Disclaimer: I own nothing but Maecenas, Mycroft and the plot. We now present Third Charms: Part Two.

CRASH!

As Alexandria de la Roche's loyal Aggron lashed out with its tail and sent Xavier's Umbreon flying across the courtyard once more, its owner was having trouble suppressing a smile. Alex just couldn't believe it all—the tournament hadn't even started and here she was now, battling a top Trainer in the heart of Pokѐtopia! As she thought back to where she'd been a mere week ago, her grin deepened considerably. It had been another peaceful day working at the breeding ranch back in Johto with her brother Isaiah. Well, not entirely peaceful, she corrected herself—that had been the time they'd experimented with a new blend of Pokemon food that had turned out to be such a success that the two of them had been mobbed as soon as they'd set foot outdoors with it. They'd sorted out that fiasco eventually, as usual, and the day had ended with the two of them watching a flock of Pelipper soaring overhead on their way to Hoenn against the backdrop of a magnificent sunset.

If anyone had told her then where she would be in a mere seven days, Alex thought, she wouldn't have believed them for a second. Sure, she'd been in Pokemon Leagues and plenty of other prestigious competitions before, but Pokѐtopia somehow felt…different. Special. And just so totally dazzling and over-the-top that you couldn't believe you were really there. And yet, here she was…

WHAM!

The sound of another Iron Tail from Aron hitting its target snapped Alex back to reality, alerting her once more to the warmth of the sun above her, the gleam and faint creaking noise of Aron's scales as it reared back in triumph, and a stricken-looking Xavier facing her. A nostalgic smile still playing around her lips, Alex pushed her square glasses back into place, then nodded at Aron to indicate it should continue the offensive. Ever since she'd managed to manipulate Xavier's radio to play only heavy metal, her Aggron had been absolutely pummeling its considerably smaller opponent. As a defensive type mainly known for stealth tactics, the opposing Umbreon had been totally overwhelmed by the relentless onslaught.

A crisp breeze sailed through the courtyard, bringing the tantalizing tang of victory back to Alex with it. "Ready to surrender yet, Xavier?" she sang out, somewhat more loudly than normal in order to make herself heard over the music (her Aggron appeared to be thumping its tail on the ground in time, making the pavement shake).

"You wish!" Xavier roared back, a manic glint lighting up his emerald eyes. "This is just begin---YAAARGHHH!" The Trainer from Mossdeep was forced to cut his retort short and dodge frantically to one side as his own Pokemon sailed clean past him into the air.

Several stories above the courtyard, a meeting of Pokѐtopia Justice Services was interrupted by the Moonlight Pokemon suddenly and unceremoniously slamming right into the window. All of the members of the law firm stared blankly as it slid slowly down the glass, its paws making a drawn-out squeaking noise, landed awkwardly on the window ledge, shook itself thoroughly, and then jumped back into the battle below with a snarl. The senior partner looked suspiciously at his mug of coffee and pushed it away, but decided to say nothing.

About five minutes after this incident, Aron managed to wear out its opponent's defenses completely, and with a well-placed Head Smash at full power, and Xavier's Umbreon collapsed in an unconscious heap at his feet. Alex gave a hearty but inaudible cheer as Iron Lombre slammed their way through the explosive final chorus on Xavier's radio and her Aggron bellowed in triumph, leaving quite a few echoes ringing through the suddenly still courtyard as all three sounds ended more or less simultaneously.

Xavier abruptly collapsed to his knees. Picking up his Umbreon, he gave it a consoling scratch behind the ears before recalling it to its Pokѐball. Clambering back to his feet, he shook his head in amazed disbelief.

"That…that was a total rout, darn you, Alex! A slaughter! Th—this isn't over yet, though!" he spluttered, looking like he had no real idea what had just happened. He pulled his radio out and, to his obvious relief, managed to regain control of its function, settling on a very motivational-sounding tune that Alex suspected he would need before too much time had gone by.

"You're right, Xavier!" she called tauntingly back to him. "But I suspect that it will be over in the next two minutes and forty-seven seconds or so…"

"Right," Xavier snarled, grabbing a Pokѐball from his belt and hurling it as hard as he could into the arena.

