Chapter 87: Half as long, twice as bright

Kai clenched his fists as Eri's words echoed in his mind once again.

"Think of something that not even you would do."

What would be something that he would never do? In order to win this fight, he had to think like someone else entirely…. Preferably someone he knew. But who? Whose mindset would be so different from his in a battle-standpoint? Arven? No, Kai hadn't seen him fight much. Nemona? Heck no, he literally based his entire persona off her-

Wait, what?

Kai shook his head to snap out of it. Maybe thinking like someone else wasn't the answer. Maybe, what he had to do was simply think like a true champion would when pushed into a had to think like he was the strongest trainer in the world. The strongest trainer in the world would never not have a trick under his sleeve. The strongest trainer would always think of a solution.

Kai nodded to himself.

"I… am the strongest trainer in the world…" He muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Eri clenched her fists, staring at Penny as she lowered her head. A shadow loomed over her eyes, and her round glasses shone brightly.

"I won't forgive you for what you've done to my friends..!" Eri cried.

Suddenly, a rainbow-colored aura ignited around Penny like a flame, barely reaching the top of Penny's head.

"I'm going to tell you one of the reasons why Eevee is one of my favorite Pokémon." Penny said. She lifted her head, the shadow over her eyes faded, and showed her determined face. "They have infinite potential. They can evolve and become anything they wanted- the only thing that limited them was their own imagination. I've always envied them. There are always new paths being discovered for them. It's inspiring to me."

Penny slowly stretched her hands outward, as though she were about to give an embrace. "I only see one path ahead of us," Penny continued. "The one that leads to Team Star's complete and utter annihilation."

In a blink of an eye, the aura around Penny expanded with a loud thunderous roar. Its expansion was like a thunderbolt that struck the ground, peeling large shards of earth that floated for a moment before being shattered The aura spread outward like flames- pushing toward Eri like a wall of light.

"Oh crap!" Kai cried, turning and running away. "Arven- Aeon, get out of here!"

"Already on it!" Arven shouted, taking Koraidon out of his Pokeball both he and Aeon mounted the creature.

"You can do it, guys!" Aeon shouted. "I believe in you both!"

Sweat fell from Kai's cheek as he watched on. He kept that mantra in his head the entire time.

I…am the strongest trainer in the world.

I… am the strongest trainer in the world.

Meanwhile, Eri stood tall, staring head-on at her opponent that had become a silhouette with flames for eyes, which shone with every type that Penny had at her disposal. Her golden star shaped halo shone brightly as Penny ascended to the sky.

Penny moved one arm out in front of her, and a symbol representing the Grass type appeared above her open hand.

"If I have to use more power to defeat you, then fine!" Penny cried. She crushed the grass type sigil, and her halo began shining with green Grass-type energy.

Kai widened his eyes, taking a mental note.

Penny then pointed two fingers at Eri, and flicked them upwards, creating a Leaf Storm geyser that the fighting type specialist had to leap backwards to dodge. Penny snapped with her free hand, and vines flew from behind the muscular girl, one wrapped itself around her gauntlet. One swing of Eri's arm was enough to rip the vines off of her arm, but by the time she did that, more vines wrapped themselves around her legs and both of her arms.

An electric type sigil appeared in front of Penny- and she crushed it with her hand, and almost instantly, her halo shined with yellow electric type energy as she shot her arm forward and released a bolt of lightning.

Kai's eyes widened. He began to smirk as though he confirmed something in his mind.

Eri gritted her teeth, managing to pull one arm free and firing a Tera Blast out of her gauntlet, which was the shape of an orb with the tera sigil along with a flame-like fighting type aura. The projectile flew into the thunderbolt and canceled out the attack.

Meanwhile, Eri grunted as she broke free of her binds, limb by limb. Then, she fell onto the ground with a crouch.

"Why don't you fight fair," Eri said, rising up to her feet. "-With your fists?!"

"I'm not stupid enough to do that," Penny said, raising her open hand as fire a type symbol appeared above it.

