Author's Note: What's up, guys? Before I finished this chapter, I noticed this story got another favorite, so kudos to that person who recently did that (you know who you are, darling). Like I said previously, I did my own take on the Plasma encounter in Nimbasa for the second game, and expanded it a little more to make it interesting. Plus, since people apparently still dig Ingo and Emmet, you guys might like this chapter if you do (the other chapter with them has the second-most views, good God...)! Enjoy!

Sometime later, Haley and I were on the third round of the Multi-Train challenge. Despite brutal battles and near-losses that occurred beforehand, we both made it to our 20th consecutive fight. At the moment, we were face-to-face with Artist Pablo and Baker Vanilla, along with their respective Sigilyph and male Frillish respectively. Not only that, but the four of us were down to our last Pokémon.

"Tidus, go!" I shouted, tossing my Servine's Poké Ball.

"Kuina, come out!" Haley exclaimed, summoning his Tranquil.

While Haley dealt with the pesky Sigilyph, I told Tidus to go after Frillish. Frillish attacked first with Night Shade, which made his eyes glow an eerie maroon color as mysterious white waves pierced through Tidus' body. Tidus sustained quite a bit of damage from the move's power, but he still stood bravely.

"Tidus, Leaf Tornado!" I commanded.

Tidus summoned a bounty of leaves and cast them around the blue Frillish in a sudden swirl. The small tornado got faster and faster at Tidus' command until each leaf severed Frillish's body and left it critically wounded. When it could fight no longer, Vanilla recalled her fainted friend and sat down.

"Kuina, Air Cutter!" Haley proclaimed.

"Sigilyph, counter with Psybeam!" Pablo commanded.

Kuina's move never stood a chance against the Psychic-type move. The multi-colored beam shot right through the sharp wind gusts and struck Kuina down. She hadn't fainted, but she still struggled to get up.

"C'mon, girl! You can pull through this! Don't let this weird… floating totem pole thing bring you down! Use Roost to heal that wound right up!"

Taking a deep breath, Kuina flapped her wings gently before stretching them out. Then, she took the time to preen for a little while until her Roost was complete and her injuries were almost non-existent. When she stood up straight again, she attacked with another Air Cutter attack, this one succeeding in hitting Sigilyph.

"Haley, I've got an idea," I whispered to him. "When I tell Tidus to attack, you tell Kuina to use Air Cutter again."

"Uhh, alright! I trust ya no matter what!" Haley agreed.

"Tidus, Leaf Tornado!"

"Kuina, give it one more Air Cutter!"

The combined turbulence of Kuina's move and Tidus' made for a deadly attack. Not only did Sigilyph get slashed by the sharp leaves, but the aid of the sharper air blades also took it down. Pablo recalled his fainted Pokémon, shook both mine and Haley's hands while thanking us for a great battle, and sat down next to his wife.

"Better luck next time, Pabbie," Vanilla told her husband.

"Oh, it's okay, honey-buns!" Pablo insisted, "At least we got to battle together!"

As Haley and I finished healing our Pokémon teams, Pablo and Vanilla were snuggled up together and kissing on the train bench. The scene was a rather cute one, but when I looked at Haley, he stared at my lips for a few seconds before jerking his head away with florid cheeks.

"Haley," I said, raising my eyebrows while smiling coyly.

"Wh-What?" he chuckled, twiddling with his fingers as the blush failed to leave his face. "C'mon, let's move onto our next battle."

Just as we'd been told previously, waiting in the following train car were the opponents expected at the 21st consecutive battle. Standing firmly side-by-side were none other than the Subway Bosses, Ingo and Emmet. And just as expected, Emmet looked at me with a warm gaze, florid yet somewhat nervous face, and a wave, while Ingo shot me another flinty, yet civil glare.

"Hallo, Hynden!" Emmet chirped, "Bruder and I have been waiting for you!"

