Leaf was huddled with her laptop at the Communications Center in the early hours of the morning, the sun still rising outside. The doors had been locked, but to a former burglar and con artist, breaking in was just another day in the office. Internet security was also still a fairly underdeveloped thing at the Sevii Islands, so Leaf had little problem accessing what she was looking for: the Sevii Cup records.

Browsing through the files, Leaf was feeling her attention span lowering. Official documents about permits, renting and constructing facilities, work contracts… but then, what she was looking for was staring at her in the face. With a list of personnel files in one window and a scheduling table in another, Leaf had a complete list of coaches for the Sevii Cup. Going through them one by one, Leaf's browsing came to a complete stop when she saw one of their faces.

"Number one," she whispered.

Chapter Sixteen: Round Four: Revelations

Location: Seven Stars Stadium, Quest Island, Sevii Islands

Elite Four member Drake, one of the strongest trainers in the Hoenn region and among the best trainers in the world, was pacing around the grass of the Seven Stars Stadium, the biggest arena in the whole archipelago that was constructed for a year in preparation for the Sevii Cup. The final round of the Cup was to be held today, but Drake seemed far from enthused. Instead, between his pacing, he kept glancing at the bright blue sky, the sun now up.

One of the coaches, a young man acting as Drake's assistant, was listing off details to Drake, who was barely listening.

"...ideal weather at 28 degrees Celsius, slight winds but the stadium walls will protect us from that," the young man spoke. "Your Salamanca has been fed one hour ago and is safely in its Poké Ball."

"Change it to Flygon," Drake grunted.

"Sir? You're not going to use your-"

"I will be using Flygon in this match," Drake murmured. "End of discussion. Have all the coaches been assembled?"

"Uh, yes sir, though Cheren Black has sent someone from his team to represent him due to an urgent matter he had to see to…"

Drake just grunted, not interested in the slightest.

"Oh, Domino is not here yet," the assistant said quickly, checking his notes. "I think I remember her saying she will visit home first."

Drake frowned. Domino was always on time, eager to please, and today was the match of the trainer she had spent the past week coaching so fastidiously. It was a strange omen, but nothing that would interfere with today's plan.

"Ok, next, I know you wanted a celebrity as a guest of honor to draw in more crowds, sir… he's arrived."

"Who has?" Drake remarked absentmindedly.

"Um, Champion Alder from the Unova region sir. Oh, he's already done preparing, I see."

Drake's eye twitched as he quickly turned to look at the mostly empty audience seats. However, in the top box meant for important guests, there was a large man with bright red and orange hair waving cheerfully at Drake, who responded halfheartedly. For a moment, Drake couldn't hide the irritation from his face.

"Sir?" the assistant asked cautiously. "Are you all right?"

"Perfect!" Drake said loudly. "Anything else?"

"Well, that additional security detail you ordered has also arrived."

Drake smiled, taking a moment to adjust his captain's hat.

"Excellent," he said. "Let us go meet them."

Meanwhile, not far away from Drake, Kris was sitting in her private dressing room, staring at the mirror. She was trying not to show any signs of nervousness as Iris and Professor Elm fussed around her, each trying to help in ways that only increased her anxiety. Professor Elm was sitting on the sofa of the relatively spacious room, typing on his laptop.

"You know, you kids don't know how good you have it these days," Elm spoke. "When I was watching tournaments back in the day, I had to search for this info for like ten, maybe fifteen minutes. But now someone has made a wiki called famoustrainers dot com and it has every Pokémon Drake has ever used in a public match, along with every move they have ever used."

"You didn't need to go through all that trouble, I know Drake and his team in and out," Iris said, sounding like she was more agitated than Kris at the moment. "He has a Salamence, Flygon, maybe like two Shelgon, an Altaria… and a Kingdra. He only has five at a time, though, or at least I've never seen him in a match using more than five."

"Yes, well, um, that Salamence is a beast," Elm said warily. "Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance, Roost, Fire Blast… uh, not saying you couldn't handle it, of course."

"We won't know if he will use it, even if it is likely," Iris lamented. "But Kris, if he does, use ice! It's your best bet anyway. Out of everything Elm said, most of them really hate ice. Who wouldn't…"

"Yes, Iris is right, your only problem would be Kingdra, and since we're fighting in the grass field, I doubt he will use it."

"I used Froslass in the last round, remember?" Kris said quietly as she inspected her face in the mirror.

