Catching up with Meili proved to be no problem as their impromptu guide was waylaid by one of his teammates. Esme stood, hands on hips, glowering at Sting while her trainer watched in bewilderment as a growing crowd of unfamiliar Pokémon began to argue with her starter.

"They're going to do what?" Esme was yelling.

"They're very insistent!" Sting protested. "Anyway, they seem to have a good reason."

"Like what?" Esme turned her attention to Meili who unflinchingly matched her stare. "What would make you think this is a good idea?"

"Maybe because we've seen them murder in the past!" Meili snapped.

Esme scoffed. "Even if you had, I'm sure they had a good reason. Like, a Pokémon was a big threat to humans kind of reason."

"He was a friend!" Meili seethed as Colby finally drew level with her."We met a Pikachu in Viridian forest and ..."

"Oh, a Pikachu? Like, those vicious little rats who would have killed us if we hadn't fought them off?" Esme turned her attention to Colby. "You seem more sensible! Tell her this is ridiculous!"

Colby's eyes flitted from Meili to Esme and back again.

"We ..." he swallowed. "We just need to make sure everything's okay," he muttered.

Esme's eyes narrowed. "Well, I'm not letting you," she declared, moving to block as much of the tunnel as she could with her small body.

"That's not going to work." Meili smirked and took off. A bolt of electrical energy sent her reeling back.

"Oh really?" Esme challenged as Eleanor caught on that this would be a battle. She pulled a ball from her belt and flung it, "Beaky, help Esme!" And Eleanor scurried away from the conflict. Benu appeared in the air facing Meili. He looked unimpressed.

"What ..." He began.

"We're stopping them from passing, so shut up!" Esme cut in. Benu locked eyes with Meili and before he could say anything more he was caught in a Gust. Benu retaliated by trying to jab his Beak into Meili's wing, Colby ducked under an electrical bolt from Esme. He flattened his ears against his head and rushed into a Quick Attack. He flashed by Esme and instinctively clamped his jaws over her arm. A ball of green energy flung him back again.

Colby skidded to a stop before he hit a rock and started another Quick Attack. This time he went in circles around Esme as she tried to hit him with either Charge Beam or Energy Ball.

"Try to get a Psybeam to last for a while and hit it with that!" Eleanor called. Esme's eyes lit up and a second later, Colby ran right into a shaft of pure concussive force. Another jolt shook his body a moment later as he was smacked into the cave wall.

Meanwhile, Nigel and Sting looked at each other blankly.

"I think this means we're fighting, then?" Sting asked.

"I guess," Nigel mumbled, looking on with concern.

"Or ..." Sting spoke when Nigel gave no further answer. "We could just let them work this one out?" he said hopefully.

Nigel looked up in relief. "I guess if you intervene then I will and vice versa." he said and Sting nodded. "Well, no use in escalating things." He concluded and the two poison types settled in to watch the battle.

After being hit by the Psybeam, Colby took a couple seconds to shake off a slight dizziness. He stumbled to his feet and looked to Esme who had her arms crossed.

"Is this really worth it?" she asked, forgoing the opportunity to attack.

"We might be able to help." Colby protested. He only just avoided the Psybeam that she sent back.

Meili glanced down from where her and Benu had entered an aerial dance. Benu would try to approach for one of his close range attacks only to be buffeted back by a Gust or Whirlwind. Neither had gotten a good hit in though.

"Colby!" she shouted as her friend darted around Esme's attacks, struggling to get close. Colby looked up. "Just distract Benu for a moment and get ready to attack Esme!"

Colby had no clue what that meant, but intended to see it through. He looked about for an idea and darted up a sloping ledge on one wall. As he ascended, he kept track of Benu. He smiled to himself when he saw Meili blowing the Spearow toward him with a Gust. The moment he ran out of ledge, Colby channeled into a Quick Attack to boost his jump. By some miracle, he landed on Benu's back. Benu could only let out a pained squawk as he dropped. Not even thinking, Colby latched his teeth around one of Benu's wings. Benu swung about and his wing glowed with steel energy.

Colby jumped off just in time for Benu to avoid crashing. Rat met stone for the second time and Benu fluttered off.

"Now!"

A shout from Meili drew Colby from a moment of stunned inaction and he jumped to his feet. The reason quickly became obvious. Meili had caught Esme in a Twister attack and now the Espurr had been sent flying right towards him. His first reaction was to dodge, but instead he opened his mouth and snatched one of Esme's legs just as she was about to hit. He pivoted on his back legs and, with a grunt of effort, skidding Esme across the cave floor. She landed hard and he rushed in with a Tackle before she could close their distance.

