A/N: Hello hello once again to all of you lovely people. It's DrPhill26 back again with another chapter of Evolution and one I'm sure a lot of you have been eagerly waiting for... especially given that it's over a month late. I do apologize about the delay, and if you want to know the details why it's late, they're at the bottom of the chapter along with the relevant team summaries per usual. Until then, enjoy :)
"THIS is BK-03, Type: Shadow, and we of Team Eclipse are his masters!" Aster finished his proclamation and the chimeric beast before Tyler and everyone else roared a second time. Overwhelming feelings of terror pierced his heart like a dagger and churned his stomach like an ocean's storm. His sense of dread was only made worse by how calmly the creature across from him and everyone else surveyed its upcoming battlefield. Even outnumbered three to one, and with three Mega-Evolved Pokémon as its opponents no less, this Type: Shadow monstrosity simply and slowly surveyed his three opponents the same way a predator would stalk its next prey.
"Team Eclipse?" Will broke the silence, albeit sounding stunned from what he'd heard. "Bit of an overzealous name, don't you think?"
"Overzealous? Ha!" Aster let out a singular, dismissive laugh in response. "When your greater purpose is to cast your shadow over those beneath you, I can hardly think of a more appropriate name than Eclipse. But, if you must know, we do have another reason we call ourselves Eclipse my boy."
"And what reason would that be." Will's voice became more of an angered growl, while his Mega Absol did the same.
"It's rather clever if I say so myself." Aster locked eyes with Will while his beast did the same with Nyxx. The two Pokémon both crouched down to attack-ready stances, as swirls of dark energy orbited their bodies.
"You see, we of Team Eclipse aim to surpass the failed legacies of those who came before us. With the perfection of Cypher's research standing before you, we will eclipse their vision of not just ruling the world. But we will also eclipse the legacy of the former Team Galactic, as we create a brand-new world molded in our image. We are destined to succeed where they and so many others around the world have tried and failed."
"And do you know why all of zem failed, just like you and your Team Eclipse will fall as well?" Madison spoke up with a heated anger burning in her voice as her Mega Houndoom matched his trainer's intensity, with small flames evaporating away from every breath he took. "It is because no matter 'ow dark of a shadow you cast on ze world, you and your evil cannot extinguish ze light of ze human spirit."
"Which makes your choice in team name that much more flawed." Jason tagged himself in, matching Madison's fire with his and his Manectric's electricity sparking both in his voice and around the Pokémon's body. "Because not even the darkest of eclipses can completely block out the light. And even when they do, the darkness they bring is only temporary. You can't stop the light from returning, just like you can't stop us from purging Sinnoh and the rest of the world of your kind."
"If that's the case, then we will simply extinguish the very light itself, and make you all feel the weight of our shadow first hand." The hateful red eyes of the beast called Type: Shadow somehow flashed even more intensely, and a suffocating stillness overcame all four combatants. The seconds stretched on for hours, and the tension made the hair on the back of Tyler's neck feel like it would pull free from his body and flee. His heart felt like it would join them, beating so loudly in his chest it was all that he could hear. While he wanted to run and hide, there wasn't anywhere to run he felt that could avoid the carnage that was about to rip the world open in this upcoming fight.
"Nyxx, use Dark Pulse!" Will finally made the first move, breaking the eternal stillness as his Mega Absol launched off a swirling blast of dark energy towards the beast.
"Jump up and dodge!" Type: Shadow responded quickly, springing high in the air above the first attack.
"Take aim 'Oundie, Flamethrower!" With a tracking eye, Houndoom spat out a swirling blast of flames towards the airborne Pokémon.
"Shadow Beam!" His eyes sparkled with bloodlust as Type: Shadow molded a ball of orange-tinted blackness in front of its face, before firing off a blast of shadow-laced energy into the attack. The two attacks struggled against each other briefly before igniting into a powerful explosion that cut into the ground beneath where the attacks collided.
"There's no way you'll hide from this now. Manectric, Thunderbolt!" Before the dust cloud had even settled, Jason's Manectric launched a ferocious lightning bolt into the cloud where his opponent was beginning to fall.
"Shadow Saber!" As Jason's attack pierced the fiery dust cloud, a dark purple slash mark cut through the rest of it and on its way towards the attack. A second explosion cleared the air, and as Type: Shadow landed on the ground, the battlefield appeared to reset itself, as all four combatants stared each other down yet again.
"Oh no, he can use more than one Shadow move?!" Tyler blurted out over the battlefield.
"I take it that's not exactly a good thing… is it?" Wendy asked a bit anxiously and Tyler shook his head.
"It's not. If a Shadow Pokémon is capable of using more than one Shadow move, that's an indicator of just how powerful it is. Even just knowing two moves shows how far a Shadow Pokémon has been corrupted, not to mention how much more powerful it has become."
"Then maybe we should try to end this as quickly as we can. You guys ready for another team up?" Will asked and both of his allies nodded together.
"Then let's do this right, Nyxx use Ice Beam!"
"Manectric Thunderbolt!"
"'Oundie use Fire Blast!" Each of the three Pokémon charged up their respective attacks with ice, electricity and fire swirling around the mouths of each Mega Pokémon before finally launching another combined attack. Jagged beams of blue and yellow swirled up and around the destructive flames, each color blurring together into a tri-attack of elemental fury.
"There's no way this can fail." Tyler heard Wendy thinking aloud next to him. "And they said earlier they don't have any more Pokémon to sacrifice to block the attack. Please… please make this be the end."
"Hmph… Shadow Nova!" Tyler's knees buckled as he saw a menacing and thick purple and black aura flash around Type: Shadow's body, expanding outward from it. With another one of its echoing roars, the energy suddenly condensed back into its body and a blinding white light erupted from its body. Tyler had to shield himself from the light, but was then blindsided by the punishing shockwave that drove him into the ground like he'd been run over by a truck. He covered up completely, being thrown around by the aftermath as even the very ground itself felt afraid as it trembled beneath Tyler's flailing body. Finally, he felt his body stop moving, and turned his attention back towards the battlefield, only to become faintly aware of a ringing noise in his ears. Tyler put his finger up to his ear, still hearing the ringing even as he blocked his ear.
"…ayy?" Tyler heard what sounded like a distorted voice outside of his head over the ringing.
"...ah… ink-m-hayy." Another distorted voice. Tyler closed his eyes and massaged his temples, slowly shaking his head back and forth.
"eye-errr?" Still not working. He dropped back to a seated position, moving his fingers back towards the front of his ear.
