A New World

By

WYLD STALLYNZ

The car slowed down as they approached the back of the warehouse where everyone had woken up. Mr. Scifo looked over his seat at the gathered Pokemon, silently thanking his wife's insistence on getting a small van for family outings.

"Okay everyone, we're here. Be careful! Wave and I will go to the front and see if we can distract them; if they are as incompetent as Dice seems to believe, we should have an easy time of it, but that doesn't mean that you should not pay attention!"

"With some luck you guys won't have to fight at all!" Wave nodded enthusiastically.

"And miss out on the violence?" Blade snorted. "No thanks. I need to vent my anger on someone!"

Cassie sighed. "I just want to return to normal..."

Dice sighed. "I just want to go swimming..."

"Duuude, I want like, a comet, you know... like, I would ride it sooooo far, it would totally be awesome beyond description..." Sage said, looking at the sky. "Yeah, that's true, Ominous, but, duuude... meteors fall and comets go on, and on..."

Wave looked at Cassie. "Who's Ominous?"

"Luna is," Dice said. "If you think about it, she glowers a lot. I think that's ominous."

The others exchanged glances, then looked back at Sage, who giggled.

"I... I think we should go... now," Solaire said after a brief moment of staring in horrified fascination at the first Pokemon he had actually known for sure was high. He had his suspicions about a couple of participants in a contest once, but...

Moon nodded, "Let's get going. We need to make this a fast operation. Luna, you'll take point; you're the most likely to notice any guards since you have the most experience."

Luna nodded, quickly and smoothly jumping out of the car as soon as the door opened. Her eyes scanned the area as her ears and nose strained to catch the faintest hint of any enemies. "It's clear, Xell!"

"Okay, everyone follow her, and listen to whatever she tells you!" Moon commanded, taking charge. "I'll follow along behind to make sure no one comes up behind us. Now, let's... Lati? Hey, where'd you go?"

Dice poked Moon on the shoulder. "Here."

Moon jumped as Dice was suddenly next to him. "What? How?"

Dice looked at him in confusion, but shrugged. "I don't know... let's get this over with, okay?" The Latias floated ahead and hovered slightly behind Luna, looking around almost morosely.

Cassie looked at Dice oddly. "Are you okay? You seem... calm."

"Bah, she won't be calm for long!" Blade growled with a toothy smile. "Not when we find some morons to beat into a pulp, right?" he elbowed Dice.

"For science!" Luna corrected, her eyes glowing in a way that sent shivers down their spines. "We'll kick their butts for science, so that we can learn what they've been doing!"

Dice shrugged. "For science then..." she looked around. "I really don't see any guards... maybe we should just head in."

The group slowly followed Luna around the buildings to the largest of the warehouses.

"I think this is the one we came out of," Cassie said, looking around. "It was darker, but I'm pretty sure this is it."

Blade took a step forward and opened the door. "Well... it's not locked. I'm starting to think Dice was right and the security here is handled by Magikarps."

Solaire blinked. "What? That's preposterous, to say the least! Have you seen Magikarps? They are completely useless! I remember this one that her Trainer had put a pink bow on and entered into a contest! It was completely ridiculous! It just stayed on the floor and flopped around!"

Everyone gave the Flareon incredulous looks, to which he nodded. "I know, right? Why would you ever enter a Magikarp into a contest? Well, the worst part was that when the judges decided that it was unfit to participate (why they took so long, I will never understand!), the trainer got so upset she started crying, and that, in turn, caused her Magikarp to suddenly evolve into a Gyarados! It was chaos, I tell you! I will never look at Unova the same way!"

"Duuude..." Sage whispered. "You have like, the wildest stories, man! That was like whoa! And then wooooow..." the Axew shook his head. "It's totally off track, dude, what they meant is that the guards believe they are Magikarps and-"

"No," Cassie interrupted. "We are not going to stay here and listen to this. No way, no how. Try to calm down, uh... dude... even Dice is acting serious for once, this is important! We need to save Moon's friend and find out what happened to us!"

Sage shrugged. "Chillax, dudette, chillax..."

"Well... if you two are finished, maybe we can find someone to fight now?" Blade snapped. "I really need to let loose."

