Silver Notes: I struggled for days thinking of a way to write this chapter, and I'm finally happy enough with it to post it. I hope you'll find it as exciting as I did.


What you Lack - Part 2.


Reiko stood there, simply watching Monferno's unconscious body and feeling heat build up inside her. She looked up to the fucking monster currently standing high enough for its head to almost touch the ceiling, and her fingers curled into a fist.

"Is Fantina just screwing with us!?" she couldn't help but ask, a hint of desperation in her voice. "What the hell is she thinking!?"

Percy gulped, his legs trembling, "I-it knocked him out in one hit!"

The Golurk set its eyes on them and stomped the ground with one of its feet, starting to walk forward. She could feel the vibrations travel from the ground up to her body.

"We have to attack it!" she exclaimed, taking two Pokeballs out of her belt. "Let's hit it with everything we've got before it comes over here!"

"Wait!" Percy's hand closed around her wrist, and she turned around to see him staring at her, lower lip quivering. "W-we need an actual plan. If we all attack and it uses something that hits all of us…"

"What's the alternative then!?" She freed her arm with so much force she almost sent him to the ground. "I'm not gonna stand here waiting for you to think while that thing gets closer!"

"Guys, guys!" Barry interjected, putting a hand between them with an unsure smile on his face. "You both clearly need to chill a bit. Listen, we can do this, we just need to all be on the same page."

She scowled at him, at his baby face and bright eyes which somehow managed to ease some of the anger that'd been building up inside her, and she took one deep breath.

"Look at it." Barry directed their attention to the giant Pokemon, who was still taking slow, powerful steps towards them. "It's super slow! All we gotta do is use our fast Pokemon that can dodge while they attack it. We can, like…" He made a hand gesture, trying to think of the words.

"Whittle it down."

She heard Inyssa's voice behind her, which surprised her because she hadn't heard her talk in almost a minute. The girl walked forward, stomping the ground in a similar way to the Golurk, and with a movement of her hand returned her fainted Monferno to his Pokeball. She then proceeded to take another one out of her belt, lips stretched into a thin line.

"We are going to have a talk once we're done with this," she whispered to Monferno's Pokeball with an amount of venom that was surprising coming from such a young girl, and then put it back on her belt. "Listen, Barry's right. We'll use hit and run tactics." She looked first at Percy, and then at her. "You two done arguing? Fancy boy, I'm gonna need you to work with me here so stop shaking, and you redhead I'd appreciate it if you didn't fly off the handle every time something bad happened."

The anger came back, and it came back hard, hitting her body like a hammer and erasing any effect that Barry's good will had had in her. She barely registered herself walking to the girl and grabbing her by the scarf with an iron grip.

"Listen here you half pint piece of shit…" She spat the words, feeling a dull throb in her temples. "Keep talking like that and I'll deck you so hard I'll send your teeth flying to the other side of this room!"

Inyssa let out a dry chuckle. "Go ahead, I've fought people bigger than me before. Besides, do you wanna waste the time we have left? I'm sure Percy would love that after you already compromised us once."

Reiko stared daggers at the little shit, the fury inside of her now making her blood run so fast she was starting to get a headache. She was right, of course she was fucking right and that was the absolute worst part of it. They'd already lost one of their best Pokemon because of her, and now all she had to offer for the team was a tantrum. She swallowed all the things she wanted to say to Inyssa and let go of her scarf, her entire face red. At her right Barry let out a sigh of relief, and stared his friend down with eyebrows knit together. She avoided his gaze.

"We'll talk after we do this." Reiko whispered, barely getting a hold of herself. "Percy, we need a plan." She turned to him, putting a hand over his trembling shoulder. "Percy! Stay with me, I need you right now."

The boy took a sudden breath, apparently coming back to reality, and looked at her with eyes widened. She felt a hint of guilt for not noticing his panic earlier, but decided to bite it and swallow it down for the moment. The time for consoling him would come later.

"R-right…" he nodded. "We need to attack from afar, like Inyssa said. Preferably using type advantage, and we shouldn't have more than..." He paused for a second to take a breath and swallow. "We should only have one Pokemon out right now; we don't know if it has any area of effect attacks. If we manage to avoid those and keep hitting it we should be able to win considering his speed and reliance on physical power."

"Sounds good!" Barry yelled enthusiastically. "Kitsune, come out and use Confusion!"

Inyssa shrugged, opening the Pokeball in her hand. "That's what I was planning to do anyway. Bret, Magical Leaf!"

Two Pokemon materialized in front of them. The first was a robust, yellow fox standing on his two legs and holding a metal spoon on one of his hands, a giant mustache adorning part of his face. The other was a short plant creature with a head like a flower bud and two roses instead of hands, one blue and one red. She recognized them from the time she and Percy had spent… running into them while they trained. She'd even got to see them evolve.

The Kadabra punched the air with the hand which held the spoon, and aimed it at the Golurk while closing one of his eyes. A pink-ish glow covered his hand, and Reiko felt the air become heavy. The giant Pokemon raised its leg once more, but this time it stopped on its tracks, that same glow covering its entire body. A piercing sound, not quite a scream but too high pitched to be a growl, came out of its inexistent mouth as it grabbed its head with both hands, falling to one knee and raising a cloud of dust around it. Without missing a beat the Roselia threw both hands forward and released a small torrent of razor sharp petals aimed directly at it's chest. The impact wasn't strong enough to make it budge but It managed to cover most of its body in tiny scratches.

