When Heroes Strike

The ring was back in full swing. The crowds returned, swarming against the sides of the cage. The announcer rambled and raved in his explosive register.

A smirking Rhyzo stood at one corner of the cage, swinging his tail and clenching his fists. An earnest Excadrill at the opposing corner met his glare, clashing her drill arms together.

“Are you ready to witness this tuuuug of drrrrillllls?” the announcer blared with animated poses.

A chorus of roars rumbled in the audience. Surge, who was peering from under the cage as usual, could see some spectators’ fangs.

“Which drill will pierce the other?” the announcer coaxed. “Rhyzo or Terra?”

“Rhyzo,” Surge whispered to himself with a smile, awaiting Team Venture’s payroll.

The two opponents’ names were chanted by the audience with great fervor. Surge wiggled his ears at the dueling chants. Both Pokémon have equal backing, he mused. Rhyzo and Terra’s chants are equally loud. I can’t discern the headcounts of their respective fans.

He raised a paw and cheered, “Let’s bag this one, Rhyzo! Do your best!”

The Rhydon swiveled his eyes at Surge and gave a thumbs-up. The Lucario closed his eyes in a rare agreement.

“The fight begins in 3… 2…” the announcer yelled, flailing his fingers. Once he finished the countdown, the ring suddenly fell silent.

The customary bell did not ring. Amid the arrest of the crowd’s clamors, the announcer looked at the referee and a shiver ran down his spine.

The referee’s horn was trembling back and forth, like an unsteady tower moved by an earthquake. He hung his head with shut eyes. All glances were directed at his shaking horn; Rhyzo, Terra, the announcer, Surge… Even Shade laid her paws on the bars and stared at the restless form of the stranger who shared her species.

Terra was the first to break the silence. “Referee, did you just sense something fishy?” she called.

After a bout of unease, the referee opened his crimson eyes. “Attention, all Pokémon in the ring!” he cried, walking to the center of the ring. “Whether you’re a combatant, spectator or visitor, all of you lend your ears to my announcement!”

The excitement in the arena was replaced by an unnerving quiet. The serious faces of the audience raised Surge and Shade’s fur. Discussion was abuzz, accompanied by staid registers.

“My sixth sense has just spoken to me,” said the referee, “and the message is one of peril!”

Gasps echoed across the arena. Rhyzo reared at the commotion, wrapping his mind around what was unfolding.

“Team Valiant, the no. 5 dungeon team of the entire Grass Continent, is about to break into our top-secret hideout!”

Louder gasps were released. Clusters of the crowd started to shiver.

The referee weaved his warning as his horn shook. “These fiends of the Pinkerton Guild will shatter our meticulous creation and throw all of us into prison. No Pokémon in the Bonanza will be spared. Not even the honorable Corveone the Honchkrow himself.”

Screams sprouted from every corner of the arena. Surge and Shade looked at each other with raised heartbeats.

“The Bonanza ends right now!” the referee howled, bringing his forelegs forth. “All of you desert the pub immediately! Before you end up in the blades of Mars and his cronies!”

Surge and Shade scurried to the corner where Rhyzo stood. The Lucario jumped and yanked open the entrance of the cage.

“Hurry up, Rhyzo!” he urged, gesturing below the platform. “We must be out of here before Team Valiant arrests us!”

Rhyzo hopped off the platform and landed with a thump. “Take my arm,” he said. Surge tightly gripped the Rhydon’s sinew.

“Surge, Shade, Quick Attack our way out of here!” Rhyzo commanded with a determined expression.

The Lucario and the Absol nodded at each other as they planted their feet in preparation to run.

Surge mouthed, “Now!”

Team Venture took off, becoming blurs zipping through the swarms of fleeing Pokémon. Shade burst through the crowds with Quick Attacks, swerving past every individual in her path.

Surge initiated his own Quick Attack and became dizzy from the high speeds. He lost his way in the disorientation and slammed into a Coalossal’s back.

