Chapter Thirteen

"Legendaries!" I exclaimed, looking at the Poké Balls spread out in Clay's bedroom. He kept them stowed away, safe from everyone else in a case that looked like it belonged in a museum. Beneath each Ball listed the name of the species inside, and it was amazing to see that Clay had so many of them, if not all. All that survived, anyway.

"Told you that you'd love this," Clay said, shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling slyly at me, his white teeth flashing. The poor Pokémon. As soon as I was done with this battle, I was setting them all free. They weren't meant to be captured and held in storage like this. Legendary Pokémon needed to be left alone. "Of course, there's more to it than that."

I stared at him, wondering how in the world he got all of these legendaries. They must have appeared here trying to save the other Pokémon, only to be captured themselves. It was a rare treat to meet a legendary Pokémon, as I knew from my encounter with Lugia all those years ago. And here the poor thing was, trapped in a case like someone behind bars. Trapped like me in this awful place. But not for long.

"Take them out." I pointed to the case, and Clay opened the glass door on the side. "Keep them in their Balls, but shuffle them all up. Then, pick six out—randomly—and give three to me and three to you. This will be a three-on-three battle. Just a quick little match. And, as promised, if I win, you give me access to the main computer. If you win, I'll go through with the plan."

Clay's grin grew even larger, and he looked back at Silver as he pulled all the Poké Balls out of the case and poured them onto his bed. "How are you feeling back there?" He shuffled the Poké Balls around on his bed, staring at Silver. "It's bad for him to stay in one state too long, even his more… neutral state. He has to have a balance between the two, which is why he is enraged so easily. Though, he can stay in his neutral state longer because it's not quite as damaging. The negative state takes its toll quickly; he uses more energy in the negative state, and it will cause severe pain and death," he told me, keeping his eyes on Silver.

"Yeah, and it's all because you're a fuc—"

I grabbed Silver's arm as he started towards Clay, shaking my head at him. "He's not worth it. Try venting a different way. Go sit down and try to be calm like you did with me before, okay?" I smiled weakly at him, but he just glared at me before going over to the corner of the room and curling up against the wall.

Plus, I sort of needed Clay alive for this. If I let Silver have his way with Clay, then I was pretty much screwed. But after I got what I wanted, Silver was free to do whatever the hell he wanted with the guy. Especially if my whole plan with Mew didn't work out. The chances were not in my favor, but it was worth a try.

"Here," Clay said, handing me three Poké Balls and keeping three in his own grip. "I don't know what's in either, so we're battling blindly here. But that shouldn't matter. I'm just looking forward to battling the last Champion. I have a feeling you'll be able to control whatever Pokémon you get just as well as you control the rest of us."

I crossed my arms, holding the Poké Balls carefully. "That's not the point. Battling is about working together as a team for purposes of introspection. It has nothing to do with control." I looked down at the Poké Balls I held, nodding at them. I was a natural in the battlefield because I understood the point of a team. "Just trust me, you guys."

Clay walked towards me, grabbing my arm while holding his three Poké Balls in his other hand; Silver jumped to his feet, hurrying over to me with a furious expression, but Clay just held up a hand. "Calm down. There's an arena that we need to go to beside the PCC, but there's no door. Teleportation is the only way to get in."

Silver still didn't look pleased, but I wasn't sure he would for awhile. Reluctantly, he held onto my other arm, and with a tunneling feeling, we vanished and reappeared in a large arena. There were no spots for spectators, but the field itself was impressive in size. The ceiling seemed to go up forever, but I could barely make out that it was not finished; the ceiling was still just made of earth. The walls, however, were plastered only about halfway.

"Funny that you had this the whole time and didn't mention it to anyone, Clay… funny that you'd keep it," Silver hissed, his tone bitingly bitter. He let go of my arm, walking away towards the side that I would probably claim as mine. Clay just smiled as Silver walked away, dropping his grip on my arm as well.

And before walking away to his side, he winked at me and sang, "Good luck!" in a surprisingly calm tone.

What was going on?

I hadn't really battled in awhile, but it was like riding a bike. Once you got on, it was surprisingly natural and hard to forget. Though I had plenty of reason to be nervous, it would be better for me and the Pokémon if I wasn't. So, I took a deep breath before standing at the edge of the field, looking down at my Poké Balls. I'd be fine. I'd be fine. It was just another battle.

One that I had lost before. But that was beside the point. I wouldn't lose again.

