Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga

Chapter 71

Triple Finish

For a while there I completely forgot I was going to have to face Barry in a triple battle, Dawn thought as she stared Barry down from across the battlefield. Then, a thought struck her. Wait a second...

"What's a triple battle?" Dawn asked the referee. The poor guy nearly fell over.

"You don't know what a..." He smacked his forehead with his hand. "Do I really need to explain this?"

"Three pokemon, Dawn! Isn't that obvious!" Barry yelled to her.

"W-well what about special rules?" Dawn asked, realizing she had made an idiot of herself. "Is that really just it? Three pokemon at a time?"

"YES!" Barry and the refree yelled simultaneously.

"Well if it's that all there is to it, then why not quadruple battles? Quintuple battles? Sextuple battles?"

"Miss, just call out your pokemon so we can start the battle," the referee said wearily.

"Fine..." Dawn grumbled. Taking two pokeballs in one hand and one in the other, Dawn released all three of her available pokemon simultaneously. "Ryu! Eggman! Jack Frost! Altogether now!" she called out as she released them. The three pokemon appeared side by side on the battlefield, poised for a fight.

"Okay! My turn then!" Barry said, taking all three of his pokeballs in his hands the same way Dawn had. "Snorlax! Infernape! Azelf! This is the last round, so let's give it everything we've got! GogoGO!" One by one Barry's pokemon appeared on the battlefield. First Snorlax, then Infernape on his right and Azelf on his left. The three of them quickly slid into fighting stances.

"Trainers! Begin battle!" The referee called out almost as soon as the pokemon had hit the battlefield.

Okay, this should be pretty easy, Dawn thought. Eggman can take Infernape, Jack Frost will have to take on Azelf, and Ryu can take on Snorlax. With her strategy determined, a smirk formed on Dawn's lips.

"Eggman, attack Infernape with Air Slash! Jack, attack Azelf with Signal Beam! Ryu, hit Snorlax with Close Combat!"

"Everyone, quick! Duck behind Snorlax! Snorlax, Defense Curl!" Barry called out. As Dawn's pokemon were going on the attack, Barry's pokemon were taking the defensive. Snorlax curled up into a tight ball to protect himself while Infernape and Azelf moved behind him, using the larger pokemon for cover.

Jack Frost fired a mulitcolor beam of light and Eggman sent a gust of wind and several blades of air across the field, aiming at their respective opponents. In trying to follow their movements, though, they ended up hitting Snorlax instead. Having a very strong defense against special attacks, Snorlax hardly flinched as the attacks struck him and deflected off his bulk.

Ryu was next to try to attack, moving into melee range with Snorlax in the blink of an eye and unleashing a flurry of punches on the pokemon. Snorlax winced and grunted in pain but forced himself to endure it. Ryu's attacks weren't hitting anywhere vital, making it easier for him to do so. While Ryu was attacking, though, Dawn realized he was in danger.

"Ryu, stop! Get out of there, now!" she called out to him.

"Azelf, Psychic! Infernape, Flamethrower!" Barry called out. Both his pokemon moved out from behind Snorlax in an attempt to ambush Ryu. Heeding Dawn's warning, Ryu quickly hopped back and narrowly managed to avoid a blast of flames spat out by Infernape. As he was moving to avoid the flames, however, a psychic force suddenly struck him and flung him back halfway across the battlefield. He hit the ground hard and was stunned for a moment. He had taken a hard blow but was soon back on his feet, greatly weakened but still in the fight.

"He planned this out better than I thought... Alright then, let's try slowing them down instead! Jack Frost, Icy wind!"

"Infernape, counter with Flamethrower!"

Jack's forehead gem flashed and the air around him instantly dropped to frighteningly low temperatures. A strong wind then blew toward Barry's pokemon, carrying that cold air. Barry's Infernape countered this by firing a blast of flames in Jack's direction. The flames didn't reach Jack, but they did heat up the cold wind and rendered the attack ineffective.

"No good... well let's just take out one of his pokemon!" Dawn pointed a finger toward Snorlax and said, "Ryu! Eggman! Aura Sphere, now!" Ryu cupped his hands and Eggman spread out his wings. The two pokemon formed a sphere of aura between their respective appendages and fired it at Barry's Snorlax. Snorlax was still curled up and didn't even see the attacks coming. Both spheres hit Snorlax, causing him to roll back a few times from the force of the impact and uncurl when he finally came to a stop.

"Knockout confirmed! Barry, recall Snorlax!" the referee called out.

