Apologies for the many delays… anyways, as always, thank you to LightZephyr, Painted Lady Bug, Dante02, Roseflare, FlameUser64 and Zero Slash One for reviewing last chapter!

A huge thank you goes to both LightZephyr and another good friend of mine (who wished to remain anonymous) for everything! You guys are the greatest!

Disclaimer's the same as always… I do not own Pokémon, Clara, Axran or Clyde.


"Starlight!" the raven haired male called out, hand held high as he snapped his fingers. His clothes were torn and his body was covered in dirt and bruises, but none of these things seemed to be affecting the young man very much. With an ice-cold glare, the command was made, "Flamethrower! Delta Three!"

Without wasting another second, the majestic dragon Pokémon flew straight up, jade colored flames forming in the corners of her mouth as she prepared her attack. After a second or two of building up the inferno in her mouth, the Flygon let loose the stream at her opponent.

"Gengar!" the other male called out frantically at the sight of the flames coming his way, "Intercept it! Shadow Ball, go!"

Moving as swift as, if not faster than, his opponent did, the Shadow Pokémon condensed a dark orb in front of it before firing it at the incoming attack.

All four combatants watched in tense anticipation as Starlight's flames engulfed Gengar's orb. Before any one of them could process what was going on, the force of both attacks caused a huge explosion that sent everybody flying.

"That Mirza…" Gengar's trainer panted, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Taking a few deep breaths to try and calm both himself and his beating heart down, crimson colored orbs were quick to scan the battlefield. With a sigh of relief, he saw that his opponent wasn't much better off than he was, "At least… it took us both ou—"

"Don't move!" a familiar voice called out to him, causing the red eyed trainer to freeze up. Only a split second later, logs that were twice the size of the male came raining down around him, impaling the ground and kicking up a bit of dust as each one made contact. Had Red moved even a single step, a log would have successfully flattened him.

"That was… too close…" Red breathed out, looking at the logs with a horrified expression. It was only then that he realized who had stopped him, so he turned to look at his savior, "Why did you do that? Wouldn't it be much easier for you to just let me die?"

"Perhaps… if it were a battle of life or death…" Mirza sighed, getting up and slowly walking over to Red. Despite seeing that his opponent was as battered as he was, Red still took an instinctive step back, "But this isn't that. You know something that I want to know, and you're going to tell me what I want to know."

"You're trying to change Demetria's mind, aren't you?" Red asked suddenly, catching the older male off guard. Brushing off some dirt on his arms, he continued, "You shouldn't waste your time; we both know that she's dedicated her life to their cause. All of them have. Even if you could change her mind, and I told you where our base is, there isn't any guarantee that she's still there."

"She's my sister, I have a responsibility to do this," Mirza responded with a determined glint in his eyes, "Bring me there and we'll see what isn't possible."

"You just won't listen to reason, will you?" Red muttered under his breath. As the two males locked gaze for several seconds, it was Red who made the first move, "Gengar! Slu—"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Mirza sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds as Red felt a pair of cold, sharp claws on his neck.

Red turned his head as much as possible to see that Mirza's Weavile was standing right behind him with a dark smirk plastered on his face, "When did—?"

"You shouldn't move so much, Red…" Mirza calmly stated, not appearing to feel bad at interrupting Red yet again in the slightest. With a silent nod in his Weavile's direction, he added, "Fubuki and I can't guarantee that you will not get hurt if you move around so much."

At this, and realizing that Mirza was telling the truth, Red forced himself to calm down. With a deep breath that soon proved to be futile, Red closed his eyes for a few seconds. This seemed to work as his breathing evened out almost instantly.

When Red opened his eyes again, he was surprised that nothing had happened.

"You clearly have no problems with hurting and killing people, so why not kill me?" Red asked, returning Mirza's silent glare with a glare of his own, "Why are you holding back against me?"

"Why was I holding back?" Mirza repeated, almost not believing that Red just said that. After a second to fully process Red's words, Mirza continued, "I could ask you the exact same question. There were more than enough holes in my battling style earlier that you could have exploited and taken advantage of. I know you're good enough, they named you the battler, after all. The real question… is why you didn't take advantage of it."

A long period of silence followed with neither male breaking either their gaze on the other or the silence. After what could very well have been hours, one of them finally made a move.

"Who's side are you really on?"


