"H-HEY, you can't do that!" Ringmaster Barley stammered as Sarah brought another Pokemon into the fight. "There are [b]rules[/b] to these things, you know."

Barley began to sweat as he glanced around all the commotion. This was getting out of hand. But his team was strong, and perhaps he could get out of this situation with some of his pride.

"Sableye, guard the cage," Barley ordered. "Power Gem again. Scrafty, Crunch on Gengar."

The ghost shifted into the shadows, reappearing on top of the damaged cage. Another beam of gems zoomed toward Eski. Meanwhile, the Scrafty defiantly faced down Gengar and Alakazam. He lunged toward Gengar with chomping jaws for the dark-type Crunch.

The Arctozolt's cage had some more dents in it now, though not nearly enough to free the Pokemon. In fact, for the most part, Espeon's attack only managed to flip the cage upside-down. This jarred the Arctozolt inside, sending it into a wild fearful frenzy. The fossil Pokemon seemed to be a little damaged from the Psychic, as well, though less damage than a direct hit would cause. The cage's upside-down position also allowed the rescuing Pokemon to notice a possible way to open the cage from the bottom, but Sableye covered it with her foot before they could see any further detail.

A few streets away, Trillo huddled in his shell, overwhelmed with confusion. Was he being stolen, or rescued, or some other possibility he couldn't imagine? The fluffy Pokemon didn't look like a predator, though, so that was a little relieving. After a minute of coaxing, Trillo started to tap on the glass along with Pip. Then he shot forward with an Aqua Jet. The forceful move made a hairline crack in the cage, and a drop of water dripped out every few seconds. It also dazed the Kabuto to slam into something so hard, and he needed a minute to reorient himself.

When Alan recovered, he would be able to notice something new with the cage in its side-lying position. On the bottom of the cage was a thick, sturdy lock with a keyhole.