Chapter Eleven is here! We find out Seer's gender and meet an old acquaintance… Oh and The Shadow Dragon finds a reason to really start hating the Rangers!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon!

Chapter Eleven

The Foundry: Part Two

Meanwhile, in another part of the Foundry, the Espeon known as Seer was snooping about the facility using its telepathic powers to hide itself from the sight of anyone nearby. In a dark side-room it felt a familiar presence… I know you're here! Reveal yourself!

An Umbreon silently stepped out of the deep shadows of the room, his mental voice was dry and unsurprised, Seer, I should have known it was you snooping about, have you come to do the Covenant's dirty work?

The Espeon stepped back slightly and sat down, Shadow… I thought I felt your presence here… You are responsible for this?

The Umbreon stepped towards Seer stopping directly in front of the Espeon, his eyes were blank and unreadable Indeed I am; the Shadow Dragons are my creations.

Seer stared back at Shadow You went ahead with your plan then? I should have known! You always were too stubborn to listen to reason! You still believe that the Covenant should renounce its vows of non-interference with mortal affairs?

I do, Seer, I have sickened of watching the mortals suffer and being able to do nothing about it, I remember when you expressed similar sentiments. Shadow's thoughts were sad, I did not wish to leave, to be forced into this, but the Council of the Covenant left me no choice. It was they who ridiculed me, who called my ideas treasonous; it was they who caused the entire Covenant to turn against me. They made me an outcast in my own home and forced me into this exile! His voice was angry, his tail moved agitatedly behind him

Not everyone within the Covenant turned against you Shadow… I stood by you, and I still do, when your plans became known I spoke out in your favour… I am the only voice on the Council who supports you now. We have our philosophical differences… I believe that interfering with the humans is too dangerous; you believe that our methods are immoral and even more dangerous than your own. But just because we differ, that does not make us enemies… Seer walked past the Umbreon; brushing against him lightly Do you not regret leaving? We were good together, you and I.

Sometimes I regret it… Shadow conceded, But only that I had to leave you behind… You are the most… Unique female I have ever met… Do you speak truthfully when you say that you still support me?

Of course I support you Shadow, we disagree on exactly how we should deal with humans, but both of us tire of their suffering, not to mention the constant danger to the Balance… Besides, what kind of mate would I be if I rejected you simply because we disagreed? Seer thoughts were tinged with amusement, Do you think so little of me?

Of course not, but the fate of the Balance, and thus of all the worlds, hangs upon that disagreement, and so if the fate of worlds is not enough to turn you against me, what is Seer? Shadow replied, turning to face her again.

A good point Shadow, perhaps there is nothing you can do that will turn me wholly against you? Who knows? Perhaps we shall find out if you continue with this madness! Seer replied, she kept circling the Umbreon, her eyes fixed upon him, Come back to the Covenant Shadow, I am sure if you sit down and talk with Serenity she will call a hearing of the Council, we will listen to you this time… I shall make them listen!

Serenity would never allow me to return, she believes that I threaten the Balance… She would see me destroyed before she would see me speak before the Council again, she is afraid of what would happen if I convinced others upon the Council besides you Shadow said, keeping himself still, not even looking at Seer

Shadow, I do not support you in the Council because I believe you are right but because you are, or were, my mate… I think as you do in that our non-interference policy can be difficult, I dislike watching the likes of Team Galactic or the Go Rock Squad ravage this world as much as you do, but if we were to interfere directly… The Balance would be sundered it would be a disaster! I am sorry Shadow but I stand by what I said before you left me. The way of the Covenant may not be perfect, but your way would see us all destroyed! Seer said softly, her voice was sad, tinged with regret, If you come back… Maybe together we can think of a better way, present it to the Council, they would-

They would ignore us, sentence you to exile or death as they have done to me, they hate change, they fear it, they are too set in their ways now, perhaps a thousand years ago things would have been different, they might have listened... But not now, it is too late. Shadow replied, cutting her off

Seer nipped the tip of his tail and dodged away from an irritated swipe, You are far too serious Shadow, you always were, if you will not come before the Council, then that is you choice, but do not make me your enemy! We have our differences but that does not make us enemies! If you will not disband the Shadow Dragons I shall have my Champions destroy them… But we are not enemies my dear, we never will be.

