Hello guys! I apologize for the long delay but this month has been rough for me. I'm proud to announce that I have a new chapter for my story. Enjoy!

Chapter nineteen: A New Threat

"Wake up." A voice calls to a young adult after slapping him repeatedly on the cheek. He opens his eyes to find himself resting outside on the ground. He feels the sun's last rays of sunlight for the day hit his face. Once he finds the source of the voice, which is a blurry silhouette of a tall person, he struggles to try and escape from the confined place from which he is in, but it results in a painful response to come from his leg. He gasps loudly in pain.

"Sorry we had to take away that nice view from you up there, but we wanted to make our entrance look more diabolical, hope you don't mind…Cy." The adult fugitive examines the person, his eyes beginning to focus more clearly on the actual person: it's a man, dressed in black, standing next to him. It's a Team Rocket Grunt, the first one he has seen in days.

"Rk…you're the last person I wanted to see…how did you find me…"

"Don't you just love our Scannerbots? They never cease to amaze me. Anyway...how's that leg, chump?" The Grunt asks after inspecting Cy, whose leg is trapped under debris. Cy grabs the back of his head, which is bleeding slightly from the fall.

"…why do you care…" Cy responds almost casually, but in reality he is trying to hide the fact that his leg is experiencing tremendous pain. The Grunt crosses his arms, "The boss wouldn't want to see you hurt."

"Then why the hell did you destroy the balcony that I was on?"

"Ah…you got me there…I'm just messing with you. Mr. Giovanni and Dr. Bartoli want you alive, but they're not here to see this." Without warning, the Grunt punches Cy in the face, causing the adult to try and punch back; however, the grunt is just too far away, "I don't care what they say, I ain't letting you get away with your hands clean. That was for everything you did back at the base. Do you realize what you've done?"

"Stupid question…hard to believe Giovanni recruits idiots like you."

He narrows his eyes but then smiles after he sees Cy's clutched fists, "You wanna hit me back, is that it? Come on, I'll let you hit me…right here." The Grunt slaps his cheek toward Cy, "Come on! What, are you too short to reach me? Oh, that's too bad. Being in a body of a ten year old must suck."

"I'm twen-"

"You don't look twenty Cy. Don't try to act tough about your age like you always do because it doesn't mean anything to us, you'll always be short and you know it. Everyone in the organization would have made your life as a Team Rocket member a living hell if it wasn't for Km…"

"Don't…say her name again."

"What...Km? Oh…sorry, did that make you angry?" The man teases, "You know Cy…I sometimes wonder to myself and I tell other people about this but…without Km, you have nothing but your tiny little fists to defend yourself with outside the base's walls…kind of sad for you to hear that I bet because you know it."

"I don't rely on my fists, punk. I rely on smart thinking, something you seem to lack." Cy retorts.

He punches Cy again, with less force, "Too bad your smart thinking can't stop my fist from hitting your face." The Grunt shakes his hand slightly after the impact.

The Team Rocket member moves away and turns to another Grunt, who is inspecting a portable device near the edge of the hill, "How long before the transport arrives?" The Grunt turns around to face Rk, "5 minutes, give or take."

Rk places his hands on his hips and chuckles when he looks back at Cy, "Hear that? Your days of being free will be over soon. I can't wait to see what they'll do to you."

"If you think I'm going to beg for mercy, I'm not going to beg for a scumbag like you…" Cy retorts.

"Won't make a difference anyway…help me out here, make sure he doesn't try anything." The Grunt removes the debris covering Cy's leg while the other points a gun, a tranquilizer, at him. When the debris is tossed aside, the Grunt forcefully grab's Cy's shirt to get him to stand. In extreme pain, Cy tries all he can to remain stationary.

When the Grunt inspects Cy again, he finds the black guitar bag on the young adult's back. He smiles, "I see you've been traveling with your guitar."

Cy begins to worry a lot, "Help me take it off, I want to see if it's-"

Rk laughs, "Sure, you won't be needing it anymore after today. I'll go ahead and confiscate it." Cy responds with a shout, "Like hell you will!" He tries to push Rk but the Grunt holding the tranquilizer gun comes closer and brandishes it in his face, "Take one more step! I dare you punk!"

