Thanks for the reviews. I got a helluva lot, and that really motivated me to write this long-ass fight sequence. This chapter is very battle centered, so get ready for long spans of text!

Review Response:

It was already interesting that you brought Izzy back but the ending with him bring part of the brotherhood really threw me!... Out of the trio Heather is the only one that gives me the feeling she's not cut out for trainer life. I feel the boys have what it takes to make it (although Cody is a bit shakey now).

I'm debating right now if I want Izzy to be reoccurring or not. He definitely would not be in this story more than Frank is though (mostly because Frank has a much more established presence). As for Heather's ability, I really hope this story doesn't seem too sexist. Up until now, all the gym leaders have been guys, most of the trainers of note have been guys, and Cody and Jared are the best of the trio (and what a surprise: their guys). I counter this slightly by mentioning that Cody has a lot of admiration for Cynthia and that Marissa (Laurence's fling) is really good, but other than that… A lot of the future gym leaders are strong, independent women that don't need no men, however.

Based on all of the Dakrai scenes before the memories one, he struck me and still does, as a pimp trying to control one of his girls. Besides his maniacal plot he strikes me as pointless.

I know you meant the pimp thing as a critique, but I actually really like that analogy. As for his goal, I get that it's very convoluted, but I thought he got across why he does what he does (I hope I did, at least).

I've noticed a lot of people are getting tired of the Darkrai sub-plot. Lucky for all of you, the bulk of his exposition is out of the way, so he'll be less of a focus for a while. He's not going away though or anything like that.

Thanks to Magikarp Master for editing. What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man.

Now…

Chapter 38: Just the Two of Us

For the next seven days, there were no wasted minutes between Cody and Heather as they prepared for their next gym battle. When they weren't practice battling each other, they were running their pokémon through exercise drills, discussing doubles combinations, and scouting their opponents. Luckily for them, they got to watch Laurence and Marissa have their battle, so they knew what they were up against. Kevin Wallace, the 4th tier grass leader, specialized in slow, bulky, grass type pokémon, while Carly Phillips, the 4th tier bug leader, ran with a diverse team of bug types. Battling wise, they were both relatively standard as trainers, but their skill and expertise would make them forces to be reckoned with.

After their battle, Laurence and Marissa stayed an extra day to help Cody and Heather, battling them as a team and individually. No matter what kind of battle they had against the two of them, Cody and Heather lost. It was frustrating, but they knew they could learn from their mistakes. Still, Cody couldn't help but be distracted. Izzy's story still had him reeling. He wasn't surprised by the fact that the boy wanted to tell him the story, but he felt that there was a reason for it. What was the reason? The message was to remember that just because you think you can succeed, it doesn't mean that you can… Did Izzy feel like Cody needed to learn that lesson? It's not as if they were close or anything. If it were Heather or even Jared telling him that, he'd understand it from their concern, but Izzy was only a few steps away from being a stranger.

Conspiracy theories. He had no time for that nonsense. He already had enough to deal with and his paranoia wasn't helping. It was now the night before the battle and he was still going over strategies with Heather, who looked like an utter mess with the bags under her bloodshot eyes and her continuous yawning, she seemed to be getting less sleep than Cody. If there was a testament to her drive as a trainer, this was it, although she still had the same bad habits as normal.

"That's all we can do for now," Cody sighed, putting down his pencil. The two of them had spent hours after training with their pokémon finalizing their ideas, their plans, their backup plans… There was little they could do from this point on. "You think we're ready?"

"If we're not, I don't know if we ever will be," Heather yawned, which almost sounded like a squeak to him.

Even her yawn is cute… damn it, not the time. "Yes, well… we'll see. Our pokémon are in prime condition and we've gone over this a million times. Best thing to do now is to get some sleep."

"Agreed. I'm still worried about Cortez though. How do we know he'll play nice in the end?"

"Let's hope so," Cody groaned. Cortez had been getting on his nerves that week. He liked the ghost's free spirit, but he was getting more rowdy and unruly by the day to the point that he couldn't tell who the trainer was and who was the one taking orders between the two of them. "We have a plan though. Cortez and Somnos will be out at the same time to minimize any damages that Cortez may cause." Still, that was assuming things went smoothly. The best-laid schemes of Minun and Men oft go awry, as they say.

