I sat in a steel room, my arms were free, but I had no reason to venture out of my uncomfortable cold metal chair. I clicked my fingers on the table and sipped periodically on my coffee. It wasn't like I needed the caffeine, I was already restless.

After they detained me, they had me inside of my little cell for about a day. A cozy private cell, guarded by two houndoom that blocked psychic teleportation. I was apparently high-profile. Last time I checked, I only had two badges.

I could see my reflection on the table, bags hung under my eyes, my hair was messy. I was only able to throw some water on it from the sink and comb through it with my fingers, but it would have to do. My tawny looked tired. Before they moved me, I was told five minutes in advance.

The steel door opened and hit the wall with a metallic cling. Two men stepped into the room, one had a pot belly that threatened to pour out of his black suit, the other a ranger uniform. The man in the suit walked to the other side of the table and took a seat across from me. He had a styled beard that started off brown and faded into a gray color around his chin, on his head was a fedora slightly tilted to the side.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He laughed, like how a mall Santa Claus would laugh. Hardy and baritone, with a slight smugness at the end. Like how one would laugh at a puppy that didn't know how to climb the stairs. "You don't know? I've defended more natives than I can count, Darius Green, Terry Palmer, Robert Grant, to name a few. Some rich guys hired me to be your defender, so here I am."

"But you didn't answer my question, who are you?" I repeated.

"I'm Wilbert Wayne, your defender. I came in to discuss the case of Floyd North, prodigy trainer turned radical leftist extremist," he scrutinized me with his piercing green eyes, suggesting he was smarter than his oafish appearance might've made you think. His voice had a snide tone to it like he thought he was better than me. He probably was, economically, socially, intelligence wise, but he still came off as an asshole. Stroking his beard with his sausage fingers, I'd probably see some crumbs in it if I looked hard enough. But, if he was as good as he thought he was, then I'd take him any day.

"I'm not an extremist, believe it or not, I was coerced into joining the rebel movement," I explained with an impatient tone. I noted how the ranger kept a hand on the release button of his belt, so I decided I'd need to cool it down so he wouldn't be inclined to press it. "Don't get me wrong, it's fucked up what you're doing to these people, but I didn't necessarily want any part in it. I just wanted-I want to just complete the gym circuit."

He nodded and proceeded to pick up a suitcase and place it on the table. He unlocked it and took out a blue binder. It was labeled 'Floyd North,' on the front in red letters. He squinted at the folder and read aloud,"Well you might still be able to. But first, we have to get this out of the way. You have a dozen counts of assaulting a ranger, treason, one count of grand theft auto, and two counts of battery," he said. "Well, scratch that. The grand theft auto was actually Beaumont's doing apparently, he already confessed to it. Do you plead guilty to the other ones?"

"No, actually those two counts of battery were self-defense. They basically jumped me in the alley. But everything else is true," I said. "Wait, wait. When do I go to court?"

"Court? That is for regular criminals. For trainers of your caliber we do private meetings to decide your fate, then we go to the public with the news of your unfortunate sentencing after we've already decided it. We wouldn't be able to afford the risk that someone breaks you out during the hearing."

"Unfortunate sentencing?"

"There is no such thing as a good punishment, right?" He laughed. I wasn't amused. "So, after this, I'll go speak to the judge. I'll talk to the other rangers. If some of the rangers choose to drop your charges, we could get you a training probation at the bare minimum. That would mean that you are prohibited from capturing pokemon that are stronger than a certain level for a few months. You also wouldn't be able to challenge other trainers or gym leaders. Not the worst penalty, but it'll probably come with a gigantic fine, though. At most, if the rangers decide to keep the charges against you, you could be looking at up to 3 years in prison and a revoking of your training license."

