Hoo, boy, what have I gotten myself into...? I probably have some explaining to do before we begin.

You all remember May's Crush and its sequel Final Frontier from...oh, God, a decade ago, right? Yeah, let's not think about how much time has passed and instead think about how much good these stories did for the Advanceshipping community. Because they did absolutely inspire most of us to write something for it, I'm sure. I know it did for me.

But after a while, Final Frontier just stopped updating. Perhaps PikamasterADV had other plans, or maybe life just got in the way, or maybe he didn't think it was worth finishing after all. It's rather common for many stories, of course, but I couldn't just let this particular one end like this, not when it affected the community so profoundly-and me personally, in late high school.

So what's a grown adult with a little determination and perhaps a bit too much free time after the Twitch Pokémon Marathon to do? Why, reread both stories, take notes, make ending predictions, and then finish the dang thing, of course! And what you have just clicked is the fruit of my attempt.

Fair warning: This very well may not be the outcome that the original author intended, so I can only imagine that this will diverge in some way from his original vision. That said, most of what I have planned is stuff that can be supported through the material that he had already written, so it won't be a complete asspull. I also think that he's laid a very good foundation to finish the story in a satisfying way, so I hope you find my interpretation of the ending on par.

Without further ado, enjoy! (But make sure you're familiar with both May's Crush and Final Frontier beforehand, because there be spoilers ahead for those who haven't read it!)

The gravity of that night thus far weighed heavily on Ash's heart as he re-entered the mysterious man's office once more. His mind raced with the same thoughts over and over again, and no matter how many times he revisited them, he could never completely wrap his head around it all.

The Team Rocket trio, whom he had not long ago consigned them to death, had miraculously survived Charizard's attack (again), and not only that, but they had also been teaming up with the friends he had been separated from for about a week. On top of that, Anabel had confessed her love to him, and it turned out that Scott wasn't the murderous moneygrubber he had been programmed to accept. Or so he claimed.

And most importantly...they were alive. His Pokémon, his best friend Pikachu, and the girl he loved—none of them had died after all.

In the course of a single night, his emotional range went from pure hatred and rage, to fear, to mirth, to happiness, to sorrow, to rage again, and then to understanding. Sliding across the entire spectrum of human emotion in only a few minutes' time was a peculiar sensation that he was not used to, but it was, he had to admit, a nice change of pace from the monotonous despair he had been feeling for days at a time.

That sensation had given him pause in his instinct to kill. Doubt welled up in him. He had questions that needed answers. And so, his clouded heart led him back to the Battle Fortress once more, to interrogate the man who had helped him seek revenge.

After dismounting his trusty Charizard and leaving him to kill time in the basement, he made his way to the main elevator and retraced his steps back to Evergreen's office. The path was simple enough, and it helped that the Fortress's layout was painfully rudimentary, each floor having a straightforward set of doorways, all of them clearly marked—the one claimed by Evergreen being the only one with a double door set.

The doors slid open easily, slamming when they hit the doorstops, and he stepped inside to greet a dimly-lit desk and the back of a large leather swivel chair.

"Evergreen, I'm back."

The chair spun to face him, and sitting in it was a towering, chiseled man comfortably leaning into his palm. His dark hair blended in with the shadows, tempting Ash to doubt whether or not he even had hair to begin with—but that he did, slicked with an expensive gel that sometimes was the only glimmer of light in the poorly-lit room.

"Ah, Ash," the man said, his lips curled into a slight frown. "You're back earlier than I expected. Why hasn't Anabel returned with you?"

"She had to stay behind. We found Scott's hideout. It was on Six Island, like you told us."

Evergreen's frown turned into a warm smile. "Good. And?"

"It's burned to ashes. Let's say he won't ruin people's lives ever again."

The older man laughed and got out of his chair. "Very good! Very good, indeed. You've done the right thing. Now no one else will have to suffer your kind of loss at his hand." He walked up to the tattered and singed Champion and placed a firm grip of assurance on his shoulder. "It's cathartic, isn't it, to see justice done?"

It wasn't. Not just because he thought it was overkill in retrospect, but also because May was actually alive. The warmth of her skin, the scent of her hair, the softness of her clothes, it was all real. There was no justice to serve—just an aborted assassination attempt and an unnecessary arson. Finding himself unable to own up, however, he silently nodded.

