Between A Hard Place and a Rock

The tunnel plunged into darkness and a huge plume of dust filled it from floor to ceiling. Everyone hit the floor while the rumbling subsided and kept their faces covered to shield themselves from the dust. Despite the ground settling the noise didn't stop; it was like there was a large crowd in the tunnel screaming, drowning out most other sounds. Tyson worriedly thought that the screaming might have been coming from some of the others if they'd been badly hurt in the cave-in. He tried to pry his eyes open and look for them but the dust was so thick it obscured his vision and stung his eyes. They watered and he had to squeeze them shut. He pulled himself to his knees but there was nothing he could do when he was rendered blind and deaf like this. He punched the ground and cursed.

A drop of water landed on the back of his neck. Tyson almost opened his eyes in alarm and reached back to feel where it had landed and felt another on the back of his hand. Then his head, his back, and his arm until the drops weren't just coming one by one. There was a downpour of them. The rain cleared the dust quicker than it would have settled on its own. Tyson was finally able to open his eyes and use some of the rain to wash the dust out. He looked up at the ceiling.

There were bulbous, rolling masses above them in the darkness. Tyson somewhat doubted himself because of the low visibility but they looked like clouds. But where would clouds come from in a tunnel? He couldn't see much else in the darkness except vague shapes until, unexpectedly, a warm, yellow light blinked on. There was a sheet of rain in front of him but through it he spotted Team Aqua still standing and in front of Sandy a blue blob of a Pokémon with a fatty tail wiggled its body to put the finishing touch on its Rain Dance.

Tyson clenched his teeth but Team Aqua could wait a moment. He turned around. Ryan had Raichu out with that lightbulb in its hands again but Ryan himself didn't appear to be well. He was lying on the floor with Mari hovering over him worriedly and Kai crouched by his other side. Not far away, Angelo appeared to be in the same condition with Devlin kneeling next to him, looking over his legs while Skorupi scuttled uneasily.

"Is everyone okay?" Tyson asked, having to raise his voice over the inexplicable noise.

"Yeah," Mari replied, lifting Ryan to sit him against the rubble with a little difficulty, "but some of the rocks fell on Ryan. He's really hurt."

"Same here," Devlin added. "Angelo's legs got caught under the rubble. Something might be broken."

"You'll wish for broken bones once we're through with you," Sandy threatened. "With any luck, your friends and Team Magma are buried under that rubble. Means there's just you to take care of. See, I despise failure and people who cause failure really churn me up inside!" she shouted through clenched teeth.

"Let's take 'em down here and now!" Jemima said, taking out her Pokéball. "This way, won't have to worry about them meddling with us ever again!"

She looked over to Jamie expectantly. He sighed, taking out a Pokéball as well. "Fine…"

They released Zangoose and Spinda on either side of Sandy's Pokémon. Zangoose's hackles rose and it swiped its claws through the air aggressively while Spinda looked up in wonder at the rain falling on them and spun around stupidly. Sandy dropped her face into her hand and sighed.

"Why can't you two get at least one water-type?"

"Wanna fight?" Mari growled. She pointed forwards and turned to Mawile. "Mawi, step up!"

Mawi gave a shout to show she understood and moved away from the rubble wall she had been considering to be the first in their vanguard against Team Aqua. In a flash of light, Shroomish appeared beside her, puffing himself up for battle. Kai's Seedot followed suit and the three Pokémon exchanged glances before turning to square off against their opponents.

"Tch. Quagsire, use Mud Bomb!" Sandy ordered. Her Pokémon puffed its chest out and coughed up a huge glob of mud that arced into the air.

"Protect, Mawi!" Mari shouted. Mawi made a cry and threw her hands up. A shining barrier appeared around her just before the mud bomb hit, splattering all over the force field and running off uselessly. "Now, get Zangoose with Iron Head!"

"Crush Claw!" Jemima commanded.

Mawile charged at Zangoose with her head bowed to head-butt, cutting off Shroomish just as Tyson commanded him to use Stun Spore. Zangoose flexed its claws in preparation to attack and then stabbed them down at Mawi but missed fractionally. Mawi leaped and ploughed skull-first into Zangoose's gut, winding it. Sandy's Quagsire launched a second Mud Bomb, just as Shroomish had finally managed to fire a plume of spores across the battlefield. It didn't reach far enough to touch Seedot and Spinda but it liberally covered Zangoose, Quagsire and Mawi in paralysing spores, just in time for both Mawi and Zangoose to get bombed.

