Private/Closed The Secret of Meteor Falls

[Curtkid]

It was chaos all around them, the entire team was moving left and right to avoid being hit by a falling stone. Flare was using her psychic abilities to deflect falling debris away from them, Whips was smashing through anything that attempted to fall on him, his incredible brute strength alone was enough to protect him and Lockjaw who had moved himself right next to Whips and was now clutching on tight to the Dragonite's leg. Curt was following Embertail around the cavern, the little dragons impressive speed and reaction time allowed him to find paths that were thankfully falling rock free. Evan and Torchie were following a similar strategy as Whips, which was smashing through anything that came near them (O.K, so it was more Torchie smashing rocks that Evan fool-heartedly thought he could break, but still...). However, they knew they couldn't keep this up forever, the cavern was already extremely close and soon the debris would be too numerous for even Whips or Nero to smash through!

Thankfully, it seemed Alice had them covered. Thinking fast (and with a little input from Jacob) she called out Oz to dig them a way out while Taz and Yama provided cover for the Iron Snake to do his work. Turned out, Oz didn't need much time, with in moments the Iron Snake had already dug a sizable hole into the floor, the only question was, was the tunnel Oz made strong enough to hold?

A loud crash from a boulder landing too close to him and Embertail for comfort told Curt that they didn't have time to check to see if Oz's tunnel was up to OSHA compliance.

"Flare, grab Torchie and Evan and meet us by the hole, and hurry!, Curt said to the Ninetales, who merely gave a brisk nod and began making her way to Evan and Torchie. Embertail and Curt made their way over as fast as they could, with Embertail leading them towards the hole while Curt kept his eye on the ceiling to make sure they didn't run into any falling stones. It took them all of a few seconds to reach the hole, but it felt like hours to them, no time to think on that though, they needed to help evacuate everyone ASAP!

"EVERYONE, OVER HERE, FOLLOW MY VOICE, WE NEED TO GET INTO OZ'S TUNNEL NOW!!", Curt yelled as loud as he possibly could. Immediately Whips turned to them, lifted up Lockjaw and flew as fast as he could into their position, shielding Lockjaw from the falling stones, his own hide proving thick enough to deflect most of the falling rocks, still Curt kept their Pokeballs ready just in case. Flare sprinted over almost as quickly as Whips, using her psychic powers to knock away anything that would cause her harm, following closely after her was Evan and Torchie, or rather, a panicky yet still slightly annoyed looking Torchie was dragging Evan over to the Tunnel. Immediately, Torchie scooped Evan up in his arms and leaped down the hole, the sounds sounds of their impact were heard soon after.

"O.K, good, so it's not that deep", Curt thought out loud, just as Embertail pulled him out of the way of a falling rock. Curt's focus having been momentary pulled away by his concern over his two little siblings safety.

"Thanks Embers, JACOB, NERO, GREY, LET'S GO!", Curt yelled to the other group, though for all he knew, they could already be down the hole. As before Curt has anytime to check, Whips picked Curt and Embertail up by the scruff of their necks and jumped down the hole, the loud crash of stones collapsing in the cave followed soon after as the group went tumbling through the Steelix-made cave.

And then, everything was quiet.

Curt laid still for a moment before finally picking himself up, the darkness of the tunnel was all consuming except of the light emitted by Embertail. Thankfully, that told him Embertail was O.K, as he saw the light source wave around a bit as the Charmander picked himself up. Despite the soreness in his body, Curt moved closer towards Embertails light, as he moved closer he was relieved to see his best friend seemed relatively unharmed.

"Embers, you alright", Curt said as he knelt down to inspect his friend. The light from Embertail revealed that Curt had taken a few cuts and bruises, his shirt and pants were torn up, and he was covered in dirt. Honestly, Curt counted himself lucky that it was all he had.

"Errh arokae", Embertail growled, his typical smile returning to his face. He had a few chipped scales here and there, maybe a cut or two, but all things considered, he was fine. Curt and Embertail exchanged a quick fist bump before Curt pulled himself up again.

"HEY! If anyone can here me, come over to Embertail's flame so....s-so we can do a head count", Curt cried out, almost letting his fear over everyone's safety to stutter his words. Whips and Lockjaw made their way over first, looking almost no worse for wear, but Lockjaw did look particularly shaken up, they knew it was going to be a loooong time before they went into a cave ever again. Flare appeared next, closely followed by Evan and Torchie

"Oh thank Arceus you're all alright...", Curt said, hunching over briefly in a short lived relief, "thanks for protecting Lockjaw and for pulling us in Whips, and thanks for helping my bro's get into the tunnel", Curt said as he rubbed the Ninetales head and gave Whips a warm smile.

"(It was no trouble Curt, honestly, I was more worried about your brothers bombastic yelling speeding up the cave-in then anything else"), Flare said, but with a good natured smile. Whips returned Curt's smile with a half one of his own, before bending down to help calm Lockjaw.

"Ack, impressive as that Steelix's digging is, we could have easily punched out way out of that mess", Evan said, almost dying in a cave in would never dampen his spirit's, but a glare from Torchie was a different story, "but ah, thank-you Flare, though I detest psychic powers, that was indeed impressive". Curt and Embertail looked at eachother and gave a small chuckle. They hoped that their brothers would never change, but still that left two other groups to be accounted for.

"I guess we gotta wait here for everyone else, hope they're alright", Curt said as he looked around the dark expanse of the tunnel. Despite the relatively large number of people being crowded in the small area, the tunnel still felt very empty. The faint howl of the endless expanse before them, combined with the tunnels inky blackness, made it feel like cave stretched on forever.

"R-rhee, res rez rust reik rhimrehrin reavrens !", Embertail growled out, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hehe, yeah, this was just like what happened....", Curt began to say, before his words just gave out into a sigh.

 

[Trucro]

The cave would not last long, and Jacob was the last of the group to escape. Jacob nodded to Curt as he dropped into the hole. Jacob ran towards the new escape route, dodging a falling rock before taking one last look behind him. Nero was close on his heels, but Grey was still standing far away; he hadn't moved.

"God damn it," Jacob said under his breath as he grabbed Grey's pokeball. As the walls fell in on thr group, a red light recalled Grey into his pokemon. Nearly immediately Nero crashed into Jacob, throwing him into the hole, following soon after. Jacob and Nero quickly found the group by the light of Embertail's tail, and made their way towards them.

"Hehe, yeah, this was just like what happened...." he heard Curt begin to say.

"Don't say it, don't even think it," Jacob cut in. He knew Curt was talking about the time they got caught in the cave in Kalos; Jacob still hadn't gotten over his fear of getting trapped in caves. And yet here he was again, now trapped underground in a cave within a cave. Wonderful.

 

[Curtkid]

"S-sorry", Curt stuttered out. He wasn't sure if Jacob was more upset at being trapped in a cave yet again, or if it was the reminder of their friend Cassie. They had been on quite a few adventures with her (well, Curt had at least) and she very recently got captured at the had of Team Rocket while trying to rescue Jacob who had also got caught by Team Rocket. Curt especially felt guilty as he had urged Cassie and her friend Sai to help them rescue, they had tried to locate her, but had no luck in finding any trace of her. They ended up alerting the authorities about the assault, and they'd assured them that they would utilize Team Rocket's left behind equipment to find them, but they weren't sure if they would be able to do much.

In the end, only Nine, Cassie's Ninetales, had been able to escape capture, he had showed up with Curt and his team every now and again, having no where else to go, but spent most of his time looking for Cassie. nine never said it out loud, but they group felt the Ninetales blamed them for Cassie's capture, they didn't really blame him. Curt, Embertail, and the rest of his team felt heavy guilt at letting Cassie get captured, probably Jacob and his team too. It was part of the reason his team was so eager to head to Hoenn to help his brother, they wanted to take their minds off of their failure, if only for a moment.

"....WHY HAS EVERYONE GOTTEN QUIET ALL OF A SUDDEN?", Evan roared, breaking the silence, "WELL, I FOR ONE HAVE NO INTENTION OF STAYING HERE, THEIR IS NOT A SINGLE PIECE OF GYM EQUIPMENT ANYWHERE IN SIGHT!!!". With that, Evan began heading down the cavern Oz had drilled, with Torchie following close behind, claw in face the entire way. The Combuskien remembered the last time he left his trainer alone unsupervised, there where people who still needed therapy...

"O-oh, yeah, well Jacob, we should go, we'll probably find Alice and the rest of her team further down in", Curt respond flatly, "EVAN WAIT UP, YOU'RE GOING TO NEED EMBERTAIL'S FLAME FOR LIGHT!"

"REHOUGHT RHUP!", Embertail yelled after Evan and Torchie.

