Guess who got some sleep!

On a slightly unrelated note, WHAT?! Lake of Rage is putting out a chapter of Ultimatum? And it hasn't been months?! Are you sure it hasn't been months?! How long was I asleep last night, three years?! What is this trickery?! Seriously, though. It think my refusal to jinx myself last time worked. Therefore, in an attempt to anti-jinx myself, I will now spout the following lie: I'm not updating for another couple of years, so deal with it! *applies sunglasses*

Also, this is very nearly a 7K word chapter. Oh, my!

Thank you, GuestWow/Bunnywings (The sleep-deprived Rage was tired and quite mean / When she saw a review she, before, hadn't seen. / She read the review, and the old legends say / that old Rage's cold heart grew three sizes that day.) for the review! Also, I'd like to thank anyone and everyone who has favorited, followed, etc., not to mention all the reviews I've gotten on previous chapters! Thank you all, and Merry Christmas!

So let's get this party started!

Chapter Eleven
Common Enemies

Usually, May operated very well under stress. Even if she was confronted with something that completely contradicted her expectations, she could usually roll with the punches, and she always thought fast on her feet. That was one of the reasons she was such a good Trainer; she could virtually never be off-guard because her guard jumped up so quickly. It didn't help that her fight or flight response was heavily weighted towards fight.

Now, as she stared at the tiny but deadly glimmer of metal, for very possibly the first time in her life, May Maple stopped dead in her tracks and stayed there.

"It's nothing personal, Berke," came the growl right as she was rooted into place. "Just business."

She didn't react when her Volbeat penlight jerked out of her hands and a compass hung around her neck jerked itself free, breaking the chain against the back of her neck; she barely seemed to notice that several of her items were literally tearing themselves out of her bag and shooting towards the Magnezone, sticking tight to its magnets. The low moan of fear from said Magnezone likewise escaped her, although it was hard to miss the mottled burns that coated it.

She had frozen before, she supposed. Even recently; as recently as a few days ago when she first learned of Steven's role in Phone Guy's plan, and then again when Steven began to explain what had really happened. But she had recovered quickly from those; bolting off to find the culprit first, then dropping Steven to the ground like his shirt had burned her hands. Because those had been shocking, but already half-accepted by her mind. She'd been ready to hear Steven was involved because of his suspicious behavior. She'd been equally ready to hear that it wasn't his fault because it's Steven; of course he didn't do this willingly.

Now, there was only a shell-shocked horror. No smug realization that she was right. No 'This is surprising, but I should have seen it coming'. Not even the usual overwhelming instinct to protect whomever was nearest to her. Merely her heartbeat pounding in her ears and her throat going bone dry as the man on top of Phone Guy slowly turned to greet the intruder, not removing his knife from Phone Guy's throat.

The Pokéball she'd thrown seemed to take years to hit the ground. When Desmond finally burst out with a growl, ready to fight, May was still staring at the man—did she say man? Make that woman—with the knife. Because, indeed, she was a woman upon closer inspection, with a purple ponytail and dim lavender eyes that she recognized all too well from Brendan's descriptions. The red clothing she wore, hood drawn and logo clearly visible, didn't make her any harder to recognize.

A Team Magma Grunt.

Upon seeing May, the grunt scoffed and rolled her eyes, obviously not recognizing the girl for who she was. "Magnezone." For a girl, her voice was rough and deep. "Take care of it." When her Pokémon didn't react, she withdrew her knife for a moment and struck it against its back with the scrape and clang of metal-on-metal. In the shower of sparks that accompanied the blow, May could clearly see it rear back in pain, letting out an echoing cry like a knife being sharpened. "I said take care of it!"

Only for an instant was the knife safely away from Phone Guy's neck. That instant was just barely enough to break May free of her reverie. Still dazed and out of it, she stumbled backwards, ignoring Desmond's surprised whine, and fell to the ground with a soft thump, eyes still trained intently on the glimmer of steel in the grunt's hands, which was now back to resting against Phone Guy's throat, ready to slit it at any moment. Phone Guy's face was flushed in panic, his eyes wide and staring up at the grunt's face; his breath rushed and loud.

