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“Yeah, sorry, but fu-u-u-u-u-u-u-uck sneaking in.” Tsuki said, catching up from behind. He had his Magby put in her Pokeball, just to avoid a stray Capture Stylus in case of an ambush. Breathing in the hot volcano air, he nodded like he agreed with the weather. This felt like home, like Cinnabar Island. As much as this was Team Dim Sun’s home turf, he felt like he was in his own here now and that meant playing hard and fast. Thankfully he had dressed for being active, so nothing he had on would make him overheat faster.

“And I dunno what has got y’all all worked up, this weather is GREAT, right Monique?” Tsuki asked, looking around for his alolan friend. Surely, she also had to enjoy this too? But it was like the errant fire chi of the volcano invigorated him a bit, as if the cathartic sounding mission wasn’t enough to put some pep in his step.

Tsuki didn’t know what happened in Citadark, but by how he felt right now in this moment, his expectations were definitely far from how that situation had apparently went. “So we either break or take the Gem? Play hot potato with a rock and break anything that looks expensive along the way?” He checked, sending out his Flygon to hop on and give chase after where he saw Sub flying off to. If they needed these three Tears of Princes, it’d stand to reason destroying even one of them would seriously hamper the damage they could do. So any following action besides “break s**t” was to keep an eye and ear out for information regarding the other two Tears.

—

The zoned out faces of the Pokemon living in the volcano bothered Tsuki. It was like they were waiting for something to come in and observe them first, so that they’d have a target to attack. He shuddered and weaved past a Lairon while flying further in atop Terra. attacking them felt wrong, especially so close to Dim Sun. Why spend energy taking them out? They lived here! Better to focus on going after the humans who were making things more difficult for them.

With the mining equipment and spare tools lying around, it was readily apparent that it was going to be time to fight soon. Time for a year’s worth of training to either be paid off or be shown to be worth for nothing. Honestly, the possibility did bother Tsuki. He didn’t want to have wasted something like this, it would be heartbreaking.

The rumbling of the volcano bothered him too, Tsuki decided. That couldn’t have been natural and if it was they were in incredible danger- it meant it was close to erupting. No amount of fire channeling could help with that.

At the first sign of an aftershock, Ogerpon looked up at Darts, gemstone teardrops glittering in the light of the magma inside the volcano. "Pon pon." She said, solemnly. The earth is angered. It does not brook fools.

"Yeah you're telling me." Darts muttered, as they followed the group of Snagems deeper inside. "If you're so in touch with the earth, does it have any kind of indication how close this volcano is to blowing?"

"Poon, pyo pon. Pyon graah pon." The planet does not so easily whisper its secrets, Just Darts. If I had to hazard a guess though, sooner rather than later.

"Kind of like I figured. Alright, let's try and hustle then." The jacketed gambler and apprentice would split off from the others, planning to isolate and take out their fair share of Dim Sun Grunts if they were able. It wasn't hard to spot them, black blips toiling against the red glow of the lava.

"Man... why are we working like this?" The first Grunt asked, wiping some sweat off his brow, readjusting his black beanie cap. "Seems like they're pushing us double time, and we have to wear the hat too? It's miserable in here..." He picks up the pickaxe again, swinging it against the rock again with a clack.

"Yeah, yeah.... You think you have it bad?" The female Grunt next to him blows a little of her curly blonde hair out of her face, huffing as she leveraged the pickaxe. "My makeup is running into my eyes, it's so brutal... I'm going to be a mess when I go pick up my kids from school la-" Her voice cut off mid-sentence as she turned to see the Giratina hybrid looming behind the first Grunt, dropping the pickaxe as she took a couple steps backwards.

"Howdy." Darts says conversationally, leaning on the shoulder of the slightly shorter Dim Sun grunt. "I'd advise a family woman such as yourself to make better career choices when it comes to day-to-day living. But who am I to judge? I haven't had a job, ever."

"S-s-" The grunt he's leaning on stutters, eyes bulging out of his head as he turns towards the hybrid using him for support. "Snagem. You're not supposed to be here. We were supposed to be done before you all showed up."

"Yeah, well, we have that annoying habit of showing up when we're least expected. It's how we do what we do so well. Also. I've got some other advice, most specifically for you." He points a golden hand over towards the female grunt. She flinches, as if expecting a laser beam to come out of his finger and cut her in half. "You're going to be late picking up your kids."

"Wha-" Doomed to be cut off mid sentence twice, there's a wet 'thwop' as Ogerpon wallops her in the temple from behind with her type-changed Ivy Cudgel, the watery baton sending her sprawling unconscious.

"Arceus, you didn't have to hit her that hard..." Darts comments, a little flare of Outrage in his shoulder as he knocks the other Grunt on the head with a rap of his knuckles, sending him to unconsciousness right beside his digmate. "We're going to be responsible for a whole generation of CTE at this point."

"Po po pyon." They have stepped onto the field of battle. They are lucky we spare their lives. "Pon, po pon?" What is 'CTE'?

"I'll explain it later, here come some more." He gestures over Ogerpon's shoulder, taking a half step forwards to intercept the pickaxe coming down aimed at the Masked Pokemon's head, deflecting it to the side with a swipe of his hands and following up with a gilded headbutt that probably did more than give the grunt CTE, breaking the man's nose as they attempted to assassinate his apprentice.

Ogerpon follows on Darts' heels, fully immersed in the flowing style characterized by the Wellspring Mask as they fight their way through the groups of Grunts charging them. Whatever they had undergone in the year prior, despite their clashing personality styles, they fought now together as a singular unit. The Pokemon would utilize Darts' broad frame to smoothly move across and gain momentum, rocketing back and forth between targets as it bounced off his jacket, its Ivy Cudgel striking out with splashes of water with every blow as the Snagem followed up behind her, precise Outrage-fueled punches sending Grunts sprawling left and right, cleaning up the few that Ogerpon had managed to tag but not knock out.

"Little bit sloppy, oh masked one." he comments to his Pokemon, tossing one of the black-clad Grunts over his shoulder as they charged him head-on, an interesting strategy that most definitely didn't pay off.

