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With the hypnosis machine now debris, the rest was now a mop up exercise it felt like. Though it did look like a few of the Snagems were still loopy and was probably needed a head smack or two just to snap them out of it, or for the effects to wear out. The more I thought about it though, I ended up getting cold chills in this heated cavern, the feeling of being violated in such a manner by that Dim bulb admin afflicting all manner of emotions to bend those to her will. Ugh…already been through a worst case of that already once in my life and honestly? I’m a little surprised that this didn’t press the proverbial berserk button, but honestly? Especially after seeing Crystal near unrestraining clocking the admin, I could only feel pity as to the depths of how…just…pathetic she is.

With the bellowing of ‘Well, now’ to the Snagems only got me prompted to ask “Now what?” rather deadpan as more adversaries started to come out of whatever rocks they were hiding under. Or…more accurately, hiding as. I needed an eye brow to raise as they all started to come forth off the walls, and I was left a little bemused. I didn’t sense any of them…they were just humans here. Humans with special suits. No pressure that made it seem like they were hybrids of any kind or channelers. I took a glance over towards Blake Hall, a older man that was…definitely not dressed to be here. Let alone to be in a fight. And he apparently knew who we are and yet, still tries to give an ultimatum to the likes of us…well, as much as he could before Darts and Ogerpon starts having their way with the Dim Sun grunts within arms reach. I couldn’t help but to gasp out a laugh a bit, because I couldn’t believe what was transpiring right now. I’m honestly not complaining, heaven forbid anything to get as bad as Lysandre or Ein, but holy crap. This is…actually comical.

“Well I guess that answers that much…” I said.

“Hey, Blizzard! So…should I help out in that or…?” Freth called from the entrance.

“Nah, I think we got this. Though just let me know if any of these guys start slipping through the cracks bothering you. We still need that door open just in case. There’s no telling the kind of damage they done here and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be here when this place goes.” I said.

“Fair enough.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised they have the collective pair to actually try this.” Eris spoke up to Freth. “I have heard of a lot of various different teams that have cropped up in realities and I honestly have to say…I didn’t think there was a competition out for the dumbest one.”

“Seriously…” Freth replied.

As Freth continued to hurry up with the exit, I started to look back towards the other Dim Sun grunts that were slowly approaching me. I sighed, quickly making a count of all who was trying to approach me. “So, how’s each of your health care plans?” As soon as one made their move, in one fluid motion, that one took an elbow from me that smashed into his face, taking him well off his feet and sending him at least a few feet away from me. Other grunts had to move to the side lest they end up a sudden cushion for their comrade. He landed on the ground, flailing on the ground, clasping at his face, yelling out in pain. “Apparently, it’s pretty freakin’ great.”

One after another, in very short order, they all tried to run at me and take their shot. And as I non-chalantly stepped off to the side, weaved, and ducked, I had to admit…these guys…were just…not doing it. I suppose this is what happens when you do train like hell for the next strongest threat. It did…unfortunately make me realize that in spite of their overwhelming odds they were still trying to fight the likes of us. Me especially, someone who’s reputation is no secret. There really was no end to the fights, was there? If they were compelled to fight for whatever reason, they were going to fight and that was the end of that story, odds be darned. Its weird being on the opposite end of that sort of thing, isn’t it? Boy, my mood suddenly soured…

My half-waxing philosophicals, half-fighting mindset was derailed until I started to realize that in this whole wave of grunts were Pokémon as well that was getting in the brawl. I had to back off a second to take out a Pokeball of my own to help out here. “Okay then…you’re up! Go!” I shouted, tossing a Pokeball out. The ball bursts open and there stood a tall, proud, fiery Pokémon from my arsenal. The time in Paldea was a bit rough, but fruitful. The Torchic that I started off with in that trip through victory road was a centerpiece of the entourage I took on that trip, so much so that I made him the de-facto captain of the squad at the time because of his level head and all-rounder prowess on the battlefield. Something that carried over into when it evolved into Combusken and then eventually the proud Blaziken that appeared before the opposition. This would be his first major mission, now that I think of it. Lets see if he can handle it.

“BRAA-ZA!” Blaziken roared out, wrists igniting ablaze.

“Alright Blaziken, we got to clear house, follow my lead in.” I said.

“BRA!” We both moved in and as I started to plow through the other grunts, Blaziken started to get to work on the Pokémon alongside them. Blaziken would start giving his own Fiery punches and Blazing kicks to the Pokémon that made their way to us. At one point, a Machoke would manage to slam right into Blaziken, but didn’t knock him off his feet. The two would quickly clash, locking hands pushing against each other in a hard test of strength.

I would quickly look back at Blaziken preoccupied then back at someone I had at me, smashing my fist into the grunt’s gut. “Blaziken! Alley-oop!”

Blaziken quickly looked back then shifted his weight, while keeping locked to the Machoke. “TA!” The Pokémon shouted, rolling onto his back, catching the Machoke by surprise by putting his own momentum against him, and kicked him off, releasing at the last second, tossing the Machoke into the grunt that I had, and one more that was close behind him.

“Nice work!”

“WA-TA!” Blaziken shouted, as he hopped back to his feet.

As we continued to wedge a path in Dim Sun’s apparent forces, namely to try to get after Blake Hall, Freth was still trying to get the door open. She managed to pull boulder after boulder out from the entrance that was tightly packed, if not borderline fused, into the wall with her psychic prowess. Though as she got closer to everyone’s salvation, she started to notice that there were ones that were starting to come after her. There were those that were in fact coming through the proverbial cracks. Even with as many Snagems and Pokémon in this blitz, there was still apparently a thing about sheer numbers. She would end up having to stop focusing on the wall for a second to defend herself, blocking a shot here, weaving around another, floated about, mindful of all who decided to pick the fight with her. “Oh, pick off the straggler, is that it?” she asked.

