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And now for our feature presentation...

The Great NSM Pokemon Adventure!

Chapter 1: New Horizons Dawning

It was a bright, sunny day in Sootopolis City. The sun had gotten into its highest point of the day. A young boy named Jordan was outside playing with a few friends. He was a tall, gangly boy of just 13, and he had the most piercingly deep blue eyes.

Jordan was enjoying this time with his friends because he knew they all were soon going to leave on a journey with their own Pokemon. He had begged his parents to let him go, but they always refused. One day, though, Jordan's father came home with a shiny new Poke Ball and gave it to Jordan. It was Jordan's very first Pokemon, a Minccino. He absolutely loved the small, gray, chinchilla creature. His friends were all extremely jealous of him.

Now the day was coming for his friends to leave, and he wouldn't get to share in the joys of an adventure.

But something changed all of that. On the day of his friends' departure, it began to rain. Just a typical rain at first, but then it grew to a fierce monsoon. It would be stormier than heck one second, but then later it would turn into the biggest heat wave ever recorded in the history of the Hoenn region. Everybody was rushed into their homes. The weather got steadily worse, and it seemed to be the worst right over Sootopolis. Then Jordan witnessed an amazing sight. There, in the center of the city, were two of the most legendary Pokemon in the entire world. Groudon, who created the land, and Kyogre, who created the sea. They were said to have battled many years ago and taken to a deep sleep, but they were somehow re-awakened and were battling once again in a fierce stand-off. Their battle continued for hours, with no progress seeming to be made. Earthquakes rocked the entire region, and severe thunderstorms flooded towns all over. Then Jordan saw something even more amazing. Down from the heavens, a steely green Dragon Pokemon appeared. It was Rayquaza! It swooped down into the town and stopped the conflict between Groudon and Kyogre, sending them back into their deep sleep. Soon after, Rayquaza retreated back to whence it came. Seeing these legends only made Jordan want to become a Trainer even more.

...2 YEARS LATER...

"Mom! I'm heading out! The ship is about to leave!"

"Have a great adventure, Jordan! Please call me sometimes!"

"I promise!" Jordan shouted as he walked out the door. He had just turned 15, a little late to be starting his journey, but he didn't care. He was excited to finally go on his journey. He walked out to the lake, where a submarine and a ship captain were waiting for him. The captain didn't really seem like the sailor type. Jordan thought he looked more like a scientist.

"Jordan, my boy!" the captain addressed. "You made it!"

"I hope I'm not too late," Jordan said sheepishly. "Sorry, Captain Stern."

"It's no problem!" Stern laughed. "Just hop in!"

Jordan got in the submarine after Captain Stern, and they were off. Jordan knew exactly where they were heading. They were going to Lilycove International Airport (or LAX) because of the e-mail Jordan had received. It was from a group of friends in the Johto region inviting him out because the professors had called a bunch of teens that hadn't gone on a journey yet. Jordan wasn't sure why he was being called, but with an invitation like that, his parents couldn't possibly refuse him anymore.

He was lost in these thoughts for so long, he didn't realize they had pulled into Lilycove Port until the submarine had screeched to a sudden stop. He exited the submarine, thanked Stern, and headed towards the airport. He boarded his plane after a long hassle with airport security over his Pokemon, and took off for Johto. He decided to catch some rest before he got there. And he knew that when he got there, there would be a new horizon dawning for him.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 2: A Bright Sun

Morning was just dawning in Ecruteak City, all the way over in the Johto Region. A short, brown-haired boy woke up to find the sun particularly bright on this particular day. How fitting, he thought to himself. A bright sun for a bright future. The boy got out of bed, got dressed, and was ready for the day. He headed out the door to find two girls standing at the door, waiting for him. They both looked similar, fairly short with long brown hair and glasses. They were even both wearing nearly the same clothes too. The only real difference was that one girl always wore a beanie hat, and that was how he could tell the two apart.

"Good morning, Roz," he said to the girl with the beanie hat.

"Good morning, Marty" Roz replied back.

"OH, SO IT'S HER FIRST, HUH?!" the other girl, Nebu, barked angrily.

"What?" Marty wondered, confused. "What'd I do?"

"Nothing," Nebu smiled. "I'm just messing with you." She laughed. Marty and Roz stared at her for a moment, and then burst out laughing as well. They laughed for what seemed like an eternity over something so pointless.

Finally it seemed to settle down. "Anyway," Marty said, "What's up?"

"Have you not heard yet?" Nebu asked.

"Heard what?" Marty demanded.

"Apparently," Roz began, "Jordan is flying out here to meet us regarding that email!"

"R-Really?!" Marty stammered. "That's awesome! How did you know?"

"He put it up on NSM," Roz explained.

NSM was a website that Roz, Nebu, and Marty had discovered one day when they were looking for sheet music to play. They happened to stumble upon it and liked what they saw, so all three of them joined the forums. They met a whole bunch of friends there.

"So when's he gonna get here?" Marty asked.

Roz checked her shiny new Pokenav. "According to this text, his flight stopped in Cianwood City to pick someone up."

"Wonder who it is..." Nebu thought aloud.

"Same here," Marty agreed. "Wouldn't it be funny if it was someone else from NSM, like Ragster?" They all laughed again until Roz's Pokenav beeped again.

"It's another text from Jordan," she said. She read it out loud:

OMG RAGSTER JUST BOARDED THE PLANE!!!

The three of them stared at each other for a bit. Then they burst out laughing again.

"So," Nebu said to Roz. "What's our schedule for today?"

Roz coolly checked her Pokenav again. She read her daily planner out loud to Marty and Nebu:

7:00 AM: Wake up.
7:30 AM: Meet Nebu and Marty at Marty's House
8:00 AM: Leave for Goldenrod
9:00 AM: Meet with Jordan, show him around Goldenrod
11:30 AM: Board the Magnet Train for Saffron City
11:45 AM: Disembark in Saffron City in Kanto
12:00 PM: Catch bus to Pallett Town
1:30 PM: Meet with Professors

She looked up at them. "As you can see, we have a busy day ahead of us."

"Well, then," Marty advised, "We should get going."

"Right," Roz and Nebu said in unison. So the three of them said their good-byes to their families and left for Goldenrod City.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 3: Like New Meetings, but Not Really

In the plane headed for Goldenrod, Jordan sat in his seat patiently waiting to land. He was sitting in his seat, writing a review for a movie he was watching, when an announcement came over the intercom.

"This is your captain speaking. We have a bit of a stop to make in Cianwood City before we land in Goldenrod, so if you could please be patient for a while longer, it would be fantastic. We'll give you a free bag of peanuts on your next flight. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Of course, Jordan didn't hear him, as he was too focused in his review to care.

A little while later, the plane finally came to land in Cianwood City. The passengers were slightly irritated by this delay in their flight. After everything had been put into place, a lone passenger boarded the plane. He wore a green T-shirt with a black cargo vest, blue jeans, a green bandanna around his forehead, a pair of jet-black Aviators, fingertip-less black gloves, black chucks, and a brown belt. His hair was a very light blonde, and his eyes were a blue-ish green. Jordan knew that the boy seemed familiar to him somehow, so he invited him to sit next to him.

"Hi," Jordan introduced himself. "I'm Jordan."

"I'm Matt," the new boy said.

"Nice to meet you," Jordan said.

"Likewise," Matt replied. They sat in a sort of awkward silence for a little while. Then Jordan decided to check NSM on his laptop before the plane took off again. As he logged in to the site, he caught the attention of Matt, whose eyes lit up furiously.

"YOU'RE SLOWPOKEMON?!" he shouted out loudly.

"Yeah, why?" Jordan asked quizzically.

"It's me, Ragster!" Matt answered.

Jordan seemed skeptical. He didn't seem to believe this boy. "If you're Ragster, prove it," he said. "What's your favorite Pokemon in the whole world?"

Matt scoffed. "Treecko, obviously."

Jordan's jaw hit the floor. "OH MY GOD IT IS YOU!" he screamed. They had the most incredible brohug in the history of mankind. "What are you doing here?" Jordan asked excitedly.

"Well i got an email saying that the professors were calling me out for something."

"Me too!" Jordan shrieked. "I got that same email!"

Just then, a boy leaped up from his seat a few rows ahead of them and bounded towards them. He was a taller boy with long, jet black hair, and he wore jeans that stopped at his ankles. He wore a shirt with a Poke Ball on it.

"Excuse me," he said. "But did i hear that you two were SlowPokemon and Ragster?"

"That's right," Jordan answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh," the boy began. "No reason, other than I'M CLANKER."

Matt and Jordan's jaws both hit the floor. They both let out a crazy sounding, "WHAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Yup," the boy said. "Except in the real world I'm known as Stepney."

"Well, sit with us then!" Matt said.

So Jordan, Matt, and Stepney sat together on the plane to Goldenrod.

...MEANWHILE...

"Worst. Shortcut. EVER."

"Shut up. At least I'm trying to save us some time."

"How is getting attacked by wild Pokemon time-efficient?!"

"Again with the talking!"

...MEANWHILE...

The plane finally landed in Goldenrod City. Jordan, Matt, and Stepney exited the plane and waited in the airport for Marty, Nebu, and Roz.

"Hmm..." Matt wondered. "Do you think they forgot?"

"Nah," Jordan said. "Roz texted me saying they were leaving."

"Maybe you should check again," Stepney told him. "Just to be sure."

Jordan sent Roz a text message on his Pokenav:

Where are you? Ragster, Clanker and I are waiting at the airport.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty, Nebu, and Rozalie were having some troubles getting through Marty's supposed "shortcut." Wild Pokemon were attacking them left and right. Just then, Roz got a text message from Jordan.
It said:

Where are you? Ragster, Clanker and I are waiting at the airport.

"Guys!" Roz yelled. "Ragster and Clanker are with Jordan!"

"OH MAH GAWD," Nebu cried. "WE HAVE TO GET THERE. NOW."

Marty looked around for something that could get them to Goldenrod quickly. Eventually, his eyes trained on a brown and gold Pokemon, sleeping. It was an Abra.

"Quick!" Marty said. "Grab that Abra!" So they ran over to the Abra and put their hands on it. The clearly spooked Abra used Teleport!

Marty, Roz, and Nebu were instantly next to Jordan, Matt, and Stepney in the airport. The Abra had teleported them exactly where they wanted to go! The Abra was clearly mad for being awoken so rudely. It scratched Marty and left. After that, an amazing reunion of sorts took place, and group of now six walked around Goldenrod City together.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 4: To Kanto, and...

Marty, Nebu, Roz, Jordan, Matt and Stepney had explored Goldenrod City for about an hour. Finally they had to leave and catch the Magnet Train bound for Saffron City. They ran over to the station and handed their tickets to the ticket taker, and he led them to the train.

"Well," Marty said. "I guess it's time to say good-bye to Johto for a while."

"Yup," Roz said. "I'll miss it."

"Well," Stepney said. "I don't live here so I don't care. Let's go!" Stepney pulled them all onto the train just as it started up.

The train began to levitate over the tracks through magnet repulsion and took off at a high speed. They all looked out at the countryside spreading out before them. It was beautiful. They could see the Union Cave right below them, and many novice trainers entering it, hoping to get to Azalea Town and its Gym Leader, Bugsy. They admired the scenery for a few minutes until they arrived in Saffron City, many miles away from their homes in Johto and Hoenn.

They all stumbled off the train, feeling kind of dizzy after the blazingly fast ride, and headed to the bus station.

"Ok," Roz said, checking the Pokenav. "The next bus to Pallet Town leaves in..." She scrolled through the list of departures. "Well, it looks like the next bus leaves for Pallet Town. We better hurry."

"C'mon guys," Marty said. "I know a shortcut there!"

"You've never set foot in this town in your entire life!" Nebu shouted. "And frankly, I've had enough of your shortcuts for one day." Everybody walked silently after that, until they reached the bus station. When they got there, Roz flashed the ticket now marked for six to the lady at the counter. She nodded at them and let them pass. They boarded the bus and it left for Pallet Town.

Meanwhile, in Cinnabar Island, a boy was boarding a ship bound for Pallet Town. He was slender and medium height. He had blue eyes and light brown hair that reached to his shoulders. He wore black shoes, blue jeans and a blue shirt. His mother was talking to him.

"Do you have everything?" she asked.

"Yes, Mom," he answered.

"Your bag?"

"Yes."

"Your money?"

"Yes."

"Your Pokenav?"

"...Yes."

"Your-"

"YES. I have everything, Mom. Don't worry."

She smiled. "You're right. I shouldn't worry." She gave the boy a hug. "You know your father would've been proud, Davy."

"Yeah, I know," Davy said.

"I love you, Davy," his mom said.

"Love you too, mom," he replied. "I'll come home to visit, okay?"

"You better!" she said. "It's boring on this little island."

Davy got on board the ship and it set sail. He waved good-bye to his mother and left Cinnabar Island. He turned around to look towards Pallet Town.

It was the last time he would ever see his home intact.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 5: A New Region? (Must've missed the memo...)

After an extremely long and cramped bus ride, Marty's group arrived in Pallet Town. They disembarked right next to Professor Oak's Lab, where he and the other 4 Professors were waiting. As soon as they got off, they saw a ship arrive down by the coast. There, Davy got off the boat and walked over to the Lab.

"Hi," Davy said.

"Hello," everyone else said back.

"I'm Davy," Davy told them.

"Wait," Marty paused. "Did you say...Davy?"

"Yeah, I did," Davy assured. "Why?"

The other five looked at each other while Marty asked him, "How do you spell that?"

"D-A-V-Y," Davy said slowly.

All six of Marty's group screamed, and ran to hug Davy. Davy looked extremely confused, so after a brief explanation and proof of identities, Davy eagerly joined in the group hug. Just then, the door to the Lab swung open. An old man with gray hair stepped out. He wore a white lab coat.

"Ah," he said. "I see you're all here."

"Professor Oak!" they all shouted.

"Yes," Professor Oak said. "I know who I am. Come with me, quickly. We have much to talk about." They stepped into Oak's Lab. Inside were the other four renowned Professors of the world, Elm, Birch, Rowan, and Juniper.

"You found them! Great!" Juniper exclaimed.

"Hmm..." Rowan muttered.

"They sure look promising," Elm mused.

"Ah! Stepney! Good to see you!" Birch said.

"Nice to see you too, Professor," Stepney replied politely.

"Now that we have the introductions out of the way," Matt said. "Why did you call us all here? And just how did you come to pick us specifically?"

"Well," Oak said. "I'm going to hand that to Professor Birch for the time being."

Birch stepped up. "Thanks, Oak," he said sarcastically. "Anyway, two years ago, there was a huge battle in the Hoenn region between two legendary Pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre."

Marty looked over at Davy and noticed that he had clenched his fist when he heard Birch say "legendary Pokemon."

"I remember that!" Jordan blurted. "I was there that day!"

"Yes, it was quite a disaster," Birch agreed. "Anyway, for those of you who don't know who Groudon and Kyogre are, they're mythical Pokemon that created the land and sea. In any case, their battle was catastrophic, and it took the help of Rayquaza to finally calm them down."

"Ok..." Roz said tentatively. "What does THAT have to do with THIS?"

"Well," Birch continued. "The battle between Groudon and Kyogre had very visible effects in the Hoenn region, but it also had effects elsewhere."

"What are you saying?" Nebu asked.

"Honestly, Birch," Juniper scolded. "You really need to learn to get to the point." She stood up. "All right, what Birch is trying to say is that Groudon's power of creating land was unleashed in the world during the battle, as was Kyogre's power of sea expansion. As soon as one would try to upset the balance of sea to land, the other would counteract it. Eventually, they came to a compromise, and after the battle was over, a new region was created."

"Wait," Jordan said. "Did you just say a new REGION?"

"Yes, she did." Rowan stood up at this point. "Except then, it was just a regular landmass."

"So, what's so special about this region?" Marty asked.

"You see," Elm went on for the group, "The interesting thing about this 'region' is that there are no wild Pokemon on it AT ALL. Even Water-Type Pokemon seem to stay away from its shores."

"That seems like a bad omen," Davy pointed out.

"Well, I think there's another reason behind it," Oak said. "We've started colonizing this new region, just without trainers and wild Pokemon. We've named it Terrari."

"And so you need us...why?" Stepney asked.

"We want you to go to the Terrari region and help us see what a world would be like without wild Pokemon," Rowan said.

"What's the point of that?" Matt asked.

"To see if Trainers like the region. If they do, maybe we could start up a land for Trainers only. Plus they wouldn't have to worry about running into any wild Pokemon," Rowan explained at length.

"I see," Roz said. "But why us?"

"Actually, you are not the first people there," Elm said. "There are others already. Trainers, Gym Leaders, and even a Champion. And the best part is that they're all people you know from your web site that you all frequent. What was it called again? NSM?"

The look on the faces of Marty, Roz, Nebu, Jordan, Matt, Stepney, and Davy were all the same. Pure and utter shock.

"You mean EVERYONE from NSM is going to be in the Terrari Region as a Trainer?" Nebu asked excitedly.

"Well," Juniper said, "Mostly. There were a few we couldn't quite reach, but yes. They will be there."

"But wait," Marty wondered. "How are we going to become Trainers in a region without Pokemon?"

"That's the best part!" Elm told him. "We're giving you all a year to assemble your team!"

"A year?!" Jordan cried. "That's quite a while."

"Well, we can cut it down whenever you all come back here," Oak said. "For now, you may each take one of these Pokemon we have set out for you." Oak and the other Professors set out seven total Poke Balls, each full of a Pokemon.

"What if we already have a Pokemon?" Jordan asked, showing them Minccino's Poke Ball.

"Consider this your lucky day, then!" Juniper said enthusiastically.

So the seven of them each took a Poke Ball. Marty had chosen Totadile, Nebu chose Cyndaquil, and Rozalie took Charmander. Jordan added a Chikorita to his belt while Stepney took a Mudkip and Matt chose Treecko.

"Big surprise," Jordan said sarcastically.

Davy was last to pick, and he received a Squirtle.

"Now that you all have a Pokemon, we have a few things to hand you," Elm told them. The Professors each handed the team five Poke Balls and their own Pokenav.

"Is it safe to assume you know what these do?" Rowan asked.

"Yes," was the unanimous answer from everybody.

"Great!" Juniper shouted. "Now, before you leave, there are a few rules. You may only catch five Pokemon. Except for Jordan. He may only catch four. These must all be at a starting level of five. You cannot train your Pokemon while travelling. That would ruin the challenge of your adventure. We have planes for each of you to fly to each region. Also, there is a Pokemon League that takes place in Terrari. Since there are seven of you, you qualify for a group acceptance. If you each get one badge, save for one person who needs to acquire two, you all gain entry in the Pokemon League. Do you all understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" everyone shouted enthusiastically.

"Great!" Juniper shouted back. "Get to work!"

The seven of them ran out of Oak's Lab to find seven planes waiting for them outside, each with their name on them and a pilot in the door.

"Well, guys," Marty shouted over the roar of plane engines, "This is it for about a year."

"Yup," Nebu said. "Let's do our best to get our best teams possible!"

"Yeah!" everyone yelled.

"All right then..." Marty began. "Ready...steady..."

They all broke out in a huge, "GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO..."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 6: Beginning the Adventure

ONE YEAR LATER...

Jordan arrived at Lilycove International Airport for the others. It had been exactly a year since he and the others were sent to catch their team to explore the Terrari Region. On top of Chikorita and Minccino, he had caught a Spinda, a Misdreavous, a Ralts, and a Litwick. He wondered what everyone else had caught. He would have to wait until they got there, he supposed.

...MEANWHILE...

Stepney was on the road to Lilycove, trying to dodge wild Pokemon the best he could. Not being able to battle made it quite difficult. In his year of searching, he had caught a Snorunt, a Budew, a Vulpix, a Sneasel, and Murkrow. He was especially happy with his Budew. Out of all the Pokemon he had caught, Budew was his obvious favorite. He liked all of his Pokemon equally, but Budew was on another level. He had finally reached Lilycove, and could see the Airport off in the distance.

...MEANWHILE...

Matt looked around the darkness of the cave. "I know you're there," he whispered.

Just then a short, blue Pokemon with stubby legs and a gaping mouth jumped out from the shadows.

"A-Ha!" Matt shouted. "You're mine, Gible!" He threw a Poke Ball, his very last one, at the Gible. It shook inside the ball for a few seconds, and then gave up.

"Cool!" Matt shouted. Now he had his complete team with him. Other than Treecko and Gible, he had obtained a Magikarp, a Skarmory, a Tynamo, and an Abra. As soon as he was satisfied, he headed out for his plane, only to see Nebu and Roz standing there.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "What're you guys doing here?"

"Well..." Nebu said sheepishly, "We kinda need a ride to Lilycove on your plane."

"Why?" Matt asked.

"Our planes were kinda both destroyed," Roz explained.

"WHAT?!" Matt screamed. "How?"

"Well, we were both flying near Mt. Silver," Nebu began. "And we saw this AMAZING battle between the Kanto champion and the Johto champion."

"And...we both got a little too close to the mountains and the shock waves from the battle destroyed our planes," Roz continued.

"Oh my god, are your pilots okay?" Matt asked, worried.

"Meh, who cares," Nebu said. "My pilot was kind of a jerk."

"Mine too," Roz said. "Men these days..."

"Tell me about it," Nebu agreed.
While Nebu and Roz were gossiping about their rude pilots that were probably flying a little higher than they used to, Davy showed up and said that the same thing had happened to him as well.

"Umm...do you guys need a ride then, or...?" Matt stared at them awkwardly.

"That'd be great," Roz said. "Thanks, Matt!" So the four of them crammed into Matt's plane and took to Lilycove.

...LATER...

"Phew," Matt said. "We made it."

"Look!" Nebu cried. "The others are here!"

"Wait..." Roz stopped. "Where's Marty?"

"So we're missing him," Davy said. "He'll probably catch up soon. Don't worry." They landed on the runway and jumped out of the plane to greet their friends and compare their Pokemon. In the year, Nebu had obtained Cyndaquil, Drifloon, Solosis, Venipede, Sentret, and Trapinch. Roz had caught Charmander, NidoranMale, Poliwag, Shroomish, Dratini, and Bronzor. Davy had also captured a Squirtle, a Pineco, a Pawniard, an Exeggcute, and a Natu. He had also won a Porygon at a Game Corner.

"Wow," Stepney said. "We're all going to have some pretty impressive teams."

"Yeah," Jordan agreed. "I wonder where Marty is, though..."

...MEANWHILE...

High above the sky in the Hoenn Region, Marty stood on the wing of the plane assigned to him. He was going to jump down and land in Lilycove instead of have the pilot land, thereby saving some gas for the pilot. He felt pretty generous today. Just then, the pilot's voice came through on his headset.

"Well, kid," the gruff voice said. "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely," Marty said. "I've always wanted to try this."

"Ok, then," the pilot said. "You may want to hand me your headset before you jump."

"Right," Marty said. "I know."

"Ok." The plane flew for another minute, and then the pilot said, "All right, we're coming up on the landing zone. You have a window of time of around 10 seconds to jump and hit your mark. Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" Marty shouted eagerly.

"All right then," the pilot said. "GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!"

Marty took off his headset, gave it to the pilot, and jumped. He fell 5,000 feet to the ground below, straight onto the runway of the Lilycove International Airport.

...MEANWHILE...

"Hey," Jordan said. "What's that thing falling from the sky?"

"Is it a bird?" Stepney asked.

"Is it a plane?" Nebu wondered.

"Are we trying to replicate the 'Question and Don't Answer' game?" Jordan asked.

"I think that's Marty!" Roz cried.

And sure enough, it was. Marty landed perfectly on the runway of the airport, and his friends rushed out to meet him.

"Hey, guys!" Marty shouted. "Miss me?"

They all said, "YES!" at the same time.

And so the group had re-formed after a year of being apart. Aside from having a full team of Pokemon, nothing had really changed about them. Except they had all grown in the past year. It was pretty clear if you had seen a picture of them from a year ago.

"So, Marty," Roz began. "What'd you catch?"

"Well," Marty started to answer, but caught himself. "I'm not gonna tell you," he said finally, and he flashed them all a devilish smile.

"D'AWWWWWWWWWW..." Nebu said.

"Don't worry, you'll see 'em!" Marty assured the group. "And anyway, don't we have a flight to catch? Let's go!"

The seven of them all cheered as they boarded the flight bound for Maron City, the first stop in the Terrari Region.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 7: A Pleasant Town

After several hours of restless wandering about the cabin of their plane, Marty's group finally heard the wonderful announcement of the pilot,

"Attention passengers. We are preparing to fly over the Terrari Region and make our descent into Maron City. Make sure you are ready for your arrival! Thank you."

"Oh my god," Nebu said. "I am SO excited." Everyone else stated their hearty agreements. They all looked out the window. They then all got their first glimpse of the Terrari Region.

You could tell it had been built on by humans. There were towns scattered here and there, but no roads in between them yet. The towns all seemed to form around the region in a spiral. Maron City seemed to be at the end of the spiral, with another town in the middle. The town's buildings were extremely frivolous. The rest of the towns were either smaller or not able to be seen. Routes had been blazed in between cities. The grass all around was kept short and tidy. The group also noticed there were two small islands right off the coast of a port town. One of the islands looked miserably hot and volcanic, and the other looked like a giant iceberg.

They were admiring the beauty of this new region when the captain came over the speaker again.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Anyway, we're gonna land now. Get ready!"

They sat in their seats until the plane had completely stopped. Then they all took their first steps into the Terrari Region.

They took a look around Maron City. It was a pleasant little city, almost...town-like. There was a nice square in the middle of the city with a fountain where people were gathering, and the shops and residences were all on the outer part of the main square. While they walked around the main square, they noticed a tall castle looming over all the other buildings. This castle looked exactly like the Pokemon League in the Sinnoh Region, only a whole lot bigger. The sign over it read,

"TERRARI REGION ANNUAL POKEMON LEAGUE REGISTRATION TAKING PLACE! EARN THE EIGHT BADGES TO GAIN ENTRY!"

"Well, guys," Marty said. "We're up for this, right?"

"Right!" they all said in unison.

Little did they know they were being watched from the moment they had set foot in the Terrari Region...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 8: A First Battle!

The group was walking around Maron City, meeting all the people. Just then, a boy around their age walked up to them. He had dark brown hair to the point of being black, and brown eyes that seemed lost in thought. He wore a yellow t-shirt and carried a staff. He walked over to the group.

"Hey!" he said pleasantly. "You guys must've just come in on the last plane. I've been tracking you guys around since you got here. My name is Jerry, but you can call me Jerry."

Jordan thought about this strange boy for a moment then said, "Is that you, Jub?"

Jerry looked shocked. "Woah!" he shouted. "How'd you know that?"

"Lucky guess," Jordan said. Then he introduced himself to Jerry. Everyone else followed with their own introductions rather quickly.

"Wow," Jerry said. "Fancy meeting you guys here! Of course, you guys are some of the last people to arrive, so i shouldn't be surprised."

They all looked at each other. Were they really the last ones there? That would mean everyone else had a head start on them. That was rather worrying.

"But enough of that," Jerry said. "Who wants to battle me?"

They all looked at each other again. Finally, Marty stepped up. "I'll do it," he told Jerry.

"Cool," Jerry said, pleased. "Let's get started. Let's make it a 3-3 battle. Get ready!"

"All right," Marty replied. He looked through his bag for three Pokemon he knew would do good for him. He finally chose his Totodile, Riolu, and Pansage. He then turned back to Jerry, with the 3 Pokemon on his belt. "I'm ready to go, Jerry!" he shouted out to his opponent.

"Cool!" Jerry exclaimed. "Let's begin!"

They found an arena that had been made in the main square just for trainers. They took their respective positions in the trainer boxes and began.

"I choose you, Turtwig!" Jerry shouted. A little, green turtle with a leaf on its head sprang out of the Poke Ball that Jerry threw. It had a large brown shell on its back as well.

"All right," Marty shouted. "Time for your big debut! Totodile!" He threw Totodile's Ball out into the arena. It popped out of the Ball in an explosion of light.

"Let's go, Turtwig!" Jerry said. "Use Tackle!"

Turtwig charged into Totodile and tackled it. It did a fair amount of damage to the poor creature. Totodile got up, slightly injured.

"Totodile!" Marty shouted, concerned for his Pokemon. "Are you all right?"

"DILE!" Totodile shouted in spite of its injury.

"That's the spirit!" Marty shouted. "Use Scratch!"

Totodile ran up to Turtwig and scratched it. A huge claw mark appeared on its face, and it yelped in pain.

"Turtwig! Use Tackle again!" Jerry ordered.

The two Pokemon exchanged tackles and scratches for a little while until eventually, they both gave out.

"Hmm..." Marty said. "A tie."

"Yup," Jerry said. "And i have a feeling the other battles will end up the same way. Why don't we battle another time?"

"That sounds good. When we're a lot stronger, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be ready for you!" Jerry told him. They shook hands and left the arena.

...LATER...

"So," Jerry began. "You guys are all heading to the league challenge, right?"

"Yeah," Roz said. "We all need to get at least one badge."

"Nice," Jerry nodded. "Well, I have a proposition for you guys."

"What is it?" Marty asked.

"If you guys let me tag along with you, I'll show you around Terrari," He offered.

"That sounds great!" Matt shouted.

"We'd all be glad to have you join us, right guys?" Davy asked.

"I'd be fine with it," Stepney added.

"I see no problem," Jordan said.

Nebu and Roz both nodded, "Yes."

"Well, it's official," Marty told him. "You're coming with us, Jerry!"

"Cool!" Jerry exclaimed. So they got ready and left Maron City for the next destination, Hidavel Town, and the first Gym battle.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 9: There's Always People Like THEM

The group, having just added Jerry, left Maron City the morning after Marty's first battle. They rested at the Pokemon Center for the night, and headed on the road first thing in the morning.

Nebu yawned. "I hope this doesn't take too long..."

"Me either," Marty agreed. He checked his Pokenav. "Apparently, Route 150 is the only thing in between Maron and Hidavel, and it's not terribly long." He closed the Pokenav. "We should make it there by the afternoon."

"Cool," Jerry said.

Just then, they ran into two people walking the opposite direction as them. The two boys wore some pretty strange clothes. They seemed to resemble a Pokemon of some sort.

"Who're they?" Stepney wondered.

"I dunno," Matt said. "But they sure look funny!"

The two seemed to hear Matt's extremely rude comment and ran over to them.

"EXCUSE ME?" one of the boys shouted.

"Who're you guys?" Roz asked.

"We're members of FoG," the other boy said. "The Followers of Giratina. We like taking people's Pokemon to serve masters Korbin and Giratina."

"Taking people's Pokemon?!" Marty cried.

"Yup!" the first boy shouted. "Hand 'em over!"

"No way!" Jordan shouted.

"You don't seem to know who you're dealing with," the second boy said. "Why don't we show you?"

They both stood in an awkward looking pose and began reciting something.

"An attempt at negative reinforcement!" the first said.
"We invade your adventure with terrific endorsement!" said the other.
"Agents of FoG, we're taking you out!"
"Give up your Pokemon, there's no time to shout!"
"Kelsey!" said the first.
"Eric!" said the other.
"Cease your struggle, for we have the advantage-"
"Make way for evil, that which we have granted."
"We fight to the finish, now on with the show-"
"Onward for victory, let's GO GO GO!!!!" Eric finished with a flourish.

The group stared at them, completely dumbfounded.

"Right, then," Marty said. "We're gonna leave now." So the group left along the route to Hidavel, leaving Kelsey and Eric behind in their dust.

"They're getting away!" Eric cried. "Let's GOGOGOGO!!!"

"Nah," Kelsey said. "We'll see them again. I know it."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 10: Training?

The group was walking on Route 150, almost to Hidavel Town, when it hit Marty.

"Hey," he said. "I just realized something."

"What was it?" Jerry asked.

"Well," Marty began, "If we're going to fight all the gym leaders, how are we going to get strong enough to beat them with virtually NO trainers and ZERO wild Pokemon?"

They all stared at him as if he had made an extremely good point.

"Wow," Roz said sarcastically. "You said something logical for once."

"Yeah, yeah," Marty retorted. "Such a rare occurrence, I know."

"How are we going to handle that, then?" Matt wondered aloud.

"I have an idea," Jordan said. "How about each night, we all train together?"

"I see," Davy explained, "So we battle, but not enough to KO our Pokemon, but enough to get some experience?"

"Exactly," Jordan assured.

"That's brilliant!" Marty said.

"Good idea, Jordan!" Nebu shouted.

"Also," Jordan continued, "We need to decide who will challenge which Gym Leader."

"But," Stepney interrupted, "We don't know what types each Gym Leader uses, so we don't know who to match each person up with."

"I can shed a little light on that," Jerry said. "I know a lot about the gym leaders."

"Could you help us out, then?" Marty pleaded.

"Sure," Jerry acquiesced. "The first gym leader uses Ground type Pokemon. Judging from my battle with Marty, I think he'd be the best fit for that Gym. The second gym leader uses Dark type Pokemon. The third gym leader uses Poison types. The fourth and fifth leaders use Fire and Ice, respectively. The sixth uses fighting types, and the seventh uses Grass types."

They were all taking mental notes when Matt asked, "What about the eighth leader?"

"Oh, right," Jerry began nervously. "I, uh...don't know what kind of Pokemon the eighth leader uses. I heard his team is extremely frivolous, though. That's always a bad sign."

And so the schedule of Gym challenges was set. Marty would take the first and last Gyms, Matt would take the second Gym, and Davy would take the third Gym. Nebu decided on the fourth Gym, and Roz chose the fifth. Stepney chose to challenge the sixth Gym, and Jordan settled for the seventh Gym.

"Is everyone fine with their assignments?" Marty asked. No one voiced any complaints, so they all agreed and went onward. When they got just outside of Hidavel Town, Nebu stopped.

"Maybe we should start training now," she said. "Before Marty's gym battle."

"That's a good idea," Davy said. "How shall we work this out?"

"I have a suggestion," Stepney told them. "How about we let out all of our Pokemon, and let them all battle each other in one big group? Then we can check our team's data out on our Pokenavs after a bit of time to see how much each one has grown."

"That sounds really cool," Matt said, excited. "Let's try it out!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 11: Begin the Crazy Training!

The eight trainers all stood in an octagonal formation. They all eyed each other nervously, as this was, for most of them, their first battle.

"Is everybody ready?" Jerry asked. He wouldn't be participating in the training. He insisted that he wasn't interested.

Everybody nodded their agreement to Jerry's question.

"All right then," he began. "This will be a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1..."

"We get it," Jordan stopped him.

"Yes. Anyway, this is a free-for-all match between 42 different Pokemon. Trainers will not give their Pokemon any orders other than the beginning, 'Do whatever you can to keep from fainting.' The match begins in 3...2...1...GO!"

The seven trainers each threw out their 6 Poke Balls. 42 separate flashes of light exploded onto the clearing they stood on. In the clearing stood Nebu's Cyndaquil, Drifloon, Solosis, Venipede, Sentret and Trapinch, Jordan's Chikorita, Minccino, Spinda, Misdreavus, Ralts, and Litwick, Davy's Squirtle, Pineco, Pawniard, Porygon, Exeggcute, and Natu, Matt's Treecko, Magikarp, Skarmory, Tynamo, Abra, and Gible, Roz's Charmander, NidoranMale,  Poliwag, Shroomish, Dratini, and Bronzor, and Stepney's Mudkip, Snorunt, Budew, Vulpix, Sneasel, and Murkrow.

What everyone looked over at, however, was Marty's team. He had not told them what he had caught over the year, and now they were going to find out. In the year, on top of his Totodile, he had caught a Riolu, an Electrike, a Rufflet, a Growlithe, and a Pansage.

"Begin!" Jerry shouted.

"Ok, everyone," Marty said to his Pokemon, "Do whatever you need to in order to fight and win." Everyone else was saying the same thing to their Pokemon at the same time he was. "It's also okay if you want to battle each other. Understood?"

His Pokemon all voiced their comprehension.

"Good!" he said, pleased. "Go!"

Everyone must've finished ordering their Pokemon at the same time, because they all started running at each other. Scores of tackles and scratches were occurring on the battlefield. This persisted for a good hour while the trainers sat and ate an excellent lunch, courtesy of Roz.

"They're really going at it," Nebu said.

"Yeah," Roz said. "They all look like they're having fun, though."

"Who do you think is gonna win?" Stepney asked the group.

"I think it'll end up between Matt's Treecko and my Riolu," Marty predicted.

"That sounds like a good match-up," Davy stated. "There's no type-advantage there, so it'd be hard to determine a winner."

"I'd really like to see that," Matt said. "Even if it doesn't happen, we'll have to battle one day, just to see. Right, Marty?" he looked over at Marty.

"Yeah," Marty smiled. "We'll do that."

The battle was still going over in the clearing. What had started as just a tackling and scratching battle had changed. Now Bubbles, Razor Leaves, Embers, and other more advanced attacks were being used by the Pokemon. The fighting continued until there were only seven Pokemon left standing, one from each trainer. Nebu's Drifloon, Jordan's Minccino, Davy's Pawniard, Matt's Treecko, Roz's Charmander, Stepney's Budew, and Marty's Riolu were standing in the midst of all the chaos, where 35 other Pokemon lay resting off to the side.

At this point, the seven of them had finished their lunches and went to check on their Pokemon. They saw their other Pokemon resting in the shade of some trees near the clearing and one of their Pokemon standing in a circle in the middle of the clearing, staring each other down.

"Well," Nebu said. "That's how I expected it would go."

"Yeah," Jordan agreed. "I'm still gonna root for my Minccino, though!"

They recalled their other Pokemon and let them rest and heal quicker.

"Now," Stepney said. "We get to see whose Pokemon is the strongest out of all of us."

"Yeah," Marty said. "I'm really excited for this!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 12: The Fruits of Training

Riolu, Drifloon, Minccino, Charmander, Pawniard, Treecko, and Budew were staring each other down in the clearing. They were all anxious to get started. The sooner they battled, the sooner they would get stronger, and that was what they really wanted. Becoming stronger was a Pokemon's number one goal in life. You became stronger until your level reached one-hundred. Then you would've truly led a full life as a Pokemon.

Charmander had decided that it had had enough of standing and waiting for someone else to attack. It lunged at Pawniard with a Metal Claw outstretched. Pawniard easily blocked it with its blade and Slashed at Charmander. Charmander narrowly dodged the attack, and went straight at Pawniard with another Metal Claw, which hit Pawniard square in the chest. It flew back and fell to the ground, but Charmander wasn't done yet. It had been fooled by Pawniard already once during the battle, when it had been hit by a Faint Attack. It wasn't about to happen again. Charmander used Ember on Pawniard, causing it to faint.

Roz, looking on at the battle, screamed, "GO CHARMANDER!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!"

Davy, clearly disappointed, recalled Pawniard and sat on the grass, preparing to watch the rest of the battle.

At this point, Charmander started going on a rampage. It quickly dispatched Budew and Drifloon with a single Metal Claw. They both had been extremely weakened from the battle's previous events, so knocking them out was easy. Nebu and Stepney quickly recalled their fainted Pokemon and sat with Davy.

Now Riolu, Minccino, Treecko, and Charmander remained. Charmander sized up its opponents again. It tuned to Treecko, as it saw it as an easy target. Charmander launched an Ember at Treecko. Treecko dodged the flames extremely quickly. Treecko, noticing that Charmander had singled it out, accepted its challenge. It ran towards Charmander with a blinding speed, and pounded it with its tail. Charmander fell back, but stayed on its feet, not ready to give up. It lunged at Treecko, Metal Claw at the ready, when Treecko hit it with a Quick Attack. Charmander fell to the ground. Treecko used Absorb to take Charmander's health for its own, but it neglected to take all of it. As Treecko was walking away, Charmander rolled over and hit it with an Ember. Treecko fell over, faint. Charmander was also heavily damaged, and it fainted as well. Rozalie and Matt withdrew their fainted Pokemon. Now it was down to Riolu and Minccino. Jordan looked dumbfounded. He honestly hadn't expected his Minccino to even make it to the final seven, much less the last two.

"Well," Matt said. "So much for our prediction..."

"It's okay," Marty assured him. "We'll battle together for real sometime." Now Marty and Jordan were the last two trainers standing.

...MEANWHILE...

Minccino knew. Who didn't know? It was like going out and knowing full well you'd be beaten. Riolu had a huge type advantage over it, and it didn't know any moves that could do severe damage to Riolu. Nevertheless, it got ready to face Riolu. Riolu knew it had a type advantage over Minccino, but it wasn't exactly thrilled. So it just engaged in close combat with Minccino, trying not to use any fighting moves. It was the kind thing to do, after all. Riolu knew kindness didn't win battles, but this WAS only training and Minccino was a friend. They had fought side by side through most of the battle. Both Pokemon knew they had gotten enough experience during the battle, and they didn't want to become too overpowered at this stage. That would make things too boring. So they both stopped fighting and walked back together to where their trainers were waiting.

"They stopped?" Nebu blurted out. "That's no fun!"

"I can see why, though," Roz said. "Everyone has been working so hard all day, so it's not really fair to determine a winner."

"That's really nice of them!" Stepney exclaimed. "What a display of true friendship!"

"It's also a nice way of ending the day," Marty said. "Let's head into town." So they all packed up their things and headed for Hidavel Town.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 13: The First Gym Battle!

The group finally reached Hidavel Town after their large training session. They located the Pokemon Center and healed all of their Pokemon.

"Well," Marty said. "We should check our team data."

"Yeah," Nebu said. "Sounds pretty good." So they opened up their Pokenavs and checked their team data.

Trainer: Marty
Electrike: Level 13
Growlithe: Level 9
Rufflet: Level 10
Pansage: Level 15
Totodile: Level 18
Riolu: Level 20

Trainer: Nebu
Cyndaquil: Level 13
Drifloon: Level 14
Solosis: Level 8
Venipede: Level 10
Sentret: Level 11
Trapinch: Level 17

Trainer: Jordan
Chikorita: Level 10
Minccino: Level 17
Spinda: Level 15
Ralts: Level 13
Misdreavus: Level 10
Litwick: Level 11

Trainer: Rozalie
Charmander: Level 20
Nidoran: Level 9
Poliwag: Level 10
Shroomish: Level 12
Dratini: Level 15
Bronzor: Level 17

Trainer: Matt
Treecko: Level 18
Magikarp: Level 14
Skarmory: Level 17
Tynamo: Level 13
Abra: Level 14
Gible: Level 15

Trainer: Davy
Squirtle: Level 15
Pineco: Level 12
Pawniard: Level 16
Porygon: Level 14
Exeggcute: Level 11
Natu: Level 16

Trainer: Stepney
Mudkip: Level 14
Snorunt: Level 13
Budew: Level 17
Vulpix: Level 15
Sneasel: Level 16
Murkrow: Level 14

"Not bad, everyone!" Jerry said excitedly. "For one training session, that was REALLY efficient!"

"Great job, everyone!" Marty said. "Now let's get some rest for tomorrow!" So they rented out 2 rooms and slept for the night.

...THE NEXT MORNING...

Marty was the first to get up in the morning. He got dressed, had breakfast, and went out into the town. He spotted the gym and went inside. When he got in there, he encountered a boy wearing very dirty clothes.

"Ah," the boy said, spotting him. "I take it you have come to challenge me?"

"That's right," Marty said. "I hope you're ready!"

"Dudesworth II is ALWAYS READY!" the Leader shouted.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 14: The First Gym Battle! (Part 2)

The referee took Marty and Dudesworth to the gym arena. It looked like a normal arena for battles, only this arena had rocks scattered in and around it. The Trainers took their respective sides and the referee began.

"This will be a 3-3 battle between the leader of Hidavel Gym, Dudesworth II and the challenger from Ecruteak City, Marty. Gym leader, are you ready?"

"Yes!" Dudesworth replied enthusiastically.

"Challenger, are you ready?" the referee asked Marty.

"Yes!" Marty proclaimed.

"Let the match BEGIN!" the referee shouted.

...MEANWHILE...

In the Pokemon Center, Nebu had just woken up from a nice dream. She couldn't remember what it was about, though. She got dressed, and got her stuff ready when she noticed-

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

Hey, I was in the middle of narrating-

"NO. THIS IS A CRISIS! SHUT UP!"

Is she...talking to me? I'm the narrator! I'm not supposed to exist in her world...I-

"GUYS!" Nebu, um...shouted. (Must...get back...on track...) "OUR POKEMON ARE GONE!!!"

Everyone woke up with a start. "WHAT?!" Matt screamed. "HOW?!"

"The door was locked!" Jordan assured everyone. "I double-checked before bed!"

"Budew...NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Stepney began to cry uncontrollably.

"GUYS, GET A GRIP!" Roz screamed at them.

"She's right," Davy said. "Check it out." He pointed to a lone Poke Ball sitting underneath a pillow. He knelt over the bed and picked it up. "There's still hope!"

"But whose Pokemon is it?" Nebu wondered.

"Only one way to find out," Davy said. "Come on out!" he threw the Poke Ball, and out popped...

...MEANWHILE...

Kelsey and Eric kept running away from the Pokemon Center. They stopped when they reached the alleyway by Hidavel Gym. They looked at the sack of Poke Balls they had looted from those other Trainers. There were 35 Poke Balls in the sack.

"Hey, don't they all have six Pokemon?" Eric asked.

"Yeah..." Kelsey answered.

"You forgot one!" Eric scolded. "You dolt!"

"Sorry..." Kelsey began.

"No!" Eric stopped him. "We have to gogogo back to the Pokemon Center and get that last Pokemon!"

...MEANWHILE...

"Go! Diglett!" Dudesworth called. A little mole Pokemon sprang out of the ball. It was rooted in the ground, so you couldn't tell if it had feet or not.

"All right," Marty said. "I choose you! Totodile!" he threw the ball and Totodile popped out, ready to battle. Marty checked the data on his opponent's Pokemon with his Pokenav.

Diglett: Level 18
OT: Dudesworth II
Moves: Unknown.

"All right, Totodile, let's start things off with a Water Gun!" Marty ordered. Totodile shot a jet of water from its mouth right towards Diglett.

"Diglett!" Dudesworth called frantically. "Dig!" Diglett sunk underground, effectively dodging Totodile's Water Gun. It came back up a few seconds later near Totodile and attacked it by surprise.
Totodile fell backwards, but got up.

"Totodile!" Marty shouted. "Use Bite!" Totodile ran up to Diglett and Bit it with its large jaws. Diglett seemed to be heavily damaged, and it flinched, so it couldn't move.

"Now!" Marty shouted excitedly. "Water Gun!" Totodile shot its water at Diglett, who fainted after the attack. Marty and Totodile exchanged a victory dance.

"Hate to break it to ya," Dudesworth called to Marty, "but it isn't over yet! I still have two more Pokemon!"

"Let's see them then!" Marty challenged.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 15: The First Gym Battle! (Part 3)

At the Pokemon Center, the others were standing around the Pokemon that had come out of the only Poke Ball left to them. Five of them groaned in disappointment that it wasn't theirs, but one squealed with delight.

"Yes!" Roz squealed. "Charmander!!"

"We may be able to catch them!" Matt shouted. "Charmander is one of the strongest in the group!"

"What are we waiting for?" Nebu wondered. "Let's go!" So they ran out of the room to search for the thieves.

...MEANWHILE...

"I don't see why we need to go back for one Pokemon," Kelsey groaned. "The boss should be happy with 35."

"No," Eric said. "You know what the boss said. He wants the Pokemon of ALL the trainers. No exceptions."

"But, why?" Kelsey asked him.

"I don't know," Eric admitted. "But you know why we have to do this. Let's go." So they walked back toward the Pokemon Center.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and Totodile had just finished celebrating their first victory when Dudesworth called out his second Pokemon.

"Go!" he shouted. "Drillbur!" the Ball opened and a mole Pokemon with huge, sharp claws sprang out. It looked cute, but menacing at the same time.

"Drillbur versus Totodile," the ref announced. "Begin!"

"Go Drillbur!" Dudesworth called. "Use Scratch!"

"Totodile!" Marty shouted. "Fight back!"

Drillbur ran at Totodile and slashed at it with its claws, but Totodile had gotten ready in time. It met Drillbur's attack, and they started scratching each other to no end. Finally, Dudesworth was tired of the infinite scratching.

"Drillbur!" he screamed. "End it with Earthquake!"

"WHAT?!" Marty yelled, astonished. "Earthquake?!"

"You heard right," Dudesworth told him. Just as he said it, Drillbur stomped the ground with a great force. Shockwaves rocked the Gym, and Totodile couldn't hang on. It was tossed and turned everywhere like a ragdoll. Finally, the quake stopped, and so did Totodile. It had fainted. Drillbur stood there, awaiting further instruction from Dudesworth, not seeming to care that it had just won.

"Totodile is unable to battle!" the ref shouted. "Drillbur wins!"

Marty called Totodile back and got ready for the next battle.

...MEANWHILE...

The others burst out of the Pokemon Center to search for the thieves. Roz had Charmander safely tucked away in its Poke Ball as they ran. As they were heading down the road, they ran into...

"Hey!" Kelsey shouted. "There they are!"

"Quick!" Eric whispered to him. "Start the motto!"

"Right!" Kelsey shouted. "An attempt at negative reinforcement!"
"We invade your adventure with terrific endorsement!" Eric answered.
"Agents of FoG, we're taking you out!"
"Give up your Pokemon, there's no time to shout!"
"Kelsey!"
"Eric!"
"Cease your struggle, for we have the advantage;"
"Make way for evil, that which we have granted."
"We fight to the finish, now on with the show-"
"Onward for victory, let's GO GO GO!!!!"

They had just finished their motto when they noticed that the six kids that were standing there were gone, as well as the bag.

"Dang it!" Eric yelled. "This is entirely your fault!"

"WHAT?!" Kelsey shouted. "You were dragging rythym on the motto, not me!"
The two argued about this for the hours to come.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 16: The First Gym Battle! (Part 4)

"Well?" Dudesworth asked. "Ready to admit defeat?"

