Cynthia's heart was pounding so fast that she thought she'd faint before she made it to the Battle Car. 'I'm so stupid! I should have noticed something was wrong when Cyrus didn't come back!'

It was just a hunch that he'd be in the far back of the train. The bathrooms were there, and he'd initially left his seat to use it. Bobbi's partner came from that direction. Maybe the two things weren't connected, but Cynthia had a sinking feeling they were. Did they run into each other? Was Cyrus tied up in a battle with Team Sigma?

'Cooper was covered in blood, too. Whatever happened back there…oh please…please tell me you're not involved…'

No part of her worried about Campanella. Cynthia was pretty sure that woman could be left alone anyplace in the world with just a pocket knife and be able to fend for herself. She couldn't say the same for Cyrus. He was far more anxious than he wanted people to believe. If something bothered him, he'd rather keep his mouth shut than tell someone they hurt his feelings.

And today, of all days, would be the worst. Cyrus drank a little too much the night before and didn't get a lot of sleep. All day, he'd been lethargic, surly, and hungover. Bright lights and loud noises made him wince. A particularly vicious opponent like Cooper could take full advantage of that.

At the very end of the train, Cynthia saw the red markings of the Battle Car. Glancing down, she saw Cooper's bloodied boot prints leading toward the passenger cars. There were other things mixed with the blood and the smell was unbearable. The more she looked at the tracks, the more she was convinced some kind of viscera was in it. That probably meant she'd be walking into the aftermath of a death match.

The proper term was "traditional battling," and Cynthia learned what it meant long before she came to Kinzo. That kind of battling was illegal in Sinnoh—as well as most other regions within the International Pokémon League—but the police still sometimes found underground clubs where people battled their Pokémon to the death.

When she went on her first Pokémon journey for Professor Rowan, he warned that he'd stop sponsoring her if she so much as entered one of those clubs. It never appealed to her. The very thought of killing a Pokémon for sport was too upsetting to even consider.

But it wasn't just people living in rural areas, desperately clinging to the old ways. Every time the news reported the discovery of another illegal club, they'd also drop the names of every high profile trainer and businessmen found inside. For Sinnoh, the clubs were for the rich and powerful: anyone who could afford entry and was willing to kill a Pokémon or two for the sake of an adrenaline rush.

Cynthia was also aware of another region in the southern hemisphere that maintained a traditional league in conjunction with its international standard league. She'd never gone to Aerelle, but knew a few trainers who had. In order to face the Champion, trainers were expected to complete both circuits. Nothing was off the table. Her friends insisted Aerelle was every bit as beautiful as it was exciting, but she didn't want to go there. She loved her Pokémon too much.

Kinzo wasn't like Aerelle, nor was it like Sinnoh. Although it technically didn't embrace traditional battling; it didn't penalize it, either. Kinzo acknowledged traditional battling was a potential risk for trainers, yet did nothing more than warn them to exercise caution. This type of battle was only permitted outside of major cities, and the Metro didn't operate by those rules. Point A and Point B played by Pokémon League rules, but the route between those two points was no man's land.

As Cynthia followed the bloodied footprints down the corridor, her heart started to beat more heavily. It was getting harder to breathe. 'What am I going to find at the end? What died?' Her grip on Spiritomb's stone tightened, afraid to drop it. So far, it had been rather well-behaved. No macabre remarks, no cruel snickering…and for that, Cynthia was relieved. She couldn't handle that right now.

'Did Cooper kill one of Cyrus's Pokémon?'

