Clinging to Archie's arm, Maxie's wide-open eyes speak of deep-seated panic. The beads of sweat on his forehead are unmistakable, and not even Friede manages to intervene in a reasonably decent way to make a difference. Instead, the situation remains volatile, wrong and complicated.

  Arriving next to the adventurer, I don't know what I can do myself. I could ask Mirra to offer Maxie support, but that wouldn't improve anything. At least nothing about Archie's burly build conveys that he's planning to be impressed by anyone.

  “It's a bit of a shame that you've made other plans behind my back when you actually wanted to support me. But whatever.” Archie shrugs his shoulders briefly before pulling Maxie over the edge of the glass platform and letting him crash with force onto the transparent panels.

  “I see the gang from Meteor Falls is paying me another visit.” Amused, he immediately puts his hands on his hips, and if he were only a little worse dressed and a little more casual with his speech, I could compare him to Guzma. “You seem to have a tracking obsession.”

  “We're just concerned travellers, out to save the people of Hoenn trouble.” Friede raises his hands in a relaxed manner and once again impresses me with his way of taking situations like this in a very unique way. Nothing can rattle him, and I don't know whether this is down to his strength or his overconfidence.

  “Ah, outsiders who don't know anything but like to get involved. I see.” Grinning, Archie shakes his head. “But you must have some skills if you've got past Shelly. I should recognise that. She's a good trainer.”

  At least she cares about her Pokémon, and after everything I've seen with Ghetsis, I'm glad there are people like that on the unfavoured sides. It conveys that they're not bad guys. They're just a bunch exuberantly looking for radical answers.

  “Anyway. I'm Archie, leader of Team Aqua. A group that has made it their mission to make new space for the Pokémon.” He puffs out his chest as if he's accomplishing something big with this. “Humans throw loads of trash into the sea – which you probably already know. No one with two eyes in their head can say they don't see it. But you know, when you work on a ship for years and catch Pokémon for seafood dishes, you realise that the population has plummeted. Corsolas don't have enough room to evolve, pushing them further into territories where they're more likely to be eaten by other Pokémon than usual. Goldeens no longer hatch in the usual quantities. Staryus are slowly disappearing.”

  “And you want to fix all this by doing what? There are many ways to create more space.” Friede raises his eyebrows in disbelief, and I can only agree with him.

  If this guy wants more clean water for the Pokémon living there, he'll either have to purify every drop of the world or replace land with sea. Our earth isn't getting bigger just because there's more space needed. This is probably also the reason why Maqua split up.

  “That's true. But when I say I want to create space, that's exactly what I mean,” Archie replies calmly. “With enough energy and the right Pokémon, we can renew the environment. We can clean up the polluted areas, revitalise dried-up spots, turn places that aren't fit for humans into lakes and make everyone a little happier. With a little rain to wash it all away, we can do some good and create freedom that no longer exists for many Pokémon today.”

  I don't want to think about it, I really don't. But the way he explains it, it doesn't sound as dramatic as I thought. A little rain to wash away the dirt, and everyone is happy. But the truth is different. After all, the filth has to be brought to one place. It doesn't just disappear. What's more, his words emphasise the unpleasant certainty that has been haunting me all this time. If he's looking for power and a suitable Pokémon, he's probably talking about Kyogre. A creature that sounds anything but tame in its legends.

  “Maxie longs for more land to help the Pokémon up here ... but more land means more people, and that's the opposite of what we need.” Archie clenches one hand into a fist and raises it to chest height. “First we have to put the humans in their place to make them realise that things can't go on like this.”

  I swallow. Perhaps he knows that Kyogre is a challenge and also that his plan could take lives. But it's a price he's willing to pay, and at this point at the latest, I can no longer share his understanding.

  Sure, people should pull themselves together and do better. The consequences of our actions haunt us at every turn. But that doesn't justify a plan that puts the lives of innocent people at risk. How many children could he kill in the process? How many families could such a plan destroy or tear apart?

