About five minutes into the competition, Ash, Brock and Dawn were flagless as the boat slowly made its way across the water. Nearly all the teams around them had found their first flag, and Ash was getting frustrated.

"C'mon," Ash whined. "There's gotta be a pink flag around here somewhere..."

"Over there!" Brock yelled, the boat swaying as he got up and pointed to his left.

"Alright! Then let's get going!" Ash whooped, picking up an oar and starting to turn the boat around.

Dawn was leaning over the side of the boat, her face pale green. "I... don't think I've found my sea legs quite yet," she groaned, retching as the boat climbed up and down the gentle waves.

Ash cheered as they reached the pink flag, which was attatched to a mini raft. He tore it off, holding it triumphantly in the air, striking a dramatic pose. "One down, four to go!"

Brock and Dawn sweatdropped at his enthusiasm, and began paddling forwards again.

"I wonder how the other teams are getting on," Brock pondered aloud.


"There! Green flag!" Jessie screamed excitedly, pointing in front of them.

"Are you sure it's not just seaweed again?" James enquired, unconvinced.

"No, dummy- look, it's on a little raft."

Looking up, James saw that she was right, and increased his pace with the oars, cutting through the deep blue water.

Jessie reached over to the flag, and snatched it, pulling it onto the boat. "We're a fifth of the way to a whole truckload of goodies!" she giggled, hugging the piece of green fabric. James and Meowth exchanged wary glances, putting down the oars temporarily to stretch.

"What's the hold up?" Jessie demanded, narrowing her eyes. "Get moving!"

"How come you don't have to row?" James complained, his arms aching as he mechanically moved the oars back and forth.

"Because I'm cheif flag-spotter," Jessie reminded him, sitting down on one of the wooden benches and crossing her legs. "You wouldn't want me distracted, would you?" she asked menacingly, glaring at him.

"No," James grumbled with a sigh as the small boat bobbed up and down in the choppy water. "Of course I wouldn't."

"Good," Jessie said, folding her arms. "Then get moving!"


"And that makes three!" Ash exclaimed, picking up his third pink flag as the water lapped against the sides of the boat. "Just two left!"
"I... feel... sick..." Dawn wheezed, having given up long ago to contribute to rowing or spotting flags, curled up on the wooden flooring of the boat.

"We'll find the other flags soon," Brock said soothingly as Dawn shuddered. "Then we can get you back on dry land, ok?"

"Ok," Dawn repeated, sounding far from it.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, catching Brock's attention. He looked up, and saw that the sky was layered with dark grey clouds. "I don't like the look of that..."

"I don't get it," Ash said, confused. "It was so nice when the race started!"

"Weather can be very unpredictable," Brock replied knowledgeably, "especially at sea. Maybe we should head back to the pier."

"Let's," Dawn agreed, hugging her knees.

"No way!" Ash cried, clenching his fists. "I'm gonna win this thing- a little bad weather isn't going to stop me!"

"Ash, I'm serious. A storm at sea can be very dangerous, you know. We could get carried away by the current!" Brock argued.

"Ash Ketchum is no quitter," Ash yelled over the deafening sounds of progressively bigger waves crashing onto the water. "We've only got two flags to go, anyway!"

Defeated, Brock picked up an oar, starting to row again as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky for a split second. "We'd better find them soon, or we could be in trouble."


Lightning burst through the clouds above the three Rockets, followed by a bang of thunder that seemed to shake the boat even more than it already was.

"Jess, this is crazy!" Meowth protested, another bolt of lightning briefly illuminating his terrified face. "Everyone else has gone back- look around!"

"Hmph. We're only missing one flag, cat! And to quote Les Miserables, a little rain won't hurt me now!"

"A LITTLE rain?" James choked, guesturing around him. Drops of rain the size of grapes were drumming against the wooden base of the boat, slowly filling it with water. "Jessie, this is a full on storm! We'll drown if we don't turn back now!"

"Please, James. We all know you over-react to stuff like this. Once this shower passes, it'll be nice and sunny again. Just keep rowing, and that fruit is ours!"

James and Meowth jumped as lightning broke through the sky, barely a pause before it was followed by thunder so loud it made their ears pop.

"THIS IS MADNESS!" James screamed, as the boat was hurled backwards by a colossal wave. "WE'RE GOING TO DIE OUT HERE!"

