Kirito was walking through Petalburg Woods. As far as experience went, Kirito was overleveled for this area and it certainly wasn't a great place to level his Pokémon. However, with two relatively new Pokémon, this would be a good place to remember how to control multiple Pokémon in a battle at once. Battling a strong opponent straight away could lead to acquiring bad habits in how to control them and could even be fatal in a worst-case scenario. This wasn't the only reason for his journey through Petalburg Woods though.

Ok, assuming the story pretty closely resembles the game. I should be seeing a Devon Researcher up here somewhere. If things play out like I think they will, I'll get access to Dewford Town and, more importantly, Slateport City. Hopefully I can complete some of my Gathering quests while I'm out here too.

{Kirito, you act as though you know the events that will take place in this world. Do you perhaps have a form of precognition?}

{Master is not a Psychic-type; shouldn't it be you with the foreknowledge of events rather?}

{I have not yet learned the move Future Sight, perhaps once I have learned it I will be able to understand events yet to come as Guru Kirito can.}

{I'm not a psychic, so please don't call me Guru. I just have previous experience with this g… world from an adventure I went on.}

{Perhaps I will attain more knowledge and skill when I evolve, but I can never see myself becoming as powerful as Guru Kirito. I could sense his latent psychic talent the moment I laid my feeler on him.}

{Please refrain from laying your feeler on Master anymore, he's very uncomfortable with physical contact,} said Kiriko while clutching Kirito's arm in her human form.

{Yo Leader dude, can I go kill some Caterpies or something? I'm bored of this girly chit-chat, let me fight something!}

{Calm down all of you, we're about to fight a Team Aqua member and we've already battled a lot of people on this route so I don't want to waste PP.}

Although Kirito said they should have a battle coming up, he was becoming less and less sure of it. Petalburg Woods had been much smaller in the Pokémon games so it might be coming up, but even so, there was a chance the event had been moved to a different area entirely. As he turned yet another corner in the woods, walking through thick grass that came up to his knees despite being near the thick tree-line, he noticed a man in an emerald green business suit hunched over the ground.

"Not a one to be found," the man said as he stood up straight and dusted himself off. He looked to be a good 15 to 20 years older than Kirito and had a professional look to him due to the briefcase he carried in his right hand. Despite having an idea of the man's appearance beforehand, Kirito was still surprised at how comical the sight of a man in an all green suit was. I guess I'm not one to talk though while wearing all black. Is this what I look like to everyone else?

The man looked around and noticed Kirito facing him. Approaching him with a friendly smile, the man said, "Hi, you look like a trainer, have you seen any Pokémon called Shroomish around here? I really love that Pokémon."

Kirito waited patiently for a Team Aqua member to approach. The speech was almost exactly what he remembered from Pokémon Emerald. However, after 5 seconds or so had passed, the man ran a hand through his hair and spoke nervously. "Er, I'm sorry to be wasting your time but if you do see one could you let me know? I'll reimburse you for it."

Kirito opened his mouth to respond, surprised that this wasn't a cut scene of sorts, only for a Team Aqua member to appear on the other side of the tree-lined corridor and march quickly towards where he was standing. Did Kayaba change the timing just to make this scene awkward for experienced players? It just seems like adding meaningless dialogue. Oh well, this should give me an idea of what to expect with the rest of the Team Aqua quests.

"Hey! You there! I was going to ambush you, but you had to dawdle in Petalburg Woods forever, didn't you? I got sick of waiting so here I am! You, Devon Researcher, hand over those papers."

The startled researcher let out a surprised yelp and ran away from the man wearing predominantly blue and white sailing clothing and a bandana with some sort of skull on it. Putting himself safely between Kirito and the Team Aqua member, he pleaded with Kirito to help him.

"You're a Pokémon trainer, aren't you? You've got to help me, please!"

Kirito turned to face the Team Aqua member while readying himself for battle. He ensured that he was able to see 4 screens in his own mind. The middle screen, slightly larger than the rest, was Kirito's own vision while the other 3 surrounding it in a circle let him see through the eyes of his Pokémon. He was a bit rusty after having not used this technique since the end of the beta; nevertheless, he was sure he would master it again quickly. Apparently though, his lack of concentration on the dialogue had been noticed.

"Hey you, are you even listening to me? You have some nerve to cross Team Aqua without fearing for your life, but that's the last mistake you'll ever make. Come on and battle me."

The man with a blue bandana summoned 3 Poochyena to his side using his Pokélink. Smirking at Kirito, he pulled out his sword but stayed back while his Poochyena approached in his place.

Kirito pulled out his sword as well. {Okay, Estelle, you have a disadvantageous matchup so stay in the back and support us. I'll take the middle one while Kiriko and Chardcore take the ones on the side.} Dashing forward, he let loose the 4-hit sword skill Vertical Square. Having entered the correct position to activate the attack and aiming accurately at the upper chest of the small black dog-Pokémon approaching him, he re-concentrated on what was going on around him. On the right side, he saw the wind-up for Sand Attack and on the left he saw an incoming Bite attack.

