February 12th, 2026

Floor 25

She stepped outside of her office and made a beeline for the elevator that resided within the wall a short distance away from the door to her work station. Lopunny was a very busy guild member; she was second-in-command in the strongest guild, the Golden Warriors. She rarely had time to do anything.

Nevertheless, she had made a promise to Lucario to get the fourteenth off. He promised to get her a nice dinner back on the twenty-third floor, the ritziest floor revealed in the Arkaés region. The hard part was getting a confirmation from Lord Scyther. She had tried to bring it up in a conversation for a week now, however she always managed to chicken out or get interrupted before she could ask for a temporary guild leave.

Not this time. Lopunny set a meeting with the player conveniently in the guild meeting room. She stepped into the elevator and clicked the "down" button to the second floor. Suddenly, a small beam of laser light scanned her body and confirmed her involvement with the guild. She waited patiently as the machine began to lower itself down to the desired floor.

Just asking for a leave made Lopunny feel guilty, but what if Scyther was to ask why? She knew that he would say no to Lucario's involvement. The two already hated each other and had a fierce competition. With Lucario fully-evolved now, the type advantage Scyther had before wasn't handy anymore. He was more threatening than ever with his attacking skills and indisputable speed. Even for just a base 90-speed Pokémon, Lucario was incredibly fast.

The elevator doors open and Lopunny stepped out into the darkness of the meeting room. The metal doors slid shut and she looked around for her boss.

"Scyther?" she squeaked.

She heard something move, so Lopunny quickly turned the light on. Standing in front of her was Scyther, and behind him was the entirety of his guild. Everyone was watching her with a smile. Was this some sort of intervention? What was happening? Lopunny put a hand to her mouth and grabbed Scyther over to her privately.

"What's going on?"

Scyther grinned. "Hello, Lopunny," he said ignorantly.

"Answer my question."

He shrugged. "They just heard the news."

Lopunny scanned the crowd. "What news?"

Scyther forced her to let go of her grip and began his explanation. "I was thinking about your success these past few floors. You've really given your all, actually; you saved three of our guild members in the last boss fight by yourself. Even I was shocked. You have this strategy to your movements that I've never seen before."

Lopunny nodded quietly. She had noticed the game seemed to work its way through her head. It was like a huge chess game, but Lopunny forced the game to let her win.

"And so," he continued, "everyone is here to congratulate you."

Lopunny froze. Congratulate? Everyone had already expressed their gratitude immediately after the boss fight.

"I'm promoting you to co-leader of the Golden Warriors. I'm no longer your boss; we're a team. We've always been a team," he said softly. "You've always been there, so you deserve this."

This was great: Lopunny could get her own hours fixed to whatever she pleased. She began thinking of dinner with Lucario and prepared to tell Scyther about the vacation time.

"Thank you, sir," she said shakily.

Scyther nodded. "And, for your first assignment, I want you to lead this boss fight. I'm going on a quest to get a Metal Coat," he began losing his voice towards the end of that remark.

"Why evolve now?" she asked. Scyther wasn't losing his power at all yet—evolution seemed rather hasty.

The leader looked off into some distant thought, but his face was paralyzed with fear for just a millisecond. "I need a new look," he eventually said. "Good luck with the boss fight today, Lopunny. I'm counting on your leadership strategy. Don't let me down."

"Th-thank you, sir," she stuttered.

The room cheered and Scyther quickly ran out of the building. Sweat was building up on his forehead by the time he started skipping for the elevator. Lopunny frowned at the sudden obstacle in her path. The leadership position was great, but now she couldn't do anything. That boss fight would only lead to after-training and overviews of the party formations over the next three days. She'd miss her plans for the fourteenth. Lopunny waited for everyone to eventually leave before realizing she went from vacation plans to boss fight control in a matter of seconds. The exact opposite of what she wanted ended up smacking her in the face. She buried her hands in her face and struggled to pick which of the two people she needed in her life: a leader like Scyther as a partner, or a fighter like Lucario to appreciate life?

. . .

Floatzel and I swaggered through the snowy town with our heads held high. He gripped his flotation sac and I carefully put one paw in front of the other while managing to keep my eyes mostly straight ahead. Since my evolution, I was at the top of the charts no doubt. My stats were high, my one-on-one strength was nearly unmatched, and I had a certain winning streak in Last Attack bonuses. Floatzel, as a supportive best friend, pretended that he, too, accomplished all of those achievements. Every girl in town that we'd meet ended up hearing the same story about how Floatzel distracted the floor boss while he let me take the Last Attack out of friendship.

