After a time, they left the "good" part of the city, and entered what had obviously been the bad, mean, downtown district, where poverty ruled supreme over criminals and good samaritans alike, where death could come as quickly as a loose coin.

Erik gradually became aware of another presence in the area. After a few moments, a great shout was heard, and a fallen slab of concrete slowly lifted, then fell away, crumbling to pieces towards the group.

Quickly they leaped out of the way, brandishing weapons as skillfully as if they had used them all their lives. The concrete lay useless on the ground; panting, a lean, black young man, looking to be about in his early twenties, climbed out of a hole that the slab had closed. Large muscles grew taught in his arms, bare through the sleeveless white T-shirt, as he pulled himself clear of the ground.

He was a handsome young man, his features carved pleasantly; his close-cropped hair only added it his appearance. There was a cut on his forehead; blood had stopped flowing, but a stream still shone down the side of his face. Several other cuts, scrapes, and bruises were on his arms, but he ignored them, finally lifting himself out of the tomb, baggy green pants held up but a black belt. Dusty black boots found a hold in the dusty but smooth surface of a face of glass.

"Who are you?" Erik called, willing Gassiter to remain a wooden staff and not become the deadly blade he wielded in a fight.

The man looked at them, taking stock Rachel’s blade of flame, and their robes. "Who are you?" he challenged. "Are you one of Julius’s boys?" he asked, spitting the word "Julius" as if it were a curse word.

Erik relaxed somewhat as the man’s apparent hatred for Julius. "No. We are fighting against Julius. If you are against him also, I believe we may consider ourselves friends."

"’My enemy’s enemy is my friend.’" Isako chimed in.

The man took a second look at their cloaks; the dried blood on his cuts and his face was beginning to wash off in the heavy onslaught of the rain. "Why should I trust you?" he asked.

"If we were of Julius, we would have killed you already."

The man considered. "Good point." He said, jumping down. He extended a hand. "Name’s Will. Will Smith."

"Sure, of course you are…" Matt said.

Erik took his hand and shook it, Gassiter dissolving into a dark green mist that was gone with the raindrops. The others soon followed suit.

Will looked at the mist, jaw open; he closed it soon and returned Erik’s shake. Looking to Marr, he answered, "Not the actor, boy. I jus’ got the same name. Nothin’ special, jus’ coincidence."

Matt was still skeptical, but mentally resolved to let it pass. "Whatever."

"How are you still here?" Isako asked. "I thought everyone was…was dead…"

"Yeah, well, everyone is." He said softly. "I said to myself, Will, you got to live through this, boy, so you can keep what honor you still got livin’ in this dump. You got to get back for yo folks, or else you ain’t got nothin’ much left, and you ain’t goin’ up, not if you don’t do what you knows is right." He said, looking down at the ground, raindrops falling from his brow as he mentioned his family.

"I’m sorry." Erik said, not knowing what else to do.

"Yeah, well, forget ‘bout me. Where are you headin’ with yo little band, here?" he said, bringin his steely glance back up to Erik.

Erik somehow knew that this man was their ally; he would not betray them, and, once he thought they were worthy enough, he would follow through the Gates of Hell and back. Which is good, Erik thought, because that’s exactly where we’re going.

"We’re going to stop Julius." He said, an edge stealing into his voice. "I suppose you’ve heard of the Five Stones?"

"Oh yeah, those things. Ain’t they supposed to be all powerful or some junk like that?"

"Yes." Erik said simply. "And all five—I mean, four, we think Julius has one—might not be enough to defeat a creature as powerful as him."

"Well, we got to try, don’t we?" Will said, "Otherwise, what’s the point?"

Erik smiled. This man knew what he was for.

"We’re trying to get to Klanit," Rachel said, "but Isako—" she gestured, indicating Isako, "—Isako thinks that Julius’s influence here may have turned the Scyther between here and Screnic more bloodthirsty than ever. By the way, I’m Rachel."

"Matt."

"Josh."

"Laury."

"Erik. We couldn’t hardly leave you here, what with the rain, no shelter, no way to defend yourself—"

"Whoa!" Will interrupted. "First off, I’m perfectly capable of defending myself and others. I’ve lived in this area of Catikani for my life o’ eighteen years. Not to mention I do have Pokémon. Three," he said proudly, "very well trained Butterfree. Second, I’ve been out on my own in practically monsoons without any problems, no shelter at all. And, third, what does is matter? I’m coming with you. I want to hit Julius, hard, and I might as well do it with some allies; I got a better chance of winning with ‘em. Besides," he added, a playful glint in his eye, "I like you guys."

"Well…I don’t mind…" Erik said. Looking each member in the eye, they all elected to let Will travel with them. "I guess you’re with us…"

"Right. Lead on, my friend, to Route Seven."

<><><>

After an hour of trekking through the city, they broke out of the manmade jungle and into nature. Erik didn’t feel much better; there was nothing but black, burnt looking dirt, soggy ashes blown everywhere by the wind that kept driving the relentless, pounding rain. Route Seven to Screnic City consisted of little more than totally black plain, barren as far as the eye could see, and a charred, black, paved road.