Colby ducked a close-range Energy Ball and clamped on her arm with Super Fang. He tried to swing her again but only caused Esme to stumble before he was forced to let go by Charge Beam. A moment later, Esme was trying to scurry back from him and he launched himself into Quick Attack.

Clang! Colby hit a blunt metal force rather than the soft fur he had expected. A second such blow met the side of his head and he collapsed.

Colby looked up. Esme stood over him, the energy of her Iron Tail attack dissipating.

"Give up!" she half growled, half yelled. Colby didn't respond. He was still blinking rapidly to stop his vision from swirling around him, only coming to his senses in time to see another Psybeam forming between Esme's paws. He panicked. Jumping to his feet, he jabbed a paw forward. It met something squishy, Esme let out a shriek and her attack detonated, sending both of them stumbling back.

When the smoke cleared, Colby looked about disoriented. Esme was holding her paws over one side of her face. There was silence, and then,

"You poked me in the eye!" Esme accused. Colby just stared.

"Uh ... Sorry?" he squeaked.

Esme breathed heavily for a few seconds before responding with a pitiful moan of "Ow!"

Colby had no clue what he should be doing now. Apologising more, maybe? Or perhaps he should just sneak past her? Continuing the fight seemed out of the question. Esme was whimpering and he'd feel bad.

"How does it look!" Esme finally demanded, removing her paws and looking up suddenly.

"What?"

"My eye!" Esme snapped. "Does it look okay?"

"Umm ..." Colby took in the damage. It wasn't that bad, he thought. It was a little red and watering but nothing beyond that. He told her as much.

"Good." Esme said. She fixed him with a glare. "You're not meant to blind your opponent you know!"

"I-I'm sorry! It was a battle!" Colby stuttered. Truthfully, he was just confused as to how this had derailed so quickly.

"Yeah well ..." Esme stopped when Benu slammed into the ground in a burst of wind.

"Come on, Colby! Nigel ... What are you doing? Whatever, just follow me." Meili swooped down the tunnel. With one last look at Esme, Colby rushed after her. He had to avoid a badly aimed Psybeam as he went but neither Eleanor nor her team gave chase.

"What now?" Nigel asked, hurrying to keep up.

Colby panted, "Sting said the rangers were just down here, right?"

"Hopefully." said Meili. As the stone passage began to open out, the group slowed down. None of them spoke. Colby focused his ears to pick up on any kind of activity, it wasn't hard to find. Two voices, definitely humans, were speaking in hushed tones. Signaling for the others to stay behind for a moment, he scurried forward and poked his head into the next chamber.

The floor before him seemed flat enough, but to his right it dropped off about twenty feet down. He could see a narrow passage on the other end of the room, his hear jumped when he made out a shaft of light. The problem the rangers were dealing with became immediately clear. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of roundish bat Pokémon circled overhead, screeching and fluttering. They were mostly Zubat but Colby spotted larger Pokémon that he guessed were evolved. One seemed to have two sets of wings, but it was hard to tell.

He didn't look for long before an orange and black-clad human caught his attention. The sight of that uniform, along with the strange device at their belt, caused him to shiver. Colby noted, with some relief, that the device that had killed Rese and injured Meili seemed to be missing.

The human knelt next to the hole in the ground, talking to someone else.

"You sure this will be alright, Graham?" he was asking. A lower, more gravelly voice replied.

"Aye, it'll be fine. I've done it before plenty."

The first ranger's eyes glanced up at the flock.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. It's just ... there's a lot of them."

"Well, Zack, if you're as good with that styler as you've been saying ..."

The styler. Colby could still remember the feeling. In the moment, it seemed fine. Completely natural. That light radiated a feeling of comfort and good intentions. He'd even felt like they had had some mutual understanding. But after the fact ... It wasn't right. He'd had no reason to trust the rangers in that moment but the styler just made him stand aside. And it seemed the rangers would be using them here on the Zubat.

The effect on Colby had been disconcerting, but use on a larger population could be worse. Much worse.

Colby tried to take in the flock. There had to be at least a thousand. He imagined them all falling to the ranger's influence; being forced from their home and led ... somewhere. But maybe that wasn't all. What could the influence of those devices get Pokémon to do? He tried to think to when it had been used on him and imagined what he would have been willing to do in that moment. He found, to his horror, he couldn't honestly say.

