Eon and Axle both shook their heads, snapping them back to the present. Eon looked Axle in his eye again, giving him the fiercest look she could possibly manage. Axle was barely able to stand his ground seeing his partner look at him like that.

"This is your last chance Axle!" Eon said. "I…don't want to fight you but I will! Come with me now or I'll have to take you by force!"

"I…I can't Eon," Axle said. "I have to finish my mission. Please, just go back home and get some rest."

Eon shook her head and spoke on a sad voice. "Fine, if that's how you want it. Then I have no choice."

Eon quickly reached into her bag and fired a seed at Axle. Axle, instantly recognizing it as a Sleep Seed, dodged out of the way to avoid its effects. Eon had two others as well, both thrown in his direction. Axle continued dodging them all, preventing any of the seeds Eon threw to reach his mouth. Of course doing so took his eyes off Eon for long enough for her to start an attack.

Eon quickly crossed the gap between her and Axle using a Quick Attack. Axle was just barely able to dodge Eon in time, though she did nick him in the shoulder. Axle turned around to keep an eye on Eon, but he was too late to stop her from hitting him with Return. Axle was blown back by the force of the attack and ended up sliding on his back through the mud.

"Had enough, Axle?" Eon asked, after quickly flinching from her attack. "Because I have plenty more where that came from!"

"Eon," Axle groaned. He got back up on his feet and looked at his partner. She had a confident look on his face but she also had one eye closed from the pain she was going through.

I need to stop this now! Axle thought. But what can I do? I can't hurt her! But I can't let her keep hurting herself. What do I do?

"Eon, stop!" Axle yelled. "I'm doing this for your own good! Please! I know the consequences already, and I'm prepared for them. I don't want you hurting yourself before that, though. So please. Stop."

Eon just shook her head. "You've gone too far Axle," Eon said. "I'm not going to let you go farther. If you want to leave, then you're going to have to go through me!"

Eon than launched another Quick Attack at Axle. This time Axle jumped over her to dodge her, landing on his paws and doing a quick turn around by the time he got back on his feet so he could face Eon again. Eon herself skidded to a stop and turned around, Shadow Ball in mouth, launching the black sphere directly at Axle. And due to Axle's previous athletics, he was unable to dodge the attack.

"Aarrgg!" Axle grunted as the attack exploded in his face and knocked him onto his back. Axle quickly got back up and brushed his face off, but he could tell that his endurance was starting to waver.

Crap. This…isn't…good. I have to do something!

Axle decided to try and fake her out by wrapping his arms in dark claws. He then ran at her, Shadow Claw in paw, and slashed at her with all his might. Eon wasn't startled though, and the normal-type let the ghost-type attack pass harmlessly through her.

"Did you really think that was going to work?" Eon asked. "Please don't insult my intelligence with everything else you're doing."

And, as if just to show her intelligence, Eon launched another Return straight into Axle's stomach, knocking him into the air from the force of the blow. Axle landed hard on the ground with a grunt, and it took all of his energy to get back up from the pain. When he did he even had to hold on to his left arm with his right and could barely keep himself upright.

"Eon…you need to stop," Axle grunted. "Please, just let me go. I don't want to fight you. I don't want to hurt you."

Eon'd eyes faced the ground. "I…don't want to hurt you either Axle," Eon admitted. "I don't want to be doing this either. But I can't let you leave. I'm not going to let you leave."

Eon stamped her paw into the ground then looked back up. "So fight back Axle!" Eon yelled. "If you want to get through me, fight back! If you're so worried about me than fight back already! I'm not a fragile eevee. I am your partner who has been through hell with you! So fight back!"

"Eon…" Axle mumbled as he looked at her. "I…I don't want to hurt you…" Axle shook his head, "But I won't let you hurt yourself over me either. And if you're going to keep fighting me the fine." Axle balled his fists and got in a fighting stance. "I'll have to knock you out and send you back to the town to keep you from hurting yourself more. I'm…sorry Eon."

"Then prove it," Eon said.

Eon rushed forward in another Quick Attack but this time Axle caught her with his right paw, taking the attack without moving back to far. With Eon in his right paw, Axle brought his left paw down as well, launching a Force Palm on her. The force of the attack sent Eon back with a scream and caused her to roll around in the mud for a bit. Despite Eon's insistence that he fight back, though, Axle knew he didn't give that attack his all. He couldn't.

"Eon…I'm sorry for this," Axle said quietly.

