Red the Conqueror 23

Red and Blue, Latios and Latias, trainers and their Pokémon who fought together as one, a strange pair of pairs, sibling dragons belonging to a pair of trainers that didn't quite know where the line between lovers and friends really lay, and neither really cared all that much.

Before them was a challenge mightier than any other they had encountered thus far. A powerful pair of beasts commanded by a man who was more beast than person himself, the kingpin of all crime in all of Kanto, Leader of Team Rocket and the boss of the very operation that had been disrupted under Celadon, under the Gym Leader's own nose...

The twin dragons were fast, but their opponents were sturdy and mighty, and their trainer commanded them swiftly, not to dodge, but to brace for impact.

"Luster Purge!" Blue called, pointing her finger at Rhyperior.

Red pointed his hand forward, three fingers extended, at Garchomp.

Both dragons executed their orders, Latias following Red's command, launching a mighty Dragon Pulse attack, a beam of power that ripped through the air like a mighty energy blast, while Latios, following Blue's command, created a sphere of incredibly concentrated psychic power and launched it as a beam with immense speed and strength at the Rhyperior.

Attempting to dodge would've been foolish. Garchomp might be able to match the flight speed of a jet plane, but it couldn't accelerate to that speed instantly, in fact its acceleration and reflexes were not particularly great and paled in comparison to what Latios and Latias could achieve. Different kinds of speed that lent themselves to different kinds of combat, and in the close quarters of the arena prepared by Giovanni, it seemed at first like the higher acceleration of the Eon dragons would grant them an edge over the slow Rhyperior and the specialized Garchomp...

But when the attacks landed, it became immediately obvious that Giovanni was no fool, and he had trained his pokémon's strengths to deal with their weaknesses, as each of them blocked and endured the attack, not quite with the effect of a Protect, but diminishing the impact greatly.

"Do not think that levitation renders you immune to ground moves!" Giovanni roared, "Rhyperior, knock them out of the sky!"

"Dodge!" Blue called, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth.

Red swept his hand in the direction he intended Latias to move to.

However, Rhyperior's hand holes spat out rocks that broke up into many small stone bullets, like flak in the sky, which managed to strike the Eon Dragons as they tried to move out of the way of the attack, as they cut the initial attack too close.

The disrupted movement caused their flight paths to become predictable, and their speed to lower considerably, and the second shot that landed actually knocked both of them off the air, exploding over and on top of them and the force causing them to be sent crashing to the ground.

"EARTHQUAKE!!" Giovanni shouted.

Garchomp made a small jump into the air and then slammed its hind claws on the ground with an absolutely mind boggling amount of force, a literally earthshaking amount of force even, which literally knocked Red and Blue off their feet, making them feel only a very slight amount of the force the attack carried, a ripple of power that went through the ground and seemed to reach the borders of the arena before suddenly all the strength of the ripple bounced and came back, focusing on two spots, the multiplied and increased force striking directly under Latios and Latias, causing the ground under them to rupture and explode, sending them flying into the air from the sheer force of the impact.

"Latios!! Get a hold of yourself, don't touch the ground again!"

Red grunted, closing his eyes.

The Eon Dragons almost miraculously caught themselves in the air, and using their mighty psychic powers, prevented another fall, granting themselves levitation once more and then beginning to move to avoid the Rhyperior anti-air artillery platform that was once again trying to knock them out of the sky.

Only this time, Garchomp took to the air. Without psychic flight, it had to rely on its more physical ability, and there really wasn't enough space for Garchomp to accelerate to a speed where it could even think of catching up to the Eon Dragons, but what it did have was determination and the clear knowledge of how to use the environment to its advantage, using its powerful wings and its incredible leg power to actually use assisted jumps as motion, leaping to the walls, speeding up its flight considerably as it bounced from wall to wall like a pinball machine.

"Slash them out of the air!!"

The Eon Dragons were now caught between the slashing claws at the tips of Garchomp's wings, and the rocks that were even now firing at them from the ground.

Red crouched, then slammed his fist on the ground.

Latias immediately stopped, right before Garchomp would've slashed at her midsection even, and then looked down at the ground and gathered a flurry of her own down, wrapping them into a tight ball with her psychic power, and then launching it where she had been looking. The sphere, a Mist Ball, exploded into a strange mist that reflected the air strangely, and in fact, made it impossible to see through.