{Chardcore, avoid that Sand Attack to the left and retaliate with Ember. Kiriko, hit that Poochyena with a Sucker Punch while Estelle blasts it with a Psybeam.} In his mind's eye, Kirito watched as his Pokémon executed his plan perfectly. Without any additional directions, the Charmeleon finished off the weakened Poochyena with a Dragon Rage attack to drain its life points as Kirito's sword skill ended. At the same time, the Gothita's Psybeam attack smashed into the third Poochyena, finishing off the opponent despite it resisting both attacks it was hit with by 20%. All 3 of the Team Aqua member's Pokémon exploded into shards simultaneously and disappeared.

"Grr, you've got some nerve messing with Team Aqua. Come on and battle me again!" Kirito began to approach the Team Aqua member but the man quickly retracted his statement.

"Wait! I mean, I wish I could say that but I'm all out of Pokémon ahaha. Actually, I have some business to take care of in Rustboro so I'll be going now!" With that said, the Team Aqua Grunt hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible and the man in the green suit came forward to thank Kirito.

"Whew, that was awfully close." Kirito snickered to himself. "Thanks to you, he didn't rob me of these important papers. Here, I'll give you a Great Ball as thanks! Didn't that guy say they were after something in Rustboro though? Uh-oh… this could be a crisis, I can't be wasting time!" The man in the green suit began sprinting in the direction from where the Team Aqua member had approached earlier.

Well, that was easy. From what I can tell, it seems like Team Aqua members are likely to have more Pokémon based on how many you have in your party. I wonder how it deals with groups of multiple trainers. Anyways, I should get going to Rustboro too, I can't be wasting too much time in this area.

Kirito opened up his inventory and looked at his badge list. Next to his Balance Badge stood a reddish-brown diamond separated in the middle by a small rectangle. Acquiring the Stone Badge hadn't been overly difficult and the Defense boost to his Pokémon that came along with it was appreciated. He scrolled to the Items slot and selected the TM icon. Choosing TM 39 and selecting the Charmeleon in his party, Kirito taught his Pokémon the move Rock Tomb, which he had been gifted following the battle with Roxanne. The battle had not been particularly tough despite the high defense stat of her Nosepass and the numerous potions she had used mid battle to restore its health. He had completed the gym in a bit under an hour, and after restoring the health of his Pokémon, he was preparing for a quick trip to Rusturf Tunnel.

After talking to a man from the Devon corporation who mentioned some stolen goods, Kirito headed through the route in the direction of the tunnel. Along the way, he fought a few trainers and tried and failed to capture an Abra with a Great Ball before it teleported to safety. Kirito then reached the edge of the tunnel; while it was called a tunnel, from the outside it looked every bit like a massive cave. The rocky landscape continued upwards giving the cave the appearance of a small hill surrounded with boulders. Climbing a small man-made staircase, he approached an elderly man pacing pack and forth in front of a black hole in the wall that seemed to serve as an entrance.

Spotting Kirito, the man slowly walked towards him with a sad look in his eyes. Stopping right in front of him and bowing, the man pleaded, "Please help me, kind sir. I don't know what I am to do. We were on our walk, me and Peeko, when a thug jumped out at us! Oh, and Peeko is a Pokémon, she's my Pokémon, a Wingull. Well the odd scoundrel jumped us sure enough and he made off with my darling Peeko! If I was still in my youth, hell would hath no fury as hot as mine! I would surely get back my pearl. Arrggghh, but alas, I have become old and frail and have no other Pok…"

"AIIIIIEEEEEE!"

A loud scream coming from the direction of the tunnel's entrance assaulted Kirito's eardrums, causing his Gothita to cover its sensitive feeler. Pushing past the old man and rushing into the cave, it took Kirito a second for his eyesight to adjust. When it did, the first thing he noticed was a black-haired girl around his age with tears in her eyes, trying desperately to fend off a Team Aqua member with her sword and shield. She was clearly inexperienced using it and was doing no more than slowing down the enemy's attack by attempting to block with her sword. It wasn't enough to fully stop the attacks though and her HP was slowly being ground to the red; her shield was forgotten at her side. She must have been forgetting to command her Pokémon as well, as the Cubone beside her was mimicking her defense by using its bone to fend off the enemy Poochyena's fangs. The girl appeared to have 4 other Party members who were engaged in battle with Team Aqua members as well.

A golden-haired boy with a knife was struggling in his fight but didn't appear to be nearly as mentally shaken and the Farfetch'd beside him seemed to be faring well with its stick. The other 3 boys all had black hair and seemed to be roughly matched with their opponents. They appeared to be battling with one Pokémon each too: a Roggenrola, a Gible, and a Treecko. While they weren't in trouble, their attention was caught by the opponents in front of them and none seemed able to break away in order to help the others. Not bothering to ask if his help was wanted after hearing the scream, Kirito leaped into action.

