*Voltflare's POV*

"Well, well, well- what have we here?" Maxwell laughs maniacally, caressing the Pokeball that contains his Dragonite with an evil intensity.

"A little Hybrid, ready for me to operate on! Just for me?! Perish the thought- I never would have thought that I could have lured you both here this easily, not to mention the revenge that I'm about to wreak!"

Maxwell turns to Nathan, shifting his body so that he can see me, and my Trainer fiercely pounds his fists on his prison cell's doors, causing a cacophony of metallic racket that pains both my ears and my heart.

"And now, Hybrid," Maxwell roars jovially, letting his Pokeball fall to the ground and explode into light,

"You die!"

I jump backwards in sheer terror when Maxwell's iconic Dragon Pokemon emerges from the Pokeball's light. Its beady eyes stare hungrily at me, and the Pokemon licks its orange lips in anticipation of Maxwell's next command.

Nathan... That look... It wants to eat me!

I begin to panic, flattening my body as far as I can against the dark prison walls, while the Dragonite slowly saunters closer and closer to me. Yet, facing the incoming fiend, I manage to feel, somehow, at ease. A familiar tingling sensation works its way from my stomach to my throat, and I know what I need to do next.

Face your fears, you cowardly little Eevee! It's just a... Just a giant Pokemon that wants to slowly kill you in its s-s-stomach... N-nothing to worry about!

My pulse quickens when I try to calm myself, which only compounds the queasy feeling in my gut, and I eye Maxwell's Dragonite, now only a few feet from me, with a mixture of fear, awe, and self-defence.

If there's any time that I need a fireball, it's now! I think, forcibly directing all my thoughts to the knot in my stomach. I can tell the projectile needs to come out before it hurts me, and, without thinking about it, I open my mouth as wide as I dare to release one of the largest fireballs that I've ever seen. Its crimson hue shines in the dark prisons as I will it to streak toward the Dragonite, which the object nearly complies with. Nearly, because my attack never actually impacts the Dragonite's in any way.

The Pokemon quickly utilizes a variant of Extremespeed to avoid my attack and zip behind me before the fireball singes even a hair on its orange skin. I watch, hopelessly, as the now-useless attack sears through my cell's bars and disappears behind Maxwell, who crows defiantly,

"Ahahaha! Are you finished fooling around, Hybrid, because my Dragonite's a little hungry, if you know what I mean!"

I turn to face the angry Dragon Pokemon behind me, but all I can see is a sharp row of teeth lining the Dragonite' enormous maw, the same sight from before I had almost been digested by the very same Pokemon. Before I can react and move myself away from danger, however, the Pokemon's left claw quickly reaches out, catches me by the scruff of the neck, and squeezes me to prevent my movement.

I cry out in pain when the claws dig into me, but I know that puncture marks will be the least of my worry if that monster fits me in its mouth, which is only about seven inches from me and counting.

This time, though, I know it'll be ready for my electricity. I won't be able to escape if I'm swallowed.

This thought worries me, and the impending danger causes me to brace myself. Adrenaline slightly numbs the pain, but I am still too weak after my fireball stunt to charge enough electricity to free myself from the Dragonite' grip.

What can I do to escape this?! I can't move, I can't fight, I can't. I can't...

Knowing my fruitless end is here, I close my eyes and wait for the Pokemon to devour me.

Then, I hear a loud, confident voice from behind Maxwell and a battle cry that I wouldn't mistake for the world,

"Metaaa!!!" Nathan's Pokemon roars.

"That's enough out of you, Maxwell!" Nathan echoes,

"I thought I told you that you would never hurt another soul ever again, and I intend to keep that promise! Metagross, use Ice Punch!"

Nathan's stannic behemoth crashes through the prison bars, shredding them instantly under its might, and slams its azure fist into the Dragonite's stomach with another guttural roar of defiance.

