A New Dimension, A New Threat

by ZeroChill

Custard's Revenge

Author's Note:

The title of this chapter is not to be confused with Custer's Revenge.

Valet lied down upon a steel crate within a small room with no windows. Only a dim lamp that hung from the ceiling illuminated the area. By his side, Roi leaned by his backside upon a steel crate. He flipped a golden bit with his right thumb with his eyes leered in boredom. He stretched his back and hopped onto the crate behind him.

“Man, today is sooo boring! Why didn’t I get selected to join up with you in that mission you went on yesterday?” He complained.

Valet shrugged his shoulders and flashed a carefree smile.

“Don’t know, but don’t care. I’m just enjoying some R n’ R. Almost being possessed by ghosts drains a lot of energy out of you.”

A series of loud thumps rumbled from behind the door outside the room. Roi sat up from his resting position and gazed at the door. His eyes rolled up in confusion. The sound of steps outside stopped in front of the door, revealing a shadow that covered the crack below the door. The door burst out of its hinges and launched itself towards Valet. Valet’s eyes widened at the sight of the projectile. He rolled off of the crate and onto the ground, dodging the door’s trajectory towards the wall.

“Whoa! What the fu-“

His words stopped in their tracks upon sitting up and looking towards the door. There, he gazed at Custard, whose gentle eyes were replaced with burning rage. Custard’s chest puffed itself with seething breath and his upper limbs hung themselves to his neck’s level. He flashed an ominous point of his right upper limb towards Valet.

“Valet, I’m going to kill you!” He shouted.

“For what?!” Valet responded with an ignorant tone.

“I’m sure you can remember what you did yesterday.” Custard answered with a dark tone in his voice.

Valet’s eyes widened with an epiphany. He brought his mouth to a slow open and he nodded his head.

“Oooohhhh… that event. I’d like to see you try.” He challenged with a cocky tone.

“Three o’clock at the sparring center. Room A36. Don’t be late.”

Stating these words, Custard turned around and walked back up the set of steel stairs. Roi looked towards Valet with a flash of concern in his eyes.

“What did you do to him?!” He asked with a tone drenched in concern.

“I asserted my dominance over his girlfriend. It was worth it.” With a sinister grin, Valet responded.

“Dude, you know that’s not cool right? Now you got a mad Goodra on your back! You know that if they stick onto you, they won’t ever stop getting stuck on you until they fulfilled their mission right?” Roi questioned.

“Eh, what’s a weakling like that Custard going to do to me? I’ll have him beat within three seconds.” Valet responded with a confident-flowing voice.

“That ‘weakling’ tore down an adamantite-hinged door! Do you know how much strength is even required to do that?!” With widened eyes, Roi explained. “I’m just saying that you will be seeing the Medical Division after this fight.”

“Hah! The only reason why I would go there is to deliver Custard’s bloodied corpse. I’ll be fine, Roi. Trust me.” Patting Roi’s left shoulder with his right set of claws, Valet assured.

“Alright… You know, I think this day may be great after all.” With his frown of concern forming into a pleased smile, Roi stated. “This should alleviate my boredom.”

Valet stood up from the ground and stretched his arms to the right, holding his left claw over his right claw and arching them over his head in a counterclockwise direction.

“Well, I’m off to get warmed up. I don’t want to have stiff muscles for when I massacre that Goodra.

Roi shook his head to his left and right. He glanced down to the bit in his hand and began flipping it once more.

---

With his eyes illuminated with the flames of vengeance, Custard’s upper limbs glowed in a sickly purple. Eyeing the burgundy punching bag hanging in front of him, he unleashed a barrage of strikes that moved faster than a single blink of the eye. Each strike against the bag caused a portion of its skin to corrode and melt away. The adhesive poison ate away at the cushion of the bag and weakened it. With a final strike of his jab, he launched the bag off of its rope, causing it to shoot across the wall.

The door to the room lifted open, revealing Gnasher. Seeing the punching bag hanging off of the shattered stubs of the wall and Custard’s upper limbs dimming down to their color, her eyes widened to the size of suns and her jaw dropped to the ground. Custard’s aggressive scowl mellowed out into a cheerful smile.

“Oh, hello Gnasher. Did you come to check on me?” He asked.

Gnasher pulled her jaw back to the roof of her mouth and shook her head.

“I did… but damn! Did you seriously just do that?!” She shouted with a tone shocked with fear.