  With each new thought, his plan becomes more nonsensical. It remains fascinating how differently people can slip into extremes, but we have reached a point where we can no longer simply stand by and watch.

  “And you think you have the right to do that?” Friede seems to harbour the same thought. He addresses what is clearly between Archie's wishful thinking and reality. “Is it really going to be that easy?”

  “Of course it is,” counters our opponent. “That's why we're going to the trouble of making all these preparations. Not that a few outsiders know what we've been working on for months. People who stand in the way should just sit back and accept that no one will ask their opinion.”

  As Archie uses an almost throwaway hand gesture and Maxie savours the moment to run away, my thoughts slip elsewhere. I shouldn't be distracted, but I'm sure it's no different for Amethio. He probably feels the same way, which is also why he doesn't come for me. At the end of the day, I'm just in his way, and my kidnapping is just another point on his endless checklist of things to do.

  I shouldn't be surprised, and yet, something inside me wants to cling to his words from Alola. Back then, when we argued and yet somehow realised that everything was fine.

  There's nothing I want more than for everything to be “okay” again.

  But to reach that point, we have to stop Archie first. So I pinch the palm of my hand, blink a few times and dedicate myself to the here and now.

  But there's nothing for me to do. Alongside Friede and Archie, I'm just a component that shouldn't get involved, while Charizard lets out a roar and Archie sends a Crobat and a Muk into battle. Two against one, and yet, as I'm about to grab a ball out of reflex, Friede raises his hand.

  “I'll do it. There's not enough room here for many more Pokémon.” Despite the smile on his face, there is tension in his posture. He'd probably be happy if the two of us could get through this together; after all, we're a decent team. But my hands are tied, and none of my Pokémon can fly. In the worst-case scenario, my partner slips and finds itself at the mercy of the magma beneath us.

  “Anything else I can do?” Still, I move closer to Friede. There must be something that can help us. But he shakes his head.

  “We should take control of the meteorite. But that won't work if we don't have a plan.”

  “Maybe ... Mimikyu can do something.” It's not much, but it's a possibility. She has the ability to steal from others unseen. Her shadowy claws could make a difference at the right moment.

  So I pick up her ball. Then I nod at Friede, and the way he takes a deep breath tells me that he wants to believe in my idea, even if it remains dangerous. The only thing left for him to do is to win this fight. Certainty, which he passes on to his partner.

  In the next blink of an eye, Charizard pushes its back through, spreads its wings and chases towards its opponent. A glistening air slash releases from its wing, sharp as knife blades. I've seen this damn attack often enough to know how deep it can cut into stone – let alone into a Pokémon. And this time the concentrated power is directed at Crobat.

  The purple Poison-type Pokémon immediately dashes away in a hasty zigzag, so the blades only tear up the space around its body – with a single slash grazing its wing and sending it reeling.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The scratch is barely visible, however, and Crobat is hardly intimidated by the speed with which Charizard closes the distance to it. Instead, it flutters back a little, like an invitation for Charizard to fall into its trap. Before Friede's partner can slow down, Muk swells into its sights. A viscous mass that makes waves with every movement. No matter how often I see it, it will probably remind me of the battle against Grimer that I once fought with Ying for the rest of my life.

  With a slippery, smacking sound, it throws out a venom drench. The dripping liquid sprays like deadly sparks in all directions, as if to block Charizard's escape route in advance.

  Friede's partner skilfully swings past the slime, dodges it and stumbles a little over the glass of the platform, causing even Archie to step closer to the edge – more fearlessly than I could ever be. Simultaneously, a hiss comes through to us, and when I look to Crobat, it almost seems to be laughing at us. Its pointed teeth flash more clearly than before, and its lively wing beats mock us visibly before it chases upwards in a flash. The next second it is out of sight – only briefly – while Charizard tries to retreat again.

  Crobat is quicker, swoops down towards us and stops its attack shortly before the end to switch to acrobatics. A whirl of purple body and cutting wings slams into Charizard's shoulder like a dagger, causing the Fire-type Pokémon to let out a growling sound. It can withstand the pain, but the battle has only just begun, and Archie's partners are proving to be tough opponents. They are strong enough to give him a sense of security that allows him to pull out his Rotom Phone and take a call. It's humiliating.

