Ginny let out a moan, fingers running through her static-filled hair as she tried to gather herself. The energy from the teleporter was still dancing along her skin, reminding her of the time she'd tried to rewire Charlie's old laptop after its harddrive had crashed and ended up shocking herself on a lose wire. Nothing that would require a hospital visit but she'd be feeling the pain for a bit; a "friendly reminder" from her body to not be an idiot". A nice little short-

Her eyes went wide and she went for her dex and was relieved to see that the shock absorption case had done its job and protected her custom device and ensured that it remained functioning. Which was real good because her HackiDex was years of hard work and she hadn't been looking forward to trying to redo everything she'd ever done with it. Half of the things it could do had been caused by accidents, to be honest, and she didn't know if she'd be able to replicate them if she didn't have the source code available. But the dex was safe. That meant she only needed to worry about herself and her nerve endings.

"Okay, let's never do that again," she moaned.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you, Miss Weasley," Prof. Snape said, slowly rising to his feet and patting his black labcoat; it was hard to tell with its coloration but she could smell the smoke that clung to the garment that proved that he'd had at least one small fire on his person. "Are you able to move?"

"Yeah. Nothing seems broken." She looked around the dark room, the low security lights along the floor the only source of illumination. "Where are we?"

"I am still trying to determine that," the professor stated.

"Seems pretty big, wherever we are," Ginny said, moving towards where the floorlights were only for a hand to reach out, snagging her arm and yank her back. "HEY!" Ginny shouted, going for one of her Pokeballs-

"It's me! It's me!"

"Hermione?" Ginny said. "Geez, scare a girl a little more, why don't you?"

"Trust me, you prefer the fright than me letting you keep going." She gestured towards where the lights were and with Hermione keeping a firm grip on her arm Ginny leaned forward… and threw herself back. "FUCK!"

"Language, Miss Weasley!" Prof. Snape snapped. "You are in enough trouble for your actions without-"

"We're on a fucking cliff!" Ginny exclaimed, the horror that she'd almost gone blindly walking off the edge and plummeting into the darkness below overriding any fear she might have concerning the potions professor.

Snape, for his part, arched an eyebrow before moving slowly and carefully towards the edge, his other eyebrow joining the first as he looked down into the dark abyss. "I… suppose this once I can forgive a slip of the tongue. But do not think I will allowing you to do so ever again."

"You think that is bad?" Hermione complained. "I woke up half draped over the dang thing!" She shuddered at that. "Thank Arceus I rolled to my left instead of my right."

"Have you seen the others?" Prof. Snape asked.

"No. I woke up over there and heard you guys. Haven't run into anyone else."

Ginny frowned. "I don't think you will. The teleporter was acting up and with the remote broken like it was it most likely shunted all of us to different keyed-in teleporter pads. The others are someplace else."

"I hope," Hermione said, looking towards the edge and swallowing.

Prof. Snape glowered at that. "They are alive, Miss Granger. It does no good for us to operate under the assumption they aren't."

"Right."

"What the heck is this place?" Ginny asked, looking about the darkness. "This doesn't look like any part of the Ministry I've ever seen."

"I believe I know. Bach!" Prof. Snape threw out a pokeball and his Chandelure burst out, blue flames lighting up the area around them and giving them a better view of their surroundings. The three of them were on a large metal platform that was surrounded by darkness and was high enough that they couldn't actually see the bottom. But they could make out the circular walls that were past the wide gap as well as the high ceiling that had a rather odd octagon pattern to them. There was also strange organic wads of… something… in several spots and now that they were actually paying attention they could hear distant buzzing and chitters. On the platform itself there were raised metal cabinets that seemed to be set up with no true reason, each with glass . Snape walked up to one of them, waving his hand over a digital reader and causing the storeage device to open, allowing him a better look at its contents: rows of corked vials and covered beakers. He tilted his head, looking them over before selecting a vial and pulling off the cork and sniffing the vial. "Brown coloration, slight chill on the glass, and the scent of honey mixed with Occa and Rawst Berries. A potion designed to fight against fire types." He put the beaker back. "We are in the Elite 4's Headquarters. Specifically the arena of Dr. Onassis."

"Which one is he again?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shot her a look. "He handles all medical decisions and operations in Avalon."

"I know that, I meant what type of Pokémon does he use!"

Before either Prof. Snape or Hermione could answer they heard the sound of feet pounding on the platform and all three turned to see Luna burst out of the rows of potion cabinets, arms flailing as she raced towards them.

"RUN!" she screamed.