"C'mon Jessie, let's get outta here!" Meowth pleaded, tugging at her sleeve. "Any flags left will be way under the water by now, anyway! This is pointless!"

The two male rockets looked on in despair as the boat was swept passed the line of buoys, signalling that they'd crossed the one huqndred metre boarderline.

"We're doomed!" James sobbed, struggling to keep a grip on the sides of the boat as it spun around uncontrollably. Meowth had managed to dig out the flare gun, and was pointing it at the sky when Jessie snatched it out of his paws.

"That's meant for extreme emergencies only," she quoted angrily.

"IF THIS AIN'T AN EXTREME EMERGENCY," Meowth screeched, "I DON'T WANNA KNOW WHAT IS!"

James clung onto the cat pokemon, shivering in his drenched disguise.

"Nice knowing you, old chum," he said fondly, sqeezing his eyes shut as an enormous wave towered above them.

"You too, Jimmy!"

Even Jessie looked scared by this point, and wrapped her arms around her teammates. "Prepare for trouble!" she managed to shout just as the wave broke, crashing down on the boat and pulling it underwater as the lightning lit up the sea once again.


Brock started to panic as an alarm sounded in the far distance, fighting hoplessly against the current with his oar.

"ASH!" he shrieked, loosing his cool. "We have to go back, NOW!"

Ash opened his mouth to protest, but, seeing the look of terror on Brock's usually calm face, nodded with a sigh.

"It is pretty rough out here," he admitted, a wave spraying them all with freezing water. Dawn was barely aware of the situation, trembling on the floor.

"Dawn!" Ash yelled, shaking her. "You have to help us, or we won't make it back!" Nodding slowly, Dawn pulled herself shakily up from the floor of the boat, steadying herself with an oar only to be knocked over again as the boat was thrown backwards by a wave.

"Lifejackets!" Brock shouted, fumbling underneath the seats and pulling out three bright yellow jackets. He tossed two of them to Ash and Dawn, and slipped the remaining one over his head, inflating it. Ash helped Dawn with her's first, and then let his fill with air, not even noticing that the flags they'd collected had washed into the sea.

"Use the gun!" Ash bellowed as raindrops pounded onto his face and head. Brock aimed the flare gun at the black sky that was flashing more and more regularly with lightning, and squeezed the trigger. The flare shot up into the sky, and exploded into a shower of red embers that wobbled down to the sea.

The boat jolted suddenly as it was flung into a large rock, and was shredded apart, throwing Ash, Dawn and Brock into the ice cold ocean.

Brock broke above the surface of the water, spitting out a lungful of saltwater, only to be pushed back under by the relentless waves. He swiped desperately at the floating planks of wood that, just a few seconds ago, made up the boat he had been standing on, and managed to grab hold of one.

He spluttered as he researfaced again, kicking his legs furiously in an attempt to stay above water as he clung onto the plank of wood keeping him afloat. "ASH! DAWN!" he screamed over the howling of the wind, the echoes of thunder and crashes of waves. No one replied.

"Please be ok," he thought as the current pulled him under again, and everything went black.


"Is everyone alright?" asked the woman, shouting through the megaphone to the terrified faces of the people huddled on the pier.

"Only a couple of injuries," her colleague informed her as a girl was carried on a stretcher into the back of an ambulance. "A broken wrist, and a gash where someone hit their head on a rock, but nothing life threatening."

The woman nodded, relieved. "Okay, everyone here?" she asked, and started to go through the names of all the contestants. "Lucy, Pablo, and Trixie?"

"Here!"

"Juan, Antonio and Luigi?"

"Over here!"

"Ash, Dawn and Brock?"

She began to check off their names, expecting a reply, but then stopped when none came. "Ash, Dawn and Brock?" she repeated, louder this time. "Crap. A team is missing!"

"Keep going, I'll look at the list at the end," her colleague instructed.

"Right. Jessibella, Jameson and Tony?"

Silence.

"Oh no," she muttered, looking over to the raging sea. "They can't all still be out there..."

"How many are missing?" asked her colleague nervously, biting his lip.

"Six."

He ran his fingers through his short blond hair, cursing under his breath. "Call the police. We'll need to send out a search party."

She nodded, hurridly pulling out her mobile, but knew as she dialled the three digit number with numb, trembling fingers, that it was probably far too late.