Disclaimer:I don't own anything.

xXx

Chapter 3: Ready, Go!

xXx

Yang opened her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was the rock ceiling with stalactites hanging from it. As awareness started returning to her, she felt the cold, hard ground under her body.

Yang put two and two together quickly enough. She was in a cave.

She blinked a couple of times.

What was she doing in a cave?

"You're awake. Good. I was beginning to worry," a voice said from somewhere outside her field of view. It was Pyrrha's voice.

Right, the local ranger had gotten hurt and she had volunteered to help Pyrrha with the... Vigoroth.

At once the memories rushed through her mind. Yang quickly tried to get up but her motions were cut off by a flash of pain. The blonde couldn't stop the gasp that came out of her lips.

"Easy there," Pyrrha said as she moved to her side and held her down. "You are hurt. Skarmory managed to catch you before you hit the ground, but you still hit some branches pretty hard."

As she spoke, Pyrrha nodded to the side. Yang followed her gaze, tentatively at first but with more confidence once she ascertained her neck was a relatively bruise-free zone. A large bird with skin and feathers made entirely out of steel stood with his back to them at the entrance of the cave.

Yang blinked again.

So that was how Pyrrha had saved them back then.

"He's keeping watch for now," Pyrrha told Yang. "I doubt that thing is capable of stealth, but it is better to be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, I was actually about to ask you about that," Yang said, wishing she could at least sit in order to talk face-to-face with the redhead. "Pyrrha, what was that thing? I know Slaking are supposed to be strong but that was just not normal."

Strange did not even begin to cover it.

Slaking were an impressive species. When it came to Normal-Type Pokemon, they were probably at the top. However, there was a reason why barely anyone bothered to use them in competitive battling, preferring instead to give an Everstone to their Vigoroth.

Slaking were lazy.

They were blessed with insanely tough and strong bodies, yet they were held back by a level of laziness that could only be described as genetic.

With the right training, a Snorlax could become a juggernaut. The same did not hold true for a Slaking. Trainers who tried to use a Slaking in official competitions were often disqualified when the lazy Pokemon fell asleep in the middle of the match.

Nothing could stop a Slaking from slacking around, not even enemy Pokemon. No amount of training or discipline could change that.

Apparently, no one had told this particular Slaking that.

No.

Yang shook her head. This went beyond the Pokemon's aggressiveness. She had seen her fair share of angry Pokemon and this wasn't it. That thing had simply...

"It felt wrong," Yang said. "I've never felt like that around a Pokemon before. A Dark Pulse feels more positive than that thing."

"I..." Pyrrha paused and averted her gaze from Yang. "I am not sure. Like you, I have never really encountered a Pokemon like that before."

Yang narrowed her eyes. She was very good at spotting lies and Pyrrha was far from being the best liar she had ever met.

Yang was about to press her for more information when Pyrrha started talking again.

"I already called the Gym and the Pokemon Center to warn them," she said. "It's not safe for Trainers to venture into the woods while that Slaking is out there. Once you are feeling better, I'll have Skarmory take you to the city."

Yang opened her mouth to object to that last sentence when the full impact of the first two hit her like a train.

"Ruby," Yang breathed out the word.

Pyrrha barely had the time to hold her down.

"What are you doing?" The redhead asked. "You can't stand yet. You are hurt."

"You don't get it!" Yang said, struggling against Pyrrha but her grip was like iron. "Ruby. My sister. I left her my tracking code!

It was then Yang noticed a familiar weight was missing.

"My Pokedex," Yang said, patting her holder and finding it empty. Her face grew pale. "Did you take it? Please, tell me you took it."

Pyrrha could only shake her head. "I did not. It must have fallen when were in the air."

"No." The full weight of Pyrrha's words hit Yang. "Not good. Ruby is going to be tracking that Pokedex. She's going to come here while that thing is out there! She's probably in the forest already!"

She should have never left her that letter.

She thought it would be fun, a chance for Ruby to get her feet wet under mostly controlled circumstances.

That had been before everything went to hell.

"Please," Yang said, her purple eyes beseeching. "You have to let me look for her."

She couldn't fail Ruby.

Not again.

Green eyes looked at her impassively. After what felt like an eternity to Yang, Pyrrha loosened her grip.

"We'll need to come up with a plan to face it," Pyrrha said. A smile bloomed on Yang's face.

"Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what Pokemon to use this time," Yang said as she began to stand up. She was bruised all over, but a little pain was nothing if she could help Ruby.

"I am all ears," Pyrrha said, as she moved to help Yang. "And for what it is worth, I hope my message arrived before she left the city."

xXx

Ruby was in the forest.

It had taken some creative button mashing but she had finally figured out how you were supposed to enter Pokedex Tracking Codes. It was a really cool function. The screen of her Pokedex now showed her a map of the region that she could zoom in and out at will. She could even switch it to a holographic 3D display.

Pokedexes were awesome.

Useful too. Ruby could already think of several ways in which this particular function could be used. It helped Pokedex Holders keep track of each other. Knowing there was a friendly face in town always helped. Beyond that, it was bound to be useful for rescue teams looking for Pokedex Holders who had suffered some type of accident in the wilderness.

If only she could find Yang with it.

"Can you see them, Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked the Scyther at her side.

"'ther," the Pokemon replied, shaking her head.

Ruby sighed. According to the map, Yang should be really close, but there weren't any fires or patrol cars. Not even the signs of a recent Pokemon battle.

As a matter of fact, the forest was strangely quiet.

"This is weird," she said.

"Scyther," Crescent Rose said, nodding her head in agreement.

"Yeah, we haven't found a single wild Pokemon so far," Ruby said.

Meeting Pokemon in the wild was inevitable. For every ten Pokemon out there, there was at least one that was curious enough about humans to not bother hiding from them. Before airships and trains, it had been necessary for every person who traveled from town to town to have at least one Pokemon for protection.

Ruby had seen plenty of Pokemon during her trip to Beacon. She had met more while traveling to Vale. In Patch, you could even find wild Pokemon in the streets.

She had yet to see a single Pokemon since leaving Mistral.

It didn't make any sense.

The idea that there weren't any Pokemon in the forest was discarded almost instantly. There were always Pokemon out there. Much like the sun going up every morning, that was simply how things worked.

The other option was that the Pokemon had been captured by the trainers that passed by, but that also didn't make much sense. She was pretty sure she'd have seen at least some Bidoof around.

No one ever wanted Bidoof for some reason.

The only other option left was that there Pokemon in the forest, and she couldn't see them because they didn't want to be seen, which made her wonder just why were they hiding.

"Are you sure you can't see anything?" She asked Crescent Rose.

"Scyther!" The Pokemon said, looking offended all of sudden.

"Yes, I know you don't have Compound Eyes," Ruby said. Inwardly, she winced. She had pushed the Eye button.

"Scy'," The Pokemon said, looking a little gloomy.

"Crescent Rose, you know you are my baby," Ruby said, drawing the Pokemon into a one-armed hug. "I'd never replace you with anyone, let alone a Butterfree."

It'd be silly.

Everyone knew Scythers were the best and Crescent Rose was in like... the top percentage of Scythers!

"Scyther," Crescent Rose said, leaning into Ruby.

"That's right," Ruby said right before blinking as she spotted something glinting in the ground. "Wait, what's that?"

She let go of Crescent Rose and walked up to a tree. There was something next to its roots.

A Pokedex.

Ruby knelt down to pick it up. It was yellow and of an older model than hers. She recognized it instantly.

It was Yang's Pokedex.

It was at that moment she felt the ground tremble as something landed behind her.

Ruby turned around.

"Oh," she said.

So that was why all the other Pokemon were hiding.

Crescent Rose barely had time to pick Ruby and carry her out of the way before Slaking's massive fist came down on them.

"Good job!" Ruby said as Crescent Rose put her down a few yards away. Pokedex Holder and Pokemon fixed their gazes on their foe. Crescent Rose moved in front of Ruby, her scythes raised and ready to attack at Ruby's command.

However, Ruby did not give any command. The girl just frowned.

"You're hurt," she said, not to her partner but to the wild Pokemon.

She was right. While Slaking still cut an intimidating figure, it was far from unscathed. The Pokemon had burns and bruises all over its body. However, most notable of all was its shoulder. The skin there was purpled and swollen.

"It's okay. We're not going to hurt you," Ruby said, raising her arms and moving in front of Crescent Rose. "We're not going to try to capture you. I have some potions in my pack. You look like you could use them, and we should probably get a Nurse Joy to take a look at you."

In reply, Slaking roared, its massive fists beating against its chest

Crescent Rose quickly moved in front of Ruby again as the wild Pokemon began charging.

