Huh? I'm back? Perfect! No need to thank me auth, but I do hope you repay me. Shut up, Andy.

Andy, Lynn, and Alex were standing against dozens of Gramps members with their few Pokémon.

"Andy, how did you get back over here?" Lynn asked him, her head was tilted to one side as she eyed him.

Andy shrugged. "After he broke the Author I decided to be nice and fix everything. Anyway, after all that ruckus we should just need to stall long enough for Lance to show up."

"And how exactly are we going to do that, we're a bit outnumbered." Lynn gestured to the ever-growing crowd of angry Gramps grunts.

Andy tried to crack his knuckles but they didn't actually pop. "Leave that to me. Hey Plasma heads, who's better? Modern pirates or classic pirates? And for that matter who would win between pirate and ninjas?" Almost instantaneously a fight broke out between the former Plasma members and the former Aqua members. The Magma members chose to join for good measure and the Skulls thought ninjas would beat both of them.

"And now the Gramps are just Gr." Andy quipped.

Lynn facepalmed. "Whatever. Let's just deal with the leftovers."

Andy turned his focus to the remaining grunts. There were maybe two dozen, he could probably take them. Sure he didn't have superpowers anymore but he had something more. Lazers? Absolutely not.

Alex and his Weedle fired barrages of Poison Sting at the enemy Pokémon, which mostly consisted of Golbat and Raticate.

"Lily! Lily look! Did you see how awesome that was?" Alex pointed to his Weedle after the attack had finished.

Lynn chuckled to herself. "Alex, that was very awesome. And remember, I go by Lynn now." Lynn glanced down at her Meditite. "Meditite use Zen Headbutt on those Golbat!"

Her Meditite nodded and leaped into the air, slamming its head into one Golbat at a time. Before long the Golbat had all been smacked into the ground.

"Golbat use Supersonic!" A G commanded. The Golbat all began to screech. The noise was so obnoxious, it was comparable to Andy talking.  Hey!

"Jokes on you! I've got an ace up my sleeve!" Andy shouted nobody could hear him over the screaming Golbat though. "David take them out!" His Larvitar also didn't hear him but because of his lack of ears, he wasn't affected by the Supersonic.

He picked up boulders from the ground and finished off the Golbat one by one and defeated the hive mind of noise.

Hang on. If David doesn't have ears how come he can hear me talk? How does he even understand your commands at all, much less choose to listen to a trainer like you? Hey! David likes me!

While Andy was furiously scribbling into his book Lynn and Alex knocked out the remaining Raticate.

"Andy, enough with the stupid book! Let's go!" Lynn snapped. Andy sighed and pocketed the book. Taking a look around the room it was clear that Gramps Grunt had decided to make a run for it.

"Looks like the head honcho got away." Andy sighed.

Lynn clenched her teeth. "We've got to find him though! That guy is way too nuts to be able to wander freely."

"Well I have an idea, but you've got to trust me. It'll probably work too." Andy said.

Lynn crossed her arms. "Just do it then you dink."

"No. First, you have to admit that I might be right. That this all might be fake." Andy gave her a smug grin.

Lynn narrowed her eyes. "Really Andy? Why are you so set on this?"

"Because you can't keep denying it. That guy's entire plan revolved around my book and the author." Andy said.

"And he was as insane as you. Your point?"

"But his plan worked!" Andy insisted.

Lynn rubbed her temples. "No, it didn't Andy. Nothing happened when he turned the machine on."

"Then Lynn, please explain to me how I teleported right next to you guys!" Andy growled.

Alex looked between them nervously. "I just wanna stop the bad guy."

Lynn jammed her face in front of Andy's. "Just shut up and track him down."

Andy sighed. "Fine, but I'll at least say this. This is all fake, but man when I was trapped here all alone it felt so real. What I was going to say, Lynn. Was that even if this stuff isn't real, it sure feels that way. I feel sad my mom's dead. I feel bad about how I screwed over my dad. Even if we're all just figments of some guy's imagination, what I'm trying to say is I get it. I understand that this world is real, so long as I'm a part of it. And I ought to treat it that way."

Lynn's mouth was partially agape. "So, what you're saying is..."

"Is I'm sorry. I really am. Now let's go track down that nutcase." Andy whipped out his book. I now know where that Gramps Grunt ran off to.

