So, I wrote a chapter… No real reason, I guess that it just came to me. And, I did say I'd probably be writing for stress relief. So… yeah.

Epilogue, Part 9: Zero Tolerance

-Rio's POV-

Once the call was made, Hogan ran forward, but Wrecker didn't seem all that interested in meeting him head on, instead choosing to watch him as he moved. Hogan readied Brick Break with both his right arms and was about to swing forward when Wrecker jumped.

We all gawked at the height that he got, but then his body was surrounded by white streaks as he dove down. Damus murmured, "Aerial Ace…?!"

Hogan took a firmer stance and held his upper arms crossed together hands glowing as if he was going to use Cross Chop. After he was hit, he caught the attack with his energy charged hands, not even budging. Wrecker grunted in surprise as he seemed to push harder, but Hogan said, "I've stopped blows from an enemy twice as big as you."

Hogan's lower fists glowed and he slammed Wrecker in the face with a double Brick Break, breaking the move and sending him back to the ground. Wrecker immediately got back up and growled. Hogan just calmly cracked his knuckles as he said, "I'll give you one thing, that armor is tough. This fight will go on for a while."

Wrecker growled again, but then appeared to compose himself, "All right, so you're pretty tough, but unlike you, I have great intelligence too."

Hogan raised an eyebrow, "…You ever have a rival?"

The abrupt question apparently caught Wrecker off guard, "What?"

"A rival," Hogan continued as he got in a ready stance again, "You know, someone that's your equal, you push each other to do better because you want to best them in battle. Savage is my rival; kicked my ass good the first time we ever sparred, back when I was a Machop. But I got stronger from it."

Wrecker laughed, "I am far above anyone and everyone in strength."

Hogan dashed forward and threw a punch which Wrecker intercepted with a swipe of his claws. The two attacks collided and both were sent skidding back.

Hogan said, "Hm, I used to be just like you, back when I first joined Team Righteous; thought I was the strongest and could take on anybody. I really mellowed out after getting my ass kicked a few times. It's kinda therapeutic. I think you're overdue for one."

Wrecker growled at Hogan's conversational tone, like he was talking about the weather as he discussed defeating him. "If anyone's going to lose here, it's you!"

-Mel's POV-

I blinked as I suddenly found myself in the Final Maze once again. That can't be right… I should still be in the infirmary…

Then it occurred to me what had happened, and I said, "Vlad, get out here."

He floated up out of the floor in front of me, and he had a neutral face on, neither smiling nor frowning.

I looked him right in the eye and said, "What happened after I was unconscious? Something was weird… I had a dream that I was flying somewhere, and then I was pulled back. Would you happen to know anything about it?"

He looked down and sighed, "I'm not proud of messing with the natural order of things. You're right; that was no dream. You were headed for the afterlife. If you had crossed over, you would've been gone for good. So, regardless of consequences, I brought your soul back to your body.*"

I tilted my head, "You can do that?"

"Can, yes. But I usually don't make a habit of it. I'm already a ghost, so I can see others' souls. After I brought Jirachi, I noticed that yours was gone, so I searched until I found it."

"Why?"

He looked up, making a face that clearly showed he thought the question was stupid, "'Why'? You're seriously asking that? I just said that I really care about you. And, even with that set aside, you're a Pokémon in your prime! I would assume that you wouldn't want to go out bleeding out from a fight with a maniacal sadist!" Then he sobered up, "And I've watched two people precious to me die in front of my very eyes. I was not going to lose another. When it's your natural time to go, then I won't interfere. But I was there, I could do something, so I would've been damned before I let you die."

My eyes widened. I knew that he cared for me; we're great friends. And I care about him too, but I didn't think he'd go and break a law of nature for me.

"…Well, thanks…" Then a thought occurred to me, "Wait… you didn't go and do anything rash to that Cacturne while I was unconscious, did you?"

He reclined in the air and whistled nonchalantly, ignoring the question.

I grabbed him by his ear, fully knowing he could phase out of my grip if he wanted to, and said, "Quit ignoring me and answer the question!"

He smiled cheekily, not ashamed in the slightest, "Weeeell, I might have slipped in while everybody was distracted with Dash and the Tyranitar's battle. And I might have left an ongoing nightmare set to keep her asleep for 30 minutes as she goes through it, but who can tell?" Then he frowned, slipping out of my grip as he crossed his arms and looked away, "She almost killed you; I feel I was pretty lenient, given the circumstances."

