A/N: Another week another chapter. Hope you all like it.

Ren's Team: Infernape, Strarraptor, Rotom, Eevee, Scyther, Deoxys.

Misaki's Team: Empoleon, Roserade, Raichu, Flareon, Swablu

Lake Valor was beautiful. It was clearer than any lake I had seen in the real world. And the small town near it gave us a beautiful view of the lake. The town was called Valor Lakefront. It didn't have any large buildings like the other cities we had seen. It had a few small buildings scattered around it. But what really made the town shine was the hotel and the famous 7 Stars Restaurant.

Misaki and I had originally planned to just rest and heal here for about an hour, then go on to Pastoria City. However, we changed our mind when we saw a sign at the 7 Stars Restaurant.

To All Challengers,

Valor Lakefront's 7 Stars Restaurant is proud to present our Tag Team Tournament. Teams of two trainers each will battle it out on the restaurant's battlefield in a single elimination format. The winning team will get a free all you can eat meal at the 7 Stars Restaurant.

"Ren, we have to enter! I've heard that their restaurant's food is legendary." Misaki exclaimed.

I agreed with her. It would be great experience too anyway.

The rules said we could only enter one pokemon each for the entire tournament. I decided to go with Infernape and Misaki used Empoleon. Since we had to come up with a team name and I sucked at that kind of thing, I let Misaki decide.

"Hmmmm... how about Team Shooting Star!"

It wasn't a horrible name, and I couldn't think of anything better. I decided to go with it.

It was almost time for our first match. We headed towards the battlefield. When we arrived, I was shocked. The battlefield was far larger than I had seen in the gyms so far. It was a flat plain ground, with no special features at all. Instead of the usual stands above the field, a large glass wall with the dining hall of the restaurant on the other side was present.

Looking across the field I saw our opponents. Both of them were girls. The first was a blonde that wore a red shirt with a black miniskirt. The second was a brunette that was dressed in a brown jacket and blue jeans.

"Time for the sixth match of the first round. Team Wild Angel vs Team Shooting Star. Battle begin!"

Each of our teams sent out our pokemon. Across from our Infernape and Empoleon team were a Flareon and a Vaporeon. Team Wild Angel was the first to call out a move.

"Flareon use fire fang!"
"Vaporeon, use bubble beam!"

Flareon charged straight at us with its mouth covered with scorching hot flames. By keeping its body low while running, Vaporeon's stream of bubbles flew right over it.

"Empoleon, use aqua jet!" Misaki called out. Empoleon became surrounded with a veil of water and started charging towards Flareon like a speeding bullet.

"Flareon, dodge!"

Flareon swiftly jumped straight up, avoiding the aqua jet. Unfortunately for them, that made them fall right into our trap. Empoleon kept charging towards its real target: Vaporeon!

"Change to metal claw!" Misaki commanded. Empoleon tilted 90 degrees and flew straight up. When it stopped the aqua jet, it was right above Vaporeon. Empoleon came diving down and pummeled Vaporeon into the ground with its metal claw attack.

Flareon wasn't safe either. While Empoleon was attacking Vaporeon, I had called out to Infernape to use thunder punch. It came charging at Flareon with its superior speed and sent it flying into the wall with a punch cloaked with electricity. Flareon fell to the ground and was determined knocked out. It automatically returned to its pokeball instead of shattering, since this was an official trainer battle. Vaporeon was left to fend for itself. Empoleon jumped back as Vaporeon slowly struggled to get up. It was clear that its hp was near its limit.

"We resign!" called out the brunette who owned the Vaporeon. It was obvious they had no chance of winning with Vaporeon alone and being in the poor state it was in. After her resignation, the Winner icon was shown right above Misaki and me. Misaki energetically raised her hand and offered me a high five, which I graciously accepted.

"Nice way to kick things off!" Misaki exclaimed.

The next two battles we fought went pretty smooth. Before we knew it, the finals were about to start. We walked to the battlefield with anticipation. Our two opponents stared us down, well one of them was. The one with the smirk on his face wore a black suit and bow tie. His pants were very formal and had a violet color. His hair was black and very neatly combed. He looked about 20. He seemed like a royal prince. The cursor above him showed the name Darach.

His partner stood shyly beside him was a girl who looked about 12. She had long thick blonde hair. Her dress was a light pink and went down to her knees. She had a small white coat that covered her from her chest to her neck. She gave the look of a young girl playing as a princess. Her cursor showed the name Caitlyn.

"The final match will now begin! Team Aristocrat vs Team Shooting Star! Battle begin!"

At those words, we each sent out our pokemon. Like before, we had Infernape and Empoleon. Our opponents had sent out their team: Gallade and Gardevoir.

"I doubt you losers will listen" Darach started, "but you should withdraw now. You have no chance. Right Caitlyn?"

"R-right brother." Caitlyn said, shaking with nervousness. So this was a sibling combo? My mind drifted to my little sister, but Misaki's next words snapped me right out of it.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY PUNK!" Misaki screamed. "I'm gonna make you swallow those words after I pound you into the dirt!"

