Interceptor's Wish

by Masterdude21

What started as a young man's search for his abducted mother spirals out of control. Soon, he is fighting a desperate war for survival against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. The enemy is everywhere and allies are far too few. With the entire region at stake, who can prevail when fate itself seems set against you? - Novelization of Pokemon Rejuvenation.

29. Tying up Loose Ends

AN: After the action-packed and climactic end of the last chapter, we're starting Chapter 8 with a more somber and emotional note. A cliffhanger to resolve and a chance for our heroes to pull themselves back together, recover and evaluate their options, before realizing that they really don't have any options at all.

Full disclosure: I'm not going to bust out the usual fighting prose for what little Pokemon battles Chapter 29 has. They're not the focus of this chapter and I've got to save the cool fighting scenes for the more…let's say plot-relevant fights that are going to take place soon.

~~~~~~~(0)~~~~~~~

---

Chapter 8 – Those we Lose

Loose Ends

~~~~~~~(I)~~~~~~~

---

The medic left and Neved eased himself back in his bed. Accustomed to pain though he was, the sensation of his arm now ending mere inches below his shoulder was…unsettling, to say the least. Even though a full day had passed since his defeat at the hands of William, he still expected the limb to be there when he moved.

They had amputated the torn end of his upper arm and wrapped it in bandages. They had cleaned the wound and reapplied new bandages every six hours. There was nothing else to do.

His leg…was a different matter. His joint had been completely smashed. Had he been a normal man in a normal life, he would never walk on that leg again.

The Xen Initiative did not offer a normal life. They had…options for him.

Neved had refused to accept those options. He had waited diligently for the moment his fate would come. When it did, it was only its suddenness and close proximity that startled him.

One second he had leaned over to retrieve a glass of water from his desk. The very next, Madame X stood at the end of his bed and the edge of her sword rested top his sternum, just on the unprotected muscles between his floating ribs and his xiphoid process.

"Madame," Neved gasped.

"Even for you, such a miserable defeat is unbecoming," their leader spoke. Her voice was flat and calm, devoid of judgement or emotion. She had made her decision long ago, it seemed. "This was your last chance."

"I accept whatever outcome comes next…" Neved said. "All I ask…is that you postpone it until after the retrieval of Melia and the death of William. I must see it. My soul cannot rest until I do."

"I would not concern not myself with my soul in your position. Their fate is out of your hands, now."

"Indeed. And yet, I feel like I cannot rest without having seen our victory. I will offer you my head the second we have attained it."

Her blade hovered above his sternum for another nerve-wracking, agonizing ten seconds before she slowly lifted it. "Your continued perseverance and loyalty after your failure are a rarity. Very well. I will permit you that last request."

Without another word, she spun on her heels. Her cape billowed behind her as she disappeared into the dark hallway.

Neved uttered a sigh of relief and laid his head down on his pillow again. He would see the dawn of a new world for his daughter…even if he himself would not be part of that world. That…was fine. He had consigned himself to a miserable fate the moment he pledged himself to the Madame. Knowing that his daughter would live, was all he needed.

It was all the motivation he needed.

But…if the moment came, and the chance allowed it…he would indulge himself in the settling of another grudge. And he would have his retribution. No matter the cost.

~~~~~~~(II)~~~~~~~

---

"Hey, Zetta!" Geara yelled as he strolled into the room. "One vodka. Straight. To celebrate another victory!"

"Victory?" Zetta said as pulled a bottle of vodka from the shelf. "Did I miss something?"

"Sure did!" Geara grinned as he hopped on one of the barstools. He slammed his fist against the counter and flashed his colleague a spiteful grin. "Kakori Village's all iced over! Word is, some lunatic attacked there and turned the entire place into a freaking winter's graveyard."

Ren raised his head from his elbows at that. Kakori Village…that was where the others had taken shelter, according to Nastasia's intelligence. They alternated between there and the Teila Resort, but whenever they had to do business with the rangers stationed on Terajuma, they did so from Kakori Village.

"No way," Zetta retorted. "We don't know of anyone else with a Legendary on this island and these weird guardian things would prevent that."

"It's true! Our forward recon confirmed it, our drones confirmed it as well. Lotsa casualties."

Ren held his tongue. Only a psycho could make a statement like that sound so gleeful…

Zetta shoved a glass of vodka his way from the sound of it. "Kakori Village is iced over, you say…one lunatic?"

"Yeah. Witnesses say she had some sort of special power. I dunno. Sounds like bullshit to me; I would have hopped down there to investigate that shit myself, but by the time I got there, she was already gone."

"A lunatic iced over all of Kakori, with the entire ranger department unable to stop her. And you…wanted to investigate that?" Zetta didn't even bother hiding his skepticism. "Seems counterproductive."

"Tch. I could've handled that bitch if it came down to it," Geara sneered.

Over at her usual spot, Nastasia paused her work just long enough to say, "She would have probably killed you without a thought."

"Hey!" Geara snapped.

Ren started laughing. It wasn't even that funny, but if this new life provided him with a chance to get under Geara's skin, then how could he refuse?

Geara's retort was as predictable as it was childish. "What the hell are you laughing it, asshole? That just means that ice bitch could have wrecked you as well!"

Ren turned around and glared at the punk. "The difference between you and I is that I don't pretend to be macho something as vain as reputation. You're a joke."

He half expected Geara to throw his glass to the ground and start some shit. He was half right. "Yeah? You'll eat those words, Ren. You fucking watch yourself."

"Oh, give it a rest, Geara," Zetta said, pouring him another shot of vodka. "You should just take that as motivation to get stronger, take it succeed on Valor Mountain. Surviving till next year…that's our goal."

"It's not a goal when it's guaranteed to happen," Geara svoffed. "Madelis sure isn't making it easy on us, though. All because she wants more favor with Madame X."

"It's definitely affecting our advantage, that's for sure," Zeta agreed. "She seriously thinks she's strong enough to handle William and the others alone? After the things he did to Neved?"

Ren closed his eyes. He'd been there when their soldiers brought in Neved's broken body. It was a sight he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days. Neved's face, as pale as snow. His knee, so thoroughly broken that it had been as if someone took his joint and inverted it. All of that muscle, sinews and complicated bones all torn up and smashed to bits would leave him crippled for life if they didn't find him some very, very powerful healing Pokemon or cutting-edge technology. And then his arm…

He'd gotten a very good close-up of that particular point of Will's handiwork too. Nastasia hadn't quite been able to order him out of the room in time. All dangling strips of meat, black spots of dried blood, raw, pulpy flesh and a piece of bone that looked like the bottom part of a smashed bottle. All sharp and irregular edges that didn't belong. It had been messy and violent and vicious. If they somehow found a way to graft some sort of prosthetic to his arm, they would have to…cut and slice away at the wound until it was smooth and clean. They'd have to grind down his shattered bone and peel away the muscle and…

God, he got sick just thinking about it. Before, the worst kind of injury Ren had seen in his life had been…well, the hole in Will's side, ironically enough.

How could anyone do that to another person? The Will he knew had been a good guy, if somewhat socially awkward at times. Always driven to do right by the people he cared about, always going above and beyond to protect people he'd known for a couple of days at most. From Melia through Goldenleaf Town.

For someone like that to just…rip apart another human being when they had him at their mercy, even if that person was his enemy…he couldn't imagine it.

It just seemed so needlessly cruel to him.

"There's a difference between confidence and stupidity," Nastasia agreed. "William has made it clear that he is willing to maim and kill. We should escalate our own responses in return."

"We've been trying to kill this guy from day one," Zetta said. He poured himself a couple of fingers of scotch. "He's a slippery bastard. I respect the hell out of Madelis for continuing to risk her neck without changing her behavior."

"Bah, you guys just don't have the stomach for doing what has to be done," Geara snapped.

"I cannot help but notice that you have done battle with him twice now, and yet he remains alive and in one piece," Nastasia pointed out calmly. "If your objective was to kill William, I do not think you did a good job."

"Well, I got a foolproof plan to handle that bastard next time we cross paths," Geara said. He downed his glass of vodka in one go and promptly started coughing and hacking. "Grah, bah…gonna…" he coughed again. "Gonna have Gengar pull his head off and make the girl watch or something like that. That'll break her spirit for real. No more resistance after that."

Nastasia made a little sound of disgust.

"Gnarly," Zetta said.

Furious, Ren twisted around and growled, "You talk a big game, Geara. Have you actually ever killed someone before? Or are you just all talk?"

Geara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You wanna find out?"

"Enough," Nastasia sighed, "I cannot concentrate with all this ruckus. Why won't you make yourself useful? I am certain there are more important things to do than boast."

Scoffing, Geara got to his feet and shoved the empty glass back at Zetta. "Whatever. We can't afford to lose anyway. I should head back to Mount Valor. Try interrogating the prisoners again."

With that, Geara stalked off. He made it sound like the next confrontation would be easy. Like he had already won, and just had to skip to the aftermath. Somehow, Ren had the sinking feeling that when Geara and Will met again, it would be anything but easy.

"Guess I should head back, too," Zetta said with a heavy sigh. "Probably won't be back until the mission is done, either." He moved to leave as well, but stopped at the door. "Yo, Ren."

"What?"

"You got anything you really believe in?"

Ren frowned. Where the hell did that come from? "That's a stupid question. Of course I do."

"Alright, alright," Zetta said. "Just keep that with you and use it as your drive. Everything you believe in will be challenged, and you got to fight for your life to uphold them."

Ren just stared at the man. Seriously, what the hell was that even supposed to mean? Was it a threat? Advice?

Zetta didn't bother explaining himself. He walked off like he'd just shared the meaning of life with his colleagues.

Ren watched him go. "What the hell was that about?"

But Nastasia did not answer him. She continued typing away at her laptop as she always did.

~~~~~~~(III)~~~~~~~

---

Kristiline Town

Melia saw a future that they might never get to have. She saw a thousand moments that might never come to pass, a whole life that they might never be. "Please…" She whispered, though darkness swirled in her tired eyes and her battered mind struggled to remain aware. "Wake up…please…"

But Will didn't wake up.

Throughout the frantic struggle to evacuate everyone from that cursed tower, he hadn't woken up. Slowly, his life bled from his body, and there was nothing they could do to stem it.

"Adam, switch with Aelita, we need to keep the pressure there!" Crawli yelled.

Adam dropped to his knees next to Aelita. He put his shoulder against her, put his hands over hers. Then, Aelita pulled away and Adam began applying pressure. His expression was twisted in anger and fury.

"Will, come on, open your eyes," Aelita begged, tears pouring down her cheeks as she wiped away the blood and the dirt from his face. "Can you hear me? Come on Will, stay with us! You gotta – you gotta stay with us!"

Her voice broke. Her shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes, her face scrunching up in pain.

