Chapter 20

Clash of Titans

Charmeleon breathed in, stoking the furnace deep within his chest, and exhaled another stream of miniature fireballs at the frozen wall, where they hissed and sank several inches into the ice before winking out. The newly formed slush offered little resistance as Charmeleon slashed into it with his sharp claws and tossed handfuls of the melting ice over his shoulder. At his clawed feet, streams of frigid water flowed past him, down the short tunnel he had dug and pooled at the entrance, where his new trainer was standing.

Glancing back at the red-haired woman, who had shot him with an arrow, beaten him in battle, and captured him, Charmeleon had been unsure if he had made the right choice. Challenging trainers to battle in the wild always carried a risk of capture. However, they were also the greatest challenges for wild Pokémon, a chance to test their skills in battle and grow stronger. If a wild Pokémon can beat a trainer, he gains valuable battle experience that he can use to better protect himself and his territory in the future. If he loses, he risks being captured. However, with support and guidance from trainers and a ready supply of food and sparring partners, Trainer-raised Pokémon grew at a rate far outpacing their peers.

The battles raging around him were proof of the heights trainer-raised Pokémon could reach.

A great bonfire burned in the cavern where Ninetales and Houndoom had dueled. The mycelium on the ground had long since been incinerated, burned to ash, leaving only blackened stone. No great mushrooms were left standing, the wilted husks of their stem and caps slowly burning down to nothing.

Towering geysers of steam billowed into the air further away, their source obscured by vegetation, but Charmeleon knew that was where Ninetales, Poliwrath, and Azumarill battled. All were heavily wounded, yet they still fought with attacks strong enough to topple mushrooms and create booming explosions that rocked the cavern.

A yellow flash zipped past the impenetrable psychic bubble that they were all hiding behind, followed by a spinning, silver cannonball a second later. The Jolteon raced around the cavern like lightning, feet barely touching the ground as she all but flew. However, no matter how fast she ran, the gyro ball, like a homing missile, inched ever closer. Not even boulders or mushrooms could slow the relentless attack, as anything in the gyro ball's way was pulverized.

Despite all the chaos booming and echoing around the cavern, the most terrifying fight by far was the one yet to come. The two newest battlers in this all-out brawl glared fiercely at each other. Studying every tiny movement, gauging strengths, and searching for weaknesses.

Nearly as tall as the great mushrooms that surrounded them, Aggron and Tyranitar slowly circled the other. Tremors shuddered through the stone with each step, and their heavy tails dug trenches in the soft ground. Every Pokémon not engaged in battle held their breath as they waited for the two epitomes of Pokémon strength to clash.

A small nudge from Tasha reminded Chameleon of his task at hand and he reluctantly turned back to the ice and inhaled deeply.

If this was the life of a trainer's Pokémon, Charmeleon knew he had made the right choice.

0000

"We made a huge mistake…" Patrick muttered, watching the battles in equal parts awe and terror. He flinched as Jolteon zipped past their bubble again, as she completed another one of her lightning-fast laps of the cavern. Wigglytuff flew by a split second later, the gyro ball glowed a radiant silver as its power steadily built from chasing the speedy electric-type.

Jane and Joven were too busy whispering to each other and gesturing at the Tyranitar to offer any assistance to Jolteon or any of the other battles raging in different corners of the cavern. Their Pokémon were far too well-trained to need constant instruction and could adapt on their own. Glancing back at Charmeleon, Patrick silently prayed the tunnel would be cleared soon.

"We should have stayed in our cell and waited for this all to blow over." He continued.

"Don't be such a baby, we are almost free, and we are helping rangers with their job, and they know our names," Tasha said, emphasizing the word rangers. "All we need to do is take Sleeping Ugly here to the cops and leave the rest to Jane and Joven." Tasha lightly kicked the still-unconscious manager who had been unceremoniously dumped on the ground beside them.

How hard did Joven hit this guy? Patrick thought to himself, not for the first time.

"Until we are free, though. We are stuck in the same underground cavern as a dozen ranger-trained Pokémon fighting to the death, with thousands of tons of rock above our heads." Patrick pointed out.

"That's… Probably not something we need to worry about." Tasha replied slowly, glancing up at the stone ceiling high above them, before brushing it off. "Just enjoy the light show and stop worrying, Poindexter."