"Okay, so that's the mood we're going for," Ruby muttered under her breath. "Crescent Rose, Quick Attack!"

The green Pokemon nodded as she rushed towards the massive Slaking with lightning speed. In less than a second, she was already in striking range.

"Now, switch to False Swipe!"

Ruby's command came right on time as Scyther lowered the power of her strike. The order had no doubt been given thinking of Slaking's injured state.

They should not have bothered.

Crescent Rose's scythe made contact with Slaking's exposed chest.

The attack barely left a scratch.

Slaking looked down at Scyther and lifted its arm to attack.

"Swords Dance!" Ruby commanded.

Many people did not understand what Swords Dance truly was. The misconception started with the name, specifically the dance part of it. For most, Swords Dance was a move in which the Pokemon performed a dance and raised its attack power as a result. Thus, it was a dance that raised the Pokemon's power.

That was wrong.

Swords Dance was not a dance.

Swords Dance was a state of mind.

While in that state a Pokemon was able to put all its focus on the battle. No movement was wasted. No openings were missed. A Pokemon was thus able to accurately strike at its opponent's weak spots with brutal efficiency. The dance was merely the most common way in which a Pokemon could gain the necessary focus to enter that mindset.

A Pokemon with the right training could skip the dance entirely.

Crescent Rose had the right training.

The Pokemon saw Slaking's fist coming down at her in slow motion. With buzzing wings, she spun to the side, letting the blow miss her by an inch.

"Aerial Ace!"

Crescent Rose let the momentum of her spin guide her, her blades lashing out in mid-air and striking at Slaking's unprotected side.

Two cuts appeared on its skin.

The pain made the Pokemon turn to the side and punch with his other fist, but Crescent Rose flew backwards and out of its range with casual ease.

"No, wait! Don't use that arm! You're going to hurt yourself more," Ruby shouted to the Slaking. In its attempt to strike Crescent Rose, the wild Slaking had slammed its wounded arm into the ground. If the Pokemon kept attacking recklessly it could do serious damage to itself, and Ruby would rather avoid that if possible.

Slaking turned its wild, crazed eyes on Ruby. A moment that felt like an eternity but was barely second passed as the same realization hit all three.

Slaking rushed towards Ruby.

In an instant, Crescent Rose flew past Slaking, scooped Ruby in her arms, and flew, an amazing feat considering her arms were blades.

Crescent Rose's quick actions saved her trainer's life as Slaking's body bulldozed through the empty space where Ruby had been less than a second ago.

However, it didn't matter. Slaking had already realized one fundamental truth.

The wild Pokemon roared as it wrapped its arms around a tree and pulled. Its muscles bulged dangerously as it literally ripped the tree from the ground. The Pokemon looked at its flying foes and took aim, hoisting the tree over its shoulder.

Yes, Slaking had already realized it. Crescent Rose was a fast and speedy fighter he could not easily hit.

Ruby Rose was not.

Yelling, Slaking threw the tree at them like a javelin.

Under normal circumstances, Crescent Rose would have been able to cut it in half. With Ruby in her arms, her options were far more limited. The Pokemon flew to the side, barely managing to get out of the way.

Slaking jumped.

"Up"! yelled Ruby as Slaking launched itself at them like a cannonball. Crescent Rose's wings beat furiously as the Pokemon followed her trainer's order, flying higher and higher.

Slaking extended its long arms as he reached the zenith of its jump.

Its fingers missed them by mere inches.

Slaking started to fall down as Ruby and Crescent Rose continued to fly higher.

"Crescent Rose," Ruby said, frowning, "move above the clouds. Slaking won't see us there. We'll look for a safe place to land later."

Finding Yang was going to be a lot more difficult than she had thought.

xXx

People were already using Pokemon as means of transportation long before Poke Balls were invented. Many Pokemon could travel much faster than humans and carry a lot more weight. Using their help was simply common sense.

There were records of ancients pirates using Gyarados to pull their ships through storms. Mailmen had once taken advantage of Dodrio's insane speed and rode them to deliver mail from town to town.

Then there were flying Pokemon.

A Pidgeot could fly at twice the speed of sound and was strong enough to carry a passenger on its back. A trainer who was good enough to earn the friendship of one and had the courage to fly on its back will never need to buy plane tickets.