Luna's ears twitched. "Quiet! I think I heard something."

The group fell silent as voices echoed in the warehouse.

"So, how many are left?" a man's voice asked.

"I don't know... I think we only have one more left in here. A small one," another voice replied.

"We seem to be moving ahead of schedule..."

"Yeah..."

"Hey... I, uh, I heard Mike say that one of the subjects had a whole stash of weed and other things with him when they captured him... they put it away in the guard room... we are ahead of schedule... you think we have time to... uh, light up?"

The other voice was quiet for a moment. "A stash, you say? If they haven't taken it out they were probably planning on leaving it here... I don't think anyone will miss it if we take some."

Sage started trembling. "Duude... they're talking about my stash!"

Cassie stared at him. "I would have never guessed," she deadpanned.

"We have to get it back, bro! That's quality stuff right there!" the Axew said urgently.

"We're not going to go rescue your stash," Luna whispered angrily. "And keep your voice down!" She turned to look at Moon. "Moon, should we check the Pokemon in here, or see what they meant by being almost done loading them?"

"We should split up," he replied, not hesitating as he continued, "Right now, we need information, and we'll get it faster if we split up and meet back in three minutes or so. Luna, you check out the 'loading', and I'll take Dice with me to rescue the Pokemon, since the two of us already know the lock system."

"There's a problem with that plan, chief." Cassie said.

"What? And hurry, we don't have time to waste talking."

"Well... dude is gone... and so is Dice," the Ponyta pointed out.

Solaire blinked. "But... she was right next to me! I never saw her move!"

Blade smiled. "I can see... uh... dude... at least." He pointed at the Axew as it trotted after the men.

"Crap... Fine, I'll go alone to rescue the Pokemon. Luna, you and Solaire find out more about the loading. You guys decide who you want to follow and help, but whatever you do, stay quiet, and meet back in three minutes!"

"Blade and I will get 'Dude'," Cassie said, then groaned. "We really need to learn his name!" she whispered as she motioned with her head for Blade to follow her.

Blade grinned and cracked his knuckles and neck. "Yes! Meat to be pounded!"

The group dispersed.

.o.O.o.

Moon made his way quickly to the room where they had been held just a couple days prior, thinking, 'Well, it would make sense that they'd use the same cages, or perhaps the other ones that were empty, so that's a good a place to start as any.'

He nosed the door open slowly, his eyes flickering to all corners of the room, but sighed in relief when he saw no guards. He padded in on silent paws, looking around at the cages, but paused before going far. 'That's the cage I found Dice in,' he thought somberly.

He started to walk forward, before he fell flat on his rump as he ran into something. "Wha? Who's there?" he asked, panicking for a moment.

Slowly a form shimmered into view. Dice floated in front of the cage where she had woken up, the only signal that she had noticed Moon's presence was a slight inclination of the head and a quick look his way.

"L-Lati? H-how did you? N-nevermind," he replied, shaking his head. "I guess you just learned, or perhaps were instinctively using Latias' ability, to bend the light around your feathers to turn invisible... If you don't mind my asking, Lati, umm... Are you alright?" he asked gently, trying not to upset her, but still show that he was concerned as a friend.

"This is where I woke up..." Dice said. "I mean, you already know that but... so much changed... did I tell you I was pretty good at drawing? I even won a contest, once." She looked down at her claws. "I wonder if I can do that again?" Dice shook her head. "This place... it makes me... angry... and depressed. Latias are supposed to be happy," she frowned. "I don't like it here... we should go."

"U-um, Lati? Just because Latias are normally happy doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to feel any other emotions, like fear, or anger, or sorrow! I- I wish I knew what to tell you, but I don't know what you're going through, completely." Pausing to think, he turned away, starting to look through the cages again to see if there was anyone else as he asked softly, "So, you used to draw, huh? I wish I could draw, but I never had the ability... What was it you drew that won a prize?"

"Oh... it was just... a flock of Pidgeys, nothing really impressive, but apparently the composition was good..." Dice perked up a little as she fell in place next to Moon. "That's what got me started as a Pokemon Watcher." She sighed. "Good times."

