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Author's Warning: This chapter does contain some content that actually reaches the PG-13 rating I put on this story. It's only for a short scene, so I think it's all right for most people. Just keep that in mind.

Chapter Five: Interference
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"… In short, the Intradimensional rifts appearing between the spatial anomalies known as Mystery Dungeons are a phenomenon of unexplained proportions. Commonly known as Dungeon Links, these tears in the dimensional fabric occasionally appear within dungeons, serving as temporary spans across time and space variants allowing for instant traveling between dungeons that are far in proximity from each other.
As far as we can tell, these Links follow a set pattern, appearing in the same dungeons every time. It is unknown how these rifts were created, though several theories are in circulation, which will be discussed at another time.

We thank the esteemed explorer, Dusknoir, for sharing his vast knowledge on this matter, and his strange knowledge of next week's lunch schedule. And as a note to all employees, if anyone knows of this "Grovyle" Pokemon he's talking about, then please by all means, contact an administrator, it's getting annoying…."
Excerpt from the report of Trinity Isle Research and Archive associate, Alakazam, on the enigmatic Dungeon Link. Published approximately five and a half years ago.
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Leo found that the paralysis on his body had lifted, as he was blown backwards from the shattering portal. As he tried to get his bearings in his dizzied state, he was suddenly greeted with a grating, mechanical voice.

"I refuse! They can't possibly be that much of a threat!" the clearly masculine voice said. Leo cringed as the shrill sound of it was equal to a dozen chalkboards being scratched by razor blades.

"Priority code: detain, disinfect, dispose,"  the cold feminine voice was completely opposite from the prior voice.
Leo's vision slowly cleared, as it did, his jaw dropped at what he saw. An unholy lovechild of tank and crab stood in front of where the portal used to be, its sturdy, blue legs stretching up to give it a view of the area.

"Lugia's storm … w-what is that?" Jay asked, fear penetrating every syllable of his question. Neither Leo nor Kelly had the answer to his question, or had time to give him one, as the creature started to move again.

The giant crab tank swiftly turned around to face the stunned team, his blood red eyes looking at them for a moment before shifting to another object.

"You didn't say this would happen! Why didn't you tell me I'd have to do this?!" It wasn't a normal question, it was a crazed plea to an unknown entity.
In the midst of his confusion of nearly everything that was happening, Leo found an answer as to who "you" was when the cold, feminine voice from earlier spoke again.

"Infestation detected within proximity. Code: Sanitize, Expunge, Relocate."
The emotionless voice seemed to resonate from within the creature's discus-shaped head, seemingly acting as a guiding voice to its lost host.

"I-I can't! I can't kill them! Don't make me do it! Please!" the creature cried, its red eyes almost in tears.

"Malcompliance behaviors within Metagross: Wire unit will not be tolerated. Code: comply, control, counter, cauterize."

Leo cautiously backed away from the steel monster, which seemed to be in the midst of a mental breakdown. He gave a panicked glance to both of his teammates, who had the same idea as he did: get out of here without getting his attention.

"Contagions escaping containment area! Infection imminent! Code: cull, cleanse, clot," the voice shrieked as the Metagross shook his head in deranged disagreement.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I won't do it! Don't make me!" the giant Pokemon shrieked, pleading with the voice inside his head.

"When your mind has trapped you within itself, what else can you do but scream?"

The voice sent shivers down Leo's spine. He looked quickly to his teammates, shaking away the voice and the bad omens it brought whenever it spoke. It was time to leave, and no voice inside his head was going to stop them. With a nod from Jay, they all turned away from the malfunctioning Metagross and began to sprint to the nearest dungeon path out of the room.

"Biogen breach! Code: override, containment field initiate!" the controlling voice shouted as Wire gave one last, agonized scream.
Not one of the team turned around to look, though they didn't have a choice as they all ran face-first into a wall of invisible energy. The transparent wall rippled slightly as it bounced the members of Team Salient backwards, sending them sprawling on the ground.

Rubbing his sore nose, Leo dizzily turned around to see why they were trapped this time.
The Metagross unit shuddered, its four, metal legs stumbling around inside the ring of psychic energy it had created. Leo, you can't escape the psychopath who's trying to kill you by running away, that'd be too easy. How silly of me to forget, Leo grimly thought as the Pokemon who trapped them spoke.

"Testing, testing, one, two, three. Good, that's still functioning. Overriding my counter-part isn't always this successful. Now, what do I do with you three? Killing you is logical and disposing of your bodies has a ninety-two-point-five percent chance of success," the Metagross said, its voice, however, not sounding anything like the slightly crazed, male tone they'd heard seconds before.
Swallowing her fear, Kelly took a step forward to the Pokemon that was now possessed by it's own mind.

"What do you want? Why did you trap us here?" she asked, as the Metagross carefully eyed her.

"Your actions are causing complications to arise within our benefactor's campaign. We have been dispatched to neutralize the threat … well, at least I was. Wire wasn't so keen on accepting this mission, as you can tell," she said with indifference, as she began to circle around the team.

"Please don't! Please don't! Nexus, please don't!" Wire's distant voice continued to cry as Nexus repressed him further within his own mind.

"We haven't done anything though!" she exclaimed as the Metagross narrowed its eyes, clearly bypassing what she'd just said completely.

"You have willingly cooperated with enemies of the Colonies, and now feel free to take a look through the swiftly closing aperture that remains of your life. Engage!"

As soon as the last word passed through her voice processors, Leo, Kelly, and Jay were somehow lifted into the air by the Metagross and thrown violently against the energy barrier she had created.

He was sure he heard something inside his chest crack as he slid down to the ground, but he didn't have time to properly examine himself as Nexus charged at him at a speed Leo thought impossible to achieve.

He quickly ducked to the side as a giant steel-spiked foot planted itself in the barrier where his head was seconds before. Unable to grab his exploration bag on the ground without getting flattened, he continued to play chicken with the rushing Nexus.

"You are aiding the corruption! Can't you see?! You're collaborating with traitorrraaaaaaaaahhhh!" Nexus screamed as her body became enshrouded with electricity. She stopped her efforts to reduce Leo's skull to a waffle and shifted her attention to Kelly.

Kelly let loose another lightning attack from her charged fur as Nexus attempted to crush her with her legs. Leo groaned as a panting Jay quickly helped him to his feet.

"What's going on?!" Leo yelled as Kelly was psychically thrown into the barrier by Nexus, making her issue a pained yelp followed by a curse to Thundurus. She yelled in pain as she tried to run, lifting her left hind leg above the ground. Out of breath, Jay quickly mumbled something about his badge and escaping to Leo as he dashed to the opposite side of the death-ring.

Jay ran and scooped up his bag off the ground while Nexus was occupied with trying to permanently incapacitate Kelly, who was somehow able to still dodge the attacks despite her fractured hind leg, though the pain it caused her was sure to be immense.
As Jay turned his bag upside down and fervently looked for his badge, Leo tried to concentrate a Slash attack and simultaneously ignore the shooting pain in his chest.

Within seconds both sets of his claws became energized with the same feeling he felt before and he ran directly at Nexus, who was about to flatten an exhausted Kelly.
Whatever remained of his sane mind screamed that this was a horrible idea and that he was going to die in his foolish attempt to help her, but he pushed it aside as he leapt past Nexus's armored legs and onto the center of her head.

His claws still glowing with energy, Leo gripped onto the silver, X-shaped mustache on Nexus's face, holding on as he prayed that Kelly got herself to safety.
This action didn't go unnoticed by the possessed Metagross, who halted her execution of Kelly and proceeded to try and buck Leo off her head, screaming unsavory curses at him all the while.
All through this, the faint cries of Wire still emitted from the Metagross as he tried to regain control of his body.

