//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Rescuing Rainbow // Story: Gotta Dash 'em All // by Rainbow Dash the Awesome //------------------------------// “We’re here!” Ash yelled as Professor Juniper’s car skidded to a halt in front of the Team Rocket tower. “Come on, guys,” he opened the door and jumped out, “let’s save Rainbow Dash.” “Wait, Ash,” Iris protested, “we should try to sneak in without causing too much of a ruckus.” “Sorry to disappoint you Iris,” Cilan pointed to the door to the tower, “but I think it’s already too late for that.” “What?” Iris asked as she turned to look at the tower. “AH!” The door was now wide open, and several dozen Team Rocket members were running out. “Stop right there!” One of the operatives commanded as he held up a Pokéball. “Not a chance!” Ash yelled as he held up eleven Pokéballs and threw them into the air at once. Cilan and Iris both exited the car and threw their Pokéballs into the air too. All of the Pokeballs burst open, and Excadrill, Emolga, Dragonite, Stunfisk, Crustle, Pansage, Oshawott, Unfezant, Pignite, Snivy, Leavanny, Scraggy, Palpitoad, Boldore, Krookodile, and Vullaby appeared. Ash glared at the Team Rocket guards, “We’re not going anywhere without Rainbow Dash!” “In that case,” the guard started, as he and the rest of the guards threw their Pokéballs as well, sending out a massive horde of various Pokémon, “attack!” “Attack!” Ash yelled as well, pointing directly into the crowd of Team Rocket Pokémon. Both hordes of Pokémon charged at each other. Emolga was the first to strike, flying right into the middle of the Team Rocket side and using Discharge and giving a cry of “Emolga!” Several Pokémon surrounding Emolga began to yell in pain from the electricity, but as Emolga opened its eyes it saw a Golem charging at it with Rollout, having been unaffected by the Discharge because of its Ground-typing. Emolga braced itself for impact, but just before Golem could strike, it was blasted by a surge of water, which caused it to slam into a tree and faint on impact. Emolga turned and saw Palpitoad smiling triumphantly at its direct hit, as well as a Shiftry charging Palpitoad from behind. Emolga glared at Shiftry and charged as quickly as it could. Palpitoad turned in confusion and saw Shiftry just as it was struck. “Palpitoad” Palpitoad smiled at Emolga, then used Sludge Wave into the crowd, soaking several of Team Rocket’s Pokémon in poison. “Leavanny!” Leavanny called as it swung its arm at a Bisharp. Bisharp blocked the strike with the blade on its wrist. “Leavanny,” Leavanny’s arms glowed green for leaf blade, and it swung at Bisharp again. “Bisharp!” Bisharp’s arms glowed black for a Night Slash attack, and it blocked the Leaf Blade. Leavanny’s arms continued to glow, not giving up on Leaf Blade as it continued to swing at Bisharp. Bisharp continued to swing its Night Slash in retaliation. The two continued to slash at each other, neither side giving an inch, until Leavanny finally managed to strike Bisharp with an uppercut to the chin. Bisharp staggered to its feet and charged Leavanny again, but Leavanny was one step ahead. It crossed its arms and they glowed light blue for an X-Scissor attack, and it struck Bisharp square in the chest. Bisharp fell over unconscious, so Leavanny ran toward another group of Team Rocket Pokémon, arms glowing green for another Leaf Blade. A small swarm of Beedrill pursued Unfezant, firing Twinneedle and Sludge Bomb attacks, but Unfezant managed to dodge every one of them. Unfezant banked upward and flipped around to face the Beedrill, then began to flap its wings rapidly to us Air Slash. A group of razor blades of wind flew from its wings and slashed the Beedrill, which dropped unconscious into the crowd. Oshawott swung its Razor Shell at a Nidoking, striking it directly in the chest. Nidoking backed up a bit and lowered its head, its horn glowing a very light green color for Megahorn. Oshawott gasped in fear and backed up as Nidoking charged, but a pillar of fire erupted from the ground beneath it before it could strike. Nidoking staggered back a bit and glared at Oshawott. Oshawott looked to the side and saw Pignite smiling and giving a thumbs up. “Oshawott!” Oshawott