The following morning, after what seemed like the longest night of my life, I finally got the chance to interrogate Jasmine about her loss at Azalea Gym. While Nikki was still busying herself getting dressed, having slept in a little later than she should have, I cornered Jasmine as she was brushing her teeth at the mirror in the shared bathroom. A theory had formed overnight in my head and I had an interesting, albeit worrying, explanation to her still unbelievable loss against Bugsy.

"Jasmine…" I ventured as I sidled in the door.

"I'm almost done," she mumbled, her mouth full of toothpaste.

"That's not what I meant," I had to fight to conceal a grin at Jasmine, who normally looked immaculate, with white foam all around her mouth, giving the strong impression of a rabid Poochyena. "Listen… I wanted to ask you something?"

In the mirror, I saw her perfectly plucked eyebrows shoot up towards her hairline. She said nothing further, so I continued with what I was saying. "Jazz… did you… did you throw the match yesterday?"

No sooner had the final world left my lips, Jasmine spluttered in surprise and started to cough, minty toothpaste froth flying everywhere. She rounded on me immediately, her eyes flashing. "What the hell are you talking about?" she said defensively.

I recoiled a little at her angered shout, but the extreme reaction only convinced me more that I was right. "Yesterday, at the match with Bugsy." I told her, watching her face slowly grow angrier and angrier. "You and I both know you could have won easily if you'd used Sulphur or any other of your Pokemon. I also know you would never put a newly caught Pokemon into a Gym battle. Never. You wouldn't let your Pokemon practically walk into inevitable defeat. That's not like you, Jazz. You're not a cruel trainer,"

"Yeah… so what? That doesn't prove I threw any match," Jasmine insisted.

"Maybe not, but I can't think of any other reason you'd put Albus and Honey up for a battle." I said, accusingly. "Unless you wanted to lose on purpose. And I know that if it was a matter of you just not wanting to battle or not wanting the badge, you woulda just said so and you would've refused to battle." I paused, moistening my lips before delivering the killer blow. "Jazz, I think you wanted to lose."

"Why would I want to lose?" she said, shooting me a fierce glare. "I don't want to look like a loser like Bailey."

"See, there's a funny thing. Considering how much you call Bailey a loser, who was the one that cheered him on when he wasn't doing well? If I didn't know better, Jazz, I think you felt sorry for him for losing."

"What? Are you suggesting I threw the match to make Bailey feel better about himself? Oh please, Sienna, you are talking rubbish." She said dismissively. "I lost because I wanted to give Albus and Honey some experience, and what do you know, they weren't ready. Not because I wanted to make that idiot Bailey feel better about losing." She paused and then spat out "You idiot. I thought you knew me better than that! I'm going downstairs! Come back and talk to me when you're not high on crazy pills!" And with that, she stormed out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

For a second, I stood there in the aftermath of it all. Then, a wide smile broke out onto my face of its own accord. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much," I said out loud, the grin spreading even wider.

I knew for certain now my assumptions had proven right. I had to admit, the whole thing was quite adorable! Even Jasmine's reaction had been cute when you considered the whole situation. A little giggle escaped me. Jasmine had thrown the match against Bugsy. If she'd done it for the reason I'd suspected, to make Bailey feel better about losing, this opened up a whole new world of questions. Jasmine seemed to hate Bailey, but if she did, why did she throw the match for him? I was already convinced that Bailey, alongside Scott, harboured a little bit of a not-so-secret crush on Jasmine. I'd never thought it possible that Jasmine could possibly even get along with Bailey, let alone return any of those feelings. However now, my interest had well and truly been piqued. I really wanted to know more about this matter…

However, I put it firmly to the back of my mind as I busied myself getting everything together and packed for leaving later in the day. Nikki shot me a knowing glance as I re-entered the room, and I smiled at her. I got the feeling she knew exactly what I had confronted Jasmine about. However, we didn't get the chance to discuss it, as Elliot chose that exact moment to pop his head inside our room and tell us to hurry, as we'd be leaving soon. Immediately, the two of us got straight to packing. I personally wanted to leave Azalea as soon as possible so I could start focusing on training.

