Here's another chapter, enjoy!

Chapter twenty-three: The Battle of Outpost 3C 273 part 2

I open my eyes slowly as I try to examine my surroundings, but it's almost impossible to see anything in this darkness.

My senses slowly return to me. It's eerily quiet, with the exception of faint sounds of small concrete striking the ground nearby, which is likely an aftershock of what had just happened. A cloud of dust lingers in the air that makes it hard to breathe.

I cough several times as I begin to feel pain on my forehead. I try to move my hand around and I am eventually successful. I bring my hand up to my face and I touch what appears to be a wound. My suspicion is immediately confirmed the moment I feel a stinging pain.

Sch!

My hand jerks away as a result.

I see a small amount of liquid on my hand, and I become agitated.

"B-blood?" My heart begins to beat faster as I yell out, "Help!" The sound of my voice bounces off several places, "Somebody, help!"

"Pi-Pikachu…" I suddenly hear in the distance. It's faint and the voice appears to be weak from pain.

"Who's that? Oreo…Lucas?"

"Pi…"

"Lucas?"

"…"

"It's me, Cy." I say.

"…"

"Hello?"

"…"

I give up until suddenly, I see something to my right. From what I can see, the Pikachu begins releasing electricity from its cheeks, and I think it's doing so to create a light source! The light is dim and fading, but I am now able to see where I am. This place seems to be blocked off completely; it is held in place by the rubble above us and can fall again at any time.

"Can you keep that light going?" I ask him and he nods slightly.

I look above me and I gulp in fear because it appears that I was just two feet away from being crushed to death, "Oh…man-" I say softly to myself, "I need to-" My heart beats faster than before. I need to get out of this small confined place as soon as possible. The problem is that I can't stand, or sit, so I squirm sideways to get out of the claustrophobic space from which I am in. I eventually get out, but I am still unable to stand, since the ceiling of this place is more or less about three feet high. I lie on my stomach and crawl in an attempt to get to a more open space. As I do, I briefly look toward the Pikachu: who turns out to be Lucas, and I know this since I can see the numerous bandages and bruises all over his body which he already had prior.

I finally get to a more comfortable place. I roll over and lie on my back, "Diglett!? Where are you?" I shout and then cough afterwards.

Soon after, I feel the earth shake slightly as my Pokémon appears from underground, "Dig?" Diglett says, surprised to hear my voice. I am relieved.

"You had me worried for a sec." I say as he moves closer to me. His expression changes to that of worry when he sees numerous bruises on my body and on my head. I take notice of this, "I'm alright. Listen, we're trapped. See if you can make a hole large enough for us to crawl into." I instruct him to do. He begins to dig the ground nearby.

Then, the light coming off from Lucas begins to weaken even more. I turn to him and say, "Wait Lucas. Keep that light going, just give us enough-"

"Pika-Pikachu…" He retorts.

"Look, we need you to keep giving us light with your cheeks, so we can get out of here."

"…"

"Lucas…I don't have a flashlight. You're our only source of light in this place."

"Pika…Pi-Pi-Kachu." I hear him pant from exhaustion as small flashes of light can be seen afterwards, which is an indication that it will be dark again soon.

Still lying down, I search my bag for anything useful, "Hang on, I've got something that can help you." I feel what appears to be an ether in my hand, which is a type of medicine inside a small plastic bottle, so I take it out. He looks at me and he growls in response.

"Calm down! This is used to help Pokémon recover their-"

"Pika!" He shouts back.

"I'm trying to help you, now calm down and come over here-"

I stop suddenly because I didn't notice this before since I wasn't nearby, but it seems that Lucas is trapped. He is held in place by some kind of rubble and is therefore unable to move. To add more problems to his situation, he is badly injured. I look down toward the ground in response as I think to myself, those rocks…he might not-

"Never mind, I'll come to you." I crawl over to Lucas and, because large pieces of debris are preventing me from getting to him completely, I stop and I try to extend my hand to him. Lucas growls much louder than before.

I narrow my eyes to him, "You're going to have to trust me if you want to get out of here."

Unable to stretch my hand any further, I toss the ether and it lands beside him.

