Note from the author: I'd like to apologize to all my readers...I probably don't even have any now since I've taken so long to update. I had such a hard time writing this chapter, I couldn't believe it...it's mainly high action, which if you all remember from the fight scene back in Chapter Six, I suck at. Thank you all for your patience with this poor, slow author. Future chapters will be coming much quicker than this one did, I promise.

Webber...Sakiyama...Nozomi...Amos...that bratty Rocket girl...

Why were so many people pissing him off today? It was at times like these that they hardly seemed worth the trouble they brought with them. Sure, Webber gave him those lovely little injections that made the world right again...Sakiyama; he was good for big cash when times got tough, but what an ass the guy was. Nozomi...

"Amos, you blind bastard! Stop cuddling with that thing already!" Karuta spat a mouthful of blood out with his curse, ducking past a kick from the Hitmontop's flailing limbs.

"Shut up! Y'think this is easy?!" Amos bellowed back, though his shout was winded from his struggle to keep his arms locked around his opponent's neck. The Rhydon lashed fiercely in the man's grip, nearly breaking free more than once.

"Just break it's damn skull open an—" the gloomily dressed trainer started to yell back, though that moment's distraction was enough of an opening for the more focused pokemon aiming for him.

Karuta landed hard on his side, rolling with the force of the blow dealt to him until he'd slid up against the wall of the pit. Not even a moment's rest was given to the young man as the Hitmontop set upon him once more, whirling about wildly to finish him off with a final violent strike. The trainer was left to roll aside and grimace sharply as he felt the pokemon's foot cut the air above his head as it passed by.

Damnit all! He couldn't stay on the defensive all this time...take action! He had to get this thing to stand still or else he couldn't even get near it. Attacking from the sides was obviously useless because of the Hitmontop's spinning, likewise for attacking from above since it would just whirl away before he got near it.

Clenching his teeth in frustration, Karuta watched the Hitmontop spin in place like a tornado contemplating which trailer park to destroy next. The blasted thing was making him dizzy. Most likely what he planned to do was a very bad idea, but at this point he had little choice.

The roaring cheers of the crowd above hurt Karuta's ears. The voices all massed together into a deafening thrum that was drowned out only by the sound of his heart beating high in his throat. As he darted towards the spinning pokemon, the crowd gave a sharp increase in volume, rooting on Karuta as he ran headlong towards what looked to be certain defeat. As the Hitmontop took it's first motion towards him, Karuta suddenly dropped his feet out from beneath himself and took to a foot-first slide, slipping clear beneath the pokemon's dangerous kicks. With a grunt, Karuta scissored his legs quickly around the Hitmontop's round head and squeezed as hard as he could in the split-second he could manage to keep a hold on its wildly spinning head.

A split-second was all that was needed to freeze the pokemon's spinning in place. Karuta could see its dark eyes suddenly widen in pain as the momentum from its spinning didn't stop its body when its head did. The Hitmontop's torso kept spinning; a chain of sharp cracks echoing out as its spine rapidly snapped like a wave from the base of the skull all the way along its body. The trainer grimaced as he could actually see the ripple of breaking discs beneath the pokemon's skin before it finally slumped over onto the concrete floor with a dull thud, its body twisted up like a spring and head facing the entirely wrong direction.

The crowd was instantly divided between cheers and curses once more...to Karuta's distant annoyance, there were more angry responses to his survival in this case.

"Sonnuva --!"

Karuta spun on his heel at the sound of Amos' distinct curse, though he was left to calmly take a casual step to the left as his companion was hurled towards him. Amos thudded to the ground flat on his back, coughing sharply and glaring up at Karuta.

"Y'couldn't have tried to catch me, could'ja?" He grumbled as he slowly sat up.

"It's your own damn fault. Why are you wasting your time with that thing anyway? You must really be getting soft if this lug is giving you a hard time." Karuta rolled his eyes as he glanced at the nearby Rhydon. The rhino pokemon returned a baleful glare, stamping one foot in place as it dropped its head forward.

"He's gonna charge, y'know..." Amos sighed as he stood up, gingerly rubbing his fists. His knuckles were raw and bloody from the fight against the beast's armor-like body.

