A Winkle in Reality

[98ajaj]

So in this timeline Blaine didnt shun Giovanni? Sweet! Can't wait for peri to claim the badge by picking it up off his corpse!

 

[The Radiance's Follower]

Blaine patriotism used to make him fall from grace. It do be like that.

 

[ElysiaNightshade]

yesss

 

[HankPankylol]

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

---

I had no idea what the hell was going on anymore, but I was really pissed off about it.

Crawling through the volcano had sucked, but that was seemingly my own habitual dumbassery biting me in the ass, so I wasn't going to bitch too much about that. On the other side, I'd even admit that it had been kind of fun – in a 'that was crazy' kind of way.

But Mewtwo attacking Mahogany Town? Adam the Rocket Grunt being in Cinnabar Gym? Blaine being affiliated with Team Rocket?

I was very confused, and very angry, so the first words out of my mouth when Gym Leader Pryce stepped through the doorway weren't the most polite.

"Occu-poto, dickhead, wait your turn-!"

"Where is Blaine?"

Pryce didn't yell. He didn't rage or scream; none of the fury he surely felt was to be found in his even, hoarse tone, like a man who didn't speak overly much.

Yet his eyes gleamed.

"I don't-!"

Cold.

I couldn't finish my sentence, all air driven from my lungs while, for a horrific moment, my heart went still in my chest from the shock. A howl of wind rushed past the white-haired man, littered with tiny snowflakes that were on me before I could blink, gently landing on my exposed torso, shirt removed because of the heat from the volcano.

As soon as the sprinkles of snowy geometry brushed my skin, they blossomed into ice flowers as big as my palm, sweat instantly flash-frozen into a thin layer of hoar-frost before being buried under the blooming bouquet. The moisture was sucked from my skin, leaving it dry and stretched as both Adam and I were swallowed by the chilly prison, nothing but our heads left exposed.

"Where is Blaine?"

It burned. That was the only thing I could think of, Pryce's words merely background noise in comparison. And the Ice-Type Master wasn't waiting for me to recover.

I was so stunned by the sudden entrapment that I didn't notice the cause of it gliding towards me with a strange, almost dancing grace until it was right in front of me. When I did, for a second, I thought it was a human, if a very short one. Bipedal, long blonde hair swayed behind the figure as it sashayed forwards, the hemline of the long red dress – with two golden circles over the… chest area – billowing with every step of hidden feet. But the delusion fell when our eyes met. Big white, saucer-like eyes sparkled at me from a round, uncomfortably humanoid face, full pink lips pressed together and forward in a trumpet shape. But it was the deep purple skin that tipped me off, the color of frostbitten flesh after days in the snow. No human would've survived such conditions, not even in the Pokémon world. My eyes tracked the dark purple hand attached to a white-skinned limb as it lifted, the digits curling until only the index finger was extended as it lowered to touch the middle of my forehead.

The Jynx's fingertip was like a red-hot coal searing into my flesh, but I barely registered it compared to the lance of cold that hammered into my mind, past whatever passive defense my part Ghost aura granted me that usually kept out curious psychics and-

-soft pop! of displaced air… "Hi Adam!"... empty office behind him, Blaine the presumed source of the Teleport…-

-"Son of a fucking whore! He never has, stubborn old-!" Blaine's voice… "how the fuck does he know!? Somebody… a Ratatta in the ranks... this place is burnt. We need to move," Blaine said... "Get it off this island tonight. The Sevii Lab can… the expansion's finished. Don't fucking wait until tonight; do it quickly; start with the… It'll take him a… through the mountain, but not long enough! Prioritize! Throw everything we have at the cunt, their sacrifice will be worth…

-"Blaine, you know, the Gym Leader?... totally not bodacious."...

-Lance grabbed the back of my chair… "fight me, ha!" The old, one-armed woman grinned… Lance stared at the massive skull… "not… great at that."...

-Lance leaned down over me… stop myself from averting my eyes. He snorted… Petrel glared as Honedge kept him pinned… Rocket base under the Game Corner…

It was like an axe had been driven into my skull, Jynx's finger feeling as if it had gone all the way to the knuckle and was trying to rip my head apart from the inside. A low, constant droning groan escaped my clenched teeth despite my best efforts. But underneath that sound, there was another moaning wail, higher-pitched and melodic.

-Blaine looked almost hungry… Professor Oak's humiliation… "This is Blaine Heatmoore, Clan Head-"... Walter Waterflower… S.S. Anne… "Thi-... Executive Proton-"...

-Mt. Moon... "... a Graveler." Adam sai-… Grant…

-blood, gore, death… Pidgey with stitched-on, extra wings-… red R in the da-... "they're kidnapping your children-"... … Slowking…

-Hyper B-... "SHARON!"... "Executive Prot-"...

-Orre…

-a swirling, endless kaleidoscope of colors humanity had never known surrounded me as I drifted through nothing/everything, every sensation bombarding me in my sensory deprivation chamber. Reality itself flinched strangely, crumbling unnaturally like space was trying to get away. As a shadow the size of a solar system spread its galactic wings – evident only in the abyss it painted across non-existence – there was a ripping noise as everything twisted and grew hazy. As the faintest sliver of planetoid crimson orbs opened to glare balefully at me – through me, beyond me – there was a shrill scream as the Distorted world imploded and faded to darkness. The red eyes lingered, like lanterns against the black as it refused to let go of the memory, growing closer and closer and closer and closer and closer, a row of ivory as long as mountains were tall flashing -

-"Awwwwww, what the fuck…" I moaned, clenching my eyes shut against the searing migraine. The lower part of my face felt wet and warm, and between grimaces, I saw a smear of red frozen on the ice beneath me, a strand of fresh crimson liquid connecting it to my chin. You knew it was a healthy nosebleed when it was a stream rather than drips.

At least it cut both ways, though.

"JYYyYYyYYyYYyYNNnNNnNN!" Jynx stumbled back with a musical scream, clutching her head in pain. She stepped on the hem of her dress and tripped, the red clothe-skin-thing rising over her head when she did a full backwards somersault and ended up face down.

"Jynx!" Pryce barked and rushed over to his downed Psychic, her frame racked with slight spasms. As her Trainer helped her roll over, I could see cracks in the frozen skin around the Jynx's eyes, large droplets of ruined, sludge-like blood leaving a trail across her cheeks. "What happened!? What did you see!?"

Pale, almost pure white energy flickered unsteadily in her eyes as their gazes met, and instantly, the Gym Leader flinched back with a stifled grunt, her right eye squeezing shut. "Don't show me, don't show me. Just tell me."

The flickering grew worse and worse as Jynx pushed through the second-hand backlash of my memories to relay what she found to Pryce. Based on his furrowed brow and the slight twitches of his eye, it was still far from a pleasant experience. The blackish blood began bubbling up from Jynx's cracked skin again, yet she persevered.

Finally, she blinked and disrupted their unbroken eye contact, and she went limp on the floor, not unconscious but far from okay.

"Well done." Pryce nodded stoically, recalling the humanoid Pokémon into her ball: a brown, knobbly sphere, almost twice the size of a PokéBall.

An Acorn ball, the precursor to the modern PokéBall. Just like Blaine used. There was irony to be found there if I wasn't busy trying to press my face against the large, protruding clump of ice on my shoulder, ignoring the way my blood froze against it and glued me to it in favor of the sweet relief.

"That's quite the mental defense you have there," the Gym Leader grumbled as he moved to stand in front of me, hands clasped over his cane, face back in the impassive folds he entered with and any signs of pain hidden.

"Eat my ass," I complained, not in a very sharing mood. Honedge, however, was. My shadow darkening as it began distending, the hilt with its blue eye narrowed emerging-

-and then just… stopping, like he was stuck. The shadow became pitch black and seemed to cling to him while he vibrated, jerking a little back and forth yet unable to get out.

My steadily refocusing vision saw that Pryce's own shadow was unusually large and overlapped with mine, both an abyssal void from which a pair of ice-blue pupils gazed up at me from within yellow sclera.

"I will let that one slide, in light of our… introduction," Pryce drawled. Something white and ethereal rose behind him: a white, kimono-like cloth billowing in an invisible wind, folding in a way that made it clear it was hollow despite the red band holding it closed. Those blue and yellow eyes stared at me with mirth from within a white skull, the edges of frostbitten skin, much like Jynx's, barely visible through the eye holes. Thread-thin arms dangled like earlobes, a disproportionately bulky hand rising to point at me while the other covered the Froslass' mouth as a ghostly giggle filled the room. "You will stand in the back and wait until I am done."

I didn't get to respond before the Ice/Ghost-Type flexed its hand and I started moving against my will. Despite being solid, the ice flowed around me like molasses, pushing me backwards while Adam rose to take my position across from Pryce, standing with his arms outstretched. I tried to help, to pull myself out, but the material resisted me as much as it ever had, refusing to bend for anyone except its mistress.

I stumbled, emerging from the living ice with a wet pop! My knees buckled, forcing me to grab onto the large, expensive desk to keep myself up. Shivers shook my body violently, pins and needles replacing the burning chill. A trembling hand lowered to the PokéBalls on my belt, yet ran into a thick circle of ice around my waist. Down at my feet, Honedge continued to struggle against the soupy shadow, an almost invisible line still connecting me to Pryce.

Shit. I hadn't felt so outclassed and screwed since Walter, and it wasn't something I'd missed.

"Where's Blaine?" The emotionless tone was kind of scary, but it fell a little short of Walter's uncaring death threats. Even Adam, whether due to his newfound courage or being unimpressed, didn't falter in the face of Pryce.

"I-I-I d-d-don't-!"

Tap!

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I flinched back against the desk as the cane rose and fell, impacting his left forearm ever so lightly. In response, cracks rushed down the limb and over all five fingers, enveloping it like a spiderweb. There was a single second where it seemed like that was all that was going to happen.

Then, starting at the fingertips and working backwards, Adam's hand disintegrated into a fine, glittery powder that landed in a neat pile beneath him, hints of red twinkling in the light. The Rocket Grunt stared at the stump for a moment, a thin layer of ice capping the surgically even wound, while the last blood fled his face. As the reality sank in and his eyes widened, pupils dilating, he opened his mouth to scream, yet even that was denied to him as Pryce's hand closed around his mouth with deceptive strength.

"Silence. Where is Blaine? I do not ask thrice." He gave Adam a moment for the words to sink in before removing his hand.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"

He was forced into silence again, but not by Pryce. Purple bloomed where Froslass' fingertips touched him, the skin cracking and weeping at the caress while the ghost leaned in almost intimately. For a second, I thought the Pokémon was going to kiss him as their noses brushed together gently, their eyes locked.

And then the muffled shriek leaked out from behind Froslass' hand, Adam's eyes rolling into the back of his head as he started thrashing in his ice block. Something cracked in his neck as he strained against the grip, powdered spittle and foam staining the ghost. Veins throbbed against his skin, blood vessels bursting in both his eyes and nose as the unearthly scream rose and rose and rose.

Until it didn't. Until Adam fell silent and limp in Froslass' embrace, the ice around him melting at a ridiculous rate. As he ragdolled to the floor in a boneless heap, he landed with his face my way, allowing me to see the blank eyes as he gaped, open-mouthed, into nothing. His chest rose and fell with gentle breaths, but there was nobody home, a black handprint marking both cheeks that went so deep I could see a glimpse of cheekbone.

"Wha-..." I breathed weakly, Pryce and his Pokémon staring at each other much like the Jynx and he had done. They ignored me long enough for the worst of the tremors to settle in the warm volcano air, and I found some painkillers in my backpack before Pryce finally glanced at me with a tiny frown, the edge of his lip twitching like it was threatening to curl into a snarl.

"Acquired my information. Or, attempted to. Unfortunately, precise details are often lost in translation." He glared between Adam and an apologetic Froslass. "I would have preferred to wait until my Psychic was available," the glare darted towards me briefly, "but I do not have that luxury. Blaine will know that I captured him and move bases quickly. You will tell me," his cane rose again to point at my forehead, my eyes crossing to track the tip. It felt uncomfortably similar to having a gun to my head. "where this 'Sevii Lab' that you raided was. How long ago, what island."

"Shouldn't…. shouldn't you know that?" Fucker had been in my head; what did he mean, 'tell him'?

"Do not play games with me." The cane lowered to hover just over my skin, a cold air radiating from the grainy wood. "Your recent memories were barely coherent, never mind that far back. I suppose your unnaturalness has its uses. Now, tell me."

"It doesn't matter…" I still couldn't catch my breath. "It… it was years ago, and it was destroyed. They won't-can't use the same base."

He sniffed disdainfully. "You would be surprised how often such a thing occurs. Between the resources required to make a new one and the idea that no one would check the same place twice, reusing bases is a fairly popular thing. It is one of Blaine's favorites."

I shook my head slowly to avoid agitating it too much, trying to peel as much of the coagulated blood off my face as possible. "Not that one. The locals know where it is, and they won't risk that twice. Not after what we did."

"'The locals'?" Pryce's gaze sharpened at my minor flinch. Shit, he had me rattled and off-kilter, making me overspeak. "'After what we did'? It was barely distinguishable according to Jynx, but she spoke of blood and carnage, pain and torture. That is the event to which you refer?"

I rubbed my arms to try and get the rest of the sensation back in them, eyeing Pryce silently as I chewed over my answer.

Pryce hadn't exactly endeared himself to me, so even if I had more to give him, I wasn't inclined to do so. Nah, let him run off into the Sevii jungle halfcocked on his own, asshole. I didn't need him. Sucked about his town, but that wasn't my problem. He was definitely on to something about the whole 'get there before Blaine can move somewhere else'; I was fully on board with that. As soon as Pryce left, I was going to call in some help – Blaine was a Master even during the Rebellion and was hiding in a whole-ass base; not even I was that arrogant – and head straight…

… wait, call who?

Grant and the Pebble Clan were out, as always when it came to Team Rocket. However, so were Walter and the Waterflowers. I had no reason to think they were involved with Team Rocket; quite the opposite.

Except that Walter and Blaine used to be friends back during the war. Fuck, they were still friends, it seemed like. I didn't necessarily think he would take Blaine's 'side' over mine, but he would be unusually driven to investigate first and probably involve way more people than was wise. Who knew how many random clerks and salary workers were secretly on the Rockets' payroll. All it would take was one hearing what we were up to and they would vanish into thin air. There was no way Pryce was authorized to be there, certainly not acting like he was. I didn't even know why he was on Cinnabar, or how he connected the dots, but it wouldn't hold up.

Blaine was a Gym Leader, and one of the most prominent figures of the Johto Rebellion. Before Oak, Blaine had been one of the leading generals keeping the Blackthorns, but especially Pryce, at bay, and a reputation like that lingered. I could only imagine even more so given the growing displeasure with the state of Indigo.

If the League got Blaine before I did, he was gone. But… he was what I'd been hoping, damn near praying, for. Blaine would know about Proton. He would know about the bases, about the Pebble Clan, about Giovanni.

Blaine could make the whole thing come tumbling down, and I couldn't see how I could do anything to him.

Clair? She wouldn't go for it; it was political suicide if it went wrong. Straight to Lance? I didn't have his number, and that was assuming he would trust me over one of his Gym Leaders – though that was a fairly decent bet, given Blaine's distaste for all things Johto. But I would need to get a hold of him, convince him to drop everything, fly to Cinnabar to pick me up, and then go further into the Sevii Island chain. I doubted he cared for Pryce much more than Blaine, either. And if I were Team Rocket, having eyes on the Champion would be one of my top priorities.

Briefly, Ash, Brock, Misty, and even fucking Gary flashed through my mind, but I discarded the idea as quickly as it came; Green's frightened face and teary eyes burned into my mind.

Not that. Not again. Yet, that meant…

… don't fucking tell me that the geriatric lunatic was my best bet. Worse, my only real bet.

Damnit.