It was a mist of very finely crushed Latias Down, the very same covering that allowed Latias to become invisible if she were to will it so, and that meant that nothing could be seen by anyone but Latias herself, Latias, and of course, the trainer whom she was psychically linked to.

"Garchomp, keep moving and slashing forward, remain in the air as little as possible!! Rhyperior, switch to defense!!"

"They're wide open!! Dragon Pulse on Garchomp!!" Blue shouted, pointing exactly where she expected Garchomp to jump at, making an accurate judgment.

Giovanni, of course, couldn't see through the mist, but they could, and Latios waited until exactly the moment where Garchomp landed as Blue had predicted, and with a blast of purple energy and draconic power, Latios struck Garchomp as revenge for the pain caused by the Earthquake earlier.

For her part, Latias was using her immense speed to blitz past Rhyperior, which was braced with both its arms up, using their large size and the thick cover of rock and tough hide on them to try to prevent damage, but even if it tried to listen for Latias' movements, she was simply too fast, and even without the mist, her body had become invisible in and of itself, blending perfectly with the downy mist that covered the arena.

She slipped past Rhyperior and used her psychic power to create another Mist Ball, blasting the unaware Pokémon from behind, sending it flying forward, as it was totally unprepared for a blast from behind.

Both Garchomp and Rhyperior hit the ground at around the same time the mist dissipated, though they were both getting back up just as quickly as they fell.

"If you think you'll defeat me easily, you really are children!!" Giovanni cried. "These are my partners, whom I've raised since they were eggs, I personally selected them from their litters and worked with them every day... I'll show you your place, beneath me, the strongest Trainer!!"

Red gestured with his hand.

Blue nodded.

Latios and Latias opened their mouths, and a double pronged attack was launched, a Luster Purge and a Mist Ball, the signature moves of both Eon Dragons, one taking the form of a mighty psychic beam and the other a spherical bomb...

"Rhyperior!! Do it!!"

Garchomp suddenly crouched, making itself small, wrapping its arms around its body as if it was trying to look like an egg at around the same time as Rhyperior threw its hands on each side, covering Garchomp as it took both attacks, testament to its incredible durability, it actually managed to remain standing even as it took both attacks from both sides.

Unconscious.

Fainted.

But even so the unmovable rock stood, protecting its partner from the attacks coming towards it from either side.

And most importantly, buying time for Garchomp.

"Show these wannabes your wrath, Garchomp!! Outrage!!!" Giovanni roared, throwing his hands up as if he, himself, was feeling the rage overwhelm him.

With a courage-breaking and spirit-rending cry, Garchomp launched itself as a whirling ball of claws, teeth and wings towards Latias, slamming into her, scratching, biting and crushing her, the incredible force of its attack culminating with a tail swipe that sent her flying and slamming into a wall, knocking her out immediately upon the hit.

Red was moving just a second later, ducking into the clouds of mist that had been kicked up when Garchomp disturbed the settling clouds.

Blue didn't even have a chance to cry out a warning, Latios was already trying to move, but in its overpowering and wrathful madness, Garchomp overcame its acceleration weakness and managed to catch onto Latios, snatching him out of the sky and forcing the battle down into the ground, crashing into it so hard that a dust cloud rose alongside the screeches of pain and rage of the two dragons.

The dust settled, and the Ground Dragon type emerged victorious, roaring in hatred and anger and not an inconsiderable amount of pain as it thrashed about, lost to its own madness and damaging itself in its confusion.

"Garchomp - get a hold of yourself!!" Giovanni shouted. "CONTROL YOUR ANGER!!"

With one last roar, Garchomp slammed its head into the ground, taking a massive amount of damage but, with that hit, knocking its brains back into place and then standing up, beaten, battered and on the verge of unconsciousness itself, but even so, it stood as the lone conscious pokémon.

"Do you understand the situation now, children!?" Giovanni roared, laughing. "It's over for you!! You never stood a chance!" he cried, laughing.

And then, a beam of power struck Garchomp from behind, carrying it into the wall and then exploding. A Dragon Pulse, coming from the mists.

There, Red stood, arms crossed, next to a very beat up and battered, but still conscious, Latias. Scratches and wounds littered her entire coat, and her wings, normally stiff, were drooping. Yet she slowly rose. Her body might have been nearly broken, but her mind was sharp, her power plentiful.

