Quicksand [Archive] - The PokeMasters Forums

Amaru

6th March 2006, 01:21 AM

Chapter 1: Quicksand

Cory had never felt worse in his life..
At least, he couldn't remember feeling this depressed. Everything he had worked for, the last two years of his life down the drain in a matter of minutes. That was the reality of Pokemon battling he realised. He sighed to himself as he watched the tide wash up onto the shore then creep back into the darkness. He realised his life was like the waves before him. He was so close to achieving his goal. Now he was a washed up loser. He trudged up the rotting wooden ramp and started along the wharf.
This was once where the S.S. Anne threw a huge party every year. He watched his step as a family of krabby passed him as he made his way to the end of the wharf. He could have caught one, but no. He never bothered with capture much. He only captured pokemon he would battle with, and he never settled for mediocrity. Of course he was offered a pokedex like all promising beginners but he never used it. He knew battling was his purpose. Maybe he had been wrong all along.

He slumped himself down at the edge of the wharf, his feet dangling over the side. He plunged deep into thought as he stared out into the endless ocean. Perhaps he was being too hard on himself. Had he not proven his worth along the way? Had he not proven he was an elite among all trainers? No.. None of that even mattered anymore. He had failed when it was truly his time to shine.
He wished the memories of today would disappear, although he knew they would never fade, this day will be fresh in his mind for a long time yet. He shut his eyes tight to fight back the tears as the memory crept back into his thoughts..

"I can still win this" thought Cory as his brain worked furiously, watching his heracross constantly dodging massive bursts of energy from underground. Cory had never battled like this before, this was the first time he had ever felt himself panicking.

"This is truly an amazing strategy Bob, Rex's steelix is firing hyper beams at heracross from UNDER the arena!"

"Quite right Bob, although these two trainers are truly talented for making it this far, I think it's plain to see who is the better one"

"Couldn't agree more Bob"

Cory shot a angry glare towards the commentators, isn't it against the rules to take sides?

"Uhh, ummm.."
Cory's mind worked furiously in the few seconds he had to spare. Too late, the sandstorm had already grown too violent for heracross to continue flying, while hyper beams continued relentlessly. His heart pounded as he gaped into the inpenetrable curtain of deep brown that had engulfed the entire battlefield.

"Rex's Steelix has a definite advantage in this sandstorm. I dont know if Cory can turn this one around."

"Quite right Bob, Heracross will have zero eyesight in there, and no sense of direction".

What was with the Bob's? It seemed like no-one was on his side, no-one. But still, Cory refused to fail, he blatantly refused to go down! "Okay, right now steelix is still underground so it's far too dangerous for heracross to attempt to dig his way out of the sandstorm. How can I lure steelix back up?" Corys mind was blank...
Suddenly it came to him. Idiot! Why hadnt he thought of this straight away? "Heracross!! Earthquake!!" He roared into the megaphone, in hopes heracross would hear him. The battlefield began to shake violently and a ear splitting screech of pain exploded from beneath the battlefield. A rush of triumph ran through Cory's body as he watched steelix burst through the ground, trembling in pain. "Heracross!! Dig your way out!!".
....Nothing......The entire audience watched closely, waiting for a sign that heracross had heard, or even that it was still conscious. Steelix managed to pick itself up and let out a bellow that sent shivers down Cory's spine. Where was heracross? True fear was setting in. Sweat rolled down Cory's brow as he watched steelix lunge forth into the sandstorm.. He glanced at his opponent directly opposite from him, way at the other side of the stadium. Looking your opponent in the eye is extremely discouraged in this tournament, that may spark emotions such as rage, pity, cockiness. Its not wise to battle with emotions. Cory realised why as he caught Rex's expression. He was smiling! Smiling! This battle was far from over.

* * * * *

"Cory! Are you still moping around here? Come and enjoy yourself dude, it's our last night in Kanto!"

With that Cory awoke from his daydreaming and turned to the person who had called to him from the beach. He was shrouded in darkness and from a distance Cory could only make out his toothy white smile.

"Are you just gonna sit there? Let's go damnit it"

"Actually, I..I think I'll just stay out here a little longer" Cory replied weakly.

The mysterious figure lingered for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and turning back towards the sounds of loud music. Allowing Cory to once again indulge in his own self pity.

* * * * *

Heracross was never scared, but this moment was the closest he'd ever been to it. The sandstorm was throwing him around like a feather, he felt completely helpless, he couldn't see anything but roaring thick brown sand in every direction. He didn't know what was up, what was down, no sense of left or right. He was straining to stay balanced against the current, desperate.

"Her...ss...dig......or way....."

His master was calling orders to him, but it was futile, the storm had grown too powerful.

"Well Bob, at this stage, the outcome of the battle may be out of the trainers hands."

"Im inclined to agree with you there Bob, there's not a lot they can do from out here."

The battle was in his favour, his pokemon had the advantage in the storm, the commentators were on his side. All these things repeated in Cory's mind as he stared at Rex, unable to look away. Rex was staring hard at the battlefield, as if looking for a opening in the sandstorm, a little weak spot or anything that would allow him to see what was happening in there. Was he worried? As if answering his question, Rex's eyes met Cory's. For a second, there was a powerful tension between them, broken with a wink from Rex. A wink! He's not worried at all.

Heracross could sense danger near him, but where? He turned just in time to see gigantic steel jaws coming at him, but with razor sharp reflexes heracross narrowly dodged the attack, but a huge spike from steelix body connected with his chest, sending him flailing in some direction. The pain was almost overwhelming, heracross barely had time to come to grips with what just happened before the steel jaws came at him again, heracross dodged, but again, steelix's body connected with him, this time knocking him to the ground. Heracross's whole body was quivering in pain, but he was determined. This time ready as the jaws lunged towards him, heracross poised himself, and right before impact, heracross reacted. In a split second, heracross clamped onto steelix's bottom jaw, dropped onto his back and positioned his legs under steelix's throat, steelix's momentum pulled heracross over and with perfect timing heracross kicked out with all his might, sending almost nine hundred pounds of solid steel helplessly flailing through the air. But now was not time to relax, heracross was now on the offense, and he accomplished it without guidance from his master.

The crowd roared with disbelief as steelix's gigantic body broke the surface of the sandstorm and sailed through the air. A surge of triumph and relief flowed through Cory's body. He was overcome with joy. Unlike Rex, he noticed, who's mouth was almost touching the floor. Cory felt a smile forming on his face, he didnt know what heracross did but he did it right. Steelix hit the ground like a giant anchor, shaking the entire stadium, even causing people to fall off their seats. Steelix groaned as he pulled himself upright.
"Well Bob, that was sure unexpected"

"Couldnt agree more Bob, whatever heracross did, he turned the tables in this battle."

The crowd went into a frenzy as heracross's bruised battered body emerged, limping from the sandstorm. "Heracross!! You're alright!" yelled Cory, unable to contain his excitement. Heracross heard the call, but ignored it. He didnt need Cory, he realised". "Heracross?" Why wasnt he responding? Did the sandstorm affect his hearing?

Steelix wasted no time, he dived into the ground and bursted back up directly beneath heracross, but heracross was too quick. He dodged the attack and responded with a swing of his fists. An explosion sent a shockwave through the arena and knocked steelix, again, sailing through the air.

"Holy cow Bob! In all my years ive never seen a more perfectly executed dynamicpunch technique!"

"Bob, we have to take into consideration the density of Steelix's body. Its going to take more than that to take him down. So my money is still on Rex."

"Id have to say youre nuts Bob."

"Couldnt agree more Bob."

Completely disregarding the judges comments, Cory leaned over the barrier and congratulated heracross, who simply glanced at him as if he were a stranger. Cory stood back upright, completely confused. What had gotten into heracross?

Steelix recovered from the brutal blow in seconds and was back on the assault, he charged at heracross. This time Rex was the first to react.

"Steely! Harden!"

Steelix's body shone a deep black as heracross's fist connected. This time, the explosion had no effect on steelix. The crowd roared again as the hardened steelix collided with heracross's fragile body, this time sending heracross flailing. With a snap of the tail, steelix grabbed heracross by the foot and coiled him up, halting heracross's attempt to escape. Heracross's body looked small and pathetic bound in steelix's huge steel coils. Heracross was unable to brace himself for the pain as steelix's coils tightened around heracross's body. He could hear his own body armour cracking in steelixs grip. "Yes steely, thats it, torture him!" Rex cackled with glee at the realisation of victory. Heracross exhaled deeply as steelix's coils weakened thir grip, then cried weakly as they tightened again. Heracross was done for. Cory knew this. But he refused to give up. He was back where he started. The whole battle had turned around again, in seconds. Barely a minute ago, the battle was in his favour, and now..

"REX!!" A young man with spiky reddish brown hair bellowed from the judges stand. He was seated directly in the middle of the judges table, but now he was standing. He was wearing a dark trenchcoat over a black japanese style tuxedo. Six gold-rimmed pokeballs lined the inside of his trenchcoat. The audience quietened at the sound of this mans voice. "This is an official warning. Either end the battle now or command your steelix to release heracross. Torture is strictly against the rules! Understand?"

"Y..yea.. S..sorry sir.." replied Rex weakly. At that, the man nodded and sat back down. Rex's attention immediately returned to the battle. "Steely! Finish this! Hyper beam!!!"

"Wait!" Called Cory, this isnt happening. Corys head was spinning, his mouth was dry, his eyes were burning. Rex's gaze landed upon Cory. Without looking away, Rex smiled and called "Now Steely!"

An incredible hatred overcame Cory. He wanted so badly to reach over and break his opponents neck with his bare hands. His heracross was losing concioussness. He didnt know what to do. He couldnt lose! He just couldnt! Not now! He had come too far. Steelix's mouth opened to reveal a giant ball of blue light, he reared his head back, Corys mind raced for options, but nothing. Suddenly all sound ceased. The crowd went silent. Rex was yelling into his megaphone frantically, but no noise came out. Cory never thought he would be making this decision. But he couldnt bear to see one of his pokemon like this. Steelix's nostrils flared and steam gushed out as if his insides were boiling. At the last moment, before steelix released the hyper beam, Cory snapped back into reality.

".....I FORFEIT!!!" Yelled Cory, with all his might.

Rex's eyes widened as he looked up from the battle. Cory could feel thousands of shocked eyes on him. "I GIVE UP!!! I...I...quit"

The man in the middle of the judges table nodded, and signalled towards the commentators.

"Well Bob, I'm absolutely stunned."

"I dont blame the kid Bob, he didnt have much of a choice, I sure wouldnt want to see my pokemon suffer like that. It was pure honour."

"That was deep Bob. Now lets go get some fries."

"Couldnt agree more Bob. The Pokemon League of Kanto, hereby declares Rex Farac the victor. Rex Farac will progress to the finals."

Cory was startled as his podium automatically lowered. He sighed, but was relieved it was over in a way. Steelix released heracross, and let his limp body fall to the ground. As the podiums reached the ground, Rex threw open the barrier and rushed onto the battlefield towards his steelix. Cory stood for a moment, then opened his barrier and slowly made his way onto the battlefield towards his crumpled heap of remains that was once his heracross. As he got down on his knees at his heracross's body, all feelings of regret left him. His heracross was struggling for breath, inhaling in short, sharp gasps. His body armour was cracked from head to toe, his left fist was bent out of place and his wings were mangled beyond recognition. He was covered in cuts and bruises, and sand caked his eyes and ears. What had he done? How could he have let his pokemon go through this? He felt like a monster. He was no trainer. He glanced up at Rex, who was hand-feeding his battered steelix and petting it's solid steel forehead. He stood up and stepped back as the on-call chanseys put heracross onto a stretcher and rushed him off. Cory was lost. He was alone. The crowd was chanting Rex's name. He had lost a battle for the first time in his life. He had put his pokemon through unspeakable misery. Tears filled Cory's eyes as his knees gave way and collapsed. He was on his knees for the first time. Cory had never felt worse in his life..

Amaru

6th March 2006, 01:23 AM

Chapter 2 - Face to face

Cory wiped his eyes, embarassed by his tears even though no-one was around. He swivelled his legs around so they now rested on the weathered wooden walkway. He sighed as he lay back and rested against the handrail support. He was in a state of relaxation for the first time that entire day.

"BOO!!"

Cory yelped as his head darted sideways.

"Ahaha! I SO got you dude."

Cory muttered under his breath as he reluctantly rose to his feet.

"Still hung up over today huh?"

Cory chose not to reply as he trudged back along the wharf towards the beach with his companion. After a few seconds he stopped Cory and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, if you feel that bad about it, talk to me. Im all ears baby!"

"No thanks, Ricky" Cory replied, hiding his repulse at being called "baby" by another male, although it was common occurence with Rick. They were both born and raised in the slums of Goldenrod City. Best friends since diapers, but so different. The first difference to notice would be the skin colour, Cory was a pasty white colour while Ricky was light brown. Then comes the hair, Cory's hair was mouse blonde and had no style to speak of, it just sat there, in any condition. Ricky had a sort of modern buzz cut with a fade. Obviously, Ricky had more style to speak of when it came to looks. Cory couldnt care less. Ricky turned to Cory and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm serious brother, im here if you need to talk. Just know this."

Cory rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, why are you out here, arent you enjoying the party? Or should i say, enjoying the ladies?" Cory replied, attempting to change the subject. Bringing up girls always did the trick with Ricky.

"Oh man, I met this girl Aisha. Shes so into me. I was like, hey girl, whats your sign? And she was like.."

Cory had trained himself to automatically tune out when Ricky opened his mouth.

"So i was like, you dance or what? And she was like, I'll dance circles around you, pretty boy. I was like whaa? Bring it on girl, so then we..."

Sigh.. Heracross. He hadnt told anyone yet. He decided to keep it to himself as long as possible. He watched his step as they reached the foot of the wharf, to avoid the family of krabby still hanging around.

"So i was like, yo girl, you got a name? anyway we exhanged names and... NUMBERS!."

Cory cringed as Ricky spoke in an annoyingly high pitched voice.

"Oh yeah dude! The reason I came out here is to tell you!"

"Tell me what?" Cory asked suspiciously.

"Lauryn's opponent last round was DRUGGING his pokemon! They were illegally enhanced during their battle with Lauryn! Do you know what that means?"

"What are you talking about, Rick?

"The semi-finalists pokemon underwent a surprise drug test a few nights ago, something to do with an incident last year. We were just told the results!"

Cory's head spun at hearing these words. Lauryn, Ricky's older sister, was a semi-finalist aswell. She lost the match pretty badly, now it was clear why.

"Hello? Dude! That cheating dog was disqualified from the finals!"

"Huh?" Cory replied sharply. "So Rex wins by default?"

"Naw man, no-one can win the finals by default. The judges backtracked a little. Lauryn wins semi-finals by default!"

In spite of all the bad fortune of today, Cory couldnt resist feeling incredibly happy for Lauryn. A subtle envy also lurked inside him. He knew full well he was better than Lauryn. Yet she advances to the finals? The envy grew as the two walked along the sand, towards the party ship S.S Aqua further down the beach. Ricky continued to drone about his mystery girl Aisha, Cory was unsure if she even existed. Ricky paused only to say hello to a passing group of bikini-clad females headed towards the old wharf, he turned to scan them up and down, then turned back to Cory.

"I'm not stupid man. What's eating you?"

"Nothing, just leave it."

"No I'm not goning to leave it! I dont want to see you like this, this aint you man."

Cory didnt reply as he continued looking down at the sand. He sighed again. Ricky looked away for a second, then confronted Cory.

"This isnt about losing is it? Something else os eating you. What is it?"

Cory sighed yet again, then gave in. "Alright.. It's Heracross."

"How is he?" asked Ricky sympathetically.

"No, its not that, hes fine. But.. They."

Cory stopped walking. Ricky did the same.

"They.. took him away."

Rickys eyes reamined fixed on Cory, even as another group of females passed. "What do you mean?"

"He didnt want to come back to me. They refused to hand him over at the pokemon centre."

"Oh dude.. Im sorry, what can I say?"

Ricky put his arm around Cory to comfort him.

"Heracross is gone, and its my fault."

"Dont talk like that, Heracross is just upset."

"No, Ricky. I saw him after the battle. He was a wreck. I let it happen. His own trainer let that happen to him. He's better off without me."

Ricky didnt speak as they approached the S.S Aqua docks. A large, bald middle-aged man in a crumpled, dirty sailor suit was waiting there.

"Tickets" He grumbled, not even looking at them. Ricky flashed his ticket and Cory showed his Pokemon League contestant wristband. The sailor grunted to signal they could enter.

"You sure you're ready to go in there?" Asked Ricky.

"Can't sleep outside right?' Cory joked weakly.

Ricky smiled and led the way into the ship. The S.S Aqua was still in mint condition, although it had been running almost two years. Unbelievably, the mostly white interior was still white! The two continued down the hallway, passing door after door labelled with numbers and letters. 2a, 2b, 2c and so on. The S.S Aqua was not only the transport for Johto trainers to get into Kanto and visa versa. It doubled as a hotel for the League tournament contestants. Cory certainly wasnt looking forward to facing all the other people on the ship. He didnt even want to go to the party, and he hadnt planned on it, but he had to congratulate Lauryn before hitting the sack. He had planned to leave tonight, there was a smaller boat that made trips between Vermillion City and Olivine City every day and night. He had to stay now that Lauryn was in the finals.

They turned the corner into the Banquet Room, which had been transformed into a huge party, teenagers were everywhere. The older passengers must have already gone to sleep. They took one step in, then Ricky pulled Cory back out of sight.

"Crap! We cant go in there." Said Ricky.

"What? Why not"

"Lauryn is talking to Aisha!"

"So what?"

"First rule of hooking up dude, never tell girls the truth. Lauryn always does this to me! dagnabit!"

"Whats she doing?" urged Cory.

"Shes.. Telling Aisha the truth. She does it everytime. I'll bet she has some of my baby photos in her pocket."

Cory turned to look in, and sure enough, the girl with Lauryn was laughing with her while they looked at a photo in Lauryn's hand.

"Shes really dedicated to emabarrasing you, huh?" said Cory with a smirk.

"At least you're smiling now." said Ricky sarcastically. "Now that someone else is suffering you're smiling. Sadistic."

Cory laughed and playfully shoved Ricky, "Hey at least I'm in a good mood right?"

"Cory?"

Cory recognised that voice immediately. Anger built inside him again. Ricky looked Cory in the eyes.

"Dont."

Cory nodded and turned to face Rex. He had his hand out.

"I didnt have a chance to shake your hand after the match." said Rex.

He looked alot less powerful face to face as he did earlier. The shine of victory had faded from his eyes. Right now, he was a normal kid, like Cory. Rex stood there, awaiting Cory's handshake. Cory stood there, his eyes burning into Rex's. This was the guy who ruined everything. This is the guy who almost killed his heracross, and now heracross had abandoned him. Because of this guy in front of him. Rage bubbled inside him, he couldn't stop his fists from clenching. Rex lowered his hands and took a step back.

"Uhh.. What." Rex started, too late. Cory couldn't contain it anymore, he swung his right fist at Rex, Rex ducked just in time but caught the left fist in the cheek. Rex stumbled as Cory charged into him with his knee, connecting hard with Rex's stomach. Ricky grabbed Cory by the back of the shirt and pulled him back, pinning him to the wall. Cory struggled for a few seconds but Ricky was alot stronger. Without warning Ricky slapped Cory across the head.

"What the heck is your problem man!"

Rex slowly came to his feet, clutching his stomach with one hand, the other hand reaching into his jacket. Ricky turned to Rex, releasing Cory.

"You alright brother?"

Rex smirked as his hand emerged from his jacket revealing a pokeball. Both Ricky's and Cory's eyes fell on the ball.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked Cory.

"Bad move, fool." said Rex with a calm tone. He held the pokeball out. Suddenly, he didnt look so harmless.

"No-one lays a finger on me. No-one. I'll show you what my Pokemon think of sore losers."

Amaru

6th March 2006, 01:24 AM

Chapter 3 - Going Solo

Cory was backed up against the wall with Ricky protecting him.

"Calm down, baby! No trouble." Said Ricky, with his hands up as if he were getting arrested.

"Move aside, I want him". replied Rex, his eyes fixed on Cory. Ricky shook his head.

"Not going to happen my friend."

"Fine."

Rex held the pokeball out and released the pokemon inside it. Cory and Ricky both watched in horror as a houndoom emerged from the ball. The houndoom looked up at them and snarled, flames spat out of his nostrils as he did.

"Spike, hurt them." commanded Rex.

"You got your pokemon?" whispered Ricky to Cory.

"Nope." Cory swallowed hard. They both stood helpless as the houndoom approached them, his head low to the ground, his tail poised in attack position. The houndom reared his back legs, and pounced. Quick as lightning, a huge arcanine roared as it rammed its head into the houndoom, slamming it hard into the wall. The houndoom yelped on impact but quickly regained it's balance. Houndoom snarled at arcanine and pounced. Without effort the aracanine swung its massive paw, knocking houndoom aside. The houndoom lewt out a little whimper as it came to its feet, one paw in the air, limping. It snarled again at arcanine and barked viciously.

