A/N: Ok I know it's been a REALLY long time since I last updated this story and I'm sorry. Schoolwork has kept me so busy, plus I had some writer's block. I hop this chapter will be worth the wait for you all. With summer finally here, I should hopefully be able to get back to my once a month update for this story.

Kirito and his friends rested at the end of the mountain range before Ambrette Town. They were over a cliff that stood not very far from the town, just enough to be out of sight.

Looking over towards Misaki, Kirito could see the depression still clear in her eyes. He couldn't blame her, considering that it had only been a little less than a day since Ren's death. Asuna had been doing her best to comfort her, while Silica and Liz tried to keep Clair's spirits up. Needless to say, neither of the groups had succeeded in cheering either Clair or Misaki up.

Asuna sat next to Misaki and saw the girl staring at a pokeball in her hand. It was hard to tell, but Asuna was able to make out the figure of a Dusknoir inside the ball. "Is there something special about that Dusknoir, Misaki? You've been staring at it for the past few minutes."

Misaki stayed silent for a few moments, but finally decided to speak. "There's been too much death in this game." She wiped the tears from her eyes, but new ones soon replaced them. "Back in Sinnoh, a girl named Dahlia saved my life. This Dusknoir used to belong to her. She gave it to me as her dying wish."

"Misaki…" Asuna gasped. "I'm so sorry."

The tears began to roll down Misaki's face once again. "Why did this have to happen? It's not fair. Ren shouldn't have had to die."

Asuna leaned in and hugged Misaki. "I know it's hard. I'm sorry I can't make the pain go away. But I promise you, Laughing Coffin WILL pay for what they did."

That was a promise all of them had decided to keep. Laughing Coffin had caused endless amounts of suffering even back in Unova. Asuna remembered what it was like in that region, always having to stay on guard. It was probably one of the most dangerous regions back in the first part of PWO.

A few more minutes of waiting passed by before Sinon flew down to the group on her Unfeazant. "I scouted the town. It seems pretty barren down there. Most players seem to be indoors."

"Laughing Coffin's probably already here." Kirito guessed as he got to his feet. "Alright everyone, we're going in. We should be safe once we're in town since it's a safe zone, but don't let your guard down."

The group all nodded as they got up. They walked down the mountainside towards the town, trying to stay as hidden as possible.

Kira leaned against the chair he was sitting in next to the building at the furthest end of Ambrette Town. He had heard from the players here that this town had been under the control of the player he had killed when he first arrived. Some guy name… what was it again? Bambooza? Balooza? Oh what was the point in remembering. He was dead now, that's all that mattered.

Surprisingly, Ren was nowhere to be found in Ambrette Town. After some… persuasive arguments… the Laughing Coffin trio had gotten all the information they could out of the players here. Apparently some powerful trainer had showed up earlier that same day and went towards the mountain range to the east. Some difficult quest or something, Kira hadn't bothered to pay attention. All he knew was that once Ren was back in town, he wouldn't be sticking around for long.

"Oh Kira." Izumi said as she walked over to him with a smirk on her face. "I just heard the most interesting little tidbit from those players we stationed on lookout duty. Apparently we'll be having company soon."

"So Ren's finally back, is he?" Kira grinned. "It's about time."

"Actually it's not him." she explained. "But it's the next best thing. The Unova champion and his friends."

Hearing the mention of Kirito brought an even bigger grin to Kira's face. He put his feet on the railing on the building like he was in some western movie. "The Unova champion and the Sinnoh champion coming to die on the same day. Lady Luck seems to be taken with me."

"Should we deal with them before they reach the town?"

"No, let them come." Kira said. "Our new friend should be able to deal with the annoying safe zone rule."

"Should Ju and I have the red carpet prepared for them?" Izumi asked with a vicious smirk.

"Please do."

Kirito and his friends slowly walked into town. As they walked in, they couldn't help but notice the sense of danger in the air. Nobody seemed to be around and the ones that were outside were staring at them.

"I'm scared Mama. Everyone's looking at us funny." Yui said, hanging onto Asuna's hand tightly.

Asuna gave Yui a reassuring smile. "Just stay close to me Yui. I'm right here."

As the group walked further into town, they noticed people shifting around slightly. It wasn't until they were far enough into town that they saw their path behind them was blocked off by several players.

"What's the plan, Kirito?" Sinon asked. "Whatever's going on, it doesn't look like we're getting out of this without a fight."

"Don't make any sudden moves yet." Kirito said. "I have a feeling we'll find out what's happening soon."

His guess was proven right as two players walked into view at the upcoming four way intersection. Clair gasped as she recognized her. "That's her. The Laughing Coffin woman that Yui and I fought."

