Well, here we go. Chapter Three!

Tara collapsed through the front door with a huff, mentally and physically exhausted. She had just run a mile to reach her home while being chased by a drunk. She managed to slam the door just as the man impacted the wooden barrier.
"Talo!" she called. "I'm back!"
There was a shuffling sound, and Talo emerged from a room down the hall. The siblings lived in a simple flat on the outskirts of Rustboro. It had a living room, a kitchen, a side room for Talo, and an attic area which Tara used for her bedroom.
"I saw you on the T.V." Talo nodded. His light-blue locks rustled with the movement. He had a pale complexion, with a slight yet muscular build. He was slightly taller than her, a fact which annoyed her greatly, and had her father's deep indigo eyes, which contributed to his overall shifty appearance. People tended to avoid him, but Talo didn't mind. The one thing he couldn't stand was when someone judged him to be incapable.
Tara dropped her bag by the front door. "So how do you think I did?"
Talo frowned. "You slipped at the last minute. Don't do it again."
Tara shrugged. This was how her brother was-hard and logical, but tolerable at the same time. "Sure thing. I hope you don't mind that Gem is coming over tonight."
Talo snorted. "I'll get the fire extinguisher."
Tara's face creased with anger. "It happened ONCE."
Talo snickered. "I'm still surprised you managed to save the chicken before it burned up completely."
Tara sighed. "Fine, I'll make jello. Unless you have any ideas?"
Talo shrugged. "Leave the Jalapeno sauce out this time, yeah?"

-X-

"I'm back" Gem called, not pausing to knock on the door.
"Evening" Talo nodded. "If you're looking for Tara, she's busy destroying the kitchen."
From the room behind them, Gem made out the unmistakeable sound of Tara swearing at some innocent kitchen appliance.
"I'll go help" Gem volunteered.
"Give it a minute" Talo held up his hand. "I think there may still be something left of the toaster."
An earsplitting crash disproved this theory.
"Go ahead" Talo waved him in.

Gem made sure to avoid the splintered remains of the recently deceased toaster, as well as several shattered measuring cups.
Tara turned to face him, her face glistening with sweat.
"Jello" she huffed. "I fribbin' HATE jello!"
Gem grinned. "Personally, I'm surprised the house is still standing. You're a horrible cook."
He immediately regretted it as Tara's fist crashed into his cheek.
"MAKING JELLO IS SUPPOSED TO BE EASY!" she exploded. "BUT THE WATER BURNED MY HAND, AND THE POWDER GOT UP MY NOSE, AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW THE TOASTER WAS INVOLVED, BUT YOU CAN SEE WHAT HAPPENED THERE!" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And you, Gemini Lucas Marble, have the gall to insult my work?"
Gem's eyes went wide with panic. When Tara became loud and angry, she was mad. But when she shifted to appearing calm and quiet, the message recieved was clear. "I will murder you twenty times over before your pathetic excuse for a soul realizes it's already dead" the look said. Without a second thought, Gem used his mad Aura Guardian skills to bolt from the house screaming like a lunatic.

Tara managed a slight giggle. "There, now I don't have to worry about cooking stuff anymore."
Talo nodded. "Well, I'm heading out."
Tara was immediately suspicious. "Where are you going?"
"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Talo asked. "I thought you were making plans to murder your boyfriend."
Tara was just preparing her wide collection of boyfriend retorts when she noticed the silver Poketch Talo wore for the first time.
"Where'd you get that?" she asked.
"This?" Talo asked, holding up his arm. "I, um, got it from a friend visiting Jubilife City. He gave it to me for free."
Tara raised an eyebrow. Something about her brother's story didn't quite ring straight. But she disregarded it. Talo's business was his own.
"Never mind" Tara shook her head. "Just curious."

-X-

Tara took a deep breath as she stood on the doorstep of a nearby house. Wasting no time, she rung the doorbell. The door flew open to a shriek of joy.

