Blake wanted to visit Mewtwo's crash site the following morning, but Max wouldn't have it. He claimed he was still tired, and even though Blake was certain he was simply scared, he let his friend be. Days flew by, then weeks, yet Max kept making up increasingly flimsier excuses, and Blake pretended to believe them. After hearing about the sudden increase in missing Pokémon, however, Blake couldn't hold back his tongue any longer. He slammed the wall closest to him, to get Max's attention, and started yelling at him.

"What the fuck is your problem? Sam went out there and nearly died! Other people are being kidnapped! You and I both know that's Mewtwo's doing!"
"M-Maybe, but it's just as likely that-"
"No! Don't even dare give me another one of your bullshit excuses! I'm going out there tomorrow morning, with or without you. If you still care, meet me in the road leading into the forest. If not..."
"...What?"
"You know what."

Max didn't know what Blake meant, but then neither did Blake. He was simply trying to push his friend past his fear, simultaneously reminding him of his moral obligation to help, and that was mostly in the way he said things, rather than what he was actually saying. After a few seconds, Max concluded Blake meant that if he was hurt or worse, it would be Max's fault. The idea finally managed to restore his confidence, and he agreed to help just as Blake was angrily walking out of Max's house.

"...I'll go with you."
"Really?" Blake asked, incredulous, as he turned around and walked toward Max "No more excuses, no more delays?"
"Yes. I promise."
"...Thank you. Pack your things. Meet me where I told you just before sunrise."

Blake faced the exit again, quickly realizing he had slammed the wall too hard and cracked it.

"And, uh... I'll... fix this wall when we get back." Blake said, embarrassed.
"Better hire someone else to do it." Max retorted jokingly.
"Fine..."

"This is going to cost me..."

The following morning, Blake waited for Max to show up at their agreed meeting spot. When Max didn't show up for about half an hour after he was supposed to, Blake sighed angrily.

"I knew it... Coward."

Just as he was about to leave, Max showed up, carrying a large backpack.

"Wait up!"

Max sprinted toward his friend, nearly tripping several times along the short run.

"I'm really sorry. I couldn't decide what to bring."
"I can see that... You know we're not going to be gone for long, right? We should be back before sunset."
"I know, but... I wanted to make sure nothing happened."
"...What did you bring?"
"Bandages, food, water, sleeping bags, maps, GPS, flashlights..."

As Max went on to describe the seemingly never-ending list of objects he had packed, Blake wondered how he had even managed to fit all of them into a single backpack. By the time he was finished, Blake was already sitting down – on a bench Max had brought with him – having realized that his words didn't really serve to dispel Max's fears; merely conceal them temporarily.

"What do you think?"
"I think you're overly cautious. We're not walking into a battlefield; we're just scouting."
"Well, what did you bring?"
"Some sandwiches, water, and a map. It's all in here."
"Only 'some sandwiches'? What if we get lost?"
"We have a map."
"What if we lose the map?"
"Then we're fucked." Blake spat angrily. "Come on, let's go."

Max wanted to protest, yet he also wanted to keep his promise. In the end, Blake took a few steps toward the forest, and Max reluctantly followed.

The two Pokémon wandered deep into the forest for hours, guided by Jimmy's blurry memories inside Max's mind, until they reached their destination. Max had fallen several times during their trek, due to the massive weight of his backpack, prompting Blake to sigh wearily each and every time, while he helped him get back up.
They had been hearing strange noises for a while, and it soon became clear why. The crater in Max's imagination was now a tunnel so deep that the bottom wasn't visible. The area around it had also been heavily modified: where there once were trees, now solar panels on rough ground reigned; where there once were green prairies, now stood tall machines meant to drill into the ground for an unknown purpose. Blake thought they were meant to harvest resources, but Max said they were probably being used to expand the tunnels by creating air holes where needed, as the forest didn't have many natural resources beneath it. All in all, there was no way to know more without moving closer. They both knew it, yet Max wanted to turn around.

"Alright, we've seen it. Let's go." Max spat.
"What?"
"We've seen everything. We need to go back."
"Max..."
"We don't have the resources to stay here for long, remember?"
"Actually, we do, thanks to your backpack."

Seeing that Max was growing scared by the second, Blake decided to calm him down.

"Relax. Nothing's going to happen, as long as we're quiet. There are no cameras here, see?" Blake said reassuringly as he pointed to the clearing. "We'll leave our stuff here, take a closer look, get back, take our stuff, and leave."
"I-I don't-"
"Chill. We can run quickly enough to escape. It'll be fine; trust me. Come on."

Blake took off his backpack before helping a reluctant Max to do the same. First, they scouted the area – they circled the clearing, getting a good idea of the empty spaces between the machines. Afterward, they met back at their supplies and drew a map on the ground of what they had seen.

"If we go here..."
"No; that's too close to the entrance. We'll be right out in the open if someone leaves. We should head here."
"There? We'll be backed into a corner if we're discovered!"
"Can't you jump very high?"
"Sure, but if they take us by surprise, we're screwed. Besides, even if I had time to react, it's not like I can teleport. That place is in the middle of the clearing! Let's just go with my idea."
"...Fine." Max whispered angrily.