Heat burst into Surge’s snout. He winced and lost his grip on Rhyzo as he crumbled to the floor.

As Surge rose to his feet, the Coalossal turned around. The mound of coal on his back simmered. “Get out of my way!” he snorted. “You want to hold the line for Team Valiant?”

Surge extended a paw to Rhyzo, who was trying to get back on his hooves.

Suddenly, the humongous shell of a Blastoise popped out of a chunk of the crowd. Spinning like a tornado of chitin, the shell slammed into Rhyzo and swept him away.

“Rhyzo!” Surge hollered. He reached out an arm, but it was futile. He dashed away from the Coalossal and scanned the sea of Pokémon for his teammate’s jagged back.

A rolling Electrode careened into Surge’s side and knocked him down like a bowling pin. His head spun from the impact, but he quickly regained his footing as the Electrode’s shrill cry reverberated in his ears.

Many bodies away from Surge, Shade screeched to a halt. She shouted her teammates’ names as she flailed her head and tail in every direction, her fur standing on end. Feathers of flying Pokémon rained down on her head.

A sudden shove to the torso sent Shade tumbling to the floor with a yelp. Her good eye turned to a frantic Seviper, the same miscreant who was fighting a Zangoose outside a ring, slithering past her fallen form.

She got up and prepared to dart for Surge and Rhyzo, only to stop face-to-face with two Granbull.

“What are you doing? Move!” one Granbull barked, letting Shade race back to Team Venture.

“…a bad omen?” the other Granbull chattered as the Absol made another speedy zigzag through the mob.

As Surge wrestled through mounds of bodies in search of Rhyzo, he sped through his thoughts. I can’t stay still and use my Aura vision. Someone will collide with me. If only there was a piece of space…

A Beartic and a Bewear jammed either side of his body. Surge was wedged between the two ursine Pokémon. He pressed a paw against each bear, pulling open a gap which he instantly fled.

Rhyzo, who was forced to hitch an unwanted ride on the Blastoise, was finally released as the turtle collided with the platform of a cage. His head pounded as he found himself on his belly.

Thanks for dropping me at the epicenter, Blastoise, he cursed in his mind as he pushed his claws against the floor, his eyes narrowed.

Just when he raised himself an inch high, a sudden impact forced him back down, eliciting a sharp expletive from his jaws. Rooted to the floor, all he could do was watch a pair of feet spring off with a frenzied gait, his spine pulsating with pain.

Dozens more feet drove into his back.

Rhyzo wailed as he was sucked into a swarm of panicking evacuees, his hide battered by a flurry of stomps.

The next second, he lay sprawled, anchored to the floor with shooting pain all over his footprint-covered back. The dust clouds swirling around his horn made him cough.

The grunts of two fighters made his ears twitch. His eyes rose to find a Throh and a Pangoro still inside the nearby ring, immobilizing each other in a lock.

Out of the blue, a gigantic flash of pink burst out of the wall with a deafening crack. Splinters of stone spilled everywhere. A massive blade of energy, tall as half the arena, sliced through the cage and split the ring into halves, which toppled to the ground like watermelon slices. The combatants inside were thrown off their feet and tumbled into the dense dust clouds of the impact.

With a quick shove of his arms, Rhyzo rolled his body out of the giant Psycho Cut’s way. His tail writhed in pain as the psychic energy barely grazed his hide.

Damn close, he thought as he rolled again, preparing to launch himself off the ground. Could that be Team Valiant?! He pushed his claws against the floor, got back on his hooves with a stagger, and trod into the nearby crowd.

The Psycho Cut tore through the crowd like a scythe through a stalk. A chill shot down Surge’s spine as the blade sailed past his snout. He stumbled back and flinched at the trail of unconscious Pokémon in the Psycho Cut’s wake, their bodies strewn like fallen leaves.

The screams of the crowd sprang to a fever pitch. Surge attempted to break free and join the dispersing throngs, but he found himself buffeted back and forth by the relentless tide of fleeing bodies, tossed about like a helpless pinball in an arcade machine. With a final collision, he was knocked to the ground and fell on his tail, his head spinning from the clatters.

