Lars wasn't holding anything back, fully drawing on the Mirage's blessing to arm himself with swords of blue ice. "On your guard, Aleph! Protect him!" Josh ordered. Instead of the Type: Null slicing up the hordes near the Composed, he instead went for ones farther away. While it did thin the psychic-types' ranks, it did little to reduce the number of sizzling HIDDEN POWER attacks coming his way.

A second wave of HIDDEN POWER attacks came Josh's way, all of them clods of psychokinetically-manipulated earth. The Iron Crown and Iron Boulder did their best to slice through them with TACHYON CUTTER and MIGHTY CLEAVE, but the attacks were simply too numerous, bringing the paradox Pokémon to their knees. Why were the DRK Triad also attacking Josh, especially with the element he and his team was most weak to. Was it true? Were the DRK Triad not only after Avatars, but those who wanted to be Avatars?

It was a cruel piece of irony. Josh's desire for Avatarship was at one point so strong that the Triad saw even him as a threat. "Lars, I didn't bring any water Pokémon or water attacks!" Josh cried, no doubt raising the man's blood pressure to unhealthy levels...

Josh wanted to retort that it was impossible to represent every single type with a belt of only six Pokémon, but that would surely have elevated the man's blood pressure to dangerous levels. He kept his remarks to himself.

Fainted Unown collected on the water's surface after Kali's WATERFALL knocked both the fire and ground-type attacks out of the air... just long enough for the Gym Leader to catch his breath. That wouldn't last long, though; one more wave of HIDDEN POWER, this one Ground, smashed into Sigmund and Tyrfing from behind, both the legendary paradox Pokémon collapsing. It was all up to Aleph now, the Type: Null violently slashing across the swarm with X-SCISSOR in a fit of rage.

"Too late for that, I think!" Josh replied to Lars' shout with a half-shout of his own. "They could also be using me to get to you!"

Slowly but surely, the foes' ranks were thinning. The berserk Type: Null's frag count continued to grow with every Unown he cleaved through. After another volley of earthen spheres struck him, his anger peaked, wanting to take out his frustration on anything near him. After he was done tearing up the Unown hovering around him. Taking aim at Kali, a barrage of fireballs knocked the Type: Null out of the air and to unconsciousness before any friendly fire could happen.

"We might need to beat a retreat, Lars!" Josh cried, sending out his Roaring Moon, Ao, and mounting up. "I'll get as far away as I can!" he acknowledged as the rain grew in intensity. Though he had no hoodie, he had a helmet visor he could lower while he weathered the storm to come.

Josh was jabbing at Ao's sides repeatedly, urging the paradox Pokémon to fly faster. In an erratic DRAGON DANCE that heaved his trainer back and forth in his cocoon, Ao soared toward the clouds masking Area Zero from the Giant Chasm. "Hurry, Lars!" he shouted, only for the Unown to scatter suddenly.

Little did Josh know that a seven-eyed titan was on the other side of the clouds, staring at him and LOCKING ON to him and his Roaring Moon. While it would take some time for the rock-type legendary Pokémon to acquire that target lock, once it did, no amount of speed would enable him to avoid it.

As his Roaring Moon poked above the clouds, the Gym Leader witnessed the terror that was the Hoenn-native rock construct. "What the hell is that thing?!" Josh swore, fiercely reining his mount away from the Regirock. It may have been too late, though: a seven-pronged HYPER BEAM was inevitably coming from those eyes.

Panic set in, Josh jabbing at Ao's sides for as much speed as the Roaring Moon could manage. "Faster, Ao!" he urged. "Faster, faster, faster!!" His feathers caught more lift than they ever had before, letting the dragon FLY at breathtaking vertical speeds. Speeds that would have allowed the paradox dragon to get away if Regirock hadn't LOCKED ON to them. There was no escape from the HYPER BEAM that shot out of its seven eyes.

With a sudden barrel roll, the dragon turned upside down just as the HYPER BEAM struck him. His wings singed in the legendary Pokémon's attack, Spiraling toward the cliffside high above where the rock-type stood, they would at least be out of range. By some miracle, the dragon landed upright, Josh slamming into the scaly flesh of his paradoxical steed. Even so, it was better than winding up as paste. Ao was far from okay; the Roaring Moon's feathers on his wingtips had been incinerated, rendering it impossible for him to gain sufficient lift.

For the near future, Ao was reduced to being a crawling dragon.

MEDIUM-TERM INJURY

Ao the Roaring Moon has suffered a WING INJURY after absorbing the HYPER BEAM of a REGIROCK during EXCURSIONS INTO AREA ZERO. While injured, Ao loses all benefits of the Flying-type, cannot fly, and cannot use any move that requires him to fly. This injury can be removed no earlier than JUNE 28, 2024.