"Well, Emmet has," Ingo corrected, rolling his pale gray eyes. Then, he looked at Haley with surprise and confusion. "Wait. Young man, it is very nice to meet you, but where did you come from? Where's Nate?"

"Let's just say 'Nate the not-so Great' decided to bail on me," I answered in Haley's stead. "I apparently wasn't worth his time…"

"What? That doesn't sound like Nate at all!" Emmet insisted.

"Exactly. How do we know you're not making things up, bengel?" Ingo demanded to know from me, ganging up in my face again.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger Pidove," I spat back, returning the glare I was receiving. "My friend Haley here just told me what happened. Now, are we gonna battle or not?"

"Gladly. We'll see who the better team is in this round. Emmet, are you ready?"

"Yep! Regardless of the outcome, I have a special proposal for Miss Hynden," Emmet said.

"A proposal?" I wondered with a smile, "What kinda proposal? Is it a special battle?"

"Yeah, what is the proposal?" Haley asked with noticeable venom in his voice at Emmet's enthusiasm. "What do you have to ask Hynden, Mr. Ingo?"

"Nein nein! I am Emmet!" the white-clad Subway Boss insisted with a pout, "My wonderful big brother here is Ingo, but I am Emmet! Anyways, I can't say it right now. It's not a good time…" he added, fiddling with his index fingers as his cheeks turned an unsure shade of rosy alongside his perpetual smile again. "But I will tell you, it's a verrrrry important question!"

"We'll see if that question ever gets across," Haley hissed, positioning himself beside me at the side of the train opposite from the twins.

"Are both teams ready?" I asked.

"That we are," Ingo answered, his hazy-eyed frown not leaving his face. He then stood beside Emmet as they became synchronized in a pointing pose along with their speech. "Follow the rules and aim for victory! All aboard!"

Ingo's Pokémon of choice was his Garbodor, while Emmet's was his Galvantula. To battle and hopefully defeat them, I used Rubella to take on Garbodor, and Haley sent out Kuina against Galvantula.

"Rubella, use Wing Attack!" I shouted.

"Garbodor, counter with Psychic!" Ingo commanded.

As Rubella tried charging at the Poison-type with powered-up wings, her body came to a screeching halt when Garbodor conjured a wave of mysterious energy at my Zubat. The force sent Rubella flying across the train car and into the back.

"How the…" I breathed, "how does a Garbodor know Psychic?!"

"You shouldn't judge what a Pokémon can learn based on their type," Ingo told me, a smirk of confidence teasing his lips.

"As much as I'd hate to admit it, he's right," I growled mentally. "I'd better think fast!"

"Hynden, wanna take a switch?" Haley asked as the injured Galvantula injured Kuina with a critical Wild Charge thanks to the Scope Lens increasing its focus.

"I'd thought you'd never ask!" I agreed, calling Rubella back as she devoured her held Oran Berry.

"Take a rest, Spinnella," Emmet said to his weary Galvantula as it was recalled. "Durant, full speed ahead!"

I was about to give Rubella the next command when I saw Emmet's next Pokémon come to light. Not only was I horrified at the Steel-type Pokémon, but I looked at Rubella as possible, yet terrible outcomes came flashing in my head. Extremely fearful, I tried calming my nerves by breathing slowly as I recalled Rubella in a heartbeat.

"It's okay, Hynden, it's okay, Hynden…" I panted to myself, grabbing ahold of my sweating head. "Rubella won't get hurt, everything will be fine…"

"Are you alright, Hynden?" Emmet asked with concern.

"Y-Yeah, never better!" I assured him, still trying to catch my breath. "Tidus, let's-"

Before I could finish my sentence and call out my trusty Servine, I saw Kuina take critical damage from Garbodor's Venoshock attack. Ingo's next Pokémon was even worse than Emmet's when he decided to give his Poison-type a break. The moment I saw his Klinklang come out and use a harsh Gear Grind to take Kuina down, panic rushed through my body like the speeding train we were on. It was bad enough Klinklang resembled Magneton and was a pure Steel-type, but the memories of the one N had and everything involving my last moments with Lulu exacerbated things greatly.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it…!" I gasped, my heart rate and nerves increasing as my vision started to flash between scarlet and normal.

