Oh my goodness it feels so good to be back! My long awaited return! Ok it might not have been long awaited for you but it was for me because I have missed writing so much! Unlike my first story there are a lot of things to say about this sequel. For one, it's still a work in progress. That means your opinions could have an effect on a future chapter! So read, comment, message, and do whatever you have to do if you want to make a difference! I'm also writing other stories at the same time as this one and I'm still in school so...updates might be few but don't give up I will write again. Anyway enough of my blabbering! Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Seeing a Familiar Face

A man stood on the deck of his ship, his short green hair blowing in the breeze. He adjusted his long black coat, tying the strap near his neck and buttoning a few of the top buttons. He sighed a little as he leaned over the railing, looking at the calm sea before him. He inhaled deeply, letting the fresh sea air enter his lungs, then exhaled and closed his eyes to reach his peaceful state.

"Oh how long has it been, since I have traveled the open sea?"

Minutes later one of the man's henchmen came out and stood a few feet behind him, ready to unveil some important news. "Sir, we will reach our headquarters shortly. Is there anything you wish for us to do?"

The man smiled, but kept his body turned toward the water. "Prepare for our arrival of course. And prepare for our takeover phase one."

"Yes sir!" With that the servant went back to his place inside, leaving his master alone once again. The man sighed again, this time with a bit of annoyance, but continued to smile.

It's only a matter of time now, he thought to himself, before all that I had accomplished will be mine once again.

Ash, Misty, and Pikachu, continuing on their journey, are taking a cruise ship that is set to take them to Sophian Island.

"Oh isn't this exciting Ash!" Misty exclaimed as she looked across the water. "Soon we will be in the Aqua Resort and we will see all kinds of cool water pokemon! Ah, it's like a water master's dream…" She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the cool air on her face and the fresh smell of ocean water.

Ash laughed, "Yeah I can't wait either! I wonder what kind of pokemon we going to see." Pikachu sighed happily in agreement.

After waiting in anticipation for an hour or so they finally arrived at the port of the large island, however it was already late and the sun was going down.

"Oh look at that sunset," Misty said. "It's beautiful here!" She spun around in a circle laughing. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"Hey remember, Mist, let's not have too much fun we're on a mission remember?" Ash touched her shoulder.

"Right, right," Misty agreed. "Come on let's go to the hotel and check in. I bet it's just as beautiful as this town."

Misty's views were confirmed as they reached the hotel. It was tall, beautiful, and luxurious with a large lobby area that had a fountain and a small angel statue. It was also filled with plants and decorations, three TVs that spanned the western side of the area, with many couches and chairs that were already occupied with people. There was also a white grand piano that was on automatic and played a soft whispering tune. The floor was set in beautiful white tiles that featured every water pokemon that could be thought of in each square.

"I was right, it is lovely here!" she began to laugh, bouncing in place while holding on to Ash's arm.

"Misty calm down a bit," he laughed, "You act like you've never been in a fancy hotel before."

"Hey Ash, news flash I've never been in a fancy hotel! We should really thank Lance for paying for our stay here once we get back home," she suggested.

"Yeah, you're right, that's if we ever complete this 'thing' we've been assigned to…"

"Oh Ash, have some confidence! We can do anything when we try our hardest!" Misty hugged him and began to walk to the front counter. "You wait here, and I'll go get our keys ok? You want to come with me, Pikachu?"

"Pikachu!" the little electric rodent jumped off of Ash's shoulder and onto Misty's.

"Try not to miss us too much, honey!" Misty did a little wave as she walked away.

Ash smiled. He was excited that he would be able to treat Misty with a fancy vacation they way she always wanted, but he knew this was more than just a small get away. He didn't tell his mother or Professor Oak about the seriousness of this trip, Misty knew however, but it seemed like she wasn't taking it quite seriously—at least not yet. This was the first assignment given to him by Lance himself, and he wanted to do well, but having Misty involved wasn't exactly his idea.

~*~Three weeks ago…~*~

"Ash, I'm sorry to call you here so urgently like this, but I'm afraid I have a situation that I need your help on."

Ash was sitting in Lance's private office, a place that Ash never thought he would see. Besides for a few bookshelves that were halfway filled with books the office seemed very roomy. His desk was right next to the window that happened to overlook all of Viridian City. There was also carpet on the floor, and although Ash knew all about static electricity, he was so nervous he couldn't help but rub his feet on the floor. He figured it was alright sense his shoes were made out of rubber.

"A situation? What is it?" he asked.

"Well, there's a certain legendary pokemon that is being targeted. I would go and investigate the case myself, unfortunately the other Elite Four members and I are all tied up at the moment," he sighed in frustration wishing he could do this on his own. Even he felt it was too dangerous for Ash to be involved in.

"A-a legendary? Which one? What's happening to it?"

"Slow down, Ash," Lance interrupted, "Let me explain. You see we have been doing research on this legendary for quite some time, and we have confirmed that it has been seen on Sophian Island. This pokemon is very elusive, but even the likes of Team Aqua have caught onto its location."

"Team Aqua?! But I thought they were gone, along with Team Magma!"

"That's true," Lance sighed again, "We all thought they had disappeared, but unfortunately that was only a rumor to keep us from looking for them. About a year ago the rumor had spread that a few Team Aqua members were meeting in a secret location, and ever since then we have been on their trail, even though it's been hard to track them down until now."