Freth’s wings lit up furiously, as did the onyx feathers about her eyes, she then fired a hard sweep of a neon violet blast of Freezing Glare towards her assailants which locked them in place. With them temporarily frozen, she quickly dashed with Agility, one after another, striking each psychically locked opponent. Each one, in spite of taking a fierce, crushing blow, didn’t move, still as if frozen in time. She would skid to a stop close by to look back at her locked victims then gave a hard sigh, her wings finally dimming out as did her onyx feathers. Her attackers then suddenly flew like missiles right into the rock barricade, only for them all to unceremoniously flop to the ground after making impact with the rock barricade.

“Brutal. Creative. Unfortunately, not any closer to opening that rock wall.” Eris said.

“A woman had to try.” Freth said.

Ulla returned Comfey to it's Pokeball as she felt a sudden presence in the area she didn't recognize before. They were lurking in the shadows as her Hisuian Zorura felt the presence as well and hid in her bag. "We're surrounded..." she said under her breath as she backed up into her Togekiss to cover their angles. The sight of Dim Sun grunts appear out of thin air gave the Fairy jidders. She hasn't felt this way in so long, was it the adrenaline of being backed in the corner? Or was it the idea of being able to have a real battle after so long that excited her? Ulla listened to Sub and located where Lykas was. "Simple walk in the park...hopefully." She said as a huge brawl broke out.

Togekiss quickly tossed Ulla in the air as he caught her on his back as they flew with great speed through the grunts to get to Lykas. Before she can lay her hands on the ice, magical leafs stopped her as they exploded on impact with the ice. She looked where it came from as she merely sighed. "Of course...my first battle back. It had to be this." She said as the Hisuian Zorura popped it's head out to see what Pokemon it was. It was a Roselia. At first, there was no reaction from the small pup. But then anger filled it eyes, as it leaped out of the bag and took a fighting stance. One look at those roses on Roselia, it brought back memories of Leon. Leaving it behind. "Zorura hold on we can't fight right now, we have to get Lykas-" Zorura ignored Ulla's words, as it went on the attack and sent a massive Shadow Ball at Roselia. It was a sloppy first attack as it was filled with blind emotion, so Roselia quickly maneuvered around it and sent a hail of Magical Leafs as it connected.

Zorura skidded backwards as it brushed it off and ran right at the Roselia, but this time with a more direct Shadow Ball which connected. "Zorura stop it! You need to listen to me!" She shouted but then noticed the frozen Lykas. "Oh no!" The ice was starting to melt due to the explosion of the magical leaf that connected earlier. If she didn't do something quick, Zorura could loose the fight. And Lykas would break free from the ice. "Togekiss watch Zorura. If I'm not out of it in a minute, pull me out of it." Togekiss nodded as Ulla connected with Lykas.

A pink silhouette of Ulla would appear in Lykas's subconscious. Alright, Sub warned me about you being loving naturally.... She said as she looked at Lykas's self-conscious. What she saw was a mere image of Lykas but this heart-shaped lock was much bigger than the previous two. She tried to unlock it like previously, but this time was prooving more difficult. Why...? Is it because they are almost too far gone? She thought as she started to blast the lock with fairy energy to loosen the gears. As she was, she felt the connection with Togekiss start to nudge. As if her time was starting to run out. "Come on, come on, come on!" She said as she hear a loud clunk. But not from the lock, from the ice. It was starting to fall apart. Lykassss....Help me out here! We need you to wake up! She said as she started to feel the chill of the ice in the real world. Ulla had no choice but to be a little bit harsher this time around. The Fairy Child made a makeshift lock pick as she fiddled around until she finally heard a click. The giant heart shape lock fell.

Back in the real world, Ulla gasped for air as she looked at Lykas as ice slowly was melting away. She looked around frantically as Togekiss and Zorura weren't by her side anymore. All around her was nothing but chaos, she was surprised she wasn't attacked in such a vulnerable state. "Tama?! Zorura?! Call out!" She shouted as she ran around different battles. As she was going around, she noticed Hisuian Zorura on the ground. The little fairy child ran to him and cradled him in her arms. "You're injured..." She said as she noticed Tama now fighting the Roselia. For its small stature it did know its's way around battle. "Tama! Dazzling Gleam!" She shouted as Tama started sparkling as the sparkles came off of its body and was sent flying right at the Roselia.

Hisuian Zorua winced in pain as he watched Togekiss and Ulla battle together in perfect unison. It was like watching the two dance gracefully. So much was happening around them as numerous random attack form other battles were sent flying in different directions. A random sludge bomb was sent directly at Tama, Ulla notice it first as she made a barrier right above Tama as the Sludge Bomb splattered everywhere else. Roselia took this chance as it used Vine Whip. Vines started wrapping around Togekiss making it immobile. So much chaos was happening all at once. Ulla not only had to keep watch of the battle, but also all the other Snagems. "We have to finish this quick! Aura Sphere!" Tama understood as he charged an Aura Sphere in its mouth and shot it at Roselia directly. It was sent flying and knocked unconscious. Ulla sighed of relief and ran to Tama and started tearing off the vines. Once free, Ulla looked at Zorura who was injured in her arm. "Zorura. Are you okay?" Zorura starred at Ulla for a long time as it held back tears. He recognized that he was lashing out. "Its okay to be upset. We'll work out everything together. Just next time, don't do anything reckless okay?" She said as she started tending to their wounds.

Once finished, Ulla and her team looked around to see if anyone was severely injured. There was so much happening, but one thing was for sure. They needed that gem back.

