Muk.

A simple poison Pokemon.

Sturdy, lethal and almost immune to elemental attacks. And little else. But that Sludge attack…

Never mind that now.

Focus.

Poison types are weak against psychic and…ground attacks.

Poison types can't hurt steel types and don't damage other poison types as much.

Types of which I have neither.

Gliscor's a ground and flying type, but has no ground moves aside from Sand Attack.

No psychic types on my team and no one knows any psychic moves.

Guess I'll have to settle for dealing regular damage then.

Physical attacks are out of the question; their entire bodies seem to be… acidic.

Looks like I won't be able to take advantage of Ursaring's Guts ability this time.

I'll have to plan this carefully.

One wrong move and my Pokémon could…die?

Focus.

We'll have to keep our distance.

My ranged attackers then?

Magmar, Electabuzz, or Weavile?

Weavile's speed is good, but his real strength is in his physical moves, not his ranged ones.

Paul was still in the midst of brainstorming when one by one the Muk began to open their dripping and slimy maws, belching clouds of poison until an opaque wall of purple sped towards them.

Paul quickly pocketed four of his Pokéballs, tossing the one he had carefully settled on while another rested in his other hand.

"Honchkrow, stand by for battle!" Paul yelled, watching as a brilliant light burst from his Pokéball to form the outline of the Big Boss Pokemon. "Use Gust." he ordered. Honchkrow did as he was told, looping through the air before righting himself and rapidly flapping his wings.

Gales of wind rushed through the streets with enough force to make Gary slide across the asphalt.

"How? How can his Pokemon still be conscious?" Gary wondered, sensing the Muk's repugnant odor now absent from the air.

"Electabuzz, standby," Paul said as he casually dropped the other Pokeball he had held in his other hand. The familiar smell of ozone quickly occupied the air; although Gary would later admit that anything was better than the stench the Muk exuded from their bodies.

"Electabuzz, use Thunder then Light Screen," his trainer commanded, watching the sparks dance along the golden fur of the electric Pokemon before a lance of electricity fired from the core of his body. The bolt flew straight and true, striking the Muk. Gary watched the Sludge Pokémon light up like then explode, its shocked expression frozen upon its face before deep purple became an incandescent white and its remains scattered across the pavement like a bomb had been set off.

Rows upon rows of golden translucent walls materialized before them, the thunderous explosions that ensued from the ignited sludge made the walls visibly vibrate. Swirling infernos raged against the walls, but the walls stood firm.

Seconds passed and walls shimmered out of existence, revealing the blackened streets and buildings still standing in the aftermath. A solid scorched line divided the street; the distant fires that still burned, marking a different funeral pyre. Gary quickly got to his feet, making his way to the trainer and his Pokémon.

The trainer's Honchkrow and Electabuzz silently watched him as he slowly made his way towards their master, their stares boring into him.

"Thanks for-" Gary said breathlessly.

"Don't bother thanking me, I wasn't trying to. You were in my way. If you had gotten hit next to me, it would've been an inconvenience," the trainer replied, eyes still fixated on the burning streets of Hearthome. Gary stepped away from the trainer, smothering the tiny flame of irritation building inside him when he looked upon the street, empty of attackers.

"Well, thanks for stopping those Muk, even if it meant killing them,"

"I don't think anyone will mind," Paul thought. "But to think those Pokémon could kill…Whatever, it doesn't matter now. Wait…this smell…that's never been there before when I've summoned Electabuzz. Now that I think about it, Honchkrow's attack felt a lot stronger too. Electabuzz's attack was faster than I've ever seen it go. Almost like…actual lightning. Not that I'm complaining. I don't recall them ever being this strong. If they're this strong… maybe, maybe I'll finally be able to get my revenge. I'll finally be able to make him pay. For killing him."

"Hey!" Gary spoke once more, breaking Paul's train of thought.

"What d'you want?" Paul replied impatiently, not once turning to face the brunette.

"I just wanted to know…how are your Pokémon still conscious?"

Paul faced the young researcher this time, his venomous gaze now with an added hint of scrutiny. "What are you talking about?"

"He doesn't know?" Gary mused. "Last night, around midnight, every Pokémon in this city went berserk and passed out. I was on the outskirts of Hearthome in the woods, but my Pokémon went through the same thing. I've fought Muk, one of my old friends owns a Muk, and I've never seen one of them do anything like this. I think these events are linked." Gary glanced around for any signs of the aforementioned Sludge Pokémon.