The crackle of Magnezone's electricity was what snapped her out of it.

At that moment, everything came rushing back to her. How to walk, how to battle, and, most importantly, a strategy for handling this situation. Her eyes finally left the knife and twisted around to rest on the flickering penlight "Des!" she cried suddenly, and the grunt actually jumped, startled by the abrupt cry. Rolling onto her feet, she leaped out of the way of a Charge Beam, skidding to a stop before zigzagging towards the Magnezone, who swayed, its eyes darting about. "Rock it right—here!" Dipping dangerously close to it, she slapped her palm against its far side to show her partner exactly what she meant before bracing her feet against it and throwing herself back and out of harm's way.

Although clearly taken aback by the order, Desmond nonetheless obeyed, slamming a heavy paw against the ground, which began to rumble. Lurching about on the bed and accidentally making a cut on Phone Guy's chin and collarbone but not his neck, the Magma grunt groaned in irritation, turning to give Magnezone an order.

Too late. A spire of rock suddenly jutted out from the ground, smashing the tile floor aside, and struck the Magnezone right where May had indicated. At the same moment, she jumped forward once again, using her momentum to issue a devastating roundhouse kick to one of the Pokémon's magnets.

The combined power of the rock and her foot was too much for the Magnezone. With a cry, it spun rapidly, its magnetic fields completely out of whack, leaving it to flip around in the air. With another gesture from May, Desmond shot more rocks out of the floor, stopping the Magnezone at just the right moment when it was facing in the exact opposite direction—right towards the grunt and Phone Guy.

Shocked and unprepared, the grunt was unable to stop the knife from tearing itself free of her hands and connecting to her own partner's magnets with a snap.

No matter how hard she tried to hold it back, May couldn't help the smug grin that crossed her face.

From there, it was relatively easy to rush towards the Magnezone, who was rooted to the spot, staring at its furious Master, and retrieve the knife. She was able to pull it away enough to slide her palm under it, allowing her to pry it free. With a shout of fury, the grunt attempted to bolt towards her, but the instant she let go of Phone Guy's hands, they came around and locked onto her arms, holding her back. With some difficulty, Phone Guy dug his heels into the bedframe and flipped them both over, turning the tides.

"Oh, it's nothing personal," he hissed, anger replacing the fear in his eyes. "Just business."

In a lighter situation, May might've laughed at the role reversal. Or maybe she would've laughed because it was extremely bizarre to fight alongside Phone Guy rather than against him. Now, she only nodded at him in acknowledgement—it was inevitable. They would have to have a temporary truce until they got the crazy, murderous elephant out of the room. Dragging the blade away from Magnezone's strong fields, she tossed it out into the hall where it wouldn't get sucked back in.

By the time May returned to the room, the grunt was getting desperate. "Magnezone!" she snarled, struggling underneath Phone Guy's weight. But her Pokémon was simply staring in horror, shaking slightly. "Magnezone!" It flinched back and lowered its head, beginning to tremble with a low keen, but made no move to assist her. A roar erupted from her throat as she thrashed. "You—useless—brainless—spineless—little—ingrate!"

With a sudden surge of strength, she shot up and slammed the top of her head into Phone Guy's nose with an audible crack. Howling, he heedlessly released her to clamp his fingers over the broken appendage, and she used her new-found freedom to knee him between the legs and kick his writhing form onto the ground. She leaped to her feet and May rushed to detain her, vaulting over Magnezone and attaching herself to the grunt's back, wrapping her arms and legs around the red blob and holding tight. "Gerroff!" the grunt shouted, but her attacker's hold only tightened. Grunting, she stumbled backwards, trying to dislodge the hands from around her shoulders, but May's grip was absolute, and she quickly abandoned the notion of breaking free on her own. Instead, she reached for her belt, where two more Pokéballs hung.

