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Reno walked along the road to Azalea Town, pondering why he decided to take this mission. Pulling the poster out of his backpack, he looked it over once more.
Sunglasses At Night (No. 198 + No. 430) 

Poster: 
"Uncle" Jamie Mazirotti, resident of Azalea Town. Former criminal boss for the Mazirotti family, which is no longer criminally active, and now runs a dairy business out of Azalea (the farm and the processing unit are near Cherrygrove.) 

Message: 
Ain't this a laugh? I'm askin' for help from the good guys for once. Times have sure changed, man. 

My name is Jamie Mazirotti, formerly of the Mazirotti crime family. We got taken down a while back, and ever since, I've been a fairly productive member of society, y'know? Ask around. Anyway, this ain't really about me. 

It all started a week ago. See, the Mazirotti family's trademarks were sunglasses, all the time, everywhere, and the Murkrow and Honchkrow we had wore 'em too. 

Well, a week ago, I noticed one of our more unruly Honchkrow had gone missin', along with his sunglasses. I called him Don, 'cause he always bossed his Murkrow around just like the old Don did for us. Then, from all over, I was hearin' that the old family birds were vanishin'. Murkrow, Honchkrow, and all of the glasses, gone. 

So suddenly, this group of Honchkrow and Murkrow are hasslin' everyone in town! It's crazy- they're so organized, the cops can't touch 'em. Looks like Don picked up a few things from me, eh? Well, the problem is, not even the Mazirottis're able to get 'em to listen. We tried, they tried'a kick our butts. Not fun, lemme tell ya. 

They got a hideout somewhere in Ilex, I know that much. And they're tryin'a run this town, top to bottom. It's crazy, but it's true. They'll be the only ones wearin' sunglasses all the time, and ya gotta find and take down Don if ya want to make 'em listen. Just one thing- try not ta hurt 'em too bad. They're not bad Pokemon, just confused, an' I'd like 'em returned without much damage. It'd be... a real shame, if somethin' were ta happen, like a Thunderbolt too many, and then I had to be upset with ya... 

Sorry, old habits'n all that. Just be careful, ya hear me? Stop by, and I'll tell ya how to figure which one's Don. 

Summary: 
A flock of Murkrow and Honchkrow, all Pokemon belonging to former members of the Mazirotti crime family, have broken loose under the direction of 'Don', the Honchkrow and friend of old crime boss "Uncle" Jamie Mazirotti. Don's ambition leans toward his owner's former position- the Honchkrow leads his 'gang' almost perfectly, terrorizing Azalea Town from the nearby Ilex Forest, and evading (or defeating) any police effort to capture them. The only way to make the flock listen will be to defeat Don, and thus take on the position of boss in their eyes. Do not hurt them too much- Jamie would be upset, and having a former mob boss mad at you isn't a good thing. Also, no snagging here- the idea is to send them BACK to their owners. Jamie has requested that you stop by his house in Azalea, where he'll tell you how to pick out Don from the rest of the Honchkrow. 

Opposition: 
The Murkrow and Honchkrow are numerous. Try to avoid battle when you can, and instead head straight for Don. It's your best shot. 

Location: 
Azalea Town (Jamie's House,) Ilex Forest. 

Pokemon: 
If any wild Pokemon happen to try and block your path, you can go for the capture, as always. Otherwise, NO SNAGGING. The Murkrow and Honchkrow being returned to their homes safely is the objective! If you choose not to capture, there may be a Pokemon egg in it for you, if I feel generous and you don't c**k up the mission too much. 

Rewards: 
Uncle Jamie has promised you an honorary position as a friend of the Mazirottis- who still have influence, even if they are no longer criminally active- and a suit and sunglasses in their special style (Dark red liner fabric, black exterior fabric, with the Mazirotti family emblem stitched into the chest,) to commemorate it, as well as 2 Snag Coins.  

“I 'ave to fight 'Onchkrows and Murkrows. Be 'onest, Tesei. I have screwed us royally, 'aven't I?” The small Shellder hopping beside him gave his reply in the form of a downtrodden, “Shell.....” Reno shook his head, knowing he may be in trouble now. Looking ahead, he saw the house he was aiming to go to. Hopping the surrounding fence and popping his nightstick to full length for an arm rest, he knocked on the door. Watching it open and seeing the man inside, he realized where he had recognized the name from.

“Bloody 'ell! Jaime, you rat. Your the little piece of garbage I 'ad the unfortunate luck of stealing from! Your the client we 'ave to 'elp?” Reno exclaimed, recognizing the man from the little event that landed him in Team Snagem. “Youse that little punk sicked that crazy Tyranitar on us. Why are you helpin' us? We had youse locked up and we're gonna have you slavin' for a long time. Maybe with this, I can pay youse back for helpin' me get outta that business.” Jamie had recognized him too, probably from the iconic red hair and the accent. Reno eased himself, hearing that Jamie wanted to pay him back.

“Alrighty, so where is this 'Onchkrow, and how do I recognize 'im?” He asked, Tesei hopping beside him and paling at the man before them. Hearing Tesei clamp himself shut, Reno reached down and scratched his shell a little. Seeing the shell open and the small Bivalve Pokemon recognize the man as no threat, Reno turned to Jaime again, looking for his answer. “Ol' Don'll be the only one there sportin' a scar over his right eye. Youse should be able ta easily spot it.” Nodding at the information, Reno turned on his heel and began to walk away.

Walking down the streets of town, Reno began to think of a way he could actually accomplish this. “Okay, I need to 'urt Don, but not too much, in order to get those blighters under control. Now, 'ow to do that....” Retracting the nightstick and putting it at his waist, he put his hands to his chin. Seeing a few things he could implement, and his knowledge of his Pokemon, an idea formed in the psuedo-brit's head.

After putting everything together for it, Reno walked into the Ilex Woods, banging his nightstick on the trees and ground to make noise. It helped scare away some of the more weak Pokemon and garner the murder of crows attention. Seeing them begin to gather, Reno kept his eye out for the scarred one. Watching one of the Murkrow take a dive at him, he swung the nightstick at it, aiming to lightly tap one of the wings. Seeing the little crow back off at the threat, Reno noticed a straggler now join the group.

Seeing the trademark sunglasses on it's face, he had no doubt about its alignment. But the interesting characteristic was the scar over its right eye. Smirking, he pointed straight at the Honchkrow with his weapon and shouted, “Time for you to go 'ome, you little blighter.” Placing the stick at his belt, he drew a piece of pipe from his back, with a small piece of wood ducktaped over the end. Pointing it at the Honchcrow's face, he smirked and shout, “Tesei, use Water Gun!!”

But instead of a high pressure water stream firing out of the homemade cannon, A purple shell came flying out at high velocity, a water stream flying out like exhaust. Smirking at his plan working, he dropped the tube and dropped his other Pokeball. Seeing the Snivy come out, his smirk grew deeper. “You know what to do, Snips.” He quietly said, before shouting to Shellder, “Spin around and use Clamp on 'Onchkrow's beak!!” The small shell-like creature managed to maneuver itself in midair the same way it would in water and clamped shut on Don's beak. Snivy quickly followed up with Vine Whip, wrapping the Honchkrow and dropping it out of its tree.

The look of all the crow Pokemon losing their sunglasses in amazement was a priceless thing to Reno, almost making him burst out in laughter. Walking up to Don, he had Shellder unclamp. The honchkrow immediately tried to bite it's way free of the vines, but Reno put a hand on its head, making it unable to do so. “You're not gonna cause any more trouble fer ol' Jamie anymore, ya 'ear?” Glaring at the crow Pokemon, he started a staring contest. Seeing the Honchkrow break slightly, he told it, “You seem like a right ol' leader 'ere. So maybe you could lead this lot to 'elp Jaime.” Seeing the Honchkrow give a slight nod and a caw, Reno let go of its face. Letting it peck its way free, it cawed at the others, recovered it's sunglasses and flew off back to Jaime.

Walking through the forest with his two Pokemon at his side, Reno could swear he felt a presence behind him. But every time he turned, he found nothing there. Just before he left the woods, he felt it more prominently, making him and his Pokemon spin around to catch the creature. Seeing nothing, Reno turned back around, took a step, and tripped over a Water Stone in the road. Picking the curious crystal up, he said, “You weren't 'ere before......Maybe whatever was following us wanted to give us a present. Thank you, mysterious benefactor. 'Ope your forest is more peaceful now.” Pocketing the small stone, he continued to waltz away, unaware of the mysterious benefactor revealing itself slightly, saying “Bee” and flying off.  

Tier Advancement Mission #1 

(Complete this mission and advance to Tier 5.) 

So you finally made it to the end of tier six huh? Just to think, not long ago you were a fresh member, having no clue on what you were doing, just starting to trainer your Pokemon, and you already made it this far. You might think you've hit the big time by getting all the way here and choosing to take on the advancement mission but you're about to learn otherwise if you don't take this seriously. But enough of my speech to instill dramatic effect, let's get on to the reason why you're here, and that's to prove you're worthy of advancing to tier five. 

This is the first of several missions you will be required to advance to each tier, once you reach the final rank of a tier that is, fortunately you've already met that requirement and now feel that you are ready to advance, so good for you! Now, your mission is a simple one, in theory that is. Our headquarters is situated within Mt. Silver, as you should know by now, which is home to many fierce Pokemon that test the strength of trainers through out the world. Because of their immense strength compared to your average wild Pokemon, and their seclusion from humans, the Pokemon here can sometimes by rather dangerous. Despite all the warnings people are given about the dangers of Mt. Silver and the Pokemon that inhabit it, one group of hoodlums though have completely disregarded these warnings and could possibly endanger not only themselves, but others, which could include us. The group I mentioned call themselves Team Ninja, though they are really nothing more than a small group of adolescent trouble makers from Johto who take their pranks, and love of all things 'ninja-like' way too far. 

So what are they doing exactly? Well there is a very elderly Scizor that lives in the forested area at the base of Mt. Silver. This particular Scizor is unique in the fact that it is what is called "shiny", as in it posseses an alternate coloration apart from normal Scizor, in this case, it's a yellowish green. Now normally there is no problem in capturing a wild Pokemon, but their target is the leader of a pack of Scyther that thrive in the forest and removing the Scizor from its habit could severly disturb the hostile Scyther of Mt. Silver. Not only that, but the shiny Scizor is very old, as mentioned earlier. It can't fight much on its own, and it's almost always accomanied by other Scyther, so for Team Ninja to obtain it they would have to go through many Scyther, further disturbing the area, and with us having our headquarters in Mt. Silver, this won't be good for us. Though don't worry about Team Ninja finding out about us being here, they aren't that bright. 

Now, your mission is, if you choose to accept it, to location the ragtag group of adolescent punks and stop them from capturing the shiny Scizor and disturbing the wild Pokemon of Mt. Silver. These kids have absolutely no concern for the Pokemon of the mountain and only treat them as toys. Now if it wasn't obvious already Team Ninja specialize in ninja-like Pokemon such as Nincada and Zubat, so Fire and Psychic types will be beneficial. Team Ninja themselves aren't very strong and not that much of a threat, just very annoying and reckless in their actions. So do us all a favor and give these guys the boot off of our mountain.

Objective 
- Prevent Team Ninja from capturing the shiny Scizor. 
- Don't allow them to anger and rile up the Pokemon of the mountain. 
- Send them packing. 

Opposition 
- Team Ninja of course. Going by their numbers I would imagine you would face at least two members of the group with between two and three first evolution Pokemon each. You may also have to face the leader, a red headed scarf wearing teenager named Takashi who uses three Pokemon, them being Nincada, Koffing, and Ninjask. 

Pokemon 
- You'll mostly encounter the wild Scyther of the mountain who are extremely active in protecting their leader. You may capture/snag one first stage Pokemon (Includes non-evolving) 

Rewards 
- Advancement to Bronze Snagger in Tier Five! 
- Varies from there. 

Laying down on the couch, Reno was simply staring at the ceiling, unsure what to do. Looking at his SNAG, he almost dropped it when GRAY, their homebrew AI, told him, “Proximity alert. Three Breaches detected. It appears those ninjas are back to cause more trouble. Would you care to handle it?”

“Well, I'm bored as 'ell, so yeah, I'll 'andle it. Team Ninja, roight?” The AI took a second, but it responded with, “Affirmative. It appears their leader is with them, so try to leave him for last.” Nodding at the SNAG, Reno replied, “Thanks for the tip, GRAY. Anything else?” “Sarcasm: Well, you could try dodging their attacks by standing still and hoping it misses, meatbag.” “I really 'ate when you screw with me and use that voice.” “I know.” “Screwy little AI.”

Getting up from the couch, Reno stared at the SNAG for a second longer, wondering why machinery hated him. Shaking his head, he reached to grab his backpack. Walking to the door, he was prepared for anything..........even muffins. Smirking at his random thought, he began his descent down the mountain.

Sliding down the side of the mountain, he couldn't see anything except a few moving shadows. Figuring out a way to be able to see them, Reno reached to the pair of sunglasses stashed in his hair. Pulling them down over his eyes, he watched as all the shadows darkened significantly, while a trio of shadows did so to a lesser degree. Smirking, Reno got out of his slide down the side of the mountain and began to run at them. Leaping into the air, he landed on one of the people with an axe kick.

The other two turned to face him, a scarf waving off the throat of one of them. Seeing the third get back up, the scarf-wearing one took off deeper into the woods while the two thugs each pulled out a Pokeball. Tossing them out, a Spinnerak and a Nincada stood against him. Reaching to his pack, he pulled out two Pokeballs.

Throwing them into the battlefield, Phemes and Tesei emerged, raring to go. “Phemes, use Zen 'Eadbutt on Spinarak. Tesei, use Ice Beam on Nincada.” Reno ordered, while the two trainers across the now-no mans land yelled out, “Nincada, use Fury Swipes on Beldum.” “Spinarak, use Shadow Sneak on Shellder.” The quartet of Pokemon launched at each other, each preparing their respective moves. The spinarak strukc first, slipping past Tesei with its dark chi enhanced shadow and striking. The shell took the hit, shooting into the air and fired the Ice Beam, hitting the Spinarak right back. The little spider froze solid, with the ice encasing it twitching and cracking. Nearby, the Nincada was hacking away at Phemes, causing small slash marks to appear on her iron body. Refocusing on her attack, Phemes charged into the Nincada with Zen Headbutt, knocking it away.

The Nincada shook off the impact, and subtlety used Mind Reader to predict the next moves. Rushing forward, it weaved between the Ice Shard and Zen Headbutt Reno had ordered his Pokemon to perform . Getting close to Tesei, his trainer ordered, “Nicada, use Bug Buzz.” Buzzing its wings, the Nincada created a soundwave that damaged Shellder's ears. The stray vibrations reached the frozen Spinarak and helped it free itself, which it was happy to do. Seeing his Pokemon were ready to go for another attack, he ordered, “Phemes, use Iron 'Ead on Spinarak. Tesei, use Shell Smash then 'Ydro Pump on Nincada.”

Phemes went into a rush at the Spinarak, its head glowing with steel chi. Tesei broke its chi flow from around its shell, lessening the amount that would absorb damage, and brought it to where it channeled attacks and it's base spikes, increasing it's attack and speed. Aiming for the Nincada, he fired another high pressure stream, intending on ending the fight. The Spinarak Phemes slammed into flipped in the air, intending to right itself. Unfortunately, its legs were facing away from the tree it impacted. Sliding down the tree, Reno could tell the Spinarak was out for the count. Looking at the Nincada, he saw it had managed to evade enough of the blast to survive. It's trainer yelled at the little bug, “Nincada, use Final Gambit.” The Nincada rushed forward, slamming into Tesei with all it's strength. Due to the Shell Smash he had committed to and the fighting previously, Tesei and the Nincada both fainted from the attack.

The two trainers across from him tossed out another Spinarak and a Seedot, which Reno found odd until he remembered Seedot's last evolution. A Shiftry was suitablely ninja-like for them. Reaching into his pack, Reno tossed out another Pokeball, this one unveiling Fenrir. “Seedot, use Bullet Seed on Beldum.” “Spinarak, use Sucker Punch on Axew.” A flurry of green chi bullets fired into Phemes, while Spinarak disappeared, reappearing to tackle Fenrir in her stomach before any sort of move could be prepared. Wincing at the vicious move, Reno ordered, “Phemes, use Zen 'Eadbutt on Spinarak. Fenrir, Dragon Claw on Seedot.” The two Pokemon swapped offenders, with Phemes rushing into the Spinarak just in time to let Fenrir jump onto it and leap into the air to attack the Seedot.

The slashed Seedot bounced away from Fenir, cut marks along its shell. The Spinarak on the other hand, was sent skittering along the ground, grinding against the gravel. Both of the Pokemon righted themselves, with the Spinarak firing off a Spider Web to ensnare Fenrir. The Seedot captialized on the move, firing off another burst of Bullet Seed. All of the bullets impacted the Axew, starting to add up. Meanwhile, the Spinarak was creeping closer to Fenrir. Firing off a quick burst of orders, Reno yelled, “Fenrir, use Dragon Claw on Seedot again. Phemes, Iron 'Ead on Spinarak.” Before the Spinarak could reach the trussed up Fenrir, it was slammed away by the steely might of Phemes. Meanwhile, Fenrir cut his way out of the thread and rushed the nut-like Pokemon, slashing at its face again. Following up with Dragonrage to send it flying away, the Seedot somehow ended up flying at Reno.

Smirking, he snapped his nightstick to full, bo staff length and hit the Pokemon like a baseball, sending it flying into it's trainer's head. The pair hit the ground, both unconscious. Looking at the Spinarak, it had managed to perform another Shadow Sneak, which had hit Phemes with a good bit of force. Pointing at the small spider-like Pokemon, Reno ordered, “Phemes, use Iron 'Ead to send Spinarak to Fenrir. Fenrir, hit it with Iron Tail and send it at it's trainer.” The pair conformed to the orders, executing them perfectly, sending the Spinarak in a line drive to its trainer's gut. The both of them passed out, landing beside their partner.

Returning Phemes to her Pokeball, he had Fenrir get him a scent and began to run after her. Along the way, Reno's SNAG began to buzz again, signalling a call. Looking at the infernal device, he noticed it was GRAY. Picking it up, he asked, “What is it?” “Sarcasm: Oh such great manners, meatbag. You must be the talk of the parties everywhere.” The AI snidely replied, mimicking again the voice pattern of the AI Jamie had for the Mazirotti operations, but it continued after a second. “I picked up another signature on your motion tracker you 'borrowed' from the Mazirotti family vault. It isn't recognized by me, and it appears to have a scarf.” Quirking an eyebrow, Reno replied with, “Maybe it'sa new member. Ignore it for now.” Continuing ahead, he spotted the scarf wearing punk from before. Spinning the staff in his hand, he used it to pole vault and kick the offending ninja in the back of the head. Following up with a stomp on the back, he flipped the man over to reveal.....A woman?

Smacking himself mentally, he looked to the still-open channel he had with GRAY. Picking up Fenrir, he yelled into the device, “Where's tha other signature? Turns out bugger 'ad a decoy.” Almost sensing the smirk on the AI's face, it replied, “Then you must be happy I didn't must follow your advice and kept following it. Its about a hundred meters to your right, and closing fast on the Scyther grounds.” Muttering a slight curse, Reno took off in the direction of Takashi.

Along the way to intercept, he thought about how to take down this guy. He knew two of his Pokemon, a Nincada and a Ninjask. However, they had insufficient data for the last one. All they knew was that it was spherical in nature. Hearing a rustling in the woods, Reno looked and saw it appeared to be Takashi, due to his body structure and the scarf around his neck. Sneaking up through the woods, he almost reached Takashi when he spun around to face them. A buzzing became apparent to Reno now that he was close to Takashi, Scyther wings. Not good.

“So, figure out I had a decoy to lure you away? What gave it away?” The ninja styled man asked, his red scarf waving in the breeze. Giving his typical smirk, he retorted, “Well, its 'ard to mistake a male and female. Although with you, its 'ard to tell the difference.” His smirk widened as Takashi went into a minor rage about the “amateurs” he had recruited. Refocusing, he asked, “So you think you can stop me? The only reason you beat my fellows is because they only joined upon hearing the word 'ninja'. I have actually commited myself to learning to fight with my Pokemon. Not run around, yelling about how 'stealthy' I am. So bring it.” With those final words, he gave the classic two finger 'come at me' motion, while he dropped a Pokeball.

From his Pokeball emerged a Nincada, chattering its teeth. Looking to Fenrir in his arms, he merely jerked his head up and she jumped to the ground. The Nincada across from them rushed forward, intent on starting the fight early with a bout of Fury Swipes. “Fenrir, Dragon Dance then Dragon Claw. Use Dragon Dance to dodge Nincada's attack.” The Axew obeyed, performing its dance around the Nincada's swipes. Reaching the end of its dance, it shot forward suddenly between the Bug type's swipes and hit with the Dragon Claw. Due to the increased speed and power from it's Dragon Dance, Fenrir's Dragon Claw hit hard enough to knock out the Nincada swiftly.

Glaring at his knocked out Pokemon, he threw out the next one, this being the Ninjask. Looking at Fenrir, he saw she was determined to end this fight. Giving an understanding nod, he ordered, “Fenrir, Swords Dance then Dragon Claw again.” A purple glowing chi covered Fenrir's claws, extending them slightly. She charged forward, getting ready to slash. “Ninjask, Double Team.” The Ninja Pokemon obeyed, with its extreme speed making it appear in a line of duplicates. Unfortunately, they all appeared to have shadows due to Ninjask's ludicrous speed. Fenrir slashed a few of them, all of which just disappeared. The Ninjask appeared behind the female Axew, responding to the attempted attack with a Bug Bite straight to her back.

The Tusk Pokemon got up slowly, looking a little worse for wear. Meanwhile the Ninjask returned to its Duble Team, making it almost unable to be hit. Takashi laughed at the predicament and shouted, “There's no way to beat this combination. My Ninjask is so fast, which when combined with Double Team makes so you can barely touch it.” Reno felt a little sweat drip down his brow, unable to think of a plan. Running through a mental list of moves Fenrir knew and could learn, he decided to perform another gamble of a move. Looking at Fenrir, he yelled, “Fenrir, use Dragon Pulse.” The tiny Tusk Pokemon obeyed, opening its mouth and generating a ball or turquoise energy. Firing it off, it became a shockwave of energy that expanded to hit all the Ninjasks.

They all disappeared except one, which regained altitude in a second. Seething with rage, it rushed forward and struck with a X-scissor, KOing Fenrir. Feeling his smirk waiver for a second, he drew out another Pokeball, not prepared to throw out his desperation Pokemon. Letting Phemes out of her ball again, he ordered, “Phemes, use Iron 'Ead.” The Ninjask may not have shown it, but the Dragon Pulse had manged to knock its wing beats off-balance. This kept it from performing its same trick or the speeds that would make it invisible to the naked eye. Despite this, Takashi still ordered, “Ninjask, use Double Team.” The Ninjask obeyed, but this time only one of the appeared Ninjasks had a shadow. Phemes made note of this and rush that one, knocking the Ninjask out of the air. It flew back, attacking without taking any of tis trainers orders. It slashed at Phemes with a Fury Cutter, its claws causing her to lose altitude. Knowing that there was only one Pokemon left and he hoped Phemes wouldn't mind the finisher move, he ordered,”Phemes, use Take Down.” At the close range the Ninjask was attacking from, it couldn't dodge the move at all.

The pair of Pokemon fainted, both exhausted from previous battles and the current attack. Withdrawing them at the same time, Takashi and Reno drew their last Pokeballs in synchronous. Both tossing them out, Takashi's last Pokemon was revealed to be a Koffing. On his side, Snips stood with a Leaf Blade already drawn. Jerking his head forward, Snips rushed at the Koffing. “Koffing, use Smog.” Takashi ordered, keeping his cool in this fight. The purple smoke rolled off the Poison Gas Pokemon, Snips rushed through, taking some damage and a little poisoning from it. Slashing at the Koffing, it bounced backwards into a tree. Catching it on the rebound, Snips hit it again, adding a little extra power behind this one. The Koffing rose up again, this time glowing slightly. Widening his eyes, Reno realized what that crazy gas ball was up to. “Snips, use Iron Tail.” he shouted, praying it would work. Snips rushed forward, as the Koffing began to glow brighter and brighter, just before it could manage to explode, Snips slammed it with his tail, sending it into the ground and knocking it out. Unfortunately, the poison in his system knocked him out too.

Withdrawing both their Pokemon, they gave each other slight smirks. “You win fair and square, Reno. I will leave you alone. I know when I'm beaten by a more skilled adversary. Although bravo on fighting me without a direct advantage over my Pokemon. That proves your worth right there. But, I will leave this Scizor alone. Just promise me you will remember me and keep in mind that as you get stronger I will do so too. And eventually, we will cross swords again, my rival. Who will come out on top is anyone's guess. Koffing, Haze.” The Pokemon had emergd from its Pokeball and released the haze to cover his escape. Letting his smirk grow bigger, he shouted, “Lookin' forward to it. 'Ope you manage to get it together next time.” Walking away from the battle location, he felt the Scyther part to let him leave. Turning around, he saw the shiny Scizor standing across the opening in the field, giving him a bow. Smirking, he bowed right back and left the area, the Scyther clearing the way for him due to the respect their leader showed them.

Grabbing the three thugs from earlier, he hauled them away to the outskirts of the mountain, diaialed 911 on their Pokegears, hung up and ran. The police arrived to see the trio from Team Ninja unconscious, with a note written. It said, One pack of wannabe ninjas taken stealthily by your friendly neighbourhood hero, Reno.

Psychic Master Mission Stage 1 

See With Your Mind 

The mind, some call it the most powerful part of the body, the center of all bodily functions. However, for some, the mind does more than just sending commands to the rest of the body, for Psychic Pokemon, and gifted people, the mind is much more powerful, an engine that can harness unseen forces. The highly developed minds of Psychic Pokemon not only give them vast intelligence, but also allow them to harness Celestial Chi in ways which defy reality, such as moving objects without physically touching them, or transporting themselves from one area to another in the blink of an eye. That said, Psychic Pokemon aren't the only ones who are gifted with such power, there are some humans who are born with these same gifts, and then, there are those who can unlock their hidden potential, we call them Channelers. Alternatively, there are those who are blessed with the power of a Psychic Pokemon, combining their strengths into one, a hybrid. Now then, why don't we begin your journey towards unlocking your own hidden potential? 

Mirage Island, a fabled place said to be located east of Pacifidlog Town, an island which is said to appear and disappear at random, leaving no trace of it. Very few have ever set foot on the island, some even say it's just a myth, but I have information that it exists, and you are going to want to find it. The island was once home to a prestigious school for gifted children to learn and harness their psychic powers. The school was led by a powerful Psychic Channeler named Maya, twin sister to an equally powerful Ghost Channeler who taught a school on Mt. Pyre. However, hundreds of years ago after a great calamity, both teachers died, yet their spirits live on, as Maya's powers were so great that she continued to defy reality as she still dwells on Mirage Island, waiting to teach anyone who can find the island. 