"So use Croc!" Iris said encouragingly. "He can handle it!"

"Used in the first round, we're only allowed to use each Pokémon once."

"Okay, okay, no matter... ", Iris said nervously and started pacing around again. "Guess what else dragons hate? Fairies! Use Gardevoir!"

"She wasn't working out, I sent her to a Daycare facility," Kris said plainly.

"So," Elm said slowly, "when you asked me to send-"

"Yup, Snorlax will handle this match," Kris said, surprising herself how clear her voice was. "It beat Pryce, after all."

Kris glanced at the Poké Ball sitting on her desk that she had labeled with a little Snorlax head sticker just so she wouldn't confuse it with something else. Truth to be told, Snorlax's record was inconsistent and it spent most of its time at Elm's lab. But which other of Kris' Pokémon could do enough damage against Drake?

Blaine arriving to the dressing room alerted Kris and snapped her out of it. Snorlax would have to do, it was too late to change which meant regrets were pointless.

"You'll never guess who came here to see you!" Blaine told Kris excitedly.

"If you say my mom I'm dropping out," Kris muttered.

"Dawn and Barry, your friends from Sinnoh!" Blaine continued. "I had a brief chat with them, they came all the way from there to see you compete."

"That's great!" Iris said happily. "After everything they've been through..."

"Yeah, well, the great news is over as far as I'm concerned," Blaine said harshly. "If they knew about Kris competing all the way from Sinnoh, this thing must be pretty widely known. Which means this is the perfect chance for Pryce to make his move, whatever it is!"

"Blaine, don't make her upset!" Iris whined and moved to give Kris a painful and amateurish backrub, which only hindered her nerves.

"Um, Blaine, this is not like in the Silver Conference," Elm said weakly. "Pryce is responsible for several deaths. He's being hunted in multiple regions, and there's so many strong trainers here. Even Alder from Unova!"

Hearing that Dawn and Barry would be watching was already a motivating factor, but the fact that Alder was in the audience… Alder, the man whose training course Kris had attended, would be there to see her defeat Drake. It cheered Kris up so much that she began brushing her hair and calmly humming a tune while Iris, Elm and Blaine argued away in the background.

~o~O~o~

Meanwhile, Wes and Lorelei were traveling on Lorelei's Lapras. Lorelei was guiding the journey while Wes had her back towards her, holding onto the protrusions on Lapras' back and staring at the water, too tired to have a meaningful conversation. Since leaving Dr. Gideon's warehouse, the two had been unable to return to Resort Gorgeous. Lorelei kept in contact with Agatha, who didn't have any problems, but to be on the safe side, Wes and Lorelei still kept constantly on the move.

However, something was finally happening. Lorelei was tugging on Wes' sleeve, and Wes turned around in disinterest, only to open his eyes wide at the sight of land nearby: a seemingly desolate, rocky island with no buildings or any signs of human life, just a mountain in the middle of it.

"What are we doing here?" Wes yawned.

"Not a lot of people come here, so there's a good chance a piece of the prophecy could be uncovered around the mountain, or underwater in a cave somewhere," Lorelei remarked. "That's if they weren't destroyed in the blast…"

Wes frowned hearing that. "Where did you say we were?"

"Didn't," Lorelei said, turning to look at Wes. "Thought you knew. It's Navel Rock."

Wes' jaw dropped a bit, and in his backpack, there was movement. Shrew's head popped out of the backpack, also staring at the island. Both the Pokémon and humans were surely thinking of the same thing, about how more than a year ago, Navel Rock was the site of a horrific incident that would shape both of their lives. For Shrew, it was its escape from a research facility, witnessing horrible things and miraculously escaping before being brought to the Lavender Volunteer House, and later, to Kris. For Wes, it was where he decided to stop just living to hunt for the next paycheck and focus his efforts on trying to save the world from the threat that the events at Navel Rock had unleashed.

"Are you okay?" Lorelei asked Wes, who hadn't said anything as he stared at the island with Shrew. "Do you want us to find another place to-"

"No," Wes said quietly. "Bring her in."

"Well, I'm glad you said that," Lorelei said. "Because we're not the only ones here."

Wes had to almost stand to see what Lorelei was pointing at, but noticed the speedboat tied to the rocks near the shore. The boat was decorated with the letters E, X and O, the last one shaped like a Poké Ball symbol. A Samurott was swimming around the boat as if to guard it.

