Three Elemental Islands/Off the coast of the remnants of the Orange Islands

  The night sky was nearly pitch black, coated in a thick layer of oceanic fog. It was the night of the third day since Necrozma’s declaration of war to the world, before the chosen one awoke to the fourth day. Though almost all trainers of the world flocked to Goldenrod City upon lord Arceus’s order, some who didn’t call themselves trainers ended up going to help out as much as they could with rations and such. Those who did not answer Arceus’s call, for lack of ability or lack of care, typically stayed put. Many cities had gone down due to lack of workers, as many of them were either trainers who went off to fight for Earth’s survival, or the ones who felt no hope and wished to spend the rest of their time with their families. The ones who stuck to their jobs were often laid off due to employers following Arceus’s call or joining the hopeless, leaving many without power to their homes and no job to speak of. All of this happened within the span of a mere three days due to the threat of complete annihilation.

  However, amidst these people who failed to accept Arceus’s order, there was a small group of people who rejected the call not due to fear or weakness. No, they rejected Arceus’s call out of spite, for their homes were utterly laid to waste before the declaration of war. These people were a small group of survivors from the Orange Islands, and they were desperate for a new home. They did not care for Necrozma’s war declaration or Arceus’s rallying call, for they did not believe them. All they wished for now was a new home, and they set their eyes upon the only remaining lands of the Orange Islands: The Three Islands of the Elemental Birds.

  A dozen motorboats sped through the fog and over the calm black waves towards the three islands. People crowded around one another on these boats, holding each other in blankets to keep away the ocean cold, save for one singular portly man who stood tall at the helm of the front boat. There wasn’t a single Pokemon among them. After what seemed like hours to this group of people, a large black mass stood out from the fog dead ahead from them.

  One of the people onboard shouted, “I SEE LAND!”

  This created an excited uproar amidst the other survivors, and they began cheering loudly, grabbing whatever supplies they could find, and awaiting their arrival with bated breath. As they made landfall on Fire Island, the survivors of the Orange Islands Tragedy rushed from the boats and onto the land. They cheered, laughed, and hugged one another in their joy. How could they not? At last, they had a home once more. Of course, they would have to build their houses once more to be able to call this place home.

  “All right, everyone,” One of the men called to the other survivors, “Let’s get building!”

  “YEAH!” The others cheered.

  Pumping their fists in excitement, the survivors rushed back to the boats and began pulling toolboxes from them, handing them out to the others. Inside those tool boxes were an array of tools like hammers, saws, and screwdrivers for creating infrastructure. With their tools in hand, the people rushed back up from the trees and up into the island’s forests, chopping and sawing down trees, then carrying the logs back down to the others, where the other survivors used them to build houses. Like worker Durants, they hurriedly hustled about. As the morning sun rose at last to dispel the fog away it shone down upon a veritable neighborhood built in place of a forest, along with the exhausted survivors who marveled happily at their craftwork.

  At least until the shrill cry of Fire Island’s guardian boomed from the island’s top. From the peak of Fire Island’s mountain came an enormous bird coated in brilliant red flames. This was the Fire-Type Legendary Pokemon, Moltres, and it looked none too pleased at the sight of the humans that dared to invade its land. Roaring down at the people, it flocked from its nest and, in one fell swoop, completely destroyed the newly-built homes with a Flamethrower.

  The humans cried out in fear and rushed back to the boats. Moltres surmised that they were attempting to flee and screeched down at them, firing warning Flamethrowers behind them to terrify them into leaving and, hopefully, never returning. But instead of them all boarding the boats, a few of the humans hopped onto each one and began tossing an odd assortment of gadgets out to the others. Not liking where this was going, Moltres soared down and landed upon the sandy shore with a resounding thud and screeched at the humans once more.

  Most of them crouched down and covered their ears. Some of them screamed in horror, even though it was drowned out by Moltres. However, a few of them seemed to be unaffected by Moltres’s shrill screeching, and the fire Legend noticed that they had something covering the inside of their ears. They pointed the odd metal gadgets at Moltres and fired, forcing the Bird of Flame to swiftly cease its screeching in favor of taking to the skies to evade a flurry of nets.

  Moltres narrowed its eyes down at the humans and hissed with fury. If these humans had come prepared with weapons, then they had come with the intention of fighting it. That was something Moltres could not overlook. It roared down at the group of invading humans and fired off a Flamethrower attack. The group of people screamed in terror and embraced one another, shutting their eyes and preparing for the worst. Though a few of them, who were all dressed in a deep black suit of some sort and dark sunglasses, reached into their pockets and pulled something out.

  The Flamethrower exploded violently upon crashing into the group of invading humans, and Moltres couldn’t help but smirk. As far as it was concerned, it served them right for daring to invade its’ territory. As the smoke cloud from the Flamethrower began to dispel, Moltres’s smirk disappeared. The humans were surrounded in a green barrier, completely unharmed, and the black-suited ones held some kind of small metal disc in their hands. Not only did the humans survive unharmed, but their boats did as well.

  The black-suited humans turned back toward the immediate person behind them and handed them the metal discs, then turned back up towards Moltres with scowls upon their faces as if they were beholding the sight of something truly revolting. Stepping out from the barriers, they cracked their knuckles in a disturbingly accurate synchronization.

  Moltres returned the scowl and crashed down before them, roaring furiously at them. The Bird of Flame counted twelve of these black-suited men. Dispatching of them would be no problem for a Legend like Moltres. As for the other humans cowering behind these men, those barriers surrounded both them and their boats. It would shatter their little bubble and make them regret coming to its’ island later, but for now, these black-suited men seemed to be the bigger threats, and they had no protection to speak of.

  Another Flamethrower blasted out from Moltres’s mouth at the men, who held up their right arms to shield themselves. Their wrists sparked blue, and translucent shields materialized in front of them to take the blow. Not only did the Flamethrower once again fail to hit its targets, but the ensuing explosion created a smokescreen in the men’s favor.

  Abandoning the shields, they pointed their opposite wrists up through the smoke. Their sunglasses displayed an arrow, pointing the men towards Moltres and beeping once their gaze was locked on. Small pipe-shaped objects protruded out from the roofs of the wrists of their suits and fired out some kind of metal needle.

  From above the smoke cloud, Moltres let out a sudden surprised yelp as the suited men’s needles suddenly shot up at it, but it was able to quickly swerve out of the way and let the projectiles sail past. It glared down at the smoke cloud, but unbeknownst to the Bird of Flame, the needles quickly stopped rising and fell back down towards its’ back.

  The needles burst open suddenly, with each of them releasing a metal-coated net. Moltres scarcely had the time to look back up at the sound of the bursting needles before the dozen nets had completely bound and encased it. It screeched out in a garbled mix of fury and shock, but couldn’t seem to break free. Since the Elemental Bird of Flame’s wings were tightly bound, it was helpless to prevent itself from falling and crashing into the ground below.

  Any possible chance of Moltres deciding to spare the lives of these humans was now gone. They dared to disrespect its authority by invading its territory, fought back when Moltres tried to chase them away, and now they had the gall to trap it. It was an insult of the highest degree, and the Legendary Bird of Flame would have none of it.

  Letting out an enraged bellow, Moltres blasted out a colossal column of flame to completely eradicate the metal bindings, but to its surprise, the nets didn’t budge. They weren’t even scratched. Suddenly, the nets began glowing, and a violent surge of electricity wreaked havoc upon Moltres’s body, making it scream out in agony.

  “Disgusting creature,” One of the black-suited men spat, “Did you really think we wouldn’t come prepared?” He walked over towards the screaming bird’s face and kicked sand into its eye to add insult to injury. “We didn’t simply come here to find a new home. We came to get rid of you.”

  …

  Far beneath the waves and in the darkest depths of the sea slept the familiar white-feathered Beast of the Seas. It was none other than Lugia himself. After the last Hall of Origins meeting, he couldn’t shake off that unyielding rage he felt. Towards Necrozma. Towards Arceus. Towards everything. Lugia knew it was wrong, and that he of all Legends should not be succumbing to such rage, yet he couldn’t seem to shake it off for the life of him. So, after having made sure that the Three Elemental Birds were taken care of, he dove down to the deepest depths of the ocean, far beneath the elemental islands, and slept in order to try and shake off his anger before he faced Necrozma once more.