 

[Trucro]

"Hey, wait up!" Jacob said as Curt, Embertail, Evan, and Torchie took off down the corridor. He sighed before running after them, with Nero close by. So much had happened in such a small amount of time; he could use a little break. But he also wanted to get out of this cavern as quickly as possible. Nero was looking pretty tired as well; after all, he had fought multiple opponents, escaped a collapsing cave, and now was running down the cavern. Jacob knew the pokemon wouldn't voluntarily return to his pokeball, though, so he decided not to worry about it. As he began to catch up with Curt, he shouted after Evan.

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING?!?!" He yelled as loudly as he could, hoping Evan could hear him. He doubted the child knew what day it was, much less where he was headed.

 

[Curtkid]

(All content in this post has been approved by the moderator Stellarwind Elsydeon)

The group followed the cavern, there wasn't many other ways they could go, Embertails light illuminated their path through the tunnel. Finally, after what felt like hours of walking, they saw the literal light at the end of the tunnel, eagerness in their souls, they ran towards the light! The found themselves in a tunnel more then 25 meter's tall, stalagmites hung from the ceiling while the faints sounds of a waterfall could be heard crashing in the corner. Plus, near the exit to their tunnel sat a very familiar meteor with a small crack in it, in fact, the whole room gave them a strange feeling of DE Ja Vue.

"Wait....guy's, isn't this the room we started in?", Curt said.

"I-is that the meteor from earlier, how did this end up hear...you know what, that's fine, I need to vent some pent up frustration", Curt said as he walked over and gave the space rock a half-hearted kick, "welp, I feel better, lets get going!" Embertail gave his trainer a warm smile and a nod, sometimes Curt could be almost as silly as he was. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something wiggling out of the crack of the meteor, it was oddly shaped, and hard to make out, almost like a blue tentacle. It seeped its way out of the meteor, and appeared to be extending towards.....

"C-CURT!", The Charmander yelled, he didn't think, he just reacted as he tacked Curt out of the way of the hostile appendage. The duo slammed into the ground with a THUD! Curt was startled and confused, needless to say, be the confusion quickly cleared up as he saw the tentacle that had seeped out of the meteorite! The sick appendage then attempted to reach out for them yet again, but was thankfully forced back into the meteor by a timely Flamethrower from Flare.

"Woah, what was...I can't thanks guy's, you really save my....ass", Curt stuttered as he and Embertail picked themselves up. Once again, danger seemed to have passed as soon as it arrived....

Then the whole cavern started to shake....

At first, they thought it was another cave in, but unlike before, stalagmites and boulder's weren't falling from the ceiling, as though being held up their by some sort of maleficent force, or as though the quake was being focused on a particular point, but that was just absurd. Curt couldn't afford to be frustrated right now, he and his team were tired, Jacob and his team were tired, Evan and Torchie were also tired, and Alice and her team were still missing. They had been through so much and just wanted to take a break...But, they knew they couldn't give up, they had put so much effort into surviving, to give up now would spit in the face of all their efforts and be an insult to the very people who they built themselves up as.

Curt looked each of his team members in the eye, Embertail, Whips, Lockjaw, Flare, their faces all said they same thing: We're not dying here! They picked themselves up, they were going to get out of here, thankfully, the exit to the Falls was near bye, true they would probably have to dodge falling debris from the mountain once they escaped, but if that was the risk they needed to take, then so be it. Curt turned to their party, opened his mouth to being giving orders!

....And then the meteor exploded, casting a bright light and knocking them all back. Star's fluttered in front of Curt's head as he attempted to pull himself together, picking himself up, he looked around to make sure his team was O.K. Embertail seemed about as disorientated as he was, but no worse for wear. Whips and Flare seemed flashed banged by the meteor, but appeared to be quickly recovering, Lockjaw was unaffected, having immediately taken cover by hiding behind Whips. Thankfully, the quake appeared to have stopped, so their was no longer any hurry to get out, once again, the danger passed almost as quickly as it arrived. Where the meteor once stood was nothing more then a massive plume of smoke.

"Well....that was something...uh, l-let's just get out of here, it's been a long day and I'm sure we all cou-what is is Embertail", Curt said to his Charmander friend, who was panically pointing towards where the meteor was a terrified look on his face, "whats got you so wori-HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!?!"

The smoke had cleared, and standing where the meteor once was could only be described as a great, orange, extra terrestrial life form. Orange and blue tentacles twisting around each other stood in place of where arms should have been, it had no feet, it's legs appeared to be massive orange spikes protruding from its torso. It turned to look at them as it rose to it's full height, in it's chest was a large, purple orb, its blue face split in half by a single, purple marking...and it's eye's. Curt couldn't describe it, but when he looked into that creatures eye's, he felt as though some sort of Pressure was bearing down on him, like he was facing a monster beyond any of their understanding.

Lockjaw was cowering behind Whips, desperately hoping whatever that thing was would just go away. Whips himself, for the first time since he became a Dragonite, found himself wanting to backing away from an opponent in fear. Flare was stunned where she stood, she could feel the massive amount of psychic energy this alien-creature was emitting, and it was far greater then anything she had ever felt before. Evan, for once, was left completely speechless as he threw an arm in front of the equally terrified Torchie, as though trying to protect him from whatever the creature was planning on throwing at them.

Curt and Embertail backed away from the creature as it lumbered ever closer to them, never, had they felt sheer terror like this before. The creature locked it's eyes with them, then turned to look at Jacob and Nero, then finally at Evan and Torchie, as though evaluating its future victims. A faint purple glow surrounded the remains of the meteor as the other worldly demon levitated them in the air, then raising itself along with them, all the while never removing its gaze from those who dare disturb its rest. It was mad, and it wanted to hurt something.

"EEEEYYYYYOOOOXXXXX!!!!!!", the monster roared as it threw the shards of meteor at them in a storm of stone. It was all they could do to get out of the way. Meteor cut through both Curt and Embertail as they attempted to dodge, though nothing vital was hit, the damage was dealt, and Curt and Embertail found themselves desperately trying to pick themselves up.

"E-E-E-Embertial, J-J-J-Jacob, E-E-Evan, w-w-we have to do something, b-but what?", Curt asked his friends, desperate for any advice as the space creature readied another meteor shard barrage attack.

 

[Trucro]

"What the-" Jacob began before the rocks began flying in his direction. One caught him in the shoulder, opening up a wound as he fell to the ground. Nero dived behind a nearby boulder, saving himself from the barrage.

"E-E-E-Embertial, J-J-J-Jacob, E-E-Evan, w-w-we have to do something, b-but what?" Jacob could tell there was fear in Curt's voice. Whatever the being was, Jacob had never seen one before; never even heard of it. And there could be no doubt it was strong; just being in the same room as it made Jacob feel a bit off, a bit slow. He reached for his belt.

"We've gotta get out of here!" He said as he threw a pokeball. It opened, once again revealing Stargazer, his Golurk. The pokemon stood comfortably in the tall room, facing Jacob, Curt and the others, using it's huge body as a shield from the stones. Breathing heavily, Jacob stood. He looked over at Nero. Nero, usually ready for any fight, seemed to be frozen behind the boulder. "Nero..." Jacob said under his breath. There was no way the pokemon could've heard him. He looked over at Whips who, while not frozen, appeared to be more than a little afraid as well. Jacob himself was shaking, but he was able to control himself. It was an odd feeling, being afraid, but not frozen, when everyone else seemed to be overcome.

"Alright, Stargazer, it's me and you!" The pokemon released a honking sound in agreement. Luckily, Golurks didn't feel fear. "Use nightshade!" Stargazer honked again as his hand retracted into his arm. From the resulting hole, a black beam of ghost energy rushed towards the wild creature. But the creature was too fast. It changed forms, extending the back of its head and thinning its arms to single strands. Easily dodging Stargazer's attack, the beast rushed forwards in what looked like a quick attack on steroids. It's head radiated blue with power. Jacob couldn't even give an order before it slammed into Stargazer, throwing the pokemon into the air and crashing against the wall behind Jacob. Stargazer fell to the ground, bringing quite a few rocks with it, covering the pokemon in rubble.

"Stargazer!" Jacob shouted as the creature came around for its next attack.

 

[Curtkid]

Curt watched as Jacob unleashed his mighty colossus of a Pokemon, Stargazer, and attempted to defend them. Unfortunately, Stargazer's Night Shade attack proved futile as the creature, to their horror, changed forms to avoid it. As if that wasn't bad enough, it then proceeded to ram into the half-ton Pokemon and knock it back like it was a stuffed animal. It went without saying: this was easily the toughest opponent they had ever faced, if this creature was able to change it's form on a whim to better suite itself for battle, the who knows what else it could be capable of! Not only that, but even when this thing was in it lighter and more agile form, it still seemed to hold incredible physical strength! Was their anything they could do against it?

