Welcome back, everyone, to part three. If you can believe it, there's still more to come, but I wanted to keep a word cap of roughly ten thousand words, since I figure many people's interests would start to fade at that point, or would be too long for those who are super busy. If you want me to increase the word count or keep it the same, please let me know; I'd love some feedback as to what I should do. At any rate, let's get started! 1st United States: 2nd Canada: 3rd Europe: 4th Australia: 5th Germany.

Harmony faced Omicron and lifted her blade. She slashed the ground and created a wall of light to separate them. Omicron growled and jumped through the light, taking a little damage. When he reached the other side, he was blasted by a powerful psychic blast that knocked him back through the wall of light.

A focused on the finer details of his coils, figuring he could afford to make sure they wouldn't fail.

Meanwhile, Harmony jumped in the air, firing off many light blades down towards Omicron. Omicron dodged the blades and fired off Thunderbolts in return. Rick crawled over to A and asked

"Still need time? Damn paralysis!" A finished the final detail and grinned, replying

"Nope. I'm ready." He then called out

"Harmony! Draw him over here!" Omicron turned his head and said

"I heard you, dumbass!" A smirked, retorting

"Whattya gonna do about it?"

"Staying right here."

"Then you can't hurt me."

"I'm not going to be goaded into an attack." A laughed and taunted

"Aww, wittle Omicwon is scawed of me now!" Omicron laid himself down and said disdainfully

"Please, this is a battle. Show some class."

"Not much of a battle, though, is it? You've given up." Omicron retorted

"No, I'm just the distraction." Suddenly, one of Lambda's sickles flew through the air and slashed the side of A's face. The other sickle's chain then wrapped around his neck and he was pulled to the ground. Lambda laughed and said

"Too easy. Still, how did I miss cutting his head? It's so damn big." A growled and grabbed the chain, sending a bolt of electricity down it to shock Lambda. Lambda let go of her weapon, groaning in pain from the electricity. A stood back up and unwrapped the chain from around his neck, tossing it away. Lambda quickly grabbed the chains of the sickles and pulled them back to her, remarking

"Note to self: don't wrap it around him. Just go for the kill." A smirked, but didn't comment. Lambda then asked

"So what are you going to do? Two Projects versus one dumb human." A retorted

"And that's where you're wrong; it's two Projects versus one smart human." Rick groaned

"I'm here too. Just give me a minute to shake off the paralysis." A smirked, but waited for one of the Projects to make the first move. His muscles suddenly locked up and he could see red eyes coming out of the darkness, and Psi emerging. Lambda laughed, telling them

"Of course, I have a trump card. You can't do anything about it." Psi looked at Lambda, then back at the team, and then behind herself. She then informed

"The Blaziken is launching an attack." Lambda looked puzzled and argued

"But I don't sense any energy coming from the base." Psi then placed her fingers behind Lambda and Lambda fell to the ground, unconscious, replying

"No, but that's what you're going to believe that knocked you unconscious." She then released her hold on A and walked over to Rick, placing her hands on his back, and curing his paralysis. A groaned slightly, the painful feeling of his blood being bent against his will bothering him. Psi looked at A and said

"If you want to deal with Omicron, you'll have to deal with much more than just his Nano machines." Rick got up and asked

"Why are you helping us?" Psi hesitated before answering

"I don't know. I felt like I had to. You saved me, so count this as me returning the favor." A nodded, saying

"I'm only taking out the Nano machines to keep Giovanni out of the picture. We don't need him making this a bigger mess than usual." Psi told him

"Giovanni is the least of your concerns." A waved that off, saying

"I know, but he'll just make everything more complicated."

"I can't directly help you against him. I can't let anyone know I helped you." Jean suddenly appeared and asked

"What's going on?" He looked down and saw Lambda, and was confused.

"What the hell?" Psi then said to him

"Do me a favor and hit her over her head. Don't kill her, otherwise things will look bad for me. I just need it to look like I was telling the truth." Rick asked

"Why are you still with them? You told me they treat you like a slave. Why stay?" Psi answered

"When you're created and know only one thing, you don't know how to function doing anything else." Rick frowned, retorting

"That's dumb. Aren't you tired of being treated that way?" Psi shrugged, stating

"I've never really been treated any other way. Well, Iota, Beta, and Eta are kind to me, but I'm rarely with them. I'm not allowed to be too far from Lambda." A argued

"But wouldn't you rather be treated well more often than being abused? To them you're nothing but a tool, to be thrown away as soon as you're not useful to them anymore." Psi nodded, knowing this.

"I know. I realize that, but it's my reality." Seras groaned, crawled over, and said

"Your spirit's broken." Psi walked over and healed her, replying

"I do not know what that is. I do not really know much. All I know is that I'm nothing but a re-creation, made from two blood samples. One center sample that is my genetic origin and one that is more of a binding agent to increase my powers and give me new ones." She looked at Rick and added

"The binding agent blood is yours, if I recall." Dartz also crawled over and fought against the paralysis and got to his feet, saying

"Alright, that's ridiculous. Everyone has an identity, even if they're artificial beings. What's your name?" Psi replied

"Project Psi. Otherwise known as subject RP24-009 or Prisoner 2503-4. I have no real name." A frowned, though he had to keep his attention broad in case Omicron tried anything while he was distracted. He then looked on to see Harmony fighting him in an even fight. Psi then said

"I need one of you guys to wound me." A scowled, stating

"Not me; I need to focus on Omicron." Psi was curious, asking

"What are you even trying to do?" A explained

"Destroy his Nano machines." Seras then charged energy and asked

"So how badly hurt do you have to be?" Psi took a deep breath and said

"Give me a few minutes. I need to assess something. Then just hit me with an attack that won't kill me, but will leave me unconscious." Rick walked over to A and asked

"You really need him over here?" A replied

"Not him specifically, just his electricity." Rick asked further

"And it'll redirect?" A told him

"And safely ground."

"Let's hope it works. However, he's aware that you're doing something. We have to trick him." A nodded.

"I know. Because he knows I'm up to something, he doesn't want to get close, which forces him into long-range attacks, and the best ones at his disposal are Project powers or electricity."

"You won't be able to absorb Project powers. They're not composed of a natural energy." A retorted

"This isn't designed for that, anyway."

"Let's hope. We need to disorient him." A told him

"Unfortunately, I have to stay in close proximity to my creations."

"Why?"

"Because I need to pull them up at a moment's notice at just the right time."

"Then this is going to be difficult."

"Probably, but no one ever said this would be easy."

"Alright. I guess we'll jump back into the fight. We'll bring him to you."

"Try not to get him too close, though; remember, my primary goal here is to destroy his Nano machines. Once that's done, then we'll move onto actually killing him."

"Got it!" Rick quickly lunged forward, but was stopped by Psi, who dragged him back as the team ran to fight Omicron. A was confused by Psi's actions, but didn't question it, focusing on Omicron and holding his arms at the ready.

Omicron fought each member of the team that were facing him. His frustration was mounting with each blow and repulsion. He roared in anger and blasted many of them with a Shockwave, knocking them away from them. He growled and said

"This is stupid!" He looked at A and shouted

"Well, stop being useless!" A didn't reply, still waiting for the opportune moment.