"Wait, you mean you were... You know, have you ever thought about becoming a researcher? Professor Oak started out as a trainer and watcher, and look where he is today! It might be something you should think about once we get this mess figured out, whatever you decide to do... Hey, wait a sec, is there someone there?" As Moon looked closer at the small cage in the corner, he though he could see a small ball of purple fur, but it was hard to make out. "Hello? Dice, do you see what I'm seeing?"

Dice's eyes widened. "Unless we've both been smoking whatever Dude was smoking... I think I'm actually seeing a Mew." She turned to look at Moon. "I am seeing a Mew, right? I mean, I know I'm nuts but... I'm not that crazy, right?"

At the sound of the two voices, the small ball of fur started to move, a tiny arm raised to its head as it rubbed at an eye lazily. Its mouth opened wide in a cute yawn, before it opened its eyes, blinking several times. Moon hesitated for just a moment, afraid of scaring it, when it chirped, "Oh wow! Another two! Hey guys, what's up? How did you get out of the cages?"

Moon stared for a moment, completely floored. The Mew was completely fine? And what did she mean by 'another'? Who else had it seen?

"Oh... we, uh, left ours a day ago..." Dice said. "You seem awfully content with your new body, though..." she coughed. "It... it is a new body, right?"

"I dunno. I don't remember... Hey! Are you guys my friends?" the Mew asked, tilting its head to the side, hovering forward to the bars. "What are your names?"

Moon blinked, looking at Dice for a moment, before replying, "Yeah, sure we'll be your friends! My name's Moonstone, though you can call me Moon. This is Dice. So what's your name?" he asked gently, while he deftly started working on undoing the lock.

"Hi, I'm... Umm..." A flicker of confusion crossed its face as it thought for a moment. "I'm Kaye... I think."

"Well, Kaye, welcome to the herd," Dice beamed. "We're all Pokemon now, so we stick together, right?"

"Now? Umm, okay, if you say so!" it chirped, smiling widely. "So... What is it we're doing?" it asked, watching Moon pick the lock with fascination.

"We're getting you out of this place! It's pretty boring, isn't it?" Moon asked, looking around at the plain cages.

"Weeeeeeell," the Mew replied, holding its tail in its paws as it floated freely in its cage. "Can we have a party or something when we get out? I'm hungry!"

After hearing how the Mew spoke, Moon was willing to hazard a guess that Kaye was female, and answered, "Sure, we'd love to have a party for you later! Hey, I have a question for ya though. Have you seen a young woman by the name of Tia? She's got long, blue-ish-teal hair, usually wears it in a ponytail. Have you seen her, or know what happened to her?"

"I dunno... I only woke up a little while ago. There where people talking, but I wasn't really paying attention, except for this one guy, because he was really weird! He kept saying the most random things, like 'Eeyup!' and 'Nooope!"

Dice looked straight at Moon. "You're going to have a really hard time with her and me once we leave and I go crazy again."

"Meh, it's alright," Moon replied, grinning. "As long as all the chicks we pick up are this cute, I can handle the crazy!" he laughed, before turning serious, adding, "You won't go crazy, alright? I refuse to let my sister go crazy! We'll talk about it later, alright? Promise to let me know if you're going crazy?"

Dice's smile was a bit forced. "Sure, bro... that was real suave, by the way."

"You know it!" he chuckled. Opening the door, he put on his most charming smile, offering his paw to Kaye, saying suavely, "Milady..."

Dice rolled her eyes. "Careful there, Kaye, he's acting way too sure of himself right now."

"Pfft, you're just jealous," Moon retorted, sticking his tongue out at her.

Kaye, however, totally ignored his paw, flying out of the cage swiftly, giggling as she zipped around the room excitedly. "Weeeeee! Thanks a lot, this is so much fun! Come on, aren't you guys gonna join me? It's time to play!"

Dice chuckled. "Well Moon, you've been warned." She looked up at the Mew. "Okay, Kaye, we can play, I would love to! But first, we really need to find Moon's friend, please? Do you know what happened to the other Pokemon that were here?" For some reason Dice couldn't even pout; this little Mew just made her smile... and also made her feel devious again.