"C-Curt, Embertail, come on, do something", Evan said, his voice uncharacteristically strained," I saw you guy's fight at the Pokemon League Tournament, you made it to the top eight, you're the better trainer here, you got to have something up your sleeve!" Somehow, Evans voice got to them, he was right, after all they'd been through, they couldn't just lay down and give up, not after all they'd been through. If this Pokemon wanted to play the speed game, the they were going to play it, Embertail might be too tired to fully utilize his speed, but Curt had another quick Pokemon that could take this monster on. He reached into his belt, threw out the ball, to reveal Raviel, his teams Jolteon.

"Raviel, are you ready?", Curt asked the lightning Fox. Raviel was clearly intimidated by the space creature, but he was also a brave Pokemon and would be damned if anyone though him a cowered!

"Rah Rehan!", the Jolteon barked. Curt was about to gather by the creatures attacks that it had psychic abilities similar to Psychic Pokemon like Hypno or Kadabra. So maybe, just maybe, a ghost type attack would be effective one it? Truth be told, he had no idea if that thing was even a Pokemon, but this was the only idea Curt could come up with.

"RAVIEL QUICKLY, HIT THAT THING WITH SHADOW BALL!", Curt yelled. To Raviels great credit, he launched one of the fastest Shadow Balls Curt had ever seen him launch. He was really impressed at the Lightning Pokemon, so naturally they both were utterly stunned when they saw the creature easily avoid the lightning fast attack. Even the speedy Embertail let out a low whistle, impressed by the aliens stunning speed. Thankfully, if nothing else, it seemed like they spared Stargazer from taking another hit, the creature's agility still left them momentarily speechless.

"W-whu, b-bu-, h-how", Curt stuttered in disbelief, "I-I-I, EMBERTAIL, EVAN, JACOB I need you guy's to put the pressure on that thing so Raviel can try and get a hit", Curt yelled to the two other trainers, we have to attack it from all angles to keep it distracted and prevent a counter attack, PLEASE, WE NEED YOUR HELP!

"R-RIGHT, WE WILL SHOW THAT FLIMSY LITTLE SPACE STICK THE RESULTS OF OUR TRAINING, TORCHIE, STRIKE AT IT WITH BLAZE KICK", Evan roared at his partner. This was one of the reasons why Torchie, deep down inside, loved having Evan as his trainer, his bravado could inspire even the most weak willed person to act in times of desperation. Immediately, Embertail threw himself at the creature with a speedy Dragon Claw, with Torchie following quickly behind him with a powerful Blaze Kick. The creature, of course, easily avoided both of the attacks and began to ready a counter attack of his own, a sphere of psychic energy, to launch at the two Fire-Types. Curt and Evan could only hope Jacob could provide something to force the monster to stay on the defensive.

 

[Trucro]

"Heh," Jacob mumbled under his breath as Curt and Evan rallied their pokemon to fight against the wild thing. Good, Jacob thought. With everyone together, they might have a chance to beat that thing. Stargazer was slowly emerging from the rubble when Jacob reached for another pokeball. "Let's go, Dexter!" He shouted as the electric type appeared beside Raviel. "Dexter, use thunderbolt! Stargazer, Night Shade!"

Each of the pokemon released their attacks; Stargazer, as he stood up to his full height and Dexter as he opened the frills around his neck. Both attacks rushed towards the pokemon, who was able to dodge them, but forced a retreat.

"Well done!" Jacob congratulated his pokemon. But it was too early. The beast began to split apart, as more and more of them began to appear in what appeared to be a double team attack, if the double team provided actual clones instead of just illusions. These clones looked more dull than the original, but seemed to be very fast as well. A group of the clones rushed towards Jacob and his pokemon. "Guys, attack again!" He shouted. Dexter immediately unleashed a thunderbolt attack that hit one of the clones, turning it to dust. Stargazer's fist glowed purple as it prepared a shadow punch, but he never got the attack off.

The original creature had unleashed a beam of black ghost energy at Stargazer, apparently seeing the colossus as a larger threat than the others. The attack caught Stargazer in the back, and it dropped to its knees. The surrounding clones crashed into the Golurk, throwing him back against the wall once more. There were too many clones, Jacob thought. They were in big trouble.

 

[Curtkid]

"Damn it, Lockjaw, Whips, help Stargazer!", Curt cried to his companions as they ran over to assist the ghostly construct. Lockjaw still held come fear towards the space creature, and would likely flinch up if Curt sent him directly at the thing where as Whips was still very wounded, if he was at full strength Curt would send him against the creature with out a second though. But, considering his wounds, it was best to send him and Lockjaw against to clones rather then a direct assault. To their credit, they seemed to be doing fairly well against to clones, dispatching them with relative ease, which the monster picked up on very quickly.

It let out an other worldly roar as it began producing more of its dull grey clones, it seemed like it could just as easily reproduce it's clones as quickly as his team could destroy them. The thing remained motionless as it began producing more and more of it's doppelgangers to back itself up. The moment Lockjaw and Whips seemed to have relieved Stargazer, they found themselves being surrounded once again by the creatures colorless counterparts! The more they defeated the more the creature made, it seemed like an endless cycle that-

"Wait, that thing can't move when its producing clones! Flare, trying using your psychic abilities to hold it in place so Raviel can get a hit it!", Curt cried to his two companions. Though Flare was nervous trying to match her psychic abilities against such a mighty being, she made the attempt anyway's. Thankfully, she seemed to have some level of success as the creature at least seemed to be slowed by the Ninetales powers, and Raviel, seeing the opportunity, immediately launched the fastest, strongest Shadow Ball he could put together.

With a "Phwwoopp", the Lightning Pokemon launched the Ghostly ball directly act the sci-fye move reject and, to their immense relief, this attack managed to connect as a shadow burst of energy blocked the monster from sight! Embertail let out a audible cheer as Curt and Flare let out a sigh of relief, Raviel himself had a cocky sneer on his face at the success of the attack!

And then the monster changed it forms. As soon as the creature was visible again, one could easily see that it's frame became wider, bulkier, almost like a humanoid-shape wall. The entire group was left stunned as it became apparent that their attack did minimal damage against the creatures new form. Then, just as quickly before, it changed again, this time taking a shape that looked like a cross between it's first form and it's faster form, it's arms became untangled and it's head grew three "horns", while it's body became majorly black. If they could say they did anything to that creature though, they could claim to have pissed it off even more, as, from the stone in its chest, it created a Shadow Ball of its own, even faster the Raviel did, and launched it at the Lightning Pokemon.

Raviel let out a cry as it was sent flying across the room, and ramming painfully into one of the cavern walls. Curt didn't even have time to tell Raviel to avoid the attack, he was left momentary stunned at the creatures power before he ran over to check on his Electric Pokemon. It was one attack, and because of it Raviel already looked worse of then Whips, the Lightning Pokemon was stubborn, and tried to get up, but quickly fell to the ground.

"Raviel a-are you?", Curt stammered, but Raviel cut Curt off with a growl, or at least, he attempted to, his wounds prevent him from saying much, though he made it clear that their was more important things for Curt to be doing then pitying him, "N-No, don't try to get up...One attack...how could one attack do so much damage to you?". Curt was finding this creature was constantly leaving him at a loss for words, Jolteons had fairly solid Special Defense, maybe not the best, but still, for one attack wound Raviel so.... There was no question now: This was the strongest opponent they ever faced.

Of course, the extra-terrestrial beast would give them no rest as it immediately launched the biggest Swift attack Curt had ever seen. Countless stars filled the room, striking enemies and its clones without discrimination. The rest of Curts team could counter the attack themselves, but their was no way Raviel could stand up against the Swift in his current condition. Curt had one Pokemon left, and he couldn't hold her back any longer, it was clear the full team was going to be necessary to fight this thing.

"JASPER, PLEASE, WE NEED YOU HELP", Curt yelled as he called out the Cubone, who appeared in a bright flash of light, "counter the swift with Flamethrower!" Jasper let out a cry as she spewed out hot fire at the stars, protecting them from damage, Jasper may be small, but she was bold and rarely afraid of anything. However, even she backed up a bit when she caught a full view of that monster, it was something a Pokemon couldn't get the full weight of from seeing it inside a Pokeball.

Once again they were put on the defensive, even a successful offensive attack didn't seem to work. They need to come up with a plan fast, but before they could do that, they needed to dispatch the clones. Though the didn't seem that durable, the creature was able to make them at an incredible pace, their best bet would be trying to find a way to wipe them out all at once. Several of Curt's team members knew moves that could strike more then one opponent at once, but not this many at once, the only exception being Whips' Earthquake attack. But Curt wasn't willing to bring the whole cavern down on them just to defeat this creature, they weren't that screwed yet...

