Jacks and Vince, once entering Brine Cve, were highly disappointed at the skill level of the wild pokémon in the area, but then again they were quite a high ranking team. Once they reached to the final floor however Jacks turned to the group. "YAY! We finally reached to the bottom, I surely cannot wait t-" As he was speaking, his loud voice echoed across the room and suddenly two Omastar and a Kabutops, accompanied by some dragonairs, some staryus, a tentacool and a massive Walrein appeared. Kabutops suddenly walked forward. "You are not The Hero, I give you till three to leave before dying right here!" Kabutops said trying to intimidate the group, but Jacks didn't back down. "HAHAHAHA really? We are the Heros, just incarnated into new bodies... I woke up wondering where I was, and why i was in the woods. I look at myself and see that i'm not human and I SWEAR I was human before all of this, and when I started to research... I learned the The Hero was also once human to save the future, meaning I must be the one to save everyone from the calamities... So I AM The Hero, and so is Vince since he's technically the same as me, just voided a bit as you can say..." Jacks said trying to negotiate with the Kabutops, but failed. "Hm Nope... I'm afraid I am going to attack you right NOW!" Kabutops said about to use Giga Drain on the Ninjask when vince stood in the way activating Wonder Guard. "Nice try bud, but you aren't attacking my best friend... Swords Dance!" Vince said, Jacks in the background replied. "Swords Dance" Jacks had responded with also doubling it's attack. Then suddenly Ninjask's Speed Boost kicked in, allowing him to move again, but he waited for Vince. "Swords Dance!" He said, then Ninjask responded with "Baton Pass!" Which then passed the stats to Vince. Vince then looked at the Kabutops. "X-Scizzor!" it said, KOing the Kabutops, but now the other pokemon were more angered, but SneakyNinja wonders what the Bad Rulers have planned for the wild pokemon, while doing so Vince looked at Déspota. "Hey! What did you think? Does that answer your question on our potential?" Vince asked the banette.

Just as Venge had hoped, Jingle only seemed able to use Fairy Wind; despite crying out the names of his moves in a very goofy fashion, none worked. Finally, he seemed to give it up and performed a second Fairy Wind, exactly as the Wobbuffet wanted. This time his Mirror Coat was no mere fluke--after sponging up another gust of fae sparkles, the familiar silver sheen enveloped him. Seconds after the special attack hit him, a concentrated blast of energy with twice the punch of Jingle's original Fairy Wind went sailing back punctuated by an earnest "Keyah!" Though Venge had an inkling that the rebounded blast wouldn't be particularly effective against his tiny metal enemy, Venge was pleased to be contributing regardless. Jingle himself had backed off somewhat, meaning either Pip or Jess might have a hard time closing the distance to land a physical attack without sustaining a point-blank Fairy Wind. Venge himself wasn't worried, as his game plan consisted entirely of defense. Though he didn't know it, the Wobbuffet also sported a noteworthy level advantage.

Jess, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor in a tranquil position. If not for an intensifying energy surrounding her, Venge might have dismissed her as useless. For a split second he pondered what she could be doing. Pip, meanwhile, seemed full of fire and ready to inflict another negligible Scratch at a moment's notice. Venge's own rage waned as Jingle held his ground. Keeping a keen eye on the keyring, Venge reached up and forcefully tightened his slightly ruffled black belt bandanna.

-=-=-

Not far from the group battle, two crimson eyes glimmered in the darkness. These intimidating red rings shone like headlights, forceful and unyielding. The creature that owned them exemplified these characteristics totally, combining the impersonal savagery of the metal monster with the brutal intelligence of the supercomputer gone wild. Sensing that the intruders into its domain had weakened each other, the silent, waiting Pokemon hovered forward slowly. No Pokemon, from resolute Jingle to patient Jess to anxious Pip to energetic Venge, felt the unseen threat approaching until a pinkish wave of psychic energy -similar to Jess's, but far stronger- bulled into them.

By chance, Venge was closest to the hostile Pokemon and took the brunt of its Confusion and crumpled to the inhospitable cave floor. Caught off guard, he couldn't quite gather himself to Mirror Coat the special attack back; it didn't help that his would-be target's location was shrouded in shadow and the Confusion hurt a lot more than anything he'd felt previously. Venge guessed that is assailant now boasted the level advantage, and the hypothesis sobered him. Suddenly and frighteningly, Venge wasn't the biggest fish in the pond anymore. He pushed himself to his feet with a throaty groan as the unknown Pokemon moved close enough to reveal itself in the dim light that radiated from the distant cave mouth. Sleek, impervious blue body accented by steely spikes and floating in midair thanks to some magnetic phenomenon, this creature proved to be none other than a Metang. Before Venge could figure out what course of action to take, the newly-revealed Metang had locked on to what it apparently viewed as the weakest in the group and was preparing its next attack. A hollow cry of "taaaaaaaaaaaaang" reverberated from its metal shell and it flew forward at high speed, wreathed in wavy light. The next instant, its Zen Headbutt smashed its 446-pound frame into poor Pip, sending the little Aipom careening away into the darkness of the cave. Pip continued to skid painfully, coming to a halt temptingly near the cave entrance where he could faintly feel a refreshing seaside breeze.