"Are you kidding?" Marty asked him, shocked he would even utter that from his mouth. "Why would you even ask that?"

"That Totodile was your starter, wasn't it?" Dude asked him.

"Yeah," Marty answered. "Why?"

"I've won, then," Dudesworth proclaimed. "A Trainer's starter Pokemon is almost ALWAYS their strongest. If you're like every other Trainer I've faced, then I've won."

"Pretty arrogant statement," Marty challenged. "Let's see you uphold it!" He threw out a Poke Ball. "Go! Pansage!" The Ball opened to reveal a green monkey Pokemon with a giant bush on top of its head. It faced Drillbur with a blank smile on its face.

"You've gotta be kidding," Dudesworth said emphatically. "Drillbur will destroy that little monkey!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Marty told him.

"Drillbur! Earthquake!" Dudesworth ordered. Drillbur used Earthquake again. The shockwaves rocked the Gym once more.

"Pansage!" Marty cried out. "Acrobatics!"

Pansage nodded and leaped into the air before the shockwaves could reach it. It swung around on the poles near the ceiling of the Gym until Marty gave it another order.

"Energy Ball!" he shouted.

Pansage formed a green ball of energy from its hands and shot it at Drillbur.

"Drillbur!" Dudesworth shouted. "Dodge it!" But it was too late. Drillbur was hit full on by Pansage's Energy Ball. It fell to the ground, fainted.

"Drillbur is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Pansage wins!"

Pansage jumped down from the pipes and began to do a victory dance. While Pansage was dancing, the other six had made their way to the Gym to see Marty's battle.

"Hey!" Matt shouted. "I think he's winning!"

"Let's cheer for him!" Nebu said to the group.

"Oh, I just LOVE the dance his Pansage is doing," Stepney said.

Meanwhile, Dudesworth was just getting ready to send out his final Pokemon.

"I must warn you," he said. "My next Pokemon is the strongest." He reached out for a Poke Ball, and threw it.

"GO!" he shouted. "DONPHAN!" The ball opened, and a black elephant Pokemon emerged. It had an overcoat of steel.

"Pansage versus Donphan," the ref stated. "Begin!"

"Donphan!" Dudesworth screamed. "Rollout!" Donphan rolled into a ball and rolled around the arena at a high speed. It was heading towards Pansage.

"Pansage!" Marty yelled. "Dodge it! Acrobatics!"

Pansage leaped around again, but it lost its balance and fell to the ground. Donphan could see where it fell, so it rolled into it. The force knocked Pansage out instantly.

"Pansage is unable to battle," the ref judged. "Donphan wins!"

Donphan was still rolling around. Marty was beginning to get worried. How am I going to win? he thought to himself. That Donphan is too strong! he thought about it for a few seconds, when it hit him.

"Go!" he shouted. "Riolu!" he threw Riolu out into the arena.

"The final battle!" the ref shouted. "Riolu versus Donphan! Begin!"

"I'm going to end this in one move!" Dudesworth declared. "Donphan! Final Rollout!" Donphan began to roll towards Riolu at such a high speed, that a trail of wind was showing behind him, and the arena was getting torn up.

"Riolu!" Marty shouted. "Counter it with Force Palm!" Riolu held out its palm and focused its aura into it. He thrust it out as soon as Donphan was in range.

The impact was intense. Shock waves rocked the Gym. An Earthquake was started without a move being called. Eventually, there was an explosion, and Donphan and Riolu blew across the arena. Riolu got up. Donphan didn't.

"Donphan is unable to battle!" the ref shouted. "Riolu wins! The winner is Marty from Ecruteak City!"

Everyone cheered, except Dudesworth. He walked over to Marty.

"Congratulations!" he said to Marty. "Here is your badge! It's the Gravel Badge!"

Marty cheered. "Yes! I got the Gravel Badge!"

Everyone ran up to him, clearly excited over his win. Davy was the first to speak up.

"Way to go!" he said to Marty, congratulating him. "You got us our first badge!"

"We're on our way to the top!" Matt exclaimed. "I can't wait until it's my turn!"

"Thanks for coming to support me, guys," Marty said, smiling. "I really appreciate it."

"It wasn't easy getting here, though," Jordan groaned. "You wouldn't believe what happened to us this morning!"

"You should tell me about it on the way to the next town," Marty told him. "Let's get out of here." He led everybody out of the Gym, and then stopped to wave good-bye to Dudesworth before going out the door.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 17: The Stone Quarry

The group had just left the Hidavel Gym when they found Jerry walking up to them.

"Hey, guys!" he called to them. "How're you all doing today?"

"Where have you been?" Davy asked.

"Yeah, you missed Marty's Gym battle!" Nebu scolded.

"Oh, darn," Jerry said sheepishly. "I actually had a couple errands to run around here, so I got up early and did them before any of you were awake."

"I see," Marty said, wondering what errands Jerry could possibly have to run in this little town.

"So you won, right?" Jerry asked him.

"Of course," Marty said proudly, holding the Badge up to Jerry as proof.

"Awesome!" Jerry shouted excitedly. "In that case, there's something I want to show you. Will you come with me?"

"Sure," Marty answered.

"But just you," Jerry said. "Because you beat Dudesworth."

The others looked extremely disappointed. "What about us?" Jordan asked.

"We won't be long," Jerry assured him. "Why don't you all head to the gate to Route 151 and wait for us there?"

"We'll do that," Roz said, ever the voice of reason. "Right, guys?"

"Yeah," Stepney answered for the group. "Let's go, everybody!" So the other six headed for the gate.

"All right, then," Jerry motioned to Marty. "Come on." He started walking towards the Gym.

"Wait," Marty stopped him. "Why are we going to the Gym?"

"You'll see," Jerry assured him. He started walking again, and Marty ran to catch up with him.

When they got to the Gym, Dudesworth was there to greet them.

"Hey, Jerry!" he greeted warmly. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has," Jerry agreed. "I've been busy, you know!"

"Of course," Dudesworth agreed. "So what brings you both here?"

"I want to take Marty into the Stone Quarry," Jerry told him.

"All right," Dudesworth said. "Come with me," he told Marty.

"All right," Jerry said. "I'll be catching up with the others, then."

"Ok," Marty said. "See you." So Jerry headed out the door while Dudesworth took him back to the arena.

"Why are we here again?" Marty asked. "I'm not giving you a rematch." He laughed.

"Actually," Dudesworth told him, "There's a secret buried underneath this Gym that only Badge holders can access."

"Really?" Marty wondered, amazed.

"Yeah," Dudesworth affirmed. "But so far, you're the first person to set foot in it."

"Haven't people beaten you before me?" Marty asked.

"Yes," Dudesworth answered, "But no one knows about this. You're lucky Jerry was with you."

Marty silently thanked Jerry a vermillion times. "So," he continued, "What's this secret?"

"When we created this Gym, we built it over a quarry of stones," Dudesworth explained.

"Stones?" Marty wondered, shocked. "Lame..."

"Not just regular stones," Dudesworth said, "but EVOLUTIONARY stones."

"Really?" Marty asked.

"Yup," Dudesworth told him. "And since you hold the Gravel Badge, you can go into it and take as many stones as you'd like!"

"Awesome!" Marty exclaimed.

Dudesworth went over to his side of the arena and stomped on a small stone by his feet. A staircase opened in the center of the arena. "Have at it," he said.

"Thank you," Marty said. He went down to the quarry and picked out his stones. When he was done, he had picked out enough stones for all the Pokemon in his and his friends' teams that needed them. He had two Fire Stones, two Leaf Stones, a Dusk Stone, a Shiny Stone, a Water Stone, and a King's Rock, just in case. He headed back up, thanked Dudesworth, and headed out to the gate.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 18: Et tu, Spitllama?

Marty was walking through Hidavel Town, on the way to the gate, when he bumped into Kelsey and Eric.

"You guys!" Marty shouted. But they didn't hear him because they were too busy arguing about why they had failed in taking the others' Pokemon.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been so slow on the motto!" Kelsey shouted at Eric.

"That wouldn't have happened if you had just not done the motto in the first place!" Eric shouted back.

"You told me to!" Kelsey interjected.

"That's beside the point!" Eric assured him.

They argued like this while Marty sat and watched. Just then, a voice came from out of nowhere.

"You two," it said. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Who's there?" Marty shouted.

Just then, a black portal appeared in between Eric and Kelsey, and someone stepped out. He was a boy, around 18, with short blonde hair. He wore a strange gray suit with a glowing yellow orb in the middle. When he stepped out of the portal, Kelsey and Eric stood straight up, frozen with fear.

"M-master Korbin!" Eric stammered.

"How long were you two arguing THIS time?" Korbin asked.

"Um..." Kelsey trailed off.

"Hmph," Korbin grunted. He turned to Marty. Marty stood straight up, just as Eric and Kelsey had. He knew who Korbin was on NSM. Korbin was Spitllama. But that didn't make any sense. He knew Spitllama wasn't a bad person, so why would he be the leader of the FoG?

"Ah," Korbin said. "It's you."

"Spitllama?" Marty wondered aloud.

"Yup," Korbin said. "But my name is Korbin."

"How did you get here?" Marty interrogated. "Why are you talking with these crooks? Why did they call you, 'Master Korbin?' Are you leading the FoG?"

"Now isn't the time," Korbin told him. He held his hand out and another black portal opened behind him. "Come on, you two," he said to Kelsey and Eric.

"Yes, sir!" they both shouted. The three of them disappeared into the portal, and it closed behind them. Marty looked shocked. He stood there for a few minutes, but to him it seemed like an eternity. He just then remembered Kelsey and Eric as Kman and Shadowkirby. But why would they be part of the FoG? And why would Korbin be leading it? So many questions plagued his mind as he walked ever-so-slowly towards the gate.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 19: A Chance in Vermillion

Marty had reached the gate, where the others were waiting for him.

"Hey!" Jerry shouted at him. "How was the Stone Quarry?"

"It was fine," Marty said, spacing off. He was still thinking about Korbin, Eric, and Kelsey.

Nebu could sense there was something on his mind. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"I just ran into spitllama," Marty began.

"Oh!" Jordan exclaimed. "Why didn't you bring him over here?"

"Actually, that would be a bad idea." Marty told the others about what had happened earlier.

"He's the LEADER?!" Stepney shouted.

"That can't be our spitllama, can it?" Matt asked.

"It wasn't anybody else," Marty assured him.

"I can't believe it," Matt said sorrowfully. "Our spitllama?"

"Don't dwell on it, guys," Roz said. "Korbin made his choice. We need to make ours now."

"She's right," Davy said. "Let's keep moving."

So the group walked through the gate into Route 151. It was a pretty straight path to Ruukisiven City, so they stopped for lunch. While they were eating, a boy around their age walked up to them. He wore a red suit with a red hat, and he was flipping a coin in his hand.

"Excuse me," he called to them, "but are you Trainers?"

"Yes," Marty answered. "Who are you?"

"My name is Atticus," the boy said. "You may know me as vermillionvermin."

So the regular introductions took place, and they invited Atticus to have lunch with them. After they were finished, Atticus stood up.

"Thank you," he told them. "Now I would like to battle you," he said pointing at Marty.

"Me?" Marty asked. "Why?"

"Because I want to," Atticus told him.

"All right, but-" Marty didn't get to finish his sentence because Matt stood in front of him.

"He doesn't want to fight you," Matt told Atticus. "But I do."

"Interesting," Atticus mused. "I'll battle you, then!"

So the two of them found a clearing near the camp and prepared for their battle. The others stood off to the side, getting ready to cheer Matt on. Jerry was reffing, as usual.

"This will be a 3-3 match between the challenger, Atticus, and Matt." Jerry began. "Challenger, are you ready?"

"Of course," Atticus said.

"Matt, are you ready?" Jerry asked.

"Yep," Matt said flatly.

"Then let the match begin!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 20: Matt versus Atticus!

"All right!" Matt shouted. "Go, Abra!"

"I choose you!" Atticus yelled. "Cubchoo!"

Two flashes of light exploded onto the clearing. One was Matt's Abra, and the other was a small polar bear with a giant drop of ice hanging from its nose.

"Cubchoo!" Atticus said. "Use Ice Beam!"

"Abra!" Matt called out. "Teleport!"

Cubchoo shot an Ice Beam at Abra, but before it hit, Abra teleported out of the way.

"Nice, Abra!" Matt praised. "Now use Confusion!"

Abra focused a weak psychic energy and attacked Cubchoo with it. It connected fairly well.

"Cubchoo!" Atticus screamed. "Blizzard!"

"What?!" Marty screamed. "Blizzard?!"

"That's impossible!" Jordan shouted.

But sure enough, the tiny little Cubchoo readied a Blizzard. A large sphere of Ice energy focused in between its hands.

"Do it, Cubchoo!" Atticus ordered.

Cubchoo prepared to fire the Blizzard, but for some reason, it exploded right in Cubchoo's face. Matt smirked.

"Don't you understand?" he asked Atticus. "I used Confusion, remember?"

"But that means...!" Atticus figured it out all too late.

"Yup," Matt affirmed for him. "Cubchoo is hopelessly confused right now."

"I won't accept this!" Atticus screamed. "Cubchoo! Blizzard!"

Cubchoo readied another Blizzard.

"He's doing it again, even though it didn't work last time?" Roz wondered. "That fool!"

"Cubchoo!" Atticus screamed. "Release it!"

Cubchoo released the Blizzard it was concentrating. This time, it released! Unfortunately, it didn't go on target. It came back and hit Cubchoo square on. Cubchoo was frozen on the spot by its own attack.

"Cubchoo is unable to battle!" Jerry declared. "Abra wins!"

"Way to go, Matt!" Jordan cheered.

"Good job!" Davy encouraged. "Keep it up!"

"Hmm..." Atticus hummed. "Not too bad."

"Thanks!" Matt said.

"It's not over yet, though!" Atticus readied another Poke Ball. "Go, Sandshrew!" The Ball opened, and a small shrew Pokemon appeared.

"Get ready, Abra!" Matt shouted.

"Sandshrew!" Atticus ordered. "Sand Attack!" Sandshrew shot some sand on the ground into Abra's face.

"Now, Slash!" Atticus roared.

"Abra! Teleport!" Matt screamed. Abra teleported, but since it couldn't see where it was going, it slammed right into Sandshrew's claws. Abra fainted instantly.

"Abra is unable to battle! Sandshrew wins!" Jerry declared.

"Oh, no!" Davy groaned.

"It's okay," Stepney said. "He still has two Pokemon."

"Stepney's right!" Matt proclaimed. "I'm not giving up. Go, Gible!" The Poke Ball opened to reveal Gible.

"Begin!" Jerry shouted.

"Gible!" Matt yelled. "Dragon Rage!" Gible concentrated a ball of Dragon energy in its mouth. "Now release it!"

"Sandshrew!" Atticus ordered. "Slash! Take that Dragon energy and use it!" Sandshrew slashed at the Dragon Rage headed straight for it. When it slashed into it, some of the orange energy from the attack absorbed onto its claws.

"Now go!" Atticus shouted. Sandshrew slashed at Gible with its claw infused with Dragon energy. Gible took collateral damage and fainted.

"Gible is unable to battle!" Jerry proclaimed. "Sandshrew wins!"

"Oh, no..." Jordan said. "Matt's done for."

"No," Nebu said. "We have to believe in him!"

"That's right!" Marty agreed. "Do it, Matt!"

"Thanks, guys!" Matt got out another Poke Ball. "Go, Treecko!" he called. Treecko exploded out of the Poke Ball.

"Sandshrew!" Atticus said, getting excited. "Slash!" Sandshrew lunged at Treecko, claws at the ready.

"Treecko! Quick Attack!" Matt ordered. Treecko went at Sandshrew with a blinding speed, and hit Sandshrew before it was ready to slash it.

"Treecko!" Matt shouted. "Follow up with an Absorb!" Treecko ran at Sandshrew and absorbed its health. Sandshrew fainted, and Treecko looked even more energized.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle!" Jerry cried. "Treecko wins!"

"Fine!" Atticus shouted. "Go, Farfetch'd!" A bird Pokemon holding a leek sprang out of Atticus's Ball.

"Let's end this in one move, Treecko!" Matt shouted. "Leaf Blade!"

"I didn't know Treecko could use Leaf Blade!" Roz shouted. But sure enough, Treecko formed a blade of green Grass energy.

"Go, Treecko!" Matt shouted. Treecko lunged at Farfetch'd with the Leaf Blade.

"Farfetch'd!" Atticus yelled. "Slash!" Farfetch'd ran to meet Treecko with its own blade. They collided and both fainted from the force.

"Neither Pokemon is able to battle!" Jerry said. "The match is a tie!"

"No!" Atticus screamed, disappointed. "That's not supposed to happen!"

"Tell you what," Matt said. "Let's have a rematch at the Pokemon League!"

"Fine, but you'll wish you would've never said that later!" Atticus told him arrogantly. Right after that, Atticus left the group.

"I think you made a rival, Matt!" Marty told him.

"Yup," Matt agreed. "I think it's great to have someone to compete against. Hopefully we can all meet rivals of our own on the way to the Pokemon League!" So the group traveled closer to Ruukisiven City, and Matt's Gym Battle.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 21: Lucky Seven

The group had just finished their nightly training session. Treecko had won it as Charmander and Riolu fought early and took each other out. Matt was especially excited for his Gym battle the next day.

"All right," Jerry said. "Before we get in town, I have to warn you. Ruukisiven City is a pretty sketchy town. Watch your step, and take extra care of your belongings."

"Yes, Mom," Marty said jokingly.

"You think I'm joking," Jerry said. "Well, you'll see." He led them to the gate.

Ruukisiven City had to be one of the biggest in the world. It had to be the shadiest, however. It was kind of like Castellia City's evil twin. Casinos, Nightclubs, and other adult buildings lined the streets. People were battling in the allies. Shady people walked past the group left and right.

"You weren't kidding," Marty laughed nervously.

"I told you," Jerry mocked. The group walked slowly and silently through the streets. Everywhere they go, people seemed to stare at them. Nebu, not watching where she was going, accidentally bumped into a person on the sidewalk.

"Oh!" she cried. "I'm so sorry!"

The large man towered over Nebu and said with a booming voice, "Watch where you're going, girlie! Or maybe I have to make that pretty face a whole lot LESS pretty?"

"I said I was sorry!" Nebu protested.

"That doesn't cut it here," the man told her. He reared back to punch Nebu, but Roz ran in front of the man.

"HI-YAH!" she screamed as she drop kicked the man in the face before he could hurt Nebu. The man fell to the ground with a thud, completely out cold.

"Woah," Stepney said, dumbfounded.

"Remind me not to mess with you," Jordan told her.

"Where in the heck did you learn that?" Matt asked her.

"I took some self-defense classes back in Ecruteak with Marty," she explained.

"Yup," Marty confirmed. "She always beat me, too."

"We TRIED to get Nebu to join, but she said she didn't want to get hurt," Roz told the others

"NUH-UH!" Nebu shouted with extreme protest. "I said it was because I didn't want to hurt anybody!"

"If that's how you remember it, hon," Roz muttered.

So the group kept walking through the city when a man walked up to them. He didn't seem as intimidating as the other people they had run into, but he was still quite tall. He had dark brown hair and wore a black pea coat with a red scarf.

"Hey," he said to them.

"Hi," Jerry replied.

"Oh, Jerry!" the man shouted, seeming to just recognize Jerry. "Nice to see you again!"

"Nice to see you, too," Jerry said flatly.

"Who're your friends?" the man asked.

"Oh, that's right!" Jerry said. "Nik, this is Marty, Nebu, Roz, Jordan, Stepney, Davy, and Matt. Guys, this is Nik. He's the-"

"-owner of this fine café here!" Nik interrupted, flashing Jerry a dirty look. "Would you guys like to come in?" he asked. "It's on me."

Just then, the group was reminded of how hungry they were. None of them had eaten since supper last night in Hidavel.

"That would be great," Davy said. "Thank you."

So the group went inside Nik's café and had coffee and sandwiches. The username introductions took place, and Nik asked them a few questions.

"So," he said, sipping his coffee. "What are you guys going to do?"

"Well," Nebu answered, "We're in the process of collecting all of the badges to go to the Pokemon League."

"Ah," Nik said, sipping his coffee again. "So, have you challenged the leader here yet?"

"No," Matt said. "I'm doing that tomorrow."

"I see," Nik said blankly, sipping his coffee again.

Wow, this guy drinks a LOT of coffee, Marty thought to himself. He's insanely calm, though! I wonder how he does it...

Nik was still talking to Matt. "I'll have to come see you battle the leader. Tomorrow, right?"

"That's right," Matt said.

"All right, then I'll see you there!" He picked up their plates and dishes and gave them to the busboy. "It's getting awfully late," he said, shocked. "I'll take you guys to the Pokemon Center. You'll need your rest for tomorrow."

So the group followed Nik out of his café and to the Pokemon Center, which was only about a block away.

"See you all tomorrow!" he called to them as he walked away.

"Bye!" they all shouted. With that, they checked into a room at the Pokemon Center and went to sleep for the night.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 22: Jackpot

The alarm woke Matt up before anyone else. He got up and prepared his team for the Gym battle. Jerry had told him last night before they went to bed that the leader had four Pokemon. So Matt picked out his favorite Pokemon. He chose Treecko, Abra (which had since evolved into Kadabra), Gible (which had evolved into Gabite), and Skarmory.

When he had finished preparing himself, he woke up the others.

"Mmph..." Marty grunted, pulling the covers over his face.

"No," Nebu said. "Get up."

"Fine..." Marty said groggily. As soon as they had all gotten up and dressed, they went down for breakfast, where Jerry was waiting for them.

"Hey, all!" Jerry said cheerfully. "I hope you all got a good night's sleep! Especially you, Matt!"

"Well," Matt told him, "I certainly did. I'll be heading over to the Gym at about noon."

"Sounds good," Jerry said approvingly. "We may want to stay another day, though."

"Why's that?" Stepney asked him.

"Well," Jerry cringed a little. "The next town is a little...dirty."

"Dirty how?" Davy asked.

"As in, it's so polluted that if you haven't lived there either all your life or when it was clean, you won't want to stay there more than the time it takes to challenge the Gym and leave." Jerry said darkly.

"Oh," Jordan said, eyes wide.

"We can stay here another night, I suppose," Marty said.

"All right," Roz said. "I suppose we should get going."

"Yeah," Matt said. "I'm so nervous!"

"Don't be," Marty told him. "The Gym Leader doesn't usually intend to make you nervous, unless they're intentionally being a jerk."

"Yeah," Nebu said. "You'll be great!"

"You'll win for sure!" Jordan assured him.

So the group headed out into the city. They noticed that it was completely different here during the day. The city completely filled with casinos and other adult buildings had seemingly transformed overnight into a hipster artist community. People walked through the streets, drinking coffee and doing other...hipster-ish things.

"Wow," Davy said, amazed. "It's like a completely different town..."

"I can't believe it," Roz said with the same amazement.

"Yeah, I- OOOF!" Nebu said as she bumped into the same person she bumped into yesterday.

"Oh, you again," the guy said. "How's it going?"

"I'm so sorry!" Nebu shouted. "Like, REALLY, REALLY sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," the guy said with a smile. "Here, have a coffee." The guy gave Nebu a cup of coffee and walked away.

"That was weird," Roz said.

"Yeah," Marty agreed. "I wanted to see you drop kick that guy in the face again!" They all laughed and continued on their way to the Gym.

After a while, Marty said, "Here we are."

Ruukisiven Gym looked exactly like Hidavel Gym on the outside. It wasn't anything super impressive. When they got inside, they noticed that the lights were a little dimmer in the lobby than the lobby in Hidavel. The referee was waiting for them in the lobby.

"All right," he said to them. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," Matt said to him. So the ref led them to the arena. The arena was fairly normal, except it was very dark. The light was so poor, they couldn't see the leader in his position in the arena.

"Welcome," a familiar voice said.

"Wait a sec," Jordan said ponderously. "That's-!"

"Yup," Nik said, stepping out of the shadows. "It's me. I'm the leader of Ruukisiven Gym."

"Well," Matt said apprehensively. "I guess we should get started!"

"Yes," Nik agreed. "Ref, if you please!"

"Right," the ref said. "This will be a 4-4 match between the leader of Ruukisiven Gym, Nik, and the challenger from Cianwood City, Matt. There will be no substitution. Gym Leader, are you ready?"

"Yes," Nik said, sipping another coffee.

"Challenger, are you ready?" the ref asked as he turned to Matt.

"Yes!" Matt said confidently.

"Let the match begin!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 23: Jackpot (Part 2)

"Go, Cacnea!" Nik shouted. A green cactus Pokemon emerged from the Ball.

"I choose Skarmory!" Matt shouted, throwing a Poke Ball. The large steel Bird Pokemon came out of its ball.

"Skarmory versus Cacnea," the ref announced. "Begin!"

"Skarmory!" Matt ordered. "Drill Peck!" Skarmory flew at Cacnea with a great speed, spinning its body around to make its beak very drill-like. It hit Cacnea full on, and Cacnea fell over, down in one hit.

"Um..." the ref muttered, shocked. "Cacnea is unable to battle...Skarmory...wins?"

Everyone, even Matt, was shocked. No one could believe that a Gym Leader's Pokemon could be knocked out in one hit like that.

"That, sir, was impressive," Nik told Matt with amazement. "But, it's not over yet! Go, Sandile!" Nik threw the Ball, and a tan crocodile came out. It had features like a raccoon.

"Sandile!" Nik called. "Use Rock Tomb!" Sandile called on some energy and rocks appeared from out of nowhere. They shot at Skarmory and threw it to the ground, completely covering it.

"Skarmory is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Sandile wins!"

"Woah," Roz said, shocked. "Two OHKO's in a row..."

"This is gonna be a quick battle," Marty added.

"Go, Kadabra!" Matt cried. Kadabra came out of its Poke Ball, ready to fight

"Sandile!" Nik shouted. "Use Night Slash!" Sandile disappeared into the darkness of the Gym, and slashed at Kadabra with its claws.

"Kadabra!" Matt ordered. "Stop it with Psychic!" Kadabra used its psychic power to lift Sandile into the air.

"Sandile, Leer!" Nik said quickly. Sandile started staring unnervingly at Kadabra, who started slowly lowering its psychic hold on Sandile.

"Don't let up!" Matt shouted. "Throw it around a bit!" Kadabra did as it was ordered and used its psychic power to slam Sandile into the floor and walls. Sandile eventually fainted after being pounded around.

"Sandile is unable to battle!" the ref shouted. "Kadabra wins it!"

"Way to go, Matt!" Jerry cheered.

"Keep it up!" Stepney shouted.

"You can do it!" Nebu and Roz yelled in unison.

Nik smiled. "At least this seems to be a challenge!" he said. "Go, Deino!" A small blue Dragon type Pokemon came out. It's hair came down below its eyes, and it looked depressed.

"Kadabra!" Matt cried out. "Use Psychic again!" Kadabra readied another Psychic attack, but before it could, Nik had an order for Deino.

"Deino, Body Slam!" Deino charged straight at Kadabra and body slammed it. Kadabra fell to the ground, not fainted, but unable to move. It had been paralyzed.

"Kadabra!" Matt shouted. "Psychic!" Kadabra, however unable to move, readied another Psychic attack.

"Deino!" Nik yelled. "Use Dragon Claw to finish it off!" Deino cloaked its claw in Dragon energy and scratched Kadabra, who proceeded to faint.

"Kadabra is unable to battle!" the ref stated. "Deino wins it!"

Matt groaned. If he gets good Body Slams on my last two Pokemon, I'm finished! "Go, Gabite!" The Pokemon that had formerly been Gible emerged. "Use Dragon Rage at full power!"

"Counter with your own Dragon Rage, Deino!" Nik shouted desperately. Both Pokemon charged their own Dragon Rage attacks and loosed them at each other. The explosion of the attacks, combined with the type disadvantage they both had to their own type, caused both Pokemon to faint rather quickly.

"Neither Pokemon is able to battle!" the ref shouted. "The battle is a tie!"

"I see what he did there!" Roz told the others.

"You mean that was planned?" Marty asked her.

"Yeah, don't you see?" Roz asked them. "He sent out Gabite because he knew Nik would try to use a Dragon type move on it! So he countered with his own Dragon move to stop Deino from taking out the rest of his team!"

"Resourceful!" Jerry said.

"The next battle ends with this!" Davy stated.

"Make it count, Matt!" Jordan egged.

"Thanks, guys!" Matt said to them. "Go, Treecko!" Treecko got ready to fight its most important battle so far.

"Not bad!" Nik said. "I haven't had a battle this good in a while! Go, Umbreon!" He threw the Ball, and the Dark evolution of Eevee came out.

"Treecko," Matt called out. "Quick Attack!" Treecko ran quickly toward Umbreon.

"Umbreon!" Nik cried out. "Quick Attack!" Umbreon ran quickly toward Treecko. They collided and both took damage.

"Treecko!" Matt ordered quickly. "Leaf Blade!" Treecko formed its Leaf Blade and slashed at Umbreon, who dodged just in time.

"Umbreon!" Nik shouted while breathing a sigh of relief. "Use Shadow Ball!" A ball infused with Dark energy shot at Treecko, hitting it square on. Treecko skidded across the Gym floor.

"No!" Stepney cried.

"It can't end like this!" Nebu shouted.

"You can do it, Matt!" Marty yelled to him. "Don't give up yet!"

"Right!" Matt shouted back. "Treecko! I know you can do this! You have to get up!" Slowly but surely, Treecko got on its feet. A green aura was surrounding it.

"Overgrow!" Roz blurted out. "Treecko should be more powerful now!"

"Go, Treecko!" Matt screamed. "Leaf Blade!" Treecko readied another Leaf Blade, only this time it was much bigger and more powerful looking.

"Umbreon!" Nik ordered. "Another Shadow Ball!" Umbreon launched another ball of Dark energy at Treecko, who now had a hint of a white glow about it.

"Cut it down, Treecko!" Matt called. Treecko ran at the Shadow Ball and got ready to Slash. It cut into the Ball, which caused an explosion. A huge cloud of dust covered Treecko.

"Oh?" Nik said quizzically. "Is it finally over?"

The ref was just about to make his announcement when Treecko shot out of the cloud of dust. Only it wasn't Treecko anymore. It had evolved into Grovyle right as it had struck the Shadow Ball that Umbreon had fired. It charged at Umbreon with two crescent-shaped Leaf Blades that now grew out of its arms and attacked. Umbreon fell over, faint.

"Umbreon!" Nik cried.

"Umbreon is unable to battle!" the ref shouted, shocked. "Grovyle wins! The winner is Matt from Cianwood Town!"

"Way to go, Grovyle!" Matt cried out to his newly evolved Pokemon. Grovyle voiced its hearty thanks.

"Congratulations!" Nik told him. "You've earned this!" He handed Matt a solid black badge. "It's the Shadow Badge!" Cheers erupted from where the others were sitting.

"Thanks, Nik!" Matt said.

"No," Nik said, shaking his head. "Thank you for an excellent battle. As thanks for this amazing battle, you are all invited to come over to the café for a gourmet meal prepared by none other than yours truly!" More cheers erupted from everybody as they headed out of the Gym to Nik's café.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 24: A Corrupted Dream

The gang followed Nik through Ruukisiven City to his café. They noticed as they approached it that it didn't look any different from what it did at night.

"Here we are," Nik said. "Are you ready for a great meal?"

"Oh, yeah!" Jordan exclaimed. "Let's chow down!" So Nik went into the kitchen and started preparing the meal.

...MEANWHILE...

Up at the top of a building in Ruukisiven City, Kelsey and Eric were talking to each other. But it wasn't their usual arguing or witty banter.

"You KNOW why we're doing this, Kelsey," Eric told him.

"Yeah, but-"

"No," Eric stopped him. "You can't think into this. You're being too analytical. Remind yourself why we joined Korbin."

"You're right," Eric caught himself. "We need to get them back."

"Get what back?" Korbin said, appearing from nowhere.

"Oh!" Eric exclaimed. "Nothing, sir!"

"We were just discussing how we were going to get those kids' Pokemon back!" Kelsey said with a cheesy grin.

"Good," Korbin said warily. "Come with me, you two." He motioned toward a portal he had made and began walking toward it. Kelsey and Eric exchanged steel-faced glances as they followed Korbin into the darkness.

...LATER...

Everyone was finishing their meals in Nik's café, and everyone but Nik and Matt began to slip into a slight food coma.

"How convenient," Nik mused.

"Why's that?" Matt asked him.

"Because I want to show you something," Nik answered. "Come with me, please." Matt followed Nik to the back of the café and up a stairwell to the roof of the café. The sun was just beginning to set.

"Why did you bring me up here?" Matt asked.

"Just watch," Nik told him. So Matt watched the cityscape as the sun set. It seemed like it took forever for the sun to go down below the ground. Matt grew incredibly bored. But his eyes widened with surprise as the moon began to rise behind them. The hipster artist community of the day began to change before his very own eyes to the sketchy, corrupt city they arrived in last night.

"What's going on?" Matt asked, shocked.

"It's the Lucky Seven Curse," Nik said.

"What is that?" Matt inquired further.

"Well, it's a long story," Nik told him sheepishly.

"I have time," Matt assured him with a smile.

"Ok," Nik said. "I moved here not all too long ago. I came from Veilstone City in Sinnoh, where I held a cushy accounting job. I had everything I wanted. Or, at least, that's what I thought. There I was, an adult, and I had never had a Pokemon in my life. I was too focused in my job to care about anything else. So I moved here after finding my Umbreon as a stray in Veilstone. When I moved here, I started my café, something I had always wanted to do. Life was perfect here. Every day went on peacefully. Then something changed one day." He looked up at the sky. "This...fog started settling over the town one evening. Something came over the people here. They all became very...different."

"Different how?" Matt asked.

"Well," Nik said. "They all acted like the man you all ran into last night. I didn't know what was happening. I had been living here for months, and nothing like this had ever happened before. It happens each night, every night, to this day. I've never found out why it happens."

"That's really weird," Matt admitted.

"Yeah," Nik shrugged. "But I've gotten used to it. I guess it just goes to show you can have a dream, but it can become corrupted."

"Yeah..." Matt trailed off.

"What about you, Matt?" Nik asked him. "Do you have a dream?"

"Well," Matt said. "I've kinda been keeping it a secret..." He took out his backpack and started rummaging through it. "But this is my dream." He pulled out a brilliantly sketched picture of the Terrari region from a bird's eye view.

"That's an amazing drawing!" Nik told him.

"Thank you," Matt said to him. "I want to be a map maker."

"That's a nice dream," Nik said with a smile. I hope you can make it come true."

"And I hope this curse you're talking about goes away," Matt smiled back.

"Thank you, Matt," Nik replied.

The two of them sat in silence on the roof while the moon continued to rise. Eventually, they went back down and woke the others so they could go to the Pokemon Center to leave for Smogoff City in the morning.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 25: Jerry's Departure

Marty's group, having finished their meals, said goodbye to Nik as they headed back toward the Pokemon Center. Matt stopped at the counter to heal his Pokemon, but Nurse Joy's speech was a bit...peculiar.

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center," she said, annoyed, "where we tell your Pokemon to suck it up. Would you like me to take your Pokémon?"

"Yes, please," Matt said pleasantly to her.

"Well, too bad," Nurse Joy said as she spit in Matt's general direction. "Get out."

"Fine," Matt said. "Can we at least have three rooms?"

"We're full," Nurse Joy told him.

Matt glanced at the guestbook. "This says you don't have a single guest here!"

"Fine!" Nurse Joy snapped. "Just take three rooms and get out of my face!" She continued a big rant containing many random expletives while the others ran to the rooms and fell asleep for the night.

...MEANWHILE...

In a remote part of the Terrari Region, Korbin, Eric, and Kelsey emerged from another portal. They seemed to be in a small town, with only a few empty buildings.

"Here we are," Korbin told them.

"Yes," Kelsey said, "but where is 'here?'"

Korbin walked over to a house. "Come inside and I'll show you," he told Kelsey. They walked inside the house. Even though it was night time, the house was completely empty, just like the rest of the tiny town.

"This town is creepy," Eric muttered, shivering. "It's completely empty."

Korbin walked over to a painting on the wall. "That's because it's all a facade." He lifted up the painting and pressed a button behind it. The floor next to them began to open and reveal an elevator rising up to meet them. They stepped onto the elevator and it took them down.

"Welcome to EVille," Korbin said to them.

...THE NEXT MORNING...

The gang got up early the next morning to try to avoid the cranky Nurse Joy, but she spotted them as soon as they entered the lobby.

"Oh, hello!" she said cheerfully. "I hope you had a good night's rest! We hope to see you again!"

"Wow," Marty said, shocked. "That curse Nik was talking about really affects everybody here,"

"Except for him," Nebu interrupted.

"How convenient," Davy muttered.

"Well, guys," Jordan said. "Next is Smogoff City. We'll have to get a good start if it's as bad as Jerry says. Is everybody ready?" They all nodded.

"Well, good luck guys!" Jerry said cheerfully.

"What about you?" Roz asked him.

"Oh, I think you guys are capable of getting around on your own, now," he said to them. "I just wanted to follow you up to this point so you didn't get killed here in Ruukisiven. Now I can go back to Maron City and get ready for the Pokemon League!"

"You're going to be there?" Stepney asked.

"Of course I am!" Jerry shouted. "Along with every other Trainer in the Region, even the Gym Leaders!"

"I see..." Marty trailed off. "Well, thanks for helping us out, Jerry! We'll see you soon!"

"Good bye, everyone!" Jerry called as he left the Pokemon Center.

"Hmm..." Jordan muttered.

"What's wrong?" Stepney asked him.

"I don't know," Jordan said slowly. "But I have a feeling we'll be seeing him sooner than the Pokemon League."

"Oh, well," Davy said. "Let's get going! I can't wait for my Gym battle!"

"He's right," Marty agreed. "Let's be on our way." So the group left the Pokemon Center and headed towards Smogoff City, the opposite direction from their kind guide, Jerry.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 26: Gregory and the Purity Forest

Marty's group had just left Ruukisiven City when Roz decided it would be a good idea to check the map.

"Okay..." she started, checking her Pokenav's map of the region. "We're on Route 152 right now. We're going along the spiral, and our destination is Smogoff City, obviously." She tapped a few more buttons on the screen. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "It seems we have a landmark on this route."

"What is it?" Matt asked.

"According to the Pokenav, it's called the Purity Forest," Roz answered. "From these pictures, it looks very pleasant. A nice spot for Trainers to rest..."

"We better expect some battles, then," Marty said.

"Are we all prepared?" Jordan asked the group.

"Actually," Davy interrupted. "I don't think it'd be wise to battle today if we're on a tight schedule."

"Yeah," Stepney said. "I don't want the pollution to hurt my Budew!"

"It WOULD be a good idea," Nebu mused. "But when do I get to show off my mad skills?!"

"Soon," Marty assured her, patting her on the head. "For now, let's hurry." With that, the group traveled toward Purity Forest at a brisk pace.

...MEANWHILE...

Kelsey and Eric were laying around in their room in the underground shelter underneath EVille, when Korbin came into their room.

"I need you two for something," he said.

"What for?" Kelsey asked.

"No time for questions," Korbin scolded. "Come on." He left the room with Kelsey and Eric in tow. As they walked around the large underground fortress, they noticed fellow NSM members that were in FoG, wearing their gray suits as they lingered around the base. But that wasn't all. There were also others in the base. There were some people that wore all black except for large red "R's" on their shirts, there were some wearing blue sailor outfits, and some wearing strange red hoodies. This didn't surprise either of them, because they knew Teams Rocket, Aqua, and Magma had holed up here after their failures in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. But what was strange to them was that there were two new uniforms to be seen around. There were new people wearing gray suits like FoG's, but they all wore blue wigs over their hair, to make it seem like they all looked the same. There were also new people walking around wearing knight costumes, which seemed weird to Kelsey and Eric.

After walking for a bit, Korbin stopped in front of a door, and Kelsey and Eric stumbled over themselves trying to stop behind him.

"We're here," Korbin said. He pressed his hand next to a panel next to the door, and it opened. "Stay behind me." He walked inside, and Kelsey and Eric followed closely behind. When Korbin sat down at a chair, Kelsey and Eric stood behind him, not sure what was going on. There were five other men sitting at the table with Korbin. One, a man with slick black hair and a black suit. He had four attendants behind him. Two others were sitting on the other side, one, a man with red hair and a red and black cloak, and the other a man with a blue bandana over his hair and a black jacket. They both had one attendant that was dressed similarly to them. There were two older men sitting opposite of Korbin. One had spiky blue hair and wore a uniform similar to that of the other blue haired people outside. He had three attendants, each with their own color of hair. The other man had long, blonde hair and wore a very strange cloak. He had a whopping six attendants behind him, wearing the same cloak as him, but with different colors.

"Hello, gentlemen," Korbin said. "We have important business to discuss."

...MEANWHILE...

"This is like paradise!" Nebu exclaimed. "The air is fresh and everything!" and indeed it was. Purity Forest was a thing of great beauty. The trees were white and had mint green leaves. It was very thick, so it was very shady, but when light got through the trees, it was pure and white.

"It sure is nice," Stepney commented. "But we can't stay too long."

Just then, a boy with long black hair down his back fell out of a tree. He wore gray sweats and looked like he had been hanging around the forest for quite a while.

"Ow..." he groaned.

"Oh, my gosh!" Roz cried. "Are you okay?"

"Oi!" Stepney shouted. "Get up!"

The boy got up and dusted himself off. "I'm fine," he said. "Just a minor fall."

"Who are you?" Marty asked him.

"My name is G. Z. Gregory," he said. "But you can just call me Gregory." He smiled pleasantly. "Who are you all?" he asked. So they all introduced themselves.

"Ah," Gregory said. "So, I take it you all are heading towards Smogoff City?"

"Yeah," Davy said. "Are you on your way there, too?"

"No," Gregory said. "I've been there already. I've got all eight badges already!" He took out his badge case and showed them all of his badges.

"Wow!" Nebu cried. "You're good!"

"Why are you staying around here?" Marty asked him.

"Ah, well someone told me there's a legendary Pokemon sleeping somewhere in this forest," Gregory told them. "So I've been looking for it since I got the last badge."

They all stared at him for a bit.

"Does he not realize that there's no Pokemon around here?" Nebu whispered to Jordan.

"Who knows?" Jordan said. "But whoever told him that was seriously trolling him."

...MEANWHILE...

Topside of FoG's underground base, two members of FoG were talking to each other.

"Yeah, so I got this kid to believe that there was some kind of legendary Pokemon in Purity Forest!" one laughed.

The other laughed along with him. "Oh, Akiro," he said. "You're so hilarious."

"I know," he said with a smirk. Just then, a strange man wearing a mushroom hat appeared from the shadows. He held a Poke Ball in his hand as he walked toward Akiro and his friend.

"Obvious troll is obvious," he said plainly.

"Oh, yeah?" Akiro questioned. "Shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

"Oh, rearry?" the man asked. He threw out the Poke Ball, and Akiro was instantly incinerated in a column of fire.

Akiro's friend stood there, dumbfounded. "What did you-" he turned to the man, but he was gone.

...MEANWHILE...

"Oh," Gregory said, disappointed. "So there isn't a legendary Pokemon after all..."

"Sorry you were lied to," Marty said.

"It's okay," Gregory said. "Now I can go back to Maron City and finish my training. Thank you for setting me straight!"

"No problem!" Marty said. "We'll see you later, Gregory!" Everyone waved goodbye as they headed out of the Purity Forest and on to Smogoff City.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 27: The Bulbasaur

Marty and Co. had just left Purity Forest after setting Gregory straight. As they neared Smogoff City, they could clearly tell the decline in air quality. Stepney coughed, Matt gagged, and Roz held her breath as long as she could. It got worse and worse until they finally reached Smogoff City.

"This town stinks!" Nebu shouted. "Let's hurry up and get out of here!"

"Gladly," Davy said, heading in the direction of the Gym.

...MEANWHILE...

In the underground base, the meeting between the six leaders began.

"Today we have two more teams joining us," Korbin said to the man in the black suit, Giovanni, and the red and blue men, Maxie and Archie. "Their plans have recently been foiled by Trainers much like the ones that foiled yours. FoG welcomes Teams Galactic and Plasma, and their leaders Cyrus and Ghestis."

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," the man in the strange robe said. Kelsey took a stab in the dark and assumed he was Ghestis.

"In any case," Korbin said to them all, "Ghestis has come here to help our cause."

"Indeed I have," Ghestis agreed. "Let me explain my intentions for coming here. Recently in the Unova Region, I tried to force people to release their Pokemon. They are powerful beings that we still don't fully understand, and shouldn't be kept close like pets. That's why I started trying to separate people from Pokemon. But three Trainers stood in my way the entire time and ended spoiling my plans. After my humiliating defeat, I learned of this place, where they're deciding whether or not to separate people from Pokemon!" He slammed his hands on the table. "Is this not what I have been fighting for all this time?! That's why I came. I don't want this region to EXIST. If they don't like my ideas, they shouldn't just use them elsewhere."

"That's what I believe our new goal should be," Korbin said. "This region is completely unnecessary, and will not be missed. Is there any opposition to this plan?" No one voiced or showed any concern.

"Very well," Cyrus said. "How shall we go about this?"

"Leave it to me," Korbin said as he stood up. "This meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much, gentlemen." He walked out with Kelsey and Eric close behind.

...MEANWHILE...

Davy had just found Smogoff City Gym and got ready to go in.

"You guys don't have to come in, you know," he said.

"But we have to support you!" Matt cried.

"Yeah! We're a team, and we stick together." Stepney added.

"What kind of friend wouldn't support another friend?" Nebu asked him.

"You know," Marty said bitterly, "You guys showed up at the end of my battle..."

"Our Pokemon were stolen!" Jordan protested.

"Charmander's too awesome to be stolen~." Roz sang.

"What do you want to do?" Davy asked him. "It's totally fine if you don't want to come in."

"Actually," Marty said, "I want to take a look around the town a bit before we leave, since we aren't staying. I'll catch up with you guys."

"All right," Davy nodded. "See you later." He turned around and walked in the Gym with the others in tow. Marty turned the other way and walked towards downtown.

...MEANWHILE...

"Destroy the region?!" Kelsey screamed. He and Eric had just gotten back to their room from the meeting with the other teams.

"This is really bad..." Eric trailed off.

"We have to get out of here," Kelsey told him. "Let's go back to Polo Town."

"We can't yet!" Eric shouted. "We haven't finished what we came here for yet. I'm not going to throw away everything we've worked for now."

"But they're going to-"

"Destroy the region?" Eric finished his sentence. "How? Only a legendary Pokemon would have that kind of power, and when was the last time you saw one?"

"Well..." Kelsey thought about this for a minute.

"Never!" Eric answered for him. "I have no idea how they're doing this, but it seems very improbable at this point. We have to finish what we started. We have to get our Pokemon back."

...MEANWHILE...

Marty was walking through downtown Smogoff when he saw two kids running through the street laughing.

"That stupid Pokemon!" one of them said. "It's not my fault it's so weak!"

"Let's go get our parents to give us a better one!" the other told him. They ran in the direction of some houses. Marty looked where they had been running from and saw a narrow alley. He walked into it. When he got to the end of the alley, he saw a cardboard box moving around very slowly. He picked up the box, and under it was a small dinosaur Pokemon with a green bulb on its back. The bulb was extremely wilted, and the Pokemon looked to be very sick.

"Oh my god," he said to himself. "A Bulbasaur!" He tried to pick it up, but it backed away from him. The Bulbasaur cowered in the corner of the alley. As Marty looked closer at the Bulbasaur, he noticed it was covered in wounds and bruises.

"Those kids must've hurt this poor Bulbasaur," he said to himself again. "I need to take it to the Pokemon Center." He tried picking it up again, and the Bulbasaur weakly nibbled at his fingers.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said to the Bulbasaur. "I promise." The Bulbasaur perked up a little bit at the word 'promise'. It started walking towards Marty slowly and carefully. Eventually the Bulbasaur walked into his arms. Marty walked quickly over to the Pokemon Center to get the poor creature treated for its wounds.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 28: A Quick Battle

Davy entered the Smogoff City Gym with the others where the referee was waiting for them at the entrance.

"Hello," he said plainly. "You're here to challenge the Blue Flower?"

"Blue Flower?" Davy asked.

"Yes," the ref said shaking his head. "That is the nickname of our Gym Leader here. He's never told anyone here his actual name."

"We all know who it is, right?" Matt asked everyone.

"Of course!" Stepney answered for everyone. "Now let's hurry inside."

...MEANWHILE...

Marty arrived at the Pokemon Center with the injured Bulbasaur and took it over to the counter.

"Oh my god," the nurse gasped. "What happened?"

"I found this Bulbasaur in an alleyway," Marty explained. "It was badly hurt by some idiot kids and could've died there."

The nurse shook her head. "There've been quite a few reports of those children hurting Pokemon. They should be in very big trouble for it, but they're kids so they can't very well go to jail." She picked up the Bulbasaur. "You did the right thing by bringing this poor thing here. It's too weak to even move right now. We'll take care of it, okay? You can stay here and wait if you want."

"Thank you, ma'am," Marty said to the nurse. He watched as she walked Bulbasaur to the emergency room in the back. The Bulbasaur turned around to look at him as it went back and cried out weakly. Then the door closed behind it.

...MEANWHILE...

Davy and the others reached the arena where Blue Flower was waiting for them. True to his name, he was dressed in all blue. They also noticed that he was very tall, and seemed to grow before their eyes.

"Welcome," he said quietly. "Which one of you is here to challenge me?"

"I am," Davy said.

"All right," Blue Flower replied. "But we need to make this quick because I need to be somewhere. So this battle will be one on one. Acceptable?"

"Fine," Davy agreed. "Let's get this over with."

The ref, seeming to appear from nowhere, shouted, "Begin!"

...MEANWHILE...