The two Pokémon carefully approached the facility's entrance, trying to get a peek inside, but the tunnel seemed to go on forever. The machines around them had strange, glowing marks, as if they were pulsing with energy. Blake briefly wondered if the machines were actually absorbing the energy around them. He felt weaker just being around the glowing machines, as did Max, so they both moved further inside – closer to the entrance.
Max was getting nervous: he told Blake he could feel other beings' aura around them and even attempted to show him, but Blake was too focused on the entrance to notice. To get his attention, Max shook Blake.

"What?!"
"There are others here! I can feel them."
"How is that possible? We didn't see anyone when we scouted this clearing!"
"Well, they're here now. We should leave."
"Max, we can't-"

Before Blake could even finish his thoughts, some light cracking sounds were heard, like someone stepping on branches from the fallen trees. It didn't look like anyone had been trying to hide from them either; in fact, it didn't look like their presence had been noted. Nevertheless, someone was approaching, and there was only one way to go – down, into the secret facility.

"We've gotta move." Blake spat urgently.

Blake grabbed Max's arm and dragged him inside, narrowly missing the other Pokémon who had been attracted by his last comment.
Inside the tunnel, Blake and Max found an interactive map of the facility. They looked at the area around them, as well as a few nearby exits, then tried to get a better notion of the rest of the complex. However, as soon as Max touched it, the map shut down, while the alarm was activated.

"What did you do?!"
"I don't know! We have to get out of here!"

Max's first instinct was to go back, toward the entrance, yet it was automatically closed and bolted shut. He threw aura spheres at it while Blake spat white-hot flames, yet neither attack so much as scratched the enormous gate. He finally resorted to punching it several times, before trying to pull it open, and finally giving up.

"What's this thing made of?" Max said, panicking.
"There was another exit deeper inside. We need to go there."
"What we need to do is bust open this door."
"How? We tried, it didn't work. Look!" Blake said as he pointed at the door. "There's not a scratch on it. An exit is better than no exit. Let's go."
"If we keep heading further in..."
"We'll be fine. If Mewtwo were here, it'd have come for us already, and we can handle everything else. Come on."

When Max didn't move right away – out of fear, perhaps – Blake tried pushing him into action once again.

"We don't have time to argue! If we don't move, we're definitely dead."

Max was relieved when the large door was opened with a loud clang, until he felt some Pokémon on the other side.

"Run!"

Max ran past Blake, who followed without question. Looking back, he saw the four Pokémon Max had felt – Scizor, Sneasel, Metagross, and Skarmory – chasing them, which only made him run faster.
The corridor was much longer than the map had led them to believe, and there were several rooms on their path. One had several – presumably kidnapped – scientists mindlessly working on something called the "UMS project", seemingly unaware of their presence or the alarm. Blake was able to gleam the words "Universal Mega", but he didn't understand what that meant. There was a large, glowing stone in the center of the room that he hadn't even noticed. It was the size of his head, with glowing rainbow streaks.
Max, meanwhile, managed to read the name of a different project in a separate room; even glance at the project itself. It was entitled "Warship", and was exactly what its name indicated: a large vessel, capable of carrying several hundred troops, if not more. Looking downward, Max realized it wasn't the only one. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of such ships littered an hangar beneath the research room. There were too many to conquer their world, nor was there even any need for them on their planet – most islands were too small to sustain a population large enough to be any sort of threat. Upon closer inspection, Max realized they were not airships, but spaceships. It made him curious as to what Mewtwo intended to do with them.
Both Pokémon saw some kind of battle suit on their way to the exit. It was attached to a Pokémon with purple glowing eyes, covering all other potentially identifying features. Blake briefly wondered if it was Mewtwo, but Max didn't seem to think so: he looked just as surprised as Blake to witness the spectacle.

"It's through here!"

Blake and Max entered a large room filled with vats of unknown contents and saw a skylight high above them.

"Is that the exit?"
"There's a control panel here, but it requires a code. We need to make a ladder, quick!"
"Too late..."

Max was right: the other Pokémon were about to come through the door. Thinking quickly, Blake knocked over a few empty vats and melted them right onto the door.

"What are you doing?"
"Go get something! Make a ladder! I'll handle them."

The guards were hitting the makeshift wall as hard as they could, so Blake started throwing whatever small items were available that could be melted into the pile.

"It's four against one! Neither one of us – maybe not even the two of us – can handle that!"
"I'm not going to fight them! I'm just going to be keeping them from entering. The more we talk, the less chance we have. Unless you can melt things, you need to make us an escape ladder!"

With a loud clang, the wall started to crack. Angry stares were visible for a fraction of a second before lightning-fast movements and strikes resumed.

"Hurry!" Blake yelled as he tried to patch the crack with melted steel.
"A-Alright!"

While Blake held back the Pokémon, Max searched the large room for something they could climb. When he couldn't find anything taller than himself, he began to panic.