"I think I know who that is," Wes said quietly.

"So we don't have to worry about starting a fight?"

"Uhh… I wouldn't go quite that far."

The Samurott looked at Wes, Lorelei and Lorelei's Lapras as they arrived at shore, but didn't do anything to stop them. Content that they would be avoiding an incident, Lorelei withdrew Lapras and she and Wes walked further towards the mountain.

They didn't have to walk far, as two trainers, a tall, brown-haired young woman and a slightly shorter, pale and brown-haired young man, were waiting for them, both wearing caps with the same EXO logo on them.

"Returning to the scene of crime, Wes?" Hilda asked with her hands on her hips. "I thought you'd be rooting for your 'friend' at the cup?"

"Well, you can drop the mocking tone, she's my friend, unless you're implying we're not even that level after everything we've done so far," Wes said, only realizing how lame he sounded about halfway through the sentence. "Hiya, Hilbert!" he greeted the young man.

Hilbert just nodded tersely. Wes still wasn't sure how to react to Hilbert's presence, but Hilda distracted him from the thought.

"Who's your other friend?" she asked. "Looks familiar…"

"You already know and just want to jab me in case I lie, right?" Wes remarked.

Hilda shook her head. "Somebody's been using more than two braincells lately. "Now that you're here, there's something I'd like to talk about. In private."

Wes wondered what she could have to say that wasn't suitable for Lorelei or Hilbert to hear. But since he hadn't done anything wrong, he decided not to worry about it and followed Hilda up the hill. Upon arriving out of earshot, Hilda sighed, taking a deep long look at the mountain.

"Do you still think about it?" she asked.

Wes just stared, not expecting this. He looked over his shoulder, making sure no one could hear him - besides Shrew of course.

"Of course I do," Wes said quietly.

"We're not here on a job," Hilda mused, Wes nodding, having already figured that out. "I just… needed to come see it for myself. It's so much smaller than I remembered. It's like nothing ever happened here."

"No matter how hard they tried to keep this under wraps, it happened," Wes said, looking at Hilda whose eyes were fixed on the mountain. "And we'll do our best to prevent this from ever happening again. For everyone there… for Buck, Cal, Nate, Rosa, Jasmine-"

Hilda frowned and turned to look at Wes. "Wait, what happened to her?"

"Oh sorry, she's fine, she even sent me a card," Wes said quickly "I mean I was just talking about people who were there."

Hilda smiled slightly and turned to look at the mountain again.

"Listen, Hil," Wes said apprehensively. "You avoided this question earlier, but… and I'm sorry if this sounds crass but… Hilbert should be dust in the air we're breathing right now. Only, you, me, Jasmine and Shrew here teleported to safety. How is he here, right now?"

Hilda inhaled deeply. "He was insulated by a pile of debris and a sealed room, so he survived both the bombings and the radiation blast. Before they wiped all evidence of the research facility, they sent a team inside and found him as the only survivor. He was alive, but only EXO had enough knowledge and resources to restore him back to what he was. But of course there was a catch - him and me both had to join EXO."

"Which you did without a second thought, despite the fact that they screwed us over during the whole Navel Rock incident?"

"Different people calling the shots this time, Wes. But of course I didn't just jump in without a thought. It's more like this is what I had to do. I have no other choice."

Wes didn't have anything for that, and Hilda took a moment to adjust her cap.

"Anyway, enough with this sentimental garbage," she said. "I also have something else to ask you. As long as we're on the subject of the people who were at Navel Rock… have you seen your little friend Yellow lately?"

The question caught Wes off guard, but what was he to say? From Wes' face, Hilda could already see that whatever Wes would say, it would be a lie.

Fortunately, Wes was spared from the third-degree when someone emerged from behind a rock: a small person with long, blonde hair, wearing a large straw hat.

"Yeeaaaah… I've last seen Yellow like two seconds ago," Wes said slowly, pointing over Hilda's shoulder.

Hilda reacted in shock and disbelief, while Yellow stood there calmly, waving at the two of them.

~o~O~o~

Location: Seven Stars Stadium, Quest Island, Sevii Islands

Kris took her first steps on the grassy battlefield. The audience cheered. The broadcasters narrated. Even with the remote location, this was close to being one of the biggest tournaments she ever participated in. Music was blaring and her blood was rushing in her ears, but Kris ignored everything. Just last year, Kris would have vomited in terror if she had even been given the remotest opportunity to one way battle like this. But now, after all that she'd seen, this was just another battle.