"Not bad... but it's not over yet!" Barry says to Dawn as he recalls Snorlax. While recalling Snorlax he also takes the opportunity to call out commands to his own pokemon. "Azelf, attack Ryu with Psychic! Infernape, hit Jack Frost with a Flare Blitz!"

Azelf's eyes and forehead flashed, sending a thrust of psychic force at Ryu and hurling him through the air. Ryu cried out sharply when he hit the ground and then fell silent. Meanwhile, Infernape wreathed his body in flames and charged across the battlefield toward Jack Frost.

"Knockout confirmed! Dawn, recall Ryu!" the referee called out. Dawn quickly complied while calling out further attacks.

"Jack, evade with Quick Attack and follow up with Icy Wind! Eggman, attack Infernape with Air Slash!" Jack Frost quickly zipped off to the left in a blur, avoiding the flaming monkey that sped through the spot where Jack Frost had been standing. As Infernape turned around in an attempt to regain its bearings it was suddenly struck by a flurry of sharp wind and knocked off its feet. While Infernape was down it was struck by more wind, this time an arctic breeze that sent a chill throughout his body.

"Azelf, now's your chance! Attack Eggman with Thunder Punch!" "Infernape, try Flare Blitz again! Don't miss this time!" Infernape rose up and let out a primal scream as flames flowed around him, spreading out from his tail. With the flames pouring around him and giving him the appearance of a fireball, Infernape charged into Jack. Jack was briefly engulfed in the flames and sent flying across the field from the impact. He was unconscious when he landed and Infernape quickly dropped as well.

Meanwhile, Azelf flew across the field at high speed. It kept one hand readied to throw a punch and electricity began to crackle around its hand as it neared Eggman. Azelf moved too fast for Eggman to follow and, as a result, he took the punch in the side of the head. The blow to the head briefly stunned him and knocked him over, but he was clearly still in the fight and was soon trying to prop himself up.

"Double Knockout! Combatants Jack Frost and Infernape are to be recalled by their respective trainers!" the referee called out. Dawn and Barry both recalled their pokemon and put the pokeballs back on their belts, then quickly called out a command to their remaining pokemon.

"Azelf, Psychic now!"

"Eggman, Air Slash and follow up with Extremespeed!"

Azelf's eyes and forehead gem flashed as Azelf sent a psychic thrust at Eggman while he was still struggling to get up. Eggman recoiled as if some powerful pokemon had punched him and was knocked flat against the ground, but he had no intention of staying there. Within the blink of an eye he rolled over and used his wings to flip himself back onto his feet. He then began flapping those wings, pelting Azelf with sharp blades of air. Azelf cried out sharply as the blades slashed across its small body.

While Azelf was distracted by the blades of air, Eggman flapped his wings and took off into the air. He then shot off like a jet plane toward Azelf, disappearing in a blur of movement as he drew closer. The impact knocked Azelf into the floor hard, seemingly knocking it out. Azelf had the wind knocked out of it and remained motionless for a moment, but began to stir after recovering from the initial impact and floated up just as the referee was ready to declare a knockout.

"We're still in this! Azelf, finish her pokemon now with Ice Punch!" Azelf shook its head, regaining its senses. Azelf turned to Eggman, who was still hovering nearby. One hand immediately became covered in ice. Azelf shot toward Eggman and punched him in the side of the head, shattering the ice around its fist on impact. For Eggman, this was one blow to the head too many and he was knocked out instantly.

"Match over!" The referee raised a hand toward Barry. "Barry wins!"

"HELL YEAH!" Barry cried out, pumping his hand into the air. He then pointed a finger at Dawn. "Howdya like that, miss Champion! I totally kicked your ass!"

Barry's attitude toward her shook Dawn out of her shocked state. "HEY! Don't get cocky, mister! I didn't have my champion team, you know! I was giving them a break! If I had Bahamut or Bowser with me or any of my legendary pokemon with me it would have been a different story!"

"Ahahaha! Whatever you say!" Barry replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Anyway, looks like I won and get to face my father now!"

Somehow I feel like that was Palmer's intention from the start, Dawn thought, rolling her eyes. Taking a pokeball in her hand, she finally recalled Eggman. It was at that moment that Palmer burst into the room from the elevator.

"Hey! Great battle, you two!" Palmer yelled while wearing a huge grin on his face. "So after all that it looks like I'm facing my son in the end afterall! I can't think of a better sendoff for this old place!"

Dawn slapped her hand Now he's practically admitting he set all this up to battle Barry!

