"Man, that hit the spot!" Kora yawned, patting his gut. "I couldn't eat another bite."

"Probably because we're all out of food," Rio said, leaning against Kora. "Don't we gotta pay for this now?"

Lucas raised his head off the table for a second before letting it drop back down. "I might have to skip the clean up this time, I don't think I can move a muscle…"

Z nodded. "Me neither. You guys got us covered, right?"

Rio and Kora let out an aggravated groan before standing up. They weren't surprised Lucas and Z ate themselves into a form of paralysis, just disappointed. Rio waved his paw at the two slackers and started for the counter when something… happened.

A powerful shock shot up the Lucario's arm, strong enough to make him wince and growl. "Th-The hell?" he groaned, holding his arm. His arm band was glowing, pulsating, like some kind of warning. That was when the ground shook.

"Whoa, that was... unexpected," Kora said. His ear suddenly twitched. He locked eyes with Rio, both sharing a worried expression.

"You feel that too, right? Not just the shaking but…" the two boys said in unison. "Yeah, definitely."

"Yikes, that's kinda creepy," Lucas chuckled. "But we might have to check out that shaking, right? Let's get to it." The Charmeleon hopped out his chair and jogged for the exit, followed by Z.

Kora deadpanned, looking at the two go. "D-Didn't you both just say you couldn't move?"

"What? Sorry, can't hear you over the-" Z was cut off by the ground shaking again, almost making him fall over. "-that, the that."

Kora rolled his eyes, making his way behind the two liars. He turned back to Rio who hadn't yet moved. "You alright?"

Rio blinked, as if he just noticed Kora's existence. "Y-Yeah, gimme a minute. I'm just gonna…" he looked at the mess of a table they were about to leave. "I'll take care of this mess. Go on without me, ok?"

"Uh, sure," Kora shrugged, hesitating for a moment before leaving.

Now, Rio was alone. With nothing more than a messy table, a stinging arm, and silence. He grabbed the plates, wincing whenever he touched something with his right paw, and was carrying them over to the counter when he started thinking.

'You should go help them.'

His thoughts were louder than normal, Rio thought. He greeted Ben with a smile as he reached the counter, handing over the plates. "Sorry for the large order, sir. I can get started with that cleanup we promised to pay for it."

"Oh, don't bother, Zen already paid for you and your friends. He's a very generous patron, as it were," Ben said with a chuckle.

"Really? Zen?" Rio cocked his head. "We're talking about the same Zen, right? Tall? Black and red? Covered in blades? Looks either thoroughly pissed or extremely annoyed?"

"Yes, yes, the very same. Don't let his persona fool you, he's as soft as they come," Ben nodded. "I'll handle these, you can run along to your Outlander duties, whatever they may be."

Rio was surprised to say the least, but even more grateful. He waved goodbye to the cook and went on his merry way to join the others. It was then that Rio realized he still didn't memorize the layout of the mountain.

"God… damnit…"

'You're lost…'

In record time too, only took Rio a few minutes. It's not like it was hard to do, everything looked the same! Stone floors, rocky walls, rugged ceilings… it was like this place was made of stone or something! Which it was… but, like, still.

'Could really use a map or something, huh?'

Rio nodded. "I wish I knew Zen had us covered, then I wouldn't need a map in the first place! And I couldn't try to memorize how we got to the Cafe since Kora dragged me all the way there." The Lucario came across one of the many forked paths in this labyrinth someone called a guild. He was about to take the right path when his thoughts, er, thought differently.

'Take this left.'

Rio stopped, looking between the two paths. They, much like the other hallways and tunnels, looked exactly the same. What made him think left was the right choice? He was about to shrug the idea off and go right anyway when his arm started acting up again.

"Ngh, god that stings," he winced, clutching his arm. "Might not have had to get a check-up for feeling sick, but I will for this annoying, shooting pain in my arm. Assuming I can get back at all."

'L. E. F. T. Left!'

Rio's ear twitched. "Might have to add 'loud thoughts' to that list of things to get checked out. Actually, is that even a thing?" He looked around, making sure no one was around before listening to himself and taking the left path. Subtle vibrations in the stone he walked on felt like a good indicator that he was going in the right direction, so props to himself for thinking of the right way to go.

