Note: Like it says on my profile (don't know how many of you actually look at it :P) my proof-reader has gone on holiday so if there are any stupid mistakes then I apologise. I'm really surprised this fic got this far coz around the 4th chapter I felt like giving up XD Anyway'z...on with the story!

Fighting Dirty

Travis was pacing up and down nervously in front of his team. They only had five more battles to endure until it was all over and the points would be counted. He wanted Daphne and Conan to win. He needed them to win. They had worked too hard for it to all go to waste now. Travis wouldn't accept failure. Conan watched his mentor pace, respect filling his eyes. Sure the last month had been hard work and yeah most of it involved Travis yelling in his face but it had all been worth it. Even Conan could see just how much better he; Daphne and Amina were than the other trainers. They had won eight out of the ten battles they had already had that day and were feeling pretty confident in them selves. Amina was busily practising her dodges so she could be on top form for their next battle and Daphne was seemingly staring off into space. In reality, Daphne was thinking up schemes of how to best their up-coming opponents in the most sneaky and devious way possible. Thanks to Laurel's training, Daphne had gotten rather good at being sneaky and devious. You'd think then, that with eight wins under their belt, they had no need to worry. Not so.

"Why are you pacing?" Laurel asked her partner quietly. They were sitting in their sound-proof cubicle under the stands while they waited for their battle to begin. As per the rules the door was locked until it was time for them to fight, when they would be escorted to the arena to meet their challengers. All forms of communication had been confiscated: this meant phones, walkie-talkies, PDAs and the like. This was to ensure vital information could not be shared among all and any participants. Travis looked at Laurel briefly and he stopped in his tracks.

"Because," he said through gritted teeth. "I know who our next battle is going to be with." Daphne made no movement to show she was taken by surprise although she was. Conan cried 'what?' and Amina crashed into the wall. Questions about how Travis knew, for how long and when he found out were shot out at him and it wasn't until Travis gave Conan and Amina stern looks that they shut up.

"I'm a Team Rocket field agent – of course I managed to find out. As to who they are...I'm not sure if I should tell you. It might make things worse." Travis tried his best to appear as if he really was concerned about what they thought but he was actually putting them through one final test. They had learned so much within their allocated month but Travis wanted them to prove that they had taken in all of it and was putting it to practise. Conan, Daphne and Amina exchanged looks and made a silent agreement. Whoever it was would not come between them and their dream job.

"Tell us," Daphne urged him softly. Travis did and it didn't make a difference to them one bit. They felt the same as if they had just been told they were going against students they didn't know. Their opponents didn't stand a chance against such strong contestants.

A hefty knock on their door alerted them that it was finally time to begin their battle. The sound of keys rattling in the lock could be heard and suddenly the door flew open to reveal a large man. He ushered everyone out of the room and the only person who noticed Laurel slip the man some money was Travis and that was only because he had asked her to long before they had arrived at the arena. Laurel knew it had something to do with how Travis had known who the opponents of this battle would be.

At a certain point Laurel and Travis had to turn off so they could join the other mentors in the stands. It was from there that they would cheer their team on and pray that they fought as dirty as they had been taught. The large man went with Daphne, Amina and Conan through a long dark tunnel. They had become used to this tunnel by now and knew exactly at which point they would be able to hear the cheering – or jeering – of the people sitting in the stands. When they reached the end of the tunnel, flooded with light, the man stopped and waited for them to step out on to the arena. As they looked from there, across the wide battle mat in the far distance were two familiar-ish people. As a result of the long distance, Conan and Daphne couldn't be sure that it was who Travis claimed it would be. To determine that they would have to meet them in the middle of the mat so they could see for themselves. Amina assured her friends that everything would work out as long as they focused on the task at hand. With a fierce determination to win, the three of them stepped out from the tunnel, ready to battle.

