CHAPTER 421: POWER OF US PART 8

Man, yesterday was annoying, i didn’t come back untill it was night and i had to sleep,

Anyway technically you guys didn’t hit the Power stone mark for the extra Chapter, but since i did stop posting for a few days, and i’m feeling nice, i’ll give you the Chapter anyway

----

Molly, Kellie, and Mia were sitting in the cart. Thankfully, the seal was tight, so the spores weren’t coming in too quickly. But the bad thing was that they were separated, and spores were getting in.

For Mia and Molly, it was fine. But Kellie was the problem, since her condition made it harder for her to get as much oxygen as everyone else. That, mixed with the spores, had her coughing and struggling to breathe.

"Kellie..." Mia said, holding her and trying to use the plushie Callahan had won for her to filter out some of the spores.

"I just know... Uncle Callahan is going to save us..." Kellie said weakly, as she looked out the window, which was covered in spores.

Molly wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, and my big brother is out there! I believe in him, my big brother is the strongest big brother ever!"

—

Speaking of which, Callahan was running up the mountain. He was tired, but he refused to stop. On his back, he was carrying Harriet, and behind them were all the Pokémon.

"Got it, so we need to get the place running, and the Professor will get us those... whatever chemicals, and we win, right?" Callahan asked, trying to get the plan straight.

"That’s one way to put it, I suppose," Harriet said. "Just over th—"

But Harriet stopped, because in the direction they needed to go, fire was burning through and blocking their path.

Harriet’s hands started shaking slightly as she spoke. "We’ll have to find another way..."

"Wait just a minute, we have Water-types, don’t we? Why don’t we just blast through?"

"NO, I WON’T ALLOW IT!" Harriet snapped, making everyone go quiet. She slowly climbed off Callahan’s back, her hands still trembling.

Callahan frowned. "Granny..."

Harriet looked down at her gloved hand. "It was this hand... I’m sorry... The reason the power plant is abandoned... is because of a fire just like this. And there, I lost my dear friend, Snubbull..."

Her hand shook. "I... It’s not that I hate Pokémon... It’s just... I’m afraid to get attached again..." Harriet said, falling to her knees as tears spilled down her face. "I don’t want to lose anyone close to me. That’s why I force myself to be alone..."

Callahan didn’t know what to say. He just watched. He opened his mouth, but closed it again.

Then he felt a shake.

He looked down. The Poké Balls he was carrying were shaking. Before he could do anything, one burst open, and in front of Harriet, Clefairy appeared. She looked up at her.

Harriet opened her eyes and saw Clefairy, who gently reached up and wiped away Harriet’s tears.

"Clef..." she said softly.

Callahan walked over and knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I don’t know about the past, but we’re with you now."

Harriet looked up, and all the Pokémon that had been following her nodded together. She sniffled and reached into her pocket, pulling out the same key. Then she looked down at Clefairy and smiled, reaching down to gently rub her head.

"You’re sweet... Snubbull would have liked you..."

She wiped her eyes and picked up Clefairy with her. "Okay. Snubbull left me this key. She probably did it for this very reason. So now it’s my turn!"

She looked at Callahan. "Those Poké Balls... The Mayor said we’d know when to use them. I think this is it!"

—

Callahan blinked and quickly nodded. "Right!" He grabbed the three other Poké Balls and threw them out. "Gooo!" From them came Feraligatr, Nidoking, and finally, Blastoise.

Blastoise, for one, looked around and saw the fire. He narrowed his eyes, he was an actual trained firefighter, and he was ready for this situation. He pulled out his sunglasses, put them on, and crossed his arms, "Blastoise! [Attention everyone! Listen to me and listen good!]"

Blastoise started barking out orders that Callahan and Harriet didn’t understand, but all the Pokémon, even Sudowoodo, saluted, and then they all started moving. The ones that could shoot water worked on the fire, while the others gathered rocks, dirt, or anything they could to smother it.

Meanwhile, Blastoise gave orders to Feraligatr and Nidoking. They were going to help, but first, they had direct instructions. After all, Ash had spent all of last night prepping, and Blastoise could hear Ash giving him messages through Aura.