And one that would define her as a master trainer once and for all.

Drake was waiting on the arena, standing on the other end of the grassy battlefield. His captain's jacket and thick gray mustache moved in the wind as he stared at Kris with determined eyes… but also a smile so wide and goofy it threw Kris off guard. Kris smiled back as she took her position, picking up the microphone placed there while Drake spoke into his.

"Welcome to the final round of the first of what I hope will be many Sevii Cups!" Drake spoke, his voice booming across the stadium over the crowd's cheers, the music much quieter now. "Thank you all for your amazing support! We couldn't do this without so much love from battle fans across the archipelago, and in return, I guarantee a day you will never forget!"

The crowd cheered. Kris almost wanted to clap - Drake sure knew how to hold an audience.

"I have in front of me today," Drake spoke, turning to watch Kris, "a challenger from New Bark Town, Johto. Our finalist, Kris! She's shown us three amazing matches on the way here, besting the tournament regular Pebbleman, the great Karate King Kiyo and even her fellow New Bark resident and betters' favorite, Lyra. I may have experience on my side, but this match can legitimately go either way."

"Kris! Do you have anything you want to say to the audience?"

Oh, Kris thought. She's never been asked to do this before. Still, any sign of weakness and she could lose the crowd. And for the sake of her nerves, Kris needed it.

"W-well, Drake!" Kris said shakily, unsure of how close to her mouth she should keep the microphone. "I just want to say… to everyone here, watching this here in the stadium or from their homes… don't give up on your dreams. If you want to be a top battler, it doesn't matter who you are, work hard and you can face an Elite Four member. You can even be an Elite Four member! And… let's battle!"

Kris wasn't sure what compelled her to say that. But it did the trick, as the crowd cheered and even Drake took off his hat and bowed a little. Both Drake and Kris put down their microphones and Kris readied her Poké Ball. She was waiting for the signal from the referee at the side of the arena.

When the referee whistled and raised his flag, Kris wasted no time. Whatever Drake would pick, she would deal with, so she sent out Snorlax. The Poké Ball left her hand, landing on the ground, opening and revealing the massive Pokémon. Snorlax wasn't lying or even sitting as it came out, but standing tall and psyched to fight, to Kris' relief - she had been trying to psych the Pokémon up before the battle.

Drake tossed his Poké Ball casually, like without a second thought. Kris was fearing the worst, but felt another wave of relief as she saw the Pokémon: an almost bug-like green, flying dragon with large red eyes, wide green wings and a slim, snake-like body. Kris had been fearing the Salamence, but this was a Flygon.

The battle began so quickly Kris had little room to breathe. Drake ordered a Sandstorm and Flygon began flapping its wings at great speeds, a storm suddenly brewing despite the lack of visible sand. But Kris took advantage of the opportunity to tell Snorlax to use Stockpile. Snorlax inhaled and began buffing its body up, an aura of energy appearing around the Pokémon.

When Drake ordered Flygon to attack Snorlax with Dragon Claw, Kris countered with Defense Curl. Snorlax obediently rolled into a ball, taking little damage from Flygon's attack.

An idea just popped into Kris' head from the countless battles she had with her Sandshrew, but it was something she hadn't dared to attempt with anyone else. But now, if ever, was the time.

"Snorlax, Rollout!"

The two hadn't practiced this particular move, but Snorlax still knew what to do, starting to spin towards Flygon at an incredible speed. With such a massive object coming its way, Flygon had to dodge, barely managing to avoid being grazed by the spinning Snorlax.

"Turn around!" Kris yelled.

Wanting to keep the momentum going, Kris gave her order and Snorlax complied, but much slower than what Shrew could accomplish. Flygon had ample time to fly out of the way, but that's what Kris had been counting on.

"Body Slam the ground now!" she yelled.

This move, the two had practiced before. She hadn't had the chance to use it yet, but Snorlax suddenly stopped rolling and used its massive stomach as a springboard, sending it flying upwards and hitting Flygon directly, sending them both flying towards the ground.

The crowd went wild and the announcers praised Kris' strategies, giving Kris an even bigger confidence boost. Still, the Flygon she was facing had to be incredibly high-leveled, and it would take many more hits like that to bring it down.