Evergreen ceased his firm grip on Ash's shoulder and practically skipped back to his chair, an apparent spring in his step that the Pallet Trainer had never had the opportunity to witness. It made him uncomfortable to see any semblance of the man's professionalism fall away like a silk veil, but just as soon as he landed into the plush leather seat, the giddy schoolboy image had dissipated. Ash's discomfort still remained.

"You made shorter work of Scott than I anticipated, so I think you deserve a long-awaited night of rest. Wouldn't you agree?"

Ash's stomach rumbled loudly, as was routine after what seemed like every fifteen-minute interval, and he missed having clean clothes and a warm shower—but he knew those luxuries would have to wait. "Sure," he began, "but before I turn in for the night, there's something that's been bothering me."

Ice jingled in Evergreen's glass as it pounded the mahogany coaster on his desk, its contents otherwise consumed completely. "Still having second thoughts about being judge, jury, and executioner?" he asked the tattered lad standing across from him. "Don't doubt yourself about that. It had to be done."

Ash's eyes narrowed. "Did it, though?"

Evergreen looked nonplussed, his eyes narrowing in kind. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you were so sure that May and Pikachu were dead…"

Evergreen chuckled. "Surely you must be sleep deprived. You haven't forgotten the video already, have you? Those members of Team Rocket fired that rocket launcher and blew your beloved to smithereens!"

"But...did they, really?"

Evergreen's frown returned, his chuckle replaced by agitation. "Of course they did!" he answered with his voice raised far beyond what was really necessary in such close quarters. "You saw how they were unable to capture a simple Pikachu! Is it that hard to believe they couldn't handle that bazooka, either?"

And then it hit him. Ash knew something sounded fishy as soon as he heard the other side of the story, and now, like an interrogator grilling a suspect under a hot lamp, he raised his own voice to counter. "How did you know they were just trying to capture Pikachu? That video had no sound!"

That moment he saw that video was, after all, forever burned into Ash's mind, and he revisited it each and every day he trained from then on. It was the perfect fuel for his motivation—and there was no way he'd misremember a detail of a video that horrifying. A supposed outsider would have seen Jessie in the video attempt to grab May first and reasonably assumed the trio was attempting to kidnap them all. But singling out a simple Pikachu as the sole target?

Evergreen was silent, unless one were to count the stunned sputtering of one who just realized he had made a grave slip of the tongue. His eye twitched, and his mouth hung open as though his jaw were locked in place. And then, Ash cracked a genuine grin for what felt like the first time in weeks. He got him.

"I saw May just now, and Pikachu, too. They're still alive."

Evergreen growled. "Impossible. How could anyone have survived an attack like that!?"

"If you don't believe me," Ash said with a smile, "then how do you explain this?" With a swift sleight of hand, he took all of the Poké Balls around his belt and released his party, five flashes of light brightening up the dank ambiance for a brief moment. The partners that he had once thought he lost in the explosion stood before the two, restraining themselves to celebrate their master's return to instead keep a close eye on the man cloaked in the shadows.

Evergreen's face said it all: Shock, dumbfoundedness, and—most of all—complete silence. Had Ash not known any better, he would have assumed that the man had choked on a piece of fruit and was paralyzed from fear.

"It's like you said," Ash continued. "May did have my Pokémon with her. And if she really were killed, then they would've been dead with her. But my Pokémon are alive and well right in front of you."

Evergreen closed his eyes, pensive. His growling from before turned into a low hum, and he rubbed his chin with one of his free hands. "So not only did you off the one who would surely take another life without your intervention, you discovered that everyone most important to you had survived the attack after all? What jubilation! I toast to your good fortune, sir."

He leaned forward and refilled his glass with a transparent, brownish liquid from a pitcher on his desk and then raised it, uttering a sláinte before taking a sip. "I mean, this is cause for celebration, no? Scott's dead, and you have your loved one back, and your Pokémon, to boot. What more could you ask for?"

Ash took a step forward, taking care to not accidentally step on Totodile's tail. "Well, I never actually said I killed Scott."

Evergreen spit his drink on the floor and violently swiped away the excess dribble from his chin. "What!? Scott's still alive!?"

