Whew this one has to be my longest chapter...hope you enjoy since it has several different elements to it. including a new one for me! Inflation!

RD is ©  Rainbowdragon
All other character's © to me.
Pokémon is © Gamefreak and Nintendo
Digimon is © Bandai

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Resolve


"Hmmmm so Max do you have any sort of battle plan against this...Rex fellow?" Leo asked, arms crossed inside of Max's inner world, during Max's initial visit he had taught the boy how to enter this world while remaining concious and awake in the outer realm.

"Not at all! You see, he's a fire type gym leader and the only one in my team with a type advantage against them is Pupitar but I can't use him yet due to his previous injuries." Max took a sip of the glass of orange juice sitting just infront of him. For whatever reason it seems that his mind had chosen Leo's bar to be a place of solace for the young trainer. "But I didn't have the type advantage against Chuck or Whitney either and I still managed to come on top."

With a snort, Leo took the now empty glass from Max and set to cleaning it. It was funny, seeing a leomon wearing a bartenders outfit but Leo always made it work. "That's not fighting smart. From what you told me about your encounter with Jesse, the only three pokemon even remotely capable of battle right now are that Eevee, your Furret which just BARELY manages to qualify due to the injuries it suffered. And that Pokemon you caught in the safari zone."

"Yeah that's about right!" Max laughed as he jumped out of the stool he'd been sitting in and grinned. "Because Furret is still in rough shape I'm not going to use him today, instead I'll forfiet after Eevee and Neuron go into battle."

Leo furrowed a brow and chuckled. "Neuron? What kind of pokemon is that? It sounds like you've given your first nickname! And a pretty silly one at that." Leo grinned, showing his sharp razor teeth in amusement.

Max shrugged, stretching himself out and slapping both his cheeks with a smile. "he named himself that. And he offered to join my team out in the safari zone so how could I refuse? You'll just have to wait and see for yourself what kind of pokemon he turns out to be."

"That doesn't sound too reassuring. You make it sound like he came to YOU rather than you searching out for him. What kind of guy is this that just up and joins your party on a whim? At least with that RainbowDragon guy I understand his reasons for joining our cause." Leo finished cleaning up the glass and set both hands down on the counter, eyes looking right into Max's. "Just be weary of who you set your trust in alright?"

Max gave a small nod, understanding Leo's meaning before switching his main perspective back outside. He and Rex were walking down the same stairway that he and his group went up to previously. "The gym is situated OUTSIDE at the rear of the building, It's a little more work getting to it but in the long run your legs will thank you for it. From what my son mentioned though while you were out it sounded like you've been through some rough stuff so are you sure we have to do this now?"

"Hmmm? Yeah there's no better time. I'm sure Flare told you about our encounter at Ecreuteak city. Not the highlight of our travels but if I delay any longer than I need to then I'll never be able to catch up to Jesse. It's not a personal grudge..."

He kept his gaze down at the steps as he followed Rex, eventually the staircase coming to an end to be followed by a long narrow hall way. "My method of training is not the battles, but the journey getting to the destination. What doesn't kill us will make us stronger and when we get to the pokemon league we'll show Jesse that things won't be the same."

using one hand to rub along his mane, Rex lead max into the barren wasteland that was the court yard. "I've seen Jesse battle in last years competition against the elite four. He managed to defeat all but the champion and he did so with courage. The same courage I see in your eyes now. But from Flare's description it sounds like he's been warped, Altered against everything he used to stand for."

Max looked around, whistling at the charred ground around them that could only be percieved as the Charizards battling arena. "Hence why we need to evolve. I'm sure that battling Jesse as a worthy adversary and WINNING, will help him break loose of whatever's controlling him."

Rex gave Max a small nod of understanding, then steeled himself as he walked over to the end of the battlefield which insanely enough stood just infront of a steep cliff. "I won't pull any punches then. Come at me with everything you got."

"Sure thing! But are you sure you should be standing so close to the egde? It's a pretty steep edge." Max warned, calling out Eevee as his first pokemon.

"My gym battles always start in this fashion son. Staying so close to the egde helps me keep focus. I'm less likely to make mistakes since every move could be my last." He called out a small Charmander as his first pokemon and smiled. "This will be a three on three battle."