As Ulla entered Lykas heart, she would find the scenery a bit… different than the others she had freed so far. All around the hybrid’s inner form, she would see a raging ocean. Endlessly long, serpentine bodies writhed beneath the surface of the water, churning it into a foamy mess that crashed against the shore of the tiny island she’d found Lykas locked up on in massive waves as Lavana’s machine sent its hypnotic message into his mind. The moment Ulla unlocked his heart through her brute force method, the sea began to calm, the bodies beneath the surface slowly descending back into the depths.

As Ulla returned to her physical body and witnessed the heat of the volcano melting the icy shell that encased the hybrid, she might also notice that the shell was quickly becoming just that. The heat had already melted the ice at the soles of his feet and Lykas was using Acid Armor to flow out of the frozen prison he’d been trapped in for Lavana’s safety. As his liquid form took it’s normal shape once again, there were bubbles forming within it as the rage that boiled within him showed itself. Fully reforming, Lykas’ lilac eyes were ringed with deep black lines as his Hex charged to its maximum potential. “You Twisted b***h!” Lykas screamed his rage into the volcano, his liquid form becoming solid only a moment before the exclamation. He missed Blake. Hall and his villain monologue thanks to being frozen but what he saw now was a veritable army of Dim Sun grunts and plenty of bodies to release his rage upon. Love and lust alike were equally sacred to the hybrid and Lavana hadn’t just disrespected those things. She had walked in with mud on her feet, wiped that mud all over the welcome mat and then threw her filthy shoes on the bed as far as he was concerned and for that transgression, she had to pay.

Looking around for Lavana, Lykas would whip his tentacles around himself, knocking over half a dozen grunts that had decided to charge after him before spotting the woman in the distance, bloodied and bruised from Crystal’s punch he had failed to witness. For the briefest of moments, he wondered if that was enough. Almost faster than the thought entered his mind, he dismissed it. Not even close. He began to march toward where he could see Lavana being carted away with several grunts, picking up steam as he went. With each step, a new grunt attempted to bar his path. Each one of them was met with a seemingly fatal glare that caused those black lines around his eyes to flare up in an explosion of Ghost energy as he unleashed a fully-empowered Hex upon them. Each one met with this glare would find some deep truths ripped from the depths of their very soul and their mind bombarded with them with such ferocity they fell to the ground, twitching but otherwise practically catatonic. One. Two. Three. Four.

“You can stop anytime.” Lykas warned them as a fifth approached. This one was different. The strange armor they were wearing seemed to mitigate the effect of his attack so the grunt winced, hard, but remained conscious.

“You can’t beat me that easily!” They exclaimed, pointing toward him.

“Then try this!” Lykas screamed back, releasing a full-power Water Spout from his bindi. Thankfully the grunt was nearly at point blank range because the stream of water that erupted knocked them to the ground, sliding several yards and likely with a few broken ribs, cutting into the stone of the volcanic cavern where it hit like a water laser. Another three grunts ducked or dove out of the path of the attack as Lykas swept his gaze across the waves of peons in front of him. Those who failed to dodge it were, thankfully, all wearing similar armor to the first one hit and were spared from being vivisected by the cutting force of the hybrid’s attack but were similarly knocked to the ground and sent sliding by several yards. This was a hybrid fueled by rage and refusing to hold back. Going back on the hunt for Lavana, he could now see two of her. He was sure one was a distraction but the question was which was meant to distract whom?

Pausing for a moment to look closer, he would see the one with the bruises hiding her damaged face as she was guided away by minions while the other with the seemingly unblemished appearance was doing… something other than running away. He couldn’t tell exactly what she was was doing from where he currently stood but whatever that was, he felt certain she was the distraction and at this moment, he refused to let himself focus on her for long enough to lose the other one. Returning to the slow-but-rapidly-speeding-up march toward the bruised Lavana, he called out. “Chinami! Get over here!”

His Hisuian Samurott quickly hopped over to him, though she had to admit she was just a bit scared of his behavior at the moment. She’d never seen him fight like this before and it was, admittedly, a bit scary. “Sam samusam rott?” She asked as she placed a paw on her dark flamberge’s handle.

“Keep the big one off me if he tries to get in the way.” He instructed, pointing to Blake. Hall. Something about that man felt obnoxious. He wasn’t sure if it was just the self important attitude grating on him as the man barked orders at his horde of minions or if he’d just absorbed the man’s aura through that prison of ice enough to know he didn’t like him but he could tell letting him get in the way would be unpleasant for someone. Chinami nodded, barking out in understanding as she took up a defensive position between Lykas and Blake. Hall, paw ready to draw her blade as she watched his every movement.

Lykas resumed his march at that point, ripping orbs of energy from two more grunts with Giga Drain as they attempted to pincer attack him with clubs of lava rock. Both fell to the ground as Lykas caught the orbs in his hands and absorbed them, dropping their clubs in strangely unlucky ways that resulted in both receiving head trauma from the crash landing. Another four bum rushed him as the previous two fell and found themself wound up in his tentacles as they flashed bright red and tightened to the extreme with a Power Whip that left them all barely capable of breathing between the pressure and the heat of the volcano. Dropping all four grunts into a barely-conscious pile, Lykas trudged ever onward in his quest to ruin Lavana.

“Stop that blue b*****d!” Someone shouted from behind him, prompting him to turn just in time to see Chinami step forward and slam her shell sword’s flat side into someone’s face, sending them sprawling on the ground with a broken and bloodied nose. Their order did appear to have gotten through to whoever they were talking to, though, as he found himself suddenly assailed by a shower of shining feathers. As the Feather Dance began to pile up on him, a glittering golden sphere formed around him, catching the feathers from all sides and preventing them from touching his body. With a gentle push of his energy, the feathers flew away from him, making a Combee-line straight back toward their source as his Magic Coat shielded him. Watching where they went, he found a very confused Altaria flying down from a high point in the cave, trying its best to shake off its own Feather Dance and failing miserably as the glowing feathers caught in its fluffy down-like wings and refused to be dislodged.

