Two weeks had gone by and we were no closer to finding the elusive mine entrance than the day we arrived. I was used to roughing it in the forest after years of pokemon journeying and training with the IIA, but the grunts with me had started complaining after the first week and had yet to stop. Their incessant complaints were starting to wear on my last nerve and it took all of my patience to not snap at them. Although the fact that we were running low on rations was not helping my mood at all, to be fair.

"We've already checked this section, Killian!" the pilot grunt, Junpei, growled angrily.

After I had dissuaded him from approaching Serena he had taken on a decidedly hostile attitude with me, although I had noticed if I ever let my anger show on my face he would immediately back off with obvious fear in his expression. I didn't like the guy, but I needed him to cooperate if we were ever going to be allowed back into the Team Galactic base. Director Falon was always expressionless as I gave her my nightly reports, but I noticed a touch of dissatisfaction in her expression the last time I reported that we still hadn't found the mine entrance.

I really need to get back to the base and figure out what Neptune is planning so we can stop her, I thought to myself firmly as I squashed my desire to sink my fist into Junpei's annoying face. Ugh. I need to eat, I thought pitifully as my stomach grumbled loudly, causing my thoughts to be more violent than usual.

"I am aware, Junpei," I said through gritted teeth. "If you suddenly get a vision of where the opening is please let me know. If not, then we're just going to have to double-check every section over again."

"And what if we still can't find the entrance?" Garrett, the other grunt, asked with a frown.

"Then I guess we'll have to triple-check. Unless either of you wants to tell Neptune and Proteus that we failed the mission..." 

Both Garrett and Junpei winced at that comment. I knew we were all picturing the intimidating glares from the leader and her right-hand man at the same time.

"I'd like to see them do any better," Junpei huffed with his false bravado, and Garrett's eyes widened in shock at his brazen tone. "How are we supposed to find the entrance when we have no idea how it was concealed anyways?" he went on, his voice coming out more as a whine now.

Pikachu, who was walking next to me on the path, reached up and pressed his ears flat against his head to block out Junpei's voice and I could hear him mumbling darkly under his breath. Deciding that for everyone's safety from potentially getting electrocuted, I peeled off from the path, deciding to look around the trunks of some large trees. Garrett gave me a pleading look as I left them behind, but I just pointed in the opposite direction, indicating that he should escape and look by himself as well. He nodded with a miserable frown and I ducked under a branch, leaving soundlessly as Junpei continued to whine without paying attention to his surroundings.

Pikachu visibly relaxed once we were away from Junpei and we began combing the forest floor for any sign of an entrance to the mines. I laughed quietly when I saw Pikachu hopping up and down on tree roots as if he were expecting one of them to be a secret lever to open the entrance. Unfortunately, his hops were in vain though and we made slow progress through the forest.

Even though I hated Junpei's whining, I had to admit that I was beginning to lose hope. We had thoroughly scoured every inch of the area that Proteus had identified and we had seen no sign of a hidden entrance or the team galactic symbol. It did no good to complain though since I knew that Proteus couldn't have given us more direction even if he wanted to.

"If you were a hidden entrance to a mine, where would you hide, buddy?" I asked Pikachu as my stomach punctuated my words with a symphony of grumbles. Pikachu looked up at me with a small frown before he effortlessly scaled one of the trees. I watched him curiously, losing sight of his bright yellow fur as he ducked to the other side of the trunk.

Since I was so focused on trying to find my small partner amongst the thick branches, I didn't even notice the small projectile heading for me until I felt something bop me on the side of my head. Rubbing the spot in confusion, I looked down to see a small red ball. Bending down and bringing it up to my nose to give it a sniff, I recognized the sweet smell of a berry and I grinned widely, looking up just in time to raise my arms and shield my head from more impeccably aimed berry bombs.

"Okay okay! You're going to bruise them!" I called up to Pikachu with a laugh and I could hear his own mischievous laughter echoing down towards me. Once he climbed back down from the large tree we sat in companionable silence as we devoured the small and deceptively sour berries.

After our simple meal, I was planning to continue moving forward towards the edge of our search radius when I heard the sounds of a pokemon battle. My mouth tugged down into a frown though when I heard the cruel tone in the far away male voices. Glancing down at Pikachu I saw that he was also frowning and short bursts of electricity were playing around his cheeks. Looking over my shoulder I made sure that Junpei and Garrett had not followed me, then I made my way towards the sounds of the battle.

