BOOOOOM!

A black wall was blown apart by Keldeo's Focus Blast.

No matter what we say or do,

Keldeo activated his Secret Sword and swung it, causing the screen to burst.

It's never up to me and you,

Victini rose into the air, his ears glowing with the power of V-Create.

We smile now and sing a cheer!

Keldeo and Santa Paws screamed in horror as huge burst of dark purple energy erupted in front of them.

Ghost Pony Rider roared.

Kyurem and Cryogonal the Critics both screamed as a zombie Lucario with a chainsaw appeared on their TV.

Keldeo screamed in horror, but sprayed himself with water to snap out of it.

Imperator Justinian was seated behind a desk in his study, with Keldeo standing on the other side.

The show must go on!

"FORESHADOWING!" Munna exclaimed.

"NO SHIP, SHERCLOCK!" the Intoxiquer shouted.

"SPOILERS!" Zorua exclaimed.

The show must go on!

Jack Storm sprung awake in shock.

Matthais Unidostres and BrickBrony1894 bro-hoofed.

Meloetta sat down with Madoka the Fennekin and Damian the Meloetta on either side of her.

A Greninja stood ominously next to a Lucario with red Aura.

Keldeo and Ryan the Lucario fought on a cliff top, Secret Sword and Bone Rush clashing over and over.

Never fear . . .

Button Mash and Sweetie Belle bonked heads as they tried playing Wonderbolt Free Fliers.

Keldeo burst out of the ice encasing him in an explosion of light.

The show! Will! Go! On!

Keldeo reared up on his hind legs, his expression serious and his Secret Sword raised and glowing brightly.

Keldeo the Critic

Season 4 Episode 18: Rising Storm: Book 2 by Jack Storm 448

TinyURL: golsj9g

"It's me! Keldeo the Critic! I review it so you don't have to!" Keldeo said brightly, "I had a great Christmas, a fun New Years, oh man, it was great. I hear my friend Jack had a great Christmas as well. You remember Jack Storm, don't you? He reviewed the first few chapters of Conquering the Dark by AuraWielder with me."

Keldeo stopped for a moment and thought. "Hmm. . . you know, Jack Storm 448 is a few chapters into the second book of Rising Storm. . ."

Rising Storm: Book 2

By: Jack Storm 448

Jack Storm is getting closer to the truth; with his loving brother and faithful team beside him, what could possibly go wrong? You guessed it, PLOT CONVENIENCE! What with all the crazy stuff that goes down, will Jack ever find out who he really is? There's only one way to find out; it's time for Rising Storm: BOOK 2!

"You can tell from the summary that this story will have all the wry humor and charm of the first one, along with some awesome Pokemon battling action," Keldeo said excitedly, "Jack is a really cool guy, with a good heart and amazing Pokemon powers, but he still has flaws that he struggles with, and he learns more every day from friends, both human and Pokemon."

Keldeo nodded, "Now, if you haven't read Book 1 yet, you can do one of three things. One: go ahead and read the first book. Two: go check out Arceus' review of it on Arceus the Critic- Season Two by Imperator Justinian. Or three: listen to this little song I thought up."

Keldeo looked to the side and called out, "Zorua! Zoroark!"

Zorua and Zoroark ran in and stood on either side of Keldeo.

"Spoilers!" Zorua sang.

"Spoilers!" Zoroark sang.

"Spoilers!" Keldeo sang.

"Scroll down if you haven't read Book 1!" Zorua sang.

Keldeo: Oooooh, there once was a baby raised by Lucarios,
He starts using moves, how that's possible, I don't know
A medallion says that his name is Jack Storm
The most powerful mortal to ever be born

Zorua: He leaves with his Lucario brother named Jason
Has a chance encounter with professor Rowan
Jason gets balled, Jack doesn't like it
They grab all their gear and hastily beat it

Zoroark: The brothers run into a war between species
Meet platonic Juliet and Romeo expys
Katana the Scyther and Cap the Breloom
They flee from the war of racism and doom

Keldeo: They come across Paul who's going a-hunting
Dratini named Aura, Kirlia named Wendy
Jack rescues an Absol from the evil Paul
Jack names her Lucy, she comes to know God

Zorua: A trainer named Nicholas then catches Lucy
Jack gets her back and says "Pokeballs are okay!"
Meets Ivy the Snivy, but then runs away
Cause the Legendary Birds just want Jack to pay

Zoroark: Meet Ash, fight Galactic, train with Maylene
Mischief abounds in a carnival scene
Split up with Nicholas, Ivy joins, yay!
Did I mention Kadabra they rescued from J?

ALL: They save Porygon2 from PorygonZ
Solomon the Kadabra loves Aura, Yipee!
Jack uses the Mind Plate to free all the birds
We left some things out cause we ran out of words.
Now on with the review!

Zorua and Zoroark both leapt off of the rock as Keldeo nodded gleefully and said, "Okay, Book 2 begins 3 months after the end of Book 1, and Jack still has plenty of concerns, which worries his Lucario brother."

Keldeo blinked and said, "I swear the term Lucario brother is getting more and more common in Pokemon fan-fiction. It's practically it's won genre! Why do so many people want to have a brother that's a Lucario?"

Up until that point, Jack had been going through the traditional trainer's journey for the fun of it; both Jack and Jason had craved adventure ever since they were young, and the whole 'Trainer's journey' thing seemed like the perfect way to get some. After that day though, things were slightly different.

Jason sighed as he leaned on the balcony rail. "'Things' were different? Who am I kidding. 'Things' stayed pretty much the same; it was Jack that changed."

"Who am I, Jason," Jack had asked him that evening, after the Legendary Birds had left.

"Does it matter?" he'd replied. "You're my brother, and my best friend; that's enough for me."

Jack sighed. "Until now, that would've been enough for me too. But this business with the Birds got me thinking; I really know nothing about myself. I've had these superhuman abilities for years now, and it's become so normal for us; but where did they come from?"

"I don't know," Jason said.

"Precisely my point. Neither of us know why I'm like this; or why I was in Greenwood that day, or who left me there, or even why I have these robes!" Jack said, his voice steadily rising. "Who am I, Jason?!"

"I don't know," Jason repeated.

"Well then, don't you want to find out?" Jack asked.

Jason looked him in the eye. "Why do you? You were always perfectly happy just being Jack Storm; what's changed?"

"What changed," Jack said grimly. "was I realized that I didn't even know who Jack Storm really is."

"Well, who do you want to be?" Jason asked.

"Uh, Jason?" Keldeo asked, "I don't think you understand the kind of turmoil your brother is going through here. A: he's adopted. B: he wasn't even raised by his own species. And C: he has these crazy powers he has no clue about that nearly got him killed, nearly got his friends and family killed, and almost allowed him to kill someone just because he was angry. Jason, your life is perfect in comparison! At least Clark Kent knew where he and his powers came from!"

Jason wasn't worried about Jack wanting to know more about his past; that was only natural. What worried Jason, was that his brother had started drifting away from God. Jason had first noticed that Jack wasn't praying and reading his Bible as regularly as he used to; gradually, maybe even unconsciously, Jack had simply gotten out of the habit.

"So Jason, being Jack's brother and a fellow Christian, makes the logical decision of doing absolutely nothing and not talking to Jack about this at all!" Keldeo declared proudly. Then his face fell and he blinked in confusion, "Wait, what?"

"So it turns out that the Pokemon League is going to begin soon, it has been three months after all, although I do feel kind of disappointed that we didn't get to see Jack and his friends adventure throughout Sinnoh as they travel to the rest of the gyms. Oh well! That's what spin-off one-shots are for! *Wink*! *Wink*!"

Over the last three months, everyone had gotten quite a lot stronger; although there were no new additions to the team. Everyone now knew-

"EX - PO - SI - TION! EX - PO -SI -TION! RUSH - IT - OUT! AS - AP!" Keldeo and Munna sang.

"So Jack checks out to screen to see who's gonna be fighting in the Sinnoh League," Keldeo said.

The trainers lined up in an eight by eight square, which allowed Jack to easily scan for familiar faces. Most of the trainers were complete strangers to Jack, but a few faces jumped out at him; figuratively speaking.

The first person he saw was Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder as always; Ash saw him as well, and the two shared a grin of congratulation. Since they'd gone their separate ways at Veilstone City, what seemed like an eternity ago, Jack had only seen Ash and his entourage once; at Sunyshore City, where Jack was forced to wait several days because he refused to take the Beacon Badge without fighting for it. What was the point of challenging the Gyms if you didn't even get to challenge them? Fortunately Ash showed up and got the Gym Leader, Volkner, to start accepting challengers again.

After their respective epic battles with said Gym Leader, and thwarting Team Rocket who had somehow turned the solar station into a robot... don't ask.

The alarm went off in PeeWee's Playhouse as everything screamed. Victini flew by and screamed as well.

The second thing Jack noticed was Nicholas, who was standing next to a powerful-looking Infernape which Jack realized was Blaze; if that was any indication, Jack expected that Nicholas's team had gotten a lot stronger as well since the last time he'd seen them. And that was saying something; Jack had run into Nicholas several times in the last few months, almost always at a Pokémon Gym. One of them would get there first and challenge the Gym, then the other would show up in time to catch the end of the battle.