~o~O~o~

Location: Navel Rock, Sevii Islands

"...so my intention was not to spy on anyone," Yellow explained to Wes and Hilda. "Like you, I was also here just for a trip down memory lane."

"Well, I really wish you hadn't," Hilda said, arms folded. "Because we're in a bit of a snafu here. The Pokémon League has you wanted for several cases of espionage and sabotage, not to mention questioning about Red's whereabouts."

"Yes," Yellow said simply.

"Hilda come on, you know those accusations are about as made up as most of my past girlfriends!" Wes snapped. "Yellow saved us all during the Navel Rock incident. Just let it go!"

"We have orders," Hilda said bluntly.

"Hold on!"

Lorelei walked up the hill to where the others were.

"Hello, Lorelei," Yellow said serenely.

"Yellow," Lorelei acknowledged. "It's been a while. I'm happy to say that we've been continuing the work here at the Sevii Islands. We believe Dr. Gideon and his men are involved with the Prophecy, and it's connected to the Sevii Cup somehow."

Lorelei then turned to address Hilda, who seemed to be struggling to make sense of everything.

"Miss, this person is innocent of any wrongdoing, I can vouch that as a member of the Elite Four," Lorelei continued. "If you want to interrogate someone, I can volunteer."

"Hey, didn't you get fired," Hilda fired back. "Your testimony is about as worthwhile to me as that of a Krabby we dug up from under a rock here."

"Listen, young lady, if you work for the Pokémon League, I advise you to quit now," Lorelei said coldly. "If people still want to work there after what happened to the Galarian League's Chairman, they have to be dumb or in massive debt, and if it's the latter, no amount of money is worth it."

When the argument between the two began heating up, with Yellow sort of standing in the middle, Wes decided that his involvement wasn't needed, so he walked down the hill to join Hilbert, who acknowledged Wes' presence with a nod.

"Wes," he said plainly. "Nice to see you again."

Wes curled his lip. The Hilbert he remembered was calm, but also openly emotional, a sharp contrast to how Hilda carried herself.

"How does it feel for you to be standing here?" Wes asked Hilbert. "Our whole lives changed that day. I still remember every detail of it."

"Well, it's only been about a year," Hilbert said almost nonchalantly. "I would have preferred to just get to our objective sooner."

Wes frowned, but was distracted by something struggling to break free from his bag. He put the bag down on the ground, allowing Shrew to pop out for some air. Most likely it had smelled Yellow's presence and wanted to go say hello, but Wes decided it was best to let Hilda and Lorelei sort out their problems first.

However, seeing Shrew changed something in Hilbert. While Wes didn't see a smile, he could have sworn he saw Hilbert's eyes get brighter as he knelt to pet Shrew, who closed his eyes in enjoyment. Seeing this made Wes smile as well, remembering Hilbert's meeting with his Espeon.

"Slow down! What are you saying?!"

Wes and Hilbert turned to look at Lorelei stomping down the hill, talking on the phone, ignoring Hilda and Yellow following her.

"Hold on, Wes and Yellow are here," Lorelei spoke on the phone, "I'm putting you on speaker, though there are some Pokémon League goons around too, just FYI."

"Hi, Ag-" Wes spoke, but when Lorelei frowned at him, Wes swallowed the end of the sentence. "Um, I mean, hi!"

"Yes, hello, Wes," Agatha's voice came from the phone. "Listen, I've been staying up all night translating the prophecy, and I've managed to get a couple of paragraphs done."

Wes snorted. "In a whole night? Too busy with crossword puzzles and knitting?"

"Too busy trying to comprehend an ancient language with only fragments of a translation key, but thank you for your empathy," Agatha said evenly. "Lorelei, the 'invasion' mentioned in the prophecy has a beginning point right here on the Sevii Islands. It seems to have something to do with the meteor shower last night."

"I'm not liking this," Lorelei muttered.

"The documents you sent over from Gideon's lab seem to confirm this… both Gideon and Pryce are looking for the landing spot of an Ultra Beast!"

Wes looked around him for reactions, having no idea what that was. Lorelei's eyes widened, Hilda tensed up and even Yellow frowned. Hilbert's expression didn't change but he took out a pad attached to his wrist and started typing something immediately.

"Uhh, in case there are people here who don't know…" Wes started, but Lorelei wasn't listening.