"Stop ignoring me!" Omicron charged a large thunderbolt and fired it at A. He smirked and absorbed the electricity, retorting

"That all you got? An electrical outlet could hurt me worse than you." Omicron fired off a thunderbolt into the sky, causing a large ball of electricity to form in the clouds. Suddenly, a gigantic wave of electricity fired down towards A. He quickly worked to absorb that, too, though he found it substantially more difficult, forcing the electricity into the ground. He stood there, panting for a moment, then smirked and told him

"Still not enough." Omicron opened his mouth and began to charge a Void Cannon, which A could not absorb. Rick aimed his own and managed to block Omicron's. A chuckled and said

"Your Project powers are useless with Rick around. But I'll tell you what; give me your best electrical attack. Hold nothing back. I promise I won't absorb it."

"You'll regret that." He began to charge a large amount of electricity and the fired it in one large concussive blast. A immediately threw up his hands, and his creations erupted from the ground. What was immediately seen were two large shiny balls of steel that connected to brightly burnished copper, as though it were freshly melted and forged. The electricity diverged into two paths that went around A and connected with the balls, causing them to glow even brighter than they were before. The copper also glowed, though more from heat than light. Finally, the earth that held the two pieces in place gradually grew dry and cracked, though nothing more happened.

"What the hell?" A smirked and stated

"I promised I wouldn't absorb it. I didn't say anything about grounding it, though."

"So?"

"Well, if my hypothesis was correct, Giovanni can no longer control you." Omicron frowned, asking

"What are you talking about?" A explained

"Those Nano machines that he implanted in Epsilon he also implanted into you. But I'm sure you knew that. I'm equally sure they were modified to stand up to your natural current. But no matter how well they're protected, there's still a limit to what they can handle, and you're sure to have exceeded that with the last attack you just fired at me. So if I'm correct, you fried all your Nano machines, effectively taking Giovanni out of this equation entirely."

"How sure of that are you?"

"Relatively sure, because human-made machines must follow the laws of physics. Of course, everything should fall under the laws of physics, but there have been some scenarios that make me think something needs to be revisited."

"Whatever. I didn't need him anyways. However, since I know you can't absorb this..." He charged another Void Cannon and fired it before Rick could react. A simply teleported out of the way, stating

"Now that I'm confident your Nano machines are outta the picture, I'm free to move around again." The team surrounded Omicron, trying to overwhelm him. Omicron growled and unleaded a giant wave of electricity to hold them back. A attempted to absorb it and render the attack useless. Seeing this, Omicron charged and fired a Void Cannon in his direction. A jumped hard and flipped through the air to avoid it. He was then taken down by Seras being thrown on him.

A grabbed onto her and landed lightly on his feet, setting her back down then taking to the air again, hurling small fireballs at him. Omicron saw this and fired off multiple Void Cannons. A worked to avoid them all, flying through the air. Rick then ran up to Omicron, uppercutting him, and knocking him to the ground. A, seeing this, fired a thin beam of ice directly at Omicron. Omicron was frozen in a layer of ice, but that did not stop him from quickly freeing himself and vanishing. A looked around for him. Harmony growled and asked

"Where is he?" A, who was still flying above them all, looked more carefully, certain that Omicron was somehow cloaking himself. A then saw the glimmer of a blade moving around Harmony. A didn't think, he simply acted; he teleported next to her and grabbed the blade, regardless of the harm to himself. Electricity suddenly cracked and Omicron appeared with his battle axe. A yelled out and quickly drew his blade, absorbing the electricity. Omicron then lifted the axe and brought it down.

A blocked it with his other arm, letting the armor take the brunt of the force. He then saw as the armor began to crack from the powerful blow. A growled and let go of the axe, swiftly launching a punch directly at Omicron's face. Omicron turned his head to avoid it and bit down onto A's arm, somehow getting a fang to go through the crack caused by the axe, thus drawing blood. A yelled out briefly, then growled and yanked back as hard as he could, intending to rip some of his teeth out.

Omicron quickly let go, to avoid losing teeth. He then swung his axe at A, hoping the injury would distract him for a moment. A instead swung his balled and connected fists up to smack his chin. Omicron groaned and staggered back in a daze. A followed the attack up by holding his palm out toward him, a small spark of blue flame hissing before it erupted into a great torrent of fire, bathing Omicron in the bright, loud flames. When the flames vanished, A saw a black portal where Omicron once stood. Harmony growled

"Cheeky bastard!" She was suddenly grabbed by her face by the appearing Omicron and threw her away. A jumped and lunged at him, trying to tackle him and prevent him from causing any further harm. Omicron lifted his axe and struck the ground, causing a powerful shockwave of electricity and force to shoot out. A was struck by this and sent flying back, crashing on the ground and rolling a few feet before he stood back up, his eyes hard with anger. Rick groaned and asked

"How is he not having too much trouble fighting a group?" A replied

"Because he's a tank; he can take all our hits and feel basically nothing, while dishing out tons of damage at the same time." Rick stated

"Well, we have to get through that thick hide of his." A pointed out

"Or make it more vulnerable." Rick nodded, thinking before saying

"Alright. We need an opening and then... family combo." A told him

"I'll provide you with the opening; tell me where you need him."

"Close enough for us to uppercut him into the air."

"Okay, and how long do ya need him distracted to get everyone together?" Rick thought quickly, then told him

"Give me two minutes."

"I'll do my best." With that, A struck the ground, sending a rift that sped at Omicron to knock him away. Omicron scoffed

"You don't learn." He lifted his axe and struck the ground, hoping to cancel the rift. He was then surprised when A shot out of the ground himself, tackling Omicron. Omicron groaned and grabbed him and began to charge a Void Cannon. A gave a mighty heave and threw him bodily to keep him off-balance. Omicron righted himself and fired off the Void Cannon. A lifted and crossed his arms, trying to block the attack to the best of his abilities.

The attack enveloped him and soon vanished. A came out with burns and his armor singed and cracked. He then looked at Omicron and saw blood coming out of his nose because of the overuse of the Void Cannon. A strove to ignore his pain, thrusting his hand forward and blasting fire out at Omicron. Omicron growled and fired off a large Thunderbolt to destroy the fireball and hopefully hit A.

The two attacks clashed, the Thunderbolt spreading rapidly over the flames and reaching A, treating him to an electrical shock. A fell to one knee and was suddenly grabbed by his face by Omicron, "Any last yells for mercy?" A growled and kicked as hard as he could between Omicron's legs. Omicron howled in pain and let A go, falling to his knees, crying out

"Cheap shot!" A forced himself to stand back up, retorting

"I'm the one who's burned and battered." Even so, he backed away so Omicron wouldn't take a similar shot at him. Omicron roared at him as he got to his feet. He grabbed his battle axe and began to make his way towards the Arceus Knight. A made the shift to his human form and drew Savior, figuring the sword would be better against the axe than his arms, especially given that his armor was dented and cracked now. Omicron growled and swung his axe at A. A held up Savior, the flat of the blade in his other hand, and grunted as the two weapons clashed together, locked.

"Got scared of facing me as a pretender Pokémon?" A retorted

"No, I just figure I have a better chance the farther I keep your axe away from my face."

"Smart. But that's not going to help you much, mate." Omicron then began to crack with electricity and began to push against A's blade. A absorbed the electricity and pushed back with more force. Omicron fought against the strength and charged and ball of electricity in his mouth. A pulled Savior down a bit to take the electrical hit, knowing the blade would simply absorb it. Omicron cancelled the attack and said

"Hiding behind your blade. Take your pain like a man." A scoffed and retorted

"That's easy for you to say, since you barely feel pain at all."

"No, I feel all of it. I just withstand it." A grunted, telling him

"Hmm. Well, some of us aren't as good at that."

