The Team Excalibur

Hiyas! It's still me, Fox Lee. Just to re-emphasize who belongs to who:

We have Andy Gengler with Andy, Julie, Armin & Jimmy, Daeg Os Thorn with Daeg, Ni & Zarik, Rex Lee with Kyosan & Adam, Fox Lee with Fox, Vance & Quinn, Jon Ball with Jon, Thane & Falcon, Brittany Lopez with Lyith, Emily & Adam, and Rebecca Cherish with Tessa, Yusuo & Leiko. All those characters are © their respective players.

And now, on with the story! When last we left our heroes, orphaned wanderer Jon and family outcast Fox had arrived in Fuchsia City after throwing off Fox's enraged brother, Vance. Feeling a summons from the mysterious PokéGod Mewthree, Jon's mewtwo Falcon led them to befriend Daeg, a trainer with an extraordionary dratini, runaway Andy and his best friend Julie, and Kyosan, a young man with a vow against Team Rocket. They'd not been in town long before they were called upon by Masaki, renowned pokémaniac, to save PCs everywhere from a Rocket invasion. The trail of the interlopers led the team to a secret Rocket headquarters right there in Fuchsia City, but the raid attempt went horribly wrong when Sakaki rigged the building to explode, with Jon and Kyosan trapped inside...

It was half an hour before the raging flames were put out by the maroon-uniformed Fuchsia City Firefighters. After the smoke cleared the site was a gigantic mess. Burnt wood, piles of ashes, searing hot bars of metal, and slabs of steel littered the cracked concrete floor, laced with gaping chasms. Fox darted quickly past the police officers and their barriers, which were already being overwhelmed by curious civilians. Falcon was to follow, along with Daeg, Julie, Falcon, Andy, and a haunter trailing Andy. Fox ran over the mountains of debris, stopping near a large block on steel that partially fused with plaster from the intense heat. She tried to push it out of the way, but the block was too large. Her friends aided her, but only succeeded in moving it a couple of inches before it stuck fast. Julie, wiping her brow, frowned at the catastrophe site, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"This is ridiculous. All right, Arcanine, come on out," Julie said, throwing the pokéball towards the ground. The large pokémon jumped out, barking its name, wagging his tail. Arcanine looked curiously at Julie, who had released him. The pokémon then glanced around, with a puzzled look on his face.

"If only you knew," Julie said to Arcanine, scratching behind his ear. "Arcanine, find some people buried underground."

The arcanine immediately started sniffing the debris, walking around. Everyone watched as Arcanine stopped at one place, sniffing. All of a sudden, Arcanine started howling his name, scratching at a pile of burnt wood and concrete. The arcanine started wagging its tail excitedly, glancing at Julie, then at the pile again. Julie ran to the pile of debris, and she started to remove a few pieces from the pile. Everyone followed her example, including Arcanine. After moving the little stuff like rocks and large pieces of plaster, they came to a large piece of sheet metal. Daeg tried to grip the metal, but as soon he touched it, he snatched back his hands, surprised.

"That metal is hot! I don't understand why it hasn't melted yet!" Daeg said, shaking his hand, which was in pain.

"Allow me," said the stressed out mewtwo, using his telekinesis to lift the sheet of metal with his mind, and setting it back down a few feet away.

Everyone gasped at what they saw. An unmoving body, covered in dust that stained its back completely gray. The Arcanine recognized the body, and bounded to the side of the collapsed person. Arcanine started licking the person's face, turning over the body. It was Kyosan. There was a trickle of blood running down his head, and cuts all over his body, practically ripping through his clothes.

"Is he alive?" Andy whispered. Kyosan groaned and twitched his left hand, almost as if he was replying.

"Hey you! What are you doing there? This is a restricted area!" Yelled Officer Junsa.

"Let's split!" Andy said. Everyone nodded, taking off, avoiding the stressed officer. They ran into an abandoned alley, all catching their breath.

After a few moments' rest, Julie glanced out into the street, making sure that it was safe to leave. That's when she saw the fleet of search parties on their heavy industry machinery, no doubt used for the clearing of debris. Following the search parties were ambulances with doctors in them, ready for action. They whizzed past the small group with their sirens blazing.

"I... I feel a bit dizzy..." Fox murmured, swaying on her feet. Turning to her, Falcon noticed that a large graze was bleeding on her temple, doubtless caused by a flying piece of debris that had hit her when the others had all had the sense to take cover.

Stupid girl, Falcon snarled into her mind. As if you could have done anything! You deserve that.

Despite his harsh words, he wrapped one arm around her protectively as she leaned on him.

"They'll be taking all the survivors to the Fuchsia City General Hospital," Julie said to her friends. "Let's get there first before anyone else does."

Everyone nodded, and headed for the hospital, opting to go through the alleys and the slums of Fuchsia City instead of the main, crowded streets.

"Remember, though," Andy cautioned as they went, "we have to stay out of sight of the police. I'd prefer to retain my freedom if it's all the same to everyone. I'll explain this all later, by the way..."

"I can't believe we had to come in through the shipping bay of a hospital," Daeg whispered, following Andy. Julie's friend led everyone through the hospital, avoiding all the workers and cops. They ran through a hallway, occasionally hiding in a utility closet or ducking into a storage room to avoid doctors and nurses. They eventually got to the waiting room, not having to hide for one reason only; the first fleet of the survivors have already arrived. They ducked with the survivors, who were mainly suffering from cuts and bruises. The ones with internal injuries had already been rushed to the emergency room. Two men in white uniforms ran by the waiting room, running beside a stretcher. Julie barely noticed it, until she saw Kyosan on it. She jerked her head around to see where it was going. The stretcher stopped moving in front of the front desk. One of the men asked a nurse where this one would go after visiting the emergency room.

"Take him to room 312," the nurse replied, looking up from her notepad. The man nodded, and ran with his friend down the hall with an unconscious Kyosan.

"Kyosan's being taken to room 312, where ever that is," Julie said to her friends.

Most likely room 312 is on the third floor, Falcon replied telepathically, being watched by many survivors.

"The only thing we can do is wait," Andy said. "We'll be safe here from all the authority figures, until a majority of the people in this room get medical aid, which shouldn't be for a while. So I'd say it's safe to rest for now. Unfortunately, there are no more chairs here...but, if you don't mind, I have a few Z's to catch..." Andy started to get comfortable on the floor, shutting his eyes, hoping to block out the noise and commotion.

"Good idea. I could use some rest myself," Falcon said, lowering his head, crossing his arms, and leaning against the wall, falling into sleep.

How does he do it? Fox thought to herself. She glanced at Daeg, who was watching the hospital personnel buzz about. Julie was relaxing against the wall, watching Haunter making faces at her after having left Andy alone for sleep. Fox yawned, stretching her arms. She too should get some rest... but first, she should deal with her graze. She fished around in her pack for a bottle of water. Then, she pulled off the top half of the Team Rocket uniform she still wore - she was lucky Officer Junsa hadn't noticed her wearing it, she realized - and turned it inside out, the cleanest piece of material she could manage at the moment. Pouring a little of the water onto the cloth, the dabbed lightly at the sticky blood on her forehead, hissing angrily as it smarted. She was glad Falcon was asleep - he would probably have laughed at her...

Having cleared most of it away, and satisfied that the bleeding had stopped, Fox puled out Shinji's pokéball and released the rattata, who squeaked curiously at all the people, then turned in confusion to his trainer. She scratched behind his ear as, with a small shrug, he settled down in her lap.

This is comfortable enough, Fox thought, shutting her eyes, immediately falling asleep...

"Any broken bones with this one?"

"No. The X-rays show everything's all right with his skeletal system. But he's suffered major cuts and bruises."

"Will he be alright?"

"That's unclear as of now. He lost a lot of blood."

"I see. Then do what you can."

"Yes ma'am."

Kyosan was phasing in and out of consciousness. One minute he was getting knocked over by concrete, watching Jon fall through the floor. The next minute he was lying on rocks, with some big, reddish-orange, furry thing licking him. Then he passed out again. And then he woke up, vision blurred. He was sitting on something soft. He brought his hand to what he was sitting on, and looked down. Pain throbbed on Kyosan's forehead as he realized that he was on a bed. He felt his forehead, looking for that spot where he felt pain. It was bandaged. Kyosan's vision cleared, and he was in a room with an IV right next to him. Kyosan felt dizzy and very tired. He was dressed in a white hospital night gown, and saw his dusty clothes on the chair, with his wallet on top. His vision started blurring again, and he decided to just get some sleep. Wondering if his friends were all right was the last thing Kyosan thought about before everything became dark again...

Fox woke up to the sound of Shinji chattering in her ear. She looked around the waiting room, only to see a small handful of people, including Falcon. Andy, Julie, and Daeg were gone. Fox stood up with Shinji on her shoulder and walked carefully to Falcon.

"Where is everyone?" Fox asked her psychic buddy.

Falcon glanced at her. They left about half an hour ago. That was an hour after the last fleet of the survivors from that blast came to the hospital.

"Where did they go?" Fox questioned, staring at the ground.

The mewtwo also stared. They went to find Kyosan and Jon in this hospital. I know that if Kyosan could survive, so could Jon. I have that feeling he hasn't left us yet.

Daeg walked down the hall, past the front desk, and into the waiting room to meet his friends. Falcon looked up, watching Daeg.

"We found Kyosan. He'll be all right. I checked the MED reports on him. It said that he just has a lack of blood, and a few cuts and bruises. However..." here Daeg looked down, shuffling his feet, "...we haven't found Jon yet. We've checked once, and we're willing to check again and again, but I didn't see him in this hospital."

Fox and Falcon instantly became concerned.

Come on, Falcon said, running down the hallway with Fox and Daeg to follow. Let's find Jon.

"Mommy! Look! Is that a rattata?"

"Yes it is, but it's hurt. Let's take it to the sick bay."

"All right, Mommy."

A woman with dark blue hair picked up a rattata, unconscious, from a pile of tall grass, and rushed down a road with a small child. The child ran quickly to catch up with her mother, who was cradling the hurt pokémon. They both ran through a field, to a house surrounded by a wooden fence, with a forest behind it. Next to the house was a smaller, gray colored building with windows. The door to this building opened, and a tall man walked out, shutting the door behind him. The man pulled off his working gloves, and placed them on a fence post.

"We've got a live one here," the mother said, hopping over the short wooden fence. The child climbed through it, catching up to his mother. The man ran towards the mother, inspecting the pokémon in her arms.

"Hmm..." he said, rubbing his finger under his nose, thinking. "This looks serious. C'mon. It won't do the rattata any good out here. Back into the sick bay to get a closer look."

The woman nodded, she and her husband ran off into the building, with the child to catch up.

The child peered in, to see a smaller Pokémon Center than the ones he'd seen with his father in Viridian City. His father was taking X-rays of the rattata, while his mother watched. After the X-rays, the parents examined what was wrong with the rattata. The child walked to the pokémon, who was awake and quite startled at its surroundings. When the child got within reaching distance, the rattata squeaked madly at him, trying to frighten him away.

"Hello there, Mr. Rattata. I'm not going to hurt you. My parents will make you all better." The child gestured towards the busy parents. "My name's Kyosan. Nice to meet you."

The young Kyosan smiled, staring at the rattata, who sniffed the air around, glancing here and there. "This is a sick bay for sick or hurt pokémon like you, Mr. Rattata. My parents will heal you, making you a strong rattata. Then you'll be released back into the wild."

"Kyosan, be a darling and get my reference guide on the countertop in our house," Kyosan's mother asked, glancing at her son.

"All right Mommy. You stay here, Mr. Rattata." Kyosan ran out of the building and into his house. Being only four at the time made him very short, so he clambered up a chair he pushed next to the counter top to get the reference guide. Kyosan ran back to his mother and handed her the book.

"Thanks, honey," Kyosan's mom replied, flipping through the pages. Kyosan walked to the rattata, who was now scratching itself.

"Hee hee hee," Kyosan giggled. "You're funny, Mr. Rattata. Do that and you'll cut yourself."

The rattata simply squeaked, and resumed grooming itself...

Everything started to black out. Voices could be heard, but very faintly. Now everything started to come together, but this time in a bedroom, with a boy crying. It was Kyosan, on his bed.

"Kyosan..." His mom started, "... I'm sorry... but as time passes, we all go... I know you've became attached to that pokémon, but you didn't even own it... it was still wild. Kyosan, darling, if you share this bond with wild pokémon, your friendships with pokémon you own will be forever..."

Kyosan wiped a tear from his eye, sniffing. "I know mommy... it's just that we'd become friends."

"That's the spirit, honey," Kyosan's mother smiled. She rose from the bed and started to walk out the door.

"Mommy," Kyosan said, sniffling.

Kyosan's mother turned around, smiling. "Yes honey? What's the matter?"

Kyosan, standing up, smiled. "I wanna be a Pokémon Master when I grow up!"

Kyosan's mother smiled, cherishing the thought. "I know you can be. I believe in you."

Everything started to black out again.

Kyosan jerked upright, sweat running down his face. Back in the hospital room. Andy and Julie were both in the room, sitting in the chairs. Andy glanced up, seeing a stressed Kyosan, then stood up, his example followed by Julie.

"How are you feeling?" Andy asked.

"A little," Kyosan replied, rubbing his forehead. "Ouch. I'll be fine." He wrapped his arms around his legs under the white sheets, looking up at Andy and Julie. "Where's everyone else?"

"Daeg went downstairs to the waiting room to get Falcon and Fox," Julie replied.

"What about Jon? Did they find him yet?" Asked Kyosan, half-heartedly. He expected to hear an answer almost immediately, but he didn't get one. Instantly, he became concerned. "Where's Jon? He's in this building, right?"

"It was over an hour ago before they brought in the last of the people who needed medical attention from the explosion. Jon wasn't there, so we checked the entire hospital... but we didn't find him..." Andy said, trailing off.

Kyosan's mouth hung open.

Daeg entered the room, with Falcon and Fox.

"How do you feel?" Fox asked.

"Horrible," Kyosan said, ducking his head into his arms.

"Now that everyone's here..." started Julie, "... I talked with one of the doctors. He said that they found no dead bodies at the site, so that's good news."

"Did they call off the search?" Kyosan asked, head still throbbing.

"Yeah. Over an hour ago..." Daeg trailed off, "... we can't go back either. It's a restricted police area. No doubt cops are patrolling that place. I'm afraid we can't do much."

A moment of silence passed through the room as it started to rain heavily outside.

Lightning crackled through the dark sky. Kyosan made an attempt to stand up after removing the sheets from the hospital bed. His left foot touched the cold tile floor. Kyosan slowly placed his other foot on the floor. He slowly stood up, wobbling a bit, trying to maintain balance with the aid of the bed.

"Boy, does this stink," Kyosan said, finally standing still. "I know how to walk, but it seems like my body is new to this..."

Everyone in the room chuckled, as Kyosan slowly walked to the opposite side of the room.

"My right foot is numb," Kyosan remarked, stumbling a bit. He finally succeeded. "No rehabilitation for me." He casually walked to the chair with his clothes and his wallet sitting on top, retrieving them and then heading for the bathroom. "I'll be right back... gotta change out of this depriving nightgown."

"I say we all check this hospital once again to see if we find Jon," Andy said. "It's possible that I missed him."