The three looked at her.

"THIS IS A REFERENCE BUT ALSO RUN!" she screamed again… just in time for a massive red insect with hundreds of legs to emerge from the maze of cabinets, blasting fire at the fleeing Veela.

"Bug types," Hermione said weakly. "He uses bug types."

"WHY AREN'T YOU RUNNIG?!" Luna cried out as the red bug was joined by magenta bug that was thicker but also sported many legs. This one began to spit out blobs of acid inches from Luna's heels.

"What the hell are those?!" Ginny cried out, grabbing Luna before she could run off the platform.

"Centiskorch and Scolipede," Prof. Snape stated. "Bach, intercept every first fire attack you can!" He looked to the three teens. "Stay back and allow me to handle this," he said sternly as Bach rushed in front of a Flamethrower the Centiskorch sent up, the flames within its glass head turning bright orange before the ones on its arms flared out. "Flame Body is rather helpful!" he declared before he pointed at Scolipede. "Mystical Fire!" The flames took on a green hue before rising out, catching the poison/bug Pokemon and knocking it out with one hit. "And now a Shadow Ball!" The flames once more changed, turning to a dark purple before Bach condensed the fire into a raging ball of ectoplasm that he hurled at his foe, knocking the Centiskorch into a cabinet. Several potions fell and broke onto the Pokeon's back, causing it to shudder before it suddenly snapped its eyes open and flailed out its tail, performing a Brutal Swing that sent Bach crashing into a wall. Snape raised an eyebrow at that. "I believe Dr. Onassis has been experimenting with different potions. That appears that at least one of those weakens Ghost's effectiveness and increases Attack." He turned to the girls as he pulled out another Pokeball. "Help would be appreciated, ladies."

Hermione frowned as she ran through what Pokemon she had. Psychic, Psychic, and more Psychic. "I just suddenly realize I am not that well rounded on my team."

"Then leave it to the hacker to save the day!" Ginny shouted, pulling out a luxury ball. "Infernape!" The fire monkey burst out of his ball and slammed his fists together. "Power-Up Punch followed by a Thunder Punch! Give'em a one-two-one!" Her Pokemon nodded and leapt into battle, clocking the Centiskorch with three hard hits that caused it to wobble.

"Whomper!" Luna declared, realizing there was no where to run and thus deciding to stand and fight. "Stone Edge!" The Pokémon that longed to be a tree nodded and slammed its heavy arms into Centiskorch, causing it to totter. "One more time!" she called out and the Sudowoodo nodded and lashed out, batting the fire bug right off the platform. "Ha!" Luna cried out, running to the edge and looking down. "Don't mess with Luna Lovegood!"

A sticky web shot out from the darkness and wrapped around her.

"Help! They're messing with Luna Lovegood!"

Ginny and Hermione grabbed onto Luna and dug their heels in, fighting to keep the blond from going over the edge. Prof. Snape ran over and had Bach blast the line with a shot of fire, reducing it to dust and sending the girls toppling over. "I would suggest you all rise," he said, backing away as the buzzing and skittering began to grow louder. "It would appear that Onassis uses his chamber to study venoms and other fluids produced by bug types… and he prefers to have them fresh and near at-"

Cries filled the air as dozens of Bug Type Pokemon burst out of the darkness. Vespiqueens with a battalion of Combees rose into the air. An Alolan Water/Bug type scurried up onto the ledge. There was a thud to their right and they turned to see several Durants had dropped down to join them on the platform.

"Suggestions?" Hermione asked. "Battle plans? Strategies? Maybe escape routes-"

"Waste anything with more than two legs!" Ginny shouted at her Infernape.

"Put on the Ritz, Whomper!" Luna commanded and the rock type bellowed and charged.

Hermione looked at Snape who finally sighed and shrugged. "I have found for how annoying they can be… Gryffindors sometimes have the best way of it. Bach! The Durants!" His Chandelure nodded and began to blast them with fire.

The bushy-haired girl let out a sigh

"Have you forgotten that you are a Gryffindor yourself, Miss Granger?" the potions master asked before he tossed out a second Pokeball, this one dented but still showing signs it had been deeply cared for, and called forth a Pelipper. The large-beaked Pokemon dove down with a Brave Bird, scattering a bunch of Yanmegas that had been trying to divebomb them

"I didn't know you had that Pokemon, sir," Hermione stated, sending out her Frosslass fired off and having it fire off Ice Beams with the aim of taking out the fliers and keeping the group from being overwhelmed from multiple points on the XYZ axis. "I thought you focused on Poison types." She paused as she noticed Bach. "Except-"

"Everyone does," Prof. Snape declared, side-stepping out of the way of some Pin Missiles that struck right where he had been standing. "A common misconception I have never attempted to dissuade. It comes in handy when facing foes who do not expect me to call forth Bilge. He also happens to be my starter."