Just as Leo felt as if he was going to see the apples he ate earlier again, Nexus raised one of her legs, used the spikes on the ends of it to pinch Leo's leg, and detached him from her face. His Slash-powered claws fading as his grip failed.

She dangled Leo in the air for a split second, as if deciding the most efficient way to break every bone in his body, before she raised her leg back and hurtled him at the psychic barrier.

Leo heard another audible crack as his ribs lit on fire. Yeah, definitely broken. Hu-rah, he thought morbidly as he painfully picked himself up.
He got to his feet and walked, thankful that his body was producing numbing adrenaline as he looked over to his teammates.
His rodeo with Nexus had lasted only a few seconds, but to Leo it felt like it had lasted hours.
Jay held his badge in his hands as he jabbed the center button repeatedly, but he was interrupted when Nexus's leg slammed into his back, knocking him to the ground and sent his badge skidding across the dirt.

"A predictable move for a Fighting type, taking the cowardly way out instead of facing up to the danger that threatens you and your teammates. I thought it would be the Charmeleon who tried to abandon ship first, but apparently I was wrong," Nexus sneered as she psychically picked up the Riolu and his badge until he was level with her face.

"There is no place in the world for cowards like you," she stated as she focused her mind to blast Jay backwards into the wall. She dropped his badge to the ground and smashed it with her spiked foot, the remains sparking slightly. Not sure of what he was doing, Leo leaped at Nexus, claws ready.
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"Nexus, stop! No!" Wire screamed from inside his own mind, as he watched his body produced a psychic field and tossed around the innocent Riolu like a kit's toy.

"You refused to cooperate and accomplish the task at hand, so I took the liberty of doing it for you. My guidance wasn't enough for you, it seems. You know how draining overriding you is on me, so don't think I'm doing this for my own reasons. It's for the best," Nexus responded to the trapped Metagross personality as she slammed his foot down, almost crushing the limping Kelly.

Wire said nothing as the Charmeleon ran forward to protect the Riolu, he watched as his front left leg straighten out and swing at the fire type's head.

Wire growled, "You can't kill them, Nexus. This is my body, not yours."
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Leo had just enough time to help Jay off the ground before he heard another roar from the steel crab. He turned around to face the creature only to catch a brief glimpse of one of its legs swinging toward his head.

Before he could react to the imminent threat, the limb connected. To Leo, it felt like a freight train had collided with the side of his head, or any other simile of intense pain.
Leo thought he would see stars, but an entire galaxy of supernovas filled his vision.

He couldn't hear anything beyond the intense ringing in his ears, and his own heartbeat. His heartbeats, combined with the flashes of white-hot pain from his skull were the only sensations telling him he wasn't yet dead.

Maybe it was his body's ability to heal remarkably fast, or just the adrenaline numbing the pain—Leo suspected the later—, but after what only seemed a minute, he recovered most of his senses of sight and hearing. His head still hurt felt like it had been used as a wreaking ball on a building filled with primed dynamite, but he staggered to his feet regardless.

The first thing he saw was Jay playing a deadly game of chicken with the Metagross's iron legs, deftly sprinting and changing direction as he ran around the beast. He suddenly stopped and slammed a glowing fist in the center of the "X" formed on its face.

The living computer let out a primal screech and let loose a Psychic attack at Jay. Leo watched his teammate get shoved into the dirt at sonic speeds. Nexus raised leg over Jay, and with no warning, she slammed it down.
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It took all of his remaining strength, but Wire managed to regain control of his front leg, and halt its downward trajectory centimeters from the bracing Riolu's face.

He managed to shove his limb away from the rescue team member, as a wave of agony washed over him. He felt his body's psychic powers activate as an infuriated Nexus hurtled the Riolu across the arena into the barrier. He fell to the dirt for a moment, as he tired and failed to get back up, refusing to give up the privilege of consciousness.

"This is treason, you know that? Of course you do. You may be the weaker of the two of us, but I know for a fact you're not defective. An incompetent moron, yes, but not defective. Our benefactors will not be pleased when they find out about your decision to forego their orders," Nexus scolded her counterpart, as Wire ignored her, and concentrated on forcing his body's Bullet Punch attack to miss the fatigued Jolteon by a hair.

"You can't keep this up, you know that, right? By the time my override of your body wears off, these pests' corpses will be picked clean by passing Mandibuzz. There is nothing you can do, Wire. I'm not bragging, it's an objective fact," she said, as she tore his leg away from his control and swung it at the Charmeleon. Wire wasn't able to stop it, but he managed to make the hit land hard on the Charmeleon's stomach instead of lopping his head clean off as Nexus had intended.

"You can't fight two battles at once, Nexus. I'll defeat myself if I must," Wire grunted, as he attempted to make his body fall to the ground.
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"We'll see about that, you half byte program," Nexus growled, as her body shuddered slightly.

Leo doubled over, as he stumbled out of range of the Metagross. Collasping to his hands and knees, he couldn't hold back the burning bile from his stomach, as he heaved most of what he'd eaten that day onto the dirt. Coughing hard, he tried to coax air back into his lungs.
He had no time to register the amount of pain he was in, as he saw a circular shadow rise above him. His mind shut down and his body took over, instinctively forcing him to roll to the left on the ground.

The ground shook slightly as Nexus rammed one of her front legs into the spot where Leo's body had been a second before.
Just then, a bolt of lightning shot over his head. He heard Kelly let out a war-like cry and tackle the Metagross full force. She collided with the steel exterior of the Pokemon, her charged fur sending waves of electricity through the monster tank.

Nexus let out an involuntary yell as the energy coursed through her extremely conductive, steel body. Kelly fell to the ground in a heap, grimacing as she landed on her injured hind leg.

"Leo, … run," she gasped right before she was psychically hoisted into the air and brutally slammed into the barrier. Her limp form slid to the ground, she barely kept conscious as she slowly tried to get back up again.

Nexus surveyed her surroundings, apparently pleased at seeing both Jay and Kelly barely conscious, she turned her attention to Leo. He felt as if his body was paralyzed, he couldn't move, he couldn't flee, he couldn't help his friends, he couldn't do anything, but stare as Nexus slowly approached him like the grim reaper. Her precise movements and cold, locking, stare proved more then capable then turning causing Leo's legs to instinctively step backwards until his back was against the barrier.

"Charmeleon, you and your comrade's crimes merit capital punishment. My benefactor was very much displeased with the news of your team's actions in exposing one of our most successful espionage rings, and rescuing our prisoner of war," Nexus said, as she slowly closed the gap between them. Leo gulped in fear.

"I would have very much liked to converse with the Riolu instead, but I sense something … different about you. It's an intangible quality that makes you different then nearly every other Pokemon I've threatened before." She got close to him and lifted her body up. Her face soon became only inches away from his, her fiery eyes boring into his skull.

"Tell me, what makes you so different? Wait. Why don't I just take a look inside your mind and find out for myself?" she said as her eyes flashed golden for an instant. Leo shut his eyes and braced for whatever she was about to do to him, but after a few seconds of relatively nothing happening he gained the courage to open his eyes.

As soon as his eyes made contact with hers, he knew he fell for her trap. He couldn't move at all, but he could feel her, casually browsing through his memories and the events of the past few days, unable to do anything to stop her. She ignored his efforts and occasionally mumbled to herself as when she came across something interesting.

"My, my, you have some serious issues: major amnesia of the cerebrum, potential schizophrenia, and countless other problems. I think I might be doing the world a favor by killing a developing psychopath like you," she said dully as he felt her leaf through through the pages of his mind

"Ah. Here it is," she said wickedly as she found what she was looking for. Leo fought one last time to force her form his head, but Nexus merely chuckled.