Moon started to feel immensely guilty as Kaye sagged in the air, her eyes misting up as she replied sadly, "Alright..." She floated back down to ground level, sighing, as she said slowly, "I... I heard them getting taken away, something about recollecting? Reco... something," she finished, dismissing it with a paw.

Dice giggled as she hugged the Mew. "Moon, she's adorable! Even if she only gave us bad news!"

"Yay! Hugs!" Kaye exclaimed, burrowing her head in Dice's feathers. "Mmm, your feathers are so fluffy..." she cooed.

Moon blinked, before asking numbly, "W-wait a second, did they say 'relocation'?"

"Yeah, sure," came the muffled reply.

"Let's go get them, Moon!" Dice cheered. "I'll take Kaye with me, we'll follow you!"

"Alrighty then! Let's go regroup with everyone else! If they are relocating, we need to find out where, when, and how long they'll be staying at the new location! Let's go!" Moon ordered, leading the way back to meet up with everyone else, a new friend and ally in tow.

"For science!" Dice shouted, following after Moonstone.

"Yeah! For Sky Ants!" the mew girl cheered happily, completely oblivious as to what it was she was supposed to be cheering for.

"Sheee's soooo cuuuute!" Dice giggled madly as they left the warehouse.

.o.O.o.

"Dude... you can't just barge in there," Cassie whispered harshly. "They'll see you and capture you!"

"But... dudette, they are smoking my stash!" Sage whimpered, looking at her with pleading, watery eyes. "My stash! That's high-quality stuff! It's not something you just pick up!"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Yes, you have said that before."

"Cassie, I say we just pummel them to the ground for breathing and be done with it," Blade whispered. "Why waste time when we can just deal with this?"

"Use your brain, Blade! If we attack them they might sound the alarm!"

"Isn't that what we wanted?" Blade asked.

"No."

They peeked inside the office, where the two men were slowly smoking a joint each.

"They could have just rolled one..." Sage whimpered. "They'll go through it in no time if they waste the good stuff like that!"

"Man..." one of the two men said, making the Pokemon flinch slightly. "This stuff is crap."

"Yeah, man..." the other said, taking an obscenely long puff out of his joint. "I can barely feel it!"

"... it's supposed to be slow build, dude..." Sage whispered, eyebrow twitching.

"I know, right?" the first one said. "It's lacking something, flavor or... I dunno..."

"Yeah... like... I know! You know that stuff that Roger grows in his backyard?"

Sage lowered his head. "That... that's some of the most carefully grown and tended-to weed in the region..." he whispered. "Can't they taste the difference? Feel it?"

"Oh, yeah... the good stuff!" the other man chuckled. "He mixes it with other things... those plants, yeah, now that is quality, not this crap..."

The other blinked. "Hey, whoa... maybe this is not that bad as I thought..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Dude, I just took another whiff and now I can see a glowing Axew!" he said, pointing at a wall.

The other man chuckled and glanced that way. "Man..." he blinked, smiled fading. "I see it too!"

Both looked at each other. "Oh, shit..."

That's when the meteors started falling.

.o.O.o.

"My paws hurt," Solaire said, looking at his sister. "Rub them?"

Luna's left eye threatened to start twitching as she hissed quietly, "Dammit Sol, I swear to Arceus, if I have to tell you to shut up one more time, I... I don't know what I'm going to do! I just can't be held responsible for what I'm going to do to you! Now shut up so I can listen for enemies and information, Sol!"

Solaire sighed as he looked around, careful to peek without revealing too much of himself, just like Luna had instructed. "We... we will find her, right? She won't be taken away by these... monsters..."

"... We're certainly going to try, Sol," Luna answered softly, her eyes softening. "We're going to do our best, and if, Arceus forbid, they get away, we'll follow them to the ends of the earth to get her back, I promise."

Solaire concentrated; he needed to be helpful, somehow, even if he knew his sister was the one that would actually be the most useful. His ears twitched. "Luna... I hear something... a... a tapping sound of some sort..."

