I stood on my side of the battle field, my eyes shut to keep my mind focus so I didn't loose my cool to early. It had become obvious long ago that both Cyrus and Kathrine liked to get into my head so my recklessness would take control as my anger pushed aside common sense. So I had to make sure I kept my head straight for as long as I could.

Don't deny it, it's going to happen.

My ability to understand my Pokémon gave me a slight edge in the match as their own observations could easily be translated by natural abilities as Voice of Purity. I just had to keep a level head so I would be able to keep a head. The only time I really overthink battles this much is when I battle champions and it always pulls though for me then so hopefully it would one more time.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I raised my head, meeting the gaze of Kathrine without even flinching. A sly smirk danced of her features, making my subconscious ball my hands into tight fists.

"I'll be fair with you Emma, you may have the first move and even see who I'm using first." The brunette called from her side of the field, throwing the Pokéball of the Corrupt Mega's into the air.

A bright flash of sickly green revealed the form of a Corrupt Gengar, naturally in it's Mega form. Sickly green light pulsed from it's body like radiation as a crackle like screech burst from it's mouth as an eery aura filled the room, sending chills down my spine.

Letting out a calm breath, my fingers made their way to my belt, taking one of my trusted member in my hand. "Okay Hope, assistance please!" I shouted, throwing Hope's Luxury Ball into the battle field.

A bright flash filled the room as the form of my Umbreon materialised. A sheen of sparkles followed her figure, bursting from her body as it would with any other shiny Pokémon. She raised her head confidently, her amber eyes focused of the Gengar before her, studying it from beneath her lashes.

~Ready when you are Emma, just give the word.~ She told me without her eyes leaving her opponent.

"Right." I nodded, going over what I knew of Gengar in my head. Shadow had one and from my confrontations with him I knew they were a duel Ghost and Poison type with the ability Levitate but Mega Gengar had the ability Shadow Tag which means Hope was locked into the battle until one of the two feint. Being a Dark type, my Pokémon had the advantage and Gengar didn't inherently learn any moves super effective to Hope, mainly Psychic, Dark and Ghost types moves which wouldn't do much against my Umbreon.

I sucked in a shallow breath, opening my eyes once more. My eyes briefly found those of Silver's who gave me a supportive and reassuring node, offering me a small smile which told me he did believe in my strength to get us all out of this.

Kathrine was still waiting patiently for me to call my first move, time I put a stop to that now isn't it? "Okay Hope, let's begin strong with a Dark Pulse!" I ordered, determination running as think as veins through my blood did. There was to much at stake for me to loose this battle.

Hope gave a single hard nod, the several rings on her body glowing dark purple in colour that slowly inked into her eyes as reared up on her hind legs. She lunged forward, slamming her front paws against the dirt. The unnatural colour left her rings, bursting from her fox like frame into a pulse of darkness. The movement of the Moonlight light Pokémon were to swift for the corrupt Pokémon to keep up with, leaving him without a chance to dodge or counter.

A small smirk formed over my features, trying to keep up my confident appearance. I'd long ago maxed out the speed and special attack stats of my shiny Umbreon and her level couldn't go any higher if I tried, she's been with me five years now and was easily my most reliable Pokémon, one of the main reasons I chose to lead with her.

The spine of doubt soon wavered my confidence when I saw Gengar almost unfazed by Hope's attack. But I had expect this, it took hours to wear down these things, and I was used to battling grunt Pokémon, without a doubt Kathrine's team would be much more powerful then that of the grunts. I bit down sharply on my tongue "come on Emma, you knew this would be hard. Just focus."

"Gengar, use Shadow Punch." Kathrine ordered.

"Dig!"

Hope obeyed without hesitation, disappearing beneath the surface with a hair to spare before the Shadow Punch would have made contact. A few moments later she burst from under ground, her azure rings glowing with a readied Psychic attack, a move that despite me not calling the attack, she knew to use it regardless since it was super affective against Gengar's Poison typing.

The corrupted Mega hardly flinched, smirking at Hope's valiant efforts to chip down at his health.

"Hypnosis Gengar." Kathrine ordered smoothly. The black and green Pokémon smirked a pointed grin, the yellow eye on it's forehead shine as waves of hypnotic energy aimed for my Umbreon.

"Dodge it Hope!" I ordered but Hope had only just recovered from her last attack and didn't have a chance to move and fell asleep due to the effects of Hypnosis.

I bit down sharply on my tongue, grinding my back teeth together. This battle just got a whole lot hard real fast....

~Silver~

Red sat by my side in the stand, watching my sister battle. Despite her seemingly calm exterior, I knew Emma well enough to know just how much pressure she was dealing with. We'd been able to talk to her briefly before she was taken to battle and I could tell she was still blaming herself for all of this, no doubt she would even more so if she lost this match. She was really upset with herself and scared of this battle, hopefully something she wouldn't let affect her match against Kathrine since it wasn't unusual for Emma to let her emotions get the better of her when she was under immense pressure.

I really just hope it isn't to much for her.

