Four days later Akuma walked into the outskirts of Lavender Town with the Cubone perched on his shoulder during midday. He was still a ways off from the first buildings, but he was already beginning to feel some familiarity. He could smell the unique air and aroma that came with a town as rotten as this, but where Chad and Kurishimi felt frightened and disturbed, Akuma felt at peace. In the outskirts there were what used to be houses that had now fallen in, but instead of junk piles Akuma saw potentially buried treasure. Walking into town there were buildings that seemed as if they would fall over from the slightest gust of wind, but of course Akuma saw differently here too. To him they were envious shelters for those who had none. The only similarity between what he and others saw in the town was the people who lived in it. Just like everyone else in the town, whether they were passing through or called it their home, the people were horribly in need of help. Today most of those he saw seemed to be even more wretched than before. Akuma brushed off the feeling thinking it was attributed to his long absence.

Instead of going directly for Mr. Fuji's house Akuma took a detour toward the other side of town. He didn't speak a word to Cubone as he walked despite his companion's uneasiness in the new territory. He simply kept his eyes straight ahead until he came to a long house that had fallen in on one side. Akuma kicked away some of the debris that had gathered near the front door then took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The conditions within the house were beyond terrible. Any part of the house that wasn't on the verge of collapse was either rotten or showed signs of growing mold. Various disgusting substances riddled the floor aside from a clean jagged path leading to one room which Akuma approached. The door opened surprisingly well for being so worn down and even more surprising was the interior of the room which seemed particularly well kept considering the condition of the entrance. The air was breathable in here since the mold was absent. Some of the collapsing wood had even been replaced in important spots. The only decorations in it were a bed, a chest in the corner, and various medals and personal trophies on a shelf.

Akuma sat down on the bed heavily causing the frame to moan as he did so. He rubbed his face with both hands after removing the Cubone from his shoulder, then fell back onto the bed with a smile as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Be it ever so crumbled, there is no place like home," he said to the empty room.

Akuma lay on the bed for a few minutes, then pulled himself up reluctantly and approached the decorated shelf. He touched each object on the shelf, naming some from a few places.

"Pokémon league symbol of recognition… battle frontier guts symbol… speed capture race award… endurance ribbon… Sinnoh league approval certificate …" His face dropped as he came to the last two decorations on display. He picked them up, rubbing off the thick layer of dust as he did so. One was a purple heart-shaped jewel and the other was a metallic symbol of fire. "Soul badge and volcano badge," he finished. "I never thought I'd be taking these with me again." He pinned the two symbols inside his vest before turning to look at the last object in the room, the large wooden chest in the corner. He walked over to it and stared hard as if trying to intimidate the inanimate object. His face twisted into a hurt frown while he clenched his teeth. He pointed a finger at it and spoke to it commandingly. "I'm still not going to open you until I bring him in for arrest. That chapter of my life is closed just like you are and you will stay closed until I decide to open you again. You will never hold any influence in my life again just like he never will. And nobody will do it again either! You stupid piece of…" Akuma kicked the box so hard he hurt his foot and had to sit down on the bed again. He took a few deep breaths before looking at the box again. He bit his finger as he glared at it, then picked up Cubone and walked out of the house quickly. "I need to stop doing that," he said to himself as he made his way toward the house of Mr. Fuji.

Over the course of those four days since Chad and Kurishimi had arrived at the stronghold of the Pokémon Hunters they didn't waste time enjoying the VIP treatment offered to them. Kurishimi was attempting the higher training levels for Pokémon battling while Chad spent his time reading through the various libraries and strategies available to non-members. Each of them had tried to battle the computer in scenarios Akuma had programmed, but their chosen opponents slaughtered them instantly. They wisely decided to move on after that.

Kurishimi had many opportunities to learn from other hunters as well as Fuji himself when they stopped to watch her practice matches. Most notably both trainers had discovered there were hunters who could teach their Pokémon new attacks that weren't among the standard line of available TMs and HMs. It was tough for their Pokémon to learn new skills and half the time the attacks didn't succeed, but they and their Pokémon were determined to take advantage of the opportunity to the fullest. She could tell her battle technique and strategies were improving from the addition of these special moves, as did her Pokémon, but because Chad spent most of his time doing research she couldn't guess at how well he was progressing. Sometimes Chad would run down the halls to the battlegrounds, but she was always too busy to observe. She did ask him a few times what he'd been doing, but Chad only replied that he'd been trying to come up with a battle style perfect for him. He was also frequently making trips to the Pokémon exchange computers so his story was not completely unreasonable. It seemed Chad had some hidden potential that the abundance of knowledge was providing to him. At least that was what Kurishimi assumed was going on. She made a mental note to have another practice battle with him sometime soon. It was hard enough having one of her teammates keeping secrets from her. Another would make her the black sheep of the group.

