Authors Note: Okay, third chapter. (The first was a prologue) Also, I don't own Pokémon. And, please read and review! The reviews make me type faster.

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Benstudios: This fanfiction is going better than expected.
BenHill: Yeah, it's actually pretty epic.
Benstudios: Why, thank you.

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Dace's POV

I spent the next few days going to pieces, and everything seemed to be a blur. I think I stayed in the same room for about five days.

Mewtwo came in three times a day, with food. I thanked him each time, forgetting in my grief what he was.

After about a week, I was stopped grieving, crying and generally feeling sad.

I felt a strange melancholy, as though I had managed to accept another death.

Eventually, I decided to explore my surroundings.

I found that I was in a huge building, twenty stories high, and about an acre at its base. There were eighteen stories, because there was a level for each type of Pokémon, ground, electric, grass etcetera. The floor in the middle was given over to Mewtwo himself, allowing him to go around his business at the centre of everything. The one at the bottom was for general communion, where all the Pokémon could go to meet others. The one at the very top was where all the food was the eating area. It seemed Mewtwo had hired human chefs to make food here. 'Hired' meaning 'brain-washed'. The seventh floor up was inhabited by psychics. That was where I had been the past week.

Getting up off of my bed on the eighth day of my stay, I decide to meet some of the Pokémon here, and find out why there were so many of them in this building. I decided to start with the Psychics, and soon found out I was the only Gallade on the entire floor, and the only one in the entire building wearing human clothes, if you excuse the Machokes and Machamps, and the Pokémon that had ribbons attached to them. I learnt this from a Hypno called Frola. She was happy to give me this information, and also told me that the Pokémon here where free to wonder wherever they liked.

Thanking her, I left and headed down towards the bottom floor. There were two ways to get around, by taking the stairs and using the teleport pads spread about each floor. I took the stairs down.

Once I got down to the bottom floor, I saw it was the by far the biggest of all twenty. I wasn't tired in the least by walking down the seven flights of stairs to reach the bottom.

I just leapt down the middle, through the hole, and landed on my left hand, and my feet, creating a small crater. Getting up, I dusted myself off, and walked through the swinging doors.

I was greeted by an amazing spectacle.

There were about seventy Pokémon in a circle, surrounding two combatants.

An Infernape, and a Dragonite were squaring off, circling each other in the middle. I walked through the crowd, and got right up to the front of the circle of spectators.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything when I said your mom was fat." Said the Infernape, making me realize the cause of this dispute. It always amazed me how Infernapes could get into trouble. Shaking my head, I turned away. As the fight broke out, Pokémon began to drift away from the crowd, sitting on the settees that dotted the place like pimples on an adolescent humans face. I went to sit on one of them, part of a circle of five settees that had a table in the middle.

Just as I got within arms reach of the first settee, I ducked, just as the Dragonite was sent flying onto the table, making it topple under his weight. I turned, and saw the Infernape laughing.

"Sorry man, but get someone else to fight for you! You may be a dragon, but I'm a level one double oh."

I turned to the Dragonite, and asked him if he was alright. He replied by sighing, and got up.

As he turned to go, I caught his arm, and turned him around.

(What's that Infernapes problem?)

"Oh, Brayzen? He just likes to pick fights. But, he has a reason to. He's the second strongest around here, apart from Mewtwo, of course."

(Really.) I looked at Brayzen, and walked up to him.

Broadcasting my telepathy, I challenged him to a fight, thinking it would take my mind off things. Since I couldn't get to the Tag team doubles now, I though I might as well have a battle of some kind.

"Want a fight? Sure, I'll give you one." Brayzen answered, arrogance and cockiness radiating from him. Clearly, he hadn't lost a battle in a long time.

I was going to change that.

(Good.)

Suddenly, all the settees and tables were pushed to the sides of the rooms, as Mewtwo teleported in and used his telekinesis.

(This fight deserves to be seen by everyone here.) He shouted, and suddenly all the Pokémon in the building were teleported onto the couches. Mewtwo himself floated above the custom made 'arena'.