"Yup." Was Karuta's half-hearted reply.

"Clothesline?"

"Too risky with that horn."

"A sweep-kick then?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

The Rhydon, giving a momentary huff of breath from its nose, suddenly lurched forward to rush the two trainers. Its bellow of anger gave the watching crowd another burst of hopeful cheering as the distance between the two humans and the rampaging pokemon closed almost instantly.

As if they'd rehearsed such movements before, both Karuta and Amos suddenly ducked aside, their feet swinging out low at the Rhydon's powerful legs and catching it sharply beneath its knees. Though not stunned by the force of the kicks, the Rhydon's own momentum became its foe like the Hitmontop before it, sending it sprawling onto the concrete floor with a throaty cry. Both men leapt to their feet once more and gave the fallen beast no quarter, raining heavy boot-falls upon its exposed neck and skull. Digging their heels into the Rhydon's eyes sent it into a fit as it rolled and thrashed upon the cement floor, dark blood running down its face from its now pulped eye sockets. Amos gave the blinded beast a swift kick to the back and it charged clumsily into the wall, crushing its face against the sloped side and effectively knocking itself unconscious. The wall of the pit dented inward as a spider web fissure cracked out around the point of impact.

Panting softly from exertion, Amos slumped to the ground on one knee to try and recover his breath. He had watched these sort of fights from up above the pit before, jeering down at the dueling pokemon with his bet in hand...perhaps if he survived this, he'd turn a new leaf and sign up for one of those wimpy 'save the pokemon' charities...

A sudden wave of calls came up from the audience above the fighters, demanding more action to satisfy them. More blood! More pain! Watchers were losing money left and right as their bets in favor of the pokemon fell through...though the bets continued in that fashion as Sakiyama plucked a Hyperball from the box and waved it above his head for the crowd to see. This wasn't going quite to his original plan...he knew that Karuta and Amos would be tough to take down, especially with Karuta hopped up on Ditrean. In any case, he recognized an unsettled crowd from all the time he'd been managing this pit and knew it was about time to give them what they wanted...

"Talk about a great show, eh folks? These two have been doing so well, I don't doubt they could handle themselves nicely against the champion of the Feraligator's Maw: Sampson the Tyranitar!" Sakiyama crowed into his microphone as he held the Hyperball high. The crowd gave an echoing roar of approval while Karuta and Amos' hearts simultaneously sank into their shoes.

"Sampson...he's the one who bit that one Steelix's face off, right?"

"Afraid so..."

"Been nice knowing ya', Karuta..." Amos grumbled.

"No it hasn't." Karuta managed a smirk.

"Jus' tryin' t'lighten th'mood is all."

All eyes were locked upon the Hyperball as Sakiyama released it, letting the sphere drop down between the gratings that covered the pit. It was as if time slowed down to an agonizing crawl, allowing the falling ball to spin ever so slowly. Perhaps he could count down how much longer he had to live by the rotations of that shining orb, Karuta mused...

And suddenly...the Hyperball halted its descent before it ever hit the floor, remaining safely unopened in the grasp of a rather peeved looking Nozomi.

Stillness settled over the entire arena as everyone, Amos and Karuta included, stared in absolute shock at Nozomi. The girl shook her head a little to ease an ache from behind her eyes and glared at her two friends.

"You two can be such idiots sometimes...please don't tell me it didn't occur to you to just catch the damn thing?" She deadpanned as she shrunk the Hyperball and rolled it in her palm.

Silence remained for a moment longer before the energy seemed to return to everyone in a sudden rush. How many times could clashing emotions split the crowd? One part was screaming in outrage at such an action while the other seemed to be dying of laughter. Karuta himself felt a bit weak at the knees and immensely foolish for not having thought of such a simple solution himself. He'd have to yell at Nozomi later for humiliating him like this, but the desire to hug her and swing her around in relief and gratitude was a bit too strong to allow harsh words at just this moment.

"I was just about to do that." Karuta muttered, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, sure thing you dumba—aah! Amos! Put me down!" Nozomi cried suddenly. Amos didn't seem to have the hindrance of pride when it came to expressing his gratitude to Nozomi. He made good on the same feelings Karuta had and swept Nozomi up in his arms, giving her a hug that risked crushing her.

