Me: Yeah, I know. Late again. In my defence, this virus still hasn't gone away; it's been a thorn in my side for almost three weeks now. It has made it almost impossible to focus on anything, especially something as mentally demanding as writing.

Jack: Just don't get too close to me; I don't want to catch it, whatever it is.

Me: Anyway, we got a surprising amount of feedback for the Q&A last chapter; so much so that I've decided to do another one this chapter, although I was originally intending to wait a while.

Jack: Wait, you mean we won't be doing one every chapter?

Me: Well, no. I was anticipating having to wait a few chapters between Q&A's to let the questions pile up a bit. But since we got a handful of questions on the last chapter alone, I figured we might as well answer them now. No point in making people wait any longer than they already have to. Plus, we've got a couple of good ones lined up for today. I'm sure you're excited for that.

Jack: *deadpan* Ecstatic.

Me: Careful, you're getting the floor wet with all that sarcasm dripping off you.


Jack scowled as he recalled Solomon to his Pokéball. The battle was spiraling out of his control, and he didn't like it. Now with Wendy and Solomon both down, and Jason still recovering, his team had lost the majority of its firepower. Thomas would stand no chance against Rayquaza, and Ivy's attacks would be all but useless against a Flying/Dragon-type.

"And that's the problem with glass cannons," Tobias said, snapping Jack out of his thoughts. "They're easily smashed. I'm afraid that such inflexible tactics won't be enough to defeat Rayquaza."

Jack clenched his fist. Tobias was right, he needed to change things up. Unfortunately, what he had in mind was pretty risky. There were a lot of 'if's involved, and if even one thing went wrong the whole plan would fall apart; and he'd look like an idiot to top it all off. Even so, right then it was the best option available to him. And he had no doubt that it would work.

"Alright then," Jack said, "Have it your way. Cap, you're up!"

[Cap (Breloom) Age: 23. Ability: Effect Spore. Moves: Energy Ball, Drain Punch, Mach Punch, Zen Headbutt, Protect, Low Sweep, and Bide.]

Tobias seemed confused for a second, but then he nodded. "I see, you're trying to buy your Lucario enough time to recover."

Jack grinned. "Actually, no. Cap here is my secret weapon. He's going to take down your Rayquaza in one hit."

Cap froze in place and turned to look at Jack.

"I… I am?" The Breloom asked nervously.

"Yes," Jack replied, doing his best to convey a confidence he didn't feel. "You are."

"Is that so," Tobias replied with a chuckle. "In that case I'll just have to defeat him quickly. Rayquaza, use Draco Meteor!"

Jack's eyes widened in surprise, and then narrowed again as his grin disappeared. Draco Meteor… At this point his plan would either work beautifully, or fail miserably. It was all up to Cap.

"Cap, stand strong," Jack said calmly.

Cap's eyes widened, but he nodded and looked up at Rayquaza with no small amount of trepidation. 'Stand strong' was a code word they'd developed to use in their gym battle against Volkner, to avoid him knowing what they were about to do. Even though they'd only used it once, Cap remembered what it meant. Use Bide.

Above him, Rayquaza's throat started to glow bright orange. The glow then rose into its mouth, forming a fiery orb which Rayquaza then spat upward into the sky. The orb, probably about the size of a large car, rose a good ways into the air before shattering into about half a dozen smaller fireballs which were closer to the size of a human.

These meteors picked up speed and power as they plummeted towards the ground, their velocity distending them until they looked like giant fiery raindrops of death. But even in the face of this barrage, Cap didn't so much as flinch. The Draco Meteors fell all around him, the explosions battering Cap's mushroom-like body over and over. The attack was so intense, both Jack's and Tobias's blast shields went up.

"Come on Cap… you can do it…" Jack desperately tried to convince himself; he was starting to regret roping Cap into such a risky gamble.

By the time the last of the meteors had fallen, the entire battlefield was obscured by a cloud of dust and smoke. The entire arena seemed to hold its breath in suspense. Jack peered desperately into the dust cloud with his aura vision, and it only took him a second to spot Cap.

As the dust and smoke gradually cleared, Jack spotted a familiar green mushroom standing tall and proud. The crowd went wild as Cap's form was revealed, glowing red from the effects of Bide. He glanced back at Jack and gave him a reassuring nod; Cap was just fine, and ready for his counter-attack.

"Bide…" Tobias muttered grimly. "Rayquaza, use Iron Tail!"

A look of panic briefly crossed Jack's face; would Cap be able to take another hit? But Cap didn't seem at all concerned about the incoming attack, so Jack decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Rayquaza's tail glowed white, and it spun in midair to lend more momentum to the hit before bringing its enormous tail down on Cap's head like a ton of bricks. For one agonisingly long moment, the arena was silent. Then, red light began to spill out from underneath Rayquaza's tail.

