The Eon Academy [S.S. Wishmaker Side-Story]

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Episode 10: Analysis

Spoiler:

“Are you alright?” Chris asked, as he quickly climbed off Abbee, attempting to get his phone out of his back pocket. Whilst he wasn’t surprised to have no signal, that wasn’t what he was after. The pair had been thrown into the tunnel at the opposite end of the collapsing cavern, Chris hitting a flat rock wall, taking the bulk of the impact, and he now realized, smashing his phone. Thankfully the screen still lit up and he was able to turn on the flashlight. He shone it towards Abbee, before holding out a hand to help her up.

“I’m sore…” Abbee replied. “But alive…”

She took Chris’ hand, and cautiously stood, making sure not to put too much weight on her legs too quickly.

“I don’t know what just happened,” Chris said. “I don’t know how we got all the way down here…”

“Victini,” Abbee answered. “I saw him. He threw us in here so we wouldn’t get crushed…”

Gingerly rolling his head to make sure he hadn’t injured himself, Chris spoke.

“I guess I owe him one, once we get out of here…”

Abbee got her own phone out, and turned on her light, looking around the tunnel. The entrance they had been thrown threw moments earlier was now completely blocked by large slabs of rock.

“Garchomp might be able to break through this…” Chris began, removing Garchomp’s Pokeball from his belt.

“Don’t,” Abbee interrupted. “We don’t know how unstable it is. And even if we break through this, the entire cavern might be caved in.”

Realizing she was right, Chris placed the Pokeball back on his belt.

“I wonder if the others are okay?” Abbee said out loud.

Before Chris could respond, the pair of them both felt something. A faint whisper of a thought that wasn’t their own…

”Victini?” Abbee called out in her mind. Whilst she had no telepathic abilities herself, Victini had explained to her how his sixth sense worked. Whilst she couldn’t reach him, if he was trying to reach her, giving him something strong to hone in on would help him find her.

”You’re alive…” Victini’s voice said in Abbee’s mind, accompanied by a sense of relief. ”Are you hurt?”

”We’re fine. A little bruised but that’s the worst of it…” Abbee replied. ”What about you guys?”

”Physically okay. The others are freaking out…” Victini answered. ”Give me a second…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

On the other side of the wall, Justin’s hands covered his face, as he begged whatever higher power was watching them to turn back the clock an hour, as Charlotte and Dylan argued with one another…

“We’re lucky the cave in stopped where it did!” Charlotte yelled at Dylan, who held Metagross’ Pokeball in his hand. “If you start disturbing it, you could cause it to spread!”

“Then what the hell should we do?!” Dylan shouted back, hand shaking with frustration and despair.

“Like I told you! We open the map of the falls, and find where this tunnel emerges on the other side!”

“That will take hours, and that’s if they know to try and follow the tunnel through!” Dylan argued. “If they’re hurt, it will take even longer to get to them, and get them out of the tunnel!”

“And if they’re hurt, and you cause the rest of the falls to cave in, they’re dead, if they aren’t already!” Charlotte retorted. “You’re supposed to be in charge?! Get your f**king act together and start using your head!”

”Can both of you shut it for a minute!” said Victini’s voice in the minds of all of them, even pulling Justin from the shocked trance he seemed to be in. ”They’re alive, and they aren’t hurt…”


“You can reach them through that?” Dylan asked Victini, who looked more irritated than Dylan had ever seen the usually chipper Mythical Pokemon.

”Only just if I can concentrate enough, and not lose my focus because you two can’t get it together!” Victini scolded. ”He might be freaking out, but at least Justin’s doing it quietly, and giving me the chance to think!”

Still tuned in to Abbee’s thoughts, though struggling to maintain the connection between the distance and the interference between them, as well as the distractions around him, Victini heard Abbee call out in her mind.

”Are you still there?” she asked.

”What do you want me to tell them?” Victini asked Dylan. ”Quickly, I can’t do this forever…”

“Tell them to use the map they downloaded of the inside of the cave, and figure out where they are. The tunnel should take them somewhere on Route 115,” Dylan said quickly. “Don’t take any unnecessary risks, and if need be, wait for us and hide. If we get to the exit and they aren’t there, we will come in ourselves and meet them in the tunnel…”

Charlotte took a breath, as Dylan seemed to regain his senses.

”Much better…” Victini commented to Dylan before relaying Dylan’s instructions to Abbee.

”We’ll do our best…” Abbee replied. ”See you on the other side…”

Before Abbee and Chris could go too far, Victini reached out to the other faint consciousness on the other side of the caved in cavern.

”Get her back to us safely…”

The three trainers and Victini departed, making their way out of the cave at the quickest pace they could by torchlight without risking tripping and injuring themselves. They reached the car, and Dylan quickly turned the key causing the engine to roar to life. The rear wheels kicked up gravel as Dylan took off faster than Charlotte or Justin had ever seen him do.

“Do you want me to call Jon?” Justin asked from the back seat.

“No, don’t,” Dylan answered quickly. “Not yet at least.”

“Why? He should know…” Justin answered.

“Because the only way for Jon to get here fast enough to be any help himself would be for Latios to fly him fast enough that he risks either killing him, or crashing into an aircraft…” Dylan answered. “And Jon would take that risk…”

“He might be able to give us some advice?”

“Dylan has it under control,” Charlotte assured Justin. “We can’t communicate with them any more, and we can’t do anything until we get there. Unless Jon knows of some secret highway through the mountain instead of going around it, there is no advice Jon can give us that would help.”

“We’ll tell him when this is sorted, or we have to…” Dylan concurred, as Justin sighed, knowing they were right.

As they left the carpark, they found themselves on a service road that quickly became the entrance ramp to the highway. The speed signs indicated one hundred and ten kilometres an hour. Within ten seconds of merging, Dylan’s car was cruising at a hundred and thirty, the engine roaring louder than it normally did when cruising.

“Slow down…” Charlotte said firmly. “I know you want to get there as soon as you can, but if you get pulled over, or have an accident, that will slow us down more than just driving the speed limit…”

Dylan sighed, before releasing his foot from the accelerator, and the car began to slow down, sitting on one hundred and fifteen.

“They’ll be okay…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Very quickly, Abbee had turned off her phone, realizing that if by some bad luck they did get lost, they’d need all the battery life they could get. Chris had left the torch on, though turned the phone to Flight Mode, hoping to make the battery last as long as it could. The pair walked in relative silence, partially due to worry and exhaustion, and partially to not attract wild Pokemon who may attack. Whilst they had no doubt they could beat one or two wild Pokemon on their own, even without Abbee’s Mythical partner, another ambush could be fatal, especially if the fight caused another cave in.

After half an hour of walking by dim phone-torch light, Abbee was the first to break the silence.

“I never said thank you…” Abbee said quietly, trying not to give their position away to any Pokemon nearby that may be equally territorial to the Golem they barely escaped. “I don’t think I’d still be here if you hadn’t saved me…”

“It’s nothing…” Chris replied. “Really, we should both be thanking Victini. Stupid me just delayed it by a second. If he hadn’t have thrown us into the tunnel, we could have both been killed anyway…”

“Oh I’ll definitely be thanking him…” Abbee answered. “He can have ice-cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of the summer if he wants it…”

Chris chuckled at the thought, having heard about the diet Abbee had put him on, worried his current one, or lack thereof, would put him at risk of diabetes.

There was a few more minutes of the pair walking quietly, the only sounds being those of the Pokemon that had drawn Chris down this tunnel in the first place, which were getting louder by the minute. However Abbee spoke again, this time sounding less certain.

“Why’d you do it…?”

Chris’ shoulders tensed up hearing the question.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you did. But…” Abbee said, before changing her point. “If Victini hadn't blasted us, you’d have taken all of it. If I survived, it would have been at a cost…”

“It’s complicated…”

“You don’t have some sort of death wish do you?” Abbee asked. “You’re not mildly suicidal, and just willing to take an opportunity to end it if it came around?”

“God no…” Chris said quickly, not wanting Abbee to think he was trying to off himself.

“Then why?”

Before Chris could answer, he heard a Pokemon cry different to the ones he had been hearing before. This one sounding closer. Abbee realized why he had gone silent, and noticed him fumbling to turn off the torch.

“Don’t…” Abbee said. “If the Pokemon is living in here, it can probably see in the dark better than us.”

“But what if they see the light?”

“They will hear or smell us before we see them,” Abbee answered. “We need every advantage we can get…”

They walked for another minute, before finding the source of the sounds. A small black and purple quadrupedal Pokemon.

“That’s a Deino…” Chris said quietly. “They aren’t native here…”

Deino stirred to attention, hearing Chris’ voice, its eyeless face focusing on the area where the sound came from. As Chris pointed his phone directly towards it, multiple bruises and wounds became visible.

“It’s blind…” Chris explained. “They all are until they are fully evolved…”

“It’s hurt…” Abbee remarked solemnly.

“That’s normal for them,” Chris explained. “They learn their way around their habitat by trial and error. Bumping into things. But Deino are known to try and eat everything…”

Abbee wasn’t sure what Chris was implying, until she noticed how thin the Pokemon was. She watched as Chris pulled a Pokeball from his pocket, pressing the button and causing it to inflate to its operating size. He crept a little closer to the Pokemon, before throwing the ball. It got within operating range of Deino, before sucking it in. The Pokeball shook as Deino put up a fight, however seemed too malnourished to have the energy to break out. Before too long it was still, and the Pokeball sealed properly.

“Will a Deino be a good fit for the Academy?” Abbee asked, as Chris retrieved the Pokeball.

“No, that was one of my Pokeballs,” Chris answered, as he clipped it to the empty sixth slot on his belt.

“I thought you wanted a Bagon?”

“I do, and I will catch one if I can,” Chris explained. “But this Pokemon doesn’t belong here. You saw it. I doubt it would have lasted another two weeks in this environment on its own…”

Abbee began to understand. Chris wasn’t capturing Deino for his battling career, as much as he was for its own sake.

“How do you think it got here?”

“Hard to say. The most likely answer isn’t a comforting one…” Chris said. “Wild Hydreigon are brutal Pokemon. It’s in their nature to be violent and destructive, and to seek out fights. I’m guessing a wild Hydreigon found this place to fight the Salamence that nest here, but was pregnant itself. Laid its egg, and then went off to fight…”

“That’s horrible…”

“No, you don’t get it…” Chris interjected. “Dylan said getting into a fight with a flight of Salamence would be bad. If this Deino’s mother came here, chances are she is still somewhere in this tunnel, and I’d rather take my chances with the Salamence…”

“Are Hydreigon that bad?” Abbee asked, knowing the answer.

“They are an unfortunate mixture of strong, violent and resilient,” Chris explained. “Forty percent of the time the League gets involved to try and neutralize and relocate a Hydreigon that is becoming a hazard to nearby towns, the Hydreigon is killed because it simply doesn’t back down. Fifty percent of the time, it is given an injury that requires it to be sedated for it to be treated. Only ten percent of the time does it get knocked out like other Pokemon, and recover with a healing machine…”

Chris took a moment to consider whether to mention this, still feeling slightly ashamed.

“When my f**kwit cousin sent some of his guys with Dragon Pokemon to attack the Academy last year, one of them had a Hydreigon, and it was a bigger problem that Lance’s two Dragonite…” Chris explained. “It took both Latios and Blaziken to take it down quickly…”

“Will yours be safe?” Abbee asked, slightly concerned Chris’ new Pokemon could become something incredibly violent and volatile.

“It should. They have done research and most of Hydreigon’s violent tendencies stem from their upbringing. In the wild, it is difficult and brutal, and they have to be just as brutal to survive,” Chris explained. “Hydreigon raised by trainers from a young age tend to be as easy to manage as any other dragon type. So it should be fine…”

The pair continued walking through the dark tunnel, as Chris began to hear the Pokemon clearer, and became more convinced they were Bagon. As they walked, he thought over his conversations with Justin and Victini about Abbee. Both saying it in different ways, but saying the same thing.

“You didn’t answer the question…”

He was pulled from his thoughts by Abbee’s comment.

“What question?”

“Why did you risk your life?” Abbee asked. “Back in the cavern…”

“Why does it matter?” Chris replied.

“Because there was a chance that I’d have made it out of there at the cost of your life…” Abbee said quietly. “I don’t know how I would be able to live with myself if I knew the only reason I was still alive was because someone else chose to die instead… So why did you do it?”

Chris sighed. As much as he wanted an opportunity to be honest with Abbee, he figured that there had to be a better time than this. However it didn’t seem like she was giving him much of a choice…

“There’s something I wanted to say… To you…” Chris said, stewing over every word. “I thought if I waited, the right chance to say it would come up. But Justin said that unless I make that chance happen, it never will. That I had to show some backbone. And in a roundabout way, Victini kinda said the same thing…”

“You’ve been chatting to Victini?” Abbee asked, slightly surprised.

“I can’t go an hour without the little guy poking around in my head…” Chris said with a shaky laugh. “He’s become pretty comfortable in there…”

Abbee sighed. Victini was friendly enough, however with the power to read the thoughts of other people, comes the responsibility of respecting their privacy, and Victini seemed to have missed that memo.

“Anyway, I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to say it. Make an opportunity happen. I nearly said it last night when I ran into you, but then I felt Victini poking around and lost my nerve…” Chris said jokingly, trying to hide the fact that this was the most terrified he had ever been. “And then, I guess when I saw that rock falling towards you, I realized that I may never get that opportunity again... And I figured if I can’t work up the nerve to tell you with words before that opportunity disappears forever, I could at least try and tell you with my actions…”

Chris went quiet after that, as Abbee understood what he was saying, however didn’t want any ambiguity.

“Well pretend I’m just really dense, and need it explained to me…” Abbee said, looking Chris in the eye in the dim light of the cavern. “What did you want to say…?”

“Does it matter?” Chris asked. “I mean we survived a cave-in that should have killed at least one of us by a miracle if I’ve ever seen one. Surely there are more important things right now?”

“Not to me…”

Chris took a breath, before opening his mouth to speak, and accidentally choking in anxiousness, spluttering for air. Abbee couldn’t help but grin a little, seeing Chris’ fearless exterior break down a little.

“I wanted to tell you just how special you are to me… How incredible you are…” Chris began, not knowing where he was going with this, but figuring he had already crossed the point of no return, and had nothing more to lose. “And how it feels like I can be myself around you, and really, that I only ever want to be with you. And when you are gone, all I can think about is when I’ll see you next, even for a second…”

Chris trailed off into silence as they continued to walk, having nothing more to say, and wondering how she would respond. From sheer nervousness, he couldn’t bring himself to turn and look at her, focusing on the path ahead.

There was a moment of silence, as the pair walked in relative darkness. A few moments passed, before Chris felt Abbee’s hand gently grab hold of his own, nearly jumping out of his skin.

“I wish I were as good at saying how I felt as you were…” Abbee said quietly. “Truth is, I wanted you to say it, because I just didn’t know how…”

There was a pause before Abbee spoke again.

“In all the ways that matter, I feel the exact same…”

Chris felt the pit of nervousness that had been growing in his stomach since Abbee started asking questions start to fade away. He squeezed her hand lightly, before speaking.

“Let’s get out of here. There’s too much waiting for us on the other side…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Jon watched as Dylan’s team made their way into the stadium, and prepared to give the final lecture on how to beat each of the interns. Once they all sat down, Jon began the lecture opening with the footage from his battle with Abbee on Day 0.

“Who here can guess the best way to beat Dylan?” Jon asked the group.

Various answers were called out by the members of Dylan’s group, some Jon found interesting, and made a mental note to follow up later. However Jon couldn’t help but grin.

“That was a trick question,” Jon explained. “Because Dylan doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses…”

“Then how are you going to train us to beat him?” Blake asked, sounding a little frustrated. Team Metagross were the last to receive this lecture because of the timetable, and by dinner last night, Jon had heard they were eager for their lecture, having heard about the other four.

“I’ll teach you about his tactics, as well as some patterns I have noticed in Dylan. But first, there is something about Dylan you need to understand…” Jon explained. “If all five team leaders were to battle one another, have a good day, and do everything right, Dylan will be on the bottom of the ladder…”

The room went silent hearing this, which Jon was glad for, because he needed to explain what he meant by that.

“That isn’t because Dylan isn’t strong. He is an exceptional trainer, and gets stronger by the day. But unlike the other team leaders, battling isn’t his passion. Chris, Charlotte and Abbee all want to compete, and Justin wants to join the police. All of those are dreams that drive them to be the strongest battlers they can. Dylan doesn’t have that sort of dream. He is more at home raising Pokemon, and actually wants to breed them eventually,” Jon explained. “He battles here because it comes with the territory, and will be able to handle himself in a hairy situation should he find himself in it. But really, Dylan only puts in 100% in his battles here as an example to you guys, and to force you to push harder to beat him. He doesn’t want to be the best battler, and as such, winning isn’t a priority to him like it is to the others.”

“I want to make it abundantly clear that there is no one glaring weakness to exploit to beat Dylan. If you want to beat him, you will need to implement the general tactics we have been focusing on this summer, and use them to their full potential,” Jon said. “I can fill you in a little on how he battles, and how you can give yourself a little edge over him. But that won’t mean anything if you aren’t putting in the general work. The other leaders may be stronger than him, but they have exploitable weaknesses that regardless of their strength, you can use to bring them down. Dylan may not be as strong as them, but he is rock solid, and can’t be brought down by cheap tactics and gimmicks. Understand?”

There was a murmur of agreement from the team, as Jon continued.

“If there is anyone capable of getting in your head, it is Dylan…” Jon explained as he pressed the button on his remote, causing the battle on screen to start playing. It was Dusknoir against Poliwrath, and Dylan just commanded a curse attack. Poliwrath began to convulse between attacks.

“Abbee generally speaking is a stronger trainer, and has a Mythical Pokemon on her team, but lost this battle to Dylan, because he rattled her...” Jon explained. “He used Curse, which whilst it doesn’t do any lasting damage, and wears off when the affected Pokemon enters its Pokeball, it is a pretty horrifying sight to see your Pokemon affected by it.”

The video showed Poliwrath falling unconscious and being withdrawn, and Victini entering the battlefield. Dusknoir attempted to use Destiny Bond, but was interrupted by Victini’s overkill V-Create.

“Next, Dylan got Dusknoir to use Destiny Bond, which was a good tactic both in terms of trying to beat Victini, but also, using a move that in and of itself is pretty disturbing. And it worked. If Abbee wasn’t already rattled, this did it to her, and that extended to Victini who acted on his own and made a bad call that cost them the battle.”

Dylan sent out Metagross, and began to stall for time, using Protect and Cosmic Power, as Victini threw himself at Metagross wearing it out.

“Abbee went on the offensive straight away, and Dylan responded by stalling, causing Abbee to think he had something nasty planned. This caused her and Victini to feel the pressure to knock Metagross out before it became too difficult to kill, but in turn, Victini wore itself out for nothing, before Metagross took it out with a well placed hit,” Jon explained. “That is tip number one. Don’t let Dylan rattle you. Even if you find yourself in the position Abbee was in, and it seems like your Pokemon is suffering, remember that if there is anybody who hates seeing Pokemon being harmed, it’s Dylan. Remember that he would never let a Pokemon be hurt for the sake of winning a formal battle…”

When Jon was content that they understood, he moved onto the next video, which was Dylan’s Flygon against Chris’ Garchomp, paused on screen.

“Anyone remember how this battle ended?” Jon asked.

“Didn’t Dylan forfeit?” Hannah asked. The other students seemed to remember after hearing it from Hannah.

“Exactly. Remember what I said about Dylan getting inside your head, but really, not wanting to see a Pokemon hurt?” Jon asked. “If you can convince Dylan that his Pokemon has no chance of winning, and it’s only going to get hurt for the sake of his pride, then he’d concede…”

This lecture was by far the shortest of the five, and instead of having them pair off like he usually would, Jon instead had the trainers arrange their chairs in a circle, and came up with ideas for tactics, especially those that could pressure Dylan into conceding. The one that impressed Jon the most came from a young girl called Hope.

“Remember how Abbee beat Justin?” Hope asked. “She waited until Alakazam used Rest, then had Victini use Encore so when it woke up, it would just go back to sleep. Would that work with Dylan?”