Marty sat and waited at the Pokemon Center, worrying about the Bulbasaur. Would it be alright? What would he do with it? He already had six Pokemon with him. He couldn't take it with him. So what would become of the poor thing? As he was thinking this, he decided to leave the Pokemon Center and go outside.

...MEANWHILE...

"Go! Crobat!" Blue Flower called. A purple bat with four all wings emerged from the ball.

"Go, Xatu," Davy said coolly.

"Crobat versus Xatu," the ref declared. "Begin!"

"Xatu, Psychic," Davy said completely blankly. Xatu quickly followed Davy's orders and released a strong Psychic blast at Crobat.

"Crobat, Air Cutter!" Blue Flower ordered. Crobat fired a sonic boom at Xatu, which didn't make it past Xatu's Psychic attack. Crobat took the full force of the attack and fell over, fainted.

"Crobat is unable to battle!" the ref said. "Xatu wins! The winner is Davy from Cinnabar Island!"

Everyone was dumbstruck. No one thought the battle would be over that quickly. Davy still stared forward at Blue Flower, steel-faced.

"Wow," Stepney said. "Just...wow."

"I can't believe it," Roz gasped.

"Did anyone time it?" Nebu asked.

"I did," Jordan answered, Pokenav in hand. "17 seconds."

"I've done a little extra training," Davy said. "I did it at night when you guys were all asleep. I wanted to make sure we didn't waste any time here."

"That was incredible," Blue Flower said to him. "You've definitely earned the Venom Badge." He took a badge out of his pocket and handed it to Davy.

"Thank you," Davy said. He turned to the others. "Let's go find Marty," he said to them. They left the Gym, leaving Blue Flower still extremely stunned.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty had gone back to Purity Forest to train. He trained and trained for hours, not knowing how quickly Davy had finished his battle. He was so focused with his Pokemon, who had all evolved, that he didn't notice the girl that snuck up behind him.

"Pretty intense training," she said to him.

Marty screamed a little bit and jumped a few feet. "You scared me," he said.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that." She pushed her glasses up and pushed her blond hair back. "My name is Taylor," she told him.

"Nice to meet you," Marty said. "I'm Marty." He looked at her for a brief moment and could've sworn he knew her somehow. He pushed it away from his mind. "So, are you a trainer?" He asked her.

"Yes, I am," she said to him. "Here are my Poke Balls." She reached into her bag and showed him five Poke Balls.

"You don't have six Pokemon?" Marty asked her.

"No," she said glumly. "My starter Pokemon got mixed up in the mail and sent to this region. I heard it was somewhere around here."

"What kind of Pokemon was it?" Marty asked her.

"Well," Taylor said. "It was a Bulbasaur."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 29: (Re)United

"Did you say a Bulbasaur?" Marty asked her.

"Yeah," Taylor said. "Why?"

"Come with me," Marty said. "Quickly!"

...MEANWHILE...

"He's not answering his Pokenav," Nebu said.

"Do you think he went on without us?" Matt asked.

"No," Roz said. "Marty wouldn't do that. We just need to keep looking around. Where haven't we looked yet?"

"The Pokemon Center," Davy answered quickly.

"Why didn't we look there in the first place?" Jordan asked everyone. They all shrugged it off and walked toward the Center.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and Taylor had just gotten back to the Pokemon Center as Nurse Joy stepped out of the emergency room.

"Why are we here?" Taylor said.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Marty asked her rhetorically. "Nurse Joy, any word?"

"Bulbasaur is just fine and is ready to go with you," she told him.

"Bulbasaur?" Taylor questioned.

"Yup," Marty answered. "It's your Bulbasaur, I believe."

"No way!" Taylor shrieked happily. "Thank you so much!" She ran up to Marty and hugged him. Marty blushed.

"No problem," he said. "All in a day's work and whatnot."

"I'll go get Bulbasaur for you," Nurse Joy said. "Do you have its Poke Ball?"

Marty's eyes widened. "No..." he said. "Those kids still have it, I bet." Just then, a man walked in the Pokemon Center. He wore a mushroom hat.

"Here," he said. He threw a Poke Ball to Marty. "This is what you're looking for, isn't it?"

"Thank you," Marty said. "Who are you?"

"I'm-" he started to say.

"Champion Mike!" Nurse Joy said. "Good to see you! What brings you here?"

"Heading back to Maron City," Mike said. "Figured I'd stop for a bit. I had a hunch there'd be something important to do." Just then, Stepney busted through the door.

"I found him, guys!" he said. "I knew we should've looked here first!"

"Please, Stepney," Jordan groaned. "You insisted that we go back to Purity Forest and look for him. Other than that you did nothing." Stepney's face got very red as Davy, Nebu and Roz walked in. Roz saw Mike and her eyes widened.

"You!" she shouted.

Mike saw her, turned to Nurse Joy, and said, "I have to go. Nice to see you, Joy." He turned and ran out the door.

"You're not getting away!" Roz yelled after him. She ran out the door.

"What was that about?" Jordan wondered. Marty and Nebu shrugged their shoulders.

...MEANWHILE...

Roz caught up to Mike and tackled him to the ground. She turned him around and slapped him. Hard.

"You jerk!" Roz shouted at him. "How could you leave me like that?"

"I had my reasons," Mike said to her. "More pressing things came up."

"How selfish can you be?" Roz asked him. "I thought we had something!"

"Then you were mistaken," Mike told her. "As Champion, I can't afford to get mixed up in relationships."

"So you just LEFT me?!" Roz asked him angrily.

"I had to, as I said before." Mike said flatly.

"You didn't even SAY anything!" Roz screamed.

"Look," Mike said to her. "If you want to settle this with me, do it at the Pokemon League, not here." He got up, dusted himself off, and left Roz standing there in the middle of the square. It began to rain as Roz sobbed quietly.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 30: Memories REALLY Suck Sometimes

Marty and the others were worried about Roz, so they went to look for her. They found her in the square on her knees, sobbing quietly.

"Roz!" Nebu shouted.

"Are you okay?" Marty asked.

"I'm...fine," Roz told them. "Don't worry about me."

"We just found you sobbing on your knees in the square in the middle of the night," Matt stated. "Why wouldn't we worry about you?"

"Because it's nothing that concerns you!" Roz snapped at them. Nebu and Marty gasped because in all the years that they had known Rozalie growing up in Ecruteak, she had never once yelled at them. They both cringed and shut their eyes.

"We're your friends," Jordan said calmingly. "You can talk to us about it."

"Just drop it!" she screamed as she burst into tears. She stood up too quickly and proceeded to faint.

"Now what?" Stepney asked everyone.

"We've got to stay here for the night," Marty said. "Let's take Roz to the Pokemon Center and get us all rooms." So Marty hoisted Roz up on his back and everyone went back to the Pokemon Center for the night.

...MEANWHILE...

"Hey, Kelsey," Eric said, turning over in his bunk.

"What?" Kelsey responded.

"Do you ever think of home anymore?" Eric asked.

"All the time," Kelsey answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Eric said. "I was just thinking about everyone back in Polo Town. Wondering how they're doing. Wondering if they miss us."

"Eric..." Kelsey said sadly.

"Do you remember how we joined the FoG?" Eric asked.

"Yeah," Kelsey said.

...FLASHBACK...

 "Get out of here, you loser!" the girls called after Kelsey. "Why on EARTH would I go out with YOU?"

Kelsey was heartbroken. He was sure that this girl had liked him, after all he'd done for her. He just wanted to cry, but he knew that he couldn't. Not in front of her. So instead, he looked deep into the girl's eyes and turned away. He wasn't wanted here, or anywhere for that matter. He and Eric were alone...

 Eric didn't have a girlfriend, but he didn't really care. He had his Minecraft, his Portal guns, and Doctor Who. That was all he needed and really wanted, although he hardly admitted it.

Eric and Kelsey lived in a region that, like Terrari, isn't as commonplace as other regions in the Pokemon world. The region of Alyos is the farthest north region in the world, filled with Pokemon from all nations. Since Alyos is so far north, it is naturally the coldest of all the regions, proving to be a worthy challenge for any willing Pokemon Trainer.

The two best friends were the outcasts of the whole town. Never getting anything right, never coming through, they strived to belong somewhere. Only one thing kept them going: their dream of becoming Pokemon Masters; superheroes in the eyes of other young trainers. Training Pokemon was the only thing they were good at; they fiercely trained every day at the Polo Town Gym, but even that got them ridiculed. Their only friend was the leader of the Polo Town Gym, Thomas.

One day, Eric and Kelsey were training at the gym, when Thomas walked in the front doors wearing his signature parka and had a rolled-up poster under his arm. "Hey, guys!" he called. "Check this out, I just got it in the mail!" Kelsey and Eric looked at each other and went to see what Thomas had to show them.

Thomas was unrolling the poster and stapling it to the bulletin board in the gym's entrance. "What is it?" Kelsey asked.

"An advertisement, as you can see," Thomas finished stapling, "for a special, once-in-a-lifetime region-wide Pokemon Tournament coming to Polo Town next week! Can you believe it?!?"

"Wow, are you serious?" Eric exclaimed. Turning to Kelsey, he rejoiced, "Kelsey, this could finally be our big break! Our chance to get our names out there!"

"I know!" Kelsey cried. "After all these years of training, we can finally show the world that we really are totally awesome!"

"Well, I'm glad you two are excited, because I was going to make you guys sign up anyways," Thomas joked with them.

In the corner of the poster were some letters that caught Kelsey's eye. "What does FoG mean?" he inquired. Eric also noticed the acronym and nodded in agreement.
Thomas perked up. He looked at the poster again and read from it something aloud. "It says here that FoG, or 'Friends of Girafarig,' is an environmentalist group promoting healthy battling through this tournament. Wow, so it looks like it's gonna be fun, AND it's for a good cause!"

"Yeah, that's great!" Eric said excitedly. "Kelsey, we better train a lot more if we want to do well in this tournament!"

"That's right," Thomas cut in, "you have only a week to train your very hardest- and I mean excruciatingly hard. I want you two in here every day, for as long as possible, duking it out. You guys are strong. Almost stronger than me, but if you want to beat the whole REGION, we have a lot of work to do. My buddies from the other gyms can tell you that!"

"So let the training begin!" Kelsey cried, pulling out a Poke Ball.

...ONE WEEK LATER...

Eric and Kelsey trained almost nonstop day and night for the entire week, finally taking their last few hours to rest, so that both they and their Pokemon would be ready for the next day's competition.

"I'm proud of you two." Thomas said to them, warming up in the gym before the opening ceremonies. "Even if you guys totally suck today in the tournament- I'm still proud of you."
       
"Um, thanks, Tom?" Eric replied, awkwardly.
       
"Yeah, man, thanks for the confidence..." Kelsey said sarcastically.
       
"Only for you guys!" Tom grinned. "Now get out there! You'll miss the opening ceremonies!"
       
The two young trainers were quickly pushed out the door of the gym into a field lit up with lights, filled with people; an old football field that was rarely used, but it was all Polo Town had that could hold such a crowd this dense. In the center of the field was a huge tent, shooting up to the sky in red canvas, an almost circus-like sense.
       
Trainers from all around the Alyos region came together for this competition, competing for fame, fortune...and charity. They had set up campsites, meaning that some trainers had been here for a few days, even.

Kelsey and Eric walked into the enormous red tent to find the magnificent place to be filled with shouting and cheering, and the cry of several Pokemon here and there. Metal bleachers lined the tent, focused on a wooden battlefield in the center, prepped for battling.
       
A couple of things caught Kelsey's eye. On one side of the tent was a platform placed higher than the bleachers. On it were eight chairs with only seven filled with people who planned to watch the tournament.

"Hey guys!" somebody called. The two looked down from the platform to see Thomas climbing the stairs to sit in the eighth chair, waving. Kelsey inferred that the other people up on the platform were the gym leaders of Alyos, watching over their potential challengers.
       
Near the top of the tent sat a ledge. A dark figure stood on the ledge gazing down upon the fantastic Pokemon fest below. There appeared to be no way to get down from the high platform, baffling Kelsey as to how the figure got up there. "Hey, Eric, look up there," he nudged to his buddy, pointing in the direction of the platform.
       
Eric looked where Kelsey had been pointing and said, "What are you looking at? There's nothing there."
       
Kelsey was astounded. Eric was right. There was no longer anything on that high platform...but who could have been? He tried not to let it disturb his focus. Eric and Kelsey were confident they could take the tournament by storm.
   
A man climbed up onto the center platform just as trainers were settling down their anxious Pokemon into their seats. The man was slightly tall, dressed in red vertical stripes on a white background with a flat straw hat, as one would see in a barbershop quartet. This guy was obviously made for entertainment.

"Hello, Polo Town!!" The man shouted into a microphone, echoing throughout the large tent. The crowd cheered at the man's booming recognition of the smallest town in Alyos. "My name is Mandrew, and I will be your emcee for today!" The crowd cheered louder. "As you should all know, I am the champion here in Alyos, and I have the extreme pleasure of kicking off this awesome 'Friends of Girafarig' contest to support healthy battling! Lemme hear it for FoG, huh?" He held up the microphone right to his lips, becoming almost deafening. Mandrew wasn't any older than Eric or Kelsey, and had in fact grown up with them until age 10, when he became the ultimate Pokemon pop star, taking the Alyos Region by storm.
 
Standing in the center of the stage, Mandrew brought the mic to his lips once again. "Up on this big screen you see here, will be the lineup for today's competition. Each trainer will battle their selected opponents until we reach the champion's finals. The winner of the Final Round will be inducted as an honorary member of FoG and given the trip of a lifetime to any location they choose!" As he said this, the big screen that was hanging in the tent suddenly flashed on. Positions of trainers were shown all over the board, about 64 in all. Fortunately, Eric and Kelsey were at complete opposite ends of the bracket.

After an extended period of chattering and glances at the tournament bracket, Mandrew drew the attention of the crowd back to him. "Now who's ready to see some kick-ass battling?" The crowd roared. "Me too! Let's get to it! Round 1, in position!" Two trainers lined up on the arena, while a ref stood near off-field. "Ready, Set, Battle!" And they were off. The tournament had started. A long day of battling awaited...
   
Finally, it was Eric's turn to battle. He stood, nervously on the edge of the battle arena, grasping a sweaty Poke Ball in his hand. A youngster from Anchor City was his challenger. The kid wore a backwards baseball cap and had a determined look in his eye; A frightening glare when coming from a child.

The kid pulled out a Poke Ball and shouted, "You think you've got what it takes to beat me? We'll see." Eric just looked at the kid. Although the little dork didn't look like a challenge, Eric had a sunken feeling that this was all real from now on. No more games. He had to face his destiny in the Pokemon world.
   
As any teenager would say, Eric kept his short with a simple, "Bring it, twerp!"
   
Mandrew's voice was overheard shouting, "Ready, Set, Battle!" You could tell he was getting tired of saying it.
   
The youngster pulled out a Heracross, while Eric threw out his shiny Noctowl. From there, the youngster's Heracross used a quick Horn Attack, which was narrowly dodged by Noctowl's Fly. Noctowl swiftly dove down at Heracross, damaging its back. Before it could move, the Heracross whipped around and used Bug Bite on Noctowl, who was surprised by the sudden burst of energy. Once Noctowl broke free of Heracross' grip, Eric ordered it to use Hypnosis on the fast bug-type Pokemon, causing it to immediately pass out, unable to move. Using the advantage Hypnosis had bought it, Noctowl used a powerful Dream Eater attack on the sleeping Pokemon, waking it up, but before it could attack again, the shiny Noctowl swooped down with another Fly attack, knocking out Heracross.
   
The Youngster glared at his fainted Heracross. He had no more Pokemon to show for a battle, ergo it was over. Eric had won. Mandrew came onto the microphone, "That's a wrap! Congratulations Eric on your win- you move onto the next round!" Mandrew quickly sat back down, turning off his mic.
   
Eric ran over to Kelsey and smiled. "I had no idea it would be that short! You're up soon! Get ready, man!" Kelsey knew it'd be a hard battle ahead of him, after what he'd just seen with his buddy, so he tried to prepare for what may come when it was his time.
   
...And eventually it came: Kelsey's time to battle. He stepped up to the battling platform, and his challenger arose to challenge him: Thomas. "TOM?!" Kelsey cried. "What on Earth are you doing in this competition??"
   
Thomas looked at him from across the arena in his fluffy parka and smiled. His dark skin under the hood made it look like he was really an Eskimo. "Does it really matter? I've decided to test you and see if you've really got the guts to prove you're the 'shiz' of this competition."
   
Mandrew looked down at the battlefield and spoke into the microphone. "Battle #32! Kelsey vs. Leader Tom! Ready, Set, Battle!" 
   
Thomas was busy examining his parka at the moment, however. "You know what, Kelsey?" He asked, looking up from his ridiculous outfit. "I like parkas! They're comfy and easy to wear! Now let's battle!" He pulled out a Poke Ball and let out his partner Pokemon, Mamoswine. Following Mamoswine's reveal, Kelsey unleashed his Pokemon with the highest advantage to Tom's Ice-Type team, Magmar.
   Magmar was less than half the size of Mamoswine, but Kelsey was confident that he could take it down. So he started off with a simple Fire Burst to startle the huge creature. It worked, causing the Mamoswine to create an unplanned Earthquake attack. The force of the startled Mamoswine was such a magnitude that Magmar was knocked out. Kelsey was saddened that his best fire Pokemon was so easily disposed of, especially, when he knew that Thomas still carried a Cryogonal, as well as a Sneasel on his team. Hoping for the best, he threw out his Tangrowth, in hopes to weaken the Ice/Ground Pokémon with its attacks.
   
Thomas smirked. He knew Kelsey was better than to put a grass-type against an ice-type. He confidently ordered his Mamoswine to use a Blizzard attack to wipe out Tangrowth, but before the words left his mouth, the vine Pokemon slipped  in a sudden Grass Knot. The unforeseen attack tripped up the massive fur ball, causing it to slam to the ground just after spouting a last-breath Blizzard at Tangrowth. It immediately fainted.
   
Kelsey was troubled. Two of his six Pokémon were already down, and he hadn't even defeated one of Thomas'! Fortunately, Kelsey had a secret weapon. He grabbed a Poke Ball out of his roster- a Poke Ball with a small yellow lightning bolt on it.  His partner Pokemon, Pikachu, popped out with a cute little grin on its bright yellow face.
   
Thomas was dumbfounded. "Pikachu? Really?" He cried. Kelsey knew what he was doing, for this was a special Pikachu- one which (unbeknownst to Thomas) knew Surf.
   
"Pikachu, use quick attack on Mamoswine again and again!" Kelsey shouted. "Don't let it get up!" Pikachu pelted the giant Pokemon with physical attacks, yet despite its hard efforts, Mamoswine still rose to its feet. It looked close to being defeated. Kelsey winked at Pikachu, signaling that it was time for their special tactic.
   
Thomas cringed. He too realized that Mamoswine was close to fainting, so he concocted a plan...but not for the battle. "Mamoswine, finish this up with Mud Slap!" So Mamoswine rose on its hind legs, about to cover the electric type with mud, when the unexpected happened.
   
"NOW, Pikachu!" Kelsey cried. "Surf!"
   
Pikachu stood firm on the ground as Mamoswine's feet swiftly approached the arena floor. "PIKACHUUUU!!!" Crying out almost painfully, the little yellow Pokemon outstretched its arms, its cheeks sparking. Water rose out of the ground, instantly forming a giant tidal wave, with Pikachu locked in the center.
   
Thomas' eyes widened. He had never seen such a sight before.  The crowd gasped, oohed, ah'd, and cried out in surprise and excitement. 

Mamoswine's Mud Slap was nothing compared to the monstrous Surf attack.  The Ice/Ground Pokémon was frozen in fear.
 
Pikachu slipped out of the tidal wave and forced it towards his opponent. Mamoswine and Thomas were overtaken by the force of the water and swept away.  Mamoswine had fainted.
   
Mandrew came on the microphone. "Mamoswine has been defeated! Thomas, send out your next Pokemon!"
   
"No." Thomas said sternly. "I forfeit."
   
Kelsey and Mandrew's eyes widened. "W-what?" Mandrew cried. "You can't forfeit! You still have two more Pokemon left!"

"Mandrew, I know Kelsey is strong; and he's good with strategies. Did you see what he just pulled there? I did NOT see that coming." Thomas withdrew Mamoswine and put the Poke Ball back into his parka.  "Kelsey is strong enough to advance in this tournament. I forfeit."
   
"Oh, fine." Mandrew said, disappointed.  "Kelsey wins. Now who's NEXT?!"
   
Thomas took Kelsey aside as the next battle began taking place. Kelsey smiled as if there was no tomorrow. "Tom, why'd you do it??"
   
"You've got this, kid- you and Eric both.  I expect to see a brilliant showdown in the Finals, you hear?" Thomas patted him on the back and climbed up to the gym leader platform from whence he came.  Just above that, Kelsey could barely see what may have been the shadowy figure once again with what appeared to be a smug-looking grin. Kelsey reverted his focus back to the tournament.
   
Rounds passed...rounds and rounds and rounds.  Eric and Kelsey made their way to the semi-finals, blasting challengers away, left and right.  Four were left. The semi-finals seemed shorter than what the battles really were- tough. Kelsey and Eric had barely made it this far, and both were tired.  "...and Kelsey from Polo Town is the winner!" Mandrew announced at last. Semi-Finals were over. The final victors were Kelsey...and Eric.
   
"Dude..." Eric started, looking at the Finals scoreboard. "We both made it to the finals..."
   
"Yeah, we did." Kelsey replied, out of breath. "That means only one of us..."
   
"...can win." Eric finished. "I'm ready. Are you?"
   
"I think so." Kelsey said confidently. "May the best man win."

The two friends shook hands on it and went to their place on the battlefield. Thomas could be heard in the background shouting maniacally, "GO KELSEY! GO ERIC!"

Mandrew was as peppy as ever to announce the final battle, crying out, "This is it, ladies and gentlemen! What you've waited all night for! The final round, the Championship match of the Friends of Girafarig tourney!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 31: Memories REALLY Suck Sometimes (Part 2)

It seemed as if the crowd was never silent. Kelsey peered into Eric's Eyes, mouthing a quick "Good luck" before they were ushered to the beginnings of what would be their last professional battle for a long time.  He wasn't sure if Eric had seen.
   
As he started at his friend from across the battlefield, Eric looked into Kelsey's eyes and only had one thought: "I don't want to do this." But he had to. He made a quick decision as to who to start out with first, but then decided the perfect choice.  He only hoped Kelsey was ready for his almighty team.  This wasn't about fame or charity anymore...it was worth- who was better. Or was it? Whose thoughts were these, confusing Eric's heart and mind...?
 
Kelsey had barely prepared by the time Mandrew excitedly shouted, "Ready, Set, Battle!" one last time.  He grabbed a Poke Ball at random and threw it. It was Chatot.
   
Eric's side was held up by his newly-evolved Empoleon, causing Kelsey to judge if keeping Chatot out was a good decision. He quickly changed gears from Chatot to his Tangrowth, who had full healed since the battle with Thomas.
   
Empoleon was quick to attack with a Blizzard right away, but Tangrowth was ready and prepared to dish it right back.  The vine Pokemon gathered huge rocks from the ground, tossing an enormous Ancientpower attack towards Eric's Empoleon.  The Empoleon was knocked over, but no damage done otherwise.  The Empoleon rebounded with Hydro Cannon, but Tangrowth blocked the powerful water attack with its hands, dispersing the water onto the crowd and the Gym Leaders. Everyone cheered. Quickly, Kelsey ordered Tangrowth to pelt Empoleon over and over with Cut attacks while it attempted to recharge. As soon as Empoleon was recharged enough to launch another Blizzard attack, Tangrowth delivered the final blow with a great Grass Knot, tripping the penguin-like Pokemon. Empoleon fainted.
   
Kelsey turned to face the crowd and sheered, instilling confidence that he would win.  The stadium warmed up as he did a short victory dance for his first defeat, but it chilled soon after, signaling that he should get back to the battle.  Kelsey faced the battlefield to discover two things: the first was his fainted Tangrowth with a terrible burn, and the other was Eric looking smug, laughing, and holding the Poke Ball of his recently unveiled Pokemon, Torkoal.  Very sneaky, thought Kelsey, but that's not enough.  He grabbed the Poke Ball of his beloved Buizel and went to work.
   
Buizel smiled at its trainer, as it saw the oncoming Fire Spin from Torkoal.  The little orange weasel turned into a giant water snaked and pushed the Aqua Jet attack through the blazing trap and straight onto Torkoal's back, dousing the flame and knocking it out.  Buizel returned to Kelsey with a burn, so Kelsey decided to give it a rest and returned it to its Poke Ball.
   
Eric tossed out another Pokemon, and this time he was confident that it was invincible.  His Spiritomb simply sat, staring creepily at Kelsey and various audience members.  Kelsey thought deep as to who he should send out next, figuring that Dark/Ghost was an almost unstoppable combination.  He was struggling as he picked the Poke Ball and brought his Fraxure into battle.
   
Fraxure stood careful, facing its opponent as Kelsey contemplated how to get at the Spiritomb looming just a few feet away.  "Fraxure, use Dragon Claw!" Kelsey shouted, experimenting with his attacks.  The little dragon ran up to the stationary ghost Pokemon, claw ready to attack, when Eric's Spiritomb suddenly blocked the attempt and sent it flying by assaulting Fraxure with an extremely powerful physical attack: Return.  Eric's love for his Pokemon was coming forth. Fraxure hit the ground and slid to where Kelsey was standing, fainted.
   
Kelsey decided to bring out his best bet: Pikachu. Pikachu popped out with a determined grin- it was ready for battle. Spiritomb launched a sudden Dark Pulse attack that Pikachu narrowly dodged. Before Spiritomb could attack again, Pikachu used a close-range Thunder, damaging Spiritomb quite a bit.  Noticing Eric's smug looking grin on his face, Kelsey decided to change things up yet again by switching Pikachu out with Magmar.
   
Magmar started off with his powerful Lava Plume attack: jumping high into the sky, and plummeting to the ground, creating spouts of lava coming from the stadium floor, trapping the Spiritomb in one place.  Unfortunately, Eric had another plan.  The Spiritomb hopped through the flaming holes in the ground and sent multiple consecutive Sucker Punches at Magmar.  Attempting to block the oncoming attack, Magmar sent Fire Burst after Fire Burst to ward off the Sucker Punches, but it was too late.  Magmar was hit, and pinned to the ground- a perfect opportunity for Spiritomb to use a final Psychic attack, knocking out Magmar.
   
Eric was feeling great- half of Kelsey's Pokemon were already defeated. It was 3-3 now, with the odds roughly in his favor. Then Eric noticed that Spiritomb was burned from Magmar's attack, and losing HP quickly.  Eric didn't want to switch out, so he powered through. He had this.
   
Kelsey was in deep trouble. He had to use a Pokemon that hadn't done much battling, so he chose Chatot.  The cute musical bird chirped as it was let from its Poke Ball. The Spiritomb looked weakened, but Kelsey wouldn't let that get to him.  He ordered Chatot to perform Hyper Voice, a high-pitched voice attack that nearly deafened the audience, but unfortunately had no effect on Spiritomb.  The Spiritomb used Dark Pulse and hit Chatot, but it didn't do enough damage to substantially wound it.  Then Kelsey had Chatot use Chatter, a move specifically designed for it. "FoG!" Chatot repeated, the sound waves of its voice penetrating Spiritomb, finally knocking out the horrid Pokemon.
   
Before Kelsey had any time to decide if he should change Pokemon or not, Eric unleashed his secret weapon: a Pikachu, one that knew Fly.  There was also another secret to this Pikachu that only Eric and Kelsey knew: It was the brother of Kelsey's Pikachu that knows Surf.
   
Kelsey had no time to plan.  Eric's Pikachu unleashed a powerful Thunderbolt, striking Chatot in place. Chatot fainted, falling to the ground in a daze.  Kelsey had two Pokemon left. So did Eric.
   
In confusion, Kelsey accidentally threw out his Buizel, only to receive the same treatment as Chatot, but not before it landed a quick Ice Punch on Pikachu. Buizel was out.
   
Eric then replaced his mega house Pikachu with his special shiny Noctowl.  The golden bird glimmered as it rose out of the Poke Ball, prepared for battle. Kelsey had no choice but to send out his Pikachu.  It was all he had left to battle with.  Dread of losing entered Kelsey's mind, telling him to give in, give up, to admit defeat.  The evil thoughts of failure vanished when Pikachu cried out to get the attention of Noctowl.  The Noctowl got closer and closer to Kelsey's Pikachu, making it uncomfortable.  In a swift motion, Pikachu used quick attack to stun Noctowl and knock it out of the air, and then zap it with Thunder on the way down.  The plan was incredibly simple and worked wonders. Pikachu jumped over Noctowl and finished the job with an overhead Electro Ball, knocking it out.  Kelsey had one. Eric had one.
   
The last match-up. Everyone in the stadium was on the edge of their seats, watching this intense battle go on as it just about wrapped up.  Eric let his Pikachu out, as he smiled at Kelsey. Pikachu vs. Pikachu. Brother vs. Brother. This was the final leg. It was anyone's match now.
   
Eric's Pikachu struck first. Its tail shone bright silver as it dashed towards its brother in attack.  Kelsey's Pikachu fended off the running Pikachu with Surf, which simply pushed back the persistent creature. Eventually, Eric's Pikachu simply jumped into a Fly attack, to land on Kelsey's Pikachu in a full-force Iron Tail.  While the other flew in the air, Kelsey's Pikachu attempted to shoot it down with multiple Electro Balls. Eventually, one hit, knocking the Pikachu to the ground, angering it. It used a sneaky Iron Tail, hitting Kelsey's Pikachu square in the face.
   
Both Pikachus were extremely exhausted, and ready for the battle to be over, but neither were giving up yet. Both Pikachus began a charge. The two started running at full speed directly at one another. Eric's Pikachu flew high in the shy, preparing to dive-bomb his brother.  Water formed around Kelsey's Pikachu, the beginning of a great Surf attack as the water shaped into a tidal wave.  Eric's Pikachu began its descent as Kelsey's jumped to meet him. At the last second before collision, Kelsey's Pikachu cried out inside the great mound of water, and charged it full of electricity. Boom.
   
Smoke. Mist. No one in the stadium could see a thing, not even Kelsey, or Eric. It was a few minutes before the stadium floor was even visible. Both Pikachus were knocked out. It was a tie.
   
"UNBELIEVABLE!" Mandrew cried out. The stadium went nuts! "A fantastic match followed by a fantastic finish!" Mandrew ran down to the battlefield, which had been practically destroyed during all of the battles. Mandrew gathered Eric and Kelsey in the center, so the screaming crowd could get a look at them.  Mandrew shook both of their hands and whispered "Great job, you two!" into their ears. "Get a look at these two champions!" He shouted to the crowd. "You both are now official members of FoG, and you both get trips to anywhere you desire! Where are you headed?"
   
"Um..." Kelsey thought aloud, "I'm good with pretty much anywhere, really."
 
"Me too," Eric replied.
   
"It's settled! Let's leave it to the businessmen, shall we?" Mandrew directed the two to a room just off of the stadium and told them to wait there for the FoG executive.  The last sight of Polo Town they saw was of Thomas dancing wildly on the Gym leaders' platform.
   
They entered a pitch black room and watched as the metal doors to the stadium closed with a SLAM! It was dark, and they could no longer hear the crowd behind them.  They turned to face the door, when a light bulb popped on behind them.  Two shadows. That's all that was there. One blink and suddenly a third joined them.  Kelsey and Eric whirled around to meet the face of a young man, about 18.
   
Eric squinted to keep the light out of his eyes. "Umm...are you the Friends of Girafarig Executive?"
   
The young man laughed. His short blonde hair made his oddly grey suit stand out as well as the yellow orb in the center of his uniform. "FoG? Yes. 'Friends of Girafarig?' No. Only a fool would think anyone gave a crap about Girafarigs. Worthless creatures."
   
The two friends were frozen in fear.  What was happening? "Er, ok then..." Kelsey mumbled. "We'll just go find the other exec-"
   
The young man grabbed Kelsey by the shirt and held him there." I AM the only executive!" He cried, setting Kelsey down. "The name's Korbin. I run a very popular organization, and you've just been invited. Now, follow me." He opened a door in the metal room into a longer room. There were two machines for collecting Poke Balls, with a red cross painted on them. "These machines will heal your Pokemon. They will be delivered back to you as soon as they are done."
   Eric and Kelsey placed their Poke Balls one by one onto the moving conveyor belt, as their beloveds sailed off to who-knows where. They were gone, and Kelsey and Eric never saw it coming. "Come along!" Korbin called. Kelsey was almost positive that the shadow he had seen in the stadium had been him.
   
Walking down another metal hallway, Eric wondered where on Earth they could be. There were no structures near the abandoned football field. In the center of the hallway, Korbin pressed a button on a wall and spoke into a speaker: "All engines are a go. We have our cargo, boys. Head for Terrari, pronto." A few seconds later, the floor shifted, as if the building had lifted off the ground, like an aircraft.
   
That's exactly what it was.
   
Korbin took Kelsey and Eric to another room, one with a glass floor. Through the floor, they could see trainers about their age with Pokemon- training, battling each other, in an unfriendly manner.
   
Korbin stopped walking and turned to face the two. "This organization, FoG, is much more than what you perceived it to be.  We are the Followers of Giratina, and we will rule this world and the next, with the pure might of other Pokemon!"
   
"This is a criminal organization??" Eric exclaimed. "I'm out. I want my Pokemon back, now."
   
"Yeah, you weirdo!" Kelsey concurred. "Now!"
   
"Hm." Korbin thought aloud. "Maybe, just maybe, I might allow you to have your Pokemon back, if and when you follow everything I say, and everything I do."
   
"You've GOT to be joking!" Kelsey cried.
   
"Oh, you wish it was a joke, but it's real. For THIS is my dream!" Korbin laughed, maniacally.
   
"Never!" Eric yelled. "We won't do it!"
   
"Oh won't you?" Korbin teased. "You will." He grabbed two bundles of clothes and threw one to each. "Don't forget to put these on." As he said this, he moved his hand from his side onto a lever beside him. "And one more thing..."
   
Kelsey and Eric didn't look at each other, but they were thinking the same thing: "HELP!"
   
Korbin grew the smug grin on his face once again as he yanked the lever in his hand. The glass floor collapsed, causing Kelsey and Eric to fall into the other room. "AAAHHHHH!!!"

"Welcome to the FoG."

...NOW...

"I wonder where are Pokemon are," Eric wondered.

"I know where they're being kept," Kelsey told him. "I just don't know which twelve out of the hundreds are ours."

"This sucks," Eric said quietly.

The two of them wept silently for their stolen Pokemon until they fell asleep.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 32: On the Bridge

...THE NEXT MORNING...

Everyone woke up in the Pokemon Center, looking extremely tired and grumpy. The previous night's events had taken its toll on all of them. They all silently got ready for the day and ate breakfast before getting ready to leave Smogoff City.

"So," Marty said, breaking the silence. "Will you be staying with us, Taylor?"

"Actually, no," she answered. "I  have some stuff to do here before I head on. I may catch up with you guys later."

"All right," Marty said. "Then this will be where we part for now, I guess."

"Yup," Taylor agreed. She stared at him for a moment, just as he had the day before. "You know," she said, "You look REALLY familiar for some reason."

"I feel the same way," Marty said back. "It's like we've known each other from some past life or something."

"Maybe you guys are really best friends in some alternate dimension!" Matt blurted out. This caused everyone to burst out laughing, instantly removing the gloomy mood that had been hanging over all of them.

"Well, in any case," Taylor said, "I hope we meet again."

"I do, too," Marty said. "We'll see you around!" So Marty and the others left the Pokemon Center and headed for the gate to the next town.

...MEANWHILE...

Kelsey and Eric woke up in their bunks, feeling just as grumpy and depressed as Marty and the others had been.

"What time did we fall asleep last night?" Eric asked Kelsey.

"I have no idea," Kelsey answered. "But we're late."

"You're fine," a voice said from nowhere. Kelsey and Eric jumped.

"Korbin!" Kelsey shouted.

"You guys have the day off," Korbin said, stepping out of a portal. "I have business to attend to."

"What kind of business, sir?" Eric asked him.

"Going to see a few...friends of mine," Korbin answered. He opened another portal and stepped through it, but not before saying, "You two should really sleep in a little while later."

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others had just reached the other side of the gate when they noticed that as soon as they stepped out of the city, they were greeted with a beautiful breath of fresh air.

"It feels amazing!" Nebu said happily.

"It sure does!" Stepney said, dancing with her.

"If I never see that city again," Matt said, "It'll be too soon." Even Roz managed a light smile.

Davy checked his Pokenav. "This says the next town is a port called Porthide, and the next two Gyms are on the islands near Terrari."

"Then we have some planning to do," Marty said. "We need to decide how we're splitting up."

"Splitting up?" Jordan asked. "Why?"

"It's more efficient that way," Marty said. "We can get our badges quicker. We'll talk more about it when we get to Porthide Town."

"It's just over the Millennia Bridge," Davy told them.

"Then we should get going," Roz said. So they started walking until they reached the bridge. It was a very impressive silver bridge that seemed to stretch out quite a ways. If one had to compare it to another bridge, it would look just like the Marvelous Bridge in the Unova region.

"What an amazing bridge!" Jordan said, amazed. "It looks JUST like the-"

"DON'T say it!" Nebu screeched at him. "That guy already did."

"What guy?" Matt asked her.

"That guy that's always following us," Nebu told them. (What the...?) "He's always...NARRATING US!" Everyone gasped (including me.)

"Not sure what you're talking about," Roz said to her. "It's always been just us on this journey."

"Whatever," Nebu said. "Let's just go." So they started walking over the bridge, almost to Porthide Town. When they were almost across, after about 20 minutes of walking, they noticed a black dot seeming to form at the other side of the bridge. As they got closer, they noticed something emerging from the dot. They began to ran towards it when who else should step out of a portal but-

"Korbin!" Marty shouted.

"Hello, everyone," Korbin said. "Nice to see you."

"Korbin," Roz said. "Why are you doing this? Why did you create the FoG?"

"Because it's the perfect way to achieve my goal, of course," he told her. "The FoG is almost ready to do great things with this world. I can't tell you my plan yet, though. It's too early."

"We won't let you do whatever it is you're doing," Davy assured him.

"Ah, Davy," Korbin mused. "I would think you would understand me most of all. You and I are more alike than you realize."

"I am nothing like you," Davy said. "And I don't understand you because you haven't told us this plan."

"Oh, really?" Korbin asked. "You're nothing like me? We've both lost parents to legends. We've both wanted revenge. I'm just taking action, which you have yet to do."

"How do you know that?" Davy demanded.

"I can see into your heart," Korbin proclaimed. "The thing that hangs over you like a plague is ridiculously easy to spot."

"Enough," Davy said. "The past is gone, and I can't change it. I'm not looking for revenge, but I will stop you. Battle me here and now!"

"Hmph," Korbin grunted. "Fine then. A one on one battle here on this bridge. Are you ready?"

"Of course!" Davy said to him. "Let's go!"

"Wait, Davy!" Marty shouted. "We don't have time for-"

"Let him do what he wants," Roz said. "We all have some stress to work out. This'll be good for him."

"But we don't know how powerful Korbin is!" Marty cried. "Davy could get hurt!"

"You weren't at his Gym battle," Jordan said, putting a hand on Marty's shoulder, "but Davy is really strong, too. This should be a good battle." Marty relaxed and decided to watch Davy battle.

"Go, Wartortle!" Davy called. The evolved form of Squirtle came out, as per Davy's instructions.

"Perfect," Korbin laughed. "Go, Servine!" Korbin threw out a Poke Ball and the evolved form of Snivy came out.

"Wartortle, Skull Bash!" Davy called out. Wartortle tucked in its head and charged toward Servine.

"Leaf Tornado," Korbin said. Servine prepared enough Grass energy and created a tornado of leaves right underneath Wartortle. The leaves cut into Wartortle, damaging it substantially.

"Wartortle!" Davy cried. "Ice Beam!" Wartortle, still in the tornado, released a beam of ice at Servine.

"Servine," Korbin said calmly. "Use Leaf Storm." Servine took the leaves from the tornado, concentrated them, and shot them at Wartortle with intense power. Wartortle fell to the ground, fainted.

"No!" Davy screamed.

"Davy lost?" Nebu wondered aloud. Everyone was most likely thinking the same thing. None of them had ever lost before.

"Hmph," Korbin grunted. "I expected a little more of a challenge." He opened a portal. "I'll be seeing you all again. I'm sure of it." He stepped through the portal and it closed behind him, leaving Davy there taking care of his Wartortle.

"Wartortle..." Davy said quietly. "I'm sorry."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 33: Splitting Up

After a while, Davy got up, withdrew Wartortle, and the group trudged on, their spirits continuing to fall.

"I know it's hard," Marty said, "but we can't just stay depressed forever!"

"He's right, you know," Matt chimed in.

"I concur," Stepney added.

"So let's dust our shoulders off and keep on moving!" Nebu shouted. The four of them grabbed Jordan, Roz, and Davy and threw them into a large group hug. When it was over, everyone had big smiles on their faces, and looked ready to move on.

"We'll always be there for each other," Jordan said.

"True friends until the end!" Roz shouted.

"I couldn't agree more," Davy told her with a smile. "Thanks guys. Let's keep moving." So with the gloom hanging over them removed once again, they reached the gate to Porthide Town.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin stepped through the portal he had made earlier and landed in his room. It was a very bland room, devoid of anything but a simple bed. He liked it that way. He liked the idea of nothingness. He walked over to his bed and threw himself onto it. He sat there for a while, thinking about Davy. How he had chosen not to take his revenge on the legendary Pokemon that murdered his parent. He wondered if he had been making a mistake. He pushed these thoughts from his head. This was the path he had chosen. He had to see it through to the end. The door suddenly opened in front of him, showing Kelsey.

"Sir," Kelsey addressed. "The other leaders request your presence at the meeting."

"I'll go," Korbin assured him. "I thought I gave you the day off, Kelsey."

"You did," Kelsey agreed. "But I don't need a day off to make myself feel better. I'd rather work to get my mind off of things."

"Thank you, Kelsey," Korbin told him. "You may go." Kelsey nodded and ran off as Korbin walked over to the meeting hall.

...MEANWHILE...

Porthide Town was exactly what you would expect from any port town. It had a nice view of the ocean, brick roads, and a main square with a fountain, restaurants, shops, and boats. Lots and lots of boats. Roz ran over to the boat schedule and checked it quick.

"It looks like the next boat to Isle del Fuego doesn't leave until 4:30," she announced.

Jordan checked his Pokenav for the time. "It's 1:00," he told everyone.

"It looks like we've got three hours to kill," Marty said. "Any suggestions as to what we should do?"

"Training is always a good thing," Nebu said. "We may need it."

"That sounds good," Matt said. "Then we can hit up one of these restaurants for lunch when we're done."

"I see an empty spot over by the beach," Stepney told them, his hand acting as a visor. "Let's go train!" So they all went to train together. Everyone's Pokemon grew to their most evolved forms, and when it was time, Marty took out the stones he got in Hidavel Town from Dudesworth and distributed them to everyone. When everyone was done, all 42 of their Pokemon had finally reached their most evolved forms. In the span of an hour, they had gone from a bunch of tiny, pre-evolved Pokemon to a strong looking Pokemon battalion. Impressed with the work they had done, the seven trainers withdrew all their Pokemon and headed to a restaurant to eat before the boat came.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin reached the meeting hall where the other five leaders had already gathered.

"Good of you to join us," Ghestis said to him. "We were just discussing how to destroy the region."

"That won't be necessary," Korbin said. "I already have a plan."

"What might this plan be?" Cyrus asked him.

"You should know," Korbin said. "From what I remember, you invaded this Pokemon's home once by accident."

Cyrus's eyes widened. "Surely you don't mean-"

"Yes," Korbin assured him. "That is exactly what I mean."

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others had finally found a restaurant that allowed Pokemon to eat with trainers. So they all chowed down on a delicious lunch. While they ate, they also made plans for what they would do when the boat got there.

"As I said earlier," Marty began, "I think splitting the group in half would be a good idea at this point. It would get us our Gym Badges much faster, which would give us more time to train before the Pokemon League, seeing as we're the last people here."

"Makes sense," Matt said. "How do you propose that we split up?"

"I think that those who have finished their Gym Battle should go with Stepney," Marty proposed. "That would include Matt and Davy."

"Hey, what about you?" Davy asked. "You've had your Gym Battle."

"But," Marty reminded him, "I have another to do in FrivVille." Davy nodded his head.

"So then," Roz guessed, "That leaves you, me, Nebu, and Jordan to go to the islands, correct?"

"That's right," Marty assured her.

"I can live with that," Jordan said.

"As can I," Nebu agreed.

"Well, as long as there isn't any opposition to this plan, this is what we'll do, then," Marty proclaimed.

"It's 3:45," Roz reminded him.

"Okay," Marty said. "Let's get to the harbor!" So they paid the check and ran out the door to catch the boat.

...MEANWHILE...

"So we have our plan," Ghestis said. "Now when do we execute it?"

"It will take time," Korbin said, "But I estimate that this will take place around the time of the Pokemon League."

"Perfect," Ghestis said, rubbing his hands together. "That concludes this meeting, I guess. See you all tomorrow." The five leaders got up and left the hall, leaving Korbin there alone. He stared at the table for a minute, then said, "I know you're there, Kelsey."

All of a sudden, Kelsey fell into the doorway like a complete klutz. "Sorry, sir," he said.

"How much did you hear?" Korbin asked him.

"All of it," Kelsey admitted.

"I see," Korbin muttered.

"My deepest apologies, sir," Kelsey said to him. "I was only curious."

"It's fine," Korbin said. "If I can't trust my second in command, who can I trust?" He laughed as he walked back to his room, leaving Kelsey there, feeling conflicted.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others had just reached the boat dock at 3:59. The overhead speaker announced that it was the last call for the boat to Isle del Fuego.

"Well, this is it," Marty said. "Group hug, guys!" So they had another great group hug, as always.

"Do well, Stepney!" Nebu told him.

"You too, guys!" Stepney replied.

"Let's meet at Maron City when we've gotten all the badges," Roz planned.

"Sounds good," Davy told her.

"Bye, Matt!" Jordan said to him. "Train hard!"

"You, too," Matt said. "Don't fall behind!"

So with everyone's thoughts spoken to each other, Marty, Nebu, Roz, and Jordan boarded the ferry just as it started to leave the shores of Porthide Town, leaving Stepney, Matt, and Davy behind.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 34: Island of Fire

Marty, Nebu, Jordan, and Roz had just gotten on the boat as it was leaving the port. It was no luxury cruise liner, such as the SS Anne, but it was still a nice ferry for their small journey. They let their Pokemon relax on the deck for a little while they did the same. As they got closer to the island, they noticed the temperature was quite obviously increasing.

"Wow," Roz said. "It's really getting hot-"

"Stop repeating what that guy is saying!" Nebu snapped at her. (not again...) "It freaks me out!"

"Honestly," Jordan said, "we have no idea what you're talking about. There's nobody here but us."

"Jordan's right," Marty assured her. "Just try to forget about it."

"UGH," Nebu grunted. "Fine. I'll just pretend the guy that has been narrating us since the day we left Ecruteak isn't there." (Thank god...)

"Anyway," Roz said. "It's definitely getting scorching out here."

Jordan checked the temperature on his Pokenav. "It's 102 degrees," he informed them. Everyone groaned.

"This is going to be miserable," Roz said.

"Maybe we can make this island tour last only for today," Marty hoped.

"Yeah," Jordan agreed. "Hopefully nothing bad happens while we're on these islands. That would just be totally coincidental and cliché."

They laughed as the boat neared the island.

...MEANWHILE...

Stepney, Matt, and Davy were still in Porthide Town, planning their next move.

"So it looks like Stepney's Gym battle will take place in Roundhouse Town," Davy explained. "That's just down the road."

"Do we have to go right now?" Stepney asked him. "I want to enjoy this town while I can."

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "This town has a lot of things to offer that we haven't even touched upon. We should stay here for at least a few more hours. It would also give Stepney a chance to train before his Gym Battle, and us to train before the Pokemon League."

Davy thought to himself for a moment, then said, "It makes sense. Let's do that." So the three of them decided to stay in Porthide town for a while longer.

...MEANWHILE...

The others had just arrived on Isle del Fuego, and the heat made total sense to them instantly. In the center of the island was a huge volcano. The volcano looked to be active and took up most of the island. The town was built in a circle around the volcano.

"No wonder it's so hot," Nebu said. "Let's hurry and get out of here."

"Agreed," Jordan said. So they walked around the island at a brisk pace in a search to find the Gym.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 35: Fleeting Star

Korbin was still pondering about Davy when Ghestis came into his room.

"Korbin," he said. "How do you plan on awakening...that?"

"I have my ways," Korbin told him. "It is none of your concern."

"I think it's every bit of my concern," Ghestis said sternly. "That...THING is capable of destroying MUCH more than just Terrari. I demand to know why you insist on doing it this way."

"You are not my superior," Korbin reminded him. "You do not have room to demand anything from me."

"Hmph," Ghestis grunted. "Fine." He turned around and left the room. As soon as he was out of sight, Korbin made a portal and stepped through it.

...MEANWHILE...

After walking around the island twice, Jordan finally spotted the Gym entrance.

"There it is!" he shouted. He was pointing to a door that led to the inside of the volcano.

"It's INSIDE the volcano?!" Nebu cried, shocked.

"Ugh," Marty said. "It'll be so miserable in there."

"Maybe we can hurry and do this quickly," Roz said hopefully. "Let's just hurry and go." So the four of them ran into the Gym and got ready for Nebu's Gym battle.

"Welcome!" the ref said to them. "Which one of you is going to be challenging Ms. Fleet today?"

"I will," Nebu told him.

"Great!" the ref said. "Come with me!"

"He's awfully cheerful for this heat," Jordan whispered to Marty.