Despite Jack's fears, the two became closer each time they met; the red-headed trainer had repeatedly assured Jack that although he did want to become stronger than Jack, he still wanted to be friends. As such, when Nicholas noticed Jack and the two locked eyes, it was once again with a congratulatory grin. They both knew exactly what the other was thinking; 'see you on the battlefield.'

"I really liked Nicholas. He's a very good rival character. He's not a jerk. He's not a lazy polar opposite. He's just a strong trainer with heart and a legitimate connection with his Pokemon. Nicholas wants to match wits,strength, and determination with someone he sees as a challenging opponent," Keldeo said. Then he frowned in thought and said, "Huh. If only we had a particularity bad rival to compare him to. . ."

Jack's gaze moved on across the field, looking at each trainer in turn; then he saw the one thing he hoped wouldn't be there. A shock of purple hair, and a blue jacket.

"Paul," Jack muttered.

"Enough said," Keldeo said flatly.

"So Jack's first battle is against, and let's be fair here, a non-dying version of a redshirt. It's a cool battle, and we also get to see exactly how Jack . . . approaches his battles."

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the plain-looking cloth backpack he was wearing; nestled inside it was the Pack, in which the rest of his team was sitting. Poking inconspicuously out of the top of the backpack was a small metal rod, on the end of which was a camera and microphone; it fed audio and video into the VR world of the Pack so his team could see and hear what what going on. It wasn't perfect, but it worked; so long as Jack stood relatively still.

Jack held out Jason's Pokéball and recalled him to it; he then slung the Pack around in front of him, and surreptitiously transferred Jason to it. He waited a moment, giving Jason time to tell everyone what was going on, then he punched Wendy's ID number into the interface and transferred her to the Pokéball Jason had been using. The whole thing, thanks to extensive practice, took less than five seconds.

The procedure complete, Jack withdrew the Pokéball which now contained Wendy and slung the Pack around to his back again. He then faced his opponent, who had yet to call out his last Pokémon.

Keldeo blinked his eyes. "Wow, that's complicated! But necessary if he doesn't want to keep some of his friends stuck in a PC somewhere. He doesn't have the luxury of having access to a huge lab with wide open spaces like Ash does! But this Magitech Pack that Porygon2 put together comes close enough to Professor Oak's lab."

"What's the deal?" the trainer said in a cocky tone. "Afraid my next Pokémon would be able to beat yours?"

Jack rolled his eyes, and chuckled. "No, but one of my other Pokémon wanted to have some fun too; I was going to let her take the last fight, but you lost too quickly."

"Dude, that's harsh!"

"That," Jack thought to himself, "And I'm using you as a training dummy; that's even harsher."

"Wendy, you're up."

[Wendy (Kirlia) Age: 11. Ability: Trace. Moves: Magical Leaf, Hypnosis, Psychic, Teleport, and Light Screen.]

Wendy landed on the battlefield with a smile; it was true, she took every chance she could to impress her 'aunts', Katana and Lucy. Not to mention Aura and Ivy, to whom she was very much a little sister; even though both Aura and Ivy were, in Pokémon years at least, almost as old as Katana and Lucy.

"Each of Jack's Pokemon are very unique with strong character, complete with needs, goals, backstories, etc.," Keldeo explained, "That's what makes Rising Storm so enjoyable."

"Okay," the trainer yelled, "Now you're just insulting me; fighting me with a Pokémon that's not even fully evolved yet!"

Jack smirked. "You think so? Then give us your best shot, and see what she can do."

"You tell him, Uncle Jack," Wendy agreed. "Let's kick his ass!"

Keldeo spat out a Berry Juice he had been drinking in shock. "Oh come on! I haven't had to do that in a while!" he exclaimed.

Jack looked down at her in shock. "Where'd you hear that?"

Wendy tilted her head curiously. "Auntie Katana taught it to me; why?"

Jack put a hand to his forehead. "Katana, you and I are going to have a little talk later."

"Well, anyway, seeing as Jack practically advertised his superpowers in order to get the mysterious villain to reveal himself, his opponent brings it up in order to get Jack disqualified."

The trainer gave him a strange look. "If you're all done talking to your Pokémon now; and yeah, I've heard of you and your 'special powers'."

"Who hasn't," Jack said flatly. "It's pretty common knowledge by this point; what's your point?"

"My point," the trainer said, "Is that I think you're cheating!"

Jack's expression was one of complete incomprehension. "Uh… come again?"

The trainer scowled. "I think you're using your powers to cheat in the tournament; that Lucario had way more than four moves. You can't deny it, so fess up!"

Jack remained obviously unconcerned. "Yeah, he's a little special; you're just sore because you're losing," he said, allowing a little amusement to seep into his tone.

The trainer ground his teeth. "Fine then; if you're not cheating, then this should be easy. Go, Sableye!"

Although Jack's outward expression was unchanged, inside his thoughts were in turmoil; as much as he wished he could deny it, the trainer's argument had hit true. His Pokémon all had an unfair advantage over anyone else's, and he had given them that advantage even if it had been involuntary; in a way, he really was cheating.

Not that there was anything he could do about that now; he certainly wasn't going to drop out now. He'd just have to be careful what moves he called; Wendy only had five, so he'd have to leave one out.

"Well, yeah. Just limiting their move sets to 4 seems fair enough," Keldeo said, "So Wendy wins by-"

Wendy took a second to catch her breath, then she used Psychic; not on Sableye, but on one of the icy stalagmites that dotted the field. With a telekinetic strength that would've impressed Mewtwo himself, the young Kirlia broke off the entire column of ice and made it float in mid-air. She brought it over to the sleeping Sableye, and Jack realized what was happening a second before it happened.

Before he could say anything, Wendy dropped the giant chunk of ice on top of Sableye; squashing it flat.

"WHAT!?" Keldeo shouted as he jumped in fright.

Fortunately when Wendy lifted the piece of ice back up, Sableye was only unconscious; otherwise it was completely fine.

"I guess it is a Ghost…" Jack thought to himself. "Wendy, don't do that again," he said, relieved.

Wendy gave him the puppy-dog eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said innocently, telekinetically replacing the giant icicle in what was obviously supposed to be a surreptitious manner.

"Right…" Jack said, unconvinced.

Keldeo stared with his mouth gaping and his eyes wide. Then he regained his composure and said, "Okay, where are we on the Creepy and Cute Psychotic Killer Meter?"

A meter appeared below Keldeo which depicted the faces of several character. Wendy's face move up the meter as Keldeo commented on it's progress.

"Hmm, let's see. . . we're past straight-haired Pinkie Pie from Party of One, past the Ghost Girl from DP090- Ghoul Daze!,which puts us right in between. . .

*Ding!*

"Talking Tina from The Twilight Zone and Espurr from the YouTube video ESPURR, NO! by Megasteakman. Jack, please keep Wendy far away from me!" Keldeo cried out, looking slightly freaked out.

Meanwhile the trainer, and most of the audience, were staring at Wendy in shock; the rest were staring at Jack instead.

The trainer's jaw was hanging open; he looked like he was trying to say something, but no words were coming out. Fortunately, the referee said all that was needed.

"SABLEYE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE; KIRLIA IS THE WINNER, WHICH MEANS THE VICTORY GOES TO JACK STORM!"

The audience roared, figuratively speaking; their responses were divided between approval and outrage. The trainer recalled his Sableye, then seemed to get his voice back; unfortunately.

"Cheater," he said, his voice rising in anger. "CHEATER!"

Jack shrugged. "If you're so sure, then prove it; until then, stop being such a sore loser." "Before I agree with you," Jack thought involuntarily, then he shook his head.

"Why? Jack's a really good trainer because he understands their language and is pretty much on equal footing with them. How is that cheating? As long as they only stick with four moves, how are they cheating?" Keldeo asked.

"Come on Wendy," he said. "Let's go back to our suite and grab a bite to eat; it's almost Lunchtime."

"Okay," Wendy said, following Jack out of the arena.

"It better be me favorite, or someone's gonna go away for a long time. . ."

Keldeo shuddered, "Ugh. I'm weak against Psychic-types, so you can't blame me for getting freaked out a little easier than normal about little miss Mewtwo level 'a-kicker' here. Can we get a fun scene to break the tension here?"

"Here you go," the deliveryman said. "One large Meat-lover's, one medium Supreme, two large Three-Cheese and pepperoni, and one medium Orange Islands Special. Are you feeding an army or something?"

Jack grinned as he handed the man a handful of bills. "Something like that, yeah; keep the change."

The deliveryman stared down at the wad of money in his hand, it was at least twice the price of the pizzas.

"Either Jack still doesn't seem to fully understand money, or he's the Pokemon world's version of the Element of Generosity," Keldeo said, and he shrugged and said, "Or maybe he just wanted to do the deliveryman a favor."

"A… are you serious?" he said, shocked.

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Don't spend it all in one place."

"I won't. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Jack replied, taking the pizzas and going back into the suite. "Okay guys, dig in."

Victini flew in suddenly and said, "Anyone who can match the pizza varieties with the correct characters can suggest any fanfic they want for Keldeo to review! ANY fanfic at all!"

"Victini!" Keldeo shouted in shock.

"Aw, come on, Keldeo! They'll never figure it out!" Victini said with a laugh, and he flew off.