"So you think they're on Sophian Island?" Ash asked again.

"Only to find the legendary that they are after—the legendary water-type pokemon known as Suicune."

"Suicune?!" Ash repeated. "B-but isn't that a pokemon from the Johto region? And isn't it found up north? Why is it all the way down here?"

"We have reason to believe that Suicune had no choice but to go there to escape from Team Aqua. Who knows what they will use that pokemon for if they capture it…"

"We can't let that happen, Lance! Don't worry, I'll be sure to stop Team Aqua in their tracks!" Ash stood up with fire in his eyes and burning determination in his heart. He would have walked out the door right then and there if Lance hadn't stopped him.

"Well, I'm afraid there's one more thing I would have to explain to you, and this is the hardest part."

"What is it?"

"I, I mean we, have decided to also ask your wife to accompany you on this mission."

"M-my wife? You mean Misty?"

"She is your only wife isn't she?"

Ash stood there in shock, unable to comprehend why Misty had to come. "B-but—"

"Listen Ash, it's not that the others and I don't have faith in you, it's just that we don't think you should do this alone. Besides, Suicune is a water type and Misty is a water type trainer…"

"But I can handle this on my own! I don't see why Misty has to get involved!" Ash protested.

"You're right, I would rather that I was involved instead of you and her, but Lorelei insisted that she would ask her separately. I feel bad for doing this, if I had a choice I wouldn't, but we all agreed that you would need help and we decided the best person to help you would be her. However just like you she must make that decision on her own. If she does decide to come along, and you think things may get to serious, both of you can come home at any time. We won't judge you for wanting to save the lives of you and your wife. But we do want that pokemon captured, or at least taken safe away from Team Aqua so they won't get their hands on it. I'm sorry to do this to you Ash, but you don't have to accept if you don't want to."

Ash sighed. He somehow knew without a doubt that Misty would accept this offer, and he couldn't just let her go alone.

"I'm still in. Don't worry, Lance, we won't let you down."

He couldn't help but have a bad feeling that this wasn't any ordinary mission to be solved easily. After all, Suicune is no ordinary pokemon.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Well, I guess since this is a paid vacation, we might as well make the most of it," Ash whispered under his breath.

"Hey Ash! You wouldn't believe who's here!" Ash heard Misty yell to him. Ash looked to see a familiar face along with Misty. A tall, slim woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a bright yellow sleeveless shirt decorated with blue flowers, and long brown shorts that stopped short of her knees. She had on sandals, brown shoes with straps that wrapped around her ankles that made her seem like a gladiator. But it was her warm smile and blue eyes that Ash instantly remembered.

"Hey it's Dahlia!" Ash ran over to them. "How are things?"

Dahlia smiled softly. "Everything is great Ash! Blake and I are just here for a bit of a vacation before he resumes his champion duties. I assume you both are here for that as well?"

Misty nodded. "Yep! There's nothing like being right beside water pokemon all day and being in the water next to them," she sighed happily.

"You remind me so much of Blake," Dahlia laughed. "He was just telling me how he would love to live and die next to the ocean, me and his water pokemon. He's such a fanatic."

"I know the feeling, trust me I go through the same every day with this one," Ash joked.

"I can't help it water is the core of my soul!" Misty said happily.

"Well you both have definitely come to the right place. The Aqua Resort is filled with water pokemon! The pokemon and people here have been living in harmony for centuries, and I'm pretty sure that nothing will ever tear the bond between a person living here and the water pokemon beside him. It's what I love most about this place, everyone here is so friendly and warm."

"Hey Dahlia where's Blake? Is he training?" Ash asked.

"Hmm…actually he's in his room sleeping. Hey, maybe we should all get together one day! We're leaving next week, but I'm sure we'll see each other again before then," she suggested.

"You're right! We should all get together, a double dinner date by the sea would be so awesome!" Misty exclaimed.

"That sounds like a great idea, but Pikachu will have to come with us, we can't just leave him alone—right buddy?" Ash turned to his faithful yellow companion.

Pikachu said his name happily and jumped back onto Ash's shoulder.

"Ha ha ha, of course! The more the merrier we love to have you all come with us to dinner, and besides the restaurants here is amazing, however most places here do serve seafood, Misty," she pointed this comment directly in her direction, figuring just like her husband, she wouldn't want to eat fish unless she had no other choice.

Misty cringed at the thought of eating fish but nodded nevertheless.

"Great!" Dahlia continued, "I can't wait! You two better have plenty of fun here, and we will all be able to catch up soon. See you guys!"

Ash and Misty waved to her as she walked off.

"Wow what a coincidence that we ran into Dahlia here!" Misty said excitedly. "See, I knew it was a great idea to come here!"

Ash smiled and looked at her. "Maybe you're right. Come on, let's go see our room."

"Pika Pikachu!" (Let's go!)

"See, Pikachu is excited too, aren't you Pika pal?" Misty asked.

They all laughed as Pikachu nodded in approval. Little did they know that as they were heading towards their room a pair of eyes had been watching them the entire time.

He spoke from behind a plant in the lobby to one of his superiors using a transceiver attached to a watch. "Sir, I have evidence of their arrival. The master and his wife were seen talking with target number 002."

"Excellent. Do they suspect anything?" The superior asked.

"No sir, everything is as it seems."

"Very good. Keep an eye on them and wait for my signal."

"Yes sir."