Zane said nothing. He could only stare at the two retreating pokemon. He stood still for several seconds, trying to take in what had just happened. He would have to fight those two and win... otherwise he would lose one or more of his pokemon. Silently, he recalled Infernape and Weavile, and began walking back towards the entrance of the Ice Path. The whole way there, he was silently communicating with Lucario.<br/><br/><em>"You're not seriously thinking about accepting, are you?"</em><br/><em>What choice do I have? It's face them, or I lose all of you.</em><br/><em>"That won't happen, I won't allow it."</em><br/><em>You may not be strong enough to stop them, Lucario... we could try to run away... but they said they would find us.</em><br/><em>"Salamence is a fast flyer. We could be halfway to Sinnoh by sunrise."</em><br/><em>I can't do that. I'd be constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering if anyplace would be truly safe. I might wake up one day and find that you've all been taken from me.</em><br/><em>"You don't know that. They could be bluffing."</em><br/><em>I'm not taking that chance. If we deal with them now and beat them, then at least it's over.</em><br/><em>"And if we lose, who are you willing to sacrifice to those monsters?"</em><br/><br/>Zane stopped walking. His fists were clenched, shaking slightly. He turned and looked at Lucario. "That isn't going to happen, Lucario. I won't let them win." Zane started walking again, trying to think of a battle strategy. Arnich was basically a giant Nidoking, so it was most likely a ground/poison type still. That other pokemon that hadn't given it's name, Zane wasn't sure what type it was. It was definitely the stronger of the two. He had no way to know exactly how powerful they were though. They were likely far stronger than the average pokemon. Fortunately, Zane had raised and trained his pokemon to be anything but average. He started formulating a plan. When he got back to the center, he would need to make another pokemon swap.