Okay I balanced it between reviewing, writing, and proofreading! All I gotta do is focus on one and take a break on the others!

Muddy: :snorts:

Shut up. Anyways, sorry for another uber long wait (bug me to death if Who Shot Brendan Birch and this fic go in that long of a hiatus again) heh. Enjoy. Only two more chapters (after this one) to go! Yay!

HLBMA spoilers btw. Pig-Latin hint: Ilversay iesday:laughs ebilly:

I warn you though; Sirius talks a lot about the "May I?" plot in order to explain things. :Sweat-drop: So if you haven't read that fic, it's recommended that you read that in order to get WHY this story was created and what facts its based upon.

Mind you that uber amounts of ellipses or ". . . . . . . . . . . ." will indicate scene switches since reads absolutely no symbols whatsoever. Meh. Some symbols are needed for fanfics believe it or not.

Chapter 9:

He didn't like to listen. It wasn't part of his nature. He was always right; he was never the one at fault. He didn't find any real reason to pay attention to the people around him. Hear them but don't listen as he always would say.

But that one boy . . . that one boy he misunderstood . . . that one boy he never gave the chance to talk. He listened to him for once and he got something out of it.

And maybe, perhaps, there is hope after all.

"Brilliant," a voice that dripped with venom commented, the words lingering like that of a puff of wispy smoke. "Pure genius Wally my boy. I must admit that I was skeptical at first but you pulled it off wonderfully. I'm glad that you did not let me down."

Wally sat uncomfortably on the edge of his steel-cold seat, his hands gripping the legs of the metal chair nervously as his eyes met the cold cobalt ones of the Team Aqua Leader. Swinging his legs, the ball of his shoes scrapping against the concrete, Wally managed to mutter, "What can I say? I guess I'm just good at tricking idiots."

Archie only chuckled at this remark, walking behind the emerald-eyed trainer, his hands clasped behind his back as he observed the unruly mess of Wally's hair to his stiff back. A smirk tugged at his lips as the scrawny boy shifted under his gaze, uncomfortable. A perfect person for the Team Aqua Leader to manipulate; he wasn't too brilliant in the mind department nor did he have much physical strength. His hands would never get dirty as long as Wally was under his control.

"And how did Brendan react when May slapped him again?" Archie questioned, stroking a hand through his thick, jet-black beard. He knew this question would keep the boy happy for a few minutes and perhaps get rid of his nerves.

As the Team Aqua Leader expected, a huge smile emerged onto the boy's face like a cheshire cat.

"It was sad," he remarked, "yet funny at the same time. I'm telling you sir, his face was priceless! He was all-" At that moment, Wally made a face, his jade-green eyes as wide as dinner plates, his mouth open into the shape of a perfect O. Keeping his face like that must of been hard for the boy cracked up hysterically a few seconds later. "Of course, you've got to imagine blood rushing to Brendan's face and the tears coming out of his eyes."

"Sheer brilliant acting Wally, pretending to be the poor, gullible fool's friend." Archie trodded around the steel table and sat down in his black leather seat. The dim blue lighting of the room reflected off the table and back into Archie's face, giving him an eerie glow, especially in the eyes. "Well that is all for now Mr. Wood, you have done your mission well."

Wally, who managed to slouch back down in his chair, sat back up, surprised by Archie's statement. "You mean that's it? That's all? I can go?" he questioned, puzzled.

Archie pulled out a brown leather briefcase from under his chair and flicked up the rusty-gold latches. "Well you got Brendan to tell you that he was ordered to kill you and you, in return, told him our 'plan.' I believe that you are done here for now Mr. Wood, there isn't much need for . . . what I'm about to do next." Smiling mischeviously, the former leader nodded toward the green-haired trainer as a way of excusing him.

Wally, though, refused to move. "And what if Brendan still wants to kill me?" the boy asked worriedly.