"Tyson! What are you doing?!" Mari screamed, quickly abandoning Ryan's side to run up to Tyson. "Mawi's in the middle of that!"

"Everything just happened too fast!" Tyson protested. Honestly, it did. Shroomish wasn't the fastest Pokémon in their party at the best of times but the speed at which Mawile and Quagsire attacked might have even put Ray's new Skitty to shame.

Mari growled in frustration and crossed her arms. "Well, least now Shroomish is at less of a speed disadvantage."

As this was happening, Kai and Jamie began a private standoff on the fringe of the battlefield. Kai glared across at him as Jamie raised an eyebrow and then smirked.

"Meet again," he said. "Well, let's… Spinda, use Sucker Punch."

"Harden!" Kai ordered.

Seedot hunkered down and his bronze body became twice as shiny as it toughened itself against future attacks. Spinda leaped forward to punch with a dark aura over its fist but since Seedot hadn't moved it missed by over a foot, spinning itself around and toppling face first into the dirt that was quickly becoming mud. Jamie sighed.

"Gotten cautious, huh?" he said, barely audible since he hadn't bothered to adjust his speaking volume for the cries bouncing throughout the tunnel. "Rattled you last time?"

Kai didn't rise to the bait, instead he commanded Seedot to use Bullet Seed while Spinda was lying on the ground. It jumped and flopped uselessly at the sting of the seed barrage. At Jamie's command it did its best to compose itself and use Rapid Spin to deflect the bullets. Seedot stopped the barrage as they flew everywhere, lest one of them ricocheted back to him. Spinda ran in with another Sucker Punch but fell short again when instead of staying on the attack, Seedot's body expanded with Growth. Spinda twirled itself around with its own momentum again and landed on its face again. Using this opening (again), Kai ordered Seedot to use Nature Power, assaulting Spinda with an array of flying, glowing rocks.

"Tch. Fool me twice…" Jamie grumbled, taking his hands out of his pockets and folding his arms. Kai tensed. It would have looked like a perfectly innocuous gesture to anyone else but Kai could sense that there had been a change in demeanour. This battle was about to get a lot tougher.

Meanwhile on the other side of the field, Jemima whined: "Why did you do that?! Zangoose got hit!"

"Suck it," Sandy retorted. "If your dumb Zangoose had hit her mark with Crush Claw she'd have got out of there before Mud Bomb landed. Anyway, she's paralysed now."

"What?" Jemima said, giving her a confused look.

"Pa-ra-lysed! Use Façade, idiot!"

"Oh!"

Having heard all of that, Mari quickly instructed: "Mawi, use Protect!"

Mawi put up her shield again just as Jemima directed Zangoose to use Façade. Even with Protect up Façade hit with such a powerful force that the ground cratered under Mawi's feet. Quagsire launched yet another Mud Bomb but it glanced off Protect again. Shroomish barrelled into Quagsire's side in an aggressive Tackle that caused Quagsire to wince but afterwards it merely gave Shroomish an annoyed look, rubbing its side.

"Don't worry about the small fry," Sandy said to it. "Mawile is the bigger concern. Use Mud Bomb."

This time Zangoose had enough warning to leap out of the way but Mawi's Protect failed for the second Mud Bomb. The mud dumped on her knocked her off her feet and left her a bit dazed on the ground.

"Aw, crap," Tyson muttered, nearly inaudible over the noise in the tunnel. Mari only barely managed to catch it. "We gotta do something about that mud monster."

"Keep attacking it," Mari responded, not taking her eyes off the battle. "She doesn't think you're a threat so you've pretty much got free rein, unless Mawi goes down. Mawi, Play Rough with Zangoose!"

Mawi got to her feet, muscles aching with paralysis. Zangoose tried to follow Jemima's order for Façade but failed similarly. Quagsire's body shuddered and twitched as it tried to muster another Mud Bomb. Tyson looked at each of them and then down at Shroomish, who turned to him with an expectant look. Mawi didn't seem to take those bombs too well—it may have been a type weakness, Tyson wasn't sure—and it looked likely that she would go down before the battle was over. So he had to do something that would count even if she fainted. But they were already paralysed.

"Hey, Shroomish, remember that seed attack you did the other day?" Tyson asked. It had been a fluke (well, a couple of 'flukes') that happened while they were encountering wild Pokémon and the occasional trainer along Route 116. What did Mari say it was called? "Leech Seed!"

