While Shaymin used his psychic power to attempt and clear away the Poisonpoint Root, Axle and Eon did the only thing they were able to do at the moment. Examine the TM that Clover left to see what secrets it held. Axle held it in his arms and they both constantly turned it over to see what secrets the TM held.

"Hmm…ok I'm a little surer this is a TM for Toxic," Eon said. "Can't be positive, since it's too old to use, but it has the look of the TM of Toxic. You can tell by the design of the purple lines around the TM, even though they have faded a bit with time. But beyond that…I can't tell much else. There must be something, since this doesn't really count as a clue, but…"

"I wonder if it's the choice of TM," Axle mumbled. "Maybe even the fact that it's a TM is important, not the choice of TM. It is odd, though."

"You think?" Eon said. "You said Clover put it there purposefully. I wonder if she knew the consequences. And if she did…would that mean…?"

"That's just speculation, though," Axle cut her off. "We don't know enough about Clover, so we wouldn't know whether she had a motivation to sabotage this place or not. The feel of the TM is also something I've noticed is off-"

"Alright, done," Shaymin's voice eventually called out.

Axle and Eon looked to their left and right respectively to see their friend walking back towards them. The grass/flying-type looked a little fatigued from using Psychic constantly, and his tiredness from last night was particularly apparent within him. Still, he staggered on to Axle and Eon's side and looked at the two of them.

"The Poisonpoint is cleared now," Shaymin said in a tired voice. "They weren't difficult to manipulate, actually they were kinda weak to Psychic like a poison-type would be, but there was sure a lot of them. But, after I got rid of a lot of them, the machine made this weird sound and suddenly the rest of the roots were blown away by some current. I think they're all gone now."

"That's good to hear," Eon said. "With any luck, this place can naturally filter the water and clean it up. At any case, we can check it out later to make sure it's working."

"For now though, we wait here for Skyla and/or her teammates," Axle said.

And, it was as if fate was listening to Axle's words, because as soon as they left his lips the trio heard a noise from the way they came. Axle, Eon, and Shaymin all looked over in the direction the noise was coming from. Axle himself closed his eyes and felt out in that direction with his aura to see who was coming. It didn't take him long before his eyes snapped open in recognition of their auras.

"It's them," Axle whispered to his friends. "Skyla, Simisage, and Gogoat."

Just as he was saying that, another voice came. "Oh great, looks like we were beaten here," Simisage's voice called out from the darkness. Eventually, the trio walked into the light, where Axle, Eon, and Shaymin were able to see them. The two trios stared at each other for a couple seconds when they encountered each other.

"Oh great, it's you three again," Simisage said. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you didn't want the treasure."

"Guess," Axle said.

"They're here for the same reason they attacked you in the first place," Skyla growled. "Think about it for five second before you open your mouth."

Axle took a step forwards. "Yes, we're here for the shaymin kids you three kidnapped," Axle said. "But we've got another objective." Axle looked over his shoulder. "Shaymin?"

Shaymin walked over to Axle's side and looked at Skyla. "Please Skyla, I need to know," he begged. "Why did you kidnap those kids? Why are you looking for Clover's treasure? I know you Skyla! I know you must have a reason for doing this! So please…tell me! Please!"

Axle stepped a bit farther ahead, holding out the Toxic TM Clover left behind. "This is what you're looking for, I'm sure," Axle said. "This is what Clover left. Like Simisage said, we're not really interested in Clover's Treasure. This TM is pretty much useless to us. But it's useful to you. So I offer a trade. Tell us why you want Clover's Treasure. The truth about it too. I'll know if you lie."

"Also, we know where the final key to Clover's Treasure is!" Eon suddenly chimed in, running up to Axle's side. "So we've got another trade for you. We'll tell you where the last key is, while you tell us where you're keeping the shaymin kids!"

"We already know," Simisage said. "We would have gotten it already too if it wasn't for the police there. Sorry, you're gonna need something better than that."

Eon's ears flopped and she took a step back out of embarrassment. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I just…"

"Well, Skyla?" Axle asked. "Do we have a deal?"

"Please Skyla!" Shaymin begged.