"What's so horrible that you can't even trust your own teammates with it? Did you murder someone? You did, didn't you?" she guessed with a metallic laugh.

Leo felt his anger rising. The only people allowed in my head are me, and a chorus of haunting voices! No one else!
As if something heard his thought, he felt the paralysis of his right arm fade just enough for him to regain control. Not about to waste the opportunity, he quickly produced a sloppily made Slash attack, and brought his energized claws down onto her armored face.

The possessed Metagross screamed in pain as she backed away from the Charmeleon slightly. With her concentration broken, Leo was freed from her psychic paralysis. He tried to run, but his legs wouldn't respond out of sheer exhaustion.

Nexus yelled and immediately grabbed Leo with her Psychic and slammed him against the barrier. She raised her left leg and pressed it against his chest.
If she could, she would have smiled as she pushed her leg into him, squishing him between the barrier and her foot.

"You know what's funny? I'm possibly the most advanced collection of knowledge on the entire planet that's ever existed, and I'm stuck doing a filthy bounty hunter's job catching you idiots. Even though you're about to die, I feel compelled to impart some of my knowledge onto your pathetic mind before you go," she said, enunciating each syllable with pure loathing.

"Did you know? Pressure," she said as she pushed Leo against the field.

"is the ratio of force," Nexus pressed harder against the pinned Charmeleon,

"to the area over which that force is distributed. Interesting fact, no?" Nexus gloated as Leo's entire chest began to feel the surface of the sun as Nexus continued to ramble on how he and his worthless friends would soon be destroyed.

His ribs sent lightning to his nerves, forcing tears into his eyes as he tried not to pass out.
Air swiftly became a luxury he could no longer afford as the Metagross slowly crushed the life out of him. He faintly heard someone --- Kelly, possibly --- yelling his name in the distance, but he knew she was in no state to fight, let alone save his life.

His as lungs began to suffocate; he felt his heart speed up, using his remaining oxygen to power his mind for one last time. All this time the fire in his chest kept building up until it felt like someone has ignited a furnace inside his lungs.
The heat grew hotter and expanded in his lungs. In his weakening state, he didn't know what his body was doing, but simply went along with it. An instant later, the fire in his chest ached to be released; it rose from his lungs and burned in his throat.

Not caring about the potential consequences, he opened his mouth and exhaled the remaining air from his lungs.
The heat suddenly forced its way from throat and out his mouth, combusting into a ball of fire as it touched the air. Leo's head jerked back from the recoil as the newly formed Ember attack collided with Nexus's face, exploding in a flash of fire and ash.

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Nexus screeched, both inside and outside of her mind, as she staggered backwards from Leo, releasing her death grip on him. She swung her head side to side trying to alleviate the burn.
Wire would have grinned if he had a physical body to do so, the Charmeleon had performed better then he'd thought. I can still end this on my terms.

He'd had enough of this fight. He had to end it before she killed one of them. Wire concentrated his psyche and tackled his distracted counter-part with every bit of his mental strength. Nexus was broadsided by the onslaught from her physical and mental fronts, she couldn't repress Wire any longer as his psyche rushed at her.
Wire wrestled for control of —what was rightfully his— body. He felt his limbs swing about in all directions as control over them quickly shifted from him to her and back again.
He heard Nexus scream and felt her resisting to give up her influence over his body. Just as he almost tipped the balance of the battle against her, she pushed him back in a fit of hellish fury.

Wire felt was she ripped control of his legs, and charged forward at the Charmeleon who was still recovering from his last altercation with her. There was no warning, no "any last words?", no threats, no chance of a miraculous escape, as the spiked appendage slashed downwards onto the Charmeleon.

Wire let out an enraged, feral roar and lunged at Nexus. She'd made him kill the Charmeleon in cold blood. She'd taken an innocent life, now she'd pay for his blood.
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Surprisingly, Leo didn't feel the initial attack, it didn't seem real. Only a faint twinge of discomfort reminded him that he'd been hit at all. He put one foot forward, his lungs unable to breathe for some odd reason.

He planted his left foot next to his right, his legs felt like they were being turned into gelatin. He heard someone shrieking his name, or at least he thought it was his name, he couldn't really tell as all the sound gradually turned into a annoying ringing noise.

He looked around for where the shout had come from. Straight ahead was a Metagross busy having a spasm as electricity laced its form, now why was it here? Was he friendly? Leo couldn't remember.

He turned his head to the left. He saw Jay dizzily getting up from the ground. Wait. Why was he on the ground? Had he been attacked by something?
He shrugged his strangely heavy shoulders in confusion; he would ask him about that later when they got back to town.

Finally, he looked to the right where Kelly was shouting at him, or at least, he thought she was. Her mouth was moving, but no sound came out. She suddenly started running toward him … in slow motion?  Why was she running in slow motion? That didn't make sense, only Jay was allowed to slow down time since he was the team leader, that was his job. She'd probably get into trouble with the Magnemite for disobeying the team rules.

Leo saw that she was trying to say something to him again as she slowly made her way across the area to him, ignoring the pain her back leg brought her. Why was she in such a hurry? Why was her leg broken? What was her problem?

That's it! She just wants to congratulate me on winning the flying contest! Jumpluff never stood a chance against me, Leo thought as his body suddenly felt a lot lighter. He felt like he was a cloud, free of the imposing law of gravity.
He waved to Kelly, a grin plastered on his face as he felt his legs disappear. He floated down until his knees touched the ground. Who needs legs when I can fly? Leo thought giddily as he let out a laugh at his own joke.

Leo felt something wet and sticky pooling around his knees. Looking down, he saw that it was only a growing puddle blood. He was glad it wasn't Kelly's drink he's sipped at the café, that'd be horrible.

Then it struck him. Is that blood? He slowly lowered his gaze downwards to his chest. That's blood. A long, jagged, gash made it's way across Leo's chest like a serpent. That's … blood.  Upon closer inspection it seemed to run from his lower ribcage to his stomach, it was deep, and it was leaking a constant waterfall of crimson. That's my blood!

As soon as it became real to him, the fragile air of calm his brain struggled to project to keep his heartbeat low shattered. Leo's pulse nearly soared as he clutched the wound with his claws, trying to attach his torn scales and flesh back together.

Adrenaline could only numb away so much pain and give so much false energy before it failed like everything else. The true pain of being brutally sliced open and the sudden weakness of major blood loss hit him like one of the Metagross's legs. Shock firmly gripped his body as Leo fell face first to the ground, unable to move a muscle.

Time seemed to catch up with him as Kelly suddenly appeared at his side and gingerly turned his head so that he was looking up. He felt his entire body suddenly become cold; shock was taking its toll on him.

Leo faintly saw the color in her yellow-furred face drain into a dull grey, as the world around him fade to black and white. Kelly seemed to be frantically looking around for anything to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing close to them except a battered pink scarf from her satchel.

She gently placed the scarf on the wound, and vainly tried to stabilize the gash, bloodying it and her paws up in the process.
As his sight began to fade to black, he saw her eyes well up with tears. She screamed something at him, but he couldn't hear her.
His head fell back onto the dirt with a thud. The last thing he saw before his vision turned black was the flame on his tail flicker weakly and go out with a puff of grey smoke.
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To say Leo felt surprised when he opened his eyes again would be a gross understatement. He gingerly looked around, making sure this wasn't some sort of fever dream his brain decided to inflict him with as his body died.

