"There it is! Sunyshore City's just ahead now."
Dawn walked ahead with a spring in her step and I wasn't sure if it was because we were close to our destination or something else. May and Elaine followed the blunette as the girls went ahead to scout the entrance to the city.
Once again, Red and I were left to fill in the rear. Now that we were approaching our destination, we had to be on our guard at all times. From what he had told me, Sunyshore City had become a new hot zone for all of these terrorist organisations. It was one thing having to deal with them individually, but now that they seemed to be working with each other, we had a whole new heap of problems.
"..."
Red was right. The criminals we had fought against for years were only now working together. We should consider ourselves fortunate that they didn't have the brainpower to figure out that they were better off working together in the first place. But I guessed that's where egos and pride got in the way, both things we were fortunate not to have.
If anything, I would be more scared of the five of us working together because everyone knows that the best of us is bought out when we have people fighting alongside us.
"Hey guys, over here."
Elaine's hushed voice caught our attention and as we looked over, the three girls were crouched down beside the entrance to the city's gates, hiding under the trees near some smaller bushes. Confused, I looked between where they were positioned and the open city gate in front of me. I quickly realised that they must have spotted the uniformed guards patrolling the entrance to the city.
Quickly, Red and I crouched down beside the girls, the five of us thinking of a plan of action. I looked back to the city's gate noticing something out of place.
"Don't you think those guys are acting a little weird?"
The group followed my gaze and upon looking a second time, it became clear that the guards were indeed acting strange. Their actions seemed robotic and regimented as if they had lost their human elements. Neither of the two guards were wearing a uniform that belonged to a terrorist group, each wearing the usual navy blue outfit of a police officer.
They hadn't spoken a word to each other in the five minutes we had been watching them which made everything all the more strange.
"Well that's really weird. Man, we really can't catch a break." May collapsed to the floor, sitting on the grassy side path. She let out a deep sigh which was reflected on all of our faces.
"I'm guessing a pokemon's controlling them because that definitely isn't natural." I spoke my thoughts, the group agreeing with my quick hypothesis. "We should assume the rest of the city is going to be like this so we have to move carefully."
After a decent amount of planning, we decided that it would be safer to avoid the city's entrance gate. I wouldn't have forgiven myself or anyone else if we had walked into such an obvious trap.
Atop the backs of our flying pokemon, we flew over the surrounding mountains landing on a small hill beside the city's market hall. Now that we were inside, we could clearly see that the streets of the city were filled with people going about their days as usual.
Even though everything looked normal, the five of us were still hesitant to descend the hill. Just as I was about to speak out, something caught Red's attention.
The rest of the group followed his gaze, we could see that in the middle of one of the streets, a uniformed guard was holding a young child by his wrist. A few feet away, a woman I assumed to be his mother was pleading for the guard to let go of the boy. But, the robotic guard wasn't listening, keeping his hand firmly gripped around the young child's wrist even as he squirmed under the intense grip.
"Anomaly detected. Immediate response in five... four..."
Even from where we were stood, we could clearly hear and see what was going on. The rest of the city made an extra effort to avoid the commotion, not wanting to get dragged into the mess. By the guard's side was stood a small, fire type pokemon. The Growlithe barked as the guard spoke, his gaze fixed intensely on the young child, growling intensely.
I didn't hesitate once I realised what was going on, sliding down the steep hill with a pokeball in my hand. The footsteps behind me told me that the group was following close behind as I closed in on the bizarre scene.
"Two... One... Gro-"
"Aegislash, shadow sneak!"
The royal sword pokemon emerged from his pokeball, immediately disappearing into the air. In less than a second, he reappeared, striking the fire type over its head, knocking the pokemon out in one hit. Shocked, the guard released the boy from his grip as he ran into his mother's arms.
Aegislash hovered in front of the two people, taking a defensive stance as I joined him in the middle of the street. I kept my eyes fixed on the guard, seeing that his face still read the same blank expression.
"Anomaly detected. Immediate backup in two minutes."
I gritted my teeth, realising that we were just about on a time. The rest of the group joined me in the streets, holding their pokeballs at the ready. Somehow the guard didn't seem fazed by the five of us but it was clear that he wasn't in control of his body.
"The lighthouse! That's where they are!"
The voice of young boy called out to us, desperate as he hid in his mother's arms. Without turning back, I scanned the city, searching for this lighthouse. Red pointed it out in the distance, the lighthouse sat atop a tall hilled island by the shore. The silent trainer took off without looking back, having seen something that must have caught his eye.
Quickly, the rest of us followed after him, rushing through the busy streets of Sunyshore City. With every passing twist and turn, more and more uniformed guards came rushing out at us, attacking us with their pokemon. Their robotic attack plans made them predictable but their sheer numbers presented a problem and we couldn't afford to be caught up here.
Red had already pushed ahead, already on the back of Charizard as they flew across the bay separating the lighthouse from the rest of the city. The guards kept coming from all directions and the distance between Red and the rest of us was only growing larger.
"Aaron go ahead, we'll take care of these guys."
Elaine called out to me and as I turned to the light blonde, her face only showed confidence and determination. A serious look like that wasn't what I expected from her but I knew not to question her now, turning back to follow after the silent trainer.
I called on Dragonite to take me across the bay, the dragon pokemon taking flight before we were surrounded. I looked back to the three girls, seeing them already drawn into an intense battle against the horde of uniformed city guards.
No more than a few seconds later, Dragonite landed outside the entrance to the lighthouse. Three guards were lying on their backs, unconscious from a blunt force attack meaning Red had already gone ahead. I didn't waste any more time, pushing forward into the lighthouse.
As we stepped inside, it was clear that Red had already dealt with everyone who stood in his way. The long hallway was lined with knocked out pokemon and the unconscious guards by their sides. Dragonite and I sped through the hallway, arriving at the bottom floor of the lighthouse. The walls were lined with thick glass windows and at the center was an elevator shaft that stretched upward to the observation deck above.
There were no stairs leading up to the next floor meaning the only way to continue was through this bottleneck of an elevator. As I looked upward, searching for another way to continue, I was overcome with an intense wave of energy which caused me to fall to my knees.
I clutched the side of my head, feeling an intense pain as I felt something trying to burrow its way into my mind. I tried standing to my feet but as I pushed my weight off one knee, I couldn't stand up. Through gritted teeth, I looked over to Dragonite who was also experiencing the same pain. The dragon pokemon was holding onto her head, muttering lowly as the pain coursed through her body.
Even through the excruciating pain, I knew I had to help her out in some way, knowing that I'd be helpless without her right now. I felt my eyes flare up as I looked over to the dragon pokemon as she collapsed to the floor. My vision became blurry but I pushed through the pain, looking into Dragonite's aura.
Her bright gold aura was shaking violently, becoming increasingly unstable and I could only imagine the same thing was happening to mine. I focused on her aura, gently tugging at the golden threads to establish a connection between us. After some work, the pain began to die down and our eyes met, I could see that Dragonite's eyes were glowing the same gold as mine.
"Intruder detected. Elite defense force to be deployed in T minus five... four..."
Dragonite and I spun on our heels, seeing that one of the guards was struggling on his knees. His eyes were fixed on us but with every passing second, I could see his strength draining away from him. Before he could finish the countdown, the guard collapsed in a heap and I thought that was that.
Until a loud crashing sound caught our attention. Two shadows dropped from the floor above us, stepping into the light so we could see them clearly.
Two people I recognised immediately as the city's gym leader and its native elite four member stood before us, eyes fixed on Dragonite and I.