All right! I finally figured out how to get my stories back up and running. So hopefully now I can start updating more again. i apologize for the long wait, but I have to admit, I don't know everything about Fan Fiction that I thought I did. Learnign something new is quite exciting! So anyway, after much long waiting, I give you all this next chapter of ZAL. Enjoy, review, and I'll update soon.

Chapter 5: Tag Team Battle

"Feel my Quick Attack!" Skitty said as she came running at Charcoal and I. I glanced over at Chaarcoal who was looking at me. We nodded our heads at the exact same time, almost like we knew how to counteract the attack. As Skitty neared, we suddenly took a sidestep and let Skitty run past us.

"Nya!?" she said in surprise as she turned her head to look back at us. Unfortunately, in doing so, she ran right into a tall black thing with glass at the top.

I heard my master laughing along with some other people our battle attracted. It was a bit funny to see that all happen, I hate to admit, but it was true. Of course, the only one who wasn't laughing was Laura who was shouting at everyone to stop laughing. When they didn't, she continued on with the battle.

"All right, Ted," she said. "Use Swift!"

"O.K.," Ted said as the crescent moon upon his forehead glowed. Yellow stars shot out a split second later, aiming for me.

"Now this looks like fun!" I said excitingly as the stars came closer. Suddenly, they were engulfed and vaporized by Charcoal's flamethrower. Ted just stood there, not even looking fazed at what happened.

"Hey Zack," Charcoal said to me. "Mind if I take on Ted while you take on Skitty?"

"Not at all," I replied with a grin.

"Thanks," Charcoal said, the entire time keeping his attention on Ted.

I turned my attention back to the weirdo Skitty whose head was wobbling dizzily all the while trying to keep her balance.

"I'm a-gonna get ya," she said. "All five of ya, unless you used Double Team, which I'm a-gonna get ya anyway." She shook her head and looked straight at me. "Oh it's you. Boy you look cute. Prepare yourself. Rawr!"

With that she leapt at my left side. Clearly she was still a little dizzy and did not seem to know which one of me to leap at. She jumped far left this time, completely off target. So I decided to turn my attention back to Charcoal's battle with Ted.

Luckily I turned just in time to see Ted do a backflip in the air, dodging Charcoal's flamethrower. Charcoal seemed surprised that apokemon such as Ted could do something like that.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"I just go with the flow," Ted replied. "I do what comes to mind naturally. It might not always work to my advantage, but it's worth a try."

"All right, Ted," Laura said. "Let's get in close and use Fury Swipe."

"On it," Ted said as he leaned forward and leapt at Charcoal with surprising speed. Charcoal, taken off guard, received several scratches upon his body.

"Got ya at last, you blue ringed charlatan," Skitty said suddenly, pouncing onto my head and digging her claws into it. I yelped out in pain as I began to run around.

I could hear laughter and voices, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. My mind raced frantically on how to detach Skitty from my head when I suddenly tripped and fell. I was a fast recoverer, however, rolling onto my backside and returning to my feet.

I noticed immediately that the pain had subsided some, though my head was throbbing. I looked down where I rolled over to see Skitty lying there unconscious. Apparently I must have hit my head on the ground a little too hard.

"Oh no!" Laura cried out. "Skitty!"

"One down and one to go," my master said, prompting me to turn to see how Charcoal was doing.

Charcoal was looking rather exhausted while Ted seemed to remain the same. "I may not be good when it comes to long ranged attacks," he said. "But when it comes to using claw attacks, my speed is unmatched."

"Like you've demonstrated," Charcoal said.

"Indeed," Ted agreed. "Where as you are better at long ranged attacks and have no skill whatsoever with claw combat."

"I may not have any claw combat skills," Charcoal said. "But I'm skilled enough to beat you."

"You sure about that, bro?" Ted asked.

"Definitely," Charcoal replied, shooting out another flamethrower.

I watched as Ted leaned forward again and leapt right into the flamethrower. To everyone's surprise, including Charcoal, Ted somehow made his way through the flamethrower and slashed at Charcoal in an upward diagonal motion.

Charcoal immediately ceased his attack and slumped forward to the ground. I gaped down at Charcoal, surprised that, despite his cleverness, he was beaten. I looked up at Ted to see that he had several burns upon his body. Ted looked himself over and said with a smile, "Well that was quite a battle, though I wasn't expecting to get burned like this."

"Your speed is incredible," I commented.

"Thanks," Ted said. "I learned to use this speed from an old friend of mine who is a master of claw combat. I've been wanting to use this technique on you."

"Well then bring it on," I said with a grin. "I always enjoy new challenges."

"Then this battle should be quite interesting," Ted said, leaning forward.

"I sure hope so," I said as I took a stance for my next battle.