They reluctantly trudged along the road, keeping a wary eye out for any Scyther on the prowl.

<><><>

They had gone good hour when, without warning, they was a harsh cry of, "Scy-ther!!!" and a huge, black figure leaped lightning fast upon Matt, slashing viciously at him. Only a split second had passed before the Scyther ended it attack, thinking it would have gone better had it not been slashed in half by a fire-sword.

Instantly the group surrounded Matt, all forming weapons out of mist save Will, who cocked his fists and looked out into the eternal rainy twilight.

Chants of "Scyther, scyther," could be heard, as first a half a dozen, then a dozen, then two dozen more jet-black Scyther appeared against the gray horizon. When they had stopped popping up, Erik counted no less than forty-five Scyther surrounding them. At best, he mentally calculated, they were at—he glanced at the unmoving form of Matt, on the chest barely rising and falling. There was no time to help him at the moment—Forty-five to six.

The Scyther started the attack with a group of five, coming towards Erik and Will; they were lightning quick, shooting towards the Masters and Will so quickly that there was barely time to react. Erik blocked the shiny black blade of one while spinning and kicking another, coming behind the first to slice it evenly through the middle.

Will slammed a fist like a hammer into the face of an oncoming Scyther; there was a sickening crack as the Scyther’s head snapped around a hundred and eighty degrees. As that one fell, Will leaped high into the air, spinning twice, hitting a Scyther with a crescent kick each time, landing softly in the ash.

"Where’d you learn that trick?" Erik asked, as the Scyther apparently digested the results of its exploratory squad.

"Somethin’ I picked up back home." Will replied.

"Isako." Erik said, taking advantage of the Scythers’ momentary pause. "Is Matt okay?"

Without looking, Isako replied. "He’ll be sitting out on the rest of this trip, Erik."

Erik nodded grimly, sad to have to do what he was about to, especially to his friend. "Okay, Isako, Matt would want us to be unhindered; can you teleport him back to Professor Oak?"

There was a momentary flash of light behind him that signaled to both Erik and the Scyther that Matt was gone.

"Even included an explanation letter." Isako said.

"Alright!" Will said, calmly pulling on two fingerless black gloves. "What say we tell these Scyther how we feel?"

Erik grinned. "Happily." With that, he lunged at the nearest Scyther, who jumped back.

<><><>

The heat of the battle was on. A Scyther stumbled in confusion as its shoulders up were removed from the rest of its body by a shining dark purple blade of mind. Black blood poured out in a sobering display, the ashes unknowing if their sogginess was caused by rain or blood.

Erik had mentally been keeping score. They were now at six to four—no, he noted, as he decapitated a Scyther and ran through another—size to two.

The last two remaining Scyther hadn’t stopped chanting, but now one turned its back to Erik and company and called in a high, screaming voice, "Scy-ther!!" It did not stop calling this until Will slammed a fist into its skull, elbowing and finishing the other Scyther. "See if that’ll shut you up." he said, spitting blood out of his mouth to the side.

As if in response to his words, a thousand more cries of Scyther was heard, and an uncountable mass was appeared; several hundred at least.

"You’ve got to be kidding." Josh said.

"Well, Dedrumont Islands was known as one of the prime sources for Scyther…" Isako replied.

"What’s holding y’all up?" Will called, already jogging towards the Scyther. Josh grinned at Erik.

"I’m starting to really like that guy. He said, running to join up with Will. As he did, the long, thin spikes on his gloves changed, forming in an instant into a mist, flowing and reforming into eight-inch long blades on each hand.

"This does call for a change of weapons, doesn’t it?" Isako said, the dark purple blades of her sais winking out, the handles changing to mist. At first walking slowly, then faster, gaining speed, Isako approached the Scyther, a long handle appearing in her hands. As she struck out at the first Scyther, apparently with no blade, a long katana of bright blue energy formed, striking out from the handle, to cleave the Scyther in two.

"Why don’t we use Pokémon?" Erik wondered aloud.

The ground was tangibly shaking as the horde of Scyther approached them, Isako, Josh, and Will creating havoc in their midst.

"I have a feeling that they’d be killed." Rachel said with a coldness that was unlike her. "So I’ll kill them."

With that, her fire-sword flared brilliantly, as she leapt into the Scythers beginning to wash over them, slicing and hacking non-stop, killing tens of Scyther.

Erik set his jaw, and went to work.

The Scyther were too many, but he kept fighting. Now that they were on him, he felt the rush, the exhilaration of combat, and he twisted, reversed, thrust, parried, and leaped, diving down and turning flips. Gassiter was a blur, moving so fast that it was trailing green, only obscured in part by the Scyther.

Rachel too was killing all the Scyther that got in her way; though, not for the same reason Erik did. Erik was doing it for defense, as the Scyther were now mindless automatons that would attack any living creature save its own. Rachel, however, was killing for revenge of her love.