"Ingo, time-out!" Emmet cried, rushing over to me once all instances of the battle ceased and his Durant had been recalled. "Hynden, what's wrong?"

"I'll be fine, I'll be fine…" I repeated as Haley walked over near me too.

"Shh, it's alright," Haley said soothingly, ignoring the lights restlessly flickering from my panic, "Everything's gonna be just fine. Klinklang's gone now, okay?"

Neither Haley nor Emmet would leave my anxious side as I started bringing my hyperventilation down to normal breathing. The lights stopped flickering once I began to calm down more, and my vision was scarlet-free once again. Still breathing and repeating a soothing mantra quietly, I let Emmet help me up and I regained my balance once more.

"Mädchen, what seemed to be the issue?" Ingo asked me.

"It's over now," I wheezed. "Just a little nerve scare is all. I'm not the easiest person around most Steel-types."

"Let's just say something awful happened when Hynden and I were kids," Haley stated.

"In that case, we'll have to continue the battle a different way," Ingo sighed, recalling his Klinklang. "Good think Garbodor didn't take too much damage beforehand."

"Are you going to be alright, Hynden?" Emmet and Haley asked me at different times.

"H-Here's to hoping. But don't worry!" I assured them, "I-I'm a tough girl! Let's just get this battle going-"

Suddenly, the Multi-Train car came to a screeching halt, sending everyone abruptly forward. While Ingo and Haley were picking themselves off the ground, I realized Emmet was directly on top of me, and his face was making direct contact with my chest.

"E-Emmet?" I squeaked, my cheeks turning a light rose color.

"Mrmmph? Ah!" he gasped, lifting his head up until he was merely pinned over me with a deeply florid face. "Es tut mir leid, Hynden! I didn't mean to do that!"

"It's fine… blame the train stopping so suddenly…"

Haley immediately stormed over, and with a dark look in his eyes, he ripped Emmet away from me and got me back on my feet before hugging me in a clingy manner. When I got him to let go, I looked at Ingo, who was giving me a stern glare as Emmet went back to his side.

"Ingo, why has the train stopped?" Emmet wondered.

"Yeah, Deutschbag, what's wrong?" I asked him.

Before Ingo could answer or possibly retort my insulting sobriquet, we all heard noises coming from the previous train car. Both Subway Bosses walked closer to see what was going on, but I insisted they stop when I peeked inside first.

"What's going on-" Haley was about to ask until he looked at the other train car and became fierce. "Them! Hynden, let's get going! I ain't letting 'em get away this time!"

"Right! Ingo, Emmet, Haley and I got this covered," I told them. "You guys wait here."

"And just who do you think you are giving us orders?" Ingo demanded to know, furrowing his pale eyes at me.

"Don't you guys need to stay here and troubleshoot what's going on with the train?" I asked. "Trust me, this won't take long. Either take my suggestion, or don't."

"Bruder, we need to protect the Battle Subway," Emmet pointed out, his expression now serious and straight-faced. "If we don't act, then whoever's behind this might make things worse."

"That's right," Ingo agreed. "Emmet, let's go. Which means you have to take care of your own task… Hayden, right?"

"It's Hynden!" I snapped, hearing the apathy in Ingo's voice when he took the incorrect guess.

"Nuance," Ingo said as he and Emmet hastily walked in the other direction to the smaller train car ahead.

Haley opened the train car door, and in we went. The sight before us wasn't a pleasant one. There was indeed a female Plasma Grunt, clad in her black neo-mercenary outfit glory. However, the Grunt was in the process of tying and bounding the couple we'd faced before the Subway Bosses.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pastello!" we cried, attempting to rescue them until a Scraggy struck us both with Headbutt, sending us to the floor.

"Now now, no attacking my hostages," the female Grunt chuckled maliciously, looking down at Haley and I with a glare.