"Lyn isn't the only one who can freeze a target you know, haven't you figured that out yet?" Clara smiled darkly before nodding in her Altaria's direction. Getting the hint, the Pokémon flew in front of her trainer without a second thought, "I don't care how it is done; if I have to kill you then so be it! A mission is a mission and I have to complete it no matter the cost! No matter the way! Altaria! Fire Blast!"

Almost instantly, Clara's Altaria opened her beak and let loose a stream of red-hot flames directed at the immobilized trio. The stream of fire was quick to transform into a star-like form the moment Altaria closed her beak again and, as the intense heat of the flames incinerated the grass below, was well on its way to Green. Still being locked by the Psychic attack from Clara's Bronzong, Green and his Pokémon could do nothing but watch in horror as the flames were coming their way at an alarming rate.

"Tailwind!"

"Muddy Water!"

Two new voices shouted from nearby as a huge wave of a murky brown substance came crashing down on to the star-shaped inferno. The rising steam forced Clara and her Pokémon back, breaking the hold on Green and his Pokémon, as everybody watched in shock as the steam slowly started to clear.

It was Clara who was the first to regain her bearings.

"Who did that?!" the brown eyed ravenette shouted, her eyes darting around to try and find the perpetrator. It wasn't long until she found four shadowed figures behind the curtain of trees, "Show yourself! Altaria! Dragon Pulse!"

Abruptly, Clara's Altaria turned in the direction of the trees before firing a purplish blue stream of energy. The impact of the blast toppled multiple trees and shrouded it with a thick screen of smoke as Clara watched contently.

Green, having recognized the voices, stared wide-eyed at the scene before turning his attention towards his opponent.

"You really like destroying things, don't you?" the brunet asked, massaging his left arm that had been twisted in an unnatural way the whole time he was locked in place by his opponent as he eyed Clara carefully.

"It's not the destruction that I like," Clara replied almost inaudibly, her left hand shooting to her hair before she started to gently comb through it. Green was caught off guard at this, not expecting Clara's demeanor to change so much. The brunet would grow to resent himself for this, however, as the ravenette turned to him with an almost malicious glint in her eyes, "It's that I have to remove all evidence no matter what. Starting… with… you! Flash Cannon!"

As Clara's Bronzong moved up and prepared its attack, another voice could be heard.

"Flamethrower!"

The tides had turned as it was Clara and her Pokémon that had to dodge flames coming their way. Without a loss of grace or footing, the flames were dodged by both Clara and Bronzong.

"She's good; I was sure that would have hit its mark."

"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. You stopped her from attacking, that should count for something!"

Looking up, Clara gritted her teeth in annoyance as she saw two more people behind her opponent, both appearing to be ready to jump into the fray.

"You two came just in time," Green smiled, already having enlarged two Poké Balls after recalling both his Scizor and Golduck, "But we shouldn't underestimate her. She's good, and a lot stronger than she made herself out to be in our previous little fight."

"Then again, we weren't ready for her to come out and attack us the way she did last time," Ruby shrugged, standing beside his Swampert while eyeing Clara, "We should be able to take her!"

"Careful, don't get too confident," Crystal warned the younger male as she stood back up straight while stretching her arms. With her Arcanine on her left and her Xatu on her right, she looked as ready for the upcoming battle as she could be, "Senior Green is right, we likely don't know enough about her. In this situation, it is best for us to be careful. What do you think senior Green?"

"You're half right…" Green muttered, pressing the button on the Poké Ball and releasing his Alakazam, "It's true that we should be careful against her, but we can't afford not to give it our all."

"Right!" Crystal responded as Ruby nodded silently in agreement.

"So I will have to deal with three people at once rather than one at a time… not like it would be much of a difference," Clara grunted as she got within hearing distance again. Green, Crystal and Ruby were all shocked as the ravenette smiled brightly, "It's actually better this way as now I can take care of everything in one go. I should actually thank you two for showing up."

"Don't underestimate us!" Ruby shouted angrily before turning to his Swampert, "Zuzu! Muddy Water!"

A split second after the command was made, a stream of mud and water was shot straight at Clara by the Mud Fish Pokémon. It was a surprise to everybody that this attack made the previous attack pale in comparison. Clara, with the assistance of her Altaria, was only narrowly able to dodge the attack.

