Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter Fifty Five

Like Dominos

From the top of the Battle Tower, the highest structure on the Battle Frontier Island, Jessica and Vito were scanning the ground below through a pair of binoculars. After a short while, Jessica managed to spot Melany and May. "There they are. Seems there's only two of them here now." She said. Vito moved over to the edge of the tower she was scanning from to see for himself.

"They're the only two that matter anyway." Vito said. He lowered his binoculars and clenched a fist. "Melany...this time I'll end it for sure!"

"Strange that we were asked to do this without bringing any enslaved legendary pokemon with us." Jessica noted, also lowering her binoculars. "Only our own pokemon and a launcher. It'll be more than we need to deal with them, but..."

"Heh." Vito grinned and flicked back his hair. "It hardly matters what we have to use. We've come too far to lose to them now."

Jessica nodded slightly in agreement. "It would still be for the best if we manipulated the odds in our favor." She reached up and pushed her glasses back, getting a slight glint from the afternoon sun. "Naturally, being the brains of this operation, I've already come up with a plan."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Vito asked, sounding only mildly interested.

"Simple. We'll lure them into a situation where we have the advantage." Jessica stood up and pointed down at the ground below. "We'll go down there and start causing trouble. Other trainers will release their pokemon, providing a perfect opportunity to capture their pokemon." Jessica patted the launcher mounted on her left arm.

"Those two do-gooders will come running when they hear people panic and charge into the situation without thinking. Even if we waste all of our collars before then, we'll still have them outnumbered."

"And if the other trainers decide to help them? What then?" Vito asked her.

"They won't." Jessica replied. "After having so many of their pokemon stolen, they'll try to flee. By the time Melany and May try to intervene, they'll want to be anywhere but there."

"I see..." Vito smirked. "Well if that's the case, then we can't lose!"

"Of course not, my plans are flawless." Jessica said, adjusting her glasses again. "Now, let's get to work."


"Its been a while since we've been together like this, hasn't it?" May commented idly as she and Melany walked through the Battle Frontier, slowly approaching the Battle Tower. The facility happened to be the closest to the hotel/restaurant where they'd be going for lunch.

"Technically the last time probably would have been when we were fighting Groudon and Kyogre at Sootopolis. That does seem like it was long ago." Melany replied.

"You also ditched me without saying anything that time." May said coldly, glaring at Melany out of the corner of her eye. "I suppose now I know why you wanted to disappear." She then stopped and turned to face her. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth from the start anyway?!"

Melany stopped in her tracks and thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "Why? Because at first I was hoping to avoid dragging you into what I thought was solely my problem. As time went on it just became harder and harder for me to tell you the truth..."

"If I ran into Team Aqua or Team Magma, I would have faced them regardless of whether or not I was with you and, in fact, I did."

"Yeah, well, hindsight is 20/20..." Melany muttered, rubbing the back of her head. "Anyway, the way you put it you make it sound like we're here on a date." She then said teasingly. Her body tensed, expecting to be punched, but May reacted quite differently than she had expected.

"Back then...maybe I would have liked that..." She mumbled sadly, looking toward the ground. A tense silence fell between the two for a moment before Melany's curiosity got the better of her.

"What was so great about him anyway?" She asked May. "I never thought I was that great as a guy, but then again maybe thats because I'm not interested in guys..."

"I...I don't know..." May muttered. She folded her arms over her chest and looked off toward the Battle Tower. "It was just how I felt being around you...I guess..."

Melany sighed. "Well that doesn't really..."

"Though, come to think of it, you were always trying to act 'cool', you often bought things for me, and I'm pretty sure you've been flirting with me before too..." May looked back at Melany with a suspicious glare. "Acting like that kinda made it hard not to fall for you!"

"Maybe I did overdo it a bit..." Melany admitted sheepishly. "Still, so its that easy to win you over, huh?" She then added, earning her a swift jab to the stomach. She grimaced in pain, but it was only a light hit and quickly went away. "Do you always hit guys you like?" She asked jokingly. She was surprised to see May actually thinking about it.

"...I guess I do." She replied quietly, as if deep in thought.

"Huh?" Melany blinked. "Was there another guy you liked?"