Reiko stood still as she watched them, hand strongly closed around one of her Pokeballs and biting her lip. She could still feel that all encompassing heat pulsing inside her chest and threatening to take over, but she managed to keep it at bay if only for a while longer. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. She'd been watching that Inyssa girl for a few days now, and after meeting her she'd thought she found someone as hot headed as her. But here she was, jumping into action immediately and not letting her emotions get the better of her. A child was a better trainer than her, and the thought alone almost made Reiko heave.

Do you really think a child like you could accomplish this objective? A voice, a memory, whispered inside her head. Is the Flame of Cinnabar truly this feeble?

"Good, we're slowing it down." Percy said, showing the smallest hint of a smile. His voice returned her to reality. "I'll have Pierre support your Pokemon through the air with distraction and status moves while Prince acts as a backup. Reiko, I'm gonna need you to…"

The Golurk screamed again, the sound filling the entire cavern. Tt managed to free itself from the Kadabra's hold and slowly got on its feet again, eyes shining maliciously. The giant placed both of his hands in front of its chest, one on top of the other, as if it were holding an invisible ball. White light, much like the one from its previous attack, covered its arms as the ground started shaking.

"Is it trying to use the same attack?" Inyssa whispered. "It's too far away, there's no way it'd be able to hit…"

Percy's Pokedex came to life with another beep, almost making Reiko jump out of her skin. The electronic voice spoke again:

"Hyper Beam – An extremely devastating attack that causes the Pokemon to become exhausted after using it, forcing them to remain immobile for a short time afterwards."

Reiko's heart was on her throat as she heard those words, and her eyes slowly moved to the miniature white sun now resting between that thing's hands.

"Wait, no!" Percy's eyes shot wide open. "Pierre, use Protect! Now, now!"

Vivillion flew as fast as his wings allowed him to toward the Kadabra and Roselia, putting both hands forward and deploying a green-ish shield of light around them, moments before the Golurk released the energy on its hands.

The beam of light almost blinded her. It traveled at an insane speed towards them and the moment it clashed against the barrier the entire ground shook, sending Percy backwards to the ground and almost doing the same to the rest of them. The shield wasn't strong enough and barely managed to stop the attack for two seconds before it was shattered. The pillar of energy fell on top of Pierre, swallowing him whole and barely catching half of the other two Pokemon's bodies.

By the time the dust settled all she could see was the small bug's body laying flat on the ground, his beautiful wings smoking from the energy that had hit him. Next to him, Kadabra and Roselia stood on one knee, the only reason they weren't unconscious being that the barrier and Pierre's body had taken most of the impact head on.

She slowly turned around towards Percy, and the look of horror in his face broke the dam inside of her. A foggy, hot haze of anger covered her limbs and obscured her vision, and she felt her heart throbbing inside her chest like a drum. Her body moved on its own as she threw the Pokeball in her hand to the ground, opening it and releasing a tall, blue creature with a yellow beak. The Golduck landed on his two feet, red eyes glistening with power.

"Nakuru, Aqua Jet!" The words came out of her almost like a growl. "Beat that thing's ass! Now!"

Golduck moved like lightning, dashing between the metal stakes and turning into a blur. Before the giant had any time to react he turned the moisture in the air around him into a cloak of water that covered his entire body, and with a strong jump managed to tackle it right in the chest with a hit strong enough to almost make him fall on his back. She detected a hint of pride amongst the hot fury inside of her.

"Reiko!" Percy stammered as he made his way towards her, looking a few seconds away from an anxiety attack. "I told you, we need to be careful!"

"We already did, and we got fucked because of it!" she protested.

"Great, here we go again," she heard Inyssa whisper behind her, just high enough for her voice to reach her.

"If that thing has long range attacks then we can't stay on the defensive! Why is it so hard to understand!?" she yelled at them while tapping the ground with her feet. "Besides, it has to recharge from that Hyper Beam, this is the perfect chance. Nakuru, use Water Pulse!"

The Golduck gave them an energetic thumbs up. Without missing a beat he took as much air in as possible, and shot what seemed to be a geyser of water shaped like a spiral from his mouth, traveling towards the Golurk's chest. Reiko couldn't help but smile; there was no way that wouldn't do an insane amount of damage. Only a couple more attacks like that and…

The attack stopped before reaching it, clashing against something she could barely make out. In front of the golem was now a purple creature with a spiky, barely formed body, both disembodied arms floating at its side. Its blood-red opening that she figured was a mouth was twisted into a painful expression as the ghost Pokemon endured the torrent of water.

The Haunter fell to the ground, unconscious. Reiko simply stood there, not quite grasping what had just happened. At least until a dozen other gaseous creatures started rising from the ground upwards, surrounding Nakaru and staring him down with their eyes full of malice.

The Golurk wasn't their only opponent, and her best Pokemon was now behind enemy lines.


