The Contender's Ascent

by Insane Dominator

Third installment to "The Fairy Contender". Months passed since Nic and Erza finally united, but now things get really interesting. New challenges face Nic as Pokemon begin to rise, more complex foes challenge him and his powers, and something darker than darkness itself seeks Nic. With friends new and old joining forces, Nic and two worlds unite in ways unimaginable. OCxErza

72. My Best Friend

The Lumiose City hospital was a busy place to be, especially with it being located in the most populated, centralized location in all of Kalos. There were many reasons why people would come to these places. To get treated for critical injuries, surgeries, routine checkups, or perhaps visiting loved ones that were on life support.

However, the place was also known for its nursery.

Joey Haycliff, 3-months-old. The infant was there for his monthly checkup to check on his growth and for any health issues. He sat in a fairly large room where he laid on his back, having a baby blue one-piece on. His yellow hair was messy atop of head as his blue eyes wandered around.

Little Joey stirred in his small plastic border on a stand that sat in a room with many other infants and newborns. He was grouped amongst them who were getting checkups or otherwise other medical advisory.

He stifled and stirred in his makeshift crib, his blue blanket atop him turning with his fussing. He cooed loudly as he didn't have any music or anything making sound to amuse him. The only sounds made were the other babies crying, and that didn't help at all.

"Waaaaaahh!"

A loud, ugly cry was heard as a set of doors split apart from each other. A nurse walked into the nursery with an Audino in tow. The former strolled in a new crib with a newborn with a tag number on his crib. The crib sat right next to Joey's.

"There, the doctor will be getting ready." She grunted. "Geez, your folks are right, you don't stop crying." The nurse reached for her watch, tapping the screen to relay a verbal message. "Tell Doctor Jonas that Dereece Iwoda is ready." She allowed the watch to process the message as she walked out to meet her next appointment.

"Waaaaaahh!" Dereece Iwoda, a week-old infant. He couldn't stop himself from crying uncontrollably as if he wanted something. Tears ran down his face as he was rocking back and forth underneath his blanket.

As Joey was stirring, he calmed down when he heard the irritable, disturbing noise beside him. He turned his head towards his right as his wide blue eyes saw the crying baby beside him.

As Dereece was crying and stirring, he opened his eyes and squinted. He blinked before looking over at the lighter-skinned baby on his left. His cries gradually settled as he locked eyes with him.

As the two stared at each other, everything else seemed unimportant around them, even as other nurses came to pick up or drop off other babies.

Three things happened at this very moment.

Firstly, this was the first time Dereece stopped crying since his birth a week ago. Second, this was the first time the baby was able to smile, showing his gums. Joey mimicked this and smiled too.

Thirdly, it was at this moment that an instant connection was made between the would-be friends for life.

---

Dereece stood with his feet spread apart as he tried to look brave in front of his opponent, Adamantine. Unfortunately for him, the Golisopod dwarfed him in both size and intimidation alike. It took everything in him not to voluntarily spazz out, although he was visibly quivering in his boots some.

Adamantine stepped forward, his cross-shaped eyes glaring intensely like he was trying to pierce Dereece with his gaze alone. "You thought that I wouldn't come back for you disrespectful lot, didn't you? Well, think again. I have a mess to clean up…and you're scraps that I'm in charge of sweeping up myself."

Dereece swallowed a big lump, seeing the thick, sharp claws on Adamantine's arms. 'Why did it have to be me?! Of all the times for Joey and Duncan to be busy! If I have to fight him head-on…' He dreaded what that could mean for him. He knew as well as anybody that combat was not one of his best attributes.

Adamantine scrunched his whiskers. "Hmph! Unlike Suria or other Apostles, I'm not merciful nor am I partial towards my humans. There's only one thing that I value from them – their strength. Strength and skill. I don't expect much from someone as frail as you. If you intend on defying me any further..." He raised one of his claws, holding it up with the intent to cleave if provoked. "I guarantee that the rest of your short life will be agonizing."

Dereece shuddered, but he found enough resolution to stand his ground. He looked back at the Apostle with a hardened leer. "Sorry…that's not happening! I have no intention on being your slave, so you can forget it!"

Adamantine scoffed, his claws twitching. "I see, so that's what you've chosen…good. Then I'll be able to beat the sense into you the hard way after all." He reached into his satchel, pulling out a Human Cube.

Dereece got on guard as he recognized the device.

"I'll show you what happens when you defy the powerful!" He threw the Human Cube up into the air, causing it to pop open and expel Magic Power downwards.

Standing before Dereece was Nero. The Solidification Mage stood with legs spread and his back hunched forward. He straightened himself up and glared Dereece in the eye.

"Well now, if it isn't the fatty from before. Long time, no see." He greeted his opponent.

Seeing him, Dereece immediately recognized him. 'It's him. From the guild hall, and when we were acting as bait.' He thought of both instances when Nero was used by Adamantine. The way he was able to throw invisible airballs or solidify liquid surfaces like the mud gave them a hard time. Remembering the hassle he brought them back then only added to his discomfort.

'Keep your head on your shoulders, Dereece. Just stay cool. Relax. Deep breaths.' Dereece took deep breaths through his nose and then out his mouth, counting up to three in his mind with each inhale. Once he calmed down, he looked more focused. 'Right, then I guess I'm on my own this time. If I was dragged out here, that means KJ and Duncan are likely facing other Apostles. If Adamantine is as stern as he says, that means I'll be facing some mages with strong magic. Not good.'

Even though The Freaks have been through numerous strives since their duration here in Earthland, there was one matter that even Dereece couldn't evade: Experience. Granted, he had battles against mages and Pokémon before, but the difference then was that he had Joey's barriers and Pokémon to back him up.

Not this time. He was on his own. And his experienced judgment told him he was at a clear disadvantage.

'Right, I'll create an opening, and get away while they're distracted. Then I can regroup with the others.'

Nero glared at Dereece mockingly. "What's the matter? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet after last time."

Dereece grunted. He instinctively pulled out two Pokémon Ball at the same time. "Heracross! Yanma!"

The capsule popped open, expelling the two Bug-types in midair. They both flapped their wings and faced Nero in opposition against his appearance.

Nero slumped his shoulders. "I see. So, you'd rather rely on your Pokémon than get your hands dirty. Well, no matter…I'll send all of you tumbling to the ground either way."

Dereece wasn't deterred by his threats. Instead, he focused on his plan of action. "Right, here we go!" He reached out towards the mage. "Heracross, Pin Missile!"

"(You got it, Dereece!)" Heracross' horn glowed light green. He took aim and unleashed three streams of green energy with white spikes on the ends that all sailed like actual missiles at Nero.

"Use Solid Screen." Adamantine gruffly called.

Nero sneered before he reached his arms out towards the oncoming projectiles. His hands emitted a faint light that dissipated into the air in front of him.

The Pin Missile projectiles whistled as they closed in on Nero with no visible obstructions against them. However, just when it looked like they were about to hit their mark, they struck an invisible wall and erupted into light green bursts of energy, followed by billowing smoke.

"Nice try. Did you forget I can solidify the air?" Nero scorned.

"I remember alright." Dereece scowled back. "Now Yanma, Signal Beam!"

Nero noticed a faint shadow gliding over his head. When she looked up, he saw Yanma directly above him. His eyes widened in shock. "A distraction?"

Yanma generated bright pink energy between her small horns atop her head, charging up her attack. She lurched forward and fired a white beam with a pinkish outline and pixilated energy sputtering around it. Nero saw the attack heading in a steep angle towards him – over his makeshift barricade. To defend himself, he stretched out is arms as his hands glowed again. Same as before, Yanma's attack met an invisible wall at an angle, causing an airwave to expel before the attack imploded with pixilated energy racing everywhere.

Through it all, Adamantine remained unfazed.

'Now's our chance!' Dereece immediately turned away. "Let's go, guys!"

"Okay!" Heracross followed his Trainer as the latter used his Elemental Walk Magic once more. He climbed the air like large steps to get higher and father away from the battle to rush back towards the city.

Despite the deception, Adamantine was no fool. He saw right through the play and kept his eyes on Dereece the entire time. When he saw him take to the air to run away, his whickers contorted. "Like I'll let you get away from me that easily."

As Dereece was pacing through his steps, he didn't bother looking back. He knew if he did, it would only slow him down. 'I have to find Joey-!' His thought process was cut off completely when he felt like he had struck a wall. A hard wall out of nowhere. He felt an intense backlash run through his skull as he lost concentration in his magic and fell back down. "Gyaaaah!"

"Dereece?!" Heracross looked just as startled, only for him to slam into an invisible wall horn-first. He suffered an intense backlash as well, falling to the ground.

Both Dereece and Heracross slammed on their backs with a reduced thud into the soft grass. Thankfully the landscape was hilly grassland, otherwise if it were concrete, it would have definitely hurt a lot more.

"What happened?!" Yanma gasped.

As the two rolled onto their stomachs and made attempts to stand, the found of footsteps closed in from the smoke. "So predictable." Walking a few paces forward, Nero stood unfazed by the façade. "Saw that coming a mile away. Just because you're not a fighter, doesn't mean I'll let you off the hook that easily. Perhaps I forgot to mention this sooner, but I can also solidify substances at a distance…though it's rather limited in range and not as effective as when I touch it."

"That's just great." Dereece winced, pushing himself upright.

"Nero, use Air Lob!" Adamantine called out. The human complied with the command, bringing his hands together to solidify the air between them into a tangible force.

Dereece's eyes widened in alarm. He instinctively pulled out another Poké Ball and tossed it. "Seel, use Icy Wind!"

Nero pivoted and threw the solid air in their direction, much like a fastball. Seel appeared in midair in front of her teammates with a serious expression. Her mouth glowed bright blue before she exhaled a wide-scale breath of cold air mixed with blue particles.

The cold air acted as a buffer and a deterrent for the invisible fastball heading their way. As Seel was expelling more cold air, a noticeable stream was going through the middle. That had to be the Air Lob, Dereece figured. He saw it slow down and the air getting covered in frost, before it dissipated through the breeze.

"What?" Nero gasped. He used his forearms to block the Icy Wind that engulfed the area. He grimaced as the cold air pushed against him, and a blue aura ran down his body to indicate his Speed loss.

"Nice work, Seel!" Dereece praised his timely savior.

Seel raised her head. "No need to praise me. Let's get 'em!"

"Right, then we'll overwhelm him." Dereece then pulled out a Great Ball and tossed it. "Stunfisk, go!"

The Great Ball shot up, revealing Dereece's Stunfisk flapping his tiny fins. "Oi, my turn!"

"Mud Shot!"

Stunfisk flipped his flat body as the inside of his beak glowed bright orange. He faced Nero and expelled a barrage of mud balls that sputtered at their target.

"Solid Screen!" Adamantine ordered.

When the icy breeze finally settled, Nero was met with the sight of a barrage of muddy comets beaming in his direction. Despite his lowered reaction speed, it was still fast enough for him to put his hands upfront and create another invisible wall of solid air. The Mud Shot bombarded the wall, making murky dirt spots and mucky smoke to billow in front of it.

"Seel, Aqua Jet! Yanma, Quick Attack!"

Both Yanma and Seel shot around the muddied blockade, making the range of the solid obstruction visible for them to maneuver around. Yanma spurred with afterimages and a bright blue outline from one angle, and Seel soared in a dense stream of water around another. Both closed the gap on Nero in a pincer assault that he braced for.

Reaching both arms sideways, he created two small-scale solid air walls to stop them at the same time. However, Nero found himself under pressure as the two were pushing against the invisible force, He grunted angrily at his compromised position.

'I can't use my arms to concentrate solidifying like this!'

Dereece pointed straight ahead. "Now, Heracross! Use Aerial Ace!"

Heracross' eyes glinted as he lowered his horn. He flew in with great speed, with white streaks of energy surrounding his body. He spearheaded in a straight path towards Nero as he was occupied with keeping up his defenses from his sides.

"HRAH!" Heracross darted his horn into his chest, causing a surge of pain to run through Nero's sternum. The wind was knocked out of the mage as he shot backwards and doubled over. He tumbled over until he landed on a knee and put a hand to his chest.

The notable grunt from Nero made it evident how painful it was.

The four Pokémon regrouped together in front of their Trainer. Dereece balled his fists and looked determined. "Nice work, everyone. Let's keep up the pressure!"

"Right!" They all shouted.

Adamantine growled low. He didn't look so pleased with how he was outnumbered. He refused to allow this to progress any further. "Your fun is over." He swiped his claw in an arch. "Stand up, Nero. Show him you're stronger than them all."

Nero got back to his feet, taking his hand off his chest. "Okay…now I'm pissed."

"Use Air Prison! Now!"

Nero's eyes widened as he looked more focused. He reached both hands out in front of him as they shined briefly. Around Dereece's gathered Pokémon, light began contrasting and refracting off the air itself, like they were shimmering on a wall. Five sides were erected to make a prison that confined the four.

"What's going on?" Heracross wondered.

Curious, Yanma elevated herself higher, only to bump her head on an invisible solid ceiling. She shook her head and blinked. "Oof! Hey, was that there before?"

"What?" Heracross looked surprised. He turned towards his side and noticed his arm brushed against something solid yet unseen as well. He pushed a claw against the wall and found it surprisingly sturdy, even when he applied more pressure to budge it.

"Oh dear, that's not good." Seel worried. She looked over, seeing Stunfisk flick his tailfin and smack another wall bordering their makeshift prison.

"What happened? Are you guys okay?" Dereece worried. He shot a hardened glare at Adamantine. "What did you do?"

