*sheepishly grins* Ur... Sorry I'm late with updates? Like, extremely sorry. Those of you in the audience with the rotten fruit, stay your hands. I have another chapter for you!

See A/N at the end for lengthy explanation.

And Now, Our Feature Presentation!

Mt. Battle loomed over the horizon, casting a long shadow over the desert foothills at its base. The glow of hot lava running down its side did make an effect like artificial light. Low-hanging dark clouds hovered over the peak, illuminated by the light of molten rock.

"That looks evil." Wes said, shading his eyes. "Really. Damned. Evil."

"Don't remind me." Rui said as she wiped her brow. "I swear this is where Moltres lives. Feels hot enough."

Wes wiped his forehead with the back of his glove. The heat of the desert was nothing compared to the veritable oven that was this place. Rui seemed fine, only taking her jacket to deal with the heat. He was now serious considering switching his jumpsuit for nomad robes. He searched around for the entrance to the battle facility, his hand shading his eyes from the ash flying around. He finally located the doors.

"Nothing seems to be wrong. So why are they broadcasting an emergency signal?" Wes grumbled, looking down at the device in his hand. He lightly smacked its side, causing the little lights on the screen to flicker.

"I bet they're under surveillance, or they don't think anyone is actually going to answer." Rui said.

Wes gave a non-committal grunt and put the device back in his duster pocket.

"Whatever we do, we have ta be careful. No on ecoming for us if we mess up."

Rui nodded, and they both headed back to the bike. The bike revved after a spluttering pause, and they were heading for the doors of the Mt. Battle facility. Wes quashed the growing sense of uneasiness he felt. Nomads told stories about monsters living in the mountain, and the superstition that Wes hadn't felt for years reared its suspicious head. Rui noticed the tense silence.

"What's wrong?"

"I wasn't kidding about the mountain." Wes grumbled.

Rui looked back up to the clouded summit. She was silent, and Wes looked over to find her squinting up at the mountain. She shook her head and they were silent again.

What waited for them up there?

The entrance was unguarded, much to the duo's surprise. Wes let out Meditite and Flaaffy, and the two warily scouted the place. Rui sent out her Swinub, who sniffed around with the other Pokémon. Wes and Rui walked through the small garden that marked the entrance, also alert for any nasty surprises.

A rustle was heard from nearby, and Wes whirled around to shout to his Pokémon to attack.

"WAIT!" The bush yelped. "I'm not here to fight."

A young man in fitness clothes crawled out of the bush. Wes felt somewhat relieved and also ticked that the man had startled them that bad. He waved off his Pokémon.

"Are you guys with the police?" The man asked. "'Cause if you are, thank the gods."

"We're not." Wes answered. "We heard your call for help though."

"Oh. Nobody else is coming?"

"I don't know." Said Wes as he shrugged.

"We're doomed…" The man said, gloomily sighing.

"Hey! We can help!" Rui huffed. "We're both pretty strong!"

You're only getting there. Wes mentally grumbled.

"Don't take it the wrong way." The man said hastily. "But a place shouldn't have to just rely on strong people coming around, ya know. There needs to be some law and order to a region, not total anarchy."

"Well we're here to help, but we aren't a police squad." Wes said. "We're all you got for now."

"Then I'll show you what exactly the problem is." The man said. He beckoned to the entrance to the battle facility.

"Follow me."

"…Tauros shit." Rui breathed.

Wes had to wholeheartedly agree with her. Tauros shit indeed, because he could spot at least ten Cipher people waiting on the platforms outside. The people that were usually out there were huddled inside the lobby, fearfully whispering and tending to injured Pokémon. Wes was relieved that no one gave up without a fight, but was still bothered that Cipher came in and managed to sweep all the trainers off the platforms.

"Anyone else out there?" Wes asked the desk manager.

She shook her head. "Only the Area Leader, Vander, is out there. The rest of us have Teleport recall when we are defeated, so we're all here."

Wes sighed. This kept getting better and better. He wondered how strong Vander was to have kept Cipher people at bay for this long. But strong or not, Vander would need help. Wes turned around and headed for the doors to the Mt. Battle challenge.

"Where are you going?" Rui asked, following him.

"We came here to help, so I'm helping." Wes said, shoving one of the automatic doors open. "Can't let Vander do all of the work, now can we?"