'Might wanna hightail it over there.'

Rio instinctively spun his head around, expecting someone to be there behind him. Baffled at the lack of another person, Rio kept looking back as he moved forward, up until he ran into a wall and knocked himself on his backside. There wasn't anyone there, he knew that, so why did he look back anyway? He was alone, right?

"Gah… dammit," Rio hissed, rubbing the side of his head. "Is someone here? I mean there?"

No response, which only furthered his growing bad mood. "I know I'm going crazy, so hurry up and show yourself or I'll…" Rio clenched his fist, irritated he couldn't realistically finish his empty threat. All he could do is slap them with his soft little paws, or be mildly irritating, but not much more than that. Maybe... throw himself at them? That'd hurt him more than whoever was messing with him, honestly.

"Whatever, we need to get to the others anyway," Rio shook his head and stood up, then realizing what he said. "I mean… me."

Rio took a few more steps before stopping. "What am I, I mean what did I… Who was I correcting myself too? I'm not-"

'Dude, your friends? We don't have time for this.'

"Can you be quiet, I can't hear myself-" the Lucario stopped, looking around again despite knowing he was alone. No matter how long he waited, no one would show up, and no one would respond. "-think…"

'...Maybe you should run.'

"Maybe I should run." He wasted enough time already, so why not? Rio booked it down the halls, going through the halls as fast as his legs could take him.

After some long stretch of time, or what felt like one at least, Rio made it to the infirmary. His legs were beyond sore, his lungs burned for air, and he was filled with nothing but regret for sprinting so long.

"Sh-Shouldn't have ran… still full… Uhhhhhhg, hate…" Rio panted, leaning on the doorway to the infirmary. No one was there, for better or for worse. Sure it sucked that he was too late, but now if he were to lose his lunch, no one would have to know. He shambled over to a bed, but right before he could plop himself on it and rest, a violent shake knocked him over.

"Wh-What was that?!" Rio said, catching himself just before he hit the ground. "D-Did something explode? Is there a fight? Are the others safe?" He jumped right back on his feet and turned to the door, but his legs weren't on the same page, apparently. He barely took a step before falling over again, this time hitting his head on the side of Tia's desk.

"GAH-! Dammit!" the Lucario growled, holding his head. He hit the desk in frustration, and a loud KRAK followed. Rio opened his eyes to see a paw print burned into the side of the desk, and a web of cracks spreading from it. "O-Oh shit. Oh shit! Did I do that?!"

'Cool it, hotshot, you need to focus.'

"Focus? Focus on what, the property damage?! I somehow just burned a hole in the side of Tia's desk! And broke it!" Rio yelled, quickly shutting himself up. He did it again; respond to his own thoughts as if they were someone else. It was incredibly fortunate no one was around. As if delayed by the pain of hitting his head, an intense, stinging pain shot back up his arm traveling all the way up to his head.

"Wh-What the hell is going on?" Rio tried to stand, but it was too difficult. His head, his arm, both felt like they were on fire. Remembering where he was, Rio looked for a berry or some medicine, anything really.

He managed to find an oran, it fell off the table after he hit it, and ate it as quickly as possible. A refreshing wave pulsed through his body, but the burning sensation remained. Rio was about to look for some water to pour over himself, until he realized that the burning didn't really… hurt.

"What is…" Rio asked, expecting some sort of answer. He could have sworn he saw his arm band glowing, but his thoughts were interrupted by another violent shake.

'Time to go, stop gawking at yourself.'

"I-I wasn't-" Rio clamped his mouth shut. No one. Was. There. He kept telling himself that over and over and over as he left the room to find the source of the shakes.

The sparring area was a sight to behold; a good amount of crystals were shattered, craters decorated the stone floor, psychic and dark energy clashed and danced in the air, and all of Rio's friends seemed to be holding their own against…

"T-Tia?!" Rio said, rushing to his friends' side. The Meowstic was cloaked in a thick, heavy darkness, even stronger than the Berserk Auras seen before. Zen and Nate were the only two actually fighting her, while the others kept their distance and supported however they could, be it throwing out long-range attacks or simply not interfering.

