"That was a great shot!" Beth commented, "That’ll look so great on the front page of the Daily Kaleidoscope!"

"Front page?" Eevy’s jaw dropped, "We’re going on the front page?"

"Absolutely!" Beth shouted, "No way they’ll put that inside their stuffy old paper when it’s got the Elite 4 in it! Plus it’s got Eusine and a bunch of competitors from the League on it. Why would they won’t to go and bottle that up with obituaries and want ads?"

"Good point," Medira laughed, "Why’d they want to do the sensible thing?"

"Well, it was great meeting you, Beth, but I’m afraid Ash and I have to go get our next opponents," Eevy shrugged, "Though not together."

"We’ve got a lot to get done too," Will snatched Lance and Jason by the back of their collars, "Come, boys, follow me."

"It was a pleasure meeting you all," Luri smiled wide, "See you at our battle," she winked to Eevy and ran off, "Will! Wait for me!"

"What about you, Gary?" Yuu-Yuu stopped and turned, "I’m sorry about your loss, but are you still going to stay in the City?"

"Just for tonight, then I’ll be heading out to train for next year," Gary answered her with a slight touch of pout on his face and in his voice, "I’m not leaving Gertan Rin until I get to at least challenge the Elite First."

"Persistent, aren’t we?" Mizu snickered, "I suppose you are right that you shouldn’t quit just yet."

"Mizu," Beth stopped her older sister as she began wondering off with Eevy and the group, "Am I allowed to stay with you guys for a bit?"

"Sure, what’s wrong?" Mizu stopped and pulled Eusine over.

"I’ve been seeing weird shadows. Shadows that move when the room’s completely still. Shadows that follow me and they aren’t my own."

"It’s just your head playing games on you," Mizu ruffled her sister’s hair, "If there’s even a brain in there. Anyway, you can stay with us for as long as you want. I’m sure Eevy won’t mind."

*^~^**^~^*

"No, I don’t mind," Eevy kept walking, "The more the merrier."

"I guess so," Beth whimpered closer to her sister, "Those shadows are starting to give me the willies."

"Would you get off of me?!" Mizu snapped, "I officially give you permission to cling to Eusine."

Eusine’s eyes widened as he looked to Mizu, "You most certainly do not!" he jumped, "No way!"

"Why not?" Mizu narrowed one eye sarcastically, "You afraid you’ll go too far?"

"Don’t start," Eusine moaned.

"Trying to command me now, huh?"

"Would you two stop it?!" Medira barked, "Thank you."

"Meow, hiss, hiss," Ash said sarcastically.

"What did you say, boy?!" Eevy, Medira, Mizu, Yuu-Yuu, Beth, Sooney, Lisle and Misty all turned on him together.

"Nothing," he squeaked.

"I didn’t think so," they calmed.

The group kept walking, but Lisle suddenly stopped and latched onto Morty’s arm, "Morty! What’s that?!"

"What’s what?" Morty looked side to side.

"That! There!" she pointed to a shadow, "What is it?"

"Uh…A shadow," he answered in a lost tone.

"No! Watch! Nobody move but watch that shadow."

The group stood perfectly still, watching the shadow. After a few minutes, Lisle had been right. The group was totally still, but the shadow moved as if to be the shadow of someone walking away to their side. Lisle and Eevy lunged to Morty, Beth and Mizu zipped at Eusine, Misty jumped to Ash, Sooney clung to Tracey, Yuu-Yuu backed toward Skiff, and Gary, Brock and Medira stepped away.

"OK," Ash swallowed, "That was deeply freaky."

The Poke’Ball containing Vovo snapped from Eevy’s belt and opened on the ground. Vovo emerged, crouched low beside Eevy, side stepping every once and a while. He hissed wildly and growled constantly. His tail was bristled thick and his eyes wide yet narrowed.

"What’s wrong?" Eevy whispered, "What do you smell?"

"Something bad," Vovo spastically looked side to side, "Really bad. After you," he bared his teeth at another shadow, "That," he spat as the shadow zipped away, "That thing!"

"Are you sure?"

"You doubt me?"

"That little rodent/dog/bunny thing can sense my presence," Peter snorted, "Great. Just great. I guess I’ll have to lag behind a bit more. Stupid Pokemon."

Eevy’s cell phone rang, halting this disturbing conversation for a moment, "Geez! Hello, this is Evangelina Hikoboshi. Alright. OK. Thank you for letting me know," she hung up and drooped all the way to the ground, "Guess what."

"What?" Eusine asked as he pushed Beth away and pulled Mizu closer.