Your task is a simple one, find Mirage Island and Maya's school on said island. While it may sound simple it is anything but. The island is said to only appear at random, however, this is not completely true. Rumor has it that one can find the island through other means. You will need a Moon Stone from Meteor Falls, one that must come from the falls, why do you ask? The Celestial Chi at meteor falls is particularly powerful, the Moon Stones there having absorbed this strong chi. With a Moon Stone from Meteor Falls, you will be able to reveal the island by having your most trusted Psychic Pokemon (the Pokemon you plan on channeling with or become hybrid of) use Hidden Power on the stone where the Celestial Chi is most powerful on Route 130, the stone will release its contained Celestial Chi and reveal the island to you. That said, your Pokemon won't be able to do it alone, they will require your own chi to unlock the stone, only with a strong mind and synced mind will you succeed. Wonder why the island is hidden? Because of the weak defenseless Wynaut that live on the island, it's said that they passively use Safeguard on their surroundings, hiding the island and making a utopia for themselves. This is why Maya built her school on the island, the perfect test for those who wish to learn, to prove their own abilities. 

Once on the island you must find the school, which is also hidden, invisible. If you can find one of the illusive Wynaut on the island, perhaps with the help of your own Pokemon you will be able to convince the Pokemon to help you find the school, as the Pokemon are loyal to Maya, they will only help those they also deem worthy, and pure of mind. Careful though, the Wynaut, while weak, are extremely elusive, and tricky, they will attempt to trap your Pokemon in a vain Encore, or force you to attack them and send your attacks right back at you. Furthermore they work in groups with their telepathy and are very wise, do not be deceived by their appearance. 

Once you get a Wynaut to show you the way to the school, it will reveal its self to you once you near it. The school is a beautiful open marble structure with many pillars and floors that ascend high into the sky, a tower of marble, that despite its age has defied the weathering of time. Once you enter you will need your Psychic Pokemon to help lead you through a maze of invisible walls, which at the end you will find the item to summon forth your master, the Betyl Stone, a stone of great Celestial Chi, carved from a meteorite. Be warned however, you can not teleport out of the maze, and nothing can penetrate nor shatter the walls, so if you get lost within it, you may die a slow death. 

Once you get the Betyl Stone summon forth the spirit of Maya and ask that she train you. If she decide you and your Pokemon are worthy of her teachings, the Betyl Stone is yours and you will undergo further training with your new master, the stone allowing you to enter Mirage Island and the school at will. 

Objective: 
---Head to Meteor Falls and find yourself a Moon Stone. 
---With Moon Stone in hand travel to Route 130, and with your Psychic Pokemon's aid, find the location where the Celestial Chi is strongest, and with the use of Hidden Power on the Moon Stone, Mirage Island will reveal its self to you. 
---On the island find a Wynaut and convince it you lead you to Maya's school. 
---Finally, with your Pokemon's help, find your way through the invisible maze at the base of her school, and obtain the Betyl Stone to summon forth Maya and convince her to train you. 

Opposition: 
---Meteor Falls is filled with several wild Pokemon which will attack you, such as Solrock, Lunatone, Zubat, Golbat, and Bagon on land, and Magikarp, Goldeen, Barboach, and Whiscash in the water. 
---Route 130 also contains wild Pokemon in the water such as Tentacool, Wingull, Pelipper, Magikarp, Wailmer, and Sharpedo. 
---The only Pokemon on Mirage Island are Wynaut, and while they may not attack you directly, they may try to hinder you greatly with moves like Encore, and of course Mirror Coat and Counter. 

Pokemon: 
---You may capture one Psychic Pokemon. 

Rewards: 
---The Betyl Stone, which is required to call upon your future teacher, Maya. 
---The ability to take on the next master mission. 
---The rest varies based on story. 


The sound of unending silence echoed throughout the Snagem headquarters, the almost smothering and tense lack of noise being quite possibly the most terrifying that could occur within the base of the most notorious group of ne'er-do-wells given the nature of some of their members. The sound of a loud sneeze followed by a metallic thunk would echo through the silence before it was followed with a small groan and a man's voice groaning out, “Ouch. Why does this always happen to me?” Focusing on the subject of this story, we would find a certain red haired explosives designer with a dash of pyromania for good measure. Reno's position under the metallic bits of machinery in the laboratory would be explained as him having a strange intuition to search around the entirety of the lab with the sensation being similar to another feeling that had been in his mind at a few other noteworthy moments. Tapping a small strange rock on the floor of the lab, Reno felt a burst of that familiar sensation. It seemed that some small part of the meteorite had survived it's destruction, tucking itself away to allow for it's possible reconstruction in the future.

Pulling himself out from under the piece of machinery that had threatened to crush him if he made the wrong move while underneath, Reno felt the small amount of Chi in the meteorite begin to slowly build up in the presence of the humanly contact. Throwing the hunk of meteorite out of his hand at the feeling of said Chi attempting to enter his body, Reno watched the small chunk of rock for a minute before slowly backing out of the lab, eyes locked onto the now dormant rock. Scaling his way into the main room quietly, Reno turned to sit down on the couch when he saw it. The meteorite chunk had somehow ended up sitting on the coffee table in the center of the lobby, almost like it had never even been downstairs in the first place. Being to feel a minor bit of panic rising within his body, Reno began to sprint away from this location, the terror of the pursuing chunk of inanimate rock lead Reno to make a break for the upstairs, praying that he may possibly escape any more possible pursuit by the strange remainder of his old personal hell.

Crashing into the door of his room, Reno quickly slammed the door shut before locking the multitude of deadbolts, chains and other kinds of locks he had set into the door before spinning around to lean against the door to catch his breath. Letting silence once again reign throughout the headquarters, he began to think what might have possibly made him hallucinate such a strange event as the rock showing up when nothing could physically move it. Doing his best to figure out what exactly it was that had caused the rock to move, Reno began to hear the slight echo of a metallic thunk. Darting his eyes around the room, another thump sounded throughout the area, helping add to the tension of the moment as Reno continued to work through the possibilities of what may be causing the noise when the question answered itself for him. The chunk of meteorite, which he prayed could not move, smashed through the lone vent cover in his room, depositing itself into the center of the room with a small thump. Slowly creeping up to the hunk of rock, Reno was suddenly flung back as the rock rammed into him and seeped inside of his body. The small surge of Psychic Chi triggered something in his mind, shutting off his outer sensory as his body focused on the images and sound that the rock were now channeling into Reno's mind.

Images began to fly through his head, moving too quickly for him to perceive normally or hear the words that seemed to accompany each of the pictures as they whirled around through his brain. Blurry images resembling stones, water, islands and even a few select Pokemon flashed through his mind before the images began to focus onto a single set of images that began to swirl around before settling into a collage of pictures as the voice from before began to speak in more normal terms. “A stone sits in a waterfall of draconic power, pick up the pieces for the next step to the end. The falling stars shall lead the way to your relic of infinite strength.” The voice echoed throughout Reno's head, permeating with a gender-less tone and an omniscient feel tot eh words that he was spoken with. The images within the collage began to separate, leaving only three pictures broad and focused within his mind to guide his actions. The first one that flashed into full focus would be of a single stone sitting within the confines of a watery prison, the area around it distorted from the water that was rushing past it. The second would be of a small waterfall with a few Pokemon around it, a Bagon and a Golbat both appearing within the scene that appeared into his mind before it faded away. The third and final picture would be of a dirt road with a small sign next to it. The sign may have been out of focus, but the shape and design of it was unmistakably from the Hoenn region from the shape the sign was made into. A final blast of psychic energy coursed through Reno's body, enveloping the room around him in a blinding light. Sensors within the building would activate to attest to the sudden flood of Psychic Chi before they were fried by the sheer amount of power that had exploded into the room. One final flash would blind anyone nearby in the area before the man inside the room disappeared into whatever area it was that this mysterious force was taking him towards.

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A bright flash would engulf the road of Hoenn, scaring off the local Pokémon populace from the area in fear of what might have arrived from such an energetic blast. A loud thump would echo out as the light finally dissipated from the area to reveal Reno at the center, face planted to the ground with the rock in his hand crumbling to dust. Raising his face from the ground with a cough and hacking to dislodge some dust from his throat, Reno looked to the road ahead of him with a sigh before realizing he had been relocated to another location entirely by the strange little rock. Shaking his head in dismay, he set off down the road, hoping to find some idea of where he had relocated to.

Within the first few miles of walking, Reno somehow managed to find....nothing. It was like he had landed in the middle of a ghost area and he had been forgotten about with how many Pokemon, people or even buildings he saw. Just a simple coast line with a beach, a strange rock formation in front of him and what appeared to be some sort of entrance to another area in the middle of the formation. Hoping that whatever divine force had sent him spiraling here was hoping for him to go into this cave for whatever reason, Reno knocked against the lone sign in the area, oblivious to the words, "Meteor Falls" emblazoned on it, along with an arrow pointing straight towards his destination.

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Looking around the cave type area he seemed to have wandered into, Reno finally began to see the Pokemon that had been missing from the area for the better part of his time there. Lunatone, Solrock, Zubat, Golbat, and Bagon all floating or wandering along the land. Unsure exactly why he felt this place was familiar, Reno instinctively looked to the noise that had been constant since he entered the place, the sound of rushing water leading him to a giant waterfall that sat across the area from him. Picking out a shape that seemed familair to him for some reason, Reno began to slowly walk through the collected Pokemon, silently getting through before encountering the mass amounts of water between him and the waterfall and, furthermore, the weird stone. Opening a Pokeball and unveiling Phemes. Leaping on top of the Psychic type Pokemon, they began to slowly float up, halting at certain moments in order to prevent encounters with any of the floating or flying Pokemon. Although there were a few close calls with some of the Lunatones and Golbats floating around the falls, they were avoided due to their eyes only being situated in certain locations and Phemes manipulating herself to allow herself and Reno to pass through their blind spots with detection by the likely hostile Pokemon.

Finally reaching the stone he had picked out of the falls, right close to the top of the waters, Reno reached through the water in an effort to grab the stone. Giving a cry of pain, Reno found his arm stuck through the water and slowly losing feeling as the pain spread throughout his arm. His hand began to disappear from his senses as the pain grew more intense before it suddenly died off. Shaking the hand that was in the waterfall, he hoped the shock of the cold water had finally passed and he could actually use his hand. Grasping the stone and giving a few test tugs, Reno found it was very loose and would come loose if he tugged it...one...more....time!

The sudden release of the load bearing stone would allow for a small rumbling to begin to echo throughout the cavern,the signal of foreboding danger that was to be swiftly met. Rocks and boulders that made up the face of the waterfall, along with the cliffs that flanked the water began to fall from their cradles within the rock wall, smashing into the ground with loud echoing thuds or massive splashes as the ones that hit the water did upon impact. The sudden and destructive assault of their natives lands would attract the attention of every Pokemon there and they did not look happy to see the waterfall attempting to collapse from one person's blunder. Quickly realizing that with this event having been his fault that the Pokemon were likely to blame and attack him, Reno began to frantically tap Phemes' head in an effort to get them flying to the lone entrance to the place. Phemes response was to simply begin a slow float towards the entrance, the slow movement leading one of the braver Pokemon, a Golbat, to begin it's pursuit of the assailants with gusto by sending an Air Cutter streaking for Reno.

Ducking underneath the Air Cutter that was aimed to decapitate him, Reno drew out and opened a Pokeball from his perch atop Phemes. Giving a loud shout of, "Sparks, time ta fry us some Golbat before we end up with any more trouble," The small Elekid would appear on top of the Metang, a small discharge of electricity forcing the Golbat to back off for a minute Sparks would turn around for that moment to glare at Reno and his choice of battlefield for the tiny Electric type. A floating Pokemon with little room to actually move to avoid any attacks was certainly the opposite of what he wished to possibly have when fighting anything. While Sparks was getting mad at Reno for deciding to place him onto a horrible battlefield, the Golbat dove at the pair of them with an Acrobatic attack, nimbly dodging around a few of the stalactites that were long enough to reach their position within the cave and smashing into the Elekid, sending the Electric Pokemon skyward. Watching the airborne Pokemon slowly begin his descent towards the ground, Reno dropped another Pokeball out and shouted, "Vine Whip!!" Twin vines fired off the Metang transport that they were riding, quickly grabbing Sparks and returning him to their transport before the savior disappeared back into his Pokeball.

Looking to the Golbat again, Reno nodded to Sparks before ducking in preparation of what he had just triggered. A massive amount of electricity began to channel between the Elekid's prongs, being created by his arms spinning around like he was trying to become a pair of wheels. A massive beam of electricity erupted from Elekid into the sky before descending as a bolt of Thunder, aiming to zap the Golbat out of the sky. Said electric attack was gracefully avoided by the Golbat as it began to laugh at Sparks for the misfire. Unfortunately for the Flying type, Elekid's arms continuing to spin without skipping a beat, allowing for more Thunder attacks to flash from the attack in an attempt to strike down the Golbat. Evading and weaving through the Thunder attacks, the Golbat began to drraw closer before getting cocky, diving past one of the bolts with quick movement, leaving it vulnerable to another bolt aimed to strike that location without it's knowledge. The electricity coursed through the Golbat and it began to waiver in midair slightly, but it was not down for the count. The Golbat began to hover in midair, a small amount of wind beginning to gather beneath it's wings as it prepared to launch a well aimed Air Cutter for them. Looking to Sparks with a grin, Reno ordered, "Sparks, Thunderbolt." The Electric type began to spin his arms around in an effort to build up charge and found itself unable to gain a charge. Looking in shock at the lack of shocking attacks, Reno and Sparks missed the first volley of Air Cutters flying through the air until they slashed across Sparks, digging in deeply and doing massive amounts of damage. Growling at the lack of possible ranged attacks from Sparks, Reno began to look around in an effort to figure away around their predicament.

Tapping his foot on Phemes head, he watched as they swerved towards the cave wall, weaving between the stalactites that would force the Golbat to come closer. Smirking as the Pokemon drew closer for a Steel Wing attack on Sparks, Reno shouted, "Sparks, Tackle." Sparks leaped off the Metang, bouncing between the stalactites and sending them crashing down, running along the tops of the falling ones before flying at the Golbat, smashing into it with gusto before a sudden charge of electricity surged through Sparks, a DIscharge attack that fried both of them in midair as the metals contained within the stalactites forced the electricity to remain within their small zone and overload the two of them. Returning Sparks to his Pokeball before he and the Golbat both could tumble to the ground, Reno could see dozens of other Pokemon floating up to greet them, anger almost visible around them along with the sudden lack of stalactites around them due to Sparks' stunt and the general progression of the cave over time. Looking down to Phemes with a panicked expression due to the sheer amount of attacks he anticipated, Reno shouted, "Get us the hell out of here!! WE ARE GOING TO FRICKIN DIE!!!" The Metang directed a look of disgruntled rage at Reno before the sting of multiple attacks barred itself upon the Pokemon.

Air Cutters and Air Slashes raced along her belly and sent massive amounts due sheer numbers, Rock Throws smashed themselves against the steely underbelly of Phemes, forcing her upward into the ceiling slightly, and Dragon Rages exploded against her skin as they drew closer to the entrance, keeping close to the wall of the cave. Phemes would return fire with a few volleys of Psychic, sending some of the Golbats smashing into each other and raining them down on the Bagons attempting to fire upon them, but the sheer amounts of them overwhelmed the fleeing duo. Reno kept looking back, watching as the Golbats backed off while a barrage of Lunatones and Solrocks raced towards them, beginning to glow brightly in anticipation of their finisher to the trespassers. "PHEMES, IF WE DON'T GET OUT OF HERE NOW, WE WILL BE KILLED!!!!GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE!!!" Reno screamed in panic, his accent disappearing from the sheer amounts of fear and anticipation that he was experiencing. One final Air Slash lanced through the air, slicing clean along Reno's arm and smashing Phemes' head with a mighty crack. That was the last straw for the Iron Claw Pokemon who began to glow brightly as well, the light disappearing as a hole was smashed right through the wall, allowing for them to make a quick escape while the Pokemon in pursuit were blinded and began to explode near the hole in the wall, causing the hole to cave in before the cave Pokemon could use it to allow for a mass attack on Reno and his newly evolved steed.

The Metagross that now sat beneath Reno looked with a glowing arm from the extremely powerful Meteor Mash that had been used to smash their way through the cave wall in an effort to shut Reno up while also saving themselves from certain doom via explody death. Glaring at Reno with the Metagross equivalent of a raised eyebrow, Reno's only reaction was to pat the Pokemon on the head before muttering, "Ya did good, my old buddy. Sorry about the minor panic attack but unless I'm the source of an explosion, I generally dislike them." Another bout of loud explosions sounded off as the entrance to the cave began to release a flood of Pokemon, all of them glaring towards the Metagross and her partner. Gulping down a breath, Reno began to tap Phemes' head again, hoping that the message would get across to the Pokemon. Giving a grunt in compliance to the order she could almost smell from Reno, Phemes charged towards the group of growing Pokemon before putting on a sudden burst of speed, piercing through the group of Pokemon with a well timed burst of Agility. A well timed use of Magnet Rise increased their height, sending the Metagross and her passenger flying skyward with a flurry of attacks racing alongside them. Putting more power behind her speed and her ascension, Phemes began to see the attacks die off, while a few of them would dash against her skin, leaving small scratches that were barely noticeable after the original assault within the confined caves.

Topping out her ascension and letting her body, along with her passenger, settle above a layer of clouds that were quickly blowing past, Reno began to examine his new Metagross' injuries and attempt some minor aid, although the metallic body made it challenging to tell whether the first aid would be effective or not. Deciding his next best job would be to examine the Pokemon they had just passed and see if they were still in pursuit, Reno forced himself approach the edge of Phemes body and look downwards towards the Pokemon that had been attempting to slaughter them for the minor transgression. Examing the scattered bodies and the scorch marks along the walls of the cave that stood, Reno could see the chaos and sudden motion had caused the Solrocks and Lunatones that had not exploded against the first cave wall to detonate here, caving in the main entrance to the falls while also knocking out a majority of the Pokemon. But, one lone Pokemon continued it's ascent towards them with stalwart determination and an iron will to avenge it's home's minor desecration with the powerful array of moves at it's disposal.

The small Zubat flapped its way up to the pair before firing at them with a Confuse Ray, the attack begin extremely effective despite the fact that the Zubat was almost prepared to tumble out of the sky from exhaustion due to how high it had to fly up. The unfortunate effect of the attack by the Zubat was Phemes suddenly deciding that the ground and the sky had switched places and followed her previous orders, letting herself drop from the sky without a care or regard to Reno. Gripping on for dear life, Reno looked to the Zubat falling down alongside them, grabbing it out of midair before it could slam into the ground and kill itself. Looking to the ground rapidly closing in on them, Reno began to scale Phemes before standing on the top of her posterior area, which would hopefully be the safest place due to the fact she decided to fly face first at the earth.

Feeling themselves nearing the bottom of the meteoric descent, Reno hugged his new companion before a thought crossed his mind. Forcing his will onto the rock and praying it would transfer to Phemes as they rushed at the rapidly approaching ground, Reno screamed out, "TELEPORT!!!' A bright flash began to engulf them as the ground drew closer and closer, the blades of grass visible before...a spray of water shot itself directly into Reno's face. Coughing up the water that he had inhaled from the sudden splashdown, Reno began to laugh as he floated on top of Phemes, who had regained her normal thought processes from the shock of cold water. However, she was barely able to float on her own at this point, so continuing to use her for transport was out of the question. Speaking of transport, Reno looked around the area again, finding himself in a completely different body of water than the one that he had originally been intending to land in. Looking to his SNAG and opening it up in hopes of figuring out where he was for sure this time, Reno found the circuitry within it fired beyond repair and the rest of the device looking like it had been overloaded. Cursing at the machine, Reno hunted through his bag again before coming out with the Moon Stone he ripped out of the waterfall and had lead to the whole swarm of Pokemon attempting to kill him. Growling as he began to grip the rock harder, Reno finally felt a flash of Celestial Chi jump from the rock to him, shocking him from the sheer randomness of the moment it chose to show it's power. The sudden shock and movement would also stir the Zubat from it's unconsciousness, the Flying type surprised to find itself not a smear on the ground. Looking up to the man holding it, the Zubat could only weakly squeak before offering a wing to Reno, a sign of forgiveness and respect.

Reno looked down to the upraised wing before giving it a small shake, reaching into his backpack afterwards to pull out a small morsel of food. "I know it's not much, but I hope it makes up for making you fly so high." Reno murmured to the tiny Zubat, watching as it ate the piece of food with a small squeak before proceeding to fall asleep. Placing the unconscious body of the Pokemon into his backpack, Reno hoped that he hadn't done anything too bad with where he had placed the Zubat. Focusing back on his mission that seemed to be guiding him, Reno could see the stone in his hand slowly pulsing, the pace quickening or slowing as he moved it in different directions. Looking down to his Metagross life raft, Reno told her, "You are gonna fly above and keep near us. Avoid any fighting because you aren't exactly in the best of conditions right now. Me and Tesei will take care of everything down 'ere." Feeling a rumble in response, Reno released Tesei into the water, leaping onto the smaller raft before watching the Metagross slowly raise out of the water and hovering above them. Watching the signal that seemed to be emanating from the stone grow fuzzy slightly as Phemes distanced herself before it reset when she drew back in close.

Giving a tap with his foot, Tesei took off with Phemes hanging in right close, the Moon Stone slowly beginning to pulse quicker and brighter as they seemed to be getting closer to the source of the strange reaction. However, the sight of a geyser of water would distract the entire group from the stone, due to the fact that the spout occurred about five feet in front of the group . Deciding that now would be a good time to attempt a quicker method for travel, Reno shouted to Tesei, "Hydro Pump!!" The sudden torrent of water flying out the back of Reno's transport would lead them straight to the Wailmer, swiftly running the Pokemon over without a care. Flying through the air after smashing into the flabby Pokemon, Reno leaned forward off of Tesei, laughing in victory before smashing his face into...something. Sliding down the sheer rock face of whatever his leaping charge had made him find, Reno let out a cough before falling into the water, getting plucked from the water by Phemes Returning Tesei to his Pokeball, Reno looked to the stone and the location where a small amount of blood had smeared and the fact it seemed to be moving. Looking between the rock and the moving bloodstain, Reno finally got the brilliant idea of throwing a rock at the place to see what would happen. Watching the rock smack into the same sort of location and roll down the sheer face, Reno began to wonder exactly how to make whatever it was reveal itself.

Beneath her trainer, Phemes sighed before reaching an arm up to smack the man on the head before projecting a thought to his thick skull. We need to sync our thoughts together. the fact i am able to do this currently says we are close but you must concentrate. then I believe we can reveal whatever it is that you seem to be tracking. Phemes thoughts penetrated Reno's mind, causing the man to stumble slightly at the sudden words that were put into his head. Sitting down calmly on top of Phemes' head, just hoping that this idea might work, Reno began to concentrate on the stone in his lap, allowing his thoughts to simply focus and his mind to sharpen and the power to flow to his steed. Phemes began to focus the collected power into her arms, allowing the attack to form itself as she released it into the stone, watching as the bloodstained area began to quiver and then.....nothing. Glaring up at Reno, Phemes could see that he had become distracted and was now focused on....something else. giving another mental nudge to Reno before reaching an arm up and flicking him, you see him shudder before muttering, "Okay, teak two."

Focusing on the meteorite, Reno could see images of an island in front of them flashing past his mind along with a jumble of other images. instead of simply allowing all the images to race by, he began to focus in more on the images of the island, watching as the other images racing by in his mind slowly began to filter out until the island came into full focus in his mind. Deciding he should give the order this time, Reno shouted, "NOW!!!" Phemes underneath him took the signal and attempted the same thing she had last time, allowing the Celestial Chi within the stone to turn into a use of Hidden Power, projecting from the Moon Stone to smash into the bloodstain in front of them, peeling away the invisible layer of things to reveal a small portion of a rock wall. The invisibility began to slowly peel away all around the island, unveiling a larger forested area that seemed to contain a large portion of blue, small Pokemon. A set of stairs began to to unveil itself, obviously how people must be able to gain access to the island if it were ever visible to normal people.

Staring in awe at what exactly it was that he had unknowingly run into, Reno began to slowly walk towards the island, mesmerized by it's serene beauty before realizing he had nothing beneath his foot that he had chosen to step forward with. Catching himself by moving his foot over to Phemes' arm joint, Reno waited until they had gotten closer tot eh island before hoping off of his Pokemon and taking a look around at what exactly inhabited the island. The dots of blue he had seen earlier appeared to be......Wynaut? Whose idea was for it to make an island entirely filled with Wynaut? Shaking his head free of the strange thoughts before they lead to anything dangerously close to the fourth wall, Reno felt another pulse from the Moon Stone before a small thought entered his head. "Catch a Wynaut and 'ave it lead you to me?" Reno apprehensively spoke out loud, watching the Wynaut snap to attention and scatter wordlessly into the woodland. Cursing silently as he knew today just wasn't going to be his day, Reno began a slow jog towards the thicker woods with Phemes following behind closely.

The first Wynaut he came across was simply...standing in the middle of a clearing without a look of attentiveness or even remote interest in the outside world. Pointing to the Wynaut, Reno shouted, "Scary Face, Phemes. Pin the little bugger down." Proceeding with the order as directed, Phemes began to menacingly glare down the Wynaut with a face that looked like it would be at home in a horror movie. before she could pounce after the now shivering Wynaut, Phemes found her face stuck into this menacing expression, along with the rest of her limbs. A small rumble of horror would escape the frozen Pokemon, the menacing sound the only sign of panic from the Pokemon, who believed her face was now permanently stuck like it was now and how that stupid wives tale was true. Reno would watch the Wynaut scamper off, a look of sheer shock and awe plastered across his face. One of the weirdest looking and weakest Pokemon he had ever seen had just stared down a Metagross and simply left it frozen in time like it had broken her mind with the Force. Walking up to Phemes and tapping her head/body, Reno watched as her limbs began to loosen up and her face contort back to normal, although the sound of rancorous laughter from the treetops would be a reminder that the expression and panic from Phemes had happened with witnesses.

A growl of pure unadulterated fury escaped Phemes' mouth, conveying exactly how embarrassed she was that she had been deceived by such a tiny little morsel. Preparing a Meteor Mash with the intent to use it, Phemes swung for one of the trees in the area intending to clear cut the forest to rout the little rats hiding in the trees. But what instead happened was a Wynaut catapulted itself from its treetop perch, intercepted the extremely powerful punch and redirected it back at Phemes herself, causing uproarious laughter from it and it's brethren at the sight of Counter denying the Pokemon her moment of anger before hunting them down. Reno continued to watch this whole event awestruck at exactly how effective one of these blue balls of annoying hate could be. Phemes, however, was slowly picking herself off of the ground with a rage overpowering the wound she had suffered throughout the day before she charged again at the Wynauts, another Meteor Mash prepared with the power from the previous one still empowering her. She proceeded to smash her fist into yet another one of the Wyanuts before being catapulted backwards yet again like she had been hit with a bus before Reno finally smacked himself in the face, tired of exactly how ridiculous this must appear to anyone else watching.

Picking up Phemes' Pokeball and returning her to it's confines, Reno tossed out a completely different Pokemon with a small sigh. "Nova, Fiery Dance. And be sure to leave one of them alive after this, I would like to find whatever the 'ell we were dragged out 'ere for." Reno ordered, watching the Volcarona appear with the torrent of flames already starting to burn the area around them. Letting loose with the Fiery Dance in hopes of burning the forest down, a group of Wynauts leaped from the trees to surround the entire dome of flames projecting from the Pokemon, using a combined burst of Mirror Coat to send the entirety of the flames back at the Bug type Pokemon and proceeding to laugh at Nova's panicked flapping in order to dispel the flames that had begun to spring up along her body from the sudden attack reversal. Beginning to back off with Nova being dragged backwards with him by her furry section between her head and body, Reno began to attempt to plot for their next movement on the Wynaut army inhabiting the woodland.