Patrick opened his mouth to reply but closed it with a sigh. Tasha had already turned back to the battles, eyes wide with excitement as a hydro pump tore apart a fire blast in an explosion of steam further away.

Looking around at the other Pokémon, Meowth, and Hypno seemed to share Tasha's enthusiasm in watching the high-powered battles play out. Charmeleon kept sticking his head out of the tunnel to watch whenever a particularly loud explosion ripped through the cavern, and only a glare from Tasha would send him back into his icy tunnel to continue digging.

Only Bug, perched on Patrick's shoulder, seemed to share Patrick's concerns.

"We are the only sane ones here," Patrick whispered to the tiny insect, who readily nodded in agreement.

0000

"How are you feeling about this match-up?" Jane asked her partner while scowling at the green pseudo-legendary.

"I'll be honest. After pulling out my big gun, I'm not used to someone pulling out a bigger one." Joven said, looking between the two monsters. Tyranitar stood about a head taller than his Pokémon; however, Aggron was easily the heavier of the two. "Typing is in my favor, though. Speed should be comparable."

"Tyranitar hits like a truck but Aggron should be able to take it." Jane surmised. "If it has any special attacks, Aggron will be in trouble. Do you want me to have Poliwrath help? He's on his last legs but he might be able to score a solid hit before I return him. Tyranitar would be vulnerable to fighting-type attacks."

"No… Keep Poliwrath where he is." Joven said, glancing over at the amphibian's battle.

Ninetales and Poliwrath had corned Azumarill, the aqua rabbit Pokémon was crouching behind a boulder, catching her breath while Poliwrath traced a wide circle around the boulder, lining himself up to lunge at the rabbit. Ninetales provided cover fire, bathing the boulder in a stream of flames, and preventing Azumarill from moving.

Even as Joven watched, the flames flickered slightly as Ninetales swayed on her feet before steadying herself. Moving from stem to stem, Poliwrath slowly crept towards the water-type, favoring one leg and limping slightly. Exhaustion and a slow accumulation of damage from the long battle were beginning to grip their party members.

"He'll be on standby if you need him…" Jane conceded before grabbing a Pokéball and aiming it at her grass-type. "Tangela, Return."

Tangela's battle with Ursaring had ended in a draw. Fatigue finally overtook the small grass-type, who had shrunk back down to his original size, no longer having the energy to grow out his vines. However, in his final moments, he had had enough strength to pin Ursaring to the ground with strong roots, which entangled the brown bear's arms and legs and prevented him from using his sharp claws to break free.

Even as the bear thrashed against his restraints, the poison's effects had built up too much and he was racked with a coughing fit. Weakly he tried to break the vines one final time, before laying still, as he too fell unconscious.

Cursing, Ted also withdrew his Pokémon.

0000

"Reason 1,000 on why I've told you over and over again to teach Tyranitar a special attack." Bundy scolded as the two watched the green and grey Titans continue their staring match.

"Special attack ain't exactly one of Tyranitar's strengths," Ted grumbled back, clipping Ursaring's Pokémon to his belt. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a drag.

"Oh Yeah? Do you know what Aggron's strength is? Defense. And Tyranitar only knows physical attacks" Bundy shot back. "Do you want me to handle this?" Holding up her fourth Pokéball.

"Your little duck would get squashed. No way it beats an Aggron." Ted said with a barking laugh and exhaled a plume of smoke.

"Maybe… But he'll soften Aggron up for Tyranitar and I can always just get another if he dies." Bundy replied dismissively and returned the ball to her belt.

"No. Tyranitar fights Aggron alone." Ted said with finality. "Keep your Pokémon out of this."

"Well… Go on then. Tell Tyranitar to do something, this staring is boring. I want to see blood." Bundy said harshly with a wicked grin, clashing sharply with her angelic face.

"Fine. Let me set up the field first." Ted said, taking a final drag of his cigarette and tossing it onto the ground. "Tyranitar! Let's get a storm going!"

0000

Tyranitar didn't move to acknowledge his trainer, instead continuing his slow, measured pace tracing a circle around the grove. Across from him, his ironclad opponent mirrored his movement exactly.

The Aggron moved well, there were no signs of the heavily plodding footsteps Tyranitar had seen others of its kind. This Aggron moved with a certain grace, each step was placed perfectly and balanced, shifting from back foot to front with no hesitation and pauses. At no point did the steel-type's massive bulk off-balance or slow it.