Alex tossed her head nonchalantly and recalled Aron, seizing her Kirlia's Pokѐball with a plan to modify Xavier's music again, then follow up with a surprise attack from the heavily damaged Rose and return to Aron to clean up.

The burst of light from Xavier's Pokѐball cleared, and Alex let Kirls' Pokѐball fall from her hand, where it clattered to the ground without opening. Before her stood a fully-grown Scizor.

It could have been the very creature that appeared constantly in Alex's nightmares: a cruelly efficient, passionless gaze, lethal-looking sharp points jutting from every surface of a polished crimson body, an ominous buzzing coming from translucent wings making the otherwise humanoid figure horribly insect-like and, worst of all, two gigantic claws opening and closing with sinister precision, claws that could do horrendous damage to anything they encountered.

Alex understood with chilling certainty that Xavier had done the one thing to turn the tide in his favor: unleashing the one Pokemon Alex truly feared. The frozen rational side of her brain told her that her undamaged Aggron would stand an excellent chance against it, but for the moment she couldn't move a single muscle.

No, I'm not going to let myself be weak like this! Especially not here and now, before the tournament even starts! Pull it together, Alex…with effort, she grabbed Kirls' Pokѐball from the ground and threw a new one into the arena, the irrational terror already beginning to abate somewhat.

Until a very battered-looking Roserade emerged from the ball, took one look at its opponent and fainted. Alex had grabbed the wrong Pokѐball, and now one of her favorite Pokemon was lying defenseless in the path of the brutal predator!

A highly refined, super-intelligent predator that was now flying right at her.

The surroundings and details may have been different, but to Alexandria de la Roche the situation was an exact mirror of the Scizor attack she had endured years ago, the one that had given her the small scar under her right eye and the one that had fueled her paranoia of the Scissors Pokemon ever since. Time slowed down and then concentrated into one excruciating second.

Oddly enough, instead of being paralyzed as she usually was, this time Alex found the reverse happening to her. As the Scizor dive-bombed her and then swooped backwards to Xavier, she stumbled backwards and fell, still in slow-motion, to the ground.

Alex's glasses clattered to the cement next to her, but now she was powerless to pick them up. Her body froze again, waiting for the sting of those dreaded claws. In the background somewhere, she could fuzzily almost-hear Xavier gloating—she supposed he had a right to; knocking out an opponent without even attacking it had to be some kind of record. With increased horror, she realized that she had left Rose completely defenseless, but there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing.

Nothing

Nothing

Nothing

Nothing

The next thing Alex was conscious of was of someone shaking her by the shoulder. "Whoa…Alex, are you okay? Wha…I…say something…" It was a very unnerved-sounding Xavier. Groggily, she opened her eyes, then sat up and reached for her glasses, which had sustained something of a scratch on one lens from their fall. Xavier appeared to have recalled his Scizor; the courtyard was completely empty except for the two of them and Rose, who had recovered and was looking at Alex with concern.

She felt her face go red. "I am so sorry about that, Xavier. I have this thing about Scizor ever since…when I was really young, this swarm of them attacked me. Usually I can get over it pretty quickly, but when it just rushed me like that…"

He looked stricken. "Then I guess I should be the one apologizing here. My Scizor's pretty harmless. He was just being mischievous there—I had no idea about the Scizor thing." He sighed. "I guess the win goes to you then—if it wasn't for that you would have won. Unfair advantage."

"No way! It's my fault I have this weakness to Scizor, and it's my fault that I couldn't deal with it. It would have been a legitimate win if you hadn't called it off. If I can't face my weaknesses, how am I going to get anywhere?"

Xavier frowned, thinking about this. "I guess there's no way to tell for sure…tell you what. If we're both going to keep on being all noble like this, why don't we just call it a draw due to circumstances? This was just practice anyway."

"Well…" Alex debated with herself, then saw Rose nodding in assent. "I guess I could live with that."