In the recesses of her mind Hermione remembered Harry mentioning that Prof. Snape's father Tobias was a sailor and it suddenly made sense that he would start off with a Pokemon tied to the sea. "As for the Gryffindor thing... I'm actually a Gryffinclaw." At Snape's raised eyebrow Hermione, making sure that Frosslass was not getting overwhelmed, said, "Slowking thought about putting me in Ravenclaw. Gave me the choice, actually. I saw nothing with Slythern or Hufflepuff but misty foggy images but I saw two versions of myself, one for Ravenclaw and one for Gryffindor. He said it was a near even split and let me choose."

"And why did you choose them?" Snape asked.

Hermione smiled and said over Whomper's bellows, "The Ravenclaw me was alone. Gryffindor had friends."

It was during that touching moment when the Nocturne Agents burst into the arena, racing along the sole bridge that went over the pit and connected the chamber to the outside (and all of the Hogwarts company cursed not noticing that), and true hell broke loose. They began to have their Pokemon fire off attacks at the ladies and their Potions Professor but that caused the bug types in the chamber to go even wilder, screeching and buzzing into a chaotic attack on both groups. The Agents hadn't apparently realized just what was going on in the Arena and thus were just as surprised as the girls had been when the Bugs swarmed. Everyone was then fighting on multiple fronts and there were times when one of the teens would find themselves assisted by a Nocturne Grunt against a difficult bug Pokemon only for their ally to go right back to being a fierce enemy that wanted them dead. All manner of attacks were flying through the air, with beams of ice and fire arching over heads while the platform swayed from heavy strikes and falling bodies.

"They just keep coming!" Ginny called out as her and Luna returned back to Hermione and Prof. Snape. "We down twenty and fifty more pop up! Completely different ones at that!" There was a scream that turned into a gurgle and they all turned to see one Nocturne Grunt had been bubbled by an Araquanid, thrashing in the water bubble the bug-type had made, trying to break free even as the spider pokemon dragged its prize into darkness of the pit. "We have to get out of here!"

"There is a door there," Luna pointed out, "but we can't get it with the Nocturne Agents holding it!" Indeed the robed fiends had been forced to keep to the bridge for the most part thanks to the swarm, leaving the teens and Snape stuck on the platform completely trapped.

"We need to find a way to clear them out," Snape pointed out only for another Agent to nearly be sent flying into the darkness himself when a Crustle rushed him; it was only the man's Drednaw that kept him from being killed. "And not die ourselves crossing."

Hermione had been thinking about that. In the heat of the battle she had found herself allowing the others to take the lead, mostly having her Frosslass assist, and thus her mind was a whirl with possibilities and strategies. She'd gone over everything they had with them and begun to rule out possibilities. Celebi's Time Turner Power was still burned out, only letting the two of them alone go back a few minutes now. And even if it wasn't they'd need to be able to focus and they couldn't with the swarm. Ginny couldn't hack anything because there was no place to connect her dex into and get to work. There were potions behind them who did Arceus-knows-what, and Luna's Veela powers-

She stopped.

She remembered why Celebi's Time Turner Ability had burned out... and what had happened before she'd made that leap.

"I have an idea," Hermione said, turning to Prof. Snape. "Are there any potions on those shelves that cause intense emotions? Confusion? Love? Rage?"

The Professor took a moment to look over the vials. "I do believe there are. But-"

Hermione cut him off. "Find them and begin hurling them at the bugs and the Nocturne agents. You and Ginny both. We need as much conflicting emotion as possible."

"What for?" Ginny asked.

Hermione walked over to Luna and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Put away the ranger... become who you were born to be."

Luna didn't called her out on making a reference. No... she stared at her bestest best friend and swallowed. "I don't know if I'm ready-"

"You have to be." Hermione gave her friend's shoulders a squeeze. "I'll ground you. Keep you from losing yourself. But its time you took the title, Luna. This is your hour."

The blond girl sucked in a breath before nodding firmly, Hermione moving behind her and placing her hands on her shoulders. Overhead vials flew, Prof. Snape and Ginny hurling them at Nocturne Agents and Pokemon alike, creating rather interesting reactions. A Vespiqueen chased after a startled Nocturne Agent with hearts in its eyes. Two Grunts had turned on each other and were trying to throttle their former teammate. A Metapod had dropped from the ceiling and begun to cry. Someone in a black robe was laughing hysterically even as he was attacked by a Beedrill.