Tyranitar nodded to himself, deeming this an opponent worthy of battling, and finally heeded his trainer's command.

0000

Tyranitar lifted his thick, spiked tail into the air and with a resounding, Thwump, slammed it down onto the ground. Sending tremors throughout the cavern. Lifting his tail into the air again, he slammed it down. Sending another tremor rippling through the stone.

Thwump, sand started to fall from the ceiling and burst upwards from the ground.

Thwump, a wind began to stir in the cavern, seemingly out of nowhere taking hold of the sand and slowly forming a vortex centered around Tyranitar.

"No way… He's really creating a sandstorm when none of his teammates are immune to it?" Jane said, incredulously watching more sand fill the air.

Thwump.

"Jolteon, lead Wigglytuff over to Aggron! Aggron, squash it!" Joven yelled, taking advantage of the momentary distraction.

Jolteon veered towards the center of the cavern, breaking away from the lap of the cavern she had been tracing to lead the homing missile toward her ironclad teammate.

Aggron flicked his sky-blue eyes over at the Jolteon quickly racing toward him and then at the shining silver wrecking ball, tearing a path of destruction through boulders and mushrooms. Calmly lifting an armored fist, he waited.

Thwump.

In the blink of an eye, Jolteon streaked past her teammate, nothing more than a yellow blur with Wigglytuff hot on her heels.

Falling like a meteor, Aggron's fist slammed into the gyro ball, and the sound of metal shrieking against metal filled the cavern. The gyro ball's trajectory abruptly pivoted a 90 degrees and it slammed into the ground with a crash. Shattering the stone and digging a crater deep into the floor of the cavern.

Slowly spinning to a stop, the silver ball flickered, and a pink Pokémon rolled out onto the ground in a heap. Wigglytuff lay unconscious in the center of the crater. Rolling her eyes with a sigh, Bundy recalled her downed Pokémon.

Panting, Jolteon hopped over to Jane who praised Jolteon for a job well done and recalled her loyal electric-type in her ball as well. The sand was beginning to sting now, and it would aggravate Jolteon's wounds if she stayed out much longer.

Thwump, the wind picked up, now howling through the cavern. The coarse grains of sand buffeted all those in the cavern, and Pokémon flinched as sand grated against open wounds.

Poliwrath's watery battle cry cut through the steadily increasing winds and Jane looked over to see her water-type deliver a vicious uppercut into the Azumarill, sending the rabbit Pokémon high into the air. Flailing in the air, Azumarill was unable to righten herself before she came falling back to the ground, and Poliwrath's waiting fist.

As her small, round body came within striking distance Poliwrath threw a lightning-fast jab which sent Azumarill sailing across the cavern. Poliwrath's aim was true, and Azumarill bounced and rolled to a stop at the feet of her trainer, who recalled the unconscious Pokémon.

Thwump, shapes began to fade in the far reaches of the cavern as the airborne sand reduced visibility.

A high-pitched cry cut through the cavern as Granbull finally caught Ninjask with an ice fang. The sandstorm had buffeted the high-speed insect and slowed him down just enough for Granbull and his poison-enhanced reflexes to catch him. Holding tight, the pink bulldog shook Ninjask like a ragdoll, whipping his overly large head back and forth.

A beam of red energy struck Ninjask and recalled him back to his Pokeball before his fragile body was torn apart by Granbull. Lips pursed in anger, Joven whispered thanks to Ninjask's ball and clipped it to his belt.

Jane looked at her two last Pokémon still standing. Ninetales was panting, pelt covered in dried blood and scabbed over wounds from her fight with Houndoom. Poliwrath was no better off, leaning against a boulder, blood ran freely down the slash marks across his torso from Ursaring. Both grimaced as sand continued to buffet their wounds and injured them further.

Their counterpart, Granbull, was scowling at Joven for taking her chew toy away. However, the poison had been in her system too long and she coughed out purple sludge and fell to her side. With her battle finished, Granbull fell unconscious and was recalled back to her ball.

Thwump, with a shudder, Kecleon's scales turned from purple to a mud-brown and the gecko sighed in relief as the sand no longer buffeted the color swap Pokémon.

"Recall Ninetales and Poliwrath as well, they won't be of any help! The sand will only hurt them more!" Joven yelled over the howling winds, shielding his eyes from the stinging sand. "Aggron, Engage!"