{Kiriko help the blond guy with the knife and Chardcore take the Poochyena by the girl. Estelle, you roam around and help whoever needs it. Go!}

His Pokémon rushed forward as Kirito did the same, dashing towards the Team Aqua member who had just chipped off a third of the girl's remaining HP. She was left with only a fifth of her HP and desperation and fear shone in her eyes. The man readied his sword and prepared to drive it into the girl for what could be the last time, but was intercepted by a different sword slicing up and back down the side of his head. The critical hit did nearly 80% of his health and a final jab of Kirito's sword cleaved away the last of his life points. The man burst into shards of light, his fleeting look of surprise fading away as Kirito quickly turned to survey the field.

His Zorua and Charmeleon had driven back their opponents and the tides of battle seemed to have turned. After making sure that the stunned girl was safe and instructing his Gothita to stand by and protect her, Kirito and his Pokémon assisted the rest of the party until victory was assured. He made sure to stop his onslaught as soon as possible in an attempt to not steal all of the experience. The opponents seemed to be around the same level as the Team Aqua Grunt he had encountered in the woods, and it took him only one or two sword-skills to kill them. Once everything had died down and the Wingull had been returned to the groveling man outside of the cave, the group properly introduced themselves to Kirito. A confident boy with brown hair who looked to be a year or two older than Kirito spoke first.

"Hiya, thanks a lot for your help back there! We were in big trouble. My name is Keita and I'm the leader of the Moonlit Black Cats! We aren't an official guild yet but we're aiming to reach the front lines one day! These guys here are Sasamaru, Ducker, Tetsuo, and Sachi."

"Thanks man."

"Your skills are pretty impressive!"

"You saved us back there."

"Th-th-thank you, thank you so much."

"Oh it's no problem, I didn't really do much. My name's Kirito and I'm a solo player."

"Wow, a solo player like you must be pretty high-leveled to make it through this area, what level are you?"

Kirito hesitated as he thought about how to respond. These guys must be way lower-leveled than me if they're finding this area difficult. How did they get out here anyways? I don't want them to think I'm a beater or something though, these guys seem nice enough.

"I'm uh, probably just a few levels higher than you."

"Wow, that's amazing that you can make it through this area, I guess having 3 Pokémon probably helps though."

"Is that a shiny Charmeleon? Wow!"

"Yeah, having more Pokémon helps a lot once you get used to it but you don't want to use a Pokémon that you don't plan on keeping later on. You'll just end up losing out on experience if that's the case. So why are you guys doing this mission at your levels?"

"We talked to an info broker and they told us this area was perfect for people like us to level up on."

"Yeah, the Pokémon in this tunnel are just really weak Whismur and the trainers in the woods were easy to handle for a party, even the Team Aqua guy."

"Actually, if the Team Aqua guy hadn't been just some weak guy with 5 Poochyena, we wouldn't have come to this cave in the first place. After beating him we figured we could advance the quest a bit. In the original Pokémon games there's only one trainer in this cave, so we were caught off guard when more of them showed up."

Even so, these guys shouldn't be nearly dying to Team Aqua Grunts. If they want to get anywhere near the front lines they'll have to improve a lot. Kirito's train of thought was derailed by the cute girl in front of him breaking her silence.

"It's probably my fault that we got in trouble. I'm… I'm not very good at fighting with a sword and shield yet, and fighting against other people is even scarier than fighting Pokémon. I should probably have never left the Town of Beginnings."

"Nonsense Sachi! I was struggling too and I've been using a knife since the start. Once you get better at using something besides a spear you'll be fine!"

"Ducker is right Sachi, transitioning to a new role is always hard. Anyways, we should show our gratitude and treat our new friend to dinner."

"Thanks a lot, but I actually have somewhere I need to be soon."

"That's fine." Keita gave Kirito a light knock on the shoulder. "If you're busy then it can't be helped. At least let us give you the Devon goods we got from this quest. We won't be working on the Team Aqua storyline again for a while."

The group began to walk back to town and Kirito walked with them. Kirito offered the group advice on how to protect their members by switching in and out even during individual fights, but there was a limit to explaining things with words alone. For the most part, he walked in silence beside them and listened. The group seemed to be made up of real-world friends judging from the frequency of inside jokes. In a way, he envied them. If people like them were part of the clearing group then surely there wouldn't be as much infighting among the clearers. More than that though, Kirito had never really experienced having a friend group, even in the real world. He had a few friends but was mostly a loner who interacted with people online.

From what he could tell, Keita was the charismatic leader who seemed perpetually cheerful. The Gible that jumped around beside him seemed to share his enthusiasm and joking manner. Ducker would have been a thief if POW had classes like a normal MMORPG and seemed overly confident in his Dagger-skills, based on what Kirito had seen of the previous battle. Sasamaru and Tetsuo both seemed pretty laid back and were training a Roggenrola and a Treecko respectively. The last member was the girl Sachi.