"Return your pokemon!" demanded a sweet yet tough girl's voice. Rex smirked as Cory and Ricky turned to face a girl standing there. This was Lauryn. She was tall, taller than the three boys. She wore blue jeans and a grey singlet. Her skin was darker than Ricky's, but you could see the resemblance in their faces. She was very pretty, her jet black hair flowed down her back, stopping at her waist. She attatched the pokeball she was holding to the strap of her napsack, along with five others.

"Did you hear me?" said Lauryn, an angry expression forming on her face.

"Humph. Let's see you pull another stunt like that tomorrow." said Rex as he returned his houndoom and walked away. Cory broke free of Ricky and tried to chase after Rex, but Ricky reacted quickly sweeping Cory's feet, Ricky then pinned Cory on the carpet.

"Dude, no!"

"How can you let him get away with that? Get off me!"

"Well you attacked him first, with no reason!"

"No reason? I told you the reason!"

"That was NOT Rex's fault! He's not responsible for the way you raise your pokemon!"

Cory paused for a second. "What.. Wh.. What are you saying Rick?"

Ricky shrugged his shoulders. "You asked for it dude. Wake up! Pokemon aren't robots! They're living animals, they have feelings, they feel pain!"

"I KNOW! There are people who treat their pokemon far worse than me! Wait. Why are even having this argument? You should be on my side!"

Lauryn decided this was enough. "Both you girls, stop! You're ruining my buzz! Aren't you even going to congratulate me, Cory?

Cory and Ricky stared at eachother with incredible intensity. Ricky approached Cory so his face was inches away.

"You're a kid, a child. Grow up."

"At least I don't turn on my friends." replied Cory. With that Ricky grabbed Cory by the shirt collar and slammed him up against the wall.

"Dont ever say that to me again." warned Ricky.

"Nope, this ain't happening." said Lauryn, as she tried to intercept. "Rick, move. Rick, get off him!"

Without looking away, Ricky slammed Cory into the wall again, then let him go.

Cory looked at Lauryn. "Congrats, sister."

Lauryn smiled. Cory walked past Ricky, intentionally knocking into him. Ricky grabbed Cory by the shoulder and swung him around, only to catch Cory's fist in the lip.

"Don't touch me!" yelled Cory. With that he took off down the hallway. Leaving Ricky and Lauryn alone.

"Damn child." mumbled Ricky, touching his lip to see if it was bleeding.

"Is it alright?" she asked.

"Leave it alone." said Ricky, pushing her hands away.

"So, you want to explain what all that was about?" demanded Lauryn, her hands on her hips.

* * * * *

Cory was fed up. His day had gone from bad to worse to even worse. In one day he managed to fail his life dream, lose his first battle miserably, lose one of his best companions, and his best friend. Tears filled his eyes for the thousandth time that day as he emptied drawer after drawer into his old, battered suitcase. He grabbed a pile of dirty clothes and carelessly threw them in the suitcase on top of all his clean clothes. Once everything was in the suitcase he struggled but managed to zip it closed. He glanced at his watch. eight fifteen. He had fifteen minutes before the boat left for Olivine. He propped up his suitcase and wheeled it towards the door.

"Okay, here we go" Cory said to himself. He took a deep breath, then walked out of his room into the hallway. He tried to move quickly so no-one would see him leave. He felt bad that he was deserting Lauryn with her match and all, but he had to get out of here. Almost there, he could see the exit, the elderly sailor sleeping against the wall. Suddenly he stopped. Was this best, leaving without even telling anyone? Perhaps that was unfair, especially on Lauryn, he couldn't care less about Ricky. He just stood there in the hall with his suitcase unsure what to do. He was definitely leaving, but was this the best way to do it?

"Where do you think you're going?"

Cory's heart jumped. He had no choice now. Ricky had caught him. He faced Ricky.

"What does it look like?"

"You're really thinking about leaving now are you?"

"Thinking about it? No, I'm doing it." Cory replied coldly.

"How can you leave Lauryn hanging like that? And me.."

"I just don't care anymore. Im out of here. Period. Don't try to stop me."

He turned away and began wheeling his suitcase towards the exit. Just as he expected, Ricky confronted him again.

"Forget about us, stay for Lauryn, she's expecting you to be there to root for her tomorrow."

Cory shrugged. "I wish I could."

Ricky stared in disbelief. "I didn't know you could be that selfish."

"Whatever." said Cory, ending the conversation. Ricky watched his friend walk down the hall and around the corner, out the door. Anger began to bubble inside him. Cory wasn't himself. Since he lost, he hasn't been the same. He could have followed Cory outside and try to stop him, but Ricky decided to let him go. Now he had to figure out how to tell Lauryn. He felt pain in his cheek already, just picturing the slapfest that was soon to come. He sighed, took one more look back, then walked with his head down back towards Lauryn's room.

* * * * *

It was relieving to be out in the crisp night air. The tension had been so intense not to mention the central heating being too high. He trudged along the wharf and saw a sailor working to untie anchor ropes from the dock. He approached the sailor.

"Is it too late for me to get on?" he asked.

The sailor didn't look up. "Too late, sorry kid."

Cory's heart dropped. "Oh...O..Okay." He turned to leave, when the sailor looked up, smiling.

"Come on kid, I'm just joshin' ya! Get on, quickly now. Only four others with ya tonight."

Cory forced a smile, even though he was in no mood to take jokes. The sailor helped him onto the boat, then stopped him.

"Hey, it's you. The guy who lost today right?"

Cory looked down.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just want to say I admire your skills. Why is it you're leaving? Isn't your friend competing tomorrow? You're not going to watch her pummel the guy who beat you?" the sailor imitated a punch. This sailor had officially made Cory mad. He took his suitcase and walked away.

"Look, pretend I said nothing." the sailor called after him. "No hard feelings?"

He entered the main hallway of the boat. This was nothing like the S.S. Aqua's interior, but it would do. He found an empty bunk, and tossed his suitcase on the bottom bunk.

Almost midnight. He lay awake. Thinking of Lauryn, how would she react when she finds out he ditched her? Rex. Ricky. Two new enemies. Heracross, gone. He thought over the entire situation over and over. Completely unable to sleep, he rose out of bed. He decided to go outside to get some air. The sound of the roaring ocean grew louder as he came closer to the hall exit. But there were other sounds other than the ocean. His curiousity got the better of him as he began to jog down the hall, approaching the dim light of the midnight sky. Just as he thought, two trainers were engaged in a battle. "Heh, two on two" thought Cory. Two on two battles were the new craze in johto, but it looks like kanto adopted the same craze. Although Cory preferred one on one, he still wished he was battling right now. Too shy to approach the trainers, he just sat and watched the battle. Their skills are decent, Cory decided, as he watched a crobat perform double team and swoop down to attack a nidoqueen. Coiry predicted the next move and sure enough, the nidoqueen's trainer ordered his clefable to thunbderbolt, knocking out all the crobats without harming nidoqueen. An ice beam from nidoqueen knocked a sleeping victeebel out of the battle. The battle was over. Dissapointed, he rose to his feet and turned to walk back into the cabins when he noticed the two trainers running for it.

"What the?"

Suddenly he was blinded by massive lights. He shielded his eyes with his arms, but he couldn't see a thing. He turned and tried to feel for the doorway, he squinted desperately to see. Blinking repeatedly, his vision came to. He turned back to the lights, shielding his eyes. They were huge foglights, but in the middle of nowhere? No, he realised they were attached to a vessel. He was completely confused. What was going on? It had all happened to fast. He turned to run, but.

"DO NOT MOVE, PUT YOUR HANDS I CAN SEE!" A loud voice from a megaphone boomed.

He froze in place, and raised his hands.

"THIS IS A HIJACK. STAY CALM AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED."

Amaru

6th March 2006, 01:26 AM

Feel free to post comments in this thread. I'm currently working on chapter 15, I'll post the rest of the chapters if you guys are interested.

Amaru

6th March 2006, 02:34 PM

Come on guys give me a chance.

MeLoVeGhOsTs

6th March 2006, 03:02 PM

Dewd, hold on its only been a day. People will read it when they have time.

Anyway on another note: OMG WTF, it's Amaru =P. Check out this ASB.

Anyway like I said back on GHPF, your fic is gold. I can't say much more about it.

darktyranitar

7th March 2006, 08:37 AM

Ooh, I like this!

First off all, Cory seems to be a real jerk. He doesn’t seem to train his Pokemon at all. In fact, I think you stated that he lost his first match, right? Why am I not surprised? And the judge: “That was deep Bob. Now lets go get some fries” :mad:. I found myself not liking them.

Ah, a cliffhanger. I'm guessing that it is Team Rocket that hijacked the ship. Cory must be regretting his decision to take the cruise...

I'm still unsure whether Cory is a character that we will love or hate. However, this story has piqued my interest. Do write more, please! :smilie:

Amaru

12th March 2006, 02:04 PM

Thanks Dark Tyranitar, here you go!

Chapter 4 - Bad to Worse

"Is he coming back?" asked Lauryn, in the softest voice she could manage.

"I don't think so.." Ricky replied, rubbing the red handprints on his cheeks.

"Rick." pleaded Lauryn, grabbing Ricky's hand. "What's going on?"

Ricky pulled his hand away and got up.

"Ricky. Sit your butt down."

Ricky made an obnoxious sound as he sat back down.

"What's going on?"

"I explained everything already Lo, damn!"

"You know what I mean!"

Ricky sighed and looked away. "Alright.. I don't know. But I'm scared Lo. I speak my mind, that's just me, Lo. Just cos he's my friend he can't be an exception. I told him how I feel, and he over-reacted. I guess we both did. We've been tight since I can remember, it can't end like this"

Lauryn's eyes filled with tears. Her brother had never exposed his emotions like this.

"Our bond is too strong to be broken just like that, right? We.ve grown up together. We're brothers, blood couldn't make us any closer."

"Of course, baby bro. This is just a little bump in the road that's all. Oh, and sorry." Lauryn lightly pinched Ricky's red cheek.

A smile formed on Ricky's face. "Don't sweat it Lo, nothing compared to what Mama's going to do to me when she finds out."

"If I were you, I would run while you can"

The two of them laughed together, for the first time in years Ricky realised. And it felt good opening up like that. Ricky wondered how Cory was doing, he seriously regretted the fight. Was Cory still mad? Ricky had no idea because he had honestly never seen Cory mad before. Never! He just hoped he wasn't doing something stupid.

"Oh yeah! Your little friend Aisha wants to know more about your teddy collection!"

Ricky snapped back into reality. "My WHAT?!"

Lauryn broke into a fit of laughter.

"Damn, why do you do this to me, Lo?"

"Cos you look so cute when you get mad." Her laughter continued, relaxing the atmosphere of the situation. Slowly, Cory disappeared from Ricky's mind, as he laughed and reminisced with Lauryn. It was like two old friend's catching up. This was the purest moment between the two siblings in the seventeen years Ricky had been around.

* * * *

Cory stood completely still. This wasn't really happening, it's some kind of mistake or something.

"TEAM ROCKET THANKS YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION."

Cory felt his blood freeze as these words sunk in. He gulped as he peered down the pitch black hallway. He saw a dim light far down the hall, his room. He was glad he'd left the light on. He just had to wait for the right moment to run for it. No sooner had these thoughts entered Cory's mind, than what seemed like hundreds of steel, sphere-like objects were catapulted from the vessel, smashing through the wooden foundation of the cabin. Then spheres were attached to thick cables. Cory realised what was happening, he turned back, strainig his eyes. He saw the shadows of many men crossing the cables, they were really hijacking! Without thinking, Cory bolted down the hallway. Reaching his room, he slammed the door closed and dived towards his suitcase. He flung it open and desperately threw his clothes aside. Team Rocket? This is impossible! Team Rocket was gone. They had been for years now. And why are they hijacking this boat? Cory's mind raced, but there was no time to make sense of anything.

"Aha!" He pulled his pokeball belt from the bottom of the case and strapped it onto his waist. It held ten balls. Only five balls were occupied now, but that should be enough. He stood up and began for the doorway but before he could take a step forward, the door literally exploded off the hinges. His body was thrown back into the wooden bunk ladder. He shielded his face from the splinters. His ears were ringing. He stumbled forward and squinted his eyes. His vision was incredibly blurry. He could just make out two or three grey things floating into the room, spewing thick, black smoke. He tore off his sleeve and put it to his mouth, but it didn't help much. Choking, he stumbled into the hallway. The hall was also engulfed in smoke. He dove onto the floor and began crawling towards the exit. There were voices everywhere! Rocket gangsters, Cory guessed. He was close to the exit when he rose to his feet and began running towards it. Finally he reached the fresh air, desperately gasping in lungfulls of sweet oxygen, he grabbed his pokeballs and prepared to battle his way off the boat. However, the Rockets didn't seem to be interested in battling him. They were all... running away.

Cory gulped as he looked back. He stared in horror as a massive white tail plummeted down towards the boat. In a matter of seconds the entire deck was in pieces and Cory was in midair. He was still in shock as he penetrated the freezing cold water. The temperature was unbelievable. His entire body ached beyond any pain he had felt before. A million needles stabbed into every inch of his body, he gulped mouthfuls of sea water before reaching the surface. He choked and gasped for air. He rubbed his stinging eyes, but that only made it worse. A shivering, frozen wreck, Cory grabbed hold of a piece of the deck that was nearby and climbed onto it. Splinters dug in, but anything to be out of that deadly cold water. He watched on as the tail sunk back into the ocean, then emerged again, but this time the body. If he wasn't in so much pain, so shocked and so cold he would have admired this creature, whatever it was. It was gigantic! It's entire body rose out of the sea as it spread it's enourmous and majestic wings. There were Rockets drowning all around him. Some were on the boat, trying to attack the monster. They fired the metal spheres straight at it, but the monster was unaffected. A single sweep of its wing and what remained of the deck was gone. The rest of the boat tipped on its side and water began rushing into the cabin. The boat was going to sink! The creature flew up above the wreck and scanned the area. Cory had to get out of here. He grabbed the third pokeball on his belt and released his kingdra. He wrapped his arms around Kingdra's neck. He was filled with dread as he knew he had to enter the icy water again.

"See that island, Kingdra? We n..need to get in there." Said Cory, his voice shaking as he gestured to the small island just a few hundred yards from them. Kingdra nodded and dived into the water. If the pain was bad before, this was pure hell. The water rushed through his clothes and stung his eyes, Kingdra struggled to navigate through the debris and drowning Rocket gangsters. After what seemed like hours, Kingdra finally broke the surface of the water. Cory looked around in confusion. They were IN the island. An enourmous cavern. Cory climbed off kingdra and sprawled himself out on the rocky edge of the water.

"G..Great job K..kingdra." Cory mumbled as he returned her to the pokeball. He lay there, recovering from the intense pains that he had experienced in the past half an hour or so. Taking a deep breath, he rose to his feet. He still hadn't recovered from the cold, he wasn't sure he ever would. Nor would he recover from the sheer sight of that deadly, majestic monster. He stumbled around for a while, taking in all the facts of what just happened. It all seemed so unbelievable. Team Rocket attempted to hijack the boat he was on, but why? Why did Team Rocket even exist? Then his room seemed to explode then smoke swallowed the whole cabin, he guessed this was the work of Team Rocket pokemon. He made it out the hallway without being attacked or even noticed! There was alot of smoke, but there were also alot of voices in that hallway with him. Then the boat was attacked by...a monster? He was still trying to get his head around the sight of this beast. Why did it attack? Where did it come from? What was it? So many questions, no answers. Looking back, Cory realised he'd ventured far into the cave. He couldn't see the rock pool he'd entered in. His heart skipped a beat as he turned back to see a xatu perched in midair inches from his face. He put a hand on his heart.

"You gave me a heart attack!"

The xatu's head jerked to the right, then to the left again. Then it flapped it's wings and flew off into the darkness of the cavern beyond. In utter confusion, Cory shook his head and pressed onwards. Before long, he noticed the xatu again. Perched on a rock. Its head jerked again then flew away. Cory felt weird. Like he wasn't alone. He shook it off and continued walking. He realised he didn't know where he was going, and he had the distinct feeling he was being watched. Suddenly he stopped walking, before him was a gigantic archway. He stared in awe at the amazing images carved on the stone that made the frame of the archway. Inside looked just like the rest of the cavern though. He could tell by the deep groove on the right and the semi-circular stone protruding from the left that this was some kind of doorway. Almost letting his curiosity get the better of him, he decided to snap out of it and turn back.

"YAHH!" Cory yelped as the xatu appeared right in front of his eyes, but upside down. It squawked loudly then vanished. "Okay", Cory thought. This is getting weird. He turned and froze as he faced an abnormally large machamp a small distance from him. How? Machamps were not wild pokemon, period. This island must have special pokemon, he thought. That would explain the monster, the xatu and the machamp. He took a step back, then another. He was attempting to ease out of the machamps attention, trying desperately not to upset him. Without warning, the machamp beat its mighty chest and charged towards Cory. Reflex caused him to reach for his belt and throw a pokeball at the machamp. To his amazement and horror, the machamp caught the pokeball, and threw it back at Cory! He ducked to avoid the ball, then grabbed the first ball on his belt and tossed it at the machamp. In a flash of red light, Cory's skarmory emerged.

"Skarm!! Drill peck!" Cory yelled. Skarmory began spinning in flight, gaining momentum. Inches from the machamp, a golden, transparent barrier flashed before skarmory, who crashed straight into it at top speed. Cory watched in disbelief as the barrier faded, and before skarmory could fall to the ground, machamps fist swung and knocked skarmory across the cavern. Cory gritted his teeth and reached for his next pokemon. Before he could, his belt unclipped itself, then floated away. The belt sailed right into the hands of an alakazam. Cory realised where the barrier came from.

"What, the hell, is going on here!!" Cory yelled to no-one. The machamp showed no mercy as it grabbed Cory by the throat and lifted him in midair. Cory clawed at its fist, but it was tougher than leather. The machamp slammed Cory into the cavern wall then dumped him n the ground. All the air in Cory's lungs was knocked out. He breathed in sharp gasps as the machamp pinned him down with one arm. Cory realised how helpless humans really are compared to the strength of pokemon. Why wasn't this machamp attacking? And why did it team up with that alakazam? And how could a wild alakazam be smart enough to steal his pokeball belt? He tried to move, but his whle body, head to toe, was pinned down like super glue. Cory's questions were answered as a huge, musclebound man entered the room, followed by a short, thin teenage boy with outrageous hair. They approached him, with unchanging facial expressions. Cory desperately tried to move, but to no avail. The teenager approached the alakazam and took the pokeballs from him, while the tall muscular man approached Cory. Cory's face was ghostly pale, he just lay helpless and terrified.

"W..What are you gonna do to me?" Cory squeaked.

"Don't speak, just listen." The man replied in a surprisingly innocent voice.

"My machamp is going to release you, do not attmept to escape, nod if you understand."

Cory nodded.

"Machamp?" The machamp nodded and released Cory. Cory sat up and rested his back against the wall.

"Now, I want you to explain slowly and carefully." The man kneeled down so his face was level with Cory's.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Mega Horny

12th March 2006, 02:48 PM

Hey Amaru! Your fic is even better with a black background! See ya 'round.

MeLoVeGhOsTs

12th March 2006, 02:50 PM

Ditto.

darktyranitar

17th March 2006, 07:15 PM

Oo, what could the monster be, and why would it attack the ship? Based on its description, I'm guessing... a Lugia. And who might the two people be...

Well, see you around!

Mega Horny

17th March 2006, 07:17 PM

My guess as well. I won't give anything much away, but I can tell you you're in for quite a ride DT.

Amaru

18th March 2006, 08:16 AM

*blushes*

Anyway, here ya go. I'll post two chapters this time.

Chapter 5 - Instinctive Decision

"My name is Cory." Cory stuttered. He was scared, although he hated to admit it.

"I don't need to know your name. Perhaps you misunderstood me. Who are you? And why are you here?"

"My..My boat was attacked. I escaped."

The man frowned. "Attacked? By whom?"

"I..(think) it was Team Rocket. And then a monster."

The man's eyes widened slightly, it was clear he was shielding his surprise. "Team Rocket you say? Ha! This cavern is crawling with Rockets, boy. You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Consider yourself lucky we found you first."

The man rose to his feet and turned to the teenage boy that was with him, they were talking too quietly for Cory to hear.

"What about the monster?" Asked Cory. No response.

"Wh..What about the monster?" He asked again, louder. They still paid no attention. With that, another man entered the room. This man looked even weirder than the first two. He was wearing goggles! And thick gloves. Cory noticed straight away the xatu perched on his shoulder. The large man looked up from his conversation.

"Ahh.. Good timing." He said as he turned to Cory.

"What have we here?" asked the new face. His voice seemed to echo in Corys mind, it was a sensation hard to explain. It was as though he had imagined his voice in his head. The large man once again kneeled to face Cory.

"How did you open that door?" He asked, motioning to the huge archway Cory had seen earlier.

"I didn't!" Cory replied desperately. He laughed inside his head. No wonder the hostility! They thought he opened the archway. They'd let him go now!

