While hot and rough to travel, the pair navigated the caverns within Stark Mountain at a modest clip. Idle chatter was nonexistent, both of their senses stretched to full to catch any wind of their target.

Finally they found a small cave, with a familiar sounding human voice coming from it. An irritated roar followed the voice, and the two jumped down and ran into the cave, just in time to catch a heavy blast of heat to their faces.

"Ok…" Zero said, backing up slowly. The flames died down, Charon's body reduced to ashes, screams still in their ears. "What the hell is that, and do we kill it, or catch it?"

Sabrina swallowed heavily. Heart pounding, body coated in a soft sheen of sweat from both the flames of the unknown Pokémon's attack, as well as the trek through the volcano, she shook her head.

"Don't look at me, this is usually just a vacation spot when I feel like getting away from the Gym…"

Zero slowly pulled out his Pokédex, not wanting to startle the powerful creature.

Scanning…

Match found.

Subject Name: Heatran

Type: Fire, Steel

Classification: Lava Dome Pokémon

Description: This extremely rare Pokémon dwells in volcanic caves, unseen normally by human eyes.

Using its cross shaped feet, it can partially burrow into rock to maintain footing even on walls and ceilings.

While made of extremely durable steel, parts of its body are melted due to its own internal heat levels.

Caution is recommended when battling it, for if its flesh is somehow severed, boiling hot blood will sear any who come in contact with it.

"Why me? Why the bloody fucking hell do I always get stuck with the pissed off Legendaries?" Zero cursed. It was then that Heatran realized it was still not alone. It gave a gravelly roar of irritation, shimmer like a haze erupting around its body.

"Shit, move!"

Zero and Sabrina dived out of the way just as a pillar of flame erupted from its mouth. A hissing noise was heard, followed by a defined rumble, part of the cave opening the two came through collapsing to the ground. The flames melted the rock just above the exit, causing instability within the structure.

"Oh come the FUCK on!" Their exit was blocked. Zero and Sabrina turned back to the lumbering four-legged Pokémon. It roared again A pillar of fire erupted into place beneath Zero's feet incinerating him in seconds. rearing back for a moment.

"NO!"

As the flame user slammed its two forelegs into the ground, Sabrina vanished in a flicker of movement, appearing next to Zero and throwing both of them out of the way just as a blaze of fire ripped into the air right where he was once standing. An irritated growl displayed Heatran's feelings on missing.

"Damn girl…you saw that coming?" Zero groaned out, not ready for either impact.

"I'm not losing you. Not now…not like this." Sabrina spoke heavily, eyes narrowed at the fire Pokémon. The two slowly stood.

"Damn…and I don't have Isis on me…she'd end this in one shot." Zero muttered.

"And probably us as well." Sabrina retorted.

"…point."

She fingered a Pokéball. "Zero…I'll distract it, you seal it with a Master Ball."

"uhh…problem." She looked back.

"I don't have any more. I used my last one to shut Darkrai up."

"You…you're out? That's…surprising." She was a bit annoyed, but given the capsule's rarity, she couldn't hold it against him.

He shrugged. "I used one on Chihiro, one on Mewtwo, one to keep Rayquaza from being caught by anyone else, two on Kyogre and Groudon for the same purpose, and the last one was on Darkrai. I tried to keep them for World Endingly Strong Pokémon but…"

"So catching it is out then…" She said, eyeing the rock monster.

"Not…really? But it'll be tough. And do we really wanna bother?"

"We gotta take it down…or rather keep it busy long enough to find a way out of here."

"I'll toss a ball if I see an opening, but other than that, we'll just focus on keeping it distracted." Sabrina nodded, before reaching up and unzipping her bodysuit. Zero's eyebrows rose as the older woman slipped her arms out of their sleeves, before tying them at her waist. Underneath the top part of her outfit was a damp looking black tank-top.

"Err?"

"Gonna be running around. Don't want an early repeat of our match." She flung out her arm, sending a Pokéball flying. "Gallade!" His second eyebrow rose.

In a flash of light a bi-pedal Pokémon, green top with white legs, arms like solid mass of green and a red fin sticking out of its chest appeared.

