The dusky mountain side was heavy with the smell of pine, and the only noise that Kinza could hear was howling in the distance from some kind of canine. He had yet to see any of the original animals that his grandfather had spoken of, but plenty of Pokémon had crossed their path. Skiddo, the Mount Pokémon. Deerling, the Season Pokémon. HootHoot, the Owl Pokémon. His Pokédex had greatly expanded, but he still only had Dietrich on his team. His grandfather's Larvesta slept soundly in his bag, its head sticking out just enough to give it a decent amount of air. Any time it heard a noise, it would lift its head and look around protectively, but otherwise it was uninterested in its surroundings. The lack of sunlight seemed to make it drowsy.

Magnum had brought out his Dewott and Pansear to train them on the long walk, although they seemed to be scaring away the wildlife more than anything. They hadn't spoken much, and Kinza preferred it that way; The whole world was the opposite of what he was used to, and the opposite of what he expected it to be. Instead of a world of sprawling cities and wars, he had only met with helpful people in a tranquil, snow-covered village.

A sharp chirp shrilled from the bushes beside them, and a flock of birds erupted from their leafy cover. Pansear and Dewott readied themselves for battle, and Larvesta shook its head awake and peered into the darkness. A Pokémon stepped out of the bushes, a bird still clutched between its jaws as it tried to flutter away. Kinza flipped open the Pokédex quickly, scanning the unfamiliar creature. "Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon. Inside Vulpix's body burns a flame that never goes out. During the daytime, when the temperatures rise, this Pokémon releases flames from its mouth to prevent its body from growing too hot. Starly, the Starling Pokémon. They flock around mountains and fields, chasing after bug Pokémon. Their singing is noisy and annoying."

The Vulpix growled at the other Pokémon on the field, and they all leered back. The Starly took the opportunity to wriggle out and slashed the Vulpix with its talons as it fled upwards. The Vulpix snapped at it, but the Starly had already fled to the treetops.

Magnum lifted up two Pokéballs. "Return, Dewott and Pansear." He looked back at Kinza, "This one's weak. It'll just run away if I fight it. Use it to train Dietrich."

The Vulpix huffed a plume of smoke and charged towards Larvesta. The Larvesta charged forward and tackled it, knocking it back. It hissed and breathed out a plume of flames, covering the fox in embers. The scratch across its face glowed in the light, and once the flames had ceased, it sealed up into a scab.

"Vulpix has flashfire—that means it can absorb flame and use it as its own," explained Magnum. "Be careful, this little worm just made things harder for you. Wait any longer to use your Eevee, and we'll have a problem."

Kinza nodded and threw out Eevee's Pokéball. "Go, Dietrich!"

The Eevee landed on its feet, mimicking the stance of Vulpix. Vulpix bared its teeth, flames licking upwards through them, and Dietrich growled. He seemed to know what to do better than Kinza did, the boy concluded. Vulpix rushed forward, its fangs glowing bright from the heat of the flames.

"Watch out!" Kinza shouted, and Dietrich quickly dodged the attack, leaving a trail of sand in its wake. The Vulpix coughed and blinked its eyes in the dust. "Use that sand attack again, then tackle it while it can't see you!"

Dietrich nodded and swiped a bunch of sand directly into the Vulpix's eyes. The fox growled in frustration and the air around it flickered with heat, but its eyes were entirely shut now. Dietrich rushed through the dust and rammed his shoulders into the Vulpix's side, sending it skidding across the ground.

The Vulpix carefully stood up from the ground, its legs shaking and its eyes barely open. Its ears fell flat across its back in distaste, and it stepped back warily.

"Now's the perfect time to catch it," Magnum whispered. "Just throw one of your extra Pokéballs at it."

Kinza looked at him, a little surprised. "Why would I catch it? It doesn't want to be friendly with me."

The Vulpix rushed away through the brush, its six tails low to the ground. Magnum sighed. "You had the perfect opportunity. You'll never get a bigger team if you can't even catch a weak Pokémon."

"Deitrich and Larvesta are more than enough to keep me safe," retorted Kinza. Larvesta nodded fervently, perhaps trying to forget its blunder from before, and Dietrich sat down beside him and wrapped its tail around his leg. "Didn't you see?"

"There's going to be stronger Pokémon than that—not to mention the trainers that you'll battle—and you'll be in quite the spot if all you have is a low-leveled Eevee and a Larvesta without a trainer following you. You might be a strong trainer, but it's not enough if your Pokémon don't have the abilities to live up to your orders."