"You're sure?" asked the man.

"I didn't. I wouldn't even know how to."

"It was open when you saw it?"

Cory nodded. The man stood up.

"That archway there? It was open when you saw it?"

"Yes."

"You're definitely sure?"

"YES! I swear!"

"My friend, your word means nothing to me. I need proof." He motioned to the man with the goggles. He approached, smiling while removing his gloves.

Cory gulped. "What are you going to do to me?" He squeaked.

"If what you say is true, you won't mind a little.. Lie detector test, now would you?

The goggle guy reached towards Cory. "Don't move, don't panic, just relax. I'll have all I need in a few seconds."

Cory tried hard to relax as the man placed his hands on Cory's head and closed his eyes.

"Hmmm. Oh! We have quite the battler on our hands. League tournament semi-finalist."

Cory was shocked! How did he know that?

"Quarrels, quarrels, more quarrels. Irrelevant."

Suddenly it dawned on Cory. This man was (reading his mind!)

The man frowned. "Team Rocket." he snarled.

The large man nodded. "So he was speaking the truth."

"Hang on." The man paused. "What's this?"

A few seconds passed, then the man yelled and pulled his hands away. He jumped back.

"What is it?" demanded the teenage boy.

"It would seem.. We are all in danger."

"What do you mean?"

The man whispered to the others while putting his gloves back on. A look of shock was on the teenager, while the large man simply frowned.

"Get the others." the large man ordered. The other two obeyed and hurried off.

"I apologise for the aggression earlier, you must understand my situation."

Cory nodded. "No worries."

"Cory huh?" The man held his hand out and pulled Cory to his feet. "You may call me Bruno."

* * * * *

"Hey, you've reached Cory, leave your name and number and I'll.."

Ricky hung up the phone.

"Damnit!"

"Still not picking up?" asked Lauryn.

"His phone isn't even on!" replied Ricky.

"Stop pacing! You're making me nervous."

"How the hell is ME pacing making YOU nervous!"

Lauryn grabbed Ricky and pulled him down.

"Lo, we can't just sit here. Cory may be in trouble."

"What can we do, Rick? Swim out to sea?"

Ricky stood up. "Yeah!"

"I was being sarcastic, Ricky. Sit. The police are combing the area, stop panicking! Boats don't just dissappear, it probably just went off course."

There was a knock on the door.

"It's unlocked." Lauryn called out.

The door slowly opened, and a middle aged woman entered, her eyes were teary.

"Lauryn and Ricky Amaru?"

"Yes.. What's going on?" inquired Lauryn, rising from her chair.

"You boarded with Cory Dean?"

"Yes." Lauryn and Ricky exchanged nervous glances.

"I think you need to sit down." The woman said.

Tears filled Ricky's eyes. "Hell no.. Hell no." He pushed past the woman and out the door.

"Rick!" Lauryn followed.

"Wait! Hear me out!" cried the woman as she too, followed Ricky down the hall. Ricky broke into a run as he tore through the corridors and reached the deck. He trudged to the edge and leaned over the handrail, staring into the roaring ocean below. He breathed hard for a few seconds, then vomited over the side. Lauryns approached her brother and began rubbing his back.

"Ricky, Cory will be alright."

Ricky wiped his mouth and looked up. "Alright? Didn't you put two and two together? It's too late!"

"Umm, you didn't let me explain." The woman said weakly. Lauryn turned to face her.

"Please, miss. Is Cory okay?"

"That's what I came to tell you. You see, Im Gloria, from the Johto Police: Search and Rescue. We found the boat, it was in pieces. Unfortunately.. We found no survivors."

Lauryn gasped in horror and put her hand over her mouth.

"Wait, the thing is, we haven't found Cory's body. We found the other three passengers and all the crew, but we haven't found Cory."

Tears rolled down Lauryn's cheeks. "I don't understand. What happened to the boat?"

"Im terribly sorry, I'm not authorised to tell you. But I feel you have the right to know about Cory."

Ricky pulled himself together. "So you're saying, Cory may be still alive?"

"I don't want to give you false hope. It is a (possibility), however very unlikely."

Ricky shook his head. "He's out there, I KNOW it!"

"Please, I beg you, don't get your hopes up." Gloria pleaded.

Lauryn shook Gloria's hand. "Thankyou for letting us know. We won't get our hopes up, but we will still hope."

Gloria nodded. "Of course. I'll leave you two alone. I'm terribly sorry." With that, Gloria turned and left the siblings alone on the deck.

Ricky was pacing again, he had an insane glare in his eyes. "He's out there."

Lauryn's expression was deadly serious. "You know what Ricky? I'm going to follow my instincts for once."

Ricky stopped pacing, and smiled. "And what do your instincts tell you?"

Lauryn stared out at the endless ocean. "Let's go get him."

* * * *

"You don't understand how bizarre that is." Bruno said, his voice full of confusion. "There should have been a police barracade to stop you from entering the area."

"There wasn't. There was no sign of anything like that at all." Cory replied. He was standing while Bruno was sitting with his legs crossed, and they were still almost at eye level.

"It makes no sense. The captain should have at least recieved a warning message." Bruno trailed off into thought. Cory was as confused as Bruno was.

"Are you a cop?" Cory asked.

Bruno looked at him in confusion. "What?.. Oh! I'm sorry. You have no idea what's going on do you? I suppose since you've already experienced enough, you deserve an explanation."

"Please."

"As you know, Team Rocket is all over this cave, we don't know why yet, but we believe it has something to do with that archway. Obviously, police are far too incompetent to deal with Team Rocket. So we have been dispatched to deal with them. The Pokemon League Elite."

Cory's heart skipped a beat. He had heard about the elite. Who hadn't? Their identities had always remained a total mystery to everyone. And here he was, conversating with one of them! He felt incredibly lucky.

"The police should have been surrounding the whole area, but then again, police will be police."

Cory chuckled, he definitely agreed about the police incompetence.

"Unless your monster had something to do with it." Bruno trailed off into thought again. A while passed before the teenage boy and the goggle guy entered again, this time with two others. He recognised them both! Finally a familiar face. A young woman with long, bushy blue hair wearing a tight black outfit. This was Claire, the Blackthorne City Gym Leader. Apart from his loss to Rex, she was his toughest opponent ever. The other person was the man from the semi-finals. He had spiky, reddish-brown hair and he was wearing the same black trenchcoat. The one who stood up and told Rex to release Heracross or end the battle. Cory had no idea Claire was elite. If that was so, that meant Cory was (better) than one of the elite? He knew nothing about the other man, although everyone was grouped around him as if he had authority. They were all talking in whispers. Bruno rose to his feet and gestured for Cory to follow him.

"Ahem." Bruno cleared his throat loudly. The spiky haired man looked at Cory and smiled.

"It's you!"

Cory felt unbelievably proud that the man had recognised him. He held out his hand.

"My name is Lance."

Cory's head spun. Every trainer in the universe knew that name. His knees almost gave way, he stuttered, speechless. He was standing face to face with the Pokemon World Champion.

Amaru

18th March 2006, 08:18 AM

Chapter 6 - Power of the Champion

"I won't bite." said Lance with a smirk.

Cory stood staring, then snapped back into reality. "Of course!" Cory enthusiastically shook Lance's hand.

"I take it you've heard of me?"

Cory nodded in excitement. Lance smiled and patted Cory on the head. The goggled man spoke next.

"William. But you can call me Will if you wish to do so."

Cory shook Will's gloved hand.

"The name's Terry. Viridian City Gym Leader." The teenage boy said, while handing Cory his pokeball belt.

Cory was still in awe, he was personally meeting the strongest trainers in the world! Claire held her hand out.

"I believe we have.. met.".

"Back to business." started Will, removing his gloves. Lance nodded.

"Let's see this monster."

* * * * *

"This is a pokeball, you throw it and the magical pokemon comes out." Lauryn said sarcastically as she handed Ricky the red and white ball.

"Haha, friggin ha. Just give me the darn thing." Ricky replied, hardly amused. He never became a trainer, although he constantly wishes he had.

Lauryn strapped her bag around her shoulder and tightened it. "You ready, bro?"

Ricky nodded. They made their way out to the deck.

"Uhhh, which way are we going?" asked Ricky. Lauryn rolled her eyes.

"Just follow me alright?" Lauryn held out a pokeball and released her majestic pidgeot, who bowed to her. Lauryn bowed back. Ricky marveled at the connection between the two. They respected eachother, this was something he had never seen Cory do. She mounted the pidgeot.

"Are you coming?" Lauryn smiled.

"Huh? Oh yeah." Ricky held out his pokeball. "Uhh, come (out)?"

In a flash of red light, Lauryn's fearow materialised, Ricky bowed to fearow. Fearow stared at Ricky, squawked, and knocked him over with it's wing.

"Honeycomb!" Lauryn scolded her fearow. Then, laughing, she dismounted her pidgeot.

"Rick, you really need to pick up a book now and then." Then whispering, so fearow couldn't hear. "Pidgeot is noble by nature, fearow.. isn't. Don't bow and (don't) look him in the eyes." Lauryn winked.

"You take Ginger, I'll take Honeycomb." Lauryn suggested, as she climbed onto fearow. Ricky rejoiced as he approached the pidgeot, who was almost twice the size of fearow. Ricky bowed. Pidgeot looked down at Ricky like a king would look down on a servant. Pidgeot then bowed back, and lowered it's neck, allowing Ricky to mount it.

"I think he likes me." Ricky guessed.

"(She)." Replied Lauryn. "Okay, let's go!" Ricky watched as fearow took flight, they soared over Ricky's head and straight up.

"Ginger, follow them." The pidgeot nodded, and spread it's beautiful wings. It took longer for pidgeot to take flight, but once it did, they caught up to Lauryn and fearow in seconds.

Fearow was swirling in circles upwards, then stopped swirling and spread his wings in midair. The moonlight glistened on fearow's feathers. It was a wonderful sight.

"Hold on tight!" called Lauryn, then without warning, fearow dove towards them, missing by inches and rocketed off into the distance. Pidgeot dove after them. Ricky couldn't believe how fast these birds were. He felt like he was travelling faster than light. He held on for dear life as the birds swooped left and right, up and down, navigating the boundless ocean. Soon they would reach their destination, and they would find Cory, ALIVE.

* * * * *

"See how it attacks without mercy? It doesn't take sides, it just destroys everything and everyone."

Cory could see Lance was uncomfortable with what he was seeing. Will was again reading Cory's mind, but this time one of his hands was on Lance's head aswell. He was allowing Lance to see what he was seeing. Cory was amazed at the psychic powers of Will.

Will removed his hands and replaced his gloves. Lance folded his arms.

"This explains alot. The disappearance of the police barracade for one, also the reason we haven't run into any Rocket members yet. But one thing remains a mystery. Is this thing on our side? Or will it attack us just as ruthlessly?"

Will replied. "Likely the latter. It wasn't provoked, it just came out of nowhere and tore the boat to shreads. It doesn't seem merciful at all. Nor does it seem to take sides."

Lance frowned. "This only adds to our list of problems."

Bruno stood up. "We should get moving, staying in one place for too long isn't safe."

Lance glared at Bruno. "Don't forget who is in charge here."

Bruno glared back. You could've cut the tension with a knife.

"We should split up. Terry, Claire, Bruno. Contact us if anything happens, (straight) away." Lance began to walk away.

"With that monster roaming around? Are you nuts?" cried Terry.

Bruno nodded. "We should definitely stay as a group."

"I wasn't suggesting. That was an order. Will, come with me." Lance snarled.

Will reluctantly followed. Lance motioned for Cory to follow. Lance liked to make it clear he was in charge, Cory noticed. He wasn't sure if this was a good quality for a leader. He too, thought it best to stay together. They walked in silence for a few minutes, Cory struggled to keep up with the two men's fast pace.

"Where are we going?" Cory dared to ask.

"To find out what happened to the police that (should) be surrounding the island perimeter." Lance replied. Cory didn't reply.

"How do you know Claire?" He asked.

"I have her badge."

"Is that so? Do you realise she has only lost once?"

Cory was puzzled. "I swear I have it. The Rising badge."

"I believe you. That makes you the only trainer with the Rising badge."

"I'm not sure" Cory shrugged. Come to think of it, he had met hundreds of trainers at the tournament, none had the Rising badge. To compete in the tournament, the requirement was a minimum of eight Gym badges. Most had a mix of Kanto and Johto badges, Cory however, had all eight Johto badges.

"Consider yourself lucky, you wouldn't have beaten her otherwise. I trained her myself."

Cory was beginning to slightly dislike Lance. Suddenly Will halted. Lance's expression changed instantaneously.

"What is it?" he demanded, reaching into his trenchcoat.

"I believe we have company. Around that corner." replied Will, he held out his hand and a pokeball appeared in his palm. Cory reached for his belt, but Lance stopped him.

"This isn't a tournament, kid. There are no rules here, you'd be better stay out of the way."

Cory was astonished. Lance had seen Cory battle, surely Lance would know he was good enough to take on a few grunts. Cory had no choice but to stand back. Lance and Will held their pokeballs at ready and peered around the corner. Cory snuck a look aswell. From the darkness, Cory saw a few shadows moving towards the them. As they came into the light, Cory realised they were four men. Dressed head to toe in black, with a large red "R" on their chests, just like the Rockets from the boat. They obviously had no idea they were being watched. Lance whispered to Will, who nodded and stepped back. Lance, however, reached inside his coat and his hand emerged holding a shiny, gold pokeball. Cory literally licked his lips in anticipation. He would have given his right arm to see the Champion battle! Without revealing himself he hurled his pokeball at the cavern wall, but at an angle so it richocheted off, and burst open behind the Rockets. They didn't even have time to react as they turned to face Lance's mighty Charizard emerge with a shattering roar. Three of the four Rocket members turned to run, while the other one jumped back and whipped out a pokeball of his own. A machoke materialised. Lance strode into view of the fleeing Rockets, they skidded to a halt before him. They truly feared him. Cory couldn't help but respect this man.

"Machoke! Cross-chop!" The machoke delivered a lightning fast blow to charizard's body, knocking Charizard back. Charizard roared again, as flames flickered from it's mouth. It coiled it's powerful tail and, faster than Cory could even see, Charizard's tail had knocked machoke into a daze, Cory gaped at the power of Lance's Charizard. One attack! That's all it took! The machoke stumbled and fell into his awed trainer. The other three Rockets cowered before Lance, who looked down on them with a unnerving glare.

"So.. We finally find some of you. I take it you know who I am?"

The Rockets nodded in unison. Cory had to stop himself from laughing at the cowardice of these gangsters.

"Tell me, what is it that you all are up to?"

No-one spoke. Lance beckoned his Charizard.

"Have any of you ever tried to outrun a Charizard?"

The three Rockets all shook their heads, again in unison. This time Cory couldn't resist, he had to let out a giggle. Lance shot a look at Cory, and put his finger to his lips, signalling that Cory should be quiet. He turned back to the Rockets.

"Speak!" he demanded. "You! Why are you here?" he pointed at one of the Rockets. No reply. Lance grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him to his feet.

"You defy me? Ha! You're lucky I need something from you. Will!"

Will recognised this as his cue, and turned the corner gracefully, with an evil grin.

"Lance?"

"You know what to do. Take this one."

"With pleasure." He removed his gloves and approached the Rocket, who was actually trembling. He held out his hands and placed them on the Rocket's head.

"This won't take long." said Will calmly, as he closed his eyes.

"Do.. Not.. Move." Lance warned.

* * * * *

In the far distance, Ricky could see four islands forming a circle, with one larger island in the middle. That was their destination. His heart pounded, he had no idea what they were about to face, but he was ready. They grew closer and closer. Ricky peered ahead of him to check on Lauryn, she seemed fine. No sooner had he thought this that two fearows swooped in and began savagely attacking Honeycomb. He could see Lauryn's left arm swinging, trying to fend them off. Ricky didn't even need to command Ginger, she was already homing in on one of the fearows. Ricky felt the recoil as the fearow got smashed a good distance away and flailed down towards the ocean below. She collected herslelf, then took on the other fearow by ferociously beating it's wings at it. By now, Lauryn's fearow had recovered from the surprise attack and with a deadly peck, stabbed the enemy in the back of the neck. Ginger ended the fight with a final blow to it's head with a wing.

"What the hell was that about!" Ricky had to yell even though Lauryn was but a few yards from her, that's how high up they were.

"I have no idea.. Look out!!"

Ricky didn't even have time to look before he was swarmed by gnashing beaks and flying feathers.

"Ricky!!" Lauryn screamed, as she led Honeycomb into battle. Lauryn's one fearow was no match for the mass of fearow's attacking Ricky and Ginger. Before long, she herself was engulfed in claws and wings. Lauryn screamed at the top of her lungs, but these birds had no mercy.

"Honeycomb! Whirlwind!" but fearows wings weren't strong enough to do anything.

"Whirlwind!! You can do it!" she cried desperately as a claw ripped towards her face.

Ricky was clutching Ginger as hard as he could, he could feel beaks tearing at his back, but he could do nothing. Ginger was fighting valiantly, but there were just too many of them.

"Honeycomb!! Whirlwind!!" he heard Lauryn's faint cry above the squawks and beating of wings. He knew what he could do! He reached his head close to Ginger's ear.

"Whirlwind!! With ALL your might!! Ginger nodded in response.

"Honeycomb.. Please." Lauryn had no energy to continue. She felt her head getting pecked at continuously. These birds were going to kill her she realised. She was going to die, and she couldn't do anything. Suddenly she saw the fearows backing away from Ginger and Ricky. Backing away? No, they were getting blown away! Pidgeot's wings were far stronger than any fearow!

"Lauryn! You alright?!" Ricky yelled as Ginger continued beating her wings viciously, sending the fearows flailing off in all directions. Lauryn wasted no time.

"Follow me Rick!" She led Ricky straight down at full speed. Ricky followed without hesitation as the flock of fearow dived after them.

Ricky felt the force of the wind against him as they grew closer to the ocean.

"Lo!! I can't swim!!" Ricky yelled, but the sound of his voice went straight up, he barely heard himself.

"Return Honeycomb as soon as we hit the water!! Trust me!!" Lauryn's voice traveled straight into Ricky, the problem was, she couldn't hear him. Well, Ricky saw no alternative. He braced himself as they hit the water, the two birds shot gracefully through the water like a bullet. By the time they halted, they were so deep in the water that Ricky's ears were ringing like a fire alarm in his head. He held the pokeball out and motioned to fearow, who immediately returned. Ricky slowly floated upwards, but the surface seemed miles away. He hoped Lauryn had a plan. In the distance he saw a big shadow moving towards him in the water. Closer and closer, he realised what it was. Lauryn's gyarados soared through the water towards him and circled him. Lauryn held her hand out to him. He paddled his way onto gyarados and held on with a tight grip. Lauryn kicked the side of gyarados, then the beast kicked it's tail and rocketed towards the surface. Ricky could see the sky! Finally gyarados broke the surface and sailed into the air. Ricky gasped lungfulls, he could hear Lauryn doing the same. A few seconds later, they started falling back down, once in the water gyarados plowed through the ocean. Ricky was almost knocked off gyarados by a piece of debris, then another. He realised they were bring pelted by debris, strangley soft debris.. Ricky almost lost his grip as it dawned on him. Dead bodies! The ocean was full of dead bodies!

* * * * *

Will had a look of frustration on his face.

"Hmmm, nothing yet."

"Search deeper." ordered Lance. "There has to be something in there."

Cory was resting against the wall. Funny, he was no longer scared, or even nervous. In the company of the League Elite, he felt he was untouchable. Suddenly he looked up as Will grabbed Lance. Will was gritting his teeth.

"What is it?" asked Lance.

"You'd better take a look at this."

MeLoVeGhOsTs

18th March 2006, 08:30 AM

Huzzah! Another two excellent chapters! To bad your to late for the Fanfiction Awards, I would so have nominated this! Darn your cliffhangers! Curse you, I say!

Mega Horny

18th March 2006, 12:31 PM

You know how it turns out anyway, but yes, Amaru could write for 'Lost' hes so suspensful. We should give him brownie points. I like the way will is portrayed in your fic, hes probably my favorite character so far. And what happened to Karen?

Amaru

24th March 2006, 08:27 AM

What do you mean what happened to Karen? She's not in it yet you spoiling nicompoop.

Mega Horny

24th March 2006, 08:30 AM

Sorry, at the point I made that post I didn't know shed come

Its getting pretty sick! Amaru, get yourself an avy and more ppl will read your fic!

darktyranitar

25th March 2006, 05:00 AM

Sorry that I come in late. TPM’s down, as you all know.

Agree with MLG. If this fic was posted sooner, then I might post some nomination for it. Anyway, why would Will took a longer time to search into the grunt's mind? Surely his brain is not protected by some psychic power, is he? And another cliffhanger!

Oh, will Karen be in this fic? (glance at Amaru’s point in scolding MH). Well, either way, would love to see her.

Amaru, good luck with this fic, and I hope more people would read this!

Amaru

26th March 2006, 06:14 PM

Oh Will had no trouble reading the grunts mind, he just couldn't find anything useful. Sorry if that's not how it came across. MH, how would an avvy get me more readers? Lol.