Adamantine scoffed. "I had Nero trap your weak little pets in a prison of solidified air. They were becoming a nuisance. They're not going anywhere. Your Poké Balls won't even reach them."

Dereece gasped. To make sure himself he brought up Stunfisk's Great Ball and attempted to recall him. However, the red laser stopped when it struck an invisible wall. "That isn't good…"

"Yeah…for you. But for me, it's a whole other story." Nero scoffed. "So much for relying on others to fight your battles. Got any other tricks?"

Dereece balled his fists in frustration. If Nero could cut off his escape route and his Pokémon from helping him in battle, there was only one course left for him to take. If he couldn't take flight, he had to fight.

"Dereece…!" Heracross worried.

"It's okay, Heracross. You and the others sit tight in there. I'll get you guys out…somehow." Dereece tried his best to put on a brave face against Nero. He bobbed back and forth like how a Hitmonchan would move.

"Nero, beat him within an inch of his life. Make him understand what it means to be powerful!" Adamantine ordered.

Nero adjusted his stance. "You heard the Boss. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to break some of those big bones of yours."

Dereece stood his ground as he bared his teeth. 'Joey, I'll come for you. Just hold out until I find a way to beat this guy.'

---

The Captain – or rather King of The Freaks, Joey Haycliff, stood in opposition against his opponent. The Ludicolo that made himself known was someone he recognized from before. After their initial meeting at the guild hall and exchanging glances along the shores, it had finally came down to their timely standoff, for a lack of better word.

Joey clutched his scepter in his right hand. Beside him, Trubbish looked as ready as ever. At least in terms of type, he knew he had an advantage, but as someone who played the games back home and experienced it first-hand, typing alone wouldn't decide every battle. It was a matter of skills that both sides had. And now had come the time for those skills Joey ascertained throughout his experience as a mage to be put to the test.

"So then, I take it that you're one of these Apostles around here, right?" Joey sniped, his tone serious.

Groove tipped his large sombrero-like top with a smirk. "Guilty is charged, my funky little man. I'm what you humans call a Ludicolo. But around here, I'm called Groove. 'Cause…" He tapped his foot and pivoted on it. He spun in place to where it was almost dizzying and stopped in a pose. "That's what I got best of! Ain't nobody topping my groove!"

Even though he was taking the situation seriously, Joey couldn't help but raise a brow. "Is that so? Ha!" He pointed a thumb to himself. "Then tell me, how many dance competitions have you won in your life? I bet it's not as many as me."

Groove cocked a brow. "So you say, but I got news for you little man. As impressed as I am with your skills at getting down and bringing the beats to the party…" He spread his legs and placed his mittens on his sombrero's sides. "That style's cramping us badly. I'd be thrilled to make you a part of my crew, but you've gone and ruined our little utopia. So sorry, but this island's only got enough room for one refined dancer, and humans just draw a bad crowd. Time to play exterminator and step on some bugs."

Joey braced himself, as did Trubbish as she burped beside him. From the stench she gave off, she was taking this seriously too. "Get ready, Trubbish."

BURP! Trubbish let out a louder belch to know she was ready.

'If I remember right, this Ludicolo had Bubble Beam when it attacked our guild, and is nimble.' Joey replayed everything he knew about his opponent. 'And that human he used last time, he was a real piece of work. Gotta watch out for that.'

Before Joey realized it, Groove appeared before Trubbish out of the blue.

'So fast!' Joey gasped.

"Made ya look!" Groove smiled excitedly. "Fake Out!"

The Ludicolo brought his hands together in front of him to create a point-blank thunderclap that Trubbish would be too slow to counteract. The Trash Bag Pokémon braced herself for the attack…only instead for the clap to hit a turquoise screen that appeared out of nowhere, saving her from damage as well as a flinch.

Groove looked surprised at the sudden barrier blocking his path. "Huh? Where'd this come from?!"

"I've played enough games to know that you could have had that move." Not far, Joey crossed his fingers in front of him. "Besides, we're familiar with that move, and we know it won't work a second time." He briefly thought of his battle against Millianna a while back in Domus Flau. That move was a real hassle to deal with.

"Hm! You're sharper than your hair strands. Color me impressed." Groove sneered.

"Trubbish, Toxic Spikes!" Joey commanded.

With the cover of her Trainer's barrier giving her closure, Trubbish opened her mouth wide as a toxic purple orb rose up from her stomach into her maw. With a loud burp, the Trash Bag Pokémon launched the sphere into the sky, trailing spiraling purple smoke. When it reached to a certain point, it exploded into several smaller orbs trailing purple smoke as they fell towards the ground. As they sank into the stone and earth, ripples of poison faded outwards.

"Woah! What now?!" Groove looked down at his feet where the poisonous field hazard merged.

Joey knew this was no time for pulling punches. He knew he made the right call. 'That'll limit his options. If he calls for a mage now, they'll definitely risk getting poisoned and lose stamina fast. Best to have done this early so to save effort.'

Groove looked around his feet before turning towards Joey. "Heh, setting the pace, aren't we? Gotta say, you're both flashy and intuitive. Sure ain't making this easy for me."

"After the crap you pulled on us at our guild hall, you expect me to make things easy for you?" Joey retorted. "First, you and your posse attack us, and you steal Nic and Erza-senpai like they were your property. But what I'm really pissed about…was how much hell it was to clean all that ink off my coat! So not cool, man!" He brought his hands up and cracked his knuckles. "You'll be getting way more than just a dry-cleaning bill."

"Quite the sassy one…I like a little kick in the beat. But let's see if you can keep up!" Groove suddenly started dancing in place and rolling his hips back and forth until he finished in a pose towards the sky. "Rain Dance!"

Overhead, the warm, sunny weather that shined down upon them started getting blocked up by a spiral of dark storm clouds that centered over Groove's head. The coverage spread swiftly over a certain area that it was still visible to see sunlight edged in the distance. Rain gradually started to fall and dampen the pavement, as well as Joey and Trubbish themselves.

'He's got Rain Dance, too?' Joey furrowed his brow. 'That means his Water-type attacks are gonna do more damage.' For a moment, he considered sending out his Gyarados or Palpitoad since they would fair well in the rain, but he also considered Groove was also part Grass-type, which meant their Water-type attacks wouldn't do much regardless.

Groove started sidestepping in rhythm back and forth in the rain, looking to be taunting Joey. "Yeah, now this is what I'm talking about! Nothing like a little skip in the drip to make a Ludicolo feel more alive, right?"

Joey pointed his scepter out at him. "Trubbish, use Sludge!"

Trubbish leaned back and puffed her cheeks before gaping her mouth wide, expelling a dense ball of sludge that sailed towards the Ludicolo. Groove remained still as the Poison-type attack headed right for his face.

At the last second, however, the Apostle suddenly blurred out of view, the sludge heading into a building wall creating a mucky smoke cloud.

Burp?! Trubbish belched with a hint of surprise.

Joey gasped. "Where did he…?"

He and Trubbish looked around, but amongst the soldiers in the abandoned plaza, there was nowhere for Groove to hide. It was like he up and vanished.

Trubbish suddenly pointed towards a building's top and hiccupped, making Joey look up and gasp. There, towering overhead, Groove crossed his arms and smirked down at them.

"How'd he get up there so quick?!" For a moment, Joey lost his breath. 'Wait, that burst of speed just now, was that-?!'

"Sorry, my little jazzy understudy, but under the rain, you need to have a prayer if you wanna keep up with my moves!" He closed his mouth before opening wide, expelling a condensed and voluminous Bubble Beam at Joey and Trubbish.

Seeing the speed of the attack beelining for them, Joey thought fast and crossed his fingers, summoning a barrier in front of them that blocked off the barrage. Light blue specks and droplets spatted everywhere around the barricade that didn't budge, even with the Rain Dance working against them.

With his opponents preoccupied on defense, Groove ceased his attack and jumped away swiftly under the rainfall. Once he was gone, the bubbles ceased and Joey dispelled his barrier.

"Now I get it. He has Swift Swim." Joey scowled. "Ugh, you've gotta be kissing me!" He complained. "Bad enough with the rain, but now he's using his mobility to get to an area out of Toxic Spikes' range. Probably trying to draw me to another area he's familiar with. Well, jokes on him." He looked towards his staff. "Cuz I've got some help with those detours."

The staff resonated with him. The turquoise light remaining in the center shined brightly as he lifted it higher. "Okay, my people! Rally that runaway Ludicolo!"

The hundreds of turquoise warriors at his disposal stopped in their tracks as their eyes glint bright blue in accordance to Joey's will. "GROOOOOOHHH!" They all groaned in compliance and started in a breakneck sprint through the plaza's alleys towards Groove's general direction.

…

Groove dashed and leaped across the rooftops with a skip in his steps. Despite his looks, he was surprisingly light on his feet, and it showed as he jumped with flips onto the next building in the rainfall.

'Wouldn't be smart to bring out my mage when they sat up that trap. Better find a narrow passage to lead them through so I won't have to worry about those.' As he darted towards the edge of a building, he noticed something peculiar. "Hm?"

Out of the blue, an ethereal soldier shot from the streets below in an acrobatic cannonball. It landed on a knee and lifted its head with a glint in its eyes. Two more shot up beside it and impeded Groove's path.

"Woah, now!" The Ludicolo found himself darting at them, so he took a sharp right turn and raced for the neighboring rooftop. He paced well atop it with great balance, despite how slanted it was on either side. However, his hopes of escape were dashed when soldiers launched themselves below and planted a few of themselves on the other side of the roofing.

Groove came to a brief halt in the middle of the roof. When he looked back, he saw that there were more soldiers using others as support to get up and block his path. The Apostle had no choice but to leap down one side of the roofing and flip onto the ground. There, he was met with hundreds of ethereal soldiers glaring and gathering around.

"Coming through! Bubble Beam!" Groove unleashed a barrage of condensed, voluminous bubbles that beamed into the crowd. The ethereal soldiers in the direct line of the attack were bombarded with explosive bursts that erupted into mist.

With the fodder distracted, Groove beamed through his new path towards the nearest alley, where less ethereal soldiers could corner him. He moved with the grace of a jet ski with puddles rippling in his wake.

As he was coming up to an intersection, he saw soldiers racing for him from straight ahead. He opted to take a sharp right into the adjacent alley, with only enough size to fit him. He sped along until he came to another point alleys intersected, this time soldiers corralling from the right and front. Knowing he couldn't turn back, he opted for a sharp left and bolted down that alley to where light was visible.

With a slick slide through the wet puddles out to the open, Groove sprung towards the baren rock areas that sat at the base of the cliffside, closer towards the western area. The rocks made for an uneven landscape that made it hard to scale, which was perfect for Groove to scale using swift jumps and dance-like acrobatics. He scaled until he made it to a plateau that was just beside the cliff, with orange rock sitting all around him.

"Phew! Hadn't had to run this far since my early days." He sighed out, before the sounds of runts and clanging were made clear. "Hm? How the-?!"

All around him, the ethereal soldiers marched and gathered around the Apostle. They all gathered over a large area with ranks making it so that the bedrock had almost turned turquoise. They stood cutting him off completely from anymore escape routes.

"Well, I'll be damned…" To say Groove was surprise would be an understatement. 'I heard that kid with the scepter was a huge threat, but to think he could coordinate this many…'

Atop the soldiers in the back, Joey and Trubbish rode atop them in a wave of hands that carried them to the front. As soon as their feet touched solid ground, Joey stood firm. "Alright, that's enough running from you! You're not going anywhere!"

"Yes…so it would seem." Groove turned towards Joey with a smirk…as well as a Human Cube. "So I guess this place is as good as any to settle whose rhythm is best to follow."

Joey's eyes narrowed. He knew that it was too late.

Groove grinned smugly as he tossed his cube. "Alright, Din Disco, show 'em how it's done!"

The Human Cube spun out into the rain, sending out energy that manifested into a human being. Appearing in the middle of a jazzy spin on one heel, Don Disco had an index finger pointed towards the sky with his cool shades gleaming. "Yeah~! Time to move it and groove it!" He sang, taking a pose pointing towards the sky, his charismatic smile glinting bright white.

"Him again…" Joey remembered well the last time he saw this particular person. Suffice to say he was still sore on what happened because of him.

"Hey now, what do we got here? A man whose style is an outlier on this fashion set." Din Disco swooned, swaying his hips and rolling his shoulders. "Looking spiffy…if ya trying to take the spotlight. And when that happens, well…" His shades shined brightly in the refracting light. "I'll sweep ya off your feet!"

"Where'd you get your fashion from? A waiter from a one-star restaurant?" Joey mocked.

"Oooooh~! Boy's got tongue as sharp as a knife! Too bad it ain't as big as his earrings! Them be fashion accessories or dinner plates you wearing?"

Joey dramatically gasped. "How dare you! I'll have you know, my grandma gave me these earrings!" he yelled angrily. "Oh, that is it! Nobody insults my late grandma and thinks he's all jazz. You're going down!"

Don Disco did a counterclockwise spin to a stop, giving Joey a smug sneer. "Let's see if you've got groove with your moves."

Joey and Trubbish braced themselves as they glared at Don Disco and Groove respectively. In the meantime, the Rain Dance finally settled, allowing sunlight to open up and beam on all of them again.

---

Within the boundaries of the province, Duncan's glare was fixed on the large Vikavolt that glided over him. The insectoid's flight pattern and the way he circled over Duncan made it a clear indication that he was being targeted.