"And there's they guy Misaki and I fought." Asuna said with a stern glare. "Looks like all these players are working with Laughing Coffin."

Izumi smirked as Kirito and the others walked forward. "Well look at what we have here. Back for a rematch already?"

Asuna looked at Izumi, feeling she had met her somewhere before. But where? Did they fight at some point in PWO? When she realized the answer, she gasped. "No way… Is that you… Megumi?"

Izumi smirked at Asuna. "Wow. Little miss rich girl remembers me. But my name's Izumi now. Laughing Coffin's ice-type specialist at your service."

"Why are you here?" Asuna asked. "Why are you in Laughing Coffin?"

"Why? Because I can." Izumi told her. "There's no type of law here against killing. I can be as ruthless as I want. But you wouldn't understand that would you miss Asuna Yuki?"

"Mama? What's she talking about?" Yui asked.

Izumi stared at Yui with a malicious grin on her face. "Oh isn't this cute. Did you start a family in this game Asuna? Is she your precious little daughter? How nice. How sweet. How utterly disgusting."

"Why are you doing this Megumi?!" Asuna asked. "You're not a murderer!"

"Shut up! What would you know about me?!" Izumi yelled. "You know, when I first heard about someone in this game named Asuna I thought 'what a coincidence'. And when I found out it was actually you? Well needless to say I was surprised to say the least."

"You know this girl, Asuna?" Liz asked.

"Oh sure, Asuna and I go WAY back. Back to when we were kids. Then as schoolgirls. And then came high school."

Asuna had a feeling of where Izumi was going with this. "Megumi…"

"Asuna's so smart! Asuna's so pretty! Asuna gets every single damn thing she wants!" Izumi glared venomously at Asuna. "And what about me? I get treated like I'm worthless the second I mess up once!"

"Megumi, I-"

"Save it! I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth!" Izumi told her. "Even in this world, you've got everything you want!" She glared at Yui. "You know, I'm actually happy to hear about your daughter. I owe her for last time anyway. Now I can get revenge and watch you suffer all at the same time."

Asuna tightened her grip on Yui as she glared at her former friend. "Over my dead body."

"That's fine by me." Izumi said, grabbing a pokeball from her belt. "I've always wondered what the legendary Lightning flash Asuna was like in battle."

"You can't kill us here." Asuna reminded her. "The town's a safe zone. You can only hurt me if I agree to a battle."

"Not anymore." Izumi grinned. "Our new business partner has seen to that. This entire town's safety net is disabled."

"What?!"

The two groups stared each other down, each of them waiting for the first move to be made. Suddenly, a pokeball was thrown out and Misaki's Empoleon emerged. The black haired girl stepped forward with a fierce glare in her eyes.

"You're going to pay for what you did to Ren." Misaki spoke with a venomous tone that none of them had ever heard from her before. "Ren's dead because of you. And once you two are dead, your leader's next."

Izumi and Ju looked at each other, realizing that they didn't know the Sinnoh champion was still alive. Izumi decided to use this to her advantage as she looked back towards Misaki. "Was he your friend? It must have hurt to hear him scream as he died."

Misaki clenched her fists tightly. "Say that again. I dare you."

"Oh, was he something more to you? A lover perhaps?" the glare from Misaki told Izumi she was right. "Oh then his death must have REALLY hurt you. Tell me, what was it like knowing that he was dead and that you didn't have the power to save him."

With that last comment, something broke inside Misaki. "Kill her Empoleon! Make her scream in agony!"

Empoleon had never heard its trainer speak like that, but it followed her orders nonetheless. It understood how Misaki felt about Ren. Getting her the revenge she wanted was Empoleon's job. The water and steel type charged forward towards the two Laughing Coffin members.

Izumi smirked at seeing Misaki so angry. She tossed a pokeball into the air. "Vaniluxe, use mist."

Vaniluxe emerged from the pokeball and sprayed out a thick mist, covering the area around them. The mist spread to Misaki and the others, reducing visibility to a minimum. This was Izumi's favorite technique. Confuse the enemy with a thick mist, then slowly tear their life away bit by bit.

"You're going a bit overboard, don't you think?" Ju asked from Izumi's side. He couldn't see her, but he had learned to sense the female player's bloodlust by now. "I won't be able to fight properly in this mist either."

"Oh don't be such a baby." Izumi told him. "Fighting in the dark is no big deal for you. How different is this?"

Ju rolled his eyes as he grabbed a pokeball. "Fine then. I guess I'll just have to deal with your little handicap." Suddenly he saw a Samurrott appear in front on him. He jumped out of the way just as it fired a hydro pump attack. "What?!"