"And that's not all," Ash continued. "I heard what he and my friends had to say, and what they said completely contradicts everything that you've told me."

Evergreen's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Oh? What did you hear?"

Where to begin! Ash regaled him at length about how he learned that the Team Rocket trio had apparently been fired conveniently after he had blasted them off that final time; that May, Scott, and even Greta had unilaterally condemned what he was trying to accomplish; and that Greta accused his "Boss" of being "the real Rocket."

With all of Ash's report laid bare, the older man said nothing, or at least nothing substantial. He couldn't tell if he had simply no idea how to rebut what he said or if he was fighting every urge to strangle him to death. Regardless of what it was, however, nary a word passed his lips in objection, and that was about all Ash felt fit to hear.

"Evergreen," Ash pressed, his volume back to a reasonable level but as adamant as before, "just who are you, really?"

And then...laughter. A loud, guttural uproar of laughter blasted into the room, amplified by dark metal walls and the relative lack of decor. Evergreen's eyes were clamped shut, his shoulders were heaving, and Ash could have sworn that tears were welling up in his eyes. The noise pierced everyone else through the soul, and Cyndaquil shuddered with a squeak and took a few steps back, mitigated by a quick pat of reassurance from the Big Jaw Pokémon standing next to him.

"Absurd!" Evergreen finally said after a minute and taking a few second to gasp for air. "You'd doubt your convictions so easily? How daft are you to reject your feelings based on sheer hearsay?"

Ash didn't budge. "I guess I am dense. After all, you had me going long enough to almost turn Charizard against my friends."

Evergreen tisked, unforthcoming with a rebuttal once more.

"So answer my question, Evergreen. Who are you, really?"

The two stared at each other for what felt like minutes, the only movement that each could claim being the occasional twitch in their lips and the need to deeply breathe. Ash dared not take his eyes off the man behind the desk, not even for a moment, lest any sign of weakness gave him the excuse to dismiss the boy's accusation as just a side effect of recovering from a vivid fever dream.

Finally, though, Evergreen swiveled his chair away, and a few seconds later, he stood and walked around the desk to face the Trainer and his released Pokémon. His height was staggering, intimidating all but the aloof Sceptile crossing his arms and chewing on the twig in his mouth. But Ash and his Pokémon still stood their ground, albeit taking a wider stance as though the older man could knock them all away with a single kick.

To the confusion of them all, however, he was not ready to pounce but had, instead, started clapping.

"Bravo, Ash," Evergreen said, clapping slowly a few more times before eventually putting his hands into his pants pockets. "It's clear that bluffs at this point will have little effect on you anymore."

"Wait," Ash replied, raising an eyebrow, perplexed, "are you giving up?"

"Against a Trainer of merit such as yourself, what choice do I have?" He raised his hands as though he was being read his rights during arrest. "All your Pokémon are out and battle ready, while I'm here in a corner, completely unarmed. So, I suppose you've earned the satisfaction of figuring out this little puzzle."

"So you're confessing, then? Greta was telling the truth about you?"

"Just so," Evergreen finally admitted, but instead of wearing a frown like before, he cracked a grin brimming with confidence. "So I can finally drop this little charade. I am Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket."

Just then, a memory from one of Ash's previous adventures flickered through his mind, and even more started to make sense. His jaw dropped when his mind made the connection, soon followed by an accusatory pointer finger. "I knew you seemed familiar to me when I first saw you. You were the one who attacked me and my friends at Mount Quena a few years ago, weren't you?"

"Mount Quena? In Johto?" the boss asked, his face contorted with the look of bemusement. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ash then bit his tongue, remembering the promise he made to Mewtwo all those years ago. He feared Giovanni would press further or even read his mind and discern the artificial Pokémon's whereabouts, but fortunately, he apparently brushed the issue aside. And so Ash could finally exhale when the imposing man continued his monologue instead.

"But I can vouch for your friends' truthfulness, including that brat traitor Greta. Yes, I've been the benefactor for the Battle Frontier all this time. And those Team Rocket goons you dispatched so easily were under my orders."

"So that talk of you saying there being no benefactor? That Scott was the culprit to May's attempted murder? Everything was…?"

"All lies, yes. And you fell for them hook, line, and sinker."