The stands around them exploded into applause. They had been watching the trio's performance all day and had become quickly attached to the dynamic of their team. Daphne waved modestly to her fans whilst Conan milked the crowd for all it was worth: pumping the air, bowing and flashing his winning smile at several girls he had had his eye on all day. Well, he did until Amina threatened to rip his head off if he didn't focus. They went to the middle of the mat where they would shake hands with their opponents before retreating to their half and wait for the whistle to blow to signal the beginning of the match.

Not much about the foreboding pair in front of them had changed since they had last met. Aside from the from the fact that Massimo's clothes were now yellow where they should be red, Vivian had acquired some long black and gold gloves and their Kakuna had evolved into a Beedrill, everything else had stayed the same. Thanks to the combined effect of their matching black-and-yellow colours, Vivian, Massimo and Beedrill looked more like part of a team than ever before although they still resembled pirates.

"We won't go easy on you," sneered Vivian, rubbing her fist into the opposite hand. Conan smiled.

"We wouldn't want you to." The four of them shook hands and went to their allocated sides of the mat to wait for the whistle to blow. Before it did, Daphne had a warning for Amina.

"Beedrills are really fast so I want you to be careful, okay?" she murmured. Amina nodded in understanding. It would be difficult to land an attack on Beedrill but not impossible. She could do it if she kept her head clear.

The whistle sounded, loud and shrill. Vivian wasted no time in ordering Beedrill to use Fury Attack on Amina. It would have left hefty damage had Normal-type moves had any affect on the Ghost-type Pokémon. Amina grinned and stuck her tongue out at the confused Beedrill. Vivian and Massimo realised that Normal moves wouldn't do anything to Amina and they cursed their luck. Beedrill only had one move that wasn't a Normal-type but the fact that Amina wouldn't take much damage from it wouldn't help their chances. They'd have to think outside the box in order to score high points in this battle. Conan told Amina to use Lick on Beedrill. Amina tried to obey but at the last minute Beedrill dodged the attack and Amina ended up missing. The crowd moaned sadly. Conan urged Amina to keep trying but every time she did, the same thing happened. Vivian nudged Massimo and grinned, glad Beedrill was too quick for Amina to hit. It would improve their chances tenfold.

"Beedrill use the Twineedle," called Massimo. Beedrill flew up into the air and the next time Amina came in for Lick, attacked her head on with both his stingers. The crowd booed at that although a few cheered. The move didn't hurt Amina all that much; all it really did was make her angry. She looked over at Daphne who shook her head, praying she kept calm. She wasn't ready yet. While Amina's head was turned, Beedrill used Twineedle out of his own accord, earning a wild cheer from everyone in the stands. A bit of dirty play was a great addition to any battle. Amina glared at the Pokémon and forgot for a moment that Daphne had told her not to use the tactic. Amina forgot the crowd. She forgot they were in a competition. All she could think about was taking that Beedrill down and humiliating it as she did so.

Amina floated up into the air, parallel with Beedrill. She fixed him with a cold stare before using Curse. It would make her considerably weaker but it was definitely worth it to see the pained look on Beedrill's face as the effect of Curse hit him without warning. He came out of it weaker than before but still stronger than Amina. She didn't mind because it set her up for the next move: Night Shade.

It was a move she had only just learned that day and so she wasn't accustomed to using it as of yet. Amina didn't care. She wanted to introduce Beedrill to a world of hurt. She focused on Beedrill and used Night Shade. Over on their side, Daphne was mentally killing Amina. She wasn't ready for that move and their team knew it. Amina was simply too impulsive sometimes; Daphne hoped she knew what she was doing. Conan was hitting himself on the head: he had expressly told Amina to obey everything they told her to do and not to do anything reckless. It was like she was doing the exact opposite of what he told her to do. How would they make it as field agents if they couldn't listen to their teammates?