"You shouldn't talk so much." Kirito said from inside the mist. "It makes it easy to tell where you are."

Ju knew that fighting the Unova champion in this mist would be a challenge, even for him. That meant that a change of scenery would be an order. "Alright then, Unova champion. Follow me if you want to know where Kira is."

Kirito ran towards where he heard Ju's voice, ignoring the calls from his friends to wait. He found his Samurott and the two of them ran out of the mist and after Ju.

"Tch, and after he told me off before about making sure they don't separate us." Izumi said to herself. Empoleon appeared through the mist and swung its fin down at her with a metal claw attack, but it was easily blocked by her Beartic that she had sent out at the last moment. "Is that the best you've got?"

"I'll kill you!" Misaki yelled.

Izumi smirked to herself. "Didn't you hear your friend? Talking gives away your location." She snapped her fingers. "Alright boys! Let 'em have it!"

Suddenly Asuna and the others heard the players behind them throw out pokemon. She couldn't them perfectly but the words poison sting entered her ears and that was enough for her to know that they were in trouble. "Move!"

The group all jumped to the side as a flurry of violet needles flew past them. This was bad. With Izumi's thick mist, it was impossible to tell where attacks would come from. And the players behind them were outside the mist, free to attack as much as they like while the threat of Izumi stood in the opposite direction.

"Leave these asshats to me, Aunsa!" Liz said as she threw out a pokeball. "Gigalith, let's go! Use earthquake!"

The large rock type crashed onto the ground and raised its foot. Smashing it onto the ground, the entire ground before it shook and cracked apart. She could hear a few pokemon shattering and a large amount of players running away. But the attacks still came.

"I'll help too!" Silica said. "Emolga, use discharge!"

The electric type pokemon flew off Silica's shoulder and toward the group of players. It let out a wide blast of electricity. The combo attack from her and Liz had more or less gotten rid of the threat behind them.

"How's that, jerks?!" Liz yelled as she heard the sounds of players running away. "Not so tough now, are you?!"

Izumi let out an annoyed sigh. Sure the girls had dealt with the disadvantage of the mist by using a wide range attack, but that was enough to make them run away? What a bunch of cowards. She'd have some fun hunting them down later, but right now she had a battle to deal with.

'Asuna, I'm going to enjoy watching you die.' Izumi thought to herself.

Kirito chased after Ju as fast as his legs would carry him. He had to reach him before he got to Kira. Fighting Kira one on one would be hard enough. If he had back-up, Kirito wouldn't stand a chance on his own.

'That's right. Keep following me, Unova champion.' Ju told himself as he kept running. 'Just a few more feet and… NOW!'

Kirito saw several beams of energy come at him from several directions. He quickly got down, barely avoiding the onslaught. He wasn't out of the woods yet though, as a Liepard sped towards him.

"Samurott, use razor shell!" Kirito commanded. Samurott did as it was told and ran towards Liepard. It quickly turned into a battle between Liepard's claws and Samurott's shell-blade. Then Kirito saw his escape route cut off as a wall of flames emerged behind him, caused by Chandalure.

"You know, the boss seems to have taken quite the liking to you." Ju said. "But can you handle two pokemon at once? Cause I don't plan on giving you time to send out another."

"Samurott, use hydro pump!"

Samurott fired the hydro pump attack, but it was easily dodged by Liepard. Chandalure then attacked from behind with a shadowball attack, followed up by Liepard swiping at Samurott with its claws.

"That's good. Keep it up." Ju said. "Looks like you're not as good as you're cracked up to be, Unova champion."

"That's enough, Ju."

The sudden voice made Ju turn around as he saw Kira walking forward. "B-Boss?! It's alright, I can take him."

Kira raised his brow. "Is that so? Take a better look."

Ju turned back to Kirito and gasped when he saw Liepard being pushed back while Chandalure had its health in the red. 'Impossible. All in the spam of a few seconds?!'

"You never stood a chance against someone at his level Ju." Kira said as he walked past his subordinate. "Besides, I wish to take Kirito's life personally."

"Wow, all this for me? I'm flattered." Kirito said sarcastically. "So what, did you become the sheriff of this town?"

"Something like that." Kira said. "Let's just say the players here value their lives."

"And just how did you manage to disable the town's safe zone settings?"

"That's a secret for now." Kira told him. "It doesn't matter anyway since you're going to die."

Kirito and Kira stared each other down. Once one of them made a move, it would be a fight to the death. Suddenly, the entire area around them became engulfed in a vicious sandstorm. Kirito and Kira were barely able to make each other out.