"Nice find." Zero was impressed. Gallade was the rarer and male evolutionary variant to Hisui's line, Gardevoir.

Zero stepped next to Sabrina. Don't have any water types, not that it would help cause he's got a terrain advantage of insane heat. I'd send in Akiha but I don't fancy her arm getting seared off. Wait…that's it!

"Alma!" A flash of light and the Mismagius appeared in her normal form.

"Master?"

"Stick to Gallade. Sabri and I will help take him on, but whatever you do, if it looks like he's going to smack you or bleed on you planeshift alright? Gallade's a physical fighter, using his psychic powers to boost his strikes rather than blast away from afar, so he'll be fine on the blood-factor, but anything else I want you to cover him for."

"On it!"

Gallade nodded as well, the two Pokémon taking off, Alma shifting to a more transparent state, swooping straight through Heatran, confusing it, while Gallade swung its arm across, launching a Psycho Cut attack. Sensing something approaching her, Sabrina whirled around, flicking out a hand and catching a surprisingly cold bottle of water. She looked at it, and then back at Zero who was taking a swig from his own bottle, before capping it and having it vanish in a ripple of air.

"How…?"

"Side effect from being too close to Palkia's Spacial Rend. I call it a Vector Trap. Basically a small 'subspace' pocket where I can keep non-living things. It's localized around my body though, so I can't like, jump into it and be safe, it doesn't support life. Time doesn't flow there though, so objects come out the same state they go in." While he was explaining, Sabrina took a drink from her own bottle before tossing it back to him.

"Is that how you're able to travel so light?" She rotated her shoulders, bouncing on the balls of her feet for a moment, getting ready for the battle. Zero's eyes were following her every move.

"Uh…yeah…"

"Hey. Eyes up here." Zero blinked. "First, we make it out of here. After that you can stare at my chest all you want. Possibly without a shirt."

He blinked at her. "I'm not that easy."

She gave a smirk. "No, but I'm sure you'd like to be able to brag that you got to see the Legendary Psychic's bare tits." Her hands became coated in a soft haze.

Zero's body shimmered the same. "If that's what you want."

The smirk widened. "You might be able to think outside the box, but now, we're on my turf. Try to keep up."

He smirked back. "Oh don't worry, if I slow down, its because I want to savor. Every. Moment." He said, stomping the ground.

Alma phased back into reality both understanding the motion as well as the impulse of emotions sent in her direction. With a soft grunt of exertion, a wave of pressure slammed into the walls of the cave, crumbling the stone and rocks together before they formed into shimmering crystals that all rocketed into the rocky flesh of Heatran. It roared in irritation, retaliating by stomping the ground itself.

"Jump!"

Zero and Sabrina both took to the air, bounding onto the walls, before bouncing off, evading the shockwave created in the ground from Heatran's Earthquake attack. Zero landed, and stumbled slightly. That messed with the ground beneath us. This might become a problem.

"Above!" Sabrina yelled. Zero looked up in time to see a series of boulders dropping from over their heads. And the ceiling as well! He threw up his hands, fanning out his psychic field, catching the most immediately dangerous ones, before pulling back and lashing forward. Gallade jumped on one of the boulders being hurled by Sabrina, the elder psychic launching them one after another instead of all at once, displaying her true skill. The green and white Pokémon slashed out three Psycho Cuts before jumping off his boulder, which was given a bit of an extra kick by Sabrina punching forward.

Heatran growled, spitting a torrent of flame at Sabrina. Her hair began to float under the curtails of her power. She flung out a single hand and the flames all halted against a powerful psychic barrier. I'll have to thank Zero for teaching me this one.

Remembering her battle against her current partner, she waved around her other hand, effortlessly splitting her attention between two different commands. A soft violet glow surrounded the flames, compressing them into a ball which she launched right back at Heatran. As the burning orb slammed into its rocky flesh, she pulled back and punched out with her fist, launching a blast of condensed psychic will, at the same time Gallade fired off another Psycho Cut.

Heatran was pushed back, but didn't look anything more than greatly pissed.

Damn I put a lot into that! How the hell…?