Anyway two more chapters! I'll post two at a time untill it's up to date. (chapter 17 in the works.)

Chapter 7 - Capture

"Breathe hard Lo.." Ricky said sympathetically as he rubbed Lauryn's back. She was bent over, vomiting into the rock pool before her.

"That was... Sick." Lauryn managed to say, gagging and burping constantly. "She's right about that." Ricky thought to himself.

"Any one of those bodies could have been Cory." Lauryn said, wiping her hair from her mouth. She looked at Ricky with a look of such misery that he had to look away.

"Na, there were only like, four people on that boat, remember what that chick from the police told us? There must have been hundreds of bodies."

"You mean Gloria. What I don't understand is, didn't she say they identified all the bodies? How could they have possibly done so with that many bodies in their way? And wouldn't they have cleaned up this mess? I didn't see any Police at all, did you?"

"That may have happened somewhere else, on the other side of the islands probably."

"Rick! Think, isn't that too much of a coincidence? And how do you explain the fearow attack?"

"Wild fearows?" Ricky suggested. Lauryns grabbed her hair while pacing. Ricky admired Lauryn, he loved when she got all, smart.

"Wild? No, they were too organised, even for a flock. And besides, fearow (only attack) when they feel threatened or when defending their territory. They can't have felt threatened because they attacked us, and we weren't in their territory because we were surrounded entirely by ocean!! We came to rescue Cory, instead we are swarmed by fearow, then discover the water is full dead bodies. Something bad is happening here Ricky, and we're in the middle of it." Ricky stood up from the large rock he was reclining on.

"So what are we going to do about it?"

"What do you mean?" inquired Lauryn.

"We're going to do something right?"

"Ricky, we don't even know whats going on, let's not play the hero until we find out."

Ricky nodded in agreement. "Okay so where do we go from here?" Lauryn shrugged. She turned to her gyarados, who was ferociously licking the slime off the larger boulders.

"Lovely, do you have the energy for another swim?"

The gyarados nodded.

"What do you have in mind?" Ricky asked.

"We have to go back to where we started." replied Lauryn.

"Back to the fearows? Are you an idiot!"

"Ricky, do you want to find out what's happening here?"

"Lauryn, they almost killed us, okay! We could be dead right now!"

"Lovely can take them all out, not to mention they no longer have the element of surprise Rick! Besides.." Lauryn's sentence was cut short by a loud explosion from nearby, followed by another, then a loud roar ripped through the crisp night air. More explosions, plus sounds of men yelling and loud splashes. Lauryn and Ricky stood, frozen. Staring into eachothers eyes, both saying nothing. After no more than a few minutes, all the sounds ceased as abruptly as they had begun. Ricky tried to speak,

"What..was..th.."

BOOOOM!!!!

They both dove to the ground as an explosion rocked the whole area. An ear-splitting shriek then another explosion, this time causing chunks of rock shower down on Ricky and Lauryn.

"Let's go!!" yelled Lauryn, shielding her eyes from the dust and debris. She and Ricky ran to he gyarados.

"Lovely!! Get us out of here!!" Gyarados swooped them up and dove back into the water, thrashing with all her might, away from the explosions. They swam a short distance before Lauryn tapped gyarados, signalling they needed air. Gyarados immediately began towards the surface. In all the commotion, they didn't notice the splashes from above them. As they grew closer to the surface gyarados pulled sharply to the right, narrowly dodging a razor sharp icicle that shot past them. They looked ahead in horror as the source of the icicle became clear. A pack of golduck were diving towards them, hurling ice beams as they went. Gyarados twisted and shot in every direction, desperately dodging the attacks. More and more golducks came from different directions, in seconds they were surrounded. The golducks circled them menacingly. Ricky's lungs were burning, they needed air! He looked up at the surface, they were so close to fesh oxygen, yet couldn't reach it. He wrapped his arms around Lauryn and shook her, he looked at her face and realised she was unconcious. He pegged her nose with his fingers and put his mouth to hers, he exhaled with every inch of breath he had, which was next to nothing. She still didn't move, her lips had turned blue. They were drowning! Yet the golducks still swirled around creating a sphere around them, blocking every escape.

He started feeling dizzy, the golducks werte swirling faster, and faster. No! He realised he was swirling, everything was! Within seconds they were whirling so fast Ricky lost his grip of Lovely and Lauryn, the golducks were panicking too, they thrashed about, trying to stay in formation. Ricky was in complete shock as huge pieces of wood and debris roared around him, and the yells of human voices coming from somewhere below him. Below him? How? He tried desperately to grab a hold as Lovely roared straight past him. Suddenly a piece of debris knocked Ricky hard sideways, and he was sent flailing through the water, then broke through it into the air. He was falling fast, oxygen filled his lungs as he fell. Everything was a blur except the ocean, which was rushing towards him. He hit the water hard, knocking all the wind out of him, he managed to get to the surface quickly, choking as his neglected lungs filled with air. His eyes came into focus, and suddnnly everything made sense.

"Oh my God..." Ricky gasped in disbelief as he scanned the area. The dark cape looked more like a raging battlefield. He watched a gigantic water spout smash through a boat. Men were jumping off the side, others were being sucked up into the water spout. That's what happened, they were sucked in, he realised. His heart literally stopped as his eyes fixed on an enourmous white creature, soaring along with the spout, blasting beams from it's mouth. The whole area was scattered with boats and submarines full of men dressed in black, they were shooting at the creature with everything from torpedoes to flares. The creature swerved and destroyed an entire boat by flying straight through it, then dived into the water. Pokeballs were also flying everywhere, red flashes revealing hundreds of pokemon, attacking from every inch of ocean. But who are these people? They certainly aren't police. The creature appeared again as it burst through the water, rapidly spinning. The water rose with the creature, creating another water spout which roared across the cape, sucking up hundreds of pokemon in it's wake. The creature bellowed as a flare pelted it's eye. It opened it's enourmous mouth and released a ball of energy, exploding and obliterating a whole group of subs. A blinding flash caused him to shield his eyes. When his vison came to, the creature was covered in nets protruding from four seperate vessels, and struggling. They continued shooting at it without hesitation. It shrieked and dived deep into the ocean, pulling all the boats under with it.

This thing was unbelievably powerful, it had not only created the water spouts, but it was taking on so many opponents and it hadn't even flinched! Ricky's thoughts were broken as the creature once again rose above the surface, this time with no nets, and no sign of the boats. A loud roaring sound caused Ricky to turn around, and he froze in terror as he watched the water spout approach, throwing enourmous pieces of debris from it, while sucking up more. Ricky fumbled in his pockets and pulled out the pokeball containing pidgeot.

"Ginger!!" he screamed. In a burst of light, the pidgeot appeared. Not even bothering to bow, Ricky pulled himself onto Ginger, who immediately took flight. She flew up and circled the water spout, then spread her wings and glided away from the water spout. Ricky looked back just in time to see a gyarados being thrown from the spout.

"Lauryn!!" he cried. He didn't have to say any more, Ginger pulled a sharp turn and sped back towards the spout. He could see Lovely, he was concious!! He had Lauryn in his mouth, holding her above the water. Ricky (parayed) she was alive. Ginger saw them and squawked loudly, then dove towards them extremely fast. It all happened too fast, something hit Ginger in the head, she was falling. So was Ricky. A net engulfed them. Ricky winced in pain as he hit hard wooden floor. He glanced at Ginger, she was knocked out cold. He returned her to her ball. In a daze, he glanced around, there were men standing around him, but his head was pounding too much to see clearly. The men removed the net and Ricky attempted to sit up, only to receive a sharp kick in the ribs. He groaned and remained laying down, clutching his ribs.

"What do you make of this?" a voice said.

"I have no idea, take him to boss?" another voice suggested. Ricky lay in silence as sweat coated his entire body. Lauryn. She could be dead and there's nothing he can do. He felt Ginger's ball being pryed from his hands, and a bag being put over his head. They picked him up and threw him down some stairs. He ripped the bag off his head just in time to see a door close and lock, leaving him in total darkness. He gulped hard. He was alone now, helplessly alone.

* * * * *

"Warn the others!" Lance demanded. Will nodded and began toying with a device that was strapped n his wrist. Funny Cory hadn't noticed it before, but Lance was wearing one too. It must be how they all keep in contact.

"Shall I notify B squadron?" asked Will.

"Of course, fool!" replied Lance. Will simply looked back down at the device and continued toying with it. Cory glared at Lance, just standing there with his arms folded. He was really beginning to dislike Lance.

"What's B squadron?" Cory wondered. Lance looked at him.

"Do you think five people are enough to cover this whole area? B squadron are scouting the northernmost island, while we scout this one, the centre. Only these two islands are of concern to us."

"There's more of you?" Cory asked, wide-eyes, like a child meeting a clown.

"More of us." snarled Will, who embarrassingly looked back at his device. Lance shrugged and continued.

"Since you're tagging along, I guess you have the right to know what the deal is. The police barracade no longer exists. Why? Team Rocket is far FAR larger than we anticipated. However, Team Rocket may soon not exist either, because of your little friend."

"Little friend?" Cory asked, puzzled. "Oh, you mean the monster?"

Lance nodded.

"Indeed, that thing is totally out of control, killing Rockets by the hundreds. It's on a rampage as we speak. We'll have to deal with it sooner or later."

Hundreds? Cory wondered. He had to be exaggurating. Suddenly Will interrupted.

"They wish to know if they should meet up?"

"Hmm, yes. Get everyone together. We'll meet squadron B at northern island, get Terry and the others there too." Lance replied thoughtfully. "This island is deserted."

"Isn't Northern Island a little dangerous, that's where the creature is!" Will exclaimed.

With that Lance returned Charizard and strode off, leaving the three Rockets. Cory followed, Will finished toying with the communication device and hurried after them.

* * * * *

Lauryn awoke witha choke. She coughed viloently, water spewing from her mouth. She was laying on a piece of wood. Snapping into reality, she sat up and looked around, panicking. She came to comfort seeing Lovely's face. He snorted and nudged her with his forehead, she rubbed him.

"Heya boy" she said in a weak, raspy voice. Suddnely she realised.

"What happened!! Where Ricky?!" Her eyes darted around, nothing but empty ocean in all directions.

Lovely moaned sadly.

"Lovely where's Ricky?" Lauryn demaded. No reply.

"He's not..dead?" Lauryn dared to ask.

Lovely closed his eyes and let out a mournful roar.

"Oh God.. Ricky." Lauryn said. Her entire world collapsed. Her heart shattered. She closed her eyes to stop the flood of tears. Ricky was gone.

Amaru

26th March 2006, 06:15 PM

Chapter 8 - Trapped in Deceit

"Lance, I insist you alter your plans. You're leading us into unknown dangers."

"Will, do not question my authority. You are not in the position to do so."

"I'm sure the others will agree with me."

Lance stopped walking and challenged Will. "William, you're not hearing me clearly. I give orders, I do not take them."

Will looked down at his feet.

"I'm the champion for a reason, remember that." Lance said as he strode off again. Cory knew his opinion would mean nothing to the both of them, but he was torn between the two. Lance seemed somewhat ignorant and showed arrogant superiority. But a strong leader requires some degree of arrogance, and there was no question Lance was a strong leader. However, the opinions of his underlings should definitely be considered. Will was desperately trying to warn Lance, but Lance took all Will's pleas as challenges of authority. Will was too weak to be a leader, that much was clear. But what about Bruno? He pondered. Lance's Pokemon would have to be significantly more powerful or Bruno would have already taken power over Lance. It seemed to be a complicated situation, one which Cory knew not nearly enough about to be forming opinions. He decided not to say anything as they continued on foot through the cavern. He hoped Lance and Will knew where they were going because every inch of this cavern seemed identical.

"Uhh, ahem... So.. How long have you been champ?" Cory asked, trying to melt the tension.

"Hmmm, a difficult question to answer." Lance replied, Cory was actually surprised Lance didn't get defensive.

"Well, a few years back, any trainer with eight badges could directly challenge the League Elite. I first became champion at seventeen, and continued my reign until twenty-one. I was defeated by a boy around fifteen years old. Unbelievably powerful. It was my first loss, so I took it pretty hard. To make things worse, not an hour afterwards another challenger came through and defeated me again! This challenger continued through and defeated the first competitor.."

"Wait, so the first dude was only champion for an hour?"

Lance nodded. "Correct."

"That must have felt terrible." Will added. "The buzz of realising you stand above all trainers, not even lasting a day."

Lance continued. "However, within that month, the second competitor went missing. To this day we don't know where he is. The first competitor was too embarrassed to take the throne after the crushing defeat. So the League Council re-appointed me as Champion. I haven't lost a battle since." Lance said with his head held high.

"So what happened to the second competitor?" Cory asked eagerly.

"Oh, the League offered him position as Viridian City Gym Leader. The previous Leader was... shall we say forced to resign."

"So it was Terry? The guy I met earlier?" Cory was puzzled.

"Erm, no. Terry has since taken over the position at Viridian."

"So where is the guy who beat you?"

Lance laughed. "You will meet him, we're meeting up with the others soon."

"He's here?"

"Indeed, I placed him in charge of B squadron."

"Wait, if he's better than you, why are you Champion?" Cory realised immediately he shouldn't have said that. Lance scowled.

"He was once better than me, I have since grown a thousand times more powerful. I am the Champion, understand?"

Cory nodded.

"Do not ever challenge me like that again or there will be consequences."

Will shook his head in embarrassment and placed his hand on Cory's shoulder to comfort him as Lance stormed off.

* * * * *

Lauryn cried her heart out. Lovely's rough scales was all the comfort she had, but it was enough. Lovely felt the pain of his trainer, and he too mourned for Ricky.

"Why did this happen to us?" Lauryn screamed to no-one.

"What did we do? What did I do?!"

Lovely moaned and nudged Lauryn.

"Lovely, I don't know what to do now. Ricky is gone, Cory is most likely gone too. Is it worth trying to find him?"

Lovely looked into Lauryn's tear drenched eyes, and nodded.

"No Lovely. I can't go on. Let's go home."

Lovely shook his head and grunted.

"You heard me Lovely, forget finding Cory, forget the finals. I don't care anymore. They're both gone, I don't need to be here." Lauryn sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes.

"Let's go home, Lovely."

* * * * *

Ricky awoke from his slumber as light flooded into the room, looking around he realised it was a cell of some sort. He still had no idea what was going on, and his head still pounded.

"Come, boy!!" bellowed a deep woman's voice. Ricky gulped and got to his feet. He cautiously appraoched the doorway. He didn't let his guard down as he stepped out into the night air. He was on a small boat he realised, anchored to a far larger boat. The foglights of the large boat were fixed on the deck. Ricky had no idea what was in store for him. He decided to ride it out and pray for the best.

"Ricky Amaru?" the woman asked.

"Uhh, yeah." Ricky was baffled, how on earth did she know him. She was in formal attire, dark purple. Large earrings and her red hair plaited behind her. She was quite beautiful.

"Excellent. Come, our leader wants to meet with you." With that the woman turned and began towards the large boat. Ricky followed behind, paying close attention to her swaying backside. They walked along the deck until they reached a staircase.

"Didn't catch your name." said Ricky, in a flirtatious tone.

"I didn't throw it." the woman replied. "Up."

Ricky muttered under his breath as he climbed the thin, steep staircase up and up, until he finally reached the top. Looking around, he suddnely didn't feel so nervous. The decor was very friendly and cozy. A spa pool in the far corner. Bright colours, comfy sofas.

"This is a nice place, very fingie shway." Ricky exclaimed, genuinely impressed.

"Feng shui." The woman corrected, as she grabbed his arm and escorted him through a door, down a lift and into a hallway. She spoke very fast as they strode towards large double doors at the end of the hall.

"Do not speak unless spoken to, do not put your hands in your pockets, do nut mumble, fidget or break eye-contact continuously. Do not snort, laugh, giggle, sniff, cough, breath loud, make any objective body noises or actions. Keep your hands at your sides and speak in a respecting and legible tone."

"Umm, why should I show so much respect to a man who had me attacked and thrown into a cell, stopping me from saving my sister! She could be dead!"

The woman paused. "You're sister is fine." she snapped. "Give me a second, she opened the double door slightly and crept in, closing them behind her.

"Lauryn's fine?" Ricky said to himself, puzzled. Who are these people? Ricky stood at the doors for a few minutes, then the woman returned.

"He will see you now, rememeber the rules."

Ricky stood up and pushed his way past her and strode into the room. This room was enourmous! The walls were lined with antique paintings. The carpet was pure white. He approached a large table, with a few guards on either side while a single man was seated in the centre of the table, eating. A murkrow squawked as he approached the table. The man didn't even look up at his meal as he waved a finger at the guard on the left. The guard reacted immediately, he approached Ricky and cut him off.

"Where's my sister?!" Ricky demanded, attempting to push past the guard. The man looked up and set his meal aside. "Leave him be." the man said calmly. The guard moved aside without question.

"Well?" Ricky demanded, awaiting an answer.

"The pidgeot you were flying, it is registered to a Lauryn Amanda Josephine Amaru. You're sister?"

Ricky hesistated. "Yeah."

"Then you must be Ricky Orlando Amaru?"

"Y..Yeah." Ricky was now very nervous again.

"I see. May I ask why you two risked your lives to stay in the area, the fearow attack was supposed to scare you off."

"YOU attacked us?! Why?!"

"I already told you, it was supposed to scare you two off. And it would have, unless there was a genuine reason for you two to want to stay."

Ricky hesitated again. "First tell me who I'm talking to."

"Very well, my name is Archie Maxwell. You do not need to know anything else about me, other than I am on your side."

"Why should I trust you? You prevented me from saving my sister."

"You're sister is alive, that much I guarantee. Perhaps I should explain a little. This region is overrun by terrorists, we are fighting against them. They unleashed that creature upon us after the League refused to pay them the millions they were demanding, rendering our efforts useless. This is why we need your co-operation. We are anti-terrorists. I beg you to co-operate with us."

Ricky thought for a while. "Lauryn's alive?"

"I swear to you you're sister is alive and well."

"Let me see her."

"Oh, perhaps you misunderstood me. She's alive, but she's in the hands of the terrorists. We need some information from you so we can save her. That's all we ask."

Ricky sighed. "Alright, our friend was on the Pokemon League mini-cruiser on his way back to Olivine City. The boat was in a..crash, or something.. I'm not sure. Me and my sister came to find him."

"I see. You're friend, is his name Cory?"

Ricky head shot up. "Yes!! Is he alive?"

"That's all the information we need from you, you've been a great help. Guard?"

"What? Is he alive or not."

Archie returned to his meal. "You may go now. Put him back in the cell."

Ricky struggled as the guards grabbed him. "Let me go, hey! Let me go!!"

"Please, you'll ruin the carpet." Archie said with a mouthful of food.

"Are you going to help Lauryn? Is she going to be safe?"

"To be blunt? No. Good day."

The woman who escorted Ricky spoke up. "Archie, why not kill him?"

Archie held up his hand, silencing her. "NO! He is a civilian, I will NOT have his blood on my hands. Too much has already gone wrong tonight. I refuse to make the same mistakes Giovanni made."

Giovanni? That name rang a bell in Ricky's mind, but he had no time to think right now. He yelled and struggled desperately, but the guards dragged him out, down the hall, down the stairs and threw him straight back into the cell. He scrambled to his feet and rushed t the door. He pounded with all his might, yelling for help. Desperate. He was decieved. But why? What was Archie planning to do?

* * * * *

Lauryn was nervous. They had kept her waiting out here for what seemed like hours. Checking her watch she realised it had been barely ten minutes. Finally the double doors opened. The woman beckoned her.

"He will see you now, remember the rules."

Lauryn nodded, and entered the room.

* * * * *

"Gyarados!" Lance demanded as his gyarados materialised before him. He climbed onto the gyarados's back. Cory released his Kingdra again.

"Kingdra, just follow them." Cory said as Lance's gyarados begun swimming across the cape towards Northern Island, while Will literally floated above the water alongside Lance. Kingdra nodded and begun swimming to catch up. The water wasn't as freezing as it was a few hours before when he escaped the boat. Now it was almost warm. Cory wondered how that was possible. Still a good distance ahead of him, Will suddenly stopped moving. He was clutching his head, as if in pain. Lance hadn't noticed as he continued. Will turned to Cory.

"Go back, quickly!!" Will's yell echoed in Cory's head. Lance suddnely halted aswell, he turned to face them.

"Will, what is it?!"

"Too late!!" Will yelled as he threw two pokeballs towards Cory. Cory had no time to wonder why as the water between him and Will exploded upwards! The resulting wave swept Cory off Kingdra and sucked him underwater, he flipped and flailed helplessly with the force of the water. When the water finally calmed, Cory opened his eyes. As he did, he saw Kingdra rushing to him. He held Kingdra around the neck as they rocketed through the water back to the central Island they came from. At a safe distance, Kingdra broke the surface. Cory looked back and his mouth dropped open. It was the monster he saw earlier! It was attacking Lance and Will. Cory should have been worried but he couldn't help but marvel at Lance and Will battle. Will commanded his pokemon with his mind, that was a HUGE advantage. Cory admired the two as he watched the monster swing his tail at Lance's gyarados. Gyarados leapt into the air, cleanly dodging the blow. Suddenly a Slowbro and two Xatus unleashed a powerful psychic energy attack in unison. The monster roared in agony, meanwhile Lance threw two more pokeballs, high into the air revealing his Charizard and.. An Aerodactyl! Cory had never seen a real one!