Despite my cool demeanor, I was sweating bullets. A revoking of my training license would mean they would take away my pokemon. I couldn't lose Zevoa, Makhai, Solomon and even Amari, they were like family. Wilbert continued, "This isn't exactly the best advice a lawyer can give you, but I feel like it has the best chance of giving you a minimal sentencing, or perhaps even letting you walk out of here within a week," I leaned forward in my seat, indicating him that I was intrigued. Whatever it was that he planned, I was in. "Take this to the media. Get an army of people to take your side, celebrities, charities, all that already have enough aggression pent up from just hearing how you were caught. Make a huge thing of it, like you were persecuted throughout your whole life by rangers, and how you can't even walk the streets at night without being attacked for your race, blah blah blah, you get the point."

I could see how that would work, but there was one problem, "How would I even go about that? I mean, it isn't like I can get out of this. The two places I go are here and my cell. I don't have the freedom to talk to anybody with a camera."

"I can cover that for you. I have friends that work for the local news stations, once they get the word out, protests and riots happen in your honor," he stopped and winked at me. I cringed at his word choice. "Then the rangers would have no choice but to let you go. If they didn't, then they could be looking at the breaking point for an all-out civil war."

I'd be down for taking advantage of them, of the power that I had as a civil rights leader against my will. "Alright, let's do that. I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible."

XxXxXxXx

I felt terrible for taking advantage of the people of Kanto like how I did. I convinced myself otherwise, that I was dragged into it, but that wasn't as true as I wished that it was. Still, from a logical standpoint, this was the best route.

Three days after me and Wilbert's conversation, I was back in the steel re-enforced room. He and I had had a few more discussions of my fate. He somehow got some people to install a television in the top left corner of the room, it was rotom and porygon proof apparently, I didn't know that they had to worry about stuff like that. On the television, Wilbert's plan was playing out perfectly. It was covering a protest over my and Beaumont's capture. Wilbert had a huge smile on his face with his too white to be real teeth. They were getting my papers in order for my departure from the station, Wilbert said they'd probably prolong it just to screw with me, but I was willing to wait. At the end of the day, our plan worked out just fine. We fought the law, and we won.

"What about Raymond?" I asked. I was sipping on a juice box that my defender brought for me.

"The guy that killed the luxray back in ? He's pissed, royally pissed. Raymond said to one of my contacts in the force that he'd keep trying to apprehend you, that justice needed to be served before it was too late for you," he said.

I grinned. "Hm, ominous. I hope he doesn't actually think he'll get me, though. Once I get out of here I'm going on the longest training binge in my life," I claimed. "Anyway, Raymond can go to hell. I'm wondering if Steven is doing okay, you know him? Steven Hill?"

"He took a temporary leave to mourn the loss of his pokemon and catch a replacement, but he'll remain a member of the force. They re-assigned him to Vermillion, though. Over sixty miles south of Cerulean," he informed me.

The steel door swung open and two rangers walked in, each with a pokemon by their side. raichu and what I suspected to be a castform, a concentrated haze of smoke that floated behind the man like a living cloud. Also ominous. "Come with us," one said. I got up from my seat and pushed past them and went into the hallway for the first time without handcuffs on. Wilbert followed behind me, although he couldn't squeeze past them like I did with his robust physique. The rangers followed behind us, the only sound as we walked down the white hallway was the clacking of their boots and the heavy breathing of Wilbert. I felt a smugness that I didn't think I'd ever felt before, I cheated the system and got out of a handful of crimes without a problem. I could hear the chanting of the protesters outside, the words were muffled but the message was clear.

We got to the checkout desk, a female secretary with dark purple gothic lipstick handed me my papers, which I signed as quickly as possible. I didn't even read the fine print, I was running off the mindset that because of the backing of an entire race of people, that I had a legal immunity. "You accept that when you sign this document, that we have permission to take complete custody of your pokemon if you ever decide to assault a ranger, gym leader or other government official while using them as weapons? This would also come with two years in prison and a 15,000 crown fine," she said.

That's what I signed to? Just because I had a stroke of confidence, I could potentially lose my pokemon if I ever, even once, attack a ranger, didn't matter if I was defending myself or someone else, I'd lose them. I read over the page that I signed, and sure enough, that's what it said. What was the alternative, though? Could I just not sign the document? Wilbert was just standing there, looking between me and the secretary with no expression on his pink face. "I thought my defender was supposed to read over any legal documents before I signed them?" I spat with fire in my voice.