Barry felt a rush of panic, and he spoke before he had time to think.

"Kitsune, help him out!" he ordered, tone high pitched. "Use Confusion on those ghosts!"

The Kadabra did as he was told, and with another flourish of his spoon he sent a psychic shock towards what seemed to be another Haunter, who screamed and moved his hands in all directions before falling immobile.

In the meantime Nakuru did his best to dodge all the attacks coming towards him, barely having enough time to breathe and get in a couple hits here and there. But the horde of Gastly, Misdreavus and Haunter were proving too much to handle for only one Pokemon. His chest rose up and down along with his heavy breathing and it was clear his body was at its limit.

"We have to help him!" Barry tried to get everyone's attention, doing his best to suppress the fear in his voice. "Niss, between Paulette and Steven we could get him out of there."

Niss turned towards him and shot him a look of disbelief, furrowed brow. At the corner of his eye he could see another dozen ghost Pokemon rising from the ground in a straight line in front of them.

"You can't be serious," she replied, the left side of her lips forming a half smile. "You want us to waste two Pokemon to save one of hers? She was the dumbass who got us into this problem to begin with!"

"We can't leave him there!" he yelled, throwing both arms into the air. "We're a team, we have to help each other if we want to…"

"She's right," Reiko interrupted them, and the pain and anger in her voice sent a shiver down his spine. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't..." She curled her fingers into fists, so strongly that her hand became pale, and her firm shoulders started to shake. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! I should've listened to you! Now we're all gonna lose and…"

One of her trembling hands went to her face, where she tried not to subtly to wipe away the wetness coming out of her eyes. Niss simply took another step forward, not noticing this.

"See?" she asked, eyes set on their opponent. "There was never any point in trusting anyone else. We're gonna defeat this thing ourselves."

Barry couldn't believe his ears. He moved his glance from his friend, completely unaffected by what happened around her, to the shaking Reiko and finally to Percy, whose eyes went from his Pokedex to the situation in front of him as he muttered things to himself, completely out of it.

Barry grit his teeth. He might've not been the strongest trainer amongst them, nor a good strategist, but he knew there was no way they could ever win like this. All the anger and bitterness he'd been accumulating for the past weeks rose from his chest, extending through his entire body. And before he could even process his words he found himself yelling.

"What the hell is your problem!?"

He caught them all off guard, judging by the way they turned towards him. Inyssa was the most affected; she looked at him with wild disbelief, as if she'd just seen a ghost.

"Why are you treating them like this!?" The words came out of him like a flowing waterfall. "They're our teammates! What do you think is the point of the entire trial!?"

"I…" she stammered to get a response out, eyes opened wide, but he interrupted her.

"If you think we can win alone then you're delusional." His tone was heavy, and his words hit her like a hammer. "Just look at that thing! Reiko and Percy's Pokemon are much stronger than ours and they're our only chance to win this! Or do you have another fully evolved water Pokemon that could help us right now?"

Inyssa didn't say anything back, too shocked by his tone to reply. He could see her lower lip quivering.

"We've all got problems and our own things going on…" He continued, and before he knew it that strange heat came back, appearing behind his eyes. "That doesn't mean we can't work together and win this. Fantina was right; there are some things we all lack, but that's why we came here, to learn and improve!" He took one of his Pokeballs out of his belt, brandishing it and throwing it into the air. "If you want to pretend you can do this alone that's fine, but I'm here to win, and for that we need them! Pedri, help that Golduck!"

The Prinplup materialized ready, and as soon as his feet touched the ground he began sprinting towards the conglomeration of Pokemon in the middle of the room. He ran with both his fins at his side, imbuing them with a silver energy that did wonders to dispel all the ghosts which tried to stop him on the way.

The Golurk was now a few feet from Nakuru, who was down on one knee and barely able to move. With a premeditated slowness it raised its gigantic fist and coated it with the same white light they'd seen before. It fell on top of him with the strength of an avalanche, and just before the impact Pedri managed to jump between them, intercepting the attack with his own body. When the dust dispersed he could see his Pokemon with both feet planted firmly on the ground, his fins barely holding the weight of the Golurk's fist.

"H-he wasn't knocked out…" Percy whispered, disbelief clear in his tone.

"Barry…" Reiko stared at him, with an expression he couldn't quite make out. "You don't have to do this…"

"I'm not going to repeat myself. We're all getting through this." He turned towards his friend, who was still speechless. "Niss, are you gonna help me out here or not?"

She also stared at him, and the weight of her gaze was almost too heavy to handle. To say he was improvising would've been putting it lightly. Now that that explosive rage had subsided he was barely managing to hold the act of decisiveness that had seemed so easy less than a minute ago.

Her expression changed several times in a few seconds, going from surprise to rage to sadness and a few other things he couldn't possibly pinpoint. In the end she lowered her head, covering her eyes in shadows. He gulped, trying desperately to hide the shiver that began to cover his body. He was scared; scared of the reaction she would have to his words, and he wasn't sure saying all that had been a good idea after all.

"Hope you're right about this," she finally said, raising her head again and showing him a flat expression. "Redhead, you owe me one."

