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Note: Nothing to say right now.


The next morning, once Ryou was awake and ready to go, he decided to leave the house Shinju rented and try to find her father's building himself. The only reason why he's even bothering, though, is because Shinju seems to have slept in this morning, and he didn't feel like waking her up. After about thirty minutes or so of searching, he could find no such building that he thought Roger would battle him in.

Okay, he thought. If his building doesn't look like a Jolteon, then where could it possibly be hiding?

He turned his head around, eyeing some buildings for a moment, then shaking his head at them. His eyes then gazed at the power plant, which made him pause for a moment longer than the other buildings. After some mental deliberation, he shrugged his shoulders and ran off towards the power plant on a whim. When he entered through the visitor's entrance, he was amazed.

Every time he heard a Jolteon cry out from the roof, he noticed that an electric current was running down huge rods and into what looked like a gigantic car battery. The electricity came out on the opposite side of the rods, going into these thick wires covered in rubber, which eventually spread into multiple thin wires that went into the ground. There were some men with rubber suits on, climbing onto some of the older batteries to fix a wire connection, or they were tending to the wires running into the ground to make sure they were properly twisted together. Some Jolteon accompanied them, putting some part of their body on any open part in the circuitry as if to either point it out or keep the power from shocking the men.

He then noticed that he was standing on a platform high above all of this dangerous work, and that there were some Jolteon walking along the guard rails as if to make sure no small person fell down. On the platform were two vending machines. One with various types of candy bars, and one with various types of Pokemon food. Other than that, this platform was empty.

Just as Ryou was getting bored and decided to leave, he heard a male voice call out to him from below. He looked and noticed Roger was standing next to this guy who looked like he wanted to be a middle-aged rock star, by the looks of his clothing. His hair was a dull gray color, and his eyes were a shiny silver-ish color. He was waving towards Ryou with a hand cupped around his mouth.

"Oi!" The man shouted. "I suppose you'll be wanting to challenge us, boy?"

"Of course I do!" Ryou shouted back.

"Then come on down, Ryou!" Roger called.

"How in the world am I going to do that!?!"

"Just jump and one of the Jolteon will catch you!!!"

Ryou shook his head at the two of them, rolling his eyes as he did. He was very skeptical about jumping down there, especially from this height, and he wasn't too accepting of the fact that he was going to be caught by a Jolteon. He didn't doubt that it could catch him, really. It was more so the matter of how one would catch him without hurting him.

Just as he was about to think of a safer method to jump with, he felt a hand push him over the railing and down onto the floor which was about, oh, 50-60 feet below him. He fell, taking away about thirty feet from the fall, when he felt something tingle throughout his entire body. The sensation lasted until he hit the ground, leaving him a little mystified. He then noticed that a Jolteon was at his feet, taking a good look at him to make sure he was okay.

"What in the world just happened?" Ryou mumbled, surprised that he wasn't dead by now.

"One of the Jolteon caught you!" Roger said, as if it were an obvious thing. "Its buddies came along and helped to soften your fall, and the one right in front of you is making sure you aren't hurt."

"And if I did end up getting hurt...?"

"That one would send shock waves into your body to stimulate it into healing at a faster rate than normal."

"Is that even safe?"

"If it weren't, would we even have asked you to jump?"

"Then why not just install a lift or something!?!"

"We did. We just like making trainers jump to see how brave they are," the middle aged rocker answered.

Ryou got an anime vien as he asked, "Can we just get to the battle already?"

"Boy, this kid sure is impatient," the rocker commented.

"So what if he is, Trace?" Roger asked. "It just means that he thinks he's ready sooner than other people. But," Roger cast a soft glare towards Ryou, "that doesn't mean you'll win. Ready to take me on?"

"Of course I am! And I'll kick your ass, too!"

"Really, now?"

"You bet! And maybe then you'll shut up about trying to stick me with Shinju!"

"Again?" Trace asked, glancing at Roger.

"Yeah," Roger replied, a little less serious than a moment before. "I can't help it!"

"Oh, I'm sure he can," Ryou mumbled, just barley audible. "Can we get started or what?"

"Sure. Just give me a sec and I'll get to my side of the field."

Before Ryou could even blink, Roger was on the other side, ready to start up the battle. Ryou grabbed an X in his bag as Trace took the position Shinju normally would to judge.

He declared, "Let the battle begin!"

Ryou tossed the X he grabbed, calling out his Torterra, and Roger called out a Jolteon, which he nicknamed Lilly.