Begone Seer! I am in no mood for games! I have my work to do and you have your Champions to send to their deaths! I- She bit the tip of his tail again, dodging away, he turned glaring at her Leave my tail alone! Hey! No! I know what you're doing it won't work on me Seer!

She giggled, I think it will Shadow, you have never been able to resist my charms before! You are not made of stone, no matter how hard you try to pretend that you are! If I cannot convince you to stop your Shadow Dragons then I shall at least convince you to have a little fun, after all what have you to do now whilst you wait for my inevitable victory?

Inevitable? Hardly! Besides, I have no time for fun Seer! I have tests to run, Shadow Dragons to-to-to He stammered, What are you doing?

Seer smirked, walking slowly towards him, bushing against him, he backed away from her until he was pressed against the wall shying away from her as Seer brought her face close to his, now their faces were inches apart, What does it look like Shadow? Have you grown dense since we last talked? I'm-

A loud explosion echoed down the corridor, alarms began blaring and the sounds of shouting and running feet were plainly heard.

I'm a distraction, so that my Champions could destroy this Foundry of yours! Seer said softly, a slow smile on her face

The Umbreon's eyes widened, jaw dropping, You-You… I…I don't believe… Seer! I'll…I'll… Arg! You…You female! I'll get you for this! I'll…

She smirked; kissing his cheek lightly before pulling away from him You'll what Shadow? We both know you wouldn't lay a paw on me… Besides, you know the old saying; 'All's fair in Love and War' and this is both, is it not? But I did mean what I said earlier; I miss you, I would have you return to the Covenant and work with us rather than against us, but if I must destroy your Shadow Dragons to prove to you that your methods won't work then so be it! Goodbye Shadow, we shall see each other again soon, and I think next time I won't even have to do anything to be a distraction, hm? She laughed softly and walked towards the door, it opened of its own accord and she walked out.

Shadow sat there, staring, mouth open for several seconds, She...I… He sighed Why me? Of all the beings in the Covenant why did she have to pick me to torture? He walked out of he room quietly, looking at the chaos in the corridor, he grunted in disgust, I suppose I'll have to clean up Seer's messes… Again. With that irritated thought Shadow threaded his way, unseen, through the chaos that had been the Shadow Dragons' primary factory.

An hour earlier…

Lunick and Solana sneaked their way through the crowded Foundry; keeping to the shadows beneath the smelters, at each one they found the exact same thing; the smelter was fixed in place, stuck in the cavern's floor by steel and concrete reinforcements… There was no way to tip it! By now they'd worked their way to the largest smelter near the centre of the room.

"Well, there goes Plan A!" Muttered Lunick, "Got any other ideas?"

"Not quite, look here!" Solana pointed at the foundations, "Looks like someone's been slacking off maintenance duty or something… I think that a Class Three Water Move and a Class Three Push Move together might just be enough here… What do you think?"

Lunick frowned, he bent down and touched the concrete; it was crumbling away and the steel reinforcements looked corroded, he rubbed the dust between his fingers, "I think you're right… Okay, Plan A's back on! We just need to find the right Pokemon"

Solana sighed, "But where are e going to get the right Pokemon?"

Lunick shrugged, "I don't-"

Shouting from a nearby group of Grunts interrupted Lunick, "Hey! Carl! I heard that Sir Gawain really chewed you out this morning!"

A mournful looking Grunt replied, "It wasn't my fault! That Blastoise had really strong water gun thingies! And the Piloswine-"

"Yeah, yeah! Excuses! Those two Pokemon wrecked the entire holding cell area; it's going to take days to repair! And guess whose next shift is maintenance duty?" A Grunt said, glaring at the first one.

Lunick smirked, "What a coincidence, two Pokemon with the exact moves we require! Come on, let's follow them to their holding cells, we'll capture these Pokemon and use them to destroy the Foundry"

Solana nodded, "Okay, once we have the Pokemon we'll meet with Aria… We have to strike both the lab and the Foundry simultaneously or we might be stopped"

Lunick smiled, "Fine, let's go!"