“I have seen him have Metagross use Rest, so I’d say definitely,” Jon explained. “Encore affects the Pokemon longer than Rest puts it to sleep, so you’d be using one move to buy yourself enough time to use potentially half a dozen. You wouldn’t want to try and deal any damage during the first Rest, because it would just be undone by the second Rest. But if you use a move like Sword Dance, or even Mean Look and Curse, that would definitely give him a reason to cut his losses…”

As the students began to practise some of the tactics they had come up with, Jon felt a slight sense of disappointment Steven wasn’t there for this session to poke fun at. Steven had decided to borrow Latios that afternoon to train alongside the Pokemon. Specifically, allowing Latios to become familiar with Steven’s mind, and learn to pinpoint it in a crowded city. Jon couldn’t help but wonder if Steven were about to uncover a conspiracy big enough to shift Hoenn forever…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Wait…” Chris said quietly, as the pair rounded a bend. It had been an hour and a half since the cave-in, and something had changed. The noises had changed. The cries that Chris had guessed to be Bagon were now much more distressed, and echoing from the same place was a loud roar and an unholy shriek. Chris remembered the sound of it from the night of the attack on the Academy last summer.

“That’s Hydreigon,” Chris whispered. “And at a guess, I’d say it’s fighting a Salamence…”

Abbee shuddered as the suspected Salamence roared in pain, before hearing something. Footsteps and whimpers.

“Something’s coming…” she said, nodding towards the tunnel. Paying closer attention to it, Chris could hear it too. “It’s coming this way…”

After a few seconds, a Pokemon ran into the dim torchlight in front of them. A Bagon. The small blue Dragon type saw Chris and Abbee behind the light, and seemed to hesitate, looking back the direction it came. Suddenly there was another shriek from Hydreigon, as Salamance’s roar cut out. Realizing it had nothing to lose, Bagon ran towards Chris, running through his legs, and hiding behind him.

“S**t…” Chris muttered as he realized what those sounds meant. The tone of Hydreigon’s shrieks changed, and Chris guessed it was now giving off a victory shriek. He got one of his own Pokeballs and pressed it to Bagon. Thankfully, the Pokemon knew how much danger it was in, and didn’t put up a fight.

“What do we do?” Abbee asked, as Chris pocketed the Pokeball, locked to prevent him using seven Pokemon.

“We go cautiously…” Chris answered. “Chances are it will smell us before it sees us, but if we are quick and quiet, we may be able to sneak past it and run like hell…”

“The others will come in if we aren’t at the end of the tunnel…” Abbee mentioned. “Could we wait for them and ambush it from both sides?”

“We’d risk another cave in…” Chris explained. “If it were any other Pokemon, I’d say let’s take it down quickly, but we don’t have what it takes for us to take it down before it rampages. We can’t fight it here…”

Abbee nodded, knowing that Chris was right. She crouched down and ran her fingers through the ground. Whilst it was mostly hard rock, some of it had been crushed into power.

“Rub some of the dirt over yourself,” Abbee said. “If it is going to smell us before it sees us, then this may help…”

Chris groaned at the discomfort of spending the rest of the day covered in dirt, however obliged. He’d rather be a little dirty than brutalized by a wild Hydreigon.

Once they were as content as they could be that the dirt had done its work, they began creeping forward, turning off the light. Chris led, Abbee following behind holding his hand tight. They paused for a moment so Chris could look at the downloaded map of the tunnels again. At an estimate, there was a large cavern twenty meters ahead, and seemed to be the place where Hydreigon would be if anywhere. When they were ready to depart, he turned on the torch on his phone, before pocketing it so the light would be pointing into his leg.

They reached the cavern in total darkness, and to the right, they could hear the sounds of heavy footsteps and growling. Following the cavern wall around the left side of the room, they walked as fast as they could without making noise, as the sounds of the violent Pokemon not even ten meters away continued as they were.

After what felt like an eternity of soft steps so as to not risk crushing a loose rock underneath, or tripping over some hidden obstacle, the pair finally found themselves in the next tunnel. Chris breathed a sigh of relief as they were able to relax a little, and pick up their pace. Once they were ten meters into the tunnel, Chris retrieved his phone, torch still shining, and stepped forward. However, as his other foot began to follow, he felt it catch on a light rock, and before he knew what had happened, it had been kicked down the tunnel in front of them, echoing a soft clicking noise between the thin stone walls. The sounds of the Hydreigon in the cavern stopped completely, leaving them in silence.

“Run…” Chris whispered, before grabbing Abbee by the forearm, and beginning to sprint, Abbee taking a moment to realize and match his pace. Hydreigon shrieked, before darting into the tunnel to give chase.

“Come on, we’re near the exit!” Chris said to Abbee. “If we get outside, we can kick this things a** ourselves!”

“I think it’s catching up!” Abbee said through heavy breaths.

The pair sprinted, before Chris heard Abbee gasp, as she stood on a loose rock, that slipped underneath her. She fell forward, bumping into Chris before hitting the found. Chris wobbled for a moment, before regaining his balance, as Hydreigon came into view of the torchlight.

“Goddamn it…” Chris said, before stepping in front of Abbee, and unclipping Charizard’s Pokeball.

”DUCK!” said a voice in Chris’ head that he had never been so thankful to hear. He turned before seeing a flash of light in the tunnel behind him. He hit the ground, barely missing the Zap Cannon that arced past his head, hitting Hydreigon directly. A few moments later, Chris found himself able to identify the bright white orb of electricity that was shooting down the tunnel towards them, and the red and white blur holding onto one of the metal collars, his fur standing on end from the electricity. Regieleki and Victini…

Regieleki passed over Chris and Abbee at an insane speed, as Victini let go, dropping something, before timing a V-Create to rocket into Hydreigon, whilst Regieleki hit the rampaging Pokemon with Extreme Speed.

“Careful of the walls!” Chris called out, not wanting another cave in.

”I’m well aware!” Victini answered irritably. ”Open the Pokeballs! They have their instructions!”

Chris didn’t have a clue what Victini was talking about, until Abbee, who had only just gotten up from her prone position, saw what Victini had dropped. She grabbed both of the Pokeballs, pressing the buttons, causing Alakazam and Metagross to appear.

Regieleki launched another Zap Cannon attack, hitting Hydreigon, and knocking it against a nearby wall, however the wild Pokemon seemed to stop a matter of inches from the rock, hitting an invisible barrier instead.

“They’re protecting the cave walls…” Abbee realized, as Victini readied another V-Create.

”You don’t mess with her!” Victini shouted telepathically, as it launched from the ground, engulfed in flames, and ready to deal a final blow to Hydreigon. Victini jumped forward, the flames acting as thrusters, as it hit Hydreigon in the chest, knocking it hard against telekinetic barrier. Finally, Hydreigon went limp, falling to the ground unconscious.

“Are you two okay?” came Charlotte’s voice from down the tunnel. With the battle over, and near silence coming over them, they could now hear footsteps of people running towards them, and see a dim light getting closer. A few moments later, Chris and Abbee were being helped to their feet by Dylan and Justin.

“Thanks to you guys…” Abbee said. “Honestly, I don’t know how we would have gotten out of that…”

“We really owe you one…” Chris added. “How did you guys know we were in trouble?”

“We got to this end of the tunnel, and could hear the Hydreigon fighting whatever that was,” Justin explained. “We came in and it went quiet, but then all of a sudden, we could hear it going crazy, and couldn’t hear any other Pokemon.”

“It was Dylan’s idea,” Charlotte added. “Regieleki can control how much wattage different parts of its body are outputting, so Victini was able to hold on and get a lift. We quickly gave Metagross and Alakazam instructions, and sent the welcoming party ahead.”

“This is why you’re the boss…” Chris said with a shaky laugh. “Sorry for not just listening to you before and leaving…”

“Don’t be,” Dylan replied. “We didn’t know the room was on the brink of caving in. I’m just glad we’re all okay…”

Before anything else could be said, Dylan got a Pokeball from his pocket, and threw it at Hydreigon, capturing it.

“I don’t think there is any training that Pokemon…” Chris said to Dylan. “Unless you train them from young, they just end up aggressive.”

“I know. It’s not for me…” Dylan answered. “It doesn’t belong here, and if someone else gets trapped in here with it, I doubt they will be as lucky…”

“So what will you do with it?” Justin asked, looking nervously at the Pokeball.

“I’ll set it free somewhere isolated…” Dylan answered. “If it hurts someone, the League will have it euthanized, but the fact is, these Pokemon are naturally violent in the wild, and as unfortunate as that may be, I don’t want to see it killed for what nature has done to it…”

“Is it much further to get out of here?” Abbee asked, feeling sore from the tumbles she had taken in this cave. “I’d kill to sit in a comfortable seat…”

“About five hundred meters…”

The group made their way through the tunnel, and when they arrived at the car, Charlotte offered Abbee the front seat, however she, and then Chris, both declined. Abbee sat in the middle, with Chris behind Dylan. Within fifteen minutes, Abbee had fallen asleep, resting her head on Chris’ shoulder as he barely stayed awake. In her arms sat Victini, who Chris noticed was staring at him. When Chris made eye contact, he felt Victini’s familiar presence in his mind.

”I guess you do have some backbone…” Victini said. “Not many people would do what you did during the cave-in…”

”You were pretty great too…” Chris tried to reply, though he struggled to focus his thoughts from the fatigue. ”I’d be guacamole if you hadn’t have thrown us…”

”It was a no brainer. Save my trainer, whilst throwing the dude who's making googly eyes at her across the room? Win-win…”

Chris struggled to stifle a snort at that comment, not wanting one of the others to start asking questions.

”Well, you’ve shown me you’re not too bad… So as long as you’re looking out for her, I’ll hold off on turning you into a Dunsparce.”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was 5pm when Dylan finally worked up the nerve to call Jon and fill him in. There had only been one Pokemon that they could only catch on Route 115, so Dylan ended up driving straight to Rustboro City, where Abbee and Chris could clean themselves up, and have some time to relax. Dylan stood in his room in the Pokemon Center’s accommodation, pressing the button for Jon’s number.

”How’re things going?” Jon asked when he answered the phone.

“Fine now, but we had a bit of a scare before…”

”What happened?”

The tone in Jon’s voice had shifted, noticing something wrong, and Dylan couldn’t help but let off a nervous chuckle.

“Meteor Falls. Rangers really need to go through there and clean it up, because some of the more dangerous wild Pokemon there have worked their way into the public tunnels…”

”S**t…”

“Yep. First side cavern had been turned into a Golem nest. We got ambushed by six of them, and had to fight our way out. But the fight caused a cave in, and we got separated from Chris and Abbee…”

”Are they okay?” Jon asked, realizing that Dylan calling it a scare was an understatement.

“They’re fine now, just worn out and a bit scratched up, but they’ll be okay. Charlotte, Justin and I drove around the other side of the mountain, and found the exit where they’d be coming out. It gets worse though…”

“How does it get worse?”

“A Hydreigon found its way into the tunnel. It probably spotted a Salamence and followed it in. It killed the Salamence, and Chris and Abbee had to sneak past it, but it heard them and they had to run. We only managed to reach them just in time to take it down…”

”Is it still alive?”

“I caught it…” Dylan answered. “I’ll pass it on to Steven when I get back and the League can release it somewhere where it won’t cause as much trouble…”

Jon was quiet for a moment, before talking.

”Steven’s going offshore for a few days, so won’t be around when you get back. I hate to ask this, but there is a decent chance he’ll need my help, so I might have to leave Mossdeep for the weekend on Saturday, and would need you to run everything until I get back…”

“That’s fine. Can’t be much more stressful than the day I’ve had…” Dylan replied jokingly. “Everything okay on your end?”

“So far it is,” Jon answered, though sounding uncertain. ”Hard to say though. Steven found out something concerning, so needs to check it out. I’ll tell you everything when you get back...”

Jon’s tone reminded Dylan of the conversation they had the morning before, talking about Charlotte not having any nightmares. She had slept through last night as well, which makes two nights in a row not having them after leaving Mossdeep.

“Is it something to do with what we were talking about yesterday?”[/i]

There was a pause, as Jon considered how to answer.

”Nothing to say for certain, but we aren’t writing it off…” Jon explained. ”It’s nothing that you need to worry about right now, so just be careful and continue as planned.”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The next two days seemed to crawl by, as Jon felt more and more uneasy about what was happening in Hoenn, or at least, what they didn’t know was happening. Since returning from the city on Wednesday, Steven hadn’t left the Eon Academy, aware that he may be being watched, waiting for the right moment to detain him.

It was Friday morning, and Jon hadn’t even got to press play on that mornings audio clip for the students' wake-up call, as they were all ready for breakfast before 7am. This morning was Skarmory sharpening their blades on cliff walls.

After classes finished, Steven would dawdle around the stadium, before spending some time in the main hall, where he was in full view of the students, before going to Jon and Alyssa’s house at five, and remaining there until it was late enough that he could enter the lodge undisturbed. Jon thought over how the plan Steven had. Right now he stayed at the Academy to be surrounded by witnesses, knowing he wouldn’t be detained if it were in front of enough people. However the current plan had a gap in it, with Steven planning on flying on his Skarmory to Slateport that evening. If the military figured out he was here, it would not be difficult at all for them to detain him without being noticed at that point.

“Hey, Rose…” Jon called out to his niece who sat at a nearby table. She sat with two friends, Hope, from Dylan’s group, and Courtney, from Chris’ group. “Do the three of you wanna earn a little bit of cash?”

“Sure!” Rose replied, before checking with her friends. “What do we have to do?”

“I’m going to do some grocery shopping tonight, and need a bit of help,” Jon explained. “Usually Dylan and a few of the interns would go, since buying enough food to run this place usually fills a few trolleys, but they don’t get back until tomorrow…”

“So we’d just have to follow you around the shops with trolleys?” Hope asked.

“Pretty much. It’s easy money if I don’t say so myself…”

“Deal…”

It had worked like a charm. John would offer to give Steven a lift on his way to the grocery store, and drop him off at the ferry terminal. It was usually very busy Friday evenings during summer, so Steven would have plenty of witnesses to keep him safe. After the ferry however, Jon couldn’t help him…”

“We just gotta drop Steven off somewhere first, but that’ll hardly take any time at all.”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“So what’s the deal with you and Abbee?” Justin asked, as he and Chris walked through the streets of Dewford, back towards the Pokemon Center. There was another hour until their ferry left to take them to Slateport, and Chris’ supply of snacks had run out the day before, and he knew that any vendor on the ferry would inflate prices to make the most of the lack of competition.

Chris sighed at the question. Whilst it had never really been spoken about, he and Abbee somehow wound up with an unspoken agreement to keep their cards close to their chest for the time being, though neither really knew why. Chris chalked it down to not wanting the others to overthink what may or may not have happened in the tunnel. However, the night before, all the interns had been sitting in the lounge of the Dewford Pokemon Center’s accommodation, and one by one, the others went to sleep. Chris and Abbee stayed up talking for another hour or two, before deciding to get some sleep. Justin had chosen that moment to wake up and go find a bathroom, walking out of the room he and Chris shared to find Chris hugging Abbee in the hall outside, for a surprisingly long time…

“We talked…” Chris said, not sure how much he wanted to share, though giving Justin a little grace seeing as Chris practically made him share.

“What, in Meteor Falls?” Justin asked. “Don’t tell me that’s why you tried to be Superman? So you could get five minutes alone with her?”

“Right…” Chris said sarcastically. “She kept asking why I… tried to be Superman. And I ended up telling her…”

They continued to walk down the stirring streets, before Justin spoke again.

“Don’t leave me hanging…” Justin said. “What, did she reject you?”

Realizing that was Chris’ biggest hurdle to actually being honest with Abbee, Justin quickly backtracked.

“She didn’t reject you? Did she?”

“No. She wanted me to say it, because she felt the same, and just didn’t know how to say it herself…”

“Damn…” Justin replied, admiration somewhat present in his voice.

“Thanks, for the advice…” Chris said awkwardly as they rounded the last corner. “I guess…”

The trip itself was largely over. Whilst there were a few Pokemon that they could capture in Granite Cave, the trainers had had enough of caves for a lifetime. They had caught roughly seventy Pokemon for the Academy, fifty of which were caught between Charlotte and Chris with their bet, and there being no clear winner. Abbee had managed to catch herself ten Pokemon, catching a Geodude, Aron as well as a pair of Ralts the day before. All of the Pokemon that could be captured in the waters around Dewford, had already been caught in other parts of Hoenn, meaning that this last day, all they needed to do was capture a few Pokemon found only north of Slateport. Their ferry however would get them to Slateport at noon, and it wouldn’t take more than two hours to capture the rest of the Pokemon.

Justin and Chris arrived back Dylan’s car which was parked outside the Pokemon Center, where Dylan, Charlotte and Abbee waited for them.

“You guys ready?” Dylan asked, as Abbee made her way to the front seat. “There aren’t many bathrooms onboard and it’s a five hour journey to Slateport.”

“Dude, I’m not ten years old…” Chris retorted. “I went before Justin and I left the Pokemon Center and can hold it…”

“Don’t take it personally,” Abbee chimed out the window. “He asked us as well!”

“Two more days…” Dylan muttered, as everyone climbed into the car.

It took half an hour to load all the cars onto the ferry, and in that time, they weren’t allowed to leave the car, as to not risk being hit by a boarding car. However, when the ferry was full and began to move, Dylan was slightly surprised when nobody took their cue to get around.

“You’re all content to sit here the next four hours?” Dylan asked. “I thought you’d want to stretch your legs?”

“We’ve been on the road six to eight hours a day since we left,” Charlotte answered, as she rest her head back and closed her eyes. “Besides, outside doesn’t have radio or aircon…”

She was right. There was no rule preventing Dylan from leaving the engine idling, and whilst it was technically wasteful, but Dylan estimated it would cost him less than $3 to keep them cool and keep the radio on for the entire ferry ride, and considering it was the hottest day they’d had this week, he was well and truly willing to pay the price.

“You know, before this week, I couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to live in Hoenn. Or at least, I couldn’t understand why people would want to…” Abbee said, breaking the silence. “People always say it has too much water, and the idea of living full time on Mossdeep seemed even more alien. Like, imagine having to take a boat to go to a store off the island…”

“What do you think now?” Charlotte asked, though her eyes remained shut as she rested in the back seat.

“I think I see the appeal of it…” Abbee explained. “I mean, you’d have some times when being in the middle of the ocean would be a pain, but the idea of being in your own little world most of the time seems nice. And really, if you’re desperate to get to the mainland, it isn’t too difficult really…”

“Alyssa’s family are in Lilycove,” Dylan explained. “So if they do need to go to Lilycove for some reason, they usually make a trip of it and stay with them. But getting stuff delivered to the island is pretty decent, and the Pokemart will transfer stuff over if you need it.”

“It’s easy to forget you grew up there,” Abbee said. “All you’ve known really isn’t it?”

“Pretty much,” Dylan answered. “Everything we needed was on the island. The only times I left were for summer camps.”

“How do you think Jon is doing without us?” Chris asked, thinking over the sheer amount of students that Jon was now looking after with five less staff. “Place falling apart yet?”

“I think you’ll find something quite unexpected when we get back…”

Chris made eye contact with Dylan in the rear view mirror, confused at what he meant.

“You know something we don’t?” Chris asked.

“Let’s just say that all of the Eon Academy documents are on a cloud drive, including Jon’s brainstorming for new ideas for the Academy. A cloud drive that I set up, and as a permanent employee, have access to and can see edits made to documents…” Dylan explained. “He’s definitely been having some fun whilst we’ve been gone…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“So fill me in on the plan again…” Jon said to Steven as they waited by Jon’s car for the three students who would be there as unintentional witnesses to dissuade any action from being taken against Steven. It was nearing 4pm on Friday afternoon.

“I’ll arrive in Slateport late tonight, and spend the evening collating documents that will be pretty damning towards Mark Hill. It’s obvious he has become content that nobody is going to look too hard into him. That transfer paper is evidence of it, so I think if I know what I’m looking for I can find some incriminating stuff,” Steven explained. “On top of that, I will source the security footage, and reports of me being detained eighteen months ago, as well as open a backdoor into the government's camera network so that if I am detained, you can get video evidence of it. All of it will be stored on a memory card that I will hide somewhere in the city.”

“All the while, you’ll be checking in with me?”

“Using the same secure network we used on the S.S. Wishmaker. Still got your room key?” Steven asked.

“Of course. That network will come in handy, even if the League isn’t using it themselves…”

“I’ll check in on the hour, and when I go to sleep, I will let you know when I will check in next. The moment I don’t check in, make your way to Slateport, and have Latios find me…” Steven continued. “I will let you know where I have hidden the evidence, and from there, you can forward it to every news provider in Hoenn…”

Steven noticed Jon cringe for a moment at that.