Luna's ear twitched as well, but she chose to ignore it. "You concentrate on it then. I'm moving ahead just a little. Yelp like a sissy if you need me," she smirked, teasing her brother as she melted into the shadows, slinking forward slowly.

"Yelp like a sissy if you need me..." Solaire sing-sang as he rolled his eyes. "Honestly, her upbringing was barbaric." He sniffed dismissively as he made his way to where the sound was coming from. Finally, he found himself standing in front of a metal crate with a lock on it. The tapping sound was coming from within.

He carefully tapped the crate.

The tapping from inside stopped.

Solaire blinked, then sniffed around the crate. "What was that about?" He turned and was about to leave when the tapping began again. Three slow taps, three fast ones, three slow ones. A pause. Solaire watched the crate in confusion.

He carefully touched it. When the crate remained solid and did not do anything untoward, Solaire sighed in relief, but quickly removed his paw when the tapping began again. "How rude!" he growled, his tail puffy. "And what's with the tapping?"

The tapping suddenly stopped. "Hello?" the crate called.

Solaire's eyes went wide. "You speak?"

"Yes! I do! Please, good sir, I need help!" the crate exclaimed urgently. "I need you to release me! I have been wrongfully detained and have been given no chance to defend my case!"

Solaire looked at the crate critically. "Well... uh, I'm not sure how you were detained, but... I can't drag a crate around, as I have an urgent mission myself; I must save my trainer."

The crate was silent, then... "You say a Pokemon Trainer is in trouble?"

"Yes," Solaire said. "My sister is scouting ahead, and our- her - friends are releasing the other captives."

"Then you must help me! I will certainly be of assistance!" the crate said.

"I already told you I can't drag a crate around!"

"... I'm inside the crate," the voice said, with a hint of incredulity. "Just... undo the lock."

Solaire's cheeks burned. "Oh, I- I knew that!" He approached the crate and carefully sniffed at the lock. It didn't seem too strong. "This will take just a moment!" He concentrated on the lock and used Crunch.

o-o-o

Solaire used Crunch!

It's super-effective!

The lock is broken!

o-o-o

"Thank you, my friend, I shall remember your help in the future!" A blue Combusken said, stepping out of the crate after opening the door. He looked around. "It seems my rescuer has fled... oh well, I'll just-"

"I'm still here," Solaire deadpanned. "Are you blind?"

The Combusken stared at the Flareon. "I- I am sorry, Flareon, I-" the bird Pokemon stammered. "I never expected to find a talking Pokemon, Flareon or otherwise, no offense."

Solaire sighed. 'I'm really starting to believe the human turned Pokemon thing...' he thought. "Whatever, will you help me rescue my Trainer?"

The Combusken nodded, pulling out a top hat and a black eye mask that he proceeded to put on his face, followed by a black cape, effectively hiding his identity. "Lead the way, my friend! Tuxedo Flame is here!" he declared, producing a smooth black cane out of no-where.

Solaire was in awe. "I almost can't recognize you at all!"

"This shall be our secret, my friend!" the Combusken declared valiantly. "I trust you will help keep it!"

Solaire nodded. "Let's go find my sister!"

That's when part of the roof of the warehouse he and Luna had left the others collapsed.

.o.O.o.

Moon jumped in surprise at the loud explosion that echoed throughout the hall, the building shuddering slightly. "Holy crap! What was that?" he exclaimed, now fully alert and ready for trouble.

Luna came running down the hall, panting a little heavily as she shouted, "Part of the building just collapsed! Come on, it's in the direction we left the others!"

"Of course it is!" Moon exclaimed, grunting in aggravation as he turned and started to run after Luna, who was leading the way.

They stopped when they saw the back of the warehouse covered in smoke.

"I... I think I see something!" Dice said as three figures slowly made their way out of the smoke.

"Duuuuuudeeee..." Blade said. "That was... like, awesome, man!"

Cassie, who was giggling slightly, nodded. "It was like... 'woooooaaaahhhh' and then! 'Whooosh'! And then and... and then the glowing!"

Sage, for his part, nodded. "That's the quality stuff talking, dudes... it changes your lives..."

"Duuude, you know what I need right now?" Cassie said, "I feel like... like Pokemon Snacks... you know, something salty... yum..."