With a nod, Aggron rushed forward. Eager to meet Tyranitar in battle. Sand skipped across his steel armor but caused no damage, his hide far too tough to be affected.

With the sandstorm raging around them. Tyranitar stopped his rhythmic pounding and lunged forward at Aggron.

The two titans sent shudders through the stone as they charged. One of the towering red mushrooms stood between the two, but Aggron demolished it without breaking stride. A small boulder was pulverized as Tyranitar crushed it beneath his foot.

Just before the two clashed, Tyranitar raised a green fist high and slammed it into the ground. The ground rippled and stone shards burst from the ground in front of Aggron, tearing through the mycelium and striking Aggron in his chest and face.

The stone edges shattered against Aggron's iron armor, but his charge was halted, and he staggered back. Dazed and not expecting the sudden attack, the air had been blasted from his lungs and he gasped for breath.

Not breaking stride, Tyranitar dropped one of his shoulders and threw himself at Aggron, tackling the off-balanced steel-type and sending him crashing to the ground.

Rather than lay on his back, however, Aggron used the momentum to roll back, throwing his tail up and over his head, he rolled over one shoulder. After completing his backward somersault, Aggron landed on all fours with head spikes aimed at Tyranitar.

Bounding forward on all fours like a Lairon, his armored skull shone brightly with silver steel-type energy and slammed the iron head into Tyranitar's blue scales of his belly.

This time it was Tyranitar who staggered back. The pseudo-legendary's eyes bulged and he grunted as the concussive force briefly lifted him off the ground and threw him back. Despite the direct attack, the Rock-type's armor held strong, and the sharp horns were unable to puncture the scales.

Slamming his spiked tail on the ground to steady himself, Tyranitar refused to be pushed back further. Flames burst from his mouth as his teeth ignited and Tyranitar bit savagely into Aggron's shoulder. The intense heat warped the metal, and Aggron groaned when Tyranitar shook his head, tearing molten trenches in the armor, and drew blood from the skin beneath.

Not allowing his opponent to strike again, Aggron spun and whipped his tail out in a blur, smashing into Tyranitar's jaw and snapping it shut. Tyranitar's head jerked painfully to the side and the flames in his mouth were snuffed out.

Reversing his momentum, Aggron spun in the opposite direction, the iron tail no more than a silver blur before it struck Tyranitar from the other side and sent the rock-type flying a short distance and tumbling to the ground.

The huge Pokémon rolled once, before stopping and climbing back to his feet. Glaring at Aggron, Tyranitar spat out a glob of sizzling blood onto the floor.

Aggron took a moment to roll his aching shoulder and checked on the two bloody grooves that had been torn through his armor. Although they were deep, they didn't bleed. The fire fang had cauterized the wound almost instantly.

"Keep up the steel attacks! You can do it, Aggron!" Joven shouted, over the raging sandstorm.

He pulled the hood of his cloak tight, shielding himself from the sand that bit into his exposed skin. At that moment, he really regretted not bringing his Go-goggles with him when he came to Kanto, rather than leaving them in Hoenn.

Encouraged by his trainer, Aggron charged and the earth trembled.

0000

"Tasha! Any time now!" Patrick yelled over the roaring winds, skin stinging from the sand that spun wildly around the cavern. Despite the psychic barriers blocking both physical and special attacks, they seemed unable to protect the group from the raging sandstorm.

Bug had dived back into Patrick's jacket to hide from the storm and was currently clamped onto Patrick's wrist. Protected but ready to fight if needed. Meowth was crouched down behind Patrick's legs, taking cover from the sands.

On the other side of the cavern, large dark shapes clashed, and the cavern shook. Booming echoes rocked the cavern as titanic blows struck tough armor plates as the two massive Pokémon pummeled each other. Small rocks began to rain down from the ceiling high above as a stray stone edge struck the ceiling.

"We should be through soon!" Tasha yelled back, shielding her face from the sand, and peeking into the tunnel, where Charmeleon worked tirelessly.

When there was just enough room for them, Trainers, and Pokémon retreated into the icy tunnel.

Patrick's boots crunched on slushy ice as he stepped into the cool tunnel and sighed with relief when the howling faded, and the sand no longer grated against his face. Patrick heard a hiss to his side and felt tiny pinpricks against his leg as Meowth crawled up his pant leg, escaping the frigid water. After a few seconds of maneuvering, the tan cat was happily perched on Patrick's shoulder, safe from the water down below.

