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As the evening sun stood high in the sky, beaming down on the Colosseum from above, audiences gathered in readiness to witness the final battle of Team Warmachine's competition; Team Warmachine themselves, versus their latest challengers, Team Valiant. Anticipation was high; male and female Pokemon of all ages had gathered there to witness the battle of the century, to see the only team besides Team Phobia to ever make it this far in one of the contests...

All while blissfully ignorant of what was happening in the shadows.

Team Warmachine's members were all under mind control of one of their own; a Malamar known as Bialo, at the behest of the team's own coordinator, Maggie, for reasons that were not yet clear. Only Team Valiant and a select few knew of this; who could they tell about it? Especially without proof it was even going on. All they could do was work to expose it, all the while letting the conspirators believe that they knew nothing.

The first match was between Wade in his newly-evolved body -now a Samurott instead of a Dewott, against Team Warmachine's armoured warrior, Aegis, a powerful Chesnaught. They didn't know if he was at all involved -unwillingly or not, as Maggie seemed to have her focus on the other core members set to battle against Team Valiant, evidently seeing them as the bigger threat to their reputation than Wade was -she likely thought the young swordsman stood no chance against Aegis.

Regardless of whether or not Aegis was under Bialo's control, Wade was determined to win this tournament no matter what. He was brimming with confidence now that he had evolved, but he was also wary that his opponent was both a heavy hitter as well as a defensive tank. Furthermore, Wade had been filled in on the situation within Team Warmachine; he had been told by his sensei and teacher, Kage.

His role was clear; he would battle with Aegis, and whether or not he would win, he would then join the search for Bialo alongside Team Kama, searching in secret. Though he was still in this battle to win, he knew he had a mission to fulfill, and so he faced Aegis as Oceania the Milotic, replacing Leon as the announcer for the tournament, beckoned them to the center of the ring for an exchange and the announcement of the match.

Wade placed his paws together and bowed respectfully before standing tall once more. "Having the privilege of battling one of Team Warmachine's finest is an honour in itself." He stated, a smile on his face as he looked on at Aegis, curious as to what his response would be.

The reply confirmed as to whether or not the Chesnaught was corrupted by Bialo; he spoke coherently, and maintained a focused expression as he spoke. "You have come far, young swordsman," he stated with a big, praising smile on his face. "This will truly be a battle to remember! Let us find out just how far you can go, as we battle here today. May the best warrior win!"

Inexplicably, Wade felt a wave of relief wash over him. There was no way Aegis was being controlled; Maggie was too vain to let him praise Wade in such a way if it were up to her. His mind was still free; now he could fight without any regrets. "Agreed. Let's enjoy this battle..." He returned, offering him his paw in respect before they began.

Aegis took a step forward to reach out and grasp his paw, still smiling. "However , I know it'll be a good battle," he said.

Wade gave him a nod back, releasing his paw and stepping back a few paces before he stood tall on his hind legs. Aegis returned to his position, looking over as Oceania raised her tail fin high for the audience to see as she announced the match.

"The Final Round of the Single's Division will now commence!" She called. "Our own armoured knight Aegis, vs. the Prodigetic Wade from Port Azure! This is the moment you have all been waiting for! The deciding match to declare our new Single's Division Champion! Don't blink, for this will be a battle of the ages!" She looked between Aegis and Wade. "Combatants ready?"

Aegis widened his stance, rolling his massive shoulders slightly and standing in a slightly crouched position. "Ready," he stated.

Wade widened his stance, drawing his Seamitars in the blink of an eye, his main hand blade in a forehand grip, his offhand in a reverse grip. "Ready," Wade returned, steeling his nerves for the fight.

"Begin!" She called, before quickly using Surf to leave the field as if expecting an explosion.

With her departure, the two charged each other. Wade entered the battle bare-pawed first as he and Aegis charged, and collided in the middle of the Colosseum; Wade underestimated the mighty tackle from the Chesnaught and was blown backward by the sheer force emitted by his opponent, digging all four paws into the ground to stop himself from skidding too far, then proceeding to draw his Seamitars for an all-out offensive, using Aqua jet to rush at Aegis and unleash his fury.

Aegis blocked the first swing with his arm and then twisted his body to take the second one with his armoured back before swinging his fist at Wade; the Samurott ducked back, feeling the wind of the punch as it passed in front of his face, and then struck back only for his sword to be blocked by Aegis' armoured arm again. But while they were in a deadlock, Wade fired a Water Pulse point-blank at Aegis, sending him slightly backward, but little more.

Aegis then curled up into a ball, ducking into his armoured back and wrapping his arms around his front before he lurched forward into a Rollout, making a beeline straight at Wade and leaving an impression in the sand to mark his path. Wade dodged out of the way with Aqua Jet, and then turned around as Aegis made a u-turn and started to head back in his direction. Wade was ready to dodge again, until very suddenly, Aegis uncurled, and launched himself at Wade with a heavy, two-legged kick that caught Wade off-guard, catching him in the midst of stepping aside and slamming both into his chest.

He wheezed as the air was knocked out of his lungs and he was sent flying back several meters, skidding across the ground before grinding to a slow stop in the sand. Wade had never seen someone come out of a Rollout so suddenly and still be coordinated enough to break through his opponent's defence and deliver a heavy blow.

But the Chesnaught did not press after him, even in his vulnerable position; he stood his ground, waiting for him to stand. "Come on, son," he called, watching him for a few more seconds before he resumed his stance, bashing his fists together and bellowing at him. "Come on!"

Wade flipped back to his feet, twirling his blades and resuming his stance, thankful his Shell Armour held up and protected him from some major damage. But _his_armour paled in comparison to that of Aegis; that spiked shell and naturally hard skin of his made him all but impervious to most of Wade's physical attacks -he was almost as tough as Tristan!

"Show me the strength that brought you here to face me this day!" Aegis continued to demand more from him. "For if you are not dedicated to pushing forward, be it for yourself or another, you will _never_defeat me!"

Wade then did something rather surprising...he sheathed his blades back into his arm guards and cracked his knuckles a bit before taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. He then weaved a sign before discharging a Scald attack, and while he held up the Scald, we made another sign and created two doubles of himself, both of which darted toward the Chesnaught and slashed at him with their blades. Aegis stood his ground, raising his Spiky Shield to stop the doubles, poking themselves on the wall of thorns in the process while he remained undeterred.

They vanished in large plumes of water, yet despite that, Wade kept pumping his Scald attack at Aegis, the boiling hot water shooting from his mouth growing hotter and hotter by the second. Aegis withdrew into his shell again, the hot water searing over the surface; although it protected him from burns, it did not protect him from the heat, filling his shell quickly. Left with only one option he went into another Rollout, trying to push through to Wade.

The Samurott kept his ground despite the Chesnaught rolling toward him, smirking even before he knew he was about to take a hit. He cried out as he was slammed into, but the second he was, he used Substitute to evade the blow, leaving behind a poke doll and a billowing cloud of smoke in his wake.

When Aegis no longer felt himself striking a body, he uncurled again, looking around quickly for the Samurott. Suspecting a surprise attack he ducked low, confining as much of himself into his shell as he could and protecting his head with his arms, listening attentively. "Where'd you go...?" He muttered.

Then, right in front of the Chesnaught, the smoke cleared and one of Wade's Water Shurikens came barrelling toward him, spinning rapidly as it approached. Promptly he formed another Spiky Shield to block it, but in the process left himself completely blind to an attack from any direction. The Shuriken had did its job, leaving Wade, now high above Aegis in the air, to form another Water Shuriken in his paw. Holding it high in his paw, he grunted as he hurled the second Shuriken down at Aegis, making contact with him and exploding into a vortex of torrential waves within a large sphere of water.

The Chesnaught, as with Tristan when Wade used this same attack against him, was protected by his armour but tossed around by the vortex, throwing him to and fro and barraging him with repeated onslaughts until the attack finally dissipated and he dropped to the ground hard, letting out a grunt before he tried to get back up. By that time, Wade had appeared right in his face, rearing his right arm back and landing the heaviest punch he could muster right into Aegis' face.

He fell back, grunting again, but then he reared up and clapped the sides of Wade's head with both of his arms, harshly. Wade grunted, feeling his ears ring and his vision disorient for a bit from that attack. He stumbled back and gripped his head, pounding in pain as he struggled to recollect himself. When his hearing cleared, Aegis was back on his feet, panting for breath.

"The same attack you beat that Aggron with," he said. "Still impresses me even when I'm hit by it." He let Wade finish collecting himself, rather than attack him while he was helpless, but never took his eyes off him.

Wade shook his head, feeling his senses return and opened his eyes to look back at Aegis with a bit of a smirk. "I spent years learning how to perform that attack..I guess I should have expected it would fail against a defensive tank like you, especially since your typing trumps mine."

"You knew that when you chose to fight me," Aegis stated, beginning to walk in a slow circle around Wade. "You could've gone for Kari, your obvious advantage, or anyone else, but you chose me, because you wanted the challenge." He stopped when he was off to Wade's right, still watching him. "Am I wrong?"

Wade chuckled. "You're strong, honourable, _and_perceptive," He returned with a nod. "I won't know if my training has truly paid off unless I meet a proper challenge." Wade stated. "King claimed to have the sturdiest defence, but a couple days ago, I proved that every defence has a fracture, it seems now I have to prove the same thing against you." Wade added. "Aegis, you've earned my deepest respects today."

Aegis smiled. "Let me tell you something, son, that someone very important told me, and that overtime I learned to understand," he began. "'The path of the fighter is an endless road; there's no limit to how far you can walk, but what you set for yourself. There will be blocks in this road you will have to go through -don't try to find a way around the, because they are there to test you'."

"For years I wondered what that meant, and then it dawned on me; it simply means that the road _doesn't_end for a warrior, until he chooses to let it do so -to settle on the side of that road, and live peacefully to watch passersby," he continued. "I still walk this road; I have fought hundreds of battles, many of them against foes as strong as you. I have won, I have lost, I have even reached stalemates with them." He gestured to his shell on his back. "There's a mark up there for almost every one of them, but those lost battles are just walls it took me a little longer to breach. In the end, I still did.

"If I find an opponent I cannot triumph over, it simply means I must work harder to tear down that next wall. There is no shame in knowing that you are not strong enough yet, only in believing you can't _be_strong enough, But there is a way; those walls can also be _climbed,_and when you climb them, they help you reach new heights, so you can smash them from above and clear your road."

He pointed at Wade. "Even if you lose here today... you made it to new heights just by reaching me, heights others failed to. _That..._is your victory." He smiled. "You can always come back to fight me again, and I will be here waiting, as the next wall for you to take down."

Wade stood there, taking in his words of wisdom and taking them to heart. He lowered his gaze and closed his eyes, and the Chesnaught could see the Samurott's paws were trembling a bit. "I'm thankful," He began, "that my final opponent in this competition was you, Aegis." He said, lifting his head back up and opening his eyes. "However... at this point, my dream will not allow me to give up. I will fight tooth and nail to achieve that dream." His gaze intensified. "I will not lose... not until I become the greatest swordsman alive!" He exclaimed.

Aegis chuckled. "Well then, since you're all pumped up now," He put up his fists, activating another Needle Arm. "Let's not bore the audience with philosophy any longer!"

Wade touched the sheath of his blade, activating a mechanism that shot the sword out of its sheathe. He then drew his Seamitars once more, tilted his head up and caught his third blade in his mouth before taking his stance once more on his hind legs, displaying remarkable balance even while carrying three swords simultaneously. The heavyweight Grass-type stood ready with his arms raised defensively, shuffling a little closer to the Samurott as he prepared to re-engage him.

However, Wade took the initiative, rearing his arm back and slashing the air, sending a water projectile toward the Chesnaught that was similar to Aqua Jet, but without Wade himself being propelled towards the Chesnaught in the process. He blocked it with a Spiky Shield before he charged forward and lunged at him with Needle Arm. Wade roared, bringing his Seamitars down to block the oncoming Needle-Arm. Once that was successful, he then threw his head to the side, slashing at Aegis with his third blade in his mouth.

Though, such an attack was hard to aim, and Aegis easily blocked it with his shell, delivering a powerful uppercut to Wade's chest that would have emptied his lungs of air, but the Samurott exhaled sharply to absorb the impact, and then struck back. The sounds of their attacks colliding one time after another filled the arena as they fought hard to overcome the other. They were perfectly matched; Aegis was stronger and sturdier than the Samurott, Wade was faster and had faster reflexes, but Aegis was practically a living suit of armour giving him very few openings to take advantage of; the only vulnerable place on the Chesnaught's body was his face, which he did well to protect.

Wade began to understand, as the battle progressed, that he would need to do something unexpected to get an edge in this fight. He would have to surprise Aegis somehow -force his guard open. And he knew just how to do it...

As he and Aegis collided again and entered a deadlock, Wade spat out the sword in his mouth and breathed a Scald attack at Aegis, showering his exposed chest and face with boiling hot water. Blinded by the scald to his face, Aegis couldn't properly guard, not used to fighting without his eyes, and Wade found himself able to strike at every vulnerable point on the body of the Chesnaught; he struck his hip to make him stumble slightly, followed by a twin pommel strike to the head, dazing him, and endured it with a Megahorn attack directly to his armoured chest, transferring force through the tip of his horn and through Aegis's armoured body straight to the soft portions underneath, leaving him breathless and knocking him onto his back.

"Ow..." The Chesnaught groaned, holding his chest and cringing.

He felt Wade step onto his stomach, and opened his eyes to find the Samurott's blades crossed in front of his neck, tips stuck into the ground to anchor him and making any movement dangerous. "Yield!"

There was a brief silence as the two gazed into each other's eyes as Wade waited for Aegis to make his decision. Finally, after a long, tense moment, the Chesnaught smiled, and relaxed his hands, omitting the victory to Wade.

"You win," he said

Wade let out a sigh, slowly withdrawing his blades and stepping off of Aegis. After sheathing his two seamitars and retrieving his metal sword, which he also returned to its scabbard, he then knelt down and helped the Chesnaught back up to his feet, a calmer, more warm look in his gaze. The Chesnaught grasped his arm, and the audience roared with applause as Aegis was hoisted to his feet, all of them cheering Wade's name. The Chesnaught, still holding his arm, ushered him to stand on his hind legs and held his arm up, letting him take in the praise.

"Well done," the Chesnaught commented

"The fight is over! Wade from Port Azure is the winner!" Oceania called, raising her fan-like tail high into the air. "Let's hear it for the winner of the Single Division!"

The applause continued, voices of all kinds ringing out through the air, praising the young Samurott for his victory. Wade smiled softly, taking in the praises by the audience as they cheered his name. He looked back to Aegis, grasping his claw in both his paws. "Thank you _very_much for this fight; I've learned a lot from this experience, and I look forward to one day facing you again in the future," He told the Chesnaught in a highly appreciative tone, absolutely beaming at him.

The Chesnaught smiled back. "It was my pleasure," he returned. "And whenever the time comes you want to fight again, I'll be ready." He squeezed Wade's paw. "'Cuz now _you_are my next wall." He added with a broad, confident smile.

"Wade," Oceania chimed in. "When the next round is over, we ask you to come back here to the Colosseum to accept a grand prize. For now, please find yourself a seat in the stands and watch the Finale of the Team Division."

Wade gave a nod to Oceania, looking back to Aegis one more time before he

took his leave, heading out of the arena to take his position....silently wishing Team Valiant luck.

Up in the stands, the team sat watching, seeing the entirety of Wade's battle with Aegis. They were relieved to know that the Chesnaught had not been under the control of Bialo as Kaen had not known if he and Maggie had targeted him as well to try and fix his match with Wade. Evidently, she did not perceive the young Samurott as a threat, which h as was now clear, was great mistake.

They waited as they watched Wade leave the Colosseum and some crews smoothed out the battlefield for the next round, where their names were called. The time had come for them to do battle with the brainwashed elite of Team Warmachine; whether that would be advantageous to them or not was the least of their concerns, as all they wanted was to expose the corruption orchestrated by Team Warmachine's coordinator, and find some answers as to _why_she would go to such lengths...

But to do that, they would have to fight them first; buy enough time time for Wade to rendezvous with Sickle's team and hold the line until the culprits were found.

"Well," Luke said as he leaned away from the railing he was propped against, gathering his team's attention. "This is it."

Katsu nodded in agreement. "The moment of truth is upon us. We now face Team Warmachine," he said, before grunting in aggravation. "But_this_ is not how we all wanted it, to face them as string puppets to a delusional Mismagius and Malamar."

"Let's hope the truth becomes unveiled in time," stated Volcan. "Remember, guys; they aren't themselves. We can't risk hurting them, but we don't know what they'll do; be vigilant." He tugged at the harness worn across his chest; an item he had spent all night putting together after training with Luke -the marks of which were still showing all over him, but they were nothing to the determination filling the Blaziken.

"Guess I won't be able to find out why Razorwing left the Sabers after all..." Eagle Eye said with an annoyed sigh.

"Buddy, that should be the _last_thing on your mind," Hank scolded the Talonflame.

"You can always ask him later," Volcan suggested as the group began to make their way over to the stairs. "When he's... you know... not a puppet."

"Let's hope Sickle and his team finds that Bialo soon." Luke added. "The sooner they're free of his mind control, the sooner we can save Team Warmachine." He remembered the promise he had made to Kaen, and the desperate look in the eyes of the Charmeleon when he had begged Luke to save his team. His paws clenched tightly at his sides as he felt anger filling his limbs, wishing he could hit something. "Why did it have to be this way."

"I'm sure Sickle will pull through," assured Volcan, placing a talon on Luke's shoulder. "And when Torolf's mind is free again, he'll make things right. For now let's just stick to the plan; Bialo will have to be in the arena somewhere controlling them to make they fight efficiently; we _have_to be on the field for the match, but all we have to do is stall for time."

