B/N: The excitement continues! Please review, and thank you for reading!

Cynthia and I both knelt down quickly to see what was wrong with Candice. Cynthia checked her pulse.

"She's breathing," the Champion sighed with relief.

"Well she won't be for long," a voice called out.

We both turned around and saw three people come down the stairway.

The woman in the middle, who was obviously the leader, had short black hair that curled right before her shoulders. She had olive skin, and a black woolen trench coat that extended down to just above her ankles. She also had laced up black boots and golden earrings on.

The two men on either side of her were dressed in completely grey. They had padded grey chestplates on, with long grey sleeves that were skintight. Two rectangular pieces of grey cloth extended down in front of and behind their legs, almost like a tunic. They were also wearing long grey pants, and grey boots, with a grey hood. They both had bright orange hair.

"Mariah," I growled.

Cynthia turned to me. "You know this person?" she asked, surprised.

I nodded. "She's a Commander of Team Dusk, an organization in the Nocturna region that is aiming to create eternal dusk. A few of my friends and I defeated them once, but they went into hiding before the police-force could round them all up. None of the Commanders or Executive Directors, were caught."

Cynthia nodded. "I suspected they were part of a criminal organization."

"Oh, come now. That's a harsh word. We're not a criminal organization! We're just a group of people who are aiming to create a world in which only we survive. How is that bad?" Mariah asked sweetly.

I stepped forward. "What do you want Mariah?"

"Oh tsk, tsk, always the rude one, aren't you Cole? Very well. We're here for Regigigas. There, are you happy?" she replied, all form of mockery melting off her face.

"Regigigas? What on earth could you want Regigigas for?" Cynthia asked, surprised.

Mariah smiled sweetly. "A matter that is far beyond your puny little brain. But I have not time for idle chit-chat. I have a schedule to keep. Barnabus, Macintosh, take the smaller one. I'll deal with the pretty lady."

The two grunts started towards me, and I pulled out two poké balls. "Alright Barnabus and Macintosh, are you ready to get destroyed?"

I let them send out their pokémon first, so that I wouldn't get any type disadvantages.

They sent out a Nidoking and a Leavanny, an easy combination to defeat since they were both weak to Ice and Fire. Really, they should have thought this out better, knowing that I'm an Ice-Type Specialist.

I led with my flygon, Alaja, and my granbull, Poncz. I knew that my Ice pokémon would be much more effective, but I really wasn't in the mood for that at the moment. I heard Cynthia call out her Garchomp, but didn't turn to look.

"Nidoking, Earthquake!" Barnabus ordered.

Candice sat up behind us quickly and shouted, "NO! The ceiling!"

Cynthia and I both looked up and saw that sure enough, as the Earthquake took effect, the ceiling started growing cracks. Apparently, the pillars weren't enough to support it.

"Garchomp, Stone Edge, now!" Cynthia called, lightning quick. Garchomp yelled, and pillars of stone erupted from the ground, shooting towards Nidoking and Leavanny, as well as Mariah's Dusknoir, and grew towards the ceiling, becoming extra pillars to hold the ceiling up. I shook my head. This girl was the real deal.

"Alaja, Dragon Rush!" I called out, trying to score a hit while the grunts were distracted. "Poncz, Play Rough!"

My pokémon rushed towards the grunts' and before they could register that I was attacking right after the Stone Edge, I had scored two hits.

"Poncz, Fire Fang on Leavanny, Alaja, Dragon Tail on Nidoking!" I ordered.

"Nidoking, Sludge Wave!" Barnabus yelled.

"Leavanny, X-Scissor!" Macintosh called out.

Alaja easily dodged the Sludge Wave, and slammed her tail into Nidoking, knocking him back, but doing nothing more.

So Nidoking is the only pokémon he has. Nice to know, I thought. Dragon Tail forced a switch out when it hit.

Poncz, however, wasn't quite as lucky. He managed to score the Fire Fang, doing massive damage to Leavanny, but he also got a direct-hit X-Scissor.

I shook it off. Poncz could definitely take an X-Scissor. I had maxed out his Defense, Attack, and HP stats.

"Alaja, turn it around with a Flamethrower! Poncz, go for another Fire Fang!" I said, hoping that my granbull wouldn't take another X-Scissor.

I had personally trained Alaja to learn Flamethrower, since I knew it would be a valuable TM move to know.

The flames enveloped Nidoking, who cried out, and then fell to the ground, disappearing in a flash of white light. The same went for Leavanny, who had taken the Fire Fang without any resistance. I sighed. That had been almost too easy.

Then, I heard Cynthia cry out, and I turned to see Garchomp fly back into its poké ball in Cynthia's hand. Everyone stood in stunned silence, even Mariah.

"I…I haven't seen Garchomp faint in five years," Cynthia muttered.

Mariah looked shocked that she had fainted it, surprised at her own ability.

"Cynthia, it's alright," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded. "I know, I'm just surprised, that's all." She pulled another poké ball from her belt, and threw in onto the field. "Spiritomb, let's go!"

After that, she cleared Mariah's team, fueled by the revenge for her Garchomp.

When Mariah's last pokémon, a Trevenant, fainted, she sighed with a sneer. "I knew that you would beat me. Oh well. We've gotten what we came here for."

Cynthia and I turned to face each other.

"What does she mean?" I asked the Champion.

She shrugged. "I don't know…wait, she said she came here for the Regigigas statue, right?"

I nodded, realization pulling my stomach downwards. We both turned around at the same time.

Both Candice and the Regigigas statue were nowhere to be found.