Venturing out close to the edge of the island near the sea, Reno began to notice the distinct lack of light around them, leading to his conclusion that those Wynauts had distracted him for a lot longer than expected. Looking to the trees around him and snapping a few limbs off of them, Reno formed a small tepee out of the sticks and then surrounded them in rocks. Ripping some of the blades of grass from the ground at his feet and gathering a few bits of the fuzzier plant life, Reno placed them within the tepee of sticks before gesturing Nova over to help him. "Nova, use Ember on the pile of fluff and grass so we can get a fire started." Reno ordered the Volcarona, watching as a small amount of the fiery scales from her wings floated into the grass pile, igniting them and sparking up a few of the sticks that were to be the next part of the fire. watching as the grass ignited the sticks and the true warmth of the fire began to gain some speed, Reno released Phemes from her Pokeball, watching the wounded Pokemon simply fall asleep upon being freed. Shaking his head at the strange antics, Reno looked over to Nova, who had somehow already managed to fall asleep also when he hadn't been looking. Sighing with the thought of having to sit up without much company right now, Reno laid back on the ground and stared up at the sky before his thoughts began to vocalize themselves.

"Why am I out here exactly? I get that it's some sorta spirit quest or such, but what I don't get is why I was chosen for this? I'm nothin' special. I'm not smarter than average, stronger than average or even that cunning sometimes. So what is it that makes me special enough to be 'ere on this weird island in pursuit of some weird mystical thing I don't even know about or 'ow exactly whatever it is found me? My only 'igh point seems to be making things explode and causing 'avoc, but that doesn't seem like a reason for me to be picked, unless sheer survival has made me enough. But I guess that if it picked me, I must have some redeeming quality that makes me special enough in it's eyes to go on this weird quest. But I seriously doubt that this mysterious force knows exactly how much I believe in myself on this sort of thing or it would have abandoned me the second it found me." Reno spoke melancholy to the sky, a depressed look crossing his eyes. He could make himself look like such a tough guy and seem like such a confidant guy but there were always moments like this where he began to doubt himself and began to make everything about him seem negative.

"But, if I was chosen before this thing knew how I feel about myself sometimes, then i guess I shouldn't disappoint it. I mean, if I can't catch one stupid lil Wynaut, then I might not be worthy to gain access to whatever it is that I am in pursuit of. Nothing is going to stop me until I exhaust every possible option I 'ave at this moment and even then, I will think of more and keep trying until I manage something of value towards this goal that seems to be compelling me. My mentality may be weak sometimes, but I can always keep myself going without it dragging me down to the point of inaction. So long as I can move and fight, I will pursue this goal with all my strength." Reno's quiet murmurs of self pity had now grown in a cheer of confidence and strength that seemed to empower him, letting a smile cross his face before he finally let himself fall asleep, the mental weakness that had been growing since he had begun on this journey now slowly settling back down.

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Stirring from his sleep to the glare of the sun in his eyes, Reno began to slowly scan around the area to see what exactly was going on around him. The sight of Phemes ad Nova shaking themselves awake was a welcome sight, as was the little blue guy who was now currently shouting at them and.........shaking it's butt at them? Giving a yawn in response before the thought fully processed itself through Reno's mind, he suddenly snapped to attention and leaped at the little mocking Wynaut before having his force redirected by Counter, sending himself sliding through the ashes of the fire from last night. Cursing in between hacking coughs from the ash now in his lungs, Reno could see the Wynaut shake its butt at them one more time before taking off into the woodland, the sound of laughter echoing throughout the woods.

Breathing in slowly and deeply before releasing the breath, he could see Phemes and Nova preparing to go on the warpath in rage. Placing a hand on each of the Pokemon, Reno simply looked into the forest before muttering, "We are gonna use all the tools at our disposal this time. Not just rush after them like senseless beasts and end up with yet another bout of ballistic pinball between the trees. No, this day, we fight and we will be victorious not through our brawn but our brains." Reno announced, continuing to stare at the woods with a determined look. Dropping the two remaining Pokeballs that did not contain Pokemon that were unconscious, Reno could see he had Tesei and his new Bulbasaur, Willow, at his disposal for this mission, seeing as an unconscious Elekid and nothing were the contents of his last two Pokeballs, one of which might seem odd. Examining his range of Pokemon, Reno began to plot an idea before realizing that these Wynauts might have more tricks up their sleeves. Picking up Willow and motioning for Nova to follow along, Reno began his march towards the woods with determination in his eyes.

Beginning to move faster in pursuit of the Wyanut, Reno began to see the little blurs of blue flying among the trees, surrounding them while also mocking them with laughter. Slowing down int eh middle of the path, Reno looked to the Wyanut before whispering to Willow. The female Bulbasaur would wander into the treeline with a strange powder flying into the air as she ran around the Wynaut-filled trees. examining the Wyanuts sitting in the trees, Reno could see a slight shimmer around them that would dispel the powder before it could contact them, preventing the Sleep Powder from knocking out the little guys. Cursing and muttering as he began to think through other possibilities, the Wynauts beginning to hum in unison a mocking tune that seemed to continue on without end, never slowing down or stopping with being irritating. Growling at the irritating melody he could make out and the childhood scarring it reminded him of, Reno shouted, "RAGE.....powder." His thoughts trailed off mid-sentence to his next idea to test before he left to return to his campsite.

Nova, having heard the somewhat order from Reno, shrugged her wings and began to release the red powder into the air, watching as it spread throughout the area while getting past the Safeguard the Wynauts used to defend against the other special effects. Giving a smile as the Wynauts began to look towards Nova with rage in their eyes, the little blue Pokemon writhing in aggressive anger towards the Bug type. Laughing upon seeing no attacks flying through the air or anything truly happening to Nova, Reno began to stick out his tongue and make faces at the Pokemon he could see, Willow safely in her Pokeball to prevent any real assaults on their position. A rustling above them in the trees would be the last sign and signal to retreat before the lack of aggression from the visible Wynauts became apparent. As the rustling grew louder, Reno began to dart his eyes around to see if some other Pokemon was on the island. At least, until the cascade of Wynaut began to fall from the sky, the sudden rush of falling, flailing Pokemon crushing Reno and Nova simultaneously without so much as a sound between them. Coughing in pain and hearing a groan from Nova underneath her own pile of Wynauts, Reno began to see he would need a better plan to get one of these guys alone and without a swarm of them threatening to flatten them at a moment's notice.

Finally managing to crawl out of the dog-pile of Wynauts and watching them flee as soon as his arms were free, Reno looked tot eh swarm rushing away before muttering, "Splash is useless my a**. I just got massacred by a flood of wriggling blue death. So I think it is a lil more useful than a man would think it ta be.now, I believe ta be time ta get outta 'ere before the bruises set in and I really get laughed at for this botched operation." Reno's groans of pain at the end of his words would emphasis the point, as would the limp he would be walking with as he began to move out of the forest. Nova would follow closely behind him with her eyes fading in and out of focus, one even looking a completely different direction than the other one to help emphasis the point of this. For the Wynauts, they found this entire event hilarious due to how ridiculous the entire escapade had been. They had simply neutralized the first attempt at an attack and when the stupid trainer made an assumption for the second one, gravity helped with proving how horrifically wrong he was.

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Limping back to the camp with a cough that seemed to bring up small flecks of blood, Reno collapsed onto the ground with Nova falling down beside her trainer. "Although we have failed the battle, we will win this war. These Wynaut think us to be beat but we shall prevail. We shall overcome their hellish defenses and triumph against adversity so that I may figure out what the hell it is that I was sent here for." Reno roared out from his position on the ground, his voice muffled by the ground between his mouth and any ears that could listen. Placing a single hand on the dirt and digging his fingers into the dirt, Reno began to drag his body to it's feet, steadying himself as he brought himself up to his feet.

Shaking slightly as he maintained his balance, the red haired warrior looked to his four conscious Pokemon with a steely gaze, his mind being to go into overdrive into how exactly he would commit to the capture of one of the Wyanuts. "Okay.....If Phemes does that.....Willow does...then Nova.....finally, they all.....and then we dance a mighty jig in honor of our accomplishment!!" Reno muttered, before screaming the last part out like it was supposed to make sense in a standalone sense. Looking to his two Pokemon sitting on the ground, Reno gave a small waving motion to the Cloyster and the Metagross and watched as they stood at attention in order to follow behind Reno into the woods.

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A smell would begin to drift though the woods, the sweetest smell that Pokemon would know simply due to a trigger within their brains that was almost instinctual to every breed. The Wynauts were no strangers to this attraction and simply allowed themselves to follow the scent to it's source, slowing beginning to mass in a small area of three trees to watch and smell the scent the Bulbasaur beneath them was seeping out, while also maintaining enough distance to flee if any attempts to capture them were to occur. The smell that distracted the Wynauts would blind them to the occurrences around them that only seemed to be a faraway echo. The 'echo' that they heard would be Nova, using Hurricane to massacre the trees surrounding the area in an effort to prevent any sort of a stealthy escape by the small blue creatures. This would be further cemented by Phemes using her new arm strength to bash down the remaining trees and begin to build a wall surrounding the entire little area of trees Nova had left alone with her Hurricane attacks. In an attempt to at least bolster it to prevent collapse, Tesei would do his best to hop around the wall, blasting the areas that appeared needing stability with an Aurora Beam before quickly moving tot eh next location, the Cloyster attempting to combat the semi-tropic climate with repeated doses of the ice forming attack.

Reno would sit in position atop the newly formed tree fort, a small general's helmet now adorning his head along with a uniquely made uniform that had a....golden swoosh on the breast? Detracting from the semi odd uniform, Reno was gesturing with his riding crop to the remaining trees and watched as they were added to the wall of death with a mild amount of glee. "I love...Arceus help me I love it!!" Reno quietly roared in insane glee, his face twisted into a sadistic smile before he witnessed the final tree being added to the wall. Giving another gesture with his riding crop, he gave the first (and only) order of the day that came ad verbatim. "Willow, deploy Sleep powder now!!" Reno bellowed across the small copse of woods contained within their wall. Willow followed the orders with a small amount of reluctance, the white powder dispersing into the air for her audience to breath in instead of the sweet aroma. The Wynauts responded accordingly, a burst of Safeguard purifying the air around them, but not before the next wave of Reno S. Patton's strategy came into play.

Swooping over the remaining trees with a vengeful look in her eyes, Nova fired off another Hurricane, aiming instead of attacking the Wynauts to remove the leaves and more trees from the copse. The Wynauts would simply hold position, too afraid of releasing their Safeguard and breathing in the sleep inducing fumes while the trees and leaves surrounding them were forcefully ripped away without care. Reno, already able to see the possibility of a divergence from the plan, removed a Pokeball from his hip and returned the vengeance fueled Volcarona into her home. Now, Phemes would reach the apex of her jump over the wall, the pink glow in her eyes being her use of Miracle Eye to hopefully allow her some warning to any of the Wynauts attempts to reverse an attack. Diving towards the Wynauts with a bright glow building up at her X shaped portion, Reno could already see a dozen of them leaping to the front with their bodies glowing brightly with a Mirror Coat.

"Wyanuts......you magnificent buggers......I READ YOUR PLAYBOOK!!!!" Reno explosively roared in their direction, watching saw another dosage of white powder flung itself into the air around the few trees left remaining that housed the Wynauts who had fallen for the trap. Looking to Tesei at his side as he watched a multitude of the blue bodied monsters fall to the ground, an odd sight greeted him as the Wynaut who had seen the blast of Sleep powder emerging were throwing their friends clear over the wall, using a subconscious command that they seemed to have for Counter and making any force they applied to them fling them skyward to another portion of the island. Feeling an eye twitch coming onto him, Reno simply released the Pokeball still in his hand, pointed towards the six Wyanuts that remained and ordered, "Men, it is time to educate this low life scum on the power of the Renonian Army. Fire!!" Praying the distraction of rescuing their fellows would prevent a decisive retaliation against the force, Reno leaped from his position with his makeshift riding crop and nightstick drawn for battle.

Phemes would fire off the opening salvo, her Hyper Beam firing off at point blank range to engulf a Wyanut in the area. As the Hyper Beam ate the Pokemon, Tesei would drop to the ground unconscious with a dizzy look in his eyes and a drained look to his face. Reno looked to his companion fainting before shaking his head and witnessing the next disaster that wasn't fueled by a counter. The recoil from the Hyper Beam sent the airborne Metagross straight into the mass of trees, burying her beneath dozens of trees. The third would be discovered upon Nova and Willow performing their own attacks, when they would perform a synchronous combination of Razor Leaf and Hurricane to create a storm of slicing blades that cut down the Wynaut numbers to one, while also dropping the pair to the ground without a word. Continuing his charge towards the lone Wynaut, Reno began to feel his feet dragging and the energy in his body beginning to sap away without any feasible reason for it to happen. Stumbling to the ground as his legs gave way, the general would look to the lone Wynaut and see a sinister looking thread of black leading to...himself.

At that moment, Reno finally put the pieces together for the puzzle he had been offered here. Giving a small nod as he kept his head held high, the general for this small regiment allowed himself to mentally smack his stupid idea for a plan. Of course these Pokemon would have Destiny Bond as a move. Hell, why else leave a few behind if they hadn't been bonded already to his Pokemon sine he couldn't use a Wynaut if the thing was unconscious. Allowing the new depression over yet another failure in the pursuit of this impossible goal, Reno felt his backpack's cover unclasp and send his possessions flying along the ground, Snag Coins and other implements rolling along the ground including....a Pokeball that ran over a small rock and opened itself to reveal......Sparks' dead to the world state as he took a nap on the ground in front of Reno. The Wynaut responded to the disappointment of a second opponent by proceeding to roll along the floor with fits of laughter engulfing its every movement. Letting out a disgruntled sounding...noise, Reno slammed his face into the ground as the sound of fluttering wings alighted on Reno's ears. The Zubat had regained life and was staring down the Wynaut, his first instinct being tor resort to the one move he had used the last conflict, the Confuse Ray flying towards the Wynaut with deadly precision.

Feeling the full force of the beam, the Wynaut managed to avoid descending into a dizzy spell like nothing that had ever happened. The little blue Pokemon stared in fear at the Zubat, due simply to the knowledge that it could actually force him down without any of his counter moves being able to do anything to stop it. Attempting to turn on his heels and flee the scene of the battle without another word, the Wynaut would be stopped stone cold by an intense stare from the Zubat, who had managed to expand its eyes to the point of them being visible. Freezing itself in place, Reno came to the realization he would have no reliable method of controlling the little monster unless....Grasping the Premier Ball that sat in his backpack with a nod, Reno turned to face the Wynaut before simply belting the Pokeball like a baseball to slam square into the dumbstruck Wynaut's forehead. Watching the small Pokemon go flying along the ground and grind into the dirt before the beam from the Pokeball could even appear, Reno could tell the little countering beast he had just taken down wasn't used to any actual fighting and that meant he had a good chance with this one.

Watching the beam engulf the Wynaut and capture it within the inside of the Pokeball, he began to poke it with his nightstick as it rocked back and forth, letting out small noises with each motion. Finally hearing the resolute thunk that told him he had the little bugger dead to rights, Reno began to silently cheer to himself before finally realizing that he had forgotten one thing. Pulling out multitudes of Pokeballs, he began to return the knocked out inhabitants of the battlefield. Reaching the one Pokemon he knew he would have to dig for in order to actually locate, Reno stared at the collapsed trees before they collapsed around the final motions of Phemes, the Metagross finally unearthing itself before falling face first into the dirt, almost dead from exhaustion.Looking to the knocked out body of his Metagross, Reno blinked a few times before turning back to the Pokeball that now contained the Wynaut and gave a small sigh, already knowing exactly what would happen here. Returning Phemes to her Pokeball and drawing the one containing the Wynaut into his hand, Reno tossed it into the air with a casual look and watched as the new member of his crew emerged to land on the ground. "You and me, we are partners now. So if you have any issues...OWWW!!!" Reno had begun to explain what he wished with the Wynaut before he was slapped across the face with it's tail. Bobbing the tiny Pokemon on the head with a small amount of force, Reno huffed out a sigh before placing the Pokemon on the ground and watched it take off, following closely behind it for....some reason. Why did he keep doing this stuff like he was being compelled? It wasn't like anyone had shouted "Would you kindly" recently, so it was hard to see exactly what could be affecting him.

Wandering slowly along the strange trial the Wynaut was leading Reno on, he could see it was almost like it was intended to confuse anyone trying to find this location. Well, at least that answered the necessity fora Wynaut to lead him to the location. Even if he had stumbled through the island on foot, he wasn't likely to find it anyways. Hell, like he would even know what 'it' was if he ran through the forest and found it. Okay, the Wynaut appeared to be headbutting....something in the air that was invisible to the normal eye. What the hell was up with all that stuff that seemed to be cropping up that tried to play at being invisible with this little side quest? Was it too hard to make it so something might be hidden more conventionally or maybe with a little twist like....Of course. The Wynaut had managed to finally reveal what it had been headbutting as a small cave entrance that had been disguised with some weird...chi? Okay, now things were actually getting interesting with this whole event. Entering into this cave entrance, Reno was greeted with the sight of open marble pillars, a massive tower of pure white stone and the sudden shift in location that created a bright purple sky with a blue sun. Feeling his hand move on its own towards a Pokeball in his pocket, Reno watched as his arm drew out the ball and opened it to reveal...Phemes?


Finally resorting to indulging that impulse to keep one of his original allies around for a decision, Reno drew out one of the singular Revives within his pack and forced it into....whatever the hell he managed to smash it into to make it disappear like food. The metallic Pokemon began to groan and shudder to life as energy returned to her body and her wounds began to slightly heal. Patting his Metagross on the head and placing the Wynaut on top of her with a glare to hopefully convince her not to beat the Pokemon's brains out. The loud smack followed by the two of them groaning as soon as Reno turned around certainly did not bode well towards that idea. Letting out a small sigh before looking to the spiraling tower that sat in front of him, Reno possessed only one question, "What part of the universe had ta break fer this to happen?" Unsure if the universe would answer his question in a timely manner this time, he began to walk along the oddly colored yellow grass towards the entrance on the tower. The grass wasn't straw yellow like dead grass but neon yellow like someone had doused the grass in cheap house paint and proceeded to light it up with a gratuitous dose of electricity. Resisting the urge to skip along it and sing some diluted, cheery song in an effort to make the trip to the door degrees less boring and monotonous, Reno soon found himself at the stone entrance to the tower and it's massive....expanses? With the way this world worked, for all Reno knew, a room counted as floor, a foot counted as a floor, maybe even a centimeter counted as a floor. Knocking into the door, he soon found himself swallowed in darkness with the door offering no illumination and offering even less sight as Phemes and the Wynaut entered and the door slammed shut.

Wandering forward, Reno smacked headfirst into a wall, but still had no idea what he had hit, if there was anything next to him or if he had just found a cabinet. Shaking their heads at the the oblivious trainer they obeyed, Phemes and the Wynaut would simply float ahead without worry and weave a pattern through what was in their way without much effort. Blinking in awe before realizing that they had some secret, Reno began to shout and rage with unintelligible words. The presence would soon become apparent to him as he saw Phemes floating above him and a small visible beam of chi now pressing against his head, and indirectly, his mind. Allowing the small amount of chi to enter his mind, a sudden flash of sensory overload overtook him as this new sensation opened his eyes to bright shining walls within the room that appeared so obvious with this new sense. Collapsing to the ground and curling up slightly, Reno began to slowly breath in and out in an attempt to adjust to this new feeling of seeing beyond the veil. It was not only the fact he could see these new things, it was the fact he could now sense the thoughts of the Pokemon around him and feel their presence, alongside another presence lying deeper within the tower. Quivering under this intense pressure that seemed to almost invade his own shortcomings and mental demons to empower them against himself, Reno slowly began to stumble forward in an attempt to finally solve this mystery that had been omnipresent throughout this excellent adventure.

Taking another two steps, a flash of memory would wash over Reno and send him onto his back, the flashback of memory driving another spike of depression into his brain. Echoes rang through his ear, words like "waste of space" "useless piece of humanoid drek" and "leech that is draining everything I have" drove deep into his mind, resonating with memories that Reno had done his best to repress and forced his eyes to stretch open, wider than physically possible in normal circumstances. Shuddering as the memories of the childhood he had wished to never remember thrust themselves into his mind, the red haired wild child simply rose to a sitting position in order to try and process his own depraved memories. Breathing in slightly, the memories washed into his mind again through this conduit and lit up his synapses like fireworks.

He saw himself as a small child, watching as his father stared down at him with a hot glare. "You should be better than this. Every one of your siblings has gone and done something, but you are too stupid and too lazy to do a damn thing, you stupid brat. YOUR MOTHER EVEN HAD TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE WHEN YOU DECIDED TO JUST RUN ACROSS THE STREET WITHOUT CARE!!!" His father roared out with hatred, gripping the small Reno by his throat before throwing him to the ground and watching as the small red head simply quivered as he curled up into a ball. "You worthless piece of humanoid drek, you made her die and all you can do is sit there and cry like the waste of space you are. Hell, if it weren't for you, I might still be able to live like I used to. Instead, I have to deal with you, the little leech who is draining everything I have." The ranting continued as the copper haired man brought out a staff that he snapped to length as he looked down to the his genes in action. Scoffing at the pitiable nature his son was currently in before smashing the poor boy once across the chest, the older man drew out his trusty pistol before aiming it towards the red haired child.

Psychic Master Mission 2

The First Celestial Plane

Staring onward at the screen sitting before him, Reno was monitoring the trio who had dispatched themselves after the strange areas of interest that had been attributed to the Psychic channeler. His staying behind he attributed due to being more able to analyze any data involving psychic chi and certainly not because he was worried that only having his mind opened from his initial training had left him extremely vulnerable until he trained better. Sighing as that damned niggling bit of self doubt peeked its head out once again to annoy him into submission, Reno instead turned to the new data offered by GRAY. The data offered him nothing of interest beyond a strange sequence of letters that almost just…appeared on the screen before him. Turning to the mouse and attempting to highlight the section in order to start decoding the meaning, the mouse simply spread the typical box and did not even touch the sequence of letters sitting in front of the red haired man’s eyes. Sighing with a small amount of disdain to the stupid thing not obeying what he had attempted to do, Reno instead picked up a pen and a piece of paper to write down the letters. Placing the pen onto the desk in front of him after writing down the odd assortment of letters, Reno examined the strange pattern before identifying the one stand out fact. “This weird puzzle has three of each letter of the alphabet except for, coincidentally, three. Now then, what words can I make with what I have here?” The red haired man muttered to himself, tapping the pen on the paper before writing down the only word he could form with what was available.

Staring at the word with a soundless confusion before finally voicing the word he had concocted, Reno’s speechless confusion at his creation was finally voiced. “….Yawa?” Reno’s exasperated voice finally vocalized, a slight twitch at the edge of his mouth as he tried to comprehend this oddity. “Did someone try ta call me a Jawa and fail at spelling? Did….did someone send me a message that only makes sense in the future? Is this the sign that I should finally go with that insane idea ta invent space and time travel ta find new worlds?” Glancing up the page in his joy at finally having the sign to send a Brit through time and space, Reno quickly found a slightly dream crushing revelation waiting in the letter swarm. “Hell’s bells, my dream is crushed once again. How in the bloody hell did I put a W insteada M? Okay, let’s see our possible words again…Yama? Like that guardian ta hell in one a those religions that is goin’ around? Am I going ta hell? I’m too pretty to die!!…..Wait, it also spells Maya. I made this way too complicated didn’t I?” Having gone full circle through his strange thought processes that jumped from worst to best case scenario, Reno finally drew out the magatama he now had hung around his neck.

Tapping it a few times before realizing that he needed to focus on it. Bringing said object into mental focus and passively channeling psychic chi into the object, a hazy image would appear in the room before focusing into Maya’s form. Heaving a sigh of relief at the usual parody of the person coming into focus in an embarrassing situation being subverted, Reno raised his hand for her to notice. Maya peered at the raised hand with an odd look before giving a small laugh and pointing to the red haired hero. Answering the unspoken acknowledgement, Reno offered up, “Why are you trying ta contact me?” Blinking once before deciding to answer, the short apparition poked Reno on the nose. “What do ya think? It’s time for you to learn to do some of the actual lessons instead of just opening up your mind.” The childish voice of the master offered up, a sharp contrast to her previous seriousness.

Looking at his teacher with the squinting eye of deduction, he soon reached the conclusion that he had not snapped in the middle of the day. “Why are you so bloody giddy now? You acted so serious at our first encounter. I’m very confused right now, Maya.” Reno’s mumbling would just be a continuation of his confusion from earlier, a theme for today it seemed. A slight snicker would echo out throughout the room from the speakers mounted around the area, GRAY obviously listening and enjoying the confusion that Reno was currently experiencing.

Looking to Reno before once again poking him in the nose, the strangely childish mystic master gave a mischievous smile before deciding to answer. “Well, Reno, maybe I was just trying ta make sure you were able to stand up to everything after that odd experience you had in the maze. I mean, no one has ever reacted like that before and I had to be sure you were still all together in your head there. Heck, I’ve seen people die from that part of the opening training. I had to keep distant or else, who knows, you might have accidentally zapped me with uncontrolled power.” The spiritual projection calmly and happily blurted out with a small giggle, Reno’s reaction not being quite so happy or idyllic with how it was worded to him. The laughter grew in volume at this as GRAY was almost mocking Reno with how clueless he was when he went into this crazy plot. Twitching in fear at how close he had come to committing mental suicide, Reno just simply fell to the ground before staring up for a moment.

Looking up at Maya with a glare, he muttered, “How is it I can flirt so close to disaster and be blind to the fact until someone reminds me how stupid those ideas were?” Shaking on the ground, a small pressure began to poke at his mind until it pushed the minor breakdown into a more passive state. Having finished with her minor manipulation of Reno’s mind through the link created by the magatama in his hand, Maya simply awaited for Reno to rise once again in order to give some more pertinent instructions. His rise from the ground was much more slowly than usual, as he shivered somewhat over the residual feelings from his mental breakdown. Shaking out the final cobwebs of his breakdown, the red haired teen finally focused back in on his teacher.

Not giving him a chance to ask the obvious question on his lips, Maya cut in once he stood up. “I need you to return to the cave upon Mirage Island in order for me to instruct you properly on how to meditate. Or you could try it yourself here and see if you can manage to access the recesses of your mind. But you’ll end up at the cave either way.” The concise words were accented by the almost innocent smile she added at the end, which promised no other possibility beyond the listed. This was Reno however, and he was not to listen to his teacher this time.

“Thanks fer the offer but I’ll try myself. It’s never hurt me before when I try this stuff myself so it certainly can work here.” Reno’s cocky, almost insanely so, attitude shone through much unlike his typical observant nature. It would seem his necessity to show himself as capable in front of women decided to rear it’s chauvinistic head once again. One would think that things like the Beartic assault or the last adventure into the center of his mind. Maya would take notice of this and give a small huff before putting a somewhat grumpy looking face.
“You stupid, pig headed student of mine. Fine, you can try to enter your mind yourself but when you fail, you’d better be prepared for a long trek to the cave where we met. I could’ve taught you here but you ruined the moment.” Maya backhandedly replied, fading into nothingness before his eyes as GRAY resumed laughing.