"I did read it, a few days ago they provided me the papers to look over. I decided not to tell you what they said for fear of you not signing them. Did you really think you'd get off scot-free for your crimes?" He said with a laugh.

"We could've just gone through court and tried to get me a minimal sentencing. Instead, I got the maximum, the only difference is that I won't be going straight to prison," I raised my voice at him.

"You really think they would've let you get off with probation? Really? They despise you, they would never hear what you had to say in the court of law. They don't like you, they'll look for any reason to put you in prison. Believe it or not, this is what's best for you," he said. People said that a lot. Everybody seemed to know best but me. "No such thing as a good punishment, remember."

I glared at him long and hard, even though it was mostly my own fault for being so stupid. And for trusting a lawyer. Yeah, that was also a mistake. I just shoved my pokeballs into my pockets and snatched my backpack from the counter before heading out. There were about fifty people in front of the station that cheered once they saw me. I raised my hand in a salute, everyone in the crowd saluted me back. I looked over my shoulder and saw Wilbert yelling to the crowd about some power to the people nonsense, but I kept going my own way down the road. A few people tried to follow me, but I waved them off and they went back into the crowd.

"Hey! Floyd! Don't you hear me talking to you?" I heard a female voice say. I turned around and saw a familiar girl, slightly taller than me and a lot more adult looking. Her eyes were covered by black sunglasses, on her torso was a black peacoat and on her neck was a black scarf. She looked like she had somewhere important to be, but I knew why she was dressed like that. Some of the members of the movement had taken to wearing either their native attire, beads and stantler hides and the like, or all black suits. She chose the latter, giving herself a coordinated and intimidating presence.

"Oh, Terry. It's nice to finally see you," I greeted her. She wrapped me into a one-armed hug and ruffled my hair.

"You too, it's been a while. You've been up to some things since the last time we saw each other, oh, seven or so months ago?" She had a more mature way of speaking, too. "Last time I checked, you were the guy that said something about how he wasn't going to be involved in this, or something along those lines. Looks like you're pretty damn involved now, huh?"

"Let's get out of here before they start swarming me for interviews. I don't feel like talking to them right now," I told her. She nodded and we continued walking onto a magnificent golden drawbridge, with an entrance sign that read 'Nugget Bridge,' in bold red letters. It was one of the longest bridges I'd ever seen, it bustled with trainer activity, joggers, and people capturing the view with cameras. I got to see the beauty of Cerulean on the bridge, and it was, well, beautiful. Sparkling blue waves crashed against the white sand bar, a large mountain in the distance to the right and a modern city to the left painted a poetic picture of nature and man in perfect harmony. Even the people seemed happier than the ones in Pewter, not a single one didn't have a smile on their face. A trainer rode his sharpedo like a jet ski, cutting through the waves alongside another trainer, probably having some sort of race. I'd have to take a dip in the water as soon as I could. It was too cold to do it at the moment, but in a little while, it would be swim season.

"How long have you been here, Terry?"

"About a month. It's too nice for me to leave. I heard the beach in Vermillion is even better, but the trip to get there is so long," she sighed.

"Just retire here if you like it so much here," I suggested. "You and Bailey can sunbath well into your forties."

She laughed, "I can't retire, so much to do these days. I might leave depending on what your plans are," she said. "I mean, the leader here was pretty hard to beat. Her gym has a giant swimming pool, and unless Zevoa can doggie paddle, I don't know what your chances will be."

"I'm going to binge train. Evolve Makhai, get some more training in with Amari, you know," I told her. She nodded.

"Well, watch yourself. There are a lot of people who want your head on a platter. I was assaulted a few weeks ago. Bailey put the bums in the hospital."

"I'll be fine, I'm not worried about randoms as much as I am about the rangers. If I touch a ranger pokemon, then I'm toast. I'll lose my whole team."