Tasha and Hypno stayed at the entrance, sheltered from the sand but intently watched the dark shapes clash. To save energy, Hypno collapsed the forcefield to only covered the entrance to the tunnel. While it was useless against the sand, they didn't want to risk a stray rock blast pulverizing them where they stood.

A burst of heat and a flash of light behind Patrick reminded him of the other occupant in their little tunnel. Charmeleon barely glanced back when they crowded in behind him, intent on slashing and burning away the ice that he had been tasked to move. Patrick still harbored a grudge against Charmeleon for trying to hunt him earlier in the day, but he had to commend the fire-type on his stamina.

As the sizzling embers died away in the ice, Patrick saw a flash of light deeper within the dark ice.

"Charmeleon, stop for a second," Patrick said, trying to push past the reptile.

Charmeleon looked at Patrick skeptically before turning his reptilian snout over to Tasha, who nodded. Only then did he step aside.

"Do you hear that?" Patrick said in the silent cave. Leaning against the ice and listening intently.

Nobody breathed as they all strained to listen. A soft tick-tick-tick sound emanated from the ice in front of them and then another flash of light from the ice made them jump.

"Someone is trying to dig from the other side!" Tasha hissed, hand hovering over her Pokeballs. Hypno took a step past her to stand between his trainer and the unknown threat.

"Do you think it's the reinforcements Joven told us about?" Patrick whispered.

"Impossible to tell… just be ready for a fight…" Tasha said ominously. Around her, Pokémon shifted and flexed as they prepared. A malicious glint burned in Charmeleon's eyes, and his tail flame flared.

"Can you hear us? What happened? Is the camp under attack again?" A muffled voice sounded through the ice. The dull shine of flashlights could be seen through the thin ice and dark shapes milled around the other side.

Patrick and Tasha's eyes locked and they nodded together and both of them moved to the back of the cavern to stand by their captive's unconscious form. Patrick lifted his sleeve, and leveled his arm with the ice, giving Bug a clear line of sight. He felt the familiar tingling race from his wrist to fingertips as Bug charged up.

With reluctance, Meowth splashed down into the water and stood between Charmeleon and Hypno.

"Hypno, you know what to do. Charmeleon, aim to SUBDUE. No killing. We'll need these people alive." Tasha commanded her two Pokémon; the latter rolled his eyes at the 'soft' command.

Another flare of light bloomed in the dark ice, so close they could almost make out the individual embers as they died out in the ice. A second later something struck the ice with a crash and cracks appeared over the surface. Patrick tensed; hands held in white-knuckled fists.

"One more and we'll be through! Sandshrew, roll out!" A voice called from behind the ice.

A second later, a crash echoed in the tunnel, and ice exploded outwards, showering them in shards of ice and creating a jagged hole. Standing amongst the icy debris, a Sandshrew swayed on its feet. Dazed from the impact, it barely had time to react before they struck.

Without waiting for a command, Hypno fired a psybeam at the distracted ground-type. The prismatic beam of psychic energy bathed the tunnel in a dizzying array of colors, before striking Sandshrew and knocking the shrew back through the hole it had just created.

Sandshrew bounced and tumbled along the ground of a wide, stone tunnel and came to a stop at the feet of three shocked grunts and their Pokémon.

With the way cleared Hypno, Charmeleon, and Meowth burst into motion.

Charmeleon rushed through the hole first and leaped at the group of grunts, claws gleaming silver and mouth spilling flames at the chance to battle. Grunts scattered as the fiery berserker flew through the air.

A dark puppy stood crouched in front of his master, his mouth glowing with small flames as he prepared his attack.

A round, blue water-type watched in shock, frozen, where she stood as the flaming raptor with shining silver claws flew towards her.

In the air above them, a Ledian squinted her large blue eyes, raised her four fists, and prepared to dive.

As soon as Charmeleon's talons touched down on the stone floor, chaos erupted.

Snapping his jaws wide, he breathed a stream of embers at the airborne bug-type before quickly leaping to the side as a barrage of miniature fireballs peppered the ground where he had been standing. Houndour scowled at the missed attack.