Skyla looked between Axle and Shaymin, and while she was doing that, Axle examined her face. Sklya had the same emotionless frown on her face that she had since she revealed her true nature. But Axle couldn't help but sense something off about her. He couldn't exactly figure out what was off about her, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"Rainflower, will you stop pretending I'm your sweet childhood crush," Skyla said harshly, looking away as she said it. "I told you before, hundreds of years passed since those days. We've changed. Get used to it and stop looking at me with those baby-doll eyes."

"But Skyla!" Shaymin called.

Skyla shook her head. "You said everyone thought I was dead that year? Well, keep it that way. As far as it matters, the Skyla you knew died that day."

"So I assume you're not going to tell us anything," Axle said.

"Tell you what?" Simisage asked. "Isn't it obvious why we're looking for treasure? For money of course! Imagine how rich we can get from such a rare and valuable treasure! We'll be living the good life, and all we needed to do was kidnap a bunch of kids!"

"And is that what you think, Skyla?!" Eon asked.

Skyla continued looking away. "What does it matter?" she asked.

"Let's end this farce," Gogoat chimed in quickly before going silent again.

Skyla nodded. "He's right. We know you're not actually going to give it to us. So we're just going to have to take it by force."

Axle placed the TM back in his bag before clenching his paws and getting in a fighting stance. "Figured things would go this way," Axle said. "Eon, Shaymin, we're back to plan A. Time to finally catch the outlaws!"

Eon sighed before running towards Axle's side. "Sorry Shaymin," she whispered, mostly to herself. Eon quickly crouched, getting ready to fight at Axle's side.

Before the fight began, Axle took a quick look at Shaymin. The grass/flying-type was looking to the ground with a shell-shocked look and didn't seem to be aware of what was happening around him. Axle felt sorry for the Gratitude-Pokémon too, but as of right now, he had other things to focus on.

I was worried about this but…it looks like we're going to have to fight without Shaymin, Axle thought. This won't be easy.

Axle clasped his arms together and began drawing energy to between his hands. "Eon…sneak attack Shadow Ball at Skyla on my signal," Axle whispered. "We'll attack at the same time and hopefully lower her defenses. Make her easier to take out."

"Alright," Eon whispered back.

Axle continued charging power to his Focus Blast attack a bit longer until he felt it was strong enough. Focus Axle, focus, Axle thought. I need to concentrate my power on my attack…while still keeping an eye on my opponents. I can do this…

"Alright, now!" Axle announced before thrusting the yellow sphere of energy forward in the direction of Skyla. Eon also shot her Shadow Ball suddenly, and the two balls of energy went flying towards Skyla.

Simisage and Gogoat both blocked the twin attacks with their own moves, Simisage using Seed Bomb and Gogoat using Leaf Blade the counter. The two attacks exploded in a puff of smoke, giving Axle and Eon an opportunity. The partners ran forward, Axle at Simisage, Eon at Gogoat, and they both attacked through the smoke, Axle using Drain Punch and Eon using Return. Both their attacks hit and managed to stagger back the two outlaws and blow away the smoke.

First strike, Axle thought, though then his eyes happened to glance upon Eon, seeing that she was in slight pain from exerting pressure on her legs from that attack. Eon, be careful. I can't afford to fight and carry you at the same time in this battle.

Simisage came after Axle with his claws slashing around in a frenzied Fury Swipes. Axle back-stepped quickly to get away from the initial attack while wreathing his paws in darkness. Once that was done, Axle struck back with his own frenzied Shadow Claw. The two slashed at each other, claws clashing until, at the same time, they both made contact with one slash on each other. They both took a step back after that contact, Axle clutching his left arm while Simisage clutched his chest.

Axle recovered a bit faster than Simisage and got ready to launch another attack. He had his aura already pulsing in his right paw as he rushed forward, left paw outstretched ready for the attack. But before he was able to even place his paw on Simisage to begin the Force Palm attack, he was suddenly knocked into the air by a powerful attack. A second later, Axle saw Gogoat as the culprit of the attack, his horns glowing white. While Axle was floating helplessly in the air, both of the outlaws launched a dual Seed Bomb attack straight at him, sending him flying back against a wall. Axle impacted the wall hard on his back, crying out as he did so, before falling down and slamming the ground on his front.