They jumped apart from each other and aimed at a point in the center between them. Blastoise charged a [Flash Cannon], Feraligatr readied a [Hydro Pump], and Nidoking prepared [Earth Power]. Then they all fired, seemingly at each other.

Callahan and Harriet immediately thought a fight was breaking out and were about to say something, but Clefairy confidently raised her hand, stopping them.

Then, just as the attacks neared collision, Zeraora appeared right in the center, and was immediately struck by all three attacks at once.

Zeraora was knocked back by the blast, which hurt it, but it only got worse. From the trees, another strand of yellow web shot out and wrapped around Zeraora’s waist. It was Pikachu again, swinging up and launching Zeraora into the air, making it crash down like a wrecking ball.

As it fell, Vee jumped out from behind Pikachu and launched a [Freezy Frost], firing a shard of ice that caught Zeraora midair, dealing even more damage. Pikachu leapt up and struck it with [Iron Tail], smashing it through the ice and slamming Zeraora to the ground.

Just then, Ash appeared beside Abby. He waved at Callahan and Harriet, "Don’t worry, I’m taking care of it!" He snapped his fingers, and Abby teleported them away again, leaving Callahan and Harriet with more questions than answers.

But they couldn’t dwell on that for too long, because now, they had a clear path to the power plant.

—

Toren was looking up the mountain. He had been traveling in a car, but because of the forest fire and falling trees, it wasn’t safe. He had to find another way to get up there, and fast.

He looked around, starting to stress again. Then he felt the Poké Ball the Mayor had given him shake once more. He reached down and looked at it, then took a deep breath, "You’re my best choice. Please tell me you can help..."

He threw it out, and from the burst of light, Aerodactyl leapt out, spreading its wings and looking up at Toren excitedly.

Toren blinked. "I, uh... this is fascinating, but how can you he—AHH!"

He was cut off as Aerodactyl flapped its wings and took off, grabbing Toren by his coat with its talons and flying over the fire toward the lighthouse.

Toren felt his heart pounding, way too fast for his own comfort, but somehow, he also felt more free than he had in forever. "This is fun and all, but please don’t drop me," he called out nervously, still afraid, even as a smile started forming.

But instead of reassuring him, Aerodactyl seemed to receive a signal, and suddenly used its tail to grab Toren and fling him into the air, making him scream as he was thrown into the sky.

The reason Aerodactyl did that was because he flipped around and charged up a [Stone Edge], summoning rocks around him and firing them down like a machine gun, at seemingly nothing. But then, Zeraora appeared right under the falling stones, getting shot out of the sky and slammed back into the ground.

Then Abby appeared, teleporting away again, never giving Zeraora the chance to get used to the constant movement.

At that moment, Toren came falling back down, and Aerodactyl caught him and placed him on his back, "Aero!" he asked, looking back at him with a smirk.

Toren blinked, looked down at Aerodactyl, then started laughing, "Okay, you got me. That was kinda fun. But please, let’s get to the power plant, hurry!"

Aerodactyl rolled his eyes but sped up, now flying directly toward their destination.

—

Risa ran as fast as she could, having finally made it down to the town. But as she looked around, she saw that the cloud of spores was still approaching, so she kept running. Rick was still talking to her on the phone.

"Risa, I don’t know how much longer we have, and there’s a problem I just realized!"

"Please tell me it’s not something that’s going to make me cry!" Risa yelled, still running while holding the Eternal Flame and Eevee.

"If there’s no power, then the elevator won’t work. You’re gonna have to take the stairs," Rick said.

"Rick, if I survive this, I’m going to strangle you!" Risa cried. "How am I supposed to do this!?"

Then she remembered the Poké Ball Ash had given her. It was her only hope now.

She grabbed it and took a deep breath before throwing it out. When it opened, the bright light cleared, revealing Togekiss, who chirped out happily.

Risa blinked. If she weren’t literally running for her life, she’d have stopped to take pictures. Togekiss was absolutely adorable afterall.

But Togekiss looked up at the cloud of spores and gave a smirk. Then she flew up into the sky, spread her wings, and flapped them, causing a [Hurricane].

A tornado formed, spinning rapidly and pulling the spores into it. Now, this didn’t get rid of them, and Togekiss had to constantly maintain concentration, or it would drop, and the spores would spread again.

