The Trial of Juno Saga [PG-13]

[Neo Emolga]

The Trial of Juno Saga


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/Ultradyne/Trial%20of%20Juno/TOJMainBanner_zpsgfzdrlex.png

Foreword

Some of you might remember this story from PE2K. Guess what? It's gotten a huge makeover and I've decided to change the way it ultimately ends. Also, because PE2K has been forever deleted, it's almost impossible to read the whole thing in its entirely. Besides, I think this version is much better. If you've never read it, now's the perfect time.

The Trial of Juno Saga is in four parts, detailing the trials and tribulations of a human schoolyard bully named Jake Kossak entering a world of Pokémon as a Pikachu named Juno, a gifted Pikachu made possible only through the dreams and desires of one of Jake's bullied victims. What starts off as a squabble between classmates and bullies plunges into a dark, twisting rabbit hole where Juno, foreseen as the savior of the tormented Pokémon world of Kivistal, must fight not only through the dark wastelands of this new, ravaged world, but also through the agonizing depths of the Abyss (the Pokémon rendition of Hell) and journey through the high heavens of Utopia (Pokémon rendition of Heaven). Throughout his dark journeys, not only must Juno fight his corrupted fellow Pokémon, but also the sickening horrors of the Abyss, and one of the most intimidating and menacing enemies of all: himself, the selfish, heartless human that he used to be. The question is can Jake/Juno overcome all of these dark obstacles, and what really lies at the final end of it all?

The Trial of Juno Saga is rated PG-13. While there is some harsh language, most of the rating comes from the violence and graphic themes (especially with the Abyss). Also, I plan on posting roughly one chapter per day, so hopefully that's a manageable amount for people to keep up with it.

So sit back and enjoy the story.

NOTE:

Some areas of the story have a "Recommended Listening" tag with a link to a music track on YouTube. This is simply an optional link to a song that I feel very accurately fits the mood and emotion for the upcoming part in the story and would be the song I'd personally select if it were to have a soundtrack. It's up to you if you want to listen to it while you read.


Chapter Directory


THE TRIAL OF JUNO I: THE DAWN OF HOPE

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PART I – THE GRAY BATTLEGROUNDS
Chapter 1: Enemy of the School (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153061&viewfull=1#post153061)
Chapter 2: Out of Nowhere (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153177&viewfull=1#post153177)
Chapter 3: The Unexpected Challenge (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153383&viewfull=1#post153383)
Chapter 4: The Scare (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153543&viewfull=1#post153543)
Chapter 5: Foreign Encounters (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153680&viewfull=1#post153680)
Chapter 6: Grim Reunion (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153745&viewfull=1#post153745)
Chapter 7: Against Odds (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=153904&viewfull=1#post153904)
Chapter 8: Turning Back (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=154096&viewfull=1#post154096)
Chapter 9: The Separation (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=154201&viewfull=1#post154201)
Chapter 10: The New Dawn (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=154333&viewfull=1#post154333)
Chapter 11: The Alter Ego (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=154506&viewfull=1#post154506)
Chapter 12: The Arrival (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=154666&viewfull=1#post154666)
Chapter 13: A Sickening Turn (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=154829&viewfull=1#post154829)
Chapter 14: Into the Breech (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=155020&viewfull=1#post155020)
Chapter 15: Restless (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=155223&viewfull=1#post155223)


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PART II – THE TWISTED FIELDS
Chapter 16: Odd Reoccurance (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=155357&viewfull=1#post155357)
Chapter 17: The Meeting (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=155466&viewfull=1#post155466)
Chapter 18: The Only Solution (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=155597&viewfull=1#post155597)
Chapter 19: The Midnight Struggle (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=155857&viewfull=1#post155857)
Chapter 20: Hostile Conflict (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=156064&viewfull=1#post156064)
Chapter 21: Crossing the Threshold (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=156226&viewfull=1#post156226)
Chapter 22: The City of Symarix (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=156448&viewfull=1#post156448)
Chapter 23: The Last Prison (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=157294&viewfull=1#post157294)
Chapter 24: Boot Camp (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=157775&viewfull=1#post157775)
Chapter 25: Industrial Thunderstorm (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=158132&viewfull=1#post158132)
Chapter 26: A Whisper in the Dark (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=159002&viewfull=1#post159002)
Chapter 27: Cold Underground (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=159539&viewfull=1#post159539)
Chapter 28: Eyes of the Enemy (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=160519&viewfull=1#post160519)
Chapter 29: Loss of Security (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=161591&viewfull=1#post161591)
Chapter 30: The Jade Sword (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=161801&viewfull=1#post161801)
Chapter 31: The Passage Home (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=162159&viewfull=1#post162159)
Chapter 32: Honor and Commitment (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=162508&viewfull=1#post162508)
Chapter 33: Allies and Enemies (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=162787&viewfull=1#post162787)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/Ultradyne/Trial%20of%20Juno/TOJBlazingSkies_zps24ef1b64.png
PART III – THE BLAZING SKIES
Chapter 34: A Hero's Vow (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=163015&viewfull=1#post163015)
Chapter 35: Concealment and Deception (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?6710-The-Trial-of-Juno-Saga-PG-13&p=163975&viewfull=1#post163975)

[Neo Emolga]

THE TRIAL OF JUNO I
THE DAWN OF HOPE
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/Ultradyne/Trial%20of%20Juno/TOJGrayBattlegrounds_zpsf3e0b491.png

PART I – THE GRAY BATTLEGROUNDS

Chapter 1
Enemy of the School

Randy was a loser. And besides being an epic failure at everything including Pokémon battling, he was the only reason why I found interest at school while keeping my mind off the garbage that happened at home. Whenever I got angry or frustrated because of stupid teachers or homework, all I had to do was find Randy Ferguson and release my stress upon him.

Randy’s Pokémon were also losers, and they’d always be that way since they always got beat up badly every time he battled. I must have made Randy’s Pidove and Nidoran kiss dirt at least twenty times. Randy also had a Growlithe and a Sewaddle, and I had beaten the stuffing out of them more times than I could remember. Obviously, Randy was too stupid to know how to really battle, but the way he kept on trying rather than giving up kept renewing the fun.

Alex and David, two of my best friends, also hated Randy’s guts. Alex was a taller kid with long, black hair, a love for black t-shirts and worn-in blue jeans, metal music, and intimidating Pokémon. He was often loud, aggressive, shouted at people he couldn't stand, and wasn't the kind of kid you wanted to mess with or get on his bad side. While I liked to slowly torture Randy’s Pokémon in a battle, Alex wiped out Randy’s Pokémon so fast it was hilarious.

David, on the other hand, was a smart aleck with a blonde crew-cut, blue eyes, a devious smile, and liked to wear polo shirts and cargo pants. He was also a schemer and a sly kid who wouldn't think twice about framing someone innocent just for fun. Alex and I were probably the only people he trusted. As for Pokémon, David loved his giants. If it was huge, heavy, and liked to squash smaller Pokémon flat, chances were good David loved it.

When the three of us took turns battling Randy, the amount of overkill was just so funny that it was almost obscene. Randy said he’s been a trainer for nearly two years. To me, he was practically on the same level as a beginner who only just started yesterday. If that’s not pathetic, then I don’t know what is.

In the meantime, life at home was crappy enough to the point where I'd actually rather be in school pestering Randy. My parents were going through yet another divorce custody and alimony battle and I was sick of having lawyers always coming our house to see what we were doing. Meanwhile, Vicky, my idiotic younger sister with her stupid and fake blonde-dyed hair, was always a materialistic and condescending snot who liked to break and steal my stuff. And I hated doing stupid chores like taking out the trash, cleaning filthy dishes that I swore Vicky made filthier on purpose, and cleaning my bedroom that I really didn't feel like spending precious hours organizing again.

But when it came to Randy, most of the time getting caught picking on him only resulted in nothing more than a slap on the wrist by a teacher that was too busy to care. And pummeling Randy's Pokémon was nothing any teacher could give a student over. Besides that, Alex, David, and myself had plenty of episodes where we set off stink bombs in Randy's desk, stole his homework, and snuck a laxative in Randy's lunch, winning him the title of "Poopy Pants" following a series of hilarious events.

Randy's lunch money was a helpful source of income given my crappy allowance. I never felt guilty about taking it either given the fatty, toxic waste the cafeteria served. Heck, I figured I was doing Randy a favor by encouraging him to fast by not having enough to buy anything. If I did nothing, he’d become just as fat as Frank Meyers, who we’d always call “Shirt-Buster” on a regular basis. I considered his lunch money was income for my services. It wasn’t much, but a dollar a day added up nicely over time.

This had been going on for almost two years on an almost daily basis, but we got a big surprise on May 14th. It wasn’t during school like most of our pranks took place, it was after. And it didn’t start with Randy this time.

Alex, David and I had been walking down the stairs out of the back entrance of Scottville Middle School when we saw it. There he was, Frank Meyers lying down in the mud by the stairs in that little ditch that accumulated water from the rain last night. His short, blonde hair and his pudgy face were soiled with wet filth and his shirt, or what was left of it, was completely soaked with mud. We didn’t even need to do anything to begin laughing hysterically. I had no clue how it happened, but with his level of clumsiness, I was disappointed I missed out on seeing the events that lead up to it.

“Hey, Frank!” David shouted out over a hard laugh. “What happened to ya!?”

“Chill, man,” I told David casually. “The pig just wanted to cool himself down.”

Frank was in a cross between crying and becoming furious. We laughed even further. Someone who’s in the seventh grade really should have learned to stop crying like an infant long ago.

Alex then made the situation more hilarious. He found the backpack that Frank had dropped and opened it up right over the mud puddle. Frank’s folders and his books and each of them landed in the mud, effectively soaking the pages full of sludge. Frank was getting even worse.

"Just... stop!" Frank cried. "Why did you have to do that!?"

Then I saw something that made me laugh even further. Frank had Poké Balls in his backpack that also landed in the mud after Alex threw them out. I never realized Frank was a Pokémon trainer. I really just couldn’t picture a fat, worthless piece of flesh like Frank actually training Pokémon when he couldn't even train himself.

Then, as if it couldn’t even get better, out of nowhere came Randy Ferguson in the flesh. He was standing before us like he was all high and mighty, with his frizzy. orange hair blowing in the wind, probably because he still hadn't figured out what a comb was or how to get a haircut. He was also wearing that dumb t-shirt with the Cobalt Crew logo, which was a puke-inducing pop music band most sane people couldn't tolerate. Meanwhile, his orange cargo shorts had to be the stupidest-looking pair of pants on the planet while his dirty, white sneakers had those annoying lights that flickered everywhere he walked.

He was just watching everything in disgust, furrowing his brow and squinting those beady brown eyes of his. Alex had dumped everything that was in Frank’s backpack before turning around and seeing our special victim.

“Poopy-pants!” Alex shouted at Randy, giving him that special, evil smile. “I was wondering where the hell you were. If you’re looking for the bathroom, it’s inside, stupid.”

“What did Frank ever do to you?” Randy asked us, stupidly feeling remorse for this dirty, pile of flesh. "Leave him alone, he doesn't want any trouble."

Recommended Listening: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky OST - Combat Song 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aapU0w2eMyk)

The three of us laughed even further. Here was Randy, acting like a big hero for Shirt-Buster. That idiot had no clue what he was getting into. Exactly how was this day going to be any different from all the others?

“Randy,” David told him honestly, “even you should be aware that Frank isn’t worth the mud he’s lying in. How do you think a chump like him ended up in there in the first place?”

“It was an accident!” Randy wailed, again trying to play the hero here. “Leave him alone, I know it's me you want!”

Then, Randy reached for his belt and pulled out one of his Poké Balls. I could see where this was going. Teachers didn't want students battling Pokémon near the school building, and Randy was willing to risk getting in trouble for it. Not like I cared about stupid school rules anyway.

Still, did that idiot really expect to win a battle against us? I couldn’t believe it. All this time, Frank seemed to become more hopeful now that Randy was here to defend him. Frank was just about to learn that his guardian angel was just as much of a dimwit as he was.

“Go, Nidoran!” Randy shouted, tossing his Poké Ball forward.

The Poké Ball landed on the asphalt of the parking lot, and a moment later, Randy’s worthless purple, spiky bunny Nidoran emerged from its Poké Ball in a flash of white light. The three of us looked at each other to decide how we wanted to beat the stuffing out of Randy’s Pokémon.

"Not it," David quickly chimed in. "I battled this twit last time."

"Kind of busy with fatty here," Alex replied, leaving it up to me. "Besides, I like the way Jake usually sacks that dumb Nidoran."

Some of the other kids that were around the parking lot were beginning to watch, curious to know who was gutsy enough to start a Pokémon battle on school grounds where it wasn't allowed. A few of the wiser kids already knew it was Randy and weren't expecting much of an exciting battle, while a few of the other ones that hadn't seen this before thought this would actually be exciting.

"Hey, you know you can get in trouble for this, right?" One black kid with a gray Scottsville Staraptors sweatshirt and blue denim shorts asked Randy.

"I'm not going to let them get away with picking on Frank!" Randy shouted back at him.

Please. But when it came to me taking on Randy, I nodded, and decided why not, I was in the mood for easy Pokémon pummeling. I then removed one of my own Poké Balls, pressed the central button to prep it for release, and threw it on to the asphalt as well, not caring if we were having a battle in the parking lot where it wasn't allowed.

When the Poké Ball struck the ground, it burst open with a flash of light and released my fantastic Raichu. The burly, orange and white-bellied mouse Pokémon emerged, looking ready for action as he lashed his whip-like tail around, striking the asphalt with the thunderbolt tip at the end. However, when he looked ahead to see who his opponent was, he sighed and realized it was the same worthless Nidoran he had crushed so many times before. Even Raichu looked like he was tired of Randy’s brainless attempts to beat us.

"Oh, no contest!" A blonde-haired, blue-eyed female student with a black tank top laughed when she saw what Pokémon Randy's Nidoran would be up against.

I just laughed. As some people gathered to watch, others passed a glance and walked away, figuring they already knew how this one was going to end.

“Raichu!” I shouted. “Use your Thunder Wave against Nidoran!”

It was getting to the point where Raichu didn’t even need commands to kick the stuffing out of Nidoran. It had become so systematic and routine that Raichu could fight almost completely on his own like we actually rehearsed for this on an everyday basis.

Raichu then sent out his Thunder Wave attack, charging up bright pulses of electricity from the yellow cheeks on his face and directed them right at Randy’s Nidoran. The small, purple poison rabbit Pokémon was rendered helpless, completely paralyzed from the shock and left there, twitching and curled up in a fetal position. All that Nidoran could do now was quiver on his back as sparks of electricity surrounded his body. Paralyzing Nidoran wasn't even really necessary because it was a guarantee Raichu could finish him off in one swing, but hey, why not prolong the misery?

“Slam that Nidoran with a Brick Break attack, Raichu,” I told him, knowing this would finish the job with no problem at all.

While everyone was watching the battle play out, Raichu then charged at Randy’s Nidoran, and all Nidoran could do was just watch in stricken horror as Raichu rushed up to punish it for existing. When Raichu reached his target, he threw a bone-cracking punch right into his side, sending Nidoran tumbling out of control before lying on his back, wincing with his tongue hanging out. Alex and David were snickering again as Randy was effectively slapping yet another epic failure on his already comical losing streak.

“Nidoran, return,” Randy moaned in frustration as red recall beam shot out from his Poké Ball and landed on the sacked Nidoran, turning him into a red, dematerialized silhouette of energy before pulling him back into the ball.

Raichu was then tapping his foot impatiently as Randy put Nidoran's Poké Ball back on his belt before deciding on his next victim. Some of the onlookers weren't sure if Randy was going to call it quits.

"Give it up, he's out of your league!" One of the students in the crowd shouted to Randy.

"I can handle him!" Randy shouted back to the crowd. "He wasn't my best, I'll admit!"

Please, trying to watch Randy save himself from his own self-created public humiliation was just comical. But, as escalation of commitment goes, he then pulled out a second Poké Ball, prepped it for battle, and threw it forward. Just as the crowd was expecting something bigger and better when the Poké Ball hit the parking lot, all that came out was Randy's Pidove. Yep, nothing more than a common gray and black pigeon Pokémon that most people didn't bother with. Randy didn’t even need to lose yet and we already began cracking up hysterically.

“Randy,” David told him, trying to fight the hard laughter for a moment, “don’t you know anything about type-alignments? Flying types don’t do very well against electric types like Raichu.”

“I don’t care,” Randy responded. “My Pidove is faster than Jake’s Raichu.”

You wish. Raichu’s signature attribute was his speed, and it was ten times faster than Pidove’s. This time I showed no mercy. Idiocy like that had to be punished. And some of the people in the crowd just left, knowing exactly where this was going.

“Raichu, use your Thunderbolt,” I smiled to Raichu, knowing it would be more than enough to send Randy’s little Pidove screaming into the oblivion.

As if to help Raichu even further, Pidove took flight, thinking he could get an advantage that way. Raichu’s cheeks flared up with electricity and just as Pidove realized what was happening, a massive fork of lightning emerged from the shining Raichu and struck Pidove dead-on in the air, blasting him with a bright flash. Pidove was thoroughly cooked for five whole seconds as electricity coursed through him before Raichu released his power, and let the hopeless Pidove fall from the sky just before the nice, hard asphalt broke his fall. The only smart move Randy made after that was giving up.

“Fine, Jake,” Randy spat with frustration as he returned the pulverized Pidove to his Poké Ball. “I give up. But some day, I’ll become so strong that the three of you combined won’t even beat me!”

“Randy…” Alex said and he shook his head in disbelief as he was nearly laughing, “…in your dreams. There’s no way you’ll ever become strong enough to beat us. You can try all you like, but you’ll never do it.”

As the crowd just shook their heads and left after a Pokémon battle that really wasn't worth spending the time to watch, we were ready to just head on home and get out of here. That normally would have been a very typical day that the three of us tortured Randy. But something else happened that day that we won’t long forget…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 2
Out of Nowhere

When the crowd dispersed, I caught sight of Jeff Huntington, a Scottsville Staraptors lacrosse player who was dressed in his uniform and look like he had been waiting to head to practice before noticing the whole battle. Unlike everyone else, he remained behind.

“The three of you are quite the jackasses,” Jeff told us, giving us an annoyed glare. “Congratulations, you've beaten him for the millionth time. How about leaving the kid alone for once and why not try finding someone more in your own league?”

Alex, David, and I just couldn't believe it. Why would a guy like him care? I just looked at him, really hating that annoying brown, combed-back haircut, and overly serious face. I barely knew who he was, other than the fact he was a sports jock. Really, that punk should have just minded his own business rather than trying to poke his nose at us.

“Jeff,” David said to him, surprised he was willing to even start with us, “why don’t you mind your own business? If you hung around Randy for even just five minutes, you’d realize just how worthless he really is.”

“Right, I've heard all that before from you guys,” Jeff replied to him, looking irritated at the same time. “You pick on the same kid every day for no good reason. You know, since I'm tired of seeing and hearing it all the time, try battling me for once."

Really? Well, now this was interesting. None of us have ever battled him before, but whatever, I didn't give it any second though.

"Make this a two on two battle," Jeff told us. "If I beat you, then you have to promise to leave Randy alone, because I'm tired of seeing you guys harassing him every minute of the day.”

“But if we win…?” David asked Jeff, expecting a response.

“Then you won’t hear from me again,” Jeff told David, feeling confident that wouldn’t happen.

Yeah, what a raw deal. The only reward we would be getting out of beating Jeff’s Pokémon is Jeff’s humiliation, which usually came free with every successful battle anyway. But, even if we did lose, we had no intention of backing down. To me, there was no issue with breaking a promise with a guy I couldn't possibly care less about.

“Jake,” Alex said to me, looking at me from the corner of his eye with a smirk on his mouth, “let me take care of this idiot.”

“Sure thing,” I said to him with a smile and shrug, returning my Raichu to his Poké Ball.

Alex was quick as lightning when it came to beating Randy’s Pokémon up. Fighting Jeff was going to be even more interesting. Jeff had pulled out two of his Poké Balls, prepped them for yet another forbidden battle on school property and threw them forward.

“Go, Ampharos and Espeon!” Jeff shouted as he threw forward the two Poké Balls.

Just like Jeff said, out of their Poké Balls came an Ampharos and an Espeon. I got a good look at them and saw they weren't too shabby, but it still was pretty much a naked yellow electric sheep and a psychic purple cat up against whatever ferocious onslaught Alex was about to bring out. Jeff actually made a fairly decent attempt to keep them nicely trained, groomed, and fit.

For once, we were going to see what a real battle looked like rather than the shameful excuses that Randy kept handing to us. At least Jeff actually had evolved Pokémon, unlike Randy who couldn't even get his Pokémon trained enough to get to that point. Still, despite all of Jeff's efforts, he was about to see what his adversary was capable of.

“Go, Houndoom and Mightyena!” Alex shouted as he let loose two of his Poké Balls.

Obviously, Alex had picked his nastiest Pokémon for the job. Leave it to Alex to show off two vicious, blacker-than-death hellhounds with glaring eyes and teeth that look like they could kill people they hadn't even met yet. Mightynea was a ferocious, black and gray wolf Pokémon while Houndoom was like a savage doberman from hell with white horns, bone ribs on his back, and bone bracers on his ankles. When they appeared in the wake of the flash, I rubbed my hands in sneering anticipation. I couldn’t wait to see Jeff get wasted.

When people got to seeing what Pokémon were fighting, this was easily getting a lot more attention than Randy's lame excuse for a battle.

“Ampharos, use your Thunder Wave attack on Mightyena!” Jeff commanded, acting like some hotshot military commando, “Espeon, Light Screen.”

Unlike Randy, he actually had a strategy going and seemed to act like he knew what he was doing. But Alex wasn’t through yet. This party was just getting started and I was looking forward to seeing Alex's Pokémon wipe the floor with these clowns.

As the onlookers were gathering, Ampharos let loose a pulsing Thunder Wave that unfortunately Mightyena had no way of avoiding. Meanwhile, Jeff's Espeon coated himself and Ampharos with a bubble shield of violet, reflective light. He could try all he'd like to shield himself from the wrath Alex was about to unleash upon them. When it failed, it would make it that much more comical.

“Houndoom, use your Crunch attack on Espeon!” Alex commanded pointing his index finger at his intended targets, “Mightyena, use your Howl!”

For now, it looked like Mightyena could fight off the paralyzing effects of Ampharos’s attack. He had let loose a loud howl that echoed throughout the entire parking lot, filling his body with ripe energy and anger and even got some applause from the audience. In his fury, he gnashed his sharp teeth, and I knew Jeff’s Pokémon were in for a world of pain.

In the meantime, Houndoom charged right after Espeon, and rendered his sharp teeth to bite down on Espeon. Jeff's Espeon winced in pain as the hellhound’s sharp teeth tore and lacerated his side, sinking his teeth down hard before throwing the Espeon away like a wad of gum down the trashcan. A bunch of students in the crowd winced while others grew excited.

While the Espeon wasn’t looking so hot in the aftermath of the Crunch attack, Mightyena looked like the Thunder Wave’s paralysis was starting to get to him and slow him down. After growling and struggling to fight back the agony, he found it hard to even move under the strain. I figured it had probably been a while since Alex's Mightyena had to deal with a worthy opponent. Still, Alex had to give Mightyena a moment to recover.

"Come on, Jeff, you can waste this punk!" Obviously one of Jeff's friends called out to him from the crowd.

"Ha," David laughed back at him. "Looks more like he's losing!"

While some of the students watching tired to warn Alex and Jeff about battling on school property, others just didn't care and wanted to see the battle unfold. And still the battle went on, gathering more attention by the minute.

Jeff commanded his Ampharos to attack Mightyena with a Thunder attack, trying to show no hesitation after what happened to his Espeon. I was crossing my fingers hoping it wouldn’t hit, but Jeff got lucky this time. Mightyena was barraged with another harsh amount of electricity that slammed right on him like a sledgehammer from above. The hit was pretty brutal, but thankfully, he wasn’t down and out yet. Still, it did look like he was sincerely getting sick of it. Mightyena snarled at Ampharos, likely thinking Ampharos must have been really stupid to anger him.

Meanwhile, Jeff ordered Espeon to use his Morning Sun. To our dismay, Espeon was coated with light for a brief second, and every bit of pain Houndoom had dealt to Espeon had been recovered as the cuts and tears had been sealed. But Alex knew that Espeon wasn’t too much of a threat because both Houndoom and Mightyena were dark types. While Mightyena needed a brief moment to recover, Alex decided on a new target for Houndoom.

“Houndoom, use your Flamethrower on Ampharos!” Alex shouted.

Houndoom threw his front paws forward, arched back his head and then let loose a red-hot stream of flames upon the unsuspecting Ampharos. Jeff’s Ampharos twitched painfully as he was slowly barbecued under the consuming fire. Then, to our surprise, when the flames cleared, Ampharos had been inflicted with a harsh burn on his side, all while he was wincing and trying to soothe the pain with his floppy, yellow hands.

"Don't let him get away with that!" Another kid shouted to Jeff.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Jeff shouted back with a smile, trying to impress the crowd.

He still had a plan, turning back to his Ampharos and telling the yellow, fleeceless sheep to attack the black wolf with a Thunderpunch. Ampharos jumped around Mightyena to bewilder him, and when Mightyena least suspected it, Ampharos charged in and struck the dark wolf in the jaw with an electrified fist that Ampharos made by folding one of his hand flaps over. Mightyena snarled angrily at the pain, wanting payback in blood for that.

“Mightyena, use your Headbutt attack on Ampharos!” Alex commanded. "Beat the stuffing out of that stupid sheep!"

Mightyena then charged toward Ampharos, thirsty for revenge. The dark wolf then put his head down, and then slammed forcefully into Ampharos, completely ignoring the effects of the Light Screen shield. Ampharos was knocked into a back flip before landing face first on the hard asphalt. It was too bad for Jeff, because at that moment, Ampharos didn’t look like it could handle any more.

“Ampharos, return,” Jeff commanded as he summoned Ampharos back to his Poké Ball.

Some members of the crowd booed, and Alex just smiled, knowing that even though Jeff was the fan favorite here, he was still winning. In fact, knowing Alex, having the opportunity to beat Jeff in front of his friends was definitely not a bad deal.

Meanwhile, taking down Espeon was Alex’s next objective. Mightyena needed another moment to rest, so Houndoom was up for the fight. Still, Jeff’s Espeon was going to get the first strike.

“Espeon, use your Quick Attack!” Jeff shouted to Espeon.

Espeon then burst into a blur, and slammed right into Houndoom in a flash of fury. However, it was more of a surprise than a really painful attack. Houndoom growled off the pain, and then focused on his target.

“Headbutt attack,” Alex commanded, knowing that too would cut right through the Light Screen.

Houndoom lowered his head, and then charged right into Espeon, slamming the purple psychic cat with a forceful blow that had to hurt. Espeon was hit hard, having very little protection against it. And best of all, Espeon flinched from the attack, hopelessly trying to shield himself with his front paws while wincing from the fury of the assault. Alex was more than ready to attack again while Espeon was in a hopeless trance of trying to fight off the terror. The crowd was disliking where the battle was going, but it didn't matter to the three of us.

“One more time, Houndoom!” Alex shouted with a devilish smile on his face.

Espeon was slammed again after Alex's Houndoom rammed right into him, and after rolling over a few times and lying still on his side, he didn’t get back up from the asphalt. Jeff had been defeated, and he looked far more miserable as he returned Espeon to his Poké Ball. After that, Alex returned Houndoom and Mightyena to their respective Poké Balls.

The crowd left disappointed, but Jeff didn't seem to care he lost, as if he meant to do it.

"You got lucky, Harper, don't let it go to your head!" One of Jeff's lacrosse friends shouted to Alex.

And that was when one of the teachers showed up. Yeah, I knew where this was going. It was none other than Mr. Dennis Browning, an old, balding, annoying math teacher who would have done the school a big favor retiring years ago. And man, did I hate that vest and those stupid khakis of his.

"Boys, school property is not the place for a Pokémon battle!" He shouted before adjusting those dorky glasses on his nose. "You know it's against the rules, and if I see it again, it's going to get both of you suspended!"

"Won't happen again, sir," Jeff assured him with a nonchalant smile that was just asking to meet a fist.

"Yeah, okay," Alex nodded, not really caring an ounce about getting yet another suspension on his record.

It was then that Balding... I mean Browning, headed back toward his ugly, green sedan and it was just us now. The three of us were just done for the day with this moron while stupid Frank and Randy looked at Jeff like he was some kind of superhero to them.

“As long as you bother Frank and Randy every day, you’ll have to deal with me,” Jeff warned us. “Mark my words. I'm sick of seeing you guys pull this crap every day, so I hope you enjoy getting sick of me as well.”

“I thought you said you’d stay out of our way if you lost!” Alex shouted back, annoyed that even puny little Jeff Huntington couldn’t even keep his own deal. "I just beat the stuffing out of your pathetic Pokémon!”

“Man, you're slow,” Jeff remarked, crossing his arms, “Did you really think I was serious? Because really, even if we had that deal and I won, I knew you guys wouldn't stop harassing Randy.”

I was getting sick of this. Why on earth would Jeff want to defend Randy so much anyway? No one seemed to really care except him. We had been doing this for quite a while and the most we ever got from someone else was either a laugh or "that wasn't very nice" but beyond that, nobody wanted to step into the middle of it until now.

“Fine, Jeff,” I told him, staring right back at him in the face. “If you really want to lose to us each and every day of the school year, you can go ahead and be my guest.”

“We'll see,” Jeff warned us. “I wouldn't get too comfortable with this setup, Jake."

Pathetic moron. He had no idea what he was dealing with. And to even further our amusement, Jeff, Randy, and worthless Shirt-Buster became friends after that. If that doesn’t make you laugh, I don’t know what will. Those two dimwits suddenly admired Jeff probably because he had more guts than they could ever hope to have. And I figured Jeff liked being the stupid chivalrous type by protecting the weak. It just made me sick.

While we never really bothered Frank and Jeff as much as we did Randy, everything had changed that next day. Worthless Frank and Jeff were going to suffer just as much as Randy was. I really didn't mind adding more morons to the list of clowns I liked to punish for getting into my face.

Now that those three maggots were watching each others' back, it was going to be harder for us to get them one by one. I figured that was the reason pests and insects liked to work in swarms.

After taking the bus home and walking through the front door, Mom always asked how school was going, but I just gave her brief and vague answers. She was usually pissed about the divorce issues going on and it usually led to a nasty discussion anyway. Meanwhile, dad didn't care to reply to voicemails, and I'd rather stab myself in the thigh with a fork than talk to my stupid sister, Vicky.

I got home, headed up to my room, and went to drop off my backpack and school junk only to find that both my headphones and my gift cards to Video Castle were missing and not on my dresser where I knew I left them. I hadn't made the bed, my desk was a mess, and I had clothes, board games, movie and CD cases, and papers all over the floor, but I knew I left those headphones and gift cards on the dresser. She had to be the one to take them because my headphones were so much better than her dinky earbuds and she could use the gift cards on anything at the store. I swore, if she used those cards on a stupid chick flick movie or girly cartoon DVD that I wouldn't be able to return to the store, I'd make her pay like hell for it. That was my birthday present and I had been saving them for a good movie to come out.

I headed into her room, and it made me want to puke at how pink, organized, and cute she tried to make it with her pink bed nicely made, her desk chair in the back corner had the chair pushed in, and there wasn't a single thing on the floor. I tore my way through there, knocked over a tiny table she used for nothing more than to put her stupid, oversized Slurpuff plush doll on, and attacked her dresser first, starting with the upper drawers. What a neat freak for junk. What did she need five different combs for? And why so many tacky plastic hair clips? I rummaged through almost every drawer, not caring if I made a mess of it to find my stuff. However, she came in only a minute later and started screaming at me. I swore, every time I saw her with that fake, blonde hair and that stupid baby blue dress of hers with the asinine Marill on it, I just wanted to rip it all apart.

"What are you doing to my stuff!?" Vicky screamed. "You stupid punk, get your filthy hands out of there!"

"Where did you hide my headphones and my gift cards!?" I shouted back at her. "Stop stealing my stuff, I know you have them!"

"Why don't you first try looking through the crap heap you have for a bedroom before you accuse me!?" She snapped back. "They're probably buried somewhere in all that junk you have! And why would I want your headphones!? I wouldn't want something that's been on your filthy ears!"

I swore, I couldn't stand her guts, and I figured I'd just have to come back later when she wasn't around. I just grabbed the closest pink box of crap I could get my hands on, and threw it at her as I stormed out the door, sending the box and all of the stupid and tacky earrings that were inside of it flying in all directions before scattering on the pink, carpeted floor. The box just barely missed her, but I headed out of there before she was able to retaliate. When she tried to chase me, I quickly headed into my room, slammed the door on her before she could enter, and locked it, leaving her pounding at it, screaming for half a minute before giving up. You'd think she'd learn.

The next day wasn't really too eventful. In the morning, classes were the usual bore and I spent most of the time staring at the clock, which I could have sworn had suddenly frozen. I hated math and the books we were forced to read. At least in science class, we occasionally got to burn something or dissect a dead Rattata or Patrat. That sure beats working with stupid numbers or reading about fictional characters I couldn't possibly care less about. That day we learned about viruses and diseases in science class, which caught my interest more than whatever the heck pi was and whatever stupid thing Tom Joad was doing.

Ten minutes before the last class was supposed to end, Alex, David and I headed out the back like we usually do to avoid running into any teachers or nosy faculty members that kept lecturing us about our grades. By this time, everyone else was still in the last ten minutes of class and it was a great opportunity to avoid running into anyone. After stepping out the door, there they were, Frank, Randy and Jeff just waiting for us. Funny, for a brief moment, I had actually forgotten about them and what happened yesterday during my classes, but it suddenly all came back to me.

Randy was looking confident for once, which was odd even for him. It really made me wonder how they arranged this and how long they've been waiting out here. Usually we snuck out of class early before everyone else, so it was surprising to see they did the same. There was no one else out here yet, but I knew soon enough, the back parking lot would be mobbed with people like it was yesterday.

“Here we go, there they are!” Frank giggled like a hog.

Uh huh. This was different, but I didn't feel like battling these losers again and risk getting grounded for getting suspended from school. I'd way rather be here than be stuck at home. Still, the three of them looked oddly confident, and while it was a different look for Frank, it was still idiotic.

“Hilarious,” I replied with some surprise. “You guys jumped out of class early just to find us? Exactly what the hell for?"

Jeff seemed to grow impatient and excited, looking like he had been waiting a while for something. He looked at the three of us, especially Alex, and seemed to wear a very dark smile.

"If this works, it's going to be awesome," Jeff told Randy, but loud enough for us to hear.

"Just what the hell are you talking about?" Alex asked him, thinking Jeff had his head up his anus.

I was beginning to think Jeff had been hanging around Randy’s brain cell-killing aura for just too long. I just didn't think twenty-four hours was enough time to do so much damage. If Randy really wanted to lose again, I would gladly make his wish come true, but definitely not here. I seriously didn't want to run into Balding again.

Then, out of the blue, Randy pulled out of his pocket what appeared to be a blue, red, and black-beaded necklace with a large, red crystal as its pendant.

“Ah, so Randy’s into jewelry,” David snickered. “When did you come up with the idea that raiding mommy's jewelry box was a good way to barter your way out of this?”

“This is no ordinary piece of jewelry, David,” Jeff told him with a smug grin. “You want to know what that is? It's a necklace that was worn by Quista, an ancient and powerful sorcerer who imbued it with many powers.”

For a minute, I was seriously beginning to question if my ears were working correctly. Or, if Jeff's brain just suddenly passed through his colon.

“Jeff, I don't know what you're smoking, but man, it must be bad!” Alex laughed.

It was really sad to see Jeff go this far into threatening us, and he looked like he didn't even mean this as a joke either. To me, that necklace looked like any ordinary piece of junk jewelry he could have gotten from some random pawn shop or as David mentioned, probably his mom's jewelry box, which would have been even more pathetic.

“Jeff,” I told him straight to his face, “get a life. You don’t really expect us to believe that, do you? Just where did Randy even get that piece of garbage?”

"He got it from me," Jeff told him. "My dad is a lead archeologist, and he and his team found this in an Kavaskian tomb in the Desert Resort just a week ago. He had it locked up in one of his lockboxes but... ha, I know where he keeps his keys to them."

Seriously? Jeff was willing to break into his dad's precious stuff for a stupid necklace, and then just give it to Randy? Some chump he only just met yesterday?

"How hilarious," David shook his head. "Why would you ever give it to Randy?"

"We want to see if it really does have powers," Randy smiled.

"Newsflash, moron," Alex told him, totally disbelieving it. "It doesn't. And Jeff, your dad's probably going to kill you when he finds out you broke into his stuff."

Jeff really didn't seem to care, however. Obviously he knew about this necklace way more than we did, but give me a break. I was just waiting for Randy to jingle it, shake it, spit on it, and throw it up in the air only to find out it really didn't do anything special after all. As if their idiocy couldn't get any worse, they were resorting to stupid trinkets now. It actually would have made more sense if Jeff, Randy, and Frank decided to ambush us with silly string instead.

"Randy and I had a nice chat yesterday," Jeff told us with a smirk, going into a story we really didn't care about. "We talked for quite a while about all the stuff you've done to him over all this time. Now, usually I don't do this kind of favor for people, but you three pricks have been on his case for what feels like forever. If this Quista necklace really does what my dad and his team of diggers all say it does, then I really would love to see Randy hit you with it in full force."

"Ha!" David laughed. "Why give it to him and not use it yourself if it's so powerful and special? Oh, I know. It's so you don't look like the idiot when you find out it doesn't work!"

"Hey, it's not me who finally deserves a shot to turn the tables," Jeff casually smiled. "I've got to see if this thing really can do what they all say it does..."

I swore, the three of them could have broken out into musical song and dance, and it wouldn't have seemed any less idiotic, stupid, and unpredictable. At that moment, Randy strung it around his neck over the stupid, blue graphic t-shirt he decided to wear today. He then held the red jewel in his hand while the necklace was around his neck. After he started rubbing the red gem with his thumb, the red jewel began to pulse with crimson light.

“Seriously, are we finished here?” Alex asked with impatience. “I've got some shopping to do at Video Castle, so go buzz off and be someone else's problem.”

Suddenly, we were instantly blinded by a harsh, irritating, ruby light. I shut my eyes tight, thinking the whole thing must have been some stupid electronic device or something like that. There was no way Jeff could have been telling the truth about that stupid thing...

Then, with my eyes shut, I felt a harsh wind blow around us, whipping the fabric of my t-shirt and jeans like I was standing in the middle of a windstorm. That was then that I felt like I was being pulled right off the ground and then thrown into a sinkhole.

When I reopened my eyes, everything had already gone dark.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 3
The Unexpected Challenge

Recommended Listening: Ori and the Blind Forest OST - Lost in the Misty Woods (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nvfzoQ9Zf8)

After a sick feeling of what seemed to be falling without actually being able to see anything, we woke up in what seemed to be a dark forest. After getting up off my back, I saw nothing but gnarled, dead trees in every direction, along with a hazy, dark fog surrounding them the more I looked into the distance. I thought that little creep might have caused me to break something, but for his own sake, I was fine. First thing I noticed upon getting off my butt was the sky. It was a freakish mix of light and dark gray clouds, making it pretty much impossible to tell what time of day it was. When I looked around, Jeff, Frank and Randy were completely gone, just like that. The school, the parking lot, everything was just wiped off the face of the planet and replaced by whatever the heck this was supposed to be. Alex and David got up off the ground and looked around, and the end result was all three of us didn’t have a clue as to where we were. Okay, so there was something more to that necklace than we thought, but I was still in major denial that most of what Jeff said was true. Whatever, I figured we could work around it.

Maybe Jeff was right. Maybe Randy felt he could become a better Pokémon trainer by running away from us or by playing some stupid trick. I would have laughed at that thought, but reality told me I still had absolutely no idea where we were, and that certainly wasn’t anything to laugh about. For now, I figured I would prepare myself for this to be some kind of prank. That way, in the end, it would backfire on Randy when it didn't work out the way he wanted it to.

“What the hell is this place?” David asked, looking around and not recognizing anything.

I took a closer look around, and it seemed somewhat familiar, but not completely. I then guessed it was most likely the same place. I was willing to chance it.

“Has to be some part of Viridian Forest,” I told the two of them, though I felt that might be a pretty wild assumption. “Jeff probably got a bunch of his idiot friends to drag us here after we passed out.”

“Think again,” Alex told me, looking up at the sky. “Why does it look like it’s about to rain?”

Alex was right. It didn’t really look like Viridian Forest at all, and the sunny weather we were experiencing just three minutes ago seemed to have quickly vanished for some weird reason.

“Look,” I told Alex and David, knowing hanging around here was a waste of our time, “let’s just try to get the hell out of here. Even if we’re all the way in Celadon or something, there has to be some way of getting back.”

“How would Randy’s stupid necklace bring us all the way to Celadon?” David asked realistically. “We could be anywhere right now. I have no idea what the hell it just did, but this is seriously screwed up.”

“Just forget about it, David,” Alex told him, putting it past him. “Let’s just try to find some way out of here. Screw the details. Randy would be laughing if he saw we were about to panic.”

Definitely a good point. Things always get ugly when you give a freak like Randy any kind of leverage. Again, it was probably best to play along with the idea that this was just a prank of his.

We then began walking through that dark forest for some time, and the more I looked at it, the more reality kept telling me this sure wasn’t anything even close to Viridian Forest. I was sure we had walked at least two miles and nothing had changed. After nearly an hour of walking through dense trees and dark fog, the weird and twisted forest had suddenly ended and we came across a large valley along with a wooden cabin down a long beaten path snaking its way through the valley. I knew for a fact I had never been around here before.

We decided to check out the cabin and hopefully get some directions back to Scottville Middle School, or at least back to our home town of Viridian City. Right now, I was guessing we were someplace out east near Indigo Plateau, but my guess was with a whole lot of doubt. I was in denial I was lost.

When we arrived at the cabin, we saw there wasn’t a single window. It was made of wooden logs and only had one door. We just shrugged it off and opened the door, not really caring what was inside or about being polite by knocking first. We had been walking for over an hour and I didn’t feel like passing up the chance to actually talk to someone. Once we swung the creaky door inward, we saw it was dimly lit inside, and just as the three of us entered, the door slammed closed completely by itself, and suddenly, the room was filled with light. Out of shock, I quickly looked around and saw the room was completely empty. Like a walk-in closet, it was simply composed of wooden log walls. And oddly enough, I found no reasonable light source anywhere. None of us were even casting shadows. I then quickly turned around and tried to open the door but it was stuck. We then heard what seemed to be a female giggling, and already I was cursing under my breath, wondering what kind of crap was going on.

“If you think it’s going to be that easy, you’d better think again…”

“What the hell!?” David shouted, looking around.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, we saw a cloud of pink dust and smoke appear in the corner of the room. After some time, the dust and smoke began to form into a smiling human-sized fairy with long, blonde hair, a bright pink dress, and large insect wings. Meanwhile, she held a wand in her right hand. Man, it was so stereotypically cheesy it was almost physically painful to see.

I swore, this had to be part of some stupid game that those three idiots must have spent all night trying to arrange, and maybe this was actually Jeff's stupid mom or whatever. But if this really was still a big prank, those three rats definitely went all out. Definitely a lot of time and thought well-wasted.

“Just who the hell are you!?” David asked the fairy, wondering if it was even real for sanity’s sake.

“My name is Caska,” She replied smiling and staring right at David. “And I know who you three are. You’re none other than David Miller, Jake Kossak, and Alex Davidson. You are the three villains who oppose the king!”

“What?” Alex asked in surprise. “Who the hell is this king you’re talking about!?”

“Why it's none other than his royal highness, Randy Ferguson.” She told us in one quick statement.

We immediately burst out laughing in sheer, utter disbelief. This definitely had to be something Jeff's mom arranged, or something idiotic just like that. There was no freaking way on earth Randy would ever be respected by anyone besides some idiot like Jeff or Frank. Nothing was making sense. King? The only things Randy could be a king of were things that even the stupidest freaking people on the planet wouldn’t respect.

“Randy created this dimension world out of his desperation,” Caska told us, losing that weird smile she had been flashing earlier. “This is his world superimposed upon your own, created by everything he loves and hates from his happiness to his anger. He is the supreme ruler here, and the three of you are his worst enemies.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Alex snickered at the stupidity. “We’re living in Randy’s mind? If that’s the case, then we’re all about to become brain-dead really soon. Please, for once, wretch, tell me something that makes sense.”

“He created you?” I asked Caska, nearly laughing. “Since when was Randy into fairies and fantasy tales?”

She seemed somewhat insulted by that comment. I was glad at that moment, since if my sanity was really failing me and she was really telling the truth, then everything I would come across was part of Randy's mind and was subject to harassment and destruction. Still, as weird as everything seemed right now, I refused to believe any of this rot.

“I represent a part of Randy’s childhood,” She told us, glaring into our eyes. “Unfortunately for you, I am one of the happier moments of his life. And right now, the two of us are enemies. There is only one way to settle this.”

“You want to fight me?” David asked, turning his hands into fists. “Let’s go. I’ll tear you apart so badly that they’ll have to bury you in a lunch box.”

“No, Miller,” She said to David, growing in confidence. “I want to battle your Pokémon. Your loyal, trusted companions. The same ones you use against the king.”

“Even better,” David grinned wickedly.

I couldn’t wait to see David lay waste to a happy moment in Randy’s childhood, if that’s what this fairy thing even was. Still, the thought of us defeating her and then Randy feeling even more miserable in ways that we would never dream possible was just too damn good to ignore. David had this match in the bag.

“We’ll both use two Pokémon,” Caska told him in a firm tone. “If you win, then you get to make Randy feel even worse and more depressed, which I know is what you want the most.”

“You’d better believe it.” David said with a confident grin.

“But if you lose…” Caska replied, giving him that dark evil fairy stare again. “Then you’ll be the one feeling the depression and humiliation.”

Whatever. As far as I knew, there was nothing that could stop David or make him feel depressed, and it definitely wouldn't come from her. Caska then pulled out a pink and white Poké Ball, and threw it towards the center of the cabin.

“Go Blissey!” Caska shouted just before her Poké Ball hit the floor.

And out of her Poké Ball emerged a Blissey, and the three of us slightly cringed just staring at it. We couldn’t stand such a fat, pink, moronic, and cutesy-looking Pokémon. Her stupid face made me feel like smashing it with my fist while screaming obscenities. I really hated Pokémon like these and the morons who trained them.

“Go Tyranitar!” David shouted as he threw his Poké Ball, ready to release raw carnage.

And just a second later after the Poké Ball struck the cabin floor, out came David’s beastly and nasty Tyranitar with a tremendous roar. The giant, pale-green, spiky colossus glared at the Caska's fat, piece of trash and looked more than ready to torment her. With claws and teeth like this, he looked ready to crush Caska’s worthless Blissey into an unrecognizable pulp.

“Blissey, use your Minimize!” Caska commanded, beginning that annoying smiling spree again.

Blissey suddenly then began to decrease in size, scaling down to try and make it harder for Tyranitar to even hit her. However, David certainly wasn’t going to give up that early.

“Tyranitar, Earthquake attack,” David said coldly, ready to terrorize the smaller Blissey.

Tyranitar gladly accepted, and slammed his heavy foot into the floor which sent a violent tremor through the ground that shook the entire cabin. Rocks and jagged stones tore up through the ground, ripping apart the wooden floorboards. However, it completely missed Caska’s Blissey. Somehow the stupid thing managed to squeeze herself between the jutting rocks and fissures. There was nothing to explain it but just a case of really crappy luck. To make it worse, Caska’s damned Blissey even giggled.

“Minimize again!” Caska shouted with glee, making things even worse.

“This is getting cheap as hell,” David growled, truly despising this type of strategy.

Blissey grew even smaller, still wearing that stupid smile of hers. Our expressions began to grow grim as Blissey was just laughing at the frustration of David and his Tyranitar.

“Rock Slide!” David commanded Tyranitar.

The hulking green juggernaut tore up heavy stones from the ground and hurled them savagely at the shrinking pink fatso, but that missed as well, as Blissey was so small that the rocks Tyranitar threw simply bounced around her and instead buried themselves in the walls. David was becoming quickly frustrated. Again, Caska told Blissey to Minimize again and again, and David missed each and every time. But then, it got even worse by the time Blissey was nearly smaller than a Caterpie...

“Use your Sing attack Blissey!” Caska shouted with glee.

Blissey then began to sing peacefully, and Tyranitar was beginning doze off.

"Come on!" David shouted. "Don't fall for that crap, stay in there!"

After stumbling around to try and stay awake, Tyranitar crashed to the ground fast asleep, making this one of the lamest battles I've had the misfortune of watching.

“Blissey, use your Metronome,” Caska commanded, happy that she had one hell of an advantage.

Blissey then seemed to dance for a short while, and then all of a sudden, it lunged toward the sleeping Tyranitar, and performed a wicked Cross-chop attack, one of the worst attacks that Tyranitar could’ve been hit by. Somehow, an itty Blissey struck Tyranitar furiously and made him take a serious beating in an extremely short amount of time, despite the fact she was now only a hundredth of his size. Then, to David’s dismay, he realized Tyranitar was no longer asleep. He had fainted and was passed out cold…

“What!?” David protested. “What the hell are the chances of that!? That's bullcrap!”

“Bring out your next Pokémon, Miller,” Caska told David with a sarcastic, smug grin.

For once, I was somewhat glad not to be in David’s shoes. I seriously didn’t like where this was going and something was seriously shady about this. David returned Tyranitar to his respective Poké Ball, and chose his next best Pokémon.

“Go Rhydon!” David shouted, getting angry this time. “Make mincemeat of that damn Blissey!”

Rhydon had emerged from the Poké Ball’s brilliant flash, ready for onslaught. With his gray rock armor and powerful drill mounted on his nose, Rhydon was a vicious, armored beast of death to be reckoned with. We were crossing our fingers in hope that David's Rhydon would be able to handle an already grim looking situation and make up for Tyranitar's screw up.

“Rhydon, Stomp attack!” David shouted.

Genius. Rhydon charged forward and used his heavy, rocky foot to squash the already shrunken Blissey like a tiny, withering maggot. Blissey took a strong hit, but after rolling around a few times, she simply sprang back up into action like nothing really happened.

“Sing attack,” Caska commanded.

Again, Blissey sang a peaceful song and Rhydon stumbled around just like Tyranitar, and he hit the ground fast asleep. David just clenched his fist, gritted his teeth, and looked like he could have murdered someone with the face he had on.

“Metronome, Blissey,” Caska said coldly to her Blissey.

Blissey danced for a moment, and then we watched in horror as Blissey coated herself with a Reflect shield, which was going to be a pain in the crotch to get past for Rhydon. Fortunately, Rhydon got up from his slumber quickly this time, but he was going to have a lot more hell to deal with…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 4
The Scare

As I was standing there doubtfully watching this whole retarded thing go from bad to worse, I knew Rhydon was going to have to take down Blissey, right here, right now to move onto beating the stuffing out of Caska’s next annoying Pokémon. Still, I couldn’t help but think this was going to hell real fast. This whole thing looked like it was being rigged.

“Stomp attack, Rhydon,” David declared with a sick feeling in his throat.

Normally, that attack would have and should have punished Blissey like last time, but ever after slamming on the micro-sized Blissy like a sledgehammer smashing an egg, the Reflect shield fended off most of the damage and it simply just caused the tiny Blissey to roll around gleefully like this was some sort of unholy ballet. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse...

“Softboiled, Blissey,” Caska commanded, once again flashing that damnable smug grin.

Blissey then surrounded herself with three glowing eggs that had suddenly become a pulse of white energy and healing light. Suddenly, Blissey had absorbed the energy, and began to heal the little amount of damage that David's Rhydon had inflicted on it, with David himself looking like he was ready to vomit. Caska’s ungodly Blissey had nearly become immortal.

“Focus Energy, Rhydon,” David said nervously.

That was the best move David could have decided on. Rhydon bowed his head down and growled furiously, steaming with anger and rage, ready to tear Blissey to ribbons. He had this one chance to stop Blissey, and he had to get it just right. If David didn't make this a one-hit kill, we already knew how this was going to go down.

“Metronome, Blissey,” Caska told her Blissey with a smile.

Blissey began to dance again, and suddenly, a tremendous jet of water had fired from Blissey’s mouth and slammed into Rhydon, dealing a terrible amount of damage as the massive hulking Pokémon was blown back from the fierce, aquatic force. Rhydon collapsed to the floor, completely worn out in ways that shouldn’t have been possible. When Rhydon refused to budge off the floor, we couldn’t believe it. David had just lost to a worthless little Blissey…

“Damn it…!” David snapped. “I don’t believe it!”

Caska then began clapping sarcastically for David’s miserable performance, smirking sarcastically the entire time. Right at that moment, I had no idea what Caska was about to do to David next, and I really didn’t want to know. Still, the whole time, something about the whole thing really didn't feel right.

“Ready to receive your punishment for losing, Miller?” Caska asked sweetly, looking like she was already enjoying David’s misery.

“You damn cheater!” David shouted in red-faced fury. “How the hell could you get so lucky with Metronome!? That battle had to be rigged!”

Something about the whole thing seemed extremely shady, but there was no proof. And it seemed like Caska knew you just can't prove bad luck. Or in this case, cheating.

“That’s just the way things go, Miller,” Caska smiled to David. “Now it's time for you to feel some misery and justice for what you’ve done to King Randy. And I know just how to make it hurt.”

“You better not, you stupid...!” David shouted, but never finished.

At that sick moment, Caska had looked toward the shouting David, and she snapped her fingers. She became a cloud of pink dust, and seemed to have disappeared, leaving David wondering what just happened. We were hoping by some miraculous chance that she just left us alone, but then, Alex and I looked at David, and David had swallowed hard.

Alex and I watched in freakish horror as David slowly began to change into a shiny and ridiculous-looking fairy just like Caska. His blue jeans suddenly became a sparking bright pink dress, and two fairy wings had emerged right out his back. It was a pretty sick thing to do to a guy in the seventh grade. He looked totally idiotic.

“Oh god, what the hell is this!?” David screamed as he looked at himself, softly fluttering his wings, “What did she just do to me!?”

We couldn’t help but turn away at that moment. David tried to yank off the dress and the wings, only they seemed to be super-glued to his body. Of course, only then did we hear the door unlock. Still, I didn’t care about anything else. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. As I threw the door open, Alex and David just followed, and again we were outside…

“DAMN IT, that does it!” David shouted as we walked out of that nightmare cabin. “If this really is Randy’s world, then I want to get the hell out of here! How the hell do we break out of this damn place!?”

I didn't have a clue as to how we were going to do that. Right now, if Randy could see David, he would be laughing hysterically, probably setting this whole charade up intentionally. The last thing I wanted was for the three of us to fight Randy while David ended up looking like a giant Tinkerbell. That would only make matters fifty times worse. I didn’t want to see Jeff acting all high and mighty again and Frank snorting while he had his finger way up his nose. It was enough to make me go ballistic and wish I had taken a rocket launcher before coming here.

“How the hell do we get out of stupid, moronic world for crying out loud!?” Alex demanded. "I'm sick of this place, nothing is making any sense!"

“We probably need to take down Randy and strike hard at the source, but first we need to find him,” I told Alex, knowing he had to be the dead center of all this idiocy. "Once we find him, we'll make him pay in blood for this, I swear."

"Yeah, how are you going to do that when he cheats?" David asked me, still sickened over his new fairy features.

"I'll... try to think of something..." I replied awkwardly, having no real answer to that.

Frustrated, we just continued our way down the path, and day quickly turned to night, and everything went pitch black incredibly quickly. We had nothing to sleep on except the grass. All I could hope for was that maybe this whole thing was a dream, but it seemed far too real for that to be true. Still, I wasn’t going to dwell on it. We then quickly went to sleep, hoping we would be getting out of here soon.

When morning came, we headed down the path through the valley again. Then, for some strange reason, the grass slowly turned brighter in color, but it was simply another sign that this was a totally warped reality. And just like that, ahead of us was another forest, except this one seemed to be more of a tropical one instead. This couldn’t be real. The more I saw it, the more insane I knew it all was. How the hell did we end up with this idiocy to deal with?

“We don’t have much of a choice except to continue,” David said grimly. “Hopefully this forest isn’t too big.”

Recommended Listening: Dead Silence Theme Song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMp3qyxyxMo)

We then continued our way through the dense foliage without a single path to go by, as if this couldn’t possibly get any worse. This was just making me sick. All we could do was push forward into nowhere, and then suddenly, we came to a clearing. When we emerged from the forest, we saw what seemed to be some sort of gathering. There were several shady figures moving about, dressed in hooded, violet cloaks with bizarre symbols and insignias on the sleeves, hoods, and around the bottom. I really had no idea what these bunch of creepy cultists were about, but I wasn't going to walk up to them to ask.

Then, in the distance, we saw a large, brown, sac-like object hanging from a post, something these psychos were obviously interested in. If this really was Randy's dimension, I had no clue what this was supposed to resemble. It looked like it was supposed to be some kind of dark ritual or something.

“Yeah...” Alex muttered, watching them closely. “Now where is Randy's mind going with this one?”

“You!” One of them quickly turned around and shouted, pointing at Alex. “You must be the one!”

Him? What exactly did these guys want with Alex? I tried to get a good look at their faces, but I couldn't see much. Their hoods covered most of their faces except for their chins and mouths.

“I bet you want to battle, don’t you?” Alex asked as his fingers were ready to clutch one of his Poké Balls, looking a bit like he was honestly hoping the answer was no after what had happened to David.

But they didn’t say anything. Instead, the group of them jumped us, and pinned us to the ground. I tried to fight back with my fists but holy crap, the guy on top of me was way stronger than I was. I could see a slight outline of his face from under the shade of his hood, and I could almost swear it wasn't completely human and had a bizarre, gaunt, and dull bluish hue. Still, even though I struggled, I realized it wasn’t me they wanted, it was Alex. But what the hell for?

“Let me go, you stupid maggots!” Alex shouted as he was being pulled away from us.

I struggled with the cultist that was on top of me, hoping to get up and help Alex escape, but for some reason, he seemed so much stronger than me, easily keeping me pinned down with seemingly superhuman strength.

I then saw Alex being dragged closer and closer to the hanging brown sac by three other cultists. From the looks of it, he didn't have a chance of bailing out of this one without help. I was crossing my fingers hoping that sac thing wasn’t actually some living creature ready to devour Alex, but I could only barely just get my head off the ground to see what was happening.

“Get your hands off of me you deranged psychos!” Alex shouted as he struggled to break free before reaching the sac. “I don’t have anything you freaks want!”

"Resistance is futile," One of them spoke eerily. "Accept what must be done."

They had inevitably arrived at the sac, the last thing Alex wanted to find out what it was. Seconds later, they lifted the screaming Alex upward, and dumped him right in like a piece of trash being thrown into a dumpster. Suddenly, the open sac closed up with Alex still inside, and immediately trapped him. After they started chanting, I saw the sac shifting and swaying about as Alex was likely struggling to get out, but there was no escape. And then, after some time and being left to just watch the whole damn thing for a few seconds, my fear began to escalate.

Alex had completely stopped moving…

David and I both thought that Alex could have suddenly died at that moment, devoured by whatever the hell that thing was. But then again, I thought better. I then realized that Randy didn’t necessarily want us to croak while we were here, he wanted us to suffer in humiliation. He made David suffer, and now he was going to make Alex suffer. And then to make matters worse, he was probably going to make me suffer somewhere along the line.

“What the hell are you doing to him!?” David demanded. “Let him out of there!”

“Shouldn't be long now...” One of the cloaked figures muttered.

I stopped struggling after some time, since I was getting exhausted and wasn’t getting anywhere. I was still pinned down and this guy had no intention of letting go. I only wished I had a handgun to blast open the heads of all these maniacs, but there wasn’t crap I could do about it. I continued to look at the sac, and then I suddenly realized what the hell it was. It was some sort of weird cocoon. I needed to get Alex out of there as soon as possible.

I had only one choice. I struggled to reach for one of my Poké Balls while the freak was still on top of me. Then, I managed to grab one, prime it, and toss it just enough so it would open. When it landed, I saw I had released my Ariados, a huge red and black poison spider capable of fixing this asinine mess. Now was my chance.

“Ariados, use your Poison Sting to get this bastard off of me!” I shouted.

The cultist turned around in shock just to be greeted with a barrage of sharp, poison spikes making a dartboard out of his body. He immediately let go of me, and I got up off the ground. I then looked at the cocoon and saw the group of cultists that had dragged Alex guarding it.

“Ariados, Sludge Bomb attack on those freaks!” I commanded Ariados.

Ariados then blasted the fleeing cultists with a hearty helping of thick, dark-purple sludge, sending them scattering in all directions. They ran right for the forest and quickly vanished in the dense foliage. Still, I didn't care about pursuing them as much as I wanted Alex to get out of there. I quickly ran to the cocoon and tried to open it up with my hands, but it seemed impossible. The thing seemed to be glued shut and was way too tough for my bare hands to try and pry it open. And Alex didn’t seem to be moving at all.

“See if you can use your pincers to rip that thing open, Ariados.” I quickly commanded the spider Pokémon, hoping he’d be able to tear it open before something stupid happened.

Ariados approached the sac, and tried to tear away at the cocoon, but it seemed like invincible rubber. After several minutes of trying to tear it open, it seemed hopeless. I then had only one tool left that could possibly help Alex.

I had a small Swiss Army knife that I usually kept in my pocket. I pulled it out, flipped out its sharpest blade, and tried to cut the sac open. I couldn’t believe it. It was like trying to cut through thick rubber with a wooden stick. If that knife couldn’t rip that thing open, then what could? I was beginning to grow frantic and didn't think even a chainsaw could rip this thing open.

And then, another horrifying moment arose. Suddenly, I saw the cocoon begin to crack open from the middle, but it wasn’t from anything we did. All I could do was back away and just look away. I didn’t even want to watch what was to come out of the second round of idiocy we had to deal with, and it was a good thing I didn’t. However, David had been watching in horror while I grimaced and looked away.

“Oh... oh, god no…” David moaned with utter depression.

“Don’t tell me…” I warned David. “I don’t want to hear it.”

And then, David slapped his right hand against his eyes. I bet at that moment he had regretted watching the whole thing.

“Jake, don’t look,” David warned me. “Don’t look, whatever you do.”

I knew I had to eventually. I figured might as well get the worst part over with.

“I guess you might as well tell me, David,” I told him honestly, knowing there was no point in delaying this any further. “Just tell me in words what happened. Then... maybe I'll look.”

I could tell there was some hesitation in David’s speech. And then, he let it loose.

“Those sick maniacs just turned Alex into a human butterfly…” David said softly in dismay.

[Suicune's Fire]

If we hadn't intervened, his stomach would be subjected to such crappy food loaded with grease and saturated fats that day.
I'm assuming it's because Jake is young and may not have proper sentence formation, but I'll say it anyway. xD This should be "If we hadn't have intervened, his stomach would have been subjected" etc. Just the addition of "have" and "been" makes it sound a lot better. Like I said, if it's because he's young and speaks like that, then that's a different story. :]


“Hey Frank!” David shouted out over a hard laugh.
There should be a comma before names when they're being addressed. This happens multiple times in the chapter. O:


Frank had Pokéballs in his backpack
"Poké Balls" are two words. :]


Chapter two:



“Mightyena, use your Headbutt attack on Ampharos.” Alex commanded.

“Ampharos, return.” Jeff commanded as he summoned Ampharos back to his Pokéball.
In both of these situations, the periods at the end of the speech should be commas. I think you know this, though, so I'm going to assume you just missed these while proof-reading/rewriting. x) It happened another time or so throughout that I didn't quote, so hopefully you can find those. xD


After stepping out the door, there they were, Frank, Randy and Jeff just waiting for us.
I think that the comma after "were" should be either a colon or a semicolon, rather than a comma.


“Gee, Frank, I seem to recall it was Randy and Jeff that lost yesterday, so I really have no clue what the heck your worthless trap talking about this time.”
There should be an "is" after "trap." :]


So here we go! The start of my Trials of Juno adventure! :D I'm so happy I got to start reading this. xD It almost feels like the good ol' PE2K days when I read nearly everything that was posted...except this! O: I'm very excited. I'm not sure how old these are and if you've rewritten them recently, but I'm assuming those errors I pointed out were old and ones you may have simply missed by mistake. :] I think there was another one or two in there somewhere, but I was reading it on the train earlier so I can't find it now. xD But train rides are perfect for reading stories! I just hate using my phone for forum stuff, so I don't really post when I'm using it. Oh well. xD

I love the idea of a story from the bully's perspective. I admit that in stories containing bullies, I've really only read ones from the victim's perspective. Seeing it flipped is so interesting to me, especially when you get inside their heads and dissect their thoughts. These guys are just such jerks. xD Geez. Like, get a hobby or something. I guess bullying Randy IS their hobby. And now Frank and Jeff, of course. I thought it was a li'l adorable how they formed an alliance. To be honest I was a little disappointed to see that Jeff lost, since I really wanted him to kick Alex's butt. I've only read two chapters so far though, so I'm sure I'll be pleasantly surprised once I find out what this gem does/did. I enjoyed reading the summary of the story, and it makes me super interested to find out how Jake gets drawn into that world.

I love how Randy just keeps challenging them with the same two (and sometimes his other two) pokemon. xD I felt SO bad for them when Jake was battling his nidoran and pidove though. </3 The poor things are so poorly trained. xD Especially that pidove, when it took flight right before being hit with a thunderbolt. >.< I really hope Jeff teaches Randy how to train his pokemon so they don't get beaten up so often. ;~;

Anyway, I'm probably rambling about stuff that's already been answered, but nevertheless, thanks for posting! :D I'm keen to read more. c:

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I never got around to reading this at PE2K, so its nice to have the opportunity now! Man, those bullying scenes were so uncomfortable! You wrote them really well. I felt so bad for Randy's Pokemon. :( The stuff that happened to Alex and David is pretty crazy. I liked the idea of a crazy cult turning people into butterflies. xD Looking forward to seeing how Jake's punishment goes down. :)

[Neo Emolga]

Cleaning out typos from a story written years ago is a lot like pulling weeds. You feel like you get most of them, but there's always a few that seem to slip by. :P

But yeah, I don't make most of these mistakes anymore. Still, thanks for pointing out those weeds. Hopefully I got all of them. :P


"Poké Balls" are two words. :]

When I saw this, I was like... whoa, have I really been doing it wrong this entire time!?

After looking it up on a whole slew of Pokémon sites, I think you're right, but darn it, why do so many sites have it the other way around!? That, and it's really confusing whether someone is referring to any type of Poké Ball, or whether they're referring to the most basic one that you find in the beginning of the game. Imagine if instead of calling an apple an apple, it was just called a "fruit" instead. "Oh, want some fruit?" The other person wouldn't know whether to expect apples or expect any kind of fruit!

Also, hate to say it, but ugh, this is going to be a very tricky habit to correct when I've been doing it this way for almost... ah... two decades. Well, I'll try my best after I Ctrl+F & Replace this whole puppy. XD


In both of these situations, the periods at the end of the speech should be commas. I think you know this, though, so I'm going to assume you just missed these while proof-reading/rewriting. x) It happened another time or so throughout that I didn't quote, so hopefully you can find those. xD

Yep, I don't make this mistake too often anymore and I broke out of the habit. Bloody dandelions! I'll admit that most of the time, when I proofread, I'm focusing maybe 75% on the actual storyline content, depth, and details, and only 25% on the actual punctuation, grammar, and all that jazz. For example, while proofreading this again, I caught a mistake where Randy starts with the necklace, but then somehow takes it from Jeff. When it comes to missing a comma here and there, yeah, it's easy to overlook a dot that should have had a tail to it. XD


So here we go! The start of my Trials of Juno adventure! :D I'm so happy I got to start reading this. xD It almost feels like the good ol' PE2K days when I read nearly everything that was posted...except this! O: I'm very excited. I'm not sure how old these are and if you've rewritten them recently, but I'm assuming those errors I pointed out were old and ones you may have simply missed by mistake. :] I think there was another one or two in there somewhere, but I was reading it on the train earlier so I can't find it now. xD But train rides are perfect for reading stories! I just hate using my phone for forum stuff, so I don't really post when I'm using it. Oh well. xD

I love the idea of a story from the bully's perspective. I admit that in stories containing bullies, I've really only read ones from the victim's perspective. Seeing it flipped is so interesting to me, especially when you get inside their heads and dissect their thoughts. These guys are just such jerks. xD Geez. Like, get a hobby or something. I guess bullying Randy IS their hobby. And now Frank and Jeff, of course. I thought it was a li'l adorable how they formed an alliance. To be honest I was a little disappointed to see that Jeff lost, since I really wanted him to kick Alex's butt. I've only read two chapters so far though, so I'm sure I'll be pleasantly surprised once I find out what this gem does/did. I enjoyed reading the summary of the story, and it makes me super interested to find out how Jake gets drawn into that world.

I love how Randy just keeps challenging them with the same two (and sometimes his other two) pokemon. xD I felt SO bad for them when Jake was battling his nidoran and pidove though. </3 The poor things are so poorly trained. xD Especially that pidove, when it took flight right before being hit with a thunderbolt. >.< I really hope Jeff teaches Randy how to train his pokemon so they don't get beaten up so often. ;~;

Anyway, I'm probably rambling about stuff that's already been answered, but nevertheless, thanks for posting! :D I'm keen to read more. c:

As far as rewriting goes, kind of did, kind of didn't. I would say it's undergone a heck of a lot of revision, but some of the original stuff was kept. Rewriting totally from the ground up would be a pretty daunting task, so I figured just really making the best edits possible would be the way to go. But yeah, a bit of the old shabbiness still remains, but not intentionally. Think of it like an old house getting modern makeovers.

And it's funny, while I'm posting this on PXR, I'm also posting in on Bulbagarden, and some people there feel the summary reveals too much. Truth is, I kind of had to do that, because in a previous time I posted Trial of Juno, I think people dropped out of reading it because they didn't like Jake as a bully and didn't give it a chance to have things change! So it was a necessity to show all this is really just a precursor to something much bigger.

In any case, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and thank you very much for your help with pointing out those weeds! XD


I never got around to reading this at PE2K, so its nice to have the opportunity now! Man, those bullying scenes were so uncomfortable! You wrote them really well. I felt so bad for Randy's Pokemon. :( The stuff that happened to Alex and David is pretty crazy. I liked the idea of a crazy cult turning people into butterflies. xD Looking forward to seeing how Jake's punishment goes down. :)

I think you'll really like it. I remember how some people responded to it and it was actually quite comical. XD

No spoilers!

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

For the record, I have always written Pokeball as one word, referring to the monster catching devices in general and the specific red and white balls. I refuse to change even though Xanthe may be technically right haha. It just seems wrong to have a space there. I can't think of any other Poke- words that do.

[Neo Emolga]

For the record, I have always written Pokeball as one word, referring to the monster catching devices in general and the specific red and white balls. I refuse to change even though Xanthe may be technically right haha. It just seems wrong to have a space there. I can't think of any other Poke- words that do.

Well, the official sites have it as two words. Pokemon.com has it as two words and so does Bulbapedia. With that, I kind of have to agree that it's probably correct to have it as two.

And yeah, I agree it will probably take a little getting used to, but it does seem to be the more correct way of doing it.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 5
Foreign Encounters

Only then did I look at Alex, and then I really wished I hadn’t been so fast in doing so. His body from head to toe had been completely black like he landed in an oil slick. On his head were two long antennae with bulbs on the ends. And to make matters even worse, on his back were two enormous butterfly wings splashed with a rainbow of colors. Damn, if I had been in Alex’s place at that moment, I swear I would have gone postal. As sad and pathetic as David’s humiliating fate had been, it wasn’t nearly as bad as this.

“THAT LITTLE FREAK RANDY FERGUSON IS GOING TO DIE!!!!!!,” Alex shouted loudly, sending his screaming echo throughout the clearing.

“You said it, man,” I supported Alex, trying to calm his rage by letting him vent and just support everything he said. “All three of us are going to slaughter those little freaks. I’ll even let you be the one who whacks Randy’s head as I pin him down.”