Opening the top half of the briefcase and shuffling through some documents, Archie sighed and peered around the side of the briefcase to stare the boy in the eye. "Trust me," he replied in an icy cool tone, "he is too vunerable to do anything now that he 'hates' May and she actually hates him. So you may go."

The green-haired trainer slowly got up from his seat and placed his hands on the table. "Okay then," he replied unsurely as he turned around and pushed the chair out of his way. "I-I guess I'll see you later. He slowly rambled toward the narrow hallway, his hand shoved deeply in his khakis' pockets. Soon, Wally was gone, out of the dim blue and back into the natural light.

Rolling his eyes, the Team Aqua Leader shook his head and continued shuffling through the thick sheets of paper as if searching for something. Skimming and leafing, Archie's eyes landed on a particulary interesting article. His hands found their way into the pockets of his slacks before he pulled out a Pokénav. Dialing Maxie's number, the leader leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, comfortable. The buzz of the tone rung three times before Maxie answered in his gruff and calm voice.

"Good day Maxie," Archie began, "I hope you're doing well. I believe I found a good place to dispose of the human. Ever hear of Tohjo Falls in Johto? No you say? Well, it is an obstacle made up of twin waterfalls that trainers and their Pokémon have to scale in order to reach the building of the Silver Conference. You must be careful though for if you fall while scaling down the second waterfall toward the exit, sharp rocks shall meet you most happily. Call Wally if you please, I suppose we need him again after all. But do you want to know the nice thing about Tohjo Falls? No one can hear you scream."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"God, my life sucks!" shouted the tempermental voice of the ruby-eyed trainer as his fist careened with that of a brick wall of an empty alleyway. Last night left him numb of emotions but as dawn's rays broke through the cirrus clouds and awoken the boy trainer from his slumber underneath an ancient oak, reality slapped him in the face like the one that May sent at him and this time, Brendan retaliated back with not tears, but blind fury.

A delighted and wicked smirk made its way on Brendan's face as he felt the roughness of the wall, blood bubbling up and oozing from the scabs and running in between his fingers. "Look Muddy . . . It's blood!" Eye twitching, the boy showed his swamp creature his bloody knuckles with tainted satisfaction.

Muddy immediately wrinkled his nose in disdain as he took a whiff of the tinted metallic smell of Brendan's blood. "Dang B Boy, no need to be violent and LIKE it," he muttered, grabbing Brendan's bleeding arm by the wrist and letting out a small squirt of icy cold water to clean his trainer's wound. He rolled his eyes at Brendan's cry of agony. "No need to overexaggerate things either."

The white-haired trainer screwed up his face in pain, gently sucking his knucles to ease the aggravation. Letting out an exasperated sigh, the boy dropped his hand to his side (sticky and wet from the mixture of blood and saliva) and stared at the Swampert with dull, ruby eyes.

"Dude . . ." he remarked in a slurrred voice as if intoxicated, ". . . dude . . . I like . . . love you man . . ." He hiccupped, leaning himself on the alley wall, his arms crossed, his head resting on his chest. Chuckling, Brendan closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth tugging into a wide grin. "I'm losing it Muddy . . . I . . . everything's screwed up! May hates me, Maxie hates me, everyone hates me! No one else knows except you and Wally and I fear that if I tell anyone else, I'm dead!" He let out another loud hiccup, sliding down the wall, his rear meeting the cold, dirty floor littered with trash. Curling up into fetal position, Brendan sighed again, his head resting on his arm. "And now I think drinking blood makes me drunk."

Muddy, bewildered by the sudden emotional moodswings, bent down and picked his trainer up, placing him over his shoulder and patting him on the back like a mother caring for her baby. "There, there B Boy," he said in a soothing voice, continuing to pat Brendan on the back. "We're going to go to the center maybe, just maybe, you can relax, take a nap, and BREATHE for once hmm?