Axle's whole body was wrapped in pain after the fall and he had some difficulty getting up. Still, Axle knew he couldn't just lie there, so he fought against his urges and tried pushing himself up. No matter how hard he tried, though, his arms weren't strong enough at the moment to carry him up.

"Axle!" the riolu heard Eon yell, and he quickly felt a paw on his shoulder.

"I'm…fine," Axle managed to grunt out.

"You don't look fine," Eon said. Axle eventually felt something round press against his mouth. Axle knew immediately knew it was an Oran Berry from the texture and quickly opened his mouth to consume it. The sweet juices filled his mouth as he ate the berry and he slowly felt energy flow through his body.

"T-thanks Eon," Axle said as he managed to get back up.

"These guys are a lot tougher than last time," Eon said. "I was barely able to dodge his attacks without hurting myself and he managed to dodge my attacks rather well. I needed a berry myself."

"It's less they're stronger and more…" Axle's eye glanced in the direction of his friend, who was still in his original position as if nothing had happened at all. "And Skyla hasn't even done anything yet. This isn't going to be easy."

"What are we going to do, Axle?" Eon asked.

Axle closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds. "We need to keep fighting," Axle said, eyes opened up. "We can't give up. …I was worried something like this might happen, so I have a plan."

"A…plan?" Eon asked.

Axle looked towards the outlaws, specifically at Gogoat. He held his paw out in something resembling a fist and ran at him at full speed. While doing so, Axle tried to control his aura within his right hand.

Alright, cool your aura in your hand, Axle thought. It'll be cold at first, but it should allow me to expel that icy aura to my opponent. If I'm right, that will allow me to use Ice Punch. I guess it's trial by fire time.

So Axle tried to do so, cooling his aura in his right arm as best as he could. As he ran forward, he tried cooling his aura and he even felt the cold seep into his muscles and bones. The riolu even closed his eyes to help cool his aura. Axle was just seconds away from punching when he spread his aura all around his fist and thrust his paw in the direction. Finally, he felt his paw impact against Gogoat.

Axle opened his eyes back up to see that Gogoat…had a little bit of frost on him and looked annoyed, but not in pain. The grass-type responded with a strong Aerial Ace to knock Axle back a distance. Axle was able to stop himself from going too far, but he felt the pain in his chest from where the attack impacted. Gogoat huffed when Axle got back up.

"That attack was cold, but weak," Gogoat said. "Try again."

Axle growled, but knew he was beat.

"Heh, this is too easy," Simisage said with a laugh. "Looks like without your little puppy, you two are really weak. It's too bad, I was hoping for a challenge."

D-dang it, I can't use that, Axle thought. I'm…still not proficient enough. Now what do I do? With Eon's legs preventing her from using too many physical moves…I'd have to take on both of them at the same time to give Eon the space to use her special moves. But…they could easily ignore me, or overwhelm me, and then…plus Skyla's been silent as well and once she starts fighting…what do we do?!

"Let's just get this over with," Gogoat said.

Gogoat rushed at Axle, his horns glowing with another Aerial Ace coming at the fighting-type. Axle decided to stand his ground and hold his arms out, ready to grab Gogoat's horns. It was a risk, but Axle knew that it was his only chance. Axle closed his eyes and prepared for the impact, for the do or die situation, where he either manages to stop the charging bull or is taken out himself. The riolu didn't feel he could, but he knew he had no choice.

"It's not over yet, Axle!"

Axle opened his eyes up at the sound of the voice when he saw Eon fly up into Gogoat's face, knocking the grass-type backwards from the pain of the impact. From her spot in the air, Eon twirled and fired down a Hidden Power onto Gogoat. Those attacks completely canceled out the Mount-Pokémon's attack, sparing Axle. Eon landed and, despite the pain clear on her face, she still stood strong.

"Remember what I said, Axle?" Eon asked. "My paws aren't going to be a hindrance to you. I won't let them be. So don't let them be either. Let's fight like we always have."

