It's weird how having someone by your side can change your entire perspective, even if their presence doesn't add anything at all.

But having Fay and Luna by my side once again made me feel better. Luna had fucked shiz up bad and we have to talk about it later but for now, it was almost a perfect picture, just the three of us against the world.

Fay was looking at me with respect, something I didn't know I wanted until I received it. Knowing I had earned it really made me feel better.

Even as Pokémon were fighting each other in the air and on the ground around us, even as red blood rained from the sky, I could not help but smile.

If I were any other person I would probably say the moral of this all was: friends can do anything.

Personally, I thought it would be very naive to say such a thing, considering all the people and Pokémon I saw die today must have had people they loved or were loved by.

It always annoyed me how loving someone grants their wishes and can save people.

Staring at the remains of the guy that had dropped dead from the sky, I did not make any illusions.

I was not special and this world is a dangerous place.

War continued around me and I began looking for a way to escape this battle zone.

We were kind of in the eye of a storm, fights were going on all around us except in the middle of the battlefield, which had been the main stage for the girl riding her Dragonite and Hunter J who stood upon the back of a Salamence, wielding a gun with one hand and holding the red Larvitar with her other, she was somehow able to hold her balance.

"You!" A voice shouted from behind me.

I turned around and was met with the sight of a girl striding towards me, her face contorted into an expression of anger and despite being in the middle of a warzone, her eyes remained fixed on me.

I estimated her to be around 19 years old or so, could be younger or older, it was really hard to say.

She had long hair that draped down from her shoulder, it had a deep green color that made a fearsome combination with her intense purple eyes.

Huh, I already thought I recognized her.

She wore a stylish red dress that was just casual enough to give someone the impression she didn't think about her looks. Underneath it, she wore black stockings and something very similar to sneakers.

She was dressed right for a desert but not for a battle.

"Me," I said, not at all impressed.

I had my Pokémon by my side. What could she do? Well, a lot actually but it's the irrational thought that counts.

"What are you?" She asked the question with a demanding voice.

A jagged ice shard shot towards us, escaping from somewhere to our left where a blizzard was raging, because you know, fuck physics.

Luna's eyes glowed but before she could do anything the girl raised her arm at the ice spike.

It stopped mid-air like it was frozen in time, it floated in the air for a few seconds, completely motionless before it suddenly dropped to the ground into the sand.

The most impressive thing was that she wasn't even looking at the ice spike.

"What are you?" I retorted.

Fay shot the girl a curious look while Luna glared at her.

"Do you know what you just did?" she asked angrily.

I blinked. "No, again what the fuck is going on?"

She stared at me for a long second before narrowing her eyes, "Are you a Pokémon? A Legendary, a Zorua?"

"Not the time to play a fucking guessing game," I wanted to shout but I managed to put all my frustration into tapping my feet.

We were really lucky that no one had taken an interest in us but how long would that last?

"No, I am a human," I groaned, frustrated.

A Gengar appeared behind the girl, floating in the hot air using supernatural forces and staring at me like I was a big candy. "Gar?"

"He is the one!" She told the Gengar.

"Who are they?" Fay asked cautiously like I should know the name of every rando we meet.

"Not, who are they," I muttered. "But what do they want?"

Above us, a flaming laser came out of Dragonite's mouth and spat at Salamence who dodged it. The laser-cut through the ground and a series of explosions followed.

"Are you with Hunter J?!" The girl asked with a tone that told me saying yes would not be advised.

"No, of course not."

She nodded and turned around to face Gengar. "Use Nightmare."

The Gengar smiled at me even brighter.

{Danger!} Luna cried out, a tad too late. Gengar sped towards me, floating over the ground and it was surprisingly fast for something that looked like it shouldn't weigh more than a balloon.

Its body was a vast mass of purple smoke surrounding something that could be purple flesh or fur. Its entire body looked like something that physically distorted reality. Deep red eyes glowed menacingly and an impossible grin filled half of its face.

And right now it flew towards me, his claws glowing.

Fay shot forward, intending to meet the purple ghost head-on, claws were revealed and she spun in the air, ready to meet Gengar head-on with a spinning high kick.

A rainbow-colored beam followed behind Fay, fired by Luna.

Gengar dove into the ground and narrowly avoided Fay's attack.

The girl with the green hair gave me an annoyed look, like I was the biggest obstacle in this battlefield, her priorities were seriously messed up.

Gengar shot up and was hit by the Confusion ray that caught it hopping out of the ground.

As if Gengar stood on an invisible platform, it stumbled backward a little more stunned by surprise than actually being damaged.

"Fay, use Metal Dance, Luna apply pressure!" I shouted.