“Jake…” Alex said softly, trying to calm down all of a sudden.

“What?” I asked him, looking up into his eyes.

There was silence for a dark moment.

“Just shut up,” Alex told me with a bit of frustration in his eyes.

Fine. I shrugged and figured I would just let Alex have his way for now, just like David. If it had been me thrown into his current hellhole mess, I would have been infuriated to the extreme myself, so I could understand why both of them would be moody all of a sudden. He needed to rant and I could get that. Still, one way or another, Randy was going to make sure we were humiliated and depressed even before we battled his Pokémon. And since this was his freakish world, we had to expect anything. I swore, he was not going to do to me what he did to Alex and David.

Before we had the chance to do anything, we saw what seemed to be a dark figure emerge from behind us. As we turned around, he got closer, and we realized he was wearing a black fedora and trench coat, looking like a mobster pulled right out of some gangster movie. We were more than ready to retaliate after what we've been through, but when he approached us, he shook his head in disgust.

“Damn, just got here too late,” The mobster told us with frustration. "You three didn’t deserve this kind of misery. Believe me, I know."

“And who the hell are you?” I asked him, still with justified paranoia creeping all over me.

“Name’s Black,” He told us. “You may not believe me, but I’m Randy’s frustration. And heh, I owe you three a favor.”

We were surprised for a moment to think that this guy actually existed. But then again, could we really even trust this guy? I figured I’d at least hear him out.

“You three made me strong by making Randy feel weak,” Black told us with a bit of a sinister smile. “I’ll let you in on some of Randy’s darkest secrets. He can't just flush me out because I'm just as much a part of him as everything else around here, good or bad.”

“Go on,” David told Black, still on his guard.

“Believe it or not, Randy’s world really was created from that necklace,” Black told us, “I know, I know, you thought it was a lie, but it's not. It's about time you face what you're really dealing with here. He created this whole new world and dimension just because of his inability to train Pokémon and deal with his problems. Like you three. Talk about frustration. There was nothing more he wanted than to beat the three of you.”

I couldn’t understand why worthless little Randy would go through so much trouble to beat us. Couldn’t he just accept the fact he was a natural loser at Pokémon battling and there was no hope for him in the world? He'd probably be better off doing something else.

“But, if you try to battle him now, you’ll most surely lose,” Black warned us. “That necklace gives him enough power to give him any Pokémon he wants, as well as use any move or attack. Even ones that don’t even exist.”

“Are you kidding!?” David shouted in shock.

“In Randy’s world, if he can think it, it becomes real,” Black informed us, still trying to keep a low profile. “His new, super-powered Pokémon are nearly invincible. Trust me, you were right when you said the game was rigged, and it definitely is. It’s a good thing I found you three, because if I didn’t, I don't want to imagine what would have happened...”

I had a feeling this might just be one person in all of Randy’s world that we could at least somewhat trust. What he said was certainly making sense. The last time we saw Randy, he seemed ready to do anything, even something like this. We pushed him too far, that was for sure.

“How do we stop Randy and get out of here?” Alex asked Black. "Seriously, look at the two of us. We've got to get this crap off."

“You need to defeat Randy, as well as Jeff and Frank,” Black said to the three of us. “You have to make Randy feel defeated enough to the point where even in his own dream world, he still can’t beat you. Only then will that little schmuck give up this pointless act of his. And thankfully, when it's over, this place of his is out the window like a cigarette. All gone.”

Heh, that was worth chuckling for. Randy would NEVER be able to say he was better than us, because it would be a cold-blooded lie. It then became clear what we had to do.

In order to get out of this place, we had to find Randy as well as those little morons Jeff and Frank and kick their butts. I certainly didn’t want to stay here any longer, after seeing what had happened to Alex and David. I had to be extra careful to make sure I didn’t end up like them, which was exactly what Randy wanted to happen…

“There’s only one way to at least put yourself on the same level as Randy,” Black told us, “You'll need these. Put them around your neck, and it'll at least suppress some of the control Randy has over reality.”

Then, out of his coat, he pulled out three golden chain necklaces. He handed one to each of us, and we wore them around our necks.

“While those are nothing compared to the necklace Randy has, they have an opposing canceling power while you use them here,” Black said to us. “Heck, I should know. I know everything that just presses that little boy’s buttons."

And then, he reached back into his trench coat. It seemed he had one more thing to give to us.

“Here,” Black said, also handing a Poké Ball to each of us. “Take these also. These Pokémon will at least put you on the same level as Randy, since they’re also made from that little boy’s dreams. Once he throws his Poké Balls and his desired Pokémon comes out, he hasn't learned how to change it quite yet. But be careful. Make sure he’s the one to send out his Pokémon first, or he’ll always have a type advantage over you, usually in the worst kind of way.”

“Thanks, Black,” I said to him.

“It’s the least I can do for the three of you,” Black responded. “See you around, and good luck.”

And then he turned around and left. I looked over the Poké Ball that Black had handed me, just wondering what was inside. Still, now wasn’t the time to play guessing games. I was going to save this for a moment I really needed it. Last thing I wanted was for Randy to find out we acquired secret weapons against him.

"Is he serious about this thing?" Alex asked, looking at the necklace with doubt. "Also, I really don't like the idea of using a Pokémon created from Randy's dreams."

"Yeah, me neither," David replied, brushing it off. "For that reason alone, it probably sucks, whatever it is."

Probably. I shrugged but decided to keep the stuff anyway. Alex and David, however, simply cast their given Poké Balls aside, not wanting to have anything to do with Randy's dream world. As for me, I shrugged and simply just held onto mine. Maybe there was some silver lining in using a Pokémon of Randy's dreams against him, even if Alex and David didn't think so.

After that, we headed back into the tropical forest, hoping we would find Randy soon and get out of his retarded dream world as soon as possible. I didn't know where the hell he was in this place, but something had to lead up to him.

Again, we made our way through the dense foliage, this time I was in the front. I constantly had to lift my feet and swing them over the dense shrubs on the ground, and it was wet everywhere. My jeans were soaked and my t-shirt was damp from the dew and the humidity everywhere. I wasn't thinking about Randy all that much and it was really just the heat and getting somewhere that I was focusing on, but I wasn't making much headway there.

I picked up the pace, just wanting to get out of this miserable forest as soon as possible. I could put up with the heat and the sweat as long as it got me out of here faster. After some time, I turned around to see how Alex and David were doing and if they needed a moment to catch up.

And then I realized they weren’t there…

I looked back frantically, but I didn’t see them anywhere. Where the hell did they go? I shouted out several times, calling their names and hoping they were nearby, but there was no sight of them at all and no response. I was just pissed. I really didn't need this right now and felt it should have been easy for those two to keep up. And I top of that, I felt like I was starving. I hadn’t eaten in nearly a day and a half. But like hell I was going to trust eating or drinking anything while I was here.

All I could do was keep moving, but after some time, it became night again and I couldn’t even see the path ahead. I had no choice but to wait until dark. Stupid Randy and his imaginary world. Just who the hell did he think he was anyway? By now, I had no idea where Alex and David were, and this was just making everything fifty times worse. Again, I had to make a bunch of wet plants and leaves my bed for the night. That whole night, I kept thinking how much I really wanted to make Randy's face a gnarled mess with my fists.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep and when I awoke, I could see again. I got up and kept moving, hoping to leave this stupid forest, but it seemed to keep going on forever. After just a few hours, I heard a noise to my right. I thought by some miraculous chance it might have been Alex or David, so I decided to track it down. And then I came across an interesting sight. I came across a small fountain spring, and there were tiny little pixies surrounding it. They all seemed to look at me in shock for one moment, and then they calmed down, almost as if they already knew me and didn't think this was the alarming surprise they thought it was at first.

“Oh, it’s only you,” One of them said in relief, speaking with a calm and quiet voice. “For a minute I thought you were some kind of stalker.”

“Who are you?” I asked them, wondering who they were.

“Oh, we’re just Randy’s mischievous side,” A different pixie told me casually. “But, unfortunately, Randy doesn’t get into mischief very often, so we’re always put on the back burner. He's just not a naughty guy... unfortunately.”

Sure as heck wasn't. He didn't have the guts to stand up to anyone or get even. That's what his problem was. He just didn't see it. What was the point of creativity if it wasn’t put to good use? Randy was just loaded with disappointments.

“Well, I plan on taking Randy down,” I told them. “Just like I always have.”

“Heh, yeah, go figure,” One of them replied casually. “We knew you would. I don’t know how you’re able to tolerate it being in the mind of the one person you despise.”

I didn’t know either, and my patience was growing short because of that. Hell, she was right about that one. After some of them got up and flew away, only about three of them remained. After they flew to a nearby branch, I suddenly felt my hunger arise again. I couldn’t help but ask if they had anything to eat. It became the only thing I was really thinking about.

“I’m starving,” I told the three of them. “You… wouldn’t have anything around here to eat, would you?

They suddenly became surprised, and looked at me like I was crazy. One of them giggled a bit, whispered something to the others, and then they looked at me.

“You… still need to eat?” One of them asked. “That’s just stupid. Obviously you’ve never heard of Sun Water before, have you?”

“Not a chance,” I told them.

“It comes from that spring,” The pixie told me, pointing to the fountain. “If you drink a few cups of Sun Water, you’ll never need to eat again. Drink, once in a while yes, but eat, never again.”

That sounded ridiculous. But then again, after I stole Randy’s lunch money a countless number of times, maybe this was an element of him that had put up with never having lunch again. Who knows, because in Randy’s world, it seemed like anything was fair game. I wasn’t about to give a damn where that came from though. I took her word for it and didn't see much in terms of other options.

I walked over to the fountain and bent down. Honestly, the water didn’t appear to be any different than normal water, so I just shrugged it off. And since these pixies seemed to be another part of Randy’s naughty side, maybe I could trust them. Black already helped us out, so I figured they could be the same. They already looked like they trusted me. Hell, it was like we had already knew each other for crying out loud.

And as my hunger grew stronger, I wasn’t about to argue or start asking stupid questions. I found a pewter cup nearby, and I dipped it into the fountain. I then gathered some water in the cup, held it to my lips, and then decided to drink it. While it looked like water, it tasted super-sweet like sugar. It tasted great, and after I drank down the first cup, I decided to go for seconds.

My hunger melted away immediately, but the Sun Water was so tasty I couldn’t help but keep drinking it. It was addicting as hell. I must have had twelve cups of the stuff before I felt like I had enough of it. There was no soda on Earth that had a better taste than Sun Water. I swore, I would have bottled the stuff up if I could have.

And then, I heard a slight giggling in the distance. I turned around and saw it had come from one of the pixies. I looked up at one of them and she looked at me.

“Boy, you’re going to look awfully cute…” She said before flying away with the other two.

[Suicune's Fire]

Cleaning out typos from a story written years ago is a lot like pulling weeds. You feel like you get most of them, but there's always a few that seem to slip by. :P

But yeah, I don't make most of these mistakes anymore. Still, thanks for pointing out those weeds. Hopefully I got all of them. :P

Oh, exactly. I went through Through the Eyes of a Flareon when I decided to post the chapters on...DeviantART, I think? And also here. So I understand wholeheartedly. xD Personally I find it harder to pick out my own typos and grammar mistakes than I do for other people's, which is odd, but probably common.


When I saw this, I was like... whoa, have I really been doing it wrong this entire time!?

After looking it up on a whole slew of Pokémon sites, I think you're right, but darn it, why do so many sites have it the other way around!? That, and it's really confusing whether someone is referring to any type of Poké Ball, or whether they're referring to the most basic one that you find in the beginning of the game. Imagine if instead of calling an apple an apple, it was just called a "fruit" instead. "Oh, want some fruit?" The other person wouldn't know whether to expect apples or expect any kind of fruit!

Also, hate to say it, but ugh, this is going to be a very tricky habit to correct when I've been doing it this way for almost... ah... two decades. Well, I'll try my best after I Ctrl+F & Replace this whole puppy. XD
Ahaha, don't worry, I've looked it up many a time. Also gone into games to double check how they're written there. Honestly I think the other sites never checked. I used to write it as one word as well until I looked it up. xD Yeah, I understand what you mean. I think that if someone meant another kind of poké ball, they'd specify. And if they were talking about all poké balls, hopefully they'd make it clear too. It's a little annoying they don't have a "fruit" equivalent. xD

Lol I totally getcha. I'm so thankful for Ctrl + F for that reason. XD



Yep, I don't make this mistake too often anymore and I broke out of the habit. Bloody dandelions! I'll admit that most of the time, when I proofread, I'm focusing maybe 75% on the actual storyline content, depth, and details, and only 25% on the actual punctuation, grammar, and all that jazz. For example, while proofreading this again, I caught a mistake where Randy starts with the necklace, but then somehow takes it from Jeff. When it comes to missing a comma here and there, yeah, it's easy to overlook a dot that should have had a tail to it. XD
Makes total sense. x) I just thought to put the detail of "you probably know this is wrong" in there in case you thought I was trying to give you a grammar lesson you were already well aware of. xD I remember when I first learnt about doing commas at the end of speech and following with a lowercase letter (for 'said' or whatever came next), and boy...there were a lot of corrections. XD


As far as rewriting goes, kind of did, kind of didn't. I would say it's undergone a heck of a lot of revision, but some of the original stuff was kept. Rewriting totally from the ground up would be a pretty daunting task, so I figured just really making the best edits possible would be the way to go. But yeah, a bit of the old shabbiness still remains, but not intentionally. Think of it like an old house getting modern makeovers.

And it's funny, while I'm posting this on PXR, I'm also posting in on Bulbagarden, and some people there feel the summary reveals too much. Truth is, I kind of had to do that, because in a previous time I posted Trial of Juno, I think people dropped out of reading it because they didn't like Jake as a bully and didn't give it a chance to have things change! So it was a necessity to show all this is really just a precursor to something much bigger.

In any case, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and thank you very much for your help with pointing out those weeds! XD[/QUOTE]
That's entirely what I meant. x) Keeping the original but just rewriting it by going through and adding, subtracting, and everything in between. That's what I do when I rewrite. Unless the story's really small or a complete disaster, I wouldn't expect someone to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. xD I mean, that's just illogical when most of it is absolutely fine and already there. Just needs fine tuning. x)

Honestly I thought it was a little spoilery, but I understand what you mean. xD I have that difficulty with my stories too sometimes. I haaaaaaate giving away spoilers or reading them, but sometimes it's necessary. And you've got all the juicy content in between, so it's not like every detail is spoiled. So no worrie!

Absolutely! :D I'll do it whenever I see one. xD


Pokemon Trainer Sarah I understand where you're coming from, but I have a theory! Maybe they separated the words because, well, first off, poké balls came into the games long before a whole lot of other poké- things (aside from the dex). They probably chose to change the formal after that, but just kept poké ball how it was.

http://www.wikihow.com/images/f/f6/Duplicate-Items-in-Pokemon-Red-or-Blue-Step-4.jpg

The other thing I thought of was that they began with not only regular poké balls, but great balls, ultra balls, master balls, etc. Compiling those words looks a little silly (ultraball looks stupid xD), and to keep consistency, they probably separated every first and second word, including the regular poké one. So I dunno. Maybe it's a combination. Maybe there was some other deeper meaning, but who knows. xD

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 6
Grim Reunion

No, damn... it! I couldn’t believe what I just did! Randy had me just where he wanted. I was right, damn, was I right. I couldn’t understand why the hell I had just done that. He was going to screw all three of us, and I just walked into one of his sick traps. He just turned David into a fairy and Alex into a butterfly. Now what the hell was going to happen to me?

Those blasted little pixies were gone. Right now I wanted to wring their little necks and twist their little heads off, but they already flew off and were a hell of a lot faster than I was. I even said to myself we couldn’t trust anyone while we were here. What the hell was I just doing!? All because of hunger? I could have sucked it up and kept on going.

I dropped the pewter cup and it tumbled on the grass. I then felt a weird tingling sensation in my hand, and I was hoping I was only imagining it. After I looked at the palm of my hand, it had turned a soft light green color, along with the rest of my arm. All of my skin turned a soft green color and became this weird, smooth texture. Then my fingernails vanished. I swore under my breath. To hell with Randy and his stupid dream world.

"Come on... don't do this...!" I grimaced, hopelessly trying to fight whatever the hell this was.

And then, in less than a single second, my jeans were torn to shreds as a gigantic skirt of rainbow-colored flower petals surrounded my waist and reached down to ground, all in the shape of a giant bell. And then a belt of bright and colorful lily flowers blossomed around my waist. I shook my head and must have cursed a dozen times…

“Randy Ferguson, I swear I’m going to make you cry blood…” I growled angrily.

But screw me, it didn’t end there. I felt the back of my t-shirt tear open as another giant lily suddenly emerged from my back, and when it bloomed, it became a giant, rainbow eighteen-petal lily that covered my entire back. My t-shirt was instantly reduced to ribbons, which fell to the ground like a rag. Out of feral instinct I tried to put my hands on my back, only to feel the massive lily flower itself. The thing was a freaking monster…

And then to further my misery, a headband of colorful lily flowers circled around my head. Only seconds later, it felt like someone had just opened up an umbrella over my head, only instead it was another sickening giant lily flower. I swore, I've never screamed like the way I did when that happened.

And then to finish it all off, large bracelets of lily flowers blossomed on my arms, right near my wrists. After that had happened, I fell on my knees and just stayed there for nearly five minutes just hoping it was all over with. I wanted to wake up from this traumatizing nightmare so, so badly but I knew it wasn't going to happen.

But it was hopeless. My jeans lay completely ruined on the ground, and I was wearing nothing except this stupid flower petal skirt. Like David, trying to rip any of this off resulted in utter failure, so when it failed at first, I wasn’t going to try it again.

After I finally mustered the motivation to get back up on my feet and get going again, all that I could do was take the belt with my Poké Balls on it, attach the wallet that was in my pocket to it, and put it on. Now all I had to do was find David and Alex to show and tell them what happened.

I was freaking furious in ways I never thought were possible. Now Jeff, Frank and that little freak Randy were going to have a laugh and a half just looking at us. I was certain as hell that it couldn’t possibly get even worse than this.

I only needed to walk for fifteen minutes through shrubs, bushes, and around trees before leaving that tropical forest of nightmares. Then, I saw them, as if I was meant to just happen to run into them at that moment. I didn’t expect to encounter them so soon, but I figured this had been planned from the start. They had already left the forest, and were waiting for me.

“That…” Alex turned to me with a bit of shock, “That... holy crap, that isn’t you, Jake, is it?”

“Randy Ferguson’s going to have a hard time laughing once I punch his face so hard that his brain ends up in his throat,” I told them both with my feral rage.

They knew it was me. Alex looked shocked at first, and David had even more of a grimace.

“Oh, man, Jake,” Alex remarked with dismay. “Damn it to hell, you look like an overgrown Bellossom. What the hell happened, man?”

I certainly didn’t need to hear that "overgrown Bellossom" comment. I felt like a complete idiot, and the thought I was going to have to show myself to Randy like this was an inevitable horror I was not looking forward to. I felt ready to crush Randy’s skull in with my own hands, that’s how angry I was.

“I’ve never hated Randy as much as I do now,” I told Alex and David. “Look, I don't want to talk about what happened back there, let's just nail this freak and go home. Seriously.”

“And then we never, ever talk about this crap again," Alex replied.

I nodded to that, knowing this was one horrific experience I was hoping I could forget forever.

There was still a part of me that felt like staying away from Randy and his two stupid, moronic friends as much as possible because of what happened to the three of us. However, I kept telling myself that was just idiocy. We had to fight him because if we didn't, we were only going to be stuck here longer.

And on top of it all, I didn’t know who to believe anymore. Black seemed like he was trustworthy, and he seemed to have helped us big time. And then again, I thought I could trust those blasted little pixies, and they completely screwed me over. I certainly didn’t want to walk into a trap like that again, but I didn’t want to turn down someone who was only trying to bring us one step closer to defeating Randy. In the end, I didn't know how to play this stupid game besides trial and error. I figured at this point, what difference did it make, we didn't have much more to lose than what we got swiped away from us in the first place.

As we kept walking through that valley, hoping we’d find Randy or at least someone capable of bringing us to him, I could only think of one thing. Exactly how were we going to stop Randy? And even if we really did beat him, would we wake up in the real world again? I was certainly hoping this hideous and humiliating transformation wasn’t permanent, because I was quickly getting sick of it.

The three of us didn't say much as we walked away from that tropical forest, heading more into the rolling valleys along a barely visible dirt path. I didn't really feel like talking, and I was getting sick of this wandering around and hoping to find something. Randy's stupid world sure didn't have much to look at. Even the number of wild Pokémon was very few and far between, and as I suspected, they were obviously only the kind Randy liked and had trained. It almost seemed like the only kinds of Pokémon that existed now were mostly harmless, unevolved ones that just minded their own business.

And after nearly an hour, we encountered another shady figure. When he drew closer, we saw he was wearing a gray cloak with a hood over his head, and I was beginning to think this might have been another one of the jackass cultist that threw Alex into the cocoon. He moved toward us very quickly, almost running.

"Who's this psycho!?" David exclaimed, reaching for his Poké Balls.

I had my hand on Raichu's Poké Ball, but didn't even have the chance to prime it before he reached us, then stopped, and then stood completely still. I couldn’t even see his face from the shadow of his hood, despite how bright and how close we were to him. He kind of looked and sounded like the Grim Reaper, just not as dark as usual.

"Who the hell are you!?" Alex shouted, ready for a fight.

“He… didn’t….” The figure groaned.

“I said who are you!?" Alex demanded. "Don't even think of trying anything!"

He stopped, and then slowly turned toward Alex. This guy was really freaking me out.

“Depression,” He mumbled. “That’s right, I’m King Randy’s depression. His worst nightmare. He fears me.”

“That's just great,” I told him sarcastically, still unsure about this guy considering the last episode I had. “What do you want with us!?"

Depression then started laughing hysterically, which was a heck of a complete turn-around from his previously dour composure. He quickly threw off his hood to reveal a gaunt, scarred face with frizzy, gray hair. We were instantly shocked.

“Oh, yes!” Depression smiled, still snickering. “Now I know who you three are. I didn’t recognize you at first. Obviously King Randy's traps have gotten to you first, but there’s still time. Yes... time to do lots and lots of damage to King Randy…”

“Where do we find him?” I asked again, hoping he could help us get out of this hideous mess.

He mumbled a bit, and then looked up again.

“He… likes to spend his time in Victory City Stadium,” Depression told us, happy to reveal that fact to us. “It almost seems like… he’s waiting for you…”

“Can you take us there?” David asked, hoping to speed up the process. “We want to make him lose.”

Depression stopped moving, and then he looked at David.

"Oh, you're not too far off," Depression smiled with a creepy grin. "Follow this road and then turn right at the next crossing. Victory City should only be a few hours on foot to there."

Might as well trust him. If he led us in the wrong direction, well, we sure as hell weren't heading in the right direction before anyway. And then again, it wouldn't make sense for Randy to keep himself away from us forever. I figured that little punk would try to have us be naturally led to him in time anyway.

"However," Depression warned us. "Be warned. He’s knows more about Pokémon and battling than anyone else now. No one has ever beaten him. If you really plan on battling him, you should take these, for the protection of you and your Pokémon. They'll make sure Randy's powers can't be used to weaken or misdirect the attacks your Pokémon use. It's very important you keep it on when you fight him. The odds may still be against you, but at least there will be some chance.”

He then took his shriveled hand and reached into the pocket of his cloak. Then, he handed us three ordinary-looking silver rings. We slipped them on, and then looked back to Depression.

“Remember what I told you,” He grinned. “Make him lose miserably. Make me happy…”

And like that, he laughed, and ran off again. I watched him run away, floating over the grass like a specter before he suddenly sprouted two black, Honchkrow-like wings and just take flight seconds before vanishing into thin air. It was freaky beyond hell.

"Not sure I trust that freak," David muttered, having watched him fly off as well.

"Whatever," I shrugged. "Not like we've got much to lose at this point."

We decided to follow Depression's directions, heading down the road until it seemed to grow wider and was easier to make out. Eventually, we finally came across a paved highway, which was much easier to follow than that dirt road we had been on for the last few hours.

The highway to Victory City was extremely easy to follow, and it was nice to not have to be wandering around in the damn wilderness. A few cars and trucks passed by us every now and then, and I felt even more embarrassed to be seen in public as a freaking walking flower bouquet. Meanwhile, Alex and David tried to walk further away from the road to avoid being seen.

Up ahead, this Victory City was easy to make out. It was just as big as Saffron, but it looked like it was futuristic and high tech. From the distance, I could make out many neon lights, huge skyscrapers, and it definitely seemed like a busy place.

"Do we really have to go walking in there like this!?" Alex complained as he walked along. "I swear, just give me some kind of blanket or tarp to cover this crap up."

Even then, I didn't think he'd get too far with that considering his giant pair of rainbow-colored butterfly wings. David had the same issue with his ridiculous fairy wings and there wasn't a chance in hell I'd be able to wrap a cloth over the fatass-sized flower on my back and the one on my head either.

"Just keep going," David told him. "This stupid place will be gone, so don't care what anyone here thinks of what you look like."

He had a point there. I nodded as we walked along the road, knowing it would be at least another few hours before we got to the city itself. As we got closer, I took a better look at the stadium itself, and I knew that would have cost billions to build if it was actually real. If Randy really was in there, man, he sure liked to overcompensate.

Victory City was pretty much Randy's paradise. The whole city was high-tech and neo-futuristic. Meanwhile, everything he liked to his favorite colors, sports teams, video games, and whatnot was the focus of attention all over the place. Everywhere from the hologram television screens, billboards, on massive neon signs, and anywhere else you could stuff an advertisement. Either you had to like what he liked, or you'd never find it. I swore, not even the biggest celebrities got anything even close to this kind of fame.

As we stepped further into the city, the kind of people that inhabited this place were pretty much whatever Randy could dream up. Most people were dressed in the exact same kinds of clothes Randy liked to wear, and they were the kind of people Randy would think were "cool" and "awesome." There were people with blue jeans, graphic t-shirts with all of Randy's favorite things, and black sneakers. Others seemed to wear more of the fashions Randy would probably like as well from sweatshirts, hoodies, cargo pants, and a few had leather jackets also. Meanwhile, though most of them were human, some of them were completely different races, like half dragon half human hybrids, werewolves, vampires, and other races yanked out of fantasy stories, now totally made as if they were real.

When we walked into town, I wasn't surprised about the kind of reaction we got.

"Hey!" One of the taller, more roughneck werewolves shouted at us. "Well if it isn't Loser Lily, Failure Fairy, and Bumbling Butterfly themselves!"

"Listen here, jackass!" Alex snapped, giving the werewolf a deadly stare, not even the least bit intimidated by the tough lycanthrope. "I'm not in the mood for that crap. And by the way, when Randy gets his carcass beaten to a pulp and this stupid creation of his falls apart, you're going down with it!"

"Ha, ha, ha!" A rather tough-looking human woman laughed at the sound of it, tossing her raven-black hair as she put one hand on the hip of her blue jean shorts while pointing at us with the other. "Like that's ever going to happen!"

I didn't feel like saying a word to this idiotic fan club of imaginary friends Randy decided to create for himself. As we passed through the city and pushed our way through the crowds, I just focused on the stadium, treating this place and these people like it was nothing more than a sinking ship. But all along the way, almost every senile dimwit on the street had some stupid, annoying, and harassing insult to vomit out at us while some of the others threw their garbage at us.

Behind the stadium, the sun had begun to set, and by the time we had arrived at the stadium, it was night and the stars were out. Before we had finally made it there, we had been subjected to three annoying hours of harassment from Randy's imaginary friends, and my god was it aggravating. I had plenty of trash and garbage thrown at me also, but the worst had to be the brick that some stupid harpy bastard wearing blue jeans and a ragged t-shirt hurled at me.

The silver stadium was huge and it would have easily been the most famous of stadiums ever created in reality... if it actually was created. When we entered the interior arena field, there were probably enough chairs to seat a million people. The place was empty at the moment, but it was easily ready for the biggest and most ferocious Pokémon battles that could ever be held.

In the center of it all was a gray battle area for Pokémon with the white outline of a Poké Ball as the playing field. That definitely wasn't out of the ordinary when it came to standard Pokémon stadiums. And then, we saw him. We had suddenly laid eyes on Randy, who was seated on a metal throne on a platform at the far end of the seating area, reaching at least fifteen feet high.

The three of us aggressively walked toward him, ready to slug him in the face with our bare hands if it was necessary. However, it was hard to feel like a tough guy when I knew the three of us looked so completely ridiculous. When we finally arrived before that overly high-tech and futuristic throne of Randy's, I caught sight of the stupid necklace he was wearing and wished for anything I could use to rip it off his neck and smash it into a million pieces.

Besides him were Jeff and Frank, seated on similar thrones on platforms ten feet in the air. And to even further our anger, they were all dressed in black leather and wearing black sunglasses, as if they thought they were actually cool and badass. When we approached them in the big, empty stadium, I could hear the snickering. I could feel that feral rage coming right back out again.

“Well, hello there, ladies,” Randy smiled. "Welcome to Victory City! Hope you had a nice warm welcome upon your arrival!"

“Listen up, you stupid freak!” Alex shouted to Randy. “I don’t know what your problem is, but if you don’t unplug this stupid dreamland of yours right now and get us the hell out of here, I'm going to make you pay in blood for it!”

Then, Randy took off his shades, and looked at us cynically. After that, he crossed his arms. Now he was starting to act pompous and arrogant, and I swear I was ready to pummel the stuffing out of him.

“Well, how does it feel?” Randy asked with a sick smile. “Doesn't feel great, does it? Well, guys, that's just desserts for you. You harassed me every day of the school year and then some, and you picked on poor Frank here when he did nothing to any of you. And look at where we are now!"

"This isn't anything like what we did to you!" Alex shouted at him again.

"He's got a point there, Randy," David chimed in. "This is way overboard and you sure picked a horrible way to solve your problems."

Randy didn't seem to care, and I could tell he thought this was justice for what we did to him. The problem was he seemed far too cozy to ever consider giving it up.

"I think it's a perfect way to solve problems," Randy smiled. "Hey, why don't we have a few Pokémon battles? I think you'll be interested to know I've got a whole new team and strategy. Which one of you three wants to be first to lose to it?"

“That’s what you think,” I told Randy. “You really think we didn't come ready for this?”

“Oh really?” He asked, almost laughing.

Suddenly, I heard a snap, followed by what sounded like metal links hitting the ground. When I looked down, I saw the gold necklace Black had given us, only it was in pieces scattered and twisted all over the ground. Alongside it was Depression’s ring, reduced to a twisted and misshapen lump. When I looked to my left, I saw Alex and David were without protection either. Somehow, whatever those things were supposed to do, it sure didn't look like they were going to do much now.

"Damn it, how... how the hell did he know!?" Alex growled under his breath.

“I knew it...” David muttered coldly as he looked down at the shattered necklace and the twisted ring. “I didn't trust that junk anyway…”

“You might as well get used to living here, ladies,” Randy smiled, leaning back in relaxation, “You can spend the rest of eternity in my world, and you’ll always be under my power, under my rules, and don’t forget, you’ll always be weaker than me.”

“Rest of eternity, Randy?” Alex asked, nearly laughing.“I don’t think so. No one lives forever, remember? One of these days, you'll be an ugly, old man wondering why the hell you wasted your life on a stupid parade like this.”

“Well, my little butterfly friend, everything is different here,” Randy said with another smile. “In my world, time doesn’t weaken the body, so everyone lives forever. It’s the perfect place… for me anyway.”

I didn't even want to think about being stuck as a giant flower forever.

I was getting more and more sick of this by the moment. Was this seriously the only way Randy could come out on top? Then I saw Frank, who just kept giggling constantly by looking at us. I was ready to slaughter him like the swine he was. And there was Jeff, just sitting there like he was a freaking celebrity. It was making me sick.

“Frank,” Randy said, looking to his right to face Frank. “I would like to give you first honors to battle Jake and his Pokémon. He's been pretty heartless to both of us and obviously thinks his Pokémon will win again, so let's show him how we've prepared a response. Could you do that for me?”

"Oh, with pleasure," Frank smiled smugly, making a cheeky face that was asking to be punched.

And then, Frank’s metal platform was lowered, and when it reached the bottom, he approached me. I couldn’t stand his fat face with his stupid shades on. I didn't care what he wore, you just can't fix ugly. Even as bad as it was, I'd rather be stuck as a ridiculous flower than look like Frank.

“Hell-oooo, Jake Kossak,” Frank giggled. “Ready to lose right now, or would you like to do a little curtsy first before we begin?”

“Suck it down, Frank,” I told him, pulling out one of my Poké Balls. "When I'm through with you, you'll finally learn to keep your pie-hole shut."

I couldn't help but feel this was not going to be as easy as touch and go this time. Hopefully Frank was so bad at battling that even when he cheated, he still couldn't pull it off.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 7
Against Odds

Frank was a fat, pig freak, and there was no way I was going to let myself lose to him. I never battled Frank's Pokémon before, but considering the kind of person he was, I didn't expect much out of him. Randy could brag all he wanted to, it wasn’t going to help Frank’s situation. Losing everywhere else in life was habitual for Frank, so this should have been a walk in the park.

“I want this to be a two-on-two match,” Randy told us both. “It should be rather interesting…”

“It most certainly shall!” Frank agreed with a giggle.

I knew exactly who to send out. I already had my fingers on the Poké Balls I was going to use. There would be no chance little Franky would stand a chance against my Weavile and Jolteon. They might not have fought Frank’s Pokémon before, but they’ve annihilated Randy’s time and time again and I figured with Frank, the situation wouldn’t change a bit. I grasped both of their Poké Balls firmly, primed them for action, and tossed them into the field.

And when their Poké Balls hit the ground and opened up, I already got an extremely sickening taste of what Randy could do with his stupid necklace. He made two completely different Pokémon come out. Instead of the yellow, spiky-furred wolf I had been training for years, something stupid make a god-forsaken, flower hula-dancer Bellossom come out instead. And instead of Weavile, the gray and red-feathered weasel Pokémon I usually used to torture people in battle, the Poké Ball opened to reveal a bulb-dressed, green and white Lilligant instead. Not only was he putting me at a disadvantage, but he was mocking me in a nasty way with more flower bullcrap.

“What... the... hell!?” I shouted in disbelief. “What happened to my Jolteon and Weavile!?”

Frank began snorting in humor uncontrollably. Meanwhile, I realized what just happened. I could tell what used to be my Jolteon and Weavile were suddenly shocked and alarmed they weren't their usual selves and were not adjusting very well to it. Suddenly Jolteon didn't have four paws, he had to freaking walk upright on a green and yellow leaf skirt and Weavile now had four tiny yellow feet attached to four bulb-like legs and had freaking leaves for hands instead of claws. And he seriously wasn't thrilled his black and red feather crown was replaced by a massive red flower instead.

“Aww, what cute Pokémon you have, Jake!” Randy smiled casually and mockingly. "They look just like you!"

"That's bullcrap!" Alex shouted in rage. "Give him back his Pokémon, you pathetic cheater!"

I swore, Randy was a freaking maggot. I had never raised a grass-type Pokémon in my life, and now I was going to have to handle two of them while fighting one of my worst enemies. Frank just sat there and laughed.

“Prepare to suffer, flower boy,” Frank giggled as he threw his two Poké Balls. “Go, Moltres and Articuno!”

He had to be kidding...

After Frank proudly launched both of his Poké Balls into the arena and they both struck the ground and opened with a flash of light, there they were. I lay eyes on the legendary birds of fire and ice, just barely able to grasp I was actually seeing this. Moltres was literally a giant fiery-colored bird that was half an inferno while Articuno was a light blue colored bird that glimmered like frozen ice. Its spiked crest looked like ice shards while it had a long, ribbon-like tail following it. I never thought I would ever even see these legendary birds in my lifetime and now Frank was just totting them around like it was nobody's business!

I was ready to just shoot myself, knowing I was probably at the greatest disadvantage of all time and all this would just lead to more humiliation when Frank would just make a massacre of my Pokémon. Frank could slaughter me in no time with this kind of power. All he had to do now was decide how he was going to do it.

I had no idea how I was going to handle this. I already knew grass-type attacks were going to do nothing, so if I didn't try to improvise something decent and quick, this was just going to be a joke.

Recommended Listening: Final Fantasy Versus XIII - Somnus Remix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1tJ1yJNFss)

“Hey, nice choices, Frank!” Randy smiled. “Let the battle begin!”

I knew at the moment the only way I was going to win was to take out them out one by one. I was starting to get a slight idea of one small, yet possible way to at least get my foot in the door on this battle. Still, this was going to be incredibly hard.

“Moltres, protect yourself and Articuno with Light Screen,” Frank commanded. “Articuno, attack that stupid Lilligant with your Ice Beam!”

Just perfect. Moltres took flight, spreading embers and flicks of fire in all directions just moments before focusing his energy to cover both himself and Articuno with a glowing and ethereal bubble shield surrounding them. As if grass attacks against these two couldn't be even more useless, he had to rub in the pain even further.

Articuno soon took flight as well, circling overhead the transformed and disoriented Jolteon and Weavile. I kept eyes on Articuno flying around, but with Weavile barely able to even get used to his new feet to make some kind of evasive action, Articuno opened his beak and launched a wickedly-cold Ice Beam right at him, causing the now helpless Lilligant to fall over like he had already been pulverized with a sledgehammer. I could feel the chill from the freezing blast myself, and I was more than twenty feet away.

“Man, this is going to be a piece of cake!” Frank cheered, thinking he had it in the bag.

“This isn’t over yet, you idiot,” I shouted back at Frank.

And then, an incredibly brilliant idea came to my mind. I had to do it now, or there was no way I was going to win…

Lilligant, or what should have been Weavile, had been badly hit, but he wasn’t about to call it quits right now. And now that Moltres and Articuno were protected by Light Screen, I was going to need to work something around that. At that moment, I had come up with an idea, and I was going to need to take out Moltres first if I wanted it to work right. That, and I was going to need to take both of these blasted birds out of the air, or neither Bellossom or Lilligant would be able to hit them.

“Bellossom, use your Sleep Powder attack!” I declared. "Shoot it up into the air!"

Bellossom then immediately sprayed the air above with a cloud of pink-colored Sleep Powder so both of Frank’s flying Pokémon would get a nice whiff of it. I could at least thank the last shred of luck I had that Jolteon managed to figure out how to use a Bellossom's attacks. The cloud just barely managed to reach the circling Moltres and Articuno, but it seemed to be enough. Moments later, both of them were sent spiraling down toward the ground.

Frank’s face changed from excited to panicky the moment both Moltres and Articuno landed on the gray battlefield fast asleep, taking a bit of a blow upon hitting the ground after tumbling out of the sky. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever, so I had to act quickly and make decent use of this while they were on the floor and weren't flying.

“Lilligant, Giga Impact attack on Moltres, now!” I shouted.

And a moment later, Lilligant looked to Moltres and then furiously charged and rammed right into him with a blazing slam that definitely looked painful. Thankfully, Weavile seemed to be getting the hang of this moronic transformation. This time, Moltres’s type-alignments and Light Screen weren’t going to help him, and he was sent flying head over talons twice before falling over again, still comatose from the powder. Compared to David's battle with Caska, maybe I was making some actual progress here and had a chance to pull this off.

“Come on you fools, wake up!” Frank shouted. “We don’t have time for this!”

I needed to have Moltres taken out, and now. Articuno alone would still be a problem, but at least I'd take one bird out of the equation. I wasn’t going to wait any longer. Lilligant needed a moment to take a breath after running a Giga Impact like that, but once he was back in action, I wasn't going to show this swine any mercy.

“Bellossom, use your Hyper Beam on Moltres, Lilligant, use Sunny Day,” I commanded the both of them.

Suddenly, the night sky that was above us quickly faded, and almost a second later, it looked like it was in the middle of the afternoon. The bright sun had returned, and its light poured into the stadium brighter than ever. Meanwhile, Bellossom focused his attention on Moltres, and with a dark smile that looked even a little badass for a little flower dancer, he began to prep a devastating torrent of blazing energy. Seconds later, a massive blast beam was fired straight from Bellossom's tiny hands, and it hit Moltres like a freaking semi truck. When the massive, glowing beam had made contact, it exploded violently sending bolts and flicks of blazing energy in all directions. Moltres was sent flying out of control once again, rolling over a few times like he had been hit by a rocket.

But to my dismay, he still hadn't fainted even after all that. I couldn't believe it! After all that and a Giga Impact, that blasted bird was still in action?

“Sunny Day?” Frank laughed. “Boy, aren't you an idiot! What, do you want Moltres to roast your precious flower Pokémon even faster now!?”

True, Sunny Day was going to make Moltres’s fire attacks even more powerful, but that wasn’t going to help Frank with Moltres still snoozing. There was still a chance and there was seriously no room to make a single mistake. However, despite the fact Moltres was still sleeping, Articuno had woken up. Frank wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to screw up with this opportunity at his fingertips.

“Articuno, Aerial Ace attack on Lilligant!” Frank commanded and pointed at his target with a smile on his face. "Heh, heh, try to peck the flower off!"

And Articuno didn’t even need to blink before taking flight again at ludicrous mach speeds before blasting at Lilligant like a tank shell. I heard a very nasty slashing sound, and only a second later, Articuno had returned to the skies, preparing to strike from above again.

I winced when I saw Lilligant fall over and slam on the ground, completely out cold. Just when I thought I might pull something off here...

"Oh, oh, isn't that too bad!" Frank laughed and snorted as I reluctantly used the Poké Ball to fire the return beam to recall the Lilligant back to the Poké Ball. "Poor bouquet boy lost one of his battle flowers!"

As much as I wanted to ram a live hand grenade down his throat, I decided at least not to give him the satisfaction he was hoping for by screaming at him again. Just like David's battle with Caska, this was obviously rigged and I felt like I was just wasting time here proving absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, my poor Jolteon was still horrified at being stuck in a Bellossom's body. He was seriously doing a good job considering the transformation he had to deal with, but at that moment, I realized he was helpless, trying to recover from the exhausting Hyper Beam attack he launched at Frank's Moltres. Meanwhile, Articuno was above, hunting him down like a freaking predator drone.

Moltres soon woke up again, and I could tell it seemed like despite however many hits Articuno and Moltres took, they just seemed to shake off the pain and damage like they were only acting that it hurt them before. Moltres got up like pain was nothing to him and only just made him more energized to retaliate.

"Ha, ha!" Frank giggled. "Totally helpless! Articuno, blast him with Hurricane, and Moltres, make a pot roast out of him with Overheat!"

Holy... crap.

It was a massacre. Articuno nearly shredded the poor Bellossom to ribbons with the ripping winds of the Hurricane attack that blasted through almost the entire stadium, and even that alone probably would have been more than enough to finish him off. Heck, even I had to stand back while the winds ripped their way through every damn flower petal on my own body. And then came the fiery, destructive force of Moltres's Overheat, made even worse because of the Sunny Day effect. Moltres surrounded himself with savage flames and turned into a living fireball, which then rocketed toward the already exhausted and disoriented Bellossom like a tank shell. When the brutal impact happened and more flames were thrown in all directions, I could feel the heat and fire from where I was standing. I couldn't even imagine how badly that must have hurt.

The very last bit of energy Bellossom had was incinerated in a heartbeat with the serious overkill of the Overheat attack. I was seriously concerned Jolteon would die as a Bellossom, which was a fate no Pokémon deserved, but thankfully, even after being cooked alive, at least he didn't croak because of it.

As I had easily suspected, there wasn't a single bit of will to fight left in him. He fell helplessly to the ground as a burnt, ravaged wreck in a body he barely had control over, and I had no choice but to return him and admit defeat to Frank, of all gloating idiots to lose to.

But then again, the game was clearly rigged. I at least had that excuse...

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 8
Turning Back

"WHA HA HA!" Frank screamed and jumped with cheer and laughter, suddenly pointing at me mockingly. "You FAILED Jake! Look who's the loser now!"

"Please," I shrugged as I brushed it off, thinking his behavior was just stupid beyond all means. "Randy totally rigged the battle for you. I don't train grass-type Pokémon, and certainly not those two. I swear, the way you freaks have to cheat at this thing to have a chance is far more pathetic than this flower bullcrap you set aside for me."

"Oh, just pile on the lame excuses, Jake!" Frank giggled. "You totally lost, and boy is it hilarious!"

What an idiot. I turned away and just decided to let the moron gloat it out to no one interested in listening. I could tell him a million times cheating like this was pointless and proved absolutely nothing, but whatever, it wasn't sinking into that big, fat skull of his.

“Moving on...” Randy spoke casually. “Right now, I want to see our best friend Alex have a shot. Jeff, you're up. Make this something fun we'll be talking about for years!”

“Man, I've been itching for this payback!” Jeff grinned with confidence. “Ampharos and Espeon, this is for you!"

“Try me, you jackass,” Alex spat back at him. "I'll make you shut that pissing mouth of yours just like I did last time!"

And then, on that gray field, the two of them stood ready for the battle that was about to unfold. I was hoping Alex was prepared to deal with Randy’s nasty and unexpected cheating, but I was honestly thinking this wasn't going to be any more successful than before.

It was on those gray battlegrounds that Alex and Jeff had exchanged stares. Alex had beaten Jeff before, and now the only thing Jeff wanted was to win and seek revenge. Alex could be a menace when he got pissed off, and Jeff would be stupid for pushing him that far. But, as easy as it was to see, he was already too late and was going to deserve every bit of rage Alex was going to throw at him.

“Ha, you think you're ready, don't you!?" Jeff laughed at Alex. "You've never seen Pokémon battling like this before!"

“That doesn’t matter to me, Jeff,” Alex growled at him. “This is between you and me, and you and me only." Alex then gave Randy a dark stare from the corner of his eye, looking vicious even for a guy that got transformed into a rainbow-winged human butterfly, "Hear that Randy? Don't go pulling crap this time!”

But Randy looked away like he didn’t hear anything. I could just smell another trick in the air, and it was making me sick.

“Get ready for your worst nightmare, Alex,” Jeff smiled, pulling out two of his Poké Balls, “Go, Ho-oh and Entei!”

My jaw nearly dropped when I Jeff declare he was using even more legendary Pokémon. This was just getting ridiculous. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Ho-oh, the gigantic rainbow bird of complete fiery destruction and Entei, the lion-like legendary Pokémon of fire. There were people that would kill to have Pokémon like that!

Both Ho-oh and Entei glared menacingly at Alex, pressuring him to respond with something. But then again, when Alex pulled out two of his Poké Balls, I could already see the hesitation. Alex’s Pokémon were going to have no defense under the power Randy’s Quista necklace and there wasn't anything he could do about it. Now, it was up to Randy to decide what Pokémon were going to come out of Alex’s Poké Balls and Alex would be forced to have to work with it. And as stupid as it sounded, I could already guess which two Randy was going to choose for him…

"He'd better not..." I heard Alex mutter angrily under his breath.

Alex threw his two Poké Balls anyway, not even declaring who he had selected, not like it would have even mattered. And then to his disgust and Jeff’s delight, once the two Poké Balls struck the ground and opened with a flash of light, the two Pokémon Alex was going to be stuck using were a purple-bodied, white-winged Butterfree and a gray Beautifly with red, yellow, and blue butterfly wings and bright, blue eyes. Big, fat surprise, I could have seen that coming from a million miles away.

I wasn't sure which two of Alex's Pokémon had been transformed, but again, neither of them were ready for the body swap that left them totally bewildered and confused in front of two slaughterhouse legendary Pokémon of hellfire. As if the situation I had just experienced couldn’t get any worse, Alex’s example clearly showed things could go from bad to worse to complete, utter hell.

“DAMN IT, what the hell is the matter with you, Randy!?” Alex shouted back to him, knowing he was the one responsible for that swap. “Can’t you keep out of this for once!?”

“Keep going, Alex!” Randy laughed. “I see nothing wrong, seems to me like a perfect fit! And by the way, watching a cute butterfly like you get angry is really, really funny!”

The three of us were furious. How could Jeff even see this as a true Pokémon battle? Randy and Frank were naive, little morons, but I could have sworn Jeff would know better than to stoop to their level. Butterfree and Beautifly were NOT Alex’s Pokémon, and I knew for sure he wouldn’t use either of them in a million years. But now he had no choice. It was either going to be a severe struggle to win fighting with the two of them, or just plain losing altogether. This truly was Pokémon battling at its worst.

Recommended Listening: Dos Brains - Lone Survivor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFpL-BCMX94)

“Ladies and gentlemen…” Randy smiled, nearly laughing, “let the battle begin!”

“Thank you, your highness,” Jeff remarked with a smile. “This is for Ampharos and Espeon. Ho-oh, Sacred Fire attack on Butterfree. Entei, burn Beautifly to a crisp with your Flamethrower attack!”

Merciless little freak. He was going to go as far as seeing that Alex wouldn’t even get a chance before it was all over with. The massive Ho-oh flew into the air, targeted Butterfree like he was sentencing him to death, and all Butterfree could do was helplessly and hopelessly try to dodge an enormous rush of flames. Butterfree's effort to escape by fluttering frantically was totally in vain as Ho-oh's Sacred Fire nearly consumed it alive with searing flames, leaving it on the verge of death.

Entei stormed his way through the arena, gathering hellfire flames in his mouth before belching a menacing torrent of blazing fire at the disoriented, brightly-colored Beautifly. Again, Beautifuly tried to avoid it, but he was quickly enraptured by the jet of flames and had nowhere to fly away when the stream of fire struck him. Now, Alex was reduced to all or nothing attacks even on his first round.

“The two of you are cowards!” Alex shouted at them both. “You can’t even battle for real, that’s how pathetic you are!”

“Alex,” Randy shrugged, snickering again, “why do I need to keep reminding you? This IS for real. My world is real now, and you have to accept it. There is no other way around.”

There was nothing Alex could do but continue. If he really was going to lose, at least he freaking tried. To the three of us, none of this was real. This was Randy's stupid world superimposed upon reality, something that seriously shouldn't have been possible. And the only thing that needed to be done to return Randy to the worthless little punk he was before was to swipe that necklace right off his neck. Unfortunately, we couldn’t even get near it. If Randy could just effortlessly transform Pokémon, hand out legendary Pokémon as freebies, and create entire worlds now, I didn't want to see where else it could go if we tried to go after him ourselves. It had to be undone some other way than physical force.

Alex’s two butterfly Pokémon were badly roasted, but they didn’t give up yet, and neither did Alex. The last thing Alex wanted to do was give Jeff the satisfaction of winning when he clearly didn’t deserve it. However, he was going to need more than a miracle to pull this off.

“Butterfree, use your Stun Spore attack,” Alex said firmly. “Beautifly, use Sleep Powder. Come on, let's try to make the best out of this crap!”

Alex left no holes in the system. Both of them were going to be inflicted with at least something to slow them down and I could tell getting Ho-oh back on the ground was crucial. Once both of Alex's butterfly Pokémon sprayed all sorts of powder and spores around, Ho-oh barely got a chance to land before he had fallen asleep and Entei was paralyzed, stricken and trying to fight off the numbing pain as he roared in anger and frustration. Now was Alex’s chance. Entei had gotten sluggish and Ho-oh was left snoozing.

Alex ordered both of his Pokémon to use Morning Sun to recover the burn damage that had been done. Up above, both butterfly Pokémon called upon the glaring sun and somehow, like magic, the savage and nearly life-threatening burns were healed as the rays of white light reversed the damage to their bodies and allowed them to fight on with less pain holding them down.

Ho-oh was still asleep, but Entei was going to get another chance to try and strike.

“Flamethrower on Butterfree!” Jeff shouted loudly. "Burn, baby, burn!"

Yet again, Entei let loose a savage, lion-like roar before launching yet another violent rush of flames from his mouth to smothered Butterfree with agonizing fire. The paralyzing effects of the Stun Spore were still struck him with pain and agony, but he ferociously fought it off with his adrenaline. The fire damage on Butterfree had gotten worse than before, but Butterfree was dead-set on at least trying to see this one through. I would have hated to say it, but Alex was going to have to go kamikaze if he wanted a chance to win. He was just going to have to forget about the damage that had been done and fight back or face a losing proposition.

“Butterfree, Psychic attack on Entei!” Alex shouted.

Butterfree flew swiftly toward the lion-Pokémon, flapping his white wings furiously and frantically as the aura around him turned a swirling mix of dark blue and violet-colored psychic energy. Entei was hit dead-on as a blue and white flash had covered his body. The psychic strike had attempted to crush and warp Entei's body from all directions, causing the legendary fire lion to roar in anger. However, it certainly wasn’t enough to slow him down very much. Butterfree wasn’t even a psychic Pokémon, so that could only go so far.

And then, Ho-oh had woken up sooner than expected, and Jeff couldn’t have been happier.

“Ho-oh, Sacred Fire on Butterfree,” Jeff ordered casually. “Entei, use Fire Blast on Beautifly. Let's get this nonsense over with.”

And then, the unimaginable happened. As if the battle wasn't badly one-sized enough, Ho-oh took flight and stormed furiously toward Butterfree, unleashing another ferocious, swirling cyclone of Sacred Fire flames, sucking Butterfree helplessly into the tornado of fire.

I just couldn’t watch. He had been further burned to oblivion, and it couldn’t handle anymore, dropping helplessly to the ground nearly half-dead and totally fried.

Meanwhile, Entei roared and unleashed his nastiest Fire Blast attack at Beautifly. The asterisk-like gush of flames flew at Beautifly like a death rocket, and upon the menacing impact, embers and tongues of fire were thrown in all directions. When the fire and shrouding smoke had cleared, both of Alex’s Pokémon had been eliminated, falling to the ground, laying limply with the stuffing beaten out of them.

He didn’t have a chance…

As bad as it was, I wasn’t surprised. Alex had an even worse disadvantage than I did. Butterfree and Beautifly just didn’t compare to the power of Ho-oh and Entei, however Jeff got a hold of those two ridiculous legendaries. I don’t think he could have possibly won that disgusting and shameful match no matter how many times he could have tried.

“Well, that certainly was fun,” Jeff smiled. “Nice try, guys. Good game all the way. You both need to improve on your training for next time!”

“There’s no way anyone could have won that!” Alex shouted at Jeff. “That wasn’t a real match! Those weren't my Pokémon and I'm sure as hell you didn't actually legitimately catch a freaking Ho-oh and Entei either!”

But, then a wave of silence had kept them both quiet. Randy had stood up and looked at the three of us. I was really getting tired of these antics.

“How many silly times to I have to remind you three ladies that certainly was a real match?” Randy told Alex, acting like he knew everything on the planet. “And well, you lost. If you're still not used to this by now, I just don't know what to say. Maybe in a few years you'll understand how things work around here.”

“Randy, I’m tired as hell of this stupid world of yours!” Alex shouted angrily. “I’m tired of you and your pathetic cheating. Is this the only possible way you can win a Pokémon match!? How incredibly pitiful is that!?”

Randy found that rather insulting. He looked at Alex, and couldn’t even feel pity for him.

“Jeff, thank you for your time,” Randy told him. “But now I’d like you to move aside. It's my turn!”

“Wait a minute,” Jeff looked to Randy. “Don't the rules say if they don’t win against Frank and I, they have to leave? This is Victory City Stadium, and if you don't get victory, you don't belong here.”

“I just want to battle the three of them myself,” Randy told Jeff. “I made the rules up, so I can change them for this special occasion. Besides, I’ve been waiting to beat them for a long time…”

I was getting sick of this crap and knew exactly where this was going. How could Randy feel like he was a hero when the only thing that was keeping us bound here and keeping Randy in power was a single, stupid necklace? Plus on top of everything else, I hated being tossed around like a piece of dirt when it was really us who were more powerful than Randy. My Pokémon and I were nobody's punching bag.

“Let's do a three on three!” Randy said with a smile. “One from each of you against three of mine! You guys are in for one epic fight you don't stand a chance against!"

Despite the fact that all it would have taken to end this whole stupid parade was to beat Randy, it was still millions of miles away. We could argue all night long these weren't real battles, but these three morons never saw it that way and they were in total control. Nope, in order to win, they had to go all out and freaking warp reality because heck, doing it the way everyone else had to just wouldn't work. Seriously pathetic.

I shrugged, decided to face the music when it came to this new and stupid fabricated reality Randy created, but if I was going to do that, I was going to make sure it left a burn.

“You know what Randy?” I called back to him. “You’re probably right. We don’t stand a chance against your necklace.”

“It’s me who you’re going to lose against, my flower dancer friend!” Randy flashed a smile.

“No, idiot,” I told Randy firmly. “It’s your damn necklace. If we fail to beat your Pokémon, then we lose to your necklace, but not to you. After all, it's that necklace that created all this.”

He didn't like that, but it left exactly the kind of message I was hoping to walk out of here with. Randy was getting furious and the truth was getting to him. I didn’t want him to start a battle thinking it was through his own hard work, effort, and commitment that was going to get him the win.

“You're wasting time!” Randy shouted. "Battle me already!"

“No, Randy, I don’t feel like losing to Quista's little trinket,” I told him, really getting under his skin. “Can’t you see you’re just a hopeless case without your stupid necklace!? Take it off and you're worthless and this place is gone. Now that's reality for you!”

He looked at me with a dark stare and suddenly Jeff and Frank's parade of cheer got rained on as well. He knew the truth, he just didn’t want to accept it. But one thing was for sure, he wasn’t going to take it off. That was the last thing he was going to do.

“If you’re not going to battle me, then I want you out of here,” Randy told us, quickly growing angry he was going to miss the opportunity he had been waiting for this entire time and the whole reason he created this nuthouse in the first place. "Come back when you're ready to show a little bravery!"

Bravery... please. There was a big difference between being brave and being a suicidal idiot.

Even though we had come here with a strong urge to defeat Randy and get out of here, I was getting a feeling that unless we found some way to block Randy’s power, or swipe his necklace while he wasn't looking, there was no way we were going to win. He already screwed up my Weavile and my Jolteon among a whole truckload of other miserable things. I didn’t feel like making the damage any worse.

“Fine, Randy,” I said to him, turned away. “Then we’re leaving.”

Immediately, Alex and David looked at me like I had lost it. They didn’t see that we didn’t stand a chance against Randy at the moment.

“Jake, are you nuts!?” Alex asked me in shock. “We just have to find a way through his crap antics and we can get out of here! There's got to be something that moron is overlooking!”

“Remember what Black and Depression told us?” I whispered to him. “There’s no way we can beat the power of that stupid necklace with nothing to work with. And it’s better if we turn down his offer than lose to him. If we lose to him, then he’ll want to stay here forever.”

“Damn it, what the hell are we supposed to do?” David growled with disgust.

Alex was annoyed, thinking we would only need to stay here for a few more minutes. In truth, I was really aggravated by this whole thing, also, but I didn’t want to risk losing to Randy, and that risk was way too high to gamble on. Giving him any kind of satisfaction out of this was a bad idea. We had to dig deeper and find someone or something that would give us what we really needed to step up to Randy. But doing it like this was just dumb suicide. Besides, Jolteon and Weavile had already been through enough hell and I didn't even know how to undo that kind of transformation. I didn't want to throw in yet another Pokémon to get train-wrecked like that.

And as much as it pained us, we then turned around and began to walk out of that giant stadium to at least discuss it away from those three idiots. Randy was truly furious, but we couldn’t afford for him to be in absolute glee with a phony victory he would think was the best thing that ever happened to him. We would lose everything and I didn’t want to blow the only chance we had.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 9
The Separation

It was a long walk to get out of that giant stadium. Longer than it should have been and the thought of going backwards was making me sick. I had no idea how long we were going to have to wait now until we could fight him on his level, but it already began to feel like ages. We were all losing our patience. Some of us more than others…

We were back on the streets of Victory City, where everyone in town hated our guts more than alarm clocks from hell on a Monday morning. I swore, if one of these imaginary bastards called me "Lily Loser" one more time, I was going to make them eat their own arms and legs with an ice pick. We were just about to use a vacant alleyway for shelter from the idiocy before some punk hit me in the side of the head with a glass bottle, which stung like hell for a while.

“Well, that went swell,” David snapped sarcastically, looking at me with annoyance. “Just what do you expect to do now, Jake? I swear, he's bound to make a stupid mistake like always that we can take advantage of. It's a much better shot than wandering around this cesspool for longer than we need to!”

I was silent. I really didn’t know. I wanted a fast solution as much as David did, but there wasn’t one to be found. Still, David was looking at me like I made the worst choice possible.

“Look, maybe we’ll come across a solution,” I told him. “Randy can’t be invincible, not even in his own world. What Black and Depression gave us didn’t work, but there has to be something out there that can.”

“Well, hotshot,” David snapped at me, looking at me with a cold stare, “why didn’t we battle him? At least we could have given a try, you know. He's on a power trip, he might let his guard down at some point or another.”

“David,” I said honestly to him, “if we lose to Randy, we might just be suffering a blow we may never recover from, understand? This is exactly what he wants us to do! It could mean being stuck here forever. You saw what he did to our Pokémon! How the hell are we supposed to deal with that!? I don't even think those legendaries that Jeff and Frank were using took any real damage!”

David still looked at me like I was crazy, but I was guessing his rage was just clouding his judgment and ability to grasp what we were dealing with here. He was letting his hunger to get out of here blind him, and I knew for sure that was going to ruin us.

“Maybe not,” David said in a hopeful tone. “Look, it’s not for certain Randy would want to stay here even if we do lose to him. Sooner or later he’s going to get sick of his own world. It'll get just as dumb and boring as kicking rocks around.”

“Yeah, David,” Alex said to him, “not soon enough for me. Randy won’t ever want to leave this place. If he gets bored with it, all he has to do is change anything and everything to fit his desires and we're stuck having to live with it! Who the hell wants to live in a place where he's in control all the time!?”

David still didn’t care. Obviously he wasn’t heeding the warnings that Black and Depression had given to him. Still, he felt there was some hope. I wanted to believe there was something I could do about it myself, but the odds kept telling me otherwise. He just couldn’t see the reality of the situation…

“I’m not going to sit here hoping we just happen to bump into a solution,” David said with annoyance. “We've been walking out there for days and the only things we got out of it were useless trinkets that did nothing to help! I’ll battle Randy right now, and I don’t care if it’s all or nothing. And if I win, then you two owe me big time.”

“Go ahead then, David,” I told him, giving up on trying to convince him otherwise. “We’ll see you around.”

And not even a second later, David turned right back around and headed back into the stadium. I knew there was no way he could win. If he couldn’t beat Caska, he sure wasn’t going to beat Randy. I didn’t want to stick around to find out how he lost.

“Come on,” I told Alex. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where?” Alex asked me, getting annoyed himself. “Back into the middle of nowhere again!? Come on, man, we've been out there! There's nothing!"

“One more shot,” I told Alex seriously. "This town hates our guts, and maybe Black and Depression didn't have exactly what we needed. There might be someone else.”

Alex really didn’t seem to agree. He just looked away and turned back at the stadium.

“Damn, I hate this place,” Alex told me, “I know you could be right, but damn, I really, really don't want to go back out there. Come on, Jake, look at what they did to us out there! Maybe we can find something here instead. We can just…”

“Look, Randy would be rolling over in laughter if he saw us arguing like this,” I told him. “If you really don't want to go back out there, I'll head out by myself to see what I can find on the outside, and if you want to see what's around this place, go for it. This city seems big enough and maybe it has a dark side to it also.”

"Heh, sure hope it does," Alex flashed a dark smile. "Good luck, man, just don't get lost out there."

And that was where we split up. I didn’t feel right by leaving Alex and David behind, but I didn’t want to stay in this blasted city either. After I said goodbye to Alex, I left them all behind and headed back outside into the wilderness.

I had hoped to find a way out of this forsaken world, even while I was walking away from the very source that could bring me back home. But even then, maybe Alex and David were right. How was I supposed to find the key to our escape by aimless walking? Where would I be going after all?

I felt like I was slowing going insane. After heading out of Victory City and walking down the highway, I was left alone with my thoughts as I tried to think all of options and alternatives over. I would be shocked and surprised if there was a single person in all of Victory City that was willing to help us. The chances of them being in there was next to none.

I started on the highway for the first few hours and just got bored of it, so I decided to just say screw it and not care if I got lost. I really didn't have much to lose at this point anyway. Day one was being alone again and traveling through valleys, swamps, rivers, and forests, day two was all about me nearly losing my mind in anger. I almost felt like I was beginning to just accept all this and admit I was just going to have to suck it up and deal with being a god-forsaken flower in Randy's world like I had no power over anything anymore.

When I reminded myself this would be for forever if I gave up, I got off my butt and decided to shut up and still keep up the effort. I had been walking for nearly three days, which seemed so much longer when I was constantly burdened by these same, endless thoughts and having to deal with Randy's bizarre and unpredictable landscapes and biomes. Not only that, but the only thing I could consume was water. What a nightmare. I wasn’t even human anymore and even my Pokémon had been warped because of all this.

I was really getting sick of the strange landscapes that weren't even making sense anymore. Snow on palm trees? A lake that was hot springs on the outside and frozen in the middle? It was easy to lose sanity here.. By now I was too far away to turn back and take my next to hopeless chances, and even if I could, what was the point? Could I possibly hope to accomplish the impossible? Nothing would have changed from before, only my morale would be diminished. At the moment, it seemed like nothing could be done about it, and this is how it was all supposed to end…

But on the evening of the third day, everything had changed.

During my searches that night, I had come across a strange, white, twenty-story office building with large, mirror-like rectangular windows that looked like it belonged in the middle of a big city, not in the middle of a valley with blue grass and trees. Despite the strange landscape, the building seemed pretty normal. I decided why the hell not, I'd take sitting in a cubicle farm for a few minutes to rejuvinate my sanity over the loony landscapes Randy's mind vomited out.

Honestly, I didn’t care if death itself was inside, I was ready to cope with anything right now. I approached the opposing double glass doors, grabbed the handle, and walked into what seemed like a totally normal office building lobby. At this point, I had nothing to lose, so I figured even if there was nothing in here, well, at least I freaking tried.

Recommended Listening: Resident Evil 2 Soundtrack - The Basement of the Police Station (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgzKbctSuIg)

Inside, it seemed empty, except for one large, side office that had an open door. I started looking around, and while it was quiet and motionless among the chairs, desks, and other office furniture, I felt compelled to go toward the one side office that had the only open door. I decided to walk on in to see why this one was different from all the others.

Inside, it was furbished pretty much the same way any senior manager would arrange it with a large desk with a cherry wood finish, shelves with books and a carpeted floor, and seemingly ordinary pictures of landscapes on the wall. Seated at the desk was a busy, middle-aged man with a bald head, a black goatee, and wearing a black business suit sitting in the leather, wheeled chair behind the desk. It looked like he had been busy writing notes in a black, leather journal before he looked up at me and crossed his arms. He had a serious look on his face and seemed to size me up. It made me feel like it was a job interview with an executive from one of the biggest corporations in the world. And here I was standing before this badass guy as a damn "overgrown Bellossom," as Alex put it.

“I have been expecting you, Jake Kossak,” He told me, looking at me like this was an FBI interrogation.

“How do you know me?” I asked him, wondering who this guy really was.

He furrowed his brow and his serious, soul-piercing eyes just looked right into mine. I could definitely tell what he was about to tell me next was something he definitely didn't want me to forget.

“I am Randy’s hatred, Jake,” He had told me. “The name is Coldblood. Look at this place and look at me. Stern. Serious. Formal. This is the future adult life that will inevitably come for him when he will have to earn a living working eight to seven on spreadsheets, forms, metrics, and analytical data after spending half the day in meetings and on the phone. It is everything Randy's childish and imaginative demeanor will loathe."

Wow, that was deep. I really didn't even know what to say to that.

"Think of it as you will, but I am one of the strongest forces of Randy’s mind," Coldblood continued, folding his hands together on his desk. "Because of me, his anger, sorrow, and depression exist in their fullest form, and they blind him and force him into making crucial mistakes. And you, Jake Kossak, are my most valuable ally right now.”

I was silent. I sure didn’t feel like it at the time while looking like this. I felt more like a loser that was a waste of space.

“Do not feel that way,” He told me, reading my expression. “I know how you feel. For the last few days, you have been feeling nothing but misery. I can easily take that away.”

“Yeah, how?” I asked him, seeing that had to be impossible.

But, he never answered my question, and I never figured it out on my own. He waved his hand in a strange way, and then I felt amazing relief spread all over me like comforting water. When I looked down, the flowers were gone and were rapidly vaporized within seconds. Everything was gone, and I was back in my normal clothing again as a human, something I suddenly appreciated more than I had ever before. But before I could even thank him, he spoke again.

“Jake, someone needs to take Randy out of business, and that someone is you,” Coldblood stated to me firmly. "This nonsense needed to be ended days ago."

“Not while he still has his stupid necklace,” I told him, hoping I didn’t sound like a whiner.

“I understand, but we can work around it,” He said to me. "Trust me. I may be all you have left."

Black and Depression had attempted to help us before, and it still didn’t work. What could Coldblood do that they couldn’t?

“Coldblood, Randy destroyed our protection, and he changed my Jolteon and my Weavile into a freaking Bellossom and a Lilligant,” I informed him. “What the hell am I supposed to do against power like that!?”

Coldblood was silent. It almost seemed like… he had been waiting for me to bring this up.

“Give me your Pokémon,” He told me, not giving me a clue as to what he was going to do with them.

What could I have done? I had nothing to lose anymore, and if he just blew them up for fun, I'd just shrug and ask him to do the same to me. I had no choice now but to trust him, even if it was dealing with a very dark side of Randy.

He laid out my Poké Balls on the desk, one by one. He placed his hand on one of them, and the whole Poké Ball began to glow white. When the white glow died down, he moved it aside and went onto the next. He had done it to all of them, one after another, and I just stood there just wondering what pray tell he was doing to my Pokémon. All of them, even the mysterious, unknown Pokémon that Black have given to me, had been blessed with something…

“What did you just do to them?” I asked Coldblood when he was finished.

“There,” he told me. “Now they are just as strong as Randy's. Your Jolteon and Weavile are completely back to normal as well.”

Well, that certainly made things a bit easier if he was telling the truth about all this. I had remembered Black telling me Randy’s Quista necklace would allow him to use any attack Randy’s whacked imagination could come up with. And I remembered the necklace Black gave us was supposed to protect against Randy's crap, and what a big waste of time that was.

"How are you even able to do this?" I asked Coldblood, wondering where and how he got these kinds of powers.

"Just like hatred can manipulate someone's mind," Coldbood told me, "I can manipulate some components of Randy's created world with the reality he dislikes. However, I cannot confront him myself and must keep my work secret, because to know one's enemy is dangerous knowledge to expose to him. I need you to be my emissary."

Man, this guy was really something else. Definitely not the kind of guy I'd ever think of double-crossing. He made Black and Depression look like a joke.

"I can do that," I told him, letting him know I was up for the job.

“Good,” Coldblood told me quickly. "However, this is not going to be your traditional approach. In order to stop Randy, you have to take your artifice to a whole new level."

I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that, but I figured digging in deeper would help me do the job we both wanted done.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked him.

“Randy cannot destroy something he cannot see,” He said to me. “Necklaces, rings, any perceivable and materialistic object like that is subject to whatever Randy wants to do with them. You need to have an innate power that Randy cannot touch. I am just the person who can give you that. It will allow you to attack Randy’s Pokémon with whatever you can think of and this time, it will hurt them the way it is supposed to. Only then will you be put on the same level as him and even the odds.”

I was sure hoping this wasn’t anything like intensive surgery. But even if it was, I had no other choice. What Coldblood said seemed to be making a lot of sense.

“It only takes about a day,” Coldblood told me in a firm voice. “You go to sleep, and a day later, you will have the power you need to fight Randy. But be warned, it is not half as powerful as Randy’s necklace, which can do much more than make Randy’s imagined attacks a reality. There are some powers that the necklace has that Randy doesn’t even know of yet.”

And so, after standing up, he took me to a conference room where there was a modern conference table surrounded by sturdy black chairs and a black leather couch in the other corner. He told me to lie down on the leather couch, simply go to sleep, and everything would be done as soon as I woke up.

I didn't know what to expect, but after sleeping out there in the middle of nowhere in dreamland, it was quick and easy to doze off on something normal and believable for once.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 10
The New Dawn

Contrary to my first belief, I woke up feeling absolutely no different from before. At that moment, I had already begun to believe that perhaps Coldblood had decided not to go through with this. It was possible. Or maybe he had decided he liked his new physical form and if I ended Randy's world, he would disappear along with everything else.

