The room that Josh was escorted to for the night was the nicest room he had ever been in. There was a complementary tablet next to the bed that Josh spent several hours fiddling with before he remembered he should have been sleeping. Then, Josh spent the next few hours nervously lying in bed, failing to get any sleep.

The clock on the tablet next to his bed read 9:00 AM and the alarm it gave was loud and shrill. Josh turned it off immediately, got dressed, and left the room. He was escorted by a guard back to the reception area, where the 30 or so other Trainers joined him. This time, they were not greeted by a League official in a suit with a clipboard, but by the Elite Four and seven Gym Leaders. Lance cleared his throat before speaking.

"I see many familiar faces," he said. "For you, this may seem like old hat — but I urge you to take this warning as seriously as the first-timers here: Victory Road is not for the faint of heart. It is one of the most inhospitable places in Kanto. It is meant to test you. The wild Pokemon you encounter inside will be unlike any you have faced anywhere else. For that reason, we're giving you these."

The seven Gym Leaders began to walk among the Trainers and hand out necklaces.

"Put it on," Misty said as she handed Josh one.

Josh put it on, then looked down and held up the pendant. It was a black piece of metal shaped like a disc. In the center, there was a plastic button. Josh could also see a small camera at the top, and a few holes where a microphone probably was.

"These are emergency beacons," Lance explained. "They will precisely track your location while you're inside, keep them with you at all times. If, for whatever reason, you no longer wish to continue, simply press the button in the center and someone will be sent to pick you up. Is that understood?"

The Trainers all nodded.

"Are there any questions?" Lance asked.

One Trainer raised his hand and Lance nodded to him.

"Are we allowed to battle the other Trainers inside?" he asked.

"Of course," Lance said. "A challenge is a challenge, no matter where it is. But you may want to save your strength. Remember, only the first eight who make it through will be allowed into the final bracket, not the ones who defeated the most Trainers inside."

"Will the seeding be decided by who makes it through the fastest?" another Trainer asked.

"That will be a factor, among others," Lance said. "Any other questions?"

None of the Trainers said anything else.

"In that case, best of luck," Lance concluded.

The Elite Four members and Gym Leaders lead the Trainers through the Reception Gate and back outside, to Victory Road. Even though the Indigo Plateau was, of course, a plateau, from where they were standing it looked more like a giant mountain range. The top was impossible to see through the clouds that seemed to hover at all times of the day. And the only way to get there was through Victory Road.

There were multiple entrances. Each cave entrance was big, dark, and foreboding. They had been dug by the Pokemon of strong Trainers centuries ago, and the stone steps leading up to them were crude. Approaching them felt like going back in time to a time before cameras and TVs and Pokemon Leagues.

The Trainers were divided into several groups, and each of them was made to form a line in front of one of the cave entrances. Every few minutes, another batch of Trainers was allowed to walk into the cave. Priority was being given to the Trainers who were entering Victory Road for the first time. That meant that Josh would be one of the first to go in.

As the only Trainer in front of him was sent in, Josh looked around nervously. He couldn't see Jake, Ryan, or Ash behind him. They must have been put in different groups. But Josh couldn't see those groups from where he was standing. After a few minutes, the Trainer ahead of him disappeared into the darkness of the cave. Josh stepped forward, and a League official put a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place. The official kept her eyes on the sky, until a flare somewhere behind them was fired into the air. The official took her hand off Josh's shoulder and ushered him onward.

Josh walked forward, feeling as though there were a million eyes on him, resisting the urge to look back. By the time Josh made it to the foot of the steps, his hands were sweating. For some reason, Josh felt as though another Trainer was already coming after him, and he started to climb the steps two at a time. His heart was pounding, and he stumbled as he reached the top of the steps. Despite his best efforts, Josh couldn't help but look over his shoulder as he stepped up to the cave. The line of Trainers behind him were just specks in the distance at this point. None of them had moved yet.