"So you call out that one?" Roger asked. "This'll be interesting. I wanna see how your surface Pokemon match up against mine. Now Lilly, use Thunder!"

Ryou smirked as the Jolteon performed its attack. It hit Shellstomp perfectly, but it didn't effect her at all.

"I'm afraid electric attacks won't work on Shellstomp," Ryou started in a confident manner. "You see, she may be a grass-type, which'd make electric attacks weak anyways, but she's also a ground type. I have a clear advantage here, I'm afraid."

Roger's eyes were wide and one of them was twitching in a comical manner. Apparently Lilly didn't have anything to get itself out of this kind of mess, Ryou concluded, so he decided to end the match as quickly as he could.

"Shellstomp, use earthquake!"

Just as the Torterra was about to execute the attack, Roger shouted for him to stop.

"You idiot! If you crack the earth beneath us, you'll destroy the power plant! Think of something else, you twit!"

Ryou blinked. "Oh. Whoops. Sorry. Shellstomp, use mud shot instead!!!"

The Torterra obeyed, confused at first, and made this strange noise, as if it were going to throw up. A lump formed on its neck where its throat was, and it opened its mouth, shooting a ball of mud at the Jolteon in front of it. It hit, making it difficult for the electric Pokemon to move, and after a moment of struggling, its eyes went swirly and it fell to one of its sides.

"Lilly is unable to battle!" Trace declared. "The round goes to Shellstomp!"

Roger called back the Jolteon and called out another, which he had nicknamed Zoomz.

"Zoomz, use extremespeed!" he commanded.

It hit Shellstomp like Lilly's Thunder, having no effect whatsoever. Ryou had Shellstomp do another mud shot, which hit its opponent and claimed another victory. Roger's third Jolteon was nicknamed Jolty, and it had less success at a victory than his buddies did. It didn't even get a chance to attack before the mud shot hit and finished it off.

"Shellstomp has defeated Roger's final Pokemon! The victory goes to Ryou!"

Ryou cheered, hugging his Torterra before he called it back. While he was doing so, Roger and Trace had switched places, confusing Ryou for a moment.

"Let the battle between Ryou and Trace begin!" Roger declared.

Ryou hesitated for a moment while he decided on what Pokemon to use next.

Shinju called those things Ireon, right? he thought. Ireon... Kinda sounds like my mother's iron... so I'll go for Flame!

He called out his Rapidash as Trace called out an Ireon he called Skillet.

"Use mirror shot, Skillet!" Trace commanded.

His Pokemon shone bright for a moment, then the sine turned into a beam which shot towards Flame. She dodged gracefully, and Ryou smirked once more, putting a worried look on Trace's face.

"Flame, use flamethrower!"

Ryou's Rapidash shot a beam of harsh fire at its opponent, putting a bit of a worried look on Roger's face as well. Trace, however, surprised both Ryou and Roger by calling out another attack.

"Use mirror coat!"

The flamethrower was reflected back at Flame at twice its original power, hitting the Rapidash like a bulls-eye. It didn't seem hurt by it, though. In fact, the flames that made up its mane got larger. Ryou smirked.

"Sorry. See, Flame has this ability called Flash Fire. That means every time she gets hit by fire attacks, she doesn't take damage, but instead gets the power of her fire-type moves boosted for the duration of the battle. Now use fire blast!"

A large burst of fire came from the Rapidash's mouth, spreading out in five directions as it approached its opponent. Once it hit, the Ireon was knocked back so far that it nearly put a dent in the wall had it not dug its feet into the ground to prevent it. It took the attack, getting a severe burn, and once the attack was finished, it slumped to its side with swirly eyes.

"Skillet is unable to battle!" Roger declared. "The round goes to Flame!"

Trace called back skillet and sent out another Ireon, which he called Griddle, and told it to use flash cannon. It started to charge a ball of light in front of its mouth, but Ryou yawned because it took a whole minute for the thing to charge it. Once he finished his yawn, he told Flame to use flare blitz. She charged at Griddle with the flames on its body just dancing around her and making a beautiful display, and at the exact moment she hit Griddle, it had released its attack.

It missed horribly, however, and the orb of light ended up nearly hitting a wall. A Jolteon had taken the hit to prevent that from happening, however, so the building remained in tact. Griddle fell over with swirly eyes, and Flame trotted back towards its side of the field with a slight burn on its body.

