Hey, you guys. I'm really sorry I didn't get the chance to update my stories earlier. You see, I was concentrated on the exams at the end of the year and also, I kept being distracted every single time I wanted to write (and I feel ashamed about that part :,( ). But here it is, the 3rd chapter of this adventure. Hope you enjoy, everyone.

(Daiki's P.O.V.)

Damn, where is that little fella? It shouldn't be wrong, today is supposed to be a regular day of break for him.

"Mana!"

Wait, did I hear that correctly?

"Mana, Manaphy!"

It IS him, the Prince of the Sea. I can't believe my luck. Well, it's now time for the nice Ranger to get back on stage. I put on my best smile and caught his attention:

"Hi, Manaphy, how are you?"

Surely, he must have recognized me, as he went towards me looking very happy.

"Mana, Mana, he squealed while hugging me tightly.

-Yes, I missed you too", I said, and that was all I needed to put him down for the count.

Of course, far from me to just kill him, let's just say he was… K-O ed for the moment. I took this time to chain him and hurry to the top of the tower. Once on top, I took one long look at this peaceful place. Ah, to feel this nostalgic breeze once again. Such a shame it was for all those geezers down there. Finally, the time has come. Big brother… I-

"I'm back, Master, Tamaora said, coming at the wrong time as usual. Master, are you crying?

-Y-yes, Tama, they're tears of joy. The excitement of the project coming to fruition is all. Nothing to worry about. Ah, I see you brought the weapon, and right on time. That's something I really appreciate of you: you're so punctual.

-Uh, yes, I suppose. So, do we carry on with the plan?

-Of course, but just before we do, I think an announcement would be required.

-Announcement? This wasn't part of the plan.

-Calm down, Tama, or you'll be giving yourself a heart attack. And for your information, the kids weren't either, but we'll have to improvise and what better way to do that than a public humiliation and a little spice? After all, it wouldn't be fun if no one even tried to fight. So here's what I want you to do", and I whispered the rest of the instructions into his ears, earning a look of disbelief from him.

-Are… are you sure this is gonna work?

-Don't worry, they barely know you, you can easily fool them.

-Hmm, he thought for a moment, all right then, I'll wait for the signal.

And he teleported away. I took a moment to relax and review my life, but I quickly discarded it: there was nothing I had with my life that hasn't been taken away. Oh well, the past is in the past; right now, I need to think about the future. I pulled a Pokéball containing Speaker, my Exploud. As he got out of his little lair, he bowed to me, his usual greeting (although I think he does a little too much).

"You called for me, Master? he said in his loud voice.

-Actually yes, I will need your help as my amplifier."

Man, you should have seen the stars in his eyes. Perfect.

(Meredith's P.O.V.)

We were all waiting in front of the tower, impatient to see Daiki come out and make us visit. In the meantime, I was treating to my Beautifly's wounds. That's right: I lost once again. Although to be honest I didn't really think of having a chance against Bruno's Arcanine: way too strong and fast for my little butterfly. Though I don't blame her; after all, she rarely battled as I got her recently. But I was a little angry at Bruno and I couldn't help but tell him about it:

"I just don't understand what's so hard about not going all out, Bruno. I don't think I could've been any clearer.

-Well, it's your fault for not training her as well as I do mine. Isn't that right, Arky?

-Arf, arf!

-Excuse me? For your information, you had Inuhi ever since Kanto, so you had a lot of time to train him and get him that strong. Me? I had my Beautifly about a week ago and she evolved only yesterday. So don't get all high and mighty about 'your' training techniques, especially since we all train them the same way.

-Humph, that still doesn't excuse your pathetic loss, sore loser", he said with that smug smile I hate so much.

Right now, I just wanted to punch him so hard, he'd kiss the moon with his toothless mouth, but a very, VERY loud voice coming from the top of the tower interrupted my thoughts.

"Greetings, residents. How is everyone doing today?" said a voice coming from nowhere

Upon further inspection, I noticed that it was Daiki, standing at the edge of the rooftop, an Exploud standing next to him, most probably the one enabling him to speak so loudly. We were all surprised to see him there. Wasn't he on a mission or something for his fellow Rangers? Apparently, the message was sent to everyone that there was someone on top of the tower, 'cause it seemed like there was a big crowd developing all around. Wait, what's that thing behind him? It kind of looked like a giant laser gun. What the hell was going on?

"I know you may find this absurd that I stand above you, said Daiki, but here it is. For 9 years, I've been waiting to get ready for this moment and, at last, it has finally arrived.

-What do you want to do, little monster? asked an old man in the crowd. I thought we were clear about you never allowed to come back.

-Huh, you senile old fools. You think that people would actually LISTEN to you? Not a chance, Gramps.

-You insolent little fool.

-YOU'RE the fool, for being so pathetic and cowardly. Not even the guts to talk to your son face-to-face. Today, justice will strike on my side, and what better to punish you all than by being the thing you hate the most? You know, someone once said to me that humans kill mostly for pleasure, as opposed to the Pokémon, who kill for survival; so in a way, Pokémon are better than humans. Although, with you inside of them, it would be nothing but a disappointment to the one who made that theory. Ahh, it seems we have a guest of honor at our table. Let's give him a big round of applause, shall we?" he said lifting a big bundle of chains.

What was chained inside shocked us greatly, especially Cassandra, who looked devastated: hanging in those chains was none other than Manaphy, but he looked bruised and in pain. I looked at Cass, who looked like she was about to explode. I tried to calm her down with a little song her mom taught me, but it didn't do a single thing; in fact, I think I just made her angrier. Face beet red, she yelled at the top of her lungs:

"HOW DARE YOU, YOU MONSTER? I'LL MAKE YOU PAY, MARK MY WORDS! OH, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT! GO, MILOTIC!"

