Halfway through our flight, I opened my eyes, muscles still clenched, and skin cold from altitude and sweat, I was nonetheless able to feel the thrill of soaring into the sky. It was different with Down, as opposed to Volcarona. The latter was slower, her six wings levitating into the air instead of surfing through it. Down was nimble and so much more dexterous. In short, my heart thumping wasn’t only due to fear.

  The desolation of Mount Anvil was starkly beautiful from above. Without having to worry about the sandy earth blowing into my eyes and mouth, I could better appreciate the rusty colour palette which gave the range its name, and without constantly worrying about footing, I had plenty of opportunity to observe and look at the scenery as an artist. That was, at least, until the sandstorm rose out of nowhere and swept over us. Ducky and Crest nosedived as soon as they saw it coming and Down followed them. My stomach leapt up at the sudden dip, and I may have screamed as we practically went into freefall.

  We hit the ground and I was bundled off, coffing and spluttering from all the dust in my throat, by Ducky, who was dealing with the hazard far better. She had her goggles on and a scarf around her mouth. Of course she was prepared.

  We’d touched down by a sheer wall which, combined with the wings of Crest and Down, provided good cover from the sandstorm. I won’t pretend that the sight of the two massive wingspans didn’t haunt me in the days to come, but at the time, between Ducky dribbling water into my mouth to wash out the dust, and the roar of the storm, I was grateful, if that’s the word, for the shelter.

  “What’s going on?” I rasped when I could speak again.

  “Sandstorm,” said Ducky. “It’s my bad, I should have told you to be ready. They’ve been forming every few days and we were overdue one.”

  “This is also Landorus’ work, I suppose,” I said.

  Ducky nodded and shrugged which was as good an answer as any.

  “How long is it going to last?”

  “Anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. We can wait here to see if we’re lucky and it passes soon, but if not, I suggest we continue on foot. We should be fairly close anyway, we can protect your face properly somehow.”

  “Okay, if you say so.”

  I set about brushing the dust from my clothes as we waited. This was going to do a number on the coat Grandma had knit me. It was worn from before, but it’d need a thorough cleansing if I wanted it to survive this. It wasn’t just my coat either, the sand covered me in a thin film making me itchy, and I had to take my boots off to remove the particles that had somehow snuck inside. I wasn’t even going to think about the state of my hair.

  “Don’t worry about it too much now, you’re only going to get coated in the stuff again later,” said Ducky.

  I groaned and looked at her. She had her back against the wall with her usual laid-back demeanour, though I knew her well enough at this stage to understand there was stress there, no matter how much she laughed it off.

  “What’s your plan?” I asked.

  “My plan?”

  “You said you were going to infiltrate the bounty hunter community, or something.”

  “I have. It’s all about connections. People talk if they think they know who you associate with. I’ve got a decent sized list of as many bounty hunters as I could catalogue. I also know all the rumours about them. I have a list of people with unequivocal crimes to their names. Allegedly. Another of people with a bad reputation, but no concrete evidence, or arguably morally bad actions, but still questionably legal. And a list of good souls who genuinely want to help people, including some who could be potential allies in the upcoming purge.”

  “Purge?”

  “That’s the endgame, obviously. Though for that I need authority to back my claims and motivate the law into actually taking action. It’s why I needed Elaine on my side. But it’s coming soon. You noticed, of course how the rangers here are aiming to arrest Killian, yes? They’re honest people and have reason to be angry after his actions have endangered their city. Knowing them, they’re not going to allow him to slip away or escape justice.”

  “What charges can they pin on him, though?”

  “Wilful obstruction of a ranger operation, poaching, and endangerment of Pokémon, Pokémon habitats, or human-Pokémon relations. Something along those lines, anyway. The bigger point, though, is if he can be investigated, so can other top trainers. With enough popular and political will, the excuses bounty hunters have been getting away with for years will begin to crumble. Then it’ll be a case of holding people accountable.”

  It all sounded well and good, but even with my limited experience of these matters, I couldn’t see it actually happening. Nothing was being done about the incident in the Greenforest. Ducky laughed when I told her my doubts.

  “You’re not wrong, but it’s just a case of piling things on. Eventually, it’ll reach a tipping point, and then things can happen very fast. Anyway, enough of that. Wrap a t-shirt around your face, or something. Let’s go find Landorus.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Following Ducky’s advice, I wriggled out of my t-shirt and used it as a mask to protect my nose and mouth. She had a spare set of goggles too, and once ready, we ventured out into the sandstorm. The walk was hard and slow, with visibility practically gone, and the harsh winds, the mountain was more treacherous than ever. Worse, I was pelted with sand, leaving any exposed skin red and raw. Huddling into my coat, I did my best to minimise that exposure. I don’t know how long we took, or how many times I thought we’d gotten lost, but Ducky forged on with that confidence of hers, and in time, I began to recognise where we were. A rock, whose curious shape had caught my eye the day before, a certain section of the trail that was more distinctive than most, the way the sharp incline plateaued as we came closer to the summit. A couple of more steps and we were there, looking down a gaping hole into darkness as the wind whistled through it with a raspy growl.

  The opening was large enough for Crest and Down to fly through, which was fortunate, as the passage was vertical and since, unlike Sunny, neither of us were rock climbers, flight was our only option. Once more, I found myself on Down and it was a little easier than before.