Luke sighed again, but gave Volcan a nod in return. "I know," He muttered.

Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw Team Kama standing at another row of seats as Wade emerged from the hallways and joined them. The eyes of the Lucario and Grovyle met, silently wishing each other luck before they nodded slightly to one another.

It was time...

Team Valiant left the stands, each member descending to the corridors of the Colosseum one at a time and following them to their starting position within the arena. The air among them was tense, even for the most stone-faced among them -namely Kage- as they headed for what might be one of their most important battles of all; to save a fellow Rescue Team from one of their own members...

They reached their starting position, and waited. The wait was sadly short, as from the hall on the other side of the arena, the six fighters who would be their opponents emerged, starting with Torolf, who was down on all fours, moving slowly and staring straight ahead, in the same way the group had seen Gallia, their medic, moving the day before; a completely blank, unthinking expression plastered across his face.

Standing on the Swampert's back was Razorwing; it was harder to tell with him at first as his metal face was not as capable of showing expression as the rest, but as they drew closer the same look was visible in his eyes as well. Lined up behind the two was the rest of the group; Kari, Leon, Shamshir and Timber, all walking the same way; slow and unfocused, as if their minds were elsewhere, and having that same mindless, tired look on their faces.

"There they are," Volcan said, cringing when he saw their faces, "Arceus, they look like zombies."

"A grotesque sight to behold, but we need to focus on the main objective," Kage muttered, his gaze just as stoic and cold as ever.

"Alright... but first the official meet at the middle," said Volcan. "You're up Luke."

He nodded, taking a small breath before he started walking toward the center of the arena to meet with Torolf. The Swampert, with Razorwing now off of his back, approached the center of the battlefield. When he and Luke were barely a few paces apart, he could see the bags under Torolf's eyes; he had not even slept while under Bialo's control, truly little more than a puppet on a string at that moment, and that string was probably all that was supporting him in his current state.

'...Torolf...' Luke thought to himself, feeling pained just looking at him in this condition. He clenched his paws tighter at his sides, struggling to hold his composure.

Oceania used her tail dexterously to flip over a card on the table next to her, studying it. "The match will be... last team standing, Elimination style. Each fighter who wins their battle will be able to carry on to the next one or swap out at the end of each. You may not trade places mid-battle."

Without saying anything, Torolf turned away from Luke, his eyes staring straight ahead even as he began to turn around, and began to make his way back over to his team. Luke stared on after him as the Swampert headed back to his side, then closed his eyes and turned away himself to head back to his own team, still wearing that pained expression.

"Teams, choose your first combatants!" The Milotic called.

At that, Leon stepped forward from Team Warmachine's side, marching out to the center of the field slowly and clumsily; Oceania, if she didn't suspect something was off before, might have now. She took note of how the Empoleon was moving, perturbed by his manner but said nothing about it. Kage narrowed his eyes, saying nothing as he stepped up to the ring to meet with the Empoleon. Once there, he just stood there, arms crossed and still wearing his stoic expression, appearing almost as emotionless as Leon.

"Combatants ready?" Oceania asked as she raised her fan-like tail high over her head, peering between the two as she assessed them. When neither one responded, she took a guess that they were ready, and brought her tail down to signal the start of the match. "Go!"

Leon remained still, those emotionless eyes watching Kage... or rather just staring off into space as it was not his eyes being used now. It seemed Kage had the first move. However, he too stood there motionless. He knew he had to make a move, but in reality, he was scanning the audience, looking for any sign of the Malamar before he'd make his first attack.

His hesitation proved costly though, as Leon unexpectedly lurched forward and fired a Bubblebeam at hit, the swift-moving stream of bubbles successfully striking the Greninja and coating him in a sticky residue, making it slightly harder to move. He scoffed, jumping away and discharging a smokescreen back at Leon, enveloping him in thick black smoke, allowing Kage precious time to try and rid himself of the gunk before making clones of himself while cloaked in the smoke with Double Team, striking at the Empoleon from every direction before retreating and allowing the next to strike.

When the clones started attacking, Leon put up his flippers defensively; Kage was at one large disadvantage as the unique typing of Empoleon made him resistant to half of the existing Pokemon typings, with his only weaknesses being Ground, Electric and Fighting-type attacks. Kage's attacks did little damage to him, and he did not seem to even try to dodge.

Kage ceased his assault and scoffed. "Biding his time," he muttered.

Kage could only remain in place as Leon finished charging, and unleashed the energy of the previous attacks inflicted on him earlier, sending a shock wave invisible to the eye with a swing of his flippers. Kage's clones were eradicated utterly by the blast, but the real Kage easily moved out of the path of it, having expected the attack, before he rushed forward to attack again, remembering that Water and Steel types had no resistance to Ghost or Dark-type moves; this gave him a few options to use against Leon.

As before, Leon stood his ground, letting Kage come at him, and suddenly Kage realized that fighting Leon at close range was a mistake, and stopped his advance. If Leon continued to use Bide, up close Kage would never get out of the way in time, even with _his_speed. The energy burst had a wide range, and it'd be too risky to test it; he resorted to keeping his distance, hurling Water Shurikens at Leon to minimize the effect of Bide as Leon stood his ground, and as soon as he wasted the attack upon him, Kage fired a Shadow Ball, which sent Leon stumbling.

"Yea! He's getting him!" Hank exclaimed from the sidelines, pumping his claw a bit. "Cmon Froggie! Lay the smack down on him!"

Leon's tactics changed; he fired an Ice Beam -not at Kage, but at the ground itself, spreading a thick sheet of ice that formed over the sand. Kage was forced to jump up to avoid having his feet frozen to the ground, landing on the ice and nearly slipping, but he managed to keep his balance, and waited. Leon stepped forward and then hopped onto the ice. His webbed feet offered little by way of grip on the ice, but it seemed that was the plan, as he began skating over the ice on his webbed feet, moving much faster than he would have otherwise and sliding at Kage, the metal-clad edges of his flippers glowing as he swung at Kage with Metal Claw.

Even on ground with no traction, Kage managed to avoid the attack, sending Leon skating past him, but the Empoleon used Ice Beam again to form a ramp that let him turn around and glide straight at Kage again, still using Metal Claw. Kage saw the attack with barely enough time to use his sword to block it the swinging flipper from Leon, but the momentum and greater weight of the Empoleon sent both of them into a slide, and Kage's feet could not grip the ice.

The two went into a duel; Kage was at a disadvantage. Any swordsman knew from basic training to watch their opponent's eyes and face to read their intentions, allowing them to predict their opponent's next move. But Kage had no such luxury here; Leon wasn't even _looking_at him, just staring straight ahead, and his attacks, however clumsy they were in the end, could only be read by how he moved and not his facial expressions, which gave Kage less time to react.

Suddenly, he had an idea, and after taking a full swing from Leon, let himself go sliding back along the ice, waiting until he stopped, and jumped just in time to avoid another attack from Leon. The Empoleon turned around after stopping, but did not press the attack while Kage was airborne; Volcan noticed this even from the sidelines, his eyes narrowing in suspicion, but then turned his attention back to Kage as the Greninja fired a Scald straight down at the ice, spewing boiling hot water from his mouth to wash over the shiny surface and fill the air with steam.

When the cloud had cleared, the battlefield was drenched; sand had turned to mud, and Leon could no longer use his skating trick to make up for his lack of speed. Knowing that the Empoleon might try again, Kage moved in quickly to attack, creating two more doubles with Double Team, both of them moving in and either Shadow Sneaking or Night Slashing the Empoleon from both sides while the real body crouched low, as if preparing to leap.

Leon could not dodge the strikes, taking them without so much as a grunt, and when it looked like he was ready to fall, Kage charged forward and grabbed Leon and carrying him into the air before leaping off of him. Kage then disappeared and then Leon was bombarded by a series of nigh instantaneous slashes all over his metal body.

Then as if by magic, there appeared three of the Greninja, poised to strike simultaneously at the helpless Empoleon. "...Ragnarok...!" He muttered, slicing at him before he vanished again, landing in a crouch and returning his blade to his sheathe, clicking it back in right as Leon hit the ground. "Mission Complete..." He muttered after.

Volcan cringed when Leon's unconscious figure hit the muddy ground. "Was that _really_necessary?" He asked aloud, though not directed at anyone as Kage was too far to hear.

"Knowing Kage, he wanted to make sure he stayed down; probably to be certain if Bialo could or couldn't force Leon back on his feet like an actual zombie," Luke answered.

And it worked. Though Leon's body continued to move and his eyes stared off into space, the Empoleon could not get up. It was possible for one's will to overcome the wounds of the body to keep fighting, but it was not Leon's will that was leading his body now; wherever Bialo was, Leon was not responsive, and suddenly the Empoleon seemed to slip out of consciousness, laying flat out on the ground as if suddenly put to sleep, and Oceania called the match.

Leon was soon picked up by medics as Kage returned to the rest of the team, and in his place, Razorwing took flight, gliding out to the center of the battlefield before landing in the starting spot, clicking his beak dangerously.

"Guess it's my turn," Eagle Eye then flew out as Kage came back, landing in front of Razorwing.

"Careful Eagle Eye," Volcan muttered. "This guy looks lethal,"

When Oceania signalled the match to start, Razorwing opened his two blade-like wings and took to the air, climbing with startling speed even for a Skarmory as he flew above the battlefield. At the same time, Eagle Eye took off, and the two crossed paths at the middle of the battlefield; this would be the first dedicated air battle that would be witnessed at this tournament between two bird-like Pokémon, and was sure to be quite intense.

The two fliers circled each other, both trying to flank the other, but Eagle Eye was more agile and lighter, and was able to get behind Razor first. He unleashed a flurry of Embers at the Skarmory. Rather than try to dodge, Razorwing whipped around and, with a flap of his wings, sent an Air Slash in Eagle Eye's general direction, which was so powerful it actually ripped its way _through_the Embers as it raced towards him, choking them out.

Eagle Eye performed a barrel roll to evade the Air Slash, zipping past Razorwing, Koiogran Turning and zooming back to the Skarmory, this time with a Flame Charge that almost made its mark, but Razorwing banked out of the way just in time to send Eagle Eye soaring past him harmlessly. Both fliers circled around and it was Razorwing who attacked first this time, his wings glowing with a Steel Wing attack and soaring straight at Eagle Eye.

"NOPE!!" Eagle Eye hollered in defiance, once more dodging the attack; Razorwing was fast, but Eagle Eye was indeed faster and much more agile, allowing him to maneuver better than the Skarmory.

As if Bialo had realized the futility of the exchange, Razorwing changed his strategy now, and his body began to glow brightly as he began to U-Turn. Metal fragments fell from his body, and when the glow faded, he seemed to have become slimmer and more aerodynamic.

Volcan recognized the attack instantly from when his teammate Tristan had used it before. "He used Automatize!" He exclaimed.

"So? Birdbrain's got Tailwind and Flame Charge." Hank returned.

"Remember how much of a speed boost it gave Tristan?" Volcan pointed out. "He still weighed five-hundred-plus pounds even with that and he was able to keep up with Wade; a Skarmory doesn't even weigh half that. This guy may have just tripled his speed."

"He's got this. Relax." Hank replied, continuing the watch the match.

Hank would soon be eating his words, though, as Razorwing finished his U-turn and shot towards Eagle Eye as though he had been fired out of a cannon, delivering a Steel Wing that knocked Eagle Eye off balance, sending him careening towards the ground. Fortunately, he landed inside the ring and not out of bounds, but the hard landing stunned him, and he lay in the mud, dazed and disoriented, trying to collect himself.

"Or not..." Hank mumbled.

"I told you!" Volcan snapped at the Zoroark, making Hank flinch.

"Eagle Eye, move; quickly!" Luke called.

The Talonflame snapped out of his daze in the nick of time. Razorwing was diving towards him, talons raked forward to attack. The Talonflame couldn't get up fast enough, and had to breath a Fire Blast at Razorwing to force him to bank out of the wave, but the Skarmory was persistent in his attack and took a direct hit from the Fire Blast, launching him backward and suffering catastrophic damage, but it was enough to buy Eagle Eye the precious seconds he needed to get back on his feet and take flight again.

Razorwing was quick to follow, chasing after the Talonflame. Eagle Eye half-looped back towards the Skarmory, and both of them raced at each other; Eagle Eye with Flame Charge, Razorwing with Iron Head -ascending at Eagle Eye with his metal head leading, both of them raking their talons forward and tearing at each other in midair.

As they locked talons, Razorwing reared back his head and then clamped his iron beak over Eagle Eye's shoulder, biting hard onto his wing. Eagle Eye hollered in a mix of surprise and pain at the underhanded move, and ignited himself with another Flame Charge to try and force Razorwing off of him, but the Skarmory was non-reactive to pain at that moment, as his mind was not the one in control, and now the two were rapidly losing altitude with Eagle Eye stuck underneath the Skarmory.

Thinking fast, Eagle Eye knew he was in an all-or-nothing scenario as the ground drew closer. He ignited himself once more, but this time with an even more powerful attack -Flare Blitz, and blasted himself out of Razorwing's grip, suffering some tearing at his shoulder but with a quick turn he managed to pull himself into a glide while Razorwing fell like a brick out of the ring, landing on the muddy ground with a wet splat.

"See? Nothing to worry about," Hank commented to Volcan.

The Blaziken slapped himself in the forehead, not even bothering to mention to the Zoroark how many ways that maneuver could have backfired -or how Razorwing was not actually the one in control of himself at that moment, and just kept his beak shut as Eagle Eye landed in the ring, looking towards at the downed Skarmory before he spoke.

"Doesn't matter what team you're on; the Red Talons will _always_be the best damn fliers in the world!" He announced with pride.

The crowd applauded him as Oceania called the match, allowing the Talonflame to return to the group; his wing was too hurt to fly back so he resorted to hopping over to them. Mikhail met him once he was outside of the arena, and helped tend to his wing, while Volcan turned his gaze to Team Warmachine, going over in his head how the two battles had progressed. He was surprised that they had won, two times in a row now with only minor complications.

He studied the four remaining, zombie-like Pokémon, all of whom were standing completely deadpan; Bialo wasn't even making an effort to try and make them appear to be strategizing. Their techniques had been effective, but throughout both battles they had fought directly and failed to adapt -he had seen it first with Leon, when he had the perfect opportunity to hit Kage while the Greninja was airborne with an Ice Beam or Bubblebeam, both of which could have slowed the Greninja to a crawl and left him wide open for Leon to defeat but the Empoleon -or rather Bialo- had not done so. If Leon was the master of strategies for Team Warmachine, surely _he_would have thought of such a thing if Volcan could, and he wasn't even in the battle!

And then there was Razorwing. Though his direct attack patterns had left Eagle Eye wounded and, at one point, wide open for a very painful attack when he had been on the ground, but deliberately threw himself directly into harm's way _twice_in that battle, and the Blaziken refused to believe that Razorwing would do so. Eagle Eye and Razorwing both came from former teams that were sworn enemies of one another -it stood to reason that the Saberwings might at least _try_to train their members to take on their rivals, not the least of which to deal with that type advantage the Red Talons had over them, so why in the world would Bialo throw his own team member into harm's way like this?

After some careful thought, a thought occurred to the Blaziken. "You know, I think I've discovered a weak link in this chain," He said to Luke.

The Lucario looked up at him, eyeing him quizzically. "A weak link?" He repeated, and then his eyes narrowed. "Go on..."

"Bialo's able to control the minds of these guys," explained Volcan "But he can't _think_like them; we'd _never_have this easy a time against the real Warmachine fighters -not in a hundred years." He smiled. "But Bialo is unknowingly making our job easier by controlling their minds; he can't make use of their strategies because he doesn't know them all, and doesn't know how each one would adapt to _our_changing tactics."

"Hey you're right!" Luke returned, realizing that Volcan had a point; if Bialo were in this battle himself it would be a different kind of match, and he could change his own style to match his opponent but without knowing his teammates right down to their very cores, he was throwing his puppets in between a rock and a hard place. "This could really work in our favour, but we can't ease up just yet. After all... you never know what a cornered Raticate can do."

"The cornered Raticate will bite the Persian, right?" Volcan asked.

"Right on the money," Luke answered with a nod. "And if Bialo realizes this as well, we just might feel that bite soon enough."

The next one to step up was Timber, the Haxorus, stepping across the field to take his position while using his front claws to sharpen the edges of his axe-like tusks, digging at the ground with his foot as he waited for his opponent. Volcan frowned, seeing Timber was acting with the same mannerisms he had that day he'd taken Sol to prison -either Bialo knew more about Timber's behaviour than he did the rest... or...

"I'm up then," Katsu stated, stepping up to the arena to meet with Timber.

"Good luck Katsu," Luke bade him as the Samurott walked into the ring.

"Something's wrong here..." Volcan muttered, earning another questioning glance from Luke, but said nothing as Oceania announced the match as Katsu took his position.

"The third round begins now!" She called. "Our living forest-wrecking warrior, Timber, versus the mighty Katsumoto of Team Valiant! Axe will meet sword in this battle of the titans; combatants, steel yourselves and prepare to fight!"

Timber growled audibly, once more digging at the ground with his foot and lowering his upper body into a deep slouching position, his red eyes narrowing. Katsu drew forth his Seamitars and adopted a sideways stance, his glare meeting that of Timber's as they waited for the match to start.