grinned confidently and turned to face Nidoking. It’s body became cloaked in water and it charged with Aqua Jet, striking Nidoking square in the chest and knocking it unconscious. After Nidoking was defeated, Pignite turned its attention to a group of Raticate. Its body became cloaked in flames and it charged, using its Flame Charge attack to knock the Raticates over like a bowling ball. It quickly turned around, its speed raised as an effect of the Flame Charge, and promptly used Flame charge again, this time against a group of Zangoose, which were knocked out of the way and knocked unconscious. A Crawdaunt charged Pignite from behind, its claw glowing blue for a Crabhammer attack. “Vy!” a vine wrapped around Crawdaunt and it found itself being pulled to the side. “Snivy’s Vine Whip also wrapped around a Graveler, and Snivy spun in a circle, swinging both Pokemon around above its head. It saw a pair of Golbats flying toward it and threw Crawdaunt and Graveler at them. Crawdaunt and Graveler struck the Golbats, knocking out both Golbats, as well as Crawdaunt and Graveler themselves. Snivy smiled confidently, then turned to face a crowd of various other Team Rocket Pokémon charging at her. She jumped in the air and spun around, releasing a bunch of hearts in the direction of the crowd. The hearts each struck different Pokémon, and all the male ones stopped charging, too distracted by the Attract to continue their attacks. Pansage stood in place and blasted various Pokémon with its Bullet Seed attack. Suddenly, it saw a dark shadow behind it and turned around to see a Dodrio charging at it. It yelled “Pansage!” and covered its face. Dodrio charged at Pansage, but just before it could strike it found itself being zapped by a powerful Discharge attack. Its body ended up covered in soot as it collapsed. Pansage uncovered its eyes and looked at the unconscious Dodrio. “Pansage?” It asked. “Stunfisk,” came the response. Pansage looked down and saw that Stunfisk was lying right under Dodrio’s foot, having acted as a booby trap and electrocuted Dodrio when it stepped on it. Excadrill burrowed rapidly through the ground just below the feet of the Team Rocket Pokémon, causing the ground to collapse beneath them. As each Pokémon fell into the tunnel, they became dazed and struggled to escape, but found themselves trapped. Boldore stood to the side and blasted all of the trapped Pokemon with a barrage of strikes from its Rock Blast attack, knocking all of them out. Scraggy ran through the crowd using its Headbutt attack on every Team Rocket Pokémon in sight, but soon ended up finding itself surrounded by Ryhorn. It looked all around itself, but there was no opening to escape. The Ryhorns charged at Scraggy, but he leapt into the air using High Jump Kick to dodge at the last second, causing all of the Ryhorns to crash into each other. “Scra!” Scraggy yelled. Before he landed, he fired a Focus Blast into the middle of the group of Ryhorn, knocking all of them out in the process. Axew used its Dragon Rage attack to clear several opponents out of the way at once, and then followed it up by using Outrage. “Axew!” It jumped from one Pokémon to the next, scratching, punching, and head butting them in its anger until the Outrage ended. When Outrage wore off, Axew became confused due to the fatigue, so it didn’t notice a Salamence looming over it and charging a Dragon Pulse attack. Salamence fired its Dragon Pulse attack, but before it could strike Axew it was blasted out of the way by a Flamethrower. Salamence looked up and glared as it saw Dragonite smirking confidently at it in anticipation of battle. It fired another Dragon Pulse at Dragonite, but Dragonite dodged and used Dragon Rush. Salamence dodged and charged up its own Dragon Rush, turning around to charge at Dragonite. Dragonite turned around and charged at Salamence, using Dragon Rush again. The two attacks hit each other, dealing heavy damage to both battlers and knocking them back a bit, so they both charged up for Dragon Rush again and charged each other. This time they dodged each other, not wanting another head-on collision. They began having a dogfight in midair, neither side willing to give up their Dragon Rush as they