Chaser and the Rising Mountain

Chaser and the Rainbow Wing

"Ho-Oh! I summon you!"

The air all around the altair was deadly silent, and the clouds called by Suicune evaporated. The sun setting over the mountains dyed the entire scene orange in the light as it began disappearing over the horizon. Everything was still, even the wind itself had stopped blowing.

For a moment, Goh thought that time had been frozen as soon as he shouted those words.

But time, like many other things, obeyed certain natural laws, and so the shadows growing across the ground told him all he needed to know.

No one was coming.

Goh looked at the feather, and it still glowed with a mighty power. He almost felt like he could swing it like a sword and cut Team Rocket's helicopter in half with it. But there was no appearance of the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh. There was no God approaching the end of this particular rainbow.

"I wonder what was wrong..." he thought. "The feather received all the powers, right...? Then I wonder what we're missing..." He began running through the legend again in his mind until-

"Goh!"

Ash's shout brought him out of his thoughts and he returned his attention to Team Rocket. The grunts were in the process of recalling their Pokémon, but Gozu and his Aggron were still standing. Ash had already stepped off the altar, Lucario ready to continue the battle that they had already started.

Glancing further, he saw that Chloe and Professor Cerise were behind Goh's Pokémon, who were forming a defensive wall around them.

"Got it," said Goh, stepping around. "Between the two of us, this should be a piece of cake!"

Gozu practically growled at them. "I don't understand how two brats like you could be giving us so much trouble, but I cannot leave without that feather. I didn't want to do this to you both, but you leave me no choice!" The commander reached into his uniform and pulled out his identification tags. Only Goh saw something strange on one of them. An iridescent stone that seemed to glow with the colors of the rainbow was attached to one of them, and Gozu took it into his hand with a wicked grin.

"Aggron, Mega Evolve!"

Gozu's other hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a glittering, silver-colored jewel before lobbing it at Aggron. As soon as the sphere touched Aggron's head, it burst into a brilliant light just as a similar light exploded from the iridescent stone in Gozu's grip.

"A Key Stone..." Goh muttered.

"...and a Mega Stone." Ash said, finishing the thought.

Cloaked in the power of Mega Evolution, Aggron began to change shape and size. The parts of the body that looked to be made of a shale or obsidian were quickly hardening into a solid metal, and the parts of the body that were already made of metal grew that much larger. His claws became longer and sharper, and the horn on his head combined with the armor to become a shape that reminded Goh of a battle ax.

The light burst forth, and the newly Mega Evolved Mega Aggron roared with a cry that sounded like grinding metal. The force of the Mega Evolution completing sent a shockwave of wind and pressure out, pushing against Goh, Ash, and Lucario, but not threatening to knock them over.

"Heh, I could tell you were holdin' back," Ash said, grinning wildly. "Now I know just what you can do."

He jammed his hand into one of his pockets and pulled it out, stretching a black glove over his once bare hand. On the back of the glove was another of those mysteriously glowing, iridescent stones - a Key Stone.