“Yep. I’ve picked up the move Poison Jab.” Custard responded.

“I didn’t even think Goodras can even learn that move.” Gnasher noted.

Custard frowned and looked towards the wall, where the punching bad dissolved. His eyes formed back into a scowl.

“Well that’s just how ticked off I am at Valet. I’m breaking all sorts of my senses of limitation and whatnot.” He stated.

“So I’m guessing you aren’t going to call off that fight anytime soon then?” Gnasher questioned.

“Gnasher, if you came here to try to sway me to call off the fight, I am afraid that your words have fallen on deaf ears.”

Gnasher scowled and stomped her way across the floor towards Custard. She placed her right claws on Custard’s right shoulder and spun him to the point where his eyes looked at Gnasher’s face.

“It’s not a request you idiot. It’s a desperate demand because I do not want to see any Pokémon hurt today, especially you.” She declared. “Valet’s a nasty foe, and he will be going all-out to kill you.”

Custard smacked away Gnasher’s claws and lit up an overpowering glare that focused into Gnasher’s pupils.

“And you don’t think I know that? While I love you with all of my heart, there are some things in life that I have to do no matter the circumstances. Valet hurt you and offended me because he thinks that he is the alpha male of everything. I have to show him that he isn’t as big as he thinks he is, and that I will make sure his ideals are utterly destroyed while he is down on the ground.” Custard spoke with a serious tone.

“You see? This was the thing I was afraid of! You are falling for that idiot’s ploy and now you are going to walk into a battle that will be a bloodbath! I don’t want to see any of my teammates hurt because of stupidity.” Gnasher called out.

Custard pouted and turned his head away from Gnasher’s gaze. He crossed his upper limbs.

“I don’t care where my stupidity leads me. All I know is that this is something I have to prove to myself and to you, Gnasher.”

“Prove what?! Your durability before you are beaten to a pulp?!” Gnasher shouted.

“To prove that I am not a wall flower who would let anyone walk over me. Now, if you do not have any words of encouragement to say to me, then I must ask that you please leave. I still have much more training to do.”

Gnasher’s anger transmuted into sadness. Her frown fell into a deep fall and her eyes drooped to the bottom eyelids.

“I can see my words will not sway your decision. Very well Custard. But… just be sure that you don’t hurt Valet too bad. I mean, he still is our teammate after all.”

Saying these words, she turned around and headed towards the exit of the room. She walked through the doorway, where the door closed behind her. Within the immediate vicinity of the hallway, she gazed towards a crestfallen Lith.

“I’ve heard everything in there.” Lith stated. “I never thought that Custard would be so keen on resorting to violence like this.”

“You and I both. You’d think that, as sweet as Custard is, he would try to talk out his problems right? Unfortunately, he’s letting his own testosterone blind him into an aggressive battle.”

Lith shook her head and looked into Gnasher’s eyes.

“You go talk with Mono, Gnasher. I’m going to talk with Custard. I do know him very well after all. Don’t be surprised if my body ends up like that bag hanging on the wall.”

Gnasher’s pupils dilated in suspense.

---

With a white lab coat adorned upon him, Mono glanced upon the pages of data put out in front of him. With his eyes narrowed and his mouth rested into a slump, a puzzled hum vibrated from his throat. Professor Pasque walked towards Mono. Within the crux of his mouth is a small and round device that shined a sleek silver color in the exposed light. He placed it upon the table.

“I thank you again for asking to help take over the research on the Pokémon genome, Mono. It has been a bit stressful around here while I developed new technology for use involving the genome and researching the genome at the same time.” He said with a weary smile on his face.

“It’s not a problem, Professor. I’ve been meaning to get some things off of my mind as of late.” With an exhausted yawn, Mono responded.

Professor Pasque lowered himself onto his knees and curled his tail to the right. He narrowed his head down to Mono’s height and brought it close to the right side of his head.

“Is this about the distress that Gnasher is going through?”

Mono lifted his left paw and shook it with a balancing gesture.

“A bit of that. But since that is the major topic at hand now, we should keep it at that. Gnasher has been really stressed out since last night, and it’s gotten me very stressed out.”

“I’ve heard the news. As a Pokémon, Valet has been very despicable. He’s rude, vulgar and forces his own ideal on others. I could understand why Custard is very upset, since Gnasher was subject to being powerless before him… but actually going out in a hardcore-style match against him?! That would worry just about everyone.” Professor Pasque empathized.