A familiar eyepatch appeared in his sight. He raised his body and found Shade, her fur bristling with distress.

“You were fortunate, Surge!” she said in a quivering voice, lifting a paw. “I feared you were felled by the Psycho Cut.”

“Great job tracking me down, Shade,” he replied, helping himself to his feet. “Now only Rhyzo’s missing.” His feelers tingled with a pinch of energy. “Would you please do me a quick favor? Guard me as I activate my Aura vision-“

A loud crunch made them turn their heads. Another giant Psycho Cut stormed out of the wall, hurtling toward them at a dangerous angle.

“Duck!” gasped Surge as he and Shade crouched.

The Psycho Cut streaked above their heads with frightening proximity, casting an incandescent glow over Surge and Shade. With the crackle of thunder, it crashed into the horde of evacuees mere feet away from the duo. Sparks of pink energy splashed in haphazard directions as dozens of bodies were flung.

The cracks of the twin Psycho Cuts carved out a triangular slice in the wall, leaving a pattern of jagged edges. Unable to maintain its balance, the chunk of concrete plummeted to the floor with a resounding shatter, enveloping the aperture in a veil of dust. Surge could discern five silhouettes beyond the debris.

A pair of sharp red eyes pierced through the dispersing dust. A glowering Gallade stood firm at the center of the aperture, his dark viridian scarf billowing in the chaos. A Clawitzer and a Salamence with similarly colored scarves flanked the Gallade, aiming their respective claws at the terrified audiences of the arena. A Mismagius and a Pidgeot completed the resolute squad, hovering at either side of their leader.

“It’s Team Valiant!” a bystander screamed.

“Run for your lives!” another joined.

“Please don’t shut down the source of my riches!” pleaded a third.

“Of course we will!” the Gallade asserted with a swing of his unsheathed elbow blade, his deep tone ringing like the bang of a gavel. “Instead of erasing the poverty around you, why do you divert money to this immoral orgy of violence with zero regard for extortion and mutilation?”

“Get out of my magnum opus, Mars!” Corveone, the owner of the Bonanza, crowed, soaring out of the crowd with a glare. “Don’t sully your reputation by dismantling this festival!” He glided at the Gallade with a veil of energy, preparing a Fly attack. “Combatants, prepare to silence these snoots!”

“You call this a festival?” Mars thundered, clenching a fist. “You have created a den of vice to plunder the fortunes of manipulated innocents! You have lured countless into unsupervised battles, addictive substances and many other sinful endeavors!”

Loud noises shook the arena. The spectators hurried in all directions while the combatants brandished their claws and readied their strongest moves.

As screaming evacuees streamed past Surge, he closed his eyes to locate Rhyzo’s Aura. Shade kept a watchful eye over him, defiant to let him collide with any more people.

“Have you spared a thought for your victims’ families?” the Mismagius, Twilight, challenged, swaying her corporeal form from side to side. “Their money, their emotions and their sense of belonging?”

“You’re all talk,” taunted Corveone as he raced at Team Valiant, about to hit Mars with Fly. “You’ll never surpass Teams Evolution and Dynamite when you-“

“Sacred Sword!”

Mars’s left blade transformed into a giant saber of energy. He made a pirouette and struck his Sacred Sword right into Corveone’s breast. The Honchkrow yowled at the impact and plunged to the floor, fainting in front of Mars’s feet.

“No! Our savior!” a Huntail combatant yelled.

“Your savior? Wahahahaha!” the Salamence, Draxon, taunted with draconic energy seeping out of his maw. “When you’re craving for cash, there’s always a fishery, mill or guild to take the slow path. Have you been betting on battles, boy?”

“Get out of here before we revolt,” retorted the Huntail, writhing his tail.

“Dragon Pulse!” Draxon roared before he shot a seething purple orb of energy from his jaws. The orb morphed into the shape of a dragon’s head and crashed into the Huntail.