She was a petite girl with shoulder-length black hair and a light blue tunic. Kirito had been by her side for most of the walk back, and from what he had gathered, she was part of a school computer club with the other members back in the real world. For most of the walk back however, they had walked in silence with him nervously trying to figure out what to talk about. Luckily, she had been able to work up her courage and start the conversation instead, which kept things from being uncomfortably awkward. Sachi was easy to talk to and seemed to have similar interests as well. When she wasn't at school, she was normally playing games like Kirito and she had one sister back home who she missed very much. Before he knew it, they had reached the Devon Offices.

It was time for Kirito to leave, but he couldn't help but feel regretful that he couldn't stay with the group. They were friendly towards him despite his social ineptness and they didn't hate him for being a beater like most of the clearers did. He really did need to get back though; the quest had taken him longer than expected and the meeting for the second raid boss was tomorrow. He waved goodbye to the group, his eyes lingering on Sachi's own for an extra second, and then he turned and headed off.

"Chardcore? What kind of ridiculous name is that Kii-bou? I doubt anyone would still fear you as a Beater if they knew how you named your Pokémon."

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it from someone who named their Aipom 'P Diddy Kong'."

"You know full well that was a joke…"

Asuna snickered as Argo relentlessly argued with Kirito. Even Agil and his pals behind them had started to crack up at the unfortunate Pokémon names. While she still talked with Liz and Argo occasionally, it had been a while since she'd partied with someone else. I've got to admit, I kind of miss this. Maybe I should join a guild after all, my Pokémon can kind of keep me company but it's more fun with actual people around to talk to. Fat chance I'll be able to convince Argo or Kirito to join one though.

{You're heinous, erm, I mean Your Highness, I've come to appreciate the name you gave to me. I thought you were using the name as a punishment but it appears Pokémon trainers just have bad taste after all.}

{Quiet down Surf Slave, I still haven't forgiven you for inking me and I could come up with a worse name right now.}

{Duly noted.}

As they approached the door leading to the raid boss, the group quieted down. In front of the door there stood two men waiting for everyone else to settle down. The one on the right, wearing a mostly green outfit and with a Cacnea and Corsola on either side of him, was Kibaou. It was as if he had selected his Pokémon in order to match his hairstyle, and Asuna couldn't tell if she was impressed or wanted to laugh. The other man had dyed his hair blue and looked eerily similar to Diabel. He had apparently managed to catch a Zangoose which stood imposingly next to his Servine. Stepping forward, he took command of the room.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lind, currently head of one of the largest two groups among the clearers known as the Divine Dragonite Alliance. Myself and Kibaou will be taking turns in heading the clearing group during raids until another system is established." This wasn't news to anyone after the meeting the previous day. Well, it looks like the Legend Braves aren't going to be protesting again for now. I still wish Agil and his group would try to take leadership though. Everyone seems to respect him at least and these raid group meetings went much better when we had a unified leader like Diabel. I wonder what he's up to now anyways, he's disappeared since the last raid.

"From what we've heard from our Beta sources, assuming they are in fact telling the truth in its entirety," This brought some malicious looks towards some of her party members but they didn't seem to notice them. A tall, cloaked figure in Kibaou's group seemed poised to say something but shut his mouth at a look from Kibaou. If she remembered correctly, his name was Joe and he had been trying to harass Kirito at the meeting yesterday before Agil's group showed up.

"Falkner will be using a nodachi and his Pidgeotto will be tough to kill. We've made sure to plan for any ability it can have, so we won't waste time trying to lower its accuracy or defense in case it has the ability Keen Eye or Big Pecks. Most importantly, don't try to confuse it. The ability Tangled Feet ups its evasion when confused which could be a worst-case scenario. Expect it to use mostly flying-type moves so if your Pokémon is weak to flying then have it stay back. The difficulty in this fight will be the Pidgeotto using Roost when its life bar gets low. Knocking off a life bar prevents it from recovering that HP so go all out with Fighting-type attacks as soon as the animation starts. Remember, Roost takes away a Pokémon's Flying typing until the move is finished so only Fighting-type moves will be super effective. We don't expect any other surprises from this boss and we've already gone over the positions, so let's get this battle started."

With that, the large double doors with intricate wing designs were pushed open and the raid group began to silently march inside. He's careful and a good strategist but he isn't motivating in the slightest. It feels like we're walking into a library instead of a life-threatening battle.

Asuna didn't have any more time to think about the leadership issues plaguing the clearing group after making her way inside. Her role would be to engage any adds in order to prevent them from interfering with the groups fighting the boss. She equipped her rapier and prepared herself for battle.

The first of the giant bird's 4 life bars had been whittled down to 5%. The clearing group had done an admirable job of switching aggro and taking potion breaks in order to ensure a margin of safety. Even so, their work thus far would largely be in vain if they allowed their opponent to restore half of its life bar. After dodging a Wing Attack, a powerful combination attack from Kibaou and his Corsola preceded a loud screech from the Pidgeotto, it's life bar having been chipped down once more. Asuna could see that Kibaou's Cacnea was staying far back and shooting ranged attacks with breaks between every attack so as not to draw the Pidgeotto's attention. He may be a buffoon and a bit of an ass, but he's not a complete idiot.