She smiled. A weak, perhaps too feeble smile, but it managed to untie the knot inside his chest. That smile was for him and him alone, and nothing in the world could've filled him with more strength.

"Alright!" He took another Pokeball out, and Niss did the same. "Paulette, get that Golduck back here! Pedri, hold him back with Bubble Beam!"

"Steven, follow Paulette! Bret, keep up the attack!" She threw the Pokeball into the air as she gave them orders. The small grey bird appeared along Barry's evolved form of him, and both started flying to the center of the room. "Reiko, we need cover from those ghost Pokemon! It's the least you can do since we're saving your ass!"

"R-right," Reiko nodded, taking her final Pokeball out. "Gamatetsu, help them out with Vine Whip!"

A massive and extremely heavy looking green Pokemon appeared in front of them, landing on her four feet. She had the face of a toad, and a colorful giant flower rested onher back. Two thick vines were expelled from the Venusaur's sides, traveling almost thirty feet forward and smacking every ghost Pokemon that Niss' Starly and Barry's Staravia encountered on their way.

In the middle of the room the Prinplup managed to send his opponent's fist backwards with all his strength, although that barely gave him enough time to dodge the next punch. He inhaled deeply and shot a burst of bubbly water at the Golurk, and while it didn't have as much of an effect as Reiko's Pokemon it still managed to make it flinch for a second, just enough for Bret's razor sharp petals to reach its body and send it a few feet back.

In the middle of the confusion both flying Pokemon swooped in and grabbed the Golduck by his arms with their talons, flapping furiously to lift him up and get him back to the back lines. Paulette did most of the lifting; her long, delicate wings cutting through the air and her expression that of decisiveness. Steven on the other hand was struggling to sustain Nakuru's weight, and he constantly looked back at the Haunters and Gastlys that chased them with an always present look of terror on his face.

Way back the Golurk managed to free itself from its shock and stomped the floor once again. With a deep growl it put its hands in that strange position again, and started to gather white energy into it. Barry felt everyone panic around him.

"That's going straight for Nakuru and the others!" Reiko yelled.

"W-we need to cancel that Hyper Beam!" Percy followed. "Everyone attack it at once!"

Both him and Niss gave the orders to their Pokemon, and soon a whirlwind of water and grass attacks flew through the width of the cavern, filling almost a quarter of it and hitting the Golurk in the middle of the chest. The giant flinched from the impact, and for a second Barry had the naïve hope that they'd managed to stun him.

That hope was shattered when it sent both hands forward and fired the attack regardless. The pillar of light fell on top of Golduck and both their flying Pokemon with the speed of a bullet. But just before it made impact Paulette let go of Nakuru's arm. Steven went down, incapable of holding Nakuru's weight, and fell in front of the group of trainers as the Hyper Beam swallowed Paulette whole. Her body fell limp to the ground, raising a small cloud of dust around her.

"I'll have to thank her later," Inyssa smiled nervously. "Alright, and that thing's gotta recharge energy again. We need to hit it now!"

Barry nodded, swallowing down the pride he felt for Paulette at the moment, and returned her back to her Pokeball.

Every one of their Pokemon with the exception of Percy's Ampharos attacked the Golurk. Bret and Gamatetsu fired a torrent of leaves and petals that stuck to its body and barely managed to penetrate its rock skin. Nakuru and Pedri (who was still in the thick of the fight, dodging attacks from all fronts) doused it with copious amounts of water. Kitsune gave the thing another ugly headache and Steven flew around the battlefield, sending gusts of winds towards the Pokemon below.

And while Barry observed this, an odd feeling started to bug him from the edges of his mind. The more he looked at the battlefield in front of him the more he felt like there was something strange going on. More and more ghost Pokemon started raising from the ground, as if there were no end to them. But they did so in very specific patterns; in a straight line just below where Steven flew, wherever their attacks traveled through, in any place where Pedri set his feet as he desperately tried to dodge a barrage of hits…

A light bulb lit up in his head, and he felt his mouth open wide as he realized it. There was a pattern to it; their emerging had nothing to do with bad luck or randomness.

"The stakes…" he whispered to himself, and had to repeat it so everyone could hear him. "It's those metal stakes all over the place! The ghost Pokemon are hidden there and they come out whenever something comes close to it!"

Everyone turned around him, confused for a moment but realization dawning on them soon after.

The entire cave was a ghost minefield.


Percy was caught between the metaphorical rock of How could this brat figure the puzzle out before me? and the similarly metaphorical hard place of That's bad. That's really, really bad.

His gaze moved all through the battlefield, as the only thing he could currently do to push back the panic was analyzing the situation. Around fifteen, maybe twenty ghost Pokemon were heading their way right now. Barry's Prinplup was currently struggling against six of them. Another dozen were slowly ascending from the ground in the places closest to where Inyssa's Starly flew.

"Of course it wasn't gonna be that easy," Inyssa said, her posture as firm and free of fear as ever. How the hell did she do that? "Steven! Fly in circles around where you already are and try not to wake up any more of them!"

Percy bit his lip hard as his mind went through every single possibility and ramification of that. It would not work, at best the Starly would be able to distract a few of them before they overwhelmed him with their sheer number advantage. And then they would lose their only flying Pokemon on the field.