Melia saw a friendship cut short, a sacrifice rendered meaningless and a future that suddenly seemed dark and foreboding. The sky had turned to the blackest night.

"Where's that damn medic!" Adam shouted.

"They're on their way, they need to gather the supplies they need to treat shock," Crawli explained. "Should be just a few minutes now! I need someone outside so they know which house we're in!"

"I'll go," Braixen said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "I…don't think there's anything else I can do, now."

Those minutes were the longest minutes of her life. And she was helpless to do anything but lie there. Weakened from a fight he had won for them. Exhausted from an insane goddess he had held back for them.

Useless. Because she hadn't been able to protect him.

Anger bubbled in her chest, vicious and hot, but it was nothing compared to the cold, frigid storm of fear. He needed her, Will needed her and she couldn't be there for him as he hurt, as he bled, as he lay dying -

She wanted to reach out and brush the hair from his face. She wanted to hold his wrists and tell him that the pain would pass and that the horror would subside. Somehow, in some way, she wanted to make him understand that everything would be alright, that they had all made it out alive and she couldn't, she couldn't because everything wouldn't be alright, and perhaps it would never be again.

Venam lay on the couch, quietly sobbing as she held her stomach. "I'm sorry," she'd pleaded, again and again. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

Valarie held her in her arms, her expression pale and grim. Melia saw it in her eyes, saw what Val thought, and the horror and sickness that realization brought with it was maddening.

"Wake up…" Melia whispered again. Her body staunchly refused to do anything than allow the barest gasps pass through her lips. "Don't leave me…"

They had taken her father. They had taken her past and her future. They couldn't take Will. They couldn't. They just couldn't.

Those minutes were the longest of her life. They stretched by and by until finally, Braixen barged inside and yelled that the doctors were there.

Things got blurry after that. At one point, Crawli sat down on the couch where they had placed her. He laid his hand on her shoulder as he watched the medics get to work. They hooked up an IV to his arm and, together with that man Kreiss, began the slow, agonizing work of extracting Angie's still-frozen spike from his chest.

Agonizing, because Will didn't scream. Because he didn't move. Because he gave no indication that he was still alive.

Melia stared. One of the doctors moved out of the way to strap an oxygen mask to Will's face. When he moved, Melia saw Kreiss take over the ice spear. It still gave off an aura of chilled air. Two-thirds of it were slick with blood and…little…pieces of…muscle or…perhaps lung or…

…there was so much blood. So much red.

They had all the gear and equipment and supplies they needed yet, with Angie's previous attack, they didn't have the people. Aelita, Adam and Saki tore the bedrooms apart to make one big improvised medical ward. They helped move the medical equipment there.

She felt so tired.

Adam spent the minutes pacing round the room. Aelita sat down in one of the chairs next to the table they'd put Will on. She buried her face in her hands. Val went around the room, offering people steaming hot tea.

Then…then came the grueling, arduous process of waiting. Waiting while the doctors did everything they could to keep Will alive. Waiting as they moved her and Venam to different beds to assess their injuries. Waiting as the doctors began doing damage-control resuscitation and began prepping transfusion toolkits and…

And there was so much red.

Melia's vision wavered. She believed it was Valarie who sat down next to her. Val placed a warm, reassuring hand on her cheek, told her something about bruised or broken ribs and hypothermia and how she should really be resting…

But how could she rest? How could anyone rest after what had happened?

Still, more blackness encroached upon her vision. When she closed her eyes, she could still see the redness clinging to the ice.

Then, there was no more red. There was only black.

~~~~~~~(IV)~~~~~~~

---

It wasn't the longest day of Aelita's life, but it was close. Far too close. Somewhere after the first few hours of frantic, manic struggles to get a hand on…the situation, Melia and Venam had both drifted off. After Adam stopped pacing, after Crawli and Valarie explained the entire situation to Kreiss and everything turned into background noise, Aelita felt the exhaustion slowly creeping up on her. Not so much physically – adrenaline dumps always led to a little crash where the body just crashed for a bit – but mentally.

It might have not been the longest day of her life, but it was the most terrifying. She didn't remember if she'd been there when her mother was murdered. She'd been right there when Angie drove an ice spike straight through her best friend's chest and out his back. She'd been right there when he…when he screamed and went down.

Aelita knew she would be seeing that in her dreams for years to come.

"So let me get this straight," Kreiss said once Crawli finished his briefing. "Team Xen is off the coast of Terajuma island and plans to invade if their ultimatum is not met?"

"That about sums it up, yeah," Braixen said.

"Right, and you all decided it was time to take on a tyrant during this time?"

"I know you're not yelling at us," Adam growled. "But it sure feels like it."

Kreiss was undaunted. "Yes, a proper scolding is just what you children need!"

Adam was up in his face in the time it took Aelita to blink. "We saved your life!" He snapped, bearing down on the old guy like he was about two seconds away from pulling his head from his torso. "We saved everyone from doing so and we almost lost our friend!"

"And in doing so you've plunged the town into even more danger," Kreiss replied evenly. "If anything was protecting them from total destruction, it was Angie's rule. And in the end, what do we have to show for it? Three teens on the brink of a frozen death. It is still up in the air whether or not any of them will survive their injuries, let alone the dubious probability of young Will escaping any long-term damage even if he survives."

"You son of a bitch," Adam said menacingly. "I should knock your teeth in for spouting bullshit!"

This time, it wasn't an idle threat. Adam's voice was low and dangerous. His body was tense and ready to spring into motion in a second's notice.

Braixen must have sensed the same thing Aelita did. "Adam, stop," she urged him.

Adam shot her a glare, before his eyes darted over to Val, Crawli and Aelita. All of them were staring.

With a heavy scoff, Adam stepped away from Kreiss and stomped off.

"it was all we could do," Crawli then said. "We've been alone this entire time. We did what we had to do because Angie was in the way of us stopping Team Xen."

Valarie wrapped her arms around her own chest and turned away as well. "It's always been just us…"

Aelita wasn't sure if adding her thoughts to the matter was of any use. She recognized her emotions were unsteady and all over the place. If she got angry at Kreiss as well, she might not be able to calm herself down again. No, better let cooler heads prevail.

Kreiss looked around and perhaps guessed the rest. Something in his features softened. "Forgive me, it seems I have spoken out of term. It is clear that you children have been thrown into an impossible situation with no hope from the outside world. You are not to blame for taking drastic measures."

The door to the improvised medical ward opened and Saki walked out, looking tired and glum. "Sup. Still got no change to report. Beeps be beepin', hearts be heartin' and everybody's still stable-ish."

"Good, that's good," Valarie said. "Grab some rest. I've got the next shift."

"Before you go, I wish to add that I had planned on returning to Neverwinter the moment I escaped that prison," Kreiss spoke up again. "But it has come to my attention that you all need me here. So, I shall stay and assist."

"Really?" Val said. Adam and Crawli looked equally surprised.

"Yes, really. It appears to me that you lot could use all the help you could get, not to mention…well, perhaps some guidance should the need arise." He coughed into his fist. "So, what is next?"

"Some of us will have to return to Angie's domain to find that Ocean Relic," Crawli said. "It should still be there somewhere."

Aelita straightened up. "I'll go!" She said. "Ever since Blacksteeple Castle, I've taken a back seat with everything. But I'm done resting! I've promised Will I'd be there for him. When he wakes up, he won't have to worry about a thing! We'll have taken care of everything!"

She reached up for her hair and quickly tied it back into her familiar ponytail. Since Will was down for the count, it only made sense for her to be up and at 'em, right?

Braixen, meanwhile, hopped down from her seat. "I'm going too! I just can't sit still anymore."

"Count me in," Adam nodded.

"Well, count me OUT," Saki said, tiredly rubbing her eyes. "I got stuff I gotta do. Team Xen's gonna attack soon and I gotta build my war machine."

"I'll keep watch, just in case…well, you know," Val said.

They knew. Their friends were at their most vulnerable right now. Even if Team Xen didn't smell the blood and attacked while they were at their most vulnerable, everybody had agreed that the vigil couldn't be broken.

They shouldn't be alone right now. It wouldn't be fair.

Together with Adam and Braixen, Aelita began heading back towards Angie's creepy murder-church. Just the silent walk alone was enough to make her feel all freaked out. Aelita couldn't imagine having to traverse the Isle of Angels while it was still part of Angie's domain. All those creepy maids and their creepy powers and their creepy Pokemon…she could handle Team Xen's people just fine. But these people? They were just inhuman enough for her to pick up on and it freaked her out.

"Guys, since nobody talked about it, I feel like I have to," Adam said as they entered the decrepit old church again. "Team Xen's gonna attack in a little bit over a week."

"We are aware, Adam," Braixen said gently.

"Will's one of, if not the strongest fighter we've got," Adam continued in that even, calm yet horribly calculating voice of his. "He's also got injuries that'll take months to recover from, if ever."

Aelia sucked in a breath. "Screw that," she snapped without even thinking about it. "I know what you're thinking. Screw that!"

"Aelita…" Braixen started, but Aelita wouldn't listen.

"No! Will's been through one horror after another and he's always bounced back! He's never given up on us and I'm not giving up on him now!"

"Nobody's giving up on anything," Adam calmly said. "What I meant was…we need to plan for attacking Team Xen without Will on our side."

Furious, Aelita opened her mouth to rebut him, but Adam simply held up a hand, as if bidding her to let him finish.

"I know," he said. "I know. I hate having to say this. But since nobody did, I have to. Shattered ribs. A torn lung. Severe blood loss, two cases of hypothermia and more ripped apart muscles than I care to think about. That Angie's attack didn't sever his spinal cord is a miracle in itself. People don't just bounce back from that. Not in a single month, anyway."

He was right. Aelita knew that he was right and that made her want to scream. It made her want to rage and tear this entire stupid church apart with her bare hands. "You don't know that," she said. "Maybe one of the cities here has another Audino or Chansey around, or…we can fly in more surgeons from overseas or – "

"Aelita," Braixen interrupted. "It would take more than an Audino to heal injuries like that. Pokemon are specialized in healing other Pokemon. It doesn't work like that with humans, not very well at least. And…you saw it with Houndoom, didn't you? When it's bad enough, it doesn't even work with other Pokemon. I'm sorry."

"It's hard, and it's cruel, and I freaking hate it, but we have to plan for Will's absence," Adam told her. "He's given his everything to give us this shot. We shouldn't waste it."

Will hadn't given his everything. He'd given everything he had left. Aelita felt like there was a big difference there. The bastards had already taken pretty much everything else, up and including every single memory of his previous life.

"It's not fair," she whispered.

"It's not fair," Adam agreed.

"It's really freaking unfair," Braixen agreed as well. "But it's what we have, so we have to work with it. For now, let's focus on getting that Ocean Relic, okay?"

The Ocean Relic. Right. Of course.

She'd promised him that when he woke up again, they would have taken care of all the Relics. She wasn't about to go back on that promise.

Somehow, taking Angie out of commission made this place feel…abandoned. Before, when they had hauled their butts through the tower to get to their friends, the entire tower had felt malevolent. Awake, alive, and very unwelcome.

Now it was just…empty.

"Can you imagine the struggles the others had to go through?" Braixen said once they made it through the warp tile that was connected to the tower's apex. "This place was tough to climb even when it's cleared!"

"Braixen, we came through that warp tile…" Aelita said.

"Yeah and it knocked the wind outta me!" She protested. "I'm a delicate fox…"

Maybe…maybe Braixen was just sensitive to warping the same way Will was sensitive to teleporting?

"I have to give it to the fox, but this place is unsettling," Adam grumbled. "I don't like it."

"Yeah, but you don't like anything!" Braixen protested.

"That's not true," Adam retorted, glancing around at the dark statues that towered over them. "I like food."

"That's one thing we can agree on, finally!"

They headed through the final hallway into that horrible, frozen and blood-stained battlefield. The ground was still littered with shattered spikes of black, dozens of those frozen spears and thousands of shards of ice. She saw a clutter of spears still slick with frozen blood and little bits of gore. She saw the exact spot where Angie had struck her friend down.

It looked like two armies had thrown down instead of just four individuals. If only they had been there earlier…

But the place wasn't abandoned, oh no, that would be far too easy. Instead, Aelita saw the large, frozen prison where Kreiss had nailed Angie. A trio of maids was conspiring there, whispering conspiratorially.

"Lady Angie, is that all I need to do to free you?"

The tower shook as if responding.

"Very well. We, your most faithful servants, shall do your bidding"!

"Over there!" Aelita yelled. Together with Adam and Braixen, they started running towards these creeps. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!"

"It looks like there are still some of those lowlives hanging about, Cera," one of the maids whispered.

Angie shot one look at the frozen madwoman to guess the rest. "Were you communicating with Angie?!"

"But of course!" The head maid, Cera, exclaimed, crossing her arms sternly. "It is our duty to free our Lady as soon as possible! And she has given us every detail on how to do so!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Adam said. "Get them!"

Of course the maids wouldn't let them pass without a fight. Of course they just had to make things difficult with their own Pokemon. It was a useless effort regardless; each maid only had two Pokemon on them and that weirdo Cera didn't even fight alongside them.

The servant who fought to keep Aelita back didn't put much of a fight at all and Aelita beat her easily.

"You lot have done just about enough," the maid said, but Aelita had her Lucario sweep her aside. "Lady Angie will be freed!"

"Now just what was the point of that?!" Cera yelled, as if their fight was nothing more than an insult to her, as if her dear boss hadn't tried to murder Aelita's best friend. "We have no time to deal with the likes of you!"

Braixen put one furry leg atop the chest of the fallen maid. She aimed her wand straight at the woman's face. "Tell us where the Ocean Relic is! Or…or the creep gets it!"

"What? You mean that miserable blue stone?" Cera rolled her eyes with disgust. "That rock is locked up in the dungeon of the tower." Her eyes widened and then, the stupid woman grinned. And that was really freaking creepy. "And it just so happens that I have the key!"

"Give it here, Cera!" Aelita said through clenched teeth.

"Just try and take it from me then~!" Cera sang.

Aelita moved before the stupid maid even finished her sentence. She flung herself at the woman, intent on beating her senseless –

But the freaking maid freaking teleported out of there and Aelita stumbled through empty air. She came to an awkward, slippery stop just feet away from Angie's frozen tomb. Aelita shot the evil lunatic a glare, then sighed and turned to the others. The other two maids had teleported with her. Somehow. "Ugh…what do we do now? She's made off with the key…"

"…Dunno," Adam said after a few moments. "This is kind of bad. Guess we should head back now."

"Yeah," Braixen agreed with a weary sigh.

That was when the fourth person spoke up. "Orrrr, I could just tell you exactly what they were talking about?"

The girl stepped out from behind one of the statue's. It was that gray-haired girl. "Aren't you the girl who helped us back on Kristiline?" Aelita said, forgetting about her anger and frustration. "What the heck are you doing here?"

Reina, that was it. Reina!

"I mean, it's not like it was hard," Reina casually said. "This place was left completely unattended! As for what I'm doin' here…See, I like exploring ancient ruins and stuff like that. Pokemon mythology is like, my thing! So when I was eavesdropping – Er, I mean, when I was informed that a portal an entirely different dimension was up in that church…I decided to see it for myself! And man, this place is like a freaking ancient battleground!"

"Uh, okay, I guess?" Aelita said, too dumbstruck to say anything else.

"Well?" Braixen urged the girl. "What did the servants say then?"

"Oh, they were talking to Angie about something called the "Earth's Heart". She told Cera that she had to go deep underground some mountain on Floria Island to find it. The only mountain on that island is…Carotos, right?"

Carotos! "Oh no…" Aelita muttered. Nobody had entered Carotos since her father sacrificed his life there. As far as she knew, it was still a collapsed mess of lava, rocks and destroyed equipment.

"So if you wanna find them then you better high tail it off to Carotos!" Reina continued, blissfully unaware of Aelita's inner turmoil.

Aelita turned to regard her friends. "We gotta get back to Kristiline right now!" She shouted.

"Wait!" Reina called out before they could leave. "Before you guys go! Have you goys heard of a trainer called "Ren"?"

Ren.

Uh-oh. "Actually…we have…" Aelita started.

"Oh!" Reina said. "So he's still alive and kickin' then? Good! I'm his sister, by the way!"

His…his sister?

"Eh…" Aelita said, looking back and forth between Adam and Reina. The big man was hewn from stone again. Not a single hint of what she ought to do, here. "Um…about Ren – "

"…is he dead?" Reina asked, alarmed.

"No, no!" Aelita quickly said. "It's just that – "

"Then I don't wanna hear anymore! I'll find him on my own soon! Buuut thanks for letting me know he's okay. You guys go and do your thing."

"R-Right, let's go guys!"

They started running.