"lerrr… ty-lerrr?" It was faint, but Tyler could make out his name through the ringing. He tried looking around again, seeing a figure standing over him. "ty-lerrr!"
"Perhaps this can help." A voice cut through the fog in Tyler's head and a moment later, he felt something like bubbles tickling the inside of his body. The more they spread through him, the quieter the ringing became, and the more clarity returned to Tyler's senses.
"Tyler! Are you okay Tyler?" Wendy's voice asked and Tyler looked up and saw her figure standing over him. Her face was being lit up by a faint yellow glow. He looked down and saw a soft glow around his chest, which also happened to be where the bubbly feeling was most concentrated at the moment. Curious, he looked over his shoulder and saw Pulse standing behind him with the same colored light lighting up his muzzle from below.
"You're… healing me?" Tyler asked the Lucario.
"You looked like you could use it." Pulse's voice sounded in his head again, though Tyler could hear the pained grimace behind it.
"Hey, take it easy Pulse." Tyler fully turned towards the Lucario, putting his hands upon Pulse's glowing paws. "I can put up with what's left. Worry about yourself."
"If you insist." The glowing went away and both Tyler and Pulse assisted each other back to a standing position.
"You guys should keep your distance!" Will called out to the non-battlers.
"Don't need to tell me twice." Tyler called back.
"You never answered my question Tyler." Wendy said as she began helping her boys back towards her parents. "Are you okay?"
"Pulse helped." Tyler quickly answered. "But yeah, I'm fine."
"Good." Wendy smiled before turning back over her shoulder. "Kick his butt extra hard for us now!"
"You make zat sound so easy Wendy." Madison sighed with an amused smile, turning her attention back to the fight at hand. "
"Okay, so we can't afford to let him use whatever that move was again." Jason shook his head with a frown. "But if he can tank up a combined attack like ours, then how are we supposed to fight him?"
"Honestly, I think we have to slow him down and try to stall for time." Will offered meekly. "Once dad gets here, we can get back on the offensive."
"If you think you can hold out until then, go ahead and try." Aster and his bestial partner growled together.
"Here we go Nyxx, use Double Team, then surround him with Agility!" Within seconds, a snarling pack of Mega-Absols appeared and then swarmed around the creature called Type: Shadow.
"Use Shadow Saber to slice his army to pieces!" The creature stood up on its hind legs as both its front talons glowed with a midnight colored aura. It turned around and threw a slash-projectile behind him. In an instant, there was a gaping hole in the pack that had previously encircled Shadow, but one glowing claw still remained. Shadow pivoted a second time and threw a wider slash towards another cluster of Nyxx's clones, eliminating most of them in the blink of an eye.
"Manectric, slow him down with Thunder Wave!" With a single bark, Manectric discharged a series of thin blue lightning bolts from its body. Shadow didn't even blink as the bolts struck him and a few arcs of static electricity surrounded its body.
"'Blind 'im with Smog 'Ondie!" Madison's Houndoom let out a growling bark of its own as a thick cloud of black fog that drifted towards the still unimpressed Shadow.
"Now whip that cloud into a storm Nyxx, use Icy Wind!" As the cloud of darkness made its way towards Shadow, the remaining Absol clones each blew a blast of cold wind around the Pokémon, creating a frozen whirlwind of black and blue ice and trapping Shadow inside of it.
"Shadow Beam!" Inside of the black and blue storm cloud, Shadow charged up another dark-orange ball of energy and punched a hole clean through it and towards the three Mega Pokémon. Their respective instincts kicked in and they all dodged the oncoming attack, Nyxx and Jason's Manectric landing next to each other.
"Thunderbolt!" Both their trainers called in unison and their Pokémon howled together, firing off a targeted thunderstorm from their bodies. Shadow's body shook slightly under the combined electric attack, though he still stood upright.
"'Oundie use Fire Spin!" Madison turned up the heat herself as 'Oundie fired off a swirling pillar of flames that surrounded the creature completely with red-orange hellfire.
"Cut through the flames with Shadow Saber, then take the fight to them!" Yet in spite of the attacks trying to hold it in place, Shadow once more stood on its legs and fired a pair of midnight-laced slashes towards the two Pokémon electrocuting him. Both projectiles easily cut through the flames that were trapping him, allowing Shadow to lunge through the gap and fire another slash towards the Manectric.
"Manectric Discharge!" Jason's Pokémon jumped back and fired off its namesake attack, shooting out a thick cloud of blue lightning from its body and into the slash-mark. The attacks canceled out within a brief flash of an explosion, but before the dust could even settle, Shadow's terrifying red eyes glared through the dust with another midnight laced claw accompanying them.
"Sucker Punch!" Just before the shadowy attack could land, a second smoke cloud appeared beside Shadow's body and Madison's Houndoom lunged out of it, slamming its body into the creature's side and pushing its intended attack out of reach and slashing deep into the already ravaged ground beneath them.
*Phew* "Thanks for the save Maddie, I owe you." Jason let out a sigh as both his and Madison's Pokémon landed on the ground again.
"Worry about zat later, 'Oundie use Dark Pulse!" Now her Houndoom spun around and fired off a swirling pillar of black and purple energy of its own.
"Shadow Beam!" Shadow countered with his own attack, charging up a blast of dark orange and firing it into Madison's attack.
"Now Nyxx, Megahorn!"
"Manectric use Wild Charge!" Thinking together, both Will and Jason tried to capitalize on Shadow's counter attack with one of their own. Manectric's body became shrouded in a cone of electric energy and he took off like a grounded lightning bolt towards Shadow. In stark contrast, his stealthier ally Nyxx stayed in the darkness of Shadow's blind spot, though the horns on her head began to grow and glow with a jade energy as they now resembled an ornate axe head.
Manectric's attack landed first, slamming his electrified body into Shadow's side in an attempt to run through the Pokémon. Unable to brace itself, Shadow's body lifted off the ground and allowed Manectric to complete its attack. The beast rolled across the ground as residual electricity arced across its body, while his attacker pivoted around and slammed into him a second time, this time charging into the creature's spine and halting his movement. Nyxx then jumped to the sky, eclipsing the moon with her body and her wings spread wide like an angel of the blackest night before falling towards the chimeric hell-spawn beneath her.