Anticipating the movement, May moved to intercept her, but the grunt nonetheless managed to jostle one of them out of its holster and onto the floor. It clicked open, and a turquoise-and-magenta frog hopped out, its body covered in pale red scars. "Toxicroak!" the grunt gasped in exertion as May tried to get her onto the ground. "Hurry up!"

Flinching, the Toxicroak quickly hopped forward and drove his fist into May's side, easily knocking her off of his Master. Feeling his middle knuckle pierce her skin, May gasped in pain, clutching her side as she crashed to the tile. A searing pain began to spread out beneath her fingers as her entire body went slack, no longer listening to her.

Recovering from the short brawl, the grunt jumped forward and kicked Phone Guy right in the face as he tried to stumble to his feet, knocking him flat on his back. Before she could have Toxicroak knock him out, though, Desmond finally decided it was time to take action. With a deafening roar, he tackled Toxicroak and clamped his teeth around the toad's throat, shaking it back and forth before throwing it across the room. The Toxicroak crashed into the wall and immediately fainted with barely a groan of pain.

Desmond turned around, ready to take down the grunt before running to his Master's side, but he was only met with a tornado of leaves. As the Leaf Storm engulfed him, he let out only one whimper of apology to his Master before being knocked out cold.

A Tropius watched sadly as Desmond collapsed in a pile of razor-sharp leaves. Body shaking, teeth clattering together, May managed to pry her eyelids open just in time to see the grunt sit astride its neck, clutching to the singed fruit at its throat. "Go! Go! Hurry up!" she snapped, and the Tropius, like its friends, flinched and hastily complied. The grunt didn't bother to save her other two Pokémon, one fainted and one still cowering, as they lifted off the ground.

It was hard to move; harder than when she had been paralyzed. But, in her desperation, she just managed to twitch her hand until a Pokéball fell from her belt. Right as it began to open, however, the grunt slammed her fist into Tropius' shoulder. "Grab the ball, fool!" she hissed, and a vine whipped out, wrapping around May's would-be savior and hurling it against the wall.

Cr-rr-rrack!

If May could've screamed, she would've. The capsule fell dejectedly to the ground, almost entirely shattered. Its surface was covered in interlocking cracks, holding it together. Before she could try to stretch out her hand in some instinctive attempt to reach her friend, the grunt hit her Tropius again and hissed, "Leech Seed, you idiot! Double-time!" It would have been easy to dodge had she been in full control of her limbs, but she was decidedly not. Three small seeds skittered into place around her collapsed form, then exploded into life, sprouting thin vines to wind around her, easily pinning her weakened limbs to her body and only thickening as they continued to twist around her. They tightened, and the breath left her lungs in a whoosh.

Her vision was going black, so she couldn't see, but she heard rather clearly when the grunt bellowed, "The man too, you dolt!", and it was hard to miss Phone Guy's wheeze seconds later as the breath was squeezed out of him. 'Oh, no.' She hadn't felt this hopeless since she was almost wiped out by Primal Kyogre. 'That must mean he's caught, too,' May realized with a sinking feeling in her gut. At that, she used her last remaining bit of willpower to squirm weakly in the restraining sprouts, but they only tightened in response, eliciting another choked gasp.

A dark, almost sadistic chuckle met her ears next, and her skin crawled at the sound. "There," came the self-satisfied voice of the grunt. "That's much better." Her shoes hit the ground again with two distinguishable clicks, and May almost wished she could still see just so she could locate the grunt and spit at her (spitting was about as much as she could do right now, much to her chagrin). "Not so tough now, are you?" Her voice was as nasty as ever, and May noticed with no shortage of apprehension that the footsteps were now heading right towards her. "Didn't think so." The clomping of the boots came to a halt directly beside her and she was turned roughly onto her back.