"So, I heard you talking with your mom earlier. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, totally," Cody answered genuinely. It was true that his mother and he argued less lately, as he had been taking more time to call home and talk to both her and his father. However, he could tell that there was still unrest between the two of them, as they never liked to talk about each other. He wanted to know what would happen between them, but he never talked about it. Last thing he wanted to do was ignite the flames. "She's been well. Really likes Eevee. Mom was never a trainer, but she likes cute pokémon that don't cause problems. And Eevee, as you know, is afraid of humans, so she behaves with her." Note to self, still need to name her. He had been putting that off for a while now.

"So, things are alright?" she asked again for clarification.

"Yes," he affirmed. "She's very happy because the moment we win this badge, I'm going home for a month or two. I told her I'd give her one month of the year, but two will be better."

"Yeah, I'll probably go home for a bit too. See my family, friends, and everybody." Heather agreed, falling back into the sofa. "I just hope my parents have cooled down about me running off and everything. I mean, they took it pretty well for the most part, but I don't know. I just hope I don't regret what I did in the long run"

Running away from home usually was something that somebody would regret, but Cody decided to keep that remark to himself. Still, he wondered what the situation was between Heather and her parents. Next to his dysfunctional family and Jared's broken home, her home life didn't stick out much.

I'll have to ask about that later. But now, he needed to remember this battle in particular. It was a well-known statistic that most kids that became travelling trainers wouldn't make it past their second badge, but another fact that he remembered reading was that many young trainers that escaped from that statistic peaked or plateaued at their third or fourth badge. After that, advancing to higher levels in battle was almost a guarantee. He had no doubt that he could make it, but what about Heather? While he understood that he had his own flaws to improve on, Heather seemed to ignore her own or refused to acknowledge them. Whatever the case, he had a lot of faith in her, though he was unsure if they could actually pull through. Writing down strategies on paper didn't guarantee victory. But for now, anything to calm their nerves would be just fine.

"We need to review outlier pokémon again," he suggested. He couldn't say that he was confident for this battle. His loss to Hornsby was a reminder of how easily confidence could be broken. But given the tireless hours he spent training, strategizing, and preparing that week, nobody could tell them that they didn't try.

"This is a fourth tier battle for the Forest badge! Challengers Cody Storm and Heather Landon vs. Graywood Gym Leaders Kevin Wallace and Carly Phillips! This battle will follow standard, double battling rules, each trainer is allowed six pokémon, and the fainting of a pokémon will be marked by the sound of the trainer's buzzer! Trainers! Ready your pokémon!"

There were several main arenas in the Graywood Stadium, this one being the most popular among trainers and fans alike. The field itself was a grassy plain seated on top of soft soil, the grasses reaching various heights. Cutting through the plot at an uneven diagonal was an artificial brook. High above the plain was a canopy of branches that all connected to several large, realistic trees that sat on the sides of the plot. The dome above was open, letting the sun and fresh air in, and it almost felt like they would be battling outside. However, detracting from the natural feel was a giant scoreboard that showed each trainer, the number of pokémon they had left, and portrait boxes for each one that would enter the fray. It didn't match the terrestrial atmosphere that it had going, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

The arena was semi-packed. Obviously, a fourth tier battle was hardly prime time, but Cody loved how every gym battle, there was more and more of an audience. He could see Jared, who was only there to support Heather. Otherwise, he'd be mentally preparing for his own battle that would be taking place later that night. Izzy sat nearby, holding the camcorder. Being that he was a member of the gym, Cody trusted him enough to not run off with the thing. Across from them, the gym leaders stood on their platform ten feet above the plot. After meeting them in the lobby, Cody and Heather got a basic read on who they were as people. Kevin was a dark skinned, dark haired, heavy set boy of about 17 or so who had a jovial aura about him. Carly, who was about their age, was a pale skinned, strawberry blonde with thick rimmed glasses and a quiet personality. However, they both looked the same on that platform: two leaders who would do anything to make sure that badges didn't fall into incompetent hands.

"We sticking to the plan?" Heather asked as she clutched Bella's pokeball.

"Always." He took Elesa's ball in hand and smiled. Their opening plan was simple: Elesa and Bella would open the fight. Heather's Gloom was sluggish, but great at inflicting crippling status conditions and sapping energy. However, she'd have problems with bugs and grass types. That's where his Zebstrika came in: her speed and strength would come into play so she could keep the dangers away from her slower partner. With luck, they'd make it past two or three pokémon with their first two pokémon.