Eri began to sprint, and Penny crushed the fire type sigil, and her halo burned with fire type energy. Then, Penny clapped her hands together.

Flames surrounded Eri, stopping her in her tracks and trapping her.

"This is- Fire spin..!" Eri cried.

Flames shot under Penny's feet like jet boots, propelling her toward Eri. Penny shot her hands out, and Flamethrowers flew out of her hands as she circled Eri, who cried out in pain.

Suddenly, a rock slammed onto Penny from the side, causing her to scream. It was super effective, after all. Penny spun her head down to see who had attacked her.

It was Kai's Tinkaton, who had shot a rock at Penny by hitting it like a baseball with her hammer, just like she would if it were a Corviknight.

Just then, Kai's Quaquaval flew down like a rocket toward Penny's back and slammed its foot directly onto her. His foot pulsated with water type energy because of the move it was using: Aqua Step. Quaquaval twirled like a drill onto her opponent's back as the two of them fell to the ground together- and crashed. Water blasted into the sky at the point of impact- and it began to rain. The rain fell onto the flames that surrounded Eri and doused the flames. Eri was on her hands and knees.

"You okay?" Kai asked, running to Eri's side. Eri turned her head and saw Kai, who was wearing Invoker armor but had not Tera Fused with any of his Pokémon.

"I'm fine.." Eri said, groaning as she stood up. "Did you come up with an idea?"

"Yup!" Kai said, raising up two Pokeballs.

Meanwhile, at the epicenter of the crash site from Quaquaval's attack, the water/fighting type Pokémon kept his foot on Penny's back. Penny groaned with frustration, lifting one hand up and crushing a grass type sigil. Suddenly, vines lifted from the ground below them both and wrapped around Quaquaval and trapped him. Green orbs, which were Quaquaval's life essence was being drained away and flowed into Penny's body- which began slowly healing some of the damage she took.

Suddenly, Penny heard Tinkaton roaring. She spun her head, noticing the tiny Pink Pokémon rushing toward her with her hammer held high. Penny narrowed her eyes, waiting for Tinkaton to come close- and then leapt away just before her hammer could reach her- so that it could hit Quaquaval instead. Tinkaton yelled in shock- and the two Pokémon tumbled like a bowling ball away from the young girl.

Penny let out a huff of relief before hearing the sound of two Pokémon yelling at the top of their lungs. She turned her head, and could barely see two lights ahead of her that shone like distant stars, because of the water vapor still hanging in the air. One 'star' was yellow, and the other was red. She squinted her eyes as she looked ahead of the water vapor mist that slowly began to fade.

After the mist cleared completely, Penny could see Kai's Charcadet and Pawmot both powering up. Respective auras of Fire and electricity coarse around their bodies.

"Charcadet! Use flame charge!" Kai cried. "Pawmot- don't move just yet!"

Charcadet roared as he shot his body after Penny. Instinctively, Penny summoned A water type sigil which appeared above her open hand.

Then, her eyes widened in sudden realization.

This was a trap.

In order to neutralize Charcadet's oncoming attack, Penny would have to channel more power from Vapoeon's water type. But doing that would have her gain the defensive properties of a water type...leaving her wide open to Pawmot's super effective electric type move.

Not only that, but Penny had also just taken the time to summon Vaporeon's water type sigil. At the speed Charcadet was coming at her- there was no time for her to summon another. If she did nothing- she would take a super effective hit from Charcadet, because she was currently using the full power of Leafeon's grass type.

She could either take super effective damage from Charcadet, or take super effective damage from Pawmot.

By the time Penny realized all of this, Charcadet was already in front of her- there was no time to think, let alone dodge. She let out a pained scream as Charcadet's head rammed against her chest. The attack from Charcadet was so powerful- that the tiny Pokémon managed to drag her along toward the forest behind them both.

Kai smirked.

"That's right!" Kai cried. "You just got wrecked! How'd you like that one-million-IQ play!? It's like I have a little mini Aeon in my brain!"

