It was later in the evening when Erik and Brett spotted the ruins of Kansas City. They had been walking for three days, making very good progress along the way. One day, a caravan of vehicles drove across them going west, some of whom gave them supplies and a night's rest. Kansas City was a sight for sore eyes compared to the endless plains to the west of them. Perhaps here they would find some people, or something that would help them.

They had spent the last three days catching up. It had been a long time since they had talked to each other on TPPC, and the first time they had ever met. Brett explained the T.V. message, and then they devised strategies in case of attack. Erik's Dark Jolteon was strong as well, and together with three formidable pokemon, they should be able to take on anything that wasn't completely bizarre.

They were walking through the outskirts and suburb areas that stretched a lot further than the eye made them seem. Most of the houses were barred. They could spot eyes looking out of the windows at them, but nobody made so much of an effort as to invite them in or see about them. These people acted like they had been under a lot of attack.

About a mile in they finally heard a voice.

"It's getting dark. You guys should come inside before it comes looking for you."

They turned around. A woman stood there, her door cracked open, waving at the two of them frantically. "Come on! You will get killed out there soon!"

Brett turned to Bodo. "Should we?"

Erik shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

They walked over to the woman, who seemed to sigh in relief after they had made it over.

"They have to come with us." Brett stated matter-of-factly as the pointed to the pokemon.

The woman seemed surprised at these remarks. "Are you guys some of the people they talked about on the news conference?" she asked.

Bodo nodded his head. "Yea, we're 'trainers', I guess you can call us. Don't worry. They won't do anything but sit quietly. Almost like pets."

The woman shrugged. She opened up the door wide and let them in. It was a decent sized house; two stories, furnished well, probably a higher middle class home. The woman was middle-aged, not old, but not young. She had brown hair and wore older clothes at the moment.

"Thank you for letting us in." Brett finally said. "But what is the 'it' you mentioned?"

The woman locked the door, then placed the boards back over it sideways to black it off. "It's a huge, strange monster. We don't know what it is. Apparently it's some sort of pokemon, or whatever the T.V. said these things were. I still don't believe it. It's some sort of apocalypse. This is the end of the world!"

Brett and Erik looked at each other, both thinking the same thoughts; this woman was insane. But, she had offered the shelter them, so they would not miss out on the offer. They followed her into the living room, where she bid them sit down.

"I haven't cooked in a week." She said. "As soon as the attacks started, I ran to the store and stocked up on food. I've got enough stuff here to last me a year!"

She sounded rather satisfied, if not happy, with this, almost as if she was proud she had prepared better than most people. Brett could tell this was a very sporadic woman.

"Does steak sound good?" She yelled back.

"Yea, that sounds delicious!" Bodo replied, trying to sound as excited as she was. Then he leaned over the Brett. "This chick is crazy…" he mumbled.

Brett nodded. "Tell me about it, but at least we've got a meal and a place to sleep tonight. I don't want to be outside when this monster comes around. I wonder what the pokemon is, anyways."

"She made it sound like a monster, so either she's exaggerating, which I wouldn't put it past her, or this thing is probably some sort of mutated beast."

The woman made their meal, and the two couldn't have been happier with the way things tasted. For the first time in multiple weeks, they were full on a cooked meal instead of convenient store chips and beef jerky. The woman seemed nice enough. She told them of her past. She was from Kansas City and had lived there all her life. She was married, and her husband had died during the initial attacks. Brett understood her pain. They spend most of the night talking. This was the first civilized contact the two had had since they started venturing.

And then the attack came.

Around midnight, they heard the first explosion. Buildings began to crumble in the distance, or so they could hear.

"What in the hell is going on?" Bodo asked.

"It's the beast. It's starting its attack." The woman replied. "We have to be patient, and pray that we will not be taken."

Brett and Erik had no real choice but to listen for now. They heard more explosions as the time ticked away. They continued to get closer and closer, though, and Brett began to get worried. At this rate, the attacks would be on them, at least it seemed that way from what they could hear.

And they were right. Within the hour, the attack made it to them. Before they could move, an explosion blew open the front wall. Brett and Erik stood up, and the woman moved backwards, screaming in fright. When the debris cleared, groups of Machoke were standing where the wall used to be. They began to enter the house.

"Hitmonlee!" Brett called. Instantly the legged-fighter took its side by Brett.

"Get them!" he yelled again.

"Leeeee!" Hitmonlee yelled as he ran towards the Machoke in an all out attack. The attack seemed like suicide. At least until he made it there. Hitmonlee's powerful legs flattened multiple Machoke with each kick, sending them flying dozens of feet in the air to hit the ground sliding.

"Kick ass, Hitmonlee!" Brett yelled.

Bodo, on the other hand, stood tall as the other side collapsed. The building was in shambles now as Electrode rolled in from behind.

"Damn, not good!" He turned around to Brett. "We've got to get out of here, now!" Erik motioned for the woman to follow as he ran out. "Jolteon, gun through them!"

The Dark Jolteon leaped forward, past Erik and Brett, and unleashed a fury of thunder upon the Machoke. What remained of the weakened force crumbled and fell. Brett stood content as the rest fell, then Erik and the woman ran past him in a mad dash.

"What's the hurry?" Brett yelled as Hitmonlee made is place back to his side.

"Just run! And don't ever turn around."

Brett sighed. "That's not funny. You know telling me that is gonna make me turn arOH MY GOD!"

Brett needed no more encouragement. He ran out faster than the other before him. Hitmonlee followed and Persian jumped out of the 2nd story right before the Electrode exploded and send the building falling down in shambles.

"Phew, that was close." Erik said.

Brett was trying to catch his breath. "You could have…..told me……earlier……ass."

Bodo laughed. "I told you not to look behind you."

