*That sad moment where you almost forget to update because you were too busy watching Kagamine Ren holograms... (I'm pathetic, I know.) -.-' Well, without any further ado, let's get the chapter started, shall we? What kind of battle will we see? ;)*

Chapter 19

"Let this be a battle we won't forget!" Ruby's eyes flashed with excitement, almost flaring with life. For a second, they looked normal, as they would if he was in a contest and showing off, but the foreign malice was too clear. And it was obvious that he wasn't going to spare any mercy right now. "Milotic, Hydro Pump!"

"Agh!" screamed Crystal, feeling the full force of the water, knowing she would have been thrown back if it weren't for the fact her legs were buried in ice. She wasn't going to just stand here and be beaten though. "Megaree! Come out and use Solar Beam!"

Crystal's attack was well-placed- with a perfectly aimed throw (though she would have preferred to kick), she released her Meganium into a patch of direct sunlight, instantly charging the powerful attack. A green and yellow beam was fired from Megaree's mouth, lighting up the shadows around them.

Mimi screamed as it hit her, leaving a black burn-like mark on her pristine scales, though the Pokemon hadn't fainted, still standing, but barely. Ruby was unflinching, completely apathetic towards the fact that his Pokemon had been injured. He even smiled, happy that Crystal had retaliated.

"Milotic, Recover," he commanded, and Mimi's wounds quickly disappeared, the black burn transforming into a gentle pale yellow, eyes revitalizing. "Come on, attack me! Show me what you have!"

"Explotaro! Melt the ice! Sintaro, you use Solar Beam too!" said Gold, releasing the two Pokemon and tossing up the rest of his Pokeballs as well.

His Pokemon were released in a flash of red light, and from the midst there was fire and another green beam of energy, however, the Milotic managed to dodge it, twisting out of the way agilely, like a snake.

"Charizard, Flamethrower! And Gold, there's no need to overdo it," said Green, completely calm and focused. "It's just Ruby, you know him and his Pokemon. You don't need all your Pokemon."

The ice around their feet melted easily under the onslaught of the two fire-types, however, the flames spread to the trees, fueled by the unrelenting sun. Gold didn't care about the sudden change in the battle terrain though, too worried about defeating Ruby.

"But he's being controlled by Rei!" Gold returned. It was obvious- the reverent way Ruby had said 'master' and mentioned battling- the boy sure as hell wasn't talking about Wallace. "Doesn't that mean Rei 's giving out the orders? And he could attack at any moment!"

"It won't take all of your Pokemon, Gold," said Red, releasing only one Pokemon, Pika, like Green. His red eyes were regretful, as if he didn't want to be facing his junior in battle. Well, he kind of did, but not in this circumstance. "You could hurt him badly if we let out all of our Pokemon. It's hard to control six at once."

"Not really," countered Ruby, overhearing, the rest of his Pokemon stepping up, into the shadow-spotted light underneath the trees. "Master had me spend a day teaching them how to fight better- I don't need to give them all orders at once." The boy looked around, noting the strengthening flames with detached interest. "Let's make the battlefield more exciting, shall we? Castform, Weather Ball!"

The small gray Pokemon quickly transformed into a reddish-hue, a mane of red spheres appearing around its head. Quickly, it conjured a ball of what looked like liquid sunlight, hot and burning with all the strength of fire.

Without warning, Popo launched its attack, and Crystal could only watch as it struck Megaree knocking out her starter on the spot. The sun-fueled fire-type attack was too powerful for her poor grass type and set the trees and grass around it on fire.

"Dusknoir! Focus Blast!" called Emerald, stepping into the battle, a ball of orange-colored energy forming in his ghost-Pokemon's hands. It was released, seemingly to grow in size as it approached Ruby's Pokemon with shocking speed, immediately taking out Popo. The poor Pokemon was smacked back into a tree, hitting the wood with a hard 'thump.' "Now you only have to command five Pokemon!"

"Not bad," observed Ruby calmly, still smiling. "Look behind you though."

Emerald turned frantically to see his Dusknoir being attacked from three sides- a Shadow Ball from Ruru, Crunch from Nana, and an Assist-based Sucker Punch from Coco. The ghost-type managed to shield itself from the Sucker Punch with its large gray hand, but the Shadow Ball and Crunch hit it with full force, sending it crumpling to the ground, fainted.

"Hey, that's against the rules!" said Emerald before he could stop himself. Of course it was against the rules- none existed in a battle like this. It was a free-for-all, and their sense of fair play could lose them the battle.

"I never said I'd play fair. And beside, it's me against the five of you- I should be able to use as many of my Pokemon at one time as I want!" taunted Ruby, eyes alight with challenge. "Come on! Fight harder!"

