"Yeah... Yeah it is." As she spoke those words, my mind began whirling in doubt.

"Delta, how many others are fighting with us?"

"Ten, plus you, me, and Toram." I inwardly shuddered at those odds.

The battle was madness.

As soon as the horde of twenty-some Fighting Types clashed against the edge of the village, I knew our band of Normal Types weren't going to last long. In an instant, I was swamped by attackers, and everything was a flurry of moves as I performed my simple combo of moves: Aerial Ace, Dragon Claw, Aerial Ace, Dragon Claw. And as I struck again and again at my attackers, I barely had time to dodge oncoming attacks. And even though the bodies of fainted Pokémon piled around me, I was still over whelmed by the mob.

Though despite our efforts, when I risked a glance to the right, I saw Fighting Types rushing like droplets from a crack into the village; some of the Normal Types had failed. Though I could tell that the village was basically doomed, I knew that if I tried to pick of the ones who straggled into the cluster of houses, the rest who I was warding off would swamp the village in the wake of my abandonment. Behind me, buildings crashed and untrained Gijinkas screamed and shrieked in terror, though I couldn't do anything more for them. And soon after the sound of destruction came the smell of fire.

"Blazikens," Delta gasped, loud enough for me to hear, before raising her voice. "Elkarez! Do you think you could hold off the ones attacking me, too?"

"No!"

"Well... Try!" With that, she sent an immense amount of Psychic energy into our foes before scurrying backwards into the maze of buildings. Though she had fainted quit a few Fighting Types, she still left me with five or six more foes who didn't exactly want to face me instead of continuing their mission of razing the village. Flinging myself into them with an Aerial Ace, I cut off their route forward.

Now that I was fighting two clusters of Fighting Types, everything got a whole crapload harder, and while I flung myself at the two posses, snippets of my fight against Zane and Destiny flew back into my mind. But the moment another Fighting Type hit the ground, I realized an easier method. Feeling the movement of the tectonic plates below my feet, I willed them to shift, summoning the earth to shudder violently and damage my attackers with Earthquake. The Fighting Types stumbled from the movement, and began dropping like maimed Pidgeys from the sky, falling to the ground, unconscious. By the time the tremors ceased, my foes rose from the ground and retreated back to where they came from. But before I could even smirk in triumph, I heard a very familiar voice, though it was twisted in surprise and pain.

"Delta!" I screamed in alarm, though to no one as I was now standing alone. "Delta!" Skidding around the corner of the closest building, I dashed into the town, listening for her yell, though it never came. The closest thing I got was the sound of a young child crying. Nearby, I saw pillars of smoke rising from a house that was crowned with fire, and through an open window I could hear the cries of the child.

Not even Fire Types can last too long in a fire. I remembered my mom say once when she was telling me about her quest to defeat Arceus. I should know. Moltres turned the first friend I made on that journey to ashes. Panic flared about me as I rounded the building, and, upon finding the entrance, I flung the door open and hurtled up the stairs. The second floor was laid out rather simply, with six doors, but to my luck (if you could call it luck, what with me standing in a burning building) the cries were easy to track to the second door on the right.

I ran to the door and flung it open, barely even noticing how the knob tried to cook my skin, to see a lump of fallen wood and a young child huddled in the corner in a fetal position.

"Get out of here, kid!" I screamed, not wanting to have to deal with some kid crying at me. "Scram!" Side-stepping, I let the child scramble out the door and down the stairs. From the lump of wood came a pained exhale, and I rushed over to the source of the sound.

"Elkarez..." Delta whispered.

"Delta, how long--" but before I could finish my sentence, her eyes rolled upward and her eyelids shut as she fell unconscious. In the seconds when my heart was beating loudly and quickly, my mind was tricked to think she was dead, but when my fingers flew to her lips, I felt the presence of faint breathing. Sighing, I realized I would be able to get her out alive as long as I didn't dawdle. That's when I notice the trickle of flames working its way along the broken supports from her hair. Thrusting my boot upon the thread of fire, I stamped out the hazard before it became one, and swiftly began pulling the lumber off of Delta.

At first, I was restricted by lack of grip, and I scrabbled madly at the wood as I heard a roar of fire and felt the heat intensify.  Though as I tried to construct a solution, my mind quickly pulled up the memory of plunging into the gorge atop Perry, when my digging claw held so firmly to his dying body. Plunging said claw in to the wood, I began hefting the boards until I was able to heave Delta's body out from the pile. I laid her upon my back and ran for the door.

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"... And I would like to thank you all for saving our village." Once the man besides us had finished his speech, the whole town, who had gathered at the edge of the village, erupted into jubilant applause for their heroes.

After I had rescued Delta from the burning building, the battle was already petering out. Apparently, while the three some of Normal Types had failed to defend their spot, all other spots had held their ground. Toram's strategy had worked fine, until the Medicham that was helping us abandoned his station to pluck of a Fighting Type heading into the village. And thus when the flood of Fighting Types came. Luckily, Toram had finished off his section easily, and was able to halt the flow of incoming attackers and went off to catch the stragglers. By the time I entered the building to save Delta, Toram had already found the one who started the fires, an Infernape, and in seconds had defeated him. And when I caught up with Toram, all the Fighting Types had already retreated; we had won.

Looking to the sides, I saw the Normal Types who we had fought with celebrating: some high-fived each other with others jumped in joy. Though being the jerk I am, I had words that weren't so joyful.

Stepping forwards, I waited for everyone to silence their applause. "So," I began, "I know we just saved your village and all, but we have more important things to do. I know you probably want more time to give your thanks to us, but as I said before, me, Delta, and Toram, have got to leave. We've--"

"Actually, Elkarez, I'm shtaying here," Toram cut in, before turning to me. "I know we left the maze together, but I've got to shtay here. Thish village needsh me. You get what I mean?"

"Yeah," I replied, before speaking to the crowd again. "Change of plans, I guess. It turns out that Toram's gonna stay here and help keep you guys safe as a tactician." Once again, applause rippled through the audience, and I waited for it to die down. "But the time's come for Delta and me to leave. Come on, Delta." Saying the last part to Delta, I turned around and trekked away from the village, listening to their shouts of good-bye until they faded. We continued to travel, finally getting to the ice-bound mountain, the last obstacle between me and Darkrai.