AUTHOR NOTE: This story was first published on 10/25/2008 on deviantART. I do not profess, and will never profess, to be good at writing battle sequences.

***

"Sting that Ponyta!" Rico ordered, his first pokemon--a female Beedrill named Stiletto--managing to dodge through Ruby's flames and strike the pony pokemon on her exposed body.

Dan gritted his teeth in the intensity of the moment. He was determined to fight his way past Giovanni's second-in-command and into freedom…but Rico had beaten him before using only three of his pokemon (and Dan saw those three stalking behind their master). Not to mention that Dan's pokemon were tired from their previous loss and their captivity. Certainly, the desperation of wanting to break free could give them an edge, but it still probably wasn't enough; and the myriad of imprisoned pokemon who were also hoping to escape from Team Rocket's clutches would be no help, panicked and tired as they were.

Out of all the captive pokemon, only the Electabuzz and Oddish imprisoned with Armor and Ruby seemed capable of combat; perhaps the Pikachu who seemed to be the ringleader of the mob of pokemon could fight too, but she looked like she had her hands full trying to keep the withered group from fleeing or fainting en masse. Together with Dan's pokemon, that brought the total number of battle-worthy pokemon to seven against Rico's six; not good odds, considering that Giovanni had chosen the Rico Tyler as his lieutenant almost solely for his phenomenal battling ability. In fact, it would probably be an even six-on-six…Dan dared not jeopardize the stability of the rag-tag group of frightened pokemon by separating them from their Pikachu leader.

He had sent out his strongest battler, Ruby, at the genesis of the match, hoping to use her to bring down as many of Rico's pokemon as possible at the start. To Dan's surprise, Rico had called out a Bug-type for his first combatant, almost satirizing his opponent by ignoring the type disadvantage; a double mockery, as Rico knew from experience that Ruby was Dan's toughest fighter. If his strongest pokemon went down now…

What am I doing reminiscing?! He chided himself. Keep your mind on the action, or you'll never win your freedom!

"Ruby," he ordered, "Don't take that lying down!" (For his reminiscence had only eaten a few seconds from when Ruby had been struck.) "Let's show this bug a counterattack! FLAME IT!!!"

Ruby responded by shooting out a jet of fire aimed towards her aerial opponent, but the Beedrill almost lazily swept to the side as the flame careened harmlessly on the metal roof above the gate.

Rico made a tsking noise. "We always see that from those nasty Fire pokemon, don't we Stiletto?" He cocked his head to the side and gave a mocking smile at Ruby. "Good thing we always have a counter-strategy!"

Stiletto suddenly began beating her wings rapidly; the buzzing noise was irritable to Dan's ears, but to the hyper-sensitive hearing of the pokemon, it was almost too much to bear. Missy gave a squeal and ducked her head between her paws, shivering, while the Electabuzz started careening about drunkenly. A few of the imprisoned pokemon even fainted from the irritance.

Ruby was almost petrified, her eyes wide open, unable to move until her eardrums stopped screaming with pain. That was all the time needed for Stiletto to dart in and begin rapidly pummeling Ruby with blow after blow; Dan cried out in worry, as some of the wounds seemed serious for even a pokemon to cope with.

"Hey, Ruby," he called out, "come out of it!"

It didn't seem to work. Dan was beginning to lose hope until Missy shakily took a stand and began yelling at her rival as well.

"Hey, you high-and-mighty little foal!" She yelled in a sardonic voice. "Is the oh-so-superior Ponyta trained by one of the greatest Fire-type masters going to lose to a pokemon with a type disadvantage?!"

That seemed to snap Ruby out of her stupor. As much as Missy hated to admit it, being able to insult Ruby back gave her no small degree of pleasure.

Ruby actually bit her tormentor's stinger mid-jab and stopped it from going any further. As Stiletto tried in vain to pull free, Ruby's fiery mane streaked down her crown and spilled onto the Beedrill, setting the battler on fire. Shrieking, she finally managed to twist herself free from Ruby's vise-like maw, only for the Fire-type to rear up on her hind legs and bring her hooves crashing down on her opponent. Knockout.

As Rico recalled his first pokemon, the smile fading a bit, Ruby said over her shoulder to Missy, "…I'd thank you, but my pride won't allow it."

Missy responded, "We'll have to work on that later." Her uplifting tone hid a strain of concern, however; the wounds inflicted by Stiletto looked nasty, and many were turning a sickly shade of purple. Poison from the Beedrill's stinger.

Dan didn't fail to notice it either. Ruby's almost had it, he realized. Even if whatever pokemon Rico sends out next doesn't land a single hit, she'll only last a few minutes before the poison claims her. This next round's gotta count.

"Alright," Rico called back to his five vicious battlers still left, "I think it's time for a little revenge match. Brute! Rescind your previous loss."

The burly Machamp lurched forwards; he was one of the pokemon who Rico had sent out in his previous battle against Dan, and Brute had received a trouncing from Ruby.

The moment the four-armed pokemon took the stage Ruby was off running without waiting for a command from her trainer. Dashing in for a tackle here, a stream of fire from behind there, Ruby used her smaller stature, superior speed, and fiery distance attacks to weather Brute down before he had a time to react.