“Something wrong?” Steven asked. “I’m going to sign off on the evidence myself, so I will take the heat for classified information getting leaked…”

“I’m not worried about that…” Jon replied. “I’m just remembering the fact I beat a dude senseless with computer peripherals for leaking the truth behind a League conspiracy back on the S.S. Wishmaker…”

“You live and learn…” Steven explained. “I will intentionally be active on social media up until I confront Hill, and make sure that my disappearance is noticed. That way the evidence is taken seriously. He will have no choice but to release me if he wants to keep the public’s ill advised faith in him…”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jon said. “I may even start doing a Meet the Staff on the Eon Academy’s socials. That way people know you should be here, and will get in touch when there are rumours circulating you have been detained…”

“Good idea…” Steven said, before changing the subject. “When do the interns get back?”

“Tomorrow, a little before noon…” Jon explained. “If you can hold out a little while, I want to talk to them before I leave. Not give them any details, but just let them know that I am helping you with something, and will be back in a day. I don’t want them thinking I’m asking them to take on more responsibility right after getting back from a pretty full on week, just so I can do a little bit of mainland shopping…”

“Doesn’t matter too much. Hill may have a little more time to organize a shredding party for anything that ties him to anything less than legal, but that being said, the media plan will take a few days to really do its work…”

Jon chuckled slightly at the whole situation.

“Considering how sceptical I am of the government and everything it entails since the S.S. Wishmaker, I find it amusing that I’m the one you turn to when it comes to doing this sort of stuff…”

“The fact you’re sceptical is one of the reasons I do…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
It was a little after 10:30am when Mossdeep Island came into view. At first it was the tower of the Space Centre that stuck out over the horizon, before eventually the cliffs that covered the southern edge began to become visible as well.

Whilst they were told to account for five hours on the ferry from Slateport to Mossdeep, a mixture of good conditions, as well as less ferry passes being sold and loading taking much less time, it was looking like they’d be back at the Academy a little after 11am.

As they did on the ferry to Slateport the day before, they remained in the car, as Dylan left the engine running to allow the radio to play without draining the battery, as well as the air-conditioner to keep them cool. However, unlike the day before, only Dylan remained awake, and that was against his urge to sleep. Unlike the car they sat in, the Slateport Pokemon Centre's air-conditioning system had failed, and the night before was one of the hottest they had attempted to sleep through that summer. Whilst they had caught the 7am ferry out of Slateport, they had remained awake until 3am in the lounge of the Pokemon Center’s accommodation, partly so that they would be that tired that they would sleep regardless of the heat, and partly because there was a standalone air conditioning unit that was keeping the lounge much cooler than their rooms. Had there been no rules forbidding it, they would have slept that night in the lounge.

Not wanting to risk being fined for sleeping behind the wheel of a running vehicle, Dylan made a point of staying awake, even though his passengers had succumbed to the sleep that came with fatigue from a restless night, and the comfort of a cool cabin.

Charlotte sat in the front seat, with Justin not overly caring about sitting in there, and Chris and Abbee both being completely content in the back. Though Dylan had a hunch why, seeing how close they had been since getting out of Meteor Falls. He looked in his rear view mirror, and felt a knot form in his stomach as he saw Abbee’s head resting on Chris’ shoulder, and Chris’ head resting on her own as the pair slept. He quickly looked away, knowing it wasn’t worth dwelling on it.

Whilst part of him wished he had some company during the ride back, he knew with what Jon most likely had planned for when they returned, they’d need all the sleep they could get. And remembering the cloud document he saw, where Jon had carefully analysed the five interns’ battling styles for his lectures. All of them had enough content next to weaknesses to formulate a lecture on how to beat them. All of them except Dylan, who had question marks next to his. Whilst he knew he wasn’t the strongest battler, he was glad Jon wasn’t even able to identify any major weaknesses to exploit in his battling. Compared to a year earlier, that seemed impossible…

It was shortly after eleven when the ferry docked, and the cars began to move. As Dylan drove off the ferry and out of the harbour, one by one, the others began to wake up. Half an hour later, Dylan parked his car in its place by Jon and Alyssa’s house, and as they made their way towards the section of the property that housed the summer camp, they noticed a small crowd waiting for them, fronted by Jon, as well as five students. Darcy Key from Team Roserade, Rose Drake from Team Victini, Melody Willis from Team Regieleki, Ben Knight from Team Dragonite, and Blake Lloyd from Team Metagross.

“What’s with the welcoming committee?” Chris asked, as he dropped his bag on the ground next to him, looking over the people in front of him. All of them seemed like they were anticipating something, and Jon had a smug grin on his face.

“We want to challenge you…” Rose called out to the interns. “We’ve been training really hard, and want to see if we’re a little bit closer to you guys than we were last week…”

Jon’s grin widened as the interns realized what this was.

“So you want to battle me, Rose?” Abbee asked, before looking to the other trainers who stood at the front. “And the four of you want to battle these guys?”

“If you don’t mind giving up a little extra time to help us improve…” Melody replied, which Abbee accepted, though Justin detected a hint of something else in her voice, that he couldn’t quite identify…

“I’m game…” Chris answered, before slightly changing his tune. “Though I’d prefer a solid meal and a couple of hours of good sleep first…”

“If you want…” Charlotte said to Darcy, though herself not sure of what about the situation had her feeling so suspicious.

“Same,” Justin answered. “But Chris is right. AC was busted at the Slateport Pokemon Center, so we have barely slept…”

“You game Dylan?” Jon asked Dylan, who surprised Jon slightly by returning his knowing grin.

“Of course…”

There were murmurs from the crowd of students, before Jon turned to them.

“It’s nearly lunchtime now, and these guys have worked hard, so deserve a chance to rest,” Jon explained. “The battles will happen at 4pm this afternoon…”

The students began to disperse, as Jon turned to the interns, his tone changing.

“I’ve got some news,” Jon explained. “I know you’re exhausted, but do you guys mind putting your stuff away then meeting me in classroom 1? It won’t take long...”

There was a tired nod of agreement, before Jon made his way towards the main building. Charlotte left her bag with Abbee to return, and Dylan left his with Justin, as they made their way to the lodge to store the Pokemon they had captured since they last sent them to the Academy through the PC, as well as to store any extra Pokeballs. Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief when she saw all five Master Balls were still unused, feeling bad about possibly using a $90 variety of Pokeball on a Pokemon when a much cheaper Pokeball could do the trick.

It was noon when the six trainers found themselves together in the classroom, for the first time without other students since the year before. It seemed odd, yet nostalgic, however Jon’s ambiguous request for a meeting took away from the novelty of it.

“So what’s going on?” Chris asked, being the most forward of the group.

“I hate to ask more of you after an already massive week, but I need you guys to keep an eye on things here for the weekend…” Jon explained. “Something’s come up, and I need to leave this afternoon to go to Slateport…”

“What’s in Slateport?” Justin asked. “I mean, we were just there this morning…”

“It’s not something you guys would have been able to do…” Jon explained. “I can’t go into much detail right now, because there is a lot we don’t know. But essentially Steven left yesterday afternoon to look into something that was concerning him, and has made a point of checking in with me every hour. Except he didn’t check in at eleven like he was supposed to…”

“I’m sure he just got busy…” Abbee suggested.

“No, it’s not that,” Jon explained. “The agreement we had, that he came up with, was that if he doesn’t check in, Latios and I go to Slateport, and Latios tracks him down. Once Latios finds him and makes contact, Steven will give me the information needed to make the next move, and I will come back to Mossdeep…”

“But if something happens to him, how do you know he will still be in the city?” Charlotte asked.

“He knows that he will remain in Slateport. He isn’t in danger, but more so, the fact he has stopped checking in confirms a path of action needs to be taken, and he isn’t in a position to do it himself,” Jon explained. “I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”

Jon looked around the room at the tired group of teenagers, wishing he didn’t have to ask this of them.

“I get this isn’t ideal, but wouldn’t ask this if it wasn’t really important,” Jon added. “I will stay here until after your battles, and can keep an eye on everyone until then so you can all rest. But after that, Latios will be taking me to Slateport, and you will need to keep things running smoothly here until I return.”

“You’re flying on Latios?” Justin asked. “Why not take a ferry?”

“Because that leaves a paper trail…” Dylan answered, before looking at Jon. “That’s it, isn’t it? When you step onto the ferry, the Pokeball scanners on the ship will detect your Pokeballs, and there will be a record of you leaving Mossdeep and arriving in Slateport…”

Jon nodded grimly.

“We aren’t going to have police knocking in the doors if that’s what you’re wondering,” Jon answered. “But Steven was looking into an internal issue, and I’m simply going there to find him and deliver a message. But it’d be ideal if there were as little placing me there as possible…”

“We’ll do it…”

Everyone was surprised when Justin spoke on their behalf, and that he was okay with this, given his desire to join the police force.

“Surely every risk that we can think of, Jon has already thought of and mitigated?” Justin asked the others. “Really, we are employees, and he could just tell us we have to keep an eye on the place because he has somewhere else to be, and be within his rights to do so. He trusts us enough to make sure we’re okay with it, and to tell us more than he has to. So we should trust that he knows what he is doing…”

Jon was slightly surprised at Justin’s reasoning, but was thankful nonetheless.

“Thanks Justin…”

“If you’re not wanting anything tying you to Slateport, how do we contact you if we need to?” Dylan asked. “I take it you won’t be bringing your phone?”

“I bought two burners yesterday after I dropped Steven off at the ferry,” Jon explained. “You’ll carry one, and I’ll carry the other, and if we need to get in touch we use them. After 5pm, if any students ask, I am feeling unwell and staying at home.”

“God, I feel like this is some real spy s**t…” Chris said, almost in awe.

“You sure we won’t get into any trouble for this?” Abbee asked.

“You guys? Not a chance. Even I am pretty safe, since Steven is taking the fall for everything that’s about to happen. But his means will justify the ends, and he will be okay as well.”

“Let us know if there’s anything you need us to do,” Charlotte added.

“Get some rest, and give the students something to talk about…” Jon explained. “It will keep their attention off the fact that I’m not there. And besides, they’ll definitely have something to talk about…”


************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was a little after four when Charlotte found herself standing opposite Darcy, who held a Pokeball ready. Jon had mentioned the battles would be in order of their one on one training, and since Charlotte’s team was first on Monday afternoons, Charlotte would battle one of her students.

It was the first time in a while that she’d seen everyone at the Academy, with the exception of Steven in the arena. Whilst all the other students would gather there on weekends for seminars when Jon would run them, it was usually content the interns were all familiar with, and unless he needed help, Jon told them to take it as some personal time, not having to worry about the students.

Charlotte selected her first Pokemon, opting for Magmortar, as she was unsure what Darcy had planned. Jon had taught the students something while they were gone. She guessed a new strategy, however she had no clue what that would be and decided to play it safe. Magmortar was a strong Pokemon, and though it was a little slow, it wasn’t as much of a glass cannon as something equally strong but not as fast.

“Begin!”

Charlotte sent out her Magmortar, as Darcy sent out her Gengar, the ghost looking at Charlotte and Magmortar menacingly. Whilst Charlotte was unsure what Darcy had planned, she wasn’t too worried. Magmortar had much more experience, and whilst Gengar was faster, its constitution was not great. Whilst it was basic, she knew that going on the immediate offensive was her best bet. Better to knock out the opponent in two or three good hits then take four moves to set herself up for a one hit KO…

“Lava Plume!” Charlotte commanded, starting the battle.

“Curse!”

Charlotte raised her eyebrows at the command. Darcy had heard her call for a powerful offensive attack, and chosen to return the favour indirectly by sacrificing Gengar's energy to put a curse on Magmortar. Whilst she could simply then stall with her next Pokemon until Magmortar falls, it was not a smart move…

Gengar winced for a moment as its energy was ripped from it, forming the basis of a curse that was placed on Magmortar, before it was hit by the Lava Plume attack. Gengar was thrown back, and after a single exchange of moves, seemed barely able to stand, as Magmortar began to convulse for a few moments as the curse sapped its strength.

“Pain Split!” Darcy called out gleefully. Gengar’s menacing smile widened as a shadowy aura leapt from it towards Magmortar, combining before evenly distributing the remaining energy they had left. Magmortar was still relatively healthy, however Gengar was on the brink of falling. However now they both seemed exhausted, Gengar an improvement on what it once was. Charlotte began to realize what Darcy was doing. If Magmortar couldn’t bring down Gengar this turn, then Gengar would simply bring Magmortar down to its energy levels with another Pain Split. She could withdraw Magmortar, which would remove the curse, however she’d be sending in a fresh Pokemon, which Gengar could use Pain Split on to restore its own energy, and bring her Pokemon down to its level. Additionally, it would be locking herself into another Pokemon, and requiring her to potentially send in Magmortar in its weakened state again before too long.

“Torment!” Charlotte commanded. Magmortar's eyes glowed for a moment as it called out something verbally that seemed to offend Gengar. The move had worked. Gengar couldn’t use the same move twice in a row whilst it was under the effect of Torment. However very soon after, Magmortar began to convulse again, leaving it weaker.

“Overheat!” Charlotte called out, knowing that she had to beat Gengar now if she wanted to not give Darcy the lead.

“Protect!”

Gengar raised a barrier in time to stop the ruthless fire attack from hitting, before the curse activated for its final time, knocking Magmortar out. Charlotte called the Pokemon back to its Pokeball, before sending out Luxray. Whilst Luxray as a species weren’t the fastest, she had been lucky with the Shinx she captured years ago, and the genetics it seemed to possess for being lighter on its feet. Whilst Gengar would normally be quicker than Luxray, she was confident that her Luxray would be able to match Darcy’s Gengar.

“Crunch!” Charlotte instructed.

“Endure!”

Luxray darted forward, pouncing on Gengar, and tearing into it with its fangs. Once it retreated, Gengar slowly rose, on the bare minimum of strength it could muster.

“Again!” Charlotte instructed, however to her shock, Luxray just stared at her dumbfounded. As if it didn’t know what to do.

“Pain Split!”

As it did before, Gengars strength returned, sapping enough of Luxray’s to put them on even footing.

“Thunderbolt!” Charlotte called out, knowing that Luxray’s strength was in its physical attacks, and that Thunderbolt wasn’t as strong. However Gengar had done something when Luxray made contact, and she couldn’t risk it again.

Gengar took the attack, before launching its own Shadow Ball attack back at Luxray, before Darcy called out another move.

“Sucker Punch!”

Gengar darted forward, hitting Luxray with a spectral fist, knocking the Pokemon out, as the trainers in the stands cheered. As Charlotte called back Luxray, she began taking note of just how many mistakes she had made. And now the match was all but over. None of her remaining Pokemon were faster than Gengar, and none knew any moves that would make up for their lack of speed. She already knew what Darcy would do in the first exchange…

Charlotte sent out Roserade, knowing with Ingrain and Giga Drain, it stood the best chance of beating Gengar by drawing the match out and buying her time.

“Pain Split!” Darcy commanded for the third time, and Charlotte watched as Gengar regained energy at the expense of Roserade’s.

“Ingrain!”

Roserade extended roots from its feet into the ground below, providing it with a slow but steady source of energy. If Charlotte wanted to get rid of Gengar, and finish this match with a sliver of pride, she knew her best bet was to buy time, and set up for a large scale attack that would knock out the opposing Pokemon in a single hit.

“Substitute!” Darcy commanded, as Gengar used some of its energy to disappear, leaving behind a doll that looked like a bootleg version of Gengar.

“Growth!”

Roserade’s leaves and petals began to expand, as its attack power for special moves increased, and its energy slowly replenished from the roots it planted.

“Taunt!”

Whilst still hidden by the presence of the substitute, a gleeful cry from Gengar emanated the arena, as Roserade found itself infuriated, and Charlotte knew, unable to use moves that don’t deal direct damage.

“If you’re gonna rush me…” Charlotte muttered, before calling out. “Shadow Ball!”

The orb of spectral energy launched from Roserade, hitting the substitute and making it fade, revealing Gengar, waiting behind it, pretending to yawn, and seeming bored.

“Destiny Bond!”

Charlotte’s jaw dropped as she realized what Darcy had planned. Keeping Gengar only a hit or two away from being knocked out was always the plan. Roserade could only attack, and if Gengar were knocked out, Roserade would be knocked out as well. Charlotte remained silent, knowing that if she didn’t give a command, the effect of the taunt would have Roserade just attack anyway.

Roserade launched another Shadow Ball, this one hitting Gengar directly, who didn’t even attempt to dodge it, before it got knocked out by the attack, and instantly, Roserade succumbing to Destiny Bond as well.

There was an uproar from the students in the stands, as Chris turned to Abbee.

“What the f**k just happened?!”

“I don’t know…” Abbee responded in disbelief. “Darcy doesn’t seem stronger than usual, but she just beat Charlotte three for none…”

Charlotte watched in shock, as Darcy approached her to shake her hand.

“I know I won’t get this lucky next time!” Darcy said. “But I had a lot of fun…”

Charlotte got it together, and gave Darcy a grin.

“You definitely earnt that win,” Charlotte replied. “Enjoy it.”

As Chris and Abbee were wondering what was going on, Justin noticed a slight grin on Dylan’s face. Remembering what Dylan had said, about Jon having some fun while they were gone, Justin spoke up.

“You know what’s going on, don’t you?” Justin asked, getting Chris and Abbee’s attention, as Charlotte returned, and Jon made his way to the battlefield to congratulate Darcy.

“Maybe…”

“Come on, spill!” Chris said, almost desperately. “I haven’t been able to beat Charlotte in nine months, and suddenly some teeny bopper can beat her with her eyes closed? I know Charlotte hasn’t gotten worse…”

“Hey, she has a name…” Charlotte said.

“What did Jon do?” Chris asked, ignoring Charlotte’s objection. Dylan sighed, opening his phone.

“I will tell you some of it, because I actually think this is a good lesson…” Dylan answered, as he opened the cloud document that Jon wasn’t aware he could see.

”The interns have made good progress, and in terms of skill and creativity, are practically at my level. However, the reason I am able to beat them most of the time isn’t due to a difference in skill, but more simply, weaknesses each of them possesses, that if identified and exploited, can result in devastating losses even to a lesser trainer.” Dylan read out, as Charlotte realized what had happened. ”Whilst the interns are away, I will train the other students in analysis, by analysing their Team Leaders battling styles, finding their weaknesses, and helping them formulate strategies that will give them a solid chance of beating their Team Leaders. This should will also make these weaknesses obvious to the interns, and give them incentive to work past these shortcomings, ultimately making them better trainers…”

“Wait, so you mean to tell me while we were gone, he was psycho-analysing us, and giving the results to our groups so they can figure out how to beat us?” Chris asked, shocked at what he read. “What did he write for me?”

“I’ll tell you after your battle…” Dylan replied, locking the phone so Chris couldn’t see it. “Charlotte didn’t have that prior knowledge, so I won’t tell any of you until you’ve battled…”

“What about you?” Abbee asked. “You’re an intern as well? You’ll be battling.”

“I actually have no idea what Jon told them about me…” Dylan answered. “Honest. I am curious to ask him later. But I have no advantage or prior knowledge that you guys don’t…”

Jon called Abbee up, as Chris seemed a lot more anxious knowing that Jon had done his research on them, and shared the findings with their students.

“What did Jon write about me?” Charlotte asked, as she remembered some mistakes that cost her the match. Specifically using Torment instead of Taunt. That one decision could have shifted the result of the battle.

“Your strength is your ability to predict how someone is going to act and react, and put the pressure on them to act a certain way without them even realizing it…” Dylan answered. “However, if your opponent does something that makes no sense to you, you tend to make worse decisions. He has written on the document ’Refer to Blaziken Vs Milotic’. Know what he’s talking about?”

“Yeah…” Charlotte groaned, remembering that battle. Even though she forced a tie, she lost the win because of that matchup in particular. Blaziken was poisoned and weakened, and Charlotte expected Jon to go on the full offensive. However he stalled, and instead of dealing as much damage as he could whilst he still had time, he spent time dealing no damage, and instead increasing Blaziken’s power. And whilst Charlotte could have had Miltoic alternate between Protect and Recover to stall while the poison knocked Blaziken out, she decided to have Milotic go on the offensive to finish Blaziken herself…

“So what, did Darcy do that?” Justin asked.

“Having Gengar use Curse and practically do half the work of knocking it out for me…” Charlotte muttered. “I thought that was a bad move, and couldn’t figure out what she was playing at. It got to me, and I made a bad call.”

“Torment?” Dylan asked.

“Yeah…” Charlotte replied, slightly surprised Dylan had noticed that. “Magmortar was going to pass out any second, and if I’d had it use Taunt instead, Magmortar would have fainted, but Gengar wouldn’t have used Pain Split on Luxray, and Luxray would have finished it within seconds…”

“Hindsight’s a b***h…” Chris retorted, as he nervously watched Abbee choose a Pokeball to battle against Rose.

Thinking over the fact that her habits were being analysed, Abbee didn’t have much time to make a decision. When she had a guess as to what Rose might try and exploit, she went with her gut, and sent out Victini.