That horrible thought refused to leave her head. As much as she didn't want Cyrus to lose a Pokémon, she especially didn't want him to lose Professor Myrtle's Eevee. He'd only had it for a couple of weeks, but she could already tell how much it loved him. Maybe Cyrus was too much of a grump to admit it, but she could tell he'd bonded with Eevee, too. If anything happened to it, then—

A powerful blast of wind roared outside, rattling the windows and shaking the car. Cynthia jumped in surprise and dropped Spiritomb's stone. The Pokémon's immediate reaction was to hide itself inside its stone in an attempt to protect itself. Once it realized a predator wasn't anywhere to be found, the ghost came out again and made a bunch of angry noises at its trainer. Cynthia couldn't understand what Spiritomb was saying, but she was pretty sure it was cursing her out. "Sorry! Sorry…I didn't mean to do that…"

'What is with you, Cynthia!? Pull yourself together! You won't get there any faster on jelly legs!' But even with her mental pep talk, she wasn't feeling all that peppy. Her past two expeditions were relatively peaceful, happy journeys: just the sort of thing any young Pokémon Trainer would want to have. She'd had a great time, and it didn't matter where she went. Wherever she traveled, whoever she met; she always felt safe. Neither of those places had Team Sigma, E-Bombs, or other things that could potentially kill her.

Right now, she was terrified. By this point, she could barely walk. As much as she'd tried to keep her legs sturdy, they refused to stop trembling. 'Please…please, don't be dead in there…'

At the very end of the train, she saw the bright red paint of the Battle Car. Cyrus was in there: dead or alive. Very cautiously, Cynthia took a few steps closer. A tall, muscular silhouette was manhandling the door to the car, trying to get in. "Hn…hnnnnnngh…rrrrrrrgh…" Who was that? Whoever they were, they were—

"Open up, dammit! Hrrrrrgh!"

"Campanella?!" Sure enough, the figure turned around to look at her. The redheaded woman pulled her hood down so Cynthia could recognize her and waved. Oh, thank Arceus it was someone she knew! "We ran into trouble!"

"No shit, kid!" Campanella had one of her big combat boots pressed to the Battle Car door. Both of her strong arms were trying their best to pry the door open, but with no luck. "I heard someone say the Intra-Metro ain't had so much as a delay in nine freakin' years! Now, suddenly, the power goes out? The hell's going on?!"

"Team Sigma bombed the train," Cynthia explained, and she was still angry about that. "Not an explosive, though. It let loose some kind of pulse that fried our electronics. Even my Poké Balls won't work."

"Chu?" Campanella's Raichu wiggled her brown ears and moved closer to Cynthia. "Chuuuu?" Her long tail tapped Eevee's Poké Ball. Already, Cynthia could feel her Pokémon wriggling around inside. Thank Arceus. "Raichu chu?"

Campanella chuckled and patted the top of her Pokémon's head. "Raichu wants to know if you need a little juice to get your Eevee out." As if to confirm Campanella translated her words correctly, Raichu made a happy sound and let her yellow cheek pads crackle with extra electricity.

"Oh! Yes, please. That would be great, Raichu. Thanks!" Cynthia held out Eevee's Poké Ball and watched as Raichu extended her tail to touch it. When the lightning bolt tip touched the button and Cynthia saw the familiar red glow, she smiled at the Pokémon. "You're such a helpful lady."

Raichu seemed to relish the attention. She swished her tail back and forth in playful, lively motions. "Rai!"

Campanella smirked and gave her giant electric mouse a hearty pat on the back. Light blue crackles of static came up with her fingertips. "Raichu's a real trooper. I've had to use 'er as a backup generator on expeditions before. Ol' gal really packs a wallop! She ain't enough to recharge the whole train, but I've used her to jumpstart my car a few times. She's—"

"Wait!" Cynthia's eyes grew really big. "That's it!" She took Campanella by both hands and let loose a quick, nervous laugh of relief. "There's no way you're the only person who left an Electric Pokémon out! Even if you are, I know how you can restore power!"

"I'm listenin', kid. Go on."

"Talk to the other trainers and find out who left an Electric Pokémon out. Get Raichu to reactivate everyone's Poké Balls: just like she did for Eevee." To prove Raichu fixed the Poké Ball, Cynthia called Eevee out.

Initially, Eevee was happy to be let loose. That joy immediately turned into annoyance the moment he realized the entire train was cold and not moving. He looked up at his trainer, gave her an indignant look, and growled. Cynthia tried to reach over and pet him, but Eevee wasn't having any of that nonsense right now. As soon as the girl's hand was over his head, Eevee put his mouth and teeth on her. At least he didn't bite down. This was just a warning not to do it again.

