CHAPTER 1

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Bilbo amazed. "You're the ones that killed Miror B, aren't you?" Rui was still feeling a bit uneasy hearing about Miror B's death, and people reminding her about it, and daring to think she actually had something to do with it didn't help at all. "We didn't kill Miror B" Wes said annoyed, "we just… "But you did defeat him, and most importantly, you managed to steal his shadow Pokémon" Bilbo interrupted. "Yes" Wes pointed out "We did, but we didn't killed him. His own stupidity did" Wes could still remember flames engulfing Sagrario College before it exploded. He and Rui had been lucky, had Duking not appeared to help them stop Miror B, they would've surely joined him on the other side. "In hell probably" thought Wes to himself. "We didn't killed Miror B" Rui remarked. "We're no murderers". "Right. Sorry. I got a little carried away" Said Bilbo "Anyhow, what does matter is that the bastard's dead and even better, you managed to stop the distribution of Shadow Pokémon in both Sagrario and Pyrite Town" "Huh?" Wes asked dumbly to which Rui giggled a little. "You don't know? Rumor had it that most of the shadow Pokémon in Sagrario and Pyrite Town, had come from the old college. That's where the jailed thugs claimed to have gotten them from" "Actually", Rui interrupted "I do remember that the thugs who kidnapped me, back in Sagrario, mentioned something about the college. But what I didn't know was that all the shadow Pokémon back at home and at Sagrario came from there, did you Wes?"

Wes shook his head. "I did not know about that, but if you ask me I think that it's just too easy. We're missing something here." "You mean that…" Bilbo said, "I mean that with or without the college, the shadow Pokémon distribution both in Pyrite and Sagrario Town will continue. We didn't do anything that night, except stealing Miror B's Sudowoodo. The college was just the tip of the iceberg" Rui was puzzled. How did Wes know all of this? "Wes..but…How do you know?" she asked, "I have my reasons" he said coolly before looking her in the eyes; "We still have a long way to go". Rui nodded. "O….Kay" exclaimed Bilbo, "We need to hurry and get back home, I'm sure you guys are tired. You can crash at my place, gramma and dad won't mind, hell when I tell them that you're Duking's friends and the ones who killed Miror B and put a lock on the shadow Pokémon distribution upstairs, they're practically going to beg you to stay with us". Rui sighed and followed Bilbo. "Wes, you coming?" he called out. Wes just nodded, for some reason, seeming uneasy about something.

For a subterranean city, situated directly underneath Pyrite Town, The Under had it all. It wasn't just a little city, it was a metropolis. Filled with neon light signs, the tallest buildings Wes had ever seen, and from what Bilbo had told them, it even had its own subway system. "The subway runs from one extreme of the town to the other. Right now we're on the Gunmetal District, downtown The Under. We have to get to the western side. It'll be a 40-minute sub, and you'll get to ride the subway" The three of them made their way through an underground plaza, filled with sushi restaurants with neon-light signs, Coca-Cola billboards (with neon too), Pokémon stores, a cinema announcing "Akira" and "The Shinning" as its main features. But what really caught Wes' attention was the number of people in the plaza. The plaza was packed with people. There were so many people, the three kids practically had to hold hands to not get separated. And it was hot too, like any other underground city. "We're almost there" Bilbo assured them.

-"So Wes, what do you think of this place" asked Rui.

-"It's big, it's, uhm, not what I thought it would be, that's for damn sure" he answered

-"What did you imagine it was going to be like then?"

"Well, hehe, not an underground Las Vegas"

Rui giggled, "You ever been to Vegas?" Wes shook his head. "I've only Heard the stuff Paxton told me. He said he was there once and picked up a girl who…" He stopped "Who what? What happened?" Rui asked curiously. Wes shook his head; "Forget it, it's not something I oughta tell a girl", "Well alright" said Rui "but promise me you'll tell me later"; Wes gave her a smirk; "Wes!" she exclaimed, "All right, all right" he laughed "But much, much later", Rui seemed annoyed "I thought we were friends and that you trusted me"; Wes just kept laughing "Rui, we are friends, and I promise I'll tell you…later…when we're in some tight jam, how's that?" "Well alright" Rui said "Mr. Tight jam" and they just laughed.

"Guys c'mon on"; Bilbo rushed them; "We don't wanna miss the subway"

They continued through the crowded plaza before finally entering in what it seemed the biggest shopping mall Wes had ever seen, and just like the plaza outside, it was packed with people. "How the hell can a place like this exist underground?" He thought and noticed Rui and Bilbo didn't seemed as awed as he was. They passed several department and Pokémon stores before making their way through yet another rotating door. It wasn't before bumping into a woman with a rather old and beaten-up looking Taillow on her shoulder, that Wes noticed Rui and Bilbo weren't in front of him anymore.