"Sure, "hero", but i wouldn't get full cocky for only having defeated one of them."

Although the phrase was charged of offense, true was that Déspote had paid any attention to the display of the bug duo after Jacks had finished his speech and he had been impressed, but now he was too busy handling the situation and planning a strategy for being bothered and on top of that, the human revelation of the SneakyNinja team only managed to make him confused, but there was no time to talk about it, he would digest it later.

Of all the enemies, Tirano and Dictador could take most of them with a thunderbolt or two, but the dragonairs could take easy advantage of it and block the attacks with their electric resistance. They could always rely in Autócrata accumulating enough calm minds to blow away everything by herself, but it would take too much time and they couldn't risk loosing anyone or getting injured. First of all, divide and conquer

"Tirano, protect Autócrata. Autócrata, try to accumulate as many calm minds as you can. Dictador, double, triple, cuadruple and quintuple team, make them miss everything, but first..."

The banette was violently hit by an ice ball that was thrown to him, luckily only being a weak attack, but if he let the walrein continue it would be more and more hurtful, but for now he was only lowly injured.

"Arg! But first, confuse this fatass! I'll show it myself!"

"Confuse ray!"

The confuse ray hit the ice break pokemon just before it could launch the second ice ball, making it groan in confusion and blink excessively as it rolled around, hitting the nearby tentacool in the turmoil. The banette stood up and shouted a "go go go" multiple times before going for the walrein himself. Dictador and Tirano started by throwing a thunderbolt to a omastar that was already getting too close to Autócrata, defeating it quickly, but their second attack, as it was predicted by Déspota, was blocked by the dragonairs, which luckily retaliated with a slam attack that didn't affect any of the ghosts, who simply floated away to safety (except for Dictador, who remained there as a bait using double team). Meanwhile, Déspota saw that even approaching the walrein would be a difficult feat, and while he though of letting Vince, with his wonder guard, handle the enemy, he scrapped the idea when he saw the walrein using rock slide (but luckily hitting itself in the confusion). Déspota was not as fast as the others, and when he tried to hit with a shadow sneak he barely managed to scrath the bulky Walrein. At that point it didn't matter, if the banette paralyzed it he wouldn't be able to scratch it, if he burned it the walrein could just use surf before the burn teared it off. Just in that moment the rest of the team was getting cornered and that's when Tirano shouted

"Jacks, Vince, we need your help here!"

But Déspota had a better idea in that moment.

"No! I mean, Vince, please help them. Jacks...!

He swallowed and tensed his cloth-like arms, the walrein had just snapped out of the confusion

"Think you could pass me a baton like you did with Vince?"

'I wish I knew Swift, then range wouldn't matter with my attacks.' Pip thought, irritated at the fact he had no chance for striking at this foe. It was a learning experience, it certainly taught him he needed a better moveset, or perhaps strategy in general. Thinking about it would get him nowhere though, he had to do what he could, and strike this opponent for the sake of ending all the fighting so he could move on and help that Nidoran that was still waiting somewhere in the cave.

Of course, not everything always goes as planned. Pip had been preparing to charge the enemy as he wasn't given many options, before pain came to him. Not knowing the cause, he simply grasped his head with both paws in pain. "W-What's causing that?!" He questioned, as it didn't seem to be coming from the Klefki at all. His answer wasn't by Jess, Venge, nor the criminal Klefki, it was by the sound of a Pokemon's cry, followed by a heavy force ramming strait into him. Being a light-weight took it's effect, and Pip could only let out a scream as the attack sent him flying, only to soon land and painfully skid along the rocks below him, the force enough to knock the poor little Pokemon through entire rooms. And to their surprise, past Isole and Lucio.

The two had continued waiting, expecting their teammate to be back soon. But soon both of them had wide-eyed expressions at the sight of the blur skidding across the ground, not completely sure of what had passed them. It was only when Pip came to a halt near the entrance they saw the small purple monkey laying there, not moving at all. The two of them stood, Isole making sure to grab the bag before they ran over to see if he was alright. Though the answer to that was rather obvious.

Pip could hardly keep his eyes open. The attack had did more damage than any attack Pip had ever experienced. The only feeling he had was the extreme amount of pain he felt in his back. "Oh, hey guys..." He commented, a groan following expressing the pain somewhat.

"What happened?!" Isole asked, glancing back to see if the cause was following. Thankfully it seemed that it wasn't, but she figured they should leave before it decided to finish the job. She looked back at Pip, only to see him fighting to keep his eyes open. She then went quiet, not wanting to stress him with having to answer.

"Don't fight it, Pip. We'll take you back to the Guild for some rest." Lucio commented, only worrying Pip about failure. A small frown was on Lucio's face, Pip could tell he was just as displeased, if not more. This certainly wasn't a job gone well, if anything, Pip didn't think it could have gone much worse. With a sigh, Pip gave in to the pain and fainted, breathing heavily and scarcely. "Trusted you to not get hurt." Lucio grumbled, picking Pip up and putting him over his shoulder. The only bright side was that the exit was right in front of them.

