2 months ago, in the Orange Islands:

Silver whistled to himself as he opened up one of the last boxes left in the warehouse and began perusing through its cottony contents. Though just as he'd gotten started, a familiar voice rang from outside. His boss' voice.

"Hey, are you done checking all the boxes yet!?"

Silver gave a thumbs up over his shoulder. "On it!"

"Well get on with it! We still gotta count all the merchandise!"

"But…" Silver looked over his shoulder, frowning. "Weren't we about to close?"

"Less questions, more counting!"

And that was the end of the conversation. Silver turned around and sighed, leaning down toward the box as he started counting what was inside.

Alright… one cotton swab, two cotton swabs, three cotton swabs, a much bigger cotton swab, five cotton sw… hold on.

"Wablu!"

Silver sat still for a moment, then looked over his shoulder again and yelled out.

"Oi, boss! Do uh… do cotton swabs talk?"

"They're gonna start talking once I shove them up your ass! Now get to counting!"

Silver looked back toward the box, unsure. Shit, what was he supposed to do now?

"Wablu!"

The cotton-winged creature jumped out of the box and onto Silver's face, hugging him tightly with her wings.

"You… are definitely not a cotton swab."

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

"Agh, I told you we were being followed!"

Sammy's cry echoed throughout the pastures of Route 4, somewhat lost amidst the billowing sound of dozens of wing-beats cutting through the air. The group of trainers were sprinting away, but soon stopped once they realized they couldn't outrun this threat. They stopped in the middle of a clearing and stood with their backs to each other, Pokeballs in hand, as a horde of aggressive Zubat flew high above them.

"This doesn't make sense!" yelled Mycroft. "We didn't get near the caves, there's no reas–Agh!"

One of the Zubat swooped down, and his fangs would've certainly dug onto Mycroft's neck if he hadn't stumbled forward.

"More coming through the grass!"

Sabrina barely had time to finish saying that before half a dozen brown figures jumped out of the tall grass, rolling toward them at incredible speeds.

"Ah! They're ground Oddish, and they've got tails!" yelled Ñako.

"Those are Sandshrew, dumbass!" Sabrina yelled back.

There was a simultaneous flash of light, and the Pokemon that materialized around them were able to repel the rolling assault, throwing the Sandshrew back. But it didn't stop them for much. They started rolling again as soon as they touched the grass, disappearing from view.

"Stolen Gligar, do your thing!"

Ñako grabbed the Pokemon by the tail and swung it around like a bat, throwing it against one of the Zubat, which the Pokemon didn't seem to appreciate much.

"Normal wild Pokemon don't behave like this," explained Sammy. "This must be Dick's doing! The others must've gotten here before us and set a trap for us!"

At that Silver just laughed and raised his scythe in front of him, Pogo flying in circles around him, crimson eyes set on one of the Zubat.

"Shows you what a bunch of dipshits they are," he said. "They saved us the trouble of having to look for Pokemon ourselves! Give'em hell, Pogo!"

It was a mess of a battle. The group's Pokemon were clearly stronger and more experienced than the wild swarm, but the latter had the number advantage as well as not having to worry about protecting any humans. As a matter of fact, they didn't seem fazed by their opponents at all. Instead of attacking them, they made use of every opportunity they could to attack the humans instead.

"Son of a bitch!" Sabrina knelt, holding her hat with her hands as a Zubat flew over her. "If these rabies-infested pests damage my hat..."

Silver's Spearow crashed against one of the Zubat, sending it flying unconscious to the ground, but that left him too late to deflect the Sandshrew as it jumped out of the ground and rolled straight onto Silver's pivot leg. He let out a grunt and almost lost balance, having to lean against the pole of his scythe to keep himself on his feet.

"Sir, are you okay!?" Molly yelled out, holding onto him.

"Ha… cheeky little fucker," he muttered. "But…"

The Sandshrew landed only a few feet from him, and instead of hiding in the grass again he stood up and shone Silver a cocky smile, raising one of his nubby little hands in a 'Come get me' kind of gesture.

"I like his attitude! Think we could add it to the team?"

"We shouldn't have too much trouble with our flying Pokemon!" said Molly.

"Heard that Pogo? Get his ass!"

"Flancito, use Dragon Rush!"

The Sandshrew was swift and he gave the two flying Pokemon the run-around for a few seconds, but even he couldn't avoid their aerial advantage forever. After dodging one of Pogo's dives, he jumped up with his claws wound back to slash at him, but jumping to the air meant that he couldn't change his trajectory anymore. Flancito came crashing upon him like a bullet, covered in a yellowish-purple mantle of energy that exploded upon contact.

He fell with a pained grunt, and before he could get up he was hit with a glowing wing from Pogo, sending him rolling to the side. But even that wasn't enough to knock him out. Bruised and bloodied, he pushed himself to his feet and jumped up once more, surprising Pogo with his speed and landing a scratch on the Spearow's side.

"God damn, look at that endurance!" yelled Silver, clearly stoked. "I want him! Molly, do your thing!"

"Wh–me!? Really!?"

Silver looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Who else? You're the expert trainer, aren't ya?"

