Oh look, another chapter! What do you know, I managed to pull this sucker together fairly quickly with the extra time I've had these past few days. Being sick has only amplified that. So do enjoy this, I loved writing how things came together here. It gets intense as it goes on, but I hope to hear some feedback on how I did this, such as the pacing and whatnot. Also, I have an important Author's Note at the end, I encourage you to read it.

Lastly, I would like to thank you all again for continuing to read this story. I see some people have been reviewing (even though I can't personally thank them. Oh well.) But thanks again everyone for supporting this fanfic. It only gets better from here on out, I guarantee it.

Chapter 11: Ambush

Upon exiting the mystery dungeon, Phloe and I were greeted with sunshine and a small village less than half a mile away. While I am sure the place would look stunning on a normal occasion, this was not a normal occasion. A small fraction of the buildings were ravaged by holes and burn marks, craters and impact zones were variously littered throughout, and chunks of meteorite, whether they be big or small, were all around.

The village seemed to be busily at work, several groups of pokémon working diligently to break apart the larger fragments, but it was apparent that they were too weak to do it. Meanwhile, the rest of the citizens seemed to be going about their days as they would normally, walking and getting supplies. Some of the younger pokémon were playing on one of the largest chunks that the rest of the town had given up on.

"Best we get moving," Phloe advised. "It looks like they've been working at this for quite some time. I just hope we can do the job." I could tell she was unsure about how this mission would turn out, but I was confident we would get it done.

"You go on down and introduce us," I told her. I dropped Raiga and looked at his frozen head. "I'll get this guy up and at it. It shouldn't take me too long."

"Alright, you do that." Phloe said, and without any hesitation she made her way down the rocky path from Mt. Horn to the village below. I could see some of the inhabitants look as Phloe continued down, but most did not pay her any mind. In the meantime I turned my attention to Raiga. His face was still frozen in the goofy grin he had before, not that I expected that to have changed at all. Sighing, I started to chip away at the ice encapsulating him with my fists. It came away in small pieces, but I knew it would not take long to free the hyper Elekid from his prison. With that thought, I knew it was going to be a long day.

"Why did Nero just have to be going somewhere? Why couldn't he have stayed and helped us out, and kept Raiga under control?" I moaned.

"Where is that Shinx? Come on, it's not like it would be hard to find a Shinx in Amp Plains," a female Pichu muttered her annoyances to herself. A moment later she realized the foolishness of her statement.

"On second thought, maybe this will be more difficult than I thought. But I refuse to give up!" she shouted, causing a small flock of Pidgey to flutter away from the trees in surprise.

"Give up what?" A Luxio coolly waltzed from beneath the brush and trees, his expression a mixture of amusement and killing intent. The Pichu's confidence dropped at the sight of the Luxio, but she fought off the fear and returned the stare. The Luxio slowly walked in a circle around the Pichu, never once letting her leave his eyes.

"You seem to be far from your home, little Pichu," the Luxio said at last. "And speaking of homes, have you ever heard of how it is rude to trespass on the property of others?" The Pichu gulped and shook her head rapidly.

The Luxio smirked and laughed to himself. He stopped walked and looked at his paws, watching his claws retract and extend just to add to the effect of his intimidation. The Pichu was clearly afraid and he knew it, but she wouldn't let him visibly see that weakness in her.

"Well, I'll tell you what they say. They say that you die!" He pounced suddenly with claws extended and electricity surging. The Pichu put up a Protect to defend herself, and the Luxio bounced off with minor injuries to himself. Snarling, he turned to her again and used a Thundershock to stun her. The Pichu saw it coming and ran out of the way, retaliating with her own Thunder. The attack hit the Luxio, who was taken aback at the raw power the Pichu had.

"Looks like I've underestimated you," he said with a devilish grin. "I believe that I'll have to take things up a notch." His fur began to stand on its end and the Pichu began to get a feeling of deja vu.

'Just like the fight with the Shinx earlier,' she thought with a feeling of dread creeping on her. The Luxio darted at her in a fashion much like Nero had done before. The Pichu tried to jump out of the way of the Spark attack, but her opponent changed directions to allow his attack to connect. With a cry of anguish, she fell.

'I guess this is the end of it all.' she sniffed as the Luxio began powering up for a final blow. Squeezing her eyes shut, she took her fate with what dignity she had.

"Wow it's cold, are you cold too?" Raiga was well only moments after I had freed him from his icy prison. Already I felt that I missed the silence I had created.

"No. It's just you, Raiga," I reassured him. "We may be up in the mountains, but it's quite decent for the area. You're just crazy, as usual." I left him and went after Phloe into the village. Raiga stood alone for a minute thinking upon his insanity.