"Jacob, we need to rid of these clones, if you have any Pokemon that can know moves that can hit multiple targets at once, I think you should bring them out NOW!", Curt cried to his friend. They needed to find a way to go one the offensive again as quickly as possible if they had any hope of defeating this creature!

 

[Trucro]

(I hope you don't mind me taking over Lockjaw and Whips for the moment )

Lockjaw and Whips's help was much appreciated, and Stargazer managed to rise to its feet. Before the Golurk had fully prepared itself, however, a horde of more clones surrounded the group. Dexter backed up, and the group formed a protective circle. While Curt was trying to nail the real creature down, Jacob gave orders to finish the clones.

"Lockjaw, Dexter; focus on long range attacks! Whips, Stargazer; make sure they aren't swarmed!" The clones rushed inwards, but were stopped in their tracks by the giant dragon and golem, who pushed them away as they attempted to attack the others. Lockjaw and Dexter released attack after attack, breaking them two by two into dust. As the clones numbers in the immediate area dwindled, Jacob gave Whips and Stargazer leave to break formation. The group was now wildly attacking the clones as they attempted to regroup. As they, let up, Jacob could hear Curt yelling to him.

"Jacob, we need to rid of these clones, if you have any Pokemon that can know moves that can hit multiple targets at once, I think you should bring them out NOW!" Jacob thought for a moment. He didn't have any pokemon that could readily attack more than one, but he did have something. He quickly grabbed the pokeball farthest to the back on his belt, and released it. In a flash, his Hypno, Grey, reappeared. The pokemon's expression hadn't changed, and it didn't change as he assesed the situation.

"Grey! I need your help; that thing over there; we don't know what it is, but it definitely uses psychic and ghost attacks! That's the real one; the others are just clones." A clone rushed towards Grey, but was dispatched by a bolt of lightning from Dexter. "We need to get rid of these clones!" As soon as he said the words, Grey's eyes turned blue. A nearby clone glowed blue before popping into dust. Then another, and another. Then small clusters began to disappear. Grey was moving through them so quickly that Jacob couldn't follow which would be the next to dissipate. Several tried to rush the psychic pokemon, but they were turned to dust almost immediately. Jacob smiled and turned to Curt.

"Hey, it looks like we may have this under contro-" he began to say, but was cut off when a night shade attack crossed right in front of him, forcing him to fall to the ground. Dust was kicked up, and Jacob ducked his head beneath his arms, trying to protect himself from debris. He opened his eyes to see Stargazer leaning over top of him, protecting him from any falling rocks. He looked over at where Grey was to see the Hypno laid out on the ground, unconscious.

"Well, I'm out of ideas!" Jacob shouted back to his team mate. He wasn't even sure if Curt was okay, or Dexter for that matter. Stargazer slowly stood, and Jacob could tell the pokemon was in pain. It had small chips and scratches in its exterior, and it was moving slower than usual as well. Stargazer wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.

 

[Curtkid]

Whips and Lockjaw were quick to respond to Jacob's order's, they both knew the man fairly well, had been with him on quite a few adventures and knew he was a good trainer, they could trust his guidance. Still, as they worked their way through the clones, they seemed unable to gain any ground against them. Jacob's utilization of Grey, however, ended up giving them the relief they needed as Grey's admittedly impressive psychic power demolished the clones, for a moment, everything was looking up and Curt was wondering if they should just let the Hypno take care of the monster personally. Then the creature launched a dark blast at him, knocking Grey out in one hit in a similar manner to Raviel.

"B-But how?", Curt stuttered out.

"(I believe he used to much energy destroying the clones and left his self exhausted and open to attack, though his psychic powers are impressive, Grey can't even hope to match this creature, still he bought us an opening"), Flare said. True, they had another solid chance to launch a counter attack against the creature, but Curt literally had no idea how to plan an attack against the creature. Every member of his team was exhausted except Jasper, though Jasper was certainty persistent, alone, she couldn't hope to take down that creature. Jacob's team didn't look much better, half his team was wounded, and Nero still looked frozen, they had no hopes to launch a solid offensive.

"EEEERRROUUUGH", Whips roared from across the room.

"W-what, Whips, Curt said, looking into the Dragonites eye's, a look of determination on his face," W-Whips, are you sure, you already extremely exhausted and could get seriously hu-...". Curt found himself faltering on finishing his sentence, the look on the Dragons face told him all he needed to know. Outrage, Whip's most powerful attack, it was the only chance they had to defeat the creature, but considering the monster's speed...

"Fine, but we need to make an opening, Embertail, Lockjaw, Jasper, Flare, can you keep the thing distracted so Whips can get a hit in?", Curt asked his team (Raveil was way to damaged to fight). They all responded with an affirmative nod as Embertail and Lockjaw charged at the creature with Dragon Claw and Crunch respectively while Jasper and Flare covered them with Ice Beam and Dark Pulse. However, it wasn't enough as the monster quickly switched back to it's most agile form to weave in and out of the attacks, as well as pepper his team with several rapid psychic attacks of it's own. It was clear that they would need help to slow this other worldly monster if they were going to give Whips his opening.

"WE SHALL HELP TOO, CURLES, SOME ON OUT AND HELP US VANQUISH THIS STRING BEAN PSYCHIC-TYPE", Evan roared as he slammed down a Pokeball. revealing a Skorupi, "NOW BARRAGE THEM WITH PIN MISSILE, TORCHIE, LAUNCH ANOTHER BLAZE KICK!". The Scorpion Pokemon and Fight Chicken Pokemon immediately responded to Evans command an joined Curts team in the fray However, it quickly became apparent the even that wasn't enough as the monster continued to weave in and out of the attacks and throw the Pokemon around like rag dolls. Though their Pokemon were determined, it was clear they weren't going to last long under this barrage, they needed more support!

"Jacob, I'm sorry, but I need you and your teams help again, I need you to help us slow this creature down so Whips can get his hit in!", Curt cried to his friend across the room, "if you have anyone else that could slow...ATLAS, maybe Atlas could help!". Curt cried to the man, remembering the very first of his Pokemon that he saw, the one that helped them fight those Steelix several months ago!

 

[Trucro]

"Alright!" Jacob shot back to Curt. He quickly grabbed Atlas's pokeball from his belt and dropped it in front of him. A flash of white revealed the blue, lumbering pokemon. While Atlas was by no means a weak pokemon, he wasn't the one Jacob preferred to use in difficult battles. Still, the pokemon was reliable, and they had known each other for nearly ten years. He would not trade Atlas for the world.

"Atlas, we need to slow that thing down. Use vine whip!" The Tangrowth's arms extended, reaching out towards the alien creature. But it was too fast, easily dodging Atlas's arms before sending a shadow ball attack back at Atlas and Jacob. Stargazer stepped in front of them, blocking the attack but being thrown back against the wall once more. The pokemon had a strong defense, but it was more than the Golurk could take. Stargazer collapsed on the ground, the glowing light slowly fading in his eyes. Jacob turned back, angrily to the battle.

"Dexter, use thunder! Atlas use ancient power!" Dexter's frills opened once more as he released a powerful electric attack at the beast. Atlas placed his hands about a foot and a half apart as a ball of stone energy formed between them. He released it at the creature as well. The enemy again was able to dodge, and released another night shade attack. The attack crossed right in front of Jacob, blasting both Dexter and Atlas. As the smoke cleared, both pokemon lay on the ground, unconscious.

"Atlas! Dexter!" Jacob shouted running up to his pokemon. Dexter was clearly the worst for wear; exhausted, the pokemon had taken a hit far stronger than he was prepared for. Jacob turned to Curt. "Let's get out of here! We can't win this!"

 

[Curtkid]

Curt watched as his and Jacobs team threw themselves at the monster, no matter what they did, it just seemed to weave through their assaults, not only that, it had the reaction speed to throw counter attacks, as Stargazer finally fell to the creatures wraith. Flare once again attempted to hold the creature in place through use of her psychic power's, but the alien was clearly more clever then it let on! It seemed to have been waiting for Flare to use that attack again, as it immediately repelled Flare's psychic influence with it's own, the monster then proceeded to call forth some great energy from its chest and launched a the biggest sphere of psychic energy Curt had ever seen and launched it at Flare like a rocket! The attack didn't even knock her back, it just seemed to form a dome like field of energy around her before completely dissipating. after which Flare immediately collapsed on the ground.

"FLARE NO!", Curt yelled as ran to check on the Ninetales. Her fur looked scorched off in several places and multiple cuts and bruises littered her body. They were lucky Ninetales had such powerful resistance to special energy, if that had been any other Pokemon...Curt didn't even want to think about that. Flare looked utterly stunned and not just because of the massive damage she sustained, she had apparently never seen an attack like that either in her long life. However, it appeared the attack was not without its draw back, the space creature was hunched over, it almost looked like it was panting, apparently the attacked drained it user's energy considerable in exchange for it's incredible power. And Jacob's team was not going to give it a moment to rest, Atlas and Dexter immediately threw everything they had at the creature, barraging it with Ancient Power and Thunder respectively. If their was any opportunity left to claim victory, this was it.