"Graaaah! Pon pyon!" You're one to talk, Just Darts, your movement is like a child lost in the woods! She deflects an oncoming pickaxe with Spiky Shield, a transparent green membrane breaking the mining tool before she spins, two vines whipping out to sweep the legs out from under the grunt with a precise Power Whip as she rotates. They were determined to be the vanguard on the front lines, and they press inwards towards the center of the volcano as they keep fighting.

With the team making their way in, they would attempt to fan out, taking their own routes to make sure that no one escaped them, bearing in mind of keeping their weapon in mind so Snagem can keep their countermeasures at the ready. Though it didn’t take long for me to take notice the increasing amounts of heat in this place. “Ugh, this is really going to test my tolerances that I have worked on for seemingly forever.”

“Just as long as you don’t find it a good idea to tank Pokémon fire-type attacks. Don’t need Doc giving you another lecture on that again.”

“’Just because you’re tolerant doesn’t mean you’re resistant hurhurhur’” I said, mocking Doc Owl a little bit. “Yea, yea, I know. Though, it’d be surprising if this Dim Sun wasn’t loaded with Fire types in this place.”

“Maybe the occasional rock type, too, when you think about it.” Freth said.

“Probably. I got to admit though, compared to Ein and all the bullcrap he did? This feels pretty lowkey.” I said to her.

“Complaining?” Freth then asked, almost accusingly as if I was about to curse the situation.

“On the contrary. Frankly, I think everyone would agree that if anything happens on the level of Ein or Lysandre, it’d happen too soon. And frankly, kinda hoping whatever we do here we just put an end to and be done with it. Don’t need it escalating to that level, either. Speaking of, there certainly has to be a chain of command here, wouldn’t there?” I then asked.

“You would think. Looking for the head man or their apparent ace-in-the-hole to break?” Freth asked.

“Pretty much.”

“Any idea about what this Red Gem is supposed to be? As in what red gem? Or are they actually just looking for rubies for profit? That seems like a lot of risk just for a few gem stones.” Eris then spoke up. “I wouldn’t imagine anything like that being in here anyhow.”

“I’m guessing that its actually an actual named rock. Kind of like the Zapdos heart that powered the headquarters. Though don’t ask me why its just named ‘Red gem’.” Freth replied back. “That said, first I’ve heard of it. But if some random group is after it and risking life and limb on it, then it can’t exactly be good news. One of those things probably better off buried.”

The two of us would instantly stop, staring in confusion. There was a rumble in the caverns, which got us unnerved immediately. “…lowkey, huh?” Freth then asked me.

“Their operations are causing geologic stress. Even if we stopped them now, it is probably going to be a matter of when it blows as opposed to if.” I said. “Meaning as soon as this is over, we might need to get plans in motion to make this place a hazard zone because this place is going to do a lot of damage that might extend just beyond the island.”

“That’s going to make a lot of people jump for joy…” Freth stated, sarcasm abound.

We started to approach towards the end of the tunnel we were on, finding that there was a great deal of machinery abound. Tracks to move dirt about, Pokémon and people working feverishly on the walls, others to oversee and direct operations. Freth started to notice other finer details; the Pokémon in particular with blank stares. In spite of their fever pitch in working, such as the Rhydon’s using their massive drill horns to bore into the harder rock walls or Aggron to move large metal carts to the tracks that’s moving the dirt and rubble from the cave, they had the blankest of stares, as if nothing else mattered. If Freth and I hadn’t known any better, we would have sooner said they were shadow Pokémon, but nothing else was tripping the proverbial senses in that regard.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be here!” One of the workers shouted out, which got the attention of the handful of other workers around.

“Wait, isn’t that the Noble hybrid!?” Another one shouted.

“Oh, for the love of God…” I then sighed out, facepalming. It finally came overseas…great.

“You might as well embrace it at this point, Blizzard.” Freth said.

“Wait, Team Snagem!” another one shouted, putting the pieces together finally. “We can’t let them stop the operation! All hands!”

“Anyone stands out running the operation as a whole?” I asked.

“Nope.” Freth said.

“Great. Okay, let’s beat the hell out of these guys and move on.” I said.

“Lets see if I can’t put my work over the past while into practice.” Freth replied, starting to now hover in the air.

We would start moving forward, the workers with their tools in hand started to come after us along side these mind-controlled Pokémon. I would step forward, meeting head on a guy with a shovel. I would catch the shovel by the handle and completely yank it out of the worker’s hands, following up with a harsh kick, sending him back into the group he came from. The others that were following him managed to step out of the way as he speedily tumbled on by, only to be stopped by a nearby cart. I tossed the shovel off to the side, not really needing it. As the other workers squared up, I could only give them a slight wave to come to me, a bit bemused look on my face, effectively telling them to bring it.

Their chances weren’t any better against Freth, especially for the few that picked to try to take her on. A couple would rush at her and she weaved about as she hovered just a couple inches off the ground. She was practically toying with them. So much so as one who brandished a shovel took a swing, a wave of her own hand gave the worker’s swing too much momentum and had him clock one of his parntners with it. Realizing what happened, he tries to desperately attack again before Freth had a chance to register it, but he was far too slow for that, never mind Freth had basically an eye on everyone in this area. The moment the assailant got close, she gave a harder wave, her feathers around her eyes and her wings lighting up, and she sent her attacker flying.