  That sleep had now been disturbed. Lugia’s eyes shot open suddenly as he felt a disturbance. One of the Three Elemental Birds’ life forces wavered slightly, indicating that one of them had been harmed. Seeing as none of the other Legends would dare start picking fights during a time like this, it could only mean that they were fighting each other. None other had the power to fight the Legends after all.

  Lugia’s eyes narrowed in frustration, and his rage quickly returned. “You must be kidding me,” He seethed, “Now of all times?! What are they thinking?!” The enraged Beast of the Seas let out a furious bellow that sounded almost like a song, though now it was garbled almost beyond recognition, and then rocketed towards the surface.

  …

  Moltres let out a distressed shriek and poured flames out from its body, to which the black-suited men simply held up their arms and materialized their shields to block it. “It’s no use,” One of them said, “The net is completely fire and heatproof, and it responds to heat with an equal amount of electricity dosage.” He casually walked towards it through the intense flames. Just beneath his feet, the beach was quickly taking on a silvery sheen from the sheer heat of Moltres’s flames. “You’re only continuing to harm yourself.” The black-suited man knelt down to Moltres’s eye. “Though I suppose something like that is beyond a mere animal’s comprehension.”

  He stood up and pointed towards the other men in black. “Prepare the artillery,” He told them, looking over at the other islands, “The other two will likely be arriving shortly.” The other men saluted and got to work, planting odd metal circle-shaped objects on the ground that looked to have gated surfaces. Moltres glared at them furiously, but kept up its’ fiery assault on the net. It knew that it was hurting itself by doing so, but it also served as a distress beacon. It was taken by surprise when that man said it knew they would arrive, but to believe they could take on all three of them was nothing more than sheer stupidity.

  One of the black-suited men continued to stare up towards the skies above the other two elemental islands, and surely enough, he spotted two figures soaring up from their pinnacles. “They’re coming,” He said to the others, “Are the traps ready yet?”

  One of the others nodded as the rest continued tinkering with the machines. “Just about. Shouldn’t be longer than a minute to finish up.”

  “I see,” The other replied, turning his gaze towards the crowd of terrified people still huddling in their barriers, “Then I’ll see to them.”

  He approached the rest of the people here and scowled, making them flinch. “What are you doing?” He asked them, “Get up! Zapdos and Articuno will be showing up in mere moments.” When they failed to respond, he let out an exasperated groan of annoyance and walked through the barrier, grabbing hold of the nearest person by their shirt collar and pulling up to his face. “Why did you come here?!” He demanded.

  The person failed to respond, merely whimpering hopelessly and holding their hands to their face for fear of being stricken by the black-suited man, who ended up violently shaking the terrified person by their collar. “Well?! Answer me!”

  “O-our home!” The person sputtered quickly, “W-we came to g-get a new home! R-right…?”

  The black suited man dropped the person back onto the sand and whipped his gaze towards the others, who flinched in response. “Right! You’re all here because Pokemon took away your homes! They destroyed the Orange Islands and blamed it on some non-existent alien! What’s more, their god tricked the entire world into believing that lie!” He stamped his foot firmly into the ground and pumped his fist towards the sky. “Now you all have the chance of gaining a new home! But to do that, you must destroy the ones responsible for taking your own home!” He motioned behind himself, where Articuno and Zapdos were quickly closing the distance between themselves and the humans. By now, the fear of the people was beginning to wane, and they slowly stood up.

  “They’re nearly upon us as we speak, and only getting nearer by the second!” Pointing towards the other black-suited men, he continued, “We alone might not be able to take them down, but you-” He pointed to the group. “-are many and they are few. We are mankind, and we will have our homes! United as one, we can take back our homes and make them pay for the lives they stole!”

  The group of people no longer cowered, standing up on their feet and pumping their fists into the air proudly. “YEAH!”

  “We’ll make them pay!”

  “We won’t let them take away our home again!”

  “I will avenge my son!”

  “Right!” Shouted the black-suited man, “Now gear up! On the boats, there should be a spear gun for each of you!” The group of people turned towards the boat and quickly began climbing onto dig through the boat’s contents, until they found them. “They’re fairly small and only have one shot, so make it count,” He said as one of the people fidgeted with the gun, but quickly stopped as they heard the suited man’s warning. “However, the force at which they fire is powerful enough to cut through just about anything! Now, get ready! They’re almost upon us!”

  With that, the black-suited man turned away from the group of people, who let out a rallying cheer behind him, and made his way back over to the other black-suited men, who had now finished their work. “Didn’t figure you for the type to make speeches,” One of them jabbed, “I thought that was the boss’s job.”

  “Didn’t figure you for the type to say unnecessary things when two Legendary Pokemon are almost on our asses,” He countered with obvious ire.

  The other suited man shrugged. “Just trying to make conversation.”

  “Save it for after we kill these monsters.”

  Articuno and Zapdos crashed down from the sky, bellowing at the group of humans with a challenging screech. Now that its comrades had arrived, Moltres ceased the flames and crumpled underneath the sheer strain of the net. Zapdos, seeing Moltres’s situation, flew over to it and gripped at the metal net with its talons. Immediately, another surge of electricity rushed out from the net and into Zapdos, but had virtually no effect. Without issue, Zapdos was able to pry open the net and set Moltres free.

  Moltres quickly shook the net off of it and, seething with fury, flung it far out into the ocean and whipped its fury-filled glare towards the humans. The trio of Legends let out a loud screech and fired their respective elements of fire, electricity, and ice at the humans before them. The twelve suited men stepped forward and summoned their shields, but the sheer power of the Elemental Birds’ combined might began to make the men’s barriers collapse.

  “FIRE!” Roared one of the suited men, and in response, the group of people behind them squeezed the triggers of their weapons. The resulting sound nearly deafened everyone in the area, and the trio of birds were forced to cease their attacks and duck their heads as an array of small spears pierced the air above their heads like drills, and tore through the islands’ forests behind them. Anything in the spears’ way was torn to mere shreds and scattered along their trails until they crashed into the islands’ mountain.

  The birds gaped up at the scene of destruction in shock. There was no possible way that mere humans alone could have such destructive potential. Not without Pokemon at their sides. Sparing a look over to the group of offending humans, who were staring at the weapons in their hands in awe like giddy children with shiny new toys, and found that not a single one of them had a Pokemon in their company.

  Their attention was snapped over to the twelve black-suited men when two of them fired another round of the net-carrying needles. In response, the trio of legends leapt into the air to avoid the incoming traps, with Zapdos batting away any glancing ones that came close. A dark grin came to the faces of the suited men as they did this, however, and the other ten men reached into the collars of their shirts. They each took out some kind of oval-shaped, bumpy green object, pulled a string off their tops, and hurled them up at the birds.

  “SHIELDS UP!” One of them called out.

  The black-suited men ducked down, raising their right arms skyward and summoning their projected shields once more. This immediately sent warning signals to the Elemental Birds, but with all the nets they were dodging, they couldn’t possibly hope to evade both. Moltres had just barely swerved out of the way of another net, only to be faced with the green projectile, and attempted to swat it away with its wing.

  Its’ searing-hot, flaming wing.

  The green projectile flashed white for a split second and then exploded violently. The explosion of one alone sent the Bird of Flame careening backwards, but that was far from the worst of it. The green projectile’s explosion caused the others to follow suit, resulting in a deafening shockwave and a blast of flame that spread out in all directions. The men in black’s shields were easily able to block the incoming blast, though they had to dig their heels into the sand to stand their ground. The people behind them screamed in terror and ducked down, but the barriers surrounding them were able to make the incoming flames slide right over them, leaving them completely unharmed.

  The Trio of Birds ended up not quite as lucky. Moltres, for the most part, was unharmed. It was only the force of the blasts that had caused it harm, but the harm it did end up causing was minimal. Zapdos was blasted into the ground and scorched by the intense flames. It hissed in pain, but to a Legend, such an explosion was more of an annoyance than a threat. Especially in comparison to what Necrozma had put it through. The Bird of Ice, Articuno, ended up with the worst of it. It was forced down into the sand by the explosion’s force and assaulted without mercy by its’ searing flames, which was all the worse for it due to Articuno’s weakness to fire. But these flames paled in comparison to Moltres’s, whom Articuno had fought many times, and thus it was able to push past the explosion.