"WHIPS, NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!", Curt yelled to the dragon. Immediately, Whips closed his eye's for but a brief moment, looking completely calm, but when he opened them again, they were filled with rage! Putting all his weight forward, he threw himself at the monster at incredible speeds, his body coated in a deep red energy. The creature had just finished launching a Night Shade at Atlas and Dexter, rendering them both unconscious, however, his counter attack drew his attention away from its surrounding, and by the time it turned to see who was rushing towards it, Whips was already on the alien!

Whips had the thing right where he wanted it, the Dragonite pulled his fist back, and then threw one of the strongest punches he had every thrown in his life. The extraterrestrial didn't even have time to change forms, Whips socked the monster right in it's "gut", knocking the creature with so much power, it almost seemed to have teleported into the cavern wall, demolishing it in the process and kicking up a large mass of dust around the area. The group held their breath for a moment while the dust cleared to see it's inevitable fate, everyone was breathing heavily, exhausted at the effort exerted taking on that creature. This was their last chance, if this didn't work...just then, the dust cleared!

The power of Whips Outrage had literally split the monster in half! The lower half of it's body rapidly disintegrating into a dust like substance with the top half was struggling to pick itself up. A smile broke out on the groups face, even Whips let out a small pant of relief, they had it, all they had to do was barrage it with a few attacks to finish it off, they could win this!

And then the monster used recover. Faces dropped as the creature regenerated the lower half of its body almost instantaneously, and did it look pissed! The creature let out a bestial roar that would chill any soul down to its core as it immediately shifted into its assault form, coated Whips in a powerful Psychic and sent him fly back into a wall with a loud THUD! Curt's face obtained an expression of utter disbelief as his strongest Pokemon collapsed to the ground, shaking in pain.

"W-Whips a-a-are you, t-that can't...how could...even a Legendary Dragonite can't stand up to this thing!?", Curt exclaimed as he saw Whips make a futile attempt to get up. Embertail let out a concerned cry for his friend, only to be blasted back by the monster as well.

"EMBER-", Curt didn't even get to finish as the alien wrapped Curt in a telekinetic field as well, Curt felt the Psychic attack squeezing him, threatening to crush his bones before he too was sent flying through the air. He tumbled painfully through the hard cavern floor, rocks digging into his skin, marking him with cuts all over his body. Curt laid there for a moment, his body racked with pain and the world spinning, before he heard footsteps running towards him.

The monster, however, was not quite a well off as he appeared, Recovering that much of his body took a bit out of him, and factoring in his many other attacks, the creature was beginning to get tired. Not that it mattered much, the Dragonite was it's last true adversary, anything else here that could possible threaten it, even slightly, was on its last leg, all that was left to do was finish them all off. Then the creatures gaze fell on Jacob, the man was still very much undamaged, and, as far as the monster could reason, still possibly threaten it, and that was all the reason it needed to attack!

Letting out a other-worldly roar, the monster shifted back into its more agile form, and rocketed towards Jacob!

 

[Trucro]

(OOC: I wrote this before realizing that Deoxys moved into his more agile form, presumably for some sort of tackle... I think this works better though! Let me know!)

When the dust cleared, and the creature was in two pieces, Jacob cheered. It was a celebration uncharacteristic of Jacob; of course, this whole battle was new territory. The celebration didn't last long. The beast regenerated before quickly dispatching of the rest of Curt's team including the powerful Whips. Without his pokemon, the creature attacked Curt himself, and the trainer skirted across the cavern floor, covered in scrapes and bruises.

It was only then that Jacob realized he was vulnerable; all of his pokemon were laid out across the cave, and he had nothing to protect himself with. The creature realized this as well, and turned towards Jacob, releasing a ball of psychic energy. Jacob turned and ran, but the resulting blast knocked him to the ground. He quickly pulled himself up; he didn't have time to check himself for injury. He tried to run again, but his ankle was apparently hurt, and he ended up tripping and falling back to the ground. The beast found Jacob, and aiming at him, released another orb of energy. The attack rushed towards Jacob, and he closed his eyes.

Everything slowed down. He could feel his own heartbeat, and he heard nothing. His eyes still closed, he felt as though he was floating, flying through the sky. He was terrified, exhilarated, but was somehow calm as well. Was this the end? It wasn't so bad.

CRASH!!! The sound rushed back into Jacob's perception. It was louder than before, and hurt his ears. He could feel something; it was latched onto him. Soft, and steady, whatever it was carried him gently and quickly. Jacob opened his eyes to see a red and yellow angel hoisting him across the cavern.

"Nero?" Jacob asked. It was less of an actual question, that a statement of surprise. He had almost forgotten about the pokemon, who had quickly found cover before the battle. The Blaziken placed Jacob on the ground beside him. Nero was steady, and stared straight at his trainer. Jacob looked right back. "Alright, then. I guess it's up to us!"

"Whyaahh!" Nero responded, nodding as he turned to face their foe.

"Flamethrower!" Jacob commanded. The Blaziken opened his mouth and released a column of fire at the wild monster. The creature dodged to the side, easily avoiding the attack. How could that be? Didn't this monster even tire? Just a minute ago it had been torn in two, and now it was agile as ever!

 

[Curtkid]

Curt coughed and hacked as Evan and Torchie helped him up, every fiber of his being hurt, but he forced himself to stand up regardless. A few meter's away, Jasper was helping Embertail up in a similar manner, and the Charmander seemed to be holding up as well as Curt was, still, Curt was relieved to see fire-tailed brother still alive and kicking. A short distance away, Lockjaw, despite being a third his size, was attempting to help Whips up as well, who also seemed to be fairing as well as the rest of the group, which was to say, not well at all.

"D-damn it, nothing we do works against this thing...", Curt muttered as he righted himself. He was able to catch the last bit of the confrontation between Nero and the creature, though Nero was able to save Jacob from the attack, his attempts at a counter assault proved futile. Nero's timely rescue didn't do much to lift Curt's spirits, though he was happy to see Jacob safe, he knew it was only going to be for a moment or two at best. This creature was too fast, to strong to be defeated through typical, even extraordinary means! They need...something! Something Incredible! Something Legendary! Something with a power as great and as ancient as the creature they were fighting!

"Wait....THAT'S IT, THERE'S STILL A CHANCE TO SMITE THIS THING!", Evan yelled as he pulled a ring shaped item out of his pack, while Torchie removed a small, spherical on from his head-band. Curt's eyes grew wide at the items the two pulled out: The Key Stone and Blazikenite! Of course, how could they forget about it, this was perhaps their only hope to beat this thing!

"NOW JACOB AND NERO, SHOW THIS FLIMSY PSYCHIC CREATURE THE POWER THAT FIGHTING POKEMON POSSESS!", Evan said as he chucked the Key Stone in a perfect arc directly towards Jacob, safely making its way towards the trainer. Despite the terror of the situation, Curt couldn't help but feeling a sense of pride for his brother, something like that mustn't have been easy for him to do and showed great personally growth on his part. Curt also had to admire his little brothers quick thinking, most people would assume Evan a total idiot, but he could think fast when the situation called for it!

"Boguh BOCK!", Torchie cried as he lightly threw the Blazikenite in the air and gave it a firm kick, sending it sailing through their air! Curt couldn't take his eye's off the mystical stone as it sailed through the air, their last chance, their only hope, it rested on Jacob and Nero now! The stone, sent rocking toward Nero due to Torchie perfect kick, on a direct path towards Nero and finally!

....Was caught by the monster in a telekinetic grasp! Clearly the monster was far more clever then they gave it credit for, not only did it recognize that the items were a possible threat, it seemed to have figured out who could potentially use them. Needless to say, this turn of events left Evan and Torchie shell-shocked.

"B-BUT THAT WAS THE PERFECT KICK! HOW COULD TH-" , this time it was Evan who was cut short as the Deoxys also enveloped both Evan and Torchie in a Psychic attack and threw them back. Curt cried out to the two as they were thrown back by the attack, Curls wasted no time in running over to his two friends, going as fast as his little scorpion legs could carry him. Curt turned his head back to the alien, his face a mix of fury and terror, the monster, in turn, stared Curt dead in the eye, it even had the audacity to have what almost looked like a smug expression on it's face. It knew it just stopped their last hope dead in it's tracks, it had won, and there was nothing they could do!

Then a ball of raging fire slammed into it's back side.