I really wished I had my knife or gun, sadly they were both not here with me, you know, the moment I really could use them.

In the distance a loud crack sounded and echoed over the battle zone, somehow being louder than everything else.

It was the sound of the earth shattering.

Far in the distance the earth began to move, a fissure formed and one plate began to rise over the other, forming a deadly slope.

A wave of sand stirred up and was headed towards the battlefield.

The girl, however, kept focusing on the fight.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Gengar, use Sucker Punch!" The girl shouted while staring at me with an intense gaze. The determination in her eyes told me she was going to finish this battle, no matter the cost. Normally it would be an admirable trait but to continue our battle in the middle of a battlezone? That was madness.

Could I attack here? Probably not physically, the telekinetic powers she had displayed earlier could most likely also be used on me.

She might also possess more powers I hadn't seen yet, seeing who I was dealing with.

Why was she even attacking me? Wasn't she with the Hunt? The supposed heroes?

From the corner, I saw the massive wave of sand coming closer towards us. I noticed Pokémon moved out of the way utilizing different kinds of moves, some dug themselves into the sand to take shelter while others flew up, trying to fly above the sandstorm.

I even saw barriers of light pop up around some Pokémon that had no means of escape, the ones that had no protection and were too stunned by surprise seemed to be part of Hunter J's swarm that had once been a formidable force.

Most of her Pokémon that had been battling seconds prior to the storm arriving, now they were suddenly faced with a landslide.

Helplessly, they were all swatted aside by sand that slid down a gigantic slope that some kind of Pokémon move must have created.

As they were drowned in the sand most disappeared and when the wave passed any survivors were picked off by the Pokémon that had taken shelter.

And now, the wave was heading straight towards us.

Above us the battle rose to greater heights, each one of the two trying to outmaneuver the other and in the process, they were safe from the sandstorm.

But I wasn't. The wave was moving at a relatively slow speed but the size of the entire disaster made up for it and there was no doubt it would bury all of us without a problem, and yet the girl had no problem with fighting me.

Maybe it was because her telekinetic powers could shield her.

A challenging smirk told me all I needed to know.

Fay and Luna weaved around Gengar's attacks, both playing into each other's strengths. Fay kept up the front attack, furiously swiping her claws while Luna kept Gengar from making any real move besides diving into the ground.

Both my Pokémon were getting more tired and Gengar was clearly playing for the long game, trying to conserve its energy while Fay and Luna exhausted themselves.

The look on the girl's face challenged me, 'What are you gonna do about the sandstorm?'

I had to escape this deathtrap somehow.

Time to gamble.

"Luna, Fay, retreat!" I shouted, "Use Sandstorm!"

Fay shot towards Gengar and dug her claws into its purple skin but in the process Gengar slammed down its fist on her head.

She took the hit in stride, determined to keep Gengar off balance.

It gave Luna a small opening.

She opened her mouth and several Confusion rays and Disarming Voice beams were scattered around in all directions. They bounced off the sand and carried the dusty haze that had been created even further up in the sky until it became an all consuming blur of yellow.

I had to shut my eyes to protect them from all the sand, I clenched my teeth in an effort not to inhale the yellow clouds and did what I do best.

Blinded, I turned around and ran.

Behind me I heard a pair of footsteps trail behind me; that should be Luna and Fay. They could see through the sandstorm with their own abilities.

Unless the girl could also detect my location without eyesight, I was in the clear, but for how long?

After running blindly for 10 seconds, I stumbled into something hard and I opened my eyes.

I was met with the sight of a big purple-black colored snake gazing down on me.

A Seviper

{We're here!} Luna's voice echoed in my head.

Fay appeared next to me, out of breath and covered in sand and dust.

She still stood in front of me, claws out and ready to fight the Seviper although I doubted she would win in her current state.

Luna joined her 2 seconds later, physically in a better condition but exhausted nonetheless, behind her she had left an entire part of the zone covered in a thick blanket of sand that lingered through the air.

That hopefully stopped Gengar from following us.

However, the next problem was already on its way.

The sound of a trillion tiny sand grains grinding against one another at high velocity became louder every second and it wasn't that much different than the sound you hear on the beach when waves crash into the sand but I knew with every fiber in my being that this would be nothing like a beach.

I estimated I had only about 10 seconds, give or take before it reached us.

Seviper gazed down at me and I feared I just got a whole new problem to add to the growing pile but to my surprise it simply turned around and slithered away from me, disinterested.

Maybe not everyone was against me.

{Sand!} Luna screamed, sounding quite terrified as she pointed towards the wave, apparently she had been so caught up in the brief but fierce battle against Gengar that she had not noticed it yet.

