Here we go, I'm likely going to rush this a bit due to wanting to do some things but whatever, let's get this going! Battle chapter, oh joy, but I should be able to get some filler in too. Bloody battles…

Chapter 7

It was around ten in the morning, but you wouldn't know it for the darkness that the heavy storm clouds projected over Berrybud City, rain still pouring heavily from the threatening sky as thunder and lightning broke through the repetitive pattern of splattering rain. Unlike when the group had arrived, no one fluttered around the town tending to the gardens today; only the odd person was seen covering delicate plants with tarpaulin, locking up greenhouses, or rushing Pokémon into homes.

Maylu had stopped her search, and was currently sat under a large leaf next to one of the garden greenhouses, her Ralts sitting on her lap, her Kirlia next to her. She sighed softly, leaning back, looking up at the storm clouds above her, watching the rain as it poured to the ground, occasionally catching it with her psychic abilities and making the water dance around in random patterns, splashing together making little explosions, the young Ralts in her lap watching entranced.

"Well well, Maylu the Ralts girl," A deep voice then said, causing Maylu to nearly shriek as a dark figure of a tall man hovered over the small girl, making her cower back further against the glass. The man stepped forward, rolling his violet eyes, shoulder length silver hair drenched flat despite what would usually be a spikier style. He crouched down, still towering over the girl, his large build showing clearly through his tight purple shirt and black, sleeveless hooded jacket that fell to his ankles.

"D-Dante?! Wh-What're you doing here?!" She said, hissing her words, clearly startled by the appearance of the man. He gave her an incredulous look, tapping the much younger girl on the nose.

"You should know why. I have information to pass onto Nathen. The more fitting question here is what are you doing here, Maylu?" Dante asked, raising an eyebrow, "And not even in uniform."

"I'm… I'm on a mission…" She muttered uncomfortably, twirling a strand of her blue hair around her finger a little as she returned her Pokémon, standing up still holding the leaf over her head, until Dante pulled out an umbrella and handed it to her, which she murmured an even quieter thank you as she held it over her head and put the leaf down.

"Let me guess. You're here to bring back Nathen," Dante said, giving her a stern look as she nervously looked away, before sighing and dragging his hand down his face, rubbing his eyes, "Dammit, Maylu!"

"Y-You know I don't get a choice in these things!" Maylu stuttered, looking up at him. He had to be at least 6'.

"But you're going to go ahead and bring him back, aren't you? I know you don't get a choice in coming on the missions, but you can't fool me. You're being selfish, aren't you?" The man said, voice dull and serious, eyes burning into hers as they shone a little for just a moment.

"I-I am not!"

"Yes, Maylu. You are. Dammit, girl! Nathen planned his escape for nearly a year, down to the last damn detail! He wanted out, he wanted to get out of the world he'd be pulled into and go find some solace in the outside world and then find his family and get to live a relatively normal life. You know all this!" Dante snapped, making the girl jump, "And you want to bring him back because you have a crush on him?!"

"Y-You don't understand!" Maylu exclaimed, trying not to tear up and look pathetic in front of the large man, "They'll find him anyway! If I-I get him to come back willingly and pretend he was forced into leaving or something or other then maybe they won't hurt him that bad! I-I may even be able to bring in someone else as a bargaining chip or something so that there's just a little bigger of a chance he'll be let off easy!" She continued frantically.

"…That little girl he's with, huh? You sunk to that level? Maylu, if I were you I'd take a day out in the forest and think about this. This isn't the girl Nathen looked after. You're becoming just as bad as some of the little bitches back at the base. Don't let your life at TUA turn into what mine and Nathen's used to be," Dante sighed, "Now, I assume you know where he is. Care to direct me?"

"…He's in a battle… go wait in his inn room… I'll show you where to go…" Maylu whimpered. Dante nodded.

"You do that."