"Pity that." Omicron then out a paralyzing wave to keep Michael from moving.

A grunted, feeling it strike him, and ruing the fact that as a human he could be afflicted by multiple status conditions. Even so, he fought against it to buy Rick the time he needed. However, he suddenly saw four of the team members uppercutting Omicron and sending him into the sky. A groaned and fell to one knee, overwhelmed by the damage Omicron had inflicted onto him.

He then felt a hand on his back and his muscles no longer locked in place. He looked back and saw Psi scurrying away and back to where she originally was. A couldn't help smirking, though he winced as his burns flared. He then saw a bright light from multiple beam attacks connecting on Omicron in the air. Rick then waved him over and said

"Help us finish this! When he comes crashing down, punch upwards and hard as you can." A nodded and moved into place, transforming back to a Gallade and summoning the power of Earth on his arm. Rick motioned for him to stand next to him and prepared his fist, ready to strike, telling him

"Once he gets close, swing away." A nodded, gearing back and waiting. Rick then called out

"Swing away!" A and all the participants on the ground punched upwards, causing a loud crack sound to come from Omicron. Seras then called out

"Throw him into the air!" Rick smiled and used his powers to launch Omicron back into the air. Seras then caught him in a ball of psychic energy. She then collected two large balls of energy and smashed them into Omicron and fire him down in a large beam. Rick called out

"Everyone fire what you've got!" A transformed back to human and drew Savior. He concentrated, trying to figure out what energy to use, then decided he didn't care and simply poured the energy, firing a multicolored beam that surprised him.

The team fired off their best special attack, causing a large ball of energy to cover the sky and explode in a large dome. Omicron soon fell from the air, battered, broken, and burned. He crashed to the ground many yards away and groaned in immense pain. Rick was shocked, asking askance

"He's still alive after that?!" A panted, still in awe of what he had released, which he'd never seen before, but focused on the matter at hand, telling Rick quickly

"He may still be alive, but I think he's on the brink of death; one blow in the right place should finish him off, and he's not in much condition right now to retaliate." They then heard Omicron groan out

"Hate...hate...hate...hate hate hate hate hate HATE HATE HATE! I HATE YOU ALL!" The sky then lit up with thunder and lightning and multiple lightning strikes struck down on Omicron, creating a bright display of immense light. The lightning dissipated and the team saw Omicron beginning to stand once more, but not being completely healed.

Omicron summoned his axe, falling to one knee, and then using the axe to stand. He growled as he looked at the team and the let out a furious roar, which caused thunderbolts to begin striking down towards the team. A held up Savior, trying to draw the lightning bolts to himself so he could absorb them. The lightning, however, appeared to actively avoid the blade and went directly for the other team members, taking many of them out.

A swore and aimed at Omicron trying to fire the multicolored beam again, but failing. Omicron growled and charged forwards, swinging down his axe towards A. A threw himself back, narrowly avoiding the attack, then dashed forward and stabbed at Omicron's chest. A chain suddenly wrapped itself around the blade and pulled A back. A turned around to see an angry Lambda.

A growled, irritated and yanked as hard as he could, sending her flying. Lambda quickly used her sickles to get herself back on the ground and then pointed towards A. He turned around and was met by Omicron's axe hitting the armor on his chest and smashing it in a mighty heave.

Lambda quickly used her sickles to get herself back on the ground and then pointed towards A. He turned around and was met by Omicron's axe hitting him in the chest, sinking in, and breaking some bones. The force knocked A away from the battle, coating the ground in blood. He laid there in immense pain, but the one thing he didn't feel was the beating of his heart, which made him extremely anxious until he blacked out.

A lightning bolt struck A's prone form and jumpstarted the nodes in his heart, getting it pumping again, and about a minute later he came back to consciousness, breathing heavily until the pain became too great to do so. He looked over to the noise of battle and saw Rick, in his Alpha state, fighting back Omicron and Lambda. He groaned and laid back, trying to explore the damage with his hand but stopping when it proved too painful to move, cursing his inability to use his white aura, especially now that he desperately needed it. Psi suddenly appeared next to him and said

"Good! You're still alive." A only groaned, in too much pain to form a legible response.

"Let's see if I can mend you somewhat." She placed a hand on his chest and A could feel some muscles being forced back in place and his blood level rising. However, the muscles were pushing on the broken bones, causing him further pain. Despite the pain, he didn't protest, knowing she was helping him. Even so, he clawed at the ground, causing deep scratches in the earth.

"Okay, that should keep you alive. At least for now. Your ribs are broken and I don't know if they'll puncture your lungs." A remarked

"Then I shouldn't be fighting... hell, I don't know if I can get up."

"You should be able to. I mended the muscles. However, you need real medical care." A nodded and began to sit up, though he was very careful, not wanting to puncture his lungs.

"You need to get out of here." A protested

"I can't leave my friends behind."

"Well, I don't know what to tell ya." A sighed, trying to think of something.

"Besides, other Projects might turn up and by then it's game over." A argued

"There's gotta be something I can do." Psi shrugged, telling him

"I don't have any ideas for you. In fact, by orders I should be killing you." A smirked and remarked

"And yet here you are keeping me from dying. So clearly you're not completely broken." This confused Psi, prompting her to ask

"Huh?" A explained

"They haven't broken your spirit, otherwise you'd be a mindless zombie following orders." Psi shrugged, stating

"I can take a lot of physical, emotional, and mental abuse."

"Still, thanks for your help. I'm surprised you were able to fix this much, considering all you're manipulating is the blood." Psi told him

"I can do a bit more than just blood. I can manipulate anything that has blood touching it." A mused for a moment.

"Hmm... by any chance, were you using my platelets to do the healing?"

"Yes. I don't just control the red blood cells. I control every component of blood. Erythrocytes, Leukocytes, plasma, and Thrombocytes."

"Interesting. But is this accelerated patch healing?" Psi nodded.

"Yep. Just a warning, you will be incredibly tired for a day or two after today." A sighed, remarking

"Yeah, I figured that. And that's still not the worst of it, because my ribs are still broken." Psi told him

"You need someone who specializes in healing."

"I don't know if we have anyone like that available here." Rick suddenly appeared and pointed his blade at Psi, demanding

"What are you doing to my comrade?" Psi's eyes began to glow, which still showed through her mask, telling him threateningly

"Put your blade away before I make you regret it." A raised a hand, telling him

"Rick, stop. She saved me." Rick frowned, not quite believing it.

"She did?" A explained

"Omicron staved my chest, and my heart stopped. How I came back is a mystery to me, though." Psi said to him

"You got struck by lightning." A winced, remarking

"That might explain these burns. It must have restarted my heart." He turned back to Rick, telling him

"At any rate, Psi stopped the bleeding and patched my skin and muscle back together, but my ribs are still broken and could puncture my lungs if I move too much." Rick groaned and took a moment to think, then said

"I cannot believe I'm about to do this." A frowned, asking

"Do what?"

"You know what my team is right?" A continued to frown, asking

"Remnants, right? That's what you called them?"

"Exactly. So other than Healing Pulse, the only healing technique I know is to inject with the Alpha strain." A scowled at that, stating

"My mind is my only sanctuary, such as it is, and I don't want that taken from me. Nor, do I think, you want me as a Remnant."

"I don't. That's why I will not add the mutagen. You'll get the one time moderate heal, but you will not get the benefits."