"Dragon Rage!!" He bellowed. The two dragons swirled up higher together, then blew a series of deep red fireballs from their mouths. The attack caught the creature off guard, it roared again and dived into the water. Is it over? Cory wondered. Suddenly the water began moving, swirling, forming a circle. Faster and faster, the water roared round and round. The monster then burst through the water, spinning unbelievably fast. Cory's awe turned to fear as he saw the water rise with the monster, in seconds the water had turned into a raging water spout.

"Kingdra! Get us outta here!!" Cory yelled, Kingdra sped towards land as the water spout raged behind them. Cory dove onto the rocky shore the second they reached it. Looking beyond, he saw Will and Lance retreating into the Northern Cave. The monster bellowed, then dove back into the water. Suddenly he didn't feel so safe. He was too afraid to attempt crossing the cape, but without Lance and Will, he was helpless.

* * * * *

"My name is Lance."

"Lance? The League Champion Lance?" Lauryn asked with wide eyes.

"The very same." Archie replied, a false smile formed on his face.

"What do you want with me then?" she asked suspiciously.

"I have some good new for you, and some very, VERY bad news."

"Go on."

"Very well, the good news. Your brother Ricky and your friend Cory? They both are alive."

Lauryn froze. "Wha..Wh.."

"I know everything that happened Lauryn. You and your brother came here to find Cory, however you were attacked and in trying to escape, you were seperated."

"They're alive!!" Lauryn beamed. This was the happiest moment of her life!

"Before you get over-excited, the bad news?"

"Oh." Lauryn couldn't hide her joy, no bad news could possibly upset her right now.

"As you may have noticed, some strange things have happened to you. The fearow attack, the explosions, the golducks."

"You know?" asked Lauryn.

"The Whirl Islands have held an ancient pokemon imprisoned for hundreds of years, the cavern walls which confined it have weathered over the centuries, and tonight a terrorist group released it from it's confinement."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"My people have been trying desperately to stop this ancient beast, but we couldn't defeat it. The point is, these terrorists must be stopped. Now here's your bad news. Brace yorself. Firstly, they have Ricky imprisoned in a cell. Secondly, Cory is one of them."

Lauryn was in utter confusion. "Lance, what.. How do you know?"

"You want proof? Watch." Archie pressed a button on a small grey remote and the back wall rose to reveal a giant television screen.

"We have surveillance all over the Islands. Here's Ricky in his cell."

"Rick." Lauryn squealed as she saw her brother pounding on the cell door, yelling.

"Now look, I apologize for this, it must be breaking your heart. You understand I must show you, you must know the truth."

Lauryn nodded, "Show me."

Archie pressed another button on his remote control. The screen showed Lance's charizard beating the Rocket's machoke.

"That man in the trenchcoat, he leads the terrorist group. His name is Archie. Now look, see how they use brute force to attack my men?"

Lauryn gasped as the camera landed on Cory, who was laughing!

"No way, I don't believe it."

"You want more proof?" Archie pressed another button and this time the screen showed the enourmous monster wreaking havoc on Team Rocket.

Archie switched the T.V off and swivelled his chair to face Lauryn. "Now do you see the problems I am dealing with here?" Lauryn stood motionless. She couldn't believe it!

"Lauryn, didn't it seem strange that Cory was the only one who wasn't found in the police search we conducted?"

Lauyn agreed there. This explained everything. Cory's strange behaviour earlier, not to mention the fact he left withut telling her. Was it true? It couldn't be. But why would Lance lie about this? It explained the fearow, the golducks, the boat accident.

"Lauryn, they have Ricky. I will help you, but I need your co-operation."

They had her brother, no, CORY had him. The truth was coming together. Cory was against her. It all made sense! Lauryn nodded.

"You have my co-operation."

Archie smiled. "You made the right decision."

Mega Horny

26th March 2006, 06:29 PM

Wheeeeeooooooo! Damn Lo' and her gullibleness. Get on to Chapter 9 and the battle! YEAHZ0RZ!!!!!

Amaru

26th March 2006, 07:14 PM

Enough with the spoilage!

Mega Horny

26th March 2006, 07:44 PM

Amaru

27th March 2006, 09:15 AM

Sorry MH. I didn't mean to yell at you. *huggles*

MeLoVeGhOsTs

27th March 2006, 09:41 AM

Lets all be GHPF friends! =D

darktyranitar

27th March 2006, 10:50 AM

Ahem MH! That's considered a spam... better delete it before some mod get angry...

Wow, this is so surprising. Lance is surely not a very admirable person now, is he? As for Archie, is this the one from Team Aqua? He's very manipulative, the way he told Ricky and Lauryn that the Elite 4 is the terrorist and they're the good guy instead.

Keep writng this! And MH, try not to spoil much...

Mega Horny

27th March 2006, 03:23 PM

I'm really not spoiling anything vital, but I'll keep my MOD, err, mouth shut. And I can answer your question.

"NO, its not form team aqua, why does everyone ask me that?? I wrote this before playing RSE, and merely liked the name Archie, and later added Maxwell as a last name for a sort of combination between the two leaders. But his past up to this point is unknown, he was not in the events of RSE."

darktyranitar

28th March 2006, 02:24 AM

Ah, really? Well Amaru, sorry for asking that...

Amaru

28th March 2006, 08:28 AM

Oh no it's cool. Just making it clear DT, that my fic is completely GSC, just making sure you know, because apart from Archie, there are a few more things that readers have confused for RSE material.

Anyway, without further adeu..... (sp?)

Chapter 9 - Broken Bonds

"Do not wander far, we will be back for you!" Will's voice echoed in Cory's head. Cory sighed and turned back to the cavern entrance. He supposed it was safer to be inside. As he entered, he faintly heard a footstep not far from him. He spun towards the noise, but saw nothing but empty darkness.

"Stop panicking, Cory" He told himself as he turned away. As he did, he heard more footsteps, definite this time. He reached for his belt and readied himself for battle, spinning around again, he realised it was..

"Lauryn? LAURYN!" He cried with joy. "What are you doing here?! Never mind that, how did you get here?! Come here!" He cried as he approached Lauryn with open arms.

"Stop!" she demanded. Cory disregarded that statement completely.

"I can't believe I'm seeing you! Where's Ricky?"

"You KNOW where he is you filthy traitor!!" She yelled. "Don't come any closer!!"

"What the.." He paused. Lauryn unzipped her coat, and threw it to the side.

"I never thought our friendship would end, especially like this." Lauryn said calmly as she rolled up the sleeves on her jersey. She plucked a pokeball of her bag strap and held it out.

"Call out your pokemon!!" she demanded. Cory simply stared at her, in total disbelief.

"Marshmallow!!" she cried, and her Arcanine appeared before her. "Take Down!"

"Lauryn?" Cory asked, puzzled. Marshmallow too glanced at Lauryn in confusion.

"Do it!!" she ordered. Marshmallow growled and bounded towards Cory. Cory reacted quickly, although still in utter confusion.

"Vaporeon!" the small, blue pokemon burst from his ball.

"Freeze the ground!!"

Vaporeon aimed an ice beam at the ground right in arcanines path, causing a long strip of ice along the ground. Arcanine lost control and slid towards them, desperately trying to regain her footing. Vaporeon and Cory dove out of the way as arcanine reached the end of the ice strip and stumbled towards them. Arcanine recovered and pounced at vaporeon, who shot a water gun at arcanine. Cory gasped as arcanine disappeared in a flash and reappeared instantly behind vaporeon, arcanine screeched to a halt and blasted a huge ball of fire at vaporeon.

Vaporeon leapt into the air, diving straight through the centre of the fire blast, his head connecting hard with Marshmallow. Vapreon, however, took more damage frm this than Marshmallow did. Marshmallow retaliated by bowing her head and throwing it back up, hitting vaporeon in the jaw. He sailed up and backflipped, gracefully landing back his feet.

"Marshmallow extreemespeed!!"

"Quick attack vaporeon!"

The two pokemon moved almost too fast to be seen with the naked eye. They bounced off eachother, attacking again, and again. A hard headbutt from arcanine halted both and brought them back to vision. Vaporeon was getting pounded, by a fire type?!

"Vaporeon water gun!!"

Vaporeon didn't need to be ordered, as he already began hosing water out of his mouth. Arcanine was too fast though. She dashed around the cavern, vaporeon's water gun following close behind. Marshmallow ran a full circle of the cavern, causing vaporeon to tire. He couldn't keep up the water gun any longer.

"Perfect Marshmallow!! Now attack, fire blast!!"

Marshmallow reared it's body and forced an enourmous, blazing blast of fire from her mouth.

"Mirror coat!!" Cory hollered, vaporeon crouched low and a purple shield covered his whole body. The fire blast hit with full force, but vaporeon didn't budge. Instead, the purple shield glowed and drained off vaporeon, creating a purple, featureless replica of him. The replica pounced incredibly fast at arcanine and exploded in her face. Arcanine roared in pain.

"Marshmallow?!" Lauryn cried. Vaporeon didn't hesitate. He gathered his remaining energy and fired another water gun and soaked arcanine's body. Arcanine stumbled, trying to stay conscious, but failed. She collapsed in a dripping, orange heap.

"Lauryn!" Cory called. "You know you can't beat me! Now tell me what the hell you're doing?"

"Lance told me everything, you pig!!"

"You know Lance?" Cory said, surprised. Lauryn tossed another pokeball, revealing an Ampharos. Cory sighed.

"Lo, please, what did Lance tell you?"

"Buttercup!! Zap Cannon!!"

* * * * *

Ricky couldn't doze off this time. He paced the cell frantically, his mind racing. How had he allowed himself to be tricked? He continued to pace up and down until he noticed a tiny red dot in the corner of the ceiling. He appraoched the corner and stood on his toes, peering hard. It was incredibly dark in the cell, but he could still make out the shape of a surveillance camera. He was being watched! Angrily he poked the finger at the camera, then continued to pace.

A while passed before Ricky heard voices outside his cell. His head jerked towards the door. He scrambled up the stairs and pressed his ear against the cold steel of the door. The voices were only slightly muffled, but he could hear them quite clearly. It appeared to be two woman.

"He wants us to meet up in North Cavern."

"Ha, tell him we're busy."

"Busy? Karen, we have a job to do!"

"Bah, whatever. I just can't stand that arrogant prick."

A man's voice joined the conversation. "Karen, put your personal ordeals aside, we must do what we came here to do."

Ricky heard them right outside his cell. He didn't know whether or not they were on Archie's side, but it was worth a shot. He began pounding on the cell door.

"Help!! Get me outta here!!"

"What the..?" He heard the woman's voice.

"Aha, it seems this ship isn't deserted after all!" beamed the man's voice.

"Please help me out." begged Ricky. "I have to help my sister. A..and my friend."

He was overcome with relief as he heard the rustling of a padlock. A few knocks and more rustling.

"I can't open this lock, kid. You're gonna have to stand back." Karen said.

"What?" Ricky replied.

"Weezing, explosion." the man said calmly. Suddenly Ricky realised why he should be standing back. Without thinking, he turned and dove down the stairs, just in time to miss the force of the explosion. The cell door burst into multiple pieces and Ricky shielded his eyes as his pupils strained to adjust to the sudden light. He slowly pulled himself to his feet, and he could make out four shadows in the light. Before he could speak, a houndoom pounced on him, knocking him to the ground and pinned him there. It snarled and bared it's rows of razor-sharp, yellowed teeth.

One of the shadows descended into the dim-light of the cell. Ricky could now see her clearly, and he swore if this houndom wasn't pinning him down, he'd be all over her. She had curly, blonde hair to her shoulders, dark eyes and she wore a very tight black one-piece body suit.

"Just had to make sure you weren't part of a Team Rocket ambush. I'm Karen. And you are?"

Ricky didn't reply for a few seconds. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"Well?" the woman said impatiently.

"Team.. Rocket?" Ricky whispered.

"Yes kid, Team Rocket. I don't see how you could be so surprised. After all, they all have a great big R on their uniforms.

"Not the ones that I saw, Archie had a suit. The guards had plain black."

"Archie?" Karen asked, sharply cutting Ricky off.

"Yes, he had me thrown in here, he lied to me."

"Who is this, Archie?" asked Karen, raising an eyebrow.

"Archie Maxwell. He must be a leader or something. He kinda bossed the others around, and he was wearing a suit."

"Leader? No, probably an executive. The leader wouldn't be here."

"But.. He said. Could you?.." Ricky asked, referring to Houndoom.

"Oh, of course. Doom, heel." The houndoom barked and obeyed. It sat next to Karen and beagan licking her hand. Ricky was amazed at how well she controlled her savage Houndom. "You were saying?" Karen gestured to Ricky, encouraging him to continue. Ricky sat up.

"He said.. Well, this chick said, why don't we kill him, uh.. me. She said, kill him, but to Archie, so she meant me."

"Yes, yes, you're confusing yourself, continue."

"Anyway, so she was like, why don't we just kill him. And Archie was like, no he's a civilian, I won't have his blood on my hands. I refuse to make the same mistakes Giovanni made.. Or something like that. Wasn't Giovanni.."

"The founder of Team Rocket, yes he was." Karen finished his sentence. "Gimme a second kid." she hurried up the stairs to the other three strangers.

* * * * *

Vaporeon rolled along the floor, easily dodging the zap cannon.

"Zap cannon again....again" Lauryn continued, as vaporeon dodged each one with ease.

"Aargh, zap cannon is too slow!! Thunderbolt!!"

"Mirror Coat!!" Cory countered. The thunderbolt hit vaporeon dead on, and just like before, a purple, featureless vaporeon replica pounced at ampharos.

Lauryn was ready this time. "Buttercup, light screen!" The replica exploded, but a gold barrier shone before Buttercup, completely protecting it.

"Lauryn, you can't win, please tell me something here?"

"Lance told me everything! I won't stop 'till you give Ricky back!! Buttercup, cotton spore!"

"What do you.." Cory stopped as vaporeon was bombarded with clumps of white cotton, buzzing with electricity.

"Haha!! Buttercup, end this with another zap cannon."

Vaporeon tried to dodge it again, but he felt extremely heavy, he couldn't move fast enough! The cotton spore slowed him down heavily. The zap cannon attack connected, a blinding flash, followed by an explosion. Vaporeon was down for the count.

"Lauryn, I refuse to continue fighting you. Please!"

"I will command my pokemon to attack whether or not you want to battle." Lauryn replied.

Cory sighed. "Alright Lauryn I give up, I'm going to hit you with everything I've got." Cory too removed his jacket and tossed it aside.

"Good. Buttercup, thunderbolt!" Buttercup looked at Lauryn with a confused look.

"I want you to attack him" Lauryn cried. Cory now knew he had no choice but to keep fighting, she wasn't going to let up. He threw his next pokeball, containing Exeggutor. Lauryn's eyes showed her worry, even though her face tried to hide it.

"Exxegutor!! Sleep powder!!" Cory commanded.

"Buttercup, flash!!"

Cory had to shield his eyes as the flash took place, he felt the heat on his skin. The thousands of spores aimed at Buttercup simply sizzled and disintegrated in midair. The sleep powder was a failure. Exeggutor hadn't expected the flash, and was now blinded. Fear was creeping into Cory's mind as Exeggutor stumbled around, completely disorientated.

"Buttercup!! Fire punch!!"

Buttercup bounded forward, fist curled. She swung at exeggutor, as she did, her fist turned into a blazing fireball. Exeggutor jumped back, narrowly dodging the punch. Exeggutor retaliated with a psybeam, knocking Buttercup along the ground, stopping at Lauryn's feet. She kneeled.

"C'mon Buttercup." She helped Buttercup to her feet.

"Now will you stop this stupidity?"

"Buttercup!! Thunderwave!!" Ampharos squeaked as it's tail spat out a cracking disc of electricity.

"Exeggutor!! Stun Spore!!" Exeggutor shook it's head, releasing tiny gold spores, which pelted towards Buttercup.

Both attacks passed eachother on the way towards the opponent. The stun spore swarmed Buttercup, who first released a bout of sneezing before her body seized up and she fell to the ground. The electric disc whizzed towards exeggutor. Cory gritted his teeth. He didn't remember Lauryn being this good.

"Rapid Spin!!"

Exeggutor nodded. He braced himself, and just as the thunder wave hit, he used all his might to spin his body, spinning incredibly fast he managed to deflect the attack.

Ampharos lay paralyzed on the ground, exeggutor stod menacingly, ready to attack.

"Lauryn, I'm begging you, stop this!! Explain to me because I do NOT know anything about Ricky."

Lauryn shook her head. "Buttercup, come back. Go! Honeycomb!!"

Her fearow swooped high, almost touching the roof of the vast cavern.

"Honeycomb! Sky attack!!"

Honeycomb spread his wings, and his whole body glowed golden. He then put his wings at his side, and dived towards exeggutor.

"Exeggutor, wait..." Cory watched carefully, he would need to time this perfectly.

Seconds before Honeycomb made impact, Cory reacted.

"Exeggutor return!!" A flash of red light was all Honeycomb hit, he screeched and let out his wings and sailed back up again, missing the ground by less than an inch.

"Damnit!!" The idea was for Honeycomb to crash into the ground, he had returned exeggutor a second too soon. This time without begging Lauryn to stop, he threw another pokeball into the battlefield. Lauryn was proving to be alot tougher than he ever remembered her. Something was motivating her, it's like she absolutely has to win at any cost. Cory desperately wanted to know what it was. Honeycomb attempted another sky attack, diving towards Kingdra.

"Kingdra!! Ice Beam!!" Upon Lauryn's command, Honeycomb swooped out of the way, sending the ice beam off into the distance. Honeycomb swirled and came back towards Kingdra, swinging it's wing like a baseball bat, knocking Kingdra hard to the left. Kingdra ducked it's head so it was beneath Honeycomb, Kingdra's large nostrils then blasted forth a deep red flamethrower, connecting perfectly with Honeycomb's vulnerable belly.

Dragonbreath! Good work!!" Cory congratulated Kingdra. Suddenly it hit him, he gulped as he realised Lauryn's next move. Honeycomb regained balance in midair and shook it's feathers, sending a few black, crisp feathers floating towards the ground.

Lauryn cackled mercilessly. "Haha, Honeycomb!!" she demanded, grinning. "Mirror move!!"

Honeycomb grinned menacingly. She spiralled upwards and then stopped in midair, she spread her wingspan and bowed her head. Her beak begun glowing a deep red. Her eyes shone a reflection of kingdra, then the same deep red glazed over them. Honeycomb opened her mouth and let loose an attack exactly like Kingdras dragonbreath. That was the effect of mirror move. Kingdra had no time to dodge, but he was able to blast his own attack at Honeycomb. The two dragonbreath attack's met, causing a sweltering heatwave. Cory had to shield his face from the heat. He saw Lauryn was doing the same. Kingdra's dragonbreath was obviously more powerful, his attack started literally swallowing Honeycomb's. Cory squinted as the heat only got worse, sweat was starting to protrude from his forehead. He thought for a split second, then bounded into the battlefield. He was going to end this madness now, by any means necessary.

Amaru

28th March 2006, 08:32 AM

Chapter 10 - The Young Leader

Ricky waited, and waited. He could hear them talking. Finally Karen called down to him.

"Kid! Come up here!"

Ricky jumped up onto his feet and hurried up the stairs. It felt good to be out in the open again. Although, looking around, he hardly felt welcomed. Karen was the only person he recognised. Three others, two woman and a man, stood glaring at him. The man was aging, he was balding, but his body was muscular. He wore black, head to toe, even had a cape! One woman looked middle aged, she wore glasses and had fiery red hair. She was dressed incredibly casual compared to the others. Jeans and a black t-shirt, and sneakers was her attire. The other woman, or girl, was very young. Perhaps even younger than Ricky. She had her hair in pigtails, that's probably why she looked so young. She wore a polka dotted blouse and black pedal pushers with slip on shoes. She looked innocent compared to the others, yet her glare was just as intense.

"He isn't to be trusted, yet." the man said, folding his arms.

"I think he is genuine." replied Karen sharply.

"Ha, trust. The very epitome of female weakness. He is guilty until proven innocent." the man said smugly.

"I'll show you female weakness!" Karen choked in disbelief as she started towards the man, The woman with the glasses moved quickly to hold her back.

"Karen, stop this nonsense, Koga is a sexist pig. We all know it, he knows it of himself!" She spat.

"Let me go, Lorelei!" Karen demanded, struggling. Koga put his hands on his hips and laughed in Karen's face. He looked at the young girl.

"It seems the only woman with at least some sense is little Jasmine here."

Jasmine simply looked at her feet, her cheeks red. Ricky had had enough of this guy. He started towards Koga, fists clenched, Karen stopped him.