“Well, I’m glad you were so smooth with her, you red headed dolt. Let’s hope you two lovebirds can reconcile before it…accidentally slips to an unknown tabloid that might end up shipped to our front door.” GRAY casually threatened, a slight chuckle following the words to help with the required sinister emphasis. Reno’s response was to randomly flick switches on the board in front of him until GRAY was given a metaphysical jolt out of his metaphorical chair. “That threat didn’t involve the words monkey, primitive or anything that demeaning. Why are you so laid back now, GRAY?” Reno’s question was quickly met by a buzz of static until his SNAG ‘randomly’ gave him a free electrocution and a dosage of twitching.

Content he had managed to hit a slight nerve with his last words, Reno exited the room to head to his own for preparation. Snapping his fingers as he entered, his Poliwag snapped to life and waddled over for him to give a small hub. He might not use the little guy for much in the way of attacking or training, but he liked having the little guy around for cute company and an assistant around his inventions. Her partner in crime soon sidled over, Hook hauling along a medium sized (for his gigantic claw) cannon barrel that had one wheel attached. Picking up the other wheel off of his now expanded room, he quickly had it positioned, screwed back and bolted on for good measure. Gesturing for Hook to place the party cannon on the ground, he admired the oddity for a moment before wheeling it to the side so that would be able to use the center of the room. Grabbing a few candles from one of the multitude of drawers that littered this new room, the crimson haired criminal set them up in a pentagon style shape before lighting the wicks and allowing the slight scent of smoke to waft throughout the room. Nereus and Hook visibly grew somewhat tense, having been picked to be lab assistants partly due to their ability to sling water around at a moment’s notice to prevent any more giant fireballs from igniting their master. Thankfully, they only remained alert instead of spraying Reno down and ruining the next moment of his training.

Crouching down in the center of the pentagon to ensure the candles were in the correct places, Reno gave a small nod of contentment as he now went onto his knees. Bringing his hands together like he would for a normal bow, he began to breath more slowly with his mind becoming more active as his heartbeat slowed. A small amount of power began to build up at his center, a pool that was slowly concentrating itself to empower his dive into his mind. As the power continued it’s build up, Reno slowly rose off the floor due to the sheer power almost repulsing everything nearby. The candle flames would shift from a normal red to a much more intense blue as they seemed to absorb the power that flowed from the one who lit them. Feeling a peak reached in the built up power he was containing now, his focus shifted from holding it together and instead envisioning what exactly he thought of his mind, an ornate door that seemed to have an odd design around it. Directing his power to breaching the door, Reno felt his consciousness slipping inside… Before a loud yell at pint blank of, “Reno!!!”, broke his focus and sent him plummeting to the floor. Bouncing off the floor as his control over the pent up energy was also broken, a wave of Celestial chi visibly flew away from him, making the tools and objects react within the room as expected. Klaxon horns sounded off the extreme chi release in an he had designated a no-chi zone, the objects on tables lifted off and flew backwards into the walls. But the worst reactions occurred from the hoverboards Reno had laying around for his attempted upgrades and the party cannon, all of which decided to trigger in unison. Snapping into a roll away from the projectile shrapnel called candy that fired like grapeshot from the cannon, Reno soon found himself diving and, after a few flips, being dragged around by the rocket powered hover vehicles. The next events to occur were a loud series of explosions and torrents of water flying around the room performing cleanup of the resultant fire. Watching this whole breakdown of a serene environment was Leslie, blonde hair once again adorning her head.

Swimming up to Leslie’s position as the water crew now set to taking away the water, Reno simply glared at the blonde haired girl before flicking her nose and tickling her belly. The response from the little girl was to recoil and begin to giggle even louder as she did her best to control herself at the moment. It was thanks to the people and the mass chaos nobody noticed the now dying glow from the magatama that Reno kept tied on a string. Content with the tickle torture as revenge for breaking his concentration, Reno began to collect the tools back into their regular positions, remaining silent for the moment. Leslie, whoever, did not understand this idea at the moment. “So, Reno, what were you doing floating off the ground that caused so much damage? Because it looks cool and I wanna try it now!!” She blurted out, almost vibrating as she stood near her surrogate father and did her best to collect some of the tools around the room.

Looking down at his protege, Reno gave a somewhat cold glare before answering, “You don’t want this kind of power, Leslie. It is harsh, brutal and takes your very soul and morphs it in order to make you more fit to do it. And you bloody aren’t following me down this path!! Especially after what just happened!!” The sudden outburst of pure aggression and anger directed towards her would cause Leslie’s lip to begin quivering, as tears welled up in her eyes as she got yelled at over something she saw as innocent.

“Yeah, well, I think maybe you shouldn’t yell at me so much!! I just wanted to do the cool things you do but you just can’t let me hold any dreams right now, can you!?!?!! So go the hell away and leave me alone if this is so dangerous, I did well on my own while you were moping and Kairi was gone!!!” Leslie retorted, her yells somehow managing to be louder than Reno’s outburst, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fled the room to go hide herself away.

Sighing in regret as Leslie fled from him and the uncontrolled little outburst he just had, Reno simply looked to the magatama before passively channelling celestial chi into in order to get a distraction from his sorrow. Maya would appear without another thought, her form seeming more…put together and concrete than the last time he had contacted her. “Maya…I need your help. I’ll be over to the island in a minute….Wait, if you exist in my head, why do I need the Betyl stone?” Reno questioned, hoping the answer would distract him from the damage he had just caused today.

Maya examined the damage that had been prevalent in the room even with the clean up work done by Reno and Leslie. Sighing at the realization that her student had gotten close and had fallen, which explained the major power boost she had gained so recently from their connection. Deciding that her analysis of her student’s current situation was in depth enough for now, she opened her mouth in order to grace Reno with her profound knowledge.”Ehh…..I forgot how things would work after I woke up fully. Heck, I even managed to find a body to occupy that was empty.” She giddily and somewhat sheepishly replied, her hand reached back to her little bound up area of hair to adjust it in an effort to look more concentrated. What she succeeded in doing was telling Reno directly that she was nowhere near as put together as one might consider a master of their art. Giving a sigh, he gave a small wave to her before closing the connection between them.

Examining the room and mentally blocking the pain he now associated with this mess, he began to pick and choose his Pokemon to keep on hand. He had a feeling that this bout with her might have some different results, so it was best to be prepared. Grabbing Harleen’s Pokeball without a second thought, he grabbed Spike, Kaiden and Ezekiel’s Pokeballs next as he hoped they might train some if his caution was not proven true. Looking between Tsuki and Snips for his choice of someone more experienced to haul along, he plucked the Grass type’s Pokeball and looked to the last one he would not leave without. Placing Tesei at his designated spot up Reno’s sleeve, our aforementioned man debated following Leslie. Sighing again with more regret, he came to the conclusion that he would let her let off steam before going that route.
Clicking open Kaiden’s Pokeball in order to get a quicker route there, he requested the teleport and soon found himself in the center of the island. Releasing his other Pokemon, he directed all of them except for Harleen and Tesei to get to work on training or whatever they wished on the island. The random smattering of first evolution Pokemon rushed into the Wynaut littered forests before Snips slowly walked behind them with his body adapting to the odd makeup of the island’s foliage. “This decision may make or break my day, I just feel it.” Reno muttered as he watched after them, his eyes somewhat unfocused as he looked onward. Snapping himself back to Tesei and Harleen with the assistance of repeated smacks by floppy ears, he began to walk for where he intuitively knew the location laid now. Climbing down to the out of the way area, he quickly identified one thing that was not like the others.

That thing was a short, 20 something year old body that lead to a distinct distraction due to how attractive it was. How or why she had managed to locate a body so much like her was a mystery, but he had to give Maya one thing: she had style. Slowly descending into the confines of the cave, he was soon lost into an illusion of a beautiful scenery that brought to mind something oddly…familiar. Brushing that away for the moment, he gave a soft cough before announcing himself. “Hey there, Maya. I’m here ta learn from ya what exactly you consider meditation and hopefully allow me to enter my mind. Although I still don’t get why I need ta do that..” Reno mumbled behind her, his words losing focus with him as she turned and revealed how serene and beautiful she was up close.

Maya’s response to his reaction was a soft little laugh and a coy smile as she pretended to not notice. Walking slowly to Reno and giving him another poke in the arm, she gave the answers he sought. “Well, since you are attempting to meditate, I felt I should show you a stronger version that allows for better control and decreased charge time, along with telling you that you need your Wynaut there along for this to work. But the main thing I want to discuss is what you are going to be doing in your mind. There are celestial planes within the mind that you must conquer in order to aid your concentration and allow for more diverse uses of your power. The first plane you conquer will be Naraka, better known as hell. Within it’s confines, you must find what it is that gives you hope and save it. But be warned, the plane shall be populated by Bronzors that shall reflect your own dark memories. Are you prepared?” Maya’s grew serious once again as she explained the steps that awaited Reno for his path to becoming a Psychic channeler.

Giving a small nod to Maya, Reno simply sat down in front of her and gestured Harleen over, leaving Tesei to guard the cave and their bodies. The Wynaut placed itself on top of Reno’s head as they awaited the explanation. “Well, beyond what you were doing, you need to sit cross legged, draw a circle with chalk, release a little blood and then begin your regiment you attempted.” Maya explained, amazed at the few points she had to bring up. Reno, having learned about meditation from TV and books, was amazed at how close that stupid plan had been to the truth. Drawing the circle with a few scraps sitting in his bag, Reno sat in the center with Harleen still keeping position on his head. Biting down on his thumb until the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth, the suit wearing man let the drops of blood fall to the ground. A feeling of being closed off from the outside interference washed over him and allowed him to already focus more easily without any conscious thought.
Placing his legs so that they were crossed over each other and supported themselves, Reno brought his hands together palm to palm. On his head, Harleen attempted something similar with her ears in an effort to try to resemble Reno’s stance. The pair would begin to breathe deeply and gather up celestial chi, this time with the chi that had spread out and caused Reno’s minor flight along with altering the candle color reflecting back into their source. Absorbing the increased out wash of energy allowed the well within them to swiftly fill for the next stage. Envisioning the door once more mentally, Reno and Harleen both began to allow their celestial chi to flow to this idea. But having learned something from the brute force backlash, Reno forced the channel to flow exclusively at the keyhole. And the pair felt as their chi filtered through, so did their minds with little effort. Their bodies in the normal world began to go limp before fully collapsing in the circle that been sealed.

Looking at the success achieved here, Maya began to scratch her chin as she pondered something. “…Was I right to believe the memory thing blew away the demon that might be there or am I sending my current student blindly to his death? Eh, I’m sure he’ll survive not knowing what might happen to him.” Having brushed off the thought that Reno wouldn’t discover how deadly this training could be, Maya prepared herself for a nice nap.
————————————————————————————————————————
Snapping his eyes open as he felt a new sensation on his skin, Reno found himself examining a much different world than he had seen near Maya. Craters were scattered across the earth like it had been bombed, with fires still burning brightly near them alongside what looked like shattered remains of children’s toys and marble pillars. The horizon was illuminated not by a sun but massive fires that surrounded this strange place, with ruined buildings and a sinister looking mountain that was coated in flames in the middle of the place. The moon hung far above them with a pair of eyes staring down and almost illuminating the area around Reno. An all encompassing dust cloud consumed the sky, blotting out any possibility of seeing if there were any stars in this strange world. Pedestals that looked to originally contain statues were broken into hunks of rock, the statue reduced to slivers of concrete.

The most noticeable thing wasn’t a tangible object, but the aura of the area that permeated like thick mist. It was a corrupting aura of pure aggression, of burning anger hotter than the flames around, of depression and sadness strong enough to debilitate you into a vegetative state with barely the capacity to even weep, of loneliness that echoed with the hollow noise one senses when they have no one, and of regret that would bring most men to confess all their sins before the people of their town. These feelings did not come in like a sequence or light build-up, they can came in one brutal blast that would wipe away the average person in the tidal wave of pure, conflicting emotions. And even Reno, used to the intense self loathing and regret he felt within himself every day he walked around, felt the emotional outwash nearly knock him to his knees with how overpowering and omnipresent the atmosphere was in this place. Breathing deeply as he attempted to resist the attempted takeover of his body by intense emotions, the tears that had been held back since he first confronted Leslie slipped out of his eyes and stained the ground.

Their impact was nothing special physically, but the entire setting almost rippled on a spiritual level as the intense emotional release hit the area. The regret those tears had emphasized behind them made the sky stop for a moment, the swirling cloud of dust opening slightly to allow a view of strangely colored stars in the sky above that seemed…focused on Reno. But this strange focus would go unnoticed to Reno, who was slowly rising from the ground in order to examine the area better. Giving his head a slight tilt, he felt Harleen slowly slipping towards his right hand, so with a quick switch of which way his head was tilted, he sent the little Pokemon tumbling directly into his left hand. Placing her back on top of his head as he pondered why exactly she seemed so put together versus what happened to him when he first entered. Looking away from his partner in this realm, he began to notice new oddities were coming to life, almost like automatons to play for their new guest. The first set was familiar to Reno, having just regained the memory of the events that would likely be depicted. Feeling the tension of having to activate this to find hope was driving his breathing up, the bullheaded thief simply sat down and watched as the two facsimiles came to life and began to re-enact the events that he had seen first person the last time he had been forced into his mind. Hearing the shot go off again with stereo hearing like he had the first time, he felt a small tension build up as he remembered the fear after that moment. But why had he done that again? It had caused so much regret, made the pains in his life come screaming into focus and sent him into the life of a pauper that had only been slightly brightened by the meeting with Kairi.

This realm was affecting his thought processes, Reno soon concluded, altering his perceptions to only the negatives aspects of each memory in an effort to hold him still. But even with this realization, his heart would not cooperate with his mind and began to grow more down trodden, once again forcing the dust to slow slightly and allow the stars to show hazily through the all consuming dust. But the one thing eh did not notice swiftly was the dead body of his father rising from the earth and rushing his son, clawing at the red head’s throat with feral glee and reckless abandon. Panicking suddenly at the assault by what he had perceived as a dead and finished vision, Reno’s only defense was to throw his hands in front of his throat and allow deep gashes to manifest on them from the claw-like nails that were slashing into him. Unable to find an opening in this onslaught of cuts and flying blood, Reno watched as his arms began to glow pink. Suddenly, the entire world entered slow motion for a second and allowed Reno to see a small opening in his father’s stance. Quickly ducking and swinging upward with a drop kick, a loud thud echoed out as the shoe firmly planted itself between the legs and sent the man soaring. Blinking slightly over how the hell he had gained such strange insight to the pattern and that weird slow motion effect, he found the answer sitting on his head with an odd grin on her face.

Instead of using Counter the traditional way, the little Wynaut decided to use the new connections he felt with her trainer to give him the insight on what he could do to countering on the weird scratching dude. He seemed to get it but the way he had done it rather than just repulse with the glowing on his arms was odd to her since it was all she needed nine times out of ten. Shaking her head out of the odd little thoughtful tangent, she resumed her thoughts about how funny a lot of the pokemon were. Back into the mind of Reno, he had continued to walk forward to the next little automaton arrangement after he stomped his foot clear through the fake dad figure and forced it to dissolve into slime. But even with who it was he felt even more regret over having to willingly kill something and anger by the fact this place was forcing him to reach no other possibility. Attempting to suppress these feelings in an effort to keep the realm from controlling him, Reno found this next set of automatons to be of him and Kairi from back, right before he had been taken.

The show began without a hitch, the two slowly beginning to interact with each other. “Kairi, I’m sure one of those men we saw had a lotta money with him and he didn’t even guard his wallet or nothin’. I think if I tried to grab it, we could run off and maybe get a decent meal and a bed even. We would be able to have all of us here able to eat for even a day and survive a little longer.” The tiny boy blurted out, a mad smile that seemed almost giddy with anticipation crossing his face as he finished his plan. The little girl sitting across from him simply planted a hand square in her forehead before groaning in anticipatory pain. “Reno, the last time you went with a plan like this, your tongue had grip from how far the boot used to kick your butt was shoved up.” The more planning and cynical of the pair voiced, two golden eyes shining brightly enough to illuminate the area.

The logic and reason of this idea would fly right past the red head’s ear as he had already planned where he was getting food. “Nah, Kairi. I know what I’m doing and I’ll be back for you can miss me.” Reno mouthed off with before walking off in a flash of optimism and…some other thing that was currently not remembered. The Kairi automaton simply faded away as a trio of gangsters now formed, little Reno sneaking behind them and snatching the wallet in the most ham fisted manner possible: while there was pressure on the area and the mans skin was against the fabric. Swiftly having his wrist snatched by the man who he had tried to pickpocket, little Reno soon found himself handed off to one of the others and rushed away to parts unknown. The vignette memory completed, the two gangsters drew twin Tommy guns from within their coats, twisted on the spot and aimed directly for the much larger Reno. Pulling the triggers in unison, a hail of bullets ripped through the air towards their target, intent on shredding him to a bloody pulp. The shock and realization over how optimistic he had left Kairi when he did leave had overpowered him for that moment, allowing a few of the bullets to find their mark and send Reno stumbling backwards slightly with each impact. Drawing in a slow breath as the torrent of steel continued to pierce and rip shreds out of his body, the crimson crowned criminal found that he could almost hear the whistle of the bullets and tell how close they were from it. Daring to attempt at keeping his cool head and run for cover, Reno quickly sprung himself into a roll forward that he swiftly halted. The pounding bullets followed along with Reno before the sudden stop sent them flying slightly wider than predicted with their aim.

Drawing Harleen into his hand for his next move, he rushed from the sudden stop towards the gunmen, Wynaut drawn in front of him like a shield. Aforementioned gunmen, having adjusted their aim to match the swiftly closing target, opened fire once again. Only instead of bullets slicing through Reno’s body, they banked off of some strange field in front of him and ricocheted into the ground nearby, or occasionally, slid along and drilled themselves into Reno anyways without the advantage of a clean through and through. Reaching the gunmen after the fifth or sixth bullet to plant itself on target despite the shield, our hero swiftly planted his foot into the side of the first Tommy gun, sending it flying to point towards the second man and fill him with ammunition that had been intended for Reno. The man would simply collapse into a pile of goo like the false father had previously. The second man would get no time to react to this new development as he was busy dealing with Reno’s other foot planting itself into the side of his face. Stumbling away from the impact, the gangster brought the gun to bear just before his feet were swept out from underneath him. Firing wildly into the air and having a few pings sound off into the darkness, the less morally aligned criminal was soon silenced by a nearby rock, an explosion of goo from the impact coating Reno’s face and jacket.

Falling back from the fight with a sharp inhale, Reno looked to the piercing bullet holes, the scratches on his arms and the other wounds on his body. The scratches were not as bad as they could have been had there been less material between his forearm and the assault, although as the man devolved and grew true claws they dug much deeper. The bullet wounds were smaller than expected and even the ones trapped inside did not seem to bleed, although they certainly hurt like nothing else. “This whole event is pointless…there are too many demons and I haven’t even seen the Bronzors that were supposed to attack me yet….Even these wounds that don’t bleed show me how close my mind is to destroying itself over this….But I will try to see at least how far I can go from here…Even if it only to make sure my mind fully destroys itself.” Reno’s somber voice echoed out as he remained on his knees, eyes focused squarely on the ground instead of anything around him. Harleen would pat the back of her master’s head, hoping the motion might at least help him become a little more stable. The light shone on the area enough to illuminate the next set of figures, along with silhouettes further down the path.

The set of figures that sat before him had a set to go with their memory representation, of a mansion on fire and littered with holes. The figures that sat before it were the man whose mind this was taking place within and a massive Tyranitar that seemed almost…feral rather than captured. But the look upon its commander’s face was the more horrifying with the sheer amount of glee he was receiving from the desecration of the mansion and the mutilation he was causing his former captors. Having allowed for the examination to occur in order for a greater pain to set into Reno, the two began their own little replication of the events preceding Reno being drafted into Snagem. A loud roar would pierce the air as the Tyranitar raised its head to the sky, a ball of energy forming in front of its open mouth. An evil, deep and intimidating laughter ripped out as the Reno of the past saw the newly formed Hyper Beam being prepared for more demolition. Lowering its head to aim for the huge target before it, Tyranitar’s Hyper Beam sliced through the air, vaporizing the materials between it and the open sky through the wooden construct. What remained was falling pieces of shrapnel, collapsing walls, and screaming men who had been in the way of the beam’s path.

Hearing and seeing all of that, Reno in the past let out another of those sinister laughs that just drove the present day hero further in a combination of self loathing and regret. “C’mon Tyranitar, rip them, shred them, mutilate the bastards who decided they could trap me!!! Wipe them off the map for what they’ve done!!!” The almost inhuman roar that came out of Reno’s mouth was punctuated with a toothy, smug grin as he reveled in the pain he was causing. Directing the Tyranitar to fire once again, this time for one of the main building supports, the bloodlust in the area spiked above the other emotions in the area. The true article felt this spike deeply within his own emotions, drawing out his bo staff and snapping it to length before swinging away at the false apparition. Instead of the implied splattering of the Reno that had been hit, it stumbled from the blow into the sands beneath their feet. The rest of the scene that had been playing out, however, collapsed into the ectoplasm that seemed to constitute them. However, the first swing was not the last or even most violent swing he took in the next few seconds, having proceeded to smash left and right at his own image’s face and leave deep, bloody welts on each side of its face.

The clone’s reaction was not to simply roll out of the way, but it instead, grabbing the scything pole mid-motion, swing himself around it and landed himself like an acrobat, the heels of both feet planted firmly in Reno’s skull. Leaping from his perch, the clone gave another of those insane and evil laughs while Reno collapsed like a ragdoll. “Looks like she forgot to warn you. I’m the manifestation of every one of your dark emotions. I am….THE DEMON!!!” With the over-dramatic announcement, the demon shifted forms to a much more sinister one, with long nails like claws, eyes that pierced the soul, skin covered in black flame patterns with a tail growing form his back. Rushing across the shadow-coated ground, the demon swiftly relocated Reno in the brightening area with a pair of demonically clawed feet. The red head, having barely recovered from the sudden impact on the head, was sent through the grinding sand that was almost prepared in order to strip skin off a body. Sliding onto his feet, Reno glared at the demonic being with hatred intense enough to ignite the air as he charged forward once again, bringing the staff crashing into….the demon’s hand. Hoping being so close would allow for a different hit, the red haired combatant kicked the base of the staff and sent the bottom end smashing into the demon’s ankle. Although he had attempted to block the move, the close proximity prevented any true defense against it. The sudden pain forced the man to roar in pain, the sudden distraction preventing the focus and letting the rage fill the demon now.

Harleen, having held on for the ride since the first few impacts, smacked Reno in the ear before directing his attention to the shift in look for the demon. Reno glared at his Wynaut and his opponent, content to ignore the odd motion for the moment as he rushed forward once again, clashing staff to claw as the two forces attempted to outpace each other. But, as Reno noticed, none of the quick blocks ever came as their moves clashed, none of the skillful grabs that seemed almost predictive of his moves. What had changed from their last clash of physical prowess and this new strife? It wasn’t the way he was hitting, hell, the only thing different was the fact he looked pissed off. This sudden realization snapped Reno’s attention to his own bouts with that sort of odd omniscience that had allowed the bullet dive and his guard dropping crotch shot. He hasn’t been driven by pure emotion, he had been calm and attempting to simply figure his way out. But in this realm, it was so hard to release this burning, all consuming hatred that ignited his motions currently.

Breathing in deeply as he attempted to focus on balancing the intense anger he felt, Reno snapped to attention as he stared down the demon before him. Charging forward with a slightly more balanced mind and the feeling of some unity with Harleen, his entire arms began to glow with celestial chi. Watching the claws slice forward, Reno shoved an arm into the fingers just past the claws, slid under a lash with the tail and got nicked by the other hand as he drew close and smashed his boots square into the demons face. The recoil sent it flying straight towards the next vignette and triggering it prematurely, smashing into the pair of people and sending the Sub clone into the flames and the third Reno clone into the conglomerate demon. Leaving the small rock that fell to the ground alone, the demon turned to face Reno with a sinister grin as the small wounds that had been inflicted erased themselves from the demons skin. “Unlike you, as long as one of the constructs that looks like you, I can keep this up.” The demon taunted before burn marks and shrapnel damage appeared to replace what had been healed. Screaming inhumanly at the sudden and jarring pain, Reno gave a small smirk as the explosive hoverboard that got trapped finally showed its true colors. Deciding to take advantage of this opening, Reno dove forward and pole vaulted with his staff into another two footed kick into the demon. But instead of flying back into the final vignette, it held ground and grabbed Reno’s leg, sending him flying into one of the ruined buildings and shattering the concrete.

Collapsing against the wall, Reno watched as the demon flew forward again, using its tail to propel itself faster for a charge to smash clear through Reno. His response? Fall to the ground with a grunt as he tried to recover from the intense pain that had been caused from the impact. Having dealt with Reno’s luck before the demon kept the charge up and aimed to step on Reno without a second thought. An admirable plan, if it weren’t for Harleen, fed up with this give and take, hopping up and glowing pink beneath the stomping foot. The stomping foot swiftly thrown back in order to ensure a face first impact with the walk, a few building supports and the rest of the building as it collapsed to the earth like plane on top of their opponent. Heaving a sigh of relief and letting out a hacking cough from the concrete dust, Reno once again felt regret over having to eliminate a part of him. Maybe if he hadn’t chosen to simply fight, the darkness would have remained and they could have co-existed. Instead, all that remained would be the broken remains of the building and this hellish realm without representation that could be reasoned with. Breathing a deep, depressed breath as he stared at the shadow-less ground beneath his feet, Reno felt his control slipping willingly as he began to dig through his bag and grab the vines he kept on hand. Forming a hangman’s noose with the one end and placing the other beneath the largest piece of rubble nearby, he slung the noose over the last remaining bit of statuary in the realm, a statue of a scarred woman standing defiant. Nodding in anticipation for the fitting irony of where he would die, Reno looked to the lack of shadows at his feet and the illuminated ground ahead, almost daring himself to feel less regretful and useless with what he had done lately. Placing the noose around his neck and preparing to end it, Reno moved forward…

Psychotic Disasters 3

Walking into the laboratory that he had occupied within the facility in Kalos, Reno placed his six Pokemon from his Gym challenge down into a small holder. Examining the Pokeball he knew contained Ezekiel, he gave a small rub on the top of the ball before giving a small smile. “I dunno what she did ta you, buddy. But I hope after this and takin' you along to the tower, we might be back ta normal.” Reno muttered, looking over to where the magatama necklace was currently hanging and the small note attached to it. Reading the note and remembering what he had intended to ask Maya about Takashi's actions, he began to attempt his own examination of words for answers. Unable to reach any conclusions due to his own emotional distress , Reno scratched his chin in an attempt to think of possibilities before having to ask his master to no effect.

Deciding he had waited long enough before his demands for answers overrode his normal thought processes, Reno looked down to the magatama hanging around his neck and simply focused on the object, allowing Psychic energy to simply flow into the implement passively. Remembering back to the battle, this strange focus came from what one would assume a casually launched insult over him and Takashi attempting to become Psychic masters. A knowledge of the man, from the duel and their interactions, told Reno otherwise. Takashi would insult everything about him, but a backhanded insult wasn't his style, not in that situation. But could it really be true? This conversation would hopefully enlighten Reno to the truth of the matter.
An image buzzed to life, the black haired girl with her ornate looking hair giving a small bow to her caller before seeing who it was. "Oh, hi Reno. You calling for something or did you finally recover from your last round of training enough to move on?" She questioned, a gleeful smile and innocent look in her eyes as she awaited an answer. Her usual purple ornate robes clothed her body, with her own personal magatama hanging like a necklace.