The wave, well, it was quite something. Terrifying and overwhelming, one might even say. It was like I was looking at the maws of a huge monster that was slowly closing in on me. And it would tear me to pieces with a million tiny teeth until all my flesh was stripped from my bones.

"Luna, use Disarming Voice in front of us!"

Luna's eyes flashed red like they usually did when she was getting pumped up for an attack but the glow immediately faded away after it had appeared.

Luna gave me a horrified look and I felt my body turn cold. {I can't! Too tired!}

Just as she said that her shoulders slumped in disappointment, her eyes glowed again but this time they didn't even reach a faint glow before fading away.

"Shit," I said, too shocked to even react.

Luna's Disarming Voice was the only attack in our collective move pool strong enough to break up a part of the wave and provide some minimal protection. It wasn't her fault really, she just hit her limit at the most inconvenient time possible.

I gulped, "Fuck I am out of ideas." I admitted, strangely feeling at peace as the wave crashed closer.

Only 40 more meters.

A memory popped up, a fact about how people could be found in the desert with sand in their lungs. No idea what that trivia was about, but the thought scared me.

"Not yet!" Fay cried out as she watched the wave come closer. Her paws began to glow suddenly and ghostly blue flames surrounded them, flickering brightly. "We can't die here."

The flames increased in intensity and her eyes became surrounded with them too. They were not like normal flames, obviously besides the blue color, they seemed to be completely different and more violent than actual flames.

Not that it mattered how it looked because only a second remained before the sandstorm would have reached us.

The grinding noise was everywhere and it became completely dark around us, like someone had just made the sun disappear.

However, there was a light in the darkness; Fay, she was glowing, her entire body was consumed by the ethereal flames.

Standing in the middle of it all stood my small Riolu, somehow shielding us. A weird blue glowing bubble had appeared around us like a shield with Fay at the center of it. The walls of the sphere were transparent and had blue shades of colors weaving into and out of the surface of the shield like it was made of water.

Sand washed over the shield at high speed, scraping against it like sandpaper. It was darker than night time.

I couldn't help but gasp.

She had finally unlocked her aura.

The ghostly flames that seemed to come from Fay's body were drawn into the shield, probably keeping it up.

Maintaining the shield was obviously draining Fay, her small body trembled as Aura leaked from her body into the shield.

The sound was deafening. There seemed to be no end to the flood of grains.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the wave finally passed and bright sunlight suddenly shone through the shield again.

Once again, I could see the desert.

Around us the battle had dissipated, mostly, only a few more skirmishes continued but no longer on a big scale like before. Most battles had stopped the moment the wave had passed and the majority of Hunter J's forces had been buried underneath the weight of the desert.

Fay turned around and gave me a small shaky smile.

The terror had passed and the damage was done, but we had come out alive, somehow.

Others were not so lucky.

I bit my own tongue as I realized the entire sand storm had been planned, the co-ordinated evacuation, the lack of surprise on the girl's face when the storm had appeared and the toll it had taken on Hunter J's forces that had been washed away in the meat grinder of sand.

Without a warning, Fay dropped to the ground, too exhausted to move, yet a proud smile was on her face.

I stumbled towards her but a big purple blob popped up in front of me, the big smile ever-present on its face.

"Gengar!" it said.

My eyes shot to my left where Luna had been standing a second ago, she was absent now.

I turned to look behind me and found her lying on the ground, motionless and a weird purple smoke surrounded her body.

"Hypnosis!" A voice shouted.

I tried to look away from Gengar but it was suddenly right in front of my eyes.

We made eye contact and suddenly I began to feel very dizzy. My legs became weak like they were made out of jelly and I lost my balance.

My vision began lagging behind and my world began to spin around my head. My thoughts became a jumbled mess and it became harder to think.

A girl with green hair walked into my vision.

I had seen her before, right?

Then why was she looking at me that way?

Her voice began to echo through my head and it had a weird pitch, like someone slowed it down.

She began talking to the air in front of her. "Sabrina here, time to pull everyone back and send in the Zapdos bomb, that should keep Hunter J down for a long time."

She gave me a small smile. "And someone tell Blink to add 1 person and 2 Pokémon to the teleport, they are in a 5 meter radius of me, awaiting confirmation."

Sabrina knelt down in front of me. "Now let's see what makes you so special."

Darkness took hold of me.

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

"And do you still think this is a game? Some kind of lucid hallucination?"

A voice was talking to me, echoing through the endless darkness.

Where was I?

"You do realize things won't stay this easy?"

A bright light burned my eyes away.

End of Arc 3: Red Like Roses