"Yeah," Marty agreed. "I would hate to have his job."

The four of them followed the ref into the innermost part of the volcano. The arena was there, made from volcanic rock. There was a glass ceiling that showed molten lava just above it. It looked like it would be very dangerous if the glass cracked.

"Ms. Fleet!" the ref called. "You have a challenger!" Just as he finished his statement, an explosion could be heard on the other side of the arena.

"Oh, goody!" said a voice. Just then, a little girl emerged from the other side of the arena. She wore a dress with flame patterns on it, and had red  and blond highlights in her hair. In her hand she held a stick of dynamite. "It's been a while since I've had a challenger! Everyone calls me Ms. Fleet, but you can call me Fleet. Or Fleety if you want. Which one of you is challenging me today?"

"I am," Nebu said confidently.

"I see," Fleet said ponderously. "Girl power." She chuckled as she got a Poke Ball out. "Let's get started!"

"Gladly," Nebu said, smiling.

Meanwhile, behind Nebu, Marty and the others were huddled together, looking extremely worried.

"She has a stick of dynamite!" Jordan whispered loudly.

"Little girls should not have sticks of dynamite!" Marty agreed.

"Is Nebu going to be okay?" Roz asked.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 36: Burnin' Up

"This will be a three on three battle between the Gym Leader, Ms. Fleet, and the challenger Nebu," the ref explained. "Are you both ready?"

"Yes!" they shouted in unison.

"Then let the battle begin!" the ref proclaimed.

"I choose Heatmor!" Fleet declared. She threw out a Poke Ball and the Fire-type anteater Pokemon emerged.

"Go, Drifblim!" Nebu called. The evolved form of Drifloon emerged, ready for battle.

"Let's get things started, Heatmor!" Fleet called out. "Use Flamethrower!" Heatmor ejected a steady stream of fire out of its nose at Drifblim.

"Drifblim!" Nebu shouted. "Stop it with Gust!" Drifblim blew up a powerful wind to stop Heatmor's Flamethrower. "Now Shadow Ball!" Nebu called out. Drifblim created a ball of Dark energy and launched it towards Heatmor. It hit Heatmor head-on.

"Heatmor!" Fleet cried. "Use Flame Burst!" Heatmor released a fast burst of fire at Drifblim, burning it.

"Drifblim!" Nebu cried. Drifblim looked to be seriously hurt. "Can you continue?" Drifblim got up and looked ready to continue. "Good! Use Fly!"

"Heatmor!" Fleet yelled. "Flamethrower!" Heatmor released another powerful stream of fire at Drifblim, but it missed because Drifblim had just gotten into the air. Drifblim swooped down after the Flamethrower was done and slammed into Heatmor with great force, causing it to faint.

"Heatmor is unable to battle!" the ref called. "Drifblim wins!"

"Great job, Drifblim!" Nebu praised. The others were cheering loudly for Nebu and Drifblim.

"All right!" Fleety said. "Go, Flareon!" The fire evolution of Eevee entered the field.

Nebu took a look at Drifblim. It was badly hurt. She knew Drifblim wouldn't make it past another attack. Just then, she had a plan.

"Drifblim!" she called. "Use Explosion!" Drifblim focused all of its remaining energy into one point and let it loose in a violent explosion. Both Flareon and Drifloon fainted from the force.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle!" the ref judged. "There is no winner!"

Marty and the others were shocked. They had not seen that strategy coming. It was a surprise for all of them.

"It was a very good plan," Roz admitted.

"Yeah," Jordan agreed. "Poor Drifblim."

"It must've been hard for Nebu," Marty said. "Drifblim is her favorite Pokemon.

"Now it's my turn!" Fleet said. "I'm not giving up! I choose Emboar!" The ultimate evolution of Tepig came out.

"Go, Flygon!" Nebu called. The ultimate evolution of Trapinch emerged.

"Oh my god," Fleet said. "A FLYGON! I love Flygons!"

"Hey," Nebu said back. "Me too!" They both laughed. They seemed to be having a very good time.

"Emboar versus Flygon!" the ref announced. "Begin!"

"Emboar, Dragon Pulse!" Fleet ordered. Emboar released a powerful stream of Dragon-type energy at Flygon.

"Flygon, counter with Hyper Beam!" Nebu called. Flygon released a powerful stream of energy at Emboar's Dragon Pulse, attempting to stop it. There was a large explosion, and both Pokemon fainted.

"Neither Pokemon is able to battle!" the ref declared again. "The winner is Nebu from Ecruteak City!"

Marty, Roz, and Jordan cheered as Nebu recalled her Flygon.

"Way to go!" Marty shouted.

"That was awesome!" Roz told her.

"Great job, Nebu!" Jordan cheered.

"Thanks, guys!" Nebu said to them with a smile.

"That was great!" Fleet called. "You definitely earned the Lava Badge!" She handed a badge to Nebu.

"Thank you, Fleet," Nebu said to her. "I had a great time."

"Me too!" Fleet exclaimed. "We should be friends!"

"Definitely," Nebu said, smiling.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 37: In the Line of Fire

Nebu, Fleet and the others were talking in the Gym for a while. Then suddenly, a local man burst into the arena in a panic.

"Ms. Fleet!" he screamed. "It's terrible!"

"What's the matter?" she asked the man.

"Some strange people in black outfits have invaded our island!" he explained.

"Black outfits?" Marty asked, concerned. He, Nebu and Roz exchanged worried glances.

"Yes," the man said. "Their shirts all had a big red 'R' on them as well."

Roz gasped. "Team Rocket!"

"I thought they were gone!" Nebu cried.

"We have to do something!" Jordan exclaimed. So the four of them ran out of the Gym to face Team Rocket, leaving Fleet behind.

"Ms. Fleet," the man said. "Aren't you going with them?"

"No," she said. "I can't do anything. My Pokemon are all defeated. It's up to them."

...MEANWHILE...

In FoG's base, Giovanni received a call on his Pokenav. It was the Team Rocket admin, Archer.

"We're in position," Archer told him.

"Good," Giovanni said, pleased. "Let me know once you find it." He hung up the Pokenav. Soon, all of their plans would begin to set in motion.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others got out of the volcano to find Team Rocket members ransacking the entire island. Shops and homes were being broken into, and people were being interrogated.

"We have to stop them!" Marty said. "Let's go!" The four of them ran to a group of Team Rocket members and prepared for a battle.

"Nebu!" Jordan shouted. "Get to the Pokemon Center! We can take care of this."

"Okay!" Nebu said. "I'll be back!" Nebu ran off to the Pokemon Center just down the street.

"Go, Lucario!" Marty called. The evolved form of Riolu came out as Marty called it.

"Go, Cinccino!" Jordan shouted. Minccino's evolved form emerged.

"Go, Charizard!" Roz cried. Charmander's ultimate evolution entered the fray.

The Team Rocket members brought out a whole slew of Rattatas, Zubats, Koffings, and other Poison types.

...MEANWHILE...

Nebu reached the Pokemon Center and got her Pokemon healed. As she was leaving, she noticed four people standing near it, talking. They all had strangely colored hair.

"It wasn't on the north side," said a man with purple hair.

"It wasn't on the east side, either," said a girl with red hair.

"I didn't find anything," said a man with green hair and a black hat.

"It seems we were wrong," a man with blue hair said. "We should go to the other island and investigate."

"Yes, sir!" the other three said, establishing him as the leader. The four of them ran off, calling the other team members.

"Oh, no!" Nebu said to herself. "I have to warn the others!" She ran off down the street to tell the others.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty, Jordan, and Roz had just finished their battle. A whole battalion of Team Rocket Pokemon lay fainted at their Pokemon's feet.

"That was easy," Roz said.

"Yeah," Marty agreed.

"We're definitely getting stronger," Jordan said.

The Team Rocket members stood there with their mouths hanging open. They had never seen any Trainers battle with such ferocity since...well, the last time they had been defeated. They recalled all their Pokemon and ran off. Just as they had got away, Nebu came running up to the others.

"Guys!" she shouted. "They're getting away! They're going to the next island!"

"We have to go after them!" Jordan said.

"Where are we going to get a boat on such short notice?" Roz asked them.

Just then, Marty's Pokenav rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Is this Marty?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is Forrest. I'm the leader of Iceburg Gym. I got your number from Jerry."

"Okay, what do you need?"

"Well, I've just received word from Fleet that Team Rocket is coming to my island to get to my Radio Tower, and I need help driving them off. Can you guys get here right away?"

"We would need a boat to get over there."

"Don't worry, I've got that taken care of. There will be a boat waiting for you at the docks. Get on it, and Kefka will get you over here."

"All right, we'll be there as soon as possible."

"Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

Marty hung up the Pokenav and said, "Come on, guys. We have a boat to catch."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 38: Oh, Really? Where's Chuck Norris?

Stepney, Matt, and Davy had just finished their training and prepared to leave for Roundhouse Town. The road there was fairly short, and they had stopped to train halfway, so they figured they were almost there.

"Are you ready?" Davy asked Stepney.

"Definitely," he replied. "I'm ready for anything!"

...MEANWHILE...

Marty, Roz, Jordan, and Nebu ran to the harbor, where a boat was waiting for them.

"There it is!" Nebu shouted.

"We've got to hurry!" Jordan reminded them. "Team Rocket is probably almost there!"

They jumped into the boat and it took off. The man in the boat turned around.

"So," he said. "You must be the ones that Forrest called."

"That's right," Marty told him.

"I would've thought he would've called someone stronger, like Jari," the man said.

"You never change, Kefka," Jordan smiled.

"Damn straight," he said. "Now let's get going."

...MEANWHILE...

Stepney and the others had just made it to Roundhouse Town. It wasn't quite what they had expected it to be. It was just a tiny village with a Pokemon Center (which was really only a wooden stand with a healing machine), the Gym, and what looked to be some sort of dojo. Other than that, there was a big bonfire in the center of town which could've been considered a town square. The strangest thing of all, though, was the fact that there wasn't a single person in the town when they arrived. No one was at the square, and the only person that seemed to be around was Nurse Joy. They walked up to her stand.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully. "How can I help you?"

"Yes," Davy began. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh," she said. "I bet you're looking for the Gym Leader, Raymond. He should be in the dojo right over there, teaching a class. I'm sure if you go in there and wait, he'll come find you when he's done."

"Thank you very much," Stepney said with a smile.

"No problem!" Joy smiled back. "Good luck!" As they walked away toward the dojo, she muttered, "They'll need it," under her breath.

...MEANWHILE...

Giovanni stepped into Korbin's room.

"I think you would like to know that we're almost to the Radio Tower," he told Korbin. "We'll be ready for your 'appearance' pretty soon."

"Thanks," Korbin said. "I'll head over there now." He opened a portal, and headed for Iceburg City.

...MEANWHILE...

Stepney, Matt, and Davy entered the dojo to find about 30 guys in karate gear sitting on the floor listening to a boy on the other side of the room, who looked up at them.

"Ah," he said, smiling. "Some new students. Care to join us?"

"Sure!" Matt said excitedly. He sat down and motioned for Stepney and Davy to sit next to him.

"We don't have time for this," Davy groaned.

"We totally have time for this!" Matt exclaimed. "It could give us good battling tips."

"Fine," Davy sighed.

"Now," the boy said. "For those of you who just walked in, I am Raymond, and I'm the Gym Leader of Roundhouse Town. I specialize in Fighting type Pokemon. Today I am talking to you all about what I call the BL system."

"What is that?" Stepney asked.

"Well," Raymond continued, "It's a system I developed while training here in Terrari. BL is short for Battle Link. Basically, it's where you tune your thoughts to those of your Pokemon and try to synchronize your moves with it. Eventually, the mind of the Trainer and the Pokemon will sync, and reaction times of the Pokemon will be faster." He noticed the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, so he asked, "How about a demonstration?" Everyone nodded their heads.

"Okay," Raymond said. "Come out, Medicham!" The evolved form of Meditite came out as instructed.

"Now as you know," Raymond continued. "Medicham specializes in yoga. Let's begin, Medicham." Medicham began to do some yoga poses, and Raymond began to follow along. At first, Raymond seemed to be behind. Gradually, however, his movements became more and more in time with Medicham's until finally, they were doing the same thing at the same time.

Raymond continued teaching. "The key to it is following your Pokemon first. Don't assume that your Pokemon will drop whatever it's doing just to start following what you do. That would make you look foolish. Instead, you want to open yourself up to the Pokemon and let them know you're on their wavelength." He stopped what he was doing, and Medicham did the same. "Then, they will follow you as well!" Everyone in the dojo clapped, signaling that the class was over.

"It's done," Davy said. "I think I might've actually learned something."

"This Battle Link thing is pretty cool!" Matt said excitedly. "I can't wait to try it with Sceptile!"

"I may do the same," Stepney said, "but first we have to catch Raymond." They walked over to where Raymond was standing.

"Ah," he said. "You three. Did you enjoy the class?"

"Sure did!" Matt said to him with a smile. "That's really cool!"

"Thank you!" Raymond said. "It took me a while to master, but it's not too hard. But I guess you weren't really here for the class to begin with."

"You're right," Stepney told him. "I'm actually here to challenge you."

"Good," Raymond said. "I haven't had a challenger for weeks. Let's head over to the Gym right now!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 39: Battle Link

The Roundhouse Town Gym was pretty basic, much like the rest of the town. It was just like the dojo, but it had Pokemon Stadium markings on the floor instead of tatami flooring. Raymond called out the ref, who got ready.

Meanwhile, Davy and Matt were giving Stepney some last minute words of encouragement.

"You've got this," Matt said. "Just focus."

"He's right," Davy said. "Gym Battles are intense, but they don't really try to psyche you out too much."

"Thanks for the encouragement, guys," Stepney said to them. "I'm totally ready for this!" He walked up to his place on the arena.

The ref began the usual speech. "This battle will be between Raymond, the Roundhouse Gym Leader, and Stepney, the challenger from Littleroot Town. It will be a three on three battle, and only the challenger may substitute. Gym Leader, are you ready?"

"I am," Raymond declared.

"Challenger, are you ready?"

"I am," Stepney stated.

"Then let the battle begin!" the ref shouted.

"Let's go, Medicham!" Raymond called. Medicham came out of its Ball once again, this time to fight.

"I choose you, Honchkrow!" Stepney said. The evolved form of Murkrow came out to do battle.

"Doesn't he have anything better to fight a Fighting type with?" Matt asked Davy. "Sure, Honchkrow is a Flying type, but it also has a Dark type.

"It's better than just having a Dark type," Davy reminded him.

"True," Matt admitted.

"Medicham versus Honchkrow!" the ref declared. "Begin!"

"Honchkrow!" Stepney called. "Use Aerial Ace!" Honchkrow came at Medicham with a blinding speed.

"Medicham," Raymond said. "Battle Link." The two of them began to move together and easily dodged Honchkrow's attack.

"What?!" Stepney cried. "Aerial Ace is supposed to hit every time!"

"That's because the Pokemon doesn't receive the order to dodge in time," Raymond explained. "Battle Link makes the reaction time instant. Therefore, to any skilled Trainer, even Aerial Ace can be dodged when in Battle Link."

"That's amazing!" Matt exclaimed.

"Not for Stepney," Davy reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Matt mumbled.

"Medicham," Raymond ordered. "Ice Punch." Medicham infused its fist with Ice type energy and punched Honchkrow. Honchkrow's weakness to Ice type moves caused it to faint.

"Honchkrow is unable to battle!" the ref said. "Medicham wins!"

"Oh, no!" Stepney cried.

"It's almost unfair," Raymond said. "Maybe I'll hold off on Battle Link."

"Okay," Stepney said. "But don't come crying to me when you lose!" He got out another Poke Ball and yelled out, "Ninetails!" The evolved form of Vulpix came out, ready to battle.

"Medicham versus Ninetails!" the ref called. "Begin!"

"Ninetails, Flamethrower!" Stepney shouted. Ninetails shot a huge stream of fire at Medicham, which fainted before anyone there even blinked.

"Um...w-wow," Davy stuttered.

"Medicham is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Ninetails wins!"

Raymond, quickly continuing, said, "Go, Meinshao!" A graceful Pokemon with long arms came out of the Ball.

"Meinshao versus Ninetails!" the ref shouted. "Begin!"

"Ninetails!" Stepney called. "Flamethrower again!"

"Meinshao, Focus Blast," Raymond said calmly, like he knew what was about to happen. Meinshao readied a huge ball of its energy and shot it to Ninetails, who had just released another Flamethrower. The two attacks collided, but neither attack wanted to give way. Slowly but surely, however, Meinshao's Focus Blast inched closer and closer to Ninetails, who kept pushing out its Flamethrower. Eventually, the Focus Ball reached Ninetails and hit it square in the face. Ninetails skidded across the Gym floor, fainted.

"Ninetails is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Meinshao wins!"

"Ninetails put up a really good fight," Davy admitted.

"Too bad it wasn't quite enough," Matt said sadly.

"This is my last Pokemon!" Stepney declared! "I'm going to make it count! Go, Roserade!" Roserade, Stepney's best and favorite Pokemon, emerged, ready for battle.

"Meinshao versus Roserade!" the ref declared. "Begin!"

"Meinshao!" Raymond said. "Use Focus Blast!" Meinshao shot another ball of energy.

"Roserade!" Stepney shouted. "Energy Ball!" Roserade created a small, concentrated ball of Grass energy and shot it at Meinshao's Focus Blast. The two attacks collided and exploded on contact. A huge cloud of smoke appeared.

"Go!" Stepney cried. "Poison Jab!" Roserade suddenly popped out of the smoke and jabbed Meinshao numerous times with its hands and feet, which had a purple aura about them. The jabs kept coming until Meinshao eventually fainted.

"Meinshao is unable to battle!" the ref said, stating the obvious as usual. "Roserade wins it!"

Raymond, once again not allowing any time for celebration, called out his last Pokemon.

"Go! Infernape!"

There was a collective gasp from Stepney, Matt, and Davy.

"He's screwed!" Matt cried.

"Infernape versus Roserade!" the ref announced. "Begin!"

Raymond, never one to waste time, immediately shouted, "Infernape, Flamethrower!" Infernape instantly jumped into action and shot a Flamethrower at Roserade.

Time seemed to slow down for Stepney. Well, one could say it actually did. Everything moved slower except him and Roserade.

"Roserade," Stepney said calmly. "Do you trust me?"

"Rose!" Roserade replied, making sure its Trainer knew that it most certainly did.

"Then follow me," Stepney said. Time sped up again.

"It's over!" Raymond shouted as the Flamethrower shot over to Roserade.

"Roserade," Stepney said, completely calm. "Battle Link."

Just then, something clicked in Stepney's head. He felt Roserade's thoughts mix with his, and he could understand them all. He and Roserade were in perfect sync with each other. Roserade easily dodged the Flamethrower and got right in Infernape's face, startling it.

"Now, Solarbeam," Stepney said. Roserade instantly loosed a fully charged Solarbeam right into Infernape's face. Infernape kept its footing, even though it was badly injured.

"Infernape!" Raymond ordered. "Battle Link!" Infernape looked to Raymond, extremely confused.

"You're already linked with Medicham," Stepney reminded him. "A thing this powerful can only be shared with one Pokemon."

"Impossible!" Raymond screamed. "How do you know more about my own technique than me?"

"I don't claim to know more about it," Stepney told him. "I have only experienced it, and know how I feel."

"Blast Burn!" Raymond screamed, completely changed from the calm boy who had started the battle. Infernape released a huge stream of fire, bigger than even a Flamethrower, from its hands at point blank. Roserade disappeared in the stream. When its attack was over, Roserade was gone.

"Roserade is unable to-"

Stepney laughed. "Roserade is fine. Look!"

Just then, out of nowhere, Roserade appeared behind Infernape and used another well placed Poison Jab. Infernape dropped to the ground like a sack of rutatoes.

"Infernape is unable to battle!" the ref shouted, shocked. "The winner is Stepney from Littleroot Town!"

"Way to go!" Davy shouted.

"That was amazing!" Matt exclaimed. "How did you figure out the Battle Link?"

"I asked Roserade if it trusted me," he explained. "And it just kinda...clicked."

"Well," Raymond said, calm again, "You did a nice job mastering the Battle Link. You earned yourself the Foot Badge." He handed the badge to Stepney and bowed, as any good fighter would.

"Thank you," Stepney said, bowing back respectfully.

"Now we can go back to Maron City!" Matt said, excited.

"Yeah," Davy said. "We should go soon, too."

"Why don't we Fly there?" Stepney asked.

"I don't have a Pokemon that can carry me," Davy told him.

"Skarmory can take two," Matt offered.

"That sounds good then," Davy said.

"We'll see you around, Raymond!" Stepney hollered back to him, waving.

"For sure," Raymond said with a light smile.

The three of them got on their Bird Pokemon and flew back to Maron City, with all of their badges obtained.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 40: Out of the Frying Pan and into the...Iceburg

"Situation is getting pretty bad," Kefka explained to Marty and the others. "No one has any idea where Team Rocket came back from, or where they're hiding out, but we do know what they're after."

"The Radio Tower," Marty said.

"Exactly," Kefka told him. "They have done this once before in Johto as well."

"Yeah," Roz said. "We live just north of that Tower. They didn't let anyone into Goldenrod City for a while. Then some Trainer flew in and got rid of all of them. I think he went on to become the Champion of our region."

"Yeah," Kefka said, uninterested. "Anyway, this isn't a HUGE crisis, since we don't really have many shows that people will freak out about if they're not on air, but Team Rocket is quite a threat and should be dealt with as such."

While they were riding the boat, they noticed the temperature steadily declining until it was freezing.

"It's so cold!" Nebu complained.

"That means we're here," Kefka said. They all looked to where the boat was pointing. In front of them was a giant iceberg floating out in the middle of the ocean. It looked like a completely normal iceberg.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Marty asked him.

"Of course," Kefka scoffed. "I would think I know my own town. Look there." He pointed to a large opening in the side of the iceberg. It looked to be big enough for even a large cruise ship to pass through. "That's the entrance," he told them. They went through the large entrance and got their first glimpse of Iceburg City.

Iceburg City was not one of the largest cities they had been to. Of course, that was to be expected. It was built in an iceberg, after all. Like every other city they'd been to, Iceburg City had a little square in the center of town where people would meet together. But no one was outside because Team Rocket was already there, and they had found the Radio Tower.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 41: Radio Tower Takeover

Marty's Pokenav rang again when they got off the boat. He picked it up.

"Are you here yet?"

"We just got in port."

"Great. The Radio Tower is on the second floor of the Gym. Team Rocket threw me out. I have no idea what's going on up there. I think you can find the Radio Tower from the port."

"Yeah, I see it."

"Awesome. Get here as soon as you can. I have to run home and get my Pokemon."

Forrest hung up the phone.

"Let's go," Marty said. They ran off to the Radio Tower, which was on the other side of town. It took them about 15 minutes. Team Rocket members noticed them, but they didn't do anything, as the four of them didn't look like much of a threat. They got to the Gym, where Team Rocket's forces were most concentrated.

"Intruders!" one of the grunts said. "Get them!" All of the grunts swarmed in on them.

"We can't beat this many grunts!" Nebu said.

"We can't just leave!" Marty reminded her.

"What do we do?" Jordan asked.

"I can help with that," said a familiar voice. Just then, a Venusaur came charging through the gate, Vine Whips blazing. A whole slew of Team Rocket's Pokemon flew around everywhere in the lobby. Just then, Taylor walked through the door.

"Taylor!" Marty exclaimed.

"You guys go!" she said to them. "I can take care of this!"

"You can't do this all by yourself!" Roz cried. "There's way too many of them!"

"She won't need to," said another familiar voice. Atticus walked through the door right behind her. "She's got me, too!"

"And me," said another. Gregory followed Atticus inside. He had cleaned himself up a bit since he had been in Purity Forest. His black hair was kept short and neat, and he had bought a new pair of jeans.

"Gregory! Atticus!" Nebu said, excited.

"Now it's a party!" Jordan declared.

"How did you guys know to come?" Nebu asked them.

"Well," Gregory said. "Forrest called me."

Atticus pouted and said, "I've kinda been behind you guys since we first met."

"Same here," Taylor said.

While they were talking, the Team Rocket members took their time and regrouped, ready to fight.

"Go!" Atticus said. "We'll hold them off!"

"Thanks, guys!" Marty called to them. "We owe you guys!" They ran up the stairs in the lobby, where the Radio Tower awaited them.

"Ready?" Atticus asked the two of them.

"Yup!" Taylor said, smiling.

"Definitely," Gregory said pleasantly.

"Let's get this done quick!" Atticus told them. "Go, Farfetch'd!"

"Venusaur!" Taylor called.

Gregory silently threw out a Poke Ball.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty, Nebu, Jordan, and Roz ran up the stairs to the Radio Tower. When they got to the top, they saw a large area with a bunch of soundproof booths where radio shows could be hosted. But they all looked to be abandoned except for one in the back. Next to that room stood the four people that Nebu previously saw on Isle del Fuego.

"Hey!" the woman with red hair shouted. "How did these brats get up here?"

"We had at LEAST 30 grunts stationed downstairs!" the man with purple hair stated.

The man with green hair smirked. "Well, I guess we'll just have to crush them, won't we?"

"It seems that way," the leader said.

"Who are you guys?" Nebu asked them.

"You dare to ask that?" the red-haired woman asked. "We are the four executives of Team Rocket! I'm Ariana!"

"I'm Petrel," the man with purple hair said with an evil grin.

"I'm Proton!" the one with green hair told them, still smirking.

"And I'm Archer," said the blue-haired man.

"We'll take care of you all real quick!" Ariana said. "Go, Arbok!"

"Weezing!" Petrel called.

"Go, Golbat!" Proton yelled.

"Houndoom," Archer said.

"We won't let you get away with this!" Jordan said. "Go, Cinccino!"

"I choose you, Charizard!" Roz said.

"Go, Drifblim!" Nebu cried.

"Lucario!" Marty called.

All eight Pokemon launched into the room and set off to battle right away. At first, it looked to be bad for Marty and the others, but eventually, their teamwork began to overcome the executives.

"No!" Ariana shouted. "We can't lose yet!"

"No need to worry," said yet another familiar voice. Korbin emerged from a portal in his usual fashion. He looked over at Marty and the others. "Ah. You seem to be short some people. Did Davy finally come to terms with his bitter fate?"

"Davy's fine," Nebu retorted. "And he doesn't have a 'bitter fate.' Why are you here?"

"Because I'm announcing my plans to the world," Korbin told her. He portaled into the booth and locked the door behind him. He flipped a couple switches and the on-air sign turned on over the door. Roz quickly flipped her Pokenav's radio on, and everybody listened as Korbin began.

"Hello, world, this is Korbin."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 42: The Plan is Revealed

"I'm sure you're wondering who I am and what I am doing in your radio. I will reveal all in this short broadcast. As some of you may or may not be aware, I am the leader of the FoG, or Followers of Giratina. For a while we have gone under the name of 'Friends of Girafarig' to gain members, but this is a false name. Only a fool would care about Girafarigs. Worthless creatures. But I digress. I am here today to tell you FoG's plans for the world, most specifically the Terrari Region. We of FoG plan to destroy Terrari. We find the hypocrisy of this region's ideas to be unacceptable. Is the separation of people and Pokemon not what Team Plasma just fought for in Unova? Yet you fought them because of their 'extreme methods?' This is why we are taking action. We will awaken Giratina from its present slumber in the Distortion World and bring it to Terrari to have it destroyed. This will be done around the scheduled time of the Pokemon League. Let this be a warning to all the Trainers currently in Terrari. Get out while you still can. Any resistance will be frowned upon and ultimately crushed. I thank you for your time."

The on-air light turned off, and the broadcast ended. Korbin opened the door to find the four Team Rocket executives defeated.

"I can't believe this," Ariana groaned.

"Beaten by children again," Proton growled.

"No matter," Korbin told them. "We're done here."

Just then, two figures came up the stairs. One of them said, "We took care of the three downstairs."

"I see," Korbin said. "Thank you, Nik."

...MEANWHILE...

"I can't believe it!" Atticus growled. "I never guessed those two would be in on this!"

"They both seemed so nice," Taylor said, completely shocked. "I can't believe they're part of the FoG!"

"Well," Gregory said, "it seems they've beaten us, so we have to get to the Pokemon Center quickly." So the three of them rushed to the Pokemon Center to heal their exhausted Pokemon.

...MEANWHILE...

"No way!" Marty cried.

"It can't be!" Roz gasped.

"Why?" Jordan asked rhetorically.

Nebu didn't say anything out of pure shock.

"Sorry, guys," Nik said. "I had to lie to you."

"As did I," Blue Flower said quietly.

Nebu, finally able to speak, said, "Why?"

"I can't tell you that," Nik answered vaguely. "I have to go now." He brushed right past the four of them and stood near Korbin and the Rocket executives. Blue Flower followed right behind him.

"No!" Marty shouted. "I don't understand! I thought we were friends!"

"You're not meant to understand," Blue Flower said.

"We're still friends," Nik reminded him. "We're just fighting for opposite sides."

"Goodbye," Korbin said.

"No!" Marty yelled. He ran over to punch Korbin smack in the face for stealing his friends from him, but they all got away in a large portal right before he would've hit. He screamed out in frustration and punched the ground in rage. Everyone else seemed to share his pain. Having their friends turn against them just added to the depression hanging down on them from the past few days' events.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 43: Cool as Ice

Marty and the others traveled back to the Pokemon Center to get their Pokemon healed and to stay for the night. They met up with Taylor, Atticus, and Gregory at the table. Spirits were at another all-time low. It seemed no matter what they did to cheer themselves up, Korbin had to come along and ruin it for them.

Marty was especially angry at Korbin. "When I see him again I SWEAR I'll-"

"Don't finish that thought," Roz told him.

"But it's so damn frustrating!" Marty cried. "He took Nik and Blue Flower from us! How would you not be totally mad about that?"

"Because," Roz said. "they were acting on their own accord."

The other three gasped. Jordan said, "You don't mean..."

"Yes," Roz confirmed. "Nik and Blue Flower are now confirmed traitors."

"I'm sure they have a reason for this," Nebu said, trying to calm everyone down.

"Reason or not, they're still traitors," Atticus said bluntly. "We have to do something about them."

"The best thing we can do now is forget about them," Taylor suggested. "We have other things to focus on, like Gym Battles."

"But the League probably won't even happen!" Marty reminded her.

"No," Gregory said. "Korbin will wait for it to happen. What better way to get worldwide media attention than to destroy a region on live television?"

"Taking over a Radio Tower comes to mind," Jordan said sarcastically. Everyone chuckled a little bit.

Taylor reinforced her point. "Let's forget about them and focus on getting stronger for the Pokemon League so we can hopefully stop Korbin there!"

"She's right," Nebu said. "Let's all get some sleep. Big day tomorrow!" Everyone headed off to bed for the night.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin and the others returned to the base, where everyone but him stumbled and fell out of the portal.

"It takes some getting used to," he told them.

"We can tell," Nik said.

"Anyway," Korbin went on, "The two of you, come with me." He motioned for Nik and Blue Flower to follow him. Team Rocket dispersed and went about their business while Nik and Blue Flower followed Korbin to his room. When they got inside, Korbin said, "I don't know why you guys are doing this for me, but thank you."

"You know exactly why we're doing this for you," Nik said. "We want the curses on our city removed."

"Of course," Korbin said with a smile. "That will be done as long as you stay here until the region is destroyed."

"But that would be pointless!" Blue Flower said.

"Want to know a secret?" Korbin asked rhetorically. "I'm not planning on destroying Terrari permanently. With Giratina's power, I can recreate it in my own image. So I can, in fact, lift the curses from both of your cities when I recreate Terrari. Now, you are dismissed."

Nik and Blue Flower nodded their heads and left the room.

...THE NEXT MORNING...

Marty, Nebu, Roz, and Jordan slept in late the next morning. They woke up to find a note from Taylor. It said:

Dear Friends,

I didn't want to disturb you, so I left a note here. Atticus, Gregory and I left early this morning to go take the Gym Challenge. By the time you're reading this, we're probably gone. I decided travelling in a group is more fun, so I stuck with these two. Gregory knows his way around, because he has all eight badges already, so that's always a plus. I'll see you guys at the League!

Your friend,
Taylor

"At least she was nice enough to leave a note," Jordan observed.

"Yeah," Nebu said. "She's a nice girl."

"For sure," Marty agreed.

"Well," Roz said. "I'm ready for my battle today! Shall we go?" With a quick nod of everyone's head, the four of them left the Pokemon Center and headed straight for the Gym, which was right across the street. When they entered the Gym, the ref was waiting for them.

"Hello," he said. "You must be here to challenge Forrest."

"Yep!" Roz said enthusiastically.

"Well you're in luck," the ref said. "He just had two challengers straight so he's down to just two Pokemon." He led them to the arena. This arena was coated with a thick layer of ice. Jagged peaks of ice shot out of the frozen floor. Forrest was waiting for them on the other side.

"Hey," he said. "Thanks for your help yesterday."

"No problem," Marty said.

"Now," Forrest continued. "Which one of you is going to challenge me?"

"I will," Roz said.

"Okay!" Forrest said, excited. "Let's get started."

"Forrest versus Roz!" the ref shouted, not bothering to go through the usual speech. "Begin!"

"Go, Cloyster!" Forrest ordered.

"I choose Charizard!" Roz declared.

"Cloyster versus Charizard!" the ref stated. "Begin!"

"Cloyster, Surf!" Forrest called out.

"Charizard!" Roz cried. "Fly up and use Flamethrower!" Charizard flew up just in time to dodge Cloyster's Surf attack, then blew a Flamethrower straight at it. Cloyster, still injured from the previous two battles it had, fainted rather quickly.

"Cloyster is unable to battle!" the ref shouted. "Charizard wins!"

"Well," Forrest said. "You've got me beat, but as a Gym Leader, I'm not allowed to quit. Go, Glaceon!" Eevee's Ice-type evolution came out.

"Charizard versus Glaceon!" the ref shouted. "Begin!"

"Charizard, Fire Blast!" Roz called out. Charizard shot out a star-shaped blast of fire at Glaceon, knocking it out with one hit.

"Glaceon is unable to battle!" the ref said. "Charizard wins! The victor is Rozalie!"

"I'm sorry that I couldn't give you as good of a battle," Forrest said. "I've had two other challengers today. I'm sure you still would've won anyway. That Charizard of yours is a beast."

"I know~" Roz sang.

Forrest pulled out a badge and handed it to Roz. "Take care of the Iceburg Badge!"

"Thanks!" Roz said, smiling.

"You guys better hurry!" Forrest said. "The next boat for Porthide Town leaves in 10 minutes!"

"Thanks!" Marty said as they started running out the door. "We'll see you later, Forrest!" Forrest nodded as they left the Gym.

When they got to the harbor, Nebu's Pokenav rang. She picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Nebu, is that you?"

"Fleet?"

"Yes! This number works!"

"You need something!"

"Yes, actually. After you left, Team Aqua and Magma showed up on the island and stole all of my precious dynamite!"

"Wait a minute, did you say Aqua and Magma?"

"Yes! They're back, too! I don't know what they're going to do with my dynamite, but it's going to be bad! I just know it!"

"Don't worry, honey, we'll get your dynamite back."

"Thanks, Nebu! You're a good friend!"

"No problem. See you, Fleet." Nebu hung up the phone and turned to the others. "Come on," she said. "We've got another boat to catch."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 44: On the Mainland

Marty and the others got to the harbor, where Kefka was waiting for them again.

"I see you beat him," he observed. "I guess I was wrong about the four of you."  They all chuckled, but didn't say anything. Kefka continued. "I guess I'll be taking you all back to Porthide Town, then. Hop on." So they got in Kefka's boat and he took them back to Porthide Town.

...MEANWHILE...

A celebration was being held in EVille that day. The FoG had a major victory the day before in the Radio Tower. The celebration was in honor of the fact that no other team had ever completed a major mission successfully without having some Trainer stand in their way.

"We have our message spread," Korbin addressed everyone. "We have also showed the Trainers of Terrari that we are strong when we have numbers. We even have two of the Terrari Gym Leaders on our side! We must keep pushing to achieve our goals!" Roars erupted from the crowd as members of all the teams cheered for Korbin. Behind him, Kelsey and Eric exchanged worried glances, Nik and Blue Flower nodded their heads, and Ghestis looked on with disgust as his Team's loyalty began to slowly shift to Korbin.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others reached Porthide Town, where Kefka dropped them off.

"Well," Kefka said. "Here we are. Don't get off the boat too quickly, now."

"It was nice seeing you too, Kefka," Jordan retorted.

"See ya," Kefka said, almost cracking a smile. His boat sped off into the distance, back to Iceburg City.

"So, now what?" Nebu asked.

Roz checked her Pokenav. "Our next destination is Treeview Town, and Jordan's Gym Battle is there. It looks like we have to go through Roundhouse Town and the Mountain Pass to get through to Treeview Town.

"We should get going then," Marty said. "Let's go." So the four of them ready to go to Treeview Town.

...MEANWHILE...

Stepney, Davy, and Matt were hopelessly lost. Their Pokemon had not gone to Maron City. Instead, they were in some big town somewhere. Davy checked the Pokenav.

"According to the map," he stated, "We're in Castelia City in the Unova Region!"

"Seriously?!" Matt shouted.

"How did that happen?" Stepney cried.

"No idea," Davy said. "How long ago did we start flying to Maron City?

Matt checked his Pokenav for the date. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "We left Roundhouse Town a day and a half ago!"

"Crap," Davy muttered. "That means we must've fallen asleep. It should've only been about a 2-minute flight."

"This is bad!" Stepney cried. "How will we be able to train for the tournament! We won't have time!"

"Let's just stay calm and get back," Davy said. "I'm sure we'll have time to train." So the three of them hopped on their Bird Pokemon and took off for Maron City. Again.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 45: Team Maqua

After the victory celebration, Korbin took Maxie and Archie to the meeting room and sat them down.

"It's your turn," he said to them. "Did you get the dynamite?"

"Yes," Maxie told him.

"We have our forces in position at the Mountain Pass," Archie explained.

"Perfect," Korbin said. "I want you two to make sure that those four do NOT get any more badges. I don't need them and the rest of their gang getting in our way again."

"Again, sir?" Maxie asked.

"I thought this was a 'major victory,'" Archie said.

"Sometimes it's good to lie to boost morale," Korbin explained. "Those brats took down the Team Rocket executives like they were nothing. And their friends got rid of all of the stationed grunts. They're a major problem, so I need you two to deal with it, understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the two of them said in unison. "Team Maqua is ready!"

"Team...Maqua?" Korbin asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah," Archie said. "We figured since we were working together now, we might as well put our names together."

"I see," Korbin said, uninterested. "I'm taking my leave." As he stepped out the door, he turned to them and said, "By the way, I'll be in my room, preparing for our final phase, so tell everyone not to disturb me."

"I will," Maxie said.

Korbin nodded and headed out the door. He came back a split second later and said, "Also, five more minutes on the name should do."

...MEANWHILE...

About a half hour later, Marty and the others reached Roundhouse Town. They looked around the little town, but no one was there except for the nurse at the Pokemon Shack.

Roz walked over to her. "Where is everybody?"

"In the Dojo," Nurse Joy said. "They're taking a class. You should go sit in on it!"

"Thanks," Marty said. "We'll do that."

Roz's face flushed. "I don't think we have time for that."

"Of course we have time!" Marty said back. "It's not even noon yet!" So the four of them went into the Dojo to sit in on Raymond's class.

...MEANWHILE...

"We're in position," the Aqua admin said.

"Perfect," Archie said through the Radio. "When they pass through, blow it to smithereens."

"Yes, sir," the admin said.

"I'm counting on you Shelley," Archie reminded her. "Don't let me down."

"I won't."

...MEANWHILE...

Raymond's class on Battle Link had just concluded. The other fighters left, and only Marty and the others were left in the dojo, along with Raymond.

"Ah," he said. "You guys came to my class earlier."

"Yes," Marty confirmed.

"It was really cool!" Nebu said.

"I wanna learn it!" Jordan cried.

"It looks like it'd be awesome to use in a real battle," Roz thought out loud.

"It is," Raymond said. "Did one of you come to challenge me?" he asked them.

"No," Marty told him. "Our friend has already won your badge, I think."

"Oh, you guys must know Stepney!" Raymond said with excitement. "Yes, I've battled him. It was an exceptionally good battle. He mastered Battle Link during our battle as well. He and his Roserade totally thrashed me at the end."

"Stepney knows Battle Link?" Nebu asked, amazed.

"Yes," Raymond said. "Now if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is!"

"We'll try it out when we get to Treeview Town," Roz told them. "We need to keep going. I want to be in and out of there as soon as we can."

"She's right," Marty agreed. "There's still a few days before the tournament, and we're making great time. We could almost just spend a day in Treeview doing nothing but training. Then we could move on."

"That's true," Nebu agreed.

"In any case," Jordan said, "Let's get going!"

"Well," Raymond said, "It was nice meeting you guys."

"Same," Roz said, smiling. "See you!" The four of them walked away from Roundhouse Town and headed for the Mountain Pass just outside the town.

...MEANWHILE...

"I'm getting impatient!" the former Team Magma admin, Tabitha, said to Shelley. "When are those brats getting here?"

"Quiet!" Shelley said, looking through some binoculars. "They're on their way."

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others reached the Mountain Pass after only ten minutes of walking.

"We're almost there!" Marty said.

"Treeview Town is just through this pass," Roz told them. "Let's go quickly." They walked through the pass at a semi brisk pace. When they got to the end, a voice called out.

"Where do you think you're going?" it asked.

"Who's there?" Jordan asked back. He squinted into the darkness of the cave, but saw no one.

"Behind you," she said. They all turned around to see the Aqua admin Shelley standing there with the Magma admin, Tabitha. Shelley was smirking at them on the outside of the cave. In her hand was a small joystick with a red button on the top.

"Team Aqua and Magma!" Jordan said, shocked.

"Actually, we go by Team Maqua now," Tabitha explained.

"What're you doing here?!" Nebu cried.

"Making sure you guys miss the tournament!" she got ready to push the button.

"She's gonna close the entrance!" Marty cried.

Roz, in a panic, looked around to see what they should do. Just then, the only possible idea came to her.

"Jordan!" Roz said. "Run!"

"Why me?" Jordan asked, surprised.

"You're the one that has the Gym Battle!" Roz reminded him. "You have to get out!"

"She's right!" Nebu shouted.

"What about you guys?" Jordan asked, worried.

"We'll be fine!" Marty said, smiling to show Jordan that they would be fine.

"Why can't you run with me?" he asked.

"If one of us gets out, the people behind them would get crushed under the rocks!" Roz explained. "It makes more sense to stay here for a while then to die trying to get out! Now go!" Jordan nodded and ran for the exit.

"Oh, no you don't!" Shelley shouted. She pushed the button on the joystick, and the inside of the cave began to rumble. Jordan got through the exit just as a large boulder came crashing down. He ran down the road, away from the Maqua admins. He looked back to see Marty, Nebu, and Roz one more time before the last rock closed the exit off completely.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 46: Warnings

Jordan continued to run. He didn't know where Treeview Town was, just that it had to be on the road somewhere. He kept running and running until he came across a small village surrounded by trees. He looked around the village, but there were only four small houses. There was no Gym, like there should've been, and there wasn't even a Pokemon Center.

"I don't think this is Treeview Town," Jordan muttered to himself.

"You're right," said an all too familiar voice from nowhere. Korbin stepped out of a portal behind Jordan. Jordan spun around to meet him.

"You know," he said, "you do this so many times, it's impossible to be scared by you."

"The point isn't to frighten," Korbin told him. "I merely have a quick mode of travel. It sure beats walking, after all."

"What do you want?" Jordan asked him, getting slightly irritated.

"First off," he said, "I want to know how you got out of the Mountain Pass."

"It was simple," Jordan bluffed. "Those 'Maqua' idiots didn't even chase after me."

Korbin raised an eyebrow at this. "What about your friends?"

"They're trapped," Jordan admitted, "but it won't take long for them to get out. They can just go back to the entrance and climb around."

Korbin laughed. "Fool. Don't you think we would've sealed the entrance off, too?"

"They can bust out," Jordan said. "Roz's Charizard knows Rock Smash."

Korbin, also becoming slightly irritated, said, "They still won't make it in time for the tournament."

"Whatever you want to believe," Jordan said with a confident smirk on his face.

"In any case," Korbin said, "I'm primarily here to warn you."

"Warn me?" Jordan asked.

"Yes," Korbin confirmed. "Since I still think of you as a 'friend,' I'm here to warn you. Get out of Terrari while you still can. By the final match of the tournament, all the necessary preparations will take place to finally destroy Terrari. I don't want to see all of you get destroyed along with this region." The compassion in his voice led Jordan to believe that he was telling the truth.

"I'll think about it," Jordan assured him.

Korbin made a portal and began to step through it. He turned around to Jordan and said, "By the way, you passed Treeview Town a while ago." He stepped through the portal and it closed behind him. Jordan turned around and walked back the way he came.

...MEANWHILE...

"Charizard, use Rock Smash!" Charizard began to smash its hard head against a the rocks blocking their way. A big rock broke, but a bunch of smaller rocks took its place.

"Go, Lucario!" Marty called. Lucario smashed the rocks with punches and kicks infused with aura.

"Scolipede, Rollout!" Nebu ordered. The ultimate form of Venipede curled into a ball and launched itself into the rocks in a high speed roll. Between the three attacks, the exit was opened again to find Shelley and Tabitha locked in battle with two other Trainers.

"Venusaur, Solarbeam!" Taylor called. Her Venusaur loosed a huge beam of energy at Shelley's and Tabitha's Pokemon, defeating them both.

"Taylor!" Marty called out.

"Hey!" she said back. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," he told her. "It didn't take much for us to get out."

"Well, we're glad you guys are okay," Gregory said. He had not been battling with Taylor and Atticus.

"Where's Jordan?" Taylor asked.

"He got out in time, and should be to Treeview Town by now," Marty said.

"Is the entrance blocked, too?" Atticus asked them, withdrawing his Farfetch'd.

"Yes," Roz answered.

"We'll take care of that," Taylor said. "We're heading back to Maron City."

"You guys got all of the badges?" Nebu asked them.

"Yup!" Atticus said, grinning. They all opened their badge cases to show that they did, in fact, have all eight badges.

"That's pretty impressive," Marty said, smiling. "Good luck, guys!"

As they were about to part ways again, Korbin appeared from a portal in between the two groups.

"Hello," he said plainly.

"Korbin!" Atticus growled.

"Why are you here?" Nebu asked.

"To warn you," he said. "Get out of Terrari while you still can. My plan will be complete by the final battle of the tournament. I don't want you guys to get hurt. You need to go home and forget about this region." He said this with the same compassion that he had used on Jordan.

The response, this time from Marty, was quite different. "No chance."

Korbin raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Marty explained, "I'm not leaving and letting you have your way with this region."

"I'm with him," Roz said confidently. "We will stop you, no matter what." Charizard snorted fire out of its nose behind her.

"Fine," Korbin said. "Don't blame me when you all die a horribly painful death." He opened a portal, grabbed the admins, and stepped through it without another word.

They all stood there for a moment, thinking about what Korbin had said to them.

"I'm not leaving!" Gregory declared. "No way!"

"None of us are," Atticus said sternly.

"Why would we go this far just to quit now?" Taylor asked rhetorically.

"Thanks, guys," Marty said.

"No problem!" Taylor smiled back. "We'll see you at the tournament!"

"I'm looking forward to it," Nebu smiled. The two groups went their separate ways. Marty, Nebu, and Roz ran to Treeview Town to look for Jordan.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 47: Collest. Treehouse. EVER.

Jordan walked back down the road in his search for Treeview Town. As he walked, he passed by a sign that he had completely missed when he had run from the Mountain Pass before. He stopped to read it. It said,

Treeview Town down this road.

Jordan facepalmed himself as he walked down the road.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty, Nebu, and Roz walked down the road. This was the first time they had been together, just the three of them, since they had left Ecruteak City. That had been over a year ago. Now they were in Terrari, almost ready to go to the tournament, and were the target of every criminal team in the world.

It had been a pretty successful year.

"I wonder how our parents are doing," Marty said to Nebu.

"Mine are still probably adventuring somewhere," Nebu muttered. Nebu's entire family had always been great Pokemon Trainers. Her parents left when her brother and sister were able to take care of her, and they left when she was able to take care of herself. Roz had taken her in when her siblings left.

"Well," Roz said, putting her arm around their shoulders, "wherever they are, I'm sure they think of you."

"Yeah," Nebu said with a sigh. "Whatever you say."

"Hey," Roz said, "Don't be like that! Cheer up! We always seem to have bad things that happen to us, but we don't give up! You're definitely no exception! And who knows? Maybe they'll see you in the tournament!"

"It IS going to be televised," Marty added.

"If they REALLY cared, they'd came to Terrari and watch in the stands," Nebu said, looking down at the ground. Marty and Roz glanced at each other, worried. They were desperate to change the subject, but didn't know what to do. Just then, they came to the sign.

"Here we are," Marty said, smiling.

"I bet Jordan's already there," Roz thought.

"He'll be happy to see us, I'm sure," Nebu said, perking up a little bit. They walked down the road on the way to Treeview Town.

...MEANWHILE...

Jordan had gotten to the end of the road to find a massive tree. It looked to be an extremely ancient tree, and there was no way any tree would grow that much here. The region had only been around for about five years, anyway. There was a door-shaped cut in the side of the tree facing the road. Jordan walked up to it and touched around it. The cut in the tree acted as an actual door and opened up to reveal an elevator. Jordan gasped in awe and stepped into the elevator. The door closed behind him and the elevator went up.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty, Roz, and Nebu reached the end of the road and found the same tree that Jordan had just come across.

"This tree is HUGE!" Nebu exclaimed, feeling better.

"Treeview Town must be IN the tree!" Roz guessed.

"Well," Marty said, "it makes sense."

