A Certain Unfortunate Trainer

by NeoShadows

Kamijou Touma was your average Pokemon Trainer in Academy City. Except he had no Ability or Pokemon as a lowly Level-0 with a weird right hand that brought him misfortune. But upon meeting Index, a girl who memorized a library of forbidden books on Pokemon myths and legends, that normal school life would change. When Science, Magic, and Pokemon meet, a story is told.

11. Battle Against Leader of Toxic Hazard

Merry Christmas! It's NeoShadows here with a nice little gift to celebrate the festive season.

After working my ass off for two straight weeks, I've finally got some time off to relax and get those final edits out of the way. I was meaning to upload this chapter with A Certain Maelstrom of Misfortune but I was too tired to go through with those final checks. But I sat myself down yesterday once I finished cooking my part of dinner and got to cleaning things up so that I could give you all a nice treat to enjoy on this lazy day off...if you aren't stuck working that is. Poor bastards.

I've also got another surprise for everyone but I think I'll hold it off for New Year's day. This is my time to relax, so I'll be spending the remainder of the day goofing off with playing Destiny 2 on Steam and learning how to play Dungeon's and Dragons with my younger brother. Damn thing cost me seventy bucks(a gift for him) and we're damn well going to make the most of it.

So, let's get these reviews out of the way!

DNWorks: The finale for this half is going out with a one hell of a bang! Gomi's time isn't over yet though. And I'm glad you have some sympathy for such a toxic boy. Hmm, I guess it makes what happens next a little more impactful. I can't wait to see how you react to this ending.

GG Vegito: Ah, you listen to music too? I know I usually look for some OSTs from Bleach or music from Billy Talent; anything rock-related. If my chapters are any good at all, it's because I take my time in editing and cleaning up my work...even if it does take weeks.

Craytherlay: There really are a lot of players involved here, huh? But there is one crucial individual missing from all this. Man, do I wish I could see all your reactions to this chapter. I really had fun typing it up.

Vietnamese Guy: Glad you love it! I know most people would think Absol would have fit better but I found myself leaning more into Murkrow when coming up with this story. Not only has Murkrow been one of my favorite Pokemon since the introduction to Dark-types all those years ago but it just made sense when you think about how the two are known as bringers of misfortune and associated with trouble.

Demonfox2140: Man, do I miss playing Coliseum and XD: Gale of Darkness. Due to a lack of a memory card, I remember speedrunning Gale of Darkness with my Umbreon- made it all the way to Shadow Luigia before realizing it was almost 12 and that it was a school night. I wouldn't say a malfunctioning Pokeball is a problem with Touma. There's a more tragic reason for his refusal to accept such happiness. I'm pretty sure I've given enough hints as to who Touma's partner was for ya to make a good guess.

Doomqwer: Touma and Hidoi's interactions were a joy to write. Both suffered trauma from a world that took something precious from them and both found themselves evolving into tragic figures who've decided they would rather fight back instead of allowing their scars to break them. But unlike Hidoi, Touma decided to leave his heart exposed to others instead of coating it with deadly spikes. As this is a Pokemon story, I just had to add in a proper Pokemon battle. I have more coming up with a few I'm all too eager to reveal. And for a guy like Gomi, he wouldn't care about the requisites for a destructive item. So long as it holds power, he could care less if such destruction runs loose. Though, it wasn't a Mega Band he was trying to create.

WSarcasm: A very busy man such as I can only do so much in one day. Between work and family, I can only ever find a few hours a week to write between all three of my stories. That's not even counting my time to goof off with video games or reading! I'd love nothing more than to upload once a month on this story too but what can you do? Oooohh, I like what you're thinking with that special bond unlocking something. But wouldn't the likes of Imagine Breaker negate such miraculous power? Or would the likes of Mabushii, who studies forbidden accessories capable of bestowing incredible abilities and destruction, be able to come up with something down the line? And don't worry about Poochyena and Jangmo-o; we ain't seen the last of them.

0Jordinio0: Bug-types are one of my favorite Pokemons. Right next to Water, Steel, and Dark types. As for the Happiny reference, I only meant by appearance. Still hard to believe such a cutesy little 'mon is as strong as your typical Fighting-type.

And that's all for now! Scroll away and enjoy your gift already!

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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to A Certain Magical Index or Pokemon. All rights are reserved to Kazuma Kamachi and Game Freak.

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Chapter 11: Battle Against Leader of Toxic Hazard; Normal/Dark Vs. Poison/?.

No_VICTORY.

[-]

The fate of Kokyu Tower would be decided to one old-time tradition between humans and Pokemon.

BATTLE.

All those who were suffering the effects of Level Toxin.

All those being terrorized by Toxic Hazard's grunts.

The fear, the pain, the sickness, the anxiety, it would all be settled between two boys standing apart from another on the arena designed for the sole purpose of clashes between Pokemon and humans.

To stop the spread of Level Toxin, release the barricades trapping everyone in a hotbox of poison gas, and have everyone treated and cured, someone would have to hit the floor or accept surrender.

Touma glared at the excited boss of Toxic Hazard eagerly awaiting him to accept his match.

"Quit screwing around! As if I'll just accept some pointless Pokemon battle. If you truly are the true boss of Toxic Hazard then just shut this mess down already! People are falling ill, they're being hurt by your lackeys! If this goes on any longer, people are seriously going to die! And for what? Just because you idiots are upset with how things turned out in your Esper Development, you're willing to harm innocent people and Pokemon, treat them as hostages, just for some pointless demands that won't make your status or levels any better?! Just how stupid are you, you Slowpokes!?"

A sense of boredom entered Garrick's visible vermilion eye. With his pinky finger, he began to clean out the wax without any sense of shame. He displayed the same lack of care as the hostile brat, Byoki.

"You say that as if it's my problem or my responsibility. I'm just the boss; nothing else. Whatever Toxic Hazard gets up to is decided on by its Admins. They're trusted to make the right decisions in the name of the gang's operations along with recruitment and all that boring drivel. Level Toxin was a neat plan, I admit, but I was never one for really backing it once it was explained to me. But the Admins decided it would be a good idea to use Kokyu Tower's patrons as leverage against Academy City; it's what they wanted. As I explained; I acted because of reasons I don't feel like obliging with ya."

Having found the annoying obstruction in his left ear canal, Garrick gave the small bead of wax an evil eye before flicking it off to the side.

That was how uncaring he was to the entire situation unfolding because of those who followed under him. He didn't feel any pressure from someone who had seen the violence spread by the name of his gang. He was carefree enough to be doing something as mundane as picking his ear in public.

"Whatever happens, in the end, doesn't concern me in the slightest. I've accomplished what I needed to do by beating up that charmless Emboar. The only reason I even bothered with the Level-3 Brain was because of her talent in battle. Other than rock music, Pokemon battles are what gets my engine roaring!"

Those bored vermilion eyes gained a fierce spark as Garrick brandished his Pokeball at the glaring spiky boy clenching his fist angrily.

"But she fell to some little tricks. It's my fault for pulling out my trump card but that's no excuse in battle! I was just beginning to let go and enjoy the fight until one critical hit ended the fun. So, now I need something to entertain me. But it seems you don't feel like playing along. You're lacking that rocking spark! But don't you worry, I can fix that with a little incentive!"

An ugly mass formed in Touma's stomach as the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Zenchou's feather's bristled as he picked up on the negativity radiating from the boss of Toxic Hazard.

Craning his head back, Garrick locked onto the former boss of Toxic Hazard who hadn't moved after being dropped so callously by his Toxtricity. Burns and bruises marred the heavy-set boy who groaned hoarsely due to the pain he was still reeling from.

Gomi stiffened, feeling those tepid yet excited vermilion eyes honed in on him.

"Hey, hey, hey, Gomi-san~! What do you think you're doing there? Aren't we still in the middle of an operation here? You still want to search for that Ultimate Sword, that Crown, you've been gushing about during your little breakdown earlier, right? Now's your chance. The very key to the vault that will help in attacking Academy City is laying weakly a few feet away from you. Shouldn't you be picking it up like a Nicklit coming upon some shiny watch?"

A sinister voice whispered in the ear of the defeated Level-0. It was as if an Impidimp had crawled over his shoulder to move him to follow his dark desires.

Slowly, even though it aggravated his injuries, Gomi found the strength to lift himself up. With a black eye, he glared hatefully at the boy who had easily usurped him from his throne before moving on to the disoriented Brain nearby.

"This isn't over, you bastard."

"Stop acting like some bratty Toxel and get moving."

"I swear, I'll be back to take you out, you fak-!"l

A vermilion eye narrowed dangerously as a warning. A strange pressure was exuded to squeeze at the overweight thug's heart.

"Tell me do you want to involve her in this?"

Gomi snapped his mouth shut with an emotion Touma couldn't make out. Growing beneath his breath, the former boss moved over to Mabushii and grabbed her by her hair with a rough tug.

"Gyaaah!"

"Shut the hell up, bitch! I'm done playing around. I started all this shit for one reason and one reason only! And you're going to give it to me or else."

"Brittany! You son of a bit-"

"Sir; Leaf Blade."

The distinct bottle-like pop of a Pokeball signaled the release of a supernatural yet natural creature. Upon the command of the smirking Garrick, a dark brown feathered duck with a prominent noble brow, yellow beak, and stern dark eyes charged at Touma as he moved to attack Gomi.

A large leek, thick and wielded as if it were a knight's blade, was swung after the spiky boy with great force. A green essence flowed from the tip of the mighty leek stalk, sharpening the green tip into a fine edge capable of felling even a thick oak tree in one swing.

Before Touma could counter with Imagine Breaker, Zenchou moved first with his right-wing glowing a silver-white shine of a metallic blade. Steel Wing clashed with Leaf Blade, producing an eardrum shredding reaction. It sounded as if two metal knives were scratching against the other. Sparks of elemental energy erupted between the two Pokemon's pseudo swords. A small shock wave nearly sent Touma off his feet.

In the end, it was the opposing duck, Galarian Farfetch'd, whose strength clenched the deadlock of swords. The thick and long vegetable leek broke through the strengthened wing coated in a steel essence, eliciting a cry of pain from Zenchou as he was knocked back.

Sir, the Galarian Farfetch'd, snorted. The Pokemon was unimpressed by the wings of misfortune.

Garrick hadn't moved despite Touma motioning to charge through him, commanding his Pokemon to deal with the troublesome boy who rebuffed his challenge of a proper battle.

"Now you got that rocking spark! I thought you might need a little zap to get you going. If you desire to so much as save one person then come at me properly. Otherwise, Gomi's going to stir up more malice."

Touma's answer wasn't something a Trainer would expect. A match had already been decided. The fighters had already been made clear. Between two boys who possessed Pokemon, there was only one way to settle this conflict; battle.

Instead of commanding the creatures resting on his shoulder to attack though, Touma chose to run straight ahead with his right fist barreled and a roar on his lips.

A proper match?

Rules?

Regulations?

Screw that!

All he cared about was saving the people suffering from the battle-crazed punk who didn't give a damn about the damage he was inspiring!

Garrick clicked his teeth distastefully as if the sweet treat he had been looking forward to all day had turned sour.

"Just what kind of Trainer are you? Do you not understand the premise of Pokemon Battles? It's not you who fights but your partners. What do you think you are? Some Normal-type who can only spam Tackle, Growl, and Pound?"

The Galarian duck narrowed his eyes in annoyance, feeling the same dissatisfaction as his Trainer did in the face of the attacking human. Rearing his thick leek back for a swing, the stern bird only awaited the command of his master to move on the odd human.

"If you don't want to play by the rules, fine. Sir, Air Slash!"

From the weaponized stalk swung diagonally, a luminescent and transparent gust of wind in the shape of a blade was fired. The Air Blade easily cut the dirt beneath its edge like it were scalpel against clay, running a long scar in its path towards the running spiky boy.

When up against a supernatural attack, be it from an esper or Pokemon, and as of late, magician, Imagine Breaker would be the proper response. Whenever he was fighting against such unnatural enemies, he would always brandish his trump card and abuse it to win whatever fight he was involved in.

But he found himself in an odd situation. One he had only ever been caught in a few times.

Unlike every other time he was faced with such malice, he wasn't alone.

Having no need to be given a command, or a reason to fight, Zenchou coated his wounded right wing with the same power commanded by Sir. From his own wing, he unleashed a volley of translucent saws to counter the opposing blade.

Two translucent gusts of wind in the shape of blades struck against another. The resulting Flying attacks created a blast of swirling wind kicking up bits of the dirt battlefield. Bits of hard earth was sprayed like shrapnel.

Touma held back a cry as a few clumps of dirt struck him as he ran past the swirl of wind. Zenchou and Kumo protected themselves with their wings and legs but he possessed no other way to ward off the hazard.

The next attack did not come from the annoyed boss of Toxic Hazard.

Kumo, the Bug/Poison-type who rebelled against the organization his former Trainer belonged to, decided to begin enacting his own vengeance. Like those humans who abused him as a weapon, he decided to turn his own toxic fangs back at those who saw him as worthless.

The little green spider hopped off of Touma's left shoulder, narrowed his beady black eyes, and summoned the strength and power reserved for hunting down lesser prey. From his glowing white body, a total of five spines, the length of a yard, were summoned around him. Missiles empowered by the strange elemental energy Bug-types were studied to produce were fired with a battle cry by the rebellious spider.

"Counter the Pin Missiles, and don't lose sight of the spiky boy! Don't treat him any lesser than his Pokemon; treat him no differently than a pissed-off Manky!"

Twirling his favored weapon, Sir met those crashing glowing white missiles with skillful swings. The Galarian duck seemed to be able to read the trajectory of each Pin Missile, batting each spine with a tactical counter one after the other. Though he was just a Pokemon, Sir reacted to each destructive missile as if he were a trained swordsman deflecting a rain of arrows from above.

Said deflected Pin Missiles were sent flying around Sir, erupting in explosive bursts. A curtain of dirt shrouded the noble avian knight.

Touma grew anxious at the loss of sight of the powerful Pokemon. Was the curtain of blinding dirt intentional? Just how clever was the duck?

"Once more; Leaf Blade!"

Since Touma was hardly one to be called a proper Trainer, he had forgotten just how powerful and deep the bond between Trainer and Pokemon could be. And how said phenomenal gift could shine in battle.

Without even knowing where his Pokemon had hidden in the curtain of dirt, Garrick made a command. A part of the college freshman connected with his partner, an almost psychic link born by the shared experience and trials they had endured together and allowed him to instruct his Pokemon on the appropriate action based on his position.

"CAW!"

Touma reacted to the alarming cry from the bird of misfortune perched on his right shoulder. Spinning around, he clenched his right fist and threw a strong right cross.

Mustard gas and dirt clouded his vision, he felt nausea returning as Level Toxin continued to worm its way into his lungs, and felt various aches decide to cry out.

Yet, as blind as he was, he trusted in the warning of a fellow being of trouble to attack.

Imagine Breaker met the thickness of a leek twice the size of its wielder, shattering the green coat of energy and reducing the slicing weapon into a blunt instrument. Thinking quickly once his right hand negated the cutting power from the blow, Touma let go of his hand's form and dug his fingers deep into the tasty vegetable stalk.

He grinned viciously at the stunned noble bird as he refused to let go.

"We can't hold back. No matter what! Even if it's dirty, even if it's breaking the rules, even if it goes against everything we're taught as Trainer and Pokemon; we'll dismantle whatever bullshit walls get in our way of putting an end to this stupid incident!"