~~~~~~~(V)~~~~~~~

---

His body was broken but he had been there before. When he drifted off, he had been cold, but he wasn't cold now. It took him several minutes of slowly drifting back to the surface level of consciousness before he realized that he felt warm. Warm, fuzzy, broken yet whole. His body was numb and distant, like every limb was a mile away.

Everything felt heavy and fuzzy, Someone must have draped a carpet across his muscles, stuck cotton wads inside of his brain. It took him the longest time to get anything useful out of what his senses told him.

Something buzzed. It could have been inside of his head. Vaguely, he was aware of a distant beeping noise. Hopefully, that wasn't inside of his head.

His eyes could barely make out the shapes around him. A chair, someone seated on it, a window, the faint shimmer of moonlight shining through a crack in the window.

It took him the longest time to notice that it wasn't just his slack muscles that prevented him from moving. Vaguely, he took note of things like ropes attached to his limbs, of something soft and clam resting atop his mouth, but it didn't matter.

It didn't matter because he was alive, right? He couldn't take note of how fuzzy and warm he felt if he was dead, right?

He had almost drifted off again when he noticed that he wasn't alone. It was only because the figure in the seat stirred and then leaned forwards that he recognized her.

"There you are," Crescent whispered, her voice quiet and tight. Those crimson eyes of hers seemed to shimmer ever so subtly in the moonlight. "Hello, Will."

The beeping in the background changed in cadence as he sucked in a breath. It tasted like metal and plastic. He fought his way out of the fuzziness and sleep that threatened to take him.

Not now, he thought dazedly. Not now.

He remembered being alone in the darkness with Crescent before, remembered seeing those blood-red eyes looming at him from the darkness when he hadn't been able to move before.

"I do not have the words to adequately describe how furious I am with you right now. It is all the better that you cannot speak right now, if that means my words might get through to you this time."

He…he couldn't talk?

His throat felt slack and weird. He couldn't get more than a choked whisper out.

Oh. So he couldn't. Strange.

A lock of her raven hair fell in front of her face as she said, "By now, you will have probably realized the folly of your actions. I really hate seeing you like this, Will. What was the point, fighting like that? Still? It could have gotten you killed." She paused. "It did get you killed. Almost. It will take you a long time to even begin to recover from this."

Of course it wouldn't. He only had a week or so until the enemy attacked. Didn't she know that?

Crescent leaned back in her seat again. "Since you have failed to heed my warnings, perhaps you will fare better in the future if I offer you a word of advice. You have to learn to use your Pokemon. Not just command them."

Then, his vision wavered. Sluggishly, he blinked his eyes until the blurriness disappeared, but Crescent was gone. His window had creaked open somewhat and…

…and something loomed at him from across his chest…

It looked like Tapu Koko, but Will couldn't make out the shape of its body very well. He heard something like a feminine voice laughing, saw a vague hue of pink light and then drifted off again…

Nothing more foul more disgusting more abhorrent YOU WRETCHED INFIDELS is that what you think embrace the truth that cannot happen this will be your final stand wherever you are keep up hope I'll find my way on the ship after all of you are safe you guys are great but I'm out of time –

It was the sunlight streaking through the window that woke him from the maddening, feverish trail that the voices and the images tore through his mind. Consciousness was a bit of an overstatement, however. Slowly, the stunning, numbing effects of his Angie-induced coma started to wear off. More and more of the room came into his view; sunlight streaking through the window, a white ceiling and a deep brown floor, all kinds of colors came to him with a clarity that he hadn't expected.

He felt…fine. Great, actually.

He groped the wound at his chest and didn't feel Angie's spear anymore. He felt a thick, tight layer of bandages wrapped around his torso where the large, gaping wound would be. Another bandage went over his right arm, keeping an IV in place.

It was wrong, all wrong, he shouldn't be feeling this good, this steady. Angie had torn him apart, broken his body and…and…

God, he felt sick and nauseous just thinking about that. The coppery taste in his mouth didn't help matters either. He cleared his throat, which felt hoarse and caked with dried blood.

But…breathing didn't hurt. Moving didn't hurt.

That didn't make much sense. How much time had passed?

A quick look through the room confirmed that Melia and Venam were still down for the count. Hypothermia and exhaustion had been the death of many people before, but recovering from that killer-combo wouldn't take more than a few days.

And…it couldn't have been more than a few days because the ultimatum would have rolled by and Team Xen would have torn them all apart.

Around a few days, then.

Slowly, he swung his legs over the bed and started experimenting. He tightened and then relaxed his muscles, stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, then began poking at his ribs. At one point, someone had unclothed him and stuck him in a hospital gown with its chest section left bare. He hoped Crawli had gotten some doctors to do that, otherwise the next morning coffee would be very awkward.

He also found a few strange white, rubbery things attached to his chest at various points. But…no pain. No burning.

