The Trial of Juno Saga [PG-13]

[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

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

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

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]

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.