He crossed his arms, unconsciously scratching the outside of them as he felt his mind slowly freeze with their lack of options.

The ghost Pokemon hidden in those metal stakes weren't very powerful, but they were a lot of them and probably counted with an array of attacks that would slow them down or inflict status effects. And trying to outrun them was counterproductive, since the more they moved around in the cavern the more of them they'd bring out. But at the same time the speed and dodging ability of their Pokemon was the only reason the Golurk hadn't managed to beat them so far.

Fantina really had thought everything through. Even with the advantage of time they managed to get a hold on the situation still seemed hopeless. They could either fight the Golurk and get drowned in a horde of weaker ghost Pokemon or stay in place and negate their numbers advantage, becoming easy targets for the giant to pick on.

The scratching became harsher and he suddenly felt out of air. Was it all the dust rising from the floor due to their fighting? No, they were at a reasonable distance and the cavern itself had lots of space. He closed his eyes, let the world around him disappear, let the sounds of battle fade into nothing more than white noise. Static.

The static became louder and louder, until he could feel it in his own body. Thousands and thousands of tiny, gnashing teeth clawing from the inside of his skin outwards. Trying to escape, trying to eat him from the inside and they were so sharp and his scratching wasn't enough anymore to distract his mind from it and…

"Percy!"

Reiko's voice brought him back to reality. Perhaps too strongly, in a way that felt like his entire body had been hit with a dump truck, but it worked well enough to allow him to see what was in front of him. Three of the Haunters had summoned a spiraling ball of darkness, twice as tall as them, that was headed directly towards Prince who was looking back at his trainer, waiting for an order.

He opened his mouth to tell him to dodge, but no sound came out. His body wouldn't respond, his mind was still partly a haze of static and he felt his heart beating hard inside his chest. The Shadow Ball was almost on top of Prince, pulsing with an intensity that would surely put him out of the fight.

Something massive and green jumped in between them. The Venusaur moved with a speed she really shouldn't have had considering her size, and before Percy could speak she took the full blunt of the attack. The impact pushed her a short distance back and made her four feet tremble, but wasn't enough to knock her out. By Reiko's request she whipped the air with her vines, defeating the three Haunters in an instant.

"Percy!" Reiko put a hand over his shoulder, which startled him because he didn't even notice her walking his direction. "Hey, what's going on? Are you okay?"

He tried to reply, but his throat was too dry and all he managed was a disgruntled sound that could've passed for a cough. Before he had a chance to speak again he heard Inyssa's voice a few feet from them.

"Can we maybe leave that for later?" she asked, her voice barely audible over the sounds of the fight. "We need help with these ghosts and that giant is starting to get back on its feet!"

"Just hold on!" Reiko shouted back, her hand still strongly grabbing his shoulder. "Hold them off for a second, please!"

Inyssa shot them a look that wasn't very pleasant, but didn't protest more than that. Reiko turned her head to him once more, and her eyes met his.

"Hey, I know things look bad. I might be part of the reason why they're so bad in the first place." She barely managed to smile. "But remember what the kid said; we can do this, we just need to think of something together." Her hand squished his shoulder with even more force. "That means we need you too. You're smart as shit, and we could use one of your plans right now."

"I-I…" he stammered, finally getting some words out even if his tone was all over the place, "I don't know… what to do. This is too much…"

"Nothing is too much," she cut him off, eyes gleaming. "Come on, do you really think Fantina would come up with a test that can't be beaten? There has to be a way, and I need you to help us find it." She curled her fingers around his. "I know you can do it. You're a Morow, aren't you? Nothing in this world can hold you back."

The panic taking hold of his body slowly melted away with every word she spoke, and the touch of her hand felt like the most real thing in the world, working as an anchor. He took a couple deep breaths, and managed to nod twice. He couldn't let her down now; not after everything she'd done for him.

"W-well…" He looked up at the battlefield in front of him. "If we could get rid of all the weaker Pokemon at once we'd have a chance to attack Golurk before more appeared. But… the only one of our Pokemon with an area of effect attack is Prince, and with all the power he's been using to keep this room lit he should only have enough strength for one big attack."

"That could work." Reiko nodded, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"We need something better than that." He shook his head. "I'm not even sure the attack would knock them all out. The air inside here is dry and wouldn't work well as a conductor and none of them are weak to electricity so…" He paused, his body freezing. "So…"

An idea hit him. A stupid, extremely risky idea that could easily mean the assured failure of the trial, but it was the only one he deemed likely enough to get them out of the metaphorical frying pan they were all in.

He walked towards Inyssa with decided step and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. When their eyes met he opened his mouth and said something that he was sure would make him sound like a complete idiot.

"I have a plan. I need your Starly to fly around the cavern and lure out every single one of those ghost Pokemon."


Inyssa turned around to make sure he really was speaking to her. Then she considered the possibility that the commotion around her made it so she didn't hear him right. But by the time she realized those two things were unlikely all she could do was let out a laugh which relieved only a fraction of the knot formed in her stomach.

"And here I thought that stick up your ass didn't allow you to make jokes," she smiled.

"I'm serious."

Her smile froze, dying faster than the time it took her to blink.