Shroomish nodded and turned back to Quagsire. He popped a seed out of the top of his head. It landed on Quagsire and stuck with little burrs. In its alarm, Quagsire burped up some of its collected mud. It reached up to try to scratch it off but the seed just stuck harder into its skin. The seed cracked open and little sapling vines slithered out, developing at hyper speed by plant standards until they had latched onto most of Quagsire's head. The leaves pulsed with a green glow, causing Quagsire to wince as its strength was sapped.

Mari tried her command again and this time Mawi was able to rush at Zangoose in a sudden tackle that lead to a tussle so rough that it kicked up the dirt and dust even with the rain settling it.

"Great!" Mari cheered. "Should be the end for Zangoose!"

Except that when Mawi stepped back and ended her attack, Zangoose rolled onto its front and got up on all fours. It hissed at Mawi with its hackles standing on end and bristling. Mari's eyes widened.

"No way. Wasn't that strong before."

"Before?!" Jemima scoffed. "'Before' we were on missions prior to meeting up with you! Today she's fresh from the Pokémon Centre in Verdanturf! See how tough Zangoose really is: use Façade!"

Mawi's body was too stiff to get out of critical range as Zangoose charged at her with a furious power and struck with its claws. An attack that normally barely fazed a steel-type struck her down to within an inch of consciousness.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Sandy said exasperatedly. "Quagsire, finish it with Scald!"

Quagsire clenched its thick, webbed hands and shook. Steam began to rise out of its nose and earholes and before Tyson could work out what was happening it fired a jet of boiling water – a bit like Water Gun – at Mawi. Between the scalding heat and the high pressure the attack kept her down on the ground. When it subsided, it was clear that Mawi wasn't going to get back up. Mari lowered her head in defeat as she returned her Mawile. Tyson caught a glimpse of her expression and turned to Sandy and Quagsire angrily.

"We'll get you for that! Shroomish, use Mega Drain!"

Shroomish glowed brightly. The green aura also appeared over Quagsire and then sucked back to Shroomish, taking a great deal of its strength on top of what the Leech Seed sapped. Quagsire groaned.

"Okay, now Tackle it!"

"Façade!" Jemima yelled out across the battle. Shroomish never got to hit Quagsire as Zangoose darted across the battlefield and crashed into Shroomish, sending him flying as fast as a cannonball. His little body zoomed past Tyson. Devlin and Angelo had to dodge it before it hit the rubble wall, creating cracks in it. Tyson returned him before he could fall.

The rain started to subside, dropping from a downpour to a small shower. Mari glanced up at the clouds, considering. Quagsire would probably do another Rain Dance if the rain stopped. Before she could decide whether to attempt to prevent that or use it to her advantage, Tyson threw Combusken onto the field.

"Tyson!" she scolded. "Bad idea to switch Combusken out into the rain!"

"I literally have nobody else," Tyson argued.

"Argh!" she grumbled through clenched teeth, scrubbing her fingers through her hair. Tyson's action had made her mind up for her but just as she grabbed a Pokéball from her belt a burst of light beside her caught her attention.

Mari turned to her right. A Lucario straightened its back and lifted its head. It walked out to stand in the middle of the battlefield, vulnerable from all angles. Mari turned to Ryan, still sitting where she'd left him. He waved his hands and shook his head.

"Didn't release him," Ryan said. "Got out by himself."

"Well, return him," Mari replied. "I got this."

"No, Mari-" he gulped when she gave him a sharp look over her shoulder but continued, "H-he might have sensed that this battle is coming to a head and thinks he'll be the best help."

"But you're hurt!"

"Can still give instructions," Ryan protested. He tried to sit up straighter and winced at the pain shooting through his body. Shooting pain pierced his chest with every breath and he'd never been so aware of his ribcage expanding against his chest. "Or you can. Sure he'll listen to a great trainer like you."

Lucario looked back at him worriedly. Ryan gave him a thumb-up and a strained smile. "Listen to Mari, okay?"

"Right…" Mari said with a resigned sigh as she took out her Pokédex. "But what moves does your Lucario know?"

"Useless!" Sandy cackled. "More steel-type fodder to fail against Quagsire. Use Mud Bomb!"

"Right?!" Jemima exclaimed gleefully. "Zangoose, take out the Combusken with Façade!"

Mari scrolled through Lucario's move list as fast as she could, barely registering any of the names. She didn't have time; for her first attack she'd have to wing it. "Aura Sphere!"
Lucario responded immediately, gathering a large orb of blue energy between his hands and firing it towards Quagsire just as the water-type unleashed Mud Bomb against him. The attacks hit their targets at the same time and both Pokémon were knocked onto their backs. Zangoose slowly got back onto its hind legs but couldn't move faster than Combusken, who gave it a double whammy with a Double Kick to the face. Tyson cheered him on while he back-flipped out of the way; Zangoose's blows were too slow this time due to the lingering paralysis.

