Alex listened to Bryon's words with intense consideration. He disagreed, but the better he understood the position, the better he'd be able to debate against it in the future. Then, his new friend walked onstage. Alex clapped for him, excited for what he had to say. Ray didn't just meet his hopes, but totally surpassed them. There's no way Bryon could recover his position from th-
The explosion rang out like thunder. Strange-suited men and women came running in through the dust cloud, passing chunks of rubble and stepping over unconscious security guards and bystanders. He could tell they were shouting, but couldn't hear them over the ringing in his ears. The room suddenly felt warmer as the heat from the explosion swelled to fill the room. Pokemon were lashing out at the crowd, while a few lone souls attempted to stop them. The audience screamed and attempted to scatter. A few brave individuals attempted to stop the invaders, but quickly fell. All the while, the tidal wave of strange-suited people grew closer. Alex ducked as a Noivern flew over his head, right at Ray. Finally, the assailants reached the front row. The first one there was rewarded with a brand new black eye, courtesy of Azumi.
Growlithe looked up to her trainer with fear and a question in her eyes. Her look told Alex she was ready to carry out whatever command he had for her. Espeon surveyed the scene, suddenly looking serious. A large rock came hurtling at the three, which Espeon narrowly managed to divert telekinetically. "This is very very bad. The three of us totally outmatched, we're way out of our league," Alex thought. In the face of the emergency however, he was filled with a sudden calm.
Then the hostile pokemon began to reach them. Alex, being on one end of the row, was greeted by a very angry Sceptile. "Growlithe, give us some cover!" Growlithe complied, spinning up a fire spin to surround her pack. "Lucky for us, this guy's a grass type, he can't get throOOOUGH!" Alex's reassurance turned to alarm as the Sceptile slashed his way through the wall of flame. "Growlithe, Espeon! We need a high intensity flamethrower!" Growlithe unleashed a wide cone of flame from her mouth. Unfocused as it was, it wouldn't do much to this clearly very tough Sceptile. Espeon, at the call of his trainer, diverted his attention from covering them. As they practiced, he mentally squeezed his teammate's outpouring of fire into a narrow jet. As the stream became narrower, it grew hotter and slightly changed in color. The beam struck the looming attacker squarely, pushing him back slightly and dropping him to his knees. A new wave of heat rushed over Alex. Sweat pooled on his forehead, not only because of the fire.
Just then, an Aggron tore through the last shreds of fire left from Growlithe's fire spin. Alex's heart sank as the Sceptile staggered to two feet. "We're completely outmatched..."