Either Crawli had done a bang-up job supergluing his wound shut or Crescent had worked her magic. Whatever the reason was, he didn't care. All that mattered was that he could move, which meant he could fight.

Slowly, he began pulling his thoughts together. He would concern himself with his physical injuries later. Right now, they had defeated Angie, which meant her cursed ice would probably disappear. That, or Kreiss would make it disappear. People would notice.

Team Xen would notice.

They had all three Relics. They could start attacking Mount Valor any day. Team Xen would consider that a threat and act accordingly. They needed to plan their assault while planning their defense. The same went for the enemy.

Both parties were on a clock.

It would be a chaotic mess.

Will spotted heartrate monitors and other fancy medical equipment, but no cables attached to them. That explained the rubber electrodes on his chest, then.

He recalled with vivid clarity how easily Angie's spear had smashed through his ribs and cleaved through all the soft tissue inside of his chest. It wouldn't have surprised him if it had also left him with a perforated lung. People didn't usually bounce back from injuries like those, did they?

Curiosity got the better of him. He started peeling back the bandages, expecting them to pull at the edges of his wound and cause pain and discomfort and bleeding, but that didn't happen. His skin remained intact and he didn't feel anything resembling a wound. When he'd caught that piece of shrapnel in the forest, it had taken him weeks before he could sleep comfortably on his side again.

Finally, he managed to undo the wraps around his torso and looked. A discolored reddish line about the width of a finger ran from his sternum down towards his stomach, stopping just an inch above his navel. The scar wasn't as pronounced or big as he had feared, but it was still a bit ropey and longer than he had expected.

Feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden, Will pulled the final bandages away and then shoved his shirt down again. "Enough sleeping," he muttered to himself. He gripped the IV - "I'm coming, Amber." – and carefully began prying at the drip. It looked like a clean insertion, so it must have been doctors who had put him back together. A part of him wanted nothing more than to rip the entire thing out, but he'd imagine Aelita would kick his ass if she found out he did that.

Instead, he shut the drip off at the roller clamp and redid the tape. He found his clothes soon enough – someone had washed and folded them and neatly placed them on the chair next to his bed – and smiled when he saw that they weren't actually his old clothes but a whole new set almost identical to his old. A black shirt with white stripes and a long-sleeved dark green jacket that reached below his hips, as well as a set of dark-brown trousers that inexplicably ended in black. He spotted a new pair of sneakers, too. The old ones probably still had some bits of frozen blood on them.

Silently, he got dressed.

"Will?" Melia's voice softly drifted to him from across the room.

He must not have been as silent as he thought; He looked over at Melia's bed and saw that her eyes had fluttered open. She looked at him with a slight frown, as if not quite sure what she was looking at.

"Hey."

"How…how are you…you can't be up yet!" Alarm crept into her voice. "What are you doing? How are you getting up? Stop that!"

"Easy, easy," Will said hastily. "It's okay. One of Tapu Koko's buddies paid me a visit. I think. It must have healed the wound in my chest."

"It…did? But…how…"

"That's not important. How are you feeling?" Will asked, stretching his back until he heard a couple of satisfying little pops. "How's Venam?"

To his surprise, Melia didn't respond. When he looked over at her, she was staring at her lap. Her brows were furrowed, as if she struggled to recall something, but her entire demeanor was tense and stiff. "How am I feeling?" She muttered, still refusing to meet his gaze.

"Last I saw, Angie flung you across the room. That's uh…not good for you, I heard."

Melia just said nothing, and Will was starting to suspect that all was not right in the world. "Melia?"

"I'm angry with you."

That came from the left field so heavily that Will thought for a moment he'd misheard her. "What?"

Melia's fingers curled around her blanket. She still didn't look at him. "I said I'm angry. You always do this."

"I think this is a first," Will said, but then Melia's head whipped around the look of genuine anger shook him.

"It was almost the last." She spoke quietly, but the quaver in her voice suggested that he really shouldn't confuse that with calmness. "Do you have any idea what we went through? The kind of terror we felt?"

Will sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I don't know what…what you went through when Angie did what she did, but – "

"It's not that!" Melia snapped. Over in the other bed, Venam stirred, but she didn't wake. "You still don't get it," she continued and the fierceness of her glare evened out the softness of her voice. "That is precisely why I'm so angry. You could have died, Will! Angie nearly killed you!"

"But I didn't – " Will said, trying to present Melia with a calm and rational front and apparently, that was the wrong decision because she shoved herself up higher in her bed and tore her gaze away.

"We thought you were dead. I thought you were dead," Melia continued after a deep breath. "Do you have any idea what that was like? When I came to – when I saw you…" She stopped and looked at him again. Tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes, now. "When I saw that Angie had…had hurt you like that, I thought that you hadn't made it. I thought…I…it happened right in front of me and I thought everything was lost!"

Will sighed heavily. "Things wouldn't have been lost, Melia. Even if…even if I didn't pull through, you…" he cleared his throat a bit awkwardly. "You would still have the others. You would still have stopped – "

"It's not about Team Xen!" Melia snapped and it wasn't the anger but the frustration and the desperation in her voice that stopped him cold. "You still don't get it? We thought we'd lost you. I thought I'd lost you. And…I couldn't think straight. None of us could. Every waking hour the past days was like that, thinking that…that woman had ripped you from my – from our lives. And that hurt. So. Much."

"Okay…" Will said. "Okay...I just…don't see how I could have…" he struggled with the words for a moment, because it was important that he understood. "Done things differently. I didn't want that to happen."

Again, Venam stirred in her sleep and again, both of them remained silent for a minute, waiting for her to stop moving again.

"It's not that," Melia continued on a quieter note, but her eyes were still furious and unyielding. "It's like…like…I'm angry because it's like you do not seem to care about yourself. It's as if somehow, you think that your own life is less important than ours. You keep things to yourself that clearly hurt you, you never seem to care about the things that happen to you, you…you nearly died a horrible, cruel death, and what was the first thing you asked when you woke up?"

"I…"

"Well?" Melia urged.

"I asked how you were feeling," Will said. The way Melia's eyes were boring holes into him made him squirm a bit. The worst thing was, he couldn't deny what she said. It was the truth, wasn't it? He didn't want to die, he never had, but…he couldn't remember worrying about something other than his loved ones or his Pokemon whenever things got serious.

"It's like you simply don't care about yourself," Melia said, softly shaking her head. "Well, we do! If you had died, it would have broken us. I…I really need you to get that, Will."

She was right. He…hadn't exactly given much priority to his own continued survival. Knowing how Melia felt, he felt like an idiot for saying what he'd said. Grief and loss had nearly torn him to pieces over the past weeks. If Angie's final "screw you" really had killed him, then…

What if everybody wakes up tomorrow and you're gone? He recalled Nim demanding of him.

God, what would that have done to Aelita? And Adam…he remembered, quite clearly, hearing Adam's voice above all the others. He'd never heard the man raise his voice before in his life. And Venam…she'd looked inconsolable. Braixen and Val…they must have been terrified.

He hesitated, then got up, sitting down in the chair next to her. "Okay," he said. "Okay. I think I understand."

Melia looked at him unhappily. "Do you? Because Venam's spent the last three days thinking that she got you killed. She barely talked to me. She barely talked to anyone. I…I don't even know how the others are dealing." There was something urgent in her eyes, something pleading.

Will thought back to those final moments before everything went dark. The desperation in Adam's voice. The terror in Val's eyes. The pained denial in Aelita's demeanor as she pleaded him to hang in, to not die, to…to…

She'd cried. God, she'd cried for him and he hadn't even stopped to think about that. They must have felt like he felt, when he thought Melia had died. When Madame X had murdered his mother. "I never meant…I never meant to hurt anyone."

"I know," Melia sighed, and she rested her head on her pillow again. She closed her eyes for a moment. A single, unshed tear clung to her eyelashes, and Will felt the strange urge to brush it away.

"Promise me something," Melia suddenly said.

"Yeah?"

"Please just talk to us more, please…please at least just - just realize that we love you, and that your life has just as much meaning as ours does…and how much it would hurt if…if we lost you."

Only you blame you.

He still had a long way to go.

Will held out his hand to her. "I promise."

Melia stared at him. "Really?" She muttered, as if she'd expected him to start objecting or something.

Objecting. To her. He wasn't sure he even knew how to do that. "Yes ma'am," he said, and he gave Melia a little smile to reassure her.

Instead of taking his hand, Melia shoved herself upright again and threw her arms around his shoulders, much to his surprise. She clung to him like she had back in Angie's tower, tucking her head into the crook of his neck and testing there for a while. She felt small, vulnerable and so very warm.

Slowly, Will rested his cheek against the crown of her head and he brought his arms up to hug her back. She smelled like shampoo. It was something sweet, something he couldn't place.

"I can't lose you," she whispered into his neck, her breath hot against the pulse of his throat. "Not you."

Then he'd better get to work. Make sure she wouldn't. That none of them would have to lose anyone again. "I'll be more careful," he whispered back. "I'll drop by the others and then start planning."

"You'll still visit, right?" She asked.

Will smiled. "Of course."

It was time to put things together. But first, he had to set something right.

Instead of heading to the exit, he stopped by Venma's bed. She was still sleeping, but she didn't look good. Even sleeping Venam looked looked restless to him. Haggard. A bit of a mess, though he probably wasn't one to judge about that.

"What are you doing?" Melia asked.

"Fixing something." He eased himself down on his knees and then placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Venam. You up?"

She didn't wake immediately. She moaned softly in her sleep and she pulled her arm away. Again, Will shook her and her eyes finally cracked open and she gasped. Her eyes flitted around the room, before zeroing in on him. "What?" She croaked.

"Venam," he said again, more intently.

Her eyes widened and she gasped, shooting up in bed and then clutching her ribs in pain. "Fuck, I'm dreaming…you're not…you can't – "

"It's me," he told her gently. He nudged her shoulder but she flinched away from him, her eyes big and fearful.

"You're not real," she stammered. "No, no no no, fuck, I'm…I'm hallucinating, this shit is so fucked…"

Her fearful reaction plucked at his heartstrings. He took her wrist between his hands and said, "I could call you Veronica if you wanted. Don't think you call yourself that in your own mind, right?"

She tore her wrist free but did not rise to the provocation of her real name. If anything, she looked even more fearful now - not to mention, guilty. "Will? You…you can't be here…you're…" she swallowed nervously and she inched away so far away from him that he feared she would roll right out of her bed. "You're dying," she whispered hoarsely and her words sent a wave of remorse through his stomach. "I got you killed, I…I…"

"Hey, come on," Will said, leaning towards her and opting to offer her his arm instead, "Of course you didn't. I'm right here."