The teenager growled in frustration but otherwise let Giovanni continue.

"Now, I assure you the explosion was far from what I had intended to happen to your beloved girlfriend, Ash. But you so easily took the video and my word at face value that it was beyond trivial to recruit you for my cause and assassinate Scott. I couldn't have had an easier time if I had brainwashed you."

"But why?" Ash asked, something still not quite adding up. "What did Scott even do? You said he 'changed' and that you didn't know when he'd 'make his move' or whatever, but if that was all lies, then...why?"

"Well, I did tell the truth about one thing: We met once before, he and I. Not as friends, of course, but more like business partners. He practically crawled to me, begging for me to supply the resources he needed to get his unprofitable child fantasy off the ground."

"So the Battle Frontier isn't profitable after all, either?"

Giovanni chuckled. "Profitable? His revenue can barely cover the pens he needs for his accounting tables."

"So why go to all this effort to get him killed? What did he do to you?"

"It's simple, really. An informant of mine caught wind that he was planning to sabotage my work. So it was just a breach of contract violation that needed resolving, nothing more."

"And by 'informant,' I guess you mean Brandon, right?"

"You guess correctly. He kept me abreast of all goings-on in Kanto and the Sevii Islands where my Delibird could not, and he kept me well informed of Scott specifically. My services don't come cheap, and he requested a large loan on top of that. If I didn't make sure he was on top of repayment, then...well, that just wouldn't do, would it? Which brings me to the asking price…"

"Hiring the Frontier Brains to do your dirty work, you mean?"

"Oh, you make it sound so underhanded when you put it that way, but yes. Although I do lament Scott's hiring standards." Giovanni crossed his arms, almost as though he were pouting. "He has an eye for talent for Pokémon battling, without question, but the lot of them have absolutely horrid teamwork ethic. Some, even, like that eccentric tactician—Tucker, was it?—couldn't even procure the Ruby without making a scene and attempting to get you killed."

"So that was you, too, huh?"

"Like I said before, it was never my intention for you and your friends to come to harm. I even took the liberty of having Brandon intervene before he made everything worse."

Visions of the beams of light that had saved them on Mt. Ember earlier had returned to his memory. So that really was Brandon after all.

"I mean, sure, if...worse came to worst, we could've hidden your bodies for a while, but with Scott out and aware of what was happening, the secret wouldn't last for long. He would've reported it to the authorities, the force would've found us out, and then any hope of having a mesh of Team Rocket-owned Network Machines would have been dashed within the week."

"That's your end goal, then?" Ash asked. "That's why you had Celio's Network Machine destroyed: So you could see how it works and use the Ruby and Sapphire to build your own."

Giovanni smiled, genuinely impressed. "I must say, young man, you are impeccably on point today. Now, if I had known he would have been that much trouble, I would have never asked for that Tucker fellow to assist Anabel on that mission in the first place..." He turned to face the wall, finding the empty space in between apparently fascinating. "Speaking of Anabel...she's a special one."

Ash squinted, his suspicion growing. "What about Anabel?"

"'What about Anabel?'" Giovanni parroted, facing the younger Trainer with incredulity. "You should know by now her special gift, her ability that lets her know what people and Pokémon alike are thinking."

"Well, yeah," Ash responded, not quite sure where he was getting at with something so well known. "It's what makes her such a tough Trainer to beat."

"Mm, yes. She's a powerful one, that Anabel, but she has no ambition to speak of whatsoever. She'd rather use her ability to talk to flowers or snoop in on you while you dream and other such frivolities."

Ash flushed a deep red when that visual popped into his head. He somehow resisted the urge to cower behind his hands in the embarrassment of having his intimate dreams of May watched by someone else, but he couldn't dam the gates of his mouth pouring out strings of complete gibberish. Giovanni, on the other hand, found the boy's show of vulnerability amusing. He chuckled, prompting the other to flush such a deeper shade of red that he began to sweat profusely.

"The girl is like a termite. She would rather enjoy a simple life and submit herself to the whims of her primal urges, but she can't even fathom what sort of wonders she's capable of—were it not only for her inability to simply step back a bit and observe the wonders she's made simply by living.

"But I am no termite like she is. Unlike her, I have observed her from afar and can see what she can do. And also unlike her, I can fathom her power's true form, fathom what could be done when her limits are broken—and share that gift with others."

