Mark watched the Shadow Lugia open its mouth to charge up for an attack. Which prompted Giovanni to yell out in a rush. "Mewtwo! Protect!" The strange pokemon in sleek armor leapt into the line of fire, raising its arm with rounded fingers to point at Shadow Lugia. Mark had never heard of a pokemon named Mewtwo, and thought Giovanni was stupid to have a pokemon like that go up against a legendary. Until the Shadow Lugia's hyper beam was unleashed. The blazing jet of golden fire shot forth and Mewtwo's eyes turned a bright blue in his helmet. Shadow Lugia's hyper beam slammed into an invisible force that rippled as it absorbed the attack and dispersed it. Giovanni then pointed at the Shadow Lugia to yell out rapid orders. "Mewtwo, Mirror Coat! Poachers, take your shot! NOW!" Mewtwo brought his hands together to create a ball of blazing golden light, then pushing its hands out toward Shadow Lugia, firing a hyper beam with twice the strength of Shadow Lugia's. The Shadow Lugia curled itself up, surrounding itself in a protective blue ball.

Mark's gaze turned to the Rainbow Rocket members that were jumping up into the other positioned carts. Some of them shoved canisters into place as others lined up the shot of their mounted ballistas. The men at the levers released the second the men aiming told them too, sending the canisters into the air. The canisters burst open to unleash large nets made of heavy chains. Shadow Lugia's attention turned away from Mewtwo to blast one of the nets back with its powerful hydro pump, but the other two nets slammed into it and brought him down before the shrine. The poachers cheered as the nets tangled around Shadow Lugia and nailed itself tightly into the ground. Shadow Lugia thrashed, then opened its mouth to use Hyper Beam again. Giovanni handed Moltres's jewel box to Nate, then yelled out. "Mewtwo! Disable him!" Mewtwo snapped his fingers and Shadow Lugia's Hyper Beam ended. Frustrated, Shadow Lugia tried his Hydro Pump, only to have Mewtwo snap his fingers to disable that too.

With everyone distracted with muzzling and capturing Shadow Lugia, Mark turned on his distracted guards. Whirling around, he kicked his guard back away from him. Sean's guard raised a gun to point at Mark, but Sean kicked his arm up and then kicked him back across the ground. Together, they bolted for the carts. The guards got to their feet to shoot at them, but the bullets struck the carts as they dashed behind them. The men reloading the ballistas briefly paused to watch them run by in confusion. One managed to grab Mark's tied arm to stop him. Mark responded by kneeing the guy in the balls and shoving him off balance with his shoulder. The guards rushed after them, firing another shot that should have hit Sean, but it hit an invisible wall. Up ahead was a cave within the mountainside and standing at the entrance was a Slowking with eyes that were blazing a bright blue. As they approached, the familiar Slowking stated out with his psychic powers. "Inside! Quickly!"

Mark ran into the cave with Sean at his heels, looking back to see the Slowking lower his arms and yawn loudly. The guards rushing toward the cave, suddenly stumbled and sank to all fours as they yawned. Slowking tilted his head a little and the guards fell across the ground unconscious. The men on the ballistas took notice of the Slowking and reached for their pokeballs. Slowking didn't move. He simply folded his arms behind his back and stood strong. Mark was going to yell something, when a bunch of war cries came from farther in the cave. Mark flinched as Locals rushed by with their war painted pokemon to attack the ballistas and the men that tried to stop them. Turning to face the locals, Mark smiled as the Shaman came into view. She moved up to Sean, pulling his gag free and used a knife to cut his bindings. Sean rubbed his wrists in relief, while the Shaman asked over the storm raging outside the cave. "Where are the jewels?!" Mark waited for her to set him free, letting Sean tell her shakily. "They have them in these weird boxes..." Cutting Mark free, she said with a smirk. "Well... Let's get them back."

Mark pointed to Sean, telling them as he headed out of the cave. "You get them. I'm going after Nate!" Mark didn't wait to hear their answer, he just ran out into the pouring rain. Outside, chaos was breaking out. Giovanni and a few of his men were locked in battles to keep the locals from freeing Shadow Lugia that appeared to be worn down by Mewtwo's efforts. While others were trying to shoot locals to save the carts and equipment from being damaged. Nate still stood by the shrine with only some of the cowering scientists. He was watching the scene unfold but appeared to have no desire or will to help them. Running up the steps, Mark reached out to grab Nate's arm, telling him in a rush. "Nate?! What are you doing?! Come on, we need your help to put that jewel where it belongs!" Nate carelessly dropped the box with Moltres's jewel to shove Mark back down the steps of the shrine. Mark tumbled down the wet stone steps, grunting as he hit the bottom. Rising on all fours stiffly, Mark snapped up at Nate. "Nate... Don't make me do this!" Nate didn't respond. Getting to his feet, Mark walked back up the steps and told him coolly. "Alright. I'll snap you out of this."