I eyed him, making him tilt his head at the change in attitude. My eyes drifted down to Adam's vacant face as he gazed blankly at the ceiling. He definitely wasn't a fan of Team Rocket, that much was for sure.

"... They won't be in the same base-" Pryce tsked at my repetitive answer, clearly getting more and more impatient the more it dragged out.

"I will worry about the veracity of your intelligence-!"

"-but I know someone who will know where they are." Pryce rolled his eyes so hard I was impressed they didn't fall out of his skull.

"Who, then? Or are you unsatisfied with your dramatization?"

"What are you going to do to Blaine?" Might as well make sure we were on the same page.

"I will torture him for information regarding his disgusting abomination and then kill him painfully. Everyone that stands between me and that goal will die as well. Are you one of those people?" It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Now who's being dramatic?" I stuffed my hands under my armpits after getting the worst of the blood off, not happy with how red and tingly my fingers were. "Okay, I have an offer for you. I'll take us to my… informant, who will tell us where the base is. We raid it-"

"We?" Pryce interrupted, Froslass giggling over his shoulder.

"Yes, we. My informant, so I'm coming. Unless you wish to search the entirety of Sevii yourself?" His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. "Right. So, WE raid the base and find Blaine, who will tell us where Proton is, and everything about Team Rocket. Oh, and whatever you wanna know." Presumably Mewtwo, which would be included in the 'everything about Team Rocket' part.

I thought he might reject me for a second as he just stared at me. Then, there was a noise from outside the office, and he simply nodded.

"If that's what the information costs, then fine. What is your name?"

"Periwinkle. Or just Pe-" he didn't care, turning around and striding for the door.

"If you die, it is on you, Periwinkle. WE are heading for an active combat zone, and I will not have the time nor focus to save you. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah." The usual spiel everyone gave when I was joining something dangerous. It had been a minute, actually. Most of my dumb-assery had been without adult supervision for a while. "Fairchild Island. That's where my informant is. Uh, Island Fi-Four?"

"Island Five." Pryce corrected, stepping over the melting slushy of ice dust that used to be the door and walking out. "I know of it. We will only require a single Teleport. Come."

I sighed while leaning against the desk, letting the rapidly changed situation sink in and doing my best not to look at Adam's prone figure. That was still disturbing. Instead, I glanced over the work surface as I pushed off it and made to walk away. A picture frame had fallen over, and I reached out to lift it out of habit more than anything else, glancing at the photo within as I turned to follow Pryce-

I froze, the world standing still as I stared at the image. Time lost meaning in my shock, words and events flashing through my mind as I was forced to re-evaluate so many things…

"Periwinkle!" Pryce's call from down the hall shook me from my stupor.

"Y-yeah, I'm coming!" I yelled back, grabbed the picture, and shoved it in my bag. It would have to wait; we were in a bit of a time crunch. Just outside the doorless doorway, I found a wet Zorua lying unconscious on the ground. She seemed fine, other than being knocked out, but I still glared after Pryce's shrinking form, my hand falling to my PokéBalls by instinct – only to find them free of ice and accessible again, letting me return her.

And then a flurry of worried Pokémon immediately beset me, all of them breaking free of their balls to threaten and soothe, forcing me back into the office to make room for all of us.

Reassuring them as quickly as I could, I rushed to catch up to Pryce, running by several doors that were wide open and filled with activity as I did so. Reaching the much older man, I tried to put what I'd discovered out of my mind and think about something else. Though that only led me in a circle back to the other thing I'd done my best to not think about.

"...is Adam going to recover or?"

"No."

"Hmm." I settled on a grunt. That… I think I would've preferred it if he'd died. Felt less messed up, somehow.

Probably wouldn't lose sleep over it, though. At the end of the day, it was Adam.

The rooms we passed were, as stated, filled with people, and I briefly thought that it was Team Rocket Grunts doing as Blaine had commanded and packing everything up before I noticed the calmness. That brief pause gave me enough time to notice the clothes. The top halves hung around their waists, goggles around their necks, and hats removed in the sweltering heat, but that didn't stop me from recognizing a onesie snowsuit.

My equilibrium was all kinds of off, but I was going out on a limb and trusting that those were with Pryce. It felt like a safe bet, especially when he didn't react.

We passed through the reception office, two of Pryce's Acorn balls flashing and returning a pair of Pokémon standing guard before I could see what they were, and then left the 'Gym' behind entirely. I looked to Pryce to lead the way out of the volcano – since I doubted he'd squeezed through that tiny-ass gap – but instantly saw that I didn't need him to show the way.

The way was clearly the twenty-by-twenty-foot tunnel that carved straight through the mountain. It was a perfect half circle with a dot of light at the far end, dead straight with the excess material pressed tightly together to make stable walls and ceiling.

"Mamoswine?" I asked as we started walking down the tunnel. The temperature had dropped as soon as we hit the tunnel, thanks to the fresh air making its way in, but now and then, we'd move by a particularly warm spot, and I did my best not to think of the magma flowing beside and over us.

"Correct." He gave me a mildly impressed glance at my identification. Jokes on him, I cheated and remembered that his ace was a Piloswine, which was part Ground-type. "It was the most direct path."

"I-yeah. Yeah, that's true." I didn't have a response to that. He was just objectively correct.

The sun was a lot lower on the horizon than it had been when I entered the volcano, but that was nearly all from spelunking through the caves.

A flash of red and a Jynx twirled in greeting, ending it with a sweeping bow before Pryce. I was impressed that it had shaken off the dive into my mind so quickly, as the aftereffects still throbbed in my head, only to look closer and understand.

"You have two Jynx?" I asked while returning Honedge to his ball. Something that took multiple tries since he kept breaking back out.

"Not mine," he grunted, which made sense. Otherwise, why use Froslass to mind-dive Adam if it was so inaccurate? "It is a short trip to Island Five. We shall learn the location of the base and then rendezvous with my men for the actual assault." I looked at him questioningly, only to be distracted by the Jynx reaching out for us. Not that my head wasn't being ripped in two or my blood frozen in my veins, I could fully appreciate how little I liked Jynx. Much like Mr. Mime, she was just too humanoid. And why did it look like she had boobs!? Who came up with that design? At least it was the purple-skinned one and not the black one; that one was just uncomfortable-

A cold hand grasped my shoulder and dragged me with it as it was sucked through a strawhole, reality twisting as we disappeared from Cinnabar.

---

"Which way?" Pryce asked, and that was a fair question.

"Uhhhhh," I mumbled, looking around to try and find something that looked familiar. In my defense, I did find something I recognized.

More trees. Lots of those on Fairchild Island.

"You don't know." I hadn't known Pryce's tone could get flatter, and I could've done without the demonstration.

"Well, I don't fucking-they found me last time!" I didn't bother to lower my tone, flinging my arms out as I gestured to our surroundings. We'd needed a second Teleport to get us to the part of the island that I recognized, but it was quickly done, and before I knew it, we were in the forest. Pryce almost had to drag me inside, but we did, and then we just had to find it. Them. Anything, honestly. "A Scyther showed up and took me to their leader, a Slowking-"

"Your source is a random, wild Pokémon you have met once?"

"Don't take that tone with me!" I pointed at him, Espeon mimicking me with her tail. Most of my team was out and about to try and help me find the Pokémon Senate's gathering spot. "Slowking's good people!"

"Not any kind of people. Not people at all." I snorted at the answer. In our brief acquaintance, I'd found Pryce to be a very dry and humorless person.

"Semantics! You know what I mean!"

Pryce stared at me blankly for a moment before sighing and gesturing, making his Froslass rise up from his shadow. I wasn't sure what he intended, but I was curious.

"Ice Age."

My eyes widened at the same rate as Froslass' grin, snow-speckled wind starting to swirl in her hands as she lifted them up above her head, palms to the sky.

"Wait-!"

Too late.

WHOOOOOOOOOSSSSEEEEE!

A hurricane erupted from Froslass, a torrent of howling wind and hammering hail that blanketed everything around us in a veil of whirling white. I dropped into a crouch, Espeon held to my chest and my other hand over my eyes to try and protect them, despite being in the eye of the storm. Something large, furry, and cold dropped on top of me – Sol, based on the way the cold swiftly turned to wetness – pressing me down until the screaming wind ceased and the world became visible again.

Or whatever had replaced it.

For hundreds of feet around us, the landscape stood frozen. Trees made of ice, leaves still stuck to their branches. Bushes of intertwined frost, each thin twig perfectly coated. As Sol shifted and let me up, I could see a drop of water hanging from a stick, stilled in the very last moment before it dropped.

It was beautiful. It was serene.

It was all gone, crumbling the same way that Adam's arm and hand had, every tree, bush, shrub, weed, and even rock, atomized into crystalline dust. As they faded, I could see my team through the rising clouds of ice mist, perfectly unharmed despite the most devastating attack I had ever seen.

Relief flooded me, and with the worry out of the way, it was free to be instantly replaced with anger.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING-!?" I started yelling before being forced to flinch back from the tip of his cane pointing at me.

"There is nobody here," Pryce interrupted, eyes scanning the horizon as various Pokémon began sticking their heads out of the snow with stunned expressions on their faces. "Nobody important, at least." As I looked around, more and more emerged until we were soon surrounded by suddenly homeless pokémon.

Somehow, miraculously, I don't think he hit a single one.

"You have proved useless," he continued, not mincing words, "as I should have expected. We-"

"You will regrow those."

Pryce spun around in a flash, hands falling to his Acorn balls while Froslass simply turned around to be in front of her Trainer protectively. Standing there, arms crossed behind his back as he surveyed the ruined circle of decimation, stood Slowking, the same Pokémon that had helped me the last time I'd been on the island with a Rocket problem. He looked the same as the last time I'd seen him, though I had hardly expected anything else. The Psychic was very old, after all, unnaturally so.

"Wha…" Pryce's face was one for the ages, his mouth hanging open and eyes bulging as he stared at the shorter bipedal figure.

"I said, you will regrow those. The plants. The trees. The flowers. All of it will be returned by your hand." I couldn't blame Pryce for his shock. It wasn't every day you met a Pokémon that could actually talk. Not through telepathy, though Slowking was very capable of that as well, but by forming human words with his mouth.

"How-?" Pryce tried again.

"Silence." Slowking's voice offered no choice. "You come to our land, seeking our aid, and yet you bring nothing but destruction, tearing apart your surroundings like a child not getting his way. You still stand only because you came here at the side of my friend, and your little tantrum failed to touch any of my people. If a single one had been harmed, you would be dead at my feet." The two of them stared at each other, Froslass hanging unnaturally still over Pryce's shoulder. As the tension rose, I interjected, both to try and alleviate it and because I honestly felt bad. I'd brought Pryce with me; the blame was at least partially on me.

"Slowking, listen, I'm-I'm sorry about all this-" Slowking cut me off with a raised, stubby hand, eyes never leaving Pryce's. For a moment, I thought they might come to blows.

"I thank you for your consideration, but I am not talking to you. I am talking to him." The silence continued while they tried to glare each other into submission. All the while, more and more Pokémon started recovering from Pryce's attack, some of whom I recognized – like the blue-green mass of vines that slowly clambered back to its feet. Large, wet eyes gazed out over the destruction as it tried to scoop up some of the snow and shape it back into a tree shape, letting out a deep wail when it collapsed. Slowly, the eyes dried as they lifted, filling with an anger I hadn't seen even when Tangrowth was snapping necks as they landed on Pryce.

And then, Pryce's chin lowered slightly, his eyes never leaving Slowking's as he bowed his head.

"... as you say, Elder. I… was overly eager and have offended you. You will be repaid." The words didn't come easy, but neither did it take as much as I'd have thought from someone who seemed as set in doing things his way as Pryce did.

Then again, while Slowking was definitely unusual, it would make sense if most places with a big population of wild Pokémon had some sort of hierarchy, and as Gym Leader, Pryce would likely be the one to deal with those.

Slowking hummed, still looking around. One of his arms came up, palm and single finger, plus a thumb, extended as he slowly passed it over his fallen forest. As he did so, the large piles of dust and thick mist that hung in the air melted as if time were fast-forwarding, the newly turned water seeping into the muddy ground.

Based on the renewed tension in Pryce's frame and the way Froslass straight up flinched, it wasn't supposed to be that easy.

"You will replant them with your own hands. I shall allow your 'team' as you call it, to help you grow them. Then, there are a couple of areas that could use your expertise. After that, our debt shall be settled." He resumed staring at Pryce until the old man bowed his head again with a soft 'understood'.

Only then did Slowking turn his eyes towards me, some of the stoic seriousness leaving him in favor of giving me a small smile and his own tilt of the head.

"Greetings, Friend Periwinkle. As I said when we parted, we meet again, though you tend to play tricks on my divinations. The prophecy is not yet at hand, though the waves tremble at its coming."

"Hey, Slowking, good to see you. Uh, just Peri is fine," I smiled much bigger, making his own widen a fraction. I meant it too; Slowking was great. "Still not helping you with the prophecy, but that's not why I'm here. There's no easy way to say this, but Team Rocket has set up a new base here, somewhere on one of these Islands." I waited for a response, Slowking's smile fading and a look of sorrow overtaking it. But no surprise. "You knew." It wasn't a question.

Slowking slowly nodded. "I did," he admitted with a heavy sigh. "'Twas only a matter of months until they attempted to build a second base to restart their horrors. Or, rebuild, I suppose I should say, as they sought to use the same place, for some reason." I ignored Pryce's glance. "We destroyed it, of course. As we did the first, and as we would do the third. The fourth, as it would turn out, was a trap." A vicious gleam passed through his eyes, so at odds with his normal zen-ness. "It did not turn out as they wished, though it was our toughest battle yet. Kind-Sun-Roses, the Mightyena you met, was amongst those who fell."

"Shit," I sighed. The Dark-type had been an absolute monster, but she had done me a solid and seemed to be a decent parent. "How's the kid?"

"As well as can be expected." Slowking nodded his appreciation at the question with a quick flash of his smile. "Under the circumstances, at least. He is fully grown, if nothing else, and evolved himself in the battle that followed. His mother would be proud of him."

"That's good to hear. But if you destroyed all the bases…" I trailed off, letting Slowking finish it for me.

"Ahhh, but by the fifth, the enemy learned," he chuckled darkly, "slower than children, yes, but they learned. They learned that we tracked the scent of our own, so they brought their victims in from the mainland. They learned that no matter where they hid in our forests, we would find them, so they stopped hiding in our forests."

"Not in the forest?" I frowned. "No offense, but these islands are nothing but forest! What else is-"

"Knot Island," Pryce said it with certainty and annoyance, typing furiously on a PokéNav. "I should have known. Blaine is nothing if not unoriginal." Seeing my confusion, he smacked my leg lightly with his cane, making me jerk away, though thankfully my leg didn't crumple into dust. "The volcano, fool! He built his base in Mt. Ember."

"Ooohhh, that makes sense," I admitted. "That's what we needed, though! I knew you were the guy, Slowking, thanks, bro! Come on, let's go and-" I was cut off by Slowking shaking his head.

"I am sorry, Friend Peri, but even if we should want to," he paused briefly to shoot a glance at Pryce, then at everything around us. Or, the lack of anything around us. "We cannot aid you. Not with this. Not there."

"Why?"

"As I said, the enemy learned. They avoided the forest because we go there, and set up base where we don't go. They studied us, learned our patterns, and stay where we cannot get to them."

That didn't make any sense to me, and I was about to say as much when Pryce decided we were done.

"Then we thank you for your aid, Elder, and pledge our services to remove this cancer from your land," he declared grandly. Then he glanced around and continued a little sheepishly. "Let it be the beginning of repayment. Once more, apologies for the… as you say, tantrum. There is quite the history between our quarry and myself, and in my rush and anger, I forgot myself."

At that, Slowking had a little smile to spare Pryce as well. "Mistakes are a part of life, young one. The important thing is that we recognize them, and never grow so set in our ways that we believe ourselves right simply because that is, and has been, our way of doing things."