"What?" Eri said.

"Don't worry about it. It's just me using my big ol' noggin," Kai said, pointing at his head. "Now c'mon, let's go kick that girl's butt. Pawmot!? Don't move tiill I or Eri say so!"

Pawmot cried out its own name in affirmation. Meanwhile, Quaquaval and Tinkaton ran to Kai's side. Quaquaval smiled proudly, while Tinkaton stared with heart-shaped eyes at Pawmot- this was her first time seeing him evolved, and she was enjoying the view.

"Wh-What about me?" Eri asked. Kai turned to Eri. "What do you want me to do?"

Kai smirked, reaching into his pocket and touching his Grevard's Pokeball.

"Don't worry too much. You guys got this."

Penny winced as Charcadet pushed her through several trees- which broke apart like dominos that snapped in half, one after the other. Penny gritted her teeth, crushing the water sigil that was still hanging above her hand. The moment she crushed it, was the moment Penny sent Charcadet flying away like a rocket with Water Pulse. Meanwhile, Penny, who was still flying uncontrollably, bounced off the ground a few times like a pebble would after being thrown onto a lake. After a bit, her body dragged across the ground, leaving a large dirt trail. Eventually, the momentum died out, and Penny remained still, lying on the ground.

She took in a deep breath through her nose and breathed out through her mouth. She could feel sweat drenching her entire body and could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She hated this sensation and remembered why she hated invoker battles so much. She put her hand on her forehead and groaned.

Then, she lifted her free hand up, and summoned a Dark type sigil.

No, Penny thought. Quaquaval was part fighting type. If she channeled more power from Umbreon's Dark type, she'd be wide open to his fighting type attacks. Using Fairy type was risky as well, because of Tinkaton's Steel type. Flareon was a bad idea too. So was Jolteon because of Tinkaton's ability to use a ground type move…Leafeon was out of the question, too thanks to Charcadet. Vaporeon was already out of the question, Pawmot would threaten her the most. There was only one thing to do.

Combine them all.

Penny let the dark type sigil disappear as she closed her open hand. A rainbow aura exploded around her- and shank, moving all the way to Penny's fist. Then, Penny opened her fist. All six symbols representing every individual type floated above her palm in an O shaped formation. Then, with a flick of the girl's wrist, all of the orbs combined themselves, and created a white orb with a rainbow flame burning within. If

she crushed this orb, she could use all of the types at her disposal at full power- and gain all of their defensive properties at once. This should grant her the necessary defense to fight off Kai's Pokémon along with Eri. Focusing this huge amount of power risked destroying the armor for good. And if her armor was destroyed, Penny would instantly lose the battle.

"...Whatever it takes..." Penny said. "The star that burns twice as bright...burns half as long."

Just then- Penny saw a shadow looming above her head- and immediately raised her legs and flipped onto her feet before leaping out of the way of the shadow that was swooping down on her. The moment she got away, a huge blast of dust leapt into the air along with the sound of a crash. The glasses-girl slowly flipped and landed on the ground with a crouch, making sure to not let the orb above her hand touch the dirt she skidded on.

The one who had tried to stomp her while she was down, Eri- let out a war cry and immediately the dirt around her exploded and flew away- as though it was in fright. Eri walked out of the crater she herself created; her cape flew wildly in the air.

"It's time for round two." Eri said.

"Eri of Team Star," Penny said. "You'll learn the hard way- you can't stop me." Penny crushed the orb above her hand, and immediately, her halo began shining with a rainbow-like glow.

Eri roared as she charged after her opponent. Penny clapped her hands together, and a Fire spin attack stopped her in place- then, vines of grass wrapped themselves around Eri's limbs almost immediately- and began shocking her with electricity. Eri began roaring in pain- and gritted her teeth.

Kai's Quaquaval and Charcadet leapt over Eri- Quaquaval opened his beak and let out a hydropump that doused the flames around Eri. and Charcadet blew a flamethrower that burned the vines, allowing Eri to break free and charge forward.