"There are six floors in this hospital," Daeg said. "We should all split up and search. I'll take the first floor. When Kyosan comes out, I'll tell him to take the second. You four check the other floors out."

"I'll take this one," said Julie.

"Fourth floor for me," Andy said, placing his hands on his hips.

"I guess I'll take the fifth floor," Fox said quietly.

Then you know where I'm going, Falcon said.

Everyone but Daeg was leaving the room when Haunter materialized in front of Andy. Andy, frowning, yelled, "Leave me alone! Kyosan's in the bathroom, changing! Go to him!"

The haunter shrugged, simply floating to the locked bathroom door, passing through it. A moment later, a yell was heard coming from the bathroom, followed by a loud clatter.

Julie turned around, tossing Daeg a pokéball. "This is Kyosan's. Tell him I said thanks when he comes out."

Daeg nodded, and Julie took off.

"Hey," Daeg yelled down the hallway. Julie turned around, puzzled. "Everyone's most likely waiting by the elevator. Tell them all to meet near the front when they're done looking."

Julie nodded, and ran off.

The bathroom door opened, and a pale looking Kyosan walked out, with a laughing Haunter to follow.

"I'm happy to see you too, but scaring the crap out of me isn't a nice way to say hi!" Kyosan said to his ghost friend, still chuckling. "All right. Time to get in your pokéball." Kyosan pulled one from his belt. The pokéball opened, and Haunter floated forward. The ball closed, and Kyosan placed it back on his belt.

"Julie said thanks," Daeg said, tossing Kyosan a pokéball.

"Arcanine," Kyosan smiled, placing the pokéball back on his belt. Then, he looked around and asked, "Where'd everyone go?"

"To find Jon. I'm searching the first floor, you're searching the second. When you're finished, go to the elevator at the front." Daeg said, walking out the door.

Falcon ran through the darkened hallway, stopping at every room. He peered in a room, empty but for a man in a bed, sleeping.

Not Jon, Falcon thought, continuing to the next room...

On the fifth floor, Fox eased herself from room to room, checking for her friend. He had to be here, somewhere...

"Where are you, Jon?" Fox bit her lip, looking for another room...

"Alright... to find Jon... this is going to be hard," Kyosan thought, peering into the x-ray room. Hmm... almost all the rooms in this floor are filled with these doctors' toys. Wow... that's a wicked cool looking X-ray... but where are the patient rooms?"

Kyosan ran through the entire floor, only finding seven patient rooms on this floor. "Dang it! Jon! Where are you?!"

Daeg waited by the front door, unable to find Jon on the first floor. The elevator doors opened, and Julie came out with Falcon. Catching sight of Daeg, they ran toward him.

"Did you find Jon?" Daeg questioned. Falcon and Julie both shook their heads. "I see..."

The stairwell door opened, and Kyosan came out, sulking.

"Didn't find Jon," he reported as he joined his friends.

A bell sounded, commanding their attention as the elevator reached ground again. Fox and Andy emerged.

"Did you find Jon?" Fox asked anxiously. A moment of silence passed between everyone, and the rain started to diminish.

"No... none of us found him..." Kyosan slowly said.

Another moment of silence passed, until a small, growling hiss was heard rumbling in Falcon's throat.

"Falcon, are you - "

Fox was cut off mid-sentence as Falcon broke out into a rage. The big mewtwo charged out of the hospital, furiously caterwauling, punching and kicking anything near him, and releasing waves of enraged psychic energy directed at random targets. He knocked over a lamp post, hurled a car into a telephone booth, left a gaping hole in an office building, snapped the top off a fire hydrant. Ignoring the damage he was inflicting, Falcon continued to take out his anger on the unfortunate street, until, exhausted, he calmed down, breathing a little hard.

I'm looking for Jon, Falcon snarled. None of you follow me. I'll return when I find him.

"I know how you feel, Falcon," Fox sighed quietly, surveying the damage.

The night sky was thick and humid. A haze blocking the stars. Lyith yawned and rolled over on her sleeping bag. Her things were in the backpack beside her. She still had her belt on, though. She coughed and rolled back over. The air was sticky, making it hard to breathe. Lyith closed her eyes.

"What now...?" She whispered into the sky as she drifted off to sleep...

Lyith...Lyith...

Hmm?

Lyith?

...Yes?

Listen close...

I will...I always listen...

Good...there is a path...

To where?

To what you are searching for.

...My parents? To my parents?

Yes.

Oh...where is the path?

I am molding it for you...

Oh.

Go to Fuchsia City.

Okay, I will...I'll leave tomorrow...

Good. At Fuchsia there has been an...accident...

Were people hurt?

Yes...it is no concern of you now. Once there, go to the hospital.

Who is there? I thought I didn't need to worry about hurt people...

I said to listen...when you get there you must look for a group of people.

What should I say to them?

It doesn't matter.

But...

It doesn't matter.

Okay... how will I know them?

Don't dwell on that. It will take you two days to get to Fuchsia, and I'll tell you before you do...

Okay...

Goodbye, Lyith...remember what I've said...

I always do, Emily...

I know...

...

...Everything

Falcon rummaged desperately through the rubble of the destroyed team rocket HQ, trying to find some trace of his missing trainer. He had been searching through the wreckage for several hours now, to no avail. Soon, he would have to give up and return to the others...

As he walked away from the small mountain of rubble, he caught a glint in the corner of his eye. Pouncing upon the gleaming object, he discovered a black belt holding two pokéballs and a very familiar throwing dagger. Falcon's scream could be heard throughout the city as the powerful pokémon proceeded to take out his rage and despair on the nearest buildings, which had fortunately been abandoned after the bomb scare.

The fit of fury passed almost as quickly as it had begun, and the mewtwo looked down at the objects in his paws as the dust settled. He thought for a moment, and then engaged his teleport.

The others were just leaving Fuchsia City hospital when Falcon appeared beside them.

Are we staying in town? He asked Fox privately.

"Yeah," she replied. "There's a youth hostel a few blocks from the pokémon center that we can afford. If only barely."

Falcon nodded. Then, he placed Jon's belt and dagger in her hand. Here - he would have wanted you to have them.

Fox looked down at the items with a somber expression as Falcon took a few steps away.

I'm going to be sure, the mewtwo said. I'm not giving up.

Then he was gone.

Daeg had been hoping it wouldn't come to this, but he knew he had to face his past and his shame once more. After sneaking away unnoticed, he first went to the SS Anne. Silently, he leapt to the ropes that tied the ship to the dock and climbed on board. Not wanting to be recognized, he hid in the shadows and stealthily went to the captain's quarters. Lightly knocking on the door, Daeg was greeted by the groggy captain.

"Daeg, is that you?"

The young man smiled sadly. "Aye aye sir."

Daeg stepped inside, looking about to see the room hadn't changed much since the time he had worked as a cabin boy.

He looked toward the captain. "Sir, I owe you much for all that you taught me. Now I have come to reclaim the sword that I left in your care."

The captain nodded gravely, then went to a small concealed panel in the wall. After sorting through several swords, he solemnly handed Daeg the old familiar blade.

He caressed the blade. "Thank you once again. I will always treasure the training you gave me."

With that parting phrase Daeg slipped into the darkness once more. Now, though, he moved slowly, dragging his feet, knowing there would be no easy way to do what he needed to next. He made a brief visit to the Pokémon Center, stopping at the PC, where he retrieved his black suit and old kit. After gathering his things together, he headed toward the gym, as ready as he could be to face his old trainer Kyou.

As he entered the gym, Daeg knew he was being watched. Slowly he crept along the path, deftly avoiding the invisible walls and the dangerous traps he knew were there until he came to a familiar secret panel. Pulling it aside, he dropped low, bowing before the shadowy figure on the other side.

"Master Kyou, I have come to ask for your aid, though I do not deserve it. A friend of mine may have been killed by Team rocket. I seek vengeance."

Without waiting for a reply, he slid out of the gym.

As he left, Daeg felt a shiver run down his spine. He reached to his belt and pulled out a pokéball, releasing Abra. "Abra, I want you to tell the others that I will return in three days."

Obediently, Abra teleported away. With a satisfied nod, Daeg traveled out toward the forest, where he found a clearing in which to settle down and meditate...

The next morning, Daeg went back into town. He wandered around, looking for something out of the ordinary amongst the festivities, which were still in full swing despite the recent happenings. Daeg happened to go near a tent labeled in bold letters, 'See the rarest pokémon battle'. Daeg was about to enter when a familiar person came walking around from behind the tent. Daeg smiled for the first time in a while.

"Bird keeper...how are you doing, old timer?" Daeg asked, genuinely pleased to see his old mentor.

"Well, young man, I still haven't found the harrow if that's what you're asking. But I have the next best thing, the legendary articuno. Soon I will begin hunting the zapdos."

Daeg stood in a stunned silence, then blurted, "you have an articuno?!"

Bird keeper only smiled and asked, "how's your collection coming along?"

Now it was Daeg's turn to smile and look a little sheepish at the same time. "Well... I haven't got many new ones... but the ones I have gained a lot of experience!"

Bird keeper looked off toward a small tent where food was being served. "Well, you can tell me all about it over a cup of coffee... my treat."

With that, they set off toward the coffee house.

The room was dark, very dark, a single ray of light shining down. The young man scratched his head, and when he pulled his hand back he could see some blood on it. He looked around - he appeared to be inside of an elevator that was on its side and crushed a little. The elevator doors were above him, and rubble had piled in through the half-opened door.

The young man climbed out, then checked to see if he still had everything. He didn't. He was missing his belt.

"Shit." he said out loud. The last thing he could remember was falling through the floor and seeing an explosion above him, and then pain, then darkness. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light, then looked around and noticed a manhole nearby. He opened the grate, slipping into the blackness of the sewer.

Lyith shot up. The air had cooled around her. Her campfire crackled. Lyith stared into its flames. Each tongue reached into the sky, higher each time. Her hand went to her necklace. She pressed her fingers against it.

Slowly she remembered her dream. Emily and the path. Tears ran down her cheek; it was times like these that she thought about her past. Home...and running away...a few weeks after she'd left, Emily came to her in her dreams. She said she'd take care of her, and when the time came, she'd help her to her 'real' past. Her parents? Maybe.

Emily was always there when Lyith needed her, always. If it hadn't been for her, Lyith might not have made it through all those years. She'd spent them catching and training fire pokémon. Her flareon was her favorite, but she loved them all.

Lyith wiped her face. She had to think about now. That was what was important. She pulled herself up and walked over to the pile of fire wood. She took the top piece and through it on the fire. The flames rose up and engulfed it.

As Lyith turned back to her sleeping bag she heard a branch snap in the woods around her.

"Who the hell's there?!" she yelled out into the night. Another branch snapped as a figure came closer. The firelight flickered...

Him!

Lyith walked closer to the figure. His clothes were tattered, and his arm was around his stomach. His handsome face was cut. She gasped, "oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'm alive," he whispered, clutching his stomach.

"You look really hurt. Come over here and I'll help you."

"There you go," Lyith smiled as she bandaged his arm. "All taken care of."

Vance smiled back, the action feeling unnatural and forced to him when it was a gesture of friendship rather than gloating. "Thank you again, for helping. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't run into you."

"I'm glad you did. You could have been attacked by wild pokémon. How long have you been wandering around anyway?"

"A few days."

"Wow...you must be hungry. Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Yes..."

Lyith got up from beside him and walked over to her backpack. She rummaged through her things and pulled out a canteen and a bag of chips. She walked back over to Vance and handed him the items. "It's not much, but you can get something in town tomorrow."

He accepted the food. "I guess you're stuck with me until then."

"It's not a bad thing," she said, and walked over to her sleeping bag.

Vance only grinned in reply.

A young man wearing a trenchcoat, with black spiky hair and red eyes, could be seen sitting at a bar, with a wicked looking barbed dagger sitting in front of him. The bar was actually pretty quiet... for a bar, anyway. The news was running about the explosion of the team rocket HQ. They were showing a picture of Jon, saying he was the only person believed to have died in the explosion - everyone else had been found.

Thane gulped down the last of his drink and stood up. "He's not dead. I can feel it... I can't get rid of him that easily."

A young man was walking through the sewers, looking for a way out, but not really finding one.

Then he saw a light ahead. He also heard, "grimer, grime grime grimer!" and a scared-sounding, "charmander charma charmander!"

The young man ran up ahead, but as quietly as he could. Gradually, he was able to focus on four grimer, about to beat up a charmander. Knowing he had to help, the young man searched around until he came upon an old piece of piping. He picked it up, and, as quietly as he could, sneaked up behind the four grimer. The grimer were about to strike when he jumped out, and hit one from behind with the pipe, at the same time kicking another. Seeing the young man take out their fellows so easily, the other two grimer turned and fled.

The young man turned to the charmander and said, "You okay?"

"Char char!" Came the happy reply.

"Hey, you wanna come with me? I could really use some help."

The Charmander agreed to have the young man be his trainer.

The young man continued. "Now... you need a name... hmmm... how about Bahamut?... that okay?"

"Char!" the charmander chirped.

Half an hour later, the young man could be seen in the sewers... this time with a charmeleon.

"Thanks to you, Bahamut. You have made my travelling in these sewers a lot easier... and you evolved..."

"Meleon charmeleon char," it hissed. And the pair continued into the darkness.

The pair had been traveling in the sewers for about a day when they saw a light up ahead.

The young trainer turned to Bahamut. "I think we finally made it out, and man I can really use it now... I'm starving."

"Meleon char-meleon charmeleon," it hissed in agreement. They went toward the light in a dead run. When they finally reached it, they emerged from a sewer access pipe into daylight that nearly blinded eyes accustomed to the darkness of underground. The trainer checked his surroundings, and determined he was just on the border of Saffron City.

"Damn... guess I went farther that I thought."

That's when he heard that all-too-familiar laugh. "I've been waiting for you, Jon."

Jon turned, and saw Thane standing right above the sewer access pipe. "How did you know I was here?!"

"A lucky guess... heh heh heh..."

Then Jon noticed Thane's hand was flaming. The spiky-haired teenager pulled his hand back and threw a fireball at Jon, but before it could impact, Bahamut appeared between them, blocking it.

"H-h-h-how did you do that!?"

"A little ability I learned I had, during my travels," Thane shrugged. "Well, it looks like that charmeleon wants to defend you. Hmm... go, Rhydon!"

Thane's rhydon appeared.

"Bahamut, fire blast attack now!" The charmeleon executed the attack, and successfully torched his opponent. The rhydon, weakened, fainted.

"Stupid Rhydon!" Thane spat. "You are weak! I will no longer be your trainer! Aerodactyl go! Hyper beam the charmeleon!"

The Aerodactyl opened its mouth and the beam shot toward the charmeleon, easily knocking it unconscious.

"Aerodactyl return! Go Shadow! Hypnotize Jon!"

"What!?" Jon cried. Thinking quickly, Jon tore off his coat and threw it on the charmeleon's unconscious body. If they find him they'll know he's mine, he thought.

The last Thing Jon saw was the gengar starting his hypnotize attack as his mind was gradually pulled into its psychic control.

