As much confidence as Nancy had displayed while accepting the battle, she still took her sweet time choosing her Pokemon.

Mycroft saw as the woman turned her back on him, stroking her chin and staring at the six Pokeballs she carried; all of different patterns and colors. He could barely make out her mumbling from that distance.

"Belly Drum sweeper? No, not now…" she whispered, biting her thumb. "F.E.A.R Rattata? Maybe but… Perish Trapping? No, too risky."

After what felt like an eternity she finally grabbed one. Her thick glasses hid her eyes from view as she stopped next to Caroline –who was on the verge of falling asleep on her feet– and faced them.

"I already chose mine," Nancy said, glancing to her teammate. "Do not mess this up."

They opened their Pokeballs in sync, and from their lights materialized two very strange creatures. The one belonging to Nancy looked like a vulpine creature standing on two legs, covered in creamy brown fur. A long tail grew from his lower back, ending in the shape of a brush stained with green paint. The one in front of Caroline was a lot more abominable; a humanoid looking thing with a white and pink body and two long strands of dark hair growing from the sides of its head. Its cheeks were painted red like a mime, and its eyes were covered by stylish black glasses.

A Smeargle and a Mr. Mime? This might be tricky.

Without taking his eyes off his opponents Mycroft released his own Pokemon, and Rhin did the same a moment after. Keroro the Croagunk and a round bundle of vines with feet appeared in front of them, ready to fight.

The first to declare an attack was Nancy, with a tone that made it clear she was not in it for fun.

"One Hit-KO…!" she yelled, pointing at the Smeargle, "…use Spore on that #453!"

With springier legs than he would've expected, Smeargle jumped into the air and pointed the tip of his smudged tail at them. From it exploded a sizeable cloud of green dust, thick enough to hide him from view. It moved faster than normal smoke would, falling like a crashing wave onto the Croagunk.

"Keroro, dodge!"

The amphibian creature started running in the opposite direction, but the cloud seemed to have a mind of its own and pursued him wherever he went. It was almost on top of him when Caroline spoke:

"#I'mYourMime, throw a Psywave girl!"

The first thing that came to Mycroft's mind was that he had no idea where the two girls had learned to nickname their Pokemon, but he didn't like it. The second was that if that wave of psychic energy hit Rhin's Croagunk, it would instantly knock him out. He couldn't have such a thing happen; he had plans for the insignificant thing.

"Stalker, you know what to do!"

Two of the countless vines covering his Pokemon's body extended to the side, slamming against the ground as he pushed his body forward. Flying like a bullet, he barely managed to reach Keroro as he pushed him to the side, taking in the blunt of both attacks. The psychic wave made him wince in pain, and his immunity to spore-based moves meant the cloud of dust was absorbed harmlessly by his tiny body.

Mycroft shot Rhin a dirty glance, scoffing.

"It will not happen again," he spat out.

The tarotist raised an eyebrow, and Mycroft could've sworn he caught him rolling his eyes.

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" he whispered under his breath, before turning back to the fight. "Keroro, get moving! Cross Chop at the Smeargle!"

Croagunk jumped high into the air, crossing his arms in front of him as they started to glow. A few feet ahead Rhin saw through Nancy's glasses as panic flashed across her eyes.

"Caroline, this is a double battle!" she screamed, furious. "Take care of that thing!"

"I'm going, I'm going…" her teammate smiled, sticking out her tongue. "You're gonna get wrinkles if you get so mad, hon!"

Caroline's Pokemon raised his hand, pointing it at the airborne enemy as he concentrated his psychic power into it. He carefully took aim, ready to fire.

Something cut through the air with the distinct, sharp sound of a whip. Mr. Mime winced as one of the Tangela's vines wrapped around his arm, breaking his concentration and forcing him to lower it. The strength of the grip was tremendous.

"That's it Stalker!" Mycroft smiled. "Do not let go of him; use Absorb!"

Mr. Mime felt his strength leaving him, as his opponent's vine sapped his energy and redirected it back to himself. Clenching his teeth in pain, he pulled back with all his strength to break free of his grip, forgetting completely about his teammate.

Smeargle tried his best to jump out of the way of the incoming dive, but his body wasn't accustomed to physical combat and he wasn't quick enough. Keroro fell on top of him, both arms slashing at his back in an X. Consciousness left him as he hit the ground like a brick, releasing a small cloud of dust around him.

"W-what!?" Nancy's lower lip trembled, hands turned to fists. "One Hit-KO fell against that pathetic #453!?"

"That's what I'm talking about, Keroro!" Rhin punched the air up, smiling brightly at his companion.