"Then we have to do something now!" she said hastily. "I have the pictures we took from Gideon's boat, maybe we can run a search-"

"'Near the end of the cycle, the sky shall be darkened by a rain of fire from another world. On the place where life began, so does the invasion'," said Agatha. "Based on that and the charting system that has been used in these old maps, Gideon had to have gone to Birth Island. But if he has the technology to study the trajectory of the meteors and has already translated even half as much as I have, he'll have figured that out long ago. He is most likely in possession of the UB as we speak."

"So what do we do?" Lorelei demanded, clearly deferring to the older woman's judgment.

"I'm sorry, but could you send me pictures of Dr. Gideon's boat," Hilbert spoke up calmly. "I have an idea."

Lorelei frowned at him, but Wes nudged her with his elbow.

"We can trust him!" he insisted. "And I'm not exactly sure what's going on but based on how much your forehead is getting wrinkled, it must be pretty serious."

Lorelei sighed, but quickly tapped something on her phone. Soon enough, Hilbert's wristpad beeped and he nodded, giving a very small and quick smile. He then began typing something while addressing the others.

"If you recall, Wes, EXO has satellites we could use to track the boat's movements, and there is no way he could have left the archipelago," Hilbert said, "because we have more troops stationed around in nearby ports ready to move due to recent sightings of Pryce."

"That's my man!" Hilda said and slapped Hilbert's shoulder, but Lorelei wasn't convinced.

"How long will that take?" she asked tensely.

"It's impossible to say, although I've submitted the picture and it will be processed by our detection algorithm, it still requires human intervention to confirm," Hilbert spoke quickly while typing. "To speed things up, I'm running a search on who the ship could belong to and… huh."

"What is it?!" Hilda demanded and grabbed Hilbert's wrist by force to look at the pad. "Oh… it says here the ship is registered to a Mr. Drake from Hoenn."

"I knew it!" Lorelei said through gritted teeth. "Wes, give me the papers we found! Hurry!"

Wes hurried to obey, reaching out for his coat for some wrinkled and slightly torn documents which he handed to an annoyed-looking Lorelei. After adjusting and smoothing out the papers, she seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"The Sevii Cup," she said quietly. "That's where he'll go. And we have to move, right now!"

"I've been listening to the radio, the final match is about to start on Quest Island and Drake is there if you want to ask some questions," Agatha said.

"Hey, hold on here!" Hilda said and stepped in front of Lorelei. "We're representing the Pokémon League here, and our organization is very interested if an Elite Four member has gone rogue or something. We're going there ourselves!"

"Um…"

Everyone turned to look at Yellow.

"I have decided," Yellow said quietly but with a steady tone of voice. "I will submit to your questioning, Hilda, but only if you promise I won't be imprisoned or harmed in any way."

Hesitating for a second, Hilda nodded.

"Good," Yellow said with a smile. "Then why don't we work together, since we're after the same thing anyway. Hilda and Hilbert, you have a fast means of transportation, while Wes and Lorelei have information about what Drake and Dr. Gideon might be planning."

"Fine!" Hilda yelled. "Everyone, on the boat, now!"

As everyone began half-walking, half-running down the hill to where the EXO boat was anchored, Wes grabbed Lorelei's phone without asking, something weighing on his mind.

"Agatha, Drake is about to battle someone in the final match of the Cup, right?" he asked. "Who is it?"

"Well, I wasn't paying attention due to the translation and all, but I think they mentioned a girl from Johto… Chris or something."

Despite their situation, Wes smiled hearing that, feeling proud of his friend.

~o~O~o~

Location: Seven Stars Stadium, Quest Island, Sevii Islands

"Flygon, Dig!"

On Drake's order, the Flygon burrowed underground, but once again, Kris was ready.

"Earthquake!" she yelled.

Unhindered by its massive frame and short legs, Kris' Snorlax managed to jump a few feet in the air and land with a massive thud that caused the whole battlefield to shake. Moreover, a shaken Flygon popped out of the ground as if it had been squeezed out, but didn't stop its momentum as it slammed right into Snorlax's jaw.

The normal-type Pokémon staggered while Flygon flew above it and out of reach, but despite the impact, Snorlax was still in the game, though clearly exhausted from the battle. Luckily for Kris, she had the strategy to match.

"Snorlax, use Rest!"