Brendan only burped and grunted as an indication of Muddy's suggestion, the upper half of his body flopping back and forth behind his Pokémon. The Swampert only grinned symphatically and shook his head as he walked out of the alleyway, his tongue clucking in disapproval in a sarcastic and amused manner.

The clear glass doors automatically opened when the swamp creature stepped on the Pokémon Center's welcome pad. Inside the white, almost spotless, center, he ignored the confused glances that came his way, his eyes fixed on the bright, flaming red hair of the nurse. The creature strode over, head held high, and tapped his paw a few times on the countertop to alert her attention.

"Oh my!" the nurse cried at the sight of a Swampert carrying a young boy over his shoulder. "What happened to him?" She walked past the counter and behind Muddy to check up on Brendan, quite weirded out by the entire situation yet her smile never left her face.

The Pokémon only shrugged as he used his paw and motioned it in small circles against the side of his head; the sign of craziness.

Sighing sympathetically, Nurse Joy walked back to behind her station at the counter and fished otu a card key from her apron pocket. Sliding the key across the smooth countertop, the nurse summoned a Chansey from inside a storage room. "Help this Swampert find room seven please," she asked polietly as MUddy took the key from the counter with his free hand, puzzled as to what to do with it.

"Chan," the Chansey answered with a nod, glancing at the Swampert, indicating that she wanted him to follow. She wobbled on her tiny, pink feet for her egg-shaped body wasn't built for speed as they two Pokémon slowly walked down the hallway toward room seven. Reaching it, Chansey gently grabbed the card key from Muddy's paw and inserted it in the key slot.

"I hope your trainer gets better," she remarked shyly, glancing down and patting the creamy white egg in her pouch lightly with her paws as Muddy gently pulled Brendan off his shoulder and placed him on the bed.

"Thanks," he murmured softly. He turned toward the nurse Pokémon and nodded his head as Chansey waved goodbye, exiting the room, closing the door behind her. Sighing (like those around him), the creature paid his attention toward his trainer again and focused his eyes on his sleeping form. So peaceful while sleeping yet rather odd when not. "Yeah well . . . whatcha gonna do about it?" he remarked quietly to himself.

"Are you talking to yourself again Bemired?"

Muddy, also known as Bemired, pivoted on both feet and jumped up in surprise. There in front of him was Sirius, a playful, shaggy-furred Mightyena with an endless hunger for sweet treats like cookies. Hovering above the Bite Pokémon was a blob of gray also known as a Castform by the name of Thermo, his innocent, cerulean eyes peering into the coral ones of the Swampert.

The sound of clunking against the floorboards of the room caught the Pokémon's attention as Valiant, a Lairon with a calm, cool and collected nature, shifted his weight so he wouldn't slip on the polished wood. His cobalt eyes roamed the room as the sunlight reflected off the spikes on his steely-silver back.

The mirror-like body of Valiant caught another creature's attention as she shyly placed an auburn paw over her face, her paw resting on her cold, wet nose. Her six tails sweeped the wooden floorboards as her chocolate-brown eyes met the ones of Muddy as well. Her name was Cinders, or Cindy as the Pokémon referred her as, a baby Vulpix.

Muddy lost his balance, almost falling on Brendan before regaining it. "Latios!" he shouted in a hushed tone as he glared at his team. "Don't do- how did you guys get out of your Pokéballs anyways?" Bewildered, Bemired blinked bifold and backed away from the band of Pokémon before being blocked by Brendan's bed.

Sirius blinked his crimson eyes in confusion as he looked at the other Pokémon. "I-I'm not sure actually," he admitted cooly, "but we're here so be happy! Besides, how did YOU get out of your Pokéball when you were in the alley with Brendan?"

"And how do YOU know that I got out of my Pokéball in the first place?"

". . . I hate logic."