"There I was—in a stare-down with a Phione. Two Water-types, but only one would emerge victorious. I glared that Phione down like she was a bag of garbage and it was trash day. We exchanged this silent glare that knew one of us would die, and we both knew it wouldn't be me. I kept that Phione out of its wits and let my ol' pal Lucario, here, take her out. I could've sliced that Manaphy scum in half with my Slash attack, but I decided my buddy needed the experience. You know?" he said to every crush he had.

Some of them would smirk, some would giggle, but they all knew I was the strong solo player that one-shot the boss from the Floor Ten. When Floatzel would leave for the bathroom, they would come ask me questions and make me tell stories. Still, I had to let Floatzel get the credit; his girlfriend did turn out to be an assassin. I couldn't just let him be alone this whole time. I kind of owed it to him.

Floatzel turned to me as we strolled today and made a motion toward a group of girls. "I'm gonna check out what's going on…you know, see if they need help? Catch you at the boss battle!" he called.

I smiled and shook my head at his innocence. It was good to see him get past Whismur, but I then realized he may just be putting on a show for me. I frowned to think he would conceal his emotions, but I had to let him do whatever. I couldn't bother to organize another party again, nor would I even consider being in one. I hinted at Lopunny to quit her own guild, but she's dead-set on maintaining her position. Hopefully she got that vacation time.

Floor twenty-five was in a snowy environment. The town's name was actually Canada, which brought a couple chuckles when we went up the stairs last time. The dungeon had a blizzardy effect to it that raised the movement of Ice-types. I remember saving Marowak from a speedy Ice Shard that a Piloswine dished out from behind. We lost a few people in this dungeon, so the boss was obviously a feared threat. I couldn't help but have this itch to battle it, though, because I would help the survivors get that 50% mark. We just had to be careful.

It was actually snowing now. The coldness in the temperature wasn't perfectly felt, so the weather actually didn't bother me. As a Californian, I'm not exactly used to snow, so this is actually enjoyable to have the fun of snowballs and the lack of true feeling in the cold. That small detail, the lack of true feeling of hot and cold, was one of the very few reminders that this wasn't a reality. True, I was a Pokémon, but everything felt so real. If I didn't know better, I could have accepted this as real from the get-go.

As I walked along the slippery stone sidewalk of the busy town, I saw Combusken running with her Speed Boost ability. I waved to get her attention and eventually managed to slow the fiery chicken down. We embraced and chattered casually, but, as usual, I got down to business fast.

"Any new info on the boss?" I asked.

Combusken shrugged. "I only know that it's a big leap from that Tyranitar boss we beat a few weeks ago. After all, it is an increment of five and the halfway point of the game."

That was true. Out of the fifty floors we had to defeat, we were already halfway done in about half a year. At this rate, we'd be done around the game's one-year anniversary. However, I had a feeling something would go wrong because the ride so far hasn't been smooth by any means.

"Thanks," I said, but quickly remembered to add something. "Any leads on floor thirty-eight?"

Combusken shook her head. "I've got nothing. There are no special items that I know of," she frowned.

She quickly ran off once we appropriately said our goodbyes. The only other information she had was to visit the Move Reminder's house, which I'd already planned on doing based on the rumors spreading around town. Just like in the main series games, Heart Scales were required to remember lower-level moves in my learnset. I only had three Heart Scales, so I'd have to be careful when selecting my moves.

I scurried down the street and eventually met the small building. It had a blue roof and a cabin-y feel to it. I opened the door and found a Smeargle NPC. He was painting a picture of the move Blizzard. I closed the door as he went to put logs in a small fireplace. He saw me and walked over to his painting. Suddenly, an exclamation point symbol appeared over his head. I decided to interact.

"Hello," I said.

"Good morning!" the Pokémon said as it painted.

"You're the Move Tutor?" I asked.

The dog-based Pokémon nodded. "I know every move in the world. I've sketched everything I've seen. Do you want to learn an old move? It'll cost you a Heart Scale."

I pulled a Heart Scale out and gave it to Smeargle. Suddenly, a small screen slipped up. I looked at the move list and scrolled through the many entries. I was now at level 50—exactly halfway to the maximum level. In the list, I first saw Aura Sphere. I quickly clicked the move and forgot Brick Break. I then handed one of my other moves and clicked Extremespeed. This move had double the power of Quick Attack and an even better priority, so why wouldn't I test it out?