"What the hell?! What's happening?!" Kira exclaimed. Suddenly he saw a trainer standing on top of one of the buildings. A pokemon with piercing red eyes was flying at his side. "Who are you?!"

"Leave him to me, boss!" Ju said. "Liepard, use dark pulse!"

The dark type fired a dark-violet beam at the mystery trainer, but the pokemon at his side countered with a dragonbreath attack. The two attacks collided, but the dragonbreath was clearly more powerful. It blasted away Ju's Liepard into the side of a building, knocking its HP into a deadly shade of red.

Kira looked at the mystery trainer. He was wearing a hood so it was impossible to see his face but whoever it was seemed to be focusing his attention on him. As much as Kira wanted the chance to battle Kirito, a two against one fight would not end well for him.

"We're retreating. Let's go Ju."

"R-Right, boss!"

"Stop!" Kirito yelled, but it was too late. Kira and Ju started fleeing and tracking them in this sandstorm would be dangerous. He looked up towards the mystery trainer. "Who are you?!"

The trainer stayed silent and ignored him. He got on the pokemon at him side and flew towards where Asuna and the others were fighting. Kirito returned Samurott to its pokeball and quickly gave chase.

Misaki panted as she stood across from Izumi. With the female Laughing Coffin member's subordinates gone, she was left to fend for herself against Asuna and her friends. Being so badly outnumbered, her chances of victory were slim. But Vaniluxe's mist gave Izumi the edge she was looking for.

"Empoleon, use hydro cannon!" Misaki ordered.

"Beartic, rock smash!" Izumi yelled.

Beartic stood its ground as Empoleon threw the dense ball of water. The ice type swung its fist forward with the rock smash attack. It struggled to push back the attack, forcing it to explode in front of it. The shockwave caused by the explosion thinned the mist for a brief moment, but it was soon replaced by more mist due to Vanilluxe.

"Finish it Beartic!" Izumi commanded. "Use focus punch!"

Beartic charge towards Empoleon with its fist veiled in light. By the time Empoleon saw Beartic, it was too late. The attack sent Empoleon flying back, knocking its health into the red.

"Empoleon!" Misaki cried out.

"Stop this Megumi!" Asuna begged. "You don't have to do this!"

"You're right. I don't have to." Izumi said with a smirk. "I'm doing this because I WANT to!"

Asuna clenched her fists and steeled her resolve. There was no way getting out of this other than a fight. "Mienshao, you ready?"

"Shao" her pokemon nodded.

Izumi smirked at the chance to finally battle Asuna one on one. "Vanilluxe, you can stop now. Your mist won't be necessary for this fight."

Vanilluxe obeyed its trainer and stopped spewing out its mist. Izumi returned it to its pokeball and did the same with Beartic. She reached for a new pokeball from her belt. "Let's do this little miss perfect. Just you and me, one pokemon each."

"Fine by me." Asuna replied.

A sinister smile was stretched across Izumi's face. "Good then. I'll show you the pokemon I've been saving just for you. Frosslass, freeze her to the bone!"

Izumi threw out her pokeball and Frosslass emerged. The ice and ghost type's presence chilled the air. IT was easy to see just how strong it was.

But then the cold suddenly died down.

Out of nowhere, a sandstorm swept across the battlefield. Everyone shielded their eyes to avoid sand getting caught in them.

"What's going on?! Who's doing this?!" Izumi yelled out.

In the distance, everyone could slowly make out a trainer walking towards them. The sand and the hood he was wearing shielded his face. A pokemon with piercing red eyes was at his side.

Izumi glared at the newcomer. "I'll teach you to interfere with my battles. Froslass, use blizzard!"

With a wave of its arm, Froslass summoned a powerful blizzard that swept the sand around it away. The sandstorm being caused by the mystery trainer's pokemon wasn't going down so easily however. It quickly turned into a fierce battle between the gusts of the sandstorm and the blizzard. Everything around them was being blown away.

"What the hell is this power?!" Sinon gasped as she struggled to hold her footing. "They're both so strong!"

"Who is this guy?!" Silica asked, holding onto Emolga tightly.

Misaki stared at the mystery trainer, trying to make out as much of him as she could through the blizzard and sandstorm. He pointed towards Izumi and Froslass.

"Dragon rush."

The pokemon at his side obeyed and flew towards Froslass. Izumi countered by having her pokemon use ice beam, but the pokemon easily dodged the attack and flew straight up. It came crashing down towards the ice type while veiled in an aura resembling a dragon. A huge shockwave occurred as it slammed into the Froslass. With the blizzard blown away, everyone was able to make out the pokemon as Flygon.