"Then just hold off on inciting riots. I'll forgive you for it," she grinned. I dropped a random pokeball, not even bothering to see what pokemon it was. Makhai was out, he stretched his legs and jumped onto the steel railing on the side of the bridge. He screeched in glee as he balanced on it as if he just didn't give a damn about the fact that he could fall to his death with one false move. It made me worry about his mental health.

I noticed that he was a lot taller, and his tail was shorter. His fur was also a bit darker, more of a caramel colour now than the khaki that it was before. He was getting older, getting closer to his evolution. I couldn't wait until I had a primeape on my team. He'd be my second evolved pokemon to evolve, not counting Zevoa, since I caught her as a mightyena. I didn't get to really enjoy Solomon's evolution because I saw it first when I was drunk. I remembered how it was odd seeing him turn from a purple rabbit to a rhino-boar with quills sticking out of his back. When he was a nidoking he'd be a six-foot tall bipedal rhino with a horn longer than my arm. That would be weird.

"I think I'll go train too. Maybe just say the gym circuit can go to hell and go straight to the most hardcore place in Kanto," she said.

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

"The Ice Cave, full of pokemon ten times stronger than Bailey, freezing cold temperatures, supposedly home to the legendary pokemon, Articuno," she said dramatically. It sounded interesting. Maybe I would go there. If I survived a week in a place like that, it would certainly say something about my skill as a trainer.

"What if we went during the summertime?" I asked.

"It'd be just as cold, but harder to traverse because there'd be more water than ice, the ice would also be less stable, it'd cave in under your feet at any moment. I'd say the only place that's worse is deep in the jungles of the Sevii Islands, and of course, The Cerulean Cave," she pointed at a something in the distance, it looked like a black void partially enveloped with water. Men in orange uniforms blocked the entrance. That was Cerulean Cave.

"Maybe after I'm done in Cerulean, we can go to on one of those places."

Terry changed the subject with an interesting proposition. "How about a battle for old times sake?"

I thought about it for a moment. She had an arcanine, slowpoke, scyther and a mareep. Decent team, probably very well-trained. "Yeah, actually. That'd be fun. A good way to take my mind off things."

She ran over to the other side of the bridge, widthwise, which was about forty feet. I stood still and collected my thoughts. I had a baby pokemon that barely had any variation to its move set, which basically meant I had three and a half pokemon to work with. Amari had done good against those rangers, but that was with older, more experienced pokemon backing him up.

"Makhai, get over here," I motioned for him with my finger. He hopped down from his post on the railing and did three backflips to close the distance between us. Showoff. He climbed up my leg and did his best attempted at a smile, showing off his countless razor sharp fangs. I laughed nervously, even though I knew what the gesture was. It was like when a dog wagged its tail, it was a greeting. I ruffled his coarse mane. "Alright, get down. We're gonna battle."

If there was one thing Makhai loved, well, he loved a lot of things. But a battle was at the top of the list. He stood in front of me and beat his chest, then screeched as loud as he could at Terry. "He's ready, are you?"

"Of course!" I yelled back. I was hyped up. Not many battles excited me, but battling someone like Terry made my blood boil. Last time I won, but I had no idea who would this time. She threw a pokeball on the golden bridge, kicking off the battle. Her slowpoke appeared, a lot bigger than before. It stood on its hind legs, its tail was now grayish and stood up stiffly. It was bloated, and its vast amounts of fat transformed it into what looked like less like an otter and more like a baby hippopotamus. Betsy roared, showing off the jagged incisors in her enormous maw. She could probably crush a watermelon with that mouth.

"Makhai, double team," I commanded him. Three copies appeared and switched places with each other. If he stood still the slowpoke would get a lock on him, then it would be over. The slowpoke created a steaming hot torrent of water and blasted each clone. What it didn't know, though, was that the real Makhai was behind it. He grabbed its tail and swung it overhead, slamming it on the bridge. I could feel the platform shake with the impact, making me stumble. "Double team again!"