Penny gritted her teeth, aiming both arms ahead and aiming a Dark Pulse attack that shot like a large orb shaped projectile. Eri's gauntlet shined with fighting type energy as she swatted the projectile away. Within seconds, Eri closed the distance, and threw a punch.

Penny's eyes shone with Psychic type power at that moment- and Penny watched as Eri's fist stopped short mere inches to her face. Eri's body began floating up into the air as Penny focused her eyes on Eri.

"Pawmot- NOW!" Eri cried out.

Within a fraction of a second, Pawmot, despite being several miles away, closed the distance with Penny like a lightning bolt and landed a devastating Mach Punch onto the girl's stomach. Spit flew out of Penny's mouth before she was sent flying like an arrow.

Despite having all of the type defenses of all of the her Pokémon at her disposal, Fighting type was still super effective against her.

Penny flipped her body while it flew into the air and dragged her feet against the ground until her body stopped skidding. By the time she looked up, she saw Tinkaton, Quaquaval and Charcadet above her ready to attack.

"Disarming..VOOOOOOOOIIIIIIICE!" Penny shouted, and pink shockwaves flew out of her mouth, blasting the three Pokemon out of the sky.

Suddenly, the earth below Penny began to rumble- she looked down, and saw a tiny hole which erupted open, revealing Eri's fist, which rose up. Penny leapt away- Eri's attack was mere inches away from hitting the glasses-girl's chin.

After both girls landed on the ground, Eri began charging once again- her blue aura began radiating, transforming into the Pokémon that she had Tera-fused with. To Penny, It looked like a spiritual Taros that was triple Eri's size was charging right at her.

Panic settled in for Penny as she shot her arms out- and several Moonblasts which were injected with Electric type energy flew after Eri- every attack landed- creating a dust cloud that grew bigger by the second. As Penny kept firing- she began letting out a war cry- hoping and praying that she could stop her.

Just then- Eri's fist flew through the dust and landed straight onto Penny's face- sending her stumbling back. Eri dashed through the dust, and began hammering her opponent with punches. Penny crossed her arms in an attempt to defend herself, but Eri landed an uppercut through her defense. Penny stumbled back once again and her eyes shined with psychic power- but a punch to her cheek from Eri caused her to lose focus.

It was like putting a Normal type Pokémon against a Fighting type Pokémon, putting an expert boxer against some random person on the street.

Penny shot her hand out in an attempt to launch a lightning bolt attack, but Eri swatted her opponent's wrist, causing her attack to miss and landed another punch on Penny's side. Penny tried lifting her two fingers to use Leaf Storm, but a punch to her stomach caused her to clutch her gut and fall to her knees. Then, Eri cracked her knuckles as Penny groaned in pain, and punched her hard enough to send her flying away like a rocket.

"Pawmot!" Eri cried, exiting her fighting stance and standing up straight as Pawmot flew like a bolt of lightning toward Penny.

Penny's eyes were shut tight as she tried to endure the pain as her body flew. Pawmot approached, zipping right past the girl. After getting a far enough distance, Pawmot stopped, waiting for Penny to fly over to him so he could send her flying into the air with a kick.

Penny's eyes opened wide, her eyes began shining with a rainbow-like glow. She shot her head upwards so she could look at Pawmot, spun her body around, and raised her arms, ready to grab the electric type. Pawmot gasped, and the two of them tumbled onto the ground once Penny had her hands on him. After Penny managed to pin the Electric type to the ground, vines wrapped themselves around him.

Electricity surged around Pawmot in an attempt to defend itself- but soon it died out as the grass vines began using Giga drain. The life force of the electric type, which turned into green orbs, healed Penny's wounds. Soon enough, the vines were finished and unwrapped themselves. Penny groaned.

"Sorry," She said to Pawmot, who looked unconscious.

"TIIIIINKAAAAAAAAA!"