Lucas barely manages to take the item from the floor with his paw. Once he picks it up, he looks back at me with a suspicious face afterwards.

"Tear the label on the lid to open it and just drink it." I instruct, yet he refuses to open it.

"Pikachu…" He narrows his eyes at me angrily.

"Look, if you read the label then you would know what it is yourself. Besides, I took that ether from Oreo's trainer. I'm not trying to poison you for crying out loud!"

Lucas still hesitates. He ponders on whether to follow my instructions or not. After continuing to feel pain all over his body, along with the quickly fading light coming from his cheeks, he reluctantly begins to tear the paper label with his teeth. He then uses his paws to open the bottle and finally drinks from it. I heave a sigh in response.

"I don't have any potions to heal you, just hold on." I reach into my belt; however, as he's drinking the medicine, the flashing lights coming from his cheeks soon stop and it is now dark again as a result.

"Lucas? You alright?"

After a brief silence, I hear him squeak softly as the area lights up again.

"Good…the ether did its job after all."

"Diglett!" I hear my Pokémon say, trying to get my attention. I look back and I can see that Diglett had created a hole in the ground large enough for me to crawl into in order to escape.

"Good job, now make a tunnel to the surface." I order him as he nods. He disappears underneath the hole.

I prepare to crawl inside the hole, but before I can convince myself to leave Lucas behind, I look towards him with a remorseful expression as I stop to think to myself.

Normally, I can care less about other people, but in this case I have to care. I can't imagine living a life of guilt for not helping Lucas, knowing full well that I could have. Besides, I saved Orion because his life was in danger. I steal people's Pokémon for a living, but I'm not a killer or a total cold-hearted bastard. I'll help anyone I know who could die.

I look down to examine my belt, just before I pull out a Poké ball.

But Lucas, just like Orion, also reminds me of Km. Here it is the same premise: he reminds me, just like Oreo did, of Km's vulnerability. In a weird way, I can see myself as Lucas or Oreo. I can imagine myself as a Pikachu trapped underneath rubble. If Lucas was in my shoes, he probably would save me too despite the fact that he has much resentment toward me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wasn't born without morality. I know leaving him here would do me no good.

I look back to Lucas, "You're not going to like this Lucas, but I need to use a Poké ball on you."

He throws the unfinished bottle down on the ground and shouts at me, "Pikachu-Pi-Pika-Pi!" The electricity on his cheeks strengthens as he shouts. I remain calm, "Lucas, you have to listen. This place can go down again at any time, and next time we won't be so lucky. You're trapped, and I can't get to you this way."

I look at the concrete holding him in place and I look above it to discover an even bigger problem, "And it looks like once I set you free from there, the whole place will crumble down anyways." I say quietly, almost to myself. Nevertheless, he looks away from me and tries to ignore my attempts to persuade him.

"Listen to me Lucas…I can save your life, trust me!" I try to convince him, yet he still refuses to listen.

I look down at the ground and think before I look up again, "Your friend…Orion…I didn't save him because I could, I saved him because he was in need of help. Believe me, I can just leave you here, but I'm giving you a chance to live." I explain, "Look, what I said earlier…about leaving you inside a Pc forever…I didn't mean it. I just say those things to look intimidating. I mean…come on, I'm a short guy surrounded by taller Team Rocket Grunts. I have to convince them I'm tough, right?" I sign, "Okay, so you don't trust me and I know that, but just trust me this one time."

Lucas looks back at me, with a face of uncertainty and mistrust, "I'll release you afterwards, I promise." I say. He takes time to think about this, but after looking at the concrete holding him in place he sighs and nods while he looks away.

"Close your eyes if you want." I say as I aim my Poké ball at him while I prepare myself to travel underground. He does so, showing signs of fear in the process. I click the button and the former human shines with red light before transforming into pure energy like last time. The energy travels inside my Poké ball. This causes the concrete, which once held Lucas in place, to collapse and cause a chain reaction to occur throughout the area. I quickly enter the hole to avoid the falling debris, and then I fall deeper into the hole. I hit the bottom, which sends some pain throughout my body. Nevertheless, I barely manage to crawl through the tunnel, moving as fast as my body can allow. I make my way to the surface while the earth above me shakes violently.