  The Trio of Elemental Birds burst from the smoke and dispelled it with the flap of their mighty wings. Zapdos swooped down and, before the black-suited men could respond, grabbed the one that kicked sand in Moltres’s eye earlier by his shield and hoisted him into the sky. The suited men cursed and attempted to reach into their suits to pull something out to aid their comrade, but Moltres and Articuno blasted them with a Blizzard and a Heat Wave, respectively, forcing them to stop and hold their shields instead. Zapdos, meanwhile, flew higher and higher through the clouds until the island below was barely visible and narrowed its eyes down at its intended victim cruelly, grinning savagely at him.

  To Zapdos’s confusion, the suited man in its’ grip simply shot back a cocky grin of his own and deactivated the shield, sending him down into a freefall. Zapdos scowled at the man but didn’t make any move to intercept. There was no way a mere human could survive a fall of this height anyways. The man in black, however, had a plan, and Zapdos’s arrogance only made it easier. He reached his left arm up towards the Bird of Lightning, and a claw attached to a thick, extendable metal wire shot out from the arm of the suited man’s suit. Zapdos’s eyes widened as it realized its mistake, but before it could dodged, the claw wrapped itself around Zapdos’s legs and pulled the man up towards it. The momentum from the pull ended up launching the suited man up past Zapdos, and he retracted the claw, only to shoot it down again, where it embedded itself into the Legend’s back, pulling him down onto it.

  The suited man wrapped his arms around Zapdos’s neck and held him in a grip lock. Zapdos was having none of this. The Legendary Bird of Lightning used Discharge, sending powerful bolts of lightning out in all directions, but somehow, the suited man atop Zapdos’s back remained unfazed. In fact, he laughed at its attempts to get rid of him. “Didn’t you hear what I said earlier?” He asked, “I said that we came prepared. Prepared to get rid of you!”

  Upon closer inspection, or at least what Zapdos could manage while this human was behind its’ head, this suited man had summoned his shield once more, which explained why its’ lightning wasn’t working. He reached into his suit and pulled out a small dagger that shimmered in the light of the sun. The metal blade rang slightly from simply being moved.

  He grinned sadistically at Zapdos and explained, “This blade is sharp enough to pierce through a Rock-Type Pokemon and sturdy enough to come out of one without a scratch.” His sadistic grin widened as he raised the blade above his head, flipping it so that it pointed down. “Now let’s see what it can do to feathers.”

  The suited man attempted a downward stab at the back of Zapdos’s neck, but the Bird of Legend quickly diverted the blow by spinning in midair, throwing the man off its back. The suited man cursed and threw the blade up at Zapdos. It tried to block the incoming dagger honing in on it with its’ wing, but due to the blade’s sharpness, it ended up piercing straight through it as if it were paper and becoming completely embedded in the wing. Zapdos let out a hiss of pain and batted its wing in an attempt to rid itself of the small dagger.

  The suited man smirked cruelly and took out a device with a button on its’ top. When he pressed it, the blade exploded violently. Zapdos heard a bang for a split second, and it seemed, to it, that its senses had shut down. Its’ vision went completely white, the only thing it could hear was a high-pitched ringing, and it couldn’t feel a thing. Unknown to Zapdos, a gaping hole had been blown open in its wing. With the Bird of Lightning completely disoriented, it fell down, letting out a howling screech as it did so. The suited man, meanwhile, pressed a button on the chest of his suit, which made flaps appear on the arms of his suit and allowed him to glide back down to the island below without harm.

  Meanwhile, back on the ground, the other suited men were beginning to lose headway against Moltres and Articuno. Articuno had frozen the beach beneath their feet and continued to keep it frozen while Moltres pummeled their shields with a widespread Heat Wave, yet the ice wouldn’t melt due to Articuno constantly refreezing any areas that began to melt. They couldn’t use any projectile, throwable, or otherwise, because the Heat Wave would simply destroy it, and it might even backfire on them, yet they couldn’t hold their ground either. The slippery ice beneath their feet offered no traction to do so. So they simply slid backwards slowly, inching their way towards the other people behind them, who could only stare on in horror, helpless to do anything now that their ammunition was gone.

  Then, from above, someone yelled, “BOMBS AWAY,” and Zapdos came crashing down behind Articuno and Moltres. The two Elemental Birds whipped around to their fallen comrade, giving the black-suited men the opportunity to strike. They fired an array of net-holding needles, catching the three of them in several of the electric nets. The gliding suited man, from above the trapped Legends, dropped down another one of the green, explosive, oval-shaped objects, which detonated upon impact with the ground.

  The explosion wreaked havoc on Articuno and made the Ice Legend screech in pain, while the other two merely glared at the suited men through the flames. It especially did damage due to the fact that the nets held them firmly in place, making them experience the full brunt of the explosion’s force. But the explosion wasn’t the worst part. The heat from it sent a signal through the nets, making electricity erupt from them. Moltres and Articuno erupted into an agonized fit of screeching while Zapdos merely glared at the men in frustration.

  By now, the gliding man had landed, rejoining his comrades as they arrogantly grinned down upon the trapped Legends. “Well well,” One of them taunted, “Who’d have thought the day would come when a Legendary Pokemon was defeated by ordinary humans.” The man who’d taunted the Trio of Legends walked up behind the disc they’d planted in the ground earlier. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

  Zapdos hissed with unbridled rage and stretched out its wings, pushing against the metal nets that constricted it. A wiry snap signified that it was beginning to break, but the man who’d taunted them continued to grin arrogantly at them. Zapdos snarled at him and pushed outward against the nets even more. The Bird of Lightning couldn’t wait to wipe that man and his smile off the face of the Earth.

  The nets finally snapped, freeing Zapdos at last, and he burst free from their bindings. Roaring savagely at the suited man, it rocketed at him and crashed down on the ground before him. The suited man fell down onto his back, summoning his shield to defend himself. Zapdos lifted its foot and flexed its talons menacingly, preparing to shred that infuriating shield, along with the one behind it, to pieces. Now that Zapdos had a closer look, he found that it was the same man he’d battled up in the sky as well, which brought a cruel grin to Zapdos’s face. The suited man, however, merely chuckled.

  “Look beneath you.”

  Zapdos, however, was far too enraged to fall for whatever tricks this man was planning. Raising its’ foot, it prepared to stomp down and tear the shield apart until something blue shot up from beneath its feet and into Zapdos’s eye, blinding it. Ice had quickly begun forming on Zapdos’s face, and the Legendary Bird tried to swipe it off its’ face with its wings, only for the ice to spread to its wings upon contact.

  Standing back onto his feet, the suited man grinned up at the freezing Legend and said, “Fool. If you had only looked beneath you, you could have dodged it.” He walked up to the disc-shaped machine on the ground and kicked it lightly. “This here is like the ice equivalent of a napalm mine, though I suppose you wouldn’t know what that is.” Shifting his shaded gaze back up to Zapdos, he continued, “So you’ve got all of about ten seconds before you’re frozen completely. You’ll make a nice statue, though.”

  Zapdos let out a pained screech as the ice slowly crawled up its neck. Looking back toward Articuno and Moltres, it decided to give one last-ditch effort. Using Agility, it rocketed over towards the other Legendary Birds and ripped Moltres free from its’ bindings just as the last of the ice coated it completely. Moltres responded with a Flamethrower that slowly melted the icy sheen that had covered the Lightning Bird. In mere seconds, the effects of the ice were undone, and Zapdos freed Articuno from its’ net as well. The trio turned their furious glare at the black-suited men, who returned it eagerly.

  “Damn,” One of them said, “And we worked so hard settin’ that thing up.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Another responded with a cruel grin aimed at the Trio of Birds, “We’ll just kick their asses the old-fashioned way.”

  The other suited man let out a boisterous laugh and responded, “Well-said. Let’s give em hell, boys!”

  With that, they charged towards the Trio of Birds, who retaliated with the combined force of all three of their respective elements. Thunder, Fire Blast, and Blizzard combined into one attack and blasted into the suited men, who just barely managed to raise their shields in time to block it. They were sent flying in different directions, yet managed to stay on their feet. Though now, they were separated.

  Moltres took the opportunity to scout for the one who had kicked sand in its eye earlier, and, to the Legend’s malicious glee, he was completely alone and cut off. The Bird of Flame soared over the suited man and blasted a white-hot Flamethrower around him, trapping him in a circle of blazing fire. Crashing down before that man, Moltres let out a furious, challenging screech.