Leaving Shadow to handle his longtime enemy, Thane moved over to where Jon's coat now covered the unconscious charmander, with half a mind to remove the coat and destroy his rival's plan. Then, he had a better idea. Quickly scribbling out a brief note, he slipped it into the pocket of the coat. That done, he recalled Shadow and picked up Jon's unconscious body.

Fox was dreaming again. She knew it, but that didn't make it - him - any less real.

"It's so hot," she muttered, faintly, sweltering in the Fuchsia City heat. She shouldn't be. She had grown up on Cinnabar Island, home to fire pokémon like charmander and growlithe. It was a much hotter environment than Fuchsia City could ever be.

"Are you feeling okay?" Jon asked anxiously.

"I will be..." She swayed slightly as she spoke.

"Here." Fox felt Jon's hand on her arm, supporting her to a conveniently-placed bench.

"Thankyou," she said quietly, and then was suddenly compelled to continue. "You know... I-I never really told you - "

She never finished, because he was gone. Everything was gone. Her dream world was thrown into darkness, invaded by glimpses of places and people she'd never seen...a home and a family destroyed in a violent fire; a beautiful young woman with a star on her forehead who spoke with a lonely child; a young boy left without parents to fend for himself; a stepfather who should have loved the child that could have been his own. She saw the images drift past, feeling that she should somehow remember such things, as if she had known them all her life and the stories behind them were only lingering on the edge of her consciousness.

And Jon, standing with his back to her, not speaking a word of what he felt, unaware that she already knew. And standing beside him, Thane - tall, dark, a single rose in one hand.

A sudden rush of wind made her look up. A strange bird pokémon flew overhead, a white, winged creature that seemed to trail clouds behind it as it flew. The combined gaze of Jon and Thane followed its path as it soared overhead. Fox's brow furrowed. What did it mean?

Then, a terrible cry rent her dream. There was no mistaking it as Jon's. As she watched, he disappeared, fading into nothingness, leaving Thane standing alone, and holding out a hand to her.

With a start, Fox was jolted awake. Breathing heavily, she looked around the room of the half-star youth hostel she and the others were staying in. Julie and Andy slept soundly in the makeshift floor beds next to her, while Kyosan, who'd drawn the short straw, looked comfortable in the room's only real bed. She glanced to the other side, where Daeg should have been - he'd left in the morning, later sending his abra back to ease their worried minds.

The room felt empty, undeniably empty. She'd come to know Andy and Julie well enough over the course of all that had happened, but - much as she hated to admit it - she missed Jon. She missed glaring at him when he made a smart comeback in reply to her scathing comments. She missed the way he still blushed a bit when he looked at her for too long, or when she came too close. She even missed Falcon's perpetual presence, the dark shadow that leaned up against the wall in the corner and invaded her thoughts with his infuriating, calm logic.

Falcon... Fox shuddered as she remembered his violent rage the other day. When he had left, he had firmly ordered them not to follow him, said he wanted to look for Jon himself. But the dream... Jon's life might be at stake...

Decided, she retrieved her pack and silently moved to the door.

Falcon hovered high over Route 11, legs crossed and eyes closed, trying to sense where Jon was... if Jon was still alive...

Suddenly, he felt a flicker of Jon's life force... but then it was gone again. But it was enough - he knew it had come from somewhere near Saffron City.

As he began to move again, he was reminded that he should notify the others... but he really didn't have time or energy to waste. He decided to fly to Saffron...

After the shock of Team Rocket bombing a building had finally sunk in, the Grand Pokémon Gathering was a bit calmer. People weren't having as much fun, and sales were down. Bird keeper looked at his friends...even the bird pokémon seemed subdued.

Lance the Dragon Trainer looked out toward the throngs of people from his balcony. He knew they were down there somewhere. That cursed cult had been following him for years now, worshipping him and his pokémon. He spotted one of the robed cultists, and threw a nearby glass at the figure.

"Curse them," Lance muttered. "Curse the cult of the Dragonite..."

As he walked through the crowd, Wunjo, head of the cult of the Almighty Dragonite, listened closely to the rumors about Team Rocket. It was said that a golden dratini had helped defeat them, and saved PCs everywhere. Wunjo continued listening, and asking questioned relating to the whereabouts of this magic dratini, this golden dratini. It must be worshipped and raised to its full potential. This was, after all, the future dragonite of legend that the cult had been seeking all these years.

"We must find it... and the sacred trainer who has been guiding our master - the one who will replace that ungrateful Lance."

Jon slowly awoke from unconsciousness, only to find that it was still dark except for a single spotlight upon him. He was tied up to a chair.

"Ahh... yess..." came Thane's mocking laughter. "Now that I have you, Jon, how should I make you suffer?... Hmmm..." Thane began pacing around in front of his rival, twirling his barbed dagger as he walked. "Should I just kill you?... No-no-no... that would be much too easy and not painful enough..."

"Let me go, you bastard!"

"And why would I want to do that?!" Thane laughed, as his hands began flaming, his red eyes glowing in the darkness. "Ahhh... I have the perfect idea!... First I will capture your friends... then I will kill each one of them in front of you. Then, I simply let you go free, knowing that you could do nothing to help them, and having to remember the look on their faces before they died!"

Jon ground his teeth, trying not to give his enemy the pleasure of hearing him cry 'no', or swear that he'd never get away with it. Thane rolled the idea around in his twisted mind, definitely liking the way it sounded. He began laughing maniacally. The sound echoed through the chamber, rumbling out into the darkness until it found walls to reflect it back twofold.

Jon shuddered. It also seemed to echo through his head.

Sighing, Fox re-adjusted her pack, which was beginning to bite into her shoulder. Hours of searching had resulted in exactly what she'd started with - nothing - and it was almost eleven o'clock. She simply didn't know where else she could go.

"Where to now, Shinji?" She inquired of her rattata, who was thoughtfully nibbling on strands of her red-brown hair. He squeaked noncommittally - apparently, he wasn't too bothered by Jon's absence.

Fox rounded the corner and came upon the site of the disaster that had occurred now several days ago - now little more than a mass of debris and still-smoking rubble. After glancing for a moment at the black and yellow 'police line - do not cross' tape, she quickly slipped under it and into the wreckage, which had been abandoned by cleanup crews - in fact, by everyone but the nightly patrols - until the morning.

"He's got to be around here somewhere," she muttered to Shinji. "There's no way out 'cept for the front doors. They didn't find a body, they didn't take him to the hospital, and Falcon wasn't with him, so he couldn't have been teleported out of - "

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Hey, you!"

"Uh-oh..." Fox turned to see Fuchsia City's Officer Junsa angrily striding toward her.

"Clear off! This is a restricted police area! You kids think you can - hey," Officer Junsa's tone changed as she caught site of Fox's face. "I know you! You're that runaway from Cinnabar Island!"

"Y-you must be mistaken," Fox tried to keep her voice even. "I'm from, uh, Saffron City...I came down for the pokémon festival..."

"Don't lie to me!" The cop snapped, grabbing the young trainer's arm. "We've got units out everywhere looking for you! Just come down to the station before you get in any more trouble!"

"Trouble?"

"Don't pretend you don't know - stealing a pokémon, from your own brother too, and then you were involved in that building exploding, seen wearing a Team Rocket uniform!" Officer Junsa pointed triumphantly at the ground beneath Fox's feet. "The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime!"

"No!" Fox cried. "I'm not a criminal! This is all a misunderstanding!"

"Then we can clear it up at the station," Officer Junsa said firmly, trying to pull the resisting teenager toward her motorcycle.

"No!" Fox insisted, refusing to budge. "I can't - not now! I have to find my friend!"

"That's it, I'm placing you under arrest!" Officer Junsa's hand moved toward the handcuffs hanging from her belt.

"I'm sorry," Fox said quickly, wrenching her arm free (with a great deal of effort) and bolting.

"Hey!"

Shinji clinging to her shoulder, the young trainer dashed into one of the many tunnel-like passages created by the toppled building, weaving through the chunks of concrete and wood and glass. She could hear Officer Junsa following, ordering her to stop, causing her heart to race even faster at the thought of what Vance might do to her if he found her... and Angel. No, there was no stopping now - she'd gone past the point where she could have turned herself in and sorted out the whole mess... and Jon was more important than that, anyway.

Spotting a tiny, darkened alcove created by a collapsed staircase (that was quite familiar), Fox darted sideways and squeezed into the cramped space, ignoring the jagged broken edges as they scraped her bare arms and legs. Oblivious to the pressure of solid concrete gripping her ribs like a vice, Fox pushed herself as far in as she would fit, huddling away from the dim light and incredibly glad that she wasn't claustrophobic. Then, hardly daring to breathe, she waited.

In a matter of moments, Officer Junsa pounded past, and Fox caught the telltale glint of some sort of weapon in the policewoman's hand. Obviously, they were now playing hardball...

After waiting for even the distant echoes of her pursuer's footsteps to vanish, Fox extracted herself (with some difficulty) from the debris. She breathed deeply, grateful to be free of that cramped hole.

As she began walking back toward open pace, Fox's foot caught on something, and she stumbled, causing Shinji to slip backwards off her shoulder. She turned just in time to see a purple tail disappear into a large hole, barely noticeable when partially covered as it was by a large portion of door.

"Shinji?" Fox called in a whisper, as she tried to shift the obstruction. "Are you okay?"

"Rat-atta, ratta," came the reassuring yet self-pitying reply. It sounded, by the echoes of the rattata's voice, as if the hole was fairly deep.

The door suddenly complied with Fox's efforts, and her momentum threw her backward. Scrambling to her feet, coughing as the dust cleared, she realized that her pokémon had inadvertently discovered some sort of tunnel.

"What... I think this is a manhole, Shinji," she thought aloud as she dropped into it. Glad to have his trainer (and her shoulder) back, Shinji immediately scampered back to his usual perch.

Then it hit her. This was an alternate way out of the wreck - one that wouldn't require going outside or teleporting away. It was the only other way that Jon could've gotten out of the building.

A drip sounded somewhere in the darkness, and its echo bounced toward them as Fox glanced down the tunnel, greeted by pitch blackness. After considering following the tunnel then and there, Fox reminded herself that if she wanted to be any help to Jon, she'd need to know where she was going. It would be an even bigger disaster if she got lost, too.

The beginnings of a plan were coming into her head...

"Masaki!" Fox hissed, tapping on the glass of the world-famous pokémaniac's window. "Wake up!"

Standing on the fire escape outside Masaki's hotel room, Fox had once again managed to get herself caught in the rain. She was beginning to wonder why, whenever she walked somewhere, her surroundings insisted on thoroughly soaking her.

"Masaki!" She called again, getting desperate. She had already tried to open the window from the outside, but the security at the hotel (particularly this VIP suite) was far too solid for that.

Finally, Masaki emerged from the bedroom, still half asleep, stumbling over in a pokéball-patterned dressing gown and jigglypuff slippers. He groaned quietly as he pulled the window open.

"Go away. No door-to-door salespeople allowed..."

"Masaki! It's me, Fox - remember, the Team Rocket/porygon thing? I need your help!"

"At this time of night?!"

"Pleeease," Fox pleaded, her eyes growing somewhat larger and more moist. "It's for Jon - you remember him, right? He introduced you to his rare mewtwo? Well, I - "

"Yes, yes...come in..." Masaki mumbled, offering a hand to help her through the window, then took a closer look at her and seemed to wake up a little. "Goodness, what happened to you? You're a mess!"

"I...uh...had a bit of a near escape," Fox replied, getting as close to the truth as she could without telling him the whole story.

"You should take a shower," Masaki advised, noting her somewhat sorry appearance - dripping, covered in cuts and scrapes, and obviously just a little stressed.

"No - not now - there's no time," she replied.

"What is it that needs our attention so quickly?"

"It's Jon...he was caught in the explosion, and now nobody can find him. We've checked the hospital thoroughly, and he's not there."

"That's terrible..."

"But I had an idea," Fox continued. "There is one way he could have gotten out of the building without the rescue teams or anyone else finding him; underground. The sewers!"

"Hmm," Masaki said thoughtfully, "You might be on to something. But what do you need me for?"

"I'm going to go down into the sewers and search for him," Fox replied. "And doing that, I'd be a lot better off if I knew where I was going. And I thought of you - you're a genius with computers - and there's bound to be some sort of map of the sewerage system on some local PC - at the police station, maybe, or even the Pokémon Center."

"Maybe," the pokémon expert nodded. "That might be a good plan. But you're asking me to hack into somebody else's computer. I don't want to have to do that, even for a friend."

"Please, Masaki," Fox begged. "You're my only hope..."

"Why can't you just go down to the Fuchsia City police station and ask Officer Junsa herself if she has what you're looking for? I'm sure she'd help."

"Well...I guess I could...but...uh...you see, with all that's been going on, I really don't want to trouble her..."

"You should probably leave Jon's rescue to the professionals."

"They already gave up! Everyone's so sure he's dead, but he's not! He can't be!"

Fox immediately pulled herself back into check, looking embarrassed. Did she really feel that strongly about it?

Masaki sighed. "I trust you, Fox, although I'm not sure why...and I do owe you one. I'll help you. But I want you to do me one favour."

"Anything!"

"I'll look for the files. You get yourself cleaned up. Go take a shower."

When Fox emerged from Masaki's bathroom, wrapped in a towel and drying her short red hair with another, the first thing she saw was the bed. Suddenly, she realised how tired she was.

I think I'd better sit down for a while, Fox thought to herself, collapsing onto the bed for what she promised herself would only be a minute or so, just until Masaki was done.

A few moments later, Masaki appeared. "Fox, I got the f - oh." He smiled, both amused and saddened at Fox's fast-asleep form. He'd only met Fox a short while ago, but he could've sworn she was carrying the world around on those young shoulders.

"Poor kid," he sighed. "She really cares...I just hope that's a good thing..."

Lyith watched as Vance closed his eyes, lying beside the fire. Its tongues reached to the sky, reached for the stars...she laid her head back down on her pillow... the sky was beautiful at night... the stars... she smiled to herself, and she knew that she would dream of home...

Lyith?

Yes? Emily?

Stay with Vance, he is the key... but be careful...

Of Vance? He seems nice enough, poor guy just got lost in the woods...

Be careful, You do not know everything.

Then tell me.

I cannot, it will lead you away from your path, and you must find your family.

Are you sure my parents are alive?

... You will find him first.

Him? Him who?... Emily?

Images of children playing in a yard...a boy and a girl...both very young...

Lyith woke up. Her heart was pounding. The fire was out, except for a few cinders. The sky was filled with the morning light. Calming down, she took a deep breath. An odd feeling passed through her, a warm, welcomed feeling...a smile passed over her face. This was going to be a wonderful day.

The warmth of the sun on his face woke Andy. After looking around a few moments, he realized that another member of their group had mysteriously disappeared - Fox. Once awoken, Julie and Kyosan both told him the same thing; neither had any clue where she'd gone. Though, after talking about it, it was accepted that she'd probably gone against Falcon's orders and was looking for Jon.

Leaving the youth hostel, Andy walked over to a group of payphones and dialed a number. "Yes, Cerulean City please... thank you... yes, I'll hold..."

Andy thought back over the events that had taken place lately as the hold music played softly down the line. How Falcon had gone postal, Jon disappeared, Kyosan's injury, the destruction of the Rocket base, and his near-arrest. And now Daeg and Fox had vanished as well... he wondered, was the worst over yet?