Isole followed, saddened by the turn of events most certainly. "Are you sure we shouldn't try and go save the Nidoran?" Isole questioned softly, only getting a nod from Lucio, as they began travelling across the beach, and towards Wigglytuff's Guild. As Pip most certainly would require medical attention. Lucio personally didn't think about the cave anymore, or anyone inside it. He simply focused on making sure his team stayed as a trio, and didn't turn into a duo.

'Heh... Because what would we do without you?'

Preparing for the incoming attack from either Pip, Venge or Jess made Jingle focus purely on them. He couldn't let his eyes look another way than theirs. It was then that he thought that someone went to attack. He felt a confusion, it was a lot stronger than last time. This confusion couldn't originate from the Meditite, it just couldn't be. Even without his crafty shield, that confusion couldn't hurt that much. Jingle was thrown across the cave landing next to Venge. The clattering keys echoed through the cave. The tiny Klefki was laying down on the ground. The little body managed to push himself up.

Jingle looked in front of him. It was a Metang, the floating, spiked, and blue chunk of steel was floating in the air, with only bad intentions for them in store. Its red eyes glowed in the dark, it was kinda intimidating. Before Jingle could say even a word the Metang rushed forwards, although the steel and psychic Pokémon wasn't heading for him, he jumped out of the way anyways. He however noticed the Zen Headbutt hit Pip the Aipom instead. Jingle was a bit scared, the Pokémon was very strong, as it send Pip flying, very very very far. Maybe even out of the cave. But why did the Metang attack other Pokémon from this cave anyways? Pokémon that coexist in these mysterious dungeons never attack each other, unless... Jingle turned his head to Venge, as he was the closest.

"Are you actually an inhabitant of this cave? Or have I been fighting fellow explorers all along?" Jingle asked embarrassed. If that were to be the case he should apologize for suddenly attacking them. But you never know who is your friend and who is your enemy in locations of which there isn't any peace.

Jess's Bbide lasted long enough and it was released, but just happened to hit The Metang due to the Klefki getting shoved out of the way, and had hit the Metang pretty hard with the double damage plus the maxed attack. Jess stood up to see the Metang. Damn it... I wish i had a fighting type move... Jess thought to herself, then Jingle added. "Are you actually an inhabitant of this cave? Or have I been fighting fellow explorers all along?" Jess started to laugh. "No me and Venge are not native to this cave... haha that's the same mistake I made towards Venge!" Jess said point at the Wobbuffet. "Well at lease you didn't get hit by that Bide! That was my last resort since you hit me pretty hard..." Jess told the Klefki, then looked at the Metang. "Well, why don't you team up with me and Venge to defeat this Metang, then I have a question to ask you both once we're done!" Jess said getting pumped.

Vince looked at their companion and sighed. "Hmp fine..." He said, then saw the attack Walrein was going to do to the Banette, and immidiately appeared and used Sucker Punch which knocked a good chunk of Walrein's health, then the Ice Ball came at Vince and Wonder Guard guarded Vince from the attack negating the steady increase in power of the Ice Ball. Jacks looked at the Banette. "Sure!" He said using Swords Dance, then his speed increased, allowing him to use Swords Dance again, and ability activated again to allow him to Baton pass to the Banette given Déspota 4x Attack and 2x Speed. "I hope you can do some damage at lease!" jacks said. Vince looked over to Déspota. "Hm it seems you wern't that surprised at our potential..." Vince said. I wonder if they are either holding back, or if they know somebody of greater strength than us? Vince thought as he knocked out a Omastar with a X-Scizzor.

Though the Iron Claw Pokemon was definitely hard to read, it undoubtedly felt a satisfying degree of control over the situation. At least four unfamiliar Pokemon had perpetrated its home territory, and it knew its turf well; additionally, one of them had been put out of commission with a single Zen Headbutt. If a cobalt-blue floating supercomputer could be cocky, this Metang fit the bill, which meant a sudden, surprisingly painful blast of ki energy from the previously-motionless Meditite took it by surprise. The Bide hit with full force, sending the Metang whirling through the humid cave air like an insane top. Despite this, it only span for about two seconds before it righted itself, ready for the next blow with a greater understanding of its opponent's abilities. Its razor-sharp mind raced for solutions, probing every memory of the cave chamber the Pokemon were in, looking for any advantage. "Meh Meeeeeh!"

Pip's almost-instant KO worried Venge, and he guessed that the Aipom wouldn't be rejoining the fight.. Though the Wobbuffet knew he couldn't really blame him, Venge still grudged Pip for giving up so soon. Worrying (or complaining) about Pip would have to wait. After taking a few hits from both Jingle and Jess -who now, ironically, seemed to be his allies-, his stamina was drained. Confusion, he could probably shrug off; Zen Headbutt would devastate him, but he figured that a defensive fighter such as he could withstand the strike far better than little Pip could. It was what he didn't know that troubled him...what else could this incredibly inhospitable Metang have hidden within?