There are seven Trainers waiting behind me, and each of them has a full team of six Pokemon, Josh thought. That means there are 42 trained Pokemon waiting to come after me.

Beyond the Trainers, far on the horizon, a bank of dark clouds was forming.

Am I the stuff Champions are made of?

With that thought, Josh turned back to the cave and hurried inside.

#

The occasional torch pinned to the wall did little to illuminate the cave. The walls of the cave were sloped outward and rose too high for Josh to be able to see the ceiling. The floor of the cave was smooth, but there were plenty of alcoves and large boulders dotted around where a Pokemon — or another Trainer — could easily hide behind. Josh had entered Victory Road at a brisk walk, but he broke into a run without thinking.

Josh ran while hugging the cave wall, eyes darting to the side every time he passed a rock or a corner where the path diverged. He had no real idea of where he was going, but pressing deeper into the cave seemed like the best option. The cold cave air made the sweat on his back send a harsh shiver down his spine. His heart was pounding. But soon enough, the tunnel he was running down opened up into a massive dark cavern.

Josh skidded to a stop and waited for his heart to stop pounding. The cavern was so dark he could barely see 10 feet in front of his face. Josh instinctively reached for a Poke Ball on his belt, the one containing Zeus. As if on cue, two tiny pinpoints of light blinked to life high above Josh. He looked up to get his eyes on them. The two pinpoints were now four. Then eight. Then at least 20.

Josh heard them before he saw them. The flap of leathery wings and the ear-piercing screech of a Golbat. The pinpoints of light scattered and all headed toward him with terrifying speed. Josh threw his Poke Ball forward and jumped back toward the tunnel.

"Zeus, Thunderbolt!" he yelled.

Immediately, harsh light blasted Josh's eyes. All he could hear was the screeching of Golbat's and the crackle of his Jolteon's electricity. A pair of hooked talons took hold of Josh's hair for a moment before he felt the Golbat above him yowl in pain and go limp. The Golbat landed on his head, the talons still hooked into his hair, and Josh fell forward. He tumbled head over heels down a slope of hard stone before finally coming to an abrupt stop. He felt something bite down on the collar of his hoodie, yanking him to a standstill. Finally, Josh gingerly opened his eyes.

There were dozens of unconscious Golbats scattered all over the cavern floor. They were twice the size of any Golbat Josh had ever seen. Josh was lying on his butt, his Jolteon gripping his hoodie in his mouth and trying to pull him back. Then, Josh saw what was in front of him. The cavern floor sloped downward until it abruptly ended in a cliff edge.

Carefully, Josh got to his feet. He leaned forward a bit to see what was on the other side of the cliff, but the darkness was impossible to see through. Zeus barked at him, and Josh backed away.

"That was close," Josh whispered. "Thanks, Zeus."

Zeus nodded his head at him. Then, the bristles on his back went upright. Zeus's ears perked up, and he quickly turned around. Then, Josh felt it too. The ground was shaking. Faintly, Josh heard the roar of some Pokemon he couldn't identify. It was coming from the tunnel he had come from. Something was coming after him.

Josh looked around. There were no other tunnels he could go through. It was just him, the tunnel, and the edge of the cliff he had almost fallen down.

Another massive tremor shook the cavern, and Josh distinctly heard the sound of rocks smashing. It was getting closer.

Was it another wild Pokemon? Another Trainer? Both?

Josh had only been in Victory Road for a few minutes. He had already taken out a flock of Golbats. But he wasn't willing to get into another fight this early. It might take him all day to get through Victory Road, and there were no Poke Centers nearby to help him if one of his Pokemon got hurt.

Josh withdrew his Jolteon and called out his Pidgeot. His Flying-type looked around nervously.

"Hermes, we gotta go," Josh said quickly. "Down there."

Hermes took one look at the abyss below and gave Josh a confused look. A third tremor, strong enough to make Josh stumble, shook the cavern. Some dust and debris fell from the ceiling.

