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"Thank you. All of you." Zephy smiled weakly as she pushed the cabin door open, slowly pouring the dusk light into the room within.

They peered through the ajar door, then stepped inside when the coast seemed clear. This room was depressingly empty, and it seemed to be the cabin's only one. A lone poster was plastered at a ridiculous angle on the far wall, and a single lamp without a shade sat on the floor.

"What..." Zephy sank to her knees as she realized her Bulbasaur's captors were nowhere in sight. "Dammit, it was a trick..."

"Meowth, that's right!"

Zephy whipped around to see a cat, standing upright, no bigger than her Bulbasaur, leaning in the doorway swinging his tail in his hand. She turned to Hashire, then to Professor Nimmo, then to Violet. "Did that Pokemon just... talk?"

"Meowth, that's ri-- I mean yeah, yeah I did!" The Pokemon moved to block the doorway, seeming not to realize he stood all of eight inches tall. "And you guys aren't going nowhere!"

Two more Pokemon appeared at his sides, as if they'd been hiding outside the cabin waiting for their cue. An enormous purple snake, and a pair of floating spheres connected by a cord. Zephy knew these Pokemon from her region: Arbok and Weezing.

"Look out!" she cried, throwing a Pokeball between Nimmo and Hashire's heads. "Weavile!" she called to the Pokemon that materialized, "Be careful! Don't look the Arbok right in the eyes!" The Pokemon turned to her, nodded, and assumed a stance low to the ground, ready for battle.

"Don't waste your chance, Weavile!" Zephy yelled, putting a hand a few inches in front of her mouth to block it from the sand whipping around, "Dig down under the floorboards and come up under Arbok!"

Weavile drilled through the cheap wood, leaving a trail of cracks as it burrowed underneath the panicking snake. It was completely unprepared for Weavile's splinter-covered fist punching up from below it, the force of the attack knocking it a few feet upward. Weavile stood its ground where Arbok was about to fall, and its fists became lightly coated with black ice as it prepared an uppercut.

"Weavile, look out!"

Zephy's warning shout was too late - Weezing had slammed into her Pokemon at full force, knocking it out of her view. It let out a horrible belch right in Weavile's face, making its eyes water and its nose ********! Weavile, come back!"

By now Arbok had recovered from the attack and regained its balance on the ground - Zephy's Pokeball wasn't fast enough to save Weavile from the venomous bite of the snake Pokemon. It screeched in pain as the poison seeped from Arbok's teeth into its shoulder. Fortunately, Arbok didn't get the chance to close its jaw all the way - the Pokeball activated and Weavile was returned to safety.

"Dammit. DAMMIT. I hate poison Pokemon," she complained, checking her belt. "Dammit, I knew I should have brought Aerodactyl. I can't make an Earthquake in here, either..."

She backed away from the attacking Pokemon, throwing a Pokeball behind Tyranitar.

"Vaporeon, let's fight poison with poison! Give yourself and Tyranitar some Acid Armor!"

She looked around again, covering her eyes from the billowing sand. There had to be more to this cabin than there appeared to be.

Zephy covered her head as the kinetic waves shook the cabin. They knocked over the lamp, adding shards of broken glass to the sand whipping around the room. Meowth took this opportunity to pounce at her, taking her completely by surprise - Pokemon aren't supposed to attack Trainers!

"AARGH!" she screamed in pain as it clung to her face, swiping at her cheeks and eyes. "Vaporeon, help!"

Her Pokemon hurried to her aid, converting itself to liquid form and blasting into the cat Pokemon at full speed. It shook itself off gingerly and jumped at Zephy again, completely ignoring Vaporeon. Zephy was ready this time and sidestepped, sending Meowth flying headfirst into the poster on the wall. She could have swore she heard a click as his face made contact.

With one of the three Pokemon dazed, Zephy and Vaporeon rejoined the battle with the two Poison-types. Between the sand in the air and the blood on her face, she didn't notice the trapdoor that had opened up in the floor just in front of where she was about to step until it was too late.

((ffffuuuuu-- the mafia starts on Monday and I'm running out of ways to become the victim XD))

Zephy breathed a sigh of relief in the huge Pokemon's arms, and subsequently ended up with a mouthful of sand. Better than an indefinite fall, she thought to herself as she put her feet back on solid ground. Vaporeon came to her side and licked the back of Tyranitar's hand in a gesture of thanks, then assumed the battle position.

Weezing had been knocked off balance by Professor Nimmo's throw, and Zephy wasted no time following up. "Vaporeon, stir up some Muddy Water and bring it crashing down on Weezing!"

Vaporeon leapt gracefully through the air, converting to liquid form mid-jump. A great torrent of dirty water slammed head-on into the dazed poison Pokemon, and it let out a wheeze before it toppled over onto the grass below.

The three Pokemon advanced on Arbok slowly and menacingly. It sized up the situation and decided to flee, leaving the Trainers to celebrate their victory and take a closer look at the mysterious trapdoor.

((yeahbut I drew this awesome picture that looks like DKC2's game over screen as a promo and I need to be in a prison cell to use it. I figured Zephy would disappear and I'd play the NPCs, to solve the gym issue we had earlier. razz ))

After his helpful yet sideline role in that battle, Hashire recalled Leviathan and examined the hole.

"I think we'd gain some valuable insight if we were to investigate this trap. Although since I doubt it would be safe and no one would volunteer to go down, I have another idea"

Hashire grabbed the Black-ish/White Pokeball from his pocket again and popped it open. Materializing in a black light, The Shadow, his Gengar, appeared. Hashire tasked it with exploring the hole. It melted down into the shadows of the trap and disappeared down the walls.

Owwin returned Tyranitar and looked into the hole. "Well, Ninetails is sure it was here, if they took it down there and shipped it off while their pokemon created a diversion we might be out of luck. I think we should explore." Owwin looked down the hole. They may not have meant for them to find it, but someone could be down there. "Anybody bring an escape rope?"

"HEY! What the hell? Gengar GO!" Gengar came out annoyed. He hated when there was a big commotion because he liked to be the center of attention. "Gen?" Can you get through and get the other Gengar and that trainer out?" Gengar threw up his hand and held one little thumby nub up and winked. "Gengar!" He jumped up did three flips, spun, and started a swan dive, before crashing headfirst into the trapdoor.

Owwin returned the Gengar and sent out Tyranitar. She smashed at the door, tried to break the hinges, tried digging through the floor, but there didn't seem to be any way in. Solomon couldn't sense them anymore, Ninetails couldn't burn through, Heracross couldn't wedge it open. It seemed impenetrable.