"There was...but I was only a kid then, so it doesn't really matter." May replied with a shrug. "I haven't even seen that boy in years. He was a year or two older than me and I never saw him again after he set out to become a trainer..."

"You're a trainer now too, and you've been to Johto, couldn't you have gone looking for him?"

"Like I said, I was only a kid then. Its not like there was actually anything between us." May replied. "Anyway, why do you even care?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Melany shrugged. "I was just curious, thats all."

May shrugged. "If you say so. Anyway, so long as you're dressed like that, we're making this a date." May walked past Melany, grabbing her by the hand as she did.

"Wh-WHAT?!" Melany quickly pulled her hand back in protest. "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious." May replied sternly, grabbing Melany's hand again.

"But why? I mean, you know I'm not really..."

"But you are, for now at least." May said, a smirk forming on her lips. "So long as you're here at the Battle Frontier, you're Alex. Since Alex is the one I really like, it means I can spend time with him while Melany is forced to sit and watch knowing even though she likes me, I'll never see her as anything other than a friend."

"Eh...heh..." Melany hung her head in defeat. "You've been talking to Ashley quite a bit, huh?"

"She taught me well."

"But..." Melany raised her head and smiled. "At least now I know you still think of me as a friend."

"Hmph!" May let go of Melany's hand and turned her back to her. "So what if I do! Don't even think for a second that it means I've forgiven you! You're going to atone for what you did by taking me on a date as Alex!"

"Has she even thought this through, I wonder?" Melany thought to herself.

"So, let me see if I understand this." Haruka said. "When Melany was disguising herself as Alex, you started to develop feelings for her thinking she was a boy. Now, knowing she's a girl, you want to go on a date with her, while she's crossdressing as a boy again, so you can date her male persona while somehow torturing her?"

"Thats pretty much it." May replied.

"I don't think I'll ever understand human relationships in this era. How DO you continue as a species?" Haruka said, sounding confused.

"Well, if we're doing this, let's go grab..."

"HELP!" A voice called out in the distance before Melany could finish speaking. May and Melany looked at each other and then, almost instinctively, ran toward the source of the cry for help. Rounding the corner of the Battle Tower, they saw Jessica and Vito attacking several trainers and enslaving their pokemon.

"What?! Why does this have to happen now?!" May growled, clenching her fists.

"Well its only natural that something like this would happen after making plans." Melany said, a slight smirk crossing her lips as she turned toward May. "It kinda was tempting fate, given our track record, don't you think?"

"Whats that even supposed to mean?!"

"Well, whether its an idiot detective, misguided environmental terrorists, wayward legendary pokemon, or pokemon thieves with a hidden agenda, it seems like we're always battling someone, doesn't it?"

"That's true I guess..." May sighed. "I'll be glad when this is over and we finally beat up whoever's behind it all this. I thought for sure it was over when we stopped Kyogre and Groudon..."

"So long as legendary pokemon exist, people will abuse their power. Thats why I want to use the pokemon we have to make a sanctuary for them." Melany said to May. "Anyway, this is obviously a trap meant to lure us out."

"What do we do then? We can't just let them steal more and more pokemon!"

"Did you forget who you're talking to?" Melany asked with a slight smirk. "Afterall, I'd never rush into something like this without a plan."


"Where are they?! I'm almost out of slave collars here!" Vito growled while loading another collar into his wrist-mounted launcher.

"Use them more sparingly then. We don't have to capture every one of their pokemon, afterall." Jessica replied. Around the two trainers was a crowd of enslaved pokemon, all of which were fully evolved. They had managed to enslave powerful pokemon from the Battle Frontier trainers, including the likes of Salamence and Dragonite.

"Looking for us?" Vito and Jessica turned toward the source of the voice and grinned when they saw Melany, disguised as Alex, and May standing nearby.

"About time you two got here. You kept us waiting." Jessica said to them. "While you were wasting your time getting here, we were making sure we'd have you outnumbered." She made a gesture with her hands, motioning for the enslaved pokemon to move in front of her and Vito. As predicted, the rest of the trainers were already fleeing the scene even with some of their pokemon now being enslaved.

"You should just surrender now, else you'll surely lose the fight!" Vito said smugly.