"So I wasn't the only one who was holding back, it seems… I must say that that attack was impressive," Clara muttered, eyeing the Swampert before her gaze focused on his trainer, "To think that you would willingly hurt your own Pokémon to make its attack stronger… why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ruby replied to Clara's question with one of his own, his namesake eyes locked on to Clara's as he hid his trembling fists from everyone, "We clearly need all the strength we can to take you out. I just believed that Zuzu could take that attack and be strong enough to finish the job."

"Unfortunately, even the strongest attack is useless if it can't hit its mark… all that power for nothing…" Clara mocked as she closed back in on her opponents, "And here I thought that you would, at the very least, not bore me to death…"

Before either Ruby or Crystal could respond, Green held a warning hand in front both of his juniors. Once certain that he was standing before them, the brunet faced his opponent, "You're incredibly calm, even while knowing that you're outnumbered three to one."

"Even if I'm outnumbered, you still have to actually beat me. Based on all of your earlier displays, I'm pretty confident that I have nothing to worry about," Clara shrugged, ignoring the indignant cries of rage before sighing, "Alright… let me show you how it's done. Altaria! Dragon Pulse! Bronzong! Flash Cannon!"

"Arckee!" Crystal responded, pointing at Clara's pair of Pokémon, "Flamethrower!"

"Porygon-2!" Green called out almost immediately after Crystal, quickly releasing said Pokémon, "Zap Cannon!"


"W-What's so funny?" Sapphire demanded instantly, though the undertone of worry in her voice was clearly distinguishable, even to the brunette herself. She braced herself for the reply from the blonde, which only came when a drop of sweat splattered on the ground.

"You are," Lyn replied darkly, eyes fixed on Sapphire's as she spoke. The glint in the blonde's eyes caused the brunette to take an unconscious step back. Not breaking her gaze, Lyn continued in the same dark tone as before, "You're already claiming victory before you got it. You think you've already won, how naïve! You seriously think you can beat me in that mindset?! Well think again!"

Lyn had barely finished talking when Sapphire saw movement in the corner of her eye. Spinning around, she saw that both Lyn's Gardevoir and Togekiss were already up and well and she felt as if her blood had frozen then and there. More than just seeing them up again, the true cause of the brunette's fear were the two orbs that were flying straight at her.

The sound of the orbs colliding with something shook the very air as Lyn smiled at a job well done.

"That sure was a waste of my time…" Lyn grumbled in annoyance as she flung her hair back and turned around, "If I knew that that was all that it would take for her to get beaten, I would ha—"

"Who is beaten?" Sapphire's voice came from behind the blonde, visibly startling her. As Lyn turned around, she saw Sapphire hunched over an unconscious Relicanth while the trainer was glaring straight at her, "Thanks to Relo's sacrifice, this battle isn't over!"

"You made your own Pokémon take the hit instead of you?" Lyn asked with an arched eyebrow, her voice clearly conveying just how shocked the blonde was, "How reckless can you trainers be, anyway?"

"It's not like I wanted… Relo to get hurt… like this…" Sapphire hissed through gritted teeth, her Blaziken and Aggron having moved back in front of her to protect their trainer from the possibility of a sudden attack, "But when we fight to protect what's important, we'll fight with everything we got!"

"How naïve of you…" Lyn's response was filled with annoyance as she looked down at her opponent, "There's no way that you can seriously think that this fighting style of yours will work, now is there?"

Sapphire was about to respond with an angry remark of her own, but decided against it when she saw something from the corner of her eye. At this, the brunette lowered her head and allowed her bangs to cover her face.

"Perhaps there are better ways to fight… perhaps there are safer ways to fight…" Sapphire said slowly, almost inaudibly so. A second after she finished, Sapphire looked up with a grin, "But this is my battling style, and I believe in the way that I'm fighting as well as in my Pokémon!"

"You've got spirit, I'll give you that much," Lyn relented as she stroked her Togekiss' hair, "But look around you. You're all alone—"

"What about those people behind you?" Sapphire asked innocently, pointing at something behind the blonde.

"What?!" Lyn cried, turning on her heel to look behind her only to see that it was empty. The blonde, however, realized too late what was going on.

"Flamethrower!"

"Thunderbolt!"

"Magical Leaf!"

Spinning around at the sound of the commands, Lyn's eyes widened in shock as not only Sapphire's but two other trainer's attacks came straight at her.