He'd heard enough. As he'd been pondering the stylers, the ranger he could see was getting in place. Colby turned and darted back up the passage. If they were going to stop this, they didn't have much time.

"They're starting. They're going to use their capture styler to control the Zubat and lead them away. We need to go." He rattled off the moment he found his friends.

Meili looked confused for a moment but then she gasped.

"You mean they have those mind control devices?" she asked and Colby nodded. "What about those ..." She glanced at her wing. Colby knew what she meant.

"No, don't worry." He tried to give her a reassuring smile. He didn't think it worked.

"Good." Meili sighed. "Let's go then." She took off and soared up the tunnel.

Colby turned to follow but looked at Nigel, who failed to move.

"Um, you coming?" He asked.

"What?" Nigel shook his head. "Oh, yeah … coming."

Colby wasn't convinced. He wanted to say that he didn't have to, but there was no time. Anyway, considering Meili's reaction earlier, he wasn't sure if it was even true.

As they ran, they attempted to formulate some strategy for taking on the rangers. The resulting plan was mostly Meili's idea. She would surprise attack the ranger on the lower area of the cave and Colby and Nigel would team up on the other. Colby wasn't entirely happy with the idea, and he didn't think Nigel was either, but in the end there was nothing they could suggest before the time for action had arrived.

The rangers had already started. Two disks circled sections of the flocks, drawing them into two groups.

Meili soundlessly swooped into the cavern and joined the flock of bats overhead. Colby kept track of the brown amongst the masses of blue and purple as she made her way to where the room dropped off.

Once in place, Meili circled for a few moments, taking in the sight of Graham. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her as she looked to Colby and nodded.

Colby rushed out as Meili dove. He headed right for Zack, who failed to notice until Colby jumped him. Using his claws to grip the orange and black uniform, Colby scrambled up Zack's side. He was aiming for his face in a bid to distract him from his task, and would have made it if it weren't for a scream from Meili's direction. Looking over, he let out a tiny yelp as a column of fire burst into view. That moment was all Zack needed to fling Colby from his arm and reach for a Pokéball.

Nigel tried to jump him before he could call for help but a blue fist sent him reeling. Both of them hung back after that, taking in their opponent. It was a frog-like creature, with a spiral pattern on its stomach and two intimidatingly muscular arms.

"Poliwrath!" Zack demanded. "Keep these two away from me while I finish up!"

Poliwrath didn't reply, only punched its fists together and shot a stream of bubbles at Colby. Bubbles? Colby didn't let his confusion at the projectile stop him from avoiding them. Good thing too, as each bubble burst behind him with the force of a small explosion.

A brief reprieve came when Nigel sprayed a cocktail of toxins from his mouth, causing Poliwrath to jump over the attack and rush the Ekans. He was intercepted by a Quick Attack from Colby but barely even noticed, even as Colby clung onto its leg with Super Fang. Nigel was sent tumbling with a kick and just avoided an ice infused punch before he swung his body about and plunged a purple glowing tail into Poliwrath's side.

In return, Poliwrath blew Nigel away with another bubble beam. Meanwhile, Colby jumped up at Poliwrath, biting and slashing at his rubbery skin with little effect. Once Nigel was out of the way, Poliwrath swiped at Colby like a speck of dirt

Colby hung on, avoiding the same fate as Nigel who'd wilted against the wall.

Nigel coughed. He pulled himself off the ground and looked over, gritting his teeth. At the very least, his constant use of Quick Attack today would leave him drained and sore. Despite their efforts, Poliwrath only sported a few miner scratches. He just hoped that one of Nigel's attacks had managed to poison him.

"What do you want to do now?" Nigel wheezed. Colby panted, struggling to get enough oxygen to his brain. He eyed Poliwrath cautiously. At the moment, he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"I don't think we can beat him," he admitted.

"So, what? Retreat?"

"I ..." Colby stopped. Zack was focused on trapping the Zubat, controlling that glowing disk to make loops around his section of the flock. Each round he included more and more but it looked like they had some time before he would be ready. Keeping his voice down, Colby whispered, "We can go for the human. I think if we destroy that device they won't be able to continue."

Nigel looked in the same direction, wincing at the suggestion.

"Mind if I join you with that?"

Colby and Nigel looked up just as Meili half-landed half-flopped between them. She was burned badly in several spots, some feathers blackened and coated in ash. At seeing their shocked looks, she explained.

"The thing down there has cannons for arms and shoots fire. So, we're attacking the human?"