After several seconds of thinking to himself, RK lets go of the bag, "Eh…I'll let you carry it for now. Let's take him to the parking lot and wait for-"

However, before they try to move Cy from the pile of rubble, a lightning bolt travels toward them and causes the Grunt holding the gun to drop to the ground in pain. Rk had moved away just in time, but he is then struck and paralyzed by another powerful bolt of lightning soon after the first attack. Cy, who managed to avoid the path of the attacks, covers his face from the bright ThunderShocks. When he opens his eyes again, he sees two familiar Pikachu's standing across from him and standing alongside them is a young teenager.

"Oreo...Lucas, he made it out too?…and…oh great…another trainer…" Cy says to himself.

This is another unexpected reunion, but this one is different. This is a reunion that has me clutching my small fists together in anger.

How could Orion ally himself with Cy: a Team Rocket Grunt who helped Bartoli make our lives miserable for over the past few weeks, not to mention the fact that Cy is the reason why Orion was put inside a small uncomfortable cage in the first place! This is something Orion wouldn't do…has he been brainwashed? I couldn't bring myself to believe that what he had said to me earlier was real, so I told myself instead that I heard the wrong words come out of his mouth.

"You missed Cy." I say.

Orion puffs from exhaustion, from using two ThunderShocks in succession. He turns to me and says, "Lucas…it's a long-" But he stops speaking midsentence because he sees me charging toward Cy with the intention to hurt him, but Orion, being twice as fast than I am, stopped me in my tracks, "Listen! You have to trust me Lucas." I stop trying to go for Cy and instead focus my eyes on Orion.

So it's true. I did hear him say the same thing earlier, so…I was right, Orion is helping Cy.

"Why are you siding with him, he's the last person we should be-" I shout to Orion.

"Lucas, just trust me!"

"Orion, he's the enemy! We can't trust him! Do I have to remind you that he-"

"Listen!" My ears droop after he shouts very loudly at me. He calms down soon after and looks at me with a stern expression, "He saved my life…I would be dead right now if it wasn't for him...so please understand…I promise I'll explain everything to you." Orion explains to me. He grabs my arms to make sure I understand. I just stood there, mouth open, at a loss for words. I wasn't sure what to think about this, whether or not Orion was now sympathizing with Team Rocket.

In the meantime Rigel, instead of being angry like me, is confused instead. By the time he rushes to break us apart, we were done with our discussion, so he asks in a concerned voice, "What happened between you two!?"

I, despite being in a state of distress, point towards Cy.

Rigel looks toward Cy for the first time. The adult Team Rocket member is crawling on the ground, going for the tranquilizer.

"It's…it's you!?" After Rigel says this, Cy stops going for the gun and looks toward the teen. He immediately recognizes the voice.

"So…it's Oreo's trainer. Now I remember…" Cy says to himself, "As if I had enough problems to deal with today."

"Now I know why my Pikachu led me up here…he found you and now he wants to teach you a lesson!" Rigel tells Cy. Upon hearing this, Orion slaps his head in frustration, "No…I'm here to help him Rigel!" Orion says after he runs back to stand alongside his trainer.

The human looks down at his Pikachu and smiles, "I know buddy, we're going to kick his butt real good!" Orion shakes his head repeatedly; Rigel turns his head sideways but then smiles again, "Oh okay, he's all yours then buddy!" Orion sighs deeply afterwards.

"Funny…this got good really fast! I can't wait to see him kick your butt for making our lives miserable!" Rigel shouts to Cy.

Cy responds nonchalantly, "Your Pikachu is the most persistent thing I've ever had to deal with. I assume you raised him that way."

"You think he's persistent now? Wait till he slams you into the ground!"

"Whatever you say kid." Cy says sarcastically.

Rigel looks around the area briefly and then asks, "So...where's the tall girl who was with you the last time we-"

"It's none of your business." Cy interrupts.