My last choice would be Close Combat. I knew I'd learn the move soon anyways, but I needed that move for this battle. I put my paw up to the screen and scrolled for it. I must have messed up my scrolling because I accidentally picked a different move—a move I didn't want to think about. It would take too long to get another Heart Scale in time for the boss raid, so I knew I just had to tough this one out. I thanked Smeargle and left him to his painting. I stepped out of the small cabin and quickly felt the presence of someone else watching from outside.

I closed my eyes and let my ears rise as I focused on my surroundings. I didn't know if my character had aura powers like in the anime or movies, but I did know I heard the flapping of wings. I jumped from the cold stone and landed nearby a bush on the outskirts of town. Upon my landing, a Golbat flew out in surprise and went screeching in another direction. I saw the green cursor indication that this was a player. I decided to test out my Extremespeed move and kicked off the ground. I started darting quickly toward the Golbat and saw the distance shrink between us. However, when I tried to stop, I found a problem—I couldn't. I kept running past the Golbat, who was now confused, and kept running through everything else. My legs wouldn't stop. Extremespeed was a very powerful priority move that I'd have to work on during some improvised boss-fighting.

When I eventually stopped, it was by hitting the immortal object known as a wall. I slammed into one of the local restaurants and fell hard on my back. I was glad that I couldn't take simple damage from something like that, but it still hurt my head.

I got up and walked out of the small alleyway that I was in to find myself facing another prized building on this floor—the Move Tutor. It seemed weird to include so many enhancing features on one floor, but I reminded myself of the importance of floor twenty-five. I walked into the Move Tutor's hut, which was just a small little building that was even more primitive than the reminder's, and went to see what few moves were available inside.

Usually, Move Tutors popped up in convenient locations; one of the last tutors was on a dock near the water and could teach Water-type moves. Likewise, this tutor taught both Ice Punch and Icy Wind for only a couple thousand Poké. I was second in line, though, as the person in front of me was none other than Bastiodon, my old friend and former party member. When he turned around and saw me we both could almost feel the awkwardness permeating the air. It filled my throat and wrestled my lungs.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey."

"So…how's everyone doing?"

Bastiodon moved his giant shield-head and blinked. "Talonflame still hates you," he said.

Talonflame…I only saw him in boss battles, but "saw" is pushing it. We tried not to look at each other. Ever since he broke the friendship I had with Buizel, I was willing to break his neck. That bird caused more trouble than he was worth. What Skarmory and the Flying Fighters saw in him was completely oblivious to me. The two of us fought constantly on the beta testing topic until one of the other testers admitted to recognizing his complaining voice to his feathery character. Talonflame and I were polar opposites. He was a coward, I was a fighter. He was a liar, I fight for the truth.

"What else is new?" I chuckled.

Bastiodon laughed along. "Infernape's guild is getting as strong as we are," he continued.

Infernape…I had introduced him to fighting when he was still a level one Chimchar. To think that he raised his own army up to fight in the boss raids—and his parties were actually more successful than Scyther's overall—was nostalgic. The fighter had proved to be a formidable opponent against Scyther and Skarmory, the first two guild leaders in the game. I was happy to see him succeed in the most challenging reality.

When Bastiodon mentioned his own guild, it reminded me of Lopunny again. Lopunny had worked so hard for her second-in-command position. I just hoped she managed to get that time off. The Golden Warriors were everywhere; while Infernape was catching up in overall power, G.W. was easily the most populated guild.

We kept talking until Bastiodon suddenly had a Private Message icon pop up in his menu. He opened it and immediately changed expressions. I tried to creep over and take a peek, but I couldn't just look at his screen like that.

"What does it say?" I asked nosily.

Bastiodon kept the message open and began reading it out to me. "'You're at the top of the list,'" he read. "It's from Combusken. She said someone anonymously sent this message to her to send to me. She's asking if she wants me to pay to see who it is."

"Do it," I said solemnly.

Bastiodon replied with a confirmation, but Combusken said she just got a message saying the Pokémon was willing to pay to keep his identity secret.

"Should I keep going?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. It's probably just a prank," I suggested, which brightened his face.

"Yeah, you're right," he said. "I've gotta get back to the leader for the boss raid. She doesn't want anyone late for a private debriefing."

I froze. "She?"

