-Blessed by Divinity: Eternity-

Clash at the Summit

"Red! Dawn! Hold up a second!"

My voice echoed through the large, empty cave. I didn't care about the dozens of wild pokemon who stared on as I sprinted at full speed to catch up to the two trainers ahead of me.

"Aaron! I should have known you'd be back here."

As I joined the two elite trainers, Dragonite returned to her pokeball, waiting for her time. Now that I had regrouped with the others, I told them about Elaine and May. Unsurprisingly, they didn't say much, not particularly shocked that either of them had taken off so quickly.

"..."

I followed Red's gaze as he looked on. Just ahead of us, the cave opened up to the outside. I could hear the howling winds blowing by at unnatural speeds, the snowstorm threatening to burst through the mountain walls from the outside.

"We don't have any time to waste. They'll be at the top of the mountain, just like last time."

Dawn nodded to the two of us before leading the way as we exited through the opening ahead of us. The moment we stepped out, it became more and more difficult to just see ahead of us. With each passing step, the snowstorm raged on, meaning we were nearly blind as we navigated the treacherous mountain route. Thankfully, Dawn had some experience with this area, using any knowledge she had to make sure we didn't fall to our deaths.

"Hold up, do you hear that?"

The blunette froze in her tracks, stopping on the spot. Red and I came to a stop behind her, our eyes darting around to see what Dawn had seen.

A sharp screech cut through the wind like a knife, deafening us as it rang out once again. The bitter cold was cutting against my skin, forcing me to close my eyes to avoid losing my sight permanently. I heard Red shuffle beside me and guessed he did the same.

Through the gaps between my fingers I looked on, seeing Dawn standing unfazed by the extreme weather. She held her hand by her belt, ready to reach for a pokeball at any moment.

Then all of a sudden, the skies cleared, the snowstorm subsiding. Red and I lifted our gaze, seeing that it was easier for us to see everything now. As we stood below the mountain summit, I could see that we were already far above the cloud line, now in an entirely new world in the skies.

Just as I opened my mouth to speak, three blurs flashed in front of us, blocking off the path to the summit. My eyes adjusted, seeing three familiar faces stood on the thin path before us.

"Hey Aaron! Long time no see, you're as fine as ever!"

A familiar voice called out and as I looked up, I locked eyes with Mars, the red head lieutenant of Team Galactic. Just like the last time we met, her voice was filled with a certain fervour that I shrugged off quickly.

"You three aren't going anywhere." Saturn cut off the red head beside him before she could continue. He reached for a pokeball but before he could call out a pokemon, a torrent of water was swept the blue haired lieutenant off his feet.

I looked to my side, seeing both Dawn and Empoleon on standby for battle. Both of their eyes were fixed on the three commanders in front of them, their determination tangible in the freezing cold air.

"You two can't be held up here, and especially not by these scrubs."

No more needed to be said as Red and I exchanged knowing looks. We were both confident in the blunette's abilities even if she was outnumbered.

Without looking back, Red and I sped past the three commanders who could only watch on as Empoleon kept them back, allowing us to pass.

As we turned a corner, the four trainers were out of sight, the mountain summit now in clear view. The skies had finally cleared up, allowing us to see where were running ahead to. There was an opening ahead of us and I could see that it lead directly to the top.