"It kind of is…I'm going to teach her a lesson too." Rigel retorts.

"I'd like to see you try punk…" Cy says to himself.

Then suddenly, we all hear groaning nearby. All of us had completely forgotten about the other Team Rocket Grunts! With the effects of paralysis subsided, one of them stands up from the ground and narrows his eyes toward us, "How dare you interrupt Team Rocket's operations, prepare to suffer!" He reaches for his belt and takes out a Poké ball, "Nidoking! Attack these intruders using Earthquake!" He throws the Poké ball in response.

All of our expressions are that of utter shock. Cy turns to him very quickly, "Idiot! We're on a mountain! You'll kill us all!"

As the ball releases a purple reptilian creature from its confines, which roars very loudly, the man yells to his Pokémon, "Very well, use Double-Edge instead!"

Suddenly, the monster runs toward us at breakneck speed and tackles the first victim in its path which is Orion. The tackle sends the Pikachu flying in the air and then he hits the ground with intense force as he squeaks from intense pain.

"Orion!" Both Rigel and I yell in unison. I rush to Orion to help him, "I'm alright…" He tells me as I pick him up from the ground and I can see that he is covered with scars and bruises from the attack.

The Nidoking stomps back to its owner, it shakes from the recoil caused by its move.

Rigel immediately responds by throwing a Poké ball of his own, "Charmeleon, help us take that Nidoking down!"

The round ball releases a red lizard-like creature which roars loudly similar to Nidoking. When it hears the familiar cries of Orion, he looks back and is surprised by what he sees, "Orion! We finally found you!"

"Charmeleon…nice to see you...I'm glad you didn't get stolen by Team Rocket."

"Of course not, I didn't let them remember? Don't worry, I'll take care of this." It says.

"Good to hear." Orion responds. Charmeleon raises an eyebrow after looking at me, "Who's he?"

"A friend…he's one of us." Orion tells him.

"Alright." Charmeleon says.

"Is this a joke?" The Grunt breaks the reunion by shouting. The reptilian looks back toward his enemy and growls, "Pathetic Pokémon, it's not even a Charizard yet. You expect to defeat my NidoKing with a puny Charmeleon? You're going to regret fighting me."

"Bring it on! I've been itching for a battle for a while now, Orion…are you with me?" Rigel turns to his Pikachu. Orion nods to him.

"Lucas? How about you? Can you fight?" I nod as well, "Cool!" Rigel says, "Show me what you got!"

Then we hear Cy call to Rigel, "He can't take orders from you."

Rigel, flabbergasted, crosses his arms in anger, "And why is that?" He asks.

"Because you're not his trainer."

"And how do you know that?" Rigel asks.

"Because he's technically-"

"Shut up, both of you!" The other Grunt shouts to them.

Rigel takes out an item which he then throws toward us, "Take this Orion, It's a Super-Potion!" Orion smiles as I help him spray its contents on his injuries. It immediately takes effect, causing Orion's scars and bruises to disappear completely.

Relieved, Orion runs into the battlefield and I follow him closely; however, the moment I do step into the arena, I become frightened because of the opponent we had to battle with: it's much larger than us and it's also a ground-type, so Rigel made a wrong decision to send us in. Not only that but I'm also only experienced at defeating smaller and lower leveled Pokémon and that reason alone could put my life in jeopardy.

"You wish to have a triple battle against me…very well." The Grunt takes out one more Poké ball and throws it in the air, "Golem, come out." A large rock-like creature appears and clutches its fists together.

"So…you're a ground-type specialist?" Rigel asks but then narrows his eyes, "It doesn't matter! I believe in my team! I know they'll defeat you!"

The tall man chuckles madly as he steps in between his Pokémon, "I think it's best that you run now kid before I hurt you. I'll give you 10 seconds to turn around and walk away unharmed."

Cy widens his eyes and tries to move farther away from the battle as if something very serious was going to happen to him, "Don't tell me…" He barely manages to speak.

"Yes Cy…Dr. Bartoli gave me the opportunity of a lifetime." Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, the man's arms begin to burst into flames, "And I don't regret it!" We all gasp at the human furnace with our mouths wide open.