Upon hearing the words of a high school boy standing in the same position as a Pokemon, Zenchou scoffed in amusement.

Was this permission to go all out? To not hold back? As if this Zenchou-san needed such reigns to be released! He was a Wild Pokemon. He had no sympathy or ingrained instinct to abide by some human to fight at his orders!

Red mischievous eyes gleamed with cruel intent. Ebbing darkness flowed from Zenchou's body and struck the surprised Sir with thin tendrils. Like blood-sucking Pokemon, the tendrils absorbed the powerful vigor of the noble duck and made the absorbed strength a part of its controller.

Seeing a Murkrow of all Pokemon grin was an omen believed by even the staunchest of scientists who disregarded their myths of creating disasters.

Foul Play. A Dark power that absorbed the strength of its victim, doubled the output, and mirrored the victim's very own might in a deadly reflection.

No amount of backing away would save Sir.

A black-red tinted wave of negative energy was released by the cackling Zenchou. Darkness crashed upon Sir, the malicious intent burning his feathers and threatening to break his bones. The very pride of the Galarian Pokemon was returned two-fold to damage him.

Letting go of the duck's leek as Sir was pushed away by Foul Play, Touma spun back to face Garrick.

Or, more importantly, to the retreating back of the former boss of Toxic Hazard; Gomi.

Fingers tangled in the dark tresses of the squirming Brain, Gomi ran as fast as he could to the end of the arena; to the opposing entrance that the second combatant would exit to enter the field. While the spectator stands would have been closer and provided cover, it would have required him to jump over the walls and run past row after row of seats to make it to the doorway that people would enter from. The fastest way out would have to be straight ahead.

Cries of pain were ignored by the once smug and haughty woman he dragged across the scarred field. As sweat poured down his bruised and singed face, he only focused on the path ahead that would lead him to achieve his victory.

Something was forgotten in all the commotion though, something that made itself known from above.

During the commotion Gomi had endured, he must have unknowingly ignored the state of his shoes. His left sneakers had been damaged from the past battles. Lace had been undone.

In his frantic attempt to escape with the Brain dragged behind him, he found himself slipping just as he was only a few meters away from reaching the exit. He fell face first, further damaging his already bruised face.

Just as he did, a bombardment of sticky globs rained down upon the remaining distance he was ready to cross in order to exit the stage.

"Kh!"

Pain, frustration, and anger marred the bloody-nosed former Toxic Hazard boss as he stood back up on his shaky legs.

To his growing fury, a gooey carpet of spider webs littered not only the ground in front of him but had also stuck to the exit. He found his glare following a thin string of webbing, connecting the Spider Webs with a happily chittering green spider hanging by a thread connected to the ceiling.

"You fucking little bitch!"

Spinarak used Lick to blow a raspberry at the red-faced thug with an uncharming Emboar face.

It was super effective!

Touma grinned, noticing the attack by the Spinarak. Now all he needed to do was cross the ends of the field and-

"Stopping looking away and pay attention to the real fight! Sir, cross the distance and go low; Leaf Blade!"

Once again, Touma was interrupted from reaching his true goal by a persistent boss out for a battle.

From the dispersing cloud of dirt, a razor-sharp leek stalk soared after his back. Sir flew forward with his leek positioned as a spear to run through the sweating spiky boy, displaying his incredible speed as he recovered from the previous attack and reached his target in a matter of seconds.

A thought came to mind as Touma readied himself to counter while Zenchou began to gather a bundle of dark rings at his beak's point.

Why would Garrick use Leaf Blade again? Hadn't the college freshman seen how Touma easily negated it? Or had the curtain of dirt Galarian Farfetch'd created blocked the Toxic Hazard boss's vision from noting what he could do with his right hand?

Even after playing his trump card, it seemed he still had the advantage of surprise. He could still use his strongest card effectively!

With that thought in mind, Touma paused his right hand from once again blocking Leaf Blade, leaving Zenchou to attack in his stead.

Dark Pulse was fired, releasing a stream of malicious energy in the form of jumbled rings to smash into the fine point of Sir's deadly leek. There was little give as the spearing Leaf Blade sliced through the high-density energy. Yet those jumbled circles born of negativity were enough to disrupt the original direction of the attacked

The loss of speed and direction allowed Touma to step to the side of the leaf spear charge. He clenched his right fist for the counterattack.

Being a Pokemon didn't matter in the slightest. He had learned long ago due to his shitty luck such hesitation would never allow him any leeway. Even if it left a foul taste in his mouth, in order to win, to survive, he would strike back against even those wondrous creatures.

He swept his fist low just before the Galarian duck would pass him by, delivering a brutal uppercut underneath the stunned Pokemon. The small body, with all its supernatural power and capability to inflict damage to even giants like Snorlax, was thrown up into the air like a soccer ball by the simple yet powerful human fist.

Zenchou was not much kinder. Once again, a stream of malicious jumbled rings was fired and directly struck the airborne prey.

Touma didn't have the luxury to see if his opponent was taken out of the fight with a direct hit. He turned his back to the black explosion swallowing the squawking noble duck who wielded a large vegetable leek for combat and focused straight ahead.

His eyes met the displeased vermilion gaze of the boss of Toxic Hazard who had yet to move from his side of the battlefield.

"You're starting to take the fun out of this, you reckless idiot. If you keep charging on ahead like this, I might have to take you as a serious threat. Do you really want to be treated to the same treatment as the lousy charmless Emboar who forced my hand or the bland Brain who bore her vicious fangs first? I'm not the one who needs to reap some experience points from this battle, so don't force me to get involved." he whispered dangerously across the shrinking distance between the two boys.

Those dangerous words coated with violence ready to be enacted were ignored as Touma was only a simple two yards from delivering a Mega Punch.

"Don't get involved? This entire situation, everyone's pain, all the poison spreading to every corner of this tower; it's all your responsibility, Slowpoke! Did you really think you could just pop up at the end of the event, make some cool cameo entrance, and just sit back on the sidelines while you had someone else fight your fight?! You're the boss, right?! Then start acting like one or go down a waste of my time!"

Imagine Breaker, a power capable of shattering supernatural powers no matter the specs of said miraculous phenomena born by either science or magic, was useless and not needed. All he needed was his ordinary fist to fly and smash into the nonchalant, cool-faced, punk who refused to act.

"Boom."

Garrick spoke calmly, his expression unchanging in the face of the clenched fist about to ram into his face.

So, why was it that Touma found himself instinctively shielding his body with his right fist at the very last moment as an eerie chill stabbed at his heart? The same ominous sense of forewarning must have been sensed by Zenchou as the dark bird's feather's bristled.

What was summoned to the world by a mere utter of one word was nothing short of pure devastation.

The very air vibrated and erupted into what could only be viewed by an outside observer as a wall of trembling see-through waves lacking stability. Pure sound violently distorted the world with brute force to stain it in destruction.

As if it were confined by the walls of a straight tunnel, the deadly and ringing vibration of sound waves destroyed the earth beneath it as it slammed directly towards the spiky boy at point-blank like a shotgun blast.

Something unnatural had been played by a Level-0 who led a gang of fellow Level-0s to indiscriminately harass those who were gifted with abilities through the bond between human and Pokemon. This trump card was an impossible move no differently than witnessing a Squirtle perform Zap Cannon.

A clear distortion in the natural world howled.

Caught by surprise, Touma would have been easily swallowed by the illegal move.

The sound of something breaking apart like fragile glass was resounding.

"?!"

Touma had been surprised, stunned, and puzzled by the sudden attack no true Level-0 would have ever been capable of performing. But he had reacted to the new move as he always did, relying on instincts he had culminated from countless battles against those who could manipulate the world around them into scenes found in action movies and myths.

With his right fist returning to its previous motions, the intensely vibrating explosive force was negated and his knuckles met the wide-eyed boss of Toxic Hazard with no resistance.

Another violent noise rang out, one far more impacting than the strange explosive vibrations from earlier.

Kamijou Touma used Imagine Breaker.

It was super effective.

The boss of Toxic Hazard was lifted off his feet by the powerful straight punch to his face. Blood leaked from his nose as he flew in the air and found his back hitting the hard dirt.

"Uuuh...uuggwa?"

Touma watched the once nonchalant gang boss gingerly sit up from his punch. The college freshman carefully touched his nose, grimacing with a sharp wince as his hand was smeared in sticky red. No longer was the older boy cool-faced. Surprise and confusion were all that could be found in those once lazy vermilion eyes.

"What...what was that? Did you use an ability?!"

"That's what I should be asking you, you piece of shit."

For a moment, Touma ignored the sweaty-faced Gomi dealing with the bully known as Spinarak. His gaze now focused on the bloody nosed college freshman who loved to battle and cared for little else that might cause him trouble.

Toxic Hazard was a gang of students who had partaken the Power Curriculum Program and failed to achieve any status above 0. In the eyes of those higher-up adults and students who gained a supernatural power via the bond between their Pokemon, they were failures who hadn't achieved anything worthy of praise or reward. Because of the discrimination born of a hierarchy valuing level above human decency, those boys and girls of various ages found themselves growing hostile to those who had succeeded where they had failed.

Level-0s gathered together to share the pain, frustration, despair, humiliation, and anger. Alongside their Pokemon partners, they formed gangs widely recognized as troublemakers and constantly rebelled against the cruel system that had failed them.

Skill-Out, whatever banner they flew under to make them stand out from the main branch that had started it all, was a gang of Level-0s who had nothing to show for all their hard work.

Having witnessed a miracle, a clear distortion in reality, a wondrous gift everyone in this city of science and logic sought after through drugs, examinations, trials, and even battles, Touma shouted furiously.

"You're the boss of Toxic Hazard, right?! A Level-0 who founded a gang of students who found themselves with nowhere to go after experiencing failure after failure despite following through with the curriculum provided by teachers and researchers alike! Like them, you've experienced the same sorrow and gut-wrenching inability to gain solid verification of all your labor being realized! So, why the hell is it that a Level-0 who shouldn't even be able to bend a simple dinner spoon like an Alakazam able to use a human- no, an esper version of Boomburst so easily?!"

[-]

Something akin to the sound of a bomb caused the white walls with blue shining lines to shudder slightly.

Beyond those walls comprising the waiting/registration room, the sounds of an intense battle reached the ears of those girls kept on the sidelines.

Index couldn't help but flinch as the malicious noise showed no signs of dying any time soon. Out of a habit ingrained into her as a Sister of the Galarian church, her hands were clasped close to her breast in prayer. As another cruel sound exploded beyond the protective walls separating her from the boy who had saved her from the clutches of deadly magicians, all she could do was offer a prayer.

A nun of Galar's holy church could refine their life force to perform various protective spells based on the legends centered on various Pokemon known to protect humans from malice. There was the old Galarian hymn well known by all those of the church from those who had once been shielded by the dregs of the Darkest Day by the Legendary noble known as The Crowned Shield; Zamazenta. Those who recited the beautiful and kind hymn used their magic to cast a protective charm to soften physical blows, deflect lethal blows, and allow those who the caster had in their thoughts to remain firm and unshaken in the face of disaster.

She had no way to channel her life force into magic. As a magician, she was a failure who would never be able to do more than memorize the toxic text said to have descended from the heavens by those godly beings who graced humanity with countless miracles. Though she knew the hymn to the letter, could recite it perfectly without a slip of the tongue no matter the situation and knew how to perfectly optimize its effectiveness, it was nothing more than a useless prayer.

"Strong as Steel~

Firm as Earth~

Crowned by God~

With virtuous Heart~"

Yes, it was entirely useless for such a girl to utter a hymn lacking the power to protect even one boy.

And yet, the girl who could not even save one boy who had, in turn, saved her without so much as a plea to act, could only fall back to the teachings of God and sing a hymn.

To the nonbeliever Yumiya, her words were only an elegant and beautiful string of nonsense no different than a pretty song one heard from a foreign country.

"O, Kind and Strong, Zamazenta~

With your Crown, O, ever so Right~

Won't – You Ever Be So Kind~

Please~

O, Ever So Plea-se~

Shield Those From Suffering~

O, O, so please~"

'Is this...a Sister?'

Science girl Yumiya found an odd phenomenon occurring right before her eyes. One she could not rationalize with anything provided by the city of steel that had nurtured her into stepping beyond the stage of humanity to become something that rejected such silly concepts as God.

Was it a trick of her naive mind? Could it be her new friend had a Level-1 ability this entire time and was simply playing the role entitled by her cosplay?

In her yellow gaze, what could explain the almost serene and gentle light being cast around the praying silver-haired girl who radiated an alien-like purity in this artificial region?

"Ward Away-Shed Away, Such Dark Days~

With Your Crown, O, Ever So Right~

Be The Light~

Steel Their Might~

O, Kind Zamazenta~

Be Our Shield; Defend Our Heroes~!"

Index could not use magic. She was no more than a well breed counter force who specialized in anti-magic theory and played the shield to stave off the toxic knowledge humanity was too weak to view. Her hymn, The Crowned Shield, was a protective miracle meant to offer safety and protection to those the caster had in mind. Even if she was a pious nun who followed God's teachings, her hymn would not be able to reach the boy she had in mind.

To her further displeasure, even if she could use magic, her kind gesture would not offer that boy any salvation.

Because of the right hand her friend possessed, he would only negate the stalwart kindness of one of God's loyal children.

But it didn't matter. Even if she couldn't use magic or offer anything to protect that boy, it was not the invisible power or hand of God she wanted to reach him.

Index clenched her hands tightly, her eyes shut firmly as she focused on one thing amid the cruel noise reaching her ears.

What mattered were the feelings in her heart. Those honest, pure, and kind emotions not even such an oddity as Imagine Breaker could ever hope to crush.

Surely, even a girl who lacked the ability to use magic, who was only capable of soaking in toxic knowledge, who couldn't even take care of herself, could offer something kind, no matter the form it took.

'Please, Touma, be safe. Please, o, father in heaven, please; don't ignore such a boy and allow one of your children's miracles to reach him.'

Again, those ugly and cruel sounds of violence caused a lite tremble to shake the walls. Only a beautiful and innocent hymn softened such malicious words, however pitiful an action it may be.

[-]

'What...what is that...beautiful sound?'

A figure moved restlessly in her sleep. She found herself grimacing slightly at the melodic song slipping into her thoughts as everything had grown dark.

Memories, cruel, sickening, toxic, and malicious memories burned in the darkness she wallowed in. Scars that would not heal burned. She had become imprisoned in a cage of thorns designed to stab into her soft flesh as the past torments of those who would abuse a powerless girl and her friend caused her to shake.

Tears welled up behind the lids of her eyes.

From the darkness, ill-meaning and sadistic hands stretched out with restless fingers waiting to once again defile a weak girl.

'Boss...boss! Please, save me!'

She begged, she cried, she screamed.

Just as she did that day, she called out for someone, anyone, to save her.

'You can rest easy for a bit. Even if the touch of a guy revolts you to your core, I only ask you endure this ugly sensation for now. I promise I'll put an end to Gomi's nonsense in your place. You have someone waiting for you after all; so do I. I have someone precious who I've stumbled on while traveling this lonely and cruel road too. So, take a nap, Dominatrix-chan! We can both go back to those special people once this nightmare is over.'

Something incredibly and unbelievably warm assaulted those cruel hands.

In the void where only beings such as the fabled monsters known as Darkrai and Giratina could ever lurk, she undoubtedly sensed the sensation of something warm cross through the void to attack those molesting hands and reduce them to nothing.