After packing and having a quick breakfast, we all met up in front of the Pokemon Centre to make a plan. As I had expected, Jasmine was still maintaining a stony silence, obviously unimpressed with my interrogation from the morning. Elliot was also still acting unusually clingy, keeping his arms wrapped protectively around me and preventing me from moving anywhere. I had to admit, I was pretty confused about the whole thing, and I couldn't help but wonder, considering all the craziness that had happened recently, if I was the only sane person left here.

"So, if we reach Union Cave by midday we should be able to rest there for a bit, right?" I double-checked, trying to bring the conversation to some sort of conclusion.

"Should be," Elliot nodded, resting his chin into the crown of my head.

"Well," I said, looking at everyone in turn. "I was thinking that after we eat lunch we could do some training or something? You know, in preparation for the Battle Tournament in Violet City."

"That's a great idea!" Bailey cried enthusiastically.

"It is," Elliot nodded his approval. "But in my opinion, I think we'd be better off training inside Union Cave. There's loads of strong Pokemon in there. I spent a long time training in there myself when I was travelling around Johto in preparation for the Gyms."

"Well, same thing." I said with a shrug. It didn't really make much difference to me where we trained, so long as we actually did some. I really had to get back into my comfort zone, and learn how to battle properly again.

"A training session does sound good." Scott suddenly interjected, his voice surprising everyone as he spoke. "I know there's some of us here that could use some practice," I noticed he paid particular attention to me, Nikki and Bailey as he said this.

"Scott," Elliot said warningly. "I think we could alluse some training, let's be honest."

Scott merely grunted in response to Elliot. It was clear he didn't agree, but for whatever reason he chose not to pursue it. I rolled my eyes at the fourteen year old, then cleared my throat and attempted to regain control. "Well, we should probably get going, huh?"

Everyone nodded their agreement, and with a murmured consensus, we set off towards Union Cave which would lead us to Violet City, under Elliot's careful guidance.

It took us no time at all to cross Route 33. It was an eastbound and relatively short route compared to most other routes in Johto and Kanto. It took us barely an hour's travel to clear. The only problem we encountered was that the heavens opened and torrential rain started to beat down on us, forcing us to sprint the final ten minutes of travel to take shelter at the looming figure of Union Cave in the distance. I found myself very glad we had taken the decision to train inside the cave and not outside, like I had initially wanted. We quickly entered the mouth of Union Cave, grateful to get out of the rain and dry off, while we quickly swallowed down our sandwiches and lemonade. Fed, watered, dried, and at least marginally rested, we decided to be on our way through Union Cave.

I was admittedly nervous as we were faced with the crawling expanse of inky black lying out in front of us, but Elliot gripped my hand firmly and was quick to reassure everyone that things were all right.

"It's not a long passage, don't worry." He said calmly. "Twenty minutes or so and we'll be through, provided we don't get lost…"

"Elliot…" Bailey ventured a few seconds later. "What kind of Pokemon live here?"

Elliot considered this. "Mostly Rock and Ground."

"Great…" I felt my heart give a painful twist at this piece of information.

"Okay…" Bailey said slowly. "I meant what species live here…"

"Loads!" Elliot cried enthusiastically. "As well as the Rock and Ground Pokemon, this cave is connected to some underground rivers, so you can get all sorts of Water Pokemon here too. And then of course the normal cave Pokemon like Geodude, Zubat, even Onix!"

"Onix, huh…?" Bailey sounded intrigued.

Elliot smiled knowingly. "You interested in an Onix…?"

Bailey laughed nervously. "It would be nice,"

At this point, I could have sworn I heard Jasmine tut disapprovingly nearby.