A piping noise erupted from the tree above them, and the Starly flew back down. There was still blood on its wings from its bite wound, and its flapping was a little hectic. It landed in front of Kinza and chirped loudly at him, unintimidated by the Eevee and Larvesta quite near it. Kinza crouched down, trying to look at its wing closer. The cuts were shallow, but he couldn't trust himself to know whether it was less grievous than it appeared. When Kinza tried to touch the harmed wing, the Starly nuzzled up underneath his finger.

"If you don't catch that one, you're hopeless," Magnum grumbled. "At least take it to a Pokémon Center." A machine at his waste chimed, and Magnum picked it up and held it to his ear. "Ah, wait just a minute, someone's calling me."

Kinza nodded and took out a spare Pokéball. The Starly tilted its head and chirped quizzically. He pressed the button on the ball, releasing the top and capturing the Starly in a swarm of light. He would have all night to think of a nickname.

Beside him, Magnum seemed to be talking fervently into his machine. "What do you mean? Just east of here? They shouldn't even be in this region! I'll be there as soon as I can, I have someone else here with me who can help." He put the machine down and started typing something into it. A grid of lights popped up, with an arrow pointing forward. He looked at Kinza, his eyebrows furrowed. "It looks like a village near here was attacked. The rangers are requesting that everyone in the area help them out. There's a huge fire—"

"It wasn't the Vulpix, was it?"

Magnum laughed half-heartedly, "No, that Vulpix isn't in a state to do anything. It was a group of bitter trainers. Hurry behind me!" Magnum raced in the direction of the arrow, and Kinza plucked up Larvesta and followed quickly behind. Dietrich ran beside him.

"I thought you said the war was over!" Kinza shouted to him.

"The war is over, but this isn't some utopia," the man replied. "Idiots still crop up who think they can still use Pokémon as weapons against people. And if those people don't raise Pokémon, there's no way for them to defend themselves! As far as safety goes, we can only train our Pokémon to defend us and hope that everyone follows the rules of battle. We can heal wounds just fine, but we can't bring people back from the dead. When gangs start to break the rules, you get situations like this! Slow down a bit, we're reaching the crest of the mountain."

The slope of the mountain flattened quite quickly, and it seemed like the ground before him disappeared. The trees in the valley below were so small that they were indistinguishable from one another, and a blue mist veiled everything in it. The only thing he could truly make out was the large plume of smoke that billowed out of the valley and the flames that were licking up the side of the mountain.

"Go, Pansear!" The monkey exited, puzzled that it would be called out so quickly. "There's a huge fire nearby. Show us the safest way to get through it—the village there is in danger!"

It climbed a tree and began jumping from limb to limb, with Magnum and Kinza following beneath it. It used its height to determine the safest route through the flames, although they had to race through the smog anyways. The crackling of fire grew until Kinza could hear it surrounding them, and then the sound of shouts and screams started to echo through the din.

They finally crossed a thicket filled with flying sparks and emerged in the town set ablaze. Pansear dropped to the ground next to Magnum, waiting for its next order. "Search for anyone trapped in the buildings," he instructed Pansear. He motioned for the others to follow it, "You three can help as well. Just be careful not to get trapped in the flames. I'm going to find those bastards!" He rushed through the inferno, with a Pokéball ready to fling at the first person he saw destructing the homes.

Kinza tried to follow the sound of the shouts, but the valley caused all of the noise to echo around. From below him, Dietrich nudged his leg and then barked. Kinza looked down just in time to see it race away towards a small hut. He scratched at the door, and Kinza opened it easily as the heat swung it backwards. He heard a muffled crying, and the Larvesta and Pansear jumped into the flames.

After a few minutes, they emerged from the building with a small cat Pokémon. Kinza breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you hear anything else, Dietrich?" The Eevee nodded its head and raced to the next building. They scoured several buildings, pulling out a few people and many Pokémon that were either sleeping, injured, or just bewildered by the flames. As the night went on, the flames died down, and Dietrich heard less and less. Finally, Dietrich shook its head when he asked him to search for any more noises. Whether they had saved them all, or everyone else was beyond saving—Kinza didn't dwell on it.

Despite the dimmed down fires, there were still plenty of shouts coming from the middle of the village. Since that was the direction that most of the trainers and rangers had went, Kinza had chosen to remain on the outskirts of town to help; Now that the fire was manageable, the group of four wandered into the middle of the village looking for Magnum. What they found instead was a mess of Pokémon trainers battling against one another. Quite a few were in a dark green uniform, with badges on each of their chests and tassels on their shoulders. If these were the people responsible, then they were quite a formal gang.