"Impossible…" Izumi gasped. She reluctantly returned her pokemon to its pokeball as she glared at the mystery trainer. "I'll get you for this someday." She then turned her gaze to Asuna. "And don't think I'm through with you yet either. We'll settle this another time."

Everyone watched as Izumi threw out her Vanilluxe. It created a quick mist attack that Izumi used as cover to escape. When the mist cleared, everyone looked towards Flygon as it flew back to its trainer.

"Excuse me. Who are you exactly?" Asuna asked.

The trainer made no response. Instead he walked away from the group, creating a sandstorm as cover. The group stood there, wondering who he was. Misaki didn't stay still however and instead ran after the trainer. "Stop!"

"Wait Misaki! Where are you going?!" Asuna called out.

Misaki ignored the calls from her friends. She put all the energy she could into running after the trainer. 'That voice… It couldn't be…'

It was only for a brief moment, but when the trainer spoke it sounded similar to HIS voice. The voice of the person she thought she had lost.

"Ren!" Misaki yelled. "Answer me! Ren!"

The trainer ignored Misaki. He held up his arm and was whisked away by Flygon. It carried him away, flying towards the mountains away from Ambrette Town. Misaki fell to her knees, tears falling down her eyes. "Ren… Was that you?"

"Misaki!" Asuna called out, running over to her with the others. "Misaki, are you alright? What happened?"

"I… I think… I saw Ren." Misaki said.

"What?!"

"That trainer! I could have sworn his voice was Ren's!"

Everyone seemed doubtful of what Misaki was saying. Asuna kneeled down at her side. "Misaki… I know it's hard to accept, but Ren's gone. Think about it. If that was him, why would he run from you?"

"I don't know, but-"

"Misaki, that couldn't have been Ren. His clothes were different, as was his pokemon." Asuna frowned at Misaki. "If there was any possible way we could bring Ren back, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But death in this world… is permanent."

Misaki stared down at the ground. 'Asuna's right. I'm being delusional here. Thinking that was Ren. I must miss him more than I thought.' Tears fell from her eyes and splashed on the rocky ground. 'I miss him. I miss him so much.'

The Laughing Coffin trio leaned against the side of a cliff as they recovered from their battle. Ju and Izumi were both exhausted, as were their pokemon. Kira was the only one who was still in good condition, considering he hadn't had the chance to battle.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Ju asked. "He came out of nowhere."

"It doesn't matter." Kira said. "We'll run into him again. I can tell. For now, let's get back to tracking down the Sinnoh champion."

"And if we run into the Unova champion and his friends again?"

"We kill them of course." Kira answered simply.

"Music to my ears." Izumi grinned.

"Good. Now let's get moving." Kira told them. Suddenly, Kira heard rocks fall from the cliffside into the ocean beneath them. He turned his head just in time to see the hooded trainer from before standing before him. His Flygon has its claws inches from Kira's neck. Kira smirked as his own Bisharp already had its blade-like arm pointed at the trainer's back.

"Boss!" Ju exclaimed.

Kira signaled for Ju to stand down. Even facing death in the eye, he kept his composure. "Why don't you take off that hood and show us who you really are?"

The trainer made no arguments as he grabbed his hood and removed it from his head. Ju and Izumi gasped at who it was.

"The Sinnoh champion?!" Ju exclaimed.

"I knew it." Kira said with a smirk. "Seems you've improved since last time. You're no longer some rank amateur that's clinging to the traditional form of battling."

"I'm here to give you a warning, Kira." Ren said coldly. "Stay away from my friends. Your fight's with me."

"Oh I beg to differ. I've had a grudge against that Kirito for quite a long time. And it seems that attacking your friends was just the thing to get you out of hiding."

"I'm warning you." Ren repeated. "Leave. Them. Alone."

Kira grinned at Ren. "You don't make the rules here, Ren. As long as you hide in the shadows, I'll attack your friends to bring you out of hiding."

"Then let's stop with the game of hide and seek." Ren said. "I challenge you to a battle. Ten days from now in Shalour City. Just you and me in a one on one fight to the death."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then we both die here and now."

"Interesting." Kira grinned. "Fine, I accept. Just make sure you don't chicken out."

"I won't. You can count on it." Ren said with a cold glare as he jumped off the side of the cliff. Flygon flew after him, catching Ren and flying off into the distance.

A/N: Phew, finally done. I know this chapter left a few unanswered questions. Don't worry, the next chapter will be mostly used to answer them all. And you won't have to worry about anticipation over the fight between Ren and Kira. It won't be next chapter but the fight will come soon enough.