Chapter Eighteen: Who Needs Enemies?



Gary's POV



Okay, so I knew from what Shu told me that Giratina could emerge from any suitably large reflective surface. And I knew from what Terra told me that this red-haired bad guy had dominated Giratina and was using her for nothing good.



But I did NOT expect Red Hair and Giratina to show up in my gramps' underground garage, for one extremely good reason: I had no reason to believe they even knew we had a garage.



"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask.



Red Hair grins. "We're taking back what doesn't belong to you. Something no human should have ever created."



I glance at the Zero-One. "Seriously? A go-kart?"



Red Hair shakes his head. "We're not interested in the kart. We're interested in what's inside it."



Before I can yell a warning, Giratina turns and fires a blast of energy at the Zero-One. To my horror, the machine is engulfed in flames, spewing horrible black smoke into the garage. Coughing, Gladion and I pull our shirts up over our noses to breathe without pain.



Undaunted, Giratina stomps over to the burning wreckage of the Zero-One, nosing around in the chassis. With a mighty stomp, she tears the front of the Zero-One in two, revealing a strange round object set within its engine.



"The Jade Orb," Red Hair says breathlessly, ignoring the noxious smoke. "Created from meteorites to control Rayquaza. Well, we don't need the likes of a 'Pokemon professor' to use such a thing, do we now?"



Giratina roars, and I can tell from the sound of it that this isn't the Giratina that saved me from drowning. I mean, it is, or at least it used to be. But not anymore.



Now, it's a menace.



"What the hell do you want with that?" Gladion asks, bristling. "Isn't controlling one legendary dragon enough?"



Red Hair laughs. "Just one dragon, enough? Against the tide of humanity? No, my plan requires the full army of the Scales of Balance." He turns, staring us down. "And no witnesses."



Holy crap. Red Hair has Giratina. All I have is a Mirror Charmander. Even with Light's strength against Ghost types, and Gladion's Ultra Pokemon, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to beat this thing back.



"Gary?" Gladion asks, bracing himself into a battle stance. "Run. This is my battle."



I blink. Did he just say... "Run?"



"Go!" Gladion yells, hurling a Poke Ball. From it, a strange new kind of Pokemon emerges, one I've never seen before. A fine crest of glowing feathers rises from its beaked head, and clawed green insectoid forelegs paw and stamp at the ground. Its hind legs are mammalian, and its tail curves with the fin of a ocean-dweller.



I run.



I don't really think I have much of a choice.



---



Gladion's POV



The monster in front of me has a body of polished platinum scales bound with golden coils, the armor of a being with wings of pure gaseous shadow, tipped with crimson claws. Its six massive legs hold up a form that ends in a pointed golden beak, two blood-red eyes, and a golden crown of menace.



"I've seen tougher," I say, and yell out my first order. "Silvally! Ice Fang!"



Silvally lunges, sinking its teeth into the beast's wing. Red Hair hangs on tight to the dragon's back as it flinches, crying out in pain. "Giratina!" he yells defiantly. "Aura Sphere!"



The Aura Sphere hits, knocking Silvally sideways. But we're not finished. "Silvally, use Crunch! Bring the pain!"



Silvally crunches down hard on Giratina's wing, digging in its fangs. Giratina roars again and tries to shake it off, but my Silvally is made of sterner stuff than that. Red Hair not so much; he's clinging to Giratina's back and looks as if he might get shaken off.



But he's not finished yet. "Giratina! Aura Sphere... on the boy!"



Oh snap.



Giratina pulls back its head, a shining sphere appearing in its maw. I remember from the back of my mind that Aura Sphere is impossible to dodge. And no matter what Silvally does, I'm about to eat one.



I reach for my Burst Heart, then realize it's useless. Even if I managed to gain Burst power in time, it'd be super effective on Lycanroc, and I'd lose control of my sanity. Lycanroc can't possibly beat Giratina, even with Crunch.



The Aura Sphere hits, sending me flying straight into a locker door. Pain!



I bounce off the steel and crumble to the ground, clutching my injured chest. I'm pretty sure that broke a few ribs, but I can't stop fighting. I can rest when I'm dead. Which is looking uncomfortably close right now.



"Crunch... again!" I gasp. "Silvally, I know you can do it!"



Silvally bites down hard, this time on one of Giratina's front legs. Giratina roars in pain, and I can see its platinum scales are fractured from the blunt of the blow. A critical hit? Its defenses seem to have dropped, but it's still got plenty of fight in it.



"Giratina, Dragon Tail!" Red Hair orders.



The beast swings its mighty tail, sending Silvally flying across the room. I see the fear in its eyes -- I don't want it injured in a collision, so I quickly retract it into its Poke Ball.



I take stock of my options. Sasha and Twan aren't anywhere near leveled enough to take on a legendary Pokemon, and Sasha's Psychic/Steel typing would be weak against Ghost attacks. There's no way I'm sending out my Pokemon to get killed by something like this, but if I don't defend myself, who knows what will happen to them once this guy gets me out of the way.



Could I live with myself if I send any of my Pokemon to their deaths? I certainly can't live with myself if I don't survive this, that much is certain. But the thought of sending one of my weaker Pokemon against something this strong terrifies me.



If only Ilima were here! He'd know what to do...



"Hey, fangface!" a voice yells from the doorway. "Where's the fire?"



I turn towards the sound, and gasp. Of all the things I'd expected to see just before I died, this wasn't anywhere near making the list.



It's Gary. Holding a fire extinguisher.



Red Hair freezes, not quite sure what to make of this. Gary says something extremely rude about Red Hair's mother and throws the fire extinguisher straight at Giratina's head.



I had no idea he could throw something that heavy so far up.



Giratina, of course, catches the extinguisher in its mouth, crushing it in its golden beak. Which it shouldn't have done, given that a fire extinguisher is pressurized. There's a loud BANG, and foam flies everywhere around the ghost-dragon's mouth, giving it the appearance of rabies. And, I'd like to think, a pretty bad taste in its mouth.



Giratina flails wildly, spitting out foam and gagging at the taste. Red Hair is infuriated. And having a considerably hard time clinging to his pet monster's back.



Before I know it, Gary runs to my side and pulls me up to a standing position. "Run!" he whispers loudly. "Run run run!"



I don't have time to question why the resident jerk is being so altruistic. I just have to run. It hurts to run, but it's gonna hurt a lot worse if I don't. So I run.



And I don't dare look back.



---



Once we get outside, we make a break for the woods. We don't stop running until we can no longer see Pallet Town behind us, and we're sufficiently far away from any large bodies of water that Giratina won't be likely to pop out at us.



"You came back for me," I gasp. "Why?"



Gary shakes his head. "What can I say? I'm sick of losing people."



I can accept that. "You think Team Rocket was after that Jade Orb?"



"As likely as not. Even Gramps isn't quite sure how well the Jade Orb works at controlling Rayquaza, but it certainly attracts the thing. We're probably lucky Rayquaza only destroyed the door."



"Great. Lovely. So now our problems are limited to the psycho with the Giratina who now has the Jade Orb. You think he'll try to use it to steal Rayquaza to his side?"



"Likely as not." Gary wipes the sweat off his face. "But you know what? At least that's not our problem anymore. If Team Rocket and that psycho want to fall out against each other, then darn it, they can do that. Them beating each other up makes our job easier."



"Do you even understand what our job actually is?"



Gary pauses. "Right now: survive. Later: make sure everyone else in this town survives as well."



"You're learning. Now let's get back to the woods and see what Ilima and the others have discovered."