"YOU KNOW THAT NEVER WORKS!" Brett replied.

"Uhh….guys." The woman said, interrupting their argument. "Look….behind….you."

Erik and Brett turned around. All happiness fell off of their face at the sight of the giant Dialga standing behind them, and it had a very angry look on its face.

"Well, shoot me." Bodo said. "Isn't blowing up the house good enough?"

"Guess not." Brett popped his knuckles. "Hitmonlee, Persian, do your worst." The two pokemon stepped forward, ready to fight the monster. "This must be your monster?"

The woman was speechless. "Yea…that's it."

"You seem confident." Bodo said sarcastically.

"I'm scared half the death, but I'm not gonna go out hiding." Brett said in reply.

Bodo smiled. "I like your style. Jolteon, hit 'em with everything you've got." Jolteon stepped forward with the others. "This will be a hell of a fight." He looked at the woman. "You should hide somewhere. This is gonna be big."'

The woman didn't argue. She just turned and took cover in the nearest alley. These kids were crazy, and she wasn't about to risk her life with them. She did wish them luck, though. Those 'pokemon' were following their orders, but she just saw no way they could keep up with such a horrifying beast.

"Any famous words of glory or something?" Brett asked Bodo.

"Hmm. Nope. Just attack."

Hitmonlee, Persian, and Jolteon ran at the Dialga with killing intention. Dialga finally began to respond, and the battle was on. Jolteon started out the long distance attack. He stopped, curled up his needles, and sent an array flying at Dialga. The beast took the hit nearly unharmed. Hitmonlee flew up and kicked, aiming for Dialga's face. He ducked under and Hitmonlee flew over, landing on the far side ready to go again. Persian aimed for where his head dropped to, and managed to land a successful slash on the side of Dialga's face, but the legend seemed unharmed once again. Jolteon ran around him and unleashed another fire of pin missiles behind the target. Nothing seemed to be working.

Dialga ran at Hitmonlee and raised its claw, which began to glow, and slashed at the fighter, who barely dodged the blow and landed behind Dialga. As soon as he landed, he launched a counter-offensive and low kicked for the creature's leg. It landed, but Dialga caught itself and struck again with the claw, this time Hitmonlee was hit and flew backwards. It caught itself again, though this time it was in pain.

Persian had taken this time as an opportunity to attack, and jumped up to land on Dialga's back. He unleashed a flurry of scratches and claw marks onto the back of Dialga's neck, which actually seemed to be hurting it. Dialga jerked back and forth trying to get the golden cat off its back, but could not manage. Finally Persian jumped off, as it could not hold on any longer, but he had accomplished his goal. Jolteon slid underneath Dialga and, instead of pin missiles, unleashed a huge bolt of lightning into Dialga's stomach. This time Dialga screamed in pain and jumped backwards. Smoke was emitting from Dialga this time as the three teammates regrouped.

Dialga finally made his move, or sound. It raised its head and let out a massive wail that sent everybody, even Brett and Erik, to the ground. The sound could not be described in words, and explosions began to erupt from all around. Roar of Time was a horribly destructive move, and it proved itself then. There was nowhere to hide, and Dialga knew it had them right where it wanted them.

After the sound ended, Dialga walked up to Persian, who was lying on the ground unconscious. Brett and Bodo stood up slowly, apparently far enough away the blast did not affect them as much. Fear sparked in Brett's eyes as he saw the legendary beast attacking his helpless friend. "

"Hey, get away from him!" Brett screamed, but nothing was going to stop him. Dialga raised its foot and placed it above Persian's head. This would be the killing blow.

Well, it would have, had another pokemon not been there to aid him. Something held up Dialga's leg.

"Heracross!" it screamed as it threw Dialga backwards. Dialga landed alright, but was in shock that something had stopped it. This Heracross was bright golden, just as Persian was, and stood as confident as any pokemon ever had.

"Now that was a dramatic entrance!" Erik yelled.

"Yea. He could have come in a little bit sooner. Didn't have to worry me so damn much." Brett sighed.

Heracross stood ready for Dialga to charge, but instead the beast turned and ran. Heracross roared in victory.

"Roar of Time…apparently it hasn't had enough time to recharge…" Brett said. Then he jolted for Persian. "Are you guys alright?!" he said worriedly as he knelt down.

Hitmonlee stood up slowly, along with Jolteon. Persian leaned its head up and gave a vote of confidence, and Brett sighed with relief.

"Guess we beat Dialga?" Bodo said. "All that confidence of yours paid off."

Brett laughed. "Of course! Though Heracross showing up had a little to do with it, but I'm sure we would have been fiiiiiine." He stood up and punched his fists together. "Nothing to it."

The woman came out from where she was hiding. "You two are insane." She told them. "But, I owe you my life." She reached inside of her pocket and gave them a key.

"What is this for?" Erik asked.

"This will give you access to my truck. It's parked inside that parking garage." She pointed over towards the inner city. "I just never felt comfortable enough to get it, nor did I know what to do once I got there. She looked down and wiped off her clothes. "I have other people I can stay with here. You guys have somewhere to be, so use that."

"Wow…well thanks." Brett said. "We owe you a lot."

The woman laughed. "No, you saved my life. It's the least I can do!"

The three sat there for a few hours and gave their pokemon time to rest. Heracross was a welcome addition to the group, as he helped the woman clean through the rubble and find a few possessions she wanted. After enough rest, Brett and Erik said their goodbyes, and, together with the pokemon, walked into the inner city. The parking garage was only an hour's walk, even with the rubble, and the woman had kept her promise. They found the truck near the top of the garage, which was open. It was a large Chevy, full of gas and ready to go. The pokemon jumped in the back and they took off out of the city, onwards towards their destination of the DC.