The couple shadowed the group of Grunts as they walked through the crowded Foundry floor, eventually hey vanished down a side-tunnel, Solana and Lunick waited for several minutes before entering; they didn't want to bump right into those Grunts and blow their cover!

The two Rangers eventually found a room that was filled with cages, or rather the remnants of cages; pieces of metal were strewn everywhere! The group of grunts had surrounded a knot of Pokemon; a Piloswine, a Blastoise, a Blaziken and two Poliwhirl, the Shadow Grunts were having a hard time capturing the Pokemon, three of the Grunts were already cradling snapped swords, however the Pokemon were tiring, the Grunts picked them off one by one until only the Piloswine and the Blastoise remained free, Solana frowned, "We have to save those Pokemon!"

"Yeah, but how? We can't risk getting caught, or those Grunts raising the alarm!" Lunick replied

Solana glanced around, "Hey! How about we trap them in that cage over there?" she pointed at a large cage that stood open, apparently the only one to have survived the Poke-rampage.

Lunick nodded, "Okay, we'll attack together, on three! One...Two…Three!"

The two Rangers suddenly broke out into the open, Stylers active, their Capture Discs shot out and began circling the Pokemon, before any of the Grunts could react the two expert Rangers had captured all of their Pokemon, Lunick smirked, "Okay Shadow Grunts! Into that cage over there, now!"

One Grunt puffed up his chest, "Or what Ranger? We're not afraid of you!"

Lunick smirked and gestured at the Blaziken, "Get in the cage or I'll have him fry you"

The Blaziken gave an eager cry and kicked out t the Grunts, flames shooting from it's foot to scorch the floor just in front of them, the Grunt paled and gulped, "Err, that cage? Yeah, sure! No problem! Come on guys!"

The Grunts piled into the large cage and Solana shut it, there were loud clicks as it locked itself, "Okay then! Now keep quiet… Poliwhirl, Blaziken, keep an eye on this lot, if they shout for help or try to escape, blast them. Oh, and you can let them out when you hear a loud explosion… That'll be your cue to leave too!"

The Pokemon all nodded or made cries of acknowledgement, the two Rangers turned to the Blastoise and the Piloswine "You two want payback at these Shadow Dragons?" Lunick asked, the both Pokemon cried out eagerly, "Good. You can help us cause mayhem down here, follow us, Solana, text Aria, tell her to meet us at the tunnel entrance, tell her we're ready to destroy the Foundry"

Solana nodded and began typing the message, once it was sent the Rangers led the Pokemon back into the tunnel, at the tunnel's mouth they waited for Aria, Solana sighed, "Things are going well so far"

Lunick frowned, "Why the sigh?"

"Because things never go well for long! I bet you we'll be discovered any minute now by some Grunt!" Solana replied

Lunick chuckled, "Come on, what're the chances of that?"

"Pretty good actually, since I found you" A voice said from just outside the tunnel

Solana sighed, "See, I told you"

The two Rangers turned to confront a flame-haired knight in blue armour; he appeared to be younger than the others, Lunick frowned, "Sir Gawain, I presume?"

"Verily thou art correct," he said, bowing slightly, "I am Gawain, Knight of the Shadow Dragon, and I am in charge of this facility… No doubt you are here to destroy it?"

Lunick nodded, "Yes, we are, and I'm not letting you stop us"

"I see, that is most unfortunate, but I cannot allow thee to endanger our Sword-Styler production… So, before I destroy thee, tell me thy names Rangers, so that I may cave them upon thy gravestones" The knight said, drawing his Sword-Styler

"I'm Lunick, this is Solana, and we're not planning on dying just yet" Lunick said, activating his Styler

"Lunick? Thou doth lie! Lunick is dead!" Gawain said, eyes widening

Lunick smirked, "Funny how I never noticed that… But enough talk! I'm not letting you stop us!"

"Then thou shalt perish by my- owww!" The knight cried out in pan, dropping his sword, clutching the back of his head, he turned, "Insolent- wow"

Aria flicked her hair out of her eyes, "You guys just can't stay out of trouble, can you?"

