As soon as the door to the next room opened, I felt a slight surge of heat, but walking into the room is like taking a hike directly into a Charizard's open maw. At first I'm confused because I can't recall ever hearing about a fire-type member of the Elite Four (though I'm not very knowledgeable), but as I continue I realize that regardless of type, there is no justification for setting your battlefield in an island with a sea of lava around it.

I make a very un-Championlike noise, something between a girlish squeal and a cry of panic, and Reginae stands behind me, asking, "What? What is it?"

"Okay. On the count of three, I'm going to run for it. Everyone stay right here." I reply.

"That answers exactly none of my questions-"

"Onetwothree go." I sprint across the bridge and in a blur of motion, find myself on the other side. My knees are still shaking. I look back at my underwhelmed Pokemon, who are following in an orderly procession.

Fang looks down at the death lake with little concern and asks, "Minerva, can you swim in lava?"

If Minerva could raise an eyebrow, I'm sure she would. "Can you swim in lava?"

"No." Fang says, hanging his head.

"There's your answer. Fire types won't die immediately from the temperature, but it's still like trying to swim through syrup."

"Can we not talk about lava?" I ask, shuddering from the unpleasant memories the revolting substance churns up in my mind. "Makes me think about Clair's gym."

"Can you try not to run across bridges like that? Makes a bad first impression." Minerva replies, flipping her mane. "We want to look professional, don't we?"

"Uh... sorry to disappoint you, but he hasn't even noticed we're here." Fang points out, gesturing to the seated man sitting opposite us.

In response, the man's head turns a full 90 degrees, so that he's staring at us with one blue eye, enraged. He gets to his feet and says, "So we begin. I am Bruno, third member of the Elite Four. Through training to the extreme while living and working with my Pokemon, we have become strong. Do you think you can stand up to our overwhelming might? Ha. I'd love to see you try, challenger... now, let us battle." I expect him to wait for my response, but instead he throws out his Hitmontop at once, which twirls like a top before standing still, its beady glare just as terrifying as that of its trainer.

His speech was a practiced monologue, and it shows. I get the feeling that this guy would much rather spend his time talking with his fists than giving speeches. "At least it was brief this time." Reginae says.

Well, talk is cheap anyways. We have a league to take down. "Ten, will you do the honors?" I ask.

The Hitmontop has no way of hitting him in the air, and it shows. The thing can move like lightning on the ground, spinning about the stadium as it tries to trace Ten's aerial movements, but not a single attack comes. Guess we're making the first move. "Ten, Extrasensory!"

Ten's eyes glow pink and he hurls the Hitmontop up and straight down, where it lands on its point, still twirling. "Blast. Looks like a stalemate to me." He says, looking back at me for guidance.

Bruno is frowning.

I sigh, wondering how on Earth a member of the Elite Four could have forgotten to account for something as basic as type match ups. Still, Bruno seems to have no intent of withdrawing it.

"Do you think you can make it spin faster?" I ask. "You know, while you have it up there?"

"What?"

"I have an idea." I say, trying to convey it to him, and his beak clicks in understanding. Once again, he throws the Hitmontop up into the air, and it begins to spin faster and faster, unable to so much as writhe against his grip. Ten then slams it down and the Hitmontop's head spike embeds itself in the stadium, drilling a good few inches in before it stops, the rest of its head holding it there. Its arms flail out in desperation, but it's just as well as defeated, and a quick Fly attack finishes the job.

Bruno, still looking disappointed in both of us, withdraws his Pokemon and sends out his next, a Hitmonchan whose irisless eyes are filled with an intense, awful hate. Ten looks back at me, winking, but then a fist flies through the air, cloaked in electric energy, and he barely jumps out of its way.

The Hitmonchan is not is more timid Johtonian co-evolution. This thing's arm extends far enough to knock Ten out of the sky, as demonstrated by a few more high punches- and I mean high punches. I survey the stadium, looking for some kind of weakness, and realize that we're surrounded by lava an all sides. The heat is still as smothering as ever and now I'm choking on it, that fateful day I lost everything closing in on all sides...

There's a crackle of electricity and I look up to see Ten falling out of the sky.

"Ten!"

My throat is sore. I move like I, too, and swimming through syrup, imagining his body falling beneath the lava like Toxis's, never ever to be seen again. The outstretched hand is vivid in my mind and I feel myself stop, as if I'm the one plummeting to my death, wings locked.

There's a blur of brown overhead, and I hear a voice in my mind, loud and clear: Ashley!

Ten has pulled out of the dive last second, and I look down, blurry-eyed at the Pokedex.

Yellow health, and even then, hardly so. Still, I confess he almost gave me a heart attack.

He does a full loop in midair and comes in close, just above the Hitmonchan's head, and slams into it with a perfectly executed Fly attack. Another ThunderPunch hits him square in the chest and he soars backwards, almost hitting the wall, but this time Pisces is here to catch him. He staggers to his talons, looking worse for wear, but seconds later tries to fly off. I get him by the leg and he falls over, murmuring undignified things.