"Yeah...about that, we're not too keen on fighting you guys while you have those things on your arms." Melany said to them. "We'll be taking those away from you now." Melany snapped her fingers. Alakazam then teleported in next to her and May and quickly focused a Psychic attack on each trainer's collar launching devices. In the blink of an eye, both devices had been crushed and the collars on the enslaved pokemon rendered useless.

"NO! This was supposed to be MY trap!" Jessica growled. She frantically pressed the teleport button on her launcher, but there was no effect.

"Looks like there's no escape for you this time, and those pokemon you had enslaved don't look too happy either!" May said. The pokemon that Jessica and Vito had enslaved turned toward the two. They growled at Jessica and Vito, baring their claws and fangs.

"Hmph. Like we're afraid of a few pokemon belonging to a bunch of nobodies." Jessica scoffed.

"We're still top tier trainers, afterall." Vito added, flicking his hair back. The two of them then reached for their own pokeballs.

"Shedinja, go!"

"Alakazam, go!"

Jessica and Vito held out their pokeballs, releasing Shedinja and Alakazam respectively. Jessica was planning to forestall the enemy pokemon with her Shedinja's ability, while Vito intended to escape on his own with Alakazam's Teleport.

As expected, though, the pokemon that had been enslaved by then attacked as soon as Jessica and Vito released their own pokemon. A Gengar jumped out of the crowd of pokemon and attacked Jessica's Shedinja with a Shadow Ball, knocking it out instantly. Even the attacking Gengar seemed surprised by this, it had only attacked as it recognized Shedinja as a ghost pokemon and knew ghost-type attacks would be effective on it.

"Damn it...lucky shot..." Jessica growled, then recalled Shedinja.

The rest of the pokemon, a Dragonite, Salamence, Meganium, Torkoal, and Stantler, attacked Vito's Alakazam with a flurry of physical blows. Alakazam tried to use Teleport to get away, but a Hypnosis attack from Stantler held it at bay. After only one round of attacks from the remaining four pokemon, being a physically frail pokemon, Vito's Alakazam went down as well. The pokemon attacking it chose to use physical attacks after recognizing it was Alakazam's weakpoint.

"-I'm embarassed to be the same species as that one.-" Melany's Alakazam muttered to herself, shaking her head in dismay.

"Tch! Its as if these pokemon know what they're doing!" Vito said as he recalled his pokemon.

"Of course they know what they're doing." Melany said to them. "Even though most of the trainers here are pushovers compared to me and May, they're still top tier trainers themselves and their pokemon have plenty of battle experience."

"You two just got lucky...again!" Jessica shot back.

"Damn it! We didn't count on getting screwed over so easily!" Vito said through gritted teeth. "If we had those legendary pokemon we enslaved we could have won!"

"I wonder why they don't have them?" May mused.

Melany shrugged. "They probably got demoted." She suggested.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT!" Jessica yelled angrily.

"YEAH! There's nothing we could even get demoted to anyway! There's only three of us!" Vito added.

"Three huh? That's an interesting number." Melany said thoughtfully.

"Indeed. Its almost as if their boss knew what they were up against." Haruka said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" May asked her.

"Three henchmen, three crystals." Haruka explained. "Not only that, but you two in particular have some rivalry with these two. It seems likely that whoever is behind all of this convinced those two to join by promising them a chance to get back at the two of you."

A smirk began to form on May's lips. "...Now I get it." She said to herself.

"Get what?" Melany asked her.

"Those two are only working for...whoever it is because they want to beat us, no matter the cost." May replied while staring intently at Jessica and Vito. "Its because when we beat them at the Grand Prix, we hurt their pride."

"Oh?" Melany smirked. "Well, in that case, instead of just turning them in now, let's settle this here once and for all with a double battle. Three pokemon each."

"Heh, are you actually willing to give up your advantage and think we'll fight fair in return?" Vito laughed and ran his fingers back through his hair. "Don't be so naive, girl, we'll..."

"Accept." Jessica said, interrupting him. "Double battle, three pokemon per trainer." She adjusted her glasses, catching a glint from the sun. "We'll prove we're the superior trainers here."