Meanwhile, the situation outside is total chaos. Explosions, both on the ground and in the air, are present. Team Rocket is desperately trying to hold back the advancing wild Pokémon any way they can, but they are losing the battle. Even the hardy Spiderbots are being destroyed due to the overwhelming force of the rogue Pokémon.

Despite the chaos, one particular area in the base has already been destroyed and has been abandoned long after the initial battle: It is the detention center, which is now nothing more than a pile of rubble in most places. Two humans and several Pokémon try to remove the debris to save their friends who are trapped underneath.

"Damn it! This isn't working!" Km shouts, picking up and throwing concrete blocks out of her way while Rigel uses Orion and Charmeleon, who he revived after leaving the building, to get rid of the wreckage as well.

"There's just too many-" Rigel says.

"Stop whining and keep digging." Km retorts.

"And you're not whining too? I'm just as worried as you are, okay?" Rigel shouts as Charmeleon and Orion look up and growl at Km in response. Km's Growlithe, who has been healed, growls back at them as well.

"Whatever, just shut up!"

Suddenly, the ground nearby erupts and Diglett emerges from underground.

"Diglett!" Km shouts back, she drops the blocks which she is holding and climbs down the hill of rubble while Growlithe climbs down as well. She then runs to the mole-like Pokémon while Rigel and his Pokémon follow soon after. She kneels down next to it, "You were inside the building with Cy…is he okay!?" It nods and Km sighs, "Thank goodness."

"Hopefully that also means Lucas is okay too." Rigel says to Orion. The Pikachu looks at him and he nods.

"Is he trapped down there?" Km asks, "Get out, I can squeeze through. I'll go help him-" She says.

The group then hears a loud noise nearby; they all look behind them to see the hill of rubble collapse into the ground even more. They scream in horror.

"Move now, I've got to go save him!" Km panics, she grabs Diglett and quickly sets him adjacent to the hole, almost throwing him on the ground in the process. Rigel runs to Km and grabs her shoulder, "Let me, I'm smaller!"

"Don't place your hands on me kid!"

"But I can fit!" Rigel retorts.

Km stands up, "Say something like that again and it'll be the last words that'll ever come out of your mouth!" She shoves a finger on Rigel's chest in response.

"I'm only trying to help!" Rigel tries to push Km out of the way, so he can enter the hole, yet she refuses to let him. She pushes him into the ground, causing both Orion and Charmeleon to walk closer to her in anger while Growlithe stands in front of her and snarls at them. Km narrows her eyes, "If you can shut up for one minute I can figure out how to-"

As the humans continue to argue, Orion's ears twitch and he turns away from the group. Soon after, he gasps, "Pika!" Orion shouts, pointing to a road nearby: two wild Nidorinos are charging towards Km and Diglett in an attempt to impale them with their horns. Km looks toward them and then attempts to use her powers, but she fails. The purple-colored Pokémon jump in the air and Km barely manages to sidestep and Diglett disappears under the soil in response. As a result, the two wild Pokémon now stand in the way of Diglett's hole. They stomp on the ground several times before they attempt to attack again.

"Dumb animals…Growlithe…make them burn!" Km points to them. Growlithe opens his mouth and flames come out towards one of the Nidorinos, but it jumps repeatedly towards the doglike Pokémon and tackles it in retaliation.

"Take Down!"

Growlithe lowers its head as its body barely lights up in a strange orange color before it slams its body on the Nidorino. Once the poison-type falls down on the ground and just before it can recover, the earth beneath it begins to erupt as Diglett emerges and strikes the creature with its head: therefore causing it to faint.

This causes the other Nidorino to roar and then it begins to shoot white-colored needles from its mouth towards Growlithe and Km. Both narrowly dodge the needles.