"All right! Shake on it." Xavier gripped her hand enthusiastically, an excited grin back on his face. "You sure showed me a thing or two before I sent Scizor out. I thought I'd seen every way to get around my music strategies, but…whoa! I still can't get over that. How did you think of it in the middle of a battle?"

Alex laughed. "I have absolutely no idea."

The two walked companionably out of the courtyard and into the sunset, laughing and talking like old friends, the only evidence of their conflict lying in the burn marks that still littered the battlefield behind them and in Pokѐtopia Justice Services rather nervously leaving the building another way.

--Several hours earlier that afternoon—

An eighteen-year-old Trainer named Sebastian Carreon clambered onto one of the docks in Pokѐtopia Harbor with a sigh of relief. He'd been swimming on his own power for nearly half of the journey, relying on his Altaria to carry him only when he was too tired for another stroke. What better way to get pumped up for a tournament of this caliber than by getting some serious exercise? Bastian told himself, running a hand through his dark hair and throwing his usual black-and-gold clothing ensemble on over his swimsuit. But now…oh my gosh, I could eat a Rapidash. With these thoughts in mind, the trainer from Sunyshore City strolled towards the main gate to the city in search of a good restaurant, attracting plenty of odd looks from the people milling around the gate due to his weatherbeaten appearance and the fact that he'd suddenly leapt out of the ocean like one of the legendary People of the Water. However, he hadn't even gotten off the dock before he heard someone shouting his name.

Bastian frowned. He was a decent Trainer, sure, but not famous or anything. Who would be…

The next minute, every last thought was blasted from his mind as Rhea Abucayan threw her arms around him. His normally tan face turned a violent shade of burgundy, and he couldn't even manage to splutter incoherently. Rhea, however, was much more talkative.

"BASTIAN! I had no idea you were going to be here! This is awesome!" She pulled back from the embrace and looked at him brightly. "Already this looks like the best tournament ever. I just hope you can take losing to me….again."

Bastian winced, but the slight had allowed him to regain control of himself. "Good to see you too, Rhea. Still turning the world upside down out there?"

The two old friends hadn't seen each other in nearly a year, so Rhea was full of news about all of her journeys. Bastian tried to respond intelligently, and mentioned his recent trip to Johto, but found it difficult to keep his eyes off her for more than three seconds. Eventually Rhea glanced at her watch with a look of alarm.

"Oh my gosh, I told someone I'd meet them for a practice battle five minutes ago! See you around, umm….meet me at Main Street Colosseum at three? See you then!" she ran off with her usual unbelievable speed.

Bastian stared after her, lost in thought, until one of his Pokѐballs opened of its own accord. An entire full-grown Mamoswine on the dock didn't leave much room for anything else, so its Trainer was unceremoniously hurled into the water.

"MAMMOTH!" Bastian yelled, clambering back onto the dock and fixing his Pokemon, which was pretending to be asleep, with an icy glare. "Do we have to go through all this again? If I have a…a crush on Rhea, that's none of your concern!"

His Pokemon's only response was a heavy, rumbling snore. Sighing in exasperation, Sebastian chucked Mammoth's Pokѐball at it with all the force he could muster, recalling it in a blaze of light.

Muttering something that sounded like "With friends like these, who needs enemies?" Sebastian Carreon wrung out his now-soaked jacket, allowed himself one more roll of the eyes, and headed off in search of lunch.

***

"Hmm," said Mycroft Williamson with mild interest. Judging by his tone and generally unruffled appearance, he could have been playing a chess game or ordering a cut of his beloved filet mignon, rather than in the actual scenario in which he currently found himself. His shiny Metagross, Carnegie, had just crashed to the ground in a half-ton heap a mere three inches away from his right hand, still sizzling with intense heat from the four consecutive Fire Punches it had just sustained from its opponent, Varacei's Ragnarok. An easterly wind blew through the makeshift arena, sending a small cloud of steam hissing from Carnegie's inert form and ruffling Mycroft's suit coat. With a steely groan, the Iron Leg Pokemon heaved itself to its feet and flew back into the air to face its rival, who was currently circling around silently about ten feet off the ground like an ominous flying saucer.