"Begin!" Four pokeballs flew into the grassy plot and four portraits on the scoreboard were filled. Elesa and Bella stood proudly against their opponents. One was a stout, blue pokémon with an oversized crimson flower growing out of its head. Kevin's Vileplume… This was odd, as from what he had seen, Kevin's Vileplume was typically a late game player. Already, this pokémon outclassed Gloom in both power and potency. But even that didn't bother him compared to the pokémon that Carly had entered into the fray. It was a buzzing bug with a yellow head, bulging, red eyes, and rapidly fluttering wings. This pokémon was not in any of the matches he had seen Kevin battle in over the internet or that week. It must have been a new addition to Carly's team. It's stumpy, insect arms hardly looked intimidating as battling tools went, but just the mere sight of this pokémon scared the ever-loving shit out of Cody.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath.

"What?" Heather asked. But he had no time to explain the situation. The battle was underway.

"Elesa! Hit that cicada! Spark now!" He shouted, his desperation showing through. With a whinny, the electricity charged horse barreled her way towards the bug, missing it by mere inches, as it simply moved to the side in the blink of an eye.

"Keep dodging," Carly ordered.

"Speed up with an Agility!" Cody ordered in return.

"Cody, I need your help!" Heather pleaded. Her Gloom was face to face with an evolved version of herself. Although this version was slower, thanks to the giant flower on its head, as an evolved version of Gloom would likely be immune to any of its pre-evolutions spores while containing poisons that could hurt the typical Oddish or Gloom. "Flame Charge it or something! Bella, Acid!"

"In a minute! Spark again!" Again, Elesa charged, and again, she missed. The speed boost was already beginning to take effect.

"Cody, no, not in a minute! I need you now! The plan!" she said to him again, but he responded, frustrated.

"Plan's changed! Flame Charge!" Even the following boost of the Zebstrika's speed wasn't enough to make the hit.

"What, already? What the hell?"

Frustrated, he turned his head to her and pointed in the bug's general direction. "You see that pokémon out there? That's a Ninjask, one of the deadliest one trick pony pokémon in existence. They don't attack much, but as the battle progresses, they get faster and faster. On top of that, they got moves like Swords Dance to boost them even more until they Baton Pass it to somebody more capable." He turned back to the battle. Again, Elesa missed her mark again.

"Wait, what are you saying?" she questioned him. "Acid again!"

"I'm saying that if that thing Baton Passes, we're screwed! They're essentially running our opening plan, but better!"

"Crap… But what about Bella?"

"Just keep the Vileplume at bay! We have to beat this threat now!"

"But the plan-"

"The plan is dead! Spark!" By her increased speed, she finally managed to hit her mark. Cody couldn't help but cheer until he realized that the Ninjask had just barely survived the hit. Of course, that would be too easy.

"Swords Dance!" Carly ordered, not fazed by the setback.

So it begins. "One more hit! That's all you need, Elesa! Flame Charge!" The flame surrounded her body as she ran at her target again, but it was getting more difficult to land a hit. The Ninjask dodged again, and continued its Swords Dance ritual.

"Double Team!"

Shit, no. The Ninjask spawned a dozen image clones that floated about, all buzzing and rubbing their appendages together. "Spark! Run through all of them, now!" One by one, Elesa ran through them, but each time she touched one, another one appeared, and they all flew around the arena wildly. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack, except every time he picked out a piece of hay, five more replaced it. For what it was worth though, Elesa did manage to strike the Vileplume with the back of her foot, knocking it off balance and allowing for Bella to capitalize.

Wait, what are we doing? "Shock Wave!" That was the ticket, since the move would home in on the target. But Carly had an answer for that too.

"Protect!" The bubble that the cicada had put up was weak, shattering upon the Shock Wave's impact but it did its job. Still, the Ninjask looked like it was on the ropes.

"Now! Take it down now!"

"Neeeeiiiiiiighhorr!" Elesa galloped over the soft grass to her dazed foe, her body crackling with electricity. But right before she hit, the nightmare began.

"Baton Pass!"

Fuck.

In a red stream of light, the Ninjask forced itself back into its pokeball, leaving a strange reddish aura where it flew. The moment it was back completely, Carly got the go ahead from the referee to release her next pokémon. The leader released his second monster into the arena into the red aura that the Ninjask had left, seeming to breathe it in.

No… not that. It was Carly's Scyther. The large, green, mantis pokémon with razor sharp blades on his forearms was strong enough to begin, but now that it had the energy that the Ninjask had built up, it would be next to unstoppable in his estimation. To make things worse, he couldn't look at this pokémon without thinking about Justin. Like Houndoom, Scyther brought a very negative image to mind.

"What now?" Heather asked, panicked as her eyes darted between Bella, Cody, and the Scyther.