Of all the interns, Abbee was the most comfortable setting traps and avoiding going on the offensive until it counted. And if Rose were to exploit that, her best bet would be having her Sableye use Taunt on whatever Pokemon Abbee sent out, and force it to attack. Whilst Sableye wasn’t overly strong or quick, Abbee knew it had an Ability that called Prankster, that allowed it to act quicker than most opponents using standard moves if it were using a non-damaging move, making it a threat. However if that Ability were made useless, or even taken away...

Abbee only had a single Pokemon capable of using Taunt. Victini. However, if Victini could land Taunt on Sableye before it landed a Taunt on him, then used Skill Swap, Victini would be set with a solid advantage for the rest of the battle…

”Begin!”

Abbee sent out Victini, and as she predicted, Rose sent out Sableye.

“Taunt!” Abbee commanded to Victini.

“Snatch!” Rose instructed.

It all happened too quickly for Abbee to comprehend. Victini’s taunt was taken and used against it, preventing it from using any moves that didn’t deal any damage.

“V-Create!” Abbee commanded.

“Protect!” Rose called out, as Sableye erected a protect barrier just in time to block the intense fire attack, which regardless of being blocked, still reduced Victini’s speed.

Watching from the side-lines, Charlotte couldn’t help but notice the ever-widening grin on Jon’s face.

“One of them doing better than you anticipated?” Charlotte asked Jon.

“Rose…” Jon answered. “I’m genuinely impressed at what she is doing right now…”

“You’re not going to tell me are you?” Charlotte asked, knowing the answer, though was slightly surprised when Jon gave a hint.

“Rose’s Sableye has Prankster. So why do you think it used Snatch before, instead of just using Taunt itself?”

Charlotte didn’t have a clue what Jon seemed to know was happening.

“Keep watching carefully, and see if you pick it up before Abbee does…”

“Double Team!”

Sableye disappeared for a second before three appeared, two being spectral copies.

“Searing Shot!” Abbee called out. Victini launched the powerful, ranged, fire-attack, which hit one of the copies. “Again!”

“Protect!”

As the flames hit the barrier, Abbee knew that this was her only chance. The taunt should have worn off, and Sableye was probably going to try and use it again.

“Skill Swap!” Abbee commanded, as Sableye was still recovering from the attack it just blocked.

Victini’s eyes flashed before Rose gave her next command.

“Dark Pulse!”

Victini was hit with a wave of dark energy, knocking him back, however they had succeeded. Victini had gotten in a Skill Swap attack.

“Taunt!” Abbee commanded, as Rose called out for Sableye to use Dark Pulse again. However to Abbee’s shock, Victini didn’t seem faster than when he attempted to use Taunt before. He was even slower, which she chalked down to the V-Create, however that shouldn’t have made a difference, if Skill Swap had indeed swapped their abilities.

Before he could use the Taunt, Victini was hit with a second Dark Pulse, and knocked unconscious.

“They’re linked, aren’t they…” Charlotte asked Jon who couldn’t keep the grin from his face. “The fact Sableye used Snatch, and Skill Swap didn’t work…”

“They are…”

Abbee called back Victini and sent out Ampharos, as the battle continued.

“Scary Face!” Rose commanded.

“Rain Dance!” Abbee said, knowing that she needed to make the most of any opportunity her Pokemon wasn’t affected by a taunt. However Roses’ last move was the final hint Charlotte needed.

“No f**king way…” Charlotte said, as Jon burst into laughter.

“Figured it out?” Jon asked.

“Don’t tell me, because I want to see if I’m right, but I think so…” Charlotte replied. “And if I am, I don’t expect Abbee to win this. I don’t think I even could…”

“Rose has really impressed me with this…” Jon said with a hint of pride. “I think that if she can keep learning tricks like this one, she will do very well as a battler…”

Rain had begun to fall on the battlefield, as Rose called for Sableye to use Taunt. As Charlotte’s hunch grew, she found herself even more impressed that Rose had been able to keep this up, given how much of a target Sableye was...

“Thunder!” Abbee commanded. Ampharos cried out as it launched a large bolt of lightning at Sableye. The attack hit, throwing Sableye back, and to everyone’s shock, causing it to shapeshift into a Zoroark…

“I knew it!” Charlotte cried out, before explaining her reasoning to Jon. “Rose had it use Snatch because there was a chance Victini was faster than Sableye and without Prankster, if they both used Taunt at the same time, Victini may get in first, which if isn’t damning enough, would give away something isn’t right…”

Charlotte thought over what else had happened.

“Then Skill Swap didn’t work because Illusion is an ability that causes it to fail. And until Rose had Zoroark use Scary Face, all of the moves it used were moves Sableye knows…” Charlotte continued, as she became more and more impressed. “Goddamn, she had it use Scary Face because Sableye is a slow Pokemon isn’t it? It was all to keep up the illusion! And Zoroark had avoided taking a hit this long!”

Abbee watched in shock as Zoroark stood to its feet and gave her a grin. She knew Rose had a Zoroark, but the thought that this wasn’t Sableye hadn’t crossed her mind. She grimaced as she realized Victini was her only Pokemon that stood a chance at providing some defence to Sableye’s ability, and he was knocked out, with Sableye untouched…

Abbee was pulled from her thoughts by something in Zoroark’s movement. A sluggishness that wasn’t there a second ago. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had dealt damage, and paralyzed the Pokemon, like she’d hoped for. One more hit, and Zoroark was down.

“Sucker Punch!”

“Thunder!”

Despite its paralysis, Zoroark darted forward, landing a sharp hit on Ampharos, before being struck by another heavy bolt of lightning, knocking it out.

Rose called Zoroark back, and whilst she sent out Sableye, Abbee found herself understanding even more the gravity of the situation. Zoroark had slowed down Ampharos, who wasn’t naturally speedy to begin with. If Sableye were faster, and could hit hard enough to finish Ampharos off, then Abbee’s odds weren’t looking great…

“Retaliate!” Rose instructed.

Sableye darted forward, striking Ampharos with a heavy blow, empowered by the fact that it had lost an ally the turn before. Even with Sableye’s relative lack of physical strength, it was faster, and the effect of Retaliate made it powerful enough to knock an already weakened Ampharos out with ease.

Abbee called back Ampharos, as she figured out her next move. Ariados’s strength was on a similar level to Sableye’s, in that it wasn’t overly high, but it's move pool made it redundant as it was more suited to support. However Ariados was slower than Sableye even without Prankster, and the fact that Sableye had Prankster meant that all it would take is a Taunt to stop Ariados from battling to its strength. That left her with Typhlosion and Poliwrath, neither of which were good options. Poliwrath was a Fighting Type, which Sableye could wreak havoc on with ghost attacks, and seeing as Victini had become a staple for Abbee’s team, she anticipated Rose would have a third Pokemon that was more suited to dealing with Fire types.

Abbee grabbed Typhlosion’s Pokeball. Sableye’s strength was not in its ability to deal direct damage, but instead being better at using non-damaging moves than its opponent. Abbee knew her best option was to go on the offensive, and Typhlosion was her best bet for that. Additionally, the more she thought about it, the better the option seemed. Victini was also part Psychic type, and Zoroark and Sableye were able to handle him. But nobody would expect her to use two of her three slots in this battle for Fire Types…

“Go, Typhlosion!”

Abbee tried to keep her mind under control, however found her mind drifting to the place of asking whether she should just concede. She quickly dismissed those thoughts, annoyed that she was letting herself consider forfeiting when she still had a Pokemon left, ready to battle.

“Toxic!” Rose called out, as Sableye blasted Typhlosion with a sickly purple orb, poisoning the Pokemon.

“Eruption!”

The attack was Typhlosion’s most powerful. It’s strength was relative to how much energy Typhlosion had, and at its most powerful, it was as strong as a Hyper Beam, without the need to recharge after using it. The fiery blast hit Sableye, knocking it out, and earning a cheer, Chris’ voice being the loudest among them. It gave Abbee some comfort to hear it, however she knew things were looking bleak, especially as she saw the poison begin to take its toll on Typhlosion.

Rose sent out her final Pokemon, to everyone’s surprise, Wobbuffet, as Jon stifled a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Chris asked, slightly annoyed at Jon’s laughter.

“Sorry, it’s just Wobbufet,” Jon explained. “I thought she was kidding when she told me she had one, because in a battle, they’re only good for one thing…”

“What’s that?”

“Taking a hit…”

“Eruption again!” Abbee commanded, not showing any restraint. If she couldn’t beat Wobbuffet in four or five turns, the battle was over.

Wobbuffet took the massive hit that had wiped out Sableye in a single blast, but didn’t seem to phased by it.

“Encore!”

Wobbuffet used the encore attack, forcing Typhlosion to keep using Eruption, as the poison continued to take effect. Abbee watched in shock as Typhlosion launched another Eruption, knowing she couldn’t stop it. However Rose shocked everyone even more.

“Mirror Coat…”

Wobbuffet took the hit, though seemed barely able to stand, before crying out and launching the attack back at Typhlosion, its power seemingly doubled. Typhlosion fell, giving Rose the victory. Abbee approached her, with a wide grin.

“You sneaky little…” she began, though her tone was endearing. Rose couldn’t help but beam.

“It took so long to memorize which moves Zoroark could use without giving me away!” Rose said with pride. “And figuring out how to get the timing right to keep up the charade…”

Abbee gave Rose a tight hug, although shocked and slightly concerned that Rose was able to beat her so easily, granted, felt a little consolation that Jon had intentionally been teaching her team how to beat her, and Charlotte got beaten even easier. She made her way back to the other interns, where Dylan still had his phone open, making sure Justin and Chris couldn’t see what was on the screen.

“Okay, so what did Jon teach them?” Abbee asked, already having a rough idea.

“That when you get rattled, you tend to spiral,” Dylan answered. “Like when Dusknoir used Curse on Poliwrath, and attempted a Destiny Bond on Victini…”

“Rose came up with that play on her own,” Jon chimed in from where he stood, as he waited for the students in the stands to get the excitement out of their system. “She figured that you wouldn’t let yourself be thrown off your game by Curse, but if she were able to do something to completely pull the rug out from under you, that would work as well…”

“Well she was right about that,” Abbee laughed. “I was so certain that I was up against Sableye, and when Victini’s Skill Swap failed, and I realized that we had been battling Zoroark instead, and hadn’t left a scratch on Sableye, it rattled me. Big time…”

“Good luck…” Chris said to Justin, who stood to make his way to the battlefield where Melody waited on the other side. Chris himself was anxious, seeing how easily Abbee, and especially Charlotte went down, and was wondering what Jon had taught his group.

“You ready?” Justin called out to Melody.

“I could be asking you the same question!” Melody called back with an eager grin. “We’ve been working hard this week…”

“Time to prove it!”

Both trainers selected a Pokeball, and at the call, sent their Pokemon out. Justin began the match with his Houndoom, and Melody had sent out her Torkoal. Justin had the advantage, as Houndoom had its Dark typing which would give it more attacks to use with matching types, whilst all of Torkoal’s type-matched attacks would be less effective. However he had seen enough that afternoon to know Melody had been working hard with precise intel on how to beat him, and if he wasn’t very careful, he was more likely than not to lose this match.

“Smog!” Justin called out to Houndoom. Whilst Smog wasn’t an overly powerful attack, it did deal damage, and had a reasonable chance to poison the target. He had trained with Melody enough to know that her Torkoal was her teams tank, capable of taking lots of damage, and if he could take a moment now to add a little more consistent damage, then it could pay off in the long game. Houndoom opened its mouth, and let out a roar as a foul purple haze jetted from its jaws, striking Torkoal, causing it to cough and splutter, as its energy was sapped slightly, and in this case, the poison set in.

“Smoke Screen!”

Torkoal cried out before black smoke spewed from its mouth and the hole in its shell, lightly obstructing everyone’s view of the match.

“Flamethrower!” Justin shouted to Houndoom, who launched a jet of fire into the smoke where Torkoal was before. However there was no sound of an impact, as even with Torkoal’s slow speed, with every direction open, and Houndoom not able to see exactly where it could move to, the attack didn’t hit its mark.

“Substitute!” Melody instructed. Torkal cried out in response, and Justin presumed that in the smoke, Torkoal had now disappeared, replaced by a bootleg stuffed version of itself.

“Flamethrower!”

Houndoom adjusted its aim to where the cry had come from, before launching the attack, this one hitting the substitute and making it fade. However it wasn’t long before Melody called for another Smokescreen.

Justin grimaced, though attempted to not lose his nerve. Houndoom’s strength was in its special attacks, however its physical capabilities weren’t too far below. The reason that Justin had been hesitant is that he knew Torkal’s strong shell and tough hide made it very resistant to physical attacks.

“Howl!” Justin commanded, as Houndoom let out a blood-curdling howl, raising its morale and attack power, though cursed under his breath when Melody responded with Iron Defense. Justin had hoped he could buff Houndoom a little more before beginning his assault, however knew that Torkoal could increase its defence faster than Houndoom could its attack. It was now or never.

“Faint Attack!” Justin called out. It was the only move that Houndoom knew which was impossible to miss. Houndoom took a moment to detect Torkoal, before moving in a different direction, then lunging on the Pokemon, knocking it with a Dark Type attack, before it disappeared into the smoke again.

“Smoke Screen!”

The already thick smoke became thicker, and Justin realized that Torkoal was only on the field to block his vision. Whilst he could have Houndoom use Howl to increase its attack and wait for the poison to knock it out, it would be playing into Melody’s hands, and giving her opportunities to make conditions work.

“Feint Attack again!”

Houndoom used the same attack, landing another guaranteed hit, whilst Torkoal responded with another Smoke Screen. Finally, the third Feint Attack was the one to knock Torkoal unconscious, causing Melody to send out her next Pokemon, and having trained with her enough, knew what it would be. Melody had six Pokemon, though only battled with five, as the sixth was still new and she hadn’t figured out how it fits her team yet. Her battling Pokemon were Torkoal, Flygon, Mightyena, Manectric and Cacturne, and Justin had heard her mention having a Weezing, noting during an early training session she must be from Hoenn, since all the Pokemon he had seen were native, and confirming it with her later. If he had Houndoom out at a disadvantage from all the smoke, she was bound to send out…

“Go, Flygon!”

There was a flash of light that was impeded by the smoke, and Justin knew that somewhere on the other side of the battlefield was a Ground-Type Pokemon that would give his Houndoom a lot of trouble.

“Sandstorm!” Melody called out, as Flygon cried somewhere in the smoke, and sand began to whip up and buffet all in the arena.

“Feint Attack!” Justin called out, knowing that he only had one move guaranteed to hit, and not much time to try and beat this Pokemon before Houndoom was hit with an inevitable…

“Earthquake!”

The ground shook and ruptured, as Houndoom cried out, being hit by the powerful ground move, and being knocked unconscious on the ground.

“S**t…” Justin muttered to himself, before considering his options. Regieleki knew Shock Wave which was guaranteed to hit, as well as Lock-On to line up perfect hits, however would be useless against a Ground Type. Ninjask knew Mind-Reader which would guarantee a hit, however what Ninjask had in terms of speed, it lacked in attack power, and stood little chance at beating Flygon.

“Go, Alakazam!” Justin called out, hoping an alleged IQ of over 5000, and psychic powers would help it locate its opponent in the smoke.

“Cosmic Power!” Justin called out, knowing that time was what he needed, and fortifying his Alakazam’s already incredible defence would buy him that.

“Dig!”

There was a sound as Flygon dug into the ground, tunnelling beneath it, and lining up an attack to hit.

“Cosmic Power again!”

Flygon erupted from the ground, hitting Alakazam, though not dealing a great deal of damage, before Justin called for Alakazam to use Recover, thankful for the fact Alakazam was capable of restoring itself in a pinch.

“Earthquake!” Melody called out. There was the familiar sensation of the ground shaking underneath them, as Alakazam was thrown to the ground by it.

“Try and lock on to it with your telepathy!” Justin called out. “Or just reach out with your telekinesis to find it!”

Alakazam began to focus, as Melody instructed her Flygon to perform a third Earthquake. After taking another hit, Alakazam cried out, giving confirmation it had targeted Flygon in the smoke.

“Stored Power!” Justin called out, remembering Abbee’s Victini using it to beat him mercilessly. There was a telekinetic explosion, and whilst it shifted the smoke very slightly, there was a cry of pain and a thud as Flygon was launched into a nearby wall, before going silent. Alakazam breathed heavily, having taken damage from both earthquakes, and Justin knew that no matter was, Alakazam needed to heal itself. He planned his next move. Melody would probably open with either Cacturne or Mightyena, and if Justin wanted Alakazam to survive, he’d need to use Rest, both to heal, and put the opposing Pokemon to sleep with Synchronize.

“Go Weezing!”

Justin did a double take, knowing that Weezing was the Pokemon that Melody had caught most recently, and she was unsure of how best to use it. He had never even seen the Pokemon, as she wasn’t ready to train with it yet. Something wasn’t right, however, as Weezing was at a massive disadvantage against Alakazam, unless she was planning to poison it and stall until Alakazam fainted. However with Rest and Recover both in Alakazam’s arsenal, that didn’t seem viable. However, this changed nothing. It wouldn’t mean anything if Alakazam took a knock out hit whilst trying to find Weezing like it did with Flygon.

“Rest!”

Alakazam went into a self-induced slumber, as its energy began to replenish. What Justin didn’t expect was for Melody to give Weezing a command, and it actually follow it.

“Haze!”

Justin wondered what she was doing, as he knew that she knew that Alakazam’s Synchronize would put her Pokemon to sleep. However he watched in shock as a white fog began to permeate through the blanket of smoke…

“Wait, how?” Justin asked himself, wondering if Synchronize only worked on Pokemon Alakazam could see, having never been in this position before. He regained his senses, before giving Alakazam a command. “Sleep Talk!”

Alakazam used Cosmic Power in its comatose state, which Justin was thankful for seeing as Haze had removed the boosts to its defence that were in place before.

“Toxic!” Melody called out, and out of the smoke, Alakazam was struck by a purple orb. Whilst Alakazam could use Rest again to heal from it, Toxic would deal considerable damage before Alakazam woke up and used the move again…

“Sleep Talk!”

Alakazam used Psychic this time, however being asleep, it was not able to focus its abilities and detect where the attack needed to go, causing the telekinetic blast to miss Weezing.

“Shadow Ball!”

Justin cringed as a spectral orb shot from the smokescreen, hitting Alakazam, and knocking it back. Alakazam remained sleeping.

“Sleep Talk!” Justin commanded, knowing he’d need either Alakazam to use Recover, or a move that will hit for this to not be the end of Alakazam’s time in the battlefield. The move Alakazam used did indeed hit, targeting Weezing directly, however, Justin watched in horror as he recognized the move used. It was one that he taught Alakazam after their loss to Victini, but having not used it in a proper battle before. Guard Swap…

“Shadow Ball!”

Another spectral orb rushed at the sleeping Pokemon from the shadows, hitting Alakazam and knocking it unconscious. Justin called back Alakazam, trying to keep calm. Weezing was near impossible to hit with normal moves, because of all the smoke, and now had reinforced defenses. Regieleki knew Shock-Wave, which would target Weezing even through the smoke, and its Transistor Ability would power up electric moves enough that the increased defence would be negligible. And if worst came to worst, Regieleki could use Lock-On and then Zap Cannon to handle Weezing, though the time it would take to line up the attack perfectly would give Weezing more chances to fight back.

“Go, Regieleki!”

The Pokemon that resembled an orb of lightning appeared on Justin’s side of the battlefield, darting around excitedly.

“Shock Wave!”

Regieleki launched a smaller orb of electricity, which darted into the smoke, seeming to home in on Weezing, wherever it hid. Weezing cried out in pain before Melody gave a command.

“Toxic!”

In response to the orb of electricity, a purple orb was launched back, striking Regieleki and badly poisoning it.

“Shock Wave again!” Justin instructed, confident that this would knock out the Poison-Type Pokemon. It cried out as it took the hit, however, to Justin’s surprise, Melody gave another command.

“Venoshock!”

From a different section of smoke, a large, violent torrent of toxic sludge slammed into Regieleki, choking it and draining its energy. Justin could see Regieleki struggling to regain its composure from the attack.

“Shock Wave!” Justin shouted frantically. “Knock it out!”

A third orb of lightning was launched, homing in on Weezing, and Justin heard it cry out in pain, before cringing at Melody’s voice again.

“Venoshock!”

Another violent torrent shot at Regieleki, this time knocking it unconscious. Justin called back his Pokemon as he questioned what happened in that battle. Weezing should have fallen asleep, and it didn’t, and Regieleki’s attacks seemed weaker than they should have been. Something wasn’t right.