"You're right about them never doing this before. Their attacks seem more…" Paul's voice trailed off, gazing off as if to silently admire his own handiwork.

"Real?" Gary inserted, earning another instance of eye contact.

"…Yeah, I gue-"

Paul's response was left unfinished when a large purple hand burst from the ground beside him. Electabuzz acted quickly, a five-layered Light Screen materializing between his master and the acidic hand. The sandwiched screens shuddered but held, if only for a few seconds as the hand pressed forward, eating away and shattering the barriers one layer at a time.

Honchkrow flew and grabbed his master by the shoulders, launching a gust of wind against the final barrier that stood between Paul and the Muk's hand. Paul's purple sneakers slid across the asphalt, several yards away from the outstretched arm of sludge. Grasping nothing, the slime limb twisted to face Gary, a single white eye resting dead center of the poison Pokémon's palm.

"Electabuzz, use Thunder again," Paul instructed as a flash of crimson glinted off the eye in the Muk's palm. Gary's attention rapidly shifted to the trainer's Electabuzz, sporting a confident grin. Seconds passed and the expected burst of lightning never came forth, leaving Gary and Honchkrow staring at the equally perplexed Electabuzz. The Muk's arm quickly retreated underground. Gary darted towards Paul, giving the hole a wide berth.

"Dammit

It used Disable and it's underground.

I can still use Thunderpunch

But I don't even know if the electricity would even reach them underground.

I don't wanna risk using a physical move.

But I can't just wait until they strike again.

I don't even know if there's only one of them.

Looks like I'll just have to smoke them out."

"Magmar, stand by for battle!" Paul yelled, pitching the Pokéball around the acid eaten hole.

The plan had been simple. Magmar would launch a ranged fire attack into the subterranean space beneath the street. No matter how deep they'd tunneled or how fast they could move, there would be no escaping these flames.

The white and crimson sphere cracked and exploded into a shower of sparks and glossy fragments the moment it parted open. Paul's crumpled and discarded jacket instantly burst into flame as a wall of shimmering air radiated from the Spitfire Pokémon's landing site. Electabuzz acted quickly, bursting forward and grabbing both Gary and Paul in each arm as he ran.

There had been no time to question why his comrade's presence had unleashed the searing wave of heat; instinct guided his actions, and now it was telling him to get as far away from Magmar as possible.

Paul could only watch speechlessly as his Honchkrow tailed behind them, the shimmering waves quickly catching up and engulfing him. The onyx feathers of his body ignited instantly within the invisible inferno, gouts of flame surged from his cracking beak as his eyes boiled within his own skull and popped. The crackle and roar of the fire devoured the last echoes of Honchkrow's screech, his burning carcass plummeting to the ground.

Gary stared at the waves of heat that gained on them, only inches away from roasting them alive. The moisture was nearly stolen from his eyes; beads of sweat running down the length of his face and hands evaporating.

For all his speed, Electabuzz knew his limits and quickly realized he could not outrun the wall of heat unless he dropped his father and the other boy. Neither option appealed to him. He could feel the ends of his fur starting to singe; the longer he contemplated the more he let the heat wave close the distance.

A quick glance to Paul made it clear he would not be getting orders from him any time soon. Rarely was his father not on top of things. Even when the situation appeared grim, he always had some kind of plan in mind. One glance was enough to see that his father had no plan for this new situation. And who could blame him?

Without warning, a column of purple erupted from the ground beneath Electabuzz, slamming into his chest. A blanket of white pain destroyed every remnant of his thoughts, the feeling akin to lava being poured onto his brain. The pain spread like wildfire across his chest as he fought through the pain to form a single cohesive thought.

The earth and sky beyond Gary's eyes suddenly entered a dance where they rapidly interchanged places. Electabuzz did his best to keep his hands outstretched as the acidic hand ate through his sternum, his final will and testament in the form of a wall of Light Screens.

Paul quickly rolled onto his feet, managing to catch a final glimpse of his Electabuzz through the golden protective wall. The once powerful arms now hung limply off his body, the tips of his fingers barely brushing against the ground. His eyes had glazed over, and although his sight was failing him, he continued to stare back at the man who had hatched his egg. The Muk's Gunk Shot had already eaten through Electabuzz's fur, flesh, muscle, and bone when the deep purple slime that made up its arm began to light up into a blinding white flash. He ground his teeth as he fought through the agony before finally relenting to his fate and giving his master a pained smile.