If it weren't the fact that everything in the area was still black and white, and that nothing was moving, he would almost say it was real.
Oh, and the fact that he was looking at his own bleeding body on the ground made him think it was slightly unreal.

Looking over the scene, he was just what a dire predicament they all where in: Jay, barely standing, about to be squished by the out of control Metagross, and Kelly, her hind leg definitely fractured, looked seconds away from passing out from exhaustion as her frozen body leaned over his.

"It's a sad sight to see, isn't it? Your friends need your help, but here you are, dead and of no practical use to anyone. How disappointing, but it'd be a lie to say I wasn't anticipating such a poor performance from someone of your species," the cold voice chided as Leo looked around the frozen arena for the source of the demon who haunted his mind.
He didn't have to look far; directly in front of him a ball of purple mist formed out of the air. As quickly as it appeared, it dissipated, leaving only a floating, purple, witch hat-wearing Pokemon in its wake.

The creature turned to face him and flashed a sly smile, "Hello, Leo. It's rare that I get the pleasure of conversing directly with one of my candidates, but I'm afraid there is no time for pleasantries," the Pokemon told him as it chanted a few strange words, distorting the frozen world around it until it was a completely different place.

From what he could see, he and the ghost were standing in the middle of a frozen, city market place, far bigger then anything he'd seen in Loyalty. The scores of Pokemon around them stopped in place as the ghost floated around them.

"Do you know why I recommend you to my employers? I'll spare you the process of guessing the wrong answer. It was simply because you had certain … desirable qualities that others … lacked. It wasn't because you had any special powers, intelligence, or anything remarkable about you at all, because you are, in all aspects of the word, average. Nothing special. But, it was because you somehow arrived in this world, that you proved you might be of use to my plan, human," the ghost went on, changing the landscape once again.

This time they'd arrived on top of a ice capped mountain. Time may have been frozen, but Leo could still feel the utter cold of the peak.

"Your performance so far has been decent; make no mistake, my friend. The … intrusion with that Metagross was unplanned, but you failing wasn't the outcome I'd foreseen. And believe me, you failed miserably," he revealed as he forced the world to distort and reform again. This time they were in the middle of a large grass courtyard, with tall stone buildings all around.

"However, your performance is still better then your … competition, whose observations were, for the most part, terminated due to … regulatory issues." The Mismagius stared at him, his eyes glowing an eerie golden.

"It is in that context that I have argued with my employers to … preserve your team members and yourself … for a time," he vaguely "explained", though Leo couldn't understand what the Pokemon was going on about. Candidates? Employers? What the heck is he talking about?

Leo shut his eyes as the courtyard around them flashed white. Suddenly, he was back, inside his own body once again. Kelly was still leaning over him, and he still had a bloody gash running across his chest. He couldn't see his "friend" but he could still hear him.

"Don't expect, Leo, that I'm going to be playing guardian angel for you again, because the next time an incident befalls you, I'm just going to close the observation and terminate your application of potential employment. I'm sure my employers would understand if I said you failed again," the invisible Pokemon warned as another flash blinded his eyes. It felt as if his chest was plunged into an icy bath as a white aura enshrouded it. The wound slowly closed itself together, leaving only a faint white line running across his scales. He saw the same happening with Jay and Kelly's injuries.

"I must go now as many matters still require my attention. Someone will be along for you shortly. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to be careful, otherwise I will have to … terminate your observation prematurely. I'd rather not have to perform another direct intervention like this again. Before I leave you, there is still one virus that I have to … sanitize," he said, as he chanted another string of words.  Leo fell unconscious as soon as they hit his ears.
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Wire was in pain, no doubt about it. He and Nexus had been fighting for control for about five straight minutes, a small amount of time normally, but an enormous length to have your mind continually fight another.

He sometimes wondered how they'd become merged in the first place. He had memories of being a normal enough Metang, but then something happened. Something he couldn't, rather, Nexus wouldn't let him remember. He'd remembered flying through the air as a Metang one moment, and the next moment, a smoking heap in a crater as a Metagross with her talking to him in his head.

He'd constantly clashed with her ever since she'd proven herself to a highly narcissistic, sadistic, and psychopathic personality. She'd influence his mind when he disagreed with her demands, repress memories of his family and loved ones, shut off his sense of direction, and threaten to delete his personality completely, however she seemed incapable of taking complete control for a extended period of time.

Her powers of influence "guiding" him, was what lead him to blindly working for this Pokemon she referred to only as "our benefactor".  This wasn't his first mission on behalf of her benefactor, but he'd never had to kill anyone before.

As cold and calculating as their species were known to be, he had a sense of morality, and refused to go along with her wishes for once.
That string of encompassing thoughts was what brought him to this very moment, with his personality clashing against hers for complete, undisputed control over the body.
He'd often dreamt of this moment when he would finally get the chance to overthrow the monster that shared his mind.
Wire wondered why he'd had enough time to think about all these things that had happened to him since he in the middle of preparing yet another psychic attack to go against Nexus. Something isn't right here, he thought as time seemed to slow.

"Well done, it only took you two minutes to figure that one out. Perhaps you aren't as simple minded as your friend over there has you painted out to be," a bone-chilling voice said, a chorus of slow clapping echoed throughout the Metagross's headpiece, mocking him.

"Who are you and how are you in here?" Wire asked. Suddenly, the clapping ceased.

"Very astute of you, Wire, but you and I both know I can't answer those. However, you may call me your mutual friend, as it were. I've come here with a simple offer from my employers, one that has almost no negative consequences on your part. You've proven yourself a rational and resourceful Pokemon, so I don't think you'll have any trouble in realizing that you will never get this kind of offer again."

"What's the catch? There's always a catch. Tell me." Wire asked, trying to maintain the false appearance of confidence.

"Hmmm, you really do have a brain after all. I'll tell you what, Wire, I will sweeten the deal for you. If you accept the offer, I will do you the favor of … relieving you of the … conflicting ideals that plague you. I cannot guarantee this offer for long, so I suggest you think very carefully about your decision."

"I accept. Just, get rid of her. Please." Wire sighed inwardly; he just knew this wouldn't end well.

"I will do my best, my friend. Patience is a virtue you must have in this line of work. Before you get your extreme psyche makeover, I have a favor that must be done."

"Well, what is it?" he asked, wanting to get this thing's "favor" out of the way.

"You are skilled with teleportation, correct? If so, then I ask you transport your former combatants to a location, I will disclose shortly."

"What?! You want me to teleport them?! They're almost dead! If I'm going to teleport them somewhere, it better be to the best healer in the world!" he shouted.

"Your concern for them is unnecessary. I have taken care of that problem beforehand; you do not need to worry. Now, do as I say, Metagross."

"Y-yes, of course." Wire stuttered, if this was what it took to be free of Nexus forever, he'd do whatever he needed to do.

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Needless to say, that many of Loyalty Square's populace who happened to be in the market mid-afternoon panicked when a sudden white flash overtook the entirety of the square. When the flash dissipated, it became clear that there were three unconscious forms lying on the ground that weren't there before.

Some called Gear and his units, some went for the guild's healers, some just watched in morbid curiosity from the sidelines as the dramatic scene unfolded in front of them.

The Magnemites were the first to the spot, all too eager to drag them away to prison for no sound reason. Fortunately, a team of Pokemon made up of a Grovyle, an Absol, and a Flygon kept the units from carrying out their corrupt deed until Gear himself showed up.

After promising punishment to his units, he reluctantly got their help, as with the Grovyle's team to carry the injured Pokemon into the more comfortable rooms in the jail under Gear's supervision, where they could recover undisturbed by the citizens and Magnemite alike until they were well enough to answer the many questions he had for them.
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End Chapter Five

Description
Author's Warning: This chapter does contain some content that actually reaches the PG-13 rating I put on this story. It's only for a short scene, so I think it's all right for most people. Just keep that in mind.