Pryce seemed unsure what to do regarding the 'young one' comment, something I suspected he couldn't remember the last time he was called. So he chose to ignore it and release his second Jynx again while I waved goodbye to Slowking, kind of sad at the short visit.

"I'll see you when I see you, I guess. And not for the prophecy!" I had only grown more convinced that I wanted nothing to do with the whole Lugia and the Birds nonsense. Leave that shit, and the fate of the world, to Ash.

...

Slowking's smile returned with a chuckle. "Even you don't believe that anymore, my friend! It warms my heart to see you again. You've made progress, even if the shadows still linger in your soul. But let me see you off with a warning. Be careful, Friend Peri." I looked over my shoulder to see Slowking staring at me with solemn eyes. "You will find much more than merely criminals in the fire of Mt. Ember. Stay far from the summit, no matter the temptation."

I didn't have time to respond before we were once again hurled through time and space, heading towards Knot Island to catch Blaine before he disappeared.

---

Slowking! Love Slowking; always good to see him.

Also, it's not really a secret what's atop Mt. Ember, so that'll be fun.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

 

[Pandaemonium04]

Ahhh Pryce just learned a very big lesson. First his Jynx got mind clobbered and then his tantrum is called out. He's gonna be looking back on this day and wondering about who TF is Peri for a while

 

[Protosoul]

Ash really needed to teach him Iron Tail or something. The only moves the Electric-Type had that could even hurt the Rock/Ground-Type were Quick Attack and Tackle, and as funny as watching the small mouse throw itself face-first into a rock would be, it wasn't exactly a winning strategy. The Ground-Type immunity to electricity wasn't a hard rule, as far as I knew after asking Brock, but the minerals in Graveler's rocky hide would conduct the current and insulate its biological insides.

Click to shrink...

You said in the first pewter chapter that Pikachu learned Iron Tail to beat Brock:

Yeah, he's over there! After our second battle, which I won by the way!" He preened like I was supposed to be impressed, though I held my tongue for once and just waited until he continued. "But yeah, I met his dad, and he helped train Pikachu to learn Iron Tail! Did you know he could learn that!?" The yellow rodent seemed to have heard his name as he suddenly appeared by Ash's side. The mouse Pokémon's eyes lit up when he saw me, swiftly running over and starting to pull on my pant legs. I absently threw him one of the veggie treats from my pouch.

Click to shrink...

 

[TheGeneral03]

TFTC

 

[HankPankylol]

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

Been a little while since we had a taste of the good ol' ultra violence, so let's fix that. It's not as bad as the first Sevii Lab, but do be warned: Violence and Gore ahead.

---

In hindsight, while Slowking was invaluable in helping us find the new base in time, we should probably have specified where exactly it was.

Because Mt. Ember was absolutely humongous.

Every glimpse through the dense canopy was dominated by the peak, a column of near-black smoke pouring from the opening at the top. The Cinnabar volcano had been mostly dormant – other than the oh-so-lovely interior – but its big Sevii brother very much wasn't, a pulsing red-orange glow shining like a lighthouse against the setting sun and drawing us like Venomoth to the flame.

If nothing else, logic at least told us to start on the backside of the mountain, as far from the nearby town – 'Knot Town' for some insane reason – as possible.

"So, last time they used an ass-load of Gastly, Haunter, and some sort of Dark-Type, maybe Houndour or Poochyena, to hide themselves behind the Distortion-uh, Ghost and Dark-Type energies," I broke the silence that had settled over us, palm shooting up to catch a branch as it snapped back from Pryce's pushing past it. The Gym Leader's eyes didn't meet my small glare, locked on my hand.

"... that's extremely unhealthy for extended periods of time. I suppose Blaine has finally thrown off even the thin veneer of civility, ha!" It wasn't an amused bark of laughter, more of a derisive acknowledgment of being proven right. "Still, that gives us something to search for. Typical Blaine, overpreparation to the point of detriment, endlessly secure in his monumental arrogance." Reaching down, he tapped one of the PokéBalls at his waist. And I did mean PokéBall, rather than Acorn ball. I'd seen the older and larger row of ten on the front of his belt back in Blaine's office, but in all the excitement, I hadn't noticed the second line of standard red and white capture devices along the small of his back.

15 Pokémon, though one of those was presumably the Jynx that wasn't his, so 14. That Gym Leader privilege at work. Not that I was one to talk, I'd never had to deal with the carry limit myself.

The PokéBall opened and a second Froslass materialized, twirling in the air with a ghostly whisper rattling the leaves around us.

As Pryce's primary Froslass joined the second, swirling around each other playfully, I noticed the differences. Physically, they were damn-near identical in the way only immaterial Ghost-Types could. The one who destroyed a section of the Fairchild forest was almost see-through, like glacial ice rather than the bone of the lesser Ice-Type. Likewise, while they both left a chilly mist in their wake, only the first's froze to snowflakes that drifted to the grass and grew into tiny spires. Around his shoulders, Espeon shivered as the darkness became a little darker, the trees seeming to close in on us, long and crooked limbs reaching down like twisted fingers.

"Find him. We end this today."

I'd been so focused on the Froslass duo that I'd missed the other two Pokémon that Pryce had released, only getting a brief glimpse of a pair of bipedal figures before they moved, leaves ripped from their branches as the trees shook behind them, the Froslass making a game of hitting as many of the falling bits of foliage as possible when they followed them.

That wasn't enough reason to just stand around and gape, though.

"Espeon, can you look for any human minds? Use your new move to give yourself some more 'oomph'." The Eeveelution's eyes and focusing crystal started shining, dimly at first yet quickly building in intensity, a soft pink glow slowly illuminating the bleak jungle-

"Don't!"

Pryce's barked command disrupted Espeon's focus, the buildup energy slipping through her figurative fingers. Annoyed, I found Pryce meeting my glare with one of his own.

"Why not!?"

"'Why not'!? Are you trying to sabotage us or are you just simple in the head!? Any half-competent Psychic or even a decent ghost would notice telepathy, never mind that kind of buildup! You will notice that I only used Ghost- and Dark-Types to avoid detection!"

… okay fair, but still! "You don't need to be a dickhead about it!"

"Bah!" Pryce nearly beaned me with his cane as he dismissed my words. "I do not have time to coddle you. If a few harsh words offend you, you might as well go home now." A muffled ping! rang out from his pocket, making him pull out his PokéNav. "The north-west side is clear."

Fat chance that I'd up and leave just before things got good. "If you think so lowly of me, why'd you accept me coming so quickly? You could've tried to demand that I go home after we met Slowking." That had surprised me. I usually had to work harder for it.

"One, there was no time to argue. Two, you are an above-average Trainer. While you would be of limited use against Blaine himself and are unlikely to match up to my Mahogany Trainers, I expect there to be plenty of fodder that needs dealing with."

"... thanks." Maybe.

We continued searching for a while longer, the only sound being our feet crunching fallen leaves under our boots. It was remarkably quiet, in fact. Eerily so. No Noctowls hooting, no Spinaraks bustling about. I could've been convinced that Pryce and I were the only living beings in the forest.

It was disconcerting, and Slowking's words came back to the forefront of my mind.

The denizens of Knot Island didn't go near Mt. Ember.

So when something rustled a bush gently, the sound of something harsh scraping against bark reaching our ears, we could be blamed for stopping and getting ready to fight.

A flash of light green through the branches of a bush, steel-hard membranes grinding together with a high-pitched screech. An armored, almost reptilian snout above triangular eyes peering out from behind a tree.

A Scyther.

"Yo!" I raised a hand in greeting. I didn't know the species well enough to see if it was the same Scyther I'd met during my first time on the Sevii Islands, but there was no reason to be rude. "Slowking send you?"

The Scyther tilted its head, gaze bouncing between me and Pryce, the Ice-Type Master slowly removing his hand from his belt – though it didn't stray far. Suddenly it jerked back into cover like it got spooked, and vanished from sight again.

But not so far that we couldn't still hear it. Exchanging a look, I shrugged and followed the Bug-Type, Pryce on my heels.

As always, it didn't take long for me to get bored walking in silence.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

I glanced at him, caught off guard by the joke, only to see his face hadn't changed from the icy mask. Oh shit, it wasn't a joke.

"You and Blaine really don't like each other, huh?"

"That's not a question."

"Mother-" I rolled my eyes. "Why!? Is it just because you guys were leaders during the Rebellion? Because it sounds more personal than that."

"You would be right." Pryce's face didn't change, but his tone was as cold as that 'Ice Age' technique Froslass had used. "It is very personal."

I waited a beat to see if he'd explain, but no such luck. "Why?"

"None of your business. Now, shut up and keep a lookout." Another ping! of a revived message. "North-east and north-north-east are clear. We're closing in."

Our Scyther guide seemed to agree as the path slowly swung inward, the trees and dense foliage thinning as we reached the treeline. Ahead, the smoldering Mt. Ember towered over us, the ground surrounding it slowly beating back the grass in favor of rocky terrain, the moisture in both land and the very air noticeably less than the rest of the island.

I'd expected us to need to search even when we got to where Scyther was leading us – the door to the last Sevii lab being located inside a fake, hollow tree trunk – but even while still lurking out of view within the jungle, it was impossible to miss the swarm of black dots that swarmed around a spot a fifth up the massive height of the volcano.

"Well, that was easy," I mumbled. Blaine really was freaking out and pulling the plug on everything if he was being that obvious. I turned to thank Scyther for showing us the way, only to blink in surprise when I couldn't see him anywhere.

"Took longer than I would have liked, but it seems we are still in time," Pryce grunted, making a call. From the side, I could see a rough-looking older man with a nasty set of scars across his face and a white ski-suit saluting Pryce. "Brad, we found it. I am sending you coordinates; Teleport in and then be ready to set up a Null-field field."

"Yes, sir! Be advised that we have experienced some Teleportation interference close to the volcano. Permission to arrive 500 feet back and make the rest of the trip on foot?"

"Tsk!" Pryce clicked his tongue at the news, but didn't linger on it. "Granted. Stay alert. We might be reading into an ambush."

"Understood. See you in a minute, General. Brad, over and out." As 'Brad' vanished from the screen, Pryce turned to me.

"Ready yourself. We go in as soon as they arrive."

He didn't have to tell me twice.

---

It didn't take long for the Mahogany Trainers to make their way to us, even with having to Teleport further in as Pryce and I retraced our steps to meet them halfway. Like specters, 28 white-clad men and women emerged from the darkening forest to take up position in front of Pryce in five rows of five, with the last three standing further in front. Most of the Trainers had unzipped their suits and let the top hang loose around their waists, dark patches of sweat visible on their undershirts.

The leading figure hadn't done so, however. The mountain of a man, standing a head taller than the second biggest and nearly as wide as Bruno – though with a healthy amount of body fat instead of Bruno's insane definition – stepped forwards with his back straight and hands clasped behind him. Scars littered the bald head and cut lines through the bushy beard, the two nastiest of which crossed beneath an eyepatch that hid his left eye and curved down to bisect his upper lip, giving him a permanent, teeth-flashing snarl.

Despite his appearance, his tone was professional and restrained, one remaining blue eye staring straight ahead as he reported in.

"All present and accounted for, General-Gym Leader, apologies." Brad saluted.

"Good." Pryce didn't acknowledge Brad's slip of the tongue. "Then let me inform you of the plan." He turned back around to Mt. Ember, though we couldn't see the base from where we were. "Our primary objective is, as you know, the capture or elimination of Blaine Heatmoore, Clan Head of Clan Heatmoore, Gym Leader of Cinnabar, General of Indigo. Our secondary goal is any and all information regarding the unidentified Pokémon that attacked Mahogany." There was a stir at that, teeth and hands clenching in anger. "Tertiary, Blaine is in league with the criminal organization known as Team Rocket. Any and all evidence to that extent, as well as anything regarding other associates, will also be collected. Make no mistake," there was a bloodlust in Pryce's eyes, a crack in his icy facade, "this ends today. Everything Blaine Heatmoore has done and built, we will bring crashing down around his ears." The Mahogany Trainers were too well trained to cheer, but there was a feeling of rising excitement.

"Blaine's an fucker, but he ain't stupid," Brad rumbled, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "While I'm sure he'd prefer if we didn't find him, we should assume that he's up to his ol' tricks. Seismic sensors, Null-field, the lot. He's got the high ground, so we should probably be ready for a Mt. Silver special. They can't go too crazy without burying their own base in lava, but the field favors them."

Pryce nodded seriously at that, while I was left scratching my head in confusion. What was an Mt. Silver special?

"Jenny, take 10 and secure us the terrain. We cannot allow them to bombard us from above."

One of the other two leaders beside Brad saluted: a severe-faced woman who was missing the tip of one ear, the edges discolored from frostbite. "Yes, Gym Leader!" She turned around and started pointing towards various people who broke ranks and formed up in front of her instead.

"Regarding the Null-field, it would appear that it is already up," Pryce continued with a frown, "though it is…"

"It's fuckin' weird," Brad completed, frowning at the volcano. "It ain't Ghost or Dark, but something's screwing with the Psychic's."

Something was nagging me; something about Slowking's ominous warning about the peak of Mt. Ember refused to leave me, but I just couldn't focus. I was on the fucking Sevii Islands, again, about to raid a Team Rocket base. Again. I sucked in a stuttery breath, wiping my sweaty palms.

"Something to be mindful of. We still don't know the location of the Psychic," Pryce concluded before tapping the earth firmly with his cane. "Enough talking. Weaviles out, illusions up, Jenny's team at the ready. Expect a trap. Now, move."

In a series of red flashes – and one nearly invisible blur returning to Pryce – 18 bipedal, cat-esque, gray Pokémon emerged with sinister grins full of sharp teeth. Red feathers crowned its head and collar, two larger ones poking out from each ear. With a snikt! sound, long, razor-sharp claws sprang from their paws, rubbing against each other as dark Denial energy started leaking from them. The Dark-Type energy spread and rose, coming up to form a viscous bubble around us. Gym Trainers zipped up their suits again, poor bastards, and redonned their goggles.

As soon as the edges of the large illusion joined up above – leaving everything slightly hazy and distorted, like wearing funhouse sunglasses – everyone moved in synchronicity, low to the ground as they rushed forwards, damn near leaving me behind.

Jenny's ten flanked us, five on each side as we ran; the whole line of us ghost-quiet. It felt like time crawled as we traversed the barren ground towards Mt. Ember, my heart hammering and fingers itching towards my PokéBalls, but I refrained.

Not yet.

Halfway there, we were forced to slow, our boots kicking up dust that threatened to drift out of our illusion and give us away. The reduced pace at least had an effect on the Trainers around me, their hands clenching and heads twitching more and more. It felt like it took hours.

Yet, in a heartbeat, we reached the foot of the mountain, Mt. Ember rising endlessly before us. The sun had all but set; still, the flickering fire above let us see our surroundings. Including the people still rushing around what turned out to be a cave, the entrance hidden from sight behind an upward-jutting cliff.

Pryce held up his hand before flicking it left and then right. In response, Brad and the other sub-commander – a terribly non-descript guy whose only adjective was 'brown' – slowly split off. Some of the Weavile went with them, their feline faces scrunched up in concentration as part of the illusion bubble went with them, leaving the rest of us to cram in closer together as what we were left with shrunk.

Minutes passed without incident, and I'd just started to relax into the idea that maybe, possibly, this once, the recon might actually happen before anyone tried to kill us.

I don't know why I bothered.

"CONTACT!" The brown guy's voice cracked out from above, sharp and immediate, and the Weavile's illusion sheared apart around me like wet paper as the ground ahead suddenly moved.

