If looks could kill Akuma would have been wiped from history by the death glare Kurishimi was directing at him. In response he stared back at her with a look that did not convey anger, sympathy, sadness, or even fear.

"Are you alright?" he finally asked her.

Kurishimi said nothing.

"Perhaps that exercise was a little too much for you. Sorry about that."

Akuma's words were again met with silence.

"If you have something to say then say it. I'm not going to wait all night for you to stop wasting my time."

"What in the name of Arceus were you thinking putting me and Ekans through that?" Kurishimi said in a vicious tone. "If I wasn't angry enough to be held back by it I would come over there and choke you to death, I swear."

"That was a special advanced training session for elite trainers designed to help them cope with some of the most difficult moves and abilities of Pokémon. It is also intended to help trainers overcome intense fear in overwhelming situations," Akuma explained. "Fear is one of the most powerful and dangerous emotions humans and Pokémon have. It's a defense mechanism that warns us of danger, but as you noticed it can also be a great hindrance if there is too much of it. Fear may be helpful to us at times, but when exploited by our enemies it can make us play into our opponent's hands. This is not only true for enemies, but also in Pokémon battling. When you felt that fear come over you, you lost all confidence in your abilities to the point where you felt unable to fight back. It was this fear and inability to counter your opponent that caused you to lose the battle and run away.

"Akashi, this test was not only to help you realize the extent of your weakness in fear and train you to cope with battling in the dark. This exercise was the beginning of the final stages in your training. You have become an exceptionally powerful and skilled Pokémon trainer in the short time I have trained you. There is little more I can teach you to the extent of my abilities. You have your shortcomings and flaws as a trainer, but these are to be expected since everyone grows in their abilities in their own way with their own strengths and weaknesses. Tonight I showed you a common weakness that everyone possesses. As to what path you decide to take to overcome this weakness, or even if you do nothing, this is for you to decide on your own. Naturally you have others which I am willing to assist you with. For your reassurance though, I doubt any such exercises will be as… intense as this one was. At this point in your growth you are hindered only by what you allow. Everyone has their own limits in life, but it is up to each person to pass those limits and become more than what they were intended to be. I cannot help to bring you to those limits, but I can help you surpass them. However, it is only by choice that you can become more than what you are. As evidenced tonight there are times when pushing yourself beyond your limits will not be a pleasant experience. To be honest with you it is never easy, but the end result is worth it more often than not.

"To wrap things up I'll tell you a little secret. You, Akashi, are perhaps the most talented and gifted trainer I have ever encountered. You have an incredible skill and ability to bond with Pokémon that I could never have. To my knowledge, no one in the world that I have met matches you in skill and ability. If you push yourself hard enough there is nothing you can't do. It is my desire to see you reach that point in your life where nothing can make you stronger and there is no goal that you can not obtain because you are already the best. You can easily become a much better trainer than I ever could be because I do not have the raw talent you do. I would not be surprised if someday in the future you were to become a world champion master trainer. Your talent is unquestionable and your skill is nearly unrivaled. I am very proud of what you have become in such a short time."

As Akuma had spoken Kurishimi's glare had softened. It was still threatening, but not so much as it had been. When Akuma had finished his speech there was another silence as the two locked eyes with each other. Akuma's face never altered from his trademark glare despite the personal talk they just had. After a long time Kurishimi stood up and walked into her tent to retire for the night without saying a word. Chad nervously got back up onto his seat and tossed another log on the fire.

"So uh… what happened out there anyway?" he asked his mentor.

"I used my Pokémon's abilities to trick Kurishimi's senses into believing something other than the truth. I didn't have the proper Pokémon for the test like those that were used for the one I was exposed to, but I made do with what I had."

"How many Pokémon did you use to trick her?"

"Two."

"Only two Pokémon got that much fear from Kurishimi? What were they?"

Akuma opened Dugtrio's pokéball in front of him. "Dugtrio provided an unfamiliar sound and a seemingly invisible target."

"What about the screaming I heard earlier?"

"That was a special trick that very few Pokémon can pull off. Fortunately I have just the Pokémon for the job. I left it hiding in the dark in case Akashi took revenge by smashing its pokéball." Akuma waved to the dark and a familiar face came out with a mischievous grin.

"Gastly!" Chad exclaimed. "You used a ghost type's special moves to cause fear!"

"Yes, that is correct. Normally Gastly doesn't like to battle and provides assistance as a backup Pokémon, but it helped me out a ton with its unique abilities."

"How long have you had Gastly?"