  The black-suited man smirked up at it and adjusted his glasses back into place. “A one, on, one, eh?” He rolled his head and beat his fists together. “I can respect that, though this will go about as well for you as it did for Zapdos.” Their arena was coated in thick, black smoke, separating the two between the other Legends and black-suited men. It was man versus beast in a fight to the death. The two of them took their stances, awaiting what the other would do first.

  Moltres shot out a quick Fire Blast, to which the suited man raised up his shield and blocked the attack. Reaching into his shirt with his free hand, he pulled out another one of the exploding projectiles, but it was swatted away into the sky and detonated with a Flamethrower the moment it was thrown. The black-suited man realized he would have to be more creative this time around, but he was beginning to run out of things to throw or shoot.

  The Legendary Fire Bird rocketed towards the black-suited man with a Flare Blitz, but to its’ shock, he cut off the shield and leaned back at an angle Moltres never thought possible by a human. The surging flames of Moltres’s attack missed by mere inches, but missed nonetheless, and the suited man continued smirking up at it.

  “Come on,” He taunted, “Can’t even hit a pathetic, insignificant human?”

  Moltres snarled angrily at the human before it, but held itself back. He was exploiting its’ rage, expecting it to act as nothing more than a mindless animal, and to be honest, Moltres hadn’t exactly done a good job at making him think anything otherwise. But therein lied an opening in and of itself. To be stooping to strategy for a singular human was a blow to its’ pride, but this human had more than proved himself to be a genuine threat, and it could use that man’s expectations of it being a mindless animal to its’ advantage.

  Moltres unleashed a near-deafening screech. Its’ eyes had widened to the point of becoming bloodshot. With a look of pure rage, the Fiery Bird of Legend rocketed down at the suited man and blasted him with another Fire Blast, to which he responded by simply summoning his shield once more, nullifying the attack.

  To taunt Moltres even further, the black-suited man yawned like he was bored of the fight and called out to it, “Do you plan on making this interesting any time soon, or is that too much to expect from a beast without proper brain function?”

  The response he got was another enraged screech, followed by a Flamethrower that completely surrounded his shield, but was unable to pierce through it. The ring of white flame surrounding them began to dim slightly as well, and so the man let out an amused laugh. “If they can call the likes of you a Legendary Pokemon, then killing the others will be far easier than I expected.”

  Yet another screech filled to the brim with fury pierced the black-suited man’s eardrums, and a hail of Fire Blasts rained down from above him onto the battlefield. They coated the entire battlefield, no longer seeming to have a target at all. To the suited man, it seemed like Moltres had just been rendered blind by its’ rage and now mindlessly hailed fire from the skies down upon him. They crashed down upon the entire battlefield, even crashing against the ring of fire and outside it. The man in the black suit shook his head and chuckled.

  “Such foolishness,” He said, “But I suppose I shouldn’t have expected more from a mindless, brainless animal.”

  Moltres crashed down from the smoke-coated sky, landing a few yards away from the suited man and letting out another rage-filled bellow. It had a crazed, bestial look in its’ eyes, one devoid of both intellect and reason. It scraped the ground with its’ talons, hissing at the man before him, then sprinted at him with its’ beak pointed toward him like a spear. The suited man smirked at Moltres’s pathetic attempt of an attack and sidestepped, letting Moltres run right on by.

  The Bird of Flame quickly whipped around and tried to charge at him again, only to be met with the same result as the last time. The black-suited man sidestepped once more, but this time used his hook-shot to trip Moltres by the legs, sending the Bird of Fire tumbling onto its face. As it fell, it craned its neck toward the suited man and attempted to shoot another Fire Blast, only to end up accidentally shutting its jaw and having the Fire Blast explode in its face. It then fell, screeching to a halt against the molten ground until finally coming to a halt where it lay on the ground, unmoving.

  The suited man stared at it blankly for a moment. “...Are you kidding?” Stomping his way over to the fallen Legend, he ranted, “Really? You’re defeated by your own blast after getting tripped? I’d almost call it poetic if it wasn’t pathetic.” Once he approached Moltres’s fallen body, he put a foot on its beak and leaned down towards its eye. “Pathetic,” He spat, “Utterly, absolutely pathetic!” The suited man took his foot from the collapsed Legend’s beak, circling it and continuing to rant. “That’s just like you Legends...no...you Pokemon. Each and every one of them are scum, and you fully encapsulate that.” He stopped once he’d reached its face again. “You should all just be WIPED OUT!”

  The black-suited man pumped back his leg and kicked sand into the collapsed Legend’s eye once more. Or at least, he tried to. The near-molten ground beneath him had become sticky, trapping his foot inside it like molasses. He attempted to rip his foot out of the ground, but found himself unable to do so. In fact, he had only succeeded in trapping his other foot as well. “W-what in the-?!”

  Then it hit the suited man. The fiery barrage Moltres had spewed out from above before—the rage-infused, mindless hail of flames wasn’t directed at him at all. It was directed at the battlefield, melting it to the point that the ground itself turned into sludge. It was all a trap. A trap set up by a mindless animal that was incapable of a higher thought than what its next meal would be...and he fell for it. He dared to gaze up at the face of Moltres, who seemed to be grinning at him. The suited man’s face contorted with fury.

  “You...you had this all planned from the beginning, didn’t you?!”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The Legendary Bird of Fire and the ruler of Fire Island stood back up to its full height, now towering over the trapped man. It glowered down at him and spread its fiery wings, sending sparks of flame in every direction that glittered around the two of them like crimson, red fireflies. The suited man quickly summoned his shield once more, and Moltres hopped up, grabbing the shield with its talons. Electric sparks and the sound of shredding metal pierced the black-suited man’s ears as Moltres began prying the shield open with its talons. With a resounding crunch, the shield broke in two and disappeared. The machine that projected the shield sparked for a moment, then halted completely as smoke began pouring from it.

  The suited man grasped the machine and hit it in an attempt to get it to work once more. “Come on, you confounded thing…!” The shield machine failed to respond. It was completely broken. The suited man’s bravado was beginning to waver, and Moltres knew it. It glared at the suited man darkly and raised its fiery wing to the sky. The black-suited man held up his hand to protest. “W-wait,” He pleaded, “W-we were only doing this to find a new home! I just wanted to help the people rebuild their lives after the-”

  Without care nor mercy, Moltres slammed its wing down upon the suited man, pinning him to the ground. The crimson, red flames of the Bird of Fire singed the man, then burned him, then utterly scoured him. He flailed and screamed in agony. The fire burned his skin black, tearing apart his hair, face, and skin. He helplessly cried out for mercy, but such a thing was beyond his grasp. Mercy had been a luxury he threw away the moment they tried to pick a fight with a Legend.

  Moltres continued to burn the man alive until something shot past it at incredible speeds, missing the Fire Bird’s head by inches. It stepped off of the black-suited man and looked around for whatever had dared to attempt to strike it with a savage glare, and eventually its eyes landed upon a young, trembling woman who had one of the spear guns from earlier.

  “GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM!”

  Moltres snarled at the woman. Who did she think she was? Opening its beak, the bird of flame shot off a Flamethrower towards her. She dropped the gun and held her arms up in a vain attempt to shield herself with them. The Flamethrower blasted into her, and the woman disappeared in a blaze of flame. A satisfied grin curled up Moltres’s face, and now that its attempted assassin was nothing more than a blackened crisp, it turned its cruel gaze back down at the still-writhing suited man beneath it.

  Then, it heard something. It heard footsteps coming from the direction of the women Moltres had incinerated. Out, from the smoke, the people who had once been cowering in their little bubbles were now marching toward the Bird of Flame with their spearguns in hand. Their force field was still active around them, and the woman who had shot off the edge of Moltres’s wing was revealed to have survived the blast due to the barrier.

  Moltres hissed in annoyance, then roared at them. If they dared to challenge the Legendary Bird of Fire, then they were more than welcome to try. It picked up the suited man beneath it and threw him towards them, displaying their own fate to them. If they wished to keep fighting, then Moltres would have no problem burning them just as he did with the black-suited man.