"I got Fran Fairinhite for my next round," she bugged as she looked at the phone.

"Fran’s the girl that beat you, isn’t she Gary?" Yuu-Yuu turned and asked.

"Yeah," Gary frowned, "She’s the one. She’s a really tough opponent."

"That reminds me," Misty jumped in, "We’re not supposed to be associating this much anymore."

"I forgot," Sooney looked around, "Well, we’ll be seeing you around then. Bye guys."

"Bye!" the group waved and walked away.

"Well," Skiff shrugged, "Let’s get back to our rooms and get some sleep."

"If I can even get any sleep thinking of my next match," Eevy muttered as they continued along.

*^~^**^~^*

"So," Will moved the chair to face Lance and Jason, "I heard you two have been putting moves on Medira and Eevy. Is it true?"

Lance looked nastily over his paper, "What do you mean ‘putting moves’ on them?"

"Just that. Luri and I saw you kissing outside the place where they’re staying."

Jason scowled as he peered over the glass he was drinking from, "You’ve got gall," he said as he swallowed, "Spying on us like that."

"You’ve got gall," Will snorted, "Thinking Kratos won’t find out one way or another."

"You’d better keep your mouth shut, William," Lance growled behind his paper, "Unless you want to lose something very dear to you."

They heard Luri laugh a few times from across the room, "I don’t think Will has it to give."

"Shut up!" Will spat at her, "Anyway, you shouldn’t do that kind of stuff in the open like that. Be glad it was so late no one was out."

"Yeah, yeah," Jason waved his hand at him, "We know."

"Are you sure?" Luri narrowed one eye, "I don’t think you do."

"We know, alright?!" Jason snapped, "They were just kisses to say good night anyway."

"If you say so," Will shrugged, "I’m going to bed. I want to be up bright and early to see the battles. Good night."

"Yeah, me too," Luri stood and straightened her dress, "Good night."

"Good night," Lance nodded and went back to reading his paper.

"I suppose we should get to bed too," Jason shrugged, "I am, anyway."

"Yeah, I guess so," Lance folded his paper and stuffed it on the shelf above the chair, "Eevy’s next battle is with Fran Fairinhite; the one who beat her friend Gary Oak in round four."

"I bet she’ll beat her. She’s a good trainer, but Eevy’s better."

"I hope you’re right."

*^~^**^~^*

"Don’t worry, Eevy," Gary walked along beside Eevy and Medira, "You’ll do just fine."

"Yeah," Eevy muttered, "I thought you were going to leave."

"Eh," he shrugged, "I decided to stay to watch you beat that Fran character into the dirt."

"Don’t get ahead of us, Gary," Medira jumped in, "If you keep talking like that our egos are going to grow too big."

"Alright. I’ll head for the seats. See you after the battle and good luck!" Gary ran ahead and through the entrance.

"He’s weird," Medira nodded, "Really weird."

"Yep," Eevy agreed, "Let’s go!"

The speaker went off, as usual, just as Eevy stopped to wait for the announcement, "The next battle on the Fire Field is about to begin. This three on three no time limit match will be between trainer Evangelina Hikoboshi of Rose Town, Nanka and Fran Fairinhite of Viridian City, Kanto. We’ve just seen the impressive battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, Kanto and Heidi Leibing of Lavender Town, Kanto so let’s see if these two young ladies can match up to their wonderful bout."

"That’s our cue," Eevy smiled and winked with a thumb’s up to Medira, "Let’s go," the duo headed in the entrance.

"Now entering from the eastern entrance is Rose Town trainer Evangelina Hikoboshi and her Arena-Side Coach Medira Kurayami. And entering from the western entrance is Viridian City trainer Fran Fairinhite."

Eevy and Fran stopped in the center of the Fire Field, one on each side of the Poke’Ball shaped center design, "I’ve seen you battle," Fran nodded, "You’re very good."

"Thank you," Eevy returned the nod, "You defeated my friend Gary Oak. You’re very good too."

"Thank you very much," Fran said as the duo shook hands, causing a roar from the crowd, "Good luck."

"You too," Eevy smirked and turned to her platform, "Let’s go, Medira."

The podiums slammed into place with Eevy and Fran on the top and Medira on a slightly shorter stand to Eevy’s left, "This fifth round match is about to begin! It will be a three on three match with no time limit on the Fire Field!" the ref stepped back, "Begin your battle now!"

"Alright then," Fran reached to the chain draped around her waist, "I choose you! Nidorina!"

"A Nidorina. A Poison- type. I choose you! Sun Ball!" Eevy released the first Poke’Ball on her right.