"Hi, Mom? Hey, it's me, Andy... yeah, I miss you too. Yes - I've seen Armin... no, I still have Squirtle. Yes, Mom, I am wearing clean underwear. Yes, Julie's fine too... okay... gotta go Mom. I love you too... bye..."

Andy hung up the phone and headed back to what was left of his team - could they be called a team? - all the time wondering why? Why am I running from home?

He knew the answer, and it made him feel a bit better.

"Damn you... let me go!" Jon yelled, struggling against his bonds.

"I don't think so," Thane replied. "Hmm... now that you are in the mood... why don't I tell you about my encounter with Miss Fox Lee?"

"What?!?!" Jon demanded.

"Oh, yes... I've hit a chord there, haven't I? You like her, don't you, Jon... oh, you don't have to pretend with me, I can tell... see, I met her. Yes, on the SS Anne... I talked to her - heh, you should have seen her blush! And then, when I gave her that rose? Then she really blushed... that stupid girl thinks I actually care for her! She's quite fragile, isn't she, despite the way she tries to be so tough? You know, I'm really gonna enjoy breaking her heart before I kill her..."

"You son of a bitch!!!" Jon screamed, his fury finally overflowing. He knew Thane was an animal... but how could he take pleasure in that?... and what could he, Jon, do to keep Fox away?... the situation was so hopeless...

"Sleep well," Thane smirked, swinging the door shut behind him.

(Missing post goes here)

"Stop fidgeting," Thane commented slyly, watching Jon trying to break free. "You'll only waste energy and make the knots tighter."

Thane scratched his forehead, wondering how long it would take Jon's friends to show up.

"Shut up, Thane," Jon snarled, continuing to writhe, despite how he knew it must have amused his rival. "The micro-second I'm free from this damned chair - I'll kill you!"

"Hah... what a joke." Thane stood up from the crate he was sitting on and walked to the window, to see if anyone had shown up yet. A series of tones issued from his jacket, demanding more immediate attention. Thane reached inside and pulled out a cellular phone.

"Yes?... Yeah, I got him." A brief moment passed as Jon watched Thane actually being socialistic. "... Come now. We'll discuss business when you're here." Thane pressed a button and placed the phone back in his jacket, smirking deviously. He walked over to Jon and stepped in front of him, lowering his head until their gaze was eye to furious eye.

"I've taken the liberty of contacting a person I knew when I saw you and your friend outside that Rocket base. Name of Kyojim or something like that. It appears that my... friend... would love to smear your friend's guts all across this wall. Just like I would've done days ago to you, but the greater torture is seeing you paralyzed with grief over your friends - for the rest of your life! Now, I must do my best to avoid temptation... you know, the more I look at you, the more I want to slit your throat open..."

Jon's eyes widened with shock, than narrowed immediately in fury. Violently he tried to break free of the cords, for his friends' sake. For his own sake...

"Heh heh heh... still not going to learn, hmm? You're quite stubborn, Jon... just as much as I remember, in fact. Just admit the fact that you'll die a broken man, and my job'll be half complete." Then Thane turned his glance to an old clock on the wall, covered in a thin coat of dust. "Well, my friend - Adam - will be here shortly... then you two will get the chance to meet..." Thane trailed off, ending with that sinister laugh he had apparently adopted since last he and Jon had fought.

"You do realise that your laugh makes you sound like some kind of crackpot scientist?" Jon joked mirthlessly as he struggled. Thane didn't answer, only backhanded his rival across the face and strode out of the room.

Jon's anger soared as watched Thane's departing back, tasting blood in his mouth. "Bastard..."

"Lemme see... the exit pipe must be around here somewhere..." Fox glanced up, than back down to the map, not stopping in her stride. She and Shinji, inseparable as always, were just on the border of Saffron City, seeking an one of two exit pipes from the sewers according to the map Masaki had managed to find. Fox had sent Angel and Toaster to look for the other, which came out near the harbor.

Absorbed in the printout, Fox didn't notice the dark, barely-moving lump in front of her foot until she had tripped over it and fallen face-first into some rather unsavory-looking junk. Cursing her constant misfortune, she scrambled to her feet. Then, noticing the slight movement of the lump, knelt to get a closer look.

"Hey... what the...?" Fox snatched up a khaki jacket that she was sure she knew. "Shinji, I think this is Jon's jacket... doesn't it look familiar?"

Shinji gave no reply... apparently, he was sulking.

"Something must've happened to him..." Fox continued, biting her lip, ignoring her pet's disdain. Then, she heard a weak reply. Looking down again, she realised that a pokémon had been covered by Jon's jacket - quite a good specimen of a charmeleon, though it was fairly beaten up.

"Melon-char-charmeleon," it muttered.

"Shinji," Fox asked of her companion, "what's it saying?"

Grudgingly, Shinji roughly translated the other pokémon's words. Yes... it was a bad man... took him.

"A bad man?" Fox echoed, worried. "You don't think that guy from the orphanage...no, Jon dealt with him...Charmeleon, what'd he look - "

"Ah, Miss Lee...a pleasant surprise..."

Fox was interrupted by a voice she should have been relieved to hear, but was instead, for some reason, oddly chilled. She looked around for the voice's source. Still in his trenchcoat and dark glasses, she recognized Thane from the SS Anne standing atop a large pipe, undoubtedly the sewer exit she'd been looking for.

"Thane! What are you doing here?" At her feet, the weakened charmeleon began growling weakly at the newcomer. "Charmeleon, no! He's a friend!"

"I was... just passing through, on an evening walk..." Thane replied casually.

"I'm glad you were... listen, has anything unusual happened here over the last few days?"

"Unusual?... No - nothing out of the ordinary for me..." He replied, then, as Fox's face fell, added, "why do you ask?"

"Oh, Thane... something terrible has happened..."

"Yes... go on..."

"It's my friend... he's missing... we got separated and... and I know it's not my fault, but I feel... guilty..."

"Who is this friend? Maybe I can help..."

"I don't think you'd know him... his name is Jon...

"I've heard of him..." Thane replied, a strange note entering his voice. Suddenly, Fox though she saw a barely-detectable red glow can be seen through Thane's glasses. Blinking, she stared at him for a moment, then told herself it must have been her imagination.

"You have?" She found herself unable to believe it. "But how?..."

Without answer, Thane suddenly sprang from the pipe and landed gracefully behind Fox. She spun around to face him.

"Hey!... What are you - "

"You know too much," Thane stated, deadpan. "I'm going to have to take you..."

"What are you talking about?!"

The younger trainer stared in disbelief as Thane's hand exploded into flames. Her jaw dropped.

"What the - "

Obviously meaning to take advantage of her amazement, Thane swung his arm in a tight arc, at the same time forming the fire into a ball which he hurled at Fox. Luckily, she was not without her wits - she dived under the flaming missile, rolling and then jumping back to her feet. Then, the charmeleon (presumably Jon's), sprang between them, blowing a fire spin at Thane. Jon's rival laughed, easily dodging the weak attack.

"Shinji, find the others!" Fox whispered to her rattata, who had vacated her shoulder when she had dodged the fireball, while Thane was distracted. "Go!"

Obediently, Shinji took off back in the direction they had come.

"I don't think so," Thane said calmly, aiming a second ball of flames at Shinji's quickly retreating form.

"Shinji!" Fox screamed. The well-aimed fireball impacted with the small pokémon, throwing him forward a few feet where he lay motionless.

"You monster!" Fox threw herself at Thane, who tried to move out of her way but wasn't fast enough. Instead, he rolled with the force of her attack, flipping her over and throwing her off as both went down. Fox groaned, trying to shake off dizziness and get up.

"You really think you can beat me," Thane snorted mirthlessly, standing over her. "You are foolish."

"I'm not afraid of you..." She had to fight for the words.

He regarded her for a moment, then laid a vicious kick into her side, causing her to curl up in pain. He placed a booted foot over her windpipe and looked down at her, calmly removing his glasses, revealing in place of eyes glowing, red pits. "You should be."

"What are you?!..." She choked out as she descended once again into unconsciousness.

"And she ran off with your pokémon!?" Lyith asked.

"Yeah, after she had them attack me."

"What kind of a person would do such a thing? She could have killed you!"

"She tried to. I don't know what I ever did to her. I found out later that she was hiding at a PokéCenter. But when I went to get them back, a friend of hers attacked me! And the kid's mewtwo teleported me into the middle of the forest!"

"How could your sister do that!? She could have killed you! Even if she does have a grudge against you because you raise pokémon better! I mean..."

"My sister is out of control... I've got to find her and take her home before she hurts someone else. And stop that friend of hers."

Lyith nodded. "Yeah. I can't imagine someone like her running around..."

"I can. That's why I have to stop her."

She smiled at Vance. "Could I come? You know, to help?"

"Geez... what's going on here?" Lyith exclaimed, reaching the city limits of Fuchsia City. Thousands of people hustled through out the streets, walking in and out of buildings. Children's laughter was heard all around.

"It's a pokémon gathering," Vance replied, scratching his nose. "All sorts of people come to one place to exploit anything related to pokémon. Famous people come to huge events like these."

"C'mon - we got to get you to a hospital. Those deep scratches will soon be infected." Lyith took Vance's hand and ran to the hospital, passing through masses of people.

"Yes," Kyosan said to Masaki, "I'm receiving the papers right now."

"Good," Masaki replied. But you'd better hurry - Fox left a while ago, and already I have a bad feeling about her..."

"We'll find her." Kyosan's voice was mellow. "I promise."

"Good," Masaki's voice crackled through the line. "I should let you leave now. Do take care of yourselves."

Kyosan put the receiver back on the hook and picked up the papers printed with maps of the sewers.

"These lead directly into Saffron City," Kyosan thought aloud, studying the maps more carefully as he turned back to the assembled Andy, Julie, and Daeg, the last having returned to them just as his abra had said he would.

"I take it Masaki knew something of Fox's whereabouts?" Andy asked.

"Yes... she theorized that Jon survived the explosion by crawling through a network of sewers underground, and was planning on following him. Unfortunately, these sewers all lead into Saffron City. So - "

"I don't enjoy walking in filth," Daeg interrupted. "How about if some of us work our way through the sewers while the others - including me - take another route to Saffron City. There's only one, due to traffic - and that's the bike trail. That way, we can't miss Jon if he passes us."

"That'll work," Julie agreed.

"I don't mind walking through a bit of murky water," Kyosan replied, then shuffled his feet, looking down. "Just want someone to come with me. It's a maze under there."

"I'll come with you," Andy assured him solemnly. "There's less chance of me meeting up with one of the officers underground, anyway."

"Then it's agreed... let's get going," shouted Daeg.

"The doctor said that they're nothing serious," Vance reported, walking out of the patient room. "Just need a Band-Aid or two."

Lyith looked up and smiled.

There! At the payphone!

Lyith shot up, eyes wide open. Emily? You can talk to me when I'm conscious?

The first step in finding your family...

She glanced toward the payphone. Next to it stood three young men and one girl, all pokémon trainers by the look of their belts.

"What's the matter?" Vance asked, looking at the suddenly-concerned Lyith. Then, he turned his head and saw Kyosan, Daeg, Julie and Andy.

"Check out that guy's hair," Kyosan said quietly to his friends, noticing Vance and Lyith staring at them. "Matches Fox's..."

"Hmm...he kinda looks like Fox, now that you mention it," Daeg mused, scratching his chin.

Vance overheard that comment. "Excuse me - what did you just say?"

Daeg looked at Vance. "Oh nothing... just that you remind me of a friend of ours."

"Really?" Vance asked with forced politeness, wondering if they knew Fox or where she was.

"Uh... well... my name's Kyosan," Kyosan interrupted, "and these are my friends - Andy, Julie, and Daeg." Each person nodded their head as they were mentioned.

"And your name is?" Julie asked.

"Oh - Vance." Vance smiled thinly. "And this is Lyith, who rescued me from the forest after a mewtwo teleported me away."

Daeg's eyes widened slightly. "A mewtwo? Was it wild, or did it have a master?"

Vance started to get suspicious. "It was a domesticated mewtwo - some punk kid's pokémon."

"Why would a domestic mewtwo teleport you away for no reason?" Julie wondered.

"Well, my sister, who's a common thief and a backstabber, took my pokémon, a ninetales, and ran off with it!" Vance said, clenching his fists. "I tracked her down, demanding for my ninetales, when another trainer shows up, and orders me to leave my sister alone! I told him it was family business, but he had his mewtwo teleport me away!"

There was no doubt in the mind of Kyosan, Andy, Julie, or Daeg that the trainer had been Jon. All these similarities couldn't just be coincidences - particularly a domesticated mewtwo.

So... why was Jon protecting the girl?... Kyosan wondered, eyes widening. A ninetales...Fox? Could it be Fox? I've never actually seen her with a ninetales, but we've only ever seen one of her three pokémon... it would explain why the police are looking for her, why her past is all shrouded up... but why would Fox do that?...

Andy stepped forward. "Well - uh - we should be going... we're looking for a friend of ours. He was presumed dead in an explosion, but we know he's alive. We got a lead just then, so we gotta follow up on it. It was nice meeting you, Vance and Lyith."

Following Andy's example, the others began towards the front door.

"Wait - I'll help you search for your friend," Vance called. His hypothesis that these people knew and might lead him to Fox were becoming more and more realistic.

Follow them!

"Er - I'll help, too," Lyith suddenly said, to the surprise of the others who couldn't hear Emily.

Andy smiled. "Good... great. We'll need all the help we can get... even with the maps we got from Masaki, the pokémaniac." He emphasized the name shamelessly - it was always good to let new people know you had contacts in high places... and it had the desired effect.

"You guys know Masaki?" Vance asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"I guess you could say that... he just asked us to do him a small favour - save all the PCs in the world..." Andy grinned, allowing himself a little gloating.

Julie grabbed the collar of his shirt with one hand. "Down, boy," she ordered sternly.

"Where do the maps lead to?" Lyith asked.

"The sewers lead directly to Saffron City," Kyosan said, glancing at a map to reassure himself.

"Sewers? We have to make our way around in a sewer?" Vance asked, disgusted.

"All those vermin, those diseases, the smell..." Lyith, too, looked decidedly unhappy.

"This had better lead me to Fox, or they'll regret it," Vance muttered under his breath.

"Hey - the more the merrier, right? It's literally a maze under there - take a look." Daeg displayed a map of the underground sewage system to Vance. Lyith looked over Vance's shoulder as he examined it.

"Well I'll be damned. It is a maze - anyone got a pencil?" Vance joked, trying to sound friendly.

"I'm going down there. I'd... like it if at least two more people came with me. I don't want to wander around there alone." Kyosan imagined a big raticate in a tunnel, drool slipping out of the sides of its yellow-fanged mouth. He shuddered.

"I guess I'll go," Vance sighed reluctantly. He looked at Kyosan, who was thinking. The more I see of this guy, the more certain I am that he knows something about Fox...

"Then I'll come with you, too," Lyith said, glancing at Vance.

"Then let's go, already - we're wasting precious time," Daeg said, walking to the front door. "Andy, Julie, you coming? We gotta find some bikes to rent."