Mono looked into Professor Pasque’s eyes. His slumped mouth formed into a worried frown. Gnasher entered through the glass hallway of two doors and entered into the vicinity of the lab. The two scientists shifted their sights towards her direction. Gnasher waved with a weak motion.

“Hey Mono. Hey Professor. How have you two been doing?” She asked.

“By the look on your face, I see that you couldn’t convince Custard to call off the battle.” Mono stated with a down tone.

Gnasher let out a frustrated sigh and stormed her path towards the table. She slammed her claws on its surface, knocking away the instruments and papers on there. Mono’s spine jumped out of his back. He widened his eyes and gritted his teeth at the sight of the materials falling to the ground. Using his Double Team, he split himself into illusions faster than the eye can see and grabbed each object falling to the ground.

“Please be more careful! These are some very delicate and sensitive materials Gnasher!” He reprimanded with a fearful tone.

“I know… but why does the opposite sex have to be so… stupid sometimes?!” Gnasher shouted out with a loud voice burning with aggression. “Why do they have to think with their dicks and not with their heads?”

All of the Monos placed the captured materials onto the table. All but one of them vanished in thin air.

“That’s actually due to a chemical compound found in males known as testosterone. They are driven by that, and beings with more testosterone tend to be more aggressive and sexually active. It also shrinks away their ability to rationally think if a large-enough quantity is present.” Wiping his forehead and breathing a sigh of relief, he stated.

“That was a rhetorical question you know. Of course I knew that answer, Mono.” Gnasher stated.

“We both know how literally I take everything Gnasher. Even if you ask me a rhetorical question, I’ll still give an answer.”

“Alright… but why were you so eager to tell me this particular set of news Mono?”

Mono pulled out a dry rag from a pocket on his lab coat and wiped the sweat that built up around the back of his neck.

“I don’t know. I just like saying this sort of stuff.” He whimpered out.

Gnasher narrowed his eyes and stared into Mono’s eyes. She closed the distance between the two of them.

“I see that Sophs has been doing you favors with boosting your testosterone with her wiles. I see it in your eyes.” She teased.

Mono’s face flushed itself in a light pink color. He lowered his head and hid his face behind his tails.

“Let’s not bring my sexuality into this, Gnasher.” He uttered out with a sheepish tone. “Unfortunately, I am unable to help with your current dilemma right now. All I could do is just offer you comfort. That is what you came here for, right?”

Gnasher’s shoulders slumped down to a lower position. With a frown on her face, she planted her posterior onto the ground, placed her claws on her face and shook her head.

“Mono, am I an idiot for thinking that Custard was the one for me?” She uttered out in a regretful voice.

Mono approached Gnasher and pat her left shoulder with his right upper paw.

“It sounds like you expected everything to go as perfectly as possible in your relationship. Just because Custard was your childhood friend-turned boyfriend doesn’t mean that you not be able to avoid all relationship troubles. At this point, you just have to learn to be more patient. I am sure the answer will reveal itself sooner or later.” He stated.

Gnasher looked over her shoulder towards Mono. A small and toothy grin flashed upon her face.

“I guess so. I didn’t even think you could offer advice like that. I guess you must really want to get laid right now. I mean, if I was in your position, I would sleep with your girlfriend right now.”

Mono’s breathing stunted in place. His heart beat at a faster rate and his knees weakened at the thought of Gnasher’s words rushing through his mind. Seeing his actions unfold before his eyes, Professor Pasque cocked his head and blinked once in confusion. Gnasher stood up from the ground and walked away.

“Well, see ya Mono. Thanks for the advice.”

With Gnasher making her exeunt from the lab, Professor Pasque focused his sight on the nerve-shaken Mono.

“Do you… want to talk about libido?” He asked with a voice steeped in general curiosity.

“I don’t want to talk about it…” Mono uttered out.

---

Lith leaned her back against the wall. Her eyes glanced upon the Flamethrower shooting out of Custard’s mouth. The tongues of the orange flames melted away the remainder of the punching bad. Shutting his mouth, he glanced towards Lith’s direction. Lith flashed a smile and walked towards Custard’s direction.

“Do you need me, Lith?” Custard asked.

“Do you want a hug?” Lith responded.

“A hug? I don’t want to hug right now.”

“Please? I know my wittle Custy-Wusty wants a hug.”