Ash gulped, afraid of where the line of discussion was going. "What do you mean?"

Giovanni smiled fiercely, and Ash's fear grew twofold. "Why don't I show you?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a rebreather device. Then, after a loud beep sounded from his sleeve, clouds of mist hissed from the air vents overhead.

The grayish gas quickly filled the room, and as soon as Ash accidentally caught a whiff of it, he immediately felt his limbs begin to fail him. His eyes grew heavy, his mind blanked, and he could do little but struggle against his impending fight against gravity before hitting the ground in a heap. His Pokémon didn't fare much better, all of them toppling over and out like lights in five seconds flat.

His head gained the density of lead, and his neck felt it was going to snap from supporting its weight. His arms shaking, struggling to keep his chest from touching the floor, he could utter only a few words before even his vocal chords ceased function. "What are...you doing..."

"You'll soon see, my friend."

Ash's arms gave way, the floor victorious. It wasn't long before his vision failed him, as well, darkness completely taking over and leaving only his hearing. He could hear footsteps approaching, the sound of his Pokémon being recalled, and a murmur of something like, "Bring me six of the devices, now." But soon, even his hearing began to fade, and the hissing from above softened to an inaudible level. In the end, all he could manage to hear was an imaginary soothing hum lulling him to sleep.

It was just as well, he thought. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to just rest his eyes a little bit…

Metallic footsteps echoed in the corridor as May and the remainder of her party made a second climb up the staircase. Greta and Anabel lagged behind for a moment to talk about this and that, but May was too focused on making sure she didn't make a false step and fall face first to really catch the gist of their short-lived conversation. Before long, all that remained was the hollow clanging of feet on metal as they climbed.

Besides that, no one uttered a word, save for Cyndi breaking the silence with a sneeze and Happiny giggling in amusement. The tension that followed thickened the air as though it were saltwater, and each successive step grew harder and harder to make. There was no snide remark from Meowth, no angry outburst from Jessie, nor even a resigned James to shrug in response to lighten the mood.

Never did May ever imagine that it would ever feel just so empty without them there alongside her. A part of her even preferred them attempting to catch Pikachu again—because even then, she knew that it would only be a matter of time before she saw them again after their inevitable blastoff.

She sighed, realizing her difficulty in coming to grips with the fact that they had to make the difficult choice to leave them behind. Noticing her distress, Brock reached out from behind and gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder. "Are you all right, May?" he asked her aloud, officially breaking the self-imposed moratorium on speech.

She briefly hummed a "yes" in reply but then regressed in laying bare her inner conflict once more, even almost laughing at herself mockingly for saying that she had actually missed Team Rocket for once.

Brock laughed in agreement. "It's certainly not the same without them here, that's for sure."

May sighed again, her self-doubt resurfacing. "Brock, do you really think it'll all be okay?"

"Come on, May, of course it will. We've been in worse scraps than this. Remember that whole affair with Lucario in the Tree of Beginning?"

"Well, yeah, but...I dunno. For some reason, it just feels like the stakes are higher this time, you know?"

Brock took a moment to look behind to make sure Cyndi, Greta, and Anabel were still caught up before taking more steps up. "It is hard to shake that feeling, I agree. But everything will be all right. We'll see them again—whether we want to or not," he finished with a laugh, which May shared.

The group climbed for a few minutes before reaching the end, culminating in another large room. It was dark, with only a single light to speak of at the other end, which had to have spanned at least a hundred meters before reaching another large dark blue wall. Just like the battlefield before it, it, too, had a large metal door, securely shut.

May, being the vanguard of the group, was the first to take a step on the soft earth. As soon as her foot touched the ground, the sound of a large array of spotlights turning on filled the room and startling everyone. There was no space allocated for spectators, just like before, and instead, there was a large empty space with white markings on the ground indicating the boundaries of the field of play, as well as the designated spaces for the opposing Trainers themselves.

A loud metallic groaning sounded from the other end of the arena as the door slowly rose. May gulped loudly, bracing herself in anticipation as she saw a lone shadowy figure limp out into the light, the door closing behind her. The figure sported dark tattered pants and a yellow diamond-pattern belt, thin and tall. Its height was aggrandized by a pair of scuffed, purple heels. The form was alluring, sporting a midriff and long yet seemingly-unkempt black hair. The figure's face was twisted in rage and pain, its teeth clenched and hands balled into fists as it stomped over to the designated space across from them.