Smiling with relief, Snorlax spread its arms wide and crashed on its back, falling asleep instantly, briefly emitting a small glow which signaled to Kris that Snorlax was regaining its energy. Seemingly sure of his victory, Drake gave his order

"Flygon, go directly above it and use Dragonbreath!"

"Snorlax, now!" Kris yelled.

Snorlax heard Kris even through its sleep, blue juice coming out from the side of its mouth as Snorlax had just consumed the Chesto Berry it had hidden in its mouth. Even Drake was astonished.

"Okay, now use Belch!" Kris ordered.

Drake was quick to react and order a dodge, and despite Snorlax's powerful regurgitation of poisonous liquid towards it, Flygon was able to get out of the way, the liquid landing harmlessly on the ground.

"Headbutt!" Drake yelled quickly.

Kris hadn't expected Drake to move in so close just yet, but when Flygon dashed towards Snorlax, she had to react quickly as well and show her cards:

"Ice Punch!"

Flygon rammed straight into Snorlax's stomach, clearly hurting the normal-type, but before Flygon could get away, Snorlax's paw glowed blue as it quickly punched Flygon as hard as it could. The dragon-type was sent flying backwards and it tumbled into the ground. For a brief moment, the referee seemed to be ready to call Kris' victory as Kris' heart skipped a beat.

But Flygon quickly got back on its feet and zoomed into the air, breathing heavily and covered in dirt but still in the fight.

"Well done, Kris!" Drake shouted with glee. "Your Snorlax is both faster and stronger than any other of its species! Unfortunately for you, my Flygon is at a level far higher than what you're used to, and now that I know your strategy, I'll be sure to keep my distance."

Kris, to her surprise, was not annoyed in the slightest. Her heartbeat was elevated and her hands were sweating. This was a real battle, even more than the one against Lyra. Kris' thoughts drifted as she glanced at the large screen that showed clips of the audience. The camera stalled on Kris' friends, cheering and applauding for her. Iris, Elm, Blaine… and sure enough, there were the blonde-haired Barry and the dark-haired Dawn, who had come all the way from Sinnoh to see her battle, even after what happened to their friend.

Only one person who Kris really wanted to be there watching her was not present.

"Now then, I think we both managed to catch our breath long enough!" Drake shouted, catching Kris' attention again. "What do you say we resume the match?"

Kris smiled at him. "Let's do it. Snorlax, use-"

The referee suddenly blew his whistle, raising a flag that signified that the battle had to be paused. A large shadow appeared above the stadium's clear skies: a Pidgeot flying overhead, avoiding the panicked stadium security guards. And to Kris' utter shock and fury, it was carrying none other than Wes and a tall, well-dressed woman with long red hair and round glasses - former Elite Four member Lorelei.

The Pidgeot landed right in the middle of the battlefield, with Lorelei jumping off the Pidgeot and walking towards Drake, grabbing the microphone as she went.

"Why, Lorelei," Drake said unsurely. "I've been trying to get into contact with you for a while, but you chose a rather inopportune moment to-"

"Drop the act!" Lorelei snapped at him and raised the microphone closer to her mouth. "Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four!" she spoke, her voice echoing across the now-quiet stadium. "In the name of the Pokémon League, I am arresting you and interrupting this tournament immediately!"

Drake began stroking his mustache. "And I'm charged for… what?"

"Multiple counts of illegal Pokémon smuggling, for one," Lorelei said harshly. "Then there's fraud, labor crimes and violations of environmental protection laws when it comes to setting up these stadiums, and I'm sure these documents will prove more. But most of all, you have ordered several attempted murders as well as to smuggle a highly dangerous rare Pokémon on Quest Island."

While Lorelei spoke, Kris stomped over to Wes and his Pidgeot. Wes turned and began backing away nervously when Kris reached him.

"Look," he said, "if you just listen to the woman, I can-"

"The timing, Wes!" Kris yelled. "The timing of it all! Did you plan this?! Did you plan to interrupt the most important battle of my career?!"

"No!" Wes said desperately. "I came because I thought you were in danger-"

"I was about to WIN!" Kris snapped. "Against Drake of the Elite Four!"

"Well I don't know about that," Drake said slowly, walking past Lorelei like she was thin air, "but we should really continue where we left off. The security are on their way down here to deal with this insane woman, poor thing really lost it when she got fired from the-"

Drake frowned as he reached for his phone. For a moment, he just stared at it in silence. Then, Kris could swear she saw his mustache quivering, though his eyes were hidden under the brim of his hat. Kris, Wes and Lorelei stared as Drake turned to look at the referee.