The Pokemon would eventually get involved in the fray. A roar out of the Rhydon would make the other workers back away from trying to come after us, and almost as quickly, the Rhydon would make a hard stomp on the ground. Large stone pillars start shooting out from where it stomped and started to rush towards Freth and I. A Stone Edge attack was rapidly on its way. We quickly darted out of the way with our own respective Agility attacks, but I ended up stopping close by to an Aggron. The Aggron, without really much of a prompt, lit up its claws with a silvery sheen. The Aggron started to swinging its Metal Claw and I quickly backed away. Distracted with the Aggron, the Rhydon would start getting ready to attack, but then it perked up, looking back over towards its right, seeing a large crate flying right for it. Rhydon’s horn started to spin then rushed head first into the crate, destroying the large crate that was headed towards it, seeing’s Freth who’s feathers were lit up, but now dimming down from no longer having something to telekinetically throw at the second. I quickly leaped back towards Freth as a couple more workers started to come at us. Freth and I would duck and weave again, not really out to kill anyone, but couldn’t have these guys just on our case the entire time either. Freth would telekinetically grab one of the workers, lifting him up in the air. “Notice something about the Pokémon?” she asked me.

I quickly punched the other attacking worker hard in the gut, then fling him at the other that Freth had suspended in the air, breaking Freth’s hold on him and hurting them both to put them out of the fight. “Acting too calculated for wild Pokémon and no one giving commands?”

“Trainer owned?” Freth suggested.

“Probably the hypnosis stuff we were told about. At worse, they’re getting their commands psychically in real time.” I said. “They’re effectively mannequins at that point.”

“That’s not much better.” Freth said.

“They go down all the same way, though.” I said. The each of us would take out a Pokeball and give it a toss out.

“Absol!” Freth shouted.

“Porygon-Z!” I then called out.

As the Pokeballs land, they each burst open in a flash of light, emerging and materializing onto the ground, ready for battle.

“Porryyyy!” Porygon-Z shrilled out.

“Aaabsol.” The Absol howled out.

The two large rock Pokémon started to step forward, squaring down the smaller Pokémon before it, ready to turn the two Pokémon before them into paste. “Freth, take the lead on this one…Porygon-Z! Real quick! Conversion!”

“Right…Absol, use Foul Play!” Freth then shouted.

As Absol rushed forth, Porygon-Z would quickly configure its body, its pink coloration quickly would regress into a black visage, its whole ‘anatomy’ converting into a Dark type. Absol would quickly rush towards the Rhydon and smash right into its rocky carapace with its dark type infused attack, the Rhydon unable to keep up with the agility of Absol. As the Rhydon stumbled back from the impact and managed to keep on its feet, regaining its balance, the Aggron would retaliate, charging after Absol, its tail lighting up with a silvery sheen now and gave it a swing around to smash Absol with an Iron Tail attack. Absol would quickly leap out of the way, but as soon as it did so, the Rhydon was on the assault, forming and firing large rocks towards Absol.

“Freth, it’s a Rock Blast!” I shouted to her.

“Absol! Watch it!” she shouted to her Pokémon. There was nothing much unfortunately that Absol could do as the Rhydon effectively shotgunned the rocks towards the Dark type. Some missed their mark, many others landed, however, pelting the Absol and dealing a decent amount of damage. Absol got back up relatively quickly, shaking its head however after getting rocked in the literal and figurative sense.

“Porygon-Z! Use Dark Pulse!” I then shouted. “Go after Aggron!” I then called out. With its converted-to-Dark typing now in full effect, Porygon-Z rushed in and fired off its ebony colored pulse towards the Rock-Steel type. The Dark Pulse drilled into the Aggron, fiercely blasting it and knocking it over.

“Absol! Use Assurance on the Aggron!” she then shouted. Caught vulnerable by Porygon-Z, Absol rushed in with a full on sprint, then leaped up. Its forward paws started to become engulfed in dark-type power as it sprinted and with a leap, it quickly came down, slamming down feet first against the Aggron, the attack feeling as if it pierced its steely shell to wreak havoc something much more vulnerable. The Aggron yelped out for a second, only to lay there, writhing for a second. The Rhydon quickly rushed in to aid its steel type partner. Absol quickly scrambled off the Aggron as Rhydon was barreling in and made a harsh swing with a Mega Punch. As Absol was trying to give the Rhydon a wide berth, keeping the Rock type’s attention, I knew I needed to move in.

“Porygon-Z! Try Ice Beam!” I shouted. Porygon-Z would quickly reposition, taking aim at the assailing Rhydon and as it charged its icy attack, the Aggron scrambled up and started to barrel towards the Rhydon. Porygon-Z fired the chilling shot but Aggron got in front of it, putting up a Protect shield and blocked the shot.

“Blast it, I was hoping that Assurance would have kept that thing down longer…” I said.

Freth perked up, seeing the workers starting to quickly scramble out of the tunnel the way the two of us came in. “Blizzard, we got runners!” I quickly looked back then shook my head. These guys couldn’t fight us head on and now they’re relying on these Pokémon to cover their escape. These Pokémon weren’t important. One of those workers had to have known who was overseeing this operation, at least knew someone else who was along the chain of command, and that person needed to be brought in.

“Freth! Screw this, let’s go! Porygon-Z! Come on!”

“Absol! Let’s go!”

Quickly the two of us would try to leave with our Pokémon running along side the two of us. The Aggron and Rhydon roared out and each of them would give a hard jumping stomp, the two of them making large spiky pillars shoot out from where they landed and it formed a path towards the two of us. Freth and I quickly looked back then quickly moved our Pokémon aside as the pillars overtook where we stood and went for the entrance. Blocking it off from making a quick exit. “Figures…” I said. “Can you break through that?” I then asked Freth.

“It’d take a few minutes. I’m not that good yet.” She said. “All the same, longer than what those two will give us time for.”

“Alright, fight our way out it is then.” I said.

Our two Pokémon would quickly square off with the two larger Rock Pokémon once again. The Rhydon’s horn would start spinning fiercely then started to glow a neon green. “A Megahorn. Figures!” I shouted.

“Absol! Sucker Punch!” Freth shouted. Absol would quickly rush in, going in on the Rhydon. Like a bullet, the Absol rushed in and rammed into the Rhydon. “Porygon-Z! Use Ice Beam!” I then commanded. With the Rhydon distracted, Porygon-Z went for another crucial strike on the Rhydon. But as Porygon-Z fired the shot, a large boulder shot out of the ground to block the shot. Aggron then quickly grabbed the boulder and gave it a harsh toss towards Porygon-Z, showing off its powerful Strength and pelted Porygon-Z with the retaliatory attack.

