AN : Thank youFoxyjosh, Lady of DarkFire, Echoing Echoes, and Feelix the Eeveetrainer for reviewing

XV : The Bad Trip of Horatio

Max has a vision

Cameron turns 28

Brian barely acknowledged the note, just threw the door to his room open, and dragged Horatio in side, followed by the group. Cameron picked up the pictures, making sure no one saw them. They threw the startled man onto the couch, and every one stood around him.

"Alright, I'm going to ask you one time" Natasha said, struggling to stay calm. She snatched one of the pictures from Cameron, "How could you be so fucking stupid?!" Natasha yelled.

"I didn't mean to get caught!" Horatio protested, "I was just sore. I also wanted to see if I could stand water in Sudowoodo form"

"Well, we all learned something. Every one, take a page from Horatio's book, transforming in public is a bad idea"

"Lets not focus on the ramifications" Cameron said, studying the pictures, "Lets focus on who could have done it"

"A competitor" Ninetails said, "Some one who saw us battling, and knows we could beat them"

"Some one arrogant" Dimitrius said, "Some one who is willing to do any thing to win"

"No, only arrogant on the surface" Max said, "Who ever it is, has serious self confidence problems" Suddenly, Jonah snapped his fingers.

"I've got it" He cried, "Its Riddly!"

"Riddly?" The group cried. Stephanie reached over, and knocked on Jonah's fore head.

"Just wanted to make sure I couldn't here an echo" She mumbled, "Why might it be Riddly?"

"Well, he's an arrogant, self absorbed, son of a bitch. He's got the resources to keep tabs on every one. Also, there are rumors his daddy might disown him if he looses the tournament"

"I don't think it matters" Rose said, "At the end of the day, all of this is guess work. I say, we ignore the black mailer for now, until they contact us again. Once they do, the number of active trainers will be so low, we should easily be able to pick the culprit out"

"What if it isn't a trainer?" Brian asked solemnly.

"Then we're doomed"

The next morning, they had pushed the events of the blackmail note out of their minds.

"I've got a date with an insect" Stephanie moaned.

"Rose and I are just going to stay in tonight" Brian said, "Singin' in the Rain is on, any one who wants to watch is invited to join"

"I wish I could," Dimitrius said, "But I've got this thing"

"What thing?"

"A life"

"Cameron and I are going out tonight" Jonah said.

"What's the special occasion?"

"Its my birthday" Cameron shrugged.

"Its your birthday?" Rose asked, shocked, "You never bothered to tell anyone?" Cameron shrugged again.

"All that happened was that I stayed alive for 365 days" Cameron said, "If you look at the statistic for being killed on a daily basis, you would celebrate every day your alive"

Dimitrius, Horatio The two men looked up, and at Natasha, who was broadcasting her thoughts, Can you two follow them? I don't trust those two not to get in trouble. They nodded.

"Natasha, what are you going to do?" Brian asked.

"Today I have a dentist appointment" Natasha grumbled, "I chipped a tooth last week, and now I have to go. I haven't been in ten years"

"Ten years?" Natasha scowled, while Jonah laughed.

"Natasha has this thing about dentists. They scare the piss out of her"

"Your afraid of dentists?"

"It's the noise their drills make" Natasha cried, "And your helpless in that chair, he can do anything to you" She gave off a shudder, "Its creepy. But its not an irrational fear, like Jonah's fear of eggs" Now all eyes were on Jonah.

"Okay, changing the subject" Ninetails said, turning to Max, "we all know what we're doing tonight, how about you Max?"

"I think I'll see Amber" Max said, "I hope she's out tonight"

"I hope your night is magical, Max" Ninetails said. Little did she know, that tonight was going to be magical, tonight was going to be the most magical night of all of their lives. They just didn't know it.

"You've got to be kidding me" Horatio cried, "This, this is where Cameron wants to spend his birthday?"

"Hey, its his birthday, let the little genius rodent do what he wants" Dimitrius said. The two stood outside of The Lusty Lounge. A wonderful strip club, with human and hybrid strippers, depending on what you liked. Cameron had picked this one, because of the birthday discount on lap dances.

"Happy birthday to me" Cameron moaned, as Tawny (named for her hair), swung her led around the back of Cameron's neck. Jonah held up his beer to his friend. In the dim lights, Jonah could see the reflection of a table on the other side of the room, where Horatio and Dimitrius watched them. Jonah was waiting for one of them to get up, so he could have some fun of his own.

"I've got to piss" Horatio mumbled, standing up, "I'll be back in a minute" As Horatio left, Jonah came over, holding a beer in one hand, and something small in the other.

"Hello Dimitrius" Jonah said, grinning from ear to ear. He looked down at their table, where he could see they were both drinking water.

"Jonah, its not that we don't trust you, but"

"No, I'm okay with you guys being here, we'll need someone to get us home" Jonah leaned in, blocking Dimitrius' view of the two cups of water. "I plan on getting shit faced"

"Good for you" Dimitrius muttered. Jonah grinned again, and walked back to Cameron, right as Horatio sat down.