"Psywave!" The hippopotamus grumbled and rolled back onto its feet. Makhai was on the defensive. He hopped in place and bobbed his head, trying not to stay still. He probably figured out himself after he felt the prodding of the psychic in his head. He made three more clones by the time the slowpoke let loose its attack. A wave of pink energy erupted from her body, disappating the clones and sending Makhai flying into the barrier of the bridge. "Scald again, keep him pinned," she told it. Once again she opened her maw and shot boiling hot water at Makhai, but he jumped out of the way before it connected.

"Night slash," I ordered. Makhai's claws starting radiating with a dark haze, the sharp tips grew by a foot and were enveloped completely in black, pure dark energy. He charged and sent a clone in first as a decoy to bait out an attack. It caught a scald and disappeared, but he was able to avoid the torrent by leaping over it. The poor pokemon was helpless as his claws plunged into its meaty side, he turned and started shredding her face before she even registered what was happening. The slowpoke roared loud enough to send Makhai stumbling, then a point-blank blast of water sent him crashing into the wall. "You okay boy?" He hacked up some blood and struggled to stand up straight, but he wanted to keep on. "Good, now finish it," I told him. He made a bloodcurdling screech before rushing the slowpoke.

"Flamethrower," Terry said with a grin. A concentrated ball of fire built up in the back of her throat, charging up the attack before releasing a flamethrower that completely blanketed Makhai. He broke through the attack and appeared directly in front of the slowpoke. He hopped on its snout, then used the extra height to do a backflip and get behind it. He landed in a roll of which he used the momentum of to grab her tail and toss her off the side of the bridge. She roared while twirling in mid-air before disappearing from view and into the water below. Terry turned around and peered over the gate. The large splash made by the hippo soaked Terry from head to toe. I laughed, but Terry looked furious. "Betsy, get back up here," she yelled at her pokemon.

I stood there for a moment, Makhai panting in front of me. A wave crashed over the side, it had to be atleast fifty feet in height, with the hippo riding it until it hit the wood with a crack. The slowpoke once again roared, lifting up Makhai with psychic energy before slamming him repeatedly into the ground and chucking him at me. I returned him before he collided with my body, and thought for a second about who I would send out next. Zevoa could compete with her strictly because of her dark typing, but I wanted to save her for the suprises her scyther and mareep might've pulled through with. Solomon was also a ranged fighter, but he was weak to psychic attacks and wasn't mobile enough to avoid them like Makhai.

Solomon had his thunderbolt, and his poisons were very potent. He lowered his horn, the spear-like tip soaked with toxins. He huffed and stomped his two toed boar-like hoof. I looked around and saw clusters of people gathered to witness the battle. Half of them were chanting my name, others were on Terry's side, either way it fulled me with energy. "Solomon, give'em a show," I said. He huffed and his quills grew erect. "Poison sting," he showered the slowpoke, sticking its face and injecting a small amount of poison with every quill. The slowpoke stood on its hind legs and roared a challenge. Its belly was exposed, and Solomon decided to take the opportunity to zap it with a thunderbolt, causing it to seize up and fall limply with a crash.

"Psychic," Terry ordered. Betsy's eyes glowed blue and Solomon was lifted a few inches off the floor before he interrupted the slowpoke's attack with a thunderbolt. Once he dropped, he charged it with a poison jab aimed straight for its chest. He avoid a flamethrower by running to the right, then changed direction once more to penetrate its belly. He plunged his horn inches deep into its stomach. It gurgled and a watery red liquid spilled from its mouth, he finished it off with a thunderbolt that shocked the slowpoke from the inside, instantly knocking it out. Terry returned her pokemon with a scowl.

"She's so slow, and she's getting slower with age. It's hard for her to defend against attacks when her reaction speed is abysmal," Terry sighed. "But I'll still win this battle. Goblin, let's go," she released a five-foot tall green insect with scythes instead of arms that were sharper than swords. It had a distinct arthropodic appearance, but at the same time it looked like a dinosaur. It's feet ended with two long talons, and its wings beated with the ferocity of airplane propellers. It made a noise that was reminiscent of a screech, but with the background noise of a high-pitched hiss behind it. It sent chills up my spine. "Goblin, double team then u-turn."