Blade patted the Ponyta on the front leg. "Yeeeah! And... jalapeno poppers!"

All three Pokemon stopped at the edge of the smoke, took a deep breath and whispered in awe: "Jalapeno Poppers..."

"I- I think they are okay..." Dice said, slowly drifting forward, towards the smoke.

"Hey, who are they? Ohmygoodness! Are they friends too? Can I play with them?" Kaye asked, quickly squirming out of Dice's grasp as she flew forward. "Hey, do you guys wanna play with me?"

Sage peered at the Mew. "Heeeeeey... I knooow you... you farted in my face!"

Kaye blinked, tilting her head in confusion for just a moment, before dismissing the accusation altogether. "So... Is that a yes or a no?"

"Duude... is that a Mew?" Cassie asked, peering at the Mew. "That's like... deep, man! Mew is like, totally the first Pokemon!"

"Moon, is Cassie sinking into the ground through the concrete?" Dice asked Moonstone.

"Bro, bro..." Blade pointed at Cassie. "You were right! The world is inconsequential!"

For her part, the Ponyta giggled and stepped up onto the actual floor. "Sorry..."

Moonstone shook his head. "The explosion will have warned them that something is wrong; we have to go now!"

"Right!" Dice said, turning to look at Kaye. "Kaye, can you grab the little Ponyta and bring her with us? I'll take care of the other two! We need to rescue Moon's friend!"

"Yay!" Kaye exclaimed, leaping from the shadows to Cassie's neck, hugging her tightly as she yelled, "Ninja glomp attack!" She grasped the Ponyta firmly, before sliding down her neck. She stood proudly on Cassie's back, proclaiming, "Onward, to glorious battles, my noble steed! Charge!" she squealed happily, posing as she stood atop the lavender equine.

Cassie looked over her shoulder at the Mew. "Duuude, I have a Legendary Pokemon on my back riding me to battle! That, like, has to mean something!"

"Like... totally," Blade said as Dice picked him up in one claw and Sage on the other. "Whoa, dude, I'm flying!"

"Dude, duuuude," Sage laughed. "I'm telling you, it's all in your head... there is no up or down... and left or right are only limits to your eternal mind..."

Dice looked at the pair, then turned pleading eyes towards Moonstone. "Moony? Can I get high? It sounds really fun."

Moon's eye twitched as he started to imagine the chaos, before yelling, "No! Anything but that! I... That would be..." As he stared at her face, becoming more and more depressed and sorrowful, he groaned, facepawing as he mumbled, "Yeah, sure, later. When we get back home, feel free to explain to mom and dad that you want to get high and see how they like it. They say yes, then sure, knock yourself out..."

"Guys, wait, I think I hear..." Luna shushed, pivoting her ears to better listen. "I think I hear fighting coming from down the hall! Come on!"

.o.O.o.

"Have at thee!" Tuxedo Flame squawked as his cane flew in complicated patterns, disarming two guards of their Pokeballs before they could even call their allies into battle. "In the name of justice, I shall teach you to never underestimate Tuxedo Flame again!"

o-o-o

Tuxedo Flame used Black Cane!

It's Super Effective!

The Guards dropped their Pokeballs!

o-o-o

Solaire jumped on top of a wooden box, jumping up once more to twist in the air as flames contorted around him, before throwing the spinning ring of fire against a Mudkip.

o-o-o

Solaire used Fire Spin!

It's not very effective...

Mudkip used Water Gun!

It's Super Effective!

o-o-o

"Why did I have to fight against the Water Type?" Solaire asked, shaking his mane to get rid of the excess water.

"I don't know, my friend, but you might want to use a non-fire attack against the Mudkip!" Tuxedo Flame instructed as he jumped just in front of the guards and smacking them with precise hits of his cane. The two guards bent over and stood dramatically in one pose before crumbling down, unconscious.

"Easy for you to say!" Solaire growled as two helicopters took off. He looked at them in despair. "I hope Tear wasn't in them!" he concentrated back on the Mudkip as two more grunts ran towards them, throwing their Pokeballs into the air. He growled and prepared to jump at the water Pokemon when a ball of dark energy blasted past him and slammed into the Mudkip, hurling it back with a scream to roll painfully on the floor.