"You know I do!" Muddy laughed but his chortles soon ceased to a stop as the bottom of Brendan's shoe touched the skin on his back, causing him to shiver at the touch. Head bowed down, the Swampert peered at the weary face of his trainer. In a short matter of hours, the white-haired trainer seemed to have grown up by a few more years. His eyebrows were furrowed together, causing wrinkles on his forehead, shifting a bit, eye twitching, as if suffering a bad dream.

Cinders tore her paw away from her face and jumped onto the bed, the mattress cushioning her landing. She gazed at Brendan's face worriedly before glancing back at Muddy. "What's wrong with him? What's the problem B Boy was complaining about when we were in the Pokéballs?" she asked as she hopped onto Brendan's stomach. She giggled as she rose up and down with Brendan's heavy breathing.

"Long story Cindy," Sirius sighed as he rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "Shall I explain it or what?"

Muddy picked up Cindy from Brendan's body and placed her in his arms. "Well . . . You can talk on straight for hours so I think you should. Plus," he shuddered, "it brings back memories I wish I forgotten. No matter how many times I bang my head on the wall, it won't come out! ARGHIN!"

"Arghin?" Thermo questioned as he floated upward and landed on Muddy's head. "Is that a word?"

"It is now," Muddy replied cooly.

The Castform looked unsure though. "Is it Sirius?" he asked the Mightyena for a second opinion.

Sirius nodded. "Sure is kid," he answered with a smirk. He paid his attention back toward Muddy (who was trying to contain himself from rolling his eyes) before taking in another sigh. "Well . . . It was a long time ago Cind, a long time ago. Back before you were here-"

"Well duh, that's why she's asking what happened!" Muddy, this time, rolled his eyes in amusement.

Sirius ignored Muddy's comment and continued with his story. "-Way before Cy got traded to that psychic trainer for Valiant, way before Silver died in battle next to Muddy during that one fateful battle against Maxie-"

At this, the Swampert winced. "Do you have to remind me?"

The Mightyena looked toward Muddy and grinned apologetically. "Sorry pal, I forgot you were there with him."

"You just said I was battling with him when he died!"

"Oh . . . I forgot."

"Latios! I think my stupid was caught by you!"

"Oh, 'tis a shame." The Bite Pokémon shook his head as Cinders giggled at the angered and pained look on Muddy's face. Clearly being witnessed to the loss of his teammate and friend left deep scars of hurt on the Pokémon as he sat on the bed and held Cindy closer to him.

Sirius was worried about this. "You're like . . . not going to break down on me right?" He grinned nervously as rolled back onto to his feet to sit on his two hind legs, his long, ebony-black tail wagging behind him slowly. "Because I'm not really good with er, sad emotion."

"Just the happy!" Thermo piped in joyfully.

"Aw, don't cry Muddy, don't cry!" Cindy pawed up on Muddy's chest and smiled at him merrily to cheer him up. "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!" Blinking twice, the Vulpix nuzzled underneath Muddy's chin to comfort him.

"Thanks Cind but I'm alright," Muddy replied as Cinders relaxed herself back into his arms. He paid attention toward Sirius once again. "Alright, go on dog boy, we're waiting."

The Mightyena nodded, glad that the entire situation at paw was over with. "As I was saying, this all started back a few months - almost a year - ago. It was in the autumn and Mauville was holding the annually Hoenn Pokémon Fair for trainers, coordinators, breeder, and others alike. It all started out as fun and games with us, Brendan's team, trying to hook Brendan up with May. You see, Cind and Val, this was before Brendan and May became girlfriend and boyfriend and before Wally became May's 'older brother'. Wally use to like May just as much as Brendan as well.

"As time progressed though, the plot began to thicken; such a well-hidden secret hidden in this fair. There was a battle competition taking place one fateful night and May decided to join in; she made it to the finals. It was an one-on-one battle on an ice-type field. May sent out Flare, her Blaziken, and the trainer opposing her sent out a Torkoal. After a long, fierce battle, May, with her quick thinking, sent Torkoal to a watery grave so to speak.