"Well, seems to know that," Mari muttered. She looked down at her Pokédex with new determination. If Lucario was already powerful enough to know Aura Sphere she could figure out what else he would be likely to know. She glanced over at Zangoose. It was trying to stretch out its muscles to make a faster attempt at Façade. Mari pointed at it. "Lucario, try Me First!"

Lucario could sense her movement from her aura and followed the direction she was pointing without even having to look at her. He probed Zangoose's thoughts, searching its intentions and then copied them. Zangoose was launched into the wall of the tunnel by a powerful Façade attack before it could target Combusken again. Then Combusken snuck in a cheap Double Kick. Meanwhile, Quagsire had tried to pull off another Mud Bomb but barely got it halfway up because of its paralysis.

Mari and Tyson high-fived, riding a confidence high now that the battle had turned around in their favour. They were both about to give their next instructions but then something red and white cut across their periphery. Jemima and Sandy noticed it too and everyone turned to gawk at it. Jamie's Spinda teetered to and fro, catching everyone's attention with its confused, erratic dance. It sort of occurred to them that they'd almost completely forgotten that Kai and Jamie were in this fight too – sort of, since Spinda's dance was so mesmerising and befuddling. Kai's Seedot was worse for wear and struggling to breathe but it was amazing that he had lasted this long on his own against Spinda.

"Aw, crap, not this," Sandy complained but nonetheless ordered Quagsire to launch another Mud Bomb.

"Confusion… no good," Mari moaned, pressing a hand against the headache Teeter Dance was giving her. "Need to finish Zangoose. Aura Sphere!"

Lucario gathered his aura energy again but overcharged the attack, causing it to blow up in his face. Quagsire unleashed the Mud Bomb it had previously attempted to cough up but in its confusion it fired it straight up vertically. The bomb came down and hit Quagsire on the head hard enough to knock it onto its bottom. Outside of Teeter Dance's maximum influence, Zangoose peeled its eyes away and smashed Combusken with Façade while he was pumping himself up with Focus Energy. He tumbled head over heels.

"Oh come on!" Tyson shouted at her in frustration. "How many times can you use that attack?!"

"As many times as Zangoose can handle it!" Jemima yelled back.

"Double Kick it!"

Combusken got up to a crouch and then sprinted at Zangoose. He landed two kicks, one after the other, managing to hit exactly the same spot each time. The attack left Zangoose winded and struggling to recover.

Jamie gave an order that was the first anyone other than Kai had paid attention to for the whole battle: "Dizzy Punch… hey, wait-"

Spinda wound up its Dizzy Punch and flung it right at Lucario. Jamie smacked himself in the face. "ICB… DON'T CHANGE TARGETS UNLESS I TELL YOU!" That startled all of the trainers in battle—even Jemima and Sandy since they hardly ever heard Jamie scream. He sighed in embarrassment. "Made me yell, jerk. Whatevs, just listen to me this time. Seedot's almost…"

Kai had already used the opening to order Bullet Seed against Quagsire. It took the attack hard, totally unprepared for the barrage. Kai looked at Mari, calling her name to get her attention. She looked up from the Pokédex, interrupting her contemplations of Lucario's next move. He raised his thumb and index finger, making a rotating gesture. It took a few seconds for Mari to work out what he meant but when she did she nodded.

"Spinda, end it for Seedot…" Jamie ordered. "Dizzy Punch."

"Lucario, Me First!" Mari shouted.

"Bullet Seed!"

Seedot loosed a second barrage of seeds against Quagsire. Lucario jumped over the line of fire, winding up Dizzy Punch faster than Spinda itself could. Spinda squeaked as Lucario came down and clocked it squarely on the nose.

"Now Aura Sphere on Quagsire!"

The double assault from Bullet Seed and Aura Sphere overwhelmed Quagsire. It toppled onto its side, too battered to keep going. Spinda tried to lay a Dizzy Punch on Lucario while his back was turned but since it was already confused from Lucario's attack it ended up whirling around a couple of times and punching itself in the face. It fell to the ground, out cold.

Sandy and Jamie returned their Pokémon. That left only Zangoose on Team Aqua's side, staring down Combusken. They were both only one strike away from a knock out. Zangoose and Jemima both glanced at the rest of the battle for the sake of keeping an eye on happenings and blanched at the sight of Lucario and Seedot staring them down.