Keldeo shrugged, "Oh, alright, sure. So as everyone except for Thomas the Porygon2 is eating. . . seriously, that's gotta be torture. . .Jack gets a visitor."

Jack opened the boxes and began handing out pizza to everyone who didn't have opposable thumbs or telekinetic powers. He'd finished, and was about to take a bite of his slice of Orange Islands Special, when there was a knock at the door.

Jack froze in place, and Jason looked at him curiously. "Who do you think it is?"

Jack got up and walked over to the door. "I don't know; it might be Ash or Nicholas, or it could just be more reporters. Although this place has pretty tight security for non-contestants, so I don't think reporters would be able to get in."

"Why not just check?" Jason asked.

"Telepathically?" Jack replied, placing a hand on the doorknob. "That would spoil the surprise."

Wheatley: "Oh, just open the door! . ..That's too aggressive. . . Hello, friend! Why not open the door?"

"Surprise! It's Maylene!" Keldeo said with a smile, "Who's characterization in Rising Storm is far superior to her characterization in Breaking the Chain. In this continuity, she's a martial arts master and all around headstrong girl, NOT a short tempered violent idiot who takes forever to order ice cream like Cynthia!"

Keldeo gave a long sigh to calm himself and said, "But I digress. . ."

"Long time no see, Maylene," Jack said. "What're you doing here?"

Jack looked his old friend over quickly; she was wearing her traditional gym clothes, a blue and black muscle shirt and grey track pants. Obviously modelled after the appearance of her partner, Lucario.

"You look like you came here straight from the gym," Jack continued.

Maylene shrugged. "Hey, the Lily of the Valley Conference is the event of the year; and since there won't be another one for a year, the number of challengers at the gym has dropped to nothing. So, I figured I might as well come and watch; and not just for you either."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Is that so; well come in, have some Pizza, and tell me what you mean by that cryptic comment."

"Don't mind if I do," Maylene replied. "And while I'm at it, maybe you can tell me a few things too."

Jack blinked as Maylene walked past him into the main suite. "Didn't I just say something about the cryptic comments?"

Jack shut and locked the door, and went back into the main room; the television was on as, up until a few minutes ago, they'd been watching the other matches of the tournament. Ash's had already finished, with him the victor; they had yet to see anyone else they recognised.

Maylene was already getting the royal treatment from the team; Lucy was nuzzling her leg,

"Whoooooaaa! You are an Absol, Lucy! I know you've been abused, but at least try to have some pride!" Keldeo said in surprise.

Jason was being all formal,

"Yeah, you better mind your manners around Maylene, or Lucas might come out and try to kill you!" Keldeo warned, but then he blinked and smiled sheepishly, "Oh wait, her Lucario is Lucas only in AuraWielder's stories. Nevermind."

and Wendy was three feet off the ground hanging from the gym leader's neck.

"Oh my gosh, she's strangling her! WENDY, NO! GIVE HER THE CUPCAKE! AHHHHH!" Keldeo screamed in terror.

Ivy and Thomas were the only ones who looked like they had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"So," Maylene said, turning to look at Jack and almost dislodging Wendy from her neck on the process. "I see two new faces here."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, that's right; Ivy and Thomas weren't with us when we challenged you. I'm willing to bet you can guess which one is which."

"Greetings," Thomas said in impeccable, if electronic sounding, English. "My name is Thomas, and I've heard much about you Maylene."

Maylene nearly jumped out of her skin when Thomas started talking; fortunately, Wendy had a firm grip.

"Don't remind me! You do realize my scream was only half mock-terror, right?" Keldeo said nervously.

"He… he talked!" Maylene exclaimed.

"Yeah," Jack said, "He does that."

"Well, he is a robot. I wonder why all Porygons don't talk?" Keldeo remarked, "And for that matter, how does a mechanical Pokemon figure into Jack's and the group's religious beliefs?"

ELOHIM: "THE TALOS PRINCIPLE DOES NOT APPLY."

Maylene blinked, then shrugged. "Okay then, I'm not questioning anything at this point; it makes sense that your team would be as unique as you are. Speaking of which," Maylene fixed Jack with a stern look. "Why didn't you tell me you were a move-using superhero?!"

Jack blinked. "Come again."

Maylene folded her arms. "These last few months, do you know what's been dominating every single media outlet in Sinnoh? You! The whole region is buzzing about you, and I got singled out as someone who knew you personally; the reporters were bad enough, but when the fangirls started showing up…"

"Fangirls?" Jack exclaimed, trying to keep up.

"Never mind that," Maylene said quickly, before continuing at a somewhat more calm pace.

"Yeah, let's not talk about that. . ." Keldeo said with a nervous grin.

"Sorry, I think I rambled on a bit. It's just, I wish you'd said something; when I heard how you fought off two of the Legendary Bird trio, there were so many questions I wanted to ask you."

Jack shrugged and sat down on a nearby couch. "We've got a while, ask away."

"Really?" Maylene asked excitedly, sitting down as well. "Okay then, let's see… Oh yeah, I know," she fixed him with another stern look. "When we sparred way back when you were staying at the dojo, how much were you holding back?"

Jack grinned a little. "What makes you think I was holding back?"

"I knew it!" Maylene exclaimed with a grin. "You were going easy on me! The nerve, toying with me like that."

"I swear I wasn't," Jack said, raising his hands above his head in the universal sign of surrender.

"Yeah, right," Maylene said. "I'll believe that when Piloswine fly."

"But in all honesty," Jack said. "I really didn't hold back when we sparred; I couldn't afford to. Whatever advantage I had in strength and speed, you made up for with superior training and technique; you were more than my equal, in martial arts at least, and I learned a lot from you."

Maylene smiled. "Thank you, I'm glad to hear that; but it begs the question, what about now?"

Jack sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that."

"But you knew I would," Maylene said with a grin.

"Yup."

"Well then?" the gym leader asked. "Shall we take this outside?"

"Oh, but Death Battle: The Fanfic Edition will have to wait, because the only self insert ever to appear in the source material is having a battle on TV."

"Turn that up," Jack commanded.

Jason, who had the remote control, obliged.

"...I repeat," the announcer said, "The fight between James, a trainer from Floaroma Town, and Tobias, who is said to have defeated all the gym leaders using only his Darkrai, is almost finished. Tobias's Darkrai has already defeated two of James's Pokémon, leaving only his Machamp to fight."

As they watched, Tobias's Darkrai landed Ice Beam and Dark Pulse attacks in rapid succession, leaving Machamp unconscious.

"I remember him," Maylene said. "He challenged my gym months ago; and he did take down my entire team with just his Darkrai."

Jack stared at her in shock. "Are you kidding me? He's that strong?"

Maylene chuckled. "Back then I was also nowhere near as strong as I am now; and I had almost no experience at being a gym leader. But even so, yes; he really is that strong. I wouldn't be surprised if that Darkrai he has, is actually the original Darkrai of legend; the nightmare Pokémon."

They watched as Tobias recalled Darkrai, and left the arena.

Jack gritted his teeth. "I've got a bad feeling about this; I've learned to listen to my instincts, and my instincts are telling me there's more to this Tobias guy than meets the eye. I get the feeling I'll be fighting him at some point."

"As long as we do something with this guy, it'll be an improvement on the Anime," Keldeo said, looking a bit upset as he thought about Tobias.

"And also. . ." Victini said as he flew in.

The alarm went off in PeeWee's Playhouse and Victini screamed along with everything else in the Playhouse.

"In other news," the announcer continued, "Three months into the outbreak of the Second Saldaran Civil War, the terrorist group known as Alpha has now overrun the Saldaran military defending the city of Cynder Falls. Things are looking decidedly grim for the Saldara Region and its citizens."

"Alpha?" Jack muttered. "Where have I…"

"The laboratory," Thomas said.

Jack snapped his fingers. "That's right, the old base; talk about a small world."

"Indeed," Thomas commented.

"Sorry, what's that about?" Maylene asked.

"We met Thomas in an old abandoned laboratory," Jack explained. "It was run by those guys, Alpha; a terrorists group from Saldara apparently. Maybe they needed a remote location to conduct their research."

"Wait a minute, what?" Keldeo said, taken completely off guard, "Saldara Region? Team Alpha? Where did all of this come from?"

"FORESHADOWING!" Munna shouted as she flew by.

"You're telling me!" Keldeo said in amazement, "Can't wait to see how these plot points affect the story later on."

Maylene nodded. "Makes sense. Anyway, it looks like all the first round matches are finished now; that was the last one. So how about it, care for a quick sparring match?"

Jack sighed. "Fine, I guess there's no getting out of it; but I have one condition."

"Name it," Maylene said.

Jack grinned. "I get to pick the arena."

Maylene mirrored his grin. "Deal."

Keldeo nodded slowly and said, "Alright, so I suppose Jack and Maylene are going to sneak out behind the stadium, maybe they could spar in the forest-"

"Why did you have to pick the biggest arena in the immediate vicinity?" Maylene asked.

Jack shrugged. "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing."

"But still," Maylene said. "Weren't you the one complaining about the press? Well, you might as well have set up a giant neon sign; I mean, seriously. You get to pick the arena, and you pick this?"