Taking the opportunity while it was trying to free itself, Altaria unleashed a Mist, releasing the ice cold vapor from the depths of its cottony down into the volcanic cavern. So charged with energy was the vapor that even the volcanic heat couldn’t dispel it right away, causing some of the nearby lava floes to cool enough that a bit of new rock formed on their edges in places, though it was still glowing from the retained heat. Lykas shrugged, then smirked, taking a deep breath as he exhaled an Icy Wind upon the Dragon-type, using its own frigid Mist to help fuel the Ice-type attack. Altaria was caught up in the wind but used it’s Cotton Guard to fluff up its downy wings, producing an insulation that kept it safe from the cold. A moment later, it opened its beak and exhaled it’s own breath attack at Lykas, emerald colored flames crackling with draconic lightning erupted from the Humming Pokemon’s maw, aiming to engulf the Jellicent hybrid. Lykas stood his ground as the Dragon Breath closed in on him, crossing his arms and hiding his face behind them as the draconic flames passed over him.

“That. HURT!” He yelled at the Altaria as a jet-black arrow fired from his bindi. He intended to Split his Pain with the cloud-bird-dragon and as the arrow closed in, Altaria missed in amongst the drifting Mist it had summoned. The arrow pierced the Humming Pokemon despite its Cotton Guard and the Dragon-type let out a trilling cry of pain as Lykas halved the pain he had felt from that last attack, dumping the half he used as fuel directly into the Altaria’s body.

Altaria breathed heavily for a moment after that, gathering its wits before deciding it needed something bigger and stronger. Gathering up its emotional energy, the Dragon forged it into solid sphere of pink energy that quickly grew in size until it almost seemed to be a small satellite in it’s own right. Hurling the massive Moonblast at Lykas with a shift of its still-huge wings, it shed the fluff as the pink orb closed the distance to Lykas. The hybrid shifted his body into water via Acid Armor and tried his best to avoid the attack but it was simply too large to fully evade it in such close range. Despite his best attempt, he was struck and even in his watery form, the attack pummeled him with Fairy energy. Shifting back to physical form after the Moonblast, Lykas found Altaria nod standing and waiting for him, as it had been doing thus far but rather, glowing with crimson energy as it prepared to deal him what it perceived to be a fatal blow.

“Altaaaaaaaaria!” The bird dragon cried out as it unleashed its Sky Attack, swooping down from near the cavern’s ceiling as the crimson aura forged itself into a massive bird-shaped shell around it.

“Not today!” Lykas remanded, throwing both his hands forward with bright blue, almost watery, flames erupting from both palms to meet Altaria face-to-fist as he clenched them shut around the flames and held onto the Will-o-Wisps as he caught Altaria’s head-on-charge with his flame-wreathed fists at the sockets of its wings. Altaria cried out once again as it continued to press the attack, pushing Lykas back even as it received awful burns on both of its wings. The hybrid huffed and puffed as Altaria’s attack came to a stop at last, the Dragon-type’s pride refusing to give in to his defense. Each huff released a small Icy Wind upon the bird at point-blank range. Each puff was accompanied by a brief barrage of Hex and its ghostly energy.

Altaria’s cries for mercy soon quieted as it faded into unconsciousness. Lykas’s rage had quelled a bit by this point and he dug into his back, pulling out a Moon Ball, holding it in his Snag Machine-clad hand and charging it to be safe. “I can’t hate you… You have a beautifully resilient spirit.” He admired the Pokemon. “Not to mention, those feathers are probably gorgeous with all the soot washed out.” He told it as he reached out and gave it a tap with the Moon Ball.

“Taaaa.” Altaria moaned as Lykas tapped it with the Moon Ball. The Humming Pokemon was drawn inside in a shower of sparkling silver stars and golden light. The ball shook in his hand once… twice…thrice. And clicked. Altaria was his now, whether it had been owned previously or not.