"Orion, ThunderBolt! Charmeleon, Ember!" Rigel shouts. Both Pokémon begin to flank the barrage of needles in an attempt to subdue their opponent. Orion takes the left side and Charmeleon takes the right side. Before the wild Nidorino can react in time, it is surrounded by Rigel's teammates. Orion jumps in the air and brings his arms down to his chest, releasing a huge lightning bolt in the process. While that's happening, Charmeleon releases a hail of fire from his mouth. Both attacks manage to strike simultaneously: the Nidorino collapses on the ground.

With both Pokémon defeated, Km heaves a sigh. She begins making her way to the hole while Rigel expects a compliment, but Km walks past him and ignores him.

"You're welcome…" Rigel says to himself.

"What?" She turns around and then walks to him, "I didn't need your help kid. This is the last time I'm saying this: go away." The taller female gets ready to punch the boy.

"I told you already…I'm not leaving till I know that Lucas is alright." Rigel retorts, standing his ground while Orion jumps on his shoulder and releases electricity as a warning to Km, "Pika-Chu!"

"Are you deaf? Did you not just hear me!?"

"Km! Is that you? Help me out here!" Everyone hears from inside the Diglett-made hole, and Km's expression changes right away. She rushes toward the hole in response and looks down inside it and shouts, "Cy! You had me biting my nails for god's sake!"

"Yea…good to see you too…I can't climb up." The young adult says. Rigel kneels down next to the hole and sees Cy: the grunt is several feet down below the surface and there's no sign of Lucas anywhere.

"Hold on, I'll find something for you to grab." Km says before standing up and searching the wreckage nearby.

"Where's Lucas?" Rigel asks in the meantime.

"With me." Cy says. Rigel narrows his eyes in response after seeing a Poké ball on Cy's belt. He then gasps and shouts, "No…you…captured him!?" Rigel shouts.

Cy rolls his eyes, "I'll release him after you pull me up!"

"You better!" Rigel says while Orion says something similar but in his language.

Before Rigel can say anything else, Km arrives with a long rusted rebar and lowers it down to Cy.

"Thanks…" Cy says before he hangs on to the rebar. Km pulls back but she has a difficult time pulling Cy out of the hole by herself.

"Don't just stand there! Help her out!" Cy says, attempting to climb the wall while being pulled up.

Rigel reluctantly grabs a part of the rebar and pulls back. Both Km and Rigel pull until Cy is finally out of the hole. Km drops the rebar and sits down to hug Cy, but soon after they hug, he looks around.

"Where's…where's Bartoli and Anthony?" Cy asks.

"Gone, they both ran away after the building collapsed." Km responds.

Cy turns his head to the hill of concrete and his heart almost stops as a result, "Dang…we were under that…"

"Cy…I'm just glad you made it out fine." Km explains before looking into her bag, "Well...almost fine."

"Almost is a bit of an understatement." Cy retorts, covering the bleeding wound on his head.

She takes out several roll-up bandages and a piece of cloth. She moves his hand away and cleans the affected area. Afterwards, she applies the bandage on his head. Right after, he slightly touches the bandages on his head momentarily when she moves away, "Thanks."

"Yup." Km responds.

"Hey...that's mine!" Rigel interrupts after seeing his small medical bag being used.

"Quiet you!" Km retorts and Rigel folds his arms afterwards.

Cy is the first to stand up: he cleans rust off his hands and then pulls out a Poké ball. He opens it and a Pikachu-shaped creature forms before it turns out to be Lucas: who immediately collapses on the ground. Orion, Charmeleon, and Rigel quickly make their way to him. Orion holds him and checks for anything out of place while Rigel and Charmeleon kneel down. The boy looks toward Cy in an angry expression before standing up again, "What did you do to him?"

"I saved his life." Cy retorts as he turns to the female grunt beside him, "Km…I need a Super-Potion." Km pulls out a spray-like bottle and gives it to him, "Thanks again."

"Why did you capture him…?" Rigel asks.

"He was already my Pokémon, but he's free now." Cy explains. Rigel walks toward Cy. There's an expression of doubt on the teen's face: as if he refused to believe this.

"Look kid, it was my duty. Besides, if I didn't put him in this Poké ball then he would have died down there." As he explains, Cy points to the heap of debris behind them, "He would have been squished like a pancake." A brief silence fills the air before Cy speaks again, "I kept my promise…he's out of harm's way and out of the Poké ball. He's all yours."