The force of Metagross's attack causes Maxwell's Pokemon to drop me in pain and drives it a few feet through the wall, shattering the stone boundary and scattering debris everywhere. A large cloud of smoke erupts from the massive crater in the wall, and Metagross steps back, seemingly admiring its work. The Pokemon flexes each of its spidery appendages in turn, as if to show dominance over the much larger Dragon Pokemon, who is not able to move and lies defeated on the ground.

"Why you little...!" Maxwell screams in rage,

"All this time I've planned for my revenge, and, even still you have to get in the way! Fine then, I'm taking you out myself, right here and now!"

From my weakened state on the ground, I can see Maxwell descend on Nathan like an angry vulture, repeatedly bruising him with punch after punch after punch.

"Oh, you like that, don't you?!" Maxwell laughs, bloodying Nathan's nose for good measure.

I... I can't watch this freak show go on any longer! Maxwell, consider this a gift from me!

I motion to the patiently-waiting Metagross beside me, and it picks me up and rights me on the ground. It hurts to stand, but, as I walk towards Maxwell and my Trainer, electricity begins to course through my veins, like the immense hatred I feel towards everything Maxwell has said and done to both me and Nathan.

"Maxwell," I call, as loud as my voice will permit,

"Leave him alone!"

In that instant, I take a deep breath and let all of my pent-up electricity leave my veins in an explosion rivaling that of lightning during a thunderstorm. The current dances through the air in a zigzag fashion for a few seconds, before hitting its target and being absorbed into Maxwell's right arm.

"You...!" Maxwell spits on the floor in disgust,

"You will never see the light of day again, Hybrid! Not once you've tasted of the darkness that Cyrus has planned for you! I guarantee it will hurt much more than my Dragonite's stomach ever did!"

Once he finishes his ultimatum, Maxwell slumps over, and the surge within him paralyzes his nervous system. He falls to the ground at Nathan's feet, and Nathan rushes over to me, beaten and bloody. His hands are covered with bruises, and his face breathes a horrible shade of purple. I can barely recognize him as Nathan, and, were it not for his tattered lab coat and compassionate voice, I probably wouldn't have.

"Nathan, you're..." I try to conjure my emotions, but the only thing that comes out is stuttering.

"Don't mind me," Nathan says calmly. I'm slightly impressed that, even though he's probably leaning on the edge of unconsciousness, he's still trying to remain at-east for my sake.

"Are you OK? Nothing broken?" he asks me. I nod, demonstrating my ability to walk to prove my point. Nathan seems to cease his worrying, at least in part, and he systematically bandages my puncture wounds from the Dragonite's claws. I smile at his touch, knowing that we're safe for the time being. He return his Metagross to its Pokeball, and we leave the prison cells in a hurry- any time we waste could be time that Maxwell can and will use against us when he wakes up. But one thing still bothers me about this place...

"Where are we?" I ask Nathan in bewilderment, turning my head from side to side to properly scan my surroundings.

The walls are decrepit and bereft of their paint, which seems to have been green in color.

Sort of like those guys from Cyrus' speech... I wonder if they're related?

Besides the prison cells, the corridor opens into a long, blackened hallway that blindly turns into another room. I can hear a few beeps and whirs from the other side of the hall, but I don't have the chance to investigate them.

The blue-haired, blue-eyed Cyrus quickly emerges from the darkness, and his ominous smile quickly replaces any happiness I had left with fear. Then, he begins to speak, and his words strike so much terror in my heart that even Maxwell's Dragonite wishes it could mortify me half as much,

"What is it that you fight so hard for? Why do you oppose me so!?" Cyrus clenches his fist in rage, but the rest of the man remains emotionless.

"My goal is nothing more than a utopia- a world without wasteful emotions and spirit! Can't you see that what I'm doing will free you from the bonds of your sentimentality?!"

Cyrus notices Maxwell's limp body, lying in the open cell next to his fallen Dragonite. He takes one look at the charred prison bars, then at me, then back at the scene again.

"The basis of your power!" Cyrus shouts.

"I will find it! And there is nothing in this world that you can do to stop me!"

Before either Nathan or I can react, a mechanical voice hisses,

"EN0UGH 0F Y0UR TR3SSP@SS!NG! B3G0N3! Z0N3!"