However, not all flying Pokemon were suited for the role of carrying passengers. A simple Starly was just not capable of carrying a human on its back. There were also cases of flying Pokemon that were strong enough to carry a human but couldn't stay in the air for long periods of time.

Scyther belonged to the latter group.

Crescent Rose was more than strong enough to carry Ruby. The young girl didn't even weigh that much. The problem lay elsewhere. Crescent Rose's body shape was simply not aerodynamic enough to stay in the air for long periods of time.

Thus, while Crescent Rose would like nothing more than to fly all the way back to the city, leave Ruby there, and then return to the forest to slash the brute that had dared to raise its hand against her Trainer, that option was simply not in the cards.

Besides, her trainer didn't want to.

She had asked.

"I think that's a good spot," Ruby told her, pointing to a small clearing below them.

Crescent Rose nodded and begun descending. Her wings allowed her great ease when it came to maneuvering in small spaces. Unlike other flying Pokemon, she could fly backward or sideways as she pleased. She could even hover on the spot so they did not really need to be picky when it came to choosing a landing spot but her trainer was considerate like that.

The two had managed to lose Slaking after fleeing above the clouds and were now a few miles away from where they had encountered him. Hopefully, they would not run into it so easily this time.

"Alright," Ruby said, jumping to the ground once Crescent Rose reached a low enough altitude. "Crescent Rose, we need to figure out what to do."

"Scyther?" Crescent Rose offered.

Ruby gave her a look. "No, we are not returning to Mistral so you can leave me there. We need to find Yang and the Gym Leader and figure out what to do about Slaking. Then we can return to Mistral."

Ruby held up Yang's Pokedex which she had picked up before Slaking attacked.

"This is Yang's," Ruby said, a note of worry in her voice. "She would have never left her Pokedex just lying around in some strange place."

"Scy?"

Crescent Rose did not have eyebrows to raise, but the look on her face was probably the closest approximation of the gesture a Scyther was capable of.

"Yes, but she was drunk that time," Ruby said, raising her arms. It had all been Uncle Qrow's fault really. Their dad had not been happy with him... or Yang for the matter.

"Anyway," Ruby said as she started pacing. "I think I know wh-whoah!"

Ruby yelped as she stepped on a patch of bulky, soft ground near one of the trees.

Hissing bulky, soft ground.

"Wait, what?" Ruby said, as she quickly stepped back from the now rising ground which wasn't ground at all.

Yang's Pokedex beeped before announcing what she was already starting to realize.

Seviper, the Fang Snake Pokemon. Its sword-like tail slashes its foes and poisons them. It hides in tall grass and attacks unaware prey with its venomous fangs.

Covering his body with mud and lying still on the forest floor was apparently another way in which Seviper hid as Ruby was finding out. The mud probably helped him mask his scent.

The snake Pokemon was about eight feet long. Though his body was covered in mud, Ruby could see glimpses of his black scales and hexagonal yellow markings. Two long red fangs grew from his mouth and the tip of his tail was a red blade.

A really sharp, utterly gorgeous red blade.

Ruby noticed stuff.

"Wait," Ruby said, holding her hands up. "I get you're angry because I just stepped on you, and normally I'd love to have a Pokemon battle with you because your tail is just gorgeous, but we really need to stay quiet right now."

Her words were of no use. Seviper was already coiling his body like a spring, his head raised and ready to strike. The Pokemon had already been on edge due to Slaking's presence in the forest. He was not going to listen to reason.

"Crescent Rose, do it," Ruby said just as Seviper launched himself at them, fangs glowing purple.

Crescent Rose's blades flashed as she struck Seviper with full power, sending the Pokemon flying towards a tree. If Seviper hit that tree, there would no doubt be a lot of noise, and that noise could attract Slaking.

Ruby couldn't allow that.

The young Trainer threw a Quick Ball before she knew what she was doing. The blue and yellow Poke Ball flew through the air and struck Seviper, enveloping him in a soft red light as he was dragged inside.

The Poke Ball shook once. Then twice. Then thrice.

A soft beep reached Ruby's ears.

"...did we just catch a Pokemon?" Ruby asked Crescent Rose after a moment of silence.

The Pokemon looked just as confused as she was. Ruby and Crescent Rose stared at each other blankly for a moment before their gazes turned to the Poke Ball on the ground.

"We caught our first Pokemon!" Ruby yelled, leaping to hug Crescent Rose.