A gigantic shadow loomed over Penny, and she turned around, seeing Tinkaton's weapon which was empowered and enlarged by her Gigaton Hammer attack. Penny snapped her fingers, using the vines that wrapped around Pawmot and threw him to the side, out of the range of Tinkaton's attack. Penny spun her head up and aimed her hand up high, blasting a Flamethrower at the hammer. The hammer began being slowly pushed back by the flames as the vines that threw Pawmot away flew under Penny and the hammer, and upwards toward Tinkaton herself, who was in the air pushing her hammer down.

The vines wrapped themselves around Tinkaton, and once they did, Penny snapped her fingers, and the vines burst into flames, causing Tinkaton to screech in pain. Her hammer began to shrink and fell to the ground in front of Penny. Soon after, Tinkaton fell to the ground too, covered in burns.

Penny let out a sigh of relief, lowering her head and closing her eyes.

"Hey!" Eri roared. "You're gonna pay for that..!"

Charcadet was beside Eri, glaring furiously and burning with fire type energy. Quaquaval was there too, who was brimming with water type energy. Kai, however, was nowhere to be found.

The two Pokémon and Eri rushed after Penny, who kept her eyes closed as they drew closer.

"Instead of using Psychic, I should use a move that's more of your style, huh Sylveon..?" Penny murmured. "Dazzling…!" Penny opened her eyes wide. "Gleam!"

A blinding light filled with fairy type energy shone bright enough to caused Kai's Pokémon and Eri to gasp and look away, shielding themselves from the light with their hands.. While they were temporarily blinded, vines rose from the ground, wrapping themselves around Eri and Quaquaval. For Charcadet, a Whirlpool rose from the ground, completely trapping the tiny pokémon.

Penny used a flaming geyser that rose from the ground below her feet to shoot herself high into the air, and then raised her arm up.

The clouds above began to go dark. Electricity began coursing around the clouds. The ground began trembling.

"Bring down…the THUNDER!" Penny roared. After lowering her arm, a thunderbolt the size of a skyscraper flew down at her three opponents, immediately creating a large electric explosion that was so large that it nearly touched Penny who floated above, watching as her hair flew wildly in the wind. Her glasses reflected the blinding electric light that exploded like a firework.

Once the dust cleared, it revealed that Eri, Charcadet and Quaquaval were down. The geyser that kept Penny into the air slowly fizzled out, and she landed on the ground, looking down at her opponents and sighed a breath of relief.

The sound of clapping nearly made Penny jump with fright. She turned her head about, trying to search for the person who was clapping, and widened her eyes upon seeing Kai, who was smiling wide.

Behind Kai's back was a shovel. It was obvious- he had Terafused with the only Pokémon that he had left: Grevard. For a while, Kai kept clapping on and on, much to Penny's confusion. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion as a shadow loomed over Kai's eyes.

"Why are you clapping?" Penny finally asked.

Kai stopped clapping, letting his hands clasp together as though he were in a prayer, and then lowered his hands very slowly. He then began to laugh a bit, smirking wide.

"Well, I'm congratulating you, of course," Kai said, lifting his head up a bit as the shadow over his eyes disappeared, revealing they were shining blue. "You dug yourself a hole so deep, that there's no way you could ever climb out of it. I'm a little jealous, I'm the one with the shovel, and I couldn't have done the same."

Penny furrowed her brow in confusion as Kai slowly reached around his back, pulling out the weapon his Greavard had transformed into and stabbed it into the ground.

"What?" She asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm going to answer your question with another question. Have you paid…Your Last Respects?"

"Last respects?"

"Do you not know what that move is?" Kai asked.

For a moment, Penny looked more confused. She blinked, then widened her eyes once she remembered. "Ah-" She said. "Last respects is that one ghost move that Houndstone, Grevard's evolved form learns as soon as it evolves. It's a move that becomes stronger based on how many people their enemy defeats…"

"Bingo."