"How…how are you here after…after what happened to you when you had to pull my stupid ass out of the fire," Venam demanded, her voice thick with remorse and pain. "It's because of me that you got hit, got so fucked up and – "

"Venam," Will interrupted, stricken. He couldn't take hearing those words for another second. "Look at me. Here. Don't say that was your fault."

"But it was!" Venam said, desperation lacing her words. "I told you to make her angry, I couldn't get my shit together and get the fuck out, so you had to go in and fix shit and – and I…I thought I got you killed!"

If he heard her say that one more time, he was gonna lose it. He forcefully took both of Venam's wrists and knelt down next to the bed, putting his eyes at the same height as hers. "Venam, that psycho lunatic tried to kill me before we even started the fight. No, look at me."

She did. She stared at him with doubt and disbelief.

A strange pain brewed up in his chest, because although Venam was far from perfect, she was a friend, a good friend. She'd fought by his side, tried to understand when he felt apart and she stood by their side even when she had to know deep down that the odds of surviving the coming weeks weren't exactly great. Venam had been there for him when Ren had tried to take from him and that was all the difference in the world.

"Angie didn't kill me. Nothing can kill me," Will decided on, deciding that he needed to smack down that frantic guilt from hers then and there. if that meant showing absolute confidence and control of the situation, then so be it. "It was a warzone, and people get hurt. It could have been anyone. Melia was down for the count, too. So was Crawli. Angie just chose that moment to get her last laugh."

"Her last…laugh…" Venam repeated numbly. "I don't get it. How you're here, joking –h-h- how you're alive, how…" she blinked a few times and then looked away. "How you're not mad at me…" she all but whispered.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Will asked, puzzled.

Her hands tightened into fists and she pulled her blanket up against her chest. "Because you keep getting hurt…because of stupid shit that happens and stupid shit I do. I thought I was so fucking smart but I was such a fucking idiot and you paid the price. You got no memories, the bastards killed your mom and keep trying to fucking kill you and then, this fucking monster impaled you and…" Her voice nearly broke. "And…"

"And didn't it occur to you that the common denominator is people being assholes and not you?" Will said, tugging on her wrists. "Can you name even one person who blamed you?"

"Me!" She fiercely said. "I fucking blame me!"

"Stop that, then. I'm fine. We're all fine! We won." He let those words hang in the air for a moment. "It's not. Your. Fault."

It was strange how he was unable to reach that same conclusion himself. Helping Venam shake off that guilt and self-loathing felt so natural, and yet…

Only you blame you.

How was he unable to do the same thing for himself?

"I don't blame you," Melia spoke up. "I saw what happened. So did the others. I think they tried to tell you that. Nobody blames you."

"I…you guys…" Venam murmured, tearing up. She sniffled and then pulled the blanket up to her face, squinting her eyes shut. "Do you mean it?"

"You can be such an idiot sometimes," Melia said with a tired smile. "Of course we mean it!"

"Remember what I told you back at your home?" WIll asked.

Venam squirmed in her bed. "Yeah, that was when…uh…we were arguing about…stuff. About Lenny and Luca being assholes. And…"

"I made a promise, right?"

Her eyes darted towards him again. "I guess you did. You said…you said, you were still there. And that that wouldn't change." There was a pregnant pause, then…"Fuck!" Venam said, jerking up in her bed. "You're right. Was that a promise? Really?"

Melia had pulled her hands in front of her face to stifle her laughter. Will found it hard to keep a smile from his face as well. "Yeah. Rest up you two. We'll have the plan ready to go when you're rested."

Venam looked confused as all hell, but Melia beamed at him and that made his heart swell.

He left the two girls to their own devices and quietly opened the door -

Only to come face to face with a very surprised Saki. She quickly jerked her head away from the door and stared at him blankly.

Quietly, he pulled the door shut behind him and shot Saki a questioning look. Had she been - ?

Saki backed away. "Guys, Will's doing the thing!" She hurriedly yelled. "He's doing the thing Aelita and Melia said he would do!"

"Saki, what the hell are you yelling about? You're going to wake the girls up!" Adam's rough voice came from right around the corner.

"Nah, bro's doing the thing! He's doing it right now!"

Will brushed past the shaken engineer and stepped into the living room. In doing so he passed by a very shaken Farha who came running when she heard Saki's voice. "Will? But you're supposed to be healing from your wounds!"

Will gave her a wink and then walked straight into the living room, rounding the corner of some sort of decorative screen. There, Crawli, Adam, Kreiss and Aelita were in the middle of a conversation, though it died down the very second Crawli glanced up and saw that they had a visitor.

His jaw fell open and his eyes widened. He all but leapt from his seat, shouting, "Wait, WHAT?"

"Uh, is it just me, or is Will walking around with the greatest of ease?" Adam asked, his eyes narrowing into a suspicious glower. Braixen then poked her head from around the corner of Aelita's couch.

"Oh gosh, Will is walking. How is Will walking?"

"Will! What are you doing!" Aelita exclaimed, her eyes wide with naked concern. She went from seated on her couch to up in Will's face in the time it took him to blink. "Why are you walking around? How are you walking around! Who undid your IV?! Did you do that yourself? You're going to be busting all those stitches!"

"This level of physical exertion is very counterproductive to your recovery, young man!" Kreiss said, scowling. "We labored for many hours to put your body back together again."

"Guys, I'm fine," Will said. "Look – "

"Will, you are not fine!" Adam interrupted. He got to his feet and strode towards him like he was about to beat him back into that coma he just woke up from. "After Kreiss pulled that frozen spear from your body, you had a hole in your body I could have put my fist through. You could see the table through your chest."

"Aahh, it was so gnarly!" Braixen cried out, pulling her ears in front of her eyes.

That Saki didn't start teasing Adam about his choice of words helped hammer home how shaken they all still were.

Aelita put her hands on him and started feeling around his chest. "Braixen, I think you need to go get that doctor again! Will, what were you thinking! You…you i-idiot! I…huh…?" She pulled her hands back and stared with surprise at how clean they were. "There's no blood…"

"Guys, I don't see any blood on the floor," Braixen pointed out. "That's weird, I don't smell any fresh blood either."

"You just groped all around his wounds. Unless Will learned the secret to feeling no pain, I think something isn't right here," Crawli said.

Wordlessly, Will pulled his shirt up to reveal the scar.

That got their attention alright. Adam's scowl eased up and he crossed his arms, looking at his chest with mild confusion. "Huh. That's weird."

Aelita cocked a slender eyebrow and then leaned in, staring at the angry red line with shock. Braixen, meanwhile, took one look at this scar, winced and then looked away with a look of heavy discomfort.

Okay. He wasn't ready for that one, and it stung.

"My word, that is one well-healed wound," Kreiss remarked. "How is that possible?"

"No idea," Adam said. "I got nothing."

"I'm not complaining!" Aelita said with a big grin. "Will!" And she threw herself at him for a hug that really put to test just how well his ribs had truly healed. "I can't believe you're fine again! You have no idea how worried you made us!"

"I uh, think I might," Will muttered.

"Wait a minute, what's that in Will's hair?" Crawli said. Aelita let him go just long enough for the Bug-type leader to pull a pink petal of sorts from around the back of his head. "It's…a scale? Wait…Tapu Lele."

"Gesundheit," Saki told him.

"The island guardian?" Adam asked.

"When I was researching Tapu Koko, I heard that Tapu Lele has the ability to shed scales that have healing properties. A normal Pokemon would never have been able to fix such extensive injuries, but the island guardians are Legendary Pokemon. They pack an enormous amount of energy, and they don't obey the rules of physics quite the same as normal Pokemon. I guess it only makes sense they could manage."

"That does explain how such a grievous injury could heal in such a short time," Kreiss agreed. "You are fortunate to walk away with just a scar, young man! And quite a charming one at that!"

"But…" Aelita glanced over at the door. "It looks like only Will was healed though. Why only him?"

Crawli made a face. "Tapu Lele is known for its cruelty. It probably had no interest in Melia or Venam and thus only healed Will. Perhaps it did not wish to waste its energy or talents on the less injured?"

"Rude," Adam said. "At least they're not in critical condition anymore."

"I just talked to them, I think they're going to be fine," Will agreed.

"But this is good!" Crawli exclaimed and he clasped his shoulder heartily. "Will is back in action! We need him more than ever now!"

"The biggest war machine is back on our side again!" Saki whooped in agreement. "I knew this would happen."

"That's because you were just listening in at the door!" Braixen accused her.

"Speaking of which! Yes ma'am?" Saki demanded, giving Will a very questioning look. If he had any doubts that she'd been listening in on them, they were well and truly gone now. "Yes ma'am? God Will, can you be even more of a bottom?"

"Saki!" Braixen hissed with dismay. Kreiss pressed his palms against his face as if he could somehow hide behind them and Adam leapt to his feet with murderous intent.

"Saki what the hell!"

"A…a what?" Will stammered. Judging by the way his friends reacted, it must have been something bad, but he couldn't for the life of him think of what that could be. He looked at Aelita for wisdom and guidance, but she simply shrugged in confusion as well. "Wait. why– "

"There is nothing wrong with being comfortable with your position during intimacy, young man," Kreiss told him with sagely intent. "Do not let the anarchist tell you otherwise."

"Wait, intimacy?" Aelita asked. She rounded on Will. "But you were sleeping! …Weren't you?" She then hesitantly asked.

What was happening?

"Saki, now you've gotten Aelita confused as well!" Braixen snapped. "For shame!"

Saki's grin told Will that she knew no shame.

Adam's hand snatched through empty air as Saki pivoted out of his reach with practiced ease. "Aww yus! Auntie Saki's in the house! Now I know what to get you as a got-well gift! Let this anarchist get you up to speed Will!"

"Saki, seriously?" Adam hissed.

"Although I think the right phrase here is being a sub so that – "

"We are not having this conversation right now!" Crawli exclaimed.

Oh. Oh. It was another one of those jokes. It was as if Saki was deathly allergic to serious moments or something.

Shaking his head, Will said, "We had to talk about some things. Clear the air with Venam too."

Hearing Venam's name, the mood instantly grew dour and serious again.

"Yeah, poor thing was devastated," Braixen muttered. She climbed back on one of the couches again. "She was right next to you when…you know."

"You could have coughed once and the blood would have been all over her face," Adam said matter-of-factly.

Aelita shot him an angry look. "Adam, jeez!"

"No, seriously. She got a first-hand look and believed the whole mess was her fault. That kind of stuff sticks with you."

"Oh yes, it was a most harrowing sight, I must admit," Kreiss said. "To have a comrade struck down right in front of you…that leaves its marks."

"It was some hardcore shit, not gonna lie," Saki said solemnly. "Even I wouldn't want her to see that again."

"Well, it wasn't her fault," Aelita angrily muttered. "Angie flung that spike, not her."