Maintaining his momentum, Charmeleon lunged at the nearest opponent, Marill, with razor-sharp metal claws, who was barely able to leap back to avoid the vicious swipes.

Ledian easily ducked under the embers and heard them hiss as they were snuffed out against the stone of the tunnel. Fists blazed with white light as she prepared comet punches to pummel Charmeleon, who was busy chasing Marill further down the tunnel. However, she quickly had to roll to the side as another psybeam cut through the air.

Meowth and Hypno had emerged from the ice.

Meowth raced towards the Houndour without hesitation and let loose a wild yowl which startled the young dark-type for an instant before it fired an ember attack at her.

Leaping to the side with supernatural agility and bounding off the wall, Meowth dodged the embers and leaped at the puppy Pokémon. She slashed Houndour's exposed side as she shot past. With a yelp, the Houndour turned and fired another ember attack at the feline, which singed Meowth's tail as she ducked under the attack.

Hissing, Meowth spun and lunged back at Houndour, claws bared. Likewise, Houndour howled and charged. The two clashed, rolling and slashing at each other. Houndour snapped his jaws inches from Meowth's face, who responded with rapid fury swipes, drawing thin lines of blood.

Above their heads, Ledian ducked and rolled as beams of psychic energy tore through the air. Wings buzzing madly behind her, Ledian dove closed the gap between them quickly and peppered Hypno with a barrage of punches, before flying away before the psychic-type could retaliate.

Hypno scowled as he rubbed his throbbing side, where the comet punches had landed, before charging another psybeam. Holding the prismatic sphere in his yellow palm, he patiently waited for the insect to dive.

Confident from her first attack, Ledian obliged and dove, flying erratically to avoid any attacks. As she approached though, Hypno, lifted his free hand which glowed with blue energy and a pink barrier blinked into existence between the two. Unable to slow her momentum, Ledian crashed head-first into the barrier and tumbled from the air, dazed.

Before Ledian could righten herself, Hypno thrust out his other palm and fired the psybeam at Ledian, hitting the insect in her small body and sending her spiraling down the tunnel. Before he could fire again at the downed insect, however, Sandshrew burst from the stone below him and delivered a vicious uppercut that forced Hypno to stumble back.

The small ground-type then quickly scurried back into the hole in the stone it had dug before Hypno could respond. Pushing herself off the ground, Ledian quickly took to the air again.

"Let's go, Poindexter!" Tasha whooped, excited by the fight, she squeezed through the icy hole.

0000

Sighing, Patrick watched as Tasha belly-crawled through the ice, leaving him alone. Behind him, the psychic barrier winked out, as Hypno's attention diverted to his current fight with two separate opponents.

Patrick couldn't believe how long the day had been. If it was even the same day. His Pokedex was taken when they had been captured and he had no way of knowing what time of day it was in the perpetual darkness of the caves.

When he had signed up for a field research position, he had expected some light battling, raising strong Pokémon for protection, and quietly documenting new evolutions. Getting caught up in all of THIS… was not part of his plan.

Carrying an unconscious leader of a drug operation away from a titanic ranger battle was not something he expected to ever do. But now that he was in this, he had to see it through, so he turned to get the body from the entrance to the cave but…

The body was gone.

Cursing, he ran to the entrance of the cave and squinted his eyes against the stinging sand, searching for the executive in the distance. However, the sandstorm was too thick, and he could only make out vague shapes.

A burst of flames shone through the sand as one of the titans savagely bit down into the other and ripped a deep wound into the other's armor. Grabbing on, the second titan twisted and tossed its attacker against the stone wall and began pummeling its opponent with crushing blows, shaking the cavern. Cracks in the stone spiderwebbed out with each impact and portions of the wall and ceiling began to fall to the ground.

A wild yell from his side brought him back to his task and spinning, he saw Miguel lunging toward him. The previously well-dressed executive was now disheveled, his wet suit clung to his body and slicked-back hair was plastered against his face. Fist pulled back and face twisted in a furious rage, he threw a punch that connected painfully Patrick's cheek and sent him stumbling back toward the tunnel.

Trying to catch his balance, Patrick's foot caught on a ridge of ice, and he fell back into the frigid water that pooled at the entrance of the tunnel.

Gasping for breath, Patrick couldn't react before Miguel lunged and landed heavily on his chest. Trapping Patrick's right arm under his knee, Miguel lunged forward, both hands grabbing Patrick's throat and squeezing.