"Now!" Palmer pointed a finger toward Barry. "Barry! Let's you and me have a battle here that will rock this tower to its very foundation!" Palmer set his foot down hard as he finished his statement and almost instantly the tower began to shake.

"H-hey! Shouldn't that wait until the battle at least!" Barry said while trying to keep his balance.

"Uh..." Palmer blinked in confusion. "That wasn't me..."

As the seconds dragged on, the shaking became worse and worse. The sound of something breaking and cracking could be heard in the distance.

Palmer stroked his chin as he tried to figure out what was going on. "Did I call a wrecking crew without thinking...?" he wondered aloud.

"Oh god..." the referee that had been there for Dawn and Barry's match suddenly dropped to the floor cowering. "We're all going to die... This was supposed to be my last day here, but not like this!"

If you say something like that it'll definitely come true, Dawn thought while calmly reaching for a pokeball. "Anyway... I think it's pretty obvious the tower is collapsing, shouldn't we get out of here?"

"Ah..." Palmer rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and reached for a pokeball as well. "Right, right... we should make our escape now."

"B-but what about our battle!" Barry protested.

"Wouldn't it be a nuisance if the tower was collapsing around us in the middle of battle though?" Palmer said to Barry. "We'll just have to put it off until I get a new one, alright?"

"Fine..." Barry muttered, then finally reached for a pokeball as well. Dawn and Barry each released their typical flight-ready pokemon, a staraptor each, and Palmer released a dragonite from his pokeball. The dragon pokemon that appeared before Palmer looked like the type of dragon one might see in a children's television series, looking bulky and completely non-threatening.

It was when everyone's pokemon were released that the entire room slowly began to tilt.

"Crap! No time to be taking this lightly!" Palmer said, finally realizing the severity of the situation. "Dragonite, blast us an exit with Hyper Beam!" Palmer pointed toward the southern end of the room, which was now slowly becoming the ceiling. Dragonite nodded and opened its mouth to fire a massive energy beam, blasting out a large section of the wall.

"Azelf, we're getting out of here! You should get back in your pokeball now!" Azelf nodded in agreement with Barry. Barry quickly recalled Azelf and put its pokeball back on his belt then turned to his staraptor. "Okay, Staraptor, take us out of here!" he said to it, then jumped on its back. Staraptor quickly spread out its wings and took off, flying out through the hole in the wall.

Dawn was quick to jump on her bird pokemon's back as well and pointed toward the hole. "Captain Falcon, we're leaving! Now!" Captain Falcon didn't need to be told twice. With a flap of his wings he quickly took off, flying through the hole in the wall and into the open air beyond..."

"..." the referee was mumbling over and over in the meantime.

"Aw, quit your whimpering and come on already!" Palmer motioned for Dragonite to grab him, which it promptly did, and then jumped on Dragonite's back. "Alright, let's get out of here!" Dragonite nodded and took off through the hole, escaping the tower. The three pokemon remained hovering in the air outside, their trainers watching as the tower toppled over below them.

"Well that came from out of nowhere... I hope everyone else made it out okay," Dawn said.

"I think they did. Look down there," Barry pointed toward the ground in the distance. A group of people, many of which were recognizably participants from the day's battles, were gathered a safe distance from the tower.

Without another word, all three trainers directed their pokemon to land where the group was gathered. As they were flying through the air the tower finally hit the ground. The entire area shook from the impact and a large cloud of dust and debris rose up from the remains of the tower, completely blotting it from view. none of the debris reached the crowd of onlookers, though.

"Hey! Glad to see everyone made it out okay!" Palmer said when he landed next to the crowd. "How did everyone know to evacuate though?"

"Well no one was going to stick around when they saw the giant robot barreling toward the building," Lucas, one of the trainers among the crowd, replied flatly.

"Giant robot?" Dawn asked in confusion. She was suddenly picturing a giant mecha had walked up to the tower and punched it over. A rumbling noise was soon heard coming from the tower debris and, instead of a giant mecha, what looked more like an oversized spidertank emerged from the debris practically unscathed. Everyone quickly turned around to finally see who the culprit responsible for collapsing the Battle Tower was.

"A... giant robot spider?" Palmer scratched his head in confusion. "Now there's something you don't see everyday..."

"If it was some kind of pokemon, that would be different but..." Dawn added.

A hatch on the top of the tank then suddenly opened and a familiar, gray-haired figure popped out of it. "Hmm... not quite the crowd I was expecting, but I see three of the trainers responsible for defeating Team Galactic are gathered here..."