Andy and Julie quickly followed Daeg out the door. Lyith turned around and looked at Kyosan.

"So... where do we go from here?"

"There's a certain place I know where we can get into the sewers," Kyosan said, looking at the map. "All the other grates will take us to the ocean... and that'll be bad." In his head, the slavering raticate had been joined by a furious tentacruel or two.

"Lead the way," Vance said, then regretted the words a moment later.

Kyosan led Vance and Lyith through the city until they got to the site where the Rocket base had been destroyed. The site was surrounded by a yellow police line.

"What happened here?" Lyith was amazed by the destruction as she stared at the charred remains.

Kyosan smirked as he stepped over the tape. "Long story. C'mon - this way."

Vance and Lyith followed Kyosan through the wreckage. Kyosan ran ahead, and saw that the grate was already open.

Fox was here... Kyosan thought. She'll be answering a lot of questions when I find her...

"In here," Kyosan motioned for Vance and Lyith to follow as he stepped into the sewer. It was dark - very dark. Immediately, a rotting stench invaded his nostrils. Vance and Lyith followed, and immediately covered their noses, one of them emitting a quiet gagging noise. Sounds of dripping water could be heard in the distance, accompanied by an unnerving slithery sound that gave the three travelers the distinct feeling that they weren't alone.

Kyosan dug through his backpack and pulled out a flashlight. Switching it on, he examined the map.

"This way." Kyosan shined the flashlight to the left after a few moments. A second later, the light flickered out.

"Damn batteries," Kyosan muttered, putting the flashlight back into his backpack.

"I'll fix that," Lyith said, at exactly the same moment Vance declared, "I'll take care if it."

They both rolled a pokéball towards the ground. An muscular arcanine lunged out of one, barely fitting in the cramped tunnel. The other released a silky-furred flareon that landing gracefully by Lyith.

"I was about to do that," Kyosan said, putting the pokéball containing his own arcanine back on his belt. "Vance, your arcanine looks very healthy and strong. I have one, too," he added proudly. "But in this situation, we should be using Lyith's Flareon. Our arcanine are too big for a tunnel like this."

Vance nodded, and held up a pokéball, recalling Arcanine.

"Aren't fire-type pokémon the greatest?" Lyith said happily.

Kyosan, deep in thought about Fox's trust, Vance, glad that things were starting to look his way, Lyith herself, hoping that at the end of this tunnel would be an answer to what Emily had been saying recently, made their way by Flareon's light through the damp sewer tunnels of Fuchsia...

It was dark. Jon saw quick flashes of different scenes...a family, two men clashing swords, two small children playing. Then he saw Thane's face... then Fox, tied as he was, his nemesis standing behind her with his barbed dagger held to her throat.

Then, in front of him he saw Thane kill her.

Thane watched Jon sleeping. He was turning and tossing as well as he could when he was tied to a chair, and almost tipping it over in the process. He could hear his nemesis muttering something... too quiet to be made out, but probably not important... and then, without warning, a streak of electricity suddenly coursed across Jon's body. It was quick - quick as the lightning it resembled - but not incomprehensible.

Thane blinked. "What the...?"

Moments later, Jon jolted awake in a sweat. Thankfully, it had only been a dream...

"What do you mean I need a bike ticket?!" Daeg asked the angry salesman.

"Like I told you before, You don't have enough money!" Shouted the salesman. "You need to win a ticket to get a bike!"

Muttering angrily to himself, Daeg stalked out to where Andy and Julie were waiting.

"Well?" Asked Julie.

Daeg only scowled and motioned for them to follow him back toward town. As they walked, they came upon an area where several large, colourful rings were set up. Daeg went over toward one, where several water pokémon were battling. A sign above it announced 'WATER POKéMON TOURNAMENT'. Underneath, in small print, it added, 'No pokémon over level 40 allowed', then 'Prize: One bike voucher'. Daeg smiled and carefully chose a pokéball. He walked over to a nearby registration desk and signed up for the competition.

The trainer went up to the first available ring. His opponent, a tentacool, was already out swimming about. Daeg noticed that it appeared to be fairly low level... well, it was sure in for a surprise.

Daeg opened the pokéball he held, and Magikarp appeared, splashing in the water. The opposing trainer started to smile, seeming on the brink of laughter, and the match began. Tentacool spit a spray of acid at Magikarp, sizzling a little on the bony plates. Magikarp charged forward with amazing speed and tackled the tentacool, sending it flying. Tentacool used another acid attack but missed, while magikarp tackled it again, knocking it unconscious.

Cursing, Daeg's opponent exchanged the pokémon for a shellder that immediately withdrew into its armored shell. Magikarp splashed at the shell, with no effect, and was caught by shellder's clamp attack. Shaking free, the angered magikarp tackled the shellder again and again as it tried in vain to repeat its withdraw move. After a while the shellder simply couldn't take any more of Magikarp's fierce attacks, and collapsed. Daeg smiled, knowing that there was only one more match before his victory.

The enemy trainer sent out a very low level goldeen, obviously not having expected his other pokémon to lose. Unfortunately, Daeg's magikarp had been greatly weakened by the other battles, and a few pecks from Goldeen had it down in low health. Finally, knowing it was time to play his last card, Daeg called his magikarp over and administered a potion to it. Though not healing it completely, the liquid did restore some lost strength to the weakened pokémon. With the added advantage of this new vigor, the magikarp managed to quickly defeat the goldeen.

Then, as soon as the goldeen lay unconscious, Magikarp began to glow. Daeg shouted for everybody to stand back as the small tank was suddenly filled with a huge creature. Daeg smiled and walked over to his new gyarados.

"We've been waiting for this day for a long time haven't we? You did great!"

Daeg reached into a concealed pocket inside his jacket, pulling out several small machines and placing them on Gyarados. The smaller machines disappeared, and Daeg picked up the slightly larger TM.

He smiled, and wondered how Andy and Julie were doing with their matches.

Andy pulled out a pokéball and released Squirtle into the pool. "Okay Squirtle, let's go!"

His opponent, a local fisherman, sent out a horsea.

"Squirtle, withdraw now!" Cried Andy. Squirtle ducked into his shell as Horsea used its bubble attack. "Now surf attack!"

A wave of water pounded the horsea into the barrier. The horsea flinched, dazed.

"Squirtle! Tackle attack now!"

Squirtle dashed forward and, to Andy's surprise, knocked out the horsea.

"Squirtle, I didn't know you were that powerful..." Andy murmured.

"Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy!" Snapped the fisherman. "Go Seaking!"

Andy's confidence dropped a little, but not so much that he was ready to give up. "Squirtle! Surf attack now!"

The seaking dived under the wave and came up directly under squirtle. The attack sent squirtle squealing into the air, and the seaking followed up by swatting him into the barrier.

"Squirtle, c'mon, you can do it!"

Squirtle charged the seaking, and at the last minute, leaped over the large fish, spinning to hit it with his bubble attack. The seaking charged back at squirtle, who dodged the move and hit the seaking with another stream of water. The seaking swayed, tired, then finally collapsed and was called back by its trainer. Andy was declared the winner of the battle.

Suddenly Squirtle started glowing. Andy's mouth fell open. He had seen this before - Squirtle was evolving. Andy had stopped him from doing so last time, and Squirtle never forgiven him. But Andy was still unsure about letting him evolve. What if he wouldn't listen to his trainer? What if his personality changed too? But then, if this was what his friend wanted, then how could Andy say no?

The trainer decided that it was Squirtle's choice. Say rather, Wartortle's.

As Andy, Daeg and Julie made their way back to the bike store, Julie's face suddenly fell. "Wait, I don't have a voucher! I couldn't fight water pokémon with Charmander..."

Daeg smiled and handed Julie his bike ticket, patting the pokéball that held Gyarados. "I don't need it anymore - I have my flying friend. Now you," he turned to the salesman, "here are our tickets! Give us some bikes!"

The clerk reluctantly complied, still exchanging angry glances with Daeg as he handed over the bikes. Julie was tempted to laugh at the sight of them, but restrained herself. Then, having acquired their new bikes, the trio set off, Daeg riding his gyarados at a nice slow pace.

The journey was uneventful until without warning, a loud roaring was heard, and a cloud of black smoke rolled across the path. A biker gang emerged from the cloud, shouting and twirling vicious-looking weapons. The leader rode up to them.

"There's a toll for using my road, here," he declared, swinging a chain over his head. "Hand over all of your money and all of your pokémon, and don't try anything!"

The three trainers looked at each other.

"There sure is a lot of them," observed Julie.

"Who knows?" shrugged Andy. "They might even stand a chance."

"Only if they have reserves hidden somewhere," grunted Daeg, looking around as if expecting the gang to double in size. He seemed quite disappointed when they didn't. "Oh, come on... it's really not a fair fight..."

With forced calm, the gang leader sent forward three bikers. "We bikers have honor - one-on-one battles 'till we beat you."

The first Biker faced off against Andy. "Grimer, go... sludge attack!"

Andy laughed. "Wartortle, surf!" A powerful blast of water washed away the grimer's sludge attack, and a sizeable portion of the grimer itself.

"Grimer return! Go Koffing!"

Julie stepped forward "Charmander, attack!"

The koffing puffed up and started to spray a foul-smelling smoke. A blast of fire from the fire pokémon facing it ignited the gas, causing the assembled trainers to duck for cover to avoid the resulting explosion. Furious, the leader finally stepped forward.

The biker studied Daeg. "I don't plan to send my muk out against a gyarados. Something stronger, powerful enough to beat you... go, Golduck!"

Daeg leapt off of his gyarados. He performed a few complicated hand signals, and Gyarados took off, launching into the sky just in time to avoid a powerful psywave from his opponent. Gyarados swooped back down, knocking the golduck to the ground.

The leader of the bikers suddenly changed his tactic, pointed toward Daeg and shouting, "Golduck, psybeam!"

The shifting, ethereal colors of Golduck's psychic energy could be seen flying toward Daeg. HE stood his ground, deep in concentration as he attempted to resist the effects of the attack. As the energy hit and washed over him, the brief, ghostly image of a dragon appeared before his eyes. He blinked, but the image was gone just as quickly as it had come, and Daeg suddenly realised he had been knocked off his feet. From the ground, Daeg saw his gyarados growing angry at the sight of such a dishonest attack o its trainer. The snake-like dragon shot a burst of fire using its dragon rage attack, the flames raging around the golduck. Though severely hurt, Golduck obeyed its master's command and tried to use confusion on Daeg. Weak though it was, the attack hit Daeg as he was still dazed and trying to gain his feet again, throwing him back. Again he could just see the brief flicker of some sort of dragon as he went down.

The battle might have been disastrous, but before anyone could make a new move, the golduck collapsed under the pain of the burn. Satisfied that the battle was over, Gyarados anxiously flew over to Daeg, snarling its fury at the biker gang. Daeg smiled weakly as he got up, holding on to Gyarados for support. Once on his feet again, Daeg climbed onto his pokémon's back and drew the sword he had claimed from the SS Anne's captain.

As Andy and Julie stared at their friend in shock, the biker's leader turned to his gang. "Attack! Get them! Don't let them get away with this!"

The bikers roared forward, and Daeg ordered Gyarados to attack. Andy and Julie were about to do the same with their pokémon, but as Daeg flew forward he turned to them and yelled, "Run away! I'll hold them off for a little!"

Gyarados flew forward, blasting fire in a arc in front of the gang. With the wall of fire in place, Gyarados and Daeg flew back to rejoin their companions.

Tessa glanced down at her rapidash. "Can't you go any faster?"

Upon reaching the bike trail, she nodded to Rapidash and hopped off.

"In you go," she said quietly, pulling out a pokéball. When the rapidash had been safely sucked back into the pokéball with the usual flash of red-colored light, she carefully stuck the ball into her backpack, walking over to where her bike was chained to a rack. Since she traveled a lot, she needed a place to keep the bike while she was abroad.

She reached the bike and undid the small lock. Hopping on, she quickly made her way down the trail, until she noticed three people just escaping a gang of bikers. She rolled her eyes, and decided to see if they were okay.

"Hey, you guys down there!" She called to the trio - two young men and one girl, all teenagers by the look of it. "You know, there really are a lot of bikers like them on this trail. Damn jerks don't seem to leave the newer people alone. Not to mention I've had a couple run-ins myself."

She biked up to the crew. "You guys all right?" Seeing that they seemed fine, she didn't give them any time to answer. "I'm Tessa," she introduced herself. "Trainer of pokémon, Specializing in fire, electric, and psychic types. And sometimes water. You guys are?"

She paused, waiting for them to answer.

Another dream...another dream that had been so nearly real... the same images of distantly familiar people and pokémon drifting through her mind. The woman with the star again... once more the mysterious bird pokémon... what did these things mean?

Before there could come an answer, Thane had appeared before her, and the dream had been consumed by terrible fire. She could still feel its heat, even in the cold damp of the room Thane had shut her into.

Fox was huddled in the corner, knees pulled up to her chest, head buried in her arms. She could remember little about arriving there, but she had no desire to know anything more. Her body hurt. Her head hurt - there were too many things to worry about. Was Jon here too? Was he okay? What had happened to Shinji? And what about Toaster and Angel? She had arranged to meet them in two days' time behind Fuchsia pokémon center, but what if she didn't turn up? Would they think she had deserted them?!

She stifled a tear with one hand. No crying. She wouldn't submit to that now. Never.

As she shifted her position slightly, her tired body violently protested the movement. Pain stabbed at her from all angles - but more so in her right calf. It took her a moment to realise why, but when she did, she smiled for the first time in a while...

"My name's Daeg..." Daeg started, hopping off his gyarados.

"I'm Andy," Andy nodded his head.

"Julie," Julie spoke casually.

"Well, nice to meet you three. So... what brings you out here on the bike trail?"

"We're looking for a friend of ours in Saffron," Julie replied. "He was presumed dead in an accident in Fuchsia City. But we three all know that our friend's still alive. We have leads, tips, and hints to follow up."

"That sounds cool," Tessa grinned. "Mind if I come along?"

"Uh... aren't you a little young?" Andy said, shifting his feet. "I mean, you look older, but you have a... sort of... whimsical... personality. Almost like someone from grade school."

"A little young?" Tessa replied sternly. "Maybe - but I can kick your butt in a pokémon battle."

"Listen, everyone... now's not the time for arguments," Daeg said softly, rubbing his temples. "Tessa, we would all be happy for you to accompany us."

Tessa glanced at Daeg. "Thank you, Daeg."

A moment of silence passed.

"What are we waiting for?" Andy asked. "Let's get moving! The sooner we get to Saffron, the better!"

Daeg hopped on his gyarados, who was hovering an inch or so above the ground.

"I see that you've taught your gyarados how to fly," Tessa observed, watching the gyarados. "That'll give it the tactical advantage in most cases. Of course, now it's even more prone to lightning attacks from electric pokémon, like a pikachu."

"Hey - you sure do know a lot for a kid," Andy commented.

Tessa glared at him. "Don't call me a 'kid'. And yes, I should know a lot - since my father and my brother were both Pokémon Masters..." Tessa trailed off, not trying to sound too egotistical.

"... Wow..." Daeg was visibly impressed.

