Authoress: Hey everyone! ^_^ So, here's Chapter 5 Pt III, hope yall enjoy it. It's EXTRA long, partly cuz I love yall to death and you deserve a long chapter, and partly cuz I'm making up for that week that I missed updating. Oh yes, and I'm foregoing reviewer responses this chapter since I want to get this up today, and that day is Saturday ^_~. Don't worry, they'll be up next chapter, I promise! I honestly don't have the time at the moment, I hope this doesn't affect anyone that look forward to their responses! =*(

But on with Pt III! ^_^ Here goes…

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*~General POV~*

Espeon gasped. What she saw certainly wasn't the most welcome sight to meet her eyes. Mightyena and Umbreon were having a fierce battle, Dark vs. Dark. Mightyena kept delivering blow after blow with his sharp teeth. Umbreon managed to use Faint Attack to his advantage, but his attempts to dodge were becoming more and more spaced out.

Umbreon ducked under a Bite attack from Mightyena and used his own Bite to chomp down on Mightyena's front leg. He growled in pain and used his free paw to knock Umbreon off him. The black fox was flung lightly against a dirty brick wall.

Espeon still looked on as Mightyena prepared a lethal Crunch attack for Umbreon. She was glad for a split-second when a lucky Faint Attack on Umbreon's part allowed him to slip through the wall he was leaning against, and Mightyena's jaws slammed into it with a sickening sound. The large pokemon let out a sharp, pain-filled yelp.

Umbreon slipped back through but, unfortunately, Mightyena was even angrier than before and caught Umbreon off guard with a full-force Quick Attack. Umbreon flew into the wall a second time, this time much harder, and slid back down it. Espeon watched in horror as her friend tried to get to his feet on shaking limbs, and utterly failing.

"Well, I guess we all know the winner of this match now don't we?" Mightyena sneered cruelly. "So sorry you won't be around to see the lovely meal I'll make of your Eevee."

Espeon shut her eyes in tiredness and in anger. She couldn't take it any longer. Umbreon could no longer defend himself from Mightyena alone, and she had to help. She didn't care if Umbreon thought it was no favor, that he could've done it himself, but she knew that wasn't true and wasn't about to let her friend die. And that's all that mattered.

The psychic popped her bubble, which left her without much strength left from the strain of keeping it up. "Hey!" she yelled at Mightyena's back as he was about to grab the scruff of Umbreon's neck.

He turned around. "Well, if it isn't the one who left back at my home. Maybe you didn't hear my warning."

"I heard it quite well."

"Then you should know already that Umbreon and the Eevee are mine, along with the Mudkip Ri captured. I'll be eating well tonight."

Espeon shot him a glare so harsh that he would've been dead ten times over if looks could kill. "Eat this!" She focused her remaining energy on one final attack, closing her eyes. The atmosphere circling Espeon became distorted, and the large pokemon looked at the psychic one with confusion.

The spiral of distortion got bigger and bigger and finally it hit Mightyena, knocking him unconscious instantly. Umbreon locked eyes with Espeon expressing no emotion in particular before he too fell into sleep.

Espeon stopped and sat down, panting, exhausted. Mightyena was passed out for the time being, but she was feeling the stress of getting Umbreon a safe distance away, at least back to the others, before he awoke. She managed somehow to drag the sleeping Umbreon about a foot before collapsing from pure exhaustion next to him.

~*~

"Ah!" Vaporeon cringed and shut her eyes. "My head!"

"You felt it too?" Jolteon asked, shocked. "A sharp pain?"

"Yea."

"What are you talking about?" Skull asked. Tat and Tatta were obviously confused as well.

But neither answered. They were staring wide eyed at each other. "Do you think…" Vaporeon gulped.

"It has to be…there's no other explanation…" Jolteon spoke softly.

"Espeon!" Both drew their conclusion in unison. Jolteon shot off in the direction that he had seen Espeon go, and Vaporeon turned gracefully to follow suit.

"Wait, I'm coming too!" Skull announced, quickly jumping onto Vaporeon's long tail before she sped off after Jolteon. Luckily she kept her tail elevated for the most part, too frantic to even notice the small passenger.

"Tat, I'm scared now," Tatta said as she watched. "What just happened?"

"I can't be sure," he answered, "but it has something to do with a psychic pokemon. I've heard that a psychic's distress can be felt through their closest friends."

Tatta gasped. "If that's true then that means -"

"Yes. That means Umbreon failed and the brute got to Espeon too. They're both in trouble."

~*~

*~Jennifer's POV~*

I had dozed off while Carly was chatting to the air and lost track of the time. I now had not even a general idea of how much time was left before the orange dragon came back. I suddenly realized it was quiet. The Mudkip had miraculously stopped brainstorming.