“Melody, you wanna take care of this smoke so I can get started cleaning up the ground for Chris’ battle?” Jon called out, as he approached Justin, addressing him. “Keep an eye on Melody’s side of the field, and it will make a lot of sense…”

Confused, Justin watched, as he heard Weezing cry out. Slowly, the smoke began to dissipate, and Justin could see the outline of the Pokemon, seeing the two connected heads, though still unclear through the smoke. Then, as the smoke got thinner, he realized something.

“That’s not a Weezing you caught in Hoenn?” Justin asked, realizing the assumption that he’d made. The Weezing that Melody used, and he had never seen, was in fact a silvery-grey color, with large growths on its heads that looked like chimneys. It took him a moment to figure it out. Galarian Weezing had the ability to neutralize other Pokemon’s abilities…

“So Synchronize didn’t fail because Alakazam couldn’t see Weezing, but Weezing negated it…” Justin said to himself, as it all became clear. “And Regieleki’s attacks were weaker because they weren’t powered up by its ability…”

“Exactly…” Jon answered. “Melody has spent all week training with her Pokemon so that they are able to battle in extremely low visibility. Using their other senses, and timing their attacks so they can aim right where they saw their opponents attacking from. Worked a charm…”

Justin commended his student, before making his way to the interns who watched in equal shock to him, though Abbee seeming least shocked since she had fallen victim to a similar trick.

“You want to know what Steven told them?” Dylan asked, as Justin sat with them.

“Steven?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, Jon told me Steven sat in on these lectures because he was curious to see whether Jon could get these guys to the point of beating us. And because Steven saw you battle a lot over Christmas, he got Steven to teach these guys about you…”

“Right…” Justin answered. “Go on then…”

“Your strength is your knowledge of Pokemon, and your ability to take in tiny details and change your tactics on the fly. And your weakness is that you tend to use familiar strategies that you know have a history of working, especially when things get tough…” Dylan explained. “So they figured that if they could disrupt your visibility, that would stop you from battling as well as you normally do…”

“It worked,” Justin replied. “I never even considered the fact that that Weezing wasn’t the one native to Hoenn. I knew she had one, and had never seen it, but since she mentioned living in Hoenn, and all of her team were native Pokemon, that it was that type of Weezing. Even when its ability was screwing me over, I didn’t even think of it…”

As they spoke, Jon’s Nidoking was using Earth Power to smooth over the rocky battlefield, and prepare for Chris’ match against Ben. When the time came, Chris found himself facing Ben, and whilst he tried to keep a brave face, seeing his most fierce rival, that he had been incapable of beating himself, as well as two other rivals both with Legendary Pokemon, beaten with such finesse and ease, caused his confidence to dwindle before he even realized it. Once he did, he shook his head slightly, before looking Ben in the eye, who had a smug smirk on his face.

“I’m not going down as easily as the others!” Chris called out. “You hear me?”

“I’m kind of counting on it,” Ben said flatly, not seeming to care one way or another. Chris felt himself fill with a new determination to beat Ben, and little did he know, this is exactly what Ben was wanting.

Both trainers selected a Pokeball, and on Jon’s cue, sent out their Pokemon. Chris opened with Charizard, and Ben began with his Shuckle.

“Oh f**k off…” Chris said exasperatedly, not meaning any offense towards Ben, who hid a grin, earning a groan from Abbee, and a glare from Jon.

“Behave yourself or I’ll give you a disadvantage,” Jon called out. “You’d be disqualified on the spot for bad sportsmanship if you did that in a real tournament.”

“Sorry boss!” Chris called out, before shifting his focus to the battle.

“Why Shuckle?” Charlotte asked, knowing the Pokemon had a reputation for being near useless. She was surprised when Justin answered, remembering a conversation he had with Candice the day he met her.

“There is no Pokemon alive that has better defensive capabilities than Shuckle…” Justin explained. “It may be useless in offense and speed, but it can take a hit like no other…”

“So Chris is up against a very tough wall, and by the sound of it, he knows it…” Abbee commented.

“Iron Tail!” Chris commanded, as Charizard’s flaming tail began to glow silver, and harden for a moment, as Charizard darted forward towards Shuckle and slammed into it. The Pokemon didn’t even try to dodge the attack, instead simply taking it, and seeming mostly unaffected.

“Toxic!”

Shuckle spat a purple orb that struck Charizard, infecting it with a progressively worsening poison. Charizard took minor damage, before Chris gave his next command, calling for another Iron Tail. He knew that if he didn’t withdraw Charizard, the poison wouldn’t stabilize, and get worse as the match progressed. If he withdrew Charizard, the poison’s effects would be constant once it emerged again, however it was obvious that Ben was planning on using this as a tactic, and withdrawing Charizard meant putting another Pokemon in place for Shuckle to use Toxic on, and give himself the edge in a drawn out battle. Meanwhile, if he could take down Shuckle, the rest of Ben’s team would not prove to be as difficult.

The second Iron Tail hit, and again, Shuckle didn’t seem too phased by it, as Ben commanded it to use Shell Smash, however something odd happened, that Chris seemed to understand, but those watching didn’t. Instead of Shuckles defence dropping and its attack and speed increasing, the reverse happened, as Shuckle seemed to become more resilient.

“What’s going on?” Abbee asked Dylan, whom she knew would understand this well.

“Contrary. It’s a rare ability, but extremely useful,” Dylan explained. “If a Pokemon has it, and something happens that would buff it, the opposite will happen. Or if a Pokemon’s stats would be reduced, they would instead be buffed. So Shell Smash has slowed and weakened Shuckle, but increased its resilience.”

Chris groaned as he realized that Shuckle was simply going to keep raising its defence until Charizard fainted from the poison. Determined not to fall for that trick, he changed his tactics.

“Charizard, Roar!”

Charizard let out a shrill draconic roar, that caused Shuckle to shudder and freeze up, forcing Ben to withdraw it.

“Great work…” Abbee said under her breath, hoping that Chris could get the interns their first win in this little competition, and spare their pride a little. Chris however felt unnerved when Ben let out a smug grin, before sending out his next Pokemon. Gengar.

“Disable!”

Being a naturally fast Pokemon, Gengar acted quickly, using the move which prevented Charizard from using Roar again, as Charizard responded with instead a Flamethrower attack, before being hurt by the worsening poison in its body.

“Hex!”

Paired with the fact that Charizard was poisoned, the spectral hex hit Charizard with much more power, and caused the weakened Pokemon to convulse before falling unconscious. Chris cursed under his breath, earning a warning look from Jon, before sending in his next Pokemon. Garchomp.

“Crunch!”

As Garchomp lunged forward, Ben recalled Gengar, sending out Shuckle again, and though the buffs it had from Shell Smash in the round before had worn off, its natural defence was able to keep it largely unaffected by the attack. The next one however hit much harder.

“Stone Edge!”

Pointed stones shot out from the ground, striking Shuckle hard, and seeming to hurt it as much as all of the attacks it had taken before that point combined. Chris grinned slightly, as he knew what he needed to do. Chances are Shuckle would use Rest when it was getting closer to fainting, and if Garchomp as much as missed a single attack, that time would be enough for Shuckle to poison it, and then stall for time. He needed to beat Shuckle in two hits at most. Especially now that Shuckle had used Shell Smash again in response.

“Swords Dance!” Chris commanded, as Garchomp used the move to increase its attack power.

“Encore!”

Shuckle used Encore, which forced Garchomp to use Swords Dance three more times. Chris glared at Ben, who seemed to be toying with him, knowing that the wall Ben was building had to be destroyed, and if Ben was willing to take the risk of forcing Garchomp to increase its attack power to its absolute limit, with no way of Shuckle being able to knock Garchomp out before it was able to attack, then he was going to use that advantage to the best of his ability.

Garchomp used Swords Dance again, as Shuckle, as expected, used Toxic to poison Garchomp the same way it poisoned Charizard. The real shock to Chris came after the second forced Swords Dance…

“Power Split!”

Chris’ eyes widened, as he began seething. Shuckle’s natural attack power was abysmal, known to be the worst of any Pokemon, and Power Split would adjust the attack power of both Pokemon to be the average of the pair. Which meant that Shuckle’s attack power was now much higher than it should be, and now the same as Garchomp, who didn’t share Shuckle’s insane defence. If Shuckle were to go on the offensive, it would have a significant advantage. Meanwhile, the poison continued to wear away at Garchomp’s energy as it used its third and final forced Swords Dance.

“Rest!” Ben called out to Shuckle, who fell asleep. Chris knew that Ben wanted him to go completely on the offensive, to try and deal damage before the poison took down Garchomp. And Chris’ first instinct was to do that, however he knew that wasn’t the best idea. He knew, as humiliating as it was to admit it, that Garchomp would fall long before Shuckle would, and Shuckle would then go up against his final Pokemon, which even though would likely have more attack power, would still do less damage to Shuckle in the same time that Shuckle with Garchomp’s stolen attack power would do to it. Even though he had a hunch it would play out almost the same as before, Chris knew what he had to do.

“Roar!” Chris commanded, knowing that once Shuckle was returned to the Pokeball, the effect of Power Split would fade, and whilst Chris knew that Shuckle could simply use it again, it would be one less of another, potentially more damaging move it would get to use. Additionally, Shuckle had just gone to sleep, and it would not emerge from the Pokeball suddenly awakened. If he forced Shuckle into its Pokeball now, it would still take time to wake up when it re-enters the battlefield, buying his final Pokemon time to whittle its defences down uninterrupted.

Ben returned Shuckle to its Pokeball, sending out Gengar again, Chris ready for it to use Disable to prevent Garchomp from using Roar to send Shuckle away for a moment.

“Mean Look!” Ben called out, giving Chris another smug grin. This was a challenge. The only way Garchomp was leaving the battlefield was if one of them fainted.

“You want a fight?!” Chris called out, before giving Garchomp a command. “Outrage!”

Garchomp roared, as it gave in to its anger, and darted at Gengar, hitting the shadow Pokemon with an attack that would have knocked it out in a single blow, had Shuckle not stolen a little under half of Garchomp’s natural attack power. Garchomp cried out in pain as the poison got worse, Chris knowing he only had one more move left with Garcomp, though doubting that he would even get it.

“Hex!”

Just as Charizard did before it, Garchomp was struck by a spectral hex, which had a greater effect on Garchomp, on the fact of it being poisoned, as the Dragon Type fell to the ground, Chris being forced to call it back and send out his final Pokemon.

“Finish this Dragonite!”

As Chris sent out his final Pokemon, he growled to himself as he saw Ben withdraw Gengar, and send out the still sleeping Shuckle.

“Aqua Tail!” Chris called out angrily, as Dragonite darted forward, its tail becoming encased in a violent torrent of water, before slamming into Shuckle, dealing nearly as much damage as Garchomp’s Stone Edge attack. “Again!”

The second attack landed, as Shuckle continued to sleep, and Chris thought he saw a flicker of doubt in Ben’s eye, as if he was starting to realize just how strong Chris was, and how precarious Shuckle’s position was.

“Again!”

The third Aqua Tail landed, knocking Shuckle back, and whilst it was sleeping, it still was conscious and able to battle. Then finally it awoke.

“Toxic!” Ben called out, as the now awake, and barely conscious Pokemon poisoned the third and final of Chris’ Pokemon. Chris wasn’t too worried though. Shuckle wouldn’t be able to act before Dragonite knocked it out, and Gengar wouldn’t last much longer.

“Aqua Tail!” Chris shouted. “Finish it off!”

Having just felt the effects of the poison, Dragonite tensed, before darting forward, and landing a fourth Aqua Tail on Shuckle, this one launching it off the ground and towards Ben who called the Pokemon back to it’s Pokeball, before sending out Gengar.

“Brutal Swing!” Chris commanded, as Dragonite leapt at Gengar, attempting to slam one of its claws into the Ghost-Type.

“Protect!”

The barrier appeared just in time for Dragonite to hit it, before the poison continued its process.

“Now Phantom Force!”

Gengar disappeared, dodging barely a Dragon Pulse attack, before appearing behind Dragonite and hitting it as it found itself under the worsening effects of the poison. However seeming to expect it, Dragonite swung around after taking the hit, landing a Brutal Swing on Gengar, and knocking the ghost type across the battlefield towards Ben.

“Come at me!” Chris shouted to Ben, fired up from the hard battle he had been facing. The flicker of worry was gone however, replaced by a sense of contentment, as Ben sent out his final Pokemon. Mamoswine…

Chris inhaled sharply before giving Dragonite a command.

“Fire Blast!” Chris shouted. “Make it count!”

The Fire Blast attack was impressive for a Pokemon that isn’t a Fire-Type itself, however even with the type advantage the fire move held over the partially Ice-Type Mamoswine, it wasn’t enough…

“Ice Beam!”

Mamoswine opened its mouth as a light blue light shot from its jaws, striking Dragonite, and knocking the double-disadvantaged Pokemon out cold, cementing Ben as the victor.

Chris sighed as the crowds cheered, having thought he may have been able to turn it around until Mamoswine appeared. He’d known that Ben had a Mamoswine, however had hoped he’d slip up and not use it, opting for his Altaria instead, which was slightly slower, and held the mutual advantage against Dragon-Types.

“Okay, spill…” Chris said as he walked towards Ben to shake the trainer's hand. “What did the old man teach you?”

“I’m thirty-one…” Jon retorted. “Hardly old…”

Ben laughed, before answering.

“He told us that if we put up a good enough fight, you’ll get to the point of losing the plot and just going straight out on the offensive to secure a win. And that if you do that and we aren’t aware, we’ll get sucked into doing the same…” Ben answered. “That’s why you and Charlotte tie. Because she puts up enough of a fight that you lose the plot, and she gets sucked into losing it as well…”

“Really?” Chris asked, looking towards Jon. “Am I that easy to beat?”

“I wouldn’t say you’re easy to beat at all,” Jon answered. “Because getting you worked up to the point where that weakness comes into play is no small feat. Ben here nailed it with a mixture of a seemingly impenetrable wall, putting you under pressure, and playing mind games with you. And even then, you did well not falling for it hook line and sinker. I was certain you’d have Garchomp try and take down Shuckle when it went to sleep…”

“I considered it…” Chris explained. “And s**t, I really wanted to. But I knew that leaving Shuckle with both its insane defence, and the extra attack power, even if it wasn’t massive, to battle my final Pokemon would have been a stupid move. Meanwhile, if I forced Shuckle out, I could keep it asleep for longer…”

“I noticed. You’re definitely growing, even if you still lost,” Jon answered. “Think that way more when you battle Charlotte, and you might break this draw streak the pair of you have…”

The last battle to be held, and the last chance for the interns to leave with a single win, was Dylan versus Blake. As the pair made their way to their places on either end of the battlefield, Chris noticed Jon’s grin widen at the prospect of this final match.

“What kill strategy did you give them for Dylan?” Chris asked. “He said that your planning document didn’t have anything listed for him when he checked, so he knew what you were teaching about us, but not himself…”

“I didn’t give one…” Jon answered. “Honestly, I don’t think there is a gap to exploit in Dylan’s battling…”

“Wait, what?” Charlotte asked, shocked. Everyone, Dylan included, was well aware that Dylan was the weakest battler of the five interns. Part of that was less experience, and another being it not being something he is particularly passionate about. Whilst he was capable of occasionally beating Abbee and Justin, he still hadn’t beaten Charlotte or Chris.

“The four of you have a solid set of skills for battling, and are able to go get creative and think outside the box. You’re able to see the opportunities that present themselves, and make the most of them, and offensively speaking, it makes you very difficult to beat. This all comes from determination, experience and time, all of which you have more of than Dylan,” Jon explained. “But the four of you have gaps, small as they may be, and whilst they are difficult to pinpoint, if someone does pinpoint them, a lesser trainer who can figure out a way to exploit them, can give themselves a massive edge with them. Dylan on the other hand, is the opposite. Whilst offensively he isn’t as dangerous as the four of you, defensively, he is rock solid, and very hard to shake. And you can’t beat that with a single tactic or a gimmick. To beat him, you need to hope he hasn’t seen your own weaknesses, and knock him down with sheer strength and ingenuity before he figures out how to knock you down...”

“So Dylan has the best chance of not losing in this situation?” Justin asked. “Because even if he isn’t the strongest, he can’t be beaten with a single, intentional strategy?”

“Exactly…”

Having both selected a Pokemon, when the call to begin the battle came, Dylan sent out Metagross, whilst Blake opened with Empoleon.

“Hammer Arm!” Dylan called out. Metagross crouched low, before leading forward, and slamming one of its four legs into Empoleon, who responded with a Scald attack that Blake had commanded, sending a blast of boiling water into the large Steel Type.

“Meteor Mash!”

Now in close quarters with Empoleon, Metagross’ claw became encased in a silver, steely aura, before it was slammed into Empoleon again, who was thrown back, but managed to regain its footing, if not barely.

“Soak!”

Metagross was drenched by a dense blast of water, soaking it completely, and effectively making it a water type. Dylan grimaced. One of Metagross’ strengths was its defence, and part of that stemmed from its steel typing being resistant to over half of the other typings.

“Bullet Punch!” Dylan instructed, knowing that Blake was working up to something. Scald was effective enough before, given the fact that Metagross was more resistant than most Pokemon, and now, Empoleon’s Water Type attacks would be weaker against Metagross thanks to its temporary Water Typing. If Blake were wanting to land a bigger hit quickly now that Metagross was less resistant, Dylan wanted Metagross to get in first.

The lighter, but quick steel attack hit Empoleon, knocking it backwards, where it hit the ground and lay unconscious. Blake called the Pokemon back, and Dylan had a hunch about how Blake was going to play this. His hunch was proven correct when Blake sent out his multi-colored Muk, native to the Alola region.

“Bullet Punch!” Dylan commanded, as Metagross rushed towards Muk to land a quick hit.

“Cruse!”

Not being a Ghost Type, the effect of Curse was different to how Dylan had used it, instead reducing Muk’s speed, but increasing its offensive and defensive power.

“Iron Defense!” Dylan responded, his suspicions confirmed. Muk’s ability was a rare one called Power of Alchemy, exclusive only to a few bloodlines of Muk caught in Alola. Dylan had researched the Pokemon students in his team had early on in the summer, to help with their training, and was surprised when he discovered that this ability existed.

“Dylan told me about this…” Jon said to the four interns who watched with him from the side-lines. “Alolan Muk has a unique ability that can lead to some pretty crazy s**t when it’s used well…”

“What’s it’s ability?” Abbee asked, having not seen a great deal of this variant of the sludge Pokemon.

“Power of Alchemy. It will copy the ability of an ally that faints…” Jon explained. “In this case, Empoleon’s ability is now being used by Muk.”

“And what ability is that?” Charlotte asked.

“Empoleon has Torrent or Defiant, and based on that Curse attack, I am guessing that Empoleon was defiant,” Jon answered. “When its stats are reduced, its attack raises as much as a Swords Dance attack…”

“So that Curse would have triggered it?”

“Exactly. It’s attack power increased triple what it normally would.

“Curse!” Blake commanded again, with Muk’s offensive power reaching its peak.

“Meteor Mash!”

Metagross hit Muk with a heavier steel type blow, knocking the Pokemon back, however not knocking it out. Blake however seemed a little rattled by Metagross raising its defence, as well as the heavy attacks, that even with Muk’s raised defence from the Curses, could very well knock it out.

“Giga Impact!” Blake called out.

Muk cried out, before launching itself recklessly into Metagross, slamming it hard with the full force of its body, and throwing Metagross across the arena knocking it out, as Muk slowed down, needing to catch its breath after such a large attack.

“S**t…” Chris said, watching Dylan call back, before sending out his next Pokemon. “Wait, what the hell is he doing?”

“I haven’t got a clue…” Jon said, shocked when Dylan had sent out his freshly caught Litwick, which had no experience battling with a trainer at this point…

“Haze…”

Jon snorted hearing this, as Muk was still unable to move after the reckless Giga Impact attack.

“I wouldn’t be taking this risk…” Jon said, stifling a laugh. “But I think he knows what he is doing…”

“Rest!” Blake called out, knowing that Litwick stood little chance of causing problems for him. However, being underestimated is what Dylan was relying on.

As Muk fell asleep, Dylan called back Litwick, knowing that he was selecting his final Pokemon. If this Pokemon couldn’t win, then he would have to send Litwick back out, and it would be practically over.

“Go, Sceptile!”

The large, nimble grass type emerged from the Pokeball, as Muk slept, replenishing its health. Whilst Sceptile’s typing was counterproductive against Muk, Sceptile’s speed and attack power, as well as what it was capable of doing before Muk woke up, would more than make up for it.

“Dragon Dance!”