Max wasn't so sure, he didn't like this life and death buisness Jesse made himself out to be, neither did he like Rex's own methods of training and battling. "You're crazy. A pokemon battle is supposed to be a fun competition between the two partaking in the battle. Eevee rush in close and tackle!"

Rolling his eyes, Rex unfolded his arms and pointed toward Eevee. "go ahead and give it a good dosage of flamethrower! Kid, what you fail to realize is every trainer battles differently, they have their own asperations and ways of doing things. What may work for you doesn't work out for another now show me your resolve!"

Max watched the two pokemon go at it. Eevee dashing towards the Charmander and leaping just as the flamethrower came rushing at her, at which her tackle was altered into a diving headbutt.

"Good work Eevee, Now let's keep at it! Swift!" Max commanded, watching Eevee roll itself into the same spindash formation it had made in it's last battle, stars flying at the young Charmander.

"Why do we have to watch the battle from in here! I can't even hear what their saying." RD asked with a pout, watching the battle from Rex's office through a window.

Flare rubbed his chin and laughed. "Because it's a private affair. Papa doesn't like to have spectators watching up close especially since given the state of the battlefield it would be too dangerous to do so. Afterall we're on the peak of a mountain and the castle takes up 90 percent of it's landscape."

RD huffed, watching as the Charmander smacked Eevee with it's tail. "I don't like it. How are we supposed to know what's going on down there if we can't even watch it up close?"

Flare pulled out a remote from his dads desk and clicked the red button sitting at the top, a massive flat screen sliding out from the roof top and playing a close up scene of the gym's battlefield. "There are small cameras situated outside of the gym's stadium, and naturally all across the island to monitor the pokemon's safety."

"oooh" RD giggled, walking over to the television which was basically, 50 inches across and in surprisingly good detail. "Is this what you guys do with your fortune? It seems kind of..."

"Pointless?" Flare laughed, nodding. "Yeah I think it's kind of pointless too but we DO need to keep an eye out for the pokemon in case something unexpected occurs like an earthquake or a tsunami."

"Yeah but with the money you guys make couldn't you afford a better stage for your pokemon battles?" RD blinked, watching as Eevee was knocked towards the cliff that Rex had been standing on and would have FALLEN, had the flame maned human not caught her in time. "Uh oh...I think that's strike one." RD muttered with a cringe.

"WELL Max, so far I'm unimpressed by your resolve. How can you expect to beat Jesse when you don't stand a chance against a little Charmander?" Rex taunted, clearly trying to get under Max's skin.

"Eevee's still new, she needs more experience which she's recieving with every battle she participates in win or lose. But I guess I'll let my new comrad take the show...if he can beat three pokemon in a row well then I guess I'll be lucky!" Max laughed, calling Eevee into her pokeball and gave a small wink. "Thanks Rex, I understand what you mean now after taking a hard look at what's inside me."

"Fang, That doesn't go there! You need to place the red wire here..." Kevin muttered, helping Fang out in the corner, neither of them watching the battle going on.

Flare heard Kevin's mumbling and peeked over his shoulder. "Hey what are you and Fang doing to Max's poke gear!"

Fang perked his ears up and stared at Flare before pushing him away gently with a paw. "Shush, we're upgrading Max's tech. I haven't done a whole lot for him so this is how I'm going to make it up to him. You're in our light so go watch the battle on the screen."

Rex laughed, stroking his mane in what looked to be satisfaction. "Pray tell...what is your answer then, where is your resolve?"

Max dug his hand into his jacket and pulled out an oddly colored pokeball. It looked like a master ball based on the coloring but it lacked any of the markings the Master had. "My resolve remains the same! To meet Jesse in the competition as equals. However I refuse to play by my opponants GAMES. If it's a life and death battle to them then I'll show them what it means to take part in a competition."

"Now with THAT said!" Max tossed the ball as high as he could, the light emitting from the opened capsule formed into a Kadabra before the two trainers, but unlike your average Kadabra it had a red wristband on it's left arm with a sapphire jewel at it's center. "Rex I'd like you to meet Neuron, the Kadabra that came to me in the Safari Zone!"

Neuron shook his fur around, the Kadabra slightly disoriented from his travels inside of his "ball", whiskers bouncing irritably. "So Max, my first battle with you has to be this big lion? He doesn't look like he's having a good time..." the Psychic type let out a long yawn, revealing rows of sharp teeth usually hidden within his muzzle.