  Some of the people’s faces contorted with horror at the sight of the burned man before them. The others, however, returned Moltres’s enraged scowl with their own, and they pointed their spear guns at it. Moltres raised its wings, preparing to take to the skies the moment they fired. Eleven figures emerged from the smoke behind Moltres. The other suited men, having been alerted to the other’s status, rushed past Moltres toward their fallen friend. Moltres launched a Fire Blast as they ran past, but one of them stopped it with his shield.

  The other suited men ran up to the burned man and crouched beside him. By now, he’d fallen unconscious due to the pain. It was hard for them to look at him, and the ones who could bring themselves to actually do so winced. One of them grabbed their fallen ally by his arm and hoisted him over his shoulder.

  “I’ll take him back to the boats,” He told them, “You focus on protecting the people…” He turned up towards Moltres with a dark glare. “...and make that monster pay with its’ life!”

  The others saluted and responded in unison, “With pleasure!”

  As the suited man carried their marred ally back to safety, and the others stood in front of the people behind them, raising their shields. Articuno and Zapdos emerged from the smoke behind Moltres, landing at its sides. They roared at the invading humans as one. This was no longer about pride or territory. This was a grudge, and they planned to wipe these humans off the face of the Earth for their transgressions.

  The suited men reached into their suits, and each pulled out another explosive, readying themselves to hurl them the moment the Trio of Birds made a move. The people behind them clenched the spear guns in their hands tightly. They trembled, though with rage or fear they didn’t know. But they were done cowering while the black-suited men fought on their behalf. Now it was time to fight.

  One of them, a young man, stepped forward. “I was scared earlier,” He admitted, looking down at the gun in their hands, “Too scared… When they told me to fire, I couldn’t do it. I hesitated…” The young man looked up from the gun with determination lining his gaze and glared at the birds. “But not anymore! We’ll make you pay!”

  Another human followed suit. It was a tall, gruff looking man with a greying beard. “I’m no fighter,” He said, “Never was...never will be...but…” He pointed the spear gun toward the three birds. “When the Orange Islands were destroyed...I lost everything! My home...my wife…!” He bared his teeth and barely resisted the urge to fire then and there. “All of us here...all of our lives...were ruined by YOU!”

  “We’ll make you pay!” Shouted another. It was a young adult woman with black hair. She pointed the spear gun towards Moltres’s head. “I sat back and didn’t fire earlier when that man told me to...I wasn’t sure if attacking you was right, but now I see the truth!” She looked toward the ground and vigorously shook her head. “You’re savages! When that man begged for mercy, you tried to burn him alive! You tried to draw out his suffering!” She looked back up at Moltres and cocked the spear gun. “If I’d fired earlier, I might have gotten in a shot and saved him, so now, I won’t hesitate again!”

  The other humans soon stepped forward as well, chanting out their own speeches and battle cries as the ones who still had ammunition aimed their weapons at the Legends before them. They would avenge their homes and take their new one with their bare hands. The Trio of Birds screeched at the humans, cutting them off. Now, on top of everything else these humans have done, they were blaming them for the Orange Islands’ destruction?! After all they went through to try and stop Necrozma’s destructive rampage—after the torture that monster had put them through, they were being blamed for it?!

  That was the last straw for the Legendary Birds. These humans had insulted their land, their authority, their pride, and now their very names. Not to mention that Necrozma literally revealed himself four days prior! Yet they blamed them for Necrozma’s actions?! Hissing with rage, they prepared to fire upon the humans with everything they had. In response, the humans tensed up and pointed their weapons at the birds.

  “Get ready,” Said one of the suited men back toward the people behind him, “Our shields can take most of the brunt of their attacks, but we won’t be able to hold back all three of them for long. When I give the command, fire. Got it?”

  The people behind him nodded.

  The suited man nodded back and turned to face the Trio of Legends once more. “Good. If this all goes south and they survive, run back to the boats. We ain’t here to get anyone killed.”

  “What about you?” Asked one of them.

  The suited man simply gave them a thumbs-up without looking back. “Have a little faith. We’ll be able to take ‘em down.”

  Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres launched a Blizzard, Discharge, and Heat Wave towards the humans with a thunderous roar. In turn, the suited men crouched down behind their shields and called out, “FIRE!” The people whose lives were destroyed bellowed out war cries they never thought they had and pulled the triggers of their guns, launching out the drilling spears with such force that some of them were knocked over. The attacks of both sides honed in toward each other. The Trio of Birds quickly hopped into the air to evade the oncoming spears, but it quickly became apparent to them that they would not be able to evade. The suited men winced and closed their eyes to brace for the oncoming impact. Their shield generators were already beginning to run low on energy, though of course they hadn’t told the people that. Their only fear was that their formation would break, and those behind them would be caught in the collision.

  Then, suddenly, a brilliant silver streak of light tore through the smoke and positioned itself in-between the two attacks. A green barrier formed around the silver light just before the impact. A resounding explosion nearly blew both sides off their feet as the attacks collided with the barrier. The smoke was blown away, revealing the sunlight once more. The humans gaped up in awe at the new being, save for the black-suited men, who scowled and cursed their luck. The Trio of Legendary Birds, too, glowered at the newcomer. Of course, he would have to interfere now.

  The silver light dispersed, revealing Lugia, the Beast of the Seas, as he flapped his mighty wings. Turning toward the Three Elemental Birds, he first noticed the gaping hole in Zapdos’s wing and narrowed his eyes furiously. Lugia said, “When I first sensed a disturbance in Moltres’s life force, I came as fast as I could. I had expected to find the three of you fighting amidst yourselves, but…” The silver ocean guardian turned to the humans. “...what do I find but humans battling with you three.” He narrowed his eyes down upon them judgingly, “What is the meaning of this?!”

  The people gaped up in both awe and horror at Lugia. To them, this being had completely destroyed the Orange Islands. It destroyed their home. It had destroyed their very lives. Now that they were confronted with it, they were stunned. They couldn’t even begin to find words to answer the sea deity. One by one, the trembling people dropped their guns and fell onto their backsides. The sheer pressure from merely being in Lugia’s presence was too much to bear.

  Not even the black-suited men could find words to say to Lugia, and there was plenty they wanted to say. One of them lightly elbowed the one next to him and whispered, “What are we going to do?! We’re completely out of spears, and I don’t think grenades and flashbangs will cut it with Lugia!” The other one elbowed him back harder. “Don’t say that out loud!” He whispered back, “It doesn’t know that!”

  Seeing as he wasn’t getting any answers, Lugia decided to speak up once more. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me the first time, so let me repeat myself.” The Beast of the Sea’s eyes narrowed down at the humans darkly. “What is the meaning of this?! Why are you attacking these islands?!”

  One of the suited men managed to bring himself to speak up. “We’re here,” He said, “Because these fine people-” He motioned to the people behind him, “-Lost their homes and loved ones when the Orange Islands were destroyed!”

  Lugia’s gaze softened slightly, though it was so minimal that the humans couldn’t notice. “I see,” Lugia said, “I’m deeply sorry. What you lost is truly immense, but that does not explain why you were attacking the Elemental Birds.”

  “Attacking? Attacking?!” Another black-suited man stepped forward, pointing his finger accusingly at the Trio of Legends. “They attacked us! When we came here, we only wanted to rebuild our homes! We never planned on picking fights! All we wanted to do was try and start our lives over!”

  “And yet you came here armed to the teeth with weaponry,” Countered Lugia, making the black-suited man’s bravado waver. “I am familiar with those weapons of yours,” Lugia continued, eyeing the fallen spear guns, “They are firearms, are they not?”

  The suited men were all taken aback. “H-how do you-”

  “I’ll have you know that I’ve been alive for quite a long time,” Lugia retorted, “And in that time, I’ve witnessed the myriad of wars between humans and Pokemon that have taken place. Those firearms of yours were a more recent invention of yours, being created during the last war that took place a few hundred years ago, but when it ended, each and every one of them was destroyed...so that begs the question…” He glowered down at the humans beneath him, chilling even the black-suited men. “...Why, pray tell, do you have them?”

  The humans below, both ordinary and clad in black suits, failed to respond, so Lugia reiterated. “Which among you is responsible for this? Who is the leader of you all?”