I sighed. He might not be as bad as he was in the past, if the stories he's told me are any indication, but still. "Vlad, go back and lift it."

He looked at me like I just told him to eat a giant pile of dirt, "What?!"

I shook my head, "You can't scar others for life just because they did something you didn't like. You have to be the bigger Pokémon and just let it go. I agreed with your revenge against Magmortar, but this is just being petty. If anyone's straightening her out, it's going to be me, fair and square. After some training and perfecting my Mind Reader to read even the most turbulent of thoughts, I'm finding her again and I'm going to beat her myself."

Vlad didn't seem happy about it, but he nodded, "Fine; I'll be back to visit after I get it done. In the meantime, I made a nice dream for you to enjoy while I'm gone. Feel free to think of something else if you get bored with what I left you, and it will appear."

He vanished and the Final Maze was replaced with a glade in a forest, except it had some wooden practice dummies plated with metal on their bodies. I cracked my knuckles and started out with practicing my Mach Punch. Evidently, it needed strengthening.

-Meowth's POV-

The fight was still going on. The two of them were hitting each other hard, both trying to get an edge on the other. It seemed pretty even. Sure, Wrecker was bigger, stronger, and even faster, but Hogan has experience fighting opponents stronger than him, while Wrecker, from the sound of it, never even fought someone his equal.

Hogan took advantage of his smaller size and got in close, trying to make the most of his moves before dodging or jumping back. Sometimes he'd get hit, but he'd just jump back up and keep going.

Wrecker growled and jumped high in the air, landing with a huge stomp and using Earthquake. We all felt the tremor and Hogan was thrown straight off his feet. Wrecker rushed forward and grabbed him, holding two of Hogan's arms in each of his own.

Panting, Wrecker said as he held Hogan to look him in the eye, "Well, you gave me quite a workout, but this was going to be the inevitable result." He started pulling at Hogan's arms, but Hogan just gritted his teeth and said, "You… forgot… one… thing!"

Wrecker had been so focused on grabbing Hogan's arms that he forgot about his legs. Using Low Kick, Hogan hit Wrecker right in the neck. With two of his arms free from Wrecker grabbing at his throat, gasping for breath, Hogan used a Karate Chop to break the hold on his other arms.

Once Hogan landed on the ground, while Wrecker was still stunned, he crossed his lower arms and moved forward, "Cross Crusher!"

With his lower hands glowing, he hit Wrecker in the stomach, pitching him back and into the air, and then he jumped after him with his upper hands clasped and glowing and slammed him down with a double-fisted Brick Break. Wrecker was sent skidding and he made a dust cloud. Hogan jumped back and waited, keeping his guard up.

There was a sound like a rock dragging on the dirt, and Wrecker's voice yelled out, "I won't be defeated! I cannot!" There was a glow in the dust cloud and a Hyper Beam shot out towards Hogan. He crossed his arms as he was completely covered up by it, our view blocked as it kept blasting.

We all gasped, worried about Hogan surviving, but I noticed that Rose was the only one not looking worried. I raised an eyebrow at her. How can she not be worried?! Those Hyper Beams hurt! Why isn't she-

I looked back and, once the blast had stopped, Hogan was still standing there, only pushed back a few feet, and a Light Screen was surrounding him as he crossed his arms. All of us, except Rose, were as shocked as Wrecker.

Hogan just popped his neck as the Light Screen faded, but we all knew it was still there. "I got that from my dad's side of the family. And, now, you can't move; for such a smart guy, that was a pretty stupid move. Time to field test one of my newest combinations."

He rushed forward and shouted, "Shooting Star Slammer!"

Next to me, Rose whistled and said, "He always wanted to try that one, but all of the logs he tried them with always broke apart before he finished. He must really find this opponent to be a tough one."

Hogan slid on the ground and knocked both of Wrecker's feet right out from under him, sending him falling right towards Hogan. But he was ready and used Cross Chop with both sets of arms, one in a plus and one in an X. With that attack he knocked Wrecker even higher than he did last time.

Hogan squatted down and jumped up. He couldn't jump high enough, but he made a Focus Blast and put it underneath his feet, using it like a springboard and jumping again. Once he caught up, he grabbed Wrecker, holding his arms behind him with his two left arms, and started spinning both of them in the air back towards the ground, using Submission.