Turning back to the horde of Dim Sun peons, he found Lavana had been lost in the chaos while he was busy dealing with Altaria. So instead, he turned his focus back to Blake. Hall standing up there and gesticulating all over the cave as he directed his army of minions. Or was trying to. It looked like Darts was trying to pummel him first and foremost at this point. Good. That said, what could he do to help from here? Picking up a piece of lava rock laying at his feet, he looked for something of Blake’s he could trade for. Upon spotting something that looked like it would cause a bit of their own chaos, far helpful than what Blake. Hall had brought, he decided it was time for a little hybrid Trick, charging the lava rock with energy before using that energy to connect to his chosen item and swapping the two through the empty space between them in an instant. Hopefully that would give Darts the edge he needed to give that pompous jerk a proper pounding.

~~~

Clare could only watch as Ulla set Lykas free, both mentally and physically, it seemed like. They were a bit shocked that the attempt to freeze him had worked in the first place but they also weren’t about to complain. It had given the team a moment to breath, at least. Sadly, that moment was occupied by Blake. Freaking. Hall. Whoever that was. The way he kept punctuating his name with that pause in the middle was annoying. Clare recalled Gruntilda as Blake and his not-so-small army of brand-new minions quite literally crawled out of the walls all around them, taking a few steps back as they tried to consider exactly what they could do to help in this situation. They only had so many Pokemon and none of them were fully evolved so they were unlikely to be strong enough to survive a battle of this scale unharmed. Choosing a Ball buried in their bag, seemingly at random, they threw it out in front of them and released the Pokemon within to find Eidolon the Pincurchin sitting before them. The rocky floor around them surged with electrical energy as the Sea Urchin Pokemon’s ability laid an Electric Terrain effect upon materializing. “Oh, you’re probably not the best choice right now…” The Nihilego hybrid realized, covering their mouth. Then again… “Can you use Discharge?!” They asked in a hurry.

Eidolon nodded and as his spikes began to charge, their tips began to shine with electrical energy. Before the attack could be released, however, a Rhyhorn stomped into the area, drawing all of the electrical energy into its horn and grounding it out. The result? No damage to anything in the area. A moment later, the Spikes Pokemon Bulldozed the battlefield, stomping its way across the volcanic ground and flattening much of the loose stone back into the soft rock. Along the way, it managed to kick up enough loose earth and stone to smack Eidolon in the face with it.

“Try using Bubblebeam!” Clare called out, knowing their little urchin was too slow to escape from Rhyhorn. Their only real option was either KO it quickly or recall Eidolon and swap him for someone else to battle here. Might at well try the KO route first, if possible! Eidolon nodded once more and as the Sea Urchin Pokemon began to blow a stream of pressurized bubbles toward Rhyhorn, a Cacnea stormed into the arena and soaked up the bubbles. It’s Water Absorb soaked up the water bubbles and soothed the Cacnea’s raging hate for the volcanic heat. Cacnea retorted with an Energy Ball, firing off a small bullet of Grass energy at high speed toward Eidolon. The Sea Urchin Pokemon was unable to escape given the speed of the attack, struck hard in the face and sent carening backward by the explosion as the impact released the contained energy.

“Oh no!” Clare exclaimed, recalling the Electric-type before he’d finished rocking, certain that he had been knocked out by the attack. After spending many months under the influence of the Shadow Virus and seeing practically no real battle during that time, he was their least-trained partner out of recent captures. “Oh… Let’s try…Echo!” Clare exclaimed as they released the next of their Pokemon. The Snubbull they’d caught at Blueberry Academy’s summer safari contest materialized with a gruff bark. Giving a quick scan of the Fairy Pokemon with their SNAG’s Pokedex function, they quickly refreshed their memory of what moves he knew. “Try using Fire Fang on that Cacnea!” They requested of the Fairy-type. The canine barked in understanding and quickly ran forward, attempting to close the distance between them and sink a set of flaming fangs into the cactus. The Cacnea released a burst of cottony spores directly into Echo’s face. The Fire Fang met the spores and the cloud exploded as the flames rapidly spread through it. Echo was thrown backward by the blast, skidding to a stop as he sunk his paws into the volcanic floor. Cacnea was thrown back much farther, slamming into the wall behind it and sliding down to the floor, shaking a bit as it stood up, preparing to return to the fight.

Cacnea held its arms out like turrets and the spikes on its hands glowed sickeningly green for a moment as it used Pin Missile. Four missiles fired off from the cactus’ limbs and Clare saw their chance. “Take the hit and use Payback!” They directed. Snubbull resisted Bug-type moves and they’d trigger his ability so this might give them the boost needed to win this! Echo nodded and braced himself as the Pin Missile came at him, practically shaking in fear as the attack approached.The closer the missiles got, the more violently the Fairy-type vibrated. As the hits connected at last, after what felt like hours of waiting for the fearful pup, he was more than a little Rattled by it. Taking Clare’s directions after the third hit and unable to contain himself anymore, Echo dashed toward Cacnea with his little forepaws infused with Dark-type energy and slammed them into the cactus with a one-two punch that knocked it out.

Rhyhorn, seeing this, kicked at the ground a few times and charged straight at Echo with a Horn Attack while he was distracted. The very moment Cacnea was knocked away from him, Echo was mowed down by the charging rhinoceros, left unconscious by the pure weight and brute force he was hit with, unable to brace himself against it in the slightest. “Rhy. Horn!” The Spikes Pokemon cheered for itself as Clare recalled Echo to his Ball. “Oh no… Who else can deal with this?” Taking a brief moment to think about which of their Pokemon they’d brought along, they remembered one in particular that should be able to help here.

“Mirage! Use Seed Bomb!” The Capsakid had gotten much stronger and was much better in battle after a year of Ms. Dendra’s Battle Classes so they were almost certain she could handle this. The small Grass-type appeared from her Ball and quickly pooled the needed energy into a dense orb which she hurled at Rhyhorn. The dual-type was still celebrating its win against Echo when the attack hit it from behind. The explosion of Grass-type energy inundated the dual-type, overwhelming it after the last two Pokemon it had helped battle but it held on, somehow. Turning, it rushed at Mirage with its horn glowing sickeningly green with Megahorn.

