The situation was simple:

  Ash and Sammy were running away.

  Brock and Misty were heading off to help.

  Richard, a younger version of Sam’s grandfather, stood beside Sam.

  And ahead of them, a previously unknown poacher, supposedly dubbed “the Iron-Masked Marauder,” held two dark-colored Pokéballs while his enraged Tyranitar growled at its surroundings while trapped in confusion.

  Next to Sam, Misdreavus floated forward, eyes narrowing as they flicked around to search for an opportunity to force the Marauder away. Richard pulled out his Jolteon’s Pokéball and held it out. These two would essentially be their tea, but Sam was also aware of his trump card, Haunter. No one else knew that the much stronger Ghost Type was nearby, giving Sam a bit of leeway to pull off something.

  That is, if he could think of a plan.

  “Our target is fleeing,” the Iron-Masked Marauder said as he threw forward those two dark Pokéballs. “Go after them. Bring Celebi back here.”

  The Pokéballs opened up to release a pair of Pokémon with a flash of purple light. To the side, a red-shelled Scizor snapped its claws, and a Sneasel dug its feet into the ground to get ready to rush off.

  Both Pokémon seemed to carry a strange tint to them, just like the Tyranitar’s, but mainly, Sam noticed the look in their eyes. They were shadowed, as if they’d been unable to sleep for a week straight, but mainly, they looked utterly consumed by rage.

  The worst part of the situation was just how casually the Iron-Masked Marauder seemed to be treating this. Sam couldn’t see the man;s eyes due to the red lenses built into his mask, but his tone of voice was both lazy and confident.

  It hit Sam then just how the Marauder managed to slip past Haunter’s senses. As a Ghost Type, Haunter was best at detecting the negative feelings and malicious intentions that would prime an area to spawn Ghost Types, but the Marauder had such confidence in him that he didn’t feel any of that. This was just a job, and Sam and Richard were both just minor obstacles to remove.

  We can’t let him get to everyone else.

  Sam needed to be the one to reach Celebi first.

  “Mean Look!”

  Misdreavus could only target one Pokémon, so the Scizor managed to hop over that fallen tree and escape. Still, a single Scizor would be much less of a threat than a Scizor and something else.

  Still, calling for that move meant he would need to handle the Sneasel. The Tyranitar was still there, too.

  “Hah! Funny trick, kid. But you don’t even realize how my Pokémon work, do you?” The Marauder’s smug grin mocked Sam. “These are Dark Balls. Dark Pokéballs! An invention based on a design that literally washed ashore one day! See, they can catch any Pokémon, previously caught or not! And catching a Pokémon in them brings them to their max level, all while making them evil, too!”

  The man’s explanation made Misdreavus hesitate, but Sam just continued to glare.

  “So you’re calling your Pokémon ‘evil,’” Sam said flatly. “You know that means you’re calling yourself ‘evil’ too, right?”

  “That’s what society calls me. Why not make it my brand?”

  The man then cackled, and Sam had to resist rolling his eyes.

  Pokémon weren’t evil. Whatever those balls had done had simply made them enraged, and Sam could recognize that thanks to all of his experience with Annihilape and the Ghost Type. Looking them over, the effects reminded him of something like Curse—the non-Ghost Type version, that is. Basically, an effect that saw a Pokémon’s power pushed to its limits, but in this case, without the speed reduction it’d normally bring.

  Despite the man’s Pokémon looking so enraged, they weren’t attacking. Whatever the balls had done, the Pokémon were waiting for further commands. That, and both were trapped in one way or another. The Tyranitar couldn’t see what was going on around it due to its confusion, and the Sneasel couldn’t exactly run off toward Celebi with Misdreavus’s Mean Look keeping it here.

  The Marauder looked entertained enough to want Sam and Richard to make the first move. Sam could tell the man thought he had the upper hand.

  But Sam wasn’t too worried. Again, no one else realized that Haunter was here.

  “Sam,” Richard suddenly said, grabbing the knob of his old-fashioned Pokéball. “Just so you know, the guy’s bluffing. There’s no such thing as max level.”

  Sam felt an eye twitch at the obvious advice.

  “Out of everything I’ve learned, that was one of the first facts I picked up in this world,” Richard continued. “Levels... Moves known... Speed restrictions... A Pokémon is only as strong as its trainer. But this guy? I bet he thinks that power is the only thing that matters!”