Chapter Five: Interference
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"… In short, the Intradimensional rifts appearing between the spatial anomalies known as Mystery Dungeons are a phenomenon of unexplained proportions. Commonly known as Dungeon Links, these tears in the dimensional fabric occasionally appear within dungeons, serving as temporary spans across time and space variants allowing for instant traveling between dungeons that are far in proximity from each other.
As far as we can tell, these Links follow a set pattern, appearing in the same dungeons every time. It is unknown how these rifts were created, though several theories are in circulation, which will be discussed at another time.

We thank the esteemed explorer, Dusknoir, for sharing his vast knowledge on this matter, and his strange knowledge of next week's lunch schedule. And as a note to all employees, if anyone knows of this "Grovyle" Pokemon he's talking about, then please by all means, contact an administrator, it's getting annoying…."
Excerpt from the report of Trinity Isle Research and Archive associate, Alakazam, on the enigmatic Dungeon Link. Published approximately five and a half years ago.
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Leo found that the paralysis on his body had lifted, as he was blown backwards from the shattering portal. As he tried to get his bearings in his dizzied state, he was suddenly greeted with a grating, mechanical voice.

"I refuse! They can't possibly be that much of a threat!" the clearly masculine voice said. Leo cringed as the shrill sound of it was equal to a dozen chalkboards being scratched by razor blades.

"Priority code: detain, disinfect, dispose,"  the cold feminine voice was completely opposite from the prior voice.
Leo's vision slowly cleared, as it did, his jaw dropped at what he saw. An unholy lovechild of tank and crab stood in front of where the portal used to be, its sturdy, blue legs stretching up to give it a view of the area.

"Lugia's storm … w-what is that?" Jay asked, fear penetrating every syllable of his question. Neither Leo nor Kelly had the answer to his question, or had time to give him one, as the creature started to move again.

The giant crab tank swiftly turned around to face the stunned team, his blood red eyes looking at them for a moment before shifting to another object.

"You didn't say this would happen! Why didn't you tell me I'd have to do this?!" It wasn't a normal question, it was a crazed plea to an unknown entity.
In the midst of his confusion of nearly everything that was happening, Leo found an answer as to who "you" was when the cold, feminine voice from earlier spoke again.

"Infestation detected within proximity. Code: Sanitize, Expunge, Relocate."
The emotionless voice seemed to resonate from within the creature's discus-shaped head, seemingly acting as a guiding voice to its lost host.

"I-I can't! I can't kill them! Don't make me do it! Please!" the creature cried, its red eyes almost in tears.

"Malcompliance behaviors within Metagross: Wire unit will not be tolerated. Code: comply, control, counter, cauterize."

Leo cautiously backed away from the steel monster, which seemed to be in the midst of a mental breakdown. He gave a panicked glance to both of his teammates, who had the same idea as he did: get out of here without getting his attention.

"Contagions escaping containment area! Infection imminent! Code: cull, cleanse, clot," the voice shrieked as the Metagross shook his head in deranged disagreement.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I won't do it! Don't make me!" the giant Pokemon shrieked, pleading with the voice inside his head.

"When your mind has trapped you within itself, what else can you do but scream?"

The voice sent shivers down Leo's spine. He looked quickly to his teammates, shaking away the voice and the bad omens it brought whenever it spoke. It was time to leave, and no voice inside his head was going to stop them. With a nod from Jay, they all turned away from the malfunctioning Metagross and began to sprint to the nearest dungeon path out of the room.

"Biogen breach! Code: override, containment field initiate!" the controlling voice shouted as Wire gave one last, agonized scream.
Not one of the team turned around to look, though they didn't have a choice as they all ran face-first into a wall of invisible energy. The transparent wall rippled slightly as it bounced the members of Team Salient backwards, sending them sprawling on the ground.

Rubbing his sore nose, Leo dizzily turned around to see why they were trapped this time.
The Metagross unit shuddered, its four, metal legs stumbling around inside the ring of psychic energy it had created. Leo, you can't escape the psychopath who's trying to kill you by running away, that'd be too easy. How silly of me to forget, Leo grimly thought as the Pokemon who trapped them spoke.

"Testing, testing, one, two, three. Good, that's still functioning. Overriding my counter-part isn't always this successful. Now, what do I do with you three? Killing you is logical and disposing of your bodies has a ninety-two-point-five percent chance of success," the Metagross said, its voice, however, not sounding anything like the slightly crazed, male tone they'd heard seconds before.
Swallowing her fear, Kelly took a step forward to the Pokemon that was now possessed by it's own mind.

"What do you want? Why did you trap us here?" she asked, as the Metagross carefully eyed her.

"Your actions are causing complications to arise within our benefactor's campaign. We have been dispatched to neutralize the threat … well, at least I was. Wire wasn't so keen on accepting this mission, as you can tell," she said with indifference, as she began to circle around the team.

"Please don't! Please don't! Nexus, please don't!" Wire's distant voice continued to cry as Nexus repressed him further within his own mind.

"We haven't done anything though!" she exclaimed as the Metagross narrowed its eyes, clearly bypassing what she'd just said completely.

"You have willingly cooperated with enemies of the Colonies, and now feel free to take a look through the swiftly closing aperture that remains of your life. Engage!"

As soon as the last word passed through her voice processors, Leo, Kelly, and Jay were somehow lifted into the air by the Metagross and thrown violently against the energy barrier she had created.

He was sure he heard something inside his chest crack as he slid down to the ground, but he didn't have time to properly examine himself as Nexus charged at him at a speed Leo thought impossible to achieve.

He quickly ducked to the side as a giant steel-spiked foot planted itself in the barrier where his head was seconds before. Unable to grab his exploration bag on the ground without getting flattened, he continued to play chicken with the rushing Nexus.

"You are aiding the corruption! Can't you see?! You're collaborating with traitorrraaaaaaaaahhhh!" Nexus screamed as her body became enshrouded with electricity. She stopped her efforts to reduce Leo's skull to a waffle and shifted her attention to Kelly.

Kelly let loose another lightning attack from her charged fur as Nexus attempted to crush her with her legs. Leo groaned as a panting Jay quickly helped him to his feet.

"What's going on?!" Leo yelled as Kelly was psychically thrown into the barrier by Nexus, making her issue a pained yelp followed by a curse to Thundurus. She yelled in pain as she tried to run, lifting her left hind leg above the ground. Out of breath, Jay quickly mumbled something about his badge and escaping to Leo as he dashed to the opposite side of the death-ring.

Jay ran and scooped up his bag off the ground while Nexus was occupied with trying to permanently incapacitate Kelly, who was somehow able to still dodge the attacks despite her fractured hind leg, though the pain it caused her was sure to be immense.
As Jay turned his bag upside down and fervently looked for his badge, Leo tried to concentrate a Slash attack and simultaneously ignore the shooting pain in his chest.

Within seconds both sets of his claws became energized with the same feeling he felt before and he ran directly at Nexus, who was about to flatten an exhausted Kelly.
Whatever remained of his sane mind screamed that this was a horrible idea and that he was going to die in his foolish attempt to help her, but he pushed it aside as he leapt past Nexus's armored legs and onto the center of her head.

His claws still glowing with energy, Leo gripped onto the silver, X-shaped mustache on Nexus's face, holding on as he prayed that Kelly got herself to safety.
This action didn't go unnoticed by the possessed Metagross, who halted her execution of Kelly and proceeded to try and buck Leo off her head, screaming unsavory curses at him all the while.
All through this, the faint cries of Wire still emitted from the Metagross as he tried to regain control of his body.