"That stupid bubblegum-haired woman made a fool of us in front of the girls," a reedy voice growled out amidst the sounds of pokemon battling.

"Where the heck did that woman get such massive pokemon anyways? She totally destroyed my Onix!"

"We just gotta get some extra power on our side and teach her a lesson," a deep, gruff voice responded. "Beartic, use Focus Punch! We gotta catch this Aggron."

"AGGRRAAA!"

Peeking around a tree trunk I took in the scene before me. Four boys around my age were standing back as their Onix, Beartic, Infernape, and Kangaskhan all surrounded an infuriated Aggron. I almost pitied the idiots. Everyone knew that wild Aggrons were extremely violent on the best of days. Even with four fully evolved pokemon against him, with the Aggron's defense stats they were fools if they thought they were going to take it down by trying to overpower it.

Just as I thought that a metallic coating rushed up and over Aggron's scaly body, showing that he had just triggered his Iron Defense right before the super effective move could connect. Beartic staggered back with a yell of pain after connecting his paw with the steel-covered pokemon and the wild Agrron grinned wickedly down at it.

"Crap. Come on, guys! Since when did you become such weaklings?" one of the other guys on the outskirts of the fight called out angrily to their pokemon. 

The Kangaskhan standing in front of him bellowed out challengingly and began charging toward the massive Aggron in a Double Edge Attack. At the same time, Infernape raced forward with his fists glowing with power, Onix dove under the ground for a Dig attack, and Beartik stumbled forward with his one paw glowing in preparation for another Focus Punch.

"If you have to gang up on a pokemon to catch it you don't deserve to train it," I growled to myself under my breath. Pikachu looked up at me, waiting to see what I would do, and I smirked down at him. "Want to get some exercise in, buddy?"

"Pikachu," he responded energetically, dropping down to all fours in anticipation.

"Volt Tackle Beartic from the side, and make sure you shove him with some oomph," I suggested with a grin. Electricity immediately gathered around Pikachu's body and he burst forward like a bullet.

Beartic had no idea my partner was closing in on him until he crashed into his ribs with an explosion of electricity. The force of the hit with the added charge of the electricity sent Beartic flying through the air and crashing hard into Kangaskhan, who was also knocked off his feet and plowed directly into Infernape. The three large pokemon snarled and hissed at each other as they tried to untangle their limbs. My eyes were on Aggron though, who had just raised one of his hind legs as high as he could into the air.

"Shoot. Pikachu, to me! Quick attack!" I called out. 

Pikachu didn't hesitate to obey my commands, spinning on his heels and dashing to me almost quicker than my eyes could even follow. Holding my hands out I felt his solid mass thump into my chest and I wrapped him protectively into my arms and crouched down.

Seconds later a horrendous rumbling began to make the ground underneath us sway. Aggron roared triumphantly as the massive Earthquake attack ripped through the small space around all of us. I could hear Onix's terrible roar of pain as he was expelled from his sanctuary under the ground and the four trainers all cried out in obvious fear as they were tossed around on the roiling ground. I kept myself wrapped around Pikachu to shelter him from the super effective move and luckily we were far enough away that I didn't get beat up too bad.

Once the earth had calmed down I raised my head up to see Aggron trudging away from the chaos he had caused with a self-satisfied grin. I couldn't help but laugh quietly to myself and I stretched out onto my back, loosening up my stiff muscles. Pikachu sat on my chest and shook himself out as well before walking up and rubbing his cold nose against my cheek affectionately.

"I've always got your back, buddy," I said with a grin. "Your Volt Tackle has gotten insanely powerful. Nice job."

"Pika!" Pikachu replied happily before hopping off my chest so I could sit up comfortably. We both made our way towards where the four trainers and their pokemon were all splayed out on the ground.

"Oooiiii. Everyone alive?" I called out obnoxiously as I passed all four of their knocked-out pokemon and made my way to check on the trainers. 

Two of the four guys seemed to be knocked out along with their pokemon, but the other two were stirring while groaning loudly. I quickly checked on the two silent trainers. Luckily their pulse was normal and I didn't see any injuries besides matching bruises on their foreheads, which led me to assume they had crashed heads during the Earthquake and knocked each other out.