Around them, like the sides of a giant bowl, rose the Lily of the Valley Colosseum; the single largest stadium in Sinnoh. The manager was more than happy to let Jack and Maylene use it, provided he got to charge entry for anyone who wanted to watch; Jack agreed. To put it bluntly, the manager was set to make a small fortune.

Once word got out, as it always does, that Jack and Maylene were going to have a sparring match, every Tom, Dick, and Harry on Lily of the Valley Island were falling over themselves to be there; nobody else cared, but there were more than enough people named Tom, Dick, or Harry to fill the stadium to bursting.

Keldeo blinked, then shrugged, "Well, okay, have it your way, Jack."

Jack grinned. "Think of it this way; unless we hop on over to Mt. Coronet real quick, people are going to catch wind of our little match. We'll be swarmed by reporters anyway, so we might as well at least charge them for the show; this way we're supporting a worthy cause."

Maylene gave him a knowing look. "Oh, I see now."

Jack raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You're not as opposed to all the attention you're getting as you'd like everyone to believe," Maylene said with a grin.

Jack smirked. "I have my reasons."

"Whatever," Maylene said. "But since we've got such a crowd here, it would be unfair of us not to give them a worthwhile show. Wouldn't you say?"

Jack raised his eyebrow again. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"THE BATTLE WILL BE THREE ON THREE," the announcer declared. "ITEMS AND SUBSTITUTIONS ALLOWED FOR BOTH SIDES. THE BATTLE WILL BE OVER WHEN ONE SIDE IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE. BEGIN!"

"Wait, so now it's a Pokemon battle? I'm confused," Keldeo remarked as he scratched the side of his head with a forehoof.

"Let's start things off slow," Jack said. "Figuratively speaking, that is. Aura, you're up!"

"I was thinking the exact same thing," Maylene shot back. "Machamp, front and center!"

"You may take the first move," Maylene said with a bow.

"You might regret that," Jack replied, his grin widening. "Aura, use Agility."

Aura began going through a series of stretches and undulations designed to warm up her muscles and alleviate pre-battle tension; at the same time, she gathered her namesake from the surrounding area to super-charge her body. It wasn't the most visually impressive technique, but both Jack and Maylene knew full well how effective it could be.

Aura had almost completed the exercise, when suddenly Machamp seemed to appear in front of her from out of nowhere; before Aura could react, it slammed its fists into the ground in a powerful Earthquake attack.

The shockwave shattered Aura's concentration and interrupted her move.

"How in the reverse world... " Jack exclaimed to himself. "How is Machamp so fast?!"

"You're not the only ones who've gotten stronger," Maylene said, as if she could hear his thoughts.

"Okay, now that's just unnatural for a Pokemon that big to go that fast!" Keldeo exclaimed.

"So Machamp curb stomps Aura, forcing Jack to send out Jason," Keldeo grinned, "Now the fight can get a little interesting!"

Every strike could mean the difference between victory, and defeat. They were both nearing the end of their ropes; one mistake, and that was it. But who would make that fatal mistake?

The stalemate lasted for almost an entire minute, neither side giving an inch; neither side willing to lose. This was no longer just a sparring match, this was life or death; or it might as well have been, for the intensity of it.

"Come on, come on, Jason! The Aura is with you! Search for that opening!" Keldeo said eagerly.

Then suddenly, Jason saw it; a single drop of sweat had rolled down Machamp's forehead into its right eye, obscuring its vision. Jason began pushing towards Machoke's left side; all it would take was one perfectly timed strike, and it would be over. Jason waited, and waited…

There it was, the opening Jason needed; feinting to Machoke's right, the Superpower Pokémon instinctively protected its blind side. Jason seized the chance, and gave it everything he had; pouring every scrap of strength he could muster into a right hook which landed solidly on Machamp's jaw.

"YES!" Keldeo shouted as he did a back-flip of joy.

"So, with Machamp down, Maylene makes the logical choice and sends out her Lucario."

"You've both grown much since the last time we saw each other," Lucario said. "I look forward to seeing exactly how much."

Jack and Jason looked at each other; aside from Greninja, Maylene's Lucario was the single strongest opponent they'd ever fought. If Machamp was anything to go by, Lucario must be far stronger now as well; this might not end well.

"Okay, everyone looking on, let me stress how intense the battles in Rising Storm can get," Keldeo said seriously, "So, with that in mind, be mindful of potentially epic a Lucario battle can be in this story. I for one, am hyped!"

"Are you ready Jason?" Jack said with a confidence he didn't feel.

Jason nodded. "I'll try not to beat him up too badly."

Jack and Maylene called their attacks at exactly the same time, but neither Lucario nor Jason needed to hear it to know what the opening move would be. Auric bone met auric bone, as the two clashed with Bone Rush; the only thing the audience could see were repeated flashes of blue light.

"Huh. I feel the urge to go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens for some reason. . ." Keldeo remarked.

Jason was flung backwards by a blow so powerful it created a shockwave which raised a cloud of dust in its wake. Jason righted himself mid-air with Psychic, and launched a blast of aura down at Lucario; the older Pokémon batted it aside with Bone Rush and launched himself into the air at Jason with Mach Punch.

Jason was taken completely by surprise, and threw up a hasty auric shield which Lucario shattered with contemptuous ease; Lucario's Mach Punch landed like ton of bricks, and sent Jason crashing to the ground. Lucario readied a Bone Rush and prepared to bring it down on Jason's prone form, but Jason flipped himself into a handstand at the last moment and lashed out with his legs at Lucario's midriff.

Lucario fell headlong onto Jason's impromptu Counter attack, and was knocked across the arena; he got up, gasping for breath.

"Impressive," Lucario said once he'd recovered his breath. "You learned well, but it is time we ended this little duel."

"I was about to say the same thing, Master," Jason replied.

"Oh my gosh, this is so epic! I actually feel bad about revealing it in this review!" Keldeo said. Then he gave it some thought, and nodded and said, "You know what, that's all I'm gonna show. If you want to see the rest of it, go and read the story yourself. Give Jack Storm 448 your support."

"So after the Ultimate Showdown of Lucario Destiny, we get one finally battle. . ."

"Our Pokémon have fought hard," Jack said, "For the sake of us finding out who's stronger."

"Yeah," Maylene said with a small grin, catching his drift. "They really got into it; but this is between you and me, isn't it."

"You've got that right," Jack agreed, mirroring her grin. "Let's finish this."

The two trainers reached for the belts on which they stored their six Pokéballs; as one, they undid the buckles and let their belts fall to the ground. They were both already dressed for a fight.

To a roar of approval from the crowds, Jack and Maylene stepped onto the battlefield; they didn't need their Pokémon to fight their battles for them, they were both more than capable of doing it themselves.

"Wait. . . so. . . they were the third fighters in the 3 on 3?" Keldeo asked, looking a bit confused, "How does that work? What if the first two Pokemon got defeated right away? Would they have to fight the other Pokemon too? Wouldn't the result be something like that Korrina and Lucario fanfic Subtlety of Care by Will Peterson. I'm sorry, but I'm not convinced that the human body can withstand a Focus Punch or even a Bone Rush at supersonic speed!"

"Well, maybe they expected their Pokemon to knock each other out, or maybe it's like what the summary said and it's PLOT CONVENIENCE! Either way, it's time for Jack vs Maylene! . . . and now I feel the urge to see all three Kung Fu Panda movies for some reason. . ."

The two friends bowed to each other, then assumed combat stances; they closed on each other until they were within easy striking distance, then they circled.

"She said not to go easy on her," Jack thought to himself, "But if I don't I might very well kill her; or at least seriously injure her. I hope you'll understand, but I'm going to have to hold back on you Maylene."

They circled a few times, but Jack didn't feel like wasting time; in a move straight out of one of Maylene's lessons, Jack leapt into the air and spun to gain momentum. When he was almost on top of Maylene, he extended his leg and brought it down on her head like a hammer. Or at least, that was the plan.

At the last second, Maylene reached up and grabbed Jack's leg with one hand; she let gravity pull the rest of Jack's body down until it was in range, then she spun in place and kicked Jack across the arena.

"What the hay!?" Keldeo exclaimed.

Jack was caught completely by surprise; not as much by the fact that Maylene had stopped his attack, as how she'd stopped it. She was incredibly strong, far stronger than she was last time they sparred; he was tempted to call it superhuman, but he didn't see how that was possible.

"Okay, there's Master Splinter, and then there's The Matrix. This is some kind of freakish combination of the two!" Keldeo said in amazement.

"I told you," she said. "Don't hold back. It's not just my Pokémon who've gotten stronger, I've been training by butt off too; I have a pretty good idea of what you capable of, and I want you to show me. Now come on."

Jack sighed. "If you want to see what I can do, then be my guest."

"So Jack finally decides to take the gloves off, and emphasizes it by. . .doing. . . this. . ." Keldeo said slowly with a foreboding tone to his voice.

With an air of resignation, Jack raised his right arm into the air; above the stadium, dark clouds began to gather. They quickly obscured the sun and cast a black shadow over the arena, forcing the stadium lights to activate just so people could see.

"This is a trick I developed a while ago," Jack said, drawing attention back to himself. "I've only had to use it once, but if you want to see what I can really do then there's no better demonstration. Have you ever heard of the Ability, Motor Drive?"

Maylene was getting a little nervous, but she nodded in acknowledgment.

Jack grinned, but there was a hard edge to it. "It's something like that."