Suddenly, Rayquaza's tail was blasted upwards by a shaft of pure white light; the acceleration was so fast, it looked like a giant invisible hand had grabbed Rayquaza's tail and yanked it upward.

Now that Rayquaza's tail had been removed, Jack could see that Cap was enveloped in a fierce red light; through which the white light of his attack briefly cut like a hot knife through butter. However, his real target wasn't Rayquaza's tail and he didn't maintain the beam for long. Instead, he turned and aimed for something a little more sensitive.

Before Rayquaza could even think about dodging, Cap fired off another beam of energy; this time pouring all his stored power into the attack. It was so bright Jack could barely look at it, and the noise it made was like someone had broken the sound barrier; and Jack had plenty of experience with that.

The beam of light slammed into the side of Rayquaza's head with so much force, Jack could feel the shockwave. The blast knocked Rayquaza clean out of the sky, and sent it plummeting to the ground in a heap; out cold. The crowd went absolutely berserk.

Jack was, quite frankly, at a loss for words. He'd said Cap would take Rayquaza down in one hit, but now that it had actually happened, he could barely comprehend it. But he soon snapped out of it as, unable to muster the strength to stand, Cap's legs gave out underneath him and the valiant Mushroom Pokémon crumpled to the floor.

Jack moved at lightning speed, and managed to catch Cap before he could hit the ground. The Breloom was completely spent after enduring those two unbelievably powerful attacks; only sheer willpower had kept him conscious long enough to unleash Bide's backlash.

"Was… was it enough?" Cap asked in barely more than a whisper.

Jack nodded. "You were amazing Cap. Because of you, we're going to win this. You've earned a good long rest."

"Th-thank you," Cap croaked, closing his eyes and going limp in Jack's arms; he wouldn't be fighting any more that day.

Jack always got a feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever one of his team got knocked out in battle, but sometimes it was worse than usual. This was one of those times. As Jack recalled Cap to his Pokéball, his heart felt like someone was squeezing it. He walked back to the trainer's box and turned to Tobias with renewed determination; he was no longer fighting just for the sake of it.

"I'll win this. For Cap, for Solomon, for Wendy, I will win this."

But the battle only went downhill from there.

"Well done Jack," Tobias said, surprise evident in his tone, "You've managed to catch me by surprise yet again."

Jack nodded. "You might as well get used to it, because I don't plan on stopping."

Tobias chuckled. "I see you've gotten your confidence back. I wonder how long it will last though..." The older trainer pulled out another Pokéball. "What if I told you my next Pokémon was even more powerful than Rayquaza?

"Whatever you've got, bring it on," Jack goaded. "You're just bluffing; I'll bet Rayquaza was your most powerful Pokémon, and you're just trying to make me nervous."

Or so he tried to convince himself.

Tobias grinned; a small grin, but somehow it was far more sinister than all the maniacal laughter in the world could have been.

"Let's go," he said, tossing the Pokéball onto the field, "Giratina!"

And with that, any confidence Jack had went out the window. If the legends about Rayquaza's power were true, then it was safe to assume that the legends about Giratina were also accurate. Tobias hadn't been bluffing.

Giratina materialize in the traditional flash of red light, and let out a roar that sounded like it came straight from the underworld. Giratina was enormous; not quite as long as Rayquaza, but thicker around. It stood on six powerful-looking legs, and shadowy wings protruded from its back. All in all, it was a thoroughly intimidating sight; made even more so by the lore behind it. The very air in the arena seemed to drop a few degrees, and the audience was for once completely silent; not a single sound broke the silence.

Jack gritted his teeth. He wasn't about to give up, although he would have to be especially careful. The trouble was, everyone on his team who could have posed a real threat to Giratina were already in no condition to fight. Ivy's moves would be ineffective, Aura's best attack, Extremespeed, would have no effect at all, and Thomas once again simply wasn't powerful enough.

Maybe Katana could pull it off with Shadow Claw, but frankly he didn't like her odds. Then again, at least Giratina couldn't fly in its altered form. He hoped.

"Alright," Jack said, "Katana, you're up!"

[Katana (Scyther) Age: 22. Ability: Technician. Moves: Fury Cutter, Agility, Quick Attack, Fly, Fake Out, Shadow Claw, and Air Slash.]

Katana appeared in a flash of red light, and immediately sized up her opponent.

"You know," she commented wryly, "I really hate ghosts."

As soon as the round started, Katana was off like a shot with Shadow Claw. But before she could land a hit, Giratina disappeared. It didn't just move, it almost seemed to melt into shadows. Katana came to a quick stop and looked around, but there was no sign of the giant dragon.