“Porry!” Porygon-Z shrilled out.

“Porygon-Z!” I then called out, worried about how much damage it took after that.

The Rhydon would resume its attack with its spinning neon-green horn and then came down on the Absol, driving its head down. “Absol! Look out!” Freth shouted. The Absol would leap back, averting the attack, but Freth would realize that Megahorn had more intent than what it did. It would smash into the ground just before it where Absol stood, breaking up all manner of rock and debris, then in one motion would then move into a harsh Rock Slide which rained down upon not just Absol, but Porygon-Z as well. It nearly also caught Freth and I in its wake.

“Augh. Yea, its official, there has got to be someone under control of these things!”

“An actual psychic maybe? I have a hard time believing any sort of device is doing that.” She said.

“It’s got to be a freakin’ powerful one to keep up with all of this from anywhere in this cavern system!” I said to her. “Never mind to have response times like that with slow, lumbering Pokémon like that!”

“So apparently they’re not idiots then.” Freth then said. “Low key.” She then said deadpan once again to me.

“Alright, alright! I got it!” I said. “Porygon-Z, are you alright!?” Porygon-Z floated back up, wincing a bit. It wasn’t feeling too hot after taking the attacks that it did.

“Absol, you good?” Freth then said. Absol was also managing to get up, and he looked about as good as Porygon-Z did. “Just hang in there, Absol!”

The Aggron would start barreling forward towards Porygon-Z, its claws once again shining silver for a Metal Claw attack. “Absol! Use Psycho Cut!” Absol would attempt to cut off the Aggron, its horn starting to glow then with a flick of its head unleashed a hard blade of kinetic power towards the Aggron. Aggron would stop and swipe at the incoming attack with its Metal Claw attack, breaking the attack with little done to it. The Rhydon would follow suit behind the Aggron, once again firing a shotgunned-spread Rock Blast attack. Freth and my Pokémon would shirk back some, trying to weather the attack, giving the Aggron enough opportunity to go back on the attack.

“Porygon-Z! Shadow Ball!” I then called out to Porygon-Z. Porygon-Z managed to push through the rock bombardment then lined up its shot with Aggron, firing the ethereal bomb towards the oncoming Pokémon, blasting the Aggron back, finally halting its attack. The Rhydon would then rev up its horn once again, this time even faster than it ever had before and it made a reckless lunge towards Porygon-Z and Absol.

“Horn Drill!” I shouted. Bold, I thought. But there had to be more to it than that. Freth was already on the same page. “Porygon-Z! Move!”

“Absol! Get out of there!” The Rhydon leaped up and smashed into the ground, dirt and debris flying up all over the place. Then once it pulled its head out of the dirt, it quickly turned around, swiping with its tail to keep the two of our Pokémon separated. In which time, the Aggron was back up on its feet, infuriated. The Aggron would start barreling in, stomping furiously. A lot of more rocks started to shoot up out of the ground, surrounding Absol, then wedged the dark type in, crushing it in the process in its Rock Tomb.

“Blizzard, Absol is in trouble!” Freth said.

As the Rhydon started to get moving again, head out of the dirt, making its way for Porygon-Z again. Rushing for the virtual Pokémon with a reckless full bodied Take Down attack. Porygon-Z, nimble as it can be, managed to avert the attack, but these attacks were getting closer and closer to hitting its mark. Whoever has control of these Pokémon are guiding them rather effectively. Between that and the damage our Pokémon has already taken, they wouldn’t be able to stay in a fight with these Pokémon for much longer. It also begged the question just how crazy was this hypnosis stuff was doing to these Pokémon. On any other day, I would have figured Freth and I would have mopped up these Pokémon already. “Porygon-Z! Psychic!” I then shouted.

Porygon-Z’s eyes started to glow, enshrouding the Rhydon. With a psychic burst, Porygon-Z flung Rhydon towards the Aggron. Aggron would end up catching Rhydon, the Aggron having to severely brace as the rock Pokémon slammed into its partner steel type. With the Aggron distracted for that moment, Absol worked out of the Rock Tomb and stumbled out of the rock formation. “Absol! Assurance!” Freth shouted. Absol scrambled, making the rush for the Rhydon. Aggron would start pulling the Rhydon back behind it, getting in the way of the Absol and forming a protective shield. Absol would quickly leap, springboarding off the head of the Aggron, its target lined up. It was not getting away as far as Absol was concerned. With darkness infused paws, it started to come down on the Rhydon and slammed furiously on the rock type. The piercing blow made the Rhydon roar out, then finally pass out. The Rock Pokémon unable to battle.

The Aggron quickly turned around, then went into a spin, its tail starting to get a silvery sheen, swiping at Absol with an Iron Tail. The Absol quickly sprung off of the Rhydon to avert the attack. “Porygon-Z! Shadow Ball!” I shouted.

Porygon-Z closed in, firing the shadow ball attack towards the remaining Rock Pokémon. The Aggron, seeing the incoming attack, took its Iron tail and swatted the attack, neutralizing the attack with little damage to it.

“Absol! Night Slash!” Freth shouted. Absol moved in, and once again the Aggron was seeing the attack coming. It took its silvery tail and took a swing at Absol. Absol leaped up over the Aggron’s head, landing right behind it. With a infuriated roar, the Aggron then swung its tail, trying to drive it straight down upon Absol. Absol quickly moved off to the side as the tail made impact with the ground. Dirt and debris flew everywhere upon impact, making Absol wince, but it wasn’t enough to keep on the Aggron’s case. With dark infused claws, Absol leaped up and fiercely slashed the Aggron, landing before the steel type. Absol was tired, breathing heavily from the rough battle. The Aggron stood there with a stunned look on its face for all of about three or four seconds, before its eyes rolled to the back of its skull and it fell forward, falling to the ground with a resounding thud.

“That was more trouble than it was worth.” I said to Freth.