"Healing is the only benefit I need. But there's gotta be a catch." Rick nodded, telling him

"It's going to hurt...like bad." A sighed

"And there it is. Still, it can't hurt more than Psi knitting my flesh back together, and the fractured ends of my ribs scraping against everything in reach." Rick shook his head, telling him grimly

"Worse than that." A revised

"Okay, but less deadly. This is just the overreaction of my pain nerves. Right now, though, my ribs are millimeters away from putting holes in my lungs." Rick warned

"This will mend your bones, but you'll feel every bit of it. Do you want me to do this?" A told him

"Just get it over with before I change my mind." Rick nodded and extended the long claw from his right index finger. He walked up to A and plunged it into his throat, injecting A with a less concentrated version of the extract. He then stood back and waited for A to start convulsing in agony.

A gritted his teeth as the pain began to settle in. He quickly raised his hands and pulled metal bars out of the ground that formed thick balls of metal at the tops. He grabbed these and proceeded to crush them in his hands while trying to ride out the pain. He could feel his bones forcing themselves back into place, even going through flesh that was in the way.

He could feel every cell cry out in agony, as his body pulled and ripped itself apart before mending itself. Eventually the pain became too much, and he let the world hear his agony, though by some miracle he remained standing.

"Interesting. Most people would have passed out by now." A gave no other response than crushing the metal balls even more, his fingers almost disappearing into the metal. After a minute or two, the pain subsided and A appeared mostly alright, but was still visibly injured. He breathed hard for a moment, then fell to his knees, almost insensate. Rick helped him sit and asked

"Are you going to be okay?" A said weakly

"Maybe... gimme a minute to find out."

"We don't have too much time." A groaned and pushed himself up, wincing, and asked

"Whattya need?" Rick told him

"To make sure you can move around again. You're still hurt, but it should be manageable. Maybe you should head home?" A shook his head, arguing

"No can do. We're still up against Projects trying to kill us. We need all the manpower we can get." Rick pointed out

"You can't survive another injury like that." A argued

"Then I'll try not to get in close proximity." Rick frowned, asking

"Are you sure?" A pointed out

"We still need the manpower." Rick groaned and then sighed

"Fine." He then jumped back into the fight, while A

started going around to the others who were unconscious to check their conditions and heal any pressing injuries. He then noticed Rick in the air, charging a large blast that could cause excessive damage to the immediate area.

A swore and started rapidly teleporting, grabbing the unconscious team members, and worked to get them out of harm's way. Rick then roared into the air, which sent out a pulse. Suddenly, the downed team members jumped to their feet, but A could sense that they were not conscious. A looked around, confused, and asked

"What the fuck?" Those of the team that were Rick's Remnants walked off, leaving A with the unconscious team members. The original team suddenly opened their eyes to reveal that they were all glowing bright red. Rick turned to them and roared, which they replied with their own roars, as if Rick were controlling them. A looked forward and saw an army of Rocket Specters charging towards them. The team roared at them and charged into the fray to battle them as Rick fought the Projects.

A made to battle as well, but stumbled as pain flared, indicating he wasn't in any condition to battle directly. He growled and started firing thin beams of power to skewer the Rocket Specters through the head, gradually thinning out their numbers. Rick then suddenly spoke to A, surprising him.

"We need to end this. Now!" Rick's voice was odd, as it was much lower and it had a growl to it. A asked him directly

"What the hell is going on?!" Rick answered directly and blandly

"We're fighting the Projects so we can kill Omicron. Did that hit blow your memory?" A growled and retorted

"No, you idiot, I mean you puppeteering our teammates!" Rick paused, then said

"Oh. Well, they're my Remnants. They're all technically a piece of me. I can make their bodies do what I want them to. Even if they're not conscious, I can control their bodies, regardless of the damage they have sustained." A frowned, asking

"Do they know you can do this to them?" Rick answered calmly

"They're well aware. I'm no monster."

"Well, at least there's that. Still, what am I supposed to do? I can barely move without shooting pains." A then suddenly felt a stab in his abdomen and looked down to see one of Rick's claws stabbing him. Rick said to him

"Relax. I'm not making you a Remnant. Just letting my energy course through you a bit. You should be healed to the point where you can fight. Also, consider this a steroid as it will alleviate your muscle plain for the next twelve hours. You're going to be in a lot of pain tomorrow morning." A winced, then said

"Let's hope nothing happens tomorrow, then."

"One more thing. I had to make a deal to have control over this. So I have to punch you to keep my end of the bargain. Thaleus wants me to punch you for some reason." A rolled his eyes, remarking

"Well, that figures. Fine, let's just get this done."

"It'll have to happen later. Just keep some fire on these guys."

"Got it." A faced forward again, returning to firing beams of various elements to strike down the Rocket Specters. As A was firing on against the Specters, he heard a footstep behind him. He quickly turned around and was met by Iota's blade being stopped inches from his face. Iota remarked

"You're all beat up. Pathetic." A retorted

"Hey, Omicron is a tank and he opened my chest with his axe. Gimme a break." Iota retorted calmly

"You seem patched up to me." A shrugged, explaining simply

"I got some help."

"Come on. Where's that Orrian strength? Don't tell me that's the first time you've been almost gutted." A laughed, despite the pain, and said

"Oh, no, definitely not. And I'm still fighting, despite the fact that the blow also managed to stop my heart. By all rights, I should be dead." Iota nodded, agreeing.

"Aye! You should be. However, you Ryutos are hard to kill. Do this... aim for Lambda." A nodded and searched for the mutant Absol. He saw her wrapping her chain around Serenity's throat and beginning to strangle her. A scowled and pointed a single finger at her, firing a thin beam of ice straight at her temple. Lambda was hit and let go of Serenity, who was gasping for breath. Iota told A

"That won't hold her." A replied

"I can't risk physical fighting; I lost too much blood, and I'm still injured. Any further injuries could be catastrophic, and then I won't be of any use at all." Iota asked

"Can't you just heal yourself?" A shook his head, answering

"No. For some reason, my aura is blocked." Iota seemed mildly surprised.

"I was not expecting that." A stated blandly

"Neither was I, but there's not much I can do about it, it seems."

"I can't heal you. My abilities give energy and cause destruction." A shook his head, replying

"Don't worry, I wasn't expecting you to heal me. Anyway, I might have another idea." He knelt to the ground, wincing as his pain flared, and placed a palm to the ground. In short order, Lambda was swallowed up by the ground.

"She's going to get angry really fast." A smirked, stating

"That won't matter if she can't get herself out." He concentrated harder, and the ground seemed to rumble for a short moment.

"She can transport herself in a portal. Your tactics will not work against her like that. She's incredibly intelligent." A paused, then cursed.

"Portals. Damn it. I'm screwed." He quickly tried healing himself again in desperation.

"Don't worry. She has no idea where you're at."

"I'm still not taking that chance." Iota told him

"If you try to do anything out of desperation, it will not be done correctly."