"Sabri! He's half steel! Psychic manifestations won't work as well on him!" Sabrina nodded before mentally commanding Gallade to change tactics.

All of our tricks are just irritating him. Steel types are already a bitch to take down without burning, and with his fire half even that's out. Akiha knows a few Ground moves, but those would just make our little arena even more unstable…

Alma shimmered back into view just in front of Heatran. It blinked, not expecting her to suddenly be in its face, before she assaulted its ears with a heavy air distorting Screech. It roared in agony at the shrill noise, bowing its head not seeing Gallade pull an arm back.

WHOMP

With a heavy swing, Gallade slammed its arm right in Heatran's chin, knocking the rocky Pokémon into the air where it crashed onto the ground heavily. A loud rumbling filled the cave a few moments after its landing, a sharp snapping noise coming from beneath their feet. Before anyone could react, "Oh SHI-" the ground beneath them cracked and gave way. Heatran was the first to fall, with Zero, Gallade and Sabrina dropping after it, Alma furiously flying to catch them.

Darkness covered their view for a few moments, before a soft orange glow came from below them.

"SABRINA!" Zero called over the raging winds of their descent. "CALL GALLADE BACK AND GRAB A FLOAT!"

Using her psychic field to dampen the effects of the winds, Sabrina held out Gallade's Pokéball and returned him to safety. She turned herself around, seeing a large stalactite falling towards her. She reached out pulling it closer before she pushed it downward, landing on the top, flat-ish end of it. Zero himself just grabbed a random boulder in range, Alma diving into his body to hitch a ride with him.

After a few minutes of falling, the trio found themselves crashing into rocky ground. Cracks appeared in it from where the fragments of ceiling slammed into it, small fissures of orange appearing, but it held for the time being. They rose from the ground, hearing a guttural roar from further ahead.

Heatran was ready for them.

Sabrina relaxed herself, letting her psychic field fan out, ready for action. Alma tensed, preparing to race for it. Zero pulled out a ball, flicked it to the side and summoned Akiha, his Blaziken. A soft haze began surrounding all three of them, surprising Sabrina with its density.

"Activate Termination Protocol."

The three tensed, and vanished. Sabrina blinked, shocked. It was time to get serious.

Heatran's mouth opened, a piercing stream of flame ripping forth. Alma flickered in place, a semi-transparent dome slamming into existence, the flames parting around it. Her Protect stalled the incoming attack, letting Zero and Akiha flicker into view. Flickers of embers surrounded their forms, as the two shimmered again, before appearing in front of Heatran.

"Kuuha Bakuendan!"

The two of them kicked off the ground, Zero's psychic field ripping into place, while Akiha simply took control of the flames around her. The two twisted, turning into twin spirals of fire both of them slamming heavily into Heatran. Alma's eyes snapped open, and with a mighty yell a massive wall of near-physical psychic force ripped through the air, Heatran's body buckling as it slammed into the rocky Pokémon. It growled and roared back, Zero and Akiha back-stepping repeatedly, avoiding constant pillars of magma erupting from the unstable ground beneath them.

As small globs of it fell through the air, Zero grabbed them with his psychic field, before tossing the collective back into Heatran's face. It stung it slightly, but blinded the Pokémon to Akiha's approach.

"SHINRYUKEN!"

A fiery Sky Uppercut into Heatran's chin, boosted by Alma launching a psychic concussive force at Akiha's feet to propel her forward even faster. Heatran was knocked into the air.

"Sabrina! Pudding! It's like really really hot pudding!"

Catching on to what Zero meant, Sabrina grasped hold of some of the magma leaking out of the fissures in the ground. Now understanding that it had the consistency of something she had experience with, she was able to grasp hold and form it into the loose shape of a double ended spear. Zero flicked out another ball as Sabrina pulled back.

"Bufudyne!"

In a flash of violet light and a wave of popping hearts, Zero's Latias, Chihiro emerged, immediately surrounding herself with frigid air. She swept past the magma spear, before the lance of red pulled her back into the Master Ball she called home.

"Pike Kick!"