Sucking in breath—her lungs were so constrained that she could barely get air into them—she managed to get her eyelids open and stare blearily up at the smug face of the grunt looming over her. A boot was placed on her chest, and her skin was so hypersensitive that she could feel the tread through her clothing, even before it pressed down. Whatever oxygen she had left in her system rushed out in a pained moan, and panic replaced it when she realized that it wasn't coming back in. Thrashing in the vines proved worthless, and soon her body was screaming for air, her chest aching, her throat contracting—

The ground quaked under her as something heavy collided with the floor, followed by a deep, rumbling growl.

It was almost humorous how quickly the grunt lost all her bluster. Going white as a sheet, she kicked May away and leaped back onto her Tropius. "Fly! Now!"

Mere minutes ago, the flapping of wings and the shattering of the window pane would have been the most loathed sound to ever reach May's ears. Now, as he desperately sucked in air, all she could remember was that reverberating cr-rr-rrack as the Pokéball shattered, trapping her partner inside.

"...ab th...ll, fool!..."

He stirred, then quickly fell back into oblivion to escape from the pain coursing through him. His entire body was burning with a faint sting that only intensified the more he focused on it. That didn't even account for the pounding in his head and the ache of his back and neck. And, just to make him mad, he was also cold.

Really, really cold.

Unfortunately, that chill continued to douse him in reality every time he attempted to drag himself back under, which only made the tingling sensation harshen even further into a burn. Despite himself, he groaned, tossing and turning—an action he immediately regretted when mere movement detonated several Voltorbs around his body, triggering an intense, searing pain that made him cry out once before his breathing stopped entirely. Only when the agony faded back down did he manage to regain himself, desperately trying to escape from the sharp, cold claws of consciousness that pinned him in place and carved intricate patterns into his skin.

"...eech See...iot! Dou...ime!..."

Alas, it was not meant to be. A nearby commotion compounded with the commotion going on inside his head, keeping him quite awake, if not exactly aware. With another groan, he shifted slightly, wincing as another jolt of pain trembled through his bones. Where this pain was coming from, he didn't know, nor did he particularly care. He was similarly apathetic as to where he was and how he had gotten here. All that mattered was dammit, it hurt and it hurt less if he didn't move.

What felt like tepid water swirled around his limbs, accompanied by what he supposed was seaweed. Briefly, he wondered if perhaps he was lying on the seashore, but the surface underneath him was more like cement than sand. Besides, what did it matter either way? Sleep was good right now. He could get back to getting a client's name out of Phone Guy later.

Wait.

Phone Guy. Client. Magnezone. Knife. Sleep? No! Get up! Knife!

"...at's mu...etter."

Steven jerked awake, eyes snapping open—then immediately fell still with a gasp of pain. An intense, burning feeling had replaced the sting, and, if he hadn't known any better, he would've thought his clothes were on fire. As soon as he stopped moving, it began to wear off, simmering down to a much milder twinge. Taking that to heart, he grit his teeth and once again opened his eyes, beginning to lift himself from the ground. The pain was much more manageable this time, and he was able to struggle to his hands and knees before he had to stop and rest.

What he had thought was saltwater and seaweed was actually, upon closer examination, broth and noodles. 'Mauville Ramen,' his mind supplied dully, but he wasn't really paying much attention. Faintly, he picked up one hand and touched the back of his head, only to hastily withdraw it with a hiss of pain when the contact stung. Bringing his hand back in front of his face, he found his fingers to be red with blood. Well. Wasn't that just perfect? Trying to move again proved to be stupid, as that only brought out a much louder yelp of pain.

Knife! Knife! Knife!

As panic overtook him, he did the first thing that came to mind in such dire circumstances: reached to his belt, grabbed the only normal Pokéball there, and threw it, releasing his Metagross to take care of things while he collected himself.

A hissed swear. Then—"Fly! Now!" a nearby voice trumpeted. He jumped in surprise, and the uncontrolled movement combined with the sudden wind in the room made his palms and knees slip out from under him. Soon, he was once again face-down in a shallow puddle of broth, white-hot pain lancing through his skin.