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  “That’s because it is,” the Iron-Masked Marauder said, exposing a set of far-too-white teeth. “Here, let me demonstrate that for you—Tyranitar, use Hyper Beam! Sneasel, use Slash! Don’t let these two catch up with their friends!”

  He was not just targeting Sam and Richard’s Pokémon.

  Sneasel’s feet blurred for a Quick Attack that launched it forward, and a glow appeared in the back of Tyranitar’s throat. Richard shouted for an Agility the second his Jolteon appeared, and Sam called for his own set of orders, but he made sure to phrase them in a way that they’d apply to both members of his team.

  “Confuse Ray! Maintain it!”

  That was one good thing about specializing in a Type. While shouting for shared moves, people wouldn't immediately know just how many Pokémon had been commanded.

  The Marauder's Sneasel was fast, but so was Misdreavus—unfortunately, not at the speed she needed. Her Confuse Ray left her eyes in an attempt to strike the Sneasel, but all her opponent had to do was jump to the side to avoid its effects.

  Thankfully, everyone was too distracted to notice Haunter. He pushed his Ghost Type to the fullest, lingering in the shadows, and his eyes flashed. The Tyranitar’s confusion was maintained, which would minimize its influence in this fight.

  However, with Misdreavus’s Confuse Ray “failing,” the Sneasel was free to act, and that gave it free reign to meet Richard’s Jolteon head on.

  Richard quickly shouted out a set of commands, relying on the obvious to try to win the fight.

  “Double Kick. Double Kick. Double Kick!” Richard yelled.

  Double Kick wasn't a bad choice. Sneasel, a Dark and Ice Type, was especially vulnerable to Fighting Type moves. A solid Double Kick could immediately knock it out, and Sam had already determined Richard to be about a five-star trainer.

  But that meant Richard had plenty of room to grow, and Sam could only watch in horror as the Jolteon turned around to smash its opponents with its hind legs.

  In other words, it looked away.

  That wouldn’t have been a problem against most Pokémon since Jolteon was too fast to need to worry about a retaliation. This Sneasel, however, was under the effects of that Dark Ball. It was berserk and pushed to its limits. It was fast enough that reacting was trivial.

  Without any hesitation, it dipped to the side and lashed out with a claw. Jolteon was almost immediately caught in the side and was sent flying. Its Double Kick never made contact, and Sam could tell from the nature of the move that Sneasel’s Slash had landed critically.

  “Jolteon?” Richard said, staring.

  When his Pokémon landed, Jolteon exhaled in pain. It was already too injured to stand back up.

  With one Pokémon already defeated, the enraged Sneasel turned its gaze to Misdreavus. In the back, the Tyranitar unleashed its Hyper Beam, but its confusion meant the move went wide and shot through the canopy.

  The earth shook when a massive branch hit the forest floor.

  “Hah! I told you kids you were underestimating me!”

  Misdreavus was doing her best to stay brave, but Jolteon was stronger than her, and that Sneasel had won in an instant.

  Right away, Sam knew Misdreavus wouldn’t win. She didn't have the battle experience, and she didn't have the strength to push past a super effective Type.

  But she was still a Ghost Type, and that opened up options.

  Sam took in everything he could see and tried to come up with something. He knew he needed a plan, one that he needed to create in an instant, and he thought he’d be struggling for a while.

  But then the solution suddenly clicked.

  Leering at the Tyranitar, Sam realized that if Misdreavus didn't have the power to attack, then they could rely on something else that did.

  At Sam’s side, Richard shakily returned his fainted Pokémon, and that flash marked the start of the exchange.

  “Misdreavus! Night Shade to hide yourself! Focus on dodging! And—” Sam turned to the Tyranitar. “Hey, you big dumb lizard! Still confused? You’re so pathetic that you won't ever be able to land your moves!”

  Richard’s jaw dropped; Sam was outright inviting a pseudo-Legendary to attack. Misdreavus was only so skilled as she was now. Her Confuse Ray was limited to sight and not sound.

  However, what Richard failed to realize was a detail Sam had noticed. The Tyranitar wasn’t currently capable of much creative thought. It was still following the first order it had been given, and it was only attacking with Hyper Beam.