"What's she doing?" Missy found herself being asked by the sullen-looking Oddish; his hyper Electabuzz friend hovering behind him.

"Well," Missy responded hastily, not keeping her eyes off the action, "I can't really say for certain, but I think it's this: Ruby's poisoned, and she knows this. She's doing her absolute best to wear down that pokemon before she faints."

"From what I know about her," the Oddish said in a low voice, "that seems a bit out of character for her."

"Well," Missy mused, "it's true that Ruby is an enormous jerk…but she's a solid battler, the best Dan's got. And doing stuff like this, one could almost say she was acting nobly."

In the meantime, Ruby had landed a number of hits on the Machamp without taking a blow in return, but the poison was finally running its toll. She collapsed, panting. The bruised Machamp lumbered towards his opponent, grabbed her, and lifted her above his head, preparing to throw her onto the ground for a knockout.

"Any last words?" he taunted the pony pokemon.

"How about 'Barbecue'?!" Ruby threw back, and her mane flared up in a magnificent blaze that slowly grew to encompass both her and her opponent; the Machamp was caught by total surprise, unable to move due to the heat; when the fire died down, both the Machamp and Ruby slumped to the ground fainted: Ruby had used up the last of her energy in that kamikaze attack.

As Dan recalled Blaine's former pokemon, the Electabuzz piped up, "Oh! Oh! Hey this gives us a lead! I bet we could win this one easy-peasy!"

"Don't count on it," came a soft voice from behind; Yana, the long-suffering Pikachu who had been the captive of the Rocket desensitizer Masque for several years. "That Ponyta was that boy's strongest fighter."

Rico, with a smile, sent out his next pokemon, the one who had handed Dan's team defeat previously: the Graveler known as Tower.

Missy, who had been defeated by Tower before, felt her anger flaring up. She genuinely wanted a chance to fight the Graveler who had handed her a defeat.

Dan was at a loss as to which pokemon to send out against the Rock-type. He wanted to play off of its dual Rock/Ground weakness, but the only pokemon he had who fit the bill was his Seadra Nemo; undoubtedly Dan's weakest pokemon, he had been floored by Tower previously. Dan couldn't help but glance at the Seadra; Nemo, catching his master's gaze, could guess at what was passing through Dan's memory, and shrunk in shame.

"I could wait all day!" Rico called out playfully, his dyed-blue hair bouncing as he spoke.

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh I don't think that boy has a pokemon capable of bringing down that Graveler!" The Electabuzz whispered in hyperactive fear.

"He does now." The Oddish slowly got up and took the field. "If we want to get out of here, were gonna have to make sacrifices; can I ask you to help the boy when the time comes?"

The Electabuzz nodded in response to her ally's question.

Dan whispered down to the Oddish, "Thank you for helping, but I'm not your trainer; I don't know what strategies to follow or what attacks you know. I'll just ask you to follow your own instincts and do whatever you think your old trainer would have had you do, alright?" The plant pokemon nodded, then suddenly plunged his feet into the ground and closed his eyes in concentration.

That took everyone by surprise (except the Electabuzz); Yana whispered, "Does he want to get pummeled?" while Rico seemed stuck of speech in shock.

"Tower," commanded the enforcer, coming back to his senses, "give that weed a punch or two!"

The Graveler didn't respond…and then suddenly toppled over, grunting. Roots sprang from the ground and caged in the Rock pokemon. Rico gave a start and ordered Tower up, but despite his best efforts, the Graveler couldn't break free of the roots.

Dan was starting to feel like they had a genuine chance thanks to Ruby's desperation and this Oddish's ingenuity, but it didn't last long.

"Dig!" Rico cried suddenly; Tower responded and tunneled down into the ground below the base; the Oddish's roots limpened as the pokemon they were constraining disappeared; the roots snaked underground, doubtless looking for the Graveler, but the advantage was Tower's now; the ground beneath the Oddish's feet crumbled as Tower grasped the little Grass-type triumphantly. Just as he began a victory roar, however, the Oddish sprayed a burst of spores into the Graveler's face; Tower dropped his prey, roaring, and clutched his eyes as he did so. The Oddish back up and shot the leaves off of his head, but Tower rolled to avoid them at Rico's command and, when the Oddish shot a second spray of leaves, Tower used the same feint he had done in his previous bout with Nemo; he used his four arms to spring into the air, and landed with devastating force on top of the Oddish, resulting in a KO.

"Ohh, too bad," mocked Rico, "it seems as though it was trying so hard too! And that's not even your pokemon, is it? Pity that it's Poke Ball is somewhere in storage back in the base and you can't call it back. Tower! Let's boot that root back over to his friends!"

Tower gave a smirk and raised a rocky foot to strike cruelly at the unconscious Oddish, but a grey blur shot past the unconscious Grass pokemon and landed onto Tower's head: Missy.

"Don't you DARE hurt any more of my friends!" She growled, grasping onto her foe's head as best she could with her paws and biting as viciously as she could against his stone skin, all the while managing to avoid the grappling four arms of her foe.