"You'll have to keep your eyes peeled then." Elliot carried on. "Onix can be quite difficult to find. And even more difficult to catch…"

Bailey grinned sheepishly. "I know… I… I probably won't find one, but a man can dream right?"

"Indeed he can," Elliot said in a strangely philosophical manner, before clearing his throat and taking control again. "Right guys. Shall we go, then?"

No sooner had we taken two steps into the charcoal darkness of Union Cave, it became blatantly obvious that there was no way we could progress without some sort of light. I couldn't even see a hand in front of my face, and my attempts to walk forward in the blackness resulted in tripping over a rock and firmly faceplanting to the ground. I was glad it was too dark for anyone to see…

After Elliot managed to help me up, Nikki and Jasmine decided to step in and offer a little assistance themselves. With a flash of light, they threw down Pokeballs which opened to reveal the familiar, comforting figures of Sulphur the Quilava and Blaze the Charmeleon. The flames they conjured lit up the dark expanse around us, casting a warm flickering glow against the bleak, rocky surroundings. The light came just in time too, as Bailey almost fell into a deep pool of water that had went by previously unnoticed.

"So, how do we get through this?" I asked, still squinting. The light from Blaze and Sulphur was enough to see a few feet in front of us, but it was still limited and difficult to manoeuvre around in the darkness still left untouched.

"It's really easy," Elliot explained. "We just follow that little river thing there," he indicated the body of water that Bailey had almost fallen in to. "All water has to lead someplace, right?" he said with a grin.

"Makes sense," I nodded approvingly. Now and again, my boyfriend proved he did have a brain in his head after all…

"Come on, let's go then." Elliot instructed with a wave of his hands.

We walked in muffled, yet relatively comfortable silence, following the water's path for a good five minutes. I stayed as far away from the edge as possible. I really didn't want to run the risk of falling in, especially in the murky dark. I stuck close to Blaze and Sulphur who led the pack with Elliot. Noticing my discomfort, Elliot took my hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

"It's quiet in here, isn't it?" Bailey piped up a few moments later.

I was about to open my mouth to reply when cheesily on cue, there was a loud splash. I whipped around to see a small blue Pokemon leap out of the small river, send a jet of water straight into Bailey's face, twist around in midair and splash back into the water. Bemused, and dripping wet, Bailey could say nothing while the rest of us couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all.

"The Wooper are playful today, aren't they?" Elliot said with a smile.

Bailey groaned, mopping at his face with the sleeve of his hoodie.

Union Cave definitely seemed to be a favourite hangout place for the Wooper. Within five more minutes we lost count of the amount of Wooper we saw. They waddled around the cave, leaping in and out of the water and shooting the occasional blast of water at the humans invading their territory.

"There's a lot of different passages here, isn't there?" Nikki noted a few moments later as Blaze and Sulphur's flames highlighted a section of cave and tunnels that we completely bypassed.

"Yeah, this place is like a natural maze." Elliot explained to her. "Lots of Pokemon make their homes in those caverns. I don't wanna disturb them unless we have to,"

"I though we were gonna train?" I asked at once.

"Oh, we are." Elliot said casually. "There are a few little caverns where Pokemon nest in just a little further in, if my memory serves me right."

True to Elliot's words, within only a few more minutes we had come to a giant clearing in the cave with lots of small tunnels leading off into different directions.

"All these caverns should have relatively strong Pokemon inside them" Elliot said officially, indicating the ones he meant. "We could all go into different caves or stay as a group?"

"I don't think all of us going in together is a good idea," I ventured. "We could scare them off if there's too many of us. I vote separate groups."

Elliot nodded. "How many groups, then?"

Before I could answer, Jasmine cut in, making a very valid point. "Well we've only got two Fire Pokemon that can produce light," she gestured towards Sulphur and Blaze, standing nonchalantly nearby. "I think we should split into two groups, with each group having a Fire Pokemon."