May gasped when she recognized it, and Brock soon followed with a growl filled with betrayal and pain of his own.

"Lucy, it's you…"

A tear rolled down Lucy's face when she locked onto Brock's eyes, her face relaxing a bit. "Brock...you have returned."

May stepped forward. "What are you doing here? The last time we saw you, you—"

"Got blasted off like your Team Rocket minions?" Lucy interrupted scornfully. "You're not dreaming; I lived. Surely you of all people know how likely surviving a massive explosion is, yeah?" May raised her finger to object but immediately bit her tongue when she realized that the older woman kind of had a point...

"Oish!" Greta interjected, standing root at May's side. "Don't you think you've done enough? What do you think you're doing standing there?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm your next opponent in this little gauntlet."

May stared at the woman, stunned at her determination. "In this state!? You can barely walk!"

"Your concern is appreciated," Lucy growled, "but my Pokémon are all I need. Watch." She tossed a Poké Ball forward, a bright flash of light revealing her Milotic—still bruised and scorched from their last encounter but still formidable, nevertheless. Like her Trainer, she glared at her opposition with the same crazed expression. May shuddered and closed her eyes in fear for a few moments before steeling herself again.

"So, which among you will offer yourself as a sacrifice to the Pike Queen?" She faced Greta and Anabel and pointed. "Why not you traitors?"

Done with fighting off accusations, Greta rolled up her sleeves and stomped her foot aggressively. "Yeah, yeah, we'll bash your heads in, if that's what you want! Bring it!"

That was when Brock stepped up to her and held her back with a firm grip. "No. I'll do it. I'll face Lucy again."

All Brains within earshot gaped at him, and his suggestion did also elicit quite a negative reaction from the others, and May in particular. "Not you, Brock!" she cried. "It was hard enough leaving Team Rocket behind, but now I have to leave my big brother behind, too!?"

Pikachu joined to support May, jumping on her shoulder in the loudest coherent objection he could make.

"I have to agree with May on this one!" said Greta, yanking her hand away from Brock's grip. "Maybe I'm just biased and really just want to give her what for by myself, but that's insane."

Brock's solemn, firm expression remained. "Maybe so, under different circumstances," he replied, "but I don't know this place like you guys do, so May will need all the brainpower she can get to navigate it. And besides…" His tough look then melted into a wry smile. "Heh, we're only as strong as our weakest link in this place, and let's be honest here. I'm no Frontier Brain."

"But—!"

Brock raised his hand to silence the Petalburg girl. "If you want to reach Ash, you'll need backup. And I mean strong backup. You understand, right?"

She cursed under her breath, fighting back tears once more. She knew he was right, but she would never admit it. In the Battle Fortress, it was the optimal strategy: The doors didn't discriminate based on how strong or weak the challengers were. If a battle was being fought, be it a competition or a curbstomp, they would open without hesitation. So it only made logical sense to weed out the weakest first and leave the strongest for the final battle.

"Don't worry, May. I'll be fine, I promise. Given how she looks, I think I could really give her a run for her money, even."

May didn't have the will to argue with such conviction, not when she had to muster all the strength she could just to prevent herself from crying and to look brave for everyone. Judging by how the others were taking it, it didn't look like Anabel and Greta were going to argue much more against it, either. Greta still scowled, but she agreed with Brock's calculus and stepped away to give the former Pewter City Gym Leader some space.

He faced her, ignoring the irrational pitter-patter of his heart racing at the sight of his opponent. Lucy, on the other hand, had less restraint and had instead resorted to avoiding eye contact completely.

"Y-You're a horrible man, forcing me to fight you again. Do you enjoy watching me suffer!?"

Brock frowned. "You made the choice to suffer on your own. I have nothing more to say to you." He reached for his belt and chucked a Poké Ball of his own. "Go for it, Steelix!" There was another flash of light, and a large iron snake materialized in front of them, a metallic roar filling the vast stadium. "Use Dig!"