"I don't need to worry about that move," Penny continued. "Grevard evolves at night, and it's daytime right now. It's why I chose the morning time to do all of this, and why I chose to do it while you weren't touching your Grevard. I don't know what kind of stunt you're trying to pull, but if you're trying to act not like yourself by using Grevard all of a sudden, that's not a great tactic."

"Nice job on answering that piece of trivia." Kai said, putting Grevard's shovel on the ground in front of him. He then crossed his arms in front of him. "Grevard… Let's show her what she's won."

Kai began to roar at the top of his lungs. His hair slowly began to turn white, and his eyes turned red. Penny watched on, deciding to take the time to think about what her strategy was going to be now that Kai was going to go on the offensive. But then, her eyes widened as Kai's shovel began to shine white.

"Wait- What?! It's evolving?!"

Penny's eyes widened in fear as a ghostly dark purple aura surrounded Kai- and completely covered him in and his shovel purple. Almost immediately, she shot her arms out at Kai, charging a Dark Pulse attack.

Suddenly, two ghost arms that were shining purple reached out from the ground below Penny, grabbing her wrists and moving her arms up to the sky so that the dark pulse attack would fly upward, missing its mark.

"Why..." A ghostly voice echoed in Penny's ears- and she looked down, noticing ghosts that resembled Mela and Ortega rising up from the ground like zombies and grabbing her legs. "Why did you defeat us...? Why...?"

"NO!" Penny cried. "What's happening!? I thought I already beat you guys..!"

"Why..?" Giacomo's voice came to her left, and she turned around, noticing his ghost was holding her wrist up. She turned to her right and saw Atticus's ghost holding her other wrist up.

"Why did you defeat us..?" The ghost clone of Atticus cried.

Kai began laughing wickedly, like a Villian who had trapped the hero in his web. "Do you feel your sins crawling down your back!? This is Grevard's...no-...Houndstone's power...!"

Kai let out a final roar and uncrossed his arms, and the purple color that covered his entire body and his shovel dispersed like fireworks.

His shovel looked more purple than before- the tip of his weapon looked like it was dipped partially in purple paint- and had random gibberish writing on it- the writing looked exactly like what was written on a Houndstone's gravestone. On the edge of the shovel handle were three candles.

Kai was now wearing a black robe and hood over his armor- he looked like was wearing the robes of a Grim Reaper. His hands no longer had flesh- it was skeletal, only bone.

"Every single person you've beaten today comes back as ghost to haunt you and adds strength to this next attack..." Kai said. Kai grabbed onto his shovel and pushed it further into the ground with his foot. A gray statue the shape of a Houndstone began to erect itself behind Kai, who back flipped and landed on its head as it grew up higher and higher. Penny's eyes widened in sheer terror, and Kai's smirk grew larger as he put his shovel on his shoulder.

The statue of Houndstone began to open its jaw- and ghost type energy began surging into its mouth.

"Nine." Kai said. "Including the other four leaders of Team Star, you've knocked out nine of my allies, so my attack's going to be nine times more powerful. It doesn't matter even if you have a resistance to Ghost type moves. You're finished."

Kai chuckled a bit. "The only thing that'd save you is if you Terafused with a Normal type!" Kai cried. "Too bad none of your Pokémon are normal type! I couldn't have planned all of this better!"

"What do you mean, 'you couldn't have planned this better'..!?" Penny cried. Her eyes widened in realization. "Wait-...Did- did you let your Pokémon lose to me on purpose!?"

"Ding, ding, ding, ding! That's correct!" Kai cried. "I LET my Pokémon to lose to you. I LET you beat Eri. If I didn't step in myself, there was little chance my Pokémon would have won against you, even if they combined their strength with Eri."

"You sacrificed your teammates…for an easy win?! That's-"

"Not...something he'd do, right...!?" Eri groaned, barely managing to lift her head up to watch what was happening. "...That's why it worked..!"

"Oh-" Kai said, "Eri's still conscious. Okay- scratch that. Eight- you've beaten Eight of my allies... oh well. You're still done for."