"Now, Hermes! We gotta get out of here!" Josh said. He ran to his Pidgeot and hopped onto his back. "Fly low and fly fast. Let's go!"

Hermes unfurled his wings and dropped off the edge of the cliff with Josh riding on his back. Josh took one last look behind him as they dove, but he could only see a long, giant shadow emerging from the tunnel entrance and stretching across the sloped floor to where he had been standing a moment ago. Then, the darkness of the abyss they were flying into swallowed them up.

#

Ace Trainer Nanao Honda had spotted her by her hair. She might have been the first natural blonde Nanao had ever seen, but it was hard to tell at a distance. Nanao hadn't had the chance to talk to her at the reception gate, and she had been at the back of the line when they had been put into groups to enter Victory Road. But Nanao remembered watching with some interest as Ash Delaney climbed the stone steps and disappeared from view into the cave entrance.

There certainly hadn't been any natural blondes where Nanao had grown up. Bloomingvale was a little town off the beaten path of Route 32 in the Johto Region. All it was known for was the Sunflora Festival which was hosted there every year. And all that was good for in conversation was for Nanao to inevitably tell people that she did not, in fact, have a Sunflora on her team. She was an Ace, after all, and those Pokemon just wouldn't cut it once you got four Badges or so.

Now, a hundred miles away from sunny Bloomingvale and the Sunfloras who crawl all over it, Nanao's eyes had caught sight of that unmistakable shade of blonde hair through some stalagmites on the floor of the cavern below her. The girl was quite a ways away, carefully walking between the stalagmites that resembled giant melted candles. On the nearest wall, the girl's shadow shifted erratically from the flickering flames of the torches that illuminated the cave. From the upper path that Nanao was on, she suspected that the Delaney girl hadn't spotted her yet.

Nanao took careful, silent footsteps to keep pace with the girl as she followed her. Part of her felt silly — working so hard to not get noticed just so she could get the drop on a 13-year-old girl. But another part of Nanao, a part that she didn't like to acknowledge but couldn't ignore, felt like there was something dangerous about Ash Delaney.

The girl was tiny, stick-thin, and had the soft kind of look about her that was a dead giveaway she wasn't used to harsh environments like Victory Road. Nanao knew this because that was exactly what she used to look like, 10 years ago, when she had been Ash Delaney's age. It was hard enough to go on your Trainer's Journey at such a young age. Convincing your parents to let you go — and then convincing every other adult you see that no, you don't need their help, thank you very much. And then you get ambushed by some Trainer who's already got some Badges and years of experience over you.

Girl Trainers had it worst of all. They were the minority and always had been. Most girls just don't like to watch Pokemon get hurt. But the few who can stomach that still have to live with the label of 'girl' for their whole career. If she fails a Gym Challenge, it's because she's a girl. If she talks to a better Trainer to get some TMs or some coaching, it's because she's a girl. If she works herself to the bone to earn every Badge and make it to Victory Road, it's because she's a girl. But Nanao had made her peace with that a long time ago.

Those thoughts always made it a struggle when Nanao had to challenge another female Trainer. It felt like a betrayal. Like Nanao was adding to this girl's list of problems.

And yet, this 13-year-old girl had made it to Victory Road. Something about that bothered Nanao. Something about the way the girl had acted while she sat in the reception gate before they had all been escorted to their rooms. She had only talked to her two friends, the Oak kid and the other one. Ash Delaney was the only Trainer there who had never even set foot inside of a Gym. And she wouldn't even talk to anyone. That bothered Nanao, too. Did she think she was too good for Gym Challenges? Too good for the other Trainers? How did she even qualify in the first place?

Jealousy?

Surely not.

Fear?

… Warmer.

Trainers were starting younger and younger, these days. And there were legacy kids all over the place — Ryan Oak, for one. Those kids must know something if they made it all the way here. No, there was no such thing as being too careful. Not anymore.