Curt had no idea how Embertail managed to get the jump on that creature to hit it with Flare Blitz, maybe all the previous attacks wore it out and made its senses less sharp, maybe it just got cocky? Curt didn't know, and right now, he didn't care, all that mattered was that Embertails bold move had caused the alien to drop the stone, it was now or never! Though his body was screaming in pain, he forced himself to sprint to the stone, Embertail had bought him a small window, and he was NOT going to waste it! Moving as fast as he could, he ran far closer to the creature then he was comfortable with, picked up the stone with his left arm. and, grasping it tightly, pulled back.

"NERO, CATCH!", Curt cried to the Blazekin as he threw the stone as hard as he could in the Pokemons direction. No sooner had the stone started sailing in the Fire/Fighting types direction did Curt once again feel that monsters Psychic pressure encasing him again, this time, a significant increase in pressure was felt around his neck. The alien turned his around, and looked Curt in the eye, it was furious, and it was done screwing around, now it was just going to go straight for the kill! Curt though he could hear someone screaming out to him, or maybe it was several people, he wasn't sure? Out of the corner of his eye, just behind the creature, Curt could see Embertail collapsed on the ground, the Flare Blitz had taken the last of his energy. Curt would always be thank-full for how his brother, despite his goofy demeanor. Embertail always pulled through for them when it really counted.

Despite how bleak it looked, Curt continued his struggles, though he quickly found he couldn't fight against the monsters Psychic powers, even tired it was till incredible powerful! Still, he glared at the creature with a defiant expression in his eye's, no matter what happened next, they got one over on the bastard! However, just before the creature could finish Curt off, a bash on it's head broke it's concentration, causing it to release Curt. This time it was Jasper who had saved her trainers life with a boldly placed Bone Club attack, though this time, the alien seemed more annoyed then angry, as he merely levitated Jasper and threw her against the wall, Jasper went kicking all the way. With Jasper dealt with, it's monster turned its focus back to Curt, its gaze sending a wave of terror though Curts spine, as though death itself had come for him.

And then, the monster's attention was stolen yet again, but this time, by a bright flash of light!

 

[Trucro]

"NOW JACOB AND NERO, SHOW THIS FLIMSY PSYCHIC CREATURE THE POWER THAT FIGHTING POKEMON POSSESS!" Jacob was surprised as a shiny rock, the keystone, was chucked at him by Curt's younger brother. He caught it with both hands, and was careful not to drop it. What an idea! Jacob hadn't even thought of it. But a mega-evolved pokemon might just be a way to beat this thing.

But there was some trouble with the Blazikenite. The beast appeared to recognize the danger, stopping the stone mid-air. Nero spun around, and was about to take action when Embertail dived at the beast, freeing the gem. With a little help from Curt, the Blazekinite found its way to Nero.

"What do we d-" Jacob began, but before he could finish, his keystone began glowing widely. The light was extremely bright, forcing Jacob to squint. Nero's stone glowed as well, but even more brightly. The light seemed to envelop the Blaziken, as he disappeared from view. Nero's figure grew, expanding with the light. Then, all at ounce, the light vanished. A yellow, green, pink and blue symbol appeared before Nero's new figure, before slowly disappearing.

The new Nero looked different. A single red horn had grown out of his forehead. His hair-like feathers had separated further, forming two separate structures extending from either side of his hair. The fire surrounding his hands grew longer, forming several streams of fire that fluttered about. Jacob was stunned, entranced by Nero's new form. He could feel power radiating from Nero, but also from himself. He no longer felt afraid of the monster, but was excited, exhilarated. From the look on Nero's face, he could tell the Blaziken felt the same way.

"BLAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZE," Nero roared at the creature, throwing his arms at his sides. Jacob smiled. This battle would be interesting.

"Nero, Flare Blitz!" The Blaziken smiled before bursting into blue flames. The fire spread across nearly a meter around him in all directions; it was significantly larger than his normal attack. Jacob had to step back because of the heat. All at once, Nero rocketed forward, rushing towards the beast at a fantastic speed.

 

[Curtkid]

Curt watched, to his extreme relief, as Nero transformed into a legendary Mega Pokemon, and it was just as magnificent as the time he saw Fang turn into a Mega Garchomp! Both Nero and Jacob stood tall and proud, both were powerful Pokemon and trainers, and Curt, in fact, his entire party (those who were still conscious at least) truly believed that these two were the last, best hope for smiting this other worldly creature, And the alien knew this as well. It felt the power being emitted by Nero, and it knew that this Blaziken was an massive threat, one even bigger then that dragon he fought earlier. If there was any doubt in the space creature mind, it vanished in an instant when it saw the fighting chicken rush towards it at blinding speeds, completely engulfed in flames!

Though the alien creature was able to shift into its defensive form at the very last second, Neros burning inferno was able to still knock the creature into a nearby wall, causing much more damage to it then anyone anticipated. The creature grunted and groaned as it picked itself up, this defiantly wasn't going to be an opponent he could just one-shot away! With a roar, the alien creature shifted back into its assault form and yet again, and charged up another psychic sphere, similar to the one it used on Flare, and launched it in a desperate attempt to finish of the Fire/Fighting type in one hit! The monster knew exactly how big a threat Mega Nero was, and wanted him out of the way as soon as possible!

"E-Embertail wake up", Curt said as he and Jasper attempted to rouse the Charmander to consciousness. After a few moments, they succeed as Embertail was able to raise his head just in time to get a glimpse at Nero's clash with the space creature. After processing what had happened, he knew, just like everyone else, that this was their last chance to vanquish the space monster, though, their last chance, also looked like their best one. the battle was all in Nero and Jacob's hands now! Even Whips stood, wide eye'd and impressed by the power Nero and Jacob now possessed. Only time would tell if they would be able to defeat this monster and bring them all to safety!

 

[Trucro]

Jacob was ecstatic! Nero's speed had increased substantially, and Jacob had never seen anything like the power his Blaziken had close up. Nero appeared to be enjoying it as well; Jacob imagined it was like a blind person seeing for the first time. The pokemon smirked as the creature returned fire, releasing a sphere of energy. This was expected, of course, and Jacob had everything planned out already.

"Flamethrower!" he shouted. The Blaziken opened his mouth and released a storm of fire that rushed towards the monster's attack. It clashed with the orb, causing an explosion that dispelled both attacks and almost knocked Jacob over from meters away. He had to cover his face to protect himself from the flying debris. What a great battle, Jacob thought to himself. With this creature weakened, and Nero stronger than ever, it appeared to be a fair fight. Maybe Nero even had an edge.

"Now, use slash!" Nero leaped off the ground immediately, crashing into a nearby wall and sinking into the stone. With great force, the Blaziken pushed off the wall, leaving an indent in the rock and leaping into the air towards the beast. As he did, his nails glowed white, each growing large as swords. He swung forward with these sabers, aiming to cut the creature to pieces.

 

[Curtkid]

The creature saw the Mega Blaziken rocketing towards him and immediately shifted to its more agile form in an attempt to dodge the attack. To its great surprise however, Nero's slash was still able to graze the monster, leaving a decent side wound on its side and causing it to stagger a bit in the air. Despite Recover quickly healing the wound, their was no mistake the stunned look the creature had, it knew the Blaziken wasn't moving that fast before, it should have been able to dodge that attack even after being drained by the Psycho Boost! If it was possible, it's eyes widened even more as it came to a stunning conclusion: The Mega Blaziken was getting faster the longer the battle went on!

"THAT'S IT JACOB, A MEGA BLAZIKEN'S ABILITY IS SPEED BOOST, JUST KEEP HIM STANDING AND HE'LL END UP RUNNING CIRCLES AROUND THAT FREAK!", Curt yelled to his friend, with Embertail complimenting his words with a growl of his own! As they saw the battle unfold, their minds seemed to race with one unified though: They could win this, they had a chance! All around, their friends were cheering the two on, spurring for their victory, they had given so much for them to reach this moment, they knew those two wouldn't let them down!

Still, the creature was far from done, though a constant use of recover would wear just about any Pokemon down, this monster was made of much stronger stuff. From its body it protruded two more clones, both maintaining its speed form, as they charged Nero in an attempt to surround him. Both the clones then attempted to launch a psychic attack in an attempt to hold the Mega Pokemon in place while the main monster charged up another Psycho Boost to launch at Nero. Things looked bad for Nero, the only small window he had was that, due to the alien's use of Psycho Boost and Recover in constant succesion, this Psycho Boost attack was taking a bit longer to charge up. Jacob and Nero would have to think fast if they wanted to avoid being struck down by the other worldly creatures next assault!

 

[Trucro]

"Great, not these clones again," Jacob mumbled to himself under his breath. They quickly surrounding Nero, holding him in place with a psychic attack. It was a brilliant move by the creature; it no doubt had some sort of advanced intelligence, beyond that of a normal pokemon or human, if it even was one of those. Jacob had to think quickly. Psychic attacks were one of Jacob's least favorite to go up against; they were almost unblockable, unavoidable, and they were extremely powerful. With Nero in this state, though, Jacob was sure he'd be able to break free.