I got up to look for it. "Hey! Mudkip! Where are you?" When I didn't see it outside I found the Mudkip inside the shelter spraying the walls down and wiping them clean. The walls were getting cleaner, but I could say a lot less for the pokemon. "What are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning the walls. My mommy says my room should never be dirty."

"This isn't your room."

"It is now! I'm never gonna get back home…"

"Were you listening to anything that orange thing said?" The Mudkip shook its head and I sighed. "It said that it would be back for us in an hour. I don't know how much time there is left now, but it can't be much."

"Oh." The pokemon sat down. "Where is she taking us?"

"I don't know!" I snapped, frustrated about not knowing. "Maybe it'll put us down on solid land then you can go wherever and I can go -" I cut short. Where am I going to go? I thought.

"You'll go where?" the Mudkip asked worriedly.

"Home, I guess," I replied.

There was silence for a moment as I stared from the clean spot on the wall to the now dingy Mudkip. "Why do you call me an 'it?" it finally asked.

I eyed the pokemon. "Because I can and because you are," I responded bitterly.

"So…you're an 'it' too?"

Didn't expect that, I sulked. "I'm different!" was my indignant response. "I'm not like you things, even though I may look like it!" I walked out of the room. To my surprise the Mudkip didn't follow me. Good, I contemplated. Maybe it finally gave up.

~*~

*~General POV~*

Jolteon and Vaporeon raced down the path they thought their two friends had gone. Skull was still hanging on for dear life to Vaporeon's tail. There was an abrupt stop as the two foxes reached another dead end.

"Dammit!" Jolteon thundered.

"Calm down!" Vaporeon ordered. "We'll never find them that way. There's only one other path left to choose now, they have to be down that one unless they went off the paths. This way." She swept off again, this time Jolteon following her. He then noticed Skull clinging onto her tail but decided not to ask.

Finally the three reached the clearing and were awed by what they saw. Everything was strewn about, either that or torn up, including bricks from walls. It was evident a vicious battle took place there.

Skull jumped off Vaporeon's tail and ran off to investigate the area. The other two ran to the dark and psychic's sides. "Espeon, Umbreon! Are you ok?" the water-type asked fearfully, seeing as both had their eyes closed.

Espeon opened her eyes as a response. Jolteon then asked, "What happened? This place is a wreck!"

She struggled up. "Umbreon lost the battle. I'm fine, better than Umbreon at least. I collapsed after dragging him a few paces. I'm sorry for dragging you out here."

"Don't be, it's ok," Jolteon spoke. Then he noticed Mightyena to the side – he was asleep. Skull was poking him and jumping a few feet backwards to see if the huge dog would get up. "Stupid idiot," Jolteon mumbled under his breath. "Why is he asleep?"

"Because I used Hypnosis. Umbreon is asleep as well," Espeon answered.

"You managed to use a Hypnosis after you had come all this way in the bubble?" questioned Vaporeon. "I remember last time you traveled this distance you had lost a lot of your energy."

"I lost a lot this time too, but I'm stronger than I was last year. I had enough left to do that, to save Umbreon. Now let's move, before Mightyena wakes up. Get Umbreon."

"What about you?" the bubble jet pokemon asked concernedly.

"I can walk."

"Oh no, you can't," Jolteon corrected. Just as she tried to stand up he scooped her up on his back from underneath. "You'd slow us down if you did anything." Luckily Espeon didn't object.

Vaporeon proceeded to lift Umbreon onto her own back, and they began to move back to where they had come from. "Hurry," voiced Espeon. "I don't know how much longer Hypnosis will keep Mightyena asleep."

"I guess not," a familiar gruff voice rang out from behind them. "Hand over the Umbreon or I'll just have to take all of you by force."

"I don't think so," Vaporeon stepped up boldly, laying Umbreon gently on the ground.

"You can't fight three of us and expect to win." Jolteon had also laid Espeon down and joined the water type.

"Three? I think the little Espeon is a bit…drained, wouldn't you say? Not that she'd be much help to you anyway. I can take on both of you and win!"

"Three," Jolteon said again, this time smirking.

"What?" Mightyena was confused now, exactly the reaction the two eons wanted.

Both grabbed Umbreon and Espeon and dragged them away when there was suddenly a low rumbling noise coming from underground. Mightyena whirled around in all direction, and realized too late what he was in the middle of.

With a lot of force for a small pokemon, Skull surfaced right under Mightyena, blowing him into the air. He yelped with surprise as he hit the hard ground, knocked unconscious momentarily.

"That wasn't too hard," Skull said, wiping his paws together.