Oceania called for the match to begin, letting out a loud "Go!" before retreating to the sidelines to get out of their way. They charged, meeting in the center, and axe-tusk met Seamitar, ringing through the air as loudly as any metal blades as the two clashed. Timber swung his head side-to-side, striking at Katsu repeatedly; Katsu blocked each attack, but Timber was proving to be _quite_strong, using every muscle in his upper body to add force to his swings, so heavy that even Katsu with his tremendous might could feel every hit.

When Katsu finally got his chance to counter-attack, he thrust his sword forward, aiming for Timber's chest. The Haxorus side-stepped out of the way, turning about and swinging at Katsu with his tail. The Samurott dodged, and then struck back, this time landing a strike to Timber's side, but his dense hide withstood the strike and forced Katsu to dodge again as Timber chopped at him, forcing him back only to suffer a sideways kick to his chest that sent Katsu flying backwards. He stuck one of his swords into the ground, sending plumes of mud to the sides but managing to stop himself as he landed back on his feet.

"Timber's fighting pretty damn well for a puppet," Volcan stated, narrowing his eyes further. While it wasn't unlikely Bialo knew Timber's fighting style at least somewhat, the technique that the Dragon-type was displaying was well-coordinated and not as clumsy as Leon or Razorwing. "Wait... could it be?"

As Katsu and Timber clashed again when the Haxorus attempted to Headbutt him, Katsu blocked with his swords, landing them at the roots of the axe-tusks protruding from Timber's mouth, and he saw his opponent's eyes more clearly. He saw rage, deeply seated but visible -the battle rage of a dragon, clear as day, was coming from those eyes, and the look he gave Katsu was not the look of a puppet...

Katsu's eyes widened as he came to that realization what that look meant. "You...!" He began. "You're not being controlled at all!"

Volcan hadn't heard the Samurott, but suddenly the same idea seemed to dawn on him. "Timber's _with_them!" He exclaimed suddenly.

The dragon grinned at Katsu. "Well, I guess the Liepard is out of the bag," he snarled before he thrust forward with all the strength in his legs, forcing Katsu back. "I never was much of a faker." But before the initial surprise passed, Timber made his move; he stomped on the ground, and from underneath the Samurott, roots exploded, immediately going for his limbs and coiling around his legs and body, restraining him and leaving him unable to move.

Katsu was too late to avoid the Grass Knot attack, and grunted as he was coiled up in the roots, struggling heavily for a bit before he glared back at the Haxorus. "Have you no sense of honour?! Your team is being made to do things out of their control, and you _allow_that Malamar to get away with this?!"

"I'd love to chat, but I've got a battle to win!" Timber bellowed as he lunged forth and swung his whole body around with all of his might, slamming Katsu full-force with a Dragon Tail, snapping the roots that bound him and sending Katsu flying once again, soaring out of the arena and slamming into the faraway wall like a missile, the impact knocking the wind out of Katsu and rendering him unconscious; he fell to the sandy ground, which caked the mud covering his torso, exhaling deeply as blackness took him.

"Out of bounds!" Oceania called with some reluctance as Volcan and Hank ran to help Katsu. "The winner... is Timber!"

"Bring on your next!" Timber taunted the rest of the team. "Come on! I'll send every last one of you packing myself!"

"I don't believe my eyes..." Volcan muttered as Hank and Mikhail ran over to Katsu to assist him, leaving Luke, Kage and him to take in what they had just seen. "Timber's in on this entire thing?"

"This is a disgrace! How can he side with that misguided pair like this?!" Luke demanded.

Kage narrowed his eyes, uncrossing his arms and stepping out silently back into the ring to face Timber, silently eager to put him in his place. Luke and Volcan watched as the Greninja moved out to battle for the second time, but said nothing to him, as at that moment they didn't feel like arguing.

The Haxorus growled as he saw Kage returning, staring at him and barely able to contain his rage."I'm going to stomp you flat,_froggie" Timber growled. "You mighta beat Leon, but you won't be so lucky against _me."

"You can try..." Kage returned.

"Go!" Oceania called, signalling the match to start.

Timber charged him, attacking with a Dual Chop that Kage was easily able to avoid; now that he was up against an opponent that was _not_being puppeteered, he could reach his opponent's expression as well as his movements. Kage had little intention of taking much of an offensive against Timber; he could fight the Haxorus if he wanted to, but he had a different plan in mind for this brutish Dragon Pokémon.

Kage subtly reached behind him and tapped something on the back of his belt making an effort to make it appear as though he was reaching for a weapon. "I wonder what Torolf will say when he discovers that you, Maggie, and Bialo are trying to sabotage this tournament?" He asked before hurling a Water Shuriken at the Haxorus.

Timber ducked his head down, letting the shuriken splatter against his armoured hide without doing much damage, and then snarled at Kage. "When I throw your broken body into the ocean he'll never know!" He called. "He'll wake up in his room tomorrow morning and we'll tell him you forfeited and left!" He followed this by firing a Dragon Pulse at the Greninja.

"And what of your cohorts who likely have already begun to suspect?" Kage pressed further, seeking to agitate the Haxorus even more. "Such as the one who witnessed the strange behaviour of your team throughout this battle?" He gestured at Oceania. "Or maybe, I should go talk to Aegis; I'm sure _he_would love to hear about what his cohorts Bialo and Maggie have been doing behind his back."

"We didn't bring Aegis in because Maggie was pretty sure he'd be able to handle that punk kid on his own; seems she underestimated the runt, given that Aegis apparently lost to him." He scoffed. "If the kid had picked _me_it'd be a different story."

"And what do you gain from all this?" Kage asked. "Your team, mind-controlled by one of their own, forced to fight as puppets? Does she have so little faith in you all that she doesn't think you can win on your own without her intervention?"

"Torolf's a misguided idiot," Timber retorted. "These tournaments are a chance to show the world that _we_are the best of the best, and we've done that every year. That needs to keep happening; we lose our rep, we lose everything. Bialo's making sure that _doesn't_happen; we _need_to win, and fightin' dirty is the only way that's going to happen; Bialo will see to that."

Kage scoffed. "Listen to yourself; doesn't that sound like a bit of a stretch even to you?" He asked. "Or are you as small-minded and naive as you're making yourself sound? If your team is really so powerful, then they would've been _more_than capable of handling us by themselves. As it stands now, you've all proven to be quite easy."

Timber hesitated slightly, visibly pausing before shaking his head and snarling at Kage. "You talk too much!" He bellowed before he charged forward and swung his head at Kage for a Slash attack, but Kage dodged the attack easily once again, landing on Timber's head and hopping off of him as he skidded to a stop.

"Perhaps the reputation of Team Warmachine is a bit overblown," Kage commented without even looking at Timber. "Or at the very least, maybe putting you_as one of their elites is." He looked over his shoulder. "You're quite a fool for a _Dragon-type."

"Shut_your mouth!"_ Timber roared as he ran to attack Kage again, but the Greninja felt only satisfaction and not concern; he had received everything he needed to from the Haxorus, and now that Timber was completely ignoring everything around him, his only focus on Kage, he could end this match now.

"It is you who talks too much, fool," he said in a low tone, then fired the hottest Scald he could conjure, aimed right between the eyes.

Timber clenched his eyes shut as he felt his face burning, the momentum of his running carrying him forward, closer and closer the edge of the ring, which he could no longer see. With that, Kage unfurled his tongue from around his neck and snapped it forward like a whip, hooking around the front of Timber's legs and tripping him as he yoinked it back, sending the dragon face-first into the mud with the upper half of his body outside of the line.

"Out of bounds!" Oceania called, this time without hesitation. "The winner is Kage!"

Timber, hearing those words, sat up, staring at the white chalked border of the fighting ring. "No!" He growled, looking at Kage. "You were baiting me all along!" He shot to his feet, and was about to run at the Greninja, no longer caring if he was disqualified.

Volcan, seeing what Timber was about to do, sprang into action, leaping through the air and somersaulting forward until he landed in the path of the Haxorus, forcing him to grind to a halt. "It's over, pal," he stated. "You lost, now let your next fighter step up."

Timber glared into Volcan's eyes, though his own vision was foggy from the scald. "Get out of my way before I _squash_you."

"Go ahead," Volcan retorted, returning his glare. "You've still lost, and if you attack me now, this fight's going to become _two_on one." At that, Kage stepped out from behind the Blaziken, as if to emphasize the Blaziken's point.

For a moment, it looked like the infuriated Haxorus was still going to attack them, but then Timber grabbed his head in pain, growling as some unknown ailment befell him. Volcan and Kage glanced at each other briefly before looking back at him again, wondering what was wrong with him, but whatever was happening, even Kage couldn't find out with Mind Reader -a much more powerful Psychic power was blocking him.

A moment later, he looked at Volcan again, giving the Blaziken a warning look before he stormed away, where both he and Kage watched the Haxorus leave, and the next combatant, Kari the Ninetales, was due to step up. With that, Kage walked past Volcan as he stepped off the ring, looking to the Blaziken and turning his body a bit to show the Blaziken the playback device hidden in his belt, giving him a nod before returning to his team.

Volcan smiled. "Sly as a Zoroark," he whispered. "And, speaking of which..." He muttered as he saw Hank stepping up.

"Alright! Time to kick some ass and chew bubblegum!" He said as he stepped past Volcan, smirking arrogantly. "And I'm all outta gum..."

Kari took her spot on the field... and sat down. Just like that, she seated herself in the sand, staring ahead at Hank with that blank stare that had permeated the other mind-controlled members of Team Warmachine. Hank felt disappointed knowing he wouldn't get to test himself against Kari as he hoped, but it was his round now; the team had been stalling as much as though could allow -especially Kage against Timber, and hopefully Sickle was close to finding Bialo.

Even when Oceania announced the match and introduced the two fighters, Kari remained stoic and unmoving, her many tails remaining upright behind her as she continued to star... but then she blinked, and Hank noticed something; life seemed to return to her eyes for an instant, and she seemed to be trying to turn her head as if to shake it, but her movements were stiff, and she couldn't quite manage, as though some other force was stopping her.

Hank didn't even react as Oceania called for the match to start. He watched Kari, narrowing his eyes and cautiously approaching her. "...You feeling under the weather little missy?" He asked, keeping an illusion at the ready just in case.

He saw her mouth moving... she was trying to say something, but no words were coming out, and while the rest of her body was trembling, her lips were steady as she spoke, allowing Hank to somewhat read her words...

'He... knows... tactics... be care... illusions... won't work on me... only I... will see... but won't stop him...'

It hit him at that instant She was fighting Bialo's control, and warning Hank his illusions wouldn't help him; even if _she_could see them Bialo would not, and it would not hinder her so long as Bialo could still see the battlefield... which meant he _was_without a doubt somewhere he could still see them both. But that also meant Wade and Sickle's team hadn't found that damned Malamar yet, Hank frowned deeply, flexing his claws and keeping his guard up to still look ready to fight while he gazed around her and to the rest of the team, seeing if he could find Bialo in that general area. But there was nothing that stood out... where could that Malamar be hiding?

Still, Kari's warning raised a valid point. Hank could cast Illusions all he wanted at the puppeteered Ninetales but without them specifically targeting Bialo they would do little to stop him, and without knowing where he was, Hank couldn't project something to hinder him regardless, which means Kari could keep attacking as long as Bialo himself remained unfazed. There was only one choice; he had to fight Kari without using his illusions.

"Tsh, man I hate hitting a lady," He muttered, preparing a Shadow Claw and grinning, putting back on the facade that he intended to fight her like he meant it. "Ladies first, sweetheart."

At that, Kari fanned out her tails, and at the end of one of them, a blue fire appeared; lifting away from the tips of her tails and dancing in a circle around her until her eyes flashed, and one of the nine flames launched at Hank, lashing out as suddenly as an Arbok striking an enemy, followed by the rest of them in consecutive order.

"Ooooh no ya don't!" Hank stated, backing up and jumping up into the air, twisting and angling his body just right to avoid the flames of Will-o-wisp that would have left him with quite a nasty burn if he had not dodged.

Landing back on the ground, he then snapped his claws and ensnared her legs with Grass Knot before moving in with Shadow Claw. She did not even try to move as the grass knot ensnared her legs, anchoring her in place even if she were to attempt to move, yet she remained non-reactive to what was happening. Hank carried on his assault, jumping up into the air and discharging a Night Daze down at his opponent before the fires could nail him.

Her eyes flashed, and a Protect barrier formed between her and Hank; the Night Daze struck it and withstood the attack easily, giving her the opportunity to strike back. She splayed out her tails once more, another one glowing, before a ray of light struck Hank from above, disorienting him and sending his mind swimming while he was still airborne Onlookers recognized it as Confuse Ray, driving him into a state of confusion. He landed on the ground and kept trying to shake his head in vain, growling as he stumbled about.

While he was disoriented, Kari fired another Will-o-wisp, and this time Hank's mind was too fogged by the Confuse Ray to see the attack coming; he felt it hit him, and threw back his head to yelp in agony as it burned his back. The shock of it snapped him out of his confusion, and he slapped at the burned spot with his claws instinctively as it felt like there was still fire burning, though it had gone out upon contact.

And that is when things took a turn for the worse. Another tail flicked; Kari's eyes glowed, and Hank doubled over as his burned back seemed to explode with white hot agony, feeling like liquid-hot magma was being poured all over him. He hit the ground, writing in agony. He couldn't even think through the pain filling his entire body, and though he was trying not to scream, it eventually forced its way out as he continued to Hex him.

From the sidelines, the rest of Team Valiant could barely watch the torturous situation that their teammate was in; Hank could not even stand without his back searing because of the hex; an ordinary burn would never stop, but when amplified by such an attack it was made all the more agonizing. Kari had barely moved a muscle

"She's fucking torturing him!" Volcan exclaimed. "Torolf said Kari was a trickster, but I'm seeing a long range fighter that is _maiming_her target!"

"I-I can't watch this anymore!" Eagle Eye stated, covering his eyes with his wing.

Luke was visibly trembling, clenching his paws tightly as he watched Hank get tortured by a Pokemon with no control of her actions; it was not her doing, it was Bialo who was inflicting this sadistic pain upon Hank; it made him sick to his stomach, and it visibly showed, but without knowing where Bialo was, there was nothing they could do without being disqualified!

He couldn't stand it anymore. "I'm not letting this continue!" He yelled, beginning to run around the field, heading over to Oceania, intent on pulling Hank out of the battle to save him; Kage could surely pick up for him again and take on the Ninetales...

Time was running out for him too... Kari stepped towards Hank, rearing back her head to unleash another Flamethrower to let the cruelty continue, flames crackling between her jaws with only seconds before she would unleash it, Oceania looked ready to intervene, as it appeared to her that Hank had had enough and the battle could be called in Kari's favour...

But just before she could make a move, Kari suddenly threw her head to the side, sending the flamethrower into the wet sand instead of at the Zoroark, drying the water from it and scorching the surface of the sand with its intensity; her sudden change gave Luke and Oceania pause, both of them stopping in their tracks. She let out a snarl, swinging her head around. Kari was trying to regain control, trying to protect Hank from her powers. Her eyes were clenched tightly, and she

Hank looked up at her, seeing her fight against her controller. Despite his wounds, he forced himself to his feet. "That's it lady; c'mon, fight that shithead!" He managed to say between clenched teeth. "Don't let him control ya!"

She hissed, shaking her head around and barely managing to stop herself from another attack. Her expression changed, looking at Hank with a desperate, pleading look; she couldn't break Bialo's hold, only delay it, and that face told Hank what she wanted from him.

He had to knock her out.

Hank sighed, nodding a bit as he reared his claw back for a Shadow Claw. "...Sorry, sweet cheeks." He muttered, then he swung as hard as his burnt body would allow, striking her clean across the face.

That one strike was all it took; she went down, hitting the ground with a dull thud, and let out a long release of breath as she slipped away...

Oceania froze. Luke stood absolutely still, halfway between his team's area and the Milotic with the sudden turn of events. The audience shared in their stunned pause, unsure of what to make of what they had just seen.

When the initial shock had finally passed, Oceania collected herself and raised her tail once more as she made the announcement. "And match over!" She called. "The winner is Hank of Team Valiant!"

The audience's applause was delayed and rather short-lived, as many of them were becoming increasingly unsure about this battle as a whole. Their applause ended when Hank suddenly collapsed from his injuries, and Volcan, in reaction, ran out onto the battlefield to retrieve his teammate.

"Damn it Sickle, hurry up!" The Blaziken whispered before he reached Hank's side. "Are you okay man?" He asked, eyes filled with concern.

"Never mind me." Hank said through grit teeth, turning his gaze towards Kari. "I'm more worried for her."

Volcan looked over at Kari, seeing the medical teams approaching to pick her up now that the battle was over. "Her? She barely has a scratch on her; you knocked her out with a single hit," he said before looking back at Hank, where he then proceeded to bring Hank's arm around the back of his neck and hoisted him up to carry him towards Mikhail, trying to be gentle so as not to aggravate his burns. "How did you get her anyway? When I last looked she was roasting you like a fish."

"It's not the physical wounds that leave a lasting mark," Hank said in a melancholic manner, and then looked to the Blaziken. "To answer yer question, well... She was actually _fighting_her mind control. She _let_me KO her."

Volcan looked in Kari's direction. "She was fighting Bialo?" He asked. He watched as Kari was carried away on a stretcher, narrowing his eyes in curiosity. "If she's able to resist him..." he muttered, before he resumed bringing Hank back to the team to let Mikhail take over, who gingerly took Hank from Volcan and brought him over to the side to treat him.

Volcan turned to Kage and motioned him over. The Greninja approached him, and listened as Volcan spoke in a hushed tone to him. "Kari was resisting Bialo," he told the Greninja, visibly getting Kage's attention. "If you follow the medical team, can you add your strength to hers and maybe break his control? With her word and ours, we can put a stop to all of this."