Sceptile cried out, as its attack and speed were increased as Muk started to wake. Dylan knew he only had time for one more move before Muk fully woke up and the battle resumed. Being prepared, Blake called out his next move even though Muk wouldn’t be able to act before Sceptile.

“Curse!”

“Worry Seed!” Dylan called out.

Quicker than Muk, Sceptile slashed the air, sending a shower of seeds towards Muk, which were absorbed into the chromatic sludge Pokemon. As this happened, Muk used Curse, however with Worry Seed changing its ability to Insomnia, Muk was now without Empoleon’s Defiant ability to power it up, and incapable of using Rest to recover its own health, Dylan knew that Blake’s advantage was now gone.

“Dragon Dance!”

Sceptile’s speed and attack increased, before Sceptile darted towards Muk, preparing for his next move, as Blake gave an instruction.

“Toxic!”

Muk launched a purple orb at Sceptile, poisoning it badly, and putting a timer on Sceptile, though Dylan wasn’t overly worried, having means of recovering energy without much cost.

“Swords Dance!”

Sceptile’s attack increased again, as it dodged a Gunk Shot attack that Muk had launched, before Dylan gave the final instruction.

“Earthquake!”

Whilst Sceptile, who had leapt from the ground, wasn’t a Ground Type itself, the buffs to its attack increased the power of the attack, and when Sceptile landed in front of Muk, striking the ground in front of its opponent, the ground shook violently, throwing Muk back, and knocking the Pokemon out, bringing Blake down to his last Pokemon.

“Nailed it!” Jon said cheerfully. “Worry Seed was the perfect way to handle that…”

“Favouritism much?” Chris asked jokingly.

“I didn’t have to pull him out of Shoal Cave…” Jon retorted equally jokingly, as Justin snorted at the response.

Blake sent out his final Pokemon, a Talonflame, which under normal circumstances, would have been dangerous for Dylan, however he had made good enough use of the round before to be able to grin at what was coming.

“Thunder Punch!”

Whilst Talonflame would naturally be faster, Sceptile’s buff to its speed allowed it to act first, and the buffs to its attack made Sceptile’s Thunder Punch even more effective. Talonflame barely had time to react to the crackling electricity that engulfed Sceptiles closed claw, before it was struck, and thrown back towards Blake, into the wall behind him, unconscious.

“And securing the first and only win for the Team Leaders, the match goes to Dylan!” Jon called out, as the interns behind him cheered. Jon turned to the five students who had challenged their team leaders. “Congratulations on your overall win. You’ve done well teaching these guys some pretty massive lessons, and I can guarantee you, they will be better for it. Some of them already are…”

The grins on the students were impossible to hide, however knowing what was coming next, Jon struggled to find his, now that the reality of his trip was right on the horizon…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Dylan wanted me to pass this on,” Abbee said to Charlotte as the pair were in their cabin, after a long night of trying to get the students, who were very excitable after the days events, to go to bed, without Jon there, and not giving away that Jon had left Mossdeep.

Abbee handed Charlotte her belt that had her five Pokeballs strapped to it. Dylan had taken all their Pokemon to the Pokemon Center earlier that afternoon, shortly before Jon left, as he didn’t want to be off site whilst Jon was gone, and that was his only opportunity.

“Thanks,” Charlotte said as she took the belt, and hung it over her bedpost. The clock read 11:30, with Abbee having just returned from taking her alternating turn to silence one of the girls rooms that had been making too much noise, running into Dylan who was by the boys lodge, doing the same thing.

“It’s so good to sleep in my own bed…” Abbee said with a yawn, as she lay down. “Or at least, my bed for this summer…”

“Yeah, the Pokemon Centre ones are always old and uncomfortable…” Charlotte retorted, as she turned off the light, and made her way to her bed. “Like, you’d think how much money the League makes on trainer fees, they could afford to replace the mattresses once every fifteen years…”

Abbee laughed at the exaggeration, before going quiet, leaving the room in silence. Charlotte found herself with a question that had been haunting her, and questioned whether she should ask. Whether she wanted to know…

Finally, she asked.

“So what’s the deal with you and Chris…?” Charlotte asked. “You’ve been near inseparable since Meteor Falls…”

Abbee had been midway through adjusting her sheets, however stopped still at the question. It was enough of an answer for Charlotte, which caused her heart to sink a little in her chest. Finally Abbee spoke.

“I’ve liked him for a while, but given how awkward things were with Dylan after I was worried and… yeah…” Abbee began, before changing her course. “In the tunnels, I asked Chris why he risked killing himself the way he did. Because I didn’t want to get out of a situation alive if it meant someone else let themselves be killed to make it happen…”

Charlotte remained silent, as Abbee continued to explain.

“And when I wouldn’t relent, he told me how he felt. And I told him that I felt the same way…” Abbee said quietly. “We’ve barely had five minutes alone to talk since, so from here, I don’t know…”

Charlotte found herself regretting asking, though told herself that if she didn’t, she’d feel even worse if it happened and she wasn’t aware of it until everyone else was. Realizing her remaining silent was more telling than anything, she spoke.

“I hope it all works out…” she lied, before rolling over in her bed. “I’m gonna try and get some sleep…”

“Night…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
I have lost count of the cycles of torture, and barely remember what existence was before this. They have tried to cut, shatter and crush me, freeze me, burn me, melt me and electrify me. But they were never successful. And it seems they have run out of ways to torture me. For now…


The last torture was a few cycles ago, and since then, they have been o̯̤̦͚̟̻ͣ̀b̛̦͚͙̹͍̠͎̌͗̈s̸̉̃͛ͫè̶̮͓̬̆̊̒͛͒̐ṟ͓̣̺̄ͅv͋̈́̾ ̶̟̫̮̯̤ǐ̯̦̜̍n͎͕̞̯̖ͦ͑̆͆̌̈́̀͘g̦̃̓͘ me. Whilst this has happened, the one I’d reach out to, the one who found me, was gone. I’d reach out to them, and feel nothing. My only comfort having abandoned me...

At this moment, they’d normally be gone, resting like they need to, however it seems they have made a discovery, and none want to leave…



"̣̗͎̹̀Iͦ͛͊̎҉t̥̝͍̃̎ͅ'̝͆͌̈s̥̺̦̑͂͒ ͙̖̈͛̇̄̽c̵̯̪̠̟̤͌̊ͬ̚e͓͕̰̹̖̙̙ͫ̓̑͌͑l̞̤̱̫̯͚̄̽͐͂̔̌͜l̟͖͢ͅ ̦̱̥s͕̖͛ ̛̩͚̪̓̒hͦạ̬̮͚ͧͤͨͥͫ̀ͅv̥̘͖̤̞̱͑̂̓͛ͬ̈́ͤ́è̞̬ ̙̍ͮ̃̄̓s̪͉̬͙̭͕͢t̟̗͊̓ͯr̹͔̼ͤͅu͍͚̺͐̾ͣ̚ctͣͪ̈́͋̎ͨ̔uͯ͒̉͛̍̕ ̟̥̻͖̫̦͕r̨̹̋̓̾̓ͧͪ̈ė̡̙̜̞͔͈̗͍ͣš̴͕̫̳͍̼̼͑ ̷͌͒m̴̤̹̲̯̟͓̗̓̏ͫ̓a̲̙͉͌̓͂͑͛d̀̿e̪̰̞͎̊ͯͬͤ̈́̉ ̗̻̏̈̽̒͌́̃u̷ͥ͐̒̈́̿pͅ ͈͙̺̫͕̲̬̋ͩ̽o͆҉f͎̌ͫ͗̒̇̒͗ ͓̭ͥmͭa̫͖͙̍̆ͫ̾̌t̙̼ͭͨ͑̏̿ͭ̎͡ë́͑̈́́͗͊ř͔̳̭̘̟̣͆ͯ͂̚͝ḯ͈̥̜ ̗̹ā̺͑͆ͯ̚̕l̥̳͙̬̦̔͑ͭ̾̋ͯ͑͡ ̞̘̏̉ͥͧ̔͑͠ȧ̮̭̜̥ͫ̔̍͌̿̔l̉͊ͨ̑̂m̡͚̗̟̟̿̓ͅo̥̙͔̝͔̮̮ͥ͢s͚t̚ ̸͉͈̭̃̈̽ͫ̂ͧ ͈î̥̪̤ͯ̉̓de͏͕n͇ͪ̎t̙͈̞̱̠̤̍͋̎͛i̴̭̫̟̖̖͙ͫͩͅc̭͈͖͂̑ͥͣ͗̏ͨ a͍̹ͥ͡ļ̣̟̜̝ͤͅ ͈̼̹̝͉̠̋t̞̯̕o͖̩̩̜̯̖̬̓̀̔͋͊̎̊ ̯̝̝̥̯̫ͮ̓͒̓̓ͅD͙͔̃͊ͨ́Ń̄̄̈́ͥA̯̽̌ͤͭͨ̔͋̕ ̝̖͕͎̘̣̟͋͐o͓̬̥͝f̮͉̺͉ͥ̇̉̒̋̾̀ ̩̤̖̙̗̖͕̈́c̨̲̯̭͈̳̞̝̑͗̽͌r̴̟̻̦͓̰͕͙̓̏ͪ̐͋͆̾e̥̲͚̰̩͇̱̊a̵͕̗ tͦ̽ͦ͒̽̅͜u̩̠͐͊̂̎ͬ͠r̲ͧ͗̾ͯ̽̀ȇͭ͗̓̂ͬ͏͍͈͖͈̖͕̦s̗̗̠̦ͥ̓ ͈̟ ̮͇͓̮̳̹͛̎ͧ̋̚h̬̦͆̏́͋͂̎͞ͅe҉̺͍̱͚̳r̲͚̲̮͙̎̀̅ͭ̄̾̀e͆̿̊ ̊͠ ̦̗ͪ̇ȍ̯͉̬̑͗n̫͍̗̻͔͂͌ͤ̈͛͐̚̕ ̩̘͊̓ͧ̈E̗ͦͫ̑̿͜a̛̺̬͔͓̯̽̾̉̏̀̔r̟̦͚͊ͣͯ̈ͥtͦh̥̰̮̭̣͚́̐̏̾̏, ̸̈́͛͛̒ ̵͉̟͒̎ͧ̓̓̃̚b͈̝̖̘͍̮͆͌̾̑̉ͯu҉t͎̭̍̇̇̚̚ ͖͉̗̺̫̅̏̿ͧͣ͑ͥș͓͂͑t̥̪̻͇̭͍ͯͣǐ̟̰̗͉ͤ͞l̟̤̈́̓ͭ̋ͤͤ͡l̉ͩ́̓̓ ͮ ͋̓̅͢m͉̞̟̄͂ͫͧ̀ͫ̌ą͇͔ͪ͋ͬ̈́ͨ͐̃s͚͜s̠͙͔̫̼̀͐̀i̲͆̀̇ͩ͟vͬ̓̔̿ ͕̝̻ͬͤe͖̥̤̓̏̇̋̋̾̍l̵̹̿͒̈́͗͂y͓̺̘͙̠̠ͪ̎͋͛ ̳͒͋ͮd̥͚̈́̄̂ͧiͤ̓ͦ͜f͓̱̓ͤͮ̄ͨ̚f̴̟̲̻ͩ̎ĕ̢̳̣͎ͫ͛̇r͏͍̹̝̣̫e̺ ͙̻̺̬̫n̝͈̬ͫͥͫ̌͑̊ͤͅt̖̰͇ͥ͒́.̠̚ͅ.̙̞̼̲͓̯̅̄̾͛ͨͨͧ͠.̼̫̯́͟ͅ "̗̱̰̯̳̓̽̅



"̠̄̿̇ͧH̰͈̮͚̓ͩ͢ơ̗̫̹͊w͉ͭͫ̋̓͛̇͑ ̑̏i̫̭͖̎̌̾͢s̵̻̤̤͈̠͕͑̑̌͑̽ ̜̟̝ͣ̍͐̆̓̔i̩̼̖͖t̨̗̦̤͓͖̬̝ ͌̚͏̥͚͔͓̦̣d̡͇̺̠̠̄̈́i̧̊̏f̡̯͖̱͎̹̫͂̈́̃̽͗̓f̮̺͈̿ͧ̀̀e̸͍ͫ̋̓ͧ r̺͈̪̘͔̻̾͠e͙ñ͕̼̭ͣ͢t͕͇̗̬͈͕?͔͙̦̳͉ͣ͊"̄͜



"Ț̖̞̹͇̘̭͜o̯̮͘ ̢͔͕̠͓͇ͅd̺̻̲̳̥̻͠uṃ̧̱̖͚͕b̼̼̗͖͟ ̩̪̣̪̞͟i̻̮t̲̯̮͠ ̵̥̪̪̳̯͇ͅd͡o̘̠̼̻̝w̤̰̹͉̟n̙̹̺͈̞͞,̹̳̳̤ ͈͔͔̳̦h̡̲̹͍̦͙͓um̡̗a̮̖̯̟̗n̶s̖ a̟̟͎͖͈̱͡ͅn͟d̡̰̩̮͉͇ ͍͙͇P̥̻͡o̧̤̫̥͈͇ͅk̲̤̟̳̙͖e̟̼m̜̕o͍̹͇͕͘n͚̖͎͍ ̢̥̹͇̜̖g͉̩͙̝̞̰͝en̥̜̖e͞r̬̺͓̼͎a̦̗͓͓͖̮t͕̲͢e͎̠̕ ̻̮͈p̥̭̙r̹̦̘̘̀o̧͈t̨é̞̳̰͎̦̝i̥̦n̴̹̺s̻ ͍̘͈̤̥by͈̤͇͖̹ ̵̠̙̦̩͇͙h̟̲a̛̦͖͇̯͓v͞i̡̘̘̦͈̬ͅn̷̩̲̗̙͎̯̠g̭͉̮̱̦̤̗ ̴m̰͔̻R̭̲̜͝N͍͖̼̫̠A̜͎͇̠ ̳̦͇̖̲͍t̩͔̞r͝a̛n̡͓̥̙͚͕̳̦s̫͈͇̝͇͇͜c̥͈͈̱r̡͔̫̤̹͍i̷̭͓b͜e ̱ ҉̗t̞̮͇̩̹h͍̝͈͎͓e̺̻ ̡̪̱̹g̙̱̖̪̀e͍̮͕͜ne͝t̨i͉̤͚͚͙̖c͙̞̮͍̰͠ ̣̮̬͇̙̪̠c͏̗̙̯od̛̘e̱ ̡̲͉̯̩i̺̺̗͓̱n̕ ̧͉̭̰ṭ̘̜͈͔ͅh̖̝̩̘̺̫̳͡e̷̪͇͚ ̢̱̣̤͕͔D̪̩̯͢Ń͓̬̦̳̟̝ͅA̺.̵͇ ̺̪̭͉̠͝T͖͇͇̩h̩ḛ̠͚̹͎̻̹͢ ̫͍̟͓̠͉́mR͝N͇A̡̼̬̪̼͎ ̢̣̮̝t̢̫h̫͔͙̮e̵̹͇n̢͉̬̙ ̶ḁ͕̯̫̭͢c͖̹̦̺͇t͍͉̙͍̩̲s̬̦̯̰ ̬a̼̰͟s͕͉̞̲͇͍̭͢ ̴à͇͍̘̫̪ͅ ҉̖̝͔̹͓͈͇b̷l͏̮̯̞̟̮u͕̩̩͟e̼̰͉̕p̫r̷̼̥̙͍̝̣i̤̹̻̙͘ṇ̢̼t̹͠ ̫̞̗ ̱̭̻͔a͇̠̰̣͙̝̠n̫̲̻͖d̳̯̼͢ ͏a̡̖̠̩t̛̰̞̹̠̙t̹̩͓a̴̻̙c̬͖̠͔̕h͢e͎͖̘̲̣ś̰͙͓̩̠̰̥ ͠t͏̘̪o̢̠̯̭̟͚ͅ ͚͓̲̞͇͙͟a ̦̭̱͚̬̙̙͢ri̩̩͚̭͇b̷̗͇̺ǫ̳̠̬s̜͇͎͙̻o҉̼͇̰m͉̻͖̬͇̫͕e̟ ̝ ͈̝̩͚̱̖ͅo͓̫͘f̧͈̻͓̜͕͚ ͖̼ṱh̬͚̜͚̻ͅe̥̬͝ ͉̫̩͈ce͎̣͜ḽ̮̝͟l̞̲̣͓̦,̨ ̷ẃ̼̪̦͍̗̥͔hi̼̬̮͖̤̼̰c̙̬̪̲͓̬h̶̖̼͙ ̦̰̗͕̝͓̳m̖̰̟̼̬͞a̶͍̠̫͇̠k̝̬̣̻̹e̹̮̭̗͔̮̫s̢̻̙̯ ̯͇̭̣̭̙͝p̯̘r͏̩ọ̸̗͈̬̳͙̞t̬̙͎ei̻͈͇n̫̩̘̪s̗͙̳̲͈̫͎.̯̖̣̭͠ ̟ ̝t̵̪R̜̣̪͓̤̺̥̀N̩̺̖̟̟A̝ͅ ͙̥̗͖͔̳́c̘͎͕̮̗̭̀a̬̱͡rr͇̥̻̙y̰͉̳̜̯̹̣in͝g̤͔ d̸̠̤ͅi̟̮̰̭f͙͕̦̙̜ͅf̡͙̬̻ér̻͓̳̼̯͠e͏n̴͍͎t̴̳ ̥̞͇̗̺̦a̛̮̻͈̞̦mi̩͍͓̺͕͓͡n̫o̱ͅͅ ̧͚͕͔͉a̳̹͙̦͙͠ͅc̸̻͈͚̦̬̹̱i̘͍͠ḍ̼̭s ̛͈͔w̯̺h̖̲ͅi̬̤͉̥̤̼͘c̳͓̗͉̗͖h͙ ̙͔m͍̯̦̮̱̰a͙̦̟͇k̠̬͔̘͍̭ͅe̬̗̥ ̸̜̖̲̯̜̰u͉p̭̝̯͉̬̲ͅ ̗̣̖̙ͅt̛̝̗͎̝̗̯̞h͎̩͝e̤͇̪̲̪̗͍ ͖͇̙͙p̴̻̜̝̪̻ro͞te̪̼̟i̲̩̲n̛̺͖͈̲̖͖͕s̰͉͔̘̹ͅ a̶̳̖ŕ̗̱̟e̵̥͈͉ͅ p̺̦͈̩͜r̹͙̪͙͕͓̯o̼̻͕̝͎͓g̜̲̩͞r̙̠a̩̦̞͚͍̖m̯̪͠m̷̼̘e̛̙̬̦͖ ̤d̜͎͜ ͖̼͙t̼̩̹̙o͏̪̘̹̦̘ ̯̣̹͉a͕̰̝̯ͅr̸̺͓͉̱̦r̢a̲̹̝̲͜n͇͕̜̗̣͝g̸͓̳̹̩̞e̟͎̞ ̯̤͖̦͝t̗̫͝h͏̩e͈̺̦͉m҉̘̰̻̘̖̣̦ş͍̣͔͔͖͔e̦̹l̠̩̪̘̪̼̤v̥̪̜̦ e̛͈̲͍͎̱s͉̩ ̟̰̰͕͓̀ͅb̸̪a̟̗̳ș̲͇͇̯̤e̳͍ḏ̫͎ ̻o̖̰̳̯̕n͘ ̮̹͇̕t͙̪h͕̙̺̥e̥̙͕̼͍͖̬ ̳̲͍̝̫̼̺g̸̮e̙͍͖̼̞͢n̼̻e̺t̰̯̥̰i̴̝̳c̴̘̜̻ ̷̗̥̰̥̻̳͓s̮̪̺͍̮ȩq҉̠̹̣̘̙ų̮̲̳e̼̱̯̘͈ͅͅn͙͉̰͝c̶̣̝̫̳͔͕͓ e ҉̤͚̯̥̬͔t̡͕̘͍̻̺̜r̼̙̦̫a̺̫̞̼̤̪͚n̹͚̯̳̻̫̞̕s̩͉͖̫͖c̵͈r͎̺̮ ̳̱͉̹i̧̝̻͓̝̜b̢͖̞̜̟̮̺͔ḛ̪d̪ ̴̝i̝͔̞̱̣̙ņ͔͈̩̖ ͙͇̙͍̯̩͞t̖͈͎ͅh͜e͈̳̩̮͔̦̘ ҉̠͍͕̱̝̥m̳̞̟̬̪͕̲R҉̱̠N̼A̶̻̫͚ ̼̥́w̭̜̞̬h͢i͉̬͔͜c̡͇̪̼̦h̰͇̩ ̘͍͟c̛͔̤̗̗o͉̳͙͕͕͔͢r̜r̟̬͢e͕̫̪̖̝̱̦s̩p͓͉̠̻͓o̻̘͔̰͈n̫̠̤͜ ͔̹d̰͈͉͢s ͍̺t̹͖̥o̲͕͓̲͈̗ ̖̝̝͎̀t҉̭̖̥͕̱͍̹h̪ę̲̹ ̧̦̭̜a͚͍̺̹̜̤̩͡m̺̼̤̺͚i͚͉n̵͍ͅo̱̲͎̪͎͙͎ ̣a̹̜̱̘͡c̶̦͚̦i͕̠̠d̞̻ ̗̥̖͡ṯ̦̝͢ḥ̲̦͉̬͜e̸̟̜̻̳͖y̫̞͖̘͇̥̟ ̛̼̦̼͎͙̠̳c̗̫͠a̪̬ͅr̴̠̤ṛ̢̦y̙͍̣̺̣.͏̞̗ ̡̭̥̤͕̪̭Th͙͕̞̦̕i̯s̥̦ ̡̹̮͔͓̺ͅi̷̺̠͚͔̣̲̖s̥̠̯ ḏ̪̮̝̙̳i̱̣̲͉̥ͅf͎͙̤̣̼͚̝f̧er̴̦͈̹̰ͅe̡͖̟͖̤͈̱͇n̮̭̣̣t͚̺̹ ̱̱̩ ͞ṯh͢o҉̹̦͚̭̞̬u̹̦͉̤g̮̠̟̞̲h̲̖͎̣̥.̟̖͙͓̝̪̙ ͔̳̻̙̗͓͎A̪̩̼͖͍ͅͅc̢̟͇̗̪c͔̬̥͓̟oͅr̪̝̻d̨̮̬̝i͇̲̣͕ń͕̰̤͙g ̗̣̦̙͎̰̞ ̯̺̦̳͈͠t̯́o̖̥̞̭͖ ̩̬̥t̗͉̱h͓̜̩̱̲͕̦e̶s͜e̟͡ ̵s̶c̗̬̝͔̣͚̮a̱͍̹͕̜̯̙͘n̦̮s̫̣̰̹̞̟̰͘,̢ ̪̺̲͉̭t͏͍̲̝h͇͙̻̜͟i̲̟͖s̜ ̠͓̦t͙̭̖͈ͅh̛̫̖̱̩̻̪̝i҉̳̣̳̳ͅng͎̥̟̣̮͓ ̪̣̟͇ẖ̴͔̼̫̼a̙̭s̠͎̳̘ n̲͍̫o̟ ̤̜̱̩̘m̲̣R̢̳̻N̺̣̤̻͉̰ͅA̫̩̼̼͉̭̬,̀ ̟̠͟o̸̻̮̞͓ͅr̨̟͓̺͈͉ͅ ̨̹͎̲̬̭̳r̶̬̲̯̖̖i͏̲̣͖̻bơ̟̩͔̰̳̰͙s̷̬͎o̺̰͉m̷͎̺̭̙è͍̖̻̬ ̬s̯̦.͈̹̦̕ ̦̟̪̰̜́B̵͕͓͚̝uț ̼̭͉i̵̭͔̹t ̴h҉̞͉̣̹͔͖a̡͈̠̘̙̯̙s͉̼͠ ̵̼̯̦1̹͈͎͖͔̣̕0̡͔0͙̬̤0̠͍̖x̫̘̹͙ ̦ṃ̥̞͕͎̦or̤̯͍̗e ̢̦̣̭̺͇t̺͙̣R̥̝ͅN͔͕̱A ̡͓̞͇p̟̰̦̖̯er̝͍̗̮ ̰̙̖̝̭ͅc̴̹̫͔͓él͙̦̳͝l̕ ̲̗͈̠̠̻̣ṱ̝̗͈h͉͔̗͓̳an̵̟̥͚̤͎͍ ̬̘̲͎̬͢a̝̹͇͡ny̘̩̭͔̲̟̮ ̳̳͕̰̰̬̦s̡͍̦̗̩̭p̢ḙ̳̭͖c̣̪̮̰̟̜i͉̬̟̙̖̲ͅm̲̯ͅe̦̞̰̲̗ n̻͔̤ ̴̥̺̤͔͈w̜̹͕̩̝̥e̶͙ h̵͉̥̘̼a̝̮̘ͅv͈͕̳̗̳͡ͅe ̧̝e͏͕̳͖̯̝̦ͅn̷̼̮̯c͍̟o҉͔̮u̟͡n̘̜͙ṭ̢͍̣̫̥̺e̯̥r̮̻̥͈͖e̙͠ ̺̗̹d̪̥̹.̷̤͖ͅ.͇̟̳͍ͅ.͇̲͓"̰̜



