The four stood in a line, Cilan and Jake facing off while Gary and Tristan were facing off just behind them. Cilan was literally next to Tristan, yet he was watching Jake closely. Tristan span around Cilan and jumped, landing next to his brother. Gary calmly walked over to Cilan, Umbreon making its way to his side. 

"Looks like we will have to take these two down. They look kinda familiar too..." Gary said, studying the two with their black and purple Absols.

"It's that team, Team Shadow I think" Cilan replied, confirming Gary's suspicions. Gary gave a slight nod and threw one arm out, his palm pointing forwards.

"Ok then, the first attack is the one that wins! Umbreon, shadow ball!" Umbreon opened up its mouth and a dark purple sphere began to grow, before being shot at Jake's Absol. The shadow ball connected, but because it was a dark move there was almost no effect. Gary realized this and scowled in frustration. 

"Pansage, bullet seed!" Cilan shouted out, not wanting the twins to attack. Pansage clenched his fists and took a deep breath, before unleashing a flurry of seeds from his mouth. Each seed hit both Absols in quick succession, but again, there was almost no effect. 

"Are you done?" Jake asked rhetorically, with a smirk. "Ok then, double team" His Absol began to multiply, surrounding Pansage and Umbreon.

"Absol, future sight!" Tristan started the same combo that they had used on Ash, the double team providing the distraction while future sight was charging. 

"Pansage, jump and use bullet seed on the second Absol!" Cilan instantly spotted this and decided to go for Tristan's Absol. Jake, however, had anticipated this already.

"Absol, withdraw and use protect to cover Absol!" Jake's Absol leapt back and his doubles disappeared. He created a shield around Tristan's Absol and the bullet seed had no effect. Then, a bright light flashed over Umbreon and Pansage. Then, it was unleashed like a cannon, exploding over the two Pokemon and sending Cilan and Gary back a few steps. They had to shield their eyes from the scattering dust.

"Pansage!" Cilan called out into the smoke.

"Umbreon, you okay?!" Gary too shouted, but no replies came.

"Absol, use hyper beam!" 

"Absol, ice beam lets go!" 

Even within the rising dust, Cilan and Gary could see the bright lights as the hyper beam and ice beam were charging up. 

"Pansage, you have to get out of there!" Cilan pleaded, hoping Pansage could hear him.

"Umbreon!" Gary shouted, seeing his Umbreon moving out of the smoke, followed by Pansage. 

 Another explosion occurred and, even more, smoke began to rise. On either side, the trainers were blinded by the smoke and could not see their opponents. Cilan looked at Gary like he was speaking telepathically. Gary nodded and then turned back to the smoke, or rather, where his opponents should be.

"Umbreon, double team!" Gary ordered, watching as his Umbreon duplicated itself. "Head through the smoke and distract the Absols"

Umbreon headed through the smoke and Gary realized that the twins could not hear his voice through the smoke because the double team was met by another hyper beam and ice beam combo. A few duplicates still stood strong, with the real Umbreon somewhere nearby. 

"Pansage, go around and use grass whistle on one of the Absols. I am sure you will make the right call" Cilan put his trust into Pansage, who nodded with determination.

"Pansage!" the grass Pokemon declared, rushing around the smoke. Pansage got behind the two Absols but then made a mistake. He started to play his lullaby song with the grass from his head, but he was using it on Jakes Absol. Jakes Absol suddenly fell into a deep sleep and then Jake realized that Pansage was sneaking behind them.

"Damn! You're on your own Tristan, you may as well use it" Jake warned Tristan, who grinned.

"Don't worry, I have this in the bag" 

As soon as the smoke cleared, Tristan threw his fist forward, revealing his megastone. By now, Pansage and Umbreon had regrouped. 

"Absol, mega evolve!" Tristan said, causing his Absol to change. The bright light was blinding while Absol changed. As soon as the light faded, a new form of Absol, Mega Absol was now in place. "Giga impact!"