Custard’s eyes focused themselves on the wide puppy eyes that Lith revealed. Her mouth curved into a small and quivering frown. She held out her upper paws. Custard gritted his mouth and rolled his eyes to the left. With his will losing his battle to his desires, he wrapped his upper limbs around Lith and pulled her in for an embrace.

“Can you stroke my head like what you usually do, Lith?” Custard asked with a sheepish tone.

A smile curved on Lith’s face. She pulled out her paw and patted Custard on top of his head. Custard let go of Lith and placed her back onto the ground. A nervous frown pursed itself onto his face. He twiddled his thumbs and let out an uneasy throw of his voice.

“I can see you are worried about the battle Custard.” Lith noted.

“I’m not worried. I’m just suffering some pre-battle anxiety.” Custard told. “I’m fine. I swear!”

“Custard, I’ve raised you since you were a hatchling. I know when you are worried about something.” Treading her right upper paw gently onto Custard’s left cheek, Lith answered. “Are you going to tell me what is in your heart, or do I have to tickle you to get it out of you?”

“…I’m worried that I might have bitten off more than I could chew when challenging Valet to the battle.” With his voice sick with anxiety, Custard explained. “I mean, Valet has tons of experience in fighting and I don’t think I am at his level. He’ll wipe the floor with me!”

Lith glanced towards blue plush floor, where the smoldering ashes that used to be the bag rested upon.

“That bag is made from heavy-duty nylon and you burned it like it was nothing! I’m sure you will do fine.” She assured.

Custard shook his head and deepened his frown.

“I still don’t feel confident in my combat abilities. I’m going to get destroyed!” He screeched.

“Calm down, Custard. I know how anxious you feel, but don’t tell yourself that you will get destroyed. Otherwise, you will get destroyed.” Lith stated.

“So… should I just call off the match?” Custard questioned with wavering anxiety in his tone.

“Hell no!” Lith shouted out. She formed a fist with her right upper paw and pounded it into the palm of her left upper paw. “That Valet needs to pay for hurting both you and Gnasher!”

Listening to the sudden use of Lith’s aggressive language, Custard’s eyes widened with surprise. A small smile crept onto his face.

“You mean… you won’t try to stop me from fighting like everyone else?”

“When I heard that you actually are starting a fight…” Pausing in her words, Lith began stating. She rubbed the ankles of her upper paws. “I grew a bit worried. But, when I stepped in here and saw you absolutely annihilate that bag, I realized that you have grown very strong. Plus, you’ve been through much worse.”

Custard looked up towards the ceiling. Memories of being strangled and poisoned filled his mind. He shut his eyes and shuddered underneath the painful chills of the images.

“I remember. Heck, I lived through those and even fought some of them off!” His voice reached a cheerful apex. “If I can fight those off, then Valet would be a pushover!”

Lith nodded and gazed towards the wall to the right. She placed her lower right paw forward and held out her upper right paw.

“If you still are not feeling confident in your skills, then I could teach you some things that the Commander taught me when it comes to chaining your moves together to overwhelm your foe.” She said.

“Chaining… my moves?” Custard vocalized with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“It requires an open mind and a bit of creativity, but that is how you create new attacks and even lead into devastating combos. It’s how the Commander was able to get you out of that jam two weeks ago.” Lith explained.

Custard moved his body and matched Lith’s stance from limb to limb. An uneasy smile cracked on his face.

“Alright Lith… let me see those move chains you are telling me about.”

---

A conglomeration of Equusians, both operatives and non-operatives, rushed towards a large building whose walls are colored in white and its flat roof colored in red. At the double doors upon the entrance of the building, Pinkie Pie wore a black top hat and stood over a black podium. A black and opulent cane stretched from her right front hoof all the way across the double doors. With her left hoof, she patted against a black microphone and brought her mouth within its vicinity.

“Step right up ladies and gentleman! The big fight between two colossal Pokémon will be underway!” She announced.

She leaped onto the podium’s top and held out her left front hoof and leaned her face in towards a light mint-coated pegasus mare with a wild and silver mane. The mare backed a step away from Pinkie Pie and widened her eyes in sudden surprise.

“Who shall pry victory from the jaws of death? Will it be the gooey dragon of surprising destruction, or will it be the crooked crocodile of bad tidings!?” Pinkie Pie announced.