"You give up?" Tyson taunted. Combusken squawked in agreement.

"Get real," Sandy harrumphed. "Still have more Pokémon."

"True," Angelo piped up, drawing the battlers' attention, "but think about your situation for a second. Even if you have, what, one or two extra Pokémon each, you probably still have less Pokémon between the three of you than we have between the six of us. Better you cut your losses and scram before-"

A deafening BOOM blasted through the tunnel, cutting Angelo off. The sound wall was so powerful it hit everyone like an avalanche, strong enough to throw anyone still standing off their feet. All sound blanked out. All anyone could hear was high-pitched ringing. The light went out.

Tyson tried to swallow past his heart beating in his throat. He was rendered blind and deaf again but with a spinning head to make matters worse. His legs and arms twitched uselessly when he tried to sit up; he was in shock. So instead he tried calling out for Combusken. At least he thought he was. The only indication he had that he was making noise was that he was moving his lips and breathing—doing all of the things one did to speak. Disoriented, he desperately looked around for something to ground himself.

There was a light. It was dim, too dim for Tyson to be able to see anything except the source itself but it was there. He tried to focus on it directly until his vision stopped swimming and he could start to see things clearly. The creature – curled up in a ball and holding its ears – bobbed in and out of focus. A mechanical voice from his recent memory explained to him all over again how a mouse Pokémon was able to glow in the dark.

His head pounded but after watching it for a while he started to feel less confused. He struggled to slowly roll onto his front and get up on his hands and knees to crawl. He tried to recall, based on where Raichu was, where Combusken must have been lying. His hands and knees scraped across cold, soggy earth until his left hand bumped warm claws and feathers. Tyson grasped his Pokémon's hand and shook the limp limb. Surely Combusken would have been knocked out completely cold by whatever had just happened. He was struck with that feeling of helplessness again, only this time it was more potent. He had no Pokémon to help him and he couldn't see or hear anybody. But then he felt just the barest of squeezes and looked down at where he thought his left hand must have been.

"Combusken! You're awake?" He had no idea if he had spoken that or just thought it. "Don't worry, I'll get you something."

It probably didn't matter. Combusken was likely to be able to hear just as well as Tyson at the moment. He pulled his backpack off and unzipped it, only he couldn't really find anything in it. It was too dark to see, even with Raichu glowing off to the side, and he couldn't feel the difference between the different medicines he was carrying.

"Torch… I need a torch…"

Unfortunately he didn't have one. As a group they had about three between them but Tyson wasn't carrying one of them. His hands fumbled in his bag and then suddenly there was a bright spotlight shining down on him. He looked up in surprise and blinded himself by looking directly into the bright white beam of a torch.

"Guagh! That's the second time!" Tyson growled, shaking his fist at the torch.

The torchbearer lowered the beam. Tyson blinked hard and rubbed his eyes to ward off the spots but even with his vision a bit splotchy he was able to see Mari in the ambient glow of the torchlight, glowering at him disappointedly. Her lips moved but Tyson couldn't hear anything she was saying beyond an indistinct mumble. Judging by her expression it was probably an insult anyway, so Tyson responded with a pout and snatched the torch out of her hand, turning back to his bag and shining the light into it until he was able to find the Super Potion he was carrying. He held the gold-coloured bottle up to the light and shook it. There wasn't much left but with any luck there was enough to speed up Combusken's healing until he was mostly fine.

For the first time since the light went out a second time, Tyson shone the torch over Combusken. He gulped. Not only was Combusken badly beaten by that Zangoose's absurdly overpowered attack, that sound wall attack had knocked out some of his feathers, making him appear worse. Tyson put the torch in his mouth while he worked on healing his Pokémon, spraying the medicine liberally and concentrating on the areas that looked worse until the bottle was completely empty.

After that the only thing left to do was wait. Mari took the torch back and stood up to shine it around the tunnel, surveying what was left of their battle. Tyson looked up to see as well and his jaw dropped at how much had changed. He had no idea how much time had passed but Team Aqua was long gone, leaving in their wake a tunnel strewn with little pink bodies and some Zubats, all covered in blue powder. Mari swung the torch around to check on everyone else. Kai sat on the ground with his Seedot out of sight and Togepi tightly curled up in his lap but he had his hands over his ears. The twins were in mostly the same condition, only now Devlin was on his knees, leaning on one hand while the other massaged a headache, likely caused by the tinnitus. It was Ryan that got Tyson worried enough to stand again. He had his hands, teeth and eyes clenched shut in visible pain and Lucario was trying to hand him a pink and white Hyper Potion from his bag.

