I had the realization about five minutes afterwards as Ted and I made our way deeper into the woods towards the explosion.

Holy shit. I thought as a tree branch hit me in the face, drawing a thin line of blood across my cheek. This is an awful idea.

For better or for worse, I was starting to come down off of the adrenaline high I had been riding ever since I had seen the cages in the back of Kane's truck.

It totally had been a panic attack, which didn’t seem quite fair to me. After all, I had only been in the cages for a few hours, which seemed like too quick of a time to develop a trauma response.

Although back then I had been exhausted, probably hadn’t been eating enough, had just been transported to another world, knocked out, thrown in a cage, then beaten up, thrown in a cage again, then led a breakout against the poachers.

Yeah, that was probably enough to give anybody some capital-T Trauma.

But running off into the woods to chase down a poacher whose Pokémon had nearly killed me before? Not my best idea.

Of course, I was different now than I was then. I had Venus and Zetian with me, and Ted and his Pokémon would surely help out.

Did not make it any less of a stupid idea, however.

With a screech, Rakkyo soared over the treetops above Ted and I, circling to get our attention.

Ted had let out the Flygon when we had first set out, with instructions to find where the crash had come from and to lead us there. The branches were too dense for him to easily get through, and although I was sure the dragon could have made a hole, it likely would have taken a little too long.

Instead, Ted blew his whistle, letting Rakkyo know that we had seen him, and the Pokémon took off, hovering slowly ahead of us.

“That way!” Ted said, and we adjusted our course.

Naturally, more loud cracks soon followed, and we picked up our pace.

Within minutes, we finally reached where Rakkyo had been leading us.

A clearing surrounded a small pond that was fed by a little creek. It would have been a scenic spot to picnic if not for the battle that was currently taking place.

I stopped at the edge of the clearing, mouth agape at the scene before me.

A massive figure stood in the clearing, easily eight feet tall if I was an inch. Thick forearms batted at Rakkyo as he darted around the Pokémon like a hummingbird, but most of the Flygon’s attacks were being stopped by thick, orange, armor-like plates.

The Rhyperior didn’t look threatened by Rakkyo, it looked angry.

It picked up a stone easily the size of my head, palming it like it was a tennis ball, and slotted it into the empty hole in it’s hand.

When Rakkyo darted away again, the Rhyperior stuck out its arm, lined up a shot, and fired, the stone launching towards the Flygon with an explosive crack.

Rakkyo didn’t have a chance to evade, and took the stone on its side, drawing a small cry of pain from the dragon.

It didn’t look bad, a Flygon was resistant to Rock-type moves after all, but already there were several wounds visibly trickling some blood.

I gulped. Most of the time during regular battles Pokémon normally held some of their power back, trying not to land killing blows.

Kane and his Pokémon obviously weren’t holding back.

The man himself was standing by the edge of the pond, barking orders to both his Rhyperior, and to Terror.

The Mightyena, a terrifying reminder of what had happened to me, was currently hunched above a squirming red and gray form, jaws locked around the other Pokémon’s neck.

Another Pokémon, a distant part of my mind absently noted how strange it was that a Hisuian Growlithe was here, stood by, clearly torn between wanting to help the other Growlithe in Terror’s jaws, or to help the larger hyena-like Pokémon.

Ted hadn’t stopped like I had, and rushed into the clearing to bellow orders at Rakkyo. The dragon didn’t seem to change his tactics all that much, but after spending time traveling with the pair, I could tell that he was relieved to see Ted there.

“You!” Kane said, eyes blazing with fury as he saw me standing there. “I should have figured it was you!”

He pulled another Poké Ball off his waist, and with a flash of light he released another Pokémon onto the field.

I blinked at the appearance of the Elekid, and for a moment I thought that it was the same one that I had rescued a couple months ago, but I soon realized that it wasn’t the case at all.

That Elekid had been small and young, but this one was older and much more grizzled. Faint lines of paler fur covered its body where scars had formed, and one of the electric plug-like horns was short, obviously from where it had been chopped off by some other Pokémon.

Or judging by the strange jagged edges, it might have been bitten off by another Pokémon.

“Blitz! Take care of the girl while I deal with this other fool. Don’t be afraid to go all out, I want her dead, you hear me?”

The Elekid grinned wickedly as it turned towards me, lightning crackling between its horns.

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I gulped, and pulled Venus’ Poké Ball off of my waist. I had wanted to keep her out, but she had been put back during our rush for the clearing since it would have been difficult to run with her in my arms, and I didn’t want her to be slowed down in the thick underbrush.

Zetian would have to sit this one out for now, however. She had been training, yes, but putting a Flying-type, even a dual-type like Combee, up against an Electric-type was asking for trouble.

Venus appeared in a flash of light, and crouched down, her thick fur rising in a threat display as she growled at the Elekid.

I saw the moment when she noticed Kane however, and she faltered. She was as terrified of him as I was, but she was hiding it a lot better.

She was magnificent.

“Of course you kept that thing.” Kane snarled as he saw Venus. “She could have made me a lot of money, but you just had to butt in. Blitz, don’t hold back on that Eevee either. Don’t bother trying to capture it.”

The Elekid flared its lightning again in agreement, and Kane turned back to the fight with his Rhyperior and Rakkyo.

I didn’t have the opportunity to try and help out, as the Elekid launched itself at Venus.

/^\

The Elekid’s form blurred into a white streak as it dashed towards Venus, and she barely had time to react before a fist was burying itself in her side.