Nanao readied the Ultra Ball that contained her Jynx. Not her fastest Pokemon, but she could strike fast and without warning. Ash Delaney was still navigating the cavern full of stalagmites. Nanao had the high ground and the element of surprise. She would make this quick.

Sorry, blondie, Nanao thought to herself, but no one took it easy on me when I was a kid.

Nanao silently clicked her Ultra Ball open in her hand and her Jynx materialized beside her. The Ice-type held her hands forward to initiate an Ice Beam, aiming for the Delaney girl's feet to —

A purple blob of smokey energy flew into the Jynx's face and exploded, sending the Ice-type tumbling backward and making Nanao's ears ring. She watched as Ash Delaney's head whipped around and instantly spotted Nanao from the high ridge she was on. Then Nanao saw what had hit her Jynx. Behind Ash, the shadow on the wall had stopped flickering and was expanding. The little girl's shadow had become a fat silhouette with pointed ears. Then, two red eyes appeared in the silhouette, followed by a devious grin.

That little brat had a Gengar hiding in her shadow the whole time!

Immediately, Nanao threw out another Ultra Ball which contained her actual fastest Pokemon: a Fearow, and ordered it to use Drill Peck. The Flying-type emerged and zoomed across the cavern, burying her beak into the wall the shadow was on, and the Gengar grimaced in pain as he melted out of the shadow and faceplanted onto the ground.

Nanao's ears were still ringing, but she distinctly saw Ash Delaney throw out a Poke Ball followed by a bright white light that briefly blinded Nanao. She blinked away the star shapes burned into her retinas and quickly recognized the source — a Wish that was ascending into the ceiling. Once it disappeared, the cavern darkened again as only the torches remained to provide light.

She's trying to bring her Gengar back.

Nanao shouted at her Fearow to use Drill Peck again on Ash's other Pokemon. Her Fearow stabbed Ash's Clefable in the side and sent the Fairy-type smashing into a stalagmite. Nanao turned her attention back to Ash — but the girl was gone.

The ringing in her ears was finally over, but the cavern was perfectly quiet apart from her Fearow's wings flapping. She called her Fearow back and hopped on her back so she could fly down and take a closer look. On the cavern floor, the stalagmites dwarfed even Nanao. The girl could be hiding behind any one of them — she was a pipsqueak, after all.

Then, the cave brightened again, as the Wish the Clefable had sent up earlier descended back down. Nanao immediately tracked its destination and followed its descent with her eyes. But the Wish sank into the ground and disappeared. Ash and her Pokemon had missed it.

But then Nanao heard something odd. There was a second pair of wings flapping.

Nanao whipped around. Ash Delaney was standing there, and she had Nanao's Fearow by her side. But that was impossible. Nanao's eyes darted from her own Fearow to the Fearow hovering in the air next to Ash. Nanao had had her Fearow for more than seven years, she knew exactly what her Fearow looked like — and yet she could swear there were two of them in the cave right now.

Before Nanao could even think of what to do, the Fearow next to Ash began to flap her wings furiously. The Whirlwind lifted Nanao off her feet and sent her flying back. She crashed into multiple stalagmites before finally rolling to a stop on the ground. The torches were extinguished, leaving her in complete darkness. She heard her own Fearow crash into a wall behind her.

Nanao scrambled to her feet and pulled out the flashlight she kept in her bag. She shone the beam around frantically to find her Fearow. Then she looked around for Ash. But the little girl was gone, along with the freak show of a Pokemon team she had.

Once Nanao was sure she was alone, she breathed a sigh of relief and recalled her defeated Jynx. Her Fearow shook the debris off her feathers and cawed in frustration, but Nanao shook her head at her Flying-type.

"Forget it," Nanao said. "I don't even want to know what trick she just pulled on us. Let's just get out of here."