As she cowered in a ball to ward away the tar darkness, her eyes made out a shining silhouette who had heard her cry.

Was it a human?

Was it a Pokemon?

The image kept flickering from a boy with spiky hair to a mighty four-legged beast covered in scars and a noble dark blue ponytail.

Those cruel memories were blocked by the flickering silhouette of either a human or a Pokemon. It was as if a shield had been summoned to provide her both light and protection, one unshaken by the ugly human tendrils born of men.

As the darkness failed to break through her shield, the beautiful and kind melody continued to play.

Something truly sweet soothed the scars burning every so strongly in her heart like the gentle kiss of a Florges.

The sounds of a violent battle could not be heard. Those phantoms of long ago failed to scratch her. Her regrets would not reach her fragile heart adorned with spikes and coated with nasty toxins.

In her sleep, Hidoi smiled faintly to the foreign hymn from a pure-hearted Sister.

[-]

"Rockslide!!"

A small brown-furred dog with white fur around its collar, pebbles in its collared fur, blue eyes, and button ears, howled into the sky at the command of his master. Above the small Rock-type lupine, a cascade of large rocks was summoned from thin air and crashed down in a downpour similar to a waterfall's roar.

Bloody-nosed Garrick acted next, throwing his right hand out at the cascade of hard rocks the size of a small child in elementary school. He snapped his fingers just before the rain of earth could crash, the action causing the normal vibrations created from the simple snap to be amped up a hundred-fold. A visible bark of sound was seen and shattered those deadly chunks of sharp rock, creating a large spray of shrapnel carried by the produced explosive boom of noise being shot forward like the shell of a shotgun. A straight line of jagged earth pellets rushed at the running spiky boy.

To Garrick's stupefied confusion, the normal high school responded with breaking, his sneakers skidding with a screech of rubber as he threw his right hand at the piercing and gouging wall of rushing rock.

Touma stood calmly, unflinching as the sure-fire line of death struck. Five fingers were spread out, creating a pseudo shield of negation, an area of erasure, extending over his entire body. The shotgun blast of visible sound waves carrying shrapnel capable of cutting through steel Pokemon shattered to nothing. Only small fragments skirted his body.

Touma didn't stop his charge, resuming the offensive with a brush of his right arm clearing away the dust and yellow mustard gas, focused entirely on the panic-faced boss of Toxic Hazard.

He didn't have to worry about the growling Rockruff who stood in his way to protect his Trainer. The bird of misery and bad luck, Zenchou, swooped in from above with a gleeful cackle. Yellow talons latched onto the surprised Pokemon, digging deep past the white fur collar and into flesh. Having hooked his prey, Zenchou used all his strength to lift the rock puppy off the ground and toss him into the air.

Touma had to make a note for himself later to repay the usually mocking crow for his help thus far. Perhaps a few spicy berries and pork chips would appease the arrogant bastard.

For now, though, Touma returned to clenching his fist and swung it straight at the grimacing bastard responsible for this tower of suffering.

"Who...who are you?! What kind of esper can negate both my Noise Amp and my Pokemon's attacks with a fucking fist?! What are you, a Level-4? Shouldn't Level Toxin be screwing up your insides?! How can you even see straight?!"

Garrick tried to avoid the straight barreled fist with a twist of his hips. Such an action displayed just how out of sorts he was when it came to direct combat. The false Level-0 was entirely focused only on the flying fist.

The boss of Toxic Hazard never thought to avoid the left fist coming in low to drive itself into his stomach.

Spit was spat out with his agonized gasp before Touma smashed his fist into the older boy's left cheek, knocking him back to the ground with a hard thud.

Garrick struggled to regain his breath, his hand slipping as he tried to stand back up. His ears twitched, catching the pained yelp of his Pokemon as his Rockruff was slammed into the battlefield as if he were garbage tossed out a moving car.

Touma didn't continue with his attack, noticing the injured gang boss reach into his jacket's pocket for a familiar red and white ball. A beam of light flashed out to envelope the now fainted rock puppy who could not continue the fight- same as Sir, the Galarian Farfetch'd.

That made two Pokemon out for the count so far. Just how long was that lying son of a bitch going to continue this pointless battle?

Foul toxins tickled Touma's throat, causing him to gag and retch. Even as he tried to hold it back, the toxins from Level Toxin continued to ravage his insides despite the antidote the lovely onee-san known as Yuri Sumire provided him having cured him, leaving him to slam his hand over his mouth before his vomit could spill out. Was the mustard gas more concentrated here? Why?

He coughed, spitting bits of digested food onto the dirt, glaring the entire time at the groaning Toxic Hazard boss.

"Y-You're an esper, someone who has a powerful ability. Doesn't that mean that the very poison you're breathing in too is going to eventually kill you?! Doesn't that give you enough reason to shut it off, you sorry excuse of a boss?!"

Thanks to Yuri though, the poison soaking into his fragile insides was slow in effectiveness. It had been dampened greatly, so he could continue fighting longer, so long as he clenched his teeth.

But those who hadn't taken the antidote were different. Every other esper was being harmed by simply doing the most basic of basic living necessities. While someone like Index only had to deal with the foul stench, anyone who had undertaken the Power Curriculum Program was at risk due to the toxins created by a fat bastard designed to attack the chemicals found in the esperin drugs Academy City injected into its students. Innocent people were being poisoned by a gang of thugs who wished to turn their anger and frustrations back at the world that had failed them. Pokemon who had nothing to do with these brats' failures were being subjected to a slow poisoning that would grow worse as times passed on, no different than being afflicted by Toxin.

And the one responsible for it all was the so-called Level-0 who allowed a bastard like Gomi to enact such a plan.

"I've already taken the antidote, so I'll be good for another fifteen minutes until it loses its effectiveness. For whatever reason that Swallot bastard had in mind, his antidote only protected the user for an hour- so long as you're a Level-0 that is. I have some time to spare before I order Gomi to shut it down. I just wanted to gain some experience points for my Pokemon since I saw the opportunity for a quick battle." spat Garrick as he finally stood back on his feet. Another Pokeball was brought out, one held in a much more forceful grip brought on by frustration and pain.

Those once lazy and passive vermilion eyes lost their bored indifference. Touma could tell things would now be serious.

"You know, everything would have been resolved if you had simply followed the rules and fought fairly."

Touma narrowed his eyes and growled.

"Resolved? Played fairly? What part of any of this mess is-"

"I would have shut off the gas by now. I would have had the steel barricades, sealing everyone in, reversed."

"What?"

The blood on Garrick's chin was cleaned off with his sleeve as he spoke in annoyance.

"Right now, I'm the boss of Toxic Hazard; much as it annoys me. I've already beaten Gomi and taught him a lesson he won't forget. Did you really think I would have let him get his hands on a dangerous weapon hoarded by a Brain? The destructive 'genius' was planning on creating a Dynamax Band! How he got his hands on an illegal contraband item as a Wishing Stone, I'll never know. Did you really think me so stupid as to let that bastard continue harming innocent people? Why else do you think I acted? Because of reasons, I had to move and beat the dumb-ass up and take control of the organization. If you hadn't dragged this fight on longer, if you had simply battled me as Trainers should! If you had simply provided me with the Exp I wanted in the first place! Everyone would have, should have! Everyone would have already walked away from this mess and been treated by a doctor for this nasty poison that can be easily cured by anyone knowledgeable in toxins! I know for a fact there's a talented doctor who could treat Gomi's special toxins like it were child's play!"

The Pokeball in the irritated and angered boss was tossed up high, releasing a Pokemon far more powerful, intimidating, and deadly than the previous two.

Kaminari, the Low-Amp Toxtricity, landed onto the field with a lazy glare on his face. Sparks bounced off his body as he scratched his chest, producing a sound similar to the scratch of the strings of a guitar.

"I just wanted to help my other Pokemon grow a little stronger. You seemed like someone who could provide them a quick bit of Exp they need to level up. You weren't supposed to be more than a quick rumble; no longer than a three-minute jam! But because you decided to step up yourself, because you had to ruin this battle by ignoring the standard rules all Trainers follow, because you had to be an esper who could still use his ability! Now, I have to completely and utterly crush you before she gets here!"

"She?"

Touma's confusion was ignored as Garrick decided he would end this final battle as quickly as possible. He once again reached into his pocket for something, grinning triumphantly as he ripped out an odd red...puck?

No, it was flat and just slightly bigger than Garrick's thumb. It was a scarlet red and reminded him of a triangle with its points dulled. Wait...was it a guitar pick?

Why would a gang boss take out a guitar pick as some trump card?

"Wait...is that a jewel embedded in the middle?"

To Touma's horror, there was a special kind of stone installed into the high-tech guitar pick. A deep purple gem glowing with an ominous power only espers could use.

It was the power to solidify the deep bond between esper and Pokemon. To link hearts and minds as one. To share the stage of the reality born to twist logic and law under a new set of rules.

ESP-Gem.

A special stone only Academy City was capable of producing using methods unknown by anyone other than members of the governing board and its leader; the Board Chairman. It allowed an esper to harness the AIM Diffusion Fields they were constantly emitting and expand their AIM into a far greater range. It was said the stone was created as a by-product from a Pokemon who had helped in the development of the student's Personal Reality, creating a physical link to said student's microverse. Crystallization of an Espers AIM Diffusion Fields clashing constantly with the unseen micro and macro verse of their bonded Pokemon.

Once an ESP-Gem was embedded into a special conduit of the student's choice, a strange and unique power was created.

A Shared Reality Link.

A.S.R.L.

"We're done wasting time, Kaminari! It's showtime!"

Garrick rose the guitar pick acting as the conduit for his ESP-Gem up into the air as if he was about to strum the ever-popular rock instrument. The action served as a warning to the uproar of violence about to break out.

"Initiating ASRL System: Noise Amp OVERLOAD!"

A series of purple and yellow chains were released from the now visible AIM Diffusion field erupting from Garrick's body as he scratched the invisible chords of a guitar with his guitar pick. Those supernatural links were bound to the nonchalant Kaminari, gifting him with a crackle of deeply purple sparks constantly popping on his skin. The blue electricity forming on his head grew wild and stood up straight, reminding the spiky high school boy of the fin spines of a prehistoric Pokemon. The cuffs of the poison-static humanoid lizard buzzed with visible watts of light blue electricity similar to the spike bands rockers would wear.

To finish the transformation linking esper and Pokemon to sharing a Personal Reality, the normally nonchalant eyes of Kaminari were dyed in an overly bright blue light.

ASRL.

The Power To Share Your Reality.

Such a unique power was not exclusive to the Trainer's Pokemon. Benefits were shared equally.

The deep purple links extended back to the smirking boss of Toxic Hazard, fading away to leave the college freshman with an odd ripple around his body. As if the very air was being shaken by a powerful hum constantly emitted by said esper.

Touma glared furiously at the pleased boss.

"You really are an esper; someone with actual power! Why the hell is a bastard like you head of Toxic Hazard, who hates anyone labeled anything close to a Level-1! How can you sympathize with those misguided boys and girls who have been taken advantage of by higher levels, ridiculed by higher levels, and abused by higher levels?! Just what the hell are you playing at?!"

Garrick tilted his head to stare at the furious spiky junior.

"What does it matter to you, ya brat? My reasons are my own. Why I do what I do isn't for you to scrutinize. We're in the middle of a battle for crying out loud. Stop asking questions and just hit the damn floor already! All of this Taurus crap would be over with if you simply went down like the easy prey you are!"

It wasn't Garrick who made the next move. Nor had it been Touma.

Kaminari, the now empowered Toxtricity who possessed the temporary gift known as a Personal Reality, grinned excitedly. Like his owner, the normally lax and gluttonous Pokemon found himself thrilled for the chance to go all out and rampage without being restrained.

A unique benefit of ASRL, commonly known to all those who studied said power-up via the Power Curriculum Program, was the psychic link formed. As esper and Pokemon shared the micro and macro verse, the thoughts between the two species became one. No words were needed to be said as every thought was shared. Every emotion was shared. Every desire was shared.

Kaminari sucked in a deep breath.

And used Screech.

The world erupted with a terrible, raking, shuddering explosion to further dye the scene with an uproar of ugly violence.

From the center of the Electric/Poison-type's position, the earth was shattered to bits. A crater spanning three yards was formed by the trembling waves of sound spreading far like a tsunami's crushing tide. Faint blue sparks were carried by the extending waves of sound crushing the dirt below.

A shock wave stretching out as an O from the center of Kaminari, infused with electricity, threatened to trample Touma like a feeble Caterpie before Surf.

What had been one of the weakest and most basic of Normal-type moves, something that should have done no more than dampen a Pokemon's defense, had been transformed into a terrifying eruption of pure vibrations capable of shattering earth and doing untold amounts of damage to whatever living organism was swallowed in the shrieking wave.

"Stop screwing around."

Blood leaked from his ears.

He felt his organs shudder even though the crushing vibrations had yet to reach him, causing an unpleasant ache.

His vision began to sway as if his brain was being shaken.

Even Zenchou had cawed in pain and flinched, blood leaking from his own ears being attacked by the raking wave of nails.

But this amplified sound attack, an attack used by a Pokemon, comparable to a Level-3, possibly 4s, was a supernatural phenomenon born of science.

All Touma had to do was grit his teeth and bear it.

Like every other time, he charged at the crushing tide of shuddering vibrations infused by electricity.

With a swing of his right fist, the tidal wave of noise shattered completely.

"You...you got to be fucking kidding me!?"

Now was not the time to gloat in the startled, confused, and angered face of the smug gang boss witnessing his all-power attack reduced to nothing.

Noise Amp.

Its power appeared to allow the user to amplify the noise, the vibrations, produced by simple actions as saying the word 'Boom' and snapping one's fingers. From what Touma had been observing, the noisy esper was very stingy with playing such a powerful and destructive card. An explosive shock wave was produced with every use. Garrick could fire a literal shotgun of noise as much as he wanted but held back.

Was there a backlash? Could the explosive vibrations splashback and cause him harm? Even with ASRL having been played as his final Trump Card, the boss of Toxic Hazard didn't join into the fight himself.

As Touma ran ahead, his eyes regarded the anxious sweating eggplant haired boy.

Blood ran down his chin.

A small unconscious twitch could be seen in the esper's left hand that had grown a slight purple due to blood vessels popping.

Words were no longer needed to command his Pokemon as something akin to a rash had appeared around his neck.

Kaminari's cheeks ballooned comically, warning of the next attack, enhanced by his Trainer's AIM Diffusion Field.

Deeply purple vibrations were launched from the esper-enhanced Pokemon like a cannonball. Taking the form of a colossal series of rings, the toxic belch's echo bounced all over the field as the towering wall of noise and poison met Touma.

Touma swallowed a cry of pain as his eardrums were pounded to the point blood once again wet his ear canals. A painful tremor shuddered his organs and he wanted to vomit. But his right fist cracked the colossal series of belches fired in a straight line, negating the deadly blast.

"Zenchou, take care of the Toxtricity! I don't know how you do it, just distract the bastard for as long as you can!"

Asking for Zenchou's help would be akin to telling him to jump off a cliff with Geodudes using Wrap to weigh him down. Against an esper enhanced opponent, the First Stage Pokemon who lacked overly powerful super-effective attacks, it was a terribly poor and unfair match-up.