"A'ight. I reckon I follow what you're thinkin'. You want everyone to team up and get the train moving again. That right?"

Cynthia nodded her head, but there was one more thing. "We should probably tell the other Metro offices not to send another train. We don't want anything to crash into us. Once we care of that, we can focus on turning the heat back on. If the Pokémon aren't exhausted after that and the tracks are still fine, maybe we can restart the train and make it to the Kalium City Metro Station."

It just left her wondering what Bobbi meant when she said the E-Bomb was just a test. Did Team Sigma have something far grander planned? If so, when and where would it be? Cynthia could feel a thick dread-filled lump building in her throat.

Campanella didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, though. Maybe Cynthia's tough girl façade was good enough to fool her into thinking everything was okay. Good. Maybe it would work on Cyrus, too. If he was inside that Battle Car; the last thing he needed was to see her freak out.

"Y'know…this whole time? I was under the assumption Cyrus was the smart kid. You're a fucking genius!"

Okay…she kind of needed to hear that right now. Her pulse stabilized a little and it was a bit easier to breathe. Cynthia's smile turned a bit bashful. She kind of wished Campanella would cut back on the cursing, but that was an argument for another day. "Thanks, Campanella. But…um…is it okay to ask for one last favor?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatcha need, kiddo?"

"May I borrow your Ambipom? If we tag-team on the door, I think we can open it and—"

A loud slam came from the other side of the door, causing both women to jump back in surprise. Cynthia had to cover her mouth with a hand to hold back a surprised squeak. Not wanting to go anywhere near whatever made that sound, Campanella decided to run off with Raichu. A weaker thud came after that.

"Ambipom!" Cynthia knew this wasn't her Pokémon, but she'd pull out her foreign badges if she had to. "Try to open the door!" Luckily, Campanella's Ambipom was a rather obedient creature and recognized Cynthia as a friend. The big purple monkey tried her best to force the latch open, but it was no use. She grunted and strained just like her trainer had a few minutes ago. "I don't even care if you have to break the door to get in there! Something's injured!"

'Something's lost a LOT of blood, too!' Spiritomb corrected her, hissing out a little laugh. 'Left to its own devices, it will bleed out in another—'

"SPIRITOMB!" Cynthia held the stone in both of her hands and gave her Pokémon a horrified, angry look. "That's enough! You're not helping!" But that didn't seem to deter it. The ghost kept sniggering: all too eager to see the carnage. What a mean-spirited creature! "Whatever or whoever's in there—"

"Cynthia?" This whole time, she'd suspected Cyrus was in the Battle Car. She didn't want to be right, but there he was. "Get me out of here…"

"Hang on, Cyrus! I'm coming!" It was too dark to see what was going on in there, but she could hear him loud and clear. He sounded like he was in bad shape. "Campanella's Ambipom is trying to break the lock right now! What happened?"

The Battle Car had one window on the door. Even in the dim light, Cynthia could see Cyrus's palm pressed against the glass. Several parts of his hand were coated in blood, but she couldn't tell if it was his or a Pokémon's…not that it mattered. The very sight of it made her skin crawl. He started to say something, and then the hand disappeared. A loud shriek came after that: a sound Cynthia recognized all too well as a Golbat.

'It evolved…'

Over the past week, Cyrus had spent a lot of time leveling up his Zubat. At first, Cynthia thought he'd stop after it learned Bite—after all, a Dark move would work well against Simon's Psychic Pokémon—but he kept training it. Eventually, she caught on that Cyrus was doing this to reduce his chances of having to go in for a rematch. If he couldn't beat Bronzor's defenses fairly, then he would simply have to out-level it.

Cynthia warned him that it was dangerous. Over-leveled Pokémon sometimes ignored their trainer's commands and goofed off in battles, but this was her first time actually seeing a Pokémon attack its trainer. 'I don't understand! Why would it do that? Does it hate Cyrus that much?'

