He had left Nuvema Town a a few hours before dawn, and here in Orre, despite travelling for three hours, it was still dawn.
It was almost like they were escaping the reach of the rising sun.
However, something unexpected happened when they were flying over the clouds above the desert, near the bounds of the Phenac City.
A powerful Pokémon locked its Psychic Focus on his Alpha Aerodactyl, and Aizen immediately looked up and used his Aura Sight, where a small Lugia, about half the size of the Legendary Pokémon he and once seen, was flying.
And it was not a normal Lugia, but the Shadow Lugia that Cipher had created...
Aizen's heart skipped a beat when he saw its glowing red eyes momentarily flash, and then the bird dived down, stopped staying invisible to the eyes of his Aerodactyl, and used Brave Bird.
Without wasting any moment, he immediately sent his Pokémon inside the Promise Ball and tried to Teleport out of the way, and he succeeded, but then felt goosebumps all over his body.
The Prince quickly amplified his psychic shields and protected his insides with his Aura, just in time for the powerful telekinetic slap that hit him.
Aizen blanked out, feeling pain all over his body, and he could even taste blood in his mouth.
When he regained clarity, he was only a couple of hundred metres from crashing into the ground, but with his Aura Sight, he could see the invisible Shadow Lugia, who was rushing at him, ready to use some move that utilised its Ghostly Energies.
His mind ran wild, but he decided to not call out any of his Pokémon, who were trying to come out of the Promise Ball to protect him.
Instead, he teleported again, and this time, appeared on the back of his attacker, catching it by surprise.
"Calm down..." he tried to talk, but the bird sharply started flying up into the sky.
He was hit again by a Psychic, and narrowly missed the slap from the Pokémon's left wing by teleporting on its back again.
"Calm down!" He shouted, lacing his voice with his Aura and also unleashing all of it.
His actions briefly allowed the Shadow Lugia to gain a moment of clarity, and it was enough for him to establish a mental link between them.
"You are safe with me." He gently said to the Pokémon before convincing it to fly towards the sea.
However, he was quite troubled because he knew that Cipher had their eyes on them right now, and they were monitoring Shadow Lugia's flight path.
Fighting the pain, he scanned the Pokémon's body with his Aura Sight and found several devices planted in its body.
His heart dropped when he sensed his link with Showed Lugia faltering, but he quickly started eliminating the chips in the Pokémon's body, which were controlling it, by teleporting them out.
It hurt Lugia a lot, and its painful cries ached his heart, but he did not hesitate. It was something that needed to be done.
By the time they reached the sky above the sea, Shadow Lugia was on the verge of losing consciousness, and it was the same for him.
"Dive into the water." He instructed, and the Pokémon, being resilient, managed to do as he had asked.
Aizen took a deep breath that burned his lungs and then braced himself as the Pokémon dived into the sea.
"Keep going."
Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty...
When they reached fifty metres below the surface of the Water, Shadow Lugia stopped as its vision dimmed.
Aizen quickly sent the child of Lugia inside his Promise Ball, and then plucked a Pokéball from his belt and summoned his Shiny Gyarados.
He set up a countdown on his watch, and then grabbed onto his Pokémon, telling it to keep going towards West, and only surface after the alarm from his watch would sound out.
And then with the last bit of his strength, he held onto Gyarados, locking his hands with the help of his Aura, and lost consciousness.
He did not know what would become of him, but he was confident that he would be fine. He had sent his last instructions to the Pokémon inside the Promise Ball. He trusted them with all his heart.
And he did wake up again...
Aizen stared at the night sky over his head, through the crown of the trees, and furrowed his brows at the stiffness in his body.
A painful groan escaped his lips when he sat up, but his mind did not dwell on it.
After he made sure that all his Pokémon were safe, and his Mega Metagross was by his side, he quickly checked his location on the watch.
"Did you encounter any enemies, Dexter?" He asked.
"Meta..."
Aizen nodded his head in relief again and then leaned back at the Psychic Shield that his Pokémon created for him.
His two Audino were exhausted after helping Shadow Lugia heal, and though its condition was still bad, its life was in no danger.
Dexter then showed him everything that had transpired after the alarm had sounded out and Gyarados had surfaced with him.
His Psychic Tank, as he had instructed, immediately came out, and after the Sea Serpent entered the Promise Ball, it teleported away with him to this Island.