Four copies sprung up around the scyther, throwing off Solomon's aim and confusing him before they rushed him. Extremely fast pokemon, many times faster than Makhai. It was little more than a green blur as it collided with Solomon and sent him flying. Terry was ready with her pokeball pointed towards it, returning the scyther and completing the attack. "Now come out, Bailey." Shit.

The arcanine appeared with a howl, fire danced off his shining mane. His fangs were already blazing as he ran at Solomon, taking but ignoring a face-full of quills. He picked up Solomon by the horn and shook him like a ragdoll before slamming him onto the ground. He used a flamethrower on Solomon whilst he laid on the ground, searing off some of his skin and leaving a putrid poisonous smell in the air.

I returned Solomon. He could do absolutely nothing against Bailey, he was probably the worst matchup for Bailey on my team. And I might've needed him for the scyther or mareep as backup. If he was knocked out then Zevoa and Amari would be my only pokemon left against three pokemon. I'd have to go with the big gun, Zevoa.

I threw her pokeball at Bailey's forehead, letting Zevoa get a leg up on him immediately upon release. She appeared above him and used her weight to bring him to the ground. She tore into his mane and disappeared as he tried to snap on her. She reappeared to his side and body checked him, throwing him off guard for a dark pulse. "Nice combo, Zevoa. Now scary howl," I ordered. She cackled ominously, causing Bailey to back down in defense. Her eyes glowed a fiercer yellow, and her irises were a bloodier red. She ended the technique with a chilling howl to the heavens, the spectators cheered at my usage of a custom move, although some of them looked a little disheveled.

"You guys aren't only one's with tricks up their sleeves. Overheat-Blitz," Terry ordered. The arcanine erupted with a firestorm that blazed hot enough that I could feel it from nearly forty feet away. He charged Zevoa and rammed her. Before her skidding came to a halt, he leapt on top of her and exploded. A plume of fire twenty feet across blew up around them, but Zevoa used a sucker punch to avoid being hit point-blank of the attack. The bad part about sucker punch was that she could control where she appeared, but she always had to appear under a few feet away. That put her in range to get hit by the overheat, inflicting a massive amount of agony upon the hyena. The firestorm petered out, leaving a heavy-breathing arcanine and crispy mightyena behind. Zevoa charged a dark pulse, a very weak dark pulse, and fired it at the arcanine. He flinched at the attack, buying Zevoa an opportunity to slam her weight into the arcanine and knock him over. The attack really drained his energy, I noticed. He moved more sluggishly, his strikes were pathetic. Zevoa wasn't doing much better, though. She was bald underneath certain parts of her body, showing the black skin underneath her fur. The natural oils on her body weren't flammable, but they provided a thin shield against physical attacks. It allowed her to take minor scratches, bites and cuts, and it was the reason why she didn't get roadburn whenever she went skidding across the bridge.

They fought for a few more long seconds before breaking up, both of them ready to pass out. Bailey had chunks of fur taken out of his mane, one of his fangs was chipped too. Zevoa was a bit worse off, but not by much. They each looked two hits away from falling unconscious, which sucked for Bailey because he exhausted his fire pouch so early in the fight.

"Bailey, one last move. Close combat ," she ordered. The veins in his muscular body became pronounced, red hot blood ran through them and filled them with adrenaline. He growled deep and guttural, Zevoa pinned her ears onto her head and snarled in response. He barked and charged her, then pounced once he got close enough. She ran out of the way, he didn't realize with the rage clouding his vision that he was about to fly right over the bridge. Terry scrambled for her pokeball and returned him. I even let out a sigh of relief, Bailey was a good pokemon, it would suck to see him pass like that. It would tear Terry to shreds, too.,

"2-Floyd, 1-Terry," I announced with a grin. She rubbed her temples, probably thinking of some strategy. All I knew was that she had a scyther, one of the fastest pokemon I'd ever met. Whether it was strong or not, it still had that going for it.