"STOP THE BATTLE!" he shouted, his booming voice sounding almost as loud as if it had been amplified by the microphones.

The referee was confused but nonetheless raised a flag to signify a timeout. Hearing this, Snorlax sat down and began scratching its belly in contentment, but Kris wasn't ready to call it quits.

"No!" she yelled. "We need to finish our-"

"Kris," Drake said calmly, "do me a favor and shut your mewling trap."

Kris blinked, staring at Drake, who had an insane grin on his face. With Lorelei holding his microphone, Drake walked over to pick up the one Kris had used in the beginning of the match.

"Attention everyone!" he spoke, the crowd getting restless with some getting off their seats. "Please stay in your seats! This battle is merely a prelude for your entertainment. The TRUE show is about to begin!"

"Drake…" Kris said weakly, but Drake ignored Kris and walked further from her.

"You are about to witness the most phenomenal event of your lives," Drake said as he paced around the battlefield. "And as I'm seeing some people ignoring me, I do have to insist that you stay in your seats. The exits have been sealed by my security team, who will have to resort to using force should anyone dare to leave before the show is over. And just to stress the point further…"

Drake took out his phone again and pressed a button. Immediately afterwards, a small explosion rang out in the back of the stadium, one of the screens shattered from its force, with shards of glass while flying everywhere as people began retreating in panic. The cries of fear across the audience began spreading as more and more people began scattering away, trying to get to the exits, people pushing each other out of the way attempting to save themselves… It was just like the Silver Conference.

"SILENCE!" Drake shouted, his microphone covered in his spit. His cap had moved enough that Kris could see his eyes bulging as he spoke. "REMAIN IN YOUR SEATS, PLEASE! I don't want to have to do that again, but it may not be up to me. Tripwires have been placed throughout the emergency exits, so if too many people attempt to escape… well, you get the picture, so please, save the cleaning lady some trouble!"

The crowd began to settle down, but cries of panic and confusion still rang throughout.

"You have witnessed seven magnificent battles before this," Drake spoke. "And you have all come here to see the finals. All of you, battle-hungry humans, so eager to see two Pokémon go all-out against each other, suffering for your amusement. Little did you know, you'd be in for a far tastier treat today. One that might be a bit hard to swallow, but trust me when I say that after today, you will all know it was worth it."

As Drake spoke, a side door behind the referee opened. Two men arrived and Kris recognized them both. The slightly hunched over scientist with large round glasses was Dr. Gideon, and behind him, pulling a cart carrying a large rock was a large man in a red Team Magma uniform - Tabitha.

"And behold!" Drake shouted maniacally, his voice peaking as it blared through the stadium. "The instrument of today's events. The remnant of yesterday's meteor shower, a meteorite that landed on Birth Island. This meteorite carried with it a virus that, instead of burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, mutated into a new kind of Pokémon. A Pokémon from another dimension that will herald the arrival of the new God. And this God will put an end to the reign of humanity and the Pokémon that have been foolish enough to work with them. It will restore Earth to its natural state, where the powerful Pokémon of the past ruled with an iron fist."

"BEHOLD!"

The meteorite on Tabitha's cart began glowing, with both Tabitha and Dr. Gideon getting away from its range. Everyone looked on in horror, unable to act as they witnessed the meteorite splitting open like an egg, with something emerging from it.

As the glow got dimmer, Kris was able to witness the form of this new Pokémon. It was very tall and lanky, at least seven and a half feet. As the Pokémon assumed its form, Kris saw it was mostly red with a blue face, with long legs ending in stubs, a purple crystal sticking out from its chest, four tentacles as limbs, with two on each side. But the worst part was its face - there was no nose, no mouth, two appendages sticking out from the sides of its head instead of ears. But the creature had eyes: two unblinking, lidless and lifeless eyes with small black pupils, sunken deep in large, black sockets.

As Kris stared at the Pokémon, she could have sworn its lifeless eyes were staring right back at her.


A/N: Hope you're enjoying the story so far, and I'm sorry it took so long, but no need for waiting as this story is practically finished on my computer and the next season is well underway. If you're curious about the Navel Rock incident, my prologue for this story, "His Master's Voice", tells the story about that. - Zokolov