"Togekiss!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Lyn's Pokémon jumped in front her trainer and took the combined attacks head on. The resulting collision caused a cloud of smoke to rise into the air, removing Lyn and her Pokémon from view.

"What?!" a new voice, one that was distinguishably male, yelled out as he saw what happened. The male's Bouquet Pokémon had a similar look of shock and disbelief as he, too, watched the dust slowly clear, "To think that she called herself a trainer! That's no way to treat your Pokémon!"

"That just means that there is no way that we can afford to let her go!" a second new voice, this time a distinguishably female one, added angrily. As another brunette stepped up to Sapphire's side, her Light Pokémon standing on guard by her side, "What do you say, Sapphire? Can you still fight?"

"'Course I can!" Sapphire grunted, giving the brunette beside her a thumbs up with a wide grin. Lowering her hand, Sapphire was quick to adopt a frown on her features, "That aside, what took you two so long?"

"It's not like that teleporter thing that Demetria used brought us all to the same place," the new girl argued back, causing Sapphire to grin sheepishly. With a sigh that was likely to calm herself down, the brunette added, "Do you think that attack did the trick?"

"I'm going to guess… no."

Before any of the trainers knew what was going on, a rainbow colored beam was fired straight at them from behind the screen of smoke. Jumping away at the very last moment, all of them managed to avoid a direct hit but were pushed back by the resulting shockwave regardless.

Sapphire, being the first to regain her footing, was the first to ask the question that was on everybody's mind.

"What the hell was that?!"

"It appeared to be… a reflected attack off of Mirror Coat," the male panted, wiping off the sweat and debris on his forehead as he frowned, "But I've never heard of a Gardevoir or a Togekiss being able to use that move!"

"No…" Sapphire breathed out, eyes widening as she remembered something important. Both of her friends looked at her before Sapphire continued, "Her Togekiss knows Metronome! She used it in an earlier battle to use Volt Tackle against us and she used Sheer Cold before you two showed up."

"So you're saying that she's relying on something like that?" the other brunette exclaimed in shock. Upon receiving the nod of confirmation, she added frantically, "And she got just what she needed twice in a row? Is that even possible?!"

"Luck's a part of everything, this will just make things a bit more interesting," Lyn's voice came from behind the rapidly dissipating cloud of dust. Before long, Lyn and her Pokémon were out in the open again. As the blonde twirled her hair around her index finger, she eyed the two newcomers, "Lyra and Wally… I see…"

"You know who we are?" Wally asked, shocked that she had heard about him and Lyra to the point that she could instantly recognized them.

"I'll tell you this much: we know more about you than you think we do," Lyn responded with a small smirk, the tone of her voice causing a shudder to run down both Wally's and Lyra's spines, "Let's see what we get this time, shall we? Togekiss! Metronome!"

"Metronome again?" Lyra wondered as she heard the command that was made, "You seriously think that you can get what you want out of a random move like that agai—?"

The brunette stopped before she could finish her sentence as Togekiss formed an indigo colored orb in front of its mouth. Before long, the orb was fired as an indigo colored beam at a frozen Lyra.

"Look out!" Sapphire yelled, jumping in and pushing Lyra to the side, only to get blasted by the attack herself.

Despite not hitting her intended target, Lyn wore a cheerful smile, "Yes, I do."


"If you beat me then you will continue to walk around aimlessly in a desperate attempt to find those miserable friends of yours," Axran smirked, releasing the bipedal frog-like Pokémon from his confinements in his Pokéball while walking up to the three trainers, his two Pokémon following close behind him. With an eerie and almost maniacal grin on his face, Axran bellowed, "That is, of course, assuming that you three can even survive this battle!"

"Guess we have to do this the hard way…" Blue sighed, enlarging a Pokéball of her own and taking a step forward while doing so. Glancing back at the two boys behind her, she smiled, "Hope you two are ready for a fight because it doesn't seem like we'll get out of here without one!"

"With all due respect, senior," Gold began, readjusting his cue pole to get the right trajectory of his Poké Ball.

"We were ready even before you came," Emerald finished with an enthusiastic grin, quickly switching the Poké Ball that he was holding with another one on his belt, "Let's go! Dusclops!"

The vertically challenged boy wasted no time in throwing his Poké Ball into the air in a huge arc, releasing his Pokémon from out of a blinding flash of light. With a small thud as his feet hit the ground, the Beckon Pokémon looked ready to battle.