"Shadow Nova!" Still lying on its back, Shadow's body tensed up and the same purple and black aura manifested around its body, expanding farther from it as Nyxx continued to fall. The aura began to retract back into Shadow's body, but Nyxx fell faster and slammed her horn into the creature. Another shockwave punched its way through the battlefield as the ground erupted around where the two Pokémon landed. Burning lumps of broken rock and dirt exploded outward and rained down across the deeply scarred battlefield, forcing everyone to take shelter. By the time the tremors ceased, and the last pebble had fallen back to Earth, all that seemed to remain was the deepest crater on the battlefield yet, with a lingering dust cloud held in place over the top of it.
"Nyxx?" Will called out with a sense of dread in his voice.
"Manectric, Sound off, where are you?" A weak bark responded quickly as Jason's most loyal partner made his way a bit sluggishly back towards the Ranger's side. His part in the attack may not have been as explosive as Nyxx's just was, but he showed some damage as a few hindering sparks of energy arced across his back with each step.
"'Oundie? Are you hurt?" Madison called out herself and after a brief tense silence, the hellhound's bark was also heard and he began to make his way to Madison's side.
"Nyxx?!" Will asked again, though for the second time failed to get a response from his Pokémon. "Nyxx! Are you hurt? Nyxx!"
"…sol." Finally, a figure began to emerge from the thinning dust cloud and Nyxx walked out of it. Though the damage she'd taken from her double-edged attack clearly showed on her way back to her trainer. Her steps were with a limp, but she still wore that cocky smirk of hers like a badge of honor as she lay down on her stomach before her trainer.
"Oh thank God." Will sighed as he dropped to a knee, stroking his Absol's cheek with his hand. "You scared me girl."
"Absol." Nyxx's smirk softened into a full smile as she nuzzled her trainer's hand.
"Is… is it over? Did you guys get him?" Wendy asked and Tyler was wondering the same. That beast had to have taken a ton of damage from that attack if it was still struggling to get up after all this time. And even if he wasn't defeated outright, perhaps these Eclipse people would reconsider their position and retreat after seeing the output their opponents could give them.
"As much as I want it to be, I don't think that was the end." The Ranger sounded less optimistic than Wendy did, and Tyler had to agree. This Type: Shadow creature had been firing off powerful attacks left and right since it hit the battlefield. Not only that, but it had also been shrugging off their previous combined attacks without hardly batting an eye. They may have scored a clean hit just now, but Tyler just didn't believe that a Pokémon codenamed Beast Killer could go down so easily from one strong hit.
"Get up Zero-Three!" And neither did those Team Eclipse guys as Aster called out his battler's codename. And much to Tyler's and his friend's mounting despair, they could hear another roar from deep inside the pit, seeing the beast jump out of it and land on all fours, looking like it was still ready for a fight, and ready to exact a measure of revenge for the damage it had received.
"You've got to be kidding me! How is that freak still moving?" Wendy blurted out hers and everyone else's disbelief. Sure, Tyler may have expected him to still be able to fight, but he still looked like even that critical hit from Nyxx's Megahorn had barely scratched him.
"I told you before. BK-03 is the pinnacle of our research." Aster boasted confidently. "Even against all of your Mega Pokémon, you still don't stand a chance in bringing him down!" Type: Shadow roared his agreement with another echoing cry in response to his trainer's brashness. However, over the sound of that cry, the oddly misplaced sound of cracking wood was heard over it.
"Wh – what the? Where's that noise coming from?" Jason asked as he and everyone started looking around. They were all standing in an open field with the nearest trees being hundreds of yards away. But the loudness of the cracking noise seemed to say that it was nearby
"Look! Ze mask is breaking!" Madison spotted it first and everyone looked at Type: Shadow's head, specifically the wooden mask atop its head. As they did, there was another cracking noise, and a large crack began to form above the mask's left eye. Another cracking noise, and the crack fractured beneath the eye as well. A third crack, and this time they all watched as two of the spikes at the base of the mask fractured and split apart on their way to the ground beneath it.
"Oh no..." Aster's voice, which had been so confident and arrogant before suddenly lost all of it and became replaced with a foreboding dread as blue electricity began to spark out of the place where the wooden spikes had been. Meanwhile, something seemed to be happening to Type: Shadow as well. Its body became ramrod stiff, and the color of its eyes faded away until they were as dark as night. The sparking lights of blue lit up the underside of its partially broken mask in flashes of pulse-pounding tension. Its eyes suddenly opened, and it bellowed another piercing declaration of war. But this time, the beast's eyes were different. The right eye was still its furious and hate filled red, but the creature's left eye where the cracks in the mask were now showed an eerie and ominous silver color.
Before anyone could react, Shadow charged up a ball of black and orange energy in front of its mouth, but also drew in shades of blood red energy into the attack as well. It fired off a beam of energy in a wild direction, exploding with a force of a bomb even on the other side of the route from where everyone was. A second sphere was already charged up and launched, this time shooting off into the sky and obliterating the low covered clouds in the night sky. This time a third ball was charged up and Shadow looked dead ahead towards the Houndoom in front of it and fired.
Madison didn't even have time to issue a command before the attack hit her Pokémon, instantly sending the hellhound flying back into his trainer, and knocking both of them away in a violent collision. Every breath inside Madison's lungs was forcibly punched out of her in an instant, as she and her Houndoom crashed against like a pair of rag dolls. Wave after wave of incredible agony broke over both of their bodies at every impact with the unforgiving ground. After another flip-over collision with the ground, the Houndoom's body flashed with the same prismatic red energy that had overcome it on transforming earlier, only this time the Pokémon reverted back to its base form before slamming back to the ground once more. Mercifully, their torment finally came to a rest beyond the remains of the barn; though it was difficult to say whether or not Madison and her Houndoom were in more pieces than the destroyed building they now lay next to.
"MADISON NOOOO!" Wendy and Pulse both immediately rushed towards their fallen partner while everyone else stood rooted in absolute shock. One attack, one attack that they weren't prepared for could do that much damage?! Just how much stronger could this monster possibly get?! Even before he got beside them, Pulse's paws were already glowing with that same pale-yellow light Tyler had seen when he'd been healed by him earlier. But Tyler was only mildly stunned by the attack that Pulse had healed him from. Madison had to be gravely injured after the car crash like damage she'd just taken. Plus, with all the energy Pulse had already spent tonight, and with Wendy saying that this healing ability wasn't perfected yet, could he still possibly help both Madison and her Houndoom?
Tyler bravely looked back at the monster that had just eliminated one of its foes for the night and saw the beast's entire body twitch and shake in an unstable manner. Briefly an aura flashed around the creature's body, with Tyler seeing the color red completely overwhelming the previous purples and blacks that had surrounded it.