A colorful curse came from one of the guys behind me and I turned around to watch the trainer who had been commanding the Kangaskhan rise shakily to his feet. He surveyed the destruction that Aggron had caused and then his eyes lowered until he was glaring fiercely at Pikachu. His head then jerked up to look at me and I tried for a friendly smile.

"Hey there," I greeted cheerfully and the guy glowered at me and pointed at Pikachu.

"Is that YOUR Pikachu?" the guy snapped fiercely as his other conscious friend began to get up behind him.

"Yup, this is my partner," I said, not even trying to hide the pride in my voice as I claimed him. Pikachu easily climbed up my clothes and took his normal position on my shoulder where he waved at the angry guy.

"What the heck, man!?! Why did you get in the way of our battle?" the angry trainer spat out. I felt one of my eyebrows cock up and I shrugged.

"Sorry, dude. I was just trying to even out the odds," I replied calmly, glancing over my shoulder at the pile-up of pokemon that my little Pikachu had caused. 

The guy's teeth clenched and ground against each other as he stared at me with fury in his eyes. His friend stumbled to his feet and came to stand behind him in a show of support, but even as they leveled death glares at me I could only think they looked like toddlers throwing a tantrum.

Both of the guys reached for their hips and pulled out another Pokeball. I folded my arms, unconcerned, and waited for them to release their choices. With another colorful curse, the Kangaskhan trainer and his friend threw their Pokeballs high in the air. I wasn't surprised when a Drapion and a Crobat took shape in the space between us. These two seemed to believe the bigger the pokemon the better... but if their 'battle' against Aggron was any indication they obviously didn't know a thing about strategic battling. Something about this battle reminded me briefly of my two-on-one battles against Team Rocket back in the day and I couldn't help but grin at the memory.

Deciding that these boys needed to be taught a lesson, I nodded covertly to Pikachu. With a familiar electric crackle, I felt Pikachu grip my shoulder tightly before launching himself up and into the air, closing the space between himself and the large pokemon in front of us.

"Discharge, Pikachu!"

"Pi...ka... CHUUUU!" Pikachu yelled, splaying out his limbs in the air as wide as he could. Thin bolts of lightning rained down around Pikachu, Drapion, and Crobat, striking everything within Pikachu's eyesight. It had been more difficult than I had expected to teach Pikachu this field-covering move when he had gotten so used to striking a deadly accurate lightning bolt at one target, but it was certainly satisfying to see both of Pikachu's opponents writhing from the attack at the same time.

I was shocked when Crobat fell from the sky in time with Pikachu, but while Pikachu stuck the landing, Crobat face planted hard into the ground, her four leather wings twitching from the leftover electricity. Crobat's trainer looked as shell-shocked as I was by how quickly Crobat went down, but Drapion had already shaken off the attack and was coming straight for Pikachu.

Drapion's large fangs were glowing a sinister green in preparation for a Bug Bite and I almost felt sorry for the guy. Brute strength could be the determining factor in a pokemon battle, but after spending years traveling and training with the best pokemon strategists I had ever known I knew that if you relied on that too much you were guaranteed to lose. Especially when you pitted a bulkier than usual Drapion against my faster-than-average Pikachu.

"You good for another Volt Tackle, buddy?" I asked casually, never taking my eye off the rapidly approaching pokemon. Pikachu smiled briefly up at me before seeming to ignite his entire body in a column of electricity and then he shot off, running without fear towards the pokemon that was easily five times his size.

"Bite that little rat in two, Drapion!" the Kangaskhan trainer cried out angrily. 

I considered myself a pretty levelheaded guy. Not many things really got to me. But NO ONE threatened to harm my friends.

"Blow this guy away, Pikachu," I called out fiercely.

In response to my shout, the electricity surrounding Pikachu's small body exploded, doubling in intensity and increasing Pikachu's speed as well. With a practiced leap, Pikachu flung himself past Drapion's snapping teeth without issue directly into his chest, and a deafening explosion ripped through the forest. I shielded my eyes from the explosion of electric power for a moment. When I lowered my arm though I winced slightly as I saw Drapion zooming through the air, crashing into his trainer during his flight and taking him along for the ride.

"Oops," I grimaced, quickly jogging over to where Pikachu was shaking his head. I didn't often call for Volt Tackle since the recoil was pretty brutal to him, but judging from the fact that Drapion and his trainer were still sailing through the air Pikachu had obviously put everything he had into the move regardless of the consequences. I scooped him up into my arms and deposited him on my shoulder before running after the flying pokemon and trainer. His friend made no move to follow me as he continued to stare at his knocked-out Crobat and Infernape with a spaced-out expression.