Mycroft couldn't help but laugh at their opponent's shameful display. What had he been so worried about? In the midst of his sudden relief he decided to press his luck a bit, squaring his shoulders and smiling as he spoke:

"I'm astonished by your incredible coordination, ladies. Honestly, c'est admirable," he said, trying to stifle another laugh. "That was me being sarcastic, by the way. I hope you at least managed to pick up on that."

It was easy to imagine the fumes coming out of Nancy's ears. She stared at the battlefield, either too stunned or too angry to reply to his taunt; perhaps a mix of both. Caroline laughed at the boy's words, and turned to her teammate with a carefree smile.

"Sorry girl!" she shrugged, turning towards her Pokemon. "Okay, let's finish this 'cause my skin's getting dry! Another Psywave!"

Enraged by his teammate's defeat, the Mr. Mime broke free of the vine holding him, snapping it at the stem and throwing Stalker off balance. Before Mycroft could utter a command he threw his hand forward and released another wave of energy that flew towards Keroro.

Ah, shouldn't have bragged like that.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Shit, dodge!" Rhin screamed, caught off guard by the speed of the attack.

But he wasn't fast enough, and the overwhelming strength of the attack left him unconscious only moments after hitting him. His body fell backwards into the mud.

"K-Keroro…" Rhin muttered, clearly shaken by seeing his friend hurt. "It's… it's okay buddy, you did great. You can rest now."

As Mycroft saw him return his Pokemon to its ball, he forced himself not to panic. The Croagunk had already done its primary job during that battle, and he didn't expect someone as pathetically weak as Rhin to last long anyway. Everything was still within his plans.

"That was acceptable, je suppose," he said, looking down at his companion. "Stalker, let's finish this."

He raised his chin (or whatever passed as his chin, considering he was covered in vines) high, facing Caroline's Pokemon with the same moxie as his trainer. His body still ached and hurt from the Psywave he'd endured, but he would not fall so easily.

Both remaining Pokemon stared each other down, waiting for their trainer's orders to strike.

----------------------------------------

"Ah, this might take a while."

Ñako looked down at the guy holding giant chopsticks, wondering what he meant by that. The two of them, Wolfswift and Muffincat had spent the last few minutes awkwardly avoiding talking, while waiting for their teammates to cease trying to flirt, battle or kill each other. Or in Silver's case, all three.

A gust of wind ruffled the hair on the back of his head, making him shiver in a way that felt strangely familiar. He turned towards the direction his short friend was looking at, regretting doing so only a moment after.

An endless patch of tall grass stood before them, covered in mist which –if his memory wasn't failing him– used to be a pearly white. Now it'd changed into a dense, pulsating purple. From it emerged black circles with huge white eyes, smiling at them. At least thirty Gastly, all floating towards them and, he guessed, not there to make friends.

"O-oh!" Muffincat pressed her sleeve covered palms against her mouth, eyes going wide in horror. "Not these things again! Milkshake, Icy Wind!"

From the light of her Pokeball appeared a very drowsy looking Dratini, who took a look at the Gastlys and seriously considered going back to sleep. Knowing she'd get no treats if she did so, she decided to accept her trainer's orders and spat a small blizzard in the ghosts' direction.

Unfortunately, at such a distance all that accomplished was to create another layer of mist, hiding their enemies.

"Again?" muttered Ñako, raising an eyebrow.

"It's… a long story," she said, gulping. "And… sorry. At least they're not zombies this time."

"…What?"

He was too busy raising an eyebrow towards her to notice that one of the Gastly had dove straight for him, fangs bared and sporting a wide, bloodthirsty grin. Ñako tried to move out of the way, but just then a flash of light appeared between them.

"Sousuke, block it!"

The Larvitar raised both hands as soon as he appeared, grabbing the Gastly by its sides and giving it a good chomp. Half its body evaporated as it shrieked, soon after dissipating to mist.

Ñako stood frozen for a moment, and then turned towards Wolfswift.

"Pretty fast for a blind guy," he smiled.

"Pretty slow for a ninja," Wolfswift replied, not missing a beat.

They threw their Pokeballs in sync. Abra and Sneasel materialized in front of them, one clearly more motivated to fight than the other.

"Paja, teleport the blind guy's Sneasel up there!" Ñako pointed to a high spot between all the Gastly.

"Tsume, carve your way through them," Wolfswift ordered.

Not feeling any sense of urgency, the Abra climbed on his teammate's back, and a moment after they both disappeared in a flash of light. From then on all their trainers heard were the sounds of slashing, teleporting and ghostly shrieks as their enemies were cleft in twain one by one.

Chopsticks guy formed a lazy smile next to him, spinning a Pokeball on his finger.

"Sid, this is getting boring."

...Who the hell was Sid? Ñako tried to force his sight through the mist, and noticed another person close to them he hadn't noticed before. Mister antisocial skeleton with long hair, standing back and smoking while he stared at them. Creepy.