She heard Rico yelling and also heard Dan, Yana, and the others grabbing the Oddish's prone form. Finally the Graveler grabbed one of her hind legs and threw her against the wall, but with her inhuman reflexes fueled by rage and desperation, she angled herself so that her back feet pressed against the structure when she hit. Pushing against it, she gained momentum as she sped through the air like a bullet, striking Tower head-on, and actually managing to topple the Rock-Ground hybrid with the force of her impact.

I just smashed my skull into a giant rock! Her mind registered despite the adrenaline of the moment. For once, she was glad of her new non-human form; had she still been a girl, that likely would have cracked her skull open or broken her neck.

As Tower struggled to lug his weighty body back upright, Missy dashed atop him again, and began biting and scratching once more, with an intensity that did not suit her nature.

I wasn't this vicious before, she couldn't help but think. Did turning into a pokemon do this to me? Or…maybe this was in my nature all along, and being transformed just gave it a convenient window to escape… It was a sobering thought, but one she didn't have time for right now.

Tower once again escaped her wrath, this time by tunneling underground. "It's cool, big guy," Rico called out soothingly, "We beat this little wretch before, remember? It'll be just as easy this time." He didn't sound nearly as confident as his words suggested.

Tower resurfaced a good deal away and began flinging rocks and shooting sand at her; Missy dodged the missiles, but was unable to come anywhere near her foe because of them

Inspiration struck her. She began running in a circle all about the battlefield; this was the same gambit that had won her the match against Erika's Bellsprout and had cost her the win against Tower in their last battle. Tower, grunting, summoned a stalagmite in her path; the same trick he had used to beat her previously. Missy had been counting on it. Rather than crashing into it as she had done before, she grappled up its rough surface, and at the peak spun into a dizzying jump; using her own momentum as well as the height supplied by the stone, she stuck the Graveler devastatingly with all four paws on her landing. Tower toppled over with one last basso grunt; he was defeated.

Missy doubled over, panting, surprised at the depths of her own ferocity. I…I managed to actually…BEAT that thing?! She knew she should feel happy at the fact that she had hopefully helped secure freedom for herself and her friends, but when she caught a glimpse of Rico returning Tower's prone body to his pokemon with disquiet, she felt sick to her stomach.

Rico's next pokemon was what appeared to be a giant purple mollusk with two big eyes and a tongue sticking out of its shell, something Dan identified as a "Shellder". It didn't look very threatening, but Missy knew that looks were usually something to avoid when judging an opponent; she herself had defeated Tower, had she not?

"Vise," Rico called out, addressing his pokemon by name, "Squeeze that Eevee till it drops!"

She responded by lunging forwards (she was surprisingly fast for a shellfish) and prepared to clamp down on Missy. Missy primed to dodge, but found herself weary and almost incapable of movement; her previous bout against Tower had expended almost all of her energy. She dodged the Shellder's attack, but slowly, and Vise managed to get a grip on Missy's tail.

"Ouch!" The former human cried out. She tried to wriggle her tail loose, but suddenly it began to feel very chilled. She looked back and saw that Vise was somehow spitting ice out of her shell and freezing Missy's tail. Missy gave a shriek and her paw darted forward, slipping into the crack of Vise's shell and scratching the soft black mass of flesh protected by the carapace. Vise gave a wail and immediately let go, but then shot a jet of water at the ground, launching herself skyward with the backlash; when she was a good deal up, Vise shot a flurry of ice at her opponent.

Missy tried to dodge, but her legs were so tired and sore that she didn't get much headway, and when the frost hit her, she couldn't help but stop moving and collapse, shuddering. It was just so cold…really…..really…….cold……….

She fainted.

Rico gave a howl of excitement and looked Dan in the eye. "Well," he said, "recall your pokemon!"

Dan paled; he had never caught the little grey Eevee, and he couldn't recall her.

He took a tentative step forward, hoping to gather her up in his arms before Rico could figure it out.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and recall your pokemon!" The laugh was out of Rico's voice now.

"I--I just want to make sure she's alright with my own hands and eyes," Dan said shakily, hoping to bluff Missy back to him.

"There'll be time enough for that later," Rico said, genuinely suspicious now. "Call her back. Or…are you incapable of calling her back? No, it couldn't be! Could it? You…you never actually caught that Eevee! Am I right?!"

Damn, Dan thought with a pounding heart. "Of course I caught her! You just leave Storm alone!"

Rico was almost smiling now. "Then bring out your poke ball and call back your pokemon!" When Dan took another step forwards he chortled with delight. "I was right!" Rico gloated. "Then there's only one thing to do!"

And he weaseled a poke ball out of one of his pockets.

When he saw that, Dan made a beeline for Missy, but a command from Rico caused Vise to spray a jet of water in the young man's eyes, blinding him and causing him to trip up, falling to the ground at the same time that the ball flew through the air, landing on Missy's small, grey body, and opening--causing a red light to fly out, grappling at her, and pulling her into the ball and captivity. The poke ball fell to the earth; it shook weakly once or twice until the button made an audible clicking sound.

Missy was caught