I thought that that was the last move, but turns out all that was just the set up.

As they were falling, even though they were spinning, I noticed that Hogan was spinning both of his right arms. After a while, his fists became two circle blurs, and he hit Wrecker in the back with a double Dynamic Punch and let go, freefalling as Wrecker was sent spinning and shooting down like a bullet.

No, like a shootin' star…

You could see streaks of air as Wrecker shot down, and he crashed into the ground making a mushroom cloud of dust that covered the whole arena. We all shielded our eyes, and I heard Hogan land back on the ground. Cracking open an eye, I saw him shake a bit before sitting down and rubbing his head, murmuring, "Sheesh, all that spinning made me dizzy…"

Once the dust cleared there was a good-sized crater in the ground, Wrecker lying on his back in the middle of it with cracks all over his armor, even more around his face. But he was still clearly awake.

Rio cursed and Siltram said, "Whaaaaaat?! How on- Just what is that guy's body made of?!"

Hogan groaned as he stood up, "Pure willpower, Siltram." He started moving forward, but stopped when Wrecker said, "I could've stopped you before you grabbed my arms."

His head lifted up, looking straight at Hogan, with pieces of armor chipping off. "I had free control by the time you were jumping up to me. I could've used Aerial Ace to regain control and counter while you were vulnerable."

Hogan backed up a little bit, "Then why didn't you?"

"'No one matches my strength.' That's what I believed with every fiber of my being. I may have lost today, but this isn't… over." His head flopped back and he passed out.

"Wrecker is unable to battle. Hogan is the winner."

Walking away from the arena, Fenrir said, "We're changing locations."

I took a look around and said, "Yeah… I guess dis place's gotten pretty trashed from dis tournament…" The grassy plain had whole patches of it burned away and wilted from the frost and poison. Not to mention the, like, ten foot deep, fifteen foot wide crater in it now.

The rest of Team Renegade started following him, but he turned with a glare and said, "Get out of my sight. You all have lost due to arrogance, simple mistakes, and reliance on one style. If not one of those, then you simply weren't even strong enough to take out a member of a team spouting platitudes of friendship and teamwork. As of today, all of you are dismissed from Team Renegade."

All of them shouted, "What?!" Even some of us shouted it; I wasn't one of them.

Thorn said, "You can't just do that! Some of us joined this team for protection!"

Fenrir glared, "Each and every one of you joined my team to gain more power. And I let you join so that I could use your power. With no power, what use is it to keep you around? Get out of my sight."

Each of them had different reactions. Ghoul just went back into his keystone and slid away. Bruiser patted Brute and said, "Well, matey, guess it's back to scourin' the seafloor," before they left.

Pyro looked like he knew that this would happen and bowed his head to Fenrir, saying, "It's been a pleasure." He turned around and left without a second glance.

Wilfred looked at us, but sighed and shook his head as he walked away. Right as he was leaving, I heard him mutter something about burnt bridges.

Icicle crossed her arms and said, "Feh. I can just form my own exploration team now." As she walked off, she said, "Maybe I can specialize in bounty hunting outlaws… Coming Mirage? We could make an all female team that even outdoes Team Charm." Toxin glared at them, but they both ignored him. Mirage raised an eyebrow at Icicle and said, "Quite a tall order; and seeing as I have nothing better to do, why not?" The two of them left together, seeming to talk about plans.

Zane just looked lost for a moment, but his eyes hardened and he walked away without a word. Wrecker jumped out of the crater and turned to Hogan, "We'll meet again." He walked off after those three words.

Thorn and Toxin both looked like they wanted to attack Fenrir, but he glared at them and said, "Why are you still here?" They both shook and Toxin said, "The only thing protecting us from being found by the police was our status as exploration team members. What are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't care," Fenrir said coldly as he walked off. "What happens to you is no longer my concern."

They both raised a hand, like they were going to attack, but after a second, they both lowered them and stomped off. Fenrir looked at us, "Are you coming, or not? Only the three of you, Rio, Meowth, Hogan, are allowed to follow at this point."

The rest of our team protested, but Rio said, "Fine."

We all looked at him, and he had a serious expression on his face. I raised an eyebrow. Rio isn't usually like this… Did he sense something?

All of them agreed, but they weren't happy about it; especially Levi. But he said, "Just make sure to tell us how you beat him later."

After they left, Hogan took the lead since he was still the fighter as we left to follow Fenrir to a new location.