“How do you feel?” He asked me as he was the only one seated at the conference table. "I trust it was painless."

“I don’t even feel anything,” I told him.

“That is good,” Coldblood told me. “If you did, then something would have been wrong.”

Outstanding. Now all he needed to do was tell me how I needed to get it to work. At first, I could visualize just thinking up an attack, ordering which Pokémon to attack with, and that would be it. But, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. I still felt like Randy would still have some advantage over me.

“First off,” Coldblood told me, “Randy makes it look easy. He comes up with an attack in his head, sends it to one of his Pokémon in a psychic decoded message from his imagination, and because he wants to, the Pokémon he sends it to understands it, and immediately attacks with Randy’s desired move in its full form.”

“It can’t be that easy…” I remarked in disbelief.

“But it is,” Coldblood said firmly with a confident smile. “Or to him it is, at least. You will definitely need to focus more on what your Pokémon are thinking. You need to make them realize that in Randy’s world, your imagination is probably the most powerful weapon you can wield, and as long as they can listen to you, you and them can make it possible. You need to believe you can break the rules, Jake.”

This was crazy. I couldn’t believe Randy had even come up with such a thing. Making up your own Pokémon attacks seemed like a pretty difficult task, and I didn’t even know where to get started. It seemed like the biggest cheating tool of all time in the history of Pokémon battling, as if what he was doing wasn’t bad enough already. And yet, despite all this, everyone acted like it was perfectly okay. Another reason why I hated this place.

And I was already certain that Randy had done this numerous times. Right now, his simple imagination had become a god-like power. No wonder he was so eager to want to battle us. He would wipe the floor with us in no time and get giddy in ways that would just make me sick. It was probably what he was itching to do all this time. All he had to do was see my face, and he would let out his absolute worst. He must have slaughtered David's team if he really battled him…

Obviously, he was expecting me to show up again for a battle. He would probably be enraged that I was no longer the flower princess precious that he expected me to be, but that was just tough for him. I was thinking it would probably be a far better idea to go in some kind of disguise than show my face to his. He wanted to crush the three of us more than anything, but I had to try and fight him looking like someone else…

“You're absolutely right,” Coldblood told me, reading my mind again. “Randy cannot be allowed to recognize you as you are. And I already have something in mind.”

Coldblood had already helped me out immensely and I felt like I was deep in his debt. Right now, I was all ears for another good idea of his. Unlike the others, this guy was trustworthy. He could have screwed me over if he really wanted to, but he didn't. Not like I had much more to lose anyway.

“I have seen what Randy has done to you,” Coldblood said. “He wants you to feel demoralized and pathetic the moment you step up to battle him. And he would easily do it again given another opportunity.”

"Yeah, no kidding," I replied, looking away and thinking about how much I hated Randy for that.

It all definitely sounded familiar. I felt embarrassed as hell when I was in that stadium, and I’m sure that wouldn’t have changed one bit if I were to do it again. I really was hoping Coldblood knew exactly how to fix this stupid mess.

“I know of a way you can make Randy feel demoralized, effectively disguise yourself, and encode your commands to your Pokémon, leaving Randy without any idea of what you just said to them,” Coldblood smiled with a hint of sadistic delight in his tone.

PERFECT!!! I loved that idea! As if Randy didn’t have enough to worry about now, he was just about to see something that was going to make him piss his pants even more. If Randy couldn’t understand the commands I was giving to my Pokémon, and they were going to be made-up attacks just like his, he was going to be in deep trouble. Now this was a much better chance and was exactly what I was hoping for, although I could tell it was going to be quite a lot of insanity. Two battlers that could make up their own attacks? What the hell was Pokémon battling coming to?

“So what is it already!?” I shouted, eagerly waiting for Coldblood to reveal his outstanding plan.

“I want you to assimilate yourself as the one Pokémon Randy has hungrily desired for all the years of his life, but has been unable to capture and train," Coldblood smiled with a nefarious grin. "Seeing this Pokémon will surely bring back some rather bitter memories that Randy will not want to be reminded of. On top of that, Randy will not know it is really you, Jake. Not even with his powers will he be able to deduce your true identity once this assimilation is complete. And third, your Pokémon will understand your commands as you talk to them in their own language, but Randy will have no clue as to what you have told them.”

Well, that certainly fit the criteria, but it wasn’t what I expected. I had never once remembered Randy so desperately wanting a single Pokémon that he couldn’t get. I tried to imagine what Pokémon it would be, but I had no clue. My guess was he kept it a pretty hard secret. Good thing for him too, because I'm sure Alex, David and I would have taunted him to death over it.

And then, I knew that Coldblood had figured out what I was thinking. He was just about to tell me everything…

It was then that Coldblood had told me about Randy’s childhood, and how even as a little kid there was nothing more he wanted than this one Pokémon. Coldblood told me he asked for it every single damn birthday and Christmas of his entire life but was left disappointed every time. He also told me how he had failed to capture it on three separate occasions, as if luck itself just hated his guts. At that point, I think I would have been pretty frustrated myself.

“For the longest time, Randy had desperately desired a Pikachu above all other Pokémon," Coldblood had finally revealed. "Even at this time, deep inside, Randy still wants a Pikachu, but after focusing only on being the best rather than following his heart, his mind is possessed by power and his own idea of what his personal image should be. Therefore, he only has the best Pokémon possible rather than having the one Pokémon he used to long for.”

Fantastic. Now Coldblood wanted me to square off against Randy as a Pikachu? Things were really starting to get loony now. I had only been normal for a few hours. Couldn’t I at least have a few moments to spend as myself? Why was Randy so enticed by an electric mouse anyway? I had one for a short while before I turned him into a Raichu and I had no regrets. Was it because he thought they were cute or because one just happened to smile at him the right way?

“Randy always loved giving his Pokémon nicknames before this whole incident,” Coldblood recalled. “He called his Growlithe ‘Striker,’ his Nidoran ‘Spike,’ his Pidove ‘Storm Wind’ and his Sewaddle ‘Enigma’. He never called his Pokémon by their nicknames while you three were around because he was afraid you would make fun of them.”

Yeah, we probably would, even though for once I personally didn’t feel they were that bad, though his Pokémon were terrible and sure didn't live up to those kinds of names.

“If he had caught a Pikachu, he would have named him ‘Juno,’ and he would have been overjoyed,” Coldblood told me, informing me of this mysterious Pikachu. “Of course in Randy’s world, there is such a Pikachu already in existence, but he lives too far underground and too far away in the caverns of what is forgotten and neglected to make any use of. Instead, you will inherit Juno’s place and confront Randy. You will become the one Pokémon in this world that Randy craved so desperately, born from Randy’s most passionate imagination and fondest dreams before being the winner and the ultimate champion was all that ever mattered to him. I do not need to tell you how much power that can hold in this place.”

It was a bold and sneaky move to fight Randy as something he truly once wanted and desired but abandoned after he made this zoo. Randy would surely hold back some of his power, but I certainly wouldn’t. It would certainly make my day if Randy lost to me just because he didn’t want to hurt the feelings of a Pikachu he once really wanted. I loved Coldblood’s whole plan. It was cleverly delicious and sinister, just the way I liked things. It was totally worth the cost of becoming a cute, yellow, electric mouse. You'd never suspect something like that of being up to dirty deeds, and it made it that much more satisfying.

Recommended Listening: Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack - Groot Cocoon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87AxkI8TYdU)

“Alright, Coldblood, I'm ready for this,” I told him, really wondering what it was going to be like living as a Pikachu for a while. “If it makes Randy sweat, I can work with it.”

“It is not that easy,” Coldblood warned me. “Once you become Juno, the real Juno will become a part of you, and you will be remain as him until you find a way to break Randy's dream world dimension. You will have to take his role from here on in, and that means Jake Kossak the bully will have to be gone. You will be Juno the Pikachu, and you will have to remember that you are Randy's most coveted Pokémon and must act that way and not make him believe otherwise. Defeat him as if you want to remind him of what he has forgotten, not because you just want to end his world.”

Good point, but it really didn't seem that hard. The plan was way too good to let go, and I had to act upon it. It was definitely worth the risk, even if it meant staying as a Pikachu for the rest of my life. I wanted to be free of Randy’s mind, and I wanted that chance at any cost.

“Let’s go already,” I told Coldblood firmly. “I’ve made up my mind.”

“Very well,” Coldblood said to me as he focused his concentration and energy.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. I waited, wondering just how this was even going to work. But then a few seconds later, I felt something was being drawn to me from dark within the forgotten centers of Randy's world. It tingled me deep inside, feeling like nothing I had ever felt before.

When I shut my eyes to get a better sense of what this force was, I caught a glimpse of this Pikachu named Juno, and I swore I had never seen anything like him. He was still a Pikachu, but he seemed so much more... angelic, charismatic, and genuine. I could tell this Pikachu was created from some serious, very fond imagination and even though a Pikachu like this would never, ever be possible in reality, it was interesting to see how it would have been if it could be...

Slowly, I was enveloped with a white and golden glow, and I suddenly began to change. Gradually, I felt like my human body was dematerialized into pure light, and then I felt like I was shrinking little by little. I felt myself coated with the yellow fur of a Pikachu, followed by having two, long, black-tipped ears emerge from my head before a Pikachu's signature thunderbolt-shaped tail materialized on my rear. My hands were shrunken down to paws while cherry-red patches formed on my cheeks as the place where every Pikachu held their electric power. I almost trembled from the sensation, and before I opened my new, shiny black Pikachu eyes, it was like I could hear a faint whisper...

...Starchaser...

And that was when it hit me in full force.

Suddenly a massive, roaring pulsation of brilliant, white light was unleashed from all directions as I realized my soul had been connected with a Pikachu made from dreams, and now that dream had what no other did. Everything in the room was hit with force and wind, and even Coldblood himself had to steel himself against the celestial wind as the whole building trembled from what was something more profound and intense then I could have ever imagined.

Everything in the room became huge, as if I was lying on the floor. Meanwhile, the energy around me was affecting me in ways that I never thought it would. I looked down with my new eyes and looked at my paws, almost seemingly glowing white for a few seconds before it settled. It actually took me a moment to start breathing again.

There was something far more powerful behind this than becoming a simple Pikachu. Juno… without a doubt… was definitely born from dreams, and there was something about him that was even affecting me deep inside. I didn't know what it was, but suddenly, by becoming him, I felt strangely purified, empowered, and ended up stepping into something so much deeper than I thought I could ever imagine...

Even after I had totally become this Pikachu named Juno that Coldblood had described, I clenched my chest with my now tiny, yellow paws, feeling some kind of light and warmth that was so strong that connected with my soul. I even began to tremble as the connection was completed, and then suddenly, what was a simple unity at first was turned into a full assimilation, made just as a bright, blinding white light came over me. When it finally settled down, I was left with a feeling of being overwhelmed for a moment… suddenly as if I became more of Juno than I was expecting to...

When the dust began to settle and Coldblood regained his bearings, even he seemed surprised.

"I wasn't expecting that kind of reaction, but..." Coldblood muttered, taken back at what he had just seen, "...it seems to have worked."

And yet, to me, it was okay. I suddenly felt like I could actually enjoy this.

"How do you feel?" Coldblood asked.

"Now this is... incredible," I told him, a bit surprised at my new slightly lighter-pitched Pikachu voice. "Juno..."

I made it pretty clear that even though something definitely unanticipated happened, I felt alright with it. In fact, I could easily see why Randy used to like this Pikachu. Heck, if he didn't want him, I'd take him!

"We need to continue with the plan," Coldblood reminded me.

For a minute, I had almost forgotten about what the plan was. While I knew ending Randy's world was the goal, the idea of reminding him about Juno, this awesome Pikachu he had imagined, just seemed like something that needed to be done.

Coldblood handed me the belt with my Poké Balls, only now they felt huge due to my smaller size. It was like tying basketballs around my waist. And I couldn’t help but think that when I pressed the button the prep the Poké Ball for use, it would grow to the size of a giant beach ball. I quickly realized why there weren't any Pokémon trainers that were Pokémon themselves…

“You must be careful,” Coldblood warned me. “Anyone that loses to Randy immediately becomes his servant. That is exactly why happened to Alex and David. David had lost badly against Randy, and after Alex heard the news, he immediately challenged Randy only to fail. If you lose as well, there will be nothing to help bring the three of you back to the real world. Most likely, if you lose to Randy, you’ll be stuck as his favorite Pokémon to train and care for. I’m sure that’s not what you want.”

It was true, I wasn't all too crazy about that idea. It was hard to think that now, David and Alex were Randy’s slaves, the one thing in the world they didn’t want. Heck, it made me shudder thinking what else Randy probably did to them. As if turning them into a fairy princess and giant butterfly wasn't humiliating enough...

“Normally, you cannot fight Randy whenever you want to,” Coldblood told me. “There will be a tournament held in only a few days, and the winner of the final round will challenge Randy for the ultimate prize. To anyone who beats Randy in a Pokémon battle, they will be allowed one wish. Anything they can think of, and Randy has the power to grant it to them."

Well, that kind of prize would definitely reap in quite a bracket of trainers to work with.

"If you were still were Jake Kossak," Coldblood continued, "you could challenge Randy whenever you wanted to because there’s nothing he wants more than to beat you, but now is different. You don’t want to give Randy any hint that you’re Jake in disguise. Therefore, you must enter into the tournament and rise through the rounds to face him.”

As if this didn't even need to get more challenging. I figured if I got wiped out of the tournament, that was a really good sign I wasn't ready yet and needed to work on something else.

“Obviously, no one has ever won this tournament other than Randy,” Coldblood told me the obvious. “Anyone that loses to him becomes his slave, and already several challengers have fallen victim to it. You have to be the one to fight Randy in the final round, and you have to be the one who wins. I can only wish you the best of luck from here on in.”

As I walked out that door and bid him farewell, I had no idea what I would have done without him. But in the meantime, I was still feeling that strange and pure feeling from being Juno deep inside…

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Neo, I'm so happy that you're posting a director's cut, if you will. It may have been around seven years since I first read it, but your prose still has a way of putting a fire in my belly. Not to mention the story you've crafted. For the most part, I loved the changes made. It was wonderful to get to see a deeper look at Jake's life outside of bullying Randy and you gave Alex and David more defined personalities, and, my favorite, you expanded the legend of Juno to even this genesis point with an exciting description of Jake's bonding with the soul of the imaginary Pikachu. At the same time, you kept the important elements the same, especially those two's Pokemon teams (and especially especially Alex's Mightyena and Houndoom!), while also expanding the fact that these Pokemon are being transformed by Randy and what that process looks like. Ah. The music rings true to the scenes as well, adding those auras of emotion and mystery to your already excellent wordsmithing.
My only complaints are small, selfish ones really. First, the updating of Pokemon species to incorporate newer ones like Pidove and Lilligant makes me a little wary, since I'd like to relive the bygone days of my youth without Pokemon who weren't in existence then. I guess I consider the story a product of its period more than a living document, but, seeing as how updating species has been going on for a while and that you're editing and expanding it with this reposting that theories gone the way of Yoda being a puppet, though I still hold that a Pidove and a Sewaddle would be fairly out of place in Viridian City. The other is that I remember the battle between Jake and Frank ending differently, with Jake managing to pull off an amazing win despite the blatant cheating of Frank. It makes more sense for the story if Frank's created Pokemon, like Randy's, prove immune to harm by ordinary Pokemon so that Coldblood can power up Jake's own Pokemon, but there was something satisfying about seeing two Grass-types (my personal favorites) triumph over legendaries.
In case you haven't guessed, I'm kind of a bastard and root for Jake, Alex, and David every time I read about their antics. I swear I'm not a bully in real-life, but there's an element of fun to them, especially with the extended description of their laxative prank that was in earlier editions, that isn't as much a component to Randy and his crew's petty revenges. I sympathize with them too much I guess, but to be fair, they did get most of the cool Pokemon.
Anyways, looking forward to keep on rereading this saga and seeing what other new and exciting changes are around the corner!

[Neo Emolga]

Neo, I'm so happy that you're posting a director's cut, if you will. It may have been around seven years since I first read it, but your prose still has a way of putting a fire in my belly. Not to mention the story you've crafted. For the most part, I loved the changes made. It was wonderful to get to see a deeper look at Jake's life outside of bullying Randy and you gave Alex and David more defined personalities. At the same time, you kept the important elements the same, especially those two's Pokemon teams (and especially especially Alex's Mightyena and Houndoom!), while also expanding the fact that these Pokemon are being transformed by Randy and what that process looks like. Ah. The music rings true to the scenes as well, adding those auras of emotion and mystery to your already excellent wordsmithing.

Hey there!

It's funny, people in the PXR community like the music insertions, while people on PokéCommunity dislike them and I actually found myself taking them out for the later. Go figure. :P

But yeah, everything has gotten a massive overhaul and cleanup, especially Chapters 1 and 2. People on other sites have been coming up with some pretty awesome suggestions, so I've been trying them out and I definitely like the outcomes.


My only complaints are small, selfish ones really. First, the updating of Pokemon species to incorporate newer ones like Pidove and Lilligant makes me a little wary, since I'd like to relive the bygone days of my youth without Pokemon who weren't in existence then. I guess I consider the story a product of its period more than a living document, but, seeing as how updating species has been going on for a while and that you're editing and expanding it with this reposting that theories gone the way of Yoda being a puppet.

Yeah, I can see what you mean, but the original was written even before Gen IV was around, which means a lot of missing Pokémon. And true, Lilligant did end up replacing the Roselia that Jake was stuck using before. Same with Pidove replacing Randy's Pidgey. I felt they were just minor changes that won't have a major impact on the story, but does give it a more up-to-date sense of feeling.


The other is that I remember the battle between Jake and Frank ending differently, with Jake managing to pull off an amazing win despite the blatant cheating of Frank. It makes more sense for the story if Frank's created Pokemon, like Randy's, prove immune to harm by ordinary Pokemon so that Coldblood can power up Jake's own Pokemon, but there was something satisfying about seeing two Grass-types (my personal favorites) triumph over legendaries.

Ah, yep, you caught one of the minor plot changes. I was wondering if people would pick up on that.

The MAJOR reason why I did this, after sitting down and thinking it over, is that it wouldn't make sense for Randy not to have Frank's back and share some of his power with his new friend. In fact, in the very original version, Randy even exiles Frank after he loses! After giving it another look, I felt that didn't make too much sense and made Randy look like a total villain. With this new version, Randy's mainly over his head with beating his bullies and got too carried away with his own dreamland, but he's not a wicked person.

That, and if Jake really did win that battle, he would seem Mary Sue-ish. I figured in order to make him a more realistic and believable character, he's got to take a loss every now and then. Considering that losing to Frank wouldn't change all too much, I decided to let that one go.


In case you haven't guessed, I'm kind of a bastard and root for Jake, Alex, and David every time I read about their antics. I swear I'm not a bully in real-life, but there's an element of fun to them, especially with the extended description of their laxative prank that was in earlier editions, that isn't as much a component to Randy and his crew's petty revenges. I sympathize with them too much I guess, but to be fair, they did get most of the cool Pokemon.
Anyways, looking forward to keep on rereading this saga and seeing what other new and exciting changes are around the corner!

Ha, ha, nah, it's fine, everyone has different opinions about the three of them and it's interesting to see the varying feedback I get from it. With all of the other modifications I made, I decided to condense the pranks down a bit to give some room for other stuff like development toward Jake's life at home, the divorce his parents have, and the confrontations he has with his sister Vicky.

One of the other big changes I'm putting in is changing the personality of Blazewing the Latias. Before, she was mainly emotional, a bit on the somber side, and just seemed a little too anxious about everything. Now... complete 180º spin. I decided she'd be way better off more cheerful, plucky, comical, and be a nice source of comedy relief for an otherwise dark and macabre story. That, and Juno travels with her in places where before she was locked up in a Poké Ball, which actually does have major impacts on the story.

But hey, thanks for the feedback and I hope you enjoy the new and improved Trial of Juno!

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 11
The Alter Ego

It was a long march back to Victory City, but things were looking better than when I had left. The three day trek wasn't so bad this time, even though the distance felt greater now that I was much smaller. I felt like I could march even in the middle of the night, but I didn’t want to exhaust myself. Surprisingly, when I had arrived back in Victory City, the place was extremely active, totally unlike before. Excitement for the tournament was fever pitch, and everyone was talking about what they would wish for if they won.

The strange feelings that had hit me when I became Juno were starting to feel natural now. It made me begin to wonder how much thought Randy put into this one Pikachu that I had become. On the outside, sure, Juno was still a Pikachu, but there was so much more about him that just seemed much more... special.

To everyone else, I was simply a stray Pikachu and not someone they knew about. Oddly enough, inside, I was feeling sensations that I'm sure regular Pikachu never feel. I just didn't know how to explain it other than having the sense Juno was dreamed to have powers and abilities a typical Pikachu could only dream of.

It wasn’t hard to find the stadium again, since it loomed over the rest of the city and easily became a permanent part of the city’s skyline. All I could do was just keep walking toward the giant stadium. As the streets were filled with cars and people, it was nice not being called flower-related names not having things thrown at me.

Once I had arrived at the stadium, all I had to do was register at a small desk, but it was quite a shock. Only a tiny handful of names had been on the list, which made me immediately hesitate. My guess was while everyone was excited for the tournament, they were far more interested in just watching it than having the guts to actually enter and risk freedom for a wish.

Nonetheless, I registered my name as “Juno” on the list. The young blond-haired, blue-eyed lady there just looked at me in wonder, blinked twice, and just shrugged. I figured this must have been the first time a Pikachu signed up for this thing.

“It begins tomorrow at 6,” She told me. “You’ll be against Sigon in the Quarter-finals. Remember, you have to be here at 6 or you’re disqualified. Got it?”

She was acting like I was already going to get cold feet and not show up. Was this a usual thing around here? My guess was while these were still Randy's imaginary, made-up people, even they were extremely cautious about challenging him. In any case, I still wanted to go for it. True, part of it was to wash away this dreamland Randy made up. The other part was to remind Randy of Juno. With the way I felt and now sensed things about myself, Juno was special. That and... somehow this sincere and blameless Pikachu was really... really bringing out a much better side of me...

I simply walked away and spent the rest of my day preparing and thinking about how to handle this with the Pokémon I had. I had my Raichu, Weavile, Jolteon, Ariados, and then I came across the fifth Poké Ball I had. The one Black had given me, containing yet another Pokémon born from some aspect of Randy's dreams and imagination. This one, I knew, I had to be careful with. If I used it too early, it might cause unwanted attention in the tournament. I knew... I had to save it for just the right moment.

Other than everything else that was going on, the only trouble I had was finding a place to sleep. I managed to make a decent shelter out of a nearby second-story balcony. The place didn't seem like it had residents, so it would work for now.

Still, I couldn’t believe I would already be in the quarter-finals. On the other hand, Randy had defeated so many people that very few people were brave enough to join. I figured it would only be a matter of time before Randy created his own doomed contestants in this world for the sole purpose of being destined to lose against him. Nonetheless, I told myself not to use any imaginary attacks or the special Pokémon Black gave me until I got to Randy. I didn’t want to cause suspicion, blow my cover, and reveal my secret weapons.

That next day at 6, I got a quick taste of what the beginning rounds were like. Most of them were hosted underground in large, metallic vault-like rooms made to withstand heavy fighting and intense Pokémon battling.

Sigon, the first of the opponents I faced, was a disheveled, dirty, and likely destitute trainer who probably had high hopes, just couldn’t deal with me. The battles were all two Pokémon each, and he just couldn't hang in there. He seemed pretty surprised to be battling with a Pikachu named Juno, but it wasn’t the surprise that made him lose, my Pokémon were still trained better than his, and he still couldn't understand the commands I was giving them. I made short work of his Meowstic, which seemed like it hadn't battled and trained for a long time, and his Swanna, which just seemed to be really unlucky. Jolteon and Ariados, despite being very surprised they now had me as a Pikachu for a trainer, seemed to understand this definitely wasn't reality anymore and it seemed like they were getting used to the wierdness.

But when it came to Sigon, it made me wonder... did Randy dream of this guy to be like this?

“I don’t know who you are, but you’ve made me angry!” Was the last thing Sigon had said to me.

In truth, from what I saw, these other contestants were in no way prepared to deal with Randy. It seemed like this whole tournament was just for Randy's own imagined people to battle among each other only to become Randy's servant in the final round. Truthfully, it did seem like after living a life where he couldn't defeat anyone, he turned the tables around so much so that the total opposite was true now. I sighed, knowing this was no way to become a better trainer.

When Sigon was beaten, that was that. The referee just told me to come back at 7 and that’s when I would be fighting some person by the name of Storm. I just shrugged and walked away, knowing these definitely weren't ordinary humans. It just seemed like no one really cared about these battles and there was no audience besides the strange referees that moderated the whole thing. The only thing the big crowds were here for was to see Randy dominate the tournament winner at the end.

The next battle was no different. Storm ended up being a tough, punk female trainer with a pink Mohawk haircut who had actually bothered to raise her Pokémon diligently, but not enough. She ended up sending out a Greninja that looked like it had been in a bad bar fight and a Skuntank from the inner city slums. I was glad that was over when it was, because the smell from that Skuntank was ungodly. Still, I said nothing and she walked away.

“Your final match will take place at 9 in the evening tomorrow,” The stern referee told me. “There you will be fighting against the one they call ‘Ironclyde.’”

I could easily tell no one was actually using their real name, or at least a name that was anywhere close to reality. Already, I had faced people who I knew deep inside wouldn't have lasted against Randy, and I was already thinking this next guy truly didn't know what he was in for either. It was likely Randy saved the better contestants for when they fought him.

And when the next day had arrived, there were a whole lot of surprises I wasn't expecting...

Ironclyde wasn't the human with a unique call-sign as I was expected. Instead, I had been confronted by an eight-foot humanoid high-tech robot that clearly looked like it was from the future with black armor plating, outlines and lights with cyan-colored neon glows, and glowing blue eyes that made me blink twice and ask if this machine really trained Pokémon. Never in a million years did I see a machine doing that, but then again, in Randy's world, logic didn't have a home here.

Again, if Randy could easily beat an intimidating machine like this, it made him look that much more powerful. I could see where he was going with the whole idea.

And yet here I was, just a lone Pikachu born from imagination like everything else around here, standing before a machine warrior that was all high-tech intimidation. I wasn't sure what was going through its brain, or... CPU, but I figured it very likely didn't think I was a threat. Despite that, the battle was started, and I was really curious to see exactly how a machine would battle Pokémon.

Recommended Listening: Dredd Soundtrack - Lockdown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CShs5bofASo)

"Let it begin!" The seemingly normal human referee commanded, shockingly showing no second thought a Pikachu was taking on a mechanical colossus in a Pokémon battle of all things.

"Deploying Absol," Ironclyde stated in a cold, robotic voice.

I then got to witness Ironclyde grab a gray and white Poké Ball in a hidden chamber on its metallic hip, which it prepped for release and then hurled into the metallic arena.

And out of the white and gray Poké Ball came a vicious Absol with the most aggressive attitude ever rubbed off on a Pokémon. I was just hoping he didn’t think I was his opponent. He looked pretty well-trained unlike all the others I had faced in this tournament, with a sharper horn and fierce, white fur. I didn't like looking into his red eyes, either.

I didn’t have any fighting-type Pokémon, so I grabbed the next best thing I had for the situation. I looked over to my left side, slid Raichu’s giant Poké Ball out of the belt, prepped it so it became huge and nearly too big to handle, and hurled it into the arena.

“Go Raichu!” I shouted, using both paws to launch his Poké Ball into the arena like I was shooting for a 3-pointer in basketball.

But of course, Ironclyde didn’t understand a word I said, and he really didn’t know what Pokémon I was bringing out. It almost made me laugh knowing all this intimidating robot could hear was “Pi-Pikachu.” I tried to hold in the laughter. It was quite comical, and I had to admit if anyone was watching this, it would be pretty funny seeing a Pikachu battle a massive robot that had to have been inspired from a sci-fi movie or game Randy knew about.

When Raichu came out of his Poké Ball, he felt something strange and he looked behind to see me. When he saw I was the one who sent him out, it caused him to look at me with a very peculiar look in his eyes.

“What the heck happened?” Raichu asked me. “Where’s Jake?”

I then realized Raichu must have been the only Pokémon I hadn't used in the tournament yet, and was the last one to discover I was no longer human.

“It’s me in disguise!” I told him. “But don’t go telling anyone.”

“How the…?” Raichu asked, still wondering how it was even possible. "Just what is... going... on?"

I figured Raichu hadn't been out of his Poké Ball enough to see the weirdness of Randy's world. Still, after looking around at the strange vault-like fighting arena, seeing the nefarious Absol, and then the hulking metal robot that was the Absol's trainer, he was really beginning to question what was going on.

"This is..." Raichu stated, his jaw nearly dropping, "...what the... heck am I... looking at!?"

"I'll explain later!" I told him, knowing we had a battle we badly needed to win. "We need that Absol taken out! It's still a Pokémon battle!"

Raichu nodded, but I could sense he was baffled none of this was normal in the slightest. In the meantime, it was funny how here I was actually speaking to one of my Pokémon, and he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Despite that, I had a battle to win.

“Use a Brick-Break attack on that Absol!” I told Raichu. “It’s one of his top weaknesses.”

“Come on, Jake, you know I know that!” Raichu replied, playing it out despite how odd this must have looked to him.

“Call me Juno,” I told him with a smug smile. “Gotta keep this a secret.”

And then, Raichu turned around and had advanced on Absol, and Ironclyde had no idea what attack I had just declared nor did he know how to respond to his Absol to work against it. He watched Raichu carefully trying to make the determination, and by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. Absol was hit with a blazing, bone-cracking punch from Raichu's glowing fist. Despite that attack, Absol got back on its feet and prepared to strike. I knew Pokémon trained like that sure don't go down easy.

"Night Slash," Ironclyde declared.

“Dodge it!” I shouted to Raichu.

And this is where things really got funny. Ironclyde thought I had declared another attack using the language of Pokémon. Absol rushed toward Raichu, and Raichu barely jumped out of the way from Absol’s viciously sharp, black horn. Absol was so into the swing that he stumbled and needed a second to recover.

“Use your Thunderbolt!” I shouted to Raichu.

“Heh, you got it!” Raichu agreed, jumping into the action.

The tip of Raichu’s whip-like tail had struck the ground, he clenched his brown fists, and he had charged up an intense Thunderbolt, lighting up the orange electric mouse like a light bulb. Just when Absol turned around, he saw a massive jet of electricity rip and tear its way to him. Absol was struck painfully as the sharp electricity coursed through his body, and he cried loudly from the agony. Absol stumbled and fell to the ground, moaning from the exhaustion.

“I... can’t… take it anymore…” Absol moaned in pain.

It was so weird understanding everything they were saying. I would never look at Pokémon battling the same way again. Despite that, Ironclyde was just totally indifferent to the way the battle was going, just giving a cold and emotionless stare. It only had one more Pokémon to use, and I really wasn't sure what kind of Pokémon it would be using next. Nonetheless, I was ready for anything.

Ironclyde had already realized it didn’t know what attack it's Pokémon were going to get struck by until it was already too late. I could already imagine the same thing would happen with Randy. For once, things were seemingly hopeful...

Despite that, Ironclyde prepared its next Pokémon to enter the battle. It launched it next night-black Poké Ball into the arena. Now it was looking toward me with a cold, soulless stare that seemed a bit disturbing.

"Deploying Haxorus," Ironclyde confirmed in its cold, hollow voice.

The black Poké Ball struck the ground fiercely, and moments later and after a flash of light, Ironclyde’s Haxorus had emerged ready for combat. I hadn't seen a Haxorus before, and it wasn't pretty. Nearly six feet high, clad in jade and black scales with crimson claws and scythe blades on both sides of his face, this was definitely not a kid-friendly Pokémon. And he sure didn't have a nice attitude either. He looked at the two of us and gave us a dark stare.

“This is all!?” He growled in a low tone, bearing rows and rows of shark-like teeth. "You runts will never be enough to sate by blood thirst!"

Raichu looked to me, and he really didn’t look too happy.

“Maybe YOU should try fighting this guy for once, Juno,” Raichu told me, pushing me a bit into the fighting arena. “See this as a great opportunity to get a firsthand experience seeing what Pokémon battling is like as a Pokémon yourself! Wouldn't be such a bad learning opportunity, you know!”

“Hey, man,” I told him honestly, really not sure about this. “I never once said this was easy, okay? Just give it your best shot.”

That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. “Just give it your best shot” meant he had the odds against him and he was going to feel pain because of it. Of course, I never really thought he would complain to me about it.

“Go on!” Raichu urged me with an obviously acted-out smile. “How about you give it a try? Who knows, you might like it!”

And then, Raichu moved far aside leaving me and this burly Haxorus alone on the field. The ultra-violent Haxorus just looked at me with a dark snicker, and then made his advancement. As much as I hated to say it, I was going to have to finish this myself.

"Initiate Earthquake," Ironclyde declared.

This was certainly a rare instance where the trainer himself had become the Pokémon he would fight with. As Haxorus lifted up his clawed foot to rip apart the floor, I just had to embrace the hard reality that it was me who was going to fight this guy and deal with an attack that was, quite frankly... a Pikachu's worst nightmare.

Haxorus’s foot came thrashing down, and the metallic floor began to crack open. All I could think of at the moment was to jump, and jump high. I sprung off the ground, and for a strange moment, I felt like I was effortlessly floating, and everything suddenly went into slow motion. The arena was slashed apart into pieces, and I remained above the chaos untouched. Strangely enough, I had just done something I’ve never, ever seen a Pikachu pull off.

I then focused my energy and burst into flames. I then flew toward Haxorus at mach speed, but it was actually much faster since it felt like we were fighting underwater. I slammed into Haxorus, and energized embers of fury were thrown everywhere, and I landed back on the ground. I didn't think Juno would know such a powerful rendition of Volt Tackle like it was a walk in the park.

I saw for an instant Haxorus was slowly stumbling, trying to get back on its feet. I then began to move much faster, while Haxorus was moving slow like molasses. I must have appeared to be a blur to the others, unable to be seen. I jumped off the ground, jumped off the wall, advanced toward Haxorus, jumped off the wall again right above him, and targeted his head with a vicious Thunder attack, letting it charge forward from my flaring cheeks right into his face. He was still letting loose a loud howl from the last attack, which honestly felt like it was half a minute ago to me but only a split second in actual real time.

I must have been breaking every law of physics and reality I could think of with what Coldblood provided me. But there was something else about this... was this what Juno was really capable of? It was even escalated with the ability to manipulate and redirect the forces of Randy's world and reality to however I wanted to facilitate them. Even so, I never thought it would be to this extreme degree. Things that I thought would be impossible to manipulate were at my fingertips. I could dance around Haxorus at this speed and he wouldn’t even know I was there. But then I began to wonder… was this really Coldblood’s power…

…or really Juno’s own innate potential…?

I stood there suspended in the air just watching Haxorus get his butt whipped by me. I put my foot forward, and I flew down toward his head, and slammed down with a thunderous force. Haxorus took a vicious blow to the head, and felt a shock now being thrown in two completely different directions in split seconds. Once I landed on the broken ground, Haxorus was falling, but before I even let him crash to the ground, I then gathered all the electrical power I could, and I could feel an intense energy gather. A storm of electricity flared from my cheeks, and I looked up and directed the intense electrical carnage at the hopeless Haxorus that was seemingly floating in the air in the form of some higher-powered Thunderbolt attack.

The blazing thunder struck him violently in ways I had never seen before. At first it didn’t do anything much because of a dragon's resistance to electric attacks, but only half a second later the power was too intense for that to even matter. Haxorus was roasted thoroughly, and as he slowly came and fell back toward the ground, landing on his back as I simply back flipped out of the way. Haxorus had crashed down, never expecting to get so wasted in so little time. Only then did everything come back to normal speed. Ironclyde looked like he was ready to lose it.

“How the... heck did you do that!?” Raichu shouted in complete shock, looking at me strangely.

“You'll never guess how…” I told him, looking at the defeated Haxorus.

[Suicune's Fire]

Chapter Five


As sad and pathetic as David’s sad and humiliating fate had been,
I think the repetition of 'sad' here could be avoided with a different adjective. :]


After that, we headed back into the tropical forest, hoping we would find Randy soon and get out of Randy’s retarded dream world as soon as possible.
Replacing "Randy's" with "his" would sound better for this sentence, I reckon.


Chapter Six


He’s knows more about Pokémon and battling than anyone else now.
Should just be "He"


Besides him were Jeff and Frank, seated on similar thrones on platforms ten feet in the air.
"Besides" shouldn't have that s.


Alex asked, nearly laughing.“I don’t think so.
You forgot a space before the speech.


Chapter Seven:


I could feel the chill from the freezing blast myself, and I was more twenty feet away.
I think this is meant to say more than twenty feet away.


“Articuno, Arial Ace attack on Lilligant!”
This is my favourite quote of the ones I've posted. xD I can't believe a font attack was super effective.


Chapter Eight:


Merciless, little freak.
I think that comma is quite unnecessary.


Well, I'm in the middle of chapter nine right now. :] Reading on the train and reading while waiting for appointments is a brilliant way to catch up on stories! xD Anyway, well, Randy's world is weird as all heck. xD He seems like such a twit. I really am on the bullies' side. xD I mean, Randy and Jeff and Frank all cheating? Not cool. Even if it brings them some satisfaction for beating their bullies, they really do seem sort of pathetic. xD I dunno, I just don't have sympathy for them anyway. lel. I'm such a nice person.

I haven't reached the point where Jake is turned into a pikachu yet, and I'm quite curious as to how that's going to tie in to everything. But I suppose I'll see. c: It's quite an entertaining read, although I felt really bad for Jake's and Alex's poor pokemon when they were transformed into other species and beaten up. D: That would have been horrible for them! I hate that Randy, Jeff and Frank don't care about the other three's pokemon. I mean, I get it--they've been bullied by the boys and their pokemon, but still. They didn't do anything wrong. They're just victims of manipulation, and decimating them (almost to the point of complete destruction) was overkill and pretty heartless. It irked me.

I found it funny that they were all transformed into something "girly," though I can't help but wonder why Randy chose "pretty and pink" for them all. I mean, is it really that much of a big deal for men to be emasculated? I don't want to be that person, but when he was calling them "ladies" as an insult, I found it a little patronising. I'm not a boy, so I don't have those issues personally, but it felt like they were being told they were weak for looking "girly." I get that they're all, like, twelve though, and to some boys masculinity is important at that age... or something.

Anyway, I'll keep reading. I'm interested to see what happens. I'm up to the part where Jake meets Coldblood, and he seems pretty powerful. I suppose he would be when Jake and his friends have been tormenting Randy for so long. xD

[Neo Emolga]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Sniper Emolga and Suicune's Fire the Spotter!


Chapter Five

I think the repetition of 'sad' here could be avoided with a different adjective. :]

Yeah. no kidding. Redundancy and I sure aren't friends but he still seems to like to tag along.

*BANG!*


Replacing "Randy's" with "his" would sound better for this sentence, I reckon.

Psh, there he is again! You'd think he'd learn!

*BANG!*


Chapter Six

Should just be "He"

Well, Depression is kind of a strange guy, but he's got no excuse when it comes to talking normally!

*BANG!*


"Besides" shouldn't have that s.

Now where did he come from?

*BANG* *BANG*


You forgot a space before the speech.

*Blinks*

Wow, see, that's something I never would have caught in a hundred years. That's like someone handing you a haystack with a needle in it and you saying half a second later "found it!"


Chapter Seven:

I think this is meant to say more than twenty feet away.

Yup, that's an ugly one. *BANG*


This is my favourite quote of the ones I've posted. xD I can't believe a font attack was super effective.

It sure was! But you should see a Comic Sans Ace or a Century Gothic Ace! Now those are really...

*BANG*

...just kidding. Wow, that was an embarrassing mistake. XD


Chapter Eight:

I think that comma is quite unnecessary.

Yeah. Go on home, now! Or I'll... you know... *BANG*. There, takes care of that one.

Thanks for being my typo spotter!


Well, I'm in the middle of chapter nine right now. :] Reading on the train and reading while waiting for appointments is a brilliant way to catch up on stories! xD Anyway, well, Randy's world is weird as all heck. xD He seems like such a twit. I really am on the bullies' side. xD I mean, Randy and Jeff and Frank all cheating? Not cool. Even if it brings them some satisfaction for beating their bullies, they really do seem sort of pathetic. xD I dunno, I just don't have sympathy for them anyway. lel. I'm such a nice person.

You are a nice person!

But hey, now you're seeing where I'm going with this. I think it's easy for people to feel sorry for Randy and Frank in the beginning and might think Jeff is the hero, but then the true colors come out when Randy gets into a position of power.


I haven't reached the point where Jake is turned into a pikachu yet, and I'm quite curious as to how that's going to tie in to everything. But I suppose I'll see. c: It's quite an entertaining read, although I felt really bad for Jake's and Alex's poor pokemon when they were transformed into other species and beaten up. D: That would have been horrible for them! I hate that Randy, Jeff and Frank don't care about the other three's pokemon. I mean, I get it--they've been bullied by the boys and their pokemon, but still. They didn't do anything wrong. They're just victims of manipulation, and decimating them (almost to the point of complete destruction) was overkill and pretty heartless. It irked me.

And you can kind of see where I was going with this. First, I'm sure most people really despise Jake in the beginning and feel sympathy for Randy. Then I decided that it would be interesting to come up with a way for the reader to feel the opposite as time goes on.

Also, I would totally hate to have that done to my Pokémon. I think anyone would. XD


I found it funny that they were all transformed into something "girly," though I can't help but wonder why Randy chose "pretty and pink" for them all. I mean, is it really that much of a big deal for men to be emasculated? I don't want to be that person, but when he was calling them "ladies" as an insult, I found it a little patronising. I'm not a boy, so I don't have those issues personally, but it felt like they were being told they were weak for looking "girly." I get that they're all, like, twelve though, and to some boys masculinity is important at that age... or something.

True, the line between girly stuff and guy stuff has kind of blurred a bit (guys wear pink shirts all the time at the office now and no one thinks anything of it). Given Alex, David, and Jake are trying to be tough, cool, and feared, it's pretty clear Randy knows doing that kind of thing to three tough guys like them would be humiliating and would make them feel awkward. Some guys wouldn't care too much, but for those three, it's embarrassing.


Anyway, I'll keep reading. I'm interested to see what happens. I'm up to the part where Jake meets Coldblood, and he seems pretty powerful. I suppose he would be when Jake and his friends have been tormenting Randy for so long. xD

I had some fun with revising Coldblood. Before, he was kind of just... there, but I made some fun editions to his actions and speech. Like this one:


“I am Randy’s hatred, Jake,” He had told me. “The name is Coldblood. Look at this place and look at me. Stern. Serious. Formal. This is the future adult life that will inevitably come for him when he will have to earn a living working eight to seven on spreadsheets, forms, metrics, and analytical data after spending half the day in meetings and on the phone. It is everything Randy's childish and imaginative demeanor will loathe."

As someone who works fulltime in an office building doing this kind of... bore, this was fun to write. XD

Anyway, thanks for all your help and feedback! Glad you're enjoying the story, and I appreciate taking the time out to leave great and helpful reviews. :D

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 12
The Arrival

It was all over with. Ironclyde had recalled Haxorus back into his Poké Ball, and the battle was finished. We had won, but this victory would only be short lived. The real battle was coming up, the one that would determine whether the three of us would finally reach home, or we would be doomed to stay in Randy’s world forever. After seeing all this, I knew nothing short of defeat would ever make Randy let go of this place.

Ironclyde simply left without saying anything, although I knew I had spared the machine from becoming yet another one of Randy's servants. Although I did wonder... if Ironclyde were to even win against Randy, what would a robot wish for? But in the end, it would never have the capability to win against such an adversary. And I knew what it all came down to.

Imagination. It was the ultimate force in Randy’s world. It would be the weapon of choice on the gray battlegrounds of Victory City Stadium and anyone that couldn't wield it was doomed right from the sart. It would come down to one final test, and someone was going to have to lose everything. Either Randy would lose the chance to live in his own world, or the three of us would lose our freedom and be under Randy for the rest of our lives. And it made me anxious to think that Randy could be right, and that our lives would never expire in this bizarre realm of his. I absolutely didn’t want to live here forever. There was just something really wrong about this place.

The days that we fought Randy in the parking lot now seemed like a lifetime ago, even though it was little more than a week since those events had happened. Randy wasn’t thinking logically anymore and this had gone far beyond teaching three bullies about empathy and compassion. We didn’t belong here and none of this should have ever happened.

We were told by the referee to come back to the stadium tomorrow at 10 again. There was a total lack of enthusiasm on his emotionless face, and he seemed to show no interest in our effort whatsoever. It was then he told us that we would be confronting Randy in the stadium, only just now putting a lot of admiration into even just saying Randy's name. I really couldn't like this guy’s attitude. He almost made it seem like the real honor was losing to Randy and serving him for the rest of time. I figured let them think that way for now.

When I finally stepped out of the underground battling arenas, I once again stepped into the concrete and asphalt streets of Victory City and all of the neon-lit buildings and hologram billboards, bathing everything around in subtle, colorful glows. Everywhere, the entire city was preparing for tomorrow's battle with advertising and promotional marketing on a limitless budget. As I saw the city swept up in excitement, I learned of one alarming thing. They were only here to watch Randy. It was Randy's face, name, and fame that was everywhere on the hologram billboards, on the sides of mass transit city busses and taxi cabs, and he was the only one that was being talked about in the streets. It was totally impossible to even tell I was the challenger!

I walked by plenty of civilians, both humans and humanoid fantasy creatures, and not a single one even knew I was Randy's challenger for tomorrow's battle. As I overheard the conversations, it was all about "what Pokémon do you think he'll use" and "how fast do you think he'll win this time." I just couldn't help but think of how... boring it would all become in time if everything was normal.

As I made my way through the crowds, dodging feet and taking less-traveled walkways and building ledges to get around, I tried to mentally prepare as best as I could, and as dusk soon came to pass and the colorful neon-glows illuminated the city even further as the high-tech city's nightlife soon became alive, I wasn't sure what to expect tomorrow, but I knew I had to bring everything. In a battle like this, there was no such thing as overcompensating too much.

When I got back to my makeshift, cardboard shelter on the balcony of an older-looking apartment building, I could barely sleep that night with the anxiety and excitement that was surrounding me. Everything had built up to this moment. Randy needed to learn something about this unnatural world he had crafted for himself. True, I had begun to realize torturing Randy was wrong and I didn't know whether it was some part of Juno or something else deep inside that was trying to bring me back to the light, but I really didn't feel like continuing any kind of bullying once this was over. I felt like I learned a lot out of this, and I now knew how much it hurts to be ridiculed, to lose horribly, and to feel abandoned and neglected. Even if all this wasn't truly real, it still felt much like it and it was downright awful.

But in the meantime, Randy needed to learn this was no way to build a strong Pokémon team. That had to be done through effort, determination, and love for one's Pokémon.

When morning came and I hadn't gotten much sleep, I was a bit worried my fatigue might cause me to slip up in the battle. Still, I took it easy, just trying to admire whatever I could. Victory City did seem like an interesting place, especially at night, and it was almost strange to think this high-tech and futuristic metropolis was simply the creation of one boy's mind.

I had only gotten my rest during that afternoon as I was finally able to push aside the thoughts of anxiety and concern. When I had awoken, the hours were counting down. I made my way to the stadium and through the massive amount of fanfare, excitement, and commotion there was for the tournament final challenge. Fireworks, confetti, banners, neon-light shows, and excitement was everywhere. Everywhere you turned, Randy's name was lit in one way or another, flashing, animated, and celebrated.

And all the people that were gathered... cheering, celebrating, and taking part in the festivities... they only wanted to see Randy defeat every trainer who confronted him in the most nastiest, merciless, and unfair ways of all time. I knew then that not a single soul in that crowd would be supporting me. They would hate every moment of victory I could ever taste, and they would roar in delight at every defeat I went through. Trying to keep one's morale and concentration up in the face of such a thing was a real, serious trial.

When I entered the stadium and followed the usual directions they gave to the final challenger, they put me in a closed room behind a metal door. The blank-staring referees simply devoid of all emotion recognized me as Randy's challenger, but only used it for directional purposes.

I was led toward the room that was just outside the final arena. Inside, it was nothing more than a concrete-walled room with a steel door that was currently closed at the moment. Another mirthless referee that had the mirth and emotion of a zombie just told me to wait for an official. And then he left me alone. It was unsettling to think about how robotic and monotone their actions and conversations were, as if it all just seemed to be a routine to them, as if they were just robots following commands and directions and had no actual life or purpose outside of these tasks.

I stood there for a solid five minutes, not able to see very much, but I could hear and slightly feel the vibrations and commotions from the outside as exciting rock music was played to get the audience and spectators revved up and excited. Then, from behind me, I had been caught a bit off guard and noticed someone came. I almost jumped from the surprise a bit, but it was even more of a shock when I realized the official was Alex Harper himsef. While he no longer looked like a butterfly and was back to normal, he looked mirthless, almost as bad as the other nameless referees. He just walked up next to me, looked down, and faced the metal door.

“You will be using four Pokémon in a two-on-two double match,” Alex told me, not even realizing it was his best friend he was talking to. “Once one of your Pokémon goes down, you are to replace one of them as soon as possible. The battle ends once all four of one person’s Pokémon can no longer fight. Understood?”

I just blinked twice and said nothing, not that he would have understood what I was saying anyway. I decided to put it behind me and carry on. As the minutes until show time counted down, I could hear the cheering getting even louder through the metal door. When there was a sudden and massive roar, I knew that must have meant Randy had arrived, thinking he had become the equivalent of a celebrity god.

I felt like my heart was beating harder and faster, knowing I absolutely had to do what no one else could. The pressure was definitely on hard.

And then, suddenly the metal doors opened slowly, revealing just how festive and almost crazed the now fully-packed and swarmed stadium had become. Alex then urged me to go out and meet Randy in the center of the stadium. I walked out, and the sight of the stadium was painfully familiar from the last incident when Alex, David and I confronted Randy, Frank and Jeff, only to lose painfully. Now, the big difference was there were a million people watching us, and I absolutely had to battle Randy in a winner takes all match. I could swear this was all madness.

“Welcome into the stadium,” An announcer’s voice shouted loud and clearly, “Juno the Pikachu, Randy’s challenger!”

It was followed by a round of sarcastic clapping, booing, and mockery. I had no choice but to shut it out of my head, or else it would just grind my sanity down. It was a shame to think here I was, a fond, forgotten memory of Randy's childhood and desires, booed and ridiculed by people that Randy had imagined and created himself. When I felt that ping, I almost didn't even think about ending Randy's world anymore. I was thinking more about showing them all that Randy made a grievous mistake by carelessly forgetting about a truthful, good-hearted, and genuine Pikachu.

However, I could guess Randy was absolutely shocked upon learning who his challenger was right now. I guess he didn’t expect he would be squaring off against his favorite Pokémon and the one Pikachu he had hoped to raise, train, and travel alongside in his earlier, childhood years.

And when I got closer to Randy in the center of those gray battlegrounds of the luxurious, high-tech Victory City stadium and all its restless spectators, he was still wearing his silly black leather jacket and his mirrored sunglasses. He stood there at his respective side of the stadium, waving, smiling, and thinking he was the world’s best hero. Still around his neck was the Quista necklace, the whole reason this mess had begun in the first place. Randy now depended on it, just like it was his lungs or his heart. Without it, this world was gone and shattered.

It was a shame to think that instead of trying to grow strong, he relied on this necklace like a crutch. The truth was, anyone could be in Randy's seat with that necklace on, but it took real strength, training, and courage to become great and truly heroic on their own. This was what I needed to teach Randy. Taking the easy way to success was wrong and hollow, and forgetting past dreams was a dire mistake.

We had faced each other. Already, Randy was looking at me very strangely, and I could see from the look on his face that this was something he never would have expected and wasn't according to his plan or design. He obviously didn’t think he would be seeing the Pokémon he once longed for and now forgotten looking back at him, and he was becoming tense. There was no doubt about it. While I, Juno, was still a Pikachu, there were very distinctive characteristics that separated Juno from any other Pikachu. I stood before him exactly as he imagined me, and to him, it was alarming.

Still, as he looked more at the crowd instead of me, he simply returned back to his egotistical nature and didn't seem to worry about a thing anymore. The smiling, confident, and smug expression on his face made it look like he had already won. He took one more glance at me, and I simply flashed him a small but simple Pikachu smile, as if to say everything was a-okay and this battle was supposed to be harmless fun despite all the massive amount of pressure and spectatorship going on.

In only a few moments, we would be engaged in the most outlandish Pokémon battle ever. There were no rules now, no limits, no nothing to stop the two of us from spawning ultimate chaos.

And as luck would have it, I found out Jeff was going to be our referee. Not good. Randy’s Pokémon were going to have to be on the verge of dying before Jeff would even consider taking them out of the battle. I could already predict there were going to be plenty of false calls and dirty tricks under the table just like last time. Truly, I couldn't see how anyone was supposed to win against Randy through conventional methods, but the crowd didn't care in the slightest.

Regardless, Jeff stood between the two of us. Randy already had his Poké Balls ready, but I was going to wait to see which Pokémon Randy was going to chose before releasing my own.

“This is a match between King Randy and Juno, the challenger!” Jeff’s voice boomed all over the stadium. “This is a two-on-two double battle, and each combatant is allowed to use only up to four Pokémon!”

Recommended Listening: GRV Music & Brand X Music - Legion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJ1d8I5Hyc)

The audience roared, itching for excitement. The tension was making me sick and anxious, but I had to shrug it off and just play it like it was all one, big game. While I couldn’t lose this battle no matter what, I just had to keep calm and maintain a level head. I already knew Randy was going to play more tricks to try and win, just like he did last time. And then, at that moment, Jeff initiated everything.

“Let the battle begin!!” Jeff shouted loudly, his voice blasting all over the stadium.

Randy hadn’t waited a second longer, and tossed two of his Poké Balls into the air as the audience went wild. With a smirk on his face, he looked on appreciatively as the two Poké Balls flew through the air and hit the ground and flared brightly with a blast of light. And then, his two Pokémon came out…

And I began to grow cold and tense when I realized the Pokémon he had chosen were Mewtwo and Arceus, just barely able to recognize them simply by rumors and legends. The dull-purple and white humanoid that was genetically created to be a psychic powerhouse of destruction and the white, centaur god of all Pokémon across the planet were now staring me down, just waiting for me to select two Pokémon to challenge both of them.

Randy was definitely not pulling any punches here.

Indeed, there they were all right, in the flesh, just staring me down and waiting to unleash their wrath. It was truly clear that Randy had access to any Pokémon that existed, and any Pokémon he wanted was his to own. But that wasn't even the end of it...

“King Randy has chosen Mewtwo and Arceus!” Jeff announced to the crowd. A loud applause had thundered out, and the audience was obviously anticipating a quick and very easy win.

I didn't even know where to begin when it came to taking on these two monstrosities, but I had to choose wisely. I didn’t have legendaries like Randy had now. That was already going to be my first disadvantage, and it was a very major one. But I had to keep smiling like it wasn't such a big deal. The moment Randy noticed anxiety on my face, he was only going to get stronger and let his arrogance be his power in this place. I just couldn't let that happen.

At that moment, I chose to rely on Jolteon and Weavile. They have always been extremely loyal to me, and have helped me pull through all this misery. Now, I needed them more than ever.

“There’s no way you can win…” I thought I heard Randy whisper to me.

I just had to keep on smirking and give him the look of "whatever." By now, he had probably become so accustomed to winning constantly that any thought of loss probably didn't even come to mind.

I prepared my two Poké Balls, and then hurled them far into the air, again, throwing them one by one like giant basketballs. And then, something really strange happened…

Both Poké Balls burst into flames, and looked like flaming fireballs. Forks of strange, blue and violet-colored electricity were encircling them, and I winced as I thought they were going to explode and kill both of the Pokémon that were inside each one. However, to my relief, when the Poké Balls hit the ground, there were my Jolteon and Weavile, completely untouched.

Jeff and Randy just looked at them in disbelief. Jeff was shaking his head, as if something had gone wrong. Meanwhile, Randy was looking at the two Pokémon with the look of irritation on his face. A sense of shocked and surprised irritation, but nonetheless, he shrugged it off. To him, I imagined a Jolteon and Weavile still wouldn't be a match.

And then I realized what the fire and electricity were about. Randy had tried once again to change my Pokémon, but this time he had failed. I could have laughed at the just desserts, but I simply kept it a secret and retained my simple, gentle, Pikachu smile. But in the end, Randy was going to have to expect way more surprises than that…

It wasn’t long before Randy had snapped out of his brief trance. He looked at his two Pokémon, and prepared to give his first commands. Now was the time I needed to be more prepared than ever. Right now, I had no idea what their weakness was, and I had a feeling that the only way to discover it was through battling and experimentation.

“Mewtwo, use Celestial Starlight Barrier!” Randy commanded, “Arceus, use Divine Protection!”

Black, Depression, and Coldblood all warned me about this, but seeing it happen before me was something I'd never get used to.

And then both of Randy’s incredibly super-powered Pokémon were covered by two extremely powerful shields, raising their defenses to the point of being arguably invincible. Mewtwo and Arceus had a translucent gold and silver bubble shield surrounding them, giving both of them obscene levels of defense.

It was crystal clear any standard attack my Pokémon used against them would end up doing nothing for damage. I couldn't imagine how demoralizing this would be to anyone who tried to fight Randy by the rules. First, get your Pokémon swapped in for something terrible, and then this? Coldblood was right, someone had to put an end to this.

“Try getting through that!” Randy taunted, much to the roar and excitement of the audience.

As the cheering and praises to Randy grew only louder and stronger, I knew that would have been a serious problem if I wasn’t creative and didn't come prepared. I could admit, I was going to need to be resourceful in ways I never had to be before, but we hadn't even really gotten warmed up yet.

“Jolteon, use your Thundersurge Chain Lightning attack!” I shouted, “Weavile, use your Shadow Hurricane!”

Randy, Jeff, and everyone else in the stadium understood nothing of what I said. The look on Randy's face was quite comical when all he could hear from my mouth was “Pi", "Pika", and "Pikachu” in a confusing and untraceable mix of syllables based on Pikachu's name. Still, he wasn’t too worried and shook off the anxiety rather quickly. But I could see in his eyes that he had never dealt with anything like this before…

Meanwhile, I used my imagination to send my ideas of a "Thundersurge Chain Lightning" attack to Jolteon and the details of "Shadow Hurricane" to Weavile. In this world, imagination on the level Randy and I could wield was a strange but highly potent form of psychic power. As if sending a message and giving them the power they needed to use it, they suddenly learned how to perform such insane, unnatural assaults, and the power they suddenly experienced was unlike anything a Pokémon has ever felt before.

“Yeah, baby,” Jolteon snickered, just itching to strike with what he had just learned. “Give me a piece of these punks!”

Jolteon thrust his front paws into the ground, put his head down, and released a tremendous bolt of thunder and lightning from his yellow, spiky-furred body. He then directed the massive, electrical discharge right at Mewtwo and Arceus. They didn’t know what attack it was either, but I could tell by their surprise, they never suspected this unique Pikachu named Juno was capable of highly-powerful forces. While they were able to understand the Pokéspeech that I called it "Thundersurge Chain Lighting," it didn't tell them anything about the real nature of the attack. I had only just created it. Meanwhile, Randy himself couldn't tell whether I had given Jolteon an attack order or told him to stand on his head.

Chain Lightning came out exactly as I imagined it and I was pleasantly surprised at how this amazing power worked. Tremendous bolts of thunder and lightning bound together in a furious discharge of jagged electricity. Meanwhile, Mewtwo and Arceus were suddenly caught right in the middle of it, not sure how the lightning attack would behave. And to their surprise, both of them were inflicted with paralysis unlike anything they've felt before. Even though their incredibly powerful shields absorbed and resisted most of the damage, they were not able to stop the paralyzing effects.

The crowd highly disliked this and shouted their contempt at me, but I tried my best to push their jeers and insults out of my mind. While something on this level was never intended, I needed this to be an even battle. If Randy was not willing to battle by the rules, then someone had to rise to his level and even the odds.

Meanwhile, Weavile had just stood still silently, and the world around us had become pitch black. Then, all I could see was a sudden storm of dark shadows bursting from where Mewtwo and Arceus were standing, moments before being consumed in a shrouding, black cyclone. Both of them were locked in a storm of dark, wicked haunting, as if thrown into a vortex of eternal shadow. Mewtwo and Arceus were badly confused, and this time it wasn’t going to go away. It was really too bad for Randy that a simple and totally legal move like Safeguard could have saved him from so much misery.

“No way!” Randy shouted out in disbelief. "What the hell just happened!?"

“How… could… they…?” Mewtwo moaned, his head and body throbbing with agony and torment. "It's... impossible."

The audience was in complete shock, and shortly after, clear displeasure about what they saw before them. They truly had never seen a battle of this magnitude before with any contender being able to pull off anything even close to what I was doing. However, many of them were still cheering avidly for Randy, thinking this was just nothing more than him allowing me to have hope only to destroy me with it later on.

“Nice job, you guys!” I said to both of them, keeping that confident Pikachu smile and cheer.

“This is so awesome!” Jolteon said in awe, looking at the devastation he had just caused, "You're incredible, Juno, you know that!"

Randy sure wasn’t happy after that. However, now he was the one with the disadvantage. And since his poor Pokémon with twitching with pain, it was us who were going to get the first strike this time.

“Jolteon, use your Diamond Breaker attack on Mewtwo!” I commanded. “Weavile, once the barriers are down, target Mewtwo using your Black Oblivion Anguish attack!”

Again, I dreamt up the details of both attacks to both Pokémon, and sent it across to their minds. I was using this power to the absolute maximum I could, because I knew if I slipped and gave Randy even more of an advantage, it could mean losing everything.

Jolteon then rushed up to the gold and silver walls that surrounded Randy’s Mewtwo and Arceus, unleashing a blinding white, forked beam from his roaring mouth. The powerful surge split into a Y-shaped strike, which then slammed into both Arceus and Mewtwo, overloading both of their shields and causing both of them to shatter, much to the anger and distaste of the audience.

Mewtwo and Arceus lightly stumbled, though the barriers had taken most of the hit. As the humanoid psychic powerhouse and the white and gray god Pokémon looked back in savage anger at that strike, I knew dismantling their defenses was key. Both of them were trying to discern what the next attack was going to be like, but not even the two of them were ready for Shadow Hurricane... an attack that didn't even exist until now. Weavile prepared an all-out nightmare attack on Mewtwo and Arceus now with their shielding removed.

Weavile gave them a harsh, cold stare. He arched back his head a bit, and then unleashed a tsunami of darkness and pure, all-consuming fury of pure blackness upon Mewtwo and Arceus. Both of them never suspected something like that was even possible. For a solid ten seconds, Mewtwo and Arceus were swallowed alive by the nightmare. Randy’s face turned pale, but I knew it wasn't over yet. When the darkness cleared, Mewtwo hadn’t been able to bear it so well.

As Randy painfully found out, this is what happens when a psychic Pokémon tries to stand up against the fury of the night...

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 13
A Sickening Turn

Recommended Listening: GRV Music & Epic Score - Prepare for the End (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7qDdwvm9_Y)

The audience seemed to be in chaos, totally in disbelief and thinking some kind of technical error had happened. I seemed to have a bit of an edge for now, but I was not about to suddenly depend on luck.

Mewtwo lay dazed and confused on the ground, not looking like he could handle any more. While Arceus was fine and ready to strike, Randy didn’t look too pleased, and seemed to be in complete denial that anything that happened during the last few minutes actually happened. And Jeff just stood there, and refused to acknowledge Mewtwo was out and unable to battle. Meanwhile, the audience was just looking on and some of them were standing up from their seats, many of them in total disbelief that one of Randy’s Pokémon actually fainted. Randy and Jeff certainly didn’t believe it.

"Come on, Mewtwo, get back in there!" Randy demanded. "Psychic Endgame on that Jolteon!"

But Mewtwo, despite his best efforts to try and make one more attack, just couldn't bear the exhaustion and pain, fully losing consciousness only a few moments later. Randy just held Mewtwo's Poké Ball with dismay, not sure if he could recall the legendary psychic Pokémon or if there was some way to get him back up and fighting again.

“He’s... he's gone, man,” Jeff told Randy softly. “Look, just recall him and bring out your third Pokémon. We’ll just forget this ever happened. I’m sure it was just an accident and he must have fainted on a technicality.”

"This doesn't make any sense!" Randy exclaimed as he pointed to his fallen Mewtwo and glared at Jeff. "He shouldn't have...!"

But he couldn't find the words for what he wanted to say. Or, as I suspected, he was about to say something that would make it obvious he was cheating.

"This... Juno..." Randy stated in growling anger and he clenched his fist, "I... don't know what he's up to. I don't understand how he's doing all this."

Then, Jeff looked curiously at Randy. Something else seemed to be picking at his mind, and I knew I would be thinking the same thing I would have been thinking in his position…

“And that Pikachu?” Jeff asked curiously, looking at Randy with an odd look in his eyes, "There's something... different about him, you know? Do you know him?"

“No…” Randy muttered back to Jeff, still trying to fight his disbelief, “never saw him before…”

I figured he couldn’t help but lie in this situation. Randy was just acting like he didn’t know me, but I knew deep inside his heart, this was really beginning to burn. Regardless, Randy decided not to squeeze blood from a stone. He pulled out Mewtwo’s Poké Ball, aimed the red recall beam at the unconscious Mewtwo, dematerialized him into a shroud of red energy, and returned him to his Poké Ball.

The audience had realized what had happened, and they had gasped. It was obvious Randy never had a Pokémon faint on him before, or at least in his world he hadn’t. Suddenly they became livid, and I could hear all kinds of anger, swearing, and jeering. I just tried to treat it as white noise and not even think about what they were saying.

Instead, Randy went back to his belt holding his Poké Balls, underneath his black leather jacket. He fingered through each of them, pulled out the one he desired, and held in tightly in his hand. The battle wasn’t over yet, and it was only just about to get worse. As I figured, Randy would use nothing but the best of the best when it came to Pokémon, and not the ones he truly loved and wanted.

“Juno, I’m not going to lose to you!” Randy screamed to me as he pointed an accusing finger. “You're mine! You can't defeat me!"

But I just lightly smiled in a way that said "oh, it's okay," as if I was forgiving him for a wrong he hadn't even committed yet. It was making him tense, but that alone wasn't going to defeat him.

“Go, Groudon!” Randy shouted as he forcefully clutched his Poké Ball and furiously tossed it into the arena.

Randy’s Poké Ball struck the ground hard, and a moment later and after an intense flash of light, a great shadow appeared over the three of us. As a little Pikachu, looking up at a Groudon, a giant red and black colossus juggernaut, is like looking up at a skyscraper that hates you and would love nothing more than to utterly crush you. Groudon looked like a walking wall of destruction. We nearly fainted just looking at him.

The audience shook off their anger and returned back to cheering for Randy. I had only knocked out one of Randy's Pokémon, and that still meant there were three other overpowered monstrosities I had to fight down.

“Oh man…” Jolteon remarked in hesitation, “this is going to get ugly real fast.”

“This kid is a freaking psychopath!” Weavile exclaimed in shock as he took a few steps back.

“Randy may have powerful Pokémon,” I told them both, “but it’s not over yet. We still have a chance at winning this. A good chance if we stick together.”

But Randy wanted to have fun. And to him, having a Pokémon faint on him was exactly what he didn’t want. He wanted to win, and he felt like he was entitled to it just because he was the one wearing the Quista necklace. I couldn’t believe him…

“Go, Groudon!” Randy screamed loudly as he pointed at his targets. “Use your Storm Chasm attack! Crush them both, and make them suffer!!”

Groudon let out a low growl, slowly took his foot off the ground, and slammed it into the ground. I instantly lost my balance and fell to the ground as everything around me shook violently and forcefully. I should have jumped earlier, but this earth-shaking superpower was unlike anything I could have imagined. The ground below us was ravaged with cracks, fissures, and jutting rocks ripping up and down from the ground. I shut my eyes and winced trying to clear as much distance away, not even wanting to watch the outcome. After a long phase and violent trembling, slowly, the terrible shaking decreased in magnitude, and everything became normal. I was far enough away from the mayhem, but Jolteon and Weavile were caught in the worst of it.

As if the attack Earthquake wasn’t bad enough, Randy had created something even more vicious than that. Storm Chasm was nothing but pure, earth-ravaging ruthlessness and mayhem. And the worst part was Jolteon had a weakness to it. As I slowly put my hands on the floor and lifted myself off the ground and stood back up again, Jeff was laughing hysterically.

“Jolteon is unable to battle, the victory goes to Groudon!!” Jeff laughed, announcing it to the whole stadium.

As soon as I heard that, and the audience roared with cheer and excitement, I quickly turned to see Jolteon. He was lying on his side, badly hurt and utterly exhausted from the earth-shattering tremors. Weavile was hurt very badly too, but he looked like he could still go on, even after a terrible attack like that. But Jolteon…

He had turned to me with the last bit of strength he had left. He wasn’t looking well at all with his body covered with dirt, cuts, and bruises. I grimaced at the sight and didn't expect him to continue at all. He had never faced anything like that before, and it totally took him by surprise.

“I’m sorry…!” Jolteon cried out to me, looking terribly exhausted, “I wanted to go further, further than this! I wanted… to win together, with you!”

“No, don’t worry about it!” I told him quickly with a reassuring smile, telling him he shouldn’t fear this. “There will be other days. You did an outstanding job, Jolteon. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Jolteon was silent for a moment, nodded lightly with a weak smile, but then collapsed from the exhaustion.

I then pulled out his Poké Ball, held it with both hands, aimed the recall beam at him and returned him to his Poké Ball. The audience was cheering once again, thinking Mewtwo's defeat was nothing more than just a fluke that had already been forgotten.

"Weavile!" I called out to him. "Do you...!"

"Don't worry about me!" he shouted to me. "I'm gonna make these two clowns pay for that!"

Weavile was going to need a supporting companion, and soon. He was working off of adrenaline now and I knew that couldn't go on forever. I needed to think of a new strategy, because Randy was going to believe I would use the same one again. It was obvious he wasn’t going to hold back now. I had defeated his Mewtwo in his world, and I could tell that was enough to drive him to anger.

But I refused to lose, I refused. Not after all I had gone through…

They were all waiting for my next choice, the next Pokémon I would decide on to continue this tribulation. I took a glance at Randy’s Pokémon, his Arceus was still in strong fighting shape while his Groudon gave me a cold stare, waiting for another victim.

I turned back to the Poké Balls on my belt, and went through them one by one. I couldn’t use Raichu, since he was the electric type and Groudon would just knock the stuffing out of him just like he did with Jolteon. As for Ariados, I wasn't sure if he could take attacks like these. It would be taking a serious risk…

And then, I came across one Poké Ball too long neglected. It was the Pokémon Black had given me, untouched and reserved for the moment I really needed it. Inside was a Pokémon that was also created from Randy's dreams, but I didn’t even know which one it was and if they would be able to help. However, deep inside, I knew if dreams were what created this world, I was going to have to trust them. I was, after all, one of them now.

I made up my mind. I took the mysterious Poké Ball, released it from the leather strap, and prepared to launch it into the arena. I could only hope it was a Pokémon that would be able to help me through this nightmare. I put both of my hands firmly on the Poké Ball, and then threw it forward.

They had all watched carefully, all of them, the audience, Jeff, and Randy. There was complete silence as the Poké Ball flew gracefully through the air, and then began to fall toward the ground. Jeff and Randy watched it carefully and anxiously, as if it were a grenade about to explode into pieces. When the Poké Ball struck the ground firmly, it opened with a flash of light.

When the blinding flash had died down, I realized who Black had sent to me as a helper, a protector for all of us. It was none other than the powerful crimson and snow white bird-like dragon and psychic Pokémon Latias. The jet-shaped legendary seemed to float and levitate effortlessly, and only just a second later, she opened her beautiful topaz-colored eyes and smiled, ready for anything. She floated in the air before Groudon and Arceus, smirking confidently and showing no fear what so ever.