"Travis, we're attracting too much unwanted attention," he said, voice like a snake who had a serious smoking problem. "Let's finish this at once."

They threw their Pokeballs at the same time. Three floating metal balls stuck to each other appeared in front of Travis, floating around as they crackled with electricity. Next to Sid was now a short, round creature with stubby, muscular arms and a stomach that was a black and white spiral. The Magneton and Poliwrath waited for orders.

"Magne, Discharge!"

"Wrath, get those ghosts off us."

Poliwrath threw his hands upwards, and gathering all the moisture in the air summoned a powerful wave, many times taller than he was. With a flick of his finger he sent it forward, spiraling towards the now weakened Gastly. Meanwhile Magneton concentrated for a moment before exploding in countless lightning bolts, hitting all but its allies around it.

The combined attack wiped out all the remaining enemies, and it would've done it for Paja and Tsume if they hadn't teleported out just in time. The wave of Wrath's attack crashed against the ground, flooding the place with an ankle-deep sheet of water that extended all around them.

----------------------------------------

The last thing Mycroft expected was for his shoes to get wet. He was just about to declare an attack when a sudden wave crashed behind them, followed by a sizeable amount of water covering the small battlefield they were on.

Everyone, including him and Rhin, turned towards the source of the attack.

"That's enough."

The man who'd talked was the most disheveled person Mycroft had ever seen, and the nails against chalkboard sound of his voice sent a shiver down his spine. He saw as he returned his Poliwrath to his Pokeball and started walking in their direction.

"Dick, catch those Gastly," he told the short one with the glasses. "You can never have too much bait. And Caroline…"

Even the always cheery blonde seemed put off by her own teammate, and recoiled at the sound of her name.

"Finish that fight now or we're leaving without you," he declared, his tone making it clear he was not bluffing.

The rest started gathering around them, having finished their particular fights. Mycroft had to do a double take as he noticed Silver with his arm around the blue haired girl, his shirt torn and heavy bandages covering his arm and abdomen, stained with blood.

Is he... bleeding? Dear God, can't I leave these barbarians alone for a second!?

"While I'm sure we could have a lot more fun…" the man said, a thin smile stretching across his face, "…we unfortunately have a long road ahead of us. And if I'm not mistaken, that applies the lot of you as well."

Caroline did not hesitate before returning her Pokemon to its ball, the way her lips were curled a clear sign of how much she didn't want to anger her teammate.

"W-wait!" Mycroft protested. "We haven't finished the fight yet!"

"Oh I'm sorry hon, but like… I gotta go!" she said, waving at him as she walked away. "I loved your beret tho! Like… tell me where you bought it later, okay?"

Mycroft failed to respond, as he stammered incomprehensibly, a deep blush covering his cheeks.

She... she likes my beret? He thought, heat rising to his face.

She ran enthusiastically to where her teammates were, all of whom stared at their leader with some amount of disdain. The thin man took a drag from his cigarette before speaking again.

"We still need to travel all the way to Pewter," he said. "But… I suppose it's not unthinkable that we might run into each other again."

Mycroft didn't fail to recognize his words as bait, and before he remembered the kind of people he was traveling with, he took solace on the fact no one with half a brain would fall for that.

That is, of course, until Vard took a step forward and spoke.

"But of course, my amicable new admirers!" he yelled, raising his palm towards the sky. "For you see, we are also traveling t-!"

"VARD!"

The man with the pink afro was silenced as Sammy, Rhin and Mycroft jumped on top of him, doing their best to silence him.

----------------------------------------

Glad was not the first word Mycroft would've used to describe how he felt about the -relative- low amount of bloodshed that had occurred in their encounter with that group of trainers. Content might be a better candidate, though somewhat satisfied was also somewhere in there.

Still, he liked being on the road again, next to Sammy who looked a lot more upset than he'd ever seen her. Did it have something to do with that barbaric looking gentleman with the sword she'd yelled at?

"Cerulean was gonna dry up before you two finished that double battle," the smelly ninja said in front of him, grabbing onto the bck of his head with both hands. "By the way, where is Cerulean?"

"According to the map it should be…"

A hand fell on Mycroft's shoulder, distracting him from what everyone else was saying. Startled, he turned towards Sammy, whose piercing yellow eyes felt as if they were looking straight through him.

"W-what's wrong, Samantha?" he tried to imbue his voice with politeness, despite the unease he was feeling. "The rest are leaving us behind."

She furrowed her brow, and whatever stormed inside her flashed through her eyes, sending a painful shiver through his entire body. She spoke after a few moments of silence:

"We need to talk." Her tone was serious and heavy. "About the object you're hiding in your pocket."