"Keep the Vileplume at bay! I'm gonna see what I can do." He looked back at Elesa, who stared down her new foe with the same intensity as always. If only he could tell her what dangers were ahead. "Spark it now!"

"Quick Attack!" In a millisecond, the Scyther let out a high screech, spread its wings, and flew straight at Elesa fearlessly, only inches above the ground. Before Elesa even had a chance to move, the mantis pokémon rammed its body into her chest. Elesa let out what sounded like a scream upon being hit. As the Scyther made its turn around, Elesa was now ready to strike. Her body crackled with electricity and she charged at her foe. However, the Scyther had built up more momentum, knocking her off her feet and into the artificial stream. With a loud crackling noise, Elesa screamed again as her body began to smoke, all while the Scyther kept body checking her.

"What was that? What just happened? Stun spore!" Heather was beginning to sweat from the suspense, but she was too afraid to look away from the battle with Vileplume. She was still locked in what seemed to be an unwinnable battle on her end, as the Vileplume was still overpowering the Gloom.

"It knocked her into the water! Fucking knocked her into the water. She's completely drained of electricity. No Spark, no Flame Charge, no Agility… She just lost eighty percent of her arsenal."

"She can do other stuff, right? Acid!"

"Yes, but we're limited to low powered physical moves. Get out of the water and start running!" Elesa succeeded in getting a lucky kick to the bombarding Scyther's jaw, giving her enough time to get out of the stream and start running. Rebuilding electricity was no easy feat, but it was her only chance. But Cody was seeing this situation as being a glass half empty scenario. "She's not going to make it, Heather. Not against this Scyther. Our best bet is to take it as far down as we can and switch into something fast next round. Take Down!"

Sans electricity to power her boost, the Zebstrika boldly ran to her aggressor, only to take a Slash to her side from the much faster mantis. The cut on her side left a long trickle of blood, but she kept running. "Jump!" This time, she jumped the Scyther, kicking the back of its head as she flew over him. Another lucky shot, as she took another scythe slash.

"Fury Cutter!" The Scyther's next hit was light, but every following slash seemed to be stronger and stronger. Elesa was tanking the hits like a pro, but this boosted Scyther was too much. But then he saw the flicker in her form. A little bit of electricity had been generated from her running.

"Charge!" Combining the electricity with an extra boost to her sprint, she ran once more, just barely dodging the next swipe. She had enough now to at least cripple the Scyther for the next monster. "Shock Wave!"

"Block the shot!" It was Kevin's voice that rang. As the blast of electric energy streamed out of Elesa, his Vileplume leapt in front of the horse with surprising speed and absorbed the electricity, barely flinching from the blow. It followed this move by showering the drained horse with a stun spore.

"Bella, defense!" Heather shouted. As fast as she could, the Gloom tackled the bigger pokémon, easily knocking the top-heavy flower off her balance, but she could not escape the following slash that the Scyther left. Flying in a loop, it crossed its scythes and released a double strike on Elesa's chest, leaving an X-shape cut into her chest. She fell to her knees right next to Bella and seconds later, both Cody's and Heather's buzzers sounded.

"Crap…" they both muttered simultaneously as they called back their contenders. Two pokémon down and the battle had barely started. The Vileplume still looked like it had energy to spare and the Scyther, though possibly with a concussion from two head shots, still looked strong. If there was any silver lining in this situation, it was that their pokémon had fainted at the same time. Normally, a battle like this would be constantly moving with no rests between faints, but without a pokémon on the field, there was no rush to get their next set out. It gave them sixty seconds to strategize.

"What do we do?" Cody whispered over the chattering of the audience. "I just lost one of my better pokémon and that Scyther is still surging."

"I was going to ask you," Heather replied anxiously. "That Scyther is too good. The Vileplume is tough too. Bella couldn't touch her for the most part."

"Obviously…"

"Don't patronize me," she hissed. "We need the big guns out now. Antonia can take that Scyther, right? Maybe Feathers can-"

"No. These aren't even their strongest pokémon. They still got the Armaldo and the Tropius in their lineup."

"So what's the plan then, genius?"

He did not like her tone, but he brushed it off. "Speed. Mars can match that Scyther in speed. Problem is, one good hit brings him out. I think Cortez-"

"At this point? No Cortez! He'll make it worse!"

"Ten seconds left!" the ref sounded, his voice blaring over the loudspeakers."

"Fine, Mars then. Whoever you send out, keep them close to him. We're trying something new."

"What's that?"