“Nice choice…” Jeff remarked, unable to hold back the admiration…

“Shut up, Jeff,” Randy growled bitterly at him.

She had turned to me, and was a bit surprised I was the one who was her trainer. However, she lightly giggled, thinking it was cool and comical.

"Hey, so you're my trainer!?" The Latias smiled, thinking it was cute. "Wasn't expecting a cute, little Pikachu, but that's cool! You ready for this!?"

"I was born ready!" I smiled, really admiring this incredible Latias I now had as an ally.

She. Was. Awesome. Before, I wasn't sure if I was on the brink of anxiety, dismay, or even insanity, but her optimism and casual nature just washed away the fear and dread like it there was nothing to it.

“Go for a Draconic Hyperfire attack!” I shouted to her as I sent her the details of the attack, really happy to have a Pokémon like her as an ally. “Go for Arceus, we need him taken out!"

And then, at that critical second when I gave her the intense and ferocious imagined attack, her eyes suddenly went wide and she realized I certainly was no ordinary Pikachu. As I used my imagination and sent her the details of the attack in mind, which she was able to instantly learn, she had felt new power, and I was the source of it.

"Holy... sweet mother of mercy, how can you..." she replied before quickly just shaking off the surprise and heading into battle. "Ah, whatever, I'm going for it!"

Then, she flew off the ground, and rushed at a lightning speed toward Arceus, letting loose a loud screech from the wind that was blazing past her. All Arceus could do was look up, dazed and confused and unable to move, not sure how to respond to it. Latias stormed her way to meet her target, and in a split second, the air itself was sliced violently with a loud and furious screaming sonic boom, and Latias had hit her mark with flawless accuracy. The slash sounded like a sharp rake tearing into thick metal while green and jade-colored flames and embers were thrown violently in all directions. It sounded terribly painful. And then just as she flew away, Arceus was swept with a fiery, draconic explosion of golden-colored flames and fire.

“Ouch…” Jeff grimaced as Arceus took a nasty blow.

And in no time at all, Latias had returned to my side, almost to my own surprise.

I had just looked at Arceus, who just completely forgot about the pain in his chest and howled in agony over the terrible, burning pain in his face. After he had staggered to stay up, he had fallen onto his side, and lost the will to fight. No one could believe what had just happened.

“This cannot be happening…” Randy growled angrily. “No... freaking way!! NO WAY!!!”

“Arceus is unable to battle…” Jeff muttered calmly. “The victory goes to…”

“Shut your rotten mouth, Jeff!!” Randy furiously shouted at him. “I can’t lose, remember!? Just who do you think will be getting this victory, huh!? I’m not going to lose to a pathetic… little… Pikachu…”

There was a strong, dark feeling in the air as Randy recalled Arceus, not even thanking him or telling him he did a job well done. The audience had mixed feelings now. Some of them were angry, others were struck dumbfounded and silenced, while others were still rooting from Randy and thinking this was probably all just intentional.

I felt a very cold aura of anger and darkness as Randy decided on his final Pokémon. What freaked me out the most was he chose it very quickly. He yanked one last Poké Ball from his belt, and held it with a tightening fist, almost to the point of crushing it. Randy was brimming with fury and it was starting to get frightening.

“Now you’re dead,” Randy grinned maniacally with dark fury in his eyes. “You, him, her, everybody. All of you are gone! You won’t exist anymore!!”

He was truly losing it. This level of anger would make him reckless and impatient, but it would also make him merciless, destructive, and I was afraid he might just never stop attacking even after we lost.

Randy then grasped his Poké Ball, primed it for release, and then angrily threw it into the arena. The shiny Poké Ball struck the ground hard, and after a brilliant flash, we lay eyes on yet another, towering titan. The three of us looked up in shock and bewilderment as we saw one of the most powerful legendary Pokémon of all time, Lugia, standing before us like a skyscraper of destruction and mayhem. The massive silver and blue aquatic bird with whale-like skin looked down at us, using his long neck to glare at us with his sharp, blue-pronged eyes.

"Oh, what a day, man!" Latias exclaimed in surprise. "Look at that dude! He probably thinks we wouldn't even suffice for lunch!"

"No... kidding..." I replied.

Despite her surprise, she still wasn't giving up and neither was I. Her spirit was unlike anything I've seen before, and she just seemed immune to virtually any kind of fear or intimidation.

Lugia had looked down at us, flashing a sinister smile. I couldn’t stand the way his dark, menacing eyes glared at us. Between him and Groudon, it felt like I was seconds away from being stepped on and reduced to nothing but a puddle of goo.

“I'm going to shred away every last fiber of hope you have," Lugia taunted us. "And trust me when I say there's no one to clean up after broken dreams!"

Quickly, Randy wanted to keep the battle going. His reputation and dreams were on the line and he was not willing to give up to preserve them until the end of time.

“Go Lugia!” Randy shouted loudly. “Destroy that Weavile with an Ultra Nova Blast!”

Lugia just turned his back to us, looked at the suffering Weavile, and just looked curiously at him.

“Well,” Lugia remarked with a dark smirk, “this doesn’t look like much of a challenge…”

Lugia opened his mouth, and a brilliant, white sphere of power and energy took form in his mouth. As the sphere accumulated more energy, it become larger and larger until Lugia released his power, and fired a tremendous white beam at Weavile.

"Run!" I shouted to Weavile, knowing he had to find a way to fight the pain that was crippling him.

He really did try to dodge it and leapt as far as he could away, but there was too much to evade. It was like trying to doggie paddle away from a tidal wave.

“NO!” I shouted as I hopelessly watched the massive beam slam into Weavile.

Weavile cried in pain, just before the massive and deafening explosion silenced everything. Torrents of white energy created a shockwave and rocked the entire stadium. I couldn’t even see Weavile anymore, buried somewhere in that blazing white, explosive chaos. Latias and I quickly fell back to avoid being caught in the destructive mayhem, hoping to not be swallowed up by it as well. Thankfully, we were able to move away just enough, but I knew the situation was hopeless for Weavile.

When the explosion died down, I looked everywhere for Weavile, hoping there was anything left of him besides ash and dust. And then, I saw him, on the ground and completely motionless, crumpled up into a heap. Randy had just pulverized my second Pokémon. Even after all this effort, we were only even now.

"Weavile is unable to battle, the victory goes to Lugia!" Jeff cried out, seemingly relieved he had something to celebrate now.

As the audience roared in delight, I pulled out Weavile's Poké Ball and returned him. He had done the best he could, and that was all. Now, he needed time to rest more than ever after that level of anarchy. I secured the Poké Ball in the leather loop and then decided on my next Pokémon, the last one I could use. Once I made a decision, there was no turning back.

And then I made a choice I won’t long forget. I couldn’t grab the courage to send either Ariados or Raichu into a battle they could easily get clobbered in, but I couldn’t let Latias fight alone. She needed someone to help her…

I decided that if in the end I was going to lose to Randy, I wanted to know that I couldn’t have done it any other way. I reached for the buckle that held the leather straps of my belt together, and separated the straps. I then grasped the belt with my Poké Balls, and threw it aside, far away from the fighting area.

I knew what I had to do…

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Ah, I love these battle!. Pokemon battles are alright in the games, but why I love the manga and the show is because of the unique and creative ways that seemingly-ordinary moves can be used in new and exciting strategies. But with these battles, like with the Green Lantern ring, the true culprit behind Randy and Juno's power is their imagination. One thing that's striking in Jake, and later Juno's, recollection of Victory City is how boring everything is. There are werewolves and robots, but their ripped from things that Randy has seen, they aren't original creations. And as the refs show, Randy has no talent for creating dialogue. I love that these battles take place in the realm of imagination, not only literally, but also in terms of the moves and strategies invented. The fight between Juno and Randy is a little like the days of playing pretend on the playground where each kid would come up with a ridiculous power more extreme than the last, except this time the stakes are real, and it really is a match of skill, determination, and even heart. To make a long story short, this battle is everything and more than what the imagination fight in Sharkboy and Lava Girl 3-D turned out to be.

On another note, I love how Jake's fusion with Juno is transforming him, but there were two lines that stuck out to me:

But in the meantime, Randy needed to learn this was no way to build a strong Pokémon team. That had to be done through effort, determination, and love for one's Pokémon.
and

It was a shame to think that instead of trying to grow strong, he relied on this necklace like a crutch. The truth was, anyone could be in Randy's seat with that necklace on, but it took real strength, training, and courage to become great and truly heroic on their own. This was what I needed to teach Randy. Taking the easy way to success was wrong and hollow, and forgetting past dreams was a dire mistake.
While Jake is now turning into Juno and taking on some of his traits, these two bits of narration are still part of Jake I believe. For all of his attitude adjustment needs, his unhappy home life, and his treatment of Randy, this is still a kid who cares about his Pokemon and understands Pokemon training far more than Randy does, which is really quite impressive (to me at least) at such a young age. If only circumstances were different, Jake might have become truly happy by journeying and raising Pokemon, but then none of this story would have happened.

Finally, while I love, and will always love, the old Blazewing, you were right: this incarnation has pluck! I like pluck! Already, she's lifting spirits and bringing smiles, and I'm just talking about myself. Given how high the stakes are in this battle with Randy (and with what's to come), Blazewing is not quite comic-relief, but still lightens Juno's load in a way that is different from her original character, but is still utterly valuable, and may even be more so as the story goes on.

[Neo Emolga]

Ah, I love these battle!. Pokemon battles are alright in the games, but why I love the manga and the show is because of the unique and creative ways that seemingly-ordinary moves can be used in new and exciting strategies. But with these battles, like with the Green Lantern ring, the true culprit behind Randy and Juno's power is their imagination. One thing that's striking in Jake, and later Juno's, recollection of Victory City is how boring everything is. There are werewolves and robots, but their ripped from things that Randy has seen, they aren't original creations. And as the refs show, Randy has no talent for creating dialogue. I love that these battles take place in the realm of imagination, not only literally, but also in terms of the moves and strategies invented. The fight between Juno and Randy is a little like the days of playing pretend on the playground where each kid would come up with a ridiculous power more extreme than the last, except this time the stakes are real, and it really is a match of skill, determination, and even heart. To make a long story short, this battle is everything and more than what the imagination fight in Sharkboy and Lava Girl 3-D turned out to be.

Yep, you got it. Randy just wants everything to be about him!

One thing that bugs me about Pokémon battles in the games is how you can't really use the surrounding environment around you in the battle. Pokémon can't take cover behind objects, use an object in conjunction with their attack, or use higher/lower ground to their advantage. So in terms of battles, I definitely like going with the anime more, although I can't say anything for the manga given as I haven't ever read all that much of it.

But yeah, when this idea came to mind, I wanted to go wild with it.


On another note, I love how Jake's fusion with Juno is transforming him, but there were two lines that stuck out to me:

While Jake is now turning into Juno and taking on some of his traits, these two bits of narration are still part of Jake I believe. For all of his attitude adjustment needs, his unhappy home life, and his treatment of Randy, this is still a kid who cares about his Pokemon and understands Pokemon training far more than Randy does, which is really quite impressive (to me at least) at such a young age. If only circumstances were different, Jake might have become truly happy by journeying and raising Pokemon, but then none of this story would have happened.

Yep, you picked up on this quite well. I'm sure you noticed that as soon as Jake becomes Juno, his attitude improves and he doesn't look at things as negatively. He also becomes much nicer inside as well.

But yeah, even as a schoolyard bully with a difficult home life, he still loves his Pokémon and feels bad for what some of them go through.


Finally, while I love, and will always love, the old Blazewing, you were right: this incarnation has pluck! I like pluck! Already, she's lifting spirits and bringing smiles, and I'm just talking about myself. Given how high the stakes are in this battle with Randy (and with what's to come), Blazewing is not quite comic-relief, but still lightens Juno's load in a way that is different from her original character, but is still utterly valuable, and may even be more so as the story goes on.

I tried writing one chapter with Blazewing taking on a more plucky attitude, and something about it really seemed to fit just right. Most images of Latias show her with a bright smile, optimism, and cheer, so I thought why isn't Blazewing more like that? The old Blazewing just seemed too serious and somber, and there's already quite a few characters like that.

Also, Trial of Juno is a pretty dark story at times, and I felt there was a really strong, crucial need to have at least one character be more on the amusing and optimistic side. With the previous rendition, no character even came close to that. So I figured changing her personality to be this way would not only would this give her a very distinct personality trait that separates her from all the other characters, but it would also strengthen the bond that Juno and Blazewing have as friends and how they're always there for each other no matter what happens.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 14
Into the Breech

Randy and Jeff looked at me with a bizarre look in their eyes, wondering what I was doing. Then, Jeff had suddenly realized what I was actually going to try and pull off. As I stepped besides Latias, I felt I was ready for this.

“Juno wants to fight the battle himself…” Jeff said in disbelief. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Well, if he really wants to suffer too, that’s fine with me,” Randy growled. "It's payback for thinking he ever had a chance!"

Latias had looked at me, and suddenly realized what I was doing. She was surprised, blinked twice, but she seemed to also like the idea.

"Oh, wow, you want to get in on this lunacy yourself!?" Latias laughed. "These two big buffoons versus you and I! Hey, win or lose, this is going to make an awesome conversational piece!"

I almost thought I was going crazy for laughing with her, but she had this amazing optimism and sense of humor that just reassured me everything was going to be alright no matter how dark things got. Some would consider my decision crazy or reckless, but here she was, totally fine with it, and supporting me every step of the way.

"Bigger they come... harder they fall," I told Latias, knowing these two shouldn't underestimate speed over raw strength.

It was going to take both of our greatest efforts to take down two of the nastiest Pokémon of all time, two of the strongest legendary Pokémon I’ve ever encountered. We had been through so much that I was almost forgetting what was real and just made-up.

"Let's get on with it!” Randy shouted, just pushing the battle onward. “Groudon, let’s show Juno how painful a Storm Chasm attack is!”

“With pleasure,” Groudon growled in sadistic delight.

I began to look frantically for a way out, but I saw none. Then, Latias frantically leapt off the ground, and flew toward me, effortlessly levitating in midair.

“Jump on, dude!” Latias shouted to me. "I don't come with seatbelts, but it's a heck of a lot better than staying on the ground!"

I then quickly leapt off the ground, and landed on Latias’s back, and held on to her neck. We then flew off the ground and went up into the air. I felt the wind blazing across my face, coursing through my yellow fur and causing my long ears to be whipped in the wind. Groudon slammed his foot onto the ground, shaking the ground tremendously, but we were totally untouched with the two of us now airborne. We circled around Groudon until we were able to see his back.

“Go for his head!” I told Latias as we flew at an intense pace. “Hit the back of his head with a Draconic Laceration attack!”

"Ha, ha!" Latias laughed as she swiftly flew around the arena before the bewildered and pointing audience. "He's sure going to feel this in the morning!"

And then, Latias flew at Groudon, and everything became a blur, everything inspired by what I dreamed of what a "Draconic Laceration" attack would look like. Hard, painful, crippling, and of course, explosive. To me, there was something cool about a slash attack that exploded like a grenade after the strike.

After I focused through the blur, everything around us began to move slowly again while we kept flying at normal speed, just like when I fought Haxorus. It seemed like Groudon couldn’t even move, and then Latias moved in for the strike. For a split second, I heard an ear-splitting shriek as Latias’s claws sunk into Groudon’s rocky armor, and tore into it effectively and mercilessly with her claws. Once she flew off, a fiery explosion detonating against the back of Groudon's head caused the colossal, red-plated dinosaur-like Pokémon to stumble and grow angrier.

Groudon attempted to try and hit us by wildly swinging his arm, but Latias dodged with finesse as he encircled around Groudon again. Really, instead of trying to attack where we were, he was going to need to attack where we were going to be. I certainly wouldn't be the one to inform him of that crucial fighting tactic. If he hit us just once, we were going to go flying.

“Lugia, get after those two!” Randy shouted furiously. “Destroy them both!!”

Then, Lugia spread his giant, silver wings, jumped off the ground and flew into the air, vigorously flapping his wings to stay afloat, blowing dust in all directions from the furious wind gusts. It didn’t take Lugia very long before he was on our tail, relentlessly chasing us as we circled around the stadium much to the shock and awe of the audience. Latias had looked behind her for a moment, and saw we had serious trouble right behind us. Our only advantage was Latias was smaller, more nimble, and not as easy to hit. However, I was sure being bigger, stronger, and more endurable in Lugia's case wasn't such a bad deal.

The audience kept cheering Lugia on, but I drowned it out by focusing on the massive, whale-like bird and what we would need to do to bring him down. Trying to fight both of them was going to be hard, but we still had a chance.

"Are you serious!" Latias called out to me. "That big lug is going to try and attack my butt!? What did my butt ever do to him!?"

"Rear gunner reporting, target acquired, 6 o' clock!" I told Latias as if this was just a game. "Don't worry, I'll keep your butt safe!"

Playing along with her light-hearted, comical banter was not only fun, but it was washing away the anxiety and fear. Her smiles, optimism, and reassurance were bringing out the best in me and were doing more our goal of victory than even the most potent adrenaline could.

"I hear that, rear gunner!" She shouted with a comical smile, enjoying how I was playing along with her. "Aqua Turkey's all yours, fire away!"

I had to chuckle at the way she called Lugia "Aqua Turkey." We attempted to move at blitz speed again, only Lugia had been catching on and easily kept up the pace. I didn’t think he would be able to follow us at this tremendous speed, but now it was just me and him and I needed to figure out a way to bring him down.

Lugia was now attacking on his own free will. He had been blessed with Randy’s intensive Ultra Nova Blast, and he was already preparing to unleash another beam of destruction on us. After seeing what that thing did to Weavile, I seriously didn't want to share the same experience. Lugia had an extremely aggressive look in his narrow eyes, and he almost seemed to smile while the extreme onslaught he was about to let loose upon us was only growing more powerful and intense by the second. Then, I saw he was about to fire another devastating beam. And it was aimed right for us…

“Pull up!” I shouted to Latias quickly.

She quickly responded and we ascended just in time, as a giant torrent of white, blazing energy blasted below us at a thunderous pace. A moment later, there was an intense explosion under us, sending dirt and debris scattering everywhere. I swore, the blast was deafening and I felt like my ears were ringing. Getting hit by that would probably be even worse than getting hit by a flaming train.

"Holy smokes, I hope that didn't kill anyone in the audience!" Latias remarked at the massive torrent that flew right past us.

Everything was moving so fast that I didn't even look. Again and again we circled around the stadium at a feverish pace. If I wanted to get Lugia off our tail, I was going to have to return fire, and now. But how was I going to do it when I needed to hold on?

I slowly turned around, carefully holding onto Latias’s wings tightly with my hands to avoid being flung off. After carefully getting repositioned, I was now facing Lugia straight in the face, and it wasn't exactly the most pleasant and welcoming sight I've had to lay eyes on. I knew that if we got struck by just one of those beams, that was going to be the end of everything real fast. Already, Lugia was fully charged with another shot. I hated to say it, but he was getting better and faster at doing this...

“Bear right!” I shouted to Latias.

She did just that, and just in time. Just only five feet away from us was a torrent of absolute carnage. The blazing fury of the white beam was so close to the point where I could still feel the force of the attack rushing past us, but thankfully it was mostly harmless.

"Hey, we're over here!" Latias taunted Lugia, trying to mess with his head. "Do I really have to paint a target on myself or what!?"

As I looked at Lugia getting annoyed at that comment, I tried to think of an idea. The only way we were going to get Lugia off our back was if I kept attacking him. Otherwise, we could be flying around forever... or until Lugia got lucky. I gritted my teeth, held on tighter, and my cheeks began to flare up with intense electrical power. Then, I looked toward Lugia, and aimed for the area between the eyes. I then let loose a powerful Thunderflare Stormstrike attack that forked its way violently toward Lugia, and struck him right on his forehead. It stunned him for a moment, but he was able to get back on his pursuit very easily, now bearing a dark and angry smile that was just thirsting for revenge.

"You're going to regret that when you pay it back in pain and agony!" Lugia snarled.

As he flapped his wings furiously, causing gushing windstorms to sweep around, I was keeping both Latias and myself from getting hit by me being her rear vision, giving her the heads up when another attack was incoming. Meanwhile, Groudon, incapable of flight slow to move around and attack, was left to mostly watch the whole pursuit.

I prepared to strike again, this time aiming for Lugia’s abdomen, hoping it would hurt him more if I hit him there. At the same time, Lugia was preparing another Ultra Nova Blast. It was going to all come down to who hit first…

I let loose my attack, and the blazing thunder struck Lugia furiously. I thought he was going to go down for sure but he just fought off the pain yet again. And then, he fired his beam of destruction, and I didn’t even have half a second to warn Latias…

It blasted its way right under us, and for a sickening moment it felt like we were riding on top of it. I could feel the intense blast even stronger now.

"Holy crap, that hurts!" She cried out.

And then, Latias’s had started to lose control of her flying, and all I could think was that she just got hit by the beam. We had done a barrel roll almost three times, and I looked ahead to see we were about to crash right into the ground.

“Latias! Are you okay!?” I shouted frantically. “Pull up, or we’re going to crash!”

"Whoa, hang in there, this is going to get rough!" She warned me, trying to regain control.

I held onto her wings as tightly as I could, bracing myself for impact. I couldn’t believe this was how it was all going to end. It was going to be so quick and furious, even when we had been doing so well. We blazed faster and faster toward the ground, and I could tell the impact was going to be extremely painful for Latias, as well as myself when I was going to go flying right off of her.

But then, at that last critical second, Latias slowly began to arc upward, but I realized it might just be too late. Just as she regained control of her flight, we made contact with the ground, and I heard a loud scrape. Latias shut her topaz yellow eyes and winced with pain. At that moment, we started to head upward again. But I could tell Latias was hurt.

"Yeahh... that's gonna hurt in the morning," She winced a bit.

"I'm really sorry about that," I told her, knowing I shouldn't have risked it by thinking attacking back was more important than keeping us protected.

"Ha, we're not out yet!" She reassured me. "He only got close, and close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!"

I smiled and nodded, knowing we could still pull this off. While I suddenly saw my life flashing right before my eyes at that moment, we could still make this work. I turned back to face Lugia, who hadn’t given up the fight at all.

"Does it hurt?" Lugia laughed. "Just wait until you both get a taste of what a direct hit feels like!"

Lugia then began charging up one more Ultra Nova Blast, trying to make it as huge as possible to the point where trying to dodge it would be almost laughable. I waited patiently for the moment to arise, but I knew trying to dodge this was going to be close to impossible.

Then, as the white, glowing sphere of energy was large and filled with a tremendous amount of glowing, white power, I focused hard on my own energy, and my cheeks flared up with more electricity than ever before, and I could feel the intense power surge throughout me. Lugia was within moments of firing off a beam that was so giant that we had no chance to avoid it. It was now or never. I released the most powerful Stormthunder Crusher attack I could, and aimed for the one spot that was going to change everything. I aimed right for the gathering energy in Lugia’s mouth. When the intense thunder and lightning clashed with the charging energy Lugia was gathering for his attack, there was a massive explosion of electric and windstorm energy, and Lugia’s mouth was ground zero.

The white explosion was so massive that Lugia’s entire body looked like it had exploded, and the wave of white energy slowly crept toward us as we tried to race away from it and just barely managed to outrun.

"Fly as hard as you can!" I shouted to Latias.

She quickly did, and the sudden surge in speed to avoid the explosion almost sent me flying off of her like a leaf in the wind. I held on tight, knowing losing my grip would be the end of everything for me.

Moments later, the explosion died down, and Lugia recklessly slammed right into the ground, violently tumbling over and over several times as white fire and electrical discharge blazed all over his body. When Lugia stopped tumbling, we saw he lay unconscious, never suspecting his own intense power would be turned against him. After rolling over one last time, he was on his back, surrounded by the dust clouds and smoke that his tumbling body had created. He absolutely refused to move, regardless of how much Randy demanded for him to get back up.

"NO! " Randy shouted, angry about Lugia's defeat. "Get up, you dumb birdbrain! Come on, what are you waiting for!?"

"Oh man, that was epic!" Latias cheered, looking at what my attack had done. "Game over, Aqua Turkey!"

Despite his shouts and tantrums, Randy had no choice but to recall Lugia. In all honesty, I had never seen his face turn so red with angry and unending rage.

I turned around with a sigh of relief and then faced the same direction Latias’s was facing, preparing to finish this.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a giant, spiked pillar made of chrome metal with razors on its end suddenly threw its way upward right into our faces, and forcefully slammed right into us. I didn't even have time to scream.

Latias was struck in the head extremely hard, and I was immediately thrown off of her, sent catapulting into the air. I waved my arms, trying to grab onto anything that would stop me from falling, but it was hopeless. I then crashed into a stadium support column head first right near the stadium seats, which hurt tremendously.

I shut my eyes from the pain as I fell backward, and all I could feel was a soft wind gust from underneath me as I kept falling and falling. Then, moments later, I slammed right into the ground hard, and I was pulsing with hot, burning, crippling pain all over my body. I rolled over a few times, and lay on my back. I was almost paralyzed from the agony, not even sure what really happened.

I opened up my eyes slowly, and gazed up at the stars in the black sky as hot, boiling pain continued to cripple my body. I couldn’t move it was so bad. Then, seconds later I heard Latias cry out in pain as she hit the ground and tumbled close by. I heard the tumbling get closer, and she stopped only a few feet away from me. I could hear her moan in pain, never suspecting to be hurt so badly...

When I slowly turned my head, I saw it was Groudon who was responsible for hitting us. In trying to take down Lugia and deal with his nearly apocalyptic Ultra Nova Blasts, I had totally forgotten about him and didn't think he would have been capable of striking us down like that.

He had hit us with his massive tail, right at the point when he has used a similar attack to Iron Tail, only it felt like we crashed into something far more durable and stronger than even that. I was breathing hard, hoping I could get back up and try fighting again, only it seemed so distant. Jeff had just looked at the two of us fallen on the ground, and he just smiled.

“Juno and Latias are unable to battle!” Jeff shouted out with triumphant glee. “The victory goes to Groudon, making Randy the winner!”

After I heard those words and the audience roar with fiery, passionate cheer, I grabbed every last ounce of energy and willpower to get back up. Determination and adrenaline kicked in like never before and I felt a second wind come over me, refusing to accept the consequences of losing. If I stopped here and didn't get up now, I would lose everything and probably regret it forever.

I slowly rolled over onto my chest, thrust my hands firmly into the ground, and pushed myself off the dusty floor to stand right back up again. I told the pain and agony coursing through my nerves to back off, forcing willpower and mental determination to take over.

I was going to enter the fray once more…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 15
Restless

As the audience was still cheering, I was hurting all over, the bitter sting of pain surrounded me, but it wasn’t strong enough to stop my determination. If I was going to lose here, then I was going to lose everything, and I just couldn’t accept that. We came so close and to lose now would have made it all for nothing. If Randy won this, everyone would just forget this close call ever happened and nothing would change.

“It appears…” Jeff said in a calm tone, “Juno hasn’t given up. He still thinks he can fight.”

The audience had suddenly quieted down, only just realizing that it technically wasn't over and Jeff's call had been declared too early. A Pokémon is only considered unable to battle if it loses consciousness, and I was definitely still awake.

“Really!?” Randy asked in gleeful amazement, “Heh, Juno mustn’t be too smart then. Groudon, let’s prove to this little wimp that he didn’t stand a chance in the first place. Oblivion Razor Claw, now, Groudon!”

I couldn't believe Randy's lust for winning had gone so far that he was willing to go to this extent to destroy a once-fond memory and aspiration just to appease imaginary people he had created for himself.

But in the meantime, the audience was amazed I was still standing. However, I couldn’t bring myself to move. I could barely walk, and only moments later, Groudon came stomping forward, approached me, slashed me furiously across the chest, and in a split second I found myself thrown off the ground and flying into the air. I must have flown fifty feet before hitting the ground again, and rolling around and around until I hit the back wall. I felt weaker than ever before from the intense pain. This was insane. I felt like I was going to be reduced to ribbons and there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it. A Pikachu trying to fight a Groudon? It was almost a joke, but I had to keep telling myself there had to be something beyond this.

Meanwhile, the audience was rendered silent as they watched me get thrown across the stadium. It had all seemed so hopeless now. I had turned to Latias, who was now very far away from me. She had fainted, unable to help me now. I was alone, completely by myself. And right now, I didn’t see any hope for me to make it out of this alive. Then, even as I was lying on the floor, trying get back up, Randy decided to strike at me again. I told myself I had to move, or it might just be all over with.

But it was too late. Groudon had stood above me, bent down and grasped my body, and I screamed for him to let me go. But instead, I suddenly felt a great blast of wind rush past me as I was thrown again, flying out of Groudon’s grasp, and flying through the air before hitting the ground once again and rolling over and over again before stopping again.

I didn’t want to die like this, but I didn't want to give up either...

I had to expel the pain, or else it would never end. If I failed here, what kind of message would that send to Randy? That his delusion of victory was now the standard? That it was okay to abandon everything that had meaning in life just to win?

I had to win, because I wasn't just doing this for my own good now. I was doing it for his. Groudon had to be stopped and there was no question

“You haven’t had enough!?” Groudon growled humorously. “How much more pain do you want!? Please, keep trying, because I'm loving every minute of your prolonged defeat!”

“There is no attack Juno has that can hurt Groudon.” Randy remarked firmly. “That hope ended when he lost Latias. This will be over in seconds.”

Recommended Listening: James Paget - Together As One (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOvo0t4qUqw)

And as much as I didn’t want to believe it, he was right. No electrical attack was ever going to hurt Groudon no matter how much effort and energy I put into it. I was scared at that moment. The only thing I could do now was just stand here and lose. Perhaps Randy had grown far too strong to handle. Maybe there really was no way to truly defeat him. I couldn't believe it. All because of a stupid necklace.

But, I could have smacked myself for thinking like that. I had turned to Latias, and I realized she hadn’t given up after she hit the ground. She worked as hard as she could so we would still have a chance at winning. The two of us had worked so hard to get so far together. The last thing I wanted was for her to wake up and find out we lost, and it was all for nothing. All the hell that David, Alex, and all of my Pokémon had done for all of us was going to be for nothing.

But Latias... even in the face of the biggest threats she's ever faced, remained cool, calm, and spirited. I wanted... no, I needed to be like that. When she woke up, what kind of news was I going to give her? How was I going to tell her how it all went down?

It would all start with a smile.

I had rushed toward Groudon, trying to think of some, even small, possible way of stopping him. But like Latias would, I didn't care about the details, I just needed to get there first and now.

There had to be something. I had a strong feeling it wasn’t meant to end like this.

And then, the perfect solution had come to mind…

Groudon had attempted to stomp on me several times as I made my way around his feet, trying to grab onto his back. He kept turning around and around, but I was far too fast for him to keep up. I didn’t care what pain tried to drag me down, I wasn’t going to accept it and my heart and will forced my nerves to stand down and cease fire. I leapt toward Groudon’s back, and latched on hard, determined never to let go until what had to be done was done.

“Get him off of you!” Randy shouted furiously.

Groudon had attempted to hit me with his tail, but was left to strike at random as he could not see me. I slowly and carefully used the black grooves on his back to make my way upward. As I drew closer to the top, Groudon had struck me successfully, and it made the pain even more agonizing. I had to go slower then, struggling and twitching to try and reach my target as I climbed higher and higher. I refused to let him stop me here...

And finally, at last I had reached the point where Groudon could no longer hit me with his tail, or be able to reach for me. His tail couldn't reach the spot I was at and neither could his claws. Meanwhile, he couldn't try to shake me off either.

Then, I had come across the one way I could have a chance at winning this battle. I had found the area where Latias had struck Groudon in the back of the head with the Draconic Laceration attack, and the claw slashes had gone deep. I then approached the cuts in the back of Groudon’s head, and realized in one small area, his rock plate armor had been cut and broken away to reveal the softer skin area behind it. I placed my hands on the soft skin, and then focused my energy.

My cheeks had once again flared up with incredible electric power, and I sent the harsh amount of electricity right into the exposed area where my hands were with an attack I decided to call "Stormbreaker Thunder," the most powerful electrical attack I could imagine. The powerful electric storm had bypassed Groudon’s armor and had begun to electrocute him within his own rocky skin. He had tried to shake me off, but I held on as tight refusing with all my will and power to not let go as I was determined to channel as much of this attack into him as I possibly could.

I continuously poured in as much electrical power as I could into the open cut, not even once caring about Groudon’s pleas to make me stop. I poured in everything, all until there wasn't a single spark left in the electric sacs in my cheeks.

The onslaught had lasted almost two minutes, and by the time I had finally stopped, Groudon had begun to collapse. Just before he slammed face-first into the ground, I quickly jumped off, and landed back on my feet, utterly exhausted. Behind me, Groudon had fallen, no longer able to fight, and I had turned around to face my fallen enemy. Randy didn’t want to believe what had just happened. But while Groudon had fallen, I struggled to keep standing. I knew as long as he was down and I still stood, victory would be mine.

“Groudon, get up!” Randy shouted. “Get up! Get up you useless lug!!”

I stood there, silently, still trying to fight and endure all the bitter and crippling pain I had been though. I was, however, able to flash a tiny Pikachu smile.

“Randy…” Jeff told him. “I don't... I don't think there's anything he can do anymore…”

“Jeff,” Randy told him, “Groudon will be getting up, I know it.”

The audience was silent and struck dumbfounded, standing quietly, as if suddenly rendered quiet at the sound of a funeral dirge.

But Jeff shook his head, not believing the totally unpredictable result either, but still acknowledging the fact that Groudon had been finished. There was nothing that could help him. All four of his Pokémon were down.

“I’m sorry, Randy…” Jeff said calmly. "It can't...

“No!” Randy shouted, “NO!! This is not supposed to happen to me! Never! NEVER!! This should not be happening!!”

And then, Randy let loose a hideous scream of agony and frustration. It seemed to get louder and louder, and then seemed so loud it was unreal.

It was at that moment that Randy's world had begun to collapse. The starry sky suddenly shattered like glass, and all the fragments were sucked into the void. And then, suddenly everything in Victory City was starting to crumble into rubble, including the stadium itself, piece by piece. It all floated upward into the void sky, and suddenly, my heart sank in ways it had never done before...

I ran frantically toward Latias in desperate tears. I knew... as a part of Randy's dreams, if the rest of Randy's world was going to crumble apart and fade away, so would she. For that moment, nothing else mattered. As the world crumbled down to nothing and Randy's scream still rang on, I just leapt toward Latias, and hugged her in what I knew would be those final moments. As the void swallowed every last fragment of Randy's world and the only thing remaining was that crumbling stadium, I held onto Latias.

She had suddenly woken up and opened her bright, topaz-colored eyes. She was weak, tired, and worn, but deep inside, she knew we had won. She had this way about her that could just tell.

"Stay... awesome," She smiled to me.

"I still..." I muttered, tears running hard and hot down my face. "...he still... owes me a wish..."

He did. That was part of the deal.

"I wish..." I spoke as the last bits of the world around us were falling away and being sucked away into the void, "...I wish... for you... to come with me..."

...I had finally found a friend that knew how to reach out to my heart and make me happy. To guide me toward being better. And as this world faded away, I could not bear to lose her...

I didn't think about the details or what was possible and what was impossible. I didn't think about how it would all turn out for real. I didn't think about anything but her, and how she deserved a chance to carry on, away from this place, and live on. I put my tiny, yellow paws on her body, closed my eyes, and just wished and prayed with all my heart...

I felt an incredible chime of light and hope come over me, and for a split second, I felt like we had been bound together. I was lost in a sudden moment of uncertainty, but something, someone, somewhere... assured me at that crucial moment that it would all be as it was meant to be...

Then, everything went instantly black, and I heard a tremendous shattering sound, as if a million panes of glass had been broken. Everything was gone. The stadium, the gray battlegrounds, Randy's Pokémon, and his entire world... just like that.

When the awful sounds had ended, there was only the silence of darkness…


* * *

It all felt like the worst dream ever.

When I came into consciousness, I felt myself face down, cheek pressed against the hot, black tarmac. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw were cars in a parking lot in the middle of the afternoon sky, simply waiting there like nothing ever happened here. I then realized where I was.

I was back at school, lying in the parking lot. After pushing myself up off the ground, I quickly realized from the length of my arms and legs and the shape of my body that I was no longer Juno the Pikachu, but instead as my human self, Jake Kossak. I had my normal blue jeans, white t-shirt, and all my regular clothes on, as well as belt with my Poké Balls. I then felt them with my human hand and fingers to make sure it was all real.

And then something stopped me as I suddenly recalled something. I quickly got up and did a head count on the belt with the Poké Balls.

I counted Raichu's, Ariados's, Weavile's, Jolteon's, and...

...I could not believe my eyes when I saw the fifth. I took it out and looked it over, not sure how it was possible or if I really did pull that Latias out of Randy's dream world. Did that wish... did... did it really happen? It trembled in my hand, but I knew... I could not open it until I was alone. If the others knew...

I checked my watch and saw it was still 2:18, only a minute after we had met them on that last day of school before the incident. Alex and David had gotten up, and were right beside me.

“Man, what the hell happened?” Alex asked, getting up off the ground. “For a moment, I heard this hideous scream and then it felt like…”

“It’s over...” I sighed, still barely able to talk.

I had seen Frank, Jeff, and Randy only a short distance away. When I looked at them, they only began to walk away even faster and had no intention of saying anything. They simply walked away from it all, and Alex and David showed no desire of pursuing them.

"That was..." David muttered, still in shock, "...damn, that was no dream, was it?"

"Whatever it was..." Alex said, watching Randy, Frank, and Jeff walk away.

There was nothing left to do. After standing there for a few moments, trying to process everything that had happened, I knew it was time to leave it all behind and head home. I

After looking at each other, Alex and David had simply turned around, and began to head home, still overcome with a million different thoughts and not sure how to interpret it all. Meanwhile, I stood there for a few seconds, just content to see the normal world again. The air of real reality had never smelled so good.

And then, tiny red, blue, and black glints from the asphalt reflecting the afternoon sun had caught my eye, and I realized it was the Quista necklace, only now it was in pieces. As I continued to stare at it, it slowly crumbled even further, and turned into dust that was gone with the wind. I was glad that hideous torture device was finally out of my life. Never did I think something like that could ever exist.

But still, I had once again held the Poké Ball containing Latias, not sure if the wish I should have been promised actually did come to pass. Was it really possible that I could pull something out of a world of dreams and imagination into the realm of reality? If that was true... what else had come with me?

It had seemed like months had passed by when it had all happened in a minute of real time.

The three of us had run into Randy, as well as Jeff and Frank on other school days, but we no longer said or did anything to them. We no longer played the same tricks we used to. And I never did tell Randy that it was really me who was actually Juno. I could have, but it would have gone too far. None of us have ever said anything to anyone. No one but us would ever know all that actually happened.

In essence, it felt like a part of me had completely changed from that day on, as if I took something out of that strange realm Randy had created or if being Juno for that short while had opened my eyes to something new, different, and better.

I wasn’t the same bully I used to be, and I never was one again. I felt far more comfort in what I found familiar, my family, my friends, and my Pokémon. There was a piece of me that had been forever changed, and I realized how precious it is to belong to something, and to be a part of it, and to contribute to it as much as you can. I began to see it in everything, as a family, a community, and a brotherhood.

I had arrived home, and my belonging to my family seemed to be more real than ever before. I no longer shouted back at my mother, and I didn't get into fights and arguments with Vicky anymore. I had lost them for some time, but in the end I had gained them back, as well as something new and different that I had realized was there all this time.

They didn't understand what had happened or why I was acting so different, but they never complained and they took a much better liking to the new me.

My own room seemed like something that had been a part of me that had been taken away. I had approached the doorknob, grasped it firmly, and opened the door to reveal the one place where I could be myself and not feel ashamed. I had looked around, seeing my bed, dresser, and my desk, as well as all the other things that were a part of me, and I was glad I could be in my own world now. When I stepped back into it, I saw it was in disarray, and I spent the rest of that afternoon just setting things right and wiping away the bitterness, the chaos, and the anger aside. I wanted home to be something to look forward to, and this whole time, I knew it had to start with me.

But even so, it still felt like I had been away for a long, long time…

[Neo Emolga]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/Ultradyne/Trial%20of%20Juno/TOJTwistedFieldsRevised_zps44b45606.png

PART II – THE TWISTED FIELDS

Chapter 16
Odd Reoccurrence

Only a week had passed since the incident involving the Quista necklace, but it felt far longer than that. I had lost focus on school and class work, but this time it wasn't because of laziness, disinterest, or because of cutting class early. My head was swimming with different thoughts, and the whole time, I felt and thought like I didn't quite belong here.

The experience still lingered in my mind. My whole mentally changed around, and I was no longer the nasty, bullying creep I used to be. There were some students and teachers who thought I was sick or suddenly depressed in my recent change in behaviors and actions, but it wasn't anything like that at all.

And Frank no longer stayed around Randy like he used to. He kept to himself, and we in turn kept our distance from him as well. But I could see in his eyes he wasn’t the same he used to be either. He ate less, talked less, and stayed away from people like they were a plague. I never bothered him anymore. I felt signs of sympathy, empathy, and consideration for others that I hadn't felt before.

I simply didn't want to be hated or loathed any longer.

In truth, I resented how much of a jerk I had been, but I figured it was just a part of growing up. Never before had I reflected on my mistakes this way, and I found myself often tired, sighing, and still feeling that ping of guilt.

Jeff was too much involved with sports now, always saying to Randy that he had to get to practice for one of the many sports he had signed up for. I had looked at him for the longest time, and all the while it looked like nothing had ever happened. And then again, maybe it was because he was the one least affected by the whole thing after all. The rest of us… we really weren’t the same anymore and never would be again.

I could only wonder what Randy was thinking, and the look on his lost, faraway face during class lectures told me he wasn't bored, but reflecting on what he had done. I only wondered if he longed for what he lost, or if he really had come to terms with it all.

For a week, I had completely avoided Pokémon battling altogether. For some reason I wasn’t ready to do it again. I kept telling myself that I would get back into it soon enough. I definitely didn’t want to completely retire from it, but there was too much on my mind for the moment. If I were to try, I might just not be able to concentrate the way I needed to.

It wasn’t until I had gotten home one afternoon that things took a far more profound turn than I could ever imagine. For once, I hadn’t even been thinking of the incident only a week ago, I was just trying to get back on my feet and keep going on with life. For once I was able to grab the time to be by myself.

I had gotten home, grabbed my belt with my Poké Balls, and had headed out to the small, grassy backyard we had in the back of the house. As I stood by the white stone patio besides the outdoor table and chairs we hadn't used in years since dad left, I could sense and feel it was quiet, still, and almost eerie. It had been on my mind for a while now. I just hadn't gathered up the courage to see if my thoughts were truly correct.

It all came down to that fifth Poké Ball...

I had only started with four when I entered Randy's world, and I wasn't sure... and wasn't ready to see if I had truly pulled something out of Randy's imagined dream world into reality. Could it really be possible? Did that wish... that bond... did it really happen?

The whole week, I was in sheer, utter fear, unable and unwilling to find out. But right now, I knew it was time to stop being scared. It was time to face the truth, whether it was true, or whether it was just a coincidence.

That fifth Poké Ball... I remembered it contained a Latias, a powerful Pokémon and cheerful, optimistic friend that kept me hopeful even just thinking about her and that final battle we had before Randy's world collapsed. But, I couldn’t help but think of a single, beckoning question…

It was time to stop being scared.

I had grabbed the fifth Poké Ball, closed my eyes, pressed the center button to prime it for release, and grabbed all my faith and courage as I tossed it into the air, where it hit the patio stone and released the Pokémon inside.

What I saw completely defied the laws of logic. There she was, the same Latias I remembered from the final battle in Randy's dream world, made truly living. It denied everything I knew about reality and what could be possible.

After emerging from the Poké Ball, she immediately took a curious and fascinated glance at everything around her, admiring the trees, the house, the skies above, and she even looked at me fondly with the same optimistic and cheerful smile I remembered from before.

"Hey there!" She smiled to me. "That's interesting, so you're trying out a human form now, Juno?"

How... how did she know!? And...

...how was I able to perfectly understand what she was saying!?

I almost felt light-headed as the overwhelming thoughts rushed in. No, that was far too strange. Normally, I should have been totally obvious to how to interpret Pokéspeech. There was something else that had to be going on…

"I..." I struggled to speak, not sure what to even say.

"Oh, the look on your face is priceless!" She chuckled. "Look at that face! Redder... redder... oh, how red can it get!?"

Even with the anxiety, I couldn't help but laugh. She was so funny and cool like that.

"I... I have no clue what's going on," I laughed, flushing with embarrassment. "Really, I don't."

"Juno, I really don't know how you did it, but I owe you a big one!" She smiled to me. "Somehow... you saved my butt when that whole place collapsed. If it weren't for you...!"

She would have been gone. Forever. The very thought of someone as friendly, cheerful, and as optimistic as her vanishing from existence forevermore was hollow, appalling, and depressing. I've never had any kind of friend like her and to have lost her to that would have been pure misery.

"How were... you able to tell I was Juno?" I asked her, wondering what made it so obvious.

"Was?" She asked with a smile. "Your aura and your spirit...it's got Juno the Pikachu all over it! Looks like I wasn't the only thing you pulled out of that place!"

I was feeling very anxious. It obviously didn't bother Latias in the slightest and she thought it was comical, but to me, this was beyond strange and I wasn't sure what it would mean in the end. Was I really still soul-linked with a Pikachu born from Randy's dreams? Even though I was now back in reality in a form that... at least felt like human?

But Latias couldn't have been kidding. After all, she was the same way, and standing right before me as a dream now made real. Made possible... somehow because I wished and connected with her spiritually. And it made me wonder... what kind of effect would soul-linking with a Pikachu born of dreams and imagination have? Never before has such a thing like this ever happened...

I tried my best to just treat all of this like she would. Maybe... this was all just okay.

"That's..." I replied to her, smiling at it a bit. "That does sound a bit crazy, you know? Before I entered that dream world Randy created, you know, I was a perfectly normal human."

"I think I know exactly what happened," Latias replied with a smile, wearing a smug and confident smirk. "You assimilated with Juno the dream Pikachu and you thought it was just going to be temporary, didn't you? You linked a dream Pikachu with your own immortal soul! Oh man, yes.. that's got to be it! Wow, just what are the chances of that happening?"

She was right, such an occurrence like that has probably never happened before. Physically, I felt human, but all those feelings of renewed compassion, empathy, kindness, and determination... did I feel all those positive things because of this merge? Was becoming Juno really having that kind effect on my personality?

...

...It was.

When I did the math and thought out how differently I had changed since the incident, it was true. When it happened, something about it felt beyond even destiny that broke all fibers of realities and possibilities. If what was imagined was able to become real by coming into contact with a soul, what kind of effect would that forever have?

I didn't know how to take it, and it was probably something that could never be undone now. What would this all mean in the end?

"I never actually thought it would be permanent even after Randy's world fell to pieces," I told her, somehow still not regretting the decision for unknown reasons. "It's weird, but something about it feels... right."

"Ah, I can tell you're a little shaken up!" Latias smiled, putting her hand gently on my shoulder as she levitated around. "Trust me, it's a pretty powerful, positive, and pure aura filled with some really great and cool emotions. You may just look human for now, but you've got a spirit of a beloved Pikachu born from dreams and fond imagination! Heck, you got a feel for it yourself, you know how special that is!"

And at the same time, we both had saved each other. Without her, I never, ever would have defeated Randy, and if it hadn't been for me to save her at that last moment with whatever soul wish or bonding I had performed at that last, crucial second to save her spirit and give her life beyond the world of dreams, she would have been gone forever.

If she was happy about this and strongly felt it was something I should be happy about also, I trusted her emotions, even though we had only known each other for a short while. Something about it all just felt right, as it was supposed to happen.

"Well, for now, it's got to be our little secret," I told her sheepishly, knowing walking around with a legendary Pokémon like a Latias was going to draw too much attention, especially from Randy and the others. "If Randy was to find out about all this..."

"Ha, ha, wouldn't that knock him out of his socks!" Latias laughed as she spun around in the air like a comical dance. "But hey, I'm in no rush to surprise him. I can hang out in the ball until you feel the time is right."

"That would probably be best for now," I smiled to her, glad she was willing to agree to this.

I then used her Poké Ball and aimed the recall beam at her, dematerializing her and returning her to the Poké Ball. As I looked at the ball, I kept thinking about so many things. What would being Juno inside mean? What was I to do?

I then thought of something. If I had pulled something from Randy’s world, Randy must have had to as well. I had decided I would have to try and talk to him tomorrow. It was going to be hard to approach him as I was sure the incident was as clear as day in his mind as it was in mine. But how would I tell him without revealing the truth? How long could I hide this for?

I headed back inside, and it wasn't long until we had a nice, steak dinner. Mom, Vicky, and myself were together for one of the few times we ate at the table that week. For the past few days, things had seemed better than they did before. There just seemed to be less arguing, less of a rush to get done with dinner, and things felt calm and easy.

And I was beginning to see mom and Vicky were suspecting something...

"Jake, pass the mashed potatoes," Vicky requested as she served herself some mixed vegetables.

"Sure thing," I replied softly, taking the bowl and gently placing it besides her.

And there was total silence after Vicky just dropped her metal serving spoons in disbelief as the spoons rang in the bowl with a clatter. She just blinked at me twice and looked at me with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Wow, what is new with you!?" Vicky asked, very surprised. "I didn't even have to say 'please' with that one! It's like you're somebody else! When did you ever become polite?"

I was anxious. It was true, as the old Jake Kossak, I would have told her to just get them herself and buzz off. They both looked at me like this was completely unusual...

...and they were right.

"I'm... sorry for all those things I did to you," I told her, barely able to speak.

"Did something happen!?" Vicky asked, shocked I was acting so differently. "Did someone at school die or something!?"

If I told her the absolute and honest truth, she would never, ever believe me.

"I... I don't know if I can talk about it..." I told her, still feeling anxious about being put on the spot like that. "I just hope you can accept my apology."

At that moment, she likely thought it had to be something like the death of a student at school. She could never fathom it was something so much deeper than even that.

"Well, I'll try, but this better not be some kind of trick or something," She replied, still doubtful.

And ever since then, I was impulsively nice and polite to her, and she slowly began to show the same respect but with that same look of surprise. Even with my mom, fights over homework, studying, or misbehaving all stopped and melted away like a snowball in summer.

When night had fallen, I sat by my bedside, looking at my hands, and I knew... deep inside, Juno had taken over, just as Latias had mentioned. I wasn't sure whether to be happy or scared about it, but it was strong and it had already influenced all of my day-to-day actions and decisions.

After getting into bed, my mind raced with many thoughts and considerations, but eventually I was able to find sleep in my dark room. I wasn't sure where this would take me, but maybe it would be better this way. As Juno, I seemed to be bringing calm and sincerity wherever I went, and I noticed it with myself, my family, and with school.

And then it happened like it did with all the other nights.

A transformed in personality human named Jake... and Juno by night. In my own dreams, I was Juno, exactly as before in the last days of Randy's world.

But the dream itself was unsettling.

I felt like I had been thrown on the floor, which felt like cold, hardened metal against my back. I couldn’t see anything for a harsh, chilling moment as everything was bathed in black, but then I was able to open my eyes.

All around me was metal, industrial and chaotic with piping, dark steam, and strange, flashing lights that illuminated parts of the area with hellish, flickering glows.

It felt like I was in a normal hallway, only I could barely see anything. I had gotten back up on my feet, now strangely but oddly familiar in their Pikachu size and shape, as if I had been Juno this whole time and never once was a human being. I didn’t understand it, but I never thought anything was wrong in my dream trance. In my dream, I accepted being Juno completely and didn't even think twice about it.

Then, a bright, red light had emerged from the end of the hallway, and a silhouette of a dark, tall figure was slowly walking toward me, holding some sort of large, blunt weapon in his hands. I put my tiny hands behind me and slowly crept away on my back in a hopeless retreat, and begging that he wouldn’t notice me or I wasn’t worth his time to kill anyway.

"Stop... please..." I muttered softly to the cloaked figure. "I mean no harm..."

Pipes mounted on the ceiling were blowing dark steam in front of him, and I had trouble trying to recognize who it was, only to discover it was a complete stranger. Still, I frantically tried to crawl away, but I wasn’t getting very far. Then, I had stood up, and began running in the opposite direction, but I was met with a nasty surprise. I had been running in pitch black darkness until I slammed right into a metal wall. I painfully and frantically looked behind me only to see the figure move closer and closer.

He was going to kill me, and for reasons I didn’t know why. I had stayed in the darkness, thinking he wouldn’t see me, but it seemed like he already knew where I was. He began to approach me, slowly just to keep my anxiety rushing for a longer amount of time. Then, he was standing right above me, and he took his weapon, raised it in the air, and it forcefully came toward me at a feverish pace.

I nearly woke up screaming. I kicked and had thrown off my bed covers, and looked at my hands to make sure I still wasn’t Juno. I had sighed in relief when I realized I was still normal, and more importantly, untouched despite the fear. I simply turned and I checked the clock by my bed and it was only four in the morning.

But I didn’t dare go back to sleep. And still those feelings of being Juno persisted...

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Howdy, just me again.

The fight with Groudon...always a treasure. But while I seem to remember this odd sort of finality and hopelessness to the original fight, Blazewing did a wonderful job lifting not only Juno's spirits, but mine as well. It still hurt when she hit the ground, a lot, but she inspired me as a reader to never give up hope in Juno's crusade. The personalities given to Randy's legendary Pokemon was also something that struck me. The same kid who could imagine such hateful, destructive, and monstrous creatures could also imagine something as noble and precious as Juno the Pikachu. It spoke to me, as, based off of my own experiences, creativity comes most powerfully and uncontrollably from the darkest and the brightest places. We humans devote our energies to our dreams, but not just the happy ones, but also the revenge plots, the loathing and bitterness that come with that. Randy's refs (I know, I keep coming back to them) are bland, soulless constructs because the teachers and bystanders that they represent are not the important part of Randy's humiliation, but it was rather the weakness of his Pokemon. If a Lugia had a mindset like the one you portrayed, there's a story right there, but to have such a deranged and powerful creature under the control of a middle schooler? Now that's scary!

Perhaps the one thing that really struck me reading these last few chapters was the implications of Jake bonding to Juno. Not only is he wrestling with new feelings of guilt and displacement, but the effect on his personality and outward appearance is causing concern from his family and his teachers. Maybe I never realized it before, but no matter how good of a person one becomes, the idea that there is something overwriting your personality is somewhat alarming especially since Juno is a dream, not technically "real". The idea of dreams becoming reality is certainly an apt metaphor, but instead of getting bogged down in these paradoxes and existentialism, we have Blazewing to pull us out. Nonetheless, Jake briefly wonders what Randy might have brought back from the world created by the Quista necklace, and while I like to imagine it was a few valuable lessons, I'm wondering if there was something physical that came with as well, like the shades or, my worst fear, one of those murderous legendary Pokemon inside of a previously nonexistent Poke Ball. Jeepers.

Speaking of Randy, I couldn't help but notice the banner for Part II and find myself wondering if the other Pokemon are the replacement for the Pichu and Charmander in the original telling. If so, I'm glad that Alex got to keep his dark-type theme going.

One final note, in addition to loving the new Blazewing, I also found myself really enjoying Vicky. Both of them share a kind of bluntness, but Vicky's honest bewilderment in the opening chapter of part two made me laugh out loud, which is probably a warning that I shouldn't be reading fanfiction in the office while I'm on break, but c'est la vie. As always, looking forward to what comes next.

[Neo Emolga]

Howdy, just me again.

:D


The fight with Groudon...always a treasure. But while I seem to remember this odd sort of finality and hopelessness to the original fight, Blazewing did a wonderful job lifting not only Juno's spirits, but mine as well. It still hurt when she hit the ground, a lot, but she inspired me as a reader to never give up hope in Juno's crusade. The personalities given to Randy's legendary Pokemon was also something that struck me. The same kid who could imagine such hateful, destructive, and monstrous creatures could also imagine something as noble and precious as Juno the Pikachu. It spoke to me, as, based off of my own experiences, creativity comes most powerfully and uncontrollably from the darkest and the brightest places. We humans devote our energies to our dreams, but not just the happy ones, but also the revenge plots, the loathing and bitterness that come with that. Randy's refs (I know, I keep coming back to them) are bland, soulless constructs because the teachers and bystanders that they represent are not the important part of Randy's humiliation, but it was rather the weakness of his Pokemon. If a Lugia had a mindset like the one you portrayed, there's a story right there, but to have such a deranged and powerful creature under the control of a middle schooler? Now that's scary!

One of the things that I added while doing this refurbishing was how Juno saves Blazewing the Latias by wishing and bonding with her right before she was supposed to disappear with the rest of Randy's imagined world. I had a good explanation for how Juno enters reality, but the way Blazewing does was kind of a loose end that didn't quite make sense. While going over it, I saw it as a good opportunity to delve a little further into this and make it have a bit of an emotional ping (I would be lying if I said PMD2's ending had no inspiration on that idea at all).

Also, I like hearing your interpretation of Randy's world and his creations, it's definitely very close for the perspective I was trying to go with where in Randy's world, everything is flipped upside down where he's the grand master, once-authoritative figures now obey him, and he only focuses on making himself even more powerful.


Perhaps the one thing that really struck me reading these last few chapters was the implications of Jake bonding to Juno. Not only is he wrestling with new feelings of guilt and displacement, but the effect on his personality and outward appearance is causing concern from his family and his teachers. Maybe I never realized it before, but no matter how good of a person one becomes, the idea that there is something overwriting your personality is somewhat alarming especially since Juno is a dream, not technically "real". The idea of dreams becoming reality is certainly an apt metaphor, but instead of getting bogged down in these paradoxes and existentialism, we have Blazewing to pull us out. Nonetheless, Jake briefly wonders what Randy might have brought back from the world created by the Quista necklace, and while I like to imagine it was a few valuable lessons, I'm wondering if there was something physical that came with as well, like the shades or, my worst fear, one of those murderous legendary Pokemon inside of a previously nonexistent Poke Ball. Jeepers.

Actually, a lot of this is new. Before, in the original version, Jake was just a little wary about it, but it seemed to brush off too easily, and I felt that didn't seem very realistic. To hear your own soul has been bonded with a Pokémon made from dreams, and now he's having total influence on your personality... I think anyone in that position would be shocked and anxious. Plus, in the original version, there weren't enough examples of it affecting Jake's personality, hence why I added in that little dinnertime segment.


Speaking of Randy, I couldn't help but notice the banner for Part II and find myself wondering if the other Pokemon are the replacement for the Pichu and Charmander in the original telling. If so, I'm glad that Alex got to keep his dark-type theme going.

Bingo, you got it. Before, I just had Randy and Alex become Pichus. And then I got to thinking... why? That's not exactly a close match to either of their personalities, especially not Alex. I went with Pachirisu for Randy because he's the kind of person that looks docile on the outside, but can very much get out of control, and Zorua for Alex because of him being dark, sly, and aggressive.


One final note, in addition to loving the new Blazewing, I also found myself really enjoying Vicky. Both of them share a kind of bluntness, but Vicky's honest bewilderment in the opening chapter of part two made me laugh out loud, which is probably a warning that I shouldn't be reading fanfiction in the office while I'm on break, but c'est la vie. As always, looking forward to what comes next.

Ha, ha, glad you found that funny. :D

And again, that whole part is a new addition also (heck, Vicky just exists as a nameless sister that maybe gets mentioned once in the previous edition). Before, this particular chapter had a "bare bones" kind of feel that somewhat implied Jake had changed a bit, but he didn't reflect on it that much, and I wanted to bring it out a lot more and further explain exactly how Jake made Juno become a reality on the technical details.

Again, thanks for your great reviews, I really appreciate them. :D

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 17
The Meeting

The next morning, I was groggy and sluggish from not getting much sleep, but as school goes, too bad, class will start with or without you. I got dressed and ate a simple breakfast of cereal and milk while mom and Vicky had bacon and eggs, and again. Vicky was still unsure if I was telling the truth yesterday at dinner. Again, that morning, things were peaceful again, and we didn't fight or argue at all.

I could tell from the look in Vicky's eyes that she still was very curious to know what exactly caused such a change in me, and she wasn't liking the fact I was still hiding it. I could tell she was hoping I would have revealed it by now, and I knew there was no way I could do that. But in the meantime, the thoughts were constantly stabbing at my mind, and it was impossible to hide it.

Once I got to school, I barely paid attention in class, now unable to get my mind off of just trying to meet Randy when we were let out. Four long classes of math, history, science, and literature simply went all over my head as my mind was focused on other things. I got called on twice by the teacher and didn't even respond. I knew I couldn't keep this up, or else they would start thinking I was clinically depressed or had learning disabilities.

But when school was done, I knew I needed to get to Randy. Before, I didn't want to have anything to do with him, but yesterday, after letting Latias out of her Pokémon and discovering the cold, hard truth about all this, I needed to know from him as well. As a result, I dashed out the back exit as soon as the bell rang. I couldn’t wait another second to get it out.

“Man, aren’t you in a hurry…” I heard a familiar voice say right behind me.

I turned around and looked back into the stairway to see Alex with his long, black hair, his black Zenith Death metal band t-shirt, and his blue jeans. He seemed a bit shocked at the mess I had become.

"Dude, you're okay, right?" He asked me, really wondering what was going on.

I gave him that look that said "yeah, it's about what you think it is." He nodded and knew the exact incident I was talking about, but he didn't know anything about Juno or Latias. I wasn't ready to tell him about that either...

"I need to straighten things out with Randy," I told him, finally being the first out of the three of us willing to confront him about the whole incident a week ago. "Something about it still bothers me."

"No kidding, it's been making you act strange," Alex told me, not realizing there was a whole other level to that. "Look, let me come with you. David's off at the after school debate club, but we'll be fine on our own."

I nodded, and then he followed me out the back exit. Things seemed normal for now, and most of the other students leaving for the day didn't suspect anything. I was sure maybe a few of them were a bit surprised we weren't bothering people like we used to, but to them, it wasn't that significant of an issue for them to even think long and hard about.

When we stepped outside, we looked across the busy parking lot and found Randy in the one place where he always hung out after school: on a black, metal bench completely by himself. His frizzy orange hair and his orange shorts were definitely easy to spot. I wasn't sure who or what he was waiting for, but the rumor was he was often here for an hour just waiting for his dad to pick him up.

The two of us approached him, and he looked up at us with hesitation and anxiety in his eyes. I could tell he had noticed we had changed, but it would be the first time we've confronted him about this since the actual incident itself.

“Randy, we need to talk,” Alex said firmly to him. “We could really use some answers.”

Randy had already known what Alex was talking about, and he didn’t look like he wanted to fight about it. Everything had gotten awkwardly silent about all this. Only we knew about the "incident" that happened a week ago, but to us, it was a pretty big deal. He looked a little bit anxiously at Alex, and then just wanted to avoid eye contact.

“Look, let’s go some place where no one is going to see or hear us, okay?” Randy asked Alex, already knowing what this was about. “I don’t want this to go floating around. I... I already feel terrible about it.”

“Fine, Randy,” Alex agreed, still keeping it quiet. “How about we talk in one of those dugouts in that old baseball field?”

Only about a half a mile away was an old baseball field that hadn’t been used in nearly a decade. After Randy had agreed, we simply walked our way over there, totally out of sight by anyone. Randy walked in anxious manner, seeming like he was very uncomfortable at the moment and might have been thinking we were about to beat him up over what happened. I knew he didn’t want to talk about this but if I didn’t say anything about it, it would haunt me for months to come.

When we had arrived, we stepped inside one of the concrete dugouts and sat down on the old, wooden bench inside. Meanwhile, Alex sat down on the concrete stairs leading out into the dusty field so that he could face Randy.

"So... what is it that you wanted to know?" Randy asked, looking like he just wanted to get out of there.

“You know what happened last week,” Alex told him seriously, not wasting another second. “Randy, you gave us the nightmare of our lives. You had a power trip and we barely got out of there.”

“I... I know what I did was wrong,” Randy replied sheepishly while squirming in his seat. "I'm sorry. Please, don't hurt me over this. You don't know what it's like to be bad at almost everything."

Well... we did during that whole incident...

"I hope you learned something from that," I told Randy as I looked into his eyes, hoping to reinforce the whole idea of why I really came after him. "Raising Pokémon is something that takes time, there's no quick way about it. To me, it was like your dream world was sending all the wrong messages about how it's really done."

"I know, you're right," Randy flushed, backing up a bit until he had his back up against the concrete wall. "I'm not good at raising Pokémon and it's one of those things I probably should have asked for help with instead of... doing something like that."

"I don't even get how it ended either," Alex continued, wanting to know more. "You clobbered all three of us, constantly win your own tournaments against trainers that I swear would give the Elite Four a run for their money, and it's a Pikachu named Juno that nails you? What the hell, man, it doesn't make sense."

I was silent, and felt incredibly sick at that moment. I already perfectly knew the answer to that one, but I didn’t want to say anything at all. Neither of them knew it was me, and I still didn't want to speak up about it.

“I really don’t know,” Randy muttered, trying to fight off the pressure. “I couldn’t understand his commands, he gave his Pokémon and himself strange and powerful attacks, and after he decided to enter the fight himself, he just never seemed to go down despite the serious beating I gave him. I hit him with everything I could, but nothing ever stopped him. I just don’t know how Juno was able to do it…”

“No, really, Randy,” Alex cornered him, believing there was more than just that. “It was your world, you should have had him butchered in a heartbeat."

Randy looked at Alex for an instant, and then started to look toward the ground by his feet.

“I always wanted a Pikachu,” Randy said sadly, totally avoiding any eye contact with either of us. “Juno is the name I would have given him if I ever caught one. And I’ll admit, I imagined him to be way more powerful, nice, and selfless than a normal Pikachu would ever be. Juno was a side of me that was a burden that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried. It wasn’t any surprise he decided to battle me and he was the one who won. It seemed like he was always doing that in some way. I was always losing against him. Could never catch him, could never trade for him, could never get him as a gift. It's... so overwhelming.”

Interesting. I never thought of it that way. I was just about to say something when…

“What a lovely story…” I heard a cold voice say sarcastically out of nowhere.

Recommended Listening: Fallout 1 OST- Acolytes of a New God (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38zN_vF_dQ)

Randy and I had looked up in complete shock, and Alex frantically turned around to see who had snuck up on us. In a feral instinct of paranoia, I suddenly became very defensive. Before us stood a pale-skilled, brown haired man in black cloak, who seemingly just came out of nowhere. He was wearing sandals, and had a very stiff and aggressive look on his face, as if he was ready to fight at any second. He spoke very quickly and aggressively.

“Who the hell are you!?” Alex shouted at the cloaked figure in surprise.

“I want to know who the three of you are, first,” The pale-skinned man replied firmly. “I had been tracking that necklace for ages, and once I felt it's power being used, I headed toward the signal as soon as I could. And yet, I come here only to find it has been completely destroyed…”

I don’t know how it ended up breaking, but there was something else I really wanted to know. Still, how was he able to track us down, and even get here in the first place? Just where did this guy come from?

“You’re Quista, that Kavaskian sorcerer?” I asked the man. "You're the original owner of that necklace!?"

He started snickering, and at that moment, I felt like I had said something extremely stupid.

“So that’s who they think I am?” He asked mockingly. “Amazing what lengths people will go to in order to fill in the gaps. My real name is Zander. I’m not Kavaskian either, or whatever that drivel is supposed to mean. Someone had stolen that necklace from me thousands of years ago, and I never got the chance to use it.”

“Thousands of years ago...?" Randy recited as he became very tense. “…how could you still be alive…?”

Was this Zander person even human? I really didn't get how any of this was possible, or how someone like him even becomes a sorcerer in the first place. If he really was human, he should have been dead a long time ago, so what was he really?

“I don’t care about that right now,” Zander replied with a cold stare, looking right back at Randy. “One of you used that necklace, and created your own world from it with all the things you could ever desire and imagine." He then looked furious at the three of us, drawing closer. "That necklace was meant for me! My long search for it has ended with it being hopelessly destroyed, and I want to know who’s responsible!”

It was strange to think that as Jake Kossak, I would have gladly fingered Randy. But, as Juno inside, I refused to throw him under the bus like that. In fact, if a fight were to break out, I knew I would be the first one out of my seat to stand before him.

“So who was it!?” Zander shouted angrily.

We were still silent. Randy was quivering, but Alex and I were within a heartbeat of attacking him both at once, ready to summon whatever Pokémon we needed to take him out.

"Hmp," Zander scoffed. "Fine, don't bother, because I already know what happened anyway. You don't think I do?"

I was quiet, figuring this would be a real test of his power.

"You, Randy," Zander spoke harshly, pointing his finger directly at him, "became frustrated at your own failures enough to use it in the first place. You wasted it just to get a taste of what it was like to win all the time at Pokémon battling... wrongfully!"

“Stop it, please…” Randy begged, finding out the hard way this guy already knew the truth about us.

“You couldn’t tolerate your companions’ endless defeats, so you created your own companions and made yourself a champion,” Zander growled at Randy. “Can you possibly fathom how much of a waste you made of that necklace!? You used it as a tool to make up for your own incompetence!"

Randy was shaking his head. He didn’t want to believe this was actually happening.

“I couldn’t stand losing all the time at Pokémon battling,” Randy complained. “I needed something to help me win for once.”

"The whole reason why I went through the utter hell of creating it in the first place was so I could use it for what it was really meant for!" Zander shouted angrily.

I wanted to stay quiet, but something inside of me pushed me to speak up.

"You wanted to create impossible things using your imagination and then pull those things into reality," I spoke up, knowing I was the only one that could have known that.

Randy and Alex looked at me strangely while Zander just sneered a grizzly grin.

"Ha, ha, figures you would be the one to know that!" Zander laughed with a dark smile. "And yes, Randy here was so dejected about being defeated in his own dream world that he abandoned and erased everything!"

So that's what happened to Randy's legendaries. Randy gave them all up simply because they didn’t win that last fight for him. Meanwhile, Jeff, Alex, David, and Frank didn’t look like they managed to pull anything out of Randy’s dream world either. It seemed like I was the only one that uncovered this secret unintentionally.

"Endless wealth, power, empires, and grandeur were at your fingertips, and you wasted all of it!" Zander shouted at Randy. "That was all meant for me. Your purpose for using it was meaningless and you gained nothing form it! It took me nearly a lifetime to craft that necklace!”

I sighed, now knowing what the story behind that necklace was. How Zander became a sorcerer was still beyond me, but at least I knew why he made that thing in the first place. Compared to what could have really been created from it, I could see where Zander was furious. And on the flip side, maybe it was a good thing it was gone now so this strange and agitated sorcerer couldn't ever use it for dark reasons.

“You…” Zander spat harshly, now facing me. “You're the only one that discovered it's dark secret. You wanted to free yourself from this maggot’s world by defeating him. And the only way to do it was to hide yourself.”

Now Randy was looking at me in curiosity. As I gritted my teeth from the realization of this all, I knew Randy was going to find out everything in a matter of moments. I really didn’t want it to turn out this way, but I didn't have any choice about it.

“You disguised yourself from this maggot by turning yourself into his own, living, childhood desire,” Zander snarled with a hint of cynical laughter in his tone. “So you soulbound yourself to become this Pikachu named Juno, and you defeated this maggot with the help of a Latias that you life-bonded with. Do you have any idea what you did to yourself by doing that!?"

"No, I honestly don't," I told him, telling him the truth.

"Unbelievable!" Zander laughed, making it sound like I made a grave mistake by doing that. "I don't know which one of you two I hate more."

I wasn't too concerned with how he thought of me for what I did. In my defense, I didn't know becoming Juno would do that, and I didn't see too many other options when it came to finding a way out of Randy's dream world. Honestly, deep inside, becoming Juno was making me a better person, although still shaken and uncertain of what kind of future this would entail.

“Jake... you were actually Juno!?” Randy asked me in complete shock.

I just looked at him from the corner of my eye, and then looked away, never directly answering that, but he took that as a "yes, but I really don't want to talk about it." In Zander's eyes, we had totally wasted the true potential of what that necklace could have been used for in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing with it.

I also didn't entirely know what it meant to be soulbound, but according to both Latias and Zander, who seemed to know way more about this than I did, I was essentially a dream Pikachu just in a human body now.