For a long moment, he simply lay there, lacking the will or the strength to make another attempt at standing. Closing his eyes, he felt all the energy sap out of him as his head only hurt worse and worse. A few trickles of blood made it out of his hair and squiggled down the sides of his face to rest on his nose; he watched, transfixed, as they began to drip down in a small puddle around his head. That couldn't be good. Black dots appeared in his vision and quickly began to swell...

A weak cough followed by a loud, metallic growl was all it took to snap him back to reality.

This time, there was no stopping him. Although his limbs were heavy as lead and his head was full of shifting rocks, not to mention the boiling sensation of his flesh whenever he moved, Steven managed to fight his way to his feet, where he leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. The hallway was empty, but not exactly silent; people in the distance were still causing quite a ruckus, not to mention the sound of shattering glass that had just faded seconds ago. Nonetheless, he listened intently for a repeat to the sound, somehow knowing that there would be another despite having no way of figuring that out.

And there it was again—a small, quiet wheeze; more like a labored breath than anything. It was closely followed by a much louder cough, and then a hacked out "St-Stone!"

Recognizing the voice, he stiffened, then pushed himself off of the wall. Right, right, of course! Phone Guy, client, Magnezone, knife! Stumbling over his own two feet, he hurried into the room ahead of him, which was still too dim to make out much detail even with the window broken and the curtains half-drawn. Still, as he leaned heavily against Metagross for support, he could clearly see a Magnezone trembling in the corner over the body of what looked to be a Swampert, a fainted Toxicroak, several crags of rock jutting out from the cracked tile, and the collapsed form of the Phone Guy, wound tight with vines that were only tightening every second.

"A-are you okay?" he managed to grind out, limping towards Phone Guy. He fell to his knees, lacking his usual grace as he fumbled with the vines, trying to tear them off; suffocation was a death not even Phone Guy deserved. Although he succeeded in breaking a few of the thinner tendrils, the other ones only thickened at his touch, and he groaned in irritation. "Meta, can you get these off?" he muttered, beginning to feel his composure return to him. Somehow, unthinkably, everyone was alright. Phone Guy wasn't dead, and, even if the Magma grunt he'd seen was gone, he had at least failed his mission, which had to count for something.

Much to his surprise, Phone Guy batted his hands away. "Y-your fr—!" he tried to say, wincing in pain as the remaining vines tightened still, cutting him off. It didn't help that his nose was clearly broken, muffling his words further. "She's—" Once again, coughing and hacking overtook his words, and this time they weren't nearly as brief.

Phone Guy didn't elaborate, and Steven's eyebrows knitted themselves together. "What?" he asked confusedly, legitimately having no idea what the man could have been trying to say. Around then, the tremors and loud clangs of Metagross' footsteps suddenly stopped, and a concerned grumble took their place. Steven felt an enormous, cold leg of tempered steel nudge his back gently, and he hissed in pain as the fiery agony reared its ugly head once again. "One second, Meta," he muttered, then returned his attention to the Phone Guy. "What?"

Another growl. Metagross nudged him again, this time a bit harder. He groaned out loud this time, squeezing his eyes shut and reaching around to rub the affected area in hopes that the pain would fade faster. "Meta!" he scolded as the fire receded slowly. An apologetic mumble, then another loud growl, although this time the nudge barely brushed against him. Patience wearing thin, Steven snapped, "I'll listen after I get him out of this Leech See—"

Before he could finish, he felt a strange static-like sensation spread over his skin, cutting him off. For a moment, he braced himself for another bout of pain, only to realize that this wasn't his injury; this was the familiar prickle of being moved by psychic powers. Knowing there was only one psychic-type in the room, he rebuked his partner with a sharp "Meta!" Ignoring him, Metagross literally tugged him to his feet and turned him around before giving him a slight psychic shove towards the corner and releasing its hold on him.

Steven opened his mouth to demand an explanation—for the love of Arceus, he was trying to save a man's life right now—only for the words to die in his throat.

Laying in the dark corner, almost obscured by the long shadows cast by Metagross and the bed, was a very familiar quivering bundle of red clothing.