"I wonder if this cut in the tree is some kind of door," Nebu guessed. She touched around it, but nothing happened.

"How're we supposed to get up there?" Roz wondered. "This tree is WAY too big to climb."

Just then, three ropes came down from the tree. They had large discs on the bottoms for people to stand on.

"Should we get on these?" Nebu asked.

"I don't see why not," Roz said back. They each stepped on a rope and waited. Nothing happened at first, but then the ropes shot up into the tree. The three of them each screamed a little bit because of the speed of the ascent. They shot through the leaves of the tree, causing some to fall down to the ground.

...MEANWHILE...

Jordan had just gotten off the elevator in Treeview Town, when he heard a strange noise. He looked over to his left and saw three ropes on spinning wheels, reeling something in. He got close to the ropes when all of a sudden, Marty, Nebu, and Roz shot up from under the leaves, flew into the air, and landed on top of Jordan.

"Jordan!" the three of them exclaimed.

"You guys!" he exclaimed right back. "How did you get out of the Mountain Pass?"

"Are you kidding?" Roz asked him rhetorically. "Charizard's a monster~"

"So is Lucario~" Marty sang with Roz.

"And Scolipede~" Nebu sang, completing the chord. When they finished, Jordan clapped.

"This is why we're part of a sheet music forum," he stated.

They took a look around. They seemed to be in a small room which contained the rope mechanisms and the elevator. There was a small doorway leading into the town.

"Shall we?" Marty asked them.

"We shall." Nebu answered, smiling. They walked through the doorway and got their first glimpse of Treeview Town.

It was incredible. There were houses and shops and buildings scattered all over, and there was a zip line to and from each one of them. The branches were worked in with the designs of the town so they wouldn't be a nuisance. The most amazing aspect of Treeview Town, however, was the roof. All the branches and leaves had been cut off in a bowl shape around the top of the tree, allowing sunlight to get in. To combat inclement weather, a glass dome was carefully placed over top of the town. The tree looked completely normal from the outside, however. They guessed it had to be a special type of one-way glass.

"This place is amazing!" Nebu shouted.

"I want to live here," Marty stated in awe.

"If we could stay longer, I would be the first to say yes," Roz said.

"Well before we get too attached," Jordan said. "We should get to the Gym." The rest of them nodded their heads and zip lined over to the Treeview Town Gym.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 48: Nice to See You Again

Marty, Nebu, Roz, and Jordan jumped off the zip line leading to the Gym. Everyone landed cleanly except Marty, who landed flat on his face. The others laughed and helped him up. They walked inside the gym and found the ref standing there, just like always.

"Which of you is here to face our Gym Leader?" he asked.

"I am," Jordan said confidently.

"Good," the ref said, nodding. "This way to the arena." He led them to the arena. The arena in Treeview Gym looked more like a jungle. There were trees and vines everywhere, and grass covered the floor. The Gym Leader was nowhere to be found.

"Where is the Gym Leader?" Jordan asked the ref.

"I'm not sure," the ref said. "I will go fetch him." He ran to the other side of the arena and disappeared for a few minutes.

"So," Marty said. "This is quite obviously a Grass Gym. What's your strategy, Jordan?"

"I'm definitely going to start with Chandelure," Jordan told him.

After a few minutes, the ref came back and said, "The Gym Leader is here now." He walked over to his position. When he got to his position, the Gym Leader came out. All four of them gasped.

"What's wrong?" Jerry said. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You?!" Jordan shouted in disbelief.

"Me?" Jerry said back quizzically.

"You're the Gym Leader?" Marty asked.

"Yeah," he said back. "Surprise!"

They were all in shock. They had suspected he was hiding something when Nik had been talking to him. Marty also had suspicions of him when he told him about Dudesworth's stone quarry, but he brushed them aside back then. Now Jerry was standing before Jordan as the Treeview Town Gym Leader.

"Are you ready?" he asked Jordan.

"Oh, yeah," Jordan said. "I've been waiting for this."

The ref did his usual speech and the battle began.

"Go, Jumpluff!" Jerry ordered. The blue ball with cotton puffs around it sprang into action.

"Chandelure!" Jordan called. A big chandelier Pokemon came out. It sported some powerful looking blue flames.

"Chandelure versus Jumpluff!" the ref stated. "Begin!"

"Chandelure!" Jordan called. "Will-o'-Wisp!" Chandelure conjured up a ghostly blue fire and shot it towards Jumpluff.

"Dodge and use Cotton Spore!" Jerry ordered. Jumpluff got out of the way of Chandelure's Will-o'-Wisp and covered it in heavy tufts of cotton, slowing it down.

"Chandelure, Flamethrower!" Chandelure shot a stream of fire at Jumpluff. It was a direct hit, and Jumpluff fell to the ground.

"Jumpluff is unable to battle!" the ref decided. "Chandelure wins!"

"Way to go, Jordan!" Nebu cheered. Jordan smiled back at her.

"Wow!" Jerry said. "You've sure improved. But this is only the beginning! Go, Ludicolo!" The evolved form of Lombre came out and started dancing around erratically.

"Chandelure versus Ludicolo!" the ref announced. "Begin!"

"Chandelure, Will-o'-Wisp!" Jordan called, hoping it would hit this time.

"Not a chance!" Jerry said. "Ludicolo, Hydro Pump!" Ludicolo let loose a huge blast of water, instantly putting out the Will-o'-Wisp and making Chandelure faint on the spot.

"Chandelure is unable to battle!" said the ref. "Ludicolo wins!" Ludicolo began dancing around happily.

"I choose..." Jordan said, trailing off. He had no idea what Pokemon to pick.

"Jordan!" Nebu called out. "Fight fire with fire!"

Suddenly the idea came to him. "Thanks, Nebu! I choose Meganium!" Chikorita's evolved form came out as instructed and got ready to battle.

"Meganium versus Ludicolo!" the ref declared. "Begin!"

"Ludicolo!" Jerry shouted. "Use Solarbeam!" Ludicolo began charging a Solarbeam.

"Fight fire with fire!" Jordan repeated. "Meganium, Solarbeam!" Meganium began charging its own Solarbeam. The two Pokemon stood there for a time, charging large amounts of energy.

Eventually, both Trainers decided it was time to stop wasting time. "Go!" they both shouted. Two large Solarbeams were loosed on opposite sides of the battlefield. The collision caused an explosion which got rid of all the overgrowth on the arena, making it clean. When all the smoke and debris cleared, however, one Pokemon was left standing.

"Ludicolo is unable to battle!" the ref judged. "Meganium wins!"

"Nice job!" Jerry said, still smiling. "But I'm not giving up so easily! Go, Abomasnow!" The large evolved form of Snover came out onto the field.

"Meganium versus Abomasnow!" the ref declared. "Begin!"

"Meganium, Body Slam!" Jordan said, hoping to get a good hit. Meganium began to charge head-on into Abomasnow.

"Abomasnow, Blizzard!" Jerry shouted. Abomasnow let loose a huge blast of snow and cold air, slowing Meganium down.

"Keep going!" Jordan said. "Don't stop!" Meganium kept charging at Abomasnow, continuing to slow down.

"Full throttle!" Jerry told Abomasnow. Abomasnow reared back and strengthened its Blizzard attack to a large beam of Ice energy. Meganium was lost inside the beam. The attack continued for a few more seconds until Abomasnow suddenly stopped. Meganium had made a direct hit on it. However, it didn't have enough speed to injure it, so the attack was ineffective. Meganium, unable to take any more, fainted right in front of Abomasnow.

"Meganium is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Abomasnow wins!" Abomasnow stood there devoid of emotion while Jerry chuckled a little.

Jordan growled and sent out his next Pokemon. "Go, Gardevoir!" One of Ralts' two ultimate forms emerged.

"Gardevoir versus Abomasnow! Begin!"

"Abomasnow, Blizzard!" Jerry called out, hoping to get another fast KO. Abomasnow started charging up another Blizzard, but slower this time.

"Gardevoir, Hypnosis!" Jordan said right after Jerry called out his attack. Gardevoir locked Abomasnow in a powerful Hypnosis, causing it to fall asleep.

Jordan, not missing a beat, said, "Now use Dream Eater!" Gardevoir focused some Psychic energy and Abomasnow began to glow with a sinister pink aura. It looked to be in pain while Gardevoir began to look stronger and stronger. Eventually, Abomasnow stopped having fits in its sleep and fell unconscious.

"Abomasnow is unable to battle!" the ref said. "Gardevoir wins!"

Jerry withdrew Abomasnow and sent out his next Pokemon. "Go, Leafeon!" Eevee's Grass-type evolution came out.

"Gardevoir versus Leafeon!" the ref said. "Begin!"

"Gardevoir, Psychic!" Jordan ordered. Gardevoir used an extremely powerful Psychic attack on Leafeon, which fainted rather quickly. Everyone, including Jordan, gasped.

"Leafeon is...unable to...battle?" the ref stuttered. "Gardevoir wins?"

Jerry laughed. "Poor Leafeon. It's still training. I'm sure it will be a force to be reckoned with eventually, though. Now this is my last Pokemon! Go, Torterra!" He threw out his last Poke Ball, and Turtwig's final form busted into the fray. It had an entire tree growing on its back.

"Gardevoir versus Torterra!" the ref stated. "Begin!"

"Gardevoir, Psychic!" Jordan ordered, hoping to get a quick KO once again.

"Torterra, Energy Ball!" Jerry shouted. Torterra created a green ball of energy at Gardevoir. The two attacks collided, but Torterra easily overcame Gardevoir's Psychic. The Energy Ball hit Gardevoir head on and sent it flying. It found its footing and levitated softly to the ground.

"Hypnosis!" Jordan cried. Gardevoir began trying to put Torterra into a hypnotic trance.

"Torterra!" Jerry yelled. "Don't let it ensnare you! Use Earthquake to finish it!" Torterra stomped the ground, and it began to shake. Gardevoir was injured severely by the shock waves and fainted.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle!" the ref said. "Torterra wins!" Jerry jumped up and down in celebration.

Jordan was running out of ideas. "Go, Spinda!" he called. The dizzy little bear came out, ready to go.

"Spinda versus Torterra! Begin!"

"Spinda, Psybeam!" Jordan called.

Jerry just laughed. "Solarbeam!" he shouted. Torterra instantly shot out a full power Solarbeam at Spinda's Psybeam, instantly knocking it out.

"Spinda is unable to battle! Torterra wins!" the ref shouted, not amazed in the slightest.

"How in the-" Marty stuttered.

"It just launched a full power Solarbeam like it was nothing!" Roz said in disbelief.

"That's impossible!" Nebu shouted.

"Wait," Jordan said, thinking. "That would only be possible if you used-"

"Battle Link," Jerry finished. "Yes, I used it. Better learn fast!"

Jordan thought about it for a moment. Out of the two of his remaining Pokemon, which one did he want to establish a link with? The answer was obvious immediately. "Go, Cinccino!" Jordan's first and strongest Pokemon entered the battle.

"Cinccino versus Torterra!" the ref declared one more time. "Begin!"

"Torterra!" Jerry shouted. "Let's end this quickly with a Solarbeam!" Torterra instantly shot out a Solarbeam.

Time slowed down for Jordan and Cinccino just like it did for Stepney and Roserade. Cinccino looked back at Jordan expectantly.

"Ready?" Jordan asked it, smiling. Cinccino voiced back its happy agreement and time resumed as normal. The Solarbeam continued to shoot out towards Cinccino at a fast pace.

"Cinccino, Battle Link," Jordan said. Something clicked between Cinccino and Jordan just then. Their thoughts synced together into one harmonious thought of victory. Jordan moved a little to the left, and Cinccino instantly followed the motion and dodged quickly to the left. The Solarbeam went off target and made a hole in the wall. Cinccino ran up and attacked Torterra with a barrage of random attacks.

"Torterra, Leaf Storm!" Jerry ordered, not one to crack under pressure. Torterra conjured up a huge pile of leaves and shot them all towards Cinccino.

"Now Giga Impact," Jordan said calmly. Cinccino ran through the Leaf Storm, glowing with white energy. Every leaf it touched was stopped and destroyed by the power of the attack. Cinccino finally broke through the attack and slammed into Torterra with all its power. Torterra went sailing through the air and crashed into the wall, fainted.

"Torterra is unable to battle!" the ref announced. "Cinccino wins! The victor is Jordan from Sootopolis City!"

Jordan jumped up and down in happiness, and Cinccino did the exact same. Jerry withdrew Torterra and walked over to him.

"Great job!" he said. "You definitely earned the Tree Badge!" he handed the obviously tree-shaped badge to Jordan, who happily accepted it.

"Thanks," Jordan said. "That was an AMAZING battle."

"I'd like to say the same thing," Jerry told him, "but that would be repetitive." They all laughed at his joke for a moment until he said. "You guys should come with me, though. I have a gift for you guys since you made it so far." The four of them followed Jerry to the back of the Gym, where their surprise awaited them.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 49: It's All in the Cards

Jerry led Jordan and the others into a strange room behind the Gym's arena. It was very dimly lit, save for a few torches emitting an eerie blue flame. Everything about this room seemed to scream, "occult." A strange chill filled the air when they walked in.

"So," Nebu said nervously, "what's this surprise that you have planned for us?"

"Well," Jerry said, "I have this strange hobby. I like to do Tarot card readings for people. I can tell them their future through these cards." He pulled out a deck of cards that seemed to resemble normal playing cards. "You will each get a reading done for coming so far."

"This sounds pretty cool!" Marty said, excited. "May I start?"

Jerry smiled. "Of course," he said. He walked over to the table and sat down. He began to shuffle his deck of cards and eventually drew one. He looked down at a book that was lying on the table.

"Let's see," he muttered. "Marty. Your card is the Nine of Wands. With great preparation and constant vigilance, you will be able to take the lead and maintain control of a large situation ahead of you."

"Sounds interesting," Marty replied.

"Next," Jub motioned toward the others. This time Nebu stepped up.

"My turn!" she said, eager to have her fortune read.

"All right," Jerry said, drawing another card and checking his book. "Nebu. Your card is the Page of Wands. This card represents news or information; this will be good or bad depending on how you treat the situation. I'm not entirely sure but you may be visited by someone from your past?"

Nebu seemed lost in thought. "Someone from my past? Who could that be?"

...MEANWHILE...

In the FoG base, Kelsey and Eric stood guard outside Korbin's room while he prepared for the next phase of the plan. They paced past the door, looking very professional to anyone who walked by. Further inspection, however, would show that they were extremely frantic about the current situation.

"What are we going to do?" Eric asked nervously.

"The only thing we can do at this point is wait," Kelsey told him. "When we get out of here, we have to go find our Pokemon and get the hell out of here. I don't think either of us asked for this. We have to get out of this situation while we can."

"You're right," Eric agreed. "We have to-" Suddenly, Eric was cut off by something ominous coming from Korbin's room. A strange blackness was seeping out the bottom of the door, and the temperature had significantly dropped, instantly sending chills down the spines of Kelsey and Eric.

"He's getting ready to start!" Eric cried. "What'll we do?!"

"Calm down!" Kelsey scolded him. "Even though this looks bad, he shouldn't be able to do anything for a few days. This gives us some more time to get out of here."

...MEANWHILE...

Roz had stepped up to have her fortune read. Jerry shuffled the deck again and drew another card off the top of the deck.

"Roz," he said. "Your card is the Five of Swords. Something from the past will return to you, but I must warn you: at the end of the day, disaster will have taken its toll and take it away again."

Roz gulped. She didn't know exactly what this meant at all, and the puzzled look on Jerry's face wasn't helping at all. She nodded her head and stepped back.

"Finally, Jordan," Jerry said. "You can come up here now. And you can let go of Nebu's hand."

Jordan looked puzzled. He looked down at his hand, and sure enough, he was holding Nebu's hand in his. He didn't remember taking her hand at all. He drew back his hand and his face turned a bright red. As he walked up, Nebu's face turned a similar shade of red.

"Let's see...one more card..." Jerry shuffled the deck another time and picked one at complete random. He looked at his book and smirked a little. "Jordan, you got the Page of Cups. A friend of yours will come closer; Eh, I'll temporarily give up on the vagueness and tell you exactly what it means! Key terms according to this little white book include 'messenger of love', and 'emotional communication.' I think you get the picture!"

Nebu's face turned even brighter red. "LET ME SEE THAT BOOK," she ordered sternly. She jumped at the table and snatched the book from Jerry's hands.

"No!" Jerry cried. "Give it back, please!" The two of them argued over the book. In the ensuing scuffle, four cards fell to the floor. Jerry stopped and looked at the cards. All of a sudden, his eyes grew wide.

"What the-?" He stuttered. "All major arcana?"

Marty, Nebu, Jordan and Roz looked at the cards lying on the ground in front of them. The cards read, "THE DEVIL", "THE WORLD", "JUDGEMENT", and "DEATH".

"What does this mean?" Marty asked Jerry. "What's a major arcana?"

Jerry didn't take his eyes off the cards. "The Tarot cards are split into Major and minor arcana," he explained. "Minor is split into four suits: cups, swords, pentacles, and wands. There are 22 Major Arcana. Basically, they might be considered even more powerful and meaningful than the other 56."

"So what do these cards mean together?" Roz asked him.

"I'm not sure, since I'm still new to this," Jerry admitted, "but I'm going to guess that something really bad is about to happen?"

"How informative," Jordan said sarcastically.

"Sorry I can't be of much more help than that," Jerry said to them.

"It's no problem," Marty assured him. "Whatever the problem is, we'll take care of it. Thanks for the present, Jerry."

"No problem," Jerry said, smiling again. "I'm glad you guys have made it this far. You've only got one more Gym to face, and about a week until the tournament deadline. You're making great time!"

"Thanks!" Nebu said, grinning wide.

"We should really be going," Roz reminded everyone.

"Right," Jordan agreed. "Thanks for the battle, Jerry!"

"No problem!" he said back. "I'll see you guys at the tournament!" He led them out of the Gym and watched them zip line back to the elevator to the ground.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 50: Frivolously Frivolous Frivolity

Marty, Nebu, Roz, and Jordan got off the elevator that had got them to Treeview Town, now with seven badges in their possession. Jordan held up his newly earned badge in the light and admired it while they walked towards FrivVille.

"Now we all have one badge," Jordan noted. "Put them all together and we're almost ready to go to the tournament!"

"I'm so excited for it," Marty said. "I can't wait to see everyone."

"We should be careful, though," Roz reminded them. "Korbin threatened that his plan would be finished by the end of the tournament."

"If that happens, Terrari will be destroyed," Nebu added. "What'll we do then?"

"The only thing we can do is fight back," Marty said. "The seven of us can fight Korbin."

"Don't forget about us!" someone shouted behind them. They looked behind to see Taylor, Atticus, and Gregory trekking down the path behind them. The four of them stopped to let them catch up.

"Taylor!" Marty greeted. "What're you doing back here so soon? I thought you were on your way back to Maron City for the tournament."

"Well," Taylor began, "We were going to head back, but Atticus just REALLY wanted to go back to see the Gym Leader again." She shot a slight death glare at Atticus.

"I can't help it!" Atticus groaned. "He's just so frivolously frivolous in all his frivolously frivolous frivolity!"

"He's also been abusing the word, 'frivolous' way too much," Gregory said, stating the obvious.

"We also figured we'd catch up with you guys and see what you were up to," Taylor told them.

"Well, you're welcome to join us," Nebu smiled.

"I think we're pretty close to FrivVille," Jordan said.

"Oh, sweet frivolity!" Atticus mused. "I'm coming, my dear Francois!"

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin sat in the middle of his room and meditated on the Distortion World. He knew every nook and cranny of that old place. He used to live there, after all. He had been in the Distortion World for as long as he could remember. He remembered his guardian, Giratina, telling him that only the bravery of his mother saved him. It never told him what his mother saved him from, or what happened to his parents, but he tried not to think about it much. Now was an especially bad time to be thinking about it. He should've been concentrating on the task at hand. He took a few deep breaths and began to open a portal. This portal had to be much larger than the ones he usually made, so he had to concentrate much harder. After a few minutes of intense concentration, the floor underneath him was covered by the same black energy Korbin used in his portals. It began to slowly expand until it covered the entire floor. The temperature in the room began to decrease dramatically. The black energy began to creep up the walls and quickly covered the rest of the room. The portal was complete. The plan could continue.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others finally reached FrivVille. Only one word could describe this town. It was the most sacred of all words, only to be used for the finer things in life. That word was frivolous. All the buildings were extremely tall and ornate. They all stood in awe at the buildings for a good while.

"Wow," Roz said. "This is just so..."

"Awesome?" Marty tried to finish.

"No," Roz said, furrowing her brow.

"Amazing?" Nebu attempted.

"No," Roz said again, still searching for the word.

"Frivolous?" Atticus asked.

"That's it," Roz said, nodding her head. "This town is just so frivolous."

"Our last Gym Battle will take place here," Marty stated. "I'll try to make it a good one."

"Shall we go then?" Nebu asked him.

"We shall," Marty said back with a smile. The seven of them walked toward the FrivVille Gym, mentally preparing themselves for the frivolously frivolous frivolity that was sure to follow. Frivolous.

TO BE CONTINUED...FRIVOLOUSLY.

Chapter 51: Totes a Frivolously Frivolous Battle

Atticus led the others to the FrivVille Gym as if he had done it a million other times. The building was just as ornate as the others in the city, but inside it was quite normal. The only room inside the building was the arena. It was extremely large, much larger than any other Gym's arena, and the celling was at least ten stories high, which made it perfect for Flying-type Pokemon. At the other end of the arena, three Trainers stood waiting for the challengers.

"Hello," said the man in the middle. He wore a very nice suit and had a mature air about him.

"Welcome to the FrivVille Gym!" said the younger girl on the left of the man in the suit.

"Which of you are the challengers?" asked the older girl on the right. She looked quite a bit like her younger sister.

"I'm the challenger," Marty answered. "Which one of you is the Gym Leader?"

"Maybe you didn't hear me," said the girl. "I said challengers, not challenger. You need two more people to fight alongside you."

Marty was taken aback by this, as were the others. None of them were counting on this.

"We only needed one person to fight," Taylor said. "Why has it become three now?"

"Because I love Triple Battles," the man said. "They're so...frivolous."

"Mashi," Marty said. "That's you, isn't it?"

"Nice to see you, K-NiGhT," he said. "Or should I say Marty? But my name is now Francois. It's more frivolous."

"Let me guess, the two here with you are Ruto and Saria?" Marty asked.

"That's right," the older girl, Ruto,  said with a smile.

"Now please pick your two partners," Saria demanded.

Marty looked back at the others. "Is it okay if I pick you, Taylor?"

"No problem," Taylor said, smiling. "I'm ready to go!"

"How about you, Nebu?" Marty asked.

"I'd love to," Nebu answered.

"I see you've picked your partners," Francois said. "I guess we can begin."

"Don't we need a ref?" Nebu asked.

"Refs aren't frivolous enough for my Gym," Francois told her. "I believe we are mature enough to handle such decisions on our own, don't you?"

Behind them, Atticus squealed in delight.

"Hello, Atticus," Francois said. "Long time, no see."

Atticus was so excited that he fainted.

"Let's get this frivolous small talk over with and get the battle started," Marty said to Francois.

"Agreed," Francois said. "Let's begin. The main battle will be between you and me. Ruto and Saria are merely here for training before the tournament. Because of this, they will be using one Pokemon each. Your partners may only use one Pokemon as a result. You and I, however, have our entire teams at our disposal. Are you ready?"

"I've been ready for a while," Marty answered.

"Then let's begin." Francois, Ruto, and Saria each readied a Poke Ball. On the other side of the arena, Marty, Taylor, and Nebu all readied their Pokemon for battle as well.

"Go, Psyduck!" Ruto called.

"I choose you, Lopunny!" Saria shouted.

"Come out, Drifblim!" Nebu ordered.

"Get ready, Granbull!" Taylor advised.

"Go, Braviary!" Marty called out.

"Let's begin, Magikarp," Francois said.

Six Pokemon launched onto the arena. Five of them looked rather intimidating. Then there was Francois' Magikarp, which flailed about the arena. Marty's jaw hit the floor. What kind of game was Francois playing? Marty decided to be cautious.

"Braviary, use Drill Peck!" Marty called. Braviary shot towards Magikarp like a spinning bullet and pecked it into submission. The Magikarp easily fainted.

Francois looked genuinely shocked. "My poor Pokemon!" he cried. "Avenge him, Magikarp!" Just as soon as one Magikarp left the battle, another entered.

"What the heck is your deal?" Marty asked him. "What's up with the Magikarp?"

"Magikarp are the strongest Pokemon in existence!" Mashi said, looking completely serious. "You got lucky last time! It won't happen again."

FOUR MAGIKARP LATER...

Marty had easily dispatched five Magikarp sent out by Francois, while Nebu and Taylor were continuing their battle with Ruto and Saria. They all seemed to be evenly matched. The only totally one-sided battle was the one that mattered.

"This is unacceptable!" Francois said, beginning to unravel. "Go, Magikarp!" A sixth Magikarp entered the battle. Only this time, the Magikarp didn't flop around on the ground. It floated in the air.

"What the-" Marty stuttered.

"What is that?" Taylor wondered.

"Do it, Magikarp," Francois said with an evil grin. Just then, the arena began to shake.

"What's happening?!" Nebu asked, scared.

"Magikarp!" Francois shouted. "Make destruction rain from the heavens!" Suddenly, meteors and fire fell from the ceiling of the Gym and onto the arena floor, hitting every Pokemon except for Magikarp. The other five Pokemon fainted instantly, knocking everybody but Francois and Marty out of the battle.

"That's insane!" Nebu shouted. "He just took everyone out like they were nothing!"

"He didn't do anything like that when I battled him!" Taylor said.

"That's not even a real Pokemon move!" Jordan interjected.

"That's because I invented it frivolously!" Francois said maniacally. "I only use it in certain frivolous cases! Be prepared to lose, Marty!"

"We'll see!" Marty replied.

"I'll even make it easier on you," Francois said. "You can send as many Pokemon as you want to at me. Isn't that just frivolous?" He laughed maniacally.

"You asked for it!" Marty said. "Come out, everyone!" Feraligatr, Simisage, Manectric, and Arcanine all exploded onto the field. "Rush that Magikarp!" All four of them charged towards the Magikarp, ready to strike it down.

"Make destruction rain from the heavens!" Francois ordered again. The same attack fell upon Marty's Pokemon once more, making them all faint instantly. Francois laughed maniacally.

"Do you see now?" he asked. "This is what a Magikarp can do! Now you've lost!"

"Not quite," Marty said. "I've still got one more Pokemon."

"Fine!" Francois shouted. "Send it out! It will just meet the same fate as the others."

"Francois," Ruto interrupted, "This has to stop."

"Stop?" Francois asked, perplexed. "You fool!" He turned to slap her, but Saria got in the way.

"No you," she said.

Francois growled with rage. "Hurry up and finish this!"

"Lucario, go!" Marty called. Lucario came out onto the battlefield with an extremely relaxed composure.

"It's over!" Francois shouted. "Make destruction rain from the heavens!" The same move appeared above them. The meteors and fire began to rain down. Suddenly, time slowed down for Marty and Lucario, like it had done for the others when they were about to learn Battle Link.

"Ready, Lucario?" Marty asked.

Lucario shook its head as if to say yes.

"Then let's go! Battle Link!" Just then, time sped up again. The frivolous attack rained down on Lucario. When it cleared, Lucario was gone.

"It's over!" Francois cackled.

"Nope," Marty said. "Look above you."

Francois looked up to see Lucario standing on the celling. It was readying an attack.

"That's impossible!" Francois shouted.

"You let your power blind you, Francois," Marty said. "That's what led to your defeat. Aura Sphere!" Lucario shot down from the ceiling and was instantly in front of Magikarp. It loosed the ball of aura straight in its face, which caused the super powerful Magikarp to faint instantly.

Everyone cheered except for Francois, who looked as if he were waking up from a nightmare. "Goodness," he said. "That battle was quite frivolous. So frivolous, in fact, that I don't really remember most of it. Oh, well. I can see that you are the winner. You may take the Frivolous Badge!" Francois handed an ornate looking badge to Marty.

"We have all eight badges!" Marty shouted.

"We can go to the tournament!" Jordan squealed.

"Finally!" Roz cheered.

"Congratulations, you guys!" Gregory said to them. "You earned it for sure!"

"Thanks, Gregory," Marty said. "And thank you for the excellent battle, Francois."

"No problem," Francois said back with a smile. "I'll see you in a week at the tournament."

"Good-bye, Francois!" Atticus squealed. "It was good to see you again!"

"Same to you, friend," Francois replied. Ruto and Saria waved to them as they walked out the door. Francois took out his Pokenav and dialed a number.

"Did you battle him?"

"Yes, I did."

"And...?"

"I assure you, Jari, you will not find a better candidate if you look for the next ten years."

"Perfect. Thank you, Francois."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 52: The Resistance

Marty and the others left the FrivVille Gym and walked toward the Pokemon Center, where they would stay for the night.

"Now we have all the badges!" Jordan exclaimed.

"We can relax here for a whole week," Nebu stated.

"We should probably do some training," Roz pointed out.

"We'll work out a schedule later," Marty said sarcastically. "For now, let's get to the Pokemon Center." So they walked back to the Pokemon Center as the sun set behind them.

...MEANWHILE...

Underneath a building in FrivVille, five people sat around a meeting table. A map of the Terrari Region was projected onto the table from the ceiling. Scores of blinking red dots were scattered around the region, mostly concentrated in or around FrivVille.

"As you can see," said the man at the head of the table, "many of the Trainers that will be participating in the tournament are located here in FrivVille. We have to make our decision rather quickly. Do we let the tournament continue as scheduled and deal with the problem there? Or do we assemble what troops we currently have and strike while we have the perfect oppurtunity?"

"Francois's report shows that the boy he battled shows great potential," said the woman to his right. "If his friends had the same potential as him, we could have a great driving force by the tournament."

"So what're you driving at, Mae?" the man asked.

"Well, Jari," she continued. "I move that we find this Marty, see if we can get him to use this power, and then we can try to get rid of the FoG threat before the tournament even starts."

"And if that fails?" Jari questioned.

"Then we can see if his friends wield the same power," Mae explained. "We could use it during the tournament to stop Korbin once and  for all. Eventually, Korbin will break. I move for this plan." She looked around the table. "All in favor?" she asked. Five hands went up in the air.

"Motion approved," Jari stated. "Let's go find the boy."

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others had reached the Pokemon Center, and were sitting down for a meal.

"So," Gregory began, "Earlier today you guys were talking about how you were going to stand up to Korbin."

"That's right," Marty affirmed.

"How do you plan to take on the FoG,  on top of Teams Rocket, Aqua, Magma, Galactic and Plasma?" Taylor inquired.

"That's...a really good question," Nebu answered gloomily.

"Even if we get Matt, Stepney, and Davy back, we'll still only have ten of us against all of them," Jordan noted.

"We'll need hundreds of people if we want to take all of them on," Roz stated. "Where will we find that many people on such a short notice?"

"Well," Atticus suggested, "if we do it at the tournament, we'll have quite a few Trainers at our disposal. We can work on recruiting them there."

"That's a good idea," Marty said. He quickly finished his plate and took it to the dishwasher belt. "I'm gonna head to bed early," he said. "That battle took a lot out of me."

"Are you sure you're tired?" Taylor asked him. "I have a place I want to show you."

"Tonight?" Marty asked her.

"Yeah," Taylor said. "This way I won't forget! Please?" The look in her eyes made Marty break for some reason.

"All right," Marty said with a sigh.

"Yay!" Taylor squealed with delight. "Come on!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him behind her out of the Pokemon Center.

"Where are we going?" Marty called after her.

"You'll see!" she replied. "I found this place earlier today and I wanted to check it out while it was open. The owner is really nice, and he introduced me to the band that plays there, since he's part of it. Apparently it's really popular around here!"

"This sounds really nice," Marty said, smiling. "What is this place like?"

"See for yourself!" Taylor exclaimed. "We're here!"

...MEANWHILE...

In the basement of the building in FrivVille, Mae stood over the projected map of Terrari. She was getting tired of looking down at it, so she adjusted it with her hand to the board on the wall.

"Better," she mused. She looked at the dots around FrivVille and furrowed her brow. Just then, Jari came in the room.

"You know," he said, "you COULD take a break if you wanted."

Mae ignored him. "Look at this," she said. She pointed to two dots walking in the direction of the building they were in. "These two are heading right for us."

"Do you think our target is one of them?" Jari asked her.

"I think it wouldn't hurt to check," Mae replied.

"I'll call Francois and get a visual description of him," Jari said. "You go upstairs and check out those two heading here."

"Yes, sir!" Mae shouted. She walked out of the room swiftly.

...MEANWHILE...

"Marowakz? What kind of club name is Marowakz?" Marty asked.

"Trust me," Taylor said, "There are WAY worse names out there. And what's wrong with Marowak? I happen to have one, myself."

"I didn't say there was anything wrong," Marty explained. "I was just commenting that it was a rather strange name for a club. That's it."

"Sure," Taylor said sarcastically. "Let's just go inside."

...MEANWHILE...

Mae walked up the stairs after taking a map of FrivVille with the tracking dots on it. She zoomed in on the building she was in, a club called Marowakz. The two dots that they had been tracking were walking inside the building. Seeing them move inside made Mae speed up a little bit.

...MEANWHILE...

Marowakz was quite impressive. It looked like any normal dance club, but the decorations were all made of bone. Even the drummer in the back was drumming with a pair of bones. The band was nothing to sneeze at, either. They played rather nicely. They made each song seem familiar, even if someone had never heard it before. There was a Flaaffy dancing on stage next to the singer. When they finished their song, Taylor made eye contact with someone standing backstage and waved at him. The guy waved back, hopped up and said, "FSM is gonna take a short break. We'll be back in a little bit, don't worry!" A couple of people groaned around the stage. He jumped off the stage and walked over to where Marty and Taylor were standing.

"Hey!" he said to Taylor. "You made it!"

"I did promise," Taylor reminded him. "Remember?"

"Of course!" he said with a smile. He turned to Marty. "Who's your friend?" he asked.

"This is Marty," Taylor said. "He's a good friend of mine." She turned to Marty. "Marty, this is Jake. He owns this club and he also plays in the band. I met him earlier today when I got here."

"Nice to meet you, Jake," Marty said pleasantly.

"Same to you," Jake said back. He looked Marty over for a few seconds, and then he turned to Taylor. "So, this is your boy...friend?"

"No!" Taylor shouted. "He's not my-"

"I'm not her boyfriend," Marty said.

"Hmm..." Jake grunted disapprovingly. "You two look perfect for each other." The two of them blushed, and Jake picked up on it. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make it so awkward. Why don't I introduce you guys to the rest of the band?" He walked them over to the stage. There were three others sitting on the edge of the stage waiting to start back up.

"Hey, Jake!" said one of the guys. "Why'd we stop?"

"That set was going so well!" the girl complained.

"Guys," Jake said. "These are my friends, Marty and Taylor."

"Nice to meet you," said the girl. She smiled at Taylor and mouthed, "Girl power!"

"That's Caroline," Jake said. "She plays the saxophone and sings in our band." He looked over at the other two boys. "Those two are Otso and Marcus. They both play piano exceptionally, but Otso also sings and plays guitar."

"Nice to meet you!" Marty said enthusiastically.

"Isn't it?!" Otso said just as enthusiastically.

Marty was taken aback. "What?"

"I'm joking," Otso assured him. He made a funny face. Marty and Taylor laughed at him.

Taylor turned to Marcus. "Nice to meet you too, Marcus," she said kindly.

"Thanks," he said sheepishly. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"Well," Otso said, "Now that the introductions are over, can we start back up? It looks like people are getting bored."

"Sounds like a plan," Jake said. "Good to see you, Taylor! And it was very nice meeting you, Marty."

"Thanks," Marty said back. "It was nice meeting you, as well." The two of them walked back to where they were while the band got back up and started playing again.

...MEANWHILE...

Mae had gotten up to the ground floor and noticed the band had just gotten done with a break. There were two people walking away from the stage, one wearing a white hoodie and one wearing a black hoodie. She zoomed in on her map to the point where the only thing that was visible was Marowakz. The two dots were moving away from the stage in the exact same position as the two she had spotted. She got out her Pokenav and called Jari.

"What was the visual on Marty? I've spotted the two trainers," she asked.

"Male, about age 17. Short, brown hair, light skin, black hoodie."

"Then I've found him," Mae affirmed. She started walking at her brisk pace to the two of them.

...MEANWHILE...

"So," Taylor said. "What do you want to do now?"

"I'm good with going back to the Pokemon Center," Marty said. "I'm kinda tired."

"That sounds nice," Taylor said. "I'm ready to go, too." As they headed for the door, a taller woman with black hair cut them off.

"You," she said, pointing at Marty. "Come with me."

"Who are you?" Marty asked.

"That isn't important," the woman said. "Please follow me." She started walking towards a door across the room, and Marty followed with Taylor close behind. The woman opened the door and motioned for them to go through. There was a large staircase through the door leading down underground quite a ways. They walked for what seemed like an eternity before Taylor finally broke the silence.

"So, why are we following you?" she asked the woman.

"Because we need your boyfriend's talents," she replied sternly.

"He's NOT my boyfriend!" Taylor cried. "Why does everyone keep thinking that?" Marty looked away and blushed.

"That's not important," the woman said. "What's important is that we get you guys to fight for us."

"'Us?'" Marty questioned. "What do you mean by that?"

"The Resistance," she said. "We are banding together to stop Korbin and the FoG before they destroy Terrari."

"That's just what we needed!" Taylor said enthusiastically to Marty. "We should tell the others!"

"There are more of you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Marty answered. "There are ten of us here in FrivVille, and three more that we could call."

The woman stopped. "How much do you all know about the Battle Link technique?"

"I think we could all use it," Marty guessed. "I think only three of us have done it before, though."

"Perfect!" she said, clearly happy. "You should call them as soon you can."

"I will, uh..." Marty stopped. "What's your name again?"

"You can call me Mae," she said. "I'm second in command here, under Jari."

"Okay, Mae," Marty said, memorizing. "Good too meet you."

"Likewise," Mae said flatly. "Let's get you to the commander."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 53: PokeCross

Mae had led Marty and Taylor into a small meeting room. She took a small tablet out of her pocket and swiped her hand on it. The display disappeared and reappeared on the table in front of them. Marty and Taylor stared in awe.

"That's pretty cool," Marty admitted.

"Thanks," Mae said, smiling a little bit. "It took our tech guys a while to develop, but it's pretty useful. Now could you take a look at this map for me?" The three of them looked down at the table to see a large map of Terrari. There were a bunch of blinking red dots all around. There were quite a few in FrivVille, and some were back in Maron City. There were three dots flying into Maron City from somewhere, as well.

"What are these dots?" Taylor asked.

"These dots represent Trainers that are planning to participate in the tournament next week," Mae explained. "It's how we were able to track you down."

Marty studied the map carefully. He noticed a few dots in one town that he wasn't sure they had visited. "What town is this?" he asked.

"It's called EVille," said a voice coming in through the door. "And it's where we suspect the FoG base is located." A young man with a buzz cut stepped into a meeting room. Three other guys followed behind him.

"Commander Jari!" Mae said, snapping to attention.

"Relax, Mae," Jari ordered. "I see you found the boy."

"Yes, sir," Mae affirmed. She turned to Marty and Taylor. "Marty, Taylor, this is Commander Jari. He's the leader of the Resistance."

"Nice to meet you," Marty said calmly.

"Likewise," Jari said back. "Behind me here are the other three members of our council. We have Concerto, our head of surveillance."

"Hello," said Concerto. He seemed rather pleasant. He had a somewhat jovial air about him, even in such a serious setting.

"Next to him is Mobo, our head of intelligence," Jari continued.

"It's a good thing we found you," Mobo said. "The Resistance could really use your help."

"And finally we have Sabin, our technology expert," Jari said, completing the introductions.

"Do you like my technology?" Sabin asked. "It's the latest and greatest thing in my country."

"Nice to meet all of you," Taylor said pleasantly.

"So," Marty began. "You guys keep saying that you need my, 'talents' or you could, 'use my help.' What exactly do you want from me?"

"We want you and your friends to learn an experimental product of Battle Link that we've developed to aid in the fight against Korbin," Sabin explained.

"An experimental product?" Taylor asked. "What do you mean?"

"He means we've managed to take Battle Link even farther," Mobo said. "We call it Project PokeCross."

"What does this 'PokeCross' do?" Marty asked.

"It's not entirely clear," Mae admitted. "We've only had one successful use of the technique in a laboratory setting. From what we gathered with that one success, it seems to, uh..."

"Well?" Marty asked. "What does it do?"

"Forgive me," Mae said. "It's rather abstract. I don't expect either of you to believe this."

"We can handle it," Taylor assured her. "Tell us, please."

"Okay," Mae said. "Basically, PokeCross merges the linked Pokemon with the Trainer, making them into one entity."

Marty and Taylor both stared at her for a moment. "Really?" Marty asked her.

"Yes," Mae sighed. "I told you it would be hard to believe."

"It's not that I don't believe it," Marty said. "It's just rather difficult to wrap my head around this."

"It is difficult to comprehend at first," Jari agreed. "Maybe it'd be better just to show you. Follow me." He walked out the door, and the others followed. They walked down a long hallway until they reached a door that read, "Laboratory". It was a quaint room, with white walls and computer screens. There they found a familiar face waiting for them.

"Hello, Marty," said the Champion,  Mike. "It's been a while."

"Mike!" Marty said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping the Resistance perfect the PokeCross technique," Mike explained. "I think I've finally got it down."

"That's great!" Taylor exclaimed. "You should teach us!"

"That's why you're here, isn't it?" Mike asked. "Let's get started-" He stopped and looked around the room. "Say, weren't you with a bunch of other people last time we spoke? Where are they?" He looked at Marty and Taylor. "Oh," he said. "I see you two are travelling together. Pardon me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Taylor asked, expecting what was about to happen.

"I just assumed that you two were...together," Mike said, blushing. "Forgive me for assuming."

"No problem," Taylor said in a huff.

"Anyway, Mike," Jari said, interrupting the conversation, "What more have you learned about the technique?"

"I haven't just learned," Mike said. "I've finished perfecting the technique."

"You've perfected it so soon?" Mae questioned. "How?"

"It was actually very simple," Mike explained. "So simple, in fact, that literally anybody who learned Battle Link could master the technique with a little time."

"That's amazing!" Taylor exclaimed.

"Would you care to give us a demonstration?" Jari asked Mike.

"Of course," Mike agreed. "You'll need to stand back." He got out a Poke Ball. "Volcarona!" he called. The large Bug Pokemon emerged. Mike turned to the others. "You're going to slap yourselves when you find out how simple this is," he said to them. "Battle Link!" He established a Battle Link with Volcarona.

What Mike did next was so simple that no one could've figured it out if they had wanted to. He walked up to Volcarona and touched it with his hand. Suddenly, Mike and Volcarona both began to glow with a bright white light, just like a Pokemon would if it was evolving. Then, Volcarona seemed to merge into Mike. There was an explosion of light which temporarily blinded everyone. When it was all clear, everyone looked to find Mike and Volcarona. Mike was standing right where he was before he had started the technique, but he looked quite different. For starters, he had wings that looked exactly like Volcarona's coming out of his back. On top of that, he was now wearing the armor of a samurai, and his hair had grown quite long. He had red horns coming out of the top of his head. He looked extremely menacing, no two ways about it.

"This," he said, "is the perfected version of PokeCross."

"Wow," Taylor said, gaping in awe.

"That's amazing," Marty admitted. "When do we get to learn?"

"We'll start tomorrow," Mike said. "You should call your friends and get them here so they can learn as well."

"I'll get on that," Marty told him. He turned to Taylor. "Can you call the others at the Pokemon Center while I try to get ahold of Davy and the others?"

"Sure," Taylor agreed. They both took out their Pokenavs and dialed numbers.

...MEANWHILE...

The others at the Pokemon Center were worried sick. Marty and Taylor had been gone for hours, and they still weren't back yet.

"I hope they're okay," Nebu said.

"I'm sure they're fine," Roz assured everyone. "Marty can take care of himself, and I'm sure Taylor can, as well. We just have to be patient." As they sat and worried for a few more minutes, Gregory's Pokenav rang. He got it out and checked it.

"It's Taylor!" he exclaimed. He answered it quickly. "Hello?"

"Gregory, it's Taylor. I don't have a whole lot of time to talk so I want you to listen."

"Taylor, where are you guys?"

"We're at Marowakz. Well, sorta. Just come over here and I'll show you what I'm talking about." With that, Taylor hung up the phone.

"Well?" Atticus asked Gregory.

Gregory stood up. "We're going to Marowakz."

...MEANWHILE...

"You said Club Marowakz in FrivVille, right?" Davy asked.

"That's right," Marty said. "How long will it take you to get here?"

"Oh, about thirty minutes," Davy guessed.

"Great. Get here as soon as you can."

...THIRTY MINUTES LATER...

The others had made it to the Resistance base, where they had all been brought up to speed on recent events.

"You will all begin training on Battle Link and PokeCross in the morning," Mae instructed. "On Saturday, the Resistance is staging its assault on EVille. That gives you all five days to learn and master PokeCross. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone said together.

"Good," Mae said, pleased. "Now go get some rest."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 54: Cross-Training

Mike led Marty and the others to the designated training area. It wasn't anything impressive, just a normal arena.

"Pretty bland," Roz noted spitefully. She had been rather irritated ever since she came to the base and saw Mike again. Everyone was still curious to know what had happened between them to make Roz so cold towards him.

Mike paid no attention. "This isn't the real training field," he told them. "We have this fake arena set up to protect the people in-training." He walked over to the middle of the arena and motioned for everyone to follow him. They all stood inside the circle. All of a sudden, Mike shifted his foot around in an odd pattern and the circle they were standing in started to move down like an elevator. As they went down, Marty began to wonder how far underground they were. They had gone down so many stairs since they had arrived. When they reached the bottom, they were astounded. There must have been a hundred arenas in the room. The white walls and ceiling made the room feel like it went on forever, and it easily could have. The ceiling was extremely high to allow for aerial combat. It was the perfect place for high intensity training.

"This is amazing!" Matt exclaimed. "I can't believe we'll be training here!"

"Believe it," Mike said. "You'll be staying here for the next few days. You haven't much time to learn the technique, and most of you haven't even learned Battle Link, yet."

"How are we going to get caught up?" Davy asked him.

"Battle Link is extremely simple," Mike assured him. "At this point, it should just be a matter of which Pokemon you want to link with. You should choose now." Everyone decided on the Pokemon they would link with. Matt chose Sceptile, Davy decided on Blastoise after some thought, Gregory went with his trusty Zangoose, and Atticus immediately chose Farfetch'd. Nebu picked Drifblim, Roz had already decided on Charizard, and Taylor called for Venusaur.

"Good," Mike said. "Now you guys go battle with each other. I'm going to take Marty, Stepney, and Jordan and start them on PokeCross." So the others went off on their own to train. Marty, Stepney, and Jordan were left with Mike.

"So how do we start?" Stepney asked him.

"First, I'll show you how to do the technique," Mike explained. "Then I will have you practice on your own. Before we start, do you have any questions?"

"Yes," Marty said. "What are the benefits of using this technique?"

"Well," Mike began, "you don't have to waste time giving out orders to your Pokemon. The reaction time is instant. On top of that, the power of moves is greatly increased. It also enables any type of Pokemon to engage in hand-to-hand combat."

"Pretty nifty," Jordan noted. "How do we start?"

"Call your Pokemon out," Mike requested. Lucario, Roserade, and Cinccino emerged.

"Now what?" Marty asked.

Mike sighed. "You have to be more patient."

"Sorry," Marty said sheepishly. "I'm just so excited!"

"Good," Mike said.

...MEANWHILE...

"They've started training," Mae reported.

"Good," Jari said. "Go down there and assist Mike. We want them ready for the EVille invasion."

"Yes, sir," Mae addressed. "I'll head down there right away." She left the meeting room and headed for the training facility.

...MEANWHILE...

"That's the basic fundamental of PokeCross," Mike finished. "You just have to touch the Pokemon while in a high state of Battle Link."

"That's it?" Stepney asked.

"That's it," Mike told him.

"That seems really easy," Jordan observed.

"It takes a lot more concentration than you would think," Mike said. "Why don't you try it and find out?"

"Okay," Jordan said. "Cinccino, Battle Link." Jordan and Cinccino established a link and walked up to each other at the same time. They both raised their right hands and touched them together. Everyone stared at them for a little while, but nothing happened.

"See what I mean?" Mike asked him. "Even with a Battle Link, it's not quite enough. You also have to link on an emotional level as well as thought for the technique to work."

"This is difficult," Jordan said. "But I'll keep working! Cinccino and I will get this down!"

"Good," Mike said, pleased. "You two better get to work, too."

"Yes, sir!" Marty and Stepney said in unison.

...MEANWHILE...

In the FoG base, Kelsey and Eric were being relieved of their duties by two other members of the FoG under them.

"Kelsey and Eric," he said. "I'm here to relieve you for now. Korbin has left you in charge of the base's operations while he's focusing on the plan."

"Perfect," Kelsey said, trying to hide a huge grin. "Thank you." The two of them walked off to the mess hall, where all of the other forces had been amassed. Ghestis was at the stage giving a speech.

"We shall take this no longer!" Ghestis shouted. "Korbin plans to get rid of us as soon as his plan is set in motion! We must overthrow the FoG before it is too late!" Team Plasma members in the audience roared with cheers and applause. Ghestis continued. "We must start by getting everyone to back us up! Who else will stand with us?" There were a few scattered claps here and there, but they died out quickly.

"What's going on?" Eric asked Kelsey.

"It looks like Ghestis is trying to stage a mutiny," Kelsey observed.

"What do we do?" Eric asked.

"We can help with that," said a voice behind them. They turned around to see Nik and Blue Flower coming up behind them.

"What do you have in mind, Nik?" Kelsey asked him.