“Tell me about it.” Freth concurred. “Now…lets see about that entrance…” The two of us would give our thanks to each of our Pokémon for a hard-fought battle and recalled them back to their Pokeballs for the time being. Freth however would end up having to keep Absol out for a little longer than I did, namely because it was her only dark type to go on at the time being, trying to help it out with medications and the like to tend to its injuries. Then once she was done, Freth got to work on the cavern entrance. As she done so, however, I started to notice another rumble from the volcano cavern. “I swear, I am really not comfortable being here…I’m no geologist, but I am dare saying that these tremors are too frequent. This thing is probably ready to go…”

“One problem at a time Blizzard…” Freth said as she focused.

If Boyleland was insufferable, Volcano Cave was hellacious.

Deprived of the only source of relief—the sea—the cave was a heat trap. The temperature display on her SNAG read 44 degrees—on par with an excessively hot summer day in Orre—and that was without the radiant heat from the lava flows inside. They also served as the primary visible illumination in the chamber, incandescent swirls flashing in vermilion and gold hues.

Monique was left to contemplate her options for cooling and came up with one. I guess this is why Kalama knows Ice Beam. Out came the Alolan Marowak, its green flame a color-clashing departure from the intensely warm hues around her. It was, she had to admit, not the best camouflaging mechanism, but it made up for that in attacking potential and potential—

"Muuuuk!" From out of the corner of her eye, a large violet sludgy form slithered into the light and across her path, impeding forward movement. It startled Monique and Kalama, neither of whom had been thinking about a Poison-type Pokémon in a cavern like this one, and assaulted their nostrils with its trademark stench.

Monique winced and wrinkled her nose. "Alright, we've got a fight on our hands. Kalama! Bonemerang!" The Marowak held up her flaming bone, twirled it, and sent it straight for Muk—no, it missed, sailing over the meter-tall Sludge Pokémon. "Argh!" Monique called out in frustration as Muk hurled a Sludge Bomb at its unfamiliar foe, the vile violet vista being a not-very-effective attack on the part-Ghost-type.

"Bonemerang, again!" Monique commanded her partner-in-crime-fighting. This time, Marowak did not miss, the bone striking twice on the Poison-type for super-effective damage and causing it to wince in low groans. Now that it had been actually attacked, Muk was visibly enraged. It coated itself in Acid Armor, raising its physical defenses and even giving it a brighter sheen that reflected the multicolored lava.

This development gave the sheriff pause. Bonemerang may have been super-effective, but Acid Armor made it far less effective. Instead, Monique called for another move—a special move. "Flamethrower!" Kalama held her bone and blew through it like she was blowing bubbles or singing into a microphone (Primarina would approve), casting a fan-shaped jet fire in blazing green that seared the Muk, a pained look flashing across its massive eyes.

Its sludgy movement slowed internally, Muk readied what it realized might be the final blow. It formed some of its body into a Gunk Shot, a high-power blast of sludge, and fired away. This time, it was the Muk's turn to miss badly, forcing Monique to dodge lest she be possibly poisoned. Once she evaded, she pumped her fist. The end was in sight.

"One more Flamethrower, Kalama!" The Bone Keeper Pokémon moved her instrument back in front of her face and cast the fire, flames crackling across Muk's sludgy body. Significantly weakened and unable to battle further, it lost much of its height and slithered away, opening up a path to continue in the tunnel.

Just as Monique took a step forward past the defeated Pokémon, there was another rumble. It was unnerving to be actually inside a volcano. She'd seen Mt. Chimney in Hoenn, and she'd visited Wela Volcano Park back home. Neither of them were quite like this, and "this" did not seem safe. She heard shouting ahead of her.

I should put on an Illusion. Let them find out later. Focusing for just a moment, where the Zoroark in the plain clothes stood now appeared to stand a human-form Monique wearing much the same clothing. She looked around for a split-second, but in spite of there being other Snagems in the cavern, she could not see anyone quite yet. The moment she saw a(nother) human, however, she was going to warn them that this was not a safe place.

A broken Dome showered Alola with steel lattice and shattered hyperglass. But a broken Boyle Volcano would shower Snagem—and Dim Sun—with the entire weight of a volcano.

Hopping up from sitting on his Flygon, Tsuki crouched on her back and readied himself while ducking below a stray Lava Plume from the Magcargo that Reno was battling. Once he clocked a stray Dim Sun Grunt, running back to (what he assumed at least) call for reinforcements, he gave her a command. “Use Dig and cut him off! I’m gonna…” he started, looking down. “… try not to break an ankle. Go!”

On command, Terra took a dive down towards the Grunt and slammed into the ground with ground chi surrounding her to protect her burrowing. When they got just close enough to the floor itself, Tsuki leapt off of her and skid towards his prey- tripping but slamming himself through the guy’s legs causing him to get knocked over with a flip. “Ack!” Tsuki grunted with the grace and force of a Copperajah. Ge scrambled up, checked himself for injuries, then pointed at the grunt. He had gotten better at physical activities and had been putting in the work over the last year to be acrobatic enough to work with his Pokemon better but he still had a long way to go.

“Duck!” He yelled.

The Grunt covered their head from the ground and readied for something over head, only for Terra to pop out of the ground nearby and land with a foot on his torso. “You said DUCK!”

“Yeah, well, I lied! Now, where are you getting this tech from?” Tsuki shouted, not so much asking as demanding answers. “The black market?! Former Ciphers in your ranks?! FORMER CIPHERS SELLING BLACKMARKET TECH ON FALINKSBOOK MARKETPLACE?!” He grabbed the grunt by the one piece he was wearing and shook him manically.

It was around that time- maybe from the heat exhaustion, maybe from the being knocked around on a stone floor a few times by a rampaging whirlwind of a reckless child, or perhaps the dragon who’s foot on his chest made it hard to breathe- the grunt passed out. Tsuki snorted and gestured for Terra to get off of him before starting to explore the guy’s pockets. There had to be keys, a phone, something of value on a reconnaissance level. There were three of those Tears that were a threat and if they could stop them from getting another that’d be sick.