He nodded to Volcan, stepping away from the rest of the team and making his way over to the infirmary to carry out Volcan's idea, leaving the rest of the battle to fight the remaining two members of Team Warmachine.

Meanwhile, Luke was watching as Kari was carried out, and out of the corner of his eye, his gaze fell upon Oceania again. She had seen enough at this point that she was questing the validity of the battle; he could see it in her eyes. She _knew_something was afoul; if he went to speak to her now, she could surely help them put an end to this. Her position as the referee would give her the power to call off the match.

Luke took a step forward, but that was all he could muster; he felt something grip his entire body; a Psychic force that seized him like an invisible vice, and he felt a presence in his mind. 'Can't let you do that worm,' a voice spoke to him. It sounded like Bialo -even without hearing his voice with his ears, the mental voice of the Malamar was still the same as Bialo's spoken voice.

'I'm putting an end to this madness right now!' Luke defiantly growled in his mind, trying to take a step forward, but his body just refused to respond to his commands.

'You will do no such thing; this match is not over yet,' replied Bialo. 'Now return to your position; no need to bother Oceania with your lies.'

'You cannot keep up this facade forever, Bialo!'_Luke roared at him. _'Your actions have made your team weak! You cannot win!'

'Oh I can, and I will,' retorted the Malamar. 'Now... away_with you.'_

At that last word, darkness fell across Luke's vision, and suddenly the world seemed to vanish around him...

Luke!

LUKE!

"LUKE!"

Luke's eyes shot open as he heard the loud voice yelling in his face, finding himself staring up at Volcan, who was holding him by the shoulders while a worried Mikhail watched. It was only Volcan's hands upon him that kept him from falling over at that moment, as he could not feel his legs immediately, but feeling quickly returned to his whole body, as though he had just awoken from a power nap.

"W-What?" Luke asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Palkia, don't scare us like that!" Volcan was practically yelling at him. "What the hell is wrong with you; did you pass out or something?"

"I-I don't think so, I..." He paused, and then looked up at Volcan again, then off to the side where he witnessed Hank and Katsu over by the arena wall, the latter of whom was still unconscious, and Eagle Eye, standing near them. Both he and Hank were watching him with a confused look. "Wait, when did I get back over here?" Luke asked.

"You came walking over just a couple of minutes ago, eyes shut and mumbling incoherently," Mikhail replied. "I thought you were sleep walking..."

"And_I_ thought Bialo had hooked you with his psychic powers or something," Volcan added, cutting Mikhail off slightly.

"Volcan's been trying to wake you up since then," Mikhail added.

"I don't sleep walk," Luke returned, and then looked down at the ground briefly as Volcan finally let go of him, giving him a moment to collect his thoughts and try to remember what he was doing. He looked over at Oceania, who was watching as crews were examining the battlefield for damages. "I was going to talk to the referee, when I suddenly heard Bialo's voice in my head, and then... everything went black after that."

"So Bialo did do something," Volcan stated.

Luke nodded. "I guess he can't hypnotize me without being within my line of sight, but he still did _something_to me, obviously," he stated. "I don't remember walking back over here at all."

Volcan scoffed, looking towards Oceania. "So, he's not going to let us near her then," he said. "So Sickle really _is_our only chance."

"At least Bialo still doesn't know he's looking for him," offered Luke, to which Volcan nodded. "Where is Kage, by the way?" He inquired, looking around to see that the Greninja was absent from the rest.

"During his battle with her, Hank noticed Kari seemed to be fighting Bialo's control over her," explained Volcan. "I sent Kage to go with her, to see if maybe he could use his Extrasensory to free her mind like he tried to do with Gallia -maybe combined the two of them can successfully break Bialo's control."

"An excellent plan," Luke commented as he glanced over to Volcan. "Though that leaves only you, me and Eagle Eye left to fight in this battle, and Sickle has yet to find where Bialo is," He sighed. "This is going to get very ugly _very_quickly if he doesn't hurry up."

"He'll make it," Volcan stated, turning his attention to the field, where Shamshir, the Scizor, was stepping out into the arena. "I'll buy him the time he needs... one way or another, we _will_put a stop to this." He grasped the harness worn across his chest, taking in a deep breath before he too headed out onto the field, ready to face his opponent.

Shamshir had that same blank look as most of the others except for Timber; he was definitely being controlled. He moved with his two massive pincers hanging down in front of his legs, slowly and clumsily as he made his way to his starting position. He wore a medallion around his neck, embedded in which was his Scizorite Mega Stone, which would unlock his true power.

It seemed Bialo was not going to waste any more time; Shamshir's arm raised up to his stone, and tapped the rounded top of his claw against his medallion, the Mega Stone igniting with pale light, and the Scizor becoming swiftly engulfed in the purple sphere of energy that appeared during the process of Mega Evolution. Luke and the remaining members of his team watched Shamshir mega evolve, each of them having a very anxious look in their gazes.

Finally Eagle Eye broke the silence and turned to Luke. "So uh... you _sure_about this man? The rookie's got his special trick down pat?"

"I taught him everything I could, given the short time frame we had. I can only hope it was enough." He answered, once more his paws trembling from how anxious he was feeling. "Be very careful out there, Volcan..." He whispered afterwards.

When the crystalline sphere surrounding Shamshir shattered and revealed him, his change was completed. His metal pincer-like claws had become longer and gained serrations along with jagged barbs on the underside of them looking more like jaws with their eye-like decorations at the wrist, his legs becoming thinner and more pointed, On his head, adding to the three-pointed shape of his skull, a black armoured plate that matched the design had appeared over his eyes, which had now changed to the blue colour as did the eye-like patterns on his claws. Finally, other plates of black armouring had appeared on his body, including his shoulders and thighs.

The crowd watched in awe at the Mega Scizor, unaware of the surprise Volcan had for them too. He grunted, and harshly grabbed his harness and spun it around his body, revealing the Mega Stone given to him by Kaen, surprising anyone who could actually see it from the stands. Volcan thought about the night before, and the challenges he had faced in learning to use this stone while training with Luke. It had been difficult to master, but time was not on his side, and he had been forced to make the most of the little time he had.

"Here goes nothing," he said as he touched the stone with his fingers, and the same crystalline sphere that had surrounded Shamshir then surrounded him as his Mega Evolution began...

"...Yanno it just hit me that I've never actually _seen_a Mega Blaziken before." Eagle Eye chirped.

"Surprising, considering Rigel's girlfriend is one and has a Blazikenite." Luke pointed out. "Regardless, you'll see for yourself soon enough."

As if cued, the sphere shattered, and Volcan's mega evolved form was revealed. His yellow markings had vanished, replaced instead with black markings on his stomach, around his lower legs and new ones on his upper thighs. The crest feathers growing from his skull had shortened and were now standing almost straight upright, except for two tufts pointing down, giving the look of an X from behind his head, and from his forehead, a blade-like horn had formed over his eyes, which had retained their original fierce, sky-blue colour.

He clenched his fists, and long ribbons of fire erupted from the top of his wrists, trailing behind him and bursting as they reached a length greater than his arm, defying physics themselves as they continued to burn in this shape. With his transformation complete, Volcan threw out his arms and gave a powerful battle cry to the sky, only adding to the excitement of the audience, who, believing it to be a show, were erupting with a applause at the chance to see another battle between Mega Evolutions.

"Oooookay! Welp! I'm freakin blown away!" Eagle Eye exclaimed, flapping his wings as he spoke. "Damn I can feel that heat even from here, and I'm also a Fire type!"

"Let's hope that this form will give him all of the power he needs to defeat Shamshir," Luke commented, somewhat darkly.

Volcan faced Shamshir, his eyes meeting those lifeless orbs of the Mega Scizor, pitying him for not being in control of this battle himself. "Alright, Shamshir," the Blaziken spoke under his breath. "This is going to hurt you more than me... but it's for your own good..." He shifted to his combat stance, waiting for Oceania to signal the match to start.

"Uh... Ladies and gentleman! It appears this match has risen to new heights just like our combatants!" She called. "Scizor, our mighty warrior, and Team Valiant's martial arts master, Volcan, have both shown their ultimate power of Mega Evolution; this may turn out to be out most intense battle yet!" She raised her fan-like tail high to signal the combatants to prepare themselves, pausing for effect before yelling "Go!" and racing off of the battlefield with Surf.

And so the match was on. But just as Shamshir took a step forward, suddenly he stopped, and for an instant, his eyes seemed to be filled with life again, giving Volcan pause; it looked like the Scizor had just regained control of himself. Had Sickle finally found Bialo?

Unfortunately, this was not the case. All of a sudden and much to the surprise of those watching, Shamshir suddenly raised his claws to his head, clenching his skull between the blunt tops of them and gritting his teeth as if he had a migraine, stepping backward slightly with the pointed tips digging into the sand before he dropped to his knees, growling audibly and trying to say something, but it was unclear what words he was trying to speak.

Luke and Eagle Eye leaned forward a bit as Shamshir suddenly stopped and gripped his head. "The hell's... wait!" Eagle Eye looked to Luke. "Hankie says his foe was trying to break outta the mind control thing. You think that guy's-"

"I don't think so," Luke returned, interjecting on Eagle Eye's hopeful suggestion. "Something about this time is... different." He swallowed nervously. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

They watched for what felt like a while until Shamshir finally stopped holding his head, and his claws fell back to his eyes, his body relaxing for a moment before it seemed to tense. Shamshir's eyes reopened, and they saw a murderous look on his face, his pupils having contracted to narrow beads and one of them visibly twitching as he fixed Volcan with a hateful, bloodthirsty gaze. Luke's spine actually gained a small chill up his back when he saw that look...

"Oh no," Luke muttered, seeing that gaze in Shamshir's eyes as he looked on at Volcan. "He's completely snapped! Bialo must have triggered a break in his mind!"

"That's bad, right?" Eagle Eye asked in a shaky tone.

"Very. Bialo's letting Shamshir go wild. He could _kill_Volcan!" Luke answered, now greatly concerned. "Dammit! Hurry up Sickle!"

Shamshir lunged forward, nearly catching Volcan off guard as the Mega Scizor raced towards him, clenching his claws together and unleashing a flurry of Bullet Punches. Volcan quickly collected himself just in time to block the first punch, and then focused on redirecting or blocking the rest while trying to land some counter-attacks of his own. The movement of their limbs quickly escalated into a flurry of attacks, blurred by their speed, until Volcan broke away from the engagement after palm-striking Shamshir's next attack,

Shamshir did not let up; he righted himself, taking flight with his wings and rushing at Volcan, snapping his pincers at him, each one shutting with a metallic clamp as the Blaziken narrowly dodged or deflected each one, moving in to punch Shamshir in the chest with a Fire Punch, successfully knocking him back somewhat with the doubly-effective Fire-type attack, but that was far from enough to stop the Mega Scizor. As Volcan pressed the attack and tried to deliver a roundhouse kick, Shamshir's arm shot up and snatched his leg between his pincers, making the Blaziken cry out as the serrations found flesh and bit deep.

At that, Shamshir pulled hard, twisting his body around and throwing Volcan to the ground, where he then proceeded to jump on top of him just as he rolled over, bringing up his two pincers and swinging them down at Volcan. The Blaziken put up his arms to protect his face, snarling as he felt the clubbing pincers strike his arms, consecutively, whaling on him with savage fury, until he stopped, and then Shamshir snatched one of his arms with his pincer, pulling it aside and then going straight for Volcan's head with the other. The Blaziken barely caught it with his other arm, turning his head away from it to keep it away from his face.

"No! Get up Volcan!" Luke pleaded, taking a step forward but halted himself right after. He desperately wanted to help him and stop this madness, but he had to remind himself that they were still in a tournament, and if he stepped out, he'd risk disqualification. He stepped back and grit his teeth firmly, feeling anxious as all hell and angry he couldn't stop all this. "Come on Volcan... you can do it!"

Volcan, out of the corner of his eye, saw Luke watching him, knowing that the Lucario was desperate to come to his aid; at this point, he might need it. Shamshir would no doubt rip his throat out if that claw got around his neck. But the Blaziken was _not_ready to give up yet, glaring at Shamshir he used all of his strength to push his claw aside, shoving at his chest before throwing up his legs and seizing Shamshir around his neck with his feet; even in his berserker-like state, Shamshir froze in surprise as Volcan yanked him off of himself and slammed him head-first into the muddy ground.

Seizing his opportunity, Volcan threw his legs back over his head, flipping around to land on his feet and standing up just as Shamshir rose to his feet again, still with that look in his eye. Shamshir rushed at him again, and Volcan raised himself up on one leg, his body whipping in a full circle and delivering a _powerful_kick straight to Shamshir's chest, launching him backward and sending him sliding through the mud, emitting plumes of it as went.

"Okay, Shamshir," Volcan muttered. "It seems I can't hold back against you... not if I want to even have a chance_of beating you." Double-typing advantage wasn't getting him anywhere, as despite his increase in power, Volcan was still trying to hold back. But as Shamshir rose up to his feet again, he knew the time for that was passed. "So, here I _come!"

At the last word, Volcan suddenly shot forth; he had left his previous position so quickly it was like he had teleported, but the following_'BONG!'_from his knee striking Shamshir's chest alerted the spectators to his position. They turned, and saw him still in midair following the knee-strike that had bowled Shamshir over, but the instant Volcan landed, Shamshir would not finish his fall off of his feet as the Blaziken suddenly rocketed behind him and roundhouse-kicked him through the air.

Even Eagle Eye with his keen vision had trouble following Volcan, and he blinked as it seemed like a mini sonic-boom erupted from the Blaziken as he raced across the battlefield again to reappear behind the flying Mega Scizor, and shot up at him with a Sky Uppercut, driving his fist backed by the incredible strength of his legs to launch Shamshir straight up into the sky.

"Holy shit he's so fast!!" Eagle Eye hollered after his eyes had caught up with Volcan. "That's like... the first time I've _ever_lost sight of anyone and my eyes don't miss a trick!" The Talonflame looked over to Luke. "He's even faster than _you!_But how the heck is that possible?!"

Luke was at a loss for words, unable to comprehend what had just happened. It looked as though Volcan had used Extreme Speed, but last he remembered, Blaziken couldn't learn Extreme Speed...so how did Volcan get so quick?

The answer finally dawned on him after a short while of thinking, a small smile creeping along his face. "...Speed Boost." He muttered.

"Come again?" Eagle Eye asked.

"Volcan's ability while mega evolved! Speed Boost!" He stated again. "While he's in that form, his speed continues to climb -we found out about it last night when we were testing his sprint, and he actually outran me!" Luke cursed himself silently for forgetting about it; all of the events that day had distracted him, and the previous night had become a blur until now.

"For real?" Eagle Eye asked. "Wait then if that's the case..."

"Shamshir can't attack what he can't keep up with!" Luke explained. "The longer Volcan keeps fighting, the faster he gets, until he's quicker than the eye can follow!" He actually laughed in his excitement. "Volcan's as good as won this!"

Shamshir had finally come to the mercy of gravity, falling back towards the arena unable to stop himself; although Scizor, mega evolved or not, could fly short distances with their wings, they were not ample fliers because of how heavy their bodies became after evolving from Scyther. Eventually, as he neared the center, Volcan ran for him, seizing him out of midair before running over to the edge of the battlefield, where he jumped up and _threw_the Scizor face-first into the ground, finally knocking him out.

The Mega Scizor's legs were comically left sticking up in midair following his face plant into the dirt. There, he devolved back to his regular form, and as if to add to the comical scene, he fell over with a clamour, his head coming out of the ground as his legs hit the sand, and there he remained.

"Winner!" Oceania called. "Volcan is victorious!"

"WHOOHOOO!!!" Eagle Eye hollered, doing loops on the spot after taking off for a bit, then landed and frantically flapping his wings. "WAY TO GO ROOKIE!!"

"YES!!!" Luke threw his arms up in the air as he exclaimed out loud, laughing as he held his paws up in the air. Like with last time, he ran out without thinking and tackled Volcan from behind. "You crazy bastard! You did it!"

It was likely Luke's sudden outburst and urge to hug Volcan had come from his earlier worry for his friend's safety when Shamshir had snapped, but now that Volcan had won the battle those worried had ebbed away, and he had just needed to let out his joy over it. Volcan grunted as he felt Luke glom onto him, looking over his shoulder at the excited Lucario and allowing himself a smile.

"I owe it to you," he said. "This form can be hard to control, but your guidance helped me make sure I could."

Luke pulled himself away and gazed happily up at the Blaziken. "When we get home, I'm treating you to the biggest meal I can make! Hell, I'll cook for the whole team! That fight was phenomenal!" He exclaimed, then he forced himself to calm down before he spoke again after letting go of Volcan and clearing his throat. "You continue to both surprise me and exceed my expectations, Volcan."

Volcan's smile faded despite the praise. "We're not done yet," he said, looking in the direction of their final opponent who was already coming out to the field, his steps calm but heavy. Torolf was ready for his turn in the ring. "The real fight is just beginning." He looked at Luke. "I'm going to use what moments I've got left in this form to try and buy us a little more time; with the speed I have now, I can outmanoeuvre him, maybe wear him down a little."

"But Volcan, you just took down Shamshir, and your mega evolution will expire any minute," Luke replied. "If Torolf mega evolves and yours expires, he'll crush you!"

"I don't need to beat him; I just need to stall him," Volcan returned, turning to face Torolf. "If I go down, then you can jump in. Sickle's I to be close to finding Bialo by now; we need every second we can buy to put an end to this insanity."

"But...!" Luke stammered, looking up at him with a pleading look. However, he saw how determined the Blaziken was to go through with this plan. "...You're stubborn and unmoving when you make a decision, you know that?" He asked.

