(Ty's POV)

The next day, Seto and Mitch teleported-yes, teleported-back to town to get the helmets and weapons for the attack. I was starting to realize just what I was leading; an attack. We could die.

Or worse, be forced to live as different... creatures for the rest of our lives.

I shook myself and got up out of the chair, stepping outside and heading down to the beach. There was no point worrying now; we were here. I kicked off my shoes and left them as well as my headphones lying on the edge of the grass, stepping even closer to the water. As I cleared a small sand dune, I noticed Quentin sitting on an overhang of the water, his feet skimming the surface.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, sitting down next to him. Quentin jumped and turned to look at me with his black eyes.

“Just... well, what is it that we're doing, exactly?” he asked, staring back out at the ocean. “I mean, we have everything planned out, and pretty much everybody is taking all the strange things that have happened almost... normally. But what we're doing in itself, that isn't normal. We shouldn't be fighting a war for all of humanity on our own.”

I saw where he was coming from; in fact, I knew where he was coming from. I didn't really know what to say, except for, “Well, somebody's got to do it, right?”

Quentin sighed. “Yeah. I guess so.”

I shook my head slightly. Without waiting for him to say anything else, I pulled my shirt off and dropped it in the sand beside me. I took a look at the water and dived in, swimming underwater for a ways before surfacing, not even slightly out of breath thanks to my now fully-functioning gills. “C'mon. Try swimming,” I told him, treading water. “You're probably really good at it, now that... you know,” I said, nodding towards his tail.

Quentin shook his head. “I'm not a big fan of swimming. And besides, I'm sure I'll get enough of it when we... when we invade.”

I bit my lip. He was right; why was I even swimming in the first place? I shook off the ridiculous, childish urge to stay in the water just a little longer and climbed back onto the shore. I felt extremely stupid; what was I doing? We were going to do something that could get us all killed, and all I did was play in the water.

The others looked to me as a leader.

Ha! Some sort of leader I was.

(Jerome's POV)

Mitch and Seto reappeared later that day, just when we had decided to eat without them. They actually appeared right inside the house, and for a few minutes everything was covered in purple smoke. After we had all eaten, I took a seat on the couch. “So? What did you two get on your fancy trip into town?”

Mitch grinned. “Well, we got all the helmets we could ever want; one for every single one of us except for Quentin and Jason. And then, of course, we have the weapons.” He reached into the bag that they had and laid out the weapons on the table, one by one. “Since Jason has his laser gun, we didn't get him anything. Number one on the list, though, is a quote-on-quote 'butter' sword for Adam.” He passed Adam the sword; a long, sharp one made of solid gold. “It's tougher than it looks,” he promised.

Adam held the sword gingerly, like he was afraid it would bite him. “I don't see how that's possible, but okay.”

Mitch stuck his hand in the bag again and this time brought out a bow and a quiver with a few arrows in it. “Ian, you looked like an archer kind of guy,” he told him, handing the set to him.

“Don't worry about the lack of arrows,” Seto put in as Ian examined the bow. “Apparently there's an enchantment you can put on a quiver so that it's always full; it's already on there, so you're good to go.” Ian withdrew an arrow from the quiver, and sure enough, another one appeared almost instantly in it.

“Of course, we can't forget this baby,” Mitch said. “Solid diamond, cuts through almost anything...” he took out an ax from the bag, handing it to me.

I took it carefully, staring at the blade. This was definitely way better than the iron one I had found in the woods. “Can I call it Betty?” I asked, grinning. Mitch laughed.

“You can call it Gertrude for all I care.”

Without waiting for Mitch to continue, Seto took another weapon out of the bag. “Since you like punching things so much, we got you these,” he told Ty, passing him a pair of gloves. “They've got small iron spears on each knuckle, as well as the fingertips and wrist.” Ty put the gloves on, and I saw the iron flash in the light. They looked padded, at least on the inside.

Mitch took a sword, also made of diamond, out as well. “This'll be my own weapon,” he explained, setting it aside. “And Seto... well, he's got his magic.”

I recounted everybody who had gotten something. Ty his gloves, me an ax, Mitch and Adam swords, Ian a bow, Jason his gun, Seto his magic... without thinking, I said, “Hey, isn't Quentin getting anything?”

Mitch slapped himself on the forehead. “Right! We got something a little... different for him,” he explained. Tossing the bag aside, he took something out of his pocket. It was small and compact, and seemed to be made of metal; almost like a disc of some sort.

“What's that?” Adam asked, peering at it. Quentin stared at Mitch, confused.

“This,” Mitch said with a flourish, “Is a technical machine for Hydro Pump.” Quentin kept staring, only not as confused anymore. More out of disbelief.

“Where in the world did you get a TM?!” Jason asked. “They're pretty much impossible to get anywhere near here!”

Mitch and Seto exchanged glances. “Oh, we know some people who know some people who know where some people are who know some people who know some people who know the layout of the entire town,” Mitch said casually.

Quentin glared at him. “Look, I don't get it! Why in the world would you get something like that for me?! Why not a sword or something?!”

“Take a look at yourself,” Seto told him. “Are we going to give a pokemon a technical machine or a sword? Gee, I wonder.” He spoke with so much sarcasm I was amazed it wasn't in a solid form.

“Well... I...” Quentin stuttered, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

“Great!” Mitch said. He shook the TM. “Now... how do we get this thing to work?”

“Gimme that,” Jason said, taking it from his hands. He fiddled with it for a few seconds, pushing a couple of buttons, and the disc started glowing blue. Jason turned to Quentin. “Quentin, come over here.”

Quentin groaned but walked over anyways. “I swear, if after this you guys try to put me in a pokeball...”

“Don't worry, we won't,” I told him.

Jason pressed another button on the disc and pressed it into Quentin's hand. “Don't move,” he told him, and Quentin stayed still. The disc started to spin, glowing even brighter, and then Quentin was the one who was glowing. In a matter of moments, though, the glow on both had died down. The disc stopped spinning and Quentin was left standing there, looking a little confused but also with a new certainty in his eyes.

“That was... interesting,” he said after a long pause.

“Well, let's just hope it worked,” Jason said, tossing the now useless disc in the garbage.

“And how do we figure that out?” Quentin asked. “I mean, I feel sorta different, but I don't really know if that did anything.”

Jason thought for a moment. “Well... when you 'water gunned' Ty, what exactly was going through your head?”

Quentin grit his teeth and glared at Ty. “He called me a fish.” He said it like it was the absolute worst possible thing to call somebody.

“You're sure you didn't overreact?” I asked skeptically. Jason, however, was nodding to himself.

“Okay, so you were mad. You probably just have to be really angry before the pokemon instincts kick in. Get yourself worked up about something and then try focusing your anger on one point; that should do it.” I have to admit, I was amazed he was getting so techy.

“I can help with the getting mad part,” I suggested. “Let's see, what did Ty call you? A fish? Huh, he's right. You DO look like a-” I was cut off as something cold and wet hit me right in the face. Something that had been coming with plenty of power.

Quentin just kinda stood there, embarrassed. “Sorry,” he muttered, not making eye contact.

I felt myself grin. “What are you sorry for? We're gonna whup those squid's butts with that!”