"͉͈̳̦͎̪͗̀̃ͫͯHͬ͗̀҉͓̻̟̱̱͇o͈̥͍ͣ̒͋͋ͭͬͅw̟̲̮̦̝̓̿̅͘ ̣̞̤̟͕̫͗͂̃̈d̜̗̆̎͋ơ̜̙͚̦͚̝̏̆e̥̰͔̼̩̣͌͠s̡̳̩̹̦͒ͫ̇ ͇ͮͪͧ̀i̩̰̲͋̔̄ͤ͒t̶͍̔͛ ̱̖̘͎̼͑ͅp̼̩͘r̷̞̦̣̮̺͚̾̃͒͊̚o̓̂̓͗̓̓d̩̟̻̩ͫͦ̑ͩ̓͝ů̩ͫ́̐ͭ̚ ̮͔͍̖c̯̭̤̼̠͍ͪ̈́ͫ̋̂͠ė̳̻̟̞̻̞ͦ̔ͦ̒ ͉̔̓ͪ̒ͭ͠p͎̬̟͈ͯͅr̬͖͇̺̻͙͇ͯͩ͗̓͗̚oͭ̅t͕̣̙ͪ̑̿̚e͉̙͓̠͟i̿̄̓ͯ ̬̬͕̮̱̱̪̀ͬ́n͇̩͍̠͌̎s̯̫̮͚͓̣͆̄̍̄̎ ̝̤͓̺̮̙͒t͇͍̑́h̻̣͕͕̃ͨ̇͐ͪ̎e̩͍̿͗ͯ́̄ͯ̏n?̰͉̟̘̹͎͛ͧ"̒̓̉́ͩͪ ̭̎


"͙͢I̝̮t̲̻̮ ̢̣̬̱ṕr̯̞̤͇͘ͅo̙̭͟d̦̟͍̩͔̰ų͙̼̖̬̳͚c̫͠e͕̘̮͚s̘͓͎͍ ̧͔t͘h̰̖͙͇͈ͅͅe͇̬̦̰̙̬̳m̭͚͢ͅ ̷̰ơ̳̻̤͈̮͕̳n͔̠̝̩ͅ ̭̝̭͚̹͉ͅt͜h̳̻͚̰͖ͅe̜͙͍̞̮͉ ̞̱̲D̷̯̜͇̪̖N͈͚̗A̢̞̞̞ ̥͔͖̹̳̹i̻̺̹̗̫t͈̟s̛̙̘̱̼e̯ḷ̮̫̳̤̟̣́f̶̘̤̪̻̖̝.̼̼̦̤̖ ̦̘ ͞In͏̲s̗̺t̪͙̠̻̘̮̯e̢̯̖͈̰̙̣a̯͚̻̹̟͉d̰̺̬̩ͅͅ ͍͈o͉̱̣̝̗͚̺͠f͓̤ ̹̜͘ṯ̶̱͇͕̯h̻̤͓͖͟e͈̯̠͈̩ ͏͍̮̜D̺Ņ̠̞A̬ ̸̭̰͎͎̲a̤̩͡c͚͍̟̬ͅṱi̝̣̖ǹ̪g͈͖̜ ̟͙͔͉a̬̩̺͎̝̺͉s͇̼ ̖͇͉̘̼͉͈a̞̻̤̘͍͈͠ ̹̥̘f͙̩̟̠̭or̷̘̤̩̞̙͎̫m͏ųl̗̭̭̙̞̳ͅa̜̥͇ ̡͎̩̼t̛͎̰̰h̖̜̬̖̲̬͚ḁ̠͖̱t̖͈ ̨̭̻̙̼̘w̫̱͈e̛̲ ̟͎̫̗o̦̳̲͔̗͢nl͕̼̙̣y̰̗̹̖̼ͅ ͍̜͎̗̩̲͇t̛̘̩͔̲͉̩a̷̝̼̹͓̗͚͕k̩̞̩͕e͠ ̢̠͔̺̙͍p̱̥̪̠̫ͅḩ͓̻̻o̧ṯ̳̥̖̮͈̳o̩͇̣̜̳͙̲c̷̬̘̪̥̹̝̟o̪̳͇͡ ̭̯p̙͇͙̳̳͟i̸e̤̹̰s̘͔̰̳͚̘͙ ̘̠̮̬͘of̧̳͖̟͔͙ ̠͈̦͝t̲̬̘͎o̥̻͠ th̺̩̞̬̻̠͕͢e̷̹ ͈̣͍͉͕̭a͚͈̻͍̗̮c̼̗̟̝͔t͈̭͙̯̥͟ͅu͇̪̭͙͉̲̻͘a͍̻̲̖̫l̗͎ ̫̯͔̪w̶͔̱̳̱̘̲͚o̬͚͚̫ͅr͉k̘͓̩̤s̮h̝̗̖o̠p̞͎͔̭̱̙,͉ͅ ͓͉̪̙̙̲̼th͖͓̯̞e̷ ̻̮̟̣͓̪t̛̞̹̱RN̶͇̱̩̪̼ͅͅA̯̣̹̞̱̖͞ ͓̦̟ͅͅa̦t̞t̥̼̬̰̙̤̗a̱c̨̥̟͚͙͍͓h̹e̴͇̟̪͉̱͔s̳̬͚̖̜ ̮͓̥̕ț̤ò̲͖̲ t̶̼̻̩̦h̞̰e͎̯̺͉͟ ̭s̥̱̙͕͕͉̯e̟̖͉̞̮̼̲g̙͎͡me͏̮̫ṉt͎̥̜s͕͠ ̻̬͞o҉̪f̷ D̛̫̺̬̠N̻̰A̸͖͖̗̞̣̩ ͎i͕̜̼t̩͕s̰e̸̤̖̟̝̘l͚̪̹̟f̜̙͇̻͙,̼̮̯ ̪̠̤͚̲ͅa̹͠n̫̱̱̫d͎̥̫̯̤̯́ ̙̟̦p͏r̥̬̪͇͈od͈u͍̗̩͕͕͕͈c͏̮̹̤̲̯̟e͏̤̭͎̣s̥̦̠̺̳̬̦̀ ̥͓̥̦̪̻͢ͅp҉ṛ̝̕o̴t̬̟̬̗̩ͅe̹̠͖͙̯̣ͅi̼͕̰ͅn̡͍̖s̰͘ ̱̭͎̮͙̻́ͅt͉̪͖͈͙̫̼͞h͚͍̠̠e͓̦ͅṛ̢̭̥̞͎ͅę͙.̡͖ ̮͇͉̟̟B͚̱̮͇e͚t̺̰w̺̭̙̼̥̗͕e̱̮͕̖̮̤e͔̟͜n̡̮͇͙̥ ̩h͚̜̀o͕̩͞w͓̥̳̯͉͢ ͎̺͈̣̕e̞͚̤̜͙f̭̪f̨̫͎̤i̤̝c̷͕͉i̢̤̦͔̰e̷͓̭̯̣̤̹n͜t͔ ̼̳t̼h͕͚̝̼̣e̦͕͍̹̤̖͡ͅ ̞͚͠p͉̮̮͚r̖̯̜̺̪̖o̝̠͓c͓͎͎̦͙̯͡e҉ss͇̯͕̗̤̜͡ ͎͔́įs,̲̳͈̪̠ ͓̦̣àn̻d̰̝͙̘̜͠ͅͅ ̸h̲͢o͏̰̘̻͓̳̭w͢ ̺̘͍͘m̀u͈̣̙̳c̴h̰̬̪̖̟ ̼̘̪̺t̪̤̮̻̥͔͚̀R̫N̶͖̼̜̝̺̲̙A̛̙͕̤̗ ̺̱̼͙a̘̘n̷͚̝̼͈̪̯͍d̠̼̭̤̥͕ ̙̮a̯̻̗͖̪m̷̮i̭͖̳n̘͞o̷ a̴̪̹̭c̟̜͡i͏̰̳̪ͅd҉͉̣̩ş͇̞͖ͅ ̡̻̭̙̘͈i̸ț̴̘̙̜̼̙͉ h̲̮̟̹̝̲a͉̲͖̼̘̖ͅs̱̬̰̜͘,͇̱͖͠ ͎̟͓͕̻̻t̟͚̘̲h̙̘ͅe̶̳͍͍̪ͅo̮̮͙̘͘r͖̻̖̳̹͕e̛͔t̸̤̫i͍̬ͅc̮al ͇̩͕̱̤̺͟ͅl̫̜̻̖͘y̡̭̱̣͓͕, ̴t҉̣͈̣h͝i̶s͇͈̘͔̯̕ ̗̝̲̺͕̹͡ṯ̡̘͔͍̹ẖ̦̜i̖͍̙̤̥͈̦͞n̼̪̩̻͡g̫͔͝ ̻c͏̟̼̲͕̬̗͎ọ̩̬̩͈̪̰ú̦̮̝̣l̥͍̝͍̭̬d͚̘͉̠͢ ̷̘r̸̪̦̬̫̞̳̣e̻͓̭̘͟g̲̺̙ͅŕ̫o̗̞͈̩̺͓w̙͙̤̬̝͘ ̝̭͝a͎̞̻̫͍̗ ̳̠̞̣͓l̳͖̤͡i̼̲̥͓͍̝͉m͇͕͖͟b̢͖̪̫̭ ̨̳͓̗̖̼̲i̱̫̥͚͓͍̬n̡͔͕̞ ̣̭͓̟̻ͅa̜̰̟ ̜̖m͚͉̞̫̀ą͕̬t̺̱̘͞ṯ̺̟͠e̶̲̬̲r̴̟̣ ̝͙̦̟̼͈͟ͅo͚̮̠f̬̰̮̣͟ ̺͔͉̠̯̝̕se͚̼̺co̺̤̭̼n̵͍͉͚d̞͍̙̥̬s̶.̸͙̭͎̥.̰͓̳͙̯̞͘. ͖̼"


"͔̩͙̯̃̑͌̍L͉̬̝̏ͫ͒͑͑̆i̘̥ͦ̃̈́ͬ̿̄͑͜m̷̙̹͉̞̉̈͋̍̓ͨbͦ?̧̐͗̂̏ ͎̞͇̫̮͕ ͨ͆̽̃̂͞Ĩ̴̞̺̬͓̬̱̓ͭͭ͐̚t͕̲̩̳̱͠'̜̂̑ͫ̊̈́̏̓s̗̠ͦͣ̅̒ͮͩ ̨̳͓ͪ̅͑̄̅ͨ̏ä̜̮̖͍̘̘́̾͟ ͖̘̥͇̦̰̈́̍̀̎͒g̥͎̱͙̹̏ͩ͘ͅl̒̈o̺͙̬̯̰̳̼ͯ̄͐r̵̟̰̱̪̣̪ͨ̌̑ͯ̓ͩ͂ ̱i͍̮̘ͤ͂͂̆͞f̢̼̰̤͈̝̣̠͂̍̌ͤͤͦ̾ị̓ͬ͐͛eͥ͂̑́́d̴̰͇͕̥̙͂̐̋̐͗ ̺̦ ̴̍̇̍̉̄r̟͓̭̝̥̺ͧ͋̇͆o͕̪c̳̟̺͔̱̣̑́ͤ̌̿̾k͎̟̪̘̩̙̀.͚̤̣͍̱̰.̽ ̵̭͎̾̐̓ͪ͐ͨ.̢ͣ̐̉̾"̻̻͉̇̀͒̈͟


"͔̞͜N̘̻o̝̜̰͠t̞̭ ̡̰̫̹̝̟̘̜a̤̟̳̤͇͎ ͇̱͚r͎͔͈o̶͔̦͉̥̲̫̼c͙̳k͏̜̲̹͚͔.̧͈ ͡A̮̺̦̮n̞͠ ò̝͈̜̫̝̭r҉̦͓̤̲̹ga͖͙̞̦̥̥̙n͖̫͍̙̞̗.͏̭͙̳̙͓̻ ҉̙̣̭̭ͅY͔͜o̴u̜̰ ͖̮̮̖̱͢c̘̘̦͇͉̙̯o̺̹̥̙̹̣͎͝u̦̯̟͠ļ̜͉̠͈̣̺̞d̫̫̤ ̩͓̖͘c̦̼͚̩͠ą̰̖̞̰̭̱̤l̦̤̭̱̕l͍̖̤ ͕̗̯͝ìt͖͈͈̬ ̥̠͓͟a͘ ̖m͖͙̜ͅi̻̲̲͠x͏̥͇̜t͔̱ͅu̫͔r͞e̢̤̺ ̨̟̮̟͙̰͕o̰͍̥̖̮̱͚f͏̻͎̲̲͇͍ ̨͍͖͎̞̬̟e̘̱͖͙̪v̨͕͓èr̲̬̪̯̱̖y̵ ̺͓̭̫̺o̞̜͉r͇̺̘͓̮̬̰g̱͓̙̱an͘ n͎̻e̢̯̗̮̻̗̹̲e̳͞d̦̺̭̹͔͈̕e̛͙͍d̳ͅ ̹̟f͉̮̘̞o̧̭r̤̯̫̮̖̖ ̙̗̳̼̼̝͞ͅì͔ͅt̼͉̺̻͕̙̰ ̱̥̹̞to͟ ͞l͈i͓̟̯̩v̪͉͞e͓͓͙̬̹͞,̞̘͔̲̮̮̳ ̬̗e͙͔̳n̰̮͡c͝a̰ͅͅs̮̻̟̭̰̪e̜d̻̥̟͕̤͢ͅ ̸͕̱̟̺͕̘̪in̮̝̠ ̵̻̱̥̫̖̞a̠̤͔͠ ̶̣̦l͈̙̹̮̠͇͚a͖t̞̜̘̰̰̳͞ti̷̥͔̬͚c̩͔͜e̤ ̼͓͓̖ͅͅǫ͇͙̗͈f̠̰ ̠̤͓̮̹͔e̶͉̠̘͎͚̻v̤̝̺̭̦̕er̸͎̯̼̱y̩͚ ͓̫̭m̳̩͔͖͙͢o̺l̶e̩͎̺̙͈͘ͅc̢̝̞u͎̠ͅl̖e̶̺̯̫ ̠̱͇̺̱͕n͙e̞̺͇͈e̴̜͚̱̺̦̤ͅḏ̥̣̪͉͈ͅéd̪̞̱̕ͅ ̫͖͇̟̙̀t͙͎̫̳̮̫͉͞o̯͖̮͔̯͕͝ ̧̪̦p͈̩͇̝̠͎o͉̦͓͞t̨̜͎̗̖e̩̳̻nt͍̞̭̭i̦͜a̻̩l͇̖l͙͕ͅy̷ ̬s̗̀y͈̗n̦͔t̬̮̙̞̼́h̲͖̰̘̣͞ȩ͍̯̳̙ṣ̲͈͔̣͜ize̫ ̢its̶̖̳̟ͅe͙͇̬̪̯lf̺ ̮̘̳̖̀a̸n̴̘͎ ą̩̲̬͇c̼̜̲̗t͇̦̝ͅu͏a̜̦̜̭̻̳ͅl̹͇̤ ͚̼̀b͈̤o̗̥̫̼͝d̤̠y̥͖̖̮͈͚.̛̳͓̙͍͙͎.̠̜̞͉̖̦."͎̻͠