"Look kid, I don't need you fighting our battles. Heh, there are only two decent men I work with. One is too damn celibate, one is too damn young.. Speak of the devil!" Karen said, waving behind her. They all turned to see a male, aged around the mid-twenties, approaching them. He had styled brown hair, wore brown boots and a baggy tracksuit. He spoke in a clear, loud voice, but used alot of slang.

"Yo, this place is totally empty huh? Oh, who are you?"

Ricky replied, "Ricky.. Hey this ship wasn't empty when I was thrown in here.."

"Slow down, what do you know, Ricky?" the guy cut in. "Oh! How rude of me, name's Blue." He said as he offered his hand. He was very welcoming, he wasn't harsh like the others. Ricky respected him already.

"Sup, Blue." Ricky wondered who gave him that name, and what drugs were they on. He decided not to ask, too early to be making jokes, he didn't know these people. He chuckled to himself as he noticed Koga was pretty quiet now.

"Blue, we found this one in the cell. He was pounding at the door when we arrived, he says a guy named Archie had him thrown in here." Karen offered.

"Archie Maxwell.." Ricky added. Blue thought for a moment.

"That name sounds familiar, Maxwell.."

"I think he's the Team Rocket leader."

Blue's head shot up as Ricky said this. "Why do you think this?"

"Well he bossed the others around and he mentioned Giovanni and something about not making the same mistakes.."

Blue waved his hand, stopping Ricky mid-sentence. "We have plenty of time, let's hear the whole story."

Ricky nodded, but as he opened his mouth to speak, Lorelei butted in.

"Actually, we have orders to rendezvous with the others."

"I'm not in the mood for holding Lance's hand right now, I think this is far more important. Continue, Rick." He gestured towards Ricky.

Ricky was impressed that Blue had called him Rick, very friendly gesture. He smiled and continued. He would tell them everything. From the S.S Aqua, to the fearow attack, to the water spouts, to Archie.. Everything.

* `* * * *

The closer Cory got the the pokemon, the harder it was to breathe. Honeycomb and Kingdra refused to let up as they forced the deep red inferno out of their mouths in an endless flow, Honeycomb would likely tire faster, but Cory had enough. He grew closer and closer to the pokemon, then passed them. His target was Lauryn. The heatwave hit her hard, she was still shielding her eyes. She had no idea what was coming.

Honeycomb's eyes darted towards Cory, she could see what he was about to do, she wasn't going to let it happen. She let out a final blast of dragonbreath, then bailed lightning fast, regained balance and swooped low, talons beared. Kingdra was thrown forward due to the sudden lack of resistance, quickly recovering. Once Cory was within distance, he pounced at Lauryn, tackling her to the ground. She struggled of course, but she was still blinded from the collision of dragonbreaths. She screamed and swung her fists relentlessly, some blows hitting Cory's face. He grabbed her swinging fists and pinned them to the ground. She wriggled her body with all her might, screaming for Honeycomb. Cory was having trouble holding her down.

"Lauryn! Snap out of it!! Please!!"

Lauryn was panicking, Cory's words didnt even phase her. Honeycomb was locked on target, she was going to rip Cory to shreads if she had to. Cory's head turned in time to see Honeycomb closing in, and with that he jumped off Lauryn and scrambled to his feet. Honeycomb did not halt her pursuit, however. Honeycomb was finally in reach, she thrusted her beak into Cory's arms, which were shielding his face. She swung her wings at him as hard as she could, and pecked him furiously. In all the commotion, Honeycomb had forgotten about her adversary, kingdra. He fired an icebeam at her, freezing her left wing solid. Honeycomb fell from flight as kingdra fired another icebeam, tearing ther feathers from the left side of her body. Honeycomb squawked and writhed in agony as her left wing twitched, trying to move.

Lauryn had gotten to her feet and was attempting to flee, Cory tore after her. When he had gained on her enough, he pounced and hugged her knees together, she fell flat on her face, clawing at Cory's head, screaming. She managed to free a leg and kick Cory square in the face, releasing her. She jumped to her feet and threw a pokeball at him. Lauryn's nidoqueen shook the ground as she appeared and begun charging at Cory. He scrambled to his feet and called to Kingdra.

"Hydro Pump!" Kingdra dove in the path of Nidoqueen and hosed a blast of water from his mouth at nidoqueen.

"Princess, rollout now!!" Countered Lauryn as Princess, her nidoqueen, rolled forward curling into a ball. She gained momentum and speed as Kingdra let loose a huge blast of water from his mouth, the attack bounced off Nidoqueen as she powered through it with rollout. Cory and Kingdra shared surprise as Nidoqueen hit kingdra with full force. Nidoqueen returned to battle stance, ready for her next order. Cory stood in awe at the power of Lauryn's nidoqueen.

"Last time I saw Princess, she was up to my ankle!!" called Cory, Lauryn had managed to greatly distance herself from him.

"Surprised? I found a moon stone, but I kept it a secret. I thought we were going to battle eachother in the finals, and here is the grand finale.."

Cory smiled, Lauryn was talking to him again. "Since I got you talking, you want to tell me why you want to fight me? And where Ricky is?"

Lauryn shook her head. "Sorry Cory, I found you out. You cant lie to me anymore."

Cory sighed. "Very well.. I have a surprise of my own then." He held his last pokeball out.

"Go, Nidoking!!"

* * * `* *

"..and thats when these guys broke me out." Ricky finished.

"Fascinating. Everything." Blue replied. Karen, Lorelei, Koga, Jasmine and Blue were grouped around Ricky as he told his story.

"Who is Archie? Do you have any idea?" asked Lorelei to Blue.

"Well, yes actually. My hunch is the same as Ricky's. He must be the Team Rocket Leader. But the name Maxwell sounds incredibly familiar, I just cant put my finger on it."

Ricky groaned as he clutched his aching stomach. "Hey, uhh.. So that ship, it's empty now, right?"

"Yes." nodded Blue.

"So, is there any food in there?"

Everyone exchanged laughs. "You poor thing, let's go in." said Blue.

Gavin Luper

28th March 2006, 10:21 AM

Please don't spam in here any more guys, otherwise I'll get all riled up and whip out my mod-whacking stick. Keep the fics clean of spam and squabbles.

Cheers!

darktyranitar

29th March 2006, 09:36 AM

Gavin is right, you know. Do continue reading this, but cut off the unnecessary talk. Don't make the mods mad...

Ah, Cory is doing well in his battle. So, I guess he's okay then. (whistle on what he said earlier on Cory)

The conflict doesn't fails to turn into a furious battle. One thing that I'm curious is how Archie somehow took a picture of a maniacal laughter of Cory. Even if either one of them win, will Lauryn then believe in Cory?

You had kept me suspensed. Hope to see the next chapter!

Amaru

30th March 2006, 04:52 PM

Ok, here you go!

From now I'll post one chapter at a time.

Chapter 11 - Lair of the Spider

Cory gritted his teeth. This was it, one pokemon each. This was the decider. He knew Nidoking was better trained than Princess, he knew it. Both trainers now stood a fair distance from eachother, and each one was standing in the shadow of their beasts.

"Well, this is it!" called Cory.

"I knew I'd beat you one day, but I never guessed it'd be like this." Lauryn replied. There was a long silence, neither trainer made a move. Cory had enough.

"Nidoking.." he said calmly. He was going to give it EVERYTHING he had. "Horn attack!!"

* * * * *

Ricky almost choked as he shoved piles of mashed potato down his throat. He beamed with joy as he moved on to the piping hot mushroom sauce and steak. He had never been so grateful for food, even though he was raised in the slums. He swallowed hard and took a gulp of grape soda.

"Easy, kiddo. You're going to give yourself indigestion." suggested Lorelei, who was amusing herself by watching Ricky eat. Ricky just looked at Lorelei in annoyance as he spread butter onto thick slices of bread. Blue, Koga and Karen were off somewhere, Jasmine was sitting quietely. Ricky didnt feel safe here, only a while ago, Archie and his men were here. Where had they gone? Was it a trap? Ricky decided he would start caring after he ate.

* * * * * *

"Do you trust him?" Koga asked Blue.

"Yes, I do. What, do you think he is a Rocket member or something?" Blue sniggered sarcastically. Koga frowned and said nothing. They continued to tear the room apart while Blue searched Archie's laptop, in search of anything to do with Archie or Team Rocket.

"If the boy is truthful, why is there nothing in this entire ship to back up his claims?" Koga pointed out as he tore through file cabinet, skim reading stacks of docments.

"Archie is good at covering his tracks, simple as that." Karen interrupted as she trashed a bookcase.

"My thoughts exactly." seconded Blue. Karen looked smugly at Koga.

"Hang on.. What's this?" Blue muttered as he searched the trash file on the computer. Koga and Karen grouped around Blue as he read aloud.

"Re: Operation: Lair of the Spider, now under way." Blue turned to the others.

"Lair of the Spider?" He said, puzzled. He turned back to the computer screen, and read on.

* * * * *

"Princess!! Focus Energy!!"

Princess closed her eyes and tensed her entire body, the ground cracked beneath her as her body weight greatly increased. Sparks shot from the golden aura that had surrounded her. Nidoking was charging towards her, there was'nt much time.

"Princess, Mega Kick!!" In a split second, Princess's eyes shot open, she jumped up and spun, rearing her right leg to attack. Nidoking bowed his head seconds from impact. Princess's focused in midair, she thrusted her leg inot Nidoking, while he thrusted his head into her. The impact was so powerful, Cory and Lauryn were knocked off their feet by the shock. Cory lifted his head to see the outcome. Nidoking and Princess were now far from eachother again, both slowly pulling themselves to their feet.

"C'mon Nidoking, horn attack again!!"

Nidoking charged again at Princess. Lauryn had gotten to her feet aswell.

"Princess!!" Lauryn called, gaining her Nidoqueens attention.

"Uhh, horn attack!" she called, winking. Princess nodded with a smile. Nidoking closed in, the ground shook as he bounded towards her. Princess was now charging towards nidoking aswell. Nidoking lowered his head to attack, but Princess caught him off guard. She dropped to her knees and put her head down, she slid into Nidoking, who toppled over. Princess rolled back onto her feet.

"Haha!! Great Princess, now, iron tail!" Princess's tail shone silver as she catapulted it into Nidoking's back as he attempted to get to his feet.

Cory grinned. She had tricked him. He couldnt help but admire the teamwork. Nidoking scrambled back up and faced his opponent. He snarled at her, she simply cooed. This time Lauryn took the offense.

"Princess! Sludge bomb!!" Princess's cheeks bulged as she reared back and spat a blob of slime from her mouth. Nidoking pounced to the left, rolling on his side and landing back upright. Princess's cheeks bulged again, and she spat a sludge bomb towards him.

"Keep dodging Nidoking, she'll tire soon!" Nidoking dodged the next sludge bomb, and the next. Eventually Princess started to pant. Her sludge bombs were getting weaker and more intervaled.

"Nidoking, Earthquake!!" Cory called, Nidoking couldnt dodge forever. He jumped up and used all his might to smash back inot the ground, his legs were thrusted about a foot underground, the result was a vilent tremor, which shook the tired Nidoqueen to her knees. The ground cracked along the cavern and rocks were even falling from the top of the cavern. With Princess down, Cory seized the advantage.

"Give her a taste of her own medicine, sludge bomb!!" Nidoking leapt forward and spat the sludge at Princess. Lauryn ordered Princess to counter, but it was too late. The attack hit Princess right between the eyes. It exploded, sending slime in every direction, and causing Princess to roll backwards in recoil. Princess growled as she stumbled upright. She rubbed her eyes ferociously, trying to remove the sludge. She stumbled around and continued to rub her eyes, oblivious to Lauryns desperate cries. Her vision finally came to, and she squinted to reduce the burning sensation, but she couldnt miss the huge purple blur charging towards her. She shielded her face as she felt a horn as hard as steel smash into her. She felt her body sailing through the air, and she felt the wind being knocked out of her lungs as she landed on her back on a bed of rocks. Princess's mind was miles away from the battle. Lauryns voice just echoed around then left her memory. Disorientated and faint, her attempts to climb to her feet were hopeless.

"Princess NO!! Please get up!" Lauryn begged.

"It's over Lauryn, now can we talk?" He returned Nidoking to his pokeball, faking confidence. In truth, Cory was actually incredibly relieved. He honestly thought he would lose again. He walked cautiously towards Lauryn, with his hands up.

"Lets talk, okay?" he asked softly. Lauryn was clutching her head. She didnt even notice Cory aproaching. Cory was close enough to see Lauryn's tears. He swallowed hard and spoke again.

"Its over, now can we please talk about this?"

Lauryn looked at Cory, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

Cory stopped appraching. "Explain? I.. Just explain everything?"

Lauryn didnt let her guard down. "Explain what?!" she snapped at him. Cory shook his head.

"Lo, please." he breathed.

"Only friends call me Lo you liar!!" she screamed. Cory had enough. He backed off, not saying anything in fear of losing his temper. He had knocked out all of her pokemon, she was defenseless. He decided to leave it at that. He turned away and left Lauryn by herself, but he paused, she was giggling. He turned back to her.

"What the.." Lauryn was bathed in light. Nidokings earthquake had shaken the rock loose and made a huge hole in the cavern roof, and the moon was positioned directly above them. He raised his eyebrow as Lauryn began cackling maniacly.

"She's lost her mind." He muttered to himself, but as he turned to walk away again, he was halted by a roar, a roar that sounded like a song. The roar.. of a Nidoqueen. Cory was frozen in place. The moonlight!! Lauryn had taught the moonlight healing technique to Princess!

"If I were you.." Lauryn began, a newfound triumphant tone in her voice. "I would send out Nidoking again."

Cory sighed. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He had no choice but to keep fighting her. His veins pulsed in his forehead, he grabbed the pokeball and faced Lauryn, who was beaming with joy, Princess by her side in peak condition. The moonlight cast shadows against Lauryns pretty face, making her look insane. She was breathing heavily and baring her teeth in a vicious smile. Cory couldnt bear to see her like this.

"I tried to walk away!!" He yelled in rage.

"You're not going anywhere until you give Ricky back." Lauryn must have gone crazy, Cory decided. It was no excuse. This was terrible, what she was doing. Terrible. He threw his pokeball back into the battlefield. With bloodshot eyes and every muscle in his body tensed with anger, he called Nidoking out.

* * * * *

"Find anything?" asked Lorelei as Blue strode into the room.

"Well, yes. I need to speak with you, Jasmine, come. Sorry Ricky, this is official."

Ricky waved his hand, still enjoying his meal.

"Doon wurr bouf knee." Ricky swallowed his food. "I mean, dont worry about me. Go ahead, take care of business."

Blue nodded. "Great, ladies, follow me. We have a problem, a major one." They followed Blue back down the hall towards where he came from, leaving Ricky alone. He stuffed his mouth full of green beans before making his way back to the refridgerator in the next room. He searched the shelves for more delicacies to fulfill his appetite, but it seemed like he had cleaned it out. Nothing but fruit and vinaigrettes.

"Wheres all the real food?" He muttered, slamming the refridgerator in frustration. He wandered back into the large room and slumped back onto the comfy chair in the middle of the table. He remembered Archie sitting right here. It kind of freaked him out, that Archie had been sitting right here in this chair. He swivelled in his chair, trying to amuse himself by seeing how dizzy he could get without falling off the chair. He soon grew bored of this. He picked up a small grey remote off the table. He scanned the remote, wondering what it was for. He pressed a button labelled: "operate". He swivelled his chair again and watched the back wall rise up into the ceiling revealing the huge plasma screen behind it.

"Sweet!" Ricky rejoiced, he hadnt been able to watch TV since he left Johto to support Cory and Lauryn at the tournament. He switched the TV on, and was faced with an empty cave through surveillance footage.

"What the?" Ricky wondered how Archie had managed to set up all the cameras unless.. He switched through channel after channel. There were cameras scattered everywhere! His blood froze as he changed the channel again, this cavern wasnt empty.

"Cory!! Lauryn!! Their alright!!" He jumped out of his chair and put his hands on the screen, as if trying to touch them. The two people who meant the most to him, it was a HUGE relief to see them together. Lauryn had her Nidoqueen out, and Cory had his Nidoking out.

"What are they.. doing?" His eyes widened as he watched Princess atack Cory's Nidoking, who dodged and struck back.

"Why are they battling at a time like this?" Ricky wondered, they were obviously practising.

"What? How did you get out?!"

Ricky spun around in fright, and he found himself staring into the cold eyes of Archie.

"Answer!" Archie demanded, aspproaching. Ricky put his fists up. He knew he could take Archie, he knew it. Archie paused, then smiled.

"How amusing." Archie then clicked his fingers, and the room filled with large, muscular men head to toe in black.

"You were saying?" Archie gestured to Ricky. Ricky was frozen. He decided to stall until Blue came back for him. Any minute now.

"Uhh, uhh.. The.. door was open." Ricky managed. Archie frowned.

"It doesnt matter how you got out, the fact is you are out. Congratulations, you now know too much." He said, looking over Ricky's shoulder to the two friends battling.

"A little manipulation is all it takes to turn friends against eachother." Archie grinned. "Lauryn works for me now, quite the asset wouldnt you agree?"

"What are you talking about?" said Ricky, ignoring the rhetoric.

"No matter. Umm, would you?" Archie asked casually to one of the guards. The guard nodded, and signalled his men to move aside. Ricky's stomach jumped into his throat as a abnormally huge scyther trudged into the room. It's head darted side to side, scanning it's surroundings. It stopped at Archie then sniffed his collar, then sniffed up to his ear. It took a step back, glaring at Archie. The guards were jumpy, they knew as well as Ricky did. Scythers CANNOT be tamed.

"Ahh, Scyther. A beautiful Pokemon, wouldnt you say?" Archie asked, again, rhetorically.

"Looks like a walking set of steak knives" Ricky spat, trying to form a confident front to hide the panic building inside him. The scyther shot a look at Ricky ans snarled.

"Uh-oh, you've upset him." Archie teased. "You can teach him tricks and pet him behind the ear, but threaten him.. Very hostile species. Nothing I can do I'm afraid." Archie laughed. The scyther lowered it's head and very cautiously approached Ricky, blades beared.

"Call him off Archie!!" Ricky begged. "I'll do anything!!"

"Im afraid not my friend, as I said, you know too much. You're no longer a civilian. You have to die." Archie said, his voice raised to rival the guards nervous chatter.

"Oh dont worry, your sister will be joining you very soon."

Ricky held his breath as he backed up against the wall. The Scyther was closing in.

"Careful now, Scythers can smell fear." Archie emphasized the word "fear", then turned to his guards. "I'd advise you all to turn away, you dont want to see this."

A chuckle travelled through the group as many of them turned away. The scyther raised to its full height and lowered its head so it was staring into Rickys eyes. Ricky could smell its putrid breath on his face. Sweat rolled doown his cheeks, Ricky couldnt even begin to describe this fear, he was beyond petrified. He was moments from being sliced and diced, help was just down the hall, but it was too late.

darktyranitar

3rd April 2006, 08:11 AM

Whoa, Ricky is going to get killed! And somehow, Archie’s back! Where did he came from?

And again, your cliffhanger always managed to keep me waiting in suspense. A dead Ricky isn't all good. It could make Lauryn even more hysterical. What puzzle me is why the elite 4 team would just leave Ricky behind, when Archie and his cronies could be hiding near the place. Very intriguing.

Keep on with writing this!

Amaru

4th April 2006, 08:57 PM

Your questions shall be answered soon.. Sorry this chappy's kinda short.

Chapter 12 - Chaos

Nidoking leapt backwards, somersaulting then landing on his feet, barely dodging a surprise horn drill from Princess.

"Nidoking! No more messing around, fire blast!"

Nidoking stood perfectly still, Princess charged at him. Lauryn screamed at Princess to retreat, but it was no use. Cory grinned, Lauryn was losing control of Princess. Nidoking suddenly opened his eyes and a gigantic cross shaped mass of erupting flame catapulted towards Princess. A split second before impact, Princess held out her hands while charging. Cory's face lit up as the fire blast hit dead on. He glanced at Lauryn to survey the degree of devastation in her face, and to his shock, she was grinning back! Cory eyes darted back to the battle only to find Princess had charged straight through the fire blast. A group of star shaped energy masses rotated rapidly before Princess's hands. Protect! Princess didnt halt her charge as she barrelled into Nidoking, with the protect barrier still rotating. The awestruck Nidoking had no choice but to take the massive burst of energy as the protect barrier struck him. Protect barriers are among the most powerful energy sources in the world of pokemon battling, yet never once had Cory ever thought of using it offensively.

"Perfect, Princess. Just like we practiced."

Cory hissed at himself, he couldnt afford to fall for Lauryn's constant bluffing!

"Nidoking fire blast again!" Nidoking obeyed, yet Princess again charged through it using protect. Nidoking was ready this time, he rolled to the left, dodging Princess's deadly protect barrier. He continued to blast her, but she took no damage whatsoever.