  Friede, however, takes it with a grin. “I think I'm starting to understand Amethio a little better.”

  I don't want to know what happened between them, but seeing that Friede might be tasting his own medicine gives me a strange sense of satisfaction.

  Meanwhile, Charizard snaps its head back, and a rumbling scream rolls from its throat – followed by a thunderous flamethrower that burns even my skin. The concentrated heat chases straight towards Muk, and for a moment the poisonous body of this creature seems to boil.

  But the sludge Pokémon simply accepts the fire, completely unfazed, and opens its mouth in response, letting out a screech. The sound pierces Charizard's ears, as well as mine and Friede's. Even Archie falls silent on his Rotom and visibly grits his teeth. I can only press my hands to my ears while Friede narrows his eyes to slits.

  Charizard takes the brunt of the screech, and the second its muscles go slack and it can suddenly barely keep its balance is enough to push us into a corner.

  With a soundless flap of its wings, Crobat chases way too far up again, a shimmering, venomous glint on its fangs. It's not a big attack, not one that targets more than just Charizard. It is more like a precise stab – a cross poison, deep and targeted. The Pokémon's teeth rattle Charizard's leathery skin relentlessly, penetrating and pumping their deadly fluid into the flame Pokémon's body before it can shake off its opponent. Not even Friede's warning cry has any effect. Instead, the poison spreads through his partner's body, and I can feel the bile reaching my throat. How often have I been in such a position myself?

  Charizard's breathing turns into ragged gasps, but its gaze remains fixed on the two opponents. It probably knows that this is still the beginning. One that we seem to be losing with every passing moment.

  Friede can't intervene before his Pokémon pounces on our opponents. Or maybe he doesn't want to. When his voice rises, I can only bite my tongue. “Dragon claw!”

  He's making his partner suffer, even though it would be so easy to use an antidote. Or doesn't he have one?

  I don't know; I can only watch as Friede's partner rams its claws into Muk, driving wildly into the uneven mass. Poisonous slime sprays, but apart from that, Muk seems to simply swallow the blow. It follows its own orders unfazed, firmly anchored in its head it seems, as it arches and unleashes a seething wave of sludge that pours over the ground and Charizard's feet like a heavy blanket. It bites into every pore of the skin, robbing me and Friede of our footing and making our hearts beat up to our necks. In the same breath, Crobat comes down from above, its pointed teeth bared. Its super fang is lightning fast and merciless, slicing through Charizard's skin and eliciting a roar that, this time, carries nothing but pain to us.

  I would love to intervene, to do something, but this isn't my fight, and I want to believe that Friede knows what he's doing. Otherwise he could never compete with Amethio.

  Still, I cling tighter to Mirra's ball. The poison in Charizard's veins must be working in a way that doesn't burn inside it but freezes it from the inside out. Charizard's wing beats seem heavy, its movements unclean.

  Friede sees it too, and to my relief, he finally acts. “Hang in there! We need to take this a little more seriously...”

  With a practised movement, he pulls out a berry and throws it to his partner. A quick snatch at the fruit is all it takes to slowly neutralise the poison – followed by a deep breath from Charizard. The relief doesn't just seem to circulate through my body.

  But our opponents don't hesitate. Archie is still talking on the phone, his face contorted, before gesturing to Crobat and Muk to put an end to it all. Muk is already accumulating a second sludge wave. Any more and it will wash us all off this glass surface to our deaths.

  My attention immediately turns to Friede, and, to my surprise, he's holding a ball I've never seen before. Dark, mysterious and probably a way to turn all this in our favour.

  Muk and Crobat rush towards Charizard at the same time – a vortex of poisonous slime and slicing wings. The flame Pokémon, however, spreads its wings and waits for Friede to raise his hand. “Now! Exceed your possibilities!”