Following the screeching sound, the Pokémon's powerful wings flapped dramatically as it raised itself slowly out of the range of any physical attacks. It was bound to attempt to Roost soon, so as long as the clearers could avoid being devastated by the next attack then they would be able to fully eliminate the first life bar with no problems. Asuna would curse herself for being too optimistic moments later when the Pidgeotto's wings blended into a flurry of movement and elicited a strong Whirlwind that knocked anyone near it several meters backwards into their comrades and the wall. Fortunately, only a single Machop that had already been low was a casualty. The death of a Fighting-type Pokémon would certainly slow their progress however.

Its attack over, the red and yellow tailfeathers of the Pidgeotto approached the floor first, followed by its body and its bright red plumage. Settling down on the ground in a comfortable position, it looked as though it were taking a nap and numerous fluffy feathers began to fall from nowhere and surround it. Many of the clearers recognized that the Pokémon was using Roost but were in no position to recover in time to attack it. Staring in horror, morale drastically decreased as the Pidgeotto's health went soaring upwards, followed by the Pidgeotto itself as it finished roosting and prepared for another attack.

Asuna realized at once what needed to happen to defeat the boss before it could Roost, and she was sure that she wasn't the only one. {Surf Slave, use smoke screen to open me up a path. Kitsune, combo with Flamethrower.} She didn't bother to give out the full direction, knowing Kitsune would understand what she meant. Despite her Horsea's cheeky attitude, it was reliable in battle and shot a smokescreen in front of her to hide her location from most of the adds. Asuna began running forward and nailed the Pidgey attempting to intercept her with a Linear to the stomach. The bird was shot upwards by the impact and the ever-so-pleasant sound of fire crackling as it roasted away the rest of the Pidgey's health brought a smile to Asuna's face.

It's nice to know I can count on them even if they aren't real. {Nice aim Kitsune, you too Surf Slave.}

Rushing through the smoke, Asuna found Kirito just in time to see a Taillow eating a Dark Pulse and a Metal Claw while a Starly was hit with Confusion and a Vertical Arc. Kirito and his Pokémon were all nearly full health and it was apparent that he shouldn't be stuck dealing with small mobs. Asuna ground her teeth at the unfairness of it all and ran forward. "Kirito, did you see what happened with the Pidgeotto?"

"Yeah I did, I never saw that combination in the Beta. It would catch anyone off guard."

"You know how to get around it though, don't you?"

Kirito shifted uncomfortably, "I do but I don't think that matters. Even if the others needed my help I doubt it would be appreciated. Lind and Kibaou aren't idiots or anything."

"I know that, but on the off chance they don't recognize it you'll do something right?"

"Asuna, If I help out it'll do more harm than good. No one is going to listen to me, we need an actual le-"

Kirito was cut off as a number of Flying-type mobs popped in between them. Jabbing a Linear into a Spearow before retreating, Asuna made sure she was safe before looking back towards the boss. The rest of the groups could deal with the mobs for now, but if Pidgeotto continued to Roost off any damage then it would be all for naught and they would be forced to retreat. Her fears were alleviated somewhat as she noticed the boss was continuing to take damage at a consistent rate and all of the clearers were in the green. As its health bar approached 15% though, she noticed that Lind and Kibaou seemed to be jockeying for position at the front with one another, and their groups were watching hesitantly behind them.

At this rate we won't take down Pidgeotto's health bar out this time either. Even if we have plenty of time we don't have infinite potions. Who can I find to help out? THINK. Okay, Agil, Argo, and the leader of the Legend Braves all could do it. I think his name was… Orlando. Uh-huh it is Orlando but I don't remember what he looks like.

Instructing her Pokémon to keep fighting without her, Asuna began to search for Agil and Argo as quickly as she could. She managed to spot Agil's large form near the wall but he was engaging a number of full-health opponents, and she had no clue where the relatively short Argo could be amidst the havoc. Looking back across the large, open chamber, she noticed that the Pidgeotto's health had fallen once again below 10%. In fact, she saw almost no difference in the squadron formation amongst the clearers, making it an almost identical scene to before apart from the two men arguing with each other while their groups watched idly in discomfort.

Oh to hell with it. Losing patience and giving up on her search, Asuna sprinted to the center of the room where her voice would be heard and yelled to get everyone's attention. "HEY, EVERYONE LISTEN UP." Everyone not fighting the boss turned around to see the cause of commotion and stared at Asuna. Not losing her nerve, she continued.

"You two, quit your juvenile arguing and get it together already. Are you supposed to be leaders or preschoolers fighting over a toy? Because I really can't tell the difference right now." Lind and Kibaou had mixed looks of astonishment and anger on their faces, but after turning to face one another, their expressions changed rapidly to that of embarrassment.