"Let 'em go!" I demanded.

"And why should I?" the Grunt wondered, "This couple won't cooperate and fork over their Pokémon, so I'm gonna make them the hard way!"

While I picked myself off the ground, the female Grunt searched Mr. and Mrs. Pastello through their rope for the four Poké Balls they had on hand. They struggled and struggled, but the Grunt forcefully held them still despite their muffled cries of pain. I was about to act, but Haley beat me to the punch by unsheathing his dagger and slashing it across the Grunt's hand.

"AUGH!" she screamed, gripping her tattered and bleeding forehand. "Insolent little brat! I'll show you!"

The Grunt unsheathed her own dagger and attempted to attack Haley. Thinking fast, I removed Storm's Blade from my scabbard and swung it at the Grunt, knocking the dagger far across the train car. To prevent her from doing anything else, I pinned her to the walls with my katana blade at her neck. Despite this, the Grunt showed no signs of fear, and instead shot another glare at me.

"You're not really gonna use that, are you?" she taunted.

"Don't tempt me," I shot back.

"Oooh, tough girl. Listen, instead of cutting me open like a piñata, why don't we settle this like civilized women? A little Pokémon battle?"

"Bring it."

Before I released the Grunt from my sharp hold, I saw Haley slash the ropes, freeing Mr. and Mrs. Pastello from their prison. He told them to take their Pokémon and run as far away as they could, and they did just that by heading through the previous train cars.

"Well, there go my hostages…" the Grunt groaned when the katana blade was away from her neck. "No matter, I'll just finish you off here! Scraggy, attack!"

"Haley, take Rubella to the computer!" I told him, throwing Rubella's Great Ball at Haley, who caught it and took it over to the healing machine in the corner. "Tidus, you're up!"

"Scraggy, Headbutt!" the Grunt commanded.

"Tidus, use Vine Whip!" I shouted while I slid my katana back into its scabbard and re-attached it to my side.

Tidus grabbed Scraggy by the neck the moment it charged towards him. With one critical fling, the yellow Pokémon was sent crashing into the door to the fifth car. Scraggy wasn't ready to go down without a proper fight, and attacked with Feint Attack.

"Tidus, Leaf Tornado!" I told him.

As he did before, Tidus summoned several leaves and sent them towards Scraggy in a miniature tornado. One by one, the leaves scratched Scraggy's body until it grew worn out and fell from exhaustion. The female Grunt rolled her eyes and recalled her Pokémon with disappointment.

"I'll teach you," she sneered, throwing her next Poké Ball, "Golbat, Venoshock!"

My Servine had no time to act. The split second Golbat emerged from its Ball, it shot a powerful blast of poisonous gunk at Tidus, causing him to faint almost instantly from the intense toxicity.

"Tidus!" I gasped, recalling my fainted starter Pokémon. "Ah, what am I gonna do?! I left the others back at the station!"

"Oh? Are you out of Pokémon, little runt?" the Grunt taunted. "In that case, I win. Now, if you don't surrender your Servine, I'll have to use drastic measures."

"Hynden, catch!" Haley shouted, throwing Rubella's Great Ball over to me.

"Thanks a bunch, Hales!" I said, summoning my Zubat from her Ball. "What took you so long to heal our Pokémon?"

"Look, the computer was experiencing technical difficulties, so I had to tamper with it to get it rebooted again. Not to mention, the RAM got jacked up, and it took some time for me to get that working again-"

"Okay, okay! Rubella, use Confuse Ray on Golbat!"

Rubella opened her mouth, and out came a bright ball that swarmed Golbat's head until it was utterly disoriented. Rubella took the opportunity to attack with Bite, inflicting moderate damage on the languishing Golbat.

"Golbat, attack!" the Grunt commanded.