"Time's up!" He shouts. Soon after, he releases a barrage of flames from his hand toward us. That's when the realization hits me: a human had just used a Pokémon move.

"Look out guys!" Rigel shouts as we all, except for Cy who is too far away to be considered part of the battle, scramble to avoid the fire's trail. Orion, Charmeleon, and I manage to jump away while Rigel throws himself into the dirt to avoid the stream of fire from hitting him. Once the shards of ember pass by, Rigel stands up, unsteadily, from the ground, "How…how did he do that?" Rigel says nervously.

Orion turns to me. From the look on his face, I can tell that he's looking at me so I can give him the answer to his unspoken question.

"…what the heck is going on Lucas?" Orion asks.

"This is probably the result of one of Dr. Bartoli's sick experiments…" I say.

"H…how is this possible!? Humans can't use Pokémon moves!"

"Looks like things have changed now." I say softly.

The mysterious Grunt expresses amusement when he sees our confused faces. He takes this opportunity to strike again without any hint of mercy, he points his finger towards his challenger…otherwise known as Rigel, "Attack Golem, use Rock Slide. Nidoking, Horn Attack."

Golem slams its fists into the ground causing rocks to launch into the air toward us while Nidoking charges at Charmeleon with its horn. All of us try to avoid the rocks but I end up getting hit by some while Orion spares Rigel from being hit. Charmeleon is then struck by Nidoking's horn and suffers greatly. We all stand back in pain, and I think I'm the one suffering the most of the group because of my low level.

The adult laughs at our predicament, "Do you give up? There's no chance you will beat me with those tiny Pokémon of yours."

"Don't listen to him guys…take these potions, all of you." Rigel gives three medicine-sprays to each us, "Charmelon…use Ember on NidoKing when you're ready!" The reptilian roars as it releases small bursts of flames toward the larger creature. Orion and I heal ourselves, and then we head back into the battlefield.

"Golem, strike back by using-"

Without warning, the earth beneath Golem erupts as a familiar Pokémon shoots out from the hole it has made for itself. The Pokémon, which pops its head out of the ground to look around, is none other than Cy's Diglett! Both Orion and I look to see Cy inspecting the battle with a used Poké ball in his hand. It looks like he's…helping us?

Rigel uses this strategic opportunity to his advantage, "Orion, harass Nidoking with Quick-Attack!" The boy shouts to his Pikachu. Orion turns his head to his trainer, cheeks sparkling with electricity while smiling mischievously, and nods in agreement. With great speed, he sprints toward the opposite battlefield to strike his foe head-on.

Distracted by Golem's attempts to grab Diglett from the numerous holes it has made, the Nidoking is unaware of the small yellow blur heading towards it.

"Call back your Diglett, Cy." The grunt moves toward Cy in a threatening manner.

"Or else what, how will you explain yourself to Bartoli if you bu-"

"I said call him back!" The flames on his arms appear once more, ready to strike; however, It is not until when Charmeleon's Ember burns Nidoking's skin and does damage that the Human-Pokémon Grunt turns his attention back to us, "Nidoking, sidestep-" But It's too late because the creature is then harassed by Orion, who's jumping all over the purple Pokémon with unbelievable speed. With one last jump from Nidoking's shoulder, Orion falls back to earth with his head heading straight for the monster's gut to finish the attack.

"Nidoking, Double-Kick!" The grunt shouts at the top of his lungs.

Without warning, Nidoking barely manages to kick Orion, stopping him just a few feet from finishing his attack, and then attacks again right after but with its tail. The resulting counter-attacks cause the Pikachu to be thrown towards Rigel. When he hits the ground, he struggles to get up again, but he loses consciousness very quickly afterwards.

"No!" Rigel shouts in distress.

"Orion!" I run to pick him up, but before I get to him, I see his body light up and then materialize into a beam of red light which heads into a Poké ball that Rigel is holding in his hand.

"Rigel?" I say to the trainer.

