August 17, 13 AL

1:42 PM

Terra's Pokénav finally lost the signal as they neared Mt. Pyre. A trainer calling himself "Firestorm" had announced that he would take on the Elite Four completely alone. If he wasn't already there, he was giving them too much warning. Hopefully, the Elite Four could be stopped while they saved Alexander, but she doubted that Firestorm had a chance. Everyone who could defeat the Elite Four had been hidden ahead of them.

Flygon stopped flapping and Scyther's buzzing wings slowed down as they neared Mt. Pyre. They landed softly just north of the grave marker. Flygon and Scyther collapsed from exhaustion after an hour of top-speed flying, so Kyle and Terra put them back into their Pokéballs for some rest. With no damage taken, they would recover soon.

"Now we dig," said Terra as she brought out her Sandslash. "Ready, Slash?" she whispered while stroking Slash's back.

Kyle asked, "I still can't believe you do that without getting poked."

"She keeps them soft if you don't try to grab her."

"But you told me to!"

"You should have told her that."

Kyle sighed as he took out a Shedinja and said, "Angel can look down ahead of Slash to make sure she goes the right way. That way Slash won't get tired out by going off a little. Go ahead, Angel."

"It's a ghost of a bug, and you named it Angel," groaned Terra.

"I've told you before; he has a halo and Wonder Guard," replied Kyle. He threw a stick at Angel just before he went underground. When it was a foot away from Angel, it bounced back as a white sphere flashed around the Shedinja.

"Inja," squeaked Angel playfully as he continued into the ground.

Terra and Kyle became quiet as clouds covered the sun.

Below them, Angel floated through the ground listening for any sound. Slash had started digging above him, but he could still hear voices below. Only Angel's eyes entered the room so he could see as well as hear without being seen. Three men in white coats sat around a table.

"Well, he told us to stay here, didn't he? I wouldn't want to anger anyone who's guarded by a Mightyena like that one."

"I just don't like how he said that he would deal with them. Alexander was only trying to help us when he came here the first time."

"But he can't come again. Sydney is our only ticket out of here."

"Hey look, it's a ghost!" After being noticed, Angel decided to leave.

"Third one this week," was the last thing Angel heard.

"Inja, inja!" squeaked Angel as he reached Terra and Kyle. They were following Slash as he dug down. Angel led Slash to make sure she would not run into any of the metal bars in the ceiling. When Slash made it through the roof, the doctors stood up and started to back away.

"Don't worry, we only want to help," assured Kyle.

"Who are you?" questioned one of the doctors.

"We are Alexander's friends and we won't get you in trouble. Instead, you can get out the way we came in. But first, where is Alexander?"

"He is at the end of the hallway, but-"

"Terra, you go, I'll find out more." She left with Slash as he continued, "How is Alexander?"

"I'm trying to tell you that Sydney is already down there!"

Two shots rang out as Terra reached the door, and Kyle began running. First, Terra saw two men dead on the ground. Neither was Alexander. She turned to the right and saw Sydney facing away. At his feet was someone who must be Alexander, but she could barely recognize him. Gashes given by the Mightyena standing over him covered his face and bruises were everywhere. An Abra with ghost-shaped tattoos lay next to him as if it had been knocked away before he was attacked. Sydney kicked him, muttering, "… for getting in our way."

Terra screamed, and Sydney turned around and pointed his gun at her. Slash jumped up to knock it away, but Sydney fired when she did. The bullet went into Slash's left shoulder just as her right claw tore through the gun. It fell to the ground destroyed. Slash fainted and returned to her Pokéball. Sydney ran up and slammed Terra against the wall behind her, yelling, "Tell me, are you alone?"

"NO!" answered Kyle, "Terra, duck!"

She moved her head to the side as a Shadow Ball appeared out of the wall and hit Sydney's head. Angel followed.

"Do not touch my sister!" yelled Kyle as he tackled Sydney. A moment later, he was pulled back off by Mightyena. Angel moved in to help, and Mightyena jumped at him. The Wonder Guard appeared but then turned black as Mightyena went straight through. The moment he touched Angel, Angel fainted and returned to his Pokéball.

Kyle pulled out his Scyther and took Terra's Flygon as she stayed frozen in fear.

Sydney added a second Pokémon to match theirs as he threw out Sharpedo. Scyther started flying forward and Flygon used Dragonbreath, but a Hydro Pump came out of Sharpedo. The fire of Dragonbreath was put out and both Pokémon and their trainers were thrown against the wall next to Alexander. The Pokémon fainted and returned to their Pokéballs.

"You shall not escape," hissed Sydney.

Kyle tried to grab another Pokéball, but Terra stopped him. Instead, she grabbed Alexander and the Abra. Mightyena and Sharpedo charged. Kyle touched Terra and she yelled, "Teleport!"

They disappeared.