"Pheh, still fighting a little Mudkip? What happened, afraid to get your coat dirty?" Luna commented snarkily as she slid to a stop next to her brother, taking a battle-ready stance to face the new Pokemon. "Come on, let's get this over with! We've got people to save!"

The first Pokemon to materialize was a Vulpix, followed immediately after by a Graveler.

"Graveler!" One of the grunts shouted. "Use... whoa!"

Graveler nodded and glared at Luna readying its attack. After a moment of nothing happening it blinked and looked back to his trainer. "Wait, 'whoa' is not an atta-"

Its eyes widened when he saw both grunts being lifted up by... a Latias.

"Stop! Attacking! My! Friends!" Dice shouted smacking the grunts' heads together with each word.

"Hey!" The Vulpix shouted, shaking a tiny paw at Dice. "That's not how it works! You're supposed to fight us first!"

"Yeah!" The Graveler seconded. "We should fight using techniques to prove which of us is better and the winner takes it all!"

Dice gave them a Half-Lidded-Look-Of-Annoyance©. "Do I look like I care what your inane rules of combat dictate? Do I? I Am a Legendary Pokemon! I care not for your opinion!"

"Hey!" Vulpix cringed. "Stop shaking our humans! They are fragile!"

Dice rolled her eyes and let the two unconscious grunts fall to the floor in a pile.

"Yeah, we know!" Moon commented as he ran up, breathing a little heavily. "Ain't it great?"

Luna nodded her agreement, noting, "Yeah, and it's not like they're permanently damaged by that, so that makes it even better! Great job," she added begrudgingly to the Latias, who was looking rather grim.

Dice started gathering energy in her mouth as she glared at the unconscious humans. ~Fragile? Well, let's see how they fare after this!~ her thoughts echoed in everyone's mind (save Luna's, since she's a Dark type).

Moon watched as she started gathering power in her mouth, and wasn't sure if he should be worried of the impending attack, or start preparing himself to collapse laughing again if it failed, while Luna looked a little impressed, before she remembered the incident with the door. 'Oh this isn't going to end well, I know it...'

A ball of gray energy shot out of Dice's mouth, much bigger than anything she had produced before, perhaps fueled by her anger, it sped straight onto the unconscious humans.

With a cry of fear, Graveler jumped in the way, the sphere slamming onto his back with tremendous force, causing an explosion that raised smoke and dust into the air. When it slowly settled, the Pokemon itself was also unconscious and badly injured, with cracks running down its body. It had fortunately landed next to the humans, or it would have crushed them to death.

Moon and Luna were both flabbergasted at Dice's attack, surprised that it had not only worked, but managed to knock out the Graveler. "Well, color me impressed," Moon stated simply, blinking more than was necessary. "That actually worked..."

"And worked well," Luna continued, turning slightly to look at the Vulpix from the side. "Your masters are knocked out, and are unable to battle. Do you still demand we fight, even against such odds?"

Vulpix's eyes watered. "But... but... but we were going to go to the beach!" she said, falling to her knees. "And as soon as I evolved, he was going to propose!"

Kaye gasped, flying around erratically as she squealed, "That's so romantic! I wonder how he was gonna do it?"

Solaire stared at the Vulpix in confusion. "We are still talking about the human, right?"

Vulpix nodded. "I-I was going to marry him!" she bawled.

"But... he's a human!" the Flareon explained again.

"I don't care! I love him!"

"Duude... all you need is love," Sage said, walking up to them. "Species, gender, age, solar-cycle? Those are references made by mere mortals who do not understand the great beyond..."

Solaire blinked and mouthed 'the great beyond'? incredulously as the Vulpix looked at the Axew in confusion.

"The great beyond? What's that? You mean tomorrow?" Kaye asked innocently. "Come on, silly, don't you know? ~Tomorrow is another day!~" She exclaimed in a song-song voice, before collapsing into a giggling fit.

"Wha- what do you mean?" the Vulpix asked the little dragon.