Dirt and stones were expelled into the air as Steelix obediently dove into the soil. Before he could make a second command, though, he turned to May. "Now go! The door's opening!"

Sure enough, a rumble besides the tremors caused by Steelix's attack could be felt coming from the other end of the room. The door slowly rose, and after a few seconds, it was completely open. And that was when May knew the countdown had begun.

Greta and Anabel had already made a beeline for the exit and were halfway across the field before May realized she had been paralyzed from guilt. She knew she had to move quickly before the doors closed permanently, but her legs wouldn't budge, and she couldn't even look away from the battle unfolding.

"Milotic, wait for it to resurface, and then use Water Pulse!"

The epicenter of quakes from Steelix moved closer and closer to the Tender Pokémon until it finally shot out from the ground, barely grazing it. Then, as commanded, Milotic charged up a wave of water and shot it out at the vulnerable snake. It was significantly less lucky than its aquatic counterpart, as it took the shot head-on.

Another roar filled the stadium—this time, from pain. May flinched at the sight, and yet she still just couldn't look away. That is, until she felt her hand jerk away and pulled her to the side. The impulse was enough to get her to look, and she found that it was Anabel, of all people, who ran back to fetch her.

She snapped out of her trance and followed the Brain as fast as her legs could carry her—until she realized something.

"W-wait! Not yet!" She looked behind her to find Cyndi standing next to Brock. "Cyndi, come on! We need to go!"

The blue-haired girl shook her head furiously. "No way! I want to see him kick this bitch's ass after what she did to me in that cave!" Happiny chirped in agreement.

May didn't have a chance to voice a response before she felt her hand get yanked again. Instead, all she could do was look back and scream, "You two better be careful, you got that!?"

A few seconds later, May and Anabel had caught up with Greta and bolted over the threshold of the door. May looked behind her again to get one last look at Brock and Cyndi before she and they were separated. The young girl was very into watching the battle play out, but both she and Brock did manage to find a quick moment to watch the trio exit the room and sadly wave them off.

May raised her hand to wave them goodbye in turn, but then the door immediately slammed downward, completely cutting them off from the room behind them. None of them could hear any sound or feel any shockwaves from the fiercely-fighting Pokémon. It was almost as though they found themselves in a different world, without any means of contact whatsoever with the outside realm.

And, once more, May felt an overwhelming rush of loneliness. She fell to her knees and let a couple of tears flow, trying her best not to sob. Pikachu cooed in her ear to soothe her, which helped a little bit, but her guilt still remained unassuaged.

"Not again…" she whispered to no one in particular. "I still can't believe they'd make us do this to each other."

"It is what it is," Greta huffed, crossing her arms. "It's awful, but it's the only way forward."

Anabel offered her hand to May to lift her up, which she accepted hesitantly. While she felt she could trust the other two girls there with her, she still had to admit that she wasn't as comfortable with them as she was with the others. It was probably to be expected, given that she traveled with Brock and got hounded by Team Rocket for literal years before. With Anabel and Greta, on the other hand...well, the black eye on the latter's face spoke for itself.

The feeling of being trapped in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people weighed hard on her mind, making an especially significant tribulation even more trying.

The three waited a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the dim lighting before silently climbing the third staircase that stood in their way. The only thing staving off May's claustrophobia was the promise that she would see her friends again and the determination that she would save the boy she loved. It was a thin thread that anchored her, but it tugged her along and lifted her lead-plated feet all the same.

And so she and the others continued to climb—with both hope of what was to come, and also dread of what they still had to face.

And that's that for Chapter 37. What do you think so far? This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I didn't want this to balloon into an epic so fast.

So, then, what's next? Well, since this chapter is done, I should probably get started on the next one. I don't expect the next one to be quite as long, but with me...you never really know.

As for an update schedule, though? That's tricky. Expecting a strict estimate from a full-time software engineer is kind of like expecting a cat to be able to roll over on command. That's not even mentioning the fact that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes out this Friday. Helix help me.

But I will try to make the next update as timely as possible! If I'm on the ball? Maybe two weeks. So let's try that.

Anyway, I better get back to procrastin-I mean writing. Until next time, as PikamasterADV would say, get Pokémon! ...No, seriously, get Pokémon. It's Community Weekend in Pokémon Go, and there are Shinies for days!