"Begin!" the ref jumped away.

"Alright, Sovo! Let’s get this done right!" Medira shouted, "You can do it!"

"Go, Nidorina! Use Double Kick!"

"Sovo, use Quick Attack!"

Sovo ran forward as Nidorina turned to kick. He connected with her side, rolling her away. Nidorina stood and growled nastily to Sovo who just sat and raised his scarred eyebrow. Nidorina charged forward in an unannounced Tackle attack.

"Watch it, Sovo! Use a Barrier attack!"

"Nidorina! Tackle attack it as hard as you can!"

"Hold that Barrier!" Medira called.

Nidorina rammed the Barrier with all her might, digging slight ditches as she ran in place. She kept trying to push it harder and break it down, but she was tiring fast. Sovo let the Barrier attack fall and jumped backwards with his eyes glowing violently. Nidorina charged him with a Headbutt. Sovo stood to take it, but this Headbutt had an unexpected twist. As Nidorina connected, she launched a Thunderbolt.

"Great shot, Nidorina!" Fran jumped, "Now give it an Ice Beam!"

"Ice Beam?" Eevy choked, "Sovo, use your Agility!"

Sovo zipped to the right, jumping away from the beam of ice that had been aimed directly for his feet. The Ice Beam left a tower of its frozen consequence where Sovo had been standing. The Espeon skidded to a stop and got back at the Nidorina with a Skull Bash.

"That ice sculpture could have been Espeon shaped," Medira twitched, "Attack it again! From the side!"

"She’s right," Eevy mused, "It can’t launch an Ice Beam or Thunderbolt from its side; only from its horn. And as long as he stays away from her horn he can’t get hit with a Poison Sting, Blizzard, Headbutt, or Bite attacks. Sovo, can you hear me?"

"Yeah!" Sovo sidestepped another Double Kick, "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Get Nidorina to turn her side to you and give her a full strength Psybeam!"

"Get her to turn…Get her to turn…" Sovo looked side to side, "How do I get Nidorina to turn? Hey! Double Team attack!"

"Nidorina, use Fury Swipes attack!"

Nidorina brought her claws around the multiplied Espeon. Each time she sliced at one, it would disappear, proving to be another fake. Sovo kept moving, trying to maneuver to her side and finally got into the right position.

"Nidorina! Look right!" Fran shouted.

Nidorina looked to her right, not Fran’s right, causing her to look away from Sovo, "Sovo! Psybeam, now!"

Sovo launched his attack straight into Nidorina’s left side, pushing her away. Nidorina cried out as she skidded to the side of the arena. She came to a shrieking halt with Fran leaning over the bar and shouting.

"Nidorina! Nidorina! Are you alright?" Fran called.

"Nido-nido," Nidorina mumbled.

"You’d better return, Nidorina. You did great."

"Great job, Sovo! Absolutely great!" Medira cheered.

"Go, Eevy!" Morty and the group cried down from the bleachers.

"OK. Now I choose you! Raichu!"

"Raichu…" Eevy paused, "Come on back, Sovo! Get out there, Zovo!"

"A Flareon?" Fran muttered, "She’s never used that before, though I should have expected it. Go, Raichu! Use your Thunder Shock!"

"Go, Zovo! Use your Flame Wheel, now!"

The electric and fire attacks collided in the center of the arena, exploding on contact and blasting a choking smoke through the entire battle area. Smoke rises, causing it to almost attack Fran, Eevy and Medira. Eevy turned to her right, wrapping her arm around her face. Medira pulled her shirt up over her mouth and crouched down. Fran got down on her hands and knees with her hand over her mouth and nose. Eevy made the mistake of breathing in and let out a hacking cough. This caught Zovo’s attention, causing him to turn around and look sympathetically at his master, and, unfortunately, to miss the fact Raichu was flying at him.

"Raichu, give him a Thunderpunch!" Fran cried.

"Zovo, look out!" Eevy choked, "Use your Flamethrower!"

Zovo spun to attack, catching Raichu’s tail. The Electric Rodent still had enough speed to swoop around and crash his thundering fist into Zovo’s face. Zovo whirled back, despite the pain of the scars about his ear and eye, and shot an Ember into his face. Raichu stepped back and Zovo hissed wildly.

"Zovo! Give it an Agility!"

"Raichu! Double Team attack!"