"I'm... sorry?" She moved her gaze from him to the now almost thirty ghosts fighting against their teams. "You want me to… bring more of them out."

"I have a plan," he assured her. "I think I might be able to get rid of all of them at once. You have to trust me."

She turned to Barry with a look of Is this guy serious?. Her friend simply stared at both of them and shrugged while making a small nod. He was okay with it. He actually… he actually trusted Percy.

"You said that you think you can do that?" she asked. "So it's not a guarantee."

"Not at all," he admitted, and she noticed his shoulders starting to tremble. "But it's the best idea I have, and we need to do something before we're overpowered."

They stood still, looking at each other for what felt like a lot longer than five seconds. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all the trouble him and Reiko had put them through, after having to help them despite her better judgment…

You wouldn't have made it so far without them.

The recklessness of Reiko, the cowardice of Percy, ever since they'd entered the Lost Tower she felt bound by them, saw them as nothing more than chains dragging her down when she should've been shining all on her own.

They are more powerful and experienced than you are.

And then they had to go and make up and suddenly Reiko was all better and Percy came to her with that stupid smile and asked her to trust him without giving her any reason to do so…

You can't do this alone.

And especially after Barry's words… after he'd left her completely speechless and feeling like shit. What the hell did they know anyway?

He was right, you need them.

She took a hand to her face and tried to drown the voice bouncing inside her head, to no avail. She knew, of course she knew, she'd have to be a terrible trainer not to. They were up against a corner; at any moment they would be overwhelmed and their Pokemon would all fall. She'd known that for a couple minutes already, and yet she tried to convince herself of the contrary.

She bit her lip and looked around; both Bret and Kitsune were on one knee, huffing as they tried to keep them at bay, and a few feet at her left Reiko's Venusaur fell to the combined attack of five ghost Pokemon. They had no time left.

A desperate plan was their only choice. Maybe just this time… maybe she could trust him. Maybe things wouldn't end so catastrophically as every other time she'd tried to give such an important choice to someone else.

Maybe just this time.

"Just for the record, you also owe me one." Those were her only words before she turned around to the battlefield and yelled. "Steven! Fly all over the room and draw out as many of them as you can!"

Steven almost flew into a wall after hearing those words, and while his tiny face showed an expression of extreme confusion he had no choice but do what his trainer ordered. He flew lower to the ground in an outwards spiral pattern from the center of the room, and soon enough she saw dozens of dark shapes rising from below him. Next to Inyssa, Percy took a deep breath, and nodded to himself.

"Alright…" he whispered, voice shaking. "Alright! Barry, tell your Prinplup to fall back to where we are! And Prince!" He locked eyes with his Ampharos, who gave him a weak smile and a thumbs up. "Get ready to attack!"

Unfortunately for them, things didn't go exactly as planned. Golurk finally regained its energy by the time they got the plan going. The giant stood to its full height, the spirals on its shoulders and the scar on its chest burning with a pale blue light that was even stronger than Ampharos' tail. Its eyes went straight to the small Pokemon flying all over the room, and ignoring everything else it put both hands in the same position it had used twice already. It readied the Hyper Beam, and took aim.

"Pedri!" Barry yelled before she had a chance to react. "Hit it in the legs!"

The Prinplup didn't need to be told twice. Now completely surrounded by ghosts and without any chance to fall back he ran towards the Golurk with all the strength left in him, and coating his fins in silver energy he hit it just below the knee. The force was enough to make it lose balance, and as it released that destructive pillar of light for the third time its aim was slightly off. The attack missed Steven by a couple inches and trailed off to the roof where it dissipated.

Pedri formed one last, prideful smile and fell to the ground, the last of his energy leaving him.

Steven finished his last circle around the room at that moment, and just as Barry returned Pedri back to his Pokeball the Starly landed on Inyssa's shoulder, his eyes opened wide with fear and his tiny chest moving violently along with his breathing.

Inyssa would've reassured him if she weren't using all her willpower not to freak out at the image in front of her. Countless shadows rose from the entirety of the cavern, and she felt the weight of every single one of those pair of eyes on her. It was like someone shoved an icicle right up her spine.

Sixty? Eighty? No, more than a hundred ghost Pokemon stared at them, ready to attack.

"Percy, the plan!" she yelled, struggling not to take a step back. "Now!"

He nodded, and turned towards Reiko. "Tell Nakuru to use Soak on the entire room!"

Reiko nodded and gave the order. Golduck stood up, still badly damaged from the previous fight, and with all his might he inhaled deeply and expulsed a gigantic torrent of water upwards. Since it was aimed at the roof instead of the enemies in front of them the water dispersed and covered the whole width of the cavern, falling on top of them and the Golurk like a thick sheet of rain. This, however, did nothing more than slightly annoy the ghost Pokemon.

Inyssa pinched her brow, staring at them in confusion. What the hell was Percy thinking? All Soak did was turn everyone in front of them more vulnerable to…

Realization dawned on her, and she couldn't help but laugh. Electricity. It would make them more vulnerable to electricity.

"Nakuru, fall back!" Percy ordered, and he took his last Pokeball from his pocket. "Priscilla, come out!"