"Alright, let's see your barrier stop this, Earthquake!!" Cory bellowed. The ground shook even more violently than it had before, boulders falling from the collapsing cavern walls. Earthquake was a dangerous move to use in here, but what other choice did Cory have? Princess stumbled and lost her footing. Cory couldnt have wished for it to turn out better, Princess fell onto her front, her hands stretched out before her. As soon as the protect barrier came into contact with the ground, an explosion of energy sent Princess sailing up high in the cavern, then plummeting back down.

"Nidoking, finish this rock slide!!"

Nidoking roared and flung his mighty arm at Princess, causing a barrage of jagged boulders to materialise out of nowhere and speed towards Princess. She didnt even hit the ground before she was hit by the rock slide. Each rock hit her, causing senseless pain to every part of Princess's body. Her limbs were being twisted into impossible angles and her flesh was being shredded by the jagged boulders as they tore past her. A final blow to her head ended it. As the dust cleared, Princess was laying face-down, motionless. Her flesh was bruised and torn, and it seemed to Cory that every bone in her body was broken. Not a single twitch, she was down for the count. Just as Cory was about to reannounce his victory, he was stopped short by a pitch white ray of light that beamed down into the cavern. Princess's flesh begun to seal, and her bones re-connected, right before Cory's eyes. He was absolutely astounded. Her bruises simply vanished, and she was once again poised for battle. Lauryn's hysterical laughter ringed in Cory's head as he began to panic.

"Surely.. Moonlight cant repair that much damage." Cory whispered sharply. The best he had seen moonlight do was awaken unconcious Pokemon, or seal a cut. Princess was as good as dead thirty seconds ago! He couldnt believe how powerful her moonlight technique was. Nidoking trudged back to Cory's side and glared at him, as if saying, "well? What now?" Cory shrugged. He was stumped. Unless he could make this battle last until the morning, he was finished.

* * * * *

Ricky mumbled a prayer while scyther raised his blades to land the blow that would end Ricky's life. But then at that moment, scyther hesitated. He swung around and begun viciously sniffing the air.

"Scyther, do you dare to disobey me?!" Archie scolded, approaching scyther. Scyther however, payed no mind to Archie, and instead literally hurdled Archie and pounced towards the exit. Archie's men dove out of harms way as the blades whirred inches from their faces while scyther leapt through the air. Scyther screeched as his wings flapped pathetically before tearing down the hallway.

"What the.." Archie was stumped. Just as he decided to investigate, scyther came zooming back into Archie's office, forced by a powerful water surge. He crashed up against the wall. Archie hissed as as a stranger to his eyes entered with intent to rescue Ricky.

"Blastoise! Hydro Pump!" yelled Blue, his giant dark blue companion growled and aimed his shoulder mounted hose cannons. Before Archie's guards could even turn around, they were being thrown around the room by a massive surge of water, Blue was soon joined by Lorelei, and a huge heap of sleek brown fur with a snout and tusks.

"Piloswine, take out that Scyther!" She demanded. The pilloswine bounded forward, surprisingly fast for its build. Archie's men stumbled over him and others flew in various directions as blastoises hydro pump tore the room apart. The scyther glared at the charging swine and reacted with lightning speed, taking stance, blades at ready. Piloswine, however, hadnt intended to tackle the scyther. He snorted and opened his mouth, screeching to a halt just out of reach of scythers deadly blades and blasted him with an ice beam.

Ricky seized the opportunity and took towards his companions. He was stopped short by Archie himself, his white suit was ruined, drenched head to toe and torn.

"Where do you think you're going?" he snarled. Without thinking, Ricky took a swing at Archie. Archie stumbled back. He felt his lip then looked at his finger, his lip was bleeding. He spat a mouthful of red then grinned, his teeth were even bloodstained.

"You have a hard right hook." Archie admitted. "I'm more of a lover than a fighter, my pokemon however.." Archie removed his jacket, and reveled his suspenders were lined with miniature pokeballs. There must have been at least eight balls on each suspender. Archie reached for one of the pokeballs, but Ricky wasn't going to let it happen, he dove at Archie and tackled him down, Ricky sat up on Archie's chest, his knees pinning Archie's shoulders. Archie spat in Ricky's face, which Ricky countered with a series of punches to the face. It wasnt long before Ricky was lifted from Archie and literally thrown into a circle of men.

"This brat needs to be disciplined!" ordered one of the men. Ricky braced himself for a beating, then the men began throwing hard kicks and punches at Ricky. Archie came to his feet, spat more blood and approached the group, but before Archie reached them, the circle was demolished by a charging piloswine. It reminded Archie of tenpin bowling. All that was left was Ricky, laying in a heap on the now drenched, bloodstained, shredded carpet. He was trembling and shielding his face with his arms. Archie spat again and approached Ricky.

"You dont know who you're dealing with kid!" he roared as he reached into his jacket again, this time producing three of his miniature pokeballs. He kicked Ricky in the chest with all his might, causing a sickening thud. Ricky didnt groan, he just lay trembling as he was before. Archie spat a mouthful of red saliva again, this time at Ricky, before turning to the source of this chas, Blue and Lorelei.

"You filthy League scum aren't welcome here!" he bellowed, pointing his finger at them. "You won't be allowed to ruin my plans!" The room fell silent as every last one of Archie's men were immobilised, and Blastiose and Piloswine were standing beside their trainers.

"Archie I presume?" Lorelei spat.

"Rick!" Blue yelped as he rushed to Ricky's aide.

"No you don't!" Archie said as he threw a pokeball at Blue, then stopped Lorelei in her tracks by throwing the other two pokeballs at her. Blastoise roared and bounded at Blue, ready to defeat whatever came out of that ball, and Piloswine stood before Lorelei, ready to do the same.

Out of the first ball sprung a oversized Tauros, whose muscles coiled intensely as he lowered his upper torso into a charging position. The Tauros snorted angrily as it's fierce eyes took aim at Blue.

Meanwhile, to the left and right of Lorelei and Piloswine, emerged a Poliwrath and an Electabuzz, who wasted no time in attacking. Archie did not even have to command his pokemon as the poliwrath took a swing at piloswine, who wasn't nearly quick enough to evade the blow, electabuzz struck next. Lorelei wasn't about to watch her Piloswine take a beating, she jumped back and called out her Starmie.

"Razor Wind!" she commanded as the starmie, with unbelievable speed sliced through the air, causing a powerful burst of energy to knock electabuzz to the ground, then turned on poliwrath.

Tauros was swept away by a hydro pump from Blastoise. He rolled over his side and back onto his hooves and aknowledged his new target. Tauros lowered his horns as he did before, this time in Blastoises direction. He scuffed his right hoof, snorted, then charged as Blastoise fired another hydro pump at Tauros, whose muscles ripped as he powered through, heavily slowed but still charging head on as water relentlessly pumped from Blastoises cannons. Blue was amazed at the strength of Archie's Tauros, but this gave him an idea.

"Blastoise, stop!"

Blastoise, unquestioning of his trainer, as foolish as the command sounded, did so. The flow of water halted immediately, and Tauro's huge momentum caused him to topple forward right into the arms of blastoise. Tauros struggled viciously, but Blastoise had gained a powerful grip of Tauro's horns. With all his might, Blastoise lifted Tauros into the air and slammed him back down, he repeated the process twice, then heaved him at the wall. Tauros's mass smashed through the wall and into the next room. It was pretty safe to say Tauros was out of commission.

"That was a tough one, but we did it buddy. Now let's help Lei!" Blue commended. He quickly scanned the room, no Archie.. Blue swore under his breath then quickly turned to Lorelei's aide.

* * * * *

Cory had run out of ideas, Nidoking had run out of energy.

"Princess, blizzard!" Thousands of hailstones and a ruthless sub-zero wind delivered a final merciless blow to the wounded, exhausted Nidoking. He struggled to stay up, but oblivious to Cory's shouts, Nidoking fell. It was over. Cory had now lost twice in one day. The thing is, he didn't care this time. Lauryn had lost her mind, perhaps finishing the battle was the best way to calm her down, he was wrong in that assumption.

"Right." Lauryn begun, her voice extremely shaky, yet her tone calm. "Now it's your turn. One last time, Cory? Where.. Is.. My.. Brother?"

Cory said nothing.

"Where is he?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, tears billowing from her eyes. Cory only just now realised, Ricky was missing. He and Lauryn had somehow managed to get here, and now Lauryn was alone. What if Team Rocket.. His thoughts began depicting graphic scenes of Ricky helplessly fending off Team Rocket's hoardes of Pokemon.

"Lauryn, let's find him. I swear to you I am on yur side and I want to find Ricky. Let's find him together, please?" Cory pleaded.

"I want to believe you, I really do." Lauryn replied solemnly.

Cory shook his head in disappointment. Suddenly he remembered something! A burst of relief flowed through him, now he had a weapon if Lauryn tried to attack.

"Look, whatever Lo, I'm going to leave now. Just let me be." Cory turned and walked away.

"Princess, just a tackle, we don't want to hurt him too much just yet." Princess looked at Lauryn hesitantly. "Now!" Lauryn spat. Princess jumped in fright and proceeded t charge at Cory. When Cory saw Princess's shadow descending upon his, he knew now was the time. He pulled a pokeball from his belt and shook it wildly.

"Exeggutor, wake up!!" He gave it one last hard shake, then hurled it hard at Princess. Lauryn gasped as Exeggutor emerged, looking drowsy but certainly awake.

"Explosion should end this!" With that, exeggutor glowed white while a ringing sound grew louder, Princess screeched to a halt as Exeggutor leapt at her, explosion imminent.

"Prote..." Lauryn's command halted as she watched with unsquinting eyes, the white shape of exeggutor turn into a fiery inferno of expanding energy. The force was so powerful, too powerful. Lauryn's eyes closed as a flash of red light shot at her belt, containing itself back into Princess's pokeball. Princess was out of the match for real this time. Cory approached Lauryn, now knowing the battle was over, they were both out of pokemon. As he approached, however, he noticed that Lauryn still was grinning! Suddenly it hit him, Lauryn always carried more than six pokemon on her! How could he have been so foolish! Now defenseless, he turned and bolted. Lauryn had proved she wasn't afraid to attack him, he wasn't going to stand around and let it happen.

"Let's go Lovely!" Lauryn laughed as a gigantic snakelike figure dove high into the cavern, then hit the ground, shaking the cavern similarly to an earthquake attack. Upon Lauryn's orders, her gyarados tore after Cory, with intent to hurt him. Cory had almost reached a passage in the cavern, when two figures turned the corner. As if in slow motion, Koga grabbed Cory and threw him out of harms way. For a second Cory thought they were Team Rocket members, but he soon recognised Jasmine, the Olivine City Gym Leader. He watched in awe as the pretty little fragile face of Jasmine vanished, and a new, menacing glare replaced it. She threw two pokeballs on either side of the charging Gyarados, and two Magnetons emerged, spouting enourmous bolts of electricity. Koga hurled a pokeball far across the cavern, landing feet from Lauryn's trembling feet, and a second later a Wigglytuff was on top of Lauryn, holding her arms flat on the ground, singing a peaceful melody. Koga and Jasmine turned back to Cory as Lovely came crashing down in a storm of electricity.

"You would do well to cover your ears, suggested Koga as he and Jasmine did so. Cory nodded and raised his hands to cup his ears, drowning out the song that was causing Lauryn to dfrift off into a deep sleep.

darktyranitar

7th April 2006, 11:02 AM

Hm, Rick is once again gone... but at least Cory got some help to go against Lauryn. You’re doing a good job to left me in suspense waiting for what will happen next.

Nothing much to say about this chapter, except bring in the next chapter!

Amaru

9th April 2006, 09:46 PM

Sorry short chapter.. =(

Chapter 13 - Lance's True Colours

"Cory, I presume?" Koga asked, returning his Wigglytuff from Lauryn who was now in a deep sleep.

"We are under orders to retrieve you. I am Koga, this is Jasmine." Koga motioned to the timid little figure, who smiled sheepishly at Cory.

"Yeah.. I know Jasmine. I have the mineral badge."

Koga looked at Jasmine in surprise

"You beat Jasmine? Interesting."

"I beat Claire too!" Cory added, attempting to win Koga's respect.

"So have I. Pride is the side of a fool, don't flaunt your victories around, you can't win them all." Koga preached, while turning away and striding over to Lauryn. Jasmine followed behind Koga like a shadow. Cory quickly followed. Jasmine ran her fingers across Lovely's bright blue body as they passed it.

"Beautiful." She whispered. Indeed he was. This was sight to see. Lovely's tremendous body lay still as the moonlight shone directly onto her. The only movement was the rise and fall of Lovely's breathing. Cory was amazed at the power of Jasmine's pokemon. She must have grown far more powerful over the past year. Koga stopped at Lauryn body, quietly snoring away. He nudged her ribs with his foot, then harder. Finally he kicked her, she awoke slowly and groggily.

"Wake up girly.." Koga teased.

"Don't hurt her, she's my friend!" Cory called as he caught up to Koga and Jasmine.

"I'm sorry?" Koga questioned. "Did I just not witness her order this beast to attack you?"

"It's a long story, she's one of my best friends."

"Long story? Well, summarize it for me." Koga ordered. Cory begun to speak when Lauryn let out an ear-splitting shriek. She attempted to scramble to her feet but Koga pushed her back down with his foot, she hit the ground with a thud and lay still, terror written all over her face.

"Don't.. kill me... please?" She squeaked.

"I'm not going to harm you at all." Koga promised. He leaned down to Lauryn's eye level. "Your friend here has so generously asked me not to." he finished, pointing at Cory.

"What?.. But.." Lauryn's eyes darted from Cory to Koga, she then noticed Jasmine.

"You? You're one of them too?"

Jasmine's face turned red.

"One of who?" Koga asked slowly.

"She thinks I'm with Team Rocket I guess.." Cory started. "I tried telling her! I'm here with the Elite!"

"But.. Lance told me.." Lauryn interrupted, the anger and triumph nowhere to be seen.

"Lance told you what?" Koga pressed.

"I visited him on his ship, he told me they had Ricky and.."

"We didn't come here on a ship, girly. You have been very mistaken.. Wait!" Koga shot bolt upright and turned to Jasmine, they shared a look of shock and realisation. Koga then looked back at Cory.

"She has obviously been tricked by Archie.."

"Archie? Who.." Cory begun, but was cut off by Koga.

"Never mind that now, listen: we do have Ricky, we broke him out of a cell of some kind on a ship that she thinks she met Lance on. In reality it was a man named Archie, he is now our number one enemy, forget Team Rocket. Now, how does she fit into this?" Koga asked, gesturing at Lauryn.

"She is Ricky's sister, I don't know how the hell they got here but.."

"This is all very confusing. Come, we'll go meet the others. With all three of you there, we'll get this story straight." Koga held his hand out to Lauryn, then helped her up to her feet.

"Let's go see your brother, shall we?" Koga led the way, followed by Jasmine.

"Cory.. I.. I'm sorry." she begged, with watery eyes. Cory however, said nothing. He strode right past her and caught up to the others.

* * * * * *

Starmie's thunderbolt hit Archie's Poliwrath, needless to say Poliwrath was done for. As electabuzz pulled itself up, he was caught off guard by the vengeful Piloswine, as ice beam sent it straight into Blastoise's lowered head. A loud unsettling crack signalled Electabuzz was finished.

"Good work guys." Lorelei encouraged as she returned her pokemon. Blue nodded at Blastoise and did the same. Lorelei slowly approached Ricky, who was groaning in pain.

"At least he's conscious.." Lorelei murmured as she put him into the recovery position and begun checking his body for any broken bones or hidden injuries. Blue watched with his arms folded, his face read frustration.

"We have had no word from Lance and Bruno, I'm beginning to worry."

"Worried? About Lance and Bruno? What is there to worry about?"

"Lei, they aren't invincible." Blue said, with a concerned tone. Lorelei stood up and took Blue by the hand. She was much older than Blue, so she felt very mothering towards him, even though she was below him in the Elite.

"They might as well be." She assured.

* * * * `*

"Girafarig! Baton Pass to Espeon!" Will shouted, his voice only audible within the thoughts of his Girafarig and Espeon. Girafarig returned to it's pokeball, as a small wooden baton hit the ground with a slight thud before Espeon, who pounced on it. Suddenly, before Will's eyes, his Espeon muscles doubled in size and it dove towards it's foes with incredible speed. Lance's Charizard had held the Team Rocket Pokemon off for the few precious seconds needed for Girafarig to power up then complete a baton pass, Espeon was now practically indestructible. Lance, now assured that area was secure, turned his attention away. Lance and Will had successfully reunited with Bruno, Terry and Claire. They had managed a small briefing before the small cavern they were in was swarmed by Team Rocket. Now every one of the small entrances was flooding Team Rocket grunts in. All Lance's comrades were bellowing command after command but it was obvious they couldn't hold on. They were slowly being forced back into the centre of the cavern.

Terry's Dunsparce bore through the ground and battered foes by darting upwards, and his Donphan plowed through Rocket grunts, the sound of breaking bones drowned out by cries of pain and roars of hundreds of Pokemon. Claire commanded three Dragonair's, who were ferociously attacking foe after foe. Bruno's Machamp swung it's gigantic arms, similar to sweeping dust with a broom, while guarding the huge hole in the cavern in which Bruno's Onix had tunneled through to find help. But their efforts were growing weaker, they couldn't last. Lance knew this, their luck was running very very thin. He knew there was another option. But.. The tradition..

"Lance, we have to retreat!" Bruno bellowed, grabbing Lance by the scruff of the collar.

"Retreat WHERE?! They're everywhere!" Lance cried desperately.

"We can free a exit then hold them off while we retreat!" Bruno replied.

"Hold them off with what? We are using everything we have as it is." Lance spoke calmly now, knowing exactly what Bruno was getting at.

"Could you two stop biccering and HELP!" Terry called from the far right, where the Rocket Pokemon were still swarming in.

Bruno and Lance glared at eachother for a few extremely tense seconds.

"Do it!" urged Bruno, gripping Lance's collar tighter.

"For the last time. You do not give orders, Bruno." Lance threatened. Bruno wanted Lance to do the unthinkable! It broke the golden rule of the sacred art of Dragon training. Dragonite weren't to be used unless the battle was one-on-one with a worthy opponent. Unleashing Dragonite here would break the rule, thus stripping him of his status as a Dragon trainer. He couldn't risk that!

"I can't do it. You know it." Lance replied.

Bruno gritted his teeth.

"Our lives are in danger Lance! You're sister! You're longest standing underling! Will and Terry! Yourself even!!" Bruno yelled in disbelief.

"I am a Dragon Master, I can't.."

"Save it!" Bruno spat, as he threw Lance away and turned away.

"Don't turn your back on me Bruno!" Lance demanded.

"Consider this a resignation. Now, I intend to preserve the wellbeing of my comrades. You do as you wish." With that, Bruno marched away from the fuming Lance, to rejoin the desperate battle.

MeLoVeGhOsTs

10th April 2006, 03:12 AM

I am so loving Bruno! Who will choose Bruno's side, who will chose Lance's side? What's up with that stupid Dragon rule? More chapters!

darktyranitar

10th April 2006, 06:22 AM

This is getting even better! Finally, Lauryn is on their side!

Great battles. I love the way you left us in suspense for the battle. I can't believe that the elite 4 are losing to the Rockets... But hey, sometimes size does matters.

I found these sentences are a bit strange:

"For the last time. You do not give orders, Bruno." Lance threatened. Bruno wanted Lance to do the unthinkable! It broke the golden rule of the sacred art of Dragon training.

So, Bruno said that he wanted Lance to use Dragonite, right? Just what I think, but you could seperate the part where Lance threatened with the start of Bruno's demand so that it would be less confusing to read. Also, it would be better if you put a dialogue.

"Our lives are in danger Lance! You're sister! You're longest standing underling! Will and Terry! Yourself even!!" Bruno yelled in disbelief

I think that "you're" should be "your". But hey, maybe I'm wrong on this.

A good chapter, and like MLG said, what's up with the dragon rule? It's very intriguing to see how arrogant Lance is. I can't wait to see wether he would finally use his Dragonite or not.

Amaru

11th April 2006, 08:26 PM

DT you're right about those grammatical errors.

Anyway, next chapter. The ending is really lame I know, but meh.

Chapter 14 - Reunion

"Three.. Wait, do you count your thumb as a finger?" Ricky asked as Blue held his hand out.

"He's fine." said Lorelei as she rolled her eyes.

"Ricky, why did you attack him? That was foolish. You should have escaped." Blue scolded.

Ricky was about to protest but Lorelei butted in. "Hey, this must be one of Archie's Pokemon. What should I do?" she asked, having found a pokeball in Archie's drawers. Ricky took one glance and recognised the bright pink initials etched onto the bottom half of the pokeball.

"Leave it, who knows how dangerous it could be."

"Wait! That's my sisters! Oh, I forgot, that must be Ginger!" Ricky said, surprised.

"I beg your pardon?" Lorelei asked.

"My sister's Pidgeot, Ginger."

"And how did it end up in Archie's desk?"

"They must have taken it when we got captured outside by Team Rocket."

"Ricky, you weren't captured by Team Rocket." Blue started, but he was hushed by Lorelei, Blue waved his hand to Lorelei.