There was a moments silence, but the wind began to pick up. Absol took a step forward and then the beam shot down from the sky, exploding on the ground.

"Pansage, jump back quick!"

"Umbreon, watch out!"

Both Pokemon managed to move back just before any major damage. Tristan looked on, satisfied that his opponents were struggling to cope already with his Mega Absol.

"Absol, use ice beam!" Absol instantly shot out a huge beam of ice. The ice was like shards, crashing over Pansage and sending him backwards. Pansage stayed down on the floor for a moment, which left Umbreon to face Absol.

"Umbreon, quick attack, get in close!" Gary was planning in his head, noticing Pansage had gotten up. He had to hope that Pansage could use solar beam and that Cilan would make the right call. 

"Pansage, charge it up!" Cilan said, gesturing upwards to the sunlight. Pansage threw out his arms and moved them above his head, pointing it towards the sun and absorbing the energy. 

Umbreon continued to move around quickly, zig-zagging towards the waiting Mega Absol.

"Umbreon, use flash!" Gary shouted, much to Tristan's surprise. Umbreon stopped right in front of Absol and used flash, the light blinding Absol momentarily. 

"Pansage, solar beam, let it rip!" Cilan realized that Gary was hoping for this, their plan was working well. Pansage formed a sphere with his arms, taking a slight step back. Then, he threw his palms outwards, a yellow sphere shooting out of his hands like a massive laser. The yellow light smashed into the Mega Absol, but Mega Absol stood its ground, taking the hit.

"You seriously think you can defeat my Absol that easily?" Tristan scoffed. "I feel so offended. Absol, use future sight!" 

"Umbreon, quick attack once more!" Gary panicked for a moment, calling out the wrong move. Umbreon dashed forward and hit Absol, but nothing much happened. Gary gritted his teeth, wondering what to do next. He noticed how close Umbreon was and decided it was all or nothing. "Umbreon, shadow ball, nice and close!"

Before Umbreon could charge up his shadow ball, there was a voice from the shadows.

"Umbreon, use hypnosis" Parker stepped out, watching as his Umbreon incapacitated Gary's Umbreon. Just as that happened, Jake's Absol had woken up and it was now 3 on 1. "This is a game to collect tags, not a place for battling. Having more numbers just means we win and you lose, so hand over the tags before we hurt you"

"No chance" Cilan threw his arm out. "I will fight until you are all down and then some more after that!"

"Heh, you have guts I will give you that" Parker shook his head. "Well, I guess if you want it to be this way..."

"Absol, dream eater," Tristan said, gesturing to the sleeping Umbreon before them. Sure enough, dream eater caused great pain for Umbreon and he yelled out in his sleep, before completely fainting. Gary rushed over to check on his partner while Cilan faced off with the three in front of him. His mind was going so fast, what could he do? Should he run away? Cilan continued to stare, waiting for the battle to commence.

At the Pokemon Center, May, Miette and Iris were all staying there, to keep their 100 points safe. They had guaranteed themselves a place in the next round. 

"This was so easy, I wonder how the others are getting on," May said, checking out her one hundred points.

"I know right, they should be here soon I bet" Iris agreed. Miette stayed silent, having a bad feeling that something was going on. She looked out of the window, wondering when one of Ash's friends would walk through the door, or Ash.

Also, the others had finally recovered. Misty and Brock were fighting hard to catch up and Serena and Clemont were almost both on 100. They just each needed 15 more points, meaning one more trainer. There was still 30 minutes left for them to catch up, which meant everyone still had a shot of progressing to the next round.

But, it seemed that Team Shadow's goal wasn't to try and get 100 points and then leave. They were targeting Ash and his friends, trying to stop them from passing through to the next round. This was because Ash, who was under Team Shadow's control, had now collected 400 points in the 15 minutes he had spent wandering around the fields. This meant 4 of the five Team Shadow members could pass through to the next round, without thinking about their own points at all. Things were not looking good for Ash and his friends, but could they find a way out of this mess and make it to the next round, together?