"Fair enough." He took a deep breath, then tried the healing again, this time with more purpose, though he was still unsuccessful. The battle raged on, with all participants busy fighting either a Project or the Specters. It was soon after that Seras called out

"Where's Omicron?!" A paused and looked around for the Luxray, occasionally blasting away a Specter. A powerful shockwave then went through the area and the group saw Omicron's ship power itself up again and begin to take off. A yelled out

"He's in his ship!" He immediately fired a burst of flame, trying to take it down. A large thunderbolt flew from the ship and destroyed the fire as the ship sped off. A cut the fire before he was shocked again, quickly realizing he wouldn't catch up in his condition, nor would he be able to singlehandedly take on Omicron. Resigned for a miserable time, he started dispatching the Specters around him. A dark wave of energy suddenly shot out of the army of Specters and each one died off. Dartz then appeared, irate and shouted

"To the Mercury! He's not going to escape me again!" A winced and nodded, making his way there without bothering to argue. Lambda growled and said

"Nothing is over! We're still standing." Rick suddenly appeared behind her and punched her in the head, knocking her unconscious. He avoided Sigma and Phi's attacks and cratered them into the ground. He turned to Psi, who simply told him

"Just go take him out." Rick nodded and turned to run to the Mercury. A continued toward the Mercury, trying yet again to use his white aura for the upcoming battle. Screech opened the doors and reported

"I have a signal on his ship. Everyone get ready for a chase." The team filed inside and took off to the distance. Rick asked A

"How are your injuries?" A pressed a hand against his chest, then reported

"Better than before, but it'll take at least a week before I'm fully functional again, and that's a generous estimate."

"Do you think you have enough for one more fight?" A nodded, replying confidently

"Oh yeah, I can do that. But once this pain you told me about kicks in tomorrow, I'm probably gonna need a leave of absence." Rick replied understandingly

"Of course. However, I don't know if I'll still be the Warlord by then." A stated

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it; for now, let's focus on our current goal." Rick nodded, agreeing.

"Right. We need to shoot him down, but I have a feeling that we're unable to lock on because of the electrical field around the ship." A reasoned

"Then the best option is a sight-shoot. It's less precise, but currently our only option." Rick remarked

"I think Screech realizes that. However, Omicron seems to be protecting the ship with his electricity. We need to hit him with an attack he doesn't see coming." A asked him

"Whattya suggest?" Rick shook his head, replying

"I don't know. He's focusing on us and if he gets too deep into human territory, we're screwed. We can't follow." A asserted

"Then we stop him before he gets there." Screech then announced

"He's headed towards Route 111. He might be trying to lose us in the continuous sandstorm." Rick growled

"Either we take him down there, lose him, or reach Mauville City. I hate all those options." A stated

"Of all of them, I think taking him down there is the best one."

"We need to find a way to do that." A thought for a moment, then told him

"The best way is to fire something that won't be as affected by electricity." Rick replied

"This ship is armed with missiles and energy cannons. I don't know if electricity will mess with compacted energy." A stated

"Electricity is plasma, so it's more energy than most other forms of matter. There are many outcomes, none of which bode well for Omicron, so I think that's our best option."

"Alright." Rick called out to Screech

"Aim the energy cannons at his ship. Try to take it down." Screech replied

"I would if the targeting system wasn't being messed with." A told Rick

"Again, it's a shot that has to be taken by sight alone." Rick nodded and told Screech

"You'll have to aim it manually." Screech answered

"I'll see what I can do. Michael, care to give me a bead on the ship? I usually have to aim with the targeting systems." A smirked, asking

"Where do ya want me to give the most accurate bead?" Screech answered

"We have to aim for at least the engines of that thing. We have two minutes to take him down." A nodded and stepped forward, taking a preliminary look at the way Omicron was flying to discern his pattern. He noticed him flying in a straight line, not deviating too much from his path. A grunted and said

"Looks like he's flyin' straight; what's the current angle of the cannon?" Screech checked and told him

"The cannons are currently pointed at 45 degrees, ready to fire." A did a quick calculation in his head, then said

"Okay, lower to zero degrees and decrease altitude by point-seven-five meters." The Mercury lowered slightly and took aim at the ship. The energy cannons then fired off their attacks. The energy beams shot towards the ship, clipping the side of one of the wings, but missed slightly. A quickly ordered, briefly forgetting his rank

"Ten degrees right!" The cannons were quickly adjusted and fired off their attacks once more. The beams began to get close to the ship, until an electrical storm launched from the ship and destroyed the energy shots. A swore, then ran up toward the deck. Screech then said

"Thirty seconds!" A ran across the deck, picking up immense speed, then took off and blasted himself directly at Omicron's ship, reaching out with a bolt of electricity to try absorbing it. A hand suddenly reached out of one of the ship's windows and fired off a Void Cannon towards A. He growled and blasted it with a torrent of air to fling it away. Screech contacted him, saying

"Ten seconds!" Suddenly, a large blue arrow hit the ship, causing it to spin out and begin to crash down to the desert below. Screech asked in shock

"What the hell was that?!" A blinked, responding

"It looked like an arrow... anyway, take the shot!" Screech argued

"It's already going down." A retorted

"That's what we though the first time, and he still got away." Screech then pointed out

"Just remember that I can't aim freely and it's plunging." A groaned, simply returning to the Mercury. Rick walked up to A and said

"We have to go down there." A nodded, replying

"It's your command, though." Rick looked outside and said

"I'm jumping."

"Then I'll join you." Rick smiled and took a running dive down to the world below. A jumped hard and sailed over the rails before allowing himself to plummet to the sand below. The perpetual sandstorm of the area soon blanketed everything, obscuring their sight. A put his goggles on, glad he took them everywhere with him. However, he could not see Rick or where the downed ship was located. A swore to himself and searched with his mind. As he tried to connect with Rick, all he could hear was laughter. A scowled and tried to locate the source of the laughter. The voice then spoke, not in his mind, but somehow out loud

"Good luck finding him." A growled and resumed searching with his mind.

"How can you find someone I have withheld from being found?" A scowled, demanding

"Who are you and what do you want?!" The voice answered

"We've met before. I am Thaleus or Alpha." A paused, then said

"Wait, I thought you were just granting Rick some power in return for punching me in the face. You said nothing about cloaking him or whatever."

"This has nothing to do with the deal. I've finally regained the ability to interact with the world around me. Why not make things more interesting? The more he loses control, the more of my power I regain." A paled at this information, and placed his hand to the ground to try searching for Rick through the vibrations in the ground. Unfortunately, the constantly shifting sands made that an ineffective method.

"If he dies, it matters little to me. He's holding me back." A face then appeared in the sands near A, "So let's let Jack kill Aeru, just to see what happens." A scowled and walked toward the face, saying

"I'm not letting that happen." Thaleus warned cryptically

"Aeru and his immediate family will know fear really soon." A stated

"They already know fear. Look, you can have Rick hit me as much as you want, alright? Just let him stay with his family." Thaleus replied

"I will wait and see how he reacts when a blade slices through the flesh of his wife and child. He never shows his fear, but he will be mortified when he hears the news." A growled, but knew he could do nothing other than try to expedite the situation. He quickly contacted the Mercury, asking

"Screech, you there?" He heard no reply and the heard more laughter.

"You can try and try, but you're isolated here by my own design. I'm greatly enjoying my new found strength." A jumped hard, trying to propel himself out of Alpha's reach. A large hand of sand formed in the sandstorm and slammed him back into the ground. The face then appeared in the storm itself.

"Trying to escape me already? How rude of you to ignore an old friend of the family." A spat

"You're no friend of mine! And besides, I'm not a part of their family." Thaleus told him derisively

"Your family, you idiot. Anyways, I should give you the breakdown of what's happening. Aeru is fighting Jack, Jack tricks him in the sand, stabs him with a piece of the wrecked ship, pinning him to the ground." A growled and blasted the sand away from him, then tried to escape again to find Rick.