Meanwhile, Surge and Shade paced forward, undeterred by Team Valiant’s threat. They navigated through fleeing crowds with care as they went closer to Rhyzo’s Aura.

“Rhyzo!” they cried upon seeing the Rhydon stride out of some bodies.

“You could have worked on that Quick Attack, Surge,” said Rhyzo, glancing at the chaos behind him. “Thanks to your clumsiness, I was caught in a stampede.”

He showed his back and Surge recoiled at the canvas of dark footprints on his hide. “I’m sorry,” the Lucario stammered. “Now how do we reach the other end before Team Valiant nabs us? It’s quite a stretch.”

“Should I take care of the Quick Attack, Rhyzo?” Shade asked.

“Yes,” he replied with a resounding nod. “Unlike Surge, you have honest-to-Mew experience.”

Surge grasped the base of Shade’s horn with one paw and Rhyzo’s claw with the other. A nearby Arbok hissed with a rattle of his tail, cursing Team Valiant with every drop of spit.

A sudden rush of wind made Team Venture fumble. The Pidgeot, Dandelia, swooped out of nowhere and snatched the Arbok in her talons, her crest waving like a flag. She soared to the ceiling and slammed the Arbok against it with an ear-splitting force.

Surge yelped, nearly losing balance of his feet. He raised his snout at the aerial prowess. “We dodged a bullet. Guess that’s where the Pinkerton Guild’s prestige comes from.”

“Stop turning us into targets, dammit!” Rhyzo barked, shaking Surge’s arm. “Shade, Quick Attack our asses out of here!”

Shade charged a burst of speed and leaped forth. Team Venture became a train darting across the arena’s surroundings in quick dashes. Surge’s feet began to burn from the friction of their maneuver.

Halfway to the entrance, the Lucario grimaced from the boiling sears on his feet. “S-stop!” he told. “The friction’s doing my feet in!”

“Don’t stop!” Rhyzo refuted. “Team Valiant will chase us!”

Shade’s right eye turned to her teammates. Her limited vision restricted her to Surge, but she was all ears for Rhyzo. Just then, she heard the roar of squalls, and found Draxon and Dandelia racing above them.

She planted her paws on the ground and screeched to a halt. Surge and Rhyzo released their respective holds.

“I warned you, Shade!” growled Rhyzo.

“It looks like Team Valiant will block the entrance,” she explained, seeing the forms of the two Flying-types blitz by. “We should find an alternate exit.”

“At least let me take a breather,” a pained Surge stuttered, hopping on one leg. He blew air into his inflamed sole. “I can’t run with my feet flaming!”

“Damn, where’s an exit when you need one?” Rhyzo grumbled, swinging his head around the surroundings. “There’ll certainly be one here to take care of dungeoneer invasions like this.”

“May I find one for you?” Shade offered.

“Take off that eyepatch first.”

“I-I can’t.” She stepped back. “I’m half-blind.”

“Then why did you ask in the first place?”

“I thought I could do it with just one eye…”

SPLASH!

Cannonballs of water bashed behind Rhyzo and Shade and exploded like bombs. Scores of water droplets scattered into his hide and her fur.

“That must be the Clawitzer’s Water Pulses!” Rhyzo gasped, wiping water off his horn. “Let’s haste. That shrimp’s Mega Launcher ability will flatten us in no time!”

“From this distance?”

“Making comments will only slow us down! Get your tail moving!”

Team Venture turned and ran to one of the abandoned cages at one corner of the arena.

“Shall we hide over there?” said Surge, pointing to the cage.

“The Flying-types are on patrol,” dismissed Rhyzo. “Find a room first!”

They frantically turned their heads around in search of a door. There was plenty of litter, footprints and tipped-over crates, but not a single door or even aperture in the barren walls.

Mars’s voice blared in their ears. “Seal the exits, Team Valiant!”

Surge turned his snout and found the Gallade pointing to somewhere with an elbow blade. A Manectric lay sprawled in front of Mars’s feet. Twilight floated beside him, chucking a flurry of Shadow Balls in a different direction.

