Thanks so much for the reviews, follows and favorites everyone! Sorry I didn't update earlier, I've been busy with real life, which I don't favor. Even a little bit. Okay, well maybe a little bit, since I've waited this long. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

As soon as we enter Sunyshore, I look around, astonished. There are high bridges, escalators, and solar panels everywhere. "Wow! It's so cool! Who made all of this, anyway?"

Lucas smiles at me, amused at my excitement. "Volkner, the man himself. He works all day and night on building these things. One of the most important structures is the Vista Lighthouse over there," he says. He points to a tall lighthouse at the top of the city. "You can see the Pokemon League from there, almost as beautiful of a view as the Glitter Lighthouse."

"What's that?" I ask while starting to wander towards the Vista Lighthouse.

"It's basically the same as the Vista Lighthouse, but a different style, and it has a viewing deck outside of it. But sadly, we can't go over there since Staraptor would get too tired to go to Johto… and that they're with Kanto."

"I see." But I barely compute anything he just stated. I start to jog up some stairs to the Vista. "What's up here?"

"Volkner."

"Shouldn't he be running the Gym?"

"He hasn't gotten any interesting challengers for a while. He's become depressed and is considering abandoning his duty as Gym Leader and becoming an Elite Four member."

"Oh my." As I open the door into the lighthouse, I'm greeted by an open lobby filled with people and that has a staircase in the back. As I begin to walk through, Lucas stops me. "What is it?"

"Don't go yet. In order to go, you need to defeat everyone here. I already did, but since you didn't, we need to be careful." He leads me behind a bookcase as we make our way over to the stairs. We repeat on the next floor and the next, facing hardly any difficulty for some reason. On the top floor, the walls are now windows and the top slanting upwards. Near one of the windows, I see a man with blonde hair, a blue jacket, and blue jeans staring out of the window, somehow looking drained. "Volkner!"

Volkner turns around, and his face lights up when he sees Lucas and me. "Lucas! I'm so glad you came! Are you possibly looking to battle?" He walks up to us calmly despite his apparent eagerness.

"No, actually. Maybe later, but now, there's a more important matter. Rowan needs to know how your progress is on Kanto's hacking Sinnoh's systems."

Volkner pauses with a confused expression as if Lucas is speaking a foreign language. "Hacking? I never heard of any hacking…"

Lucas gasps. "They must've deleted the email, too! Volkner, you should really start trying to stop it, however you do that!" I take a mental note not to rely on technology much during the time I'll be fighting.

"I'm really sorry Lucas, but I don't think I can do that. See, my vision is already becoming really impaired because of all I already work with. Besides, I'm not very good with computers."

"Oh… I see. I'll be sure to tell Rowan then. See you later Volkner!"

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"Won't you battle me? I haven't even battled a weak trainer, even that would be good enough right now." Volkner's expression seems to have fallen, and he looks a bit sadder than he did when we entered the lighthouse. I feel bad for him, but Lucas shakes his head.

"I can't battle now, Volkner. I would, but I can't waste time during the war, and I have Kei with me. Maybe later." Volkner still looks sad, but hesitantly nods his head and turns back around.

Out of pity, when we go down the first staircase, I poke Lucas' arm. "Hey, can I go battle him?" I feel sorry for him, and I know it's pathetic, but I want to battle him."

Lucas almost laughs. Almost, but he knows manners. "No, Kei. You'd be stupid to try to face him. He's incredibly powerful."

"Please, Lucas? He mentioned that even if it's a weakling-"

"Kei, no. Leafeon will get hurt. It's common sense to just not."

"She might not even survive the pain of war if she doesn't have experience with losing!"

Lucas sighs, understanding that he won't win. "Fine, but as soon as you finish, come back down." He trots down the staircase as I smile and head back up. When I get to the top, Volkner turns to me and tilts his head.

"Yes, Kei, wasn't it? What do you want?"

"I want to battle."

"But aren't you going with Lucas?"

"He's going to meet me outside. For now, I just want to battle you if it'll help your condition."

"Okay then, thanks. I really mean it," he says before he smiles slightly and leads me down the stairs, out of the lighthouse, and to the gym. I realize something right before we enter.

"Where'd Lucas go?"