"Aw, shit, this is bad," Tyson muttered. He turned to Mari and shouted: "We have to get to the others and get out of here!" He blinked in surprise at having been able to hear his own voice that time, albeit with a muted sound like his ears were filled with water.

Mari gave him a grim look and shook her head. "Getting out ourselves is our first priority. This place is still dangerous. Whismur could wake up and start attacking us again before we find a way around this rubble."

"Our friends could be hurt just as badly as Ryan," Tyson argued. "If we leave them like that, they might not last until tomorrow, or whenever a rescue team is able to get here. We should get them out now!"

"Rescue team will be better equipped and better prepared to handle this! Ryan needs to go to hospital!"

"Then you take him!" Tyson screamed, grabbing the torch in her hand. "And I'll find a way to break down this wall. Hand it over, I need this."

"I need this to take Ryan to hospital, like you said," Mari rebuffed.

They held on with both hands and pulled back and forth in a tug-of-war that sent the beam swinging wildly all over the tunnel but even as they bickered over it an unexpected shudder in the light gave both of them pause. In tandem, they swung the light back to the spot where they swore they'd seen it. One of the Whismur with its face down in the mud rose up on its stubby little arms. It tried to look forward as far as it could, which wasn't very far since it couldn't lift its head due to lack of a neck. One ear twitched and then the other. Mari turned to Tyson angrily.

"See? Already waking up!"

Another Pokémon scurrying into the light distracted them. Skorupi scuttled from side-to-side, clicking his pincers aggressively. Then before anybody could add anything more, he let loose a long barrage of Pin Missile.

"No biggie," Tyson said, looking at Mari smugly. "Skorupi's gonna hold the fort while we bust the wall."

But with each strike of pins the Whismur squealed and squirmed, becoming tenser until after the last hit when it sprang to its feet and started to cry loudly, creating a soundwave strong enough to make the air wobble. The attack hit Skorupi square in the face. He started preparing another Pin Missile or a Poison Sting but Whismur incoherently cried out the same attack. Somehow it was stronger this time, enough to throw Skorupi off his feet. The third wave came as the first and second bounced off the tunnel walls and was powerful enough to flip him onto his back. Whismur loudly released a fourth wail, resonating with its other soundwaves.

"It's just doing the same thing over and over but it keeps getting stronger! How?" Tyson said.

"Echoed Voice!" Mari replied. "Gets more powerful the more chances it has to use it in succession. We have to stop it!"

Outside of the torch's beam a fiery light blasted through the dark. The embers peppered the Whismur until it fell off its feet and onto its bottom.

"Combusken!" Tyson exclaimed as his Pokémon jumped over Skorupi and landed with a crouch in front of him. Even though his body was still battered he'd gained a new energy and determination—a second wind.

Skorupi paused in trying to roll himself back onto his front and looked up at Combusken. Combusken looked back at him from over his shoulder. Their eyes met but Skorupi looked away quickly, hiding his face behind his pincers in embarrassment. He couldn't protect them, he'd just rattled the Whismur and now the Combusken – that had already fought really hard for them – had to pick up the fight again. A warm pat on his head made him chance a peek. Combusken gave him a few more friendly pats with a compassionate smile at the edge of his beak. Skorupi's heart warmed with admiration and he watched in awe as Combusken turned back to the Whismur in front of them.

The Whismur cried as it rocked back and forth until it eventually managed to tilt itself back onto its feet. Only it didn't stop there. It carried its momentum forwards, rushing in to pound despite how small its arms were. Combusken put his arms up to block the attack from hitting something critical but it still sent him slipping back a few centimetres.

"You can do it!" Tyson encouraged him. "Double Kick its ass!"

Combusken pulled up to do that but the Whismur was quicker, delivering a Pound to his gut. He coughed but sucked it in. The first kick dropped Whismur into the air and for the second one Combusken kicked it straight up, high enough that it hit the ceiling and crashed back down, bringing a little bit of the rock down with it.

"Yikes," Tyson muttered, taking an empty Pokéball out of his back pocket. "That was mean, Combusken."

"How are you seriously thinking about catching it?!" Mari yelled at him.

Tyson threw the Pokéball at it before he looked at her to respond: "Hey, it turned out it didn't suck, alright? Almost everyone else has more than two Pokémon and I am not going to be left behind. And besides…" Tyson trailed off for a moment as he stared at the small chunks of ceiling debris around his Pokéball, "hanging with me is a totally great reward for reminding me of something. Combusken!"