I was a little surprised when Drapion, with his trainer pressed up against his back, flew through the trees at the perfect angle to not hit any of the trunks. They disappeared from my view, but I ran off in the direction they had gone. My progress came to a stop though when I heard the sound of splintering wood and a muffled shout of alarm. Pikachu and I exchanged a confused look before I continued running towards the sound.

It didn't take long for me to catch up with them. What was in front of my eyes didn't seem to make sense though. Slowing down, I cautiously approached the incredibly solid-looking tree that had dust seeping out from its trunk and broken bits of wood littered around its roots.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu jumped off my shoulder and looked up at me before approaching one of the roots closest to him. Lifting one paw tentatively, he reached out and poked at the root... but his paw sunk completely into it.

"Pika!" he yelped, jumping back quickly and looking at his paw as if he were expecting it to be missing. When it was obvious that it wasn't damaged at all we both sighed in relief and this time I stepped up directly to the trunk and pushed my hand against it.

Just like Pikachu's, my hand slipped through the tree as if it didn't even exist and I pulled it back out to see that my hand looked the exact same. Frowning slightly I peered at the tree intently and my eyes widened. There in the bark, weaved out of a pattern of darker and lighter shades of brown, a slanted G could just barely be made out.

"Got to hand it to Cyrus, that is incredibly well done," I muttered under my breath. 

A human groan wafted up from within the tree and I shook my head to pull myself out of my musings. Taking a quick breath to gather my focus I stepped through the 'tree' to see what it was hiding. Once past the holographic outside of the tree, the ground underneath me opened up into a gaping Drapion-shaped hole in a wood sheet covered with grass and moss. The groan sounded again and I crouched on the edge of the destroyed covering and gazed down. Dust was still puffing up from the hole Drapion had smashed into it and Pikachu and I both waved our hands in front of our faces to try to dispel it a bit. It was pitch black down in the hole and I hesitated to just drop in. I may not like the guy, but I didn't really want to smash his head in by landing on him.

"Would you mind using charge and going down first, buddy?" I asked quietly. 

Pikachu shook his head easily and immediately sparks of electricity began to race up and down his furry body, making his fur stand up on end and causing him to look more like a stuffed animal than usual. Confidently, Pikachu jumped through the hole. To my surprise, the entrance to the mine was actually sloped gently so I slipped in and followed Pikachu without any problems.

I found the trainer and his Drapion several yards from the entrance, tangled up in each other as if they had been rolling for a while before finally coming to a stop. The trainer was groaning piteously but he didn't seem completely conscious, while his Drapion was out cold. Rummaging around I located his miniaturized Pokeballs and returned Drapion to his home.

"Sorry you have a trainer like him," I muttered with a grimace before returning Drapion to the guy's belt and beginning to check on the trainer. Guilt wriggled in my stomach when I realized that the guy had broken one of his arms sometime during the fall and I sighed deeply.

"Guess we got a little carried away, huh, Pikachu?" I commented with a wry grin and Pikachu looked down regretfully. With another sigh, I lifted the trainer up, causing him to whimper even more piteously, and then positioned him onto my back.

Reaching down for the communicator Proteus had given me before we left I flipped it on and then hit the black button on the far left side. A small metal antenna rose up from the device and a barely perceptible pinging sound began to ring from the device. Carrying the semi-conscious trainer on my back, Pikachu and I made our way out to the destroyed covering for the entrance to the mine shaft. Placing the pinging device carefully on the edge of the hole, I left it behind and walked through the image of the tree.

Pikachu shook his body out as if trying to get rid of spiderwebs as he looked back at the perfectly normal-looking tree with a dissatisfied expression. Chuckling quietly at him, I jerked the trainer into a better position on my back and he moaned as his broken arm jiggled around.

"Best just to go to sleep, man. I'll get you to a hospital as quick as I can," I said to him over my shoulder. 

He groaned in response but then his head flopped onto my shoulder in a dead faint. Shaking my head ruefully, I turned and began making my way towards Oreburgh city. We were close to the edge of the forest now so I hoped I would be able to make it there and back before Garett and Junpei realized I was missing.

A/N I don't know why this chapter was so hard for me to come up with. Thank you for your patience. And thank you @boredBraixen for the brainstorming session!