Thunderlight

The Mesa Battle

A furious roar splits the heavens, more fearsome than any boom of thunder.

A strike of lightning in the distance gives rise to a rapidly growing fire.

A collective scream rises from the town, civilians waking to the horrific sight of their impending doom.

Their final battle has begun, and Mott isn't ready for it. His heart is racing in his throat, yet it has come to a complete stop. The air is too thin for him to breathe, yet he finds himself breathing too fast. Everything he's worked for has led up to this moment; yet, he hesitates. He's frozen.

All his preparations went toward defeating Zekrom. Not Florian.

Not Florian.

A deafening burst of thunder shakes the world, and Lenny screams, "Look out!"

An instant later, a bolt of lightning strikes the base of the inn. The wooden walls crackle and burn at an ever-growing pace, the flame consuming everything in sight. Hot and furious, the blaze climbs through the window and begins crawling toward them. The smells and sounds of the burning building plunge Mott's stomach as if hurling him back into the Roselake Museum.

"We need to get out of here and evacuate everyone else!" He shouts over the roaring inferno. "Lenny, Torquil, work on getting everyone to safety; I'll try to buy you times by putting out some of the fire!"

Lenny nods, not wasting a second. He bounds over a smoldering fire that started in the hallway, racing down the corridor in a search for other residents. Right away, Mott focuses on the growing flames, targeting them with jets of water. The sheer heat in the room keeps his attacks from gaining their full potential, restricting them and making them weak. It takes several tries before a medium sized fire begins to dim. Meanwhile, Torquil stands, just as frozen as Mott had been, and gapes at the world around him.

"I don't understand," Torquil utters, mostly to himself. Mott can barely hear him over the crackling and groaning of the building. "This can't be happening."

Mott shoots another stream of water at the flames eating away at the rafters. "Go, go help Lenny!"

"This can't be happening," Torquil repeats, in a daze. He stares at everything with wide eyes as if he's in a dream. Then, with an almost delusional break in his voice, he says, "It's just Florian, just Florian—"

The fire is closing in, and Mott isn't strong enough to keep it at bay for much longer. "Snap out of it!"

"He's our friend," Toriquil asserts, vehemently, as if he's desperately trying to convince himself. "He's Florian, he's our friend, he wouldn't—"

"Torquil!" Mott shouts, and he snaps out of whatever trance he was in. "Go get everyone else out of the inn!"

He nods, still somewhat in shock, and staggers out of the room. Mott prays he'll be alright, and that he'll be able to bring himself and others to safety. Then, he turns back to the blaze surrounding him.

In a flash, he sees himself surrounded by the crumbling walls of the Roselake City museum. He sees the fire clawing its way up the bookcases; he sees the flames circling him on the smoldering carpet. His heart races with panicked fervor until he blinks and the nightmarish memory of the museum vanishes like smoke. But it doesn't give way to a much better scene.

The fire around him is too strong. It's already swallowed up so much of the building that there's no chance of him quelling it. At this point, all he can do is hope to slow it down so everyone can get out before the structure collapses. Hopefully, he can escape it, too. But if not, he better be ready to go down fighting.