"Okay," Elliot said with a swift nod. He thought about it for a moment before eventually speaking again. "So… Jasmine… why don't you go with Bailey and Sienna, and I'll go with Nikki and Scott. Fair?"

I gawped a little at Elliot's choice of groups. Considering how unusually overly affectionate he was being, I was more than a little surprised he hadn't wanted the two of us to be together. Even stranger than that was his decision to pair Jasmine and Bailey together! A deaf andblind person could see that Jasmine wasn't exactly Bailey's biggest fan! I mentally sunk my head into my hands. When it came to common sense, Elliot didn't seem to be endowed with much of it.

A thought occurred to me. It was obvious that Jasmine didn't like Bailey. But to me at least, it was obvious that Bailey thought quite a bit of Jasmine. I looked at Elliot quizzically. Had he somehow come to the same conclusion that I had? I decided to find out.

While Jasmine protested loudly about something or other, and Nikki attempted to pacify her, I took the distraction as a perfect opportunity to grab his arm and pull him off to the side and ask him. "Are you sure it's a good idea to put Bailey and Jasmine together?" I hissed, taking care to keep my voice low. "Jasmine practically hates him."

He looked at me a little confused in the dim light. "I think it's a great idea." He said with an airy shrug. "I mean, don't you think Bailey has a bit of a thing for Jasmine…?"

Even in the face of my theory proving right, I was still a little flummoxed and took a moment to respond. "Well… I… I…think so…"

"Please…" Elliot said with a short laugh. "I know what a man in love looks like,"

I frowned at him, about to chastise him for using the word "love" in regard to Bailey's feelings for Jasmine, especially considering we'd only known him for a week, (and I was pretty sure you couldn't fall in love in that short a time span), but I found myself intrigued by what he said. "You do…?"

"Yeah, of course." He said, a warm smile breaking across his face. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. "I have to look in the mirror every morning, don't I?" he murmured into my ear, his cool breath tickling my neck.

My heart gave an excited twist at his words, and I and reached up and draped my arms around Elliot's neck, nestling my face into his warm, sweet-smelling shoulder. "You're such a charmer," I murmured, savouring the feeling of our close body contact.

"Indeed I am, Miss Volbeda…" He said, holding me closer. His lips started to travel down my neck, kissing me softly.

I started to giggle like a schoolgirl as he kissed me. "What's up with you, lately? You're getting so affectionate…"

"I just forget sometimes how lucky I am," he said, kissing my neck harder.

I giggled as his soft, smooth lips crept across my neck and face. His touch left goosebumps everywhere he went and I felt blissful and content. Sometimes, after a year-and-a-half of a relationship, romance often took a back seat once two people were comfortable with each other and had bypassed the "honeymoon" period at the beginning. But not with Elliot. Sometimes, we acted more than friends than partners, but at times like this, I remembered why I had fallen in love with him. Even better, sometimes it was like falling in love with him all over again.

For those slow, beautiful moments, I had totally forgotten about the original dilemma I had been having, and two other boys and girls standing nearby. It wasn't until Jasmine's voice blasted out like a foghorn that I was alerted back to the present.

"Oi!" she hollered, about as subtlety as a ten-tonne sledgehammer. "Lovebirds! Pack that in! We're supposed to be going through a cave, here!"

At her outburst, Elliot and I sprang apart like we'd just been burned. Blushing furiously, I looked guiltily back at the rest of our training companions. Bailey looked incredibly sheepish, Scott looked mildly disgusted, Nikki looked highly uncomfortable and Jasmine just looked like she was about to blow a fuse at any moment. I chanced a glance at Elliot. He didn't look bothered in the slightest, but that didn't help me from reddening even further at the probing glances Jasmine was now shooting us.

"Now, are you sure you don't want to come with me and Sienna, Elliot?" Jasmine asked, her voice dripping with intent, pointedly shooting Bailey an angry look.