And through all of this Luna kept her eyes shut, breathing in and out, arms half raised up with palms out. To everyone else she felt utterly calm but to Hermione her dear friend was a maelstrom of conflict, struggling to deal with all the emotions that were bombarding her. Veela were creatures of pure raw emotions, both in terms of crafting it in others and taking it into themselves. That was what Luna was doing now and her first instinct, as it had been since her powers had first flared to life when she'd witnessed her mother's death, was to find some way to deal with the negative emotions by creating positive ones, if only in herself. That was when Hermione's psychic powers made themselves knows, shunting aside such thoughts and forcing Luna to focus on the tempest of feelings.

A tear trickled down Hermione's check as she felt the agony her friend was enduring but she knew it had to be done. That it was time for Luna Lovegood to become who she had always been meant to be. Hermione sent her own pride and love into Luna, reminding her that she wasn't alone, even in this moment, and she would always have her Pride.

Luna's eyes snapped open.

In Kalos Cynthia and Diantha went rigid. Indeed all across the world every Veela went still and turned their heads towards Avalon, feeling as one the new Mistress of the Veela claim her title. And each of those women sent their respect, their loyalty, and their love to the teen. Cynthia and Diantha, even though it had been their shared title Luna had taken, mentally wrapped their arms around the girl and promised to do all they could and to serve her however she needed.

Luna's eyes went not black but pure white as brilliant green energy burst from her form and wrapped around her and Hermione, whose own eyes flashed before bursting with energy. Luna's long hair billowed all around her like a silvery-blond halo and in each of her hands a ball of power appeared. Her solid white eyes swept over the entire arena, taking in everything. She saw the bug types pause, attracted to the light she gave off yet also frightened of it and what it might mean. She observed the Nocturne Agents trembling in terror as they wondered just what they were witnessing. She saw Ginny gasp as she looked at the two of them, Prof. Snape raising an eyebrow in surprise at the sight of not just Luna but Hermione surrounded by the green energy, both of their eyes glowing with power.

The new Mistress of the Veela opened her mouth and spoke a single word.

"PEACE"

The energy burst from her hands and consumed everything before her, with only her friends and her professor unaffected. The Nocturne Agents swayed where they stood, unable to find it in themselves to give commands or put up any resistance. The Bug Type Pokemon, meanwhile, became as docile as newly born Mareeps, lowering themselves to the ground and letting out peaceful sighs. All of them made no move to stop the four as they began to walk towards the door, Hermione keeping her hands on Luna's shoulders the entire time.

"I am so proud of you," Hermione whispered.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Beartic! Ice Punch!"

Ron's large frigid bear Pokemon lunched himself forward from the safety of the metal counters that his trainer was using to protect himself, bellowing as he swung his paws at the Vileplume that had been trying to smoke them out with a cloud of spores that made one choke and cough when they breathed in. Or at least that's what he and Neville had gathered when the Minister had caught a mouthful of powder and fallen to the ground wheezing. At the very least he didn't seem to be poisoned, at least not in the traditional sense, though frankly Ron wasn't in the mood to deal with the man and was tempted to toss him out to the Nocturne Grunts that were attacking them and hope that the man might provide the perfect distraction to allow him and Neville to escape.

They'd woken up in what they had finally realized was Barty Crouch Senior's chambers (Neville had finally clued in to what chamber it was when he'd noticed a Steel Type icon on the wall, commenting that he'd only seen it once during the day and that when he'd been there the room had been lit up and looked much different) in the Elite 4 building, all three of the feeling like they'd just stuck their fingers into light sockets and then drizzled Liquid Smoke onto their tongues. They'd be disappointed to find themselves the only ones of their group in the chamber and even more disappointed when they realized that Fudge had ended up with them. The plump bureaucrat had whined when he'd seen where they were, protesting that he had been hoping they might get to someplace safer before blaming the two teens for everything that had happened to him. Not just that night either but seemingly every negative thing that had happened to Cornelius Fudge. He didn't rant, as to do that one needed to have not only anger but also a bit of courage. To be able to set your mark on a subject and state, "This is what I believe in and I will fight to prove that it is the right thing to think and say!" That simply wasn't in Fudge's nature-

"Puck!" Neville called out. "Fairy Wind!"