Cy throws the Super-Potion toward Rigel and walks away after. Rigel catches it and wastes no time using it on Lucas, who soon begins to heal slowly. Orion sighs, glad to see that his friend is recovering from his injuries. Unfortunately, the potion isn't enough to make him recover fully.

"He should be more comfortable now at least." Rigel says to Orion as he nods.

"I think he was comfortable to begin with." Cy says sarcastically, "He's the most hardy Pikachu that I've ever seen…he was being crushed by concrete and I can't even explain how he survived that."

"C…crushed…by concrete?" Rigel looks down at Lucas as Orion does the same.

"Maybe it's the work of Bartoli's formula or maybe it was just pure luck. Heck, maybe it was some kind of divine intervention. Either way, he's still alive." Cy says to Rigel before turning away, "Let's get back to the parking lot." Cy walks past Km before she starts to follow him. He calls back Diglett into his Poké ball and, soon after, Km does the same for Growlithe.

"What about getting revenge on Bartoli and Anthony?" She asks.

"After what happened…I don't want to stay here any longer." He replies.

"Ehh..." Km shrugs slightly, "Hopefully the wild Pokémon will do it for us."

"Hopefully."

The grunts begin to walk down the road, away from the others. Rigel grabs Lucas and holds him in his arms, which is then followed by him standing up from the ground. He signals Orion and Charmeleon to follow. They run to meet up with Cy and Km, but Km looks back and groans loudly. She points to a destroyed wall which the group can escape through, "Go away brat."

Rigel narrows his eyes angrily and swings his arms sideways, "No way!"

Cy stops and Km and Rigel follow suit. The unofficial leader of the group, Cy, looks at the wall and with careful observation, he finds it to be guarded by a Spiderbot and a squad of grunts. Even if Rigel decided to try and escape there, it would probably take more than 3 people with Pokémon to get through safely. Cy turns to the boy and ponders before saying, "Fine, we'll drop you off in the outskirts of the city."

Km looks at him as if he's crazy, "What the hell? Why take this annoying kid with us."

Cy gestures Km to come closer before he whispers into her ear saying, "We mind as well drop him off. He won't know where we're going after this anyways. Km, we won't have to deal with him again."

Km pulls away and crosses her arms while she stomps the ground with her foot repeatedly in annoyance.

"Fine…" Km finally says, annoyed, "But you better keep your mouth shut, or else!" Km shouts to Rigel. The teen, and to an extent Orion, reacts by simply rolling his eyes to her.

"Alright, let's get back to the parking lot and see if the truck is still there."

Without anything else being said, Cy and the others begin to make their way back to the parking lot, which unbeknownst to them is in the very center of the battlefield.

A few minutes later: an adult figure, inside a jeep, makes her way to the site of what used to be the prison. On board is a group of grunts. It's Bartoli.

The jeep comes to a halt to where the detention center used to be. The female scientist gasps just before covering her mouth in horror, "Oh no…it's worse than before, start digging…quickly!" Bartoli gives the signal for the grunts to start digging the wreckage. They get out of the jeep and do so but quickly come across problems.

The scientist steps out of the vehicle and walks toward the wreckage. A tall young man exits the jeep and runs up to her while taking out a device from his pocket. He salutes her.

"I just received an update from the hospital!" He says.

"And?" She asks after looking at the man's device.

"The hospital's evacuation is underway. A great number of the sick and wounded have been moved to safety." He says quickly in the same tone, as if not to waste any time.

"Good. Once we rescue Cy, we must take him to the shelter immediately!"

"I have a medical station ready for him and a medical staff is on the way as well."

She then turns toward the Lieutenant and shouted, "Great, now get more men to help!"

"Yes ma'am." The young man salutes and walks away.

After passing through a cluster of buildings, Cy opens a metal fence door and gestures everyone to enter. As we make it through a fenced road to get to another cluster of buildings, Cy turns to Rigel and Km and says, "The truck is near the entrance, so it'll take a while to get there."

"Where are we now, if I may ask?" Km asks.