Tessa started grinning as she took off on her bike toward Saffron City, with Andy and Julie following behind on their bikes, and Daeg on his gyarados lumbering beside them.

"Good morning again, Jon," Thane smirked. If Jon hadn't known him better, he would have thought he was in a good mood.

"You're happy," Jon commented flatly. He himself was suffering from a bad neck-ache, having spent several days tied into a chair. "Why the change in disposition?"

Thane looked a little surprised. "You mean I didn't tell you? How remiss of me! I was out walking, and you'll never guess who I ran into!"

"An incredibly large dragonite with a grudge against you?" Jon asked, hopeful in his sarcasm.

"I ran into our little friend, Fox Lee."

"What?!" Jon immediately sat bolt upright.

"Heh, that's got your attention, hasn't it? Yes, I think she was looking for you, her and that mangy rat pokémon pet of hers. She actually tried to put up a fight, would you believe it?"

Yes, Jon would believe it. Fox would never have given in without a fight, and nor would Shinji. "What did you do to her?!"

"Don't look so worried - I merely subdued her. I wouldn't kill her so quickly - there's simply no fun in that."

"I'm warning you - if you so much as touch her - "

"You? Warning me?! Don't let's be silly, now, Jon..."

"Stay away from her, Thane. If you hurt Fox Lee, I swear I'll make you regret it as long as you live."

"You just keep on telling yourself that... as for me, I've got to go pay her a visit. So many prisoners, so much gloating to be done... well, I'll be back later. Until then..."

Thane swung out of the door again, Jon glaring black death at his back.

"And how are you this morning, Fox?" Thane asked as he slid the bolt back and bulled the door open. Greeted by a seemingly-empty room, he continued, "what, hiding in a corner in hopes of ambushing me?"

"Yep!"

Thane turned, for once losing his calm exterior to surprise. There was a flash of silver-grey followed by the bright red of blood as Fox slashed out with Jon's dagger, which she had absently tucked into her boot after Falcon had given it to her. Thane snarled angrily as the pain registered, and Fox darted for the door. To quick for her, Thane grabbed her arm, viciously snapping it backward until he heard a sharp crack accompanied by a hoarse scream.

"Fox?" Jon cried, hearing the echo of the cry down the hallway. "Fox!"

"You just keep getting stupider, don't you?!" Thane snarled, holding Fox's collar with one hand and backhanding her across the face with the other. His own barbed dagger held against her throat, he dragged her down the corridor and into the dark chamber where he had Jon tied up.

"Jon..." Fox murmured as Thane tied her left wrist (her right arm was now hanging limply at her side) to a support beam.

"Looks like you have some company now, Jon..." Thane snarled. "But not for long..."

"Fox!" Jon cried. "Thane! You let her go, or so help me, I'll rip yer leg off and kick yer ass with it!..."

"I don't think so," Thane replied, and Jon suddenly noticed a deep gash that ran across the left side of Thane's face and bled down his cheek. Thane turned back to Fox, who was desperately trying to get free, and grabbed her face roughly, shoving her back against the pipe. "Now, Miss Lee... I wanted to tell you something before I kill you..."

He pulled out a long stemmed rose and held it close to her face. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that I never cared for you at all... in fact, I don't think anybody would feel anything for a scrawny little bitch like you..."

As Fox watched, Thane's hand ignited and set the flower aflame. Thane savored the moments as the charred petals tumbled one-by-one to the floor, ashes before they could touch it.

Dropping what was left of the stem, Thane pulled out his barbed dagger. "And now I kill you, Fox Lee."

"No..." Jon's voice was close to breaking point as tiny sparks crackled, unnoticed, over his skin. "No... no... no... no... no..."

Thane slowly positioned himself behind Fox and calmly brought the dagger to her neck. "Watching, Jon?"

"No..." Jon repeated. "No... no... no... no... no..." He noticed it now - he could feel it, inside his body and out, an electrical current that should by all rights have killed him... just as Thane was about to kill Fox...

"No!!!!!" Jon screamed.

Suddenly, inexplicably, he had broken the ropes. He didn't know how... he didn't know what he was doing or how he was doing it... the sparking current trickled through his veins to his fingertips, swelled there and formed at his hands, at his will. He saw his hands, enveloped by bright light, he saw Thane's malevolent red eyes widen in shock as lightning shot toward him. There was a moment of blinding light as it impacted, and suddenly Thane was across the room, lying unconscious on the floor.

Jon stood staring for a moment at what he had done, eyes wide with disbelief, then fainted.

Falcon landed in front of the hostel and walked in, searching around the building for Fox and the others. To no avail. "Dammit..."

Lyith followed behind Kyosan. Her flareon trotting beside him, helping lead the way. Vance brought up the rear, keeping an eye out for trouble, or unwanted eyes in the dark. The three walked in silence, aside from the occasional glance or smile, each of them privately wondering about the other two.

Lyith could tell Kyosan didn't trust Vance or herself. Not that she could blame him - after all, they had just met. Vance had seemed very interested in Kyosan's friend, whom Kyosan had said looked like him. Lyith suspected that the girl was Fox, his sister. But at this point, she was also starting to wonder about Vance. His motives seemed slightly... twisted...

Kyosan glared down at the flareon and back at Lyith. She smiled in reply.

"Guys..." whispered Vance from behind, "I think we're being followed..."

"By who?" Asked Kyosan.

"You mean what," Lyith grimaced. "Rattata? Or grimer?"

Vance swallowed. "I don't know, but I think that they're going to attack...real soon..."

Kyosan but his hand on his belt and pulled off the pokéball that held his arcanine. Vance backed up, glancing at Lyith. "You better have your flareon ready, if it plans on fighting."

She nodded and Flareon ran to her side.

"Ratta... ratta... ta..."

"Rati-raticate!"

A pack of rattata and three very large raticate stepped into the light.

"Oh shit," swore Lyith, as both Kyosan and Vance threw their pokéballs.

"Arcanine! Nidorino!" One of the smaller rattata jumped forward and onto Vance's nidorino. "Horn hazard!" He yelled. "Get it off you!"

Kyosan ordered his pokémon closer to one of the raticate. "Flame Thrower!"

"Fire spin!" Lyith's flareon ran beside the arcanine, and aimed for another raticate.

"Tackle!" Called Vance, his arcanine taking down another rattata.

"Finish it off with ember!" Lyith yelled to her flareon as it recovered from a rattata's hyper fang. She heard Kyosan and Vance also yelling orders to their pokémon, as they finished off the rattata and raticate one by one.

"Poison sting!" Ordered Vance as his nidoran took down the last rattata.

"Woah...n ow I remember why I didn't want to come down here..." remarked Lyith, looking at her two companions. Vance seemed quite exhilarated, and not at all worried.

Kyosan laughed with relief. "Yeah. Lucky for us, that will be the only battle down here. The exit is right above us."

"Then let's get outta here!" Suggested Vance, recalling his nidorino and heading for the ladder.

"Yeah - this place gives me the creeps," Lyith said, and followed suit, leaving Kyosan the last one out.

"Jon! Jon! Damn it, wake up! C'mon! Get up!"

...Fox?...

"Will you wake up!? Jon! Get the hell up!"

Jon slowly opened his eyes, vision completely blurred beyond the point where shapes took on meaning. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. His eyesight slowly became less fuzzy, and he was able to identify some of the objects presented to him, including Fox.

"It's about time you woke up!" Fox shouted, still tied to the beam. "Hurry! Thane'll be so damn pissed when he comes to..."

"Where am I... what happened... how am I free?..." Jon murmured. He started to stand up, almost losing his balance, and falling back to one knee.

Fox stared at Jon, dropping her eyebrows in surprise. "You don't remember what happened?"

"No..." Jon trailed off, walking awkwardly towards her. "Not a thing..." He worked on the cords binding Fox's wrist to the beam.

"Just before Thane was gonna slice my neck open, you broke through your ropes, stood up with this creepy glow in your eyes, zapped Thane with electricity, then passed out! How could you not remember that!?"

The rope fell away, and Fox moved toward the door, trying to ignore the numbing pain in her right arm.

"This place smells," Kyosan complained.

"Stop whining - at least we're out of the sewers," Lyith responded, then started looking around, puzzled. "Where are we?"

"I have no clue," Vance said, scratching his neck.

They were in a large, empty room with no windows, only one door, and one small light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was damp in the room, and fresh, muddy foot prints leading from the sewer hole to the door indicated that people had been there recently.

"Well, we're here..." Kyosan said aloud, wondering if Jon or Fox were there too.

"So this is the place where Jon is supposed to be, and where Fox ran off to without telling us..." Julie said, walking up to the front doors of a rundown warehouse. She looked at the map again, confirming that this was the place.

"Kinda spooky looking," Tessa noted, surveying the broken windows, stained walls, garbage that littered the front lawn.

Andy came running up to them, followed by Daeg. "So... are they in there?"

"Mmm-hmm," Julie nodded. "They're in there."

"Then let's go!" Daeg said, opening one of the doors and running in, Andy, Julie and Tessa following behind.

Falcon flew above Saffron City, doing his best not to be noticed by onlookers from the ground. He avoided the busy streets and flew above alleys.

As a mewtwo, I am odd enough as it is... I do not want people following me and getting caught in a fight... Falcon thought to himself. He had sensed Jon's location about ten minutes ago, and was now zeroing on it.

I sense other people there...Kyosan, Daeg, Andy, Julie, Fox...Vance... The mewtwo suddenly had a bitter taste in his mouth. Vance... Falcon's eyes narrowed. ...Thane!? Thane's where Jon is! Jon is in trouble!

Stopping in mid air, Falcon lowered his arms and closed his eyes. A blue aura surrounded him. As the mewtwo opened his eyes, the blue aura transformed and expanded around him.

Barrier... thought Falcon. Now nothing will stop me...

He sped off, like an arrow directly to the target, ignoring everything but his goal, even the several buildings he plowed through. He didn't care anymore about being noticed. Fortunately, he was fast enough not to be followed, and he was safe in his barrier, which held up against practically anything. He used it to his advantage and shot directly through anything in his path.

At length, he zipped past the Saffron City Gym, and spotted the warehouse from the sky. He plummeted head first toward the building...

There was a loud noise of crashing and breaking as the building shook violently, plaster and chips of concrete showering down over Fox and Jon.

"What was that?" Fox said, looking around, puzzled. She and Jon had been looking for a way out of the warehouse, which was practically a maze.

"It came from above..." Jon trailed off as he stopped to lean against a wall, sink to his knees and catch his breath. Over the past few days, Thane had been keeping him a live by feeding him only scraps of food - barely enough to live on. Malnutrition had noticeably weakened the young trainer.

"When I get out of this, I'm taking a well deserved break... maybe to the beach..." Jon gasped, struggling to get up.

"Let me help," Fox offered Jon support, and together they resumed their search for an exit.

Neither noticed as they ran that Fox's pack (which they had recovered from a room next to the one Jon had been held in) had fallen open. An object fell, issuing the sound of metal against concrete as it hit the ground. Jon and Fox stopped, looking back.

"What was that," Jon asked.

Fox turned around, to see Jon's belt lying on the floor.

"I completely forgot..." She picked it up and handed it to Jon. Jon immediately latched it on. She also handed him his second dagger, which he gladly accepted.

"Clancy... nice to have you back..." Jon grinned, looking down on his belt, when he noticed another pokéball, next to Clancy's. He thought about it for a second, and then remembered - the nidoking he captured from the Rocket base, whom he'd named King.

He looked back toward Fox and said, "Let's get going..."

They turned a corner, and down the hall they saw a man in a long trenchcoat. His back was to them as he stood right in the center of an intersection of hallways.

"It can't be..." Fox trailed off, dropping her eyes. "Thane?"

"Where!?" Jon's head shot up, teeth clenched. He raised his fists, ready to kill.

"Sorry... I'm not Thane - but equally bad." The man turned around.

"With just as ridiculous a haircut," Fox muttered. Through the little light available, she could just make out the man's face... dark, spiky hair over dull blue eyes and a sly smile. The man's arms were crossed, and his glare seemed to pierce through them.

"The name's Adam. Hmm... I see you've escaped from Thane - he'll be very mad once he realizes that you are gone. You two know Kyosan, right? Want to tell me where he is?"

"What's in it for us?" Jon spat, not dropping his guard. Glancing at Fox, he noticed that she had also readied herself in case of an attack.

"Since I'm in such high spirits right now, I'll let you two go," replied Adam. "Alive, and unharmed. In fact, I'll even show you the way out. All you have to do is tell me where Kyosan is."

Jon hesitated for a moment.

"No," Fox answered flatly. Jon glanced at her, then smiled.

Adam raised an eyebrow, his own smile disappeared. "No?"

Jon stepped forward. "Yeah. You heard the lady - no."

"You'd better tell me where Kyosan is, or I'll gut the both of you!" Adam snarled, brandishing a long blade. "Now where is he?!"

"Right behind you," Kyosan replied, calmly, walking out of the shadows. Vance and Lyith did likewise.

Fox looked past Adam in disbelief. "Kyosan!" Then her eyes widened in horror. "Vance!?"

Vance shoved Kyosan aside and stepped forward. "Hello again, Fox... how about you handing my ninetales over?"

Fox bit her lip. Not good...

"Bastard... where the hell did you come from?!" Jon demanded angrily.

It's him, Lyith!

Lyith had a sudden flashback of a boy and a girl walking down a road, with their parents... they all looked so happy together...

"Wha-" Lyith cried out, confused, staring at Jon.

Jon glanced at Lyith, and suddenly, their eyes locked. "I've never seen you in my life... but... I feel like I know you..." Jon said, startled.

"Yeah... me too..." Lyith swallowed. Fox's eyebrows arched down.

"Ahem - Kyosan. Hold still. This'll only take a few second..." Adam charged at Kyosan with his large knife.

"Kyosan!" Jon yelled. "Watch out!"

"Wartortle! Hydro pump!" A powerful blast of water shot from the shadows, knocking Adam over in his rush.

"What the?! - " Adam managed to gasp, looking to his right, and seeing four strangers before being engulfed by water.

"Huh?" Everyone said simultaneously, staring at the now-revealed figures of Julie, Tessa, Daeg, and Wartortle.

"Hey-hey," Julie grinned. "The cavalry's here... did we miss anything?"

"Not much," Fox replied, with a deal of relief. "But who are you?"

It took Julie a moment to realise that her friend was indicating Tessa. "This is Tessa. She helped us out on the cycling road, so she came along."

"Oh, okay," Fox smiled. She was glad to see her friends, all alive and well... except �

Fox lost her chain of thought when the ceiling above the practically-drowned Adam collapsed, causing plaster to fly everywhere. Fox shielded her eyes and face. The dust settled, revealing a very familiar - and very tall - figure...

"Couldn't find an entrance... So I made one..."

"Falcon!" Jon cried happily. For once, Falcon actually smiled, glad to see his best friend.

Adam, a little bruised and completely soaked, stood back up. "I'll get you, Kyosan. And your friends'll die too."

He reached inside his trench coat and pulled out a pokéball. He threw it on the ground, and it opened, familiar red energy blazing out of it.

"Scyther!" The pokémon shrilled, ready to fight.

"Let's see if you have actually learned anything since your parents died, Kyosan - or are you too afraid to battle?" Adam jeered. "You always were a loser... just like your parents - so ignorant. Let's see if they've taught you anything about pokémon training."