"You're gonna eat your words," Terry scoffed. She sent out the scyther in question, who once again intimidated everyone in the audience with its fearsome expression. "Swords dance, Goblin," she commanded it. It scrapped its blades together, getting them as sharp as possible to cut down the remainder of my team. Not if I could help it.

"Zevoa, ice fang," her incisors froze over into icicles, which she used to plunge into the scythers side. It hissed and knocked back Zevoa with the back of it's blade, then slashed her across the chest once, completing the combo and pushing her to her limit. I returned my starter and sent out Solomon. He was relatively healthy, and although it was extremely quick, it wasn't very bulky. It would go down to enough poison, I knew.

"Thunderbolt, slow it down then load it with poison!" Solomon zapped it with a thunderbolt to the wings, burning them up with the electrical energy. He shot a barrage of quills, only a few actually struck-home though. The scyther was already creating clones. If he could use his seismic sensing, then it wouldn't be a problem. As long as you had weight and were on the ground, you'd be detectable. He'd only be able to use it if he knew ground types moves, though.

"Ice beam, aim for the floors," I told him. He shot the beam at the ground, making it icy and slippery. The scyther flew at Solomon, twirling rapidly to slash him repeatedly. He used a close-ranged thunderbolt, shredding a hole through its wing. It hissed and backed off, but Solomon charged and shoved his horn into its abdomen. Unlike the slowpoke, the scyther didn't have huge amounts of fat and blubber protecting its vitals. All it had was a thin thorax that was easily penetrated through by Solomon's horn, and now it had a body full of toxins.

The scyther used its jaws to snap on Solomon's horn and viciously shake it. A lot of pokemon tried that whenever they fought him. It was fragile, the intricacies of tubes and veins that let it carry toxins and eject them didn't leave room for any enforced fibers, but it never cracked or splintered. Apparently the scyther wasn't playing around. The appendage was cracked down the middle, poisons were leaking down the shaft and dripping into his eyes.

It was going to be a waiting game. The scyther was on a clock, it didn't take long for Solomon's poisons to seriously injure a pokemon. Solomon was now down one of his main senses, he had to really on his smell to guide him. I decided to let him handle the rest of the battle, I couldn't use visual cues to command him, which was usually how I did it. This battle was grounded now, though. Under such intense sunlight, the ice covering the bridge under us was melting. It gave me an idea.

But first, I'd have to let the poison take effect. The scyther sprinted up to him, the way its body moved on the ground was similar to a velociraptor. Solomon's horn and it's blades met. They clacked against each other, sending poisonous juices and blood everywhere. The scyther was a master sword fighter, but Solomon was no pushover. He backed up and charged several times, directing all of his weight into every stab. He got a shred of his ear taken off by the blades, eliciting a wail from him.

He used a thunderbolt on the melted ice, electrocuting the scyther where he stood. It wasn't enough to bring it down, but static bounced off of it even after the attack was already over. The insect was slowed down enough that Solomon could keep up, he was able to hit even more of his attacks, but I feared he'd lose before the scyther did. Terry and I were screaming commands, giving encouragement to our pokemon. They barely listened, too focused on the fight. Solomon was a prideful pokemon. It sounded dumb, since they were both merely animals, but he couldn't stand losing. If the scyther was an alpha male, like Solomon was, then it would fight to the fullest to win this battle.

They both got their wishes, I guess. It cut too deep. Solomon fell about the same time it did. Fatigue had set in for both combatants, they just couldn't take it any longer. My little king was down, which left Amari to defend the honor of our team.

Everyone in the crowd were on the edge of their seats, it had gone silent. A few of them had stopped eating their snacks and were simply devoting their full attention to the fight. Amari hissed defensively, he was still just a baby. Her mareep was released, it looked like a simple sheep. A minor difference in the fact that it had two swirled cones on the sides of it's head, and a bulb at the end of its tail. "Floyd! Mareep wool is flame resistant!" Someone in the crowd yelled. Alright then, I'd have to change my tactics based off of that piece of information.