Suddenly, Katana's instincts kicked in and launched her into the air; but not quite fast enough to avoid the inky black force that sprang up behind her. Giratina's Shadow Force technique swatted Katana out of the air, and knocked her into the ground so hard it formed a small crater.

Katana tried to stand, but the Renegade Pokémon emerged from the shadows right in front of her and used Dragon Pulse. The sphere of purple energy hit hard, and the explosion raised a cloud of dust. When the smoke cleared, Katana was out for the count.

Jack could barely comprehend what had just happened, it had all happened so quickly. As he stared at Katana's unconscious form, it gradually dawned on him that it had taken Giratina all of ten seconds to end the fight; and even Katana's hair-trigger instincts hadn't been fast enough to save her. Maybe he could have beat it himself, maybe, but his team stood no chance. No chance at all.

"I forfeit the match," he heard himself say, although it was like he was hearing his own voice from a distance. He couldn't concentrate on anything other than the fact that he and his team had been beaten; soundly, and completely. Giratina was easily powerful enough to take out his whole team single-handedly. Tobias had just been toying with him.

Jack recalled Katana to her Pokéball, but he wasn't really attending to his surroundings. He might easily have kept standing there for quite some time, like a statue, if Tobias hadn't walked over to him.

Jack was snapped out of his shock when Tobias held out his hand to him, as if to shake.

"You fought well," the older trainer said, almost apologetically. "You might just be the strongest opponent I've ever faced."

Jack took Tobias's hand and shook it solemnly. "Thank you for the kind words, but you had us completely outclassed the whole time. You were just toying with us, weren't you."

Tobias shrugged. "Well, I wanted to see exactly how powerful your team was. If I had sent out my most powerful Pokémon first, I wouldn't have been able to get an accurate picture of your strength. I was somewhat surprised by you forfeiting the match though. Most trainers would have chosen to fight until the bitter end, so why didn't you?"

Jack sighed. "None of my team could have defeated your Giratina. I couldn't let them get hurt for the sake of my own pride."

Tobias nodded thoughtfully. "You never cease to amaze me," he muttered to himself.

Tobias then bent down slightly and whispered something in Jack's ear.

"Meet me tonight at ten o'clock, behind the stadium on the South side," the older trainer whispered, but his voice sounded slightly different. "We can talk more freely then."

Without another word, Tobias turned around and walked out of the arena; leaving Jack dazed and confused. Tobias wanted to meet him behind the stadium tonight? Why? And why had his voice sounded so strange when he whispered… Then he got it. He'd gotten so used to switching between them that he hadn't realized at first.

When Tobias whispered to him, he was talking in Pokéspeak.


Jack: And thus did the cliffhangers continue…

Me: Try not to get too hung up over it.

Jack: I hate you.

Me: I love you too. Anyway, it's time for the second Q&A. And like I said, we've got a couple of good ones today.

Anonymous silhouette: Are Tobias's 5th and 6th Pokémon going to be legendery's?

Me: The world may never know…

Jack: On the other hand, knowing that Tobias is really [classified], I'd say his last two Pokémon are probably [classified]. Of course, I could be [classified]...

Me: Oh, I'm going to have so much fun editing that sentence. *chuckles ominously*

Jack: Could you not do that?

Me: Sorry. Anyway, this next one is for you.

Krominicon: When do you intend on visiting your parents? Your adoptive parents that is.

Jack: …

Me: What is it?

Jack: Nothing. I just feel like I've seen that guy somewhere before…

Me: You know what'll happen? It'll come to you in the shower tonight.

Jack: Probably. As for the question itself, I really don't know when I'll be able to go home; but unless this joker has something up his sleeve he isn't telling me, I don't think it'll be any time soon.

Me: I'm not saying a word. Not one single word.

Matthais Unidostres: I'm not sure if I ever directly asked you this before, but what do you have planned for Lucy's family?

Me: *grins maliciously* Well… I was planning on having [classified] find [classified] when he [classified] after [classified]. So yeah, I'd say my plans are [classified].

Jack: You look like you're having fun.

Me: Is it that obvious?

Jack: You should see your face right now, that grin is so creepy it could curdle milk. You look like the Joker… or that ninja guy from One Punch Man.

Me: Sorry, I'll stop. But speaking of ninjas...

DragonNiro: Pirates or ninjas?

Me: On three. Ready? One… two… three!

Jack & Me: Ninjas.

Jack: Wow, did we actually just agree on something?

Me: Looks like the impossible can happen.

Jack: I don't know, the universe might still implode…

Me: ...

Me: And on that bombshell, see you guys in the next chapter.