"I…I…" He stutters, sweat dropping from his head.

"Rigel, I think we should run." I suggest.

Ignoring me he shouts, "Charmeleon" He points toward the enemy team, "Slash that Nidoking to pieces!" He then turns to me and I gulp nervously, "Lucas, use any move you feel can work against them!"

I gently nod but deep down I knew this was suicide. Rigel is making exceedingly wrong choices left and right. Is this why he lost Orion in the first place: because he's…too overconfident? I know I'm Mr. Positive, but there's no way we'll win when most of us are weak to these Ground-Types.

Rigel takes out another Poké ball and throws it into the arena, "Mankey, come out!"

Good, it's about time he realized the importance of type-effectiveness. Now he's using a fighting-type against Golem which is good.

"Low-Kick the same Pokémon!"

I slap my forehead when I hear him tell Mankey to attack Nidoking instead. I decide to stay where I am and ignore Rigel's orders for me to attack because of the fact he is just sending us into battle for all the wrong reasons.

Charmeleon's claws grow longer at the same time as the he charges toward Nidoking. Mankey runs on all fours, increasing its speed, and heads to attack Nidoking as well. The Grunt simply folds his arms and says, "Golem, Fissure."

My eyes widen, "Oh no…"

"Guys! Forget about attacking Nidoking and come back here!" Rigel yells, realizing his mistake. His Pokémon, as a result, turn around and start making their way back to us; however, by the time Charmeleon and Mankey are half-way there, the Grunt runs in the direction of them and releases large bursts of fire which create a tall wall of flames, separating them from us.

Rigel urgently reaches for his Poké balls to call them back, but it's too late. Golem slams his fists into the ground, causing the earth to rumble. The building, what I assume to be a Police Station, behind the Team Rocket Grunt collapses from the small earthquake while the ground splits apart and heads toward Charmeleon and Mankey. They soon fall into the fissure and are immediately thrown out of it after a brightlight engulfs them: they both hit the ground and lose consciousness.

"Charmeleon, Mankey!" Rigel runs to them and holds both of them with each arm. When he hears a footstep just a few feet away he looks up. The Grunt is staring down at him, smiling.

"You have a lot to learn, kid." He chuckles.

I growl and narrow my eyes. I make my way towards him to try and paralyze him, but in a botched attempt to protect Rigel by jumping towards the Team Rocket member, the Grunt slaps me with a small burst of fire, injuring me. I am now in pain and the burn markings all over my body are making me gasp for air.

"Your Pokémon are pathetic and it's all thanks to you. Did you really think that your feeble teammates could destroy my high-level Pokémon? I suggest you stop trying to be a Pokémon Trainer. Now cough up some money, since you lost."

Rigel hesitates but he gives the Grunt some Poké dollars to compensate for the battle. The Grunt then presses a button on his watch. That's when we start to hear several loud noises in the distance. Some Needlebots have emerged from the forest and are now flying idly in the air behind the Grunt. My heart begins to pound after I stand up, weakly, from the ground.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go on a hunting expedition." He was talking about Cy, who recently took the opportunity to leave the area quietly without any of us realizing it.

The Team Rocket member goes to help his friend up from the ground but he is still unconscious, so the rogue trainer stands back up, "Now, run home to your mommy, kid. I'll be nice enough to give you and your Pikachu a few seconds to start running. 10…9-"

Rigel, after hearing the first two numbers, stands up and quickly uses his Poké balls to call back his two fainted Pokémon; nevertheless, the countdown ends and the Grunt releases a small flare at Rigel which causes the teen to jump in surprise eliciting a laugh from the Team Rocket member, "Run little boy, run!"

He starts running away in the opposite direction, almost falling to the floor several times in the process. Once he passes by me, I start walking/running as well.

"Since you've helped the renegade Grunt to escape, I'll make sure you don't ever come back here." He snaps his fingers, causing the Needlebots to start chasing us.

Meanwhile, on the road that leads to the Police Station, Cy is hiding in a bush. He is inspecting the dangerous street for any signs of a vehicle passing by. Once he hears the sounds of an engine roaring in the distance, he turns to his Diglett, who is next to him, "Alright, remember the plan." Diglett nods.