Black- and red-clothed people poured out of hidden alcoves, popped out of the ground like human moles, and threw off rock-painted blankets that they'd been hiding under, a cacophony of 'AHA!'s surrounding us on all sides. Red R's stood out prominently on the smirking Rocket Grunts' chests, but that wasn't the only red amongst them, nor were the flashing PokéBalls. No, Cinnabar Gym Trainers grinned at us alongside the terrorists as Graveler, Rhyhorn, Magmar, and a small camel Pokémon, tan with green spots, formed all around them.

Time slowed as rocky and flaming appendages rose, a tangible feeling of energy building.

"INCOMING!" Brad yelled, Jenny and her team stepping forward and unleashing their own Pokémon as the ones above made their move.

Graveler slammed rocky fists into stone in perfect unison overhead, the ground splintering and cracking as Rhyhorn reared up on the back legs and fell back down with deep roars. The earth heaved like water, a bulge traveling through it and down toward us as it ripped apart, the whole side of the volcano being pried from the whole and crumbling down toward us. If that wasn't bad enough, the Magmar and Numel were right behind them, smashing the ground with their own attacks.

For a second, there was nothing – other than the small mountain-worth of stone crashing towards us. Then, the vibration that I'd dismissed as the earthquake-landslide intensified.

rrrrrRRRRRRRR-CR-CRRRUUUUUMMM!

Magma exploded from the ground like a popped pimple, molten rock gushing outwards as the earth cracked in half, a long line dividing the ground just over the landslide. The lava bubbled out with force, pulled from deep within by the Lava Plum, and fell down the mountain to mix and melt the landslide. In seconds, a surge of melted and melting rock was rushing down the mountain like a tidal wave, rising so high it blotted out the volcano.

Knowing it was coming and having anything useful to do about several tons of falling magma turned out to be two very different problems.

"JENNY!" And then the ground in front of us simply detonated outward.

An absolutely humongous creature rose, shaggy brown fur so thick and puffy it looked nearly round, twin curved tusks of pure ice longer than a man was tall lowered like a battering ram – and it drove straight into the leading wall of molten rock without slowing even a fraction. Stone rose and twisted with every step, a wedge growing in front of the Mamoswine that extended back over our heads, and everywhere its feet came down, the ground simply stopped being molten, ice crawling out fast enough to freeze the leading edge of the flow solid before it finished falling.

Jenny's Piloswine came in beside it a half-second later, and while smaller than Mamoswine – much smaller – the fury pile was still an absolute unit, especially when backed up by another 10 equally massive mammoths that slammed into the wave of magma in Mamoswine's wake and shattered it, the ground curling behind them to make a path.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" I was shoved from behind as we started sprinting, a tunnel of stone forming around us to hold back the lava. The ground in front was frozen from Mamoswine's steps, yet the longer we ran, the warmer it got and soon, the ground turned to mud. It wasn't that bad towards the front, but I heard more than one curse behind me as someone slipped. The reshaped stone around began to glow with heat, slowly turning a cherry color as the air started wavering. Pryce's Weavile jumped onto his shoulders, looking ridiculous as it held onto what little hair its Trainer had left while blowing huge plumes of ice around the tunnel. The rock exploded from the temperature shift, cracks forming to allow lava to leak through and start melting through the ice instantly, yet, much like Froslass', it seemed resistant.

But not immune. It shrank and shrank as we forged blindly forwards, following behind the bellowing Mamoswine, sweat dripping from our brows and evaporating on contact with the ground, cracks growing wider as the temperature shifts became greater-

And then we were through, Mamoswine swinging its massive head and shattering our rocky shield into splinters that ripped through a foursome of Rockets and a Cinnabar Trainer who got caught with their pants down as we spilled out of the opening, the last of the tunnel melting into slag behind us. They weren't ready for us, or the Rockets weren't, at least, most of them gaping at us even as hundreds of pounds of charging mammoth smacked into them and trampled them underfoot. Blaine's personal Trainers were performing better, fights breaking out as we forced them away from the entrance.

"FASTER, FASTER!" Jenny's voice, closer now, Piloswine already wheeling to meet the grunts pouring down after us. "I've got the exterior – get inside before they regroup!"

We went through the opening, me in between Brad and the brown guy, and poured into the base after Pryce.

The smell hit me instantly – antiseptic, ozone, and something sterile in the way that had nothing to do with cleanliness. It had my head swimming, and as I stepped inside properly, seeing the bare walls, the lab coats, the carnage that was already spreading. Pryce had hit the gathered defenders like a wrecking ball, human and Pokémon strewn about…

-A dozen corpses lay sprawled out over the hard packed earth of the hideout. Throats were ripped out, the bodies laying facedown in a growing puddle of their own blood-

The floor tilted.

Not really. Some distant, still-functioning part of my brain knew that, the same part that knew this wasn't the other lab, wasn't the ship, wasn't Proton's voice in the dark, wasn't the sound Sharon had made – just a half-second flash of white tile and something small and feathered with too many wings stitched on wrong, gone as fast as it arrived, before Espeon's weight pressed hard and deliberate against my shoulder, her mental prescense against my mind.

"I'm good," I said, mostly to convince myself. "I'm good." Mostly true.

Better than the ship, anyway. I'd take better.

Trainers spread out behind us as I followed the leaders, securing the rooms as we passed them. The passages weren't super wide, enough for five of us to walk shoulder to shoulder, so I didn't bring out the whole team quite yet. That being said, Espeon, Zorua, Hercules, Honedge, Siren, and even Aurora were all fanning out in front of me or staying close.

We didn't get three corridors deep before the first real resistance hit – a squad of grunts backed by a swarm of Golbat and a pair of hulking Magmar, and it went about as well for them as it usually did. Herc took one of the Golbat with a Thundershock, even as Brad's Pokémon – a grinning clam of a Pokémon, as big as a human and covered in spikes that protruded from its shell – slammed its protective casing closed against the Flamethrower that washed over it, Brad pulling me down behind the Cloyster with him. The second the stream of fire ended, he thumped his Pokémon hard on the back.

"Spike Cannon!"

The Cloyster cackled as it obeyed, the protrusion across its shell glowing with energy before it shot forward with a muffled boom!

Meanwhile, I managed to get Zorua's attention, the Dark-Type halfway between terrified by all the fighting and excited by the unaware targets.

"Distract them!" I told her, making her vanish beneath an illusion as she crept off. It didn't take more than a second before a horrified scream rang out and Brad and I stepped out of cover.

"Aqua Cutter!"

"Ice and Water, wide! Herc, light them up!"

I ran forward even as Aurora and Siren breathed out a drizzle of ice and water, respectively, something Hercules followed up with a Shockwave that raced through and electrified the water. Some of the Golbat managed to avoid it on account of being too high up, and one of the Magmar only got clipped, but the rest seized up as their muscles spasmed.

Something Brad's Cloyster took advantage of, spitting out a hair-thin stream of water, twisting its head around to cover the whole width of the corridor. For a moment, nothing happened other than a deep line cutting across the walls.

Then, the tops tumbled to the ground, followed by the bottom halves, intestines and organs squelching as they plopped into the quickly spreading pool of blood.

-the two Pokémon pulled away from each other and I barely managed to close my eyes before a series of snaps and pops were barely heard over all the screaming, followed by a tearing noise and wet splats as something I preferred not thinking about hit the floor-

"-ad! Hey!" Something hit me on the cheek, snapping me out of it. Reflexively, I lashed out and nearly clocked Brad in the face. "Whoa, hey!"

"I'm good!" I snapped even though he didn't ask. I was breathing hard, eyes flickering towards the bisected corpses as Cloyster snipped the last Golbat from the air.

Brad did not look like he believed me, but we were also in the middle of something, so he couldn't dwell on it.

"KEEP MOVING!" He called down the hall instead, and I made myself do exactly that, stepping over half a body and maneuvering around the other half.

It was way deeper than the first lab. I kept thinking it, the thought unwilling to leave my head. We were already deeper into Mt. Ember than the first Sevii base had been and it just kept going. How deep-

I accidentally glanced into a room as we passed it and felt like Bruno's Machamp had punched me in the chest. Along the far wall, barely visible between the three Mahogany Trainers who stepped inside to battle it out with the five Grunts and a single Cinnabar Trainer leading them, were cages. A Rattata paced its cell in perfect, practiced circles on six legs arranged in a spider's gait, joints that had healed clean around whatever they'd grafted on. A Pidgey-

-mindlessly bashed its head against the bars of its cage, two wings beating furiously. The other pair of wings laid limply at its side, fresh stitches visible where they were attached below the natural ones-

Herc shoulder-checked me to the side, an almost painfully bright stream of fire flying between us. I could feel the heat sear the peach fuzz from my cheeks despite the distance. My already twisted stomach lurched as the Elactabuzz caught a Vulpix in his large palm and I turned away instead to deal with the opportunistic Cinnabar Trainer trying to sink a knife between my ribs. He screamed when Honedge flashed past in his chase of Golbat that wouldn't leave me alone and severed the hand at the wrist; thick spurts of crimson landed all over the front of my shirt even as my knuckles crashed into his face.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Even as we went down to the floor, I kept it up.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Fist raised to smash his nose all the way into his brain, I barely caught the way his eye looked past me to something behind, in time to throw myself sideways. The Cinnabar Trainer only had a second to try and scream again before a trio of sharp rocks pierced his chest with a series of thud! thud! thud! The Graveler lowered its hands, absolutely dumbfounded at its mistake, right until it was hosed down by furious Siren.

We hit real resistance again two junctions later – enough Grunts and Cinnabar red that Brad actually called a halt to reposition, and it was an ugly slugging fest of people who had decided dying is on the table. One of the Mahogany trainers went down under a Machoke's fist, ribs giving out all at once with a series of cracks, and didn't get back up ashis own Sneasel tore into the Machoke's throat, uncaring that the Fighting-Type managed to get its hands around it and crush its chest as long as it got the kill.

I caught the claw howling for Brad's back with Honedge on pure reflex, a half-second before conscious thought caught up, and shoved him sideways hard enough that the strike that would've opened his spine instead scored a long, shallow line across his shoulder blade that soaked through his suit in seconds. Honedge met the attacker, fainted around its arm and drove through, coming out the other side in a burst of viscera, while I stomped on the Trainer's knee and forced his head into the wall with force, ignoring the way his skull seemed to give way and the size of the bloodpool that spread when he hit the floor.

"You're bleeding," I said to Brad instead, stupidly, because it was the only thing my brain offered up.

"Had worse." Brad didn't even slow, pressing a hand flat against his shoulder, blood running dark between his fingers. "Owe you one, though."

"I think we're square," I dismissed, getting a quick slap on the shoulder as we rushed to try and catch up.

Pryce didn't wait for anyone, though. He pushed on alone through the next junction, ice trailing off his cane, boots, the hem of his coat, everything, like the cold had simply decided it lived inside him permanently now and had stopped asking permission. Bodies were left in his wake, crumpled piles of crushed ice as even the more enthusiastic Cinnabar Trainers waited for the Gym Leader to pass before emerging to confront the rest of us.

"General, HOLD-!" Brad's voice cracked with genuine frustration, clocking a sneaky guy hiding behind one of his buddies. The blow swung the man left, right into my own fist, which sent him into Brad's boot, which put him on the floor. Brad's Weavil made sure he stayed there, the Ice/Dark-Type smiling up at me, strands of flesh stuck between its teeth before it vanished again.

By the time we'd cleared out the small group barring our way, Pryce was long gone.

"PRYYYYCE!" Brad roared after him to be heard over the commotion behind us. But it wasn't Pryce who answered.

"Having a bit of trouble?"

From up ahead, a pair of knee-high, white boots with a heel stepped out of one of the rooms, uncaring that they landed in a bit of blood that we'd sprayed that way. A long skirt, white with black trim, swooshed down to mid-shin, but had a slit on either side that went up to mid-thigh. A belt held the long-sleeved, single-piece uniform together, a hand with orange-painted nails planted there as their owner cocked their wide hips to the side. Orange hair in an almost anchor-shape, with a wicked widow's peak, stayed remarkably still as the woman tossed her head, long, golden earrings flashing in the different lights from behind us.

But most noteworthy was the black patch over her heart, with a blood-red R.

"You'd be one of them there Executives, eh?" Brad mused, tensing as the woman stopped in the middle of the hallway, spinning a PokéBall on her finger casually.

"I would indeed be 'one of them there Executives'," she smirked, flicking the PokéBall upwards before snatching it back when it was right in front of her face. Cringe. "Executive Ariana, to be exact. I do so hate to be a poor host, but how about we let the daddies talk, hmm?" Her eyes slid to me. "Besides, its been so long since we've seen each other. Don't you want to catch up?"

Brad glanced at me, and I shrugged. "Never seen her before, no clue."

Ariana's smirk grew thin, and her eye twitched. Someone didn't like being disrespected, which meant having to deal with me was going to be a rough time for her. "I was on the S.S. Anne."

Right, the one Archie beat the shit out of with one Pokémon. I heard about that. "I feel like I would remember that. You don't have to lie; it's okay to have missed some stuff. Sucks, but it happens. Kinda sad to pretend otherwise, though."

The smirk was completely gone. "I see why Proton doesn't like you."

"WHERE IS HE!?" I tried to jump towards her, but Brad managed to hold me back, though he was obviously surprised that he had to put his back into it. In the face of my sudden rage, Ariana looked genuinely startled, taking a small step back. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"Hold, kid!" It took a few breaths and curses, but he put me down without me flying off. "You go on ahead."

"What!?" I asked him incredulously. How did that make sense!?

"You can't beat her, no, stop!" I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off. "You can't! So you go on ahead and help the General while I clean this up."

"If I can't fight her, I definitely can't fight Blane!"

"You don't need to. You just need to keep the ol' man alive long enough for me to get there." He looked at me as serious as I'd ever seen him. I hadn't known him for more than an hour, if that, but it had been an intense hour. "Listen, Pryce is a great man and even better Trainer, but when it comes to Blaine, he's dumb as shit. He'll walk straight into a trap as long as Blaine is there. Play interference, run that big mouth of yours, just stall! GO!" He pushed me ahead, pulling out another pair of PokéBalls as his Cloyster and Weavile stepped in front of him.

"Oh?" Ariana's smirk returned along with another flip of her helmet-hair. "You think I'll just let him go?"

Brad snorted, unzipping his ski-suit, but keeping it on. I'd seen the thick clothing shrug of a decent Ember, so I finally understood why everyone was wearing them inside the volcano. "If you think you can take your eyes off me, be my guest. I'll step over your corpse and get the ol' man myself."

"Hmmmm," Ariana hummed, but then, inexplicably, she stepped to the side. "Brad Bradly, Menace of the Ice Path. Usually, I'd go for it anyway, but with you… you deserve my undivided attention."

Looking between them, I hesitated for a moment before swallowing my reluctance and moving to the opposite side of where Ariana was. Slowly, I crept along the wall, eyes on Ariana despite the two higher-level Trainers never breaking their staring contest. Once I was past her, I briefly contemplated trying to attack her from behind, the good old pincer maneuver. Then her shadow shifted damn-near unnoticeably, and I abandoned the idea, instead getting Brad's eye and mouthing 'ghost' to him while pointing at her shadow. He didn't acknowledge me, but that was fine. I would just have to… trust that Brad had it.

I stepped away from the wall as I moved, picking up the pace to try and get to Pryce.

Good thing, too.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The left wall exploded outwards, compacted dirt and stone smashed into dust and grit as a Hitmonchan came through it already swinging, catching a Sneasel across the jaw with a jab that didn't just knock it out – it caved half the poor thing's face in, bone giving under the impact with a sound that turned my stomach.

"Hi-Yah!"

I didn't get a full second to process it before the wall behind the Hitmonchan tore open the exact same way, a larger and bulkier bipedal figure slamming another into the opposite wall with a loud yell of exertion.

A person, punched hard enough to shatter the stone on impact and keep sliding, one arm bent at an angle arms weren't supposed to bend, blood running down the wall dark and fast from the back of his head to stain the white ski-suit the Mahogany Trainer was wearing. Miraculously, the Trainer started stirring.