Kora spun his head around, a relieved smile on his snout as he saw the jackal finally join them. "Howdy! Took ya long enough!"

"Not the time," Minerva scolded, bopping Kora on the head and redirecting his focus on Tia. "Incoming!"

A powerful , dark-energy wave was aimed directly at Kora, cracking the ground beneath it as it sped towards him. Kora blasted it with an Incinerate, just managing to cancel the incoming attack out. The Zoroark got down on all fours, ready to deal with several more incoming attacks. He canceled out a couple of them, but had to dodge the remaining few.

"Look out, Rio!" Kora called back.

Rio jumped as high as he could, a surprising couple feet off the ground, and allowed the attacks to speed on past him. "What happened? Why's Tia so-"

"You WORTHLESS excuses for EXPLORERS!" Tia roared, cutting Rio off.

"-that." Rio gulped

Nina, who was helping Lucas carry a heavily injured Zeke away from the battle, answered. "According to Nate and Zeke, she just flipped out at them."

"Th-They were about to come outside to find us when she showed up out of nowhere and, well, that," Lucas finished. He was pretty beat up, but not nearly as much as Zeke. "By the time Kora, Z, and I got here, Zeke was getting tossed around like nobody's business! And Jax wasn't doing much better either," he said, nodding over to the Machamp. "I tried to help but, well, as you can see…"

"You did your best, Lucas. They'd be hurt a lot worse if you didn't step in," Nina said and gave Lucas a caring smile. "Let's get Zeke outta here so we can help some more, alright?"

Jax was laid out like a brand new rug, or maybe a scorched and bruised rug would be more fitting in his case. It was hard for Rio to tell if Jax was even awake from where he was. Z, Eva, and Jay tended to him as best they could; using bandages and rubbing medicine on his wounds. Maybe not in that order.

"Alright, uh, so… What do we do?" Rio asked, chuckling nervously. He was doing his best not to crumble under the weight of Tia's overwhelming presence, which was probably worse for him since he was able to sense things again.

"Same as when we were dealin' with Zen; beat some sense into her," Minerva said. "But with less throwin' people, I guess."

"You guess?" Kora snickered. "And here I thought you learned your lesson."

"Not. The. Time." Minerva bopped Kora again, pointing out another incoming attack.

Rio rolled his eyes, then hurried himself over to help Zen and Nate. Not that it looked like either needed it, they were basically on par with the powered-up Tia. In fact, Rio's sudden appearance was the one thing that caused either to slip up.

"Hey, Zen!" Rio called, getting a quick sideways glance from the Bisharp. Nate, on the other hand, took his eyes off Tia for a much longer moment.

The Feraligatr said only, "Rio? Took ya long en-" before a powerful pulse of darkness was l sent in his direction.

"You idiot!" Zen was fast enough to check Nate out of the way, taking the attack head on in the process. He fell to a knee, gasping for air and clenching his fists. Rio winced, feeling he might have messed things up.

"S-Sorry," Rio said, taking a step towards Zen before he himself was under fire. Rio's body was engulfed in berserk-psychic energy, letting out a pained cry as pain relentlessly surged through his body.

"Quit interfering!" Tia barked, slamming her paw down and Rio down with it. She kept her paw down, crushing Rio further under the pressure of her Psychic. Zen quickly charged in and slammed his head on Tia's. Tia, unaffected, blasted Zen back. A sudden blast of fire struck Tia in the back, causing the cat to stumble and release Rio.

"Hurry up and snap out of itm Tia!" Eva shouted, smoke flowing from her maw. Kora stood next to her, a furious glare staring the feline down.

"NO! Not until they suffer for their laziness!" Tia said, the dark aura around her rising further off her body. "Those BUFfOONS left those kids on their own! They could be dead!"

"We're right here! All of us are!" Lucas said, him and Nina back from taking care of Zeke. "We're safe! We didn't need them!"