"Ah, the gang's all here again! Darlin', y'have no idea how much y'just saved our sorry asses...remind me to buy y'another drink when we get out of here." Amos gushed as he set finally set the poor girl down.

"Don't even mention drinking to me...I've had my fill for quite a while, thank you very much." She grumbled, patting her head tenderly.

"If you two are done playing kissy-face, we have more important matters at hand." Karuta placed himself in between his two companions, glaring up and down at them in turn. "And besides, we're not all back together yet. Sakiyama's still got my bag with all our pokemon in it and Kyuuden's still unaccounted for."

"Hey...where did that rat get to anyway? He was with me when I got jumped outside the bar." Amos pondered aloud.

As if in reply to his question, a quick series of screams rang out from the crowd above them. The air was filled with a light buzzing before a flash of light arced over the onlookers and dispersed itself into the metal grating. Looking up through the cover of the pit, Karuta grinned sharply at the sight of his Raichu crouched before Sakiyama, hissing shrilly and making the air crackle with electricity.

"How's that for good timing?" Karuta gave a smug grin to his companions.

Kyuuden, meanwhile, wasn't feeling quite as confident as his trainer. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, the rodent kept in motion with his tail lashing about from side to side, ready to strike at anyone who dared come too close. Thankfully the humans around him seemed too surprised by his sudden appearance to have drawn up pokéballs or weapons yet. The air around his body rippled and hummed with the buildup of voltage, little sparks of lightning traveling over his fur and making it stand up like needles. Every time his waving tail inched too close to the grating, an arc of electricity leapt from the tip to snap at the metal and effectively keep everyone around doubting their safety.

But now what to do? He couldn't attack all of them...they'd either run or counter-attack and sheer numbers would quickly smother him.

"Rai Raicha!" Kyuuden called out, his dark eyes glaring about angrily at the crowd.

"My bag! Get my bag!" Karuta shouted up from the pit. It was a desperate move, all things considered, but what choice did he have?

"What good is that going to do?! All of our pokéballs are bolted shut!" Nozomi shrieked, ready to throttle Karuta.

The poor Raichu was in similar thought as he considered Karuta's order. He'd been through the routine involving the sealed pokéballs here in the Underground before...still, he never had much reason to doubt Karuta's judgment before and didn't feel like starting now. Kyuuden settled his gaze on Sakiyama and bore his fangs, giving the man a moment to step away in instinctive fright. Apparently Sakiyama had enough sense in him to ready a defense and started to reach inside the lapel of his coat. The Raichu didn't give Sakiyama a chance as he let out a burst of electricity into the grating that both he and the frightened human stood upon. Sakiyama gave a high-pitched cry of pain as he slumped to the grating, still twitching and slightly smoking from the shock.

Not wasting a moment, Kyuuden darted over the fallen Sakiyama to where Karuta's gunnysack lay next to the box of pokéballs. Tugging the drawstring open, the rodent tipped the bag over and spilled its contents onto the grating. A group of pokéballs scattered out across the pit's cover to drop down through the holes like raindrops. The balls thudded heavily to the ground thanks to the weight of their bolts, though a single ball bounced upon impact and snapped open.

The onlookers were confused in general, not knowing what to think of this sudden turn of events. Their confusion held strong even as a flash of red light glowed up from inside the pit...though it quickly evaporated as nearly half the Feraligator's Maw was filled with the coiled body of an Arbok that could've chomped the pit's namesake in two bites.

"Dokuga! Bite!" Karuta commanded the snake firmly, pointing to the grating directly above. In his other hand he held Dokuga's pokeball like a talisman, waving it past the Arbok's eyes before it actually responded to his order.

Dokuga's glimmering eyes turned upwards at the metal grating, instantly hating it for the sense of enclosure it gave. Yes...that grating was the devil...it had to go.

Tucking its muscles like a spring, the pokemon lanced upwards with jaws open wide. The crowd cried out in fear and panic as fangs measured by handbreadths clamped up through the grating and began to squeeze, rending the thick metal as if it were made of cardboard. With another sharp push, Dokuga shattered the remaining covering and rose up from the pit, flinging the crushed crating from its mouth and letting out a fierce shriek that sent most of the onlookers fleeing for safer areas. A cluster of the betters weren't swift enough and was crushed beneath the airborne metal, screams and wet crunching sounds echoing through the air.