Any anger he had left for Metagross fled him. "Help Phone Guy," he ordered, sending the Pokémon a grateful look and hoping it understood. He then immediately threw himself into the corner, not particularly caring that it hurt like hellfire when his knees hit the cracked tile. "May!" he cried, taking her by the shoulder and rolling her onto her back. Trembling like a reed in a hurricane, she was deathly pale but burning hot to the touch, and her bared teeth were clattering together. "May—May, talk to me!" As he spoke, he lifted her into his arms, got his hands underneath the biggest vine around her torso, and began to pull. Judging by her labored gasps, it had managed to get much tighter than Phone Guy's.

The stem in his hands was thick-skinned and growing bigger by the moment, but he nonetheless managed to snap it with some doing. Immediately, the weak wheezes were replaced by frantic inhales and loud coughs. With each hack, her entire body would heave in his grip, and he just managed to get her flipped around again before she began to cough up bile. "It's okay, May," he soothed to the best of his ability as he worked on breaking the rest of the vines. "You're safe now."

But she certainly didn't seem safe. Even though the vines were long gone at this point, her breathing was still harsh and frantic, and she still wasn't moving even though she was free of the restraints that he assumed had been holding her back. "May?" Although the panic had left him once the Leech Seed vines had been removed, it was starting to seep back in now. "May, what's wrong?"

When she still didn't so much as twitch in his grip, just heaving in breaths and still shaking uncontrollably, he carefully flipped her over and all rationality fled him. Her face was ashen, her eyes half-lidded and bleary, and her attempts to get oxygen into her lungs were getting weaker and weaker. Before he had a chance to question her, she looked dazedly up at him, took in one last raspy breath, and managed to get past her blue lips, "To...xi...'roa...k."

What happened after that was a blur. He remembered staring down at her in horror for a few precious seconds, mind fumbling over information he'd read about Toxicroak in the past (a poison so vile even a scratch could prove fatal). Then, getting a hold of himself, he'd barked something at Metagross that he didn't quite remember and dug frantically through his pockets until—there it is!—he finally picked out an Antidote and a few Pecha Berries. Not sure which one of them would work, he eased her mouth open and dropped the berries in before finding the narrow trickle of blood and the small gash in her shirt and dumping the entire Antidote over it.

By the time he regained full use of his senses, she was coughing again, but this time her voice was strong and the gasps in between the coughs sucked in actual air. Pushing herself out of his grip with clumsy limbs, she dragged her limp body to the trashcan and lost whatever food was in her stomach, along with a great deal of stomach acid. That was around the time he felt the color drain from his face as it hit him.

She had been mere minutes away from dying. Toxicroak were not indigenous to Hoenn, but most Trainers knew of the Pokémon anyway, given how incredibly fatal and easy-to-deliver their poison was. Although other Pokémon wouldn't die from it, humans certainly would, and fast.

So he stared blankly at May as she switched to dry heaving and thought to himself, 'Hey, at least we were lucky. She survived.'

The Magma grunt was going to pay for this.

If he'd been given the time, he would have grilled Phone Guy for hours if need be. They needed to know that Grunt's name and where she was from. Now. But, for better or for worse, he never had to demand answers. The first thing Phone Guy said when Meta finally got him free of the Leech Seed vines was "Her name is Hope Yung." When Steven gave him a flabbergasted look—mostly because, wait, the client was a she?—Phone Guy smiled grimly and pulled a Trainer ID from his pocket. "Picked it," he admitted freely. "Otherwise, I would've told ya she's a guy named Harvey. That's what I was told."

Steven stretched his hand out. "Give it to me," he commanded briskly, and Phone Guy, to his credit, did so without complaint. Glancing at the card, Steven sighed—he had doubted the legitimacy of Phone Guy's words at first, but this was definitely a legit card, and the Hope Young in the picture was wearing the Team Magma uniform. With a dubious glance, he sighed again and helped the man back into bed, cursing his good manners the whole way. "I'm going after her," he announced as Phone Guy wiped blood off of some shallow lacerations near his throat, already taking Skarmory off of his belt.