Without any further warning, a bolt of electricity arced down from the clouds and struck Jack's outstretched hand; it was so loud it made the crowd's ears ring, so bright it made them see spots, and so hot it partially melted the ground under Jack's feet turning it into glass. And yet, it was nowhere near as powerful as a real bolt of lightning.

When the spots cleared from Maylene's eyes, she could see sparks of electricity arcing across Jack's entire body; he was vibrating slightly, as though so much raw energy had been packed into his body that he could barely control it. This was only partially true however; he could control it perfectly well.

Keldeo stared slack-jaw at the scene, then shouted, "What are you trying do?! Attract the SCP Foundation?!"

Jack had two reasons for this display of power; the first was the same reason he wanted to hold the match in the stadium, and make it a public event. He wanted to call attention to himself, and how powerful he had become; someone was stalking him, and Jack wanted to bait them into making their move where and when he could control the terms of their engagement.

"Whoever sent those Legendary Birds after you is clearly too smart to fall into your obvious trap," Keldeo said, "This villain is sneaky. You know, in the shadows. He'll never show up when you expect it. I see him catching you while you're asleep or drugging your food or something? Everyone knows you're here already. If anything, this. . .Lightning Bending will scare whoever it is away! I'm pretty scared, and I know you're a good guy! And I'm a Sword of Justice! Even Coballion would be scared at you at this point! Kyurem would be scared of you! You just caught a lightning bolt in your bare hand! What, are you trying to audition for Smite? Well, I suppose if the Norse version of Scrat can get in, anything is possible!"

"Well, anyway, at this point we finally get an explanation for Maylene's power, as well as why Jack can't help but think that he might actually be cheating."

The second reason for this, was that he had an itch in the back of his head; a doubt, one which he wanted to either confirm or disprove for certain.

"At this point," he thought to himself, "I'm certain I'm the reason my Pokémon are so… unique. Somehow, and for some reason, me being around them has made them more powerful than is natural; maybe I was around Maylene's Pokémon long enough to have the same effect on them. What troubles me though, is that now Maylene herself is showing almost superhuman strength and reflexes; what if it's not just Pokémon who become more powerful from being around me too long?"

Keldeo nodded in interest, "Huh. That's. . . actually a pretty interesting plot point. Makes sense too. But enough of that, let's see all this power in action!"

With the same amount of physical effort as it would normally take to hop a few inches off the ground, Jack launched himself twenty feet into the air and landed behind a very surprised Maylene;

"Biscuits! Star Wars is everywhere! I can't escape it!" Keldeo exclaimed.

she got over her shock quickly, and roundhouse-kicked him in the face. Jack took the full force of the impact, and didn't move so much as a centimetre; then responded with the exact same move, a roundhouse-kick. He timed it precisely so that a person with even a slightly above-average reaction time wouldn't be able to dodge it; lo and behold, Maylene evaded it with almost contemptuous ease. "Are you toying with me?" Maylene asked, slightly disconcerted. "Not in the slightest," Jack replied. Without another word, Jack went on the offensive with a flurry of rapid back-to-back punches; Maylene either blocked or dodged all of them, and then launched a counter-attack in the form of a left jab, and then a staggering right cross. Both hits landed hard, but it only concerned Jack because every blow seemed stronger than the last; although he still couldn't say for certain whether or not it was beyond normal human limitations. Not feeling like beating around the bush any longer, Jack landed one open-palmed blow right to Maylene's midriff; passing through her defenses as though they weren't even there. The hit flung Maylene back several metres, and should have been enough to knock the wind right out of her. Jack wasn't surprised in the slightest, however, when Maylene didn't even pause for breath and instead came right back at him. She attacked with a rapid volley of left and right jabs, like a boxer; Jack blocked and deflected all of them with ease, but he noticed that her attacks were starting to get faster, and stronger.

"Alright, that's it! I'm not revealing any more of this fight. Go see it for yourselves," Keldeo said with a grin.

"So after the fight, Jack and Maylene have a little talk."

As they were walking down the hotel corridor to Jack's suite, Maylene suddenly stumbled; Jack caught her before she could fall, but he could see that she was in worse shape than she let on.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked, putting his right arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm okay; just tired."

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "I took it too far."

Maylene shook her head. "No, if it's anyone's fault it's mine; this whole thing was my idea, and I egged you on at every turn. Even when I knew I couldn't beat you."

"You came pretty close though," Jack said. "Here, let me help."

Before Maylene could object Jack put his right arm behind her back, swept his left one under her legs, and began carrying her down the hall bridal-style.

"Whoa. . . Oooooo-kay. . ." Keldeo said awkwardly.

"I don't need your help," Maylene said, somewhat softer than she intended.

Jack looked down at her and grinned. "It doesn't look like you mind all that much; besides, you're not exactly in a position to refuse."

"So, you're going to help me whether I like it or not?" Maylene said skeptically.

Jack nodded. "That's the general idea, yeah."

Maylene sighed and closed her eyes. "If that's the case, then I guess it's alright. Thanks," she added, as if it was just an afterthought.

It took all of Jack's willpower not to laugh, or stare; he'd spent the better part of a month training with Maylene, and pretty much living in her house for all that time, but this was a side of her which he'd never seen before. She was never exactly a stickler for tradition or ceremony, but she still usually maintained a certain amount of decorum.

Jack had always looked up to Maylene as his teacher, but now he was the stronger one. More than that, if her abilities evolved any further he might have to help her master and control them; so what was she to him now? And just as importantly, how did she see him?

For the sake of his mental health, Jack didn't try to answer those question; in all probability, the answers would reveal themselves in due time. And with his luck, he probably wouldn't like them one bit.

". . . . . . Does Jack have a crush on Maylene?" Keldeo asked incredulously, ". . . Well. . . Riley sure has his work cut out for him! Just saying!"

"So Jack brings Maylene to his room, and then is visited by another familiar face."

"Nicholas!" Jack exclaimed happily.

"How's it going Jack," the red-headed trainer replied, holding out his hand to Jack. "Long time no see."

Jack shook the outstretched hand enthusiastically. "No kidding; I was glad to see you made it, I'm sorry I couldn't catch your first match."

Nicholas grinned. "Yeah, well I saw both of yours; but how on earth did you end up sparring with a Gym Leader? And here of all places."

Jack shrugged. "Maylene and I are old friends; and since the number of challengers at her gym has dropped to zero thanks to this tournament, she decided to drop by and watch."

"Cool," Nicholas replied, grinning cheekishly. "You must be quite the lady's man, to have attracted a gym leader."

Jack chuckled and shook his head. "If I thought you were being serious… But no, you've got the wrong idea altogether; I just trained with her in Veilstone City for a while, she taught me most of what I know about martial arts."

"So, where is she now?" Nicholas asked, peering past Jack into the room. "Last I saw, the two of you were headed in this direction; is she here?"

"She's recovering," Jack said defensively. "I overdid it with that last move."

"So she's sleeping it off," Nicholas said, grinning like a Meowth that just cornered a Rattata. "But where exactly?"

Jack sighed in defeat. "My bed."

Yakko: "*Mwah!* Goodnight, everybody!"

Nicholas laughed. "I believe I've proved my point."

"You had a point?" Jack said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really," Nicholas said with a shrug. "Anyway, we really need to catch up on what's been going... Is that Pizza I smell?"

Jack shrugged. "Sorry, we've already finished off the last of it."

Nicholas sank to his knees in mock despair. "No, please; say it ain't so…"

Jack chuckled at the display. "Sorry, but that's that; if you wanted Pizza, you should have ordered some yourself."

Nicholas perked up almost immediately, as though seized by a sudden revelation. "That's not a bad idea," he said thoughtfully. "You had that Pizza for lunch, right? So I'll buy us all Pizza for dinner; my treat."

"Pizza for two meal in a row?" Jack questioned. "That can't be healthy, for Pokémon or human."

Nicholas shrugged. "Who cares? You only live once."

"If so," Jack countered, "Then you should probably try not to get diabetes while you're here."

Nicholas sighed. "You make a good point; fine then, I'll only buy Pizza for my team since we didn't have any, and we just won't give any to you."

"H-hold on now," Jack said in a tone of mock-panic. "let's not be too hasty…"

"Third base!" Keldeo shouted randomly.

Jack and Nicholas stood staring at each other for a moment, then both of them burst out laughing.

"So Jack and Nicholas let their Pokemon get reacquainted with one another."

His team consisted of the same six Pokémon as the last time we saw them, although most of them looked very different; Sunspot had indeed evolved into a Monferno, Hunter had become a Staraptor, Strike was now a Ninjask, Marsh was now a Lombre, and Frostbite had evolved into a Weavile. Only Scatterbolt, who was already a fully evolved Ampharos, had remained unchanged.

Their appearance started a new round of greetings between the two groups of Pokémon, which threatened to become a little too… enthusiastic for the enclosed space. When Jack realized that he'd probably have to pay for any damage to the room, and that Maylene was still trying to sleep, he and Nicholas talked/coerced their respective teams into taking the party outside; at which point silence finally fell on the suite.

"So," Jack said as he and Nicholas sat down on the couch, somewhat tired from the affair. "Like I said, I didn't see your match; you won, obviously, but aside from that how did it go?"