"Scyther!" Crescent Rose cried out, raising its blades happily as Ruby wrapped her arms around her. Pokemon and human cheered before remembering they were trying not to be loud.

"We caught a Pokemon!" Ruby repeated in a lower voice after letting go of Crescent Rose. She bent down to pick up the Poke Ball and took out her Pokedex to look up Seviper's data.

Ruby smiled.

"And I have a plan."

xXx

What were the odds of different people randomly stumbling upon the same Pokemon in an area best measured in square miles? Professional researchers had to tag Pokemon in order to accurately track them so how was it possible for the two groups that had entered the forest to have encountered the same Slaking?

According to experts, the odds were about one in eight thousand, one-hundred, and ninety-two.

Now, Pyrrha and Yang had known its whereabouts beforehand and had been deliberately looking for it. They had knowingly entered its territory.

However, Ruby had not been tracking that Pokemon.

She had been tracking Yang's Pokedex and that Pokedex had been thrown very far away from the place where Yang and Pyrrha had fought. It was a testament to its quality that the small machine hadn't been broken by the fall.

So how had Ruby stumbled upon Slaking by sheer coincidence?

The answer was simple: She hadn't. They had met because they had both been chasing after the same thing: Yang's Pokedex.

It is said Slaking only moved when there was no food around it. The species was so lazy that even climbing a tree was too much of a bother.

On the flip side, that meant Slaking knew exactly where to find the areas of the forest with the most food in them. As it turned out, Slaking's large pink snout was not just for show. Slaking had a fantastic sense of smell which it used to great effect.

If a Slaking wanted to, it could track someone's scent. For example, the scent of the two Pokemon Trainers who had previously wounded it.

Slaking had simply been following Yang's scent, and that scent was present in her Pokedex.

Ruby understood that much which was why Yang's Pokedex now laid on the ground.

It took less than half an hour after she left it there for Slaking to come crashing down, literally. The Pokemon seemed to largely favor long jumps as a way of transformation as opposed to just walking from place to place. Whether it was a remnant of its laziness or evidence of its excess energy was a question best left to professionals.

Slaking took three large whiffs before its gaze moved to the yellow Pokedex on the ground. It began making its way towards it with big, lumbering movements.

At that moment, it was completely unguarded.

It was exactly the chance Ruby needed.

"Crescent Rose, go for it!"

The Poke Ball hit the ground as a mud-covered Ruby Rose shouted from behind the tree where she had been hiding. The green Pokemon flew straight like an arrow at Slaking's unprotected back.

"X-Scissor!"

Her blades glowed with power as she brought them down against Slaking's back, leaving a small x-shaped cut behind.

Slaking roared.

Realizing it had been wounded, the Pokemon turned and lashed out with its fist, but Crescent Rose quickly flew out of its reach. Slaking began to chase after her, its eyes mad with rage.

"Now, Poison Tail!"

The order was not given to Crescent Rose but rather to her latest capture. It had taken a lot of clever bargaining and the loss of her favorite sweets but he had agreed to go along with the plan.

Seviper burst from the ground, his bladed tail glowing purple. Under normal circumstances, the attack would not do much. Slaking's hide was too durable and the odds of the attack poisoning it were at best one in ten.

On this occasion, Seviper's odds were considerably better.

Seviper's attack struck Slaking's open wound, the poison secreted from his tail instantly mixing with the larger Pokemon's blood.

Slaking howled. Its meaty hands tried to catch the snake Pokemon but Seviper's limber body twisted out of the way as he wrapped himself around Slaking's arm before moving towards its torso. The snake Pokemon's eyes were wide with panic as he desperately tried to avoid being hit.

Slaking was about to strike itself in hopes of hitting Seviper when a red light enveloped the snake, returning him to his Poke Ball. With the Poke Ball in hand, Ruby quickly hid behind the tree but Slaking had already seen her.

As the wild Slaking rushed to the tree, Crescent Rose flew around it to catch Ruby.

She would carry her Trainer away. The poison would do its work on Slaking and weaken it enough so they could catch it and take it to the Pokemon Center. Without its interference looking for Yang would be a much simpler task.

That was how it was supposed to go.

Had Slaking been a remotely normal Pokemon it would have worked flawlessly.

As Crescent Rose caught Ruby in her arms, Slaking burst through the tree, tearing the wood apart as though it were paper. Its body was completely covered by a dark aura that Ruby had never seen on a Pokemon before. Its muscles and veins bulged in ugly way.