"The rest of you, Pidgeotto is going to use Whirlwind again when it hits low HP. If the reserves are directly behind the people fighting then you're just going to get knocked into each other again. If you don't have something sturdy behind you then you'll be knocked back too. So anyone not fighting get out of the line of fire and line up against the wall. When Whirlwind ends, run forward and take out its life bar before it can Roost. This isn't exactly rocket science."

Kirito couldn't help but marvel at Asuna. Aside from being smart and the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, she was able to overcome being a complete video game noob to become a leader in no time at all. She was the ray of light that gave him hope that this game could be cleared one day. Whatever guild she joined would certainly lead them all to victory. However, what Kirito was quickly starting to realize was that this game wasn't fair. Not in the slightest. The Pidgeotto had Roosted twice unexpectedly in the middle of its final life bar, which no one was prepared to stop in time. When the clearers had grasped this new tactic, the game threw a new wrench into the equation by having Falkner and his gleaming silver nodachi interfere with any attempts to prevent Roost from completing.

The clearing group had finally worked out a strategy to prevent the massive bird from regaining health, but with its health bar approaching its final tenth, he was worried that some new strategy would emerge to screw with them. A few Pokémon had died thus far but there were no human casualties. Even so, it could take only a single casualty to start off a chain of events that would fragment the clearing group. There had been no deaths in the previous raid boss battle until near the end after all.

Suddenly, the Pidgeotto began to shine a light-silver as though it had become transparent before returning to its normal brown and yellow color. Nobody moved towards it, but after nothing happened for close to 10 seconds, a member of Lind's group regained his composure. "Blitzle, hit it with a Double-Edge!"

The electric zebra Pokémon ran towards the Pidgeotto with increasing speed and, lowering its head right before impact, rammed into the bird Pokémon with full force. The Pidgeotto was knocked backwards a bit, but before the Blitzle could recover it flapped its wings with tremendous power and headed right back towards the Blitzle. If the Blitzle had used almost any other move it would have recovered in time to dodge. Unfortunately, it was shell-shocked due to the recoil and the winged beast smashed directly into it, causing it to erupt into brilliant shards of light.

The Blitzle's owner was devastated. "No… it can't be, he-he was just full HP." Damn, I feel bad for him. No one could have expected that to happen. Actually, I'm pretty sure Pidgeotto can only learn Double Edge from a move tutor so there's no way he could've seen that coming.

As Kirito thought to himself, the Pidgeotto gleamed silver once more before being hit by another attack. Stunned, Kirito processed the events in what felt like slow motion. The Pidgeotto hadn't used Double-Edge for the first time randomly, but after gleaming a transparent silver color, like a mirror. The move was normally useless in competitive play and wasn't learned by Pidgeotto until over level 50 so he hadn't bothered to consider it, but Falkner's Pidgeotto was underleveled to become a Pidgeotto in the first place so that wouldn't matter. It was definitely using Mirror Move. This meant that the move that it would use next would be the next attack to hit it. As he looked over to the Pokémon that had used the last attack, his stomach plummeted full speed down an elevator towards the center of the Earth. His ears confirmed his worst suspicions moments later as the sound of Chatter emanated from the Chatot at the tall, cloaked trainer's side.

"EVERYONE, COVER YOUR EARS!"

Moments after the attack had taken a chip out of the Pidgeotto's HP, the earlier Chatter sound was reflected back at them with a far greater volume that affected nearly every Pokémon and trainer in the room and caused the Confusion status effect. Kirito's warning had fallen on largely deaf ears, saving nearly no one from being afflicted by the status condition. The Confusion status effect would disorient the senses of trainers while giving any Pokémon affected a 50% chance of hitting itself rather than its target. In other words, utter pandemonium erupted.

Pokémon and trainers alike all started to attack at once while the Pidgeotto began to swerve swiftly in the air, dodging almost all of them with help from its Evasion buff. The overall health of the clearing party took a wallop and more than a few Pokémon were killed in the chaos. The massive bird continued to fly around the room and, with a crazy look in its eye, divebombed a member of Lind's party with the move Pluck. The man had clearly never dealt with the effects of Confusion before and was staring up at the approaching Pidgeotto with his hands over his ears and his mouth forming the motion of a soundless scream. Before Kirito could get anywhere near, the man's life became void and his avatar crumbled into fragments. The Pidgeotto kicked off into the air once more in search of its next target.

By this time, Kirito had gotten much closer and was ready to counterattack. {Look out for any errant attacks from the clearers, they're all Confused so anything could happen. As soon as the Pidgeotto descends again, attack with Psybeam, Dark Pulse, and Ember. Get ready, it's coming.} Fortunately, none of the other players had died yet since they'd all been in the green prior to the Confusion effect, but if it lasted any longer then the casualties would start to stack up.

The Pidgeotto decided on its next prey and swooped down once more towards the tall, cloaked man with the Chatot from before. The man had taken the full brunt of Mirror Move and was laughing nervously while staring at the approaching bird Pokémon. Taking out his sword, he began the windup for a sword skill. Kirito had taken off the moment the Pidgeotto began descending and reached the man just in time. Diving forward, he tackled the man out of the way just before the Pidgeotto could… hit itself and crash into the ground embarrassingly short of its target.