#

Only the sound of Hermes's wings flapping and the wind blowing all around his head could reassure Josh that he was actually going somewhere. Flying through pitch-black darkness was even scarier than flying straight into that storm on Route 20. Every now and then, Hermes would flap his wings and adjust course. After a few adjustments, Josh realized that Hermes was flying in a downward spiral. Whatever abyss they had entered, it was circular.

Finally, Josh heard something other than wind and feathers: small, quiet drip-drops and the faint lapping of water against cave walls. At the last second, once Josh recognized the glint of blue light off the water, he withdrew his Pidgeot into his Poke Ball. With the Flying-type no longer under him, Josh dropped like a rock and landed in the water with a hard splash.

The water was ice cold and stung Josh all over as he struggled to swim his way back to the surface. His clothes and bag were weighing him down, but he made it eventually.

Josh gasped for breath as his face broke the surface of the water, and his hands stiffly groped around his belt for the Ultra Ball containing Poseidon. Finally, once he had almost completely lost sensation in his fingers, Josh felt his hand close around the familiar grooves of the Ultra Ball, brought the Ball up above the water, and let it click open.

Josh's Lapras emerged, floating right on the water next to him. Josh desperately scrambled to climb onto his Water-type's back, and Poseidon nudged him along with his head and long neck to help him.

Josh's teeth were chattering by the time he made it onto Poseidon's back, and he hugged his legs to his chest in an attempt to keep warm.

"F-f-f-find some land, P-P-P-Poseidon," Josh chattered. He couldn't feel his lips anymore.

Josh couldn't feel his butt either, but he did feel the gentle pull forward as Poseidon began to swim. Again, the darkness made it impossible to tell where Josh was going, how fast, or how far. Josh simply shivered miserably as he felt the hair clinging to his face start to freeze into a solid object.

Eventually, Josh felt another gentle tug in the opposite direction as his Lapras made landfall. The subtle crunch of Poseidon's blubbery underside against sand confirmed it. Josh stiffly climbed off of his Lapras's back and landed ungracefully on the sand. Immediately, Josh pulled off his hoodie, his shirt, his undershirt, his jeans, socks, and shoes, and scampered onto solid land. The emergency beacon, still hanging around Josh's neck, slapped against his chest with every step he took.

The sand was rough and coarse under his bare feet, nothing like the pleasant beaches of Fuchsia City or Cinnabar Island. Josh called forth his Arcanine and sat down on a rock.

"Helios, warm me up," Josh said.

Josh's Arcanine trotted over and curled up around Josh and the rock he was sitting on. He opened his mouth and panted into Josh's face. It felt like having his face directly over a hot stovetop — uncomfortable under normal circumstances, but a Godsend at this particular time. The sensation returned to Josh's face, his fingers, hands, and arms. He nodded to his Arcanine and then pointed to his clothes.

Helios happily barked and ran over to Josh's clothes, gently blowing on them with his mouth. Josh could see the water clinging to his clothes start to evaporate. Behind Helios, at the edge of the water, Josh's Lapras began to hum a tune.

Josh was enjoying the cool air, the hum of his Lapras, and the freedom of wearing nothing but his boxers with no one around when he heard the familiar sound of rock cracking behind him. It almost sounded like the crack of a baseball bat hitting a ball.

Josh whipped his head around. Behind him, his Lapras had stopped humming, and his Arcanine had stopped panting. Only the sound of the cave water broke the silence.

Josh's hands were curled into fists at his sides, and he strained to see anything in the darkness beyond the beach he was sitting on. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Josh remembered the emergency beacon that was hanging around his neck. A minute passed as he and his Pokemon stared into the darkness, waiting for something to emerge. To make another sound. For anything to happen. After another minute, Josh began to think he may have imag—

A thunderous splash behind Josh broke the silence, and Poseidon let out a yelp as a massive wave pushed him out of the water and onto the beach. Josh whipped around again. Then, another giant splash followed by another giant wave revealed what it was: an Onix, stretching up and out of the water and thrashing around. The Rock-type let out a deafening roar that shook the cavern and made the sand under Josh's feet vibrate and bounce like popcorn kernels.