"But . . . May's award wasn't as expected. That same fateful night, that same fateful minute she won, she was kidnapped right before the eyes of the crowd in a net connected to a hot air balloon. The balloon was too fast to stop and everyone was scared to move so they didn't do anything. They couldn't do much anyways for suddenly, all Pokémon out of their Pokéballs were summoned back in because of this strange signal where only Pokémon wearing a special collar could be called out! In fright, trainers ran to the nearest shelter, leaving Brendan alone to save the girl.

"Meanwhile, Wally, flying back to Mauville from Petalburg on his Altaria spotted May being dragged behind in a new by a fast moving hot air balloon. Quickly, he pursuited the balloon but was quickly attack by a pair of Charizards. As this battle was going on, Altaria began to strangely hum; she knew about the collars thanks to a Pokémon's keen sense of danger. This hum became important for its high-pitch could override the chip controlling the Pokéballs.

"Brendan called Wally to return back to Mauville as quickly as could but Wally was still in battle. He knew that Altaria couldn't take down two Charizards so he fled, the Charizards hot on his heels! He finally made it to Mauville and quickly, he threw Brendan on the back of his Flying type, the two Charizard blowing Flamethrower attacks at them. Brendan, earlier, realized that when trying to summon a Pokémon out of its ball, the chip would override the command and instead cause a bright flash of light. He used this to advantage and threw Pokéballs at the Charizards, blinding them for a minute, giving Altaria to quickly attack them. She managed to get rid of the collars keeping the Charizards out in a Hyper Beam before she herself got returned since she had to stop singing to produce it.

"The two boys thought for awhile before realizing that the Team Magma headquarters were probably at Lilycove. Luckily, the bike shop owner was a whiz at microchips so he quickly fixed the collars that the two Charizards wore originally so Brendan and Wally could use them as well. Brendan chose Muddy as his Pokémon and Wally, Gardevoir for Altaria could be summoned on her own if she kept singing. And with that, the two boys were off to Lilycove.

"They did manage to find May however after a few hours of searching in the Magma hideout in Lilycove but, by then, May's Pokémon were taken hostage and to make matters worse, Brendan, May and Wally had to go against May's first Pokémon, Flare. She too had a collar on - a more advanced one that made any Pokémon wearing it be controlled by whoever put it on them and make them thrice stronger - and attacked Muddy. Muddy did managed to pry the collar off Flare but he had to sacrifice himself in order to free her by wearing the collar instead. Flare was quickly returned but luckily, there was an extra collar on a nearby table that a Magma Admin was fiddling with. May managed to get her Pokémon and slap the collar around her wrist to free Muddy and she did eventually, crushing the collar with her foot soon afterwards.

"Then they fell asleep but May woke up earlier then the others. She wanted to search for her other Pokémon but she was quickly was met up with by a group of Magma Grunts, manipulating them in order to figure out where her Pokémon were kept. The grunts found out her secret and attacked her so she retaliated back. She won of course with the help of Flare but this caused the alarm to go on, alerting the admins, grunts, and Maxie himself. Alarmed herself, the girl and Pokémon ran to the nearest warp panel and found themselves in the core of the hideout where the mainframe computer was accessed from.

"The boys finally awoke from the alarm and immediatly went to help the girl find her Pokémon but first, the had to find the girl herself. Finding a secret door, they rammed it down and found May there, talking to the computer. May figured out a way to hack into the program controlling the collars to destroy them once and for all but they were quickly found by a big-ass group of Team Magma Members. Brendan and May attacked as Wally stood in the background, ready to release his Altaria as soon as the file was deleted from existance.

"Finally, the file was deleted and off were the three trainers. They quickly found the basement where May's Pokémon were kept and freed them.