“Use Sandstorm!” Clare called out. The Capsakid nodded and threw its tiny hands forward, sending a horizontal whorl of sand flying into Rhyhorn’s face. The speed of the attack propelled her back and away from the charging rhino while simultaneously blinding it for a brief moment. The result was a safe Spicy Pepper Pokemon and a Rhyhorn crashing into the wall. “Now, Razor Leaf!” Mirage whipped her head around in response, sending sharp leaves flying at Rhyhorn. As the leaves struck, Rhyhorn collapsed against the wall, finally losing the last of its stamina.

“Let’s go!” Clare exclaimed, calling Mirage back to their side. As the Capsakid hopped onto their shoulder, Clare turned back toward Blake. Hall. “If anyone get too close, hit them with a Bullet Seed.” They directed before beginning to run toward him at last, pausing for a moment as Claydol appeared, delivering an odd-looking vial of some sort of elixir of some sort from a Snagem they didn't recognize the name off right away. But the note with it claimed it would help with the heat so they quaffed it quickly, finding a delicately sweet flavor accompanied by the cooling feeling of mint washing over their entire body. "Goodness! I didn't realize how much I needed that relief!" They told themself as the sweat that had been collecting on their forehead rapidly slowed down, allowing them to feel far more prepared for what was coming next. Stuffing the phial into their bag, they started toward Blake once again, this time not stopping as Mirage took potshots at any grunts who got too near along the way.

Absinthe looked over the sea of grunts and brainwashed Pokemon, a chill crawling up the teen's spine. This... this was a lot of dudes. Snagems were already starting to thin the horde, but there was still a lot going on. "Hey, Cake," Abby spoke up, a tiny hint of fear shining through her normally arrogant voice. "If you got any anger left, we sure could use it." When a response didn't come, Abby turned to look at Keiko, and sure enough, the Lopunny hybrid was doubled over. Magmortar's burn didn't go deep into her body, but it went wide, covering wide swaths of her flesh. To make matters worse, the heat inside this volcano was intensifying both the pain and the strength-inhibiting properties of the burn. Keiko was effectively out of commission, but she wasn't unconscious. Abby noticed a metallic object in Keiko's hand before her attention was torn from the hybrid.

Two men started approaching Keiko, and Abby instinctually side-stepped to put herself between the men and the wounded rabbit woman. She felt some hesitation as the men approached, but then forcefully swallowed that down and glared at them hatefully. "You picked the wrong Deathrage to mess with today," she growled. Before any Pokemon could be let out of their balls, however, a strong gust of wind knocked the two Dim Sun grunts quite literally off of their feet, sending them flying back. The culprit of the gust was a beautiful female Talonflame, upon which sat a lone male rider: me.

When I got Keiko's message, I made sure Indie could take care of both Yuna and Serena, had Rala teleport me to the Pokecenter closest to Keiko, and had Sparrow fly me to my wife as fast as her wings could take us. I was a tiny bit early, but that was of no real consequence. I hopped off Sparrow's back, recalled her, and pulled a large first-aid kit out of my duffle. "You got any experience with using this on a person?" I asked Absinthe, knowing that most people really only knew how to take care of Pokemon. Whatever Asinthe was feeling when I arrived, it was quickly replaced with arrogance, as was the want of Chaos's daughter. "Pfft. Shut up, NERD! Go patch up your girl. I'm built for the front lines, anyway," she scoffed before walking away. I knew that was about as much as I could expect from a Deathrage, so didn't bother responding and focused on using the medkit on Keiko to relieve her burn.

Abby only took a few steps away from me before letting out two pokemon - her Blaziken and her Machamp. The temptation to have Angeal meet his sister was present, but now was absolutely not the time, so I ignored it. Abby pointed at the guys I blew away as they were beginning to approach again, and Palladia rushed them, throwing fists while they desperately tried to get their Pokemon out to protect themselves. She then pointed to the largest group of Dim Sun enemies - humans and Pokemon alike - while makikng sure she's pointing as far away from other Snagems as possible to prevent them from feeling anything more than an increase in temperature. The last thing she wanted was friendly fire. "Let's wash this trash away with a sea of fire. Use Blast Burn."

Angela hesitated for a second. Her trainer had never asked her to attack humans before. But her trainer's friends did seem to be pretty severely outmatched, and Angela has seen what how her trainer responds to disobedience, so she charged her body with as much Fire-type energy as she could muster - which wasn't difficult in the slightest thanks to the heat this volcanic cavern was producing - and forced it out of her body with all of her strength, letting loose an extra thicc horizontal pillar of fire that would wash across the cavern and over people and Pokemon alike. She aimed as far away as she could from her trainer's friends, though, as instructed.

(Friendly fire should be impossible unless Snagems actively try to jump into the fire, but Abby is actively trying to kill Dim Sun grunts (i.e. humans) with a Pokemon move so I apologize for the edge.)

Honor, integrity, honesty? Offering a person a fair fight? These were concepts to Tsuki, things that he was being taught to ignore. If you were faster, stronger, and smarter than your opponent then you had the luxury of winning on your own terms- otherwise you needed to fight dirty. Could he survive a blade to the throat or a Thunderbolt to the nervous system? Probably not. So when the bad guys brainwashed the immortal Solar Beam wielding master swordsman into attacking him? The pretense of a fair fight was never going to be on the table.

Once it was clear that Sol’s eyes had been temporarily flashed by his burst of light, Tsuki turned his backing up into a forward assault by reaching to his belt and sending out the only other Pokemon that he knew he didn’t have to command to do what he needed: his partner Magby. He leapt at the fallen sword and scrambled to pick it up, remembering fully damn well what the Ho-oh hybrid had told him back in Paldea. In the man’s hands, he could use it to supercharge his moves. A concept that did not at all seem appealing. His brought the cutting blade down into a tail guard: blade downwards pointed backwards. Perfect for swiping upwards from an aerial opponent or knocking things upwards.

Tsuki didn’t have time to notice how different Arcoiris felt to wield compared to his own Blaze Amulet or the numerous training swords that Raiden had lent him. How it hummed in synchronicity with his chi in a way that defied typical type affiliations, how it cut through the air like a hot knife on butter. All he really needed to know was that this was a sword that wanted to slash- not pierce. So he held it for that. His eyes focused on Reno closing in from the side with a metallic arc that begged to draw in Sol’s Thunderbolt. He was setting an opening up! Or coming in to redirect the electric attack back at the flying type. Either way that was perfect. Someone to get in close so that they wouldn’t have to risk Sol getting ahold of his artifact and killing them both with it.