In the end, that was really only just the beginning to a whole other undertaking...

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 18
The Only Solution

Zander had to realize the necklace was gone and he was never getting it back. All the anger and frustration in the world wouldn't put something like that back together, and in a way, I was actually glad about that. A relic like that was too powerful for someone like him to use it for dark intentions. It was good the only thing that walked away from it was a Pikachu and a Latias, both with good hearts and good intentions. In truth, the necklace could have been used for both good and bad.

Still, what was to stop Zander from just making another one? Besides, making our lives a complete misery wasn’t going to help him get it back anyway.

“So what is it you want from us?” I asked Zander honestly, shrugging at seeing any real solution to us besides just dropping it and moving on. “It’s not like this is going to change anything. Why don’t you just make another necklace and be done with it?”

“It took me thousands of years to make that one!” Zander shouted in fury, despising how little I knew about these things. “I would force you to make a replacement, but you wouldn’t last long enough and you don’t even have a fraction of the power to do it. I will at least make you suffer for it!"

I thought Randy was going to be furious when I told him I was actually Juno. Instead, he had looked at me, and almost began to feel sick.

“I can’t believe…” Randy stuttered softly, “…you went through all that trouble to just beat me. You almost killed yourself out there… I’m really sorry, Jake. I… never meant for you… to go that far.”

He certainly wouldn’t have said that a week ago. It seemed like when we were in Randy’s world, all the suffering we encountered wouldn’t have been enough. Now, it seemed like he was truly beginning to regret it. It made me wonder... did the necklace corrupt him in a way? Either way, at least we finally got over brutally hating each other…

“That doesn’t matter now,” Zander muttered in a serious tone. “You’ve taken something from me that I’ve spent my whole life making and looking for. And here, after all these years, I find the three of you are the reason why that necklace no longer exists. And for reasons even an imbecile wouldn't understand!”

“Hey, man,” Alex told Zander in a strong tone. “It happens. Suck it up, get over it, and stop being a whiner. ”

“You fool!” Zander shouted, totally interrupting Alex. “You’re no better than the others. I will make you pay for this even though little compares to the kind of frustration you've dealt to me.”

From my side, this all sounded like insanity. If all he wanted to do was kill us, wouldn't he have just done it already?

“I don’t know what the hell you’re even talking about,” Alex said straight to Zander’s face. “Let’s face it, the necklace is gone, pal. It’s over with. Maybe you should have made it more durable. Ever think of that, genius?”

"I'll watch you rot for a while before I end your miserable existence," Zander growled at the three of us, gathering dark energy in the form of what looked like a black and violet-colored ball of shadows, surrounding a glyph that was on the palm of his hand. "That's right, you'll have the chance to live for a little while longer before you witness the rise of my own personal apocalypse in a world where you're lost, confused, and hopeless!"

Then, he outstretched his arm, opened his hand, and showed us his bare palm with the glowing glyph. Alex and I tried to tackle him to the ground, but we were frozen, paralyzed helplessly where we sat.

"Da...mn... it..." Alex struggled to speak, trying to fight back with no success. "Just... di..e..."

Seconds later the whole sky went black and the whole baseball field became a sick, crimson red.

I felt nauseous and shaky as everything in front of me swirled like mixing paint and struck me with a force that must have been similar as to getting hit by a car. I wanted to get up and move, but all I could do was just sit there, paralyzed as we were just like puppets to this guy's incantations. Everything slowly became black, and I passed out…


* * *

I had awoken, but had not opened my eyes. The air around me was cold, and I could feel a faint breeze coming from above. The floor felt frozen and stiff, and only then did I open my eyes and take a look around me. For a moment, I felt shocked. I knew it wasn’t long ago that I had felt this same feeling. but I couldn't recall the exact nature of it..

I then realized it was completely impossible for me to still be back at the old baseball field. The room was completely made of metal, which immediately made me think this was some kind of vault or storage container. Everything around me seemed so giant to me until I realized why that was…

I looked down at my yellow paws and feet and realized had become Juno again, a sight and feeling far too familiar. Despite how strange and foreign it should have felt, it didn't. In fact, it was starting to feel more appropriate than even being human. Again, that word "soulbound" came back to me, and I was really beginning to wonder what kind of impact this was going to have on how I was going to spend the rest of eternity.

As I looked around, I had nearly forgotten how I ended up here in the first place. Instead, I looked over my long, yellow and black tipped ears, my thunderbolt-shaped tail, my posture, and my tiny, yellow hands, all of it made me immediately question if I was to spend the rest of eternity like this. Soulbound. What did that really mean!?

I knew I couldn’t run away from it anymore. I took Juno and his amazing powers, angelic demeanor, and compassion out of Randy’s dream world, but little did I know this confirmation of acceptance and assimilation would drastically change my destiny forever. I was something that should have ended with a dream, but instead, now I took that highly-adored desire and gave it flesh through my own, willing sacrifice.

I almost wondered... if Coldblood had made me aware this would happen back in Randy's materialized dream world, would I still have done it? Even if it was the only way to end it all?

I had no choice but to say yes to all of it. I was not sure what kind of power had turned me back into this now natural state, but I quickly recalled it was Zander that brought us here...

...wherever this place was.

As I looked up and glanced upon my own surroundings, I realized this was actually a prison cell. Off to my right, the only window to the outside had bars around it, and the only exit was a circular, reinforced steel security vault door. There was no chance of ever getting past that thing. After getting up, getting accustomed to walking and moving as a Pikachu again, I started looking around. I realized I was alone in this cold cell with no one but myself...

...and plenty of thoughts swimming in my head for company.

My curiosity had taken a hold of me as I slowly climbed on top of the single, rickety metal bunk bed and made my way toward the window. When I slowly approached it, I peered through the bars to see what was just outside.

I nearly jumped.

The sky was a horrid mixture of red and gray with passing black storm clouds that were constantly moving and mixing at unnatural, violent speeds. Thunder and lightning were occasionally lighting up dark patches of sky, and I could feel the rumbling from far away. Despite how long I looked at it, it never once stopped. Seeing that nightmare sky definitely cued me in that I had to be somewhere far, far away from home. This... this couldn't have even been the same planet.

Meanwhile, on the ground, it looked like fields upon fields of a wasteland of twisted, dying trees had covered the landscape. In some places, fissures had opened up, seeming to be endless pits waiting to swallow up anything unfortunate enough to fall in and then never release them ever again. But nothing was moving, except for the flashing thunder in the skies above, the swirling of dark clouds, and the swaying of dead trees from a lonesome wind that quickly came and quickly passed. I had to look away.

Immediately, I recalled what Zander told us before this happened, and it was very startling.

"That's right, you'll have the chance to live for a little while longer before you witness the rise of my own personal apocalypse in a world where you're lost, confused, and hopeless!"

Quite frankly, out there, it looked like the apocalypse had already happened. He was right though, I was lost and confused as to where I was, and with Randy and Alex nowhere in sight, I didn't know what had happened to them either.

I put my back up against the metal wall, slid until I sat down, and sighed with my Pikachu ears drooping down alongside my head. Randy’s world was a joyful play land compared to this place. Victory City wasn't such a bad place, and I ended it in exchange for this?

Thoughts of escaping this strange jail cell came to mind, but something kept asking me if going outside was any better. From what I saw, it seemed I was probably better off inside within the safety of my own cell than to chance going into a bizarre shadow storm like that along chasms where one slight misstep meant instant death.

As I looked at my tiny, yellow hands again, I tried to wonder why Zander thought it was better for me to be a Pikachu. Did he think the whole thing was amusing and did this to try and make a point? Or was this actually something he didn’t actually have control over?

It just seemed there was no place for Jake Kossak in this world, whatever this place was. At first, I believed this was a world Zander created, though that seemed unlikely considering if he could do that already, he wouldn't have taken the loss of his necklace so seriously. My guess was this was just another harsh world that Zander wanted to slowly destroy for whatever reason, and he brought the three of us here to be a part of it.

The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't understand why oh why did I feel like I’d rather be off in Randy’s world, despite how incredibly awful it was? I had only been here for a few minutes, and I already wanted to get out of here.

I already knew the cast iron bars blocking the window were too thick and too close together to bypass even with a small-sized Pikachu frame, but even if I could, I didn’t think I wanted to be walking alone in that geographical nightmare. Maybe, by some strange hope, this prison was just built in a really horrible spot.

I had approached the vault door, and tried to see if there was any lock whatsoever, but instead, all I saw was the back of the circular vault door with no keyhole or anything. Still, I couldn’t pick a lock for the life of me anyway, especially with only my bare hands and nothing to use as picking tools. The only way to get out of here was if someone opened the door from the other side. I had no idea how long it was going to take before that happened, but waiting around for that to happen wasn’t going to help anyway.

After looking around, I truly saw no way out at all. I knew I wouldn’t get out of this nightmare if I just stayed here and waited to rot away. Someone was going to have to come and at least feed me something, or I would just die of starvation. At least that didn't seem like how Zander wanted us to die. It sounded more like he wanted us to all see and feel whatever fiery and monstrous cataclysm he had in store for this place. Or, maybe it was a slow, painful death.

I decided not to take that to heart and instead, I was determined to at least go down fighting if I had to. Even if it meant having to somehow accept this form and possibly accept I might be having to let this strange world become my home for some time, I had to at least try to survive.

I checked and unfortunately, I didn't have any of my Pokémon with me. Meanwhile, it felt like the prison was designed to withstand Pokémon attacks anyway. I decided to take another approach.

The floor was made up of solid metal panels of an array of grays, browns, and silvers, all secured with extremely heavy bolts. They were nice and tight on the floor, and they weren’t going to come up without some sort of heavy construction tools, which of course I didn’t have. Plus the bolts were mostly rusted over, which meant they were pretty much stuck in there for good…

I had looked up at the ceiling, now seeing smaller square panels of a deep bluish metal, with smaller bolts on each corner that hadn’t been rusted over like the ones on the floor. I had looked up at all of them, and saw out of the corner of my eyes, there was a panel in the corner on the right side of the window, with one of its bolts missing on the right corner next to the wall.

If I were to remove that panel, it might just be a way out of here…

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Trial of Juno, remastered edition. Huehuehuehue. I was not expecting this but I am certainly enjoying it.

I wonder, if a certain RP will get a remastered version as well, huehuehuehue. I would have loved to participate had I actually been there for it. At all. Nevertheless, I would have liked the chance.

[Neo Emolga]

Trial of Juno, remastered edition. Huehuehuehue. I was not expecting this but I am certainly enjoying it.

I wonder, if a certain RP will get a remastered version as well, huehuehuehue. I would have loved to participate had I actually been there for it. At all. Nevertheless, I would have liked the chance.

Hey, glad you're reading this also! As for that certain RP, hmm... maybe, maybe, maybe. I'd kind of have to get past the part where the RP takes place first before thinking about it, and that might be a little while.

I didn't get around to updating this today (busy!), but I definitely haven't forgotten about it.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 19
The Midnight Struggle

The only problem with removing that panel was it was fifteen feet in the air, and there was nothing for me to even get close to it. I had turned to the bunk bed unit, which would reach high enough for me to remove the panel, but how would I be able to move it? If I were still human, it wouldn’t have been a problem, since the metal bunk bed wasn’t exactly the sturdiest thing in the room. But as a Pikachu, it might be next to impossible.

Suddenly, to my surprise, the vault door had clicked, and slowly swung open. By the time I had turned around, I had seen a red, clawed hand holding a pewter bowl just suddenly drop the bowl it was holding by the door, and then just like that, it was quickly shut again. Was this how they kept prisoners fed?

Just for curiosity, I had walked over to the bowl, and I could have gagged. It looked and smelled like hot, salty vomit. It was a musty brown and orange color, as if someone threw up and then took a diarrhea dump all over what was there already. I wouldn't have appreciated a nice, warm meal, but I wasn't starving enough to even think about eating that. However, I knew I only had a limited amount of time, and I highly doubted rejecting this... whatever it was, would mean an exchange for something better.

I had grasped one of the metal poles supporting the upper deck and tried to pull as hard as I could. At first, I thought I was making absolutely no progress whatsoever, but I did notice that when I looked down, I made a little bit of progress and moved the bunk bed unit a few inches. After hours of struggling, I must have pulled it five feet away from the metal wall before falling on my hands from exhaustion. I then tried pushing to see if that would change anything. It was a bit better, and I went a few more feet, but it was still at least twenty feet away from the wall, and I needed rest. It felt like pushing a truck in neutral. Not to mention I wouldn't get too far if I tore my paws apart in the process.

After a few hours of rest, I gave it another shot, only to go seven more feet before my hands and feet were aching. I couldn’t go on, and I needed to stop for a while or my hands were going to start bleeding. But for now, I needed to get rid of that vomit soup, before they began to assume I was going to try and starve myself.

So, I grabbed the bowl, held my breath after getting a small but appalling whiff of the nausea-inducing soup, walked with it across the room, and dumped the stuff out the window. It was disgustingly lumpy and it smelled even worse as I poured it out. I then promptly took the bowl, put it by the door to make them think I finished off the whole thing, and then headed for the lower bunk of the bed. I didn’t care for the fact there weren’t any pillows and only one sheet. I was too tired…

I woke up around midnight, still feeling a little disoriented. However, after I came back to my senses and remembered what I was trying to do, I quickly headed back to try and move the bunk bed. I pushed as hard as I could for as long as I could hold out, and soon enough, I finally made it to the other side of the wall. I then climbed my way up to the top bunk, which wasn’t any better than the first. I had made my way to the loose panel, and saw there were only three bolts I had to remove since one of them had already fallen out. I had put my hands on the first of the three, and turned it counter-clockwise. This one hadn’t been in too tight either, and after about twenty spins, it came out. The other two were a bit harder, but after I tried hard enough, all the bolts came out, and the panel fell from the ceiling and onto the top bunk, revealing a hole in the ceiling.

The hole that was left was only a foot by foot square. While I might have had an easier time pushing the bunk bed as a human, there was no way I could fit through that hole as one. But now, being a Pikachu made all the difference. I ducked, positioned myself under the hole, and looked up.

It appeared to be some sort of ventilation duct of some sort, which was surprising since I didn’t see any vent grates in my cell. I figured keeping the prisoners comfortable was not a strongpoint of this place.

I put my hands on the edge, and hoisted myself into the duct. It was somewhat tight, but I could manage. As a human, forget it, I'd be stuck eating vomit soup until they found some other use for me.

The vent was very dimly lit, so I had to first get adjusted to the darkness, and use the dim light coming from the other vents to see. I slowly crawled my way through the vent, making sure to be as quiet as possible. As I made my way about twenty feet, I had come across a vent leading to another room. When I looked through the vent grill, it looked like a guard’s lounge. I took a quick glance around the room and noticed the only ones in the room were an Ampharos and a Skarmory just standing by the table, talking to each other. Oddly enough, the Ampharos was wearing what looked like crudely made combat armor and gear, which was surprising. It definitely seemed military in nature, but who goes through the trouble of making armor for Pokémon?

The room was completely metal as well, and I figured it must have been a break room with several metal chairs of varying sizes and shapes and tables at different heights. That was quite a surprise for me, but then I realized why that was. Furniture and utilities came in different heights for different Pokémon sizes. Regardless, everything was crudely made of metal, and there were two electronic storage containers that I guessed were some kind of vending machines judging by the display windows showcasing what I guessed were some kind of drinks and snacks.

It was nearly empty except for a single Ampharos and a Skarmory. They had laid out several bags on the table containing what looked like military hardware including even what looked like a crudely-made metallic rifle. It actually looked like it was just right for the Ampharos's size, but... since when do Pokémon use firearms?

"So what's the story?" The Skarmory asked the Ampharos, taking a glance at the contents of the bag. "There's a rumor going on that some of those new prisoners aren't actually Silver Rebellion soldiers. Where the hell are they from then? Conda? Crescent Moon?"

"I have no clue, I just process them," the Ampharos shrugged. "We don't keep records on these chumps. Besides, at the rate we've been sacking their cities, it won't matter."

Silver Rebellion? Conda? Crescent Moon? What exactly was that and why would two Pokémon be talking about it?

I listened in, quietly keeping by the grate but still out of sight. Something about all this really didn't add up, and I was really beginning to worry I really was on a whole different world. I've never heard of a Silver Rebellion before and definitely no mention of a place like Conda or Crescent Moon near Kanto. Not to mention it didn't make too much sense for two Pokémon to be so directly involved with something like that. Where the heck was their trainer anyway?

"Did they have anything useful?" The Skarmory asked, looking closely at the bag. "Doesn't seem like you kept much of it."

"No, mostly just useless clothes and broken technology," The Ampharos replied, bringing out the few belongings. "The quartermaster ordered for most of it to be incinerated. He told me that if it doesn't look like anything like Crimson Stars technology, burn it. The last thing he wants is us using enemy technology that would sabotage our operations."

I wasn't sure what he was talking about, or if these guys were in fact affiliated with the Crimson Stars, whoever they were. With the few pieces I had, it seemed like there was definitely some kind of war going on between these two, but I wasn't even sure why. I wasn't sure why Zander would drop me off in the middle of this, but I had no intention of playing along.

“I sure hope we fight again soon,” The Skarmory muttered, looking away from the Ampharos. "I thought our rotation was almost up."

"Still got two weeks left," The Ampharos told him, grabbing and looking over the rifle that seemed to be an appropriate size for him. "Don't count down the days, trust me. Besides, the Silver Rebellion doesn’t have any real leaders left. The only ones that actually posed any kind of threat are all dead or in jail. Once we attack their capital of Symarix, it isn’t even going to matter any more. The rebels are fading.”

Who were these rebels, and what were they rebelling for? Regardless, I checked down the vent and this was as far as it would go. The only other choice was to head back the other way, or barge in on these two. I was just about to check down the other side of the vent when I noticed something. After checking out his rifle, the Ampharos went through the rest of the equipment. One of them kind of looked like a crudely-made communication radio, then two hand grenades, a few other strange-looking devices that I couldn't tell what they were for, and a few other belongings that I could only guess what their purpose was.

"So what's all this junk?" The Skarmory asked, glancing at each of the items on the table.

"Most of these are Silver Rebellion weapons we confiscated off of the prisoners..." The Ampharos replied, checking through each item. "If we can identify it, the quartermaster says keep it. If we can't, it gets incinerated."

He then pulled out a strange looking hand-grenade that was painted orange and shaped like an aluminum soda can, covered by a metallic grid-like covering.

"This looks like one of those two Inferno Grenades I've heard about," The Ampharos said, looking over the orange-painted grenade. :As for this..." he continued, picking up a strange, metallic tube-like object, "...pretty sure this is one of those pain-killer devices. And this thing..." he said, picking up a Poké Ball, "...I really don't know. Never saw anything like this before in my life. Makes me wonder if this is a new kind of grenade."

Now that was very, very strange. Almost all Pokémon instinctively knew what Poké Balls were. Any time a human trainer came along to try and catch a Pokémon, most Pokémon were quick to recognize a Poké Ball and fight against being captured in one. Many of them even knew how to destroy them so they wouldn't be caught. But here, we had two Pokémon obviously very in tune with civilization with no clue as to what it was.

There was no doubt about it. This had to be a completely different world...

I looked at the Poké Ball closely, and I recognized it as the one that held Latias in it. I almost gasped, worried about what it was doing in this Ampharos's possenssion. It was strange, but like Latias herself, the Poké Ball that contained her was recovered from Randy's dream world, making it look the same, but I was able to recognize that it was very different from any other Poké Ball.

"Shouldn't it have been destroyed with the rest of the junk?" The Skarmory asked.

"I was just about to get to that," The Ampharos told the metallic bird with a bit of a surprised expression. "It's weird, but this was the only one that wouldn't burn in the incinerator."

My heart sank like a rock when I heard that.

No... they didn't...!

"Odd..." The Skarmory nodded.

Was he seriously telling the truth? Did they stupidly just toss all four of my Pokémon into an incinerator and just mindlessly kill them that way!? I trembled with fear and anger, and I just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"NO!" I shouted and screamed.

They both looked in my direction, suddenly surprised and alarmed. I had no choice now, I leapt and tore my way through the grate, which was easily accomplished just because it was barely fastened in the first place. I then landed on a metal shelf that was right below while the Ampharos and the Skarmory immediately looked up at me.

“Who the hell are you!?” The Ampharos exclaimed, slowly trying to inch toward his rifle.

I wasn't in the mood for a conversation with these two. If they really just tossed Raichu, Ariados, Jolteon, and Weavile into a god-forsaken incinerator and never even gave them a chance to defend themselves, they weren't worth the breath it would take to talk to them.

I angrily charged toward the Ampharos, not caring if he was almost four times bigger than I was. He quickly grabbed the rifle, but his attempt to quickly take aim and fire failed when I slammed right into his chest. Unfortunately, the armor absorbed most of the impact and the recoil did hurt a bit, but it did cause him to stumble and crash into a smaller-sized table behind him.

The Skarmory quickly charged in to help his companion with his blade-like wings fully spread, forcing me to be wary those things might be capable of instantly decapitating someone. I quickly charged a powerful Thunderbolt attack at him, which while it was nothing like what I was capable of unleashing back in Randy's dream world, it definitely did have a lot more electrical power than what an average Pikachu was capable of. Everything in the room was hit hard, including several of the metal tables and the metallic shelf, causing dozens of small metal cans to be sent rolling and rattling in all directions. The Skarmory was hit hard, but after having hit the metallic floor, he got back up on his feet and gave me a deathly glare.

I shielded myself from the barrage of metal cans, and seconds later they had all hit the floor, creating a loud, clanging noise. When it was all over with, Ampharos had turned to me, not looking very happy at all.

“Boy, you are one dead puppy,” Ampharos sneered. “Do you really think you can take us down?”

“Yep, simply for the fact your electrical power can’t hurt me," I told him, knowing one electric type Pokémon against another was a bit of a stalemate.

"You dumb idiot, what do you think the gun is for!?" The Ampharos laughed, quickly reaching for it again.

Suddenly it all made sense. If that Ampharos really could use that rifle, what would he ever have to worry about fighting other electric type Pokémon? Or heck, with it, he could even stop several ground Pokémon with no trouble at all, making up for his weaknesses easily. It was a grizzly thought to think here, Pokémon showed no fear or hesitation about shooting and killing other Pokémon.

He took aim and fired twice only to just barely miss and hit the metallic wall instead, forcing me to charge with blitz-speed to avoid getting shot. Going for anything that was armored was a bad idea. I quickly charged and leapt up to his head, grabbing onto his back in the process. He tried to shake me off, but he couldn't use his hands while they were still on the gun. In the time he had dropped it again, I had slammed his ears with my fists, causing an immense amount of ringing pain to him. I then attacked another pressure point in his neck, striking his throat painfully.

He threw me off, winded all of a sudden and barely able to breathe. While it would have been ironic for him to be shot by his own gun, the rifle was made for him, and to me, it was too big to handle. Unless I only wanted to shoot his feet, there would be no way I could actually aim and pull the trigger.

The Skarmory charged at me again, spreading his wings and prepared to use their slicing power against me. I didn't have much choice with where to go, so I quickly used one of the metal tables as a shield. I was shocked when his wings sliced through it and cut it completely in half. Not only that, but they cut so far through that my chest had been lightly slashed and was bleeding a bit.

The pain stung, but if I hadn't used the table as a shield, I would have been easily dissected alive...

"Come on and fight me!" The Skarmory taunted. "I swear, you Silver Rebellion worms are nothing!”

“I’m not part of the Silver Rebellion,” I told the Skarmory as prepared to strike back.

For a moment, they actually seemed shocked that I wasn’t. But nonetheless, it was the truth. I didn’t even know who the Silver Rebellion was…

“Really?” The Ampharos asked in surprise, “Then where the hell are you from?”

“Heh, don’t bother asking,” The Skarmory smiled to his companion. “I swear, these Rebellion idiots have gotten even worse at lying.”

I immediately charged up as much electricity as I could and directed it right toward Skarmory, casing my red cheeks to flare with a violent amount of electrical power. He only had a split second to react as he saw the incoming thunder, but it wasn’t fast enough…

Skarmory had been struck hard, and he glowed like a white-hot flare from the blast. After a few seconds of intense electrocution, I released my power, and Skarmory stumbled over and fell to the floor, landing on his chest with his thin, metal wings spread out.

But, even as that happened, the Ampharos looked to his fallen companion, and knew Skarmory had the disadvantage and couldn’t help it. But taking down an armored Ampharos wasn’t going to be as easy…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 20
Hostile Conflict

Recommended Listening: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Infinite Loop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwvRUcUH_ew)

Everywhere, the room was a mess, with cans laying all over the floor, as well as the three metal chairs that had been knocked over and the two pieces of what as left of the metal table. I had looked over to the shelf unit and saw it was still smoking from my own lightning blast.

Ampharos charged at me in a berserker fury, and lunged toward me, and I jumped into the air to avoid his grasp, sailing right over his body and landed right behind him as he slid through the slick of whatever dark-colored liquid on the floor. Ampharos had realized he had missed me, and after he got up, and turned around, I jumped into the air, turned myself in the air and smacked him right in the face with my sharp, jagged tail, again, going for a part of his body that wasn't armored. Ampharos was sent stumbling backward, trying to grab on to something before he fell on his back.

Ampharos quickly got back up again and gave me a nasty glare. He began to sway his tail back and forward, quickly gathering up a harsh amount of electricity. Then, he released it, and I was surprised when practically the whole room lit up with an intense electrical power. Everything in the room except for the two of us had been struck hard with his electrical power. Behind me, the two vending machines had exploded, and a barrage of what seemed to be soda cans had blasted right out and went rolling onto the floor. The floor was suddenly dripping wet with mixing beverages and what seemed to be some kind of soda. A can that hadn’t been destroyed had rolled right next to me, and I thought of an idea.

The Ampharos was trying to get a hold of his rifle, but bending over to pick it up would leave him vulnerable. However, I knew getting shot with that thing would be fatal.

"You Silver Rebellion bastards are all the same," He snarled at me, frustrated his electrical attacks were doing next to nothing to solve his situation. "Can't even fight without cheeky, infantile tactics."

At this point, I stopped caring if he thought I was part of whatever rebel group he was talking about. I was not going to mix myself into this whole war or whatever they had going on here.

Ampharos came rushing toward me, and I quickly grabbed the nearby soda can and shook it as hard as I could, hoping this actually was a carbonated beverage and would do what I thought it would do. I then pointed the mouth of the can at Ampharos and pulled the tab, spraying him with a cloud of amber-colored root beer, blinding him for an instant. I tossed aside the half-filled can and struck Ampharos with the hardest punch I could muster, right between the eyes. Ampharos was sent flying backward, and then violently hit the back wall with his head, which thankfully did most of the damage.

I wasn't sure how much of that commotion was heard by anyone else in this place, but I wasn't about to take chances. I quickly grabbed the Ampharos's belongings and tried to find whatever useful things I could use. I wasn't sure about these Silver Rebellion Inferno grenades, but they were the only weapon I had. I had no clue what the rest of this equipment was about. I found a metallic-gray and white armored uniform, which was definitely not meant for a Pikachu and I figured probably belonged to some unfortunate soldier that was either killed or imprisoned here.

So, it was just two Inferno Grenades, myself, and Latias's Poké Ball, all strapped to an improvised belt made of worn chain links. I was going to have to work with this the best I could.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" The Ampharos snarled as he crawled on the floor toward me, trying to get back up on his feet. "I'm not done pulling your head off!"

He killed my four Pokémon and almost killed Latias. I figured there was no time like the present. I looked at one of the Inferno Grenades, and found that triggering it involved yanking out a T-shaped metallic bolt. I pulled it out, and then tossed it right next to him and his snarling face. I then rushed out of there, thrashed my way out the scratched and beaten metallic door, and tried to clear as much distance away from the room as possible.

"YOU TWISTED-" The Ampharos screamed loudly before he was cut off.

I turned around to see the break room had instantly turned into an incinerator out of control. Ravaging, consuming fire was even leaking out of the door and into the hallway I was in. I was surprised some kind of alarm hadn't gone off, but then again, I wasn't even sure if this place or even this world had such a thing in existence.

I had no idea where Alex and Randy were being held, and I still needed to find a way out of here. I was still in dismay at the thought these maniacs had killed four of my Pokémon, but I knew if I didn't get out of here, I was probably going to get killed also. Meanwhile, there could be other guards or more of these Crimson Stars soldiers. I doubted anyone would notice I escaped the jail cell considering no one even bothered to look at me in there, but the break room being on fire with the two burnt corpses of a Skarmory and a Ampharos was not going to go unnoticed. Plus I wasn't sure if anyone heard those loud gun shots either.

I then moved my way into the dimly lit hallway. Like the prison cell and the break room itself, the hallways were completely metal, as if this was a submarine. Pipes and wires ran across the ceiling, while metal panels similar to the ones in the cells covered the floor. It was reminding me a lot of that dream, and it was unnerving.

My first objective was to find Alex and Randy, and hopefully get out of here. I headed to the right, knowing I would be heading back in the same direction that my cell was. I had made my way down, knowing if anyone were to come down this hallway, there was no way for me to hide, and I would have no choice but to fight. I had come across another rusty, metal door that had a pull latch for a handle. I jumped, grabbed the metal latch, and kicked back to open the door.

My assumption was correct. I had seen rows upon rows of heavy steel, circular vault doors. The room was much larger than the hallway, but I saw something that made me jump. A Primeape, Beartic, and Seviper had been on patrol, and when I opened the door, they spotted me.

The Beartic was the easiest one to notice, as the giant, white polar bear with his night-black claws and razor-sharp teeth could only be made worse by covering him with black and red plated armor. Even for a Beartic, he was burlier and angrier than usual. He too, was holding a gun, only this one looked like a combat-worn heavy machine gun that looked like it would usually be mounted on a tank.

His Primeape companion was a fuzz-ball pig monkey with brown arms and legs with shackles. He was wearing custom-fit Crimsons Stars armor as well, but his face was scarred and it looked like he had been in several close-combat fights before. He was also holding a dirty sub-machine gun of sorts.

As for the Seviper, he was mostly a scarred black and violet snake with yellow hexagons on his back. He was without armor, although he did have a black and red bracer around his neck.

But in the end, all three of them were filthy. When they saw me, I couldn't help but feel small and overwhelmed at that moment.

“Butt-naked and helpless... well, it looks like we have an escapee,” The Primeape laughed, looking at me. “Decision time... strangle him with his own colon or play seconds of life countdown after we rip off his head?"

“Let me handle him, Captain,” The Beartic snarled with a wicked smile as he gently put his massive machine gun aside to use his massive fists instead. “The damned janitor never cleaned our bunk this morning, so I'm making sure this one's remains are especially hard to mop up."

I wasn't sure about these Silver Rebellion guys, but I was already beyond sick of these Crimson Stars and their barbaric pleasures. I really didn’t need this, and all I wanted was to find Randy and Alex and figure out what we needed to do to get out of here. The Beartic looked me over as he took his sharp-clawed fists and punched them together, illustrating what would happen if I got between then.

The giant, white polar bear with his night-black claws and razor-sharp teeth had growled at me. The Primeape had rubbed his fists together, thinking this was going to be an easy picking.

“Don't stop until he's nothing but goo, Slenx,” The Primeape captain grinned in sadistic pleasure. "I want to count the seconds he's still twitching before he dies."

The Beartic named Slenx came stomping toward me, and outstretched his arm. While he was a hulking beast of a Pokémon, he was still held down by his slowness and his heavy armor did nothing to help his finesse and dexterity. I needed to make that something I could use. He threw his clawed fist down powerfully, and I quickly leapt out of the way just a split-second before his claw ripped into the metal floor, nearly ripping his nails off in the process. He charged again, but thankfully, being a light-weight Pikachu made it easy to leap several feet into the air and dodge the shambling giant's attacks. As his hand smashed and clawed nothing but the walls and floor, he was doing more harm to himself than to me. However, if I messed up just one evasive maneuver, it would probably mean getting half the bones in my body smashed to pieces.

"Fight me, you worm!" He shouted, thrashing angrily.

I focused my attention, and began charging electricity. I then sent the massive wave of electricity right at Beartic, and struck him in the chest, knowing his armor would only provide some protection against the electric blast. The giant polar bear Pokémon staggered back, grasping his torso and moaning in pain as forks of electricity coursed around him. Oddly enough, it seemed to hurt him more than the average Thunderbolt. Again, I wondered... was it because I was Juno and not just an ordinary Pikachu? I seriously had to keep practicing at this.

Then, I had crouched down and lowered my head. Slenx wasn’t going to move now that he was paralyzed. After he had shook off the pain and began to approach me, I blasted right off the ground and everything around me became a white blaze of electric fury. I slammed right into Beartic’s chest once again, sending him staggering backwards. He fell over and the back of his head powerfully struck one of the larger pipes leading up from the floor into the wall. After he had hit the metal floor and landed on his back, he appeared too weak to get back up and the powerful blow to his head had to have resulted in major blunt force trauma.

“Lucky little bastard,” The Primeape spat at his fallen comrade before looking at me. "How does a guy like him get so pummeled over by a Pikachu of all things?"

Maybe not just an ordinary Pikachu. I was Juno, after all. A Pikachu born from a kid's dreams and imagination. I figured maybe the signs weren't so obvious on the outside, but I knew I was doing things a normal Pikachu couldn't.

He gave me a glare, and then he looked over to the Seviper waiting impatiently besides him. When the Primeape Captain gave a nod, the Seviper grinned wickedly, licking his lips.

“Yessss…” The Seviper hissed with sadistic glee. “I ssshall make ssshort work of him…”

The black snake with a yellow diamond pattern running along his body slithered his way across the floor, moving with an unpredictable advance. Seviper had one hell of a face, with long fangs and menacing eyes, along with a tail end that looked like a knife.

“You are finisssshed!” The Seviper hissed at me, just before blasting toward me like a bullet.

I couldn’t even see Seviper it was so fast. For a moment, it seemed like it just disappeared, and then a split second later, I felt an intense spark of pain suddenly slide down my back. Only then could I see Seviper, only it was too late. I felt so much pain coming from all directions. And then, I started feeling terribly sick and nauseous, and it only got worse every passing moment. I was too weak to continue fighting, and I could barely move.

Maybe it was luck with the Beartic. I still wasn't used to fighting as a Pikachu and I certainly was no soldier like these guys were.

“Get me the chains, I want the little maggot wrapped in them until he chokes,” The Primeape captain grunted.

“Yesss.” The Seviper began to obey.

I tried to focus, doing my best to ignore the pain that was beating all around my body. After managing to get back on my feet, I looked back at him, letting him know I wasn’t about to give up yet. I gave him a dark stare, and then Seviper looked back at me, ready to start fighting again. Yet, despite what had happened, again the Primeape had just snickered and was ready to start again.

“Forget that,” He said, shaking off his anger. “Put the maggot back on the ground!”

Seviper had lunged toward me like a bullet, and then I had remembered something. Even with Seviper dashing toward me with its mouth open as it readied its fangs, I concentrated and began to focus. I remembered I managed to pull off this feat back in Randy's world as Juno. It hadn't been that long, I figured I could give it another shot. With some concentration, I grew faster and faster as the rest of the world around me just suddenly slowed down.

Suddenly, Seviper’s speed had slowed to crawl, and then I dashed toward him, still rushing at my normal speed. Seviper moved around like it was crawling through tar, so it made it easy for me to get right on its back. I then charged my electricity, and sent the forking thunder and lightning right into the back of Seviper’s head, and kept it tearing through him, coursing through all his nerves until I figured he couldn’t stand having his brain continuously electrocuted.

Then, everything had returned to normal speed, and I jumped off of the collapsing Seviper, and faced the Primeape, who just stood there in disbelief.

“What the hell...!?” The Primeape asked in shock. “I've never seen a Pikachu pull that off! What kind of damned drugs do they have you on!?”

Drugs. This was definitely nothing like drugs, but I could tell he didn't want to give me credit for anything. Still, it was something far more powerful than any kind of performance enhancers. Without a doubt, Randy definitely had given Juno an arsenal of some pretty powerful attributes and moves. I figured I might as well use everything he gave me and try to learn as much as I could.

He had ignored the fallen body of his comrade, and prepared to attack with his sub-machine gun. I figured all the evisceration and butchery games these three had thought up were no longer being considered.

"To hell with you!" The Primeape shouted. "Eat lead and die, you god-forsaken, drugged-up lab rat!"

He opened fire, and I absolutely had to focus to avoid getting shot. Like before, he slowed down, and I could actually make out every bullet coursing its way toward me. I leapt out of the way, and then I focused my energy. My red cheeks flared up with crackling electricity again, and as he tried to reposition his aim to compensate for my blinding speed, I focused on his head, directing the blazing bolt of thunder to strike him right between the eyes. It hit him hard, and I made sure his brain was so thoroughly damaged by the thunderous attack that it would practically render him in a permanent vegetative state.

He was thrown back and his firearm went sailing out of his hands before he landed on his back, still sizzling from the attack. He lay there, completely still and unable to fight back. Really, a normal Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack wouldn't have hurt a Primeape that badly, but Juno's... definitely seemed to be a heck of a lot more effective.

I had approached his fallen body, and found a cloth bag he had been carrying. Since I couldn’t pull it off with him lying on the floor, I opened the flap and looked inside.

Inside was a stockpile of healing items, antidotes, potions, and loads of other stuff. Right now, I had no choice but to use them, or otherwise I was going to collapse because of the harsh poison that Seviper injected into me. They seemed to be a little different from the medicines that I typically gave to my own Pokémon, but they were simple enough to figure out how to use them.

I hated using antidotes on my Pokémon, just because the things look so darn painful. It was a hypodermic with scarlet liquid it, not the most comforting of things to see. All I could do was expose the needle, prick myself with it, and inject the scarlet liquid by pressing down on the plunger. Never once did I ever imagine I was going to have to one day use this on myself. Despite that, I had to hurry, or I wasn’t going to make it…

I removed the plastic covering on the needle, tossed it aside, and pricked myself with the sharp needle right in my side. Well, without a doubt, it sure was painful. Next, I put my tiny yellow hand on the release button on the top of the hypodermic, and pressed down. I didn’t want to watch as the scarlet liquid left the hypodermic’s container and entered into me.

But, amazingly, the sting from the poison was quickly flushed out and gone within only a few seconds. I pulled the hypo’s needle out from my side, and tossed it away. After quickly taking a glance at the empty hypodermic, I was not looking forward toward ever doing something like that again.

I had gone back to the bag and looked around for something to heal the cuts with. After digging around for it, I found a medical spray that looked easy and simple enough to use. Mostly similar to the potions back home, but with a differently shaped bottle and a clear liquid. I removed the cap that stopped the potion from accidentally releasing the spray within the bag. I then pointed the nozzle at myself and pressed down on the spray lever, showering myself with tiny, revitalizing droplets. I was amazed how this stuff worked, it healed cuts and bruises within seconds, though there was still some scarring and damage that would take a little longer to fully and naturally heal over time. When it was finished, I felt completely refreshed, almost as if nothing had happened, though there was still some aching. Still, I couldn’t always rely on these things. I was definitely going to have to be more careful about it.

For the Primeape's submachine gun, while it was a bigger and definitely oversized, I could actually use it. Trying to figure out how to eject the used magazine to replace it with a fresh one took me a while, and I realized these firearms used a trigger that was a straight rod instead of a curve. Meanwhile, their bullets were also a dark silver color, which was unusual.

Next, I found the Primeape’s belt along with the ring of metallic alloy keys he had been carrying. Keys here were also very different, and instead were T-shaped and used an array of metal imprinted bar codes. I almost didn't recognize them as keys until I took a glance at some of the locks on the prison doors and made the connection.

I unloosened his belt, slid the metal key ring along his belt and removed them.

Now I just needed to find Alex and Randy…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 21
Crossing the Threshold

I had realized that in order to find Randy and Alex, I was going to have to go through cell by cell, and since I couldn’t see into them, I didn’t know whose cell I was going to open, and I was a little bit wary thinking about it. There was no telling who or what was going to be behind the door, and the chance of someone lunging for my throat was always a possibility. I was hoping anyone here would be happy I was giving them their freedom, so I couldn't see too much harm coming out of it.

I didn’t really know what the Silver Rebellion was or who was in it, but I could already assume this place was loaded with them from all the prison guards I had to take out. I hated these sick-minded Crimson Stars, but for all I knew, the Silver Rebellion could be just as bad.

I had gone over to the first cell along the left wall, all the way at the end. It read, “V17” on a metal plaque by the keyhole, and I had looked at the key ring and found the corresponding key. The whole metal bar-coded key took a little getting used to, but once I figured out how it worked, I put the key in, turned, and slowly opened the heavy metal door.

Inside, the cell was exactly like mine, only by the bedside, I had seen a Cubone, a Chespin, and a Buneary lying against the metal bunk beds. They had been wearing gray and white armored uniforms, although the Cubone was still wearing the skull helmet. The Chespin was sleeping on the bunk bed near the window, but I could tell from his scarred brown face and some of the missing and shredded leaves on his head that he had seen plenty of fighting. Meanwhile, the Buneary was soiled and her brown fur was dirty. Meanwhile, she was wearing a black eye-patch over her left eye.

They looked exhausted, but when they saw me open the door, they looked up.

“Who are you?” The Cubone asked me, suddenly surprised to see the door open for once.

Good question. I wasn't even sure myself anymore.

"I'm nobody, let's just bail out of here," I told him, knowing there wasn't too much time to do this. "We don't have a whole lot of time."

I figured I was going to need some help getting out of here anyway.

In an excited ecstasy, they had gotten up, and scrambled to the door. The Chespin and the Buneary had run out the door and prepared to keep a lookout, but the Cubone had stopped in the doorway, and looked at me curiously for a moment. I could see past the skull he was wearing to look directly into his black eye.

“That’s funny, I don’t recognize you from the Silver Rebellion…” The Cubone told me, looking me over strangely. "Did they rip off your uniform? Wouldn't be the first time they've done that."

“No, I'm not from the Silver Rebellion,” I told him with a casual but polite smile, hoping to avoid being caught up in this war.

“Heh, well, you should be!” The Cubone replied in a somewhat amused tone. “Leading the charge on breaking open a Crimson Stars military prison? That takes guts!”

I admired his support, but I was no soldier. I had been nearly shot, pummeled, bitten, and shredded to death and had it not been for Juno's special powers, I would have been long-dead.

I had turned around, headed to the next cell, and found the key that corresponded with the door. I was really hoping I wasn’t making a serious mistake by doing this, but so far, the few Silver Rebels that I had met didn’t seem to be so bad. I put the key in the keyhole, and turned it clockwise until it stopped. After I heard the release pulled in, I opened the cold, metal door. Again, it was the same setup as before, only now I found a Meinshao and a Marill inside the cell, both looking like they’ve been in there for way too long. The white and purple weasel-like Pokémon looked like he had seen far too much fighting and the scars on his body proved it. Meanwhile, the round-shaped, aquatic mouse looked terribly malnourished and in dismay.

“Am I seeing things?” The Meinshao asked, looking at me, “You’re not one of them, are you?”

“Nope,” I told them quickly. “Come on, let’s go before someone catches us.”

They both dashed for the door with sudden, lifted spirits, and after the cell was empty, we then shut the door. I quickly moved to the third cell from the wall, and found the key I needed. Now, I felt like I needed to move faster and faster.

"There might be more coming," The Cubone warned me, urging me to go faster. "We don't have a whole lot of time."

"I'm trying..." I told him, feeling the urgency as well. "Not used to dealing with keys like these."

Once I unlocked the door, I handed the keys to the Cubone to take care of the rest.

Inside was a solitary Pachirisu, sitting on the bed with his eyes staring at the floor, his ears drooping downward, and his giant, fluffy tail laying by his side. I was surprised for a moment. His white and cyan-colored fur was relatively clean unlike the others. He didn’t seem to be in such bad shape like the others had been, like he had just gotten here. That, and unlike the Silver Rebellion soldiers, this electric squirrel wasn't wearing armor either. I walked over to him, and he still looked down, not willing to face me, even though he had been aware of my presence.

“I don’t know who you are, but I don’t belong here,” The Pachirishu said to me, just trying to push me away so he could be by himself. "I don't know why they did this to me or why I'm here."

“That’s why I’m taking you out of here.” I replied, trying to comfort him.

“You don’t understand, this isn’t the real me,” He said sadly, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked away. “I’m…”

I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he had been here way too long…

“I’m…” He stuttered, trying to continue, but finding it really hard to, “not… actually… a Pachirisu…”

Was this what I thought it was?

"Is that... you, Randy?" I asked.

He then immediately looked up, and I instantly knew my hunch was right. Instantly, he recognized me as Juno the Pikachu, but I didn't understand... why would Zander have Randy get turned into a Pachirisu?

"No... way..." He muttered.

"Seems it... happened to me also," I told him, still trying to wrap my head around this strange situation we were in. "Something really is weird. I... don't think there are any humans here."

"Jake..." Randy muttered, looking oddly at me. "You... you look really awesome as Juno. But... do you know where we are?"

"It's a military prison of some sort," I told him, not knowing much about the situation either. "I had to fight off some armored Pokémon with guns from some group called the Crimsons Stars."

He just seemed overwhelmed by it all, and I could tell that as he got up from his bed and tried to move around, he was definitely not used to walking as a Pachirisu. I knew the others would think it might have been either injury or weakness, but they didn't know what was really going on here. Still, if Zander turned Randy into a Pachirisu, I was quite sure he had probably turned Alex into a Pokémon as well, wherever he was.

Randy had looked at me, unable to believe. He then shook his head, unable to understand. But then, he looked at me closer and seemed to recognize me much more easily.

Just then, Cubone had poked his head out from behind the door and peered in.

“Hey, what’s taking you so long in there!?” He shouted out. “We’ve got to get out of here as soon as possible!”

“Come on,” I told Randy, knowing we could sort this out later. “We'll figure this all out once we're some place safe.”

Randy just hopped off the metal bunk bed and landed on his feet. I then began to head out of the room, and he began to follow me.

I then continued to unlock door by door, releasing what seemed to be practically a small army of Pokémon. I hadn’t been faced with resistance for quite a few minutes now, but even if someone had come to stop us, they wouldn’t stand much of a chance with all this united effort. Almost all of them were obviously Silver Rebellion soldiers judging from the silver-gray and white armored uniforms they were wearing.

“Come on!” Cubone shouted, “I know where the exit is!”

I tried to look among the crowd for a Pokémon that might be Alex, but there was no way of telling. There were at least three dozen other Pokémon and while most of them were wearing armor, I didn't get an opportunity the unarmored ones if they were Alex.

"Is there anyone named Alex here!?" Randy asked the whole group.

They looked at him strangely, and then at each other. It definitely looked like they had never heard that name before.

“Where is he?” He asked me, knowing we didn’t find him in any of the cells. "None of these guys look like they know him.

“We have to go find him…” I told Randy, heading in the opposite direction that the rest of the Pokémon were heading.

“Where do you think you’re going!?” The Cubone asked me in shock, seeing I was running in the other direction. "The way out is the other way!"

I had stopped and turned back for a moment. I had noticed Randy was following me.

“There’s someone I know that should still be here!” I shouted back. “We need to go find him!”

“There can’t be…” He shouted back. “I've unlocked all the other cells in the whole prison. He would have to be held somewhere else…”

That didn’t make sense. If Alex wasn’t here, then where was he? I was just about to turn around and follow Cubone when Randy had got my attention, lightly tapping me on the back with his white paw.

“Do you know where are they hiding my Pokémon?” Randy asked me, looking up.

I felt sick at that moment and had to back against the wall to avoid fainting as I felt so light-headed from stress and despair. I had no clue how I was going to explain this with the little amount of time we had. I tried to look into his eyes, but I couldn't, and the best I could do to share this horrible news was just look down at my own two yellow feet.

"Randy, they..." I told him, taking a hard breath as I was struggling with the words, "...they threw all of our human stuff into an incinerator. Pokédexes, medicine, PokéNavs, and... and the Poké Balls..."

"No... no... nooo, why would they do that!?" Randy suddenly cried, sobbing into my shoulder. "No, please, those were my Pokémon! Didn't they know there were living Pokémon inside them!?"

"I don't think they would have cared even if they did..." I replied to him, putting my paw on his back to try and comfort him.

It was brutal to see him so emotionally wrecked, and I felt like such a horrible person for all the times I heartlessly beat up his Pokémon and insulted them. I shut my eyes and despite Juno's power, there was nothing I could do to revive them and take back all the horrible things I did to them.

"I... I don't get it..." Randy sobbed with tears in his Pachirisu eyes. "Why them...? Why did it have to be them...!?"

I felt the same burn in my heart as he did. Even beyond the battles, I grew up with Raichu, Ariados, Jolteon, and Weavile, and to know they were dead and I never got the chance to say goodbye...

"I just want to wake up already..." Randy cried with tears burning in his eyes. "I hate this dream. I hate everything about it."

I could only wish it was one, though. But the pain was far too real for it to be one.

"Let's go, we need to hurry!” The Cubone shouted to the two of us from down the hall. “We don’t have much longer. Once they initiate the lockdown of the whole prison, there will be no way out of here!”

"We gotta go," I told Randy, knowing there was nothing we could do about it. "I'm sorry, Randy, I... lost all my Pokémon save for one."

"Save for one?" He asked.

"For some reason, they couldn't incinerate the Poké Ball that held Latias," I told him, showing him the one Poké Ball I had left. "I think it's because... they're made from your dreams."

Randy was a bit shocked, unable to understand it completely, but it surprised him also.

"This is all so... weird," Randy replied, still unable to believe this was all really happening.

"We'll try to figure it all out later," I told him, knowing we were still in dangerous territory here. "Right now, we've got to go follow that Cubone. I don't know about these Silver Rebellion soldiers, but I'm sure if they wanted to kill us, they would have done it already."

He nodded, and got up on his own two white furry feet. He was slowly getting the hang of traveling as a Pachirisu, which I could imagine wasn't easy for him considering he spent the last decade and a half as a human.

Already, everyone else but Cubone had already left the building, and we quickly rushed to follow him. Just past the second metal door of the jail room, there was a metal exit leading out. Randy and I quickly made our way outside. I could only hope Alex wasn’t still in there, and I was willing to take the Cubone’s word for it, but if that wasn’t the case, we would never be able to get to him now…

Outside, I got a full view of just how ravaged and torn apart this strange and foreign alien world was. As Randy and I looked upon the fields, the black ruins of a massive city had lied before us with the dark thunder still raging on overhead. The land was charred black in various places, and the fragments of tall buildings lay around us like twisted, jagged thorns. All that was left was a field of twisted, empty shells. Above it all was the fiery colored sky with its occasional flashes of thunder endlessly clashing in the air, the same nightmare I had seen from my cell window…

I was wondering what caused all this, and I was just about to ask the Cubone about it before stopping myself. I then figured it might be a good idea to not so quickly reveal Randy and I were former humans by showing ignorance. For all we knew, this could be new, or it could be something these Pokémon have always had to deal with.

And then, the Marill had emerged from the group, mounted upon a fierce-looking Pidgeot. I had no idea where he had gotten that massive bird from, but he was now equipped with all kinds of riding gear and armor. He looked down upon Cubone. He seemed a bit distressed…

“Sir, we had better leave before the Wind Strikers arrive…” The Marill warned him with anxiety. “Your mount is awaiting, and most of the others have already mounted up and are ready to leave. But there’s not much time.”

“Wind Strikers…?” Randy asked, feeling a bit worried.

“I guess you two really aren't from around here,” The Cubone told him. “They’re aerial sentinels who ride Skarmories. They’re fast, lethal, and they simply enjoy killing. Their weapons are also highly advanced.”

So, I figured that Ampharos in the break room had to be a Wind Striker. His Skarmory was certainly no joke and neither was that massive rifle he was using.

It wasn’t long until the rest of the released prisoners had come forward, all of them mounted on Pidgeots that were equipped with riding gear and armor. From what I could tell, these Crimson Stars guys had locked up their mounts in another area of the prison. A Pidgeot without a rider had come forward to the Cubone, and it seemed like Cubone had known this particular Pidgeot before. I figured the other Silver Rebellion captives had found out where they had been keeping their riding mounts and managed to release them. Soon enough, the Cubone jumped up upon the Pidgeot’s back, and strapped himself in with the riding saddle that was on the giant bird's back, now ready to ride.

At that moment, Randy and I just looked at each other, and we were both thinking the same thing. Randy and I then looked back at the Cubone and his other riders, and the question of whether these Pidgeot mounts could support two riders came up, but judging from the saddles and the gear they were wearing, it seemed like an obvious answer. There was no way we were getting on those things, and I didn’t feel like holding onto one of their backs for dear life.

“Uhhh…” Randy said to the Cubone in hesitation, “We don’t have a Pidgeot…”

“You don’t?” Cubone asked in some surprise. “No flying mount at all? How did you end up in the same prison as us Storm Riders?"

Randy seemed a bit embarrassed, and I couldn’t blame him since I was pretty much in the same situation as he was in. I didn’t know what a Storm Rider was either, and these Pokémon had a way about them that made you feel a little stupid for asking.

"Well, like I said earlier, we're not part of the Silver Rebellion," I told him, trying to put it casually. "Hence... the lack of a Pidgeot mount."

“What are the Storm Riders anyway?” Randy asked, looking at Cubone in curiosity.

“That’s who we are.” Cubone responded, putting a fist to his chest in a proud salute. “We’re the aerial forces of the Silver Rebellion, and we use Pidgeots as a means of transportation and as a means of attack.”

I had to admit, it was pretty impressive what these Storm Riders managed to create. An aerial attack force of two Pokémon working together.

“Wow, that's... awesome…” Randy said in awe, just looking at all the Pidgeot riders. "But... are you sure we can't get a ride? I have no idea how we're going to get out of here otherwise..."

"I've got it covered," I assured him.

I didn’t have a Pidgeot, but I certainly still had Latias. I unstrapped Latias’s Poké Ball from my waist, and pressed the primer button, enlarging the Poké Ball a bit to be prepared for release. A few of the Storm Riders looked curiously at what I was doing, probably having never seen a Poké Ball in action before. Regardless, I took the Poké Ball and I tossed it onto the ground. Sure enough, there was a flash, and the white light had formed into Latias.

Once the light had become her and she had looked around at the scorched earth, it was clear she had no idea where she was again.

"Holy cow, someone please change the channel," She blinked twice at the ravaged world she saw before her. "Okay, who ordered apocalypse and forgot the fries?"

She then turned and looked at me to realize... I was Juno the Pikachu again. I figured this was probably looking pretty weird to her right now, but I figured I could fill her in on the details later. Still, I couldn’t blame her for feeling so confused at that moment…

"Uh huh, okay," She nodded cynically. "Yep, something's weird again."

And then, suddenly, all of the Storm Riders were looking at Latias and I. Every single one of them and even their Pidgeot mounts had just completely stopped and just stared at the two of us, some of them just gaping at the sight with a few gasps here and there. They just looked at Latias and me blankly for a few moments, and said nothing. I had looked back at them, and had absolutely no idea why they were looking at me that way. For a moment, I thought it was because Latias was a pretty rare and legendary Pokémon, but their mesmerized reaction magnified to something even well beyond that.

“...And he will come at your most dire time of need…” Cubone had softly murmured, still blankly staring at me in a strange way, “He will arrive upon a bird as red as blood, and as white as lightning…”

I looked at him strangely, suddenly realizing he was reciting something from somewhere he must have read. Even Latias was looking at him strangely, having no idea who this strange Cubone was. It was… quite eerie to see him so hasty for a moment to get out of here, and then be totally mesmerized into this kind of behavior.

“Were you... saying something?” Randy asked Cubone, wondering what he was exactly talking about.

“When the skies turn into fire and the land is burnt into ash, he will come. We have waited too long for this day to arrive…” Cubone stated in a firm tone, “The restless masses, the battles, the nightmares… When the night seems endless and all hope has faded, he will come, and he will go by the name of Juno…”

Now he was freaking me out. How the heck did he know my name? And why was everyone staring at me? He sounded like he was reciting something like he had read countless times. I thought we needed to get out of here before the Wind Strikers came. Why was everyone just waiting around?

"How did... you know my name?" I asked him, knowing there was no way he could have just guessed that.

"Could someone be so kind to tell us where we are?" Latias asked, looking around curiously. "And most importantly, the quickest way out!?"

“I will show you, Blazewing,” Cubone said to Latias, seemingly proud to be in her presence. “We must make haste.”

Blazewing? He knew Latias's name before even I did?

"No way!" She exclaimed with shock. "If that was a lucky guess, forget this place, we're hitting the roulette wheels!"

Wow, I just didn’t get it. Still, before I could even say anything, Cubone had just looked forward, patted the side of his Pidgeot, and she spread her wings, and took flight into the sky. Soon after, the rest of the Storm Riders had lifted off the ground, and just left us along.

“Come on Randy, let’s go.” I told him, pulling him by the hand and making my way onto Latias’s back.

“How did he know your names?” Randy asked me, looking at Cubone and his Pidgeot strangely.

Hell if I knew. I was asking the same question myself. Soon after, Latias jumped off the ground and we flew swiftly through the air, looking upon the charred remains of the city below. The fissures consuming the city were deep. It was pretty easy to see there was no way to cross this land without flying over it. Still, I had a big question that really needed answering.

“Blazewing, huh?” I suddenly asked her. "That's a pretty cool name.”

“You bet!" She told me with a smug smile. "How the Cubone dude managed to know that... wow, no clue on that one. Heck, I didn't even get around to telling you yet! I wonder... does he somehow know I came Randy's dream world, or that I resembled his optimism too?"

"I haven't got the foggiest idea..." I told her, looking up at the sky in wonder.

[Suicune's Fire]

Typos and errors first! :]

Chapter 9


because to know one's enemy is dangerous knowledge to expose to expose to him.
Double 'expose to'!


Chapter 10


No wonder he was so keen into wanting to battle us.
I find this wording to be slightly odd. 'into' should be 'on'? Or get rid of "into wanting."


Everything in the room was hit with force and wind, and even Coldblood himself had to steel himself against the celestial wind as even the whole building trembled
The double 'even' in this sentence puts me off a little.


almost seemingly glowing white for a few seconds before it settled. It actually took me a few seconds to start breathing again.
Just double "a few seconds." :]


“Obviously, no one has ever won this tournament other than Randy,” Coldblood told me the obvious. “That’s why Randy now has at least fifty slaves. You have to be the one to fight Randy in the final round, and you have to be the one who wins. I can only wish you the best of luck from here on in.”
Hearing Coldblood say this makes me wonder how long, exactly, Randy's imaginary world has been around. It was my impression that it's been less than a week, but the way Coldblood is describing it makes it sound like it's been years, or months, or something. If it has been under a week, then saying "nobody has ever beaten him" sounds a little extreme. Also, he says nobody can just go up and challenge Randy willy-nilly, so it sounds as if he'd only have tournaments every so often. Unless it was explained that this world has existed for years, and I just missed that. xD


Chapter 11


It was a long march back to Victory City, but it was far more hopeful
"I" was more hopeful?


Oddly enough, inside, I was feeling sensations that I'm sure regular Pikachus never feel.
I'm sure you know that the plural of every pokemon species doesn't end with an s. This should be "regular Pikachu never feel," unless you're consciously rebelling against it and stuck an s on there for that purpose. xD


And when we finally meet that next day, I got a whole lot of surprise...
This whole sentence sounds kind of awkward. The tense is mixed up - unless you mean "I've got" - and "a whole lot of surprise" seems like an odd choice of words. Maybe it's just me. xD Also, if this is him looking back, then I find it a little puzzling, since we have never gotten a hindsight Jake/Juno before. I'm sure it's just a typo though.


I wasn't sure what was going through tis brain,
Should be its.


with an sharper horn and fierce, white fur.
Should be a.


When Raichu came out of his Poké Ball, he felt something felt oddly strange and he looked behind to see me.
Extra "felt" in there!


The black Poké Ball stuck the ground fiercely
I love fiercely sticking to things!


clad in jade and black scales with crimson claws and bladed scythe blades on both sides of his face,
Bladed scythe blades. Cool.


Chapter 12


In a battle like this, there was so such thing as overcompensating too much.
Should be no instead of so.


I was a bit worried my fatigue might cause me to slip up on the battle.
I think that's meant to be in the battle.


I had only gotten my rest during that afternoon as I was finally able to push away the thoughts of anxiety and concern away.
Double "away."


I was led toward the room that was just outside was the final arena.
I believe you require a "that" between 'outside' and 'was.' Or better yet, rewording it would be good!


I just blinked twice said nothing, not that he would have understood what I was saying anyway. I left it with a simple nod and left everything else carry on.
You need an 'and' between 'twice' and 'said', and that second 'left' should be 'let,' I think.


When there was a sudden and massive roar, I knew that must have meant Randy have arrived,
All one of Randy have arrived.


I walked out, and the sight of the stadium was painfully familiar from the last incident Alex, David and I confronted Randy, Frank and Jeff only to lose painfully.
You need a 'when' before 'Alex.' Probs a comma after 'Jeff' as well.


I was thinking more about showing them all that Randy made a grievous mistake by carelessly forget about a truthful, good-hearted, and genuine Pikachu.
'forget' should be 'forgetting.'


Already, Randy was looking at me very strangely, and I could see from the look in his face
'in' should be 'on.'


Randy’s Pokémon were going to have to on the verge of dying
There should be a 'be' between 'to' and 'on.'


“This is a two-on-two battle double battle, and each combatant is allowed to use only up to four Pokémon!”
Get rid of that first 'battle.' xP


Chapter 13


They didn’t know what attack it was either, but I could tell their by their power,
Snipe that first 'their'!


While they were able to understand the Pokéspeech that I called it "Thundersurge Chain Lighting," but it didn't tell them anything about the real nature of the attack.
This whole sentence is a little bit muddled. I think rewriting it as this might work better...


While they were able to understand what I called it in Pokéspeech - "Thundersurge Chain Lighting" - it didn't tell them anything about the real nature of the attack.


Chain Lightning came out exactly as I imagined it and I was pleasantly surprised and taken back at how this amazing power worked.
Taken aback?


Then, all I could see was a suddenly storm of dark shadows burst from where Mewtwo and Arceus were standing in the dark.
Should be 'sudden.' Also, repetition of 'dark' here. Not a biggie. x)


“Thank you…” He said to me.


"Don't worry about me!" He shouted me.


"Holy... sweet mother of mercy, how can you..." She replied
All of those 'he' and 'she's should have lowercase letters.


Then, she flew off the ground, and flew at a lightning speed toward Arceus,
Again, just the repetition of a word (flew).


And in no time at all, Latias had returned to my side, almost to my own surprise,
This sentence is either unfinished, or that comma should be a period. x)


“I’m sorry…” Jolteon gasped to me, looking terribly exhausted, “I wanted to go further, further than this. I wanted… to win together, with you.”
It says Juno is further enough away from the giant fissure to avoid it and not be harmed, but then he can hear Jolteon's quiet speech (or what I imagine is quiet, given his physical state), even at the distance, and speak to him back? I think there should be some indication that Juno moved closer to him. I also imagine that anything that isn't yelling would be hard to hear at all in this absurdly noisy arena, given that the crowd is so loud.

There we go! All errors accounted for...of the ones I saw. Which hopefully were all of them. xD But you never know! Those sneaky little buggers can be hiding anywhere. O:< There were other random little places that I would change personally, but some are too insignificant to bother mentioning, like the occasional comma use. xD

I think I like this tale more as it progresses, and now that Jake is getting somewhere with his plan to overthrow Randy and get the heck out of there, I think it's becoming more interesting. I did quite like Coldblood, and the points he raised were quite good--such as Jake having to go in disguise. On that note, I was sort of surprised how quickly Jake accepted the change from a human into a pikachu, especially when he said he would become a pikachu for the rest of his life if it gave him a shot at getting out of there. I can see how he would be quite keen, but it seems just a little extreme that he has little to no issue with it. If that were me, I'd be terrified if I had to become something else for the rest of my life. Your entire life would be morphed, from your family life to your friend life, to your career, future family, etc. I dunno...it was a little unsettling how fast he took the opportunity. I suppose I'm basing it too much on my thoughts, though. Jake obviously isn't me. Also, there hasn't really been much clarification on how the necklace works, which leaves me puzzled at some things, such as how the pikachu-changing would work. I could see how he would be a pikachu for the rest of his life inside Randy's mind, but once they broke free of it, wouldn't he return to normal, because Coldblood's powers wouldn't work outside of it? And if he's just a figment of Randy's imagination as Juno, it seems a little odd that he can become real. I'm not up to when they escape Randy's mind, though, so maybe I'm speaking about things that have already been answered, but I feel like Jake doesn't think enough about it. He could have asked Coldblood how it worked. Asked him a simple "What will happen to me after I leave Randy's mind?" but he doesn't, which is what is weird to me.

During all that travelling that Jake did to Coldblood's building, and then the three day trek back, I expected to see a little more of his adventure. It skipped each day with a sentence or two, when I think there could have been an awesome chance for a short little adventure or something, even if it was to show that Jake really was willing to give up everything for a chance to escape. The main thing that disappoints me is that there's never any interaction between Jake and his pokemon. Surely, for the three days that he wandered away from Victory City and towards Coldblood's building, there must have been a time when he let out his pokemon and had them there for company, or needed their help, or whatnot. I would have been satisfied if there was a sentence somewhere saying "Despite how lonely he got, Jake elected not to send out Raichu or Ariados for fear that they may wind up like Jolteon and Weavile" or something. But then on the way back, he sort of had no excuse not to send out his pokemon, especially because he had three days to kill as a pikachu. Instead, I can imagine him being absolutely silent for the entire three day journey, and then, when he's in the middle of a battle that will lead up to his plan, he decides to reveal to his pokemon that he's a pikachu now. Not only that, but he'll "explain it later"? Wouldn't it be helpful if his pokemon knew what they were going up against, and how Jake planned to do it? I just feel like he could have given them a little warning. Why didn't he take advantage of that three day walk to talk to his pokemon, explain what was happening, and even practice some imaginary attacks? It would make a lot of sense if he had done that, especially for the purpose of training with his raichu/jolteon so he could actually learn how to use his electric powers. I get that he's half (or more, or less) Juno now, but surely the Jake in there has no idea what's going on. I think it was pretty irresponsible and rude that he didn't even talk to them once over the span of six days... xD I mean, not even to let out his two pokemon to show them that their bodies had returned to normal? I dunno; it just seems like a wasted opportunity and in that position, I thought that Jake would have wanted all the help he could have gotten.

Despite that, I'm quite enjoying it. x) I'm still yet to see how this battle ends. The arrival of that latias is cool, though Juno sure does take a reeaallly fast liking to her. I suppose that's him in his excitement and joy that he's got a legendary on his side, though. xD I'm enjoying his made up attacks, too. Also I searched up the height of a lugia and oh my god it's 17 feet tall. I mean, it's no wailord, but it's still huge!

I shall now return to the shadows and continue reading. :3 I really wanna see them get out of here. xD Also I was quite surprised to see that Alex had become one of his slaves. I mean, I expected it, but it sucks that he has to do what Randy commands. I wonder what David's doing. At least he changed them back. xD Jeff seems so smug, too. The 'good guys' really annoy me to be honest. xD I want Randy to lose miserably and for that necklace to break because I'm SUPER lovely.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Ah, so we're finally in Kivistal! At least I hope it's still called Kivistal, and I'm honestly a little impressed with myself for remembering the name, but I digress!

I've always believed that you could have focused entirely on the Gray Battlegrounds and the human world that you created alongside Randy's dream world and still have crafted a beautiful series, but I don't think that the rush, the excitement, and the shock would have compared to taking things in a whole new direction by setting them inside a world where Pokemon use guns and fight wars. Even after all these years, the description of Pokemon like Primeape and Ampharos wielding high-powered weapons and working in a prison for warriors from a rebellion still lights up my world. Seriously, Mystery Dungeon eat your heart out!

Now, as part of my unofficial duties of my unofficial title of "guy who notices differences", here's what I've got for these last few chapters: First, it was always a little strange in the original tale that the relationship between humans and Pokemon was never entirely explained. There were hints of conflict with humans in the past, as when the Silver Rebellion was hostile to Randy because he bore a "human name" and he was coerced into adapting a new identity, as Blitz I believe. It seemed like there was a lot of potential (perhaps even a prequel I hoped :3) to what happened to wipe out all of the humans of Kivistal and teach Pokemon the art of warfare. This version simply has its benefits, without the lose ends of humanity's fate in Kivistal and the questionable morality of Pokemon keeping other Pokemon in Poke Balls, but it still surprised me a bit when I read that the Skarmory and Ampharos had not known what Poke Balls were.

And then if that wasn't enough, they killed Jake's Pokemon (and Randy's too I suppose)! I was hoping that they would be set free and join the Silver Rebellion, maybe get caught up in some political intrigue and jockeying for power, but no, they were disposed of. I can't say I was a huge fan of the Crimson Stars during past read-throughs (despite my affinity for jerks, it would appear), but that they would kill eight Pokemon out of ignorance, not even malice, really boils my blood, rustles my jimmys, and grinds my gears! Augh!

Ahem, with that out of my system (and comforted because maybe Alex's supercool Pokemon survived :D), it does raise the prospect of Juno breaking Blazewing's Poke Ball or doing something similar where she isn't confined in it, not only to fit in more with the other members of the Silver Rebellion, but also to give our favorite Latias more screentime. Because honestly, I think you could sell t-shirts with Blazewing's lines on them and make a healthy profit.

With all of these updating of species, there is one thing that I am hoping won't change, and that's the species of Skepter, especially now that the first Pokemon in Kivistal that Juno battles is an Ampharos it would seem poetic to me if things worked out in a bookends kind of way. I was actually kind of hoping that this Ampharos was either Skepter or one of his relatives, but then Juno set him on fire so I guess that hope went out the window.

On top of all of my fan theories and geeking out, these battle scenes of yours still have a beautiful pace to them, and almost kind of heartbeat that gets my blood pumping and keeps me addicted to the story. What I delight in most is that you not only bring this kind of energy and cinematic focus to the fights between Juno and big bads like Lugia and Groudon, but even fights with henchmen in the prison cell. I'm not usually one for "soldiering stories" outside of the Star Wars expanded universe, but you definitely have made me look at the more realistic (if you can call it that when the fighters are furry little Pocket Monsters) types of conflicts with a more open mind.

Perhaps my chief complaint was the shortage of music suggestions in these last few chapters. I happened to have Explosions in the Sky playing, and then the score from Batman Returns, and while they worked in some places, it was still clear to me that I am but a novice in finding the appropriate background music for such a thrilling tale!

As always, I'm eagerly anticipating what's up next (especially hoping for that rooftop battle with a Scyther from last time)!

[Neo Emolga]

Typos and errors first! :]

Chapter 9

Double 'expose to'!

Wow, Coldblood. Drunk much? XD


Chapter 10

I find this wording to be slightly odd. 'into' should be 'on'? Or get rid of "into wanting."

Yeah, I see what you mean, I can doctor that up a little.


The double 'even' in this sentence puts me off a little.

Even #2, you're FIRED! Yeah, having two of them there was a little funky.


Just double "a few seconds." :]

FIX IT, FELIX!

Looks good.


Hearing Coldblood say this makes me wonder how long, exactly, Randy's imaginary world has been around. It was my impression that it's been less than a week, but the way Coldblood is describing it makes it sound like it's been years, or months, or something. If it has been under a week, then saying "nobody has ever beaten him" sounds a little extreme. Also, he says nobody can just go up and challenge Randy willy-nilly, so it sounds as if he'd only have tournaments every so often. Unless it was explained that this world has existed for years, and I just missed that. xD

Hmm... yeah, you bring up a good point there and I'm quite surprised I didn't catch this myself. 50 losing slaves for a week of tournaments would mean roughly 7 tournaments a day (not to mention that doesn't fit with the whole setup that Juno goes through later on). Randy's world is weird, but it can't go that far. Math is still math!

I'm changing the bit about "that's why Randy now has at least fifty slaves" to "anyone that loses to him becomes his slave, and already several challengers have fallen victim to it." I think that does a good job of mopping up the mess, but still keeps the warning about what's at stake.


Chapter 11

"I" was more hopeful?

Yeah, that whole sentence sounds a little junky. Going with:

"It was a long march back to Victory City, but things were looking better than when I had left."