Shutting his eyes for a moment before speaking up again, Reno made sure to articulate this question as smoothly as possible. "Mind tellin' me what the bloody hell that fiasco with Takashi was all about? 'Cause he called me brother, and I sure as hell know he wouldn't try that fer laughs. I want ta know why the hell he called me that, and how the hell he found the island if I was so special to get attention only after exposin' my mind to some space parasite thing.” Reno demanded, staring down the apparition with fierce determination in his pursuit of real answers. A feeling in the back of his skull shot up to give him some sort of insight to what he was asking, but the pure emotion dominated the red haired man's mentality and prevented stupid things like logic and reason interfere.

Looking to her hot headed student with her own glare, she drew in a short, curt breath before deeming to answer Reno. “Why are you ordering me around like I'm some little kid!? You should show more respect and actually ask me like I'm not an escaped fugitive you caught over the fence!! Then I wouldn't get into these stupid fights with you!!” Maya shouted back, the apparition growing noticeably larger as Maya's rage pumped more energy into the connection.
Reno stared her down before deciding his next well intended move. "Oh, cry me a damn river!! You were the one who played us both ta battle each other. So why did I have ta fight him and why the hell did he call me brother!? Answer me!!" Reno shouted, slamming his hands down onto one of the counters that littered his lab. A figure was attracted to this sudden noise, quietly monitoring the scene from the hall and wishing she could offer some form of help.

Jarred by the sudden violent reaction by her student, coupled with the pointed accusations, Maya's projection shrank down to normal size and grew smaller still as she began to stare downward. "What makes you think I did something like that? Why would I just force a conflict between two people if I can just as easily have let you go without it." Maya muttered, playing with her personal magatama as she awaited whatever incoherent reasoning Reno brought to the table. "Because, if Tesei had been taken down by Takashi and his Pokemon, there would have been many more down before I got there than just his Weezing. Tesei was taken quickly and decisively, but without much more than superficial exterior damage. Now, I don't know you but a mental strike wouldn't be outside the powers of a Master Psychic. So, why don't you come clear and tell me what the hell you are tryin' ta have happen?" Reno carefully enunciated, the cold logic now shining through what would normally be called chaotic rage and insane logic. His eyes narrowed at Maya as he prepared for what might happen next. Giving a small bow to Reno before showing the slightest hint of a knowing smile, Maya gave her counter. "I can't argue with that surprisingly accurate logic. So I was the one who instigated you two dueling on my island. But who says I have to give up all my information? Why don't you try and figure it out since you've gotten this far. It's a good way to get your mind working." Her almost taunting tone did not seem to be antagonistic, but...helpful?

Giving a small growl in response, Reno began to mentally debate why exactly he had been brought into a fight with Takashi, especially after he had failed the test to become her student. While it wasn't insane to say that maybe they had competed over becoming or remaining Maya's student, but in that case why had she disappeared rather than watch the match more openly? Hell, he had just come from a place loaded with rage and a demon that probably could have taken over without issue... As Reno's thoughts hit this new idea, the reason for the whole duel against an already failed student that he hated to some degree made sense. "You made me fight Takashi to prove that I had truly learned the control over my emotions necessary fer this whole crazy stunt. But that still doesn't answer the original question. Why did he call me brother?" Reno reasoned out, scratching his chin as he attempted to reason out the question before Maya could tell him.

Maya gave a small smile at her student before opening her mouth again, prepared to end his attempts to figure it out. "Well, Reno. Guess it might be time to come clean about your whole situation. Your adventure with the Deoxys in the meteorite wasn't what got my attention, but it certainly kickstarted the process. No, what got my interest was the fact that you were the eldest child that was eligible in our bloodline for the training. While we would normally wait for you to grow older before subjecting you to our training, the current situation is very unique and required progress ASAP." The explanation offered enough information to hopefully quell any outbursts from Reno with the intriguing nature of what was presented.

Allowing the words to hang for a moment, Maya decided to continue with her elaboration. "So I created the situation that lead you to where you are currently to supply us with a living male heir, but I also made sure to find any other survivors with our bloodline and contact them. Luckily enough, Takashi turned out to be another of the Fey bloodline and he even had knowledge of the clan. So I also allowed him the chance to become the Psychic master for our clan, but instead of the typical final test after locating me, I decided to tell him to wait for a more interesting test. And that's when I engineered your little duel in an effort to test you both: to see Takashi's conviction to being trained and to test your own control, Reno. Now then, does that clear things up for the minute?" Maya concluded, taking a deep breath in an effort to gain back some semblance of normal breathing.

Unable to initially give a response, Reno found himself standing there in silence for a minute as he allowed this all to sink in. The realization he had surviving family, even a distant relation, was a shocking one, especially with all the odd new revelations that his family had ever existed at all and what had come about to start his situation still lay fresh, with this new information just adding to the pile that was now growing in his mind. "So Takashi called me brother because of some clan relation?" The words finally escaped Reno's lips as the red haired man blinked a few times, something bothering him about that statement that he couldn't articulate but just felt instinctual.

Maya would give a nod to the psychic channeler, giving another impish grin to her student before deciding to speak again. "Well, I guess its time for you to get up and find your way to the island. You need this training, especially given recent events. Hate for something like the reversal of repressed and regular thoughts to occur again, that might look bad for my training." The chastising tone rang out smoothly, a playful smile on the face of the speaker. Choosing this moment to exit the area, she would slowly fade from view until only her mouth was left visible, and that too vanished with a small pop.

Staring at the spot his teacher had previously occupied and pondering the odd method she had used to end their contact, Reno decided it would be simpler for him to not think too deeply on the subject lest his brain become strained. Breathing in deeply before cutting the flow of chi into the magatama that sat in his hand, he placed the small jewel back around his neck and let it fall down beneath his red dress shirt. Letting silence reign for a few moments, Reno broke it with the simple question, "Leslie, get out from behind the door frame please? Wouldn't want anyone ta question what you're doing hidin' outside my lab."

The question hung the air a few moments more before the shuffling of feet sounded, announcing the arrival of the identified eavesdropper. Leslie stood there, simply staring at Reno with a small amount of aggression and her lips scrunched up in an effort to appear more intimidating. Whether she succeeded to overcome her inherent cuteness was debatable, but her words certainly attempted to add to the imposing figure that was supposedly being presented. "You forgot about our deal, Reno. Make good on it or else.” The little blond haired girl threatened, her ponytail bobbing slightly as she attempted to grab onto Reno's shirt and drag him down to her level. She succeeded in grabbing Reno by the hand and lifting herself into midair, not exactly according to plan. Sighing in response, Reno used his free hand to grab a remote off the desk nearby, closing the door remotely.

Looking down to Leslie, he grabbed her by her shoulders and raised her up to his head level, where she proceeded to swing her ponytail around and send it swishing into Reno’s face, something heavy smashing into the man's jaw and sending him stumbling, forcing him to unceremoniously drop Leslie to her waiting feet. Rubbing his jaw on the spot the impact had registered on, the red haired channeler needed a minute to completely understand what exactly had just happened. “Okay, so what the hell was that? I could have sworn you just hit me with hair.” Reno muttered, accent disappearing now to accommodate Leslie's request.

Giving a mischievous smile, Leslie reached back and removed the tie holding her ponytail back, allowing the hair to fall into its usual straight form, with the exception of a small bit that was braided in the back. Hidden in the braid was a shining jade ring that appeared to be fairly heavy for its size. “Aria gave me a present and decided to show me how to make a hidden surprise if anyone ever tried to grab me. Also makes sure you try not to treat me like such a little kid.” Leslie smugly quipped, a self-satisfied look plastered on her face as she did so. Flicking her on the ear, Reno got back to grabbing a few of the things around the lab, holstering a few Pokeballs into his bag before tucking one up his sleeve, as per tradition.

Leslie watched on before finally asking the question she had likely come in initially to ask. “Reno, where are you going? Last time you left, you ended up half dead and I had to drag you around the entirety of Snagem before putting where you wanted to go for revenge. I mean, last time you ended up brain dead and had to be dragged to where you wanted to go.” The quick cover-up would hopefully discourage Reno from pursuing that line of thinking, although the likelihood of him questioning it wouldn't be high due to complete lack of memory of the trip to mission control. “I need to go train more, learn to control my powers better. That way, when I do try to meditate and use the method here I don't explode everything in the lab.” Reno replied, swinging the backpack up onto his shoulders before going for the door. Pressing the switch to open the door, Reno could barely take a step before it slammed shut, courtesy of the remote he had shown off earlier. “Unless I get to come along, no leaving for you.” Leslie growled out, a pouty look on her face as she sat, arms crossed and eyes locked onto Reno's.

Walking over to where Leslie was, the mildly insane red head reached down before tickling the girl's belly and slowly moving the remote away. The plan worked well, as Leslie curled up into a ball and began to cackle uncontrollably before the remote was in Reno's hands and he was back to leaving the room. “Look, Leslie, you would be bored there. Its a dead-end island and I'm gonna be unconscious for most of the time on the island. If you ever get to attempting your own training, you can pull the same thing on me, fair's fair. But I have to go. Bye Leslie.” Reno managed to speak this to the girl he considered his own daughter with compassion and empathy in his voice before he faded away outside of the door, teleporting off to where his training typically took place.

Leslie simply watched Reno leave before getting up and walking out the door, a small smile on her face. “I won't need to do any training like that. Not as long as you're around, Reno.” She softly muttered, feeling a fuzzy warmth spread throughout her body as she did so. Her walk would take her to Aria's room, where she would play with her friend and see what other things she might discover from the unique girl.

---

Materializing upon the island he knew with almost an inborn knowledge of, the red haired student began his typical trek towards the cave where Maya housed herself, Kaiden the Kadabra rushing along beside his trainer in an effort to keep up for defensive purposes. Although it may have been partially because the others had told him stories of this place and it was possible the Wynauts would lose it and attack them with that horrifying assault pattern they had employed against them previously. How a bunch of random blue blobs could commit such treachery and cunning from a very restrictive move list was amazing and terrifying. Perhaps this place could make for a nice off-shore hideout one day. But that would be a very desperate need for the person who would do such a thing.

Slowly drawing close to the entrance of the cave, Reno almost turned into the thing before a random blue object slammed into his side. Glaring at said object, Reno found yet another Wynaut, this one giving the angry eyes. Glaring at the Wynaut before standing up and attempting the same thing again, he soon found himself propelled back again by the thing tackling him. “Okay? Why the hell are ya doin' this?” Reno questioned, staring awkwardly at the Wynaut before making a slight movement towards the cave and watching the blue Pokemon just fly for where he would have ended up in another step. Turning the feint into a sprint, Reno closed on the cave before diving and rolling into the complex, in time to see the fizzling image of a strange woman that seemed familiar to him and Maya saying a goodbye to her. “Reno!! You were supposed to stay outside until I called you in!!” Maya growled at her student, a glare aimed towards him that almost made the air ignite between them.

Placing a foot firmly onto his chest before grabbing Reno by his collar, Maya shook him for a minute before dropping him, letting the smack of his head against the ground be her reward. Walking over to a lounger she had dragged into the cave at some point, Maya awaited Reno's inevitable reaction. The reward came when Reno slowly rose into a sitting position, a heated death glare aimed towards his master and her violence. “I hate yer bloody guts fer that one. Now then, since you're done abusin' me over what ya asked me ta do, can i get an answer or do I need to beat anything else up?” Reno muttered, growling towards Maya as he finally stood up to her laughter. Walking over to her and poking her in the forehead as a counter, Reno looked to where he had sat before and began the process to again create a channeling circle.

“No need for that now, Reno. Since you can exact some control over your Psychic energy and aren't likely to explode the world around you if you do drop out of your stance.” Maya assured him, giving a small giggle as she finally remembered to tell him of that little upgrade. Adding yet another glare of indignation towards his master, Reno simply began to sit cross legged and saw Kaiden watching him. Nodding to the Kadabra, his master would finally realize what he had forgotten this time. Tapping a Pokeball, he soon found Harleen on the ground, once again spinning on her head with a cackle in her strange voice. Shaking his head at his Pokemon's antics, Reno once again looked up to see Maya an inch from his face with a look of intense concentration on her face as she examined some part of Reno.
Backing away slowly from the somewhat scary look, Reno was quick to bring her back to the real world. “Can I please be informed as ta what the hell I'm doin' before I get any more freaked out?” He cautiously piped up with, continuing to back away from the intense glare.

Blinking before returning to relative normality, Maya gave a cheery little giggle. “Well, today is going to be interesting day due simply to how you are. The next realm of your mind, versus your last tour of your mind, is going to be a little more divided and it is not going to end up projecting their representations this time onto your path. This realm of your mind is called Preta and it contains your self-indulgence, selfishness, and amoral decisions made in the pursuit of yourself while also containing every hope to be a better person. You are going to try and find this desire of yours in your mind and then you will be free to leave. And just to make it interesting, your selfishness will look like Drowzees and Hypnos, while the hopes will be Munnas and the greatest of them all will be a Musharna. Now, have fun and try not to accidentally kill yourself this time.” Feeling satisfied with her explanation, Maya simply stood there and waited to see Reno get on with it.

Feeling slightly nervous given the audience he now had for an attempt to meditate and not kill something, Reno cautiously assumed a cross legged sitting position and began to channel his energy. Feeling the somewhat familiar sensation of his soul now viewing his mind, Reno found that instead of simply being thrown into the layer without care, he found himself staring at a much more artistic visualization. Before him sat a large, iron-wrought gate that hung wide open with black, writhing vine-like growths covering the iron. Red eyes coated the vines, staring at Reno with piercing aggression and pure malice, instinctively bringing to mind his first trip into his own mind. Brushing up against this metallic monstrosity, the red haired psychic pulled his arm away from the gate like it had bit him, a small red mark registering onto his skin where he had brushed up against it.

Passing through, Reno found himself staring a gold plated gate with gems encrusted into it, the shape of a crown vaguely visible in the gate's form. Figuring this must be the realm that he had been entrusted to venture through, Reno touched the gate and watched the world fade away like a dream before light began to once again illuminate the area nearby. The view he was treated to was nowhere near the expectation given by the gate, the previous bout of garishness now replaced with decaying trash and sludge that writhed and swirled to some unknown motions. "Well, this isn't what was advertised. Maybe they should put a sign up on the gate, 'Warning: Gate sets expectations that cannot possibly be fulfilled." Reno commented to himself, poking at the slime on the floor in an effort to see its reaction.

Without warning, the world began to quickly shift, attempting to replace the trash surrounding him with the image he had possessed when saw the gate to the realm. Barely even registering the shift, Reno simply let his senses enhance themselves to bypass the illusion on one sensory front and swatted in the direction he sensed the presence. A loud, echoing smack rang out as the attempted illusion collapsed and the source was sent flying away from the red haired psycho, the Drowzee attempting to stand up to make it a real battle. At least, until Reno's dress shoe came down from the sky and smashed into the Drowzee's face, the kick knocking the Paychic type out cold.

Giving a soft chuckle at the failed attempt of illusionary skill, the robed man began his walk through the swampy area, carefully walking past the Munna littering the area as he aimed to find any sort of life that would indicate where the Musharna was. The trek would begin to get monotonous, all sources of life disappearing as this occurred. The monotony would also begin to show a new occurrence: that the landscape appeared to be on repeat. Stopping suddenly before reactivating Serene Senses, Reno lashed out with a kick to his left and watched another Drowzee appear and collapse from the blow. Giving a small cheer as he did so, the thought crossed Reno's mind of the ease he was handling this and this realm. Blinking as one of his usual vices of this nature came to mind, the world began to devolve into fuzz as Reno realized that this illusion had been layered and attempting to appeal to Reno's want of ease for these missions.

Thrashing around as he came into the real world, Reno felt an impact before grabbing the offending appendage and hauling the source to the ground. Seeing a Hypno come into existence where he had hit and grabbed its leg, Reno swung himself on top of the Pokemon before repeatedly punching the offender in the face until it stopped twitching. "Bloody ********' illusions. Can't tell where one ends and the next begins." Reno muttered, watching as the area near him began to erupt in motion. Two Hypnos crested one of the nearby hills of filth, followed closely by a walking shadow with a visibly shining smirk on its face. Looking to his oncoming opponents and their now rocking pendulums, Reno felt his aggression fading and the world shift around him into a more idyllic place of grass and trees. Breathing in deeply with a sigh, the red haired psychic bit the inside of his cheek until he felt the warmth of blood in his mouth. Allowing the pain to register and send his mind into overtime, the illusion faded in time for one of the Hypnos to draw close enough to attempt a Zen Headbutt. Spitting a gob of blood into the Pokemon's eyes, Reno was sent flying back as the Hypno continued its charge towards him. Rolling along the ground until he was clear of the charging Hypno, Reno found himself having to jump as a blast of Psychic ripped into the ground near his feet. Spinning to face the one who fired at him, Reno began another reckless charge forward as more of the blasts flew towards him. Giving a chuckle at the futile blasts, Reno missed the final attack that slammed him in the face and was sent flying by the Psyshock that gave him a facelift.

Flying away from the offending Hypno into the one who had rushed past him, Reno found himself tumbling with the Zen Headbutter for a moment before they settled and Reno set about kicking the poor Pokemon into unconsciousness. Leaving him open to yet another blast of Psyshock that sent him flying away from the piece of land, Flailing as he flew through the air, the red ahired man soon righted himself to come face to face to yet another head rushing for his position. Taking the time to observe this time, Reno ducked underneath the Hypno's Zen Headbutt before delivering a swift kick to one of its kneecaps and rolling away before it could collapse on top of him. Smirking down at the thing, Reno punched it squarely in the face before walking away to continue pursuing his mission.

"Today is a good day ta be me. Now where the bloody hell is that Musharna? I swear, if this ends up another wild goose chase, I'm gonna sue." The muttering would distract Reno as he began to walk on, a few stray Munna floating about in the distance.

"Okay, got the Munna. Odd little buggers that they are." Looking to the moving pink that were closer, he saw them simply hanging in the air while they were at least moving erratically to attract the eye on the further ones. An attraction that sparked with the realization that there were pink blasts of light flying away and towards the swarm.

"My mind is just violence here and me savin' stuff. I don't have this depth that I try to come across with?" Reno jokingly muttered to the world, feeling a small tremor in the ground respond to his question. Blinking a few times at the odd timing of that, Reno began the long jog to where the Munna were swarming. At least, until the path began to slowly morph the further Reno ran ahead, golden spires and gem encrusted statues slowly coming into view as the terrain swapped from the swampy wasteland into a cloudy, peaceful feeling paradise. Turning around to see a similar landscape stretching out behind him, Reno shook his head before he began to kick at the ground, dirt clods and bits of sludge flying away from the impact with each blow.

The illusion, unable to disguise the chunks of earth beneath his feet, dissolved immediately and revealed a Drowzee was staring him down. Stifling a laugh before casually walking up to the Drowzee, Reno smiled before rapping it on the head and getting blasted back by a powerful shockwave of energy. Blinking as he flew through the air and impaled himself in the dirt, he found that his senses were no longer the heightened degree that he was sued to. Glancing around to find some way to equalize this battle with the loss of his incredible possible dodges, Reno lifted himself out of the new trench and threw a clod of dirt at the Drowzee's face. Sending the yellow bellied Pokemon stumbling, Reno grabbed two more hunks of earth and charged forward, whooping and hollering like a madman as he did so. Watching the Drowzee begin to right itself for another one of those searing blasts of energy, Reno hurled the first clod of dirt, the Drowzee intercepting it with a Psychic attack before the second one slammed home into its face. Powering forward and slamming home a sliding kick to the Drowzee's stomach, Reno watched it collapse as the attack's effect on his chi faded.

With the reassertion of his senses, Reno picked up a scent that he would have attributed to the realm if it weren't completely gone when he had lost the heightened smelling ability. It was like what he had picked up from the Munna except stronger and more refined. “Welp, looks like I found my Musharna. Right where the Munna are swarming. Well, at least I have backup.” Reno told himself, resuming his walk towards the Musharna with a slight limp in his step.

Cresting the final hill to where he had seen the battle occurring, Reno found himself standing near a pile of downed Munnas, all groaning in pain as they writhed on the disgusting floor beneath them. Raising his gaze up to where they had fallen from, Reno found the source of their damages to be a horde of Drowzee and a few Hypnos that were firing off Shadow Balls at their attackers while they hauled along....the Musharna. Smirking as he saw his target was so close now, the red haired psycho waited for the chance when they would be firing at another sweep of Munnas firing off Shadow Balls to start the charge forward. Letting loose a cry of “Psychics aren't real!!!”, Reno ran down the hill into the valley that his greed and envy had holed itself up in.

The Pokemon holed up in the place would respond as they heard the war cry, turning to instead fire Shadow Balls at Reno. Diving to the ground and rolling along to avoid the blasts, Reno soon found himself in midair as one of the blasts detonated just underneath his rolling, exposing him in the air to the oncoming fire. Taking two Shadow Balls before landing, the onslaught of attacks would cease as the Munnas began to fire at the distracted Drowzees and Hypnos. Sprinting the last stretch of land to the collected masses, Reno stomped down onto one of the Drowzees and vaulted over the group, aimed to land directly onto the Musharna. At least until a well aimed Focus Blast sent him flying through the air to land in the side of the valley. “Ajssh shou know, shis meansgss war.” Reno muttered, head planted firmly into the ground that he had used to cushion his landing.

Pulling himself out of the hole in the ground he had created, Reno glared at the collected Drowzees and the Hypno who had fired on him as he made for the Musharna. Grabbing another hunk of earth to hurl at the group of yellow menaces, the hunk quickly reversed and slammed the red haired psychic in the face in response. “Plan B: Stop throwin' stuff at the Psychic Pokemon focused on me and figure out a good way around the clump. But even if I had a month ta plan, I doubt I could find a way. I mean, if I had a wheelbarrow, maybe, but...” Reno thought out loud, a flash of pain surging through his arm as his mind focused on his current situation. Looking to where the pain had originated from, Reno found the red blotch from his brush past the first gate was almost throbbing with the image of an eye attempting to push through. Poking the strange mark, he felt power surge into him with each passive acknowledgement of the fact it existed and the connection it possessed with the first realm of his mind.

Letting a smirk stretch it's way across his dirt-coated face, Reno began to actively draw power into himself from the mark. "Two times and both are won by this place just givin' me power." He muttered, giving a small laugh before stumbling slightly as the words entered the deeper thinking portion of his mind. Brushing it off as his own clumsiness, Reno refocused on channeling the power from Naraka into himself for this next assault. Feeling a wave of pure, unfiltered aggression course through him as the energy hit his system, a grin stretched itself across Reno's face, a grin that spoke of insanity and a basic lack of concern for everything nearby.

Drawing in a shallow breath, he unleashed a primal roar that was the prelude to the next shift. Violently erupting from Reno's body came a cloak of shadows, torn at the edges and coated in sinister, unblinking red eyes. Looking to the newly acquired article that seemed to move with his thoughts, the red devil's eyes rose to the target it knew that it instinctually wanted. "Time ta gamble. Let's see how much punishment this thing can take." Reno growled out, his voice dropped an octave to a much more intimidating baritone. Stomping towards the congregation of psychic anthropomorphic Pokemon, his opponents finally decided to react to the chaos that had been caused. Aiming for their now much more intimidating target, a flurry of Shadow Balls streaked through the air to strike down the Psychic channeler. Giving a wave of his arm, the cloak flowed into position to intercept the attacks and did so without it appearing to disturb the fabric.

"Hmm, well isn't that interesting. Can't touch me with the Ghost attacks, can ya?" Reno taunted, watching as looks of intense focus and pointed aggression crossed his opponents' faces. Giving a sinister chuckle in response, Reno continued his lazy waltz towards the Musharna they were defending. Finished preparations, the gathered Hypnos and Drowzees aimed towards Reno before instead unleashing strange waves of Psychic energy in an attempt to repel the rapidly approaching channeler. Having decided that the blasts would fade like the Shadow Balls, Reno was unprepared as the blasts hit like punches and sent sliding back a few feet, dust upturning from the sudden reverse of motion. "Psyshock. Guess that means the cloak is useless against physical hits. Pity." The nonchalant analysis was swiftly met by the man taking off towards his opponents at a sprint, the infusion of energy making him move with the speed of an Arcanine.

Firing another volley of Psyshocks in an attempt to repel the intruder, the collected anthropomorphic Pokemon only managed to spin Reno around on the foot he had on the ground before he resumed the charge that ended as quickly as it had restarted. Sending his fist hurtling into the first Drowzee, Reno became a blur of motion as he began to punch, kick, and use his cape to assault the collected defenders and recollect the Musharna. Ragged blasts would occur from random Drowzee and Hypno as they attempted to repel their assailant, but they were only successful in repelling him for a moment before he returned to bounding between them as he ravaged them with little remorse.
Having dwindled them down to ragged members who could barely aim, Reno gave one final swipe with the eye covered cape, allowing the shadows to assail the remaining opponents before letting them collapse onto the dirt. Giving a smirk as he stood over the fallen bodies, the robed man walked over to the only moving thing besides himself: the Musharna that they had been guarding. Placing a single finger onto the Pokemon and watching as it faded away into light, the energy that had possessed Reno dissipated and he gave a loud whooping cheer as he leaped around. "We did it! We did it, Harley! We won!" Reno exclaimed, rushing around like he had just won an athletic competition. At least, until the words registered in his mind and he began to look around the area in hopes that Harleen would miraculously appear and end this paranoid train of thought. What came instead was a loud rumbling as the world visibly collapsed before Reno's eyes, the land heaving and collapsing underneath his feet with him unable to move. Which he discovered was due to metal fastenings that appeared to be binding him to a stainless steel sheet. Peering around the room he now occupied with one eye open , the illusion that he had felt collapse reasserted itself in front of the closed eye as voices began to become audible.

"We almost lost him to reality! What the hell good are your illusions if they buckle every time he so much as thinks of it as such!" The screaming that echoed to Reno from an area near some terminals allowed him to spot a familiar bowler hat and cane. "Well, maybe you lot should be able to adapt his changing mind more easily! You're part of it! And where the hell did that nickname for a nickname come...from?" Rome paused his rant towards his barely visible allies just in time for Reno to have a select few memories assert themselves, of the same woman Maya had once appeared as and her strange name. Harleen Fey, or Harley Fey as she liked to call herself.

“You have to be kidding me. A nickname for his mother is what brought him out!? And he named that damned Wynaut after her?! Well, that was unforeseen.” Rome's voice echoed into the room again, the growling shout dying off as another sound of thumping and assault echoed from another direction. “And now the damned Munna are trying to liberate him again. What else can go wrong?”Having finished his tempting of fate with that final statement, Rome's footsteps could be heard marching out of the room as he muttered to himself about insubordinate pink blobs before a door slammed shut.

Half-heartedly listening as his other eye maintained vision of the illusion and gave some movements, Reno soon heard a loud bang like the door slam and decided to tempt fate on this one. “You bozos, let Reno out of his bed! The Munna somehow sneaked by and are gonna break him out! Move it, move it, move it!” He shouted, attempting to recreate the strange inflection that Rome spoke with in hopes that whatever was keeping him in the illusion would attempt to free him. Hearing the sound of movement, Reno bit down on the inside of his mouth as he shut his other eye and waited. Hearing a few presses and a switch being thrown, the clasps pinning Reno to the metal sheet released and he sprung into actions.