Just as Leo felt as if he was going to see the apples he ate earlier again, Nexus raised one of her legs, used the spikes on the ends of it to pinch Leo's leg, and detached him from her face. His Slash-powered claws fading as his grip failed.

She dangled Leo in the air for a split second, as if deciding the most efficient way to break every bone in his body, before she raised her leg back and hurtled him at the psychic barrier.

Leo heard another audible crack as his ribs lit on fire. Yeah, definitely broken. Hu-rah, he thought morbidly as he painfully picked himself up.
He got to his feet and walked, thankful that his body was producing numbing adrenaline as he looked over to his teammates.
His rodeo with Nexus had lasted only a few seconds, but to Leo it felt like it had lasted hours.
Jay held his badge in his hands as he jabbed the center button repeatedly, but he was interrupted when Nexus's leg slammed into his back, knocking him to the ground and sent his badge skidding across the dirt.

"A predictable move for a Fighting type, taking the cowardly way out instead of facing up to the danger that threatens you and your teammates. I thought it would be the Charmeleon who tried to abandon ship first, but apparently I was wrong," Nexus sneered as she psychically picked up the Riolu and his badge until he was level with her face.

"There is no place in the world for cowards like you," she stated as she focused her mind to blast Jay backwards into the wall. She dropped his badge to the ground and smashed it with her spiked foot, the remains sparking slightly. Not sure of what he was doing, Leo leaped at Nexus, claws ready.
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"Nexus, stop! No!" Wire screamed from inside his own mind, as he watched his body produced a psychic field and tossed around the innocent Riolu like a kit's toy.

"You refused to cooperate and accomplish the task at hand, so I took the liberty of doing it for you. My guidance wasn't enough for you, it seems. You know how draining overriding you is on me, so don't think I'm doing this for my own reasons. It's for the best," Nexus responded to the trapped Metagross personality as she slammed his foot down, almost crushing the limping Kelly.

Wire said nothing as the Charmeleon ran forward to protect the Riolu, he watched as his front left leg straighten out and swing at the fire type's head.

Wire growled, "You can't kill them, Nexus. This is my body, not yours."
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Leo had just enough time to help Jay off the ground before he heard another roar from the steel crab. He turned around to face the creature only to catch a brief glimpse of one of its legs swinging toward his head.

Before he could react to the imminent threat, the limb connected. To Leo, it felt like a freight train had collided with the side of his head, or any other simile of intense pain.
Leo thought he would see stars, but an entire galaxy of supernovas filled his vision.

He couldn't hear anything beyond the intense ringing in his ears, and his own heartbeat. His heartbeats, combined with the flashes of white-hot pain from his skull were the only sensations telling him he wasn't yet dead.

Maybe it was his body's ability to heal remarkably fast, or just the adrenaline numbing the pain—Leo suspected the later—, but after what only seemed a minute, he recovered most of his senses of sight and hearing. His head still hurt felt like it had been used as a wreaking ball on a building filled with primed dynamite, but he staggered to his feet regardless.

The first thing he saw was Jay playing a deadly game of chicken with the Metagross's iron legs, deftly sprinting and changing direction as he ran around the beast. He suddenly stopped and slammed a glowing fist in the center of the "X" formed on its face.

The living computer let out a primal screech and let loose a Psychic attack at Jay. Leo watched his teammate get shoved into the dirt at sonic speeds. Nexus raised leg over Jay, and with no warning, she slammed it down.
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It took all of his remaining strength, but Wire managed to regain control of his front leg, and halt its downward trajectory centimeters from the bracing Riolu's face.

He managed to shove his limb away from the rescue team member, as a wave of agony washed over him. He felt his body's psychic powers activate as an infuriated Nexus hurtled the Riolu across the arena into the barrier. He fell to the dirt for a moment, as he tired and failed to get back up, refusing to give up the privilege of consciousness.

"This is treason, you know that? Of course you do. You may be the weaker of the two of us, but I know for a fact you're not defective. An incompetent moron, yes, but not defective. Our benefactors will not be pleased when they find out about your decision to forego their orders," Nexus scolded her counterpart, as Wire ignored her, and concentrated on forcing his body's Bullet Punch attack to miss the fatigued Jolteon by a hair.

"You can't keep this up, you know that, right? By the time my override of your body wears off, these pests' corpses will be picked clean by passing Mandibuzz. There is nothing you can do, Wire. I'm not bragging, it's an objective fact," she said, as she tore his leg away from his control and swung it at the Charmeleon. Wire wasn't able to stop it, but he managed to make the hit land hard on the Charmeleon's stomach instead of lopping his head clean off as Nexus had intended.

"You can't fight two battles at once, Nexus. I'll defeat myself if I must," Wire grunted, as he attempted to make his body fall to the ground.
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"We'll see about that, you half byte program," Nexus growled, as her body shuddered slightly.

Leo doubled over, as he stumbled out of range of the Metagross. Collasping to his hands and knees, he couldn't hold back the burning bile from his stomach, as he heaved most of what he'd eaten that day onto the dirt. Coughing hard, he tried to coax air back into his lungs.
He had no time to register the amount of pain he was in, as he saw a circular shadow rise above him. His mind shut down and his body took over, instinctively forcing him to roll to the left on the ground.

The ground shook slightly as Nexus rammed one of her front legs into the spot where Leo's body had been a second before.
Just then, a bolt of lightning shot over his head. He heard Kelly let out a war-like cry and tackle the Metagross full force. She collided with the steel exterior of the Pokemon, her charged fur sending waves of electricity through the monster tank.

Nexus let out an involuntary yell as the energy coursed through her extremely conductive, steel body. Kelly fell to the ground in a heap, grimacing as she landed on her injured hind leg.

"Leo, … run," she gasped right before she was psychically hoisted into the air and brutally slammed into the barrier. Her limp form slid to the ground, she barely kept conscious as she slowly tried to get back up again.

Nexus surveyed her surroundings, apparently pleased at seeing both Jay and Kelly barely conscious, she turned her attention to Leo. He felt as if his body was paralyzed, he couldn't move, he couldn't flee, he couldn't help his friends, he couldn't do anything, but stare as Nexus slowly approached him like the grim reaper. Her precise movements and cold, locking, stare proved more then capable then turning causing Leo's legs to instinctively step backwards until his back was against the barrier.

"Charmeleon, you and your comrade's crimes merit capital punishment. My benefactor was very much displeased with the news of your team's actions in exposing one of our most successful espionage rings, and rescuing our prisoner of war," Nexus said, as she slowly closed the gap between them. Leo gulped in fear.

"I would have very much liked to converse with the Riolu instead, but I sense something … different about you. It's an intangible quality that makes you different then nearly every other Pokemon I've threatened before." She got close to him and lifted her body up. Her face soon became only inches away from his, her fiery eyes boring into his skull.

"Tell me, what makes you so different? Wait. Why don't I just take a look inside your mind and find out for myself?" she said as her eyes flashed golden for an instant. Leo shut his eyes and braced for whatever she was about to do to him, but after a few seconds of relatively nothing happening he gained the courage to open his eyes.

As soon as his eyes made contact with hers, he knew he fell for her trap. He couldn't move at all, but he could feel her, casually browsing through his memories and the events of the past few days, unable to do anything to stop her. She ignored his efforts and occasionally mumbled to herself as when she came across something interesting.

"My, my, you have some serious issues: major amnesia of the cerebrum, potential schizophrenia, and countless other problems. I think I might be doing the world a favor by killing a developing psychopath like you," she said dully as he felt her leaf through through the pages of his mind

"Ah. Here it is," she said wickedly as she found what she was looking for. Leo fought one last time to force her form his head, but Nexus merely chuckled.