Combusken suddenly turned to him, eyes alert but bemused by the abrupt command since the battle was already over.

"We're not leaving this tunnel without everyone!" Tyson declared, snatching the torch from Mari while she was stunned by his outburst. He pointed the light at the rubble. "Use Rock Smash!"

Combusken grinned and crowed in agreement. He ran past his trainer and with his foot clenched like a fist gave a roundhouse kick to the first boulder in front of him. It smashed to pieces, blown out of the wall by the force of the attack. The rubble around it tumbled down, filling the gap.

"Don't give up we'll get through it yet!"

Combusken crowed loudly to pump itself up and delivered another rock-crushing blow to the rubble wall. Dust and rocks flew as boulders exploded. It was dangerous to the point that Mari and Kai had to help Devlin and Lucario move the others away from the rubble while Combusken worked bit by bit on clearing it away. Smaller rubble would fall and fill the gaps but with steady determination he scratched them away with his feet or threw them over his shoulder to get to the next obstacle to pulverise.

It was a solid hour of smashing but by that time everyone could clearly see that Combusken was surely cutting a narrow path through the rubble. During that time the Whismur began to wake up. Some of them whimpered at the loud, intermittent smashing sounds but the nap had calmed them down enough that many of them simply watched curiously while the trainer's Pokémon kicked its way through the rubble separating them from their friends on the other side. Tyson had to climb up the small ramp of little debris to shine light between the walls while his Pokémon continued smashing rocks. Nobody was sure how deep it would have to go and how long it would take but in another half hour Combusken kicked a very large boulder and instead of the dust and debris billowing backwards into their side of the tunnel it went forwards with the rest of the rock. A huge tower of rubble above it fell, blocking Combusken further but he struck it again and again, losing his form in excitement to finally break through to the other side. Then in a cloud of dust it was clear.

A collective gasp went around the group as everyone sucked in a breath of anticipation, even the Whismur. The dust had to settle before they could find out what was on the other side. Were their friends okay? Or was it Team Magma? Mari put her hand on her Floatzel's Pokéball just in case of the latter. The first sign they got was a light shining back to them through the dust. Shortly afterwards, a familiar call:

"Heeey! Is everyone alive?"

"Max!" Tyson exclaimed. The other humans among them let out the breath they were holding and a squeaky cheer came from the Whismur herd behind them. Tyson covered his nose with the corner of his overshirt and ran into the slowly thinning dust cloud. He had to close his eyes against it and almost tripped at the end but Max caught him in a huge hug that threatened to pop the top half of his body off the bottom half. "Hey, buddy. I still need to breathe."

"Aw, man, you have no idea how much we were worried about you guys," Max said, squeezing extra hard for good measure before finally letting go. He looked at Tyson face-to-face and Tyson could see the tears brimming in his eyes. He could feel it coming on too but didn't want to admit it so when Max hugged him again (a bit gentler this time) Tyson returned it in full force.

"What about everyone else?" Ray asked, while Hilary shone one of their torches through the opening Combusken had just made. The other one was currently in Max's hand, shining up at the ceiling. A few of the Whismur from Tyson's side came running through excitedly but no other humans. "Are they all alive and are they okay?"

"Everyone's alive," Tyson replied as he and Max finally let each other go. They both turned to face him, "and 'okay' is… debatable? There were a couple of casualties in the cave-in; Ryan and Angelo need to go to hospital and apparently so do you." He stared in horror, having just realised by the light of Max's torch that Ray had bandages tied over his right hand and arm. The wounds had already bled through.

"Don't worry about me. Hilary and Max did their best and I think this will hold me until tomorrow morning. But if Ryan and Angelo were hurt by falling rocks I'm sure it's serious."

"What about Devlin?" Shido piped up, tugging on Tyson's arm. "And Skorupi?"

"Dude, your Skorupi is a little spitfire!" Tyson chuckled. "And Devlin wasn't hurt."

Hilary heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. This day has been horrible and I'm so glad you guys on the other side turned out to be okay." She fell onto Tyson for a loose hug that demonstrated just how exhausted the ordeal had left her but she kept it short and dragged herself away to turn the light back on the tunnel. "Let's go before something else happens. We need to get Ryan and Angelo to Verdanturf Town fast, don't we?"

"Right," Tyson nodded.