"The first attack is ours!" Emerald announced as he punched the air in front of him, "Dusclops! Shadow Punch!"

Obediently, and much like his trainer, Dusclops punched the air in front of him. Unlike his trainer, Dusclops fist was seemingly fired at his opponent at incredible speeds.

"You cannot dodge that attack, so stay strong and brace for impact!" Axran commanded, bending down into his knees in preparation of the attack. Both his Luxray and his Toxicroak copied his action, but all three were visibly shocked when the fist changed direction and went for their feet instead. Seeing this, Axran shouted, "Fall back!"

Obeying the command, both of Axran's Pokémon jumped into the air to avoid the attack.

"That's a nice dodge there, sergeant wannabe," Emerald smirked, causing Axran to flinch in anger and, due to this distraction, get hit by sharp shards of destroyed rock. With a grin, Emerald added, "But I wasn't aiming for your feet. I was aiming for the ground the whole time."

"Don't get cocky, kid," Axran gritted his teeth in anger, desperately trying to control his temper as he glared at his opponent, "You haven't won just yet."

"And to think, you're called an administrator…" Emerald trailed off, closing his eyes and shrugging before turning to his Pokémon, "They really are desperate if they give someone like him that rank, don't you think so Dusclops?"

"What do you think you can gain from this?" Axran hissed, hands clenched into fists and trembling in rage Unfortunately for the black haired male, he did not see the widening smirk on Emerald's face, "What possible strategy could talking with your Pokémon on the battlefield be?"

"It's called a 'distraction'," Emerald answered with a smirk, delighted to see the change in Axran's body language, "You didn't pay much attention to your Pokémon for the last five minutes, now have you?"

"Aegan! Uxron!" Axran cried out, turning on his heel to look for his Pokémon. It didn't take long for him to find them, though he was not at all happy to see the state that they were in, "What happened…?"

"Politaro took care of your little kitty cat," Gold replied, enlarging his Poké Ball and recalling the unconscious Frog Pokémon before releasing his starter, "His Perish Song was more than enough to take both of them out of the fight."

"As for your own frog…" Blue trailed off, affectionately petting the head of her Wigglytuff, "Guess he was a bit tired of all the battling and travelling you forced it to do. I'm sure it is having a nice dream right now."

"Why you…" Axran hissed angrily, forced to recall both his unconscious Luxray and sleeping Toxicroak, leaving him completely defenseless against three trainers who still had all of their Pokémon, "Acting all high and mighty just because you got lucky an—"

"It wasn't luck. You underestimated us and miserably misjudged the odds," Blue interrupted, an undertone of anger clearly evident in her voice. Gold and Emerald, while both ready to act at any moment, silently agreed to stay back and let their senior handle it, "You may have overpowered us when there were multiple of you, but it's not so easy to defeat us when you're on your own, now is it? Did you really think we didn't learn from our previous battles with all of you?"

Axran fell silent, standing upright and closing his eyes. The tension in the air dissipated as a fresh breeze blew from the east, rustling the leaves and swaying the grass.

"Tell us where the others are!" Gold demanded after a prolonged period of silence, his patience having worn thin as his mind showed his friends in scenarios he wouldn't even wish happened to his enemies, "We know that you know where they are, so tell us!"

"Also, what is it that you are planning?" Blue added, curious to know the answer to the question that has been bothering her since Mirza first showed up, "Why are you attacking us? Why did Red join you?!"

"As if I have to answer any of those question…" Axran hissed, trying to take a step back only to find something blocking his way. As Axran tried to move in other directions as well, he soon found himself completely trapped, "What's going on?"

"Trying to escape? I would save your energy if I were you," Emerald grinned, pointing at his Mr. Mime that Axran had failed to notice had been released, "My Mr. Mime is able to create solid, invisible walls from the tips of its fingers. You could say that, right now, you're in an invisible cube with nowhere to go."

"To think that something like this actually caught me…" Axran muttered under his breath, barely audible to Blue, Gold or Emerald. Raising the volume of his voice and turning to look at the trio, the black haired male asked, "You really think that I will answer your questions?"

"You should accept reality; you're trapped with nowhere to go," Gold exclaimed throwing out his arms in emphasis, "If you tell us what we want to know, we might consider letting you out."