From the light emerged a furry, red and yellow creature with the face of a fox and what seemed to be a burning stick on her left hand. The edges of its fur steamed with heat, and her calm expression was contrasted by the fire behind her eyes.

"Priscilla, I need you to form a protective barrier around us as soon as Prince attacks," he said, and then turned to his other Pokemon. "Prince… you know what to do."

Without a second thought the Ampharos put out the light on his tail and jumped high in the air, landing about ten feet from them, in front of the colossal army of ghost Pokemon. Every one of them flew towards Prince with a sinister gleam in their eyes, and Inyssa saw the Golurk starting to recover its energy once again.

"Give it everything you've got!" Percy punched the air, and for the first time fear seemed completely absent from his expression. "Discharge!"

The strange fox Pokemon pointed her makeshift wand forward and a thick, green barrier surrounded all of them. A second after Ampharos raised both arms into the air, and with a scream that cut the air in two he released all the energy left in his body. It felt like a bomb was let loose; tendrils of electricity exploded from his body and traveled outwards into the floor, walls and ceiling filling the entire cavern and blinding her just from the light alone. She heard dozens of unified, cold screams sing a song of agony as all the ghosts were obliterated by the attack and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Prince followed, although the light of his Pokeball reached him and returned him to it before he could hit the floor. Percy held it in his hands, his arm shaking and a drop of sweat running down his forehead.

Inyssa remembered then that she had to breathe. She blinked too, for good measure, and tried not to show in her expression just how fucking amazing she thought that had been.

Only one Pokemon stood in front of them now. The Golurk had fallen to one knee, and steam rose from its entire body as it struggled to get to its feet. Inyssa felt a wild throb of her heart as she saw that; they were so close now. Victory was within their reach.

"That was so fucking awesome!" Reiko yelled next to her, a huge and crooked grin on her face. "Come on, one more attack! Let's finish it off with a combo!"

"A… combo?" Barry tilted his head to the side, knitting his eyebrows together. "What's that?"

Percy and Reiko exchanged a look which said much more than she could've hoped to interpret, and they smiled at them.

"We're gonna need your Kadabra for this," Percy explained. "The least we can do is share this little secret with you after how much you helped us."

"What are you…?" Inyssa started to question it right until she saw the Golurk fully get on its feet. "Well, whatever it is let's do it fast! This is our chance!"

Reiko walked to Barry and whispered something in his ear, then pointed towards his Kadabra. The boy narrowed his eyes as he listened, and a few seconds after he formed a huge smile on his face.

"That sounds amazing," he whispered, and turned to her "Niss this is gonna be great! Come on!"

"I have no idea what you're on about!" she complained, throwing her hands into the air. "Just hurry the fuck up!"

"Let's hit it with everything! Now!" Reiko yelled as she pointed towards their opponent. "Nakuru, Water Pulse!"

"Priscilla, Mystical Fire!"

"Bret, Magical Leaf! Steven, Whirlwind!"

All four Pokemon attacked in unison. The Golduck took one last, deep breath and spit up another stream of water. The strange fox Pokemon drew two circles of fire in front of her and then released a torrent of flames in the middle, so powerful that Inyssa could fel the overwhelming heat from where she was. Roselia raised both hands and a hurricane of razor sharp petals traveled forward, and finally the Starly flapped his wings with such force that he created a powerful gust of wind.

"My turn!" Barry spoke, pointing to the sky with one finger, his eyes shining like she'd never seen them before. "Kitsune, combine them together!"

Inyssa stared in disbelief as the Kadabra pointed with his spoon at the four attacks and coated them with a bright purple light. The fire, water, wind and petals twisted their trajectories and swirled together into a spiral of energy which grew in size to almost double of what the Golurk's Hyper Beam had been.

"And of course we can't just have this new move and not give it a name!" Barry exclaimed. "Elemental Vortex, go!"

Inyssa barely had time to feel personally offended by that horrible name before the attack connected and the light blinded her. The impact shook the ground so violently that it swept her off her feet and made her fall on her butt, which wasn't particularly pleasant but at least she was too distracted by the booming sound of the entire cavern shaking and the Golurk's scream to pay any mind to it.

Twenty seconds went by before she was able to get on her feet without the world around her moving like she was inside of a blender. Another fifteen later the enormous cloud of dust started to disperse, showing the aftermath of that ridiculous attack.

"D-did we…?" Percy whispered to himself, eyes glued to the shape in the middle of the room.

The Golurk's gigantic body laid face down on the floor, its eyes dull and its limbs immobile. She didn't need to be close to it to know it was unconscious.

They all stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, and before any of them could say anything Reiko threw both arms in the air and let out a scream that traveled through the ground and into her bones, full of joy and exhaustion and just a little bit of fury.

"We did it!" She let out a long, fruity laugh. "That's what you get, you flat faced giant piece of shit!" She then turned around towards Barry and Percy. "C'mere you two! That was amazing!"

And before the boys had any chance to protest she put both her arms around their shoulders and raised them into a bear hug that she imagined could've easily crushed their bones. Reiko gave a couple more jumps of joy while Percy and Barry tried their best not to suffocate, and Inyssa couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Don't think I forgot about you!" She put both of them back on the ground and started walking towards Inyssa, whose smile died fast. "Come here! You prideful little shit, you did great!"