"Griddle is unable to battle!" Roger called out. "Flame wins the round!"

Trace called out another Ireon, which he had named Grill, and told it to use an attack Ryou had never even heard of. It sounded like "iron slam" to Ryou, but he couldn't tell. Grill was making this strange metallic sound before Trace even started giving the command, as if it knew what its owner wanted it to do.

The metallic sound was very annoying, and Ryou had to cover his ears just to keep it from affecting his hearing. He saw Roger and Trace do the same thing while his Rapidash seemed to be making its flames flicker loudly near its ears in an effort to block the sound. Once the sound was finished, Grill's body seemed to be slightly heavier than before, and it charged at Flame with an intent to kill.

Flame just barley dodged it, leaving the Ireon to ram into a pole that held up the visitor's platform. The pole shook violently, making it seem like it was about to fall at any moment, and Grill seemed to be exhausted from the attack. Ryou took his chance and told Flame to use fire blast again, and the attack hit Grill dead center, severely burning it and knocking it over. It took a second for it to be noticeable, but its eyes were now swirly, causing Roger to make his final call.

"Grill is unable to battle! The victory goes to Ryou!"

Ryou cheered again, hugging his Rapidash and calling it back into its X as Trace called back Grill. Roger went to his friend in tears, giving him a friendly hug. Trace returned the hug and tears gracefully, saying something about how their two battles were as graceful and beautiful as they possibly could get. Ryou shook their heads at them and looked around. There was absolutely no way in sight to get back up and onto the visitor's dock, leaving Ryou a little worried about how to get back up. Shinji suddenly appeared, however, and had one of his pokeballs in his hand.

"Just what in the world are those two crying about?" he asked, casting a questioning glare towards Ryou.

"I dunno," Ryou replied with a shrug. "I just finished my singles battles with them, and they just started doing this for no apparent reason."

"You just finished a battle with them?"

"Yeah. I don't know how to get out, though..."

"If you can't find the lift, then just use a flying-type Pokemon, you idiot."

"Did you just call me an idiot?"

"Did I stutter?"

Ryou cast a glare st Shinji, which was returned to him, and lightning shot from their eyes at each other. They were about to go at each other when suddenly a pair of vines wrapped around Ryou and started pulling him up towards the visitor's lift. Shinji was a little surprised by this, as was Ryou, and just stared at the vines. Ryou followed them up with his eyes as they kept lifting him and saw them go over the railing. Once he was high enough, he could see that it was from a Leafeon. Shinju's Leafeon.

Once he was back on his feet next to the Leafeon, he noticed a sensation he hadn't been able to feel for a while since he had come down here. It was fresh air, and it seemed to emanate from the Leafeon.

I heard they can do photosynthesis, he thought. I guess that's how the people down here get their air supply. The air seems oddly stale to me, though.

Ryou didn't notice it, but he was crouching so that his nose was close to Shinju's Leafeon to get in as much fresh air as he possibly could. Shinju stared at him for a second as he did this, giving him a questioning gaze. As soon as he got his fill of air, Ryou stood up again and noticed Shinju's expression.

"Oh, sorry. It's just that the air's so stale down here... Your Leafeon seemed like such a relief to my lungs. I guess I couldn't help myself."

"Oh, that? Yeah. It's alright. For some reason, most of the ground soil down here isn't all that suitable for plants. The soil above us is good for it, though, but we're having issues about blocking the light right about now. Not many people like the idea of being left in the dark for a batter air supply, so there are people currently working on ways to make plants be bioluminescent."

"Any success?"

"None so far. All that we've come up with are plants that grow ten times larger than normal. At this rate, we're hoping that the plants will just make themselves glow."

"So how are you guys taking care of the air problem for now?"

"We have Leafeon migrate every week or so. They cover about a third of the place at a time, and sometimes stray ones linger a bit to keep the air supply fresh."

"So why aren't there any in this area?"

"It's not in the rotation yet. Don't worry, though. We're really close to the Leafeon city, and that seems to be the only place where plants can grow."

"That'd be a relief."

There was a slight silence as they left the power plant, and it just became afternoon. There was a lot of time to waste, and Ryou didn't really know what to do since he didn't know the area.

"So... what should we do for the rest of the day?" he asked Shinju.

She thought for a moment, then stuck her finger in the air as if she had an idea. She grabbed Ryou's wrist and started dragging him off to do who knows what for the rest of the day.


Anybody miss the battling last part? Please review!