"I'm coming with you."

Shocked, Steven actually jumped a little, then spun around. May was rising unsteadily to her feet, wiping vomit off of the side of her mouth. As if on cue, the lights finally flickered back on, but she paid them no mind. "I'll ride Lissa. You ride Skarmory. Magnezone can show us where she's probably going." The Magnezone shakily looked up at its name, then looked back down immediately when it saw the eyes trained on it.

Steven opened his mouth to protest, but the words burned to a halt when he saw what was in her hand. It looked to be a broken Pokéball, and she was cradling it to her chest like it was her newborn. Suddenly, his throat was rather dry as he understood why her voice sounded so dead. "Is that...?" He trailed off, staring at the shattered capsule and hoping against hope that he was just jumping to conclusions and making premature assumptions, and that everything was just fine.

She extinguished that hope when she looked up. Her eyes, he found, were about as dead as her words. "It's Brianna," she identified, her voice cracking and her eyes watering up a bit.

Steven winced in sympathy, although Phone Guy just rolled his eyes, laying down and turning away from the melodrama. He cleared his throat. Comforting people was not his specialty, and, even if it had been, comforting people who've just lost a friend wasn't exactly easy. "I—I'm sure they'll be able to get her—"

"Don't." Her voice was cold and razor-sharp; Steven immediately shut up. A shaky breath betrayed her true feelings, however, as she turned away. "Don't try to give me false hope. There is none." Steven winced at her blunt words. Unfortunately, she was probably right, so he wasn't able to contradict her. "I'm going to leave her here and we can go after Yung. Assuming Magnezone knows where she would go."

Under normal circumstances, there probably would have been a fight about it. But May had proven herself time and time again, and she had also observed first-hand what this "Hope Yung" was like. So Steven skipped the argument about her staying here that he knew he would lose anyway and cut straight to the chase. "Why would Magnezone help us?" After all, he knew for certain that any of his partners would never help anyone who didn't mean well to him, and May had to know that her own Pokémon were similarly loyal.

The glare that May shot him was enough to make both him and Phone Guy flinch. "What, aren't you looking at it?" she demanded, hands on her hips. "It's covered in burns and it had a freaking heart attack and started cowering when I used its magnetism against Yung. Plus, you—" She rounded on Phone Guy, who cowered a bit himself. "—saw her attack it with a knife to get it to do what she wanted. Obviously she's abusive towards it. Worst case scenario, it helps us to avoid getting hurt. Best case scenario, we convince it we can save it from her if it helps us, and then we set it free."

Without waiting for confirmation, May took her medicine pouch out of her torn bag and strode past Steven to the Magnezone, who was still hiding in the corner. Immediately, the anger left her as she knelt by its side and coaxed it out with her suddenly gentle tone and mannerisms. With some chatting and placating, she got it to trust her enough to let her spray a Full Restore across its dents and scratches; meanwhile, Steven took it upon himself to shake Desmond awake and use a few Hyper Potions on the poor thing.

Whether it was magic or just May's motherly nature towards Pokémon, Steven didn't know, but it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that, by whatever means, May won Magnezone over within minutes and the steel-type made it pretty clear that it would be happy to show them where Yung was once May assured it that they weren't going to make it go back to her. Steven made a mental note to call a Pokémon abuse hotline for it later; it could really use some rehabilitation before they released it.

It was only minutes after Yung's departure that, all this accomplished, Steven mounted Skarmory and muttered, "Ready?"

Lissa appeared only seconds after May called her, as if sensing her Master's urgency, and May simply swung herself on to the dragon's back. "Ready," she affirmed.

"Ready for what?"