"...Naw, perfectly normal," he told himself and promptly ran to rejoin Phloe and I.

In town, the hustle and bustle seemed even more chaotic up close. I could tell from just the tense air that the meteors had seriously messed with the lives of the pokémon here. Raiga had calmed, sensing the lack of tolerance for silliness in the town. The three of us walked along and barely stayed out of the way of the others that came barreling through, far too busy to pay attention to the world around them. Phloe almost made a comment about the rudeness of them, but restrained herself with the thought that someone might just hear her.

"Are you three the Exploration Team that we called for?" a Tyrogue had approached us with a finger pointed in my face.

"I...er, yes," I stuttered, leaning back in surprise of the Tyrogue's abrupt appearance and lack of appreciation for my comfort zone. He pulled his arm back and crossed it with his other, nodding with a smug expression.

"Took you long enough," he said. "I don't know how much longer we can last with these things around, and with those two still around..." He trailed off at that point, leaving us feeling like we were missing rather vital information. The Tyrogue shook off his thoughts and faced us again.

"Ahem, never mind what I was saying. I cannot remember if our message informed you of the details of this mission, so I shall tell you, or reiterate if you have heard already. As you can see, our town was particularly ravaged by the meteors from a while back. We haven't quite returned things to normal, but we did have clean up running smoothly for a time. However, for the past few days we've encountered problems with...uh, with the workers. Yes, the workers have been growing increasingly, uh, fatigued." Tyrogue constantly flitted his eyes to each side to look into the distance, as if something was watching him.

"So you just need us to finish the job," Phloe asked. "and that's all?"

"Yep, that's it. We'll pay you when you've finished. Good luck now!" He waved us off and continued on his merry way to whatever he was doing before.

"Let's get started then?" I asked Phloe and Raiga. I didn't even need to wait for a response from the latter, as he suddenly lost all control and ran off, Thunderpunching the first meteor fragment he could find. Phloe shrugged and told me to ignore him.

"Let him get his part done, we'll go ahead and work on ours," she suggested. "I also have an idea. We could start with the smallest pieces and remove them, whether they can simply be thrown out of the village boundaries or just destroyed. After those are gone we could move onto the largest pieces and work as a team to destroy those ones."

"Great idea, I'll work over at the south end," I pointed over to where a sizable amount of craters could be seen, most looking to contain smaller rocks.

"Then I will get over here," Phloe motioned behind her. "And Raiga will just take care of...what he will take care of." We looked at the Elekid, who was still jittery as ever and plowing through meteor after meteor with multitudes of Thunderpunches.

Hours later, after what had felt like an endless series of hefting rocks out of the town, I was finished with my area. Raiga had been done with the smaller pieces of his area long before, and Phloe had completed hers at least twenty minutes before I did. We met back up and began to work together on annihilating the largest meteorites in the area. I could tell the job would not be easy, especially since at least half of them were the size of the guild.

"We'll just attack in conjunction," Phloe reasoned with us. "All three of us can just attack at the same moment and that could generate enough force to break these apart."

"Sounds good enough to me, let's go!" Raiga chattered and he excitedly ran to the nearest chunk. By this time we had gathered an audience of the locals who had been enjoying our work to clear out their town for them. I could tell that they would love what was coming.

"Get ready you two," Phloe said, the three of us all on different sides of the meteorite. "On my mark...three...two...one!" She jumped up and swung her tail with a Pound attack at the rock while Raiga pulled back with a Thunderpunch and I shot a Water Gun, an attack I had only recently began to use correctly.

The force of all three attacks shook the meteor to its core, and massive cracks split across its sides. With a rumble, it crumbled apart into dust and gravel, the former meteor actually filling in the crater it had created. Huffing, Phloe gave Raiga and I a thumbs up.

"That wasn't terrible, was it guys?" The "audience" we had going went nuts, amazed at the swiftness at which the rock was destroyed. I couldn't help but think why they couldn't have done it themselves. Many of them looked like strong pokémon, and as I came to realize, none of them looked at all exhausted as Tyrogue had claimed. Something wasn't sitting well with me about that.

"Come on. Come on. Come on!" Raiga shouted his impatience to us. "No time for standing around, let's do this!" He ran to the next rock and began to kick it while he waited for us to come. Not one to want to keep him waiting, I rolled my eyes at his antics and made my way over to the next one.