Akiha flipped forward before twisting herself around and lashing out her right leg. The winds created by her spin added a seemingly jagged point to the air beneath her foot as she slammed it into the still airborne Heatran's unprotected underbelly. With a yell of focus, Sabrina lashed out a fist towards the now solidified earthen spear, smacking it with a psychic blast sending it screaming forward like a bolt of light. It pierced straight through its rocky hide, right into one of the weaker melted areas at its rear.

Landing heavily, causing even more cracks in the rocky ground, Heatran screeched angrily. The ground rumbled and broke near it, the magma bubbling and frothing before flaring upward in a torrent. Flicking out a ball, Gallade returned to battle just next to Sabrina, who centered herself, closing her eyes for a brief moment before snapping them open, ready. Zero and Sabrina stood side by side, the Magma Storm heading right for them, and the two leaned forward, pushing off the ground at the same time, Akiha and Gallade right behind them.

Alma flickered back into normal space right in front of Heatran, screaming in its face again, causing it to flail around angrily.

Sabrina and Zero flared their psychic fields, leaping at the lava wall before violently fanning them out, the combined forces causing the near solid blanket to spread around them. Akiha and Gallade leapt over their trainers as Alma flickered backward and away, the two rushing in, fists and feet lashing out wildly.

"Satsugeki Bukouken!"

Four violent haymakers launched from both Pokémon slamming into Heatran's face. Akiha leapt up slamming a flaming heel into its left cheek, Gallade slamming his left elbow blade into Heatran's forehead, followed by Akiha turning back around and delivering a wide swing with her right fist, echoed by Gallade and his left, before the two spun on their heels and slammed their feet into its chin, grabbing its forelegs and slamming heavy fists into its underbelly to knock it into the air.

Alma re-appeared only this time in human form. She rose her arms above her head, spheres of magma ripping from the fissures in the ground, forming into the same shape Sabrina used. A pulse of will later, surrounding them with otherworldly energy, the very essence of the afterlife, and the magma spears hardened into solid rock. As this happened, Alma lowered her arms to her sides, holding them outward as if open for a hug.

"Dople." (Rejection)

With one word spoken, she crossed her arms, the spears all converging and impaling Heatran at once, the Pokémon screeching in agony, searing red rivers of magma-like blood coming from its wounds. From above, Zero and Sabrina descended, right and left fists pulled back respectively. Both of them were shimmering with the exact same haze, both giving off the exact same pulses, like two hearts beating at the same time.

"Yehar endia hymmne!" (I sing the melody of the end)

The two slammed their psychically charged fists into Heatran's face, the large Pokémon being sent rocketing into the cooled magma surface below, pillars of the corrosive searing substance rising into the air before falling like dying fragments of a molten hot geyser. Only thicker.

The two landed softly on the ground, all five of them staring at Heatran's still form.

"Is…is it dead?" Sabrina asked, too tired to stretch her senses out to try to detect its life.

"…dunno."

Suddenly the air grew heavy. The small pit of magma that Heatran was slowly sinking into began bubbling violently. Zero's eyes widened. Immediately he called back Akiha and Alma. Seeing him do so, Sabrina did the same with Gallade. Once she did, Zero grabbed her arm and started running.

"Zero what-

"It's gonna blow!"

Sabrina's eyes widened and the woman began pumping her legs harder than before. The small cooled bridge they were on began to crumble as energy began gathering inside Heatran's core. If it was going to die, it was going to die taking its enemies with it.

"Shit shit shit shit shit! Sabrina can you get us out of here?"

"I'm barely managing to run right now! I've never been here before and I don't know how far we fell, I can't teleport unless I either see the area or know where it is in relation to myself!" The woman yelled back.

"FuuuUUUUCK!" Zero swore as the two pushed on. They were running out of both time and space however. The two skidded to a stop just before a drop into the now frothing pool of magma. A loud noise behind them caused them to whirl around. A wave of force washed over them, as a growing sphere of white and orange tore their way.

"Even if we pulled up a combined field…we wouldn't survive the heat." Zero said softly. "Sabrina…I'm-

"Don't you dare apologize. I'm a grown woman dammit, and a Gym Leader. I can make my own choices, and I chose to come with you." She cut him off.

