FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Before long, the three of them approached another blockade. It looked similar to the same doors they encountered on Sorbet Mountain and at Faldera Volcano that led to Articuno and Moltres, respectively.

"It looks like this is the last door before Zapdos," Pichu observed. "Those Pinchers will be waiting for us, and Purple Eyes is likely there as well." He hopped off Ben and looked at the door. "Let me guess... Since Entei and Suicune's signs were used already, Raikou's sign is probably the key here."

Summer and Ben pointed their stylers at the door and drew Raikou's sign. Once they finished, the door opened up.

"The Pinchers are likely unaware of what has happened. This could allow you to surprise them and thwart their operations," the Voice Navigator suggested.

"That's true, but how do we go in without letting them know?" Ben wondered.

"Hmm... Going in like we are will probably cause a massive panic. We can't have anyone falling off the cliff... Oh! How about this?" Summer flew in front of Ben and Pichu. She closed her eyes as her body glowed in a dim white light. Eventually the light grew prominent enough to obscure the latias's body from the other pokémon.

"Summer, what are you doing?" Ben wondered. He could vaguely make out the change in her form to that of a human's. When the light dimmed, he and Pichu were shocked to see Summer standing before them in her ranger clothes. "S-Summer...? How did you do that?"

"That same voice from our dream spoke to me again on our way here, and when it was done, I figured out how to do this," she explained. "I'm not really touching the ground, though, and I'm not sure if this illusion has a time limit."

"An illusion, huh? What did this... voice... say?" Pichu asked warily, not sure about Summer's unknown assistant.

"Basically, all we have to do is imagine what or who we want to look like, then focus on it. Give it a try, Ben."

"All right." Ben did as suggested and was surprised to find that he looked like he used to again. "I don't feel any different," he remarked disappointingly as he looked himself over, "but I guess it will work."

"What's wrong, Ben?" Pichu asked, hopping off of him. "Why the long face?"

"I guess I just miss being... well, myself. I can't help it, it's just..." he trailed off.

"I get it," Summer said. "You just don't feel right, right? It's been several hours since this happened, and it's a really big deal. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg." She grabbed Ben's right hand and looked at him. "When this is over, we'll look for a way to be human again, I promise. Right now, we have a very important mission, Ben, and we can't afford to let this stand in our way."

"...You're right," he responded after a moment of silence. "I'm just worried about the future, that's all. I'll save my questions for now." He took a deep breath and went through the entrance to the mountain peak, with Summer and Pichu soon following.

---

They hid behind a rock and observed Purple Eyes and his Steelhead henchmen standing before a sleeping Zapdos, who was protected by a miniature version of the storm. One of them was using the magic of their armor to weaken the shielding around it considerably.

"Any moment now," the Steelhead said as he worked, "and Zapdos should awaken and join Moltres and Articuno in the sky." Both rangers picked up on the minion's low complaint about the armor becoming more difficult to wear and sighed in worry.

"Finally... the moment I've been waiting for has come. The fear that will grip Oblivia will be boundless!" Purple Eyes exclaimed. Ben and Summer nodded to each other, deciding now was the perfect time to appear.

"Halt!" the two rangers shouted as they entered the scene.

"Well, this is a surprise. You actually got through those horrid thunderclouds," Purple Eyes commended as he faced them. Despite his surprise, he remained calm. "Your voices sound oddly higher in pitch than I remember, but no matter."

"Stop this right now!" Summer ordered. "You're making a huge mistake."

The purple-clad man frowned and snapped his fingers. "We'll see about that. Get rid of them!" Two of the three Steelhead stepped forward and blocked the rangers' view of Purple Eyes. He turned to face Zapdos. "Once Zapdos wakes up and takes flight, it will rise just as it did before." The armored Pinchers put their hands together and focused, summoning two magneton and a magnezone to them. Ben and Summer activated their Stylers and closed their eyes. Before long, all three pokémon were held by light purple light that completely stopped them.

"What in the world?!" the Steelhead cried in alarm and frustration. "Work, armor! This isn't supposed to happen!" Pichu smirked and played his ukulele while the rangers performed the capture. The mind-controlled pokémon left just as fast as they came, and the rangers opened their eyes. The Steelhead backed away from them, unable to comprehend what just happened. Moments later, the third Steelhead brushed past them and shook his head.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You call yourselves elite? I'll show you." With the same gesture as the others, he summoned two luxray to the field. The rangers recognized one of them as the same luxray they met earlier. Ben frowned as he figured the poor pokémon was ambushed by the Pinchers.

The Steelhead was quickly met with the same disappointment and frustration as the others. Not only did Ben, Summer, and Pichu free the luxray, one of them even ran to the rangers' side. "Unreal..." he murmured, a tone of horror in his voice. "These are not ordinary rangers..." He backed off, exposing their leader once more. Said leader turned around in agitation.

"Ugh, getting rid of two kids should not be a problem!" Purple Eyes said, annoyed. "You three are useless!"

"I guess it never occurred to him that he isn't dealing with ordinary kids," Pichu said. The others chuckled, fully aware of the truth. Purple Eyes was too caught up in his anger to notice their laughter and stepped forward.

"I suppose I will have to deal with you myself," he stated as he dusted himself. "As the best the Pinchers has to offer, I will defeat you. You two will be long gone when it rises." After he posed, a metagross dropped onto the battlefield, having been delivered via airdrop. There was a visibly blank look in its eyes, indicating it was not its usual self. Both rangers and their partners tensed as he whipped out his Capture Gauntlet and pointed at them. "Good-bye, rangers."