(Berrybud Gym – 10:45am)

"Darn it!" Nathen said as his first Pokémon fell to the floor, after already defeating Amorglide. The Pokémon's form similar to a Pidgeotto, the feathers dark with a natural flow, the tail feathers and the tips of the wings a natural black, the beak and the feet are a light grey, the belly feathers are dulled grey, there's a symbol on the wings that look like another pair of wings which is a dull green, "Well done Jevird. Good job," He continued, returning the bird Pokémon to his Poké Ball and grabbing another ball, bouncing it on his hand as his current opponent hissed at him.

"Vespiking stay ready!" Bea said, standing with knees slightly bent and legs out, hands in fists in front of her as she grinned at her Pokémon. It clearly was still not in a good mood, but Bea had claimed that letting him battle was the best way for him to calm back down.

Nathen bounced the ball a couple more times, considering whether it was a good choice due to how the gym was still slightly damp from both cleaning and a small flood from the storm, but decided to go ahead with it anyway as it was probably his best choice. He threw the ball, and yet another wolf type Pokémon came out.

Its size is similar to a grown Husky, its main fur a darker grey colour, eyes having a calm red feel which suddenly became aggressive as it realised it was in battle, its tail going through a transition from a normal tail to a burning flame for the same reason, it's underbelly is a darkening greyish red, the fur around its ear maintains a fire like form, and it had dark red fire around its ankles.

"Blazolf, time to battle!" Nathen called, catching the ball again and putting it away. Blazolf stood ready to battle, looking up at the hovering bug type, patting its paws on the ground testing the moisture, before it shot a blast of heat through the floor to evaporate the water, "Wow, well done there. Shoulda thought of that."

The Combee that controlled the flags in the previous battles did so again, dropping both flags to its sides and giving Nathen and Bea the cue to start the battle. Nathen started off with his first attack order.

"Start it off with Ember, and then go in with Blaze Tail!" The trainer ordered, Blazolf jumping into action and firing off the hot shots of fire toward the Bug type, who easily began avoiding them.

"Power Gem, Vespiking!" Bea commanded, pointing out. Vespiking held its hands together, forming an orange ball of energy just as Blazolf went to slam its flaming tail into the torso of the Beehive Pokémon, both attacks hitting at around the same time but the close range of the Power Gem attack meant that the damage was equalled to the super effective damage the Blaze Tail attack caused to the bug type.

Blazolf was thrown back to the floor, just about making itself land on all fours, skidding to a stop and glaring up at the Pokémon again, mouth flaming as it prepared its own attack ready. Nathen nodded to his Pokémon, and it let loose a Flamethrower attack which the opponent blocked only with its arms, before slamming back with an X-Scissor that Bea ordered quickly.

"Dodge it and go for Flame Charge!" Nathen said, Blazolf narrowly avoiding a direct hit from the attack, instead being grazed by one corner of the X as it ran at Vespiking and shot into the air a couple of metres to reach the Pokémon as it flew up and back to prepare another attack, slamming into him with his whole body on fire. Vespiking dropped a metre in the air, some burn marks visible on areas where the Pokémon was hit.

"Eep! Go for Honey Shot now!" The gym leader said, squeaking and jumping on the spot. Luckily for everyone in the room, Vespiking fired off a direct version of the messy attack and it only hit the battlefield, particularly the second form Solace starter – gluing it to the floor.

"Damn… Start heating up your body, and keep on the defensive, you can still use your mouth!" Nathen shouted, fisting his hands up.

"X-Scissor again!" Bea called out, her Pokémon slashing out two large X's in a row that slammed into Blazolf, making him cry out whilst he continued to heat up the honey to try and melt it away from its paws and body so he could move again. Eventually, there was a small sizzling noise as it melted away from the intense heat and slowly fell away from him, and he immediately went in with a Flame Fang attack.

"And turn that into Flamethrower!" Nathen ordered quickly, Blazolf biting onto the Vespiking and then turning the flaming fangs into a Flamethrower which scorched the whole of that half of its body, causing super effective damage that threw Vespiking back into a wall, "Blaze Tail, finish it!"

