Its interior was revealed to the world: a perfectly formed pink marble with a gray twist in its center. Obscured by white light, Mawile’s body slowly increased in height. Her legs extended and grew a larger set of fur covering them up, and the large mouth behind her head practically doubled in length. At the same time, sharp horns grew out of its base, and it bent and cracked to form a crooked grin.

Then, like some kind of alien creature, her massive jaws split apart vertically. Instead of having one mouth and a single set of massive jaws, she now had one mouth and two sets of massive jaws.

The light broke.

Diancie released her ally.

Mega Mawile took the field.

“One goal: take down that Gyarados!” I screamed. “It’s a Dark Type! Use Fairy Type moves, Mawile!”

Mawile twisted in the air from where she was falling out of Diancie’s arms as Gyarados contorted its body to look up. Yet another Hyper Beam began to form in its mouth, but Mawile brought her two jaws together like a set of tower shields and completely protected herself from the damage with an Iron Defense. She then spun in place, using her falling momentum to increase her speed, and slammed her pair of jaws onto Gyarados right between the eyes.

The dual Iron Head caused it to wince, but it didn’t do much else in reaction. That is, until Azumarill yelled. Or, I should say, she roared.

The force of Azumarill’s roar was so intense, that even Ramos, Hope, and the pair of berserk Gyarados stopped fighting to look over. With Azumarill’s encouragement, sparks of infinity energy burst out from the point of impact, and Mawile pressed harder.

Something cracked.

Gyarados flinched.

Stunned by the Iron Head, Gyarados fell to the ground. Diancie took this opportunity to summon large chunks of rock, conjured through Rock Type energy, and slammed them down to pin the Mega Gyarados in place with Rock Tomb.

That pin wouldn’t last, but Mawile moved in to make the most of this opportunity.

Enhanced by her Mega Evolution and still on top of Gyarados, Mawile repeatedly slammed both her jaws down on Gyarados’s body, treating the red Pokémon like some kind of giant drum. With her jaws enhanced with Fairy Type energy for a devastatingly strong Play Rough, the super effective attack was causing Gyarados’s body to literally bend with every impact. I knew it wouldn’t be much longer until she won.

I turned to Azumarill.

“You know, Mawile gets the Huge Power ability too when she’s Mega Evolved,” I coughed out. “Right now, she’s probably stronger than you.”

Azumarill smirked and crossed her arms. If anything, I’d say she was glad for the competition.

Across from us, Mawile continued her utter beatdown of the Mega Pokémon we had all been so worried about. Iron Head’s flinches made sure it was unable to react while the Play Roughs made sure that it was constantly suffering devastating super effective damage. Any time it looked like Gyarados was about to escape or unleash an attack, Diancie used her enhanced Mega Evolution powers to pin it with another Rock Type move, as well as using quick Moonblasts to deal extra damage while it was stunned in between.

It didn’t take long for the dangerous, berserk threat to faint, and just like before, its body shifted to revert back to its normal form.

Lysandre looked stunned.

“I— but— how?” he asked.

He blinked several times. Xerosic broke him out of his stun by laughing.

“Oh ho ho! What did I say about knowing when a losing hand is dealt? Your desire for control got the best of you, my friend. Team Flare is no more. You are finished.”

Lysandre grit his teeth and raised his hands, clenching them in anger.

“‘You’ are finished? Half of our discoveries were made by you! You’re going down with me!”

Lysandre lunged forward, but Xerosic simply stepped back and smiled.

“No, I don’t think so. Look behind you.”

Turning his head, Lysandre barely even had the chance to look over his shoulder before a splash of Sleep Powder sent him to a deep slumber. Hope grinned from where she was sitting on her Mega Venusaur’s head, and Ramos’s collapsed but still conscious body was being carried by his Gogoat. He looked exhausted, and his Venusaur had returned to its non-Mega form, but so had all three unconscious Gyarados behind them.

Xerosic cleared his throat.

“So, would anyone be willing to negotiate a plea deal?” he asked.

At this point, I fell to the ground. Immediately, Hope’s Venusaur launched my way and she sent out Cherrim. I just barely had enough energy to push through the pain and roll Ninetales’s Premier Ball towards Hope.

“Heal... her... first...” I mumbled.

Everything slowly went dark, but I had a smile on my face. Altaria was burned, Ninetales was seriously injured, and I had something wrong with my ribs, but there was no chance Lysandre would get out of this.

He was finally defeated, and with him, the rest of Team Flare would fall as well.