“Venus!” I cried as she skidded to the side from the force of the blow, but she shook off my concerns.

Lunging back with her own Quick Attack, the little Eevee slashed at Blitz with her claws, causing it to cry out in shock.

“Keep on dancing!” I called, using one of the predetermined code phrases we had set up.

Ted had recommended the practice for now, and although Venus, Zetian, and I had only a few days of practice under our belts, it was better than nothing.

‘Keep on dancing’ was our phrase to keep using Quick Attack, but mostly to dodge rather than to attack.

By using the speed granted by Quick Attack, it was possible to get out of the way of an incoming attack, even one that would normally hit. Percentage chances weren’t a thing here, and while the lack of a guaranteed strike was annoying sometimes, it could prove useful in some circumstances.

While Venus frantically dodged the Elekid’s attacks, I was desperately searching for something I could do to help.

Ted and Rakkyo were keeping Kane occupied, although it might have been the other way around. I wasn’t expecting the Rhyperior to put up as much of a fight as it currently was, but the thing was a monster.

Terror the Mightyena was still busy keeping a Hisuian Growlithe pinned to the ground, while another looked on.

Venus was trying to dodge as many attacks as possible, keeping just one step ahead of the Elekid.

Thank god for our speed training.

And then, of course, there was me. Who was sitting there and not really doing anybody much good.

This was really the worst possible line up for Zetian to come out into. The Elekid would fry her to a crisp with an electric attack, and there was nothing she could do to resist it. If I sent her out to try and help the Growlithe being pinned by Terror, the other Growlithe would be at a massive advantage with its Fire-typing.

But at the same time…

“Zetian!” The Combee’s form appeared, and began vibrating in anticipation as she saw the situation around her.

What I was going to do was a low-blow, and generally considered against the rules in any regular Pokémon battle. But this wasn’t a regular battle, and Kane had broken the rules first, back when he had commanded Terror to attack me.

“Use Bug Bite on Kane!”

Her six eyes flashed, and in a moment she was darting through the air at the poacher.

Kane was so caught up in the battle with Ted and Rakkyo that he didn’t realize the danger he was in until it was too late. He cried out in pain as Zetian’s stinger pierced through the jacket into his shoulder, and angrily swung an arm at her.

He was too slow however, and the Combee was already out of his reach.

It was at that point that I realized I had made a horrible mistake.

Terror the Mightyena wasn’t a stupid Pokémon. There were very few actually stupid Pokémon, and while Terror had probably been mistreated for its entire life, there was some part of it that surely felt a twisted form of loyalty to Kane.

So when it saw me commanding Zetian to attack its owner, Terror must have decided that I was a bigger priority than the Growlithe.

Letting go of the smaller Pokémon, Terror turned to face me, red eyes flashing with hatred.

I instinctually took a step back, ice water running through my veins as I realized that now there was a very angry Pokémon who wanted to do nothing more than tear into me with its teeth and claws.

Terror’s charge started out slow at first as it got its feet under it, but soon was rocketing towards me in a flurry of red-stained teeth.

This is it. I had a split second to think. This is how I die. I hope Venus and Zetian will be okay.

That didn’t come to pass, thankfully, as a yellow blur slammed heavily into Terror’s side.

One thing about Combee that I didn’t really appreciate much of the time was how surprisingly heavy they were. Twelve pounds wasn’t a lot of weight, but Combee were also pretty small, so they were a lot more dense than one would expect.

Zetian was also incredibly smart. I had begun to realize just exactly how intelligent she was back on Takeo’s farm, but until now I didn’t realize she understood things like momentum. Her attack caught Terror right as the Mightyena was bounding towards me, just as it’s back feet had left the ground.

Twelve pounds of Combee moving at a pretty impressive speed slammed into the Mightyena at the worst possible time. As Terror was in mid-air, it didn’t have any opportunity to dig its feet in, or change position, or have any reaction at all.

Terror yelped in pain and was knocked off course, crashing to the ground in a confusion of limbs.

Zetian buzzed ecstatically, and began stinging Terror as many times as she could, as quickly as she could.

A crackle of electricity reminded me that the Elekid was still a threat, and Venus yelped in pain as a bolt of lighting lanced out from between the Elekid’s horns.

“Venus!” I called, trying to form a plan that wouldn’t end with us all dead. “Use-”

A pair of bellowing roars cut me off, and the fight faltered for a second as all of the combatant’s attention was drawn to the battle between Rakkyo and the Rhyperior.

The two Pokémon were locked together in a classic anime pose, both fists clenched together as they struggled against each other. Rakkyo was hovering in mid-air, kept in place by the sheer weight of the Rhyperior.

Finally, the Rhyperior let go of one of Rakkyo’s arms, inviting a deep slash across the torso.

In exchange, the freed fist of the Rhyperior glowed a cold white-blue, and a thick layer of icicles formed. With a bone jarring blow, the Rhyperior slammed the fist into Rakkyo’s side just underneath his shoulder, drawing a roar of pain as the icicles dug deep.

I could see the moment that Rakkyo could no longer resist the Ice-type move, and his entire body shuddered with exertion before his eyes closed and he started to fall to the ground.

Ted was quick on the draw, recalling Rakkyo into the Poké Ball before the Flygon could fully collapse.

The Rhyperior let out a victorious bellow, beating its fists against its bloody chest.

Then another roar echoed out from the forest, a clear challenge that drew everybody’s attention.

That seemed to be the indication that the fight should continue, however, and all hell broke loose.