And with one more rough flick of its fiery tail, Vespiking was unconscious against the wall, and Combee raised the appropriate flag to show Nathen had won the round, and then that he had won the battle.

"Aw man! Well… well done kid," Bea said with a pout, returning her powerhouse and then grabbing something from her pocket, throwing it over at Nathen who caught it in an outstretched hand and then flicked it to look at it, smiling.

"Thanks Bea. Gem you can come grab me now, I can see you shaking from the storm still," He said gently, looking over to her and smiling as he held an arm out. The tiny girl quickly ran over and hugged his side tightly, burying her head into his jacket and sniffling, "Aw, c'mon my little wolf."

"Time to get going Nathen," Holly said, hopping up and holding out an umbrella to him, "No getting soaked for the fire types. You came in with enough burns last time."

"Right, thanks. Gemma, you're still taking my coat as well, alright? No protests," He said, kissing her hair. Her cheeks immediately flushed red, and she nodded, letting him drape the coat around her as she slipped her arms in.

"G-Good… good battle… Natey…" Gemma said, squeaking out the words through her shaking from the storm. He smiled gently, scooping her up and letting her clamber onto his back as he held the umbrella ready to open, "Thanks…"

"No need, and thank you Gem. Thanks Bea!" Nathen called, waving the badge around before slipping it into his pocket – he'd put it into his badge case later.

"No need! Good luck to ya'll with the rest of ya stuff, alright?" Bea said with a beam, curls bobbing in her three pigtails as she waved to the group. They waved back and headed for the door, just as Annette walked down from an extended lie in upstairs. She walked over to her friend, watching the group leave, "Oh hey pal, sleepy head today mucho?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Just done with challengers?" Annette asked, looking over to the door as the group left. In doing so, she caught a side glance of Holly's face, and froze for a moment.

"Yep, finished up with the group from yesterday. The boy kicked my Vespiking's ass!" Bea said, folding her arms over her chest. Annette nodded absentmindedly, but her eyes were stuck to Holly as she left in the rain, "You okay gal?"

"Y… Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing. Come on, let's clean up again," She said, waving a hand dismissively.

(Inn – 11:50am)

"Dammit its pouring out there, we can't do anything with this amount of rain… damn being fire types," Nathen said, shaking his hair out and putting down his umbrella shoving it into his bag considering they'd no doubt need it again soon enough. He let Gemma down off his back, kissed her hair and smiled at her as she went red, tickling her nose with two fingers and then heating himself up to dry off. Gemma did it too, and both quickly taught Holly how to do the same trick so that they all evaporated the water off of them.

"One of the many disadvantages. Ah well, we can do cool tricks," Holly said, waving a dismissive hand and giggling, shoving her umbrella away too, "Up to the room! We can watch movies!"

"Yay!" Gemma giggled, hugging Nathen's arm, "Cuddles! Eep storm!" She jumped again at another shot of thunder and lightning. "It's getting closer!"

"You're safe here, don't worry," Nathen said, taking her hand in his and squeezing, "Come on, up to the room. You can break my arm hugging it if you have to."

They quickly make their way upstairs, ready to have some time in the comfort of a warm room where they could eat some of their supplies and watch some movies under covers and with the curtains closed to hide the storm, and as Nathen went to unlock the door they were all ready to go in and slump onto the beds. However, as soon as the door was open, they were greeted by the sight of Dante. Both girls jumped, and Nathen blinked for a moment before sighing.

"Oh thanks, thanks for the warning man!" The teen said in annoyance, closing his eyes and taking a breath, "Get out of there. Girls, go in and make yourselves comfy, pick a movie, get some food out, get into your PJs. I'll be back in ten minutes, tops." He pushed them inside as Dante exited the room, shut the door, and then lead him downstairs to the lobby, and then to a side corridor, "Bad timing."

"Sorry, but we did arrange this. I waited inside because of the storm, I tailed you there last night," Dante said, leaving out the detail that it was really Maylu who told him that Nathen was in the inn. Telling him about her would not be the best idea.