Throwing her Pokéball, her beautiful sea serpent appeared, radiating beauty all around her. This was Cassandra's 2nd strongest Pokémon in her team and she was well intent on using it to the extreme.

"Now, Milotic, Hydro Pump on that door!"

Letting out her beautiful cry, she released an enormous amount of water from her mouth, hitting the locked door with great force.

"All right, said Bruno, good job, Cass. We'll be able to-"

But we never knew what it was, as not only did the door reflect the water, it was now surged with an immense amount of electricity, hitting the unsuspecting Milotic and critically wounding and K-Oing her in the process.

"MILOTIC!" Cass said, hurrying to her wounded Pokémon. "Quick, does anyone have a Revive or even a Potion?

-Here, use both. These are my last, I said, handing her my last Revive and Potion.

-Meredith I can't-

-Don't worry, I'll be fine without them. Anyway, Milotic needs them more than I do.

-Oh, thanks. You really are a great friend."

After ingesting the Revive and being sprayed with the Potion, we helped Milotic get back up. She wasn't completely healed, but it was better than nothing. We could see, though, that she felt very numb from the electric shock. We turned our attention back to Daiki, who seemed to be preparing something big. I prepared myself for an eventual battle, as I got all my Pokémon out. Both Cassandra and Bruno got the message, as they released theirs too. What was he preparing up there?

(Daiki's P.O.V.)

All right, that's everyone. I got everyone's attention, including those little kids. I got to the machine and prepared it for the grand beginning. I got Manaphy out of his chains, still unable to move, and placed him in the center of my machine, where he would be my power source. Suddenly, I hear one of the girls from earlier (Meredith, I believe) ask me:

"What are you going to do with Manaphy?

-You'll see soon enough, I said to her.

-Why are you doing this?

-You can't understand, NONE of you can, especially not those geezers."

I started activating the machine, trapping Manaphy in a force field. I could see he was waking up, trying to fight out, but the force field was far too strong for him. Manaphy… you may not realize it, but you helped in the murder of my brother, and for that, you're going to help me with my revenge… unwillingly, of course; after all, this is how you made my life a living hell. I pressed the button to start pumping the energy within Manaphy, bringing from him cries of extreme agony.

(Meredith's P.O.V.)

We heard the cries of Manaphy and we were all heartbroken. How could someone who looked so nice do something so cruel? I took a look at Cass and I felt like she was going to break down and faint.

"Please, son, the old man from earlier said, you have to stop this madness, please, I'm begging you!

-It's too late for regrets. It has already started and will do nothing but keep going. I will avenge my big brother. You know, the one you so cruelly massacred. This is one of the other reasons why I became a Ranger: Pokémon are our main priority and personally, I'd rather save a Pokémon than a filthy human being," he said with a superior look on his face, nothing I would've expected from him.

This had to stop now. If no one would do it, then who will? Suddenly, I saw Bruno run to the door as fast as he could.

"Bruno, what are you doing?" I asked. "Stop it, you'll only get yourself hurt."

But he didn't listen and kept running, until he hit the door. We felt like it could actually work, but it ended up the same: he got propelled back and shocked at the same time. We hurried to see how he was doing and saw he was all right. Thank God for that!

"Hah, pathetic, Daiki said. If you want to pass through, you'll have to do better than that. Uh-oh. Seems like this machine is ready for a test drive.

-What does it do, in the end? Just tell us already! Bruno yelled.

-Huh. Why should I tell you when I could easily demonstrate its power to you?

The suspense was killing me. I was just waiting for my faith. As was everyone else. Suddenly, we heard crying noises, but it didn't come from any of us down here; it was too loud for that. Was it… Daiki? Why was he crying?

(Daiki's P.O.V.)

I was ready to press the button, the one button that would grant me the ultimate revenge. Big brother…

"It's time for me to go, unfortunately. But if you ever want to be a Ranger, just come by and I'll be glad to have you as part of our brigade."

Big brother.

"I'll help you whichever way I can. I'll always be there to help and protect you. After all, that's my job as the elder."

Big brother!

"Don't… cry. Be… strong. For the… both of us. Always remember… that life… is wonderful."

"BIIIIIG BROTHEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR!"

Finally, he pushed that damn button. For a second there, I thought I was gonna lose control of him. Ah, those cries of agony; Manaphy, you can't escape from there, it's useless.

(Meredith's P.O.V.)

We were all shocked by the sudden laser coming out. We were all panicking, going like "Oh my God, we're gonna die!" and stuff like that. At least, I had the decency of thinking about something:

"Everybody split up and get out of town; he can't get us if we're too far from his laser range.

-I heard that, you know, Daiki yelled. Let me tell you something, little girl: you can't escape this attack. You know why? 'Cause the range of this baby goes all over the town and beyond. And don't worry: there's plenty of Pokémon where it comes from, so you'll all be able to know what it feels like to literally 'be in the other's shoes'. HAHAHAHAHA!"

It was too late for us to escape: whatever that thing did, it would hit us full force.

"Brace yourselves, people, I said, it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

But I couldn't hear their responses, as I blacked out. Wonder what Heaven looks like?

Oh dear, what in the world has happened to them? Well, guess you're gonna have to follow my story to find out. Also, if anyone is interested, I also have stories on Deviantart; my username is the same I use for this website. So feel free to go. But seriously PLEASE GO, I'M BEGGING YOU. Hu-hum, sorry about that. Anyway, as always, please leave comments, good ones and constructive ones, NOT harsh flames. See you later ;D