“Mags!” Tsuki yelled feeling, for the first time since he initially connected with her during a sparring match with his mentor, a connection that felt as though there was a literal cord connecting the two of them together. He inhaled, held, and spat out a liquid that was as flammable as it was baked in the chi that this volcano bathed itself in. From next to him, Maggie shot out an Ember that caught alight the attack that her partner sent out, before he struck it with Arcoiris and sent the baseball sized fireball straight towards Sol’s gut. He didn’t have to do damage just like he didn’t have to play fair. The electrically charged cyborg limb haymaker would do the trick if they just knocked the air out of him.

Or maybe Sol would cancel the attack and just get decked by a steel fist? Who knew!

"Oh, cool, Lykas got it." Sub commented as he watched Blake Hall lose the Red Gem in that moment, looking to Lykas and giving him a job well done thumbs up. With that taken care of the man turned his attention back to Blake Hall, arms folded. "Now I got a lot of questions for you mister Blake pause for emphasis Hall." Those questions however would have to wait, or rather never get asked.

It all happened so fast, one minute the Snagem leader was leisurely making his way across the chaotic battlefield as his Snagems took care of all these nameless mooks, making his way towards the ringleader as he attempt to mentally piece together what all was going on here. The next moment he picked up a surge of Dark energy which snapped him out of his thoughts, the man spinning his head around as quick as he could just in time to watch the collar get Darts. Immediate shock hit the Dark One as he watched the Giratina go down with such ease but the surprises wouldn't end there as the entire cave shook violently following an explosion. Was the place erupting? No, it wasn't that. He felt again, more Dark energy.

As the members of this 'S.W.I.P.E.' group rushed in Sub quickly picked up some of the familiarity in the air; teleportation scramblers. Because they relied on ebonite to work as well there was easily picked up by the Dark One, to him they gave their area of effect the sensation of a cool dark night. And while the feeling of darkness was comforting to the man this was not. His horror didn't end as the parade of alarm inducing revelations kept coming as he spotted the Expansion Suit wearer across the way, and as Blizzard got taken down by none other than Kess, he finally realized what those collars were. "More Cipher tech..." He muttered to himself as he did little but stand there and stared at the various things in disbelief.

What was going on? Who were these S.W.I.P.E. people? Why were they arresting Team Snagem? They were officially sanctioned by the Indigo League, they weren't criminals. In fact, they worked very hard to avoid this exact scenario, what was going on? "Let them go! We operate under the authority of the Indigo Alliance!" Sub shouted to no one in particular, wanting his friends released, the anger rising in his voice. What treachery was this?

"There will be plenty of time for questions later, Mr. Victor Vahn Locke. But I don't think this is exactly the place for it." A voice called out to Sub, a man stepping through the smoke lingering around the entrance to the cave. Tall, slender and wearing a brown trench coat came a rather average looking man however he walked with confidence and authority. It was Looker, of the international police. Sub was aware of him, the man famous, or infamous depending on which circles you were in. Seeing him only caused more dread to seep into Sub's mind as his stomach started doing flips. If the international police were involved in all this it couldn't be good.

"How about we go someplace more...cozy? Like let's say...Mount Silver?" Looker asked as an even taller man entered behind him. Towering at seven feet with ivory white skin and a bronze helmet with no discernible eye holes covering his entire head was a man that some who participate in the WCC would be horrified to see, the menacing wielder of the monstrous chimera Pokemon and Normal Channeler. Sub in that moment was immediately given even further whiplash as Looker named their home base and the monster from the WCC came in behind him. What was going on!?

Brian and Lu were still mowing their way through the grunts when Brian took a fist to the head, sending him to the ground. Lu stood over him as he recovered, getting back to his feet as he came up swinging at whatever, or whomever, had just hit him. His vision was starting to blur a bit as the scrape on his head started bleeding a bit more from the hit he'd just taken, and Lu noticed this and signaled him to stop. Brian barely noticed before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed again, this time from blood loss and the adrenaline wearing off. Lu let out a panicked cry that, thankfully, Rachel heard, as she'd managed to follow the pair after breaking off from Amber and Spooky. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to him," she said, taking a first aid kit from her rucksack and opening it. She applied antiseptic to the injury, taking a bandage and wrapping it securely around Brian's head.

Just as she finished, she heard a voice boom throughout the cavern, setting her nerves on edge. Who was this S.W.I.P.E? And why were Dim Sun and Snagem both lumped into the same cloth with each other? As a pair of people approached, Lu let out a growl and prepared an Aura Sphere to fire, but Rachel's hand stopped the Lucario, making the attack dissipate. "Attacking them won't do any good, Lu," she said, her voice quiet. "Don't make this any worse than it apparently is." Turning to the two people, who had momentarily stopped and had hands on Pokeballs, ready to defend if necessary, she spoke again. "She won't attack anyone," she said, watching as they dropped their hands. "Just don't try to put her back in her ball. Let her carry her trainer." The two exchanged a look, then gave a single nod, not bothering to cuff Rachel since she was clearly not resisting. Lu hefted Brian onto her back and waited, ready to follow wherever they were led.

Amber was still panting a bit from mowing down grunts when the voice came through the cavern, booming through her eardrums and making her cover her ears. Spooky saw a pair of grunts coming after them and immediately fired a Shadow Ball at the pair, who dodged to either side and release a pair of Houndoom. Spooky appeared undaunted, and readied another Shadow Ball, but a grunt from Amber had him looking at her. Someone had slipped a black collar around her neck while he was distracted, and she was on the ground, trying futilely to remove the apparatus. Cooing worriedly, he floated down to see if he could help, but a gruff voice stopped him. "I wouldn't do that," the man said. "That's Ebonite. You won't be able to do anything to it. Surrender and go back in your ball, and your trainer won't be harmed."