Crawli said. "You're right, first of all. It wasn't her fault in any way, shape or form. But…she was the one who suggested we make Angie angry, and what happened? Angie got really angry and began throwing those ice spears everywhere – "

Ice spears…

Will saw, vividly, a trio of spears impaling Houndoom's chest and bursting from his back. "Houndoom!" He yelled, leaping from the couch. "Where are my Pokemon?" He snapped, frantically searching his pockets for the familiar, reassuring presence and weight of his friends. "Where are they?"

"Will calm down," Crawli urged him, and Will flicked his eyes over to him. "Take it easy. Of course we brought your Pokemon."

"No you don't get it, he was hurt, he was really hurt and he needs to go to the Pokecenter right now!"

He didn't miss the way Adam and Kreiss exchanged looks. He didn't miss the way Aelita suddenly tore her eyes off him and stared down at the ground. It spiked through him in a way nothing had since he woke up. He felt the panic creeping up on him and creeping into his spine and tried to stave it off.

It's been days, he thought again. It's been days and they don't know –

"He was hurt," Will said again. "Angie hurt him, he needs help."

Perhaps she heard the silent scream in his voice. Perhaps she saw the panic clawing its way up his throat. Whatever it was, Aelita spoke up in a firm tone, "Houndoom is still alive, Will. He's alive."

"Where is he now? How bad was he hurt? Did he – "

"There's no easy way to say this Will," Adam said. "Houndoom was hurt badly. Angie's attack damaged his spine. He can recover, but it's gonna need time and physical therapy, lots of it. He won't be fighting anymore."

Will felt the blood leaving his face. He brought a shaking hand to his mouth. Physical therapy. He…he couldn't even move on his own? He couldn't...he couldn't recover on his own anymore? Was his the next life ruined because he hadn't been strong enough to protect him?

"He's alive," he heard Crawli say. "And he's in good hands. My rangers know that Houndoom is part of the reason why we've pulled through. They'll take care of him like he's one of our own."

A dark knot of anger and grief and guilt pulsed in the back of his head. He took a deep breath and tried to present his friends with a front of reasonable calmness. "A-And the others?" He asked, hoping they wouldn't pick up on the choked note in his voice.

"Everyone else made it out okay," Aelita said. "We have your Pokemon over there, in that satchel on the table."

Breathe.

He's safe now. Amber is not.

Again, Will took the grief and the panic and choked them down to a more manageable size. He shoved them into their respective boxes.

Now that Houndoom was…out of commission, he had a vacant slot in his team once again. So he added Ralts to his roster, hoping that he would have enough time to train it and Axew before the assault on Mount Valor rolled around.

Aelita watched him closely. "Come, let's go for a walk outside. Get you some fresh air. There's some things we need to discuss, now that you're up."

"One moment!" Kreiss suddenly said, before beckoning Will over. "Young man, please accept this."

Kreiss held out his hand and showed a little piece of metal, a blue and red rod with sharpened spires sticking from its sides at an upwards angle.

"A…A Gym Badge?" Will asked.

"The Glacier Badge, indeed. I suppose you're confused?" Kreiss said with a tight smile. "I've been put in place recently and I underestimated the effort you put into Kristiline and I. If it weren't for you, I would probably be frozen over along with this town. I have nothing else to offer as thanks. Don't make trouble over this!" He said when he saw Will's expression darken. "If you want a fair fight for this later, then you'll just have to visit me at my estate in Neverwinter. Now go! The lady is waiting for you."

"Thank you," Will said, not sure what else to say. Again, he'd completely forgotten about the Gym Challenge.

"No. I believe I speak for everyone here when I say, thank you, Will," Kreiss said.

Aelita took him outside. Without the permanent layer of ice and snow coating the place, Kristiline Town actually seemed like a decent place to live. Lots of colorful trees, fancy houses and those giant shells like the one Saki had blown up before. The water looked nice, too. Had the place not still looked like a warzone, he would have loved to tour around.

"I'm sorry about Houndoom," Aelita started as she took him away from that house and towards the hills where, not too long ago, he'd wreaked havoc trying to break through Angie's forces. "It's a heavy price to pay for a victory like this."

"I want to visit him, if…if that's possible," he replied. "I need to see him."

Aelita nodded thoughtfully. "That only makes sense; you'll want to make sure he'll be fine eventually with your own eyes. I think he's over in Kakori Village at the Ranger HQ right now. Like Crawli said, they're taking care of him there. It's the best place in Terajuma for him now."

"Yeah," Will said, anger and shame knotting deep within his chest. "At least we have the Ocean Relic now."

Aelita visibly winced.

"No...Aelita, don't tell me – "

"Okay, sooooo basically, that maid Cera ran off with the key to the Relic," Aelita quickly explained. "But that's not all, because she's trying to defrost Angie and obviously, that's really bad."

"You're saying we didn't beat Angie permanently? And we don't even have the Relic to show for it?" Will said.

"Okay, yeah, I know how that sounds, but! Thanks to Reina, we know exactly where she's going! Carotos Mountain!"

He felt like walking on a tightrope with overwhelming anger on one side and hysterical laughter on the other.

In and out.

Was that what Houndoom and he had nearly died for? A temporary victory and a clue to the Relic? That was the result of everybody nearly fighting themselves to death against a wrathful goddess who wasn't even the biggest threat?

In and out.

He felt Aelita's hands tugging gently on his arm. "I know it's ugly. I know it's not ideal, but…look, you and I are the most familiar with Carotos Mountain, right? I figured, we bring some help, track down those creeps, kick their butts and then claim the Ocean Relic as well as this ancient trinket they're looking for! Tying up loose ends and all that."

"Yeah, okay," Will said with a heavy sigh. "Back to Sheridan Village then? At least we can see the Eldest again."

"Yes!" Aelita said. "I know, right? Maybe, with her connections, she can even drum up some support for Terajuma! Help spread the word that we're about to get attacked. You never know, having to detour to Carotos again might be the best thing to happen to us!"

Her enthusiasm was as contagious as ever. Will gave her a tired smile. "It just might, yeah."

They walked around the town for another thirty minutes, quietly taking in the sights and the extent of the damage Angie's servants had done, before heading back to the house again.

"I was thinking about inviting one more fighter with us, just so we can muscle our way through whatever the world throws at us next," Aelita said. "Not enough to leave the others undefended. I wasn't sure who, though. Any recommendations?"

As much as he hated to think about it, they would have to do this one without Melia. She was still far too exhausted from the battle in Angie's tower and she didn't have the luxury of Tapu Lele healing her wounds. No, better for her to say and recover. She'd be safer here anyway.

Who else did he feel comfortable guarding his back in a fight?

No need for hesitation there. He already knew the answer.

"Adam, do you have a moment?" He asked not a minute later when Aelita and him entered the house again.

The big man glanced up at him. "Yeah bud. What's up?"

"We're going to Sheridan Village!" Aelita said. "To get that key to the Relic back."

"You feel like coming along?" Will asked.

"You know I got your back, Will," Adam simply said. "If I'm needed, I'm there."

"Thanks man," Will said, unable to keep from smiling at the ease with which Adam agreed to throw himself into the fire for them. "I really appreciate that."

"Don't sweat it. Never been to Sheridan either, so this will be a new experience for me."

Braixen popped up from right behind him. "Boo!" She said, clasping her furry hands around Adam's neck. "Did I getcha?"

"Sure," Adam said in a bored voice.

Will would have denied Braixen got him with a totally cool, sarcastic reply as well, but he was too busy calming his racing heart and turning a knee-jerk movement to his Poke Balls into a gesture to readjust his belt.

"I'm coming too!" Braixen then said. "I've sat around for far too long! This time, I'll make sure nobody gets hurt again!"

"Aw heck yeah!" Aelita exclaimed. "Adam and Braixen's comin' with us on a trip!"

"Like I said, if I'm needed, I'm here. Always."

"That's so cool!" Aelita said, practically glowing with reverence. "Alright, let's prep our stuff, say bye to everyone and head out to Sheridan!"

Most of the traffic in and out of Terajuma Island was still down, especially in the wake of Angie's rampage, which meant that even if they managed to get themselves a boat or something, getting all the way back to Sheridan Village would have taken them days. Luckily, all three of them had their own Pokemon to fly on, and those Pokemon weren't the types to take things easy. With Braixen nestled snugly behind Aelita on Staraptor, the two of them took the lead, soon followed by Adam on Aerodactyl and Will on Pidgeot.

A journey that could have taken them days went by in hours instead and soon, the clouds below them parted to reveal Sheridan Village in all of its beautiful, lush, green glory –

Why were there colored searchlights coming from the Sensei's home?

They circled around, spotting a cluster of people moving to and fro around the Sensei's old house. Will couldn't see what they were doing from that altitude, but it didn't look to him like they were training. Maybe it was some sort of remembrance event?

Pidgeot banked, making micro-adjustments with his muscles to effortlessly glide down towards the base of the hill. His claws made contact with the ground and he bounced once before coming to a steady, practiced halt. He tucked his wings in and craned his head around, obviously ill at ease with the blaring music that came from the top of the hill.

Maybe it was some sort of…remembrance party?

"What?" Aelita said, recalling Staraptor and taking a good look around at the various elderly who wandered by them with angry, fed-up expressions or hands clamped around their ears. "Dude, what is with this loud music? It's blaring! I can't even hear my own thoughts!"

Adam looked around. He didn't look impressed. "Uh, I thought Sheridan was supposed to be quiet?"

"This is horrible!" Braixen whined. "This is worse than Erick's parties at Axis High!"

"It is supposed to be a quiet place!" Aelita argued. "It sounds like it's coming from…" Her expression fell. "Guy's, we've gotta go check this out!"

They hurried up the steps on the hill, heading back to the Sensei's old home for the first time in months. There, at the entrance, they found Amanda of all people, staring glumly at the closed door while the people around her were, for the lack of a better description, partying.

She spotted them as they came up the stairs. "Oh, it's you, Will! And Keta's daughter! …and Adam! And a Fox!"

"My name is Braixen, thank you very much!" A winded and out-of-breath Fox snapped at the League Scout.

"Guys, I don't mean to alarm but there's a talking Braixen right there," Amanda said, pointing.

"We know," Adam replied curtly.

"Hey, what's going on here!" Aelita demanded. "What's with all this loud music?"

"Oh, that?" Amanda said, smiling. "It's the party the new Gym Leader is throwing."

The…the new Gym Leader? They had replaced Keta?

…of course they had. Being a Gym Leader was a very prestigious and important job. Important enough that Team Xen had deemed them priority targets. Life simply kept going.

But it didn't sit right.

"New Gym Leader?" Aelita exclaimed. "What are you talking about?!"