Snapping his eyes open to assault the one who opened the clasps, Reno launched a kick towards the Drowzee he spotted in the room near a strange panel. Feeling his foot connect, Reno swung himself around to punch the Pokemon when he found the thing's snout spewing out a dose of Poison Gas directly at him. Inhaling the sudden of noxious gas, the red haired man collapsed unceremoniously as he heaved and wheezed from the burning sensation that was currently invading his lungs. Unable to defend himself, the Drowzee was free to beat on the defenceless man with a Zen Headbutt that hit him square in the stomach. Releasing a breath from the sudden impact, Reno struggled to regain his breath and manage to move even an inch as the Drowzee began to aim a hand and gather energy in front of its hand.

Finally struggling in a breath, Reno saw the glowing pink hand as it prepared to blast him in the face, no way for him to defend himself against this attack. Letting the Psychic blast fly, the Drowzee would be surprised as a blue blur managed to rush into the path of the blast. Watching the blast as it slammed into the blur and reflected itself back at its source. Unable to defend against the blast, the Drowzee was flung into the air before falling onto the ground, knocking itself out from the combination of impacts. Looking to the Wynaut now currently sitting in front of his face, Reno wheezed out, “Glad ta see ya made it, Harleen. Gimme a minute.”

Rolling onto his back to take a few breathes, his vision was caught on a floating pink blob now floating in the room and gesturing towards the wall. Blinking a few times in response, the man quickly got onto his feet before grabbing Harleen and placing her on his shoulder. Following along behind the Munna, Reno soon found himself entering a duct within the building he appeared to be stuck inside and began the long crawl to freedom as the sound of the door opening for real was heard. Letting the string of muffled curses fuel their journey, the trio soon found themselves outside amongst a pile of fallen Munna who were unconscious or worse along the ground outside the now distinct tower.

Looking across the ground to where the Munna was now floating, the psychic spotted a small fleeing group of the Pokemon. Shrugging his shoulders and taking off in pursuit of the small herd, Reno was forced watch as the small group was picked off by a precision volley of Shadow Balls that pulverized the earth around them. Turning around to look to the tower and the bombardment that had just occurred, he could almost sense Rome as he examined the bombed area and searched around in an attempt to locate where he had gone. Attempting to find the one that had been leading him, Reno found it softly floating along at a hurried pace, aimed for a tunnel that appeared to have been recently created.

Sprinting towards the tunnel as the Munna disappeared down, he grabbed Harleen before hurling her in after the pink Pokemon. Looking back towards the tower, he spotted a barrage of attacks, many appearing to be Focus Blasts and Shadow Balls, arcing through the air for the entrance. “Why can't I ever have a day where things don't blow up?” Reno chastised his own mind, continuing his sprint towards the hole even as the attacks began to whistle through the air and even outpaced him. Watching the balls of energy descended on the tunnel system, he simply stopped running as he watched the bombardment kicking up earth and stone that disguised the entrance from where he stood.

Turning to the tower again, Reno was amazed as he watched two of the attacks were flying back at the senders much faster than they had been fired, quickly scattering the ranks as the threat of attack prevented them from ending him on the spot with a second volley. Turning back to face the tunnel, he was amazed to see Harleen standing in the smoke with the Munna nearby, the two worse for wear but proudly protecting that stupid hole in the ground. Taking off after the two Pokemon and descending into the hole, they quickly began to sprint down the tunnels as the entrance they had taken was bombarded again to prevent them from reusing it for any other attempts to surprise the tower.

Having walked down the tunnels for a while, Harleen sitting on his shoulder, Reno soon found himself standing in the middle of a larger chamber with only a few Munna milling about to denote it any purpose. “What is this place?” Reno wondered aloud, unsure if he would gain any response from the Munna given the fact they were Pokemon. Looking to the one who had lead them down the path, the channeler poked the thing's forehead before asking, “Can you even understand me? Or were you just lead by something else ta do this?”

'Of course I can understand you, you dolt. I'm just the only one who can communicate with you.' A strange voice sounded off in Rneo's thoughts, answering Reno's questions and sending the red haired man reeling from the sudden sensation of the telepathy. Taking a minute before he responding to the psychic pink ball, he questioned, “Okay then. What the bloody hell is going on then? Because I really thought that my mind would be a lil more balanced on the selfless to selfish acts ratio.” The Munna would float over to the other meandering ones of its kind, the other Munna giving small motions as they communicated with each other before their representative turned once again to face Reno.

'We would likely have a much more balanced battleground were it not for that stranger in the hat that came to our realm weeks ago. He was able to organize the Drowzees and Hypnos into a united front instead of the petty groups that squabbled against each other as befitting their nature. We have been bombed into isolation, with only small pockets of us left standing. It appears that the roles have been reversed and we cannot find one of us to become a leader int his time of crisis. Possessing a Musharna to lead us would allow us a minor advantage in this genocide of selflessness. Our hopes for a leader were close when you arrived, but your mind was not truly your own and the Drowzees quickly took you away as the little Wynaut fled to us. We organized a plan to free you, but had to wait for your mind to be close to freeing itself from the illusion they had trapped you within. So we ended up with more casualties than seemed necessary and you, a man who seems barely able to accomplish half the things you were tasked to finish here.' The Munna pointedly told the robed man, floating closer to poke him in the ribs as it attempted to establish itself as the superior being in this aspect.

Pushing the Munna away with little resistance, Reno decided to raise another point he was wondering. “Exactly how safe are we in here? I'd hate at be the one ta point it out, but they saw where the one tunnel was. Who says they aren't tryin' ta find us right now?” Looking between each other, the Munna took off down the tunnels as the vibrations of shaking ground began to reach their little room. Sighing as the prediction came true, Reno sprinted off after one of the groups of Munna in a effort to keep this insanity together.

Feeling the vibrations growing more quickly as he grouped up with one of the Munna fleets, Reno cursed under his breath before looking to see the telepathic Munna leading this group away. “Tell me exactly how we are gonna get away from this? They seem ta be gettin' closer.” Reno stammered out, fear crossing his face as the group continued to run forward without daring to look backwards at their likely pursuers. The group that appeared to be following them was a small congregation of Drowzees who were rushing down the tunnels with suicidal abandon in an effort to catch the collected Munna and Reno. “We need a strategy.” The red head's panicked stammering attracted attention beyond Harleen and himself.

'Well, we have these thing called attacks that break things. I’m about to use one. Look out for falling rocks.' The telepathic sensation once again registered itself as the unique Munna turned around to fire a Psybeam at the roof of the cavern, the rock fracturing from the power of the attack but not collapsing to allow them escape. Seeing the failed attempt to prevent their capture, the red haired psychic spun on his heels and gripped the chain on his manacle, swinging at the roof to cause enough damage for it to collapse. Feeling anew source of rumbling as the rocks from the ceiling of the cavern began to collapse, Reno wrapped an arm around the Munna and began to sprint down the cavern as rocks began to fall behind them, Harleen staring from Reno's shoulder in preparation to send a falling rock flying at the main pile that was building up.

Diving through the entrance to another large chamber, Reno found himself with yet another outcropping of Munna that seemed clueless beyond the few rocks that had fallen behind Reno as to what was happening. Looking to the Munna that sat there with him, the man who was in control of this mind looked over to the telepathic one before questioning the Pokemon. “Okay, now I have to ask. Were things this chaotic before Rome got here?” Letting the odd statement stand to the Munna, Reno watched as Harleen hopped off his shoulder before looking to the fallen rocks with an odd expression before simply plodding away.

'Before that man appeared, we were the ones who lived on the surface with those Drowzees assaulting us from underground in small groups. We would fend them off much more easily and had the aid of our leader to do so. But with Musharna gone and the Hypnos and Drowzees now working together against us, we have been forced down into these caves.' The voice explained, the Munna giving appropriate facial expressions to match the words in order to help supply Reno with context. 'But when we were in control of the realm, everything operated with ease and safety. We kept those Drowzee from having their errant control over the realm and when one of the Hypnos appeared, we would suppress it before it cause any unnecessary damage to our lands. And we shall return it to that state once you have gotten our leader back.'

Having heard the determined speech from his sole source of information, Reno felt an odd sensation upon hearing the words. Shaking his head in an effort to remove the sensation and instead look to where Harleen had wandered off to. Finally locating the blue blob, he found the female Wynaut was currently poking along a path to the surface with bored steps. Blinking at his Pokemon's odd behaviour, Reno walked after her and found her picking up the pace as he closed the distance. Scoffing at the somewhat rebellious behaviour from the Wynaut, he went into a slow jog in order to prevent her from running away without him.

The sound of marching feet pierced the air throughout the edge of Shalour City, a mysterious figure being the source of the noise as he reached a nearby lookout. Looking ahead to see a man clad in a navy blue greatcoat, almost waiting for something to happen, the figure began to walk towards him, hoping to identify who exactly it was and if he needed to worry about them.

Before he got close enough to touch the man, a great gust of wind ripped through shore and sent the coat flying from the man's shoulders before the heavy woollen coat impacted the figure. Although he had been training his Pokemon for this battle, this was not his day as the coat slammed him into the ground and left him unconscious without a sound or name to answer to. Obviously, this was not his time to be protagonist, only comedic relief for the true batch of insanity running the story.

Turning to see where his coat had flown to, Reno winced as he saw the man who had been victimized by the garment. Plucking the newly obtained garment off of the now unconscious man, Reno winced again. “Yeesh, you look worse fer wear. Probably fer the better that I headed ya off here. Otherwise, I mighta had ta kick you out before we actually got inside. Well, I'll leave you to yer nap. Good talking to ya.” Giving a smile at the body before replacing the coat to his shoulders, realizing that was what had caused the last injury and putting his arm through the sleeves this time.

The coat was only the newest edition in yet another wardrobe change by mister Reno Vantas, which also included an return to his old style red dress shirt, with the greatcoat replacing his usual suit jacket. The final new piece was the replacement for his normal black dress shoes, a pair of nondescript brown hiking boots sat on his feet. The entire ensemble had managed to disguise him so far, although the amount of bribes necessary to keep his identity secret had been massive. Hell, the amounts needed had even eaten away at his Snag Coin fund and now he was sitting around half of the original amount he had possessed for all of those years. Not like he had needed that obscene amount of money, but it was ridiculous how quickly the bribes spiked when water travel and forgetting faces became necessary.

Turning up the collar of his coat before hiding his face behind it, the man began his long walk along the massive outstretched sandbar, footsteps leaving deep impressions as he approached the tower he had been able to identify as a likely candidate for Sabrina's 'vision'. More than likely, she had been here herself and wanted to give a good excuse for him to haul out this way to get some training before a second attempt. Looking to his bag as the memory of that battle came to mind, Reno subconsciously felt himself wrapping a hand around Ezekiel's ball as he debated how he was going to settle things with the Dark type Pokemon.

The sound of a second set of footsteps would draw Reno's attention to an older looking man who had caught up to him, a strange sensation overcoming him as the man began to walk in step with him, right beside his own path.

“Hello, youngster. Glad to see someone else is making the trek out to the tower today. I'd hate to have walked the whole way alone.” The old man announced, giving an innocent smile to his new companion as they began to walk along the sandbar, the tower growing ever more impressive as they slowly drew closer.

Looking to the old man with caution before relaxing his natural instincts, Reno allowed the calmness to enhance his senses for a moment before the burning sensation of salt water in his nose forced him out of the state. He had gotten used to most of this type of pain, but salt burns that you can feel before it hits critical mass were deadly.

“Well, nice ta meet ya. So why are ya runnin' to the tower today?” Letting the innocent question hang there as he gave a false smile, Reno awaited some form of answer. It was always ahrd to judge these old people and tell how exactly they might answer. Hell, he might spontaneously think of Reno as his grandson given how old he appeared to be.

Giving a knowing smile to the likely thoughts racing in Reno's mind, the old man attempted to voice his reply as precisely as possible. “I'm going to check up on the place. It's been around since I was a boy, so I figure I should see if everything is still together. Now then, why are you trying to get to the place?” Looking to the path ahead, the man's grey eyes examined the path and began to note how long they had before they would enter the tower.

Giving a small smirk, the response from Reno was, “I'm gonna see about gettin' me a Key Stone from this place, and then go back to challenge the girl who sent me here. Prove myself as beyond her predictions and then see if we can end up friends afterwards. I'll be damned if I go ta all this effort and get even more a the cold shoulder from her.”

“Well, making that sort of a challenge to prove yourself superior isn't necessary. You're unique and should stand by that, but having someone like that to make you strive for higher results is always useful.” Looking out over the ocean to stare at the clouds, the old man turned back before adding onto his statement. “Well, if you're challenging Sabrina, you are going to need to pass the test that the old guru is going to offer. Maybe I can help you with that so you can be sure to get past the old geezer.”

Blinking at the odd request, Reno gave a small nod before deciding to speak up again. “Alrighty then. Thanks fer the help, but what am I gonna be asked on?”

Scratching his chin for a minute before deeming it a good time to respond, the old man slyly gave his response. “Well, he will likely ask you about your connection to your Pokemon and make sure you are suitable to be offered this sort of power. So why don't you tell me about your connection with them? I get the feeling that there might be an issue in that department, so it would be prudent to have that solved before we enter.”

Glaring at the extremely mysterious old man, Reno delayed his response as he stared down the strangely empathic man for a moment. Tapping one Pokeball in particular, he finally got to his response. “I have a pretty good standin' relationship with my Pokemon. We are kinda crazy, but we all end up meshin' together pretty well with that bout of insanity. I never try ta hurt them needlessly and I make sure that I never try ta push them past their limits.”

“....And?” The question was simple and direct, the old man forgoing the strangeness he had previously acted with in order to get a straight response.

“...And there is only one issue. One of my best friends has managed to become persuaded that I’m some sorta bad man and he won't listen ta me. He even tried ta bite me a few times, but I have no idea what made him go nuts.”

Staring down the red haired boy before sending his hand racing into the bag, the old man retracted the hand with one of the Pokeballs clutched within it's grasp. “Fix that issue now then. Or we end up with some truly devastating issues.” Tapping the button on the front, Ezekiel popped out the Pokeball with a confused expression before noticing his master standing across from him, a low growl ripping through his throat as he recognized the man who had been prepared to kill him for a win.

The trainer and Pokemon would stare each other down, waiting for the other to attempt some move that they could counter or attack. The tension in the air was palpable as they began a slow advance toward each other, eyes locked to their target. Stopping once again to continue their stare down, Reno and Ezekiel both growled at each other in some effort to intimidate the other and force them to back down. “C'mon Ezekiel, we don't have ta do this.” Reno pointedly told the Houndoom, silently preparing for the Pokemon to attack him for his words.

Looking at this ridiculous display, the old man tapped his foot on the ground as he watched this attempted intimidation before he darted forward, kicking Reno towards his Houndoom before returning to where he had been originally standing. This was getting boring and he wanted to have this little event play out this century.

Stumbling towards the Houndoom, Reno found the thing was already attempting to snap at his forearm with a Bite. Grabbing the Dark Pokemon by the snout, Reno attempted to swing Ezekiel around to throw onto the beach before it twisted within his grip, bringing its back legs to swing into its master's head with a Counter to the throw.

Releasing the snout and taking the kick with no resistance, Reno felt himself slide along the ground until he flipped himself back onto his feet. Rushing forward once again to meet the Houndoom, he landed a solid punch on Ezekiel's snout, snapping his jaw shut and sending him flying back to the other end of the sandbar. Giving a solid smirk to the now repelled Pokemon, Reno cracked his neck with the satisfaction that he had gotten himself truly into this fight.

The Houndoom would raise off the ground, another snarl ripping through its teeth before it took off at its master. Reno did similar as he rushed towards Ezekiel, attempting to make this fight create some understanding between them. Smashing into each other, limbs flailing and a certain set of jaws snapping, the two males of their species stared each other down as their limbs began to kick and scratch at each other.

'Wait...how is this helping?' Reno's thoughts raced as their close range struggle continued and his mind was allowed to run free for a moment. 'I need to get him to see me as I actually am, not fulfil whatever stupid ideas Sabrina placed within his head. But how? It's not like I can....Wow, I feel kinda stupid.' Blinking for a moment as he felt the struggling continue, Reno made his move to end this short duel with his own Pokemon. Reaching to grab the Houndoom's front shoulders, Reno reared his head back before slamming it home between his two horns with incredible force. On Ezekiel's chest, the skull fractured back into the state it had originally been in when he had been a Houndour.

But this was not the true intention of the headbutt. For supplied behind that forehead was a pool of psychic energy that used the impact in an attempt to access Ezekiel's mind with great success due to the impact scattering what little defences he possessed. Accessing the memories that Sabrina had supplied to Ezekiel, Reno came to the realization that it was the vision Sabrina had used to stop him along with false visions of him mocking the poor Dark type. Staring at the memories for a moment before deciding against simply eliminating the memories, Reno instead attempted his own implantation of memories, of his own memories. Of the debate he had needed in order to truly decide on an action, of how the only reason he had chosen to continue fighting was remembering the Pecha berry. Leaving the memories for the Houndoom to sort out, Reno felt the natural defences returning and forcing him out of his Pokemon's head once again.

Recoiling away from the impact, Reno sat down on the sand in front of his Houndoom and awaiting whatever choice he made to the memories that had been added. The sound of growling focused Reno onto his Pokemon, watching as the large dog planted a single foot onto Reno's chest and pushed the trainer into the sand for the moment. Leaning over to his master's face, Ezekiel gave on long lick across his master's face before backing off to simply sit on the sand. Getting back up onto his feet to scratch the Dark Pokemon’s head for a second, the sound of clapping diverted Reno’s attention. The old man had walked the ten feet to the steps to the tower, and was applauding the duel he had just seen.

“Good job, mister Vantas. Or The Corona. Whatever you wish to be called.” The old man now stood more steady, his entire posture and attitude shifting as he continued to climb the stairs. Realizing that he was falling behind the old man and might soon not be able to hear him, Reno and Ezekiel took off up the stairs in order to keep up. “You now have my official approval to go up the tower and prove yourself as a true contender to be an heir for Mega Evolution. Don't disappoint me now. Hate to have made you show yourself to really possess a good bond for this sort of a failure.”

Having reached the door to the tower as the old man spoke to him, Reno finally realized who exactly he had been speaking to this entire time. “You're the guru! You tricked me ta get an honest answer! You crazy old man! I love this idea! But what's your name?”

Peering around the area to make sure no one heard his answer, the old man leaned close before whispering into Reno's ear. “I am Gurkinn, and I hope you make it. It's nice for my granddaughter to get an actual challenge these days. So, now you can go on, mister Vantas. See what our newest batch of trainees can do. They're interesting, much like you, so you should be able to have a good time.”

Nodding to the old man, oblivious to the fact that his name had been used repeatedly by the old man as he was focused instead on what he needed to accomplish in this tower. Advancing towards the massive set of stairs, Reno looked to Ezekiel for a moment before nodding to the Houndoom, they took off up the stairs to find what their first challenge would be.

-

Approximately 100 feet straight up, having climbed the half foot tall stairs to the small platform, Reno fell onto the hard floor before attempting to hug it. “Flat ground. How I have missed you.” Beside him, Ezekiel came up to the terrace panting before collapsing much like his master and curling up next to him. The pair would be left to their strange activities for a minute before someone stepped out of a room attached to the terrace. And, by Arceus, if it wasn't an entrance.

A small explosion went off as a man came flying out of the small entrance, a strange blue outfit and helmet adorning him as he landed in a strange, vaguely martial artsy pose on the ground. “Ranger Blue of the Tower Rangers, here to save the day!” The words came out with the restraint of Reno's accent, the echo from the bellowing voice managing to reach the top and bottom of the tower and yet remain audible to the ground hugger.

Raising himself up from his position on the floor, lips scrunched up and eyes narrowed, Reno stared at the oddity who was currently running through a few more poses. “Oh bloody hell. I'm hallucinating at 100 feet, oh Arceus. How bad a trip am I gonna have when I get to the top?” Groaning out his response, Reno watched the strange blue clothed man facepalm before ripping off the painfully sealed helmet to reveal a head of brown hair attached to an elongated head, brown eyes staring him down as the plastic head casing was thrown back into the room.

“Okay, fine. I fight like this. Couldn't breathe inside that stupid helmet anyways.” The strange man told Reno, shaking his head before releasing his Pokemon to stand on the terrace. A Cloyster sat on the ground, giving a small spin on the point of its shell before smirking in Ezekiel and Reno's general direction.

Slowly pushing himself off the floor before groggily staring at the trainer and Pokemon, Reno looked to Ezekiel before pulling the Dark Pokemon up to his feet. “One question: If you aren't a hallucination, who are you?” Tilting his head as the question was asked, Reno gave the appearance of a drunk. After climbing to the first terrace. He needed a better way to go up before he died from stumbling over the railing.

“I’m Billy. This is my Cloyster, and you are doomed. Okay, now that that's sorted out, buh-bye!” Giving a cheery wave, Billy waited a moment before Reno and his Pokemon continued standing, snapping his fingers at the minor defiance. “Never that easy. Well, time to prove it. Aqua Ring, Cloyster.” Giving another snap with his finger, the Cloyster responded by expelling a mass of water to coat its body while Reno just stared at it stupefied.

Shaking himself back into normal thought patterns, Reno sighed before speaking up again. “Right, I'm supposed ta start fightin' right now. Almost forgot, given the fact the ceiling was turning such pretty colors. Okay, time ta test my new talent.” Assuming what he hoped would be a cool looking pose, Reno pressed one hand to the side of his head before pointing his fingers towards the Cloyster, directing Ezekiel with a few mental nudges against the resistance his natural type provided, in his usual tap code for moves.

The Houndoom charged forward, jaws brimming with Dark energy before snapping at the soft core of the Cloyster. “Withdraw!” The shout came up, the Cloyster snapping shut without notice, almost snapping down onto Ezekiel's jaw. The Houndoom backpedalled away from the sudden shut in order to examine the odd strategy. Lowering his hands for the moment to stare at the shut Pokemon, Reno raised his hand like a five year old in class. “Yes?” Billy deadpanned, giving an unimpressed stare to his opponent.

“Why are ya doin' this? Shouldn't we....y'know....fight?” Reno questioned, prepared to walk up to the Bivalve Pokemon to pry it open himself.

“This is how I fight. Just try and defeat me. Iron Defense!” The shout was punctuated by the shell taking on the sheen of freshly polished steel, looking visibly stronger despite the lack of any true change.

Letting his jaw drop for the moment, Reno forcibly pushed it back into place before huffing. “Okay, now I will really focus. Ezekiel, let's try a Foul Play!” Barking out the order with gusto, Reno watched as the Houndoom charged at the Cloyster, bit and kicked into the shell and sent itself flying back from its own force. Blinking at the strange move from Reno, Billy simply ordered, “Cloyster, Spikes and then reseal.” Hearing the orders through the shell, Cloyster snapped itself open before firing the cannon on its inner shell to scatter the ground with the caltrop-like spikes before once again sealing itself shut. Reno gave a sigh before snapping his mouth into a smirk.

“How stupid do you think I am? I own a Cloyster, fight differently, but I know two things: one, it can stay sealed forever, and two, that it has an opening in order to hear and breath. So, let us start on tryin' ta eliminate those advantages.”

Watching as Billy attempted to shout out yet another order, Reno snapped his hand to his head before watching Ezekiel erupt in an echoing roar that drowned out any sound for the moment. Keeping up the tapping against Ezekiel's mind, he watched the Houndoom charge across the Spikes and wince with each painful step before reaching the Cloyster's side. Releasing a cloud of Smog next to the shell and watching it slip inside of the shell, Reno gave a small smirk before adding the final taps to Ezekiel's mind for the coup de grace.

Opening his mouth before unleashing an Inferno of fire and brimstone, Ezekiel was blown away by the explosion from the gases, the Cloyster likely feeling even greater pain given the fact it had little escape from the explosive payload. Catching the flying quadruped before stumbling backwards towards the stairs he had previously climbed, Reno steadied himself in order to prevent climbing the stairs once again. Looking to the Cloyster, Reno could not resist the chance to use this line. “Who ordered the Clam Con Carne?”

“No one here, fool.” Looking to the Cloyster, the shell would snap open to reveal a smoking but very much conscious Cloyster giving a vicious snarl in his direction. A small bit of ash would fall out of the Cloyster's shell as the remains of a Focus Band landed on the ground.

Setting down the Houndoom, Reno looked between the two Pokemon before blinking for a moment. “Okay, that was a double edged sword. And not quite the payoff I hoped for. Okay then.”

“Since you ruined his ability to Withdraw without dying of smoke inhalation, lets try a different tactic. Cloyster, you know what to do.” Billy announced, nodding to his Pokemon before watching it steady itself and stare down Ezekiel.

“Flamethrower!” Reno ordered, watching as a torrent of flame propelled itself towards the Cloyster before being diverted by a wall of pure energy. Tilting his head at the copout move, Reno raised a one finger salute before yelling at Billy, “Quit hidin' like a bloody lil git and face me, ya pansy! Hate to have a coward like you end me!”

Snarling at Reno, Billy nodded towards the Cloyster before watching another wall of energy flicker slightly before coming into existence. “Repeats aren't recommended but I'll gamble on it.”
Looking to Ezekiel before simply nodding to the Dark type, watching as he took off at his target.

Approaching the wall that had been erected, Ezekiel gingerly stepped across the spikes that drove more damage to him before giving another snarl. Leaping into the air to snap at the Cloyster, the bite impacted the Protect and dissipated it before a kick with one of his hind legs slammed home onto the black ball that constituted the brain.

Watching the Cloyster collapse from the Feint, Reno stared for a moment before giving a whoop and pointing at Billy, yelling out, “Eat that, you pansy! You can't just sit there and wait for me ta wear myself out if ya wanna triumph against Reno Vantas!”

Snarling at the challenger, Billy returned the Cloyster before snapping. “You shut up with your degradation against me and my sexuality! Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm a wimp! Y'know what,s crew it, I'm leaving! This place sucks anyway!” Storming down the stairs without another word, Billy gave another growl before the door slammed shut at the bottom.

Waiting as he stared down to where he had left, Reno simply replied with, “I didn't even know he was gay. I just thought he was wimpy for hiding behind the strategy of wait and see what happens after some advancement of defenses. Guess he was extremely reactive. Must be like those strange people on that site I went on once. They went crazy over the stupidest things too.”

Staring at the stairs, Reno looked over to where Ezekiel was sitting before adding, “Well, time fer more stairs.”

However, the Houndoom would give no response. It was unconscious, having tried to return over the field of spikes and found them accumulating greatly after the first few rushes over them. Cursing his luck with these moments and his own words, Reno opened another Pokeball and watched as Spike stood next to him, staring up with his head quirked. “Well, time fer more walking, buddy.”
The hike up the stairs was fraught with odd visions of the continued stairs, the railing that seemed strange, and the fact that Spike was currently wearing Billy's discarded helmet.

Dragging himself onto the second terrace, another small explosion sounded off as a yellow clad bodysuit exited the second room attached to the terrace. With less showboating than Billy exited with, the distinctly female person now standing on the platform and staring directly at Reno. “Okay, you beat that showboating money grubber. You have some of my respect. And....wait a minute, you look familiar.” The somewhat muffled voice became clearer as the helmet was removed, revealing the distinct features of a native Kantoan or Johtoan that stood very distinct compared to Billy and his more Unovan or Kalosian ethnicity.

“Wait a minute. You're that Zubat poo insane man who extinguished the flame at Parfum Palace! And I'm sure you were around Goldenrod City before I came here! I heard your name from your shouting at Billy, so I know it's right! You are either completely mental or unbelievably skilled, and both scare me! I'm just gonna use the strongest stuff I can, as fast as I can, because I am not spending enough time near you for some insane event that will destroy this place to happen. Okay, Manetric, Thunder!” The stream of dialogue would come out as blur of noise and panicked breathing before a Pokeball opened itself in her hands to reveal a Manetric with a pair of glasses perched on its nose.
Unable to understand the blur of noise that had been the woman's panicked shouting, much less respond to the blast of powerful electricity that arced at Spike.