"Poseidon, Water Pulse!" Josh yelled.

Josh's Lapras opened his mouth and spat out three rings, glowing bluish-white, part sound and part water, which flew through the air and struck the Onix in the face, sending the Rock-type careening back and crashing into the water it had emerged from. But a second later, another pair of Pokemon landed in the water. This time, they were Gravelers, who came rolling out of the water and onto the beach. They stopped their rolls with one set of hands and began throwing rocks at Josh and his Pokemon with their second pair of hands.

"Water Pulse, again!"

Each Graveler that Poseidon blasted away with a Water Pulse was replaced by two more. More and more of them were landing in the water, falling from the cliff above that Josh had come from, as if it were an avalanche made of Rock-type Pokemon. Helios took several rocks to the face, yowling in pain and dashing away from the beach. But Josh's Arcanine ran right into a pair of Marowaks, brandishing their bone clubs and hooting loudly. Helios spat a Fire Blast at one of them, but the Marowak simply blocked the attack with her bone. With her bone club now on fire, she swung it and smacked Helios in the face, sending him tumbling back onto the beach.

Josh threw his other Ultra Ball containing his Snorlax in front of his Arcanine, and Dionysus emerged just in time to block the club thrown by the second Marowak. Josh whirled around and threw another Poke Ball to the beach, where his Venusaur then emerged.

"Dionysus, Body Slam! Pan, Energy Ball!" Josh shouted.

The League officials and Lance hadn't been exaggerating. The wild Pokemon in Victory Road were unlike any other. At this point, Josh decided it would take most — if not all — his Pokemon to fight his way through.

#

Ryan had made it through the first leg of his journey with relative ease. After the first few twists and turns, he had quickly deduced that he was in a maze-like area of the cave system. But Ryan wasn't going to waste his time on something like that. He had called out Pluto and tunneled his way straight through the maze by using his Rhydon's rotating horn like a power drill. Ryan then had Pluto slam his massive body into the wall behind them to create a cave-in, covering his tracks.

But once he had traveled deeper inside the cave system, his luck had run out. Ryan stared ahead at the deep-black rock wall facing him. A few failed attempts tunneling his way through this rock had made it clear that even his Rhydon couldn't brute force a way through it. Ryan looked up. The ceiling was impossible to see in all this darkness. Even so, Ryan would normally climb onto his Charizard's back and simply fly his way up, until he found a way through.

Ryan looked down at his arm. It was still in a cast, bent at the elbow at a 90-degree angle, and completely useless. It not only made using and switching Poke Balls harder, but it also meant he could never climb onto his Charziard's back until he could get the stupid thing taken off. Until then, no flying.

Ryan looked around. The way behind him was blocked, after his Rhydon's handiwork. The cave wall stretched as far as he could see. Ryan couldn't afford a detour — he was sure he was going the right way. If he could make it through Victory Road first, he could secure himself the best spot in the final bracket.

And spend less time traveling with this stupid cast, Ryan reminded himself.

After thinking for a moment, Ryan pulled out a Poke Ball and called forth his Machamp.

The same Pokemon Ryan had won in the Jiyu Kumite in the Saffron City Dojo. Atlas had just been a little Machop when Ryan had won him, a Pokemon even shorter than he was. But Atlas was a fully-evolved Pokemon now, and he stood well over twice Ryan's height. And best of all, Atlas had a specially-taught move that the karatekas of the Dojo had taught him. Unfortunately, none of that helped Ryan at this particular time.

"You're gonna climb this," Ryan told his Machamp. "While carrying me on your back."

Atlas looked up at the cave wall, and then back to his Trainer. He shook his head.