"Huh? Oh, Lopunny. She's now first-in-command along with Lord Scyther. I guess she's Lady Lopunny? I don't know."

I felt a chill travel up my spine. Lopunny wasn't supposed to get promoted, she was supposed to get some time off. She promised me.

"Be careful," I said with assurance as he walked out.

I went on to learn the new move for Ice Punch and gave up Rock Tomb to create an all-new move set. The Abomasnow NPC that taught me the move wouldn't stop talking, but I knew that I'd make it to the boss raid on time with my Extremespeed.

. . .

I was in the back of the crowd as usual. I hung back with Floatzel, Marowak, and Samurott. We were the solo players that didn't confine ourselves to guild rules or guild parties or anything of the manner. There were a few other solo players, too, but they never did much. Other than us, it was mainly the guilds. As such, Lopunny, Infernape, and Skarmory took the stage. I did my best to make eye contact with the new Golden Warriors leader, but she wouldn't look at me. Behind the leaders, who were facing us, were those ominous double doors that signaled the boss room.

"Intelligence claims the beast is a transition in difficulty. This shouldn't come as a surprise since we're on the twenty-fifth floor, another increment of strength, and we're at the halfway point of this game. As such, be prepared to face indescribable strength."

Infernape nodded at her mini-speech and felt it was his turn to say something. "I-" he began, but he quickly stopped talking to open a Private Message icon that opened up. He read the message and made a confused face. He closed his inbox and gestured for Skarmory to go ahead and speak instead.

"We've been ready for this," Skarmory said nervously. "Good luck to everyone."

Was the message Infernape had the same as Bastiodon's? If it was, something's up. Why would someone bother with those two? And Skarmory was acting weird—maybe he had gotten one, too. Either way, I was concerned. This boss wasn't going to be terribly hard, but what about the Black Ice? What about this jokester? It's like we were turning on each other.

I felt someone watching me and saw Talonflame glaring. I glared back harder and he eventually looked away. He was out for blood today. Afterwards, we grouped up and prepared for our next battle with the Mystery Dungeon.

It's kind of funny when I thought about it; we were transformed into Pokémon and won't stop until we get turned back. It was just like the main series Mystery Dungeon games. We were fighting the evil so we could find some sort of cure. In a way, the game was created into its own reality; it was like being the main character of a movie you were hyped for. As I stepped into the doors, I reminded myself one thing: in those games, the main character Pokémon never got changed back.

. . .

"Hey," I said intimately.

Lopunny smiled and snuck a peek at me from behind her leadership face. "Hey."

"How did the talk with Scyther go?"

She tensed up and tried to dodge the question. "Oh, you know Scyther," she chuckled.

I felt skeptical. "You did ask him for the fourteenth off, right?"

Lopunny looked off somewhere far away. "I wonder what the boss is going to be?" she asked aloud.

"Lopunny, if you didn't ask, just tell me and I'll—"

"Team A, you take the left flank. Team B, you take the right. Team C, come with me!" Lopunny shouted to the organizing battlers. Groups of Pokémon started running in different ways, which caused me to feel somewhat confused and slightly betrayed. Nevertheless, we solo players merely prepared to clear out the spawned monsters that came along with the boss.

I noticed a new Pokémon in Infernape's collective group. He didn't let many Pokémon join; only the best of the best were offered a position. I've gotten invited to join the guild before, but I preferred not affiliating myself anymore. There were only about ten or twelve members in Infernape's guild, yet Scyther had three times that at least.

This new Pokémon was pink and girly, yet it almost had the appearance of a bird mask—one of those that doctors wore during the plague. I felt sort of awkward for noticing a contrast between her seemingly-dark face and pinky, bubbly exterior. Her name was Spritzee; I remembered playing through Pokémon Y with one a few years ago.

"Good luck," I whispered nicely to the new Pokémon, who was less than a foot tall. She smiled back and wished the same. She didn't seem strong at all, so what made her so wanted by Infernape? I couldn't dare ask, but there had to be something.

Once the last player scrambled in, the doors closed. As usual, torches on each side of the cave began to light up. In the center, two ice pillars were lit up with blue electricity. The back-center of the room was exposed once the electric rings of light made their way up to the top of the ice. I felt this heavy aura radiating all around me. It was negative. Inside this room was the scariest monster yet.