It would strangely avoid the helmet before striking the Bagon's body, forcing the small dragon into a few spasms before the charge worked its way out of his system. “Arceus! Hold yer fire! I didn't even realize we were fightin' yet!” Reno bellowed in response, looking to Spike before assessing the damages. While the blast had avoided his head for some reason, it still managed to fuse the helmet into his skin, binding the piece of headgear to him for the moment until it could be chiseled off.

“Okay then. Now, I need a name before we start the crazy duel? Because this situation I like ta have somethin' to remember beyond fluorescent yellow.” Reno calmly explained, eyes locked onto the Manectric in case he was required to attack teh thing to get a response.

But it would end without the need for violence today. “The name is Trini. Ranger Yellow of the Tower Rangers. And you are an insane vigilante who, just from seeing you, makes me worry for the safety of this tower. So, if we can get back to the battle?” Glancing over to her Manectric, Trini's slight distraction would give Reno the opportunity to glance over to where Spike sat and tested out his telepathy once again, finding himself able to easily access the Dragon type's mind.

'Spike, it's time to go for it. Headbutt.' Reno thought, smirking as the channelled thoughts rang through to the somewhat inactive mind. The next thought to cross Reno's mind was how exactly he was channelling, he could have sworn that he needed Harleen out to attempt this stuff. Suspiciously looking at his bag as he heard Spike take off at the Manectric, Reno unzipped the storage container before finding the familiar blue blob was staring up at him, her Pokeball open in her ears. “I am worried on the capability of that Pokeball if you managed ta get out. Okay then, come on out. Guess we see how things play out then.” His currently one-sided conversation with the Wynaut was punctuated as an impact sounded out, followed by the smell of burning ozone and rubber. Turning back to the fight, Reno found quite the predicament awaiting him.

Based off the scorch marks on the ground and the currently getting up position of his Bagon, the Headbutt had connected. Unfortunately, the scorches told Reno that a Discharge attack had met him on impact, sending him across the floor to the spot he was currently getting up at. Taking better assessment of Spike's situation, the worst part of it dawned on Reno. The helmet, by some law of physics, had managed to twist itself backwards and prevent it from being viable headgear. No, now the stupid thing was a hindrance for normal attacks. Heaving a sigh before looking over to Harleen, he began to channel thoughts into Spike's head for their next attack.

However, it was not his own thoughts he was currently channelling, it was Harleen's vision of the battlefield that he was sending, using his concentration to move the thought to the Bagon's mind. 'Okay, we are gonna try a Double-Edge attack. And hope it works.' Reno thought, letting the orders process into the Bagon's mind before it gave a nod in response. Seemed he wasn't much for chatter.

Charging forward at the Manectric, confidant in the images he was receiving of his blind charge, Spike prepared himself for impact with the Electric type. However, said impact would not come around as the Manectric easily sidestepped the Bagon before it could adapt to the change in Manectric's position or even see it. The visions had to be processed through the multiple minds, which lead to some lag between the vision and reality. “Thunder! No more playing it easy! We are gonna fry that thing while it can't see!” Trini viciously ordered, watching intently as the bolt of electricity flew the short distance to its target and fried the little Dragon type.

“No! Spike! C'mon, you can get out!” Reno cried out, suppressing his personal urge to charge into the fray himself. Well, it was mainly suppressed by Harleen interrupting his thought processes by allowing her own thoughts to interrupt her master's attempt to think this plan as the only way. But Reno didn’t need to know that. Standing motionlessly at the sidelines, he continued to watch the battle as Spike attempted to keep up with the Manectric through the delayed images and kept failing, more bolts of electricity flying into and around him for his troubles.

Focusing onto the battle more intently, Reno watched as the little Bagon flung himself headlong into another Double Edge charge at the Manectric, legs carrying him forward with little control. As usual, the Manectric would dodge the charge but the change would occur when Spike launched himself sideways with a jump, crashing into the Manectric even as the attempt to dodge the initial charge continued. “Discharge!” An explosively expanding wave of electricity would meet Spike as he began to recoil away from the Manectric, sending him flying into the ground with little care. Struggling to his feet as he attempted to stare down his opponent, Spike would give a thought to Reno. 'I am not letting this stupid thing keep me down! I am gonna leave a mark or fry trying!' The hot blooded shouting would erupt into the Pokemon charging forward again, his body glowing as the helmet stuck onto his head began to fracture.

Drawing close to the Manectric would be a Shelgon, evolved from Spike and carrying the trademark shiny coloring of the unique Dragon type. Letting out a growl as he leaped at his opponent, Spike prepared to start this battle on more even footing.

“Y'know what? I'm gonna break our stupid Ranger tradition just this once. Spark!” Trini ordered, unfocused eyes glaring at the Shelgon as it attempted to slam into her Manectric. Rushing past the falling boulder of a Pokemon, the Manectric would push itself backwards before discharging the electrical Spark into Spike. Struggling to maintain consciousness, Spike offered his version of apt final words. 'I hate when I'm wrong.'

Returning the newly evolved Pokemon to his Pokeball before stashing away where he had tucked Ezekiel's Pokeball away, Reno gripped a different Pokeball before hurling out onto the battlefield. “No more mister nice Reno. You wanna fight like this, I can oblige. Try ta keep up.” The dark statement would be punctuated by a Marowak bringing his club to bear. “Marowak, time ta avenge our fallen comrade. Retaliate!” Reno roared out, allowing a exceptionally stretched out grin to cross his face as he tried to adopt the more crazy method of his opponent.

Trini, panicking temporarily at the sudden Ground type, slowly looked to her Manectric before ordering, “Flamethrower! Fry that bonehead!” Growling in response to her trainer, a torrent of flame would exit the Electric type's mouth, aimed to eliminate the threatening Marowak. Powering through the flames with a few winces from the sudden flames, Gruff would swing his club to snap the Manectric's jaw shut and send it flying into the air.

Wincing at the blow, Trini would stare at the Marowak before turning back to her Manectric. “Okay, we don't have many options. Best to go out with a bang. Overheat!” Letting her motormouth do all the commanding necessary, and managing to obscure it from the ears of any normal person. Leaving Reno to belatedly react to the extreme blast of pure heat and flame that was sent flying at Gruff. Unable to evade the blast, the Marowak could only recoil and cry out as the flames ate away at his body while he stumbled backwards.

“Bloody hell!” Reno screamed out, the flames licking at the bottom of his coat and pants that sending him stumbling backwards with his Pokemon, toppling Harleen from ehr position on his shoulder. Glancing over to where Gruff was currently laying and breathing heavily from the intense flames he had just survived, Reno would stand himself back up before glaring at the yellow clad woman. “That’s IT! You are done now! Bone Rush!”

Watching as Gruff's expression went on to match his trainers, the Marowak would charge towards the Manectric and swing the bone club in a frenzy, multiple blows connecting on the Manectric as it attempted to escape the assault. As a final attempt to fend off the attack, the Manectric would fire off a Discharge attack and watch helplessly as it was absorbed by gruff before the final blow came cracking down onto the Pokemon's skull. “Well then. Guess that means I gotta figure out where Billy went. Hate to have us be one short if anything else comes up that requires the full squad.” Trini calmly spoke, the words much closer to a normal rate of speaking for the moment.

Reno would blink for a second before returning Gruff to his Pokeball and stashing it away with where he had placed Spike and Ezekiel, he simply waved away the strange ranger as she leaped onto the railing and began to slide down towards the ground. Picking Harleen up from where she had landed off his shoulder, Reno simply told her, “We go down that way. Otherwise I think we're gonna die.”

'I cannot argue against that, master. This place has approximately 1200 stairs and we have only ascended a third of the way. It is that or fly away from the area entirely.'

“Thanks fer remindin' me, Harleen. Now fer another massive expanse of stairs. I hate this place.” Reno groaned out, already ascending the massive expanse of stairs that currently sat between him and the next terrace that he could identify.

-

Stumbling up the last few steps before leaning onto the railing that was nearby, Reno stared at the doorway he could see before yelling at it. “Come on out! I've seen this twice, it ain't a surprise anymore! May the next strange guy in an outfit step out please?” Heaving in a deep breath as he attempted to recover from the last battle he had with the massive staircase, the red haired man stared at the doorway and awaited the next in the troupe of oddities to come and confront him.

A sigh would echo out of the doorway before a man in a red spandex bodysuit like his fellows from lower down the tower possessed, a Darmanitan walking out beside him with a piece of food clutched in one hand and a necklace with a strange orb on the end hanging off his neck. “Fine, no flashy introduction today. My name is Jason, you're Reno, you are insane and we're gonna fight. Go.” A monotone voice would echo out of the helmet, the man inside glancing over to his Darmanitan before jerking his head towards Reno and walking back to lean against the wall.

The Darmanitan would throw the large berry it was currently eating, the nonchalant Fling intercepted by Reno personally before he hurled the berry back at the Blazing Pokemon. Placing Harleen on the ground before pointing at Jason, Reno decided to announce something. Why, he had no idea. At this point, it was safe to assume maintaining secret tactical advantage was not a goal. “I have it now. You all specialize in some sorta attack strategy. Billy boy was defence, Trini was special attacks, and based off your Darmanitan and the Life Orb around his neck, you're attack based.”

“How is that gonna help you?”
Reno would only slyly smile before raising his right hand bending his fingers back in the classic gesture that signalled the start of their fight, the Darmanitan would charge forward with a Flare Blitz that aimed directly for Reno. Uncaring of the Wynaut that was currently sitting in its path, the Darmanitan would attempt to trample the blue Pokemon before the stamp was halted and Harleen spun around the foot, knocking the Fire type off balance and slamming him into the ground with an extra kick.

Moving himself into a normal stance after the sudden reversal of his Darmanitan's assault, Jason twisted his helmet off of his head and allowed himself to examine the battle without the needless impediment. “I forgot that Wynaut can repel the moves I focus on. Well then, looks like I might need to break tradition some before this fight becomes needlessly repetitive. Darmanitan, Swagger. Let us make this interesting.”

The Darmanitan would beat its chest and howl at Harleen, eventually getting the Wynaut riled up enough to audibly growl in response to the taunting. Glancing over to Harleen before attempting to use his telepathy to contact her, he found the ability was not cooperating. With closer examination, he would find his senses fading down to normal levels as the scent of the berry began to fade into the background and he no longer saw things with such clarity.

“Oh bollocks. This could be interesting.” Reno muttered, settling himself down to watch his Pokemon's confused and enraged antics rather than attempt to fruitlessly order her around. Hell, she seemed to barely listen on good days it seemed sometimes.

The Darmanitan would connect easily with a Fire Punch, the Wynaut having attempted to simply splash around on the ground instead of attempting any actual moves for the moment. Flying around the terrace area from the punch, the Wynaut would eventually land on the ground and receive a harsh Focus Punch for her trouble even as a strange sheen covered Harleen's body. Slamming herself into Reno without any control, Harleen simply stumbled forward towards the Darmanitan with a goofy smile on her face even as another fist prepared to slam into her.

Flying backwards, wreathed in flames from the Fire Punch that had sent her flying backwards once again, Harleen would stumble forward even as flames clung to her skin. “Looks like she might be a little burned. Well, looks like it's almost lights out for you then, kid.” Jason snarked out, forming a finger gun before pointing it and firing at Reno. "And now, the coup de grace. Let the Wynaut burn."

A moment would pass as the flames extinguished themselves, Jason staring with a smirk as he awaited the inevitable result. The smell of burning ozone grew stronger as the pair watched the Wynaut for the knockout victory that was expected. Heaving an echoing sigh as the results began to take too long, Jason pointed to Darmanitan before pointing at Harleen, a booming utterance of, "Superpower. Take it out."

The Blazing Pokemon would offer a hooting cheer as it charged forward, arms and legs swinging to slam the Wynaut into the ground. Leading with a stomp kick to plant the Wynaut in the ground, Darmanitan's foot slammed into the ground beside the blue blob before it shot forward, connecting squarely with the kneecap of Darmanitan's other leg and forcing the appendage to buckle under the impact. Unable to stop its reckless charge forward, Jason's Darmanitan found itself slamming into the floor with an incredible amount of force with no way to stop the sideways fall when it's arms were aimed forward.

Unfortunately, such a large being collapsing next to Harleen left her little time to escape the deadly force known as gravity. Crushed beneath the falling Darmanitan, the two Pokemon would form a strange unconscious pile on the floor, their trainers simply staring at the oddity of the situation before looking up at each other. Feeling his senses begin to return to relative normality and his mental link to his partner sever, Reno knew the outcome for this fight.“Okay, you got me. But how the hell did that happen? I thought that little blob was confused the whole time.” Jason pondered, staring at Reno.

“Yeah, well, she managed to do something while she was confused. She used Safeguard on herself, and basically sat there with the residual flames. I wish I could blame the second part on the confusion, but by that point, she had normal senses. So basically, I told her , through secret means, to sit and counter the next attack. What I did not expect was a 200 pound weight to body slam her into the floor. Yeah....that was interestin' ta see.” Reno explained, the ending being much more disappointing than the beginning for expectations.

Shaking his head at the antics, Jason would jerk a thumb towards the upward staircase. “Well, time for you to see what exactly the other two have for you. Hate to have you fail and be forced to become the Special Defence specialist. See ya, Reno.”

Wandering into his room after returning his Darmanitan to its Pokeball, Reno was left alone with his unconscious Wynaut and even more stairs to climb. Picking up the Psychic type before staring up the stairs, Reno muttered, “Balls.”

-

Heaving in a deep breath that sounded closer to a dead man's last one, Reno slammed face first into the terrace he had now reached. Staring with the intense fury only someone who had made it this far on foot could supply, he looked over to the door to find a normal looking man walk out with a black helmet tucked under his arm. The dark skinned fellow would stare at the helmet before scoffing at the thing. “Gave the black man the black costume. That seems offensive, don't you think?” The man questioned Reno, skipping over the need for introduction and going straight to the actual conversation.

“Sort of. But I guess it could just be bad timin'. I mean, it seems like the outfits are more handed out by who has shown up the last. Maybe if anotha darker skinned fella joined, he might get green or gold or somethin'.”

“Eh, true. Y'know, for someone whose activity log reads like a beginner's guide to arson, felony, and large scale crime, you aren't that bad. Name's Zack.”

“So its time to battle, I guess. You gonna react in fear or can I get a chance ta breath first? I hate these stairs and after the next set, if I have ta battle again I might die.”

Scoffing at the overreaction to the stairs, Zack gave a small wave. “Feel free. This is gonna be over quick anyways.”

Raising an eyebrow in response, Reno walked to the railing to take a few breaths and examining the Pokeballs in his hands. A battered, decrepit Pokeball and a slightly more well-kept Pokeball that seemed to have a P on the front of it. Moving his hands as if weighing out the advantages to each of the Pokemon for what he predicted to be a battle of speed, Reno locked his eyes onto the battered old Pokeball before smiling at the device. He was a sucker for the classics most days and it seemed like he wasn't disappointing now.

Throwing the Pokeball onto the terrace before rushing next to the glow that emerged, Reno was met with a condescending smirk similar to the one now stretching across his face. Tesei had come out of the Pokeball, and it seemed that now was the time for his signature Pokemon to be introduced to whatever Zack had for a Pokemon.

Looking up in the air when a flapping noise caught his attention, Reno went agape at the massive dinosaur that was currently in midair before him. He had heard stories and stuff about Aerodactyls but to see one up close and personal, Reno could only think of how much he wanted four of them. Blinking a few times as he realized that he had zoned out, the psychic would nod to Tesei before watching as a flurry of Icicle Spears flung themselves towards the Fossil Pokemon.

Zack would look up to the Aerodactyl before ordering, “Plan A. Let's have some fun here.”

Denying a response to his master's words, the Aerodactyl would blast off with incredible speed as the icicles swept through the area it had previously occupied. Growling in response to the unexpected dodge, Tesi began to fire another volley in an attempt to intercept the Aerodactyl while it was going so quickly. There was no way it could possibly manoeuvre as well at the speeds it was currently going at.

Watching the icicles slice through the Pokemon, Tesei was tempted to cheer before the image faded away and replaced with a swarm of Aerodactyl flapping in the air and staring down the Cloyster. “Sorry, but he doesn't go down that easily. Nice effort though. Keep it up and you'll tire out before my food is done.” Zack quipped, a small smirk crossing his face as he watched Reno.

“Might wanna keep that on hold. We don't give up that easily.” Reno retorted, visibly wincing at how weak that response had been. Was the thinner air getting to him or had it just been too high a climb in too short of a time for him? Well, he was left with the simple plan that took all of five seconds to tell Tesei. “Icy Wind. Let's see if we can rout him from this cloud a doubles.”

Nodding before turning his eyes to the enemy, Tesei would inhale a sharp breath before expelling it rapidly, the energy in his body supplying it with snow and ice to send coursing through the air. The response from the Aerodactyl was a reasonable one, in that it and its horde of fakes took off into the air in an effort to evade the wind. Although most of them made it out fine, the lower edge of the cloud of Aerodactyl suffered a few losses and forced their numbers to drop slightly.

Cursing under his breath before looking over to Tesei, he could see the Cloyster was beginning to huff in exertion. Okay, this was actually a good strategy. Annoying as sin, but good. Staring at the Double teamed Aerodactyl, he could hear Tesei already firing yet another attack at the cloud, this time attempting to sweep the center clear of duplicates and hope that the Aerodactyl was hiding out there. While the icicles would pierce the targets, none of them would register pain and instead faded away from existence to reveal a gap in the formation.

Looking to Tesei as he made another growl, Reno would shake his head as he attempted to straighten out his own thoughts. Why did he focus so much on the sound thing? How could sound help them in pinpointing exactly where the Aerodactyl was? The last time sound had affected anything near him, it had been Darmanitan confusing Harleen.

Snapping his vision over to Tesei before raising a single hand, he watched the Cloyster cease the attack it had been prepared to form and fire. “No, Supersonic! Either it lands or we make it crash!” Reno enthusiastically roared out with, finally happy he had found a way out of this insanity.

Perking up at the order, Tesei began to scrape the sides of his shell together and focus the sound waves with energy, the sound eventually turning into a confusing pattern meant to disorient those who heard it. Which is what happened when it finally reached the cloud of Aerodactyls, the flock wincing simultaneously before they all dived for the terrace in an effort to prevent a crash landing on the ground far below. Many of the duplicates would suicidally smash themselves out of existence against the structure before a small group was left, a few with their feet even touching the ground of the terrace. But these clones were still flapping their wings like the rest of the flock, meaning the Aerodactyl was still hidden within the cloud even as the flock began to sway and buckle slightly under the confusion.

Staring once again at the Pokemon, Reno hoped to find another way to end this fight and attempt to conserve Tesei's energy. This high altitude was getting to him, as it seemed he was barely able to keep up with efforts he had done easily on a much lower battlefield. Staring at the ground with this thought, he found one shadow there that was bobbing and weaving in time with the confused Fossil Pokemon. Letting the smirk from earlier return to his face, Reno pointed to one of the specific columns of Aerodactyls before ordering, “Icicle Crash! Sweep out that whole section!”

Watching as a massive hunk of ice manifested itself above the swaying column of Aerodactyl, a look of horror crossed Zach's as he hurriedly fired out another order. “Aerodactyl, Plan B! They got us on this one!” Ceasing the Double Team at the order, the Aerodactyl flew forward in an effort to evade the icicle currently hurtling towards the ground beneath the flying fossil. However, the order would come too late as the icy weapon smashed into the Aerodactyl's tail and divert its charge towards the ground, right where Reno and Tesei were currently situated. “Screw the mastery of fighting style! Stone Edge, Aero! Smash that rock!” Zack roared out with, watching a sheen of rocks and energy form on his Pokemon's head as it began a headlong dive towards Tesei.

“Oh Arceus! Withdraw!” Reno cried out, throwing himself away from the path of destruction that was about to cleaved through the terrace.

Shutting himself inside the fortress referred to as his shell, Tesei felt the impact and began to bounce and roll around the inside of the incredible defensive mechanism. Just because the shell happened to seal itself to prevent easy hits to his soft body did not mean the impacts were meaningless. Tumbling for a moment forebear the sound of scraping rocks and concrete ceased, Tesei cracked open his shell before it would slam down again with the Aerodactyl's jaws sandwiched between the two halves of the shell. Staring at the dark energy currently surrounding the jaw that was perilously close to his body, Tesei began to fire Icicle Spears the short distance in an effort to remove the offending appendage. Roaring at the sudden pain that was being inflicted, the Aerodactyl would throw Tesei at the wall of the tower in a cheap, one move Sky Drop style attack.

Inside the library that they kept on hand for all of their collected information on Hybrids, Channelers, the legends and other pertinent information, would be Leslie as she poured over a strange leather bound book that seemed out of place with the more modern looking library that the Snagems possessed. Across the cracked, ancient looking cover would be a painted on figure of an anvil with a figurehead of a Heatran sitting on top of it. Staring at the ending of the page she had been reading, Leslie turned to her second mouth before nudging the appendage. Snapping to attention and ceasing a slow munch on the snacks that were within its reach, the mouth would nudge its owner back as it gave a small twist to convey questioning.

Nodding to the motion, Leslie would point towards the end of her page and the illustration that sat across from it. “It seems the only known Steel specific trainer that I figure is advanced enough in the art to really help me learn is also the only known man to have created a Channeling connection with a legendary Pokemon. And is forced to keep in the locations his Pokemon lives in unless he wants to be someone's garden decoration." Breathing a sigh before continuing, Leslie said, "Well, at least Vulcan should be the right guy for the job. But how are we gonna find him?"

Placing the book she had managed to find back onto the shelves, the little Hybrid went over to a more modern source of information in a desktop computer and began to search through a database to find out this important information. Hearing a beep and seeing a picture flash up on the screen, Leslie began to study what she had managed to obtain. "Okay, not the exact specific one I was hunting for, but this is certainly good information. The Magma Stone allows for direct contact and calming of...a Heatran? There might be more than one? Well, either way, that sounds exactly how I can find Vulcan without learning to swim in lava." Turning away from the screen, her second mouth began to tug her around until she faced the screen again so it would know where to tap. "What?" She questioned, staring quizzically at the odd gesture. Staring closer at what was being poked, a loud string of curses that shall not be repeated due to censorship issues ensued.

"What the hell! The Magma Stone was stolen in recent times and has never truly been seen by modern people! I thought we had a good lead!" Kicking the desk the computer sat on, the hybrid proceeded to March into the center of the room before sitting down and...pouting at the wall she was facing. Even if she was a hybrid heavy enough to smash through a few weighty objects, she was still a little girl. As Leslie sat there, waiting for the world to try answering her anger with a solution to use, a hologram would materialize in the room to stare at whoever had been kicking the technology.

GRAY would give a small sigh as he saw the perpetrator sitting in the middle of the room like a four year old. Why was it whenever there seemed to be a major issue involving technology, it was Leslie or her Porygon causing it? Removing himself from those odd thoughts, the AI would give a cough through the speakers in the room before speaking up to the temperamental hybrid. “Hello there. Would you mind not trying to break anything in this room unless you feel willing to replace it? I helped create it, so I feel responsible for how its going to be tended to.”

The snide chiding of the AI would lead Leslie to growl at the speakers nearby before stomping off towards the exit out of the room, purposefully knocking into the computer desk again in some effort to spite GRAY. Watching the girl leave in her huff, the AI turned his processing power to the computer that he knew the girl had been working at and began to review the logs of what it had precisely been searching.

'The Magma Stone? Attempting to get a Heatran and disappointed over some inability to have ease of control over the legendary Pokemon. Typical little girl, no self control or temperament when she can't get the shiny new toy.' Scoffing at his determined solution to whatever it was that had caused Leslie's reaction to his presence today, GRAY was prepared to direct his attention back to his usual tending of Snagem when a bit of security footage caught his eye as it was being stored away. Examining the footage of the library as he saw Leslie with the book she had been reading, GRAY began to place together some ideas.

'Hmm. She is hunting down a trainer for her condition. Finally going to try and get a hold of her skills instead of continuing her hilarious and ineffective rampages that she calls battling. But again, she has the reactions of an over-emotional toddler, so it seems like she won't be a good person to talk to for a while.' The AI kept this thought process open as it began to search through the information it possessed, still attempting to coordinate a greater explanation for the volatile reactions out of Leslie lately. Of course, it was only within good sense to keep a look out for possible instability within Snagem, especially given their record with members during their less than well states.
-
Crashing through the main lobby of the cafe and bursting into the streets, Leslie snarled at the passer-bys who seemed to be staring at the spectacle before she began to stubbornly walk in any direction, attempting to either clear her head or find something to take out her aggression on. What she encountered instead was Aria, leaving a music store with a bag on her hand and a sly grin on her face. Continuing with her scowl and walk, the hybrid would be halted as the guitarist grabbed her by the growth from her head and began to haul her back.

Staring down the little girl, Aria scrunched up her face slightly before nodding. “Okay, I know that it isn’t just me now. So whats wrong, short stuff? Or is this another thing you won't explain where I just get it after you leave?” Letting the question hang as she began to stare down the smaller girl, Aria felt her begin to squirm and scowl.

“Let go of me! I have a bad enough day and your needless teasing is just gonna make it worse!” Leslie said, struggling her way out of Aria's grip in an effort to continue trudging down the street. She was going to have her moment to vent this, and she was not going to let Aria somehow make this any worse than it already was.

Scoffing at the efforts, Aria kept her grip on the girl's second mouth, and attempted to hold them both still. “Oh no. We are not letting you go off grumpy and homicidal today, you little brat. You are going to stay down until you stop looking like the next person to speak to you will end up eaten.”

“BRAT!? Aria, go the hell away before I try what you recommended!”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I will just let the mature little girl who can barely control her emotions rampage across town. Oh yeah, that sounds brilliant.” Glaring at the hybrid in her grasp as she spoke, Aria kept careful to keep the bag from taking any damages. She went out to get a gift, not have it be wrecked wrangling an unruly hybrid.

“That's it, you meanie!” Leslie roared out, snapping out of Aria's grip before turning around to charge at the guitarist. Her second mouth would swing itself up to assist, attempting to n** and bite at the annoyance that had been troubling them. It would not be surviving this encounter.

Watching the charging little girl, Aria blinked a few times before casually sidestepping the attempt to run her down, watching the uncoordinated hybrid go surging past before crashing into the floor. “Glad to see you aren't letting your emotions take you on autopilot and make sure you can't fight. Otherwise, the mildly uncoordinated girl who just dodged your attack would be a real slap in the face for how much you suck and not just be a fluke.” Snorting at Leslie before turning on her heels, Aria would glance over her shoulder before adding to her current bout of verbal accosting. “Sorry if I come off a little cruel, but when someone is like this, a slap in the face is way more effective than quiet words.”

Laying on the ground with her face firmly planted into the rocks that made up the path, Leslie would slowly turn over to stare at the sky for a moment. Why was she so stupid to have thought that her angry would somehow make her a better fighter? It hadn't worked against Toren, so it wasn't going to work here. Continuing on with her stream of self-deprecation over her own bursts of senseless aggression, she would pulled away from her thoughts by the sound of a beeping that went on insistently for a while as the little girl simply laid on the ground staring around for the source of the noise.