"I will freely admit, you have just taken me by surprise," Mycroft called across the field. "I had not realized that your Metagross possessed such a degree of finesse. I believe some—granted, temporary—congratulations are in order.

"So how do I respond to this?" Mycroft asked himself, muttering rapidly under his breath and sketching calculations in midair with the single, manicured tip of a finger.

On the other side of the field, Varacei was concentrating just as heavily, his fists clenched to an almost painful degree and his mismatched eyes intent on the two mechanical behemoths facing each other before him. Admittedly, he hadn't had much reason to worry thus far. He'd gotten off to a fairly good start, and then his Metagross, in a moment of ludicrous good fortune, had somehow managed to land a Fire Punch with all four of its limbs at once. However, Varacei was hardly about to underestimate Mycroft. He could tell at a glance how intelligent his opponent was, and knew it was only a matter of time before he made his move.

Ferk was shouting something in a ham dramatic voice, clearly enjoying his role as the announcer, but Varacei barely heard him. Mycroft appeared to have come to some sort of conclusion, and he didn't want to miss a crucial moment.

"Carnegie, use Zen Headbutt!" the formally dressed Trainer called, enunciating the sentence oddly. His Pokemon turned to face him for a brief moment and nodded, then whizzed back into the air, a distortion of psychic energy already building around it.

"WHAT?!?" was Varacei's flabbergasted reaction. As a Steel and Psychic type, Ragnarok was doubly resistant to Psychic attacks, and this in combination with its stellar defense meant it would barely even feel the attack. After all that consideration, Mycroft had to have realized that! How on Earth could he not?!? Varacei asked himself. The tall Trainer's charisma and manner of speaking had made him seem like a genius, but perhaps, he reflected, he'd been wrong about that. Maybe Mycroft was simply weird.

Carnegie soared through the air with a determined expression etched into its iron features, heading for the collision. "And…an unusual decision on part of…Mycroft, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!?" Ferk screamed, mirroring Varacei's sentiments. Time seemed to slow down before the two behemoths slammed together in a burst of telekinetic sparks.

CRASH!

And we end on another cliffhanger! I was going to write just a little further to show you what Mycroft's plan was exactly, but the idea of beginning and ending with the same crash appealed to me. You'll have to wait for the next installment, in which our own little "Clash of the Titans" will be resolved (it may well be better than the movie, if admittedly on a much lower budget and involving Metagross instead of Zeus) and four more members of Varacei and Mycroft's respective teams will duke it out! We'll also throw in something of a plot twist to shake the mix up a bit…

Startix, I know that Varacei prefers to be called Urya, but Mycroft will have to beat him in order to use that nickname. Well, that and I prefer "Varacei," but I will switch it after a while. Hopefully next chapter I'll get to show off his strategies a bit more, as well as Mycroft's!

Nellchan, LastPrelude, and the rest of you, I hope you all enjoyed the finale of Xavier and Alex's battle. Perhaps it's just a little cheap to end it in a draw like that, but it avoids having either of them lose (they're both favorites of mine) and sets up Alex's fear of Scizor. And presumably having Aron whack around Umbreon at the beginning made up for it…for Nellchan, that is.

I'd like to extend a welcome to all of my new readers, particularly Friend X, the author of Bastian and my harshest constructive critic. All those of you who put my story on alert, etc, recently, hey y'all; I hope to see more of you soon!

I'm afraid this may be the last you hear of me for two or three weeks. I'm about to enter one of the busiest times of my life, which will most likely restrict me to random PM-ing and so on. You can wish me luck for an upcoming speech competition and the opening of the musical I'm in, though! Come May, I'll be back in force, I promise.

And how about Pokemon Black and White? I can't believe the urban setting! Or the heroes' hair!

Character credits:

Xavier—LastPrelude

Bastian—Friend X

Alex—nellchan0013

Rhea—gamings-reminiscence

Varacei—Startix and so on

Mycroft—Yours Truly

Ferk—SilentlySnowing

Well, only one more third of Third Charms to go! Enjoy the ride…whenever it arrives!

Maecenas out.