Spooky glanced at Amber, who had managed to summon enough strength to speak quietly. "The collar was unnecessary," she growled at the man that knelt over her. "Spooky, do as they say." "But Sister!" Spooky protested. "I can't leave you unprotected!" "They won't hurt me, Spooky," Amber said, not really thinking about the fact she could suddenly understand her first Ghost-type. "Just go back in your ball. I'll let you out when we're in a safe place, alright?" The Shuppet grumbled, unhappy with Amber's orders, but didn't resist further. He tapped his Pokeball with his head, allowing it to suck him inside without fuss. Bubbles, unnoticed until now, approached as well, holding a hand out to Amber to help her to her feet before returning herself to her own ball. Amber looked at her captors and gave a sigh. "I won't resist," she said. "Lead me where you will."

Lykas was a bit surprised that the Red Gem actually responded to his attempt to steal it properly, though he was more surprised by the fact it was behaving like some sort of artifact. And moreso, when he managed to take it, it was fully charged for another round of attacking. Meaning the moment it appeared in his hand, he was met with a point-blank release of volcanic energy to his entire upper half. The hybrid screamed in pain as he was engulfed by the magmatic laser, the scream ripping through the volcano louder even than his prior screech at Lavana.

The hybrid fell to his knees as the laser at last fizzled to a stop, the crystal dropping from his hands as they twitched from the pain. When the hybrid heard the beginning of what cae next, however, his eyes, barely open in that moment, snapped back open wide at the sound of the “click”. What the hell was that?! Looking toward the source of the sound, he saw Darts dropping to the ground with a jet black collar around his neck. He recognized that technology, he was fairly certain. Cipher had once used something similar, if he recalled, to suppress energies. “Eb….onite…” He grunted, forcing his body to begin moving.

An explosion. Another explosion. The arrival of Kess. Three major hybrids collared in a matter of seconds. He heard the sound of something being released behind him and utilized Acid Armor to shift his body to liquid, dropping to the ground as a collar sailed over him. Reforming as he spun in place, he fired a Water Spout in that direction, attempting to fight against whoever or whatever was suddenly after them, assuming this was another of Dim Sun’s tricks. He’d been so caught up in the pain of that blast that he hadn’t heard the declaration of arrest against both teams. He winced as he realized he was covered in burns, though none of them were anywhere near as bad as he suspected they should have been. Perhaps separating it from Blake. Hall had reduced the force of the blast? Snatching it up with one of his tentacles, he tucked it into his bag as he stood back up.

As the various people with their launchers continued their rampage through the two teams, he watched as one person after another was taken out of the fight on both sides. Turning to rush toward Darts, figuring he would be one that needed the most help with him being a Ghost-type hybrid, he heard the second declaration. Kill?! His heart stopped for a moment as his legs faltered. He couldn’t do anything, could he? This old tech wasn’t just for suppression anymore, clearly. He ducked to the side as he saw another person with a launcher taking aim at him, using Acid Armor to liquefy and move, taking a moment to hide again. “I’ll cooperate. But you’re not collaring me.” He told them. “If anybody’s putting a collar on me, they better have plans for a fun night and a late morning.” He exclaimed, looking around the large rock he’d ducked behind to find three more people positioning themselves around him. These people were here in droves, moreso even than Snagem and Dim Sun combined, it seemed.

“I said I’ll cooperate!” He shouted at them, taking a diving leap from behind his rock, shifting into liquid as he did, assuming he would be able to avoid the collars if he wasn’t solid. He would find that he was horribly wrong as one of the collars struck the very end of his liquid form and he instantly returned to his solid form with a brand new ankle bracelet securely snapping itself into place on his right ankle. “Son of a-!” He cried out a half second before slamming face-first into the ground, distracted by the collaring and forgetting to roll as he landed. Skidding across the volcanic stone of the cave floor for a few inches, he would sit up, holding his head as he felt the energies that normally fueled his completely cut off by the ebonite ring. “You bastards.” He swore, the heavy feeling of existing without his energy settling in quickly.

As Lykas was attempting to avoid capture, Chinami was trying to assist others, using her wavy seamitar to deflect as many of the rings as possible. She saw Lykas get caught and turned toward him, intending to try and free him, air swirling around her seamitar as she prepared to cut the air itself with a Vacuum Wave. Those things felt like Dark energy, so she assumed a good blow from a Fighting-type move would break them “Stand down!” Lykas barked. Apparently she hadn’t caught the exclamation either. “They got me. I’m not resisting.” He assured her. “There’s too much at stake.” Grabbing her Moon Ball, he recalled the Hisuian Samurott to it for the moment. He was breathing a bit heavily, as if that simple of an action left him winded. “I hope you lot know I hate you and if you give me the chance, I’m going to destroy you.” He warned just as Looker arrived on the scene and called Sub by name. Not any name but that name. The one very few people knew. How in the world did this guy know it?

Then, he made it clear he knew where the team’s HQ was with such a simple statement. That made sense, at least. If these were the international police, they likely had access to information from the Indigo Alliance. Which, as he recalled, the team’s headquarters had to be made known to them if they were to be allowed to continue operating with legal sanctions. The hybrid didn’t like this. More importantly, he couldn’t contact Odd and warn him, now. Was there anyone he could warn?!

~~~

Clare was still making their way toward Blake when the chaos went from Snagem Chaos(™) to Total Chaos(™) in an instant. The moment Darts was collared and the international police began arriving on the scene, they froze, quickly recalling Mirage to her Pokeball and throwing their hands into the air. They had been under the impression Snagem was a legitimate task force ever since they had joined and were extremely confused why both teams were suddenly being arrested. They wouldn’t resist as someone approached and placed an ebonite collar around their neck, keeping quiet for the moment. They didn’t know who these people were but it was clear they had some kind of legal authority and apparently either did supercede Snagem or believed they did. The Nihilego hybrid wasn’t sure which was the case but they weren’t willing to find out if those threats were real or not. Lykas was, apparently, and they could only try and hold their breath as he resisted detainment, fully expecting that their life would end at any moment up until he was caught as well. They still weren’t fully convinced something bad wasn’t about to happen, though.

When they still weren’t past-tense, they looked at the Jellicent hybrid and scolded him. “They might have believed you if you weren’t trying to escape from them, you know.”

“Shut up.” Lykas snapped back, more than a little irritated right now.