"We probably shouldn't try too many techniques on Metagross. We still need to get the hang of them," the disguised latios muttered. "Neither of us have a fire-type attack we can use to lower its defenses. What should we do, Summer?"

"We'll just have to be extra careful, Ben," Summer replied. At that point, Luxray stepped forward. Pichu was on his back.

"I know you're actually Latias and Latios because Pichu is with you. I'd like to help you again, if you wouldn't mind," he offered confidently. "How do the humans say it? You scratched my back, so now it's time I scratched yours."

"We'll accept any help, Luxray," Ben said, "but what can you do?"

"Just cover me," he explained. "I'll do the rest." Ben and Summer nodded to each other and readied their Stylers. Ben ran to one side while Summer remained still. He launched his capture disc at the pokémon, managing to create eleven loops before the pokémon attacked and broke his line. He just barely managed to avoid the beam of energy headed his way.

"I wonder..." Summer closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She pointed her Styler at Luxray and Pichu and looped a glowing capture disc around them once. The two pokémon gained a pink glow. She smiled in satisfaction. "Now's your chance! Go!" she ordered. Luxray lunged at Metagross, fiery fangs bared, and bit down on one of the legs, burning it badly. The controlled Metagross roared in pain before it retaliated with a Hyper Beam. Pichu then jumped onto Metagross's head as Luxray braced himself for the impact. To his surprise, he saw that the attack had stopped before it could hit him.

"Huh? What's going on?" he wondered. He received even more of a surprise when the beam disintegrated before him. The Gleam Eyes pokémon was about to question it when he remembered who he was working with, and his confusion quickly turned into awe. Summer and Ben continued to draw loops around their foe.

"What a surprising development," Purple Eyes snarled, fumbling with his gauntlet, "but that won't stop me. Metagross, spam Hyper Beam!" Metagross gathered a lot of power in its mouth, then shot miniature beams indiscriminately to meet its master's demand. Everyone was forced to seek whatever cover was available. Summer was knocked away by one of the beams, but Luxray caught her before she could go off the cliff.

"Now!" Ben shouted. Pichu stood up and played his ukulele. His paws deftly controlled the strings, and a harmonious melody soon appeared. He built up electricity as he played faster and faster. Once the music was as fast as possible, he let loose a powerful Thunder Shock attack. Thanks to the power of the storm, it was able to disorient the metagross enough to stop its Hyper Beam barrage. As soon as he jumped off, a stray lightning bolt struck Metagross, weakening it further for the two rangers to finish the capture and send it away. At that point, Purple Eyes's gauntlet broke from the overload and fell to the rocky floor. Horrified and outraged, he backed away and fell to his knees as the rangers and their pokémon cheered.

"That... that's impossible..." he grunted. He looked at the still-sleeping Zapdos in anguish. "This world... I nearly had it... It was almost mine!" He became angry as he faced the thunder bird and its miniature storm. "Why won't you wake up?! There's no barrier, and we even made a lot of noise!"

"Zapdos must be a heavy sleeper," Pichu mused. "Now we just need to-"

"This is embarrassing, Purple Eyes." Everyone looked around for the source of the interrupting voice. Suddenly, a large vehicle descended upon the scene. In it sat one figure who remained unseen to everyone except Purple Eyes, who appeared shocked to see the person. "I had a lot of faith in you, but no more. This world was never meant to be yours. Remember your place as a pawn in our plan." The pokémon, save Luxray, could not help but feel they heard that person's voice before, though at the moment nothing came to mind.

"But-"

"My sources tell me your knowledge was not what got us this far. Rather, it was Professor Leanne who guided us. To make things worse," the figure continued, "you couldn't even use the treasure we provided well enough. This is the last straw for you. You are no longer what our society needs."

"What?!" he cried out, outraged by this turn of events. The vehicle hovered over Zapdos and deployed a large control device. Neither ranger was sure they could do anything to the armored vehicle the person drove.

"I'll take it from here." The figure pressed a button, causing the machine to shoot a ray at the sleeping Zapdos. "Zapdos! Heed my command! Awaken, and give us the power we seek!" A large pink aura surrounded Zapdos, and eventually, to the rangers' dismay, it awakened. With a mighty cry, electricity erupted all around it, and it took flight.

"No! Zapdos!" Summer cried futilely. She would have tried to get close were it not for Ben and the others holding her back. The vehicle then hovered near the disguised Eon pokémon.

"Well, it took more time than I expected," the mysterious person mused, "but eventually those young Pinchers' efforts made a difference. It worked, so no complaints here."

"Who are you?" Summer asked. "What are you planning?"

"Come down here and show yourself," Ben added. Both of them glared at the vehicle as the rider chuckled.

"Ben, Summer... you'll know in due time. Farewell for now." Before they could ask how the figure knew their names, the vehicle sped off.

"I've got a bad feeling about that man," Ben said. Suddenly both of their Stylers vibrated, prompting them to check them.

"Residual energy has been traced to the vehicle. Vehicle signal has been identified," the voice navigator announced.

"It looks like we have a lock on that guy's signal. We should chase after him once we're done here," Summer suggested.

"What about Purple Eyes and the Steelhead?" Pichu asked.

"Don't worry. Their gauntlets have been overloaded, so they won't be controlling any more pokémon," Ben assured. "We should go back down to keep our promise first." To the utter astonishment of the Steelhead and Purple Eyes, Ben and Summer shed their disguises and flew back to the base of the mountain with the other pokémon in tow.