They’re close, Surge feared, swinging his snout back. Careful to avoid drawing attention, he whispered in Rhyzo’s ear.

“Hide under the cage. Team Valiant’s behind us!”

Rhyzo dug his claws under the cage platform and hauled one end of it in the air. The trio barged into the makeshift crevice and threw their bodies to the ground before Rhyzo tipped the platform over their bodies to obscure them from Team Valiant.

---

Anxiety brewed under the cage as Team Venture lay low, surrounded by darkness. Hindered by his chest spike, Surge was forced to lie on his right side. Pressure built up in his arm as he bore the congestion. He kept an eye on the pink and lavender Aura signatures of Mars and Twilight respectively.

The signatures began to gesture, and the pink one pointed to the cage.

Surge deduced where this was going.

“Team Venture, get away!” he whispered to Rhyzo and Shade. “Team Valiant must be feeling fishy about this cage. I’m afraid we’ve been detected!”

“Why don’t we Drill Run into the ground?” Rhyzo, burdening the entire cage on his sore back, replied. He jerked his face away from Shade’s horn, which was dangerously close to his right eye. This ain’t the time to share your fashion sense with me!

“That would make noise,” Surge considered. “Not to mention it would create an opening for them to chase us.”

“Do you mean to say we have a Mewdamn prisoner’s dilemma on our claws?!”

“Let’s just hope a tilted cage won’t be a suspicious sight-“

A purple witch hat popped out of the floor, right next to the hidden Team Venture. Surge, Rhyzo and Shade screamed as a pair of gold eyes stared through the darkness.

“Hello, fighters!” Twilight teased as she phased from under the ground. “What felonies are you cocooning?”

“W-w-we’re not fighters,” Surge pleaded with manufactured drama, clasping his paws at the Mismagius. “We were forced to participate in the Bonanza by its leader. We received bad injuries, lost our meager fortune and were put through the wringer in this terrible arena.”

Good bluff, Surge, a smirking Rhyzo approved.

“Please don’t arrest us, miss…”

“-magius,” Twilight finished with a smile. “I’m sorry to hear about the stink Corveone put you through. Want to escape to the Pinkerton Guild?”

Damn, not those overrated exclusionaries again… cursed Rhyzo, furrowing his eyes and frowning.

“Let’s go to the guild,” Surge told him. “They’ll have healing facilities to patch us back up.”

Mars approached the cavern and bent down, his expression softened to a wide-eyed inquisition.

“Twilight, what discussion is going on there?” he said. “Are they stubborn?”

“No harm. They’re just unwilling volunteers.” She turned to Team Venture. “Mars will teleport you to the guild. Are you ready?”

“I don’t need a trip to the guild,” Rhyzo snorted. “Our cave is nearby. You mind your own arena-busting business.”

“What will you do about the stamp marks on your back?” Surge considered, curling his feet.

“Can’t waste a thousand miles.” And hook up with you elitist bastards.

Mars blinked at Rhyzo’s defiance. “You… you’re turning down our world-class clinic?” he pondered. “Not interested in catching a glimpse of Team Evolution? Look, modesty may be a virtue, but you can’t prioritize it over injury. Don’t be hesitant.”

“Listen to him,” Shade added, her right eye gazing at her leader. “Your back injuries can aggravate.”

Rhyzo shot a glare at her.

“What are you waiting for?” questioned Surge, his markings slanting with worry. “You know your back is in nerve-wracking pain, so why are you cagey?”

“For every second you hold,” Mars warned, “you’re letting a criminal escape the arena. Will you come with us to the guild? We can’t be patient any longer.”

The scuttle of legs made his head turn. The Clawitzer shuffled toward him with an unsteady gait.

“Cross, what’s wrong?” asked the Gallade.

The Clawitzer showed a large gash on his side. “Got a nasty Leaf Blade to the shell,” he said. “Do you have any Sitrus Berries?”

“Stay calm. Twilight, where’s your bag?”