While relaxing in her room she heard hurried footsteps outside her door. Giving in to her curiosity she left the room and came downstairs to find Akuma at the front door conversing with Mr. Fuji. The footsteps from earlier were those of the other hunters coming to see their living legend. Kurishimi figured he'd rather speak to Fuji than to her about his trip so she melted into the background. After she had gotten clear from the herd she went downstairs to see what Chad was doing. Unsurprisingly she found him in the library once more. This time he was taking notes on different Pokémon type combinations.

"What are you working on?" she asked while taking a seat.

"One of the programs I just fought had Pokémon with dual type combinations that were unique to their species. I'm trying to find the best way to fight them. There's a Pokémon in the simulator called Sneasel which is a dark and ice type Pokémon. I thought that I could use a simulated fighting type Pokémon to beat it, but it didn't work."

"What happened? I would think that even an uncommon fighting type could beat it easily."

"That's what I thought too, but when I tried fighting with a Machoke the Sneasel moved too fast for me to get a hit in. Since Machoke was too slow I tried a Primeape since it's a very fight fighter, but I still had trouble. I won since we were better matched that time, but I think we could have done much better. Some of my other fights went the same way so I'm trying to find out what weaknesses those Pokémon have as well as what their strengths are so I can plan better for next time."

"Find anything interesting yet?"

"A whole lotta nada. I only started looking five minutes ago anyway. What have you been up to by the way?"

"Just training with my lesser used Pokémon today. Since most of them haven't been getting battle exercise lately I've been taking advantage of the training facilities here as long as we're in town."

"Which ones were you working with today?"

"Miltank, Grimer, and Magnemite so far. I'm hoping to get some time for Chansey and Vaporeon too, but I don't know if we'll have time for that."

"Did something come up?"

"Could be. Akuma's talking with Mr. Fuji at the front door right now. I left them alone for the time being."

Chad looked up from the books at the mention of Akuma's name. "I was wondering when he'd finally get here. When do you suppose he'll come looking for us?"

"I don't have a clue. If we're lucky he'll come by quickly so we know there's no problem. We know he didn't want to come here so I would think he'd be just as anxious to leave. If we stay in town for a while he'll be up to something new and one of the three of us will be in the hospital again based on our recent run of luck, and considering both of you have had your turn I think I'm due for a visit next."

"But Akuma did tell us he had business here didn't he? I expect we'll be in town for at least a day while he takes care of stuff and works on his training sessions with Magmortar. What do you think the chances are he'll find out what Mr. Fuji told us?"

"Pretty good I think. Mr. Fuji's probably letting him know most of what he told us by now. Assuming we do leave town today where would you want to go? Do you have plans to travel with Akuma for training or would you start making stops at different gyms to earn your badges now?"

"To be honest I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. I've been thinking I might stay here to learn as much as I can, but of course I can only learn so much from a computer. I was also thinking about going to a different region to train like Akuma did a long time ago too, but that won't work for two reasons. First, Akuma will probably stay in this region until he captures the Team Rocket leader, and second, Akuma made those journeys on his own."

"I guess that's true, but he didn't even want to come here. I don't know how long he really intends to stay after all it seems."

"On a different topic, I've heard you've been spending a lot of time in the simulators, Kurishimi. Have you managed to find a weak point in some of the programs that Akuma created yet?"

Kurishimi laughed. "No Chad, not at all. I tried a different simulation yesterday, but got the same result. It would be easier if the computer would talk to me like human trainers do so I could figure out how each one is programmed to work. Still, it would be a little ridiculous to talk to a computer…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered something.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Oh, uh, yeah I'm fine. I just had a new idea. I'm gonna go back to the simulators for a while. I'll see you later, Chad."

"How has the training been recently?" Akuma asked Mr. Fuji while the two of them walked down the hall toward Magmortar's cell.

"Your Metagross has been making excellent progress. I believe the recent evolutionary boost it received raised its power more than the two of you were expecting so it only seemed as if you two lost control of its power. Metagross will be able to rejoin your group after one more day of testing if we put other Pokémon development on hold."

"Stick with the basic plans. It doesn't need any special treatment. And what of Magmortar's training?"