"But…" Axle started, but Eon shook her head.

"Let's do this," Eon said with a nod. "I'm not worried, so you shouldn't be either."

Axle closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Fine," Axle said softly to his friend. "Then let's do this. We'll take out Gogoat and Simisage first so that we can tag team Skyla. Focus on Gogoat while he's still staggered."

Eon smiled. "Got it!" she said with a nod.

Axle rushed forward with all the momentum he could, striking Gogoat with a strong Drain Punch attack, healing himself in the process. He then danced back, allowing Eon to rush up from behind him, hitting Gogoat with a Quick Attack. Axle followed up by placing his left paw on Gogoat and striking his right paw with a Force Palm. Axle and Eon both took a step back, getting ready for either Gogoat or Simisage to counterattack. However, Simisage was surprised and awestruck at Axle and Eon's onslaught of attacks and Gogoat, while glaring at Axle and Eon, his limbs weren't moving right and seemed to be slowed down.

"Eon, he's…" Axle said.

"Paralyzed," Eon finished for him.

"Good, one last attack should do it," Axle said while moving his paws into fists. "Let's do this, Eon! Let's throw him in the air."

"Right," Eon responded.

Eon dug underground and, while she was digging underneath Gogoat, Axle flew over towards Gogoat, hitting him under his chin to stagger him. After that hit, Eon managed to hit Gogoat into the air with her Dig attack. With Gogoat in the air, Axle and Eon both launched a duel Shadow Ball and Focus Blast respectively, both attacks exploding when they hit Gogoat in the air. After a couple of seconds, Gogoat fell from the smoke, knocked out.

"Alright, one down finally!" Eon said cheerfully. "All we need to do now is…"

Eon wasn't able to finish that sentence, though, as an explosion nearly hit her on her right side. Axle and Eon looked at the explosion and then looked towards where the explosion came from. There they saw Skyla walking towards them with a clearly annoyed look on her face. All it took was that look for Axle to figure out that the explosion came from one of her Energy Balls.

"Bout time you finally helped!" Simisage yelled as Skyla walked up to his side.

"I figured you two could survive on your own," Skyla grunted. "I was apparently wrong. I guess that's what I get for overestimating you."

"Well…well!" Simisage tried to counter, but he couldn't think of a good counter.

"Now back off already and let me take care of these two," Skyla said. "You're not needed."

Simisage groaned before backing up as Skyla ordered. That left the Sky-Forme shaymin to walk closer up to Axle and Eon, looking at them with contempt as she walked. She stopped about a yard away from the two.

"Alright you two, you think your tough huh?" Skyla asked. "But you're up against a Mythical Pokémon now. And if you couldn't handle those two, there's no way you can possibly beat me."

And just to prove it, she jumped into the air before sending two Air Slashes in Axle and Eon's direction. Axle dodged to his left and Eon to her right and, while they were able to avoid the brunt of the attack, the swirling air around it pushed them both farther then they had anticipated and caused them both to slide across the ground. Axle was still able to get up easily from the attack, but Eon was still lying on the ground. And that's where Skyla turned her attention to.

"I suppose since you knocked out Gogoat it's only fair if I knock out you," Skyla said. "So let's get this over with already."

Before Skyla was able to get off her attack, though, Axle jumped up to her level slashed at her with his Shadow Claws. The attack pushed Skyla back and staggered her for a bit. This gave Eon enough time to get up off the ground and allow Axle to walk to her side.

"Heh, thanks Axle," Eon said.

"Are you feeling ok?" Axle whispered to her.

"Honestly…not really," Eon admitted. "My limbs really hurt right now. It's getting hard to move and I don't think Oran Berries will help anymore."

"Fine, then I guess we're going to have to finish this as fast as possible," Axle said. "Let's split up. I'll try to keep her attention to keep you from straining yourself. You stay here and pepper her with long ranged attacks."

"I'll try," Eon said. "Stay safe, though. She's not going to be easy facing head on."

"Don't I know it," Axle grunted.

Axle ran forward and slashed at Skyla once again before landing on the opposite side of where Eon is. His diversion strategy worked, as when Skyla got her bearings again, she focused on Axle instead of Eon. She also shot an Energy Ball in his direction, which Axle managed to dodge by jumping backwards.