~Emma~

Gritting my teeth, I dug my nails into the already bleeding flesh on my palms. I couldn't switch Hope out due to Shadow Tag so I was stuck waiting for her to wake up, and she could faint before that. I looked to my brother for reassurance but his attention was turned to my opponent, studying it over with a quizzical glare. Red wasn't offering much help either, watching the grunts around them both with a hard look. Some help they're turning out to be.

My options went through my mind slowly, I bit down on my lip as they did. Sometimes receiving a hit would wake a Pokémon but to many could knock Hope out, setting me back a Pokémon and since I didn't have my bag with my supplies or the access to use my healing abilities, I was at a stump.

"Fuck it," I murmured under my breath. "Hope, wake up!" My demand rung out making Kathrine snicker but my shiny Pokémon remained asleep.

"Gengar, hurry up and end this match with a Shadow Punch." Team Rift's leader ordered.

The corrupted Mega Evolution obeyed without hesitation, his ghastly grin growing wide to show off each dagger like tooth which relived me that Gengar couldn't learn Bite or Crunch naturally. It's right fist detached from the rest of his body with a ghostly aura, coating itself in a shadowy flame of ghostly purple within the corrupted green. My blue eyes watched it's every moment, trying to find the chip which had transformed a regular Gengar into this monster but finding none at this point.

Forced to watch helplessly, Genger shamed his shadow coated fist into the sleeping form of my Umbreon, sending her flying into a wall. Damn, if only I had Blade with me, he at least knew Sleep Talk. Hope, much to my dismay, remained asleep and I was forced to watch helplessly as she was pummelled by her beastly opponent over and over.

"Hope, wake up damn it!" I screamed, stamping my foot like a three year old having a temper tantrum.

Much to my releif, her amber eyes fluttered open in time for her to leap out of the way of another Shadow Punch. I breathed out a sigh, knowing I was still very well in danger, Hope was low in HP and would barely be able to take another hit.

"Stay back, use Dark Pulse!" I ordered.

My Umbreon nodded weakly, not yet willing to give up. Her eyes faded to the colour of shadows as her lapis blue rings glowed with the presence of darkness, smirk deviously as she release the darkness into a Dark Pulse attack. It was without a doubt that Hope alone would be able to finish this battle but I had to do as much damage as possible before she fainted.

~Emma, I can't last to much longer like this.~ Hope panted out.

"I know..." I smirked. "So use Moonlight~!" One of her more recently learnt moves.

Hope matched my smirk, each luminous ring of her body shining as bright as that of a full moon as one faded in above her, shedding its light my starter as she willing absorbed its glow, replenishing her part of her health. It wasn't much, but enough to keep her going that little bit longer.

~Smart.~ She commented, shaking out her fur as she waited for Kathrine's next move.

"I must complement you on your Umbreon's strength, not many Pokémon have been able to withstand my Gengar like that. She has been well raised, pity she can't mega evolve and join my team after your loss."

"She was my first Pokémon, of course she's my strongest and you are not touching her!" I yelled, glaring with the sharpness of a Mean Look. "Hope, Dark Pulse, as many as you can!"

Her full move set consisted of Dark Pulse, Moonlight, Dig and Psychic. Dig was to risky since it involved getting in close and Dark Pulse was stronger then Psychic for Hope, being a dark type, so it was the obvious move of choice. But out of Gengar's moves, I only knew two, Shadow Punch and Hypnosis. I had a feeling it may also know Dream Eater but since it was a Psychic type move, it had no effect on Hope but why wouldn't it know Nightmare as an alternative then? What was she planning?

"Gengar, use Will-O-Wisp then follow it up with Hex."

I winced, biting down sharping on my lip, my eyes landing on Hope whom was exhausted from battle. She couldn't have dodged, even if I ordered her to, and it felt wrong to push to much further. Hope however thought differently, giving a sharp battle cry, my shiny Umbreon disappeared below ground dodging one of the two attacks. She was now burnt but that came with its own good and bad points. Hope's ability was Synchronise so not only was she burnt but Gengar was as well, it also meant she couldn't be put back to sleep. However the burn would continue to sap at her dwindling health until nothing remained.

Hope burst from the ground, head butting Gengar right on the forehead, where it's third eye sat. In it's Mega form, the Shadow Pokémon had lost it's Levitate ability, leaving it susceptible to the Ground type attack however, the close ranged attack gave her no time to doge as Gengar nailed her with a powerful Hex attack.

As expected, Hope didn't make it through the attack and was sent flying into the far wall, fainted.

Despite my disappointment, I forced a small smile as I walked over to my Umbreon and gathered her in my arms, making sure to be carful of any injuries she had sustained during battle. "Good job Hope." I murmured to my unconscious starter, tapping her Pokéball atop her head to return her without another word.