The trees around were now all burning, blackened beneath the flames, leaves dropping in a shower of fire onto their battle. A few dropped onto Ruby, singing his clothes, his hair, but he ignored it, as if it hadn't bothered him in the slightest, too affected by the influence of the orb to notice. On the other hand, it was hard for everyone else to ignore the pain of fire literally raining from the sky, burning hot to the touch.

"Dammit!" cursed Green under his breath as a fiery leaf landed on his shoulder, leaving a scalding burn through his shirt. "Charizard, use Dragon Claw!"

The fire-type had no problem with the flames, in fact, it looked reenergized, happy in the inferno. Its short, sharp claws glowed with strange red and blue light before tearing into the side of the nearest enemy Pokemon, Nana, who yelped in pain, jumping back, but with a trickle of blood running down its side where Charizard had injured it.

"Again, Charizard!" commanded Green, preparing to finish off the Mightyena, casting a sideways glance at Red, who smiled.

When the fire lizard attacked, the dark-type wolf was no longer where it had been, instead behind it, diving with an outstretched shadow-coated paw, Sucker Punch, ready to strike- and then a bolt of electricity brought it tumbling to the ground like a shot bird.

"Nice move, Red," complimented Green as Red's Pikachu reappeared on the field, having been hiding in the trees. "It's a good thing you knew what I meant. Otherwise, Charizard might have taken a nasty Sucker Punch to the head."

"Give up, Ruby," warned Red, Pika jumping onto his shoulder, sparks flying from its red spotted cheeks, a growl on its lips. "I don't want to hurt you, you're my junior. Whatever Rei's done to you is wrong, we can help you, bring your memory back-"

"Give up? My master has commanded me to win!" declared Ruby defiantly, glaring at them hatefully. "I will fight until this is over and you are defeated."

"Defeated? I guess that could happen," said Gold, eyes shadowed underneath his huge cowlick. Crystal rolled her eyes- everyone knew what he was going to say next. "IN YOUR DREAMS!" Gold's tongue was stuck out mockingly, fingers pulling at the edge of his mouth.

Ruby was unfazed, not even looking annoyed, simply ignoring Gold. His blank eyes were now focused on Red, who tensed with anticipation. "Give me a good fight. Gardevoir, Psychic!"

"Pika, dodge it!" said Red, rolling out of the way of the invisible attack as well. Who knew whether the attack was aimed at trainer or Pokemon? Both seemed highly likely. "Thunder!"

"Delcatty, use Assist!" Picking up the move of her fallen team mate, Coco lunged at Pika, its paw once again glowing with a purplish-black light. It didn't hurt the electric type too badly, but at least caused the Thunder to miss. "Swampert, Earthquake!"

Crystal stumbled as the ground beneath her started shaking uncontrollably, like a shiver on steroids, fissures opening up in the dried dirt like sharp streams of water. Certain parts of the earth rose up in large spikes of stone, nearly spearing Red's Pika, which narrowly dodged it, jumping out of the way agiley, but not before the rock had injured its shoulder.

Grabbing onto Gold's shoulder, Crystal fought to keep on her feet, holding onto a nearby tree with another hand, glad that the bark was already burnt through, no longer lit with fire. "Parasee! Giga Drain!"

Her Parasect opened its crab-like pincers and pointed them at the still attacking Swampert. Zuzu let out a low keening growl of pain as its energy was pulled out in little balls of green, which returned to Parasee, healing whatever injuries it had already sustained.

Ruby eyed his Swampert with disgust, clearly disappointed in how quickly it had been defeated. "Weak," he muttered, returning it to its Pokeball. Turning back to the Dex Holders he said, "Keep fighting! Try to destroy me! My master will not fight you until you do!"

"Tsk," hissed Green, eyes freezing over. "Obviously, we can't hold back anymore. I don't think Ruby's going to come back to his senses unless we beat him and Rei."

"He only has three Pokemon left. Let's finish this quickly," said Red, looking a little sad. They'd already wasted too much energy on this battle- energy needed to fight Rei. "Green... No mercy."

The brown-haired boy looked over in surprise as he realized what it was Red planned to do. "Red, that's overkill, you don't need-"

"At the moment, overkill is better than under kill. Are you going to help or...?" Red left his sentence hanging, drawing the attention of the other Dex Holders, Gold, Crystal, and Emerald, who were trying to escape the ever-growing flames while skirting the abysses created by Zuzu's earthquake. When they looked over, Red mouthed the words. Crystal's eyes widened- but she wouldn't be able to help.

"I'm staying out of this," said Green, calling his Pokemon back and taking out potions. His Golduck was released, using Surf to attempt to quell the flames. "Three attacks are more than enough. Don't miss."

Ruby couldn't hear his opponents over the roaring furnace of fire- it was becoming hard to see over the smoke and blaze as well. His eyes narrowed, waiting for an attack to strike, Mimi guarding him from the flames with an Aqua Ring, protecting her possessed trainer. So he didn't see the attack coming until the gigantic, vicious vines had already reached his feet, the blast of voracious, devouring, incinerating fire knocking him to the ground, not turning him into a pile ashes only for Mimi, who had employed a Hydro Pump to combat the attack and used her long serpentine body to protect him.