Cy watches from a distance as Diglett digs under the earth toward the street. By the time a transport truck, which has the usual 'R' symbol on its side, makes it to Cy's location, Diglett unexpectedly emerges from the ground. This causes the truck to swerve slightly off course and stop completely. Cy silently walks toward the back of the truck.

When the doors to the front of the truck open, two regular Team Rocket Grunts step outside and they stare at the small brown Pokémon with confusion.

"What the heck?"

"Just get it out of here, we can't keep the others waiting." The driver says.

"Let me try and catch it. I've never seen a wild Diglett before." The Grunt takes out an Ultra ball and brandishes it.

The other Grunt moans in annoyance, "Well then…get on with it!"

He throws it toward Cy's Pokémon, but, as expected, the ball fails to catch Diglett and returns to its owner, "What…" He says in confusion.

"It belongs to a trainer." The driver retorts.

"I'll try again…maybe it's a defective Poké ball." The Grunt switches Poké balls.

"Idiot, you're just wasting time!"

At the same time as that's going on, Cy climbs on the back of the truck and opens the back doors silently, and painfully, to find one Grunt inside, "What the…Intru-"

Cy shoots him with the tranquilizer which causes the adult to fall asleep right away. The loud noise that came from the gun alerts the two grunts at the front of the truck.

"Stiefel? You alright back there?" The driver calls.

Due to his injury, Cy loses grip because of his leg and he falls down to the floor in a loud thump. He bites his lip to stop himself from shouting in pain, but that does nothing to help.

"Forget the Diglett, let's check this out."

With his position compromised and with no time to flee in silence, Cy makes a bold move to roll to the left side of the vehicle and aim at one of the two Grunts walking to the back of the truck.

"Hey! Stop-" Cy shoots the driver in the neck while the other one charges at him. The driver falls down to the floor, holding his neck and eventually passes out from the drug. Cy tries to lie on his back, to aim better, but Cy misses the second shot and the Grunt tackles him. They roll several times, back and forth, on the concrete road to gain an advantage against one another.

"Diglett, get him off of me!" Cy shouts to his Pokémon.

Right after Cy calls for help, the other Grunt punches him when he manages to stay in one place thanks to his superior size and strength. The Team Rocket member, now having a distinct advantage, shouts as he takes out a portable syringe from a holster on his leg, "Stay still, brat!" Cy grabs the Grunt's wrists and slows the advancing needle heading towards his neck.

Diglett arrives and, removing an arm from underground, slashes the Grunt on the back. This causes him to yell in pain while Cy directs the needle to his opponent's arm. Soon after, he loses consciousness and slumps to the right of Cy. The renegade Team Rocket member pushes the person off him and sighs in relief, "Thanks, now let's get out of here and rescue Km!" He says to Diglett and then he turns away and closes his eyes, "I have no doubt Rk will tell Bartoli of my whereabouts! We've got to hurry!" Cy says to himself.

Cy stands up and cleans the dirt off his jacket and jeans. At that moment, he hears several loud noises nearby followed by the sound of yelling. The Grunt quickly calls back his Diglett in its Poké ball and then he shambled to the back of the truck to remove the person inside. Afterwards, he goes back to the front of the truck. Once he is done making sure that none of the unconscious Grunts are near the vehicle, he sits on the driver's seat and shifts the gear stick to 'reverse'.

However, right after Cy entered the truck, Rigel and I managed to find our way back to the street and that's when we saw the truck. In order to escape from the advancing Needlebots, we immediately enter the truck from the back. We both assumed that the vehicle was empty, but unbeknownst to us the passengers have been moved. Not only that, but now the truck begins to move and that's when I panic.

Soon however, that panic turns to relief when the threat of the Needlebots diminishes. The sounds of the robots are gone and now what remains are the loud vibrations inside the truck, caused by the rough dirt.