"No, no." Elliot said brightly, deflecting her annoyance straight away. "I trust you and Bailey to look after her,"

I had to bite back a laugh at his easy-going manner. Jasmine looked like she was about to blow up any second now, but let out a haughty outburst of "FINE!" obviously conceding defeat, and stalked to the other side of the cave.

Elliot chuckled in delight at Jasmine, before leaning down to whisper in my ear. "Try and push them in the right direction, okay?"

I winked back at him, and took a deep breath. "I'll do my best… but I can't be held responsible if Jasmine tries to throttle him,"

Elliot laughed delightedly. "Oh I don't know so much… Jasmine's a funny one. She's the kind of girl who does the exact opposite of what she means…"

I blinked. "Meaning…?"

"If she likes someone, she's a bitch to them." He said bluntly.

"Uhh…" I said, flummoxed. "Well, funny thing actually…" I lowered my voice even softer as Jasmine was eyeballing me furiously, even from the other end of the clearing, as if willing me to walk over to her and stop Bailey from approaching her. "I think Jasmine may have thrown that match with Bugsy on purpose… to make Bailey feel better."

"Oh!" Elliot sounded pleasantly surprised. "That's kinda cute,"

"She denied it of course," I said with a sigh. "I just think there might be something the—"

"Sienna!" Jasmine suddenly bellowed. "Are you coming or not!"

"Easy, Jazz!" I called back. "I'll be there in a minute," I said, then turned back to Elliot. "I better get over there," I said apologetically.

"It's okay," he said kneeling down to kiss my nose. "Go ahead. I don't want you to suffer the infamous Wrath of Jasmine,"

I flashed him a grin, before kissing him one last time and crossing over to Jasmine and Bailey. I could practically feel the tension between the two of them. Bailey was shooting Jasmine frequent, nervous glances while Jasmine stood stock-still, arms tightly crossed and a look of thunder on her face.

Agreeing to meet back in half an hour, the two different groups headed into different caves. Acting as a mediator between Bailey and Jasmine was exhausting to say the least. Bailey was overly eager to talk, and Jasmine was almost completely silent.

After some considerable time with completely no luck at finding Pokemon, we eventually, found a cluster of Geodude innocently swarming near the back of a cave. However, startled by the light from Sulphur's fire, they screeched and immediately turned on us. For a moment, my heart dropped sickeningly into the pit of my stomach at the mere sight of the Ground Pokemon, as it always did when I was faced with those types. But no sooner had the Pokemon leapt into action than the noises of two Pokeballs opening reached my ears.

"Honey, take 'em down!"

"Corsola! Go for it!"

I screeched in surprise as blasts of water from Bailey's Corsola suddenly burst from behind me and ploughed into the ranks of Geodude, knocking them back, weakening them sufficiently. Still recoiling in shock, I barely registered Jasmine's new Heracross Honey as it shot past me, its wings fluttering furiously, before demonstrating a powerful Brick Break on a Geodude that turned on it.

In the midst of all this, a stray Geodude broke away from the pack and turned towards me, brandishing rocks. My hand immediately grasped around the first Pokeball I could find and I chucked it forward with all the strength I could summon, praying for a good result.

Monty came bursting from the Pokemon and I couldn't help but swear, out loud and repeatedly. Monty was probably the worst one to fight against a bunch of Geodude. The Geodude was rapidly closing in though, and I wouldn't have time to recall Monty and release another Pokemon without being hit.

My mind raced with a million panicked thoughts, but they crashed into each other, collapsing into mere gibberish. I didn't know what to do! I couldn't have Monty attack; his attacks would be useless against the solid body of a Geodude! I opened my mouth; desperate to put forth an order, but all that came out was a useless croak.

Monty however was smart enough to know what to do even with his trainer being a complete airhead. Leaping effortlessly high above the Geodude's thrown rocks, he landed lithely a good six feet away, completely out of harm's way. As the stray Geodude turned to face his escaped target, Monty let out a vicious, low growl that made the Geodude completely stop in its tracks and to my surprise, even back away a few paces. I was shocked, but I quickly pulled myself together.