"No-...this is something he'd do..." Penny cried. "Kai has a tendency to act villainous during his fights, and he loves to purposely put himself on the backfoot. That's normal. But letting your Pokémon and teammate go down, remembering and taking note of what my powers are and countering it with tactics like a chess player would...That's what you've never done before...! You haven't ever thought of a strategy this...layered before..!" Penny cried.

Kai grinned. "Yup. When you're someone like me..." Kai said, smirking wide. "You can never not have a trick under your sleeve. You know why...?"

Kai's grin grew wide as he pointed a thumb at his puffed chest.

"Because I'm… the strongest trainer…to EVER LIVE!" For a split second- Kai began to truly believe that he was the strongest trainer in the world. And in that split second… Kai's hair turned from white, to Blue. Then, that power faded away, along with his blue hair color. Despite the spike in Flow, Kai hadn't noticed his split-second transformation. He was too busy reveling in the moment, taking in Penny's disbelief- and the checkmate situation he put her in.

"Now, Houndstone..!" Kai said, aiming his shovel at Penny. "Put her plans six feet under!"

"NO!" Penny cried, turning to the ghost illusions of the team star leaders that held her. "Let me go!" She cried.

"Why... did you beat us...?" The ghost clones of Atticus, Giacomo, Mela and Ortega moaned at the same time. "You are our leader...not our enemy...so why...?"

Penny's eyes widened in horror- it was as though the ghosts knew the guilt that she harbored while fighting the entire time- and it shook her to her very core. She looked ahead- and saw the rest of Kai's Pokémon, their 'ghosts' were all pointing at her. Their bodies warped, flying into the ghost type orb that the Houndstone statue had in front of its open jaw, which grew larger by the second.

"NO..!" She cried. "NOT LIKE THIS- NOT LIKE THIIIIIIIS-"

The purple laser that flew out of the Houndstone statue's mouth completely swallowed Penny's body whole. The ghost clones of the four team bosses she knocked unconscious disappeared the moment the blast hit her. The laser shot outward, destroying the boulders behind her like they were nothing. Penny screamed in agony. Her entire body was pushed back as though a giant wind had blown against her.

The laser slowly dimmed like a light and narrowed, shrinking in size until it became as thin as a needle- and faded away. The glasses-girl fell onto her knees. Her entire body was steaming, and her head was lowered.

Slowly, her armor began to crack like an egg, showing rainbow light, and slowly, the armor shattered completely. All of her Pokémon that she terra fused with appeared around her the moment her armor shattered, as though they teleported into existence. They were all unconscious and circled around her.

The statue of Houndstone slowly dug itself back into the ground until it was gone. Kai's shovel shined purple before turning into an orb- which floated down in front of Kai, who reverted back into his normal form as well. His invoker armor turned off as well- disappearing as Houndstone showed itself. The newly evolved dog ghost Pokémon wagged its tail and let its tongue out, clearly happy to see its trainer.

Kai took a step back instinctively. "Goodness- you look creepier than ever…" He said. "A-Anyway…can we keep what happened a secret with everyone else? I don't want Tinkaton, Quaquaval or Pawmot to kick my butt... Charcadet will just cry, and that'll make me feel bad... And honestly...I think Bombomdier would be...kind of proud...? actually? Now that I think of it? Anyway- tell no one. Deal?"

Houndstone barked, wagging its tail and panting.

"I'll…uh…take that as a yes…" Kai reached his hand over to Houndstone to pat him, and Houndstone nearly leapt for joy, causing Kai to take another step back and look away out of fear. Despite this, Kai's hand was still out, and Houndstone approached his trainer's trembling hand, pushing its head onto it. Kai turned his head back to the ghost type. Even though it had gotten bigger- it was still the same Pokémon that he had earlier... evolving Pokémon through using the second form of Flow was a little...unnerving.

Maybe he shouldn't force an evolution like that again, Kai thought. He turned his head to Eri. "Hey, Eri..." Kai said. "Will you..."