Rigel and I sigh deeply. The human sits down on the cold metal seat, exhausted from what had just happened. After several seconds of silence from both of us, he turns to me and says, "I think we're fine for now. I'll see if we can-" He opens one of the doors leading outside of the truck and is met with the howling wind and rapidly changing terrain. Frightened, he falls on his back in fear.

Once the transport does manage to slow down enough, Rigel quickly steps outside and grabs the door knob to close it.

"We can't get off, not even when it slows down…it's just going too fast." Rigel looks to me and says, "You alright?" He asks, and I nod softly.

"What exactly happened back there?

I shrug.

"How can that man…use Pokémon moves? That was Ember he used…it came out of his hand!"

I shrug again.

"Jeez…I guess we'll never know, but hey…at least we made it out…"

I nod.

"I know this for sure…once the truck stops, we need to get off right away."

He searches for something in his book-bag and takes out two octahedron-shaped items. He lays them on the ground next him and then he removes two Poké balls from his belt. He releases both Orion and Charmeleon from their portable devices. Both Pokémon appear to be sleeping, but as soon as the items strike their skins they wake up right away: Rigel had used Revive on them. Regrettably, it soon becomes apparent that Mankey won't be getting the same benefit anytime soon since Rigel went through his bag several times to find more but found none.

Orion and Charmeleon open their eyes and both stand up, ready to fight, but they realize that they are in a completely different environment.

"Where are we!? Don't tell me that we've been…" Orion shouts after he looks at Rigel, he's obviously frightened by the rough vibrations caused by the moving truck.

I walk to Orion and I kneel down to talk to him at the same eye level, "We're okay, we managed to escape." I tell him.

"And the battle?" He asks.

"Isn't it obvious, we lost." I hear Charmeleon say before he lays himself on a wall. He lowers his head to a point where I can't see his face anymore. The flame on the end of his tail manages to light up the inside of the truck even more, since it was almost completely dark right before Rigel released him.

"Why am I not surprised?" Orion says softly, "Those were some of the most intimidating opponents that I have ever fought." He stares off into space, thinking about what happened earlier, "That human…that trainer…fire…"

"Came out of his hands." Charmeleon adds to Orion's statement.

"But how is that possible? How can a HUMAN…use a Pokémon move? He used Ember didn't he? He used the same move you had made!"

"I think mine was better, personally." Charmeleon chuckles silently.

Orion looks back at me, with an expression which makes me think that he's waiting for me to respond. I open my mouth, but I close it afterwards. I'm not sure what to say.

"Lucas-" The truck hits something hard which causes all of us to move back and forth without warning. Once the incident passes by, Orion stands back up and resumes the conversation, "Lucas…you said something earlier about this being a result of Dr. Bartoli's actions."

"It could be…I mean…I guess she fulfilled her mission."

"What do you mean?" He cocks his head sideways in confusion.

"Well…before she turned me into a Pikachu-"

"Oh boy…here we go again." Orion interrupts me.

"Hear me out…one of the people there told me that the formula, that they used to transform me into a Pokémon, was actually supposed to give me Pokémon moves. I guess her intention was to make an army of freak humans who can fly and do a bunch of other-"

"Lucas, you're being absurd." Orion retorts.

"It's the best explanation I have."

"You know Orion." Charmeleon says softly, both Orion and I turn towards the reptilian, "Maybe the kid has a point. Maybe he's like Bill."

"But Bill combines himself with other Pokémon…and it's because of a machine…not because of a needle! You know that because we saw it ourselves that one-" Orion says.

"Maybe humans found another way to imitate us" Charmeleon interrupts Orion, "Does it really matter? I find humans with Pokémon abilities less believable."

"To be honest…I don't know what to believe in anymore…a lot has happened today." Orion says to himself.

"You don't have to believe if you don't want to." I say to the Pikachu.

"I…guess."

Silence fills the room for a while. I go to sit down against the wall while Orion does the same. A short time passes by before I turn to Orion to speak, "Orion."

"Yea." He looks back to me.

"For exactly how long has Rigel been a Pokémon trainer?" I ask.

Orion tilts his head, "What do you mean Lucas…?" He expects an answer.