"Alright then. That settles it." Melany clapped her hands together. "The rest of you pokemon, thanks for your help, but we'll take care of these two now. So why don't you go find your trainers?" The group of pokemon looked at Melany, narrowing their eyes at her.

"What she means to say is we'll make sure these two are brought to justice!" May said to the pokemon, showing much more enthusiasm than Melany did and giving them a thumbs up. "So just leave this to us! I'm sure your trainers are worried about all of you!" The pokemon looked at May now, their expression softening a bit, then looked at each other. They begrudgingly agreed to let it slide and wandered off to find their trainers.

"I can't believe they're actually going through with this!" Vito quietly said to Jessica with a wide grin on his face.

"Of course. They think they're the 'good guys' here, which is why they'll play by the rules." Jessica replied. "Of course, neither of us have any intention of sticking to the three pokemon limit."

"Of course." Vito said in agreement. Vito, Jessica, and May each drew a pokeball from their respective belts.

"Wobbuffet, go!"

"Dusclops, go!"

"Heracross, go!"

May's Wobbuffet, Jessica's Dusclops, and Vito's Heracross each materialized in front of their respective trainers. Melany would be using Alakazam as her first pokemon, which was already out of its pokeball.

"Think you know how to handle that one in battle?" Melany quietly asked May.

"Of course, all I have to do is bounce their attacks back at them." May replied with a shrug. "I know how to use my own pokemon, sheesh!"

"Well, that's probably the best strategy to use in a double battle like this." Melany thought to herself. "Ok, Alakazam, let's support May and Wobbuffet then." Alakazam nodded and moved to stand next to Wobbuffet.

"Starting out with such a type advantage...its strange to have luck on my side for once." Jessica said to herself with a grin. "Dusclops, attack Wobbuffet with Will-o-Wisp!" Dusclops held out its hands toward Wobbuffet and released a purple flame toward it. However, before the wisp could reach Wobbuffet, Alakazam stepped out in front and then dispersed the wisp with a quick Psychic attack.

"You've left yourself open now! Heracross, attack Alakazam with Megahorn!" Vito yelled out eagerly. Heracross lowered its horn and charged across the field, aiming to strike Alakazam. At the last second, Alakazam teleported out of the way and moved behind Wobbuffet. Heracross' attack struck Wobbuffet instead of Alakazam. Wobbuffet's feet remained firmly planted, but its body bent back from the attack and Wobbuffet cried out sharply in pain.

"Wobbuffet, Counter!" Wobbuffet quickly bounced back and headbutted Heracross, striking back with double the power of its Megahorn attack. Heracross was thrown back across the field by the attack and knocked out instantly.

"Why you!" Vito growled and quickly recalled Heracross, then took another pokeball in his hand. "Shiftry, go!" He called out, releasing a tree-like grass pokemon with white fur covering its head and back. "Shiftry, attack that pokemon with Shadow Ball!" Vito called out, pointing toward Wobbuffet.

"Vito! Don't attack so recklessly!" Jessica scolded him, but it was too late. Shiftry focused a Shadow Ball attack and threw it at Wobbuffet.

"Wobbuffet, Counter!" Wobbuffet braced himself. The Shadow Ball attack hit him in the head, causing him to bend backwards while his feet remained firmly planted on the ground. The Shadow Ball attack then suddenly turned yellow as Wobbuffet snapped back, launching it back at Shiftry with twice as much power. Shiftry cried out in pain as the attack hit it in the face and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Damn it!" Vito cursed under his breath, recalling Shiftry.

"Well that went well. Two of Vito's pokemon are down for the count now." Melany thought with a smirk. "Ok, Alakazam, let's start powering up. Use Calm Mind." Alakazam nodded and closed her eyes, clearing her mind to increase her power.

"Vito, just shut up and do what I say from now on." Jessica scolded him. "Dusclops, lay a curse on Wobbuffet." Dusclops nodded and a dark aura surrounded it. The darkness formed into a pin that stabbed Dusclops through the chest, cutting its lifeforce in half. The dark aura then faded, but another one appeared around Wobbuffet and placed a curse on it.

"-I feel funny all of a sudden, mommy...-" Wobbuffet muttered as it felt the curse starting to sap its strength.