"Nero, just how do you do it?" I chuckled to myself. As much I as I found Raiga to be a pain in the neck, he was equally enjoyable and a powerful ally. Walking over to him, I couldn't help but notice a cloud of dust in the horizon that grew unprecedentedly. With horror I realized too late that we were getting some unexpected company. In a moment's notice the meteorite blew apart and Raiga was thrown back by a massive, tank-like pokémon that plowed through him and the rock like paperweights. On top of it was a smaller, more lithe pokémon that looked oddly human, but with a large head and small body with blue limbs.

"Ah, crud."

When the Pichu thought she was going to die, she didn't. She opened her eyes, confused by the change of events, and was both shocked and delighted to see the Shinx that she was looking for, Nero. He was currently fighting tooth and claw with the Luxio, the larger pokémon actually seeming to be challenged by the power the Shinx held. The Pichu looked around and spotted an Oran Berry next to her. Taking it as a gift from the Shinx, she ate it and almost instantaneously felt relieved of her pain.

"You're up," the Shinx noted while using another Spark against his opponent. "In that case, please do help."

The Pichu stared, taken in awe by the bravery of the Shinx and how valiantly he fought. And for her, when she had picked a fight with him before. Ready to return the favor of saving her life, she sprang to her feet and joined in the scuffle once again. She caught the Luxio's attention and created tens of doppelgangers of herself using Double Team. The Luxio was caught off guard with this evasive maneuver, and thus tried to blindly bite his way through the illusion. The Pichu smirked and let her tail glow a white light, before the real her ambushed the Luxio from behind, cracking his spine with a solid Iron Tail attack.

Gagging with pain, the Luxio twisted around in a futile attempt to take revenge on the little Pichu. Her attack had left him stunned and severely in pain, as well as greatly slowing him down. Nero took this advantage and rammed him in the side with a Tackle, further damaging the Luxio. Stubbornly, he would not back down, even when it was apparent he was losing the fight and would very likely die. Nero sensed this and called out to the Pichu.

"Don't kill him," he warned. "Knock him out, but don't kill him."

The Pichu did not understand why she should not, but she accepted the Shinx's orders, preferring to not disrespect him after he had saved her life. The Luxio spat and glared venomously at the Pichu. Sucking up all the pain he felt, he ran at her with one final Spark, determined to at least take out one of them. At the last possible second, the Pichu pulled up a Protect to guard herself, rendering the Luxio's attack useless. The Luxio slammed into the shield with a crack, signifying he had broken several ribs. With a weakened growl, he fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

Nero walked to the Pichu, surveying the damage laid to the Luxio. He took a look at the Pichu girl, making sure she was okay after the battle. Satisfied with what he saw, he turned to leave. The Pichu almost said something, but after he was ten feet away the Shinx called back to her.

"Are you coming?" he asked. The Pichu stepped back, and pointed to herself hesitantly. Nero nodded and motioned with his head for her to come next to him. She cautiously walked to him, unsure if perhaps he might even commit revenge upon her for earlier, however unfounded such an idea was. She kept her head dropped as she approached Nero, both out of remorse and fear.

"S-sorry about earlier," she said. "I just wanted a good fight, that was all. I should have known better. And...thanks for saving me here." Nero had been staring at her surprised, but smiled softly at her apology and thanks.

"No problem. Now let's go."

"Go where?" Nero had been walking again but stopped and looked at her.

"To the guild. I'm taking you on as a new member of my Exploration Team. Can't leave a pokémon like you to die out here."

The little Pichu stared at him, and shook her head. Nero was confused by her response. He didn't expect someone to reject such an offer.

"Why not?" The Pichu looked around the wilderness around her.

"I've been around this area for all my life. To leave it now would be so strange. I don't think I could do it." Nero shook his head with a grin.

"Nonsense. I came from here. I made a team. Things are just fine. You can join me and my friend. Get out of daily threats of death."

The Pichu perked her ears up at this. To be given a chance...she could never wish for something better.

"Alright. I'll join you." she said. Nero smiled at her, knowing full well that she would make a valuable teammate, even if she was a little rough around the edges. He went back on his way out of Amp Plains, following the clear-cut path through the foliage.

"So what's your name? Mine's Nero." He called out to her. The Pichu stumbled after him, answering back in her hurry.

"It's Melody!"

Deoxys had been flying for days. He had gone out over the ocean for much of that time, remaining over the sparkling blue water to the west until he reasoned that there was no possible way for Treasure Town to be near. He had turned back and had already reached land two days before. His body was beginning to feel another new sensation for him, and that was fatigue. He was confused when he first felt the pains begin in his body, his limbs aching, as well as the rest of his body. It was not long before he reasoned what he needed to do, and that was to rest. Settling in the middle of the continent, he was greeted by several hostile Lucario.