"Monty! Power Gem!"

Monty executed the attack perfectly, but the Geodude somehow was still able to sail out of the way and the attack crashed uselessly into the cave wall. I gasped as the attack whooshed past me, barely missing me. Glancing upwards I saw torrents of water crashing into everything in sight, and deep rumblings and the sounds of blasts rang in my ears.

Then I heard a noise like something had crashed through the rock wall.

A horrible screeching roar sounded right in front of me. Whipping my head around, I saw a gigantic, snake-like shadow fall across my vision. Even in the dim light of the cave, there was no mistaking what I was seeing.

"ONIX!" I heard Jasmine bellow.

Within seconds, the whole cave was shaking like it was being wracked by a vicious earthquake. I screeched, falling off balance and onto my knees, only just able to grab onto Monty as the whole place shook so violently that none of us could stay upright. Without warning, a giant snake-like creature that seemed to be made out of massive boulders roared past, crashing through the low-hanging walls. As soon as it made impact with the walls, they splintered and cracked, sending massive chunks of rock slamming into the ground, kicking up dust and debris everywhere, and making a noise that sounded like buildings crashing to the ground. The sounds of screams reached my ears, but I couldn't be sure if they were mine, or someone else's. A few moments later, the Onix rumbled past, and everything descended into calm, and an eerie silence.

My breath was coming in quick, hysterical gasps and my strength had failed me completely. I was trembling, my hands shaking so badly I dug them into Monty's fur to try and conceal them. I hated Onix. I hated them so much. I hated how big they were, how violent they were and how dangerous they were. It hit me hard that we could easily have been killed had we not been so lucky.

When I had finally calmed myself down a little, I jumped all over again when I heard a bellowing voice erupt from somewhere deep within the cave.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"That's Elliot's voice…" I recognised it immediately, before taking a deep breath and shouting back. "WE UPSET AN ONIX!"

My voice echoed blindly down the winding corridors, sounding like it was bouncing and reverberating off every surface it came across.

"YOU WHAT?" This time the voice was of a slightly higher pitch. Unmistakeably Scott's. His voice always rose to a comically high pitch whenever he was embarrassed or annoyed, according to Nikki, that is. "ARE YOU INSANE! THAT'S DANGEROUS!"

No sooner had his voice faded out, I could hear the noises of quick footfalls echoing down the cave, and moments later Elliot, Scott and Nikki had appeared at the mouth of the clearing we were currently in. Nikki and Elliot looked sick with worry, and even Scott looked a little uncharacteristically panicked. As soon as Elliot saw me, he raced up and helped me to my feet, investigating me thoroughly for any signs of injuries. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?" he demanded.

"We're fine, just a little shaken…" I said truthfully. As I said this, I looked across to Bailey and Jasmine. Both were on their feet, but looked horrified and who were changing to varying shades of white and green. Nikki caught me looking over at them, and immediately crossed over to Jasmine's side, slipping her hand in hers and murmuring something to her softly.

"Good, at least you're all safe," Elliot pulled me into an ever tighter hug than I thought he was capable of, caressing my hair. "I was so worried when I heard all that commotion…"

I murmured something incomprehensible, just wanting to cling onto Elliot forever.

Somewhere behind me, Jasmine spoke. "Stupid Onix…!" Her voice, although sharp enough to communicate her anger, was shaky and strained.

I shifted my head around to look at Jasmine. At that moment, Bailey turned on his heel and approached Jasmine. "Jasmine…" he ventured. "Are you all right?"

"I'm just fine, thank you!" she snapped at once.

Bailey was strangely undeterred by her angry retort. "Are you sure? You look pale!" he insisted.

"What are you, my mother?" she hissed, shooting Bailey a glare that would turn him to stone. "I don't need you looking out for me all the time."