"No progress at all. I believe it is intentionally fighting with increased aggression, though I can't understand why at the moment. I called you over since I thought you would be able to figure out Big Red's problems faster than we could."

"Have you tried shock therapy?"

"We wanted to save the more extreme conditioning procedures as a final resort."

"Let me in then, and close the door behind me. Make sure to lock it tight too."

"What if Magmortar attacks? It has been increasingly violent as well."

"If he wants to fight me I'll make him submit however I can. I'm also going to undo his chains, so be aware of that if he gets out of hand."

"For the record I highly discourage that plan."

"Noted; now open the door." Akuma pulled a poké ball from his straps and hid it in his hand before walking in.

Magmortar was already looking up when Akuma walked through the door, but gave no sign of recognition or acknowledgement. When the door shut Akuma walked closer to Magmortar until they were eye to eye. The two glared at each other for a few seconds before Akuma began removing the chains from Magmortar's arms followed by those around the legs.

"From what I hear, you've been a real problem around here lately," Akuma told his Pokémon as the last of the chains fell off. "We both know that won't accomplish anything, so why do you bother?"

Magmortar answered with silence.

"Thirteen Pokémon and hunters wounded, two in critical condition, one person nearly died, and what did that all get you? From what I can tell you haven't earned anything more than a less comfortable room with zero mobility and even that was taken by choice. I know that you know how to break out of here, but you haven't. So with all the chances you've had to earn your freedom why are you choosing to be treated like a fugitive? You're better than that. You're the toughest Pokémon I have on my team other than Shiner, and even that's not guaranteed. Just what are you accomplishing by rejecting the conditioning training?"

Magmortar huffed in annoyance, but still didn't move.

"You missed a lot by being in here I'll have you know. Here's a little taste of what I've been up to over the past month: Sabrina, one of the most powerful gym leaders in the Kanto region, lost to me and submitted the marsh badge." Magmortar perked up as Akuma continued. "Lt. Surge, whose Electabuzz you've had a rivalry with, was also defeated less than a week ago as well. He also has relinquished his gym badge to me. While on a capture mission I encountered a Pokémon which I later came to learn was the legendary Pokémon Raikou. My team of six was wiped out and I was in the hospital for critical wounds. That could have been your chance to be evenly matched against a powerful opponent despite the heavy rain that followed it. Whatever your reasons for staying here, I doubt you want to anymore. Now either you start cooperating in your training here, or I'm never going to take you back. Not even for Shinji."

Akuma turned his back to his Pokémon and walked toward the door, but a fireball expectedly crashed into the wall next to the door, scattering flames across the ground so Akuma couldn't leave. He looked back to see Magmortar's arm cannon pointed at him with smoke trailing out of it where the claws once were. Magmortar wore a look of challenge upon its face.

Akuma turned so he was facing Magmortar directly as he held his poké ball in a battle stance. "Do you seriously think that your evolutionary form is enough to beat my Pokémon? Even as a Magmar I could fight you with my own fists and win."

Magmortar growled a threat as it braced for another lava plume attack, but Akuma quickly threw his poké ball before the attack could be released. Charizard quickly emerged, grabbing Magmortar's arm and pushed it to face the other wall before the attack could be fired. Not willing to stop the attacks Magmortar raised its other arm to punch Charizard in the chest. When the blow connected, electricity was released which doubled the damage Charizard received. Despite the brutal and efficient attacks the two Pokémon were giving there was no pause from either of them as the fight turned into a close range firefight. Charizard blasted Magmortar in the face with a flamethrower while Magmortar fired a barrage of embers from its cannon. Charizard raised Magmortar over its head and tossed it behind with a seismic toss, but Magmortar was prepared and shot a lava plume into Charizard's back before hitting the ground. Charizard quickly spun around, hitting Magmortar with its tail and delivered two slash attacks from each talon before Magmortar had recovered enough to use another thunderpunch. From its free arm Magmortar released a smokescreen around itself so Charizard couldn't aim properly, but Charizard used its wings to clear the smoke right before Magmortar fired a hyper beam at point blank range into Charizard's neck. The blast threw Charizard hard into the wall, but Magmortar had to rest before it could strike again. When Charizard got up it flew toward Magmortar, firing a concentrated flamethrower the whole way. At close range Magmortar slammed each fist into the side of Charizard's head which caused Charizard to drop unconscious. Akuma realized it was a frustration attack which had variable power based on how much the Pokémon disliked its trainer. He had taught it to Magmortar before it evolved since they weren't very close and based on the damage Charizard had taken it seemed to be even more powerful than he remembered.

