Battle at Storm's Eye

"Whew. I can feel my fur standing on end." Soku shook himself out as he and the rest of his team pushed into Storm's Eye. The intense winds of the hurricane that had apparently started ripping through the area were not helping their attempted exploration.

"I feel like it would be wise to wait for the weather to settle out." Cyber peeked around, having a better time pushing against the wind simply due to being heavier.

"Where's the fun in that?" Soku shouted over the wind.

"You call this fun?" Kyu frowned trying in vain to smooth out his own fluffed up fur. "We have very different definitions of fun."

"I feel like you knew that by now." Kit playfully bumped Kyu's shoulder. Careful not to actually unbalance either of them.

"Let's just get this over with. The sooner we're out of here the better." Kage pushed forward.

It was slow progress through the mountains, but progress was made none the less. It had probably taken most of the day to get as deep as they did. Soku could tell his team was starting to regret coming here but come on! This was amazing! It was dangerous sure but to explore a dungeon like this was not something just any pokemon could do. His heart went out to Proto who sadly wasn't yet strong enough to come here. The robotic sandslash had been excited by the prospect too. Maybe Soku could help train him once they were back so he wouldn't have to miss out again.

Soku way so caught up in his own head that he didn't even register Kage shouting his name until the sneasel was yanking him out of the way of what looked like a thunderbolt. "Pay attention." Kage growled, but from the way he was gripping Soku's arm he knew that Kage was more scared than mad.

"Enemies spotted, three in total. Dead ahead and up." Cyber helpfully let them know.

While the area was dark Soku could make out the vague forms of the three pokemon Cyber said were there. His heart sank a bit as he realized what they were, but he shook it off. They could handle this; he was confident in his team. Before them were a raikou, latios, and probably most terrifying a rayquaza. He took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for the battle that he could feel brewing. It was not going to be fun in the storm, but they wouldn't have a choice. The rayquaza reared their head and snarled, somehow the sound carried over the wind. "Leave now outsiders. Or else face my wrath."

"Should we listen?" Kyu's ears were low and he was glancing between the three legendaries nervously.

"Do you really think they'll actually just let us leave?" Kit's fur was fluffed up, and it wasn't just because of the weather.

"It doesn't matter, they attacked us. If they don't let us run we don't stand a chance of getting away. Our best option is to fight." Kage flexed his claws.

The rayquaza narrowed their eyes. "I see you have made your choice." They barred their teeth and prepared to rush towards the team. Beside them the latios and raikou prepared to attack them as well. There was a moment where all that was heard was the howling of the wind and then the tension broke.

The rayquaza charged forward with a dragon rush and Soku barely had enough time to dodge out of the way with a quick attack. The raikou jumped into the fray with a thunderbolt, forcing the team to scatter further. The latios dove for Kyu, but the lugia fusion was able to get out of the way in time. Kit shot off a mystical fire at the retreating latios in defense of his friend. Cyber was throw ice shards at the rayquaza, temporarily forcing them to keep their distance. Kage came up next to him as he squared off with the raikou. The two said nothing, but did share brief eye contact. Soku nodded and the two rushed forward, claws outstretched. Soku darted to the left while Kage darted to the right. The raikou whipped their head around, trying to figure out which to watch. As Soku came in with a dire claw from his side, Kage came in with a night slash. The raikou was trapped in the middle and got hit with both attacks. They growled in pain. Electricity started sparking around their body forcing the two sneasel to back off.

The two turned around at as they heard a yelp. Turns out Cyber's efforts to keep the rayquaza at a distance had finally stopped working. The rayquaza had shot off a hyper beam at Kit, Kyu, and Cyber. Clearly getting tired of what Cyber had been doing. Kage threw a focus blast at the raikou's feet before grabbing Soku's arm and pulling him towards the other. Soku happily went with him, keeping a ear out for the raikou following them. "Boost me." Soku's eyes were now focused on the rayquaza, clearly the biggest threat at the moment. Kage nodded and did as asked. The wind was even worse as he was soaring through the air, but it would be fine. Using a quick attack once he was close enough he managed to get on the back of the rayquaza. The rayquaza immediately started trying to get him off. He simply dug his claws in and started trying to move towards the rayquaza's head.

A brief glance below showed that down below his teammates were back to fighting the raikou and latios. Kyu had taken to the air and was darting around the latios, Kit providing support from the ground. Kage and Cyber were carefully moving around the raikou, avoiding blasts of lightning as they darted in for attacks. "Unhand me!" The rayquaza snarled, still trying to get Soku off.

"Not gonna happen!" Soku grit his teeth, it was getting harder to hold on, but there was no way he was giving up. As long as he could keep the rayquaza distracted he had no doubt his team could finish off the other two legendaries below. There was another issue though, despite not being able to see the moon past the general murk of the area Soku could feel it's faint pull. He'd be transforming soon. Though maybe that would be a good thing... He decided to do his best to tough it out until the moon was high enough to trigger his transformation.

"I will not be defeated by the likes of you!" The rayquaza started plummeting towards the ground, right towards his teammates. Soku bared his teeth and tried to resume his crawl up to the rayquaza's head. He was interrupted by feeling his transformation start to take hold. He just squeezed his eyes shut and did his best to hold on until it was over. With his renewed strength he finished his climb to the rayquaza's head and managed to yank it up to avoid the two of them crashing into the ground. Of course he didn't really have to time aim the rayquaza anywhere except away from the ground so they ended up crashing into Kyu and the latios. All of them collapsed on the ground, groaning.

Soku shook himself out and quickly located Kyu to pull him out of the pile of pokemon. He was limping slightly but he did his best to ignore it. Kit came over to take Kyu from him while Kage came over to him. Cyber threw an ice shard at the raikou so they didn't follow him. Instead the raikou ran over to the rayquaza and latios. "Are you alright?" Kage was surprisingly in his unmasked form.

Soku grinned tiredly. "Yeah I'm good." Kage looked like he didn't quite believe him but said nothing for now.

The whole team was back on edge as the legendaries they were fighting started to get back up. The raikou made a move to rush forward but the rayquaza stopped them. They turned to the rayquaza. "Why? They're still standing and so are we!"

"We can still take them." The latios narrowed their eyes.

"We end our battle here." The rayquaza huffed. "I can see now that there is no need to fight. They are strong and have earned my respect."

"Are you sure?" The raikou side eyed them.

"I am." The rayquaza adjusted themself and winced. "They will be allowed to leave."

"If you say so." The latios nodded. Not looking too happy with the outcome but seeming to accept it.

"You all!" The rayquaza stretched up tall. "Know that we have decided to grant you mercy, leave now before we change our mind!"

Soku glanced at his teammates; they were all tired and hurt. This was probably the best way out of this. Before he could say anything though, Kage spoke up. "Thank you for your mercy. We'll leave now." Kage didn't look happy but he kept his tone respectful.

The rayquaza simply nodded before flying off deeper into the dungeon along with the latios and raikou. Soku felt the tension leave him finally. "Alright everyone, let's get out of here."

The trek back was slow. They were all tired and by not it was late into the night. None of them wanted to stay here for the night so they pushed on. By the time they finally emerged from the mountains and battering wind they were all beyond exhausted. Soku simply collapsed on the ground then and there, knowing that at this point no one could really move him. The rest of the team did similarly most spreading out, but Kage snuggled up into his side. The sneasel was once again in his masked form, his much preferred one. Without a word Soku pulled Kage close. It had been a long day but he was glad to end it with his partner like this. This had certainly taught him that they needed to prepare for hard dungeon dives like this in the future, but for now he didn't care. Right now all he cared about was the sneasel in his arms.