"Hi-Yah!"

Until a foot hit his face so hard it caved in the wall behind him, teeth splintering and nose shattering as the skull broke under the force.

Above the dead Trainer, a fairly tall man retracted his bare foot, uncaring of the vermillion that stained the pant leg of the white karate gi. Muscle bulged visibly through the sleeveless top, thick, scarred hands clasped together with a loud smack! A head with short hair bowed to his deceased opponent in a gesture of respect.

"You fought well. Simply not well enough."

Straightening up, the man sighed and turned in our direction before seeing me, dark eyes widening while the thick, caterpillar-esque eyebrows shot so far up they nearly vanished under his red bandana.

In return, my own eyes were wually wide, my voice barely a whisper.

"... Koichi?"

---

Le gasp! Betrayal on the high seas!

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

 

[98ajaj]

I dont remember who that is...

 

[ApiLol123123]

"... Koichi?"

Click to shrink...

Isn't that the Karate guy?

Thanks for the chapter, eager to read the next one!!!

 

[TheGeneral03]

TFTC. Cant wait to see why karate Guy from saffron join the fight.

 

[sickboy398]

Unbelievable plot twist, damnit

 

[HankPankylol]

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

---

Despite all the whacky superpowers in the Pokémon world, there were still some completely natural phenomena that blindsided me. Such as the way the one second Koichi, Master of the Saffron Fighting Dojo, and I locked eyes seemed to stretch for so much longer, the crashes, explosions, and screams fading into a muted background choir.

He looked the same as the last time I saw him. Dark hair and eyes, red headband, white karate with the sleeves ripped off. Except red and black stained that white, blood and sooth clinging to the fabric and his Hitmonchan. His knuckles were covered, a small pool gathering under the feet he'd driven into his opponents face.

His Mahogany Trainer opponent.

Then the moment was over, and I was reminded that we were in the middle of a life or death assault.

"Hyper Pump!"

"Skunk them, Skuntank!"

The stinging spray of blocked, high-pressure water hit my neck and sent me flinching a step forwards. The movement agitated Hitmonchan, the tense Fighting-Type moving forwards with its hands up. In return, Herc's yellow and black form stepped around me to meet the boxing Pokémon. I lifted my hand to stop him-

WHOOSH-HIISSSSS!

-but was interrupted by another collision of attacks from behind, a billowing steam cloud covering us for a second before it was blown back by Hercules' Quick Attack enhanced Brick Break meeting Hitmonchan's Mack Punch, the impact sending both Pokémon sliding back a couple of steps.

And the battle was on.

"Wha-? Young Peri!? What are you doing here!? Chan, calm down!" Koichi looked gobsmacked, no sign of the violent confidence he'd entered with. Hitmonchan ducked and weaved between Herc's assault, letting the glowing fists just barely scrape against its rough hide. Hearing Koichi's words, Hitmonchan abandoned a counter punch and tried to move back, but the switch cost it. Herc's tail swung down as it was over extended and caught its ankle, making it stumble into a crackling thunder punch. Even with that, the well-trained Fighting-Type managed to pivot and take it to the shoulder rather than the chest, using the force to spin it back in front of Koichi, holding the shoulder while moving the arm around to get feeling back.

"Koichi!?" I yelled back, everything feeling strangely distant, like I was seeing the world from inside my head, but… weird. "What the fuc-What are you doing here!? A-are you working for Team Rocket!?" I didn't want to believe it. It wasn't like Koichi and I were great friends, but… surely, it was a mistake.

But I didn't pull back Hercules. Nor did I stop Siren and Aurora from joining in with steaming Water Bullets and Ice Shards. Hitmonchan had already been on the defensive due to Koichi's orders, but the humanoid Pokémon was quickly pinned in front of its Trainer and had no choice but to block every attack lest something slip by. Its were a barely distinguishable blur, deflecting Herc's thundering fists in the same movement as it struck the near-boiling Water Bullets and Ice Shards. Flashes of green sparked to life more and more often as it had to resort to Protect to stay in the game, head-sized shields blinking into existence and shattering with a single blow.

The Master of the Fighting Dojo hesitated at my accusation, eyes darting around. He was backing up down the corridor, further from Brad and Ariana's battle to try and give Hitmonchan room to maneuver, yet Herc was dogged in his pursuit, Siren and Aurora flanking out like they were trying to flank around.

"Its… its not that simple…"

"KOICHI!" The scream came from behind, forcing me to glance back. Brad had forced Ariana sideways and blown out the wall to one of the large labs lining the corridor, giving them some more room to fight. The Rocket Executive was sweating, a thin layer of ice over one of her arms as she stood behind a large purple and white, quadrupedal Pokémon I presumed to be the Skuntank she told to 'Skunk us'. In between the two Trainers, Brad's Weavil was clashing two dozen times a second with a larger, purple Pokémon.

Was that a Toxicroak? Where the fuck were the Rockets getting so many Sinnoh Pokémon!?

"KOICHI! DON'T LET THAT BRAT GET TO BLAINE! TAKE HIM DOWN, BUT LEAVE HIS POKÉMON ALIVE! THEY'RE THE PROPERTY OF TEAM ROCKET, NOW!"

Welp. The words echoed in my ears, each one dimmer as they were drowned out by the rising churning of my blood and the thump-thump of my heartbeat. The world narrowest down to just Koichi.

Traitor.

An expression of intense conflict flashed over Koichi's face. "No one said anything about children, Ariana!"

The only womanly Rocket Executive scoffed, which turned into a small shriek when a piece of ice nearly slit her throat open. "STOP BEING A PUSSY AND-!"

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOOOUU!"

"ARRRF!"

Both Pokémon and Trainer's eyes widened comically as Sol materialized mid sprint, using just a single step of Extreme Speed to accelerate nigh-instantly while ducking his head and rocking it tight. Hitmonchan had no chance to react before the momentum-enhanced Double Edge hit it like a freight train, lifting it up and carrying it down the hallway. Thanks to his Pokémon eating it first, Koichi had just enough time to leap sideways as the monstrous Arcanine, taking up more than half the width of the corridor, ran past like a bullet before finally hitting a hall down at the end.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The whole base shook at the impact, dust and little pieces of debris shaken loose. Everyone took a second to make sure the ceiling wasn't coming down on them, a chance Koichi used to hold out a hand my way as he tried to talk me down, half-lying in a broken doorway.

"Careful, Peri! I understand-!"

Everyone but me.

"KOICHIIIII!"

Crack!

My foot hit the edge of the wall, breaking off a chunk with a puff of grit while Koichi used his bent legs to jump backwards into the room and dodged my Spartan kick. Bringing his hands over his head, he landed on them and rolled himself into a handstand, pushing off the ground a good 10 feet to avoid Honedge trying to take his hands off at the wrists. Mid-air, he twisted to try and avoid the barrage of sharp ice pieces that tracked him. They littered him with thin cuts before shattering against the far wall, yet nothing deliberating. The worst was a deeper tear across his bicep, something he nursed as he landed lightly. The room was large, crates with differing logos filling the space.

"Peri, let me explain-!"

"DIIIEEEEE!"

Even slightly injured and reluctant to engage, Koichi was quick, hand darting down to flick a PokéBall towards me as my last two burst open, both Betty and Newt already inhaling as they formed.

WHOOOOOSH!

Dual Dragon Breaths filled the storage area as Koichi's Pokémon emerged, a conflagration of green-blue dragon fire smashing the craters to pieces and disintegrating their contents, tearing a swath of the hard-packed ground loose and turning it to dust.

I briefly thought that was it. I'd just overwhelmed Koichi before he could adjust and killed him.

But as the Dragon Breaths trailed off – Newt breathing a little heavily while Betty didn't seem affected – and the inferno started dying down, I saw the tornado that spun where Koichi had been. For a second, I assumed he'd pulled out a Dragon-Type, or something else capable of using Twister, yet as the column spun, it faded, the flames were flung outwards and dispersed. In the middle, in front of a crouching Koichi, a blue and tan top slowed its rotations, the whirlwind it had kicked up around itself dying with it.

Crossed armed and crossed legged, the spherical, blue body was balanced precisely on its round and brown head, flat, curved extensions protruding on either side and a single horn on top jabbed deeply into the stone floor. Beady black eyes stared at me unimpressed from its upside down position.

"They made me do this, Peri!" Anger and frustration had replaced the reluctance in Koichi's voice as his Hitmontop turned back into a beyblade and started moving its way towards us at worrying, a sharp skkkrrrrrrrrr! sound following it as it carved a thick funnel in the floor. "The League took everything from me! My father gave his life for Kanto! My uncles, my grandfather, and this is how they repay us!? Letting that-that, Psychic bitc-girl take what's mine!? Push me from my home, my family's home, shitting on centuries of traditions!? NO!" The last word was nearly unrecognizable with how the emotions in his voice distorted it. "NO! THIS ISN'T HOW IT ENDS! I WON'T LET IT!"

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" A brown figure leapt over the Hitmontop, a Hitmonlee coming down with a frosty heel kick like a scythe aimed at the still mildly deformed part of Betty's shell, trying to cleave through the thick armor.

"Espeon!"

Throughout the battle with Koichi, Espeon had been hanging back while the rest of the team took the lead.

But that didn't mean she had been idle.

Psychic power shone from her eyes and focusing crystal before it ripped from her in the thickest Psybeam I'd ever seen, less a strand and more like a psychic Flamethrower from the build up Calm Mind I'd bought her in Blackthorn. In lue of being unable to use Teleport – not that it mattered inside the volcano – Calm Mind had become her new favorite move, something she could practice nearly 24/7 from her place around my shoulders.

That power hit the descending Hitmonlee dead on, stuck in the air as it was. To its credit, the modified Ice Punch vanished instantly to be replaced by a hazy black coating that did its best to shield the Fighting-Type. The Dark-Type energy took the worst of it, but whatever anti-psychic techniques Koichi had been developing for Sabrina either needed more work or just wasn't good enough as it was ripped away from Hitmonlee and smacked into the Pokémon itself, throwing it back into the wall. Hercules pursued a Thunder Gloved one-two to its torso before it could force him away, blood leaking from the corner of its mouth from the super-effective attack as it glared at the still glowing – though lessened – Espeon as she jumped down to join Herc.

Meanwhile, Siren and Aurora breathed a pair of Ice Beams towards the Hitmontop as it whirled our way, the kicked up wind tugging at fur and my clothes. Said wind picked up dramatically, blue, cold energy leaking from the blue, bulbous feet as it generated a contained Blizzard around itself, the icy storm swallowing the pair of Ice Beams. Betty groaned even from a distance at the frigid winds, a trail of ice left in the wake of the frozen tornado on both the ground and the ceiling, the pillar taking up the eternity of the vertical portion of the room.

Taking offense to that, Betty belched flames at the incoming storm, a blindingly bright Flamethrower melting the outside layer of the Blizzard and sending a spray a water throughout the room. Suddenly, the Flamethrower seemed to break through, the Blizzard parting as the winter winds were flung wide, but the flames only met more flames, an inferno swirling to life to replace the ice. In seconds, a new, fiery twister was bearing down on us, the ground bursting above and below from the sudden temperature shift.

Almost before Siren and Aurora could even go to work putting it out, it was gone again, waves of fire kicked our way as electricity took its place, a moving ball of lighting screaming its way towards us as bolts lashed out towards us. Betty took them with barely a flinch, her thick shell no-selling the make-shift thunderbolts while the smaller ones hid behind her

But I was already gone, using the chaos to move the opposite way of where Herc and Espeon was wearing Hitmonlee down, keeping it boxed in and unable to fully use its agility.

"KOICHI!"

He leaned back, Honedge's tip carving across his collarbone. Instinctively, his leg kicked out a good deal faster than he'd been during our fight in the Dojo and caught me in the knee, making it buckle and letting him slip away before I could get up.

"Damnit Peri, what are you doing here!? This is no place for children!"

"DIE, TRAITOR!"

He blocked the sheath with his forearm, only to winch when the ribbon wrapped around him and began sucking out his lifeforce. It wouldn't take him down in any appreciative amount of time, but every little bit helped. He tried to rip it off but had little time when I let go and he suddenly had a sentient sword attached to him, doing its best to stab and cut him.

"Traitor!? TRAITOR!?" That seemed to be a tricker word for him as suddenly my world went black for a second as his fist thundered into the side of my head, taking me off my feet and sending me into a sliding tumble. "We were loyal to the end! What did that give us, huh!?" He grabbed Honedge's hilt with his free hand when the blade tried to take his head off, the two starting a tug of war that somehow, Koichi was winning. He even had the mental surplus to try and stomp on my leg as I scrambled backwards. "Ridicule! Humiliation! Decades of degradation, of platitudes and pity! I couldn't just take it! So yes, Team Rocket! Sometimes, it takes bad people to rip out the corruption and correct a mistake!" I spread my legs when his foot came down again, letting it hit between them to make a small crater in the rock as I wrapped my legs around his knee and tried to twist. Instead, he fell with me and forced himself around my own leg, flipping the situation as it was suddenly my leg trapped between his, my knee extended the extreme. "You wouldn't understand! You can't, your too young! Give, Peri! Surrounder, and I swear on my honor that no more harm will-!"

"Your honor!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed like a lunatic, stomping towards his groin as I strained. Something popped in my ligament when I twisted, a sharp flare of pain shooting up from my knee as I ignored his hold and tried to turn his balls to mush. "What fucking honor!? Liar, traitor! I'll kill you!"

He stared at me, muscles bulging as he restrained both me and Honedge, eyes wide and darting around between my pined leg and the two battles going on in the room, the Pokémon getting frantic due to their Trainers being in danger, yet unable to disengage without leaving themselves open. He licked his lips as the whole base shook again when Pryce and Blaine throwing down above us. The tremors seemed to make his decision for him, his eyes firming and-

"ARRRRHHHH, WHAT TH-GET OFF ME!"

-something invisible latched onto the back of his head, his right ear vanishing in splatter of blood as Zorua went to town, trying her best to tear through the hard muscles on the back of his neck to get to the soft spine beneath. Koichi threw his head back and slammed the Dark-Type into the ground, getting a pained yip, but she refused to let go as she shimmered into existence. Another slam nearly forced her to let go, but she clung on and tried to get her forelegs around to the softer jugular in front, opening long rifts on the side of his neck that poured blood. His legs loosened from the pain and danger, allowing me to slip free and surge back up, ignoring how the knee he'd been pressuring almost gave out under me in order to try and cease the opportunity.

Unfortunately, Hitmonlee had seen the danger and decided 'fuck it', coming in with a kick any soccer player would've been proud off. The was a snap! as Zorua's side bent inwards and she was torn off Koichi's savaged neck in a cloud of blood and hit the wall with a worryingly loud thud! before falling to the ground in a limp heap. Hitmonlee, meanwhile, only had a second before a trio of Psybeams hammered into its pack and it was donkey-punched in the back of the head by Herc's Focus Punch. That in turn forced the Hitmontop to abandon its elemental assault on Betty and the girls and come to the rescue, forcing everyone to keep a wide distance while its fellow struggled to its feet, swaying and dripping with blood, but still willing to fight.

Koichi kicked to his feet, pressing the back of a hand to the side of his neck to check the bleeding. He probably thought I was going to check on Zorua, or regain my breath, and that he had the time.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

I slammed shoulder first into his midsection, wrapping one arm around him in a parody of our first fight. Much like back then, he brought his elbow hammering down on my back, just without holding back. I did my absolute best to reinforce the area by circulating as much Aura that way – and it came easy in my rage – which might be the only reason my ribs held under the first blow, based on the way I could feel them bend and creak.

The second hit definitely snapped a couple, a sharp stabbing sensation coming from my chest as I tried to regain the air that had been knocked out of me.

He wasn't the only one who wasn't holding back, however. There was a reason I only used one arm.