"Tara!" the girl in the doorway squealed. "You're back!"
Tara grinned. "It's nice to see you, Rayne. How was Holon?"
Rayne stood. She had shoulder-length green hair with a very petite complexion. Her eyes were midnight blue, and she wore a flowing white dress. "Could have been better. It was interesting to see Pokemon with different types than usual, but other than that, it was actually a bit boring."
Tara nodded. "You didn't happen to bring anything back with you though, did you?"
Rayne grinned. "I thought you might ask. Prepare to be amazed!" She took a few steps back and threw a pokeball into the air. "Shellgon, splash down!"
With a burst of light, the sphere opened, releasing a Pokemon about waist-height which appeared to be wrapped in a hard grey shell.
"Shel-go!" the Shelgon roared. Tara looked the normally dragon-type creature over. As she observed, she noticed a few small details that differed from the regular Shellgon. The stripes on its legs were a deep blue, and its claw tips almost seemed to be webbed.
"It's a water type?" she guessed.
Rayne nodded jovially. "Isn't he just precious? I found him wandering around on the beach by himself. Apparently, a group of normal Shellgon had rejected him because he could swim. Isn't that tragic?"
Tara smiled. "But you caught him and brought him back with you, right?"
"Exactly!" Rayne squealed with joy at Tara's deduction. "And now nobody is going to pick on him anymore, because he's going to be the toughest Shellgon in the world! Did you know that the Holon scientists are even considering exporting Delta Species Pokemon to the other regions? And they're gonna import Pokemon from Sinnoh and Unova, so that they can get Delta Pokemon of those regions too!"
"That sounds great" Tara smiled. "But we really do need to focus a bit. Delta Pokemon aren't the only reason why we're here, right?"
Rayne gave a small start, then nodded. "Oh, of course! Where's Gem, anyway?"
At that precise moment, Gem literally fell from the sky, landing with a crunch on Rayne's perfectly-manicured lawn. He jumped up and dusted off his cape, seeming completely oblivious to the fact that he'd just experienced a 500-meter drop.
"We've got company" Gem warned. "Lots of it."
Suddenly, the three teens were surrounded by Pokemon. Dozens of water-types thronged the area, glaring at their targets.
Upon seeing these foes, Shellgon gave a mighty bellow. As though in response, clouds gathered, and a light rain began.
"What's this?" Tara asked.
"That's Shellgon's Delta Ability" Rayne answered. "It's Drizzle. Whenever he goes into battle, it starts to rain."
Tara nodded. "Not exactly going to help us here though. Not with this lot."
"Silence!" A voice called from the crowd. A man stepped out from between the Pokemon. He wore a blue-and-white striped shirt and dark-grey dress pants. Over this, he had a trench-coat the same shade as the pants. He had a short brown beard which ran up into his sideburns, and his head was topped by a bandanna bearing the same pattern as his shirt.
"Well" the man grinned. "This is a cozy little meeting, isn't it? The traitors and the spy, all in one place."
"Archie" Tara practically spat the name. "To what do we owe this... visit?" She had to bite her tongue to hold back the word 'intrusion'.
Archie grinned. "My dear Tara, is that any way to greet your leader?"
"You're no leader of mine" Tara glared. "We left Team Aqua because we realized that you were destined to fail. You have no authority over us anymore."
Archie raised one eyebrow. I'm surprised, Tara. How could one as ambitious as you turn your back on our cause?"
"Because our cause was idiocy" Tara sniffed. "I mean, raising the planet's water level? That's not even worthy of being called an evil plot!"
Archie frowned again. "So you've truly convinced yourself." He turned toward Gem. "And what about you, the idiot spy who infiltrated our crew for Team Magma? Do you think your friends were misguided as well?"
Gem growled. "First of all, I was never a spy. Just because I was once a member of Team Magma, and crossed over to Team Aqua unofficially does not make me an infiltrator. Besides, I've given up on that 'expanding the land' nonsense. Aura Guardians are so much cooler!"
Archie's eye twitched. "I think that's the longest serious sentance you've spoken in this whole story."

Gem nodded proundly. "I've been training myself since the last chapter."

Archie spat. "Bah! Who needs the lot of you? Now that I've escaped from prison, I'm going to resurrect Team Aqua and submerge the entire planet. That will fulfill my vengeance!"
Tara smiled. "You couldn't restart Team Aqua if you walked up to each one of your grunts with the Red Orb in one hand and Kyogre in a pokeball in the other. Your little syndicate is finished."
Archie had now turned a light shade of purple. "That's it you insolent deserter!" He turned toward the Pokemon surrounding them. "Don't just sit there! Attack them!"