Knowing where this was going to escalate to, Duncan clenched his Elfen Forja tightly as Zeus finished circling around him.

"I remember you. You were one of the humans that Adamantine caught before." Zeus sneered. "So you broke out with the rest. In other words…" His orange eyes glimmered briefly. "It's fair game for me."

Duncan scoffed. "So you're one of these Apostles we've heard about. In other words, you're a cut above the other Pokémon here who used humans." He darkly smirked. "This should be a good challenge. Between a Pokémon who uses mages, and a mage who uses Pokémon, I wonder, who's the better Trainer?"

Zeus snipped his pincers. "Is that how you see this? You think of this as some gain where I'm a boss. How acute, even for a human mind."

"It doesn't matter whether or not you're a Pokémon or human. What I do know…" Duncan brandished his Elfen Forja. "Is that you're someone who needs to be defeated. We oppose the other's ideals. It's only natural we settle it with battle. That's how it works in both worlds, right?"

Zeus scoffed. If he had eyebrows, they would be raised. "Hmph…well said. So be it."

The moment he reached for two Human Cubes like before, Duncan narrowed his eyes.

"Strept! Macro! Come!" The Vikavolt Apostle tossed the cubes, causing them to open and expel energy into the Shadow and Mud Mages that worked under him.

"Well now, look who we have we here," Strept chimed sardonically. "Aren't you a familiar one?"

"Wanna roll around in the mud again?" Macro taunted.

Duncan hummed. "I thought as much." He held out his Elfen Forja for battle as he looked ready. "We'll just be seeing who ends up rolling in the mud, won't we?"

Inside Duncan's head, he replayed their previous encounter during Joey's hijack plan. He thought back to the spells that were used by each mage respectively.

'If memory's right, their magics are shadow and mud. If that's their only affinity, then it comes down to knowing how best to counter.'

Zeus grunted low as he spread his pincers wide. "Strept, use Shadow Spikes!"

Duncan narrowed his eyes. 'Here they come…'

"Good choice, Master! This one's my favorite!" Strept kneeled and slammed his hands against the ground, summoning a dark magic seal beneath him. The ground shuddered as spikes made of thick shadows punctured through the ground and carved a linear path towards Duncan.

Duncan repositioned his grip and held the staff with both hands. The brown lacrima clicked as the gears shifted in response to his magic before he twirled the staff over his head to gather momentum. Once enough was gathered, he swung down at the oncoming spikes.

"Gear Five: Earth!"

The might of the Earth Lacrima conducted into the tip as the force plunged into the ground. The concrete beneath his feet cracked apart as the shadow spikes were deflected with deformed earth brought up from the sheer force.

Strept gasped. "He hit the ground to deflect the spikes?!"

Zeus remained undeterred. "Let's see how much earth it takes to stop this. Macro, use Mud Wave!"

"Coming right up!" Macro viciously smirked as he slammed his hand against the ground, creating a yellow magic seal. The earth lightly rumbled before the seal expelled mud in a wave all around Macro like a geyser. Though the majority of it rushed in Duncan's direction.

Duncan repositioned himself and gripped his staff again, the gears changing from brown to green as he twirled again. This time, air pressure gathered around the ends as he faced the tidal wave of thick brown mud.

"Gear Three: Wind!"

He performed an upwards swipe, sending the pressure in the center of the tidal wave. The air pressure blasted an opening right down the middle, which Duncan wasted no time in darting through. He charged after them with his staff to his side and a serious disposition fixated on them.

Despite their offenses broken, Zeus only remained opposed to Duncan's advances. "Macro! Strept! Make sure he doesn't get any further!"

"Copy that!" Macro scoffed.

Duncan darted for Strept first. 'I'll take him out first!'

Macro interceded by slamming his hands into the ground again. "Mud Wall!"

As Duncan made his advance, a sudden large, wide wall of mud exploded from underneath, blocking him off from his opponents. It didn't deter Duncan enough to stop him from advancing and leaped into the wall. "Gnnaaaah!" He slammed his staff into the running mud with all his might, but the dent he was making was quickly being filled by the fluent mud that coagulated around the staff.

Duncan grunted as he realized his attack was absorbed entirely. 'This mud's thicker than I thought.' His advance turned against him, he pulled his staff away and backpedaled.

Zeus' eyes narrowed. "Got you now."

With the wall of mud as cover, thick ropes of shadow suddenly shot out after Duncan. His eyes widened when he realized he was too close to get away in time. Even when he attempted to pull back, the tendrils got his outstretched wrist, then his ankle, then his other ankle, and then his torso. The appendages snared Duncan in place like a Pokémon caught up in Bind.

'They played me by luring me into their defenses!' He mentally cursed himself for falling for the ploy.

As the mud wall receded, Strept was shown having a magic seal in front of him that connected to the tendril shadows. "Like flies on a sticky trap. You sure walked right into that one, eh newbie?" He taunted. "Using physical attacks on non-solids doesn't always work out the way you want them to."

Duncan struggled to break free. Luckily for him, he still had his Elfen Forja in his grip. But just when he was about to shift gears again, a stray tendril wrapped around the choice weapon and was pried from Duncan's grasp.

"No can do. Sorry, but it'd be a hassle if you kept swinging that thing around…it could really hurt someone." Strept facetiously noted.

Duncan gnashed his teeth as he sneered at his opponent.

"Macro, Mud Clones!" Zeus ordered.

Macro reached his arms out at the residual mud left over from his initial spell. With a plethora of mud around, several globs piled upwards and faded into duplicates of Macro. The surrounding clones gathered around Duncan and grabbed him to pin him to the ground. For clones mad of mud, they were surprisingly strong like a normal person.

Unable to find any measures to free himself, Duncan was forced to be pinned on his stomach, his limbs confined by the clones and restraining his movements.

"Well, that was easy." Strept chimed. "Guess it's true what they say, divide and conquer."

"Out of respects for Adamantine, I won't recapture you." Zeus warned his opponent. "However, I'm also not one to take his chances with believing you will comply freely. Only a fool would indulge down that road, and I am no fool. Macro, make sure he doesn't get up."

Macro narrowed his eyes. "Can do."

Around Duncan, a few more clones manifested from mud and sauntered over towards him as he was pinned down. With only a few seconds before being potentially beaten within an inch of his life, he knew he had to act fast to get out of his situation. He saw that his Elfen Forja was only a few meters away from him, suspended by a shadowy tendril. He knew he still had a chance.

'It's a good thing I held this ace up my sleeve from the beginning.' He thought, flexing his glove. In the center of his palm, the magnetic lacrima glinted.

Suddenly, the lacrima in the middle of the staff reacted. The entire metal gear poll was torn away from the tendril by an unknown force back towards its owner.

"Wait, what?!" Strept howled.

The staff returned to Duncan's outstretched grip just as the excess clones gathered around him. As one clone was raising its foot to stomp on his head, the Elfen Forja's gear's shifted, causing the blue lacrima to activate. Vapor liquified around the tips into water.

SPLOOSH!

With one fell swing, Duncan dispersed the mud clones surrounding him. The added water to their muddy bodies made their viscosity too dense for them to reform again. He stood tall despite his muddied state, his Gear Four: Water activated.

Seeing tis made Macro's eyes widen. "Water?!"

Zeus growled low. "So he had that trick up his sleeve after all."

"If what you say is true, then fighting a non-solid with a non-solid should even things out, won't it?" Duncan chided back, referring to Strept's earlier comment. "Mud isn't so useful if it's too moist to be clumped."

Macro grunted in exasperation. Strept looked just as annoyed.

Zeus grunted lowly as he glared at Duncan crudely. "Seems you're not as weak as we initially thought…for a mage."

"I got you figured out now." Duncan glared coolly at them, a serious look on his face. "So then…how should we do this?"

---

"Look, Sophie, over there!"

"Is that really it?"

Vanessa and Sophie darted across the open avenue free from any obstructions, which was solemnly thanks to Joey with his control over his apparent army. Despite a few Pokémon laying around, they were thoroughly knocked out, so the girls were able to run past them to where Nic directed them.

When they came up to the designated point, they slowed to a stop to look up at the corner store. Suffice to say that it wasn't what any of them expected.

The corner store was primarily black in paint, with woven, fiery red and vermilion flame accents on either side of a cursive sign that read 'Sweet Scentation' on the black banner over the double doors, which were locked tight. On the display windows, the two girls noticed banners of Pokémon like Aromatisse and Bellossom in aromatic backgrounds. Despite all the carnage and broken homes around them, this store in particular was relatively intact.

After scanning the banners and the exterior of the supposed covert place, the two girls looked mildly uncertain.

"A perfume shop?" Sophie quipped.

Vanessa blinked, but it wasn't enough to deter her. She walked up towards the doors and reached for the handle. She pulled and was met with tight resistance. 'Why is it locked? Was it closed today?' She looked over and noticed open and closed times on the glass door. 'It should be open at this time. Did the owners close up to leave when the riots broke out?'

Sophie walked up, noticing the predicament. "Is it locked?"

"Looks like it. Looks like it's locked from the inside, too." Vanessa observed, noticing no keyholes on the outside of the locks.

"If that's the case, wouldn't they get in through a backdoor? If this were the only exit, it wouldn't make sense to lock up from just one side."

Vanessa fell silent as she thought about what Sophie said. Her suspicions only peaked further. With no alternatives to get in, she manifested a sphere of teal aura and stepped back. She projected it towards the glass door and shattered it entirely. The aura dissipated upon contact so it wouldn't damage anything inside.

Sophie looked stunned at Vanessa's actions. "Vanessa?!"

Vanessa remained passive as she walked past her. "There wasn't any alternatives. And besides, with the chaos amuck outside, no sense in not to at this point."

"…fair point." Sophie dismissed her doubts and stepped over the glass to get inside right behind Vanessa. When they stepped in, they looked around at the store's accommodations.

To anybody else, it looked like a normal perfume parlor, with numerous displays up with perfumes in glass bottles. Even without them being open, the place had a very strong scent to it that it was almost intoxicating. Even more perfumes were lines up along the walls, and the more expensive ones were behind glass cases with exorbitant prices. Even from the looks alone, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for them.

"Well, it certainly smells like a perfume shop." Sophie noted, her nose going numb just from inhaling the sharp scents around her. "What exactly do they put in these perfumes to make them so strong?"

"Hard to say. If this place is owned by Pokémon like the others, I'd imagine they'd use some kind of pheromones extract to sharpen it." Vanessa reasoned.

Sophie raised a brow. "They really do that?"

"It's common in Kalos for people to have Spritzee or Aromatisse around when making perfumes. Those ones especially go for large prices." She looked over at a glass casing with a perfume with a magenta glass bottle and an imprint of a Meganium on it. "Still…150,000 Jewels?"

"All these prices aside, I'm not seeing anything that would suggest there being the factory's location." Sophie scanned her surroundings as she looked at the many displays around her. One on the shelf beside her had an imprint of an Ivysaur on it that she was curious about. Tempted, she sniffed the cap and got the sweet smell of roses. She was tempted to try some on.

Vanessa scanned her surroundings to find many of the Grass and Fairy-type themed bottles and containers around her. It was like Sophie said, there wasn't anything superficial that she could see to indicate there being anything accusing of this being the hideout they were looking for.

'Nic said that it was right underneath our feet. Are we really at the right place?' She shook her head of any doubts. 'No, Nic's almost always dead-on with his gut feelings. There's something here hidden. Just have to find it.'

Having no choice, Vanessa closed her eyes to concentrate. Using her Aura Magic, she scanned the surroundings for any signs of aura resonating. Starting from the entrance, she saw her and Sophie's aura in the form of footprints, as well as Sophie's fingerprints. She moved towards the back of the store near the desk area, where she saw imprinted aura on the floor that was more faded towards the front and worked back towards the desk.

'Someone was here. I can still see their aura signatures.' She followed their trail, which was a loop towards the front doors and back towards the desk. 'Right, so they possibly locked up this place and went behind the desk.' She followed the footprints behind the counter and saw that they stopped right in front of the shelved furniture with various perfume displays on it. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

After scoping the area, Sophie joined up with Vanessa's investigation. "Vanessa, what did you find?"

"There's something here…" As she scanned for aura signatures, she noticed that one of the perfumes on the far corner had an imprint of the same aura signature on it. When Vanessa reached for it, she noticed that it didn't budge and blinked. "Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Something's off. It won't move."

"Really?"

Vanessa tried tugging at the perfume harder, but no matter what, the small flat glass bottle wouldn't budge. She moved her wrist to try and pull it at an angle, but noticed something as she held onto it – the bottle turned slightly with her. This didn't go unnoticed by Sophie.

"Vanessa…try turning it some more."

Vanessa caught onto the inquiry. She turned the bottle clockwise further, until the front was facing away.

CLICK!

A loud click was heard from the shelving. Both girls stepped back out of caution as they heard shifting from the makeshift wood. To their utter surprise, they watched as the entire shelf slowly moved off towards the side, making way for an opening to a flight of stairs to a hall.

"A secret passage?" Vanessa sounded more surprised than usual.

"No wonder the factory wasn't seen anywhere. Could it be down here?" Sophie inquired.

Vanessa redoubled her focus and frowned. She focused on sensing aura again and saw the same footprints of aura she saw before continuing from where they stood down the stairwell that was lit by low orange lights on both sides.

'I have no doubt about it. This has to be what Nic meant.' Ensured of their lead, Vanessa took the front. "There's only one way to find out. Let's go."

Sophie nodded. "Right."

The two girls stepped into the hall taking them down the stairwell to their next destination. As they departed, the shelving slowly moved back into place, as if nothing happened in the first place.