"Nero, focus energy!" The Mega-Blaziken, being held still, closed his eyes, and began concentrating his energy as the creature began building up its own attack. Nero glowed red, as the energy became visible, surrounding him in an aura. "Now, Flare Blitz!" Nero opened his eyes and immediately was surrounded in blue flames again. This time, the fire extended even further, engulfing the two clones and burning them to dust. With them gone, there was only one left.

Nero shot forwards once more, rushing the beast. Jacob just hoped that he made it before the enemy was able to release its next attack.

 

[Curtkid]

The alien was stunned, somehow the Blaziken was able to break through the Psychic hold through sheer physical strength alone!

...No, it was more then that, ever since the battle began, the creature felt a strange kind of power welling up, not just in the Blaziken, but its human partner as well. It now knew its suspicions were correct, the Mega Pokemon was getting faster, stronger with each passing second the battle dragged on! If it allowed the battle to continue on much long, at the rate the Meg Blaziken was increasing in speed, it would soon be completely be overwhelmed, unable to even be able to scratch the creature at the speeds it moved! Even if it had a limit to how much it could amplify its speed, any more would render the alien practically helpless against the Mega Pokemons power.

With a roar, the monster quickly shifted back into its speed form and was able to use psychic to actually repel Nero backwards as he was no longer quick enough to dodge the attack straight out, though that may not have been the smartest move on the aliens part. Nero safely caught himself, landing on his feat and standing ready to resume his assault while the monster seemed to almost be paining by exerting himself to stop the high-speed creature. The alien realized now that it was not Nero's power alone it was facing, but the power of Jacob as well, the stone and bracelet synergized their energy together, amplifying it through the bond the two shared. The creature knew, that if it wanted to defeat these two, it would have to end this battle right at this point.

"GGGYYYYRAAHOOUUGGGGGHH", the creature roared as it arced its back as it put its tentacle-like appendages just above the orb in it's chest as it began to charge another of its massively powerful psychic attacks. Only, unlike the other attacks, this one grew bigger, and fast too! Before they could even do anything to stop it, the creature had forged an energy sphere the size of a three-story building and as long as a damn truck, the mere presence of its power shock the very foundation of the falls itself, even people all the way over in Fallarbor Town could fell what they would only be able to describe as "some sort of impending sense of doom" that the massive Psycho Boost emitted. The falls felt like they were experiencing an Earthquake, the floor shock and cracked as the very cave itself seemed to be unable to stand the presence of the attacks power.

"(T-they have to stop that attack, t-tell them to stop it!)", Flare said through her telepathy, the power of the attack motivating her to fight through her wounds to give a message, "(I-if they don't- t-the power behind that attack, c-could annihilate half of Meteor Falls!) As beat up and tiered as Flare was, there was no mistaking the fear in her voice, never before in her life had see ever felt such a massive amount of energy before, even Sabrina's Alakazam would have been left speechless at the raw psychic power behind the attack.

"JACOB, NERO, YOU GUY'S GOT TO STOP THAT ATTACK, IF YOU DON'T IT COULD END UP DESTROYING HALF THE DAMN FALLS!", Curt screamed to Jacob. Flare didn't need to tell him twice, though he didn't have a psychic connection, even he could feel the power being emitted by the attack, hell, they all could. In spite of this overwhelming presence, no one ran, they would not abandon their friends, not at this most desperate hour, not when they might end up needing them the most.

The creature stood wavering for a moment, it had put all its power into the Psycho Boost, it left itself almost completely drained, but it knew it didn't matter. There would be no way that these two would be able to counter it's final attack, they faced destruction even if they dodged it, the creature knew it could always recover from the recoil the blast would emit, they couldn't. With a roar that almost sounded triumphant, the creature grasped the ball with it's appendages, and threw it directly at Nero!

 

[Trucro]

The sphere was huge; this creature still had that much power left?!? It appeared as though it was trying to take the whole cave down with it. The massive sphere left Jacob stunned for a moment, as he had never faced anything like it before. He and Nero had come so close to beating this thing too, only to lose like this. But what could he do? No normal pokemon could stop something like that. He felt a pit in his stomach that dropped down into his feet. He noticed he was sweating as a bead of sweat made it to his eye, causing him to shut it in pain. He was done: tired, scared, defeated.

Just then, he looked at Nero. The pokemon, still ablaze in blue flames, had looked over his shoulder at Jacob, glaring at him. Nero still thought they could win. Jacob regained control of himself. If Nero thought they could win, they still had a chance. Jacob remembered the Slateport Tournament, where he had stopped Nero before the battle was over. Not this time. Nero was a Blaziken, his best friend, and now a Mega-Evolved pokemon. If anyone was ever going to be able to beat a creature like this, it was them.

"JACOB, NERO, YOU GUY'S GOT TO STOP THAT ATTACK, IF YOU DON'T IT COULD END UP DESTROYING HALF THE DAMN FALLS!"

Curt was extremely worried, but Jacob wasn't. Not anymore. It felt like a weight had been lifted, so much so that he was feeling light headed. As Nero turned back to their opponent, Jacob shouted his final commands. Nero had already begun his counter as Jacob was saying the words.

"Nero, Blaze Kick!" Still surrounded with a blue-fire aura, the Blaziken leapt into the air at the sphere. His right foot began to glow in orange flames, standing out from the rest of the blue blur. He swung forward, sticking out his foot as he approached the giant psychic orb. It was huge, and even Nero's expanded aura looked small against the background. With a loud THWAP, the two attacks collided. A shockwave released an ominous wind breezing by Jacob, lifting his hair for a moment.

As it calmed, Jacob could make out the orb and his Blaziken, falling from the sky. The sphere had reversed course, and was heading back towards the creature. Jacob ran towards Nero, who dropped through the air like a brick. His attack must've taken a lot out of him. The pokemon had returned to his normal state, unconscious on the ground in front of him. Jacob through his body over Nero's and covered his head as he braced for the sphere's impact.

 

[Curtkid]

Curt's entire team watched with wide eyes as Nero struggled with the aliens massive psychic attack, they all feared that, despite Nero and Jacobs new found power, it would not be enough to stop an attack of this level! Still, they could not help but look as they saw Nero put his all in attempting to over power the creatures massive psychic sphere, after all they had been through, after all they endured, Nero and Jacob were not going to give up after surviving for this long! Curt clenched his fist as he looked at Embertail, the Charmander and him shared an unusual expression of determination, and they both were thinking the same thing: Jacob and Nero were right! They had lived through too much to let it all end here, at the hands of some otherworldly monstrosity, if there was anything they could do to help, even the slightest effort, they owed it Jacob, Nero, the trainers entire team to give it to them! However, just before Curt could rally his team to assist the two, a loud roar echoed across the caverns, telling the world of a Blazikens triumph...

Despite the loud crashing an stone splitting caused by the power emitted by the two Pokemon, it had seemed the entire area had gone completely quiet. Curt's jaw dropped as he saw Nero, in an epic last ditch push to defeat the creature, managed to send the great Psycho Boost attack rocketing back towards the monster! Curt could scarcely believe it, he knew Mega Pokemon were incredibly powerful, but this was something on a whole different level. A mixture of loud growls and cheering had told Curt that Evan, Embertail, and even Torchie had already begun cheering at the Blazikens success.

At the same moment, the Alien's silt-like eye's grew so big they almost look like circled, utterly dumbfounded that the attack was not only stopped, but repelled right back towards him! Realizing it would be too slow to move out of the way of the attack, the creature switched to its defensive shape (the speed at which it changed forms was noticeably slower) and desperately tried to stop, or at least slow the attack. However, even admits its struggles, it knew how futile the effort was to retake control of the attack, it had put so much power into it, the monster left himself almost completely drained as a result. Though it fought and fought, it quickly found itself engulfed by its own attack and sent flying with it out of the cave, crashing through the stone ceiling and sending even more debris to the falls floor. But as the creature's body was being disintegrated by its own attack, if one could look upon its face, you'd think it almost looked, calm. Perhaps it's exhaustion quelled its rage, or maybe it was actually fine with the fact of losing to a worth opponent, but if you looked carefully, you could see the creatures eye's locked onto a sun it hadn't seen in what seemed like an eternity. With that, the attack exploded high above the falls, sending only a single, purple, egg-like stone falling back to the mountainous area, to be lost in Meteor Falls, once again.

The entire cavern was dead silent as everyone who was still able looked out the massive hole made by the attack Nero deflected, watching as the aftermath of the attack finally dissipated from view, seemingly leaving nothing in its wake. A moment passed, then a minutes, and finally, it seemed as though that last attack did the job, the creature was gone! Curt let out a breath as he fell flat on his butt, though the battle was over, he still felt surprisingly tense, Embertail was bouncing pad down on his heels in celebration, their near death experience at the hands of the creature didn't even phase the Charmander.