"LIES! You can't fool me, none of you!" Another powerful surge of darkness. Tia's now glowing red eyes seemed to stare through everyone, maybe not even seeing them at all. "I will make those idiots SUFFER for what they didn't do!"

Zen stood back up, cracking his neck. "Stop trying to reason with her, it won't work. Everyone who can, attack! Follow my lead!" He and Nate went in, the former sidestepping attacks and the latter barreling right through them. Kora, Lucas, and Eva burned Tia from a distance, Nina shot Water Pulses, Z attacker with his own darkness, and Rio…

'Get up.'

"Uhhhg, not now, I'm in immense pain," Rio groaned. His body was burning, but again, it didn't hurt.

'You aren't gonna be able to help out on the ground, hotshot.'

Why did he insist on calling himself 'hotshot?' "I can't really do much else here, as you, er, I…" he sat up, shaking his head. The burning faded and his body felt relatively fine. "What the hell is wrong, well, right? This is not nor-"

'C'mon, seriously, focus. Get up.'

His thoughts were growing impatient, apparently. Rio complied anyway, standing up and shaking the dust and rubble off his fur. "What now?"

'Get Tia's attention.'

"Oh, be a meat shield or whatever? Sounds… sacrificial."

'Don't worry, there's no sacrifice. Just get her attention, and I'll handle the rest.'

Rio really needed a doctor, which was rather inconvenient since he had to first save the doctor. Save her by letting her attack him, then letting himself handle it. Some part of that plan sounded fishy. Maybe this was all some sort of whacked-out dream he was having, and in reality he was knocked out on a table in a deep food coma.

"Time to get her attention, then. And what better way than to, uh… charge right in? Maybe I can like, call her names?" Rio sighed. "God this is so… weird."

Zen and the others acted like a… fairly oiled machine. He'd sometimes have to dodge an attack or two from his "team," but at least Nate knew what he was doing. The reptile thrashed and bit at Tia like a controlled beast. Fierce, overwhelming, and entirely in control. Even among the long-range fighters, sure Lucas and Kora could have been mistaken as trying to hit Zen sometimes, but they hit their hopefully intended target more often than not. Eva was as precise as she could be with a power she learned fairly recently, and Z, Nina, and Jay were able to hit a target fairly easily.

Then, from the sidelines came the voice of the Outlander. "HEY TIA! You're, uh… r-really short!"

Zen stopped instantly. Immediately. He turned his head towards Rio with a scowl. In return he saw the Outlander, a "hero" destined, sent from heaven above to save the world, blessed with near limitless potential…

Shaking his tail. At a berserking Tia. In the middle of a battle.

"You hit like a baby! I couldn't even feel that attack you did!" Rio shouted, sticking out his tongue. Obviously, Rio was trying to draw Tia's attention, but she barely seemed to care about him.

"What in god's name are you doing?!" Zen barked, blocking an attack.

"Yeah, this is kinda serious. Tia is way stronger than a nurse should be," Nate said. "It'd be a lot better for everyone if you didn't do that."

Eva fired another Flamethrower before adding, "It's more distracting for us if anything…"

"Please, how is that distractin' ya? Why ya lookin' in the first place? Right Kora?" Minerva snickered, looking down at the fox. Unfortunately, Kora was staring at Rio so hard that he didn't hear her. Minerva flicked his ear before sighing. She looked over at Z and Lucas who, surprise surprise, were doing the same as Kora. "God… dammit."

Rio must have been in his own little world, or just ignored the others, and continued his attempt at… whatever he was doing. "Y-Your nurse skills are trash! I'd sooner ask, uh, Zeke and Nate to do it! And you called them idiots! I-Idiot!"

Zen felt something pop or burst inside him. There was a growing bit of heat in his head as well. Mostly absolute rage. It took Zen every ounce of strength he had to not blow his head off at… whatever the hell Rio was doing. "Please stop before you embarrass yo-"

"RAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" And yet, it worked. Zen couldn't believe it. Tia actually fell for Rio's taunt, and was now charging the jackal down at a breakneck speed. Rio let out a high pitched yip as he ducked under the incoming Tia.