Still, with the spread temporarily halted, Risa finally stopped to catch her breath and looked up at Togekiss in awe, with Eevee right by her side.

But that awe was cut short when Zeraora suddenly appeared in front of her, crashing to the ground. As it tried to get back up, it was hit by a [Focus Blast], sending it flying into the [Hurricane], along with the spores.

Risa blinked and looked behind her, Ash, Pikachu, Vee, and Abby were moving up quickly.

"Hey, nice work getting here so fast," Ash said as he stepped in front of Risa, preparing to fight.

"W-Wh—Ash!? W-who-why-are you fighting Zeraora? But why?!" Risa managed to sputter out.

"No time to explain," Ash said, just as Zeraora opened its eyes and forced itself out of the [Hurricane], breathing hard and glaring at them, "Get the Eternal Flame to the tower."

Risa looked back and forth, gulping. "B-but... if the power’s out, how am I supposed to get up there? I can’t climb the stairs that fast!"

Ash just smiled and pointed at himself with his thumb, "That’s fine. Just get there and stand on the elevator. I’ll take care of the rest!"

Now, was what Ash said crazy? Unreasonable? And a bunch of other things she probably shouldn’t say? Yes, But for some reason... She believed him. She didn’t know why, but right now, she didn’t care.

It was do or die, and she wasn’t going to give up, So she turned on her heel and started running again, as Zeraora limped forward.

Ash tilted his head, looking at Zeraora, "Even after all that, you’re still standing... I guess I should have expected as much. But still, why don’t you just give up and save us both the trouble?"

Zeraora growled as its fur ignited with electricity again, and Ash sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I know how hypocritical that sounds. But now I get why villains always ask that..." He smirked, then let the smile fade as he stared Zeraora down, "Anyway, I respect the commitment, but this is your last warning."

Ash’s expression darkened, "I’m going to make you calm down... even if I have to break every bone in your body."

—

Callahan and Harriet arrived at the power plant. Feraligatr, Nidoking, and Blastoise had stayed behind to deal with the fire, but thankfully, Clefairy remained with them.

Callahan looked at the old, rusty, and burnt-out power plant, "So, how are we going to get this thing to work?"

Harriet didn’t respond right away. She walked up to a console and pulled out the bronze key she had. She tightened her grip on it, then, after a quick glance back, jammed it into the control panel. The gears inside rumbled to life, slowly starting to turn.

As Harriet’s platform began to rise, a much larger gear twitched into motion. She looked down at the group below, "Well, what are you waiting for? You’re the muscle, start pushing!"

"Wha—this runs on muscle power!?" Callahan looked up at her in disbelief.

"Well, do you have another power source handy? If not, less talking, more pushing!" Harriet snapped again.

Callahan sighed and looked at Sudowoodo, who sighed with him. Then the two of them, along with all the other Pokémon, got into position.

"Okay... and PUSH!" Harriet commanded.

Everyone started shoving the massive rusted gear. Sudowoodo even copied a Machamp using [Strength], as his arms became muscular to help too

All the while, Clefairy stood to the side, clapping and cheering them on, constantly using [Helping Hand].

With everyone helping, the rust began to crack and groan, mold flaking off as the power plant slowly came to life. The massive windmill connected to the plant shifted direction, now pointing toward the towns, and started turning.

From above, Toren finally arrived, riding on Aerodactyl. After dropping him off, Aerodactyl flew off to help fight the fire, Toren looked around and nodded. "Yes... yes, this could work. Good work!"

Then he spotted Callahan, "Uh... Callahan?"

Callahan grinned and waved, "Professor! Look, I got this thing moving!" he said, throwing an arm around Toren’s shoulder.

"That... can’t be true..." Toren said, blinking in disbelief.

Harriet smiled softly, "Let’s call it a half-truth. Now, do you have the cure?"

Toren nodded and held out the vial, "I’ve got it, but we need to put it on the propellers. And we’ve only got one shot."

Callahan’s smirk faded as he looked around at everyone, then back at Toren, "I’ll do it."

Toren flinched, "W-What? No! Don’t joke about that. What about a ladder? Or something?!"

"There is none," Harriet said firmly. "Anything we could’ve used was burned up. That’s the only way."