It seemed as hours passed. The rain continued to pour, slamming harder into the ash and creature battling on the field.

Erik’s robe swept powerfully behind him as he twisted, slamming a blade of Gassiter up to the hilt in three Scyther.

Josh was almost impossible to see, leaping ten feet in the air, moving with an inhuman speed to punch with a resounding crack! through a Scyther, only to have slammed in the skull of another and tossed two more to the dirt by the time the first one fell to the ground. Nothing could touch him.

Will had drawn two short but strong daggers from each of his boots. With them he would block a Scyther’s blade, drive a pile-driver kick into its soft underbelly, and finish it off with a back-fist. He was apparently a martial arts master, using several techniques to throw, off-balance, and toss Scyther into others. The killing was his; most martial arts did not tech such a thing, only defense.

Rachel’s sword moved faster than Gassiter, weaving a flaming path in and out of the Scyther’s defense, cutting a path to more Scyther. Rage filled her eyes, and she growled in exertion as she swept through three Scyther at once, twisting her sword to slice on behind her to her left, in front of her, then impale the victim to her back right.

Laury stood on top of a pillar of ice, not melted by the drenching rain, firing arrows of ice from a never-empty quiver. She notched an arrow, took aim, and loosed the shaft, the point burying itself in a Scyther that was leaping onto Will. Before it had hit the ground, she had an Arrow bury itself in the back of another, the first breaking into several distinct pieces as its now frozen body slammed into the ground.

Isako was a calm killer, using all the lost arts of the Samurai and her own unique skills, using her psychic katana to fire wide blade of energy that cut a dozen whole Scyther into two dozen half-Scythers in an instant. She was surrounded in a translucent clue bubble; she was literally untouchable.

When the battle had raged a good time, the odds were down to a better six to only a few dozen. While the Scyther had had the advantage of numbers, they were poor fighters, and had not any soul to fight with. They were finished quickly.

Rachel sliced through three more Scyther, near Erik, and, screaming, eyes wild, began an upward chop towards Erik. Raising his staff in an instant, Erik barely blocked the blow, crying out; it was all that was needed to bring Rachel back to the moment.

"I…I’m sorry…"

"No matter." Erik said quietly. "There’s always something. There will—" he suddenly let loose a muffled cry. His eyes bugged, Gassiter dropped. Rachel gasped, Josh and Will stopped running. Erik dropped to the ground, his hands at his side. He held his breath, released it in harsh wisp, and held it again, trying to take the pain. In Erik’s side was buried a short sword, the end on one; it had come from behind. Erik gritted his teeth, sweat and blood dripping from his face, groping for the sword handle. With a horrible cry he pulled the sword out, then lay back, looking at the rain that had suddenly stopped as soon as he had been run through.

"There!" Josh cried, pointing towards a standing figure in the distance. A long black robe flapped around him. An arrow sped towards him, but he was gone, only a cackle of laughter as the arrow hit the ground, freezing the area.

Laury rushed towards Erik. She whispered his name, cradling his head. Rachel, Josh, Isako, and Will stood by, watching their friend slowly die. The wound was fatal.

"Oh Erik…" Laury said, tears beginning to fall.

"No, no…" Erik said, his voice a hoarse whisper, a whisper that one has in death. "Don’t cry, my love. I have always tried to do the right thing for others…and so my last order to you shall be…I am dying…leave me here…continue on without me…" he coughed, blood leaking out of him mouth.

"Are you sure? Is…is that what you want?"

Erik reached up and pushed away a lock of hair from her eyes. "Of course I do not want you to leave. But we will be together in time. You must do the right thing…you must continue with this quest…defeat Julius…" Erik’s eyes momentarily dulled, and he coughed again, but he opened them, and a fiery determination shone in his eyes. "Go." He said, his voice becoming stronger. "And don’t look back…" Once again, he coughed. "Just like…in the movies…"

Laury looked longingly at him, her tears at an end. "Alright." She whispered. "And…I love you" She grabbed his Pokéballs and stood.

Josh was slowly shaking his head. Isako and Rachel were near tears. Will’s hard, clean eyes were soft and glistening.

"You’ll always be my friend, Erik." Josh said.

"I just wish I had known you longer, bro." Will said.

"Go." Erik said forcefully, coughing. "I don’t want to hear parting words. In time, we shall meet again, when you have lived happy." His voice softened. "Now go."

Reluctantly, they turned, and trekked off mournfully. Things were no longer grimly fun.

Erik watched them walk off into the distance, disappearing. Laury did not look back.

Erik coughed, blood dripping, his robe, his staff, all with him. No creature survived around him or near enough to destroy his body. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. A blue sky, sun, trees, grass, plants…his paradise…

Erik coughed, and he saw his actual world. The dark clouds parted for an instant, and he found his blue sky, a tuft of a high cloud. Then the storm-clouds closed over that little window, and he closed his eyes.

Thus passed Erik Masters.