He sighed. "Yeah."

She looked at the coming wall of Death, then back to Zero.

"That said…" She spoke, before grabbing his wrists and placing both hands on her breasts. Zero blinked in surprise, before the older psychic grabbed his head and slammed her lips onto his.

If I'm going to die, I'm going to die happy dammit.

Zero's eyes were wide, but as her tongue practically pried his lips apart, he closed them, accepting her terms.

Better to die…with someone you love…than to die alone…

Everyone…I'm sorry.

As tears began running down his cheeks, the rushing sound of the fused magma and energy wave grew louder and louder, the two feeling the heat and pressure overcome them. Zero gripped her tighter, tensing, ready for the pain, when an impossible thud echoed through his head.

The wave washed over them, slamming into the walls of the volcano.


Dawn was fiddling with one of her dresses. May was pacing back and forth. Penelope and Bella were out of their balls, sitting patiently. Hisui was fidgeting, unhappy. Her connection to her master had become muddled not long after she teleported the girls back. Nyx herself said she could barely feel him, which was unusual to her. Cynthia was there as well, wanting to hang around the legendary trainer a bit longer, to learn from him, with Cecilia sitting next to dawn, watching her work.

A loud explosion from afar jarred them all.

"What was that?" May cried out. Nobody could give an answer. For a few minutes nobody said anything, feeling soft rumbles getting louder and stronger. An exclamation of shock from outside drew their attention, the group of girls rushing out of the Villa to find out what was going on.

"Stark Mountain is erupting!" Someone yelled out.

And indeed it was. From the Villa, the group could see small flickers of orange-red, ash raining from the sky and covering the surrounding forest. Small streams of orange could be seen, burning rocks shooting from its core.

"Are we in danger?" May asked. Cynthia shook her head. "No…the water surrounding this place will stop the advancement of any lava but…"

"Master! Master was there!" Hisui echoed out in fear. "I…I can't feel him! I can't feel him anymore!"

Eyes widened all around.

"no…" Dawn moaned softly, dropping to her knees. Even she couldn't feel him, just empty space where his 'life' used to be.

Suddenly Nyx tensed. She whirled her head around wildly, as if trying to spot something.

"Blaze?" Bella spoke to the Giratina turned Human.

"Something is…off."

As soon as she spoke those words, the air seemed to distort. The sky turned pitch black for a moment, as a vague shimmer of distorted light appeared right in front of her. She stepped back, sensing similar energy to that of a ghost Pokémon emerging from the shadowed echo of reality, but not sensing a Pokémon at all. Dawn rose, feeling a strange pressure in her head, as did Hisui. The air flickered and popped, before a small burst of wispy black and purple erupted from a single point, swirling around like a raging mist. The rushing sound of heavy air, like a tornado tearing through a city, filled their ears as the mist began to arc and twist violently.

Finally the mist seemed to shimmer before exploding outward in pale violet wisps, a loud tearing sound echoing across the small resort. They all stared in shock.

Zero and Sabrina, hand in hand, clothes burnt and in tatters, hair singed and bodies smoking, appeared, before Zero dropped to his knees, almost pulling Sabrina with him. The pale mists spiraled around and condensed in front of him into a misty violet orb.

"That…was…a thing…" He spoke hoarsely, falling onto his back, hand slipping out of Sabrina's grasp, as the girl too collapsed to her rear.

"Thought we were goners for sure…" She spoke softly, as if barely believing they lived.

"Fuck it…next time I go investigating some weird vision, I'm taking my god-team with me."

"ZERO!" "MASTER!"

"Oww…not so loud girls…my ears are still ringing." He groaned.

"What happened?" May asked, kneeling next to Zero. "We thought you were dead!" Cecilia spoke.

"You vanished entirely from my senses Master, like a blank space!" Hisui cried out.

"Yeah…I guess that's part of what happened?" He barely knew himself.

"I don't even know…friggin…we found that old guy getting burnt worse than a badly cooked turkey. Then friggin Heatran saw us and was still pissy, so we had to beat the shit out of it…which we did…barely."

