-Chapter VIII: A New Threat-

-Connor-

When Tyranitar charged forward, the entire earth shook. When he hit the solid wall of stone, he expected Tyranitar to begin digging, or use bulldoze, but what happened was waaay cooler. He ran straight through the wall like it was made of water. He pushed for about twenty feet, then glowed so bright that Connor had to look away. When he felt the heat die down, the inside of the mountain glowed red hot as molten rock dripped from the ceiling. Tyranitar emerged from the tunnel and slung cooled lava off of his legs. "There. It should be hardened in a minute."

Connor moved closer to the entrance and got a good look. After the end of the ten foot tall tunnel, the entire mountain looked like it was hollowed out in a massive upside-down bowl shape. The ground was magma, but he used water gun to cool the liquid rock into stepping stones.

"This is incredible!" He called back. "We're going to live in here?"

"For now." Amber strode into the newly formed cavern behind him, ignoring the knee-deep magma she was wading through. "Do you mind making a blizzard to cool this down? We shouldn't be outside any longer than necessary."

He nodded. "Yeah. Give me a sec." He used water gun once more to make a good-sized platform, then concentrated on making a swirling blizzard. His skin frosted over and the snow began falling from the stone above. He concentrated it and willed it to swirl around the cavern, cooling off the walls and floor. Amber stepped onto his section of stone as the earth around her began to harden and condense.

She stepped closer to him after a moment, which made him flinch, but he pressed on until the stone looked like it had been there for centuries. Afterwards, one-by-one, the rest of the team came in. Dusknoir and Roy came in through the wall, while everybody else filed in through the main entrance.

"How will this protect us?" He asked. "That entrance is big enough to let just about any pokémon walk right in."

She smiled as if his confusion amused her. "Celebi?"

The little pink time-travelling pokémon appeared in front of them. "Yes?"

"Once everyone has come in, can you seal the entrance please?"

Celebi nodded. "Of course!" She sighed and looked at him. "I'm sorry that our reunion couldn't be under better circumstances, Connor. I do hope that we will be able to stop this criminal organization."

He shrugged slightly. "Ah, it's fine…" He didn't want to let on how upset he really was. Most of the original recruits had died because he couldn't take out Vulcan. Sure, it was primarily that group's fault, but Roy had warned him. It's either you or him… And he chose Vulcan.

"It's not your fault," Celebi promised. "Even if you think it is… It's not."

He just nodded and mumbled. "Yeah, I know…" He didn't believe it. It was his fault for not getting to Vulcan sooner. He could have done something.

After everybody filed in, Connor expected it to be crowded. But Celebi used Ancient Power to make the vertical walls into tiered steps with stone platforms that appeared to serve as beds, making the entire space easily twice as large. Grovyle, Basileus and Briar all grew a breed of insanely soft grass on the stone just by running their hands along the ground. Tyranitar braced himself and summoned a cluster of crystals from the ground that melded into one giant sphere. Amber placed her hand on it, and it began glowing at just the right brightness to where he could see clearly, but didn't have to squint. Dawn just floated over by the exit, seeming to be in meditation. He walked over to her while Galvantula strung the glowing crystal from the ceiling. "Hey, you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno… You haven't opened your eyes the entire time I've seen you. That's kind of weird."

"I prefer using my psychic senses to see. It allows me to see the aura of other beings, and it is more reliable than physical sight."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess."

"Thank you for understanding." He didn't hear any sarcasm in her voice.

Alice came up behind them. "Hey, guys… What's up?"

He shrugged. "Nothing much. Why?"

"Just thought I'd introduce myself to the new member." She said. She extended her hand and Dawn took hold of it gently. "Nice to meet you Alice. I'm Dawn." She beamed.

Alice nodded, not even paying attention to the fact that she never mentioned her name to the Ralts. "Nice to meet you too." She heaved a massive sigh. "Sorry… About all this. It's been rough the past couple days."

Dawn nodded slowly. "I know."

Alice pursed her lips and excused herself. Dawn shifted uncomfortably, but she stood tall when Caroline introduced herself as well, followed closely by Mirage.

Atlas came up a little while later. She introduced herself and they talked about a couple things before he went back to his bed and lied down. His wounds were still healing up, and his skin still glistening from Briar's healing paste.

He turned back to Dawn and smiled, trying not to let his sadness show. "Don't worry. This whole thing is one big mess right now, but I think it'll work out."

She tilted her head up with a slight smile. "Me too."

-Victor-

He paced in front of the map of Immanis painted on the wall of his meeting area. It was a moderately large space, just large enough to fit a Steelix, if it squeezed in through the door. The floor was made of a dark volcanic rock, almost as dark as his plumage. The table in the center of the room was a simple oak round table with a chandelier hanging above, bathing the room in a gentle orange glow.

"Mordred… My right hand. You've done well."

The Bisharp knelt and looked to the ground. "Thank you, sir."

"But not well enough."