“Oh, it got separated when I phased into the floor…”

He returned to Team Venture and assured, “I’m profoundly sorry, but our teammate is injured and we must tend to him right now. Please wait for some time. I promise there’ll be no delays.”

As Mars left and Twilight phased back into the floor, Surge held his breath. His eyes swiveled to Rhyzo’s rotating horn.

Rhyzo thrashed his head to the floor and gored his horn into the coarse rock. He became a ferocious drill, churning soil out of the ground in a deafening clamor.

Without Rhyzo, the cage lost its support. It began to fall, its base hurtling at Surge and Shade. Their eyes froze at the huge platform about to crush their bodies.

Surge quickly rolled onto his back and thrust his paws against the cage, managing to stop the fall in its tracks.

The cage’s weight pressed against his bones, sending trembles down his arms. A grimace wrote itself under his snout. His eyes shut at the specks of dirt spilled by Rhyzo’s Drill Run.

“You can raise it,” Shade suggested, crouching and waiting for the drilling noise to abate. “Keep one end on the floor and balance the other on your shoulders.” She shook dirt off her fur. “Your Fighting typing enhances your capability to carry heavy weights.”

Her monotone voice did not stop Surge from relishing her words. “Thanks, Shade!” he replied, distributing weight to one end of the cage and positioning it on the floor, careful to keep themselves hidden from Team Valiant.

He got up and kneeled before hauling the cage on the back of his head and his metallic shoulders. Finally, he supported the cage with his right paw to prevent it from sliding down.

When the drilling stopped, Shade fanned away the billowing dust clouds with her horn, finding a Rhydon-sized hole in the floor. She prowled to the hole, looked inside and saw a deep chasm that appeared to be bottomless. Her nose caught whiffs of Rhyzo’s stony scent, wafting from deep down the hole.

“Get down here!” the Rhydon’s gravelly voice echoed in the tunnel. “Now!”

Shade blinked in confusion. But… Team Valiant is waiting for us… she thought.

“I said get down! Don’t give a damn about that Gallade!”

“How can I survive such a steep fall?” Surge muttered, his back aching under the cage’s weight.

Shade turned to him and uttered a single, curated word. “Watch,”

She leaped into the hole and vanished out of Surge’s sight.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Surge gasped, stretching out his left paw. “You’ll get injured!”

Balancing the underside of the cage, Surge slowly shuffled toward the hole. He lowered his snout and found two specks of Aura at the faraway bottom, one a terracotta brown and the other a dark purple.

Shade, you managed to stay unharmed? he thought. Amazing! The supernatural feats of Pokémon…

“Stop screwing around and jump!” Rhyzo’s voice continued to rumble. “Team Valiant will catch you anytime now!”

Surge swallowed air and hopped into the hole, dropping the cage to the floor with a slam and sealing the crevice. For a stretch of seconds, he plummeted down a tube of complete darkness, with nothing but the Auras in his eyes. The smell of soil surrounded his snout and air resistance ruffled his fur.

His fall stopped abruptly with an intense buckle against a layer of soil. Pain erupted in his feet and knees. Surge let out a sharp whine as his legs crumbled and rubbed one of his sore knees.

The Lucario bent his left leg and noticed the surprising amount of vitality it had retained. My legs would have broken from such a height, Surge surmised. They have a staggering level of durability! This is a miracle. I hope Shade is alright too…

“Get up,” Rhyzo blurted.

Surge rose to his feet with unexpected ease, considering the impact of his fall. The pain appeared to drain out of his legs at a remarkable speed. In the darkness, his eyes met Rhyzo’s signature, his brown color and gray outlines shining like a sun.

“Rhyzo,” Surge began. “The fall hurt less than I feared.”

“Thank your Steel typing,” he replied. “It makes you tougher than the average Pokémon.”

Surge looked at the signature of one of his knuckle spikes, shimmering with silver Aura. Shade’s signature, a deep violet that could be mistaken for black, stood behind his spike, as gentle as a moon.