"Gastly was the first Pokémon I caught when I was a kid. I received it before I got my starter Pokémon even."

"Wow. So I assume it's a fully evolved Pokémon then?"

"Not at all. Gastly is a first stage Pokémon that never evolved."

"You're kidding! You've had Gastly for that long a time and it never evolved?"

"That's correct. As I said, Gastly doesn't like battling. She never accumulated enough battle experience to become a Haunter. It doesn't matter though. Gastly is powerful enough to be a threat to anyone who mistakes her unevolved form to be a sign of weakness."

"How is it that a Pokémon with minimal battling experience can be so strong and not evolve?"

"It's not just the levels of the fighter that determine evolution, Chad. There are many factors which contribute to a Pokémon growing to the point of evolution. How harsh the battle is can instantly trigger evolution in a Pokémon in one go, even if they are very young. Frequently battling with a single Pokémon in an attempt to make it stronger can also spark evolutionary changes too. On occasion a Pokémon can even begin evolution on its own through sheer will, but this is a very rare occurrence. A sense of companionship and the will to overcome obstacles between friends can trigger multiple evolutions at the same time, but this is dependent on the experience of those Pokémon as well. My point is that combat experience alone isn't enough to determine when a Pokémon will evolve. Though I will admit, it certainly helps when it's time for evolution."

Silence once again followed after Gastly went back into her pokéball. Neither of the two added more wood to the fire indicating they planned to go to sleep soon.

"So… what can we expect from Kurishimi tomorrow?" Chad asked.

"Heh, nothing good I bet," Akuma said with a smirk. "I'd say keep your distance from both of us. If she blows up when you're near me you'll be in the line of fire. One thing you should know about females is that they tend to have a rather dangerous revenge streak. We'd better sleep though. We spent a lot of the night being awake."

Akuma used Dugtrio's sand attack to put out the fire before they went to sleep. Chad went into the tent ahead of him, but just before Akuma went in he stopped and looked out into the darkness. He stared hard into the emptiness and listened intently, but there were no sounds. Pulling a pokéball off of his straps, Akuma had Gastly emerge once more.

"Can you keep an eye out on things for me tonight? Something feels wrong out there."

Gastly nodded as Akuma disappeared into the tent. Gastly in turn disappeared as well, and for a time there was nothing but silence.

Early in the morning before any people, Pokémon, or even the sun was up, three familiar figures clad in black approached the campsite. Despite the total darkness of the wilderness the three could see where they were going just fine by the use of night-vision goggles.

"There are two tents I can see out there," one of the two in back whispered up to the person in front. "Which one is the hunter in?"

"Since there are two males and one female I would assume the hunter is in the larger of the tents with the child if they are still traveling together."

"But if they aren't then wouldn't the female take the larger tent for herself?"

"The hunter would probably prefer the larger tent and seeing as how he is the stronger of the two it makes sense he would be in the bigger one anyway."

"I wouldn't count on it Kyle. The girl's got some incredible power too. I even recommended her to the boss while we were in town."

"Can the chatter you two," the third person said. "We're close enough that we risk waking them up."

The trio cautiously crept up to the larger tent where the lead member tried to look in through the barely visible netting on the top used for ventilation. He shook his head as he realized the angle would probably force him to fall over if he leaned forward any more. Instead he came around to the front end and just before he could pull back the tent flaps he heard a voice from inside.

"Curse them… the one in front first… curse him before…."

The voice was male and was the voice of who they were searching for. The leader smiled and nodded to the other two before pulling back the tent flap and gently stepped inside. There was a young boy sleeping next to their target, the hunter, who had probably been talking in his sleep. In the back corner was a young Totodile. Moving as carefully as he could manage, the man knelt down over the larger one's form and looked at the pokéballs strapped across his chest looking for the tell-tale symbol of the Pokémon he wanted. One, two, three, four, five… wait, where the sixth pokéball? Ah yes, it was in the trainer's hand; no doubt a sleeping habit for safety. He had to move around a little more cautiously, but he discovered that the pokéball in hand was not the one he was searching for either. Frustrated and feeling somewhat exhausted, the man sat up away from the other and looked around the tent. Other than the boy sprawled out on top of the blanket he used to be under there wasn't much in the tent except for basic camping supplies and personal items. But wait, the boy had pokéballs on his belt too. Niklos had mentioned that the younger boy was a trainer as well. Perhaps he would have what he was looking for.