"Thanks," I waved at the person. Some random kid, but still, everyone knew something you didn't. I never fought a mareep, so that was useful. "Amari, confuse ray," I ordered.

"Mary, thunder wave," Terry ordered. She looked nervous. Like she didn't have complete faith in her pokemon. It did look like something was missing in its brain. It's eyes were blank, it looked young, not battle-ready like Terry's other pokemon. It then hit me, we both saved the babies of our teams for last, which meant that she didn't have the extraordinary team that I thought.

A tiny jolt of electricity struck Amari and sent shivers throughout his body. His muscles spasmed, he struggled to stand up straight. Paralysis. "Amari, confuse ray!" I ordered him again. A ghostly ray floated slowly up to the mareep, hitting its face and fading away. Now they were both statused. "Flamethrower." He used a weak stream of fire to douse the mareep, lighting it up but otherwise leaving it perfectly fine. They trade ranged attacks for a while, before the mareep decided to take things straight to its opponent. It tripped a few times on its way to Amari, but it was able to stomp him once his paralysis kicked in inconveniently. "Ember, aim for that, Amari!" I pointed at the tip of its tail, the bulb. I knew that every electric type had somewhere on their body that stored their electricity, static bounced inside of it like a tesla coil. He pelted it with small fireballs, making the mareep falter and take a knee.

"No more electric, Mary, use cotton spore!" Terry commanded. Her mareep shook wildly, causing balls of fluff to fly off. Amari was close enough for a few to hit him, they stuck, slowing down his movements even further. "Now tackle!" It dragged its hoof against the ground before slamming into Amari. I heard something snap and I ran to his aid. He was knocked out. I heard murmurs in the crowd, before everyone descended on Terry, the winner.

I heard a few people talking, someone said something along the lines of, 'Cool fight, but that last one was boring. Like watching toddlers box.' I laughed a little to myself. I could admit, it might've been a little boring. Once they were older, though, an ampharos versus a magmortar would be an awesome fight.

Terry pushed past the swarm of people congratulating her and strode up to me. "You know that was situational as hell, right?"

I shook my head, "No, you won."

"Well, if this would've gone a bit differently, you would've. Think about that before you go and cry yourself to sleep tonight," she winked and grinned at me.

I gave advice to beginner trainers that watched the match, spoke to some of the older ones about the mistakes I made during our match. Terry went back to her room in the pokemon center, she wanted to heal her pokemon's injuries. One of the trainers said something about how Solomon needed a better diet of poisonous plants and roots to make his toxins as potent as possible. Someone gave me a technical machine for Will-o-Wisp that I could use on Amari, just in case I got into another situation where I was unable to do direct damage to my opponent. When I went back to the center, I decided to get a little more serious about training. I'd need to stop thinking of Amari as a weak link, as the baby. Every pokemon on my team needed to be equaly as powerful. Terry agreed on that front. She said she relied too heavily on Bailey, similar to what I did to Zevoa. We knew we could accomplish our goals within the next two months.

This chapter isn't fully edited, so it might be a bit odd to read at certain parts, but tell me if you see something odd in your reviews. I got about 75% through with editing, but I was too busy to do the rest. Also, I made changes to some previous chapters, including combining two chapters into one. I'm going to keep going through and chopping this story up and putting it back together. I'm just not satisfied with how I used to write. I think I'm slowly getting better, my next project will be a far better quality than this one. I can't share any details, but once I get to the halfway point of this story, I'll be revealing more details.

For now, thank you to all who reviewed. For new readers who made it all the way to this chapter, welcome to the most inconsistent story on the site. I upload once a week for a month or two, then Satan gives me a call and I have to make a trip to hell, where there is no wi-fi, dogs creep around chewing up laptop chargers, and the only way to protect myself from the constant pressures of chores is building a barricade with the amount of homework I procrastinate on doing. Please review, favorite and follow if you enjoyed.