Mark rolled his shoulders, then ran toward Nate's torso in the hopes of knocking him off his feet. Without his pokemon to battle with, this would be a fight between them. Nate surprised him by dropping low to sweep Mark's feet with one leg. As Mark tripped, Nate shot up to his feet and kicked Mark in the ribs. Mark rolled away from Nate, gripping his ribs and muttering out through clenched teeth. "So, you can fight... Alright... Change in plan." Getting to his feet, Mark braced himself and raised his fists for a fight. His Ranger training was rusty... but he hoped it would come back to him as he did this. Nate jump kicked him, trying to kick him off the ledge with force alone. Mark blocked his kick with his arms, shifting his weight forward to lunge at Nate and upper cut him in the gut. Nate took the blow to the gut and staggered back to put distance between them. Mark cautiously moved in from the ledge, keeping his full attention on Nate. Nate's dark eyes rose to lock with Mark's, then he rushed in with a barrage of punches. Mark worked hard to block them as they came, then sank low to elbow Nate in the gut.

Nate slipped on the wet stone, going down to a knee as he grunted in pain. Nate was good but whatever training he had left him too open. He was relying on quick swift blows to win him the fight. There was a lot that Mark wanted to do to end the fight, but he didn't want to hurt Nate too badly. They still needed him. Nate got up to his feet, changing to quick kicks. Every kick knocked Mark back. Nate was holding nothing back. Nate tried to strike him three times in the side with his leg and Mark blocked all three despite the pain his arms were in. Then Nate surprised him. After the third kick, Nate jumped to slam both feet into Mark's chest to shove him back. Mark took the hit, his back slamming into the thick stone shrine. The blow knocked the air from Mark's lungs, causing him to drop down onto his ass. The blow cost Nate too though. Nate fell back flat across the stone floor. The stone floor was just too wet to make a proper landing. Nate gasped as the air was knocked out of his own lungs. Mark coughed, allowing himself to take a minute to breathe.

He was just starting to move to try crawling over Nate to pin him down, until Sean raced up the steps and paused at the sight of them. Nate rolled over to see Sean and when Sean's eyes went down to the Moltres box, Nate scrambled to his feet to attack Sean. Mark forced himself to his feet, calling out Sean's name in a panic. Sean stood his ground as Nate ran up to him. Nate swung to hit him, and Sean ducked under his arm. Sean didn't engage him, running straight for the box. Nate whirled around, running up behind Sean to wrap his arms around him. Sean screamed as Nate lifted him off his feet and tossed him aside. Sean yelped as he tumbled over the wet stone. Mark rushed up to Nate to keep him from pursuing Sean. Locking arms, Nate and Mark tried to out muscle each other as they shoved and pulled at each other. Mark was just starting to bring Nate to his knees, when Sean yelled out from his spot by the box. "Mark! Behind you!" Mark leaned more on Nate, kicking out behind him to kick a scientist that had been coming at him with a needle. The scientist slipped off the side, falling off the edge to the stony floor below.

Nate took advantage of Mark's loss of balance, yanking him forward by his arms. Mark fell beside Nate, who quickly straddled him and braced his arm against his neck to choke him. Before the shrine, Shadow Lugia's distorted cries filled the air as the nets electrocuted him. Shadow Lugia thrashed wildly in the net, before its red eyes glinted with a sudden prism light. Mark strained to hold off Nate as sudden prismatic lasers shot from Shadow Lugia's eyes. Mewtwo was in the middle of battle with two local trainers when the lasers struck him in the back. The armor around Mewtwo broke out in cracks, then shattered. Mewtwo was sent forward to slam into the ground, his painful groan sounding louder then the battles going on around them. The second Mewtwo went down and didn't get up, Nate's grip loosened like he was suddenly lightheaded. Leaning off him, Nate whined out groggily. "What the hell...?" Mark coughed, putting a hand on Nate's chest. Nate looked around confused, then blurted out. "Where the hell am I? Mark? Sean?"