"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Tyler screamed as he and everyone else tucked themselves into the fetal position, fearing another nova-blast like they'd seen before. Only, it never came…again, Tyler half bravely and half foolishly chanced a second look and saw the creature bucking around in place like an enraged Tauros at a rodeo. He looked confused, was he imagining things? He clearly saw a flash of the creature's aura like it was going for that Shadow Nova move it'd used earlier… but it failed? Regardless, the wild chimera continued to flail about before firing yet another beam of frenzied red into the sky above its head.
"Shit man, this is exactly what I was referring to earlier!" Nova's panicked voice turned Tyler's attention to him. He was looking at his partner, who stared dumbfounded at Shadow as it continued its frenzied dance. "This is turning into another Salamence incident, except we don't have any backup right now to control this thing anymore."
"It's still under control Nova!" Aster fired back.
"HOW Aster!? HOW?!" But Nova wasn't having any of it. "How exactly do we have the situation in control, when our entire organization's strongest Shadow Pokémon just entered Hyper Mode or Reverse Mode, or whatever the fuck the eggheads call it. And the last time this happened, it killed a fully grown Salamence in one attack!"
"I remember Nova, I was there!" Aster raised his arm and Tyler heard the distinct noise of a Poké ball being enlarged. Quietly he prayed that it was the ball to return that wild monster from sight.
"That's why the eggheads put these limiters on Zero-Three's ball as a backup inhibitor to the mask. We engage all of them, he goes back in the ball. See? Watch." Aster pointed the ball at Shadow and a light blue pulse of energy shot towards the wild Pokémon. However, the beast called Type: Shadow saw the light coming towards it and jumped away from it. As it landed, it began charging up another ball of red, black and orange energy, this time looking towards his masters.
"Magne – TAHHHHHH!" The two of them were blown away before Aster could make whatever response he was planning to the violent attack, disappearing in a flash of red and white light and behind another deafening explosion. Tyler wanted to be happy at seeing the two men ultimately responsible for forcing this hellish monstrosity on them getting obliterated by their own creation. But at the same time, the way they were talking before being blown away made it sound like they were the only two who could possibly prevent this monster from causing any more damage than it already had. Things were starting to look incredibly bleak tonight, and probably were going to get a lot worse if they couldn't do something to stop his rampage.
"Manectric! Thunder! FULL POWER!" At least the Ranger hadn't given up hope yet. Jason's 's instinct seized the moment as he and his Manectric summoned a thunderstorm that rained down bolt after bolt of lightning into the enraged Pokémon. The beast shuddered as each consecutive thunderbolt struck its body and was pummeled closer and closer to the ground.
"Follow suit Nyxx! HYPER BEAM!" Now it was the Mega Absol's turn to charge a sparkling ball of orange energy in front of its mouth. With Manectric paralyzing the Pokémon's movements for her, Nyxx fired off her attack, aiming to inflict as much damage to the feral beast standing before her as she possibly could. The beast had no choice but to take the attack, finally being knocked off its feet and being flung a fair distance by the attack. It crashed into the ground, kicking up a stream of dirt as it continued to be pushed away as Nyxx's attack dissipated.
"Hell yeah!" Jason cheered with a fist pump. "Looks like that thing's finally reaching its limit! We might just be able to take this thing down after all!"
"Stay focused Jason." Will cautioned his friend. "We're making progress, but one mistake and we could end up like his trainers."
"Or Madison…" Tyler worriedly looked back over towards Wendy and Pulse where the two of them knelt beside their fallen allies. Wendy delicately cradled Madison in her arms, clearly seeing the pain on both girls' faces despite the darkened night sky surrounding them. Pulse knelt over the Houndoom, holding his glowing paws over the Houndoom's chest. Though every now and then, the light would dim and flicker around them, showing just how tired the Lucario was from all the night's events.
"Still, where's the Commander when you need him? We really could use some extra firepower right now." Jason frowned as both he and Will scanned the sky above. After a moment, they heard a faint rumbling in the distance and turned towards it, though neither of them saw more than the star-dotted night sky. Another lower pitched rumbling immediately turned their attention back towards the battlefield and the beast standing in the lingering haze across from them with both of its front talons glowing a frenzied blood-red color.
"Protect!" Both Will and Jason called together as their opponent fired a pair of dual-slashes towards both Mega Pokémon. The Absol and Manectric each lowered crouched in their stances as a green barrier of energy formed before them. Shadow's attacks cut into the energy shields, but neither broke from the damage before canceling out in an explosion that pushed the two Pokémon back. However, Shadow's attack wasn't finished, as he suddenly appeared near Jason's Manectric and lunged towards it with another blood-red claw.
"Manectric dodge!"
"Nyxx, Quick Attack!" As Shadow raised its right claw, Jason's Manectric jumped away from the oncoming attack. His partner meanwhile jumped towards it, rushing the beast and slamming her body into its torso and knocking it away from the Manectric. The beast landed sloppily on its legs, but managed to stay upright and turn its attention towards the Absol with the same attack.
"Double Team!" Shadow's slash cut through Nyxx's clones just as quickly as she formed them, rendering her strategy ineffective and exposed to another follow-up slash.
"Manectric Thunderbolt!" However, a flash of yellow lightning paralyzed the beast mid-slash, and left it immobile before the Mega Absol. "Up the voltage Manectric, do not let him get free!"
"Mane-ec-TRIC!" With a prideful bark, the Mega Manectric put everything into its attack. The thunderbolts intensified, and the beast dropped down to a knee with a pained expression in its multicolored eyes.
"Now get behind him and use Ice Beam!" With its own affirmative bark, Nyxx circled around Shadow and fired a frigid beam of blue energy towards the beast's feet. With Manectric holding him in place, it gave Nyxx the chance to properly focus her attack, and soon thick restraints of ice had been cast around Shadow's hind legs. She then moved up front towards his talons, firing another blast towards them and encasing his entire front legs in ice.
"That's it Nyxx, send him all the way to the Ice Age!"
"Ab-SOL!" With her trainer's encouragement, Nyxx completely encased the creature's lower half in ice and began moving back towards its fish-like tail. But as she started to encase the blue and white tail in ice, the blue ice around the base of Shadow's body began to tint with a hazy red and purple energy from inside the frozen restraints.
"Just a bit more Nyxx, hurry!" Sensing what her trainer meant, Nyxx switched from pristine focus to overwhelming power, firing a full-on Blizzard from her mouth in an effort to speed up the freezing process. A full wave of ice painted the side of Shadow's body, beginning to encase his entire body as the wave of reddish-purple aura spread around him as well. The aura intensified and expanded outward, bleeding through the ice and corrupting it into an ominous shade of crimson. It then began to absorb back into its body, and a faint white light began surrounding the creature's body.