"What did Jonah want?" Horatio asked, as he picked up his water.

"You've got me, but Jonah did something" Dimitrius mumbled. He picked up his water, "What the hell?"

Floating in the cup, were a few small, paper squares. He turned to Horatio, to warn him, but Horatio downed the rest of his water.

"So, what did you do to them man?" Cameron asked.

"Nothing much. I just spiked their drinks with acid"

"Nice man, nice"

"Oh God, the pain" A voice from the dentists office screamed. Natasha sat in the waiting room, begging to die.

"Is this seat taken?" Natasha looked up, right as a tall, green man sat down.

"Hey, you're Miguel, Brian's friend" Miguel nodded.

"And you're Natasha, I've seen you with the group" Miguel smiled. "So, why are you here?"

"I, uh, am getting my teeth looked at, nothing more" Natasha gulped, "I-I hope nothing more. What about you?"

"I'm getting nothing done, Maria broke a crown, and needed it fixed, so" He shrugged.

"Miguel, I'm ready to go" Maria said, as she walked into the waiting room, followed by a woman in scrubs. "Hello, who is this?"

"Hi, I'm Natasha" She said, standing up, and shaking Maria's hand. Natasha was fixated on her hair though, it looked so familiar…

"Natasha?" The woman in scrubs called, "We're ready for you" Natasha sighed, and followed the woman, and Miguel lead Maria out.

"She noticed the hair, I'm sure of it"

"Miguel, she noticed nothing" Maria protested. "And she suspects nothing.

"I know" Miguel relented, "But I'm nervous. Can you blame me? We're half way done, if somebody finds out, and we get kicked out of the tournament, all of our planning will be for not"

"Look, my part is the difficult one, don't feed me that crap about being nervous" Maria turned to Miguel, holding both of his hands. "We will be fine, you just make sure you don't say something stupid"

"Blair, I'm here" Stephanie called, already in Scyther form, walking under tree branches, "Where are you?"

"Above you" Stephanie looked up, only to see a green blur jump by. "Beside you" She turned to the left, only to see the blur jump again. Blair tapped on her right shoulder. Stephanie jumped around angrily, to see him laughing.

"That wasn't funny" Stephanie cried.

"I beg to differ" Blair's grin dropped, upon seeing the look of unhappiness on her face. "What's the matter?"

"I'm spending my evening in the company of a creepy ass insect" Stephanie moaned. A rain drop hit her on the head, "And its beginning to rain!"

"Well, I'm sorry about the rain" Blair said. "And just for the record, I don't think you look creepy, I think your very attractive for a Scyther"

"Creep"

"Bite me" The two began to walk.

"Why aren't we moving like you were earlier?" Blair shrugged.

"No offense, but your not that fast"

"Not that fast?!" Stephanie protested, "I could beat you in speed any day"

"You want to bet?" Stephanie, rather then respond, took off. Blair was startled but followed close behind, "You cheated!"

"You never said to play fair" She taunted, before her right foot hit a tree branch, causing her to flip six times, and hit a tree. Rain dribbled on her head, followed by an apple falling from a branch.

"I could have told you about the tree" Blair mocked, "But you never said to play fair"

"I found apples" Stephanie said, "Why don't we just sit here, and eat for a while?"

"Tired all ready?"

"No" She cried, defensively. Blair laughed, and quickly stabbed two apples, one on each blade. He held his right one in front of Stephanie, and she took a bite.

"How is it?" She swallowed.

"Delicious, I approve" Blair sat down beside her, eating his apple, and feeding her hers. "Hey Blair, can I ask something?"

"Sure"

"What did you mean when you said you were bought?" Blair let out a choking cough, struggling to swallow, "Shit bug brain, breath"

"Bleuuggh" Blair spit out the apple chunk. "Sorry about that, you caught me off guard. Do you really want to know?"

"If its to painful"

"No, no its not" Blair sighed. "Alright, as you know, Jessica no brain was not my trainer, and she will never be my master. For the love of God, she named me after her ex-boyfriend"

"I was wondering about that"

"Well, I my original master was a college professor, Dr. Popple, who taught at the University of Fuscha City. He named me Xenophanes, after the poet and philosopher. Now, Popple believed that all pokemon had the same learning potential as humans, if someone took the time. He was of course, correct.

"Popple took me, and several other pokemon, and tried to teach us stuff from the human world. He taught us math, and philosophy, and religion, and every thing else you could think of"

"But something went wrong"

"Popple died. And the Mrs. Popple decided, she hated pokemon. So, she sold us, to any one who would buy us. Well, Mr. Jessica Jackass, Jessie's father, bought me. Before Popple got me, I had been one of the strongest in my swarm. After, I was the most intelligent. None of it matters, because I belong to a girl with more breasts then brain cells"

"She has two boobs"

"Shows you how many brain cells she has" Stephanie sighed, and put her arm around Blair.

"You know, you're a lot deeper then I thought Blair"

"Uh, Natasha, could you come pick us up?" Jonah asked. He had called up Natasha, when things took a turn for the weird.

"Jonah, what the hell happened?"