Nicholas leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Well, it was pretty easy to be honest; a lot easier than I expected. Then again, we've gotten really strong lately; a lot stronger than we were last time we ran into you guys."

"You were pretty strong then, as I recall," Jack replied. "Volkner was hard pressed just to keep up with you."

"It wasn't as one-sided as you make it sound," Nicholas said. "And besides, from what I saw of your battle with him, he didn't stand a chance against you. And from what I saw today, you've gotten even stronger since then too; I mean, seriously. Wendy? The little cutie with the puppy-dog eyes? How'd she get to be such a badass; swinging giant icicles around with her mind like that?"

"Next thing you know, she'll be setting playgrounds on fire!"

Jack sighed. "I doubt I'll ever know, although I suspect that Katana might have something to do with it..."

Nicholas chuckled. "I wouldn't put it past her; then again, Wendy might just be getting ready to evolve. I hear a Pokémon's personality can sometimes change right before they evolve."

Jack looked at him curiously. "Really? I know personalities can change after evolution, but before?"

Nicholas scratched his head. "That's what I heard anyway, something about a hormonal imbalance or something like that. Man, now I wish I payed more attention in Biology class…"

"But you think Wendy might be close to evolving?" Jack asked.

Nicholas stroked his chin as though he had a long, sagacious beard. "I've seen my fair share of evolutions, and I've learned a few things about predicting them. There's a certain… feeling to a Pokémon who's about to evolve, and it gets stronger the closer they are; honestly, I'm surprised you haven't picked up on it yet. If I had to guess I'd say that Wendy's within weeks, if not days, of evolving."

Jack absorbed this information thoughtfully, and filed it away for later use. "I'll have to keep an eye out for that," he thought to himself.

"Now that's very insightful. That's what I like about Rising Storm. It has parts that are very logical and kinda ingenious," Keldeo remarked.

"So we move along through the League as Jack wins battles and watches battles unfold on the screens."

"Ouch," Jack exclaimed, flinching a little.

He'd looked at one of the screens lining the upper wall of the arena, which were displaying the matches going on in the other two small arenas, just in time to see an enormous Snorlax land on a Grumpig in a Body Slam attack which, understandably, left Grumpig seeing stars.

"Death by Snorlax butt," Jack commented to himself, wincing. "That can't be pleasant..."

The Doctor: "Excuse me. Would you mind not farting while I'm saving the world."

"Jack sees Ash, Tobias, Paul, and Nicholas make it into the next round, and then discovers that his next opponent is going to be Nicholas."

"Well, this is just great," Jack muttered to himself on the way back to his room. "No sooner do I find out that Nicholas is might be a match for me, than I find out I'll be fighting him tomorrow. And then there's Tobias and Darkrai… If that Darkrai is actually the real deal, then something funny is going on."

Well, that really went without saying but he also knew a few things about Darkrai; having run into him once before. And what he'd seen of Tobias's Darkrai just didn't fit in with what he knew of the original; then again, maybe there was something he didn't know.

"Okay, when did Jack meet Dakrai? Explain! How? When? I'm confused! Are we gonna flashback later or do you have a spin-off one-shot planned, because I'm totolay lost!" Keldeo complained.

"And while I'm gathering information on Tobias," Jack said to no one in particular, "I might just be able to dig up something on Nicholas's team as well."

To find said information, Jack headed for the Pokémon Centre located near the stadium; more importantly, the second floor computer room.

There was a huge explosion in the Moor of Icirrus, and it sent Vector the Crocodile screaming and flying up high into the sky, where he vanished in a twinkle of light.

However, as he turned a corner and spotted the door to the computer room, the door opened and out stepped the one person he'd hoped not to run into.

"Paul," Jack said grimly.

"Jack Storm," Paul replied; his demeanor was calm and cold as always, but Jack could see fear in his eyes. Paul was still afraid of him after all this time, and he had good right to be.

"Anyone else expecting a Tangela to roll between them?" Keldeo asked with a cheeky grin.

"I'll never forgive you, you know," Jack said sharply. "I'll never forgive you for how you treated Lucy, the Absol I rescued from you all those months ago; you never even knew how much she'd already suffered when you found her, and yet she suffered more at your hands than at anyone else's."

"If she suffered so much, then TELL ME!"

Paul half-shouted the last two words in Jack's face, as though challenging him to react in anger; Paul stared into Jack's eyes and Jack saw the boy's fear, but he also saw defiance. Disbelief even; Paul didn't believe him, or didn't want to believe.

"Some people have to be shown!" Keldeo said seriously, "Luckily, Jack realizes this, and calls Paul's bluff, and welcome change from his violent reaction the last time he met Paul."

Jack came to a decision. "Follow me," he said, turning and walking back down the hallway to the main sitting area; somewhat to his surprise, Paul followed him.

Jack and Paul sat opposite each other at a table, and Jack began recounting Lucy's story. How her peaceful, happy childhood was shattered by poachers, who killed her parents and separated her from her older brother; how she got shunted from one cruel, abusive trainer to the next before eventually being abandoned at a Pokémon Daycare.

He told Paul how, at that daycare, Lucy finally found some friends and was happy again for a time, until he came around.

"You were the worst of any trainer she'd ever had," Jack said. "You took her away from the only happiness she'd known since she lost her parents, and you forced her to 'train' every day until all she could do was collapse on the ground, with bleeding welts on her back from enduring so many attacks. She isolated herself from your other Pokémon because she didn't want to be betrayed again; she assumed that anyone who tried to get close to her would hurt and betray her eventually, because pain and betrayal were all she knew! From what she told me, you were even planning on having her breed with one of your other Pokémon; as though she were just a dumb animal!"

"I'm surprised Paul isn't questioning on how Jack can understand Pokemon- WAIT A MINUTE, BREED!?" Keldeo exclaimed in shock, "So. . . how would that even work? Is he just gonna place his, I don't know, Electivire and Lucy in some bushes and say 'make an egg'? Would Electivire seriously do that? Or are all of Paul's Pokemon so evil that they'd actually rape her? Come on, Jack, give Electivire some credit!"

By the time he finished, Jack was almost shouting in barely-restrained fury; but then he calmed down, and stared Paul in the eyes.

"I can only thank God that I won her from you before you could do that, or anything else to her," Jack said, his anger going from intensely hot to bitterly cold in a matter of seconds, as he stared Paul down.

The purple-haired trainer took in Jack's words silently, and then stood up without a word and walked away from Jack towards the door of the Center; Jack watched him go, but didn't try to stop him. He'd gotten himself all worked up, and he didn't trust himself not to let his anger manipulate him. But then, just as the door closed behind Paul, Jack saw a flash of light reflect off the boy's chin; as if it were wet.

Jack's anger faded away like fog before the afternoon sun, and was replaced by confusion; had his story actually... gotten through to Paul? If so, then this was not the same arrogant trainer he'd met in the forest all those months ago; Jack just hoped he was actually right about that.

"Well, that's a very clever piece of character development," Keldeo said, sounding impressed, "Like I said, some people just have to be shown that they're wrong before anything more can happen. I suppose the lesson Paul needs to learn is that he's not the only living being in the world, and that there are these things called 'emotions' that those beings feel."

"So then Jack has a brief conversation with Ash, Barry, and Conway about Tobias. Here's hoping this story actually gives him some character this time around."

Keldeo grinned and said, "But seriously, let's get to the moment we've all been waiting for! Jack vs Nicholas!"

"Are you ready, Jack?" Nicholas said. "Because I'm about to break that winning streak of yours."

Jack grinned; Nicholas was still Nicholas, and Jack was grateful for that. "You and what army? Katana, you're up!"

"Scatterbolt, go get 'em!" Nicholas said, lobbing the Ampharos's Pokéball onto one of the floating platforms.

[Katana (Scyther) Age: 22. Ability: Technician. Moves: Fury Cutter, Agility, Quick Attack, Fly, Fake Out, Shadow Claw, and Air Slash.]

The two Pokémon appeared in the customary flashes of white light; Scatterbolt standing on his platform, and Katana hovering in mid-air above hers. Jack smiled in satisfaction; a Flying-Type against an Electric-Type might seem like a bad match-up, but Katana had a few tricks up her figurative sleeves.

"BATTLE BEGIN!" called the referee.

"I'd rather not spoil these incredible fights too much," Keldeo said, "But I have to say that these battles really highlight the personalities of the Pokemon."

Katana slammed into him, knocking him flying.

Scatterbolt fell into the pool with a resounding splash, and before the Ampharos could recover Katana fired an Air Slash after him; the second attack landed another resounding hit, and Scatterbolt was plunged underwater.

Katana knew that if she tried going after the Electric-Type, it wouldn't end well; so all she could do was wait for her opponent to resurface. She waited, and waited, and waited…

Katana would've scowled, if her face had been built for such an expression; as it was, she simply let out an exclamation of impatience. Scatterbolt wasn't surfacing, in fact she couldn't see him anywhere.

"He couldn't have been knocked out by just two attacks," Katana thought to herself.

"You're right," Jack suddenly replied telepathically, causing Katana to shudder slightly. "He's definitely planning something; if you sense anything out of the ordinary, fly up. Fast."

"Yeah, I know," Katana replied. "Just… Could you please not do that while I'm trying to concentrate?"