"T-thank you! Alright… Pokeball, go!"

The ball flew through the air, and Sandshrew was too busy avoiding his opponent's attacks to notice as it hit him on the back. The red light absorbed him inside in an instant. The Pokeball fell to the ground and shook once, then twice, then thrice. It sealed shut with an electronic click.

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Molly's expression brightened like the sun and she started jumping in place, both hands over her chest.

"I did it! I won my first Pokemon battle and now I caught my first Pokemon!" she cheered. "Thank you, sir, I–!"

"Look out!"

Siegfried's warning was a bit too late. Silver was too distracted by Molly's excitement to react in time as one of the Zubat swooped in at dizzying speed, wings glowing with light. Molly screamed and threw herself to the side, but the attack caught her right arm right under the shoulder. There was a slicing sound, followed by a spray of blood.

"Shit! Molly!"

Silver swung his scythe, but by then the Zubat had already flown out of range. He clicked his tongue and ran straight for her, protecting her with his body as he looked down at the cut, brows furrowed with worry.

"Here, let me take a look," he said, grabbing her arm gently. "That looks gnarly."

"I'm… I'm f-fine sir, really." She tried her best, but her eyes were wet with tears and her voice shook. "I p-promise."

Silver frowned. The cut looked deep, but not dangerous. He raised his head and looked around. The rest had already taken out a good number of the Zubat, but progress was slow and he wanted to tend to Molly's wound right now.

He supposed it was time to call in the big guns.

"Hey, Flaca!" he yelled out. "Got an idea to get rid of these things faster!?"

"Hm," scoffed Sabrina, not even dignifying a glance back at him. "Let me see what I can do."

Sabrina took a drag of her cig and looked around, surveying the state of the battle. Five Zubat and one Sandshrew down. They still had over ten enemies to take care of, and with every second that passed they were forced to stand closer and closer against each other. Soon they wouldn't have enough space to maneuver or dodge.

They needed to finish this now.

Let's see…

She only needed a few moments to come up with a plan. As soon as she saw the goody two-shoes girl… Muffin, was it? As soon as she saw her Dratini spitting some ice at the Zubat, a light bulb lit up in her brain. She grabbed a Pokeball from her belt and pressed the button, releasing the creature inside.

"Milkshake, one more time!" Muffin yelled, throwing her hand forward. "Icy Wind!"

Sabrina followed with an order of her own. "Gouda, let's give some fuel to that attack! Manipulate the worm's ice with Confusion!"

"What?" asked Muffin, surprised. "What are you doing?"

She soon got her reply. Her Dratini opened her mouth and spat out a small storm of frozen wind that flew high into the air. It hung there for a moment, and then its outline started glowing. Gouda the Drowzee raised her hand up at the air, eyes narrowed, and a second later the frozen wind moved erratically in all directions as though pushed by a capricious wind.

"W-wow!"

Using her psychic powers, Gouda divided the storm of icy wind into seven smaller gales that swirled around the remaining Zubat, swallowing them whole and trapping them inside a psychic bubble. A blue and purple glow fell upon the clearing, making it look as though the sky had been blessed with an aurora borealis. The rest of the trainers looked up in awe, but Sabrina wasted no time.

"Afro!" she yelled out. "This one's yours!"

"Aha! Do you hear that, Pikachu!?" yelled Vard, swirling his cape aside with a flourish. "Illuminate the darkness like thunder in the night! Storm of Osiris!"

A blinding flash was followed by a heavy crackling as dozens of threads of lightning shot out of the small rodent, piercing through each one of the psychic bubbles and hitting the Zubat inside. The bubbles themselves shattered like glass, and the wind inside dispelled. All of the remaining Zubat fell down to the floor, completely out of the fight.

Sabrina allowed herself a second to breathe, as well as smile cockily to herself.

"H-how did you know we could do that?"

She turned to look at Muffin and shrugged. "Comes with the line of work. You c–"

A Sandshrew jumped out of the grass, claws wound back. Sabrina turned and moved on instinct alone. Gouda was too exhausted from that previous attack to dodge, and before she realized what she was doing she threw herself forward and intercepted the attack.

"Ghk! Fucker!"

The Sandshrew tore a piece of her sleeve and cut half an inch into the skin below before jumping back and joining his companions. The pain was almost enough to make her eyes wet.

Gouda turned her head and looked at her, dumbfounded.

"What, is this too hard for you?" Sabrina provoked her. Blood was starting to stain the sleeve. "If you feel tired I can always bring Rokon or Carrie out. I mean, if your trainer has to take a hit for you then that clearly doesn't speak well of your abilities, does it?"

With every word that she spoke, she could see Gouda's face wrinkling more and more into a look of spite. But before she could finish her motivating speech, she was interrupted by a nearby voice.

"Hey, you, the owner of the third-rate Vulpix! S-Sabrina, right?"

Sabrina looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. And oh what a surprise, the one addressing her was Princey Boy.

"Yes, you. What if you repeat what you did with those Zubat, but with Barty's Water Gun?"