Unable to find whatever seemed to be causing this strange noise, the hybrid would lay down for a moment before a burst of static erupted from her pocket. “I know you're there, brat. Your SNAG isn't moving and I can see you on the local cameras, so start speaking up before I change my mind.” GRAY announced to the hybrid, an audible tapping somehow emitting from her SNAG.

Scowling before activating the device and finding the large holographic eye staring her down, Leslie motioned the AI onward for whatever the hell he wanted.

Scoffing at the attitude he was getting from Leslie, GRAY waited a moment for an apology before giving up at getting that sort of a gesture from the girl. “Well, while you went off on your little temper tantrum rampage that I am currently attempting to suppress before it might go viral, I did the research you should have continued doing.”

“Wait! What did you end up finding? Because I really need that information!” Leslie pleaded, staring down the hologram as she attempted to somehow convince the AI with her shift in attitude. Staring down the girl for a while, GRAY said nothing until a small bit of script passed underneath his little hologram.

“There we go. Now you have what I managed to put together for this insane idea that you most likely got from the book you were reading. “ GRAY told the girl, quietly watching as she began to read through the data he had collected and noting the mild shock as she finished up reading the data. There would be a singular moment as the hybrid stared at the hologram, unable to speak until she managed to locate some idea to use for this one.

Stammering out her reply, Leslie told GRAY, “You want me to travel the world, grab lava from three volcanoes, and then make it into a rock at a fourth to summon and control a Heatran and see if we get it right? This sounds completely insane and I run around with...he who shall not be named most of the time and those plans barely come together. Actually, considering they do work still, I'll try it.”

“Well, at least you saw it had something to it. But this is all I can offer to help you, since I'm not even precisely sure if this is an accurate source. And if you dare repeat the fact that I somehow do not know everything on a subject even this obscure, I can and will bring up the blackmail I have on you. I may be helping tend to your training, but that is not stopping me from keeping anything beyond what only I can do to myself. Now go, have fun. Get a Fire type to store your lava. And try not to die. I can barely deal with Reno on a normal day. Without you around, I seriously doubt it will get better.”

GRAY cut off the transmission before he was forced to hear some rant over Reno's current situation with Leslie. He died for a minute, left for a while, and came back. She kept acting like this had somehow been some master plan by Reno to cause this sort of a situation and was prepared to kill him over it. Couldn’t she just headbutt the idiot and have it over with? Refocusing onto the other mindless tasks required to prevent the HQ and other Snagems from imploding, GRAY felt he had given enough to Leslie to get her working.

-----

Finished with her minor explosion of emotion and extreme violence towards everything in the general area, Leslie settled down enough to focus on what exactly she was gonna do for this adventure. Okay, she was gonna start in Hoenn for this adventure. It was the closest of the places she needed to go and it would offer a good place to move from to find the next volcano. Opening one of her Pokeballs to reveal Mauri, she mounted the Fearow and they slowly began to fly away from the location for the island nation of Hoenn and its mysterious Mount Chimney for her first stop.

----

Landing around the midpoint of the climb up the mountain, Leslie found herself just outside where any of the trainers who dared to scale the mountain might ever find themselves. And she couldn't see the problem, all it felt to her was a little warm and she was even beginning to feel a little more limber. She hadn’t felt this good in months, it was almost like she going back to how her skin used to be with it not driving her muscles insane by almost crushing them. Slowly beginning to stretch herself out on the side of the mountain, the small hybrid stared up the hill at her target. Well, it wasn't the lava but it was a nice Torkoal perched near the lip of the volcano. Givign a small smirk as she simply began to walk up the mountain towards the Pokemon, the young hybrid forgot to calculate one thing: other Pokemon. Beneath her feet, the ground began to open up and detonate as the Gravelers buried beneath the rock took offence to her landing location.

Scrambling away from the explosions occurring on the ground, Leslie weaved left and right as the rocks from the explosions began to fire at her, along with the occasional attack from a Grvaeler who decided exploding was not the real plan of action. Sliding into cover behind a larger rock that sat on the mountainside, the Mawile hybrid began to debate her options. While she could use her newfound limberness and slight speed gain to try and just rush through, she would hit a snag as soon as she had to catch the Torkoal considering the thing was not likely to come quietly. The other idea of standing her ground and fighting her way past the Gravelers was unlikely to work either, unless the repeated detonations ceased some time soon. Of course, she could always just keep herself hidden behind the rock she was using for cover. The one she hadn't seen earlier. One that almost seemed to be moving now that she was paying attention to it. Oh hell.

Diving away from the Graveler, Leslie felt herself have a strange feeling in midair. It almost felt like she was losing the flexibility she had just found herself with. But there was no time to concentrate on what her instincts had caused, as the Graveler began to roll down the mountainside towards her, the Rollout quickly gaining speed as it advanced down the hill towards her. Scrambling backwards on her hands and knees for a moment to get some distance from the advancing rock, Leslie managed to stumble onto her feet and begin to rush down even as she lost ground to her opponent's rolling attack. Looking up to the sky, she managed to spot Mauri still circling the area even as panic over the Graveler began to set in.

“Oh hell! Gotta run faster! Gonna run faster!” Leslie shouted as she looked over her shoulder and saw the Graveler close enough for her to touch it. Closing her eyes and giving a small shiver before she made any moves, the tiny hybrid gave a mighty leap in an effort to get the Graveler to pass by underneath her. Which succeeded for her legs clearing the spinning ball of death. What didn't clear the Graveler was the second mouth, snagging on some of the spinning bumps and sending Leslie crashing into the ground as she was thrown by the sudden reversal.

Smashing into the ground and feeling only slight soreness from the impact, Leslie glanced to the Graveler as it continued past and began to turn around to smash into her again. Snapping her eyes up to Mauri, she shouted out her orders. “Drill Run! Stop it before I'm roadkill!” Continuing her stumbling rush away from the Graveler, she watched as her Fearow dove past her in a spiralling dive to meet her pursuer.

The two Pokemon would meet in a duel of rotational assault, the two attackers chipping away at each other with their continued spinning and impacts on each other. Mauri would eventually grind his way up and free of the rotating body of the Graveler, spiralling back up into the air before looping around to fly in the air near her trainer.

Snapping out of the Rollout to glare up at the Fearow, the Graveler went with an odd strategy for its next attack. Leaping into the air and slamming into the ground, the Graveler unleashed an Earthquake attack across the mountain. Prepared to laugh at the idiotic move from the Rock type, Leslie was stopped by two things. First was the obvious shaking and tossing she was currently experiencing herself. The second was the more unique reaction of the land: jets of lava firing out of the cracks now forming across the ground at Mauri.

Due to the sheer shock of lava firing out of the ground from a completely unrelated attack, Mauri had no chance to dodge the initial volley of liquid death. Falling out of the air with her body still shaking off bits of lava, Mauri ended up attempting her own interesting strategy. Analyzing how the Graveler had impacted the ground to cause such an effect, the Fearow dove towards the ground faster to allow the Mirror Move a chance to work.

Piercing the ground with her pointed peak, the earth began to heave and swell once again in response to the energy currently being pumped into it by Mauri. Much as it had done before, the gooey flame-causing center of the volcano would fire out of the cracks created by the increased motion of the mountainside. Unlike when the Graveler did it, the projected lava would fire off in every direction instead of in a focused path towards the opponent.

Diving away from the landing spot of a large glob of lava, Leslie began to breathe rapidly as she scrambled to avoid any other backlash from the ensuing battle between Mauri and the Graveler. Well, previously ensuing as she could now see. The lava that had been projected had not managed to obliterate the Graveler, but it had sent the Pokemon rolling down the mountain on a river of lava. Giving a cheer over the fortunate bit of luck, the hybrid looked up Mount Chimney in an effort to relocate the Torkoal she had spotted earlier. Staring across the explosion torn wasteland she had left behind and the lava-drenched patches of land, she managed to locate the sturdy looking hunk of black rock down the mountain from where it had originally been sitting, looking tossed from the repeat Earthquakes and explosions that had rocked the volcano in the last few minutes.

Beginning her slow and deliberately drawn out walk to claim her prize from the minor disaster she had been involved in, the Mawile hybrid felt the ground beneath her begin to shake once again, this time with the added effect of the lava she could barely see near the top of the volcano bubbling and tossing clear out of the top of the mountain in flaming arcs that spread the deadly substance across more of the area.

And in the midst of an image that would not look out of place on the cover of a heavy metal album, was the screaming form of Leslie as she sprinted around the rivers of lava that continued to spontaneously sprout up. “Why do bad things happen to good people?! All I wanted was a Torkoal, not a natural disaster trying to kill me! This is the worst day ever, of all time!” While panicked screaming really showed the age of the hybrid currently trying to traverse over to where she remembered the Torkoal being, the next moment would show her less feminine side. Having managed to reach where it had been, she instead found yet another river of lava flowing down the mountain with the Pokemon casually floating down it.

Staring down at the floating away Torkoal, Leslie simply stared down the mountain with her jaw almost brushing the floor. “Aw hell. Not this. Mauri, throw me to that dumb rock please. Otherwise, i think the thing might learn to fly next.” Leslie defeatedly announced, staring at the ground for a moment before sending her arm firing up as high as she could reach. Soon, a pair of claws would wrap around the arm and send the small hybrid flying through the air to land....in the lava. Letting out a shrill shriek in fear of her fate, the Mawile hybrid would soon feel and see Mauri's talons wrapping around her again, tossing her up into the air again and sending her further down the mountain towards her target. Getting caught once again by the Fearow and sent flying a few more times, she was soon above the Torkoal as they drew closer to the bottom of the volcano side and Mauri began to fade out.

“Okay! Drop me now!” Leslie shouted, hoping her orders would be heard over the whipping wind and the fact her Fearow was almost unconscious at this point.

Leslie would find herself suddenly dropped a few seconds after her order, after she had given up on Mauri hearing anything. Letting out another sharp screech before she slammed into the Torkoal. Looking up into the sky where Mauri was currently sitting, the Fearow was crashing towards the ground or at least what used to be ground. Fumbling through her clothes before finally pulling out Mauri's Pokeball, she returned the massive bird before it accidentally incinerated itself. Looking down to her new steed and the lazy look it was currently giving her, the little girl would give a small sigh before laying back across the shell. Her second mouth would probe around for any sign of danger or food before resting like the person it was attached to.

When they hit the ground, the Torkoal was barely bothered by the impact, registering it more as a reason to remain awake. Leslie, however, felt it more as the sheer sudden stop and attempt to buck her off that it happened to be. Flailing in midair as she attempted to right herself, she felt her body reflexively harden and send her crashing back into the Torkoal with a fair amount of force, grinding their flow along the lava to a halt and rendering the poor Torkoal to near-unconsciousness.

Quietly hopping off the Torkoal's back before opening a new Pokeball to capture the thing, Leslie felt quite panicked now. She had just caused a natural disaster and that was only step one on this plan. What could be next?

-

Having managed to find herself a ride to get away from any pesky investigators looking for causes to the eruption and finally travelling across the ocean to Sinnoh in order to reach Stark Mountain. While this was the traditional home of a Heatran, it was unlikely to be the one she needed. Finishing her long walk to the volcano, Leslie stared up at the strange thing before noticing the main path had been blocked off by some police vehicles. Quietly sliding up against one of the vehicles next to a pair of cops, the hybrid began to listen to two of the debating cops.

“What do you mean the Skarmory are going crazy?” One of the gruffer sounding cops asked, staring at his younger partner with a glare.

“What I said, man. Something happened and now there are a swarm of Skarmory all over the inside of the volcano.” The other cop drawled out, almost sounding half asleep as he spoke to his superior.

“Think it might have somethin' to do with that eruption over in Kanto?” The gruff cop enquired, shooting another glance over to his partner.

“I'm thinking they don't pay us enough. Let's go check out the rest of the place.” The tired-sounding cop told his partner, the two beginning to walk around the car to let Leslie see them. One had a fair-sized black beard, while his partner had scruffy brown hair. They were both dressed up in dress pants, ties, and suspenders with large aviator sunglasses covering their eyes. And, Leslie noted, they waved their arms around a lot while they spoke and did so while holding a nice grip on what looked like guns. Wow, Sinnoh cops were reckless about this stuff.

Quietly creeping away from the car to start her own trek to the top of the volcano, Leslie would find herself reaching the top much quicker than she had expected. It had been a ten minute walk up for this mountaintop here. Was the whole area just that high above coastal level that this higher up rocky hill was a mountain now? Well, she had reached the rim of the volcano and could see the lava...as least what was visible through the mass of Skarmory currently swooping and flying around the inside of Stark Mountain.

Well, there was only one way to get this lava from the bottom easily and it involved dropping a lethargic rock like the...rock it was. Normally she would try to make up a better metaphor, but she was mildly angry and a little girl. No one was looking to her literary skills extending to her plans and thoughts at the moment. Quietly opening the new Pokeball to stare down her Torkoal, the hybrid gave her commands. “Jump down the volcano and collect some lava. And for the love of Arceus, keep some lava from Mount Chimney in you otherwise we start all over.”

Giving a dopey yawn before stumbling up towards the lip of the volcano before simply rolling off the edge and falling straight through the flock of Skarmory and splashing into the lava. Staring down and attempting to return the Pokemon, she soon found it wasn't working. Shaking the capture device before holding it further down the volcano, Leslie began to mutter a string of curses at the infernal device.

“Whoa! Easy there! No need to curse out the flawed technology!” A voice cried out as the sound of heavy footsteps came rushing closer to her. Turning to face her new intruder, with her second mouth growling at their target, Leslie found herself face to face with a thin, young man with green hair plastered across his head. “I never knew such a little girl could know so many curse words. So what the heck are you trying to do?” He questioned, a small huff coming from what she assumed was the exertion to run up to here.

“Doing something a little weird for...an experiment. I need to collect lava from all of the volcanoes in the heavily explored world to compare and contrast their elements. It's....uh....to try and see if something in it determines the Pokemon in their area.” Leslie stuttered out, barely managing the semi-coherent explanation before resuming her attempts to return her new Torkoal.

“You realize that those things have limited range, right? You are probably gonna have to climb down and grab your Torkoal there.” The man added, staring down the volcano at the slowly moving dark blob in the lava.

Feeling mildly suspicious with the accuracy of his knowing her Pokemon from so far away. “Hey, what's your name again? You never seemed to have mentioned it to me.” Leslie said, her second mouth beginning to snake closer to their new intruder.

“Name's Romulus. Odd name, I know but my mom watches a little too much TV for her own good.” The young man quickly replied with, eyes darting back to the volcano to stare down once more.

Not finished with her questions towards the strange man, she kept up the subtle pressure of her questioning. “So, Romulus, how the hell did you know it's a Torkoal from so far away, through a flock of Skarmory? Straight answer or else I kick you into the volcano.” Subtle.

Raising his hands defensively as he backed away from the threatening Hybrid, Romulus gave a tense response. “Just because you didn't see me doesn't mean I didn't see that thing plummet into the lava ocean. Plus that's the only Pokemon I know that could still be alive and make a splash like that.”

“You win this round. Now I'm going to go down after my Torkoal. If you are still up here when I get back, I might be likely to fry you alive.” Leslie casually said to her new friend, grabbing out two Pokeballs as she continued to stare down at her new target. Behind her, Romulus would quietly back away to leave the crazy hybrid alone.

Out of the two Pokeballs, Leslie would find herself staring down her Bulbasaur and her Doublade, one looking cooperative and the other staring her down like she spit on his grave. I dare you to make guesses on which is which. Casually placing Willow in her back before carefully tying two of her vines around her waist to keep the Bulbasaur securely in place. “Gimme two vines that I can use for grappling, Willow.” Leslie commanded, feeling to vines snake up along her arm to rest near her wrist. Turning to face down Chulainn, she saw the Doublade already preparing to wrap around her arms and go for the soul sucking thing.

“You are going to cooperate or I'm going to drop you in the lava, you sadistic piece of weaponry. Are we clear?” Leslie questioned Chualinn. And watched as the dual swords made another motion to grab Leslie's arm with the tassells. Thrusting her arm forward and watching the Vine Whip wrap around the Doublade, Leslie swung the swords over the mouth of the volcano before they made to cut the vine.

And with the persuasive argument of impending destruction and a need to make the thing cooperate with her, Chulainn would offer a screech of bitter agreement as he was hauled back up to where Leslie was. Placing the scabbards on her back before feeling one of tassells wrap around her currently clothing covered torso, the hybrid walked back up to the edge of the mouth of the volcano before leaping at the swarm of Skarmory. It was homage time, damnit, and this was going to be her best plan with Mauri out of commission.

Diving into the open mouth of the volcano, Leslie would simply watch as she began to quickly rush chunks of rock extending from the wall that she used to figure out a possible escape route. While she was not focused on the swarm of Skarmory below her, the metallic Pokemon were indeed focused upon the falling hybrid with her odd habit of wearing Pokemon. Beginning to swoop and dive at the plummeting hybrid, Leslie would soon find herself being knocked around by Gusts and Steel Wings, the attacks sending her bouncing off of the walls she had been speeding past and grinding against them. Reflexively tightening her muscles before impact and somehow actually feeling the injuries seem less severe, Leslie would extend her left hand and fire out a vine, hooking into the opposite wall before swinging away from her avian adversaries. Firing the vine from her right hand up higher into the volcano, Leslie would soon find herself flying past the Skarmory previously attacking her.

Gripping down tightly onto Chulainn, she could cry out, “Sacred Sword”, before spinning herself in a circle to slash at the flock of Skarmory. The birds would cry out in pain as the two ghost swords smashed into their bodies, sending them flying away from the hybrid as she began her descent towards the center of the volcano again. Giving a small laugh as she found herself going past the scattered Skarmorys, Leslie found herself in the middle of falling strips of metal that seemed mildly out of place.

From above, the Skarmorys would return with a massive increase in speed as their Automotizes took effect and increased their speed. Flailing her arms in an attempt to send the much more agile steel types away from herself, Leslie would only succeed in leaving her two Pokemon exposed to the assaulting wildlife that took the welcomed openings. Willow would cower and attempt to avoid the swooping birds, but was unable to avoid the flurry of Air Slashes that came streaking into her location fully. The attacks would cause her to cry out in pain, soon mimicked by Chulainn as the Skarmorys came in with a stream of Night Slashes that made the twin swords begin screaming with agony.

The Metal Noise would cause the avians to yell in pain as the high pitched noise pierced their ears and sent them flying away from Leslie and her Pokemon in order to reorient themselves momentarily. Taking the welcomed relief to allow herself to drop down to the bottom of the volcano, Leslie would wait until she was fifty feet above a small rock outcropping before firing a vine up to the rocks in the narrow tube she had just plummeted down. Slowly dropping onto her designated platform, Leslie felt herself relax and begin to loosen up as she reached into her bag and retrieved the Torkoal's Pokeball. “Come over here, you lethargic turtle! We're busting out of here!” The Mawile hybrid bellowed at her recent capture, her second mouth giving a quick snap in response to its master's aggression.

The Torkoal, true to its own personality, would simply spin around in the new lava it had found with a dopey smile on its face before Leslie calmly and carefully slapped herself in the face like she might punch Reno in the recent future. “Arceus damn it! I want out of here before I turn into crazy birdie chow!” Leslie commanded, fed up with the Torkoal's gallivanting as she once again attempted to use the Pokeball to return the Fire type.

Unlike her previous attempts to return the massive stone tortoise from up at the lip of the volcano, the Pokeball would quickly encase the Torkoal and return it to the Pokeball and leave her alone on her nice rock. Looking down, she soon changed that note to her nice sinking rock as she watched the lava begin to slowly rise up underneath her and scale up towards her feet. Looking to Chulainn in order to prepare for her run back up the volcano, she found the Doublade unconscious and simply hanging there by her hands. Returning the Pokemon and staring around her current location, Leslie began to attempt working out a new plan.

“Okay, I have a few seconds to figure this out. I am at the bottom of the volcano with no flier to easily escape the place, a horde of Skarmorys between me and the outside world, and a lot of thick skull to use. Well, let's just try going back up the way I came. All I got, it seems.” Leslie debated, slowly feeling the heat begin to rise as she felt her shoes begin to heat up before her feet finally registered the fact that they had been incinerated and her feet were about to touch the lava. Leaping with a yelp as she realized her mistake on timing, Leslie thrust one of her arms skyward and watched as one of Willow's vines snapped towards one of the rocks and wrapped around it. Watching the vine stretch and heave as it took her massive weight, Leslie began to have the inklings of an idea as the vine began to be retracted by Willow.

Jerking her connected arm sharply and watching as it catapulted her into the air, Leslie would finally find herself with a full idea as the vine gave her a slight bungee effect. “Release the connected vine, Willow! Then, I need both of them at once high up!” Leslie ordered, feeling the vine slip away from the rock as she reached the apex of her vine-powered jump before she thrust both of her arms into the air. Twin vines would send themselves streaming much higher up the volcano than Leslie had been aiming for before. In fact, it was high enough to bait the Skarmory flock that she had sent fleeing earlier into spearing dives that aimed to spear her.

“Why can't things ever go right for one moment with me. There goes banking on an opening.” Leslie muttered to herself, watching as she began to accelerate extremely quickly towards the swarm of pointy, metallic birds. “Oh Arceus, how am I gonna get through this. It's not like weigh a...whole....lot. And haven't I been hardening up a lot before impacts? I dunno why, but I guess I'll trust hunch. Time to keep flying! Oh Arceus, I'm gonna die!” Leslie went on her wave of a thought pattern with equal parts glee and fear as she continued to speed up and draw closer to the Skarmorys, zipping past where she had anchored the two vines.

Watching as the pieces of plant life released themselves from the wall, Leslie quickly hit the button on Willow's Pokeball before curling up into a ball with a small yelp of fear. Feeling her skin begin to harden up and lose the flexibility she kept ending up with every time she got close to these intense heats. Forcing her second mouth to tuck in as she could almost sense the impact about to occur, Leslie gave one final yelp in fear.

What would transpire next would be the equivalent of a bowling ball smashing into a set of pins. A set of razor sharp, flying pins that wished to murder the bowling ball out of pure spite. Okay, this metaphor has obviously gotten out of control but it was no less accurate as Leslie instinctively hardened herself into a steel ball that crashed through the flock of Skarmory with little resistance. Hearing the few squacks of pain and shock from the Flying types as the impact registered for her, the Mawile hybrid would let her momentum carry her up higher until she felt like she had reached her peak, and she unraveled herself to see she was now just slowly rising up out of the volcano.

A hand would reach out and grab hers before she was dragged up onto the ground that sat at the mouth of the volcano, a shock of green hair alerting her to her helper's identity. “Romulus. Thank you for helping. Now let go of my hand before you lose the whole arm.” Leslie calmly threatened, her second mouth slithering up to n** away at Romulus' left hand before it bounced off of something metallic. The arm would quickly yank away, revealing a small metallic bangle with two dents in it from the Mawile mouth's bite.

“Okay, easy there. No need to lop off my good arm. What did righty ever do to you anyways?” Romulus protested, shaking the arm before the bangle slipped up his arm and into his shirt sleeve, the piece of jewelry visibly snagging up the sleeve.

“Now, talk. Why are you still here?” Leslie growled out, attempting to steady herself to stare down the green haired boy before she ended up looking down to the ground in exhaustion. This was her halfway point for volcano hunts and it was already beginning to take a real toll out on her. Maybe she could con some help out of the guy in front of her after she figured out his game.

Raising his arms again defensively before noticing where the bangle had ended up, the man began to fumble in an effort to remove it before ending up with the whole shirt sleeve wrapped into a tight ball around the single snag to his dismay. Shaking his right arm for a moment before realizing maybe he should answer the crazy hybrid that was now beginning to step closer, Romulus sputtered out an answer. “Look! I'm a Pokemon Ranger, okay? I came out here to try and solve the issue with the Skarmory flock going nuts when you interrupted me up here! I hid and waited to see if you were the cause before I approached, then I watched your acrobatic assault to get to your Pokemon. I figured you were safe, so I decided to help you the best I could! Are you happy now, Blondie, or do I need to show off my credentials?”

Glaring at the supposed Pokemon Ranger in front of her, Leslie would give it a few seconds before she saw her opportunity to demand a ride. “Well, I'll believe. IF, and only if, you manage to get me a flier to take me across to Mount Ember. Otherwise, you're just some crazy who I think needs to learn some manners.” The little girl threatened, attempting to get her second mouth to snap down in emphasis to the point.

And while the jaws did indeed snap down, it was on their owner's leg where they decided to come down on. Leaping into the air with a yelp of pain before smacking the useless appendage, Leslie would stare down at her feet while she listened to the Pokemon Ranger laugh his heart out at her attempt to intimidate.

“Oh! Oh Arceus! That was just precious! All that fluster and bluster, and then WHAM! I wish I had been able to record that one, that was classic!” Romulus crowed, bent at the knees and holding himself back from completely collapsing into hysterics. Taking moment to simply let the laughter run its course, the Ranger would take a deep breath before whistling into the air. From the nearby trees would fly in another Skarmory with a markedly different wing design than the ones Leslie had been bashing on her way through the volcano.

Gesturing to the Skarmory, Romulus would tell her. “Here is your ride. Used my Styler on the guy earlier today in case I needed a quick escape, but using him to prove a spunky little kid wrong about her assumption works just as well. Alright, go to Mount Ember and do...whatever it is you're doing. I'll stay here and try to control the mess you left in your wake.”

Giving another cold stare to the Pokemon Ranger, the little Mawile hybrid would board her new metallic steed before looking over to Romulus. “And you're sure that this thing isn't gonna throw me off halfway across?” She said pensively, staring at the Skarmory and attempting to get it to do something to prove her paranoia right.

“I promise. It'll give you a ride worthy of legends.” Romulus told her, placing a weighty hand on her shoulder before giving it a hard pat. “Now, be off. I can explain myself being here if anyone else shows up. The small hybrid who looks and smells like the inside of the volcano might be another story.”

Giving the bird a push to get it moving, Romulus would turn back to the volcano to examine the likely Sawsbuck-wild flock of Skarmory Leslie had left behind. And he would be greeted to the sight of some ornery looking Skarmory, as they began to fly back into their nests and settled down to rest from the duel they had just fought. “Hmm. Interesting. Might have to get that one checked out.” He commented, scratching his chin in pondering.

---

Watching the oceans coursing beneath her, Leslie would find herself left to her own thoughts for a moment. She was lucky to have really survived the first trip through the volcano side and the eruption she ahd accidentally caused, but this last one had almost been prepared for her to hit it like she had and had tried to eliminate her ways to escape the flock on her way back up. Heck, they almost seemed to have focused in on her two Pokemon she had out. She was lucky that they had only taken out Chulainn or else she might have had to really get creative.

But with this strange idea would come a new set of thoughts, like how a volcano managed to direct the Pokemon living in it to assault her like they had. Was there some kind of sentience to it that she didn't know about? There had been that Earth Elemental thing from the bizarro universe place they had been sent to. Maybe it was something like that. Nah, that was stupid but something seemed to be in control of something around here.

Her train of thought would be quickly derailed as she finally saw the island she had been aiming for and the massive volcano that she knew would contain her next prize in her quest to locate a Steel master who could actually handle this stuff. Watching the mountain as it grew closer, the Mawile hybrid would begin to notice a strange collection of people walking up the thing, gathering around the mouth of the volcano for some reason. The sound of some indiscernible chant would begin to echo through the air as their numbers surrounding the volcano began to grow. Looked like Stark Mountain wasn't been the only place to be getting strange reactions to their volcano today either.