I look around, perplexed.

Where did that voice come from? I think for only a moment. Then, another entity leaps out of the darkness, or rather, floats out of it. Clearly identifiable as a Pokemon, the creature is coated in a blue-grey metal, sparkling to reflect the light and giving it an appearance that closely resembles a UFO. Two large red magnets rotate from either side of the Pokemon serve as appendages. A yellow antenna adorns its head, and a single blue eye stares at me with analytical hatred.

"Z0N3... Bzzt! T@RG3T ACQU!R3D!" it screeches. I jump backwards in surprise.

A Magnezone! But I have the power of fire, so why don't I just do this?! I take a deep breath, preparing to exhale enough fire to torch the machine, when Cyrus taps the Pokemon's outer shell and whispers,

"Magnezone, use Rain Dance."

The Pokemon whirs and clicks for a few moments, and the entire area's fire safety sprinkler system begins to gush water from above us. Being a Fire-type, I have to hide under a nearby metal table to avoid being completely doused.

Nervously, I eye Cyrus and his Pokemon from the safety of my shelter, gagging to force my fireball back down my throat so that I can conserve it for later. After a few scintillating seconds, I painstakingly swallow it, and Cyrus laughs at my efforts,

"You think that you can escape me by hiding under a simple table?! Let me show you just who you're dealing with..."

Cyrus points to the table, and Magnezone immediately attracts the stannic object to one of its magnetic arms, exposing me to the deadly torrent from above. The Pokemon throws the table across the room, resounding a harsh crash when it hits the wall of the opposite side of the room, and the table fractures into shards that scatter everywhere, making the already dangerous task of keeping myself dry that much harder.

I just have time to look up and gasp before the water white-washes me, and I black out.

*Nathan's POV*

"No!" I watch the entire scheme play out with horror, and I attempt to race through the pouring rain towards the drowning Equilibrium Pokemon. Cyrus stands in the corner of the room with his Magnezone, laughing, until he sees my desperate attempt to save Voltflare from the water and runs towards me.

"I can't have you saving him! He's still useful to me, but you, on the other hand, are not! Magnezone, use Thunder Wave!" he yells, though I can barely hear him over the fire sprinklers' torrent.

"Z0N3!" The Pokemon makes a few noises that sound like scraping metal. If I still had my Life Tether, I could probably understand it, but translation is the furthest thought from my mind right now. Immediately, the Magnezone aims one of its magnets at me and releases a small electric charge in my direction.

I watch the current travel through the air, leaping over the broken metal table in a vain attempt to dodge the attack. Yet, the electricity calmly curves around the table without being pulled into the conducting metal. Magnezone waves its magnets back and forth like a master puppeteer, and I realize,

It can control its Thunder Wave like an RC car- I'm not safe anywhere! But, if I need to bear the imminent paralysis at some point, I'm going to buy Voltflare as much time as I can with it before I go down!

With that desperate thought, I dive across the floor to Voltflare, collecting a few metal bits in my arm in the process. The wounds sting, but I don't focus on the pain. All that matters is rescuing Voltflare. My bleeding arms wrap around his pulsating belly, and he yelps in pain before he realizes that it's my embrace that's holding him. While I can tell the sprinkler system' water is slowly sapping away his Fire-type existence, he turns to me, and I can just barely make out a nod of silent determination in the watery fog. An idea forms in my head- a plan of potential escape.

He's going to pull through for me, and I've got to do the same for him! I've only got one shot to make this work, but I'm not going down without trying!

I grip my Pokemon as tightly as I can and attempt to stand up, while the ghastly rain continues to drum against my head, attempting to slip Voltflare out of my hand.

Finally able to stand up in the chaos, I tighten my arm around the barely conscious Voltflare and run for the only foreseeable exit from the room- the very darkness that Cyrus came from.

Or at least, that's what I try to do- as soon as I break into a sprint, Magnezone's violet Thunder Wave catches up with me, and my spine reflexively jolts backwards. I feel as helpless as Maxwell did when I commanded Voltflare to paralyze him while the electricity courses through my body. I fall to my knees, unable to fight the surge, and Voltflare falls from my hands to the slippery inundated floor. He can barely move, but for a completely different reason than my paralysis- the constant contact with water had started to slowly dismantle his body.