Rui opened her mouth to say something, but only shook her head when Wes gave her a questioning look. He shook his head and pushed the other door open.

The wind slammed into Wes as he and Rui stepped out on the platform walkway. Wes let out Meditite and Makuhita, and tried to keep his balance. The walkway had rails thankfully, but a strong wind buffeted him against the rails and got a scenic view of the long drop down.

Rui held on to the rail and whistled. "That is one big canyon."

Wes nodded, grimacing as his heart pounded in his ears. He shook it off and advanced, looking for the trouble that had summoned them. He and Rui's hands flew to their Pokéballs when they encountered Cipher trooper number one.

Wes grinned at the puzzled set of the grunt's mouth, being that it was the only part of his face that could be seen.

"GET 'EM!" Wes shouted to his Pokémon.

The duo and their Pokémon advanced slowly across the floating platforms of Mt. Battle. Wes got done with his battle on platform 6 and was able to watch Rui's progress on platform 7. Her Swinub let out an icy torrent of breath at the opposing Taillow, and the little bird fell.

"Great job, Swinub!" Rui exclaimed as Wes caught up.

"Don't celebrate yet," Wes huffed. "We still have two platforms to go."

"How do you know that?" Rui asked.

"Little hard to miss platforms when they have giant red numbers on them."

Rui flushed with embarrassment at her question, but Wes only gave her a consolatory pat. She swatted him in the side, and he kept himself from retaliating. They had a job to do.

Rui took the lead this time, catching the grunt on Platform eight unawares as Wes ran around the battle platform. He didn't think anything would happen, when he saw the ricochet from a Rollout attack head straight for his Pokémon. Makuhita stopped as Wes yelled, but Meditite was too slow. The boulder whisked by, but glanced off of the little fighter's shoulder and set it spinning too close to the edge of the platform. Wes dove, and managed to catch Meditite before it fell off.

Wes caught the Fighting-type's gaze, and he saw real emotion there. Not the odd glitter of Hyper Mode, but the real glimmer of emotion. A human risking himself to help it?

Wes patted Meditite's head and set it down. "We still have a battle to win."

The Fighting-type grinned and ran to the next platform, with Wes and Makuhita in tow. The Cipher grunt had seen the transpiring battle and his Pokémon were out and ready to fight. Wes pointed and gave Meditite a straightforward command.

"HI Jump kick!"

Meditite became a blur as it launched itself at the opposing Pokémon. The two Pokémon balked at the flying Fighter, and didn't see Makuhita run in like a freight train. The poor Pokémon were knocked out before anything could be done.

Wes looked at the grunt, but the only response he got was terrified knee-shaking. Wes turned away to go up the next platform, but quickly turned around and yelled one word.

"BOO!"

The poor grunt yelped and ran past Rui. She gave Wes a puzzled glance.

"He was a scaredy-Liepard." Wes said with a shrug.

They advanced slowly up the stairs to the final platform, apprehensive to see what had happened up here since they were watching the vidscreen back in the lobby. Wes steeled himself, and was greeted with a scary sight.

A man with the Mt. Battle coat of arms on his jacket was standing his ground could only be Area Leader Vander. But who Vander was facing was what made this whole situation make Wes's blood run cold. The other man was a giant, and he was hunched over like a Pangoro. His fiery red hair was like a frozen explosion, standing on its ends. Every muscle on his body stood out.

Vander fixed the man with a cold stare and spoke.

"I'm not giving it to you, ya punk jackass."

"Fine with me." The man grunted. He swung his massive fist and landed it in Vander's gut.

"BYTHETRINITY!" Rui exclaimed. Wes felt his gut throb in sympathy.

The giant turned around, and Wes felt a trill of fear.

I hope we survive this. He thought as he reached for his Pokéball belt.

A/N: So I am in the final days of high school. Getting every thing ready for college was a miserable hassle. Less said 'bout that, the better.

Second, I have been writing a story to make into an E-book. So I have been working on this intermittently with that going on.

Third, work.

Fourth, theater plays.

I also feel that maybe my writing for this chapter isn't quite on par with its predecessors, so I will kindly ask for some feedback from you guys. Note that this will be the only time that I do this. So a helpful review would be nice, 'cause I feel like something isn't right with my writing.