But Akuma would have to consider the attack later as Magmortar turned toward him, readying another lava plume. There was no time for Akuma to think about which poké ball he grabbed since the attack was about to fire. He dodged from the blast as he grabbed one of the spheres, and then threw it behind Magmortar as fast as he could manage. Magmortar turned to see Gastly use a confuse ray on it just before the room began to spin. With Magmortar's attacks now randomized as well as the accuracy, Akuma was in equal amounts of danger as the Pokémon he fought with. Big Red fired a flamethrower in a sweeping arc across the room that Gastly barely avoided. Gastly retaliated with a lick across Magmortar's back, but suffered a burn from Magmortar's flame body ability. Magmortar turned around and got a lucky hit on Gastly with a thunderpunch, but before Gastly was knocked out it put a curse on Magmortar that quickly began to drain its energy.

Now that he had a moment to choose his Pokémon Akuma took advantage of Magmortar's confused state to send out his inexperienced Cleffa. "Cleffa, use a metronome, quickly!" Cleffa wiggled its fingers back and forth as Magmortar fired a lava plume blast at the door which caused it to begin melting away. Cleffa's metronome fired a massive blast of water at Magmortar, knocking it down. Due to Cleffa's exhaustion Akuma assumed it was a hydro cannon attack that the metronome produced. Since Magmortar's confusion was sure to wear off soon, Akuma substituted Cleffa for Infernape.

Infernape immediately took charge when it saw Magmortar's fury. It closed the distance and grabbed Magmortar; leaping into the air and throwing it to the ground with a seismic toss nearly as powerful as Charizard had used. Infernape then landed with a mega kick just below Magmortar's neck and finished the combination with a mach punch to Magmortar's forehead. Despite all the severe damage Magmortar had continued to receive it still refused to faint and had even recovered from the confusion due to Infernape's final punch. Without Infernape noticing, Magmortar raised its arm cannon and shot a fire blast into Infernape's face. The explosion of flames was so large that Akuma couldn't avoid the fires and had to throw off his vest to put out the flames he'd picked up. Seeing that Akuma had been nearly hurt by the flames, Infernape's attacks became more vicious. It began clawing rapidly at Magmortar with its fury swipes attack until Magmortar threw it off. Infernape caught itself before hitting the ground by landing on its hand and pushing itself back toward Big Red. Infernape landed another mach punch before beginning its close combat attacks. Magmortar was driven back a few paces, but Akuma could see that Infernape wouldn't last much longer. In desperation Akuma told Infernape to fire a flamethrower of extreme heat at the side wall equal to the power shown to Brianna. Infernape did its best to avoid Magmortar's offense while it prepared for the attack. Though it got hit a number of times Infernape was able to charge enough power for a massive flamethrower that turned the wall red for a brief moment, which then became a blinding white as the heat grew even more intense.

When Magmortar fired a hyper beam Akuma recalled Infernape before the blast struck and released Totodile. While Magmortar took time to recharge energy Akuma instructed Totodile to use a water gun on the flaming wall. Totodile spit globs of water at the wall which caused the wall to hiss and spit steam. Soon the wall began to show cracks in the structure as the temperature quickly changed, much like how Kurishimi had destroyed Omastar's shell in the Cerulean gym. Before the wall could finish cooling Magmortar had recovered and was rushing toward Totodile intending to deliver a thunderpunch which was a guaranteed finish for the young one. Expecting Magmortar's movements, Akuma recovered Totodile then ran over and punched Magmortar to the ground. Instead of stopping, Akuma leapt over Magmortar's back to the breaking wall and called through the cracks while he kept an eye on Magmortar.

"I need your help over here. Break yourself free and smash this wall down as soon as you can!"

He then dove to the side as another lava plume hit one of the smaller cracks where he had been standing. Akuma dodged some flying embers from Magmortar's sweeping tail as he closed the distance until he could kick Magmortar in the side. Magmortar grabbed his leg intending to hold him down, but Akuma pulled back until his shoe came off, leaving Magmortar's fire punch hitting only the air. He stood against the wall, balancing just in time to grab his shoe when Magmortar threw it at him. He couldn't put his foot on the metal floor without the skin on his foot burning off due to the constant flames being thrown around the room from earlier, but he didn't have to worry about time. The cracked wall suddenly exploded inside, pelting Magmortar with sharp metal splinters as Metagross broke into the room.

Hmm, yeah, the chapter got kind of long so I decided to cut it off here. Not exactly wanting to do it, but it seems to be pretty long at this point.