Shido didn't need to be told twice – she was first through the small opening. Everybody else followed suit, carefully stepping over the Whismur that were darting in and out from both sides of the tunnel now, quietly celebrating the restoration of a thoroughfare. Tyson brought up the rear and as he went he returned his tired out Combusken. Even after he was out of sight Tyson couldn't help looking at his Pokéball with a grateful smile.

"Thanks, buddy. You're the best. You deserve a long break now." He hurried to catch up with the rest of the group. They quickly gathered their things and the wounded to carry them off towards Verdanturf Town.

There was no bright, promising light at the end of this tunnel. By the time they emerged it was the dead of night. Fresh air hadn't tasted so sweet and the breeze hadn't felt so good for Hilary and the bladers as it did that night when they finally stepped foot out of the Rusturf Tunnel. They could hear the wind whisper in the trees and the grass while the waxing half-moon shone down kindly on the world.

At Rusturf Tunnel's exit there was very little fanfare. Only a large, semi-circular step paved with mosaic framed the tunnel before a well-worn dirt path. The moment Tyson's feet hit soil instead of rock he collapsed on the ground.

"Oh, sweet freedom!" he moaned into the dirt.

"Tyson!" Hilary admonished, kicking him in the side of the leg. "We're not going to let you hold us up while we still have patients who need medical attention!"

"Don't feel you need to be concerned on account of us," Devlin said, striding out in front despite having to carry Angelo on his back, backpack on his front and with Shido holding tightly onto his cargo pants. Skorupi kept pace with them, even after all the damage he had taken. Despite her brothers' arguments Shido had wanted to carry him after seeing the state he was in. However, she quickly lagged behind hefting a huge bug and Angelo's bag and had to let Skorupi walk by himself. He didn't seem to mind. "I'll be able to make it to the hospital with this deadweight just fine," he added, bouncing Angelo a bit.

Angelo groaned in pain from the jostling. "If I'm heavy then so are you, asshole."

"So you say," Devlin replied with a cheeky grin. "They can follow along but you'll understand that I have my hands full with this lot, right?"

He looked over to Ryan and Ray. Ryan had put his Raichu away ages ago but his Lucario refused to let anybody else carry him to Verdanturf, taking full responsibility. Since then, Ryan had fallen asleep and was drooling on his Pokémon's shoulder. Daichi took the duty of carrying his stuff and even though he'd offered the same to Ray, he'd refused on the basis that he could still walk and carry his own things.

"I'm coming too!" Daichi proclaimed. "So that Ryan'll still have his stuff at the hospital when he wakes up."

"Surely he won't need adventure gear in hospital. Get some rest at the Pokémon Centre."

"I'm starting to feel that this is either the politest or rudest 'go away' I've ever heard," Hilary remarked with a raised eyebrow and a bit of a smirk.

Devlin chuckled. "If that's what you think of me wait 'til you get to know my brother."

"Oh, come off it!" she giggled.

"No really," Angelo added in agreement. "If you got to know us better, you'd like him more." He pointed at Devlin's face.

"Alright, Bad Boy, let's get you seen to."

He turned to the front and went on his way again. Before they got too far, Shido looked back and waved. "Bye Hilary. Bye everyone. Thank-you so much." Skorupi warbled in agreement.

"Bye!" Hilary called back. "Who knows, we might see each other in another Contest."

Shido beamed as if that was the best she could ever hope for. Lucario gave the party a nod of gratitude before following the siblings.

"I guess I'll see you at the Pokémon Centre in the morning, depending on what the doctors say about this," Ray said, gesturing to his arm.

"I'll be back later, I just gotta take Ryan's stuff," Daichi said.

They waved that portion of their group farewell for now and then Mari, Max, Kai, Hilary and Tyson all had a moment to just stand still and take a breather. Except the only thing Tyson was breathing was dirt. Mari sighed but with a smile on her face.

"Tyson, lift your head up," she said. "We made it to Verdanturf Town."

He did finally lift his head to look. There were no bright lights; this town was very low key. The only introduction to the Rusturf Tunnel was an arch built across the beaten path that had a flowery vine growing thickly over it. The flowers had closed for the night but were still lovely by the light of the lamps lighting the sign that said "RUSTURF TUNNEL". But from their side the sign said: "Welcome to Verdanturf Town".

A/N: See what I did with the title there? Because I'm so funny (at least I think I am). We'll... talk about that Whismur eventually. I kinda feel like this group got the worse end of the stick going against Team Aqua - it seems like this battle was a bit harder to win than the previous chapter's. But anyway, it's a nice long chapter... until whenever the next one is.