It didn't take long to find out. The Metang hovered backward a few feet, winding up one of its bulky, armored arms. A sinister, red-hot glow enveloped it: Meteor Mash. With another cry, the Metang launched itself forward. Jingle and Jess, who appeared to be talking rather than focusing on their opponent, seemed ideal targets, but instead the Iron Claw Pokemon aimed for the cave floor directly in the middle of them. An explosive rumble reverberated through the cave as the blazing punch made contact, crushing the ground and collapsing the floor. Everyone fell about twenty feet into another chamber one dungeon floor directly below them.

Hirothelegend said "I hope you can do some damage at lease!"

The moment the ninjask used baton pass, Déspota truly felt invigorated. The speed improvement made him see through the chaos and observe things with a never experienced flow. The sphere that moved like a lightning was now seen as what it truly was, the shedinja Vince, the swift erratic movements of the wings of Jacks had become beautiful patterns that could be followed with the eyes, and more importantly, the rampaging beast that rolled in the floor and knocked everything it its way now moved akin to the waves of the ocean crashing into a cliff, powerful and unstoppable, but also natural and predictable.

Yes

Now he could get an opening

The bannete touched the ground and prepared to impulse himself, with a combination of the new found strength and speed, he started to ran like he had never done before towards the walrein. A staryu got on his way, but Déspota made use of a shadow sneak and dispatched it without needing to slow down. The walrein noticed it and tried to hit with another ice ball, but Déspota made use of shadow sneak, not to hit the pokemon but to get closer and only when he was exactly just below the walrein, centimeters away, he risked an attack

"SHADOW CLAAAAAW!"

The cloth-like arm got covered in a purple and black aura and was swung from the ground upwards in a circular motion that passed through the head and was followed with a body turn to make it go the way down again, brutally hitting the walrein and making it faint instantly. The stone floor was now marked with a rut, proof of the attack that the ninjask had passed

"Don't worry Jacks, I think I can do some damage now."

---

The rest of the team was amazed at the display of Vance, he had just knocked out a pokemon with some big defenses using a resisted attack no less, but praising would come later, they needed to keep defending Autócrata for a little longer so she could acumulate one last calm mind and she would be at +4 in special attack and defense. One of the staryu shot a watergun to Autócrata, but luckily Tirano got in the way and received the hit instead, giving enough time to Dictador to retaliate with a powerful thunderbolt that knocked out the star shape pokemon. Just when a dragonair was jumping forward to use dragon claw, the lampent finished and was ready to attack, while unfortunately, she hadn't been fast enough to prevent the attack, the dragon claw was aimed at Dictador, or to be more precise, to one of the double team illusions of it, so there was no harm

"HEY YOU!"

A shadow ball hit the dragonair and exploded in a black dark smoke that sent the pokemon away and made it faint

"Only I can hit my friends!"

Taking advantage of the sudden attack, Dictador used confuse ray on one dragonair and Tirano dazzling gleam on the weakened other, knocking it out. ("Hey, it's not so lame after all!")

Now that Autócrata had been buffed, Vince had eliminated the omastar and Déspota had eliminated the walrein, there was only left a staryu, a confused dragonair and a injured tentacool. Nothing seemed like it would last much longer

"Will do!" Jingle said to Jess. he then felt the ground shaking beneath him. The Metang apparently had used Metal Claw on the ground causing it to break and let him and his new companions, who were his enemies just a few seconds ago, fall a level down in the cave. Jingle fell onto the ground, the keys clattering against the floor, making a loud echo through the cave. Jingle floated back into the air. Despite always floating, he did not have the levitation ability which meant he was as vulnerable to ground attacks like the other two.

He looked to the Metang in front of him, now fully focused on what he would do next. Instead of attacking the Metang he would aid Jess and Venge in battle using his status abilities. He would first cast Crafty Shield on himself and his companions, so at least they wouldn't suffer from any bad conditions like confusion, paralysis, burn etc. After that he would cast Fairy Lock on the Metang, so if he would get too close to on of them he could always stop his motion so in order to prevent sustaining damage and launch a barrage of attack at it.

"Crafty Shield"

A shield quickly blinked around all three Pokémon.

"Fairy Lock"

The sound of a key entering a keyhole could be heard. Jingle had put the "key" into Metang so he could lock his movement when it would get dangerous. He then looked at both Venge and Jess. "Okay guys you attack, I'll be in the back and fire a Fairy Wind when I can." he said, floating a bit back, so he would not interfere with the battle of Venge and Jess against the Metang. He however would be focused on the movements of Metang, so he could activate Fairy Lock at the right moment.

Jess had a face and pose of determination, and before she could prepare another Bide, The Metang moved in quick... to attack the floor? Jess had a short moment in confusion before the floor cracked open and everyone fell in. Once everyone fell Jess stood up brushing her shoulder and looking at her side to see Venge and Jingle, then straight ahead was the Metang, then a sudden cry came behind The Metang... THE NIDORAN! Jess stood up prepared to help before The Metang stepped in front, then Jingle preformed Craft Shield. Suddenly Jess was surrounded bya pink mist that felt calming and assuring, then Fairy lock to secure the Metang. Jess jumped up and looked at the Metang. "CONFUSION!" Jess yelled out, hoping it would inflict a confusion status if it lands...

