I quickly glance around, trying to draw on my surroundings for options. I watch as Aiden looks a little closer at one of the Pokémon, and his eyes widen in realization.

"Clary! One of Pyrrhos' Flamethrowers must have veered off into the surrounding colony," he whispers. "There are a few Starly with burn marks on their wings."

I nod. "Gotcha. We'll try to be more careful in our next session. In the meantime... what do we do? The only other swarm I've encountered had me running, not fighting."

I hear Blue Brain hold back a laugh and make a mental promise to give him a piece of my mind if we survive this thing.

Did I just say if?

"In my experience," Aiden murmurs, "we wait for the leader of the colony to make the first move. As the intruders, any attacking on our part would be seen as intrusive, giving them permission to beat the living daylights out of us. Try to be as quiet as possible."

"Rodger that," Garnete answers. "If this does come to battle, I call the Ralts. He will be a worthy opponent."

I nod. "Perfect. Pyrrhos- you'll focus on keeping those Shinx out of the way with Grotle so Luxio and Kaia can take down the Starly."

Blue Brain flashes me a slow thumbs-up to verify my strategy, and Aiden allows a curt nod.

A single Starly, his feathers shining and eyes glinting, seems to be the leader of this pack. Not only does he seem more powerful than the others, but he is larger in size, which means that he is one step closer to evolving into a Staravia. He seems to eye me curiously, then moving his gaze to Blue Brain and Aiden in turn. He lets out a shriek, and the swarm charges all at once.

Things seem to move both slowly and quickly as I call orders to my teammates, who obey them to the best of their abilities. At one point, I see Pyrrhos turn a complete circle on the back of his shell as he takes the brunt of a Gust. I watch Blue Brain and Aiden take down a few more, thinning out the pack considerably. My attention turns towards Garnete and the Ralts, who are currently duking it out towards the treeline. My fighting-type turns a somersault and a half in an attempt to dodge a Hidden Power. She manages not to land in a tree, and catches her breath before I call for her to launch a Force Palm and Quick Attack combination. I know that Ralts is a Psychic type, yes, but we'll do a little bit more damage with two combined attacks.

Garnete does an excellent job of charging her right palm with crackling blue-indigo aura as she dashes about in a random and inconsistent fashion. She lands a hit on the back of the Feeling Pokémon's neck, which I sense is one of its weak points. The little green-helmeted guy screeches in pain, which causes everyone in the area to cover their ears.

"Geez, that's one powerful Growl!" comments Aiden.

Blue Brain shrugs. "I've seen worse."

"Way to kill the effect!" I yell back as I switch my gaze towards Kaia, who is firing off multiple Pecks and BubbleBeams towards the remainders of the Starly flock. "Kaia, try to combine Peck and BubbleBeam! I know it's brash, but it's worth a shot!"

She chirps back a confirmation and starts aiming Pecks at her opponents. As I watch, blue spheres of water explode out from under every hit she lands, causing double the damage that an ordinary attack would have given out.

"Pyrrhos, use Flamethrower!"

Just like normal, a steady stream of orange-red fire shoots out from his mouth, nailing a Shinx in the torso, severely burning it. Grotle finishes the electric feline off with a well aimed Razor Leaf.

"Good job, Kaia and Pyrrhos, keep it up! Garnete, dodge that Confusion if you can!"

She grunts, and attempts to dodge the supereffective attack. A bit of the pinkish beam catches her leg, and she lands with a wince.

"You all right?"

"Never better," she responds. "Any more battle ideas, Miss Clary?"

I bite my lip, hoping for a miracle. A wild idea comes to me- not sure if it will work, but at this point, things have come down to all or nothing.

"Garnete! This is crazy, but take a hit from either a Starly or a Shinx!"

The look she gives me expresses severe disapproval, but she goes along with it anyways, taking a Tackle from a Shinx without being Paralyzed.

"Use Counter and Force Palm, back to back!"