The mare in front of Pinkie Pie shut her eyes and flashed a seething frown. She placed her right front hoof on Pinkie Pie’s left cheek and pushed it back.

“Personal space, Pinkie Pie. Don’t you know that already?! I just want to see the match in there.”

Pinkie Pie fell onto the podium’s base on her back. With her legs wrapped around the stock, she tilted her top hat and stood back onto the podium.

“Hehe, sorry Fleetfoot. The match will be in Room A36.”

Stating these words, she lifted up her cane from the entrance. In doing so, the calamity of Equusians rushed through the double doors, shouting out cheers and screams. Thousands of bits rained down upon Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie popped her head out from the top and held out a golden bit.

Limping towards the double doors with a cane under her right front leg, Spitfire looked towards Pinkie Pie and her pile of bits.

“Did you seriously just charge Equusians for a match that was barely legal?!” She shouted.

Pinkie Pie shut her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

“I have to pay off my costs for advertising the event in the first place. Plus, I made that particular room look very nice for the coming bloodbath.” She explained.

“You… what?!” Spitfire screamed out.

---

Hordes of Equusians rushed into the bowl-shaped seating. Large and bright lights shined down upon the black and red arena below. On the walls that circled the stadium, two blown up images of Custard and Valet with a red and burning ‘Vs.’ between them imprinted themselves along the wall.

Rundas walked along the bowl of seats with a brown bag of popcorn held in his right nails. He popped a few of the popped kernels into his mouth and let the salty and buttery flavor meld on his tongue. In his line of sight, he saw an empty seat beside Reine, Roi and Joker out at the front seats. He set his walking towards them.

“Hey everyone.” Rundas greeted. He rolled his eyes towards Reine and a devilish smirk came upon his mouth. “Hello Reine.”

Reine rolled her eyes towards Joker, crossed her claws and turned her head away from Rundas. Rundas planted his posterior in the seat by Reine. An uncomfortable sigh passed by her mouth.

“Hello… Rundas.” She uttered out.

“Want some popcorn? There’s a concession stand out in the hallway.” Rundas offered.

“I’m not here to enjoy any sort of spectacle, so no thank you. I’m here to make sure that everyone is in control of themselves… especially the males.”

With two bags of popcorn in his arms, Roi stood up from his seat and roared into the stadium below.

“Bring on the fighting and violence! I want to see flesh being torn apart!” He shouted.

Joker rolled his eyes towards Rundas and cast an overbearing glow.

“I suggest you find another seat. I’m not exactly in a cheery mood and hitting on my girlfriend is terrible for your health.”

Rundas’s eyes widened towards hearing Joker’s words. He edged away from his seat and pointed towards Joker.

“Your girlfriend?!” He shouted. He looked away and rubbed the back of his head with his left nails. A deep frown appeared on his face. “…Sorry for not taking your message, Reine. I’m just going to go away now…”

Rundas stood up from the seat and walked away. Joker set his sights back onto Reine and stroked the top of her head with a gentle caress. Reine looked back into Joker’s eyes and flashed a worried frown.

“You are much more caring than how you usually are. Do you want to talk about it?” She asked.

“No… Not right now. Let’s just sit back and enjoy the display.”

Mono, Lith, Gnasher and Fluttershy sat close to the arena at the other side of the bowl of seats. Gnasher’s sat with her arms crossed. Her right eye twitched and a vein at the base of her eyes looked on the verge of rupturing.

“Ummm… Gnasher, you don’t look alright.” Lith noted.

Gnasher rolled her pupils towards Lith’s direction and let out a frustrated gust of air from her nostrils. She pulled out a steel bat from the cushion underneath the seat and handed it towards Lith’s direction. She tilted her head and pointed her right middle finger onto a soft and flat area to the right side of her head.

“Hit me here with all of your might, Lith.” She requested.

Lith’s eyes narrowed and her mouth flattened out into a straight line of disbelief.

“I’m not going to hit you, Gnasher. Especially not with a metal bat.” She replied with a strong tone.

“Just do it. It would assuage my conscious if I am not around to see this.”

Lith shook her head with shut eyes and placed the bat below the seat. Gnasher let out a depressed sigh and placed the palms of her claws on her nose. Mono looked over towards Fluttershy, who gazed upon the arena with a shaky face and sweaty hooves.

“I see you are a bit nervous, Fluttershy.” He commented.