Wes searched around but couldn't find them. "Rui! Bilbo!" he called out to no avail. He continued to look around but still couldn't find them, he thought about entering one of the many, crowded department stores and ask directions to the subway, after all that's where Bilbo was taking them. "Have they noticed I'm missing?" he thought; "Don't be silly kid" a voice inside of his head told him; "Of course, they've noticed you're not following them anymore, just stay in one place and soon they'll find you" Wes felt a little comfort on this and decided to do it. If he just stand in one spot, soon Rui and Bilbo would come to get him, still, he felt uneasy; he felt…watched. He turned around to confirm his suspicions but no one in the never-ending crowd seemed to notice him, until…

The 2 guys were wearing sleeveless shirts, torn jeans, hiker boots and red vests. It didn't took Wes long to realize that they were grunts from the team, and that they too, had spotted him. As the grunts made their way through the crowd to get to him, Wes tried to run, but for some reason his feet just couldn't move. He tried to scream but to no avail, no sound came from his mouth, the grunts were closer now. Wes considered sending out his Pokémon and fight them, but this could cause a scandal and due to the whole spies thing, get Wes unwanted attention. When he finally was able to run, he made his way through the crowd, he didn't know where he was going and didn't care. He pushed some people along the way and, as he looked back, he noticed the grunts were now running after him too. As he ran across the mal, pushing and making his way on the crowd, Wes desperately looked around, searching for any signs of Rui or Bilbo. There weren't any signs of them anywhere. Wes started to panic, with the crowed all over the place and while running and making his way, there was no way for him to send out one of his Pokémon. He was scared. He made his way into a department clothing store, the grunts followed, he ran towards the staircase and into the second floor, he looked around for a place to hide, none, he looked back and noticed that the grunts were gaining on him and decided to hide in a clothes rack.

"Please don't let them find me" he thought to himself. No doubt Gonzap had sent them, probably ordered them to kill him too, or even worse, take him back to the base so he could take care of him in person. The thought of Gonzap, who had been like a father to him the past 10 years, doing to him what Paxton had told him he had done to that one grunt that dared to betray him, several years ago, made Wes shiver in his boots. Then there was Paxton. Just thinking of Paxton lying cold in the base's basements, being tortured to death by Gonzap and his grunts, made Wes both scared and angry. He clenched his fists as he heard a noise. He peeked outside, but saw nobody. "Maybe they already left" he said to himself. He hadn't even finished the sentence when he felt a couple of hands harshly picking him off the floor. It was them, Wes now was face to face with them. He didn't recognize them but they obviously recognized him; "We finally caught up with you Wessy boy"; he had a mean, sarcastic tone, "Tha boss gone be very happy when we bring you and that snag machine to him" Wes decided that he didn't liked this guy's tone, so he kicked him as hard as he could on the shin, he missed. "Don't try to fight Wessy boy, you're coming with us and there ain't shit you can do to stop it" the grunt said sarcastically while his partner looked on and laughed dumbly. "Wanna bet?" Wes muttered as he once again attempted to kick his aggressor. Bull's-eye! Wes managed to make the grunt let go of him and made a run for it. He went down the stairs into the crowded mall, in hopes of losing the grunts. He kept on running, not looking or caring where he was heading, trying to get as far away from those guys. "Where the fuck are Rui and Bilbo!?" was the only thought on his head as he kept on running. He saw a glowing neon sign with the word "Subway Station" and an arrow pointing left, and made his way, surely Rui and Bilbo were at the subway station. He made his way down the stairs leading to the station, which was yet again, packed with people, Wes turned around to see if the grunts were still on his tracks, damn! They were. He continued running through the crowd and decided that the best would be to have one of his Pokémon partners help him out. He tried to grab Espeon's Pokéball from his belt, but just as he was about to grab it, he fell face first into the floor. He tried to get up, but for some strange reason he couldn't, or were they not letting him? He felt a strange weight on his back, arms and legs, keeping him pinned down to the floor. He could hear the crowd rushing back and forth on the station, their footsteps pounding on his head, and that's when Wes started to lose it. The people on the station were walking over him, stomping him as they walked. Oh god, he was gonna die there, crushed to death on that people stampede. He thought about his Pokémon partners and his friends, Bilbo, Rui, Duking, Paxton and even Gonzap. Poor Gonzap wouldn't get the chance to adjust counts with him. In just a few minutes all of this would be over and the Under police would come and pick up his stepped on body. Now he understood what a Stomp attack felt like. He started to scream but nobody could hear him, he screamed as loud as he could…but nothing. This was it for him. This. Was. It.

"Wes!"…"Wes wake up!"

A sweaty Wes woke up feeling uneasy.

"R-R-Ru-i?"

He looked around and saw Bilbo and Rui standing over him. As ridiculous as the thought sounded, he was glad he was alive.

"Damn it dude!" Bilbo exclaimed "Where did you ran off to?!"

"I just…Oh shit, where are they? We have to get out of here they're coming!"

"Wes slow down" Rui tried to calm him down "Who's coming?"

"Th-The grunts, from the team, look let's just get outta here" Wes wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Bilbo and Rui tried to calm him down; "Dude relax, there's no one here, c'mon". Wes looked around but couldn't find them. He was trembling, they were out there and what if they attacked, or had their Pokémon attack? No, they couldn't stay there longer; they had to get outta there. Rui and Bilbo helped Wes walk towards the subway train. Once inside the train Wes, though calmer now, was still worried about the grunts. They knew he was on The Under and would undoubtedly tell Gonzap, who would surely send more of his Grunts after him. He tried not to think about it longer, and as the train started off, he fell asleep.