That didn't make any sense to her, either. She'd watched him in the Battle Rooms enough times to know that while he was a strict trainer, he was also considerate. Eevee and Golbat were both taken for routine checkups and given plenty of breaks between battles. If Cynthia offered to share Eevee and Spiritomb's treats with Cyrus's Pokémon, he never said no. Eevee even slept in the bed with him at night. Why would his Golbat suddenly turn on him?

"Keep going, Ambipom!" By this point, she was practically begging the Pokémon to open the door. She knew Ambipom was trying her best, but that just wasn't good enough. "Hold on. Maybe I can—"

The red emergency lights came on. A few seconds later, Cynthia heard a low hum and the sound of circulating air. The train's heating system was back on. That was much faster than Cynthia thought it would be, but she wasn't complaining. If anything, she was grateful Campanella found what she needed.

The next time Ambipom tried to open the door; Cynthia heard the metallic click of a magnetic lock. "Good job, Ambipom! I think I can take it from here. You can go back to your trainer." Ambipom wasted no time and rushed in the opposite direction.

'Get a hold of yourself, Cynthia. Keep it together. Move…move…' She took a couple of deep breaths and quickly looked at her Pokémon. "Be careful, guys. There's no telling what we're gonna find in there. If something comes at you, attack. Don't even think. Just attack."

With the latch open, she and her Pokémon hurried in. Less than a second after Eevee's paws touched the ground, Cynthia slammed the door shut behind him. The last thing this train needed was for Cyrus's rogue Golbat to fly out of the Battle Car and attack the other passengers. She could hear it, but she couldn't see it. "Cyrus! Cyrus, where are you!?"

It was hard to see in there. The emergency lighting made the walls and floors red. Everything else—including the gruesomely large blood smatterings on the walls—looked black. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but she could see a human-sized ball defensively curled up and shivering to left of the door. "CYRUS!"

He didn't even look up at her. He kept his head tucked between his arms and knees. Since his back was to the wall, that left only his arms, legs, and the top of his head vulnerable for another attack…but it was clear those areas had already taken some bad hits.

At some point in the attack, Cyrus's jacket had come completely off. It was halfway across the car and torn into ribbons. He still had his shirt on, though barely. In several places, Cynthia could see his blood-soaked undershirt as well as his ribs. The scratches on his legs were deep enough to not only tear through his pants, but soak his entire right thigh and left calf in blood.

'Oh god…' The air felt thin. She had to take deep breaths just to get enough oxygen. Cynthia knew the train wasn't moving, but the entire Battle Car felt like it was spinning. It needed to stop. She was going to fall…collapse…

"It's Golbat. Cooper dragged me in here. He wanted—"

"Hold on! Let me help you first!" By this point, Cynthia was in full-blown panic mode. As scared as she was of Golbat coming over to attack Cyrus again, she needed to make sure her friend didn't bleed to death first. "All I have is an old first aid kit. I don't even know if it's any good anymore." It would have to do, though. It was better than nothing.

Cynthia's family insisted she needed to learn basic first aid before they'd even consider letting her go on a Pokémon journey. She knew how to disinfect an injury, do the Heimlich maneuver, perform CPR, make a tourniquet to staunch bleeding, make a splint, and so on. Two of those things were about to come in handy.

She unceremoniously dumped the contents of the kit onto the floor, letting the supplies scatter everywhere. This was an emergency! She couldn't afford to be precise and neat about this, not when Cyrus was bleeding out! "Did Golbat bite you anywhere? I can use an Antidote. I know it's for Pokémon, but it's all I've got. I'm sorry…"

"Cynthia, wait. I—" When the spray hit Cyrus's skin, he winced and let loose a hiss through his nose. Cynthia expected him to snap at her or maybe push her away; but he didn't. Instead, he curled up into an even tighter ball and begged her not to do it again.