"I have no regrets." Sabrina stated tonelessly. "Second near-death experience aside, I've never felt so good in my life."

"Yeah you're only saying that cause you got to go Full Synchro with me." Zero retorted.

"Full…wait she managed to completely align with you?"

"It was fucking awesome." Sabrina said, tone still blank, but with a hint of excitement to it. She stared aimlessly at the sky, spread-eagle on her back.

"So, we kick his ass. And then he decides to go all kamikaze on us. I thought we were gonna die."

"Same here. But then you did that little phase-walk-glide…thing."

"For the record I have no idea what the hell that was, just that it had godlike timing." Zero claimed.

"Phase-walk-glide-thing?" Cynthia questioned.

"That orb. That thing, right when the magma was basically on top of us, just appeared, and yanked us into some colorless version of reality. Like, the heat had already started burning my hair, and I know for a fact I'm gonna need some aloe soon, but…damn."

"Hey…Alma…" From his side emerged the Mismagius in human form.

"Is that…what it's like when you shift planes?"

"Yep!" She said brightly.

"Huh…" Zero sat up slightly, Sabrina slowly doing the same, ignoring the fact that her left breast was poking out of a burnt hole in her top, or simply not caring.

"So…Adamant Orb gives Timey Warpy powers…Lustrous Orb gives Space powers…and Griseous Orb…gives Ghosty powers? Ugh…my life is a friggin RPG now…"

"So…Heatran?" Nyx asked.

"Dead." Sabrina stated. "Or unconscious." She corrected.

"Fucker better be dead, after what he did. Hell if he's still alive I'm going back there, chopping his head off and mounting it on my wall, and then taking a picture of me standing next to his corpse. Then if anyone thinks they can step to me i'll just whip out that picture and go 'yeah, that's Heatran. He tried to bury me in a volcano so I cut his head off and stuck it on my wall. Sorry, you were trying to do what with the world now?'"

Sabrina just shook her head. "You're not doing anything of the sort unless I'm in the picture with you. That Explosion almost killed me too." Zero flicked his hand around as if to wave off her comment.

"Don't worry about it. If he knows what's good for him he'll at least pretend to be dead. Kiiinda getting sick of being thrown up against legendaries left and right and almost getting killed for it. I swear, if I find out this is all one big test to throw me up against God like in SMT I'm going to stab something."

"With a fork." Sabrina added.

"You're hungry aren't you?"

She nodded, still wearing a dreamily blank look on her face. Dawn looked between the two. "You two seem…closer."

"That'll happen when you nearly die together."

"After merging psychic fields to punch a giant fiery rock monster into a bed of magma."

Zero nodded and seconds later both his and Sabrina's stomachs rumbled at the same time.

"Food" They both spoke at the same time. As they got up, Sabrina groaned. "Ugh, I feel sticky, and not in the fun way."

"Yeah we should take a shower…" Zero mused.

"I'm joining!" Dawn piped up.

"M-me too!" May echoed, not wanting to be outdone. Zero looked at both of them, deadpan.

"I MEANT separately. Besides, my shower is barely big enough for two people, let alone four."

"A-actually…" Cecilia spoke, flushing slightly. Everyone turned to her. "There's a big Jacuzzi at my mansion…we keep it cleaned but rarely ever have the chance to use it…it's definitely big enough for all of us." Dawn got a bright smile on her face, Sabrina got a smirk, May let out a nervous giggle and Zero…smacked his forehead and sighed.

"I'll go get the towels…"

And he walked off, muttering about 'perverted women' and 'life turning me into a goddamn H-Game protagonist.'


A/N: VS Heatran goooo! Epic battle is epic. Sabrina's got more raw power psychically than Zero does, but Zero has imagination and near instant comprehension, letting him use his field a little better. For her second outfit, imagine her wearing the top she does in HG/SS when you fight her.

Oh and for the last thing Alma did against Heatran, imagine Mu-12's Omoihikane (Wisdom of the Divine) Distortion Drive from BlazBlue Continuum Shift.

D&S Master: And now we get to see what Sabrina can do. And unlike in Platinum, Charon doesn't get arrested, he gets turned into charcoal. I find that…far more fitting.