"Dammit, what am I supposed to do? I can't find anything to climb... Then again... maybe... maybe I don't have to."

Max threw a small aura sphere high at the wall, creating a small hole in it, just big enough to use as a climbing aid.

"What's going on over there?" Blake asked.
"I'm making a staircase!" Max replied as he continued what he was doing.

With a quick upward glance, Blake saw the aura spheres hitting the wall, as well as the holes left by them.

"Well, hurry! They're almost through, and I can't reach anything to melt!"

No sooner had Blake warned Max of his status than the four Pokémon tore down his wall. An explosion echoed throughout the enormous room, blowing Blake backward several feet, onto a vat.

"Blake!"

Max jumped onto some vats and ran on them toward Blake. He was desperately holding off all four Pokémon with a single, continuous, wide flame that had blocked the entrance, even as he lain on the now-collapsed metal container. Max reached for him, feeling the heat of his flames, and carried him away, even as flames continued to spout from him.
Max felt something wet leaking onto his back. At first, he thought it was the vat's contents, yet he quickly realized it was Blake's leg, bleeding. Looking back at the container, he saw the metal had bent in such a way that it managed to cut his friend's leg. The cut was somewhat big, yet shallow.

"Dammit... I just hope he can still make it..."

Blake's body slowly turned colder and colder, until it was at a normal temperature. Max glanced backward again – the other four Pokémon were on their way, and Blake couldn't sustain his attack to hold them back any more.
The pursuing Skarmory flew high into the air, screeching to signal its impending attack. Meanwhile, Metagross floated awkwardly toward them, being easily overtaken by the much-faster Sneasel and Scizor. Seeing the two Pokémon approach, Blake swung his claws at them, to keep them at bay. However, he had forgotten the Skarmory, which only missed them because Max heard it flapping its metallic wings.
Max and Blake quickly became surrounded by the three closest Pokémon: Sneasel and Scizor moved at such incredible speeds around them that they seemed to be everywhere at once, while Skarmory blocked any hope of escape by circling them from above. When Metagross climbed on a wall to get to them more easily, Max realized there was nowhere for them to run. Either they stood their ground, or their lives would be forfeit.

"Blake." Max said calmly as he helped Blake to stand.
"I know." Blake replied, wincing in pain. "Let's go."

Metagross was the first to strike, jumping on the duo. Max immediately tossed an aura sphere at it, blasting it away, so Sneasel tried to attack him. Before Max could react, Blake threw a couple of punches at Sneasel. The first punch found its target, but the second one was stopped by Scizor. Its lobster-like claw squeezed Blake's fist, prompting him to punch it repeatedly with his other arm, trying to set himself free. Max would have helped right away, yet Skarmory was flying downward with incredible velocity. If he moved, Skarmory would hit both he and Blake. This way, he thought, he might be able to drive it back.
Blake could feel his hand giving way to Scizor's steel grip. Sneasel was coming back for another attack, while Metagross's steps kept getting closer. With a quick glance upward, Blake saw Skarmory just a few feet away from Max, who was getting ready to stop it. Not knowing what he was doing, Blake grabbed Scizor and tossed it at the descending Skarmory, before kicking Sneasel away. His leg was bleeding even more, and his hand was almost broken, yet he had managed to buy himself and Max some breathing room. Without hesitating, Max picked up Blake once more, running to narrowly avoid Metagross's slam, and brought him closer to his makeshift climbing wall, before putting him down again.
Now that he was closer to it, Blake suddenly realized he would have to carry Max from that point on, as the supports were too far apart for Max to do it himself. Only he wasn't sure he could do it.

"I guess he had no choice... There are cracks running from one hole to the next. If they had been any closer, either this place would have come crumbling down on us, or there'd just be one big climbing support – useless to us. Either way, I'm not leaving you behind, brother."

Plotting the most obvious route, Blake grabbed Max and jumped to the closest support, then the next. Every time he jumped, Max could feel his grip growing weaker, and the jumps themselves becoming shorter, each leaving a smaller margin for error than the last. Although Max tried helping by firing aura spheres at the other Pokémon, hoping the force would propel them farther while keeping the others at bay, it wasn't enough. There were only a couple of jumps left, yet Blake was already having trouble catching his breath. His cut leg was shaking, as if it was about to succumb to Max's weight.

"Blake, you have to go without me."
"What?"
"Look at you! We can't make it together, and I can't make it alone... But you can."
"Don't be an idiot! I'm getting you out of here. It's my fault you're here, and I'm not leaving you behind!"

Blake tightened his grip on Max and jumped to the next and final support. Max, realizing there was no other choice, pulled Blake's arm off of himself and fell. Blake tried reaching for him, but it was of no use. The other Pokémon went straight for Max, who screamed at Blake to leave. Crying as his friend was swarmed by the four attackers, Blake made the final leap, breaking through the skylight.

The last chapter is almost done. I hope you like it as much as I do. Also, I do apologize if the chapter names seem repetitive. I thought they fit the story.