"What's so horrible that you can't even trust your own teammates with it? Did you murder someone? You did, didn't you?" she guessed with a metallic laugh.

Leo felt his anger rising. The only people allowed in my head are me, and a chorus of haunting voices! No one else!
As if something heard his thought, he felt the paralysis of his right arm fade just enough for him to regain control. Not about to waste the opportunity, he quickly produced a sloppily made Slash attack, and brought his energized claws down onto her armored face.

The possessed Metagross screamed in pain as she backed away from the Charmeleon slightly. With her concentration broken, Leo was freed from her psychic paralysis. He tried to run, but his legs wouldn't respond out of sheer exhaustion.

Nexus yelled and immediately grabbed Leo with her Psychic and slammed him against the barrier. She raised her left leg and pressed it against his chest.
If she could, she would have smiled as she pushed her leg into him, squishing him between the barrier and her foot.

"You know what's funny? I'm possibly the most advanced collection of knowledge on the entire planet that's ever existed, and I'm stuck doing a filthy bounty hunter's job catching you idiots. Even though you're about to die, I feel compelled to impart some of my knowledge onto your pathetic mind before you go," she said, enunciating each syllable with pure loathing.

"Did you know? Pressure," she said as she pushed Leo against the field.

"is the ratio of force," Nexus pressed harder against the pinned Charmeleon,

"to the area over which that force is distributed. Interesting fact, no?" Nexus gloated as Leo's entire chest began to feel the surface of the sun as Nexus continued to ramble on how he and his worthless friends would soon be destroyed.

His ribs sent lightning to his nerves, forcing tears into his eyes as he tried not to pass out.
Air swiftly became a luxury he could no longer afford as the Metagross slowly crushed the life out of him. He faintly heard someone --- Kelly, possibly --- yelling his name in the distance, but he knew she was in no state to fight, let alone save his life.

His as lungs began to suffocate; he felt his heart speed up, using his remaining oxygen to power his mind for one last time. All this time the fire in his chest kept building up until it felt like someone has ignited a furnace inside his lungs.
The heat grew hotter and expanded in his lungs. In his weakening state, he didn't know what his body was doing, but simply went along with it. An instant later, the fire in his chest ached to be released; it rose from his lungs and burned in his throat.

Not caring about the potential consequences, he opened his mouth and exhaled the remaining air from his lungs.
The heat suddenly forced its way from throat and out his mouth, combusting into a ball of fire as it touched the air. Leo's head jerked back from the recoil as the newly formed Ember attack collided with Nexus's face, exploding in a flash of fire and ash.

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Nexus screeched, both inside and outside of her mind, as she staggered backwards from Leo, releasing her death grip on him. She swung her head side to side trying to alleviate the burn.
Wire would have grinned if he had a physical body to do so, the Charmeleon had performed better then he'd thought. I can still end this on my terms.

He'd had enough of this fight. He had to end it before she killed one of them. Wire concentrated his psyche and tackled his distracted counter-part with every bit of his mental strength. Nexus was broadsided by the onslaught from her physical and mental fronts, she couldn't repress Wire any longer as his psyche rushed at her.
Wire wrestled for control of —what was rightfully his— body. He felt his limbs swing about in all directions as control over them quickly shifted from him to her and back again.
He heard Nexus scream and felt her resisting to give up her influence over his body. Just as he almost tipped the balance of the battle against her, she pushed him back in a fit of hellish fury.

Wire felt was she ripped control of his legs, and charged forward at the Charmeleon who was still recovering from his last altercation with her. There was no warning, no "any last words?", no threats, no chance of a miraculous escape, as the spiked appendage slashed downwards onto the Charmeleon.

Wire let out an enraged, feral roar and lunged at Nexus. She'd made him kill the Charmeleon in cold blood. She'd taken an innocent life, now she'd pay for his blood.
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Surprisingly, Leo didn't feel the initial attack, it didn't seem real. Only a faint twinge of discomfort reminded him that he'd been hit at all. He put one foot forward, his lungs unable to breathe for some odd reason.

He planted his left foot next to his right, his legs felt like they were being turned into gelatin. He heard someone shrieking his name, or at least he thought it was his name, he couldn't really tell as all the sound gradually turned into a annoying ringing noise.

He looked around for where the shout had come from. Straight ahead was a Metagross busy having a spasm as electricity laced its form, now why was it here? Was he friendly? Leo couldn't remember.

He turned his head to the left. He saw Jay dizzily getting up from the ground. Wait. Why was he on the ground? Had he been attacked by something?
He shrugged his strangely heavy shoulders in confusion; he would ask him about that later when they got back to town.

Finally, he looked to the right where Kelly was shouting at him, or at least, he thought she was. Her mouth was moving, but no sound came out. She suddenly started running toward him … in slow motion?  Why was she running in slow motion? That didn't make sense, only Jay was allowed to slow down time since he was the team leader, that was his job. She'd probably get into trouble with the Magnemite for disobeying the team rules.

Leo saw that she was trying to say something to him again as she slowly made her way across the area to him, ignoring the pain her back leg brought her. Why was she in such a hurry? Why was her leg broken? What was her problem?

That's it! She just wants to congratulate me on winning the flying contest! Jumpluff never stood a chance against me, Leo thought as his body suddenly felt a lot lighter. He felt like he was a cloud, free of the imposing law of gravity.
He waved to Kelly, a grin plastered on his face as he felt his legs disappear. He floated down until his knees touched the ground. Who needs legs when I can fly? Leo thought giddily as he let out a laugh at his own joke.

Leo felt something wet and sticky pooling around his knees. Looking down, he saw that it was only a growing puddle blood. He was glad it wasn't Kelly's drink he's sipped at the café, that'd be horrible.

Then it struck him. Is that blood? He slowly lowered his gaze downwards to his chest. That's blood. A long, jagged, gash made it's way across Leo's chest like a serpent. That's … blood.  Upon closer inspection it seemed to run from his lower ribcage to his stomach, it was deep, and it was leaking a constant waterfall of crimson. That's my blood!

As soon as it became real to him, the fragile air of calm his brain struggled to project to keep his heartbeat low shattered. Leo's pulse nearly soared as he clutched the wound with his claws, trying to attach his torn scales and flesh back together.

Adrenaline could only numb away so much pain and give so much false energy before it failed like everything else. The true pain of being brutally sliced open and the sudden weakness of major blood loss hit him like one of the Metagross's legs. Shock firmly gripped his body as Leo fell face first to the ground, unable to move a muscle.

Time seemed to catch up with him as Kelly suddenly appeared at his side and gingerly turned his head so that he was looking up. He felt his entire body suddenly become cold; shock was taking its toll on him.

Leo faintly saw the color in her yellow-furred face drain into a dull grey, as the world around him fade to black and white. Kelly seemed to be frantically looking around for anything to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing close to them except a battered pink scarf from her satchel.

She gently placed the scarf on the wound, and vainly tried to stabilize the gash, bloodying it and her paws up in the process.
As his sight began to fade to black, he saw her eyes well up with tears. She screamed something at him, but he couldn't hear her.
His head fell back onto the dirt with a thud. The last thing he saw before his vision turned black was the flame on his tail flicker weakly and go out with a puff of grey smoke.
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To say Leo felt surprised when he opened his eyes again would be a gross understatement. He gingerly looked around, making sure this wasn't some sort of fever dream his brain decided to inflict him with as his body died.