"Fine…" Nathen sighed, "Just be quick. I have two friends waiting."

"A friend and a girlfriend by the looks of it. Watch it kid, you don't want to leave too many broken hearts if something happens to you," The taller, more muscled man continued, giving him a look. Nathen's blue eyes glared into his violet ones, and he gave up, "Look, I'm just giving you the update we agreed on. TUA are still on the hunt for you, and their deal with TE is running just as strong as ever. No plans to stab them in the back as of yet, but that could change at any moment. Need any specific updates?"

"A guy named Brett. TE. Any notes on him?" The younger asked, arms crossed, leaning on a wall.

"Nada. Nout. Heard the name, but nothing notable has been said about him or I'd know. TE is rather hush hush right now, I'm not quite sure why. But it doesn't seem to be to do with backstabbing, if anything it may be to do with strengthening the bond to get something they want. Sorry dude, if you want TE intel, you need an inside man in TE. I can't help."

Nathen sighed again, "Fine… just keep finding out what you can, and give me a warning next time alright?"

"I saw how you were with that girl you know. Playing with her hair, cuddling her… watch out, Nathen. Alright? You're putting more than yourself in danger now," Dante said, tone serious again. Nathen glared once more.

"You think I don't know that? Me and her are just as much a risk to the other's safety; neither of us are going to split any time soon. We're staying together, she needs protecting and she's become a dear friend. Holly isn't going either, she's also an escapee, technically, so we're sticking together."

"Fine… just watch it. I'll let you go play happy now," The man said, rolling his eyes as he walked out of the centre. Nathen grunted, taking a deep breath and rubbing his head as he made his way back upstairs.

"Yeah yeah Dante… yeah yeah… I know all this I don't need to be told it again… let me have the fun of my freedom…" He muttered to himself, opening the door to the room a moment later and walking in, smiling softly seeing Holly laying on her front on the bed, and Gemma sitting up on the bottom bunk curled up with a pillow, her Embolf toy and a blanket. He grabbed his PJs, went to change, then came back and sat with Gemma after closing the curtains and turning off the lights. He wrapped them both up in blankets, and they sat watching as the first movie turned on.

They chatted and laughed as the movie went on, eating snacks and teasing each other about various bits and bobs of their lives, before or after the incidents they had all separately encountered with each team chasing them. They play fight and pillow fight, and end up laying on the floor in front of the TV – which eventually also got moved to the floor – in a line, blankets over them. Gemma stayed snuggled to Nathen's chest, Holly leaning against them both after a while. They stayed in all day, watching movies and chatting. Relaxing.

(Skyvale City – Lightning Rod Gym Tower - That Night)

"This is the worst storm we've had in ages… Pourvale can't be the only thing to blame for this…" A woman said with a sigh, looking out of the top floor of the tallest tower in the city, "The Lightning Rod is going to break at this rate… it's never dealt with this much…" The woman sighed, brushing a hand through bright blue, frizzy hair that stuck up everywhere like a pompom.

"What else could it be though, Ellie…?" Another voice said next to her.

"Well, the day of the Legends is coming up," Ellie said with a soft sigh, scratching her head, "I guess it could be that."

"I don't see why it would be…" The two faces, both female, were lit up by a strike of lightning that hit the rod on the top of the building, "It's never been like this before… right?"

"We can't know that for sure… this happens once every generation remember... it's also been happening since this region was formed by the legends… it could have happened like this in the past… maybe it means something bad is going to happen…" She ran her hands through her frizzy hair again, sighing, "I don't know. But I don't like it at all."

~X~X~X~

WHAT IS THIS FUCKING MADNESS?! ANOTHER STORY CHAPTER LIKE THREE DAYS AFTER THE LAST?! What is this fuckery?! …Now people, imagine how fast this shit could get if I had more reviews again… pwease? Jus' saying.

Anyway, yay! Dante explained, random movie night, and next gym leader randomly~! …Also very little Gem, that's unusual. This is like a Nathen centric chapter, huh. Heh.

SR UP NEXT!

R&R!