"Voltflare..." I call to my Pokemon, weakly and in pain. Even though I can't reach over and comfort him, I'll still give him as much support as I can.

"Whatever happens, we're in this together!" I yell over the noise.

Cyrus sees my desperate attempt at helping my Pokemon and calmly walks over to me. Voltflare suffers more and more from the water with each of the man's footfalls. He walks right up next to my paralyzed body and spits on the floor in front of me.

"Pitiful, simply pitiful!" Cyrus crows, laughing over me with the closest thing to an emotion in his eyes. He leans down and levels his face with mine, and his crisp breath stings my face like a swarm of angry Beedrill,

"Your wasteful 'feelings' are mere illusions!"

He punches me in the face.

"Masquerades for true virtue! Nothing more!"

Another punch, another pain.

Voltflare adopts a haphazard battle stance and, with the last of his strength, shouts at Cyrus,

"Enough! I'll make you eat those words!"

I see the electricity beginning to course through his ears and tail, and I yell as loud as I can for him to stop.

"No, Voltflare! Don't release your electricity now! If you use your Thunderbolt here, the spark will leap through the water in the air and fry both Cyrus and me!"

He looks at me, contemplating what I've said to him.

"But Cyrus needs to be... Never mind, I guess you're right," he finally says, lowering his guard and looking for an opportunity ity to do something to help.

Meanwhile, the room's water level begins to rise. I feel the less-than appealing fluid coat through my shoes, and I know that I won't have much more time before I'm in over my head, quite literally, with no way to reach the surface.

"But, indeed I will humor them, if only to show you your error. Magnezone!" Cyrus calls to his metallic Pokemon,

"We're leaving! Now!" He turns back into the darkness from which he first came into the room.

"Z0N3! B0SS, TH@T D03S N0T C0MP1Y W!TH ACT1VE PR0GR@M! WHAT 1S 'R3TR3AT'?" the Pokemon replies, whirring like an overactive blender. Cyrus stops in his tracks and gives his Magnezone a cold stare.

"We're going! Now!" he repeats, quickly flicking his wrist and pressing the button on the exposed Pokeball.

The Magnet Area Pokemon quickly turns its head towards Cyrus, seconds before it is vaporized into white light and absorbed into Cyrus' Pokeball. With its disappearance, the sprinkler systems overhead switch off, and the water level stops only a few centimeters under my nose.

Just enough to breathe, but it won't be comfortable.

I feel bad for the Pokemon- Cyrus just uses it for power and nothing more. I come to the conclusion that Cyrus isn't a Trainer: he's simply a monster that abuses his Pokemon to get what he wants.

Much like Giovanni... I come to the horrid conclusion that Cyrus' ambition is strikingly similar to my old boss.

"Yet, before I leave..." Cyrus smiles at me,

"I have an appointment to make with destiny! Come, Voltflare- I have purpose for your power!" he shouts.

The Equilibrium Pokemon stands in the middle of the room, thoroughly soaked and practically clinging to life itself. Any more time under the pounding water, and his life probably would have washed away with it.

He looks up at Cyrus when he delivers his ultimatum, then back at me. I can see the message clearly written on his face before he even says a word.

"Help..."

Ngh!... I try to stand up, to leave the water behind and rescue Voltflare from his fate, but the Thunder Wave has yet to leave my system- so I still can't move.

"Voltflare!" I call out, knowing that, although I can't move, he can still hear me,

"No matter what happens- no matter where he takes you, I'll come find you and rescue you! I swear it the same way I did when I first saved you from Giovanni's labs!..."

Unable to utter another word, I am finally overwhelmed by the paralysis, and I slowly blackout. As my vision fades, the last thing I see besides water is Cyrus dragging the near-lifeless Voltflare by his front paws into the darkness, to the anthem of my Pokemon's piteous cries for help.

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