Perhaps this was some unsaid sign of trust between two individuals who didn't consider the other as friend or enemy. Touma had known the Dark/Flying-type Pokemon since he had graduated kindergarten and been shipped off to Academy City to escape the malice of his misfortune. Since day one, the two had found the other wandering into their lives, sabotaging the other, fighting, arguing, and generally causing the other all manner of trouble. Between the many interactions he had with said Murkrow(and the pack of Poochyenas led by the scarred leader), something undefinable had formed between them.

Zenchou was a tricky, dirty fighting, mischievous, and elusive little bastard. In all their time knowing each other, Touma had never been able to land a clear hit on the swift asshole who cackled at his daily strokes of bad luck.

Blood may have been leaking from his ears and even his beak, but Zenchou's feathers didn't shudder at being asked to distract the deadly Toxtricity who was manipulating the sound vibrations to create explosive earth-shattering attacks. A glint of amusement could be found in the cursed bird's red eyes as he took flight.

Negativity was given form.

Just as Kaminari's cheeks inflated for another cannonball like Belch, a stream of cursed rings bombarded him mid-burp. The colossal shock wave wavered before the Dark Pulse created an explosive backlash.

Kaminari was not amused as he blew away the purple smokescreen with an amplified Screech. Annoyed at the now cackling bird of misfortune flapping a wing as if it were a certain middle finger, the Electric/Poison-type began to fire an array of violent Belchs at his new prey.

Zenchou the Murkrow refused to reveal how the faint vibrations were causing damage at just the noise produced from a distance. He wasn't a weakling. He wasn't some feeble bird who would cry like some Togetic at the sight of a Garchomp.

Even if those colossal toxic circles of crushing force and envenoming energy would stomp him like some bug, he was able to evade so much as the very edge of those Belchs from clipping his wing.

Again and again, he performed evasive maneuvers to dodge those giant attacks that cracked the walls, ceiling, and bleachers, spraying debris all over the arena. Amid his dodging, Zenchou peppered his target with Dark Pulse and Air Cutter despite how little damage he was inflicting.

Dealing enough damage to cause a Knock Out wasn't Zenchou's intention. This was nothing more than keeping that noisy mortar's sights locked onto an aerial target so that the wide-spread damage was off the ground.

Touma knew Zenchou's bully tactics and talent in annoying his prey were top-notch. Not even a nonchalant and listless Pokemon like the Low-Amp Toxtricity could shrug such an asshole off.

Which meant he was free to finally, once and for all, focus his attacks on the boss of Toxic Hazard.

No more filler. No matter back and forth! No more talk about who was to blame and who held the most responsibility for all this pain!

Distance shrank as Touma swung his right fist at the nervous-faced boss of Toxic Hazard.

Garrick hesitated, his right hand shaking before he seemed to scream screw it.

Instead of directing the manipulated vibrations in a shotgun buckshot, the eggplant-haired college freshman shot it at the feet of the spiky boy before he could land a solid hit.

ASRL was a unique ability only espers could perform, an ability that dampened the human limiters that many espers possessed to keep themselves from being harmed by their unchecked powers. It enhanced their ability further, possibly allowing an esper to even touch the ceiling of the next level in certain cases.

For Garrick, ASRL appeared to double the volume, intensity, sheer destructive force, and even the shape of his vibrations produced from the noise he created.

The ripple of heavy vibrations was akin to an actual grenade this time. Its size was smaller and denser, keeping its form without striking him back with painful backlash. Once the see-through ball of trembling visible noise hit Touma's feet, a geyser of force erupted. Its destructive force was comparable to the fierce uproar of Earth Power breaking up from the core of the earth.

Pain struck Touma in various spots on his upper body as pieces of the earth smashed into him. He cursed how his hand couldn't negate something natural as a byproduct like rubble or debris from an attack. All he could do was endure the rocks nearly piercing his skin and push through.

He burst through the dirt smokescreen, teeth openly clenched as bits of rock fell off his battered body.

Another grenade of highly vibrating sound was tossed at his feet.

This time, he rolled to the side to escape the violent geyser spray, swung his right fist at his back to swat at the tsunami-like wave created from AOE Screech from Kaminari, and swiped said right fist back to negate another noise grenade thrown at his face.

By now, Garrick was snarling no differently than a pissed-off Growlithe. Even as he did his best to keep his opponent at a distance, even as his refined control of his manipulation of vibrations created by sound allowed him to fire off attacks without suffering a severe backlash, even though his Pokemon should have easily solved this troublesome fight! All of his attacks were being thwarted by one brat!

Another ball of visible shuddering noise was being formed in his left hand, one he was ready to throw at an angle to strike the spiky boy via the explosive radius but…

What sounded like something wet and sticky hitting the floor caused his focus to slip. Distorted air churned by sound popped in his left hand, no different than what his power was imitating. In short, the deadly force prematurely ruptured.

Garrick grimaced as his index and middle finger were twisted as he vomited chunks of applin curry.

Noise Amp was his ability; it was because of the building blocks falling under Toxtricity's power of sound he possessed such a gift. It was a Level-3 ability. It was the power to cause small decibels he created to be increased by ten-fold. Even if his normal control could do no more than create violent and deadly explosive shock waves with his voice or a snap of his fingers, once he activated ASRL, he was able to reach the ceiling of Level-3 to touch the surface of Level-4- he could finally manipulate sound itself and perform finer calculations for maximum efficiency.

ASRL did more than give him an incredible boost in power: it allowed him control!

So, why had he lost his focus?!

"Are you confused? You know, for an esper with a power I'm guessing is at Level-3, you aren't exactly bright. Hey, Slowpoke!"

A right cross bashed into the corner of Garrick's temple, nearly blinding the boss's left eye. He stumbled back, rooting his feet in place before he would fall on his back. His vision swam but he didn't allow the pain to screw with him as he began to evade a series of right swings sweeping through the mustard yellow air.

"ASRL. Just because it's a nifty trump card, doesn't mean it doesn't come with its own risks. Especially in the playing field you've created to direct who falls first!"

"A-ASRL?"

A heavy left fist impacted against his ribs and robbed him of his breath.

Growing pissed, he threw aside caution to his own safety, rose his right leg, and prepared to perform Stomp.

Control over the intensity, volume, force, and now form; decibels were his piano keys and he was the pianist who could play graceful melodies. He wasn't limited to only his voice and feet: his feet were also a weapon! This would be no different than if he were a Pokemon performing Earthquake!

Once his foot crashed into the ground, his almighty hammer, an almighty quake of pure noise would shake the very foundation of the arena. Damn a broken leg! It was worth it if the shock wave broke something on the weird spiky boy's body!

Knuckles fell upon kneecap as it was raised, negating the growing decibels ready to unleash a devastating tremor with the sound of shattering glass.

Garrick wanted to shout nothing but vulgarities. All that came out though were more chunks of stomach food soaked in stomach acids.

From below his chin, the boss of Toxic Hazard was thrown off his feet by an uppercut.

"Didn't I tell you: ASRL is why you're now losing and you're at fault for your trump card biting you back with a venomous snap. You allowed Gomi to release Level Toxin; what did it do again? It's a poison gas that increases its potency and toxicity based on the chemicals found in the many drugs all espers have to take in order to develop. If I remember Komoe-sensei correctly, she said the chemicals grow stronger, multiplying from the increase in an espers AIM. You don't need to take any more drugs for those chemicals to grow. Esperin, the main drug administered from the moment you undergo the Esper Development Program, never needs to be administered again. It's a drug the remains in the body and spreads infinitely so long as your blood is flowing. Just by leveling up, those bacteria are fed and blossom in the human garden that is you! Did you forget? Even if you took an antidote to stave off the poison, it would only work at the effectiveness you perceived before jumping up a level!"

Level Toxin was breathed in as Garrick groaned and struggled to rise up on his feet. He swayed, a mix of blood and vomit smearing his bruised chin as he glared weakly at the spiky teen standing only a simple foot away.

"The moment you tossed aside your false skin like a Seviper as a Level-0 to brandish your ability for an easy win, was the second you lost. To be honest, if you had fought with just your fists, without a special power, without the help of your Pokemon to hurt others in your stead, this fight may have turned out differently. Because of your toxic personality, the tables turned against you, you shitty battle-obsessed boss."

"K-K...Kaminari!"

"Did you forget? Espers aren't the only ones to have been subjected to the same drugs involved in creating supernatural powers."

"?"

A distinct thud caught Garrick's attention. Something akin to a shock felt at grazing an electrical socket with a damp hand caused a jolt to his mind.

ASRL, the unique bond, and phenomena only espers and their bonded Pokemon could perform, crumbled away.

"Kaminari?!"

Past Touma, Garrick could see his Pokemon, the very Pokemon out of countless creatures recommended by scientists to spur his Personal Reality, crumbled on the scarred and battered arena. Above Toxtricity's form was Murkrow, flapping his wings with a puzzled stare aimed at his opponent who had suddenly begun sweating heavily and collapsed. It was as if he had been struck by a high fever.

Level Toxin.

Created by Gomi Gio, a talented chemist whose work had once been bought by a member of the governing board for a large sum no Level-0 could ever dream to gain in such a city, it was a special poison breed to inflict various disarming symptoms to espers. Ranging from nausea, vertigo, intense sweating, headaches, increase blood pressure, and eventually, death. Its rate of toxicity would be gauged based on the level of an esper who had taken various special drugs used by the city to improve their growth.

But the students of Academy City were not alone in suffering. After all, espers heavily depended on the bond created with their Pokemon partners. Eating together, playing together, studying together, fighting together, living together; to ensure the bond between humans and Pokemon was strong, they would do just about everything from every moment of the day together.

Even take the same drugs offered by Academy City for their development.

It had hit Garrick far too late to act with caution. Before the time limit of ASRL even faded, the link had been severed.

Kaminari feinted as Level Toxin became far too much for the creature to handle. Even a highly poisonous being such as himself could not withstand such a unique and brutal strand of toxins created by human hands.

Even if his own thoughts were beginning to become strained as ASRL's effects ceased and his AIM fell away to its original measurement, Garrick returned his loyal partner back into the safety of his Pokeball. He held back the urge to regurgitate what was left of his lunch, his vermilion eyes becoming wet as he glared furiously at the approaching Level-0.

"H-How?! How are you not as affected?! Aren't you a high-level esper too? How else could you negate my Noise Amp and my Pokemon's attacks with just your fucking hand?! Someone with a weird power like you must be at least a Level-3 like me!"

Desperation coated his words. Out of panic and confusion, he once more swung his quivering right hand at the odd spiky teen who was pulling his fist back.

Noise Amp. It was a power allowing Garrick to control the intensity, output, and range of noise. In other words, he could manipulate the decibels and vibrations of sound he produced. He was a Level-3 but due to his lack of complete control of his ability, he found himself at the very bottom of the rank of Level-3 due to the painful backlash he would suffer from his more powerful attacks.

Humans were not soundproof.

It was possible, if he could overcome such backlashes and better calculate the set laws his Personal Reality was set in, he could touch the ceiling of Level-3 to knock on the floor of Level-4 without the aid of ASRL's boost.

Snapping his fingers could produce a violent explosion over 200dB(Decibels). Military grenades were calculated to produce 194dBs. Damage to the human eardrums via sound was found to be 120dBs. Such vibrations were enough to cause the blood cells in his hand to burst, shake his bones to the point of nearly breaking, and cause temporary nerve damage.

No more holding back. Everything had gone downhill after his victory. What had once been nothing more than a quick match to feed his Pokemon experience had developed into disaster.

Gleaming red eyes gazed down at him as his tense fingers prepared to unleash a desperate point black buckshot of pure noise.

Black feathers boding misfortune descended from above.

A bringer of malice and disaster.

Paranoia was threaded into the young man's shaken thoughts by a bird fabled to carry the winds of misfortune to those who fell into such a creature's line of sight.

Garrick snapped his fingers.

Paranoia, desperation, and fear.

Negative emotions fueled the deadly snap of decibels erupting from his fingers, causing the once refined calculations to become jarred by a new string of commands to double the strength he was firing.

The sound of broken bones, a dry clack, morphed into a visibly shuddering blast of vibrations breaking the sound barrier like a Dragapult stealth fighter. Such a vicious sound would break open the skin, rupture organs, pop blood vessels, and turn brain matter into mush.

What had been a blast of decibels intended to deal major damage had accidentally evolved into a true death blow.

Sound cracked.

And shattered.

Even as blood once again flowed from Touma's ears, his organs shuddered, and his vision had blurred, his right fist had never stopped its motion as Imagine Breaker nullified the cannonball of lethal roaring decibels.

Knuckles hammered into Garrick's face and a thick decibel swallowed his world.

[-]

The Final Boss was defeated.

Garrick, the True Boss of Toxic Hazard, could no longer push himself back up after the final Mega Punch slammed into his face.

Kokyu Towers 8th floor fell into a lulling silence void of the thundering sound of battle it had once raged.

Earth was scarred by craters, gouges, grooves, and burns. Damage could be seen stretching as far as the walls, the ceiling, and even the observers stands where the spray of battle should have never reached those innocently watching a match between Pokemon commanded by their Trainers. Sticky liquid could be seen pooling in a few areas of the large arena from a toxic substance. Sand was scattered here and there.

Various battles had been waged.

There had been victors.

There had been losers.

Human and Pokemon had been hurt.

Blood stained the field.

But…

Still...

Yet…

"It's over."

Touma found he could finally sigh freely in the center of such a gruesome field of battle where a toxic mustard gas continued to swim around him.

He knew he hadn't walked out of the fight without his own injuries. Blood leaked from his ears, speaking of some kind of damage to his eardrums. His insides felt queasy, disturbing him enough to hold his hand over where he felt his intestines were lightly squirming. Pure sound, volatile vibrations, piercing decibels, had assaulted him without the visible blasts of noise having ever made any direct contact.

After everything concerning his skirmishes with Toxic Hazard from their grunts, their Admins, and their Boss, he wasn't exaggerating in saying he was drained. No one would blame him if he were to simply collapse onto his knees and cry as his body ached.

Once a battle was over, it was time for rest.

He steeled his blue eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and cleaned the blood from his ears off with a gruff grunt before turning his sights onto another person who stood on the field.

"H-Hiiiiiieeeeee!"

A certain heavyset thug adorned in the sickly purple, green, and yellow colors of poison crawled back from his backside like a frightened Sobble. Sweat poured down the former boss of Toxic Hazard's bruised face who felt as if he had just been hit with Scary Face by a Tryrantrum. No longer was Gomi pulling on the natural black locks of this facilities Brain, having let go of the adult in his attempts to dodge a rebellious Spinarak's attacks and hid in the bleachers during the rampage between espers and Pokemon.

Said adult was safely sprawled on her side, weakly squirming to push herself up a few feet away from the now webbed-up exit.

Mustard yellow gas slipped into Touma's lungs.

That's right, this wasn't over-over.

Level Toxin was still being released into Kokyu Tower's ventilation ducts by an unknown source providing the stream of seemingly endless air-borne toxins. Even if the listless and irresponsible boss of Toxic Hazard had been defeated, the problem still remained. Every second passing him by was another countdown to someone's death by poison.

Where was the source? Who had control of such a fatal toxin? Who could stop this agonizing wind of death?

Gomi Gio; creator of Level Toxin and former boss of Toxic Hazard.

Everything began and would end with said Level-0 who lacked the ability to even summon his Pokemon to defend him.

"Shut it down."

He said it firmly, his voice harsh and low yet still able to reach the flinching former gang boss.