Andy shut the book and pointed down a hall. "He's over there. Let's hurry though, we've got a lot of ground to cover."

Andy was about to run off when Lynn grabbed his arm. "Andy," He turned to face her and she was on the verge of tears. "Thank you. Andy I-I always wanted to believe in you and... let's just go."

"Don't get it twisted Lynn, I'm still an asshole. Just a little more considerate." Andy corrected.

Alex ran up and practically tackled Andy with a hug. "Does that mean you'll be our friend Andy?" Andy hesitated but nodded. Alex jumped up and down. "Yay! That's awesome!"

With that, they ran down the labyrinth of halls to find the Gramps Grunt. Weaving between almost identical hallways with very little lighting.

Andy seemed to have the entire navigation perfectly memorized, he led the three of them with ease until they arrived at a set of stairs leading up.

The group jogged up the stairs and pushed over large metal cellar doors where they were graced with sunlight.

The area around them was full of thick oak trees densely packed around them. The air was very humid and clouds had gathered in the sky.

The forest surrounded them on all sides. Bug Pokémon milled about and a group of Stantler looked at the party before running off.

Andy continued to maneuver around the many trees. "We should be getting close now. He's over by the lake."

"You mean the Lake of Rage? We're really that far out?" Lynn asked.

Andy shrugged. "Guess so. I just know he's at a lake."

"Why's it called that?" Alex asked. "Is the lake mad?"

Lynn seemed stumped by the question. "I don't really know. Guess it's just a tourist trap. That and the Red Gyarados keep people coming year-round."

Silence fell over the group as they finally came into sight of the lake. They walked around the perimeter of the water over to the tourist shack.

The area seemed mostly abandoned, though Andy didn't see why. It felt like it might rain soon but that wouldn't stop tourists.

The water was still, only occasionally rippling when Pokémon within the water would move. The gorgeous blue water was unprecedented for a lake. Leaving the water nearly crystal clear.

Andy stared down at some of the small Fineon minding their own business. He really had no idea why Gramps Grunt had chosen to flee to this area. It seemed so useless.

The team eventually arrived at the tourist shack and looked back to see the main entrance to the lake completely blocked off with police tape. There were two officers at the front that hadn't noticed them yet.

"Police? What are they doing here?" Lynn asked, slowly backing away.

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure they're just looking for Gramps Grunt." Andy waved it away.

"Ooh! Police officers! They're so cool!" Alex ran over to them and Andy and Lynn chased after him. "Hello!" Alex waved.

The officers jumped and whipped around, reaching for their Pokeballs. "Hands where I can see them!"

Andy tossed his hands into the sky, he wasn't in the mood to fight the law today. "Let us explain. We just got back from the Gramps-"

"Quiet you!" One of the officers shouted.

"Hang on a second. Did he say, Gramps?" A new voice asked.

Andy glanced over and saw the famed Champion standing behind them. He was an incredibly tall man. With perfect posture and spiky crimson hair that shot up straight.

He was wearing two crimson red boots that matched his hair, a velvet red jacket, grey ankle-length pants, and a black undershirt. He also had a cape flowing behind him.

He glared into Andy with his cold golden eyes. His features were hardened. His face was settled in an emotionless frown. His voice was forceful and commanding. Everything about him was stern and professional.

"I'm sure you already know who I am, though I don't recognize you three. Before we get into formalities I need to know, what do you know about the Gramps?" Lance interrogated.

"Well we got kidnapped by them in the old rocket hideout where most of them are currently holed up, and we're trying to track down their leader who's hiding somewhere around here," Andy explained. "Now if it's not too much trouble I'd like to stop raising the roof."

Lance's hard expression didn't change. "Well, they at least know about the Gramps grunts in the hideout. Though I'm not sure if we can trust them." Lance spoke to one of the officers.

Suddenly the ground began to shake. Andy turned around and stared at the source of the shaking, the Lake of Rage.

Gramps Grunt was standing right in front of the lake, a smirk on his face. "Ah good, you're all here for my show! Andrew, I must thank you for ruining my plans! Now I'm much more motivated to kill you!"

He raised his hand and from the lake, a gigantic scaly serpent emerged. Its scales were all blood red and it towered above them. The monster's eyes snapped open to reveal the wild red eyes of an untamed beast. The Gyarados roared into the sky and Gramps Grunt laughed

"Meet my final stand, FISHY!"