Of course, Tsuki’s luck had to run out when he saw a rogue Rhydon rampage towards him with a Bulldoze at the ready. He’d duck, but his currently available Flygon lurched forward and took the brunt of the attack to shield her trainer from it. He nodded in thanks for her coming to his rescue in that moment. Guess this was the mind control that they were told about earlier. “Dragonbreath!” He called out, scrambling away as he dragged the grunt out of harm’s way. This was just some GUY, not someone he wanted to do more than maybe throw a punch or two at. Not kill him.

With a sharp inhale, Terra exhaled a torrent of draconic energy directly onto the Rhydon she was currently in a wrestling match with. The rock type jabbed forward a few times with its horn, but without a running force to back it up, the dragon could just push it back to prevent herself from getting hit there. “‘Gon, ‘gon!” She roared as her trainer got back to the fight at hand. Tsuki thought about using Dig to bury it half in the ground, but he thought about how at home he was in this fire chi rich environment. That would do the same for a Pokemon like this and god forbid it used Earthquake.

But as he had his own plan brewing, his luck once again dipped as a Raichu joined the fray, slamming into Terra with a Quick Attack before deftly hopping back out just as quickly. Tsuki pulled out a second Pokeball, prepared for a double battle. The mind controlled Rhydon and Raichu against Tsuki’s Terra and…

“Snapdragon, use Dragon Cheer!” Tsuki called out once the Pokemon he tossed let out his Dipplin. The candied apple wyrm that was probably twice as large as it should have been let out a less than ferocious squeak before turning it into an encouraging roar, complimenting his fellow dragon type on her lovely scales. Were they always so sandy? She really OUGHT to share trade secrets, drake to drake, Pokemon that liked to surround themselves in stereotypically uncomfortable things to Pokemon that liked to surround themselves in stereotypically uncomfortable things.

Feeling a boost to her attitude, Terra hopped up and smacked the Rhydon back over the head gently with a spin to use her Dragon Dance move. The Rhyson stepped in, but Tsuki had prepared for that. “Snappy, Substitute!” He called out. Snapdragon hacked out a miniature version of himself, made entirely of a red sugary nastiness that was one part candy one part bile, and spat it in between the two ground types. The Rhydon didn’t stop however and plowed on through but got no farther than the Substitute itself.

“Now, follow it up with your own Bulldoze!” Tsuki said. Terra leapt to action, faster and harder than before, having an ally cheer her on whereas before she was on her own. The Flygon slammed critically into the other ground type’s torso with the force of a construction vehicle and knocked it both over and out. The Raichu fired off a Thunderbolt at the Dipplin and refused to back down. Sad, really. Not because of that, Tsuki thought, but because it meant that Team Dim Sun’s scheme really did mess with a Pokemon’s free will. These wild Pokemon weren’t the bad guys- the knocked out goon beside him was. But these wild Pokemon were still the ones paying the price.

Tsuki would end the fight quickly then.

“Terra, get behind it with Dig. Snapdragon, do what you do best and use Syrup Bomb to keep it locked down.”

It started with Terra burrowing underneath the ground again, letting her ally set up her attack. The Dipplin fired Syrup Bomb after Syrup Bomb with the faster Raichu dodging each attack with Quick Attacks. What it failed to realize, however, was that those attacks weren’t meant to hit it. They were meant to trap it. The moment it landed on the sticky ground where a bomb had struck, the fight was over. It failed to break free and took the brunt of Terra’s delayed ground type attack and fell unconscious as a result.

Once checking the Grunt’s pockets was done, Tsuki returned Snapdragon back to his Pokeball and soared off in the direction he had originally been going in.

The Snagems would make their way through the hypnotized Pokemon native to this volcano, braving fire and rock to get through. Some Snagems would even come upon the location of Dim Sun's mining operations and immediately went about confronting the grunts. While the Snagems like Blizzard, Freth, Just Darts, and Tsuki knocked out or otherwise incapacitated a fair few grunts a large portion of the grunts, that were doing all the manual labor, willingly fled at the sign of Team Snagem. With the last few of the manual labor grunts escaping through the cave's entrance two hypnotized Pokemon, an Aggron and Rhydon, would go about sealing the entrance with rocks, trapping the Snagems inside the rumbling volcano.

As Sub heard the sound of falling rocks in the distance he would ceased his current actions which included administering 'advanced interrogation techniques' on a random grunt he captured. That is to say he had the grunt by the collar and was punching him in the face with his Snag Machine after every unsatisfactory answer to his questions. Vlademar hanging over them snarling to better set the mood. The beatings would stop once he got the information he wanted. "Huh? What was that?" Sub asked no one in particular as he unceremoniously dropped the grunt he was previously holding up by the collar.

The Snagems would quickly realize things were calming down here in the cave as the grunts were defeated or fled and the wild Pokemon seemed to flee as well. For a moment there was little to no activity besides the rumbling of the volcano. Sub would take note of this and began to look around in confusion, wondering what could have caused a once chaotic scene to suddenly go calm. He wouldn't have to ponder this for too long however.

"The heart of Boyleland flutters in the presence of the Crimson Unit's passion! Prepare yourselves, loveless Snagems! For the fiery paramour of Dim Sun is here!" A voice called out in the furthest back of the cave, where the grunts were mining. An explosion of pink light would go off and as the light faded a woman dressed in pink top and skirt with matching pink hair appeared. Along with her appearance came ten more Dim Sun grunts except their uniforms were pink and the Dim Sun symbol had a heart around them. The woman, who appeared to be some sort of higher up in Dim Sun, extended what looked like a pink Capture Styler out at the Snagems except longer and it was modified to have a large heart on the end of it as well as several dangling charms hanging off its end. A large pink machine hummed behind her, appearing with her as well (gigaremo unit). Sub would do nothing but approach the woman and stare in confusion. What on Earth was this about?