"Are you so different?" Volcan asked, turning back to smile at Luke again.

"I guess not, no." Luke returned, smiling weakly at him. "Okay...please be careful." He said, placing his paw on his back gently. "...Please."

Volcan continued to give him that smile. "I will," he promised. "Besides... we know I've been through worse."

Luke's eyes fell upon the scar on Volcan's back as he spoke those words, seeing that deep laceration down his back that ran right alongside his spine, inflicted upon him by an unknown assailant. Whomever had attacked Volcan had intended to kill him that night, and the distance between that slash mark and Volcan's spine was how close to death the Blaziken had been once already. He had survived then... but would he survive now?

Unfortunately, he had made up his mind, and the Mega Blaziken headed out to the battlefield as Torolf advanced to take his place in the area...

Hank, who had since been fully healed by Mikhail looked up in shock when he saw Volcan out there facing off with Torolf, and called out in protest. "Wait! Rookie what are ya doing?!" He hollered, rising to his feet shakily and limping forward. "Get back here!! Luke's supposed to fight him!!" But he was ignored.

Luke walked back to his side of the arena, rejoining Eagle Eye. Hank, approached Luke from behind. "You think he's got this...?" He asked as he stepped around Luke to look him in the eye. Luke didn't respond, once more wearing that anxious look in his eyes as he looked on at the arena. Hank narrowed his eyes when he saw that look, recognizing it all too well. '...Called it...' He thought to himself, then looked over to the arena himself as Oceania announced the match. "Damn you, Rookie..."

"This is truly a turn of events for our team, ladies and gentlemen!" She called. "We are down to our last fighter, and it is non other than our leader, the mighty Torolf -the one who defeated Groudon himself in single combat! And first to step up to battle him is none other than Volcan, the lightning-fast blazing martial artist who just defeated Shamshir! Let us see how this battle fares; will Volcan end this match without his leader stepping out to the battlefield? There is only one way to find out!" She brought her tail down, and called out. "BEGIN!"

Torolf had not even mega evolved when Volcan charged in; the Swampert cupped his hands together to form a Water Pulse that he hurled at Volcan, but the Blaziken easily banked out of the way, and darted past Torolf before he could attack again, holding and then jumping backward to back flip over another oncoming Water Pulse. He landed on Torolf's head, and jumped off just as the mind-controlled Swampert clapped his hands together above his head, trying to catch him.

Volcan was so fast now that outmaneuvering Torolf was a breeze, but in his mind, he was cursing himself for this decision; he _knew_he didn't have a chance against Torolf. The Swampert had been able to defeat Sol, and so far all of their victories had only been because Bialo could not think like those he was controlling with his hypnotic powers. Nonetheless, virtually no attack Volcan had would help him against someone this powerful; Fire attacks would be ineffective, Thunderpunch was useless and Dual Chop was too weak, limiting him only to fighting-type attacks, assuming he should actually even _attempt_to do so.

'Might have bit off more than I could chew this time,' he thought, but didn't let it stop him; he just needed to buy time -he didn't have to fight, he just needed to buy time...

Torolf then slapped the ground with both of his hands, causing an Earthquake. To avoid it, Volcan had to jump, but this proved to be an equally poor choice as Torolf hurled another Water Pulse at him, blasting him out of midair. Managing to regain control, Volcan landed on his feet, just in time to dodge a Hydro Cannon.

He ran in a zig-zag pattern, heading towards Torolf -although more to keep away from the edge than his plan to actually attack him. But attack he did, leaping over one more Water Pulse to attack with an airborne, inverted spin kick, aimed right for Torolf's face; it looked like he would actually land a solid blow; he hadn't intended to fight but instinct had driven him to attempt a counter-attack, and it looked like he was going to make it!

But_just_before his foot could connect, his mega evolution expired, significantly reducing the strength of his kick; Torolf was hit, but barely reacted even to the foot digging into his face, while Volcan stared into those dead eyes in horror.

"Fuck..." was all he said before Torolf backhanded him.

The sound of that strike was like a mini sonic boom, and Volcan was sent soaring to the opposite side of the field, cartwheeling through the air before hitting the dirt like a sack of potatoes, first sending mud plumes, then sand plumes as he reached dry ground, seemingly not even slowing as he sprawled across the ground several dozen feet until he hit the wall by the entrance, and then lay limp on the ground...

"VOLCAN!!" Luke hollered in horror as he looked on at the Blaziken lay there, quickly darting over to the fallen Blaziken, kneeling next to him and rolling him onto his back to check his wounds.

"Shit, rookie!!" Hank exclaimed as he, Eagle Eye and Mikhail also ran over to check on him, all four crowding around him and turning him over to study him.

Mikhail examined him thoroughly, checking first the area where Torolf had struck him. As he did so, Volcan coughed, and his eyes slowly opened, dazed and barely able to see past the haze in his eyes, but still able to recognize the faces of his friends as he forced a weak smile.

"How'd I do?" He asked in mild jest.

"...Well, ya tried." Hank returned, shrugging a bit. "The hell were ya thinking man? I swear yer more stubborn than Luke."

"Was just trying to buy Sickle more time," Volcan replied, weakly. "But... now it's up to Luke to do the rest."

Luke nodded, touching Volcan's his cheek with his paw. "You've done enough, Volcan..." He said, pressing his forehead to Volcan's and speaking softly to him. "Rest now, let Mikhail treat your wounds..."

Volcan let out a weak chuckle, followed by a cough. "No argument there," he said. "I think he bruised a few ribs when he smacked me..."

"I can fix those easily." Mikhail returned, then looked to Luke. "Whatever you do, brother...don't let that happen to you. Please." He pleaded. "Don't pull a Rigel on me."

Luke stood up, turning to face Torolf. "...The way things are progressing, I'm hoping I don't either." He said, stepping up to the arena, steeling his nerves as best he could as he approached the possessed Swampert.

Torolf had resumed his previous position, waiting for Luke as he stared off straight ahead with that entranced look, not even following his opponent as Luke made his way to his spot on the field, and Oceania began to announce the match.

"And now, Pokemon of all ages; the moment you have all been waiting for!" The Milotic called. "The epic final clash between team captains Torolf of Warmachine vs. Luke of Valiant! This is the moment where it is all decided, people; who will win? Who will lose? Let's find out!" She raised her tail, eyeing the two of them and waiting in case they wanted to Mega Evolve.

The second she stopped speaking, Luke then raised his paw up to his scarf. However, rather than tugging at it gently, he tore it off his neck, then tossed it aside, landing outside the arena gently.

"Uh oh...he means business now..." Hank muttered.

Luke then grasped his Lucarionite, and he was then surrounded in a crystalline sphere for a few moments before it exploded outward, revealing his Mega Evolution. Torolf was soon to follow suite, rearing up onto his hind legs and tapping the Swampertite on the leather, gold-plated belt worn around his middle, becoming surrounded in the same light for a moment before reappearing in his own mega form, slamming _massive_fists against the ground with thunderous force.

"Looks like puppet Torolf does too," Volcan rasped, narrowing his eyes.

"BEGIN!!" Oceania called out, announcing the start of the match.

At that second, however, as Torolf started to move, he froze. Luke watched him, and he saw life seemingly return to Torolf's eyes in that instant, the Swampert looking up in surprise and confusion. He looked at Luke, and started to speak before he tensed and grabbed his head with one large paw, growling in agony as he nearly doubled over.

"Oh shit...!" Volcan rasped as he saw what was happening to Torolf, bringing out another cough before trying to sit up despite Mikhail's protests. "Luke...!" He wheezed with concern.

Luke flinched a bit when Torolf began grabbing his head and stumbled about, knowing what was happening to him was the same thing that had happened to Shamshir; Bialo was no longer controlling him and was instead drawing out his rage, letting his wild side take over to fight instead. "No! Fight it Torolf!" Luke exclaimed. "Don't let yourself become consumed by your primal fury! You're stronger than that!!"

But it was futile. Torolf succumbed to the probing in his brain suppressing his other instincts to draw out his primal rage. He finally stopped moving, placing his paws back on the ground and his entire body tensing as he elevated his gaze and glared at Luke, the same murderous glare that had been in Shamshir's eyes; the warrior and leader had been lost, the better part of himself locked away by Bialo's mental shielding, and only by defeating the Malamar would Torolf be freed now. Luke had no choice but to battle Torolf, and hope that Sickle would succeed.

Torolf reached down to his belt, touching his Mega Stone and becoming engulfed in the violet sphere as had Shamshir and Volcan before, and when it shattered, he had ascended to his Mega Evolved form; Luke had not witnessed it himself when Torolf had used it in his battle with Sol, but here now combined with Torolf's descension into primal fury, he honestly felt nervous; Torolf was at the peak of his power, overcome by rage and beyond control. He was more dangerous now than perhaps even Sol had been...

Luke sighed, feeling a tear in his eye as he witnessed the fate of the Swampert, wishing it had not needed to be this way. With no other option, he pulled off his scarf, tossing it aside and letting the wind carry it off of the battlefield as if it had kicked up to do just that, revealing the mega stone that had been hidden beneath, which Luke tapped with his paw.

"Alright Torolf," he said as the Mega Stone began to glow. "Let's go..."

As with all who had Mega Evolved before, Luke was engulfed in the violet, crystalline sphere, feeling his body surge with power and watching his paws ignite with a rainbow of colours, and that was when he began to feel the change -feel himself becoming taller, feeling more spikes growing from his footpaws and wrists, the dreadlocks growing from his scalp becoming longer and flowing as if carried by the wind, and his tail expanding to become wide and fan-like instead of long and thin.

He felt his transformation complete, and the sphere shattered to reveal his Mega Evolved form in all of its glory. He then reached deep within, calling forth his hidden power as his aura surged around him, changing its hue from a clear white to a bright red that matched his eyes, which were locked in a deep scowl as he faced Torolf. He radiated with so much power, the sand and mud beneath his feet seemed to retreat from him, bunching up in piles within a small circle, and a step forward with his left footpaw only spread it further.

"Come on Torolf!" Luke roared at him, in a voice filled with the fury of battle...

Torolf roared loudly and charged at Luke, forming a tsunami of water beneath him that carried him forward with a Surf attack. Luke formed an Aura Sphere between his paws, lobbing it at Torolf and blasting him off of the wave of water, which caused it to collapse and splash all across the battlefield, but Torolf was back up within seconds of being hit, and continued his advance, jumping through the air straight at Luke even as the Lucario conjured another Aura Sphere.

Bringing both fists down with a Hammer Arm, Torolf actually scattered the sphere with the sheer force of his swinging fists, and struck the ground where Luke had been standing less than a second before, avoiding the attack only thanks to Extreme Speed, darting back just out of reach, and then lunging forward as Torolf removed his fists, striking him with Force Palm and sending him skidding backward. Torolf used his fists to slow himself, but Luke closed the distance again with another Extreme Speed, and this time struck Torolf square in the face with Force Palm, knocking him onto his back from the unexpected attack.

The entire audience, not to mention Luke's team, was watching with bated breath as the battle progressed, tensing as Torolf threw himself back onto his feet and attacked Luke again, his mighty arms swinging to and fro with audible sound as they tore through the air. Luke's speed was all that saved him from the insurmountable strength of the Swampert.

Soon into the battle, after a failed attempt at using Earthquake to stumble Luke -as the Lucario had jumped up into the air to avoid it, Torolf inhaled deeply and fired a Hydro Cannon from his mouth, gouging the earth with the high pressure water as it cut its way across the field and headed straight at Luke.

"Uh oh..." Luke muttered, quickly leaping up and over the high pressure water cannon right as it was about to strike him, landing back on the ground untouched just as Torolf had to stop to breath; now was his chance.

Using Extreme Speed once more, he darted to Torolf's right, and then his flame-like aura surged before he darted in with Close Combat, pummelling Torolf as hard as he could at the cost of some of his defence Torolf did not have time to put up a defence before Luke was right there, attacking him; his paws were faster than the eye could follow as the struck Torolf repeatedly, never hitting the same spot twice in a row with his dozens of punches.

But he swiftly realize Torolf was barely reacting to the strikes. Even now, with Luke at one of his highest levels of power, the Swampert was_still_ too strong for him to fight directly.

He tried to retreat, but Torolf was already swinging; he struck Luke the same way he had stricken Volcan earlier, though not as direct as Luke had begun to step away, and he was sent sprawling off of his feet, falling into the mud with a splat. Quickly recovering, Luke tried to get up, but he felt Torolf's massive fist come down on his back, driving him deep into the muddy ground and knocking the wind out of him.

It was futile, he realized... Torolf's power was insurmountable, able to take hits and dish them out like a juggernaut even with Luke Mega Evolved and tapped into his inner Aura strength, a power that he thought for certain would have been enough. The difference in strength between Torolf and the rest of Team Warmachine, even Shamshir, was without measure, and in this psychic-induced fit of rage he was undergoing, sheer adrenaline prevented him from feeling any pain. Luke couldn't stop him...

And before the Lucario could get up, Torolf seized him with his three-fingered hands, pulling him up and into a tight bearhug that forced all of the air out of Luke's lungs once again. Already he could feel his bones creaking in protest under the pressure caused by Torolf, and he instinctively kicked his legs, trying to get free, but Torolf's grip was stronger than iron. He was crushing him!

"No!! Boss!!!" Eagle Eye hollered out frantically.

"Fucking stop the damn match; he's gonna KILL him!!!!" Hank hollered as well, looking to Oceania

It seemed the Milotic had seen enough as well. She raced onto the battlefield, approaching Torolf. "Boss, stop! What're you doing?!" She screamed as she threw her tail around Torolf's arm and pulled. "Stop!" She screamed and pulled harder, trying to make him let go, only to be throw back when the Swampert shrugged her off.

Volcan tried to get back to his feet despite the burning in his chest, hand over his ribs and ready to run out to the field to help Luke until Mikhail stopped him by seizing his arm. "No Volcan! You're in no condition to move yet!" He said through a pained expression in his eyes. "You'll only get yourself killed too!"