"I'm sorry papa. I wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack. You were always telling me I needed to be faster. Sometimes it felt like no matter what I did, no matter how much better I got, it was never enough for you. Never enough. Yet I kept trying. Why? Why did I try so hard? I guess, maybe it's because…maybe I wanted to make you to acknowledge me. I wanted to make you proud of me papa. I wonder…were you ever proud of me? I can only hope this is enough. It hurts a lot papa, it really hurts, but knowing I can do this much for you makes it easier to bear. I love you papa. That much has never changed."

Gary could've sworn the explosion had loosened his teeth from his gums. A plume of earth rose to the sky as the ground around the two Pokémon erupted, a wave of concrete dust and fragments rained over the two trainers.

Gary's heart had resumed its painful tempo against his chest as he lifted himself weakly off the ground, wincing at the newest set of scrapes that would be added to his growing collection. What awaited Gary's gaze was Paul's rigid form, too still for Gary's liking as he limped over to him. The walls of light that guarded them had vanished with the life of the Pokémon that made them.

The explosion immediately drew Magmar's attention and made him turn quickly, hoping he hadn't given his newest opponent time to strike while his back was to him. Through the field of shimmering air stared Paul and what appeared to be a spectator.

Magmar quickly scanned the rest of his surroundings, surprised to find their arena nothing more than a battle-torn city street. Quickly reeling in his focus, he continued to search, refusing to let the scenery distract him and bring his guard down. He glanced back at the crater in hopes to find a clue of what he was fighting.

At first he suspected he'd been pitted against a ground type Pokémon, and went straight to searching for an entry hole through the flames within the crater. Finding none, he surveyed the rest of the street only to find a tiny hole barely wide enough to fit his arm just before him.

"If not the ground…then the sky!" Magmar deduced, his head swiveling in every direction towards the heavens. The blue expanse stared back at him before Magmar mentally chastised himself for not having found his opponent, now probably already in position to strike him from an opportune angle.

The Spitfire Pokémon held his ground, bracing himself for the upcoming attack. Knowing his master, he'd probably hoped the opposing Pokémon would attack him and activate his Flame Body ability, hence the lack of orders.

It was after a short moment that Magmar slowly opened his eyes when the attack he'd anticipated never came. It wasn't long until he realized there were no signs of a trainer on the opposite end of the street and no referee in sight to oversee and legitimize the battle.

Utterly lost with regards to what was happening he gazed back at Paul expectantly; awaiting his orders like he had with every training session or battle he had been summoned for. Paul's entire world seemed fixated by the burning crater before him.

Seconds of silent treatment continued to tick by, a punishment Magmar knew his master employed whenever he was displeased with his performance.

"But how could he be displeased now? I haven't even done anything yet? I'm not even fighting anyone, he hasn't told me to do anything!" The Spitfire Pokémon pondered as he drew closer. A distant yell broke his train of thought the instant his foot stepped into a warm puddle of bubbling asphalt.

Magmar instinctively stepped back only to find his foot plunge into another puddle of the same substance. Puddles quickly evolved into pools and a quick scan of his surrounds made it clear that the once solid street had now melted around him.

"Am I doing this? That's never happened before," Magmar thought, turning back to his master for some form of guidance.

Scattered scraps of paper that littered the streets began to burst into flame one row at a time with every step Magmar made towards them.

"STAY BACK!" Gary yelled, his tone not a threatening one but one filled with the fear of one about to be burned alive. Another step forward made the paint on a nearby stop sign singe. Two more steps and the stop sign began to glow a dull red with the shimmering waves of heat radiating off Magmar. As he continued moving forward, the stop sign began to deform. Drops of molten metal dripped onto the asphalt, sending tiny wisps of smoke curling into the air.

Mounds of purple peeked atop the distant buildings, keeping their distance from the Spitfire Pokémon.

"BEHIND YOU!" Gary screamed, hoping the trainer's Pokémon would listen to his warning. Magmar spun around in time to find a purple sphere of acid arcing towards him, dodging out of the way with only seconds to spare.

Gary's hand latched onto the Paul's wrist and pulled, finding no retaliation and little resistance. The Muk had resorted to taking the buildings as cover, salvos of sludge rained from the rooftops. Angry hisses filled the air as the sludge attacks boiled away and exploded. There was no room for counterattacks, only evasion. The latter becoming exceptionally hard when Magmar could find no solid first attack to actually connect with Magmar didn't eat away at his molten flesh but rather ignited and exploded, sending him flying into one of the nearby buildings.