"Did he..." Rex asked with an open mouth, utterly shocked to hear a pokemon speaking in human english. "Hey wait a minute I'm not a lion! I just prefer to style my hair this way. Gives me an intimidating appearance to my challengers."

"Hah! I knew it was just a show." Neuron laughed, rubbing his left whisker with a paw. "Well how about I put a smile on that face of yours..."

With that being said, Neuron's eyes glowed a bright crimson red as the Charmander was lifted into the air and started dancing against it's will, it looked pretty silly when you saw it up close.

"OK now that's something I didn't expect!" RD burst into laughter, watching the Charmander dance around on screen, the charade went on for a few more minutes until the small reptile was panting, at which point Neuron released his hold of the little guy and let him plop to the ground exhaused.

"Was that...even a battle? It looked like a game." Charmeleon whispered to himself, feeling kind of sorry for the Charmander that went through that, their species were known in taking pride in their fighting skills.

Rex however, looked pretty amused by the scene that had played out for him. He didn't think there would be any sort of pokemon that would win their battles by...DANCING. "Now that's a unique way to battle. Ok then Neuron why do you fight?"

This caught the Kadabra by surprise, the star sitting between his eyes glowing softly. "Why do I fight? The answer is I want to put a smile on everyones faces! Like the one you're wearing right now." He pointed a claw toward Rex and grinned, using his other paw to rub at his whiskers.

"So you want to make everyone happy? I getcha now...No wonder you came to Max of all people your personalities go hand in hand, but did he CAPTURE you?" Rex asked, all the while putting his Charmander into it's ball and calling forth a rather intimidating looking Charmeleon. Unlike Flare's this one had scars running all across it's body, it would definitely be a tough contender.

Flare's charmeleon looked up at the screen and shivered. "That's my big bro for you...always getting into trouble just like my trainer...Hope Max knows what he's getting into..."

"Ok...now let's see if the screen works now..." Fang quietly told Kevin, as they turned on the screen of Max's pokegear, both of them grinning ear to ear as the screen came on and they high fived one another. "It works! Alrighty I think Max is going to love this recent addition we added to his poke gear."

Neuron was dancing harmlessly around the Charmeleons flamethrowers, it looked pretty silly given the fact that his opponant was looking dead serious on frying the Kadabra but he just kept jumping over the fires. At one point the flame managed to nick at Neuron's tail and the psychic type started rolling over the ground to put it out, putting RD into a laughing fit. "This guy's definitely a keeper."

"Alrighty...that's enough playing around...you burned my tail!" He whined out, stroking the fur along the tip and grinned, his eyes glowing bright once more as a pair of whiskers formed on the Charmeleon's face. "Ooooh there you go! You don't look nearly as menacing with my whiskers on ya!"

If Rex's Charmeleon wasn't agitated before it certainly was now. It charged head long into Neuron but was stopped straight as the Psychic type caught him in his attack. "Well now...you look still pretty agitated...how about this..." Neuron's grin grew wide as the Charmeleon started inflating like a balloon, his belly expanding greatly. By the time Neuron was done with him he was a blimp floating around in the sky.

"You...never answered my question..." Rex grumbled, looking up into the sky as Neuron started levitating to meet his Charmeleon in the sky. A second later Neuron lifted his clawed hand at the Charmeleon's gut and poked a hole in it as if he were just a balloon and the poor guy was sent flying all over the place as he deflated to his normal size, laid to rest just beside Rex as the hole Neuron supposedly left in his gut mended without a word.

Neuron laughed at his latest work and floated back down into the battlefield, sticking his tongue out. "Max I think you should let Pupitar out for this last round." He stretched out and removed the whiskers from the humiliated Charmeleon's muzzle and smirked. "As for your question he did capture me. After we talked it over that is. We all know you can't bring pokemon into the Safari zone to battle for you!"

With one good laugh, Neuron was sucked back into his awkwardly designed pokeball and strapped to Max's belt. "Believe me Neuron can be strange...but he is genuinely a good pokemon. So if he thinks I should use Pupitar... I guess I should."

He took Pupitar's ball from his belt and stared at it intensely. "I hope that he's ready for it though..."

Rex gave his Charmeleon a firm pat on the head before putting him into his ball. "Ready or not here he comes!" His mane started shifting in the air, the wind giving his mane the appearance of a raging fire around his neck as his Charizard dove into the battlefield, feet stomping onto the ground.