"͉̻͕̠̮̫̎̃͂̃͊ͅS̥̰̦̲̖̹̹ͫ̾ͫͪ̏̚o̲͒ ̟͙͔̱͉͇͚ͬ̍ͨt͖͍̰ͫͯ̇́hͯ̒҉̫̰͇i̪̍s̪̬ͣ͝ ͉̗͓̘̐͑ͩ̔͗̌ͬi̢ͥ̒̆ͯͭṡ̰̗̤͕̬̻ͭ̋ ͂̊̿̐͒͋a̼̲̗̟̪͑ͣ͋̚c̞͈̲̗̻̫t̨̜̹̜͛́̚u̶̲̮̺̹͕ͅȁ̮̳̲͗̎ͦ͛ͧͯ ͇̠̫l̴̻̭̣͍͌ͮl̗͂͐ͭ̐̈͘y̫̬̟͔̼̳̼̓͑̕ ̠̣͛͛ͨ̋ͯ̚͘s̱̥͛̍͆o̬̦͑m̞͆̄͒̇̏͜e̴̻͉̜̓͑̋ͮͩͤ ̻͆͑̉̀ͥ̎͋͜s̴ͧͤ̉ơ̠̍ͮ̅r̬̣͓͋ͦ͋̎̆͗̚̕t̥̋̿ͩ̂͢ ̎͂̌̅͐͜ȍ̸̇f̒ͧ̈́ͤ͊ ̢̠̲̋ͯ̂͂̿͗ͫP̅͝ô̟̗̽̎ͣ̾ͫͭk̜̋ͣ͘e͍̦͙̐ͧͥ̇͆ͯ͢ͅm̡͚̿ͦ͊ͣ͒̚o ̓n͉̪̞̙̆̅ͨ́?ͧ͊̚ͅ"̛͂ͯ̿


"̱̻̹̪̮̩͕ͬͬͭ̽ͣ̍̚Y̻̮ͨ̿͋͆ͨe̷̳͎͔̰̩̞͂́͂͒͛͒ͅṡ̳͎̮̝̗̰̍̈́ͅ, ̡̖̯̲̥͇̼̞ ̭͕̞ͪ͘ḁ͕̥̩̘̺̅̿̈́̊͐̃̀ ̼̙͙̻̕s̥̰̪̼͚̠ͫ̌p̹̞̫͚̜̙̂̾e̸̪̪̘ͥͬ̐̈̋c̛͔̮̹ͤͪͮ́ͬiͦͤ̒ͤ̍̽ ̠̩̣̱e͕̙̲̩͉̊͂ͮs̭͍̣̝̕ ̟͂͛̌̄ͭ͛oͯͪͩ̄̇҉̖̯fͮ̚͏̦̝̺̱ ͕̼͋ͅP̢̪͙̑ȏ̱͋k̪̽ͩͩͥ͗e͗̏͆̐͐̐̚͠ͅm̺̟̀ö̦̬̤̪͗͒̚n̦̽̌ͣ̓͡ ̪̳̬ ̡̝͔̽̐ͧn̉̅̄͐ͣ̉̚҉̥̥̦̞̟̥̼ȏ̏̎̐̑t̢̥͈̗̪ͣ̀͆͑̋ͣ̈́ͅ ̝̰̗͉̬̺̊̓̾͢ḟ̉̏̚r̵̠̻̲̒ͪͯͧ͂̆̊öm̭̱͎̼͑ͭ̐ ̯̼͕̞͑̇̓͂͋̚t̞̮̟h̢̜̮͙ͧ̎̌ͦ̋i̝ͩ̏ͯ͐ͭ̽͋ͅś͕͈̹̰̲̝̹ ̩͈̥̗̘e͇͚̗̒ͥͩ̆a̗͓̅̄ͬ͠r̗̬̤̤͓͈̣ͮ͐́̎ͬ̚t̡̳̯̝̤̘̘̟h͎̪̄͆̓̽ ̖͍̩̥̲.͕̺̺̣̤̅̄̋̅̆̎ͩ ̴̣̎B̵̗͈͔̩̪͕ͯ̄ͧ̈̌ͦ̚a̳̰͇̥̦͈ͯs͖̰͊̎ͨ͡ḛ̡̤͓͓d͕̦̂̔̚ ̵̩̲̦̝̟̭̻̔̈́ô̗ͬ̽͆ͨ̐ͤn͖͛̽̆ ̛͚̮͎̭̻its̞̑ͮ̍ͭ ̲̾ͭͭ̔͗͒͟u̜̦͍̯͇̙̜̔́̿̓ͫ͑̌n̦͌̈́̏͝uͩ̆̇͑̄s̢̙̻̳̲͖̙ͭͨ̽ͭ́̎̅ ṵ̹̏ͯͮ̚a̫̼̒ͥ̉̎ͥ̾̿l̛̄ ̘͕͓͍̖̆͆̓̄͌̔Ḓ͎̲͋̽̉̒̚͞N̶͖͕͇̘͓A̖̘̞̰̾̒̑̓̒̊,̫̹ ͛ͩ͗̓҉̲͎Ĩ ̛̗̪̪̥̫̼ͥ̾̃tͯͨ͂͂ͥͯ̆h̥̙̤͚̫̾i̗͚̩͚̹͖̓n̻̖̯͇̤̮̈̊͛̊ͧ̂̕ͅk͆ ̸ͪ̔͑ ͭ̅͏̹̫w͖̮͓͍͙̭̬e̴̘͙̮̺̼ͨ̅ͩ ̰̖̠̽̈͢ś̃͏̞͚̣͚h̭̍ōul̉͜dͮ ̷̮͓̯̋ͯc̭̊ͦ̊͑͊̌̂ȃ̲̥̖̺̳̮̗̏̊l̡͔̣̙̣͚̅̄͌͌ͅͅľ̰͒ͫͧ̓ ̳ ͯ̀̒͟i̊͊t̩͍̪ ̶̰̪̟͇̬Ḋ̏̎̅̔͋e̗̲̯̼o̝̎̉͌̐̑̽̇x͙̣̼͇ͩ̀y̜͙ͧ̐͢ͅs͈͔̈.̠̅͐̔ ̗͚̤̤ͅ.̦͖̜̓̈ͨͭ̅.̙̹͕̹̣ͥ̋ͮ"̲̭͇̳̞̫̤̀

"̸̻͈̩̮̋̎ͮ͗S̴͚̩̄ő̱͚͚͉̋͑͋ͯ̐ ̰h̺̟̮̮̞̾ͥ̓͌̚o̯̎̇ͤ̾ͣwͦ̾̓͊̊҉̻̤ ̥̉͊̔̉̾͗͑͠d̖̹̓ͧ͐ͭ̒̍ͬǒ̸̟̮̞̟̮̲̎̆͊̈́̓ͬ ̭̜͇̱͇̔͌̐̾͊͠ͅw̘͚͚͉̲̗̣e̴̟̺̥͈̟̒̑ͨͩͮ͐̏ͅ ̴͋͛g̥̮͌͐͛̓̾ͯͨ́e̮͇͐͋t͈͚̩̝̰̩ͥ̍̕ ̋̓̿͑́͆̍҉̰i̺̾ͨ̄̇̚t̯̥̩̥ͨ̑̿̐̐ͩͦ ̬̰̔͌͌̽ͪ͝ṯ͎̣̾̄̉ͪo ͤͪ̋̎̃͗̑ġ̭͌̈͌e̷̳̞̔̍͊́n͖̪̥̠̭͜e̩͕̙̳̭̮ͥ͒͗ͬ̒͢r̸̤̬̒ä͏͎ ͕̘̗̦͙ṭ̝̤͎e̱̫̘͊ͫ̆̄ͫͩͦ ̸̥͍͕̹̬̙̐̿̈a̖̬͇͙̔ͭ͑̾̕ ͐̍ͫͩ̏̚͏̦͉̰bͨ̎͐ͯ̕ơ̭̪̭̑ͯͅd͕̬̠̳͋̎̆ͮͮͤỳ̫͍͖ͅ?̌ͩ͒͋ ̬̙̗ ̧̠̫͕͔̠̓̃ͯͧ͛͊̍T̈́̀ͬ҉͖̣̞̘̠̮͖h͙̣ͬͬ̒ͯ͑ę̹̞͔̑̃̓̒͊ͥ̑r̲͂e̋ ͧ̈́ͮ̾̀'͎̥̱͙͉̱͈͠s̥̦̗̺ͨͧ͐͝ ͙̪̲̳̳͒ͣ̓̀h̨̗̹̫̫͉̠̜͛͒̍ȃ͇̠̣̳̪̮͌̆̑ͦ̔̚r̟̠̎̓ͤ͋dl̷̩y͗̒̑ ̠̤̱̣͕̍̓̾ͤ ̼̟̲̙̮̆͜ͅa̼͇̖̠̯͇̙ṉ͓̱̠ͨ͒̃̄̇͑͠y̡tͩͪ҉̤ͅh̭̻̺ͮ̀ï͇̌͊ͫnͮ ̝̬͕͇͍ͮͩ́̂̂͠g̙̦̹͍̈̿ͧͩ͗ͣ́́ ̯̙̲͎̬͗͑̉͟w̺̪̉́̽ͬͯ̉̕ȅ͈̹̯̠̖͙̥ͯ̌ͨͨ ̙̼͇̫̤̻̑ͩ̃ͭ̚͘h̨̥̱̻̮̗̆̔̔̿a̹̱͎͐̒̐̽ͧ̌v̺͈̬̏ͬe̷̺̤̲̊ͨͫ̓̊ͮ ͎̭n͕̯ͨ'̴̬̤̼̩̫̞̯̄t́̏̆͏̥ ̭͖̠̱̪̣̞ͥ͊̋͋̆̒t̷̞̉ͥ̐ř̡̟͇̗͖̣͕̽͒͐̐͋i̮̜̳̰̐ͦ̄̔̅̂̽͢eͪ͋̑ ̩̐͞dͬͣ̽̏̆̆.̶̒.̺ͭ̇̋̅̒ͦ.̧̤̻̺̩͍̍̔ͭͧ"̪ͩ̎̅͐́

"͉̭̣̦̫T̟̥̹̝̻̤̹h̘̝̱͉͚e͓ͅr͚̪ͅe̜̠̭͙͈̼ͅ'̖̝̬̹̼͖͇s̟̹̹̠̬̗ ̥ ̸̦͕̼͓o͟ṋ̨͉͙è̼̪̳̖̲ ̪̟t̫̙̟̩h̠̮̰͖͞ḭ̼̖̠̳̪ͅn͕̤͙͔͎g̷̭ ͍̩̻͚w̞̭̩̺͖̞ͅe̟͓ ̶̣͕̟̯̺h͈͍̖̦͙̻a̤̠v̷̬̹̜̬̟ͅe҉̜̪͉͕̯n̵̫͓̻̤̰'͖̺̟̪̩̲t̫̦̤͙ ̟ ̼̙ţ̣r̬̹̫͉i̧̞͇̠͔̹ed̪̺̼͓.̖̜̤͇ R̜̜͖̠̣͓a̳d̥̰̳̲̱͚̞i̜̫͎͉̲̬a͏͍͖̹̦̙͓ͅt͍̱̫͓͎i̲̣͍̦̖̱͜o̼n ̣̤̫͍.͇͈̳͘ ͏͚̯̫̺It̨̞ ͓i͙̘s̝͕̩̲̬̠ ͔̩̜̪ͅṟ͜ęm̥͖ạ̫͈̗́ịn̬̮̣i̹̤̮̯͈̳n͔g̫̥͈̙̤͞ͅ ̭̘͙͈̣doŗ̲͙̱͖̳̗͙m̧̗̱a̰̠͇̲͙͔n̶͓̘t̷̜̱̟ ̤̟̭̘b̙̯̱͓̭ec͓̠̞a̢̙͎̹̯ṵ̢̭̤͈̗ͅs̤͔͉e̠ ̙̪͉̕w̤̲̤͎e̬͕̥ ͍̦̗̳͔̻͟ḥ͖̳a̙̫̳͇̞̜vèṇ̲͎̰͢'̖̮͍̥͉̫̦t͏͇̱̭͍̟ b̡̼̪͓e̬͉̳̼̫͓e̸̠̝̠͕n̬̘͓͈̝ͅ ͖̻̪̠͕̫͎a̝͉̞̙̠̹͡ͅb̛̯͖l̠̱̹̫͔̣̥͞e͇͜ ̸̖͇̮͇ͅt̫͔̣̟̙͖o͎͇͚͡ ̠̬̥p̡̣̹̩̤̙͕u͈̫̗t͉̗ ̧i̷ṯ̟̠̰͇͔ ͈̦͎̝̩͞i̵̻̘̝̩̪̬n̙͍̪͎͕ͅṭ̩̙̞̩͕o͡ͅ ̛̟i̢̤m̼̀m̜͎̙͍̤̹͈e̢d͔i̟̹a̴̺̟̝̟ͅt̛̫͕e̮̜̹̱͝ ̺̲̞̹̜̪̖͡d̳͔̥̩͚͠a̷̠͕͍n̝̪ge͕̹̮̲̝r͔̺̦͡.͇̦̦̰̮̦͈ ͞B̗̩u̩̹̝̝t̛̩͙̪̠̮̟ͅ ̵̺̯̹̮ͅi̺̣̹͎f̫̻̝̰̦͟ i̩͈̹͖̭̜t͞'̝̮̰͕͎̩ͅs̛̱͕̙̘̮ ̸͎͖̬͙̗͈͔e͚͕ͅx͢p̼̜̭̮͘ͅo̺̘̯̰̭̕s̙̟̼̹͉̲̣e̥̭͓̺͙̜d͇͕ ̼ ̖̺͜t͎̖͕͔͇̫̯o̳̗͇̖͉̬͚ ̳̺̣͔͉͇r͎̤̗̙a̸̜ḑía̞ṭ̠io̥̰̫n̹͕̩̜̭,̛̼̼̩͍͍̟̦ i͙t̷̖̺̦̗̰̫̘ ̺̮w̹̪̩i̪̪͇̝̕l̵̬̤̼̜ͅl͍̞̜ ̷̮̳̩̲̭̦̙c̗̜̼͕͖̳a͚̗̕ų̤s͇̝̯̪̘e̷̱̦̟̰̰̠ d҉͚am͇̙̠͇̣a͉͇͎̙͕͜ͅge͍̜͚̯̳̺̟ ̦͢t̻̞͎̞̝͕o͉̥̭ ͕̥͖i̭̗͎ṱ̰͇̠͔̘s D̤̪N̬̙̮A͇̞̭͙͘.̹̥͉͙̱͎̀ ̺̘̻̤̘̲̹If̩̰̭ͅ ̴̗̞̪͖̣͍̣ṯ̝͕̕ͅh̶͔̙̞̝̲̭a̫t̖͚͎̞̭̩͙ ҉̠̤̮̠̗d̵͎̺o̠ͅe̫̥s̻͇̤n̶̺̳̯̖̤'̬͎͙t̢͇͔̗͖ͅͅ ̘͓̰̹͇a̛̝͈̗̘̬̜̲wak̼̲̮͉̞̝̜e͕͉̜̺n̲͝ ̲͡i̬̭̖̘̦͎͕͟t̢͉,҉̙͍ ͖̖͇̰̀ͅn̲̥̱̰̩̼o̥̼̤̩̟̝̝t̺̩̟̞͕h̼i̹̜̹͔͇̞̙n̵̻̗̪̩̰͓͇ g͔̗̬ ͏̬̩̱̮̮w͎͚̜i̺̗͚͇͖̕ḽ̮̟̣͢l̪͓̼͓.̞̮̙̮̪ͅ..̱͖̭̦͉̬̦"͈̩̰̻͙ ̻̹


They left for a few moments, before returning, as I was taken from where I had sat for what felt like an eternity, and placed somewhere else.






"ͪ͊ͭ͆ͣ̋ͯ͛͂͑͐͜͏҉͙̣̼̭̱͎̫̠̳̞͇͓͉͍̪̩͇̀͡T̷̛̾ͬ̒ͯ̈̄̌̓̄͂̌̚̚ ̮̠̻̫͡h̸̵̼̙̣̥͉̖͚̺̞͓̝̺̩͓̣͙̞̫̽̌̓̈ͥ̅̈̀ͩ̅ͮ̓͊̊͜ͅr̅̒͊̎̈́́͒ ̰̯̰̟̙̀̽́͝e̓̿̽̌ͫ͛ͧ͊͆͛̿̐̄ͧ̇̈́҉̢͉̝̰̖̳̻̭̝͔̠eͪͦ̍͌́͂̐͛̎͛̚ ̸̢̡̼̜̫͉͚͚͎͈͚̱̳͕̈̓͟.̑͊͊͑̂̑ͬ͑̿ͫ͂ͫ̎ͤͥ̐̚͢͏̴͓̙̼̠̬̱̫͕̫̺͈ ̳.̔͌͗̄ͥͧ̿ͥ̚҉̴̨̢͔͇̜͎̦̘̫̘̝̞̀ͅ.̛ͮ̿̏҉̬̜̟̠͇̤̹̮̺͇̺̮͜ ̭ ̷̴̜̺̩̗̪͚̱̮̳͙̫͔̳͔̠̲̝̬̒̌ͤͮ̊͊͗͗̈́ͭͯ̽͊͛̕͘͠ͅTͦͥ̂̓̊͊͒̑̇̇͂ ̸̨̛͕̱̖̳̙͚̟̜̝̬͇͔̖͙̆͠w̶̧̦͍̬̖͎̦͕ͩ̂ͫ͐͗ͬ̾̈́̚̕͢o̢ͩͤ͗̉͏̫̳ ̝̬̝̰̘̣̮̺̞̞.̴̴͔͚͖̰͖͕͕̤̲ͮ́̾͆̕ͅ.̛͇̋̌ͧͮ̾ͨͭ͊͐͒̾̔̌͗͊ͥ̉̍́ ̱̝̗̳̭̺͎̤͚̪͉̺.̵̸̨͇͔̞̜̣̯͚̺̈́̇ͤ͐͘͠ ̰͙͍̗͕̞̞̔͂̆͊͛̾ͤ͂͊ͦ̿ͥ́͡Ơ͐́̑̔̆̌̇͐͆̉̏̊ͭ́ͭͬ͡҉̡̛̠̰̻͓̮̩̣ ̞̩̤̘̦̪̭n̨̨̯͇̭̟̤̣͈̯̥͈̣̭̱̫̺̺͛ͪ͋̏́̋̾̊̃̽̎̄́ë́̃͌̋͊ͤͫ̎̏̈́ ̧̇̿͏̨̝͕͔̣̬͚̫̼͖̱͓̻̪.̱͓̲̺͕̺̗͈̫̟̞͓̎ͫ̒ͧͧ̋̉ͬ̏̓̂͑ͣ̇̿́͘͟ͅ .̛ͪ̆̋ͭ̆̌͊̾͒̊̒͋̽҉͢͞҉̪̯̜̫̭͇͓̣̳͎̳͎̰ͅ.ͤ̈́͂̂̔̊ͤ̋͛ͮͧ̑ͮͤ̓͛ ̰̘̤̤̲͙͙̦̟̱̲̝̩̞͔̫͕̀͜"̸̻͚̗͙̠͇̝̺́̓͂̽ͬͭ̐ͤ̐̋͋ͣ͊̈ͮ́͞ ͓







I feel an odd sensation. At first it is warm, and getting hotter, however this is different to when they attempted to burn me before. The heat originates from within me, and I feel as if I am crumbling apart from the inside.

I scream, though know I have no way to make an audible sound, but scream again. On the third scream however, I hear a loud bang. I hear…

I open my eyes, and see two men in white lab coats, staring at me through a thick transparent window in awe and excitement. The window itself has a large crack that seems to only affect the first layer. Did I do that?

I look down to where my body should be, and see a purple crystalline orb, glowing from the inside, as from it, flesh extends into a torso and limbs at an alarming rate. As I try to lift my right arm, I feel odd, as if it is split, and when I look, see it is instead a pair of independent red and blue tentacles. Feeling sickened by the sight, they seem to react, coming together, and shifting shape to form an arm and a familiar hand.

My body seems complete, or at least stable, as I use my telekinesis to lift myself into an upright position, floating above the ground.

“Deoxys has awoken!” one of the men yelled with excitement, as the other looked me in the eyes, fear beginning to permeate his expression. I’ll give them reason to fear me…

As I feel the anger well up in me, my body begins to shift. My torso becomes thinner, more streamlined, as my arms split into pairs of tentacles again, though this time sharper and more deadly. The tentacles attached to each shoulder begin to move independently, the red ones raising before pointing down, and the blue lowering before pointing up to meet the red ones near the centre of my body. Where they meet, a bright purple orb appears, and begins to grow. After all this torture, I pour my rage into this attack, and release it…

Charlotte awoke to the sound of a distant boom and the ground shaking underneath her. ..

“What’s that…” Abbee muttered groggily from her bed.

There was a loud explosion in the distance, and Charlotte could hear the other campers starting to call out.

“Something’s wrong…” Charlotte said, as she got out of bed, putting on her shoes and grabbing her belt from the bedpost.

When Charlotte got outside, she saw Dylan was already there, barefoot, looking in the direction of the Space Center, which was now engulfed in flames in the distance.

“I think you were right…” Charlotte said to him. “About my dreams. In the dream I had, the thing I was sharing a mind with woke up…”

“What is it?” Dylan asked, wondering why this had to happen the one night Jon was gone…

“Deoxys…”