Amanda sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Oh boy, this is awkward," she said, wincing. "Where do I start? Keta's been missing for a few months now, and we haven't gotten any notice. And since we've been getting complaints about the inability to gain the Fighting-Type badge…we checked our records and Keta had no one listed as family to take their place! So we found a new candidate and enlisted him immediately! His name is Texen."

But…weren't Val and Saki and Adam also technically missing? They were Gym Leaders too, weren't they? The authorities knew about the attack on Akuwa Town, so they knew Val had to be missing. Had they tried to replace her, too?

"What the heck?! But…you acknowledged that I was his daughter," Aelita weakly said. "Why wasn't I notified about this?"

"We didn't know where you were!" Amanda protested. "And we couldn't contact you!"

Aelita tugged at her hair in frustration. "This…this can't be happening…" she muttered.

Will put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's scope things out. Meet this Texen. He'll understand."

"Um, so this is getting a bit awkward, so I'm gonna go," Amanda said hesitantly. "See ya later, Will!"

Aelita didn't bother waiting for Amanda to walk off. She stomped inside, held the door open long enough for the others to follow inside and then flung it shut with force.

The inside…Aelita's home…was a nightmare.

Dancing and yelling people everywhere. Loud, blaring music that vibrated the teeth and pushed and pulled at the eardrums. Freaking disco lights mounted everywhere that bathed the interior in a constantly-shifting landscape of blue, yellow and red, before splitting into half a dozen colors at once which then came together and somehow produced green, white and purple of all things.

To top it off, some guy had hung portraits of a random dude with an angry smile all over the place.

"My home…what is going on here!" Aelita yelled.

One of the girls saw them enter, scowled and put her drink down. She approached them with the air of someone about to take out the thrash. "Um, I'm gonna be real honest with you right now. You just came in with the most atrocious vibes and it's killing the mood. You should, like, leave and get that checked before coming in."

Will, unable to put the girl's words together in a way that made her sound coherent, could only watch as Aelita very slowly turned towards the girl like she was about to make a balloon animal out her entrails. "You're gonna be the one to check these vibes if you don't back off," she growled, her voice barely audible over the music.

Somehow, the girl got the message and backed all the way off.

Aelita looked at Will and he could see the violence her gaze promised. "Texen's gotta be around here somewhere," she said, still using that very calm, very controlled voice that suggested she was about three steps away from losing it. "I'm gonna find him and…" Silently, she shook her head.

…Keta's house had turned into such a freaking assault on the senses that the only reason Will didn't immediately put his back to the closest corner he could find was because someone else was already lining up to bother them again.

This was some weird guy in an ill-fitting suit who quickly skulked towards them. "Excuse me, do you people have some ID? You're not from around here are you? You from Axis High? Hmm? Student card? No? This is a private party, so I'm gonna have to ask you to leave!"

Aelita ignored him. She looked around, found something of interest and promptly walked off.

The weird guy moved as if reaching for her shoulder. "Hey - !"

Before the bouncer could finish that particular mistake, Adam stepped towards him. No, that wasn't quite right. Adam inserted himself into the weird guy's personal space and glared down at him, turning his entire body into a stone wall that was also shaped like a fist. His chest very nearly touched the bouncer's when he said, "Touch her and I will pull you inside out."

The bouncer, roughly twice as thin as Adam and looking like he hadn't even left his teens yet, paled.

"Which will be a mercy compared to what my associate will do to you," Adam added, shooting a pointed look at Will.

The bouncer swallowed, nodded, and then proved wiser than he looked when he simply backed away again and melted into the crowd.

"…do you think they got soda here?" Braixen asked casually.

"Yeah, probably," Adam replied.

"Cool."

With that, the two of them started mingling with the crowd which, to Will, was just another reminder that he was traveling with the two coolest people in all of Aevium.

With his friends all pursuing a different goal in Aelita's house, Will was free to wander around, feeling like a tourist who had gotten separated from his travel guide.

…it probably wasn't a good thing that Braixen was better at navigating parties than he was. He'd think about that later.

The people here were…different from the type of people he had gotten used to. Not the hopeless, depressed prisoners on Blacksteeple. Not the hardy, dedicated Rangers of Terajuma. One of them talked to him about his aura being sickening, another had something not-so-nice to say about his clothes and a third one asked him if he had ever attended any classes in Axis High with them last week. Between the pounding music, headache-inducing lighting and the constant excited shouting and yelling of the partygoers, Will began tuning things out.

He breathed. In and out, in and out.

He began walking, Continued to tune things out.

Within moments, he found the door Aelita had gone through and he followed her in. When he found her, Aelita had just found the man she was looking for. The room looked to be some sort of VIP lounge. Will took in its details and noted the big couch ahead, with a pair of young women flanking a teen with orange hair that swept upwards into the shape of horns, with long locks of hair on each side of his head.

The new Sensei, he presumed.

"Excuse me, are you Texen?" Aelita said.

"Omigosh, "excuse me"? One of the girls mocked her. "Didn't know we were staying at Hotel Richissme, Texen."

What?

"Crazy, right?" Texen said with a horribly smug smile. He waved dismissively at Aelita. "Listen, if you want an autograph you're gonna have to wait until the party's over."

Will glanced over at Aelita. She didn't even notice him; her expression was tense and her eyes were focused on the guy on the sofa. "Autograph? No, I don't want an autograph! I want you to stop the music and get serious! If you're going to be the new Sensei, then you're going to have to act like it!"

Texen ran his eyes across Aelita's body and grinned. "Hm…how about you sit down on my lap real quick and I'll think about it. We could have some fun, see where things go from there."

Will wasn't sure how to react to that one. It felt so surreal. He could close his eyes and still see Angie bearing down on him. This…this weird social thing was an obstacle he wasn't sure how to remove. He waited for the moment everybody dropped the charade and started trying to kill him and his friends. The instinct to just send out his Pokemon and clear the room to head off the inevitable Team Xen ambush was almost overwhelming.

But as long as they maintained the charade, so would he.

Aelita eyed the guy with a look of utmost disgust. "How about I drop kick you at mach-9 first?" she hissed. .

One of the girls leapt to her feet. "Hey! You're talking to Risa Raider's brother! You better watch your mouth!" She snapped.

…who?

Texen shot the girl a fuming look. "My sister has nothing to do with me, got it?" He said through clenched teeth.

The girl withered underneath his glare. "S-Sorry, Texen."

It wasn't a charade.

Snorting, Texen turned his eyes back to Aelita. "Listen, toots. I only became Gym Leader for the money, girls, and awesome parties. So unless you're interested in any of that you should just leave."

This was real.

…At the very least…Team Xen wouldn't have to worry about assassinating this guy.

Will continued tuning things out. He wandered towards the right side of the room, where he spotted what looked like a very large and very expensive setup for the music installation. He didn't even know half the stuff that Texen and his people had installed there, but it looked shiny and expensive. Some stuff that Amber would probably love to get her hands on.

Which begged the question: if the old entrance to Carotos was still sealed up, couldn't they just blast their way in through another side of the mountain? Nidoking would just love that.

…how long had Amber been locked up already? Did they at least keep her warm and fed? Did they treat her right? They hadn't hurt Jenner before he managed to escape.

"Hey, asshat, if you put your mitts on my setup I'll knock your teeth out!"

Maybe that Nastasia woman was in charge? She seemed like an intelligent person. Surely she would see the benefit of keeping hostages healthy?

"If you put your mitts on him they'll have to bury you in three separate graves," Aelita said and her voice suggested it wasn't so much a threat as it was an agenda point for her. It shook Will out of his thoughts and he wandered back towards her again.

While awesome to see, putting her hands on the new Sensei would probably put Aelita in big trouble. Texen was the new Gym Leader and attacking one of those was still a serious deal.

"This was MY home you remodeled!" Aelita continued furiously. "The past Sensei of this village was MY DAD! You have no authority on me whatsoever!"

What were they even doing here, wasting time arguing with some idiot who didn't have the vaguest idea about the circumstances? They had to find Cera and her maids, they had to get that Relic before Team Xen could retake the advantage.

Fuck, they had Tesla and Amber in their claws now as well as Jenner and Nim. What if Madame X arrived at Mount Valor? Would she put them all to the sword? What if that sadistic Madelis got bored, or what if Zetta, Neved and Geara got together and decided to start hurting them for information?

Meanwhile, Texen leapt to his feet. "Doesn't matter who you were!" He said, making himself big and tall and getting all up in Aelita's face. "Like you said, it's all in the past!"

With a heavy scoff, Aelita turned away. "There's no point in talking to you anymore," she quietly said. "You're just some washed up kid who got this place because he had money. Will, let's go to Carotos."

They hadn't taken more than two steps before Texen's said, "You mean the mountain behind this house? That I now own? Both of you are banned."

"B-Banned!" Aelita sputtered. "What do you mean, banned!?"

Banned.

Banned?

Her reaction seemed to excite the punk. He crossed his arms and grinned. "It means I forbid either of you from entering Carotos Mountain. And that's generous. If I wanted, I could ban both of you from Sheridan completely."

Banned from Sheridan.

In a flash, Will pictured himself stepping over a gore-splattered carpet, his boots descending on someone's shredded remains.

In and out. In and out.

"Who would enforce such a ban?" Will quietly asked.

Unhappy, Aelita said, "Sheridan enforces the spirit of the law. Regardless of what they think of him, they would obey the Sensei."

"They better, yeah," Texen said.

Banned from Sheridan. If that meant beating Cera and getting the Ocean Relic, that would be worth it to him.

It wouldn't be worth it for Aelita. This was her home, her entire past and her life. He wouldn't risk that.

"We're not going to follow your stupid rules!" Aelita snapped before Will could make any sort of decision. "You think you're something? You just became the Sensei a day ago or something!"

"So what!" Texen yelled back. "The moment I became Sensei it was anything I say, goes!"

Aelita took several large steps towards the guy, forcing him to either stand his ground or step back. Surprisingly enough, he stepped back. "Yeah, anything goes…directly into the thrash! Just what kind of talentless creep are you?!"

"Talentless?" Texen shouted. "People at least know who I am! You're just some random bitch from the forest! You have no right to act all high and mighty! I AM ALPHA!"

Will sighed and silently shook his head. Moments like these made him wonder just what Crescent had experienced in her life, to become as jaded and hardened as she was. Crescent would have cut this guy to bloody ribbons before he even got to open his big mouth.

Crescent wouldn't have lost the Relic in the first place.

Semantics.

"That's it," Aelita said, and her voice went all calm and serene again. "I've had it with this guy. I challenge you to a battle, Texen. If I win, all bans on us will be lifted permanently."

"And if you lose, you're banned from Sheridan forever!" Texen yelled. "And you know what? To give you an edge, I'll let you and your friend battle me at the same time."

Aelita blinked with surprise. "A two versus one?"

"That's right!" Texen sneered. "Three on your side, three on Will's. How's that?"

"You got a deal, punk!" Aelita replied.