Kyle wiped his forehead and took a slow breath before inspecting the younger one's pokéballs. One, two, three, nothing on that side at least, but there were some pokéballs under the boy that he couldn't check very well. He was lucky though because right before he could move to get a better position the boy rolled over with a pained groan. Probably having a nightmare he guessed. Any noise might wake the kid up and nightmares usually had a tendency to wake people up noisily. First though, the pokéball count. Four, five, si- that was it! The pokéball had Bill's marking on it! He couldn't get it off now though. He needed to step outside and take a breath. The air in the tent seemed to be pretty heavy.

"It's a trick, it must be," came the voice again. Kyle jumped and turned back to see the hunter shift in his sleep. "Must be a trick... I'll get…"

Kyle sighed heavily and stepped out to join the other two Rocket members. He was a little dizzy when he emerged. Probably nothing though. He nodded his head at the others before walking a little way out and sat down.

"What's wrong?" Niklos asked him when they were out of an audible range.

"Just feeling a little dizzy. I found one of the targets, but the boy had it instead. Couldn't pull it off until I cleared my head."

"I'll take care of it then. Be right back."

Niklos quickly went back to the camp and slipped inside. As he stepped closer to the boy the other one spoke in his sleep again.

"Happening again… why again?"

Niklos ignored him and began to gently remove the pokéball from the belt of the child. It was difficult and he too soon began to feel the tight space of the tent affect him. He wouldn't leave until he got what he wanted though. Finally the small sphere detached into his hand with a click. He smiled and quickly stood up to leave but got dizzy from the quick movement and fell down to one knee. His head was throbbing and his ears seemed plugged, but he waited for it to pass while breathing slowly. He was wondering how he could feel so badly just from being inside a tent and a large one at that when he was struck from behind and fell unconscious.

Chris was waiting for Kyle to feel better so he could go check on Niklos. It seemed like he was taking too long to retrieve the pokéball. Kyle should have felt better by now but had actually gotten worse. He'd collapsed to the ground and even through the green filter of the night vision Chris could see that his skin had paled considerably. The food from that restaurant must've been especially bad. Finally he got tired of waiting and went to the tent to check on Niklos for himself. But when he peeked in he didn't see Niklos anywhere. Just the two males and a Totodile were inside, though only the younger one was using a blanket. He closed the tent flap and went to the next tent over to see if he was in there instead. Inside there wasn't much except for a single sleeping bag and some bags of food. The girl was probably sleeping here since the two boys were in the other he assumed since he couldn't see the sleeping person. Chris quickly rushed back to Kyle and found him to be a little bit more stable than before.

"Kyle, I can't find Niklos. He wasn't inside either of the tents even though the three trainers seemed to be."

"He'd better not have run off with that pokéball to take credit on his own," Kyle said to the ground.

"No, that's impossible. I kept an eye on the tents while you were down just in case he might do that. I would've seen him trying to escape no matter which way he went."

Kyle looked up at the camping site as well as the surrounding area. "Is it possible they knew we were coming?"

"Not a chance. There weren't any Pokémon around and the area has been largely undisturbed since we got here. There's a battle area to the east where it seems like something happened recently, but nothing abnormally strange about it. All in all things seem to be in order."

"Something feels wrong though. After going inside that tent I got sick and after Niklos went in he disappeared."

"I feel just fine though."

"You weren't in there for a very long time like we were. This was supposed to be a quick in and out mission. I wonder what went wrong."

"Maybe we should go in together then."

"That's out of the question. You'll end up like me and I might get worse. We need a plan."

"I've already got one. What I need to know though is whether the pokéball is still in the tent or if it vanished with Niklos. If I could get in there quickly just to confirm that the pokéball is there I can retrieve it instantly."

"You're sure of this?"

"I am."

"Use your Machop to get it then."

"Why Machop?"

"It has a move called foresight. It should be able to briefly see in the dark with that."

"What about this supposed tent curse?"

"After Machop gets back place it inside the pokéball again. If it isn't poisoned it should be safe there."

"What if it is poisoned?"

"I have pecha berries we can use if need be. Send it in there already."

Chris released his Machop to go into the tent. A moment later it ran back over and somehow told the two that the pokéball was confirmed to be gone. It appeared to be slightly exhausted as well before it went back into the pokéball.

"This is getting weirder by the minute," Kyle said to himself thoughtfully. "Machop wasn't in there for very long. Something very strange is happening here."

"Should we back off until morning then?"

"Not a chance. This is the perfect opportunity to strike and we're getting attacked by something we don't know about, not to mention Niklos's disappearance."

"Do you suppose that Niklos defected?"

"No chance of that. Niklos is very dedicated to Team Rocket. There's something we're missing here, I just need to figure out what."