The giant creature was half icy blue and half pure black. Its yellow eyes pierced through the darkness of its face and its wings shot up in intimidation. Its thick-black tail zapped with electricity. It let out a rumbling screech, making my ears rattle in pain.

The boss for this dungeon was known as Black Kyurem—a mix between the original Kyurem, leader of its generation trio, and Zekrom, the Pokémon White mascot. Known for its powerful Ice- and Electric-type moves, Flying types in general were in trouble—specifically Skarmory's guild.

Kyurem quickly began to charge a move. I wasn't sure what it was planning, but I heard Skarmory directing his Flying-types through the air anyway. Infernape began spouting out orders and I quickly saw the complete scene around me. There was snow and ice on the ground, but something weird was in increments in the walls—it looked like indentations, and they were big enough for some Pokémon to come out.

"Get ready," I whispered.

Soon enough, a hoard of Beartic began running out of the holes in the wall. Floatzel and I began taking on the half of the Beartic that were on our side of the cave while the other solo players controlled the other half. The guilds continued their battle plans.

Floatzel jumped up and smacked his tail through the air, which caused water vapor to cluster and disperse in a swipe-like motion. Several Beartic were knocked back and took a decent amount of damage. I closed my eyes and held a hand out to summon a blue ball of energy. I fired the Aura Sphere and killed a Beartic in one hit. I smiled from the kill and zoomed up to destroy another. I glanced at Kyurem and saw its charging was complete.

"Lopunny, watch out!" I called out, though my distraction caused a Beartic to see an opening and used Icicle Crash. I was knocked back by the attack, which made giant icicles fall on top of me. For some reason, I actually flinched. It was the only time I'd flinched in the game. After that, though, I killed the Pokémon with an Extremespeed and managed to dodge another's Icicle Crash at the last second. The move just barely missed hitting my ears. I swerved back around and kicked the Beartic back, dodged a Slash attack, and effortlessly used Aura Sphere to kill it.

While Lopunny and her guild were using super effective Fighting-type attacks, Infernape's group was also using a similar strategy. Infernape himself was using his STABs to do as much as possible while Spritzee used Draining Kiss.

I looked into the sky to notice a birdlike shape racing toward the boss. I squinted to see the red-bodied Talonflame braving up a strike from behind. It quickly turned into a blue shade as the force of its Brave Bird attack collided into the strong defenses of the 25th floor's boss. Kyurem's yellow eyes open up to expose its readiness—it's about to attack. Skarmory, sensing the same idea, rushed in to help Talonflame get out of close range. I looked to see if anyone on the ground was in close range, but it was just Talonflame. I kicked off the dirt in an Extremespeed and prepared to kick Talonflame out of the way.

Kyurem's pupils move toward the now-finished Talonflame. The bird squawks upon being noticed and was relieved to see Skarmory using Steel Wing lower to the ground as a sort of distraction. Kyurem-B focused its attack on Skarmory and used Freeze Shock, paralyzing the Steel-type bird and rendering him useless in battle. His HP bar slid into the yellow, almost the red, and he fell to the ground from the attack.

The ball of bluish energy, which was covered in an electric outer shell, did not stop there. It rocketed toward Talonflame and eventually myself. The bird barely managed to scrape by while I used Extremespeed to easily maneuver myself out of the way. I saw Lopunny look concerned as I paced across the stone floor and proceeded to make my way toward the limp Skarmory.

Though my speed in one-on-one battle was unmatchable, I had my limits when it came to running. Extremespeed did not necessarily make me the Flash; I could only go a decent bit faster. With that said, Talonflame had much faster natural speed and had the easiest opportunity to save his commander.

But he didn't.

Kyurem launched an electric-yellow Fusion Bolt attack toward Skarmory. I kept sprinting toward it and Talonflame flew out of the way. I cursed under my breath and focused my arms in front of me while running. Before eventually tripping on my own feet, I managed to send an Aura Sphere into the heart of the Fusion Bolt. The orb of energy broke apart, though it was not enough to stop the attacking from singing the last of Skarmory's HP away. An electric shock went through his body as I finally made it to the player's dying moment. I saw the relieved look in his eyes and remembered the terror that they displayed earlier. I looked at the Pokémon before he exploded and had to ask: "You got a message, too, didn't you?"

Skarmory nodded before turning into a million shards of nothingness. His body exploded like a balloon filled with too much air, too much dread. I was seeing the relief shower myself from the poor bird's depression. Lopunny ran up to me after seeing a player death and was relieved to see me alive. My hands started shaking and my voice stuttered when I spoke.