Like a single unit, the attacks began to converge to Magmar's crash site, rewarding them with another explosion and the sight of their prey tumbling across the street like a rag doll.

"Return him!" Gary yelled, trying to shake the trainer out of his daze. Paul's attention snapped to the brunette, staring at him as if he had spoken an entirely different language.

"Use your Pokéball! If you don't return him now he's gonna die!"

Paul was no stranger to the word, but never had he associated it with his Pokémon. It cut through him like a rusting blade, rekindling old motivations and diverting them to the current situation. Paul's eyes immediately shifted down to his hand, almost surprised to find a Pokéball still in his grasp.

"This is…Honchkrow's Pokéball…

No… it was Honchkrow's Pokéball…

He's gone…

So is Electabuzz…

They're both…

Dammit

No, calm down.

This other guy's right

I have to pull myself together."

Paul stared into the fiery bedlam, squinting through the flames and finding his Magmar lying on the ground. There was no movement, save his slow descent into the sea of bubbling liquid concrete. For a brief moment fear gripped Paul's heart in an icy vice, his aim wavering slightly.

"Was I too late?

No…

He's stronger than that!

He has to be alive!

I trained him better than that!"

The beam of red light instantly connected with Magmar's half-submerged body, turning it several shades of scarlet before converting him to energy and returning him to the safe confines of his Pokéball. Knowing nothing of his absence, the Muk continued their unforgiving salvos of acidic bombs. The poison spheres weren't exploding, but that alone seemed insufficient to stop the poisonous onslaught.

"Let's get out of here before we're next," Gary hissed, watching impatiently as the trainer stared intently at the newly occupied Pokéball. Without a single nod or glance he turned and burst off sprinting, leaving the bewildered brunette to follow suit.

Gary silently fumed as he leaned into the wall for support. The young researcher had followed the trainer to a tall abandoned building, unsure as to why he had chosen that particular place. Structurally, there wasn't anything that made it different to any of the other surrounding buildings nor did it give them a tactical advantage of the situation.

Several flights of stairs had left him winded, so much so that he hadn't the strength to verbally berate the trainer he'd ended up following. Paul sat against the wall across from his, scowling at the Pokéball in his hands.

"I don't feel the heat

Is he even still alive?

Would the Pokéball return a corpse?

And if he is alive, if I release him now…

Will I ever be able to release him?

I can't keep him in the Pokéball forever

Should I just leave him behind?

If I can't bring him out…

What's the point of keeping him with me?"

Paul's attention suddenly shifted at the sound of movement, his eyes widening at the sight of the very person that had gotten in his way, pulling out several Pokéballs from his hip sack.

"You had Pokémon and you didn't use them?" Paul growled accusingly.

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't use them. All my Pokémon are still unconscious since last night. That's why I asked you before, how were your Pokémon still conscious?"

The sudden silence and stare made it evident that the brunette still expected an answer.

"I. Don't. Know," Paul growled before raising the Pokéball back to his line of sight, almost as if to eclipse Gary's form from view.

Gary sighed, stuffing his Pokéballs back into his hip sack and shuffling over to the nearest window, the sound of distant sirens and screams managing to filter through the glass. He stood there silently for what seemed like hours, knowing they had to make it out of the city, but unsure how.

Paul's gaze landed on the trainer, still scowling at his crimson reflection. The longer he stared at him, the harder it became to stay angry. He had lost two of his Pokémon, possibly two close friends in just a few minutes, almost a third one if he hadn't regained his composure as quickly as he did.

Gary didn't want to think how he'd feel if he'd lost anyone from his party. "My name's Gary by the way," he added, hoping to break the awkward silence somehow.

"Don't care," came the blunt reply. Paul's gaze never broke from the glossy surface of his Pokéball.

Gary didn't know at first how to respond to the blatant disregard for his introduction, settling for openly gawking at him. He quickly collected his wits, the long-standing humility he'd amassed throughout the years dissolving. "That's Gary Oak. Grandson of Professor Samuel Oak of the Kanto region and direct assistant to Professor Rowan of the Sinnoh region."

"Your point?"

Gary's face and ears reddened from the mixture of anger and embarrassment before he reined in his emotions and taking a deep breath.

"Never mind, just thought I should let you know my name," Gary said with a sigh, visibly deflating as he turned his attention to the window. After a few peeks through the plastic blinds to the city streets below; he reeled them up and slid the window open.

"It's Paul," came the barely audible reply.

Gary reeled his head back, throwing the trainer a skeptical look, not the trainer even looked up to see it. "What?"