Toren flinched again, but Callahan reached his hand out, "Professor... you remember, even if I am a liar, I’ve got one hell of a throwing arm. So... got any better ideas?"

Toren gulped and stared into Callahan’s eyes, "...Okay. I trust you. You have one shot, please don’t miss."

Callahan nodded as he took it. "For the sake of my little Kellie, I won’t."

He turned and ran to climb, with Sudowoodo following close behind. Meanwhile, Harriet looked at everyone, then at Toren. "Alright, now start spinning! Push with all you’ve got and get the windmill moving!"

Toren deflated, seeing he had to put in physical work, but sighed, stepped into Callahan’s position, and started pushing.

The turbines began to move, but debris from years of disuse started falling. As Callahan reached the top, he couldn’t get a clear shot. "Dang... with all that, this’ll break before it even gets where it needs to go!"

But Sudowoodo looked up at him and pointed to himself. "Sudo!"

Callahan blinked. "You have a plan?"

Sudowoodo nodded with a smile. Callahan returned it. "Okay then, I trust you."

He turned back to the windmill and wound his arm back. With all his strength, he hurled the vial. Meanwhile, Sudowoodo used [Stone Edge], firing rock after rock, clearing the debris that might’ve struck the vial. Then, with one final shot, he struck the glass bottle itself. The pink dust exploded and caught on the spinning turbines, they did it. The pink essence was now being carried toward the town.

Everyone in the power plant celebrated, but this wasn’t over.

—

Back in the city, Ash was still battling Zeraora. The legendary Pokémon darted around, charging another [Thunder Punch], but this time Pikachu was carefully watching how it moved.

As Zeraora leapt to strike Ash, Ash released another PokéBall. From it, Snorlax appeared, just in time to tank the hit square in the stomach and didn’t even move. Zeraora looked surprised, and even more so when Snorlax’s massive fist came down with a [Focus Punch], slamming Zeraora into the side of a building.

Even with that, Zeraora still didn’t go down.

This was the difference between regular Pokémon and legends. Even weak B- or C-tier legends could shrug off punishment that would knock out most regular Pokémon cold. Even a Champion’s Pokémon might be down after everything Ash had thrown at it, depending on the matchup and how much prep time Ash was given.

Zeraora, was probably low B-tier or high C-tier, was still standing.

And even more than all that, it was still fighting.

This time, Zeraora charged its fist again, this time glowing with blue energy, it was going to use [Plasma Fist]. But Pikachu, watching closely, looked almost confident now.

Ash looked at him. "You understand it?" Pikachu nodded. Ash smirked. "Then let’s test it out."

As Zeraora dashed forward, Ash raised his arm. "Your turn [Plasma Fist]!"

Pikachu jumped up, his own fist glowing with blue electricity. The two clashed midair, the same technique meeting itself. That’s right, after all his observation, Pikachu had copied Zeraora’s signature move.

And with Zeraora already tired, hurt, and having lost its legendary resistances, it couldn’t keep up. With a final blow, Pikachu sent it flying back again.

But still... Zeraora refused to stay down.

Ash narrowed his eyes. In the distance, he saw the pink mist of the cure reaching the city. They did it. It was time.

No more holding back, especially because he had told Risa to trust him.

Ash reached up and turned his hat backwards, "All right, Pikachu, let’s do it now, let’s give everyone something to remember!"

Pikachu understood and smirked, getting ready. Time for some crashout mentality.

Ash pointed forward. "Pikachu, [El Thor]!"

—

With Risa, she reached the elevator and stood there, catching her breath as she looked around. Yeah, this thing wasn’t moving. She glanced back toward where she knew Ash was fighting and wondered if he was okay, and what he was even going to do. Supercharge the entire city?

Well, her answer came when the clouds split, and from them, a massive column of pure electricity crashed down where Ash was battling Zeraora. As it hit the ground, the city began to light up, first the streetlights, then the buildings came back to life. The whole town powered on again, from the cable cars to the city lights... and most importantly, the elevator shot upward, carrying Risa with it.

It was probably moving too fast, Ash’s attack had clearly overcharged the system, but Risa held on to the railing with one arm and clutched Eevee and the Eternal Flame with the other.

She breathed heavily after the wild ride, then looked up to see the empty pedestal. She gulped and walked toward it slowly. She saw exactly where it was meant to go—

and she did it.