Again, Tyler dove to the ground, bracing himself for that violent attack that blew everything away at the start of the battle… only once again nothing happened. Peeking through his fingers, Tyler looked in the direction of the monster his masters had dubbed Beast-Killer, and doubted what his eyes told him that he was looking at. Type: Shadow, the chimeric hell-spawn that they'd been fighting against, the monster that had gone toe to toe with three Mega-Evolved Pokémon simultaneously and appeared to be winning, had been frozen completely solid inside of Nyxx's Blizzard. Its back was arched and its head was looking up at the moon as if it was about to let loose another one of its bone-chilling roars. Yet its front talons and its hind legs remained frozen to the ground, and in spite of the faint glow of white within the blue ice, the beast did not move. Perhaps most telling of all though were the creature's eyes, where the omnipresent rage hidden behind its partially broken mask were finally looking to have cooled in their intensity.
"Did… did we… Did we do it?" Will asked Tyler's question for him, having a small droplet of optimism in his voice.
"I… I think we did." The Ranger took a guarded step towards the Pokémon. "Manectric, go check it out."
"Tric…" The Discharge Pokémon mirrored his trainer's caution on approaching Type: Shadow's icy prison. He slowly made his way beside the beast while sniffing the air around him, then walked around him a moment before finally standing before his front. The Manectric snarled briefly, but still Shadow did not move. One moment became two, became three and then four, and as each moment passed, the group's elation began to grow exponentially.
*CRACK* And then their growing elation began to fracture; shattering much like the ice at the center of the "Beast Killer's" body. *CRACK* And the fissures of broken ice spread across its entire form. *CRACK* The ice in front of its mask split apart, showing the boiling hatred of its multi-colored eyes for a moment, only for a white light to consume them and its body inside the lingering fragments of ice.
A shattering roar and the ice flew apart amongst a second explosive discharge of blindingly bright energy. Everything unfortunate enough to be in its path was effortlessly blown away, Pokémon and human alike. Both Jason's Mega Manectric and Nyxx the Mega Absol were sent flying towards the moon, both Pokémon's bodies a fleeting flash of red light as they reverted to their base forms inside the blanketing and destructive white. Their trainers hardly fared better, both being consumed by the destructive shockwave and disappearing from sight. Even from as far away as he was, Tyler felt the force of the attack as though he was right next to it, feeling like a truck had once again run him and dragged him through a field for the second time tonight.
As the pale moonlight began to show the carnage left in its wake, the beast called Type: Shadow let out another bellowing howl towards the moon. All of the Pokémon that had battled it now lay defeated. The trainers of the Pokémon it had defeated, they too lay broken and defeated like their Pokémon. All of their allies, equally devastated and unable to put up a fight. Even its handlers who first unleashed Type: Shadow were amongst the casualties that the Beast Killer had potentially slain tonight.
The beast's talons suddenly buckled underneath it and it fell on top of itself. It may have ultimately emerged victorious in this fight, but scars of its hard-fought war were quickly adding up in weight. From absorbing the repeated attacks of three Mega-Evolved Pokémon, sometimes simultaneously, to the failure of the mask's limiting system at restraining the beast's double-edged wrath, and adding in not one but two of the beast's most physically draining attacks in Shadow Nova, the beast called Type: Shadow hardly had the strength left to stand. But in the relative safety of its post-fight devastation, it might be able to regain some of its strength, even if for just a moment, at least until it heard a distinctive pinging noise nearby.
"Glacie… onnn…" Even though the voice clearly sounded pained and injured to Shadow's exceptional hearing, it still cast its predatory gaze towards it. Looking over towards its source, Shadow saw another creature standing inside a shower of silver sparks. It was four-legged, just like the others that had fought it earlier, though this one was much smaller in comparison, and its body covered in varying shades of blue fur. Shadow continued to stare at the blue creature, unsure what to make of it for a moment. But it then saw the creature open its mouth and a sparkling blue light flashed in front of it. A moment later, Shadow saw some of these sparkling blue orbs of light shooting towards it, floating along an Icy Wind that chilled its front talons. The blue creature was attacking Shadow. It was a threat. It was an enemy.
Shadow stood back up on all fours and began to charge an orb of tainted reds and blacks before its mouth, when the blue creature collapsed on to its side and the chilled air it felt ceased. Shadow held onto the orb in front of its mouth, but after watching the creature remain motionless on the ground, it canceled out its own attack and began to walk towards it. As Shadow approached the blue creature, he could see one of the humans behind it, though it was not one of the three who controlled the three Pokémon it had battled earlier. This red-haired one was one of the others.
"Gghhh – Glaee-ceee…" The creature stirred as Shadow walked towards it, eventually making its way back to its feet and looking at Shadow with contempt. Its mouth opened again and the same sparkling blue breath of cold air blasted Shadow's face. The chimeric Pokémon shrugged off the damage with its own look of scorn and took another step towards the creature. It looked back at the human behind it, turning back towards Shadow and lunging forward with an icy energy in its mouth. Shadow simply threw itself into the charging blue creature's attack, forcing a pained mewl from it as it crashed to the ground next to the red-haired human.
"Cee-onnnn…" But the blue creature showed resilience, standing back up on wobbly legs like it was guarding the red-haired human. Perhaps this blue creature was defending the red-haired human? It made no difference to Shadow however. So long as there was anything standing in its way, it would be eliminated without hesitation. So, Shadow charged some of its remaining energy into its talon, and stood on its hind legs.
Yuki braced herself for the attack she knew was coming. She was already exhausted, the damage from her earlier battle to reclaim her stolen egg wearing down on her heavily. But then the explosive shockwave attacks from the monster that was now bearing down on her with its claws had nearly drained her of her already limited stamina. But she had to protect her master, even if no one else could. She'd done it before when the Sneasels had attacked them the night she evolved. But this beast was much more powerful than those Sneasels, and Tyler wasn't moving, let alone be in a position to help her like he had with the Sneasels that night. The monster's claw began glowing with a tainted red energy. She was scared, but had to be strong for her master's sake. So, she charged up what little reserves she had left and summoned all of it to the frosted fangs in her mouth.