Faster than most people could think, instinct brought two pokeballs into Tara's hand. With a flash, Palpitoad and Banette stood before her. Gem released Zorua and Nosepass, and Rayne called out her Gorebyss to stand (or would it be swim?) beside Shellgon.
"Banette, Shockwave!" Tara called. With Pokemon converging on all sides, Banette would be unable to avoid its allies. Luckilly, Shellgon immediately used Protect, keeping itself and Gorebyss protected within a globe of greenish light. Zorua shifted to become identical to Nosepass, whose typing kept it safe from all electric attacks.
With the guarantee of its allies' safety, Banette let loose the most powerful Shockwave it could generate, striking each enemy Pokemon with deadly accuracy. Many of the water-type Pokemon fainted immediately under such powerful force, but the stronger ones, or those immune to the attack like Barboach and Wiscash, stood against the force.
Archie smirked. "Mildly impressive, Tara. You managed to defeat a group of my weakest Pokemon. But there's more where that came from." He launched his own pokeball into the air, releasing his Sharpedo. "Let's see how you face my strongest Pokemon!"
Tara grinned. "It would be our pleasure. Palpitoad, Revenge Tactic Alpha!"
As Palpitoad ambled forward, Archie grinned. "Still using your old "Pre-decided strategies, Tara? And with the very Pokemon I gave you. I'm shocked!"
Tara's expression held. "You gave me this Palpitoad after stealing it from a poor trainer in the street. Don't try to guilt me." She paused. "But I suppose my strategies haven't exactly helped me lately have they? Well then, we'll do this the old-fasioned way. Palpitoad, use Muddy Water!"
The tadpole Pokemon dodged a sudden swipe from Sharpedo's razorlike fins and becqme outlined in blue. The ground around it instantly became swampy, creating a huge mud puddle. With sheer force of will, Palpitoad lifted the mud into the air, riding atop it like a surfer. The wave impacted with jarring force, but Sharpedo managed to keep itself from being swept away.
"Sharpedo, use Night Daze!" Archie called. Sharpedo roared, its body becoming dimmer, to the point that it was only a shadow. Before Palpitoad could get clear, it let loose with a shattering wave of shadow. Palpitoad was sent flying.
"Now THAT was an attack" Archie gloated. "Only the strongest Pokemon could have stood agains that!"
Suddenly, Sharpedo grimaced with pain. Archie watched in shock as it slowly sank to the ground unconscious.
"But how?" he asked in confusion. "How is that possible?" He looked up to see Tara grinning broadly.
"Rowap Berry" she smirked. "Any Special Attacks you use are reflected to your own Pokemon as well."
Archie looked totally shocked. "You managed to defeat my strongest Pokemon... with a berry?"
Tara's grin spread further. "Looks like your methods are a bit flawed." She turned to the side, where Gem, Rayne, Banette, and the two trainers' Pokemon were nearly finished decimating Archie's forces. "This is pathetic, even for you. Your Pokemon are weak, and you are finished."
Archie fell to his knees. "This is all your fault. You tricked me!"
"How?" His foe asked. "You sprung an ambush, and we fended it off. We didn't know you were coming, other than a tip-off by the Boy Blunder over there. So how could we have pulled off any tricks?"
Archie scowled. "This isn't the last you'll hear from me, Tara. I will raise Team Aqua again, and we will destroy you entirely!"
Tara scoffed. "Yeah, go ahead and try. I'll be waiting."
"You really have changed" Archie noticed. "You were the quiet one. The distant girl who was never completely there." He grimaced. "I took PITY on you, and you stabbed me in the back!"
Tara leaned down to eye-level. "I guess I just grew up. Sucks, doesn't it?" With that, she drew her fist back and slammed it against Archie's nose. The former commander's eyes rolled back and he collapsed in a daze.
Tara brushed away the rain which had begun to collect on her perfect white outfit. She turned in time to see Shellgon finishing off a Wiscash with a powerful Ice Shard. The poor fish hit the gound, where it was literally frozen to the earth.
"Well" Tara smirked. "There goes the last of Team Aqua." She turned to Gem. "Break all the pokeballs and set the Pokemon free. They wont be used to hurt anyone else."
"What about Archie?" Rayne asked. "I hope you're not going to leave a deadly criminal lying unconscious on my lawn."
Tara shook her head. "He's not so deadly anymore. He wont be hurting anyone now, so I'll let him come around and scamper away. We'll probably never see him again."
Rayne frowned. "I'm not so sure. He sounded serious when he was talking about ressurecting Team Aqua."
Tara laughed. "As if he'll even come close. The day he manages to pull Team Aqua back together is the day I decide to capture Rayquaza." She shook her head, still giggling lightly. "No, trust me. Archie will never be able to hurt us again."

Fin

AN: Well, that was interesting, eh? We finally learn which evil group Tara was involved with, and her two closest friends were in it too! Go figure.
Go ahead. You know you want to laugh at Tara's cooking skills.
And, hey! There's a little easter-egg here pertaining to another fanfiction story. Did anyone pick up on that? You'd need to know a bit about my activities in the last few weeks to get it, but you'll hopefully be surprised when/if you find out.

AN 2: My plans for my speculation walkthrough of the Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 games is toast, as actual info has now been revealed. Sad.

Even Fire and Ice have a Dark side...