charged each other again and again and again. Ash watched the Pokémon battling, but then looked back down and realized Vullaby was still standing next to him. “Vullaby,” he started, “I know I’m not your trainer, but I need you to fight. Rainbow Dash depends on it.” “Vullaby…” the Pokémon shivered in fear at the battle waging in front of her, then looked worriedly up at Ash. “Don’t worry,” Ash patted Vullaby on the head, “you've got lots of Pokémon helping you.” Vullaby seemed to consider it for a moment, but quickly turned and ran into a nearby bush, crying “Vullaby!” “Oh Vullaby,” Ash sighed. He felt a claw poking his shoulder, and turned around startled, “what?” He saw it was Charizard, with Pikachu standing on one shoulder and Rainbow Dash’s Oshawott on the other. He frowned, “Don’t tell me all of you are scared to fight to?” “Pika!” Pikachu shook its head and pointed to the top of the tower, “Pika Pikachu!” “What?” Ash asked, “I don’t get it.” “I think I do,” Professor Juniper responded as she walked up to Ash, “it looks like they want to go with you to the top.” “Of course they do,” Ash said, “but we need to take out these guards first.” “Not necessarily,” Professor Juniper shook her head. “Watch,” she pointed to the battlefield, just as Krookodile shot down a small group of Ninjask with its Stone Edge. She turned to Ash and continued, “Team Rocket is perfectly distracted. We’ll keep them busy down here. You, Pikachu, Charizard, and Oshawott need to sneak around them and go on ahead.” Ash looked back toward the battle, then at Professor Juniper, before nodding and responding, “Okay, we won’t let you down.” “Don’t worry about letting me down,” Professor Juniper told him, “just don’t let Rainbow Dash down.” “We won’t,” Ash nodded, “we’ll bring her back safely.’ Professor Juniper smiled, “I wouldn't expect anything less from you. No hurry, there’s not much time.” “I’m on it,” Ash turned to Charizard, “let’s go. Follow me,” he ran behind one of the trees surrounding the clearing and started running around the perimeter. Charizard ran after him, not having enough room to spread its wings. When they got around to the side of the tower, Ash peeked out from between the trees. The battle was still waging, and all Team Rocket members were focusing their attention on the battle. “Okay, now’s are chance,” he said, “let’s go.” He ran right up to the door, followed by Charizard. Pikachu and Oshawott held on to Charizard’s shoulders so they wouldn't fall off. Ash ran into the tower and ushered Charizard in after him. “Good, the coast is clear.” “Oh I wouldn't say that.” Ash looked to the side and saw Jessie, James, and Meowth standing at the foot of a flight of stairs. “Not you three,” he shook his head disapprovingly. “I don’t have time to deal with you.” James smirked and replied, “Well too bad.” Jessie added, “If you want to get to your little blue friend, you’re going to need to go through us first.” Ash glared, “Works for me. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt.” “Pikachu!” Pikachu blasted Jessie, James, and Meowth with Thunderbolt, leaving all three lying dazed on the stairs, soot all over their bodies. “Good,” Ash gave Pikachu a thumbs up and started running up the stairs, only stumbling a moment when he stepped on James’ face. Charizard spread its wings and started flying after Ash up the winding staircase. At the top of the staircase, Ash came to a large metal door; when he tried to open it but found it locked. He turned to the Pokemon behind him, “Charizard, use Flamethrower, then Oshawott use Ice Beam.” Charizard immediately hit the door with Flamethrower, making it glow bright red, then Oshawott used Ice Beam. A large amount of steam erupted from the door, and as it cleared the door was bent slightly. “Now, Pikachu, use Iron Tail,” Ash directed. “Pikachu!” Pikachu’s tail glowed in a silvery light and it jumped toward the door. When it struck the door, it broke off its hinges and flew into the next room, smashing a computer screen. Ash ran into the room and looked around, but nobody was there. The room was circular, with a white panel in the middle. There were chains attached to the ground on the panel, but what drew Ash’s attention the most was a blue