Jolteon smiled. "I hate to admit this, but great job, Skull. You really saved our tails. Now let's go before you do something stupid like poke him again and everyone forgets about your good deed."

Skull stuck his tongue out and Vaporeon rolled her eyes. Luckily Skull wasn't phased by Jolteon's picking. Umbreon and Espeon, now asleep, were again loaded onto the other's backs and were soon back with Tat and Tatta. The pokemon scavenged the dumps, something they had had much practice in, looking for items that might've been thrown away by the PAP accidentally. They were lucky when a whole healing kit was found. Soon Espeon was well enough to fight again, and Umbreon was also standing on his own four feet.

~*~

*~Jennifer's POV~*

The Mudkip stayed in the house, I imagine cleaning walls, and I chose to remain outside. Suddenly the wind picked up and I flew into the house from surprise. The huge dragon thing had appeared once again, but somehow it just didn't seem like it had been a whole hour.

"Ebony, Crystal!" it called. What confused me most about this creepy thing was that it was convinced that I was Ebony and the Mudkip was Crystal.

The blue pokemon ran behind me and grabbed hold of my tail. I didn't push it off since frankly I had no idea what I was going to do.

"Come you two, your father has sent for you a bit early."

"Really?" Carly squeaked excitedly. "Where is he? I wanna see my daddy!"

"Shut up!" I ordered sharply. "I don't think we're going home."

The Mudkip's lip quivered. "Why not?"

"Because I don't have a dad for the moment so this thing can't really take me there, and please don't cry." Luckily the pokemon didn't cry, but it did do something I least expected – it gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry you don't have a dad for the moment," it told me. "I hope you get him back soon."

I softened. This pokemon's naïve nature had actually made me feel better, and I patted it on the back with a paw I couldn't wait to get rid of. But neither of us could do anything else – the dragon had gotten impatient waiting for us and reached in the shelter and pulled us out. We were on our way to who-the-hell-knows-where.

~*~

*~General POV~*

"Umbreon, how do you feel?" Vaporeon was asking the dark type.

"I'm fine," he scoffed. "And I would've been ok if you hadn't stepped in. It's your faults that Jennifer isn't back here with us."

"Hey, Espeon risked her life for your stupid ass!" Jolteon snapped. "Did you think he would actually keep his promise anyway? The pokemon's a liar and a cheat, Umbreon!"

Umbreon sat there, unmoving. Skull picked up where Jolteon left off. "You should at least say th-"

"It's ok Skull," Espeon stopped him. "You know and I know I did the right thing and that's all that matters – I saved my friend's life." At that Umbreon didn't make a smart comeback, but slung his down, showing remorse for his attitude and defeat.

"Now," Espeon continued, "where is that hilltop Mightyena kept you on, Umbreon? It's a start."

Umbreon lifted his head. "Over there." All looked beyond the tree house to see a tall, circular pillar rising into the afternoon sky.

"Let's go then."

"I'll lead," Umbreon stepped in front of Espeon. "Since Mightyena hasn't come back here yet then he's obviously somewhere else. I have a feeling he's regained consciousness and has ordered Ri to bring him Jennifer and the other one to get us back. We have no time to waste."

Everyone followed Umbreon willingly towards the hilltop, wondering if Jennifer was up there and if she was ok. "I wouldn't be surprised if that SOB has another 'restaurant' next to the hill," Umbreon snorted.

For some odd reason Skull started snickering. "What?!" Umbreon turned a 180 into Skull's face. "Is something funny!?"

"Nothing," Skull replied, backing away slightly. "It's just that calling him that isn't really an insult since technically he is a son of a female dog…"

That earned him smacks from both ends – an annoyed smack from Umbreon directly on the skull and one behind delivered by Jolteon. Tat couldn't help but smile some, and the females ignored them, proceeding to turn Umbreon around so he could show them the way.

All the sudden crying was heard loud and clear from the location of the pillar. "Come on!" Umbreon commanded. Vaporeon allowed Skull to jump on her tail again and Espeon took both Rattatas. The remaining two shot ahead.

"He's scaring me, Jennifer!" the shrill whine was still being heard.

"Jennifer!" All pokemon involved in the rescue said the same thing at the same moment. The eons ran faster to reach their destination – luckily they weren't too far away to begin with.

~*~

*~Jennifer's POV~*

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, was all that was running through my head at that moment. I was sitting in a barred cage. The poor Mudkip was scared out of it mind as it huddled close to me. That dog was about to eat me and I was starting to freak out then.

"Go eat someone your own size!" I yelled at the coyote. "Leave us alone!"

"Quite the talker, aren't you?" it sneered. "Too bad your friends won't get here in time to save you."