Fluttershy turned her face towards Mono’s direction and stared into his eyes for a brief second. She looked back onto the designated battlefield, where she felt her heart beat out of her chest.

“Valet isn’t exactly the nicest of Pokémon. Even then, I’m worried for both of their sake. I almost expect to see the two turn into monstrous beasts down there.” She said.

“You know, it is battles like this that help Pokémon get stronger. As awful as the circumstances are, a battle is a battle. You get to witness the type of battles that you could only see back in my world.” With a keen smile on his face, Mono replied.

“I’ll trust your word on it. I hope that they don’t hurt each other too bad.”

A series of buffs rang out through the stereos placed upon the ceiling of the room.

“Who is ready to witness a battle of titans?!” Pinkie Pie shouted through the intercom.

The entire room lit up with hundreds of roaring cheers. Two metal gates on each side of the arena lifted themselves open, revealing Custard and Valet. Both Pokémon stared at each other with determination burning in their eyes. The two titans approached the center of the arena. Valet flashed a skin-curdling smirk.

“Any last words before I maul you?” He asked.

“Actually yes; it’s not too late for you to call this match off.” With a confident smirk plastered on his face, Custard responded.

“In your dreams.”

Pinkie Pie leaped from the audience stand down into the arena. She wore a black and white-striped shirt over her torso and had a whistle around her neck.

“Alright you two; I want to see a clean fight. No hits below the belt and no smashing the face in. As soon as I leave this arena, you two can begin.”

Saying these words, she dashed towards the audience stand once more and leaped over the wall. Valet kicked Custard in his chest and knocked him away. Custard’s eyes and mouth widened in response. He felt all of the wind leaving his lungs.

Valet clawed his way through the ground. The hole that Valet dug formed into a funnel with sand that caught Custard’s legs dragging him towards its center. Valet popped up from the epicenter of the pit and unleashed a fierce uppercut that landed against Custard’s chest. Custard winced and felt his body fly into the air.

“Ohhhh! That Sand Tomb had got to hurt!” Pinkie Pie announced.

Valet swam into the ground and rushed towards Custard’s falling body. Popping out of the ground, he opened his maw and roared.

A smirk appeared on Custard’s face. He placed his upper limbs on Valet’s nostrils and leaped off of him. Valet’s eyes widened at the sudden maneuver. Custard unleashed a series of fast-paced Poison Jabs along Valet’s spine. Valet winced with each strike. The final strike launched him down towards the ground. Pushing himself off the ground, Valet’s arms shook under the sudden shock dealt to him.

“That… hurt more than it should have.” He said to himself.

“Yo, Valet!” Roi called out from the stands. “Don’t give into a single Poison Jab! You’re much tougher than that!”

“I know that! It just caught me off guard is all.”

He turned around and saw Custard rushing at him on a wave of sludge. Custard breathed out a Flamethrower that aimed towards Valet. Valet dug into the ground, dodging it. The wave Custard rode on dissipated. Stopping in place, he looked towards the ground with a careful eye. Seeing the ground in front of him rumble, he fired a Dragon Pulse towards its direction. Valet popped out from the ground behind Custard and bit into his left shoulder. Custard winced and squealed.

The crowd in the stands cheered loud at the strike. Pinkie Pie winced and turned her head away.

“Ouch! A direct Crunch like that would ruin anyone’s day! Well, good thing Custard doesn’t have a skeletal system because that looks like it would’ve broken some bones!” She shouted.

Valet shook his head and tossed Custard onto the floor behind him. Valet looked down onto Custard with an overbearing stare. Custard spun his body and swept Valet’s feet with his legs. Within the small frame of time Valet fell, Custard got up and surrounded his body with a spiraling Sludge Wave. Just before Valet fell onto the ground, Custard leaped into the air with waves of sludge striking Valet upwards with each ribbed stream.

Custard leaped back off of the wave of sludge underneath him. With the distance between him and Valet split as far as possible, he opened his mouth. A stream of purple energy built up within his mouth. The energy released itself in the guise of a large and fearsome dragon that aimed towards Valet. Valet’s pupils dilated and his jaw dropped.

“I am going to be feeling that in the morning.” He uttered out.

The augmented Dragon Pulse swallowed Valet whole and exploded. The winds from the burst of energy pushed all of the members of the audience to the backs of their seats. From the black smoke in the air, Valet fell onto the ground with a still body and closed eyes. Monarca, who sat in the seats, leaped over into the arena and rushed towards Valet. Mono approached right behind her and glanced onto Valet’s chest. Seeing it rise and descend at a slow pace, he exhaled a relieved sigh.