If it weren't the fact that everything in the area was still black and white, and that nothing was moving, he would almost say it was real.
Oh, and the fact that he was looking at his own bleeding body on the ground made him think it was slightly unreal.

Looking over the scene, he was just what a dire predicament they all where in: Jay, barely standing, about to be squished by the out of control Metagross, and Kelly, her hind leg definitely fractured, looked seconds away from passing out from exhaustion as her frozen body leaned over his.

"It's a sad sight to see, isn't it? Your friends need your help, but here you are, dead and of no practical use to anyone. How disappointing, but it'd be a lie to say I wasn't anticipating such a poor performance from someone of your species," the cold voice chided as Leo looked around the frozen arena for the source of the demon who haunted his mind.
He didn't have to look far; directly in front of him a ball of purple mist formed out of the air. As quickly as it appeared, it dissipated, leaving only a floating, purple, witch hat-wearing Pokemon in its wake.

The creature turned to face him and flashed a sly smile, "Hello, Leo. It's rare that I get the pleasure of conversing directly with one of my candidates, but I'm afraid there is no time for pleasantries," the Pokemon told him as it chanted a few strange words, distorting the frozen world around it until it was a completely different place.

From what he could see, he and the ghost were standing in the middle of a frozen, city market place, far bigger then anything he'd seen in Loyalty. The scores of Pokemon around them stopped in place as the ghost floated around them.

"Do you know why I recommend you to my employers? I'll spare you the process of guessing the wrong answer. It was simply because you had certain … desirable qualities that others … lacked. It wasn't because you had any special powers, intelligence, or anything remarkable about you at all, because you are, in all aspects of the word, average. Nothing special. But, it was because you somehow arrived in this world, that you proved you might be of use to my plan, human," the ghost went on, changing the landscape once again.

This time they'd arrived on top of a ice capped mountain. Time may have been frozen, but Leo could still feel the utter cold of the peak.

"Your performance so far has been decent; make no mistake, my friend. The … intrusion with that Metagross was unplanned, but you failing wasn't the outcome I'd foreseen. And believe me, you failed miserably," he revealed as he forced the world to distort and reform again. This time they were in the middle of a large grass courtyard, with tall stone buildings all around.

"However, your performance is still better then your … competition, whose observations were, for the most part, terminated due to … regulatory issues." The Mismagius stared at him, his eyes glowing an eerie golden.

"It is in that context that I have argued with my employers to … preserve your team members and yourself … for a time," he vaguely "explained", though Leo couldn't understand what the Pokemon was going on about. Candidates? Employers? What the heck is he talking about?

Leo shut his eyes as the courtyard around them flashed white. Suddenly, he was back, inside his own body once again. Kelly was still leaning over him, and he still had a bloody gash running across his chest. He couldn't see his "friend" but he could still hear him.

"Don't expect, Leo, that I'm going to be playing guardian angel for you again, because the next time an incident befalls you, I'm just going to close the observation and terminate your application of potential employment. I'm sure my employers would understand if I said you failed again," the invisible Pokemon warned as another flash blinded his eyes. It felt as if his chest was plunged into an icy bath as a white aura enshrouded it. The wound slowly closed itself together, leaving only a faint white line running across his scales. He saw the same happening with Jay and Kelly's injuries.

"I must go now as many matters still require my attention. Someone will be along for you shortly. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to be careful, otherwise I will have to … terminate your observation prematurely. I'd rather not have to perform another direct intervention like this again. Before I leave you, there is still one virus that I have to … sanitize," he said, as he chanted another string of words.  Leo fell unconscious as soon as they hit his ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wire was in pain, no doubt about it. He and Nexus had been fighting for control for about five straight minutes, a small amount of time normally, but an enormous length to have your mind continually fight another.

He sometimes wondered how they'd become merged in the first place. He had memories of being a normal enough Metang, but then something happened. Something he couldn't, rather, Nexus wouldn't let him remember. He'd remembered flying through the air as a Metang one moment, and the next moment, a smoking heap in a crater as a Metagross with her talking to him in his head.

He'd constantly clashed with her ever since she'd proven herself to a highly narcissistic, sadistic, and psychopathic personality. She'd influence his mind when he disagreed with her demands, repress memories of his family and loved ones, shut off his sense of direction, and threaten to delete his personality completely, however she seemed incapable of taking complete control for a extended period of time.

Her powers of influence "guiding" him, was what lead him to blindly working for this Pokemon she referred to only as "our benefactor".  This wasn't his first mission on behalf of her benefactor, but he'd never had to kill anyone before.

As cold and calculating as their species were known to be, he had a sense of morality, and refused to go along with her wishes for once.
That string of encompassing thoughts was what brought him to this very moment, with his personality clashing against hers for complete, undisputed control over the body.
He'd often dreamt of this moment when he would finally get the chance to overthrow the monster that shared his mind.
Wire wondered why he'd had enough time to think about all these things that had happened to him since he in the middle of preparing yet another psychic attack to go against Nexus. Something isn't right here, he thought as time seemed to slow.

"Well done, it only took you two minutes to figure that one out. Perhaps you aren't as simple minded as your friend over there has you painted out to be," a bone-chilling voice said, a chorus of slow clapping echoed throughout the Metagross's headpiece, mocking him.

"Who are you and how are you in here?" Wire asked. Suddenly, the clapping ceased.

"Very astute of you, Wire, but you and I both know I can't answer those. However, you may call me your mutual friend, as it were. I've come here with a simple offer from my employers, one that has almost no negative consequences on your part. You've proven yourself a rational and resourceful Pokemon, so I don't think you'll have any trouble in realizing that you will never get this kind of offer again."

"What's the catch? There's always a catch. Tell me." Wire asked, trying to maintain the false appearance of confidence.

"Hmmm, you really do have a brain after all. I'll tell you what, Wire, I will sweeten the deal for you. If you accept the offer, I will do you the favor of … relieving you of the … conflicting ideals that plague you. I cannot guarantee this offer for long, so I suggest you think very carefully about your decision."

"I accept. Just, get rid of her. Please." Wire sighed inwardly; he just knew this wouldn't end well.

"I will do my best, my friend. Patience is a virtue you must have in this line of work. Before you get your extreme psyche makeover, I have a favor that must be done."

"Well, what is it?" he asked, wanting to get this thing's "favor" out of the way.

"You are skilled with teleportation, correct? If so, then I ask you transport your former combatants to a location, I will disclose shortly."

"What?! You want me to teleport them?! They're almost dead! If I'm going to teleport them somewhere, it better be to the best healer in the world!" he shouted.

"Your concern for them is unnecessary. I have taken care of that problem beforehand; you do not need to worry. Now, do as I say, Metagross."

"Y-yes, of course." Wire stuttered, if this was what it took to be free of Nexus forever, he'd do whatever he needed to do.

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Needless to say, that many of Loyalty Square's populace who happened to be in the market mid-afternoon panicked when a sudden white flash overtook the entirety of the square. When the flash dissipated, it became clear that there were three unconscious forms lying on the ground that weren't there before.

Some called Gear and his units, some went for the guild's healers, some just watched in morbid curiosity from the sidelines as the dramatic scene unfolded in front of them.

The Magnemites were the first to the spot, all too eager to drag them away to prison for no sound reason. Fortunately, a team of Pokemon made up of a Grovyle, an Absol, and a Flygon kept the units from carrying out their corrupt deed until Gear himself showed up.

After promising punishment to his units, he reluctantly got their help, as with the Grovyle's team to carry the injured Pokemon into the more comfortable rooms in the jail under Gear's supervision, where they could recover undisturbed by the citizens and Magnemite alike until they were well enough to answer the many questions he had for them.
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End Chapter Five