"woah!" Max stumbled a bit, cringing when the ball slipped out of his hand and Pupitar came forth in a blast of light. For a moment he wondered if Pupitar would even be able to compete, yet he seemed as eager as ever, the pupitar's injuries had been mending themselves over the past few days, but fatique ruled his eyes. "Pupitar...are you ready to battle again?"

"I'm...ready Max, I've spent too long resting. I don't want to become rusty because of these rediculous injuries. Now give me an attack so we can make this badge number six!" Pupitar grumbled out, the wearyness in his eyes replaced with determination.

Max gave a short nod. He knew that Pupitar was still injured, but he was also aware of Pupitar's reserves of power more than anyone. He also knew if Pupitar needed it, he could also draw on his own resivior of energy. "Alright Pupitar, how about we use a Dark Pulse right now!"

Pupitar shook his body slightly, lifting it into the air as he gathered the energy into a purple sphere before launching it towards the Charizard who batted it away without so much as a flinch.

RD hummed quietly, after Neuron went back into his ball the laughter had finally stopped. "Now it's the real stuff. I think that Neuron guy was entertaining."

"Uh oh..." Fang picked up Max's pokegear and sweatdropped, the screen was blinking red with the digital hazard sign fading in and out. "Looks like Chaos is back...Should we go tell Max?"

"Not until you tell me what you did to Max's pokegear! And how do you know Chaos is-" Flare stopped his complaining when the door was blasted from it's hinges.

Chaos stepped into the room not a moment later, he was in his natural Blackguilmon state and looking the group over with mild annoyance. "You know that outfit doesn't suit you. You should have let my body finish digesting you, least then you'd have gone with dignity!"

Fang stood up with a growl, handing Kevin the pokegear they were working on. "My fur will grow back, so my dignity will remain intact. You however should leave, what do you think you stand a chance against so many Charizards?"

Charmeleon tugged at Fang's paw and pulled him back, walking over to Chaos with a snarl. "You want to reunite with Max. That's the whole story isn't it? Well don't go barging into our home and don't put other people in your petty problems!"

"Dodge it Pupitar! Don't let that mach punch hit y-" Max was cut off by the sound of glass breaking, Everyone involved in the battle looked up to see Charmeleon and Chaos crash into the glass and tumble downward. Max's eyes instantly went to their incandescent yellow. Visibly what happened next shouldn't have even been possible but Charmeleon grew wings right then and there, as had the digital hazard markings returned to his body as he made a slow dive down to the battle field, beaten.

Once Charmeleon had landed, Max immediately ran right for him despite being in the middle of a competition himself. "Charmeleon are you okay? Sheesh why'd you jump out of the window?" His eyes returned to their natural blues and the wings seemed to just recede into Charmeleon, as did the markings fade out.

"Chaos came Max...He started attacking so I tried to protect everyone." Charmeleon panted out, struggling to sit up straight.

"Chaos is here?!" Max exclaimed, helping Charmeleon but turned his attention away when he spotted the Blackguilmon standing back up, it was amazing that the dino was even standing, given that he had just fallen at LEAST ten stories down. "Chaos, I believe I told you last time to leave our dispute between the two of us! Don't get anyone else involved."

Chaos grumbled, stumbling to get back up but his eyes locked angrilly at Max. "Yeah well what can I say. I got lost. Besides...not like I could do THIS in such a large building."

Chaos's anger turned into a cocky grin as he started growing expansively, he had become just as large as a two story house, maybe even more, and his size in itself had him take up a good portion of the courtyard. "Now then! Are you going to let me eat you now Max? Become one with me!"

standing back to get a better look at Chaos's new form, Max was definitely in awe at his size and knew this to be the champion form due to his father having assumed that form when he was a kid. "No way, like last time you're gonna have to fight me for it and this time I'm prepared!"

With that, Max started transforming into his Guilmon form. How he planned to tackle a massive T rex sized creature was beyond him but he knew one thing. Chaos was bred from him so it was his responsibility to take care of him. "I don't care how much bigger you've become Chaos. Right now you're just a road block to my real goal!"