My eyes widened. "My friends?" What friends?

"Of course, your friends. I supposed you lived with them since most were evolutions of an Eevee. But there were two rats and a Marowak traveling too. The Umbreon even risked a battle to free you and your little friend there."

The black pokemon looked at Carly and she cringed. Suddenly I felt that all other pokemon weren't as much of heartless its as this one was. But that wasn't my concern – my thoughts were occupied with the realization that my previous companions were looking for me. What happened to them if they failed? The thought wasn't a pleasant one.

"Now, will you two join me for -"

"Lunch?" I finished. It growled at me but I could've cared less. "Hey, I watch TV, that line is so overused."

"Shut up, or I'll do it for you! Lunch isn't until five minutes from now anyway, I'll spare your pathetic lives till then."

"I knew it." It was a familiar voice of a certain black pokemon that I knew. "I knew there was a second hideout."

"Thought you could get away with it, didn't ya?" said a smug yellow fox. "Release them or pay the consequences."

"Who are they?" The Mudkip whispered, shaking.

"Don't worry," I replied. "They're on our side."

The dog had turned to face the two. "Or what? I'm perfectly capable of destroying both of you, and I know you, Umbreon, can't be fully recovered yet."

Umbreon half-smiled. "You so sure about that?"

"I kicked your pathetic tail once and I'll more than happy to do it again."

"Guess again." Suddenly from right beside the cage a jet of water rushed past and hit the large canine square in the back, stunning him for a few seconds. The pokemon stepped up in front of the cage, smirking just as much as the electric one.

"Ready for a jolt?" the Jolteon asked, nodding to the blue one. The Vaporeon released another steady stream of water while the Jolteon produced a decent amount of electricity to go with it. Both elements hit the coyote, leaving him panting and faintly smoking on the ground. That was the first time I had seen a true pokemon battle.

~*~

*~General POV~*

Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Umbreon thought they had Mightyena beat, but unexpected to them he yelled out, "Ri!" His yell rang out through the vast junkyard. The three eons were taken by surprise and were blown backwards by a large Tornado attack.

Vaporeon was flung into a nearby tree, but luckily for Jolteon and Umbreon they were merely blown back a few feet. "You ok?" Jolteon hollered up.

"Fine!" came her answer. "I can get down."

"Let's go before Ri uses Recover to revive Mightyena!" Umbreon yelled at Jolteon. "Vaporeon's perfectly able to get down herself."

Unfortunately the two made it back too late. Ri had already used a Recover technique and Mightyena was as good as new. Umbreon and Jolteon flattened their ears in fear as they looked up into the face of an angry Dragonite.

"Ri, finish these fools off," Mightyena instructed. "I have a luncheon to attend."

"Of course, Master," Ri said obediently. She drew a huge breath, and her eyes started to glow a faint orange.

"It's a Hyper Beam!" Vaporeon shrieked from the tree she was still entangled in.

"Get out of the way!" Jolteon dove into Umbreon, pushing him out of the line of fire as the glow forming inside the Dragonite's mouth got brighter. The two covered themselves as best they could as they rolled out of the way, expecting to hear an explosion. But there was none. Both looked up to see Ri hovering in the same place holding her head.

"Ri, I said, FINISH THEM!" Mightyena was now clearly panicking now that his own brainwashed servant was hesitating.

There was a roar that erupted from the dragon pokemon as she fell backwards, closing her eyes shut tightly. Everyone present looked on in wonder.

"Ri, I command you to use a Hyper Beam!" the dark-type was shouting frantically.

Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Umbreon's hearts were filled with relief and joy when Ri reopened her eyes. They were crystal clear – they didn't have that fogged-up effect that they had had before. Then Espeon, the purple glow in her eyes still receding, stepped into view. "I don't think you'll be commanding anything from this pokemon, Mightyena."

Mightyena gulped loudly when he saw Ri's change. "How dare you control me like that!" she yelled at him. "I'm not your own personal puppet, you filthy, garbage-eating twerp!"

"Hey!" Jennifer piped up. "He was gonna eat me, you know!" She was royally ignored.

"I'll give you five seconds," Ri was saying. "I suggest you'd better start running NOW!"

Without a second thought, Mightyena was high-tailing it the opposite direction. Ri conjured up another Hyper Beam. "Think of this as a gift with love from me!" she yelled before releasing it.

Mightyena was hit square in the back, and he was sent rocketing off in some unknown direction.

The pokemon had succeeded – Jennifer was safe, for the time being at least. Skull, Tat, and Tatta scampered out of their protection zone the others placed them in, and all ran to meet the others. Mightyena? Let's just say he took a one-way trip to the other more populated with people side of the city. ^_~