“You’re unharmed too!” he said in relief. “How?”

“Falling from a great height does not pose any risk to an Absol,” stated Shade, able to see Surge’s face in the concentrated shadow. “Most fully-evolved Pokémon can withstand falls.”

“And what does that tell about your craploads of potential?” added Rhyzo, feeling a wall of soil with an arm. “You’re a humdinger. Show some more badassery and you’ll be a hot favorite for Dungeoneer of the Year.”

“Thanks for your faith, both of you,” replied Surge, dusting pebbles off his legs.

Rhyzo copped a feel of soil with his horn and began a Drill Run. His coarse raze returned as he carved out a tunnel.

Watching him tornado away, Surge and Shade scurried into the makeshift tube without a second word. Surge stumbled in the dark, unable to discern any non-living material.

Shade noticed his unsteady movements. “What is wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing, just the lack of light,” said Surge, gazing at the soft incandescence of her Aura.

“I can guide you,” she replied with a responsible sniff. “I have good night vision.”

“With a single eye? Wouldn’t it be a stretch?”

“I’ve learned to live with it. You don’t need to aid me.”

“Fine.” Surge nodded and followed Shade through the tunnel.

---

In Butterfield, a habitat of poverty, depravity and negligence, who would have expected a vegetable garden behind one of the many ramshackle sheds? A certain perimeter of land behind a certain house was crammed with cabbages, watermelons, tomatoes and eggplants of a population density that betrayed its forcibly pitiful area cover.

The crop leaves gleamed like wax under the rays of the afternoon sunshine, water droplets dripping from their tips with poetic motion. The vegetables’ flesh was bright and succulent, lighting up the murky sights of Butterfield with splashes of natural color. It was a bizarre, enchanting sight.

A sight amid a rising cacophony of drills.

Suddenly, a fountain of mud erupted in the middle of the garden, throwing uprooted crops into the air like a burst water pipe. Rhyzo popped his head out of the new hole and flinched at the flood of sunlight.

“It’s still afternoon?!” he screeched at the blazing sun as he clambered out of the mound of soil punched in by his Drill Run. “That whole craziness felt like damn hours to me. At least I’ve escaped from those pushy Pinkerton pricks!”

Two shaking Lucario paws grasped the rim of the mound. Surge’s head emerged from the hole, hanging his tongue out and panting vigorously.

“Rhyzo… can you please… help me… out of here?” he spluttered.

The Rhydon turned around and growled at him, “Do it yourself! How can you act all wussy just after you withstood a hundred-feet fall?! Stop whining and get out like any other Lucario would!”

Clutching the soil, Surge pushed his whole body out like a leaping fish. His limbs ached as he carefully got up. He frowned at the patches of mud splotched in his fur.

Shade swiftly surfaced, brushing mud off her fur, claws and horn. She ripped a tomato off a nearby stalk and began to chew it, its juices quenching her thirst.

“What a day… we’ve endured…” mumbled Surge, pulling out the money pouch from his bag. “A shady arena… a fierce battle… and a frantic raid… I knew something was wrong… about the Bonanza.”

“Would you hold that opinion if that highfalutin Golisopod told loneliness to screw off and joined us?” Rhyzo riposted. “He would have been strong enough to kick Team Valiant’s asses. Now we come back with a 100-gold loss, as if the Covet Collection debacle was part of a divine plan to put Team Venture through a raging hell.”

“He might have had doubts about the Bonanza,” Shade speculated, licking her lips. “In retrospect, he averted a disaster.”

“Why didn’t you predict this whole shit, Shade?!” Rhyzo roared, glaring into her visage.

Shade’s fur stiffened and she recoiled. “I-I already did! But the referee delivered the message before I intended to.”

“You should have told us before we stepped into the Loopy Beedrill!”

“My sense only activated just before your second battle.” It’s slipping… It’s slipping…

“At the same time as the referee? Huh.” Damn you, Absol neurology! Rhyzo’s eyes turned to the myriad of crops surrounding Team Venture. “Why don’t we dig up this place?”