Vince saw the oppurtunity and Shadow Sneaked a Tentacool and Ninjask with it's speed used swords dance and X-Scissor on the Dragonair and Staryu. Jacks laughed a bit. "Ah HA! If we are as strong as The Hero, then we pretty much are one! See ya folks later..." Jacks said walking with Vince and leading the team into the very end of the cave. Vince looks around then at Déspota. "So... where's our ride? I assume this is where we go next? I would like ou-" Vince was trying to say he want his money back, until the wall behind glowed a very bright blue, which made Vince flinch. Jacks looked up in glee. "Oh Boy! Does this mean..." Jacks said thinking of what it would mean, while he sat there a Lapras approached the small cave and entered to see the group. "Hello Vi- wait a minute... You are not him, none of you are? Where is Vincent?" The Lapras said, then Vince approached. "Uhhh I am?" The Shedinja had said. Lapras looked confused. "You are not Vincent... Vincent was a Pikachu, and his partner Jacks was a Piplup..." Lapras had said confusing the entire group. Both Vince and Jacks walk up and said at the same time, "We both are what you seek!" The Vince came in. "I'm Vincent, and my friend here is Jacks... and we swear we are human too!" Vince said. Lapras sighed. "Hmp fine... but if HE finds something odd, we have a way to dispose of all of you... I trust you and your friends, you may come aboard!" Jacks and Vince run around each other in glee then Vince was quick to throw the other 1000 Poké at Déspota's team. "Thanks so much! Please can y'all join us!" Jacks said, and only if Vince could smile would you see Vince smile and nod his body in agreement...

"Oh no, Vance. "
Autócrata: "Vince"
"Vince"

The banette tossed back the 1000 pokes

"After what you've just said there is no way our journey is over, and you ain't paying until the travel is over, that was the deal."

The real intention was to keep Vince and Jacks at debt with the Bad Rulers so that they had an excuse in case the SneakyNinja team decided to ditch them. When he finished the phrase, Déspota felt the power and speed of the previous boosts fading away, which made him stop for a moment and lower his head to make a silent inner cry. He then remembered something and looked around

"Has anyone seen Alice?"

She had completely disappeared through the whole fight. It was suspicious that any of the wild pokemon had tried to attack her, but she also hadn't made any attempt to aid the rest of the group when they were in trouble, however it could just be that she was just weaker than the rest and at the minor presence of trouble she had hidden somewhere. Just like that, the gourgeist appeared by passing levitating through a wall, revealing that she was also a ghost type. She then spoke to the group

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I cannot continue further."

Alice lowered her head showing resentment and with a bit of shame she continued

"I'm just too weak to continue, I don't think I would be able to face any of the pokemon in the Hidden Land, so I would only be a nuisance. I'll be waiting for you guys in Treasure Town."

Déspota started to move the mouth like he was rinsing before opening the zip and sticking the tongue out with an egg shaped emblem that had the strange power to send pokemon back to safety, but the gourgeist rejected it

"No, you don't need to use it. I have a escape orb and I'll rest here for a while before returning. The sea breeze is nice and I enjoy walking back by myself."

"Alright then. But be careful (We still have a deal, remember?)"

With that said, they all went on the lapras and they all went to the sea. It didn't took long before they were engulfed by the mist and they couldn't see anything surrounding them. Some more minutes of uncomfortable silence followed before Tirano was able to point the donphan in the room, or on the lapras.

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT YOU TWO BEING HUMAN? WHATS A HUMAN ANYWAY? WHY ARE YOU TWO CALLED LIKE THE PREVIOUS HEROES? WHY..."

"OH GOD STOP SHOUTING, TIRANO! MY HEAD STILL HURST AFTER LOOSING THE CALM MIND STATUS!"
Autocrata shouted, but Dictador went one step ahead and gladly slapped the face of the gasthly and calmed him down, then Déspota then repeated the question

"Although it's true, everything seems very suspicious, if you ask me. Care to make some explanation?"

---

"Mister 5, are you capable of following them?"

"Of course, miss 7, art thou doubting mineth capabilities?"

"Be careful, we do not want to be seen"

"Don't worryeth, they wouldn't maketh shift seeth me yea if they look'd directly in our direction"

Even after the dramatic shift in battlefield, the Metang seemed determined to obliterate the intruders without taking further damage. Taking the Bide had been an egregious oversight; not one more strike would mar the Iron Claw Pokemon's victory. With an ominous hum, the Metang floated backward as Jingle used several support moves, protecting his improvised team from status. Abruptly, the Metang found itself unable to retreat further, as a swirl of pink energy wreathed it before focusing on a single point, forming a keyhole symbol. Jingle retreated, and as the Metang watched candidly, Jess stepped up to the plate. Before she declared an attack, however, a terrified cry rang out from the creeping shadows in the general area behind the cave-dweller. Possessed by a sort of tranquil fury to find its complete analysis and control of the situation infringed upon by an unforeseen wildcard, the Metang whirled to look. Its daunting red eyes penetrated the darkness, revealing the cowering, haggard shape of a Nidoran. The Metang's steely shoulders slumped a slight degree in relief. This runt was no threat. It pivoted back around to face its three opponents as Jess bellowed "Confusion!"