"I don't care if Torolf smashes me into a grave; I'm not going to let him kill Luke!" Volcan returned, practically dragging Mikhail as he struggled to get out to the field, before, in his desperation, he threw back his head and screamed a single name. "SICKLE!!!"

~~~~~

A few minutes earlier...

Sickle, Wade, Blaster and Howler once again found themselves meeting at a fork in the corridors of the Colosseum, each of them panting for breath as they looked at each other and shared their lacks of success in finding the renegades of Team Warmachine. They had combed through the entire structure, and had met at the top floor after a long search.

"Anything?" Blaster asked Wade, though he was certain he knew the answer.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry; no matter where I looked, I could not find any trace of either Maggie or Bialo." He explained.

"Me neither," Blaster added. "I've searched every damn room on the lower floors; this is the last one, but there's nothing up here -it just circumvents the top of the Colosseum"

"Howler lost their scent too," Sickle added. "It's hard to track someone who can float through the air." He grabbed his head in frustration. "Dammit, we're running out of time! Torolf could be on the field by now, pounding the guys into paste and we're getting nowhere!" He kicked a stray stone down the hall. "We've scoured every inch of this place; where are those two hiding?!"

"Sickle!" Blaster bellowed, stepping over to the Grovyle. "You lose your head now, you won't help anyone. Breathe, and calm down."

"But ..."

"Breathe!" The Blastoise practically commanded him.

Sickle recoiled from the force of Blaster's voice, but righted his posture and let out a sigh. "You're right... I'm sorry," said the Grovyle, inhaling deeply before exhaling slowly and in a controlled manner. "I just can't think of what we missed..."

"If only we had a floor plan of this place," Blaster commented, rubbing his chin in thought. "We know they have to be somewhere they can still see the field. They _have_to be somewhere high up, somewhere they can see the entire field and everything going on below."

Wade was rubbing his whiskers in thought as Sickle and Blaster spoke, trying to think of any other ways they could search the arena for their culprits. His eyes widened a little as a thought entered his head. "....What if we haven't been looking in the right _manner?"_Wade suddenly stated. "What if they've been hiding in plain sight from us right from the start?"

"How? Howler raced all over the stands and didn't see them anywhere," Blaster returned. "Only Maggie can turn invisible; Bialo can't, and Malamar aren't exactly common in this part of the world -it's too cold in Valvatna for them."

"And I've already been to the roof; they're not topside," returned Sickle, rubbing his chin in thought. "We need to start fresh..." he said, and turned to Howler. "Show us where you last detected Bialo's scent, the fresher the better."

Howler nodded, and gestured or the group to follow him before leading them down the corridor he had come from, past the stairs and another fork to the outer-most end of the arena hall. To their right were more stairs leading below, plus an access hatch to the roof, accessible by ladder, and a window that faced outside to the streets of Valvatna below. Here, Howler stopped, nose still pressed to the ground, and then raised his head to look at the others.

"Here, then?" The Grovyle asked. "And this is the last spot?" He received another nod from Howler. "Then they can't be far away." He glanced left and right down the hall, eyeing the corridors that ran underneath the highest part of the stands and wrapped around the entire Colosseum "But where could they go? The roof's clear, and there are no other rooms on this floor."

"Hey wait a second," Blaster said, stepping forward and eyeing the wall straight to their left, which seemed to bend inward slightly. "Something about this wall..."

"What of it?" Sickle asked.

"On the opposite side of the stadium, there's a boarded-up opening that leads out to where a VIP box used to be," he replied. "I don't know why it was closed off but this Colosseum was designed symmetrically; both sides of the Colosseum should be identical, but this area has bricks instead of boards. And now that I think about it, there is a box on this side too -this is where it should be."

Howler and Wade stepped up to the wall, the Samurott studying it carefully, going over every crease with his eyes, and noticing something odd even before Howler pressed his ear to the wall as if to listen. "These bricks are not cemented together," the Samurott stated, running one of his paws along a crease as if to confirm it, and pulled his paw back when the brick shifted slightly. "They are merely stacked in line with the wall."

Howler shut his eyes to listen, and was joined by Sickle, both of them listening for any sounds behind the wall, motioning for Blaster and Wade to remain quiet. At first, there was silence, but then both of them heard a muffled, female voice say "That Lucario is a pest; make sure he suffers."

"With pleasure."

Howler and Sickle stepped back, both of their expressions turning stern and glaring. "Bingo," said Sickle.

"Wade, if you would be so kind?" Blaster asked, gesturing to the wall.

Wade smirked. "I'd be honoured." Wade returned, before he stood up on his hind legs, sucked in a breath and then lunged at the wall shoulder-first, ramming through the uncemented bricks and sending them scattering into the room behind, startling the two individuals hiding behind it.

Maggie and Bialo spun around as their hiding place within the rickety box was revealed, eyes wide with shock. "How did you...?!" Maggie demanded.

Sickle did not even let her finish speaking. He crouched low, dropping to all fours, and rushed Bialo with a Quick Attack, letting out a furious cry as he slammed into the hovering, squid-likePokémonwith all of his weight. Bialo could not react fast enough as the Grovyle rammed into him, sending them hurtling into the decrepit wooden planks that sealed off the box, smashing through them and tumbling over the railing. The Malamar screamed in horror, in concentration ruined and leaving him unable to levitate anymore, as Sickle, still clinging to him, sent him falling towards the ground.

Audiences looked up when they heard the Malamar scream, and watched as he fell three stories to the ground below, hitting the sand with a dull thud and a cloud of dust, with Sickle landing on and bouncing off of him to inadvertently break the Grovyle's fall as the muddy ground beneath the Malamar did for him.

Across way, with Bialo's concentration shattered, Torolf finally came to his senses as the block around his mind was removed, the red haze lifted from his eyes and his mind now clear to process what was happening around him, including of the Lucario in his crushing grip, with his eyes already rolling back in his head as he was slipping from consciousness. "What the..."

In shock, he let go of Luke, dropping the Lucario to the sand where he could finally gather his breath, while the Swampert, backing up on his hind legs, fell over in shock and devolved from his Mega Evolved form back into that of a regular Swampert, staring in horror at Luke, who also reverted back to his regular form as he dropped to the sand.

At the same time, the rest of Team Warmachine present on the battlefield -namely Shamshir and Razorwing, began to come around, much to the shock of Timber who was standing behind them, and also felt confused and disoriented by what was happening. Timber looked quite worried...

"By Arceus, what was I doing?!" Torolf demanded, before he scrambled over to Luke's side desperately, picking him up in his large hands and cradling him. "Are you alright?!" He asked, frantic. Luke was still conscious, but was struggling to regain his breath. The Swampert raised his head and called for a medic, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Someone get down here now!"

Bialo, now recovered from his fall, shook his head to clear it and levitated back into an upright position, locating Sickle who was rolling back onto his front and was up on his hands and knees, groaning. Bialo's expression shifted to deep glare, and Sickle suddenly felt a psychic pressure around him, lifting him up and turning him to face the Malamar "When I'm done with you, little lizard, you'll be a mindless vegetable!"

"Oh no ya don't, calamari!"

Bialo looked up, and caught a blur of red and gray as Eagle Eye plunged at him from above, landing on top of his head and gripping the tendrils growing from his skull painfully in his talons before proceeding to peck Bialo in the eyeball, breaking his concentration once more to drop Sickle. Seconds later, Volcan and Hank, despite their injured conditions, came running at Bialo as he batted at Eagle Eye with his tentacles to try and throw him off, and the two tackled the Malamar from behind, pinning him down and beating on him angrily until he begged for mercy.

Maggie, up in the box, saw the situation was rapidly turning against her, and moved to make her getaway, only for Wade's sword to appear across her vision, coated in the dark energy of a Night Slash. In addition, she heard Blaster's cannon's shifting, and rolled her eyes to see the Blastoise taking aim at her, his purple eyes furrowed into a deep, warning glare. "I would stay still_if I were_you," he said in warning.

Wade leered at the Mismagius, the edge of his sword held right at her neck. "Outside." He said in a tone similar to what Kage was known for. "Now!"

She complied without words, knowing that even if she attempted to dematerialize to avoid Blaster's guns, turning immaterial would not protect her from Night Slash. She slowly levitated out of the box as Wade and Blaster escorted her, with Howler leading them through the Colosseum halls to return to the field, Wade walking at her side, and Blaster bringing up the rear. She was going nowhere under that watch...

Meanwhile, Mikhail had made it over to Torolf, who was still cradling his brother. The Swampert looked up at him, recognizing him and freezing when he saw the wary look the Lucario was giving him "...Place him down please..." Mikhail said, in a tone that told the Swampert he meant it.

Torolf did not hesitate. He gingerly lowered Luke back onto the sand and slid his hands out from under the Lucario before he backed away with his head lowered in shame. "I'm sorry," he said in a low voice, though whether it was meant for Luke or Mikhail was hard to say.

Mik then went to work, kneeling next to him and frantically checking Luke's body for any internal damage. Sure enough, when he ran his paws along Luke's side, Luke grunted and had a much more pained expression on his face as he assessed his brother's injuries. "Nothing broken... but his ankle is twisted, and his shoulder is dislocated," he said mostly to himself, but Torolf still heard him.

Torolf cringed upon hearing that, looking at his hands as if they were foreign to him, still processing what he had caught himself in the act of doing, until both of his hands clenched tightly, and he whipped around, looking over everyone present on the field -including Maggie who had just been led outside by Wade, Blaster and Howler. The Swampert was furious, desperate for answers, and bellowed loudly.

"Will someone explain to me what is going on?!" He demanded. "When did we even get out here, and why was I on the verge of _killing_someone?!"

"Torolf, don't believe anything they say!" Maggie called. "I can explain all of this, I...!" She was cut off as Howler whipped around and snarled at her; he may not have been able to speak, but he could still growl, and that show of teeth was the only warning he would give her.

"_You_have spoken enough," Blaster stated firmly.

"This is all the doing of your_'loyal'_ teammates," Kage's voice rang from behind Torolf, who turned around to see the Greninja standing behind him, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he began to walk around the Swampert to reveal himself to the rest of the group. "Surely _they'd_love to fill you in on their little plan to eliminate the threat we supposedly brought to you and your fame... isn't that right, Maggie?" He asked, looking coldly over to the Mismagius.

"You cannot prove anything; I would never do anything to hurt my team!" She protested.

"He never suggested that you were trying to hurt us," Razorwing chimed in, giving the Mismagius a sharp look.

"What have you done, Maggie?" Shamshir demanded, his yellow eyes glaring harshly at her.

"What she did," Volcan chimed in. "Is turn all of you, minus one, into mindless puppets, because she thinks we were somehow a threat to the fame and fortune of your team -that losing to us would take it all away."

"That's absurd!" Torolf exclaimed. "She can't have been so naive as to believe that; there must be some other explanation!"

"He speaks the truth," another voice called from the hallway nearby.

All eyes turned to see the back of Timber, who was walking backwards away from a blue flame hovering in front of his eyes. In front of him were Aegis and Kari, who was glaring dangerously at him, her red eyes shining brightly as she forced the Haxorus out onto the field. Cradled in the arms of the Chesnaught, much to the surprise of everyone, was Kaen! The Charmeleon had left his hospital bed and had come to the arena, and was now accompanying Kari while being carried by Aegis as the Ninetales forced Timber back out into the open to answer for his role in this crime.

Torolf took note of Kaen's injuries immediately. "Kaen? What the..."

"We were all being brainwashed by Bialo," the Ninetales stated, vanquishing her blue fire. "I know because I was fighting his control the whole time; I couldn't break it, but I maintained awareness of what happened around me, and I can validate the claims against Maggie and Bialo... and _Timber_too."

"Timber?" Torolf asked. "You're saying he was in on it too?!"

"N-No, I wasn't!" The Haxorus protested defensively. "I was brainwashed too, I swear!"

"Bullshit!" Volcan snapped angrily. "We all heard you, you slimeball!"

Take that as his cue, Kage reached behind him and grasped the playback device on his belt, holding it aloft and turning up the volume before hitting play, letting Torolf, Shamshir and Razorwing hear the truth, right out of the Haxorus' mouth. Every dialogue was followed by some background noise as the two had been fighting, but the message was still clear.

"I wonder what Torolf will say when he discovers that you, Maggie, and Bialo are trying to sabotage this tournament?"

"When I throw your broken body into the ocean he'll never know! He'll wake up in his room tomorrow morning and we'll tell him you forfeited and left!"

"And what of your cohorts who likely have already begun to suspect? Such as the one who witnessed the strange behavior of your team throughout this battle? Or maybe, I should go talk to Aegis; I'm sure he would love to hear about what his cohorts Bialo and Maggie have been doing behind his back."

"We didn't bring Aegis in because Maggie was pretty sure he'd be able to handle that punk kid on his own; seems she underestimated the runt, given that Aegis apparently lost to him. If the kid had picked me it'd be a different story."

"And what do you gain from all this? Your team, mind-controlled by one of their own, forced to fight as puppets? Does she have so little faith in you all that she doesn't think you can win on your own without her intervention?"

"Torolf's a misguided idiot, these tournaments are a chance to show the world that we are the best of the best, and we've done that every year. That needs to keep happening; we lose our rep, we lose everything. Bialo's making sure that doesn't happen; we need to win, and fightin' dirty is the only way that's going to happen; Bialo will see to that."

"Listen to yourself; doesn't that sound like a bit of a stretch even to you? Or are you as small-minded and naive as you're making yourself sound? If your team is really so powerful, then they would've been more than capable of handling us by themselves. As it stands now, you've all proven to be quite easy."

"You talk too much!"

More background noise followed, but Kage then shut off the recording and leered at Timber. "As I said before," he remarked. "_You_are the one who talks too much."

"You stupid blabbermouth!" Maggie and Bialo cursed the Haxorus, making him flinch instinctively.

"A misguided idiot?" Torolf echoed from the Haxorus' claims as told by the recording, stalking towards the Haxorus and glaring right into his eye. "Perhaps you would like to repeat that claim, for _me_to hear?"

Powerful as Timber was, clearly even he did not dare risk the wrath of the Swampert, and shrank away from him in cowardice, remaining silent.

"Maggie..." Torolf began. "What. Have. You. Done?"

She failed to form a reply. Off to the side, Mikhail flinched when he saw movement next to him. Luke. despite his injuries, was rising to his feet, driven by sheer determination and the anger he felt towards the Mismagius. Against Mikhail's orders, Luke then started limping over to Maggie and Bialo, a pained yet angered expression worn on his face even as he managed to stand before the two responsible. Mikhail followed him, supporting him so that he would not fall over if he should collapse.

"I have just... one question," He growled in between laboured breaths. "...Why?"

She glowered at him. "Why do you think?" She asked. "So that we wouldn't _lose_obviously. After I saw your team defeat Team Phobia, I saw a very real chance that we would lose this tournament. I could not allow that to happen."

"And what," Torolf chimed in, stepping over to stand at Luke's side. "Was so important about winning this_tournament. We have maintained our status as champions at every one of them for the past five _years, Maggie; we have never lost. What would it matter if we lost now? What exactly did you think you were protecting?"

"Our low loss record is what made us famous," Maggie retorted strongly. "We began hosting these tournaments to show our power; to show the world we were the greatest Rescue Team there ever was. That fame brought us to prosperity; after living for so long in that cesspool in Blackcoast, you and I -we had _everything_we could ever want."

"And how exactly was any of that at risk?" Shamshir asked.

"Think about it!" She exclaimed suddenly. "Team Valiant is a silver-ranked team from some backwater town nobody cares about, yet they beat Team Phobia, the team that has been our opponents in four of the five tournaments we hosted! Yet out of nowhere they lose to someone who should be of little significance? Can you imagine_the backlash that would cause our reputation if we lost to _them?"

"How_exactly_ do you think we'd have lost to them?" Razorwing asked. "You don't think we could have handled them ourselves? That we needed Bialo to put us on strings and make us fight them?"

"If that did anything it made us weaker!" Shamshir added. "Bialo knows _nothing_about how we fight; he's our interrogator, not a coach!"

"You guys all believe too much in a fair fight," Bialo commented. "You'd never go all out against these guys; you needed to be ruthless, to remind everyone in this building that Team Warmachine is unbeatable."

"Exactly," returned Maggie. "I knew none of you would understand, and it put everything we've built at risk."

Volcan groaned. "'Wouldn't understand'; by Arceus do I _hate_hearing that..."

Torolf was actually shaking,_violently, his arms trembling with anger as he grit his teeth to hear out the explanation. And when it was done, he exploded, making everyone recoil from him in fright. _"YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!!!" He roared with such volume that the entire arena likely heard him... and probably some of Valvatna as well. "You actually believe_that everything we have built would be gone, from _one_loss?! That if we lost to Valiant, we would be forced back to our roots, just like _that?!"

He stepped towards Maggie. "Do you have any idea how incredibly RIDICULOUS that notion is?! Even if we lost our reputation, somehow, we have years to rebuild it! And our wealth would not simply just vanish_into thin air!" He waved his hand behind him. "And for your information, Maggie, I did _not_start hosting these tournaments to show off my strength! I started them so other Rescue Teams had the chance to show _theirs!"

He gestured towards Aegis. "Aegis and I designed these competitions together; they were _his_idea from the start! He wanted these tournaments to serve as a testing ground for new Rescue Teams and lone fighters to test and advance their limits! It was never _meant_to just be some stupid show!"

Luke was at the peak of his anger as well, and was quick to add his take to Torolf's berating of the Mismagius "You took control of your teammates; your own allies -Pokemon that _trusted_you and in turn thought you trusted them back, and then you forced them to fight against their will _all_because you were afraid?!" He said, raising his voice, to such made him wince and stagger a little before he collected himself. "Do you even hear yourself, at all?! You were afraid of _nothing!_I didn't want your wealth or fame; we joined this tournament to _test_ourselves!"

"And not only that!" Luke added as he pointed at the Charmeleon cradled in Aegis' arms. "You made Torolf try to kill Kaen! Your own teammate, for nothing!"

"What I did to Kaen was necessary; he would've ruined everything," returned Maggie. "It seems he still did; he survived to tell _you_about everything" She glared at Sickle's team. "Allowing _them_time to track us down while you battled, and-"

"You..." Torolf began, cutting her off once more; she looked at him, and recoiled from the terrifying glare he gave her. His tone had changed, practically radiating his suppressed anger, and it was clear only self-control was stopping her from beating the Mismagius senseless at that moment. "You made me attack Kaen? You made me try to kill Luke?! You and Bialo manipulated me into hurting innocent Pokémon?!" He raised his fists, slamming them on the sand with such force that the ground shook. "I should beat the_both_of you into _paste_right now!!!"

Maggie retreated behind Bialo, hiding behind the Malamar in terror, though the squid-like Pokémon looked even more terrified than she did, both of them cowering away from the enraged Swampert, the mad look in his eyes that previously was on his face when Bialo was controlling him was back, and everyone watching him thought he would actually do it -that he would beat the two Pokémon to death then and there. Shamshir even looked ready to try and intervene.

But it did not happen. Torolf released a long, held breath, and stepped back from them, his eyes closed, and his voice filled with pain. "Twenty-five years, Maggie... you and I have been fighting together, working together, for nearly our _whole_lives. How could you do this us? How could you be so_foolish?_I thought for the longest time you were one of the most dependable Pokémon I would ever know, but then you do this..." He looked away from her. "What you have done here shames this _whole_team; our reputation will suffer more for what you did here today than if we lost the next _eight_tournaments in a row."

Maggie looked at Torolf in shock. "Wait, Torolf, you...!"

"Shut your mouth!" Torolf snapped, silencing her. "You are a _disgrace_to this team! You're no better than the filth we ran from in Blackcoast all those years ago!" He lowered his voice again. "You should go back there, Maggie... you would fit in in _perfectly_now." He turned away from her, and motioned to Shamshir and Razorwing. "Return to the ship, and when we get back to the island, Maggie and Bialo, I _never_want to see your faces again."

He then looked at Timber. "And as for you, you clearly were not one of the brains behind this. Just the same, you are also off this team. I will decide the severity of your punishment later."

The Haxorus swallowed nervously, his face paling beneath his hard scales.

Torolf then turned to Kaen, who was still being carried by Aegis, and looked painfully at the injured Charmeleon. "Kaen... if I am indeed the one who hurt you, I hope you can forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive, boss," Kaen returned in a raspy voice. "Bialo's the one who made you punch me; you didn't do it yourself."

"I found Kaen as he was returning to the Colosseum," Aegis explained. "He thought I was being controlled at first too, but when I spoke he saw I wasn't, and told me everything. I met Kari on my way out here, and she confirmed the rest." He looked around. "Can someone take Kaen for me?"