"Working as a unit," he answered. They threw their next pokeballs onto the field, revealing Mars and Sasha. Cody cringed momentarily. Heather's Eevee was a well-trained, eager pokémon, but was she capable of battling against these much larger opponents? Then again, Mars was even smaller.

"Slash!"

"Dig!" The Scyther was fast, but in barely any time at all, Mars was underground, dodging the scythe by a longshot. As the Scyther stopped in his flight, trying to figure out where his enemy had gone, he was struck with Sasha's headbutt. Sent off balance, it began to stagger, giving Mars the chance to pop up beneath him, grab his foot, and pull it under ground with him. The mantis fell on his face, bewildered.

"Alright!" Cody cheered, though the moment of triumph was short lived, as the Diglett just barely ducked under the Vileplume's Energy Ball. He then saw that the flower had ingrained its feet into the earth. If it kept this up, it could heal off all the damage done previously. The Scyther was not the only threat on the field.

"Bulldoze!" The wave of dirt crashed into the Vileplume, who was now an easy target, thanks to the ingrain. The Eevee followed this move with a hit of her own. They could have continued this double assault even longer, chipping away at the flower's defenses, but the Scyther had found his feet again and it rushed to slash them at an immeasurable speed. The fact that he had yet to connect a hit was a miracle within itself, as Cody figured Sasha would have been hit by now, but it was clear that the mantis had singled out the mole as a threat. Mars could dodge his attacks all day, but he couldn't land them himself. This was when he needed help.

"Heather, what do you got for me?" he asked, seeing Sasha dance around Vileplume's attacks.

"I got this. Sasha, Baby-Doll Eyes!" Landing one more Quick Attack on the Vileplume, the Eevee rushed to Scyther, but instead of attacking him, she just sat there. Cody couldn't see her face, but whatever she did, it seemed to stop Scyther in its tracks as it just looked down at her in confusion.

"A tactical move?" He was grinning. "She's a little pokémon. Gotta make up for that somehow. Go!"

"Right. Mud Slap!" Mars launched himself into the air, slapping a clot of dirt into the Scyther's eyes. It began to make wild slashes, missing each one. If only it had hands to wipe the dirt from his eyes, this wouldn't be a problem. But again, they couldn't capitalize on this advantage before they heard Carly's next order.

"Solar Beam!" The flower pokémon cried out in a high pitched cheer as she began to take in the sunlight. Immediately, Mars and Sasha bombarded her with attacks, but she seemed too "in the zone" to even notice.

"We need to take it up a notch. Earth Pow-" Right then, the Scyther tackled the Diglett, too afraid to use its scythes around its teammate when it was blinded with dirt. Sasha came to his aid, but was knocked up into the air by back of the Scyther's blade. With perfect aim, Vileplume arched back and shot a green-colored beam into the sky, hitting her target dead on. The Eevee fell to the earth and the sound of Heather's buzzer rang.

Damn it. "Back up and use Magnitude!" The shaking continued to rattle the Scyther, but Vileplume stood strong with her ingrained feet, already charging a new Solar Beam. A flash of red light shot out, releasing Smaug, Heather's Trapinch. His appearance was also concerning. He was a sturdy pokémon, but slow. And against a Vileplume… "Get ready to dig." He didn't need to explain why.

"Dig!" they shouted simultaneously. The beam shot out from the top of the Vileplume's flower, missing both pokémon as they burrowed underground. They both did this at a speedy pace, although the Trapinch left a discernible hole behind him. When they reemerged again, it was behind their enemies. Mars jumped up into the Scyther's neck and began to dig his claws into its carapace. Smaug employed a simpler tactic of biting down on one of the Vileplume's oversized petals. She began to shake, but the Trapinch wouldn't let go.

"Petal Dance!" The Vilplume began to gyrate, loosening her grip on the earth so she could dance to her fullest extent. Still, none of it hit Trapinch, who was latched onto her like a leech. But Cody saw his chance.

"Mars! Dig!" The mole dove from the Scyther's back into the earth below. By Heather's command, Smaug did the same. The fatigued Vileplume stumbled about, looking for any foe to hit, almost hitting the blinded Scyther in her staggers. But unlike them, Mars and Smaug were on the same page. There was one basic strategy that Cody and Heather had planned forifSmaug and Mars were on the field together; and now was their chance to use it.

"Earth Power!" Both ground pokémon simultaneously emerged from the earth as spouts of soil blasted upwards, carrying the Vileplume with it. As the giant flower fell, it was hit with an additional Mud-Slap and Mud Bomb, dirtying it up further before it slammed into the ground. A buzzer sounded and it was returned to its ball.