"Run, little human. Let's see what difference you'll make." A ignored him and continued his search for Rick. He walked through the storm and spotted a large boulder to his right. He kept moving and found himself passing the same boulder once more. He continued and once again was met by the same boulder. A growled

"Sunnuva bitch!" Thaleus laughed, taunting

"What's wrong?" A shouted

"You know damn well, asshole!" Thaleus retorted mockingly

"Not my fault you have no sense of direction." A told him venomously

"Oh shut the fuck up!" Thaleus taunted

"You didn't think it would be easy now, did you?" A just growled and tried in another direction. He walked down this way, until he suddenly found himself outside of the desert. A swore and turned right around, heading back. He soon found himself back at the large rock, and upon seeing it tried going in the same direction he was already heading. He walked on and could hear a battle raging not too far away. A quickly headed for the sounds of battle, being careful not to stray away from the noise. He soon arrived at a large area where Jean and Dartz were battling Omicron in a losing battle, while Rick was trying to pull out a large slab of metal from his abdomen. A rushed to Rick, telling him

"Hold still." He quickly used his power to cut away the excess metal close to his body, then started to pull it out, being mindful of the fact that he could damage important blood vessels if he wasn't careful. Rick groaned and began to cough up blood and gasp for air. A quickly tried using his white aura to fix the damage. The wound healed as best as it could, healing any life threatening internal injuries. A continued to pull out the remainder of the metal, also fixing whatever damage it left behind with Heal Pulse. He looked at the sand and saw a large part of it painted in blood around Rick. A swore, trying to teleport him back to the Mercury. Rick grabbed his hand and tried to get up, saying

"It's not over yet. I don't retreat until the job is done." A told him

"You're not in any condition to fight; you've lost too much blood. Just look around you!" Rick argued

"I'm not going to die. This isn't going to stop me." A retorted in frustration

"Will you just lie down and stop getting yourself more hurt?" A then looked up and was pounced on by Omicron who attempted to bite down on his neck. A launched a swift punch directly at Omicron's face as a reflex. Omicron growled and jumped off, trying to shake off the pain.

A followed by punching him as hard as he could manage in Omicron's jaw. Omicron fell back, before jumping back on his feet and lunging for A again. A kicked at him squarely in the chest. Omicron growled as he touched down on the ground once more. He got up and fired off a Void Cannon from his mouth. A threw his hands up and pulled a large amount of sand to take the brunt of the damage. The attack fired on through the sand, beginning to cook it into glass and cut towards A.

A pulled up more sand, knowing the attack couldn't last forever. The sand soon stopped the attack, leaving a large stream of glass in its wake. A smirked and threw it to the side. He soon looked back at Omicron and narrowly avoided being eviscerated by his claws. A growled and grabbed his arm, hurling him away. Omicron managed to recover and lunched forward, but was struck down to the ground by Jean, who came from up above. Meanwhile, A went to the glass and broke off a large shard.

Shard in hand, A rushed to Omicron, determined to see if his skin was truly impenetrable. Omicron punched Jean back and let out a roar, which shot out a soundwave. A punched the ground and sent up a spray of sand to absorb the sound wave coming at him. Omicron dove through the sand and pounced on A once more. A then stabbed at him with the shard of glass. The shard hit his skin, but shattered upon contact. Omicron grabbed him by his face and threw him away. He then said

"Really? Glass? Blades, blunt objects, anything, but why glass? A structure that is by its own nature structurally weak." A retorted

"Actually, glass is quite strong when solid because of its crystalline structure, which also gives metals their strength. But the reason I used glass was for its cutting edge, which can rival even surgeon's scalpels. With enough pressure at the right angle- provided the material can withstand the force- you can cut anything."

"And I don't care." He charged another Void Cannon and fired it at A. A threw himself to the side, rolling, then came back up and lunged at Omicron, throwing a quick punch at his side. Omicron roared from the hit and slashed A's arm with his claws. A yelled as bloody tracks were carved out of his flesh, and he lashed out with his other fist at Omicron's neck. Omicron leaned to the side and then bit down on A's good arm. Omicron let go and said

"You've lost too much blood. You're getting slower." A scowled and retorted

"But not weaker!" He then lashed with a kick as fast and hard as he could to his chest. Omicron summoned his axe and used it to block the kick, saying

"Again, too slow. You might as well sit down!" He then bashed A with the side of his axe, knocking him down,

"Be a good dog and play dead." Omicron lifted his axe to strike A, but was suddenly knocked away by a Kage Nami, which came from Rick. Rick was on his feet, but collapsed soon after he fired the attack. A, still dazed from the blow to his head, held his hand out toward Omicron- or at least where he thought Omicron was- and painted the air there with fire. Omicron was engulfed by the flames, which managed to burn the area around him, but Omicron summoned an electrical field to protect himself. The ground beneath him was composed of glass, which was made by the fire.

Omicron attempted to get up, but Dartz appeared and slammed him back onto the glass, sending shards into his back. Omicron roared in pain and lunged for Dartz. Dartz knocked him away with his spear and charged energy on the blade of his spear. He jumped into the air and came crashing down towards Omicron. Omicron jumped out of the way, causing Dartz to miss and hit the ground. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and open up into chasms. Rick was surprised by this and asked A,

"Is there anything underneath the sand here?" A replied

"Not as far as I was aware, but deserts will often have beds of compressed sand and sometimes limestone, which isn't very strong." The ground kept rumbling and the chasm kept growing. Omicron got up and ran towards Dartz. Rick saw this and fired off a psychic blast that knocked Omicron into the chasm. Dartz, on the other hand began to lose his balance and fell into the chasm, holding onto the side of the cliff, but losing his spear on the top. Rick saw him trying to pull himself up and crawled over. He bumped into Dartz's spear and took it with him. He made it over to Dartz, who reached out his hand for Rick, but Rick handed him his spear. Rick said to him

"You can do it. Kill that son of a bitch." Dartz looked at him and then at the spear and nodded

"Will do." Dartz looked down and jumped into the chasm, after Omicron. Rick groaned and managed to get to his feet. Rick told A

"We have to trust that Dartz can do it. He's the only one in any shape to fight that monster." A grunted as he stood, asking

"So that's it for us?" Rick replied

"I don't know. We are in no shape to keep fighting. You're running on borrowed health you got from Psi and I'm too battered to even move." Jean got up and said

"I think I can still fight, but my head is pounding. I'm definitely concussed." The sandstorm suddenly went calm and the group could see the team, who were wandering in the desert, looking for them. They heard Seras call out

"Guys! Where are you?!" A called back

"We're over here!" The team raced over and Seras asked

"What happened?" A explained

"Well, Rick and Dartz were fighting Omicron, and I was trying to make my way to them to help, but Thaleus started interfering, and I literally couldn't get anywhere for five minutes. I finally managed to meet up with them, contributed a little but didn't really do anything lasting, then this big chasm opened up after one of Dartz's attacks. Now he's down there with Omicron to finish him off once and for all." Seras growled and said

"I'm going down there!" Rick shook his head, telling her

"No. This is personal for Dartz. He'll probably want to do it alone." A stated

"Even so, we should be ready to interfere if things get too serious; Ashley shouldn't lose both of her parents." Seras replied

"More reason for me to go down there!" They then heard Lambda's voice, saying

"I don't think so." They turned and saw Lambda standing away from them.