"Three-on-three battle," I ruled, and Clay gave me a thumbs up. "No switching allowed. Let's play."

Clay laughed, throwing a Poké Ball out onto the field. It erupted, sending out a Heatran onto the field, and the Poké Ball flew back into his hand. A Heatran, huh? Well, I had never seen one of them before, but I knew that it was a Fire and Steel-type with a severe weakness to Ground-type attacks and not much else.

I grabbed one of my Poké Balls, setting the rest next to my feet, and threw it out into the field. An Articuno materialized out of it, and the Poké Ball flew back to my hand. I had never seen an Articuno either, but it was an Ice and Flying-type with weakness to Fire. And both Ice and Flying were terrible against Heatran. But no matter. I could still win.

"Articuno, just bare with me. I'm Lyra, and I'm here to save you!" I shouted to the large bird, and it cried at me. Then, as it met my eyes for a moment, I smiled at it. It understood. "Good. Now, you're faster, and you have the advantage of the air above the field. Use that to your advantage. Do you know Ancientpower? Use that!"

"Heatran, use Lava Plume! Careful with your aim!"

Articuno was fast, sending a shower of rocks towards Heatran, but Heatran's aim was impressive. My blue bird fell out of the sky, crashing to the ground in front of me, engulfed in flames. But it wasn't done yet. Shaking it off, Articuno flapped its wings, and flew back up. I knew it couldn't go down that easily.

"I know it's not going to be super effective against it, but use Blizzard!"

"Endure that hit, Heatran, and use Stone Edge!"

Articuno opened its beak, a powerful blast exploding from it towards Heatran. I knew it wouldn't do much damage, but I could see Heatran was bothered by it. The second the Blizzard faded away, Heatran jumped at Articuno, who had swooped down low for its attack, and nailed it with its Stone Edge.

"Nice work, Articuno. Thank you," I told it as it collapsed in front of me again. I returned it to its Poké Ball, picking out another one and throwing it out. An Aerodactyl flew out, circling the field before lowering its gaze at me. Another Kanto native, but an ancient one that wasn't usually referred to as a legendary. But it was rare, nonetheless, having been resurrected from a fossil containing its DNA—

Resurrected from a fossil containing its DNA? I looked back at Silver, seeing him slumping against the wall, looking particularly uncomfortable now. Perfect.

"Aerodactyl, please work with me!" I called to my second teammate. "I know I didn't catch you, but I'm here to help!" The angry look on its face lingered for a moment, but once again this Pokémon seemed to understand the situation. So, it flapped its wings and turned back around onto the field, ready to battle. "You can learn Fire Fang, right? Let's fight fire with fire!"

"Great, Heatran! When it's close enough, use Stone Edge again!" Clay ordered, but there was already something different about him. The smile fell off his face, and he looked more serious than I had ever seen him. So focused, so intense. It was almost nice to see, just like I was battling Silver back in the day.

"Dodge up when you attack!"

Aerodactyl swooped down, opening its jaws and biting into Heatran before kicking off of it and flying back up, narrowly escaping Heatran's attack. I cheered, telling Aerodactyl to do it one more time. Articuno had weakened Heatran enough that Aerodactyl's powerful attacks did enough damage to knock it out quickly. And it did.

Clay returned Heatran to its Poké Ball, sending another Pokémon out into the field. This time he sent out a Regice. I had a type advantage now, but it took more than that to win. It also had a type advantage. It would take a lot more strategy to win this round.

"Fire Fang again!"

"Ice Beam!"

Aerodactyl flew down, its jaws blazing, and flew right by Regice with such speed that I didn't even think it attacked. But Regice stumbled, falling back against the ground before rebounding quickly. An Ice Beam shot at Aerodactyl, clipping one of its wings, and it fell down a few hundred feet before flying back up towards the ceiling.

"Use Rock Slide and knock it out!" I ordered, and Aerodactyl pushed Regice against the ground, flying up and tackling it with its rock-hard body. Regice still managed to hold on, however, and Clay sent another Ice Beam at Aerodactyl. It wasn't going to last much longer, but neither was Regice. The next move won the round.

"Fire Fang one more time!"

Before Regice could attack again, Aerodactyl flew into it one more time with its fiery jaws, and Regice fell back against the ground again. This time, it didn't get back up, and Clay was forced to recall it to its Poké Ball, looking slightly defeated. I was so close.