With the air already blasted from his lungs, Patrick gasped and struggled against the other man's iron grip. Flailing his legs and arching his back, Patrick tried to throw Miguel off him, but the other man held to his neck too tight.

"You little shit!" The deranged executive snarled, "I should have had Venomoth poison you and dumped your body into the river. You took the Orb! What did you do with it?"

Unable to respond, Patrick tried to punch at the arms pressing him into the icy water. However, lying flat on his back, he wasn't able to get any power behind the blows and the executive just shrugged them off. The edges of Patrick's vision began to darken, and Miguel's eyes filled with wicked glee as he squeezed tighter and tighter. Cutting off the flow of blood and oxygen.

Weakly, Patrick grasped the fingers around his neck and tried to pry them off with the last of his strength, but it was too little too late and he wasn't able to move even a single finger.

Delirious from lack of oxygen, Patrick barely felt something shift and move from his wrist and scuttle across the back of his hand.

Patrick heard a scream and the pressure around his neck vanished as the man fell to the side, clutching his bleeding hand. Patrick choked and gasped, greedily sucking in air and ignoring the ache of his bruised throat with every breath.

As he slowly came back to his senses, he heard a furious tirade of high-pitched squeaking and saw Bug sitting on his chest. The spider was waving his forelegs around wildly at Miguel, who was getting back to his feet, cradling his hand.

"Light him up, Bug." Patrick croaked between gasping breaths.

Nodding, Bug charged an electro ball. Patrick grimaced as he felt pins and needles race through his arms and legs, as his damp body conducted some of the electricity from the attack. Above him, a blinding yellow orb manifested in the air, before doubling and then tripling in size. Far larger than any Patrick has seen his Pokémon create before.

The furious insect poured all the power he had into one single attack, the electro ball hummed with power above Patrick, and he had to shield his eyes from the miniature sun. Fueled by the power drained from the battery of the electric prods Miguel had used to torment the Paras colony, the orb grew to its final size. With a grunt, Bug launched the orb at Miguel.

The orb closed the distance between the two in a fraction of a second and slammed into Miguel's chest. The force lifted him off his feet and the power of the orb tore apart his suit jacket and shirt. Miguel seemed to hang in the air for a split second, his face frozen in shock before the orb pulsed once and detonated.

With a deafening boom, Miguel was thrown against the stone wall of the cavern and fell to the ground.

Patrick gingerly pushed himself up into sitting, stunned by the powerful attack. Bug scowled at Miguel's body but didn't move from the front of Patrick's jacket.

"Good job, Bug," Patrick wheezed, throat raw.

Bug perked up at the praise, but his mood quickly fell again when he scuttled up to Patrick's neck. Dismayed, Joltik used his tiny forelegs to brush the ugly black bruises that were already forming around Patrick's neck. Bug cheeped sadly at Patrick as he examined the bruise.

"Don't worry about it. It looks worse than it feels." Patrick lied hoarsely. "Let's see if this guy is even alive."

Grunting, Patrick got to his feet and limped over to the collapsed man. Patrick used his foot to shove the man onto his front and was shocked when he groaned.

With a battle cry, Bug attempted to fire another ball of electricity at the downed man. But the tiny spider only sparked, having already spent all his charged energy. Looking closer, Patrick noticed a dark grey armored vest beneath the tattered remains of the executive's expensive suit.

Whatever that is made of must have blocked most of the electricity. No way he could have survived that otherwise. Patrick thought.

With what felt like the hundredth sigh of the day, Patrick roughly grabbed the wrist of the downed man and began dragging him back to the tunnel. He briefly considered releasing Nidorino to help, but his big poison-type needed to rest and recover. However badly Patrick felt right now, Nidorino probably felt worse.

0000

"What took you so long?" Tasha asked as Patrick slid through the hole in the ice and came to a rest next to Miguel, who he had pushed through first.

"This guy woke up, so we knocked him out again," Patrick grunted, gesturing at the man still on the floor.

"Oh…" Tasha said after a moment, "Are you alright?" She added softly, gaze lingering on his bruised throat.

"Ask me that when we're in Cerulean." Was Patrick's only reply.

Looking around, Patrick saw a pile of three unconscious grunts lying against the walls of the tunnel. Hypno, covered in bruises, watched them carefully and fingered a small silver coin in his hand. Ready to hypnotize any who began to wake up again.