"About to leave to hideout, the trainers were ambused again and this time, May sent out Thunderbolt, the Manectric, on the back of Tai, the Swellow. Thunderbolt managed to faint a few with Shock Wave but a lose thunderbolt managed to go astray and hit one of the main machines. The machine crackled from the enormous boost of energy and was about to blow and the three trainers were out of there like that! You should of seen it Cind and Val . . . I wish I could of seen it too. Yeah, but anyways, this happy ending was soon interrupted for Maxie came back flying on his Charizard. He managed to shoot down Wally's Altaria and the three went crashing through the roof of the formal of the fair! Wally, the least hurt of the three managed to get his Gardevoir out to battle as May tried to soothe Brendan. Wally managed to defeat Maxie-"

"And they all lived happily ever after, woo hoo," Muddy interruped, beginning to give his part of the story. "But, Maxie wasn't defeated after all. He was on the run and he came back with a hurt pride. He threatened to kill Brendan if he didn't kill Wally for Maxie was angered that his dignity was lost by the green-haired boy. The problem is that if Brendan doesn't go through with it, Maxie will not only kill him and Wally, but May too!

Brendan thought of many thoughts to stop Maxie's plan from killing himself to even killing May! In the end though, one fact remained that if he didn't love someone, then May would remain safe; he told her he hated her. He sacrificed himself and Wally - with Wally's consent of course - in order to save her. This is where we come in." Muddy paused, thinking. "See how easy I made my half of the story while you rambled on for nearly fifteen minutes?"

Sirius jumped back onto all fours in surprise. "Hey man, that story I told was a good one. I needed to say EVERYTHING otherwise your story, genius, wouldn't make any sense whatsoever."

"Actually," the Lairon in the corner piped up for once in his cool tone, "Muddy's story did make sense without your background information."

The Mightyena glared at Valiant, his crimson eye twictching. "What!" he shouted. "You had to know the story BEFORE this one otherwise it wouldn't make sense!"

"Exactly!" Thermo chimed in.

Valiant only shook his head. "Well, all we really needed to know is Muddy's story really. The background information doesn't really help." Paying attention back toward Muddy, Valiant remarked, "So what's the plan? What can we do anyways Muddy? We can't just kick Maxie's ass after all." Looking up, the Larion stared outside the window and peered into the heavenly blue, the sunlight pouring through the window's glass, reflecting off his mirror-like body.

Before Muddy could answer, Sirius snorted ignorantly. "You do need to know my story otherwise you'd be lost."

"You believe what you want to believe Sirius."

"Ha, I believe that you believe-"

"That's enough Sirius," interrupted Muddy, annoyed by Sirius' arrogant attitude. "Kyogre only knows how much crap you complain about." Amber eyes glowing in the sun, the creature arose from his seat, dropping Cindy on the bed gently afterward before heading over and standing in front of the window where all eyes were drawn on him. "Listen, we don't have much time. Brendan-"

The shattering of glass seemed to echo through the room for a lifetime.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The hands of the clock seemed frozen in time yet the second hand clilcked away merrily in its regular beat. Sipping her tea, her pinky extended, Wanda couldn't help but google at the sullen face of May through her viridian-green eyes. May didn't look too well for underneath her swollen red eyes were bags like she spent the entire night awake, paranoid. Her usually combed hair was tangled like a pair of Taillows made a nest in it and her clothes were wrinkled and seemed to have unusual stains in odd places. Wanda heard her sigh quietly, stirring her tea with her spoon.

"Do you want to talk about it?" the cousin of Wally finally piped up.

"Hmm?" Head jolting up, May blinked twice, smiling weakly. "Thanks Wanda but I think this is something I should keep to myself," she answered, continuing to swirl her spoon in her tea.

Wanda nodded in understanding but couldn't conceal the frown that emerged on her face. "You know, it is better to talk about things then to have those thoughts clouding up your mind," she remarked, urging May to tell her of last night. She knew that Brendan caused the poor girl this pain and anguish she was suffering through at the moment since her cousin Wally told her.