"You'll need this." I tell him, spritzing him with a Hyper Potion. "Now, for Arceus's sake, end this quickly. This is a serious battle. One crit and you're dead."

"I know." he tells me, green eyes firm with resolve. "I'm okay."

He flaps off, and though I think my heart stops for a second as he goes in for it, he survives another Ice Punch, this time to the side of the head, and manages to get in another Fly attack. The Hitmonchan collapses to its feet, then falls over, fully defeated. Ten staggers back and falls back against Pisces.

"I think... I might need to sit this one out." he admits.

"No problem. We're not fighting another Fighting type anyways." Reginae says.

"What do you mean, not a Fighting type?" I ask, then look up at a colossal Onix, so big its back is arched against the ceiling. Its roar shakes the room, and I cling to Reginae for dear life.

He nudges me off and steps forwards. "I can handle this."

"Seriously? How does an Onix fit with fighting types?" I ask, though given the four times weakness to Reginae and Pisces both, it's not like I'm complaining.

"Maybe he just likes really masculine Pokemon. You know, like a giant rock snake." Fang says.

"Fang. Shut up." Minerva replies, speaking for all of us.

The Onix cuts our whole group off with another roar, but Reginae silences it almost immediately with a round of Petal Dance. His aim is twice as sharp as ever and petals fill the cracks between rocks, hitting every weak part on the carapace of the massive beast. It trembles and falls over, an easy defeat, but our beast is watching with a cynical eye. As Bruno withdraws his Onix, Pisces slinks forwards, fangs bared, and stands before Reginae.

Reginae steps back. "What is it?"

"Give me this one, won't you? I'm getting awfully tired of standing around."

Reginae looks to me, then back to Pisces, and I nod. "Fair enough."

Pisces's fins twitch, hardly registering me, but I can sense her gratitude nonetheless. Silly fish.

Bruno sends out a Hitmonlee, which is dwarfed by Pisces far more than Reginae was dwarfed by the Onix, but this time, the underdog has no super-effective weapon to take out their larger opponent with. The Hitmonlee kicks in vain against Pisces's scales as her body glows with purple light, a quick bolt of power running its way along her long body and ending near her head. It's the same color and consistency as the one she once used for Dragon Rage, which means this must be the fabled Dragon Dance.

The Hitmonlee lunges against her side, performing a High Jump Kick, and I see her flinch, bowing just inches in a mockery of hurt. Then, she adjusts herself and a torrent of water floods the arena, surrounding her on all sides as her body curves into a perfect arc and she descends upon her prey, a quarter ton of fish and torrent slamming into the Hitmonlee with the force of a real Waterfall. Her attack augmented by the Dragon Dance is nothing short of frightening, and the Hitmonlee emerges defeated with her coiling above it.

Despite Gyarados's Water-Flying typing, I can see why Lance himself chooses to train the beasts. Gyarados is- must be- a dragon. Nothing else short of a legendary could have such insane might.

Bruno's final Pokemon, a Machamp, staggers onto the field, but its assessment of its own situation feels bleak. Pisces rounds on her new victim, her body twisting and curving as she flies just over the ground, levitating inches from the earth. She stands there, silent, for a few seconds, assessing the danger, and then strikes again.

The Machamp does not hesitate. It holds the entire Waterfall back with its four hands, holding Pisces back by the lips and ignoring the river's worth of water pressing down on it. Pisces slams her mouth close and his hold breaks, but so does her concentration and her attack. She coils back, and Machamp summons a horde of rocks, sending them soaring at her and scoring good hits in the side.

Pisces screeches in pain, a feral roar unlike anything I've ever heard her utter, but she's even more terrifying hurt. This time, she circles around her foe, faster and faster, and then descends to grab him in her mouth, crunching down before letting him go, throwing the body against the field. I'm not sure if I'm thankful she's on our side or terrified that this is my Pokemon, that such a creature even exists, but either way, the battle's over, and the water dissipates, flooding the field and burning out much of the lava on either side of us.

The whole field is filled with noxious steam, and I can see little more than the gray curves of her body until Bruno walks through the smoke, finally looking somewhat pleased. "Having lost, I have no right to say anything... go and face your next challenge." he says before turning. I lunge over Pisces and follow him and then begin walking past, anticipation filling my whole being with bright new energy.

The first victory: we won.

The second victory: we get to leave.

The third victory: only two battles left before all of this is over.

(A/N: Well this is late on several levels. It's 11 PM and also this is a day later than I said it would be. Man I can NEVER get any writing done on Fridays... well, I'll still try to finish this whole set over the long weekend and then we get to go onto the Kanto arc, which I'll try to keep relatively brief. Expect to see a lot of Red and Ethan, but then again, when wouldn't you?)