He glances back to where the bluenette boy had said he'd wait. "I have no idea. Don't you want to battle first, though? It'd be saddening if we skipped that part…"

"Oh, yeah. Okay." I feel too sorry for him to turn him down now.

"Alright, let's go in here." Volkner opens the door to his gym to reveal several rotating platforms. He unlocks a small cabinet in the wall to reveal a button, and when he presses it, the platforms line up perfectly to go the back. "Come on."

I follow him, realizing how much time he must really have spent constructing the gym. "Did you make this, too?"

"Yup. Took quite a while, but it's one of my best masterpieces." Once we get to the back, I notice the pattern on the floor with two semi circles on each side, and a big rectangle in the middle. He directs me as to where to stand, and when we're in proper position, we initiate a battle. This is my first battle, so I just go off of the many that I see in Eterna Forest.

"Go, Jolteon!"

"Go, Leafeon!"

"The challenger goes first," Volkner states.

"Okay… Leafeon, Magical Leaf!" I shout.

Volkner smirks as Jolteon avoids Leafeon's attack. "There's no way you'll win, Kei. Jolteon, Charge Beam!" Leafeon isn't able to avoid the attack, and I have no way of knowing if it's due to my inexperience or Volkner's experience.

"Leafeon!" I pause, then run over to Leafeon to try to help it. However, the lights suddenly go out in the gym. "What's happening?" I ask as I slow down, still looking for my Pokemon. Volkner laughs a bit.

"Kei… by now, you must know that Johto and Kanto are allied." Uh oh. I do know that. And I think I know where this is going. "There's obviously no way you can win. I was astonished that you were fooled by words so easily.

"See, there's a girl named Jasmine in the northern side of the city. I'm sure you must've seen her? The light blue dress, brown hair, light brown eyes… She's a Johto gym leader. She's been here for a long time now, and can you guess why?"

Yes, I can guess, and I'm pretty sure I'm right. However, I don't say anything. Instead, I find my Leafeon and sit next to it, returning it to its Pokeball and then straining to see Volkner standing right where he was, returning Jolteon.

"She's been a spy for Johto. She requested that I work with her and the ETPA, or the Ethical Treatment of Pokemon Alliance. I couldn't refuse."

"Why?" I barely manage to say. But he knows exactly what I mean.

"You've seen Jasmine around here, haven't you? She's so gentle and sweet. I could go on for so long about her. How she worded her request, she made it sound like I'd really be important. Don't get me wrong, I don't fall for words, unlike you," he rambles as I flinch. "She told me she'd give me anything if I joined… and I took advantage of that. You understand my decision, don't you?"

I shake my head, but we both know that because of my weak personality, I sympathize with his decision immediately. "And how is your joining them relevant to a soldier not even in training yet?" I asked.

"I was just getting there. The ETPA is unlike the SPA that you're planning to fight for, she taught me. We don't pressure trainers into joining us. That's why Unova is going to join us."

"Unova? Isn't that the region that's across the ocean?"

"That's correct, sweetie. The basic alliances have been waiting for a response from them, and it's only been as big of a deal as it is because Unova has the power of a few certain trainers that go by the names of Rosa and Nate. Have you heard of them yet?"

I shake my head.

"Rosa owns Virizion, Cobalion, and Terrakion, while Nate owns Keldeo, Meloetta, and Genesect. While we don't know where the other three are, those six Pokemon and those two trainers would be enough to tip the scale on way or the other. Now, Kei, I think you might be a valuable trainer to fight for us; I don't know why, but I think you might be able to harness Kyurem's power. Nate or Rosa could possibly help you get it. If you don't join, we aren't mean to you. We won't attack you specifically. But you'll definitely see a lot more violence if you're with the PSA."

"But why me? And why could I get Kyurem?"

"Something about how you battle, and how you talk, and hold yourself reminds me of someone I used to know." I barely see him lower his head and frown in the darkness. "The offer is always up. If you want to join, email me, and I'll make sure it doesn't get deleted."

"Wait, so you could've actually fixed the hacking?"

"Yes. Now shush, I need to find the switch to enable the power again." I watch as Volkner scans the wall with his hands until he comes across a switch that he flips to turn the lights on. He turns and smirks at me. "I'll be waiting for you. I might even have a surprise for you if you join us."

As he walks away from the wall, the lights go out without a switch. Volkner turns his head left and right trying to find the cause.

BOOM!