I'm sure you know that the plural of every pokemon species doesn't end with an s. This should be "regular Pikachu never feel," unless you're consciously rebelling against it and stuck an s on there for that purpose. xD

This, I wasn't even all that sure about, so I kind of just made an assumption and rolled with it. But yeah, I fixed it and I'll try to keep that in mind later on.


This whole sentence sounds kind of awkward. The tense is mixed up - unless you mean "I've got" - and "a whole lot of surprise" seems like an odd choice of words. Maybe it's just me. xD Also, if this is him looking back, then I find it a little puzzling, since we have never gotten a hindsight Jake/Juno before. I'm sure it's just a typo though.

WTF... what was I thinking when I wrote that!?

Changed to "And when the next day had arrived, there were a whole lot of surprises I wasn't expecting..."

No, I promise, Jake hasn't been drinking!


Should be its.

And... check!


Should be a.

And gotcha!


Extra "felt" in there!

I guess that wasn't the only strange thing Raichu was feeling!


I love fiercely sticking to things!

LOL, oh man, how one little letter can change so much. XD


Bladed scythe blades. Cool.

Ha, ha, I'm full on laughing and embarrassed now, but it's worth it. XD


Chapter 12

Should be no instead of so.

Yep.


I think that's meant to be in the battle.

Yep, otherwise that's a really weird battle!


Double "away."

And... goodbye to that one!


I believe you require a "that" between 'outside' and 'was.' Or better yet, rewording it would be good!

I think just taking out the second "was" probably did the trick.


You need an 'and' between 'twice' and 'said', and that second 'left' should be 'let,' I think.

Yeah, that one's a mess. Changed it all to "I just blinked twice and said nothing, not that he would have understood what I was saying anyway. I decided to put it behind me and carry on."


All one of Randy have arrived.

>.<

Okay, that one never should have happened.


You need a 'when' before 'Alex.' Probs a comma after 'Jeff' as well.

Yep, agreed on that one.


'forget' should be 'forgetting.'

*Nods.*


'in' should be 'on.'

Yep, you got that right.


There should be a 'be' between 'to' and 'on.'

Well, there is one now!


Get rid of that first 'battle.' xP

But it's a double battle! Just kidding, yeah, that's a silly mistake. XD



Chapter 13

Snipe that first 'their'!

Lordy, that whole sentence is a mess. I decided to change the whole thing to: "They didn’t know what attack it was either, but I could tell by their surprise, they never suspected this unique Pikachu named Juno was capable of highly-powerful forces."


This whole sentence is a little bit muddled. I think rewriting it as this might work better...

Done and done!


Taken aback?

Yeah, that's messy. Just rolling with "Chain Lightning came out exactly as I imagined it and I was pleasantly surprised at how this amazing power worked." I think that does the job just fine.


Should be 'sudden.' Also, repetition of 'dark' here. Not a biggie. x)

It's really dark! Just kidding, changing it to: "Then, all I could see was a sudden storm of dark shadows bursting from where Mewtwo and Arceus were standing, moments before being consumed in a shrouding, black cyclone."


All of those 'he' and 'she's should have lowercase letters.

TRIPLE KILL! That second one got a much-needed "at" as well.


Again, just the repetition of a word (flew).

You can tell repetition is a stalker of mine when it comes to writing. XP


This sentence is either unfinished, or that comma should be a period. x)

Yeah, I think the period works.


It says Juno is further enough away from the giant fissure to avoid it and not be harmed, but then he can hear Jolteon's quiet speech (or what I imagine is quiet, given his physical state), even at the distance, and speak to him back? I think there should be some indication that Juno moved closer to him. I also imagine that anything that isn't yelling would be hard to hear at all in this absurdly noisy arena, given that the crowd is so loud.

Good points, yeah, that's true. I decided to change it around so it makes sense:

“I’m sorry…!” Jolteon cried out to me, looking terribly exhausted, “I wanted to go further, further than this! I wanted… to win together, with you!”

“No, don’t worry about it!” I told him quickly with a reassuring smile, telling him he shouldn’t fear this. “There will be other days. You did an outstanding job, Jolteon. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Jolteon was silent for a moment, nodded lightly with a weak smile, but then collapsed from the exhaustion.

I think that should be okay.


There we go! All errors accounted for...of the ones I saw. Which hopefully were all of them. xD But you never know! Those sneaky little buggers can be hiding anywhere. O:< There were other random little places that I would change personally, but some are too insignificant to bother mentioning, like the occasional comma use. xD

You caught a LOT, and I appreciate you taking the time to flag them all down. I'll admit, very often I'm just thinking in terms of the storyline, description, emotion, and that kind of stuff, and my thoughts are moving faster than my fingers.


I think I like this tale more as it progresses, and now that Jake is getting somewhere with his plan to overthrow Randy and get the heck out of there, I think it's becoming more interesting. I did quite like Coldblood, and the points he raised were quite good--such as Jake having to go in disguise. On that note, I was sort of surprised how quickly Jake accepted the change from a human into a pikachu, especially when he said he would become a pikachu for the rest of his life if it gave him a shot at getting out of there. I can see how he would be quite keen, but it seems just a little extreme that he has little to no issue with it. If that were me, I'd be terrified if I had to become something else for the rest of my life. Your entire life would be morphed, from your family life to your friend life, to your career, future family, etc. I dunno...it was a little unsettling how fast he took the opportunity. I suppose I'm basing it too much on my thoughts, though. Jake obviously isn't me. Also, there hasn't really been much clarification on how the necklace works, which leaves me puzzled at some things, such as how the pikachu-changing would work. I could see how he would be a pikachu for the rest of his life inside Randy's mind, but once they broke free of it, wouldn't he return to normal, because Coldblood's powers wouldn't work outside of it? And if he's just a figment of Randy's imagination as Juno, it seems a little odd that he can become real. I'm not up to when they escape Randy's mind, though, so maybe I'm speaking about things that have already been answered, but I feel like Jake doesn't think enough about it. He could have asked Coldblood how it worked. Asked him a simple "What will happen to me after I leave Randy's mind?" but he doesn't, which is what is weird to me.

Good points. Very good points... but... considering the situation Jake is in, I thought of it more in a terms of "what other choice do you really have?" Also, Jake never thought he'd be stuck as a Pikachu for life, only until Randy's dream world collapsed. That, and after being so desperate for answers and having virtually no other solution present itself, Jake had to make a choice. Take Coldblood's offer, or likely risk wandering Randy's bizarre dream world forever. Never said it was easy...

As for Juno becoming real, that gets explained a little further.


During all that travelling that Jake did to Coldblood's building, and then the three day trek back, I expected to see a little more of his adventure. It skipped each day with a sentence or two, when I think there could have been an awesome chance for a short little adventure or something, even if it was to show that Jake really was willing to give up everything for a chance to escape. The main thing that disappoints me is that there's never any interaction between Jake and his pokemon. Surely, for the three days that he wandered away from Victory City and towards Coldblood's building, there must have been a time when he let out his pokemon and had them there for company, or needed their help, or whatnot. I would have been satisfied if there was a sentence somewhere saying "Despite how lonely he got, Jake elected not to send out Raichu or Ariados for fear that they may wind up like Jolteon and Weavile" or something. But then on the way back, he sort of had no excuse not to send out his pokemon, especially because he had three days to kill as a pikachu. Instead, I can imagine him being absolutely silent for the entire three day journey, and then, when he's in the middle of a battle that will lead up to his plan, he decides to reveal to his pokemon that he's a pikachu now. Not only that, but he'll "explain it later"? Wouldn't it be helpful if his pokemon knew what they were going up against, and how Jake planned to do it? I just feel like he could have given them a little warning. Why didn't he take advantage of that three day walk to talk to his pokemon, explain what was happening, and even practice some imaginary attacks? It would make a lot of sense if he had done that, especially for the purpose of training with his raichu/jolteon so he could actually learn how to use his electric powers. I get that he's half (or more, or less) Juno now, but surely the Jake in there has no idea what's going on. I think it was pretty irresponsible and rude that he didn't even talk to them once over the span of six days... xD I mean, not even to let out his two pokemon to show them that their bodies had returned to normal? I dunno; it just seems like a wasted opportunity and in that position, I thought that Jake would have wanted all the help he could have gotten.

Hmm, I didn't think about a small Pokémon interaction thing to help ease Jake's loneliness and having them get trained. You make some pretty good points about that.

I'll think it over a bit more, gather my thoughts, and see what kind of options would fit into this. A person on PokéCommunity also felt Victory City really could have used more description, so that's probably another thing I could focus on as well if I'm going to write more into these particular chapters.


Despite that, I'm quite enjoying it. x) I'm still yet to see how this battle ends. The arrival of that latias is cool, though Juno sure does take a reeaallly fast liking to her. I suppose that's him in his excitement and joy that he's got a legendary on his side, though. xD I'm enjoying his made up attacks, too. Also I searched up the height of a lugia and oh my god it's 17 feet tall. I mean, it's no wailord, but it's still huge!

Yup, Lugia is seriously gigantic!

Pst, I could let you in on a little secret. Latias resembles Randy's optimism.


I shall now return to the shadows and continue reading. :3 I really wanna see them get out of here. xD Also I was quite surprised to see that Alex had become one of his slaves. I mean, I expected it, but it sucks that he has to do what Randy commands. I wonder what David's doing. At least he changed them back. xD Jeff seems so smug, too. The 'good guys' really annoy me to be honest. xD I want Randy to lose miserably and for that necklace to break because I'm SUPER lovely.

Ha, ha, yep, it's about turning the tables. The original intention was to have the characters you originally felt sorry for become the jerks and the bullies you wanted to see fail become the heroes.

And you are SUPER lovely. XD


Ah, so we're finally in Kivistal! At least I hope it's still called Kivistal, and I'm honestly a little impressed with myself for remembering the name, but I digress!

Yep, it's still called Kivistal!


I've always believed that you could have focused entirely on the Gray Battlegrounds and the human world that you created alongside Randy's dream world and still have crafted a beautiful series, but I don't think that the rush, the excitement, and the shock would have compared to taking things in a whole new direction by setting them inside a world where Pokemon use guns and fight wars. Even after all these years, the description of Pokemon like Primeape and Ampharos wielding high-powered weapons and working in a prison for warriors from a rebellion still lights up my world. Seriously, Mystery Dungeon eat your heart out!

True, and there's been times when I've felt like trying to pluck out the whole Gray Battlegrounds part and replace it with something that was more similar to the rest of the series, but it never felt right.

I did have to justify Pokémon using guns when a few people felt it was strange they would use weapons like that. Having them be used to overcome type disadvantages seemed like the most logical way to go.


Now, as part of my unofficial duties of my unofficial title of "guy who notices differences", here's what I've got for these last few chapters: First, it was always a little strange in the original tale that the relationship between humans and Pokemon was never entirely explained. There were hints of conflict with humans in the past, as when the Silver Rebellion was hostile to Randy because he bore a "human name" and he was coerced into adapting a new identity, as Blitz I believe. It seemed like there was a lot of potential (perhaps even a prequel I hoped :3) to what happened to wipe out all of the humans of Kivistal and teach Pokemon the art of warfare. This version simply has its benefits, without the lose ends of humanity's fate in Kivistal and the questionable morality of Pokemon keeping other Pokemon in Poke Balls, but it still surprised me a bit when I read that the Skarmory and Ampharos had not known what Poke Balls were.

Hey, I'm glad you remember all this!

The elements of humanity have been plucked out along with Pokémon being unfamiliar with Poké Balls. I noticed this also and I did create several workarounds, as something wasn't clicking with humans in the picture. It's true, in the original version, Juno does fight a few humans, but later on, they just stop showing up. Heck, there were times when the story randomly flipped to third person and those have been taken out also.


And then if that wasn't enough, they killed Jake's Pokemon (and Randy's too I suppose)! I was hoping that they would be set free and join the Silver Rebellion, maybe get caught up in some political intrigue and jockeying for power, but no, they were disposed of. I can't say I was a huge fan of the Crimson Stars during past read-throughs (despite my affinity for jerks, it would appear), but that they would kill eight Pokemon out of ignorance, not even malice, really boils my blood, rustles my jimmys, and grinds my gears! Augh!

THIS totally had to be done. Shen, a very long time avid fan of this series, kept begging to know what becomes of Jake's and Randy's Pokémon. Jake retrieves them in the original version, but then never uses them. And then they're never accounted for ever again. Because they don't appear in the story after this, I had to work in a good reason for that... and this matched well with the fact the Crimsons Stars doesn't know what Poké Balls do and threw them into the fire like everything else they owned.

I'll admit, it was a pretty brutal finish to Jake's and Randy's Pokémon, but it does tie up a loose end that badly got left behind...


Ahem, with that out of my system (and comforted because maybe Alex's supercool Pokemon survived :D), it does raise the prospect of Juno breaking Blazewing's Poke Ball or doing something similar where she isn't confined in it, not only to fit in more with the other members of the Silver Rebellion, but also to give our favorite Latias more screentime. Because honestly, I think you could sell t-shirts with Blazewing's lines on them and make a healthy profit.

Bingo. Blazewing gets truckloads of more screen time. Besides getting a more enjoyable personality to work with, there are a LOT of segments that have been revised where she travels with Juno where before he was completely alone (the Abyss in Trial of Juno II is a BIG one). This has also greatly affected how Juno and Blazewing overcome obstacles together, fight together, and have conversations during their travels. Honestly, I think you'll love the update.


With all of these updating of species, there is one thing that I am hoping won't change, and that's the species of Skepter, especially now that the first Pokemon in Kivistal that Juno battles is an Ampharos it would seem poetic to me if things worked out in a bookends kind of way. I was actually kind of hoping that this Ampharos was either Skepter or one of his relatives, but then Juno set him on fire so I guess that hope went out the window.

Skepter is definitely still an Ampharos. There's also a big twist ending disparity with his son Bartholomew when it comes to differences between this and the original, but I'm not spoiling anything. Read on!

As for that first Ampharos that Juno fights, I never thought of him being related to Skepter in a way. Hmm...


On top of all of my fan theories and geeking out, these battle scenes of yours still have a beautiful pace to them, and almost kind of heartbeat that gets my blood pumping and keeps me addicted to the story. What I delight in most is that you not only bring this kind of energy and cinematic focus to the fights between Juno and big bads like Lugia and Groudon, but even fights with henchmen in the prison cell. I'm not usually one for "soldiering stories" outside of the Star Wars expanded universe, but you definitely have made me look at the more realistic (if you can call it that when the fighters are furry little Pocket Monsters) types of conflicts with a more open mind.

Considering this was written before Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, I'm actually surprised I beat Nintendo to making Pokémon have their own world. Glad you like the way I handled the combat sequences, as it's tough to balance between a fight that feels too fast and one that feels like everything moves in slow motion.


Perhaps my chief complaint was the shortage of music suggestions in these last few chapters. I happened to have Explosions in the Sky playing, and then the score from Batman Returns, and while they worked in some places, it was still clear to me that I am but a novice in finding the appropriate background music for such a thrilling tale!

I've been having a tough time trying to come up with a fitting music track for the prison part. Most of the songs I've come across are pretty short, or their tempo, beat, and rhythm doesn't quite match with the setting and the pacing of the story.

I was half-thinking of going with Max Payne 3 - U.F.E. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8tB_tCq5Ic) for the battle in the break room, but it only lasts for 1:06. I also haven't found a good enough substitute, but if you have something in mind that kind of matches this, hey, link me and I'll give it a listen.


As always, I'm eagerly anticipating what's up next (especially hoping for that rooftop battle with a Scyther from last time)!

Oh, that still happens. No way would I cut that part out. ;)

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 22
The City of Symarix

As Randy and I held on tight to Blazewing's wings, we had flown over miles and miles of ruined desert land, cracked and charred with canyons of endless pits lying everywhere. This was the most treacherous land I have ever seen in my life, worst than the driest desert and the coldest of snowy wastelands. It was impossible to even walk on foot, never mind the distance.

As I looked ahead, I saw the fifty Storm Riders, with each of their Pidgeots beating their wings in the hot air. Above us, the crimson sky flared above us with its swirling, dark clouds. I had then suddenly realized the thunder never once hit the ground. I had no idea where I was, and at this moment, I had no idea what the Storm Riders of the Silver Rebellion wanted me to do. Half of me was wondering if following them was even a good idea, but considering how the Crimson Stars showed no compassion to anyone, even those unaffiliated with the Silver Rebellion, we had to have some kind of guide in this strange world we were in now.

"Juno, I tell ya... this vacation you booked... it sucks," Blazewing nudged me with her wing with a teasing, mischievous smile.

"Well, you get what you pay for," I sighed to her with a tired smile before I just had to shake my head in disbelief at all this.

Recommended Listening: Two Steps From Hell - Love & Loss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yllwOJmXZB4)

As we continued to fly on, I saw the ground below us was slowly beginning to change from bottomless canyons to an arid desert, but it was still a wasteland. The endless fissures were less plentiful, and the land could actually be walked on now.

And then, far in the distance, I saw what looked like a massive, metallic metropolis just on the horizon. As we got closer and closer to it, it was absolutely the most gigantic city I’ve ever seen. The circular, spire, and square-shaped buildings towered hundreds and hundreds of stories tall and seemed to shine and gleam in the light of the red sun. I could easily tell metal must have been much more in abundance here considering they were willing to build many structures out of it as opposed to stone or concrete.

As we drew closer to the outskirts, I could see the streets were much wider than most cities on Earth, yet the number of motor vehicles was drastically low in comparison. Plus they didn’t look anything like the ones on Earth, being made of very large mechanical parts with no real concern for exterior aesthetics. All of them looked like they were unpainted with a bare, metallic chassis, and were just manufactured for transportation purpose only rather than appearance.

I had seen the city was well fortified and heavily militarized with a fifty foot wall made of metal surrounding the city and with large, metal cannons mounted on the walls. As we got closer, I saw each of the buildings were also made of black, silver, or dark blue metal, yet I had no idea how they were able to make all of this by themselves, especially under these harsh conditions. Towards the center was one massive and towering building, shaped like a spire, made of a reflective silver-colored metal.

I could look in any direction and just couldn’t believe all of this was actually real…

And yet, everywhere we looked, there were only Pokémon. Somehow, in this world, they built an entire civilization and culture, and now the three of us were sitting right in the middle of it. Here, they lived together, worked together, played together, and essentially replaced humans as the civilized society, bringing forward their own technology and innovation. I had seen marketplaces, courtyards, streets, and even Pokémon children playing some kind of street game that involved one large rubber ball and two smaller ones. A few of them wore a few basic articles of clothing, while it was really the soldiers and guards that were fully dressed in uniform and armor.

I think spellbound was the only fitting word I could come up with to describe how I felt about discovering such a place like this existed.

We had headed toward the center of the city, to an open area just near the giant spire. As we flew downward, I caught sight of what seemed to be a large military base with many bunkers and training grounds. All I did was just follow the Cubone, since he seemed to know the most about this place. I knew I had to be extremely careful about what I said here. I wasn't sure about making the Silver Rebellion my friends, but I sure didn't want to make them my enemy.

Once we arrived at the central spire building, I looked up and saw the spire tower extend high into the red-hued sky like a stairway to the fiery heavens. I couldn’t even tell where the tower ended it was so high up. Shortly after, I had gotten off Blazewing, and Randy had followed me, still getting used to his tiny Pachirisu feet and oversized, spiked squirrel tail. We stood on that warm, metal ground and looked up. He too, seemed amazed at the sight.

Meanwhile, as I was taking this in and looking around, I noticed that the whole city seemed to be designed for those small and large alike. As I looked around me, I couldn’t imagine how something so giant could have been built by Pokémon alone. It seemed like it could have taken forever to construct…

“What… is this place...?” Randy asked in amazement, looking at all the giant buildings around him.

“Symarix,” The Cubone had told Randy. “And I don’t believe I have introduced myself. My name is Sever. And I’d like to welcome you to our city.”

“Well, thanks,” Randy replied sheepishly, still looking curiously at everything with his eyes.

Sever could tell from the look on our faces that we were definitely lost and had no idea what we were doing here. In a way, he seemed happy to answer our questions, but at the same time, he looked at us strangely, seeming a bit surprised we didn’t know this already.

"So... uh, this Symarix..." Randy continued, getting fidgety with his little paws as he looked at Sever with an embarrassed expression on his docile Pachirisu face, "...I don't mean to sound... dumb or weird, but... I don't even think I'm... familiar with this world..."

Sever looked at him very strangely as his eyes narrowed in on him from behind his skull helmet, unable to understand his behavior. Honestly, I had to admire Randy's bravery for asking these kinds of questions. Admitting we were travelers from a whole other world was a very hard and not-so-believable thing to admit in front of these militarized strangers.

"Wouldn't be the first time the Crimson Stars drugged a prisoner with Downsmoke and amnesia was the result of it," Sever muttered with a sigh, shaking his skull-covered head before looking at the Pachirisu like he had a lot of work to do. "I guess they've been upping the dose lately."

I nodded, know it would be unwise to tell him the outlandish truth. If he thought a drug was responsible for it, it might just be better for him to go with that theory.

"This is Kivistal you're on, buddy,” Sever informed Randy, talking to him like he was trying to jog his memory. “Not sure where you're from, but Crimson Stars are vicious to everyone who still has a working conscience in their soul. Say... what's your name, anyway?"

"It's... Randy," he replied, feeling confused.

And then, Sever blinked twice, almost thinking that was absurd.

"That... what kind of name is that?" Sever asked, looking bewildered before he assumed Randy gave him a fake name to protect himself. "Listen, I know it might be hard for you to trust us because you only just met the Silver Rebellion, but you can at least give us your real name."

Randy looked at me for help, really not sure what to do in this case. Between myself, Blazewing, and Sever here, it did seem like the Pokémon of this world weren't accustomed to human names either.

"His name is Blitz," I told Sever, figuring he might as well get a new name just like me if he was getting stuck with a new body to live in. "He's a little on edge with all that's been going on, so don't mind him if he's not so quick to trust others."

"Thank you," Sever told me before turning to 'Blitz the Pachirisu' again. "See? It's not so bad. Really, I don't know how long they've kept you wired to Downsmoke, but you're better off with us than out there on your own."

"Blitz" nodded, although I could tell from the look in his eyes, he still felt totally lost when it came to all this. It also seemed like that oversized squirrel tail was a hard thing for him to get used to.

"So, why do they call this the Silver Rebellion?" Blitz asked. "You're rebelling against the Crimson Stars because... you used to be a part of them?"

"Unfortunately, it's true," Sever nodded. "Things in Crimsonland were looking bleak to begin with before the Silver Rebellion started six years ago, but the whole thing with spilling blood for their new god called Zander to escape the coming apocalypse that only started up recently is a clear sign we made the right choice."

Zander, hmm? I was beginning to wonder if he was walking around with a Pokémon form on in this strange world of Kivistal like Randy and I were just to fit in.

"Oh, not him again..." Blitz muttered, looking at Sever with a faraway look in his eyes.

"That's right," Sever nodded, not even realizing we've run into him already as he was only thinking he was making progress curing Randy of his 'amnesia,' "The Crimsons Stars think he's saving them from an apocalypse, but we know he's a rotten liar and he's responsible for all this!"

"Where... is he now...?" Blitz asked with anxiety, wondering where he might be hiding.

"Now that we don't know, my friend," Sever replied, looking up to the sky as he was really wishing he did. "Heck, we're not even sure what he looks like. We were never really friends with Crimsonland to the north, but ever since we starting hearing his name while getting attacked by Crimson Stars zealots, we're seeing more and more of the world falling apart. We're not sure if he's a powerful dictator or some kind of demigod for all we know."

I nodded, trying to get in on this conversation to at least sound and act like I knew what I was doing. For some reason, the Silver Rebellion was treating Blazewing and I like we were VIPs and I still had no idea why.

"And that's not the least of it," Sever continued, figuring he might as well share this piece of information. "Rumor has it that some of his followers believe this is the end of days for Kivistal, and Zander wants to save them by taking them to a new world to live on. He just hasn't found it yet, but they trust in his otherworldly power. They think all this is just some untimely Armageddon."

"There's no way that could be right," I told him as I shook my head in disbelief, figuring I knew Zander enough not to be the generous and life-saving type of person that would be out to save Pokémon. "Skies like that? That's not a natural occurrence."

"Well, tell that to the Crimson Stars, Juno," Sever told me. "Somehow this false god 'Zander' has the people of Crimsonland believing if they fetch enough blood and cause enough death for Zander, he'll be able to use that sacrifice to work some kind of dark ritual to bring them to a new world."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure a portal created by blood, guts, and good ol' fashioned death has just GOT to be the gateway to the good life!" Blazewing replied, nearly laughing. "Let me guess, did he talk them into buying a timeshare in there as well?"

Sever looked at Blazewing curiously, almost chuckling a bit before getting back to business.

In the meantime, not knowing what happened to Alex was a problem. Just where was he, and was he even still human? I knew the later was probably no considering what had become of Randy, and how I needed to keep thinking of him as "Blitz" to avoid any suspicion. It pretty much seemed like no one here was human, which was definitely an odd occurrence. In the meantime, I questioned myself with the thought of exactly how long we were going to end up staying here…

“We need to talk to Emperor Jamac,” Sever told the three of us, knowing he felt this was more of a pressing issue than Randy's 'amnesia.' “I’m quite sure he will want to know of your arrival.”

“Where does he usually stay?” I asked Sever, blinking twice in wonder as I was looking at him in the eye.

Sever had turned to face the tallest, towering building in Symarix, and then he pointed with his bone to the area all the way on the top. I had looked up, and saw the top of that one, giant tower was strongly built and extremely well-defended. At first, I thought it would be suicide to be so high up in a tower that would not be easy to escape from, but then again, when I saw the Storm Rider patrols flying overhead, the huge number of sentry turrets, and the reinforced armor plating the tower used, it was a death wish to try and sent aerial forces up there to attack it.

Meanwhile, it seemed like such a long way up…

“He has surveillance over the entire city," Sever told me and I imagined it had to be quite a view up there. "Come, the sooner we see him, the better.”

"Right behind you," I told him, walking alongside Randy the fidgety Pachirisu and Blazewing the witty Latias.

After a small march through the city, it seemed like just about everything used metal, even the streets. As I looked around and glanced at the shiny metal buildings, I could only guess metal and iron ore were in such a massive abundance that they made entire cities out of it easily. Meanwhile, the vehicles that passed around through the streets were like tanks, being about ten feet tall and completely armored. It made me wonder if they served another purpose than just transportation…

"Thanks for saving my butt back there," 'Blitz' the Pachirisu told me as we were just out of earshot of Sever. "I dunno, I kind of like 'Blitz' as a name."

"Well, good, because I think you're stuck with it," I told him with a mischievous smirk. "A decent Pachirisu deserves a decent name."

He nodded with a confident smile. As we continued walking through the city, somehow, for reasons I couldn’t fathom why, my presence beside Blazewing was enough to stop traffic, and turn the heads of Pokémon just walking down the streets. I just kept looking forward, but out of the corner of my eye, they just stared at me and began talking among themselves. Nonetheless, we just kept walking… though I tried to listen in a bit on their conversations. However, there was only so much my long, black-tipped ears were able to tell me.

It was going to be hard to get used to a city made up of nothing but Pokémon when I had gotten so used to cities composed of people. It almost seemed like… everything had been flipped upside down. I wasn't even sure why Zander brought us here anyway. My only guess was he was hoping we would either slowly die from his power, or surrender and be forced to worship him as some false deity. As for why Blitz and I were turned into Pokémon, I wasn't sure. If he kept us as humans, I figured Zander would need to explain it to the Crimson Stars, and that might tear a hole in his plan.

After a long walk, we had finally arrived at the massive tower, but it actually didn’t look so tall when we were right next to it. I was guessing it was just my perspective. Sever hadn’t waited one moment before we approached the entrance, made of glass windows and sliding glass doors encased in dark metallic frames. To my surprise, the doors were electronic, and slid open with proximity detection. As we stepped inside, I had no idea what I was just about to face…

Immediately, we had entered the massive lobby of this giant tower, which was also completely metal with many metallic doors leading to other rooms, except for two very large metal doors on the opposite side of the room. Throughout the red carpeted room, there were various statues and busts made of metal on the walls, on pedestals, as well as one in the center of the room. I had looked at the ones off to the sides, which appeared to be Pokémon that once ruled this city, dressed in these prestigious uniforms while in a proud, standing upright position. There was a Slowking, a Swampert, a Garchomp, and many others, and again, not one depiction of a human in sight. Then, my eyes had caught sight of the one statue in the center just as I was passing by it...

...and it nearly shocked the life out of me…

“What the…?” Blitz asked as he looked up at the bronze statue.

It was statue larger than life, made of shiny bronze with a polished wooden mount. But it wasn’t that which had shocked me. It was a statue of a fully geared-up Pikachu with a determined and steadfast look in his eyes, riding a fearless Latias that looked brave and willing to head right into wicked combat. The statue did a fantastic job of capturing the wind that was blowing past his ears and through his fur as the Latias seemed to be heading forward at a thunderous pace. Both of them looked so lifelike that I wouldn’t have been surprised if they just flew off the wooden mount and started flying around the room. Meanwhile, on a small plaque that was nailed onto the wooden mount, it read:

Juno and Blazewing, protectors of the righteous Silver Rebellion. May their paths one day cross ours.

My jaw nearly dropped off my face and I suddenly wasn’t sure whether I wanted to cheer, scream, or panic. Blazewing gasped as her eyes went totally wide and Blitz couldn’t believe it either, covering his mouth with his tiny Pachirisu paws while rendered totally speechless.

"You have got to be kidding me...!" Blazewing gasped, not sure whether to be thrilled or freaked out of her mind. "Do I... really look that epic!? Oh man, who made this thing!? Let me know and I'm treating them to dinner for the rest of the month!"

"Just... just... how!?" I exclaimed, having no idea this was even possible. "It's amazing..."

The Silver Rebellion believed we were already heroes, and we barely even knew them! They made the two of us look more important than even their own rulers! I didn’t understand any of it whatsoever, and I was beginning to sweat, thinking they were expecting me, just an ordinary guy thrown into a ridiculous series of circumstances, and Blazewing, who I hadn't even known only a month ago, to be capable of impossible valor and triumph. Did these guys... did they... did they really expect me and her to fix all of problems!? They made us look like the toughest soldiers ever when in reality we've never even been through boot camp!

“As you can see, we have been waiting for your arrival for some time,” Sever told the three of us as we just stared at the statue. "We need to press on, however."

And then he continued moving on, just beckoning for us to follow him. After snapping to our senses we had to keep moving, despite how much that statue wanted our eyes to be totally affixed to it. We headed toward two massive doors without handles, but I couldn’t help but take once last glance at the statue. I was really worried now. Were they really expecting Blazewing and I to become soldiers? I was anxious about the thought of having to plunge into lethal warfare and I really doubted I was ready for it...

Then, I just faced forward, and I realized what the doors were. It was a giant elevator, probably the only way to the top. I had turned to Sever as he put in a security access code on a keypad on the wall. Suddenly, the elevator roared to life, and the two giant, steel doors slowly opened. I just shrugged and walked into the elevator like there was nothing to it.

The elevator floor was carpeted by an ornamental rug, and the walls were actually paintings, all scenes depicting Storm Riders flying through the fiery sky in combat with the Wind Strikers, a dark counterpart of the Storm Riders where the riders were each mounted on a Skarmory rather than a Pidgeot. In the paintings, the Wind Strikers were losing quite miserably. Not one Storm Rider was seen dying, and there were some who were wounded but in a charismatic way.

“We will soon be meeting Emperor Jamac,” Sever said as Blitz and Blazewing entered the elevator and the heavy metal doors closed behind them. “No doubt he will be most pleased to see you have finally arrived.”

Again, I felt that anxious, butterflies in my stomach feeling as I thought over what this Emperor Jamac was going to expect Blazewing and I to do. Was he really expecting us to become a hero Storm Rider or something? The one time I fought Randy’s Pokémon and the incident that happened at the jail were my only instances of me really getting into a fight. But I’ve never actually led someone else into combat. And I hated to say it, but when these guys realized how little Blazewing and I actually knew about the Silver Rebellion, it was going to look awfully sad and embarrassing.

As the elevator continued to ascend higher and higher, all I could do was wait and wonder why we were seen as such saviors to the Silver Rebellion. I knew I had rescued one of their Storm Rider regiments, but really, I think they were all expecting a little too much out of us. Despite all that was going on, I was still just looking for a way to get home, and I mean the real home, where my real family was. It was never really my intention to get involved with war in the first place…

And then, we had reached the top floor, and the elevator stopped. The metal doors had slowly opened to reveal another long, carpeted hallway with many wooden doors, and then at the end of the hallway, there were two very fancy and ordinate-carved doors with golden trim. At the end of the hall, two guards were stationed there, a fully armored Braixen with a tough attitude holding a heavy machine gun and stout and steadfast Cinccino in full Silver Rebellion riot gear held a smaller-sized submachine gun.

As Sever had continued walking, right toward the two fancy doors at the end of the hallway, all we could do was just follow him, and then, he had arrived at the doors. The fiery colored bipedal fox and the fluffy chinchilla Pokémon looked at Blazewing and I, and it looked like both of them were suddenly lost in a dream.

"Sever... are you...?" The Braixen asked, her breath nearly stolen away.

"It is really...?" The Cinccino gasped.

"They're the ones," Sever proudly acknowledged, bowing his skull-covered head in reverence. "Fifty Storm Riders saved from Black Bay Prison. First mission success without even a formal assignment. They are the ones."

At that moment, both the Braixen and the Cinccino saluted us, placing their closed fists over their hearts before closing their eyes and bowing their heads down. Once they returned their hands to their sides did they open their eyes and look up again.

I didn't know what came over me, but the salute looked really easy to learn, and out of respect, I performed it before the two of them as well, clenching my paw over my heart, bowing before them before closing my eyes. I then put my hand back at my side and looked up at the two of them, and they both were in a bit a surprise, but were respectful about it.

Sever pulled down on the metal levers, and pushed open both doors at the same time.

When the doors had opened, we were greeted with amazement. There was a giant throne room opened before us, with the floor made of white marble with a red carpet leading from the door to the mounted thrones. The walls and ceiling were made of white stone and golden chandeliers were suspended from the ceiling. On the two side of the red carpet, there were masses of soldiers waiting. On the throne, a regal Excadrill sat down, while a battle-hardened Vigoroth in a highly decorated military uniform and a seemingly shady Zangoose stood by his side, wearing a gray and white formal-looking uniform. Sever continued on, and we just followed him.

It had looked like we suddenly walked in on some kind of military ceremony of sorts, but Sever felt this was important enough to interrupt it. As we passed by the various ranks of uniformed Pokémon soldiers in Jamac’s council, they saluted me with the same fist over heart salute. Despite their reverence for me, I still felt like I was going to be the biggest disappointment ever when they saw me in action. I was definitely not the soldier they thought I was! And heck, I felt embarrassed to be butt-naked in front of all these formally dressed and uniformed Pokémon!

However, from the looks of things, I had the feeling that if I was going to even have the slightest chance of getting out of here, it was likely going to have to be done by working with these guys and stop Zander, if that was at all possible. As I got closer and closer to regally dressed Excadrill, I saw he had a very stern and serious look on his white face while the serrated blade above his head and the blades he had for hands looked like they could brutally eviscerate just about any Pokémon in a heartbeat. I knew I would need to treat Jamac with ultimate respect. Being branded as a traitor or an outcast would only make things far worse, especially if these guys had such extremely high expectations for me. With Blitz and Blazewing at my side, I finally arrived at Jamac’s throne, and I kneeled down, and Randy did the same, trying to show Jamac respect in the only way we knew how. I bent down my head, looking down toward the floor. I knew we were already deep into this and even though I wasn't entirely sure about the Silver Rebellion being friends and allies, I knew I had already gone far beyond the threshold at this point. Better I get on their good side now than make a lousy first impression.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the High Silver Rebellion Military Command and the Silver Rebellion Royal Council," Sever proudly spoke before everyone in the lavishly-decorated throne room, "I present to you, Blazewing the Latias and Juno the Gold Rider."

There were murmurs among the uniformed soldiers while a few of the others were taken back in shock. Meanwhile, I just kept my head bowed. I was nervous as all hell, but yet, somehow my will and spirit kept me from trembling.

"I seriously hope you have some proof they're the ones," The Zangoose spoke to him in a dubious tone.

"Ask any of the fifty Storm Riders Juno saved from Black Bay prison just a few hours ago," Sever replied, nodding.

And that got them really talking. Blazewing and I just exchanged quick but slightly worried glances, knowing we were seriously in deep with all this.

"Yeah..." Blazewing whispered to me, knowing exactly what I was thinking also. "Sure hope you've been working on those push-ups."

I slightly nodded with a bit of unease as I was a little bit afraid of what this was about to turn into. I really, really didn't feel ready to be admitted as a soldier.

Jamac the Excadrill then motioned with his claw for the audience to be silenced. While the red-eyed, white and red-jagged furred Zangoose still seemed a bit doubtful, Emperor Jamac looked at us, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he definitely believed we were the ones.

“You have come at last, Juno,” Jamac the Excadrill smiled strongly. “I can't tell you how long we've waited for your arrival. This Zangoose is the chancellor Sinis, the Vigoroth is High General Kamax, and I am Jamac, the ruling Emperor of the Silver Rebellion. It is an honor to finally meet you.”

No way...

“No,” I told him quickly, trying to get on this guy’s good side and show a good first impression. “That honor is mine. I want to thank you for accepting me into your ranks and welcoming me into your amazing city. I've been treated with kindness, respect, and honor ever since I first stepped into Symarix, and I greatly appreciate it.”

Sinis the Zangoose crossed his arms with his long, black claws sticking out, and looked down upon me. For some reason, it seemed like he really didn’t believe I was the one, or there was something wrong with me. Even so, I still didn't understand... how did they anticipate my arrival? What told them I would be coming and that I was supposed to be some incredible hero or something? I was beginning to think this Zangoose could be right. Who was I kidding, I was no soldier.

“We have been fighting the Crimson Stars for a long, long time,” Jamac told me in a firm tone. “They have massacred endless amounts of our finest soldiers and they’ve ruined many of our great cities. The Divine Prophecy states that you would one day come to our aid and help us turn the tide of this war.”

Divine Prophecy!? Now I was really getting worried. How could anyone foresee we would be coming? And what made them think we were...

...special...?

I almost gasped at that moment. Someone knew... someone here knew Blazewing and I were born from dreams and imagined with supernatural power. They knew our names and they knew what we were capable of. When I became Juno... and when I connected and saved Blazewing... they felt that signal within space and time and knew something powerful had been pulled out of a dream in the form of a blessed in power Pikachu and Latias. And somehow... they knew we would end up here. Juno's charisma... his capabilities... his genuine selflessness... someone could see that.

My heart was racing out of control.

"And so I have come," I told him almost impulsively just to say something without succumbing to sheer fright and panic.

And then, Sinis just turned away, not looking very pleased. I didn’t know it was about him, but he still felt there was something wrong about this whole picture. Only then did he suddenly have the courage to speak up about all this.

"We are in grave times, but I strongly urge the Council not to solely rely on a mere prediction to win this war," Sinis warned the others, pacing about the throne room. "It will not replace proper military tact, strategy, and preparation. The Crimsons Stars would be laughing if they saw we were resorting to this."

Even though I kept my head bowed down, he was right in a way. It was pessimistic, but it was also a realistic way of looking at things. That, and maybe he could tell I was definitely not a properly trained soldier.

"And who’s the tiny Pachirisu?” Sinis asked, glaring down at Blitz. “Does the prophecy mention this as well?”

“He’s my companion.” I told him, really not seeing why that would be a problem.

“Enough, Sinis,” Jamac said firmly. “Tell me, what is your name?”

And now, all eyes were on Blitz. Surprisingly, he seemed even more brave now than I did! Just outside the tower, he was a sheepish mess who looked like he just wanted to bury himself in his own giant squirrel tail, but now, he really didn't seem all that afraid.

“My name is Blitz…” He said proudly, bowing before Jamac, "...happy to be of service."

I wasn't sure if he was relaxed because it wasn't him they were expecting to become a master soldier, or if he just felt really attached to the new name I gave him. In either case, if he was still worried, he was certainly doing a fantastic job hiding it. Either that, or for him, the pressure of the situation was simply like jumping into a cold swimming pool: shocking and chilling at first, but after a while, it was easy and comfortable to relax once he got used to it.

In either case, I sighed, and figured he probably had the right idea. We were definitely going to be expected to be here for a while, so I knew if they expected me to be a soldier, I was going to need to get prepared to be one.

[Suicune's Fire]

You caught a LOT, and I appreciate you taking the time to flag them all down. I'll admit, very often I'm just thinking in terms of the storyline, description, emotion, and that kind of stuff, and my thoughts are moving faster than my fingers.

Good points. Very good points... but... considering the situation Jake is in, I thought of it more in a terms of "what other choice do you really have?" Also, Jake never thought he'd be stuck as a Pikachu for life, only until Randy's dream world collapsed. That, and after being so desperate for answers and having virtually no other solution present itself, Jake had to make a choice. Take Coldblood's offer, or likely risk wandering Randy's bizarre dream world forever. Never said it was easy...

As for Juno becoming real, that gets explained a little further.

Hmm, I didn't think about a small Pokémon interaction thing to help ease Jake's loneliness and having them get trained. You make some pretty good points about that.
Nah, no worries. :] I just spot them as I go, so it's not like I go over it the second or third time I read with a fine-tooth comb and pick them all out. Good for you, good for me--it's all good! I love how you respond to every one of the corrections, too. Oh, you.

Yeah, that's what I figured it was. Of course I agree with his overall decision, but I expected to see a little more inner conflict before he made the choice, I guess.

As for pokemon and trainer interaction, well, that can be some of my favourite parts of pokemon stories. xD I love reading about a trainer's pokemon. For me, the pokemon make the stories much more than the humans do. (Well, my reason for reading, I mean.)



I'll think it over a bit more, gather my thoughts, and see what kind of options would fit into this. A person on PokéCommunity also felt Victory City really could have used more description, so that's probably another thing I could focus on as well if I'm going to write more into these particular chapters.

Yup, Lugia is seriously gigantic!

Pst, I could let you in on a little secret. Latias resembles Randy's optimism.

Ha, ha, yep, it's about turning the tables. The original intention was to have the characters you originally felt sorry for become the jerks and the bullies you wanted to see fail become the heroes.

And you are SUPER lovely. XD
No worries. :] I know it can be a little discouraging to go back and edit old chapters. It's kind of like, "well I know YOU'RE just reading it for the first time now, but it's been around on my computer for so long that the older ones don't matter as much." I went back and had a look at the first chapter of Through the Eyes of a Flareon, my longest pokemon story so far, and sort of frowned at a lot of its wording and whatnot. xD I write completely differently to how I did then. But at the same time, I can't really be bothered going and rewriting the whole chapter again. I sort of rely on people's faith in me to push through the first few chapters until the writing gets better, haha.

SERIOUSLY. I never knew how big. xD

OH MY GOSH THAT MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE NOW. Ahaha. Good old optimism. :] What a gem.

Well you did perfectly in that area! :D

I try. ;D

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 23
The Last Prison

All I kept thinking about was this Divine Prophecy. What did it really say about me? And the more I thought about it, the more I realized they had to have predicted it. I had only been Juno for a few weeks now. There was no way this whole prophecy could have been written and spread like this in the few weeks I've been this way.

"Sever..." Chancellor Sinis the Zangoose questioned the proud Cubone.

"Yes, sir?" He asked, looking up curiously at the white and red mongoose.

"You mentioned something about Juno rescuing Storm Riders from Black Bay?” Sinis asked, looking directly at Sever in the eyes. "How did you find out about this?"

Sever had looked at me for a moment, and I just took a slight and curious glance at him back. He looked somewhat worried, and then he looked back at Sinis.

“That was... my Storm Rider squad had been captured and thrown into Black Bay Prison, sir,” Sever told Sinis, ashamed to admit they had been captured in the first place. “It was Juno who rescued us in the first place.”

“Juno rescued you?” Kamax the Vigoroth asked Sever, a little surprised that I was the one who bailed him out.

“Yes, sir… that’s right...” Sever replied, seeming somewhat embarrassed. "I... I mean we were outnumbered when trying to..."

"Alright, enough of the excuses," Kamax interrupted him.

Sever remained silent after that while the white-furred monkey in the highly decorated Silver Rebellion military uniform looked at him questioningly.

In the meantime, I hadn't forgotten that I still needed to find Alex, wherever he was. If he wasn’t at the Black Bay Prison, then where was he? Was he even in this world?

“One of my other companions is missing,” I told them all, knowing I still had a problem on my hands. “Since he wasn’t at the Black Bay Prison, do you know of another place where he would be held?”

They had all looked at me strangely, and then Sinis had put his hands at his side.

“No, there is no other prison…” Sinis replied with a dark expression.

There was hesitation and silence. From the way Sinis was looking, I could tell he was hiding something. And then, Kamax looked at me with a forlorn expression.

“Sinis, you know that's not true...” Sever spoke up, feeling it wasn't right to keep secrets. "Just because Macomb is an impregnable fortress and a maximum security facility never made it stop existing."

“Sever, we will not speak of that place,” Jamac told him seriously, not even wanting to talk about it.

“But if Juno is looking for his companion, there isn’t any place left. He would have to be there...” Kamax told Jamac, looking off to the side as his thoughts seemed to be distracted.

"Do you know how many lives were lost trying to take that hellhole!?" Kamax shouted. "Count yourself lucky you didn't wind up in there yourself!"

I was sincerely hoping Alex wasn't actually there in Macomb, but it was very possible if the Crimson Stars had a central prison for all their detained prisoners of war. And I figured it was no laughing matter when it came to how well-defended it probably was.

“Macomb isn't just a fortress and a prison either,” Kamax reminded him as he turned his back to the Cubone. “It’s a weapons factory, foundry, steel mill, military camp, and a torture chamber where they use prisoners like you for weapons and drug testing. Every one of our soldiers that have been there has only been used to advance the one thing that Crimson Stars know how to do best. Kill other Pokémon.”

I couldn’t afford to let Alex die in a place like that, but attacking it sounded like suicide. If it was a military camp, then the moment they spotted us, they could unleash an army of Wind Strikers and whatever other military monstrosities the Crimson Stars possessed. If Alex was really there, I knew I probably didn't have much time. And in the meantime, I wasn't sure how many Silver Rebellion soldiers were there, but every passing minute was one of them getting killed in likely some of the most brutal ways possible.

If I really was special and capable of things no other Pikachu was, I had to forget about not being formally trained as a soldier and just focus on doing the right thing. Inside, my heart just told me not to worry about being inexperienced. My head, on the other hand, was thinking if I really wanted to avoid Zander and escape from this war-torn world, there were probably better solutions than getting myself killed. In the end, I just didn't feel right if I didn't at least try. And with a high potential of Alex being there, it was beginning to feel like the decision had already been made.

"I want to shut it down," I told the others, figuring a place like Macomb had to stop existing. "If what you're saying is true, then this is a matter of fact."

"Just what we need..." Sinis told me doubtfully, crossing his arms again as he was looking at me straight in the eye. “This would make for the seventh black ops strike to hit Status Black to that place. May I inform you that in Macomb, there are acres and acres of factories, warehouses, weapons production lines, and jail cells. These maniacs are constantly developing weapons there. They will attack you with everything they’ve got fresh off the block.”

I nodded, understanding what he was saying. Still, leaving all those soldiers, and potentially Alex, to just be used as meat puppets for weapons and drug testing was just sick and twisted.

"Prepare me however you think would be best," I told Sinis, figuring I wanted to at least know everything about this place and how best to use Silver Rebellion weaponry. "But if I just stay here doing nothing, what good am I to any of you?"

"Hey, I'm in," Blazewing smiled, liking my sense of having the guts to go in there. "Living to be old, tired, and cranky is overrated anyway. And Bingo is lame."

I had looked to Blitz the Pachirisu, and I knew he wasn’t going to like any of this. I looked at him closely.

“Blitz, if you don’t want to be a part of this, I understand,” I told him, assuring him I wouldn't think less of him for not wanting to be a part of this mayhem.

"It does sound scary, but..." Blitz stated, getting a bit fidgety again, "...if we don't do this, no one ever will. I don't want everyone locked up there to die because we never even wanted to try."

Blitz sure had a lot of guts. No, he definitely wasn’t the wimp I remembered from Scottville Middle School. For a moment, it felt strange to take the plunge into fully supporting this Silver Rebellion faction, but there was something about it that just kept urging me on to do it. They welcomed us in, we had a temporary home here, and it seemed like the better side to fight for in this war. I had a feeling there was going to be a time I was going to need their help in return, and I highly doubted they would do me a favor if I just turned their backs on them.

Meanwhile, Blitz and I really weren’t the way we used to be. It seemed that the whole incident with the Quista necklace changed both of us. Sure, I was stuck as his fantasy Pikachu and Zander had turned him into a plushy, electric squirrel, but it ran deeper than that. He seemed to have started to realize his potential and making taking on a whole new name and identity seemed to give him a fresh start. That, and he was trying to push away his fear and doubt. Not a whole lot of other people would have agreed to go along with this whole idea.

"If this mission fails and you all end up dead, I'm throwing this 'Divine Prophecy' into the nearest bonfire," Kamax spoke, really disliking this whole idea, but deciding to go with it anyway. "If you all want to put it to the test, fine, but you will be examined and trained before you throw yourselves to the mercy of that hellhole."

I nodded, knowing he was just being very stern and serious about his warning and still felt Macomb was too dangerous of a mission to risk. Having failed six prior missions against Macomb, I could understand why part of him seemed to think this was just another suicide mission to a lost cause.


* * *

After all the formalities had concluded, Kamax found it essential that our skills should be measured and that we at least got basic training. As much as I wasn't looking forward to the true, hardcore life of a soldier, I knew it would be stupid to risk this kind of mission without the minimum training needed.

Otherwise, with no preparation, we would definitely be getting a bit too ahead of ourselves...

We were given basic gray and white Silver Rebellion combat uniforms, and ironically, it was like they were made to be a perfect reflection of that metallic statue they had in the Central Spire ground floor. From what I heard, there were many that wanted to witness us in training, but they were told everything would be done behind closed doors. Seeing Blazewing and myself in combat Storm Rider uniforms was a bit unsettling.

But, nonetheless, all three of us had been formally admitted into the Silver Rebellion army under the Storm Rider aerial Division. Since we were a special case, we had a Captain Nidoqueen named Halen in charge of personal training. While she wasn't a Storm Rider herself due to the fact she was huge and could never ride a Pidgeot, she was still more than capable of training prospective Storm Riders.

Meanwhile, Halen herself was intimidating and definitely the no-nonsense type. As a battle-hardened Nidoqueen, her large, bipedal pale blue and cream-colored rhino-like body looked like it had seen plenty of injuries. She looked even more serious while she was wearing a full combat armor as well, along with carrying a heavy machine gun.

We had been trained hard for weeks, running, climbing, crawling, and learning to best use our own natural attacks and use Silver Rebellion weaponry. As we quickly learned, Halen was a deadly serious, didn't take crap from no one trainer, but while our bodies cried from exhaustion, she pushed harder. To her, she obviously didn't think any kind of Divine Prophecy merited giving us any kind of special treatment. If there was any kind of doubt we still weren't used to our new Pokémon bodies, Blitz and I were totally forced out of that for good as we were pushed hard to use this physical form in every way possible.

I wasn't sure what kinds of missions it took to become a Captain, but I could imagine they had to be extremely difficult if this was the kind of Pokémon soldier that the process produced. Meanwhile, despite being some prophesized warrior, we started from the very bottom at the "Recruit" rank training to become "Cadets." From there, promotions went to Ensign, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, General, and then the position of High General at the very top was reserved for one Pokémon only.

The way rank badges worked was Recruits had a blank metal square. Cadets then had a large silver ring placed in the center of the square. The next five ranks from Ensign to Major entailed placing one smaller metal ring laid above the large one, which at the Major rank would link to become a full circle of smaller rings overlaid on top of the large one. At the General rank, the whole metal square was replaced by a six-pointed metallic star mounted below the ring formation. And at the High General rank, the six-pointed star was replaced with a ten-pointed one. I couldn't help but look at my own blank, metal square badge and wonder just how far this whole prophecy was going to take it.

As the weeks went by, I was worried about Alex, but the physical exercises were enough to push my mind off of it. Meanwhile, all three of us were trained on how to use Silver Rebellion firearms. Both Randy and I were handed a small submachine gun called a Firefang. It wasn't anything special to look at, as it was mostly a crude, metallic machine-pistol that was made for smaller Pokémon to use to supplement their own attacks when faced with enemies that were resistant to their standard attacks. The guns were still shaped similar to what we were used to, but the trigger was a flat bar and magazines were typically drum-shaped for higher bullet capacity.

Meanwhile, Blazewing had to undergo the same range training, given the same kind of heavy, double-drummed machine gun called a Flamelance. There was definitely no way I'd be able to hold it, but it seemed to fit her just perfectly. Like the Firefang, it was also a dirty and dark-colored machine gun made of crude metal. Usually, because the Silver Rebellion used Pidgeot mount to fly, there wasn't any gun training for mounts, but Blazewing could now be the exception.

"How am I supposed to listen to music and shoot this thing at the same time!?" Blazewing asked, looking bewildered after she had tested it on one of the many firing ranges. "It's so loud!"

"Heh, ya better git used to it, miss," Halen grinned, knowing she used the same exact same gun. "It's a sound you're gonna be hearin' a lot."

"Guess I'm just going to need to imagine they hired a really loud percussionist during the recording," Blazewing replied, flashing a small but smug grin.

Well, there was one good thing about being on the Silver Rebellion side. At least we wouldn't be on the receiving end of one of these things...

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 24
Boot Camp

As the weeks carried on with more unusual military training for Pokémon, I was getting concerned about Alex and I was losing sleep over it. I understood the training was necessary, but they still felt going in there without preparation was suicide, even despite the urgency.

I was really beginning to wonder if we'd ever see him again.

In the meantime, we were worked hard. Running, shooting, climbing, and even swimming were part of this harsh training. Running for miles was something I always hated, but now I had to do it on this tiny track. And one mile for a human is like five miles for a Pikachu and a Pachirisu. Both of us were showing improvement with using Firefangs will Blazewing seemed perfectly comfortable with the Flamelance. We had to learn how to climb rock walls, metal fences, and removed a type of barbed wire, which looked like circular pizza cutter blades on a string.

Blitz and I were also trained on how to use Torchclaws, the rifle variant that were usually reserved for bigger Pokémon. They made us learn how to use them as heavy, mounted weapons in case our own Firefangs were broken, jammed, lost, or simply ran out of ammunition.

Being a part of this Silver Rebellion wasn’t easy…

While I was trained to ride Blazewing and work alongside her, Blitz had to raise his own mount from Pidgey to Pidgeotto to Pidgeot. Usually, it took Pokémon trainers a bit of time to accomplish that, but the Silver Rebellion had mount training worked down to a science. It was grueling, tough, and even dirty at times, but I figured if they all used the same mount, coming up with the perfect regimen must have been a lot easier.

Besides the various ranks of Storm Rider squads we were about to enter, there were many other weapons and machines of war that the Silver Rebellion used. While the aerial division were referred to as Storm Riders, the armored ground division was referred to as the Thunder Battalion and ground infantry were referred to as Thunder Runners. When it came to armored vehicles, they had their own style of warfare.

One of them was a heavy metal tank, called the Colossus. These tanks were even bigger than ones used by humans, completely clad in heavy, metal armor, and painted a white and silver, traditional Silver Rebellion colors. On the front there was one, giant chrome cannon, as well as two smaller ones on the side and a caliber rifle on the top by the square metal hatch. There were also four small, rectangular ventilation holes for infantry to fire from. I had never been inside one, but a fellow Patrat who used to reload the cannons told me it gets awfully hot in there.

And then, a really cool device I was trained to use was the Land Splitter. They looked like mini dragsters with a machine gun, and boy, were they fast. Again, covered with light armor and protected the driver with a cage like structure. Like before, I was trained with these only just in case I was dismounted and needed to use them. Learning how to fly and fight at the same time were my main training areas. From what I could tell, the Silver Rebellion didn’t have planes, so they used flying Pokémon mounts instead. And since they were experts on how to breed, care for, and raise Pidgeys, Pidgeottos, and Pidgeots from the moment they were born to the moment they were made combat-ready, they stuck with what worked for them. It was rare to see a Silver Rebellion Storm Rider soldier use something besides a Pidgeot.

It had been nearly two months since Blitz, Blazewing, and I had been in Kivistal now. We had spent those many days training our butts off, and we were pretty experienced now. I could only hope that Alex was still alive after all this time, but I still had no clear indication. I hated to leave him in that dark prison of Macomb for so long, but I had no choice. I couldn’t come walking to their front door and ask to have him, and we weren't combat ready to take on a strike that had already claimed so many Silver Rebellion lives.

We were also trained to know how to react to the weapons and machines of the Crimson Stars. Apparently, they use all caliber weapons of varying sizes. The small, sub-machine guns they reserved for smaller Pokémon were called Scabs. I wasn't sure what metal these were made from, but it was made from a strange black and maroon-tinged metal and seemed to have a very jagged look to it. Unlike Silver Rebellion rifles, to fire a Crimson Star firearm, you had to press a black, metallic button in the place where a trigger would have gone. Also, their ammo magazines were block or box-shaped.

The next step up were Leadhammers, the Crimson Star equivalent to the Torchclaws. The chances of us having to use one of these were low, but we were trained on them anyway. Lastly, Sluggers were the big, heavy machine guns that bigger, heavier Pokémon would use. Only Blazewing would ever be able to use one of these. For Blitz and I, it was simply impossible.

When it came to Crimson Stars troops themselves, Wind Strikers were Pokémon flying Skarmories, as Sever had explained earlier. Just like the Storm Riders, only Pokémon who stood upright and had hands could fly them. Halen told me that since Wind Strikers are actually quite small and lightweight, they are designed for quick maneuverability. However, if they got shot just a few times, it was usually fatal. All the time, the rider was dismounted and could do nothing but plummet hundreds of feet in the air toward the harsh terrain. Unfortunately, this wasn’t too far off from what a fellow Storm Rider like me could go through.

Somehow, the Silver Rebellion managed to get their hands on a Crimson Stars Talon, which looked like a three rider motorcycle, probably either through stealing it or finding it left behind from a previous battle. The first cab, which was in the middle, was the largest, with two smaller ones on its side. It was jet black, with violet windows on each of the cabs. The riders fired their own caliber Leadhammer rifle, while the center rider fried two at the same time. On the back was an anti-air gun called a Skythrasher for a forth rider who would be on the back, only there they were fully exposed. Honestly, I didn’t see this as an effective fighting tool, but Halen told me they were very vicious and very fast. I wasn’t about to doubt her word.

A third nightmare of the Crimson Stars were the Versatile Armored Transports, or VAT’s for short. Halen had shown us only a model of it, and they looked like moving buildings nearly two stories tall with four giant metal wheels and a body like a trapezoid. I had no idea how I would even go about stopping that thing. Halen told me a Storm Rider had to go under the whole machine and tear apart as much of the pipes, pumps, and other machinery under the VAT. The only other way of stopping it was to use the environment to have it get pushed into a ditch or trench. Both cases looked quite risky with all those gun emplacements all over the whole thing. But she told me that was the only way to do it.

“VAT’s are constantly being manufactured at Macomb,” Halen warned us, letting the two of us know to expect them there. “You have only one advantage, and that is they won’t be loaded with any Crimson Star troops once you get there. You would be better off to destroy their manufacturing facilities before you try and get the prisoners out.”

“Wow…” Blitz replied in sarcastic disbelief. “Can’t wait…”

This sure wasn’t going to be easy. Halen showed me more weapons that the Crimson Stars used, all designed to fire ammunition. I just grimaced at all of them, not wanting to imagine what would happen if I got shot by one. Not to mention the fact that they were really loud as well in the test firing range…

“Well, that’s about it,” Halen told the two of us, feeling confident about what we've been exposed to during this training session. “They’ve wanted us dead for eons now, and they’ve come pretty close to it. Already, many of our cities, such as Cyphex, The Bend, and Ashmarch are been torn to pieces. We’ve lost thousands of good soldiers out there. Each day, we keep losing our forces and it hasn’t been getting that much better. We’re down to only two major cities left, Symarix and Kalen.”

Kalen was a supply city, the Silver Rebellion’s equivalent of Macomb, only Kalen wasn’t even half the size. It was true though, the Silver Rebellion was fighting a very losing war against these guys. If it kept up at this pace, I could expect Symarix to be completely overrun in very little time.

“Sure doesn’t look pretty,” I told Halen and Blitz, seeing how easily things were getting desperate…

"Well, there are some who think you're here to fix all that," Halen told me, obviously referring to the whole Divine Prophecy. "I'd say you make a decent soldier, but I don't see all that much of a difference. I'd say you're upper 80th percentile, but you're definitely no one-man army."

I couldn't argue against that. I was honestly happy she felt confident I was good enough to be a soldier in the first place and took me from being totally inexperienced to at least being somewhat prepared to deal with combat at its most ruthless level. And it was different now. Pokémon wouldn’t just be fighting each other, they would be killing each other on the same hideous scale that humans used. It was a disturbing thought, but as time had shown again and again, words and negotiation only go so far.

A month later, after more rigorous training, they finally believed we were ready.

I had heard only a small squad was going to be deployed to attack Macomb, myself included. They told me it was all they could afford to send. I had seen albums of pictures that showed the horror after each terrible conflict. I had even seen it myself with my own two eyes, the city near Black Bay prison was torn to sheds, a graveyard of buildings and society. I can easily expect something similar if I laid my eyes on The Bend or Cyphex. Further and further the Silver Rebellion was being pushed back, and here they were making their last stand against an enemy that couldn’t even respect itself.

Tomorrow, we would be flying to Macomb. Randy and I as well as four other Storm Riders were going to have to take on that entire facility all by ourselves, hoping to use stealth instead of a front-on invasion. Instead of going with a head-on assault, we were going to try and sneak our way in, disable as much as we could at the facility, release its prisoners, and try to get out alive. Just the sound of it already made my heart twist in anxiety.

Already, an enormous amount of expectation was placed on me even though Halen tried to explain that I was simply a soldier like any other. Given my past experience and expectations, they had promoted me to Ensign, though there were many that felt I was a special case. In truth, I didn’t want them to think I suddenly became a miracle worker here…

Blitz had been making every effort to improve his skills. Even though he had a rough start, as time went by he got drastically better. Even his Pidgeot mount was now ready, and he was confident he could handle this delicate mission.

We had no idea how big Macomb really was, or what kind of force they really had, but from what we had heard, it sounded like a lot. I was hoping it would be quickly in and quickly out, but I had no idea where to head to first, since the Silver Rebellion had no layout of the facility to go by. The only thing I could go by was the architecture of the buildings. That was it. Every scouting mission against this place had failed, and the lack of intel really showed. We were definitely going to need to know how to improve solutions.

Regardless, Randy and I tried not to show fear, even though deep inside we were nearly scared to death about this. There was no other way to get Alex out of there if this is where he was really being held. We needed his support as soon as possible, and any Silver Rebellion prisoners were greatly needed to join the ranks of soldiers already prepped for combat. We needed to take apart Macomb’s assembly lines and production facilities if we wanted to cripple the Crimson Stars’ war effort. Of course that was far easily said than done.

We had trouble sleeping that night, just trying to think about how we were going to handle this. I could only hope that I would be back in these barracks by tomorrow’s end…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 25
Industrial Thunderstorm

Recommended Listening: Final Fantasy VIII - SeeD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhxlwQFiGyA)

It was only going to be the five of us, and that was it. It was what they called a "surgical strike" as opposed to an all out assault, simply because Kamax didn't want to even think about trying that kind of tactic again. Somehow, we were going to have to make our way in and keep it quiet as long as possible. Macomb was large and well fortified, but it wasn’t invincible. The mission was going to be extremely difficult, but not impossible, even though it almost seemed that way every time I seriously considered what we were going to do here and what every Pokémon here said we would be up against. Meanwhile, I was to be the leader of this small squad, and Blitz was going to be my gunner, sitting on the back of Blazewing's back, just watching our rear just in case something happened. Apparently, they didn't feel his own Pidgeot was trained enough.

The second Storm Rider in my squad was a battle-scarred Croconaw by the name of Stevex. Despite his usual ill attitude, he was feeling somewhat optimistic about the mission. He had told me he had been a Storm Rider for three years, and this was going to be the toughest challenge he had ever faced. He was armed with a Torchclaw, since water wasn’t going to hurt a Skarmory very much.

The third in my squad went by the name of Rackal, an Electabuzz with a proficiency in explosives, computers, and booby traps. Calm and collective, he always believed more in being prepared than wishing for good luck. If we were going to get through this mission, we were going to need an engineer, and Rackal was just the one to fill that role.

Fourth in line was Lahanas, a Monferno with a bad attitude. The aggressive fire monkey hated the Crimson Stars more than scum, and he wasn’t going to let anything get in his way of destroying them. He wasn’t so sure about me being a squad leader, but he wasn’t going to ask questions and he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the role itself if someone absolutely had to take it.

And last but not least was Vice, a Weavile with a will to kill. Vice was swift to strike and didn’t ask questions first. He reminded me of my own Weavile that I lost months ago, although there were some obvious differences. Even though most Storm Riders didn’t give their Pidgeot a name, Vice called his mount Storm Gale. I couldn’t help but say there was certainly something more vicious about his Pidgeot than the rest of them. Storm Gale was a true force of nature whose feathers were wild, rough, and the look in her eyes could pierce the souls of whoever they gazed upon. Her crest was also more jagged and helped contribute toward her intimidating appearance.

When we had all assembled, Kamax the High General Vigoroth had approached us, and all six of us had saluted him like we were instructed to do so in the presence of a high-ranking officer. He then looked over the six of us, and stared at all of us in the eye, me especially.

"I'll have you know this mission is going off the books," Kamax began, knowing very few were aware this was even going on. "All soldiers that were involved in the six previous assaults on Macomb were all killed in a variety of ways I'd rather not go into. I don't need to remind anyone that the whole lot of you could end up the same way. The only reason why this is happening in the first place is because one of you specifically requested it and the rest of you had expressed some interest in joining the next attack thinking you're better than everyone else. So here you have it, everyone should be happy now."

I could tell from his speech that he disliked this whole idea, but I didn't want to surrender Alex to the Crimson Stars, if he was even still alive. If I was really going to save the Silver Rebellion, I had to know it was actually possible. Otherwise, it was probably best they give up the whole Divine Prophecy now rather than later while they still had some hope and time.

I was hoping Alex was still there, along with many other Silver Rebellion members. And the longer we took to get there, the risk of losing more soldiers was also escalating. We couldn’t allow that to happen any longer. If that place really was the torture chamber they had said it was, it was going to be a gruesome sight to behold and I had to steel myself against whatever would ruin us from the things we would see.

“Good luck to all of you,” Kamax told us, keeping an upright posture and stern look in his eyes. “With no doubt you will need it.”

“Good luck is for the unprepared,” Rackal replied to Kamax with a firm voice.

"Better to die in combat than grow old, tired, and sick," Lahanas grinned, patting his Torchclaw rifle admirably. "Better get some medals ready for me, General. Ha, ha!"

If we made it through this, I'd buy the whole lot for him.


* * *

Recommended Listening: Con Air Soundtrack - The Takeover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW5ualEljoA)

When it was time to depart and embark toward Macomb, all of us were outfitted with an almost excessive amount of combat gear. Blazewing, Blitz, and I looked like we were ready for all hell to break loose. We were nearly covered with Silver Rebellion armor and equipment while clutching our Firefang submachine guns and Blazewing had more Flamelance ammo on her to take a whole town out.

"Wow, welcome to the jungle," Blazewing muttered, nearly laughing at the inanity as she looked at us all geared up and ready to go. "Look at us! Who wants to try taking down a tank with their teeth!?"

"If I get shot, will I actually know about it?" Blitz asked, patting the heavy armor he was wearing.

"That's a thought I don't care if we never get to find out," I replied to him, feeling a bit hot with all this armor.

After the four of my comrades had mounted upon their Pidgeots, Blitz and I strapped ourselves onto Blazewing's back so we didn’t have to worry about falling off. That was a good thing, since there was going to be a whole lot more we were going to have to worry about…

"Hold onto your butts," Blazewing told us as she took off.

It hadn’t been long before we took to the skies and soared far above the broken land below us leaving Symarix behind. Blitz had been right behind me, holding his Firefang very steadily, all while trying to ensure his massive Pachirisu tail wasn't too much in the way. Right now, a fluffy squirrel tail being a little pesky was the least of my concern. Meanwhile, besides me were the four other Storm Riders that were on my side. The sky above us slowly grew toward a pale red, indicating the cold night had come. At least now we would have the darkness to cloak our passage into Macomb.

"Heh, the one with the least kills treats everyone else out to dinner," Lahanas snickered. "Been waiting for this for ages!"

"I'm game," Stevex grinned. "Sure hope the loser has a fat wallet! Ha!"

"These guys are idiots," Blazewing whispered to Blitz and I. "I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and crap a better line than that."

Further and further we flew toward the great machine city of Macomb. No doubt this would be one of the most difficult tasks I would have to undertake. We had four possible targets: the assembly lines, the missile silos, the weapon stockpiles and the prisons. First, if we were to do anything here, we needed to disarm the missile silos before they were launched as a result of the attack, if they suspected there was any kind of threat. Next came the weapon stockpiles and then the prisons. Finally, the assembly lines had to be shut down, but for now they posed no immediate threat. It was a suicide mission's ultimate wishlist. If we managed to accomplish even just half of one of those, it was a good and lucky day.

Miles and miles of broken terrain had passed below us as we carried on and then the six of us had set eyes on the black machine city of Macomb in the distance, just waiting for us. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the sight of it…

The whole city itself was devoted to industry, with large factories and towering smokestacks spewing out clouds of dark smoke. Warehouses were also scattered everywhere, as well as large shipping juggernaut-sized trucks and other massive vehicles. However, I looked around but I saw no sign of anything that looked like a prison. All the buildings were a dark, coal black, and a metal wall that towered fifty feet surrounded the city.

“Macomb…” Rackal said softly, looking at the machine city, “If we disable their transports, they will be unable to ship their supplies.”

“Just the transports?" Lahanas snickered. "I want to see that whole lot up in flames! Ha!"

I'm sure we all wished for that, but there was that fine line between wishful thinking and reality.

But then, I had caught sight of something within the city. Tiny red lights were now flashing in various places. At first I thought it was fire, but then I realized the lights were pulsing systematically and suddenly flames just didn't make sense. I then felt an eerie chill. That was no fire…

“Damn it, they know we’re here,” I told them coldly. “Their alarms have gone off.”

“Impossible,” Lahanas cut me off. “There’s no way. This early? We haven’t even reached the perimeter yet! How could they see us from this location?”

But shortly after he spoke, I saw a small group of V shaped objects emerge from the red-tinted sky. They were coming closer, and at a very fast rate.

“Wind Strikers in the distance…” I told the four of them. “Come on, let's try to get out of sight!"

“Is this how the Gold Rider fights!?” Lahanas asked with a cynical laugh, looking at me with doubt. “I’m surprised at you, Juno! I thought you had a spirit to fight inside you!”

"Uh huh," Blazewing told him. "Listen, Dinky, we're fighters, not psychopaths. I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce."

This guy had to be kidding me. This was supposed to be a covert strike, and already the whole situation had been compromised, leaving me to think it might just be time to turn around and try another day. Did he really think he could take all these guys out by himself? I was no war expert, but it was common sense that being out in the open like this was a death wish under these kinds of conditions.

“I don’t have a spirit to commit suicide,” I reminded him, breaking away from his location. “We’re highly out-gunned and outnumbered! Let’s find some cover and get out of sight!”

“No one’s ever stopped Lahanas.” He told me as he referred to himself in third person, pulling out his Torchclaw assault rifle.

I couldn’t believe what this guy was doing. He obviously wasn't thinking straight and it was going to potentially get us all killed.

“Lahanas, stop!” I shouted to him. “If you fire your rifle, your muzzle flash will give away our location!”