"Well...that worked out pretty well. So now what do we do?" Amos shrugged. He and Nozomi were busy collecting up the unopened pokéballs from the floor of the pit while Karuta had been occupied ordering his pokemon around...for once.

"What the hell do you think?! We run! Grab onto Dokuga's tail and let's get out of here before things get any worse." Karuta was tempted to smack Amos for such a dumb question, but they didn't have time. He quickly leapt onto the back of his pokemon and darted up the scaly body like a cat, his fingers and booted feet somehow finding suitable holds between the apparently smooth scales. Muttering curses at the nimble trainer, Amos simply wrapped one arm around Nozomi and the other around Dokuga's tail and let the snake hoist them up when it slithered out of the pit. As soon as everyone was safely out of the pit, Karuta wasted no time in returning the thrashing Dokuga to its pokeball.

The darkly dressed trainer darted over to retrieve his gunnysack, though Kyuuden bounding up and clinging to his shirtfront intercepted him. The sleek Raichu almost sobbed into the young man's chest and expressed eloquent concerns and threats on his life if Karuta ever worried him like that again...not that it did much good since Karuta couldn't understand him, but it made the little guy feel better. The relieved pokemon never even knew Karuta had retrieved his pokeball until he was already sealed inside, greatly confused but unable to break free as the induced slumber of the sphere overtook him.

"Okay, everyone's accounted for...we can't go back through the city to the North entrance or else we'd just get cut off again." Amos muttered as he looked around at the practically deserted pit area. Apparently Dokuga's appearance had been enough to clear the immediate area of all but the crushed stragglers.

"Then we go through the South exit." Karuta said simply as he pulled his sheathed sword out of the gunnysack and tossed the bag to Nozomi. She gave a little oomph upon catching it and glared at Karuta's back...he had apparently forgotten his trench coat down in the pit, so she couldn't really blame him for not vanishing the bag away like he so mysteriously tended to do. Karuta gave no sign of acknowledging the look as he tied the sword to his belt and looked around briefly. His eyes settled on the prone Sakiyama who was just beginning to recover from the jolt Kyuuden gave him. Stomping on over to the singed man, the trainer dealt a swift kick that brought out a cry of pain and audible snap as a few ribs cracked.

"And you, my good man, are coming with us."

It wasn't hard to get to the southern exit, mainly because the sector was even more deserted than usual because of the rumored Muk infestation. The group luckily hadn't encountered any resistance in their escape more complicated than the incapacitated Sakiyama moaning as he was slumped brusquely over Amos' shoulder. He had wanted to know just why they were dragging the man's useless ass along with them but Karuta had calmly told him to take his questions and shove them somewhere inappropriate. Too tired to argue any further, Amos simply gave in and lugged their hostage along with muted complaints. Coming upon the oversized drainage pipe that was the South exit, the group found a convenient gap in the fencing covering the mouth of the tunnel where somebody or something had apparently pulled out a corner. Edging in through the gap, the troupe was met with utter darkness. Normally there would've been dim, bare bulbs lighting their way but the sound of crunching glass beneath their feet told of a lack of care. Nozomi dug a flashlight out of Karuta's gunnysack and lit their path, the beam of light lancing along through the darkness.

"For the love of everything holy, it smells awful in here...it's even worse than the North entrance." Nozomi grimaced as she swung the light along the floor ahead of them. Even Amos and Karuta couldn't hold their prideful silence in the face of the stench and were flinching just as much as her.

"Don't worry about it...just keep walking and breath through your mouth." Karuta muttered, his eyes darting around nervously every time they passed by one of the branching pipes that lead away from the main path. With the overwhelming smell among the pipes, there was no way to judge if one of those beasts was anywhere near them...

A sharp scream and the clatter of the flashlight hitting the concrete floor made Karuta jump suddenly, the man whirling around like a skittish cat as he searched uselessly for the source of the danger. Nozomi had her face buried in Amos' side, her hands clenching at his shirt as she bit back another cry...even Amos has his head turned aside, a large hand resting on the side of the girl's face as if to hide her away from whatever made her scream in the first place. Scooping up the flashlight, Karuta quickly scanned over the path ahead of them and found the source of the panic...the sight forced him to choke down a sudden rise of bile in his throat.