Just one more. One more, and I win. One more.

My heart sunk a little when I Darkrai came out of Clay's last Poké Ball. It didn't have any type advantage, and neither did Aerodactyl, but there was just something about its presence that made me shudder. The Pokémon inside of me were probably just reacting, though I didn't know particularly why.

"Just use Dark Pulse to finish it!"

And it did. Aerodactyl went down in a second as the wave passed through the field. I felt even worse now, entirely discouraged. But I couldn't! No, I couldn't feel like this! I had to keep going or else I was going to lose, and that was not something I could afford right now. It wasn't something that Silver could afford.

"Go!" I called out to my last Pokémon. And suddenly, when I saw who it was, I felt so cheerful again. Even though I didn't have the type advantage, and even though I couldn't foresee the outcome of this battle, I knew I was going to win. "Lugia!"

It recognized me immediately despite the differences in me now, and when I bowed to it, it bowed right back. I had chosen not to capture it all those years ago when it first appeared before me in the Whirl Islands, though I respected it immensely. I just figured that it would want to live in freedom instead of as my partner.

But here we were now.

"Let's do this, Lugia. Let's finish it, okay? Aeroblast!"

Lugia didn't even move; it just opened its mouth, a beam of pressured air shooting out towards Darkrai at an incredible speed, giving the Dark-type no time to dodge. It fell back, tumbling over pathetically. There it was. Just like I remembered it. It was good to know that one of us hadn't changed.

"No!" Clay shouted, looking desperate now. Come on, something had to be breaking in him. There had to be some change. Mew had to wake up. It was a part of Clay now, so it had to still be there. "Dark Pulse!"

The wave passed through the room again, but I was feeling way too hopeful to be affected now. Lugia endured the hit gracefully, shaking its head and blinking it off. "Good job, Lugia. Can you use a Hydro Pump for me now?"

"Dark Pulse again!"

Lugia was faster. Instead of letting out a beam of pressured air, this time it shot a high-pressured jet of water at Darkrai, throwing it backwards once again. Clay looked surprised by this, though he knew what I was about to do, and his face fell. It wasn't quite over yet, but I was getting close. He knew where this was heading.

"One more Aeroblast!"

Darkrai fell, and I won. I sighed, so relieved by this, and watched Clay return the Darkrai to its Ball with a saddened face. For a moment, he looked so human.

And then he started laughing.

"You're not done yet. You haven't won," Clay shouted, laughing loudly from the other side of the field. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at the Lugia in front of me. We had won, hadn't we? My three Pokémon had defeated Clay's three. So, what in the world was he talking about? Maybe nothing had happened, after all. Nothing happened…

"We had a deal, Clay!"

Clay laughed again, sounding blatantly amused by my retort, and backed further and further away from the field. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes firm despite his laughter. Growing nervous, I returned Lugia to its Poké Ball, walking away from the field towards Silver. There was something wrong here. Clay wasn't listening to me. What the hell was going on now?

"I can't give you access to the main computer. I'm not in control of that. I can't help you," Clay admitted, and I felt my heart drop. If he didn't have access, who did? "I told you that you'd love this: I'm not actually the boss of Team Xana. I've been playing you all this time. You still have one more person to go through if you want to beat us."

"What?" Silver and I looked at each other, and I was surprised that even Silver didn't know. Clay had been playing us hard. "Then, who is it?"

"It's—"

A loud bang cut Clay off, and he looked up to the rocky roof of the arena. A dark slate fell down, down… right into the spot where I had been standing not too long ago. I screamed, backing further away towards the wall behind us, pulling Silver with me. Clay, though he was far away, still looked horrified by this.

But he was a good actor, wasn't he?

There was a louder moan from the top of the arena, and seconds later a waterfall of rocks cascaded out of the roof. Silver, without hesitating a moment longer, teleported out of the arena and brought us to safety in the Science Labs.

… I just didn't really know how safe we actually were anymore.

Author's Note: I didn't write "First" too long ago. Less than a year ago. But it is amazing how much my writing has improved since then. Even though sometimes I say, "Oh my goodness, this chapter sucks", I still think there's an improvement from the chapter before. And that's really amazing to see.

I always hate battle scenes, though. That never changes. I really just think I do a pathetic job of writing them. XD

Who is the real boss? And was that cave-in planned or just a coincidence? Find out in the next installment of "Stockholm", January 29, 2011!

Haha, dramatic enough for you? ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.