feather lying between the chains. He gasped and ran to the center of the room, picking up the feather. “Rainbow Dash,” he frowned, “what have these monsters done to you?” “Osha, Osha, Oshawott!” Oshawott called. “What is it?” Ash looked in confusion. Oshawott was pointing to a flight of stairs on the other end of the room, “Oshawott.” “Got it,” Ash nodded. “Let’s go!” He ran to the stairs, the Pokemon close behind him. When he got to the top of the stairs, he opened the door and stepped out of the room, finding himself standing on the roof of the tower. “What’s going on?” “About time you arrived.” Ash immediately turned upon hearing the familiar voice from the other end of the roof. He scowled when he saw Giovanni and Dr. Zager standing and facing him, “What have you done with Rainbow Dash?!?” Giovanni grinned evilly, “Rainbow Dash? Is this who you’re referring to?” A panel on the roof in front of him flipped over, and Rainbow Dash slowly came into vision as another panel rose up beneath her. “Rainbow Dash!” Ash called as he ran toward Rainbow Dash, but instead of returning his happiness, she charged at him and head butted him in the chest. “AH!” Ash yelled as he fell onto his back and slid back to where the Pokémon were standing. Both Pikachu and Oshawott gasped, but Charizard just glared and stepped closer to Rainbow Dash. Ash yelled, “What did you monsters do to her?!?” Dr. Zager laughed, “Have you ever heard of a Shadow Pokémon?” Ash blinked, “Shadow Pokémon?” “Allow me to enlighten you, then,” Dr. Zager continued, adjusting his glasses slightly. “You see, many years ago, in the far off Orre region, an organization known as Cipher came to power. They attempted to conquer the region by artificially sealing the doors to Pokémon’s hearts, turning them into ferocious and powerful beings known as Shadow Pokémon. Cipher fell when its leader, Grand Master Greevil, was defeated, but their files remained intact. I personally hacked the computers on the abandoned Cipher base at Citadark Isle, and I downloaded the files for the Shadow Pokémon project. Your friend here is my first test subject, and it seems to me as if it worked like a charm. She will be a fine start to our Shadow Pokémon army.” “You heartless monster,” Ash started, a few tears falling from his eyes. He thought back to everything he had been through with Rainbow Dash over the last few days, but came up with an idea. He looked up at Charizard and told it “Charizard, see if you can snap Rainbow Dash out of it with a battle.” Charizard nodded at him, then glared at Rainbow Dash. “Good luck with that,” Giovanni laughed. “Now Shadow Rainbow Dash, use Shadow Rush!” Rainbow Dash’s body became cloaked in a dark aura, and she charged at Charizard. Charizard fell on its back, visibly in great pain. “What?!?” Ash gasped. “How could one attack do that much damage?” Dr. Zager laughed, “Because Shadow-type attacks are especially oriented to be super effective against every type except other Shadow Pokémon.” “Exactly,” Giovanni grinned. “Shadow Rainbow Dash, eliminate Charizard with Shadow Bolt!” “Rainbow Dash, no!” Ash yelled. “Charizard, Overheat!” Charizard used Overheat, just as Rainbow fired a bolt of black lightning toward him. The attacks collided, but Overheat was immediately broken and the Shadow Bolt struck Charizard. Charizard roared in pain and fell down on one knee, unable to stand back up. “No, Charizard, you have to get up,” tears started falling down Ash’s face. “Too late!” Giovanni yelled, “Shadow Rainbow Dash, use Shadow Sky!” Rainbow Dash was cloaked in a dark aura, and a black light shot up into the air. When the light was about twenty feet up, a dark cloud formed. Ash looked up in fear and asked “What’s going on?” A shower of purple rain began to fall, and as soon as it hit Charizard it began to sizzle. Charizard roared in pain. “Pika!” Pikachu shouted, also being burned by the dark rain. “Pikachu, Charizard, no!” Ash yelled. “Wait, that means…” he looked over to Oshawott, and as he feared, it was clearly being burned by the rain, but it wasn‘t crying in pain. Oshawott was staring at its trainer as she mercilessly attacked her own friends and even Oshawott himself. His eyes began to water as images of the