"That's… really not necessary." Inyssa took a few desperate steps back, laughing nervously. "Really, just…"

Both of them stopped as they heard the sound of clapping coming from behind them. They turned around to the source and found Fantina, standing in front of the cavern's entrance with a thin smile pasted on her face.

Inyssa's mind yelled Oh thank God and Oh God dammit at the same time, assaulted with a contradictory set of emotions. Which unfortunately prevented her from insulting the Gym Leader before she spoke.

"That was magnificent," she said as she walked toward them, one hand raised in front of her and the other one resting on her hip. "Truly a show of skill and might worth spectating. Consider me impressed."

Her words seemed to bring some levity to the atmosphere around them, and Inyssa felt like the dust and cold lifted from where she stood and cleared her mind. Reiko still had that ridiculous smile on her face, and Percy and Barry stared at the woman with reverence, a small blush painted on their cheeks.

"So, did we pass?" Inyssa decided to cut to the chase. "Are we worthy enough to kick your ass now?"

Reiko had to contain a laugh, and shot her a look of approval.

"Quaint as always, Inyssa." Fantina raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. "Yes, you all passed the trial." She took a breath and indulged herself in a dramatic pause before continuing. "And I'm glad to see that you took my advice to heart. It would be irresponsible of me to say that you've fully managed to achieve change or found what you lacked as trainers, but at the very least you all made some amount of progress today, and that's what matters."

"Thank you so much for the opportunity you gave us," Percy walked forward and bowed to the woman. "I promise we won't let you down."

Inyssa rolled her eyes, but that's as far as her disdain went. She just couldn't muster enough energy to really be frustrated with Fantina or anyone else in the room. She felt too happy for that at the moment.

"This might not be a universal rule for all Gym Leaders…" Fantina continued to speak, "but it is mostly agreed that our job is not only to challenge those who come to us, but to properly teach them how to become better trainers and people in the process . I am forgiving, but I am also pragmatic; I will always turn down those who I deem to have no potential. You four have proved yourselves, but only enough to stand at the starting line." Her gaze traveled between them, and Inyssa felt a chill when they set on her. "I will contact you soon and inform you of when we will fight. In the meantime, feel free to celebrate this victory. It's the least you all deserve, considering the amount of effort you put into it."

And with that said she turned around and started walking towards the exit.

"Let's go now, children," she said. "It's time to give the others a chance."


The way back to the Pokemon Center was paved with a lightheartedness that Inyssa had sorely missed, despite her not wanting to admit it. As they walked through the outskirts of Route 209 and eventually through Hearthome Reiko wouldn't stop making jokes or comments about what they'd just been through, to the point that it almost seemed like she was doing a play by play. Percy simply smiled as he watched her acting so chipper, his shoulders down and probably mentally exhausted. Barry however was talking almost as much as the red headed girl, and judging by the way they laughed and joked around together one could've easily mistaken them for brother and sister.

Inyssa smiled as she saw him getting back some of the enthusiasm he had lacked that past week. She would've joined them if she weren't so emotionally and mentally drained.

"Ohh I can't wait to know when I'll fight her!" Barry gave little jumps as he walked, his body practically shaking from excitement. "I gotta think of what Pokemon to use too!"

"We'll beat her easy, don't even worry about it," Reiko made a gesture with her hand, chest puffed and showing a confident posture. "Fantina won't know what hit her."

"Perhaps we could even…" Percy spoke, his voice barely audible. "We could do a little training together. I mean, if it's okay with you two."

Inyssa needed a few seconds to realize he was talking to her.

"O-oh…" She tried to think of a response, not expecting that proposal coming from someone like him. "Yeah, sure… I guess we can do that.

She went back to silence and hearing the rest of them speak after that. She lowered her hat and tried to hide the smile trying to break through her cold expression. So they weren't… mad at her? Both Reiko and Percy seemed to forget completely how she'd treated them back then in the trial. Or maybe they hadn't but they still wanted to hang out with her despite it. The idea both confused her and sent a strange warmth to her chest.

At least she wouldn't have to apologize. Not out loud anyway.

They made it to the Pokemon Center just before twelve, which was fortunate timing because she was starving. They said goodbye to Percy and Reiko as they went to their rooms to change and shower, and arranged a training meeting with them later that afternoon.

"And I thought they were super scary before," Barry mentioned when they were out of sight. "They're actually really cool."

"By some definitions of the word, I guess," she admitted. "Come on, let's order some meat and potatoes and more meat, I feel like I could eat a Ponyta."

They walked to the counter together, until Barry stopped when he heard the automatic door opening behind them. Inyssa didn't notice it until the boy stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, Niss…" the sudden change in his tone was enough to take her out of her thoughts. "Um…"

She turned around and laid her eyes on the woman who'd just entered the Pokemon Center. She was tall, with her long dark hair tied in a bun, and the color of her eyes were the exact same as hers. Inyssa's mouth hung open, her body and mind frozen.

"Hello sweetie," her mother said, and showed her a smile which extended to her tired eyes. "It's so nice to see you again."