"I admire your bravery little one." A psychic voice that sounded like her master's voice played in Yuki's head. She looked up and saw a flash of green light in front of her. When the light faded, much to her surprise saw that something was blocking the beast's glowing claw, or rather someone was. A Pokémon, humanoid in appearance with a glowing purple forearm was standing between her and her attacker, having caught the monster's claws on its forearm. Yuki's rescuer then stepped forward and threw the beast off of it, making it stagger away before landing on all fours.
"Now, are you okay?" The humanoid Pokémon looked down at Yuki while Yuki looked up at it. Its lower half was completely white, all the way up to its surprisingly wide hips. Its upper half was a deep green color, with everything from its face to its arms and even its chest being this green color. That was except for a curious red protrusion on both sides of its chest that matched the color of the concerned eyes looking down at Yuki.
"Um… yes, but my master-" Yuki started to look worriedly back at Tyler, only to be interrupted by the voice.
"You needn't worry little one. My master will be looking after him."
"Your master?" Yuki turned around and jumped back in surprise at what she'd seen. There were four humans standing behind her. Who were they? When did they get here? How did they get here? … Why did some of them look familiar? Yuki looked perplexed as she looked at the humans who'd appeared out of nowhere.
"Shit, this is even worse than I thought. Where's the barn?" One of the humans, a male by the sound of it spoke as he looked around the field. This was the one Yuki recognized the least, though he seemed to remind her of her master's friend William. He just looked a bit younger, and smaller than she remembered Will to be.
"Holy… is that Tim?" The male looked down towards Yuki and she stood protectively in front of her master.
*gasp* "Oh my god Tyler! Yuki!? What happened here?" One of the other figures knelt down to Yuki's level, her bright blue eyes looking worried behind the glasses she wore above an ocean of freckles on her face that were framed by her lengthy auburn colored hair. Yuki recognized this person as Wendy's friend Rose, and seeing the familiar face made Yuki relax her protective stance for the moment.
"Wait, if Tyler's here where's… Oh my God, William! WILL! Are you okay?!" Rose quickly ran away from Yuki with deep concern in her voice.
"Wait, what about – Wendy?! *panicked gasp* MADISON!" The second woman ran away as well, though Yuki didn't remember much about her either, though she did remember seeing her at the party the other day. Although she tended to spend a lot of her time by the other girl with the sunset colored hair.
"Holy shit, Jason! Dude! Snap out of it!" And now the unfamiliar boy ran away too, leaving just Yuki's rescuer and one giant of a man still towering over her. Now it was his turn to crouch down to her level, though he did so with some difficulty. He reached towards her, Yuki tensed up defensively again, but the man's weathered smile and the gentle touch as he lightly rubbed the top of her forehead dropped her guard a second time.
"You've done an exceptional job tonight sweetie. I have no doubt you'll make a terrific mother to your egg when he hatches." The man spoke to Yuki. She looked curiously up at this man as he stood back upright, continuing to smile at her. "Now get some rest and let Pendragon and I finish this fight for you." Yuki wasn't entirely sure who this man was, but she certainly felt as though she could trust him and his words. His smile was very similar to Tyler's whenever he looked at her. Speaking of her master, he was still lying on the ground next to her. Yuki knew that it wasn't safe for him to be lying here, even with the new people helping them.
"Glaceon." Tyler heard Yuki's voice and felt something soft prodding against his arm. "Glae G-lae!" Now the prodding feeling pressed against his cheek, making Tyler recoil from its touch. But the prodding was persistent, continuing to poke his face with a soft but still forceful manner. He let out a groan and tried to lift himself up, though felt his entire body aching as he tried to move. It felt like a truck had run him over repeatedly. Everything hurt from his arms, to his legs, to his chest and legs. Surprisingly the only spot that didn't hurt so much was wherever the soft prodding was against his cheek.
"Glaceon~nnn." His eyes finally shot wide as the soft prodding was replaced with a cold wetness touched his cheek instead. And while he may not have been able to move to much in response, his body was at least alert enough to look around. He turned in the direction of the cold sensation and saw Yuki looking down at him, now elated for some reason as she began to attack his face with another of her cold kisses.
"Ack, Yuki stop. Ow! That hurts Yuki, please!" Tyler laughed at first, but as he became more aware of the aches of his body, the joy of Yuki's admiration for him became blocked by an aching stiffness throughout his body. Yuki did stop after Tyler told her to, a worried frown on her face. But Tyler reached up and cupped her cheek with his hand, scratching her under the chin like she liked.
"You're lucky to have such a caring Pokémon Tyler." A fatherly voice turned Tyler's attention to it and he saw Will's dad standing next to him. Wait, what was he doing here? When did he get here? Tyler looked around and saw the night sky and the ruined landscape spread all around him. The commander wasn't alone. Rose, Alicia and Will's younger brother Alex were all here as well, each of them tending to one of their fallen friends and their Pokémon. If they were here, they must have gotten Will's message from Aquila. But if they were still here and he was still here, then where was the monster responsible for all of this devastation?
"You needn't worry Tyler." Mr. Weiland looked back at Tyler and his Glaceon. "Pendragon and I can take care of the rest." Tyler looked past Will's father and saw a Gallade standing before him. And standing before him with that devastating hatred in its eyes was the beast responsible for the destruction all around them.
"No, Mr. Weiland, you need to know something about that thing." Tyler tried to quickly explain. "It's not like a normal Pokémon at all!"
"That much is obvious from its appearance my boy." Mr. Weiland replied but Tyler shook his head.
"No not that! That thing there is a Shadow Pokémon. And a highly dangerous one at that!"
"Shadow Pokémon?" Mr. Weiland seemed taken aback by Tyler's statement.
"Right, and it took on Madison's Houndoom, Jason's Manectric and Will's Absol at the same time and defeated all three of them! Plus, all of this destruction around us, he's the one who caused it."
"Then we'll need to end this battle quickly. Stand by Pendragon!" The Gallade nodded, raising its arms into an attack-ready stance.
"No wait, you can't fight it head-on!"
"Use Psycho Cut!" The Gallade's forearms both glowed with a psychic blue energy and he slashed repeatedly through the air, creating rippling slashes of energy that shot towards the beast. Sensing the danger, Shadow jumped away from each of the attacks.
"Teleport!" In a flash of green light, the Gallade disappeared and reappeared in a second flash almost instantaneously next to Shadow. "Psycho Cut again!" Before the beast could react, the Gallade drove both its glowing purple forearms into Shadow's side, swatting it away almost effortlessly.