Her crimson eyes light up as she realizes my plan, and she darts off, extending a leg in a hard roundhouse kick. The Ralts, taking a reprieve from the battle, is caught completely off guard by a flying Riolu foot in his flushed face and a flaring palm in his ivory chest a few seconds later. A resounding thud could be heard throughout the clearing as the little psychic hit the ground and struggled to get back up.

"If you want to catch it, now's your chance!" Aiden yelled, directing his Luxio towards the largest Starly. I saw Blue Brain, completely engrossed in the battle, order a devistating Giga Drain in the direction of the remaining three Shinx, who keeled over under the effects of the power draw. Grotle and Luxio took down the remaining members, leaving only the Starly leader and the nearly exhausted Ralts.

I tossed a standard Pokéball towards the struggling psychic, and he was turned into a blue energy field as he was drawn into the sphere. The Pokéball wobbled once.

...

Twice.

...

Three times.

...

Finally, a click could be heard, and I dodged a few Sparks to get to my new teammate. Garnete looked exhausted, but content.

"Remind me not to doubt your ideas, Miss Clary. I was pondering your sanity when you asked me to take damage on purpose."

I grin as I attach Ralts' Pokéball to my belt. "There's always a plan."

I turn around, getting the feeling that Pyrrhos is in trouble. He cries out as he takes a rather powerful Wing Attack to his exposed stomach.

"Kaia! Cover him with a BubbleBeam!"

Blue Brain shoves his glasses back up his nose as he calls for Grotle to use Razor Leaf, and Aiden nervously plays with Luxio's Pokéball as he calls a Thunderbolt.

The poor Starly can't take the force of a three way attack, and he falls, with swirls in his eyes as he hits the ground.

"Does anyone have an objection to my trying to catch this one?" Aiden asks.

Blue Brain and I shrug. "Go for it," my navy haired friend suggests. "I've got Tailow, and Fireball has her new Ralts."

Aiden tosses a Great Ball, and he gains a new team member three shakes later.

He frowns, his eyes narrowing. "I'm normally not one for nicknames, but I think I'll call him Aero. Fitting for a Flying type."

I smile. "I'll think of a nickname for Ralts soon. Things like that take time for me."

Blue Brain returns Grotle, which reminds me to tend to my team. Kaia and Garnete are mostly unharmed, except for a few scratches and blossoming bruises.

Pyrrhos, however, is a different story. He looks exhausted, and totters over in my direction. I quickly pull a Potion out of my backpack, and spray it on the places where his injuries are the worse- mainly his knees and his shell. After tending to his injuries the best the three of us could, I returned him to his home and decided to let him rest. Kaia and Garnete willingly returned back to their Pokéballs, and the three of us dashed back to the Center.

As we burst through the doors, we saw Roark, with a slight smile on his face.

"Hey Roark, what's up?" Aiden asked.

The bespectacled older teen grinned. "I beat my first challenger! Perhaps this won't be so frightening after all!"

I try to keep a calm expression on my face, but I think my eyes betray me. Blue Brain shoots me a reassuring glance, which calms me down somewhat.

"That's a huge achievement, congrats," Blue Brain answers. "We need to get to the healing machine, stat."

Roark frowns. "What happened?"

Aiden sighs. "Swarm."

"Again? That's the fourth one in three weeks!" the new gym leader exclaims. "What's causing them?"

"Fireball's ignorance," Blue Brain mutters under his breath. I sock him in the shoulder, playfully, and he glares at me.

"I was training, and an attack went off track," I explain shortly, and Roark nods.

"The other three swarms were completely unprovoked," the older boy ponders.

Aiden frowns, his forehead wrinkling. "Perhaps they were attacked elsewhere?"

Roark shrugs. "Doubt it. My studies indicate that wild Pokémon only attack if feeling threatened. So not attacking, but..."

"Being provoked?" I ask. "By who?"

The newest gym leader bites his lip, as if he's debating telling us what he's thinking.

The words he says next make my jaw drop to the floor.

"Avalon."