"Charon!" Dawn said in disbelief. "But you were captured by the International Police! I was there!"

"It seems there are individuals out there who require the services of the great Charon," the old man said with a wide grin on his face. "I was broken out of custody and given this one chance to have a little fun before I join them. So, as payback for all the humiliation I suffered through, you will all die before my new and improved..."

"What! Are you serious, you old coot?" Palmer called out, chuckling to himself. "Have you even thought about what you're up against here?"

"Of course I have!" Charon shot back indignantly. "I have made all the necessary modifications to..."

"He means you're outnumbered," Lucas said flatly as he stepped forward. "Why don't you open your eyes and look before you open that big mouth of your's? Some of the top trainers in the region are gathered here. Some of us even have legendary pokemon."

"HA! Even all your power combined would be unable to scratch my beautiful creation!" Charon boldly declared.

"Then perhaps we could lend a hand?" Another man's voice called out. Before anyone could find the source of that voice a blue glow suddenly surrounded Charon and hoisted him into the air.

"What? No! Stop! Put me down!" Charon protested, flailing uselessly. Now that he was in the air, though, he could clearly see the four trainers standing behind the crowd. An alakazam stood near one of the trainers, using its psychic power to hold Charon in the air. "The Elite Four! But why!"

"We were out looking for a certain hotshot trainer," the red-haired Flint explained with a grin. "Naturally, we came running when we saw the Battle Tower suddenly collapse."

Charon growled and looked down at his machine, then pointed at the Elite Four. "X-ATM100! Get them!" The tank's eyes flashed in response, acknowledging the command and charging toward the group of trainers. Before it could reach them, though, the ground suddenly began to split apart under it. The machine's front legs reached solid ground, but the back legs slipped into the fissure and threatened to pull it in. On the other side of the fissure a black hippo pokemon burst out of the ground. The fissure then closed tightly around the robot, holding it in place.

"My, quite reckless for such an old man, aren't you?" Bertha said, chuckling to herself. "But your robot isn't nearly as difficult an opponent as you make it out to be. An insect could defeat it."

"Hey! Some of us take offense to that, lady!" Aaron said angrily, but then grinned. "Totally right, though! Vespiquen, go!" Aaron took a pokeball in his hand and released the queen bee pokemon from it. "Vespiquen, Attack Order! Have those larvae of your's cause some trouble from the inside!"

Vespiquen nodded and buzzed the command to her larvae. Dozens of small, single-bodied versions of the pokemon combee began to pour out of her body. The larvae flew toward the robot and found their way in through the open hatch. The robot then began to twitch and spark as the larvae began tearing it apart from the inside.

"Flareon, go!" Flint then called out, joining the battle. He aimed past the crowd and released his Flareon near the fissure. "Flareon, heat that thing up with Flamethrower!" Flareon complied, opening its mouth and releasing a blast of intensely hot flames to heat up the robot. The metal it was made of was proving to be quite resistant to the heat, but that changed when Flareon directed the flames toward the robot's back. A grinding and cracking noise could be heard as the robot's frame began to give way to the heat and pressure.

"Heh. The Elite Four are making this look easy. I'm kinda jealous," Palmer said with a grin, then took a pokeball in his hand. "Well in that case, my turn now! Rhyperior, get out here!" The pokeball opened and a giant, red-armored rock pokemon appeared before Palmer.

"Rhyperior, finish this mechanical monstrosity off with a good Earthquake!" Rhyperior roared and raised a foot, then stamped the ground to send out a massive shockwave toward the fissure. The ground began to crack and break while the fissure closed in more around the robot, slowly breaking the robot until it finally shut down.

"And with that, it seems this incident is resolved quite handily," Lucian said quietly, then adjusted his glasses. "Needless to say, we'll be taking you back into custody now..."

In spite of his predicament, Charon could only grin. "Is that so? I think you underestimate my benefactor!"

"Benefactor?" Lucian repeated in confusion. Suddenly he caught sight of a flash of light from the corner of his eyes and heard his Alakazam crying out in pain. When he turned he saw electricity coursing around his pokemon's body, causing it immense pain. A small pokemon then moved quickly past it, moving so fast it was practically a blur as it shot past them to reach Charon. With Alakazam distracted, the old man unceremoniously fell to the ground.

"You've had your fun, old man," a voice said. A young boy wearing a white face mask and a black Team Rocket uniform then dropped down next to him, gliding in on a mantine. The pokemon that had attacked Alakazam - a dark orange raichu - came to a stop next to Charon. "Now, the newly formed Team Rocket requires your technical knowledge..."