Cy thinks to himself before saying, "Well, if the compound that we passed by earlier is G, then we should be near F."

Rigel looks down at me and smiles, "Hey Orion…hop on my shoulder if you like. It might be a while before we leave." He says, out of compassion, and I nod before I climb on to rest myself on his shoulder. Soon after, I look down to see Lucas in Rigel's arms. He is barely conscious, so I decide not to bother him.

A minute passes by and we enter the new compound. The noise coming from the battle began to increase in volume the closer we get to the entrance of the base. We decide to slow down and stick to traveling alongside the brick wall of one of the buildings. It's a good thing we did because we then hear sounds coming from around the corner and we quickly glue ourselves to the wall in fear. Cy decides to take a peek and then looks away, "It's a squad of grunts…four of them…all carrying tranquilizers."

He looks again and then turns back to us, "What do you think?" He asks Km. She's about to answer but Rigel interrupts her.

"I say let's get 'em!" Rigel suggests, taking out a Poké ball, while I say, "Yea! They don't look so tough!"

"Nobody asked you!" Km says, annoyed.

"Orion, you ready to kick some butt?" He quietly asks me and I nod while I smile mischievously. I bring a fist close to my chest before I say, "Yea!"

"We'll do fine." Km explains.

The adult grunt nods his head before saying, "Let's go." We follow him, but suddenly, before we can surprise the enemy grunts, a very loud yell can be heard above us which makes all of us jump in fright.

"What the hell!?" Km shouts as we all look up toward the sky. We can see a rock-like creature falling towards the ground at high speed and it seems that it's heading for the squad of grunts below.

Look out!

Scramble!

Too late!

Dammit!

It crashes into the earth and causes debris to rise from the ground. Right after, we are all engulfed in a shroud of dirt. We stand our ground as we shield ourselves from the gust of wind.

"Watch yourselves-" Cy stops and turns his head at a certain direction after we hear another loud yell coming from inside the cloud.

At that moment, the last layers of the dirt cloud vanish and we see the rest of the grunts: all lying on the ground unconscious. Standing at the center is an angry Graveler: a more grotesque version of Geodude.

No one speaks, or move; however, Cy slowly looks down near him and finds a machine gun next to one of the grunts. He tries to kneel down to grab it, while trying to ignore the growing stress on his injured leg, but Graveler unexpectedly rushes toward Cy and yells before swinging its fist aggressively at him.

The grunt responds by grabbing the gun and then he immediately stands up again to shoot the creature, yet when some of the needles hit Graveler, they shatter upon impact. Unaffected, the rock-type continues with its attempt to strike the adult male but Km appears and manages to push Cy away in time. Cy yells in pain, when he and Km hit the ground, because of his injury, "Sh-sorry!" She says.

"I'm…fine…just pick me up!" Cy says quickly as she does so.

Without any orders given to us, Charmeleon and I run toward Graveler in an attempt to defeat him. Charmeleon slashes at it violently, but it almost causes his claws to break. The poor reptilian Pokémon jumps up and down while shaking his paws in pain, "Ow…ow…ow!"

"Charmeleon, look out!" Rigel shouts as the reptile looks up to see the Graveler, in the air, about to strike him with its fist, but just before It does, I jump on Graveler and my body manages to block its field of vision. I try to grab it in order to throw it into the ground, but it ends up grabbing me instead. I squeak before it throws me off of its body and I fall on the ground as a result. When it's able to see again, it crashes into the ground as Charmeleon is caught in the blast, and he is thrown against a wall as a result.

"Orion! Charmeleon!" Rigel shouts.

Soon afterwards I look up, as I lie on my back, just before I see Graveler recover from the impact: it's angrier than before and it seems that I'm its only target now. It begins to stomp toward me.

"Hold on Orion!" Rigel shouts. He sets Lucas down on the floor. He stands back up and searches for a Poké ball to call me back into it, so he can save me.

Graveler towers above me as it lifts up both of its arms to finish me off, so I close my eyes and anticipate extreme pain to follow shortly. Before I can however, Graveler is struck by large amounts of water that looks like it came out of a fire hose. Graveler shakes in pain before collapsing into the ground. It faints. I slowly open my eyes and then I blink in confusion.

