Though the fire move hurt Emry's back and confidence quite a bit, the Avatar was a little tougher than she looked. "I'm okay," she said while standing up, though her voice and legs were shaky. She looked around at the raging battlefield and the bleeding Avatars, and a look of fear settled in her eyes. "I-I don't know who's on what side. What... what are we supposed to do??" Solomon paused his battling for just a second to glance at Emry, then at the cloaked man. [i]"I can't tell if this man is trustworthy,"[/i] the Lucario replied. [i]"But his idea seems wise, especially in our state. Your mission is more important than this battle. We must leave."[/i] Emry, Kaze, and their Pokemon managed to escape from the main battle with little additional damage. It seemed the bulk of the assault was focused on the three men in the middle of the cracked stone arena. However, a few more Pokemon blocked each exit. Apparently, in the midst of this chaos, every Avatar had become suspect. Solomon fired a pulsing Aura Sphere at a Manectric. The electric type howled in pain and retaliated with a Thunder Fang to Solomon's leg. Then, Emry's Psychic ripped the canine Pokemon off her guardian and hurled it a couple yards away. The Manectric struggled back to its feet, but it was too hurt and confused to do much for a while. Emry checked on Solomon, who gave the girl a reassuring pat on the shoulder, though his face sported a grimace. Then the blonde looked toward Kaze and his Pokemon to see how they fared. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even this close, most of the cloaked man's face was hidden beneath a gray hood and bandana. However, judging by his bold olive green eyes, he seemed surprised but not afraid of Alain's sudden hostility and vigor. He took a couple steps closer to Alain, brushing past a Linoone who still looked up at him in what seemed like a stupor. "And then what?" he asked, his voice the volume of a normal human's but still deep and rich. "Fall back into the hands of those who tried to kill you? I just saved your life while you were out- [i]we[/i] did," he added, giving Vuduin a brief nod. "I'll explain somewhere safer. Now that you're awake, I'd really appreciate some help getting out of here." The next second, a Water Shuriken glanced off the cloaked man's arm, revealing more dark skin and a line of seeping blood. Another shuriken zoomed toward Alain, and a third struck the cloaked man's Charmeleon. She collapsed to the ground and her trainer hastily returned her to her pokeball. Greninja's chuckle could barely be heard as it sped all around the carnage, sounding like a gleeful poltergeist. "Porygon-Z, use Signal Beam!" shouted the voice of Justine. The pink Pokemon locked onto Alain and fired up its green laser. But before it could strike, the cloaked man reached it in a breakneck blur of movement and knocked it away. The green beam fired in the midst of the Pokemon's uncontrolled fall. It streamed through the crowd, fortunately hitting none of the humans or Pokemon, and quite unfortunately hitting the already heavily damaged wall that Rebeca was straining to hold up. Chunks of stone began to tumble down, and the Avatar of Groudon knew she was now fighting a losing battle. "EVERYONE GET OUT!" Rebeca roared, though she wasn't sure whether any of these lunatics could hear her. "IF YOU KEEP TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER, YOU'LL ALL DIE!" Most of the spectators had already taken the warning a long time ago. The mayor's wife slipped out among the panicked crowd, while the Mayor Mayer fearfully but dutifully remained behind to help stragglers. Even some of the battling guards and volunteers called back their Pokemon to escape, relieving some pressure off the fighting Avatars and creating a clearer path to the exits.