Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Infrared

Chapter 24 (Old): Back to the Future!

Nemona wanted to help her friends. She did, but every time she prepared to throw her pokéball, she experienced another flashback of Meowscarada brutally losing against the Iron Moths. The flashbacks got so bad that she clipped her ball to her belt and told Sada, "I'm not battling."

Before Sada could speak, another Pokémon attack crashed into Celebi's shield. It broke it into tiny, green puzzle pieces.

Koraidon and Miraidon wasted no time hopping in front of the group.

Seeing them, Mabosstiff, Roaring Moon, Skeledirge, and Sylveon mimicked their actions and created a new barrier to protect their friends.

Penny rubbed the sweat from her brow and studied the enemy. "There're too many of them," she said. "We're outnumbered." It was certain they were all going to die now.

There was only one way out of this, and Celebi knew what it was. "Bi!" it bellowed. Its eyes glowed up, and it used its Psychic powers to pick up the Pokémon and their trainers. Celebi threw them toward the closing space-time rift and yelled, "Bi! Bi!" at Roaring Moon, Koraidon, and Miraidon. It had to be quick about this.

Penny, Scarlet, and Arven recalled their Pokémon, but Sada kept Roaring Moon out. After all, he had wings. She grabbed his back scales and tossed herself onto him. Sada hugged his rough skin with her legs and said, "Get on!" to Arven and his friends.

To help out, Koraidon and Miraidon changed to their mobility forms and brought out their gliders. At the same time, they knocked an Iron Moth, who had chased them, out of the sky—only to see a rabble of them still coming.

Koraidon nodded at Miraidon, who nodded back. Excitement bubbled through the Pokémon's body like a boiling tea kettle, and Koraidon cracked a smile. Did Miraidon like him now? A sudden weight on his back returned him to reality, and he soon realized that Scarlet had hopped onto him.

Penny and Nemona got on Miraidon, and Arven joined Sada on Roaring Moon.

He peeked down to the rabble of Iron Moths closing in on him and his friends and groaned, "There're so many Iron Moths."

The crack in the sky was now only half the length of what it was before. Future Pokémon stopped dropping from it, and the sky's infrared tone started to subside. Nevertheless, a bundle of storm clouds replaced it. Lightning flashed, and a clap of thunder shook the very atmosphere.

Penny could see blankets of rain creeping up on her and her friends. "Celebi, be quick!" she called to Celebi. "Sada can't get wet!"

A drop of rain fell onto Sada's good hand, causing a small spark to pop up from it.

She slipped it into her pocket and said, "Celebi, hurry!"

The group was almost at the space-time rift, but they screeched to a halt when an Iron Moth left the rabble and blocked their path. It tapped its fangs and stared hungrily at Sada's left arm. It must have been the one that injured her before.

Sada would've attacked it, but all Roaring Moon knew was Flamethrower and three physical attacks: Earthquake, Night Slash, and Stone Edge. Flamethrower would do nothing to Iron Moth, and physical attacks were too dangerous because Roaring Moon carried her and Arven.

Another drop of rain fell.

Scarlet moved her hands to her belt and searched her pokéballs. She plucked one off and shouted, "Go, Staraptor!" chucking it at the perfect angle. Why didn't she think of this earlier? Iron Moth was a Fire/Poison Type, right?

The Pokémon that emerged from Scarlet's pokéball was large and bird-like. It had gray, black, and white feathers, a crest on top of its head that hovered over its right eye, and orange feet with sword-like talons.

"Fly back!" Scarlet said to Arven and Sada.

Wondering what her plan was, they obeyed. They flew back and joined Koraidon and Miraidon.

Not saying a word, Scarlet freed her own Tera Orb from her pocket. She held it over her head. At her command, the familiar, crystalline energy sucked itself into it, but unlike Sada's Tera Orb, it did not backfire. Scarlet threw it at Staraptor. She remembered she gave it a different Tera type to help it have an advantage over Rock-type Pokémon.

The second the Tera Orb hit Staraptor, it glowed up, and a blue, crystalline chandelier appeared around its head. It looked like a crown.

The Pokémon flapped its wings and narrowed its menacing, red eyes.

"Staraptor," Scarlet ordered, "use Tera Blast!"

"Raptor!" Staraptor roared. Energy poured out of the crystals on its head. A cyan wave emerged from them, and Staraptor launched it at the Iron Moth.

Iron Moth screeched when it hit it. Its entire body sizzled under the attack, like chorizos on a grill, and it plummeted for the Earth below, clearing the path to the space-time rift.

A few more Iron Moths, startled by Staraptor's power, retreated, but a good number of them still went after the group.

"Now!" Scarlet told her friends. Right when she said that, the rain picked up.

Sada stared at Scarlet, unable to speak, blink, or even pay attention to her mechanical body, which sparked even more. Was this surprise she felt? Sada thought she wasn't programmed to feel that emotion, though. Was she actually surprised—by a child, nonetheless?

Sada was so lost in her thoughts that Arven ended up telling Roaring Moon, "Go, Roaring Moon."

Celebi led the way. One more time, its eyes glowed, and it announced, "Ribabi!"

The Iron Moths and blankets of rain folded in on the group. The Iron Moths screeched, and the rain fell harder.

"Celebi!" Arven begged, grabbing Sada's shoulder.

"Ribabi!" it announced again. Just like that, it tossed itself, Staraptor, and the rest of the team into the space-time rift.

The sky pulsed a final time, and then the crack vanished. Rain poured, thunder boomed, and lightning flashed.

The remaining party of Iron Moths cried out when their own bodies sizzled under the cold rain. They dove like star divers out of the troposphere and returned to the Tagtree Thicket, upset that they had lost their prey, but even more disturbed by the fact that they failed Professor Turo.

End of Part 1: The Past