"Uh, yeah." Colby said, collecting himself. There would be time to go over their injuries later. He frowned.

"Actually, maybe you two should keep the Poliwrath away."

"You sure?" Nigel asked.

Colby nodded. "Yeah."

Meili fluttered into the air.

"Fine by me." She said. "Let's go!"

In a frantic series of flaps, Meili sent waves of air at Poliwrath who stumbled before finding his footing. Using the brief moment of distraction, Nigel surged forward and slashed at the swirl on his stomach like a target. Meanwhile, Colby streaked toward Zack. He clambered up the orange and black ranger uniform and was almost at his shoulder before he reacted.

With an undignified scream, Zack began batting at him ineffectively with his free hand. Compared with the hits he'd already taken today, a few light swats weren't going to slow him down. His claws dug in deeper and he willed his legs to drag his body up further. He had reached the arm holding the device now. He could see Meili weaving around icy punches from Poliwrath who also blasted Nigel with bursts of bubbles. He obviously wasn't too focused on them, however, as his eyes fixed on Colby. After managing to swat Meili aside, he began to run at Zack and Colby.

Colby panicked. In what was almost at instinctive reaction, he bit down hard on the arm he was clinging to. For a moment, it seemed like that had done it. Zack yelped and the device slipped from his grip. Colby jumped after it, ready to damage it further should the fall not do the trick. But then Poliwrath arrived. A rubbery, slimy hand wrapped around Colby. The other plucked the styler from mid-air and handed it back to his owner.

Struggling and thrashing, Colby was eye to eye with the frog. He spoke for the first time in their battle in a throaty, gurgling voice.

"Stay away from Zack."

And then, like a tennis serve, he tossed Colby upwards and sent him hurtling away with a bone breaking smack.

Colby soared, almost gracefully, across the Cavern. He plummeted further and further down and realized he'd been sent to the lower end of the cave.

"Colby!" He heard Meili yell and braced for impact. A burst of wind blew him sideways, and then and around. Opening his eyes, Colby realised he was caught in one of Meili's Whirlwind attacks. She was hovering above him, clenching her beak as she gradually lowered Colby to the stone floor. The winds buffeted him about and the landing was by no means smooth but in the end he survived with minimal injury.

For a few moments, Colby allowed himself to just breath. Once he was feeling a bit better, he looked up, intending to thank Meili for the save.

Instead of his friend flying high above him, a red and orange face met his. Also facing him down were two cannons, both of which had a reddish glow growing within. The Pokémon spoke:

"Bet you wish you'd stayed up there."

Colby only just dodged the first fire ball. He rolled aside, yelping as part of the fur on his back was burnt away, and scurried to his feet. As a jet of flames emerged from the second cannon, he tried to enter a quick attack only to stumble. He simply didn't have the energy so he was forced to run and duck as every space around him was coated the flame.

Scorching stone burned his paws and soon his lungs were filled with smoke. It was only when the heat was rendering him delirious when a reprieve came in the form of a splattering of acid from above. Colby looked up just in time to see Nigel's head vanish over the side. Before the orange Pokémon could recover, Meili barreled into the back of its head, sending it stumbling forwards.

"Same plan as before, Colby!" She yelled.

Because that worked so well last time, Colby thought but made his way towards this new ranger anyway. The Pokémon smashed a cannon into the ground behind him as he went, peppering him with shards of scorching rock.

Unfortunately, Graham was more prepared than Zack. As Colby got close, a boot sent him tumbling away again. His second try almost resulted in his tail getting pinned but he managed to jump onto the boot on his third attempt and scrambled up his body and along his arm to the capture styler before he could be dislodged.

"Magmortar!" Graham yelled to his Pokémon. "Get this thing off me!"

Magmortar spun from trying to torch meili and aimed a cannon at his trainer.

"No!" Graham quickly realised where that would go. "Don't fire at me!"

Magmortar lowered his cannons. He looked from them to his trainer with an expression that said Well, what do you want me to do?

Growling, Graham tried to rip Colby away. He slashed at the beefy hand with a paw, sending it reeling. He made one more effort to move forwards, and he was there. His teeth closed around the styler, nipping a few fingers in the process. Graham let go of the device while Colby released his arm. Both of them fell down and, just as they landed, Colby felt the casing crack between his teeth. Plastic splintered, circuits sparked sending jolts through Colby's body and by the time he picked himself up, the styler was unusable.

Graham froze. Magmortar froze. Meili cheered. And the Zubat began to panic.