Returning her Pokéball to its proper place on my belt as I returned to my place on the battle feild. My left over options were slim, Faith and Melody although legendaries were both Psychic types and were weak against Ghost, using Relic Song would change Melody's Psychic typing to Fighting but that would help much. Trust was also at a type disadvantage but her speed and wide move set might be able to give her an edge. Night knew Dark Pulse and Rioyaru knew nothing to give her an advantage. Guardian was a Dark type and would hold an advantage, especially with her ability to Mega Evolve (thank Arceus my Key Stone hadn't been taken from me) but I wanted to save her for later.

With my mind made up, I pulled the next Pokéball from my belt, throwing it through the air as full force. "Trust, stand by for battle!" I called, releasing my Espeon from her capsule.

~Fuck yeah battle time!~ She chirped, flicking her duel ended tail before forming a heart with it's twin tips and blowing a mock kiss at Gengar.

No fair, she can swear but I can't. I rolled my eyes at myself, of course Trust had taken after me as her trainer, though I easily saw some of Destiny in her since she had spent plenty of time with my best friend.

"Get your head in the game Trust."

My Espeon laughed confidently, pawing the ground in a battle ready manner.

"Start with a Shadow Ball!" I ordered, not aiming to play around this battle. While my regular smart ass remark would be added here and there, I couldn't get out of this place fast enough.

The crimson jewel the decored my Espeon's forehead turned a ghostly black colour as she charged up the attack, the soulless ball of shadows drawing power from the darkness of her jewel. Once filled with power, Trust flicked her head back and swung it forward in one swift, graceful movement. The Shadow Ball clung onto the last of the dark energy provided by Trust before it was sent flying for Gengar.

The Shadow Pokémon had no chance to dodge as the Shadow Ball smashed into him with the replicated power of a ton of bricks. The ghastly Pokémon was thrown back a couple of feet, his claws dragging trails through the dirt as it fought off the full power of the attack.

"Will-O-Wisp Gengar." Kathrine ordered, clearly starting to get annoyed.

Flames of corrupt energy danced around Gengar, flickering like a dance of the dead. It's screech filled the air with a pitch of nails of a black bored, ringing like the after tone of an explosion. Trust flinched, the sound clearly getting the better of the Psychic type Eeveelution, leaving her open and vulnerable to the Will-O-Wisp which was absorbed into her body like a poison. At this point, Trust's ability would normally activate but as it was the same as Hope's and Gengar was already burnt, nothing happened.

I cursed beneath my breath, my fisted hand relaxing slightly, allowing blood to flow from the little crescent shaped marks made by my nails. My time limit was even slimmer now but showing my own tension would be a mistake. I couldn't let Kathrine see she was getting to me.

"Shadow Punch Gengar." My biological mother practically hummed.

"Get out of the way Trust!" I demanded, knowing very well that ghost type attacks were super effective of psychic types.

Trust flinched due to her burn but was able to leap back just in time, firing a well timed Shadow Ball in the process. She growled harshly at her opponent, snapping her fangs as her rose coloured fur bristled in disgust.

"Psyshock!" My order rung clear as my Espeon obeyed, hitting Gangar with her most powerful move but Gangar nearly smirked despite then hit, slamming his fist into Trust with a shadow infused punch. She was sent flying but it gave me an idea.

"Psychic on the air, then Morning Sun." I called out, a technique we had mastered. The violet eyes of my Espeon glowed with cerulean hues as she compressed the air into a dense enough platform for her to stand, high above Gengar and safe enough for her to heal herself. The ruby on her forehead glowed with golden light as a sun silhouette formed above her head, casting its warming rays over her. Each stream of sunlight was absorbed into her trembling body, giving her the health and strength to battle further.

"Use Hex Gangar."

My Pokémon attempted to dodge by falling from her platform but was instead hit midair. She was sent flying into a wall, near to where Hope had fainted but she got up, standing on trembling paws as she did. I couldn't keep healing, eventually she would faint so I had to go all or nothing.

"Psyshock!"

"Hex!"

Both attack were sent. Both hit. Both Pokémon fell to the ground, to exhausted to fight any longer. The match had ended in a draw. A small sigh of relief fell from my lips as I made my way over to Trust, as I had done with Hope. I picked her up lightly, wishing I could heal her, even if it was just enough to rid her of pain. The Psychic type Eeveelution looked up at me, the weakness in the eyes as clear as the daytime sun as she offered me a tiny smile.

~I'm sorry, I could have done more.~

"Don't worry about it, you did plenty."

~Beat that dumbass for me, kay?~

"I'll do my best." I gave her a small smile as I returned her to her Pokéball, turning on my heel an walking back to my place. One down, two to go. But there was a big problem, through the entire battle against Gengar, not once did I ever see a corruptor chip, which means it was well hidden or not there. Which was a big problem on my part.

~*~*~*~*~🌸~*~*~*~*~
Word count: 3081

This is going to be a pain in the ass when it comes around to editing cause I can never be bothered with it. Does everyone want to sit through two more chapters of battle scenes cause if no one's going to read them I might as well skip them and go straight to whether Emma wins or loses. Last chapter didn't get nearly as many views or votes as it normally does and hardly anyone is commenting, mainly why this chapter took so long to get out.

Anyway, please vote, comment and as always keep on reading on~!