But he refused to listen. Instead, he took aim at the incoming Wind Strikers, and suddenly, his Torchclaw roared to life as a pulsing blast of fire appeared at the end of his rifle as it blasted bullets toward the incoming Skarmories and their riders. I had no choice but to break away from him, ushering Blazewing to abandon the formation as I knew I certainly didn’t want to be near him when they returned fire, which I knew was going to be inevitable. There was nothing I could do to stop him, but the only solution I saw was to let him draw the attention to himself while the rest of us sped away to safety.

"You dumbass!" Blazewing shouted at Lahanas as we quickly fled. "What are you trying to get us all killed for!?"

And then, I had watched in horror as I saw white flashes appear on the Skarmories as they returned fire. Without a doubt, they were shooting back at Lahanas. I could imagine with all those Wind Strikers attacking him, a rain of bullets must have been cutting through the air all around him. I had quickly turned to Lahanas, expecting the worst.

And then, to my shock, his Pidgeot had been struck twice in the chest, causing the massive bird to screech loudly in pain. Lahanas struggled with his mount to keep her alive, only soon after, she was struck viciously with five more bullets and didn’t even have the life left in her to scream. And to make it even worse, Lahanas had been struck twice himself, once in the chest and a second time in the face. Lahanas fell off his Pidgeot, and the both of them tumbled toward the ground, with his rifle not too far behind. Then, they disappeared into the darkness, and that was the last I saw of him…

“Oh, god…” Stevex gasped, watching Lahanas die right in front of him.

“Come on!” I shouted to the rest of my team, heading toward my left, “Let’s get the hell out of here! Head for those warehouses!”

The remaining four of us had swiftly flown toward the black warehouses, where we were hoping they didn’t see the rest of us in the dark. We flew faster and faster, and for a moment, I knew the Wind Strikers had caught sight of us. It wasn’t long before they opened fire again, breaking the tension with another hammering of gunfire.

"Watch it!"

Suddenly I saw Stevex the Croconaw and his Pidgeot fly toward the ground faster that we did. I then realized why. Both of them had been shot multiple times, and they totally lost control. Stevex and his Pidgeot hit the ground extremely hard, and the body of the water crocodile and his avian mount tumbled around on the hard dirt. I shook my head in dismay. There was no way they could have survived that fall.

The remaining three of us headed quickly past the metal wall and headed downward toward the ground. I couldn’t believe it. Already two of my squad members had been killed, the base was on full alert, and we haven’t even gotten started yet. And I could tell the Wind Strikers weren’t very far behind…

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 26
A Whisper in the Dark

I had been the first to descend toward the ground and land softly on the rocky, slate gray-colored terrain. Soon after, Vice and Rackal and their Pidgeot mounts headed toward the ground. As the large, crested birds approached the dirt, they flapped their wings harder to ensure a safe landing for their riders. Vice and Rackal had dismounted and told their Pidgeots to hide in a safe place, using an empty shipping container to keep themselves safe and out of sight. Blitz remained right behind me, anxiously looking in all directions for anyone that might suddenly try to ambush us.

Everywhere around us, there were large, rectangular shipping containers in large piles with row after row of warehouses. For now, things seemed quiet here, but that could change quickly if they figured out where we were. Rackal and Vice got their Pidgeots to hide in one of the containers.

“That damn idiot!” Rackal exclaimed in bitterness. “What the hell was he thinking? Lahanas could have gotten us all killed!”

“Well, he's dead now,” Vice replied to Rackal as he gripped his Torchclaw caliber rifle tightly in his claws. “Forget about them. Hopefully these sons of biches think Lahanas and Stevex were the only ones attacking."

Around us, I could hear the faint sound of alarms. I couldn’t believe it. How were we supposed to do this with the entire base on full alert? And I didn’t even know where the missile silos were. If we waited any longer, we were going to be too late. Even retreating would be risky, and I knew Kamax would never forgive nor forget such an embarrassing failure.

“Well, Juno…” Vice said firmly, looking solidly into my eyes, “…it’s your call, squad leader. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

As if I needed even more pressure and stress right now. Still, I knew panicking or crying like a baby wasn’t going to do anything. I felt like I still knew barely anything about Kivistal, and here I was trying to take on one of the most impossible missions the Silver Rebellion has had to deal with.

"I'll keep a watch on these two birds," Blazewing volunteered. "If something were to happen to them, well, there's no way I could fit all four of you on my back. Unless I'd like my spine to look like a pretzel."

I nodded, figuring these two Pidgeots were almost defenseless without riders.

I then looked behind me, and saw the two metal doors of the warehouse. Hanging above was a chain with a lock around it.

“Do you think you can cut that lock open?” I asked Vice, looking upward at the lock.

“Oh, give me a break,” Vice replied, nearly laughing. “That? That’s nothing…”

He had leapt up, and with a furious swipe of his claw, the chain was sliced in half with a metal shrieking sound, and the two halves of the chain fell to the sides and lay limply handing by the door.

“Let’s see what’s inside.” I told them, grabbed the metal door and pushing it to the side. "In the meantime, maybe it'll get those alarms to die down."

But it was too big for me to move on my own. Then, Rackal and Vice had helped me push the door open. Soon enough, the large metal doors loudly rattled along the metal tracks and crashed when they hit the end. It made much more noise than I thought.

“Guys... contact at 12 o' clock...!” Blitz exclaimed nervously.

And then I heard a shout in the distance. I could see in the distance a group of silhouettes heading right for us from between an alleyway of warehouses.

“Get your butt inside!” I shouted to them, making my way in.

"Just perfect," Vice grumbled as he rushed into the warehouse. "Don’t mind me asking, my valiant and prestigious squad leader, but why did we open this again?”

I didn’t have time to answer that as we quickly made our way into the warehouse, which was loaded with hundreds of wooden crates and metal boxes. I was hoping to stay hidden long enough to get the base's guard down, but obviously luck wasn't on my side today. We quickly made our way around a pile of crates and stood behind them, weapons drawn. Vice stood firmly crouched behind a small pile of boxes with his caliber rifle ready and pointed at the opening, just waiting to ambush anyone that came through there. Meanwhile, Rackal and Blitz stood side by side, both hiding with our weapons drawn and ready to fire.

“Well, if isn’t it a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” Vice commented sarcastically. “How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?”

“Simple,” I said to the three of them. “We kill everyone who knows we’re here.”

Recommended Listening: Dos Brains - Lone Survivor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFpL-BCMX94)

I then heard chatter from behind the warehouse door, and soon enough, two Pokémon soon came into view. We soon saw the black and great wolf-like Mightyena, followed by a patrolling Gabite armed with what looked like a Leadhammer. The blue and red shark-like bipedal dragon was looking around, trying to see if he could find us. I held up my paw, giving the signal to hold fire. I didn't want anyone shooting unless we really had to, because if we did, it was going to make a whole lot of noise and make it obvious Lahanas and Stevex weren't working alone.

"Come on..." Vice whispered, thinking we might as well attack, "they already know we're in here."

I could tell the Mightyena was trying to sniff us out, and then, soon enough, they were joined by a muscular Conkeldurr armed with a large Slugger machine gun. We just kept watching the three of them, but if they entered the warehouse, I had no choice but to have everyone open fire.

"She smells somethin'," the Gabite told the Conkeldurr. "Rebel flesh, probably."

"Scouts reported seeing five or six potential targets," The Conkeldurr told him. "We were able to confirm a few kills, but we're not sure we got all of them."

As they were distracted by their conversation, the Mightyena moved into the warehouse. I knew she had detected us, and it was too late.

"I don't think we-"

Right then and there, I gave the signal. Almost immediately, the warehouse was filled with the violent, thrashing hammering of gunfire. With the four of us shooting first, the Gabite and the Conkeldurr didn't have much time to look up before they were suddenly pummeled by a storm of gunfire.

My Firefang submachine gun shook in my hands, but I was able to keep it braced against the crate I was firing from. The Mightyena didn't even get the chance to bark before she was violently gunned down.

The Gabite quickly tired to return fire, but his chest, face, and shoulder were hit repeatedly as he was out in the open with no cover. The Conkeldurr, however, was able to take bullet after bullet and still grin off the pain with a demonic sneer.

I quickly needed to reload, ripping out the first Firefang magazine, tossing it aside, and then loading in a fresh one. The Conkeldurr returned fire using the heavy Slugger machine gun, and immediately the four of us took cover as the heavy bullets nearly tore and pierced everything in the warehouse. Metallic shards, dust, and debris went flying everywhere as the heavy barrage of bullets tore through everything.

"Ha, ha!" the heavy, tan-skinned Conkeldurr laughed in between suppressing fire rounds. "Eat lead and die, you rebel bastards! Your puny weapons can't harm me!"

He opened fire again, and I knew all that damn noise was going to summon the entire base down here. A nearby metal crate was reduced to a misshapen lump of metal while half the warehouse wall was ripped apart.

As much as I wanted to zap him with a Thunderbolt, any kind of electric attack was going to create a spark and easily reveal our position with the flash of light. And with that kind of gun, he didn't even need to be a sharpshooter. He could spray the general area and it would be enough.

Vice opened fire, taking an opportunity to attack while the Conkeldurr was looking at the other side of the warehouse. Many of the bullets dug their way into the muscular Pokémon's shoulder, and then I took action.

"Drop him!" I shouted.

All four of us opened fire, stuffing his already bullet-lacerated body with even more ammunition. Even with both of his eyes shot out, he tried to lift the heavy machine gun and hope firing randomly would do the trick. And then, just as he lifted the gun to fire, his skull was broken open from too much damage. He let out an angry howl before he collapsed on top of his heavy machine gun.

I couldn't believe it. I was already running horribly low on ammunition and we had accomplished absolutely nothing during our time here. I only had what was left in my current magazine and one more mag in reserve, and that was it for the entire mission.

“I think we found them!”

The sudden appearance of a shouting Dewott and a Wartortle made me snap to attention.

“You most certainly did.” Vice laughed as he pulled the trigger on his rifle.

Vice and I opened fired upon the blue otter Dewott and Wartortle, blasting them with heavy and loud gunfire. The water turtle's shell was instantly cracked and broken in multiple places while jagged, grizzly holes were torn through the Dewott's flesh, forcing them to the ground as they helplessly dropped their weapons. I could already tell more were going to start rushing in here like crazy.

We waited patiently, hungrily grasping our firearms in a rush of carnage and just waiting for something to move in the doorway. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a black Grumpig had poked his head out from the right side of the doorway, whipped out another Leadhammer rifle, and began firing at us before we could even respond. I crouched down as fast as I could as bullets splintered the wooden crates around us. When the gunfire stopped, I peeked one more time, and I saw nothing.

"Get some god-forsaken reinforcements over here!" The purple and black pig shouted angrily.

Then, I saw him come out once more, firing furiously. I had aimed my rifle right at him, when suddenly a sharp blast of electricity blasted out and struck the Grumpig in the face, striking him with enough voltage to paralyze him. Once the blast of glowing blast of white and blue electricity had ceased, the Grumpig lay on the ground, twitching just before Vice followed through with a Dark Pulse attack, launching a dark, shadowy wave of night-black fury upon the fallen Grumpig. The attack was hideously agonizing to the squealing pig soldier before Vice finished him off with the few last shots of his Torchclaw.

"I'm out!" Vice shouted, throwing aside his empty firearm. "I sure hope the rest of you-"

And he was instantly cut off when we had to open fire on yet another Crimson Stars soldier, a Patrat that was within seconds of shooting Vice in the middle of talking. The small, chipmunk-like Pokémon took two shots to the stomach and then one right in the forehead before stumbling backward and collapsing on his back, instantly bleeding out.

Vice quickly backed off and took to cover again.

"I sure hope to god we don't have to kill half of Macomb before we can get the hell out of here!" Vice complained, hating where this was going.

I threw my empty Firefang submachine gun aside, now completely out of ammo. When I turned to Blitz and Rackal, I could see Blitz had run out a while ago and Rackal was already on his last mag.

"Let's grab their stuff and get out of here, before they bring in something even worse," I told the others, knowing this could become a deathtrap if we remained here with all these dead bodies. "Grab what you can, and let's run."

They nodded, and we were quick to head out of cover and grab whatever fallen soldier's weapon we could. Blitz managed to grab the Patrat's Scab submachine gun, Rackal picked up the Grumpig's Leadhammer, Vice got the Leadhammer from the Dewott, and I had to settle using the Leadhammer from the Gabite. To me, this thing was like a heavy machine gun for my size, but it was better than nothing. I took as many spare mags as I could.

I peeked outside, trying to see if the coast was clear. For now, things seemed to quiet down, but that didn't mean there wasn't a patrol heading down this way.

“Let’s get out of here,” I told the three of them. “We’ve got to find those missile silos before they decide to launch…”

“Okay, man,” Vice replied, getting set to leave. “Let’s blow this joint.”

The four of us moved past the door and beyond the pile of bodies back into the outside. I was the first to look out left and right to see if anyone was waiting for us. But something seemed strange. I could have sworn there were more Crimson Stars soldiers approaching us when we headed for the warehouse…

I then realized they were likely waiting at the end of the warehouse, ready to ambush us. I then decided to use one of my other weapons. Inferno grenades. I was just about to grab the one around my belt when…

“You sure about that, man?” Vice asked me, looking at me with a peculiar look in his eyes.

“Yeah, I know they light up the place like there’s no tomorrow,” I replied to Vice. “But chances are they’re waiting behind the warehouse to ambush us.”

“Well…whatever,” Vice replied. “But don’t be surprised if this whole district starts going up in flames.

"Good," I told him. "This whole place going up in flames would make a nice distraction."

He was quiet, and so I reached for the Inferno grenade, and pulled it off. Once I had pulled out the tiny latch that triggered the timer, I threw the grenade furiously ahead of me, and it landed right at the intersection. After I heard a few muffled screams, I heard a loud explosion, and everything was instantly bathed with a fiery orange and red glow. When I had turned to look ahead, I saw the intersection was covered with raging flames that relentlessly consumed everything in their path. Whatever had been waiting there was likely burnt to a crisp…

“I sure hope there's something nice and explosive in that warehouse you just set on fire," Vice grinned wickedly.

We had turned around, since heading forward was going to be impossible. We kept as low as we could, using the massive fire as a distraction to divert attention away from us. Enemy soldiers were flocking toward it, trying to douse the flames and save their precious weapon stockpiles and ammo dumps as we passed warehouse by warehouse undetected. Meanwhile, I figured they probably thought we were close to where the carnage was and were focusing our attack entirely around there.

While trying to keep a low profile, sneaking around warehouses, we heard something explode, and after looking at the fiery chaos, it looked like some kind of ammo stockpile hold was causing the ammunition to get set off from the fire. Explosions that big... I figured they had to be either tank shells or small missiles going off.

Still, now I was in a predicament. I had never seen a missile silo in my life, so I wasn’t completely sure where to find it. But, I knew enough where they would be in the back of the complex, kept away from the front.

After we passed the district, we came across two large metal floors in the ground. They were tan-colored to match the color of the dirt so they would be nicely hidden, camouflaged to make it look like they were never there. There was absolutely no one around, which seemed pretty strange to me.

“I think…” Rackal said in disbelief, “…these are the missile silos. There should be a way to get underground somewhere around here.”

My instinct told me to look for something that wasn’t just another warehouse, and soon I had found what I had been looking for. It was a small metal building, with a thicker coat of metal around it.

“I think it’s over there,” I pointed to the building. “It's way too small to be supply storage.”

“Yeah, I think Juno is right,” Rackal replied, seeing the building I was pointing to. “That should be the elevator.”

We had made our way over to the small metal building, keeping low and under cover, even though it seemed unnecessary. Did the Crimson Stars think we were already dead? It seemed awfully weird for no one to be around. Still, I looked back for a moment to see how the fire was eating up the warehouses. Another one of them suddenly exploded several times over, spreading the fire even further. I figured the tank shells and other explosives that were kept in there were going off, making the situation even worse and even dangerous for even water Pokémon to try and douse the flames. From all the noise and explosions, they probably thought we were still there and that's where all the fighting was when really it was just their ammo dumps going off in the fires.

Once we had arrived at the single metal door that was the building’s entrance, we saw the door required a security access code to be entered into a keypad besides the door handle.

“Oh, great,” Blitz muttered with sarcasm. “What the hell do we do now?”

Rackal had taken his hand, slapped it right on the keypad, and directed a tremendous blast of electricity right into it. The keypad was instantly fried, and after Rackal put the hand down, he slammed the keypad with his fist, breaking it into pieces. Suddenly, the metal door slid open, and we just stared at Rackal with a look of shock on our faces.

“Geez, man,” Vice remarked in surprise, backing away a bit. “No need to lose your cool.”

“Come on!” Rackal exclaimed. “We don’t have all night to do this…”

And then, the four of us entered the dark, metal building. I could only hope we were going to get out of this dark chamber alive…

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Neo, I've been following vigoriously and I've been enjoying it vigorously, but...


Even retreating would be risky, and I knew Kamax would never forget nor forget such an embarrassing failure.

...That's pretty egregious.

[Neo Emolga]

Neo, I've been following vigoriously and I've been enjoying it vigorously, but...

...That's pretty egregious.

Oof, yeah. I can't see why you wouldn't forgive nor forget that.

Also, someone on BMG did point out I missed an instance of swapping Randy for Blitz. Fixed that up also.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 27
Cold Underground

There was barely any light in that room. Everything was completely clad in metal, and the only other thing in the room was a metal elevator. It certainly wasn’t anything fancy. The door was comprised of three metal beams with caution tape and several black grates, all of which had taken abuse through the many years of service. I had made my way over to the control panel and pressed the button to call the elevator. I didn’t know why but something was certainly making me feel sick at that moment. It just seemed too quiet around here…

Soon enough, we saw the metal elevator rise through the grates, and when it had arrived at the top floor, the metal beams had slid into the ceiling and floor while the grates had been pulled to the sides. Inside was a very dark metal elevator, dimly lit by only a single, tiny light on the ceiling.

"Sure hope we know what we're doing here," Blitz muttered.

"It's a god-forsaken missile silo, what do you expect?" Rackal asked him, growing annoyed. "We're just here to disable the missiles so they don't decide to launch them rather than let them go to waste."

We had walked over to the elevator and stepped inside. Once we were all in, I pressed the black button on the side to head downward. Suddenly, the metal beams slid back down again, and the grates were pulled in front of us. Then, everything in front of us moved upward as the elevator moved downward, deeper into the ground below.

It felt like we had descended nearly a mile underground before we finally arrived at the bottom floor. Similar to the floor above, sliding metal beams made up the door. Once the beams and grates had been moved aside, we peered into another dark room, this time completely made of concrete. We had stepped out of the elevator, and looked around.

“Since there are two silo doors, there have to be two missiles,” Rackal had told us. “We need to place two explosive charges on the missiles themselves, as well as any fuel rooms we find. We don't know if they're going to launch them or not, but I know that if they knew there was a significant risk in losing them, they'd rather fire them off randomly and hope to hit something that belonged to the Silver Rebellion than to let them get destroyed. ”

Suddenly, we heard a noise in the distance. We quickly turned around and looked down a long concrete hallway, with a Nuzleaf and a Fraxure starting right at us with weapons drawn. They both glared at us.

“Silver Rebellion…” The Nuzleaf hissed at us. “I think the four of you fools just stepped a little too far into our hole.”

“Drop your weapons!” The Fraxure shouted angrily in a low voice as he pointed his large Vulcan rifle right at us, “Or you’ll find another way to kiss the floor!!”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Vice smiled with an insidious grin. “How about you get out of our way, and we might just spare your lives!”

The Fraxure growled at us, pointing the huge Vulcan rifle right at Vice. Meanwhile, the Nuzleaf was armed with what looked like a smaller machine pistol, almost like an Uzi. Both of them looked at Vice with contempt.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed your life here, you worthless, little Weavile,” The Nuzleaf hissed with amusement. “You enter the Abyss today!!”

And then, they opened fire on Vice. I felt for sure he was going to be killed unless I took action now. I had to concentrate, this time very hard. Suddenly, everything around me slowed to a crawl. The incoming bullets had very slowly approached Vice, and he moved back, just barely able to get out of the way in time.

I had stormed my way toward the Fraxure and the Nuzleaf, with my cheeks flaring with electricity. Vice just barely managed to get back up on his feet, having to drop his weapon in order to dodge the incoming carnage. He then leapt toward the Nuzleaf, and slashed viciously at his face. Meanwhile, I had jumped toward the Fraxure, latched on to his chest, and released all of my stored electricity all directed into Fraxure’s abdomen. His body began to twitch and convulse with throbbing pain as the thunderbolt surged into him, just before he slowly collapsed to the ground. While he fell, he almost looked like he had drowned underwater, and was sinking to the bottom of the sea, all in slow motion. When the Fraxure had completely collapsed to the ground, I had gotten off of him and turned to see Vice, cutting Nuzleaf into shreds. By now, Nuzleaf was long gone…

I had stopped my concentration, and everything returned to normal speed. Meanwhile, Vice had looked toward me, and then looked around him.

“Boy, that was fun,” Vice replied, crossing his arms with his soiled claws sticking out. “And you… you sure move fast for even a Pikachu. You almost make me jealous. Almost.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rackal replied, looking at me in particular. “I barely even had the chance to blink and Juno was tearing even that Fraxure apart.”

I didn’t say anything. I just looked into Vice’s eyes for a moment, and then looked away.

"Not surprised some think you really are the Gold Rider," Rackal told me, still amazed. "That didn't look like anything you were trained on."

“Come on,” I told them, not really in the mood to hear that whole prophecy story they had going on. “Let’s just do our job and get out of here, before anyone else sees us…”

They had agreed, and we had made our way down the dark, concrete tunnels. Once we had arrived at a metal, steel security door, we pressed a button on the side and the door opened. We had come to a small control room. There were computer consoles everywhere, as well as two glass windows on the left and right. When I looked through the windows, I could see both missiles, still docked in the silo. But I didn’t see any way Rackal could attach an explosive to the missile itself. There was no way for us to enter the chamber ourselves.

“Oh, damn…” Rackal sighed in anxiety as he looked around, “this isn’t the system that I thought it was…”

“What does that mean?” Blitz asked as the white, electric squirrel clutched his Scab anxiously, looking up at Rackal.

“It means we’re going to have to destroy these missiles some other way…”

I had looked at the consoles, and then at the rockets, and couldn’t think of what to do. Normally, we could set an explosive charge for ten minutes and get the heck out of there, but we couldn’t get anywhere near the rockets. We'd risk only destroying the control room.

“Well, what do we do?” Blitz asked, looking around, “The rocket is like two hundred feet away from the window. Even if we break it and tried tossing the bombs through there, they'd probably land in the wrong place…”

“There’s only one way we can get rid of them now,” Rackal told the three of us. “We need to launch them so they crash right into the silo door. Once they hit the door, chances are good they'll explode and everything here will be destroyed, along with the missiles themselves. Problem is, the longest amount of time that the launch can be set for is five minutes.”

Vice had looked away for a moment. He seemed pretty tense about something.

“You know, five minutes isn’t a whole lot of time for us to rush out of here,” Vice complained. “Once that countdown starts, we’d better run like hell if we hope to get away from that explosion. Keep in mind those silo doors aren’t going to hold in that explosion very well. They’ll kill the rocket, but after that, those silos are going to blow up like a freaking volcano.”

“We will make it out it time,” Rackal told us, trying to assure we'd be okay. “Once we reach the surface, we run as far as we can from the two silo doors. That’s all. We have no idea how much carnage is going to spit out of those silo holes once the explosion happens, but our own guarantee of safety is to get away from them as far as possible.”

“Okay, but I hope you know what you’re doing…” Vice told him, rolling his eyes.

Rackal had made his way over to the console, and began pressing a series of buttons. I had never seen a system like this in my life, so I had no clue myself how to use it…

“Manual system override…” Rackal said to himself as he hacked away at the buttons, “Administrator launch protocol… reconfigure…”

And then, some red lights turned on all around us. Along with them came on a female electronic voice:

LANUCH IN T-MINUS 300 SECONDS

“Come on!” Rackal shouted, turning around. “It’s set to go! We have to get out of here!”

We immediately turned around and ran out of the control room with my heart racing incredibly fast. I was leading with Vice right beside me, with Blitz right behind us and Rackal in the back. We ran furiously down the hallway when suddenly we had heard an alarm go off, and more flashing red lights turned on around the concrete hallway.

UNAUTHORIZED LAUNCH SEQUENCE DETECTED. INITIATING SILO LOCKDOWN.

We had seen the two open steel doors in front of us, and quickly Vice and I had passed through them with Blitz directly behind us. The three of us had made it through, but then as we turned around and saw Rackal just feet away from the door, the two metal doors furiously slammed shut all of a sudden, trapping Rackal inside…

Recommended Listening: XCOM Enemy Unknown OST - Mission Failure (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60o1Kcw242A)

“Damn it, damn it, damn it.” Vice spat bitterly, immediately trying to pry the two doors open to free Rackal. "Come on, come on, open for crying out loud."

The doors were quite thick and heavy. Despite Vice's claws and aggression, it seemed like there wasn't much he could do on his own to pry the doors open.

“Damn it, those things aren’t going to open…!” Vice muttered, realizing the strength of the doors was well out of his league. "I can't even get them to budge."

I headed over to the black button that opened the door and pressed it furiously, but it wasn’t doing anything at all. Everything was totally locked down, and once again, the loud speaker came on…

LAUNCH IN T-MINUS 200 SECONDS

“How do we get this damn thing open!?” Blitz shouted furiously, pounding at the metal doors.

“That’s the problem…” Vice told us anxiously. “It was a backup security measure that activated when the system detected an unauthorized launch code. The Crimsons Stars love to pull this asinine bullcrap. There's nothing we can do. Rackal is a goner…”

No… there had to be some way to get him out of there. I tried focusing my mind but even that couldn’t help. Despite all of Juno's powers, any kind of telekinesis wasn't on the list. The doors were far too heavy and the control panel simply wasn’t working…

“No, this cannot be happening!” I shouted as I pounded the black button harder and harder. “There’s got to be something we can do to get him out of there!”

“Come on!” Vice shouted to the two of us, “If we stay here any longer we’re going to fry in here as well. We don’t have any more time!!”

We couldn’t help but leave Rackal behind, even though it made me so sick to leave him trapped in there to die. We turned around and followed Vice down the concrete hallways. Meanwhile, I couldn’t believe I had lost another member of my team. We had made it to the elevator, and pressed the call button, which thankfully still worked. Immediately, the doors opened, we dashed inside, and pressed the button. The doors shut tightly and the elevator began to climb upward, the last travel it would ever make…

LAUNCH IN T-MINUS 100 SECONDS

We had made it to the top floor, and we furiously headed for the metal door. Once we were outside, we ran as far away from that silo as we could, since the whole thing was about to explode. As we kept on running, I had seen that the Crimson Stars were unable to douse the fire that was quickly consuming the warehouses one by one. But meanwhile, we were running in an open field, completely without cover. But even at that moment, that wasn’t what was bothering me…

Suddenly, moments later, the ground shook like a massive earthquake had taken place. I had turned around for just a moment and saw the two silo doors blast off with a massive gush of fire and flames following it. One of the metal doors had fallen back toward the ground and slammed into an already burning warehouse, just to assist in the destruction. Despite the fact we were doing a massive amount of damage to Macomb, I still felt so sick at that moment…

I’m sorry, Rackal…

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Hoo boy, I get distracted by life for a bit and a whole slew of chapters get posted. Well, to business then. First off, I've already waxed poetic about your music choices before, but the song for chapter 22 is amazing! It's so evocative and elicits a sense of hope as the oasis of the Silver Rebellion capital is revealed in the middle of a desert and a foreboding red sky. It gave me a sense that these were a people worth fighting for, even before truly meeting them. Another touch that I enjoyed was how the naming conventions in the Silver Rebellion tend to follow a pattern of consonant-vowel-consonant with two vowels being the norm. It was an interesting cultural thing to notice.

I have a few questions that occurred to me as I was reading though. They have a statue of Juno and Blazewing that references the Silver Rebellion. How long ago was the divine prophecy made? How long has this rebellion been going on that they had the time to craft a statue? Was the prophecy made before the rebellion, that is, was the rebellion inspired by the prophecy or vice-versa? How long has Zander been here in Kivistal? All of these thoughts flashed through my mind in a few seconds. I don't expect, or even desire, answers too much, but it's just something to keep in mind.

From the second that they start describing it, I fell in love with Macomb all over again. Macomb's description is such beauty for such horrors, both in the briefing, and when they finally arrive at the city-cum-prison-cum-weapons factory. Although the training process is given more time and development so that it seems less like Juno is miraculously being thrown into situations and living, it is still horrifying that a middle schooler is going off to wage war.

All of the details on the weapons and technology was much appreciated. I'm currently reading Ghost Fleet, which is a hypothetical description of what World War III might look like, and there are a lot of similarities to how you handle the technical aspects of warfare with how the authors of that work do. A lot less Pokemon and a lot more naval warfare in Ghost Fleet though.

The squad was very well characterized, with the Croconaw getting a bit of a short stick, but nonetheless. This band of brothers started off looking like a fun time, but the mission quickly turned horrifying as people started dying. This is Juno's first real time commanding anyone and already half of his squad is dead. Again, he is a middle schooler having to deal with causing the death not only of his enemies, but of his allies, indirect as the latter may be. On a lighter note, it was funny to me that Blazewing really didn't like it when other members of the squad tried to make jokes. That's her schtick I guess, and she's a bit territorial. To be fair, Lahanas is a really good example of why you should vet people who volunteer for a suicide mission though.

As always, it's a delight reading this and I look forward to the next chapters!

[Neo Emolga]

Hey, thanks for your review!

Glad you like the music choices! Two Steps From Hell is an excellent source of incredible, epic music, and I felt this was perfect for this part. As for the naming convention, that... was actually totally unintentional, but I see what you're talking about! Funny how things like that happen.

As far as the questions you mentioned, the order of events go like this:

[20 Years ago] Tensions arise among the Crimsonland empire as the mother country becomes abusive with power.
[16 Years ago] Divine Prophecy is written and foreseen (Hint: When Jake Kossak is born) (No hint: Not spoiling who wrote it!), foretells the coming of Juno and apocalyptic signs. Not all of the opposition to the Crimsonland tyrannical reign believe it at first, but it inspires others to begin preparations to begin a rebellion as the idea becomes more appealing. Over time, it grows more in belief in support.
[6 Years ago] Silver Rebellion officially rises up against the Crimsonland empire once abuse becomes far too much for them to continue tolerating and they finally have allocated the support and resources to commit to a defiant stand.
[3 Years ago] Zander discovers Kivistal, seeks to be regarded as a new, unseen god and as a guide of preservation to the Crimson Stars. Begins to cause cataclysms to insinuate the world is ending when really it's his doing.

There's probably enough ground to do a whole prequel here, but... I don't think it would be nearly as interesting as the rest of the story.

As for Macomb, heh, in general, Kivistal is a pretty dingy, dirty, industrial world in many places. They've got much more metal and ore to work with and fossil fuels to power most of what they have in terms of machines. Macomb itself was named after one of the missions in Fallout Tactics that has a LOT of firefights with raiders and is, in my opinion, one of the toughest early missions in the game. The name stuck so I decided to roll with it. What I didn't realize was all the names of towns in that game were based on real life locations and not fictional like I first thought, and I unintentionally named it after a real city in Illinois/ (http://cityofmacomb.com/). As you can easily tell, they're nothing AT ALL alike. The real Macomb actually seems like a nice, quaint little place! XD

And yes, I wanted to go more into details with the weapons, especially considering before, a lot of people didn't think Pokémon using guns made much sense. Well, now it does. As for handling warfare, a lot of that comes from a somewhat generous amount of movies, games, books, and stuff like that and trying to use my best judgment with how Pokémon would handle a kind of militarized structure and society on a dying planet.

As for the squad, I made Lahanas and Stevex touch and go as they were mainly to show Juno is not a perfect squad leader, is a bit of a newbie when it comes to commanding other soldiers and keeping them in line, and is just barely used to the whole being a Pikachu thing. It was also meant to show not every soldier of the Silver Rebellion is a model citizen and both sides have their bad apples. Rackal was no angel and Vice the Weavile certainly isn't either. As for Blazewing, heh, she can spot an egotist like a searchlight at night. She's not a fan of people that are all talk and nothing to show for it.

Again, thanks for your feedback, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 28
Eyes of the Enemy

It was left down to just the three of us. The missiles were gone and a fire in the warehouse district was now out of control and was shooting off stray ammunition to the point where it was dangerous for anyone to try and put it out.

As we took refuge in a small stone alcoves near one of the factory compounds, I couldn't believe what had happened with Rackal. After losing Lahanas, Stevex, and now him, things were looking dismal. As far as the damage that was done to Macomb, I wasn't even sure if burning down those warehouses and destroying the missiles would be enough or if this was just a financial inconvenience for things that were easily replaceable. For now, though, at least it would be a few years before they got the missile bunker working again. At least that might prevent the Silver Rebellion from getting nuked.

"Damn..." Blitz muttered, looking at the fires from the ruined missile silos and the warehouse district inferno. "Are we going to get out of this alive?"

I didn't even know anymore. I could imagine the base was on full alert, but it was hard to tell where the Crimson Stars had their priorities. Were the assets more valuable than finding the intruders? Maybe they thought all of us were killed in the missile bunker?

“Well…” Vice sighed with cynicism, still annoyed about Rackal’s death as he looked over to me, “After cheating death at least twenty times by now, at least half of us are still alive. So, squad leader, where to?”

I needed to think quickly. I was hoping the Crimson Stars thought whoever was responsible for the disaster was dead. They had no sure way of knowing given the fires would have burned away the bodies of anyone responsible, but until they put the flames out, they had no real way of knowing. In the meantime, I knew there was a reason why we came here in the first place.

“Let’s head over to the prison,” I told him, knowing any released prisoner could also mean reinforcements. “Chances are if we keep running down in this direction, we’ll find it. We could use a few escapees to help us, if they're in fighting condition.”

Vice had looked to me with a curious eye.

“What makes you so sure they're down there?” Vice asked, looking at me curiously.

“They wouldn't place a prison so close to a weapons stockpile,” I told him logically. “Believe me, they would keep them away from that kind of thing as much as possible.”

“Hmm…” Vice replied, looking down in thought. “Makes sense. After you, Pikachu.”

We then grabbed our gear and tried to keep out of sight. The heavy Leadhammer gun I was carrying was a hard thing to lug around everywhere, but it was better than nothing. Truthfully, if we came across anything, I figured relying on electricity was a much better option unless I had to shoot something.

As we tried to rely on stealth to get around and stay out of open areas, we had passed by the assembly plants, and then it had all made sense. The prison had to be nearby. No doubt they were forcing the prisoners to work at the assembly plants as slave labor to help build their machines and weapons. Otherwise they were useless to the Crimson Stars. Since it was the night hours, I could only expect the prisoners to be in their cells by now, probably sleeping.

We were now in the heart of Macomb, which contained the largest and darkest of the buildings. Large factories and containment areas surrounded us as we continuously moved through the streets, trying to be as silent and covert as possible. All of the buildings had windows with a grid made up of panes of glass. Inside, I couldn’t see anything, but we knew to stay away from any windows that had light glowing inside of them. It seemed unlikely the fires would reach this area, but there really was no way of telling for sure.

The more assembly plants we passed, the longer I knew it would take to dismantle all of them, and it would probably take uninterrupted weeks to do it. As we passed into the new district, I could see the development of machines, Talons mostly. And then, I got a view of what a VAT looked like. I had easily mistaken it for a small metal building factory until I realized it had wheels.

And lots and lots of guns sticking out of it…

It seemed like these were close to completion. Nonetheless, we continued our way around the last bunch of assembly plants before we came across a metal, linked fence with jagged razor wire wrapped around the top. In the distance, we saw an enormous building, with only little black squares as its windows. Around it was a large open space, leaving the building in the middle. All around, search lights were moving around, always looking for anyone that was trying to escape. It seemed pretty hopeless for anyone locked in there. Even if they made it past the massive exterior wall by some miraculous chance, the outside environment would kill them without a mount or method of transportation.

I had looked above and saw the same barbed wire we had been trained to remove. All around the wire were circular blades shaped like pizza cutters. I knew for a fact anyone trying to crawl thorough that would be cut to ribbons and would easily bleed to death.

“Well, I think we made it,” Blitz said, recognizing the building was the prison. “Now how do we get through the fence and make our way toward the building?”

I looked along the fence but I saw no possible opening or end to the wire. And truthfully, it would be a serious waste of time and risk to run along the fence looking for an opened, which would probably be guarded anyway.

“Must you always doubt my power, Blitz?” Vice asked Blitz, giving him an evil stare. “This is nothing. I’ve dealt with this many times before.”

“Uh...” Blitz warned him, looking into his eyes. “That’s exactly what Lahanas thought before he opened fire on those Wind Strikers…”

“Yeah, no…” Vice replied. “What he did was just plain stupid. I’m not like that at all.”

Vice the told the two of us to step aside, and when we did, he slashed away at the fence. But, he had tried over and over again, but not a single cut was made in the links. Then, after some aggravation, he finally gave up…

“Okay…” Vice hissed, just barely keeping his cool. “I guess we’ll need to find another way around.”

“Yeah,” Blitz replied, figuring they would reinforce the fence. “But these Crimson Stars aren’t going to let us through the front gate. Is there any way we can pretend we’re them…?”

Vice had turned toward Blitz, and he looked like he was about to laugh. I had looked at him too, and Blitz couldn’t understand what was going on.

“Blitz, you’re a genius,” Vice smiled, patting the little Pachirisu on the back. “We already have their guns. Now we just need some of their badges and uniforms.”

“Badges?” Blitz asked.

“Yup,” Vice told him with a dark grin. “It helps them bypass security measures and its proof that they belong to the Crimson Stars.”

There had to be some around here. I had looked left and right, and suddenly I saw two guards walking along the perimeter of the fence. I was surprised they hadn’t seen us yet.

“Hide!” I told them, “Someone’s coming!”

We had dashed behind the assembly plant ten feet away from us, and just waited patiently, taking refuge behind a small, black metallic containment shed used to hold maintenance equipment. After two minutes of hiding in the dark, I took a peek and saw they had started walking down us and I saw it was an Aipom and a Combusken, both in Crimson Stars uniforms. I had heard the purple money Aipom giggling about something, and suddenly the Combusken stopped and the fiery, feather-headed fowl Pokémon glared at the Aipom with a look of contempt.

“Just what the hell is so funny?” He asked with an annoyed stare. "Half the god-damn base is up in flames, we're out having to do overtime for a perimeter patrol, and you're laughing about it!?"

We waited silently as the Aipom just kept on laughing. Suddenly, he tried to break out of it.

“Do you know who has the worst job here, out of everyone?” The Aipom asked, struggling not to burst out laughing.

“Hands down, it’s the prisoners,” The Combusken replied. “There's no worse fate than to be a slave, slugging it out all day, every day. Not to mention the whipping.”

Still, the Aipom shook his head, indicating that he was wrong. Still, he just keep only giggling as we kept waiting silently…

“Yeah, you may think that…” The Aipom snickered, “but it’s really Ved. Now that’s the worst job ever!”

“Ved? You mean that ugly Sawk guy who takes care of the Skarmories?” The Combusken asked with surprise.

“Yep!” The Aipom laughed, “No wonder he swears all the time. He gets bitten at least six times a day and then... think of the cleaning, the feeding, and... ha, ha, the poop cleaning!”

The Aipom was laughing hysterically, but the Combusken still didn’t get it, looking at the purple, grinning monkey like he had lost his sanity.

"You're an idiot," the Combusken stared down at him

They were distracted by the rather stupid conversation, but I knew we were too close to the prison to even think about using our guns or Pokémon powers that would create noise or light. We were going to need a more silent method of killing them.

I then looked to the storage shed, thinking there were a few tools here that could be repurposed to be weapons. I wasn't sure what even half of these were used for exactly, but anything with a blunt or sharp edge was a viable weapon. I found one tool that seemed to be bladed and looked to be some kind of wire or pipe-cutting tool. There was also an obvious sledgehammer tool with a rubber-like grip, a metal bin of spare metal pipes, and other tools. When I thought about it a little more thoroughly, I realized we needed something that wouldn't draw blood either. If the uniforms were bloodstained in any way, it was going to cause suspicion.

"Silently," I whispered to Vice and Blitz. "No guns, no powers, nothing that would draw blood. Nothing that makes light or noise."

"Are you crazy...-" Vice nearly interjected with disagreement about the demanding expectation before quickly realizing why I was doing it this way.

Vice quickly hushed, grabbed a chain with triangular-shaped links from the storage shed, and just nodded. I could tell he was going to use it to try and choke at least one of them to death like a garrote, which was likely one of the best methods he could use for this situation. It would be even better if they never got the chance to scream or shout.

I quickly grabbed a metal pipe, knowing the first strike I was going to make was to hit them either in the lungs to wind them, or if possible, go for the neck so they couldn't call out and alert anyone else.

We waited for them to draw closer. The Aipom carried on, laughing about something nonsensical yet again.

"Vice, take the Aipom and choke him with the chain," I whispered to them. "Blitz, we're both going for that Combusken's neck."

The fighting fowl's neck was a much easier to strike target than the Aipom's, who barely had a trachea to begin with. I was just hoping this would work. Once they started come very close, we needed to move. They were within just steps of noticing us, so it was do or die at this point.

"Go!" I commanded them.

At that moment, we broke out of hiding, and acted quickly.

Vice was quick to leap out of the shadows and sling the triangle-linked chain around the Aipom's neck before he even had a chance to realize what was going on. Quickly, Vice had the purple monkey's windpipe squeezed shut just as Blitz and I ambushed the distracted Combusken.

I swung hard and fast, putting all the power I could into slamming the Combusken's neck as powerfully as I could. I wasn't sure what I hit, but I definitely heard something snap like deadwood. The fiery fowl tried to gasp for breath like he was choking just seconds before Blitz leapt in, striking the area between the Combusken's neck and jaw with the metallic pipe he had picked up also. Unable to get breath into his lungs, the Combusken had to drop his Leadhammer rifle before collapsing. At that moment, I was able to strike the Combusken one last time in the back of the head, landing the killing blow with a severe strike of blunt force trauma.

I turned to see Vice, choking the last moments of life out of the Aipom. The purple monkey had only enough breath to make one last whimper before he died and his eyes went blank with a vacant, lifeless stare. Once Vice was convinced he was dead, he released his grasp, kicked the dead Aipom's body to the ground, and tossed the chain aside.

"Oh, that felt good," Vice replied. "Nothing beats death in the dark."

I wasn't too crazy about it. This war had really gotten ugly, but this wasn't something words were going to fix now.

After that, I got to work on removing the strangled Aipom's Crimson Stars uniform while Vice got to work on removing the uniform off of the Combusken. After taking off the gray and white Silver Rebellion uniform, I tried to put on the Aipom's, starting with the feet. It was a pretty tight fit and I felt like I was almost too fat to wear it, but I eventually squirmed my way into it. Meanwhile, Vice seemed to have no problem at all with the Combusken’s uniform.

From what I could tell, the Crimson Stars had their own emblems also. The one the Aipom had been wearing was shaped like a shield and had three red stars on it against a silver background. I pulled it off and realized it was attached by means of some sticky adhesive strip. I then placed it back. As for weaponry, I took the Aipom's Scab submachine gun. Once we had what we needed, we dragged the dead bodies of the Combusken and the Aipom into the storage shed and shut the door to hide them.

“What about me?” Blitz asked, realizing we didn't have a third Crimson Stars uniform for him.

“Ha, we'll just pretend you're our prisoner!” Vice told him. “Easy money. We'll just pretend you're the last survivor of the firefight, you ran out of ammo, and we captured you to be tortured so you spill all the details during an interrogation! I'm sure these jackasses do it all the time!”

Blitz swallowed hard, and looked a little anxious…

“Okay…” Blitz responded. "As long as... those things don't actually happen.

We decided to wrap Blitz in the chain that Vice had used to choke the Aipom, binding his hands and then wrapping the chain around his waist. Vice's plan was a decent one, and it was really the only option we had right now.

We began walking toward the front gate, which was pretty heavily guarded. I wasn't sure how long or if they'd notice the Aipom and the Combusken were missing, but we had no choice. By the gate, there was a Bagon and a Golduck both armed with Leadhammer rifles, just glaring at Blitz. We had approached them, and we tried as much as possible to act like guards.

"Say hello to one of the asshats that was involved in the attack!" Vice proudly told them, nudging Blitz a bit roughly with his elbow, causing the sheepish electric squirrel to wince from the blow and stumble a bit. "We killed two of his friends before this little bastard ran out of ammo."

“Heh, really?” The Bagon asked in a gruff tone. “Must have been one of those maggots that set the whole base on full alert and set fire to the warehouses. Stupid rebellion sons of *****es. I swear, I'll make this little one bleed until he confesses to everything." He then turned to look Blitz dead in the eyes. "You hear that, you useless fleshbag!? I'll gut you into a god-forsaken meat-puppet and won't even let you die right away!"

"Any free detention cells?" I asked him quickly, trying to act in the same, heinous attitude the rest of them tended to have. "We need to get back on patrol, just in case there's another prick out there. And I'm sick of dealing with this little wretch. He smells like the bastard child of a gasoline can and the rotting ******* of a roadkill Raticate."

He then tossed me a single key, and I caught it with my free hand, the one that wasn’t holding the Scab submachine gun. I looked it over, seeing it had the same kind of resemblance to the metal bar-coded keys from Black Bay prison. I then looked up at the Bagon.

“Cell 385 on the third floor should make sure the little grub doesn’t get out,” The Bagon snickered. “Don’t beat him too much, I’m sure the boss will want to take care of that himself.”

“Him?” I responded to the Bagon. "I don't even want his stink on my hands."

“Now go on and get out of here,” The Bagon ordered us.

We then continued walking along the long, cobbled stone path toward the double, brown metal doors. Once I had grabbed the metal handle, it was cold to the touch. I pulled it open, shoved the door aside, and then looked in.

When we looked in, we saw the floors, the ceiling, and the walls were made up of crude, dirty metal. Rust was everywhere in patches, and it looked a lot like the prison from Black Bay, only it was much, much larger. I heard a faint clanking and wailing sound in the distance, but another than that, the rooms were dead silent and very dark.

"Juno... you..." Blitz whispered, looking a little distraught, "you didn't mean I...?"

"Of course not," I told him with a smirk. "We're just acting."

We had walked down the dark, metal hallways, and as I looked into each of the cells, I saw various Silver Rebellion soldiers lying weak and tormented on their rickety, metal beds. Each one of them appeared to be overworked and abused with injuries and malnourishment. I couldn’t help but think Alex was going to appear to be the same way. Problem was, I had no idea on what kind of Pokémon he was turned into. And going around and asking each Pokémon if they were once human seemed like insanity. I was going to have to find another way. I figured it would just make more sense if we freed them all first and sorted that issue out once we got back home. And hopefully one of these Pokémon really was Alex. I hated to think he could have been killed here before we arrived, but it was a possibility.

When we had reached the end of the hallway, we came across more hallways left and right as well as an elevator and a door leading to a flight of stairs leading upward. Everything was filthy, paint was chipped and peeling, and rust was in blotches everywhere.

“I’d feel much safer with the stairs,” I told Vice, looking at the rusty doors of the elevator.

“I’ll second that,” Vice responded, heading over to the door. "That thing looks like it could drop any second."

We then opened the creaky metal doors and headed up the flight of metal stairs, which looked even worse than the dirty floor. Plus it didn’t have any handrails, so anyone who wasn’t careful could go tumbling down to the first floor.

We climbed our way to the third floor, but I had looked up and realized there were at least three more floors above us. How were we supposed to release everyone here without anyone knowing? This could take hours.

As we opened the metal door to the third floor, we came across another hallway to our right and a solitary window to our left, with a metal grate over it. A flicking red light above us had lit the hallways with a flashing glow that was both eerie and alarming at the same time.

As we passed each cell, I saw there was a tiny metal plaque by the door handle. We had come across another intersection of hallways, and I didn’t know what direction to take. Suddenly, we had seen another guard, another angry, Simisear had been patrolling around on the third floor. The beige and red fire monkey looked especially aggressive and angry, and he looked even worse wearing Crimson Stars armor. As soon as he noticed us, his look of disgust got even worse.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” The Simisear asked, looking at the three of us with a angry stare as he clutched his Leadhammer rifle. "This floor's for high-profile convicts only, and he sure as hell doesn't look like one! Are you bumbling idiots lost!?"

I didn't have a real, logical answer because the truth, which would obviously get us killed. We really were lost and I didn't think the floors of this prison had special designations. I didn't have a way to explain it either, but I tried my best to lie and improvise.

"Sorry, man," I told him casually, trying to weasel my way out of it. "We're recent Jasandax transfers. What floor's standard detention?"

"Who's your reporting overseer!?" The irritated Bagon barked at us again. "I want to know your contingent code right now!"

"That would be-"

And before I even had the change to make up a name and a bunch of numbers, Vice had opened fire, squeezing the trigger of his Leadhammer rifle, pounding the Simisear with piercing bullets as the rifle roared to life while its flashing muzzle fire lit up the whole hallway. The fire monkey didn't even have a moment to respond before each consecutive shot sent him stumbling backwards before collapsing on his back in a bloody mess, dropping his own Leadhammer on the ground in the process. Both Blitz and I didn't expect it at all and we jumped before looking at him doubtfully.

"Are you daft!?" I impulsively shouted at Vice. "The whole damn prison probably heard that!"

"Whatever," Vice shrugged. "He was already onto us. Let's release some of these guys and get them loaded up. We're gonna need a lot of helpers."

I just nodded, and got ready for even more havoc. Hopefully what happened at Black Bay was enough experience to pull this off correctly...

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 29
Loss of Security

Unlike my previous assumptions, the prison hadn’t been very well guarded, or at least the night watches were very minimal. Still, there was more than enough to cause commotion. Already Vice had taken quite a big risk by shooting down one of the guards. Still, I could guess there weren’t that many guards running around, or at least most of them were outside. While these guys were armed, they probably didn’t expect us to get this far into the prison. In fact, they were probably thinking no one would make it this far into Macomb…

“So what’s your plan of action, Juno?” Vice asked me, looking at me curiously. “We don’t have a whole lot of time before someone finds out we’re here and locks down the whole prison…”

“We need to create a diversion that ultimately leads to a prison break,” I told Vice and Blitz.

Vice looked at me with shock. He shook his head in disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right?” Vice asked me with his eyes wide open. “These guys have been here for years. As soon as they hear this place has been taken over, they’re going to take advantage of this as soon as they can and run the hell outta here.”

“If they’ve been here for years…” I reminded him, “Then they probably have a very good idea of what its defenses are like and know they'll be shot down almost immediately unless they arm themselves.”

Blitz just looked at me curiously and Vice looked away in frustration.

“Look, once we get rid of the guards, we unlock all the cells and tell everyone to head to the upper floors,” I told them both, thinking it all out.

"Guess again, not all of these prisoners are Silver Rebellion troops," Vice told me again. "You think they're all going to listen to you!? Some of these guys really do deserve to be locked up, you know."

"They'll still fight if they want to survive and get out of Macomb with their heart still beating," I told him, knowing that much. "And knowing how they've been put into slave labor here, I doubt they'll pass up an opportunity to pay the Crimson Stars back for all those days of abuse."

Vice nodded, but he also shrugged as well, thinking it was a reckless plan, but it was at least something.

"Maybe I should go and send for help," Blitz told the both of us.

"Pft, yeah right," Vice nearly laughed. "Kamax told us we were on our own for this one, remember? Plus by the time you head over there, even if you manage to convince them to send reinforcements, by the time you all get organized and ferry your butts all the way down here, all of us will probably be long dead by then. Besides, you don't even have a Pidgeot! How do you expect to get down there, flapping your arms like a birdie to fly away!?"

"I was thinking I could... use Rackal's Pidgeot..." Blitz told him a bit sheepishly.

"Are you nuts!?" Vice exclaimed again. "She'd only obey her master, and there's not even enough left of him to bury his remains in a lunch box! My god, you two really didn't think this one out, did you!?"

I was getting tired and impatient. It was true, I didn't exactly have the seniority or veteran status of any other Silver Rebellion Pokémon here. I barely even felt like a Silver Rebellion soldier to begin with. Still, I didn’t want to spend a lifetime arguing this thing out, and we were running against time as is.

“Listen, pal,” I scolded him. “I'm still squad leader here, so at least try to cooperate. I hate this place as much as you do. So let's just take a stab at it. Blitz will try to find the switch that opens the cells. You and I will try to find the armory to get everyone a weapon. If we pull this off right, we should be able to get almost everyone out of here alive using the Crimson Stars's own vehicles."

"You've really lost it, haven't-"

"I know, I know," I told him quickly, making it clear I hadn't lost my mind. "I'm not an idiot. I don't plan on driving right into Syarmix using vehicles the Silver Rebellion is going to think are enemies. We would get out and simply head out on foot after parking them a mile outside of the city."

Vice just rolled his eyes, but decided to go along with it.

Then, I decided to get down to business. I wanted to finally get out of here. I was hating this place already.

“Blitz, you see if you can find the switch to open up the cells,” I told the electric squirrel, hoping he’d be able to handle it on his own. “Vice and I will take care of the guards and find the armory.”

"Well, we made it this far," Vice shrugged. "Let's roll the dice and see if we can cheat death again."

"I'm on it, Juno.” Blitz replied, nodding with a little smile.

“And once you’re done,” I told him, “we’ll meet on the roof.”

Blitz then picked up the fallen Simisear's Leadhammer rifle and wiped off the blood with the sleeve of his uniform. After that, he headed downstairs while Vice and I headed upward.

“Let’s go, we don’t have any time to waste,” I told Vice, knowing there was only a matter of time before reinforcements had arrived.

Vice and I had headed up the stairs, after we were convinced the third floor was empty. We had arrived on the forth and the halls were completely empty, which was highly unusual. Nonetheless, we made our way to the fifth floor and I had realized there was only one more floor above us, making six floors in total. Once we had opened the door to the fifth floor, the rusty, metal door hit the back wall and sent a harsh slamming sound throughout the halls. At first, we thought the floor was empty until a massive, hulking Tyrantrum turned around the corner and was holding two Sluggers in his massive hands. The dark red and white tyrannosaurus was massive, and fully equipped with Crimsons Stars combat armor. He looked at the two of us and just smiled.

“Well, well,” He growled with a low, amused voice, “I don’t remember the two of you shrimps ever being assigned guard duty.”

“That’s because we’re not guards!” Vice shouted with laughter. “Up yours and have a bullet breakfast!”

It was almost interesting to see that when presented with an opportunity for combat, Vice totally lost his mind, but when it came to discussing tactics and plans, he thought I was the one that was crazy...

I was honestly hoping I wouldn't have to work with him again...

The Tyrantrum readied his two Slugger machine guns and pointed them right at the two of us. With his strength, he could fire both and still have very little recoil in each hand. He then pulled both triggers, and then fire had rushed out from the end of the barrels, and he sprayed the hallway with ammunition and carnage. I took a deep breath and knew I absolutely had to focus or both of us were beyond dead.

I then focused and concentrated hard and then bullets slowed to a crawl. Vice had pulled out his Leadhammer rifle while I opened fire with my Scab submachine gun. I knew it would do nothing against the armor, so I had to concentrate and use all of my skills, training, and power for this one.

While I could now move significantly faster than the bullets from the Tyrantrum’s rifles, that didn’t mean our bullets were faster. The two of us had opened fire, and I felt the Scab submachine gun shake violently as ammunition had blasted out from the end of the barrel. The whole hallway was full of bullets, and it wasn’t very easy to dodge the ones that the Tyrantrum had fired upon us. Meanwhile, the large and relatively easy to hit Tyrantrum had been struck several times, digging holes in his armor. However, that didn't stop him from shooting.

I managed to take out his left eye before jumping up, leaping off of the rightmost wall, and then hurled myself in the air to attack his other side. All the while, I tried to glide between the bullets spiraling through the air. As soon as I reached his right side, I then aimed and blasted out his other eye, permanently rendering him blind.

He stopped firing, howled, and leaned over. He used the last of his ammunition to fire randomly before both machine guns simply clicked and ran out of ammo. I skipped off of the other wall, and quickly jumped on his back. He tried for a moment to swat me with his arms, but I took the Scab, pointed it down at his head, and just fired, breaking through his skull and taking out his brain in a furious hailstorm of bullets.

He soon collapsed into a ruined heap, blinded and almost fully lobotomized by bullets. Just before he hit the ground, I leapt off.

When I saw Vice, I had see he had been struck three times. Twice in his crest and another time in the shoulder. His shoulder was bleeding, but he simply gritted off the pain. But for a moment, it was like that wasn't what was really bothering him.

"Pft, you show off!" Vice complained, grasping his bleeding shoulder. "That big bastard was mine!"

"Are you okay!?" I shouted at him, looking at the crimson blood matting around his shoulder. "You're bleeding!"

"Oh shut up, you act like I haven't been hurt before," Vice spat. "It's nothing more than a flesh wound. Probably will scar nicely anyway. Would have been a better story if you hadn't stolen the kill!"

Stolen the kill. Seriously. That Trantrum nearly killed us and he was concerned about bragging rights.

“Come on,” Vice replied to me. “We have to keep moving. If you really want to arm all these guys, we've got to get to that armory.”

I could certainly agree with that…

We had moved our way through the cold, metal prison, shooting down two more guards. From the looks of it, this place's alarms were already going, but it seemed like with all the other havoc going on outside, obviously the guards couldn't be in two places at once.

We had already caused a commotion among the prisoners, wondering who we were really and if all this mayhem meant their days of freedom might soon be upon them. We kept silent until Blitz had found the switch to unlock all the prison doors. Only then did we tell them we were part of the Silver Rebellion, but we told them to remain in their cells while we called for backup. Regardless, Vice and I quickly ripped off our Crimson Stars uniforms so we weren't mistaken for one of them and were shot because of it. From the looks of it, most of these prisoners were stripped naked or were only wearing rugged and torn clothing.

Despite trying to keep things under control, a lot of the prisoners refused to stay in their cells, and some of them were already arming themselves with the few guns the prison guards had been carrying. I figured if there were any guards left in here, they were quickly getting overwhelmed.

We had met up with Blitz again on the first floor.

"Everyone's out of control!" The frantic electric squirrel exclaimed. "I mean, I know they're eager to leave, but-"

"Oh, let 'em go wild," Vice replied. "We need to head to the roof to I can call Storm Gale and Juno can call Blazewing. After that, we find a few of those VATS, load these prisoners up, and then get the hell out of here."

"Did you guys find the armory?" Blitz asked, seeing most of the prisoners weren't armed at all.

"No, we didn't," I shrugged, figuring with how huge this place was, we could be running around for days before we found anything. "Like Vice said, let's just find a few VATS that seem to be in at least some working condition. There's got to be at least a few around."

Never mind hoping I'd know how to drive the blasted thing. I figured if I could at least just get it to move, everything else was trivial.

We then headed upward, and we made our way up to the top floor. After that, we looked for the entrance to the roof, since the stairwell and the elevator didn’t reach all the way up. After looking everywhere for a second staircase, we found the only one, which was behind a rusty metal door with a tiny plaque labeled “Maintenance.” I grabbed the doorknob and it was locked. I wasn’t very surprised. Vice had looked it over and just shrugged.

“Oh, what the hell is the point?” Vice remarked, readying his sharp claws.

He slashed furiously at the metal door knob, sending a loud and hideous screeching sound into the air. I put my hands on my ears to neutralize the terrible sound as I winced from the pain of the noise while Blitz just cringed. When it was over, I put my hands down and looked to see a twisted metal lock on the floor, with deep cuts into it. I looked at the door and saw Vice had ripped out the lock, knob and all. Now it was just another normal metal door with a gaping hole in it.

“Locks only keep out honest people,” Vice said casually, grabbing the ruined door and throwing it open. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Man, glad I was on the receiving end of that,” Blitz replied, looking at the knob with disbelief. “I don’t think I would have much of a head left after that…”

We headed through the doorway and came across a spiral staircase with rickety metal stairs. We made our way upward and into another small room with a metal door. The tiny metal room was especially dirty, and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Regardless, we quickly made our way for the door, and opened it. We then made our way onto the metal roof, and we could see the red and black sky with its occasional lightning flares above us.

I looked around, still noticing that the warehouses were in flames, but it was starting to die down a bit. However, the damage to Macomb had been brutal and with so much of their factory and warehouse lines destroyed, it was definitely going to have a notable impact on their war effort. I figured the Crimson Stars put all their eggs in one heavily and well-defended basket and thought it was all secure.

Vice had called for his Pidgeot, letting loose a loud whistle that despite the distance, could be heard thanks to the keen level of hearing most Pidgeots had. After a few moments, Vice’s Pidgeot had arrived, landing swiftly on the roof. Once her clawed talons had come into contact with the metallic roofing, the brown and beige Pidgeot with its long yellow and pink crest had looked toward Vice, her trainer.

I was about to call in Blazewing when suddenly we were interrupted. Above in the sky, we saw four Wind Strikers and what appeared to be their leader, a green and vicious looking Scyther riding on a Flygon. That was new. Usually these guys would always ride Skarmories, so what was this guy doing.

Vice had stepped back and shook his head.

“Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT…!” Vice panicked in fear. “It can’t be him… Not now… Why the hell did he have to show up!?”

“Who the hell is that?” I asked Vice, never before seeing him in so much fear.

He just shook his head, backing away. His reaction was definitely making me unnerved now.

“That’s Vorox and Tychal,” Vice told Blitz and I. “Vorox has killed nearly a thousand Silver Rebellion troops, lead missions that torched five of our cities, and has earned all seventeen ranks of the Crimson Stars…”

Blitz had looked up at the Scyther with a fearful look in his eyes. I couldn’t believe it either, but I could tell from the Scyther’s gaze that nothing could ever bring him fear. As he drew closer, my heart was racing faster.

“You mean he’s the…?” Blitz asked in fear.

“Yeah…” Vice replied, swallowing hard, “…the leader of the Wind Strikers…”

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Yes! Vorox and Tychal, the baddest of the bad! I've been anticipating this for a while now!

[Neo Emolga]

Yes! Vorox and Tychal, the baddest of the bad! I've been anticipating this for a while now!

Ha, ha, there's far worse than him later on, though! But yeah, most people seem to like this bout.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 30
The Jade Sword

I felt like I was going to be sick. For a minute, I thought we were actually gaining a foothold on the situation and were actually pulling this mission off, albeit in an unorganized and unorthodox way, and then the Crimson Stars send this guy in.

The four Wind Strikers and their leader Vorox were the only force that could stop us now. And having heard from Vice that Vorox nearly killed a thousand of our troops wasn’t exactly the morale-boosting comment we needed to start fighting back.

There really was no running from this guy. He had us exposed on the rooftop, and I was sure trying to head back into the prison was just going to get everyone killed, and that was only going to give him the pleasure of adding five hundred more kills to his name.

“Vice, who the hell is this guy!?” Blitz shouted in fear, looking at his intimating state before looking frantically back to Vice.

“He’s known as the Jade Sword, a ruthless and cunning warlord, maybe one of the best elites of the Crimson Stars,” Vice told Blitz, a situation that was beginning to make even Vice anxious. “Now I think I know what happened. They must have evacuated everyone and sent Vorox to kill the attackers out of vengeance."

Yeah, I nodded, realizing that would make sense. They were not the kind that would let someone do something like this and get away with it.

"Believe it or not," Vice shook his head, "whoever kills him will be advanced five ranks in the Silver Rebellion Army and will be given the Serious Decoration of Honor. That’s how badly… we need this guy dead. It's a joke, though. This jackass is an unstoppable machine of death.”

Even still, we badly needed to get the other prisoners out of here. I began to think that it would just be better if Vice and Blitz worked on that. Maybe... just maybe I could at least hold off Vorox and his squad from killing the others.

"Blitz, go with Vice and get the prisoners out of here," I told the two of them. "Take Storm Gale and just go. I'll try... to deal with this guy."

"You're freaking out of your mind, Juno!" Vice exclaimed. "He's going to murder you in a one on one fight! Do you seriously want to just end up like all the others!?"

"I'm... not like the others..." I told him, forcing my racing heart to calm down. "Just go! We're not going to get another window of opportunity here!"

Blitz just nodded, and was the first to secure himself onto Storm Gale the best he could. He was then followed by Vice, who simply looked back at me as the last, precious seconds were counting down. After that, Storm Gale had spread her wings, and the massive Pidgeot jumped into the air, flapping her wings to ascend higher and higher into the air. There wasn’t enough time for even a goodbye or even a good luck. They headed back toward the factories, hoping there might be a leftover VAT or armored transport.

“After them!” Vorox shouted to his team. “Kill those two and do it now!”

Suddenly, the four Wind Strikers flew furiously toward Blitz, Vice and Storm Gale, and readied their rifles. I gritted my teeth, focused on the four Wind Strikers and aimed my Scab submachine gun at them. If we didn't stop them now, all three of them were going to die a screaming death and there wouldn't be anything we could do to stop it.

"Come and get it!" Blitz shouted, returning fire from behind Storm Gale's back.

While Vice guided Storm Gale's flying, Blitz quickly tried to provide as much support fire as he could, knowing this had become a do or die situation. I then pulled the trigger hard, and the submachine gun roared to life. I aimed for the one directly behind Blitz and Storm Gale, and I aimed right for the Skarmory’s abdomen. The ammunition rounds blasted loudly from my Scab and tore their way into the Skarmory, sending the first Skarmory and its Buizel rider spiraling toward the ground. I didn’t even wince when I realized both of them would be screaming all the way until the hard ground snapped every bone in their body.

I focused my concentration again, slowing time down as the situation had become direly critical. With the first rider down, I immediately shifted to the second. The second rider was a Lombre, already with his aim on Storm Gale. I concentrated on my aim and again pulled the trigger, blasting the Skarmory with an intense amount of ammunition. I heard the Skarmory scream in agony as it completely lost control of its flight. The Lombre was instantly thrown off of the Skarmory’s back only being able to fire his rifle just as his aim had been thrown into chaos from the death of his mount. There was nothing that could save the two of them now.

Almost savagely, I ripped out the expended magazine of the Scab and wrestled in another one. Blitz was returning fire, but with Storm Gale's frantic flying, his aim wasn't its best and the bullets were flying in a spray. However, it was keeping the Crimson Stars riders from getting too close.

The third and forth Wind Strikers were riding close together, having only watched their two companions get shot down. I was also running out of time, realizing they were drawing closer. Both riders, a Breloom and a Frogadier, were only thirty feet away from Storm Gale, both with their weapons drawn. If I didn’t stop them now, they were going to kill Blitz and the others for sure…

I first aimed for the Breloom, focusing my aim on his back. I then fired the Scab submachine gun, and I saw the bullets had struck him viciously, tearing in and out holes. Meanwhile, Blitz had shot the Breloom’s Skarmory, resulting in both of them tumbling to the ground lifelessly. Moments later, the Frogadier found himself alone, with no one to help him.

I watched in horror as he already had his aim on Storm Gale before I had my aim on him. He had fired three times before I had fired upon him, shooting him in the back of the head and sending his lifeless body forward, which tumbled right off the Skarmory. I then aimed for the Frogadier’s Skarmory itself, and fired ruthlessly upon him, using the last of the Scab's ammunition. When all four Wind Strikers were taken down, I had frantically looked for Storm Gale and her riders. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw all of them were okay, never hit once by the Frogadier’s attack. They were flying safely in the distance, heading right for the warehouses. I watched both of them disappear in the distance, and sighed in relief that they were going to make it. If Vorox himself tried to pursue, he would be exposing his back to us and would make an easy target.

I then turned around and looked right at Vorox. He had glared viciously at me, totally in disbelief at what we had just done. Meanwhile, the burning, red eyes of his Flygon named Tychal stared at me with a harsh gaze. Vorox already knew Macomb would be under fire with the prisoners already pulling off a successful jailbreak and were likely helping themselves to the weapons and leftover armaments. Meanwhile, the amount of damage we had done to Macomb was something the Crimson Stars wouldn’t recover from any time soon. Within less than an hour, the whole industrial city would be destroyed, just like what they had done to the many cities of the Silver Rebellion. However, there was still no certainty that this would turn the tables in our favor.

“That's impossible, those were four of my best and fastest fliers!” Vorox growled angrily. “How was a normal, everyday Pikachu like you able to kill them so quickly!?”

There was silence. I hadn’t established any kind of whistle signal or sign with Blazewing the Latias, but somehow, I could feel a connection to her that had only grown more and more as time went on. I then decided to call her by her real name, knowing if she could hear my voice, she would know it was me. I had called out to her using the name “Blazewing,” and before long, she had flown from the darkness of the skies to my side, joining me before looking up at Vorox the malevolent Scyther and his vicious Flygon mount. It was then that the avian red and white dragon had made her appearance.

“I’m no ordinary Pikachu,” I told Vorox with a short breath of confidence. “My name is Juno, and this is Blazewing.”

And for one dark moment, Vorox had been a bit surprised and seemed to recognize I was in fact Juno, the one from the legends that the Silver Rebellion felt so strongly about. With how much of a massacre he made of them, I was sure he had to have heard about it in one way or another. Regardless, he gazed upon me with the look that I had arrived earlier than he had expected. I could see in his harsh stare that he had only expected me to come when Symarix was crumbling before him, when the last city of the Silver Rebellion was doomed to fall and there wasn’t any hope in the world to save it.

“You... you're the one from that stupid fairy tale of theirs!” Vorox laughed mockingly. “Idiocy! Killing you two is going to be special! And to think some of them believe you're their last source of hope! Imagine their faces when I use your severed heads as trophies!"

"Yeah... you and all the others," I nodded, knowing this was an obvious pattern. "You're all the same."

"Who's the bug?" Blazewing asked me, wondering who Vorox the Scyther was.

"He's a Crimson Stars Wind Striker commander," I told her, remembering what Vice told me before. "Apparently, he's killed at least a thousand Silver Rebellion soldiers."

He had laughed, just as a flash of lightning had lit up the dark and twisted sky above him. He had shown me his two gigantic sickle arms and the blood red sky was reflected in them. I could tell he had used those two sickles many times before to kill one Pokémon after another.

“I'm far more of a legend than you are!" Vorox laughed. "You're both nothing but a fairy tale lies! Nonetheless, what a gorgeous day it is to kill yet another hope and dream of the pathetic Silver Rebellion!"

Recommended Listening: GRV Music - Dark Master of Shadows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LVywcJbuXo)

"We're fighting this jackass?" Blazewing asked, taking a peek at him. "Oh, please tell me we are."

"We definitely are," I told her. "We're no lie."

Despite how much he wanted to be my nemesis, I had a feeling that there would be far worse than even him in the near future…

I had picked up the Scab submachine gun and then I jumped on Blazewing’s back, quickly strapping myself in with the leather straps that had been tied around her. Once I had secured myself on her back, Blazewing had leapt into the air, and once we had flown above the ground, we turned around to face Vorox and Tychal, our adversaries.

I was not going to let this psychotic maniac stand in our way. We came here to save these prisoners, and he was not going to add even more heads to the death toll he had already went too far with. This guy had a long overdue appointment with the devil and it was about time someone arrange the meeting.

I stared strongly into the eyes of my enemy, and at the same time, he glared into mine. A bitter rush of hate and anger had filled the trenches dug within our hearts, and now it had all come down to this gruesome conflict. He wasn't going to let us go and there was no way I could let him live, so I knew blood was going to be spilled and one of us was going to die. As a harsh and violent wind had blown past us, a flash of lightning had lit the sky. Somehow, at that moment, I felt far more like Juno than the human I used to be…

Leader or not, the very idea that Vorox had killed that many Pokémon made this a very simple need for capital punishment that was long overdue.

With that, our gruesome clash had initiated…

Tychal, the mantis-like dragon had extended his wings, and then burst toward us in full speed. I tried to concentrate on his flight pattern, but even with all my focus and concentration, Tychal was still flying at an excessive speed, faster than I had expected. I watched in anxiety as Vorox readied his sharp scythe, and prepared to slash upon us viciously. If he ended this in one fell swoop, it would probably be one of the most demoralizing things that have ever happened to the Silver Rebellion during this whole war.