Oh boy. Darach really shouldn't have said that. Simple trash talk won't phase me, but Misaki was more heated than ever now.

"EMPOLEON, USE METAL CLAW!"

Empoleon charged straight towards Gallade with its fins shining with a metallic glow. I needed to follow up with my own move.

"Infernape, dig!" I yelled. Infernape tunneled straight underground.

Empoleon had closed the distance between it and Gallade in a matter of seconds. Just when I thought it was about to hit...

"Gardevoir, protect!" Caitlyn commanded. Gardevoir swiftly came between Empoleon and Gallade and blocked the metal claw with a barrier.

At that moment, Infernape came up behind Gardevoir. Having blocked Empoleon's attack, protect disappeared.

"Thunder punch!" I commanded. Infernape's attack scored a direct hit on Gardevoir. Gallade also couldn't attack without hurting its partner. However...

"Gallade, psycho cut!" Darach called out. Gallade's sudden attack sent Infernape flying right into Gardevoir. Both of them took serious damage.

"Why would you attack your partner!?" I asked.

Darach answered me with the same smirk on his face at the start of the battle, "It doesn't matter as long as I come out the victor. It's not my fault that Caitlyn's command for Gardevoir to dodge was too slow."

Ok, now this guy was starting to piss me off too! How can he treat his sister's pokemon like that!? If there was going to be anything left after Misaki was through with him, I was willing to take a swing at him.

Infernape was at about 30% hp. Gardevoir's hp had gone down to 0, and returned to its pokeball.

"Weakling. This is why you need to get stronger, and stop being so pathetic." Darach lectured towards his sister.

That's it! Now I'm at my boiling point!

"Infernape! Close combat!" I ordered.

"Gallade! Use close combat as well!" Darach yelled.

Infernape and Gallade went straight into a high speed, hand to hand combat battle. Their hp bars slowly decreased every now and then at an equal rate, but Infernape had less hp due to the psycho cut from earlier. Misaki wanted to help, but she couldn't attack without hitting Infernape as well. Darach may be willing to use his teammate like disposable trash, but we weren't like him.

Eventually, Infernape's hp was nearing its limit. I needed to do something fast. At that moment, Infernape got Gallade off balance, with a chance to break through.

Now was my only chance. "Infernape, thunder punch!"

Infernape's punch hit Gallade just as it was about to regain its balance. Gallade was down with only about 10% hp left.

"Empoleon, water pulse!" Misaki yelled. Empoleon created a large sphere of water and sent it towards Gallade. It exploded on impact and Gallade was knocked out.

The Winner message was shown above us once again, and the crowd went wild with excitement. Darach showed a look of extreme anger, while his little sister seemed to have a terrified look in her eyes. She was probably going to get yelled at like crazy later by that older brother of hers. I truly pitied her, and I saw in Misaki's eyes that she felt the same. Although the two siblings were on the same team, it was Darach she hated, not Caitlyn.

"Shouldn't we do something for her" Misaki whispered.

"There's nothing we can do" I replied. "Besides, if we get involved now, things might only get worse for her punishment."

"I guess you're right" Misaki sighed.

As we left the restaurant after our meal, we ran into Ryota.

"Hey Ryota, why didn't you enter? You could have done great." Misaki asked.

"I don't do teams remember?" Ryota responded.

"In other words, you have no friends."

"I have no need for friends. They just slow me down."

"So you have no friends because you're an antisocial prick?"

"NO! I just don't need friends. Especially if they're as big a pain in the ass as you are."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!?"

The two of them went on like this for ten minutes. Eventually, Misaki stormed off dragging me by my collar.

Thanks a lot Ryota. Now I gotta listen to this crap from her for the rest of the day.

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It's been about 2 months since the death game PWO was released. Out of the 10,000 people who logged in, about 8,000 were still alive. One of those that were still alive was a teen named Dan. To most, he was just one of the players still alive. To me, he was more than that; he was my big brother.

Dan had always looked out for me since I was little. He was like a guardian angel. It wasn't the protection I missed. It was his smiling face that always cheered me up when I was sad that I missed the most about him. My mom was still grieving over the loss of him to PWO. My dad grieved for about a week before going back to normal. He and Dan never were on good terms.

I had tried my best not to cry as much now. I never saw Dan cry. He was always happy around me. I wanted to be strong like him.

I cursed the VRMMO series for stealing my brother. But I also wondered 'What was it about the virtual world that he loved so much?' There were a few VRMMOs that had come out before PWO, and a few new ones that came out after the start if the death game incident. I decided to try one out.

I was amazed by what I found. It was like I was transported to another world. It was a paradise. Here, all my problems in the real world seemed miles away. But still, it couldn't fill the hole in my heart. I wanted Dan back more than anything. Then it happened.

I was traveling through one of the VR games I became accustomed to playing. Suddenly, the sky was filled with lightning. A piece of it shattered and what seemed like a vortex appeared.

'What's going on!?' I thought to myself as I was swept off my feet. I flew through the sky and got swallowed up by the vortex in the sky. Everything faded to black.

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A/N: That's all for this week everybody. Look forward to a new chapter.