---

Adamantine jutted his claw out. "Air Lob!"

Nero brought his hands together, solidifying the air between his palms and clutched it. He chucked it at Dereece like it was a makeshift fastball that struck as hard as one against his forearms he used to block. Dereece cried out as he was thrown onto his back for the umpteenth time in a row.

"Dereece…!" Dereece worried aloud.

"Oh dear, this ain't looking too good for him." Seel fretted.

"You're telling me. The big lug can't get close to him without taking solid air to the gut." Stunfisk frowned. "If that isn't cruddy luck, I don't know what is."

Heracross fell silent as he watched his Trainer fight with worry. Yanma was no different as she rested atop his horn like a perch to save her strength.

Dereece staggered back to his feet, albeit hesitantly. His arms flared with pain from the attacks that he blocked to preserve his head. At this point, his arms and upper body had small bruises that were from each blow received. Once again, he stood up and faced Nero with a pained and annoyed leer.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me all you can do is just run around on air." Nero snorted. "Because if that's it, then this just makes things way too easy for me. You might as well be using all that fat you've got to tank my blows."

"I'm big-boned!" Dereece yelled back, frustrated but also in partial denial. He wouldn't lie if he said that if it wasn't for the fat in his body, he'd probably be feeling way worse than he was now…even though right now was still terrible enough as it was.

Nero eyerolled. "Keep telling yourself that. Don't blame me if I they end up breaking after I'm done with you."

Dereece tightened his fists and used his magic to race at a steep angle into the air. At a higher vantage point, he angled himself in a direct line after Nero and ran at him with a loud cry.

"Pathetic." Adamantine scoffed at Dereece's efforts. "Nero, Solid Screen!"

Nero held out his hands again and solidified the air between himself and Dereece. The latter charged in and crashed into the solidified airspace like hitting a windshield. The backlash of hitting the magical barrier head-on caused some blood to draw from his nose. As Dereece laid on the solid matter, Nero backstepped and dispelled his magic, allowing Dereece to fall on his face by a few meters in front of him.

As Dereece struggled to get to his feet, he heard footsteps approach him, then a heel pressed against his head and stomped him back into the ground.

"You know, I'm not one to pry myself into others' affairs, but I couldn't help but notice before…you seem awfully close to that blonde in the coat, right?"

Dereece grunted as he struggled to resist Nero's foot. "S-so what…?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say you two were best friends. That's nice, having someone close that you could depend on. It seems to me that he's the one that takes charge though, while you just go along with what he says." Nero sounded more factual than antagonizing, something that Dereece silently acknowledged. "You know, I used to have a best friend too. We did everything together. Even when he fell under and resorted to being a bandit, I didn't mind living that kind of life. And do you know what happened?"

Dereece glanced up at him. He had a bad feeling where this was going.

"I'll tell you what happened…when things got so low that we had to run, the bastard ratted me out to save his own skin. I was there for him since we were kids, and the thanks I got was him turning his heels on me when the knights started cuffing me. The poor moron's probably jailed up elsewhere or dead since he's the one who committed most of those atrocities." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me anymore. I don't care. But hey, at least I learned that Pokémon are more trustworthy than having people to rely on. But you…you and I are a lot alike, you know that? We're followers. We're used to being used by others at our own expense because we had nothing else to live for. But deep down, you always fear…fear the day that he would just one day betray you. Or maybe the opposite and you desert him. I wouldn't put it past you if you did." He pressed his foot even harder against his scalp. "But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how others see you…you're still useless, even without him."

Dereece gnashed his teeth as he tried fighting the weight against his head. With his weight as his support, he got to his knees and pushed himself up, forcing Nero the step away. Just when he was about to stand up, a heel stamped his chest, putting Dereece on his back with a thud.

"You see? You can barely stand as it is. You don't have any special talents. It was your friend who took all the spotlight from you. If anything, all he's done is hold you back. I feel so sorry that you've had to depend on someone like him. Because of that, you'll never amount to anything. One day, one of you will turn your backs on the other. That's how friendships come and go, no matter what world you're from!"

Dereece made an attempt to sit up once more. His head was hurting bad, but he fought through it to get back to his feet. "Like you know…" Dereece scowled low, sounding hurt. "You have no idea of the kind of person my Captain and King is! Hraaaaaah!" He charged once again head-on into Nero filled with desperation.

Nero raised a brow, scoffing. "Oh, so you're saying you're willing to die for him then? Well…don't blame me for trying to be empathetic. You asked for this."

"Nero, Air Lob!" Adamantine scoffed.

Nero solidified air between his palms again as Dereece drew closer. The Apostle's mage reeled his arm back and took aim before lobbing the invisible solid air clump straight at his target.

The only thing Dereece felt at that moment was something hard striking him square in his forehead. The impact immediately sent waves of heat through his skull as his eyes shrank. Time slowed down around him as everything went white. The only thought he had as he was losing consciousness was a certain blonde man his age who looked back at him with a smirk.

'Joey…'

---

As Joey was facing Don Disco, he froze up when he felt something in his gut hurt. He knew it couldn't be bile, he hadn't eaten much. He was certain he was well hydrated, or maybe it was because the cardio from earlier cramped his insides like a delayed reaction? He honestly was uncertain as to what it could have been, but something in the back of his head screamed to him something was happening with a certain big-boned man with a red headband.

'Dereece?'

Burp? Trubbish belched a worry.

Joey frowned heavily as he couldn't ignore this feeling easily. It ached heavily, but he knew that he had to focus on what was in front of him right now. "…it's nothing. I'm okay. Let's go!"

---

Dereece laid in the grass with his face planted in the dirt with no signs of getting up anytime soon. The blow to his head was so intense that it knocked his headband off his forehead and sat right beside him. His head was bleeding slightly from what had to be the result of a concussion.

Nero looked down at the defeated man, not at all looking apologetic. Even though he was being empathetic, he still asked for it. "Guess it couldn't be helped. In the end, you're worth as much as you're valued…guess your value was low, huh?"

"No…" Yanma muttered as she sat on Heracross' horn, her wings drooping from the grief taking over.

Seel and Stunfisk were silent with worry on their faces. Neither of them were able to say anything in the hopeless realization of their predicament, as well as their Trainer's well-being. From how it looked, it wasn't anything to joke about. And Stunfisk especially knew that.

"DEREECE~!" Heracross cried loudly.

As his cries echoed through the winds, Dereece didn't budge as his face was in the grass. The only thing that kept him lucid in his numbing daze were memories of long ago.

---

"Alright everyone, you know what time it is? Time for snacks!"

The small class of kids that were no older than 5 were all gathered in a room that had alphabets and letters everywhere. Pictures of baby Pokémon like Igglybuff and Azurill were patterns on the massive rug that many of the kids sat on before the teacher called for snack time. All the kids rushed for their respective cubbies where they had their lunchboxes stashed and pulled them out. All the kids went to the round tables near the board to eat their respective meals.

Amongst these kids, there were two in particular amongst this group of classmates. One of them was a short, young boy with large blue eyes and messy blonde hair. A stand of hair hung over his left eye while the rest went their own way.

The other kid was a darker skin, and slightly chubbier than him, but had very short black hair that was it was almost a trim cut.

Joey Haycliff and Dereece Iwoda, 5-years-old and in kindergarten together. And so far, it was a smooth sailing venture for the two. They were as tight as brothers, and no one said otherwise. Being little kids, the world was their Cloyster, free from the judgement of others' criticisms.

"Dreesy, what is that?" Joey asked, looking at the sandwich that Dereece was eating.

Dereece looked down at the brown contents inside the sandwich. "Peanut butter."

"Oh…bleh. I like jelly." Joey held up his sandwich, which had purplish goop that was supposedly jelly between the loafs. He then noticed the granola bar and red apple slices he had packed. "When we get home, did you wanna watch some more of Pokémon Rangers?"

"Sure, okay." Dereece agreed almost instantly. Since he lived on the same street as Joey, they were essentially neighbors, minus the traffic that came between them, and the avenue separating them, and Dereece's stalwart and loud mother that terrified Joey.

"Yay! I like to see the blue Pokémon Ranger. He's so cool when he uses Water-types like that Huntail. Did you see how he battled that Tentacruel?"

"Yeah, he was okay. I really like the episode where he rode that Mantyke over a wave. It was all, 'whoosh'!" Dereece flew his hand in front and across while emphasizing his imagination.

"Hey, can you two move?"

The two boys were interrupted from their musings and fanatical chat about their TV show when they heard someone behind them. Standing beside them was a girl with light skin, with smooth black hair that went down to her shoulders. She had brown eyes that glistened when one looked at them closely. She and two other girls were beside her as they wanted their seats.

Joey frowned. "Emily."

"Could you move please? We wanna be by the board." Emily pleaded rather dull.

"But we were here first." Joey insisted. "That's not fair."

"This table is too big for just two people. Please?"

While Joey was insistent on staying put with their seating, Dereece was looking at Emily silently, a tint of pink in his cheeks. When he saw her glancing at him, he glanced down so he didn't get caught staring.

"O-okay…" Dereece sheepishly stood up, taking his lunch away with himself.

"Dreesy?!" Joey quipped, seeing Dereece walked towards the smaller table, the one that was towards the corner where the window was. Joey turned towards Emily, who didn't hesitate to take his seat. Knowing he was outnumbered, Joey chose to comply and took his stuff to join Dereece at the smaller table.

With a new space to eat away from the group, Joey turned towards Dereece with a frown. "You know, you could have said no."

"I-I don't know…" Dereece didn't bother looking at Joey. He was busy staring at Emily from afar. He didn't take his eyes off her even for a second. To him, he was looking at someone who was really cute, and especially pretty.

Joey frowned heavily. "I don't like her. She's mean and prissy."

"She's kinda nice…" Dereece reasoned.

Joey shook his head in denial. "Nuh-uh. She reminds me of that mean rich lady in that one episode…I don't know why she threw away that Meowth like that, but I don't know. She's icky." He noticed the stare Dereece had was still on her and not him. "Dreesy?"

"Huh? Uh, s-sorry, Jo-Jo."

"Hm?" Joey looked back at her, then his best pal, coming to an epiphany. "Dereece…you like her?"

Dereece visibly flinched. "Uh, I-I don't know…"

"What's the problem? Why don't you just tell her?"

"I-I'm not sure how to…"

As they were talking, another young boy moved closer to Joey's other side. He had smooth orange hair and orange eyes as he looked shyly at Joey. "Hey, Joey…" Kane meekly greeted.

"But if you don't tell her how you feel, how is she gonna know?" Joey continued answering Dereece's plight, as if Kane wasn't there.

"I-I don't know…I…I want her to look at me a little more though."

"Oh…" Joey didn't know what to say, so he thought of something. "Well, you still have me. If she's mean to you, I'll be there for you."

Dereece looked back at him. "You promise?"

Joey smiled, holding up a pinky. "Pinky promise, Dreesy."

"Thanks, Jo-Jo." Dereece smiled as he intertwined his pinky with Joey's. The two childhood friends smiled at each other, all while Kane sat quietly while being ignored the entire time.

…

Their grade school life continued, with them moving up grades. It was only around third grade, both Joey and Dereece being roughly 8, and it was around this time that they were starting to grow.

"You promise?"

Joey nodded. "Yep, I promise. This year, I'll stop copying off of you. I'll take this seriously and learn on my own."

"Thank you, Jo-Jo." Dereece sighed. "We got in a lot of trouble last year because of that habit. Let's try and not make that same mistake again."

"Joey~! Are you there?! I have a dress I need you to try on!" A woman's voice rang from down the hall.

Joey turned towards his room's door. "Yes, Mommy!" He glanced back at Dereece. "Hold on, gotta try this." He sauntered away towards the next room over. Once he entered, the door shut as the sounds of shirts and pants being undressed were loud enough for Dereece to hear.

Dereece sighed heavily, standing outside the door. "Really, Joey, why do you do this?"

"My Mommy said that it was for work!" Joey shouted from the other side. "And that it's for these models' kids…right?"

"That's right, dear. Now hold still so I can zip this up." His mother's voice chimed, followed by a loud zipper sound.

In a minute, the door opened. Dereece saw Joey in a marine blue dress with straps on the side, with light blue frills that poofed out from below. To accent it, he had tight marine blue slip-in heels that sparkled.

Joey twirled around, looking in an adjacent mirror. "Do I look pretty?"

Dereece blinked. "I really don't know how to answer that."

Joey crossed his arms, huffing. "Hmph! Really? You bet Emily would look better in this than me?"

Dereece tensed up at the mention of his crush's name. He looked down, unsure of how to answer. "Uh…I-I don't know. But, don't you think that you should try and be a little less…open about this?"

Joey raised a brow. "About what?"

"You know…wearing dresses at parties. Remember the Pumpkaboo princess dress you wore on Halloween last year?"

"I mean, I liked it. And you didn't say anything. Besides…it kinda feels brief wearing skirts. You should try it sometime. Maybe Mommy can lend you one."

"I'll pass. Thank you."

Joey shrugged. "More for me." He patted Dereece's back. "Ah, cheer up Dreesy, it'll be fine. It's more fun being around you than that prissy wannabe anyway."

Dereece looked down, unsure of what his best friend said. As much as he didn't want to dismay him for his choices, he felt uneasy with the expectations to fall upon them as they would venture further into their school lives moving forward.

…

"Wow, I feel so sorry for you."

"It's gotta be so tough dealing with that queer all the time."

"Seriously, you can do a lot better than him. Just drop him already."