"I think I can talk Ghestis out of his mutiny," Nik said. "If it doesn't work, I could at least get him to wait a few days. In that time, Korbin should be almost finished with the first part of his plan. We'll rally the FoG along with the other teams and have everyone fight Team Plasma."

"What good will that do?" Eric asked.

"Don't you see?" Blue Flower asked him. "In the chaos, you two can grab your Pokemon and we can all get out of here."

"You'd help us like that?" Kelsey asked.

"Of course," Nik answered. "We're all in the same boat. I'll go talk to Ghestis." Nik walked up to the edge of the stage and waited for Ghestis to finish his speech.

"I really misjudged them," Eric said. "They're truly good guys, after all."

...THREE DAYS LATER...

"I'm proud of all of you," Mae said. In the three days they had been training, all ten of them had mastered PokeCross. They all looked impressive, with each of them taking on characteristics of the Pokemon they had crossed with.

"Thanks, Mae," Marty said. He had crossed with Lucario rather quickly, being the first person to master the technique.

"We owe you big time," Roz said, flapping her newly found Charizard wings.

"Which is why you're helping us infiltrate the FoG base," Mae said. "Today."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 55: Taking the Fight to Them

"What do you mean we're infiltrating the FoG base?" Marty asked Mae.

"It means we're going to set out and fight Korbin before he finishes his plan, whatever it is," Mae answered.

"We're not ready!" Nebu interjected.

"Please," Mae snorted. "You all mastered PokeCross in less than two days. You've proven in this last day that your combat skills are far above average, and your abilities are top notch. We're staging this invasion today, end of story."

"Is that the only reason you called us all here?" Roz asked angrily. "So you could just use us as your pawns?"

"We chose you all because of your ability," Mae said. "And Mike vouched for all of you. Especially you, Roz." Roz glared at Mike, who averted her gaze.

"All right," Davy said. "Let's just do this, shall we? What's the plan?"

"Jari will tell you everything," Mae assured him. "Follow me."

...MEANWHILE...

"I've had enough of this!" Ghestis shouted.

"Please, Ghestis," Nik pleaded. "Remember why you're here! I know Korbin wouldn't betray you like that!"

"Enough!" Ghestis roared. "I am normally a very patient man, Nik, but I will not stand here and wait any longer! I am going to take down this menace that is the FoG!" He stormed out of the room to assemble his forces. Kelsey and Eric rushed in to meet Nik.

"I can't stop him anymore," Nik said glumly. "Sorry, guys."

"It's no problem!" Kelsey said. "We have more important things to worry about! Korbin is almost finished awakening Giratina, and we still haven't found our Pokemon. Get Blue Flower ready to go. Once Ghestis strikes, we'll be ready to get out of here as soon as we can!"

...MEANWHILE...

"Is everyone clear on the plan?" Jari asked. "You are to make five groups. Each group will handle a specific team. If we divide each team, it will be easier to get to Korbin."

"We'll decide who will pair up when we get over there," Mike assured them.

"We already have several battalions of regular Trainers allocated to your squads," Mae said. "They're mainly for back-up, since you will probably be able to take care of it all yourselves."

"Is everyone clear?" Jari asked them.

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison.

"Let's move out then," Jari said.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin walked through the Distortion World in search of Giratina. He searched and searched, but he could not seem to find his former guardian. Frustrated from the constant walking, he decided to jump off of a ledge. He fell for a long while, but managed to land safely on another broken piece of land.

"Giratina?" Korbin called. "Where are you?" Suddenly, two red eyes shone through the darkness.

"Perfect," Korbin smiled. "I need your help, Giratina."

...MEANWHILE...

"Team Plasma!" Ghestis shouted with a crazed look in his eye. "Today we take over this operation in the name of our lord, N!" At the mention of this name, loud cheers and applause erupted all through the base. "Let's go!" Team Plasma sent out all of their Pokemon and began to fight with the other teams.

...MEANWHILE...

Nik and Blue Flower met Kelsey and Eric at the storage room.

"Did you get them?" Nik asked Kelsey.

"Sure did!" Kelsey said with a huge grin on his face. "All we had to do was throw out all of the Pokemon until we found them."

"It got really crowded in there," Eric admitted, "but we called back all of our Pokemon, found their Poke Balls, and got the heck out of there."

"Perfect," Blue Flower said. "Let's hurry and get out of here."

Just then, an announcement came on through the PA system that ran through the entire base. "Attention all personnel! Please report to the mess hall ASAP! Team Plasma has revolted and should be treated as the enemy."

"We have to get out, now!" Eric shouted. "They've started!" The four of them began to run all the way up the base. They had hardly been running for ten seconds when another announcement came on, this time accompanied by lights and sirens.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" shouted the FoG member behind the PA system. "This is not a drill! There is a large force of unknown Trainers at the main entrance following ten Trainers who seem to be dressed as different Pokemon! Any personnel not fighting in the mess hall report to the entrance right away!"

"What's going on?" Nik asked.

"This wasn't part of the plan!" Kelsey shouted. "We've gotta go!"

...MEANWHILE...

Marty was running through the main entrance with the others. He called up Concerto on his headset. "We're in!" he shouted into the headset. "Have you got a map of the base yet?"

"Sure do!" Concerto said. "Korbin's room is on the bottom floor of the base. Get your partner and get down there, now!"

"Thanks, Concerto!" Marty said. He looked at his friends and chose a partner to come with him. "Davy!" he shouted. "Come with me! We're heading straight to Korbin!"

"Let's go!" Davy shouted with determination.

"The rest of you choose a partner and get going!" Marty shouted. "Mae, please take care of Taylor for me!"

"Yes, sir!" Mae shouted. She had crossed with her Samurott on the way to the base.

"Move out!" Marty shouted. All twelve of them disappeared with a blinding speed, off on their separate missions. The rest of the troops began to storm the mess hall, where the main battle was taking place.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 56: Battles and Betrayals

Marty and Davy raced down the many hallways of the FoG base using the map Concerto had sent to them through the heads-up display they had received from Sabin. As they were watching the maps they didn't notice the four people that were running in the opposite direction. They bumped into the two at the front, losing their focus and the PokeCross.

"Ow!" Marty shouted. "Watch where you're going!" He looked up at them to find Kelsey and Eric lying on the floor, dazed. Nik and Blue Flower were behind them.

"You!" Davy shouted at Nik and Blue Flower. "You traitors!"

"We can explain later," Nik told them sincerely. "Right now the four of us are trying to get out of here."

"Not until you explain to us why you betrayed us at Iceburg City!" Marty demanded.

"I'm sorry," Blue Flower said quietly. "We don't have the time right now."

"Yeah!" Eric said, getting up. "We're trying to run away, here!"

"Suffice it to say that we are officially on your side," Kelsey told them. With that, the four of them continued running the way Marty and Davy had come.

"That was odd," Marty said.

"For sure," Davy agreed. "We have to keep moving." The two of them raced down to meet Korbin.

...MEANWHILE...

All of the Teams were assembled in the mess hall along with the entire resistance. Team Plasma members had seemingly gone insane and was attacking all the other teams.

Mae saw what was going on. "This works in our favor!" she shouted to the others. "We don't have to concentrate on splitting up and taking just one team at a time!"

"What incredible luck!" Atticus exclaimed.

"Let's do this!" Taylor yelled. The ten of them charged into the fray.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and Davy were just about to reach Korbin's room when Marty decided that now would OBVIOUSLY be the perfect time for small talk.

"So," he said. "Why did you pick Bisharp as your cross Pokemon? I thought you were going with Blastoise."

"I thought so too," Davy said. "But the rest of my Pokemon seemed to be unable to link with me for some reason. Bisharp was the only Pokemon with which I was able to complete Battle Link."

"That's odd," Marty said. He looked around and noticed that the air seemed colder. There was some sort of black matter seeping out of the door at the end of the hallway.

"We're here," Davy said. "Are you ready?"

"I think the better question is, are you ready?" Marty said back.

"Always the smart-alec," Davy said with a sigh. "Let's go." They forced the door opened and gasped at what they found.

...MEANWHILE...

"Matt! Stepney!" Taylor called. "Come here! I want to try something!"

Matt and Stepney rushed over to her. "What's up?" Stepney asked her.

"Let's make a triple Solarbeam!" Taylor suggested. "I think it'll be really cool!"

"That would be awesome!" Matt exclaimed. "Let's do it!" They stood together and held out their hands.

"Triple Solarbeam!" they screamed in unison. The three of them loosed Solarbeams out of their hands, which was pretty cool considering no other humans alive could do that. They took out Team Rocket in its entirety. The executives and Giovanni ran out of the base.

On the other side of the mess hall, Jordan was busy fighting all of Team Maqua by himself. Just when he was about to be swamped by a bunch of enemy Pokemon, a voice called out behind him. "Get down!" Jordan ducked just in time to see Atticus and Gregory slash at the enemy Pokemon, knocking most of them out.

"Thanks, guys!" Jordan said to them.

"No problem!" Atticus said, twirling his leek sword around. "Let's hurry up and finish this!" He ran at the enemies with his sword at the ready.

"You may want to get out of the way!" Jordan warned. All of a sudden, a powerful white aura surrounded Jordan. He crouched down to get ready to run at the enemies. "Giga Impact," he said calmly. Jordan disappeared and reappeared right in front of Team Maqua's forces. There was a bright flash of light, and when it was over, most all of Team Maqua's forces were lying on the floor unconscious. The rest of them ran screaming out of the mess hall, just like Team Rocket.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and Davy opened the door to Korbin's room to find Korbin sitting cross-legged on the floor, deeply concentrated on something.

"He's meditating," Davy observed. "Now's our chance to strike!"

"Wait!" Marty said. "It can't be that easy. It has to be some sort of trap."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Davy asked. "I want Korbin brought down now, and I'm sick of waiting!"

"Why are you so bent on getting revenge on Korbin?" Marty asked. "What has he ever done to you?"

"It's not anything he did to me," Davy admitted. "It's not even him. I want to take down Giratina. Not just Giratina, but all of the legendary Pokemon."

Marty thought back to the time in Pallet Town when Davy was angered by the mention of legendary Pokemon. "Why do legendary Pokemon make you so angry?"

"Because," Davy said. "My father died because of them."

...MEANWHILE...

"Can't we just talk this out?" Mike asked Roz. They were both flying around the mess hall, raining fire down on Team Galactic, Team Plasma, and FoG members.

"No!" Roz shouted. "You can just go and-"

"Don't finish that," Mike interrupted, "I just wanted to let you know that leaving you was an extremely tough decision for me. I've regretted it for a while."

"Stop it!" Roz shouted at him. "Just leave me alone!" She launched a huge Flamethrower back at him, which he caught with his hands. They both stopped in midair.

"Please," Mike said. "I need you to see how sorry I am."

"Then show me!" Roz screamed. "Just show me how sorry you are!" Suddenly, an angry Honchkrow snuck up on Roz's blind spot, looking to kill. Just before it prepared to attack, Mike was instantly on it. He grabbed it by the neck and erupted in a tornado of fire. When he had stopped, the Honchkrow was knocked out in Mike's hand. He let it down softly to the ground. The rest of the Teams were so shocked that they all left the base, never to be seen on Terrari again.

"This," Mike said, "is how sorry I am."

Roz gasped as tears began to well up in her eyes. She flew down to the ground to meet him. "Oh, Mike," she said, her voice breaking. "I forgive you." She leaped into his arms and they hugged for a while.

...MEANWHILE...

"Legendary Pokemon killed your father?" Marty restated. "What do you mean?"

"My father was part of an experiment many years ago to create the world's strongest Pokemon," Davy told him. "The end result was Mewtwo."

"Your father created Mewtwo?" Marty asked, shocked.

"Yes," Davy said. "Mewtwo went on a rampage after it was created and killed all of the researchers, including my father. There was a huge fire all over Cinnabar Island, and the only thing that burned down was the mansion where they had created Mewtwo."

"Davy," Marty said empathetically. "I had no idea-"

"No, you didn't," Davy said bitterly. "But this is no time to dwell on the past!" He started running at Korbin.

"Davy, no!" Marty shouted. He ran after Davy. When they reached Korbin, they were sucked a portal that appeared in front of his body. They emerged from the other side to find out that they were in the Distortion World.

"Ack!" Marty said. "This is the Distortion World?"

"Yes," Davy said. "I remember my friend from Sinnoh describing it to me. This is definitely it."

"That means Korbin has to be here somewhere," Marty observed. "I bet he's at the bottom!"

"One way to find out," Davy said with a smirk on his face.

"Let's do it!" Marty said, knowing exactly what Davy was implying. They jumped off the cliff they were standing and flew down the Distortion World, on their way to the bottom.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 57: This Place About to Blow

Roz and Mike caught up with the others in the now empty FoG base.

"Woo!" Nebu cheered. "That was something else! PokeCross is officially AWESOME!"

"I'll say!" Jordan agreed. "We did it!"

"Now all that's left is to go down to Korbin's room and help Marty and Davy finish this," Mike said. "Come on!" They all took off at full speed to get to the bottom of the base.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and Davy had finally landed at the bottom of the Distortion World. Or at least, it SEEMED to be the bottom. There was no more land between them and the endless void below except for this large patch.

"We're here," Marty stated.

"Yes," Davy agreed, "but where's Korbin?"

Just then, Korbin's voice rang out through the Distortion World. "You don't see me? What a shame. I can see you perfectly."

"Where are you?" Marty asked. "Show yourself!"

"With pleasure," Korbin said smugly. He suddenly appeared in front of Marty and Davy without the use of one of his portals.

"He didn't use a portal!" Davy exclaimed. "How?"

"Isn't it great?" Korbin asked them rhetorically. "I can be wherever I want here, whenever I want."

"Korbin!" Marty shouted. "We won't let you awaken Giratina!"

"Oh, you won't?" Korbin said. He chuckled. "Well, unfortunately, it's too late! Giratina has awoken from its slumber here in the Distortion World! It's only a matter of time before it emerges and destroys Terrari!"

"We won't let that happen!" Davy shouted.

"Ah, Davy," Korbin said. "I see you've learned that god-forsaken PokeCross technique. Fitting that you chose your Dark-type Pokemon."

"I didn't choose it," Davy said. "It was the only one that would link with me."

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" Korbin asked, laughing now.

"Quit screwing with me!" Davy shouted. He lunged straight at Korbin, aiming to kill. Korbin merely teleported out of the way.

"Wherever I want, whenever I want," he restated. "You really should listen more."

"Wait a minute," Marty said. "How do you know about the PokeCross technique?"

"That is none of your concern," Korbin told him. "But I do know more than those who, 'invented' it. For example, I can make new links for Trainers, and even take away the links between a Trainer and their Pokemon. Care for a demonstration?"

"I don't believe you," Davy said. As soon as he finished, Korbin was instantly in front of him. He simply put his index fingers on the sides of Davy's temples and closed his eyes. A split second later, Davy's link with Bisharp gave out, and they were separated.

"Davy!" Marty cried.

Davy struggled to his feet. "Bisharp, Battle Link!" he ordered. Bisharp looked at him, utterly confused.

Korbin laughed. "Battle Link is a move, is it not? If your Pokemon can't use it, you can't link with it, let alone use PokeCross with it!"

"He's using Move Delter techniques!" Marty shouted. "What'll we do?"

"We can't do anything!" Davy shouted back. "Just don't let him get you!" As soon as Davy finished talking, Korbin was in front of Marty and began to grab for him.

...MEANWHILE...

Mike's group reached Korbin's room in record time. They forced open the door to find Korbin sitting in the room, just as Marty and Davy had.

"They're not here," Mae said. "What did Korbin do to them?"

"I can feel them here!" Nebu said. "They're alright!"

"It's time to end this!" Mike shouted. "Everyone, all together!"

"Yes, sir!" they all said together. Everyone prepared their strongest non-physical attack and loosed it all at once on Korbin.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin almost got his hands on Marty when he suddenly stopped and doubled over in pain. "Aaaahh!" he screamed. "What's happening?!"

"Something's injured him!" Davy shouted.

"How?" Marty wondered.

...MEANWHILE...

Everyone stopped their attacks to see Korbin writhing in pain on the floor, now awake. "Aaaahh!" he screamed. "What's happening?"

"We've woken him up!" Matt exclaimed.

"Now what'll happen?" Stepney asked.

"Let's wait and see," Mae said sadistically.

Korbin forced his eyes open and saw everyone standing in front of him. "You fools!" he screamed. "Do you know what you've done? My consciousness is unable to handle being in two places at once! You've ruined everything!"

...MEANWHILE...

"You fools!" Korbin screamed. "Do you know what you've done? My consciousness is unable to handle being in two places at once! You've ruined everything!"

"They've done something to seriously damage Korbin!" Marty said. Just as he said this, the entire Distortion World began to shake. They both looked up to see the portal back to the real world beginning to close.

"We'll never make it in time!" Davy shouted. "I'm not fast enough without PokeCross!"

"Take my hand!" Marty demanded. "We can make it!" Davy recalled Bisharp, took Marty's hand and they leapt up through the Distortion World, back the way they came. They looked down to see Korbin disappear into nothing.

"Do you think he's gone?" Davy asked.

"I don't think that was even the real Korbin," Marty admitted. They kept going and reached the portal just before it closed behind them.

...MEANWHILE...

The entire FoG base was shaking from the shock waves being emitted through Korbin's portal. As it was just about to close, Marty and Davy managed to stumble through.

"They're alive!" Gregory shouted.

"Are you guys okay?" Taylor asked.

"We're fine," Marty said. "Where's Korbin?"

"Look behind you," Roz said. They looked behind them to see Korbin lying on the ground unconscious.

"Is he okay?" Davy asked.

"Not sure," Nebu said, "but I don't think any of us want to stay and find out."

"She's right," Atticus said. "Let's get out of here." So all twelve of them rushed out of the base as quickly as they could. They passed all the many floors of barracks until they reached the entrance again. They busted through the door and back out into EVille.

"I've got our extraction team ready to go," Mae said. "Let's get back to FrivVille."

"Not yet," Marty said. "If I know Korbin like I think I know Korbin, then he survived that...whatever it was that we did to him. We have to send him a message. We have to show him that his threats are meaningless to us now."

"What are you planning?" Davy asked him.

"You'll see," Marty said. "Just get back to FrivVille." The extraction team arrived with their large planes to carry the troops back to base. Everyone went back to FrivVille except Marty. Or so he thought. Taylor stayed in the shadows of the forest behind him. Marty, not noticing her, began to float up high above EVille. He raised his hands up above his head and began to concentrate. Eventually a small amount of aura began to show from his hands. This aura grew bigger and brighter until it was a huge inferno of energy.

"This is for all the people you hurt, Korbin," Marty said. "Aura Storm!" He thrust his hands down towards EVille and let all the aura he had stored loose. It raced toward the base. When it made contact, it quickly obliterated everything in its path.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin, struggling to stay conscious, felt the overwhelming aura approaching him quickly. He closed his eyes and waited for his death to come. This was surely the end.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty let everything he had go in this attack. He wanted to let the world see what he had done for it. He let the attack grow bigger and bigger until it enveloped the entire town of EVille, and the entirety of the base beneath it. He kept going until all of his energy gave out. When it finally did, he sank into the huge crater he had made, and closed his eyes. There was nothing left of EVille but a bunch of dirt.

...MEANWHILE...

Korbin kept waiting for death to come, but it didn't. Instead, he opened his eyes to find himself in the Distortion World. He found that he could move around again, and quickly got back on his feet. He looked around.

"Thanks," he said plainly.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty laid in the EVille crater and admired his handiwork when Taylor came down to greet him.

"That was pretty impressive," she said to him.

"Thanks," he said weakly.

"You really shouldn't burn yourself out like that, though," she scolded.

"Sorry about that," he said to her.

"You really worried me," she said.

"Sorry again," he said back.

"Hey," Taylor said. "You know how everyone's been assuming that we're a couple?"

Marty got back up on his feet. "Yeah?"

"And you know how I've always denied it?" she continued.

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to deny it anymore."

"Okay." She ran into his arms and they hugged for a very long time.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 58: Old Friends and New

Kelsey, Eric, Nik, and Blue Flower walked to FrivVille so they could meet up with the Resistance and thank them for their efforts. They were almost to FrivVille, when suddenly there was a bright flash of light behind them.

"Woah!" Eric shouted! "What is that?"

"It's destroying the base!" Nik shouted.

"What about the Pokemon in the storage room?" Blue Flower wondered.

"We don't have to worry about that," Kelsey said, smiling. "It's taken care of!"

"What do you mean?" Nik asked.

"We let all of the Pokemon go," Eric said. "We did it because we figured their Trainers didn't want them back, and they deserved better than to be stuck in a storage room forever. Or be obliterated by whatever is doing that."

"Also, we figured it'd make it easier to find our Pokemon," Kelsey admitted. "But Korbin tried to trick us by not putting our Pokemon with all those others. He thought he would outsmart us by putting them in a pile with the rest of the Pokemon, but he didn't count for us being that smart, apparently!"

"Well, that must've been an ordeal," Nik said. "Let's hurry and get back to FrivVille." So the four of them made their way to FrivVille.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty was walking with Taylor on the road back to FrivVille. The clear night sky made the stars shine brightly. Marty felt like he was walking on air. He had meant to ask Taylor out for the longest time, but always chickened out. Now she had been the one to say something, and he didn't even have to bribe her or anything.

"Hey," he said to her, smiling. "Will you hold my hand?"

She looked at him for a sec, confused. "What?"

"It's okay if you don't want to," Marty said, taking his hand back.

"No," she said. "I'm sorry, I was spacing off. I'd love to take your hand." She reached over and grabbed his hand. They walked together slowly, trying to prolong this newfound feeling for as long as they could.

"What were you thinking about?" Marty asked her after a while.

"It was nothing," Taylor said, blushing.

"Come on," Marty said, poking her. "You can tell me!"

"No!" she said. "It's nothing, really."

"If you insist," Marty said. They had hardly walked ten feet when he started poking her again. "Come on! Tell me!"

Taylor laughed really hard. "No!"

Marty tried his best to make a grumpy face. "Fine!" he said in a huff. They walked together for another long while, until they reached FrivVille.

"We're here," Taylor said.

"Yeah," Marty said. "Let's get back to Marowakz."

...MEANWHILE...

The others had gotten back into the base after seeing the Aura Storm that destroyed EVille.

"I can't believe Marty did that," Jordan said, still in awe.

"Korbin is definitely finished now," Atticus remarked.

"For sure," Gregory added for emphasis.

They sat there trying to process what they had all seen when the door opened up and four people stepped in, being led by Jari.

"Everyone," Jari said, "these four escaped from the FoG base and wish to speak with you."

"If you don't mind, that is," Nik said.

"Nik!" Nebu cried. She ran over to him and gave him a big hug. "Are you okay?"

"Just fine," Nik said to her, smiling. "Do you guys have any coffee around here?"

"I'll go see what I can find," Jari told him. "It seems you all have some catching up to do." He stepped out to find some coffee for Nik.

"So what happened?" Roz asked. "Why did you betray us?"

"Korbin tempted the both of us with lifting the curses on our cities," Blue Flower explained.

"Yes," Nik confirmed, "and we were foolish enough to believe him. Can you ever forgive us?"

"Of course," Nebu said, smiling. "We ARE coffee buddies, after all."

"So what's the story with those two?" Jordan asked, looking at Kelsey and Eric.

"We were only in the FoG to get back our Pokemon that Korbin stole from us," Kelsey admitted.

"Yeah," Eric agreed. "It took a while, but today gave us the perfect oppurtunity to find them and escape! So thanks for that."

"No problem," Mae said with a smirk.

The door opened behind them and Marty stepped in holding Taylor's hand. "What'd we miss?" he asked.

"Well, Nik and Blue Flower are innocent," Stepney said.

"And apparently Kelsey and Eric are our friends now," Davy added.

"The more important question here is, 'What did WE miss?'" Nebu asked, noticing Marty and Taylor holding hands.

"Oh," Marty said blushing. "We're kinda...uh...going out now?"

Nebu squealed. "Oh my gawd that is so cute! I knew it all along!"

"We all knew they would end up together eventually," Roz admitted.

"Well, what about you?" Marty said, noticing that she and Mike were holding hands as well.

"Oh," Roz blushed. "We're going out, too."

"So," Jordan said. "We've got all of the badges, we've taken down all the criminal teams in the world, and there's still two days before the tournament. What should we do now?"

"I don't know about you," Taylor said, "but I could use a good nap."

"Same here," Marty said, yawning.

"Well, I have to head back to Maron City and prepare for the tournament," Mike said. "I'll see you all there!"

"We better go too," Nik said to Blue Flower. "All the Gym Leaders are required to be at the tournament." Everyone said good-bye to Mike and the others as they walked out the door.

"Let's go rest," Roz said to them. So they all went to the barracks, found an empty bed, and crashed into them, getting a well-deserved rest before the tournament.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 59: The Tournament Begins

It had been two days since the EVille invasion. Marty and the others were heading for Maron City, as today was the day the tournament began.

"Are you guys ready?" Marty asked.

"Yeah!" was the unanimous answer from everyone.

"I wonder who all made it," Taylor wondered.

"We'll find out when we get there, I guess," Gregory assured her.

"When we DO get there," Roz said, "let's agree not to use PokeCross on anyone who we don't think knows it unless they do it first."

"Sounds good to me!" Stepney said.
Everyone else agreed with this idea.

"Good," Roz said happily. "Let's get going. We're already almost to Hidavel City. We should be to Maron within the hour." So they kept walking and discussing what they would do during the tournament.

...MEANWHILE...

"Please," Korbin said. "Let me go. I just need this chance to break you free." He waited for a minute before speaking again. "Thank you. You won't regret it." He opened a portal and stepped out of the Distortion World, fully recovered.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others had finally reached Maron City. It looked a lot more festive this time around, as the tournament was almost ready to start. Just then, a loudspeaker could be heard around the city. "ATTENTION ALL TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANTS! REGISTRATION CLOSES IN THIRTY MINUTES! IF YOU HAVEN'T REGISTERED YET, PLEASE DO SO AT THIS TIME!"

"We better hurry!" Atticus cried. They ran to the building where the tournament was going to be held. There were a few friendly faces waiting there for them. All the Terrari Gym Leaders sat at the registration table.

"Hey, everyone!" Jordan shouted happily.

"Hello," said Forrest. "Good to see you all again."

"Are you all in charge of registration?" Nebu asked.

"Actually," Nik said, "that would fall on my shoulders." He went on as the other Gym Leaders walked off. "So I take it all twelve of you will be participating?" They all nodded their heads. "Good. Because of protocol, however, I need to see your badges." Everyone flashed their eight badges except for Kelsey and Eric.

"Where are your badges?" Nik asked them.

"We have these," Kelsey said, pulling something out of his pocket, while Eric did the same. In their hands they held a single badge. However, this badge had a picture of all eight other badges.

"Those are Terrari League Aptitude badges!" Nik exclaimed. "How did you get those?"

"Uh..." Kelsey said, staring at him for a moment.

"Oh," Nik said. "I get it. In any case, you all are registered. You need to all report to the main square in about a half hour. That's where the rules of the preliminary rounds will be announced. If you all make it past the preliminaries, the other Gym Leaders and I have a surprise waiting for you. So do your best!"

"We won't disappoint you!" Nebu assured him.

"I know!" Nik replied. "Hey, by the way, Nebu, do you want to go get some coffee later?"

"That sounds great!" Nebu said happily.

"You can all come!" Nik said, excited.

"Sounds good," Jordan said with a deadpan tone.

"We really should get going," Gregory reminded them. They all started walking off.

"Good luck, everyone!" Nik called after them. "I know you'll do great!" As they disappeared from view, a lone figure appeared from nowhere. His face and body were completely wrapped up, so no one could see his face.

"I'm here to register," he said, holding up another Terrari League Aptitude badge.

"Great!" Nik said. "Looks like you're the last one to register. What can I put down for your name."

"All you need to put is 'K,'" he said as he started walking toward the square without another word.

...MEANWHILE...

Marty and the others reached the square. They were amazed when they saw everyone that was in attendance.

"Wow!" Matt exclaimed. "There must be almost a thousand people here!"

"902, to be exact," said someone behind them. Mike came out through the crowd to greet them.

"Hey!" Roz said with a smile. She walked over and gave him a hug.

"Good to see you all made it on time," he said to them. "What took you so long?"

"We walked," Marty said.

"Didn't you know that you could fly if you used PokeCross?" Mike asked them all.

"We're not all Flying-type," Taylor reminded him.

"You don't have to be," Mike told her. "Try it out sometime."

"Anyway," Marty said, "will you be participating in the preliminaries?"

"Nope," Mike said. "Me and the other Elite Four get an automatic pass into the top 32."

"Lucky," Stepney muttered.

"I suppose," Mike said. "But I could also use the extra experience. It kind of puts the five of us at a bit of a disadvantage, when you think about it."

"I suppose that's true," Marty admitted, "but you're still the Champion."

Mike laughed. "Yes, I suppose that gives me a bit of an excuse. Well, good luck to you all. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you all later." He turned and walked towards the middle of the square, where a stage had been set up. All the Trainers made conversation until someone ran onstage and grabbed the microphone.

"Please stop your frivolous conversations so we may commence this tournament!" Francois said through the microphone. Atticus squealed and proceeded to faint, along with a couple other people in the crowd.

"Yes, hi," Francois said. "Anyway, we would like to start the preliminaries, since we have so many people here today! Here to explain the rules is the Gym Leader of Treeview Town, Jerry!" Jerry walked onstage to a couple cheers scattered here and there, accompanied by thunderous applause from the hands of 902 Trainers.

"Thank you, everyone!" Jerry said into the microphone. "I congratulate all of you on your achievement today! I'm here to tell you some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want first?"

"GOOD NEWS!" the crowd roared.

"Okay," Jerry said. "If you haven't heard by now, the FoG base was invaded the other day by some brave people that are here today. They successfully stopped Korbin's plans for the time being, and deserve our thanks. Give a round of applause for the Resistance!" Roars came from the audience from 901 people. One lone person stood silent.

"Now for the bad news," Jerry said, frowning. "In regards to this tournament, we did not expect this many of you to actually show up. Because of this, we're making a huge cut today. Only the top 27 competitors will be able to advance to the next round. That means 874 of you will be going home today."

There were gasps from the crowd, and numerous complaints were shouted.

"Now, now," Jerry said, trying to calm everyone down. "This is merely incentive to get you all to do your best! And obviously the cream of the crop will get picked, so good luck to you all!" He looked over at Marty's group and winked at them. All eyes turned to the twelve of them, and it was pretty obvious that they had just been made a target by every other person in the square that was participating.

"He's screwed us over!" Kelsey whisper-shouted to everyone.

"He's just trying to make us work for our spots," Marty said, not taking his eyes off Jerry.

"Anyway," Jerry continued, "the preliminary round is going to be very straightforward. It's a free-for-all between all of you! It'll be a grand battle spanning the entire city! But there's one catch."

"WHAT'S THE CATCH?!" shouted someone in the back of the crowd.

"The catch," Jerry said, "is that you may not give your Pokemon any orders." A large collective gasp came from the crowd.

Marty smiled. "That's how we always train!"

"Yeah, it is!" Matt exclaimed.

"Do you think he planned it like that?" Nebu wondered.

"Who cares!" Stepney shouted. "We've got this in the bag now!"

"Now that we've got the rules out of the way, we can get started!" Jerry shouted excitedly. "Let the preliminaries BEGIN!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 60: The Preliminaries

A brilliant flash of light indicated the summoning of over 900 Pokemon. Marty looked around for anyone to form an alliance with. He noticed the Resistance members talking with some of the people he knew from FrivVille. He shouted over at them. "Hey, guys!"

Mae looked over in their direction. "Marty!" she shouted. "Good to see you made it!"

"We should all work together!" he said to her. "Sound good?"

"Definitely!" she shouted over to them. They all walked over there. Including Mae, Jari, Concerto, Mobo, and Sabin, the four members of FSM were there, along with Ruto and Saria from FrivVille Gym. They were discussing with their Pokemon who not to attack when someone came up behind them.

"May I cut in?" he asked.

Jordan gasped. "Kefka!"

"In the flesh," he said. "Hold your applause." The others laughed.

"The more help we get, the better off we'll be," Marty said. "You can definitely join in, Kefka." Their group had gone from twelve to twenty-four in a matter of minutes. They were all feeling pretty good about their chances. They finished their strategy just as the horn sounded to let the fight begin. All of the Pokemon took off in many directions.

"There they go," Davy said.

"We have to leave our faith in them," Taylor said.

"We'll all be fine!" Jake assured everyone. "Then we'll all see each other in the tournament!"

...MEANWHILE...

Lucario raced along the streets of Maron City, with the other Pokemon in tow. Other Pokemon came up and challenged them, but were quickly dispatched. In addition to Lucario, Drifblim, Charizard, Cinccino, Roserade, and Sceptile, Davy's Blastoise joined the fight instead of Bisharp. The other Pokemon in the fight included Farfetch'd, Zangoose, Venusaur, Kelsey and Eric's Pikachu brothers, Mae's Samurott, Jari's Shiftry, Concerto's Golurk, Mobo's Liepard, Sabin's Sableye, Jake's Exploud, Marcus's Ambipom, Caroline's Yanmega, Otso's Flaaffy, Ruto's Psyduck, Saria's Lopunny, and Kefka's Claydol. Their large force easily plowed through all of the Pokemon that stood in their way. An Infernape jumped onto a building and began shooting fireballs down on the group. Lucario ran up and met its challenge while Blastoise used water to tend to the injured. A Donphan came tearing down the street with a Rollout, threatening to bowl everyone down. Cinccino raced up to it with its signature Giga Impact and collided with it. Suddenly, it seemed like every other Pokemon in the preliminaries was in this one street, trying to take down this small group of twenty-four Pokemon. But the group was smarter than all these other Pokemon, and they constantly switched out opponents to play to each other's strengths. Finally, they all had decided that enough was enough. They all stood around in a circle and waited for the rest of the Pokemon to come charging at them. They all began to charge their strongest attacks and added them to the middle of the circle. The result was a huge sphere with many different types of energies swirling around it. There was electricity sparking on the outside of the sphere. Lucario, having just defeated the Infernape, noticed this and raced down to the street. It grabbed the sphere and took it with it, infusing it with its aura. It started bludgeoning other Pokemon with it. The result was an attack that had every type associated with it, resulting in a super-effective hit no matter what Pokemon was hit by it. The remaining enemies were waiting in a line with attacks at the ready, but Lucario was faster. It stopped suddenly, planted its feet on the ground, and shot the sphere at the remaining Pokemon. It plowed through the attacks that were thrown at it and instantly knocked the remaining Pokemon out. The only ones left standing were Lucario's group of twenty-four, a Bibarel, a Toxicroak, and a familiar-looking Serperior. The preliminary round was over, and the entire group had survived! They all returned to their Trainers triumphantly.

...MEANWHILE...

"Wow!" Fleet said into the microphone. "I can't believe what I just saw! What a riveting show of teamwork by those Pokemon! Congratulations to the Trainers who survived the preliminary rounds! Please come up and be recognized at this time!" The group walked up to the stage, accompanied by a boy with his face covered, another boy who radiated an aura of pleasantness, and another younger boy who looked oddly similar to Otso. Roars came from the audience, but it was unclear whether they were cheers or death threats.

"We did it!" Eric exclaimed.

"Nice teamwork, everyone," Jari said.

"Let's all do our best in the tournament!" Mobo encouraged.

While they were all celebrating their victory, Jerry walked up to them.

"Congratulations!" he said to them. "You all deserve it. Now I have another surprise for you! Tonight there's going to be a dance for the Trainers who are continuing on. Dress formal and bring a date!"

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 61: A Dance?

"A dance?!" Marty shouted, exasperated.

"That's what I said," Jerry said. "Dress nice! Don't forget to bring dates!"

"But we have virtually no time to look!" Jordan cried.

"Well, if you REALLY can't find one by tonight, then I guess that's okay," Jerry relented. "You should still be looking, though!" He walked off, leaving everyone speechless.

"Well," Jake said. "This is...awkward."

"I'll say!" Nebu shouted. "The guy to girl ratio in this group is way too unbalanced to be having a dance. There's like, what, seven girls?"

"And that makes twenty guys," Marty continued. "This is highly illogical. Whoever thought of this must be extremely drunk."

"Well," Stepney said, "We all better start looking for dates, I guess." So everyone dispersed to begin searching for dates. Marty and Taylor stood alone in the square.

"So, do you want to go together?" he asked her with a smile.

"Of course," she smiled back.

...MEANWHILE...

Roz walked off to find Mike with the Gym Leaders.

"Hey," she said to him with her usual air of coolness.

"Hey," he said back, equally nonchalant.

"So...the dance," Roz said.

"Yeah, totally," Mike said to her. "I'd love to go."

"Cool," Roz said as she started walking away. "I'll meet you there. You better not be late."

"Sure thing," he said back, with a light smile. The other Gym Leaders stood there, speechless.

...MEANWHILE...

Jordan had been chasing after Nebu ever since Jerry had done that fortune telling for them all. He was sure that Jerry would be right about this. But at the same time, he was worried. What if she didn't feel the same way about him? He took a deep breath and raced up to meet her.

"Hey!" he shouted after her. "Nebu!"

She turned around and saw him. "Oh, hey, Jordan!"

"Hey, I was wondering..." he began.

"Yeah?" Nebu said with anticipation.

"Would you like to go to the dance with me?" he asked.

She smiled for a brief second, but then got a sad look on her face. "Oh, Jordan, I'm so sorry. Eric already asked me to the dance, and I said yes."

"Oh," Jordan said, completely crushed.

"I'm so sorry!" she said.

"That's okay," Jordan said. "Have fun." He walked off, leaving Nebu by herself.

...MEANWHILE...

Atticus walked around Maron City, trying to find someone to go to the dance with. He wasn't watching where he was going, and he accidently bumped into Francois.

"Oh!" he shouted. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's quite all right," Francois assured him. "I take it you're searching for someone to go to the dance with, am I correct?"

"Yes," Atticus answered.

"How is that going?" Francois inquired.

"Not well," Atticus admitted. "The truth is, I have no idea who to ask."

"Well," Francois said, "you could always ask Ruto or Saria."

"I don't know them very well," Atticus reminded him.

"Well, there's only one thing to do, then," Francois said.

"What is that?" Atticus asked him.

"I'll take you to the dance," Francois said. Atticus fainted!

...LATER...

The dance was just about to begin, and it was awkward as hell. There were exactly three actual couples. The rest of them had come alone, unable to find someone that was right for them among the group. Francois had scooped up quite a few of the guys, including some Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, who were all fawning over him. Jerry came out to see everyone standing outside, and was disappointed.

"What is this?" he asked. "Three couples? Unacceptable! And you!" he shouted, pointing at Nebu.

"Me?" Nebu said, confused.

"Yes, you!" Jerry shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "This is not what the cards have said to me at all! This is not right!"

"What is he talking about?" Eric asked her, pulling away from her.

"It's nothing!" Nebu said.

"Oh, it's something!" Jerry said. "You are deliberately trying to test fate! Unacceptable!"

"I don't understand any of this!" Eric shouted, running away.

"Eric, wait!" Kelsey shouted, running after him.

"We are NOT having this dance under such deplorable conditions!" Jerry screamed. "You all better get ready for the tournament to start tomorrow! Your rooms are all ready! Come along, quickly!"

They all followed Jerry to their separate rooms, having no idea what just happened. Marty got the room at the end of the hallway. When he and Jerry were alone, he asked, "What the heck was that all about?"

"This night didn't go at ALL how I had planned it," Jerry said. "Nebu was supposed to go with Jordan."

"What makes you say that?" Marty asked.

"Because I know what I saw in the cards," Jerry told him. "Those two are definitely meant to be together. It is certain. I was just trying to help them both see that."

"So, basically, this whole dance thing was a scheme to make sure your fortune telling would turn out how you predicted?" Marty asked.

"Well, when you put it that way, it just sounds bad," Jerry said.

Marty sighed. "Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow, Jerry."

"Good luck!" Jerry said to him as he closed the door.

...MEANWHILE...

Jordan sat in his room, moping about the events of the past few hours, when a knock came at the door. He walked over and opened the door to find Nebu standing out in the hallway.

"Hey," she said sheepishly.

"Hey," he said back.

"Um...that was really weird, huh?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Definitely," Jordan said, still somewhat depressed.

"Listen," Nebu said. "I came over here to apologize to you. Eric's a nice guy, but I'm not quite sure that he's the one for me."

"What makes you say that?" Jordan asked her.

"Because a wise fortune-teller told me that you're the one for me," Nebu said. "And honestly, I think I'm finally starting to see why he told me that. I'm still so unsure, but you know what?"

"What?" Jordan uttered nervously.

"I think you're a really nice guy, Jordan," Nebu told him.

"Thanks," he said, scratching his head. "I try to be."

"Would you still like to dance with me?" she asked him.

"I would definitely like that," Jordan said with a smile. They held each other close and danced slowly, right there in the hallway, with no music playing.

...MEANWHILE...

Eric left his and Kelsey's room to find Nebu and apologize to her for running off earlier. As he stepped out into the hallway, he noticed two people down the hall dancing together. Closer inspection revealed that it was Nebu dancing with Jordan. Eric, being the little joker that he was, decided to start singing for them, since they had no music.

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down~"

Nebu and Jordan both jumped, causing Eric to burst out laughing. He ran back into his room and shut the door.

"That was fast," Kelsey said.

"She's a little busy," Eric said, laughing. "I'll talk to her another time."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 62: Her Best Interests

Marty awoke early the next morning. He always woke up early on important days. He was always too excited to stay sleeping for too long. He got up and started stretching, when all of a sudden, he got a really nasty leg cramp. He fell to the ground, clutching his leg and cursing like a sailor. He continued this for a minute or two until Taylor burst into the room.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried. "Are you okay?"

"No!" he shouted. "I have a freaking leg cramp!"

"Try walking on it," she told him. "That usually makes it better." He got up and did as she said. Eventually, he got better.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said, smiling. "Now hurry up. We've gotta get to breakfast!"

...MEANWHILE...

"Apparently we won't know who fights whom until right before our matches," Atticus said.

"It adds a lot of suspense!" Matt observed.

"I'm really excited for today, though," Gregory said, taking a bite of his pancake. "I think we'll do well."

"But for some of us to do well," Sabin noted, "Some of us must fall." They all sat and pondered this while Marty and Taylor walked in. They all ate their breakfasts and had a good time. Finally, Jerry walked in.

"Good morning!" he shouted. "I hope you are all ready for today! Since it seems you are all finished with breakfast, I'll be taking you to the arena. There's already quite a crowd!" He led them out of the dining hall and to the top floor of the building. The arena took up the entire floor. It was a large dome with an open roof for extremely high aerial combat. The seats around the arena were almost already full. The crowd consisted mostly of the people who had been eliminated in the preliminaries yesterday. All 32 competitors stood in the middle of the arena while Nik came out, holding a microphone.

"Hello, everybody!" he shouted to the crowd. "Welcome to the first ever Terrari League Tournament! We've got a lot of matches today, but first we must go through a few rules." He rattled on and on about rules for both the audience and the competitors. "Also, for this tournament only, touching your Pokemon during the battle will be allowed starting after the first round!"

"That must be to allow PokeCross," Roz noted.

"Now without further ado, let the tournament begin!" Nik shouted. "If you would all direct your attention to the screen!" Everyone looked to the large screens on each side of the dome. "We will be selecting the order of battles. Competitors, you will be expected to report to the field immediately when your name is called. Now we will select the two competitors for the very first battle!" The screen flicked through the names and pictures of all the competitors until two showed up.

"Marty and Jake!" Nik announced. "You are our first competitors! The match will begin shortly. The rest of you may report to the competitor's seats and wait for your match to begin." Everyone who wasn't called made their way up to their seats, while Marty and Jake prepared for their battle. Marty turned around and offered to shake his hand.

"Good luck!" he said pleasantly.

Jake just gave him a cold stare and walked over to his spot.

"Yeesh," Marty said. "Trying to act all tough, isn't he?" He turned and walked to his spot as well.

"All right!" Nik shouted. "Since we have quite a few matches to get through today, the battles of the first round will be only 3-3. Also, there will be no substitutions to save time. We have randomly picked who throws out their Pokemon first, and Marty will get the first choice!"

"Okay," Marty said. "I choose Arcanine!" The Fire-Type Pokemon blasted onto the field.

"I choose Slowking!" Jake growled. Slowpoke's alternate evolved form emerged with a Shellder on its head and a scarf on its neck.

"Arcanine versus Slowking!" Nik called. "Begin!"

"Surf!" Jake shouted. A large tidal wave rocketed towards Arcanine.

"Dodge with ExtremeSpeed and counter with Crunch!" Marty shouted. Arcanine disappeared in reappeared a split second later, with Slowking's arm locked in its jaws.

"Fool!" Jake shouted. "You're making this too easy! Use Hydro Pump, Slowking!" Slowking turned to face Arcanine and blasted it in the face with a heavy stream of water. Arcanine was instantly out cold.

"Arcanine is unable to battle!" Nik shouted. "Slowking wins!"

Up in the competitor's seats, everyone was freaking out. The members of FSM were excited that Jake was winning, but Marty's friends were shocked that he was losing so soon.

"What's he gonna do?" Nebu wondered.

"That's a pretty tough Slowking," Jordan observed. "He needs a Grass or Electric type to take it on."

Down on the arena, Jakes taunts assaulted Marty mercilessly. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Where's all this insane skill you're supposed to have? Or are you just all talk?"

"What's your problem?" Marty asked in response. "You've been nothing but rude all day! Did you eat a bad slice of bacon or something?"

"My problem is that I don't like you!" Jake shouted at him.

"News to me!" Marty shouted back. "You seemed to like me just fine at Marowakz the other night!"

"That was before I heard about you and Taylor!" Jake protested.

"What makes that any different?" Marty asked him.

"Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I like her, too?" Jake asked him scornfully. "I don't want you to hurt her!"

"If you think I would hurt anyone like that, you don't know me at all!" Marty shouted as he got out his next Pokemon. "Go, Simisage!" The green monkey shot out onto the field.

"Simisage versus Slowking!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Slowking, end it quickly with Ice Punch!" Jake roared. Slowking ran at Simisage with a cold energy which emitted from its fist.

"Simisage, dodge with Acrobatics and use Energy Ball!" Marty ordered. Simisage jumped out of the way just in time for Slowking's Ice Punch to miss, then hit it in the back with an Energy Ball. Slowking stumbled backwards, but remained on its feet.

"That's it!" Jake cried. "Blizzard!"

"Solarbeam!" Marty cried. The two Pokemon charged up their attacks and loosed them at the same time. There was a huge explosion that shot up into the sky. It left smoke and dust  everywhere. When everything cleared, Slowking was unconscious, and Simisage was panting heavily.

"Slowking is unable to battle!" Nik shouted. "Simisage wins!"

Marty's friends were celebrating his victory when they noticed that Simisage had fallen over as well.

"Simisage is also unable to battle!" Nik said. Gasps came from the crowd.

"Oh, no!" Kelsey groaned.

"He's done for!" Eric cried.

"Not necessarily," Taylor said slowly. Everyone gave her a confused look, so she went on. "If I know Marty, he'll probably pull something out of his butt at the last minute. We shouldn't worry."

Down on the field, Nik was waiting for one of them to send out a Pokemon. "Well? One of you has to send a Pokemon out, and according to League rules, since Jake's Pokemon was KO'd first, he must send his Pokemon out first."

"Fine!" Jake shouted, irritated. "Go, Exploud!" The evolved form of Loudred came onto the field.

Marty laughed. "Lucario!" Marty's strongest Pokemon emerged, ready for battle.

"Lucario versus Exploud!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Hyper Voice!" Jake ordered. Exploud let loose a deafening roar which sent visible shock waves over to Lucario.

"Force Palm!" Marty shouted, covering his ears. Lucario got into position and thrust its aura-infused palms into Loudred's attack. Lucario had literally stopped the force of Exploud's Hyper Voice. "Now send it back!" Lucario pushed a little bit harder and let the attack shoot back at Exploud, sending it flying into the wall. Exploud was knocked out in an instant.

"Exploud is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Lucario wins!"

"I can't believe it!" Matt exclaimed.

"That was amazing!" Stepney shouted.

"What a brilliant move!" Gregory said.

Down in the arena, Jake was beginning to get furious. "You say you won't hurt her? Prove it to me! Show me through this battle how you plan to protect her! Go, Snorlax!" The large Pokemon plopped down into the arena, somewhat ready for battle.

"Lucario versus Snorlax!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Snorlax, Hyper Beam!" Jake screamed.

"That's a terrible idea," Roz said.

Snorlax let loose a huge beam of pure energy from its mouth. It headed towards Lucario at an incredibly high speed. Marty didn't say a word. An instant later, the Hyper Beam totally engulfed Lucario. Or so it appeared. Suddenly, Snorlax's attack stopped. Lucario had dodged with ExtremeSpeed and attacked Snorlax with Force Palm.

"How did Lucario know what to do without Marty giving it an order?" Otso asked.

"It's one of the many perks of using PokeCross," Jordan said confidently.

In the arena, Snorlax had been severely hit, but that only seemed to make it angrier. It couldn't do anything, though, because it was too tired from the Hyper Beam.

"Now's our chance!" Marty shouted. "Do it, Lucario!" Lucario jumped back a few feet and charged an insane amount of aura in between its hands. When it was finished, it had a large Aura Sphere that it shot at Snorlax, hitting it directly. Snorlax struggled with the attack for a few seconds, getting pushed back a couple feet before it finally gave up and fell over.

"Snorlax is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Lucario wins! Marty is the victor!"

"HE DID IT!" Marty's friends cheered in unison. The members of FSM all looked pretty disappointed.

Jake walked up to Marty. "Hey," he said. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings at all. I shouldn't have judged you like I did."

"It's fine," Marty said, brushing it off. "Can we let bygones be bygones?"