The Metang neither attempted to block or dodge the energy wave, simply floating in the air and sponging the hit. When the wave subsided, the Metang remained totally unmoved. Venge gulped audibly during the tense second that followed. He was hastily searching for chinks in his enemy's metallic armor when he noticed that the Metang's eyes, previously so mechanically steady, were wavering somewhat. Finally its eyes blipped, as if there was some sort of glitch in its system, and the Metang began to wobble in the air. It looked...confused.

Confusion did not lower its resolve to pummel Jess, Venge, and Jingle into submission. If anything, it seemed angrier than before. With a grinding rumble it charged toward the closest Pokemon, Jess, and its arm once again sizzled with the power of a meteor. However, the Iron Claw Pokemon's trajectory was a little off, and rather than smiting Jess with cosmic might it instead rammed its dominant arm into the solid rock of the cave floor with the force of a small bomb. The misspent energy burst, damaging the Metang and, if she had not thought to get far enough away, Jess as well. A shrieking groan, like a sheet of steel being ripped apart, resounded from the helpless, agonized creature as it sought to free its arm. By incredible luck, the Metang had hurt itself in its own (already unlikely) confusion, leaving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the gathered Pokemon to either attempt to finish it off or flee. In a few seconds it would be able to wrench its trapped limb from the ground with a mighty tug; the trio would have to act fast.

Venge certainly did. Having been too concentrated on the Metang to pay much attention to do anything else, he didn't realize there was another Pokemon in this chamber that needed help. He did his best to heed Jingle's idea of 'attacking', which for Venge consisted of waddling right up to the enraged Metang and using Encore again. Colorful bursts of confetti around the cavedweller only befuddled it more, but Venge had a plan: since he figured that Meteor Mash was a physical attack, causing it to be used over and over again would mean he could use Counter as much as he pleased to return some heavy damage. He only hoped he could survive that first hit to take his revenge.

Jess was prepared to block the attack, or atlease she thought she was until the Metang slammed the Meteor Mash a bit away form Jess preventing her form getting hurt. She quickly ran over to the Nidoran and stood next to it. "I'll make sure you get out of here soon!" Jess said smiling then looking at the Metang. I really hope we can get this over with soon... she thought as she stood there. She stepped in front of the Nidoran in case the Metang would get to her, and then said, "Confusion!" ONce again to try and injure the Metang a bit more. If Metang would be defeated, this could finally get her some experience points...

~Meanwhile on the sea of time~
Vince looked over to the hyped group, while Jacks covered his ears from the sudden increase in sound. "Explanation? Hmp fine.... Jacks can do some talking, and then I will come in when need be..." Vince said, getting the tone to quite down, then Jacks came in. "Alright, so woke up in a forest, and to be honest I barely remember the forests name, but I decided hey... why am i short? I looked at my appearance and saw I was a Nincada and oh man I was very upset... but hey at lease Nincada can be useful from time to time... anywho after a while I found Treasure Town, and teamed up with a random Pokémon, and did missions until I graduated from the Guild. Once I did I parted ways from the Pokémon and decided to run solo. By this time I have already evolved and trained heavily with my Partner Vince, but we noticed that The Guild always flinches when hearing Jacks and Vincent, so we decided to ask why,, then The Bibarel were great friends with The Hero, now revealed to be Vincent, and his Partner Jacks. And then after we have revealed that I thought I was previously human so the entire Guild flipped out, claimed me and Vince to be incarnations of the two, and started giving us gifts like never before, but for some reason when we ask if they could take US to Hidden Land, they said no... and then you know the rest from here..." Jacks said almost in a speedy manor. Vince came in. "Could we be? I suppose so, but who knows for sure right?" Vince said as the Lapras finally landed on Hidden Land. Everyone got of the Lapras and then Lapras spoke, "Remember, from this point on, it will be very treacherous, so watch out for ambushes..." Lapras said, then departed.

~On top of Temporal Tower~
"IT SEEMS WE HAVE INTRUDERS...DAMN THAT LAPRAS...PLEASE TAKE CARE OF IT!" Dialga had said to a Pokémon. The Pokémon instead talked back to Dialga. "How? Only ones of pure heart can come here..." It had said. "THEY HAVE A PURE HEART... BUT ONLY YOU AND HIM ARE ALLOWED HERE... DO IT NOW!" Dialga had said. The Pokémon bowed. "I apologize Dialga..." It had said before leaving and headed down Temporal Tower.