"You say that we've underestimated you, and I see that you may have a point…" Axran trailed off, his hands moving to a hexagonal object on his belt as his mouth formed a grin, "But don't think that you haven't underestimated us, either!"

Before anybody could do anything, Axran had pressed a button on the device that he was holding and vanished within a few seconds.

It wasn't long before the three Pokédex Holders fell into a long silence, unable to believe that their captive had escaped so easily.

"So… that just happened…" Gold said in a desperate attempt to break the silence, not receiving a response from either of his friends. Sighing, the amber eyed boy turned to his senior, "Now what?"

"We go and look for our friends, of course," Blue replied in a tone that suggested that she couldn't believe that Gold didn't understand that, "If the three of us were teleported to this area, there's a chance the others are nearby as well. Let's go!"

"Right!"


Watching Yellow's sleeping form, Silver found himself unusually calm and at ease as he slowly leaned back onto the tree behind him. With the cool air and the warm rays of the sun both hitting his exposed skin, the redhead decided that rest was something that they could all use a bit of after the events of the day. After letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Silver slowly allowed his eyelids to close and his hand to fall to his side.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping teenagers, a figure was watching them from the safety of the shadows and, as soon as he saw Silver close his eyes, his lips curved into a really crooked grin. Beckoning the two Pokémon that were standing a bit further back, the three slowly made their way through the bushes. Each step that the three took got them closer to the sleeping duo.

"This 'ere's almost too easy," the figure in the middle whispered softly as his two Pokémon stopped by his side, "Let git 'em and get back hom—"

"Earth Power!"

Before the trainer or either of his Pokémon could process what was happening, the ground under them lit up in a bright yellow light before it erupted in a huge explosion. The force of the attack flung both the trainer and his Pokémon out of the cover of the trees and into the open.

"W-What just 'appened?" the trainer asked in a daze to nobody in particular, picking up his hat that was laying on the ground beside him. The two Pokémon that were by his side, a Ludicolo and a Rapidash, were slowly getting back on their feet as well.

"An Earth Power blew you out in the open just like I wanted it to," a cold voice replied from the grounded trainer's right. Turning his head, he saw that Silver was slowly standing up while brushing off grass and soil off his clothes, "I thought that one of you might attack us while we rested, so I let you get closer. It seems that you're extremely easy to read, after all."

"Very smart of ye, kid," the response came, sounding like a genuine compliment. After readjusting his hat, the stalker faced the redhead again, "Ya ain't half bad, kid. Might act'lly be an interestin' battle."

"You know my name, Clyde, so stop calling me "kid"," Silver huffed angrily, eyeing Yellow from the corner of his eye only to find that she was still sleeping, "Let's just get this over with…"

"Alright if ye say so, Silv'r," Clyde sighed before beckoning over his Pokémon, "Mirza ain't 'ere ter save ye."

"Rhyperior! Earth Power!" Silver commanded, tired of hearing Clyde talking and taking to the offensive.

Silver's Rhyperior responded almost immediately, slamming both of its arms on the ground and lighting up an area of ground under Clyde and his Pokémon.

This time, however, Clyde was ready. The moment he heard the command, he grabbed Ludicolo, jumped on top of Rapidash's back who, in turn, galloped out of the way only a fraction of a second before the ground erupted.

"Don't think da same 'ttack 'll hit me twice!" Clyde taunted, hopping off of his Rapidash with his Ludicolo soon following, "Ludicolo! Hydro Pump!"

Opening its mouth wide, Ludicolo let loose a high pressured stream of water at Silver, who barely even flinched at the sight of the move.

"Rhyperior…" Silver muttered, almost bored, even. When the Drill Pokémon looked in Silver's direction, the redhead nodded silently.

Rhyperior responded with slamming both of his arms on the ground. Only this time, it was an area in front of him and Silver that glowed in a bright light before erupting in power.

This mini eruption caused a natural wall of rocks to form, blocking off the majority of the Hydro Pump attack.

"Now that ain't somethin' ya see ev'ryday!" Clyde laughed as soon as both attacks had stopped and the two trainers could see each other clearly again. As Clyde turned serious, Silver braced himself for a counterattack, "But yer not da only target I can attack!"

"Yellow…!" Silver gasped out, looking up in time to see a flame covered Rapidash galloping straight for said blonde.

"Yer not half bad, I'll admit that much," Clyde began, watching the scene in front of him unfold contently, "But can ye d'feat both me and protect yer sleepin' friend?"