"Pathetic fools." Deoxys said as he flitted them all away with a Psychic before clearing an entire half-mile radius of inhabitants with the attack, pushing them all away and out of his sight.

"Where are you...Tide?" he asked to no one in particular. "I have been...searching...and have come up...empty. You cannot...be far. You must be near..."

As if the fate was beckoning Deoxys, a vision overcame him. The memory of his landing sight, on the face of a large mountain. The Machop that had nearly been his first kill on the planet. Then his mind flashed to what was not memory. A vision of the opposite side of the mountain. A small village with meteor impact sites all around. And at the moment, a battle of two against three, and among those three, an odd Squirtle...

If Deoxys could grin, he would. All that was possible was for his eyes to narrow in what could only be described as sick pleasure.

"There you are. And not far away. Not far away...at all..."

I was currently locked in combat with a massive steel tank, one which I remembered as being a Lairon. Raiga was assisting me, but even the combined might of the two of us was little to stop the juggernaut from nearly wrecking us each time he charged.

Phloe on the other hand was taking it one-on-one against the Meditite partner of the Lairon. The two of them were locked in combat that took them agilely moving around the area and laying quick hits against each other while at the same time attempting to defend oneself.

The citizens of the village had already retreated into their houses, with Tyrogue having fled the town. Raiga and I were next to each other, backed up into a meteorite that prevented our escape from the Lairon. He snorted and began to paw the ground like a Tauros. With a shout he came at us with an Iron Head, his metal-plated skull now glinting in the sunlight like a mirror. Raiga and I yelled in fear and quickly darted out of the way at the last second, resulting in the Lairon pulverizing the meteor with his raw power. He walked out of the wreckage, sputtering from the dust and appearing clearly disoriented by the hit.

It quickly dawned on me just how to kill two Starly with one stone. Without even laying a finger on these two, we could wear them out while at the same time finish the job with the meteorites. It was a perfect plan, so long as they did not kill us first.

"Phloe, get him to kick the meteors!" I yelled to my partner, giving her the grand idea I had. Phloe landed upon one of the largest rocks and clung to its surface, waiting for her opponent to strike. In just seconds the Meditite had jumped above her, his fist glowing with unbelievable power.

"Get a taste of Dynamicpunch, girly!" The Meditite taunted to Phloe. She just smirked at him as he let gravity bring him down to her. Using a Quick Attack, Phloe managed to spring out of the way of the massive punch and into safety. Meanwhile the shocked Meditite struck the rock with his fist, obliterating it into dust instantaneously.

"No, darn it! Not what I wanted to happen!" He cried out in frustration over his failure. Before he could get back up into another attack Phloe sapped away a chunk of his health with an Absorb, angering him further.

"Do you not know how much that hurts?" His question went unanswered, only receiving an innocent shrug from Phloe. The Meditite cackled, and his fists burst into flames. "Then try this on for size!"

Phloe's eyes shrank at the sight. She knew as much as anyone did the power of fire over grass types. The Meditite dashed at her, fists pulled back and ready to nail their target. Phloe ran off as quickly as possible, using Quick Attack after Quick Attack to gain a boost away from her assailant, but it did not do much. At last she came to another meteor, and the Meditite was nearly upon her. She felt the heat of his punches approach, so she pulled off one of the most unexpected dodges anyone had seen. Scampering up the meteor, she flipped off of it once she gained enough altitude and jumped over the Meditite. He was so taken aback by the maneuver that he failed to stop his attack, not that he could at this point anyways. The Fire Punches made contact with the rock, sending shock waves throughout it and creating sizable cracks from the strike zone.

"Gah! My hands!" Meditite screamed in agony at the hit, his hands now bloody messes that could easily be seen as useless for the next few weeks. Phloe shared no sympathy for him, now finishing the job with an Absorb. His cries were cut short as his energy was drained from him, rendering him completely unconscious.

"You do not threaten me with fire, ever."

While Phloe had been having what I guess could be called luck, Raiga and I were in for the time of our lives. The Lairon was relentlessly chasing us, no matter how many boulders he plowed through. Raiga screaming like a Primeape wasn't much a relief, either. Nonetheless, it did not look as if the Lairon would call it quits any time soon.

"Raiga, stop screaming and listen for a moment!" I yelled at my temporary partner in an attempt to be heard over his hysterical rampage. "I need you to face that Lairon and kick him as hard as you can! I know you can do it!"

Raiga calmed when he heard me and promptly twisted around to face the pokémon. Just as Lairon was about to pummel him, Raiga surprised the steel pokémon with a Low Kick to the jaw, send him reeling back in pain, his face now cracked. Just before he could retaliate however, a blue aura surrounded him and he was picked up off of the ground.