"Aria! Good timing!" Solana exclaimed

Aria smirked, "Did you expect anything less? Now then, Sir Gawain is it? Why don't you leave these two alone and fight me instead? I am, after all, the most skilled Ranger in Fiore"

Gawain smiled, "I shalt battle thee with pleasure, Lady Aria" the knight picked his sword up, "I think that thou shalt find me a most worthy adversary… Come forth Arcanine!"

Aria smiled, "Flattery won't win you this battle, Knight! I'll … uh-oh"

An Arcanine charged out of the crowded Foundry, directly towards Aria, she activated her Styler, "I'll hold him off; you two destroy the Foundry! Don't worry about the lab, if you can tip one of the smelters the metal will flow right into it!"

Solana nodded, "Okay, good luck Aria! Come on Lunick!" she grabbed his hand and they ran towards the central smelter

Aria grinned, "It's him who'll need luck! Capture on!" she dodged the Arcanine, sending her capture disc whirling around it, "Let's see how good your Sword-Stylers really are Sir Gawain!"

Meanwhile Solana and Lunick had managed to reach the central smelter without being stopped, Solana turned to the Blastoise, "Okay, blast the foundations here with water gun!"

The massive turtle-like Pokemon got into position, the great water-cannons on its back blasted gallons of water directly at the crumbling concrete, slurry ran down the floor as large chunks of concrete simply snapped off!

"Okay, Piloswine! Tackle the steel reinforcements, I need you to knock the smelter towards that one over there!" Lunick exclaimed, the deluge of water finally ended and the Piloswine hurled its great body directly at the steel girders, already weakened by neglect and the Blastoise's water gun, the supports groaned, bent, and finally snapped clean in two, the smelter wobbled, leaning towards the left, further and further it tipped until, after an agonising moment were it seemed to stabilise, it fell directly into a row of slightly smaller smelters, Lunick whooped in triumph as the sound of crashing metal echoed around the chamber, one after another the smelters' supports snapped, causing the smelters to fall like dominoes, people screamed in terror and fled the chamber as massive globs of molten metal crashed into the forges, "Let's get out of here!" Solana shouted, "before the chamber floods!"

The two Rangers ran for their lives as a wave of molten metal fell from the first smelter, smashing through the forges, setting things ablaze, it was too much for some of the other smelters, steel groaned and flexed under the heat and pressure, cracks appeared in some of the fallen smelters, widening as molten metals burst out, alarms began blaring through the chamber, Grunts, Pokemon, smiths, everyone fled from the great wave of fire that was spreading across the Foundry.

Solana and Lunick stopped to catch their breath in a tunnel entrance; it was above the level of the Foundry floor, they'd be safe, Lunick suddenly shouted, pointing, "Look! The metal's reached the lab-tunnel!"

Sure enough the silvery tidal pool of boiling metal was pouring down the tunnel, several minutes later the ground heaved and shook and a fireball exploded out of the tunnel; the lab had exploded, incinerating countless Sword-Stylers, Solana steadied herself and stared at what they had done, "Lunick… Oh Mew, look at this!"

He nodded, "Yeah… I hope everyone got out… and… Oh Legends! Aria!"

Solana's eyes widened, "Wait… Where is she!"

The pair looked about frantically, but they could see no sign of the Fall City Ranger, "Maybe she got out by another tunnel? I mean, there's no way that Gawain guy could beat her!"

"Oh, so you finally admit that I'm the best Ranger around then, Lunick?" Aria asked, smirking, the pair turned and stared at her; her uniform was slightly singed and covered in soot, but apart from that she seemed unharmed,

"Aria! You're alive!" Solana exclaimed

Aria nodded, "Of course I am! It'll take more than a few thousand tonnes of molten metal to finish me off! Now come on, we better get out of here. That explosion was just the stored circuitry, there's a large gas tank close to it that fuels the Factory's power plant… We don't want to be here when that blows!"

Lunick and Solana's eyes widened, they nodded soundlessly and ran as fast as they could down the tunnel, "I hope this doesn't cause damage to the main Tunnel" Lunick shouted, "I'd hate to be responsible for blowing yup the Krokka Tunnel!"