His eye twitched slightly, but he said nothing. Victor narrowed his eyes. "Does this upset you?"

"Very much, sir."

"It should. It's displeasing to know that an entire team escaped your grasp." He ruffled his feathers and turned to face the Bisharp. "While I do commend you taking down that Cacturne yourself, the fact remains that Vulcan escaped, and you did not take down Connor or the Froslass. They are the biggest threats on that team. I told you that from the beginning."

"With all due respect, even I realize how powerful Connor is. It would be suicide for me to battle him."

"Then you take down the Froslass. She should be easy work for you."

"I understand, sir. But-"

"Master Victor." He turned as the Crobat flew into the room. Her eyes scanned between them and she slowed down. "...Am I interrupting anything?"

"Not at all, Koumori. Do you have the whereabouts of Team Firestorm?"

"Yes, sir. They are on the western side of the great mountain range, about fourteen miles south of Mt. Horn."

"Good, good…" He chuckled. Then Koumori nodded some more, and Victor's eyes widened slightly. "Are they here?"

She nodded silently, and he waved her away. "Bring them in and leave my presence."

Koumori nodded, and Nagini slithered in, accompanied by an Ariados and Noivern. "...You're dismissed." The Seviper bowed his head in submission and exited.

The two new pokémon waited patiently, and a smirk tugged at the edge of his beak. "Widow and Flatline… I've heard much about you two."

The Noivern nodded, his low, gravelly voice unnerving him. "Likewise. It's incredible how you've managed to keep a group this large under the radar."

Victor smiled and tipped his head feathers in a friendly gesture. "I do what I must to make a living."

The Ariados crawled up the wall and hung from the ceiling. "Let's get to the point. We aren't here to talk. We're here because you have a problem. A problem that you think we can solve."

"If you live up to your reputation, then I know that you can handle this without an issue."

Flatline, the Noivern, bobbed his head approvingly. "We're the best at what we do. And what we do isn't really… for the faint of heart."

He narrowed his eyes. "I know what you two are about. You're criminals, just like us."

"Oh, no, honey." The Ariados landed on the ground silently and crawled up to him, her voice numbing his mind. "We're not criminals. We're just hunters, offering our services to the highest bidder."

Flatline sat on the ground and looked at a small note. "Twenty thousand poké a head. That's a lot, even for a request as big as this. And we don't normally consider teams of more than two. This is gonna be a tough job."

He growled silently, but nodded and put on a neutral expression. "It is. My pricing merely shows how sorely I need them eliminated."

The Noivern narrowed his eyes at Victor. "You say you've got almost two hundred thousand poké just lying around? I'd need to see it before I take any offers."

"I know how ruthless you two can be. It'd be suicide to con either of you."

Widow smiled cruelly. "At least you're not stupid. But like Flatline said, we won't accept your offer unless you show us the payment first. And even then, we need to read up on this 'team'. No offense, but we don't take sources from only one pokémon."

Mordred stepped forward and extended his arm blades. "You think my leader is lying? I'll show you-"

Faster than Victor could register, Mordred was pinned to the wall by a net of steel-hard webbing, and Widow was holding a razor-sharp quill to his neck. She smirked cruelly as she forced his head against the wall by pressing the dagger to his throat. "Show us what? How strong you are? You think you're all big and bad because you killed a Cacturne? We're professionals, honey. We've taken down foes much… much stronger than you. It's best if you pay attention." She sliced the webbing straight down the middle and swiftly crawled back to the Noivern's side as Mordred fell to the ground. "Your choice, Victor. Show us, or we're moving on."

Victor glared at them, but knew that they weren't bluffing. "...Follow me."

Mordred stood up, and Victor extended his wing. "Just us. You stay here."

He extended his wings and flew out of the chamber he was currently in, into a slightly larger room, with paintings on all of the walls of the sons of Arceus and life-sized stone models of other pokémon. The Ariados tilted her head. "Who are they?"

"They're pokémon we've eliminated." He glanced at the Dragonair, turned to stone with a fierce look in her eyes. "We haven't found the bodies of the Smeargle, Tropius or Cacturne for the petrification process, but they are dead, I assure you. Have you read the briefing letter?"

The Noivern humphed. "Widow handles all that. I don't do much reading."

"Ah. Of course." Victor glided in front of them and came to a statue of a Delphox holding a small wand out like it was casting a spell. Flatline tilted his head slightly. "What's this?"

"The witch Valerie. Team Virus took her down a few years ago. She was a master escape artist and could create very realistic illusions." He extended his wing to the branch that the statue held out like a wand. "Almost as well as a Zoroark. ...Almost." He pushed the stick down, and a rumbling noise came from the statue. Behind it, the wall sunk into the ground, revealing a staircase leading down into darkness. He turned to the Ariados and Noivern. "Well? You want to see where I hoard my plethora of wealth?"

The two bounty hunters glanced at each other, and after a silent agreement, turned back to him and followed him into the hidden chamber.