"Her Wobbuffet won't be able to take another hit now." Jessica said to Vito. "Send out your next pokemon and attack, but don't go overboard."

"Fine, we'll do it your way then." Vito grumbled as he took another pokeball in his hand. "Gyarados, come on out!" Vito held out his pokeball and released Gyarados. Without a body of water to hold the length of its body, Gyarados coiled up like a snake.

"Wobbuffet looks like he's in pretty rough shape, but let's take down one more!" May thought. "Wobbuffet, use Destiny Bond!"

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!" Wobbuffet held out its hands toward Gyarados and a black circle formed under each pokemon, joining their destinies together while Gyarados attacked with Hydro Pump. It released a high pressure stream of water, finally knocking Wobbuffet over and fainting it. However, due to Destiny Bond, Gyarados fainted as well. May and Vito recalled their pokemon.

"Damn it again!" Vito growled, reaching for another pokeball even though three of his pokemon had already been defeated.

"Vito, you're useless, getting defeated so easily and leaving me to fend for myself." Jessica said loudly enough for Melany and May to hear her, then whispered to Vito. "Don't release another pokemon until I tell you to. When I give the word, send out Electrode and have it use Explosion."

"Hmph. Have it your way then." Vito muttered.

"Dusclops, use...huh?!" While Jessica was distracted dealing with Vito, her Dusclops had come under attack. Its body gave off a blue glow, revealing the attacker to be Alakazam. Dusclops groaned in pain as Alakazam attacked. The ghost pokemon fainted before Alakazam could even deliver the final blow, so the psychic pokemon chose to release it instead.

"I guess it can't be helped." Jessica recalled Dusclops and then took two more pokeballs in her hand. "Since this is a double battle, I'll be releasing both of my remaining pokemon. Zangoose, Swampert." She held out the two pokeballs and released her pokemon, sending out the ground and water type Swampert alongside her prized Zangoose.

"Ok, for my next pokemon I'll use..." May took a pokeball from her belt. "Crawdaunt!" She held out the pokeball and released her pokemon, sending Crawdaunt out onto the field. The mean looking crayfish pokemon appeared next to Alakazam and cast a menacing glare at Zangoose and Swampert.

"Zangoose, attack Alakazam with Quick Attack!" Zangoose nodded and took off toward Alakazam, striking the psychic pokemon with blinding speed to prevent Alakazam from attacking. Alakazam grunted in pain and dropped its spoons as it fell to the ground. Zangoose managed to land a strong hit on Alakazam, but Alakazam was still conscious and sat up while rubbing its forehead.

"Crawdaunt, finish it in one blow! Guilotine!" Crawdaunt moved and grabbed Zangoose by the neck shortly after it had attacked Alakazam. Zangoose was caught off guard by the attack and unable to defend itself. Both Crawdaunt's pincers had Zangoose firmly held by the neck and snapped shut around it with a powerful crushing force. It was too much for Zangoose, or any pokemon, to bear. It fainted while in Crawdaunt's grip.

"ZANGOOSE!" Jessica cried out in dismay. "D-damn you! I won't forgive this!" Jessica growled as she recalled Zangoose. Meanwhile, Melany's Alakazam had managed to get back on its feet and opened up with a Psychic attack on Swampert. Swampert growled in pain as a blue glow formed around it, a psychic force crushing its body. Alakazam then thrust Swampert back before losing her focus, but only managed to knock it over onto its back.

"Damn it...I thought I could do more damage to them on my own than this!" Jessica growled, clenching her fist. "Guess I have no choice then...Swampert, Protect!" Swampert stood up and held out its hands, forming a transparent blue barrier around itself.

"Protect? What's she doing that for?" May wondered aloud. "Stalling for time?"

"She must be up to something, stay alert." Melany said.

"Vito, now!"

"Electrode, go!" Vito called out, quickly releasing the pokeball-like pokemon into the middle of their battlefield. "Electrode, Explosion!" The pokemon's body began to glow, preparing to use Explosion.