Risa placed the Eternal Flame back into the pedestal.

Everything changed.

The wind returned. The cure that the B team shot out began neutralizing the Effect Spore. And the Eternal flame shot a brilliant green light into the sky, parting the clouds because from them, Lugia descended, wings outstretched.

It looked over everything: the fire, the spores, the cure. It understood.

Then it turned toward where Ash stood, raised an eyebrow... and gave a small smile, ’Of course it’s him again. I expect nothing less,’ Lugia thought.

Then, flapping its wings, it flew over the town, then into the forest, summoning rainfall that began extinguishing the fire.

Risa had a front-row view. She watched in awe, then finally collapsed, sitting down with a sigh.

"Man, this was exhausting..."

But then her phone spoke, because she had never hung up on the call with Rick, "But it’s beautiful! And sis, you ran again! That’s incredible!"

Risa groaned. "Yeah, I guess I—" She stopped. "Wait a minute. You never answered, how did you know where I was? And how did you see what I saw?!"

"Uhhhhhhhh..." Rick said, and immediately hung up.

Risa’s eye twitched.

—

In the carts, after they started moving and the spores disappeared, Molly, Kellie, and Mai looked out the window. Kellie smiled and threw herself into Molly’s arms, hugging her as she jumped up and down.

"They did it!"

Molly hugged her back, smiling, "I knew it. I told you, my big brother always keeps his promises!"

—

Back on the ground in the smoking area where the last attack had hit, Zeraora was lying on its back, looking up into the sky. That’s when it saw Lugia.

Lugia had come because of the humans, and as it looked into the forest, it saw the fire being extinguished and the Pokémon it swore to protect celebrating.

Now, as Zeraora lay there, finally defeated, it thought about what it had done, and didn’t even try to get up.

Ash walked over. Pikachu was resting nearby; that last attack had been strong. The only downside was that Pikachu would be out of commission for a bit, but Vee was taking care of him.

Ash bent down to look at Zeraora, "Hey buddy, how you feelin’?"

Zeraora didn’t answer. It just looked away, slightly ashamed.

Ash continued, "You realize what an idiot you’ve been?"

Still no answer. But Zeraora nodded once.

Ash nodded back. "We’ve all been there," he said, looking up toward the forest. "You never let me finish. Humans, they are selfish. They can be evil. They can be greedy.

"But if you spend all your time looking at the worst of us... you’ll never see the good that can come from us."

He looked back down at Zeraora and held out his hand, "So, how about it? Give us humans one last chance?"

Zeraora looked at him, then at the hand... took a breath... and reached out.

Ash helped him to his feet with a smile, "There we go. Now come on, we should go find those losers and blame it on Cipher—" Ash was cut off by an obnoxious voice.

"Oh, how very excellent!"

Ash turned. Walking up to him and Zeraora was a man in a Cipher uniform wearing the dumbest-looking cap imaginable, a stretched-out stocking with a hole cut for the face. It was Snattle.

"Now that you’ve taken care of Zeraora, I shall be taking it! And then I shall use Zeraora’s power to capture Lugia! Then I, Snattle, will take control of Orre, and none shall stop me! Mwahahaha!"

He was way too confident.

Zeraora looked at Ash and pointed at Snattle. Ash shook his head, "No."

Together, they turned to look at Snattle, then, in unison, raised their fists and punched him square in the face.

Snattle dropped like a sack of bricks, knocked out cold.

Worst part? He had Pokémon. He just assumed Zeraora was too beat up and Ash’s Pokémon were too tired, so he didn’t even bother using them

Ash looked up, spotting Togekiss flying overhead. He gave her a thumbs-up, signaling she could rest.

Then he turned toward Abby and sighed, "Hey, how are you? Still feeling... weird?"

After all, Alakazam were supposed to be smart. Maybe now Abby would stop that weird thing she does.

Abby stayed quiet for a moment... then slowly opened her mouth. And Ash immediately wished she hadn’t.

"Alakazam! [Of course, Sect Master. Senior Sister Abby is always ready for any mission. As for that toad lusting after swan meat shall I cripple his mana core?]" she asked, pointing at Snattle.

Ash threw his hands up, "I give up!"

Abby didn’t change.