"I can," offered Sickle, walking over to Aegis. The Chesnaught knelt down to the ground, lowering Kaen to Sickle's side, and the Charmeleon put his arm around Sickle's shoulder for support, cringing as he felt his ribs flare up slightly, but nodding to Aegis when he was steady.

The Chesnaught stood up, and joined Shamshir and Razorwing as they began to escort Maggie, Bialo and Timber back to the ship. Luke and the other members of Team Valiant looked on at the three traitors of Warmachine as they were escorted back to the ship. Hank being the first to speak, scoffed and crossed his arms.

"I say good fucking riddance...once a slimeball, always a slimeball."

"Something we can agree there." Eagle Eye added with a nod.

Torolf glanced over at them. "I suppose that includes me, too?" He asked, reminding them both he was from the same place Maggie was...

They twitched and looked back to Torolf. "Uh...nah dude yer different. At least you made a difference and stuff...right?" Hank asked.

Wade gave a sigh. "One of these days their big mouths will be their end," he remarked in a low tone to Kage.

"Agreed." Kage added, closing his eyes and shaking his head in disappointment, and then looked at Wade. "Well done finding them, pupil."

Wade beamed at the compliment from his teacher.

Luke mustered up enough willpower to turn and face Torolf. "I'm... sorry things turned out this way." He said, still panting rather laboriously.

Torolf gave him a sad smile. "You exposed a weak link in my team's chain; for that, I'm grateful. It'll just take me some time to reforge. For now, I need to address the audience. You should go to the infirmary." He looked at Kaen. "And _you_should go with him. Gallia will be back to normal now, and she'll treat both of you. Tell her I want to see her after." He looked at Sickle. "Can you help Kaen get there?"

"Of course," the Grovyle replied, and turned to leave, but paused as Luke spoke.

"No...I stand by my team until the very end, even if my body falls to dust in doing so," he said.

"Luke," Volcan stated, stepping up to him and putting his hand on his shoulder. "Don't be stubborn, not this time."

Luke gave a sigh, which made him cringe once more from his injuries. "Alright..." He returned, looking over to Volcan. "Think you're well enough to stand in my place...?"

Volcan eyed him with some surprise. "M-Me?" He asked. "But it's not my scene! I'm the new guy; Kage, Hank or Eagle can do it."

"I'll pass," Eagle Eye said. "Wasn't much fer speeches or standing still for too long."

"I'm not interested..." Kage stated.

"I say go for it, rookie." Hank said with a wink. "Actually, calling you rookie doesn't even do ya justice after the shit you pulled today."

"Besides," Luke wheezed, turning and placing his paw on Volcan's shoulder. "Like I said during our fight with Team Phobia..." He smiled weakly. "At this point....it's _our_team now."

Volcan looked between all of them, his eyes darting from the rest of Team Valiant, to Sickle and Kaen, and finally to Torolf. Awkwardness and a feeling of being honoured were battling in the Blaziken's heart, and he felt distressed, but Torolf could only give him a weak shrug.

"Time's wasting," the Swampert commented.

"Go for it, big guy," Sickle chimed in, with Kaen adding a nod of approval.

The Blaziken let out a groan. "Someday, I'm going to get all of you for doing this to me," he grumbled before he turned to Torolf. "Alright, let's go."

"Follow me," the Swampert stated, leading Volcan towards the middle of the field.

Volcan knew the audience was eyeing him expectantly, and felt a little exposed under their collective stares, wishing he didn't have to do this. But, sucking in a deep breath and trying not to faint in their gaze, he carried ones until he and Torolf were standing at the center of the field.

Torolf stood up on his hind legs, and raised his arms up to bring attention to himself as he began his announcement. "People of Valvatna, and Rescue Teams of the land, there has been an incident," he began. "A plot to fix the tournament has been revealed, with the culprits being exposed as members of Team Warmachine. As of now this match is null and void, and I must summarily disqualify my team for the heinous actions performed here today."

He grasped Volcan arm, raising it up over their heads for all to see. "So, as of now by default, victory goes to Team Valiant, not only for their amazing performance in this competition, but also for their actions in exposing this plot, keeping my team's honour and saving lives in the process! So it is to my great pleasure that I declare Team Valiant this contest's winners! Let your voices be heard, to welcome the new champions!"

The audience roared with applause, rising from their seats and calling out Team Valiant's name in cheer as the announcement was completed, leaving Volcan on the receiving end of the praise of hundreds. He felt humbled by all of this attention, barely believing it was him standing out there to receive it all. But he let it all flow, taking it in on behalf of his newfound friends... his new team.

He saw faces he recognized -the teams they had battled, up in the stands, including Team Martial, and the Hitmonlee who had defeated him earlier in the tournament, who gave him an approving nod. He saw Romulus, who although appeared to still be bothered by his defeat at the hands of the Blaziken, was not stopping the rest of his own team from joining in on the appraise. Eventually, Volcan was certain he actually saw the Houndoom smile, as if to accept his loss and let Volcan know that there would be no malice left between them.

The applause went on for a time -hours, it felt like to the Blaziken, until the Colosseum began to clear as the teams returned to the ship, where Torolf insisted they all rest, and meet him in the dining area tomorrow morning. After everyone slept through the night, they accepted his invitation and gathered there to meet with him. By the time they woke up that morning, the ship was on the move, making its return journey to Westport City.

Accompanying the Swampert were Leon and Razorwing, with Shamshir apparently off to stand guard over Maggie and Bialo. Even Kaen was there, though escorted by a nurse and seated in a wheelchair, with the box of mega stones under his arm. Not just Team Valiant was there either; Team Kama was also called to the gathering. They had met Sickle halfway there, and joined his team for the rest of the trip. When everyone was seated in the hall, Torolf began to speak to them.

"I wish things could have turned out differently at our competition," the Swampert began. "That I could've had the pleasure of facing you all for _real_and not as a puppet under Bialo. Let me express my sincerest apologies for this incident, and my gratitude, for you rising to the occasion to stop it."

"No worries. It's what we do fer a living after all." Hank spoke up, grinning back to Torolf and shooting him an A-OK sign with his claw.

Eagle Eye however, left his seat and quickly hopped over to stand before Razorwing, a stern look in his eyes that had the Skarmory shifting slightly as he looked down at the Talonflame. "I just got one question fer you that's been bugging me fer a while..." He said.

"Eagle Eye, is this really the time?" Volcan asked in disapproval.

"It's alright," the Skarmory assured, and then turned to Eagle Eye. "I suppose answering questions is the _least_of what we owe you. What'd you want to know?"

"Why'd you leave the Saberwings?" He asked bluntly. "Why the change of heart?"

Razorwing eyed him curiously. "How did you know I used to be a Saberwing?" He asked.

"Because my Dad is Jake Talonclaw. Red Leader and Squad commander of the Red Talons." He answered. "I was Talon 1: Eagle Eye. I flew against your old team many times and I knew the look of one of you."

Razorwing let out a sigh. "So you're a Red Talon," he said, shaking his head. "Even after leaving the Saberwings behind, I can't seem to keep away from you guys... fate works in strange ways." He turned his gaze back to Eagle Eye. "If you must_know, I didn't leave the Saberwings, intentionally. They left _me.

"I became known as Razorwing when I joined Torolf; my designation in the Saberwings was Saber Eleven, otherwise known as Iron Bolt- as in a crossbow bolt, because of my uncanny precision I suppose." He cleared his throat. "But I digress. On a mission against another group of fliers, I got knocked down out of the air. I lay there in freezing cold snow, waiting for the rest of my team to come pick me up. But they didn't.

"The Saberwings left me behind; my wing was broken and I they did not respond to my calling for help. They made me believe they were my comrades only to ditch me because of a lame wing. I would've been lost out there if a certain Swampert and his team hadn't arrived to provide relief for the local town caught in the crossfire." He cocked his head at Torolf.

"They ditched you huh?" Eagle Eye asked. "Well, they always had a survival of the fittest mentality going for 'em." He then hopped closer and held out his wing to him. "I guess yer alright then."

Carefully, Razorwing unfolded his own wing and held it forward to meet Eagle Eyes, being careful with the sharp edges. "I appreciate your understanding. Far as I'm concerned, I never belonged with them; I only joined them so I could feed myself." He retracted his wing, looking at Torolf. "No problem doing that now." He chuckled. "And to boot, I'm doing good work..." he scowled -at least as much as his metal face allowed him to. "Least I _was_until yesterday."

He addressed Eagle Eye again. "Nevertheless, we should battle again sometime, when I'm not some squid's puppet on a string."

Eagle Eye laughed at that. "Totally. I welcome the chance to show why the Red Talons are the best fliers in the world."

Volcan chuckled and leaned over to Luke. "Looks like our strike fighter just found himself a rival," He commented.

"He has a knack for doing that." Luke commented. "In a good way at least."

"Now," Torolf began, "on to business. Volcan," he looked at the Blaziken. "You may keep that Blazikenite Kaen gave to you, as a token of gratitude from Team Warmachine." He shifted his attention between the other team members. "But since I officially named you all the winners of the tournament, you are still entitled to the grand prize." He looked at Kaen, who turned the box of Mega Stones over to rest in his lap and opened the lid for the others to see. "You may take another Mega Stone; any other one you want."

Luke slowly stood up from his seat, having to use a crutch to do so in order to keep himself steady as he recovered from his broken ribs; Gallia had promised she could heal everyone's wounds within a few days, but it'd still be a painful recovery regardless. He made his way over to the box as Kaen opened it, and took a gander at its contents. There was a large variety of them, even without the Blazikenite. There were Mega Stones for a Gallade, Garchomp, Steelix, Glalie, Absol, Salamence, Venusaur, Alakazam and...

The last one was a Sceptilite, he noticed, recognized for its green colour and distinctive patterns. Immediately, Sickle came to mind; even though he was still a Grovyle, he would be a Sceptile sooner or later. Luke smiled a bit as he reached for the Sceptilite, grasping it with his paw and studying it briefly before he glanced over at Torolf.

"I'll take this one." He said. "But I won't be keeping it." Following the surprised looks that both Torolf and Kaen gave him, he continued. "There's another here that deserves something for his efforts in stopping Maggie and Bialo's plan, and..." He then slowly walked over to where Sickle was seated and held the Sceptilite to him. "For saving my life when he stopped Bialo as well."

When Sickle saw the stone, his eyes became wide with awe, the reflection of it practically visible on the yellow sclera of his eyes. He stood up, staring down at the stone before slowly elevating his eyes to stare into Luke's. "F-For me? Really?"

Luke nodded softly to him. "If you hadn't stopped Bialo when you did, I probably wouldn't be alive right now." He stated. "I owe you my life, Sickle, and I feel this can serve as a small token of my gratitude."

Sickle looked at the stone again, unsure of what else to say as he shakily raised his claw, bringing it to Luke's paw and closing his fingers around the stone to lift it, staring at with that same awestruck expression, before he looked at Luke again, smiling gleefully. He suddenly stepped forward and practically threw his arms around Luke, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," he said, nuzzling Luke's cheek.

Luke nuzzled back softly in return before pulling his head back to look Sickle in the eyes. "No...I should be thanking you." Luke whispered softly to him. "For saving my life, and for" He blushed slightly. "...T_hat_."

Sickle winked at him. "Anytime... to both." He said.

Blaster and Volcan looked at each other with questioning expressions. "Did I miss something?" The Blastoise asked.

"I'm just as lost, buddy," returned the Blaziken.

Torolf let out a hearty chuckle. "And here I was wondering how to repay Team Kama for their help. Looks like you beat me to it," he said. "Well, in that case Luke, your team's reward will be a free cruise back to Azure; it's at least a four day trip to there from here, so my ship and her facilities are yours until we get you home."

"Aw freaking score! A free cruise?!" Hank hollered. "Kick fuckin ass! You da man pal!"

"A good way to rest and recover, I'll admit," agreed Volcan. "I'm into it!"

"Is it alright for us to stay too?" Blaster asked. "Bluegrove's a little closer to Azure than to Westport City."

"Of course; you can stay on board all the way to Azure too," returned Torolf.

Sickle looked at Luke. "Looks like I'll get to visit your hometown after all."

"I guess so." Luke returned, looking back to Sickle. "I'm kinda glad too; I was afraid this would have been goodbye for a long time." He said with a blush.

"We can enjoy the next few days then," he said. "And I say we have a party!" He chimed.

"I could dig that," Volcan agreed.

"Me as well." Luke said in agreement. "As an added bonus, I'll prepare all the meals too."

"My chefs will work with you, then," Torolf offered. "To help you prepare the food."

Luke looked to Torolf and nodded. "I'd appreciate that, thanks."

"Whenever you're ready for that celebration, I'll ensure this room is reserved for you," Torolf continued. "And the rest..."

He was interjected as the doors to the hall suddenly opened, and Gallia came running into the room, spotting him and running over. She looked frantic, and her voice matched it as she began to speak out to him. "Torolf! You've got to come quickly!"

"What's happened?" The Swampert asked, his expression turning serious.

"To the north-west, there's an island with smoke rising from it; it looks like multiple fires!" She replied. "The Captain wants to know if we want to go check it out!"

"By all means," replied Torolf. "Tell him to set a course for that island and we'll go investigate; order the others to prepare for any trouble we might find." When she left the room to relay his instructions, the Swampert started to leave as well. "Sorry for the interruption; we'll have to adjourn this meeting early." He said. "Razorwing, Leon."

"Right with you," Leon replied as he and the Skarmory followed Torolf out of the dining hall.

Luke gave a sigh. "No rest for the weary." He commented.

"A burning island..." Volcan echoed, before he too made a dash for the door, following the Warmachine members out of the room in a hurry.

"Volcan?" Luke asked, and then limped after him hurriedly "Hey! Hold up!" He called as he chased after the Blaziken.

The other members quickly shot up from their seats and followed after their leader to see what the commotion was. Team Kama was next to follow, keeping pace with them while Kaen rolled out on his wheelchair; along the way, Sickle actually ran back to help him along to speed his trip along the deck.

"This is so embarrassing," grumbled Kaen.

"Just remind yourself, it's only temporary," the Grovyle returned as they kept going.

At the bow of the ship, half of the passengers on board had gathered as the ship made its approach towards the island, including Torolf himself at the very point of the bow, staring ahead as the island drew closer and closer, his gaze narrowed as he tried to squint through the veil of smoke blanketing the island's terrain, but while a Swampert could peer through murky water, even their eyes could no see through a cloud of dark, burning smoke an ashes.

Gathered around him were multiple members of the on board Rescue Teams, including Luke's, and they all stared off in wonder as to what was happening. The ship turned, sailing at an angle to move alongside the island as it approached, and with the change in direction they got downwind from the smoke to finally see where it was coming from on the island.

They saw... complete, and utter destruction. An entire town, roughly the same size as Port Azure, had been completely destroyed, every building burned to the ground with nary a sign of life to be seen anywhere. Houses, stores, even a clock tower thats upper half was now lying in pieces on the ground next to it, crushing another building at the same time. The docks of the town were filled with wrecked boats, most of them sunken with their bows, sterns or even masts the only things to mark their locations. The stench of burnt flesh permeated the air even though the wind was no longer blowing in their direction.

"What... the hell?" Infernis, the Charizard captain of Team Drake, demanded as he saw the destruction.

"What in the name of Giratina happened here?" Romulus, who was standing near Torolf asked; the normally steadfast Houndoom was utterly bewildered by what he was seeing. "It looks like this place was hit by a firestorm."

"It's as if the gates of hell themselves have been opened on this place," Katsu commented.

"I know this town," Blaster joined in. "This was Silver Island; there was a shrine to the Guardian Pokemon here, and a statue of Lugia in the square; this town had three rescue teams operating out of it, most of their members Water-types. This was no fire; they could've stopped even the worst blaze." He narrowed his eyes. "This was no disaster... this was an attack."

"But...who? Who could have done something like this?" Wade asked. "And why? This place looks about as out of the way as Port Azure."

Tristan, who was standing by Wade, however, was frozen in place, staring at the town as though he knew it. The sense of familiarity was apparent on his face, as though he had seen this kind of destruction before. And at the same time, Luke heard Volcan trembling; he turned to him, and when he looked up to Volcan's face, the most horrified look he had ever seen on a person was plastered to Volcan's face, his eyes wide with horror as he stared out at the town, his entire body shaking violently, even rattling the handrail where his talons were gripping.

Luke could not see it, but at that very second, the Blaziken was having a whole slideshow of flashbacks running through his mind, all of them of the same dream he had been suffering since the first night they'd met, but this time, clear, and complete. His trembling intensified until the railing actually started to creak in protest at his shaking; by now the rest of the team and that of Sickle's were looking at him, wondering what had him so spooked.

"Volcan?" Luke asked, shaking his arm a bit. "Hey. What's wrong? Volcan!" He said in a sterner time to try and get his attention.

But the Blaziken didn't respond; he couldn't_respond. Luke had seen that look on his face before; the same horrified expression on Volcan's face every time he had one of his recurring nightmares, and also the terror that had been present that first night when Luke had awoken him from the middle of that nightmare. He looked as though he were reliving that dream again, but this time, it was _real.

Kage saw the way Volcan was behaving, narrowing his eyes with suspicion and subtly tapping into whatever the Blaziken was thinking of with Mind Reader to get a better idea on what had Volcan so frightened.

The moment his mind linked to the Blaziken's, Kage received an entire_storm_of images that nearly overwhelmed him as they played across his mind's eye with such speed; a town burning, the bodies of mortally wounded, even _dead_Pokemon scattered everywhere around as the owner of the memories -clearly Volcan- ran through the town, stopping to vomit on the streets at the sight of the corpses. Sickness, horror; these feelings flooded Kage's mind, nearly making him feel like retching himself even though it was not his memory he was seeing.

The dread filling his heart was like nothing Kage had ever felt before, and it only got worse when the wall of a nearby building suddenly exploded, and a Watchog came flying out, looking as though he had been on the receiving end of a Scyther on a frenzy, his body covered in a hundred lacerations and bleeding profusely, though the lifeless look in his large eyes showed he was already dead even before he had hit the ground.

And then, out of that building stepped a Gallade -not the one from Team Warmachine; this one was different, garbed in a long, dark cloak and walking with ruthless calculation in each step. When his eyes fell upon Volcan, letting Kage see them through that of Volcan's eyes, they possessed the coldest stare he had _ever_seen from another Pokémon.

The memories continued, on to a Lucario in a long black coat intervening on the fight between Volcan and the Gallade -a fight which the Blaziken had been losing, badly, and Volcan was thrown with a Psychic attack by the Lucario down to the docks, from which, as Volcan clambered into a nearby boat, and turned his gaze up a nearby hill, where he then saw another Blaziken -not Volcan, unless somehow he was seeing himself standing atop a burning shrine at the peak of a hill above the docks, while simultaneously being _at_the docks.

Suddenly the image seemed to zoom in on that Blaziken, and Kage saw their eyes; an unnatural shade of violet with a diabolical grin on their face as they seemed to actually be staring at Kage himself, as if he could actually see the Greninja peering through Volcan's eyes. The crazed look on that miscoloured Blaziken's face was pure madness, filled with a lust to watch the world burn.

There was only one more image after that; it suddenly cut to scene of a Gyarados -the first being seen so far that Kage actually recognized. It was the same Gyarados that had attacked Port Azure shortly after Volcan had crash-landed there; he had been the night that all of this madness had happened to him, and as Kage saw the images through Volcan's eyes, the last thing he saw was the Gyarados lunging down at Volcan with his massive jaws wide open and filling his vision with darkness.

Kage undid the Mind Reader and took a step away from Volcan, the images being enough to stun even him, the Shadow of Team Valiant. For the first time, he felt a pang of sympathy for the Blaziken, knowing that _that_horror he had just witnessed was what Volcan was forced to see in his dreams every single night...

"It all makes sense now..." He whispered, looking to the burning island once more. "This was no isolated incident."

Very suddenly, Volcan pulled back from the rail, his breathing becoming erratic and in sharp gasps before he grabbed his head, pulling at his scalp as though trying to tear the images out of his mind. When that failed, he threw back his head, letting out a blood-curdling scream that stole the attention of every single Pokemon on the ship, his voice echoing all the way to the other end of the deck, startling even Torolf, who spun around as though he expected to find someone under attack.

And then, as he stopped screaming, the erratic breathing returned. He hyperventilated for a few seconds, stumbling backward several steps... and began to fall.

Both Luke and Sickle reacted, exclaiming in shock as Volcan fell over and swiftly dashing to his sides to catch him. Doing so had aggravated Luke's injuries, sending pain through his torso, but he grit his teeth against it as he supported Volcan's weight, he and Sickle gently lowering him to the deck, where the Lucario bent over him and tried to wake him up.

"Volcan! Hey, Volcan! Can you hear me?! Answer me, please!"

Sickle did his own examination of Volcan, lifting his eyelid slightly to show his eye had rolled back into his head and showed only whiteness. "It's no good; he's in shock!" He exclaimed.

Torolf turned to the upper decks, his booming voice calling out for the medical crew as numerous Pokemon gathered around the Blaziken as he lay, eyes partly open in a daze, unconscious in the arms of Luke and Sickle, not even reacting to their voices as his mind slipped away into the void.