The damage it had inflicted upon itself brought it down to a sliver of health and numerous long-ranged Pokémon attacks were streaking towards it, but Kirito wasn't taking any chances. Leaping to his feet, he rushed forwards with a Vertical Arc and nailed the Pidgeotto directly in the neck. His critical strike was the final blow that ended the Pidgeotto's rampage. The bird twitched a few times before going completely still, aside from its feathers which began to move faintly. They quivered slowly at first before gaining speed and ultimately exploding forth from the bird all at once. A shower of feathers covered all of the trainers and their Pokémon, healing them back to full health as they recovered from their status effect. When the air finally cleared, there was no other sign that the bird had existed aside from a large Banner saying 'Congratulations' in its place.

"Congrats, you cleared the Flying Elemental Gym. 2 down, 15 more to go! Ha, better get going to the next area." With that, Falkner walked out of the door, leaving the clearers to their own devices.

"Y-you dirty beater, that Last Attack Bonus belongs to me. G-give it to me."

Kirito hadn't even registered that he had earned the Last Attack Bonus yet. Looking down at his inventory, he noticed that he had earned a Sharp Beak and a Lucky Egg along with the normal items from participating in a raid. Looking back up at where the voice had come from, he spotted the tall, cloaked man from before. Taking a better look at him, the man was a member of Kibaou's party named Joe. He had a slender build and his hood covered his features for the most part. Perhaps sensing that his hood made him look untrustworthy, he removed it before seeking affirmation.

"Hey you, over there, you were looking right? He rammed right into me when I was about to attack it to steal the kill from me. He was just after the LA all along."

"Um, I'm pretty sure you're telling the truth. I definitely saw him knock you over before killing the boss and this isn't the first time he's stolen the LA."

"Hold on for a second, I wasn't after the LA, honest. I was trying to save him."

"Are you kidding me? You might think no one would notice because we were all confused but I saw it with my own eyes. That Pidgeotto crashed nearly 10 feet away from him and all you did was slam into him to stop his sword skill. Do you fancy yourself a hero or something for stealing the LA? You could've gotten someone killed."

Kirito was at a loss for words. Of course it would look bad to an observer, but he really couldn't take any chances when the Pidgeotto had just one-shot someone. Should he have just hoped that the Pidgeotto would miss the man and done nothing? He had no idea what to say to defuse this situation. Luckily, Agil came to his aid once more.

"Now hold on a minute, isn't this man right here the one who confused the Pidgeotto in the first place? I specifically recall Lind saying not to afflict the Confusion status effect on it."

"A-anyone could have made that mistake. I forgot about it in the heat of the moment but I swear it wasn't intentional. B-besides, wasn't it him who shouted to cover our ears? He clearly knew what was coming!"

"Oh yeah, he totally did know."

"Hey jerk, why don't you tell us this stuff before the fight instead of lording it over us."

"You're just a wannabe hero! You barge in to try to save the day at the end and steal the LA while letting us do all of the work."

As the sounds of agreement increased in volume, Kirito spotted Asuna walking forward, her face red with anger. Smiling inwardly, Kirito knew he couldn't allow her to talk. If something happens to Asuna, we may never clear the elemental bosses. I'm useful now due to my beta knowledge but what we need is a leader like her. I can't let her take my side and throw that away.

Kirito motioned desperately for Asuna to stay quiet. Catching her attention in time, he put on what he hoped was an evil look once more and began to laugh. He laughed for a long time, so long that even he was beginning to be creeped out by the time he stopped. Having shut everyone up, he announced, "Yeah, I wanted the LA bonus so I pushed him out of the way. Happy? As far as Mirror Move goes, I would have told everyone before the fight about it if I thought it was a possibility. I may be a shitty person and a thief, but I wouldn't kill anyone intentionally. Do you expect me to be psychic or something? Stop blaming me for your own problems and think on your own for once."

"Hold me back! Hold me back or I'm going to end up killing that guy."

"Show your face at another boss battle and you won't come out alive, you hear me."

"I have no intentions of showing up to another boss battle to be killed. I leave all the future LA bonuses to you. Good luck without me when you can't even decide on a leader."

With that, Kirito walked out of a raid boss room for what would likely be the last time.

Reaching the outside and continuing to walk, Kirito pondered what to do next. I'm basically banned from raids now and I'm definitely the most hated player in the game. Maybe I shouldn't have overdone it quite so much with that speech. Thinking about it logically, all I can really do is gym battles and play through the story now. Assuming the clearers can beat the elemental gyms then I can still be useful against the League of Elites at least. I wonder what Diabel has been up to, he's basically in the same position as me after all. Well, he doesn't have 20 of the most powerful players in the game wanting to kill him so that might not be true. So… what to do, how do I help us beat the game?

Kirito finished scrolling through his Items list and checked his messages quickly. He was about to close his inventory when he remembered a message he had received a couple days ago. Opening it up, he read through the contents.