Texen laughed. "Heh, alright then! Meet me in the arena. It's downstairs. Don't be late!"

With one last scoff, Texen roughly shoved his way past Will – had he even been in the guy's way? – and left the room to go prepare at the arena.

Aelita watched him go, looking impossibly composed. Will was just about to give her a compliment about her gracefully she'd handled that idiot when she promptly exploded.

"GOD I HATE HIM!" She shouted, kicking over a nearby television, which fell to the ground with a loud crash. "He's a disgrace to the entire Sheridan Culture! If he wants to be the Sensei, then he's gotta act like it! Grah! Let's go beat his face in, Will!"

For some reason, Texen had left the Sensei's indoor arena relatively unmolested. That, or Will simply couldn't remember what Keta's house used to look like anymore. Texen did gather a whole bunch of his fans in there however, which meant a cacophony of yelling and cheering further inflated Texen's already swollen ego to new levels.

While the new Sensei drank in the adoration of his…fans…a referee began doing her introduction. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the very first battle of the new Sheridan Gym! I will be your referee tonight! The name's Felicia and I'm from Goldenleaf Town! Thank you all for being here! Make some noise!"

They did. Will didn't appreciate that.

"Today we have a very special battle between two opponents!" Felicia continued. "Will from who-knows-where and Aelita from Sheridan? And on our home turf we have our very own Texen!"

Texen dramatically hopped over the railing and landed heavily. More yelling. More cheers.

Slowly, Will started working up a headache.

"Hey, what's going on?" Someone said from behind and he turned around to see Adam and Braixen joining them.

"Just Will and me showing this creep who's the boss," Aelita said. "You know, the usual."

"Oh. Already?" Braixen asked. "You up for that Will?"

If he wasn't up for removing this particular obstacle, how was he going to chase down a psychopath's handmaiden through an unstable mountain? "Sure, why not."

Adam glanced at Texen, sighed, and then took Braixen with him to one of the seats.

Once they were seated, the referee continued. "This will be a six versus six on both sides! Have a fair and fun fight! Show us what you got!"

"You losers' ain't got nothing on me!" Texen yelled as he readied his first two Pokemon. "I'll blow you guys so far back you'll need three plane tickets before you even get close to me again!"

"You get your insults the same place you get your hair style ideas," Aelita calmly pointed out. "On the back of some stupid candy wrapper."

She could have punched him in the liver and produced a less dramatic response. "DON'T DISS THE DO!" Texen roared. "GET WRECKED!"

One side-effect of turning out all the other things was clarity and focus. Texen wasn't a bad trainer, but he hadn't spent the last months fighting himself half to death every day. Though the numbers were the same, Texen was still one guy commanding two Pokemon while his opponents could concentrate on working together with the single Pokemon they had in the field.

It was a reverse of the usual situation against Team Xen. For once, Aelita and him had the enemy outnumbered. For once, they knew exactly how their enemy would act, and they could switch things up to counter whatever he threw at them.

The fight was quick and brutal. Texen's Passimian lunged for Blaziken and she rolled backwards onto her back, getting her feet in-between her and her foe and using its momentum to fling him through the air. Aelita's Hawlucha struck a crushing Brave Bird and knocked it out. Texen's Hitmonchan threw a series of quick jabs and hooks at Hawlucha, who protected himself with his wings as Blaziken came to its aid. Blaziken ducked underneath Hitmonchan's outstretched arm and hit a quick flurry of Fire Punch jabs, before his Emboar drove her back. That allowed Hawlucha to strike Hitmonchan too with a devastating Brave Bird.

A switch. A curse from Texen.

His Emboar barreled towards Blaziken like a fiery comet. Blaziken stood her ground, waited for Aelita's Lucario to hit Emboar with an Aura Sphere to throw him off-balance, then intercepted the bulky Fire-Type mid-charge. When Emboar swung a bulky limb into a savage hook, Blaziken side-stepped him and floored him with a crushing punch to the back of his neck.

Another switch. Froslass to harass Texen's Machamp and Toxicroak with a freezing Blizzard. Aelita's own Blaziken to finish the job on Toxicroak as it tried to go in for the Sucker Punch. As Froslass disengaged to avoid a Rock Tomb from Machamp, Aelita switched again and had her Lucario press the offensive.

The fight culminated in Nidoking grappling Texen's Infernape and flinging him up in the air, allowing Aelita's Lucario to snipe him with a massive Aura Sphere. Then, they emulated an old technique once pioneered by both of their Blazikens against Neved's Barbaracle. This time, it was Nidoking who grappled Texen's frostbitten Machamp into a suplex and Lucario who leapt over his head, took a hold of Machamp's outstretched legs and swung him overhead to turn him into a four-armed crater in the midst of the arena.

"Textbook," Aelita remarked, holding out her hand.

Will gave her a low five. "Nice job."

"Wait, this can't be right!" Texen yelled.

"Oh…" the referee muttered. She looked utterly flabbergasted for a moment, but she still shook herself out of her stupor and declared, "And that's it! Will and Aelita have defeated Texen!"

The crowd knew a victory when they saw one and they promptly erupted in loud cheering again.

Meanwhile, Will wanted nothing more than to get out of there, but Aelita smirked and glanced at the crowd victoriously before addressing Texen. "Hah, and that's that Texen. I knew we would win."

"Shut it!" Texen snapped, furious. "It was two on one, you guys only won because you were at an unfair advantage! A few of those attacks almost hit me too! You guys should be disqualified for cheating!"

Nidoking looked over his shoulder and gave Will the sort of look that suggested he couldn't believe what was happening.

Silently, Will agreed. Had one of his attacks hit the guy, they would've been speaking to a steamy pile of entrails scattered between an upper Texen and a bottom Texen. It would have made for a much more enjoyable conversation.

"So you're bad at battling and you're a sore loser?" Aelita audibly winced. "Yikes."

Texen was about to start yelling again when a tremor shook the house. The crowd stopped cheering and Texen's look of anger promptly turned into uncertainty. "What- "

"What was that?" Aelita demanded.

"How am I supposed to know!" Texen shouted, looking around frantically as the walls around them started creaking. "Didn't you live here?"

"Yeah, before you tore this place apart and - "

Another tremor nearly flung all three of them to the floor. One wall burst open and a stream of lava slowly poured into the room. The temperature instantly skyrocketed as the molten goop set the floor on fire and the audience started running for their lives. Adam vaulted over the railing, closely followed by Braixen. "Guys?" He said.

"M-Magma?!" Aelita yelled.

"Wh-What's going on?" Texen stammered as the referee too made a break for it. "Why is my Gym filling up with magma?!"

"We really should go!" Braixen urged them.

"Our battle must've opened up a pocket of magma and now it's flowing inside of the gym!"

Will sighed. It was always something.

"Is this Gym built inside of Carotos?" Aelita yelled at Texen.

Panicked, Texen shot back, "How should I know? I didn't build it! We need to put it out! Everyone, get back! I need your help putting out this magma!"

"Sorry about your house, Aelita," Will offered.

"Eh, it's alright. Because, if we're inside of the mountain right now…" She took a couple of steps to the right and ordered Lucario to use Aura Sphere on the far-right wall.

The sphere of energy sailed straight and true and blew apart the other wall. Instead of another pocket of magma, the attack instead revealed a dark tunnel.

"C'mon guys!"

He didn't need to be told twice. He waved Nidoking forwards and walked past Texen, who seemed to be close to losing it.

"Where are you going? Now you're just destroying my house?!" He demanded. "Get back here!"

Aelita just shook her head. "...Have you taken a look at your Gym? I think you have other things to worry about!"

An errand piece of burning wood landed atop Texen's right horn.

"Uh - " Will started.

"You bitc - "

His right horn promptly burst into flames.

"H…HOT!" Texen screamed, breaking into a panicky run as he started to frantically pat at his hair.

Will thought about helping the guy. Having your hair suddenly light on fire was no joke. But…the way Texen ran around in wild panic…the guy was liable to completely lose it and do something very dangerous, especially with that pocket of lava leaking all over the Gym.

Better to leave him to his own devices.

"Uh…Have fun with that!" Aelita said as she, Adam, Braixen and Will made their way through the opening Lucario had made. The tunnel sloped downwards suddenly, until the ground became so steep that had no choice but to let gravity take them.

Thankfully they didn't have another pit of lava waiting for them. They landed solidly on a platform of heated rocks, surrounded by more pits of lava as well as various vats of chemicals scattered around the area.

"Yowch!" Aelita said as she rolled across the floor and scrambled back to her feet. "I wasn't expecting that drop to be so big! Maybe I should've thought this through…" She turned to smile at Will. "Hopefully that magma doesn't cause too much trouble. If he's the new Sensei then Texen is going to have to figure it out. Hmph."

Seconds later, Braixen and Adam came tumbling down the same hole. Braixen landed solidly on top of Adam's shoulders and he took a moment to brush her off.

"You GUYS! You went and picked a fight with that guy without US?" Braixen scolded them.

"Eh, he had it coming," Aelita replied, crossing her arms with a huff.

"That magma nearly took over the entire platform…" Adam said, giving her a pointed look.

"Heh, whoops!" Aelita said, awkwardly rubbing her neck. "Sorry, I got kinda caught up in the moment."

"Hmph…Yes, you did," Braixen pouted. "I can't believe you'd almost make us miss another fight! But I am willing to forgive."

"Lighten up, Braixen," Adam said. "You know Aelita didn't mean nothin' by it. We got a mission, remember?"

"Fine! But if one of you guys ends up hurt again I am going to explode!" Braixen said. "I have seen enough friends bleeding on the floor to last me a lifetime, thank you very much!"

Something like guilt twisted in Will's stomach. He looked away, wondering if it hadn't been better for him to hit Carotos Mountain on his own. There wouldn't have been a Texen threatening to take Aelita's home from her, there wouldn't have been another dark hole plastered with toxic chemicals and searing hot lava to threaten his friends, there wouldn't have been -

Braixen's warm, soft paw took his hand. Before Will realized what was going on, Braixen was tugging him along, guiding him deeper into the cave.

"Come on now, that's why you asked us along, right? To have your backs?" She said, looking up at him with a big vulpine grin.

"Last time you guys were in here, things didn't go so well," Adam said, stepping in line with Aelita before overtaking her by just a few feet. "So we're going to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"You guys…" Aelita said, her voice soft and questioning.

"That's what friends are for," Adam simply said.

Without another word, he and Braixen continued leading the way into the dark, the danger, the unknown. And they did so without a single complaint or a moment of hesitation.

Yeah, Will thought, still too shaken by how simple it felt to pull his hand from Braixen's grip. I think they are.

~~~~~~~(VI)~~~~~~~

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AN:Into Carotos Mountain we go! Surely nothing bad is going to happen this time around, right? Right?