The power of a psychic type was never to be underestimated.

"No!! This cannot be!" Giovanni shouted. "Rhyperior, Garchomp - this cannot be!!"

His voice dropped low, he clenched his fists and grit his teeth, his lips curling to show his displeasure.

"That's it. You're beaten..." Blue said, walking to where her Latios had been hit into a crater, crouching down beside him and placing her hands on his body. Weakly, Latios came back to consciousness, and slowly but surely, responded to her worried touches with a wave of psychic comfort, a message of satisfaction and an apology...

Blue smiled warmly.

"You fool," she muttered, "you did more than good enough..."

Giovanni seemed to calm, then, wiping at his suit and then pulling his pokéballs out, recovering Garchomp and Rhyperior.

"So be it then," he said. "Your names..."

"I'm Blue, and he's Red," Blue said, standing up. "The ones who beat you, remember our names."

"That, I shall," he said, "you're the children... no, you're the trainers who broke into my business and destroyed my operation," he said, clenching his fist. "I'll remember that."

"You're going nowhere," Blue said. "All the exits are blocked! I made sure of it!"

Giovanni threw his head back and laughed. "Don't make me laugh. I am the greatest Ground Type trainer this sorry nation has ever seen!" he shouted, as he pulled out a third Pokéball and threw it down. "Sandslash!! Dig our way out of here!"

White light took the shape of a porcupine with extremely sharp and wicked looking claws, which took one glance at the situation then heard the orders from its trainer, diving behind Giovanni's desk, at which point a lead became visible, tied to the pokémon's body and then immediately breaking through the metal wall like it was paper with its claws, Giovanni grabbing onto the lead and being pulled along by it, into a newly formed tunnel.

"Here's one last parting gift!!"

The man put a hand inside his suit as he began to follow after his pokémon.

"Self Destruct Activated. Collapse imminent. All personnel evacuate immediately. Self Destruct Activated. Collapse imminent. All personnel evacuate immediately. This is not a drill. Self Destruct Activated-"

"Red!!" Blue called, panicking as she grabbed her Pokéballs to try to find Latios'.

Red nodded, and recalled Latias.

The tunnel Giovanni went through collapsed first.

The only thing they could do was just rush out of the building as fast as they could. As they ran, it quickly became evident that a lot of the people they thought they'd managed to capture were gone, when they checked in to make sure that they got everyone and didn't leave anyone to die.

In an almost blind panic, they made it all the way out, as the tunnels that connected the outside world to the Rocket hideout underneath the Game Corner were taken out.

Both Blue and Red crashed out from the fake wall, at which point they were greeted by Erika, Gym Leader of Celadon, and what appeared to be some young women that were trying and failing to fake being normal people and not gym trainers, dressed like stereotypical street walkers, beauty queens and one of them even had a kimono that looked cheap and tacky compared to Erika's rather simple and subdued but classy and high quality getup.

"I... suppose we are a little late," Erika said. "Good news, we captured... a lot of Grunts," she said.

"Bad news, the big bad himself escaped," Blue said. "We had him against the ropes, but he dug his way out and collapsed the tunnels behind himself."

Erika closed her eyes.

"I suspected they might," she muttered. "Nonetheless... at least this operation is ruined. I don't know if I can thank you enough," she said, bringing her hands together, "but I can think of a couple of ways in which I might be able to, ah, get started on paying off my debt."

"Oh you know just how to talk to us," Blue said. "How about a meal and a hot shower first?" she asked. "I could really do with a new change of clothes too," she said.

"You got it," Erika said. "You don't mind wearing some of my clothes until I can take you shopping, right? My treat."

"You're kidding? I'd pay for the privilege if I had any money to do it with!" Blue said.

Erika gave a girlish giggle that didn't quite fit with the demeanor she'd shown until then. "Let's go then. You guys, secure the Corner and prepare the scene for the investigators. If you think you can recover the collapsed tunnel, give it a go, but don't put yourselves or structural integrity at risk."

"Yes, ma'am!"

The gym trainers dispersed.

"Shall we?" Erika said, offering her hands to Red and Blue.

The two exhausted trainers took them, and together with Erika, headed off to a place of rest, satisfied that they had done all they could, but prepared still for the future where they might once again face Giovanni and, perhaps, bring him to justice then...

For an appropriate reward, of course.