"Add your ice to it, Beartic!"

The combined attack staggered the Vileplume and sent it stumbling back as its giant flower began to freeze over, only for another Grunt's Mandibuzz to screech and move in to open up a second front. Beartic was too slow to avoid the Brave Bird, which sent him slamming down onto the hard steel that made up the platform, but Puck without prompting delivered a Draining Kiss that had the Mandibuzz desperately trying to get away before all of its life energy was drained away.

-wasn't in Fudge's nature to set his mark to anything that he wasn't sure was universally popular. Thus, rather than rant and rave he merely whimpered and whined about how it wasn't fair that this was all happening to him, that he'd done nothing wrong.

"…here trying to-" he coughed again and Ron wondered if he could get a cloud of spores to float over to the metal tables that they had hidden behind just to shut the man up. "-make Avalon a great place and you children leads these monsters to my door!"

Ron opened his mouth to snap at the man but it was Neville, much to his surprise, who was the first to bellow, "Would you shut up?!" Fudge opened his mouth buy Neville snarled, "Moonblast!" and the Minister coward… only for a Heatmor another Grunt had sent out that was getting ready to hit Beartic went down under the barrage of light. Neville kept his eye on their foes even as he began to address the cowering man. "We screwed up. We admit that. Voldemort played us for fools, made us think he had taken over you. But maybe you should ask yourself why we were so quick to believe that you were taken over? If it had been Prof. Dumbledore we were told was Voldemort's new host we would have questioned it, demanded more information and proof. But we didn't with you because you are practically Nocturne already! The only reason you probably haven't been asked to join them is because they know what a bumbler you are!" A bolt of lightning shot over his head and he rolled his eyes before recalling Puck and tossing out a Nest Ball that released an angry looking Ferrathorn. "Earthquake into a Vine Whip into a Brutal Swing!" Neville snapped off and Ron's Beartic decided to just step back and let the Grass/Steel type do its thing. The entire platform rumbled and the metal actually cracked and buckled under their feet, which allowed the Ferrathron to shoot its vines into the fissures and send them up past their line of defense and into the Nocturne ranks. What followed was thrashing madness that took out a majority of the Nocturne agents and their Pokemon. "Ron, freeze them."

"Oh… right," he gave the command to his Beartic who quickly moved to make sure that the terrorists and their Pokemon stayed down and didn't think about for a second getting up.

Satisfied, Neville turned once more to the Minister. "You pal around with Lucius Malfoy. You endorsed his plan to promote the Parkinsons to Gym Leader status. You hired men like McNair. Meanwhile you've done NOTHING to support the likes of the Weasleys or the Lovegoods or the Potters. Nothing. In fact you sent your little toadie Umbridge to Hogwarts and let her mock Harry's mum… you want to hear some of the things she said about the woman that saved us from Voldemort? Because I am sure Ginny recorded them!" Neville jabbed his finger in the Prime Minister's face. "You're done."

"Now see here!" Fudge exclaimed, finding his nerve now that the Nocturne Grunts weren't attacking him. "You will not spread lies about good men like Lucius Malfoy. He has supported Avalon-"

"Lucius Malfoy doesn't matter anymore!" Neville roared. "I am Neville Longbotton, heir to the Lucan City Gym. My betrothed is Luna Lovegood, heir to the Dagonet City Gym. Ron Weasley is now the heir apparent of the Tor Town Gym. Hermione is dating Cedric Diggory, heir to the Tristan City Gym. Harry is the heir of both Godric's Hollow and Mordred's End Gyms. The Parkinsons are already gone and the Malfoys will lose their Gym when Harry comes of age! Do the math here, Prime Minister… the Pride will control 6 gyms. We will be united and we will make our will known… and our will… it will see your ass gone!"

"You can't threaten me!" Fudge blustered.

Neville's hand launched forward and he grabbed Fudge by the shirt, pulling him in close. "My mum and dad lost their minds thanks to Lucius Malfoy's sister-in-law. I will never get to know them because of Nocturne. And Lucius Malfoy and his spawn… they laugh about it. They fucking laugh. If you think for one moment I am going to side with a man that thinks he is a 'good man' then you are worthless." He shoved Fudge back and the man stumbled and caught himself. "Can't threaten you? I can do that and more." He turned and marched towards the door. "Hurry up because I'm not waiting for you."

Ron quickly followed after his friend. "Mate, are you-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Neville said stiffly.

Ron wisely dropped the topic.

Fudge, rather than put up a denial or a fight… simply followed after the two, an afterthought.