The body of what could've been a young woman was slumped against the edge of one of the branching tunnels, sitting as if she'd been resting peacefully. More than half of her body was simply missing, the rest nothing more than pulpy flesh pooling around the corpse as if some intense heat had melted it off. Clothing, hair, skin, all of it was reduced to a grimy mess that added into the horrible stench of the tunnels...remains of her skeleton showed in some places, the bone bleached pure white and slightly liquefied as well in some places. Perhaps the most horrible sight was her half-gone face, her jaw hanging loose and one burst eyeball gaping out in a macabre grimace of terror.

Staring in shock for only a moment's time, Karuta was the first to recover from the scene. Shaking his head sharply he began down the tunnel once more, trying not to look at the corpse of the woman. Amos followed along in suit while acting as a shield between Nozomi and the terrifying sight, muttering a quiet prayer for either the sake of the unfortunate's soul or to calm his own nerves. The group didn't have more than a moment's peace before they came upon another scene of violence beside a pair of ominously slagged blast doors. There was no proof of a body save for the disturbingly sprawled remains of a woman's shoulders, head, and a single outstretched arm. All of the remains were spattered with blood and half- melted as well, leaving the living ones to step carefully by while trying not to look.

"W-what the hell...w-what's d-doing this?!" Nozomi sobbed into Amos' side, unashamedly crying and still shaking gently from the memory of the first corpse. Karuta couldn't bring himself to scold Nozomi as he felt a tremor in his stomach as well, feeling as though he were going to vomit at any moment. He tried not to think about that Ditto being pureed for his sake and concentrated on keeping watch.

"Have you ever seen a Muk before?" Karuta muttered, his eyes alert as they hurried past the destroyed doors and continued down the tunnel.

"Muks can't do that! They're just squishy blobs that move like jello!" she practically shrieked in reply. Amos cooed comforting words to her, trying to calm the poor girl's panicked heart.

"Bred Muks are like that...those are the only kind that are legal to be trained because they've been cross-bred and practically mutated from their original states to become less dangerous. Wild Muks are different entirely...they're like living masses of acid and inflammable goop with the intelligence of a rock. The damn things are so dangerous that they're exterminated on high priority lest they grow too high in numbers." Karuta explained, the sound of his own voice steadying his nerves a bit. Facts and figures were always a steady reality...it helped to bring down his own fear of their situation.

"And those things are here?! Where we are?" Amos forced his voice to remain steady despite his nervousness.

"It can't be helped...you knew there were Muks down here, so don't get too freaked out, alright? It's not like they reproduce quickly or anything...there's probably just three or four of them that haven't been taken out yet." Karuta shrugged. The tunnel abruptly opened out into an open chamber of pipes and sewer redirection equipment long since rundown to uselessness. Ancient looking machinery lined the walls of the huge room; the only available path to the group being an iron catwalk bound high above the equipment below. As they all stepped out onto the catwalk, a sudden stench far worse than that of the tunnels hit them like a brick wall. Almost in unison their knees buckled, dropping their baggage at their feet and emptying their stomachs in a retching, coughing convulsion. Peeking over the edge of the catwalk, Karuta's narrowed darkly. Filling up the floor of the room a good thirty feet below was a virtual sea of wild Muks, their congealed bodies sloshing and flowing together like one single mass of vileness, their warped faces and limbs appearing up from the mess randomly before sinking back in. A chorus of unearthly moans cried up at them from the throng of disgusting pokemon that sent shivers down the human's spines.

"Okay...so maybe I was wrong." The trainer admitted as he crawled away from the edge of the catwalk.

A metallic clicking sound that reminded him of old yakuza movies echoed just behind Karuta, bringing his attention around. Sakiyama was conscious now, sitting against the railing of the catwalk with one arm clutching his injured side...the other held a well-polished handgun, the barrel aimed directly at Karuta's head.

"You have no idea." Sakiyama sneered as he pulled the trigger.