May only sighed in agreement. "Alright . . . You see, Brendan . . . he . . . he . . ." She bit her lip, fighting back tears. "He . . . did something terrible Wanda! He told me that he hated me after traveling together for almost two years! After all we've been through too! All the encounters with Team Magma, all the difficult battles we've faced . . . We were a couple for almost four months dammit!" Grasping her teacup in both hands, she swallowed the remains in one slurpy gulp like a savage. Nostrils flaring, the girl slammed her cup back down on the polished oak table, the loud crash alarming Wanda, causing her to jump up in fright. "After all I've done for him too!" she added with a huff.

"Um . . . okay. Well . . ." Wanda, her racing heart dying down back to its regular steady beat, thought for a moment, her chin resting on her closed fist. "You know what you need May? she suggested. "A vacation. And I think I know just the place too."

The girl ran a hand through her tangled mess of hair. "Really? Where?"

"Tohjo Falls! It's a really beautiful spot in Johto with twin waterfalls! Did you know that trainers have to scale both up and down those waterfalls?" Wanda smiled daintily, tabbing the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "It's also a wonderful landmark. You can clear your thoughts. No one can hear you scream because of the waterfalls' thundering after all," she hinted.

May pushed her teacup and coaster away and crumbled up a sugar cookie in her napkin. "I guess I could get away from this barrenland called Hoenn for awhile. How long does it take to get there?"

"Thirty minutes if you fly!"

The girl trainer pushed a strand of hair away from her face and nodded, pushing her chair back to stand up. "Yeah . . . yeah, I think I'll go there. Um, talk to you later." And with that, May slowly walked out the door and released her Swellow to fly to the Johto Region.

Wally's cousin stood up and pressed her face against the window's glass to make sure May was out of sight. "Thought I'd never get rid of that girl," said Wanda sweetly as she picked up the dirty dishes and placed them in the sink. Taking in a deep breath, Wanda grabbed the bottom of her chin and pulled it upward as if trying to take off her face. The scary thing about it though was that her face did come off and that she wasn't a she but a he instead. Wanda's long, silky, cinnamon hair was replaced with that of short, raven hair, her (or his) emerald-green eyes were replaced with that of cerulean. The mask of Wanda snapped off Archie's face with a loud crack as Archie wiped the sweat off his brow.

The Team Aqua Leader pulled out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and pressed a button, activating it. "I got her," he muttered into it.

The walkie talkie crackled before Maxie answered in reply, "Good. I got Wally to go there too."

"Now all we need is the boy."

"Yes, the boy . . ."

The walkie-talked hissed eerily at these words as Archie shoved the walkie-talkie back in his pocket. Wanda mask in hand, Archie tore off the dark-green dressed adorned with a white apron off himself, revealing his long, black trench coat and midnight-blue undershirt. Boots stomping on the wooden floor panels, the former leader opened the door of a closet swiftly. Inside was a young lady no older than the age of eighteen bound by the feet and arms. Duck tape closed her mouth together, preventing her from talking.

"Thanks for the face dear," laughed Archie as he threw Wanda's clothes and rubber mask in the closet, quickly closing the door behind him.

Wanda, from within the closet, sat in the dark, the secrets of Archie's and Maxie's plan repeating in her head. What she knew would come of no good to the three trainers.

What she knew . . . could change the rest of their lives.

Crappy cliffhanger-.-; But I least I put a cliffhanger in the middle of the chapter no?

Serious change in Brendan's team no? o.0 Btw, Muddy is still the same old Muddy-

Muddy: Coconuts!

. . . He's just semi-mature when he's around Cinders because-

Muddy: What are they!

. . . She's still a baby and he, being the leader, needs to-

Muddy: ANSWER ME!

SHUT UP ALREADY!

Muddy: o.0

. . . Take care of her and even then, he's still prolly gonna be stupid. Good, I'm glad you made that face. It shows that you listened.

Muddy: You did yell it.

Well . . . yeah.

LaTeR dAyZ!