Brayzen and I faced off. We circled each other wearily, taking in each others posture, and trying to predict what the other would do.

Suddenly, he poked out his tongue, and waggled it at me, taunting me.

Not really excepting me to do anything, he was surprised when I leapt straight for him, my elbow blades unsheathed. It was only his speed that kept me from ending the battle right there and then. He dodged to the left, just as my blades lacerated the space he had just been with multiple Psycho cuts. I whirled to face him, my coat billowing out behind me.

His cheeks puffed up, and a stream of fire engulfed me. I knew it wouldn't harm my suit, so I allowed it to hit me. The Flamethrower move didn't hurt very much, and he figured that out, too late. I rushed through the flames, straight for him, and landed a Thunder punch on his midriff, the electrical discharge sending him flying backwards into a wall but not through it. My right fist was still crackling with electricity, and now so was my left one. I charged him again, but he leapt up and away, just as both my thunder punches hit the already weakened wall, smashing it open.

Seemed like Mewtwo had a new front door.

I heard a sound behind me, and did a backwards summersault, time slowing down again as my battle-senses heightened. I saw the Infernape's left hand over his right, using Strength to try and slam me to the ground. As I completed my flip, I landed behind him, and time returned to normal.

I used Cut, slicing him across the back. He fell forward in a roll, and kept rolling, turning towards me with his Fire spin move at full power. As he neared me, it tuned into a Flare blitz, and both moves struck me before I could move out of the way, sending me flying. I turned in midair, hitting the wall with my feet, and using my elbow blades, climbed up onto the ceiling. Since this area was made to accommodate any type of Pokémon, except maybe a Wailord, the ceiling was shrouded in darkness, that's how high off the ground it was.

Looking up, Brayzen searched for me, but find me he could not.

Until a rushing sound was heard and-

Mewtwo's POV

I knew Brayzen was an antagonist, and was happy to see if he could defeat Dace.

After the first few minutes, Dace had managed to land two attacks, and so had Brayzen. Now, Dace was somewhere on the ceiling, among the Zubats, Golbats and Crobats inhabiting the dark places where their feet could grip the curves made especially for their kind. Suddenly, the whoosh of parting air could be heard, and there he was.

I heard the Lopunny on my left sigh, and I knew right away she liked what she saw. He did certainly look impressive; he seemed to cut through the air, his dark coat billowing out behind him. His right hand was glowing, and as he neared the Infernape, it struck him, just as he looked up. Dace used Brayzen as a cushion, and rolled as well, to make sure the fall didn't hurt too much.

As he got up, the light covering his hand dissipated, flowing over his body, healing him. The fire-type tried to lift itself off the ground, but only got onto its hands and knees, before it fainted, knocked unconscious by the Drain punch.

I started to applaud him, and the rest of the Pokémon followed suit. Dace looked at us all, and swivelled his head, turning slowly, and saw that everyone was clapping, and a visible blush spread over his cheeks.

Dace's POV

They were… applauding my performance. I felt shyness, and a bit of pride rise inside me, and I knew I my cheeks were red.

(Everyone, I give you Dace.)

Damn that abomination! He had played me off against that Infernape like we were chess pieces. I didn't like to be toyed with. I started walking towards one of the teleporters, intending to get away quickly. I put on a burst of speed as I neared them, and stepped onto the pinkish one.

I was immediately teleported to the Psychic floor, and once there, I walked over to one of the bean bags. I sank into it, and allowed exhaustion to overtake me.

I felt the burn on my chest flare slightly, and pain reared its head, as my body succumbed to the torment it had been put through. Damn, that Flare Blitz had hurt. So had punching a wall. I looked at my knuckles, and saw some bruising.

"Um, excuse us."

I turned my head, and saw a Mudkip and a Bulbasaur.

(Yes?)

They looked at each other, and then looked at me, as though expecting me to shoot lighting from my eyes, and suddenly grow twenty feet tall. There looked at me, as though awed at being in the presence of some kind of god.

"Well, I'm Jake, and this is James." Stated the bulbasaur, its vines waving slightly in the air.