"What the hell? That… worked?" Nate asked, watching Rio run for his life as Tia tried to slaughter him. "Wait, did he have to throw us under the bus like that?!"

"I have no goddamn idea," Zen said, not knowing whether he should be furious, relieved, disappointed… actually no, he stuck with that last one. He rested his face in his palm with a resounding Klank. "I have no. God damned. Idea."

Eva popped up at Zen's side. "Should we help him?"

"Nah, he's got this," Kora nodded, watching Rio get tossed around. "Definitely."

"Was that sarcasm, or…" Minerva said, wondering if she and Kora were seeing the same thing.

Jay cleared his throat and got the others' attention. "Maybe he just spared us some time so we can make a plan and help Tia? Speaking of-" he turned to Zen, "-you got anything?"

Zen shook his head. "The plan is the same as before; defeat her. That's how they cured me of this state." He kept his suspicion that this was more akin to what happened to Kora, however, as he was still forming a plan if that was the case. "If anything, we should use this time to rest up before attacking her again."

"And leave Rio with her?" Kora tilted his head, frowning. "Yeah, no. I'm gonna help him."

"But didn't ya just say-" Minerva started, interrupted by Kora sprinting over to Rio's aide.

Zen hardly cared what the fox did, he wouldn't be of much use in brainstorming anyway. He turned to Jay and crossed his arms. "On the topic of plans, what have you been thinking up?"

"Me?" Jay blinked, then cleared his throat and straightened up a bit. "Nothing… really. I was more or less confused on why Tia flipped out in the first place, and more recently, why Rio is trying to taunt her."

"Both are peculiar occurrences, no? Perhaps less so in the latter seeing his choice of accompaniment," Zen chuckled, looking over to see Kora doing little more than running alongside Rio. "'Help him' my ass…" he muttered.

"Why would either of those help us with Tia?" Z asked.

"Knowing why she ended up like this might give us a clue as to how to stop it. And who knows, maybe Rio actually had a plan but didn't clear it with the rest of us?" Nina said, snickering.

That joke actually had some merit to it, Zen believed. He looked back over at Rio, thinking. "The Outlander… having a plan… What would it be?" Zen turned to Nate. "Ideas?"

The reptile thought for a second, but hardly anything came to mind. "Uh… what about…" he suddenly snapped his claws. "Right! Back at his fight wi-"

Zen quickly lit up, coming up with something. "His ability to absorb energy! Of course!"

Nate blinked "I-I was just about t-"

"Hold that thought, I finally figured out our next course of action," Zen said, not seeing, or caring about, Nate pouting. "The Outlander is able to absorb the energy of attacks he is hit with, perhaps he's planning on taking some of Tia's energy, and using it against her!"

"How do we help him do that?" Eva asked. "Other than just letting him handle her?"

"I'm unsure, but it looks like he doesn't have the chance to use his technique, whatever it may be. I was certain he could do it nearly instantly before," Zen hummed, seeing Rio and Kora get launched by a powerful blast.

"Then we have to return his favor and distract her long enough for him to do it!" Jay said, grinning.

"Yeah!" Lucas and Nina both cheered.

Everyone hurried over to join Rio, except Nate, at first. "So basically, we're just gonna do what we have been before he even showed up…"

Rio landed face first on the stiff, unforgiving stone. It was a miracle he was still able to move at this point, and even more so that he wasn't bleeding. He thought that burning sensation was to thank for this, seeing how it seemed to always be on his body, and the pain faded away much quicker while it was there.

"O-Ok, what's the plan here?" Rio said, scrambling back onto his feet. "I-I've had her on me for a while now."

"Hell if I know, dude. You're the one that decided to piss her off like this," Kora groaned, deflecting an attack with his Incinerate. "I was assuming you had one this whole time."

"I... think I did," Rio chuckled nervously, tanking another attack.

'Just, wait a moment,'

"N-Now I gotta wait?" Rio groaned, getting an odd look from Kora.

"Wait fo- oh, hey guys!" Kora said, waving as Zen and Nate knocked Tia on her side. "About time you decided to help."