Smack dab in the center of Treasure Town, a female Growlithe with a purple scarf was crying quietly to herself as she leaned over the edge of the bridge. Passersby exchanged sorrowful glances as her tears dripped into the river, but none made any effort to console her, most likely feeling that she was best left to ride out whatever stroke of misfortune was grieving her on her own. Finally, a passing Sunflora stopped in her tracks, looking at the Growlithe a long time before finally plodding up to its side. If she has been anything but a grass-type she would have put a compassionate, leafy hand on the weeping Puppy Pokemon's shoulder, but as it was, the Sunflora kept a small distance. "Are you okay there?" she murmured inquisitively.
"Yes," mumbled to Growlithe, too quickly and too definitely to be genuine. "Yes, everything's..fine. Really."
The Sunflora folded her own hands across one another and sat down on the brdige's edge beside the dejected fire-type. "You're clearly not, dear. Why don't you tell me about it? You'll feel better. If that's okay with you, of course."
A brief lull spanned the few seconds of the Growlithe thinking, battling with herself whether to bottle up her feelings within or open up to a stranger. "Well...o-okay. It's like this: my name's Ange, and I'm an adventurer. My best...'friend', Samson and I just completed a quest for the guild here this morning." She paused briefly, mopping up a final tear with a furry orange paw. "The guild sent us out to find a few Lum berries, since Treasure Town's had a shortage. We had just gotten back to town when we had this argument. I wanted to go back out and get more, because just one is clearly not enough to start a new crop. He said that one was fine, plus the only other place where Lum berries grow near here is a swampy glade full of cantankerous Poison-types. He's being both lazy and afraid, and I told him so, and he got mad. One thing led to another and he stormed off, with the Lum berry still with him." Ange checked to make sure that her sympathizer was still paying attention and found the Sunflora rapt at attention, the very picture of interest and concern. She continued. "I just don't know what to do. I don't know why I stand for it. I'm a way better fighter than him, but he thinks he can call the shots. Should I go and yell at him? Just do what he wants? Battle it out and let the winner decide where we go? I mean, I really like him, I don't ever want to hurt him, but...?"

The Sunflora held up a petal, cutting Ange off. She smiled widely and kindly. "Don't you worry one bit, Ange. I'll go and find him and make sure he realizes how he's hurt you. I can be very persuasive." The Growlithe stood up in a flash, her wet eyes bright with gratitude. Before she could blurt out 'thank you!' the Sunflora had jogged off.

It wasn't long before the Sunflora found Samson. He turned out to be a Leafeon, and was sitting behind Duskull Bank, satchel nearby. She barely spotted him; he was all but hidden from the naked eye in his current position. No doubt he didn't want to be found as was just as regretful of his earlier fight with his friend as Ange was. The Sunflora took the long way around the bank, where she hid herself behind a bush. There, the Sun Pokemon's broad mouth broke out into a toothy smile and dark energies began sliding over her planty skin. The energies hissed and steamed like gasses, black interspersed with luminous crimson, and beneath them the Sunflora changed shape. All this happened quickly, and in the span of a few seconds Ange stood where the Sunflora had moments before, purple scarf and all.

The bush burst into flame, startling Samson from his moping. Ange leaped out of it, face contorted with rage. "There you are!" she roared, advancing toward him with hackles raised. Samson was too startled to respond. "Y'know, I've been thinking," the Growlithe snarled, "I'm not gonna let you bring me down with you." Suddenly indignant, Samson opened his mouth for a retort, but was stunned into silence when Ange shot an Ember at him, scorching his face. "No talking! I'm through with your garbage! I'm an adventurer, but you're a coward. Too lazy and afraid of all of all the vicious little Ekans and Trubbish to poke around in a swamp for our ticket to greatness!" Samson turned to flee, but another Ember hissed through the air and set the grass on fire, preventing his escape. He whirled around, real fear in his eyes.
"Ange, please! What are you doing? We can work this out! We can go to the swamp! Why are you so mad you're never like this, please, don't...!"
The Growlithe silenced him with an unexpected but devastating Feint Attack, and he fell unconscious to the grass with an expression on his face equal parts terror and rage. The fires vanished, leaving the bush and grass totally unharmed, and Ange herself disappeared--a Machop, wearing a pink plaid bandanna, stood in her place. The Machop stooped to pick up Samson's case, open it, and pull out the Lum berry.

Twenty minutes later the Machop stood at the counter at Wigglytuff's Guild, handing over the freshly-cleaned Lum berry to a pleased Wigglytuff. "I've been hearing good things about this place," confessed the Superpower Pokemon. "I decided I'd start out my work as an adventurer with a bang by nabbing this quest." The Wigglytuff examined the berry, utilizing both sight and smell to confirm a healthy specimen.
"Well, we would have preferred a few more, but this'll do nicely for a start. Ange and Samson'll be so disappointed you beat them to it, they seemed so eager to become explorers. Wonder where they are now. Still, congratulations on a job well done!"
The Machop gave the Wigglytuff a sharp, toothy grin.

Jingle saw that his new friends were doing all they could to damage the Metang. A Nidoran was also spotted, that was probably their mission. To save the Nidoran. If he contributed to this he might be able to join the guild of Wigglytuff. Jess already headed towards the Nidoran to save it, at least that was done. But that Metang had to be defeated. The Metang was confused now, so no need to activate the Fairy Lock right now. Now would be the time to just fire a Fairy Wind.

"Fairy Wind!"

Jingle shouted and unleashed a powerful wind with sparkles flickering in the wind. Unfortunately Fairy type moves weren't very effective against the Metang. However he did have one move that would damage the Metang. The Klefki floated towards the Metang and, since it was a bit more safe because of his confusion, he dropped Spikes in front of Metang. I would damage him badly, as Metang is weak to Ground type moves.