“He’s still breathing. But… he’s definitely out cold.”

Custard walked his way over towards Valet and looked upon him with a worried gaze.

“Are you sure he’s going to make it? I didn’t want to hurt him too badly. I just wanted to teach him a lesson.” He asked.

Monarca brought her upper hooves along Valet’s body and felt the bruises and scratches along his body.

“He is suffering from Poison and is bruised, but it’s nothing he couldn’t handle.” She explained.

The entire audience cheered with loud roars. A large grin covered all of Pinkie Pie’s face. She grabbed the microphone on her table and whisked it away towards her mouth.

“There you have it folks! The grudge match between Custard and Valet has come to an end! Custard prevails over Valet’s ruthless assault! What a shock!”

Gnasher hopped over the wall and ran towards Custard. She wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for a big hug. Custard’s eyes widened and his teeth gritted from the force applied on his sore body.

“You actually managed to win you big idiot! I’m very impressed.” She shouted.

“Ummm… Gnasher, your hug is kind of hurting me. Would you mind letting up a little on it?” Custard requested.

“Your body must have been sore from some of those strikes you’ve taken I see. Well, you shouldn’t underestimate the strength of a Krookodile.”

“I know, but I had to let him hit me if I wanted to land some blows on him.”

“Just shut up and kiss me.” Gnasher demanded.

Custard let out a smile and placed his puckered mouth onto the top of Gnasher’s nose. A handful of members in the audience softened their eyes and tilted their head with smiles on their face. A clamor of noises uttered from their cuteness proximity rung out throughout the arena.

---

Valet’s eyes widened open, letting the light of the world fill them. His back burned with the sensation of a heated stone. To his right, Roi leaped off the seat and approached Valet.

“Hey Valet, are you up yet?” Roi asked.

“Of course I am.” Valet seethed out. He sliced the bandages wrapped around his torso and sat up from the bed. “I’m just feeling a little sore. Where am I anyways?”

“You’re at the Medical Division’s patient ward. You got knocked out cold. I did say that you were going to end up in the Medical Division if you took part in the battle.” Roi responded with a cocky tone. “Oh, by the way, you have a message.”

Saying these words, he handed Valet a hologram device. Valet swiped it out of Roi’s hand and pressed the red button on it. A hologram of Custard’s head appeared.

“Hello Valet. If you are reading this message, then it means that you woke up and you are alright. Yay!” The voice recording of Custard stated. “Now, as you know, I only did this because I believe that you were not being the model Pokémon that is right for a member of H.O.R.S.E. There are certain things you can and cannot do that you have been freely expressing.”

Valet rolled his eyes and placed his right hand underneath his jaw. He looked towards Roi’s direction, who flashed an arrogant smile towards him. Valet let out a low growl and focused on the message once more.

“But… I forgive you. I know that it would be hard to make your adjustments immediately, but I know that we can do it together. Do you trust me?”

Valet’s eyes widened at the honest sincerity in Custard’s tone.

“So what’s in it for me?” He asked.

“And since I know you will ask what is in it for you, I have the perfect thing to offer you; I can teach you some interesting ways you can modulate some of your moves. Whether you want to do so is up to you or not. But, I really want to teach you some of these combinations since I think you can benefit from it. What do you think?”

“Custard! Hurry up and join me in bed. I feel in the mood for some cuddles~.” Gnasher shouted through the message with an amorous tone.

“Coming Gnasher!” With his face red with embarrassment, he shouted. “So yes, let me know what you think of this offer.”

Custard’s head disappeared. Valet looked towards Roi with a confused expression on his face.

“So… are you going to take that offer?” Roi asked.

Valet crossed his arms and leaned forwards with an aggressive movement.

“So he has the gall to tell me this before he sleeps with his girlfriend?” He shouted. His scowl softened into a straight expression. Roi’s eyes picked up a small smile forming on Valet’s mouth. “It seems like I was wrong about that wimp. He is definitely more of a male than what I give him credit for.”

Roi crooked his head to his right and stared into Valet’s eyes with pupils alit with interest.

“So…?”

“I’ll take his offer. What have I got to lose?” Valet responded.

“Well, you already lost once, so what’s another loss in your record anyways?” Roi stated with a sinister cackle.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”