Jake smiled. "Sure," he said. They shook hands and the crowd went nuts as they went up to take their seats.

Chapter 63: Alan's Power

"What a brilliant first battle, folks!" Nik exclaimed. "You can expect many more battles just like that today! Now if you'd turn your attention to the board again, we will randomly select the next match!" The board switched to the selection screen and began cycling through all the pictures until two more came out. One picture was of Marcus, but the other was just a silhouette. The name read, "Alan."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is quite a surprise!" Nik said excitedly. "This battle is going to feature one of our Elite Four members, Alan!" The crowd murmured, wondering what was going on, when suddenly fireworks erupted from the tunnel where competitors came out to the arena. A second later a boy walked out. He wore a green bandana on his head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...the Elite Four's Alan!" Nik announced. The crowd went crazy as a big celebrity of the Terrari region stepped out onto the arena, looking ready for battle. Marcus walked nervously to his spot.

"Good luck!" Alan said to him pleasantly, but with an air of confidence.

"The match between Alan and Marcus will begin momentarily!" Nik declared. "As the Elite Four member, Alan must choose his Pokemon first."

"Naturally," Alan said. "I choose Blaziken!" The ultimate form of Torchic blazed onto the arena, ready for battle.

"Go, Mamoswine!" Marcus shouted nervously. Swinub's ultimate form thundered onto the ground.

"Blaziken versus Mamoswine!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Mamoswine, use Take Down!" Marcus ordered quickly. Mamoswine charged at Blaziken with reckless abandon.

"Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!" Alan shouted. Blaziken waited for Mamoswine to come closer, then uppercutted it. Mamoswine flew up into the sky. Alan didn't skip a beat. "Now jump up and use Double Kick!" Blaziken used its powerful legs to shoot itself into the air and it kicked Mamoswine twice. Alan kept this chain going. "Finish it off with DynamicPunch!" Blaziken filled its fist with explosive power and punched Mamoswine down to the ground. Mamoswine instantly fainted from the force.

Nik looked just as shocked as everyone else when he declared, "Mamoswine is unable to battle...Blaziken wins!" Roars erupted from the crowd from this unbelievable show of skill and power from the Elite Four member.

Marcus was just as speechless, but sent out his next Pokemon. "Go, Ambipom!" Aipom's evolved form leapt nimbly onto the battlefield.

"Blaziken versus Ambipom!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Ambipom!" Marcus shouted. "Use Swift!" Ambipom shot a flurry of stars straight at Blaziken.

"Take them down with Blaze Kick!" Alan ordered. Blaziken kicked down all the stars extremely fast with its incredible leg strength.

Marcus wasn't having any of that this time. "Close Combat!" he cried. Ambipom shot over to Blaziken and began assaulting it with a barrage of punches and kicks from its arms and two tails. Blaziken was easily matching it blow for blow until Alan finally got bored.

"Fire Punch," he said plainly. Blaziken wrapped its fist in fire and punched Ambipom square in the face. Ambipom was sent crashing into the wall, unconscious.

"Ambipom is unable to battle! Blaziken wins!" Nik declared.

"This is insane!" Jake protested. "What's Marcus doing out there?"

"That Blaziken is way too strong for him," Roz observed. "Marcus definitely got matched with the wrong person."

"So unfair," Otso pouted.

Meanwhile, down in the arena, Marcus hadn't given up quite yet. "We've almost got him! Go, Hitmonlee!" The Kicking Fiend stepped out onto the field.

"Blaziken versus Hitmonlee!" Nik announced once more. "Begin!"

"Charge it, Hitmonlee!" Marcus cried. Hitmonlee ran at Blaziken, ready to strike.

"Flamethrower," Alan said, looking rather bored. Blaziken shot a huge stream of fire from its mouth, larger than any of them had seen before. Hitmonlee was engulfed, but not beaten. It rushed up to meet Blaziken, and they exchanged kicks for quite some time.

"It's time to end this," Alan decided. "Blaziken, Flare Blitz." Blaziken forced Hitmonlee a few feet back, covered itself in flames, and struck Hitmonlee with all its force. Hitmonlee, now burnt to a crisp, fell to the ground, defeated.

"Hitmonlee is unable to battle!" Nik said. "Blaziken wins! The winner is the Elite Four's Alan!" Roars erupted from the audience as Alan recalled Blaziken.

"Thanks for the good warm-up," he said to Marcus. "I hope the next guy fares a little better than you." Marty gulped up in his seat as Alan left the arena.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 64: Encouragement

"I can't believe what I just saw, folks!" Nik shouted, excited. "Alan has just pulled off a perfect shutout! You don't see that every day. I'd be nervous if I had to face him in the next round!"

"Don't remind me," Marty muttered up in the stands.

"All right, let's pick the next match!" The screen flicked over to the selection screen. Two pictures showed up.

"Atticus and Kefka!" Nik shouted. "You're both up next!"

Atticus and Kefka looked at each other and nodded.

"Good luck," Atticus said, extending his hand to shake Kefka's.

"Same to you," Kefka said back, returning his handshake. The two of them walked down the opposite stairs and walked through the tunnel that would lead them to the arena. They got there and proceeded to take their places.

"Kefka will send out his Pokemon first!" Nik stated.

"I choose Claydol," Kefka said. The evolved form of Baltoy came out when Kefka threw out its Ball.

"Go, Beartic," Atticus said calmly. The large Polar Bear Pokemon lumbered out of its Ball and into the arena.

"Beartic versus Claydol!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Beartic, use Ice Punch." Atticus said. Beartic charged at Claydol with its ice-infused fist.

"Claydol, Earthquake," Kefka ordered, equally calm. Claydol levitated higher in the air and slammed down onto the floor. There was a large quake that shook the whole building.

...MEANWHILE...

Up in the stands, everyone was freaking out. "He's gonna wreck the building!" Stepney cried.

"Don't worry," Jerry said. "This building was designed to handle so much more than that. And if something should break, it automatically repairs itself after every battle."

"How does it do that?" Taylor asked him.

"Hell if I know," Jerry said. "but isn't it neat?"

...MEANWHILE...

Down on the arena floor, chunks of the floor were coming off and rising into the air as a result of the Earthquake. Beartic was stumbling around and being hit by the chunks of floor rushing up to meet its face.

"Beartic, boost off of one of those rocks to get to Claydol!" Atticus ordered. Beartic did as instructed and made it over to Claydol. It used Ice Punch and struck Claydol rather hard. Claydol didn't seem to mind, however.

"Hyper Beam," Kefka said calmly. Claydol prepared a huge orange beam of energy and shot it at Beartic.

"Dodge and use Blizzard!" Atticus said, starting to get nervous. Beartic got out of the way just in time and released a huge beam of ice at Claydol. It was a direct hit and it began to freeze Claydol. In an extremely short time, Claydol was completely encased in ice.

"Now, Focus Punch," Atticus said, regaining his composure. Beartic stopped for a moment, then let a huge punch strike the block of ice that encased Claydol. It broke the entire block and struck Claydol head on. Claydol proceeded to faint.

"Claydol is unable to battle!" Nik announced nervously, keeping an eye on the floor underneath him. "Beartic wins!"

"Not bad," Kefka said, still highly composed. "But this should be easier now that your Beartic is on its last leg. Go, Bouffalant." The large bull Pokemon emerged.

"Beartic versus Bouffalant!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Focus Punch," Atticus told Beartic. Beartic readied another punch.

"Take Down," Kefka ordered. Bouffalant charged Beartic and struck it with a lot of force. Beartic fell over, knocked out. Bouffalant took some damage after running into Beartic.

"Beartic is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Bouffalant wins!"

Atticus grimaced. "Magcargo!" Slugma's evolved form came out.

"Magcargo versus Bouffalant!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Take Down again!" Kefka said, getting excited. Bouffalant charged Magcargo.

"Use Fire Spin," Atticus ordered. Magcargo called up a small tornado to trap Bouffalant. Bouffalant was stopped in its tracks by the imposing fire.

"Now, Fire Blast!" Atticus said, getting excited as well. Magcargo shot a large, star-shaped fire at Bouffalant. The immense amount of fire caused Bouffalant to faint.

"Bouffalant is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Magcargo wins it!"

Atticus was celebrating when Kefka said, "Don't get too cocky. This last Pokemon can't possibly lose. Go, Wobbuffet!" The strange, blue Pokemon emerged from its Ball.

"Magcargo versus Wobbuffet!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"This should be easy!" Atticus boasted. "Magcargo, use Fire Blast again!" Magcargo shot another star-shaped fire at Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet just stood there.

"Mirror Coat," Kefka said with a smirk. Wobbuffet started glowing with a strange light. Instead of the Fire Blast hitting it, it bounced off Wobbuffet. It hit Magcargo, now twice as fast and twice as strong. Even with the resistance to fire, Magcargo still fainted.

"Magcargo is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Wobbuffet wins!"

Atticus was speechless. "How...?"

Kefka laughed. "You can't possibly beat my Wobbuffet! It's invulnerable!"

He's right, Atticus thought. What do I do?

"Don't give up, Atticus!" shouted a voice from the stands. Atticus looked up to see Francois yelling to him. "I know you can do it!"

Atticus got a huge grin on his face. "You're right, Francois! I can do this! Go, Farfetch'd!" Atticus's favorite Pokemon flew onto the field.

"Farfetch'd versus Wobbuffet!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Slash!" Atticus ordered. Farfetch'd flew at Wobbuffet, leek blade at the ready.

"Simple," Kefka said, grinning. "Use Counter, Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet began to glow with another odd colored light.

"I thought you might do that!" Atticus said.

"You knew?" Kefka asked. "How?"

"Counter is for physical attacks, but not for special attacks!" Atticus stated. "Farfetch'd, switch to Gust!" Farfetch'd stopped right in front of Wobbuffet and blasted powerful winds right in its face.

"No!" Kefka shouted dismayed.

"Now, Slash again!" Atticus yelled, excited.

"I'm not falling for it this time!" Kefka shouted. "Mirror Coat!" Wobbuffet began to glow with a Mirror Coat, but Farfetch'd kept charging at Wobbuffet.

"You fell into my trap!" Atticus said. "It's over!" Farfetch'd slashed Wobbuffet with all of its might. Wobbuffet fell over, faint.

"Wobbuffet is unable to battle! Farfetch'd wins!" Nik declared. "The match goes to Atticus!" The crowd cheered for Atticus as he ran back up to thank Francois for his words of encouragement.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 65: Resolve and Apathy

Atticus ran up to the stands and gave Francois a huge hug. "Thank you!" he said. "Your words of encouragement helped me focus and win!"

"It was nothing," Francois told him. "Really, it was quite frivolous. Mind over matter and all that."

"No it wasn't!" Atticus exclaimed. "Without your helpful words, I wouldn't still be competing! All thanks to the power of frivolity!"

"I suppose you're right," Francois admitted. "Let's prepare ourselves for the next match."

Down on the arena floor, Nik was getting the crowd excited for the next match.

"Now let's look at the next match-up!" he said. The screen flickered through images until it finally settled on Matt and Sabin.

"Matt and Sabin!" Nik announced. "Come on down!"

"My turn, I guess!" Matt said, excited. "Wish me luck, guys!"

"You'll do great, bro!" Jordan assured him.

As he was walking down to his entrance, Marty and the others talked about how they thought the match would go.

"Of course we're going to be rooting for Matt," Marty said. He turned over to Mae and asked, "What kind of Trainer is Sabin?"

"He's decent," Mae admitted.

"Yeah," Mobo agreed. "But he's really lazy. He gives up too easily. If he doesn't think he'll win if he tries, he makes sure that he doesn't win."

"Because why waste the effort?" Concerto finished.

"Also," Jari said. "After he finishes the tournament, he said he would go back to his own country. He's rather homesick, so he has extra incentive to just throw the match."

"So you think Matt will win, then?" Nebu asked.

"All I'm going to say is that this match will not be as exciting as the others we've seen so far today," Jari answered.

...MEANWHILE...

Matt had just taken his place and got ready to battle. He waved over to Sabin and shouted, "Good luck!"

"Thanks," Sabin said, "but I'm not going to win. Your resolve is much greater than mine."

Matt was taken aback. "You mean you don't think there's any hope for you? That's crazy!"

"You'll see," Sabin assured him.

"We have randomly picked who chooses first," Nik stated. "Matt, choose your Pokemon!"

"I choose Garchomp!" he shouted. Gible's ultimate form thundered onto the field, which was now completely fixed from the last battle.

"Sableye," Sabin called blandly. The eerie ghost Pokemon stalked onto the field.

"Garchomp versus Sableye!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Physical attacks won't work on a Ghost-type Pokemon," Matt deduced. "Use Dragon Pulse!" Garchomp shot a large beam of Dragon energy at Sableye. Sableye stood there, awaiting an order from Sabin, but an order never came. Instead, Sableye was forced to take the full brunt of Garchomp's Dragon Pulse. The immense power of the move made Sableye faint instantly.

"Sableye is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Garchomp wins!"

"What's the matter?" Matt asked. "You had ample time to dodge that attack."

"Whatever," Sabin said. "Since I'm going to obviously lose, I forfeit. I just want to go home to my country."

"Are you sure you want to forfeit?" Nik asked him.

"Yes," Sabin said. "I want to go home."

"Okay, then," Nik said, shrugging his shoulders. "Sabin has forfeited the match! Therefore, Matt wins by default and advances to the second round!" Cheers were accompanied by groans this time as Sabin walked out of the arena. He left for his home country, and no one ever heard from him again.

Matt walked back up to the competitor's seats, where everyone was waiting for him.

"That was boring," Atticus said, scoffing. "You better be ready for the next round! I'll crush you!"

"We'll see," Matt said. "I'm more than ready to take you on!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 66: Time to Shine

"Well," Nik said, trying to hurry along. "That was...interesting. Let's hurry along to the next battle, shall we?" The screen came up once again and flicked through the pictures. Marty noticed that the pictures of the people who had already battled were gone. This made it easier for them to pick better matches, but it was also a bit unsettling for some odd reason. Just then, the two contenders came up on the screen, and Marty gasped.

"Caroline and Taylor!" Nik announced. "Come on down!"

Taylor got up to go, but Marty stopped her. "Good luck," he said.

"Thanks," she said back, smiling. They hugged quickly.

"This is your time to shine," Marty told her. "Make it count."

"I definitely will," she assured him. She walked down and prepared herself for battle. Caroline came down at the same time, and everyone cheered. None cheered louder than Otso, though. Other than himself, Caroline was the last member of FSM in the tournament.

"Caroline will choose her Pokemon first!" Nik dictated.

"Gladly," Caroline said with a confident smirk. "Go, Politoed!" The alternate evolution of Poliwhirl came onto the field.

"Venusaur!" Taylor shouted. Her once-orphaned Venusaur charged onto the field.

"Politoed versus Venusaur!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"Politoed, let's start things off with an Ice Punch!" Caroline ordered. Politoed rushed towards Venusaur with its ice-encased fist.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Taylor said. "Venusaur, Razor Leaf." Venusaur shot a flurry of sharp leaves at Politoed, who had to stop its attack to avoid being cut.

"Now Vine Whip!" Taylor said. Venusaur used vines coming out of the flower on its back to beat Politoed. Eventually, Politoed gave up and fainted.

"Politoed is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Venusaur wins!"

"Way to go, Venusaur!" Taylor encouraged.

Up in the stands, Marty and Otso were both clutching the railing and screaming their heads off for two different reasons.

"Way to go, Taylor!" Marty shouted. "Keep it up!"

"C'mon, Caroline!" Otso cried. "Show this girl what you can do!"

Down in the stands, Caroline was beginning to get frustrated. "Ugh! Go, Gliscor!" Gligar's evolved form came out as instructed.

"Gliscor versus Venusaur!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Gliscor, Fire Fang!" Caroline shouted. Gliscor charged at Venusaur with blinding speed and bit it with its fangs wrapped in flames. Venusaur writhed in agony and collapsed from the pain of the burn.

"Venusaur is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Gliscor wins!"

Up in the stands, Otso and Marty's roles reversed.

"Yeah, Caroline!" Otso screamed. "Don't stop!"

"Taylor!" Marty cried. "You can still definitely win! Make a good choice!"

"I choose Aggron!" Taylor declared. The huge Steel Pokemon crashed onto the field, much to the surprise of everyone.

"Gliscor versus Aggron!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Aggron, use Stone Edge!" Taylor ordered. Aggron used its power to make stones rise from the ground at a high speed. The stones struck Gliscor repeatedly, knocking it to the ground.

"Now, Stomp!" Taylor shouted. Aggron took its massive foot up in the air and stomped right on Gliscor with all its force. Gliscor fell unconscious, seemingly broken.

"Gliscor is unable to battle!" Nik deduced. "Aggron wins!"

"Holy crap!" Otso cried. "What just happened?"

"Taylor's kicking butt, that's what happened!" Marty shouted at him.

Caroline was out of ideas. She had to use her next Pokemon. "Shuckle!" she cried. Caroline's very first Pokemon came out.

"Shuckle versus Aggron!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"Aggron, Earthquake!" Taylor ordered, hoping for a quick finish. Aggron stomped on the ground and caused an earthquake to rock the whole building.

"Shuckle, Withdraw!" Caroline pleaded. Shuckle withdrew into its shell and bounced around with the earthquake.

"Hyper Beam!" Taylor shouted through the midst of the earthquake. Aggron shot a huge beam of orange energy at Shuckle, which completely enveloped it. When everything was clear, Shuckle was knocked out.

"Shuckle is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Aggron wins! The winner of the match is Taylor!" The crowd cheered for Taylor, save for Otso, who was upset.

"That was a good match!" Taylor said to Caroline. "Thanks!"

"It was okay," Caroline said flatly. "I wish it would've gone better."

"Are you kidding?" Taylor asked. "That was the best battle I've had in a long time! Most people don't get past Venusaur!"

"Then I guess I did pretty well," Caroline smiled. "Thanks for the great battle!" The two of them shook hands and went back up to the stands.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 67: Nice to See You Again (2nd and 3rd Iterations)

"Another great battle!" Nik stated. "We're almost halfway there! Now let's see who's next!" The screen flicked on again and cycled through pictures. Eventually Nebu's picture came up, along with someone very familiar to her.

"Ben!" Nebu gasped.

The boy that had been sitting behind everyone stood up and waved at her. "Hey, Nebu!" he said. "Long time no see!"

"I'll say!" Nebu said. "It's been, what, two years?"

"Yep!" Ben said, still smiling. "I finally finished all of my mission work, and I decided to come to Terrari. I went around and fought the eight gyms, won, and here I am!"

"But," Nebu stuttered, "to have to fight you so early on really sucks."

"Yeah," Ben said, his smile faltering a little. "Let's try to have fun, though, like we always used to."

"For sure," she said, giving him a hug. "It's good to see you again, Ben."

"Same to you," he said back. "Good to see you too, Marty."

"Thanks!" Marty said, smiling. "It's been a while."

Nebu and Ben went down their respective sides to start the battle.

Everyone was very perplexed. Finally, Stepney spoke up. "Who was that?" he asked. "How do you guys know him?"

"That's Ben," Roz told them. "He used to live in Ecruteak City with Marty, Nebu, and I. He left two years ago to do some mission work. We haven't seen him since. Before today, that is."

"What a crappy way to reunite," Jordan said glumly.

"Yes," Roz said, chuckling. "I suppose so."

"Why are you laughing?" Davy asked her.

"You'll see," Roz assured him.
 
Down on the arena floor, Nebu and Ben had taken their respective sides. Nebu pointed at Ben and said, "I kept up the first part of my promise, and now I'll keep the second part! Don't you dare go easy on me!"

"We'll see," Ben said. "I know you can do it, but I won't make it easy!"

"Nebu will choose her Pokemon first!" Nik shouted.

"Okay, let's get started!" Nebu shouted, excited. "Go, Scolipede!" The large centipede Pokemon rolled onto the field.

"Let's make this interesting," Ben said. "I choose Kricketune!"

"Scolipede versus Kricketune!" Nik confirmed. "Begin!"

"Scolipede, Rollout!" Nebu called. Scolipede curled up into a ball and rolled towards Kricketune at a high speed.

"Kricketune, jump and use Slash!" Ben called. Kricketune hopped into the air as instructed. Scolipede passed right under Kricketune. As Scolipede was directly underneath Kricketune, it used its sword-shaped hands to Slash Scolipede, slightly damaging it. Scolipede stopped and uncurled itself. It had some scratches on it and was fairly damaged.

Nebu growled. "Scolipede, Rollout at full power!" Scolipede instantly curled up and raced towards Kricketune. It was going so fast that a trail of wind was forming behind it.

"X-Scissor!" Ben ordered. Kricketune raised both of its arms in an "X" and slashed as soon as Scolipede got in range. Scolipede instantly stopped and crumbled.

"Scolipede is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Kricketune wins!"

Nebu screamed in frustration as she withdrew Scolipede. "Typhosion!" she cried. Cyndaquil's ultimate form came out onto the field.

"Typhlosion versus Kricketune!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Eruption!" Nebu yelled. Suddenly, Typhlosion commanded a huge wall of flame to pop out of the ground right under Kricketune, which was burnt to a crisp.

"Kricketune is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Typhlosion wins!"

Everyone was shocked. No one had ever seen Nebu angry before, not even Marty or Roz. She seemed to be a completely different person from the one they knew.

Even Ben was flabbergasted. "Wow," he uttered, speechless. "That was intense. I'll keep things going with Gigalith!" The ultimate evolution of Roggenrola crashed onto the field.

"Typhlosion versus Gigalith!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Gigalith, Earthquake!" Ben shouted. Gigalith stomped on the ground with a great force. A huge shock wave spread across the field and blew Typhlosion back. Typhlosion was injured, but otherwise okay.

"Typhlosion, Focus Blast!" Nebu ordered. Typhlosion focused all of its energy into one single attack and launched it at Gigalith with an incredible speed. Gigalith took the full brunt of the attack and crashed onto the ground, knocked out.

"Gigalith is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Typhlosion wins!"

"Why are you so angry, Nebu?" Ben asked. "I've never seen you like this before."

"I..." Nebu began, but then she stopped because she had to think about why she was so angry in the first place. She knew she had to fulfill her promise, but what was that promise? She instantly thought back to two years ago, back when they all lived in Ecruteak City.

...FLASHBACK...

It was a foggy day in Ecruteak City. One couldn't even see the top of the Bell Tower from the ground. There was a boy passing through on an adventure with his Pokemon, looking to challenge the Gym Leader, Morty. He looked familiar to Nebu, but she just couldn't place it. She was outside playing with Marty when she saw the boy walk up to her house and knock on the door. The door opened up and revealed Nebu's brother and sister, who were taking care of her whilst their parents were away on their own adventures. The two siblings saw the boy and gave him a big hug. They talked for a while, then the two of them ushered the boy in. Nebu and Marty both walked over to the house and saw them through the window, still talking. They walked inside and caught up on the conversation.

"Nebu," said her sister, "you remember Gold, right?"

Gold...so that was his name. Nebu sort of remembered him, but she didn't know exactly where she would remember him from.

"She probably doesn't," her brother reminded her sister. "She was awfully young."

"That's okay," Gold said. "Anyway, I hope the two of you will consider my offer. I'm planning on leaving Ecruteak tonight." And with that, Gold walked out of the house.

"What was that all about?" Nebu asked her siblings?

"Oh, nothing," her sister said, smiling. "You'll see later."

And Nebu did see later. The next morning, in fact, when her brother and sister were nowhere to be found. After investigating for a while, she found out that they had left the night before with Gold to go on their own adventure, just like their parents. Nebu began to cry and ran home. She cried herself to sleep that afternoon in her own bed. She awoke the next morning to see Roz standing over her.

"You poor thing," she said, tears streaming down her face. "Come with me, okay?" Roz took Nebu to her house, where she gave Nebu her very own room.

"You're staying here with me until your parents come home," Roz told her. "I promise that I'll never leave you." Nebu ran up to her and gave her a big hug. They stood there and cried for a while.

...NOW...

"I was just reminded of my past," Nebu told him. "Right around the time you left." Then she began to think about the day Ben had left her.

...FLASHBACK...

Nebu and Roz had been living together for a year now. Neither Nebu's parents nor her siblings had ever come back to her yet. Nebu thought about them every day, but realized that she was growing up and didn't really need them anymore. Plus, Roz had taken such good care of her over the past year that Nebu considered her to be a motherly figure.

The two of them were happy together, and that was all that mattered to either of them. They kept in touch with their friends on NSM, which Roz had introduced Nebu to, as well as keeping relations with Marty and Ben, who lived on either side of them. One day, they were all playing together when Ben broke the awful news to them.

"Guys," he said. "I'm leaving for a while."

Nebu was shocked. "You're leaving?"

"Yes," Ben confirmed. "For two years. My religion requires it. I leave for Sinnoh tomorrow to get my Pokemon that will accompany me on my mission trip. It's unlikely that I'll be back here for quite some time."

"Don't go," Marty pleaded. "We need you."

"You guys will do just fine without me," he assured them. "You'll all see me again eventually. Who knows? You might get Pokemon of your own and go on your own adventure. Maybe we'll run into each other then!"

"You bet we will!" Nebu shouted. "I promise that I'll become a Pokemon Trainer, and that I'll beat you in a battle when we all see you again!"

Ben laughed. "Well, I'll hold you to that! Let's just enjoy our time together for now." The four of them enjoyed their last day together until Ben had to leave.

...NOW...

"I remember how sad I was that you were leaving, too," Nebu said. "Just a couple days after you left, we received the offer to come here. I couldn't turn it down because I knew it was how I would fulfill my promise to you."

"Now here we are," Ben smiled. "You've grown so much."

"I'll show you just how much I've grown!" Nebu assured him.

"We'll see!" Ben challenged. "Bibarel!" The dopey-looking evolution of Bidoof plopped onto the field.

"Typhlosion versus Bibarel!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"Focus Blast!" Nebu cried. Typhlosion readied another attack, hoping to easily take down Bibarel.

"Surf!" Ben ordered. Bibarel instantly called up a huge wave of water which rushed towards Typhlosion. Typhlosion was soaked in water and couldn't move.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Bibarel wins!"

"Ha!" Ben laughed. "Now what will you do?"

"You'll see!" Nebu said with a smirk. "I choose Drifblim!" Nebu's favorite Pokemon came out.

"Drifblim versus Bibarel!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Drifblim, Retaliate!" Nebu ordered. Drifblim struck Bibarel in vengeance for what it had done to Typhlosion. Bibarel was knocked backwards into the wall.

"Surf!" Ben shouted again. Bibarel forced another wave across the field.

"Explosion!" Nebu cried. Drifblim focused every last bit of its power into a single point in its body and let it all out at once. The result was a large explosion which forced Bibarel's Surf attack back onto it, washing it up. Bibarel fell unconscious, but Drifblim also seemed to be knocked out.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle!" Nik declared.

"Wait, Nik!" Nebu begged. "Watch this." She looked out at Drifblim. "Get up, Drifblim!" Drifblim twitched a few times, then slowly began to rise up. It looked to be on the verge of fainting, but it was still okay.

"Drifblim is still able to battle!" Nik shouted, shocked. "That means the winner is Nebu!" The crowd went crazy for Nebu as she withdrew her Drifblim.

"How did you do that?" Ben asked her. "I've never seen a Pokemon get up from an Explosion attack!"

"I used Battle Link at the last second to tell Drifblim to save just enough power to keep itself going," Nebu explained. "It worked quite well, actually."

"It sure did," Ben agreed. "Well done! I knew you could do it."

"Thanks, Ben," Nebu said, smiling. "I'm glad to have finally met my goal." The two of them shook hands and went back into their separate corners. While Nebu was taking the stairs up to the competitor's stands, she was stopped by an older couple, a man and a woman.

"Great job, honey!" the woman said.

"We're so proud of you," the man added.

"Mom?" Nebu asked. "Dad?" The couple nodded their heads at the same time and extended their arms to greet her. Nebu ran into their arms and they hugged for a long time.

"I missed you so much," Nebu said, starting to cry.

"We missed you, too," her mother said. "We never should have left."

"Can you ever forgive us?" her father asked.

"Of course," Nebu said, tears streaming down her face. They stood there on the stairwell for a while. Eventually, Nebu let go.

"I have to go now," she said. "They won't start until I'm in my seat."

"Of course," her father said. "Good luck with the rest of the tournament!"

"We'll be in the stands cheering for you!" her mother assured her.

"Thank you," she said, smiling. "I love you guys." She ran up the stairs to get back to her seat.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 68: Cool versus Calm

Nebu walked up and was going to take her seat in between Marty and Roz, but she found that it had been taken by Kelsey.

"Sorry," he said. "I'll get up."

"No, don't worry about it," she told him. She walked over to the empty seat next to Jordan and sat down.

"Hey," he said, smiling. "You were amazing out there."

"Thanks," she said. They sat together in an awkward silence.

"Now that everyone is situated, we may begin the next match!" Nik shouted excitedly. "Let's go to the board again!" Everyone looked at the board as it flicked around the names again. Eventually, two more names came up.

"Rozalie and Mae!" Nik announced. "Come on down!"

Roz looked over at her opponent, Mae. She tried her best to keep a complete poker face. It seemed that Mae was doing the same.

"Good luck," Roz said coolly.

"Same to you," Mae said calmly. The two of them walked down to the arena and took their respective sides.

"Roz will choose her first Pokemon!" Nik declared.

"I choose Breloom," Roz decided. Shroomish's evolved form popped out.

"Then I'll choose Darmanitan," Mae stated. The evolved form of Darumaka came out.

"Breloom versus Darmanitan!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"Breloom, Mach Punch," Roz ordered. Breloom was instantly at Darmanitan with a fist planted firmly in its face, but Darmanitan seemed to be unfazed.

"Flame Charge," Mae said. Darmanitan covered itself in flames and charged straight into Breloom, heavily damaging it. Breloom fell backwards, covered in burn marks.

"I don't know what Roz can do here," Nebu said. "She has an awful type disadvantage to work with."

"She'll think of something," Marty assured her. "You know how she works better than anyone here."

Roz stood there silently, thinking of a plan. Nothing came. Roz was mortified. She always had a plan. There was just nothing she could do with Breloom.

"I'll wrap this up, then," Mae said. "Flamethrower." Darmanitan shot a huge stream of fire directly at Breloom, burning it to a crisp. Breloom fell over, unconscious.

"Breloom is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Darmanitan wins!"

"That was easier than I thought," Mae said, seemingly bored. "I thought you were supposed to be one of the tougher ones in your group."

"You'll see how tough I can be," Roz said to her calmly.

Up in the stands, Kelsey looked slightly worried. "Roz is awfully calm for being behind in this battle."

"That's just the way she is," Marty told him. "Always the cool and collected one. Always the voice of reason. I've only ever seen her get angry once since I've known her, and that was when we met Mike for the first time in Smogoff City."

"Mae seems just as calm, though," Taylor said. "You'd think she'd be celebrating a little bit."

"Mae's never been one for overexpression," Jari told her. "She wants to appear cold and sadistic on the outside because it's a good scare tactic."

"Funny how they got picked to battle each other," Eric noted.

"I agree," Marty said. "Some of these battles don't seem as random as we're being led to believe." Jari looked away quickly.

Down on the arena, Roz had sent out her Nidoking to combat Darmanitan. "Earthquake!" she ordered. Nidoking lifted its foot and stomped the ground hard. The shockwaves quickly traveled over to Darmanitan and injured it.

"Darmanitan, Flame Charge!" Mae called. Darmanitan covered itself in flames once again and ran straight at Nidoking.

"You fell for it," Roz said. "Focus Punch, Nidoking." Just as soon as Darmanitan was in range, Nidoking swung its fist with an unprecedented might. Darmanitan flew back, fainted.

"Darmanitan is unable to battle!" Nik shouted. "Nidoking wins!"

"How in the world did you do that?" Mae asked Roz.

"Simple," Roz said. "Through intensive training with all six of my Pokemon, I can give them commands without having to say a word. As soon as Nidoking finished the Earthquake, I silently told it to ready a Focus Punch, since I figured you would charge straight at me."

Mae's face started to turn red. "Impressive," she said, smirking. "But, it won't be enough to save you! Absol!" The majestic disaster Pokemon leapt into battle.

"Nidoking versus Absol!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Absol, ready a Razor Wind!" Mae ordered. A sharp whirlwind started forming around Absol.

"Ready another Focus Punch," Roz told Nidoking. Nidoking's fist started to glow with a white energy. The two Pokemon stood in their spots for a while, letting their attacks grow stronger and stronger.

Finally, Mae had had enough waiting around. "Now, Absol!" Absol released a huge blast of sharp wind straight towards Nidoking.

"Throw it back with sheer force!" Roz cried. Nidoking reared back and punched the incoming blade of wind with a giant force. The arc of wind completely changed direction and hit Absol directly. Absol went flying and crashed into the wall.

"Absol is unable to battle!" Nik cried with excitement. "Nidoking wins!"

Mae was starting to show visible anger by this point. "It appears I have grossly underestimated you," she said, scowling. "I'll end this quickly. Go, Samurott!" The large otter Pokemon crashed onto the field.

"That's Mae's signature Pokemon," Jari noted. "She's getting serious at this point."

"And right now, Roz doesn't really have anything to counter a Water type," Nebu said glumly.

"Samurott, Surf!" Mae cried. A huge wave of water washed up the arena. Nidoking was swallowed up and tossed around. When the waves disappeared, Nidoking was unable to move.

"Nidoking is unable to battle! Samurott wins!" Nik announced.

Roz smiled a little, even though she was in a bit of a pickle.

Mae noticed Roz's smirk. "What are you smiling about?" she demanded.

"Because of this," Roz said, throwing out a Poke Ball. Out of the ball emerged Roz's favorite Pokemon, Charizard.

Everyone in the stands gasped.

"What is she thinking?!" Kelsey cried. "It's like she's just giving up!"

Marty laughed. "That's just like her. She always relies on Charizard to get things done."

"Charizard versus Samurott!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"You've got to be kidding!" Mae shouted. "Samurott, use Hydro Pump!" Samurott shot a large stream of water straight at Charizard.

"Fly up!" Roz ordered quickly. Charizard did as instructed instantly, causing Samurott's attack to miss.

"Now, grab it and use Seismic Toss!" Roz exclaimed. Charizard dive bombed into Samurott, grabbed it with its arms, and flew into the air. Charizard flew higher and higher until it could go no further. Once it had reached its highest point, it began to fly in a circle numerous times. Once it had finished doing that, it dive bombed straight down to the arena floor. Once they were close enough, Charizard dropped Samurott and righted itself. Samurott, being unable to fly, crashed straight into the ground, leaving a huge crater.

"Samurott is unable to battle!" Nik exclaimed. "Charizard wins! The winner is Rozalie!"

The crowd roared as both competitors withdrew their Pokemon. Roz walked over to Mae.

"That was a good match," she said. "Thanks for giving me a challenge."

"Anytime," Mae said, regaining her composure. "Good luck with the rest of the tournament!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 69: Some Odd Shenanigans

"What a great battle by both Rozalie and Mae!" Nik exclaimed. "These battles continue to impress us all! Now let's move on to the next match!" Everyone turned their attention to the screen once again as it cycled through names and faces once again. Finally, they both stopped. One of the spaces had a picture of a black silhouette, just like when Alan had come out to battle.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have another battle with an Elite Four member!" Nik cried out, excited. "Will the challenger, Gregory, please come down to the arena?"

Gregory jumped up out of his seat. "Wish me luck, guys!" he said cheerfully as he left the competitor's seats.

"He seems pretty excited," Kelsey noted. "Hopefully this will be a good battle!"

"I don't think I've ever seen Gregory battle," Marty said.

"He never really gets the opportunity to, does he?" Taylor noted. "This should be a rare treat for all of us."

Gregory made it down to the arena floor as Nik was beginning to introduce the Elite Four member coming out to battle.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Nik called. "You know him, you love him, let's hear it for the number two ranked Elite Four member, Joel!" Roars came from the crowd as a boy came out to the arena. He wore a black jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and jeans. He walked past his spot, to the center of the arena.

"Thank you for coming out, everyone!" Joel called to his audience. "Unfortunately, I am withdrawing from this battle for classified reasons!" He turned and walked out of the arena, leaving the crowd stunned and silent.

Nik finally broke the silence. "Well then, Gregory, I guess you don't have to battle today! Lucky you!"

"Dang it!" Gregory cried as he trudged back to his seat.

"Well, that was odd," Marty said. As he said this, Jari got up and walked out of the stands.

"So was that," Kelsey noted. "Does anyone else think that Jari has been acting a little strange today?"

"I was feeling that," Eric agreed. "I can't put my finger on what it is, though."

Down in the arena, Nik was trying to calm the crowd down. "I know this is disappointing, folks, but bear with us! Since this would be the halfway point of the day, we're going to take an intermission at this point. We will continue the first round battles in one hour! Until then, please feel free to roam around!" People began to get up from their seats and shuffle around.

"I don't know about you guys," Marty said, "but I feel like a power nap is in order."

"Agreed," Taylor said. "Let's go to our rooms." So the competitors left the arena and returned to their rooms.

...MEANWHILE...

Jari had gotten off the elevator on the ninth floor of the Maron Building, where the tournament was being held. The Maron Building was home to many things that kept the Terrari Region running. Jari headed straight into the office that was dealing with the tournament. There was just one room to this office, and there were only two people there, a young man and a young woman.

"Jari," said the young man. "Good to see you."

"Hello, Henry," Jari greeted.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Jari, my name is not Henry!" he said. "It's-

"Whatever, Henry," Jari dismissed. "And good afternoon to you, Jordan."

"Hey," the woman said.

"What are you doing here?" Henry asked.

"I've come to ask you what the hell you think you're doing," Jari said.

"Pretty rude," Jordan huffed.

"The competitors are starting to catch on to this little game," Jari told them. "And who told you that you could force an Elite Four member to forfeit a match?"

"We didn't have enough data on Gregory," Henry explained. "We wanted to make sure he was in the running to face, 'him'."

"And you think he'll make it that far?" Jari questioned.

"It's possible, considering the limited data we have on him," Henry answered. "But our bets right now are on Marty or Alan."

"Of course," Jordan said, "they fight each other in the next round, since we set it up a little odd."

"Is there anyone else that could face him before the finals?" Jari asked.

"If we had to pick anybody, it'd have to be Mike," Jordan said, pushing her hair back behind her ears. "If your intel is correct, and 'he' is here, we need to get rid of him as soon as possible."

"Our intel can't be confirmed until he reveals himself," Jari reminded her. "We can't risk attacking an innocent at a globally televised event."

"Well, he better decide to reveal himself before the finals," Henry said ominously.

"Agreed," Jordan said. "For all our sakes."

"I better get going," Jari said. "Thank you guys for helping me out with this." With that, Jari turned around and left the office.

...MEANWHILE...

"Something weird is going on here," Marty said to the others as they headed for their rooms.

"Definitely," Atticus agreed. "These battles almost seem staged somehow."

"And why would that Elite Four member just decide to forfeit without even battling?" Stepney wondered.

"I think Jari has something to do with this," Jordan admitted. "He must know something that the rest of us don't."

"Well, we can't very well just ask him about it," Nebu asked. "He'll just get defensive."

"If he wanted you all to know, he'd tell you," Mae said grumpily as she slammed the door to her room behind her.

"Don't people have to be out of these rooms after they lose?" Taylor asked.

"I don't think that was ever established," Ben said. "I'm fine with that because I could use a nice bed right about now." He ran to his room and shut the door.

"We can figure all this out later," Marty said to the rest of them. "Let's just get a quick nap in." Everyone went to their rooms and took a quick nap during the intermission. Jordan was about to walk into his room when Nebu stopped him.

"I need to talk to you. Now."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 70: A Bewitching Blunder

After the intermission, the competitors slowly shuffled back to their seats, as did the spectators. Nik was back in his place, getting the crowd ready for the next battle.

"Are you guys ready for this second half?" he asked. Numerous cheers from the crowd indicated that they were ready to begin. "Let's get to it, then! If you could all turn your attention to the screen again, please!" The screen switched on and settled on two more names.
"Stepney and Mobo!" Nik shouted excitedly. "Come on down!"

"Good luck, Stepney!" Roz called after him. "Don't you dare lose!"

"And don't let Mobo forfeit," Gregory muttered under his breath, still upset.

"I'll do my best!" Stepney assured them as he bounded down to the arena. Mobo was already down there waiting for him.

"It's useless for you to fight me!" he taunted. "I already know all about you!"

"Dude," Stepney replied. "That's creepy."

"Stepney!" Nik began. "Choose your first Pokemon!"

"Sure thing!" Stepney cried. "Go, Swampert! Let's get this battle going!" Swampert leapt into the field, jittering with action.

Mobo smirked. "Hah! A starter Pokemon? Figures." he reached behind him and pulled out what appeared to be a Heavy Ball. "Go, Rhyperior!" The enormous rock type lunged into battle, its heavy presence creating a small dust cloud at its feet. Sadly, Mobo's ego overtook his knowledge that he was at a type disadvantage.

Nik took note of the Pokemon on the field and shouted, "Swampert versus Rhyperior! Begin!"

Mobo acted first, with a dignified gleam in his eye, calling out to his Rhyperior with a heated passion in his voice. NOTHING would lose him this battle. Nothing. "Rhyperior, use Megahorn!"

Rhyperior ran towards its foe, the horn atop its head beginning to glow and spin with an illuminating light. Stepney was purposely allowing his opponent to get close, as his plan required a close range target to be effective. Mobo's Rhyperior got closer and closer, until it eventually got within an arm's length of Stepney's Swampert, when Stepney called out a command: "Swampert, deflect it with a close-range Brick Break!"

Like a scene out of a Karate movie, Swampert moved as if in slow motion, from all four legs planted on the ground, spinning several times before kicking Rhyperior square in the chest, sending it flying back to its corner of the stadium, landing on its back.

Mobo knew his strongest Pokemon wouldn't be taken down so easily, as all the attention of the crowd slowly turned to Rhyperior as it struggled to pull itself off of the ground. The move had been super effective, dealing quite a large amount of damage to the lumbering rock-type. "Rhyperior, bring it back together with your Stone Edge!" Mobo cried.

Rhyperior raised its stubby leg as high as it could, and quickly slammed it into the ground, sending a wave of energy towards Swampert. The energy transferred through the ground, ripping up pieces of the stadium right and left, creating large stalagmites that were sharp enough to do serious damage.

Stepney cringed. He hadn't anticipated having many obstacles within the battle, so he contemplated a way to maneuver around them, or even better, destroy them. "Swampert, try to crush those stalagmites with brick break! And hit Rhyperior with Giga Impact!" Rhyperior couldn't have much left in him, Stepney thought. Giga Impact should be just enough to oust the beast.

Swampert ejected from its place in the stadium like an air pilot from a burning fighter jet- fast. Seeming to bounce from obstacle to obstacle, Swampert destroyed every stalagmite it touched on its path to Rhyperior. Rhyperior began a charge towards Swampert before it could reach the final rocky spike in the ground.

"Rhyperior, give it a taste of its own medicine!" Mobo cried. "Let's show 'em how to really fight!" Pointing his finger towards the final stalagmite, his Rhyperior picked up on the plan immediately and seized the giant pinnacle from the ground. "Now, Rhyperior, use Rock Wrecker!" The Pokemon swiftly obeyed, swinging the giant mass of land in the direction of the oncoming Swampert.

"Swampert!" Stepney cried, a slight worry in his voice. "Use your Giga Impact to break through!" confident, the water-and-ground-type lifted off once again, headed straight for an impact with Rhyperior's newfound batting device.

The bat fashioned from the stalagmite split into many pieces, flying all around the arena and causing damage to both Pokemon. Swampert's head took the majority of the damage, having cracked the rock with Giga impact. Mobo saw his chance. "It's weak, Rhyperior! Finish this with Fire Blast!" He knew the move wouldn't be very effective, but there was hardly a chance it would survive another blow.

Stepney knew Swampert was down for the count, but he had to make the most of it... "Swampert, try to protect yourself by using Muddy Water!" Lying on the rough dirt stadium floor, Swampert turned to face Rhyperior, who began to produce flames out of its mouth, and shot out a horridly brown-colored water, hoping to douse the flames and escape defeat. Smoke covered the two Pokemon as Swampert continued in its struggle to escape. Suddenly, movement ceased, and Rhyperior was left standing victorious over Swampert. Wet, but still victorious.

Stepney took no time in strategizing. Quickly, he called Swampert back, replacing it for his anxious Weavile.

"Weavile versus Rhyperior!" Nik cried. "Begin!"

"Weavile, get him with a nice ice beam!" Stepney cried. The dark colored weasel-like Pokemon sprung out of its Poke Ball with a powerful ice orb glowing from its mouth, sending it flying towards the wet Rhyperior. The humongous Pokemon was frozen solid. Mobo shuddered. "Now, finish it off with Shadow Ball!" commanded Stepney.

The dark-and-ice-type sped off in Rhyperior's direction, which could do nothing to stop the advancing threat. Summoning a large orb of energy from what appeared to be the great beyond, Weavile threw the mass of dark energy at the frozen Pokemon, shattering the ice and leaving Rhyperior unconscious.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle!" Nik called. "Mobo, choose your next Pokemon!"

"Go, Liepard!" Mobo shouted as the leopard Pokemon crawled out of its Poke Ball with a prowess-like manner. "Sucker Punch this nut job!" Quickly, the purple feline raced towards its opponent, it's paws glowing as it bounded over the stadium ground.

Stepney's Weavile stared at the oncoming target. He couldn't attack with Dark type moves because they would be little effective, but Stepney had little to choose from, hesitantly shouting, "Weavile, give it a Dark Pulse!" Weavile placed its hand on the ground and closed its eye, as if it was sending a signal into the ground. Suddenly, a great black spot appeared on the stadium and shot out towards the bounding Liepard. Separating into multiple speeding factions, the attack hit the Pokemon on three sides, knocking it to the ground, causing its attack to fail.

"Liepard!" Mobo scolded. "Get back here and let's try that again!" Liepard's ear twitched. That was the secret phrase.

Stepney wasn't ready to let Liepard just mosey on back to its trainer yet- Weavile lunged at the slow-moving beast, preparing to launch a fully charged ice beam attack.

"Liepard, now!" Mobo cried, smug to himself. His Pokemon whipped around, staring Weavile straight in the face and bared its teeth in anger. As the ice beam attack slowly came closer to Liepard, it brought to its face a glowing paw-Sucker Punch- to block the attack. Impossible. With a deafening BOOM, smoke covered Liepard as well as most of Mobo's side of the stadium. When the smoke cleared, Liepard had disappeared. Gone, completely.

A silence befell the crowd. "Where do you think it went?!" Jordan cried.

"There's no way to explain what just happened," Marty replied. "I don't even know what to say."

"I hope Liepard is alright," Eric said.

Just then, Mobo looked up to the sky and brought his hands above his head. Pointing them straight at Weavile, Mobo dove into the depths of his diaphragm and let out a deafening battle cry, "GOOOOOOO!" Both Weavile  and Stepney looked harried, nervously awaiting a surprise attack from all sides, which is exactly what they got.

Without warning, Liepard suddenly reappeared from its unknown place of hiding and struck at Weavile, a perfect execution of Fake-Out. Weavile was struck aback and left paralyzed. Mobo smirked again. "Let's finish this and get you rested, Liepard. U-Turn!"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Kelsey cried in anguish. "Gosh, what an idiotic move! Doesn't he know that will disqualify him from the match?!"

Nebu looked at him funny. "Wait, what are you talking about?" Everyone seemed to nod in agreement, noticing a lack of common knowledge.

"Don't you guys remember? Nik said it at the very beginning of the tournament!" Kelsey explained. "'There will be no substitutions' he said. Didn't any of you read Chapter 62?" Thinking back, some heads shook, some nodded, and others dozed off. Kelsey, distraught, sighed, "Oh, just watch, you'll see."

Picking up where we left off, Liepard dashed from its place by Mobo and ran towards the paralyzed Weavile. It forcefully pounced on the ice-type and knocked it out before hurriedly flipping back to its trainer and re-entering it's Poke Ball.

Nik's eyes almost fell out of their sockets, unable to take in what he had just seen. "Go, Accelgor!" Mobo cried, but he didn't have long before Nik stepped in. Even Stepney knew what had happened.

"STOP!" Nik came over on the intercom. "The battle is over. Mobo has been disqualified for substituting his Pokemon against tournament rules."

The crowd  as a whole gasped. Mobo's eyes went almost into the back of his head as he fell to the ground in a faint. "As a result of his disqualification, Mobo has ceded the match to Stepney, the winner! Congratulations!"

Slowly, medics wandered onto the field, picked up Mobo's limp body and carried it off the stadium floor. Gregory snickered.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 71: Sadistic Little Saria

"Well!" Nik gasped. "These last few battles have been...uneventful. Let's see if we can spice things up with this next one!" He turned to the screen, and two names popped up. All eyes immediately turned up to the competitors' seats, and they were fixed on both Jordan and Saria.

"This should be a good one, folks!" Nik said, excited. "Jordan, Saria, come on down!"

"Good luck," Nebu said plainly. Something seemed off about her.

"Um...thanks?" Jordan questioned. He looked somewhat conflicted as he walked down from his seats to the arena.

"What was that about?" Eric whispered over to Kelsey. "Nebu almost seemed mad at Jordan."

"I have no idea," Kelsey whispered back. He turned to Marty. "What do you think?"

"Something's off with her today," Marty admitted. "I'm almost afraid to talk to her about it."

Nebu picked her head up and turned back to face the three boys. She shot them all the dirtiest look anyone had ever seen before.

While this was going on, the two competitors had reached the arena. They stared each other down while Nik rambled off the usual rules.

"Jordan will choose his Pokemon first!" Nik declared. Jordan just sat there, seemingly lost in thought. "Hey, Jordan? Hurry up and send out your Pokemon! Otherwise, you'll time out and forfeit!"