"What the…" Rigel and Cy say at the same time as they turn to the source of the mysterious attack. Once they do, they see a Poliwhirl, an amphibian-like creature, heading towards Charmeleon soon after it's finished with Graveler. I look as well and I can see that a Team Rocket grunt is commanding the water-type Pokémon.

"Use Hydro Pump now!" The grunt shouts.

"ThunderBolt!" Rigel commands me to do. I stand up from the ground and try to gather electricity throughout my body, but my channeling is interrupted when I see a different bolt of lightning zip past me, from behind, towards the unsuspecting foe. I turn backwards and I can see that it was Lucas who had just used a ThunderShock!

Unfortunately, the ThunderShock failed to render the Poliwhirl unconscious and it's not because it avoided it or it's immune, since it was hit, but because Lucas is so low leveled that his attacks are too weak compared to higher-leveled Pokémon.

"Lucas, you alright?" I ask after I look back to the Poliwhirl.

"I'm…fine, just hurting a bit..." Lucas responds while electricity ceases to flow throughout his body.

"What are you doing!? Use Hydro Pump and don't make me say it again!" The grunt shouts in anger. The water-type opens its mouth as water forms inside it, and Charmeleon, who is recovering from hitting the wall earlier, looks up and gasps in fear as a result.

Rigel quickly points his Poké ball and calls back Charmeleon into the ball before a large gush of water strikes the wall and destroys it even more.

"Nice save." Cy compliments Rigel, "Thanks I guess." The boy says before pointing at Poliwhirl, "Orion, try to use ThunderBolt on it again!" I look back and nod as electricity escapes my cheeks. I turn away and I begin to gather enough power to use the move.

Meanwhile, Km grabs a tranquilizer gun from the ground and both Cy and her begin shooting at Poliwhirl, but it quickly dodges the projectiles easily. Now fixated on Cy, it prepares another attack as I'm about to release mine. But, before it does it is struck by another lightning bolt and it faints as a result.

At first I presume it to have been from Lucas, but then I look near the grunt and I can see that the ThunderShock actually came from another electric-type Pokémon: an Electabuzz.

The grunt looks at the wild Pokémon. He panics and then runs away. The Electabuzz chases after him and even ThunderShocks the grunt several times in the process.

With no other enemies nearby to disturb them, Cy and Km sling their machine guns over their shoulders. They then search the pockets of the comatose grunts for anything useful to use.

In the meantime, Rigel runs toward me and kneels down, "You alright?" And I nod in response.

Lucas shambled to us and says, "We better hurry if we want to leave…look." He points to a particular area not too far from this compound. I look to where he's pointing at and I gasp. Rigel soon does the same and stands up, surprised. Afterwards, Cy and Km walk by to see what's going on and they see it too.

This entire section of the outpost is a big battlefield: wild Pokémon against tamed Pokémon, large and small, strong and weak, fight across the field. Explosions appear both in the sky and on the ground and many moves such as Hyper Beam and other powerful moves are being used by both sides while Team Rocket grunts attempt to intervene by using Spiderbots, Needlebots and guns to sedate the prisoners. From where we are looking, it looks like a three-sided battle.

We continue to stare at the intense battle before Cy whistles to get our attention, "Let's go guys…before more of them show up." He walks up to Km and Rigel and gives each of them a potion, which he looted from the grunts.

Cy and Km walk towards a destroyed metal fence door that will lead to the next compound while Rigel picks up Lucas and places him on his shoulder, "Are you alright on my shoulder?" He asks the Pikachu and he nods, "Yea."

Rigel clenches his fist and brings it to his chest, "Let's hurry!"

We run and follow the two grunts. We all pass the damaged door and we begin making our way down the fenced road. A minute after, individual battles appear left and right, above us, and in front of us and behind us. Soon, it becomes clear that we have just entered a war-zone. I look up at Lucas and he looks down at me soon after: I nod at him, showing a gesture of assurance on my face, and he nods back to me soon after.

"We will escape. We will." I say to him.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed my latest chapter! I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all your support!