They weaved through the lines, and finally Pansear gasped and raced towards its trainer. Magnum was standing behind Dewott and Lairon, both Pokémon covered from head to toe in scratches and burns from the opposing Pokémon. Kinza pulled out the Pokédex and hastily scanned it. "Arcanine, the Legendary Pokémon. This fleet-footed Pokémon is said to run over 6,200 miles in a single day and night. The fire that blazes wildly within its body is its source of power." The dog standing before him was far taller than its Pokédex entry stated—it towered over everyone on the field by at least a foot. Its trainer was also quite tall, and dressed in a bright white uniform with red cuffs and lining. "Arcanine, Flare Blitz!"

"Counter it, Dewott! Lairon, Headbutt!" Dewott poised its shell blade, waiting to counter attack the Arcanine. In the meantime, Lairon rushed in to deflect its attack with its own strength. However, the Arcanine moved too quickly for both of them. It rushed through the field, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. Dewott was knocked back from the hit, unable to swing down its blade in time. It shuddered on the ground and then grew still. "Dewott, return!" Magnum was visibly nervous.

Arcanine snapped at Lairon, flames licking through its teeth. It finally got a strangle hold behind its neck. "Now, use flamethrower!" The Arcanine obliged, a billow of flame spewing out from its jaws. The Lairon yelped, its carapace growing white and warping from the heat.

"Lairon, return!" His second Pokémon recalled, Magnum looked back at Pansear. The monkey nodded and leapt forward to take the place of the others. Larvesta joined it on the field, followed by Dietrich. Kinza ran beside Magnum, ready to battle alongside him.

Watching the team of Pokémon grow in front of him, their opponent grinned. "Idiots, all of you." The Arcanine barked in approval. "I only need one Pokémon to show you how weak you are. Arcanine, Overheat!"

Arcanine glowed brilliantly as its flames grew in temperature, then released the buildup with a roar. As it enveloped the field, Pansear shielded its eyes from the light, and Larvesta fought against the turbulence to shield Dietrich. Even so, after the flames cleared only Pansear was standing. Larvesta was wheezing heavily, and Dietrich was knocked out entirely. Kinza quickly returned his Eevee and ran to pick up Larvesta off the field.

"Come back, Pansear." The monkey looked back at its trainer, shocked, but allowed itself to return to its Pokéball.

"Giving up already?" taunted their opponent. "And here I was, amazed that your Pokémon was still standing."

"I know when they've lost," Magnum retorted. "I won't let my Pokémon die. But if you're really looking for a battle, then why don't we fight one-on-one—no Pokémon? Then you'll know what real strength is." Kinza saw the fire on the field reflecting in Magnum's eyes. After watching what happened in the caves, he had no doubt that Magnum could win in a one-on-one battle with the trainer—perhaps he could even win against the Arcanine.

Their opponent chuckled and waved his hand towards the Arcanine. The dog backed up and then sat next to its trainer. "You want to battle with a veteran? Alright, then. Let's see if you can land a hit. I'll show you people why you need more power."

Magnum rushed forward, maneuvering around the embers of the field, and then whirled around to land a flying kick. The opponent grinned, pulled out his pistol, and shot. Magnum dropped to the ground instantly. Kinza gasped, and in his arms Larvesta hissed at the man.

He laughed with his Arcanine, "Well, at least he had some kind of resolve!" He glanced at Kinza, sending chills down his spine. "I can't say that for all of you."

Despite his victory, the battles around them were wrapping up, with many of the rangers and back up trainers winning. The man seemed incredibly displeased by this. "Well, I was going to expand our territories here, but it seems there is nothing of worth to be gained." He dipped the brim of his hat so that it sat soundly on his head. "Nice to meet you, trainer. I am bringing back the old world—not the one of war, but the one of power. As it is now, you people are weak. You need a group like us to protect you. You could become this strong if you joined us. You have the right personality."

Kinza shook his head, adrenaline rushing as he wondered if Magnum would be alright.

"Such a shame. If you change your mind, tell the Crimson League that Augustine referred you. They'll know who it is." He lifted a whistle and rang it twice. The Arcanine beside him howled, then leaned down so its trainer could mount it. Augustine climbed on and called to the others, "Move out! We're done here." His Arcanine bounded from the smoking city, kicking up ash as it went.

The other members of his militia looked relieved, and raced behind him, careful not to seclude themselves from the others in the middle of so many rangers. As they left, a few trainers chased them, while others hollered and cheered, and still others remained silent. With only his wounded Larvesta in tow, he raced to get a nurse that would help Magnum and his Pokémon before it was too late.