"Oh, yeah; sorry," Jack said apologetically.

Katana was about to respond, when her combat reflexes kicked in; developed over years of clan-wars, they propelled her into the air before she even realized she was in danger. Barely a heartbeat later, the platform she'd been standing on was knocked to the side like a hockey puck on ice; if Katana had still been standing on it, she would've been knocked off her feet and fallen into the water.

"We also get some good insight to the inner workings of Pokemon battles."

"Nicholas has gotten strong indeed," Jack commented for the benefit of the readers. "He didn't give Scatterbolt any audible instructions about that little trick; he just said 'Iron Tail', and Scatterbolt knew to knock the platform out of the way. And by the time Nicholas called for Signal Beam, Scatterbolt had already prepared the attack. They must have practiced that manoeuvre, or something like it, until they knew it off by heart. Either that, or…"

Or Nicholas had some sort of psychic connection with his Pokémon just like Jack himself did; although, Jack guessed that Nicholas probably didn't realize it. From extensive research on the subject, Jack knew that weak, latent telepathic connections weren't uncommon between trainers and their Pokémon; not enough for them to consciously transmit thoughts back and forth, even if they tried, but enough to make them uncannily good at anticipating each other.

"That's ingenious!" Keldeo exclaimed, his mind blown, "That's awesome! It makes perfect sense in many of the battles we've seen in the anime!"

It didn't take a strategic genius to figure out that they were at a stalemate, so Jack sighed and recalled Katana to her Pokéball; despite numerous, and loud, complaints from the Pokémon in question at being taken out of battle so soon. Jack made a show of rummaging around in his backpack for a second, while deftly and discretely placing her back in the Pack and retrieving someone more suited to the task at hand.

His covert operation complete, Jack turned back to the battlefield and released his one 'mon army.

"Solomon, you're up!"

[Solomon (Kadabra) Age: 18. Ability: Magic Guard. Moves: Teleport, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Sleep Talk, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam.]

"Solomon strikes back by using a less creepy and more awesome version of Wendy's psychotic ice attack."

Scatterbolt tried to dive back underwater again but Solomon re-appeared levitating above him, stretched out one hand, and fired an Ice Beam straight downwards; the attack hit Scatterbolt square on the head and froze the water around him solid.

Scatterbolt was caught by the ice in a rather undignified position; lying horizontally, half-submerged in the ice with his rear end sticking up. Fortunately, the Ampharos's head was also above water.

Solomon's eyes glowed with purple energy as he used Psychic to lift Scatterbolt, iceberg included, up into the air; Scatterbolt desperately attempted to break the ice with Iron Tail, but it didn't work.

Solomon flicked the Ampharos-icle up in the air above him, turned his head upwards to look at his opponent, and then unleashed a powerful Flamethrower at him; the attack hit the chunk of ice, and Scatterbolt, full on. The collision raised a large cloud of steam which obscured the results; Solomon could feel that the iceberg had vaporized, leaving only a slightly crispy Ampharos behind, so he released his telekinetic hold and let Scatterbolt drop into the water to cool off.

As Scatterbolt fell however, his eyes opened and his tail started to glow; spinning in the air to gain momentum, Scatterbolt attempted to bring an Iron Tail attack right down on Solomon's head, but was met with a Psychic hand that swatted him out of the arena and into the wall of the colosseum. That time, he decided to stay down.

Nicholas recalled the battered (and fried) Ampharos to his Pokéball with an almost apologetic expression, mumbling something that Jack didn't quite catch. The red-headed trainer then unclipped another Pokéball from his belt and tossed it onto one of the platforms.

"Strike, go get 'em!" he shouted.

The recently evolved Ninjask appeared in a flash of light and hovered above the water for a second.

"Uh-oh. A Bug-type. Solomon's in trouble now," Keldeo said worriedly.

Strike readied another Feint Attack; Solomon knew that if it hit, he'd be in serious trouble. He knew Strike's attack pattern, but it didn't do any good if he couldn't move fast enough to counter it; he had to catch Strike by surprise somehow.

Then, he got it; it was something he'd seen some of Ash's Pokémon do on multiple occasions, and it seemed to be singularly effective. But best of all, neither Strike nor Nicholas would see it coming. Solomon quickly shared his idea with Jack.

"It's so crazy," Jack said with a grin, "It just might work."

Squidward: "That idea just might be crazy enough. . . TO GET US ALL KILLED!"

"Actually, it turns out that the plan involves fire-bending a Counter Shield," Keldeo said, "Yeah, remember how awesome those were in Diamond and Pearl. . ."

"Now!" Jack shouted into Solomon's mind.

It took Solomon roughly 0.09 seconds to register that Jack had given the order, and a further 0.13 seconds to carry it out; if they were off by even five hundredths of a second, it wouldn't work. Fortunately, Solomon's trust in Jack was well-placed.

When Jack gave the order, Solomon released the telekinetic energy he'd been building up all at once; but not at Strike, that would be too obvious an attack. He'd sense it coming and avoid it. No, Solomon directed the energy and the twin Flamethrowers he was holding; fanning them up into a roaring inferno and then spinning them around himself like a cocoon. Or a tornado. A technique Ash seemed fond of calling a 'Counter Shield'.

Jack's timing was dead on; the blast of fire came around behind Solomon at the exact same moment that Strike did, crashing into the unfortunate Ninjask's left side. Strike was instantly swept up by the fiery vortex, and tossed around like a leaf in the wind for several seconds before Solomon let the whirlwind die down.

No sooner did Solomon release his control over the fiery tornado than Strike was right back on the offensive, diving down at Solomon with another Feint Attack; but this time Solomon managed to teleport away in plenty of time. Strike had taken a lot of damage from Solomon's attack, and the Ninjask seemed to be slowing down.

Strike tried one more time, rushing in with Quick Attack; compared to his former speed, it looked like he was flying in slow motion. Solomon saw it coming from a mile away and intercepted it with a powerful Thunderbolt, and then a blast of Psychic. Strike was down for the count.

Solomon was breathing heavily as Nicholas recalled Strike to his Pokéball; the last battle had been a hard one, and the Kadabra had only won by a matter of milliseconds. Solomon wouldn't be able to go another round, and both he and Jack knew it.

"Solomon, return," Jack said as he recalled Solomon to the Pokéball. "You've earned some rest. And besides," he whispered softly, "I think Aura wants to congratulate you or something."

Yakko: "*Mwah!* Goodnight, everybody!"

"This leaves Nicholas with one Pokemon left."

"Sunspot," Nicholas said, "Go get 'em!"

The Infernape appeared in the customary flash of white light, and looked at his opponent with a grin.

"Huh," Sunspot said with a shrug. "And here I was hoping I'd get to fight Jason right off the bat; but I guess he'll come out after I've taken you down."

"Why do you want to fight Jason so badly?" Katana asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious?" the Infernape said. "This is the moment Nicholas and I have been waiting for! Jason is the most powerful of you, and I've been going through non-stop special training specifically so I'd be able to beat him; after that, the rest of the tournament will be a walk in the park, no one will be able to stop us. Then one day, we'll challenge Cynthia and Nicholas will become the Sinnoh Champion!"

"Those are some pretty big aspirations you have," Katana shot back. "You're starting to sound like some cheesy comic-book villain."

Claw: "I think somebody's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons."

"So, predictably, Sunspot curb-stomps Katana, but she's not ready to quit just yet."

"Katana, re…"

"Don't you dare!" the Scyther snapped, giving him a look that would've stopped a rampaging Touros in its tracks.

"You're injured," Jack said, switching to Pokéspeak. "You need to rest."

"I'm fine," Katana insisted. "I've fought, and won, with way worse injuries than this. Don't worry about me."

Jack sighed, and switched to telepathic communication. "You do realize you can't win this fight, right?"

"What's with the switching of languages?" Keldeo asked in confusion, "You don't see me randomly switching between telepathy and Kelde Kel, Keldeo? Kelde? Kel Kel!"

"Maybe not," Katana said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Jack; it wasn't like her to admit something like that. "But there's no way I'm going down easy; you can be sure I'll give him a run for his money at least."

Jack considered calling her back whether she liked it or not, but he decided against it. Katana knew her own limits better than he ever could; if she said she was fine, he knew he could trust her.

"Alright then," he said aloud finally, with an air of resignation. "Just make sure you leave some of him for Jason; after all the boasting Sunspot's been doing, Jason will be disappointed if he doesn't get to beat him up himself."

Katana gave him what equated to a knowing grin. "All right then, I'll do my best."

"So Katana's technique basically consists of throwing as many Air Slashes at Sunspot as possible, and then charging at him in a brute force technique. I give you Katana! A child soldier from the Scyther-Breloom Clan Wars! Maybe Breloom are just awfu- er, different kind of fighters," Keldeo said.

Being a foot taller than the Infernape, Katana was able to throw her entire body behind her surprise headbutt; connecting hard with Sunspot's forehead, and knocking him back into the water with a satisfying splash.

"Ha," Katana exclaimed smugly, if exhaustedly, as Sunspot thrashed desperately to get back to a platform. "That'll teach you to mess with me, kid. Next time you feel like bragging about how great you are, just remember how I sent you butt-first into the pool."