"Crawdaunt, use-" May's voice was cut off by the sound of an Explosion as Electrode unleashed its power. A burst of energy expanded in every direction from Electrode's body, engulfing the remaining three pokemon. This happened in the blink of an eye, sending up a cloud of dust and debris around the battlefield as the concrete surface was torn up and blasted into dust.

"Now, don't either of you even think of sending out another pokemon." Jessica said to Melany and May. The dust finally began to settle, clearing on Jessica and Vito's side of the battlefield first to reveal Swampert still standing. "If you do, my Swampert will be forced to attack you."

"Guess we should have known this would happen, but even so..." Melany muttered. She held Alakazam's pokeball in her hand, waiting for the dust to settle so she could recall her.

"I wouldn't be so sure you've won yet!" May called out across the field. As the rest of the dust finally settled, May's Crawdaunt was revealed to still be standing. A transparent blue barrier was surrounding the pokemon, blocking even the dust from touching it. "Looks like Crawdaunt was able to use it in time afterall." She said with a sly grin.

"What?! Then our desparate gambit was for nothing?!" Vito yelled in dismay, clenching his fists tightly. He slowly raised one shaking hand to recall Electrode, which had fainted in the process of using the attack.

"Phew...I thought we had it there for a moment." Melany breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to May and smiled. "Nice one! Looks like you and Crawdaunt managed to pull through."

"Well of course, I AM the strongest trainer in Hoenn afterall!" May replied smugly.

"No! I won't accept this!" Jessica growled. "Damn it, Maple! Why is it always you who manages to foil my plans? Why does luck always favor you over me?"

"I could say why, but it doesn't make any difference." May replied with a shrug. "Feel free to call it quits if you..." As May turned to look at Jessica and Vito, she noticed the two of them taking their remaining pokeballs in hand and sighed. "Of course THEY wouldn't want to do it the easy way..."

"That's fine. We'll just have to beat down the rest of their pokemon too." Melany said with a smirk. She finally recalled Alakazam, who wasn't able to survive the explosion, and then took a yellow and black pokeball from her belt and held it out. "Regirock, go! Let's finish this!" She called out, releasing the rock golem pokemon Regirock into the middle of the destroyed field.

"Ninjask, Breloom, go! We're giving this everything we've got!"

"Dodrio, go! We'll help too!"

One by one, the three pokemon that Jessica and Vito had remaining between them joined Jessica's Swampert on the battlefield. Once all of their pokemon were released they immediately went on the attack.

"Swampert and Breloom, attack Regirock with Hydro Pump and Sky Uppercut! Ninjask, attack Crawdaunt with Silver Wind!"

Swampert opened its mouth and fired a strong blast of water at Regirock, forcing the rock pokemon back. Breloom charged in under the water and then jumped up, striking across Regirock's torso with its fist and then finishing with a blow to the head. Regirock staggered back, easily shrugging off the hits.

"Dodrio, attack Crawdaunt with Drill Peck!"

May's Crawdaunt came under attack from the two faster pokemon among their opponents. From a distance, Jessica's Ninjask pulverized it with a gust of wind carrying strange silver particles. Dodrio then charged across the field with a cone of air swirling around the beaks of each of its three heads, then attacked Crawdaunt with a triple Drill Peck. Crawdaunt growled in pain as he endured the drilling, but then collapsed as soon as Dodrio stopped.

"That's one down." Vito said, grinning darkly. May recalled Crawdaunt, seeming strangely indifferent to her loss.

"I'm sorry, but this is where it ends." Melany said to them. "Regirock, take them all out now! Explosion!" Regirock's body began to glow as energy began to build up in its body. Before any of Jessica or Vito's pokemon had a chance to react, Regirock released the energy in a powerful blast in every direction. Regirock fainted in the process, but when the dust settled again every one of Jessica and Vito's pokemon had been knocked out by the blast.

"No..." Jessica whimpered, falling to her knees. "After all this...after all we've been through...after all my planning and schemes...they just brush us aside?!"

"If only he had let us use those legendary pokemon! This battle would have been so easy for us to win!" Vito said bitterly.

"You could have brought whatever you wanted along and you still wouldn't have beaten our unstoppable combination!" May said to them.