"We were wondering if you wanted any friends, 'cuz we see that you don't have many."

I looked at them, wondering if they knew what they were getting themselves into.

Well, it's not like my friends die, more my closest ones. I thought to myself.

(Sure, why not)

"YAY!" They yelled, running at me.

I was up in a flash, turning to face them. Were they about to attack me? What was this?

"What? Why do you have you blades out? Do we have something behind us?" Asked James, a bit of fear in his voice.

I sheathed my blades, and sat back down. Why was I so paranoid? Oh, I know the answer to that one. Maybe it was because my life had been all action, reaction and death. Wait… that wasn't all true…

"Hey, Dace follow me!" shouted Teresa from down the lane, and her Gallade ran up to her. She had caught him and his brother while out in Eternal forest, a strange place to find two Ralts'. She had looked at her Pokédex, and found they were about level thirty. She had thrown two Quick balls, and waited for the three Bings that would signal a successful capture from both. After raising them both a level, she had shown a Dawn stone to both, and watched with amazement as the skirts they had been wearing, merged with their legs, and the legs themselves thickened and became more human.

Then, the heads of the two had grown a thick spike that reached from just above their forehead, all the way to the base of their respective heads. She had been shocked somewhat, that the one that had named itself Dace had a light gray one. By the time the transformation had finished, they had both looked at her, somewhat expectantly. She had looked up at them, wondering why the one called Dace looked a good foot taller than his brother. She had shrugged, and promptly traded the Gallade that had not revealed its name to her friend Jess.

She had kept Dace, because he was special, and because she felt a certain bond with him, like she had when she had first got her Chikorita from her Uncle Kell. He had looked at her, and clearly stated using telepathy, that he wished his name to remain 'Dace'.

His voice was somewhat low, and had a certain gentleness shaping each word, as though he had though everything he had just said through a thousand times.

The voice had made her feel calm and serene, and she had automatically replied in the affirmative. Her Meganium and Dace had gotten on well enough, and she was happy about that.

At the moment, she was in the fairgrounds with Dace, because Meganium was healing at the Pokémon centre, having suffered at the hands of a fire-type user. Dace had managed to secure victory for her, through the cunning use of a drain punch. It seemed to be his favourite move, despite the fact that Gallades were famous for their Psycho Cuts.

She had taken him shopping, and with the somewhat limitless money she had obtained from a distant relative, had given him many, many Iron, Carbos, Proteins and Zincs. He now was a lot stronger than any Pokémon his level had a right to be, with the legendaries being an exception.

They were travelling through Sinnoh.

She was heading for a big rollercoaster, one that allowed all humanoid Pokémon over a 1.40 m to enter. Dace was easily a 1.90, and had even found it hard getting into the seat.

After they had gotten off, Dace had been sick, and stated that 'He wouldn't get onto one of those infernal contraptions even if someone gave him a million Poképounds.

She had laughed, saying that they still had a whole fairground to go…

I shook myself, pulling myself away from the past.

(Sorry about that, I was just a bit tense from the battle earlier.)

"Well," Jake said hesitantly, before continuing, "We were kind of glad you did own him like you did-"

(What does 'own' mean? I do not own his Pokéball.)

"Heh, it means 'completely and utterly crushing the enemy' or something." James told me, looking at Jake as though he had just committed all seven sins at once.

The two seemed to be friends already, and for this I envied them. At least their close friends weren't destined to die. But, now was not the time to think of my… affliction.

"You spend way too much time on that computer of yours."

Fleetingly, I wondered how a Pokémon with not hands managed to type, but I was interrupted by Mewtwo, who teleported into the room.

(I am going to ask you two to leave me and Dace alone. We need to have a little chat)

James and Jake turned obediently, and walked over to their separate teleporters.

"What." I asked him, acid dripping from my voice.

(I have been meaning to ask you, Dace, how you knew of me.)

I looked at him, and decided to tell him.

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Benstudios: There, another chapter up and ready to go.
BenHill: I liked the last chapter better.
Benstudios: Well, at least that means you like this one.

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Authors note: As before, please R 'n' R!