It was also much, much faster than before.

Before, Slaking might as well have been moving in slow motion from Crescent Rose's perspective, now it was a guided missile heading right towards them.

Crescent Rose flew as fast as she could and when she realized she wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time, she did the only thing she could. She twisted in mid-air to shield Ruby with her body.

Crescent Rose's mouth opened in a wordless gasp as the blow struck her back. Trainer and Pokemon were sent rolling to the ground and crashed into a tree. Ruby cried out in pain and weakly tried to get up, an action that was impeded by the weight of her Pokemon.

"Crescent Rose," Ruby cried out in concern. The Scyther was barely conscious and she could see the blow had badly wounded her back. She was in no shape to get away.

Ruby began searching for Crescent Rose's Poke Ball. It was the only thing she could do at the moment. Crescent Rose would be safer that way even if doing so would leave Ruby totally unprotected. She had Seviper but she could not send a newly-caught Pokemon against a foe like this.

She needed to get away.

As the Slaking lumbered towards them, Ruby's mind began to drift back. Suddenly, Slaking wasn't Slaking anymore but an Ursaring, and they were not surrounded by a forest but rather a snowy field. This time, no flash of red would save them. Ruby understood that even as she dearly wished for it.

She got lightning instead.

"Milo, Thunder Wave!"

Slaking roared as the electric attack hit its mark. A Pokemon that was made of three metal spheres joined by magnets put itself between Slaking and them. Ruby recognized it as a Magneton.

"Flash Cannon!"

A blast of silver shot out from the Pokemon and struck Slaking head-on, driving the giant back.

"Throh, Storm Throw!"

In a flash of light, a new Pokemon joined the fray. As Slaking was driven back, the Pokemon grabbed it by behind and spun him in a semi-circle before releasing it and sending it crashing through several trees.

The Pokemon was a short, red humanoid wearing a Judo gi. His nose and eyebrows formed a black T that dominated much of his face. Ruby had never encountered the species but she had read about them in an encyclopedia, Throh the Judo Pokemon.

The voice of the trainer on the other hand, that she recognized immediately.

"Yang," Ruby cried out. She looked around and soon spotted her sister's golden hair.

Mainly because she was running right towards her.

"Ruby!" In one swift move, Yang caught both Ruby and Crescent Rose in a bear hug, not caring one bit Ruby was covered in mud. "I'm so glad you're okay. I am so so-"

"Yang!" Pyrrha cut in. "I'm glad we have found your sister and pleased to see she is in good health. However, there are still matters to attend to."

She was right. The Slaking was already on its way up.

"It's okay," Yang said, although she did let go of Ruby much to the shorter girl's relief. Yang's bear hugs were strong. "Throh already knows what to do."

She was right. As Slaking tried to attack them again, Throh got in its way. The Pokemon easily moved inside Slaking's guard and judo-tossed him into the ground in a smooth motion.

"Cool," Ruby breathed out as she returned Crescent Rose to her Poke Ball. Beside her, Pyrrha gave Milo another order. The Pokemon soon started flying in circles around Slaking and Throh.

Slaking roared as he got up again and attacked yet the result was the same. Throh ducked underneath its swing, grabbed its outstretched arm, and turned its own momentum against it to slam Slaking into the ground.

Throh was not the fastest of Pokemon but right now it did not need to be. Milo's Thunder Wave attack had massively slowed down Slaking thanks to its paralyzing effect. Slaking's body jerked awkwardly as it moved. Electric sparks flashed around its body from time to time.

Slaking slowly got up again, but this time, it was knocked down by a Flash Cannon, courtesy of Milo.

The cycle repeated itself a few more times. Slaking getting up and trying to attack only to be stopped by Throh with Milo occasionally providing some support using ranged attacks.

Eventually, the poison and the accumulated damage became too much for Slaking. Even the dark aura surrounding him faded away.

The Pokemon fainted and fell to the ground.

The battle was over.

xXx

Chapter 3 - End

xXx

AN: Another chapter down. Ruby captured her fist Pokemon, and Slaking is defeated. All is well.

Or is it?

Just one more chapter to finish this mini-arc. Also, kudos to those who can guess what was up with the Slaking.

In other news, I have finished my third book, and I'm fairly proud of it. Check out my profile for the relevant links.

Expect the next chapter in three weeks.

Until then, review, fav, and follow!