"AAAARRRRGGGHH-HHnnnnnn!" Koichi forced his scream down to a groan as I twisted the survival knife buried in his side. I'd missed his kidney and other organs with the first shank, so I withdrew the blade and tried again. Before the knife hit, though, his hand holding Honedge's sheath gribbed my own side and hurled me sideways into a wall.

"Aaaaarrrrggghhhh, fuuuck, Peri!" He exclaimed, looking down at the uneven hole in his side as it gushed blood in thick spurts in rhythm with his heartbeat. He seemed to be in disbelief. "Y-you stabbed me!" Slightly weird thing to say when there was a living sword inches from his head, vibrating intently as it tried to get loose and cut his head off. Koichi's grip on the sheath slipped, letting the hollow piece of metal bash him over the head again and again, without enough leverage to do any actual damage.

"I'll do it again!" I snapped back, picking myself off of the floor. Breathing hurt. I didn't think the throw punctured anything, but it definitely didn't make anything better either, and blood ran down from my hair line. A fourth PokéBall at Koichi's waist opened and I almost rolled my eyes at the Machamp that emerged. Of course he had more Pokémon. "Are you gonna pretend you haven't seen this fucking lab!?" I chuckled a little manically, rubbing a hand over my face without caring for the blood that got smeared across it. "Like you don't know what these fucks are doing!? 'Noone said anything about children'!? Who the fuck are you trying to convince, me or you!?"

Koichi opened his mouth and let the Machamp put a piece of leather it had pulled from his pocket in his mouth, biting down hard on it. Even in my rage stupor, I was as shocked as everyone else would've been when the Fighting-Type's hand lit up with a Fire Punch and it pressed it against Koichi's side.

"HHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" Koichi screamed into his gag and Honedge tore free from his grasp, edge singing for his neck, only for his hilt to be grasped by another, larger palm. Machamp grunted as it felt the draining effects of Honedge's touch, but didn't stop cauterising Koichi's wound until the Trainer slumped against him.

Pale faced, covered in sweat and blood, Koichi nevertheless managed to push himself upright again, nodding down where Honedge's ribbon was wrapped around his arm. "Get that off me."

Machamp grunted and reached for the ribbon, trying to work a fat, sausage finger under the cloth to pry it loose, while I looked frantically around for a free Pokémon or two. There was no doubt about the outcome of the fight, any longer. The team was pressing Himonlee and Hitmontop hard, the Fighting-Types entirely on the defensive as they did their best to hold all six Pokémon back and away from their Trainer. Even with Betty being unable to help as much as she – or I – would like, without killing me as well, they were getting closer and closer to the win. Even as I watched, Newt slipped through the firestorm that surrounded Hitmontop, letting her scales brush off the heat as she Wrapped herself around the spinning top Pokémon. A high-pitched shriek left the Dragonair as she was slung around like a carousel, more and more of the long body unwrapping from the force as she struggled to hold on. That didn't stop her from lighting up with Thunder Wave, making the top wobble, and then letting go, using the rapidly expanding Blizzard to push herself back towards the team, shivering and shaking as she slid back behind the front lines to offer support.

But they might not do so well if I pulled them away.

My second of hesitation cost me, Machamp using all three of his free amps to pull at Honedge and despite the Steel/Ghost's turning Koichi's forearm purple from how hard he was tightening, he couldn't compete with a Machamp's strength. Coil by coil, he was unbound, each extra length pulled taught.

And all the while, the scabbard beat and beat, shining with Metal Claw to try and do some damage, any damage.

But it just wasn't sharp enough! For all the work Honedge had done on dual-wielding, using his blade and holster at the same time, the sheath had been relegated to defense, other than the occasional swinging clubbing.

But he refused to give in, striking again and again as he was unwound from Koichi. He beat and beat and beat, shining brighter and brighter and brighter, like a star as the glow spread down the ribbon, Machamp's efforts getting more hurried. He hit and hit and hit, clubbed and clubbed and clubbed as the sheath started elongating, the blinding gleam reaching the blade-

"THROW IT AWAY!"

Machamp untied the last of the blazing cloth and flung Honedge away like it had been burned, roaring in pain as the still growing sheath cut deeply into its left shoulder on the way past.

No, I realised as the tumbling cartwheel of starlight came to a hovering stop in front of me, connecting cloth rippling as something X-shaped formed in the middle and then detached from either side. Not Honedge.

Duoblade.

Dual blades gleamed in the flickering light from the lamps above, roughly a foot-and-a-half of silver steel attached to light grey handles, a pink, slitted eye glaring out from either crossbar. Attached to each pommel, a long, dark purple sash with a pink swirl pattern on the tip swayed in an imaginary wind; the tip of the sashes splitting into four tassels, vaguely resembling a hand as the blades moved independently. Behind the twin swords, a brown plaque with a pair of crossed scabbard attached floated. The sheathes were varying shades of brown with lines forming a triquetra pattern across the front and near the top of each sheath there was a rhombus-shaped opening and three rings

Doublade ground its blades together as the whole room stopped to look at him – them? They? – a head-splitting noise ringing out as it readied itself for combat. A grin so wide it felt like the corners of my mouth tore open covered my face. Suddenly, I didn't feel the need to pull anyone away from their fights.

We had it.

CRASH!

As soon as the thought hit, the wall to our far right exploded inwards as something massive and flaming was thrown through it, a burning quadruped rolling across the ground in between me and Koichi with pained yips. I didn't need the fire to go out to recognise Sol, but it sure did make it easier to help him to his feet.

"You okay?"

The Arcanine huffed in response, glancing at me briefly before doing a double take at my state. He immediately started sniffing and whining at my bloody face, forcing me to push him away.

"I'm fine! I'm more worried about you!"

He snorted dismissively, trying to puff himself up to look even bigger, yet cringed into himself instead. One of his eyes had swelled shut, the area around it looking a little odd and lumpy, like the bone had shifted. His right foreleg was raised over the ground and he wouldn't put any weight on it and when I pressed gently just behind it on his ribcage, he flinched away, sniffingly apologetically, yet unwilling to let me get any closer.

"Couple broken ribs, ey? Aren't we a pair?" I snarked, leaning against him for a moment as the sides redrew themselves in the sudden pause that had occurred. I narrowed my eyes as Hitmonchan plodded over to Koichi's side, helping to steady him much like Sol was doing to me. The Fighting-Type wasn't doing particularly well himself, despite apparently having been able to hold Sol off after already taking a couple of blows. Both glove-like growths were charred and melted where they'd hammered into Sol's burning pelt. The shoulder Herc had hit in the beginning of the fight had a nice sear, the flesh black and cracked around a series of teeth marks, the arm hanging limply at his side.

Shit, it had done all that with one arm? Probably Koichi's Ace, then, the strongest of his team.

"Still," I pushed myself up and stepped forwards as my team gathered around my, Doublade's plaque hanging over my upper back while his swords flanked my shoulders. "We've got this."

Looking them over, I actually believed my words, too. Siren was fine, the Feebas more than used to conserving her meager strength and only striking when she was sure it would be of use. Between hanging back and being the best at pacing herself, she'd outlast us all. Betty was still good to go as well, but she just didn't have the room she needed to not kill everyone else alongside our enemies. She'd be on the defensive with Protect and Rock Tomb. Sol was hurt, but it would take a hell of alot more than a Hitmonchan to keep him out of the fight. Herc's tail had a weird bent, and he was cradling his wrist, but again, good enough. Espeon was running out of steam, the massive Calm Mind having worn off and left her exhausted. Hone-Doublade was… well, awesome. Zorua's unconscious body was quickly recalled, and finally, Newt's eyelids were a little droopy and she was still shivering from the Blizzard.

Koichi was worse, however. Not even his Pokémon, though they were in even worse condition than my team and Hitmonchan were, but Koichi himself looked like he was on the verge of death. Blood caked his neck and throat, pouring down from his chewed off ear, and even leaked through a small opening that Machamp's battlefield treatment didn't catch. He was pale and sweaty, half hanging off of Hitmonchan as he panted.

"Peri… this… this isn't w-what I wanted."

"It's what you fucking deserve," I panted myself, trying to keep each breath light. "What did you expect? Huh? Were you gonna… what, challenge Lance to an honor duel? You were, you were gonna push through legislation at knife point? Reform the government with a, a bunch of murderous, insane terrorists!? What the fuck did you expect!?"

"I-..." He looked over his shoulder to the hole Sol had made when he smashed through it. Through the broken wall, knocked over machines and medical equipment could be seen, wires running down into enclosed beds. I didn't want to know what was in them, but I could see on that had been knocked over, its inhabitant much too small and fleshly looking to have hatched on their own. "... not this. It… it wasn't supposed to be like this." He looked genuinely lost, all the fire and anger from before gone as he gazed out over what we'd done to each other. Hell, he might even had shed tear.

Not a single fuck stirred in my heart.

"Well, boo-fucking-hoo. This is the result of your actions, and now, I'm going to kill you for them."

The tension racked back up as we stared each other down. He took a risk to glance at his team, letting me do the same, my eyes telling them to be ready on my mark-

"NOW!"

My head snapped back around just in time to see a massive cloud of steam and smoke explode out from their location. In response, a torrent of elemental attacks from my side blasted the make-shift cover apart, reducing what was left of the wall to slag and ruins while revealing what happened to Koichi and his Pokémon.

The space was empty, only a single, circular hole in the ground where they'd been standing, surrounded by puddles of blood.

"NO!" I screamed and threw myself at the hole, trying to stuff myself down into it without thinking. It was plenty wide and I slipped in easily, gravity taking hold as I started to plummet. I would have kept doing so, and likely died on impact with wherever they'd made a turn, if not for several hands and tail wrapping around my legs to pull me back out. "No, let me go! GET BACK HERE! KOICHIIIIIIII!"

"PERI!" I looked towards the source of the yell, and for a second, I thought it was Koichi. But no, Koichi wouldn't be looking through the doorway from outside, nor was he tall, bald, and bearded. Or was standing behind a Cloyster holding up a Protect that filled the doorway and made it air tight right as a purple cloud washed over it. Brad. "PRYCE!"

Pryce? Who gave a fuck about Pryce!? Koichi got away! I fucking had the filthy, rat bastard right where I wanted him, and he slipped away like the dirty snake that he was!

The world shook again.

"PERI!"

I stared at Brad, then at the hole, then at the ceiling.

Then I screamed.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Echoed down the hallway as I leapt over the decimated wall, recalling Betty and Newt as I did, since they were too big. Sol took the lead through the mess he'd made of the door on that side, running down the long hall and balling over whoever was brave enough to stick their heads out after his first pass through.

It wasn't over, I swore as I sprinted down the corridor. Not by a long shot. The list had been updated and went: Proton, Giovani, Koichi, the rest of Team Rocket. I was going to hunt him down, I vowed as a Golbat suddenly flew out towards me, ichor splattering over me as Doublade sliced it in two as soon as it came near. I was going to find Proton, I was going to find Giovani, and I was going to find Koichi.

Sol and Hitmonchan had thankfully hit the corner we had to turn to reach the staircase, rather than the staircase itself. They had also felt a four foot deep, floor to ceiling crater in the wall, with half the ceiling collapsed down on it. We paid that no mind and I quickly recalled Sol when I saw he was too wide.

The volcano shook more and more violently as I climbed, quickly having to slow down to avoid elevating my heart rate too much and breathing too deeply. That was a real shame since when I looked up, there was no sign of the end. I had to restrain myself to a brisk walk, and that was trying. If it wasn't so tight, I'd have re-released Sol and had him carry me-

I blinked as Doublade's swords flipped over my shoulders and down into their sheaths, the whole plaque then floating over my head to come rest right around knee level, the two eyes staring up at me.

"Thanks, buddy," I exhaled as I took a seat, the whole assembly big enough for my ass to sit on as the ghost started flying forwards, keeping himself steady rather than tilting to match the steps.

Doublade wasn't much faster than Honedge had been, and Honedge had never been a speed demon. That didn't matter much when climbing stairs as hovering beat walking every single time. We even had to slow down to not leave the rest behind – other than Herc, who took it as a challenge. But I needed him as fresh as possible, so we slowed, even as the minutes ticked by. Dust and loose stones rained down on us from the battle above, alternatingly sweltering and freezing winds blowing down the longest stairway of all time.

But, eventually, we reached the top, a door-shaped rectangle of light too blinding to see through after minutes upon minutes in the dark stairway. I slid off Doublade and without further hesitation, walked straight through the opening to the fight between Pryce and Blaine.

And emerged into a hellscape.

---

For anyone curious about the 'power-scaling', I have Koichi right around Conference-level (just under Master), which is where I also have people like Executives and top-tier Gym Trainers like Brad. This is of course not an exact power level (between Typing, compatibility, environment, mentality, and plot) but roughly the same ballpark.

Peri can't quite hang one on one, but with the numbers and a mental advantage? Doable.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

 

[Protosoul]

Damn, hell of a fight.

My only comment is that's a lot of descriptions of physical actions, but not a lot of the internal emotions we get to see in a first person perspective. There should be something that explains how the rage is overtaking Peri when he realizes the betrayal or something , as we only see the actions. It took a minute to realize the first yell was him. A bit more focus on what has feeling internally I think.

 

[zharshoul]

There can be nothing but death for this version of team rocket, they literally sunk a liner with all hands cept the MC in the prologue.

That isn't minor villainy, or a smuggling or protection racket, its full blown terrorism without care or regard.

I hope you don't back down.

 

[ApiLol123123]

Thanks for the chapter, eager to read the next one!!!

 

[sickboy398]

Can't help but see similarities to him and Frieren, any time they see their opps they go full murder hobo on them

 

[Fobur]

Damn, read it for several days and that's a gem. Need some tags tho, I think that's why so few people are here.

 

[HankPankylol]

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

---

I'd met several extraordinarily powerful Pokémon throughout the years: Slowking, the Leviathan of Cerulean, Lance's Dragonite, the absolute monster at Bill's lighthouse. I'd trained with Bruno, seen his troupe of freaks pulverize stone and smash mountains.

Yet it wasn't until I exited the staircase and emerged at the summit of Mt. Ember that I understood how little that meant. How much Bruno had held back.

The peak of the volcano was huge, a half circle of solidified magmatic rock larger than any arena I'd ever been in – bigger than even the Indigo Stadium, I imagined – suspended over half of the enormous bowl. Over the edge, deep, deep below, fiery magma rolled and churned, slag forming on the surface before being dragged down into the viscous substance to melt and start the whole process over again.

Or at least, that was my best estimate of what it looked like. It was hard to tell, since the whole thing was engulfed in ragnarok.

A monstrous blizzard and blazing wildfire swallowed the platform as they ground away at each other in a battle for dominance, a blanket of hissing steam obscuring the meeting point. Above, black thunderclouds fought with the brightest sun I'd ever seen, hail the size of my fist melting to pinpricks of water by the time they hit the elemental storms.

Below, crystal-clear ice creaked and cracked as it was born, a spire growing to a wall and then a towering glacier, fifty feet high, in a second, moving faster than an avalanche. The superheated rock beneath it splintered and popped from the cold as the small mountain of frigid energy barreled towards the far side of the volcano where a billowing inferno swallowed the world, a solid mass of fire hiding everything from view.

Except a tiny ember rapidly glowing brighter as the flames around it grew dimmer.

THOOOOOOOOOOMMM!

A blinding flash of white and blue and the sound of a jet engine igniting filled the air; a hole big enough for Betty to walk through comfortably appeared in the middle of the glacier as a laser beam of compacted flames roared through it, burning so hot that not even steam survived. Another good 10 feet of ice instantly turned to vapor despite not being in contact with the beam, and yet another 15 melted into steaming water. Yet, as the laser screamed through the wall of ice, it almost seemed to… warp. Diminish. Faster than it should, despite how easily it plowed through Pryce's technique, it grew slimmer and slimmer as it reached the end, the hue dimming from blue to white, and then further. By the time a red spot appeared on the back of the ice wall and the condensed fire howled out to burn through the raised stone near the edges of the bowl, it was barely wider than my torso.