No matter how hard Golbat tried to focus on Rubella, it wound up flying into the wall beside the healing computer and knocking itself out. The Grunt recalled her unconscious Pokémon with as much disdain as when her Scraggy lost. All of a sudden, Rubella cringed as her body started glowing and pulsing while a purple ooze surrounded it. Her form grew in size with her mouth and wings, her feet shrank, and a pair of eyes opened up from above the mouth. After the transformation, Rubella had evolved into a Golbat.

"So, this is what it's like to see the whole picture!" Rubella beamed, "It's much easier than having to rely on my senses to see everything!"

"Hmph, you may have won," the Grunt sneered, "but this was only the first phase of Operation Nimbasa! And judging by the word I received from my associates, everything's going great! Ta-ta, you little bastards!"

The female Grunt smashed the train car window open with a rusty metal pipe and started climbing through it. Haley ran over to try and stop her from getting away, but the Grunt was too fast and jumped straight out of the dormant train, running off into the darkness of the Multi-Line tunnel.

"Ah, shit!" Haley cursed, stomping his foot. "I let another one get away!"

"Don't worry," I told him, walking over to the healing computer and reviving Tidus, "she said there's others here. When we track them down, you can give them a piece of your mind."

Suddenly, my Xtransceiver sounded off. I looked at my wrist and saw the identities of the two callers. On the one hand, I didn't mind receiving a call from Emmet, but on the other, I felt disdain and aggravation when the other turned out to be Ingo.

"How's it going?" I asked after answering the call, staring at the twins' near-identical faces on the screen.

"Well, we just got ambushed by two Grunts calling themselves 'Team Plasma'," Ingo answered. "Of course, we took action and took them down."

"They never stood a chance!" Emmet added. "To think they'd try and do all of this to carry out some stupid plot…"

"But anyone who screws with the Battle Subway screws with us! Thankfully, all of the passengers aboard have been safely evacuated, so no one got hurt."

"Does that mean Team Plasma's totally gone from here?" Haley questioned.

"Not likely, Haley," Emmet answered with noticeable seriousness in his tone and expression. "According to the two dolts we just faced, they've got reinforcements around. Hynden, Haley, we need both of your helps!"

"You got it, Emmet!" I agreed, "We'll search for the remaining Grunts, and-"

Suddenly, the train started moving again at a higher speed, and the call was cut off just as instantly. I tried coming in contact with the Subway Bosses again, but it was an utter no-go. Then, another strange sound was heard from outside. I rushed to the door window and saw the female Plasma Grunt, clinging to the car Haley and I were in and shutting off her blow torch with a maniacal grin. When the train cars started moving away from each other, she jumped off into the darkness. Before the train cars' run of separation picked up speed, I caught a glimpse of the panicked and shocked faces of the Subway Bosses until the seventh car disappeared.

"Haley, we gotta go!" I told him, tugging him by the wrist until realizing he wouldn't budge. "Haley, didn't you hear me?! Ingo and Emmet are in trouble!"

"There's no time to save them, Hynden!" Haley argued, "We gotta get off of this train ourselves! Besides, I'm sure they'll live!"

"Really? You expect them to survive a possible train collision? If we don't act, they might die!"

"Hynden, just leave them," Haley insisted with a somewhat shady smile. "If you do, then the two of us will definitely be safe from harm. Don't you want that?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But what? Hynden, all I want is for us to survive and hunt down those Plasma bastards! Even if we're the only ones that live-"

"Tidus, grab him!" I exclaimed, summoning the Servine in question as he wrapped his vines around Haley's body.

"Hynden, what the hell?!" Haley snapped.

"Trust me, I've got this," I assured him. "Tidus, hold onto me tight with those vines of yours. I'm about to do something nuts!"

Once Tidus' vines were secure around me and Haley, I flung the door open to the sight of the train rushing backwards through the tunnel. I commanded Tidus to extend his vines as far as he could until he grabbed onto something.

"Anything?" I asked.

"Hmm… yeah," Tidus answered. "Ah! But, it's moving!"

"Great, that's the rest of the train! Hold on, boys, this is gonna be a bumpy ride!"