I had no time to attack, and instead just wanted to evade as soon as possible. These guys were definitely not the same as their Wind Striker compatriots. I beckoned for Blazewing to ascend upward, and she had surged into the air, just as Vorox had sliced the air next to us. Moments later, Vorox and Tychal had flown past us, and now Blazewing and I were above the two of them, glaring at the two again.

I had felt a hot, burning sensation in my side, and when I had gone to look, I grimaced at the sight. Vorox had cut my side, and a small trickle of blood was running down. The sticky blood was quickly soaking my yellow fur. I was really beginning to regret ripping off that armor, but it was far too late to think about that now.

The wound wasn't wasn’t fatal, but if we had been any slower or he managed to swing in further, that cut would have been a whole lot deeper… and much more life-threatening. Thankfully, the cut was no worse than being struck with a large razor blade, but I could tell it didn’t take much for him to inflict vicious lacerations and even slice off appendages.

And as I turned around, I saw Vorox, licking the blood at end of his scythe. The sight of it was simply nauseating…

“My, I never knew the blood of the Gold Rider was so tasty!” Vorox sneered with glee. “I need more… much more…”

"What kind of deranged hellhole bug are you!?" Blazewing gawked in disbelief. "You're a sick, screwed-up mental case, you know that!? You know what, don't even bother checking the lost and found, I don't think you're going to find your soul there."

And he just laughed hysterically at that. Already, I could see how much of an effect the bloody slaughter of Silver Rebellion troops had on his grotesque, blood-drunk mind. In the end, I looked into Vorox’s eyes and he had gone from warrior, to warlord, to just plain butcher.

I then pointed my submachine gun at the Jade Sword, but I aimed for Tychal instead. I then focused and pulled the trigger, and my Scab spat fire and carnage as the metal gun shook with recoil from the blasts. Regardless, Tychal was extremely fast and was able to foresee where I would be shooting him from given the angles I had my gun facing. I tried to follow his flight pattern and lead the shots so he would run right into the bullets, but he still managed to catch on and dodge the attack. Then, he curved around and headed right toward us, and Vorox prepared to attack again. I was hoping the closer he was, the easier it would be for me to shoot him, but that wasn’t the case…

This was definitely not working out nearly the way I thought it would be...

Blazewing and I had dashed away at the last second, and Vorox had swiftly sliced the air furiously. We had flown from the two and dashed away as far as we could, at least several hundred feet away from Vorox and Tychal. When we had stopped, I could hear Blazewing gasp, and it didn’t take me long to figure out what was wrong.

Like me, she had been cut in the side, and it was bleeding as well. Her cut had been even worse than mine, and I could see the forking rivers of blood trickling down her body before dripping down upon the ground below. Twice we had attempted to hit him, and both times it only ended with us just barely avoiding having a lethal laceration inflicted on us. Any slower and we probably would be left bleeding to death.

"Damn it, we've got to find a way to kill this asshat!" Blazewing shouted, getting angry now. "I swear, his grave's gonna be a cesspool for sure!"

And then, Vorox had seen the cut in Blazewing and had only laughed. My anger was only growing worse.

"Don't blame me if you suffer for long!" Vorox laughed. "I honestly was going to make this simple and quick, but if you'd rather insist on bleeding out painfully and slowly, I can enjoy that too!"

Again, I had aimed my Scab at the two, this time I was going to shoot at Vorox, knowing it wasn’t him who was controlling Tychal’s flight pattern. Vorox and Tychal were fighting as two minds. I then realized what his weakness was, something I had overlooked this entire time.

Tychal knew nothing of how Vorox was going to attack, and I was going to use that as my weapon. Again I had opened fire, but I got only three shots out of it before the Scab had stopped firing, and all that came out of it was a click. For a moment, I was shocked when the Scab magazine ejected from the gun and I realized I was out of ammunition completely. Wincing a bit from the frustration, I had taken the metal submachine gun, and threw it aside before it tumbled to the ground below. Still, I figured I didn’t need it anymore and it certainly wasn't helping anyway.

Vorox was grinning when he realized my Scab was empty and I had tossed it away, thinking he had gained yet another advantage in a battle he was already reigning triumphant in. Tychal had flown toward us furiously, and Vorox had prepared to swing his scythe again, thinking I didn’t stand a chance and this time he would get more than just a flesh wound out of the next strike. As I saw him closing in, I concentrated and my red cheeks flared brightly with electricity. Tiny bolts of thunder had surrounded them as Vorox prepared to swipe the air. Now, Tychal could not predict my method of attack, for he could not see me clearly from his angle.

Vorox’s scythe was in feet of preparing to strike, and then I focused my charged electricity not on Vorox, but on the scythe itself. This time, I unleashed one of Juno's home-brewed special electric attacks, Stormbreaker Thunder, the same thing I used against Blitz's Groudon. I sent a thrusting surge of thunder for the joint in his arm, and when the intense voltage had hit it, the power was enough to burn and cut right through his mantis-like chassis, and effectively slice off the scythe itself.

Suddenly, the intensely sharp scythe had spiraled off his arm only inches in front of my face, but thankfully it had missed, or else it would have easily sliced through and through and would have been an instant kill. Instead, the severed arm fell toward the rooftop of the prison, landing with a sharp metallic clang as if a heavy sword had fallen upon the rooftop. Now, Vorox had one less weapon to use against me, and was crippled for life. In all his years of killing, obviously no one had managed to pull this off before.

“My ARM!!!” Vorox shouted in anger and shock, suddenly realizing his left arm was reduced to a burnt and bloody stump. “Damn you, you miserable rodent! Today, you lose your head for that!”

Suddenly, it seemed like it was no longer a butcher's fun and games anymore.

"Still think it's a lie?" I asked him.

He just snarled, and in his rage, he pushed back into the fight.

"Burn them, Tychal!" He shouted in fury. "I want to see fire consume their souls!"

And then, I got a sickening feeling as Tychal closely watched every single one of our moves. As Vorox and Tychal fought as one, I needed to make the same approach but not make the same mistake. Focusing on Blazewing, I was establish a connection, one that I had never felt before. As I concentrated hard and shut my eyes for a moment, I was able to focus and see what Blazewing was seeing, as if I was her…

Draconic Stormbreaker Attack…

Extreme. That was all I could use to describe the speed that she was moving and the fierce, relentless nature of the imagined assault I had sent to Blazewing's mind. The air was blasting past us to the point of burning, and we homed in on our enemy. The raging, bitter fire that was blasting from Tychal’s mouth had no chance of hitting us from the excessive speed we were traveling. With the claw of Blazewing sharp and ready, I prepared to bury it into Tychal, and deliver as much pain and suffering to him as I could. Faster and faster I traveled toward him, and when we were suddenly close enough, the claw of Blazewing had thrust its way into the green underside of Tychal, and tore with such fury and anger to the point of incinerating the savagely-open cut with fire and blazing embers. Within seconds it was over with, and the two of us had pulled upward, and I opened my own eyes again.

It should have been impossible. It shouldn't have happened anywhere but in dreams, but yet... we pulled something miraculous off.

"Holy... that was..." Blazewing remarked, taken back a bit.

Tychal had let loose a horrible shriek, beating the flaming cut with his wing and still attempting to keep afloat in the air. When the fire was extinguished, I could see the vicious tear in Tychal’s underside, bleeding very badly and nearly coating his green underside with a slick cover of sticky, crimson blood.

And in pure, uncontrollable rage, Vorox ordered Tychal to attack again. Tychal, using his anger, pain, and fury to fuel his vengeance with his last bit of strength flew toward us in a frenzy, desperately desiring to tear the two of us into ribbons.

Again, I had shut my eyes again, and Blazewing flew with a blazing fury toward Tychal. To do this right... we had to do it again. It was working, but we couldn't hold back now.

Dragon Shadowfury Attack...

Seconds later, we had arrived at Tychal’s under side, and with Blazewing’s sharp claws ready, she tore another macabre and gaping gash into Tychal, blasting his skin with raging fire and slicing his flesh with claws as sharp as surgical knives and as relentless as a chainsaw. The Flygon's blood was sprayed in all directions like a rake ripping into a water balloon.

It made me wonder... was Vorox ready to start believing?

We had flown right past them, and I had watched as Vorox screamed desperately as Tychal spiraled toward the metal roof top, unable to control his flight. Moments later, Tychal slammed into the roof of the prison, violently snapped his neck against the metallic roofing with a violent cracking sound that was as loud as crushed deadwood, and was forced into rolling over several times before stopping and lying on his stomach in a bloody, twisted heap. After vomiting a grizzly amount of blood, Tychal lay lifeless, with his wings folded over and his head lying motionless as a pool of warm, crimson blood had quickly begun to surround it.

I had signaled Blazewing to head toward the roof, and we flew swiftly toward it. When we had arrived, I leapt off of Blazewing, and looked at Tychal’s dead body. I had wondered if Vorox had been crushed by the force and weight of Tychal’s corpse, but then I saw something rise up, and I realized Vorox wasn’t dead…

Meanwhile, both Blazewing and I were still losing blood. It seemed that no one was walking away from this fight without some kind of wound or scar to relive the fury and anguish every time they looked upon it.

Vorox had jumped off of Tychal’s body, and landed on the metal floor of the prison, still armed with his left scythe. It was certainly more than enough to kill both of us. I've never seen a Pokémon look so angry and so drenched with bitter, relentless hate.

“You…” Vorox savagely growled in a murderous tone, "...you SWINE! You killed him! That... now you die... die... DIIIEEE!!!!!”

Then, in blinded, uncontrollable fury, Vorox rushed toward me with all the anger and hatred in the world, blasting toward me with extreme speed, holding his left scythe in the air and ready to send it swiftly ripping into my body. I had no time for an electrical attack, and he knew that. There were only seconds before he would get the chance to bury his scythe into my flesh.

I had stepped back for a moment, and I felt my foot step on something firm and hard. When I looked down to see what it was, I saw it was Vorox’s severed left scythe.

And in those critical last seconds, I bent down and picked up the scythe, and held it firmly in my hand. I then put my foot firmly on the ground, arched my hand back and vigorously threw it forward, aiming right for Vorox. The sharp scythe had violently spiraled through the sky, slicing the air as it spiraled toward its target.

Suddenly, the sharp scythe had buried itself right into Vorox’s head. It had sliced right through his nose and was now half-buried in his head with the bladed end jutting right out of the back of his skull, a complete through-and-through. Even in death, he still ran toward me with his hatred, but every step his body made had become twisted as the last signals from his mutilated brain transmitted to the rest of his body. At the last moment, his body tripped and fell to the ground, crashing violently before lying face down before us in a lifeless heap. Even in those last seconds, it seemed like his deadened scythe arm tried one last time to strike me, only to just barely miss as I quickly dodged Vorox's tumbling body.

Vorox, the leader of the Wind Strikers… was dead, now laying in a pool of his own green blood alongside his dead dragon.

He never believed we were real. He never believed we had the power of dreams within us.

I was not going to make that same mistake again.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 31
The Passage Home

It was over, and I was finally glad at last there was one less nightmare we had to face. Despite our victory over Vorox and Tychal, he had injured us pretty badly. Still, at least we were still breathing, while the two of them were clearly dead.

That was when Vice and Blitz had arrived again, riding on Storm Gale's back. When the massive and rough-looking Pidgeot landed with her talons clanging on the metallic roof, she just looked surprised as the signs of carnage. And then, when Vice dismounted, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"No way... no way... holy...!" Vice muttered in total disbelief, "He's... you seriously just killed Vorox!?!?"

"Well, he sure ain't breathing from my angle," Blazewing remarked. "I dunno about you, but I don't think a giant scythe sticking in one's head really helps the cerebral cortex chug along."

"Oh damn..." Vice muttered again. "Oh damn... that Divine Prophecy thing... is that really true!? I thought it was crap before, but this... this right here might just make me a believer."

Blitz was just as shocked, looking at me like I somehow managed to turn myself into a Pikachu commando. I didn't boast or puff myself up about it, though. A little bit of bad luck or horrible timing would have been fatal for Blazewing or myself. Fighting this guy was no laughing matter either. He was practically still fighting even when dead.

"Holy cow, look at them..." The electric squirrel commented, side-stepping away from the pools of blood to avoid getting it on his white fur or on his giant tail. "Sure don't need to bother checking for a pulse with these two."

I still couldn't help but look at the cut Vorox had inflicted on me. It was still bleeding badly and a large patch of yellow fur had soaked up quite a bit of blood. I wasn't exactly sure if there was anything that could be used to patch it up, but I was beginning to worry if I was bleeding out. After blinking twice, I was feeling somewhat lightheaded and woozy, not sure if it was the result of seeing my own blood splattered all over the place.

"Yeah, that sure as hell ain't pretty," Vice told me, noticing the laceration I kept looking at. "Sit down, quit fussing around or else you're going to keep opening it up. We'll find someone to patch you up and get you out of here."

"Just... leave the rest to us," Blitz nodded. "We'll take care of the prisoners and transports. We already found a few that should be good."

I nodded, sighed, and decided to sit down and remain still while Vice and Blitz went back downstairs to take care of everything else. It was just Blazewing and I again, but for now, it seemed the Crimson Stars had given up on Macomb. They never were able to control the flames that ultimately destroyed almost the entire compound, and I could see in their haste and hubris, they didn't think such a fire would ever be started.

In the meantime, I felt so tired. After so much running, shooting, shouting, it was easy to just want to lay down and...

"Hey, no napping!" Blazewing told me, giving me a nudge with her clawed hand to wake me up. "Napping with a cut like that and you'll be waking up on a fluffy white cloud with a golden harp!"

That actually sounded... somewhat pleasant in a way after all I had been through, but she was right. I tried to force myself not to drift off like that again.

"Okay, I get it..." I nodded, sitting up to avoid dozing off. "But how are you holding up?"

Blazewing checked herself and it seemed like her cut wasn't slowing her down as much. But in a way, with considerations to body size, the cut I had was much worse than hers.

"Ah, it'll heal," She shrugged with a smile. "Yours will too, just hang in there."

I smiled as I looked back into her eyes.

In the meantime, there was something else that Vice said that was somewhat pecking at my mind. I wasn't sure if Blazewing was thinking the same thing, but had a chance to reflect on it, but I figured I'd ask.

"Hey, Blazewing," I told her, trying to get my mind off the pain for a while, "have you actually had a chance to read this "Divine Prophecy" thing they mentioned?"

She looked at me curiously, and I could tell she knew what I was getting at. With Vorox being dead and the Macomb mission seeming like it was almost a success against insane odds, it made me wonder... was it really coming true?

"I can't say I've actually read it," Blazewing shrugged. "But yeah, now that you mention it, it's got me wondering too."

However, before we got the chance to really talk about it, Vice had come back, accompanied by an Aromatisse. The puffy, pink and purple-colored bird-like fairy Pokémon was still in her prisoner uniform, consisting of a dirty, dark-yellow jumpsuit that had obviously seen better days. Meanwhile, she had been carrying a small, dirty-white pouch of first aid supplies she had probably fetched out of a nearby medical supply closet.

"Hey, her name's Saraxa," Vice told us, introducing us to the Aromatisse. "She seems to know-"

"No way...!" Saraxa gasped, suddenly shocked about Vorox's crumpled dead body before her. "This dead Scyther... is this...?!"

"Yeah, that's Vorox!" Vice laughed, mocking the dead Wind Striker commander. "What's left of him anyway. Juno and Blazewing actually finally managed to kill that prick and his damn Flygon."

She then looked at me and Blazewing very curiously, blinking twice.

"But..." Vice quickly added, "I can't say they were able to pull it off without a scratch. There's where you come in."

"They're... they're REAL!?" Saraxa exclaimed in surprise.

I then remembered these prisoners had yet to hear of our arrival. Saraxa still seemed very surprised, but I had to show her the gash that Vorox had inflicted. She stepped closer to get a better look at it, sizing up the wound with her black and ruby-colored eyes. She got a look at it from varying angles.

"Oh, Juno..." Saraxa told me sympathetically, quickly grabbing her medical supplies. "I... well, that's a pretty nasty gash, and I can honestly say you weren't too far off from needing a transfusion. But, even so, it's definitely not the worst kind of thing Vorox has ever inflicted on someone. Yeah, you two are done for the day. I definitely don't recommend doing anything until this heals."

I let out a tired sigh. I recognized some of the basic medical supplies like the bandages, but there were some ointments and sprays that I was unfamiliar with. After applying two series of spray ointments and healing creams, both of which stung painfully when applied, she wrapped everything in bandages, which was almost enough to cover my entire chest.

"Hey, you'll be fine," Saraxa assured me. "I just... can't believe it's really you! Juno and Blazewing, alive and real! And you killed Vorox!"

She then went ahead and helped Blazewing get patched up also. She seemed to be an expert at this, and when she was done binding the wounds with bandages, she seemed quite proud of her work.

"Thanks a million," I told her with a tired smile.

"Oh, it's an honor, General Juno!" She smiled with a firm Silver Rebellion salute.

"Hey, I'm only an Ensign at the moment," I told her with a light chuckle. "But thanks."

Shortly after, Blitz had soon arrived. I still felt the urge to want to help, but I didn't think that would do my cut any favors.

"They're ready to go," Blitz told the rest of us. "We finally managed to find enough VATs and transports to get everyone a ride. Juno, do you think... you can walk?"

"Yeah... I don't recommend he does that," Saraxa told him. "I can't suture him up until we get home and trying to get him to a transport would probably rip open his cut again. If Blazewing is okay with it, he'd be better off riding her."

"Ah yeah, I'm fine with that," Blazewing smiled with a wink. "Let's go, this place is history."

Carefully and gingerly, I climbed on Blazewing's back, strapped myself into her harness, and sighed. I wasn't sure if Jamac and Kamax would consider this improvised mess a success, but it at least didn't feel like a failure.

"Okay, see you back at base," I told the others with a smirk. "I think we've spent enough time here."

"Uh, yeah," Vice muttered, looking at the smoldering husks of what once were many factories and warehouses. "Seriously, don't bring me on a mission like this again. I usually don't get worried like that."

Blazewing soon took off, and as we left the rooftop, I looked down below to see the prisoners were being loaded onto the VATs and other armored transports that they had managed to acquire. Some of them were unequipped with weapons while others were in an unfinished state, but they could at least run. Only two of them looked like they were complete, just without the paint.

From above, I got a good view of how absolutely ruined Macomb was. It was no wonder why they had evacuated everyone out. Blazewing had to fly low because of all the smoke rising from the burnt building husks, rubble, and ruins. Only a few buildings remained standing, but everything was damaged in at least one way or another. I could tell the Crimson Stars never learned to not put all their eggs in one basket, but it seems like that's exactly what they did with this place.

"Man, what a mess," I told Blazewing, really not realizing just how much damage that fire had done to everything. "I honestly didn't think that a few inferno grenades would start something that would make it look like the whole place had been bombed."

"I dunno about you, but it looks so much better this way!" Blazewing laughed cheerfully. "Before, it was just a cesspool of ugly factories and warehouses, military bases and all that other junk. Now, it's a nice clean slate, open to infinite possibilities!"

"Somehow I don't think the Crimson Stars are going to think of it like that," I chucked along with her.

As we glided out of Macomb, the transports soon followed, rolling over and crushing whatever twisted remains of Macomb were left that got in their way. The VATs and what seemed like other armored personnel carrier prototypes were huge, metal behemoth trucks with tiny slits for windows to prevent entry of attacks but to allow at least some circulation. They also seemed pretty unstoppable, tearing through building remains like there was nothing to it. I wasn't sure if the Silver Rebellion would reverse engineer these things, but either way, they would definitely be of some use.

Once everyone was out of the city and loaded up, we began the journey back, leaving behind Macomb as nothing but a vast, ruined landscape of collapsed buildings that still had traces of fires scattered throughout the city, but by now, they were dying down having run out of fuel.

As we slowly lead the armored convoy through the wastelands, I had remembered about Alex. I was wondering if he really was part of this group, and if he was, what Pokémon he had become. I tried to see things from his perspective, but I could only imagine what he might be thinking. If he really was down there, he probably had no idea who Juno really was. Even so, he hadn't even seen Symarix yet!

I didn't know how I was going to try and go about finding Alex without looking like I was insane. Maybe... even if I didn't ever find out, it would be okay in the end.

Blazewing and I had plenty of casual conversations on the way home as the carriers traveled along the rugged, dusty, and arid wastelands. We couldn't fly nearly as fast due to the slow nature of the VATs and other armored carriers, but it did give us time to catch our breath. Here, the two of us were, completely out of ammo, my armor was gone, the both of us got cut up, but we survived, destroyed Macomb, and rescued the last of the prisoners. While there were casualties, I highly doubted anyone could ever expect an attack on this place to go without shedding a single drop of blood.

"Man, I wish these things could hurry up," Blazewing told me, noticing that once again, her hasty flying had to result in her stopping for a moment for them to catch up. "I'm not getting any younger here!"

"Tough, yes," I told her, looking at the heavy armor of these vehicles that looked like they could take tank shells and just keep on rolling. "Menacing, yes. Huge... definitely yes. But yeah, they're not much faster than a sleepy Snorlax."

After what felt like many hours and us nearly running out of things to talk about, we had arrived back at Symarix. It was a pretty welcome sight to see after what we had been through. For me, it was still hard to call the gleaming, metallic city truly "home," but for now, it was definitely the closest haven of comfort we had in Kivistal.

It wasn't long until we had arrived at the gated entrance, and the guards there instantly recognized me. They hadn't seen the transports yet as we had flown ahead to make sure they didn't start firing upon them thinking it was some kind of Crimson Stars attack.

Once we had landed, they instantly approached us. A Lucario dressed in Silver Rebellion body armor was accompanied by a Floatzel and a Pancham wearing the same gray and white armor, custom-fitted for their size.

"Juno?" The Lucario head guard asked me from besides the controls to open the gate. "You're back!? What happened? Where is everyone else?"

As I dismounted from Blazewing as she was hovering just a few inches above the dusty, arid ground, I looked up to the black and blue wolf Pokémon.

"We have a few... 'borrowed' transports coming in with prisoners from Macomb," I told the Lucario. "Give the word out not to open fire on them."

"Macomb?" he asked, looking shocked. "You went there and lived!?"

"Lived?" Blazewing asked, nearly laughing. "No, we totally got killed and decided to just come back from the dead. Yeah, the place is toast."

The Lucario nodded, a little bit bashful he asked such a question, but he understood what she was saying. He then gave the hand signal to send the message for the defense sentries to hold fire. As I looked behind me, I saw a small dust cloud kicking up from the distance, knowing they would be here soon.

Just one thing was on my mind that whole time as I saw the transports rolling in...

...I knew the Crimson Stars would seek brutal revenge for this.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 32
Honor and Commitment

Blazewing and I had gotten swift and considerable medical treatment to address the wounds. I wasn't too crazy about what passed for a suture around Symarix, but it did its job, even though it was excessively painful and these Pokémon weren't too aware of many anesthetics. I knew it would take months to heal, but I couldn't complain considering the deadly alternative.

When asked about how I got the laceration in the first place, I simply told them it was from Vorox, easily forgetting he was one of the prime enemies of the Silver Rebellion. At first, they weren't sure if I was telling the truth when I told them we really did kill him and Tychal, but I didn't know they had actually brought back his dead body to prove it. To say the least, they were deadly serious about how much they despised the Wind Striker commander.

When news of that quickly got around, I wasn't surprised when I heard there was debate when it came to honoring the five rank advancement promise that was offered to anyone that killed the Wind Striker commander. Apparently some thought it was just a rumor, a joke, or something totally made in jest while others argued considering how much of a problem it had been to stop Vorox's insatiable killing spree, we deserved the promotion. There was only one major issue. With us being the rank of Ensign, it would make us Generals. I was beginning to see the irony of Saraxa calling me that upon meeting us.

Blazewing and I were still recovering, but at least the wounds were healing and we didn't need to wear nearly as many bandages. In the end, it was up to Kamax and Jamac as to whether they wanted to promote us or not. After a few weeks of healing and plenty of controversy, Blazewing and I had presented ourselves before Kamax and Jamac in the royal Emperor's Throne Room with a fresh set of white and gray armor, again, made to look like the statue downstairs. It had been a while since I was last in the tower throne room before Jamac, and I couldn't help but think how much had changed in so short a time.

Since the issue couldn't be decided within the military jurisdiction, they had to take the matter all the way to the top. Sever was eager to volunteer to help defend my case and encourage Jamac and Kamax to favor the promotion. I knew he probably wasn't the best debater out there, but I didn't have the heart to say no.

Meanwhile, a crowd of elite soldiers and other high officials had gathered in the throne room to discuss the situation and serve as witnesses. They came in all Pokémon shapes and sizes, from the small to the gargantuan.

Recommended Listening: Deadlight Soundtrack - Suburbs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdyrCBzcUN0)

It all started with a preliminary hearing to discuss the situation at hand. Oddly enough, it felt more like I was on the stand for being convicted of a crime, not for a promotion. It was... strange how the Silver Rebellion handled matters like this. It almost felt like I was supposed to feel guilty over something.

It had gone on for about fifteen minutes before Sever pointed back to the field report that Vice and I had been required to journalize that accounted for each action we had taken.

"How are we even discussing this?" Sever the Cubone asked before everyone. "Juno and Blazewing killed Vorox and Tychal! We have proof and witnesses who can confirm they were the ones!"

"That's not the issue," Kamax muttered, looking disinterested in the Cubone's claims. "We acknowledge Vorox is dead, but the five-level promotion was never an official instatement. Besides, it would make both of them Generals. That's simply out of the question as they lack the years of experience, leadership, and seniority."

I sighed, knowing in a way, he was right. Going from Ensign to General was just extreme, and if I only got promoted to Lieutenant from all this, I could at least be happy with that. Still, with Kamax being Head General, it really couldn't be argued with. I figured the offer had to be too good to be true the first time I heard it from Vice. The crowd of soldiers that were gathered in the throne room were murmuring and whispering amongst themselves, but I figured this wasn't going to go anywhere.

"On top of all that, Juno led a successful strike on Macomb!" One of the soldiers from the crowd called out. "Scouts confirmed the place was practically wiped off the map!"

"Again, Juno didn't follow protocol," Kamax argued. "According to his own report and his squad member, Vice, his squad took three casualties, showed signs of being disorganized, and his methods of freeing those prisoners was very anarchic. I read the report and was disgusted after reading he wore Crimson Stars armor to trick them to get into the prison. I wouldn't even trust a Lieutenant who did those kinds of shenanigans!"

Give me a break. I just looked down, shut my eyes, and tried to drown out the nonsense, knowing handling that in any other kind of fashion would have been suicide. Considering what we were up against, we were lucky to have survived that. Besides, I hardly saw those three causalities as my fault. Sure, I would have liked for Lahanas, Stevex, and Rackal to have survived, but what happened to them could have happened under even the best squad leader's command.

"But it worked!" Sever exclaimed. "The Crimson Stars weren't prepared for it, and in general, it was a successful mission. What more could you want!?"

"I'll be the judge of that," Jamac the Excadrill replied as looked into the Cubone's eyes, giving him a glare that told him he should stand down. "I've heard both sides of the story and this has frankly gone on long enough. Juno will not be granted any promotion or the Serious Declaration of Honor. These debates are over, and this decree is final."

I was just about to roll my eyes with a defeated sigh and a shrug when the soldiers in the throne room were livid about the final verdict. Many of them shouted and were up in arms, but they were forced out by the high guards, and even Sever was ordered to leave. He looked incredibly depressed and disappointed, and on his way toward the doors, he looked at me with a look of shame as if he felt he had completely failed me. I knew it wasn't his fault, though, and there were definitely no hard feelings between him and I.

When they were gone, I figured it was probably time we left this place also. I knew when I wasn't welcome.

"Hey, for the record," Blazewing spoke up, "exactly how were we supposed to handle that mission according to protocol, hmm? I must have missed the part where we were supposed to do a curtsey before politely knocking at the gates."

"Juno, tell your loutish mount to watch her tongue," The Vigoroth argued with an angry scowl. "Otherwise I'm sure Jamac's next decree will be to rip it out, and I would certainly support that notion."

"Why you!" Blazewing shouted before I stopped her.

"Let's just go," I told her, quickly patting her on the side to get her attention before I turned my back on the two of them. "We'll find another way around this."

They weren't worth it, and us losing our cool about it could make us lose everything. I could tell ugly politics had sunken in deep here also, and I figured the sooner we were out of that throne room, the better. Once we were out of here, then we could start discussing our options. I put my yellow paw on the ornate door handle, threw the door open, and Blazewing and I just stepped out and into the hallway.

We almost began our walk out of there when I suddenly heard the most unlikely person speak up, and I could hear him only faintly behind the door.

"Jamac, I trust you'll handle this matter with discretion," Sinis the Zangoose spoke up.

We stopped for a moment, and decided to eavesdrop on the conversation, staying close to the door to hear every word we could. I couldn't help but blink twice at the sudden revelation. It was strange. Sinis had been completely silent, sitting in the rear, and hadn't said anything the entire meeting long, and only now was he speaking up.

"What do you mean?" I heard Jamac's voice question him.

"It's time for you to decide if you want to keep Juno within the Silver Rebellion, or denounce the entire Divine Prophecy, order it to be destroyed, and exile the two of them," Sinis told him, making his voice very clear. "You cannot continue to have him revered as a prophesized hero among the people, but refuse any trace of a recompense for his efforts. The public will not stand for it that much longer as they have made it clear they value the prospect of Macomb's destruction, Vorox's assassination, and the liberation of the Macomb prisoners over battle and standard formality. You need to choose, and better you do it now."

He definitely sounded extremely neutral about this whole thing. But I figured that's what his purpose was for when it came to advising Jamac about his choices. Without a doubt, Sinis was definitely very hard to read. I would have liked to know what he personally felt, but I wouldn't get far asking him directly.

"I will discuss the matter with my Generals and tactical advisors," Kamax replied. "Once we arrive at a decision, we can then formulate a plan."

"Fine," Jamac agreed. "I want a response before the end of the day."

That didn't give us a whole lot of time. Still, I didn't think we were going to get anything more out of staying here. I quickly looked up to Blazewing, and figured we'd better get out of here before they realized we had been listening in.

"Let's go," I whispered to her.

She nodded, and we quickly headed for the elevator, trying to avoid getting caught. Once we made it to the elevator cab, I quickly pressed the button, and as soon as the doors opened, we headed inside. At least now it was just the two of us and no one could overhear us.

"They have got to be kidding," Blazewing muttered, looking up. "And here I was thinking we'd be getting a parade with all the confetti we could ever dream of in our faces. Instead, I get half my butt sliced open and now I got that white gorilla creep honking on that he wants to start cutting tongues out."

"We're definitely getting exiled," I told her, knowing Jamac and Kamax didn't seem like the type to change their minds. "I'm beginning to wonder if we should save them the trouble and just slip out the back before they realize we're gone."

"Huh, thought you'd never ask," Blazewing sighed. "With those clowns in power, I don't really feel like fighting anyway."

I realized that when I mentioned "considering the options," this was on her mind. To be honest, I wasn't sure what Kamax and Jamac expected of us. As the elevator sank lower and lower, I began to wonder... were Blazewing and I just tools or weapons for them to use? Or was this just a matter that they didn't believe in the Divine Prophecy? Either way, with them in power, we would be doing nothing but risk getting ourselves killed if we stayed here. Maybe I was right when my original hunches felt like this place would never feel like home.

As we headed toward the exit, it was impossible to not take a glance at the statue of Blazewing and myself. Was it really just a fairytale? I didn't know what to think about it anymore, but I figured if they didn't want us here, there was no reason for us to stay and risk our lives over and over again for Pokémon that didn't appreciate it in the slightest.

"We need to find Blitz and Alex before we go," I told Blazewing, knowing finding Blitz the Pachirisu wouldn't be too hard, but finding Alex was a whole other story.

"Alex..." Blazewing muttered as the elevator arrived at the last stop. "We're not even sure if he's here, do we?"

"Nope," I sighed as we got off the elevator. "But if he is, he's a Pokémon now, and we have no clue which one."

That was going to cost us time to find him. I had a few leads on how to find him, such as finding a Pokémon that was totally and utterly lost at his surroundings. I wasn't sure about his name, however. For some reason, Pokémon here just didn't understand traditional human-sounding names. Maybe that would lead us to him?

As we walked out of the spire building, I tried to think solutions, but my train of thought was suddenly derailed when as luck would have it, we were suddenly approached by Blitz. Well, at least finding him had been extremely easy. The white electric squirrel looked a little downcast when he saw the two of us.

"You don't need to tell me," Blitz muttered solemnly. "I already heard you didn't get the promotion."

"Oh, it gets even better than that!" Blazewing replied cynically. "We're getting handed a free, one way ticket out of Symarix. Wanna come?"

"Wait... are they... they're banishing you out of the city?" Blitz asked with shock.

"It's very likely," I nodded at that. "Blitz, we need to go before they upgrade that sentence to an execution, but there's one slight issue. I'm not sure if Alex is here as was part of the Macomb prisoners we rescued."

Blitz's expression seemed to change, and he looked a lot more hopeful.

"I'm pretty sure I found him while you were dealing with all that junk," Blitz smiled, looking like he was happy to be of help. "I checked up on the prisoners to see how they were all doing. Most of them admitted to being members of the Silver Rebellion, so that already cut down the numbers a lot. That left only a handful of others, so I tried to see which one of them was the most confused out of the bunch. Some of the other prisoners told me he had been acting really weird, and that's when I had a talk with him."

And that was when he looked up optimistically, looking especially perky for a Pachirisu.

"Long story short," Blitz smiled, "Alex is now a Zorua. He got a little shaken up during his time in Macomb, but he's fine now."

What a relief! The whole time, I wasn't sure if he was dead, still missing, or was lost somewhere else.

"Where is he?" I asked, wondering where he had been staying.

"He's been at a small refugee camp," Blitz told me. "Poor guy. He's broke, has no clue what's going on, and has no idea how he became a Pokémon. Some of the Silver Rebellion soldiers are trying to find his family or help him get his bearings back. They really have no idea what's going on."

Still, even so, we needed to get him out of here. I wasn't sure where we were going to go or run away to, but hanging around here was becoming a crisis that was getting further out of control.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 33
Allies and Enemies

We maybe only had a few hours to get Alex and quietly get out of here. Blazewing and I weren't exactly crazy about us being the subject of so much controversy either. We had the support of some, but if we didn't have the support of the Silver Rebellion's own leaders, there wasn't much we could do besides go vigilante, and I highly doubted that would win us the war against the Crimson Stars.

With Blitz leading the way, we finally arrived at the refugee camp, which mostly consisted of worn tents, old sheds, and other temporary buildings with relief aid in the form of food, medical personnel, and sleeping areas. I looked around, but didn't quite see any Zoruas.

As we entered the camp, a few of the Pokémon there recognized me and either expressed their thanks, saluted, and some just stood there blankly, not sure what to say. With all that was going on, I couldn't blame them. Things had changed in a strange way.

Eventually, after working our way past a few crowds, tents, supply crates, and transport vehicles, we came across one medical tent, which seemed to be for those suffering from mental trauma. Inside, there was a Servine, a Hawlucha, and the Zorua. The Servine was sitting on the rickety metal cot as the grassy snake was shaking her head, looking like she was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder as she was mumbling things to herself. The Hawlucha was sleeping on another cot, although the colorful fighting bird didn't look like it was having a pleasant dream at all and kept twitching, tossing, and turning. And then there was the Zorua, staring off into space as I imagined the dark, shadowy-colored fox was contemplating everything that had happened recently.

I approached him carefully, keeping in mind that to him, I was just another Pikachu.

"Are you..." I started asking the dark fox, "...Alex?"

I managed to get his attention, but I figured it wouldn't be too surprising if he had shared his human name with other Pokémon around here and discovered it was an unusual circumstance.

"I..." he replied, probably dizzy from all the thoughts racing in his head.

"Hey, just come with us for a minute," I told him, trying to assure him with a warm smile.

He nodded, and we made our way to a quiet area of the refugee camp away from all the other activity. It was a small area behind all the tents where they were just storing a few pieces of furniture. Alex seemed to recognize Blitz as a Pachirisu, having revealed himself as Randy from before. From what I could see, he was learning to walk on all fours alright. For a minute, I thought he would be having trouble trying to relearn how to walk.

"I... I really have no clue what's going on here," the exhausted Zorua told us. "I... you gotta believe me, I don't think I belong here."

"Dude, relax," I told him, trying to assure him things were fine. "I'm Juno, the Latias is Blazewing, and the Pachirisu is Blitz. Though you might remember us more as... Jake and Randy."

And that shocked the daylights out of him. As he jumped back in surprise with his eyes wide open, I just nodded to myself, knowing that was definitely proof this Zorua was Alex after all.

"Holy crap, guys...!" Alex exclaimed. "I swear... I seriously swear I was having a nightmare. And Jake, seriously, you're Juno!? There's a hell of a lot of Pokémon around here that talk about you."

"It's got to be our little secret," I told him, not sure what exactly would happen if they found out I was once human. "And listen, but... we need to scrap your human name."

Alex seemed to have already figured out there was something wrong with human names the hard way, but at least he could pass it off as just being drugged the same way Blitz did. Still, when it came to deciding on a name, he was drawing a blank.

"I gotcha, but..." Alex shrugged, not knowing what to go with, "I... whatever, just pick something for me, as long as it's not lame. You know more about what Pokémon name themselves here than I do."

I had a few ideas, but I just decided to go with one of the quicker ones that came to mind.

"Axzen sound okay with you?" I asked him, wondering what he thought of it. "I figured it sounded badass enough to match your style."

"Yeah, I can roll with that," he nodded, looking up with a dark smile. "Axzen the Zorua. Not bad, not bad."

I wasn't even sure if it was possible to catch him up on everything that happened. Still, as "Axzen" seemed to get his bearings, I knew we were already going to need to pull him out of here.

"Well, we got bad news," Blazewing sighed, bringing us to the next issue. "Turns out, the fat cats on top think we're a problem."

"Wait... what, you!?" Axzen exclaimed, looking shocked. "You kidding, you guys saved the lives of almost everyone here! Who the hell has a cactus so far up their ass to the point where they're making you a target!?"

I sighed, looked down, and shook my head. There was a lot behind this that I didn't understand, and I wasn't sure how to fully explain it, but I figured to try and give it my best shot possible.

"Emperor Jamac the Excadrill and his Head General Kamax the Vigoroth seem like they were expecting a totally different prophesized hero from that whole Divine Prophecy legend they have here," I told Axzen. "Despite having brought down Macomb and saved these Pokémon, they feel our methods are rowdy and unorganized. They talk like we don't know what we're really doing."

"That's bullcrap!" Axzen shouted with anger. "That's just a front to keep you under their control! It's a stupid government ploy trying to make you their killing machine or something!"

Was it? Now that he mentioned it, he did make me wonder if there was some sort of agreement between Jamac and Kamax to make sure I didn't rise too high, too quickly. Either they didn't really believe the prophecy, or they figured keeping me as a pawn to leverage for whatever they wanted was the best way to profit from it.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Blazewing agreed, rolling her eyes at the stupidity we've had to deal with. "We're thinking of blowing this popsicle stand before they get cheeky enough to start making false accusations up."

"Hey, I'm fine with that," Axzen nodded. "This place sucks anyway. Where're we heading?"

"Dunno," I shrugged. "Anywhere but here, I guess. We'll figure something out, but I'm not crazy about this war. I think both sides have problems."

We then headed back into the refugee camp, which seemed to have been quieting down as the daylight hours were fading. I figured the cover of the night might give us an easy means to quietly head out of here before anyone came looking for us. From what I could tell, Axzen had gotten adjusted to walking on all fours as a Zorua now. For the most part, it seemed like all three of us had simply gotten used to the idea of being Pokémon now. We didn't even know if we would ever be human once again, but for the time being, we could live with it.

We walked right into the main, open square that was usually used for the refugees to socialize and get a breath of fresh air. It was mainly the four of us now as everyone else had gone to sleep or went elsewhere as the red sun was almost gone and dusk had rolled in.

And then all of a sudden, we were surrounded. They had been waiting and watching the entire time, taking cover in some of the vacant tents, supply containers, and whatever else they could hide behind. I must have counted at least eight or nine Symarix guards suddenly appear from behind where they were hiding. And they were armed.

"Juno, Blazewing..." One of them, a stern and resolute Magmortar, spoke to us. "By decree of High General Kamax, you two are under arrest for impersonation and treason. Don't move, or this is only going to get worse."

"Wait... what!?" Blazewing exclaimed in disbelief. "Seriously, guys, and I thought my jokes were bad. Call me crazy, but I didn't ever picture Kamax as being the type to clown around with something like this."

"This isn't a joke," the Magmortar told her seriously. "Jamac and Kamax have come to the conclusion that you aren't the real Juno and Blazewing, and that you're impersonating them to take advantage of the Divine Prophecy. Whoever you two really are, we don't trust you and believe there is an ulterior motive you are keeping to yourselves."

THAT was the conclusion they were jumping to? I really just wanted to go to a corner and weep that there were some Pokémon out there that could make that kind of idiotic assumption. Here we were, a Pikachu and a Latias that were capable of taking down a massive military base and nearly avoid death. What more proof did they need? Did they really expect yet another Pikachu and Latias with the same names to come along and do it even better than we did? I really didn't get it.

"Uh..." Blitz muttered, tapping his chin with his white paw, "exactly how do you want them to prove it to you?"

"I swear, this city is full of idiots," Axzen spat. "Silver Rebellion... Crimsons Stars... maybe you all should just die in a fire."

I hadn't taken my Firefang submachine gun and neither did Blitz. I honestly didn't even think I'd need it. There were far too many to fight anyway, and it wouldn't be pretty at all. Besides the Magmortar, there was a fully armored Ursaring, a Nidoking, and a Garchomp. Even with all the guns we needed, it would still be a very brutal and risky fight and we would look beyond guilty if we fought like that.

I looked down, sighed, and shrugged, figuring there wasn't much choice but to give it up. I figured we might be safe when the citizens found out about this and hopefully threatened to riot. Either that, or someone would be pushed to come to their senses.

"Just follow orders and don't make a scene," The Magmortar muttered sternly. "Do that and no one gets hurt."

"No one gets hurt!?" Blazewing exclaimed, looking like she was ready for a fight.

I lightly put my yellow paw on her, urging her just to stand down.

"Let's not be the guilty ones here," I told her, hoping this was just a stupid misunderstanding that would be cleared out. "If we fight back, it'll make Kamax look right for arresting us. They can't possibly hope to keep the public under control with this."

"Well... fine," Blazewing sighed, looking bleak. "I'm looking forward to the trial. Should definitely be amusing."

With a groan, I allowed the soldiers to put shackles and chains on my wrists and ankles. I couldn't help but smirk a bit though. Blazewing was right, the trial couldn't possibly hope to win. Kamax may have shoehorned in an excuse to not give a promotion, but to arrest us? That was definitely far beyond crossing the line.

I was surprised they apprehended Blitz and Axzen, however. I really didn't know what kind of charges they were going to be throwing on the two of them.

"Uhh..." Blitz muttered, not knowing why he was being arrested, "what exactly did I do?"

"Orders were to arrest all known accomplices," the Ursaring told him with a gruff voice. "That includes you, Pachirisu."

He simply shrugged and went along with it. Axzen wasn't at all happy about it either, but it seemed like he understood what we meant about the trial being a complete shutout. Once they had all four of us bound in chains and shackles, we were led out of the refugee camp.

There weren't too many Pokémon outside, but the few that had noticed us were genuinely shocked. However, before long, once we were out of the camp, we were pushed into the back of a large, heavily armored military transport vehicle. Unfortunately, not too many Pokémon were going to see what had happened on our way to the prison, but I was confident word would spread around quickly and do its damage.

Once we were inside the cold, metallic interior, they shut the heavy metal doors behind us, and drove us off. There were no windows, so we couldn't exactly see where we were going.

"Well, ain't this swell," Axzen grumbled, shaking the chains attached to his wrists. "Who did you two piss off to go from town heroes to enemies of the state?"

"I'll take 'Things I Also Wish I Knew' for $500!" Blazewing laughed sarcastically. "No, really. One minute, everyone seems happy we toasted Macomb, then suddenly we're denied promotions by the big shots on top, and then this crap happens. I swear, we were going to scram out of here the second we picked you up."

"Kamax and Jamac think the prophecy may be false," I told him, figuring this was the real reason. "Either that, or deep inside, they're afraid of it."

"Why do this, though?" Blitz questioned. "Whether they believe the prophecy or not, can't they see you two are trying to help them?"

I just shook my head, really wondering myself. Did they think Blazewing and I would betray them when they got their guard down? What motive would that be for?

After only a few minutes of riding through town in a vehicle that felt like it was quickly turning into an oven, I kept trying to figure out what went wrong. But, before I really got a chance to really think it over, the ride was over sooner than I expected and the heavy, metal vehicle came to a stop. I wasn't sure how exactly the court system worked here, but I figured whatever they had, it was going to make Kamax and Jamac look especially corrupt.

Or at least I hoped it would...

When the heavy metal door finally opened, we were quick to want to get out of that stifling oven of a transport. Hopefully when it came to the trial, I had someone else besides Sever. His heart was in the right place, but he seemed to lack the experience and charisma to appeal to anyone higher up.

As we were marched forward, I saw they had taken us to some kind of prison. It was a somewhat intimidating black, metal building with tiny windows. I figured it was just a holding cell for now until it came time for the trial. Still, I kept looking down, honestly depressed as my long, black-tipped ears limply rested at the back of my head as I nearly had to drag my thunderbolt tail along the ground. This was just plain shameful and depressing, and I didn't even have the words for it anymore.

I had seen the Symarix prison before, but never thought I would have to step inside, and never once thought I'd be doing it as a prisoner. I couldn’t believe I would be spending time with captive Crimson Stars soldiers, but I didn’t have a choice. The gatekeeper, a suddenly very shocked and distressed Slowking, had looked us over, but I didn’t look up at him. I was too ashamed to even look at anyone but the ground before me.

“You have got to be kidding me…” He remarked in complete bewilderment, “This is Juno and Blazewing for crying out loud! Do you fools even know what you’re doing!?”

“High General Kamax has ordered us to arrest them on the grounds of treason.” the Magmortar told him. "Superior's orders."

“High General Kamax!?” The Slowking gatekeeper shouted in fright as his eyes went wide, knowing all too well what that meant. “That means they don’t even get a trial! What did they even do!?”

My heart sank like a rock and Blazewing couldn't help but just gasp as the sound of it. I went from being depressed to suddenly gripped with shock.

"That's... that can't be!" I exclaimed, actually struggling to talk. "There's... there's got to be some kind of examination about this whole thing, doesn't there?"

"Not if it's under superior orders," the Magmortar snapped at me. "The Emperor and the High General can imprison and pardon whoever they wish. Without trial."

Without trial. So there really was no system of checks and balances. It essentially meant they were above the law and were totally unstoppable. This was just unreal.

"Well, ain't that a damn, fine, steaming pile of crap," Axzen muttered. "You bastards are just as corrupt as the Crimson Stars."

The guards that escorted us looked very, very enraged at that comment, but I said nothing. He was totally right and I just turned away, not even wanting to look at the guards anymore. I just couldn't even dig for the right words to say just how disgusted I was, but any words wouldn't have helped anyway.

“There has got to be some mistake,” The Slowking gatekeeper replied. “Never in a million years did I think High General Kamax would be sending Symarix’s greatest heroes to prison!”

But there was silence. Still, I didn’t look up. I was too ashamed at the moment. My breathing was becoming harder, my heart was racing, and I was totally wrapped in an agonizing squeeze of stress and depression.

“I’m deeply sorry, Juno…” The Slowking replied with the sound of dismay in his voice. “But if this order is from Kamax, there’s nothing I can do about it…”

Moments later, we were led into the building, which wasn’t as bad as the prison in Macomb, but there was one big difference between this one and the one I had seen there...

I never thought we would be forced into a cell by our own comrades...

[Neo Emolga]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/Ultradyne/Trial%20of%20Juno/TOJBlazingSkies_zps24ef1b64.png

PART III – THE BLAZING SKIES

Chapter 34
A Hero's Vow

Recommended Listening: Mattia Cupelli - Love Lost (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJJ6mRnOQn4)

I didn't have the words for how I felt.

I was confused, lost, and thrown back at the beginning again where I felt out of place and without direction, only now it was worse. I didn't know who I was anymore and was beginning to wonder if it was impossible to just go back to the way things used to be.

Blazewing and I shared a cell while Blitz and Axzen shared another, but we couldn't even see or hear the Zorua and the Pachirisu. Our cell was made of reinforced metal with only one barred window and two rickety beds, very similar to what I had been presented with at the Black Bay prison, only it seemed smaller this time. Like some of the other jails I had seen, this had a single metal door with another barred window. Unlike human prisons, the little that I actually remembered about them, these had no way to look into the hallway. There were only metallic walls on all four sides of the cell. As for the window, when I used it to look outside, we only had a view of the outside wasteland, but at least we could see the sun. And while it was still red, dark, and eerie in the evening, it was a light.

We had to accept it as our new home.

We had been stripped out of our uniforms, as if everything that had happened before never really mattered. Maybe it was for the best, because I didn't feel like part of the Silver Rebellion anymore anyway.

It started off simple. To pass the time and get our minds off of thing, Blazewing and I did physical exercises. Conversations started off about how corrupted Kamax and Jamac were, but after a while, it was no longer about them. We made up stories. We tried to laugh, tried conversational games, and talked about whatever we could to prevent ourselves from slipping away into madness. I don't know how we did it, but we kept hope alive and kept our friendship close. Sometimes we tried acting, dancing, and there was enough room for Blazewing to float and pretend we were flying to faraway places far beyond the confines of that cold, metal cell.

I often wrote on the metal walls with a screw found from one of the cots. At first, the writing on the walls started off as simple graffiti, starting with my name. and as time when on, turned into poems and short stories, sketches, and then into full-blown art using only scratches, groves, and hashes on the metallic surfaces of the walls. All done with a single screw. It helped keep my mind off of waiting, thinking to myself, and drowning in the "what ifs." Blazewing often added her own personalization, and we tried our best to turn what should have been torture into play. It seemed childish, but then again, with both of us born of dreams, we were unlike anything else in existence.

"We can never go back, can we...?" I asked myself as I etched another scratched drawing of myself.

"Nah, you don't want to go there," Blazewing told me, trying to provide comfort. "Because then you'd have to do everything over again. We got this far, that's gotta count for something."

It was then that I realized that trying to dodge one life lesson forced you into another. Even so, I tried to remember the family I left behind, but now I couldn’t even remember their faces. Everything about mom, dad, and my sister Vicky had become a blur, to the point where they seemed so far away that it felt like I had only imagined them ages ago. Despite that, I wanted to go back to that place and forget that anything with "Juno" or "Kivistal" even happened. Still, even if that were possible, I would have difficulty in trying to adjust to what had happened. There were many times I wished I have never gotten myself in this mess. I couldn’t help but think of all the alternative choices I could have made prior to this and how they might have changed things. Questions of why I had even bothered Randy in the first place, and why I had decided to become Juno in his dream world kept bothering me as I hoped and begged for different outcomes. And what was this Divine Prophecy? Was it real?

I could have sworn a few months had passed, and I could only guess what had been happening during the time we had been locked up in here. I could have sworn someone... anyone... should have tried to help us. After having rescued so many Pokémon from prison, was there no one that could help us now? During one of those nights, when Blazewing had already fallen asleep, I had looked out the window and wondered if we really had been forgotten. I began to think Jamac and Kamax had destroyed everything that related to the Divine Prophecy and the two of us, trying to ensure no one ever spoke of it again.

We weren't sure how many days had passed. There were days when it felt like my last moments of sanity depended on Blazewing, and there were days when I felt like I was the last one in the world who could coax her and still keep her hopes alive. I had no idea what we would do without each other.

I wasn't even sure if we lived, aged, and died like normal Pokémon do. But the truth was even dreams can bleed and feel pain. Both physical... and emotional.

And then one day, we had gotten a hideous shock. We had been sitting there, half asleep, without words to say when suddenly we had heard an explosion, and then rounds and rounds of gunfire. I heard shouting and screaming from outside, yet still couldn’t see anything with the window facing the wrong direction. More shots were fired, blasting loudly all around us.

"What is... all that noise?" Blazewing asked as she was suddenly waking up.

Then, I had realized something…

"Symarix is... under attack," I muttered, not sure what to think of it.

And yet, there was absolutely nothing we could do but listen. While the two of us and Blitz and Axzen were probably safe in this prison, I wasn't sure about the others. There were many innocent Pokémon out there in the streets, and I could only imagine what was going on.

It went on for hours. Pounding machine gun fire, an explosion off in the distance, and then a rumble. There would be silence for a moment, and then it would happen again in different orders.

It took several days for the carnage to finally stop, but Blazewing and I often talked about it. We could only imagine and speculate what happened, but for now, things had gotten quiet. I figured that could be either a good thing or a bad thing, but as far as I could tell, we weren't close to the main fighting. If we had really been taken over, the whole prison would have been raided to release the captive Crimson Stars soldiers inside.

Even if Symarix happened to survive this time, I knew that eventually the city would fall. It would be attacked again and again until the Silver Rebellion was completely annihilated. I could just imagine seeing the door of my cell finally opening, only to reveal a Crimson Stars soldier that would gun us down seconds later. I didn't want to think about how much of a waste it would be.

Things had become almost too quiet. There were times when Blazewing tried to assure me things would be okay, but I wasn't so sure anymore.

And then one day, the impossible happened. I never thought in a million years that it would come to this, but it had. Things had seemed unusually quiet, but it wasn't far too out of the ordinary.

We had heard a metal clanging sound in our cell door, and with a click, the door was unlocked, and it was finally opened after all these many, many months. I wasn't sure if it was a guard or something worse like a Crimson Stars soldier. What appeared before us was definitely a much bigger surprise.

There before us, appearing in the doorway seemed to be a female Pikachu, wearing a white robe with yellow bands on the rims of the sleeves and the base. The robe seemed a little roughed-up and rugged. Only her yellow, red-cheeked face and her paws, feet, and notched thunderbolt-tail were visible. She was holding a book, one that had a leather cover and seemed a little battered. The hood of her robe seemed to hide her face a bit, but I see despite all that had happened, she still wore a small, smug grin, which brightened to a full on smile when she saw us.

"Yes!" She cheered, looking very happy and bright and she threw back the hood to get a better view. "Wow, you guys are still alive, thank goodness!"

"Who... might you be?" I asked her, wondering if she was here to help us.

"My name's Sita!" She smiled, proudly introducing herself. "Ah, it's an honor to finally meet you! I'm one of the White Oracles, the ones who foresaw you coming! The others..." she sighed, "that jerk Jamac doesn't believe in the Divine Prophecy anymore... so much so that he's been putting us White Oracles to death."

"Are you kidding!?" Blazewing gasped. "Boy, he's sure raking it in on my hatred high score."

Jamac had gone much too far. Still, Sita's presence intrigued me. How did she make it this far to unlock the door? It made me wonder what else these White Oracles were capable of.

"Listen," Sita told us, giving the book she held a light pat. "you're gonna want to check this out. I think I might be one of the last White Oracles left. And this might be one of the few copies of the Divine Prophecy left after they burned a ton of the others. They might have gotten the others, but I'm a fox when it comes to slipping through the cracks!"

We were both taken back. After years worth of time, were we finally going to get the chance to read it?

"Why are they trying to destroy the prophecy?" I asked her. "And why are they trying to kill you and your friends?"

"Jamac and Kamax had it all wrong," Sita told us, shaking her head. "Gosh, they're just psychos on a power trip. They expected you both to be immortal gods that can just end wars at the snap of a finger. Since they don't have a clue how these kinda things work, yeah, they just snapped and thought it was all fake."

Unbelievable. In that case, wouldn't it make sense for us to rule the Silver Rebellion? Even if that was the case, I highly doubted Jamac would just give up the throne to me instead.

"Anyway, Sinis felt it was time to turn the tables," Sita told us. "Me rescuing you guys is part of a bigger diversion. Sinis wants to put Jamac and Kamax out to pastures. Yeah, the hard way. And that includes all of Kamax's loyal Generals, the High Guard, and anyone else without a spine or a brain who still thinks Jamac and Kamax are respectable bosses. He's hoping you two might be interested in that."

Sinis? I wasn't expecting that, but I figured even as serious and as objective as he was, eventually a guy like him would have to snap and realize that out of self-preservation, after you factor everything in, something had to be done to put the problem away.

"When do we start?" I asked her, rubbing my paws in anticipation with a steadfast smile.

"You bet I'm in!" Blazewing grinned with a dark smile. "As long as we don't have to clean up the grizzly mess that's to come."

"Ah, awesome!" Sita cheered with a bright smile. "I was hoping you guys would say that! It's not going to be pretty, though. They've got guards posted everywhere. In fact... Sinis had to rely on careful timing and inside help to make sure he had all of Jamac and Kamax's Generals, High Guards, Subcommanders, and important goons all in one spot. Gotta clean up the whole mess in one bang, or at least give it the best try possible. Sinis is calling it Operation Apex. There's a lot of complicated stuff involved, but even I don't know all the gritty details."

I could already see how deep this had gone. I wasn't sure how much support this Operation Apex had, but I was hoping it was a lot, because from the way Sita made it sound, we were going to have to do a lot of damage to Jamac's highest regime... all in one, swift strike. It was the only way to give us a second chance.

"First things first," Sita told me with a smile. "Jamac and Kamax would burn me at the stake for showing you guys this, but... ah whatever, they'd try to kill me regardless."

Recommended Listening: Ryan Amon: City of the Fallen -Forgiven (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lckov2t5Q9U)

She then handed the battered book to me, and found where she wanted me to start reading. It was a pretty big book and there wasn't time to read all of it, but I found the small, metallic marker she used to indicate where I should start reading. I looked at the words, and began to read aloud.

"There will be a time when all hope has faded. There will be a time when fire rushes from the sky and pain and desperation will be closer to your heart than ever. When it seems at the moment that everything is lost and destroyed at the hands of your enemies and your merciless oppressors, there will be one last source of hope that you can rely on.

He will be like the rest of you, a Pikachu no different in appearance from the ones in your ranks. He will fight with you, and risk his life for you to ensure your victory. And he will come at your most dire time of need. He will arrive on a bird as red as blood and as white as lightning. When the skies turn into fire and the land is burnt into ash, he will come. When you have endured the restless masses, the battles, and the nightmares, he will arrive. When the night seems endless and all hope has faded, he will come, and he will go by the name of Juno.

He will lead your people into their darkest battles, but you shall have no fear, for your victory is ensured by his presence. Never once will he betray you, and he will be by your side until you have established a new order.

You will fight on the harshest, twisted fields and with fire and storm thunder you will bring down the enemy. Though courage and determination you will prevail.

And to prove his loyalty to you, he will destroy the worst of your foes. He will fight until the bitter end. The battle will claim his life, but it shall be the same for the oppressors. And when the last of the enemy’s blood has been shed, a new light will be revealed."

“Claim my life?” I asked, still looking anxiously at the words as I couldn't help but let the book tremble in my hands.

Sita looked down, and despite her optimistic attitude, seemed to have a tough time talking about it. She then gave me a light nod, knowing it was a hard thing for me to accept and understand.

"You're sure about this?" Blazewing asked, looking a little distraught. "I mean, I know everyone's gotta go at some point, but..."

"I know..." Sita replied, trying hard to smile and be optimistic about it. "Yeah, it's one thing to go into a fight and try and dodge it, and something totally different when you know you're a goner going in. And now... you know why people weren't too crazy about showing it to you."

As hard as it was to digest, I had to admire Sita for her honesty and her passion to show me something deep that so many had tried to keep buried from me. I wasn't going to question the authenticity of these predictions. They knew who I was the moment we came into this world. And these White Oracles paid with their lives to protect it.

But so many thoughts came racing to me. How would it happen? And was there... was there something after death? I really didn't want to die, but... I could make myself ready.

"It..." I spoke, finding it a struggle to accept but decided to anyway, "it's... okay. We'll do it."

"Yeah," Blazewing nodded, trying to smile though I knew it was tugging hard at her too. "Nothing to lose, baby. We'll be on fire."

"Wow, you've... really got a lot of guts to say that," Sita told me with a smile and a gentle, friendly pat on the shoulder. "Juno and Blazewing, these Pokémon... they're gonna remember you forever if you do this. No joke."

Forever. I wasn't sure if that would be true, but... if I had to go one way, I'd rather be it like this. I'd rather have it happen doing something truly awesome and admirable. I could grow old and die in a deathbed, pass away forgotten and alone, or let it be like this.

This was how our names would live forever.

[Neo Emolga]

Chapter 35
Concealment and Deception

Sita's power was quite remarkable. She definitely had some kind of clairvoyance ability, hence how it managed to help her keep out of sight. It almost seemed like she was some kind of magician or wizard, casting divination and clairvoyance spells with her hands, creating soft, white glows in the process.

Rescuing Axzen and Blitz wasn't too difficult either. I wasn't even sure which prison cell was theirs, but after a little farseeing on Sita's behalf, she managed to find the exact cell. She even knew which of the keys on the ring was the exact one.

"Man, you're a handy one with those magic tricks," Blazewing smiled, impressed with Sita's White Oracle abilities.

"Yeah, I kind of abuse them," Sita giggled as she put the key in the lock. "Helps me figure out what happened to the other sock when only one comes out of the washing machine."

After unlocking the crude, metal cell door and swinging it open, I saw Blitz and Axzen for the first time in many, many months. They were totally shocked, but incredibly thankful.

"Oh my god, tell me you're here to finally bust us out of this craphole," Axzen gawked as the smoky-colored fox admired seeing the outside hall for the first time in a long time.

"Uh huh," Sita smiled. "Hey, the name's Sita by the way."

"Can I just call you 'lovely?'" Blitz asked with an admirable smile.

"Your friends are hilarious, Juno," Sita smiled, winking at me. "But we'd better scramble. Sinis has been plotting this thing out for a long time, and we really only have one shot at it."

As we headed out of the prison, Blitz couldn't help but want to know more.

"Sinis?" Blitz asked as we quietly and carefully headed down the metallic halls and started down a poorly-lit, metal stairwell. "The grumpy Zangoose?"

"He's a serious and stubborn guy, but he knows when things have gone rotten," Sita told him as we made our way down the rickety, metal stairs. "Long story short, today is Operation Apex day. Overthrown the corrupted Silver Rebellion government, or at least give it our best shot."

"You're an Oracle though," Blazewing told her as she floated overhead. "Can't you foresee if the operation is successful?"

"We can only see bits and pieces of the future," Sita told her as she descended down the stairs, wishing it was more than just that. "And an Oracle needs to be in a comatose state to get those kinds of visions. When we had the whole guild working at it, we were able to get enough pieces of the puzzle, hence how the Divine Prophecy was written. Now that it's pretty much just me who's left without a whole lot of time for vision naps, it's kind of limited. And I'm good at it, but... yeah, there were guys who were better at soothsaying and divination than me."

Without any trouble, we managed to get out of the prison with relative ease. Once we stepped outside, we were shocked.

Symarix had definitely been attacked. And from the looks of things, repairs were slow. Main of the metallic buildings now had blast marks, and a few of them had been completely blasted out and reduced to burnt, metallic husks. Somehow, the city had survived the attack, but from the looks of things, just barely. I had a bad feeling about it. If the Crimson Stars were able to pull off that kind of damage on the Silver Rebellion capital, they already had a good idea of how the city's defenses were like, and the next time around, they could be more prepared. If something wasn't done soon, the city would fall, and I didn't want to see what the Crimson Stars would do with an entire city of Pokémon to abuse.

I could help but wonder about Sinis's plan and who else was involved. I only had a slice of the details from what Sita told me, but from the sounds of it, it was a intricate undertaking that he had planned, and I was hoping it would work. For the time being, it was probably best to lie low and not appear openly in public. I was pretty sure if news got around that the two of us had been freed from prison, it would cause quite a bit of suspicion.

"Where should we hide?" I asked Sita, knowing we needed to take cover to allow Sinis carry out Apex. "I don't know all the steps that are involved in Sinis's plans, but I highly doubt us getting spotted by Jamac's cronies will help it along."

"We got you guys covered," Sita told us as she ushered us around a hidden alleyway not too far away from the prison. "Blaze, I know you're good with cloaking yourself, right?"

Blazewing nodded, and in only a few seconds, managed to turn herself almost completely invisible by reflecting her down so it wouldn't absorb light. It was almost impossible to see her, and only a very, very faint outline of her could be seen if she stayed still.

"I charge five hundred Poké an hour to haunt houses," Blazewing giggled.

"Sheesh, you sure ain't cheap!" Sita laughed.

Well, at least we had her covered well. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, though. Even though a Pikachu was a pretty common Pokémon, Jamac and Kamax would likely still recognize me. There were, after all, a few differences between Juno and an everyday Pikachu. Every time I looked in a mirror, I couldn't help but feel myself as Juno, born out of dreams, did seem noticeably more heroic and charismatic.

Before I got to think about it more, that was when we were approached by a Dragonite, dressed in a gray and white Silver Rebellion military uniform. He seemed a bit more steadfast for a Dragonite, as the orange and cream-colored dragon with the rounded belly and small bat wings definitely looked like he had seen some pretty grizzly things in his age. Besides the heavy Flamelance machine gun he also carried, he seemed to be carrying with him a black duffle bag of sorts.

"Ah, right on time," Sita smiled.

"Name's Vexcel," The Dragonite quickly introduced himself to the rest of us in a firm and determined voice. "I take it you've been briefed on Apex?"

"Bits and pieces," I told him. "I don't know all the details, but I know what the goal is."

"Good, because there's a lot going on at the moment behind the scenes, but I'll give you the rundown," Vexcel informed me. "For the last few months, the Apex operation has been seeking to overthrow Jamac and his cronies, as you know. Poor leadership, locking you up for no justifiable reason, political corruption, and military crimes are the core reasons behind this. Sinis, as the Chancellor, and two of Kamax's Generals, one being myself, the other being Tamant the Pangoro, has been double-agents, performing recon on everything Apex needs to know about Jamac, Kamax, and their operations. We've seen enough of their sick bureaucratic antics, even though we've been concealing our hatred of it for quite a while now. Today happens to be Honor Consignment Day. Kamax is getting yet another undeserved Serious Declaration of Honor Star and is naming two new Generals out of the High Guard. Everyone we need eliminated will be there at the ceremony."

The irony couldn't have been deeper, and the thought of Kamax giving himself awards was just stupid at the same time. Still, between horrible leadership, destroying the White Oracles, locking me up, and doing god-knows what else to these people, it had to end, or it was going to end up killing us all.

"So, he imprisons us for killing Vorox, and he's rewarding himself for killing innocent White Oracles," I muttered, casting a glance at Sita and wondering why they'd be after Pokémon like her that meant no harm.

"They've done way more than just that," Vexcel growled at the thought of it. "He's been sending Pokémon that don't agree with him on suicide missions and denying them evac or reinforcements. Defecting means facing treason charges, which include execution. He's also killed civilians recklessly and doesn't even listen to terms of surrender. And Jamac... he's lost his mind when it comes to the sheer, political and propaganda nightmare he's unleashed."

I nodded, not crazy at all to be hearing this, but I wasn't surprised either. In fact, I was beginning to think Blazewing and I had been lucky that they hadn't decided to just drag us out of prison to be executed for whatever stupid made up reason.

"We needed this crap ended months ago," I agreed with the Dragonite.

"Amen to that, but timing was the only thing holding us back," Vexcel agreed with a nod. "The entire chain of command that Jamac and Kamax have needs to be uprooted all at once. Kamax has far too much pride in himself to not show off to anyone with a name for themselves how great he thinks he is."

"I want in, but it's impossible," I told Vexcel, knowing I wanted to help but couldn't because I'd be recognized. "If anyone sees us out of prison, they'll suspect something's up and they'll likely be alerted. Blazewing can cloak herself, but I'm out of luck."

"You're going in disguise," Vexcel told me, sliding the black duffle bag to me. "At least until we're about to pull the trigger."

I nodded, figuring that was probably the best approach. I approached the duffle bag, separated the line of buttons, and then discovered it was seemingly stuffed with what looked to be a whole lot of beige-colored cotton. To say the least, I was pretty confused.

"The heck...?" I asked Vexcel, wondering what exactly this disguise entailed. "What kind of disguise is this?"

"They want you going as a Whimsicott," Vexcel me in the suspicious tone of voice that definitely make it clear this wasn't his idea. "It'll conceal your identity, and it allows us to hide the explosive charges."

"Explosives?" I asked, blinking twice.

What kind of crazy plan was this? Everyone else seemed a little surprised, save for Sita, who seemed like she had already been aware of this.

"Yeah, sounds crazy, doesn't it?" Sita told me, almost laughing. "Believe it or not, Sinis hates that place. He thinks it's gaudy and he believes political leaders shouldn't be plastered with ritzy crapola. Hey, I just like a good boom every now and then, you know?"

I saw where Sinis was going with this. It was in stark contrast to what Jamac and Kamax had done. Maybe it was extreme, but it was a vivid and very memorable approach that the public would admire him for humbling himself before them since of just taking the throne on for himself. Truthfully, the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was a good idea. Sometimes, when things got so bad, filthy, and corrupted, you had to gut it all out, clear it away, and just start over.

I decided to dig out everything in the bag. Seriously, there was a ridiculous amount of cotton fluff in there and it felt like there was no end to it, but it was convincingly close to a Whimsicott. Attached to it was a brown jumpsuit that served as the body while the green curled horns were simply made of some hard synthetic material. I shrugged and figured I'd try it out and strap it on. It wasn't too hard to get into and it effectively hid my Pikachu ears and tail very effectively. Still, the amount of cotton fluff behind me made it absolutely impossible to see what was going on to my rear and most of my sides.

"This... feels ridiculous," I sighed, trying to keep the cotton fluff on my chin from unintentionally going into my mouth. "Who's idea was this anyway?"

"It's only for a short while," Vexcel assured me. "We also need to you wear the uniform on top of that. We need Kamax to think we're just attending his ceremony."

I nodded, and figured they prepared for that too. I strapped on the extra uniform in the bag, and while it felt a little cumbersome and warmer than I would have liked, it did the job. As for the explosive charges, they were using three of them, each of them looking like black bricks. Vexcel managed to stuff them pretty deep inside the gigantic cotton ball that was strapped to my head and back, and after that, I figured we were all set.

"What about the rest of us?" Blitz asked Vexcel, wondering if he was going to have a part in this also.

"Depends," Vexcel told him. "Jamac and Kamax may recognize you if you appear in the throne room, which can compromise the situation. However, if you take a position on one of the rooftop buildings surrounding the spire, we can give you a sniper rifle to ensure none of them escape."

"Hell yes, we're doing that!" Axzen agreed, grinning at the thought of that. "The view of the explosion from there will be awesome!"

Well, I figured there was a good reason he became a Zorua.

"Now remember," Sita told me, almost giggling, "Almost every Whimsicott is mischievous, impish, and naughty. You've got to be like that too if you want people to believe it!"

I never was much for any serious level of acting, but I figured I could play along with this. I took a curious look at Sita, squirting for a moment, and tried to put on a look of concern.

"Hold on, is your mouth bleeding?" I asked her, looking worried at it.

Sita was a bit surprised, but she run her small yellow finger around the inside of her mouth, but it didn't come up with anything besides wet spit.

"Did I miss it?" She asked, wondering what I was seeing that she couldn't. "Where do you see it?"

"Here, let me take a closer look," I told her, stepping closer as she kept her mouth open as I pretended to be examining her tongue and teeth..

I then took a handful of the cotton fluff, and just stuffed it in her mouth and stepped back. I then tried to hold back laughing, but utterly failed. She looked absolutely comical and ridiculous with a big wad of fluff in her mouth like that. It didn't take her long at all to realize she had been completely fooled.

"Oh, you stinker!" Sita exclaimed, quickly spitting it out.

"Ah, that's golden," Blitz snickered. "Well played, sir, well played."

Everyone else couldn't help but chuckle either. Even Vexcel the overly serious Dragonite couldn't help but smirk and eventually snicker at it.

"Good, keep that kind of nonsense up," Vexcel told me. "They'll never suspect the real you. But don't even think of doing that kind of thing to me."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," I told him in a sweetly cynical voice.

He then gave me that evil eye look.