"Get real Max!" He swatted Max with an oversized paw, nearly knocking him off the cliff of the courtyard, Each step making the ground shake beneath him and to be honest it looked like that small piece of mountain would collapse from his weight. "You may have learned to become a rookie but you'll never have the power to beat a Champion at that stage. So just give up."

'he's right...' Max muttered to himself, slowly pulling himself off the ground and cringed when he heard the surface itself crack beneath him. 'I have to evolve...damn it! Leo! How can I access the power you gave me...that soul weapon you mentioned...'

'Look inside yourself Max, and look for my speck of light within it. and pull it out. Figuratively of course. I sense it too, if this battle drags on the castle and this arena could be smashed to bits by his size' Leo's tone was that of urgency from within Max.

But Max already knew how dangerous the situation was itself so he immediately started searching for it, trying to remember what the orb looked like when he'd swallowed it hours prior...and tried to manifest it into what he needed most right now.

What happened next would surprise everyone at the scene, Fang and the others were just now getting to the court yard to help, when Max started glowing. It looked like his evolution had come sooner than it should have, however he did not grow nearly the size that Chaos had, if anything...he grew more FURRY, his height improving by a couple of feet as his muscles grew more definition and the only thing left on his person was a newly formed pair of jeans. A golden mane ran across his face and a long fluffy tail replacing the reptilian one. In the end, Max had digivolved SOMEHOW into a Leomon.

Chaos seemed stunned as well, it didn't add up to him at all. "Max! YOu're a guilmon a reptile! You shouldn't EVER become...furry!?!" Chaos bared his fangs and charged head first towards Max, jaws gaping wide after the first couple strides.

"Didn't you know Chaos?" Max muttered to himself, lifting both hands to catch Chaos by his fangs, easily managing to throw him over the cliff and into the forest below, a roar escaping his lips as he charged down after him, giving him a hard punch in the gut as they fell. "I have Leomon blood on my MOTHERS SIDE! A little thank you gift courtesy of the Smithy's!"

Chaos slammed HARD into the trees below, crushing a few of them but thankfully none inhabited by any pokemon. Max managed to avoid any sort of impact thanks to Chaos's stomach which he gave a few more pummels before hopping off. "NEXT TIME YOU DECIDE TO PAY ME A VISIT DO YOUR RESEARCH!" Max roared as he latched onto Chaos's tail with both hands and started spinning him just as he had done to Charmeleon in Ecreuteak city and let him go flying into the ocean.

"Maaax! This isn't over!" Chaos roared out, letting loose a pyro blaster straight at the island just before he landed into the ocean with a loud splash.

Max growled, standing over at the beach and staring at the massive fireball coming right for them. "I'll block such a thing Chaos! Let me show you my FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" Max bunched his hand into a fist and let loose what looked like the head of a lion smashing right into the massive flames, the head itself loosing a massive roar as it engulfed the flames and managed to nullify the attack before it could reach the islands beach.

Max let out a deep breath, it wasn't until then that he spotted the mass of Charmander looking at him in shock and awe. It made him blush and being in the spotlight was never something he was interested in to begin with so he started making his way back up the mountain. After a good hour or so he managed to finish scaling the mountain and laid on his side, panting. "Oww...my whole body aches now..." He cried out, curling up in a ball.

"Hey! You can't wimp out now! We still have a gym battle for you to finish. My Charizard and your Pupitar are more fired up than ever seeing how you handled that big brute...but uh...could you shave that mane? You make me look bad." Rex laughed as he tried to make the situation a little better.

Max pulled himself up, albiet weakly as he returned to his base human form. His clothes magically reappearing the moment he did so. "Sure...Erm...Fang can you give me a hand?"

The wolf's ears perked up and pointed to himself. "Me? You...don't mind me being in the action?"

As Fang walked over to him he gave a short nod, grinning. "Of course not. you've been here since the very beginning. Since I started this journey so comeon and take your place alongside me...or should I say...for me because I need a nap..."

Max promptly passed out infront of him, making Fang sigh in exageration. "Max...you want me to finish your battle? But I'm not even licensed."

"So what!" Rex grinned, crossing his arms. "You saw how he battled a moment ago. Let that fire burn in you and show his pokemon that you can step up to the plate when their trainer has to sit a battle out."

Fang gave Max one last glance, then over to Pupitar who despite being only a floating coccoon managed to nod in approval. "Alright...well then, Let's get this battle underway!"

(Battle will continue in chapter 19)