Lapras said "Remember, from this point on, it will be very treacherous, so watch out for ambushes..."

In other occasion, Déspota would have jumped with a biting comment such as "That advice would have been freaking great if it wasn't because we have already been ambushed in a monster house before" But he has been uneasy listening to the story of Jacks and Vince now has gotten the leader of the gang into a serious mood. Why all these coincidences? Is there a reason for the wigglytuff guild not to trust them?

Luckily, none of the other members of the Bad Rulers shared the deep worry of his boss, but they weren't precisely all cheerful and relaxed (except for Dictador) The hidden land was mostly a bizarre conjunction of small ravines, ghylls, cleuchs and glens that mixed with several lagoons enclosed the spaces of the greener grass the ghosts had ever seen and several groups of strange yellow flowers, but as weird as the formed landscape was the problem was the surrounding mist, which strangely formed only around the group members, not allowing them to see much further between the narrow passages between the hills and more than often being surprised by wild pokemon that attacked them on sight, but strangely this mist wasn't forming above the group, and it was as if it was moving along them, letting them see the time tower on the distance and also experiment some moments of intense sun that obligated the group to rest now and then at one or another rivulet.

The pokemon in the hidden land were strong, but the determination and teamwork of the group allowed them to surpass the waves of enemies with dextery and with precaution they managed to avoid another monster house that otherwise would have managed to present a problem. After a long time walking they finally reached some strange ruins, with the walls painted with the figures of lengendary pokemon, the group advanced silently, as if the representations of the godly like pokemon were creating a climate of pressure among them that were pinning them down. Sighs of relief were heard when they abandoned the corridor and appeared at the feet of an ancient altar, at that moment, Tirano, who was at the back, shouted to Vince, who was leading the way alonside Déspota

"Well I didn't want to ask before as to not look stupid, but I still have no idea what a human is."

Before the shedinja could answer, another voice was heard from atop the altar

"Did you just say, human?"

The group ascended some steps as they saw a pokemon looking down at them from the top.

"I could answer that question myself, but first of all, who are you and what are you all doing here?"

Déspota smiled and with defiantly attitude he pointed at the pokemon with his cloth like arm

"We could ask the same question to you, empoleon."

They traveled through the Hidden Land, for once Vince and Jacks were having some difficulty, but still pulled through... As they walked pass the hallway of paintings, Vince had made a comment. "Neat Memorial... I wonder who drew these..." Vince had said,.. then walked to the base of the flight of stairs that would lead up to their ride, then he heard a question from Tirano. "Well I didn't want to ask before as to not look stupid, but I still have no idea what a human is..." Confident for the answer, Vince was going to speak until he was interrupted by some Pokémon. "Did you just say, human?" Vince and Jacks look up the stairs, and had to walk up some distance to get a good look. The Pokémon talked as they walked. "I could answer that question myself, but first of all, who are you and what are you all doing here?" Jacks and Vince still had some problem identifying the Pokémon... at this point they can see it, but they couldn't identify the species... It wasn't one they were familiarize with... until that is Déspota had relied back saying it was an Empoleon. Jacks, remembering the Evolution chain, kinda sort-of remembered it was the last Evolution of Piplup, but this didn't ring anything for Jacks.

Jacks decided to get a bit closer then stopped to confront the Empoleon, but the Empoleon gave a sign to have Jacks stop and step aside so he may talk to Déspota. "My Identification nor my Purpose here is not needed for your existence to continue existing... The fact you are all here is a problem, So I will ask this one last time... Who are you and why are you here?" The confident Empoleon had spoke. Jacks confronted the Pokémon. "I don't like that threat you gave... but if you say so. We are an explorer team wishing to find answers, clear enough for you?" Jacks said, suddenly getting hit by The Empoleons wing sending it away until The Ninjask caught itself midair. "I appreciate it if you are cooperative and be literal... No-" Empoleon had said then getting interrupted by a X-Scizzor from Jacks. "SHUT UP!" Jacks said as he hit Empoleon, but he barely budged. "It seems you don't know your place, Hmp Let me just show you who my ally is..." He said raising his fan in the sky and suddenly a earthquake started. Then a blinding light illuminated from the top of Temporal Tower. A sudden roar emerged from it, and Dialga can now be seen from the Tower.

"GRRRRRR-OOOOOO....OOOOOOOH!" Could be heard almost at a deafening pitch. Suddenly the flash of light disappeared, and a Blueish Beam came from the sky and hit Vincent and Jacks. Luckily Vince was protected with Wonder Guard, but Jacks was immediately knocked out. Vince went over to check on Jacks while the Empoleon laughed. "Do you see now why you answer to ME! If you all insist on going to Temporal Tower..." He had said throwing a Reviver Seed at Jacks, which then revived him. Empoleon walked in the Middle of the Rainbow Stoneship. "Follow me and I will take you to Dialga, oh and since you are probably going to ask again... my name is Jacks, The Hero's Partner. Ah who am I kidding you probably know his name by now to be Vincent The Raichu... and I was hoping that no one would come here again..." Jacks the Empoleon had mentioned sounding quite upset.