May had been confronted with so many surprises over the past few minutes that, this time, she didn't even flinch. She simply turned to look over her shoulder, even though she had been able to identify Brendan by his voice. Sure enough, the brunette boy was standing in the doorway, relying on the doorframe to keep him upright and looking frantically around the destroyed room. "What happened?!" he demanded, quickly turning to May and Steven. His eyes immediately fixed on the blood in Steven's hair and, if possible, widened even further. "What's going on?!"

At any other moment, May might have broken the news softly. Now, she was too numb from both the aftereffects of the poison and the loss of her partner to really say it any way but bluntly. "Phone Guy's client tried to kill him. We're going after her." And, with that, Lissa took off, Skarmory quickly following, leaving Brendan behind. "Wait!" he called after them, but it was far too late for that; they were already picking up speed, even the much-slower Magnezone. Still May couldn't help but feel guilty as his voice quickly faded from her hearing range. She probably could have spared a moment to explain a bit better. This only left Phone Guy to tell the tale, and she would rather Brendan stay as far away from him as possible.

Magnezone hovered in front of the two, leading the way towards where it thought its former Master would go. Although Magnezone slowed things down, and Skarmory had to fly far away from it to avoid its magnetic pull, they were still making admirable time, and May thought to herself with a jolt of excitement that they might even intercept Yung before she could land and get reinforcements. Even so, she still couldn't help but worry—not about herself, mind you, but about Brendan. Very likely, he would want to come with then to apprehend Yung, and she could only hope that Connie would refuse outright if her Master asked.

But... oh, yes, of course. Those thoughts quickly quelled themselves, and she relaxed. Brendan was still considered too injured to leave the hospital, and it would be especially impossible to get an early release with the current panic caused by the temporary blackout, which she realized now must have been started by Magnezone itself. Brendan wouldn't be able to leave to find Connie, and, even if he did, she would probably refuse to take him anyway; she was smart, and she could tell when her Master wasn't actually up to a ride.

Steven, on the other hand, was not nearly composed enough to think thoughts like that. Steven's mind was not bursting with righteous anger or enthusiasm or slight concern or an absolute need to capture Yung as soon as possible. Steven wasn't sure what he felt right now besides numbness and apathy.

Soon, it would all be over.

He wasn't sure he would be able to believe it until it had already happened.

Legendary Pokémon were very dignified creatures, and for good reason. They were powerful, intelligent, wise, and otherwise just things you didn't want to mess with. That was why the sight of a Legendary appearing was always something to gawk at, and that was why Legendaries usually didn't appear, especially in lowly places like hospitals.

But there was no one around to witness it when Rayquaza slowly descended from the clouds, because everyone was still inside the hospital, freaking out over the fact that they had lost power for almost ten minutes—which was certainly enough time for lots of bad things to happen. So there was no one there to gape at the elegant but mighty green serpent circled down gracefully, its tail swishing through the air as it flew. It didn't even create downdraft due like most flying Pokémon, and it flew in silence, which didn't help its lack of spectators.

Finally, it alighted on the roof of the hospital where it had been summoned. Its dull golden eyes swiveled about until they came to rest on the form kneeling before it, and it let out a surprised sort of half-growl. The human, whom it had begun to affectionately think of as its human, was wrapped in bandages, and his hair was disheveled, which Rayquaza could only notice because his hat was missing. As the boy stood from his kneel, he stumbled and groaned, then looked back up with pained eyes.

"Lord Rayquaza," he addressed respectfully, although the green dragon only rolled its eyes. It refocused, however, when its human lowered himself into a bow once more, fingering his Mega Bracelet.

"I need a favor."

We're about to the climax, folks! This is the part of the story I've really been looking forward to, and I've been planning it since the very early chapters! But I can't really say any more without spoiling my own story, so let's just move on!

Fun fact: there is a very specific reason that the client's name is "Hope Yung". Anyone know why?

Next time on Ultimatum! What will happen with Yung? What will happen with Brendan and Rayquaza? What about poor, poor Brianna? And what about Magnezone, Toxicroak, and Tropius?! Find out in chapter twelve of... Lake of Rage Writes a Lot of Angst! ...u-um... I mean Ultimatum!