The comments got worse by the year. Even at 12-years-old, Dereece knew better than to allow these notions of his classmates and others to get to him. But still, he was much too conscious to say anything back in defense of Joey or himself. Of course, a lot of the students didn't say that, but the looks he got from them sometimes confirmed his insecurities.

Though, what broke the Camerupt's back for him was a passing note that a fellow female classmate whispered to him.

"You know, Emily's never gonna look your way."

Dereece knew he had to stand out somehow. He had to. He's been focused on keeping up his studies as well as keeping Joey in line, the latter more or less being a hassle now that he was getting into the more mature fashion trends since he was on the verge of teenage years.

Upon arriving at Joey's house after another day in their new middle school life, Dereece was sighing as he sat at the table with his homework.

"Hm? Did you say something, Dereece?" Joey inquired. Beside him, Joey was wearing flashy clothes custom fit to his size. This design was primarily a black dress shirt with yellow and blue alternating zigzags like a Kecleon that his mother designed. He also had a piercing in his right ear. The strand of hair sticking out was also dyed a bright blue.

Dereece looked down at his mechanical pencil and froze. "…Joey…why are you not bothered with what others say?"

Joey blinked. "Like…?"

"Like how they talk behind your back? How you stand out too much because of how often you start dying your hair? Or the bright colors you wear?"

Joey looked down and frowned. "I mean, sometimes…but it's not like I'm hurting anyone. Besides, you should hear what most of the people say when they talk to me. They ask about my clothes and how flashy they are and what my mom's themes are whenever I wear new ones, but that doesn't mean they don't like me." He beamed. "Besides, Dereece, standing out is what I do best. I wouldn't be able to without you by my side. I'd feel way more insecure without somebody in my corner."

'Maybe that's why I can't stand out…' Dereece begrudgingly thought. Though he knew to keep this to himself. He didn't want to upset Joey because of his ego and how carefree he seemed. Sure, even though he wasn't taking the easy route to studies since he swore not to cheat off Dereece anymore, he still had to get help. That only added to the stress and worries he had for his friend.

Joey crossed his arms. "Still, if it's gonna be such a big deal, I guess I'll start dying my hair less often. It's kinda hard on my hair really…and my Mom's not too happy about it either."

Dereece sighed and grimly smiled. "Guess it's a learning experience."

Joey frowned heavily. "Still, I don't know how Emily could die her hair that pattern. Doesn't she know that much could ruin her follicles?"

Dereece noticed Joey's mood drop at the mention of her. "You really don't like her, do you?"

"Yeah, ain't that a given." Joey eyerolled. "Still, I won't do anything…no matter how much I wanna. Seriously, Dereece, what do you see in her after all this time? She just pushes others around for the glory of it all."

Dereece meekly turned away out of embarrassment. "I mean…sometimes, but she's still pretty."

Joey eyerolled with a loud groan. "Look buddy, I know I said I got your back on this, but at least do something! You can't something to happen, you gotta stand out for her! Maybe start styling, maybe take up Pokémon Battling classes, or get smarter! Or art! I don't know!" Exhausted about the subject, Joey leaned his head back in his seat. "I swear, all this encouraging is exhausting. I don't know how you do it, Dereece."

The notion hung in the air as Dereece looked down at his homework, his expression as blank as the sheets in front of him. "…I don't know either."

…

By the time they knew it, their middle school years ended. As brand-new high schoolers at 15, their first year was a new mark for them. Joey did himself proud by shaping up his second year of middle school that Dereece didn't have to help him anymore. Although, some habits and trends came and went that left insecurities lingering like burns, but those too faded away.

Now in high school, their lives were more sociable than they were a while back. In contrast to what others believed, Joey was very popular for not only his styles, but also his fashion advice. On top of that, he joined the school's dance club as one of their top varsity.

Dereece, on the other hand, managed to use this time to make a break for himself. As much as he was besides Joey, he couldn't help but feel all the doubt others said about their pity for Dereece. He knew he had to branch out. This would be his chance to get closer to Emily, one of the prettiest girls in school.

And that's when he found something that he had a passion for: Theater.

With Emily aiming to be a famous actress, this was a must for her. Dereece was along for the ride, and while he took the extracurricular, he was able to get closer to Emily than he was before, especially when they had similar roles as support characters. To Dereece, it was something he could only dream of until at that time.

The more they were in plays, the more passive Dereece showed himself when projecting. One time, he was able to get the lead role in the play called "The Volbeat & Illumise". Coincidentally, it was Emily who got the lead female role as well.

It was during their time rehearsing did Dereece genuinely enjoy seeing Emily around him. It was also the best possible way to get her to look at him. And it worked. The more they played, the more they smiled at each other, getting into their roles.

It was then that everything changed for Dereece.

On their way home from their respective activities, Joey and Dereece were side-by-side as they were walking on the sidewalk as taxis and Gogoat Express marched down the streets of Lumiose City. Joey had hands behind his head as he looked relatively relaxed.

This didn't go unnoticed by Dereece. "Something good happened?"

"You could say that…or rather, you could tell that to the new captain of our school's dance team! Boom!" Joey beamed with a fist pumped to the skies.

Dereece's eyes widened as he was genuinely shocked. "Really? That was fast! We're only halfway into our first years."

Joey sassily snapped his fingers. "Dance is life. Now about you, you seem rather…chipper than usual."

"Huh? Oh, really?" Dereece sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "It's…kinda hard to say. But here it is anyways." He looked more determined at Joey. "Joey, I think I'm ready. I'm finally ready to tell Emily how I feel."

"About freaking time, Slowpoke! And it seriously took you this long to decide?!"

"I know, but now, I'm really feeling a connection between Emily and myself…and our club is having one more meeting for the semester's end. I plan to tell her then."

"That's awesome, bud. Finally glad you're stepping up to the plate!" Joey nudged his shoulder. "Better make sure you don't miss your shot."

Dereece sheepishly blushed. "Aww, thanks. So, I know it's not much but…can I count on you to be there when I do confess?"

"Of course, buddy. So when's the last club shindig? Will there be snacks?"

Dereece cleared his throat. "Actually, it's this Friday."

Joey paused midway through a step and froze up. He had a stunned look at turned uneasy as he started tapping his fingers together. Dereece noticed this and started to look worried.

"Uh…about that…I…may have an arrangement already." Joey sheepishly admitted.

"Wait, you serious? Since when?!" Dereece snapped.

Joey raised his hands up in innocence. "Hey, don't look at me! This was planned two months ago! It's that big fashion show that my mom's apart of! She's having me display one of her dresses onstage."

Dereece groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right…how did I miss that?"

Joey turned away with an eyeroll. "Maybe because you were chasing girls than listening in on me."

"What?" Dereece sounded eerily offended. "Joey…it's not like that!"

"Yeah right, Dereece! Admit it! The only reason you got into theater was because of Emily! You know her reputation! Almost all the guys in our class asked her out and she rejected them all! What makes you think this time will be any different?!"

"I know so because I've been onset with her!" he countered. "She smiles at me when we perform! You saw the front page of our school's website! She was looking at me like I meant everything!"

"That was a performer's smile, Dereece! And I should know, I've been onstage dozens of times to know what one looks like! And that was definitely for show!"

"Joey, I have covered for you all this time! I've always been there for your dance competitions. The least you can do is be there for me, just this once when I ask you."

"Sorry Dereece, but do you know what my mom would say? This event is huge! I miss this, she'll ground me for a month!"

"So what?! You've never cared about what others say!"

"…I do." Joey bitterly muttered. "I care what you say."

Dereece's eyes widened. He blinked twice before he instantly felt regret wash over him. "J-Joey, I-"

Joey turned away. "It's fine, Dereece! You know what, go right ahead! Just tell her how you feel and get it over with! Meanwhile, I've got a beauty pageant to win, and I'll do it on. My. Own!"

Dereece wanted to say something to stop him, but he knew there was no backing out at this point. He balled his fists tightly and turned away. "…and I've got a club meeting to get ready for."

"Fine! Good luck getting that girl over your best friend!"

"Fine! Good luck getting that trophy all by yourself!"

With that, the two parted ways on the avenue, with Dereece heading to his home, while Joey marched back to his. The entire time, neither one turned to look back at the other. But that didn't stop the pain from showing on their faces.

As Dereece was sauntering back home, a buzz came from his pocket. When he reached for his phone, he was surprised at the message.

Emily: Make sure you bring flowers for the club meeting this Friday.

A soft smile drew on Dereece's face. Even if Joey didn't support him, he knew this was meant to be. This was something he decided. 'Right. This is something I can do on my own. Sorry Joey, but this is where I stand out to someone other than you!'

…

A few days came and went, until finally, Friday afternoon rolled around.

In one of the more illustrious galleries in all of Lumiose City, the place was packed with cars and people that were part of the fashion world. They were there to not only see the beautiful dresses that the top designers created, but also profit from them and sell their apparel at their own stores.

With seats already filled and stage lights on, the place was set for the showing. A director with a clipboard and shades was backstage as he stood amongst the numerous girl models that were Joey's age being tended to by their mothers. "Everyone, take your positions. First curtain opens in ten. Kiara, take your position."

One of the model called got ready as her mother was still finishing up her hair. Not far from her, Joey was standing around, wearing an eloquent dress reminiscent of a Mega Gardevoir, though having more hot pink frills beneath the white gown, as well as around the waist. Joey even had white high heels and wore makeup and facial masks to make him seem more feminine. Truly, his mother was a master at her crafts.

When he looked over to see her speaking to some fellow designers – possibly flaunting her designs – he could only frown as he felt anything but jovial. It was a strange feeling. Normally, he wouldn't mind, sometimes elated even, but today was not the day he's have a spring in his step.

After the stressful fight he had with Dereece the other day, to say that he was in a mood would be putting it lightly.

"What's wrong? You look like you're in a mood."

The flat, quiet tone caught Joey by surprise. He turned to see a girl his age with midnight blue hair with a princess-cut bangs framing her face. She had blue eyes and a straight face. Unlike Joey's attire, hers was more closely related to an Azumarill, with shimmering bright blue along the top with it gradually turning white as it scaled down towards her glossy blue heels.

"Oh, hey Catherine." Joey flatly greeted his fellow model, not bothering to show his usual feminine charms since she and him were acquainted for a few years now. She was one of the few people outside Dereece that he could be leisurely towards. "Actually, no. I'm not okay."

"Do tell." She chimed flatly.

"So get this, my best buddy in the whole world decided to just up and confess to somebody he likes, over me. Can you believe that? I mean, not to toot horns or anything, but she just leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time she looks at me and everyone else. Really, and people call me pompous!"

"Oh no." Again, her flat tone made it hard to tell if she cared. Joey just went on.

"I know! Ugh! And he thinks this is more important than this." He folded his arms, turning away with a huff. "If he wants to get together with her, fine. Go on. Not that I care. Because I don't. Meh!" He stuck his tongue out childishly and turned away.

Catherine blinked, her expression not changing even in the remote slightest. "…I see. Sounds like quite the dilemma."

"I know~! Clearly he's in the wrong here, and yet I just…can't shake this weird feeling in my chest for some reason." Joey clutched the large heart-shaped ornament on his chest. "It feels really weird…it's like…I don't want to blame him, but I'm at fault…? It's weird."

"It's called guilt." Catherine explained, catching Joey's gaze. "Not to judge character, but I think I have a pretty good idea after I've seen you onstage enough. You don't look back too often thinking of others, probably because you know someone's there to push you in that direction. But since he's not there, you're regretting what you've done."

Joey's gaze fell towards his dress, looking like he just had an epiphany. "Is that what this is?" He felt the feeling increase tenfold at that moment. All the stuff Dereece spoke before about his appearances throughout the years, and his habits that were apparently made fun of that he so casually brushed off came rushing back to him like a wave. Now that he was realizing it, being in Dereece's shoes, it felt really…discomforting.

"Looks like you caught on. My work is done here." Catherine turned away towards the curtain.

"Huh? Hold it! What do I do now…?"

"Figure it out. What's more important, your friend or your dreams? You should know by now."

Joey blinked twice as he stood there absorbing what his fellow fashion model said. He looked down at his dress, then back towards his mother, who was a short distance still distracted with her colleagues. He was silent as he thought about what this could mean to Dereece if he were to confess.

Even though he personally didn't like Emily, he knew that Dereece had a crush on her for a long time. It was plain as day, but even when Joey said that he'd support him, looking back at it, what did he ever do to show that? It ached him more than ever knowing the answer. His frown deepened at the thought of Dereece moving on without him and vice versa. To him, it felt very…empty.

Taking one final look at the stage, knowing this was important to his mother, Joey let out a grievous sigh. "Arceus, if you're watching, please forgive what I'm about to do…"

…

The high school's performing arts center was meant for the Theater Club's activities after school quite often. With their final play for the semester wrapped up, the members were given a couple days of reprieve before the semester's end. But now the members were back together to have one more meeting for the semester's conclusion.

Amongst the cast of possibly thirty other people there, Dereece walked through the double doors that stood at the top of the stairs overlooking the auditorium. The low lights were on above so he could see clearly. In his hand was a bouquet of red roses that weren't cheap to get.

The moment he laid eyes on Emily who sat amongst the many in the front row, he straightened himself up to look more confident. Over the years, Emily's hair had gotten longer, down to her mid-back. Her eyes were also narrower, with smooth skin and a clip in her hair to keep it neat. To say she was a figment of beauty would be an understatement.