Kyosan glared at Adam, his left hand twitching. "You want to see what I've learned from my parents!? Arcanine! Attack!" Kyosan tossed out a pokéball., which opened to reveal his arcanine "I'll burn your scyther to ashes!" He yelled, teeth clenched, both fists raised.

Lyith glanced at the distraught Kyosan in fear. He's in a pure rage...

"You can't leave yet, Jon...your friends must die first!" The shout came from behind Fox and Jon. Thane walked out of the shadows, pupils bright red. His hand was glowing in flames.

"Thane!" Jon yelled, startled by his rival's sudden reappearance.

"Heh heh heh... Jon... you've got powers, just like me.. .and I commend you for that. But I'm still stronger than you! No matter what you do, you won't be able to win!"

Jon nudged Fox aside. "Stay back. This is my fight." Jon raised his fists, ready to attack.

"Oh, so you want a real fight?" Thane said, smiling sinisterly. "Suits me... it's your funeral!"

Tessa had broken away from the rest of the group. She loved fighting using her pokémon, and always seemed to keep cool about it. She knew in her heart that this was not her fight, but she disregarded that factor so that she would have a chance to use her pokémon, and test her skill. She looked at Kyosan.

"Don't let rage block your focus. In a way, your pokémon are all linked to you. If you show rage, they'll show rage, and they won't fight as well. Their power must be used wisely."

We're gonna need one of my strongest pokémon, she thought, and forced her hand down into the bag at her side.

"I command you, come forth Dratini!" she shouted, and tossed the pokéball to the ground. The creature exited the ball, and looked back at her with those adorable eyes that she'd known ever since she had captured him.

Tessa focused hard on her pokémon, making a sort of mental link it. Remember, be calm... we want to use surprise here...

The Dratini nodded. Yes... command me with your mind.

Only Tessa could hear the message, and complied. Okay, are you sure you're ready?

The dratini gave a dangerous battle glare, signaling its readiness to fight.

Just then, as if teleporting, the mew who wasn't really hers appeared at her side.

"Mew, mew-mew," she commented, floating to Tessa's shoulder. The trainer couldn't understand her, because at the moment she was focused on the dratini.

You know what to do - fire blast!

The Dratini nodded, and called upon its ultimate fire attack. Tessa abandoned their mental link, but still made sure she remained calm. Mew, what is it?

It's your brother... Mew replied, quietly. It's your brother Yusuo...I fear he's in grave danger...

Eyes wide, Tessa recalled Dratini.

"Mew mew mew mew!"

Tessa realized that through her fear, she'd lost contact with Mew.

Keep control of yourself, Mew reminded. Once this is over...once it's over, you have to follow me.

Tessa looked distraught. I just met up with these guys...

Mew glanced sternly at Tessa.

Maybe they'll come with me, the trainer thought, but Mew did not answer....

Jon's mind was racing with everyone together and a huge battle about to ensue. He knew he might not survive this one. None of them might. Jon turned to his mewtwo companion. "Falcon, I want you to protect Fox while I'm fighting Thane!"

Falcon nodded, moving over to Fox.

"Hey! I can take care of - " She was cut off as, without warning, a chittering sound filled the musty air. "What..."

Kyosan glanced up. "Eh?"

Five pairs of glowing red eyes flickered in the darkness.

"Figures," muttered Fox. "This is just the time we need to meet Thane's fan club..."

Five beefy raticate stalked from the shadows, glaring at the assemblage of pokémon trainers.

"Raticate!" Kyosan shivered, grimacing. Of all the pokémon he didn't want to meet...

"Oh, just great..." Fox growled. "Andy, Julie, Daeg, can you guys - "

Andy nodded. "We're on it, Fox!"

Pulling free their pokéballs, Andy, Julie and Lyith engaged in battle. Kyosan was about to join them when he heard Adam's voice. "Scyther, attack! Show no mercy!"

"Oh yeah," the trainer said, turning back to his adversary with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "I almost forgot..."

Meanwhile, Vance was yelling angrily at Falcon. "This is between me and my sister! You and your stupid trainer interfered last time, but not again! Get out of the way, you oversized house cat!"

Glaring dangerously, Falcon jerked Vance up by the collar of his shirt, yanking him several feet off the ground. "Meow," he remarked, hurling Fox's brother across the warehouse and into a stack of old crates.

"Falcon!" Fox cried, while her brother was still collecting himself. "Do what he says!"

Falcon looked back in disbelief. "I don't think so, Fox."

"I mean it!" Fox snapped. "When I ran away, I vowed we'd finish our fight, and now we will!"

Think with your head, you stupid girl! Ordered the mewtwo. You are in no shape to fight, and have no pokémon to fight for you! Besides, between you and your brother, you have brought us all into your argument! You will accept our help!

Fox snarled something venomous as Falcon turned back to Vance, adding, "besides, nobody calls me 'house cat' and gets away with it..."

"You bastard..." Vance spat, staggering back to the mewtwo. He whipped out a pokéball, hurling it at Falcon's feet. With its usual rumbling battle cry, Vance's onix burst out. Immediately, Onix started lashing at Falcon with its lethal tail, but the mewtwo easily dodged.

Tessa glanced over at this new match-up. "That guy's strategy definitely leaves something to be desired..."

"I hear ya," Kyosan agreed, looking dubiously at the far-outmatched rock pokémon.

"Lesson one," Adam yelled as his scyther charged toward the distracted trainer. "Never turn your back on an opponent! Your parents should have at least taught you that!"

"I'm more than ready for you!" Kyosan snapped back. "Arcanine, fire spin!"

Arcanine's powerful fire burst forth, and might have had a good chance of incinerating the scyther if it hadn't managed to dodge at the last second. The blast splashed uselessly up against a wall. The fire pokémon dashed around behind scyther, preparing to attack again.

Jon gritted his teeth. He was oblivious to everything - the raticate, Fox and Falcon and Vance, Adam and Kyosan, his own weakened state... everything except Thane. He honestly didn't know who of them would emerge from such a battle alive, but he did know that he had far from repaid Thane for all the suffering he'd caused, to Fox as well as him. This time, he wasn't going to let anything get in his way.

Jon rushed at Thane, putting into his attack as much strength as he could presently afford. Thane easily dodged the attack, turning to drive his knee into Jon's gut on the way past. Winded, Jon sank to the floor fighting for breath. Thane advanced on his fallen adversary just as someone shoulder-charged him from behind, slamming into him and throwing them both into a stack of old crates. As they were showered in splinters, Thane spun to seize his new assailant - Fox, he'd expected as much - by the collar and throw her backwards. She cried out sharply as she collided with her brother's conveniently-placed onix, and sank to her knees.

Meanwhile, Jon had forced himself to get up, and after some struggling was standing again. He tried a clumsy kick at Thane, but the spiky-haired teen almost effortlessly caught the weak shot and threw his enemy to the ground again. Jon struggled to regain his feet, but just he barely found his knees when Thane charged him, kicking him viciously in the stomach. Jon's pain encouraging him, he followed up with a kick to the chest, then the stomach again. Jon tasted blood in his mouth. He felt sick. He couldn't move. He couldn't think... but he had to get up...

Tripping Thane as he went for another blow, Jon dragged himself to his feet. Jon knew he couldn't continue to fight hand-to-hand with Thane. Leaning against a wall to catch his breath, he pulled out a pokéball.

"King, go!" He ordered, throwing the pokéball down. King appeared in a flash of red light.

"Fine then," Thane grinned. "We'll battle it out with pokémon... Aerodactyl go!"

Thane's aerodactyl appeared in the usual splash of red light, and immediately began to grapple with the nidoking in what seemed like a fairly even match-up.

Falcon was faring far better against Vance's onix. It was already looking haggard when Falcon hit it with his psybeam, causing it to collapse with a fierce roar of pain, barely holding onto consciousness.

"Onix, return!" Vance snarled, quickly switching pokémon. "Go, Arcanine!"

Meanwhile, Andy, Julie, Daeg and Lyith (the last swearing somewhat violently) were just dispatching the last of the raticate when a familiar voice came from behind the group. "Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?"

Andy turned. "Armin!"

Armin yanked out a pokéball and released his graveller. And nobody noticed the sirens sounding in the distance.

Fox gained her feet, somewhat stiffly. "Could this get any worse?!"

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

Evidently, it could.

"To protect the world from devastation!" Musashi smiled, appearing at one of the warehouse's large, high, broken windows.

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" Kojiro added, grinning and flashing a "V" for victory.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love...and don't look so happy, you idiot!"

"Right, sorry...to extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Musashi!"

"Kojiro!"

"Don't you guys have anything better to do?" Fox rolled her eyes. "I hear there's some kid with a really powerful pikachu wandering around somewhere..."

"Hey, we don't tell you how to do your jobs!" Musashi snapped, as a backup of ten uniformed Rockets assembled behind her. "We'll deal with electric rats later - right now, we still want that mewtwo!"

"That's right!" Nyasu grinned as they jumped down into the warehouse. "This is your last chance to hand it over!"

"I'm a little busy right now..." Falcon snapped, dodging (with a degree of effort) the arcanine's fire attacks.

"Don't worry," called Daeg, running over with Lyith and Julie following. "We'll take care of Team Reject here!"

"Whaaaat?!" Musashi shrieked. "You little brat! You'll pay for that insult!"

"Less talk, more battle," Daeg grinned as they engaged the Rockets.

The battle between Thane's aerodactyl and Jon's nidoking had come to a close, the aerodactyl apparently the victor.

"King, return!" Jon called. If King couldn't best Thane's pokémon, then it was time to call out Cla�

His thoughts were interrupted rather violently as a fiery blast spewed from the shadows, knocking the aerodactyl out of the air in an impressive fireball. Jon and Thane both stared at the unknown interceder, until Bahamut stepped out, glaring angrily at Jon's rival.

"Bahamut!"

"Eh?" Thane raised an eyebrow. "You again? No matter...you'll perish too!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jon noticed that Vance had left his arcanine to occupy Falcon, turning his attention instead to his injured sister. He winced as Vance grabbed her by the arm, the same one Thane had probably broken, knowing he couldn't do anything. Fox cried out in pain.

"Give me back my ninetales!" Vance snarled into her ear. He pulled her back toward the shadows just as Jon's dagger whizzed past, only missing Vance's head by an inch or so.

"You're lucky I wasn't really aiming, asshole..." Jon muttered, reluctantly thinking better of throwing the second.

Vance twisted his sister's arm violently. "Well?!"

"Not in a million years!" She snapped heatedly, managing to slap him sharply with her free hand. Snarling furiously, Vance backhanded her, hard, leaving her dazed. Fully prepared now to abandon his battle, Jon tried to rush Vance, but before he could take two steps, Thane was in front of him.

"Uh-uh-uh," Thane chided, grabbing Jon by the shirt. "We're not finished yet..."

"I don't have time for you!" Jon kneed Thane in the stomach, then, with all the strength he could afford, kicked his way out of Thane's grip. Vance was dragging Fox toward the door, evidently trying to get out with her...

Suddenly, all the simultaneous battles raging in the warehouse came to a temporary halt as the trainers began to recognize the sound of sirens. "Move out!" Ordered a familiar female voice.

Fox, Thane, Adam, Andy and Team Rocket all looked a bit distressed as the sound of marching boots echoed not far away.

"Clear out, everyone!" Fox ordered, though most of the assemblage (prominently Team Rocket) were already headed back toward the maze-like corridors. Fox attempted to follow, but Vance still had a firm grip on her.

"You're not going anywhere!" Vance grinned.

A group of uniformed officers, carrying firearms, poured into the building. Those who hadn't already done so immediately recalled their pokémon and ran as Officer Junsa entered.

"Well done, young man!" She nodded to Vance. "You've apprehended the thief!"

"Glad to help," Vance replied modestly. "Listen, the others made a break for it... I'm sure they're in league with her, and probably Team Rocket too. They could be very dangerous..."

Junsa looked past Fox. "No problem - I'm on it..."

The blue-haired officer took off down the hall, in pursuit of the vanished trainers. Vance reluctantly relinquished captivity of his sister to one of the officers who was pulling out handcuffs. As he moved to use them, the man inadvertently grabbed her injured arm, drawing another gasp of pain.

"She's injured!" The man observed as Fox was ushered out of the building. "Be careful with her, but don't let her get away. You know where to go."

"Halt!" Officer Junsa ordered, seeing Kyosan running down the hall. "You're under arrest for aiding and abetting a pokémon thief!"

"Uh-oh," Kyosan muttered. Should've listened to that 'Vance' guy... this is exactly what I don't need right now... where did Adam go? Stupid cops... a few minutes more and we could've settled it...

His thought were cut off as he turned a corner and caught sight of Tessa, ahead of him down the hall. She seemed to be... well, not quite dazed... not quite worried... maybe a little of both... and she appeared to be concentrating on something, very hard. So hard she barely seemed to be aware of what was going on, even Officer Junsa's cries.

"Come on!" Kyosan caught her arm as he ran past, pulling her with him. He received no response from the girl as he ducked through a door adjacent to the corridor. Relieved to find a bolt on the other side, he slid it across, firmly locking the door, then collapsed to catch his breath. Soon Officer Junsa's footsteps were heard, coming to a halt at the door. Kyosan bit his lip as he saw the handle twist, half-afraid that she would somehow get the door open. But the bolt held firm. After a few moments, the officer gave up, and continued down the corridor.

Kyosan got to his feet. "Phew... that was close... are you okay?"

"I'm just fine," Adam's voice came from behind. "How are you?"

"Adam!" Kyosan spun around, suddenly realising that the room was pitch black.

"I guess we weren't the only ones who found this room," came Kojiro's slightly trembling voice.

"I-I guess so..." Musashi replied. Then, her voice took on a very different tone, although it sounded a little forced. "But that's a good thing! Team Rocket will take you all out in the darkness! You won't even see us coming!"

"That's right!" Kojiro laughed. There was the sound of a pokéball opening, and then a loud 'koffing'. "Right, Koffing, sneak up on - "

Kojiro was cut off as the lights suddenly blinked on to reveal Lyith, grinning, next to the light switch. "Not to question your intelligence, but you guys must be pretty dense."

"Ready to finish the battle, then, Kyosan?" Adam grinned.

"Ready when you are," Kyosan nodded grimly.

"Don't look forward to it too much!" Musashi cautioned. "We may have been separated from that mewtwo, but your pokémon will do nicely for a start!"

"No they won't!" Lyith glared at Team Rocket. "Flareon, go!"

"Go, Koffing!"

"Get her, Ekans!"

"Meeeowth!"

"Uh... Tessa... some help?"

"Yes... of course..." Tessa murmured, hand going to her pokéballs. Worried about her brother, she was a little off-track with her fighting. She wasn't calm enough to realize what was going on - it was all so... distant.

She looked at Dratini's pokéball. He may have been really strong, but she needed something with enough experience that her current difficulty with focusing shouldn't be a problem. Like Kyosan, she had a well-experienced arcanine. And then there was flareon, but... she was fairly slow. Mew rarely fought, but she was powerful, and with a mind that was enough her own...