"You caused all this! This pain! This despair! This fear! You're the poison that infected this normal building where humans and Pokemon were enjoying a nice summer day in each other's company without any thought to grades, levels, or even failures! You're the bastard who giddily released a foul wind of fucking chemical poison to slowly sicken innocent individuals who had nothing to do with your lousy backstory! But no more. Even a Slowpoke would realize there's nothing else to gain in this failed plan of yours! Ultimate Sword? Crown? Revenge? The silly plot to creating something as insane as a Dynamax Band? Who fucking gives a shit about your master plans!?"

Flapping wings descended from above. Zenchou the Murkrow landed on Touma's head, spreading a few black feathers over the spiky boy. A looming shadow was cast over the two as Zenchou leered ominously at the shaken bald-headed thug who trembled underneath the glare of a high school boy.

Mirrors of malicious red and frightening blue trampled over a Level-0s heart.

"Release the barricades, stop the flow of poison, and give up. Whatever ending you're fantasizing about at the cost of so much as one life; I'll shatter those fantasies to bits!"

It was over.

Fighting was no longer an option.

"...ehehe."

Gomi's face fell.

"ehehehehehe."

He sat defeated, his shoulders letting go of whatever tension he felt.

"Ehehehehehehehehehehehe!"

Bruises, burns, the occasional scratch, could be seen on his face from the beating he had suffered at the hands of Garrick's Toxtricity. None of his Pokemon were fit for a fight, let alone being used as shields to absorb damage.

It was over. The battle had been decided in favor of a high school boy who had defeated Gomi days ago in a back alley. The vials of poison he had carried with him had been shattered and he had lost the Butterfree knife he used as a weapon when he was down to his last dirty trick. He spot it close by but did make any motion to reach for it.

Victory was out of his reach and no options could be scrounged up to overturn this ending.

"Ehehehehehehehahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!"

Broken laughter crawled out of the pathetic Level-0 who favored toxic tactics and venomous combos to harm those he could never hope to become. Where envy once laid, something far more twisted and malicious bloomed in his shaken heart.

Touma felt a sharp and sickly sensation slice his heart once Gomi's broken eyes met his.

"You know, more than half an hour has passed~! Don't you think the first body ought to drop now~!"

Thirty Minutes.

Once thirty minutes passed, someone, be they human or Pokemon, based on their level, would collapse from a seizure. Enough toxins would have been soaked into a body to cause a tragic reaction to the nervous system.

These were the words from the lips of a human taking after a vengeful Bannet's stitched and malicious grin.

"This is the true heart of Toxic Hazard. Feel the bitter and somber sting of defeat from powerless thugs, ya failure."

There was nothing to fight this time. Nothing to punch. Nothing to stop.

All Touma could do was roar in despair as he once again failed.

[-]

"I don't...I don't feel s-so good."

Blue hair and piercings.

A boy whose eyes were always shut and had the air of a no-good slacker always causing mischief. He wore a common summer uniform to some ordinary high school that had been roughed up in a fight. Dried blood was found on his once pure white button school shirt but he appeared to have overcome the injury so that he could walk forward.

It was Floor 9; The Living Ware Center. A floor above the Pokemon Center.

The delinquent boy who said he was from Kanto but probably came from some small countryside village in Johto, walked along the side of the wall of a store selling specially designed wooden furniture imported from Aloha. He used his hand to support himself with every labored step forward as he panted weakly.

If one were to take a look through the window of the store, one would find various boys and girls wearing the same color schemes associated with poison, knocked out alongside their Pokemon.

Aogami Pierce grimaced as if he had been stabbed directly in the heart.

Every breath he struggled to take was only further aggravating the nauseating condition he was suffering from. One he could not cure.

Aogami's left hand slipped as he stumbled. His knees hit the tiled mall floor with a thick thud.

Amid the heavy sweat dripping off his pale face, the false-Kantonise boy smiled halfheartedly as the mustard fog consumed him.

"Guess...ya were too late...Kami-yan."

In a random corner of a mall designed to offer a variety of goods and services to those dutiful students wishing to deepen their bond with their Pokemon; in a random corner of a mall designed to help further the development of espers hoping to strengthen the gift their Pokemon's friendship passed down…

A boy…

[-]

"Green represents earth. It is the color of Lord Arceus's bountiful kingdom where fairies dance in the forest of dew as pure as his spirit. It is also the soul of the ever-expansive woodlands governed by one of his children; The Behemoth of Terra. From the bed of green and mud, of Grass and Ground, a mighty oak tower rises to touch the heavens free of malice where the Heavenly Dragon of Sky purifies man's toxins. Transmute the color of Steel: White to Green. The Steel Spire now represents the mighty Grass Oak Tree. O, Jubilant Child of The Forest Whose Voice Wanders The Aeons; hear my pleas as a saintly child of Arceus. I offer my blessings; I of Steel and Fairy; I lend you my mana and seek your spirit to soothe, cure, and pacify the opposite color: Its Color Is Mixed Between Blue and Red. O, Voice Of The Forest, I summon you to this now colored temple of mighty oak and plea for your miracles!"

She was a woman with dark hair reminiscent of deep purple. She was of Johto descent. Her pale moon skin, entrancing figure, and compassionate gaze reminded one of a goddess. Even though she wore the clothing of the latest trend outside of Academy City (the Mystic blue and tight-fitting clothes of a Trainer on the GO), she possessed the air of someone pure.

Compared to the many ill-stricken students and adults trapped within the barricaded tower of steel flooded with mustard yellow, she was being separate from those inhabiting this man-made region of shiny metal. Even the eastern sword sheathed in a scabbard carried the hint of something outside the world of science.

The strange air wavered from the saint-like woman's alluring figure. Its color was a serene blue, mystical and boundless. A now visible energy far purer and graceful than those laws and rules bound to individual worlds began to soak to the tiled floor beneath her feet.

No, it was not a simple floor anymore.

Strange symbols were lined in specified joints of a large circular array carved by steel. Magical energy threaded into the circle and began to shine like a star.

Blue, mystical and boundless, flowed beyond the circle. Thin wires of steel lightly gleamed in the dark center of the tallest point of the glamorous tree.

Floor 31; The Head Office of Brain Mabushii Hoseki.

Surrounding the eastern woman who carried the aura of a saint, were various high-tech equipment, monitors, computer systems, and odd items that reminded her of certain forbidden accessories. How she reached such a forbidden point was a simple matter.

A woman such as herself could easily turn cement, steel, stone, and concrete into tissue paper by performing a simple Tackle.

At the peak of the building, she spread the countless strings attached to the hilt of her sheathed katana through the holes she had created. Those thin strings of gleaming silver found their targets in the thirty carved occult circles linking the entire tree as one like veins in the body. Threaded mystic blue acted as blood being carried along those highways that were ignored by the people and Pokemon suffering from a toxic gas rendering them far too weak to even see straight.

This was Magic.

The Power To Create Miracles.

When all seemed hopeless…

When nothing but despair awaited you…

When all possibilities were exhausted…

When tragedy was to be accepted…

When logic and fact were far too cruel…

There existed something invisible.

Something kind.

Something gentle.

Something sweet.

Magic was a prayer giving life to a miracle.

And it was said beautiful miracle now running through the cold tree of steel infected with a venomous bile.

[-]

Did you believe this was a cruel ending? Could you honestly accept this shitty ending where people cried in gut-wrenching despair?

Don't worry.

Even if you did not pray for a miracle, someone else would pray for you; be you saint or sinner.

But...such glorious light can only ever extend so far.

[-]

Emerald green with a translucent shine.

Throughout the many floors making up Kokyu Tower, serene emerald lights wandered the body of science like dancing bulbs carried by the wind. Those green lights had a life of their own. If one were to touch those bulbs, a cool sensation would be felt as if soothing a scathing burn.

Twirling.

Twisting.

Frolicking.

Dancing.

Lights of jubilant emerald with a translucent shine wandered throughout Kokyu Tower in search of those stricken by foul gas. Due to Level Toxins effects, those bleary-eyed students, adults, and Pokemon could not decide if what they were seeing were simply figments of their imagination. Many had already passed out.

But those emerald green bulbs containing a pure shine were indeed real.

Even if he couldn't exactly see so clearly, Aogami Pierce saw them.

Body convulsing from a seizure, it was with a strained gaze that the Level-0 saw the emerald bulb of light dance in front of him as he laid on the unforgiving tiled floor. He made out odd curves that weren't entirely human on the bulb. A cool sensation coated his body and made it easier to breathe.

"What...are you?"

A fairy?

Was he watching a green fairy giggle softly and smile innocently at The Fetish King?

An old folklore from Johto came to his fuzzy mind as he couldn't help but be lulled by the sweet aura the emerald green fairy with a translucent shine was blanketing him in.

The Voice of The Forest; A fairy-like Pokemon who was said to exist in multiple frames in time and breathed life into dying forests plagued by humans. Said to heal wayward travelers with the sweet and cool dew of its forest, no matter the sins one carried. It was a kind child who loved the green world and signaled that even if the world were to be aflame, plagued by disease, ruined by human malice, so long as it could be found somewhere in that time, there was still hope of a better tomorrow.

"Biiiiiiiiiiii~!"

Aogami felt a gentle tap on his nose before he passed out, the toxins in his body cleansed, and his wounds mended like magic.

If he had stayed awake, he may have been greeted to the a picture found only in fairy tales.

Even with his eyes shut, he would have borne witness to countless small palm-sized fairies modeled after the Mythical Pokemon, Celebi, flying through the air to bestow miracles upon all those suffering from poison.

[-]

Gomi was understandably gobsmacked as a minute rolled by.

"What...w-what...WHAT THE HELL IS THIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS?!"

Level Toxin, a mustard gas riddled with special toxins he had designed to attack and eventually kill those who have undertaken the Power Curriculum Program, was being destroyed by his very eyes by the odd emerald green bulbs with a translucent shine dancing about the Pokemon arena. Whatever those lights with a strange silhouette held within were, they were clearing away the poison being produced by the carefully stationed Koffings he had placed within the blood passageways of the air ventilation system. Those fairy-like lights treated his precious gas as if they were clumps of snow and they the metal shovels clearing the road of harmful debris.

One of those creepy lights wandered over to him. With a sneer of disgust, he batted away the unwanted lights as if they were Caterpees.

How odd. He suddenly felt as if a few of his wounds had disappeared.

Level Toxin had no effect on him. He made absolutely sure when creating said vile poison that he would be immune from its effects. In order to do so, he had willingly injected certain chemicals into his body to counteract the deadly toxins that solely gnawed on the dregs forever clinging onto espers bodies from the drugs only found in Academy City. Out of everyone in Kokyu Tower, he was the only one who could breathe easily when standing directly in the heart of the mustard fog.

But these strange emerald clear bulbs didn't see those chemicals he injected to shield him from Level Toxin as good.

He had no idea of knowing what those things did or how they did it but he felt it.

Whatever those bulbs of emerald lights were, they washed away his own armor.

Because he pushed them away, whatever clouds of mustard remained gathered around him as if he were a Magnemite attracting other Magnemite. There was no stopping him from gasping at the sight of his own creation hungrily leaping onto him with the viciousness of Poochyena.

Mustard clouds were inhaled.

Level Toxin was harmful to all those who were espers. High level or low level.

Even if Gomi was a Level-0, he had partaken in the tantalizing fruit of Academy City. Those who ingested its nutrients would suffer.

Had it been his heavy breathing? His damaged body? The odd bulbs?

What had it been that led to an immediate reaction from his own poison making him gag and vomit his lunch with a wet splat?

"What did you think was going to happen, you toxic Garbador? Did you think you could just score a checkmate as you waited things out and let your attack, Toxin, pile up and drain everyone of their health? You couldn't have possibly believed no one would have fought back against your bile? As if anyone would accept such a crappy ending!"

Someone stepped past the emerald bulbs. Those strange sources of restorative light parted ways from the spiky teen, his very presence seeming as a bundle of foreboding flames they feared would burn them to nothing.

The high school boy was breathing heavily, chin dirtied with specks of dried blood he had tried to wipe off, his uniform dirtied and torn in various places. From what Gomi could see, his enemy's ears had taken the brunt of the deadly waves of noise that had nearly burst his eardrums to smithereens. Just like Gomi, the boy who relied on his fist to fight against espers and Pokemon was injured. It wouldn't surprise him if the out-of-place boy crumbled from a measly push to the side.

Yet Kamijou Touma smugly grinned even as those beautiful emerald lights refused to offer their miracles to him.

"I was worried. I was really, really, really terrified. In all this chaos and mustard-yellow smog, I completely forgot one simple fact. I'm not the only player in this game of Pokemon and Espers. I was never the only one fighting against you. Far more players to this story were at play too!"

Somehow, lungs sticky with sickly dark yellow bile, the spiky boy continued taking a step towards Gomi as he trembled.

"Y-You're saying there's someone out there who neutralized my special poison like that?! Are you fucking kidding me!? Only a Galarian Wheezing could purify those complex toxins in a matter of seconds! And at this range and length? Who could do such a thing?"

"I don't know. Honestly? I don't care. Whoever they are, they're the hero."

"This isn't over!"

It may have hurt but Gomi stood back up, clenching both his fists in frustration with a shaken grin.

"I still have the rest of Toxic Hazard attacking everyone they see! No one is safe! Even if I lost my beloved Level Toxin, my underlings with capture whatever captives they can as bargaining chips! Thanks to that skanky Sauia-san, I still have complete control of the barricade shutters trapping everyone in Kokyu Tower like Bug-types in a cage! I can still-!"

"Didn't I say I wasn't the only one fighting in this game? This was never just a battle between a single Level-0 and several dozen other violent Level-0s! People, Pokemon, are fighting your poison right now!"

[-]

"Shit! What's gotten into those freaks!? Level Toxin should be making them puke their guts out! Most of them should have fallen into seizures! S-Someone call the bo-"

"Tsukihane-chan; Bubblebeam! Focus the damage on the bottom left thigh!"

The leader of a group of Toxic Hazard grunts snarled.

A barrage of clear dense yet fragile bubbles was fired like bullets from a machine gun. Those deadly orbs were too many in number and too great in speed to dodge. At the bottom of his feet laid his Pokemon, Skuntank, knocked out by the powerful attacks of his opponent.

He had no choice but to throw his forearms up as those bubbles slammed into him. They felt like blunt slugs of a shotgun. But most of the pain didn't hit him on his upper body.

'That big tittied four-eyed bitch! She was aiming for my Pokeballs?! How did she even know I kept them in my left pocket?!'

While he did feel the bubbles erupt violently against his forearms, he felt a majority of those bombs strike his thigh; targeting his Pokeballs. Sparks burned his leg from the damaged capsules and seared flesh.

Cursing loudly, he began hopping on one leg and patting away the small embers peppering his purple cargo pants.

Distracted by the small fire, he failed to register the spectacle girl with short dark blue hair and an impressive bust running straight for him. By the time he noticed, it was too late.

His feet were swept under him, a fist was rammed straight up at his falling face, and a second fist impacted against the center of his rib cage where the blunt force struck his lungs.

He hit the floor like a sack of Oran berries.

Like many other Toxic Hazard grunts knocked out around the food court, he didn't stir even as the glasses-wearing Judgment teen pinned him on his stomach and cuffed his wrists.

"Yokusei, protect the key. If the criminal awakes to cause trouble, you're free to use Draining Kiss to sap his vitality."