"HAHAHA, THAT WAS UTTERLY AMAZING, WAY TO SHOW THAT MISERABLE PSYCHIC TYPE THE TRUE POWER THAT FIGHTERS POSSES", Evan roared as even Torchie complement his trainers words with a few clucks of his own. Nero laid collapsed on the ground back in his regular form, utterly exhausted after his clash with the immensely powerful alien. The rest of Jacobs team wasn't any better off, and seeing them made Curt turn to evaluate his own. They weren't in any better condition, Whips, Raviel, and Flare were utterly exhausted and heavily wounded after there clashes with the creature and barely able to rise to their feet. Lockjaw and Jasper were slightly better off, though that wasn't saying much, they had also been tossed around by the creature but could still move without much strain, still, there was no way they were ready for battle. Embertail still seemed full of energy, but that was just typical Embertail fashion, one look at the guy and the numerous injuries he had told you that he was almost as bad off as Whips, Raviel, and Flare.

"I-I'm just-erk- glad that's over", Curt said, grunting as he picked himself up, " Jacob, Nero, you guy's w-were amazing, but right n-now, I say we get out of here before something else tries to kill us-ack-my back...I swear if I never have to step foot inside another cave ever again, I will die a happy man..."

 

[Trucro]

Jacob breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw the creature disappear behind the awesome power of its own attack. As he turned away from the explosion, he realized that his whole body was sore. His heart was still racing, and it was difficult to breath. He looked down at his hands, which were shaking visibly. His vision was beginning to get blurry as well, and he noticed his head was pounding. He looked down at Nero, who was not faring better. The pokemon was covered in scrapes and bruises, his eyes closed. The pokemon was breathing, but still wasn't doing well. He had put all of the energy he had into the fight, and had nothing left. With the continuing deterioration of his own capabilities, he began to worry he wouldn't be able to make it out of the cave. Trying to calm himself, he looked to Curt.

"Yea... me too," he said, responding to Curt's statement about his hatred for caves. "Just hold on one second." Jacob turned and looked around the cave. With his eyesight still blurry, he was able to make out the shapes of his other pokemon. He fumbled with his belt, grabbing each pokeball in turn. It was more than a little painful to see all his pokemon strung out across the ground, unconscious, but he couldn't make out their faces all that well anyway. He turned back to Nero, holding his Blaziken's pokeball in his hand. He took a deep breath as he recalled the pokemon, who slowly disappeared in a read flash. With all of his pokemon on his belt, he turned back to Curt.

"Alright, let's go." With that, Jacob pulled himself to his feet. He winced at the pain of standing, and began to shuffle forwards. "How are we going to get out of he-" Jacob began asking before the sun caught his eye. The attack had left a gaping hole in the wall, creating the perfect exit for the group. "I guess that way, then." It was a blessing; if they were attacked by another pokemon now, they'd be in serious trouble. Both Jacob and Curt's pokemon had been exhausted by their battle, and there were more than a few powerful pokemon in these caves. Hopefully they'd be able to find their way quickly to some pokemon center.

As Jacob stepped out into the sunlight, he began to feel better. His sight became more crisp, and he regained control of his breathing. He made a celebratory sigh as he enjoyed his recuperation. Maybe it was something about the cave.

 

[Curtkid]

It took them surprisingly less effort then they thought to reach a Center, a collective sigh was had through the entire party once they exited the cave. Sunlight had never seemed so friendly once they stepped out of Meteor Falls, it was already day time again when they surface, which meant they spent well over twenty-four hours in the cave, funny, to Curt it felt like a couple months. Still, they had a long walk a head to the Center, one they had to make while heavy injured, but thankfully, an old, silvery and foxy friend appeared to lend them a hand in their journey.

"Nine, AHA, great to see you buddy!", Curt said, his face lighting up with glee upon seeing the mystical kitsune. Nine originally belonged (though Curt didn't like to use that word to describe the relationship between a trainer and Pokemon) to Cassie, a friend of Curt's who had recently been captured by Team Rocket and that they had been searching for before Evan contacted them, asking for help. The silver fox traveled close to the group, but had often been hesitant to converse with them, though lately, he had become to grow a bit closer to them, enough for them to consider him a friend.

"I felt some...tremendous, psychic pressure near-bye, good lord, you're all so terribly wounded, who-what the hell have you all been fighting?", Nine said, casting worried glances at the group. Curt told him they would inform him later, but right now they needed to get some medical attention. Thankfully, Nine was able to help them locate some hikers on the mountains trail, who ran to the area after seeing the explosion and helped them make it back to a Pokemon Center. Thankfully, the staff their calling in some doctors from Fallarbor Towns local medical facility to tend to Jacob, Evan, and Curts wounds while the Pokemon Centers staff tended to their Pokemon, Embertail made a remark about it being cool that doctor's still made house calls. Thankfully, after spending about a week recovering, they were fit and ready to go (for the most part), and apparently the monster (who they still were unable to identify) had disappeared for good, as they heard no reports of any bizarre creature attacking people, which told them, to their great relief, that Nero had managed to finish the creature off! Now they stood outside of the Pokemon Center, Embertail and Nine were making sure all their equipment was packed, while Curt, Evan, and Torchie where getting to saying their last good-byes, ready to go their separate way's once again, of course, they would keep in touch, that would go without saying. Curt saw Jacob and Nero attempt to give Evan and Torchie back the Mega Bracelet and Mega Blazikenite respectfully, but what they did utterly stunned everyone watching the exchange take place.

"AHEM, WELL, JACOB AND NERO, AFTER SOME....THINKING, TORCHIE AND I DECIDED THAT, CONSIDERING THE EVENTS THAT HAVE TRANSPIRED, WE HAVE DECIDED TO "SHARE" THE MEGA STONE AND BRACELET WITH YOU, WE WILL EXCHANGE IT BETWEEN EACH OTHER AS WE NEED IT, BUT FOR NOW YOU CAN KEEP IT SEEING AS TORCHIE AND I CAN NOT USE IT TILL HE REACHED THAT GLORIOUS FORM THAT IS A BLAZIKEN!!!", Evan roared as Torchie rolled his eye's," NOW, LET US HEAD TO LAVARIDGE TOWN! FAREWELL JACOB AND NERO, OUR BROTHERS IN SPIRIT, AND FARWELL CURT AND EMBERTAIL OUR BROTHERS IN SPIRIT AND BLOOD,AND FAREWELL TO YOU TO NINE, BEST OF LUCK LOCATING YOUR TRAINER, COME TORCHIE, OUT NEXT BADGE WAITS FOR US"! And with that, Evan darted off into the distance, Torchie following closely after his trainer, but not before letting out a noticeable sigh. They watched the two sprint off towards the distance, with Evan only stumbling once before they disappeared off into the horizon. Curt and Embertail, however, turned to Jacob and Nero with wide smiles on their face.

"See, told you our bro was cool, and don't worry, Torchie just evolved into a Combuskin not too long ago, it will be a couple years at least before he becomes a Blaziken", Curt said with a small smirk, "anyway's, I guess we'll see you around, the gang and I are heading back to Kalos to help Nine follow a possible lead on where to find Cassie, and if that turns out to be a dead end, there's this festival coming up that I think the gang and I would like to partake in, who know's, we might see you there." Curt extended a hand to Jacob and Nero and shook their's receptively. They had a long journey, a lot could have been said but somehow, that simple handshake seemed to say all that needed to be said. Once the good-byes were said, the handshakes made, Curt walked over to Embertail and Nine and told them they were ready to head to Kalos , however, Embertail could be seen making a bit of a fuss about something.


"Well Embertail, if you want to say good-bye to them, then go over and say it", Curt said with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. With a smile on his face, the Charmander ran over to the Blaziken and his trainer as wasted no time in extending his claw to shake with them. With a smile on his face, the Charmander shook their hands, his own claw moving a little bit faster then what one would normally expect from a handshake. Then Embertail opened his mouth and:

"Jacob, Nero, it was great going on this adventure, I had a lot of fun despite the fact that we almost got killed, several times! Well, we'll see you two around, catch ya later!"

He then ran off towards Curt and Nine, disappearing onto the distance, leaving the duo there to process what they just heard and saw. Truly the world of Pokemon was one full of mystery and wonder. Indeed, Jacob, Nero, and the rest of their party would see Curt, Embertail, and the rest of their group again soon, as fate had a funny way of bringing friends together in this world. For better or for worse (maybe both, somehow), they would face many more trials together soon, make many more friends, and meet many more people and Pokemon alike, in that crazy world they called their own!