"Quiet, it's barely been a minute." Zen turned to Rio. "Get yourself ready to use that ability of yours, Outlander."

"A-Ability?" Rio tilted his head.

Zen blinked. "You… You didn't…"

Tia was back up sooner than expected, hitting Zen with a blast. Nate slugged the small feline with a powerful Ice Punch, getting himself blasted in the process. Flamethrowers, Dark Pulses, and frubbles overtook Tia's form for a few seconds before her aura bursted, dispelling the attacks and frubbles. "Annoying! All of you!"

"Outlander, your energy absorption. Was that not your plan?" Zen groaned, staring Tia down.

"My absorption… Oh!" Rio snapped… somehow. "That makes sense!"

"WHAT DO Y-" Zen cleared his throat. "What do you mean, 'that makes sense?' Did you forget?"

The Lucario didn't answer right away. "Er, uh, n-no. I just needed a minute or two, yeah, hehe."

Zen didn't respond, in his fury all he would say is profanity and insults, wasting even more of their time. He and Nate continued to attack Tia, leaving Kora and Rio to themselves.

Kora helped Rio up, grinning confidently. "Alright, how do you do this absorbing thing?"

"You've seen it before, and I've done it before, but I don't know how to just… do it," Rio admitted. "I hope I just have to block an attack with this arm and that's it."

'You need to grab her'

Rio's ear twitched. "Grab… her? Huh…"

"That kinda, makes sense actually. I think." Kora shrugged. "What do we have to lose?"

"I'd say a few things, actually," Minerva said, snickering. "Rio'd be risking that tail o' his that gave us a moment or two."

Rio rolled his eyes, a smug smirk on his snout. "Jealous?"

"Bite me." Minerva stuck out her tongue.

Rio and Kora got ready to charge head first into Tia, their stances mirroring each other. "You ready, partner? I don't know if this'll work, but just like you said,"

"We ain't got nothin' to lose!" Kora snickered. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, partner!"

They waited for a moment, searching for an opening. An opening between all the fire and darkness and punches. It felt like everything was slowing down, somehow. Rio could see every movement his team was making, how every attack was met with another. That burning sensation danced all along his body, and excitement flowed through his veins. All he needed was just, one…

"There!" Rio and Kora shot forward at the same time, aimed directly for Tia. They weaved around every attack she threw at them. The others almost didn't believe that was Rio and Kora sprinting at Tia. Even if an attack did hit them, neither slowed down. It got to a point that even Tia was unnerved by it.

"Stay back!" Tia warned, throwing more attacks at the incoming fox and jackal. "Stay BACK!"

Her cries were met with cold, unfeeling silence from Rio and Kora. They got closer and closer, and Tia tried to keep them away. Whenever Tia tried to retreat, Zen and Nate would halt her. Whenever a big attack was about to hit Kora and Rio, it was met with an attack from one of the long-range members.

"I SAID STAY BACK!" Tia exploded with an intense surge of aura, something that no one should have been able to get through. And boy did they try. Fire, leaves, darkness, water… none of them seemed to do anything to the aura. "I won't let you stop me! Those kids, I need to save them! I have to!"

"We can't break it!" Eva panted, running out of flames.

Jay tried to catch his breath, still seeing Kora and Rio continuing on. "A-Are you guys actually gonna try and run through that?"

Zen stood, stoic as always. He gripped his arms, silently hoping their plan would work.

Neither Rio or Kora responded to the others. They kept going, the very idea of stopping being a foreign concept to both of them. In an instant, Rio and Kora were swallowed up in the vast aura around Tia.

The aura was just as dark on the inside as anyone would expect, and it burned too. Yet, Rio and Kora continued. Tia was right there, an almost terrified look in her eyes. She tried to keep away from them, desperate.

"No, please! Let me save them!" she begged, but was met by an emotionless Rio and Kora grabbing onto her. "Ngh! L-Let me go, y-you monsters!"

A word came to the minds of the jackal and fox. In perfect unison, they ordered, "Absorb."