"Yes, you can," Ryan said firmly. "You're literally all muscle, come on."

Again, Atlas looked at the cave wall. He walked to it, ran one of his massive gray hands along the surface, and swept it off in one quick motion.

Perfectly smooth, Ryan noted.

"So punch your way through it," Ryan said. "Make your own handholds."

Atlas rolled his eyes at Ryan. He pointed at Ryan with one hand, and held up his three other hands in a helpless gesture.

"Just do it piggyback styl— screw it, just turn around," Ryan said impatiently. He walked around to his Machamp's muscled back and continued his instructions as he awkwardly climbed on. "Just hold out your hands — your other hands, you're going to use those to climb, stupid. Hold them out. Lower. Okay, now just — stop moving! I'll adjust, you just hold me tight. Okay. Okay, now — oh my God, just go!"

It was the stupidest thing Ryan had ever done as a Trainer, and he thanked God a thousand times as his Machamp laboriously began to climb up the massive rock wall. His Machamp had one pair of hands gripping Ryan by the strap of his backpack from above and holding him up by his butt from below, as though Atlas were carrying a small, fragile, vase.

No one will know, Ryan reminded himself. All that matters is that we get there.

The ground below him was swallowed up by the darkness, and the ceiling was nowhere in sight. Only then did a small doubt enter Ryan's mind. Did he really know what he was doing?

#

Ash side-stepped her way through the crevice in the wall as carefully as she could, but the rough, jagged walls of the cave still bumped and scraped her all over. Her face was dirty with grime. Her hair was clinging to her neck, and her clothes were soaked in sweat. Ash liked to think of herself as outdoorsy, but after the time in Victory Road, she wanted nothing more than a hot shower and her own bed.

Finally, Ash made it out into an open space again, after having to yank her leg out when it got stuck — earning herself another scrape along her shin — and having to fish her shoe back out of the crevice where it had gotten stuck.

As usual, the new area that Ash had reached was pitch-black and gave no indication as to where she was.

"I wonder," Ash murmured to herself. "Which way I ought to go next…"

Ash pulled out a Poke Ball and called out her Clefable. Dinah stuck a finger in her mouth and then pulled it out. She held her finger forward and began to point in various directions. Eventually, as Dinah pointed in one direction, her finger lit up like a lightbulb.

"There we go," Ash said with a smile.

Ash began to walk down the tunnel that Dinah was pointing to, with her Clefable skipping alongside her. Though Ash couldn't be sure, the fact that they were walking along a tunnel that led roughly upwards gave her a feeling she was at least reaching the end of Victory Road. She could hope, at least.

The light from Dinah's finger began to dim behind her a bit as she walked.

"A little closer, Dinah," Ash said without breaking step.

But the light got even dimmer.

"Hey, Dinah, where are y—"

Ash turned around to see a huge Pokemon standing behind her Clefable. It was tall — too tall, having to hunch over to stand inside the tunnel they were in. It held a massive, clawed paw over Dinah's head, where it was tightly gripping her. Ash's Clefable looked at her Trainer with big, panicked eyes. Where had that Pokemon even come from? How could something so big even sneak up on her at all?

Ash gulped.

"H-hey, big guy," she said quietly. "Would you mind letting go of my friend there?"

The Pokemon flared his nostrils. He opened his jaw, and Ash saw massive fangs protruding from his mouth. The Pokemon let out a low, rumbling growl that sent a shiver up Ash's spine. For a moment, Ash considered reaching for the emergency beacon that was under her shirt. But she didn't. Slowly, she reached a hand into her bag and felt around for a Ball.

"Hey!" she hissed. "Don't you know you need to be quiet here?"

The Pokemon shut his mouth. He looked at Ash with narrowed eyes. As quietly as she could, Ash let the Ball in her hand snap open. She felt a familiar cool air brush past her fingers.