Axle brought his paws together and shot a Focus Blast at Skyla. The attack was a bit off the mark, though, and Skyla was easily able to fly out of the way. Before she was able to counterattack, Eon managed to hit her with a Swift from behind. This slightly got Skyla's attention, but Axle quickly hit her with a Bullet Punch to get her attention back down to him. This slightly failed, since Skyla kept her eye on both Axle and Eon.

"Oh, let me guess, you're going to attack me apart from each other," Skyla said in a bored voice. "Am I close?"

"…You're point?" Axle asked. "You're the one who decided to fight us alone. You have no one to blame but yourself for this."

Skyla sighed. "Why do you keep fighting?" she asked. "You're just shortening your already short lives. Just look at your friend, riolu. She was in a lot of pain when we last left and she clearly hasn't recovered now. Are you willing to let her die?"

"Eon promised me she'll be fine," Axle said, "and I have…to trust her on that."

"Place your trust on something temporary and you'll always get yourself crushed," Skyla said. "But I suppose it doesn't matter to you. After all, you're just as temporary. And I'll show you just how temporary both of you are."

Skyla quickly descended to the ground, where she poured a bunch of energy into. When she did, the ground around her cracked and the cracked area expanded further and further until it reached Axle and Eon. Once it reached those two, the ground exploded and energy, in the form of fire, came bursting out on Axle and Eon. The sheer strength from the Earth Power attack sent Axle and Eon flying from their positions before slamming back into the ground.

"H-how?" Axle grunted as he tried to get up.

"S-shaymin can't learn Earth Power," Eon said from her position on the ground. "Can they?"

"Clearly not," Skyla said sarcastically. "We can't learn it naturally and there's no TM for it, but there are other ways to learn moves. As I'm sure your friend's weak attempt at an Ice Punch shows. But that's beside the point." Skyla turned her attention to Axle. "Give me the TM you have, now. You're beat and I don't feel like wasting anymore energy on you. Don't throw away your already limited life."

"W-what do we do?" Eon asked. "I…we…can't win…"

Axle continued getting up and eventually made it to his feet. However, he could still feel an extreme pain and clutched his left arm with his right because of it. Still, he gave Skyla a defiant look.

"You're really indecisive," Axle snarked. "First you're going to kill us, then not, then you are, now you aren't. Mind being a bit less indecisive?"

Skyla immediately closed the gap in between her and Axle. When she got up to him, she gave him the largest death glare she could. Axle answered her gaze with his own stoic look, not letting the Mythical Pokémon intimidate him.

"You want me to be less indecisive?" Skyla asked. She lifted her forepaws. "Fine. Let's see how you feel about that after two Air Slashes to the chest. Maybe then you'll comply. So long as I'm not taking that TM from your corpse."

"A-Axle, just give it to her!" Axle heard Eon yell, his heart falling as he heard the desperation and fear in her voice. He looked past Skyla to see Eon, still lying on the floor, but with her head up and facing him, tear filled despair in her eyes. "T-this isn't worth it!"

"Might want to listen to your girlfriend," Skyla taunted. "There's nothing you can do. Make any movements aside from getting that TM out and I'll attack. You've lost. Why bother struggling anymore? This doesn't involve you anyways!"

"Axle…please quit fighting!" Eon pleaded. "I don't want to lose you again!"

Axle flinched as he heard those words. Eon…have you really given up? Axle thought. After you were so strong this entire fight…is this really the end. But…if I was in the same situation…I'd be begging too. Dang it…no. I failed.

Axle slowly reached his left hand into his bag, opening the flap as he did so. Axle first felt around for any items that might help his situation, but aside from a couple Oran Berries which he couldn't eat with Skyla immediately attacking anyways, he had nothing in there to help. He knew then that his options were coming to an end.

"I…fine…you…" Axle grunted out slowly, unable to convince himself to say it.

Before he finished, however, a bright light suddenly enveloped his vision and he felt large amounts of energy blast against him. That was all Axle knew before he lost consciousness.