From the Judgment girl's Great Ball, an odd Pokemon was released and hooped around the Toxic Hazard thug's belt. It was a silver-bodied Pokemon made of metal in the shape of a hope of a ring of keys. A small bud of silver represented the Pokemon's head, revealing a keyhole for a mouth and two other beady holes that were its eyes and a smaller pink tear-shaped body hanging off its head.

A well-crafted key for the cuffs snaring the grunt was levitated by a mystic force and joined the many other trinkets the Fairy Pokemon safeguarded with a pleasant jingle.

The Judgment girl with glasses(and an impressive chest) didn't bother to see if the boy would arise again for another fight. She was already on the move with a command firing from her lips.

A small line of Toxic Hazard grunts was lined up with their own Pokemon only a few feet away from. Behind her stood the greasy burger stand she had previously taken shelter in. Dozens of students and adults were huddled together, trembling and softly crying as various elemental and bizarre attacks were fired wildly by the attacking grunts.

Yellow mustard no longer colored the air. Clean, sweet, and crisp cool air was tasted in the frolicking of emerald bulbs eating away at the toxins like microbes.

In a last-ditch effort to get their way with the loss of their trump card, Toxic Hazard decided to simply snap back and cause whatever damage they could.

"Surf!"

Beneath the webbed feet of the elegant white-feathered bird, a great roar of crushing waves was summoned and sent forward. Rolling tides crashed forward and barreled into the panicked and anxious thugs who couldn't even muster any thoughts to counter.

"Thundershock!"

"Ice Beam!"

"Roar!"

"Echo Voice!"

"Signal Beam!"

"Razor Leaf!"

The bespectacled Judgment girl was not alone.

Her fellow Judgment members joined in the fight.

Among those terrified students and adults, there came a small group who had decided to fight too.

Without Level Toxin harming those who had gained a superpower from the Power Development Program, espers too provided firepower and strange abilities to drive back those violent thugs. An uproar of colors, explosive bangs, supernatural barks, brute force, struck back against this once terrifying scene. Despair no longer lurked among the once mustard-tinted scene. Hearts burned fiercely to sear the toxins responsible for their fear.

"This is Konori Mii, Chief of the 177th Judgment Branch of District 7! Surrender now or we will continue to use force to subdue you into submission! This is your final warning!"

At the head of the growing attacking force, the bespectacled girl flashed the green armband on her right forearm, her intimidating aura striking the final nail to the coffin of Toxic Hazard's operation.

Various weapons and Pokeballs hit the ground from the poison-themed grunts. Those who were arrogant enough to keep final until the end were quickly brought down by those figures of justice.

Throughout Kokyu Tower, a similar scene was found on all floors.

Human and Pokemon alike fought back in the aftermath of a miracle.

[-]

Anxiety coursed through Gomi's veins. His heart frantically punched his chest to try and escape. An irritating twitch developed in his eyes as he began anxiously clenching his fist.

Someone from his gang should have told him of the chaos they were unfolding. Someone should have messaged him that they were at least doing some damage. Someone should have called him to tell them that they were desperately fighting back and taking some hostages as a bargaining chip!

Gomi felt sick to his stomach. He wasn't sure whether it was because of his own poison sinking into his organs or because of the spiky-haired boy's words.

It didn't matter if he had this glamorous tower on lockdown. Without his nasty poison or his grunts at his disposal, he didn't have any way to take advantage of the situation. All his Pokemon were knocked out. At any moment now, Anti-Skill would bust their way in through the metal shutters. The adults of Academy City would strike them down and put an end to everything he had worked towards.

It was over.

He didn't have a Sword of Destruction.

He didn't have his Crown.

He didn't have a single thing to claim as proof of his name as someone Righteous.

All because!

"Y-Y-You! It's all your faulllllllllllllllllllllllltttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!"

Once again, just like that time, when he had been cornered when had been just moments away from what he wanted like some sniveling Rattata, Gomi snapped back.

A familiar silver gleam was flashed from Toxic Hazard's chemist. The fatal fang of a Level-0 who didn't possess any supernatural power was brandished in one last-ditch effort to overturn this unfair situation.

Gomi swung the large pocket knife coated with a thin green liquid at the spiky boy. It was a warding slash meant to intimidate and prickle the heart of a normal person with terror.

"It's not fucking fair! I was so close this time! I had everything aligned perfectly! Even if I didn't have some amazing superpower to tip everything in my favor! With my intellect alone! I had everything going along the manufactured rails of my own design to arrive at my throne! Power! Woman! Respect! Everything I ever wanted was just another step away! I would have finally balanced the unfair scales of this fucking world in my direction!"

Frustrated and agonized tears streamed down the red-faced thug's face as he spat and snarled.

And not once did the glaring spiky boy motion to interrupt him as he cried and revealed that ugly toxicity churning in his heart.

Gomi's throat shuddered and he felt his pulse quicken. The knife in his hand felt as if it was going to be crushed to dust by his tense grip.

The Trubbish who had evolved into a foul and abusive Garbodor because of the unfair environment of this fake and manufactured garden of steel no longer had a thing to hold onto. All his hopes and dreams were savagely trampled on by what felt were the crushing hooves of Bouffalants. He had nothing but those ugly emotions a child had never desired to course their body.

It wasn't as if he ever desired to be poisoned.

It wasn't as if he ever wanted to turn into this toxic adult.

It wasn't as if had been born with these vicious thoughts or desires.

It's just that, at some point down this unfair road he traveled, he had found himself absorbing the vile nature of this city to become toxic. He never had a chance to evolve into anything else than something Dark or Poisonous.

At the end of this long-drawn-out battle, in what felt like a true defeat, where he no longer had a thing to strive for or fight for, he found himself truly collapsing to the poison in his pathetic heart.

Knife thrust forward, Gomi cried at this unfair world and the unfair boy with a charge.

"Because of you, because of this city! I-"

"Stop your whining, you selfish bastard. Is that all you can do? Blame others for not being seen as some king or idol? So what if your name has the epithet of a king? Did you latch on onto the first lousy excuse you could find as to why things should have been better? Did you really have nothing else to be grateful to? What the hell does that have to do with acting out as some brat and throwing a tantrum when you don't get what you want? Who gives a shit about the unfairness of this world! Don't think you can use that as some lousy excuse to violate, hurt, threaten, corrupt, and kill others!"

A boy who understood how unfair this world was, who had tasted misery countless times, who had been scarred by misfortune, and had lost things precious to him because of selfish adults who created this fake artificial forest of steel and plastic, accepted those complaints.

But he did not share them. Nor did he allow those words to change his mind. He would not allow such weak venom to course through his bloodstream. No, he heard every word and decided to run ahead to the line of the thrusting knife. Zenchou and Kumo let go of him. Those two wonderful Pokemon who had followed along to fight beside him understood this was a fight they could not join.

It was a final clash between those who were treated unfairly by the world and had nothing to show for it.

Touma clenched his fist tightly, focusing all his remaining might on this one Mega Punch.

"In the end, you lost your way. You evolved into someone brimming with foul intentions and toxic thoughts because you thought it would be easier to blame others. Instead of seeking an antidote anyone could have easily attained, you decided to soak in the venom and let it change you. You had a gift, a remarkable talent in mixing up chemicals that could cure even the harshest venom, and probably could have done far greater good than a lousy idiot like me who can only make a fist! But because you wanted everyone to share in your poison, because you wanted everyone to see this world as unfair, because you found yourself growing giddy as you inflicted pain and tears on others, you lost any right to complain or have anyone feel sorry for you! And if you think I'll let an idiot like you who willingly evolved into such a despicable Poison-type continue to spread such a terrible toxin then-!"

A venomous blade and a brute fist crossed paths.

This time, the sickly edge failed to so much as scratch his cheek. Those pudgy fingers had twitched for reasons they would never understand.

Once again, Gomi Gio was treated to the shadow of an ordinary fist engulfing his sights.

"Than I'll shatter those toxic illusions!"

A single thought slipped through the haze of despair and anger.

'Could I...could I...could I have really used my gift to...'

Pain erupted as the fist slammed into his face. Despite his height and weight, his body was slammed back into the unforgiving dirt with a loud thud he swore shook the ground. The back of his head knocked harshly into the ground and rattled his brain as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. His lost the grip of his knife as it clattered alongside the vials and Pokeballs he had on his person.

Gomi Gio was knocked out with one punch.

Finally, without question, the battle was over.

[-]

Level Toxin was gone.

Toxic Hazard was defeated.

Gomi Gio and Garrick Flynn, the two leaders of the poison splinter cell of Skill-Out, had both been shut down after a grueling battle.

Bulbs of crystal-like emerald danced in the air, soothing those who had been subjected to the foul mustard air before anyone lost their life. Like a mirage, those lovely lights vanished into thin air.

As Touma carried the unconscious Brain of Kokyu Tower(princess style), he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Whatever wounds he had collected were ignored for this small moment of respite at battle's end. Zenchou and Kumo found their spots on his person, a cursed bird resting on his spiky locks and a horned spider on his left shoulder.

Behind his back, Garrick and Gomi were laid out with busted lips and bruised faces as he returned to Index and Yumiya.

'I want to go home.'

After everything he had been through, despite whatever may remain in the aftermath, and his own injuries, all this high school boy wanted for all his troubles was to go home. To take Index back to Komoe's apartment, shower off all the grime, grab a bite to eat and go to sleep. He didn't ask for a reward for defeating Toxic Hazard, nothing so grand but the want to leave and return to his normal life.

Brittany stirred in his arms, wincing from the bruises inflicted on her by Garrick. He smiled lightly at the older woman whose cheek nuzzled against his chest as if seeking comfort in her sleep.

Everyone could finally go home and put this entire ordeal behind them. For that he was grateful.

The door to the reception area opened with a soft bing. When he stepped in to be greeted by the girls he had left behind, he found a surprising sight waiting for him.

"Y-Yuri-onee-san?!"

Tired as he was, he couldn't help but gap openly at the curvy woman who appeared inside, kneeling down in front of the wounded and unconscious Hidoi. The college student with purple hair was focused intently on the nasty gash responsible for the Toxic Hazard Admin's state, needles slipping through damaged skin to better sew up the wound. Had Hidio's gash opened up? A first-aid kit lay next to her, carefully laid out with tools and medicine that both Index and Yumiya were handing to the older woman's instruction.

Hidoi grimaced as she was subjected to Yuri's treatment, her eyes shut as she still hadn't regained consciousness. More color had returned to her face, speaking volumes of her recovery.

All in thanks to the dorm manager-like woman who had come to the rescue.

"Touma!"

"Kamijou-kun!"

Index and Yumiya both greeted the worn-out Touma as the door shut softly behind him. Spying a comfy-looking seat close by, he set down the Brain gently as can be.

Surprised as he was, and nervous after having left the crying woman to rush into a fight, Touma was happy to see Yuri safe and sound. Everyone he had been fighting to protect this entire time was safe.

'Knowing the legendary Fetish King, he's probably doing fine as well. He's probably taking advantage of the situation right now to get some sympathy from a Judgment girl too. I'll have to thank Aogami the next I see him for doing what he could to protect Brittany.'

It wasn't for a lack of a phone, he would have called his friend and seen how he was doing. Aogami may have been a fellow Level-0 but the perverted idiot was far too tough for something like this to take him out of the picture.

He made his way over to the girls, smiling as Zenchou abandoned his head to fly over to Index. The troublemaker of a Dark-type craned his head, red eyes searching every inch of the nun's body for any scratches like some mother Torchic. Happy as he were to see both Index and Yumiya, his full attention found itself on the silent purple-haired onee-san tending to Hidoi's gash. It seemed she was done as she cleaned off the blood and applied disinfectant to the area. The sight of the vicious ex-Admin being stitched drew the worried Kumo the Spinarak to zip over the woman.

Touma struggled to speak, lips drawn in a regretful line as he watched the woman keep her back to him and go about putting her first-aid away.

Things had been said. Things he had no desire to say to a wonderful woman who had tried to protect him. A kind hand had been offered for him. When he was feeling deathly ill from Level Toxin, someone undeniably sweet saved him. All she had wanted was to save him from a horrible situation.

What had he done in return for such kindness?

Rejected it.

Nothing hurt more than the crumbling expression on Yuri's face as he dove into further violence.

Wasn't it about time he apologized? Hadn't he said he would greet her on hands and knees, apologize until his voice was hoarse and he was spitting blood and begged for such a sweet woman's forgiveness?

"Yu-"

"Are the two boys wounded too? Are they still back in the arena?"

Before he could go through with his promise, Yuri cut him off. Her voice was...strained? Melancholic? Her words lacked the bright and bubbly energy he had grown accustomed to in their short time knowing another.

Still anxious, Touma answered right away without any thought.

"Garrick and Gomi are still knocked out in the arena. I don't think they'll be getting up anytime soon; I think. They were both pretty beaten up." Being the one who pounded them into the dirt, Touma scratched the back of his head bashfully as he looked away, "I may have gotten a little carried away during our fights. I-I would have brought them back here too but I had my hands full with Brittany-san."

Yuri didn't say a word but her shoulders did relax. She turned her head to the door leading to the battlefield, her expression hidden as she began to rise. First-aid in hand, she didn't say another word as she began to walk to where two boys were in need of treatment.

That was just the kind of caring and loving woman she was. Even if they were delinquents, even if they were responsible for causing all this mayhem, even if they would sneer at her and insult her for her actions, Yuri Sumire was the nurturing college girl who desired to become an understanding and caring teacher with all her heart. She didn't need anyone to ask her to save them or take care of them. It was what she loved most.

Guilt continued to build up in Touma's chest as moved to follow the woman he felt he had betrayed.

"Listen, Yur-"

"Thank you, Kamijou-kun. I'm not sure how you did it, but we all have you to thank, right? All by yourself, you fought those rowdy boys and girls who felt the adults of Academy City had let them down. Even if it hurt you, even if it hurt others, even if your actions brought tears to someone's face, you saved so many with your actions in the name of their smiles. You knew what was best and stuck to what you believed would protect those who were suffering. I...I admire that. I adore that."

Just before Yuri stepped out the door to treat those bloodied boys covered in bruises from a high school boy, she glanced back at the stun spiky boy. Her beautiful lips…

"You inspired me. To think a Level-0 like me could be so strong and determined despite how we adults failed him. What you did caused a naughty little fire to grow in my chest! Honestly, I didn't think a boy in high school could make a girl like me become flustered. You and I are going to have to have a nice little chat about what you did to this Onee-san when this is all over~!"

Touma couldn't move. His heart had stopped.

Yuri left for the battlefield without another word, a pleasant hum left behind in her wake as the door shut.

"...Yuri-onee-san?"

Those beautiful lips…

Why had they sliced across her face in such a twisted crescent moon? Why did that pleasant smile seem so ominous?

He wasn't sure how long he had stood rooted in the face of such a chilling expression but he found he couldn't ignore it. He clenched his teeth anxiously and ran after her.

"Damn it! Why the fuck is it locked?!"

"Touma? What's going on?"

Index worriedly gazed at the frustrated boy as he began frantically pounding on the strange door. A red warning sign popped up on the electronic frame, barring entry as it locked up.

"Did she just lock the door? How?" Yumiya asked suspiciously with a hand reaching for her Pokeballs.

Touma didn't answer back to either of them. He smashed his bruised right hand over and over into the high-tech door, his blows causing the warning signs to glitch. Was it a touchscreen? Why the hell would it lock up now?