"I won't...say a word..." Eri said.

"Thanks!" Kai cried.

Penny began chuckling. Kai spun to her with a confused look.

"What're you laughing at?" Kai said. "What's so funny?"

"It's over..." She muttered. "It's...finally...over..." She said.

"Well, yeah," Kai said. "I beat you."

"And that's why I have the last laugh, Kai. In the end…even after all of this…" Penny said, "I had the last laugh."

Kai's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"There's something that I knew- something that you never could have known," Penny said. "The big boss... of Team Star... is me."

"What!?" Kai cried. "You're lying...!"

"No...! She's...telling the truth."

Kai spun his head upon hearing the real Atticus's voice. He along with the real Ortega, Mela and Giacomo approached, all covered in bruises- and had no invoker armor on. Standing behind them all were Aeon and Arven, along with Koraidon, who was resting beside them both. Even Clavell was there- standing and watching the entire thing.

"The only one... who would cheer us on and have the skill to beat all of us at once... is her." Mela said.

"She knew our weaknesses too..." Ortega said.

"She played all of us like a fiddle," Giacomo said.

"It...makes sense..." Eri moaned. "She did."

"Despite everything... I still...got...what I wanted," Penny said. "You...beat me, Kai. I tried my absolute hardest, but you beat me, the last remaining Team Star boss who hadn't lost to anyone. I've beaten the rest of the team star members... So, I was the only one left...With all of the Team Star members defeated... Team Star is finished."

"No….!" Kai cried, taking a step back. "NO…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

"Calm down," Ortega said, Kai's eyes widened.

"Huh!? Y-You want me to calm down!?" Kai cried, pointing at Penny. "Penny said it herself- Team star is finished..!"

"It's not finished," Atticus said. "We all know it, and our boss knows it."

"The only people that can 'take down' leaders of Team Star... are people outside of the team," Mela said. "Boss...No-...Penny." Mela said. "What's going on..? Please... you have to explain yourself."

Penny sighed deeply.

Author's note: Yes, the title is an Infamous 2 Reference. Also, here's a deleted scene that I thought was funny but wouldn't fit with the situation:

Penny and Eri stood face to face, preparing to fight.

"I'm going to tell you why Eevee is my favorite Pokémon," Penny said.

"Is it because they're cute?" Eri asked.

Penny flinched, widening her eyes and blinking for a bit,. "I-...yes." She said, clearly confused. "But…that's beside the point-"

"Eevee's a pretty cool Pokémon!" Kai cried. "Cute, too! I don't blame you."

"Yes, they are very cute," Penny said. "Anyway-"

"Yeah, I really wish there was a fighting type Eevee," Eri said.

"Can you imagine how sick that'd be?" Kai said. "A fighting type Eevee?"

"Yes-" Penny said, becoming more annoyed. "It would be very cool. Anyway, as I was sayi-"

"I'd definitely get an Eevee if there were a fighting type evolution," Eri said. "What would it look like, anyway?" Eri asked.

"I dunno," Kai said, "Maybe it'd be all muscular…red… and it'd look all angry!"

"Why would it look angry?" Eri asked.

Penny begins grumbling under her breath.

"I mean, why wouldn't it? I bet the first thing on its mind would be just 'VIOLENCE.'" Kai said.

"Why would an Eevee with muscles want to go on a rampage?" Eri asked.

Penny's angry look grew more ferocious. She began gritting her teeth.

"I dunno," Kai continued, "maybe it'd have a mindset of, 'I have muscles, and I must SMASH. I smash rocks and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum!' something like that."

"Wh-" Eri said. "That's not what an Eevee would do!"

"Why not? Think about it, it'd be so coo-"

"Can't you both be quiet for two seconds!?" Penny cried out loudly, quieting Eri and Kai. Penny sighed with frustration. "Goodness. I had something cool to say. Now I completely forgot about it. You know what? Forget it. Let's fight."