"Yes!" Both of challenging trainers felt ecstatic at finally bringing down one of their enemies, though really, they were hardly in a position to cheer. Between the two of them, they had nine pokémon left, while the gym leaders had eleven, one being juiced up (though currently blinded). But Kevin Wallace's next pokémon brought the fear right back. It looked like a ball of blue noodles with red shoes, but it was more dangerous than it looked.

"Tangela: a walking vat of poisonous substances." Heather said cautiously. "Mud-Slap!" The Trapinch threw a clot of mud at the Tangela, but vine pokémon swatted it away with a single whip of one of its tangled appendages. But rather than attacking Smaug, it ran towards the tree and used its vines to climb to the branches above.

What the- Cody had no time to analyze the situation. The Scyther could see again and its eyes were bloodshot and angry. While Sasha had managed to decrease its aggressiveness somewhat, it was still juiced from the Ninjask's Baton Pass.

"Slash!"

"Get down!" Mars was quick enough to dodge the cut by a centimeter before popping up behind it and trying to Bulldoze his foe from behind, missing his mark as well. The two of them were locked in a stalemate of sorts, but the Trapinch gave them the edge. Smaug popped out of the ground and tried to bite the mantis's leg, but he missed by a long shot. The bug was just too fast, but Smaug's presence was a pressure. What is the Tangela doing? He looked up to see the vine pokémon bouncing between the branches on the right side of the arena, shaking its body after each hop. He also saw various powders drifting towards the floor, colored green, purple, and yellow. Oh crap.

"What's it doing?" Heather asked. She had noticed the Tangela's actions too.

"Raining powders and spores," Cody answered dryly. "They did this earlier this week. It's covering that half of the field why Scyther takes this half. Either we fight an overpowered Scyther here, or we dodge spores on the other side. It's an ugly situation." He cringed at these options and at the strategy their enemies were employing. This field seemed to be tailor made for this team, or they developed their team around it.

"Can Mars knock it down?" she asked, between barking out orders to her pokémon. "Smaug can't climb trees and he can't throw mud that far.

"Dodge it!" As the Diglett dodged another slash, he continued talking. "He can't climb trees like he can with rocks and dirt. But I can try. Mud Bomb the Tangela!" The mole threw a ball of mud at the Tangela in the branches, but it didn't come close to hitting. "Okay, plan B. Climb the tree and take it down."

"Weik weik!" The Diglett went underground, reemerged at the tree's base, and scurried up as fast as it could (which was not as fast as Cody would have liked, but he couldn't blame his pokémon for having to deal with this unfamiliar obstacle). Once in the branches though, Cody could see the obvious flaw with this strategy that he felt like an idiot for not realizing sooner: there was no dirt in the trees; not even rocks or gravel. Mars's arsenal had just been cut down to his claws.

"Mars, get down!" But his pokémon had fallen into his aggressive nature, running forward on the branches and swiping at the Tangela with his sharpened claws. It was a direct hit, but it really didn't matter. The Tangela's vines wrapped around him and it began to Mega Drain the mole. Mars fruitlessly tried to claw his way out, but to no avail. After a few seconds, it threw Mars off, sending him through various powders that stunned and poisoned him before putting him to sleep. Cody's buzzer rang and he returned his Diglett. Four left.

"Use Antonia." Heather said the moment his buzzer ended. "We can knock the Tangela out of the tree and stop this Scyther."

"Not without her tanking a lot of damage," he replied, running his fingers over his pokeballs. "We need her for later. That Tropius and-"

"What about Colossal? Or Bastion?"

"Too slow, and neither of them are fit to battle in the trees." He knew who he had to choose. "I'm going to use him."

"No! You- Rockslide! You can't use him. This is a critical point in the battle!"

"Well, you're gonna need to have a bit of faith." He held up Cortez's pokeball. "Okay buddy, time to nut up or shut up!" And his third pokémon was released into the fray.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee!" Cortez floated into battle, uncaring of the situation. Avoiding the half of the field where the spores were raining, he floated high above the Scyther and Trapinch, apparently giggling at his own imagination, as he was obviously not paying attention to the battle below.

"Wake up! Ember!" Cortez did use spray embers, but he spit them straight up into the air, creating a fire shower that burned out before it hit the floor. For a moment, Smaug, the Scyther, and the Tangela all stopped and stared. They had no idea what to make of this pokémon's antics.

This is embarrassing. He knew what was going on now. The problem with Cortez was that being a ghost pokémon, he was inherently intelligent; more so than any of his other team members. For a while, it made him an easy pokémon to train, but now, he was becoming rebellious. He didn't seem to care that there was a battle going on, preferring to engage in the fight on his own time. But now was the time that they needed to be on the same page.