Raichu multiplied itself as Zovo whipped around wildly. There was a red and green blur and a slew of orange and yellow running around the ring. Raichu and Zovo both stopped; Raichu in front of Eevy and Zovo in front of Fran. Zovo shot an uncalled Ember at Raichu, who jumped away. The Ember instead collided with the ice post from Sovo’s battle with Nidorina. The ice melted on contact as Zovo lunged at Raichu. Raichu managed to get away and Zovo splashed as he hit the ground.

"Water?" he looked down and sprang into the air, "Kiya! I hate water!" he splashed about as he flailed wildly.

"Water conducts electricity," Fran mused, "Raichu! Thunder now!"

"Get out of the water!" Medira jumped.

"Hurry up, Zovo! Run!" Eevy freaked.

Zovo was too busy jumping around like a lunatic to notice his master and coach shouting at him. The Thunder connected with him, roaring threw him and soaring through the water beneath his feet.

"Stop!" Eevy snapped, "Stop it now!"

"Hold it, Raichu!" Fran ordered.

The lightning halted. Zovo stood twitching in the center of the steaming puddle of water. He looked up, blinked, and toppled to his left.

"Permission to access the field!" Eevy begged the ref.

"Permission given," the referee joined her with Medira close behind.

"Can you hear me?" she splashed into the puddle and looked down at the unconscious Flareon, "Come on, wake up."

"I’m alright," Zovo looked up and mumbled before falling back, "I think."

"It’s alright. You did your absolute best," she reached to her belt, "Return now."

She turned and climbed to her podium with Medira also going to hers, "Poor little Flareon," Medira mumbled, "Come on, Eevy! Get her back!"

"You bet!" Eevy went to her belt, "I choose, you!"

"Nobody picks on my family and gets away with it!" the thundering cry came, "Back off or black out!"

"That thing looks powerful," Fran muttered, "Go, Raichu! Use Slam attack!"

"Lovo, Quick Attack!"

The Jolteon roared forward, Quick Attacking into Raichu’s Slam. Both flew backwards, Raichu panting and Lovo unfazed. Raichu shot out a Thundershock, but Lovo dodged, sending the lightning harmlessly to the ground.

"Give that Raichu your Take Down!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Lovo charged forward, slamming into Raichu just as it launched the Thunderbolt. Raichu toppled back, sending the attack into the air. Lovo jumped back as the lightning roared down. Raichu sat up, taking the Thunderbolt right in the head and rolling backwards. Fran’s jaw fell open.

"You did really well, Raichu. Return!" she reached for the last of her three Poke’Balls, "I’ve still got one chance and with this Pokemon it’s a pretty good one. Go, Pharo!"

Pharo was a Pharo all right. An Ampharos that is. He swung his tail menacingly as Lovo looked at him and laughed.

"Ooh!" Lovo joked, "I’m so afraid!"

Lovo wasn’t laughing in a few seconds as an Iron Tail rammed him in the head, sending him flying backwards into Eevy’s podium. Pharo gave a nasty laugh and Fran snickered.

"Oh…" Lovo moaned, "That hurt," he grunted as he flopped down.

"Oh! Lovo!" Eevy looked down, "Should I replace you with Sovo?"

"No," he answered stubbornly, "Let him rest. I’ll take the electric bumble-bee."

"Go, Pharo! Give it a Strength attack, now!"

The hulking piece of earth tore through the air. Lovo jumped away, letting the boulder explode when he had been standing. He launched a quick Thundershock, but the Ampharos stood unfazed. He put a Quick Attack into motion and rammed Pharo in the stomach. Pharo simply pushed him away and swung back with another Iron Tail. Lovo ducked the swinging metal, shooting his poison needles into Pharo’s tail. Pharo jumped up, pulling his tail around and rubbing it.

"Pharo! Show them your Fire Punch!"

"Lovo! Bite attack that thing, now!"

The Jolteon paraded forward, taking Pharo’s other arm in his mouth and running. As he ran, he pulled the Ampharos’s arm around, slamming him to the ground.

"Now, a Double Kick!"

"Hidden Power!"

Lovo jumped for a Double Kick, but the Hidden Power from Pharo was launched first. Lovo took the hit and flipped backwards in the air, slamming down and skidding back. He rushed to stand and shook off, powering up his Rage.

"If you think I’m going to let you beat me you’re nuts!" Lovo spat.

"Pharo! Give him your Zap Cannon!"

"Agility!"

Lovo zipped away, causing the Zap Cannon to crash by. Pharo kept shooting Cannon after Cannon, each time with Lovo bolting away. One did manage to graze his side, causing him to slow for a moment. This slow gave Pharo his chance, and he launched a Hidden Power straight at Lovo from behind. The propelling power of the attack shoved Lovo from behind, back first into Fran’s podium. He drooped down and moaned painfully. Pharo panted at his end of the arena, obviously tired from using up all of the Power Points available for Zap Cannon, which definitely would tire him out.