Meowth limped over to Patrick and rubbed against his legs, happy to be reunited. Her fur was covered in soot, and she had a few nasty burns but was otherwise unharmed.

"How did the fighting go?" Patrick asked.

"We steamrolled them," Tasha said, all bravado. "Hypno pummeled a Sandshrew and Ledian with Psybeam's. Charmeleon took out a Marill but was hit with a pretty strong bubble beam. So, I returned him. And your Meowth sliced and diced a Houndour! She did really well."

"I'm glad to hear it," Patrick murmured, gently petting the affectionate feline. "Now, let's get out of here." Turning to Tasha.

"I couldn't have said it better myself!" Tasha agreed, "Hypno! Can you carry the suit? We are almost out."

The faithful psychic nodded and with a flick of his wrist, a pale blue aura enveloped Miguel's body and he once again floated into the air.

0000

"The cavern isn't going to hold much longer!" Jane yelled over the raging sandstorm. She and Joven were huddled at the base of a great mushroom, hiding from the stinging sands as best they could.

"Kecleon, prepare our retreat," Joven said grimly to his gecko, scowling intensely at the fight before them.

Aggron breathed heavily, the steel titan's armored plates were dented and warped across his body. A constant barrage of stones edges and fire fangs had slowly worn away at his tough armor and damaged the flesh they protected. Aggron's muscles ached with exhaustion from the sustained battle, the heavy armor taking its toll.

Across from him, Tyranitar smirked. Sand clung to dried blood from the slashes and stab wounds that covered his hide. Aggron's iron head attacks had finally begun to break through Tyranitar's green hide, however, the armored dark-type merely shrugged off the shallow wounds.

Blue eyes shining with defiance, Aggron flexed his heavy limbs and bellowed a challenge at Tyranitar, who eagerly roared back.

The two juggernauts had completely abandoned finesse as they slammed into each other and tumbled to the ground in a mass of tooth and claw, horn and tail. Fighting to pin the other, two smashed into a cavern wall, before falling back and crushing a mushroom and coming dangerously close to crushing Ted and Bundy as well.

"Oi! Watch where you're fighting!" Ted yelled at his Pokémon, while wisely taking a few steps back into the mouth of the tunnel they had emerged from.

In response and with a grunt, Tyranitar spun and threw Aggron away. The steel-type bounced once, before quickly regaining his feet and charged, deadly head spikes lowered.

"This is taking too long. Tyranitar, finish Aggron off with an earthquake!" Ted yelled in annoyance.

Three pairs of eyes bulged in shock and horror, as Bundy, Joven, and Jane all spun to look at the smirking bald man and all three began yelling.

"We are underground, you idiot!" Bundy yelled, pummeling her teammate with tiny fists.

"You're going to kill us all!" Jane yelled.

"Get us out of here, Kecleon!" Joven yelled to his gecko and the shadows beneath them darkened.

The dark flames of malice shone brightly in Tyranitar's eyes as he lifted a foot and slammed it down onto the ground.

Like a stone thrown into a still lake, a ripple of earth burst out from Tyranitar's foot, racing outwards in all directions. Stone groaned and cracked as overwhelming energy forced the wave of earth forward, tossing aside boulders and mushrooms like match sticks.

The unavoidable wave of earth grew as it spread out and smashed into Aggron, stopping his charge instantly and throwing the giant away. The heavy blow severely injured the steel-type and Aggron struggled to rise to his feet, staggering and falling to a knee. Grimacing at the pain, Aggron watched the aftermath of the great attack.

Waves of rippling earth smashed into the cavern walls and raced upwards. Stone bulged and cracks burst outwards when the stone couldn't withstand the pressure, raining debris down onto the cavern.

Racing up the domed ceiling of the cavern, more and more of the cave began to collapse as greater and greater chunks of stone rained down. A deep groaning sound echoed from the rocks, seemingly coming from all directions.

"Now! Kecleon!" Joven yelled. Thrusting Aggron's Pokeball forward, a thin beam of energy struck the kneeling steel-type and recalled him back into the safety of the red and white orb. As soon as he returned, the dark shadows under Jane and Joven lost all tangibility, and the two trainers and Kecleon fell into the darkness and disappeared.

Seconds later, a boulder the size of a house crashed down where they had been standing.