"He has the right to know, he's more personally involved here than we are."

Lorelei put her hands on her hips, and snorted in subtle protest. Ricky looked utterly confused.

"What? What are you talking about?" Ricky stuttered.

"Archie.." Blue exhaled heavily. "Is not at all who you think he is. He is not the leader of Team Rocket. As far as we know, he has no affiliation with Team Rocket. Our plans have done a one-eighty degree flip, our plan now? Escape. We came here to eliminate, isolate and minimize the Team Rocket threat. Now we have found out that Team Rocket is not our biggest threat."

Ricky stared thoughtfully into Blue's eyes.

"What are you thinking?" Blue asked softly.

"Who is he." Ricky replied coldly. Blue nodded.

"We, actually have no idea. We do however, know his plan. And we are all in grave danger, us, and Team Rocket."

"Wait wait, so Team Rocket is here? I thought you said.."

Before Ricky could continue, the whole ship shook violently. Then another tremor shook the walls of the room, then a gigantic black Onix peered in from the doorway, followed by a panic stricken Karen.

"Karen! What's going on?!" Blue gasped. Lorelei rushed to her side.

"What's wrong?" She took Karen's forearms and shook her.

"Team Rocket! The others need help NOW!" with that she pulled herself free of Lorelei and burst back through the doorway, followed by the Onix. The three just stood in silence, exchanging confused looks. Another violent shudder awoke them from their trance.

"What the hell are we waiting for?!" Lorelei cried, then took off after Karen. Blue looked at Ricky.

"I suppose there's no point in telling you to wait here?" He joked.

"Hey look what happened last time you left me alone." Ricky laughed back. Blue nodded and signalled Ricky to follow.

"Wait!" Ricky blurted. He grabbed Ginger's pokeball off the floor at his feet, "I may need it."

Blue smiled and they quickly followed after the two girls.

* * * * *

"Why are we running?" Cory managed between gasps as he struggled to keep up with the others.

"We just recieved word from the others," Koga began, easily conversating as he ran. "They've been swarmed by Team Rocket."

Cory almost tripped over. "What?!"

Koga laughed. "You're afraid, ha! Coward."

Cory blushed as Koga said this, he could see Lauryn's sympathetic look from the corner of his eyes, but he forced himself not to look at her. Suddenly the entire ground shook, sending everyone falling to their feet, except Koga who graciously somersaulted into the air and landed back on his toes.

"What do you make of that?" Koga said to Jasmine, with an obvious lack of respect in his tone, not to mention the fact he didn't even look at her as he said it. Jasmine shrugged. Then out of nowhere the ground shook even harder than before, knocking even Koga down. As he scrambled up to hide his embarassment, a gigantic onix burst through the cavern wall like a knife through butter. The onix was followed by three strangers to Cory, and..

"Ricky!!" Lauryn and Cory both screamed with joy. Ricky stopped dead in his tracks and stared at them with unblinking eyes. Three seconds later and they both had their arms thrown around Ricky.

"I can't believe you're both alright! I'm so relieved!" Ricky blubbered as he tightened his grip around them.

The Elite watched awkwardly as this pure moment of reunitement stole away the stress and tension. Lauryn cried loudly as she planted kisses all over Ricky's face.

"Don't.. Ever.. Leave.. Me.. Again!"

"I won't." Ricky assured as he took a step back to size his companions up.

"You both look terrible! You must have been through hell!"

"Hell would have been an improvement!" Cory jeered, unable to contain his happiness to be back with Ricky. The fight they had that started this whole ordeal, it meant nothing.

"Ah! Cory! And you must be Lauryn. My name is Blue, we haven't got time for reunion now, but I promise there will time for you all to catch up later. Now, we gotta keep moving!" Blue said, then turning away and hitting Onix lightly on his side. Onix acknowledged Blue and lowered his head, catapulting into the cavern wall, demolishing it.The other Elite members nodded at Cory and Lauryn then followed after Onix. Ricky beamed.

"Isn't this great? All of us back together!" Ricky then motioned them to follow as he went after the Elite.

Lauryn looked hopefully at Cory, but he just took off after Ricky. Lauryn lowered her head and followed.

* * * * *

"I know that's what I said before, but they can hardly be considered civilians now!" Archie snarled.

"Well well, the great mastermind finally foiled, by three kids nonetheless!" a deep voice boomed.

"No!" Archie pointed menacingly. "They aren't supposed to be here! How could I have possibly predicted this! And rest assured they'll be dealt with."

"How?" The deep voice enquired.

"They are sticking to the Elite like superglue, their fates will be the same."

"Archie, your plan is ruined, they know your not with Team Rocket!"

"Do you honestly think, Gabe. . That I wouldn't have a backup plan. In fact it's already in place, the Elite will be diminished soon."

The deep voice was silent.

"By the way," Archie turned back as he left the room, padding his mouth with an icepack. "Disrespect me again, and I'll be sure to deal with you too."

"Is that so?" The man behind the deep voice came into view. He was very tall, but skinny. Archie approached Gabe and met him face to face. Gabe was obviously intimidated, for he backed off very slightly, but trying not to show it.

"Thought so." Archie finished, as he left the room. "Contact Florence and Shadow. Have them meet me, tell them 'Lair of the Spider 2' is under way. They'll know where I am."

************************************************** ************************

"Listen! We are nearing them!" Blue cried. Koga strained his ears, indeed, the desperate battle could be heard nearby. A while later and they stood before a huge tunnel that had been seemingly drilled right through the cavern.

"They're right through here! Onix bore this hole through the wall!" Karen cried as she faded into the darkness of the tunnel, followed by Onix. Blue turned to the others.

"Alright guys, this is the plan."

"Move aside!" Koga shoved past Blue and tore down the tunnel. Blue snickered. "The plan is, Cory, Lauryn and Ricky, stay well behind us. If you get hurt I won't forgive myself. Alright team." He said, with a strong sense of pride, motioning the his squadron.

"Give it all you've got!" With that, he too entered the darkness, followed by the others. Cory followed close behind Jasmine who was running very daintily behind the rest as they continued through the pitch black nothingness, the light in the distance grew bigger and bigger as they ran towards it. The cries and roars and crashes also grew more and more legible. Suddenly as they reached the end of the tunnel they exploded into a fierce battlefield. The situation looked desperate, they looked around in horror for a split second then took action as they ran in seperate directions to aide their colleagues.

Cory couldn't move, he couldn't speak. He was standing in the midst of the most gruesome and hardcore battle he had ever seen!

************************************************** ****************************

Archie stood before a long table, with three people dressed in purple seated along it's length, including Gabe. A long silence commenced, before the only woman on the table spoke.

"What makes you so certain you can beat him?"

"I never said I was certain." Archie replied in an eerily calm tone.

"Excuse me Mr. Perfectionist? Since when have you ever done anything without being certain?" The woman provoked.

"There is one thing I'm certain of, Florence. That is I have never failed." Archie replied, voice raised and finger pointed at her.

"There is a first time for everything Archie." Florence sat back, arms crossed. The other man at the table spoke next.

"Archie look, we are all against you, three against one. Forget it." Archie shook his head.

"This mission goes ahead as planned."

"As planned? Ha! This mission has changed so many times I don't even know what's going on anymore. You know as well as I do, there are too many unforseen obstacles to deal with. We will simply have to form a new plan and execute it in a year or so's time, we will be more organised by then, and.." The man was cut off by Archie.

"No! Shadow, if we fail tonight, I guarantee there will not be another chance to do this. The Elite are onto us!

"And who's fault is that?" Florence snapped.

Look, all of you! The time is now! They will never allow themselves to become so vulnerable again as they are tonight." Archie replied, his voice raising further. There was a brief silence then Shadow spoke again.

"Before we agree to anything, give us every little detail of the 'plan' as of now." The others nodded in agreement.

"The way I see it, the original mission status hasn't been altered a great deal. We have three bogeys who have all now been identified. A league semi-finalist who was passing through the Islands on the Olivine-Vermillion shuttle boat, the vessel was destroyed by the creature, but he survived it, and was found by the Elite. The other two, a League finalist and her brother, came on a pathetic rescue mission. Like I explained to Gabe already, they are sticking to the Elite like superglue, besides that I have made sure the two battlers are unable to defend themselves. Basically they are three sitting ducks. When we take care of the Elite, the three bogeys will be taken care of aswell."

"And what about Team Rockets enourmous numbers?" Shadow asked. Archie proceeded.

"It matters not, the creature they unleashed is minimising that number even as we speak."

"And what can we do to stop that creature?"

"Lure it back into the cavern they released it from, then close the archway."

"You think it's going to be that easy?!" Shadow stood up as he said this. "Have you seen the power of that thing?!"

Archie slammed his fist on the table. "Powerful it may be, but smart, it is not. It's merely a Pokemon, luring it in will be easier than luring in that ignorant idiot Lance."

Finally Gabe spoke. "Even if we do lure it back into it's prison, how can we trap it back in there without being attacked?!"

Shadow spoke again. "Gabe is right, I'm not going to risk any lives based on your assumptions, Archie."

Archie clenched his fists and cringed, fighting off incredible rage. How dare they question him? He had never failed them! And this is his repayment?

"We are... SO.. close to achieving our goal. This is what we set out to do almost three years ago."

"No, Archie. We are as distant from our goal as we have ever been. The mission failed, you left too much room for error, anything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong. Face it!" Shadow cried. Archie closed his eyes.

"We will never get this chance again. I'm not leaving the Islands until our mission is complete."

"Then you, my friend," Shadow said as he returned to his seat. "Are on your own."

Archie turned his back and left the room strenuously. "So be it!" he yelled, slamming the door on his way out. There was a brief silence before Gabe stood up.

"Look what you've done, Shadow!"

"The fool has lost his mind! We don't need him." Shadow said calmly, his chin resting on his palm. "We left Team Rocket to avoid foolish mistakes and poor judgment calls, not to make them."

The others were silent, they knew Shadow was right.

"We don't need Archie." Shadow said, as if trying to convince himself, he knew as well as anyone, Archie was the foundation of their enterprise. But that did not give Archie the right to go against their morals. He constructed a new plan in his head as the long silence continued. Archie had disrespected and aggravated his partners! And now he was going ahead with the plan, even though it was three against one to abort! Archie bit the hand that fed him. Now he needed to be put down.

Mega Horny

12th April 2006, 01:39 PM

Im really starting to hate Lance ;), but Will just keeps getting cooler. I dont really know to say with spoiling anything, but Shadow is cool and keep up the good work ^^

darktyranitar

14th April 2006, 03:26 AM

This just kept getting better and better! Of course, now that we know three teams are involved in this whole fighting, who knows how will the Elite survive through it. Heh, it's hard to believe the Elites are losing to the Rockets.

And what will happen to Lance, as his teammates is turning back on him?

Amaru

20th April 2006, 04:30 PM

Hope you like it, you're almost up to date with GHPF now.

Chapter 15 - Division

Now they were all together, the Elite was a force to be reckoned with. No, they were more than that. They were a cyclone of power, devastating the hoardes of Rocket Grunts that were flooding into the cavern. Within seconds the battle had turned completely around, but it still wasn't over.

"Collapse the tunnels!! Collapse the tunnels!!" Lance bellowed, after ordering his Charizard to aim a Hyper Beam at the wall above one of the entryway's for the Rocket Grunts. The Hyper Beam turned the entryway into a pile of rubble very quickly, as the shattered cavern wall caved into itself, crushing Rockets underneath it, and blocking more from entering. The others followed Lance's lead, and as his Aerodactyl closed another tunnel, so did Bruno's Onix, plowing his horn deep into the wall above another entryway. Blue's Meganium aimed a Solarbeam at another, and another, aided by artificial sunlight omitting from the concentrated Psychic powers from Will's powered-up Espeon.

Soon enough, they were completely closed in, apart from the tunnel they came in through. A few Rocket Grunts wimpered and writhed pitifully on the ground before them, oothers lay still, some on pools of blood. The same went for the Pokemon of these Grunts. The Elite returned their Pokemon. Almost a full minute of silence ensued, then Blue spoke.

"Alright, now that's over, we need to get this story straight. We all need to be on the same wavelength before we continue."

"Wait!" Bruno bellowed, then pointed at Lance. "You coward, you utter coward! We could've been killed!!"

"Are you challenging me?" Lance spat back. With that Bruno leapt at Lance, fists clenched. Lance whipped out a large, Gold Pokeball with ancient markings on it, and held it in his outstretched arm. Bruno skidded to a halt before the almighty gold Pokeball. Then he snickered.

"I see. When your your sister, your apprentices and your comrades are in danger. You have a tradition to adhere to. When it's your own neck on the line... The traditions go out the window."

Lance didn't speak. He just stood, holding the Pokeball before him, glaring menacingly at Bruno. The others stood watching. What could they do? Between Lance and Bruno, there was no stopping them.

"Lance!" Claire shrieked, in a whisper. "You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I?" Lance replied, eyes shifting to meet his sister's.

"Father would never.." Claire started, but Lance interrupted.

"Father is an old fool! Besides, he need never know. Forget the tradition, I can make an exception for this traitorous imbecile."

"Traitorous?! Traitorous?! You could've ended that battle in a second! But you'd rather preserve your own reputation!" Lorelei joined, realising what had happened between Lance and Bruno.

"You fools would never understand! I, like Lance, have been trained in a sacred art of battling, to break any tradtion or rule, it's unthinkable!" Koga argued for Lance.

"Stay out of this!" Bruno warned Koga. "I too, have strict traditions, but had you seen the peril we were in, you would've put your tradtions on hold aswell!"

"He's right, Koga! You have no right to defend Lance! You weren't here to see how deep we were in it!" Terry spoke up.

"You all know NOTHING of the sacred Dragon Master traditions!" Lance yelled, blind with fury.

"Apparently, neither do you!! You were ready to use Dragonite to defend yourself against me!" Bruno replied. While all this was going on, Jasmine and Will hung back. On the other side, Cory, Lauryn and Ricky did the same. Blue was yelling at everyone to stop the madness, but his voice was drowned out by the verbal war that was going on around him. Blue was desperately trying to get his voice heard, finally Bruno noticed.

"QUIET!!!" He dragged the word on at the top of his lungs, holding his hands up. Silence swept over the cavern, even Lance fell quiet.

"Thankyou, Bruno." Blue said, "Will someone calmly explain what happened in here?" Then without taking his eyes off Lance, Bruno spoke.

"This was where we had organised to meet up with you all. We waited and waited, then out of nowhere, these Rocket Grunts swarmed in. We weren't expecting attack.. We.. we weren't ready."

"Continue.." Blue pressed, eager to understand the situation.

"We reacted as quickly as we could, but there were too many of them. Team Rocket has always been a joke to us I know. But not this time. There were just too many. I was fearing for our lives. I could see we all were, all except Lance." He snarled when he said Lance's name. "Dragonite could've destroyed the Rockets and their Pokemon, but Lance refused to use him."

"We didn't need him." Lance said, breathing very heavily, face red with anger.

"Suppose we hadn't come, suppose we were caught up in our own battle, suppose Karen and Onix hadn't found us. What then?" Blue asked, deadly serious for the first time.

"I don't have to answer to you, you are below me." Lance replied in a calm rage.

"We could be dead! That's what!" The girls almost began another fight, but Blue hushed them. He stood thinking for a short while.

"League rules stipulate that the Champion can be overruled if the group rules in favour of his inability to lead due to mental instability or repetitive poor judgment." He said solemnly. Lance's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. "The second in command should assume role of Champion, at least temporarily."

"Don't you DARE!!" He shrieked. Blue just shook his head.

"Lance, you are relieved of duty. You have lead us into a deathtrap." He turned to face the others. "Our objective now is escape.." He began, but Lance threw himself at the teenage Blue. Bruno, seething with anticipation of this moment, caught Lance midair and slammed the heel of his palm into Lance's throat. Lance gave an incredibly unsettling choking sound and stumbled back. Bruno advanced on Lance again and threw him to the ground. The Gold Pokeball rolled along the ground, and stopped at Bruno's feet. He picked it up and examined it. He smirked at Lance. "Not so tough now, huh?" He hurled the Pokeball across the cavern. Lance scrambled to his feet, clutching his throbbing throat, breathing in gasps. Blue continued.

"As I was saying, Our objective now is to escape. If you will allow me to assume Lance's position, that is."

"*cough* You need me. You all do! *cough*. I'm the most powerful!" Lance argued desperately.

"We'll vote." Blue stated. He then took a few steps away from the group, so he was a similar distance from them as Lance was. Bruno moved first, he turned his back on Lance, and went to Blue. He stood behind Blue and put his hand on Blue's shoulder. Blue acknowledged Bruno with a smile. "Thanks."

"I've been waiting for this forever." Karen sneered at Lance and took her position behind Blue, who nodded with a smile. Cory nudged Ricky to follow, and Ricky nudged Lauryn. They stood behind Blue and Bruno. Their vote didn’t count of course, but Blue smiled in appreciation nonetheless.

"You all are despicable. I know we won't make it out of here without Lance's power!" Koga strode over to Lance and patted his chest.

"No loss." Karen whispered to Bruno, who smiled and nudged her.

"Not the time for jokes." Bruno whispered back.

"Who's joking?" Karen replied. Bruno smiled and left it at that. Claire apologized to the other ladies and joined her brother.

"It's my obligation." She justified. Lorelei shot a look of disappointment at Claire, took Terry's hand and they joined Blue. Only left were Will and Jasmine. They were relatively new to the Elite. Apprentices in a manner of speaking, needless to say, they joined Lance. Out of fear of course. This mutiny would reap many consequences, regardless of the League Elite contract regulations.

"Come on Jas, you know we're right!" Lorelei pleaded.

"Will, you have the most potential out of all of us! You know it! You're wasting it under Lance." Blue cried.

Will and Jasmine both had their heads down.

"I'm sorry, I.. I can't do it." Will spoke, his voice echoed through the minds of the others, as only his voice can. Jasmine said nothing. Lance laughed maniacly.

"Haha!! Sorry Blue. Your little heroic moment is over. I win, to overrule me, you need the majority vote!"

"It's a draw, Lance. That counts too." Blue spat back.

"Wrong! It's not a draw! Bruno resigned already! Ask him yourself." Everyone faced Bruno. Bruno glared at Lance with a fiery hatred bubbling inside him.

"In that case I quit too." Karen said in a sassy tone.

"Not a bad idea." Terry followed her lead. Lorelei nodded in agreement.

"There you have it." Blue folded his arms. “We are no longer under your command.” Lance replied through clenched teeth.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Lance motioned to his group to follow, and they did.

“Leaving so soon?” A voice boomed from inside the darkness of the tunnel that Onix bore earlier. Startled Lance and the rest took a step back, allowing the man to emerge from the darkness. He was holding a pretty large, square object, concealed by a brown sack cloth. White suit, bloodstained and torn. Eyes burning with excitement. Muscles rippling with tension.

“Finally, all of you in one room, with no means of exit. Perfect.”

“Who’s this guy?” Terry whispered to Blue. Blue didn’t look back, he only said:

“This is our enemy. Archie Maxwell.”

**************************

“All systems functioning. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Gabe said as he pulled back the thrust. Up and away they went, it didn’t take them long to get high above the islands. Florence peered out the window.

“He’s still down there. Alone. We shuldn’t have left him.”

“You think I wanted to?!” Shadow cried. “He lost sight of our original objectives, he bacame too full of his own ‘genius’ plans. You know it.”

Florence nodded in agreement. The small airship tore through the air, the words “Pokemon League E.L.I.T.E Forces” tatooed across the wings. Away they sped, away from the Whirl Islands, away from the devastating dangers within.

“What now, Shadow?” Gabe asked.

“We go ahead as planned. We commence Phase two of Lair of the Spider. Without Archie.” Gabe shook his head.

“We can’t commence Phase two, Phase one was a failure!”

“Completion of Phase one isn’t necessary anymore. Archie will keep the Elite busy long enough, and when he’s through, they’ll have no way to escape off the Island but swim. We have plenty of time.”

“It’s risky.” Gabe considered. Shadow looked out the window.

“I know.”

Suddenly a loud beep came from the control panel of the ship.

“It’s the Communications.” Gabe examined the communication device. He gasped. “It’s the Police!” He cried. “What should I do?”

Shadow leapt up from his seat and grabbed the mouthpiece.

“Lance? Lance is that you?” A staticy voice cried through the intercom.

“Not quite. I want to speak to whoever is in charge” Shadow replied through the mouthpiece. There was a rustling, and a few distant voices. Then somone picked up on the other side.

“Who.. Who am I speaking to?” The voice stammered.

“You’re worst Nightmare. You see, we don’t make foolish mistakes like Team Rocket. Your precious Elite have been disposed of.”

“What? You’re bluffing!”

“Try me.”

“Who in the Hell are you?!”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Well what do you want?”

Shadow laughed. “Fool, I have no demands. I have no mercy, I don’t want to bargain with you.”

“Then what is this nonsense?!” The Police Captain cried.

“This is not nonsense.” Shadow spat. “With the Elite out of the way, we are unstoppable!”

“Who’s ‘we’”

“We are Neo-Team Rocket. And we declare war on you!”