Eon shakily got up on her paws. "…I'm fine," the eevee mumbled. "I've faced worse. And I'm not going to let you win."

Eon powered up another Shadow Ball in her mouth and launched it at Axle. Axle was ready to counter that attack though, because as soon as Eon launched it, Axle's arms glowed a silver color. When the Shadow Ball got half-way between the two of them Axle launched his Bullet Punch attack, destroying the Shadow Ball attack and hitting Eon with several silver punches. The force of the many attacks shoved Eon back a bit.

"Sorry Eon, but I'm not going to let you come any closer to me," Axle said. "Just give up and go home."

"Like you can make me!" Eon said. With her front paws Eon quickly dug into the ground.

"Wait…should you really be digging in your condition?!" Axle asked, though Eon was far too gone to hear him.

Seconds later Eon came back up from the ground directly under Axle, knocking them both into the air. While Axle was in the air and unable to do anything, Eon launched a Shadow Ball at him from point blank range, hitting him hard and sending him towards the ground. The explosion from the attack also hit Eon, though all it did was send her back again. She was able to land on her paws but Axle wasn't so lucky, impacting the ground on his back and splashing mud all around.

"Had enough yet?" Eon asked fiercely, though she was wincing herself from the pain of digging.

Axle shakily got up and reached into his bag with his eyes closed. While Eon looked on with a mystified expression Axle grabbed a blue berry from his bag and quickly ate it. A couple of seconds later Axle wiped the mud off his face and looked at Eon, all the fatigue gone from his eyes.

"Did you seriously think I wouldn't stock up?" Axle asked. "Apple Woods and Oran Forest were on the way so I made sure to get my supplies up. Sorry Eon."

Axle rushed forward while using another Shadow Claw. Eon just rolled her eyes and let the claws of darkness pass across her. She was about to scoff at him, even opening her mouth up to get ready to do so, but Axle stopped her by quickly thrusting his hand on the ruff of fur on her neck. Before even a noise left her mouth, Axle launched her with a Force Palm.

This time, Eon managed to land on the ground on all four of her paws, though she winced at doing so. The eevee continued to ignore all pain and ran for Axle using Quick Attack. The riolu acted quickly and threw some mud from the ground straight at her before dodging away. Thanks to that mud, Eon's attack failed to hit it's mark.

While Eon was distracted, Axle ran forward with his right arm clenched into a fist. A swirling purple and orange aura of energy surrounded that fist as he pressed on forward. The attack hit Eon's side while she wasn't looking, sending her flying forward while the energy she lost from that attack went into Axle. Though it wasn't much, as even when using Drain Punch Axle didn't feel like he gave it his all.

"Just give up and go back to the guild now, Eon," Axle said as he watched Eon splash into the mud with a heavy heart. "Stop fighting already before you hurt yourself more! You can't win and you know it!"

Eon reached into her bag with her mouth and grabbed out an Oran Berry to eat. "I made sure to keep my supplies up too, Axle," Eon said after eating the berry. "I can keep going as long as you can. And I need to keep going longer. So I'll fight for as long as I can. You can't make me leave, Axle, so stop trying."

"But be honest, despite eating that berry, you're in massive agony right now, aren't you?" Axle asked. "How long do you think you can keep up before something happens! How long can you keep up until you die?!"

"'I know the consequences already, and I'm prepared for them,'" Eon repeated in an almost mocking tone. "'I have to finish my mission.' …I won't let it be anyone else. I won't let anyone else take you in. It has to be me and me alone. I'm just as determined as you are."

"…Fine then," Axle said. "I'll just have to knock you out with one last blow."

"Same here," Eon said, her face scrunched up and looking kinda pale. "I'm…going to take you out. Sorry Axle, but this is it."

Axle rushed forward, pouring as much aura into his right paw as possible, to the point where it glowed blue. Eon also rushed forward in a crescent arc aiming towards Axle's unprotected left side. They both aimed for one blow to end the fight, not holding anything back. As the distance between them reduced and they got closer they knew that this would be the final blow. They got closer and closer until they were mere inches away from each other.

Until a purple aura surrounded the two of them and they were both stopped right before they hit each other by a psychic force. They struggled and fought against the attack that hit both of them, but neither could do anything about it. Their bodies were forced to be completely still and neither could do anything about it.

"Heh, sorry you two," a familiar voice to both of them said. "But I hate to see my favorite couple fight with each other like this."