  The flight into the dark was still unnerving as Down followed Crest down the hole. Aside from the dwindling source of light, the enclosed space magnified the rumbles of the earth around us until it felt as if we were in a giant motor. When the light up above was but a pinprick, Down landed on rocky ground. I wasted no time in bringing out Ampharos and Flash illuminated the cavern.

  In a space far larger than I expected, we finally found sign of our objective. Rather, a sign would be understating it. A temple in ruins greeted our sight. Pillars of crimson marble and gold, only two of which were whole, supported the entrance, and by our feet, under a layer of grime, broken tiles formed a walkway to the door. The temple, even had it been in perfect condition, was small enough. It appeared to be a single domed room, half of which was crushed by a cave in, the rubble fusing into the other half like a cancerous growth. It was an impressive spectacle, even with the once vibrant red, green, and golds muted by time and decay.

  “I think we found it,” I said.

  “I’d say so,” she agreed. “Question is if he’s here or not.”

  Do we contact Elaine, or find out first?”

  “Best to contact Elaine. Though we may not have an option. Ready for battle.”

  She had her team out in an instant, before her words had registered with me. Rookie had evolved into a Corvisquire since I’d seen him last. Ducky Jr, her Ducklett, was the only one left in his pokeball, probably because he was not yet battle ready. Cheeks, her Emolga, immediately used Double Team and we were surrounded by copies of the little creature. Down and Ampharos used Protect just as a jet of fire burst out of the shadows at us. They shielded us from the Flamethrower and Ducky’s team retaliated like the well-disciplined squad they were. Cheeks pelted the aggressor with a barrage of Electro Balls, Down collected glimmering light for a Moonblast, Fisticuff rushed in with a High Jump Kick, and Crest was busy setting up a Tailwind. It was only after the initial salvo was over that I could even see who we were fighting against. Three headed and dark as the edges of the cavern, the extremely annoyed Hydreigon answered with a Hyper Beam.

  “Hunker down. I’ll lead him off,” ordered Ducky as the ringing faded from my ears. Nobody had been directly hit, though some of Ducky’s team looked worse for the wear. She mounted Crest and took the battle into the air. Sensing she was the larger threat, Hydreigon followed her up. For once I was thankful I was being ignored.

  Hydreigon, even outnumbered, was clearly superior in strength to Ducky’s team. His blasts tore through their protections, and he tanked their attacks like they were nothing more than annoyances. Ducky had him beat in air manoeuvrability, though. His strength meant nothing if he didn’t hit anything, and he seldom did. With Rookie and Emolga peppering him with attacks from all sides, more as a distraction than to deal damage, he was too enraged to focus on his opponents one at a time. This gave Crest and Down, and even Fisticuff time to land heavier blows on him. Impressively, even with Ducky on his back, Crest was adept at aerial manoeuvres, and she never even came close to falling off.

  Meanwhile, after the initial fright, I’d recovered enough to take out Junior and be on the alert for other enemies. It didn’t look like there were more. I guessed Killian had left Hydreigon here as a guard, but was fortunately, not present himself. I fumbled with the radio the rangers gave me, trying to get it to the right frequency to get through to Elaine. The static buzzed and beeped until finally there was an answer.

  “What is it,” crackled Joey’s grumpy voice. “We’re kind of busy over here.”

  From the other end, sounds of a battle at least as fierce as the one happening around me reverberated.

  “It’s important,” I said. “I think we’ve found Landorus, and we’ve definitely found Hydreigon.”

  After a moment of silence, Joey replied.

  “That’s why he’s not here then. Keep him occupied. I’ll tell Elaine if we get the chance, but it could be a while.”

  The radio clicked off. I cursed at Joey, even if, logically, it didn’t seem like he was at fault. My attention returned to the battle raging over me. Ampharos was doing a good job of making sure we weren’t being hit by stray moves, and Junior looked ready to jump in herself if only she could fly. A Dark Pulse shot out of Hydreigon’s left mouth, clipping Rookie’s wing and knocking him out of the air. He crashed into the ground and Comfey unwound herself from my neck to go to him. I followed with Junior and Ampharos to give her cover.

  Down was the only one, it seemed, who truly seemed to be getting to Hydreigon. The rest, even Crest, did little more than irritate him, but every time a Moonblast hit, Hydreigon roared in genuine pain. Still, the way things were going, Ducky was under immense pressure. With Rookie down, it was one less distraction for Hydreigon, and his three heads, even uncoordinated, could more than handle three Pokémon at a time. The fact that it was four versus one was the only reason Ducky was still managing.

  The familiar squeak of Comfey being annoyed at a patient leaving before she was finished with them sounded and I looked in time to see Rookie escape from his treatment as he found himself well enough to rejoin the fight. If what I could do was give Ducky’s Pokémon a second wind for the battle, I was more than happy to play my role.

  A howl from Junior brought my attention back to the ground, which seemed to have taken on a life of its own. The earth pulsed and heaved like a living organism, and a sudden, immense pressure crushed me down.

  Then I saw him.

  Coming out of a whole in the side of the temple, a feline quadruped surveyed the scene before him. With an orange body with red patches, cloud-like fur and yellow eyes, Landorus stared at me, entirely unimpressed with what he was seeing.