  “I am.” A lone man stepped out from the crowd of cowering people. He was clad in long, brown pants with black boots and an equally-brown business suit. He wore black shades similarly to the black-suited men, and had a balding head with a small brown beard. Over his heart was a patch that detailed what appeared to be an explosion surrounded by the starry depths of space. He was a fairly round man, but he strutted toward Lugia quite confidently in spite of that.

  “M-Mr. Lee!” Cried one of the black-suited men. Each of the suited men quickly bowed before the round man as he approached. “S-sir, with all due respect, it’s dangerous! Please, go back to the-”

  “Shut up,” Hissed the man now identified as Mr. Lee, “I don’t recall asking for your input.”

  The black-suited man flinched at Mr. Lee’s harsh words, but quickly nodded wordlessly. Mr. Lee casually walked up to Lugia with a malicious grin planted upon his face. “Hey there,” He said, “The name’s Lee. Christopher Lee. How may I help you, Mr. Legendary Pokemon?”

  Lugia glowered down at Mr. Lee. There was obviously something deeply wrong with this man. Something about him...unnerved Lugia, and he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was dangerous. Nevertheless, he replied, “Well, you can start by telling me why you and your people have invaded the Three Elemental Islands, and with firearms no less. Those things were supposed to be-”

  “Not to be rude or anything,” Christopher interrupted, “But I don’t see any reason to tell the likes of you anything.”

  “Excuse me?!” Demanded Lugia, “You and the other humans obviously came here with the intent to fight back if the Birds tried to chase you away, otherwise you wouldn’t be armed to the teeth like this.” He narrowed his eyes accusingly at Christopher Lee. “You owe the Birds and I an explanation.”

  A disgusting scowl appeared on Christopher’s face. He reached into his pockets, taking out a lighter from one and a cigar in the other. The round man flicked the lighter’s edge to create a flame, lit the cigar, and placed it into his mouth. After taking in a deep inhale of the smoke-filled air radiating from the cigar, he placed the lighter back into his pocket.

  Due to the cigar’s effects, the scowl on Christopher Lee’s face disappeared, and he turned his gaze back up toward the Beast of the Sea, who had nearly lost his patience by now, and gave him a laid-back grin. “I always did love classic cigars more than today’s modern cigarettes,” He remarked, “Anyways, you say I owe you an explanation?”

  He took the cigar out of his mouth, holding it between two fingers, and hacked out a hearty laugh. Out of nowhere, his expression changed dramatically, furling itself to look inhumanly angry. His face had become so wrinkled that Lugia thought his face would tear.

  “BULLSHIT!” Roared Christopher Lee, pointing an incriminating finger up at the Silver Legend, “You owe us-“ He made a circular motion with his finger to symbolize the people, “-an explanation! Why the hell did you destroy the Orange Islands?! Don’t you know how many lives you’ve destroyed?!”

  Lugia backpedaled. “M-me?!” He stammered, “How dare you?! I nearly gave my life trying to defend it from Necrozma, whom you all should know about, seeing as he announced himself four days ago!”

  Christopher Lee kicked the sand in annoyance, rolling his eyes. “Necrozma, Necrozma, Necrozma...you really are scum, you know that? Have you no remorse?!”

  “Excuse me?!” Bellowed Lugia, “What are you on about?!”

  Lee’s scowl somehow deepened, making his head go as red as a tomato. “What I’m on about,” He started, “Is that this ‘Necrozma’ your false god fabricated is nothing more than a farce to cover up what you did!” He once again pointed a finger at the Sea Guardian accusingly. “You and the Elemental Birds destroyed the Orange Islands!”

  Without awaiting a response from Lugia, he pointed at the fallen spear guns with such speed that an audible crack was heard from his elbow. “You wanted to know why we’re so heavily armed?! It’s because we knew the moment we set foot on these lands you’d try to destroy us as well!”

  “Then why did you come?!” Lugia demanded, ignoring the previous accusation for the moment, “If you thought we would attack you, and you believed we had the power to eradicate the Orange Islands, why did you come here at all?!”

  “To prove it,” Replied Lee, “To prove to the world who blindly follows the Legends like puppets for their masters that the likes of you are not to be trusted!” His eyes became crazed, though they were hidden behind his sunglasses. “I...no...we are here to prove to the world that you destroyed the Orange Islands and tried to hide it from the world!”

  “Preposterous,” Scoffed Lugia, “You humans haven’t the slightest idea what truly happened!” The Beast of the Seas motioned to the Trio of Birds behind him with his wing. “The Birds and I risked our very lives trying to defend these islands from Necrozma!”

  Christopher Lee attempted to spit up at Lugia in utter disgust at the Beast’s words, though the glob of saliva made it mere inches before trailing back down into the sand. Nevertheless, Christopher spoke with such viciousness and ire that the people behind him couldn’t help but start to feel as he did. “Necrozma this, Necrozma that, do you and your false god truly believe that mankind is so terribly naive to believe such a transparent, bald-faced deception?!”

  He frustratedly kicked at the sand once more, his balding head somehow becoming an even deeper shade of red. “Most of mankind may fall right into your web of puppet strings, but not us!” He extended his arms outward, cackling like a madman until his posture suddenly shifted back to normal. He let out a deep sigh, and the color of his face returned to normal. Turning back up to Lugia with an arrogant grin, though now lacking the madness that had controlled it mere moments ago, he continued speaking. “We are done blindly adhering to whatever the Legends say or do. We know now that you are liars, cowards, and ruthless animals who would kill us all as soon as you so much as become bored!” He balled his right hand into a fist and pounded it over his heart, right onto the starry patch he’d placed over it, and shouted out at the top of his lungs, “AND WE WILL AVENGE THE LAND AND LIVES YOU TOOK FROM US BY TAKING YOURS!”

  The people behind him rose back onto their feet, standing proud. They shirked off their fears and cowardice in the face of the Beast of the Seas and, in their eyes, the one who had destroyed their homes, lives, and loved ones, pumping their fists into the air. They whooped and cheered even in the face of death, for their leader’s words, the words of Christopher Lee, brought courage and a lust for vengeance to their hearts.

  “Yeah!” A young man shouted, “We’ll make you pay for what you’ve done!”

  A woman spoke up next. “Even if you have the power to destroy the Orange Islands, we won’t go down without a fight!”

  “Screw that!” Bellowed a large, muscle-bound man, “We won’t go down at all! Let’s take back what they stole from us!”

  The survivors continued cheering and making these remarks until Lugia could no longer stand their insufferable madness. “ENOUGH,” He bellowed with such force that the act alone blew the humans onto their backsides, save for Christopher Lee, due to the suited men putting themselves between him and the Sea Guardian, “If you want to blind yourselves to the truth, then fine! If you wish to blame me for Necrozma’s rampage and pretend he doesn’t exist, then by all means! But when that monster arrives and kills us all, you will only have yourselves to blame!” Lugia’s eyes narrowed down at Christopher Lee darkly. “In the meantime, leave these islands and never return! These are sacred territories, and the fact that your homes were destroyed does not give you the right to take others from someone else!”

  Christopher Lee smirked up at Lugia. “Even when the homes we’re taking are from the ones who destroyed our own?”

  Lugia glowered down at him. “For the last time, you blind imbecile, we did not destroy your homes! I don’t know what kind of savage beasts you take us for, but for the entirety of the millions of years of my existence, I have done nothing but protect these lands!” He glanced back toward the Elemental Birds. “Even though these three are rowdy and territorial, not once have they attempted to take over human lands! They aren’t cruel like you make them out to be.”

  Christopher Lee laughed at that, hunching over and gripping his knees as he did so until his demeanor once again shifted in the blink of an eye, and he pointed over to one of the boats behind him. “Look there,” He told Lugia simply. The Sea Guardian raised a brow at Lee, but complied. In the boat were two more of the suited man, with one of them laying on his back while the other hunched over him, hurriedly running his hand through a box of what Lugia believed to be medical supplies. He narrowed his eyes, attempting to see what exactly Lee was referring to. Then, the hunched-over suited man leaned away from the other for a moment, and Lugia’s eyes widened with horror at what he saw. The other man, the one lying on his back, was nearly charred black. His suit was charred and destroyed for the most part, every inch of his skin was coated a grisly shade of black, with only a few red strips dotting where the black didn’t touch, and the man himself stared up to the sky with horror planted on his face. His jaw gaped with a length it shouldn’t be able to due to the burned tendons of his jaw. Most of his teeth were missing, and the ones that weren’t, caved inwards in his mouth. His hair was completely gone, and his eyes were blackened by a layer of ash. However, even in spite of this, he didn’t move.