Still, the glacier collapsed, fracturing as it fell to pieces, still carried forward by momentum. And it kept moving as Mamoswine's massive, charred figure thundered out of the blizzard I imagined contained Pryce, deep burns having stripped the fire-resistant fur and exposed blackened muscle in several places. The mammoth-rhino thing bellowed deep in its chest, the ice and ground beneath it surging forth at its command in a rising avalanche that swirled around the huge Pokémon, rock reshaping itself into spears as an even larger silhouette with a long neck and tail followed within the technique. Mamoswine reared up and stomped, the wave bulging as the whole mountain shook and lurched.

But the inferno wasn't idle. Like the ocean, it undulated and wavered, consolidating in front of the landslide as it grew so bright that white began appearing at the edges and spread throughout. In seconds, the hundred–foot–wide– or more – blaze was no larger than twenty feet and so hot it started turning a startling blue.

As it retreated, bones were revealed where the flames had licked. Blackened and falling apart from the insane temperatures, little more remained of the interlocked skeletons than long, razor-sharp claws on lanky fingers, and something quadrupedal with multiple tails.

CRRAASSHHH-HIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Another explosion of steam as the avalanche met the nearly solid wall of flames. At the last second, the massive, long-necked dinosaur Pokémon lurking in the blizzard sparked with electricity, two sails on either side of the head lighting up yellow before an enormous blast of lightning and wind joined the power struggle as ice and even rock melted. The additional move broke the hotter, outer shell of Blaine's defensive move and exposed the more vulnerable – if still white-hot – interior. The stone spikes, mostly turned to slag, did their best to reform their points as they launched into the fire, a pained yip and agonized roar sounding from within.

"PRYYYYYYYCEEEEE!" Despite the chaos, the voice was clear, venom dripping from the screamed name.

A large shape emerged, lumbering to meet Mamoswine's charge that followed the Ice-Rock-Electricity attack, standing as tall as Sol on two stubby grey legs. The brownish-gray Pokémon with orange, armor-like plates slammed its heavy, clubbed tail into the ground, sending another tremor through the battlefield as it braced itself, its nose horn and a smaller one above it spinning like drills. Heat radiated from the Rhyperior, its rocky hide glowing cherry-red, yet it remained undaunted as it received Mamoswine with open arms and a bellow like colliding, uncaring for the intense coat of Normal-Type energy that surrounded it right before impact.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A monstrous explosion engulfed the middle of the platform, the shockwave blowing back the elemental covers. The stone beneath the giants shattered, cracks running damn near all the way back to where I was standing, gaping like an idiot.

My heart dropped as the center – where Rhyperior was screaming while it was forced backward with cracks spreading through the rapidly cooled armor – started dipping, the sides of the enormous crater detaching from the rest of the platform and starting to fall towards the magma below. However, nearly in sync, the two part Ground-Types exerted their control over it while still shoving at each other, and wrenched the tons and tons of rock back into place, the newly lowered edges molding together with the rest. Spikes and spears formed and unformed faster than I could spot them, mud solidifying before it liquefied as Rhyperior tried to use its greater geokinesis to make up for the damage the Giga Impact had caused it.

For a brief moment, I saw Pryce, hands folded over his cane and face as cold as the Type he'd mastered. A thin layer of frost covered him, glittering as the sun overcame the clouds for a second, yet there were no signs that he noticed, not as much as a wisp of vapor escaping from his mouth.

At his feet, a blue-white cat-fox flicked its long ears at suddenly being revealed. In front, acting both as guards and range support, a large Dewgong and another, even bigger, blue walrus Pokémon, with white mutton chops and large tusks, clapped their fins together with a wet slap! sound, the blizzard wrestled back under control, their thick blubber red and agitated even that deep inside their cover. Up front, there was a sorrowful, keening cry as the Aurorus flared its yellow-white sails again and made them glow with the hues of the northern lights as the eight-foot-tall – at the shoulder – and more than 25-foot-long sauropod stomped after Mamoswine, the lower third of its tail gone as its own blizzard whipped to life around it.

On the opposite side, Blaine stood with his back towards the edge of the platform, mere feet away from dropping into the volcano. Much like Pryce, he embodied his chosen Type well. Literal smoke shot from his nostrils in two long tendrils that clung to his mustache for a moment before even that was burnt away. He'd discarded his shirt to reveal a surprisingly muscular upper body for a man his age – with some unavoidable saggy skin – which was littered with scars and old burn marks, which must've been truly old, as despite the immediate area around him being free from fire, the occasional tongue of flame would reach out to lick his skin in a brief caress that he didn't seem to notice, nor did it singe him.

He paced between two hulking, vaguely humanoid Pokémon. Red and yellow stripes covered their egg-shaped bodies, with prominent pink lips standing out on their dark faces, shadowed by the large yellow flame on their heads, as well as red flames on their shoulders and stubby tails. Their legs were small in proportion to their body, with pink thighs, red feet, and black shackles around their ankles. Most noticeable, however, were the bulbous, tubular arms with a black ring around the tricep area and three small claws on the black part of each hand. As I watched, one of the Magmortars – a brute of a Pokémon with a gaping hole in its shoulder and a big gash across its stomach, standing head and shoulders taller than either Blaine or the smaller Fire-Type, who were around the same size – lifted its good hand, claws retracting into the limb as the hollow cannon opened up. Like a vacuum, the fire around it wavered as it was sucked into the cannon, the arm lighting up as Blaine glared across the volcano at Pryce, spit evaporating before it even left his mouth as he roared with hate.

"PRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! MURDEREEEEER!"

THOOOOOOOOOOMMM!

Magmortar was forced back several feet by the laser technique's pushback, the sound barrier shattering. It was too fast for me to track; I only saw it when it struck that same massive glacier Aurorus threw up in defense. I didn't get to see the result as the two storms smashed back into each other and hid everything from view; my last sight was the second, more heavily scarred Magmortar spewing new flames to replace the lost ones, its second cannon-arm pointed backward as wavering air rushed up over the ledge.

It was siphoning the heat from the volcano to reinforce their fire cover, which the rest of the team was using to reinforce their techniques. As I realized it, a ball of fire moving nearly as fast as the fire-laser slammed into Mamoswine's side and detonated like a meteoric impact, the event little more than a shadow puppet play in the swirling mess. The mammoth Pokémon roared as it was forced sideways and away from Rhyperior, the last of its thick coat of fur singed away to show charred flesh, but it wasn't without cost.

A distinctly familiar howl of displeasure and pain rang out as the Dewgong, Walrein, and Aurorus laid into the hidden Pokémon with high-pressure jets of water and pointed rocks. An Arcanine, large but not Sol-large, limped out of the hole, its back leg clearly broken and a couple of sizable stones embedded along its flank. Rhyperior covered its teammate as they slunk back into the flames to recover, both sides resetting as the opportunity became lost.

By the staircase, I stood frozen by indecision and – I was brave enough to admit – a healthy dose of fear.

What the fuck was I doing there!? 'Help Pryce'!? Who was going to help me!?

Also, I noted, I wasn't even sure it was necessary, regardless of what Brad had said. Despite the battlefield and Typing favoring Blaine, I found myself thinking that Pryce's side looked better.

Little by little, the blizzard ground away at the inferno. The curtain of constantly heating and chilling vapor slowly pushed towards Blaine's side, even as the cyclone of winter hissed and sputtered on contact with the flames. But more resolidified than dissipated. Something about Pryce's ice resisted-no, not just resisted; it weakened the fire, pulling the heat straight from the conflagration and stilling it.

Just as the Magmortar siphoned from the lava below to empower their protection and defense, Pryce stole the heat from them even faster. From so far away, I had a good enough overall view to see the top of the firestorm bulge upwards as something flew out above the clashing forces. Smoke and embers clung to the orange hide as it spread large, batlike wings – filled with so many rifts and holes that it was in complete denial of physics that it remained aloft – to halt itself, draconic snout opening wide to show rows of sharp fangs as it tried to hide itself against the blinding sun that, unlike the conflict below, seemed to be overwhelming the ice for some reason. Steaming blood poured from a leg that had been turned into deli-meat, the bipedal dragon's left arm ending in a frostbitten stump. Behind it, a white-hot bonfire flared and engulfed half of the Charizard's tail, eyes blood-red as it lost itself in the adrenaline-fueled, life-saving ability Blaze that burned within it.

The wings flapped, a hurricane of shimmering air launching down toward Pryce's position as a blue-tinted cone of fire left its maw and quickly caught up. The Heat Wave and Blast Burn mixed, becoming an ocean of fire nearly as large as the one that shielded Blaine, and actually forced the blizzard back.

The tattered wings kept beating, Heat Wave after Heat Wave enhancing the constant stream of flames pouring from its mouth, and melting the snow enough to expose Mamoswine and Aurorus again. At the same time, the ground rumbled as Rhyperior emerged right under the huge mammoth with a glowing uppercut to the chin, actually lifting Mamoswine off its feet and throwing it backward, while there was a brief glimpse of an orange streak before Aurorus cried out as it was hurled sideways by an impact, followed by a massive explosion. The Brachiosaurus-looking Pokémon made the ground tremble as it fell, only to be hit again and again by the nearly untraceable meteor, circling the battlefield before the Ice/Rock-Type could react. Streams of water emerged from what remained of the blizzard when the ball of fire came back for another hit, but they were easily avoided even as they swerved to try and catch it off guard. For a second, the all-consuming energy around the Pokémon slipped enough for me to see the completely healed Arcanine sprint away, Extreme Speed letting it build so much speed that it left a shockwave behind as it pushed past Mach 1, then came back to strike the Fossil Pokémon once more.

Instinctively, I moved down from Doublade's plaque, where I'd still been sitting, certain the moment had come despite my reservations. Pryce had pushed too deep, leaving himself open to a counterattack. My options to help were limited, but maybe, I thought, hand reaching down to my belt, Sol would be fast enough to at least get the Arcanine off-

The Charizard roared as its wings were suddenly engulfed in a pair of ice blocks; the continuous Blast Burn and repeated Heat Waves cut off as it plummeted like a stone. From behind it, emerging from a shadow that should've been all the way on the ground if not for the nearly solid surface the two elemental domains had made, an almost transparent figure, hiding its mouth behind a long sleeve as a ghostly giggle carried far farther than it should.

Meanwhile, the Arcanine came back for another hit, which it got off, but as soon as the massive explosion of Fire- and Normal-Type energy engulfed the downed Aurorus, part of the blizzard that it had been pushing the huge, extinct Pokémon towards unwillingly billowed out and encircled it as rocky spires grew from the ground and froze over, trapping the canine within an icy miniature mountain range.

Oh. That's why I hadn't seen Frosslas. It wasn't Pryce overextending and getting caught. It was a bluff to make Blaine commit and come out of his diminishing cover.

Charizard snarled and spat, engulfing itself in a conflagration as it descended like a falling star. It did nothing to discourage Frosslas, though. Even as the flames deformed and melted the armored carapace binding the ghost to the material world, it extinguished them in return. Frosslas slithered around Charizard's front, leaving black, hissing handprints in her wake as she reached its head. A monstrous Flamethrower greeted her, scything through the sky for over 150 feet and ending more than 50 feet wide. Yet she laughed as she burned, the sound distorting and warbling in time with her physical form as she grabbed the flying lizard by the jaws, wrenched Charizard's mouth open wide, and stuck her head inside.

And then deeper. And deeper. Charizard gagged as the half-disintegrated specter slipped down its throat, the stream of fire abruptly cutting off. It seized mid-air, thrashing around as it belched out blasts of flame that quickly turned to smoke, coughing and hacking as it fell. The fire disappeared, replaced entirely by smoke that started to twinkle in the light, and then steam. Dark veins stood out starkly whilst condensation gathered on its paling skin, freezing alongside the muscles and bones beneath as the steam grew foggy; ice crystals crept down the tail toward the flagging fire as it whitered, the flickering yellow spark little more than candlelight before it was snuffed out completely.

The pseudo-dragon gave one last defiant, silent roar that sent out a blast of cold that would've given Aurora's Icy Wind a run for its money before the ice moved up and over its face, the violent struggles fading as the ice statue plummeted, descending through the clashing storms as nothing more than a shadow, then hitting the ground.

CRAAAASSSSSH-CLINK-CLINK-CLINK-CLInk-clink-clink!

The Charizard statue shattered into a thousand tiny pieces on impact that showered the platform in twinkling shards, each so small and fractured that the ones that melted in Blaine's wildfire turned into nothing but a tiny red dot. I couldn't see Frosslas rising from the broken corpse that had once been a Charizard trained by a Fire Master, but I wasn't too worried either. Frosslas had more in common with ghosts like Gengar and Misdreavus than Ho-Duoblade. Even though its icy armor had broken, I knew the more immaterial ghosts didn't necessarily care as much. If Doublade's blade – Or both blades? Were they two separate individuals? – broke, it would be nearly impossible to repair-

Something cold seemed to blow on the back of my neck, yet when I snapped around to look, there was nothing other than a few stray pieces of snow that had escaped Pryce's team's control.

For Frosslas? Not as much, it would seem. Didn't she have better things to do than fuck around with me?

"ARRRF!"

BOOOOOOOOOOM-CR-CRAA-CRAAAAASSHHH!

"AAAAARRRRRRRRFFFF!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-CRRR-CRAA-CRAAAAAAASSHHH!

Like helping with that?

Back with the trapped Arcanine, the flaming dog Pokémon was getting desperate, hurling itself at the frozen-over stone entrapment it was stuck inside over and over again. I couldn't see the Pokémon itself, but I could see the enormous explosions that shattered the ice and even most of the rock, the power behind whatever Flare Blitz offshoot Blaine had developed – Giga Impact, as well? Extreme Speed, Flare Blitz, and Giga Impact? Something to think about – was truly awe-inspiring and a demonstration of how far Sol still had to go, something the Alpha Arcanine seemed to agree with, given that he'd popped out of his ball to watch alongside me as Blaine's Arcanine fought against Aurorus, Dewgong, and Walrein's control over rock and ice and nearly came out on top. Ice melted, and rock shattered under its wrath nearly as fast as the three could rebuild it.

But only nearly. I still couldn't see, but the blasts became smaller and smaller, Aurorus stomping closer as the circle closed in. Rhyperior had noticed the predicament from where it had been trying to push its advantage against Mamoswine and tried to disengage, but its own eagerness worked against it – a common theme with Blaine, I was starting to notice – and Mamoswine easily kept it not only engaged but put it on the defensive as it stopped sandbacking now that the trap had closed. A deep THOOOOM! announced another Fire Hyper Beam, or whatever laser Blaine was throwing out, with another on its heels, but they never arrived. Glaceon's graceful, slender form came running around the rim, stopping right where Blaine would be despite not being able to see him, and closed its eyes. Contrary to my expectations, the blizzard didn't pick up or intensify.

Instead, it sat and stilled.

Every snowflake blown within 20 feet of Glaceon stopped like it'd hit a wall, all momentum gone in an instant as it gently descended toward the ground, completely ignoring the howling storm around it. When the lasers came, I finally got to see the blue, arm-thick bolts of fire as they slowed and grew thinner the closer they got to Glaceon. I'd seen the same technique break the sound barrier and devastate Aurorus' glacier – with enough power left over to burn through 60-70 feet of rock – yet by the time it reached the completely still Glaceon, it was little more than a spark that died on contact.

That wasn't just a heat sink or whatever. If I didn't know better…

If I didn't know better, I'd say Glaceon was freezing the movements of the molecules themselves. On a molecular level, movement equaled heat. If you froze that movement, creating an entropy zone…

Well, no fire would be getting through to save the day.