As they went down the stairs, Victor called back. "So how soon will you be able to travel to Mt. Horn, provided you accept my offer?"

"Shouldn't take more than a few minutes, as fast as I fly." Flatline bragged. "I can hit mach 4 when I'm really moving."

Victor nodded. "Once again, you surpass my expectations."

"Don't think this is a sure deal, Victor. Teams larger than two pokémon are difficult to take down swiftly. Four is pushing it. But eight? The only reason we thought about your offer at all was because of the ridiculous amount of poké you're paying. But I don't know if we'll be able to take this job. It's only fair that I warn you."

"...Are you saying that you're incapable?"

Widow's expression grew dangerously hostile. "...I don't lie to my potential employers. Flatline and I are assassins. We target individuals, or pairs of pokémon. Teams of more than four? That's not usually something we even consider."

"Why not?"

"There is safety in numbers. We rely on stealth and surprise attacks to kill our targets. Not much of a surprise if any of them see us before we reach them. And if they have more than two pokémon, the difficulty of performing these operations without any slip-ups multiplies exponentially."

Victor growled inaudibly. This could be a problem. A big problem.

-Roy-

"Hey." He floated up to Dawn after sulking in the shadow dimension for a while. Back when he asked her to come with him, he had no idea that she would cooperate so easily.

A small smile crept across her face as she turned her head to face him. "It's about time."

"So you expected me?" He arched an eyebrow. She nodded. "I knew you were waiting until everybody left me alone."

He laughed to himself. "Am I really that predictable?"

"Not to most." She remarked. "Just me."

He tilted his head back slightly. "And what exactly do you know about me?"

"Not a lot. You're difficult to read, that's for sure. But from what I've seen, you put on a huge front of wisecracks and smiles. But you still think that nobody on your team likes you, in spite of everything you've went through together."

"Hmph." He floated slightly closer. "I know that nobody on this team likes me. They tolerate me, maybe, but-"

"You're wrong." She interrupted. "I'm on this team, and I like you."

He shrugged and teared up. "Give it a little while. You'll end up like the others." The bitterness in his voice surprised himself. He knew that she was right. He did think that he was unwanted. But how did the conversation take such a negative turn?

He felt her gaze pierce right through her eyelids and straight into him. "You think that I'll just… leave? Why would I have any reason to lie to you?"

"Everyone on this team that I attempted to befriend died less than two days ago. Forgive me for not wanting to get attached to anyone right now."

She closed her eyes tighter and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Roy… I… I shouldn't have said anything."

He did his best to smile and change the subject. For some reason it made him upset when she was down. "Don't worry about it. Enough about me. How are you doing?"

She shrugged and sat down. "I've been better, not gonna lie."

He sunk to the ground next to her. "Well, what's wrong?"

She crossed her arms. "Why would you care? You just said you don't want to get attached to anyone."

"I will do whatever I please, thank you! If I want to know why you're upset, I will ask." He laughed quietly.

She took a deep breath. "Hmph. Well, I-"

"Hey guys, we need to get to sleep." Connor interjected and tried to place a hand on Roy's shoulder, but it passed through like an illusion. Roy took a shallow breath. "Um… May I stay up a little bit longer? After all, sleep isn't necessary for my species."

Connor nodded after some hesitation. "Fine. Dawn, you're sleeping on the bunk next to me. Or Jade. Your ch-"

"Next to you." She said quickly.

A half-effort smile tugged at Connor's mouth, but the pain in his eyes told Roy everything he needed to know. "...She's just mad at everyone right now, and this is how she deals with it, I guess. It's nothing personal against you. I promise."

Dawn got up and turned her head towards Roy. "It's alright. I understand. Good night, Roy." Then, she did something that caught him entirely off guard. She pulled him into a hug. His entire being filled with a strange warmth and his eyes widened as she said, "Talk to you tomorrow." She backed away and floated alongside Connor.

His eyes followed her all the way down until she laid down. He floated over to Dusknoir, and the big ghost glanced at him from his resting position.

"Uhh…" Roy shook his head to clear his mind. His thought process was fuzzy, like someone used teeter dance and followed up with a confuse ray. That was so unexpected, especially given that he had only met her that day.

"Um… You want to go exploring or something? Being cooped up here isn't doing me much good."

Dusknoir planted his hands on the ground and pushed himself upright. "...Might as well."

Okay, so I got a feel for my uploading schedule. Mondays and Thursdays, sometimes Fridays, if I'm busy. I'll update the Firestorm Battle Royale roster to accommodate for the new characters, Widow and Flatline

So about the chapter: How did you guys enjoy it? I hope you liked it a lot! I introduced the dreaded assassins from the end of Light in the Storm, finally! If you guys have any questions, comments, concerns, or theories about what's going to happen, feel free to leave a Review or PM me! The support is much appreciated! Much Love!

Also, next Monday is Spinda Vs. Drowzee on Firestorm Battle Royale.

-PL