"You guys have serious ruined my day and put me in a bad mood. Someone has to take responsibility for that." A scowled, but knew his condition was very much less than ideal. Lambda took aim at them with a large Void Cannon and said

"Might as well see how fast you can all die." She then fired off the attack at them, intent on killing as many of them as possible. However, a large fireball hit the sand between the Void Cannon and the team, creating a large pillar of sand, glass, and fire that stopped the Void Cannon in its tracks. Lambda growled and asked

"What the hell was that?!" The pillar soon dissipated and everyone was shocked to see Gamma and Delta where the pillar once was. Gamma chuckled and said

"Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Silph has no intentions of losing some of his greatest investments and friends." Delta added

"And we could not resist the chance of having a good fight." Lambda was now irate and demanded

"The traitors?! How the hell did you know we were here?!" Gamma answered

"Silph Corp secret. Besides, it's good to see you too, Esther."

"Go to hell, Dante!" Gamma scoffed

"Always a pleasure." He looked at the team and asked

"You guys gonna sit on your asses all day, or are you going to help? Allie, do me a favor and heal Aeru and the others." Delta nodded and walked over to A. The Ninetails looked over the downed human and asked

"Do you need some help?" A nodded, explaining

"Omicron opened up my chest earlier and I lost a lotta blood, not to mention I'm still sore as hell."

"I've got just the thing. It won't heal the wound, but should get your vitality back as well as some energy. However, you still have the limitations of that injury. So your body won't let you do anything crazy." She reached into her bag and pulled out a syringe, adding

"It's just a really potent steroid to get your muscles back into top notch shape. As for your wound, I'll have to stitch that up quickly and out you on a really powerful and fast painkiller. While my mate deals with Lambda, I should have time to treat all of you. By the way, I don't think we've officially spoken too much. I'm Allison, otherwise known as Project Delta. I was the recon and medic of the Projects back in my time. I'm also the little sister of Vergil, also known as Project Iota." A replied

"Nice to meet ya. You don't have to worry about stitching me up; I already had some help from Psi and Rick, which basically acts kinda like your medicine, but on steroids."

"Alright. You still need the steroid shot. You also need an antibiotic, since you had an open wound. However, you seem to be in better shape than Aeru." She motioned towards Rick and A was surprised to see her treating Rick, even though she was right next to him, treating his own wounds. A was briefly surprised, then asked

"Cloning ability?" Delta smirked and nodded, answering

"Yep. I can clone myself up to four times." A remarked

"Handy."

"Yep. Now, you're going to feel a slight pinch on your arm." She then inserted a syringe in his arm, pumping in the steroid. A didn't bother reacting, having felt much, much worse before.

"There we go. You also have a nasty slash on your arm." A told her

"Actually, I think that's a bite wound."

"He bit down on you?"

"Multiple times, actually." Delta remarked

"Well, I have to stitch that up." A winced and remarked

"I wish I had my aura." Delta asked as she administered him

"Why?" A explained

"I was able to use it to heal injuries." Delta was surprised and asked

"What happened, then?" A replied

"After our last battle against Team Rocket, it stopped working; I can't use it anymore." Delta grunted and finished stitching him up, telling him

"Well, at any rate, if you don't see any other wounds that need administering, you should probably move onto someone who needs care more than me."

"Alright. However, take it easy. That steroid might make your muscles a little tense." A frowned slightly, asking

"Does it have excess Potassium?" Delta shook her head, answering

"Not really. It has a muscle stimulant to make sure the cells are still active." A understood, asking

"Oh, and the aftereffects is what causes muscle stiffness?" Delta confirmed

"Yes, but you have about two hours before that happens."

"Good to know." Delta told him

"Just make sure you get some rest within the next couple of hours. So now you can do what you want." A nodded and stood, stretching a bit, trying to be careful so as not to make his old injuries flare. He looked on and saw a series of explosions in the distance. He frowned and took some of the nearby glass, carefully cutting pieces off and trying to grind it down smoothly to use it like a telescope. He looked though it and saw Gamma dodging multiple attacks from an enraged Lambda, who was incredibly angry and firing wildly. A frowned, wondering if he should join in to help. He then saw Gamma fire off an attack that blew Lambda away. A smirked then, though he was still debating internally. Gamma suddenly returned and said,

"Well, this place is going to hell in a minute." A sweatdropped, then looked at the makeshift telescope in his hand and had a flash of inspiration, quickly telling Gamma

"I've got an idea; I'll use this to distract her from whatever she's doing, and you go in with a massive blow. Sound good?" Gamma told him hesitantly

"Umm...you should probably look again." A did so, getting a feeling of dread. He looked and saw a large cloud of dust heading their way. He waited a minute and saw a large abomination composed of Pokemon corpses coming straight at them. A was no less than repulsed, then his fist clenched, cracking the glass he had used as a telescope.

"That fucking bitch..."

"She's the mad scientist of the Projects. Many of those that are usually sent to the facility you guys were at are used in her experiments. This is her latest creation, the Necro Behemoth. Composed out of over a thousand Pokemon, all technically alive, but alive only by artificial means." A stated with a mix of horror and disgust

"This is absolutely despicable, a disgrace to all things good and natural." Gamma told him dryly

"Welcome to her world." A replied

"I don't like it. Where do I leave?" Gamma stated

"By putting an end to that thing." A retorted

"I said where, not how, but I guess it'll have to do."

"Can you fight?" A nodded and replied

"Yeah." Gamma grinned and told him

"Then let's see what you've got, human." A smirked and made the shift into his human form, drawing his and his father's blades, looking at the abomination in an attempt to discern a weak point he could immediately take advantage of. Gamma smirked and said

"I don't think it has an obvious weak spot. It's composed of corpses." A retorted

"Then each individual corpse will have its individual weak points, which Lambda will no doubt have tried to cover up. But every patch is its own weak point." Gamma pointed out

"That's a lot of weak spots." A stated

"And that's the problem with abominations like this." Gamma replied

"Still, our job is to eliminate such abominations." A nodded and quickly looked again, trying to find one of the patches. He then saw Lambda on top of the beast and appeared to give it an order. It began to charge even faster towards, then and Gamma quickly used Accelerated Movement to intercept it. A did the same, though he didn't immediately attack. The beast reached them and spat out large red globs of a strange substance at them. A jumped back, knowing instinctively that he wouldn't want to be touched by whatever it spat out. Gamma looked at it and said

"That's not blood." A nodded, agreeing.

"It's probably some kind of poison." Gamma added

"Or acid." A concluded

"Either way, not something we wanna touch."

"Alright. Pincer maneuver." A paused, asking

"Uh... what?" Gamma explained

"I attack from one side and you attack from the opposite side." Understanding now, A replied

"Oh, okay. On your mark." Gamma waited for the monster to lunge for them and called out

"Now!" A dashed to the right while Gamma took the left, keeping his blades ready. Gamma then swung his blade down onto the beast, cutting into the side of its head. A swung Savior high and Bloodclaw low, with Savior slicing into what he took to be the neck and Bloodclaw into what he believed to be the torso. The beast growled and stumbled. It then stirred again and the wounds began to heal. Gamma sighed, remarking

"Had a feeling. However, this thing might have limited intelligence." A replied

"That'd make sense; Lambda probably doesn't want her creations challenging her authority- beyond Psi, but that can't be helped- so it would follow that they're not intelligent enough to think beyond killing whatever stands in its way."

"Let's hope she hasn't made more of these. These are at least a seven hundred corpses." A scowled at that, but didn't lash out in his anger, forcing himself to keep in control. The beast then looked at them and fired off a large purple blast. A held up Bloodclaw to absorb it. The sword absorbed it, but A noticed that it stopped absorbing it and then fired it away. Gamma explained

"It's tainted. That's not good." A grunted, annoyed.