Mark patted Nate's chest, chuckling out uneasily through his pain. "Later... Get the jewels!" Nate got off him and Mark rolled over to see the Shaman taking a box from another local, who retrieved it from a fleeing scientist on a cart. The Shaman started to bring the box over to the shrine, when the box started to ripple in electricity. Dropping the box, she yelled in surprise as did another man that had been holding another box that was frosting over. Mark pushed up to his feet as he yelled out to Nate. "Come on! We've got to get them!" Sean screamed as the Moltres box began to heat up, causing Mark to look back just as Sean dropped it. Nate rushed over to grab the box before it fell over the cliffside. The moment Nate's arms wrapped around the box to grab it; the box cooled down to just puffs of steam. Mark pointed at Sean who stood stunned that Nate wasn't burned, calling out. "We can touch the boxes! Sean, go get your jewel!" Together Sean and Mark ran for the boxes that remained. Sean jumped down the steps, heading toward the Shaman that was protecting the rippling box. While Mark jumped off the edge by the stairs to run after the box that a Rainbow Rocket man was guarding.

Mark ducked and ran between fights as he crossed the soaked ground to get to the frosted box. When a Local backed into him without seeing him, Mark tripped and landed just short of the box. The Rainbow Rocket man turned to point two guns at him, causing Mark to roll under a cart. The man whirled to shoot someone that was approaching, and Mark rolled back out to snatch the box. Snatching up the box, Mark rolled to his feet and started to run. He was getting through the crowd as Locals that recognized him helped him get through. He had just made it to the shrine steps, when a pair of hands grabbed him and yanked him back off them. Mark grunted, his arms wrapping around the box tightly. For a split second, he thought it was Giovanni until the man flipped his flood back to reveal himself as Pryce. Pryce shook his head, snapping down at him. "You put up a good fight, Mark. No one will say you didn't. But there is no future with you in it." Pryce removed his gun to point at Mark's face. Before Mark could think, Nate jumped down from the stairs to land on Pryce. Pryce pulled the trigger, but his shot missed as Nate brought him to the ground.

Mark rolled up to his feet, torn between taking the box up to the shrine and helping Nate. Pryce rolled with Nate across the wet ground as they fought for control of the gun. Mark set the box on the step and started to rush in to help. He stopped in his tracks though as Pryce released the gun to let Nate have it. Nate took the gun, sitting up to aim it at Pryce. Pryce had released the gun on purpose though. Buying him just enough time to remove something from his pocket. Popping the top off to spray Nate in the face with whatever it was. The thick purple gas encased Nate briefly before the wind and rain dispersed it. Nate coughed loudly after getting hit with it at such close range. Giving Pryce the extra delay to escape as he yelled out. "I WIN, NATHAN!" Nate bent over on all fours, coughing louder before he threw up. Mark ran over to Nate, screaming out in fright. "Nate?! Are you ok?!" Nate spit, coughing out to Mark. "I'm fine... Fucking coward only gassed me... My vision is blurry..." Mark grabbed Nate's arm, feeling completely distressed. Nate didn't understand what Pryce had done... but he had. Pryce had infected Nate with the Pokevirus that had killed him in the future.

Helping him up, Mark took him up the steps and grabbed the box. Reaching the shrine, the Shaman helped Sean figure out how to open his box. Upon seeing them, she ushered them over and yelled out over the chaos around them. "Hurry! Get those boxes open!" Mark dropped to his knees to open the box by pressing the extended engravings of Articuno on the sides. The Shaman helped Nate open his and as the last box popped open the jewels began to shine. The Shaman got out of the way, yelling out to them. "Take them! Fill them and put the jewels in the shrine! Quickly!" They started to reach for the jewels as one. Just as Shadow Lugia thrashed and managed to break from the chain netting. Men kept throwing pokeballs hoping to capture it, but even in its weakened state it was unnaturally strong. Shadow Lugia was bleeding from cuts all over its body, but its anger was as heated as ever. Grabbing the jewels as one, caused a pulse to ripple out across the water. As the jewels began to shine brighter, the sounds of Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno suddenly began to draw near rapidly.

Rising into the air, Shadow Lugia let out an angry screech at the Shrine. Only to stop and turn to look out at the dark stormy horizon. Flying side by side, the three birds returned angry screeches of their own as they flew into full view. To Be Continued...