"My name is Lavana, one of Dim Sun's Sinis Trio and these our my lovelies that worship at the altar of love, the Crimson Unit! It's through our burning passion for love that we will acquire the Red Gem for Dim Sun and spread our love to all of the regions!" This Lavana carried on, flicking her Capture Styler-like device around as she gestured dramatically. "That is once the volcano erupts and reveals the gem for us! Like a maiden spilling her heart to a would-be lover!"

"Are you done?" Sub asked in the middle of her spiel, arms folded, getting tired of her speech. "Because I take issue with you purposely letting this volcano explode just to have a better shot at collecting a pretty rock for...reasons."

"W-what? How dare you! How dare you interrupt a maiden's heartfelt words! Only an enemy of love would squash such words of passion! Don't you agree my lovely crimsons!?" Lavana said in response to Sub's 'rudeness', her grunts concurring with Lavana before erupting into declarations of how they loved her. "Yes my lovely crimsons! I can feel your love, and it's with your love I will fill the hearts of these bitter bullies until they burst like this volcano! Prepare yourselves, loveless Snagems! Open your black hearts and let my love blind and enthrall you! Go my crimsons! Deliver my love unto Team Snagem!" Lavana cried out with arms open wide and from her came a wave of pink energy which washed over the entire cavern. Sub just jumped startled and looked around confused, unsure of what that was about.

That was until certain Pokemon owned by Team Snagem began to act strange.

Gale, Cera's new Kangaskhan, Donne, Kalama, Nori, and any other non-Dark type Pokemon out of their ball, would have a little pink heart of energy appear above their heads and their eyes glaze over as they gave off a pink glow. These Pokemon would then turn on their trainers and immediately go about attacking them, all over them under the thrall of Lavana. "Fight for me my lovelies! Show me your love!" She cried out to the enthralled Snagem Pokemon. For a certain ogre though such technology would not be powerful enough to control her, but it did fill her an intense sensation of love for her trainer, hopefully Darts could direct it accordingly.

With that Snagems perhaps caught off guard by their own Pokemon turning on them the Crimson Unit grunts stepped up and revealed not Capture Stylers but Pokeballs, no doubt smuggled in. The grunts would toss out their Pokeballs and release five Spritzee, Pokemon not native to this region. The Spritzee would immediately swoop towards five hybrid Snagems, which included Lykas, Blizzard, Crystal, Sol, and Keiko (if she made it on the scene by now), and attempted to peg them each with a Sweet Kiss from their beak, rushing in headlong with no concern for their own well being. The impact of the Sweet Kiss barely stung but that wasn't the real intention, that would be realized quickly as they were all overcame with an overwhelming, and blinding, sense of love and who they directed their love towards was about to be seen. "Hybrids just need an extra push~" Lavana said with a wink.

While this went on the other five grunts scurried off to the side and began to plant explosive charges. Looks like Lavana was done trying to dig for this gem, as she implied, and thought it easier to blow it up. An insane idea but this person didn't seem to be the most stable any ways, not unlike this volcano. Sub would look around at the weird chaos unfolding and grumbled, glad his Hydreigon and himself were unaffected by all this. "By Darkrai snap out of it! Ugh, those who aren't randy please stop these grunts from blowing this thing to kingdom come!" Sub said as he jumped on Vlademar's back and made way to the nearest bomb planting grunt, more concerned with collecting any bombs at the moment. A volcano wasn't exactly the best place for primed explosives. He or someone else could try to get a hold on Lavana once the bombs were gathered.

(One or two of you can go after Lavana.)

Clare and Lykas managed to catch up to the other Snagems just as Blizzard and Freth’s grunts managed to seal them all inside the volcano, looking back as the cave entrance was blocked off. “That can’t be good.” Clare remarked, thinking for a moment if they had a Pokemon that might be able to help here. There was that pone but they hadn’t had much time to really train it any yet so they weren’t entirely sure it would listen. Or if it would be strong enough, really.

“It’s usually not when things like that happen. This your first time being locked in and nearly killed?” Lykas replied, giving a shrug of his shoulder to adjust his shoulder twink so he wouldn’t fall as the hybrid came to a stop and stepped off his hoverboard.

“I can’t say it’s happened before, no.” Clare replied, stopping next to Lykas and jumped down from their own board. Both hybrids were quick to stow their boards as the aggressively pink-clad Dim Sun crew revealed themselves from a connecting cave. Clare rolled their eyes as “Lavana” gave her spiel, preparing to send out a Pokemon to interrupt when Sub spoke up. They didn’t like the idea of interrupting but this was both annoying and dangerous to allow to continue. Thankfully, Sub’s interjection put a stop to it. Unfortunately, it expedited Lavana’s intention of being a thorn in their side. In most situations, that wouldn’t have been a problem except that whatever she’d done was affecting some of the Pokemon owned by the Snagems.

One of those Pokemon belonged to the Snagem right next to Clare, in fact. As Lykas had been “listening” to Lavana, he’d released Chinami, his Dewott, into the area. The Dewott stretched out and pulled her scalchops from her fur obi, the watery blades of her war fans spreading out from them as she prepared to take this fight to the humans being loud and obnoxious. And then the pink wave happened. “Dew… ott?” She asked as the waved passed over her. As it went, she felt something. What that something was wasn’t immediately clear but after only a few moments, that “something” coalesced into a heart of solid pink energy hovering over her head and from it? Whispers in her mind. “You love Lavana! You want to fight for Lavana!”

“Dew dewott!” Chinami exclaimed, shaking her head and swatting at the heart, trying to drown out the voice in her mind. Her fans passed right through it, though. It wasn’t real, apparently. Or was it just not physical?

“You love Lavana! Fight for Lavana!” The voice insisted, emphasizing the commands. Love Lavana. Fight. For Lavana?

“Dewott dew dewott ott! Chinami shouted, shaking her head violently, dropping her scalchops and holding her head. No! After being under the influence of the Shadow Virus for as long as she was and how many times she had tried to hurt Lykas and the other Snagems?! Absolutely not! She refused! No mind control was going to make her change that decision!

“You. Love. Lavana. Fight. For. Lavana!” The voice continued it’s insistence, growing ever more persistent each time the message repeated.

