"What do you mean he's going to die?" I exclaimed. "And what's arctic poisoning?"

"A very rare disease," Eriff said. "Poison and ice aren't seen together often. But, should an open wound be caused by both, you get an infection. The infection will eventually spread to his blood and freeze it, killing him. He needs help now, help that I can't give him."

"Well who can?" Lilly asked. "Could Gani do it?"

"No. Not alone at least. To cure it, you need a pokemon with the magma armor ability and a pokemon that knows heal pulse. While she does know heal pulse, we need to find a pokemon that has the magma armor ability."

"Then I'm going to look," I said.

"Take KY with you," Lilly said. "Kykis, teleport to Gani but have her walk here." He nodded, and in a flash, he was gone.

KY and I quickly left the restaurant. "This way!" He quickly flew down the street to the right. "The Volc's are this way. They are a gang full of fire types. If anyone will have the magma armor ability, they'll be there."

We moved as fast as we could, but it still took us a while to get there. I was completely out of breath. This area had steam rising from the cracks in the ground. "Where is everyone?"

Sticky silk struck us from behind and pinned us to the ground. String shot. Fire types flooded from the buildings, surrounding us. A blaziken walked forward. "Now what do we have here? Some trespassers?"

"We need help!" I yelled. "We need to find someone with the magma armor ability!"

"Now why would you need something like that?" He said. "I can't think of a reason."

"Arctic poisoning has struck one of our members," KY explained.

"Now that's something you don't hear every day." The blaziken thought for a moment. "You said one of your members had it. What gang are you in?"

"The Unnaturals," I said.

"Oh, you're in that new gang that's been messing with the Shadow Eaters! I've heard of you guys." He thought for a moment longer. "Well, if you are telling the truth, then you're friend needs help immediately." He nodded at the lampent which was next to him, and it blew some fire onto the string shot and we were freed.

"Are you sure about this, Kan?" A houndoom asked him.

"Yes. We aren't heartless. Besides, it's not like these two are going to attack me. Karu, I'm taking you with me." A magcargo nodded. The blaziken, Kan, turned to us. "Lead the way."

We started to make our way back to the base. It was slow going, since Karu couldn't move very fast. Every step felt like it was taking far too long. We had to move fast. If only Kykis could show up and teleport us there.

After too long of a walk, we made it to the restaurant. Gani was already there with Kykis. "Now how on earth are you young ones late? If I can get from my home in the forest to here before you, then you are slower than a drugged slowpoke!"

"We're sorry, ma'am," Kan said. "Now, where is this fellow?"

The panel from the ceiling lowered, and we all got on. We went to the infirmary, where everyone was still waiting. Auroc was an ugly shade of blue, and the wound had frozen pieces of skin around it. He looked like he was in a lot of pain.

"Oh dear," Gani said. "This is more serious than I thought. You, Magcargo, get up onto his chest." Karu nodded, and climbed onto Auroc. Gani closed her eyes, and pink waves started pulsing through Auroc. We left so she could concentrate.

"I can't believe you were telling the truth," Kan said. "Sorry we didn't get here faster."

"Aren't you the second in command of the Volc's?" Lilly asked.

"That's right. The name's Kan."

"Lilly. Why did you come and help us? I'm not comfortable with you at our base."

He smiled. "Wouldn't you?" He walked over to the panel. "Don't worry. Revealing where a base is to another gang is strictly forbidden, and we won't break that rule. Unless you give us a reason to attack, you'll be fine. Send Karu back when he's done." The panel lowered, and he was gone.

We waited for Gani to be finished. When she came out, she looked absolutely exhausted. "There. The poison is gone, so he'll live, but he must get warmer. His temperature was becoming critical when we started. The magcargo isn't allowed to leave him until he's back to normal. I'm in no condition to go home right now, so I'm going to rest." She headed off towards the rooms.

Lilly sighed with relief. "So much danger in such a short amount of time, and we finally seem to have a break. Now that he's going to be okay, we finally have ten members, so we can start preparing for the tournament."

"Speaking of which," I said, "what happened to Fort?"

We all looked at each other, not sure where the Breloom had gone. Then, to answer our question, he walked out of the camera room, yawning. "Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. Did you need me for something?"

"What were you doing in the camera room?" KY asked, indignant that he missed the chance to go in there.

"I was just admiring the security. It's very advanced." He looked at all of us. "So you still only have nine members? I guess I could join."

"Actually, we have ten now," Ore said. "The last member is in the infirmary."

He blinked. "So you don't need me then?"