Tyler was completely stunned as he stood back and watched. That monster had held its own with and eventually overpowered three Mega Pokémon simultaneously. Sure, there had to be some level of physical exhaustion involved from how long it had fought earlier, but this Gallade had already managed to outmaneuver and damage Shadow in seconds, something that took the three Mega Pokémon ages to do. Slowly the beast stood back up on its legs, charging up a ball of red and purple rage in front of its mouth.
"Protect!" The Gallade nodded, making a cross guard with its arms as they pulsed with the same green energy he'd teleported with. A forcefield appeared in front of him and the destructive beam fanned out against it in multiple directions away from the Gallade. Seeing its attack fail, Shadow let out a frustrated roar and blindly charged ahead, both its claws glowing with the same red and black energy.
"Teleport!" As soon as Shadow reared its legs, the Gallade disappeared in another flash of green and appeared behind it. However, Shadow appeared to anticipate this as he turned around and threw a projectile slash towards the Gallade. He took the attack, being driven back and kicking up a trail of dust by his feet, but the Blade Pokémon stayed upright and threw a retaliatory slash of his own to the same result. Furious with his inability to harm his opponent, Shadow crouched his stance again, and flashed his aura away from his body.
"Oh shit! He's using that move again!" Tyler dropped down and picked Yuki up in his arms, holding her close to his chest as he braced himself for the coming attack.
"Pendragon, use Close Com-"
"Magnezone Zap Cannon!" From out of nowhere, an enormous ball of lightning slammed into Shadow's body, making the beast cry out in pain, but more importantly halting its attack. Glinting in the low light behind where it stood, a silver bodied creature with a saucer-like body hovered in place with lingering sparks of electricity arcing around two magnets attached to either side of its body. Completely immobilized, the beast fell to the ground and twitched about, still feeling the numbing electricity inside of its bones.
"Now return, BK-03!" A flash of light blue energy shot towards Type: Shadow and its entire body became highlighted by it. The energy spread inwards, soon covering its entire form and condensing it back into a singular beam of light that returned back towards where the Magnezone was floating. Standing there were the two men in black, Aster and Nova, with the former being the one who held the ball that Type: Shadow had been returned to. A series of audible clicks could then be heard in that direction before the distinct sound of a Poké ball being shrunk down to its pocket size.
"Fuh – fuck…" Aster's partner coughed out in mild agony as he fell on to his partner's side briefly. "Guess the eggheads have more work to- *cough-wheeze* Nova pushed himself away from Aster and slouched over, clutching at his chest. "Ahh fuck… ooh that's gonna sting tomorrow."
"I would agree." Aster cast his stone-cold gaze at the ball in his hand. "There's a marked improvement over the last time he was used, but it seems the Neo-RKS system needs more revisionary work before BK-03 can be designated for proper assignments."
"Right, well all that techno-shit is your area of expertise; I'll let you handle that… So, Commander Thomas Weiland," Nova turned his attention towards Mr. Weiland and his Gallade. "The Sinnoh region's top Ranger has come to personally save the day. It's truly an honor."
"You have two options before you." The Commander spoke sternly at the two men in black, his scowl hardening like he was a Pokémon making the scariest of Scary Faces. "Surrender peacefully, or be taken in by force. And I would strongly advise that you chose the former."
"Hmmm… doesn't sound like the Commander wants to let us go for free." Nova shook his head with a shrug of his shoulders before raising a ball from his hip and enlarged it.
"Arcanine!" Materializing beneath a rain of silver sparks and with a fiery bark, The Legendary Pokémon burst out of Nova's ball. Yet even before fully materializing, the orange and black fire dog ran towards his trainer. In a swift motion, Nova vaulted onto the back of his Arcanine and the two of them turned back towards the Commander and his Pokémon.
"Magnezone, get ready." Now Aster's Pokémon drifted over in front of him, both Pokémon watching the Gallade intently.
"Stand by Pendragon… I've got a bad feeling about this."
"EXPLOSION!" The magnets on the side of the Magnezone's body began spinning wildly in opposite directions of each other as its body began to violently shake where it floated in place. Even if it wasn't the same Pokémon that had pummeled the very Earth into submission with its explosive rage, Tyler wasn't taking any chances, especially with Yuki out of her ball. He dropped to his knees and threw himself over her as a shield.
"Pendragon Protect!" Meanwhile, the Gallade made a cross-guard for the second time and another forcefield appeared before him as the Magnezone's body began to glow with a rapidly intensifying white light in its entire body. The explosion finally came, and although it may not have been to the intensity of the blasts caused by the beast earlier, the destructive shockwave still punched Tyler in the stomach despite him bracing for it.
"Let's ride Arcanine! Extreme Speed!" Nova's voice called out over the settling dust cloud, making Tyler look up in time to see the Fire type with both men in black riding on its back charging straight towards him with a burning white aura surrounding its body. Nova was gripping the shaggy beige fur on the back of its neck like the reigns of a Rhyhorn racer. Behind him was Aster, though instead of gripping the Fire type, or even his partner's waist, he recklessly held his right arm above his head.
"But before we leave, we're taking one last thing with us!" A blue shock of electricity arced around Aster's hand as a ball was enlarged in his hand. Whatever it was in his hand wasn't a Poké ball though, the electric shock implied as much. Whatever it was though, Aster threw it towards him, and Tyler watched as an electrified web of blue and yellow sparks expanded out towards him. It was a capture net.
Tyler's heart stopped as reality crashed down upon him like a Snorlax; he was being kidnapped as a hostage! But no, that didn't make sense. He may not have known as much about these Team Eclipse people, but he was familiar with Cypher and by extension Team Snagem. Now perhaps they were different, but Cypher and Snagem never directly targeted the trainers themselves, only their Pokémon. Which meant the net wasn't for him, it was for Yuki! Tyler tightened his grip around Yuki and curled up in a ball around his princess. There was no way in hell that he was going to let them take her unless they took him as well.
"Ally Switch!"
"What the fu-"
"Psycho Cut!" A moment later and Tyler heard a blood-curdling scream that forced his eyes open. He looked around in a panic and saw the cold and imposing figure of the Commander of the Sinnohan Rangers standing over him. But more importantly, there was no net around him or Yuki. He looked around again, this time in the direction of the scream he'd heard earlier and saw the Arcanine attempting to slow and turn around… with only Nova on the back of it. The Gallade, Pendragon had its back turned to the Arcanine, a latent purple energy fading away from its blade-like forearms as it looked down at something beneath his equally imposing stare. It was Aster, and on closer inspection Tyler could see that the man's helmet was completely shattered, though couldn't recognize anything other than that Aster was clutching at his left eye with both his hands.