Solana chuckled, "Yeah, we'd be the ones who'd have to re-dig it!"

The three Rangers fled through a maze of tunnels, eventually finding themselves back at the Foundry's hidden entrance, without stopping they dashed out into the Krokka Tunnel and then into Lyra Forest, almost as soon as they exited the Tunnel there was a massive explosion that threw them off their feet, a vast dut-cloud exploded out of the mouth of the Krokka Tunnel.

Aria got up and stared at the Tunnel, "Wow, that was too close!"

Solana nodded, slightly dazed, "You can say that again!"

"That was too close" Lunick said, smirking

Solana punched his arm, hiding a smile, "Shush Lunick… Right, we'd better go report to Base, heh, I guess we'll be back out here in a few days surveying the damage we caused to the Tunnel"

Aria nodded, "Probably, but at least the Foundry's up in smoke!"

The three Rangers began the journey back to Ringtown…

Meanwhile, in the Shadow Dragon's secret hideout…

The Shadow Dragon was not having a good day; first he'd found out that Lunick was still alive, from Seer, that had been troubling, if Seer was involved then that meant that the Covenant… No matter, the Covenant will do what they always do; they will send their Champions and hide behind them like the cowards they are! God-like power, and they are too terrified to us it! The Shadow Dragon thought, But this Lunick is harder to kill than I thought… Twice he has evaded my attempts to slay him… But then, they do say that the third time's the charm… I shall give Ector one last chance to prove himself… If Lunick still lives after he next time he encounters Ector… Ector won't.

But then, things had got worse, he'd received a message from Gawain; at first he'd been hopeful that it was word that he'd constructed a second Styler from the wreckage of the Power Styler, but instead… "No! NO! This cannot be! MY FOUNDRY! DESTROYED!" He drew his sword, a new Styler, perfected from the remnants of Gordor's Power Styler; the blade was as black as night, a fitting weapon for the Shadow Dragon, "Lunick! I shall have thy head for this! I swear it! Thy death shall be slow and painful, and you shalt beg me for mercy! I shall hear you cry out to me! Kyrie Eleison! Lord have Mercy! Gargh!" he threw the Styler at his wall, the sword struck the stone, sinking deep into it vibrating, sending out a sweet tone, "LUNICK! Hear me! I shall have thy head! I shall have thee beg me for death!"

Panting he stalked over to his sword and pulled it from the wall; it was as if nothing had happened; the blade was unmarred, "Ector had his chance, no longer shall I send a knight for thee… I shall kill you myself!"

Patience, Dragon, patience… You shall have thy vengeance upon Lunick, but first we must be ready… We have enough Sword-Stylers; now use them. Raise your standard. Send forth thy army, take Fiore, burn it to the ground if thou must, but take it, prove to the Covenant that they can no longer hide behind their Champions! When Fiore is burned they shall have to listen to me! Burn Fiore with thy flame, Dragon, and I shall ensure that you have a chance to avenge yourself against Lunick I swear it!

The Shadow Dragon turned to stare at the eyes in the shadows at the back of his room, he bowed, "As you command, Master"

The Umbreon walked towards the Shadow Dragon, my mate, Seer, aids Lunick, you will need my help if thou art to have thy revenge… Come Dragon, share in my power, together we shall have victory, I shall have my vengeance upon the Covenant and you shall have thy vengeance upon Lunick…

The Shadow Dragon hesitantly placed his hand upon the Umbreon's head, Shadow's eyes glowed and the Shadow Dragon screamed, "No! Stop! It's too much! Shadow! My mind! Stop!"

The Umbreon pulled away and the Shadow Dragon fell to his knees, gasping; Now you are ready, now you are my Champion, Lunick will die by your hand, the Covenant will be forced to accept my ways and Seer… Seer will have no choice but to be mine again…

A/N

This was my longest Chapter yet! Hope you guys like it! Heh, poor Shadow, he's not really a bad guy, but his methods aren't exactly friendly!

Read, enjoy and review!

I think I might have sent the Shadow Dragon ever so slightly insane… Oops.