"He doesn't have to!" a new voice shouted, catching both Clyde's and Silver's attention, "Thunderbolt!"

Before either of the battling trainers knew what was happening, a bright flash of yellow light illuminated the space behind Silver, causing both him and Clyde to shield their eyes.

The next second, Rapidash let out a cry of pain as it fell on the ground.

"Rap'dash!" Clyde shouted in panic as he saw his hurt Pokémon, "Who did that?!"

"The plan worked, Silver!" Yellow smiled cheerfully, having taken a few steps to stand beside Silver with Chuchu riding comfortably on her shoulder, "You really knew what you were doing!"

"You're giving me too much credit," Silver responded, though the slight curve of his lips did not go unnoticed by the blonde. Turning serious, Silver continued, "But it's still too early to celebrate."

"That's right! Ye 'urt me Rap'dash!" Clyde cried out, having already recalled his Pokémon and turning to his Ludicolo, "This battle is just getting started!"

"Heh… 'just getting started', you say?" Silver smirked as he put his hands in his pockets, "This battle has already ended the moment you fell for our trap."

Clyde opened his mouth to respond to this claim, but stopped the moment he felt something cold and sharp on his neck and an added weight on his shoulders.

Silver's Sneasel had jumped on top of Clyde and hold him at claw-point; and all of that without Clyde even realizing it.

"Don't think that this is a bluff, Sneasel will do it if you make us do it," Silver said in a voice that made even Yellow take a step away from him. Glaring at the defeated opponent, the redhead continued, "You have some explaining to do."


"So this is the place?" Mirza asked as he and Red were standing in front of the opening of what appeared to be a cave.

The two males had walked for what felt to be at least an hour before they finally made it to the cave. Beaten and exhausted, both still looked visibly content that they made it to the cave.

The moment that Red fully processed what Mirza had said, he turned to the older male with a deadpan expression.

"Right… just checking," Mirza chuckled sheepishly as he turned back to the mouth of the cave. Taking a deep breath, Mirza added with a serious tone, "Let's get going then!"

"Yeah…" Red mumbled as his gaze was fixated upon the looming darkness in front of him. He looked up in shock when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to a concern-filled face of Mirza's.

"You alright?" Mirza asked as he scanned Red's face, "If you're not feeling like going with me, you don—"

"No!" Red interrupted Mirza, quick to turn defensive once he realized what Mirza was trying to suggest, "This battle is as much mine as it is yours!"

Taken aback slightly at Red's declaration, Mirza soon found himself smiling at the younger male's enthusiasm and determination.

"Then let's go and fight!" Mirza responded before walking into the darkness.

Still outside, Red frowned as he watched Mirza walk into the cave as casually as he did. Before he realized it, the Battler found himself alone at the cave's entrance and, as soon as he realized this, Red broke into a jog to catch up with Mirza.


"Sir, is something wrong?" Demetria asked as she picked up the call. It had only been slightly over an hour since the previous call, but the dirty blonde haired girl wasted no time in answering.

"No… I want to know how it is going on your end."

"Everything is going fine, sir!" Demetria responded hastily, sighing internally in relief, "Everybody has been in combat for a while now, so we expect to hear from them soon."

"Excellent," the person on the other end responded, evidently content in what Demetria was saying, "And Chrome Zephyr?"

"Ready and able, sir!" Demetria replied confidently, having personally monitored their progress. Even so, she was still unsure as to whether or not they actually needed Chrome Zephyr. She kept this concern to herself, however, "I made sure that Chrome Zephyr is ready at any time."

"Perfect… That will be all for now. Keep up the good work."

Before Demetria could say anything else, the call was broken, leaving the girl completely alone once again. This did not deter her, as she had a big smile on her face.

"Everything is going according to plan, a bit faster, even," Demetria muttered contently to herself before she noticed something. Her eyes widening slightly as she processed this information, what was previously a smile quickly turned into a grin once she had fully processed it, "Things are about to get a whole lot more interesting…"


And that is a wrap! It's quite a bit shorter than last time, I know, but a lot of things have been going on as of recently, unfortunately. Also, the last two chapters (at around 7800 words of effective chapter), were still longer than what I originally intended a typical chapter to be (about 6000-6500 words of effective chapter). I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway.

Thank you for reading! Until next time!