day’s events came to its mind: being chosen by Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash letting him ride on her back instead of keeping him in a Pokéball, Rainbow Dash successfully directing him in his battle with Braviary, Rainbow Dash helping him get his shell out of the tree trunk, Rainbow Dash giving him a warm hug, Rainbow Dash… Oshawott burst into tears and ran toward its trainer, not scared of her at all. “Oshawott, no!” Ash yelled, afraid of what Shadow Rainbow Dash would do to Oshawott. Shadow Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up when she heard Oshawott crying. She looked down, and her eyes widened. Oshawott jumped up and hugged her leg tightly, tears staining her coat. As she watched Oshawott cry, she stuttered “O-Osha-wott?” She gasped as the memories flowed back to her. “Oh Oshawott,” she hugged Oshawott tightly, tears streaming down her face, “what have I done?” “Rainbow Dash?” Ash’s eyes widened as the purple rain stopped. A sphere of green light appeared around Rainbow Dash, tiny beams of white light flying around it. The sphere burst, and the dark aura around Rainbow Dash shattered. Giovanni stared in disbelief and growled “Sh-she’s been purified.” He gritted his teeth and continued, “Oh well, we still have an armada even without her!” “What?!?” Ash stood up. Giovanni laughed, “Did you really think she was going to be our whole fleet? No, we have a much bigger fleet right here!” He raised his hands into the air, giving the signal for a small fleet of helicopters to emerge from their hiding places among the trees and on the top of the hill overlooking the tower. The helicopters gathered into formation as the doors opened on their sides, each filled with Team Rocket operatives. The Team Rocket operatives threw their Pokéballs into the air and they burst, releasing a massive flock of flying Pokémon, from Beedrill to Crobat to Honchkrow, even a few Hydreigons and Salamence. “This,” Giovanni smiled, “is our armada!” Ash gasped in fear at the sight of the armada. “Charizard! You need to get up and help us!” When Charizard didn’t respond, Ash turned to look down at it and found it unconscious, having been finished off by the Shadow Sky. “No, Charizard,” Ash frowned and returned Charizard to its Pokéball. “Thanks for the help buddy.” He looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was still embracing Oshawott sadly, “Rainbow Dash,” he started. “Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked up, tears still staining her face. She turned to look over to Ash. “Ash?” “Rainbow Dash, we need your help,” Ash walked over to Rainbow Dash. “Charizard’s been knocked out, so I need you to take out those Pokémon,” he pointed to the fleet of Team Rocket Pokémon. Rainbow’s lips quivered, remembering how it had been her who made Charizard faint, “I-I can’t. I can’t stand to battle after all the pain I just caused.” “Rainbow Dash,” Ash frowned, “it wasn’t your fault.” “B-but I hurt you, Pikachu, Charizard, and even Oshawott,” Rainbow Dash sniffled. “And I forgive you for that,” Ash reached his hand out to help Rainbow Dash up. Rainbow looked at him in shock, “Y-you do? But how can you forgive me so easily?” “Because that’s what friends do,” Ash smiled. “Friends,” Rainbow Dash repeated to herself. She looked down at Oshawott, “D-do you forgive me too?” Oshawott wiped the remaining tears from its eyes and smiled, “Osha, Oshawott.” “In that case,” Rainbow Dash grabbed Ash’s hand and stood up. “Hop on, Oshawott, we’ve got work to do.” “Oshawott!” Oshawott cheered as it hopped onto Rainbow’s back. Rainbow Dash spread her wings and ran forward, yelling “Hang on, Oshawott, this is gonna be a bumpy ride!” She jumped off the edge of the tower and took to the sky, flying right into the fleet of Team Rocket Pokémon. “Oshawott!” Oshawott held on tightly to Rainbow’s mane, but made sure not to pull her mane and risk hurting her. He squinted a bit at the wind blowing in his face as Rainbow charged into the fleet of Team Rocket Pokémon. Rainbow Dash punched a Honchkrow in the chest, and immediately turned to kick it in the face. “Oshawott, use Ice Beam!” She commanded. “Osha!” Oshawott fired Ice Beam into a small group of Pokémon that were