"No, but we still want you," Mark said.

He looked us over, seeming conflicted by something. "I would join, but I was the second in command to Hana. I would have to ask her first."

"We understand," I said. "You know where to find us if you want to. Make sure you don't tell anyone else, though."

He nodded, and also took the panel down. Eriff voiced the question we were all thinking. "So what now?"

Lilly smiled. "I think it's time we used the training room."

She led us through the doorway with a sword over it. Inside was another control panel and a standard sized battle arena. She stood in front of us. "We haven't used this room yet. KY made some modifications to it, but no one has actually done battle on this field. I will be one of the two going first."

"I'll go," Elric said, grinning. "We haven't fought in a long time."

"Hey, no fair!" Eriff said. "I learned a grass type move so I could beat her! I want to try it out!"

"Neither of you will battle me."

We turned to Lilly. Her expression was interesting. Curious, but dead serious. "We are all unnatural battlers, correct?" We nodded. "Now think of all the members we have. Elric, Eriff, KY, Kykis, Mark, Ore, Absolum, Auroc, and myself have all been in battle where another member of the gang has been present."

"Yeah, so?" Ore asked.

"Think about it. Each of us has some odd battling skill, and we've all seen it. None of you newer members have seen KY's secret weapon, since his tri attack usually does the trick, but we have, and while you've not seen him use it in battle, you have seen Kykis's special trick. There is only one member who no one has seen fight yet."

All eyes snapped to me. "That's right," KY said. "Other than her Psyche Scream, no one has seen her in combat."

I looked down. "I never felt like I was a very good battler. That's what my trainer told me, at least."

"Well I want to assess your skills for myself," Lilly said. "I will be your opponent."

I was pretty scared by this. There was no way I could beat Lilly. But I couldn't refuse. "Fine."

We walked onto opposite sides of the field. "You go first," Lilly said.

I was about to attack, but hesitated. I knew one move that was really good, but I couldn't bring myself to attack her with it. "I can't, I might hurt you."

"Hydra, whatever you can dish out, I can take. This is to assess your skills. You can't go easy."

"Okay." I stood in my stance of attack, which was my left paws slightly ahead of my right, and my front paws closer together. "Go, toxic!"

A wave of purple energy radiated out from me. My trainer said my toxic was unique. It wasn't any stronger than any other toxic, but instead of it being released as a liquid or gas, it was radiated as a wave of energy. It was much harder to dodge.

But Lilly did.

Her body melted into water, and she fell to the floor, the wave just barely missing her. This was acid armor. The liquid moved in a flash, and she reformed, jumping into the air. "You can do better than that!" She swung her tail around, and I jumped out of the way, immediately sending a shadow ball at her, which she batted away.

"Keep going!" Lilly commanded, leaping a good thirty feet in the air. I landed as well, creating a shield of trump cards. Lilly struck them and was thrown aside.

She got back up. "Not bad, but I won't lose." She split into multiple copies of herself. Double team. But then something really weird happened. She had split into five copies of herself, but then she split into twenty-five copies. She must have used double team again, causing all her copies to split as well.

I crouched down, stars swirling around my body. Swift. Before I could do anything, a torrent of water came crashing down on me. Almost all of it was fake, but the real one hit me really hard, sending me flying back.

Without missing a beat, Lilly was in the air, and came spinning down, her tail having turned into metal. Iron tail. I tried to move out of the way, but she nailed me head on. I was done.

Lilly smiled. "I'm quite surprised. While you do have the tendency to hesitate when attacking, you aren't bad. And that was an amazing toxic." I noticed something odd. She was shaking. My toxic had hit her.

"No joke," Eriff said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Elric was smiling as well. "After a bit of practice, we'll be unstoppable. But there is a matter we must discuss."

"Ah, yes, partnering," Lilly said. "That will be loads of fun to do, but we can't fully finish until Auroc is well again. See, everyone here must be able to work with every member perfectly, should any circumstance arise. That means that you must be able to read your team mate and combine your attacks fluently to assure victory. Those of us who were originally in the group already have this down, which means we will need to partner up with those who don't have this skill. I suggest the most random combinations to start." She thought for a moment. "I want Ore with Kykis, Absolum with Eriff, Hydra with KY, and Auroc, when he gets better, with Mark. Elric and I will serve as the control group."

I looked at my partner. I wasn't sure how compatible any of these groups are, but there was a certain air about this, something that just made it feel right. Lilly could arrange us any way she wanted, but we would all work perfectly together. I felt bad for the other gangs. We were going to kick there butts.