This time around, he came extra prepared with wearing a nice dress shirt and pants to give himself a better impression. He made his way down the steps towards the others.

"Huh? Hey, there's the big Volbeat!" One of the club members chimed.

"About time you got here!" Another more slimmer members mused. "Worried you tripped on the way over here or something!"

A couple of the members chuckled some at the remark. Dereece didn't say anything and played it off as a joke. Instead, he turned towards Emily as she spared him a glance. Dereece smiled at her, to which she hummed and made a meek grin. He clutched his bouquet tighter with anticipation for his big moment.

"So, is everyone ready?" Another member with large glasses asked. "Daniel is having us to a special arrangement to end this club's semester."

Dereece blinked in genuine surprise. Daniel was one of the upper classmen of their club, just one year above Dereece. He was always known for having a kempt disposition and a sharp sense. His gaze alone would be enough to deter the weakest. If he was honest, Dereece never really interacted with him much unless it was mandatory, but this was a surprise nonetheless.

'Wonder what Daniel wants from us? He doesn't usually do anything extravagant that involves others. He usually hogs the spotlight himself.'

The same club member turned towards Dereece. "Dereece, I went over this earlier with the others. You'll join the guys onstage. You're standing in the far right." He referred to the stage behind them where a few guys were already grouped together and chatting about something.

"Uh, sure. But exactly is going on here?"

He smirked. "It's a surprise."

Though he was curious about it all, Dereece didn't try to question it too much. Instead, his focus was on the big stage light that was in the front of the stage. With where Emily was, it would be easy for her to see.

'This is your big chance, Dereece. You've known her all these years, make this count!' He took a deep inhale through his nose and out through his mouth. Once he found his confidence, he smiled brightly and hurried up to the stage.

Finally, all those years of waiting and observing came to this. He knew that red roses were her favorite. He got the most exquisite ones too imported from Sinnoh. He and numerous other guys stood across from each other, forming a line of sorts, with him at the very end of one row.

All the stage lights went off, save for the front lights to the stage. Amongst all of them, Dereece was the only one with the bouquet.

"Emily, if you would be so kind." One of the guys showed her the stairs.

Emily silently hummed as she got up from her seat and followed along. She held a small grin as she sauntered up the steps, each one making Dereece's heart skip a beat. She walked between the guy club members as her fellow female actresses watched from the seats with anticipation. She drew closer until she was only a few paces away from Dereece.

'Here we go…'

As soon as Emily made it to the end, she smiled as she turned towards Dereece. She walked closer and held out her hands, as if expecting something. Dereece held a passive grin as he smiled endearingly at her.

"Emily…I-"

"Dereece." She interrupted him. "The flowers."

"W-what?" He looked down at his hands, seeing that he was clutching them still. "Oh, right. Here…for you." He went ahead and presented the red roses to her, which she promptly accepted. "Now Emily, there's been something I've wanted to say all this time. Emily, I-"

"Sssh! Hey, you're talking too much." The guy beside him warned.

Cut off for a second time, Dereece was more confused than before. "What's going on? I thought this was so I could…"

Suddenly, a stage light came on from the side. Everyone turned their heads towards the overhead light focused a few meters away from them as someone stepped slowly into it.

There, standing at a fair height was a slim man that looked to be partially older and more mature-looking. He had black hair that was suave yet short that went off towards the side. His hazel eyes were fixed on Emily as he also wore fancy clothing like Dereece, only his was one jacket away from a full tuxedo. In his hands were blue roses tied in a bouquet.

"Daniel…?" Dereece muttered. He looked back towards Emily with worry. "E-Emily, what is…?"

Emily didn't say anything. No even a thank you. Instead, she took the red roses Dereece gave to her and smiled at Daniel as the stage light followed him towards her.

"It's a sign in Galar to exchange Applin as a show of one's love for the other. But here, I believe the primitive flowers of Kalos are more than adequate." Daniel poetically swooned. "Emily, with my blue roses as my token, please…accept my devotion."

Dereece's eyes widened as he stood stunned. No words formed as he stood with his lips shut. The other guys around him had expectant smiles in support of their senior club member. He had no idea about any of this, nor how to feel. He looked over to see what Emily was going to say. Maybe she would reject him for Dereece's loyalty?

Emily looked down at her roses, a soft tint of pink in her cheeks. She smiled warmly as she saw the blue roses and Daniel. "…I'd love to. Accept me, too."

The entire auditorium's club members broke out in cheers and catcalls as the two made their confessions known. Everyone looked so thrilled with this ceremonial exchange. The two exchanged their favorite flowers, and Daniel smirked down at Emily like an alpha, to which she seemed to enjoy.

The same sentimentality was not in Dereece. In fact, he felt his entire world shatter to pieces inside. The hope and joy he felt a minute ago was rotting away quickly into a void. This couldn't be happening, could it?

'M-Maybe…maybe this is all just part of an act we're part of? Yeah…'

As much as he tried to convince himself, the way Emily looked at Daniel wasn't any kind of look she gave to him before. Not even once. Even in the middle of a performance, she never smiled as passionately towards him in their acts. This one was genuine.

As Daniel was holding his new bouquet, he spared a small but palpable glance over at Dereece. As soon as their eyes met, it felt like a message was getting across from Daniel to him: You never stood a chance.

Now he saw it all. This was a setup. And he was blindly part of the act. The happiness he felt was gone, his insides feeling like a hollow shell. Had it not been for him standing straight up, he would have buckled over in sheer heartache and betrayal.

'I…I was just played by her this entire time.'

Emily's warm smile was fixed solemnly on Daniel. When she looked back at Dereece, it wasn't there. "Hm? Sorry, did you need something from me?"

Dereece wanted to say something – anything to put a stop to this…but he couldn't muster up the audacity. Any courage he had mustered was clawed out of him as he had a straight face. "…nothing…nothing at all…" His voice was low and broken, almost emasculated even. However, everyone was too swept up in the moment to give him even a remote thought.

He just stood frozen as everyone around him continued cheering and catcalling.

"About damn time you two!"

"New school couple alert!"

"Our girl finally got her man! She's been raving about this for months!"

Just when he thought he was finally getting his own spotlight, he never got the recognition for it, not even from his peers. He just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. No matter how hard he tried to portray himself, the reality was crueler than he imagined.

As he saw Daniel and Emily together, his eyes looked hollow with no joy in them.

"That was a performer's smile, Dereece! And I should know, I've been onstage dozens of times to know what one looks like! And that was definitely for show!"

He thought about Joey's words as he stared lifelessly at Emily. 'Joey…he was right all along. What have I done…'

Daniel smirked passively at his new girlfriend. "Now then, Emily, shall we?"

"Yes…"

The two drew themselves in to share their first kiss before Dereece's eyes…

SPLOOSH!

Suddenly, a container of what looked like grape juice spilled from straight above, dousing both Emily and Daniel. The entire auditorium went silent with everyone processing what just happened. All the girls – especially Emily – had her jaw wide open in shock as she felt the moment come to a screeching halt.

"WHAT THE F-?!"

Suddenly, a large bag of soft feathers fell from above soon after. The bag exploded upon hitting the stage area between Daniel and Emily. The bag exploded, erupting feathers that clung to their skin thanks to the juice. They looked like ruffled Pidgey that were frozen in disbelief.

The entire club's worth of people was at a loss for what to say. One second the new class couple was making a storm. The next thing they knew, the mood was completely destroyed by the liquid that would permanently stain their neat dress clothes. No words could be spoken about the levels of embarrassment the two felt.

"How's that for lovebirds!"

Everyone turned towards the stairs, where Dereece's world slowed down at what he saw. Was he seeing things, or was Joey standing there…wearing a rather expensive and pretty dress with feminine makeup on? He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"J-Joey…?"

Once Emily got her words, she spat out a feather and gawked at the culprit. "You…you-!"

"You've had that coming for a long time, you Pignite!" Joey beamed with no remorse. "I wasn't planning on doing anything out of respects for Dereece's feelings towards you. But since you outright rejected him, the gloves are off! Nobody pushes him away like that!"

Dereece was speechless. He didn't have the words to respond to what Joey did, let alone say. And of all times, he came in the middle of an important modeling audition…just to get payback for his sake.

"Why you…do you have any idea how much this cost me?!" Daniel exasperated to Joey, stretching his once nice dress shirt. "You're so going to pay for this!"

"Send me the bill! Meanwhile, I've got something important here I left behind that I'm taking with me!" Joey sassily walked across the stage, swaying his hips like he was going on a runway. He grabbed Dereece by the wrist and pulled him along back towards the stairs. "Come on, Dereece!"

"Woah, hey!" Dereece found himself returning to reality as Joey pulled him along.

The entire club only gawked as Joey – who was still dressed up like a rather pretty woman – was taking one of their members away while leaving them behind. Emily nor Daniel had the words as they were breaking down from the humiliation that they were taking in large gulps. The oil quickly dried up and stuck to their clothing, making pulling the feathers off that much harder.

As they were climbing the stairs towards the exit, Joey called out toward Dereece. "Hey, Dereece."

"Y-yeah…?"

"You okay?"

He found himself silently thinking of everything that happened up until now. As odd as it felt, for the weirdest reason, seeing Emily and Daniel get what they deserved felt very…cathartic. He could still hear the cries and shouts of ire from Emily, but he didn't bother looking back. He just smiled as he walked up the stairs.

"…yeah. I think I'll be okay. By the way, Joey, where did that juice and feathers come from?"

"You know, I have no idea. It was sitting there on the side when I walked in, like somebody just left it there." He shrugged. 'Thank you, Arceus.'

With the theater being so dark, in the far corner in the very back where no one could see, Kane sat comfortably in his seat, holding up a cup of tea and smiled to the show he watched. "Brilliant."

…

The two found themselves walking out of the school's theater out the backdoors to their high school. They started their way home as the sky was starting to be painted a bright orange. With Dereece's childhood crush life now gone, he was at a loss for what to say to Joey, who pulled him out of that situation.

"Joey, I-"

"No, Dereece. Don't say it. It's me who should be the one to say it. So, I'm…I'm sorry." Joey almost chocked at his own apology, though really it was because he wasn't fully used to being accountable at that point. But he was aware enough to know that he had to be. "I promised that I would be there for you and I bailed…I'm sorry buddy, really, I am." He frowned heavily. "I understand if you don't forgive me for what I've done."

Joey was expecting to be chewed out by him, but instead, he heard a sniffle. When he looked over, he saw Dereece sniffling as he was misting in the eyes. "Just seeing you come all this way in a dress is enough for me! I'm sorry for telling you to change all those times."

Joey meekly smiled. "Don't mention it, Dereece. Although…I'm pretty sure the schoolboard and the theater club is gonna be mad, and my mom's probably going to ground me for the next month…" He shrugged. "But you know what? I say it was worth it! I got to wear a pretty dress, got to knock that Emily down a peg after all this time, and best of all, I got to keep my Dreesy. I wouldn't know what to do without you, pal."

Dereece warmly smiled. How could he have been so foolish to not realize how good of a person Joey has been molding into just for him? Whatever broken feelings he had for Emily were now gone. He could see clearly with the sunset beaming on Joey's toothy grin.

That was the pure smile that no one else gave to him before. The smile he needed, from people who genuinely cared for him.

Before he could feel himself breaking down, Dereece pulled himself back together and smiled brightly. "Yeah, same here, Jo-Jo."

The two fist-bumped each other.

"Now that we have that settled, carry me home!" Joey chimed.

Dereece eyerolled. "C'mon, now you're just being overdramatic, as usual."

"Wish I was, but no, seriously. I ran halfway across Lumiose City in high heels, and one of them snapped on the way here. I pretty much have blisters on the bottom of my foot. So please, buddy?"

Dereece slumped his shoulders in utter disbelief, but he chose to let it go and opened his arms out to Joey. Joey merrily jumped into them and was carried along the sidewalk bridal style.

Joey pointed down the sidewalk in the direction of his home. "Let's go home!"

As they were walking into the sunset, Joey laughed excitedly in his best friend's arms. All while Dereece had a complacent smile that was warmed by the sun's light on both of them.

---

His vision coming back, Dereece immediately made an attempt to move his arms. The pain that he felt before was partially numb, but not enough for him not to feel the sting of the bruises he endured.

'Joey…even when I wasn't valued, you still valued me enough to have my back. I admired you all this time. Because of that, I…can't – I won't- let others decide my value.'

Seeing his small twitching, Heracross blinked and audibly gasped with shock. "Is he…?" He and the others remained silent as they felt relief and anxiety mix in their insides again.

'I won't lose here. Cuz I…'

As Dereece was opening the door to Joey's room to check up on him, he looked over at his small desk at his so-called bucket List. Even now, when he looked at the number of ridiculous things Joey wanted to do in this life, it almost made him want to chuckle.

Yet, what was written at the bottom – something newly written – was what stopped him from doing so. It made his heart almost skip a beat at what Joey put down.

'Live and die with Dereece by my side.'

'I…have something very important to do on our bucket list! SO STAND~!' Screaming inside his head, he strained all the muscles inside his body to grip the grass beneath and push himself up.

As Nero was walking away, he heard thuds and stirs behind him. He stopped and looked over his shoulder with mild surprise seeing his large foe rising to his feet. "Huh? You're still kicking?"

"Dereece…" Heracross and his fellow Pokémon watched in awe at what they were seeing.

Dereece stomped on the grass, planting firm ground. He panted heavily as he looked dizzy. His head felt considerably warmer than usual, but he bit his tongue to keep himself conscious and focused on Nero with a look of pure determination.