"My name. It's Paul," he sighed irritably at having to repeat himself.

Gary nodded back thoughtfully and smiled before returning to his watch of the outside world as Paul returned to scowling at the Pokéball in his hands.

"Holy…" Gary said under his breath, slowly backing away from the window. Despite not knowing what the young researcher saw, Gary's reaction succeeded in immediately reeling Paul's attention.

"What?"

Rather than explain, Gary shifted back, allowing Paul space to gaze out the window for himself. It wasn't until Paul saw the sight for himself that he understood that the scene before them couldn't be explained through words alone, one had to see it first-hand.

The inhabitants of Hearthome that had left them behind had now returned, their numbers having noticeably been thinned since they last saw them. As they ran, purple geysers speared through the ground randomly. Several of the blind attacks managed to connect; others merely grazed their targets. In the end, a single touch was all that was needed for the acid to quickly spread across the victim's body and eat them alive.

Paul wanted nothing more than to slam the window close and retreat back to his spot by the wall. Hearing and seeing the people scream and die only succeeded in reminding him that his Pokémon had suffered the very same fate.

"Why are they doing this?" Gary whispered, expecting no reasonable answer to come. Paul slid away from the window, pacing back and forth across the room as if deep in thought. It was only after a solid minute that he stopped in the center of the room, his fingers cradling his chin.

"They're in the underground passageways," Paul voiced aloud to no one in particular.

"Excuse me?"

"The Muk; they're using the underground tunnels beneath Hearthome."

"Underground tunnels?"

"Yeah. My…my brother told me a long time ago that there's a network of tunnels that goes through the entirety of Sinnoh. I don't know who dug them, but from the looks of it the Muk are using them to get around the city. It's perfect now that I think about it. A surface group would come through the tunnels, resurface around the entire city and attack from all sides, scaring and pushing all the people towards the center. The rest of them must've stayed underground, and once everyone's right where they want them, they strike. Assuming they were actually smart enough to do this, we might be able to use this to our advantage," Paul replied.

"How exactly do you figure?" Gary asked. He tried to turn away from the window but something made him keep his eyes locked on the grisly scene of people being dissolved alive by the lethal geysers.

"Think about it. If the Muk would be focused on pushing everyone towards the center of Hearthome, then their forces might be thinner, or if we're lucky, nonexistent at the outer edges of the city. We can take these tunnels and make our way out."

"Wait, so these tunnels go through all of Sinnoh?"

"Yes, they go through all of it, or at least that's what my...what I was told."

"We have to do something to stop the Muk then!" Gary exclaimed. "If we don't, then what's to stop them from taking those tunnels and going to other towns and cities all over Sinnoh and repeating what they've done here?"

"We don't exactly have anything we could use to sto-" Paul's eyes suddenly widened as he stopped mid sentence. At first Gary thought Paul had heard something moving beneath them, tracing his gaze to find it resting on one of his Pokeballs. "

Paul wordlessly broke into a run, swiping his Pokeball off the floor as he ran for the stairs to the room above.

"What're you doing?" Gary cried out, stopping just short from the doorway of the room.

"The roof," Paul replied, already halfway up the flight.

"To do what?"

Paul stopped at the top of the stairs, debating whether or not to even dignify the question with a response. After a slight pause, Gary managed to make out a mumbled phrase before the door to the next floor clicked into place behind the trainer.

"Getting rid of two issues."

"Ursaring. Weavile. Standby," Paul called out, then beckoned for the Hibernator Pokémon to approach him and wait for instruction. "I need you to pick up a scent. Try and see if you can find the smell of food."

Ursaring gave the lavender-haired youth a quizzical look before quickly doing as he was told. The first whiff had his face contort from the horrendous smell that saturated the city's air. In time he grew accustomed to the stench and tried smelling past it. After a few minutes he was able to isolate the distinct smell of food through the foul odor.

"Well?" Paul's foot tapped the floor impatiently.

Ursaring nodded and lifted his arm to point west, guessing his master would next ask him what direction it was coming from. Paul nodded and glanced over to where the bear pointed.

"Did you get that Weavile?" to which the Sharp Claw Pokémon nodded in affirmation.

"I need you to go check that area; there might be a grocery store or market if Ursaring's able to pick up the scent of food in the air. Bring back honey. Be quick, be silent, and don't get seen. That should be easy enough for you," Paul commanded. Weavile nodded and without a moment's hesitation, darted towards the edge of the building before becoming a dark blur that zigzagged through the city streets.