Enough, sounded a voice in Ruby's head, like a tolling bell, resounding and powerful. Rei's voice. I'll handle it from here. Go heal your Pokemon and rejoin me later.

"Return, Milotic, Delcatty," said Ruby, his two remaining Pokemon disappearing into their Pokeballs. A grimace was drawn across his face, reluctance obvious in his eyes. "I am only the beginning," he hissed as a warning, agilely jumping above the snapping vines that threatened to grab him, running back towards the fiery forest behind, where the Dex Holders could not follow. They had bigger problems to handle.

The flames fanned out like ripples on the surface of water as wing flaps were heard from above. Green looked up, Pokemon fully healed, quickly spraying Red's as well. He released all his Pokemon, and tensed, ready for battle.

Crystal withdrew a Revive from her bag, quickly stirring Megaree awake, desperately trying to awaken her starter before the final battle woukd start. Emerald did the same with his Dusknoir, letting out his other five Pokemon. Gold released his Pokemon and Silver's, knowing that overwhelming Rei with a bombardment of attacks could be one of the only viable strategies.

Red simply attacked, Aero flying out in a blur of red light, striking the Salamence with a powerful Stone Edge, causing it to roll in the sky, forcing its trainer to jump off. Rei landed gracefully on the ground, like a car, night-black cloak billowing out as the displaced air and wind played with the dark fabric. His smile was wide, silver eyes dancing with delight.

"Did you enjoy the little present I sent?" he asked, his voice half-laughter. His Gengar and Gallade appeared in front of him, looking like guards, peering through the flames at the Dex Holders with eagerness, ready to fight. "I was so sure that you'd like it- Was it fun to have to fight one of your own? It was quite lucky his Milotic was smart enough to protect him with Hydro Pump. He would have died instantly in the fire otherwise."

Gold cringed, realizing the truth of Rei's words. He'd forgotten how powerful Explotaro's attack was, forgotten how hot the sun shined above them. His junior could have easily been killed in the attack. But he didn't let his feelings show, instead having his and Silver's Pokemon slowly form a circle around Rei's, using the fire to hide themselves.

"He could have burned," whispered Rei, eyes alight with fire. He remembered Amethyst, how she had died at his hands, perished from a misjudged Fire Blast. He hadn't forgotten her, he'd remembered their dream. To become King and Queen. And the final stage was here- anyone after the Dex Holders would present no challenge. "But instead of him, the ones who face death today are you."

To accentuate his words, a searing pillar of fire rose behind him. A Houndoom, whose muzzle, which was glowing with fire, ready to attack were pointed directly at the Pokedex Holders. Fire built up within its mouth, like a match thrown into oil.

"We begin now!" screamed Rei with delight, and the Fire Blast flew out like a net of fire, inescapable. The final battle had started.

*Ruby was just the beginning. :P Here's the good news- you get to see Sapphire next chapter. :3 And she'll run into Ruby... In fact, I feel like giving a teaser. XD One random line from the chapter:

Ruby's eyes flashed with surprise as she jumped at him, quickly pinning him to the nearest tree, her arms trapping him like a cage.

Are you excited now? I, for one, am hyper. XD Review Reply time! (I ate too many M&Ms)

ZXCVBNMEM: There's no need to run... You know you want to hug him. XD

Killfith: I had been itching to write this scene for a long time too. XD It was nice to finally finish it (you know, like three, four weeks ago. :P) I actually forgot to mention the cover pic last time. XD Glad you like it though. (though it's terrible since I was too lazy to do it properly.)

Light-Sakura: Rei enjoys killing things. So I will never let him leave the chair! :D (unless he's battling someone other than me... But my Lvl. 100 Dragonite can take him. :V Not really, but who cares about reality...?)

blazelight790: Unfortunately, I don't think Ruby can take on everyone at once. ^^' (that's just about impossible...) But he did get them good. Sapphire will rescue Ruby in a way... ;) The real battle is Rei!

Kimiko Heroux: I'm glad you liked the ChosenShipping. :3 I love that pairing! So cute, adorable, and I simply love Silver... *runs into fangirl corner* KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *cough* Now that that's out of the way, thank you! I hope the battle didn't disappoint!

CU: Thank you! They're fun/annoying to read since I'm always hyper~

spiritgurl21: Kicking that chair might not be the smartest idea... (now he wants vengeance. :P) Hope you liked the chapter!

Mrs. Flamer: Thanks for the critique. *bows* You were great help!

Ready for Chapter 20? Yes? Well you've got to wait a week! XD (I'm such a sadist) Leave your reviews while you wait please! :3*