"AAAHHHHHHHH! MY EYE!" The same voice cried out in another blood-curdling scream as Aster dropped down to his side, writhing around in pain.
"Shit! Aster!" Nova and his Arcanine raced towards their fallen partner, the burning white aura consuming the Fire type's body again.
"Pendragon, Psycho Cut again!"
"Extreme Speed!" As the Gallade's forearms glowed once again with the same psychic purple energy as before, the Arcanine suddenly blew past him in a blink of white and orange fur. Aster also disappeared from Tyler's sight at the base of the Gallade as he and the Blade Pokémon both turned and saw a streak of white and orange speeding off towards the treeline away from them.
"Hmph, at ease Pendragon." The Commander exhaled and the glowing in his Gallade's arms faded away as well. He then looked down at Tyler, replacing his chiseled composure with fatherly concern. "Are you and your Glaceon okay my boy?"
"Uh, yeah, we are. But what just happened?" Tyler asked as he finally let go of Yuki and stood up.
"I teleported the two of you to safety and then took your place." A voice called out to Tyler from inside his head. At first, he thought it was Pulse, but turned to see the Gallade walking towards him instead.
"Oh, well thank you… erm…"
"My master calls me Pendragon, you may do the same." The same voice called to him again as the Gallade nodded at him briefly before turning to his master and making a few gestures with his hands.
"I agree, but I'd like it if you could provide first-aid here instead." Mr. Weiland spoke to his Gallade, apparently having severed the telepathic link with Tyler in the process. The Pokémon nodded and then teleported away in a flash of green light with Tyler seeing him reappear over where what looked like Alicia was cradling Madison in her arms and crying. Immediately the Gallade knelt beside the two of them and his arms glowed with a rainbow-colored energy, holding them above Madison's body.
"Orion!" The distinct ping of a Poké ball being opened brought Tyler's attention back towards the sky, where he saw a Pokémon shoot out of its ball like a comet trailing the silver sparks in its wake. The large Pokémon let out an equally large screech before flapping its massive wings and gliding down to Earth besides its trainer.
"Noivern." The Pokémon instinctively lowered down to the ground, with the commander mounting it behind its head and the massive circular ears atop its head, and grabbing the mane of white fur around its neck.
"If you want answers Tyler, ask Pendragon. I don't have the time to give them to you, as I need to-"
"GRRRAAWWHHHH!" From the distant horizon, another bestial roar echoed across the night sky and a blurred bullet shot out across it. It curled back and slowed down, eclipsing the full moon with a crescent moon-like red wing, gliding on its descent to the ground before landing next to the commander and his Pokémon.
"Hey, I got here as soon as I could." A familiar face leaned around the Pokémon's red-scaled neck, which Tyler recognized as Will's tournament partner Eric. Which meant the Pokémon he was riding was probably Fluffy the Salamence. But why did her appearance look so different from the last time he'd seen her?
"I'm not too late, am I?" Eric asked the Commander looking worried and sounding winded.
"Actually, you wouldn't happen to have seen a white light rushing through the trees over in that direction, would you?" The Commander asked while pointing in the direction Nova and Aster had fled.
"Um, yeah actually. It was moving pretty fast, but it looked like it was heading straight north of here."
"Hmmm…" The Commander paused, appearing to size up Eric's dragon. "How fast is your Mega Salamence?"
"Very fast." Eric panted as Tyler looked at the dragon himself. It certainly did remind him of the changed appearances of the other three Mega-Evolved Pokémon he'd seen earlier tonight. He made a mental note to research this mega evolution thing, hopefully at a time when the world wasn't literally exploding around him. "We took off from Hearthome City as soon as I got Will's text message. That was about ninety minutes ago."
"Good. Then you'll be able to keep up with Orion and me." The Commander nodded as he turned to his Noivern. "On the double Orion!"
"Noivern!" The enormous bat-like Pokémon took flight, flapping its wings and quickly had shot up in front of the moon. With an additional screech, he turned and flew off in the direction Eric had told him.
"H-hey! Wait for us! You need to tell me what's going on!" Eric hollered after the Commander as he and his Salamence took flight in the same direction, leaving Tyler and Yuki alone in the field together. Neither of them had any energy or desire to move for the rest of the night, and the two of them plopped down next to each other on the dirt. After a moment to catch his breath, Tyler felt Yuki nuzzle her head against his chest, but Tyler needed more, wanted more. He scooped her up and held her in his lap, hugging her without wanting to ever let go, as the memory of Aster's thrown net played in his mind.
"Glaceon." Tyler felt Yuki lick his cheek with a sympathetic look on her face as she pulled away. She may have almost been stolen from him, her egg may have almost been stolen from her tonight as well. But at the end of this majorly trying ordeal, Tyler and Yuki both looked at each other. In spite of all the chaos that this night brought, and all the devastation around them, they still had each other. Tyler pulled Yuki closer to him and kissed her forehead, hearing Yuki purr in his arms as she snuggled deeper into his chest. And for a moment, the worries of the war zone around them faded away. They were just trainer, and Pokémon, together, and right now, that was all that mattered.
A/N: Okay, so Chapter 48 is in the books and more importantly this 3-part saga and five part night of hell has finally come to an end. Looking back at my original notes for this part, I can't believe I honestly expected that I'd be able to condense all of this into just two chapters. I know right?! What was I smoking when I thought that was even remotely feasible. So, now that that's said, let's turn back the clock a bit about this update and it being late. In summary, it's a combination of a lot of things. I've recently had a string of very disruptive and attention demanding clients at work, which would physically drain me to the point of not wanting to write something as intensive as this chapter. I've also been fighting colds and a string of back issues physically over the past couple months as well. I even actually started working on a side project that may eventually see its way onto this site as well. But, the main reason for the delay is because of a set of extensive revisions to the future plans of this story that my confidants had pointed out needed to be looked at going forward. And since I like having a set foundation in place of where to go before posting a new chapter, this final part of the trilogy got sidelined for a bit. So if I kept you waiting, I apologize. I hope this chapter and the content inside of it made it up to you. Until I see you guys again, this is DrPhill26 signing out and I hope I won't keep you waiting as long for the next part.
Tyler's team: Magnus (Quilava, Male), Caelum (Staraptor, Male), Yuki (Glaceon, Female), Felix (Gligar, Male)
Wendy's team: Pulse (Lucario, Male), Tess (Ampharos, Female), Yuri (Lilligant, Female), Flynt (Aron, Male)