As he said that, he pointed down at his Squirtle. A satisfied smile immediately formed on her lips. This was a good opportunity.

"You hear that, Gouda? It seems his Highness requires a favor from us humble peasants. It wouldn't be polite to ignore him, now would it?" she asked, voice thick with sarcasm. "Though of course if you feel too tired to fight I'll have no choice but t–"

Predictably enough, Gouda raised both arms toward the torrent of water before she even finished the sentence. The psychic force molded the stream into a swirling ring that crashed down around them and spun at incredible speed as it expanded outwardly, catching all the remaining Sandshrew in its path.

"C'est magnifique!" Mycroft yelled in excitement, and only caught himself a second later. "Er… I mean, I suppose that was well done, mademoiselle Sabrina."

And just like that, the battle was over. A thick, pleasant silence set into the clearing as the trainers allowed themselves to breathe and lower their guards. A few of them sighed in relief.

"There we go," muttered Siegfried. "Talk about aggressive."

"Another victory for the Team of V–!"

"Yo', Pogo, the hell are you doing?"

Everyone looked up at the air, where the Spearow had begun to fly rapidly in circles, a soft glow quickly starting to grow outwardly from his chest. Silver frowned for a moment, distracted away from bandaging Molly's arm.

"Is he learning a new attack or something?"

"No, it's…!"

The light exploded into a fiery ball of white that enveloped Pogo whole, blinding the trainers below.

"He's evolving!" Molly exclaimed.

The ball of light expanded, then slowly began to contract as a bigger creature took form inside, its wingspan as wide as four people were tall and its long neck and beak striking an impressive image alongside its glowing, crimson eyes. The Fearow bated its wings as it flew down and landed amidst the trainers, a proud yet haughty look on his face.

Silver was left without words for a moment. He looked up at his partner, and a thoughtless smile formed on his lips.

"Shit, look at you! You shot up like a motherfucker, huh!"

Beside him, Molly grabbed onto Silver's arm and mirrored the man's smile, the pain of the cut on her arm the last thing on her mind at the moment.

"It's all thanks to the battles we all fought together!" she declared. "Good job, everyone!"

And even though Sabrina rolled her eyes and mimicked firing a gun at her temple, the rest couldn't hide their smiles. Some kinds of enthusiasm were too contagious to ignore.

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

About an hour later, Siegfried took the lead and led them down a path around Mt. Moon before reaching a dark clearing where he suggested they could pass the night.

"What do you say?" he asked the group. "With Pewter so close and the side of the mountain against us I doubt we'll find a safer place to sleep."

Sammy nodded. "It's too dark to continue. And we should be able to reach the prison tomorrow, assuming we wake up early enough."

"Vard is confused and sleepy," declared the man himself, raising his palm up. "Let us rest in this hapless place, my subjects."

That was all that needed to be said. In no time at all they managed to set up all the tents and, after an uneventful dinner that consisted of little more than cheese and crackers, they started heading inside to catch a good night's sleep. Silver and Sabrina were one of the few that were still up, only because she'd asked the man to tend to the cut on her arm.

"…Hey, aren't we missing someone?" he asked while applying a swab to the wound. "Like… a couple of people?"

Sabrina, who was smoking a cigarette even while being tended to, inspected the rest of the group before concluding:

"Nope, we're all here."

Muffin spoke up timidly. "N-no, we're missin–"

"YOU HEARD THE PLEBEIAN!" Mycroft shouted from inside his tent. "We're all here!"

"Huh," muttered Silver. "Guess I was wrong. Whatever, we ought–"

With his next touch, a cold and sharp sensation shot up Sabrina's nerves, and then that and pretty much every other sensation disappeared from her arm. She froze. Then she glared at Silver. The 'Oh shit' look on his face told her everything she needed to know.

Sabrina tried to move her arm. It didn't obey her.

"Ah… ahaha… Oh, man. Think I applied a lil' too much anesthetic there."

Sabrina knew Silver had good intentions, and that he was generally competent when it came to medicine, but she couldn't help feeling that this time he'd… well, fucked up royally.

"Don't you go worrying Flaca, it'll be alright," Silver assured her, not very reassuringly. "You ain't gonna be able to move that arm for a few hours… few days, something like that. I kinda skipped the anesthetic class during college. My favorite team was playing and… you know."

Sabrina stood up and started walking away, holding her insults back.

"I'm going to bed."

In all honesty she should have exchanged a few hours of sleep for a bit of training. She knew the hardest part of this journey was upon them. She would need strong companions if she was to make it out alive. But she kind of felt like shit. For having lost sensation in her arm, it still kind of hurt. Felt stiff and heavy. And the party from the night previous meant she hadn't gotten much shuteye then either.

Just this time.

She grabbed a Pokeball and releasing Carrie just before entering her tent. The Scyther looked up at her with hope in her eyes, naïve as she was.

"Wake me up when the sun is right above us," she said. "You can do that, right?"

Carrie nodded as vehemently as she could.

"Good. Don't fall asleep."

And with that warning, she walked inside and collapsed onto the floor, falling into unconsciousness mere moments later, all sounds vanishing around her.