"Alright!" Fran called, "Great job, Pharo!"

"Lovo! Try to get up!" Medira shouted, "Come on!"

"Use your Rage, Lovo! You can do it! Combine it with a Return attack!"

"I can do it," the Jolteon stood and growled.

"Come on," Lance begged the Pokemon, even though it couldn’t hear him, "You can do this."

Lovo charged as fast as he could, heading straight for Pharo. The Ampharos turned to use an Iron Tail, but the poison stingers in his tail prevented that. He turned to see the oncoming Jolteon who plowed and Thundered at the same time. Pharo flailed back, roaring in pain. Lovo had managed to maneuver him into the puddle from the battle before and because of that the lightning attack did twice the damage, zipping through the water and shocking Pharo with force that, Lance predicted, probably would have taken down his Dragonite. Pharo stood for a moment, blinked twice and toppled face first to the ground, splashing in the water.

"Yes!" Medira jumped, "Yeah! You did it!"

"Great job!" Morty cheered, "Great!"

The cheers were stopped as Lovo flopped to the side, "Don’t get up," he moaned, "I’m fine. No need to help."

Eevy waited for the podium to drop and jumped around the bar, "Lovo! Lovo! Are you OK? You shouldn’t have gone so far."

"Yeah," he nodded as she recalled him to the Poke’Ball, "But I won!"

"Eevy," Medira pulled on her shirt.

"Hey, Fran!" Eevy ignored her coach, "That was a great battle."

"Thanks!" Fran stepped over, "I’m happy for you."

"Eevy!" Medira said again.

"I’m sorry you came so far and didn’t win," Eevy commented.

"Yeah, but I know a good trainer is moving on because I lost," Fran shrugged.

"Eevy!" Medira finally spun her around, "Look!" she pointed to the shadow of the podium.

The shadow was just as one would have expected; a large rectangular shape with line shadows for the bars. But, the shadow also showed a shadow of a tall man standing on the platform and a Magmar standing where Medira had been. Medira, Eevy and Fran all looked to the top of the podiums, but both were completely empty.

"Woah," Fran whimpered, "See you guys around sometime!" she said as she bolted away.

Lance jumped up and pressed his face against the window, "My God. No!" he slammed out the door and into the box where Luri and Will were, "Oh gross!" Will jumped up and Luri sprang straight, both fixing their hair, "Gross! Get me a brillo pad for my eyes!"

"Oh stop!" Luri spat, "Learn to knock and you wouldn’t have that problem!"

"I shouldn’t have had to," he made a disgusted face and scratched at his eyelids, "Now, look down there!" he grabbed one of each one’s arms and threw them against the glass.

"Ah!" Luri jumped away, "Ya! Get them away from there!"

"I don’t believe it," Will choked, "Somebody’s got to get them."

"I’ve got an idea," Lance rushed into his room and snatched the speaker, "Hey, Evangelina!"

Eevy turned, "What’s that jack-moron doing?!"

"Meet me at the northern door to the viewing box hall. Now!"

Girls around the stadium jumped up to follow as Eevy and Medira took off towards the doors. There were a few guys, obviously looking to get to Luri, but the women clearly outnumbered them about a dozen to one. Eevy slammed the door open, yanked Medira in and rammed it closed behind her, locking it as well. They stopped and looked around, ignoring the group pounding on the bulletproof glass. It was a long, round hall that stretched the entire circumference of Spectral Stadium. The floors were marbled blue and black and the walls were white with dozens of picture frames. Some were of the Elite 4, some of previous Champions and one, just one, was a forged wanted poster of Peter Rubeus. Eevy and Medira saw it and cringed as the Elite 4 ran around the corner.

"Are you two alright?" Will asked quickly.

Lance snatched Eevy in a tight hug, "He didn’t get to you. Thank heavens."

"Who?" Eevy asked in a daze.

Jason flung his arms around Medira, "I was afraid he had the chance to hurt you."

"What?" Medira questioned with a tip of her head.

"We really need to talk, girls," Luri stated flatly as they walked along the hall.

Secrets Before Round Six

Notes
Battles are hard to write...Meh...The story is going to start getting even weirder now and I hope you enjoy. Right now I'm going to go watch the rest of my Sailor Moon S videos and work on a new Special I'm writing...Buh-bye.

*^~^*Pro_V*^~^*
-=O~Her Many Pokemon~O=-