"I d-didn't make in t-time," I said coldly.

"You did your very best," Lopunny insisted.

"And it wasn't enough," I snapped.

Meanwhile, in the fight, Kyurem was launching attacks at the other players. Infernape dodged a Steel Wing of Kyurem's own and threw a Mach Punch into the Pokémon's chest. Swellow used Brave Bird and brought the other possible Flying-types to do the same. Floatzel was killing some of the other Beartic that still roamed around and attacked, but I killed most of them on our side. I watched as Samurott and Marowak still struggled.

"I hate this," I said.

"We all do," Lopunny said before putting an arm on my shoulder. She crouched down and looked at the empty spot that I couldn't help but focus on.

I looked at her. "Have you gotten any messages lately?"

She shook her head. "No, why?"

"Nothing," I said. "I was just making sure."

While we were talking, a Beartic suddenly came up behind me. I only noticed his shadow as he was about to use Superpower. Lopunny saw him, though, and told me to wait just a second. I looked behind me as she used Jump Kick and knocked the Beartic's HP bar down to zero. That move wasn't even STAB and she was able to one-hit KO?

"We better get back to the fighting," she told me.

I nodded. "I know. I just wish I could have done more."

"He would want you to keep fighting. We'll worry about the Flyers later. Let's just beat this boss, 'kay?" she smiled and put her warm face against my ear. "And we'll talk about Saturday right after," she whispered.

I couldn't help but grin. "Right."

Talonflame and Swellow began fighting for responsibility of the guild. Swellow was second-in-command and had already started guiding the attacks, but Talonflame insisted Skarmory's last words were for him to lead. As they fought, the solo players finished up the Beartic spawns and were ready to join the boss fight at hand. I launched an Aura Sphere at the very last Beartic that Marowak missed and managed to kill it. I saw a frozen Floatzel in the background near the Beartic and asked Lopunny to send Houndoom out to thaw him from the icy prison.

The Black Kyurem created a metallic case for its wing and moved along the playfield in anger. Bastiodon took the Steel Wing attack, but it knocked him back and caused his shield to vibrate with intensity. Aggron took another attack and I started running up Aggron's back in Extremespeed and landed on top of Kyurem-B's neck. As it attempted to sling me off, I focused and used Aura Sphere right in a weak spot. It shrieked and I jumped off in time to avoid a vigorous shaking. Lopunny led her Fighting-type posse by using Jump Kick on Kyurem's chest, knocking it back a few centimeters. The other Pokémon continued the motion.

The boss used Freeze Shock again right as I landed on the ground. I was hit hard by the Ice-type attack despite the type advantage I had and unfortunately found myself paralyzed. Similarly, Talonflame managed to get in the way of the attack and found a fate quite the same. We were limp on the ground, but I had at least managed to fire an Aura Sphere the second my foot tapped the stone floor. Both Kyurem's and my own HP bars fall into the yellow, though his was from dozens of attacks and mine only one. I barely managed to grab a Cheri Berry from my bag, but I ate it and quickly lost my paralysis. Even so, I had to suffer the item cool-down clause and was forced to sit there for a minute.

I watched as Lopunny charged up again and was knocked against the wall by a quick swipe of the arm. I focused my arms together and used Aura Sphere the second my cool-down was over. The blue ball of energy rocketed into Kyurem's eyes and blurred his vision just long enough for me to get out of the way…but I knew I couldn't leave Talonflame in the range of fire.

I saw Lopunny was only slightly damaged and so I quickly got up and dragged the almost-dead Talonflame by his wings. I slung the backstabber against the wall and shoved an Oran Berry down his throat. He choked for a second before swallowing and regaining health. When looking at his hero, he made no sound. I threw another Cheri Berry into his beak and went back to the battle. I didn't have time for scum like him.

I ran back to help Lopunny up, but she managed to bring herself to her feet via the wall's support. The two of us join fists into a double Ice Punch and hit the creature for neutral damage. Our icy fists banged against its skin and nearly bounced off. It was at this time that Kyurem used another Freeze Shock. We were knocked back several yards out of the way and were forced to let Infernape and Swellow call the shots for a few seconds. I didn't get paralyzed by this attack, but it hurt my HP. The now-familiar Ice-type attack knocked me back. Lopunny was shocked to find herself paralyzed for the first time. She could barely move.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Something clicked in my mind. My Inner Focus ability hadn't kicked in earlier, and now she was paralyzed despite having Limber? The only answer was too simple for me to so carelessly pass up: Black Kyurem's ability cancelled out other abilities. If that was to turn out true, then this boss was a lot more dangerous than I anticipated.