“MY BACKYARD! NOOOOOOO!” The swing of a door and a shrill scream intruded.

Surge saw a Gloom hustle out of a rickety shed. Aware of the garden’s mess, he covered his mouth with a paw.

“My vegetables!” the Gloom bawled, her petals wrinkling in distress. “Poor, poor vegetables! My pantry destroyed…” Her simplistic face contorted into a hateful scowl directed at Surge’s snout. “…by you ruffians!“

“We’re sorry, madam!” Surge apologized, holding his paws up. “There was a fire at our house and we were forced to evacuate with a Drill Run. We landed here thinking this was isolated space!”

“Get. Out,” the Gloom hissed with surprising gravitas for a squeaky voice. “Before I spray Stun Spores down your noses!”

Rhyzo’s ears perked at the Gloom’s threat. “Don’t be so melodramatic, Gloom,” he said, his stomach rumbling. “You can grow as many vegetables as you want with your Grass moves. How about you conjure a bunch of kale for me?”

“Why should I when you ruined my lush garden?” the Gloom retorted, hopping with anger. “How foolish of you to ask for food in exchange for a mess!”

“Our situation was completely out of control!” Shade begged. “Please forgive us!”

“No forgiveness!” the Gloom yelled. “Get out of here before you invite more disasters to my backyard!”

Two stony arms suddenly grasped Shade’s torso. Her right eye bulged at Rhyzo lifting her into the air with a look of determination. She was swung backward like a shotput, and Rhyzo tossed her over the Gloom’s shed with a powerful motion of his arms.

“WRAIIIIEEEEOWWW!”

“Rhyzo!” Surge gasped at his audacious ploy. “Why on earth did you do that?!“

The Rhydon stormed at the Lucario, swinging his tail. “I’m only keeping you two away from that inconsiderate bitch.”

“With a fling across the-WAAAGH!”

Surge followed Shade over the shed.

He crashed into the alleyway, right next to a slumped Shade and an overturned trashcan. The Gloom’s venomous words echoed behind the shed.

“You called me a bitch?! You’re the inconsiderate one here, you lout!”

Surge rose to his knees and clutched his forehead. “Oww… as if the ordeal couldn’t get any longer…” he lamented. He looked at Shade as Mars’ stinging speeches blared in his mind. “What do you think when both heroes and villains are in hot pursuit of us? It’s a pitiful purgatory.”

Shade got to her paws and glanced around the dusted, colorless street. “It’s simple,” she answered. “You must have a thicker pelt.”

He stroked a paw across his forehead. “Why should the world be so harsh on the faint-hearted? There’s always an action without attacks. Diplomacy. Friendship. Cooperation. Why didn’t Team Valiant just give the Bonanza owner a lecture and a pair of handcuffs?”

“Claws and fangs are priorities in backwater places like this. I’ve witnessed it firsthand. If Team Valiant tried to engage in peaceful conflict, they would have been attacked by the participants.”

“If only Rhyzo considered a normal job, we wouldn’t have been caught in clashes like this. I hope this incident will turn him off underground battling entirely.”

“Exactly.”

As insults continued to boil behind the shed, Shade closed her eyes and exhaled, waving her horn slightly. She already knew the hardships of poverty like the back of her paw, familiar yet unwelcome companions. But tangling with elaborate felonies was a whole other breed altogether, stumbling into the webs of grudges, lies and schemes.

Surge observed her composure, a mixture of bewilderment and admiration swirling in his heart. The same Shade who crumbled into fear and agony at the sight of a brutal battle mere hours ago was now pontificating about survival and resilience. He could smile at her return to mental strength but he now knew there was a fragile core under her taciturn shell. Did Team Valiant’s ambush unlock her resolve?

Maybe or maybe not, even if the ambush was certain to trounce Rhyzo’s stubbornness, it would guarantee to preserve Ronin as a wistful memory.

How events unfold.

Will the Original One ever forgive Team Venture?