Arcanine seemed to know it too. The next time I saw it, it was as a flash of fire that landed on Aurorus' throat, flaming fangs digging deep into the thick fat as it kicked and clawed at the long neck despite the stone spear sticking straight through its side and emerging on the other side. The dino fell and dragged the flaming dog with it, the Fire-Type wrenching its head side to side, ignoring the pressurized spray of water drops that blew through it like bullets in bloody sprays, determined to bring at least one down with it.

I didn't get to see how it ended, but I did see the red flash of a PokéBall – or Acorn Ball – before the icy mountains crumbled to dust, so I hoped Aurorus at least survived long enough for Pryce to recall it.

Despite that uncertainty, and technically going two for two, the exchange was still in Pryce's favor. Not only did he already have the number advantage, but other than seemingly Arcanine – and perhaps the Rhyperior, who was desperately throwing up barricades to halt Mamoswine so it could Dig back to safety, armor shattered and fully gone in places – his Pokémon appeared stronger one-on-one as well. Pryce was just better; screw what conventional Trainer logic would say. Glaceon alone seemed to have shut down Blaine's primary tactic, which begged the question…

How was the battle not just over? Why was Blaine still hanging back so much? The battle had clearly been turning against him even before I arrived, and it was only getting worse, yet he didn't try to change things up to regain the advantage, nor was he making preparations to escape.

A final stand? One last showdown with his hated enemy, win or loss?

"CHILD KILLER! COWARD! ASSASSIN, THIEF, BUTCHER! PRYYYYCEEEE!"

He certainly seemed angry enough for it.

Pryce appeared to agree with my assessment. Like the curtain at a theater, the blizzard parted as, for the first time since I got there, the Mahogany Gym Leader moved, winter gathering to drape over his shoulders like a cape. Dewgong, Walrein, and Glaceon joined his march – Mamoswine, tusks little more than stumps and skin more burns than anything else, trumpeting in displeasure as he was recalled, his job done.

The Colosseum-esque trap crumpled away as he passed it, rock disintegrating as easily as the ice to reveal the vaguely recognizable lump of ice that used to be Arcanine. There was no hurry to him; Pryce's pace was as inexorable as the entropy his element represented whilst he approached Blaine, face blank and cane tapping lightly against the ground.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Blaine was much less composed.

"YOU THINK THIS IS OVER!?" Again, the inferno surrounding the scientist was sucked up, revealing that his dual Magmortars had stepped further in front of him, flanking the devastated Rhyperior with raised, glowing cannons. But they didn't fire, holding steady as their Trainer raved and ranted behind them, Blaine's eyes wide and crazed as his defeat became obvious, his heels hanging over the edge down to the magma chamber beneath. "NO! NO, IT'S NOT, I WON'T LET IT BE! I'LL SEND YOU TO YOUR WHORE WIFE AND LET MY CHILDREN REST, EVEN IF I HAVE TO GO WITH YOU!" His hand flew to his belt, and for a second I thought he was grabbing one of the Acorn Balls to release a Pokémon he'd kept in reserve, but instead he reached into a hip pouch and pulled out a red-tinted glass sphere the size of an enlarged PokéBall. Inside the translucent ball, wires ran from machinery and what looked like a pair of vials into the center, where they connected to-

Was that a Fire Stone?

A vague memory came back to me at the sight, from when I'd been researching League regulations.

Something about unauthorized, non-League personal usage of something called a 'Pyro Grenade' carrying a 20-25 year jail sentence, or something like that?

I hadn't known what that was at the time or why it was so harshly punished, but I had an unfortunate feeling that I was about to find out through suicide bombing.

"COME ON THEN, COWARD!" Rather than remaining on the verge of falling into the volcano, Blaine inexplicably started moving forward, past his Magmortar bodyguards. The smaller Blast Pokémon looked at him and reached out with its uncharged hand to make him stay back, its pink lips turning downward into a frown, but Blaine slapped it away, holding the Pyro Grenade high as he screamed. "MONSTER! FIEND! THERE'S NO ONE TO SACRIFICE NOW, NO SOFT TARGET TO DIVERT TO! JUST YOU AND ME, AS YOU'VE ALWAYS FEARED!" Pryce remained undaunted and emotionless, each step as unhurried and unflinching as the last. His Glaceon jumped onto Walrein's head as the two large sea-mammal Pokémon flopped ahead a little, the Ice-Type Eeveelution going still again.

From the sidelines, I didn't blame Pryce. Surely the grenade wasn't as strong as that laser technique, and Glaceon had blocked three of those in a row.

I truly would've thought it was over as Pryce crossed the halfway point, and then the two-thirds mark.

At least, if not for the sudden smug, victorious, and more-than-a-little-maniacal grin that spread across Blaine's face.

"NOW!" Everybody tensed and froze at those words. Yet, nothing happened other than Blaine's grin being replaced with a scowl as he continued to talk to seemingly no one. He didn't even have a PokéNav or a radio anywhere I could see on his shirtless body. "I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAYS OR WANTS! I AM YOUR CREATOR! IF WE KILL HIM HERE, THIS CAN ALL STILL BE SALVAGED!"

Creator? No-

There was a strange sensation as space itself whined, a heaviness that pressed down on us and turned every head upwards. Above, the last thunderclouds trembled alongside the fabric of reality as it twisted weirdly, like an invisible hand had grabbed hold of it and pulled. The tension built and built with the ear-splitting screech, coming to a crescendo-

CRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACKKK!

-and in a flashbang that lit up the sky and put the bright sun to shame, the heavens exploded, my eardrums feeling like they burst from the deafening crack! of displaced air. Aurora, Newt, and Espeon whimpered, their sensitive hearing taking it even harder, but I couldn't soothe them, forcing myself to look back up as the flash from the universe-shattering Teleport started to dim, and a figure ripped its way through existence itself-

-For a brief moment, I swore the spiderweb of lightning flashed behind a figure floating in the sky, yet when I blinked the water out of my eyes, it was gone-

A humanoid Pokémon hung over Mt. Ember, effortlessly held aloft by psychic power despite no obvious signs of energy. Greyish-black, shiny, futuristic armor covered its hands and the tops of its long, almost feline feet, leaving its stick-thin arms and thick, lavender-grey thighs exposed, along with a long tail that started wide and thinned to a bulbous tip. A tapered codpiece with an orb in the middle hung low between its legs and connected to a breastplate that extended up to a pair of tall shoulderplates. I couldn't see what I knew to be an incredibly thin neck nor the odd, second spine thing that attached to the base of its skull, but I knew the helmet hid them, blank visor keeping the head from view, other than two bony antennae poking out of a pair of holes at the top.

Shivers ran down my spine, and my heart lurched as the nightmare I'd been having regularly since I first started taking the fight to Team Rocket manifested itself. I'd always low-key expected to run into a Legendary or two – and I technically had, back in the early days after leaving Pallet when I saw and recorded Ho-Oh. It was an exciting prospect.

Just not with that one.

Mewtwo, Team Rocket's lab-grown Legendary 'clone' of Mew.

A mental presence washed over us to replace the odd sensation of reality struggling, a heavy pressure growing behind my eyes merely from Mewtwo flexing his power, never mind as his attention turned to us properly. I saw Pryce and his team flinch nearly as one, my own team doing the same before they were halfway through their reactions, Espeon's jewel shining like a star as the two Psychics made contact and her faint presence that always lay so close disappeared as she retreated into herself in fear and panic. Even Doublade clenched his eyes shut as his mind was plundered, and there was no time to brace myself before it was my turn.

Jynx's telepathy had been like a knife, piercing through the resistance my partly Ghost-Type Aura granted me and opening every memory up for inspection, dragging my mind along with her. That wasn't what Mewtwo did. Instead, it felt like a giant rubber hand, filled to the absolute bursting point with power barely restrained by its shell, punched straight through the veil. It filled me, paralyzed me as it took a cursory glance through my head and thoughts before starting to move on, what felt like an assault even beyond what a Master-level Psychic could do to me, nothing more than how Mewtwo greeted everyone to it.

And then it doubled back, an almost overwhelming feeling of curiosity radiating as it pushed deeper towards what interested it, casually dismissing the resistance that had pushed Jynx so hard and grabbed hold-

-Colors swirled around him in an endless kaleidoscope, each one distinct and yet perfectly blended into the next. Hues that humans had never known teased the edge of his sanity as they flashed in a random pattern-

"BEHOLD!" Blaine's exclamation interrupted the memory and made Mewtwo pull back to focus on the situation at hand. A faint tremble ran through the platform, but I paid it no mind given that I was pretty preoccupied by our imminent deaths. "MY CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT! THE CULMINATION OF DECADES OF RESEARCH AND BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS! THE VERY PINNACLE OF SCIENCE ITSELF! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The arrival of his savior hadn't done Blaine's sanity any favors; the bald man threw his head back and howled with sadistic delight. "THEY ALL LAUGHED AT ME, YOOOUUUU LAUGHED AT ME, BUT WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, PRYCE! WITNESS YOUR DOOM! BORN FROM THE DNA OF MEW ITSELF, CREATED, BUILT, TO BE THE ULTIMATE POKÉMON! MEWTWO!"

An icy blue energy covered Mewtwo as he extended his arm towards Pryce and his team, the same color surrounding each of them instantaneously. Dewgong and Walrein bellowed and thrashed their powerful bodies in defiance, yet aside from the energy intensifying, there were no signs the hold was weakening. Not, at least, until Pryce's shadow darkened into a pitch-black void that rose and engulfed him. Three beams of red struck his captured team, returning them as shadow-Pryce sank back into a two-dimensional shade on the ground and rapidly slithered my way, stopping not far from me and releasing his team again. Despite his back being to me, I could see the sweat gathering on the back of his neck and the slight tremble in his hand that he tried to hide by clenching his cane.

Fear or the Shadow Sneak? I wouldn't blame him if it was the former, since I was shitting my pants.

-umble!

Another fairly weak, but definitely stronger vibration ran through the mountain, tiny, loose rocks rolling down from the edges.

Despite Pryce getting out of telekinesis, Blaine didn't seem to mind. Hell, if anything, his crazed grin stretched wider.

"GOOOOOOOOD, PRYCE! STRUGGLE! TRY TO SURVIVE, HAHAHAHAHA! YOU MIGHT EVEN THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE! THAT YOUR EARLIER LUCK," the amount of venom he put into that one word was impressive, "IN MAHOGANY WILL CONTINUE! MAYBE, YOU THINK YOU CAN HOLD OUT UNTIL YOUR BAND OF CRIMINALS COME TO SAVE YOU AGAIN, HAHAHAHA!"

Somehow, despite the entire situation having turned to absolute shit, I still somehow felt my stomach drop when Blaine spun around, arms spread, to face the edge of the drop into Mt. Ember, burning embers rising from below in increasing numbers.

RUMble!

"TOO BAD YOU WON'T GET THAT CHANCE, YOU NINCOMPOOP! MEWTWO!" Rather than try to recapture Pryce, Mewtwo instead extended his hand towards Blaine and the Magmortars – who had relaxed their techniques, venting much of the excess heat through their skin – only, none of them showed any sign of Psychic power.

RRRUUUUMMMBLLLEEEE!

No, I realized with a dawning sense of horror. Not towards Blaine and the Magmortars.

Towards the magma below.

"YES! YEEEEEESSSSSS! IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER! I KNEW YOU WOULD ANSWER MY CALL!" Pebbles bounced on the ground as the whole mountain shook. Pieces of the platform, weakened by the titanic clash, broke off and plummeted, melting before they even hit the lava. "I ALWAYS KNEW! THE LOCALS KNOW NOTHING! THE LEAGUE KNOWS NOTHING! ONLY I UNDERSTAND! ONLY I AM WORTHY!"

RRRRRUUUUUUMMMBBBBLLLLLEEEEEE-KAAAA-BLAMMMMMMPH!

The open side of the semi-circle covering the top disappeared under an all-consuming blanket of magma exploding upwards from deep within Mt. Ember, a curtain of hazy red-orange-yellow, a churning mixture that was nearly unwatchable through the shimmer of the air. The heat that had taken hold since Mewtwo tipped the scales firmly in Blaine's direction grew stifling, the arid air burning my throat with every breath.

The volcano erupting while we were on top of it was bad enough, but if only it was so mundane. It rose higher and higher: 20 feet, 50 feet, 100. More than enough to cover the whole platform and kill us all.

But no one moved; every gaze locked on the black silhouette that rose with the lava, something bigger than any of our Pokémon except perhaps Aurorus.

The black shape resolved as it crested the lip of magma, and for one shattering heartbeat I thought Blaine had somehow summoned the mountain itself into a body.

Then wings unfurled, fifty feet from tip to tip and the magma parted with the motion and fell back down as it was dismissed by its master. My lips cracked, my eyeballs drying out as Pryce's winter mantle vanished, dissipating in an instant before the blast of scorching air.

The pinions blazed, sheets of flame in all hues of yellow, orange, red, and white, and the sound that came from the arm-long, obsidian-black beak wasn't a screech so much as the volcano itself groaning in protest, a keening cry of superheated air shoved outward twenty feet, fifty, a hundred in a single heartbeat. Feathers of pure fire trailed sparks, guttering into embers that spiraled up instead of down, snared in thermals violent enough to argue with gravity and win. A thin frame of orange was nearly hidden under the blazing fire, the very skin shimmering – not just the air around it, but the actual skin itself like solid fire, molten rock sloughing off muscular thighs and grasping talons that ignited the air with their mere presence. Above its head, the sky was distorted, a trailing flame so hot it wasn't even visible, covering the top of the avian's head like a crown.

Moltres.

The sun brightened.

As Moltres rose to its full height and spread the enormous flaming wings, the last stubborn scraps of thundercloud simply stopped existing. They burned, curling to nothing the way paper does over a candle, and what remained was a sun that I could feel on my skin, like being just a little too close to a campfire. It was like a weight settled on my chest, as if the air itself had decided it no longer wanted to be breathed, every molecule agitated past discomfort and straight into pain. Sweat that had been rolling down my spine for the whole battle when it wasn't frozen simply stopped forming, my body immediately too dehydrated to bother.

Mewtwo's mind had felt like a fist forcing its way past my defenses, but Moltres wasn't a Psychic-Type. Instead, its presence was purely physical, like gravity. My knees buckled, and I was too far out of it to stop myself from falling to one knee, and across the platform, amid the wreck of Blaine's grand unveiling, Mewtwo's blank visor turned away from Pryce, away from Blaine, away from all of us. The two Legendaries' eyes met, Moltres' cry like a summer breeze as the Lord of Mt. Ember protested the intrusion into their domain.

Mewtwo's presence – that vast, curious, terrible weight that had been palpable even when he wasn't focusing on me – simply vanished. Gone, all at once, as something much, much more important demanded its full attention.

---

Moltres was obvious, but I wonder if anyone saw the second Legendary coming. Nobody panic, though: Blaine is a very rational, sane person who's definitely got this under control. This is his moment; he's got this.

Peri was quite correct in that I do have Pryce as stronger than Blaine, despite Typing. While an advantage like that should never be underestimated, at Master level, it's also far from an automatic win, especially not with someone like Pryce, who's put in real effort to shut down his biggest threats, Fire-Types and physical combat like Fighting-Types. Pryce is no fun to fight; he just wants the win with zero concern for how much you enjoy yourself.

Also the highest-level battle we've had so far (until next chapter), and I'm okay with how it ended up. Pryce and Blaine are very much products of their time, but mostly, the product of fighting each other so much. The area control they both display is basically made to counter each other, and their fighting styles are from before PokéBalls became what they are.

I thought about having Peri be more involved in the fight, but it felt forced, and at the end of the day, it's Pryce's and Blaine's fight, more than 40 years in the making. Peri was just there to watch for the beginning. Now, it's definitely an all-hands-on-deck situation, though.

Not that anything's wrong, since Blaine's 100% got this, trust.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

 

[ElysiaNightshade]

ooo mewtwo