"Eh? What is this?" He shouted. Phloe and I ran to Raiga and looked at him, but he shrugged.

"Don't look at me, I'm not the one using Psychic. Well, not now anyway." He put a hand to his mouth in a childish sort of "tee-hee."

"Then who is doing that?" I asked looking around for anyone in the town that might be helping us. Sadly, I found none. Well, none that I could see.

"So you're Tide?" A cold voice suddenly entered my head, filling me with fear. Startled, I began to frantically look around for the source of the voice.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked my partners. Phloe and Raiga looked at me like I was crazy.

"Tide, no one has said anything." Phloe told me.

"No, someone just spoke to me. Didn't you hear them?"

"No..." Phloe looked at me cautiously, as if something were seriously wrong with me.

"Don't bother, Tide. They cannot...hear me. I am selective in who I want to be...heard...from. Thus...is the power...of a psychic...pokémon."

"Psychic? So are you a Kadabra or something?" The voice made a noise that sounded like a laugh. I wasn't sure if this thing knew how to laugh, though.

"No...far superior. Far superior to anything you have faced. You want to know who I am? Behold...Deoxys."

"Deoxys?" I asked aloud. Phloe and Raiga looked at me again.

"What'd you say Tide? 'Deoxys?' What's a Deoxys?" Phloe inquired. Her question was answered before any of us knew it. The Lairon was shot away, screaming into the horizon. The remaining meteors were lifted from the earth and floated eerily around the town with a blue haze. Moments later, what can only be described as a nightmare arrived.

There it was, the strangest pokémon I have ever seen. Blue and orange, with four spindly arms that moved around like noodles. His head was strangely shaped, and his legs came to points. In his chest was a strange crystal that seemed to course with energy that swirled within. Then there were his eyes. Those horrific, stoic eyes that stared directly into my soul. It locked its focus upon me and never left it. I was rooted to the spot, too afraid to move. The pokemon slowly began its decent towards me, its four arms now fusing together into two that looked strangely human.

"T-tide, I think its time to go now," Phloe stuttered as the pokémon grew ever so closer. I couldn't hear her for my attention was taken by the obviously malevolent entity before me. It reached one of its arms outwards to me, as if beckoning for me to come with it.

"Tide! Dude, snap out of it, we need to leave! I'm not one to bail on a mission, but I have to say that we. Must. Leave. Now!" Raiga was clearly spooked out of his mind, and already he was rummaging through the treasure bag that I had on my back, searching for the badge to teleport us back to the guild.

The strange pokémon's outstretched arm had once appeared friendly in a way. Now, it was downright deadly as an orb of pure energy formed in its outstretched palm, clearly forming a Hyper Beam. Raiga soon found the badge he was looking for.

"Got it! Phloe, grab Tide's hand! I got you both!" Phloe did as she was told, not thinking of anything but getting out of harm's way. Raiga pressed the button and in a flash of light, we vanished and were returned to the guild, just as the pokémon unleashed his full power in the Hyper Beam. It was angered by my disappearance, and screamed in mental anguish.

"TIDE! I will find you again, and I shall complete my destiny! Do not try to escape from Fate any longer!"

Oh yeah stuff got crazy there, you know it. Close one on Tide's part, eh? Let's hope such an encounter does not happen again. But who am I saying, stuff can happen, amirite?

So the AN...yeah, a couple of things I want to say/ask. First of all, I would like to ask you guys on your opinions about a thought I was having. Should I continue the story after this chapter and get along to things within roughly ten chapters? Or should I take the time and to a random mission or two with the OC teams? I'm thinking the former, but I want to know what everyone else thinks. I say the former because it ties in with what I want to say next.

As some may be aware, I am in the process of prepping my next fanfic after this and my other present one (which I'm sure many of you could care less about). This next fic is a Pokemon reborn one, and is easily my most anticipated and well-planned work to date, and will likely be in my "career" of writing fanfics. Now, I had plans to launch it by summer's end, but with the pace I'm keeping it shall be difficult as it is to manage that. That's where this ties in with the first piece I had to say. The longer this fanfic takes, the longer I shall be stalled to putting out the next. Not that I care a lot, but my anticipation to write it is growing on me. So let me know what you think, and I shall adjust accordingly (not that it will alter events much anyways, just prolong things).
As an added thing, I've been updating my profile with small previews of characters and whatnot from my upcoming fanfic, and I encourage you all to check it out, if you are interested in the Reborn story idea, of course.