"He may live wild and extremely inappropriately…he's got a crazy fashion sense…and whatever goes on inside his head is a stuff that only Arceus and myself can figure out…" He balled his fists tight. "But no matter what he did, he never abandoned me! He was there for me! And I have to be there for him!" His glare intensified. "That person is my Captain, our King, and my best friend! And I WON'T! LET! YOU! INSULT HIM!"

Nero's eyes slightly widened. He could tell – he was angry.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" With evert fiber in his being, Dereece tackled Nero like a football player. The Solidification Mage was taken back by his comeback and was taken to the ground harshly by Dereece's weight and force.

Adamantine 's whiskers twitched. "What is the meaning of this?! Nero, stand back up! Get that overweight Munchlax off you this instant!"

Nero felt his back strain from that tackle. When he opened his eyes, they were instantly shut when a fist connected with his face. Then another on the opposite side. Then another on the side before. Then again. And again.

Dereece gnashed his teeth the whole way. He was punching Nero with all the might he had. Even if he wasn't strong, he still had weight behind him. Each blow felt internally satisfying for some reason. Probably because it was payback for all the taunting and bullying his opponent did on him. It felt gratifying.

"GAH! GAH! GAH! AAAAAHHHH!" Dereece punched relentlessly like a Machamp across Nero's face to where bruises were starting to show. He was giving him everything he had in him.

Watching from their confinement, his Pokémon were at awe with what they were seeing. Suffice to say they never saw Dereece like this, and it startled them.

"Oi…remind me not to get on his bad side." Stunfisk muttered.

"He's really giving it all…you can tell." Seel stated. She watched her Trainer fight for his life, the same feelings of determination and drive he had back in Glacidia returning.

"I may not know how, but he sounds like a good friend. You should be there, even if he is having bad times. Sometimes it's just best to think about what you want rather than what they want."

'I can tell…' Seel watched Dereece land another blow across Nero's face. 'This is what he wants. It's what he needed. He truly does care for his friend.'

Dereece wailed on his opponent, feeling all the bottled up emotions he had finally letting loose. 'What I wanna do…is KICK THIS GUY'S ASS!'

Nero grunted angrily before getting his knees between himself and Dereece and kicked him off at long last. Dereece caught himself using his magic as he saw Nero standing back up, his exposed skin on his face visibly bruised.

"Damn…you're really pissing me off now! I ain't taking being manhandled by an oversized pudding bag!"

Adamantine jutted a claw out. "Air Lob!" Nero complied, solidifying air between his hands and chucking it at Dereece.

Dereece timed the swing and weaved around it, feeling wind breeze past his left cheek. An audible thud was heard behind him. He ignored it and closed the distance.

"Solid Screen!" Nero didn't hesitate in summoning a solidified wall of air in front of him.

Rather than run in head-on like before, Dereece reached his hands out and rammed into the wall. With his hands feeling the wall, he knew where it was. 'There!' Using his magic, he planted his feet perpendicular to the wall and ran up it.

"What?!" Nero looked up, seeing Dereece reach the top of his screen's range. 'No way, he used my magic as a foothold for his!'

"Aaaaaah!" Dereece dropped down off the other side in an attempt to body slam Nero. However, the mage pulled away and rolled. Dereece then did something irregular. He held out both hands and 'gripped' the air like it was a ledge. He swung his lower half at Nero and struck him straight in the sternum, sending the mage on his back with a thud.

"Inconceivable! Get up! Put this oversized weakling into the dirt like he's supposed to be!" Adamantine outraged.

"Oh no you don't!" Dereece turned his attention towards the sky and started ascending in a steep run. He made way until he was a high-enough position directly over Nero. He aligned himself to where he was vertical to the ground and Nero was a hundred feet below him.

Squinting, Dereece had his target locked. He got in the balls of his heels and sprinted straight down at full-speed with a loud cry. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!" With the force of gravity helping him, he was like a clothed comet that was barreling straight for the mage.

"Gnnngh…damnit…" Nero was getting his second wind and stood back up. He heard a loud cry that grew louder by the second, but when he looked around he didn't see anybody but his Trainer and the trapped Pokémon.

"The hell is…!" He finally realized it. When he craned his neck up, his eyes shot open at the fast-pacing person falling from the sky. "SHIT!"

As Dereece fell, time slowed down only for an instant for Dereece to think. 'No matter what…' Flashes of their shared past resurfaced, starting from the present and working towards the past. 'Having Joey as my best friend…'

The image that stuck with him most was the last one he thought of…the first day they met and smiled at each other in that nursery.

'…IS SOMETHING I'LL NEVER REGRET!'

Dereece charged with all his might into Nero. He shoulder-charged himself straight into his head, immediately sundering him into the ground with all the velocity behind him making him into a heavyweight tackler straight from above.

"SKYFALL!"

All around, time slowed down for everything to process for everyone. From Dereece's fortitude, to Nero's eyes going white without pupils, to Heracross and the others looking dumbfounded, leading up to Adamantine standing completely still like he was unable to process it all. Dereece rolled off his fallen opponent and felt the shock of his crushing attack going through him. For a moment, he was unable to feel anything, but slowly, he shuddered and struggled back to his feet.

As he was finally able to stand up at last, he turned around and looked down at his opponent. Unlike him, Nero wasn't so lucky. He laid on his side, his eyes devoid of pupils to indicate he was unconscious.

Adamantine lowly growled, his muscles tensing.

In his panting, a small but noticeable smirk was on the side of Dereece's face. "That one…was for calling me useless."

The solid air around his Pokémon started refracting light as the sides started cracking apart. The cracks increased in size every second until the entire structure dissipated. Freed, they all jovially leaped and hurried over towards their Dereece.

"Dereece!" Heracross was the first to reach him and support his back to keep him upright.

Dereece craned his head, looking back at all of them. "You guys are free…sorry that took so long."

Seel shook her head. "Not at all. You did a fine job!"

"She's right, mate. Gotta say, never expected that from ya." Stunfisk mused. "Haha! You actually

Dereece really appreciated their praise. He felt something land atop his head and looked up. "Yanma?"

The Clear Wing Pokémon lowered her head and looked down at her Trainer, her small mouth curving to a small. "You were so awesome."

A soft smile came across Dereece's face. "Thanks."

Heracross put a tentative hand on Dereece's shoulder, looking sincere at him. "You did Joey and us proud. Thank you…for everything."

STOMP!

"Useless welp!"

The five were brought out of their small team moment when they heard a belligerent outcry of pure exasperation. They all turned with wide eyes towards Adamantine, who was stomping on Nero's back harshly. Each time the hoof stamped his back, the body lurched. They could've sworn they were hearing bones snapping.

"How dare you lose to such an incompetent mage! No human of mine is this weak!" He roared in between his stomps. "That was pitiful! You're weak! I do NOT TOLERATE THE WEAK BEFORE ME!"

The group didn't say anything. They were simply stunned at the sheer rage and abuse right before their eyes. Even though Nero was crude, not even Stunfisk could crack a smirk for his predicament. It was that bad.

Adamantine grunted and ceased stomping on him. He picked him up between his huge claws and suspended him in the air. "Your strength is useless to me! If I had time, I'd throw you off the cliff so you could catch yourself with your magic. If that didn't work, then you were truly just fodder!"

The enraged Golisopod noticed that he was being stared at by another human. He glanced over at Dereece, who met eyes with the intimidating bug.

"…tch." He threw Nero off to his side and started trudging Dereece;s way. "I'll punish you for your insolence later. I'll handle this weakling myself!" His claws started glowing bright white as he drew closer.

Dereece balled his fists as he was still wobbling. His focus was fading in and out, but his body still felt weak, especially after that last attack he used. 'I think I'm still concussed. My body feels really weak…I can barely stand right now. But still…I have to…fight!'

Adamantine towered over Dereece, his Slash brandished and ready to strike. "I'll show you how easily it should be swatting down annoying flies!"

At that moment, Yanma's eyes glinted bright blue. She grabbed Dereece by his clothing and dragged him away, sweeping him with her Detect just before Adamantine's claw pierced the ground where he stood. "Huh?!"

"Do it now!" Seel shouted as Heracross grabbed her and pulled away.

With a loud cry, Stunfisk's body exploded bolts of electricity everywhere with his Discharge. The voltage waves beamed everywhere, save for Seel and Heracross, who were safely out of distance. Thanks to Yanma still under Detect, she and Dereece were spared. Adamantine, however, felt his entire body convulse under the super-effective attack stunning impact.

The next thing to hit him was a small white horn that connected with his head. A second horn with white streaks connected with his exposed underside, going through his scale-like armor with an airwave – a critical hit! Both Seel's Headbutt and Heracross' Aerial Ace landed their marks full-force and caused Adamantine to grunt loudly and pull away.

Dereece was still concussed, but he was aware enough to know what happened. "Huh…guys?"

"You wanna get to our Trainer, you're gonna have to get through us first!" Heracross threatened the recoiling Adamantine.

"That goes double for me!" Yanma retorted, floating above Heracross.

Adamantine cringed, feeling the Headbutt's flinching preventing him from advancing. "You little…!"

Seel turned her head back towards Dereece. "Dereece, you've done more than enough. Please let us handle this and rest your head."

"She's right, mate. You've earned the rest. We'll take it from here." Stunfisk smirked, static crackling around his body. "Now it's time to show you what we're made of. And I should warn you, it'll shock you! Hahahaha!"

Dereece gasped, but he knew he was in no position to say otherwise. He sat slouched and meekly nodded. "…right, okay."

Heracross tensed his own muscles and lowered his head, jutting his horn at Adamantine. "So, big guy, you think you can take all of us?" Around him, Yanma, Seel, and Stunfisk shot glares at the offended Golisopod.

Adamantine's cross eyes were piercing. He could feel all his muscles tense as he glared back at the four Pokémon that blindsided him. On top of that, those attacks actually packed some punch, especially that electrifying impact. He looked like he was ready to tear them limb from limb. And yet, despite their opposition, the four Pokémon opposing him didn't falter. He hated that. He loathed it.

And yet, he could feel his body taking over his mind. The sense that he despised to no end: Danger.

No matter how much he wished death upon them, he abruptly turned on his heels and trudged away swiftly back towards the confines of the city. The action surprised the others.

"He's letting us go?" Seel wondered.

"Oi, looks like he's running away to me." Stunfisk beamed.

"Shouldn't we go after him? It'd be dangerous to leave him." Yanma worried.

"Maybe, but…" Heracross turned back towards Dereece, seeing the dried blood on his head. "It'd be even more dangerous just to leave him behind."

---

Zeus clipped his pincers together, causing sparks to flare. "Strept, use Shadow Wave!"

Strept repositioned his feet and brought both hands together. A magic seal formed in front of him as a thick mass of shadows fogged into view before it erupted into a dense wave of shadows heading right for Duncan. Said target remained still as another gear on his staff twisted into place.

"Gear Six: Darkness!"

Duncan raised one end of the Elfen Forja as dark energy manifested around the tip. He brought it forward and spearheaded the shadows head-on. The shadows were bisected around the compressed magic as a result, keeping Duncan firmly positioned as he tried to hold his ground.

Strept scoffed loudly. "So what if you got the better of us before? Won't help if you can't reach us anyways! Hahahaha!"

Duncan was too busy grunting to make an audible response. He mustered all the might he could and let out a loud cry through the magical wave. The darkness coating the staff's tip started to expand as the shadowy beam's volume was gradually shrinking. When it got to a sizeable amount, Duncan began twirling his staff, making the other end glide around and absorb some of the shadows. He kept twirling, slowly conducting the shadows into his darkness.

This didn't go unnoticed by Zeus. 'Is he actually…?'

With a final swing, Duncan dispelled the shadowy wave around him, His staff twirled in his hands as a wheel of darkness with a denser shadowy bog formed in his rotation. Without any hesitation, he sprung forward to attack head-on.

"Macro, Mud Geyser!"

Macro complied with his Trainer's commands and pressed his hands into the ground. A yellow magic seal appeared beneath him, with a similar one appearing just below Duncan as he raced ahead. At the last second, the latter sidestepped to avoid a fountain of spouting mud that would have otherwise impeded his advances and darted straight for Strept.

Zeus started to show visible worry. "Use Shadow Shield, now!"

Strept gasped as he saw Duncan barrel closer towards him. He swung both arms up to summon a dense wall of shadows from the ground.

"HRAH!" Duncan's twirling momentum brought it into the dense shield before him. Darkness met thick shadows that brought a stalemate between them. The two forces fought for dominance like Duncan attempted before, only this time, he was able to hold his ground.

Strept kept his hands out to retain control and form over his makeshift barrier. However, he found it harder then usual to keep up his defenses...especially when he noticed how much of his shadows were being pulled into the dark hemisphere at the end of Duncan's staff. It was like a black hole that drew the shadows in upon contact.

"How are you…?!"

"My Elfen Forja is more than just a neat little tool to hit you with." Duncan scoffed. "For example, the ends work as conductors for the magic of each lacrima, but that's not all…they're capable of conducting external elements as well. Which means…your magic becomes my energy!"

The Elfen Forja conducted and absorbed the last of the shadows into the tip. The purple lacrima still in active gear shined brightly with the increased power. Said power took the form of the one end being a hyper-compressed sphere of darkness contained by the conductor. From how pitch-black it looked, it looked to be extremely dense.

Strept looked mortified as he backpedaled. "No…!"