Chinami fell to her needs, paws to her head, shaking her head and muttering to herself. “Dew. Dewott. Ott. Dewott ott. Dew dewott.” She mumbled, eyes clenched shut as she fought to resist. “Dew…ott.” She finally stood, picking up her scalchops as she did.

“...Chinami?” Lykas asked as he reached toward her. Her mental struggle had only taken moments and the whole time, he’d hear her words. She loved Lykas. She loved the Snagems. She didn’t love this “Lavana” person and she wouldn’t fight for them. She would.

“Dewott!” Chinami exclaimed, eyes flying open, a pink glow within them as the heart and its message won out.

Chinami leaped toward Lykas, swiping with her fans as she used a back-to-back Razor Shell to cut at him from both sides. The hybrid stepped back, avoiding the blades by mere centimeters. “Chinami! Stop!” He insisted. “You were so sure you wouldn’t turn on us!” He reminded her.

“Dew? Dewott.” Yeah? Right. Chinami Dashed forward at blinding speed. Lykas had never seen her move like that before. Her Aerial Ace dashed passed him and she whipped her scalchops around to slash at him from behind. Lykas used Acid Armor at the last moment to shift his form to liquid as the scalchop and it’s edge of wind passed through him. It still hurt but at least the blade didn’t cut. This wasn’t the time to be dealing with his hemophilia.

“Come on, Chinami! After everything we’ve been through, you’re going to let some puffed up hooker with a Goddess Complex turn you against me?” Lykas exclaimed, shocked by Chinami’s insistence on fighting him.

“Ott!” Wait. He had a point there… Was this woman really all that? What reason had she given for fighting for her, anyway? Love? “Dew dew dewott ott dew wott.” Her love wasn’t for strangers. No, her love was for her trainer. For her team. For Snagem as a whole. As those thoughts flooded her mind, Lykas took another step toward her, momentarily wondering if she was going to attack him again.

“Dewott!” Back up!The Discipline Pokemon was still fighting for control, apparently. Or rather, was fighting once again. Her eyes flickered between their normal look glowing pink as the heart above her head flickered and, slowly, began to form cracks.

Lykas stepped back again as Chinami stomped her feet, slapping herself in the face with her paws several times, as if trying to knock some sense into herself. “Dewott! Dew dewott ott!” Snap out of this! The heart flickered and cracked more.

“Come on, Chinami! I know you can break through this!” Lykas encouraged her quietly. He knew his Dewott and her will. She might not be a Dark-type but she had the mental tenacity to stand on par with them in situations like this. He was sure of it.

“Dew…OOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!!!! Let’s…GOOOOOOOOO! With that scream, Chinami felt a new force well up within her and as it did, the heart above her head turned black and shattered. And then she began to glow. Bright white light erupted from within the Dewott, swallowing her form entirely as she allowed the force that she felt inside to escape. Lykas shielded his eyes against the light, confused for a moment what was happening until a few seconds later whent he light began to dim and he was able to see not a Dewott standing before him but a Samurott with deep, almost midnight black shells on its body and a sharp, jagged helmet on its head.

“Sam samu! Rott!” Chinami declared, drawing an equally jagged blade from her left foreleg and unleashing a horizontal blade of water across the cave toward Lavana and her cronies with a Water Cutter before sheathing the blade again. They wouldn’t be affecting her again.

Sadly for Lykas, while he’d been distracted by Chinami, Lavana and her crew had released the small group of Spritzee that were quick to scatter. The one that crossed the space between them and tried to peg Lykas with it’s Sweet Kiss succeeded just as Lykas witnessed the evolution. It also quickly found itself on the receiving end of Chinami’s Ceaseless Edge as she looked over her shoulder and witnessed the peck. Whipping around, she unsheathed her shell flamberge once more and began to hack and slack at the Spritzee with highly accurate swings. The edge of her shell fractured and fell away as she cute, leaving little land mines scattered around the immediate area and, with any luck, leaving an unconscious Spritzee after the barrage of blows was over.

“La…va..na…” Lykas commented as his eyes began to glow pink. “Wanna… have some fun?” He asked, his ponytails twitching and beginning to writhe as if of their own accord. Lykas’ shoulder twink snapped back to his senses as this began and screamed, thrashing around as he felt Lykas’ Ponytails wrapping around him. “I’ve got a friend here who can join us…” Someone should probably stop him.

The hybrid’s tentacles began to glow bright red as he used Wring Out on the grunt, making sure he stayed weak enough to be carried along as he walked toward Lavana, the remainder of his tentacles reaching out toward her, water dripping off them as he used Acid Armor to liquefy them, making them harder to stop. Lavana wanted to be loved. Lykas was just the hybrid for the job. As he got closer, he used Will-o-Wisp to spark a few floating embers to life around him. He needed to set the mood for this, after all. Girls like Lavana liked “mood lighting”, right?

“La…va…na…” He cooed flirtily, tentacles reaching closer to the pink-clad woman. If any of her cronies tried to get in the way and stop him, they’d be blown over by an Icy Wind or pushed away by a Water Spout. This could be bad. Lykas was a Water Master. It would likely take another Master to stop him. Or several lesser-skilled individuals.

Throughout Lykas’ interaction with Chinami and the subsequent hypnosis that had affected him as well, Clare could only stand and watch in horror. What could they do here?! That hypnotic wave needed to be stopped before they could send out their own Pokemon or it would just be turned against them the same way Lykas’ Pokemon had, right? Oh! His Pokemon! “Can’t you stop him?!” They asked.

“Samu sam samu!” Chinami nodded and rushed toward Lykas, throwing her head toward the ground as she released a toward of water from the tip of her helmet’s horn that quickly began to spiral around Lykas’ legs in a Whirlpool, attempting to slow his advance. It seemed to be doing very little, unfortunately.

“Help…” Shoulder Twink weakly called out. This couldn’t be the end of him, could it? Drowned in a whirlpool inside a volcano? Or worse… What did this blue man had planned for him?!