Before Tidus or Haley could object, I leaped off the train and forward the three of us went across the tunnel. We were all screaming with terror at the high speed as the abandoned Multi-Train half rushed through the back tunnels. Tidus' Vine Whip harness pulled us all the way across until the Multi-Train was in sight. Luckily, Ingo opened up the door, but the collision the three of us made with the other side of the train car was harsh.

"Urgh… warn me next time you're gonna do that," Haley groaned, disoriented.

"If I did, you wouldn't have budged," I retorted, recalling the disoriented Tidus to his Poké Ball. "Any way to stop the train?"

"Just about!" Emmet said from the smaller control panel, "A few more clicks, and…!"

"Hang onto something!" Ingo shouted to us as Emmet found the access to a red button on a screen. "This is gonna get rough!"

When Emmet slammed his palm on the red hand-shaped screen button, the remaining portion of the train lurched forward as its full-speed stopping process commenced. As it sped through the tunnel in an attempt to stop itself, everyone aboard grabbed ahold of the closest thing and let out adrenaline-fueled screams of terror. Eventually, the train came to an ardent halt as everyone was flung forward.

"Ouch…" I groaned until I realized I'd fallen on top of Ingo. "Gah!"

"Do you mind?" Ingo asked rudely as he moved away from me.

"Not at all," I spat back with attitude. "At least the train stopped."

"Let's go find those Plasma bastards!" Haley growled. "They won't get away from me this time!"

Just then, a loud static sounded off from Ingo's ear microphone. He pressed a small button on it, and began speaking to the blatantly distressed person on the other line. No one else could make out what the person was saying, but the black-clad Subway Boss' facial expressions and responses didn't imply anything good.

"What?! The Single and Double Lines?!" Ingo gasped, "Okay, we're on it! Emmet, we gotta go!"

"Ingo, what's wrong?" Emmet asked with worry.

"Team Plasma's got a hold of the Single and Double Trains! If we don't act now, then we might suffer another accident…"

"Hynden, you and Haley go find the goons responsible! Bruder and I will help you find the main control room to search for Plasma Grunts, but the rest is up to you guys!"

"Got it!" I confirmed with Haley.

The four of us exited what remained of the Multi-Train and made our way to a sturdy tunnel platform. In the wall was a door blockaded by a high-tech security system. Near a small handprint-scanner, Ingo removed his right glove and placed his palm on the scanner until the lock light turned green and opened the door.

"Now that the door's unlocked, just find the main control room," Ingo said. "You can't miss it; you both have to keep going down until you find the next left and the properly labelled door. Do you both think you can handle that?"

"Consider it done!" Haley corroborated, placing a saluting hand to his forehead for a brief second.

"Good luck, you two," Emmet said to us, sending a smile towards my way especially.

"Same to you and Ingo," I responded. "This oughta be a piece of cake!"

I caught a glance of the Subway Bosses' raised eyebrows of confusion before they started bolting towards wherever the rest of the Team Plasma invaders were. For guys in such strange uniforms, I found both of them to be very fast runners. Opening the door, Haley followed me inside. With Ingo's directions memorized, my best friend and I started on the path to the Battle Subway's main control room.

Pokémon obtained: None.

Badges earned: 4/8

Boxed/Unboxed: None.

Author's Note: First, here are the translations of some of the German words:

"Hallo" = "hello"

"Bruder" = "brother"

"Bengel" = "brat"

"Spinnell" (from Spinnella's name) = "spider"

"Mädchen" = "young girl" or just "girl"

"Es tut mir leid" = "it brings me sorrow" ("I'm sorry")

Also, Ingo and Emmet's confusion of the term "a piece of cake" is because of a German translation since they don't use the literal term in Germany. They both have the gist of Unova customs, but a lot of metaphorical terms still confuse 'em. And another thing, I think I'm the only one who gave the Subway Bosses a bigger role when writing a story based off of my playing experience. Stay tuned for Chapter 18!