"Huh?" Jordan grunted. "Oh, sorry. I choose Chandelure." He half-heartedly threw out a Poke Ball, and the haunted chandelier Pokemon emerged.

Saria flashed an evil smile on her face. "Go, Quagsire!" The salamander-like Pokemon crashed into the field on its head, but it didn't even seem to care.

"Chandelure versus Quagsire!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Quagsire, Surf!" Saria cried. Quagsire summoned a giant wave which was heading straight for Chandelure. Jordan had plenty of time to order Chandelure to dodge the impending wave, but he said nothing. The wave went straight into Chandelure, extinguishing its blue flames and sending it crashing into the wall.

"Chandelure is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Quagsire wins!"

The crowd was a mixture of groans and boos as Jordan recalled his Pokemon and quietly searched for another.

"Something's wrong with Jordan," Stepney pointed out. "He's not acting like himself."

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "What's eating him?" Quite a few eyes in the competitor's seats turned to Nebu, who quietly kept her gaze on the battlefield.

"Meganium," Jordan mumbled as his starter Pokemon came out to fight.

"Meganium versus Quagsire!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"Razor Leaf," Jordan murmured. Meganium shot a flurry of leaves at Quagsire, which injured it severely due to a huge type disadvantage. The dense Pokemon didn't seem to care, though. It got up, somewhat slowly, and was ready to continue.

"Ice Beam!" Saria growled. Quagsire opened its mouth and shot a beam of frigid energy straight at Meganium. Meganium awaited a dodge order from Jordan. Again, no order came. Meganium, being a stubborn Pokemon by nature, dodged the attack itself and prepared an attack. Soon, Meganium released an extremely fast Solarbeam at Quagsire, which caused it to faint. Even though it had taken sufficient damage, it still looked as carefree as always.

Nik looked surprised. "Quagsire is unable to battle, so Meganium wins!" Even though Jordan had made a comeback, the crowd was still not convinced that he was giving the battle his all.

Saria was not convinced at all either. She saw an oppurtunity mess with her opponent. She flashed another sadistic little smile and began trash-talking Jordan to death. "Hey! I thought you were better than this! Looks to me like you're just a big wimp!"

Marty was starting to get mad. He looked over at Nebu, who still hadn't let her gaze stray from the middle of the arena. Soon, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey, Nebu!" he shouted out. "You know something the rest of us don't! Tell us what's going on with you and Jordan!"

Nebu whipped back to face Marty. "It's none of your business! That goes for all of you!"

"Jordan's basically too depressed to even battle right now!" Roz emphasized. "If it wasn't for Meganium being too stubborn to wait for an order, he would only have one Pokemon left! You need to tell us what's going on and reconcile it with him really quick!"

Nebu stared at her friends with a terrible disdain. Then, she suddenly seemed to snap out of whatever funk she was in. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out to Jordan.

"Jordan!" she cried. "I'm sorry about what happened during the intermission earlier! It's not you, it's me! I'd really like it if we could go on as friends, just like we've always been! Please try to understand!"

The crowd gasped. Jerry buried his face in his hands and muffled a scream while Francois tried to comfort him. Jordan looked up at her for a moment and smiled. He nodded at her, and then looked to Meganium.

"Sorry, Meganium," he said sheepishly. "I haven't been myself during this battle. I'm ready to go now, though, so will you fight with me?" Meganium looked back and nodded.

"So you're back in action?" Saria taunted. "I hope you can do a little better than you've BEEN doing!"

"You know something, Saria?" Jordan decided. "You're kind of a sadistic little girl, aren't you?"

"No you!" Saria shrieked. "Go, Purugly!" The fat cat Pokemon lumbered out onto the field.

"Meganium versus Purugly!" Nik commented. "Begin!"

"Meganium, use Body Slam!" Jordan ordered. Meganium began charging toward Purugly, looking to tackle it.

"Purugly, counter it with Giga Impact!" Saria cried out. Purugly charged straight at Meganium with a powerful purple energy surrounding it. Once the two Pokemon made contact, Purugly won out. Meganium went flying backwards and skidded to a stop, out cold on the arena floor.

"Meganium is unable to battle!" Nik decided. "Purugly wins!"

Jordan called Meganium back and smiled. "Now that I'm back in the fight, I can still take this! I choose Cinccino!" Jordan's first and favorite Pokemon leapt gracefully out from its Poke Ball out to the field.

"Cinccino versus Purugly!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Cinccino, use Iron Tail!" Jordan exclaimed. Cinccino's tail was coated with a layer of hard iron. It ran to Purugly and got ready to strike it.

"Purugly, dodge it!" Saria cried. Purugly heard the order, but it couldn't move. It had used too much energy using Giga Impact earlier. Cinccino's tail slapped Purugly straight across the face. Purugly skidded across the ground, looking injured.

"Follow up with Swift!" Jordan ordered, starting to get excited. Cinccino's entire tail began to glow gold and it waved it, firing multiple gold-colored stars from its tail at Purugly. Purugly still wasn't completely recovered from using the Giga Impact, so it couldn't do anything against the barrage of stars hitting it.

"Purugly!" Saria screamed. "Use Slash!" Purugly got up and ran at Cinccino with its claws out, extended fully.

"Stop it with Slam!" Jordan said, elated. Cinccino grabbed Purugly with its hands before it could scratch it and tossed it to the ground. Purugly still got up, not wanting to lose.

Saria was starting to get visibly angry. "Giga Impact!" Purugly was surrounded once again with the purple energy and it rushed at Cinccino.

Cinccino just stood there, knowing what Jordan was about to say next. You could see the smile start to form on both of their faces. Before anyone knew what was happening, both of Cinccino's ears rolled up, first one then the other. It took in a deep breath and shouted loudly. As it shouted, the inside of its mouth glowed white and a beam of wind with turquoise rings inside them came out from Cinccino's mouth and quite literally screamed towards Purugly. The two attacks made contact with a huge explosion that rocked the whole tower. Purugly finally gave out and fainted.

"Purugly is unable to battle!" Nik confirmed. "Cinccino wins!" The crowd roared as Jordan and Cinccino did a little victory dance.

Saria just stood there, looking at the ground. Her hair had gone over her eyes so no one could see them. She didn't move. She didn't say a word. She made no attempt to call out her next Pokemon.

"Hey, Saria!" Nik shouted. "You still have another Pokemon at your disposal. You'd better hurry and get it out before you're disqualified!"

Saria continued to stand there for a few seconds. Finally, she looked up, which moved her hair away from her eyes. Everyone was shocked and disturbed. Saria's eyes had taken on a disturbing red glow.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice having changed into that of a demon's. "I guess I'm ready to play now, too!" She threw out her third Poke Ball, revealing her signature Lopunny.

Ruto sat up in the stands, shaking her head. "It's been a while since she's gotten like this."

"I haven't seen her do this for a long time," Francois agreed.

Meanwhile, the battle was continuing as scheduled, with Nik announcing the final matchup. "Lopunny versus Cinccino! Begin!"

"Lopunny, Jump Kick!" Saria hissed. Lopunny leapt high into the air and brought its foot down onto Cinccino. Cinccino cried out as it went flying backwards.

"Cinccino!" Jordan cried out. "Tail Slap!" Cinccino's entire tail began to glow white and it hit Lopunny multiple times with it. Lopunny didn't even seem to be fazed by Cinccino's attack.

"Dizzy Punch!" Saria ordered. Lopunny began punching Cinccino with its ears, which had started glowing multiple colors. Cinccino fell back again. It was down on the ground, struggling to get up.

"Is this it?" Roz wondered. "Is Jordan done for?"

Nebu's attitude hadn't really changed until that point. She shouted out one more time. "Jordan! I know you two can win! I believe in you, no matter what!"

Jordan smiled once again down on the arena. "You heard her, Cinccino! You can do it! Let's finish this!" Cinccino stumbled onto its feet, ready for battle.

"Lopunny, let's end it with another Jump Kick!" Saria cried out sadistically. Lopunny jumped into the air again and brought its foot down towards Cinccino.

"Dodge it and use Focus Blast!" Jordan commanded. Cinccino got out of the way of Lopunny's impeding foot. It put its hands together and started gathering a light blue energy. Once the orb was ready, Cinccino shot it straight at Lopunny.

"Lopunny, get out of the way!" Saria screamed. Lopunny tried to move, but it had crashed into the ground and hurt the foot it was going to use to attack Cinccino. It watched helplessly as the Focus Blast hit it square on. A cloud of smoke covered the arena. When it cleared, Lopunny was lying on the ground, knocked out.

"Lopunny is unable to battle!" Nik boomed. "Cinccino wins! The winner is Jordan!" The crowd went nuts as the two competitors withdrew their Pokemon. Jordan walked over to Saria, who had since returned to normal.

"That was a good battle, once I got started!" Jordan admitted. "Thank you!"

Saria looked a little dizzy, as if she didn't know what was going on. "Huh? Oh, it's over? That's too bad. Congratulations!"

Jordan walked out of the arena feeling great about everything again. It didn't matter that he had fought with Nebu earlier. Everything was going to be okay.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 72: Rutatoes

"What a great comeback from Jordan!" Nik cried out with excitement. "These battles are starting to heat up again! Let's move on to the next round!"

The crowd cheered as the screen switched on again, but the competitors were getting restless.

"When is it my turn?" Kelsey groaned.

"Can we leave if we're done?" Marty moaned.

"I'm tired," Stepney mumbled.

"I'm hungry," Matt grumbled.

"I'm bored," Davy rumbled.

"Guys, can you stop whining for just a little longer?" Roz asked them. "As soon as the first round is over, we're done for the day. You guys can eat as much as you want, then get rested for the next day. Just calm yourselves until then, okay?"

With that, all five of the boys slumped back in their chairs and pouted simultaneously.

While this was going on, the battle had already been started. Saria's sister, Ruto, was matched up against Mike, the Terrari champion. The crowd roared as Mike's Volcarona tore through Ruto's Grumpig and Cherrim.

"It looks like our illustrious champion is making quick work of this poor competitor," Nik observed. "He isn't even breaking a sweat!"

Ruto was fuming. How could she lose so early after all the intense training she did?

"Go, Golduck!" she cried out as she threw out her final Pokemon.

"Golduck versus Volcarona!" Nik declared. "Begin!"

"Hydro Pump!" Ruto cried. Golduck immediately shot a powerful stream of water at Volcarona. The attack came too quickly for Mike to react, so Volcarona was hit full force by the attack. Mike's signature Pokemon fell to the ground, out cold.

The crowd was shocked for a moment. Then everyone went crazy. Ruto had succesfully taken out one of Mike's Pokemon!

"Volcarona is unable to battle!" Nik screamed. "Golduck wins! This is incredible, folks! I have never seen Mike fight with Volcarona and lose before! This could get interesting!"

Mike looked a little upset. He pursed his lips together. "Rutato, that wasn't very nice. You took out my favorite Pokemon."

Ruto breathed a sigh of relief and laughed. "Sorry, Mike, but I'm not gonna let you take this match that easily!"

"Fine," Mike groaned playfully. "I'll play along for you, Miss Rutato."

"Are you ever going to stop with that?" Ruto asked, her face turning beet red. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"Nope," Mike laughed. "Go, Scrafty!" Mike's second Pokemon sprang out on the field, looking straight-up gangsta.

"Scrafty versus Golduck!" Nik declared. "Begin!"

Mike began his turn with a simple command: "Scrafty! Use Dragon Dance!"

With that, the fighting-type Pokemon he had thrown into the field began to form itself into a ball to charge up energy within. After only a few seconds, Scrafty began to shine a bright red, darker than the color of it's skin already was. Unannounced, the small fighter with baggy pantaloons lurched skyward, throwing it's arms into the air while dispelling a barrage of small flashy lightning bolts. After a spin or two, Mike's Scrafty placed its feet firmly in the direction of it's opponent, looking pumped and ready for action.

"Golduck, use Aqua Tail!" Ruto ordered. A stream of water spiraled around Golduck's tail. It then jumped into the air and fliped around, attempting to hit Scrafty with its tail.

"Dodge, and use Dragon Dance again!" Mike uttered just in time. Scrafty leapt into the air as it had before, red skin and all.

"Don't let up!" Ruto cried. "Use Ice Punch!"  Golduck pulled back one of its fists, which was then surrounded by swirling energy which changed from white to light blue. It then leapt up to its opponent, ready to strike.

Mike didn't even seem fazed. In fact, he appeared to have a smile on his face as he gave Scrafty one more order.

"Scrafty, Drain Punch."

Scrafty's fist became surrounded in a green energy with yellow streaks spiraling around it. It then brought its fist out to meet Golduck's. The impact was intense. Shockwaves rippled throughout the arena. Unfortunately for Golduck, though, Scrafty's Dragon Dancing had made it faster and more powerful. Scrafty's attack quickly connected with Golduck and drained all of its energy. With no will left to fight, Golduck crashed down onto the arena floor.

"Golduck is unable to battle!" Nik decided. "Scrafty wins! The victor is your Champion, Mike!"

The crowd went crazy as the two competitors withdrew their Pokemon. Mike walked over to Ruto and patted her on the shoulder.

"Not bad, Rutato," he mused, pursing his lips again. "Next time, maybe you'll take out two of my Pokemon!"

Ruto just groaned as the Champion walked away chuckling.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 73: Family Matters

Ruto and Mike had just made it back to their seats when the competitors for the next round had been chosen.

"Otso and...um...Otso?" Nik announced, extremely confused. "Is this a mistake?"

"No way!" Otso cried.

"Yes, way!" a voice behind all of the other competitors cried. They all looked back at what appeared to be a younger version of Otso standing up by the entrance. "Long time no see, bro! Now it's time for me to finally defeat you!"

Otso groaned. "Of all the people to have to face, you had to be here."

"Who is this guy, Otso?" Taylor asked.

"This is Otso, my younger brother," he explained. "We just call him Junior. He's got some kind of vendetta against me because I left home with FSM a while ago, and he had to take care of our parents."

"That's actually some pretty solid reasoning," Atticus noted.

"I had my reasons," Otso retorted, stealing a glance at Caroline. "Anyway, we should probably go get this over with." He turned and walked out into the arena, with his younger brother following close behind. Once Otso got out to the arena floor, he walked straight up to Nik. After whispering something into his ear, he secretly slipped Nik a few dollars and walked back to his spot.

"Alright, folks, I've got a few, 'special instructions' for this round," Nik said. "We'll be speeding up this battle a little bit, making it one on one. Also, we need Caroline to come down to the arena floor directly after the match. With that out of the way, the battle between Otso and...Otso Jr. can now begin!"

"I choose Toxicroak!" Otso Jr. decided. The large Poison type Pokemon came out onto the field.

"Not messing around, I see!" Otso noted. "Okay, then, I choose Flaaffy!" The pink sheep sprang out of its Poke Ball, ready to fight.

"Toxicroak versus Flaaffy!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Toxicroak, let's start off with a Sludge Bomb!" Junior called out quickly. Toxicroak conjured up a ball of nasty sludge and threw it at Flaaffy.

"Counter with an Electro Ball!" Otso cried. Huge sparks of electricity shot out of the tufts of wool on Flaaffy and they concentrated into a ball. Flaaffy quickly threw it at Toxicroak's attack, neutralizing both of them and throwing electrified sludge all over the arena.

"Now, Toxicroak, get up close with Poison Jab!" Junior ordered. Immediately, Toxicroak lunged straight at Flaaffy, its claws glowing with a poisonously purple energy.

"Now, Agility!" Otso shouted. Flaaffy suddenly gained a boost of incredible speed and got behind Toxicroak just before the attack could connect.

"Toxicroak, hit it with Gunk Shot!" Junior cried. Toxicroak put its hands together and used its energy to form a ball of the most putrid substance anyone had ever seen before. The stench was so bad, some members of the audience actually passed out.

"Flaaffy, use Charge!" Otso cried. Flaaffy began to charge up electrical power, borrowing it from anything in the general area, including the electrified sludge that had been created. Soon, a large ball of electricity started to form around the little sheep Pokemon, seemingly acting like a force field.

"Fire!" Junior shrieked. Toxicroak shot its vile concoction straight at the ball of electricity, but it just bounced off and evaporated instantly.

"Now, Discharge!" Otso cried out. The electricity surrounding Flaaffy shot out in all directions, seriously damaging Toxicroak. With the opaque electricity out of the way, everyone could see that Flaaffy looked a little...different. It had grown quite a bit taller. On top of that, it had changed in color from pink to yellow, all of its wool was gone, and a shiny red gem had appeared on its forehead.

"Flaaffy evolved into Ampharos!" Matt exclaimed.

"What perfect timing for Otso!" Stepney cried out excitedly.

Down in the stands, Otso was dumbstruck. "But, Flaaffy, you were so cute! I miss your wool!"

"Dude, get over it and let's finish this!" Junior told him. "Gunk Shot!" Toxicroak got up and readied another disgusting ooze ball and shot it right towards the newly evolved Ampharos.

"Ampharos, Thunder!" Otso screamed. Ampharos conjured up a wicked lightning bolt and shot it straight at Toxicroak's attack. The two attacks collided, but Ampharos' new power quickly won out. Toxicroak was fried and it hit the ground, unconcious.

"Toxicroak is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Ampharos wins! The victor is Otso!" The crowd roared as Junior sulked back to the stands. Shortly after he left, Caroline came out onto the arena. Otso was waiting there for her with Nik's microphone in hand.

"What is this about, Otso?" Caroline asked him. "Why did you drag me all the way down here?"

"I have a question for you, Caroline," Otso said. He walked up to her and got down on one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small container resembling a Poke Ball. The whole crowd gasped as Otso opened the container to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.

"Caroline, will you marry me?" Otso asked.

Caroline covered her mouth with her hands and cried tears of happiness. Her reply was obvious.

"Yes, I will marry you, Otso."

"Great!" Otso said, clearly elated. "I was hoping you'd say that, because the ceremony is already planned and its happening tonight! Everyone here is invited!"

The crowd roared with excitement as the couple embraced each other.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 74: Hail to the Chief

While Otso Jr. sulked his way back into the stands, Otso and his new soon-to-be bride ran out of the arena, off to make plans for their upcoming wedding! Nik smiled on the competitors below, and looked back up at the battle roster.

"Well, folks, we're getting near the end of round one! Our next battle is between Davy and Jari! Come on down, you two!" Nik spread his arms to welcome the competitors onto the stadium floor, and the two trainers took their places.

Davy, on Nik's left, was secretly homesick- it had been almost a year since they began their journey in Terrari, and two whole years since he had since his home of Cinnabar Island. He missed the sea air, the small town life he had thrived in his whole life, and of course his family. He was as focused on winning this match as he was about his home. He wanted to make his family friends proud...especially his dad. He and his Pokemon were more than fighting-fit.

Jari, across from Davy, wasn't so dedicated to his cause. High in rank, popular among the people, he could almost win this match with publicity alone. There wasn't any way some kid could just waltz in and show him up with his baby Pokemon. He wasn't going to lose. He was the chief.

"Are you both ready?" Nik cried. The two challengers nodded. "Then let's begin! Trainers, send out your first Pokemon!"

Jari tossed out an averagely sized Kangaskhan onto the field, where it sat, awaiting its opponent. Davy followed with his first Pokemon, Xatu.

Almost without command, Davy's Xatu flew up into the sky and completely disappeared from the view of the audience. Jari smiled. He relaxed his body from the tense position he had been in prior to Xatu's disappearance. He was confident in the next step of his plan, but wasn't sure quite how to enact it, as Xatu's mysterious vanishing act wasn't all too predictable.

Davy looked over at Jari, watching the smug chief's eyes glance over the skies, silently searching for his psychic flying type. Davy knew exactly where it was: the northwest corner of the stadium, taking aim to pounce on the unsuspecting Kangaskhan. He looked up at his Pokemon in the corner of his eye, shouting "Xatu, attack!"

Suddenly, Davy's Xatu appeared in the sky and flew straight ahead at the Kangaskhan, who hadn't even blinked since entering the battlefield. When Xatu was only an stone's throw from Jari's Pokemon, the chief cried out, "NOW!" call his Pokemon to action. The Kangaskhan whipped around with a clenched fist, burning with hot fire, slamming it directly into where Xatu's head should've been... wasn't.

The Pokemon was gone. Again. Jari had clearly attained the upper hand with a last minute surprise attack, so where did its opponent go? Did the attack land? He had no idea. But Davy knew. "Go, Xatu!" he cried. This time, three Xatu flew from the sky, dive bombing the heavily confused Kangaskhan. Distraught, Jari again ordered Kangaskhan to Fire Punch the trio of psychic types. No luck. Each one disappeared into thin air with a single contact with Kangaskhan's attack.

Jari was frustrated. There was no explanation for this other than that Xatu was still in the skies, using it's psychic powers to create illusions, or puppets of itself to trick Kangaskhan into attacking the fakes. There was only one solution to keep Xatu from getting the advantage of it- a surprise attack. Fortunately for Jari, his Kangaskhan knew several moves that ordinary Pokemon of its kind wouldn't know. Certain moves that would be very effective against a flying opponent such as Davy's Xatu.

Directing his Kangaskhan to center field, Jari gave his Pokemon direct orders to attack the sky. Or so it appeared. Davy looked in awe and stupidity at his opponent, aghast at what he was doing. What was he doing?

With a powerful vengeance, Kangaskhan cried out, and dark clouds rolled over the stadium, blackening the sky and dimming the stadium. As thunder boomed through the stadium's acoustics, the audience cringed as they expected to be doused with a powerful rainstorm, but instead quite the opposite.

"Oh no." Davy mouthed. There was no escape from what was about to happen. Xatu continued to fire it's doppelgängers at it's opponent, and was too far away from Davy to hear his commands to return to the battlefield. It was doomed to be defeated.

The sky cracked with lightning, and the stadium glowed a bright yellow for half of a second, and then returned to normal. The whole audience flew back in shock, gasping at what had just happened. A sharp cry was heard immediately after the bolt of lightning, followed by Davy's Xatu falling from its hiding spot at the very top of the stadium. Davy returned his fainted Pokemon to his Poke Ball before it hit the ground and caused more injury to itself.

"Xatu!" Nebu cried. "I hope it's not too badly hurt..."

"Hail to the chief!" Jari cried into the stadium. (Most of) the audience cheered and fangirled at the incredible move.

"Xatu is unable to battle!" Nik cried. "Davy, choose your next Pokemon!" Davy threw out a Poke Ball containing his Bisharp. As the spring-like steel bladed pokemon began to approach Jari's Kangaskhan, the ominous clouds above faded away.

Davy was prepared for his comeback, and it was up to Bisharp to secure it. Jari knew that his Pokemon was close to being defeated, and it was likely Bisharp would be the cause of its fainting, so Jari commanded Kangaskhan to defend itself from any attacks.

"Bisharp, let's go get some Payback!" Davy cried. The Pokemon lunged at the defending Kangaskhan and launched a speedy uppercut, its hands covered in a dark aura, avenging the cruel attack that caused Xatu to faint. The sturdy mother-like Pokemon raised its arm to block the attack, but it did very little to protect itself. Kangaskhan was knocked back to the ground, fainted. Davy smiled.

Jari quickly brought Kangaskhan back and replaced it with his fierce-looking Kingler, the evolved form of the crab Pokemon Krabby. "Kingler, use Rock Slide!" Jari cried. The giant crab Pokemon launched itself into the air and pummeled the ground, shaking it so that the ground beneath Bisharp crumbled into large chunks of rock and dust.

Crawling out from it's close call with an almost certain demise, Bisharp had left itself vulnerable once again attempting to right itself. Jari called out to Kingler, "Now Kingler, use Crabhammer!" Kingler lunged towards Bisharp at incredible speed, but Davy knew he had the faster Pokemon.

"Bisharp, snap out of it!" Davy cried. The sleek metal Pokemon shook off the damage from Kingler's rockslide. "Now run from that Kingler before it gets you!" Bisharp ran, or appeared to glide, over the stadium ground, avoiding obstacle after obstacle as if it was ice skating in circles around Jari's dizzying Pokemon.

Finally, Jari's Kingler fell into confusion and lost Bisharp's trail. The steel and dark-type continued to circle the water-type Pokemon as it sat helpless.

"Oh this is gonna be a good one!" Jordan cried. "Jari looks like he doesn't know what to do!"

That's exactly what happened. Again, the chief had not a clue as to how to stop the Bisharp from keeping his Pokemon confused by the difference of speeds. His only hope was to keep attacking, no matter the result. "Kingler, use Crabhammer again and again!" Over and over, the poor Pokemon injured itself due to its confusion, depleting its health rapidly. Jari was pissed.

Davy, his sides practically splitting with laughter, cried out a final move to his Bisharp: "Alright, Bisharp, wrap this crab up with a nice Grass Knot!"

Jari knew his Pokemon was doomed unless he gave it one last shot. He cried out to his weakened Kingler, "One last go, Kingler! Give it a good Crabhammer and cut the knot!"

Bisharp stamped it's foot, and a grass-like root rose from the stadium as Kingler, it's state of confusion slowly waning, whipped around and leaped at Bisharp. In mid-air, Kingler directed its glowing pincer to the grass rope rising from the ground, and as the claw came into contact with the dangerous root, the water-type Pokemon tumbled directly into Bisharp, causing a small explosion. The smoke cleared, revealing that both Pokemon had fainted in the blast.

"Bisharp and Kingler are unable to battle!" Nik cried. "Davy and Jari, send out your last Pokemon!"

Jari held his last available Pokemon in his hand. There was no way that this kid should have lasted so long,he thought. What's gotten into him? He's just a kid! Contemplating the answer, he threw into battle his last Pokemon, Bastiodon.

Davy was excited. Even if he lost right now, there was no way he could be disappointed in himself- this was an incredible first battle...Only one of many if he managed to succeed! Wishing for a chance of grace, he threw onto the field his beloved Blastoise, pumped and ready for action.

Waste no time, The words of Davy's late father echoed in his head as he thought of what to do first. Assess and react to the situation without leaving a single moment behind, and you will succeed in all of your efforts. With the strong advice of his father behind him, Davy felt impervious, commanding Blastoise, "Hydro Pump, now!"

Jari saw the incoming water attack from the turtle-like water type and hesitated while Bastiodon prepared to defend itself from a potentially dangerous onslaught. "Eh...Bastiodon, block it with Fire Blast!" he couldn't let the water touch his Pokemon- the damage would be super effective! His Bastiodon looked at him with contempt as even it knew it wasnt the brightest idea, yet obeyed anyway, breathing a column of fire to protect itself from the incoming water from Blastoise's shoulder jets. Only being mildly doused, Jari snapped out of the rut his mind had fallen into, and to focused on the battle once more.

Davy just had to keep going- he was already damaging Jari's Bastiodon! "Blastoise, use Surf!" The giant turtle-like Pokemon spouted water out of the jets on its sides and directed it towards the ground near Bastiodon's feet.

Jari's eyes widened. There was no way to avoid the attack, he simply had to endure it. "Bastiodon, use Endure! And for good measure, cover yourself using Ancientpower!" Bastiodon did that, and, as water began to swarm all around Bastiodon's feet, his body was protected by the giant rocks that had been summoned from the earth. Slowly, the water drifted away and sank back into the ground, at which point Bastiodon ejected the rocks from it's sides, shooting one directly at Blastoise, knocking it down and damaging it pretty badly.

"Blastoise, get up!" Eric cried. "You're almost there!"

Slowly, Blastoise rose to it's feet, much to Davy's delight. His partner Pokemon still had a lot of gumption left inside of him. Davy wanted to wrap this battle up at last, and he knew just how to do it. "Blastoise, create a Blizzard!" The water type began to spout out snowflakes, first quite slowly, and then faster and faster, and soon snow filled the air, with the wind whipping it into a very chilly atmosphere.

Jari shivered. The audience huddled closer together to stay warm during the temporary weather effect.

Davy, while the cold air was brisk against his skin, was on fire, protruding through all challenges to make it to the end. Jari's Bastiodon stood frozen still, unable to move because of the Blizzard, helpless. "Blastoise, use Skull Bash and break Bastiodon out of there! We've got a battle to finish!"

"When Blastoise gets near, Bastiodon, use Iron Head to counter it!" Jari cried in desperation. Bastiodon simply grunted as a nod to his trainer.

Blastoise was sprinting at full speed towards the frozen Bastiodon, thundering over the ground and being careful not to slip. Readying it's head, it dove directly into Bastiodon as its opponent's head began to glow with a bright silver.

Smoke filled the stadium like it had in many battles before, and the shattered ice fell like snowflakes back onto the field. There, beneath the smoke, was Bastiodon, fainted on the ground, and Blastoise, standing triumphantly over the steel and ground type. The crowd cheered and Davy's smile grew ear to ear, just thinking of how his friends and family back home would react to the news of his first victory in the tournament.

The victory was short lived, however, since Jari and Bastiodon were already gone. Vanished from sight, as of they were never there, into the remaining smoke from the finishing blast...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 75: Concerto's Grand Finale

"...And would you look at that!" Nik called from down stadium. "There's yet another decisive victory here in Maron City by none other than Davy! Not to mention an extremely dramatic exit by Jari! Congratulations on your win, Davy!"

"Thanks, I think?" Davy said, extremely confused as to what happened at the end of his battle. He shrugged it off and went back up to take his seat.

"Our next match-up should be ready momentarily!" Nik cried. The name board flashed, showing lots of faces yet unbattled, finally landing on that of Concerto, and again, another black screen, signaling something big had happened. "Ah, ladies and gentlemen, once again, we have an Elite Four member here to take on one of these ruthless challengers! Jon, come on out!"

A young man stepped out of the dark sidelines onto the newly-regenerated battlefield, looking determined as he smiled at the crowd that gazed upon him. The crowd roared with excitement as their famed celebrity took his stand to battle Concerto's worthy opposition.

Concerto smirked at his competition, thinking about the pure irony of his challenger being an Elite Four member, and finally came out with a short and sweet, "Good luck, Jon!" while mumbling obscenities under his breath. Jon returned the favor.

Nik turned to Concerto, "Concerto, what Pokémon would you like to start out with?"

"My Sudowoodo of course!" Concerto tossed the tree Pokemon's Poke Ball into the air, releasing the rock-hard Pokemon onto the field.

"Hah!" Jon piped up. "You think you're rock hard? I'll show you a real team- of solid steel!" with that, Jon's Poke Ball unleashed a horrid sight onto the battlefield: a massive Steelix that rose almost to the top of the open stadium.

"Sudowoodo versus Steelix!" Nik cried. "Begin!"

Jon made the first move, crying out to his Pokemon, "Steelix, let's wrap this up quickly! Use Iron Tail!" the giant metal snake-like creature swiftly obeyed, swaying its massive rear in the direction of Concerto's Sudowoodo.

Concerto, worried, commanded Sudowoodo to retaliate before the blow struck his rough-skinned pal. "Quick, Sudowoodo, counter his attack with Hammer Arm!" Suddenly, the stone, tree-like Pokemon raised its bonsai fingers and, forming a slight fist, swung at the oncoming Steelix tail. A deafening clang of metal against stone rang out over the field, near deafening the audience and causing much damage to both Pokemon.

Jon's Steelix slowly worked its way back into fighting position, but by that time, Concerto had already ordered his Sudowoodo to throw consecutive Rock Slides on the pokemon, damaging it as it rose to attack. "Steelix, get rid of that thing with your Fire Fang!" Jon shouted. Promptly, his Steelix grabbed the flailing Pokemon in its mouth and pressed against it with its mighty steel teeth. As it pressed, the Steelix's mouth seemed to be aflame with its own passion. Eventually, after a great toss-up, Jon's Steelix threw Concerto's Sudowoodo aside, but to no avail- fire wasn't very effective against rock-types.

Concerto made his final move towards Steelix, shouting, "Alright, Sudowoodo, this is your chance- win this with an Earthquake attack!" Appearing as if it had been done thousands of times before, Concerto's  Sudowoodo leapt across the stadium in an acrobatic manner, reaching as high of a point as it could possibly go. Jon and his Steelix were mesmerized by the Pokemon's fast movement as the Sudowoodo effortlessly jumped off of the highest point in the stadium, plummeting towards the ground nearest Steelix. Jon caught notice of the plan and ordered his Pokemon, "Steelix, move now!" but it was too late. A dust cloud had risen from the place Steelix had settled, and the gargantuan steel snake now rested upon the battlefield, fainted.

"Steelix is unable to battle!" Nik called. "Sudowoodo wins!"

"Well, I can't say this battle won't be a tough one," Jon said as he retrieved another Poke Ball from his roster. "Mawile, come on out!" Throwing the Poke Ball into the air, the short Pokemon with jaws for hair popped out, prepped for battle.

"Sudowoodo versus Mawile!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

Sudowoodo sat across the battlefield, looking at the rough-necked steel-type and suddenly found itself instantly attracted to the Mawile. "Sudowoodo, what are you doing?!" Concerto cried. "Quick, use Low Kick on her, Sudowoodo!" The command was no use. Sudowoodo was helplessly galavanting towards the Mawile, while Jon looked on with a smug, almost devilish smile on his face. By instantly using Attract as Mawile exited the Poke Ball, his plan began to take motion all on its own.

"Mawile, reject this fool with a nice Rock Smash!" Jon ordered. And the Mawile ran at full force towards Sudowoodo, using it's small hands to send the poor love bird soaring. Sudowoodo landed onto the floor of the arena with a huge thud.

"Sudowoodo is unable to battle!" Nik ruled. "Mawile wins!"

Concerto was devastated to have his first Pokemon be fainted, after it's hard initial efforts. Quickly, he swapped Pokemon to his equally hard-working and energetic Kabutops.

"Kabutops versus Mawile!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

Concerto already had a plan ready. "Kabutops, use Dig, now!" he commanded. At a moment's notice, the ancient Pokemon immediately leapt into the ground, practically vanishing from the battlefield.

Jon was befuddled. "Where could it be lurking?" he asked himself, silently. Not wanting to waste any time in his strategy, Jon paused for a moment and gazed up at the sun. It's glorious beams shined down upon the battlefield, lighting up the entire stadium. If only he could use this to his own advantage...and there was his plan. "Mawile, I want you to go in the center of the field and stare at the sun," Jon ordered, and his Pokemon obeyed, quickly picking up on the quick-fix idea.

The entire crowd was stunned at what a bold move the Elite Four member had just made. This could cost him his spot in the Top 16!

Smirking, Concerto's confidence level gained a serious boost as he watched Jon's helpless Mawile stand in the battlefield, doing absolutely nothing. Soon, it was time for Kabutops to reappear, done so by a simple call. "Kabutops, show yourself! Attack!"

The shellfish Pokemon soared out of the ground and hovered in the air for a split second, glaring down at the almost lifeless Mawile.

The next moment consisted of much action: as Kabutops fell towards Mawile, it's claws prepared for impact, Jon caught Mawile's attention, uttering but two words under his breath. "Solarbeam. Now."

And so it was.

Kabutops flew into the stadium wall and damaged a pillar; the steel-type had collected much more solar energy due to its reflective skin in the position of the late afternoon sunlight, producing an optimum attack that subsequently KO'd Kabutops. Jon was up by one, and Concerto had a lot of catching up to do in this battle.

"Kabutops is unable to battle!" Nik shouted out. "Mawile wins!"

Marty and Kelsey were cheering on Concerto alongside the rest of the group, when Kelsey nudged Marty and said, "You know, this is pretty much how I would've imagined this battle to go."

Marty was slightly confused. "Yeah? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I don't know exactly, I just feel as though I can predict the outcome of this particular battle," Kelsey explained. Marty shrugged, and Kelsey continued. "Eh, I guess it shouldn't mean much, anyways. GO CONCERTO!"

Concerto had no time to waste. He quickly grabbed his last available Poke Ball and threw it into action. It was his Golurk.

"Golurk versus Mawile!" Nik announced. "Begin!"

"Golurk! Use Magnitude as you hit the ground!" The ghostly robot Pokemon tuck-and-rolled as it left its Poke Ball and landed on the ground with tremendous force, about the size of a magnitude 7 earthquake.

The shockwaves traveled quickly to the anticipating Mawile, who was unable to escape the impending attack. Mawile was knocked off of its feet, sustaining much damage. Jon knew exactly how to handle Golurk, but he would have to sacrifice one of his own Pokemon.

It's worth it, Jon thought. There was no better way than to let his remaining team member take care of Concerto's last Pokemon.

Knowing the consequences, Jon ordered Mawile to use Vicegrip on the enormous Golurk. The small steel type ran up to the towering Pokemon and opened it's teeth-for-hair mouth, clapping its head-jaws around its leg, or...not?

In the moment which the jaws should have impacted Golurk,  Mawile simply fell to the ground. There was no affect whatsoever.

"What's this?" Nik cried. "A normal type move by Jonathan against a Ghost type? Unbelievable!"

Concerto saw his chance, just as Jon had planned. "Alright, Golurk! Wrap this one up with a great DynamicPunch!" Golurk looked at the Mawile on the ground as it began to fly up into the air by its rocketed feet. With precise aim, Golurk's flight ended, turning into a triumphant dive to the earth fist-first at Mawile. Mawile looked up into the sky ever so slightly, and the last thing it saw before it fainted was the heated passion in Golurk's eyes as it dove down to meet it. A huge dust cloud shot out from Golurk's landing point, causing everyone to rub their eyes and cough. Mawile was out.

"Mawile is unable to battle!" Nik called. "Golurk wins!"

Jon held out his last Poke Ball in his hand, and with a simple prayer of luck, he threw his final Pokemon into battle. With a body as fast as lightning, a stare as menacing as the evil in one's heart, and a poise seemingly taken directly from an action movie, a Bisharp had entered the field. This was no ordinary Bisharp, though. Instead of the normal red color of a Bisharp, this one was shiny blue.

Davy was shocked. "He has a Bisharp, too!"

"That should make for a good battle tomorrow, if he wins," Ben said.

"Golurk versus Bisharp!" Nik declared. "Begin!"

Concerto was so close. Quickly, he began to think of a plan to win against the frightening Bisharp. There was one possibility, but it was a long shot.

His thinking was interrupted by the shouting of Jon's voice. "Bisharp, use Foresight, and then let 'em have a Hyper Beam!" Within the next few seconds, Bisharp ran at almost blinding speed to Golurk, examining it, and then backed up for a close-range Hyper Beam attack. Golurk couldn't avoid it now- Foresight had removed it's type immunity, allowing both Normal and Fighting type moves to damage it.

Golurk was thrown back tremendously, however, it allowed for the perfect execution of Concerto's plan. Concerto laughed. "Golurk, begin your Focus Punch!"

Golurk stood up, and silently held itself together. It focused on it's inner goal: to help it's trainer win the tournament, which could only be done by winning battles such as this. All sound was gone from Golurk's mind. The only thoughts that remained were about the battle. He had to focus...

Meanwhile, Bisharp had slowly began to recover from the powerful attack it had deployed just before, and attempted to go after Golurk in its currently frozen state. That would break its focus, as well as its attack. There was no way to lose.

Unfortunately for Bisharp, Golurk could feel the changes in the pressure of the ground around him, knowing that something was coming closer. Inside, it smiled. The attack was ready. Without even opening its eyes, Golurk reached out its arms, and swung its whole body around with incredible force, eventually impacting with the unsuspecting Bisharp.

Jon was in awe. "Wh-What!?" he cried. Bisharp was incredibly weakened by the full-force Fighting-type move, but wasn't ready to faint yet. One could tell just by looking at it.

Both Golurk and Bisharp were seriously damaged, and on the verge of fainting. The battle wasn't over yet, however. The two Pokemon looked at each other, as did their trainers. Both Jon and Concerto grinned. They each had a chance at winning. Almost simultaneously, they both called for an attack.

"Bisharp, run up and use Assurance on Golurk!" Jon cried.

"Golurk, Bulldoze straight into Bisharp!" Concerto ordered.

The two Pokemon charged at one another. Bisharp prepared it's hand, now glowing a strange dark purple, for impact. Golurk sprinted towards its opponent, scooping up a lot of dirt and pushing it intentionally as a bulldozer might.

The last moments of the battle were a blur for everyone, including the audience. Both super-effective moves collided with each other, with Bisharp's hand colliding with the pile of dirt picked up by Golurk, yet it still managed to take a majority of the blow, scattering another dust cloud over the stadium.

Once it cleared, both Pokémon were lying on the stadium floor. "This can't be!" Nik exclaimed. "A tie between a challenger and a member of the Elite Four? How serendipitous!" The crowd gasped. Nik turned to see what they were gasping at.

With every ounce of what it had left inside, Bisharp slowly began to pick itself back up off of the ground. As it got to a stand, Nik came over the intercom again. "Wow! There you have it, folks! It appears our winner is Jonathan, of the Elite Four! Congratulations, Jon, you're moving into the Top 16!"

Jonathan smiled at the cheering crowd, and went over to shake Concerto's hand. "You were great, man. So close. Maybe another time, we can try that again. What do you say?"

Concerto, still feeling slightly depressed at his tremendous loss, began to smile. "That'd be great, Jon. It really would."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 76: Kelsey's Determination

"We've only got two battles left!" Nik told everyone. "Let's see who's next!" The screen didn't even bother cycling through the remaining images; it just showed up with two images. One was of Kelsey, and the other was the fourth and final Elite Four member.

"It looks like Kelsey will be challenging the last Elite Four member, Ryan!" Nik observed. "I hope you're all ready for another exciting match!" The crowd cheered as Kelsey shuffled out onto the battlefield.

"This challenger is no newbie, folks," Nik said. "He recently tied for first in a huge tournament in his far-off home region of Alyos. We should expect to see a lot of Kelsey throughout the whole tournament!" The crowd applauded mildly, still unsure of this unknown Trainer.

"Kelsey's opponent today is the fourth member of the Elite Four," Nik continued. "Last, but certainly not least, let's hear it for Ryan!" The crowd immediately exploded into applause and cheers as a young man in a classy looking suit strode out into the arena, his shaggy, brown hair waving slightly in the gentle breeze.

"It's Wry-ry!" Francois exclaimed. "It's been ages since I've seen him!"

"He seems to be doing quite well," Ruto noted, taking notice of the ladies in the crowd barely containing the drool in their mouths.

"Ryan, you are required to choose first," Nik reminded him.

"Of course," Ryan said. "Let's make this battle a work of art!" He grabbed a Poke Ball and spun around gracefully a few times before throwing it out. "I choose Luxray!" The majestic feline leapt out of the Ball and touched gracefully down on the floor without a sound.

"I choose Magmortar!" Kelsey announced, plainly tossing the Ball with absolutely no flair. The large Fire-type Pokemon crashed onto the field. It had evolved since its last battle back in Alyos.

"Luxray versus Magmortar!" Nik declared. "Begin!"

"Luxray, let's start things off with a nice Thunderbolt!" Ryan decided. Luxray quickly conjured up a bolt of yellow lightning that headed straight towards Magmortar.

Kelsey smiled. "I love it when two equally powerful types fight! Magmortar, answer with Flamethrower!" Magmortar held out its cannon-like arm and sent a scorching stream of fire at Luxray's attack. The two attacks met and cancelled each other out with an explosion that rocked the whole building. The explosion wasn't the source of the building's movement, though. Magmortar had used Earthquake while simultaneously stopping Luxray's Thunderbolt with Flamethrower. Luxray, being weak to such a powerful move, was done for immediately.

"Luxray is unable to battle!" Nik said. "Magmortar takes the win!"

Cheers began to intensify for Kelsey as Ryan withdrew his fallen Luxray. "Not bad!" he admitted. "I never saw that flash of brilliance coming."

"What can I say?" Kelsey said, almost showing a bit of smug confidence. "I guess I'm just full of surprises!"

"I guess I'll just have to go all out, then." Ryan said, throwing out another Poke Ball. "I choose Hippowdon!" The giant hippo Pokemon stormed onto the field, bringing in a huge sandstorm that blew around coarse bits of debris that seemed to hurt Magmortar slightly.

"Hippowdon versus Magmortar!" Nik said. "Begin!"

Kelsey knew he was at a great disadvantage against a Ground-type like Hippowdon, but there was nothing he could do about it because he was unable to switch Magmortar out. "Use Flamethrower!" he cried, attempting to at least weaken his opponent a little bit.

"Hippowdon, Earthquake!" Ryan ordered, eager to knock out Magmortar. Hippowdon hopped a few inches off the ground, as high as it could go, and crashed back down to the ground with great force. The shock waves from the quake caused Magmortar to faint immediately.

"Magmortar is unable to battle!" Nik declared. "Hippowdon wins!"

Kelsey, not wanting to waste any more time, immediately recalled Magmortar and sent out his Chatot.

*   *   *

"That's such an awful idea," Roz said, shaking her head.

"What's wrong with it?" Taylor asked.

"Kelsey's just assuming that Hippowdon only knows Ground-type moves, which wouldn't affect Chatot," Marty explained. "He's making a huge mistake."

*   *   *

"Hippowdon versus Chatot!" Nik said. "Begin!"

"Chatot, take flight!" Kelsey said. Chatot spread its wings and took to the sky.

"Are you serious?" Ryan asked. "Did you really think that Hippowdon only knew Earthquake?"

"That's kinda what I was hoping for," Kelsey admitted.

"That's so foolish!" Ryan scoffed. "Hippowdon, take Chatot down with Stone Edge!" Ryan's Pokemon let out an awe-inspiring roar as it stamped on the ground. Suddenly, hundreds of pointed rocks shot straight up in the air and mercilessly bombarded Chatot until it could take no more and plummeted to the ground below.

"Chatot is unable to battle!" Nik judged. "Hippowdon wins!"

Ryan pouted. "That wasn't very pretty. We're trying to make a work of art through our battle. You're being rather dull, you know."

"Just wait and see," Kelsey said. "Like I said before, I'm full of surprises! I choose Pikachu!"

*   *   *

"Oh my god," Roz moaned. "He's just eliminated himself."

"What are you talking about?" Eric asked in disbelief. "He's probably won the whole thing!" The others all looked back at him as if he were crazy. "Oh!" he cried. "You guys don't know about Kelsey's Pikachu, do you?"

"What's so special about his Pikachu?" Jordan asked.

"You'll see," Eric said, grinning up a storm.

*   *   *

"Pikachu versus Hippowdon!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"It's over!" Ryan declared. "Hippowdon, let's wrap this up with an Earthquake!" Hippowdon jumped again and created yet another shockwave that made the building shudder under the stress. As the shock waves travelled across the arena, Kelsey began to smile.

"Now!" he cried with glee. "Pikachu, Surf!" The little yellow mouse suddenly conjured up a huge wave of water and shot it towards Hippowdon. The giant wall of water managed to stop the Earthquake and sent a waterlogged Hippowdon crashing into the wall, unable to move.

"Hippowdon is unable to battle!" Nik said in disbelief. "Pikachu wins!"

The crowd went absolutely insane. How had such a small Pokemon like Pikachu been able to use such a ridiculously powerful move like Surf? Especially considering the little mouse wasn't thought to even be able to learn the Water-type move. The battle had finally become two-sided for the first time.

"You're so unpredictable!" Ryan praised. "I love it! Just when I think I've won, you come back with something like this! Brilliant!"

"Thanks!" Kelsey said, blushing a little. "I guess this is it now, huh?"

"It looks that way," Ryan said, smiling. "I was a little disappointed with this battle at first, but now this has turned into a great work of art! Now let's finish this masterpiece! Go, Gallade!" Ryan threw out his final Poke Ball with as much gusto as he could manage, and the alternate final form of Ralts sprang out like a ninja.

"Pikachu versus Gallade!" Nik shouted. "Begin!"

"Psycho Cut!" Ryan shouted preemptively. A mysterious purple energy formed around Gallade's blade hand, and it slashed with a grunt and sent a blade of energy screaming straight for Pikachu.

"Counter with Electro Ball!" Kelsey ordered. Pikachu gathered a mass of electricity at the tip of its tail and condensed it into a ball. It jumped into the air and flicked the ball at Gallade's Psycho Cut. The two attacks exploded, covering the whole battlefield in a cloud of dust.

"Now, find it and use Iron Tail!" Kelsey yelled into the dust cloud.

"Stay alert!" Ryan cried. There was an eerie moment of silence as a hush fell over the crowd. Finally, a loud clang like two blades clashing in the night reverberated through the entire city. The clash made a pure sound, as if someone had hit a tuning fork. The powerful sound waves managed to clear the dust cloud. Everyone could see Pikachu and Gallade locked in a struggle. Gallade had to use both of its hands to stop Pikachu's tail from knocking it out.

"Gallade, use Psychic!" Ryan ordered desperately. Gallade concentrated its Psychic powers and lifted Pikachu off of it. Gallade then tossed Pikachu across the arena, sending it skidding to a stop in front of Kelsey. The poor yellow mouse got up slowly, not ready to give up yet.

"Let's end this!" Ryan said, pointing to Kelsey. "Gallade, Focus Blast!"

As Gallade charged its final attack, Kelsey got a crazy idea. "Pikachu, I want you to charge straight at Gallade with a Volt Tackle!" Pikachu nodded and ran straight for Gallade. After rapidly gaining speed, an overcoat of electricity surrounded it. Pikachu quickly got closer and closer to Gallade, who wasn't done charging its attack, and Ryan started to panic.

"Gallade, fire the attack!" Ryan cried. Gallade fired the incomplete Focus Blast just a second too late, as Pikachu was right next to it when the attack hit. The unfinished attack was quickly dispatched by Pikachu, and it slammed into Gallade with all its might. Gallade couldn't handle the force of Pikachu's tackle, and it fell to the ground, defeated.

"Gallade is unable to battle!" Nik screamed with delight. "Pikachu wins, and that means that this battle's big victor is Kelsey!" The crowd went bonkers again as the two competitors met in the middle of the arena to shake hands.

"Excellent job, Kelsey," Ryan said, extending out his hand. "That was the greatest battle I've had in a long time."

"Same here!" Kelsey admitted. "We should do it again sometime."

"For sure," Ryan told him. "I wish you luck in the rest of the tournament. I have a feeling that you could go all the way."

TO BE CONTINUED...