The two Audino wanted to heal him first, but after they came out, following his orders, stopped.
Lugia's body had then suddenly come out of the Promise Ball, and the two quickly got to work, trying to heal the child to the best of their abilities.
"Meta..."
"Yeah, I know." He sighed and then focused on the Master Ball inside his Promise Ball. "Thanks, Mewtwo."
Knowing that he would not be receiving any answer, he closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
Only two hours later, he woke up again, and he had healed enough to stand up on his feet.
Wincing in pain, he took a few breaths and hesitated to contact his Team.
He could also not use Dexter to Teleport to Edison's Lab as they were very far away from the place, and forcing it would leave a Psychic Trail that both Ghost and Dark Type Pokémon of Cipher could pick up on.
Gritting his teeth, he called out his Aerodactyl again and then climbed over its back.
The flight back to Orre was a painful experience for him, and he kept praying it would end soon.
However, it was a long and excruciating journey.
When they arrived above Edison's Lab, he recalled his Pokémon and dived down.
A dark thought crossed his mind that he should just die, but he opened his eyes again and managed to Teleport to the door of the house, and then he fell back and fainted.
The next time he woke up, he found himself in the bed, wearing his pyjamas, and his Rinko, Lux, Rio, and the two Zorua were lying next to him, snuggling with him.
He quickly used his Aura Sight and was relieved to find that everyone was safe and home, and then closed his eyes again.
On the third day, his brows furrowed in his sleep as he felt a touch of soft lips on his forehead.
There were only four people in the world who kissed him there.
The first was his Grandmother, the second was Lyla, the third was his sister, and the last was Sabrina.
And he knew it was his Moonheart.
His eyes opened, and sure enough, he found a pair of beautiful pink eyes staring at him.
"Hey..." He smiled, and his Moon leaned in to kiss him on his lips.
"Good morning." She smiled and then straightened her back. "How do you feel now?"
"Famished and stiff," Aizen answered as he forced himself to sit up.
He still had a slight fever, but all his injuries were healed, and his Aura and Psychic reserves were full.
His heart ached when he saw his Pokémon, who were hesitating to jump at him, fearful that they might hurt him.
And to relieve their hearts, he pulled his Riolu to him and started ticking its belly, making it laugh.
The noise in the room soon attracted the attention of everyone else in the house. After Riley and Phoebe rushed in, Krane, Lily, and the two children entered the room as well.
"You are crazy!" His friend admonished him, and he wryly smiled in response.
"Thanks."
The Winters felt bad at his words, but then sighed and smiled, immensely relieved to see him up and ready for another day.
Aizen then excused himself as he entered the bath, where he took a long shower and then joined everyone at the table for breakfast.
Jovi soon started giggling after she noticed that he was eating a lot, almost like a glutinous ghost, and he just smiled at her.
"How's the progress with the Purify Chamber?"
"It's working just as we wanted. A success." Lily smiled, and Krane continued.
"We have already purified three hundred Pokémon since yesterday, but the batteries are running out now, and we need to charge them or get new ones."
"Nice." He nodded and downed a glass of water.
"We are not heading out for any mission, Aizen. Stay in bed." Riley seriously said, and he chuckled.
"Aye, aye..." he nodded, "but I am not staying in bed. I need to relieve my body of all this stiffness."
"Right."
None of them talked about serious things until Michael and Jovi were led away by Lily after their meal.
"The Cipher Satellites caught your "battle" with Shadow Lugia. We saw everything too." Krane grimly said and then frowned. "How did you manage to do it?"
"Do what?" He raised his brow. "Survive?"
"That too, but I am talking about this."
The Scientist then used his watch to show him some holographic images, and also a live feed of when he teleported on the back of Shadow Lugia.
And his figure was pixilated. A blur, which made him seem like a ghost.
Even this Aerodactyl was a blur.
Aizen furrowed his brows because even he did not have an answer for it. He had already changed his appearance to not be recognised by anyone, but he was not powerful enough of a Psychic to hide like this from the Satellites.
Mewtwo would never help him like this, so...
A smile crossed his face.
"Let's not talk about it. I don't want to recall that morning."
Even though all of them were extremely curious, they chose not to press him for an answer.
"Shadow Lugia?" Riley asked, and seeing the smile on Aizen's face, which brightened, his eyes went wide in shock. "So that's why you dived into the sea!"
"Yeah..."