~~~~~~

Volcan awoke later in the infirmary when he finally came out of shock, feeling light-headed and his throat raw as his eyes slowly opened, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. His eyes drifted about the room until they found the concerned faces of Luke, Mikhail and even Sickle staring at him from around his bed, their pained expressions making him wonder what had happened; he couldn't recall immediately why he had fallen unconscious, or why he felt so dizzy.

He was propped up as well, allowing him to see them all by tilting his head forward. He looked at each of them briefly through a half-lidded gaze, trying to speak and feeling his throat flare painfully as he did. "Ow... what happened?" He asked. "I feel like someone poured scalding tea down my throat..."

"You just started screaming bloody murder when you saw the burning town." Mikhail stated. "Then you went into shock and fainted. Everyone was very worried about you." He looked to his brother. "Especially Luke; he never once left your side."

The younger Lucario leaned forward after Mikhail spoke. "What happened?" He asked in a soft tone to Volcan. "Was it another flashback?"

"Screaming, huh? Explains why my throat's so raw," he replied, sitting up slowly with help from Sickle and folding his arms across his lap. "Yes... it was. I think the entire attack on my home came back to me at the sight of that destroyed town; I think what we saw was what happened to _my_home."

"Was that your home island?" Sickle asked. "The one we saw?"

"No; mine doesn't have a clock tower like we saw -at least I don't think it does," replied Volcan. "That wasn't _my_island. But what we saw is the same thing that happened there." He grasped the front of his throat gently, coughing slightly.

Luke lowered his gaze a bit in thought. "The same kind of attack..." He muttered. "Well we can then safely confirm this wasn't an isolated incident. The question is why? What's the motive behind it?" Luke pondered.

Sickle walked over to the nearby sink and poured a glass of lukewarm water while Volcan continued. "Maybe that's what that Gyarados was after me about," Volcan suggested, looking up as the Grovyle stepped over and gave him the water, which he drank, soothing his throat a little, after which he thanked the Grovyle and continued. "Maybe I knew at some point, and whoever led the attack didn't want me to tell anyone about it."

"That could be one motive." Luke agreed. "However, we also still don't know who's responsible for this, other than the fact he wants you dead for whatever reason."

"It was another Blaziken." Came Kage's voice from behind the group, causing them to turn and face the approaching Greninja. "And you're right about his motive; clearly you know something he doesn't want you to know."

"At least I _did_anyway," Volcan returned, before eyeing Kage questioningly. "Hold on... how did you find out all that?"

Kage tapped the side of his head. "I simply read your mind while you were reeling." He explained. "I can now understand why you reacted the way you did."

Luke shot Kage a dirty look. "Kage, you know better than that..." He said lowly. "That's an invasion of privacy!"

"Whatever attacked his town could easily target Azure next. I do not leave_anything_ to chance; you _know_this." He replied plainly.

Volcan let out a sigh. "Normally I might be angry too, but given how much of an unknown I am, I suppose caution is necessary." He shut his eyes. "I support Kage's decision to read my mind; he had a right to know... all of you do."

"You say that like you think you might be the Blaziken Kage saw," Sickle remarked.

"I know _that_much can't be true, not unless I was staring into a demented mirror when I saw that one."

"It wasn't you," Kage stated. "I can say that much for certain. The Blaziken had violet eyes and looked vaguely discoloured, and the mad expression he had, I cannot envision you with such a look; not unless you were a split personality."

"Plus, you haven't done anything of the sort. You've been at my side the whole time." Luke reasoned.

Volcan nodded. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry, guys... if I scared any of you."

"It's ok." Luke said, leaning closer and placing his paw over Volcan's talon, gripping it tightly and unaware of how Sickle looked at that paw from behind it. "It's been a long few days for us all. I suppose we're all a bit pent up." He added. "Seeing that island and... reliving your nightmares so vividly like that can't have been easy for you. Just try not to collapse on me like that again."

Volcan grimaced at him. "I didn't plan on doing it the first time," he remarked, letting out a sigh as he leaned back in bed, struggling to keep his eyes open. "I... I need a little sleep." He said, looking at Sickle. "Don't start the party without me, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," replied Sickle, smiling back.

Luke leaned back from Volcan and gave him a nod. "Sleep well, ok?" He asked with a weak smile.

"I hope so," the Blaziken returned, rolling onto his side only to grunt as his neck was raised at an angle. Sickle reached down and picked up a wired remote attached to the bed, lowering the back portion of the bed to an even level. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied. "We'll come back and check on you; Gallia is also at the other end of the room if you need something too."

Volcan nodded. "Thanks guys... see you later." He shut his eyes, making himself comfortable on his pillow and slowly drifting off with a long, steady sigh.

Luke sighed and rubbed his head a little as they began to leave the infirmary. Kage went his own way, with only Sickle and Mikhail to accompany Luke as they walked along the deck for a little ways. The Lucario remained steadfast until they were outside and out of earshot of Volcan, when finally he let his composure drop, collapsing against the wall and flattening his ears against his skull.

"Damn it; how long does he have to keep suffering like this?" He whimpered, closing his eyes tightly.

"Has it been happening since you first met him?" Sickle asked, placing his claw on Luke's shoulder.

Luke looked back to the Grovyle, nodding weakly. "Yes it has. In fact he had his first nightmare the first night I took him in,"explained Luke. "That was about I'd say... two weeks ago, almost three now since I found him."

He looked down to the ground sadly. "I've had to serve as his pillar of strength during those times. Not that I was complaining; I was more than willing to help anyway I can, but I feel these nightmares are slowly eroding his sanity, and I don't know if I can help him enough to keep him together before he just falls apart completely." He grit his teeth tightly and shuddered. "I'm sick of seeing him suffer, but I don't know what else to do!"

"There's not much more you _can_do, young one," a deep voice drew their attention further ahead, where they saw Torolf approaching. "Sorry; I heard part of the conversation." He cocked his head forward, glancing over the four towards the infirmary. "How is he?"

"He's out of shock, and sleeping now," Luke returned. "But I fear he could have another nightmare like that again..."

"We can only hope that doesn't happen, brother," Mikhail said, rubbing his brother's other shoulder.

"It_will_happen again; it's only a matter of when." Luke retorted. "He's been suffering these nightmares every time he goes to sleep; every so often they become worse, and he wakes up screaming in the night or on the verge of doing himself harm, and there's nothing I can do to help him!"

"I'm afraid you're right," Torolf stated, lowering himself down a little to look Luke in the eye. "Volcan suffers from a form of recurring memories based on a highly traumatic event in his life. It's a symptom of post-traumatic stress; it differs from one to another, but Volcan may relive that moment for the rest of his life."

"He won't ever get over it?" Sickle asked, worriedly.

"_That_depends on him," replied Torolf, returning to his normal height. "It is beyond the control of even the greatest doctors; short of it being erased from his memories there is no way to free him from it. All I can recommend, Luke, is that you continue to be there for him; your presence will remind him he's not alone. Right now, that's the best thing that can be done for him, until you can find his family... if indeed any of them remain."

"I plan to," Luke returned. "...For the rest of my life, if I have to..." He added, clenching his paw so tight his knuckles audibly cracked.

"Your dedication is admirable," said Torolf, nodding respectfully to him, before his expression shifted. "Now, I think it's only fair to warn you too, my team and I, with some help from Team Drake, have determined the cause of the damage to that city. Most of the damage is consistent with a Draco Meteor attack."

"It'd take a _lot_of Draco Meteor's to do all that," Sickle commented. "No one dragon could do that, not even Lord Rayquaza."

"Launched by at least _twenty_Dragon-types," Torolf finished. "There was only one barrage; that was all it took. Whoever attacked the town, based on the angle of the craters, they attacked from the sea, bombarded the town with the meteors, and then went ashore. I found the statue of Lugia myself; it was destroyed, but not by the meteors. Someone tore it down and smashed it, brutally.

"That sounds a lot like a Blitzkrieg Assault." Mikhail stated, adjusting his glasses. "And the statue being torn down...most likely a way of sending a message."

"My thoughts exactly," agreed Torolf.

"But why? Lugia is one of the Guardian Pokemon; he protects the world," Sickle stated. "How could he have anyone that hates him so much?"

"I do not know," replied Torolf, sighing. "Regardless... I must send out a message to every Rescue Team possible. There is someone out there causing these calamities; Volcan's home island, and now the one we saw today. It's up to us to stop them; they must be warned. My team and I are making it our own mission to hunt them down and bring them to justice."

"Judging from the amount of destruction they've caused, we'll need all the help we can get." Luke said in agreement.

"I've already arranged to meet with Romulus and two other Gold-ranked teams for a joint task force," Torolf continued. "We'll use all of our connections to find these culprits. This'll be the first time anything like this has been done before; I can only hope it'll work." He grunted. "For now, though, Luke, when you get home, do not venture far. Make a plan to protect your home, but do seek out these beings alone if you can avoid it. Right now, caution is the only line of defence to spare the lives of those who would be caught in their onslaught." He looked at Sickle. "I know Bluegrove is not near a coastline, but the same should be done for your home too; we don't know how widespread this is yet."

Sickle nodded. "I will see to it."

"So much for that party then." Luke stated in mock jest.

"Oye," Sickle chimed in. "The party is still on; I'm not going to let this stop us from celebrating the tournament at least. Tomorrow night, we'll enjoy ourselves, then when we land, it's back to our jobs. Unless that strange Blaziken shows up to try and stop us, _no one_is getting in the way."

At that, Torolf chuckled. "I admire your spirit, Sickle," he said. "I will continue to make the arrangements then. For now, all of you, take care." He nodded to them, before he stepped around them and continued up the hall, leaving them with their thoughts. As he rounded a corner, the Swampert suddenly looked over his shoulder, and saw Kaen rolling up to him in his wheelchair, requesting to speak to the Swampert; they both vanished around that corner, and the hall was left eerily quiet.

"I'm...gonna go brush up on my studies..." Mikhail stated, tipping his glasses. "Excuse me," He turned and began walking the opposite direction of Torolf and Kaen.

Sickle watched Mikhail leave before he turned to Luke. "I guess I'll walk you back to your room then," he offered.

"Thank you." Luke said, looking over to Sickle and smiling weakly at him, reaching to hold his claw in his paw now that they were alone.

Together, they proceeded at a leisurely pace, to make it easier for Luke to manage, all the way back to the cabins, rounding a few corners before they eventually reached the row of cabins, stopping outside Luke's door where Sickle turned to him, his expression soft.

"Hey Luke?" He asked.

"Yes?" Luke asked, turning to look at the Grovyle.

"What you're doing for Volcan, being there for him when he needs it, and helping him endure his suffering," he began, his soft expression turning to a weak smile. "I'm glad you're there for him; he's lucky to have a friend like you. Arceus knows he needs it right now." He put his claw on Luke's shoulder, squeezing it firmly. "I'm proud of you for it, looking out for him as you are."

He smiled back, turning fully to face him and stepping a bit closer to Sickle. "I promised him I'd do everything in my power to help him. I'm going to fulfill to that promise no matter what." He explained. "If I have to, I'll be his pillar of strength to support him; his unbreakable shield to protect him from anything that comes his way..." He explained. "I'll fight tooth and nail, until the end..."

Sickle's smile seemed a little more forced as he heard Luke say those words, and when the Lucario was finished, he spoke again, with a slightly sadder tone this time. "You care deeply for him, don't you?" He asked.

Luke froze, staring silently back at Sickle, then closed his eyes and gave him a nod. "Yes...I...I care so much for him." Luke admitted to Sickle. "Sickle, I'm..."

Sickle put his other claw on Luke's lips to quiet him, before moving that claw to his other shoulder and holding it firmly as the Grovyle sought to collect his words, despite the conflicting feelings he was probably feeling at that moment. "It's alright," he stated, and then sighed, still in a sad manner. "There's a connection between you two; something that goes deeper than what you and I have. Volcan_needs_ you; you're already part of him, and even then it's something that can keep evolving."

This time, his smile was more genuine. "Regardless of what developed between you and I, I'm not upset. There exists between you two a connection that can grow further still, and far be it from me to get in the way of that."

He looked him in the eyes softly. "Thank you, Sickle," Luke whispered, his paw slowly lifting up and touching the Grovyle's cheek. "Thank you so much... for your understanding, and your kind words. And most of all..." He touched one paw to his heart. "For helping fill the gap my past left in here. You made me whole again, and for the first time since I don't remember what that I felt a bright future waiting for me."

"I was glad to do it; you deserve to be happy, and so does Volcan," he said., but then his smile faded. "And you may be the only thing that keeps him held together when you find his home... after what we saw today, seeing it might break him right down the middle, and it'll be up to you to mend his heart again when that happens."

Luke frowned at that, feeling his stomach churning as he was already envisioning that moment in his mind. "I am _not_looking forward to that," he said. "Even if I'm there... I fear I alone will not be enough to stop Volcan from breaking. That is why Torolf thinks we should find his family; they might be all he has left."

"That's not entirely true," Sickle debunked Luke's claim. "Finding his family is definitely important, but he will always have you... he may not know it yet, Luke, but I think Volcan's feelings for you are just as strong as yours are for him. It's only a matter of time before he recognizes that, and then you will become the most important person in his life. As long as you can be that, I think he will still mend in time, even if you don't find his family."

Luke smiled again, and at that he and Sickle stepped into one another's arms, hugging each other so tightly it felt like their limbs would lock and neither one would ever let go again. They held each other for what felt like a long time, before they pulled back again, and Luke spoke once more.

"Perhaps one day... that special someone will find _you_too, Sickle," Luke offered. "Maybe it isn't me... but they will be there."

Sickle chuckled light-heartedly. "I certainly hope so," he said. "But I've got plenty of years left; I can wait a little longer."

Luke leaned into him again, his paws hanging off of Sickle's neck, still feeling a warmth in his heart even in Sickle's presence, gripping him tightly as he pulled his head back to look into the Grovyle's eyes again, a short silence drawing out between them before he knew exactly how he wanted to end their brief relationship.

"Perhaps... just one more?" He asked with a blush.

"Absolutely," the Grovyle replied without hesitation, holding both of Luke's cheeks with his claws before he slowly leaned in towards him, and their lips locked together as he kissed the Lucario passionately.

Luke closed his eyes and moaned quietly as their lips met, stroking Sickle's cheek a bit before he slid his arms around the Grovyle and embraced him tightly, kissing him with equal passion as they stood there on the deck, wrapped in each other and savouring the moment. Their brief relationship may have been over, but even this short-lived moment was worth remembering. Sickle would always hold a special place in Luke's heart, and he would remember their time together for the rest of his life...

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Spellchecking and corrections have been made; sorry the document looked so bad before :(

Buuuut now the lack of indentations are back.. I fucking give up; I officially hate OpenOffice >:l