  “What in the…” Uttered Lugia in a shocked disbelief. In all his years, he had seen very few humans in such a malformed state, and all of those times were during the most brutal of wars.

  Christopher Lee took it upon himself to speak up. “That right there,” He said, pointing to the boat with his cigar, “Is the handiwork of none other than Moltres itself.”

  Lugia shook his head. “Impossible! Moltres would never-”

  Christopher interrupted Lugia by holding up his hand toward him. He then tapped on the shoulder of one of the suited men and said, “Show it.” The suited man nodded, tapping a button on the side of his sunglasses and summoning a holographic display of a video. Lugia watched in horror as the video replayed itself, showcasing Moltres towering over the pleading suited man with its’ wing held high, then slamming it down upon him and pinning him down as the flames overtook his body. Even as he continued to scream and plead for mercy, Moltres gave him none.

  The black-suited man tapped the button on his sunglasses once more, making the hologram fade away and leaving Lugia stunned. He turned sharply toward the Trio of Birds, who quickly tried to explain themselves and their innocence via an array of screeches and squawks.

  “You see?” Asked Christopher Lee with a vile grin planted upon his face, “Moltres is nothing more than a savage animal who would kill without mercy, and make its’ victims suffer as it did so! You can deny it no longer!”

  Lugia turned back around, looking down at Christopher Lee with ire. “Is that so? Well, from what they tell me, they were only acting in self-defense! Not only that, but I saw their memories as well. Surely you knew that I was a Psychic Type as well?”

  “You call that self-defense?!” Demanded Christopher. He clenched his fist with fury evident in his maddened eyes. “That man was completely disarmed, immobile, and helpless!” He pointed an accusing finger past Lugia at Moltres. “But that demon bird attacked him anyways! Not only that, but it tortured him! It burned him alive! How can you call an atrocious act like that self-defense?!”

  “It was those suited men who attacked them first!” Retorted Lugia.

  “Only after they destroyed the village we worked so hard to create!” Christopher shot back.

  Lugia’s eye twitched as irritation began swelling up within him. “They destroyed what you built because you did it on their land!”

  The color of Christopher’s face began reddening with rage once more. “Because you destroyed our old homes!”

  Lugia was able to control his swelling rage no longer. If they wanted to be unreasonable, then Lugia was more than willing to follow suit. “We’ve done nothing of the sort, you infuriating ingrate!” At Lugia’s enraged bellow, dark clouds began to form overhead, swirling together and creating a brisk wind. The water surrounding the islands began to stir as well, and the fog from before had returned. A storm was brewing. “Begone from these lands at once, and never return!”

  The people crowded on the beach shifted uncomfortably due to the wind. A shiver collectively ran down their spines due to the sudden appearance of the storm, but they swallowed their fear and looked back up to Christopher Lee and Lugia, awaiting what would become of their debate. Lee merely chuckled at Lugia’s order. “Not a chance,” He said, “We’re not going anywhere just yet!” Once again, he summoned the holographic video with the press of a button. “You see, this is far from the only piece of evidence I have against you lot, and I might just release it to the public.”

  Lugia scoffed. “Do you honestly believe that I care in the slightest about what humans think of me?”

  Christopher Lee shot back a devious smirk up at Lugia and pressed the button on his sunglasses again. This time, a holographic video of Lugia appeared. It repeated, “Do you honestly believe that I care in the slightest about what humans think of me?” Grinning arrogantly, Christopher Lee shut the video off and asked, “See what I mean?”

  Lugia bared his teeth at the round man before him, but knew better now than to act rashly or say anything he would later regret. “What is your game, Lee?”

  “My “game,”” Started Lee, “Is exposing you to the world as the filth you are! What the public will do in response, well…” His eyes glinted up at Lugia mischievously. “...Let’s just say it might not be favorable. However, I would be able to forget this whole nonsense should you be willing to strike a deal with me.”

  Lugia raised a brow at Christopher Lee warily. “...Which would be…?”

  The devious grin planted upon Christopher Lee’s face widened, and he clasped his hands together. “I’m glad you asked. You see…” The hologram displayed videos of Moltres reducing the newly-built town of the people to cinders, firing attacks at them as they screamed in terror, and of course, the videos of Moltres and Lugia. “...Should these get out to the public, more people might become wise to the lies of your god. If that happens…” A malicious grin came to Christopher Lee’s face. “...Well, there’s just no telling what kind of chaos might ensue.”

  Lugia bared his teeth, scarcely hiding his fury. “You mean to start another war between humans and Pokemon? At a time like this?!”

  Christopher Lee pressed the button once more. This time, a video of Arceus himself appeared, and Lugia could scarcely believe his eyes. The holographic video showed Arceus appearing before the ruins of the Orange Islands and briefly restoring the lands, only to suddenly fly into a brief fit of rage and undo it before he disappeared into the sky. “As far as I’m concerned,” Lee spoke, “The war has long-since begun. Or rather, the last one never ended.”

  The Sea Guardian’s eyes narrowed down at the plump man. “...What do you want from me…?”

  Christopher Lee stifled an amused chuckle. “I’m glad you asked. You see, what I...no...what we want is nothing short of vengeance. Of course, we would love nothing more than to see the one who destroyed our homes and families lying dead at our feet, but for now, I think we can settle for something less.”

  “Get to the point,” Hissed Lugia.

  The round man shrugged. “Very well. We came here to destroy all four of you and take this land, but we are weary and exhausted. So instead…” He pointed towards Moltres. “I’m going to make you an ultimatum, and I’m going to make it very clear: Use Hypnosis on Moltres and hand it over to us, and in exchange, I will destroy all of the footage we acquired here, and we will leave these islands.”

  Moltres’s eyes widened and began shrieking up at Lugia in protest. To the horror of the Bird of Flame and the two others, Lugia turned back toward them, giving them an odd look as if he was actually contemplating complying with Christopher Lee’s demands. The humans, meanwhile, had their own set of protests.

  “You can’t be serious!” One of them shouted, “We came all this way to fight! To take back what they took from us, and you’re just going to make us leave with only one of them?!”

  The others flared up as well, shouting out displeasures, and profanities at Christopher Lee, who simply held up his hand to silence them. “Shut up,” He ordered, “Don’t forget who brought us all together in the first place!” He turned back toward Lugia, and the Beast of the Seas turned toward him as well. “And besides,” Lee said, “You didn’t let me finish…”

  Lugia’s eyes narrowed. “There’s more?”

  “Indeed,” Answered Lee with a nod, “Of course, there’s no way our lust for revenge will be quelled with one of you alone. Should you comply, we will take Moltres and leave it unharmed until this supposed “Necrozma” is supposed to arrive. If it actually is real, we will release Moltres so that it can reunite with the other Legends and defeat it, and as a bonus, we will never show our faces here again. But should it be fake…” His eyes glistened darkly from behind his shaded glasses. “Then we will kill it and come back for you all with a far greater force, though according to you, this Necrozma is real, so you should be fine with letting us keep Moltres until then.”

  Lugia scowled down at him. “What kind of fool do you take me for?” Moltres let out a sigh of relief from behind him. “Do you honestly think I would simply fork over one of my own like a bargaining chip?!” He huffed impatiently. “Not to mention, why should I trust you in the slightest?!”

  “Fair enough,” Admitted Christopher, “Very well. I’ll show you a gesture of my good faith, then.” To the surprise of everyone in the area, Christopher Lee took off his sunglasses, threw them into the sand beneath his feet, and crushed them with a stomp. When he removed his foot, his sunglasses were snapped in half, and the glass was shattered. “There. Now, no footage of the events here exists.”

  “S-sir,” One of the black-suited men said in protest, “With all due respect, why did you…” He trailed off for a moment as Christopher Lee shot a vicious glare his way. He mulled over his next choice of words very carefully, then spoke again. “Without those glasses, sir, we no longer have any footage of what they did! We no longer have any leverage over them!”

  “I’m well aware of that,” Christopher whispered to his subordinate, “But as we are now, I must admit we stand no chance against them. So we must gain Lugia’s trust if our plan is to work.”

  He pushed the black-suited man and cleared his throat. “So, do we have a deal?”