"Night Shade!"

"Wheeehehehe!" The giggling ghost ignored him again, swooping in front of the Scyther, dodging the slashes. This served as a distraction for Smaug's advantage, but seeing as how Cortez could have easily inflicted heavy damage on the Scyther but chose not to was very frustrating. He lazily drifted up into the trees, scattering embers about the branches. Some of the embers fell onto the raining spores, engulfing them in flames. The Tangela stopped dropping spores for a moment and whipped its vines towards the Litwick, who kept out of their range by mere inches. Again, he could have easily burned the Tangela like he could have burned the Scyther, but he just didn't seem to care.

"He's even worse today," Heather commented, exasperated, between commands.

"Tell me about it. Cortez! Flame Burst now!"

"Phbbbbt!" Cortez finally acknowledged him, sticking out his tongue and giving him rasberries.

"Jesus, what are you doing?" he shouted, pounding the railing with both fists.

"Hehehehehe!"

Cortez wasn't the only one laughing now. A lot of the audience had joined in the laughter, though most of them were trying to stifle their giggles. Even Kevin, the gym leader, seemed to be holding back laughter. Honestly, Cody couldn't blame any of them. The way Cortez was acting was something one would expect from a first or second tier battle, but not from a fourth tier battle with a relatively skilled trainer. Even so, he was very embarrassed. He gave Heather a lot crap about her training and battling style, but at least all of her pokémon listened to her. But even that couldn't save Smaug, who was struggling to endure the Scyther's assault.

The silver lining of the situation revealed itself, however. Cortez stopped laughing when noticed that everybody in the arena was laughing at him and his trainer. Normally, the prankster pokémon loved to elicit laughs, but he was aware of the fact that they were laughing at him and not with him. In this moment of realization, the Litwick was slapped by one of the Tangela's thick vines. That was the wakeup call he needed. A vortex of orange flames spewed from his candle flame. The Tangela hopped to a nearby branch, though some of its vines were singed from the flames. It began to shake spores from its vines again, but it was much too slow. The Scyther wasn't howerver.

"Quick Attack!" Before Cortez could react, the mantis had flown to the branches and body checked him pretty hard. It was now a 2 on 1 fight, being that Smaug couldn't climb the tree. He would resort to hurling mud at his foes, but his foes were so adept to fighting in the trees that he wouldn't be likely to hit either of them.

"Nightshade!" Cortez readjusted and created a dark aura between him and the Scyther. When the bigger pokémon tried to charge through it, he was caught in suspended animation as his speed slowed to a crawl. This would have been the moment to strike, but the Tangela was relentless. Its vines wrapped around the Litwick and it tried to perform a Mega Drain. Kevin had ordered this tactic, hoping to catch the candle by surprise, but Cortez was smart enough to handle this situation on his own. One Flame Burst later and the Tangela itself was on fire. The Scyther had pushed through the Night Shade by now, but it was knocked out of the tree with a light Ember that wasn't strong enough to take it down, but was forceful enough to push him back. Cortez looked back to the Tangela, who was still burning. In a last ditch effort to extinguish the candle pokémon's efforts, it wrapped its vines around him and tackled both of them out of the branches, combining the move with a Mega Drain. When the two hit the ground, the loud thud was combined with an unexpected explosion of fire.

Huh… never seen that before. His pokémon must have used Flame Burst upon impact and it worked like a charm. The Tangela was not coming back from that, now that its vines were covered in burns. As Kevin's buzzer sounded, Cortez rose above his fallen foe, giggling joyously. The audience had long since stopped their giggling and a few of them clapped. Still, Cody tried not to let this win get to his head like it had with Cortez. The situation looked better, but they were still down by two pokémon. Kevin was down two pokémon, so one possibility was taking his team out and focusing efforts on Carly's team, but that was easier said than done. Also, Cortez was a bit injured from his last entanglement, but he was still laughing… and then he was glowing.

"Holy shit…" For the lack of a better set of words, that pretty much summed up the experience. Giggling in that high pitched voice for the last time, the little candle ghost's body shone with a bright light before it caught fire with his orange flames. Within seconds, the fire diminished and in the place of the Litwick floated a very different looking pokémon. This evolved pokémon, the Lampent, only shared two physical features in common with its pre-evolution: its hauntingly blue eyes and its bright orange flame that burned inside its body. Other than that, its appearance resembled that of an old Japanese streetlamp. It wasn't that big (maybe two feet tall at the most), but what really stood out about this Lampent was its primary color. Most Lampent were black, grey, purple, and occasionally bronze, but this ghost pokémon stood out in comparison to its otherworldly brethren. The doctors at the pokémon centers were not lying when they said that Cortez was a rare gold-type member of his species because now that he had evolved, he shown in the sunlight with a beautiful, yellowish-gold sheen.