"THE BUGS! THEY'RE EATING MY BRAIN" Horatio screamed, as he swung from one of the poles, after pushing the stripper on the ground.

"Well, how did your dentist visit go?"

"I brush my teeth 19 times a day, but that didn't stop a molar from cracking, how do you think it went? Now, what the hell is happening there?"

"Well, I fed Horatio acid"

"Why?"

"Thought it would be funny"

"THEY WAN'T TO EAT ME!"

"I was right"

"You've never gone running in the rain?" Amber asked. The two of them stood under an awning, watching the rain hit the roof. "Its an amazing experience"

"It would be cold" Max whined.

"Max, try running through the rain, watch" Without another word, Amber happily ran into the rain.

"Shit, Amber!" Max cried, running after her. She ran through the lawns of the stadium, weaving between trees. Max felt rain trickle down, and across his fur, across his gem, into his eyes. Their was something special about this, just the amazing feeling of the rain flowing over him. Amber stood in front of a puddle, but had stopped moving allowing Max to catch up with her.

"Alright, that was fun"

"See, I told you" Amber laughed, "Its just" Max heard no more. He looked into the puddle, became focused on it. The world was swirling, and he was entering into the puddle, and beyond it.

Soaring, Max was flying high above the ground. Below him was Violet City. He sailed past it, until he could see a large stone structure. In a split sequenced, he was inside, moving along rows of pillars. Down one ladder, two, down until they hit the bottom floor. Now he could see one pillar, it glowed in the presence of the others. Max's face was pulled up close, until he could see five holes in the shape of fingertips, and scrape marks, like the kind made by a crowbar.

"Why do I always have to have the strange visions?" Max mumbled. The five holes lit up, and the pillar split in two. Max could see it lead somewhere, but not where.

"Bring them Max" A voice called, "Bring them tonight" Before Max could see anymore, he was sucked back to the real world.

"Max?" Amber asked, concerned, "What happened?" He just shook his head.

"I have to go, sorry"

"I can't believe I have to play the mother in this fucked up family unit" Natasha groaned, as she dragged Cameron and Jonah by the ear. Dimitrius lead Horatio by the hand, as he came off of his acid trip.

"Why are we going to see Brian and Rose?"

"They have pain medicine, Horatio is going to need it"

"Hey guys" They all turned around, to see Stephanie, smiling from ear to ear.

"Hey Steph, how did the date go"

"A., not a date. B., it went well. I enjoyed my time with him, and I'm going to see him in two days"

"Sounds like a date to me" Cameron muttered, only to have Stephanie flick him. Natasha sighed, and knocked on Brian's door.

"WHAT?"

"Brian, its us"

"Shit, I'll take care of it" Rose's voice. The door opened, to reveal Rose, wearing an outfit like Debbie Renolds in her dancing scene in Singin' in The Rain. Except, their were two holes cut in the shirt, revealing her boobs.

"Uh, Rose?"

"What?" Rose looked down, "Jeez, their boobs Natasha, and if you didn't notice, yours are a lot bigger and nice then mine"

"Uh, what happened to the movie?"

"The rain knocked the TV out" Brian said, walking up beside Rose. He was completely naked, except for the umbrella in front of his groin. "So, we decided to do some singing of our own"

"Guy's" Someone called. Every one turned, as Max ran up. "I just had a vision, we need to" He noticed Brian and Rose. "Nice"

Two hours later, they were inside the Ruins of Alph. Natasha had teleported them to Violet City, they had flown the rest of the way.

"Alright, now the pillar we're looking for has deep grooves, from a crowbar prying it open. It also has five small slots, for someone's fingers" Max said. The only light came from a small torch that Ninetails had put together.

"Hey guys" Dimitrius called, from the back of the chamber, "I think I found it" The group ran over, to a large pillar with scrape marks on the side, and five finger slots.

"Alright, whose fingers?"

"These are to small for mine" Natasha said, placing hers on the holes, "I don't think" The five holes began to glow, and suddenly, they expanded in size, fitting Natasha's perfectly.

"Alright, this is somewhat magical" The ground began to shake. Natasha pulled her fingers out, and they all jumped back, as the pillar slowly slid open, to reveal a large ladder. They looked at each other.

"I suppose we go down" Ninetails said.

"Ladies first, I insist" Jonah said.

"Your such a gentle man, creep" Ninetails sighed, and moved down the ladder, holding the torch.

"Ninetails, what do you see?" Brian called.

"Nothing, its just a room. Come on down guys" Without another word, the group moved down the ladder into the mystery room, or tomb.

By the dim torch light, they could see this chamber was empty. All of the walls were covered in symbols, Unown symbols.

"This is it?" Stephanie cried, "What a waste.

"Oh I wouldn't say that" A whimsical voice giggled. The sliders looked around, but they couldn't see where the voice came from. Suddenly, the room lit up, all of the walls turning completely white, blocking out the ladder. But something else got the sliders attention. The source of the voice appeared in front of them.

"Oh my God" Brian cried.

"I thought you'd never get here" Mew giggled.