Her pride satisfied, Katana collapsed backwards onto the platform; completely spent. Jack was by her side in a heartbeat, making sure she was alright; her aura was still strong as ever, but she was too exhausted to stand up. Much less fight. Jack returned her to her Pokéball without so much as a complaint from her.

"You fought well," he said as he hopped from platform to platform back to his side of the battlefield. "Take a good rest; this won't take long."

"Alright," Keldeo said excitedly, "Here we go! Jason vs Sunspot. Lucario vs Infernape. Here we go!"

Jack remembered what Nicholas had said some time ago, and came to a decision; not only would it be the perfect counter to Sunspot's fighting style, but if what Nicholas said was true then they might even be able to expect a few surprises mid-battle.

Jack punched in a different number, to the surprise and alarm of everyone inside the Pack, save one, and walked back to the battlefield. He grinned confidently at Nicholas, who suddenly looked a little bit worried.

"Come on!" Sunspot shouted, his head-flame flaring up like a bonfire. "Call him out already; let's get this over with."

Jack shrugged. "Alright, you asked for it."

With that, he tossed the Pokéball onto a platform; the Pokémon who appeared, however, was quite a bit smaller than Jason.

"Wendy, you're up," Jack said with a smug grin.

[Wendy (Kirlia) Age: 12. Ability: Trace. Moves: Magical Leaf, Hypnosis, Psychic, Teleport, and Light Screen.]

Keldeo spat out his Berry Juice again and shouted, "Oh, come on! Twice in one review! And what happened to this line?"

"Alright then," he said aloud finally, with an air of resignation. "Just make sure you leave some of him for Jason; after all the boasting Sunspot's been doing, Jason will be disappointed if he doesn't get to beat him up himself."

"So, I guess Jason is just gonna have to be disappointed?" Keldeo asked, "Oh well. . . in that case. . ." Keldeo's eyes went wide and he shouted, "RUN, SUNSPOT! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

"Are you kidding me!?" Sunspot exclaimed. "She's just a kid; you expect me to fight a kid?"

Wendy folded her arms. "Who are you calling a kid; Aunt Katana says I'm a young adult, and old enough to stand up for myself."

Sunspot looked at her standing there, arms crossed defiantly, and broke out laughing.

Keldeo got out his smartphone and said, "I wonder what kind of flowers they got for the people who got killed by Annabelle?"

Wendy huffed. "I'll teach you to laugh at me, Mr. Sunspot."

Without any further warning, Wendy's eyes glowed with Psychic energy and she telekinetically flipped the platform on which Sunspot was standing; dumping him unceremoniously into the water once again. Now it was Wendy's turn to giggle uncontrollably.

Sunspot was in a much worse mood when he clambered out of the water for the third time that day.

"Okay," he growled, "That's it; no more mister nice guy. I'm gonna… H-hey, what're you doing?! Put me down!"

Before he could finish his threat, Wendy picked him up with Psychic and began waving him around in the air like a ragdoll; before letting him fall into the water again with a splash.

"You know, I have to give Jack Storm 448 props for going ahead and running with the 'Creepy Supernatural Child' trope," Keldeo remarked.

This time as Sunspot clambered onto a nearby platform, he didn't waste any time in charging up a quick Fire Blast and sending it in Wendy's direction; it looked like a direct hit, but when the smoke cleared there was no trace of Wendy.

Sunspot turned around quickly, and found himself staring into a pair of… beautiful, ruby-red eyes; like the sun just before it dipped below the horizon. Then, he heard a voice.

"Sleep," it said. "Close your eyes and take a good long nap."

"So I can kill you. . ."

It was the most beautiful sound Sunspot had ever heard; like a choir of angels singing in harmony, like the tinkling of chimes, it drowned out any other. He longed to hear that wonderful voice, and stare into those beautiful eyes, for all eternity. Their effect was almost mesmerising.

No, that wasn't the right word; but for the life of him he couldn't find a right one, and the attempt was tiring him out. Maybe he should take the voice's suggestion and go to sleep, but what was that word? It was... His eyelids were getting heavy, but what was that word? It was… It was… It was…

Hypnotic.

Sunspot snapped out of the trance with a roar of extreme disapproval, startling Wendy nearly out of her wits. Before she could comprehend what had happened, Sunspot had charged up a Fire Blast and spat it, point blank, into her face.

"Wait a minute, since when did he know Occlumency?" Keldeo asked.

"So Sunspot must not be afraid of horror movies, because he manages to take Wendy down in epic fashion."

The powerful attack knocked Wendy to the ground, and right into a platform; no soft, watery landing this time. After a hit like that, Wendy was at her limit; she struggled to stand up, but the effort proved to be too much for her. She collapsed on the platform and didn't move.

The referee looked at Wendy, then at Jack; the blue-clad trainer didn't seem at all concerned that his Pokémon had been knocked out, in fact he was smiling slightly. The referee started to announce Sunspot the winner of the fight, but Jack held up a hand.

"If you'd wait just a moment, this fight isn't over," he said.

"Your Pokémon is clearly defeated," the referee said. "In her condition, there's no way she could…"

Then he noticed something; a light coming from the battlefield. More specifically, the light was coming from Wendy. Jack grinned; it had been sheer torture for him to watch Wendy get beaten up, even more than it had been for Wendy herself, but they'd both agreed that the end result was worth it. Wendy was evolving.

"Glad to see they agreed before hand. Rule number one of the world of Pokemon: Pokemon love to fight! Except for the one who like to perform," Keldeo recited.

"So Wendy evolves in Gardevoir, meaning we don't have to deal with all those creepy little girl tropes, and she powers up a Pokemon XY commercial."

Without another word, Wendy pointed her right arm at Sunspot and streams of silver energy began raining down from the sky and collecting in the palm of her three-fingered hand. The ribbons of energy gathered together and spun themselves into a sphere of crackling silver light.

It was a powerful technique that had only recently been discovered in the Kalos region, and Wendy had only heard about by watching the news; once she'd read up on it, she had tried many times to master it. This was the first time she'd actually succeeded, and she was ecstatic about it; she was using Moonblast.

"Nicely done, Wendy," Jack said, "Now maybe you could actually throw it at him?"

WAH-WAH-WAH-WAAAAAHHHHHH!

Keldeo smiled and shrugged in a goofy manner.

After basking in her own glow for a moment, Wendy figured that Jack was right; it was about time she tested her new move in combat, by beating the ever-living daylights out of Sunspot with it.

"Right," she agreed. "One Fairy-type special, coming right up!"

With that, she launched the Moonblast like a silver bullet at Sunspot; who was starting to feel a little nervous.

"Wait a minute, he just stood there the whole time?" Keldeo asked incredulously, "He didn't. . . run or jump to become a moving target . . . or attack while she was charging up?"

Planet Fitness Guy: "I pick things up and put them down."

He fired off a Fire Blast to try and cancel it out, but the bolt of light cut through it like a hot knife through butter and hit him square on the chest, where it then exploded.

The blast flung the Infernape backwards like a ball from a cannon, and he hit the wall of the arena behind Nicholas with a crash; and speaking of Nicholas, he was pretty much in a state of panic at this point. Things were not looking good for Sunspot; the watery battlefield had wreaked enough havoc on their battle strategy already, and now this. They only had one chance now; and it looked like this was it.

Sunspot, seemingly miraculously, peeled himself off the wall and walked back to the battlefield; taking a ready position on a platform. Wendy was about fire off another Moonblast, but then something caught her eye; Sunspot was glowing. The Infernape was surrounded by a fiery red aura, and Jack knew exactly what it meant; he'd seen it often enough. Blaze.

"By now you've probably guessed what Sunspot's ability is," Nicholas said. "While Blaze is active, Sunspot is almost unbeatable."

"I notice you said 'almost'," Jack pointed out, to which Nicholas said nothing.

"And cut!" Keldeo said with a grin, "That's all I'm gonna review. If you wanna see who wins, just go ahead and check out the story."

"So that's the first eight chapters of Rising Storm: Book 2. And, as you can probably tell, IT WAS AWESOME!" Keldeo exclaimed, "All my joking about Wendy aside, and to be honest I think was both misinterpreting her scenes and overreacting to her actions, these first few chapters were really good. And I mean really good. The fight scenes are more epic that Dragon Ball Z and Star Wars combined! Jack's Pokemon are all just so well developed. It had funny moments, and really nice interactions between characters, specifically Maylene and Paul. It also foreshadows some major conflicts that Jack will have to deal with, both inner conflicts and outer conflicts. And I can't wait to see what's next in Jack Storm's future. Will Tobias' backstory be revealed? Will Team Alpha show up? Will the mysterious villain appear? Will Jack and Maylene kiss?"

Keldeo shrugged, "I don't know. . . ." Keldeo smiled and said, "I'm Keldeo the Critic, I review it so you don't have to!"

The End

Credits

Nostalgia Critic: Avatar the Last Airbender

Breaking the Chains by AuraWielder

Conquering the Dark by AuraWielder

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

The Twilight Zone

ESPURR, NO! by Megasteakman

The Talos Principle by Croteam

Inspector Gadget The Movie by Disney

Annabelle by Warner Bros.

The Animaniacs by Warner Bros.

Who's On First by Abbott and Costello

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Planet Fitness

PeeWee's Playhouse

Special Thanks

AuraWielder

Jack Storm 448

MandoPony

Bulbapedia