"That figures. Is it possible Lambda tailored this thing specifically to fight against me? Maybe that's why it's composed of hundreds of corpses, to nullify the powers I can throw at it." Gamma shook his head, answering

"I doubt that." A accepted the answer, asking further

"Okay. So, what now?"

"We hit it really hard." A nodded and asked

"Sounds good. Where do you think we should hit it?" Gamma answered

"Disable the limbs."

"Got it!" A jumped hard, aiming at the arm. The beast looked at him and fired a beam at him. A used a burst of wind from Savior to avoid it, then slashed at the creature's arm with Bloodclaw. The blade cut cleanly through and the arm fell to the ground. A took a moment to observe and then saw the corpses dismantle from the arm and crawl back into the body proper and the arm was replaced by a new one composed of new corpses. A grimaced in absolute disgust, and it took everything he had not to vomit. Gamma asked

"You okay?" A told him

"Just... absolutely, utterly repulsed. Lambda needs to die." Gamma grunted and looked back to the beast, saying

"Looks like it works like a hive." A added

"An unnatural hive. So cutting it isn't going to work; we need a new tactic." Gamma remarked

"There has to be a core or something." A nodded, finding that reasonable.

"That makes sense. It would most likely be somewhere in the actual center of the thing, so perhaps where a heart would be in a natural being." Gamma stated

"We need to cut deep into that thing." A asked

"How long is your blade?" Gamma answered

"Six feet, one hundred and fifty pounds of pure metal." A paused, remarking

"Don't know if that's deep enough, but it's worth a shot. I'll distract it and you go for the core. Got it?" Gamma replied

"This beast is huge! My sword will just lacerate it. My attacks will do more damage. Still, I'm down for the plan." A nodded and took a few steps back, then created a fireball and hurled it at the creature's head, yelling

"Hey ugly! Down here!" The creature was hit and reformed. It looked at A and began to fire off another beam. A jumped back and taunted

"You couldn't hit the broadside of the planet!" The creature suddenly opened up multiple opening on its body and fired off many beams. A worked to avoid them all, which wasn't actually too hard since they were spread shots. When they ended, he simply laughed at the creature's attempt. The monster then began to suck in air, which was drawing A into its gaping maw.

A lifted his arm in front of his face to protect against the pelting sands, then used his power to pull up some rock, from which he made braces that kept him in place. Suddenly, Gamma came down with a powerful slash and cut the beast in half. A quickly looked for anything that resembled a core. That's when he noticed a large black orb in the center of the bisection. A got rid of the rock braces and propelled himself with incredible speed directly at the orb, stabbing toward it with Savior.

Now his blade was suddenly wrapped up by a chain and he was pulled away from the core by Lambda. A then had to watch as the beast reformed. A growled and sent an enormous bolt of electricity down the chain and directly into Lambda as retaliation. Lambda quickly let go of the chain, not wanting to fall for the same trick again. A then yanked hard and sent her sickle and chain flying away. Lambda smiled and fired off a Void Cannon. A flew to the side and dropped the remainder of the distance back to the sand. Lambda quickly went for her sickles and chain and then landed on the ground. She asked

"So, trying to stop me?" A spat

"And your bastard creation!" Lambda smirked.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A shouted

"No! It's hideous, an abomination that should never have been conceived even as an idea!" Lambda ignored that, telling him

"It was a passion project. I needed a lot of test subjects. One for the base and hundreds more for to make up everything else." A growled, becoming increasingly angry at her mere presence and what it stood for.

"Do you know how much they scream when you kill them and bring them back with science? Their faces are locked in their beautiful visages of fear. It wasn't easy to get the formula right, but I say it paid off. They're dead but barely alive." A's fists tightened around the hilts of his swords, his anger growing with every despicable word she pronounced. Noticing this, Lambda asked tauntingly

"Getting mad?" A told her coldly

"You have no idea what that word even means right now. What I'm feeling cannot be adequately expressed by that term." Lambda smirked, saying

"Good. I hate seeing positive emotions from my prey." A had to laugh at that, replying

"Prey? Lady, I think you got this backwards!" Lambda retorted

"Then who is the predator?" A stated

"Well, it's certainly not you, and it's not me, either. Hell, you were never on the hit list, but you had to butt in." Lambda scoffed

"What a stupid concept. Anyone who isn't your ally should be killed. That's how life works." A argued

"Not the way I see it, and not the way nature sees it, thank Arceus." Lambda smirked and asked

"What are you going to do about it?" A answered

"Well, what I'd like to do is erase you and any trace of your presence from this planet. Since that's not gonna happen, I'll settle for killing you."

"You can't kill me." A shrugged, replying

"Maybe not, but damn if I'm not gonna try anyway." Lambda challenged

"Then stop talking." A scowled and dashed forward, sending a spray of sand in his wake. Lambda fired off a Void Cannon to get rid of the sand and keep A back, saying

"Too predictable. I'm the most intelligent of the Projects. I'm also very perceptive. I've also studied you and your friend's strategies and committed them to memory. I know all about your swords and what you're capable of." A smirked, stating

"You may know what I'm capable of, but you can't possibly know everything I'll do." Lambda shrugged.

"Perhaps, but you might not be able to touch me." A replied blandly

"We'll see about that." He started running again, then suddenly vanished, the sand no longer flying up in his wake.

"Cute effort." She got no response except for the pelting winds, and it seemed that he was gone, as there was no trace of him. Lambda's horn began to vibrate and she turned and fired off a Void Cannon to where it was telling her that danger was coming from.

It blew up on the ground and sent a spray of sand in the air, but nothing further seemed to occur, until she felt a stinging sensation and realized that there was a new stripe on her cheek. Lambda looked at him and smirked. She then suddenly shattered and vanished. A then felt the sand underneath him grow hot and could feel energy shooting upwards towards him. He swiftly transformed and teleported away. Lambda told him

"You think I can't find you." A stated

"I never said that." Lambda smirked and replied

"I'm aware of what you are and what you do. Don't think that intimidates me." A retorted

"Do you actually believe I'm trying to intimidate you?" Lambda replied

"From what I've researched, that's usually the first thing you try to do to very low success. You're not a true warrior, just a human resurrected because his Pokémon cried for him. Touching, but a really dumb reason to bring someone back. You are not a warrior like your comrades, folk that were born in strife and lived it. And I can defeat them. What makes you any more special?" A smirked, replying simply

"Nothing."

"And now you're lying." A argued

"Actually, I'm not. Like you said, they were born and raised through strife. I've had my moments here and there, but nothing on their caliber. It took a good talking to for me to realize that, but now that I do, I've been reevaluating some things." Lambda scoffed

"Nice story, but it doesn't matter." She then began to generate energy and released it in a wave. A vanished briefly before reappearing a short distance away from her, saying

"No, I guess not. Right now I'm trying to think of a strategy I've never used on you before that might work." Lambda retorted

"You and I have actually never fought." A shrugged, stating

"Not a true fight, I suppose. Only minor skirmishes." Lambda added

"Besides, fighting you was not my main goal." A retorted

"Nor was it my goal to fight you. But you insisted on getting in the way, so you have no one to blame but yourself."

Okay, that's a pretty good word cap for now; I'll have part four out as soon as I can manage it. And remember to let me know if you want more words or not. See you next time!