"You don't honestly think that?" she asked.

"It's the only answer."

We watched as Kyurem's HP bar just barely went into the red zone. I felt something change in the atmosphere in the room and jumped to my feet. Lopunny ate a Cheri Berry and shouted for me to come back, but I couldn't help running off. I kept running until my senses felt normal. I found myself by Houndoom, who had just freed Floatzel from being frozen.

Kyurem-B went in and turned red in frustration. We watched as he approached and I found myself numb—I didn't want to move from this spot. I wanted to see what he was going to do. The boss Pokémon's eyes turned bright red as well and it charged for us. I recognized the attack after facing a Gabite in one of the past duel competitions: Outrage.

Though Houndoom was by my side, Floatzel was almost out of range for the attack. I had no choice but to launch an Aura Sphere and knock him back out of the way. I held my hands side-by-side and delivered a weak attack that would only do minimal damage to him. He flew back, complaining, and found himself almost behind Kyurem.

That was the easy part. Houndoom and I now began running in opposite directions of the attack, but Kyurem's outrage made both arms sling forward and knock both of us against the wall we were closest to. Houndoom's HP was barely above zero and mine was begging to turn red. Both of us were winded from the attack and struggled to get up. We only had a short amount of time to escape another blow from the creature, so I was relieved to see Lopunny running to come save me.

. . .

Lopunny saw the attack and quickly started running toward them. Lucario was in deep trouble after taking an Outrage attack like that. She kept her breathing steady but suddenly had a thought pop up in her mind:

"Don't let me down."

Scyther was counting on her and she had just gotten the promotion she needed. She couldn't save them both; she didn't have the time. Should she save Lucario, a boy she's starting to have feelings for, or Houndoom, one of the many responsibility-bounded souls she had to keep alive? Leadership was so important to her life goals and this was such a great practice for real life. Could she give that up? Could she give up the boy, though? Lopunny gritted her teeth as she knew who she had to get out of range of fire. She just hoped she made the right choice.

Lopunny scooped up Houndoom's body off the ground and ran it out of the range of fire. While the other Pokémon on the other side of Kyurem couldn't see what was happening, and Floatzel was attempting to scream over their attacking, it was all on her to save them both. She couldn't. But she couldn't let Houndoom die and have everyone blame her. She moved Houndoom over and gave him a berry, but she quickly got back up from her crouching and went back to see if she had time to save Lucario—but she didn't.

. . .

I couldn't help but gasp when I realized I couldn't get up. I wasn't paralyzed, but I still couldn't move. I was too exhausted from the blow of Outrage. Kyurem raised another arm up to swipe the rest of my HP bar away and, since Lopunny chose to save Houndoom instead of me, I was willing to let it happen. I was just betrayed, again, and felt more vulnerable than ever. I closed my eyes and braced for the attack when Kyurem's arm reared back to knock me out.

The arm came swinging toward my body. I moved an arm, a leg, and began crawling out of the way of the attack's range. It was useless. When I realized his arm was almost at me, I turned around to face my attacker. I knew my limits. I wanted to die while the boss watched. I wanted my death to seem somewhat dignified. If I was going to die, so be it.

I only shielded my face when something blocked my view from the red radiating off the Kyurem's arm. I looked to see Spritzee floating in front of me. I screamed for her to stop, that she'd die, but she wouldn't listen. The black arm came at her with a powerful Dragon-type STAB move and she just took it. The arm went through her body and she lost no HP. I gasped again.

In my defense, Fairy-types weren't that common in the game. Those that were Fairy-types often suffered from low base stat totals from the get-go and the others had poor learn sets early on as well. That resulted in many of them living in the lower-floored cities like Fountainhead. Seeing Spritzee flaunt her typing's immunities was surely impressive in its own right.

She turned around to me after the attack and gave me an Oran Berry. She asked if I had any status conditions and explained Aromatherapy. I shook my head and thanked her. She closed her eyes and summoned a moon-like object that glowed pink. She thrusted the attack and Kyurem-B and helped me to my feet.