"Dudette... you shouldn't fret..." Sage said, nodding. "The limit is only in your mind... you have to let him know, because... duuude... if you don't, it's like... like the sun not coming up, you know?"

Vulpix nodded to the surprise of everyone present, with the exception of Sage. "I... I see..."

The Axew shook his head. "You don't see yet, dudette... what you have to do... is make him yours..."

Solaire started choking on his saliva while Vulpix's eyes grew wide. "You... you mean..."

Sage nodded sagely.

With a blush, the Vulpix slowly made her way to her trainer, grabbed the shoulder of his uniform with her teeth and slowly pulled him away from the battlefield and behind the buildings.

"Should... should we stop her?" Dice asked after a moment.

"No... duuude... they found love... let them go together to the beach, have her take care of him and nourish their trust in each other..." Sage said.

"I... don't think that's what she thought you meant..." Solaire murmured, looking a bit green.

"It doesn't matter, dude!" Blade said, stumbling up to them. "We can't forget the helicopters!"

"Yes..." Dice frowned. "Let's forget what just happened."

"But-" Solaire protested.

"It NEVER happened!" Dice growled and the Flareon nodded quickly.

"Ever," Moon added, shaking slightly as well, closing his eyes tightly for a moment, shaking his head as he tried to get rid of the mental visual he had been so unfortunate to see. "Y-yeah, let's just... Crap! The helicopters!" he exclaimed, standing up straight, his tail going stiff from shock. "We've got to move! They're probably heading out already! Come on, we've got to rescue Tear!"

"Right!" Luna agreed, swiftly turning around as she started to lead the way, running as fast as she could.

"Let's get them!" Dice shouted as she followed them, with Solaire and Tuxedo Flame following behind.

"We should also go..." Blade said, starting to trot after them.

Sage nodded absently as a purple Mew giggled and followed the others. He raised an eyebrow as Cassie emerged from behind a building, looking sightly ill.

"You okay, dudette? You aren't feeling bad because of my stuff, are you?"

Cassie shuddered. "I- I just saw..." she shuddered again. "I don't want to talk about it." She staggered past the Axew, who shrugged as he followed the group.

.o.O.o.

"There's only one left!" Dice shouted as she flew ahead. "We have to stop it!"

"Tear!" Solaire shouted. "Tear, can you hear me? It's Solaire! Are you there?"

Blade tried running faster. "We're not going to make it!"

The helicopter had already started its ascension, and the group could barely make out the figures inside. Pokemon and humans stared out at them grimly as it took off.

"No! We need to know where she is!" Solaire shouted, charging an attack.

"Sol, stop!" Luna shouted as she tackled her brother, barely in time as his Flamethrower attack flew to the left of the helicopter, scorching the ceiling as a table burst into flame. "Don't be an idiot, Sol! We can't rescue Tear if you blow up the helicopter she's riding on!"

"But they're escaping!" Solaire growled, shaking her off. "We can't let the last one go!"

"But what else can we do? We have no way of stopping it without blowing it up!" Moon argued, thinking frantically of a way to stop the last helicopter as its blades whirled faster and faster, starting to take off. 'Think, I can do this! I just have to try to freeze it, maybe? I mean, the most I did before was a wind, but maybe I... can...'

The group watched the last helicopter sped away.

Moon sunk to his knees, shaking his head as he berated himself, 'I spent too much time just thinking! I... I failed...'

"Damn it!" Dice growled. "I should've blasted them!"

Blade shook his head. "You know that might kill everyone in there, like Luna said."

"But what now?" Dice asked, descending to put a paw on Solaire's back.

The Flareon was shaking with anger and barely hid tears. He pressed his head to Dice's body as the Latias sighed and rubbed his back.

"There are some grunts that were left behind, and we can find some information from the stuff that they didn't take..." Cassie said after a moment.

Dice sighed. "Well... it's better than nothing." She patted Solaire on the head. "Come on, let's find out what we can... and then we can go find Tear."

"Yeah, for Simons!" Kaye cheered, trailing behind her new group of friends, not noticing how depressed and dejected they all seemed...

.o.O.o. End Chapter 5 .o.O.o.