"There's lots of Pokemon in here," Ash continued, whispering so quietly that she saw the Pokemon's eyes perk up as he strained to listen. "Some that I've never even seen before. Must be really busy here, huh?"

The Pokemon still stared at her. Ash couldn't tell if the Pokemon was even interested in what she had to say or was just deciding when to strike.

"But you know what all Pokemon have in common?" Ash whispered. The Pokemon tilted his head at her. "They all… need to sleep."

Just as Ash finished whispering, a pair of glowing red eyes emerged from the shadow on the wall behind her and flashed with pink light. The wild Pokemon's eyes widened in shock for a moment. Then, his eyelids drooped, and the Pokemon fell limply onto the floor. His clawed paw let go of Dinah's head, and the Fairy-type immediately flew over to her Trainer.

Ash hugged her Clefable tightly and pet the hair on her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, turning away from the wild Pokemon and hurrying down the cave. "I know you hate it here, I do too."

Dinah nodded feverishly at Ash, but hugged her back.

"We're almost out of here," Ash said. "I don't know how I know, but I just do. We'll be out of here soon."

Over her shoulder, Ash felt a chill as her Gengar reappeared from the shadow on the wall and snickered at the two of them.

"Hush, you," Ash snapped. "Get back in my shadow, and don't let them get so close next time."

#

The last of the Gravelers was sent tumbling back and slamming into a wall. Josh ran along the beach and rubbed his arms furiously as he tried to keep warm. All of his Lapras's Ice Beams had cooled the area down, and he was no longer enjoying the coldness of the cave while wearing nothing but his boxers. There were frozen blocks of ice floating in the lake.

He grabbed his jeans and pulled them on, then grabbed his shirt. The rest of his clothes had been sent flying in various directions. Some were covered with sand, some were floating in the water. A Graveler had rolled over his new hoodie while on fire from one of Helios's Flamethrower attacks. Josh and his Pokemon retrieved what they could. Unsurprisingly, he only found one sock. His brand-new hoodie was ruined. But worst of all were his shoes. Josh found them stuck to a rock, frozen in a block of ice several inches thick. Just when Josh thought to ask Helios to thaw them out, the ice cracked and then shattered into pieces.

Josh stared in disbelief at the shattered pieces that had contained his shoes. He looked up at his Pokemon. Pan frowned as he looked at them. Helios gave a low whine of sadness. Dionysus picked at his teeth with a claw out of boredom. Poseidon looked around nervously… then guiltily looked at the ground.

#

Ryan Oak was the first to emerge and was received by a throng of camera flashes and confetti blasts that made him flinch before he realized that he wasn't being attacked by yet another wild Pokemon. He swiftly recovered and held up his left arm to triumphantly wave back at the crowd while his Machamp continued carrying him on his shoulders.

Ash Delaney was the fifth one to emerge, covered with mud splotches and her hair a mess which she hastily tried to flatten when she saw the cameras turn to her and start to take pictures. She waved shyly to them as she hurriedly made her way through the crowd and onto the victors' podium. Her Clefable followed her closely, hiding behind her Trainer and clinging to the back of her shirt like a small child.

Jake Dale emerged from the cave a few minutes after Ash did. He had lost his backpack at some point and was carrying the six Poke Balls that contained his team in his hands.

Josh Dale was the last to emerge. The cameras and the crowd fell silent when he did. While Ryan's cast had continued to attract nervous glances, and Ash's messy hair had earned a few laughs, Josh's state only caused stunned silence. His jeans were ripped. His hoodie was burnt and in tatters. His whole body was covered in mud, soot, and dust. His shoes were missing. His feet were covered in bloody blisters. The boy looked like he had been through a war zone.

Josh looked around nervously before spotting his friends, his older brother, and the four other Trainers who had made it through. Josh quickly hobbled over, wincing with every step he took, and finally took his place at the victors' podium.

The 8 Finalists of the 2009 Indigo Plateau Conference had arrived.