  In other words, it was relying on a Normal Type move.

  And Sam trained Ghost Types, which meant Misdreavus would be immune.

  As fast as he could, Sam turned toward Richard, and he spoke quickly.

  “Run.”

  And then he ran off himself, charging right to where Misdreavus was actively fighting.

  With Sam’s shout of Night Shade, darkness filled the space around her. The Sneasel's next swipe went wide, but it left a groove in the Night Shade due to the Dark Type energy contained within.

  Since everyone was distracted, Haunter jumped from shadow to shadow across the ground, and Misdreavus's opponent lunged toward her to disappear into her sphere of shadows.

  Hesitating, Richard immediately didn't flee, and Sam skidded to a halt to interpose the Night Shade between him and the Tyranitar.

  “Run!” Sam shouted again.

  Finally, Richard seemed to process Sam’s shout, and he dashed off into the woods. Meanwhile, with Haunter backing away, the Tyranitar managed to break out of its confusion, and that same glow grew in its throat.

  As the only thing it could see was Misdreavus’s Night Shade, it opened its mouth to aim at the sole viable target. Misdreavus and Sneasel fought as silhouettes inside, and the Tyranitar wasn’t of mind to care about how its ally would be in its beam’s path.

  “Wait! Stop! Don’t, you idiot!”

  Unfortunately for them, the Iron Masked Marauder’s shout only came out after the Hyper Beam beam had left his Tyranitar’s throat.

  Too late.

  Cold hands wrapped around Sam’s shoulders, and he whispered a final command to Misdreavus.

  “Escape.”

  Haunter pulled him away just in time for the Hyper Beam to overtake the Night Shade. Sneasel took the full blast of the attack, and Misdreavus disappeared within.

  Sam then ran, chasing after Richard while the Iron-Masked Marauder was too busy yelling insults at his Pokémon for them to give chase. Tyranitar might have been strong, but it was slow. The speediest of the Marauder’s Pokémon were now either fainted or preoccupied; he couldn’t exactly send his Scizor after Sam if it was already chasing after Ash and the others on its own.

  Thus, Sam and Richard were able to fully escape the site of the battle. With the distance between him and the Marauder constantly increasing, Sam searched for where Misdreavus had gone—she should have been immune to that Hyper Beam—and his heart briefly skipped a beat when he saw she wasn't there.

  But after a few seconds, a giggle left a nearby shadow, and Misdreavus left the darkness to appear with a smirk.

  “Good,” Sam said in relief. “You figured out Shadow Sneak. That’s how you managed to get away.”

  Misdreavus replied with a wide, proud grin, celebrating her clever and continuing application of the Ghost Type.

  Their entire group continued to run, and Iron-Masked Marauder didn't have any Pokémon he could use to stop them. Sam was able to safely guide Richard away, using the shadows of the trees to obscure their escape. Over time, their mad dash forward transitioned into a slower jog, and Haunter subtly moved ahead to guide Sam in the front.

  With this escape, the situation had changed. Sam and Richard had managed to delay the Iron-Masked Marauder just long enough to give everyone the chance to run away. But there was a downside to this: they had no idea where Ash and everyone else had gone, and they were far enough away that Haunter wasn’t sure how to track them.

  In other words, Sam and Richard were now on their own, separated from everyone else. Sam knew they could handle it, but it was frustrating to have been so close to Celebi only for it to practically disappear less than a few minutes later.

  Still, he would have the chance to find it again now that they’d left the Iron-Masked Marauder behind. However, with Jolteon’s injuries, they would need to find a spot to rest and recover, first.

  Quite literally, they weren't out of the woods just yet.

  Sam’s Team:

  Approximate Team Strength: 5 Stars

  Haunter (Ghost / Poison Type, Male, Naive Nature +Spe/-SpD)

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Confuse Ray, Spite, Mean Look, Hex, Shadow Punch, Night Shade, Acid Spray, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Nightmare, Curse

  (Ghost Type, Female, Hasty Nature +Spe/-Def)

  Pokéball: Friend Ball

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Growl, Psywave, Astonish, Confusion, Confuse Ray, Mean Look, Night Shade, Shadow Sneak

  Pokémon included in this chapter:

  Scizor

  huge thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.