And why was it that something dreadful was building up in his stomach with every second?

"Typical...trying to use force to solve your problem. Why do you have to taint the image I just recently had of you, you violent boy."

"Dominatrix-chan?!"

Hidoi's nose wrinkled at the nickname as she gingerly pushed herself up from the floor. Weakly, she stood back up and slowly walked over to the sweating boy as Kumo rested atop her head. She pushed him aside with a click of her tongue.

"Step aside." She was out of breath and appeared as if brushing against her would send her falling, but she gathered the strength to skillfully tap away on the touchscreen door, "If you hit it anymore, I won't be able to break through the security wall and open the door. You've already caused a few cracks to mar the screen, so it's going to take some creative moves to move around the damage. Seriously, don't you ever use your head, ya lustful and dumb as a Geodude boy?"

Touma was speechless to the now awake Admin feverishly moving about the jumble of numbers now replacing the warning sign blocking their way past. How was she even awake? Shouldn't she have been too weak to even speak with how much blood she had lost?

Wait, lustful? He understood the dumb as a Geodude comment, but the hell was she insulting him as if he were a pervert!? Didn't he at least get some respect for protecting her all this time? It wasn't his fault the frilly cutesy blouse with the ready-to-pop buttons due to her busty breasts caught his attention!

"Why? Why are you helping me?"

"..."

Hidoi was silent to his question. He lightly frowned at the girl who stared back at him, her green eyes peering into his very soul. Was she searching for something? What was with this intense gaze that made this poor high school student squirm awkwardly?

For whatever reason, she sighed heavily. Her shoulders fell.

Had...had she not found what she was looking for?

"….not….fit...been...easy….stupid boy...''

Words were whispered underneath her breath as Hidoi continued her work.

"...She's in danger, you know? Yuri-chan's all alone with members of Toxic Hazard, with ugly boys with ill intentions. I'm simply repaying the favor and protecting a sexy woman from those monsters. As the hero, isn't not your responsibility to defend that lovely woman from any more harm?"

Nothing more was explained as those red security tape like warnings vanished alongside the code Hidoi had been messing with. The door snapped open and greeted Touma back to the final boss room.

Right, Yuri-onee-san was in danger. What did it matter what kind of eerie expression she had made? What was important was that he make sure such a kindhearted woman was safe. Garrick and Gomi may have been defeated but they could wake back up at any time. They would both be livid and pissed off at their loss and probably strike at Yuri despite her desire to heal them of their injuries.

He couldn't ignore the fear prickling at his heart like thorns. After everything Yuri had done for him, he couldn't allow her to disappear like that!

Charging ahead, he never did question why Hidoi had made such a shameful expression.

[-]

Burnt meat.

Seared flesh and blood.

An odor foul fouler than that of Level Toxin lingered in the air and crawled its way through Touma's navel passages. He nearly threw up then and there as he made it onto the silent Pokemon arena.

His body locked up. He couldn't take another step forward. A terrible, chilling tremble took over his legs to the point they felt numb.

He recognized this dreadful aura on the field.

Death.

Standing in the middle of the ruined arena was a familiar figure. One he had beaten down with his fists only moments ago. A college-age boy with eggplant-colored hair and listless eyes that had grown wild with excitement for battle. The leader, the boss, of Toxic Hazard.

"G-Garrick?"

The defeated boss stood with a hand nursing his bloody face, face twisted in a grimace from both the throbbing aches on his skin and the smell of a retching odor close by. He was not alone on the field.

Three more figures were clearly seen.

A Toxtricity, one unlike the lazy Low-Amp species he possessed, stood with his right hand lifted up high. Shocking yellow sparks bounced off its body as it sneered at the object it held up like a gutted Magikarp on a hook.

Touma could no longer distinguish what the heavy object in the High-Amp Toxtricity's grip was. Black smoke completely wafted off the thing's body in a cloud of darkness. Red and pink flesh could slightly be seen through the smoke, only in small amounts as the rest of it were utterly seared into fine charcoal. It gave off the most unpleasant and sickening odor he had ever smelled. It reminded Touma of the first time he had tried to cook pork all by himself; he had completely burned the piece of Pignite flesh by accident or his usual misfortune.

And the final figure to complete the terrible picture…

"YURI-ONEE-SAN!"

Panic and anxiety washed the chilling dread away.

At the sight of the lovely young woman who desired to be a loving teacher, someone who had shown this lousy Dark-type a wonderful expression as she spoke of her dreams to teach and aid others like him, Touma charged ahead like he was shot off of a cannon.

Everything in this world disappeared at that moment.

Garrick.

The malicious High-Amp Toxtricity.

The charred meaty object.

All that mattered was protecting that beautiful and kind woman from being corrupted by such toxic thorns.

It didn't matter if she stood dangerously close by to Garrick.

It didn't matter if she held a Pokeball in her hand that was popped open.

It didn't matter if her expression didn't display horror and disgust.

All that mattered was protecting her from-

"Mace! Energy Ball!"

Another Pokeball was opened.

From the capsule ball, a yellow-green furred monkey with amber eyes, white fur around his eyes, dark forearms and tail, and a mohawk-like leaf atop his head was released. It was an evolved form of Pokemon commonly gifted to Trainers on their first journey into the wide world to challenge Gyms; Thwackey. And his arms the Grass-type wielded two blunt sticks reminiscent of drum sticks, currently gathering luminescent emerald energy.

A basketball-sized orb of natural energy was released from the Thwackey's sticks and sent straight at the charging spiky boy.

Touma snarled viciously as he smashed the nuisance to nothing with a simple swipe of Imagine Breaker.

"Seriously!? Just what the hell is up with your right hand?!"

Touma was close. He was just a few meters away from reaching her. If he could just plow through the battle-freak boss, he could drag Yuri away from this mess. This entire mess involving poison and thugs could all be put behind them!

Beaten up as he was, Garrick made a move against the reckless high school boy. Purple, blue, and black-hued fingers trembled but snapped, the decibels of the finger snap's volume acting as an explosive aimed behind his back and launching him straight at Touma.

"Solar Blade!"

Two separate fists were clenched tightly. Dark blue eyes clashed with grape red eyes with such ferocity one could swear sparks flew and ignited the air. Powerful and powerless roared with desire.

Opposite ideals collided like raging black and white dragons.

Protect and rescue.

Destruction and mayhem.

Wild Thrill Vs. Ordinary Peace.

"Just stay down, you fucking idiot!"

"Just stay down, you fucking idiot!"

Violence met violence with a thick thwack. And knuckles twisted as deeply as they could into the faces of their targets.

Garrick grit his teeth as hard as he could. But the pain had become too much. His mind couldn't think straight. With a frustrated groan, his weak knees gave out. He fell on his back as the world lost all sense of direction.

Touma tasted blood from the busted upper lip he suffered. His own thoughts were a mess but he did not go down. He couldn't. One more threat was aimed to take him out.

Scorching emerald light, twin beams of concentrated sunlight, were swung down upon him from the screeching grass monkey belonging to the boss of Toxic Hazard. The Solar Blade formed in place of Mace's wooden sticks crossed one another to deliver an execution-like slash.

An ominous right hand struck the center of those crossing blades, shattering them to pieces, and struck the surprised Thwackey with no mercy. It might as well have been a critical hit as the blow sent the mid-sized Pokemon flying where he hit the ground without further movement.

'Don't pass out. D-Don't hit the ground! Whatever you do, don't let her slip from your grasp!'

Touma was tired. He was panting, dripping with sweat, queasy, mind swimming as he fought to stop himself from swaying on his feet. He had hit his limit long ago. Sheer willpower and determination were pushing him on to keep walking. Every step brought a jolt of pain to travel through his beaten body.

But he allowed his sights to stray from the lovely warm beacon stranded in the middle of this violent arena.

It was time, finally time, to close this ugly and toxic chapter.

Standing just a measly few steps away from the silent Yuri, Touma smiled tiredly but gently at the older woman.

All he had to do was reach his hand out, lend his hand out, and…

"Rai-kun, please...Thundershock."

"...E-Eh?"

A gentle knuckle sparking with wild bolts tapped Touma's forehead as the boy found himself too dumbfounded to act on his instincts. A sweet pair of vermilion eyes gazed at him with such tenderness he was reminded of his own mother.

And then the world grew white as he found lightning being poured into his being via the taser-like knuckles of the stern-faced Toxtricity.

"G-G-G-G-GYYYYYYYYYYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Agony consumed him as his skin was burned by the untold number of watts he was being inflicted with. It was like he was hit by a taser set on its highest setting. His limbs twitched, his muscles quivered, and his entire body became a beacon of bouncing sparks.

It was only his right hand, Imagine Breaker, that had saved him from further excruciating pain as its very touch of that lightning negated the coat of hot sparks. But it did little to soothe the full-body burns he had suffered. Smoke lingered on his person as he stumbled back from the lovely older sister type he was reaching for, his eyes flitting between the waking world and the ever-numbing darkness.

W-What just happened? Had...had Yuri actually attacked? Or was her Pokemon the one acting on his own accord? Rai-kun? Did the bratty little Toxel from a few days ago evolve? Why would he attack him? Was it by accident in order to protect his Trainer?

Hundreds of questions popped up in Touma's mind as he fought to stay up on his shaking legs. He openly ground his teeth, eyes stretched wide in both pain and concentration as he stared at his attacker for answers.

"Y-...Y-Yuri-onee-san?"

"My, my, my, you really are a stubborn boy, Kamijou-kun."

Those ever lovely, gentle, and sweet vermilion eyes looked to him with an odd emotion. Sharp yet kind. Threatening yet nurturing. Such a haunting expression didn't so much as twitch as Rai, her High-Amp Toxtricity, casually tossed aside the heavyweight lump of charred flesh to the side. Only now that he was closer did Touma finally put a picture to the corpse that hit the ground with a disturbing wet thud.

Someone was missing from this battlefield. Someone who had stirred the chaos and infected this glitzy tower with a vile atmosphere. The one responsible for the chaos that led to people being poisoned and attacked by delinquents and thugs who believed Academy City had failed them.

"Gomi…?"

Fear.

A cold prick pierced the soft tissue of his beating heart. Since he had met the picture-perfect Dorm Manager-like woman, he would have never thought to experience such emotion when around her. It was like he was doused in icy water from head to toe, leaving him shivering and crying out for some kind of warmth.

He hated it.

He despised it.

'That smile...'

Touma stepped back with a face stricken with dread.

An old memory replayed in front of him. Of a girl he had met by coincidence, protected, laughed with, and found himself growing close with to the point the mere thought of having to part ways caused an ache in his lonely heart scarred by misfortune. And how at the end of the disastrous plot to awaken a powerful individual he had found the fluffy-haired girl meeting him with such a crescent moon slicing across her lips.

Once again the darkness pleasantly smiled his way.

"What did you do?"

He had asked that question almost two years ago when he was in middle school.

The answer hadn't been pleasant back then either.

Yuri continued to smile a sweet yet chilling smile as she spoke calmly.

"It's just as you said, Kamijou-kun; if you want to save someone, anyone, you'll bear through the pain and misfortune to protect them. Even if it's a difficult choice that leaves other feeling betrayed, you'll do whatever it takes for their sake. Even if it leaves you as a selfish, rotten, good-for-nothing, inconsiderate idiot in the eyes of the people you're protecting..."

He didn't understand. He didn't want to understand. Whatever he was seeing was, had to be!

"If it means saving others, do whatever it takes so long as everyone can be saved. You taught me that. And what a wonderful lesson it was, Kamijou-kun. I can't help but feel as if you helped me evolve."

An illusion. This had to be some twisted illusion conjured by the lingering wisps of Level Toxin!

What that lovely onee-san said next truly left him numb.

Yuri placed her right hand over her motherly chest, her expression revealing regret and a sense of disappointment as she idly glanced at the charred corpse her Pokemon had tossed aside.

"After all, as the Boss of Toxic Hazard, as the founding member who allowed Gomi-kun to steer my adorable grunts down this horrible path of senseless violence, I have to take responsibility."

Boss of Toxic Hazard.

Yuri Sumire.

Founding member.

Her responsibility.

Cold sweat swam down Touma's bruised face as he truly felt lost to the sudden change of pace to the atmosphere.

A haggard laugh was heard from behind him from the defeated 'Boss' of Toxic Hazard.

Garrick sat up with blood on his lips and a cruel smile.

"S-Surprised? Yeah, so was I. Even after all this time, it still takes me back to hear such a thing from that sexy chick with crazy curves and a bouncy chest. But it ain't no trick, kouhai-kun! Don't you look like an idiot!?"

Touma trembled at the revealing status, stuttering as he spun back to the sound esper who struggled to stand back up on his feet.

"B-But you're the true boss of Toxic Hazard! You said so yourself! Isn't that why you were fighting Gomi? Isn't that why you involved yourself in this mess to begin with?"

Say it wasn't so. Give him a reason to once again brandish his fist! Something, there had to be something he could punch to destroy this screwed-up lie!

Garrick panted tiredly, his left hand clutching onto his right hand's broken fingers. He was wounded and made no attempt to fight or command his whimpering Pokemon to fight either.

"So? Technically speaking, I wasn't lying. Whoever defeated Gomi became the new leader of Toxic Hazard. The Level-3 Brain beat him, took the title, and then I beat her. But the title was never that moron's to give away. The title of Boss always belonged to Yuri-chan over there. And as for why I got involved; ask Toxic Hazard's boss yourself." Garrick weakly shrugged.

He still didn't want to believe what he was hearing, turning back to Yuri with a desperate and pleading expression.

"Garrick-kun is an old friend from my middle school days. Like Gomi-kun, we were close friends who were plagued by our status as Level-0s before he gained an ability two years ago and involved himself with a different group of naughty troublemakers." Yuri tapped her cheek cutely, her face showing little to no hints of the dreadful atmosphere as she spoke while a burnt corpse lay only a few meters away, "I suppose you could say he's something of a mercenary in the underbelly of the city, his group providing their abilities and Pokemon to resolve whatever matters their clients hand them. As of late, I've begun noticing Gomi-kun has become far more irritable and aggressive with not only others but our own organization. So, I asked Garrick-kun for a favor; keep an eye on Gomi-kun and, if he had to, stop him from doing anything terrible."

"Flooding an entire building full of students, adults, and Pokemon with noxious gas, taking control of the gang, creating a city block razing weapon, and even attacking some of its own members? Sounded like something terrible." Garrick explained with a disgruntled scoff. His own vermilion eyes flickered over to the charred corpse, a tinge of regret and sadness found in his one visible eye, "I've always known he was overzealous. He was terribly self-conscious and had low self-esteem. But he was a friend. Even if he grew to hate me for simply awakening my Personal Reality and gaining a superpower of my own, he was still a friend I had to watch out for like he was stricken with an incurable disease. He'd already crossed a lot of lines; he killed people, abused people, molested people, used people, and his cruelty didn't only affect people but Pokemon too. I couldn't recognize him anymore."

Swallowing something thick that left him with a shuddering exhale, the Galarian boy came to accept what had become of the human that had become a corpse.

"This wasn't a paid job. It was personal. I simply went about this to beat that moron up...I...I wasn't expecting this to end the way it did. But I get it. There was no changing him. He had evolved into something truly twisted and foul."

"So, you killed him?!"

Garrick narrowed his eyes at the infuriated spiky boy.

"Of course not. That decision was one made by the boss of Toxic Hazard, not I."