"HRRAAAAAAH~!" With a loud battle cry, Duncan raised his staff high over his head and brought it down with all his might onto Strept. The target's eyes shrank to the size of salt grains before he was hammered with his own magic in an eruption of shadows that spiked towards the sky. The ground rumbled as dust blew everything close by away, including Macro.

Zeus scaled into the air to get away from the shockwaves of the attack. He saw the dust blossom for several minutes until it finally settled.

Standing tall, Duncan's Elfen Forja was by his side, the end's dark energy gradually dissipating after being expelled all at once. Strept laid in a crater in front of Duncan, his eyes devoid of any pupils or signs of getting up.

"No! Strept!" Macro panicked.

"Now then…" Duncan gradually levered his staff back over his shoulder as he gave a glare over his shoulder towards Macro. "Looks like it's your turn."

Zeus looked surprised - or as surprised as a Vikavolt could express – over the sudden knockout, but he quickly got over it and countered. "Macro, quick! Use Mud Clones!"

Macro gnashed his teeth and reached his arms out in front. The mud in the area manifested from the ground up into a dozen copies of himself that he manipulated into charging at Duncan. Duncan went to work with swinging his staff around, bashing the clones in either their legs or knocking their heads in. Upon being hit, they returned to mud that dropped to the ground. Yet, as Duncan was swinging and keeping them at bay, only more clones were being made to stall him.

"You may be able to conduct elemental magic properties, but can you absorb mud?" Macro chided.

Duncan struck another clone down, dissolving it to mud. He started to feel his muscles get sore after swinging it around for so long. He looked around to find more clones gradually closing in on him.

'Looks like they want me to expend my physical energy on copies. Guess I have no choice…' He reached back and pulled out a Poké Ball. "Now, Gastroden, start!"

He threw the capsule towards the sky, causing it to expel energy that turned into his Gastrodon. "Ready!" He slurred.

"Another Pokémon?" Zeus scowled.

"Gastrodon, Muddy Water, let's go!" Duncan ordered.

Gastrodon raised his head and let out a loud cry. A surge of brown water spun around him before it turned into a spiraling brown wave and released it all around him. The wave swept everywhere around himself and Duncan, swallowing up all the mud clones gathered close by.

With the added viscosity to their forms, all the mud lost any firm holding and slowly disintegrated the clones through the Muddy Water. The area was swept in a spiraling swell that wiped out all the clones at once.

'He's washing the mud away with water! Damnit!' Macro looked to be in a panic over the biggest flaw in his attack.

The water hurried for him, but he was reflexive enough to jump onto a large wooden crate that was sturdy enough to take the rushing water. He stood on it and saw Duncan glaring directly at him from behind Gastrodon. He had his target locked in place with nowhere to go.

"Now, Ice Beam!"

With the water still surging around them, Gastrodon opened his maw again as cold energy turned into a bright blue orb of energy. Once fully charged, the sea slug wasted no time in firing three dense, zappy beams across his own attack in a straight path towards Macro. The top of the brown water froze directly beneath the wake of the beams as it traced towards its target. Macro could only gawk with horror as the Ice-type attack met him head-on, cresting a vast cloud of icy frost that bloomed over the area.

As the wake of the attack settled down, Duncan bared witness to the frost dissipating, revealing the brown water gone. Instead, a clean trail of ice led up to a destroyed wooden crate, with a partially frozen Macro laying on top of the debris with eyes devoid of pupils.

Opponent number two, out.

'Impossible! Those were my best mages!' Zeus thought mortified of his predicament. He looked down at Duncan to see him completely composed, if not bothered by the battle. Despite mud staining his clothing, he looked like he could still keep going. 'This human, he didn't show this level of skill when we first encountered them. Were they holding out on purpose? And his Pokémon…they're stronger than I imagine.'

Duncan turned his gaze up towards Zeus. "Now then, who's next?"

Zeus could only respond with static crackling around his jaws.

BAM!

Suddenly, out of the blue, a force rushed into Duncan's side, knocking him off his feet. "GAAAAH!" The Trainer/Mage flung through the air, tumbling past his Gastrodon across the street.

"What?!" Gastrodon looked stunned as he saw his Trainer being knocked away out of nowhere. When he looked back to their attacker, his white eyes met silver scales and black claws jutted outwards.

Adamantine stood in a pose, his First Impression landing its mark as he snarled low.

"Adamantine?" Zeus gasped.

Duncan grunted as he felt his second wind come around. It was a struggle, but he used his Elfen Forja to support himself as he got back up to a knee and look back at his surprise attacker. "It's you…"

Adamantine glared coldly at Duncan. For whatever reason it was, the Trainer felt a strong need to keep hold of his Elfen Forja for his life's sake. The Golisopod's eyes didn't have a shred of mercy in them.

"What happened to the other human you were fighting?" Zeus inquired.

"That inferior welp wasn't worth the effort. He's nothing but crippled scrap to me now!" he exasperated. "You go and have at that scrap. I'm done wasting my time on that weakling."

Hearing this got Duncan's curiosity piqued. 'Did Dereece actually drive this Pokémon away?'

Zeus wanted to say something, but the look Adamantine gave him made it clear that he wasn't having any of it. The large Vikavolt shot Duncan one more glare before making his decision. He pulled out his Human Cubes and hastily recalled the defeated Strept and Macro.

"Fine…as you say." Zeus made an immediate turn towards the western fields, gliding skywards out of sight.

"Running away?" Duncan taunted, but was cut off when Adamantine brandished his claws as he impeded his path.

The sheer scorn on his face made it perfectly clear that the Golisopod was in an extremely foul mood. The details of the way his mask was contorted and his cross eyes were glaring at Duncan like he was ready to shred him apart made it clear that there would be point in running away…not that Duncan had any plans to.

The Trainer scoffed. "Not sure how Dereece did it, but it looks like he pissed you off somehow." He smirked. "Guess he's not half-bad after all. So I guess I'll have to pick up where he left off."

If Adamantine had teeth, they would be gnashing. "I won't be bested by inferiors like you. I'll make you know your place…even if I have to claw some guts out of you to prove it."

---

"Dereece, can you stand?" Heracross aided in supporting Dereece by the shoulder.

"Yeah…I think so." Dereece grimaced as he was on his feet after sitting down for a couple of minutes. As much as he appreciated the rest, he knew being out in the open was not a good idea.

"We need to get you checked out, pronto." Seel advised.

"She's right. Maybe we can find Nic or Wendy, they might be able to fix you." Stunfisk added.

Dereece hazily blinked. "Let's hope so."

Yanma felt her small horns shrivel. She sensed something familiar that she had recently felt before. She looked up towards the sky, noticing a shadow blitz overhead. Her eyes never left the oversized silhouette with jagged pincers circling overhead. It made her wings skip a beat.

"Yanma? What's wrong?" Heracross noticed her predicament and looked up. His eyes widened. "Guys, incoming!"

Everyone looked up, seeing a massive insect descend in front of them. The Vikavolt's jaws crackled static as he shot piercing glares at all of them.

Dereece furrowed a brow. "That Vikavolt from before…"

"Hmph! So you're the lot that Adamantine had a struggle over. It's not often that he leaves leftovers for anyone. He's the type to keep his property to himself and himself alone." He buzzed loudly. "I am Zeus, an Apostle under His Majesty…and the one that will success where Adamantine failed."

Dereece shrugged Heracross off him and braced himself. The fight wasn't over for him.

While the other Pokémon looked just as ready, Yanma especially buzzed her wings as she shot glares at Zeus' daunting fixture.

---

Vanessa and Sophie continued down the stairs, which were still solemnly lit by the orange rail lights overhead. Even then, it was still barely visible. Had it not been for Vanessa's ability to sense aura and follow the unknown tracks, Arceus knows how lost they would have gotten.

'We must have come a long ways from above. If I had to guess, we have to be a hundred-feet below the surface.' Vanessa pondered to herself, before thinking back to Joey's theatrical entrance from underground. 'This must be in a different section if it wasn't touched by the palace rising. Meaning if this does led to the factory, there might not be too much structural damage.'

Sophie peered ahead as she noticed the staircase flatlining. "Vanessa, look!"

The two finally reached the foot of the descending staircase. There was a short, narrow corridor that led to what looked like a vaulted door, with some technological locks and no windows. From the looks of it, it seemed relatively thick in whatever metallic material it was made of.

"A security door?" Vanessa questioned.

Sophie blinked, surveying the bizarre door. "Even if I can't remember, I wouldn't think I've seen something like this before."

"No, certainly not." Vanessa approached the door, getting a better look at its external design. The sleek black metal looked to be untouched, yet brand-new. 'There's definitely something not right about this. It looks recently built. And this technology…I don't think even Earthland is even capable of making security doors this cyber, could they?'

She wasn't sure either way, but she knew dawdling wasn't an option. She needed to remember why they were down here. Activating her aura again, she confirmed the last of the footprints went underneath the door.

'Just as I thought, the trail leads to here.' Vanessa furrowed her brow as she scanned the door. 'But I don't see a handle, nor any sign that this was touched by hand. It must be automatic.' She paused at the thought. 'It must be, but it must respond to a code, or only authorized personnel from inside can open it. In that case, we won't be able to get in by normal methods.'

Sophie stepped closer, putting a hand to her hip. "Doesn't look like it'll open freely. Suppose we should break it down?"

"No. I think I have a better idea." Vanessa reached for a Poké Ball. "That earlier magnitude should have startled them. They'll probably be on guard. We won't make it far if we present ourselves out in front. So…we'll hit them from a different angle." She tossed the capsule. "Go, Krookodile!"

The capsule popped open, sending out Krookodile in front of Vanessa. The Intimidation Pokémon opened his mouth and let out a loud roar. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, STUPID METALLIC DOOR! YOU THINK YOU CAN KEEP KROOKODILE OUT, DO YA?" he yelled violently. "Well guess what, NOBODY KEEPS KROOKODILE OUT, EXCEPT HIMSELF!"

"Krookodile, use Dig!" Vanessa ordered.

"LET'S SEE SOME STUPID DOOR STOP ME FROM DOING THIS!" With a swift leap off his legs, Krookodile arched into the leveled floor and dove snout first. Under his superb strength, he bored a hole clean through the carpeting and tiles, heading directly into the rock and dirt that lied below.

Vanessa and Sophie peered down the hole, seeing Krookodile vanish into the darkness that he could see clearly through.

"Now I get what you're saying. We're going to surprise them by making our own entrance." Sophie acknowledged.

Vanessa nodded. "Right. This might be our one shot to thoroughly get inside while everything is shaking on the surface. Let's hurry…and destroy everything this horrific factory ever created."

Sophie hummed and nodded. Vanessa jumped in and she followed behind, leaving only a dense hole in front of an armored door.

---

Somewhere in the underground, there was a large industrial complex, with metal grating and walkways that looked freshly made. There were ventilation systems installed as well to allow oxygen flow and sufficient air to get to the complex from the surface. There were ducts that were high near the ceiling, which had bright lights so the people in tattered clothing and collars around their necks could see where they were going.

There were a large number of humans, presumably mages all working in different stations. Some of them had wrinkles under their eyes, and when some were dozing off, they got a wakeup call from a very merry buzz. The healthiest had to be the younger ones that had the energy to do the heavy lifting of lacrima that were being hauled towards what looked like compressing machines.

Watching over all this labor from a high-level complex was a Pokémon that was reptilian and black. She looked a lot like a Salandit, but larger, upright, and more feminine. She adorned a charcoal black set of pants with a hole for her tail, which swayed as she sauntered about. While she had no shoes or gloves, she did have a well-defined pink V-neck that hugged her upper body. She also had a brown coat to cover her arms.

The Pokémon sauntered around, looking up towards the ceiling. "Ugh, did all that racket up there finally settle down?"

"Uh, I-I think so, Miss Aphrodite?" One of her mages said, standing beside her with a plate of fresh grapes. He flinched when she swiped a whole vineyard off it, thinking the slap was for him.

"It better, because I was enjoying a nice nap." She opened her mouth towards the grapes, expelling a brief, hot flame that charred and dried up the grapes. She dropped them into her mouth and ate them up. As she walked up a set of stairs, she leisurely tossed the stem off to the side. "Seriously, why put me in charge of some rigged industry? Well, guess it's better than my last gig…at least I'm not making a fool of myself."

The numerous male mages surrounding her frowned as they all stayed silent. They stood in front of the staircase Aphrodite walked up that led to a small office that she walked into, slamming the door shut. They all guarded the door while she sauntered to her leather chair that sat behind a medium-sized desk.

"Ahhh…that's more like it." She picked up one leg and crossed it over her other leg. She got cozy in the red leather as she oversaw all the manufacturing parts that her factory had through the few lacrima monitors positioned around her.

"That earlier earthquake really messed up everything. Had to actually get off my ass and check the maintenance to see if it was still functioning and what not. That king did say for me to be on guard, but really, who the hell's gonna find such a place down here?" A roguish smirk crossed her reptilian face. "It wouldn't matter anyway. We can always use the extra manpower. Now, get back to work, my slaves…we have a quota to meet."

---

Hope this chapter didn't take too long. I know this arc is long enough as it is, but I wanted to play a little with some of Dereece's backstory, as well as give him some individual character. It felt like a good opportunity, while also showing his and Joey's school life. I could have done a little more, but I figured that would have derailed off the matter at hand.

Anyways, now you guys have seen all the Apostles. You can probably guess what Aphrodite is, but I won't say until the time comes.

Next chapter, The Freaks will shine brighter than before against the Apostles they're pit against. After all, we'll be drawing to the last leg of this arc's big fights ahead of us!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to leave a review, I always appreciate the feedback! XD