charging at Rainbow Dash from behind. Rainbow Dash kicked off from the Honchkrow, spread her front hooves, and spun around, knocking all the Pokémon in her path out of the way. The whole time, Oshawott continued to fire Ice Beam in every direction, striking several Pokémon every time. Ash watched intently, “Good work you two.” He gritted his teeth and continued, “But there’s too many of them.” Rainbow Dash punched a Crobat in the face, knocking it back. She quickly flew around it and grabbed one of its wings. Crobat looked stunned as Rainbow Dash spun in place, swinging it around. She released it and sent it flying, spinning like a shuriken. It struck several Pokemon as it flew. Oshawott smiled as it watched, then turned its head and shot an Ice Beam at a group of Zubats right behind them. “Good work, Oshawott,” Rainbow smiled and flew forward, giving a Gliscor an uppercut to the chin and kicking off from its chest just as a Skarmory charged her from below. The Skarmory promptly crashed into Gliscor. “Ha!” Rainbow laughed, turning around and punching a Swoobat in the nose. Suddenly she saw a dark shadow above her and turned to see a large, black, three-headed dragon with six small wings, a Hydreigon. “Whoa,” the Hydreigon snapped at her with the head on the left, but she jumped up to dodge it and landed on top of the neck. Hydreigon snapped with its right head, but she dodged, making it bite its own left neck. “Nice try,” she punched the face of the center head, “but you won’t beat me so easily.” “Oshawott,” Oshawott nodded, before letting go of Rainbow’s mane. “What are you doing, Oshawott?” Rainbow asked. “This is no time to be letting go.” “OSHAWOTT!” Oshawott’s body became covered in a veil of water and it blasted off from Rainbow’s back, striking a Crobat and bouncing off of it. It then flew right into a Ninjask and then jumped away from it as well, using its Aqua Jet to ricochet from one Pokémon to another like a pinball in a machine. “Woo-hoo!” Rainbow cheered, “Nice work, Oshawott!” As she said this, she was struck in the back by a ball of shadowy energy from a Murkrow’s Shadow Ball. “Ah!” she yelled in pain. “Osha!” Oshawott gasped and struck Murkrow with Aqua Jet and flew back to Rainbow Dash, stopping the Aqua Jet just before it landed and grabbing onto her mane again. Rainbow Dash was happy to see Oshawott back, but was still in pain from the Shadow Ball. She suddenly felt a pain in her side as she was hit by the silvery-white light of a Skarmory’s Flash Cannon. “Ah!” She yelled as she was blown to the side by the hit, and she didn’t notice an Air Slash coming from behind. Ash ran out the door of the tower and saw that the battle in front was still waging, although it was much less intense now after so many Pokémon had been knocked out. He ran around the side and up to Professor Juniper. “Professor Juniper,” he panted, trying to catch his breath, “we freed Rainbow Dash, but she’s in trouble.” “I know,” Professor Juniper pointed to the sky. Ash looked up and saw that the Team Rocket Pokémon had now taken an upper hand, hitting Rainbow Dash back and forth like a rag doll. Oshawott continued to blast them with Ice Beam, but for every one it took down there were several more to deal with. “No, Rainbow Dash.” Vullaby peered out from the bush she was hiding in when she heard this. “Vulla?” She looked up at the sky and her eyes widened as she saw Rainbow Dash being beaten mercilessly. Suddenly a brief memory flashed before Vullaby’s eyes. She saw herself standing in a field, Rainbow Dash looking down at her. Rainbow Dash spoke to her an said, “Hey Vullaby, I’m your new trainer.” Vullaby scowled at seeing her trainer hurt so badly. She charged out of the bush and ran forward. “Vullaby?” Ash asked in surprise as he saw Vullaby charge from the bush. “VULLABY!” Vullaby yelled as she began to glow brightly. “It’s evolving,” Professor Juniper beamed. Vullaby grew much larger as she evolved, and when the light faded she spread her wings and yelled “MANDIBUZZ!” She took off and charged right into the crowd of Team Rocket Pokémon. A few Magnetons flew in front of her, charging electricity to attack. “Buzz,” Mandibuzz said as a large bone made of blue energy appeared in her