  The ball in his fist begins to glow, pulsating like a heart. A ball of pure light, which he throws at Charizard in the next blink. The glow envelops it until every inch of its body sparkles in the firelight like liquid crystal. Its flames transform into glistening crystal sparks, enveloping it until an almost ghostly mark appears above its head. Every breath burns the air.

  It makes our opponents hesitate – just for one breath – and that's enough.

  Charizard roars, a sound that makes the ground tremble and draws the energy deep into it. Every movement makes it shimmer like a fiery diamond, ready to reduce the world to ashes.

  “Tera blast!” commands Friede.

  Charizard obeys, pushing off the ground as flames gather in its snout to form a glowing, pulsating ball. I'm sure it will spit another flamethrower, but I can't imagine what it will look like. More powerful? More devouring? Should we perhaps try to get off this platform?

  These are questions that overwhelm me. If the ball in my hands was soft, I would probably have already drilled holes through the shell. I can't even find the perfect point to let Mirra out of her ball so we can reclaim the meteorite. It's like I'm just a useless something standing there without finding any use. A position I have found myself in far too often.

  However, I can't change anything this time. In the same second that Charizard hurls its flames at Muk, not only shaking the floor tiles but also sending sparks far too hot in all directions, my first reaction is to raise my arms in front of my face in defence. A lightning-fast action that Friede also follows. Neither of us manages to run away.

  Muk is probably so badly burnt by this attack that it doesn't want to fight any longer. But the flames are dying down only slowly, the glowing sparks are still spraying sporadically, and when something breaks through the fire upwards into the air, I almost want to believe that Crobat hasn't given up yet.

  To my amazement, and presumably that of Friede too, it is Archie who escapes the fire with his Braviary and a broad grin on his face. The meteorite in his hands seems to be moving out of reach. As the odds are, we won't be able to beat him. Not only has he obviously recalled his other two Pokémon, but the creature he's sitting on looks nothing like the usual Braviaries found in Unova and Alola. Its black and white feathers, the bushy plumage and those strange purple flames that blaze like eyes on its forehead – it's recognisable, even if it looks completely different to what we're used to seeing.

  “You should fly home and leave Hoenn in the hands of those who know their way around here. You're too weak to do anything, kids.” An amused snort escapes him. Presumably because he knows that Friede at least is far too old to be ridiculed like this. “But so you can tell stories about your little adventure, you can have this.”

  He throws the meteorite down to us with a flourish, and it's Friede who catches it before looking up at Archie. “I take it this isn't just a gift out of kindness, huh?”

  “Well realised,” Archie counters. “I like travelling light, and as it turns out, there's something much better than this meteorite. A little gem we can lay our hands on if we're patient for a bit.”

  Whatever it is, it must have more energy than this stone. Something better suited to the plans they've been making. The worst part, though, is that there's absolutely nothing we can do to quiz Archie or stop him from flying off with his unusual Braviary, like there's nothing that can get in his way. And he's probably right.

  Friede alone can't win against him even in decent space, and even if there are two of us, there are still his henchmen to deal with if we run into him again. I'm not sure if Liko and Roy are any good, and it's in this breath that I wish Amethio was in this place. With him and the other two, our chances would increase.

  Unfortunately, I'm in no position to ask anyone for help. At the end of the day, I'm still a captive. So I can only look after Archie and listen to Friede's sigh. A glance at him reveals that he doesn't know what to do. He adjusts his aviator's goggles with one hand, half frowns and finally turns to his partner, whom he gives a few cuddles. The crystal has now detached from its body, and Charizard looks exactly as I know it.

  “What do we do now?” Despite this, I don't want to be distracted by that kind moment. We need a plan. One that will help us get ahead of Team Aqua.

  But Friede shrugs his shoulders. “We can only wait and see,” he replies. “With any luck, none of them will have noticed that one is carrying a tracking device. Maybe that way we can find out where they're going and what they're looking for.”

  That's not much, not really a clue, but it's all we have. So all I can do is nod faintly. In this case, patience is still the order of the day.