"Hey, Jazz, calm down." I interjected immediately. "I know you're in shock, but Bailey's just worried about you, okay?"

Jasmine twitched, before turning her face to look at me instead. "I don't need anyone looking after me, I'm eighteen years old for goodness sake!" she said in a low, angry tone. "I don't need a babysitter, I don't need a mother and I definitely don't need you," she pointed an accusing finger at Bailey, her voice rising in fervency and volume with every word she said. "Fussing over me like a mother hen!"

At the final part of her outburst, her voice reached ear-splitting, deafening levels. Bailey shrunk away, looking wounded as she finished. A muffled, sheepish silence descended on the whole group. I didn't dare look at Jasmine or Bailey or anyone else for that matter. For a few awkward minutes, everything was silent.

Then, a deep rumble sounded somewhere far off in the depths of the cave.

"The hell was that…?" I whispered.

"I… I don't know…" Elliot said softly from beside me.

It came again, this time louder. And then again, even closer. And then once more, sounding like it was only a few metres away. Icy fear gripped my heart. At our feet, some tiny chips of rock began to quiver ominously. I looked up at Elliot just as a vicious roar coursed through the entirety of the tunnels. Then there was another roar, accompanied with the same deep rumblings that had sounded earlier. Rooted to the spot with fear, it didn't even occur to me to run.

Until the ground underneath us started shaking, deep cracks forming in the earth, like we were directly in the middle of an earthquake zone.

Then something blasted through the rocky wall immediately to my right.

I screamed as another giant Onix rumbled straight through the cave, kicking up huge trenches of dirt and earth as it rampaged past.

All I heard was one word. I wasn't even sure who it was that yelled it out.

"RUN!"

We didn't waste any time. Everyone ran, our Pokemon hot on our heels. However, we had only cleared half of the cave when a massive explosion from behind the cave sent us all tumbling to the ground, rocks, dust and gravel raining down on us, pelting our bodies. I could feel the vicious shaking permeate through the ground, shaking me to my core. I whipped my head up to see a seemingly endless stream of Onix rampaging past. There was so many of them they couldn't squeeze through the small opening into the main tunnel, and seconds later they crashed into the rock, forming their own tunnels. I screamed as thick chunks of rock started falling all around us, and then to make matters worse, what little light we had suddenly disappeared, plunging everything around us into inky blackness.

I didn't know where anyone was, so I tried to struggle to my feet, but it was difficult fighting against the shaking terrain. I managed it eventually, and in a blind panic, I just ran. I was completely oblivious as to where Monty was or where any of my friends were. I heard someone scream, heard another rough yell, and then what sounded like the noises of a building crashing down right in front of me. I cried out in fright as chunks of rock rained down on me, and a massive impact shook right in front of me.

I tried to push through explosions of pain that burned through my body and keep running, but I collided straight with something solid. The force of the collision knocked me flat on my back and dizzy and with pain exploding through my head, I immediately blacked out.

Author's Note

Short author's note today guys, since this chapter's been long already!

One more chapter to go before the Battle Tournament arc! I hope you're looking forward to it! :)

Thanks to Aeroga, WarriorSwift, WOWFan123, WildCroconaw, Hikaru-pichu, May and Dawn are the best, TwewyReaperGirl, Brave Soul RMS, Zoeten, Dance Elle Dance/Padfoot Arcanine, purplefan9639 and Shadow Serenity 57 for your reviews, help and kind words :)

Special thanks goes to the brilliant "shipping King" Shadow of Eckhart for creating shipping names for Bailey and Jasmine, and Nikki and Christian.

Bailey and Jasmine - PauperShipping (referring to Jasmine being rich, successful and pretty, and Bailey being... none of those things)

Nikki and Christian: DryIceShipping (referring to the spectacle and graundeur of the contests the two partake in)

Thanks everyone :) Please read and review if you can :)