Beedrill's entire body convulsed before he collapsed to the floor. When he looked up, his eyes were glazed over as if he wasn't seeing what was in front of him – which he wasn't. All Beedrill could see was an open sky, beckoning him to fly into it. So he did. It was a pity the 'sky' he thought he was seeing was the hard mat. Beedrill ran into it repeatedly, not understanding why he couldn't fly off into the sunset. The self-inflicted damage, added to the Curse Amina had already used on Beedrill ensured he didn't last much longer. Within moments of flying with all his might into the floor, Beedrill had fainted.

There was a brief moment of silence as the audience held their breath, waiting to see if Beedrill really was out for the count. When he didn't get up again they burst into a tremendous applause, screaming the names of Conan, Daphne and Amina. Vivian returned Beedrill to his Pokéball and the two teams met in the middle of the mat once again. Over the roar of the crowd, no-one could hear the quick conversation they shared before returning to their rooms.

"Girl, you're so dead to me," declared Vivian, shaking Daphne's hand.

"Likewise," she replied.

"We no more are friends," hissed Massimo, squeezing Conan's hand as they shook.

"We never were," he said airily.

Conan, Amina and Daphne lost the next battle but won the two after that and had high hopes for the last battle. They were back in their room, waiting for Gunner – the name of the large man – to collect them. Daphne was pretty excited and showed this feeling by sitting quietly but gently bouncing her knees up and down. Her eyes glinted animatedly as they darted around the room. Amina had calmed down considerably after her battle with Beedrill and after the three battles in between, was now having a well-deserved rest. Conan couldn't stop grinning. He was so close to realising his dream. The excitement bubbled inside of him and threatened to spill over. Who knew – just over an hour from now he could be working officially for Team Rocket. Finally his family would have a chance of moving up. When Gunner eventually opened the door for them, Conan and Daphne were having a little trouble controlling their breathing. Their mentors told them to calm down: they hadn't achieved anything yet.

"Hey, since this is your last battle, Laurel and I want to tell you something," began Travis. The trio looked up at the adults expectantly. Travis scratched the back of his neck nervously and Gunner barked at him to hurry it up; the battle was going to start any time now.

"We're incredibly proud to call ourselves your mentors. You went above and beyond our expectations so whatever happens we just want you to know...You aren't half bad." Conan chuckled: it was just like Travis to start off saying something nice and then bottling out halfway through. The two teenagers and Amina understood more or less what Travis meant though. It must have been hard for him to say something almost nice so he probably meant it, too. Laurel reached forward and hugged Daphne tightly. As she wasn't used to such an activity, Laurel's hug was a bit stiff and yet Daphne was touched. Laurel pinched Daphne's cheek and smiled at her.

"You're an amazing girl," she said softly. Daphne had never had anyone tell her she was amazing – not since her mum died. If this had been a month ago Daphne probably wouldn't have been able to hide how pleased she was at Laurel's compliment. She didn't want anyone to see how much being called 'amazing' had affected her. Daphne realised what a long way she had come. When she had first arrived at the school she had just been another angry teen trying to fit in with everyone else. Now she was more confident, strong, mentally capable and deceitful than she ever dreamed of.

Aw, what the heck, Daphne thought and hastily threw her arms around Laurel who, to her credit, looked dually surprised at having a young girl wrapped around her neck. Travis laughed quietly to himself and turned to Conan. Gunner sighed heavily to remind them all they had somewhere to be. He didn't want to lose his job because of some emotional kids – it paid too well for that. Without saying a word, Travis reached on top of his head and took his black goggles off. He stared at them thoughtfully for a moment – Gunner glared meaningfully at a non-existent watch on his wrist – and handed it to Conan. Conan took it, stunned. Before he could utter any words of thanks, Gunner had had enough and pushed them down the tunnel. Travis and Laurel were swept away and Conan was left gazing at his mentors goggles. With silent acceptance, he slipped them on to his own head and was startled soon after when Daphne linked arms with him. Amina floated to his other arm and as a team they walked out to the arena for their last battle of the day.

"Urgh, not you lot," complained Zoe the moment she set eyes on her opponents.