"Cyrus, this is bad. Really bad! You need to go to a hospital, pronto!" She could see the dread on his pale face, draining what little color he had left. "I'm not making this up! I'm serious! Golbats are poisonous! If you don't let a professional look at those bites, you're risking gangrene, sepsis, and—"

"I can't afford it." Was he serious right now!? That was all he could think about!? "Professor Myrtle didn't offer us any health insurance. I think the hospitals only give free healthcare to the Kinzonians. I don't—"

"Did any part of what I just said register with you, or did you lose too much blood to understand me? You could be looking at paralysis, amputation, or even death if you don't go!"

Cynthia watched her partner's fingers curl, trying to dig into the concrete of the car. She wasn't sure what he was more afraid of—doctors or doctor bills—but something had Cyrus riled up beyond the mere pain. "Look…" She twisted more bandages onto his injuries. They were soaked in Antidote, and that was as close as Cyrus would permit her to spraying him with more Pokémon products. "I can go with you. While the doctor looks at you, I can take our things to the Trainers Lodge, get us a nice room, and—"

A guttural, low growl came from the corner of the room. "Goooooooool..."

Cyrus proceeded to take cover, bracing himself for another round of attacks. He shut his eyes and waited, knowing what was coming. Cynthia had never seen a Pokémon look that angry before, and she instantly knew why Cyrus was so afraid. Golbats had a battling stance and a killing stance. This thing wanted to kill him.

She didn't even take a moment to think about what she was doing. She wrapped her arms around her friend protectively; making it clear to Golbat that he'd have to go through her first. "Stop!" But Golbat came closer, stomping his navy blue feet, and flapped his purple wings. "I mean it. CUT IT OUT!"

Golbat readied himself for an attack, lowering his head and keeping his wings spread. When he started charging, Cynthia opened her wallet and flashed her foreign badges. She hated to do that, but this was an emergency. She could feel Cyrus's hot blood soaking into her clothes. Even though his blood felt warm, his body was starting to feel cold. They didn't have much time.

When Golbat saw the badges, he gave Cynthia a look like she'd just betrayed him. He couldn't believe she'd pull out a different set of badges, just to make him obey! But he did do as he was told and sit down. He grumbled, but at least he gave Cynthia enough space to finish patching up Cyrus.

"What…did you do to make him…listen…?"

"I'll tell you later. Let's just focus on—Cyrus? Cyrus! Stay with me!" Once or twice, she squeezed his hand. If he squeezed back, she knew he was okay. 'He's lost too much blood. This isn't good.' She tried to tighten the tourniquets, but they were already soaking through. "Come on. Hang in there!"

"I know…why…" Cyrus's eyes were fluttering, finding it hard to stay open. This worried Cynthia. Each time he did it any longer than a normal blink, she patted his cheek with a cool hand. "Cooper…he…" But it was too hard to talk. It took more strength than Cyrus should have used, but he pointed to the edge of the car.

There, crumpled up in a ball, was a dark mess. It was too small to be a Bidoof, but Cynthia could see part of a crumpled wing. She could feel the stomach acid bubbling up her esophagus and she couldn't hold it anymore. Even without going over there, she knew that was Cooper's Zubat: Guano Lisa. She only remembered the name because it was so rude.

"That's…" Guano Lisa may have fought against them, but it wasn't her fault. Pokémon couldn't choose who they battled, not after they were captured. "Did you and Golbat—"

"…no…" He tried to say something else, but it didn't make any sense. "…Cooper…kicked…screamed…used a boot…"

"Cyrus! Cyrus, hey. Hold on. Stay with me!" More lights came on in the Battle Car, including the fluorescent light. Once fully illuminated, Cynthia realized she had underestimated how much blood her friend had lost. Cyrus's skin was almost white. In fact, it was grayish-white: like how Cynthia's grandfather looked right before he died in his hospice room. 'No…no, no. Please…please, no…'

From the adjacent cars, she could hear more voices. There was a loud commotion. "Look for other people!" she heard a man call out. He sounded vaguely familiar. "Don't leave anyone behind!"

This was her one chance to save him. If her voice clammed up now, they'd be left behind and he'd die. "IN HERE!" When Cynthia shouted, Cyrus grimaced. His lips moved, but she didn't catch what he said. "Sorry! What was that?"

"Not…so…loud…"