"It means just that…for how long has he…" I stop when I notice the glare that he is giving to me, a sigh of aggression.

"He…?" Orion narrows his eyes.

I sigh softly before I look at my partner eye to eye again, "During the battle, Rigel didn't know what he was doing. We lost because he doesn't know anything about Pokémon battles."

"Oh, and you do?" Orion says in a hostile manner. I move sideways along the wall, away from him, as he attempts to show dominance, "Listen, I don't care what happened, what makes you think you can judge Rigel like that? Do you know Rigel as well as I do, no…you don't." Orion retorts.

"Orion calm down. It was just a question." I say, but he remains silent.

"Look, you once told me that you were stolen right after a fight against Cy two weeks ago…" I add to my statement.

"Lucas-"

"If I'm right…then Rigel lost you because he made wrong choices in that fight!"

"Lucas…you're way out of-" Orion attempts to finish his rebuttal, but he stops midsentence.

The next thing I know, I see Orion turn away in the opposite direction. I stop right away, a brief silence follows. Soon after, Orion turns back toward me and says softly, "Yes…it's all true…Rigel…isn't what you expected…I'm sorry if you expected more from a trainer who's just started a few weeks ago."

Realizing my mistake, I slide back towards him but he refuses to let me near him, "It was my fault too, I was too overconfident about the battle against Cy the first time we met. I'm just like Rigel: I'm so full of myself." He says.

I look down at the floor, unsure of what else to say.

"It's who we are, but now that I think about it…we have you on our side now Lucas. I think we can be a great team." He finally looks back to me, "You know a lot about moves, moves that you haven't even learned yet, you give orders to Pokémon like a trainer does, and you have the unbreakable spirit of a trainer...at least most of the time. Sometimes, I do wonder if it's really true…if you're really a human, and I think I'm starting to believe you."

I give a confused face to his statement towards me.

"I lied…I really did not believe you were human when I first met you. It's only until recently that I realized that you're unique. You're unlike any of us."

I try to smile, but I'm not really sure if I should. What could I say from his statement…that Orion depends on me or that I see a brotherly love, between Orion and Rigel, that can't be shattered…not even by the sheer harsh realities of the real world.

"You guys seem to be are having fun talking to each other." Rigel breaks our conversation apart shortly after, "Oh! I almost forgot-" Rigel throws a Super-Potion to all of us, "Take this you guys, great job out there. You tried your best."

Soon after he says that and after we all heal ourselves, a bump causes all of us to be thrown slightly in the air and hit the metal walls soon after.

The human rubs his head in pain, "Man! I really wish we had seatbelts!" Rigel shouts.

That's when one final bump makes all of us fly around the inside of the truck again. When we recover from the unpleasant incident, we soon find out that the vehicle has stopped completely. Quickly standing up from the floor, Rigel rushes to the doors and puts his ear against them to hear any signs of movement outside. However, after he does, the doors open on their own which causes Rigel to fall outside and the rest of us to jump in fright.

"Rigel!?" Orion jumps outside as Charmeleon and I do the same. Once I step outside, I am greeted by the sight of tall buildings, barb wire, guard towers, and Cy.

"Lucas, you said we escaped!" Orion says to me.

"We...oh man...this is bad." I say softly to him.

Rigel is forcefully picked up from the ground by Cy, "What the hell are you doing here!?" He whispers as he holds the teenager.

"You!? You were driving the truck!?" Rigel asks.

"Shut up and answer me!"

"I wanted to-"

"Forget it...stay down!" Cy whispers again, only this time it's louder. Orion, Charmeleon and I run towards Rigel to hide next to him as a bright white circle passes by the ground near us.

"A spotlight! Are we in a prison!?" Rigel asks Cy.

"Idiot! You followed me into the Outpost, so now you're going to help me!" Cy retorts angrily.

"Outpost?" We all ask Cy.

"Idiot...this is Outpost 3C 273, a Team Rocket outpost." Cy says silently, "And you're going to get us in a shitload of trouble unless you do what I say..."