Slowly at first, but quickly gaining speed, the aura shrank. Tia struggled to keep it, but she couldn't break free of their grasp. "N-NO! You can't! Y-You… can't… do…"

As the aura was just barely larger than the three, it dispersed into black and red wisps of energy, flowing into Rio and Kora.

"Guys?" Lucas asked.

"Are you, alright?" Nina added. The young trio, also joined by Eva and Z, walked up to the motionless three.

They stood there, still holding Tia up. Eva reached out to touch them, but as she did all three fell to the ground. Minerva stumbled out of Kora's mane, joining the other three unconscious Pokemon on the floor.

"Ow…" the Meowth groaned. "Everything… hurts…"

"At least you're alive," Eva sighed, looking back at Kora, Rio, and Tia. "Can't be too sure about those three."

"They're fine," Z said, reassuringly. "Just out cold by the looks of it."

"How can you be so sure?" Nina asked, looking over Eva's shoulder.

Z simply pointed at Rio's chest, more importantly the gentle rise and fall it had. "See? They're fine."

"The real problem is whatever is going to happen once they wake up," Zen sighed, grabbing Rio and tossing him over his shoulder. "When Rio absorbs energy of a type, he seems to become that type. It's how he fell under the Berserk influence, originally. And now…"

"Oh. He just ate a whole bunch of that stuff, huh?" Nate sucked his teeth. "That is, uh, definitely a problem. Maybe."

"And I'm pretty sure I saw Kora doing the same thing… somehow," Zen shook his head, feeling a headache coming on. "I have no idea if he was actually able to, but if he can for some god forsaken reason, then we have two Pokemon on our hands filled with Berserk Aura just waiting to wake up and potentially kill us all." Zen realized everyone was staring at him, a few with a horrified look on their faces. "...What?"

"You couldn't say that in a less brutal way?" Eva sighed, pinching the bridge of her snout.

"It's accurate, isn't it? I fought Kora first hand when he went berserk, and you fought him the second time he did. It's not my fault he's…" Zen choked for a second. "Absurdly… strong…"

"Stronger than you?" Eva grinned.

"No, but certainly the rest of you," Zen rolled his eyes. "It'd be a shame if I were to leave them to tear you limb from limb, right?"

Eva shuddered at the thought. "Y-You wouldn't do that. I'm calling your bluff!"

Zen… laughed. Well, he chuckled, but it felt so sinister… Eva froze up, looking at Zen in disbelief. Then Zen just started to leave. No further comment or anything. No one else really knew what to do after that. Besides Minerva, who didn't seem to care.

The Meowth grabbed Kora and lifted him over her head. "If y'all are done gettin' creeped out by Zen's bullshit, we got people to take care of," she said, walking behind Zen.

Nate shook his head, snapping out of his Zen-chuckling induced trance. He grabbed Tia and followed their leads. "I need a break…"

"You and me both," Eva sighed. "Today's been going on for forever…"

"Pretty sure it's only the afternoon, actually," Z said, scratching his ear.

Everyone was ready to leave and fall into a bed at this point. Who would have thought that getting lost in a blizzard, then fighting a powered-up cat, would be so exhausting? Just before they left, Jay and Nina looked back at the ruined sparring area.

"This place has seen better days, huh?" Jay chuckled. "Looks like a warzone now."

"That's an exaggeration if I ever heard one." Nina rolled her eyes. "But, yeah, you have a point. Tia really tore this place up."

"Not just Tia, but everyone else fighting, too. To be honest, I felt totally out of place in that fight." Jay said, looking over at Lucas. The Charmeleon was bruised, yes, but he didn't act as worn out as everyone else. He was bright and cheerful, actually, riding the high of winning a tough battle. "I'm surprised he's still standing."

"You know him, tough as nails and all that," Nina said. "Just, don't bring the fight up for a little bit. He's sore from it in a, uh, emotional kinda way."

Jay sighed. "Yeah, I could've guessed." The two shared a worried look, knowing they'd have to confront Lucas about it eventually. For now, it'd probably be best to let him be happy for a while. Maybe everyone would benefit from some good ol' rest and relaxation. It has been a long day, after all, and it was just getting started.