  Lugia wasted no time in shooting the humans down. “Of course not,” He hissed, “When Necrozma arrives, every single Legend must be immediately there to counter him. The destruction of that footage means nothing. There’s no way I could ever trust the likes of you, and beyond that, you must think me an imbecile if you believed I would ever willingly give a Legend to a human against their will!”

  Christopher’s face furled with rage. “You rotten piece of shit! I should have known better than to trust a monster like you!”

  “Begone from these islands!” Roared Lugia, “Never return! I’ll allow you to leave peacefully, and should you choose to obey, I can promise that no further harm will come to you!”

  “What a load of crap!” One of the humans shouted.

  “How can we trust you?!” Another followed suit.

  “Yeah, I bet it’ll just attack us once we’re out at sea like the coward it is!”

  The older man from before spoke next, “I ain’t gonna die any other way than on my feet!”

  The woman who had taken off a portion of Moltres’s wing stepped out from the crowd, glaring at the Bird of Flame, to which it shot one back. “The time for running away is over! If I die, I’ll die knowing that at least I injured one of the monsters that took away my son, then I’ll die without regret!”

  The other survivors of the Orange Islands tragedy pumped their fists to the sky and cheered, “YEAH, LET’S GET ‘EM!”

  They marched toward the four Legends, but Lugia merely glowered down at them with disdain. “Such foolishness.” With the swat of Lugia’s tail, the humans were blown off their feet by a powerful gust of wind, halting their march for vengeance. “I said begone! Leave this place!”

  The humans immediately lost their will to fight, and resumed cowering in fear. All of them, save for one. A young boy, who looked to be no older than six or seven, stepped back up from the crowd and walked toward Lugia. His hair was fuzzy and red, and in his arms, he held a small plushie doll. One based off of Lugia.

  “No, wait!” One of the other survivors called out to him, “Don’t get any closer!”

  “Please, that thing will kill you!” Desperately cried another.

  But the boy ignored them. Holding the stuffed doll of the Beast of the Sea tightly within his arms, he continued making his way toward Lugia himself and the Trio of Legendary Birds. The Birds hissed at the approaching human, but Lugia held up his wing to stop them. To the terror of the people, Lugia lowered itself to the ground and perched itself in front of the boy.

  Lugia’s hardened glare softened at the boy, and he craned his neck down toward him. “Hello there,” Greeted the Beast of the Seas, “Why are you here, young one? This is...a very dangerous place. Not one suited for a child.”

  The redheaded boy looked down at the Lugia doll in his arms. “W-well,” He stammered, “I came here to get a new home…” Looking back up at Lugia with his bright, shining eyes, the boy continued, “My old home is gone now...and my mommy and daddy are too…” He held the Lugia doll even tighter in his grip. “The big man said that if we came here, we could get our homes back! If I get my home back, then maybe mommy and daddy will come back too…”

  Any trace of Lugia’s glare had now disappeared as he stared down at the small child sadly. “Oh, my dear child…”

  Looking back at the doll, the child said, “My mommy gave me this. She said it was Lugia, the Sea Gar...gur..garde…”

  Lugia chuckled. “Guardian?”

  The child nodded. “Yeah! That’s what it was! She told me that Lugia was kind and kept us safe, but now she and daddy are gone…” Slowly, the young boy turned his gaze back up toward Lugia. “You’re...Lugia, right?”

  Lugia nodded. “That I am.”

  The child smiled brightly. “Then...you can get me a new home, right?” He hopped up and down upon the sand excitedly. “You can bring back mommy and daddy!”

  Lugia winced, and his smile faded. Raising his head back up, he replied, “...I am sorry, young one...but I cannot.”

  The young boy’s face fell, wrenching Lugia’s heart. “W-what…? B-but why?”

  Lugia could scarcely bring himself to face the child, and he simply replied, “...This land...is not for humans. You may find a new home elsewhere, but...not here...I’m sorry…”

  One of the humans picked up their spear gun. It no longer had any ammunition, but they didn’t care. “You heartless monster!” They hurled the gun up at Lugia, nailing him in the eye and making the Beast of the Seas reel back and hiss in pain. Recovering from the strike, Lugia turned back toward them with unbridled fury in its eyes and unleashed a Hyper Beam their way. The humans screamed in terror and ducked just in time for the attack to go sailing over their heads. However, the attack wasn’t meant for them. The Hyper Beam shot through the air and crashed into the boats of the survivors. Their only hope for escape was now gone.

  One of the humans, a woman, quickly rushed up to the young boy and grabbed him in her arms, making him drop the Lugia doll in the sand. Lugia himself, however, was too pissed to even notice. Any and all sense was now gone. “ROTTEN VERMIN,” He roared, “I GAVE YOU CHANCE AFTER CHANCE TO FLEE, BUT IF YOU WISH TO STAY HERE SO BADLY, THEN BY ALL MEANS!” He fired another Hyper Beam, completely destroying the humans’ barriers and leaving them exposed.

  They screamed in terror and ran out from the smoke only to see their boats had been destroyed. So, they did the only thing they could think to do: they ran. They didn’t know where to run or what they hoped to accomplish by doing so. They simply ran because they didn’t know what else to do. Lugia flew overhead and crashed down in front of them, roaring violently. As a last-ditch attempt, they tried to throw their spear guns as well, but Lugia brushed them aside with the flap of his wings.

  “YOU WANT TO STAY HERE?!” He roared, “VERY WELL, THEN!” His eyes glowed green, and a Psychic barrier surrounded the terrified humans. They screamed and pounded at the walls of the barrier, but to no avail. They were completely and utterly trapped in Lugia’s grasp. Hissing down at them, Lugia spoke, “Perhaps my decision to let you go at all was naive of me. After all, the likes of you would just end up causing chaos and confusion amidst the other humans who are trying to prepare to fight Necrozma!”

  The people cried out at Lugia, no longer throwing insults his way or lashing out in rage. Their anger quickly faded, and fear took its place as they realized they were trapped and at the mercy of the Beast. So, with no way to fight or to run, they pleaded for their lives. It was the only possible option they had left.

  “Please don’t kill us!”

  “We just wanted a home!”

  “We’re sorry for what we did!”

  “Please spare us, Lugia!”

  “We’ll never set foot on these islands again, we promise!”

  Their desperate cries for mercy fell on deaf ears. The color of Lugia’s eyes shifted to glow purple, and the humans felt a sudden rush of fatigue hit them. One after another, they slowly collapsed onto the ground in a deep sleep. Once the last one had fallen, he levitated the barrier out into the open ocean and dropped it in. “That oughta keep you out of the way until Necrozma is dead. I’ll set you lot free after that, once you’re no longer a threat.”

  Guilt crept back up into the Beast of the Sea’s conscience once more as thoughts of the boy plagued his mind. He felt no better than the Trio of Birds, who ruthlessly attacked those who came to their territory. As his anger faded, he quickly began feeling guilty about what he’d done to the other humans as well. They had lost everything. It’s no wonder that they’d act like that, especially with someone like Christopher Lee heading their ideas-

  “Christopher Lee!” Lugia bellowed in sudden realization. He didn’t remember seeing him amidst the other humans he’d put to sleep. Then, beyond where he had dropped the barrier full of people, he spotted something. As he focused his vision upon it, his heart nearly stopped. It was a boat speeding away from the island, and it was full of people. The black-suited men and, to Lugia’s horror, Christopher Lee. Now that he thought about it, Lugia hadn’t even seen Christopher or the black-suited men ever since he last talked to them. They’d slipped away completely unnoticed before Lugia destroyed the other boats.

  Lugia burst toward them, flying with such speed that the waters beneath his wings were pulled backward and sprayed in the air. The black-suited men quickly noticed the impending Sea Guardian, and they began running about the boat hurriedly. Lee himself, however, shot a devious grin Lugia’s way and took out another pair of sunglasses from his pocket. As he placed them over his eyes, he pressed a button on the side of the sunglasses. The holographic image of Lugia appeared, saying, “Do you honestly believe that I care in the slightest about what humans think of me?” Then, the boat disappeared into the fog.

  The Sea Guardian clapped his wings together, dispelling the fog. Lugia’s heart sunk. The boat containing the one man with footage that could lead to the total imbalancing of the world’s order…

  ...had completely disappeared without a trace…