We went back into battle and I ignored Lopunny as much as I could. I instead focused on Infernape, who was using Close Combat to chip away at the rest of Kyurem-B's health. The last few HP felt like they were so much harder to deplete than the beginning. Infernape was answered with an Outrage attack that knocked him way back. Blastoise took part of the hit and offered an Ice Beam, but he had to stop and heal as Infernape's other guild members, such as Jolteon, took the stage. Their attacks were doing almost nothing.

Nevertheless, Kyurem was just about to dematerialize. Lopunny and I both saw this and went in for the Last Attack bonus. She jumped forward in a Jump Kick attack and I started running as fast as I could. Extremespeed wouldn't do enough damage, but I had a priority move that would. My fist quickly turned metallic and I jumped off the ground after running and hurtling around obstacles. I slammed my fist hard in between Kyurem's eyes before Lopunny could hit it and the Pokémon exploded into millions of glass shards. I fell to the ground unscathed and she took minimal damage from the Jump Kick recoil.

While the others celebrated a victory, Lopunny and I fought. The two of us walked over to each other and she was the first to explode like Kyurem, but this time in complaints.

"What the heck? Real mature, Rio. If you wanted the LA, just ask," she spat.

I made a disgusted noise. "Just ask? Do I need to 'ask' to be saved, too?"

Lopunny's eyes grow timid. "I had to save a guild member. You, of all people, should understand that."

I took the reference to my first-floor party and felt terribly insulted. "What are you trying to say? I know I've saved your ass on multiple occasions."

The two of us, probably close to tears (or at least the feeling), glared at each other like I had been with Talonflame.

Infernape sensed the tension and stepped in between us. "Let's all calm down; we just defeated the twenty-fifth boss! Let's party!"

"Shut up!" we both yelled.

Floatzel comes behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Bro, just let it go. She had to make a tough call."

"You know I have to take care of my guild," she told me in a sob.

"Don't you take Scyther's side!" I said angrily.

"'Side?' What do you mean by side? Are you asking for me to pick a 'side,' Lucario? Is that what you're saying?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think you already have."

She pushed my shoulder and clenched her fists at her sides. "You're a jerk if you're trying to force me into that situation. I don't know even know what to say to you right now."

I looked in her eyes. "I do: did you ask Scyther to take Valentine's Day off?"

Lopunny's eyes moved toward the ground. "No."

My voice was on the verge of trembling. "If you can't choose me over your guild, if not even for a day, then what's the point? Why bother?"

She wiped a tear from her eye and nodded. "You're right. Golden Warriors, back to base camp. We have some planning to do."

As she stormed off with her guild awkwardly following behind her, I decided to run up the stairs. I heard Lopunny crying as she left the boss room and I felt a tear escape its duct halfway up the steps. I looked back to find an empty boss room. I sighed and pulled my gaze forward. Floatzel was a few steps ahead of me and had a small smile on his face.

"Rio, look at it this way—you're a free man! Now we can go on blind dates and not be third wheels and enjoy stuff," he beamed.

I chuckled. "Alright, but you're buying me dinner."

Floatzel jumped back. "What? I'm broke—give me a break! You're the one that won't spend your money."

I rolled my eyes. "You're the one that gambles it all away."

As we climbed up the stairs and tried to get over the fight, Floatzel kept cheering me up. "Hey, remember when I won that one game? Do you remember?"

I smirked reminiscently. "You won a hundred Poké and then blew it on a hotdog."

"It was a good hotdog!"

I shook my head. "That was one sketchy hotdog man."

As we went up the last few stairs, I failed to notice a glimmer down on the ground floor of the boss room. A crescent-shaped shadow gleamed in the light and disappeared into the darkness. I only realized a floor later that he was watching me the whole time.

We went up the steps and teleported to the twenty-sixth floor. Without even bothering to look around and appreciate the flower gardens in the darkness, I went on into a rentable apartment room with Floatzel. He unpacked and settled in when I noticed a message in my inbox. I gulped and clicked the notification button. The message was from Combusken. I fearfully read the message and realized it was something rather peculiar.

"Sorry to bother you this late, but we need to talk sometime this week. I have some possible information for you—and a message. Don't get killed –Combusken."

I smiled at her jesting toward the end, but as I watched Floatzel crawl into his bed and doze off in a matter of twelve seconds, I pondered whether a life that lacked love, happiness, and wholeness was even worth living. Without wanting to sound all emotional, I shrugged the feeling off and turned out my light. I slipped under the brown covers of my regular bed and quickly fell asleep.