'Hey Kirito, just wanted to say that we really appreciate you saving us in Rusturf Tunnel once again. I'm sure you chose to be a solo player for a good reason, but if you ever feel like partying up then the Moonlit Black Cats are always here for you. Not to mention we could really use some tips from a player like you. Catch ya later- Keita'.

Well, perhaps there was one way that Kirito could still help with clearing the game. This is a great excuse to talk to Sachi again too, wait, what am I thinking? Closing his inventory, he resolved to get some rest and message them in the morning.

"Please let us go, we've already given you the Wingull and the Devon Goods. We have nothing else to offer."

The Team Aqua member was on his knees begging a cloaked man with a large meat cleaver of a knife not to kill him. Around him, his comrades were in similar positions with the blades of a man with red eyes and of a man with a black sack-like mask pressed to their necks. While the men holding his comrades were certainly dangerous, they paled in comparison to the man in front of him. The man gave off the aura of death itself, and he had defeated him and his Poochyena with only a knife, apparently seeing no need to call out his Pokémon.

The hooded figure chuckled in a cold, merciless tone before speaking. "Do you believe that, Johnny? Xaxa? He says they have nothing else to give us."

"I'm sure there's something else they can do for us boss. I'm just dying to see the CPU's reaction to torture. Kayaba made these things extra lifelike," said the masked one while licking his lips.

"Now now, hold off on the bloodshed, perhaps we can reach a deal that benefits everyone. Now, you Team Aqua thugs would love to return back to the hideout with the Devon Goods, right? I bet you'd get a promotion and everything."

The Team Aqua member wasn't sure what to say. The situation was not one of the expected situations when programming the game of course. As a minor antagonist however, the Team Aqua Grunt had an evolving language center and was able to make actions consistent with his role in the story. Coming to the decision that he would like to return with the goods and receive a promotion, he spoke. "Yes, we would like to do those things. Please return the Devon Goods."

"Let's not be too hasty now, hahaha, this has to be a good trade for both of us after all. I'll give you the Devon Goods, but in exchange you have to take me along with you to your hideout."

The Team Aqua member hesitated and looked towards his companions. Sensing the Grunt's confusion, the mysterious hooded figure spoke again. "Ah, if you're worried about giving up your hideout you don't have to bring me there, all you have to do is bring me to your boss and the Goods are yours. You can even tell them we're coming. You have no reason to refuse that deal, do you?"

"No, this will do. I will message the boss and we will bring you to our hideout."

The sound of a blade rattling against the floor followed as the red-eyed accomplice let go of the Team Aqua member he was holding. "No way boss, you were actually able to negotiate with a NPC! I didn't even think that was possible."

A thick knife was at his throat in the next instant. "Not another word, I've just managed to get us an audience with their boss and here you are spouting off crass words like NPC. Say whatever you want back at our base, but in the presence of others we are members of this world like everyone else. Don't break the illusion, or I'll be forced to break you."

With a flourish of his cape, the man released Xaxa and graciously caught and shook the Team Aqua Grunt's hand. "We are honored to be able to strike this deal with you, shall we head to the hideout immediately? I believe I may know a shortcut…"

As the men began to walk deeper into the cave, Xaxa massaged his throat and whispered to his partner. "Man, I really don't know what the hell goes through his mind sometimes. If there's one thing I do know though, it's that no one is going to be able to stop him in this game. As long as we keep following him we'll get to do all kinds of fun, twisted things! His name alone will strike fear in the hearts of everyone before long, PoH."

That ends Chapter 10. This was done decently quickly (by my standards) considering its length, so I'll most likely be able to write 2 more chapters in November. As far as the story goes, we get our introduction to the Moonlit Black Cats and to PoH. The Moonlit Black Cats will be pretty heavily involved next chapter which should be pretty apparent after the ending to this one. I'm having PoH be involved a lot more early on than in Canon, but that's because I think his involvement will make for an interesting story which has been planned out fairly extensively by this point. One difficulty I am having in writing this story is trying to balance between interactions with Pokemon and people. I've been trying to give individual Pokemon their own personalities to an extent which is easy enough when the trainers are on their own, but it becomes more difficult when the character is in a group with other people. I'll probably focus mostly on human interaction in the next chapter as the Moonlit Black Cats are important for Kirito and the plot will be starting to move more quickly. As always, feel free to message or comment. I'd especially like to know any thoughts on Pokemon names. There really aren't many good sites for Pokemon names online (if there are any in the first place) so the names might be a bit silly but hopefully it doesn't detract from the rest of the story.

Since it was mentioned in a review, I thought I'd explain a bit about Roost since it has an uncommon property. When a Pokemon uses Roost, it loses its Flying-type status until the end of the turn in which it occurred. As a result, a Pokemon like Pidgeotto that is Normal and Flying type would become a Normal type while using Roost and would only be hit for super effective damage by Fighting-type moves. Hope that clears up any confusion since I didn't think to explain it during the chapter when I first wrote it.