"Hahaha!" His laugh was slower, deeper, and somewhat raspy like that of a smoker's voice. And as he looked at the Scyther, it was apparent to anybody who saw him that if he had a discernible mouth, he was grinning from ear to ear, so to speak.

Cody could hear Heather say something, but he was too amazed to understand what she said. He was brought back to reality with the sight of Kevin's third pokémon: a slender tree-like creature with a brown, slender trunk, two arms that ended in green, ball-like appendages and a face that Cody could only describe as being derpy.

"Sudowoodo," he groaned. He knew this was coming. In the same way that Martin Hornsby used a Cacturne in his earth team, Kevin Wallace was using a Sudowoodo on his grass team. Sudowoodo was a rock pokémon, but many grass trainers loved this species for its imitation of grass types, its ability to learn Wood Hammer, and the fact that it countered bug, flying, ice, and fire type enemies that preyed on their element. Kevin decided that he was going to eliminate this threat before it got out of hand.

"Switch dance partners?" he asked Heather.

"Gladly," she replied eagerly.

"Right, Cortez, Flame Burst the Scyther!"

"Hahaha!" The Lampent glided towards the worn down bug as flames erruped from his form. The Scyther dodged and landed a one slash, but the second phased through. Cortez laughed as he was hit, as if he enjoyed it.

"Pursuit!"

"Will-O-Wisp!"

The Scyther was getting sloppy as the battle raged on. It flew right into the bluish flame and its carapace caught fire. It whipped the fire off its body quickly, but not before Cortez applied a Hex. It was the beginning of the end and everybody knew it.

"Night Slash!"

"Astonish!"

Cortez disappeared into thin air, avoiding the Scyther's shadowed scythes before reappearing with a loud "BLEAURGH!" The sudden reappearance shocked the Scyther, giving the Lampent a beautiful opportunity to explode in a perfect Flame Burst. Finally, the unstoppable Scyther had met its end, signaled with a buzzer.

"Yes- Watch out!" Cortez just barely dodged a flying rock. The Sudowoodo had been keeping pace with Smaug and had found a moment to take the ghost lamp by surprise. But the false tree was the least of Cody's worries. Carly had sent out her Ninjask again. No, she's gonna set up again. "Cortez, end that thing now! Fire Spin!"

"Double Team!"

Shit. Once more, dozens of Ninjask copies were buzzing about the battlefield. Cortez shot scattered flames at all of them, but he only caught a few of the illusions. Time to try another crazy scheme.

"Heather, when I say 'now', tell Smaug to get underground."

"Bite! Ugh, Cody, you know I hate it when you tell me what to-"

"Just trust me on this." He really hoped she would have faith in him again on this plan. "Cortez, Smog!" From the Lampent's body spewed a noxious gas that filled the center of the arena. Everybody could smell an odor that stank like a Muk and a Skuntank getting it on next to an Indian food restaurant but the poisonous gas itself didn't seem to affect any of the pokémon. By itself, the smog was pretty weak. But that was okay. It didn't need to be the end all by itself. "Now! Ember!"

All it took was one little spark and the poisonous gas lit up in a small explosion of flames that caused everybody to shield their eyes from the resulting flash. It didn't come close to hitting the audience, but it did burn most of the grass on the field and the branches above. When he smoke cleared, Cody could see the limp body of the fainted Ninjask and the scorched body of the otherwise unhurt Sudowoodo who had tanked the blast without trouble. Smaug popped his head out of the ground after dodging the blast entirely. A buzzer rang and Carly recalled her pokémon.

There was now a great feeling swimming in Cody's gut. Not long ago, they were down by three pokémon and now they were tied up, thanks to a crazy, unconventional ghost type that Cody had thought wouldn't get him far in this fight. But now, they were tied up with their foes and their chance of winning had risen dramatically.

"Perhaps there's hope for us after all," Heather chuckled between the action of the battle.

"Yes, perhaps," Cody agreed, tightening his fist. The best of his team had yet to appear in this fight, and if Cortez could take down three enemies in a matter of minutes, he had even higher hopes for the rest of his crew. "Four down, eight to go."