The soft sullen regret brought him to turn back to Yuri. Touma found the young woman finally showing some sign of sadness as the one who must have commanded her Pokemon to electrocute Gomi to death. He felt sick to his stomach and wanted to dry heave as things continued to accelerate to an end he didn't want to reach.

"Gomi-kun...Gomi-kun was my first friend. I met him when we were both about to graduate elementary school and became close friends in middle school alongside Garrick-kun. We did everything together. We failed together, we were ridiculed together, but we all laughed the pain away together. He was different back then. One day, he thought up about making a little club of Level-0s like us, so that we could all stick together, support another, and protect each other. But even though it was his idea, all our friends came to the decision to make this nervous, unsure, weak, and fearful girl the leader of the club. Often times I wonder if that was the root of Gomi-kun's progression into the ugly boy he had become."

Gomi was a childhood friend, the first friend to a fearful child who could never make a proper decision without second-guessing herself. A nervous Toxel had befriended a self-conscious Trubbish in an artificial steel forest. A beautiful and meaningful bond was formed.

And Yuri had simply murdered their connection.

Something snapped in the heart of Kamijou Touma.

Water gathered in the corner of his eyes. His body shivered like he were a terrified Cubone being stared down by a Tyrannitar. His right hand wandered over to his chest and tightly gripped it where his heart wouldn't stop pounding against his chest.

What did it matter if Gomi was a terrible and ugly person? So what if he was a Level-0? He molested girls in dark alleys with his Pokemon, created poison to hurt people and Pokemon, and felt pleasure in inflicting pain onto others. Those were undeniable facts. A person like him deserved to be locked up and to never see the light of day for all the pain he caused out of his sense of fairness.

Did that mean he had to die like this? Was this truly the right course of action to take? Was he no better than some piece of trash one could dispose of?

Was he truly beyond being saved? What right did anyone have to say even someone as cruel and twisted as Gomi wasn't deserving of changing if given a chance?

Gomi Gio had been Yuri Sumire's best friend. They shared wonderful and lovely memories with each other. No matter how twisted their time together had become down the later half of the road, surely they had nothing but wistful smiles in mind when glancing back to their childhood. What was that unknown emotion in Gomi's eye when Garrick had mentioned her? Had it been hesitation? Anxiety? Was it a sliver of the humanity of an older boy who had basically kicked out the far too soft boss of their club without causing her harm and instead desired a Pokemon battle to resolve their differences? Knowing her personality, had he been hoping to scare her away by declaring such hostile intentions? Had he intended to burden himself with those violent delinquents so that she may focus on her own happiness?

Of all those countless individuals in the world of Pokemon and humans, wasn't it Yuri alone who could have possibly stood a chance in curing that toxic bastard of his ways if she had the courage to try?

The soft and sweet kindness he had seen from Yuri...had it all been a clever act? Was she really the kind of woman to burn her own best friend to a crisp because she couldn't muster the strength to talk with him?

"Why...H-How?"

It was a broken whisper.

Then a furious bellow with hot tears springing from his broken eyes.

"HOW COULD YOU KILL SOMEONE WHO WAS YOUR FRIEND?! WHEN DID YOU BECOME SOMEONE SO BROOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN?!"

This ugly illusion!

He had to smash it to fucking pieces!

Touma acted on the blistering anger and sense of betrayal with a roar on his bloody lips, charging straight ahead towards the nurturing woman with blood on her hands.

Yuri made no move to dodge. She had no need to.

Rai, the bratty little Toxel who had recently evolved into a Toxtricity, stepped in with his own right hand pulled back. He did not summon lightning to empower his fist, he didn't use any Moves to increase his strength. This wasn't a matter of his beloved Trainer not giving him a command. This was a sign of meeting that strange boy's feelings and accepting the tears slipping down his face.

A melancholic frown was found on that once bratty child's face.

The large hand of the Poison/Electric-type swung wide, smashing directly into the already exhausted and wounded boy's face with enough force to send him flying like he were litter tossed to the trash. Brute strength knocked him off his feet until he was skidding along the dirt and gravel of the arena.

The one blow robbed Touma of his breath as he laid on the dirt, his every desire to move blocked by the ringing in his head. He could only gasp weakly and claw the dirt in his hands as he struggled to push his body to stand up. But the damage was too much. The signals from his brain couldn't connect to the rest of his beaten body. He was left in a nauseous daze and blood seeping from his busted lip.

After everything he had gone through and endured, this was it. This was all a normal high school boy could possibly achieve. And it was enough to bring him to more tears.

"Our club was never meant to be a gang. I tried to steer us into helping others. But Gomi-kun insisted on dangerous methods to protect other Level-0s. To fund our club, we resorted to stealing. We began taking in violent delinquents who had no place to go. And everyone else slowly grew to accept Gomi-kun's violent ideas. I was far too weak-willed to say anything back, especially when he would promise me it was all for the best. We were doing good. So, I let him make all the hard decisions if it meant others would find a place they could belong and be safe. By the time we were about to graduate high school, when Garrick-kun left our little group because he gained an ability of his own, I had decided I wanted to find another way to help others."

Yuri's voice trembled, her voice cracking at having seen the boy she befriended harmed by her Pokemon. To the end, she was still the sweet and gentle onee-san he had grown to…

"I met Komoe-sensei by chance as a Level-0 who was a part of our gang had found himself in some trouble in school. That's when I found myself inspired to become a teacher. I spent less time with our club and let Gomi-kun, Byoki-kun, and Hidoi-chan handle everything in my place. I became more a figurehead in the shadows who hardly made any decisions as to how they went about protecting others. The club found itself as a Skill-Out gang, armed itself with Pokemon as weapons, and further traveled down the road that led them to a terrorist attack with a bio-chemical weapon. And I let it happen. Because I thought I couldn't do a thing now that they had grown so violent. Because I couldn't speak up to my best friend who had evolved into something ugly. Because I thought I could do better if I stepped aside and tried to teach others how to be better and not turn into the very people I considered friends."

She walked over to the defeated spiky boy who had fought against her grunts because he couldn't stand his friends or strangers being harmed by the selfish desires of misled children. To the boy who lit a fire in her usually unsure and weak heart. Who had been beaten until he could no longer stand on his feet after one blow.

Kamijou Touma had unknowingly charmed Yuri Sumire, a woman who fit the accurate description of the woman of his fantasies to a nigh identical T. And his selfish way of life, his insistence on relying on his violent right hand to solve what troubled him, had acted as the stimuli to cause her evolution.

Just as her Toxel had evolved earlier today in all the chaos, Yuri had found herself evolving due to the exposure to violent stimuli.

Evolution wasn't a process that could be reversed. It was permanent. A step forward was a step forward with nothing to turn back to.

Yuri smiled with tears swimming in her broken vermilion eyes, her hand lifting Touma's battered chin stained with blood and dirt up to meet her own.

"But I've decided. I've decided to abandon my cowardly ways and take action. The adults of this city have failed you lovely boys and girls and have fed you false promises while injecting you with strange substances. You've all been poisoned by this awful system. This environment of cold steel trees, plastic vines, artificial light, and strange air is nothing but a sickly swamp riddled with disease. They call it wonderful drugs created by gifted scientists to create real-life miracles anyone can gain but it's nothing more than sinister toxins designed to corrupt a frail and terrified boy like Gomi-kun to become a monster. Even a wonderful boy like you, Kamijou-kun, was failed and poisoned by this miserable city. Komoe-sensei's told me plenty of your exploits, of her favorite student. A boy who always finds himself in back alley brawls against espers, who can't seem to form a connection with Pokemon, who doesn't have enough funds to ever properly feed himself due to troubles, who struggles to come to school because he's always caught up in laughable concepts as misfortune. Someone so undeniably bright and kind, just like Gomi-kun once was. Someone this sickening artificial city will one day corrupt and evolve into someone irredeemable."

No matter how hard he struggled, how much he tried to push his battered body growing numb from physical trauma and emotional distress, he couldn't get a command across his sore muscles. In fact, it felt like was enraptured by the kind and caring aura the deadly woman gave off. Despite her actions, her words, the blood on her hand, she never lost that warm and gentle sensation of wrapping him up in a blanket when around her. That lovely thorned flower was lulling him to sleep with her noxious warm aura.

It felt as if she was still trying to shelter him from the cruelty of this world even as her thorns pricked his skin.

A single tear splashed against his face from above.

"I-I can't stand it any longer. Even if I became a teacher, became the kind of adult who could offer children the chance to be better and know better, it's not enough to cure you of the insidious poison Academy City has fed you. I can't save you like this. I can't protect you like this. I realize that now. I have to act more like you, Kamijou-kun. Even if the methods are violent, hurt others, step over the feelings of those I protect and are seen as selfish, I have to do whatever it takes so that you can one day smile without a hint of despair. So, please, forgive me."

Yuri pressed her temple against Touma's own, her eyes shedding tears that ran down her face like waterfalls and dripped off her lovely chin as she swallowed the ugly feelings brought up by the selfish actions she was taking. Her expression crumbled, her eyes shut tightly, her mouth struggling to suppress the ugly sob threatening to break her will and bawl out her eyes like some child.

"Even if you come to hate me, despise me, spit in my face, I'll do everything to beg for your forgiveness once I've cured you of your misfortune. I'll create a world where these cruel adults can't touch you with sharp needles and strange devices, where the darkness can't twist your innocence, where our lovely Pokemon aren't used as means of spreading tragedy, and where you can only evolve into something beautiful. I'll construct a gorgeous forest where you and I can go back to walking side by side together under a sunny sky free of this city's toxic malice."

This was goodbye.

A bittersweet parting between a boy and a girl in a world of science.

Such a farewell was accompanied by a rough hand planting itself on the back of Touma's head. He felt a flat rectangle against his skull. Was that a cellphone?

"...You did well, kouhai. For all the trouble you caused me...you showed me a rocking good time. But this is over. I'm sorry you had to get caught up in all this crap."

Garrick's solemn words were accompanied by an ear-splitting ring of the esper's cellphone dial going off. The boy utilized his ability, Noise Amp, to amplify the simple phone's lowly beep into a disorienting blare better reserved for a natural disaster alarm. The explosive sound rattle his brain and caused his eyes to shake to the point his vision could only see blurs. He couldn't think straight, let alone scream in pain. It was like he was struck by a seizure that left his entire body twitching.

Even as Garrick stopped using his ability, the ringing didn't cease.

All Touma could do was lay there, idly noticing Yuri's touch had disappeared, and found a kind blurry figure leave his sights.

'No.'

Footsteps made their way out of the Pokemon arena. They were most likely heading for the elevator shuttle close by. He was being abandoned.

'Not again.'

Just like back then, when Mitsuari Ayu had left him with a chilling smile on her cute lips. He couldn't do a thing to reach that retreating back. He couldn't say a word. This wasn't some illusion he could shatter with the bizarre power in his right hand. Just like then, he was bruised, cut up, wounded, and in tears as he could only watch someone he failed to save leave him all alone.

"Please...not again. Not you too."

Kamijou Touma was left all alone, covered in bruises and wounds, with not even the strength to do more than cry at his failure.

Once again, his misfortune reared its sinister face and ruined the happy ending he was fighting for.

---

Your misfortune is not gentle. No matter how hard you battle, it will sink its treacherous fangs into your surroundings without fail.

The bitter taste on your rusty lips is all too familiar to that day when you encountered a fluffy girl in this forest of steel and plastic. And lost her simply because of a stroke of bad luck. That hand has failed to once again drag someone who wormed their way in your heart out of the darkness to evolve.

But this story is not over. We have only reached the halfway point.

When the system of god stares you down in all its almighty glory, will you finally achieve the happy ending you've been searching for?

We've reached the second half of this crazy arc! And what an ending we have.

To start off with, it has always been my intention from the very beginning of creating Toxic Hazard to introduce the true boss of the poison-themed organization at the end of this battle. The battle itself has changed several times from the conception of this arc. The Dynamx Band was complete and abused for a massive battle in a controlled space. Mega Evolution was floated around. I even thought of combining the end of the Toxic Hazard Arc with The Index Librom Probibitorum Arc. But I wanted to hold myself back and not go too crazy this early in the story.

This final battle was the epitome of Touma's unique style of battle. Espers, in this story, are humans who have crossed the border of humanity to arrive to a stage similar to their Pokemon partners. Kinda like hybrids, I suppose? They themselves don't need their Pokemon to stand up for them since a Level-2 or 3 can(depending on their ability) fight for themselves. But lower levels have to rely on their Pokemon to take the plate and fight in their stead.

But Touma is a Trainer without a Pokemon to rely on. Because of his ability, he will fight no matter the situation or opponent; human or Pokemon. Even if he has partners by his side, he would not stand back and let them fight. No, he would join them in whatever violence stands in the way. He would share their pain, their struggles, their desires to achieve victory. To the boy who has decided to stand alone, he would rather suffer alone and bare his fists alone. Just so that no one else would have to force themselves to share in his misery.

Espers who fight alongside their Pokemon, truly alongside their Pokemon as partners who are in sync with their actions, are incredibly rare. Even the 3rd strongest esper, The Railgun, has only recently begun battling alongside her Pokemon- due to the introduction of a certain boy. Espers fight espers. Pokemon fight Pokemon. Espers fight Pokemon. But even in a strange world like Academy City, Esper and Pokemon fighting side-by-side on the same stage is seldom seen.

Garrick Flynn is a character we won't be exploring until later. He's just an extra character to someone else's story. His time will be explored alongside his clashing ideals with a peace wanting boy like Kamijou Touma.

We've also got our first major example of Pokemon related magic! If I were to give the spell Kanzaki performed an official name, I'd guess I'd call it Temple of The Jubilant Eon. A powerful spell that erects a temple where sprites modeled after Celebi to mend all manner of wounds and even cure the harshest ailments.

And as we reach the end of this chapter, we're left with an unpleasant taste on our tongues.

For all his faults, his wrongdoings, his crimes, and the harm he's caused others, Gomi Gio was just another child who found himself absorbing the cruel nature of Academy City's hidden abyss. There's no excusing what he's done. No one would judge the victims for refusing to forgive him if he decided to turn over a new leaf. But his toxic nature wasn't something he was born with or ever desired.

If things had been different, maybe he could have evolved into someone far kinder and far sweeter than the Garbodor who derived pleasure from spreading his foul malice in search of meaning. But because a noxious element was introduced to his growth, his evolution had been tainted.

Just like Yuri Sumire.

Oh, was that a twist I had been planning since the beginning. Since her introduction, I had to stop myself from putting in any obvious clues to her true nature or her connection with Toxic Hazard. The only real clue I dropped in was how her Pokemon all had secondary Poison-type classing.

I'd like to talk more about her but I want to save all things concerning Toxic Hazard at the very end of the Index Arc's conclusion.

As we close this chapter, we find ourselves with several questions. What happens to Toxic Hazard now? What about Hidoi and Byoki? Whatever happened to the plans for a Dynamx Band that a certain dominatrix was fine-tuning? What kind of organization does a battle-obsessed boy like Garrick Flynn belong to? And what kind of shock waves will ring out in the aftermath of this little side-arc as we move on?

We're back on the rails of the magic side, so prepare yourselves for the last leg of this summer event!

Remember to Read and Review! It's common courtesy.

And Merry Christmas! If anyone wants to chat over Steam or play some games, you can reach me at NeoShadows; profile pick is the dishonored sigil.

NeoShadows fading in and out.