"I've been wondering about that, actually. Why were you..." Melany was interrupted by the sound of her pokenav ringing. The tone made a sound as if saying 'ignore' over and over. "That must be Ashley..." She said as she took the pokenav from her belt and held it up to her ear.

"What kind of ringtone is that and why was it set to my number?!" May angrily demanded.

"Hey, did something happen there too?" Melany asked Ashley through the pokenav.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" May yelled. Melany did just that, however, while she took the call from Ashley. "Fine...whatever..." May turned back to Vito and Jessica. "Anyway! Neither of you are getting away with this now! You took your stupid grudges too far so we're not letting you get away! We'll be turning you two over to the police!"

"If we didn't come out and attack the other trainers this time, they wouldn't even have been able to charge us with anything." Vito muttered, shooting Jessica a glare.

"I didn't hear you complaining about that before." Jessica shot back bitterly.

"I'd like to hear more about this..." Melany said as she switched off her pokenav and turned to the two. "But for now, seems we'll just be turning you in. Something's just come up."

"Why? What happened?" May asked her.

"Rina's been kidnapped, apparently by the guy who's behind all of this." Melany replied. "Also, it seems he's the only one left. Ashley encountered the third henchman entirely by chance and beat him. Their boss has holed himself up in the Trainer's Hill apparently."

"Trainer's Hill? Why does that ring a bell?" May wondered.

"That'd be the place where you slept in the lounge that time because you had trouble sleeping at the hotel you stayed at in Mauville." Melany replied. "Seems that's where this guy's base of operations is, Ashley is already heading there so we should move out quickly."

"Don't remind me...my back hurts just thinking of that hotel..." May muttered, rubbing her back involuntarily. She quickly stopped herself and then grabbed Melany by the scruff of her shirt. "Don't think for a second that this means you're getting out of going on a date with me!"

"DATE? YOU TWO?!" Jessica and Vito shouted in disbelief.

"You know, if you say that around anyone who knows who I really am, they'll get the wrong impression for sure." Melany said to May. May released her grip on her and clenched her fists tightly.

"ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" May yelled at the other two trainers.

"Anyway, I guess we'll just take a raincheck on the 'date'." Melany said with a shrug.

"Huh?" May blinked and looked at Melany in surprise.

"You said I need to do this to 'atone', right? So does that mean you'll forgive me for deceiving you if I go through with it?"

"I...I...well...umm..." May blushed slightly and quickly turned away. "I-I might! But only if I really enjoy it!"

"Well, if that's the case, I'll do my best." Melany replied, smiling lightly.

"It better seem like a real date then!" May shot back, turning to face her again. "And you'll have to dress like that again too!" She added, pointing at her.

"What on Earth is going on between those two?" Vito muttered in confusion.

"Weirdos." Jessica grumbled.


Author's Notes: I feel like I might have been being a bit silly with that date thing. In any case, with Jessica and Vito curbstomped as well, things are really starting to wrap up now. We're heading into the final battle, which will likely take place over the course of several chapters and will probably have at least one Star Wars quote snuck into it for no other reason than because it fits.

Forgot to mention this in last chapter's notes, but originally Vito, Jessica, and Duke were all going to be at the final battle. In my very first plans for this confrontation, all four girls would have been going in together. Outside, Rayquaza and Vito would be waiting so Melany would stay out and battle them. Jessica and Latios would have been on the first floor, where May would stay and battle, and Duke and Mewtwo on floor three where Ashley would stay. Rina would continue on alone and face their leader while the rest dealt with their personal battles. Also, as mentioned, Duke was originally going to leave Rina in a much more critical condition than she was. However, after his defeat at the hands of Ashley, an extremely pissed and now free Mewtwo would have turned on him and used its psychic powers to literally turn him inside out. A gruesome end indeed and one I wouldn't have been describing in great detail in order to maintain a teen rating.

One final note. When this is over, rather than skipping straight to the Sinnoh saga, I plan to start a series of sidestories to cover potentially important events that occur between this saga and the next. Mostly I plan to use it for character development, with maybe a few battles. I've got 18 such chapters planned so far and have a forum topic dedicated to the project for those who visit the forums. Some of these sidestories should clear up a few questions you may or may not have and give some insight into what these people do that isn't somehow related to pokemon.