beak. She promptly struck the Magnetons out of the way with Bone Rush. “Ah!” Rainbow yelled as she was hit by another Shadow Ball. She turned around to face a group of Swoobats, who were all charging up for more Shadow Balls. “Bring it on,” she panted, “I can handle it.” “Mandibuzz!” The Swoobats were blasted by a surge of dark energy from Mandibuzz’s Dark Pulse. Mandibuzz flew up in front of Rainbow Dash and smiled. Not recognizing Mandibuzz, Rainbow Dash held up her front hooves for an attack, but Oshawott stopped her by placing a paw on her shoulder and saying “Osha, Oshawott.” “What is it, Oshawott?” Rainbow Dash turned to look at Oshawott. Oshawott pointed to Rainbow Dash’s belt, then to Mandibuzz, “Osh Osha wott Oshawott.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in realization, “Vullaby?” “Buzz,” Mandibuzz nodded. “Aw yeah!” Rainbow cheered, “This is awesome. Hey, I have an idea, can you do that dark attack again.” “Mandibuzz,” Mandibuzz nodded as she blasted a group of Golbats with Dark Pulse. “Perfect,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Oshawott, hop on Vullaby’s back. Vullaby, follow me and use that attack on me when I say now.” “Osha!” Oshawott nodded and jumped on Mandibuzz’s back, holding on tightly to her feathers. “Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash took off straight into the air. Mandibuzz used Double Team to distract the opponents so she could follow. Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could until she was above the clouds. Mandibuzz followed her as quickly as she could. As soon as Mandibuzz caught up to her, Rainbow Dash flew straight downward. The Team Rocket Pokémon, having figured out the Double Team was a distraction, were now charging upward in a huge wave toward Rainbow Dash. Ash and the others watched with baited breath from the ground far below. “Almost,” Rainbow gritted her teeth, “NOW!” “BUZZ!” Mandibuzz fired a Dark Pulse and struck Rainbow directly in the back. “COSMIC RAINBOOM!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she broke the sound barrier, a massive wave of rainbow colors surging in all directions, accompanied by a burst of dark energy that seemed to be filled with stars like the night sky. Rainbow Dash’s entire body turned pitch black, tiny white pinpricks of light all over her. The wave of energy blew away all of the Team Rocket Pokémon in the sky as well as the remaining Team Rocket helicopters. Rainbow Dash smirked as she flew straight into the roof of the tower, breaking through the roof. From the outside, Ash and the others could see the windows of the tower being blasted away by explosions one at a time until Rainbow Dash flew out the front door, at which time the entire tower crumbled. The Team Rocket members on the ground ran for their lives, not even taking time to return their Pokemon. The Pokémon scattered as well. Rainbow Dash touched down in front of Ash, the black color fading from her body as she landed. “Rainbow Dash!” Ash and the others cheered in unison as they ran and gave Rainbow Dash a group hug. All of their Pokémon began to jump for joy and cheer as well. “I’m so glad you’re safe, Rainbow Dash,” Iris smiled widely, “I was so worried about you.” “That was an amazing move you just used,” Cilan added, “it had a truly magnificent flare to it. You showed that you, Oshawott, and Mandibuzz really are a perfect team.” “Who’s Mandibuzz?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Buzz,” Mandibuzz landed next to the group and Oshawott jumped down to the ground, kissing the ground a few timed in its relief to be out of the sky after that dogfight. “This is Mandibuzz,” Ash responded, “the evolved form of Vullaby,” “Oh,” Rainbow Dash looked over to Mandibuzz. “Well, I guess I won’t call you Vullaby anymore. You did a great job, Mandibuzz.” Rainbow Dash then turned to Professor Juniper and smiled, “Thank you so much for the Oshawott, I could never have done this without him. He was the one who snapped me out of Team Rocket’s control after all.” “Osha,” Oshawott posed proudly. “You‘re very welcome Rainbow Dash,” Professor Juniper smiled, “and I have good news for you.” “What is it?” Rainbow smiled. “I have an idea of how to send you home.”