I can't ask her to fight for me... I have to handle this! Tessa thought. Her mind trailed off for a while, when Mew noticed that she was too deep in thought to hear what she was saying. Feeling her message was too important for Tessa not to hear it, Mew swiftly slapped her on the back of the head with her tail.

Tessa glared accusingly at Mew. What is it? She demanded.

Mew stared back into her eyes. I have been listening to your thoughts. You are right - I will not fight for you, nor should you ask me to. But I will fight with you.

Tessa glanced up at Mew with wide eyes.

If you let the power flow through you, my powers can combine with yours, Mew continued. This is something your brother never taught you... only psychic pokémon can bear such an ability. But it's dangerous, requiring total devotion of both trainer and pokémon...

Tessa looked toward Mew. I know it's dangerous...but if it must be done...

Mew nodded. Give me your complete concentration.

Tessa obeyed, thinking of nothing else. It was if time had stopped for her. Her eyes closed, and her mind was spinning in darkness. It was if Mew had possessed her body.

You must trust me.

Fearfully, Tessa answered. I trust you.

A pink aura glowed around Mew, and Tessa regained awareness.

"Prepare to pay..." she said, eyes narrowed. The pink aura extended, and now became a part of Tessa. Her hair billowed in nonexistent wind, and, to everyone's surprise, she turned toward Adam, face angry...

Meanwhile, Yusuo was slipping into a state of unconsciousness.

He needs help... his condition is worsening... Kismet, his mewtwo, said to no one in particular.

"Kisme...Kis..."

Relax. Your sister should be here soon, Yusuo. I promise.

"Tes-Tes-sa?" He managed to breathe.

Yes. Get some rest.

The power that surged through Tessa's body was almost too much for her. Mew would have had concern, but for the fact that their concentrated link was too great to break. Tessa crouched low, hands up and crossed, eyes still fixed on her target.

"On behalf of all pokémon..." she whispered.

That wasn't part of the plan, Tessa thought to Mew. I'm just worried about Ky-

Who's doing the attacking here, eh? Mew would have laughed, but again, she was too deep in concentration.

Now Tessa was oblivious to all that was around her, as the power surged. Breathing deeply, she never broke her concentration.

Now, when I say three, you must 'say' these words with me...'from the power of the heavens and the earth, the power of the stars, and the ultimate power of true innocence, banish this evil from here'.

Tessa grew confused for a moment, gomen on that one, she fell even deeper into confusion. More things from Mew's point of view... what one could learn from a little psychic pokémon...

One... two... three... By two voices combined, Mew's words were psychically spoken; From the power of the heavens and the earth, the power of the stars, and the ultimate power of true innocence, banish this evil from here!

All one could see was a bright white light for what seemed like hours, and all Tessa could remember was the energy the attack drained from her. She wanted to scream, but the sound stayed deep within, as the white light flew from the aura. She was aware of her friends, each protected by a separate dome of energy which glowed pink as the psychic attack splashed harmlessly up against them. She had no idea of the what the attack's outcome would be, only the power that became of it.

Suddenly, the attack stopped. Trembling in the aftermath of such power, Tessa stood weakly in a dust-filled room for only a few moments before collapsing from pure exhaustion. Mew, as well, dropped from the sky, laying beside her friend. Though both were unconscious, Tessa heard her friend's voice penetrating her hazy dreams.

It was purifying energy... the only killing done would be if the enemy had no part left in their heart that was still pure... otherwise, they were unharmed - maybe drained, like you and I, but still, unharmed.

Drained? Her own voice now. The feeling is warm - it feels like death.

It is not death. We are still able to communicate. We were near death, though; you did the right thing.

Then why do I feel so awful?

We are fine. Just relax, don't strain yourself to awaken.

I... I can't wake up!... I don't know why... but I can't!

Give it time, Tessa... give it time. Rest. Close your mind from everything, and rest.

Breathless, Andy stopped to lean against a wall and collect himself.

"D'you think we lost 'em?" Julie asked, by his side.

"I guess so... what is this place? It's like a maze in here..."

"Who knows?" Julie shrugged. "I heard there are a few buildings like this in Saffron City... Team Rocket used to have big operations happening here. They got shut down a while ago, mostly due to some kid who had a grudge against them... the media wouldn't release his name, but back in Fuchsia, Officer Junsa said it was Kyosan..."

"I guess you never know what your friends have been through until they tell you... in fact, I was just thinking how little we know about everyone - I mean, suddenly we find out that Fox is a pokémon thief?"

"So are you, according to Junsa," Julie shrugged. "It's probably the same sort of deal - Vance doesn't seem a very nice person, and not the sort of trainer a pokémon would like. If Fox does have his ninetales - if, since we've never even seen it - it probably went with her of its own free will."

"I guess," Andy conceded.

"You down there!" Officer Junsa's voice came down the corridor. "Stay where you are!"

Andy and Julie did exactly the opposite. "Run!"

"Wartortle, mist attack!" Andy called as they ran. A hazy cloud billowed out behind them, hiding them completely from Junsa's sight. Undaunted, the officer charged into the cloud, only to find herself confronted by a wall. Arms outstretched in an effort to find her way back out, Junsa gradually found the cloud clearing, but by then, Andy and Julie were gone.

"Look," Julie whispered, several corridors away, as she pointed to the ceiling above them. "I think it's one of those pull-down staircase things!"

"Wonder where it goes?" Andy glanced up at it.

"Wherever it is, it's gotta be better than here," Julie pointed out, standing on tiptoes to reach the trigger. The staircase rolled down, sliding out to its full length as it did so. Andy and Julie clambered up, pulling it closed behind them.

"Charmander, I choose you," Julie said quietly, as they found themselves in near-pitch blackness. The fire pokémon popped out, lighting the room with its tail flame.

"Looks like some kind of storage room..." Andy observed, noting the stacked boxes and crates that left little space in the small, low-roofed room to move around.

"I wonder why this stuff didn't get taken when the building was abandoned?" Julie mused. A quick check confirmed that the crates were, indeed, still full. "What the - Pokémon League T-shirts? What would Team Rocket have been planning to do with a few hundred Pokémon League T-shirts?"

"Are there any baseball caps?" Andy asked hopefully. "Those are quite hard to come by, you know..."

"Let's see..." Julie replied, checking the next few containers. The next was full of two-inch-high plush pokémon. "Oh, how cute!" Julie held up a fuzzy charmander. Her real charmander clapped in delight.

"I don't get it..." Andy scratched his head. "Usually Team Rocket steals pokémon, not pokémon merchandise..."

Julie opened the next lid. "Action figures? Something isn't right here...hey, what's that?"

"What?" Andy peered over her shoulder. "What is it?"

"It's a pokéball," she replied, pulling it out from beneath several layers of blastoise figurines. "I wonder if anything's in it?"

They were interrupted by the noise of the staircase being pulled down.

"Hide!" Andy hissed. Julie had already ducked behind some crates, and he followed her example. At length, two of the Team Rocket members emerged into the room.

"See? I told you no-one was up here," One said.

"You idiot!" The second snapped. "Someone has been up here! Look - some of the crates are open!"

Julie held her breath, wishing she'd hid behind some closed crates instead.

"Do you think they found it?" The first one asked, sounding a bit nervous. "If it's gone, Sakaki'll kill us! It isn't every day you find a pokémon like that just lying around for the stealing!"

"Shut up!" The second replied, too quickly. "I'm thinking!... Let's just get out of here already. We'll steal another pokémon or something. We can say that the others screwed up. Come on."

Still mumbling his doubts, the first Rocket reluctantly followed his companion back down the stairs. Andy and Julie were just re-emerging from their hiding places when they heard another voice.

"Gotcha!" A man cried triumphantly. "I knew someone was up there! You two Rockets are under arrest!"

As footsteps and grumbling voices echoed away down the hall, Andy looked over to his friend. "You think it's safe?"

"Safe as it'll ever be," she replied, then held up the pokéball she'd found in the crate. "So they were looking for this, huh? And it's not something you'd leave lying around...should we open it now?"

"Not now," Andy replied. "It might be hostile - it could give away our position."

Julie nodded. "Good thinking. So... what do we do now? We should probably wait here until everything's back to normal... the last thing we want is for you to get arrested."

"So we're gonna be here a while? Then I suggest we start looking for those baseball caps!"

Daeg quietly slipped through the large warehouse, staying in the shadows. He had been separated from everyone ever since Officer Junsa and her backup had come running onto the scene. He had quickly lost his way, and was looking for a way out.

"Separated again..." he mumbled, looking around as he ran past for any doors he might have missed in this endless hallway.

The trampling of boots in the distance brought Daeg to a dead halt, listening carefully. He held his breath. The noise grew further and further away. He started to breathe again, and continued advancing forward.

"And what are you doing here?" Cried a voice from behind.

A chill ran down Daeg's spine as he came to an instant stop once again. He froze in his position, not moving.

"I'm supervising! What else?" Shouted a different voice, by way of reply.

Daeg sighed quietly, relieved that they weren't addressing him. But who were they? Daeg slowly turned and started to make his silent way towards the source of the voices.

"Supervising? Do you want me to tell da boss you're not workin'?" The first voice Daeg heard interrogated.

"Fine, fine... you don't have to pop a vein over this..."

Daeg realized where the voices were coming from; a room that he had missed while venturing down the dark hallway. He heard a shuffling of feet on concrete, followed by a grunt.

"Put it where the other merchandise is being stored - and hurry up!" Ordered the first voice. "And find out why the two patrolling the area near the room with our stock haven't checked in with me!"

Daeg's attention was averted, to the sound of a rhythmic click-clack repeating itself on the floor - this time at the other end of the hall. Daeg turned his head over and listened attentively. The beat was getting louder. He turned pale when he managed to make out the silhouette of the all-too-familiar Officer Junsa coming down the poorly-lit hallway. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but Junsa had been awfully happy to get her hands on Fox, and that probably meant she was after Fox's allies as well. Gritting his teeth, Daeg scrunched himself further and further into the wall behind him, doing his absolute best to stay hidden among the shadows. He knew that if he ran, the police officer would hear him, so he decided to stay put, in hopes that she would pass him without noticing.

She came closer. Daeg held his breath and shut his eyes tightly. The Officer continued to jog by - and then came to a sudden stop practically beside Daeg.

No... no... no... he thought, nervously, starting to perspire along the roots of his bangs.

The Officer ran right past the young trainer, and into the room which the two voices had been coming from. Instantly, all hell broke loose.

"You're under arrest for the possession of and the attempt to distribute illegal counterfeit Pokémon League merchandise!" Shouted the Officer, flicking the light switch on.

"Wha!? How'd you know that?!" A man in a Rocket uniform shrieked.

Officer Junsa sighed, gesturing behind him, to the ceiling-high stacks of crates labeled 'Illegal Counterfeit Pokémon League Merchandise'. Next to the boxes stood three Rocket members, all men, all muscled as if they lifted weights for fun.

"Heh," sneered one of the Rocket members, cracking his knuckles. "We outnumber you three to one... those are unfair odds..."

Hearing this from outside, Daeg was about to rush into the room when Officer Junsa reached for the right side of her belt and pulled out a semi-automatic pistol. Grasping it with both hands, she unlocked the safety trigger.

"Fair enough for me," the blue-haired officer smirked. "Move. Now. Or you'll be answering to my gun."

She motioned all the Rocket members out of the room with the help of her firearm, the opposite way she had entered. Daeg smiled and started to walk down the hallway that Officer Junsa had come down, in hopes of finding a way out of this blasted maze.

A few minutes later, Daeg was wandering the streets. Nobody was around this late at night, so he was alone in the dim light. Traveling swiftly and silently, he headed off toward the city limits.

After walking for a while, Daeg reached a small park, surrounded on all sides by trees and effectively secret unless you knew it was there. He waited calmly, knowing what was to come. After about a quarter-hour, a figure emerged into the clearing, completely covered by a black jumpsuit and moving without a single sound.

"So, Daeg. You found your chance for vengeance and missed it?"

Daeg looked puzzled. "What are you talking about? What vengeance?"

The hooded figure looked a bit startled. "Did you not recognize the one called Thane? Do you not remember your dishonor?"

Daeg grimaced, Trying to take himself back...

Daeg sat cross-legged, along with the other ninjas. Across from him was one of the martial artists from Saffron's fighting gym. Kyou was there, at the head of the gym, separated from the rest by traps and the famous invisible walls.

Suddenly, the doors opened to reveal a dark, odd-looking individual. As he entered the gym, he announced, "I am here to put one of you honorable warriors to shame."

With that, the figure pulled out a pokéball, set it in front of him, and looked expectantly at the occupants of the gym. One of the martial artists stepped forward.

"I am a blackbelt. I will face you."

The spiky-haired stranger looked at him laughed. Suddenly, without warning, he kicked the blackbelt in the face.

"I am looking for a real fight!" He grinned maliciously. "Let me introduce myself - I am Thane, and I am here to defeat a ninja."

Kyou stood up, calmly. "We accept your challenge. I will send one ninja - my most prized student - to face you in single combat. You will fight as you are without pokémon." He nodded towards his chosen. "Daeg, the gym's honor is with you."

Nodding, Daeg stood up, and walked to the waiting arena.

Thane entered the ring smiling. "I will take you down slowly, and prove how weak you are."

Daeg pointedly ignored the jibe, merely adopting a combat stance and preparing himself. Thane began circling toward Daeg from his side.

Daeg made the first move, suddenly lashing out with a high jump kick. Still grinning, Thane stepped to the side, catching Daeg's leg and twisting. The younger man felt - and heard - his knee pop as he hit the mat.

Slowly rising and standing on one knee, Daeg faced off against Thane, realising he had severely underestimated the villain. He tried a new approach, this time waiting for Thane's attack. The older fighter launched a volley of punches at Daeg, who easily blocked them. But something was wrong. In amazement, the ninja noticed burns appearing on his arms. What was this man?

Daeg tried to counter attack with a quick series of punches, but Thane blocked each one, and once more, Daeg saw the inexplicable burns appearing where he touched his opponent.

Distracted, Daeg noticed too late that Thane was reaching downward. He grabbed a small syringe from a hidden pocket on his leg. Daeg stared in horror, only half-comprehending as the sharp point of the needle jabbed into his leg.

Daeg suddenly felt very tired. He saw Thane smiling as his vision began to blur, and suddenly he was only conscious of Thane's repeated blows, slowly beating him senseless. There was a sudden jolt, racking his already - injured body, and the ninja fell forward, losing consciousness. Thane smiled victoriously, and palmed the small tazer.

Daeg looked to the mysterious ninja, a new fire in his intense eyes, and smiled. "I remember... I will regain my honor."

So saying, Daeg drew his sword, Dath, eyes running over the dragons that ran up the handle and the mysterious gems held inside. Above the designs, a tassel hung downward, and eight gym badges gleamed cold and proud in the moonlight.

Daeg smiled, looking at the eight badges, and the eight gems held in his sword. He looked up to see that the ninja had vanished - as expected - and smiled again. He looked to his sword.

"Well Dath, with you, Thane has no chance."

Will Daeg be able to settle the score between himself and Thane? What exactly are Jon's powers? Will Tessa's brother Yusuo be okay? Will Fox be able to convince Officer Junsa that she's innocent? None of this and more to be found right here, in part III!