"Hmph..." Charon stood up and quickly dusted himself off. "I suppose I don't have a choice now, do I?"

"Hey! Wait just a second!" Palmer yelled to them. "Do you really think we're letting you go so easily!"

The blonde-haired, masked Rocket turned and glared at him from behind the mask. "You're not getting a choice in the matter," he said definitively. He then took a small black ball from his pocket and threw it to the ground, putting up a smoke cloud around the two. When the smoke cleared, they had all disappeared.

"Damn it!" Palmer growled and punched the ground. "Those bastards destroyed my tower and got away with it too!"

"You still owe me a battle!" Barry said to him. "Tower or no tower!"

Palmer sighed and stood up, then turned and flashed his son a grin. "Well we'll just have to have our battle at my new tower in Johto! And no tournament this time, just you and me!"

"Works for me!" Barry replied enthusiastically.

"Shouldn't we be a bit more worried about that Team Rocket thing?" Dawn asked, looking around.

"It will be something for the league to look into, yes," Lucian said as he stepped through the crowd. "However, it seems they teleported away somehow. They may not even be in Sinnoh. A team will be called in to investigate, but I believe the rest of us have somewhere else to be..."

"That's right!" Aaron yelled, raising his hand in the air. "We've got a party to get to!"

"There's always room for more, too," Flint said to the crowd of trainers gathered. "So why don't you all come by the Resort Area to celebrate the crowning of Sinnoh's newest champion? And this totally isn't in any way an attempt to ensure no one tries to get out of giving a report of the incident!" The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. Slowly, everyone turned to face Dawn.

"What?" Dawn asked, blinking in confusion. "Is everyone waiting for me to say it?"

"Well, it IS your party," Lucas said to her. Another trainer, Riley, then spoke up as well.

"As tempting as the offer is, it wouldn't be right for us to attend without your permission, would it?" he said, flashing a smile.

"Well I don't see why not..." Dawn replied. "Somehow, I know everyone here. And it's not like space is an issue. So, sure, why don't you all come to my party?" Dawn forced a smile as she said this. Truthfully, the idea of having so many guests bothered her. On the other hand, she felt bad that all the trainers gathered had participated in Palmer's sorry excuse for a tournament.

"Well, you heard the girl, folks!" Flint said with a grin. "Let's all head to Dawn's party!"

With that, everyone made their way to Dawn's villa. Today would mark the second party to have taken place at the villa in the short time Dawn had it for. The girl quietly hoped this wasn't going to become a trend.

The day after the party at her villa was over and the cleanup was done with, Dawn found herself preparing for one more advanture. She was expected to meet with May, Melany, Ashley, and Rina to deal with her legendary pokemon. Arceus in particular. Travelling to the Sanctuary, which was situated in the ocean between Hoenn and Johto, meant travelling across Johto. Since it would be her first time to a new region, Dawn was thinking she would take her time and see the sights. So before leaving, she decided to make a call. However...

"No response from Rina either..." Dawn let out a sigh as she set her phone down. "I just tried all four of them but no response. Don't they always have those pokenav things with them?" Dawn pondered over her dilemma for a moment and shrugged.

"Maybe they get no signal behind that barrier or something. I'll just leave and try again later..."

And so Dawn began packing for a trip across Johto to visit the Sanctuary, not yet knowing the truth about why the other girls weren't answering her call...

Author's Notes: I had originally intended to have the Johto Saga ready to go for today but... well... that just didn't fly. I wasn't able to get much done on the first Johto chapter in the weeks leading up to this and trying to work on two chapters this week... well, I ended up struggling to get just one short chapter done in the end. A headache and other distractions didn't help either.

So, instead of starting this week, the Johto Saga will be starting up next Sunday.

With that being said... FINALLY! The Sinnoh Saga is done! These last few chapters feel kinda tacked on I think, but it wouldn't feel right if I left Sinnoh without doing something with Palmer. So I tried to have a little fun with it instead, with the exception of this last chapter. This chapter was intended to give a bit of a glimpse into what would be going on in the Johto saga. Originally that part at the end was going to have Dawn arriving at the island instead and showing what was going on there, but then I realized she basically had to go through Johto anyway. So I used a phone call instead.

Anyway, that's it! Saga over, look forward to the next and final saga starting next week when I post the first chapter of Pokemon Legends: Region Zero. Yeah, trying to use a more meaningful name for this one. Probably too little, too late, but whatever...