Ethan kicked at some of the rocks and dirt covering the entrance. "I can't believe they just did that! Who do they think they are? Don't they know who we are? Just wait, wait until I see them again!"

Wiggler clawed at the dirt and rocks but its small arms prevented it from getting anywhere. He put his foot on one of the rocks. "Don't waste all your energy. I'll have to summon the others to help out."

He looked back at Jasmine, who hadn't moved from the corner. She shook her head and stared down at the ground. "How can you be so...so..."

"Not scared? Well they didn't do a great job of burying us alive. They barred the entrance but big deal. I'm sure with all of our Pokemon working together, we can get out of here in no time!"

She shook her head and he frowned. "I-I-It's not so simple. We just can't dig out ways out. Not now."

He scratched his head. "Why not? Wouldn't we just dig our ways out? Pull the rocks and dirt away and crawl out. What's so hard about that? I think I'm missing something."

She let out another sigh. "It's my fault."

He and Wiggler shared a look. "I don't get it. How is it your fault? Do you think we should have split up now? Or that I should have left a Pokemon out as a guard?"

She slumped to the ground and buried her head in her arms. "The tides."

Wiggler let out an excited squeak but it didn't seem like a happy one. "The tides?"

"I just noticed that this is around the time the tides come in. They rise pretty high, much higher than this cave. If you try to dig us out, the water will pour in and drown us but if you don't dig us out, the water will seep in and drown us then."

He felt as if someone had delivered a swift punch to his gut but he pushed that aside and turned his attention back to the wall. "Then we better hurry! If we dig fast enough, we can get out of here before the tide rolls in! Come on!"

He turned to see Wiggler pull away a large rock, just in time for some water to come squirting through. At first a light stream of water, it soon became a strong little stream of water. He started at it for a bit and then looked at her. She noticed it and paled. "They're trying to finish us off sooner."

"That isn't the tide?"

She shook her head. "The tide could take a couple of hours to roll in. They're doing something else to cause all the water to come in."

"Then...what do we do. If water is coming in, digging out would be a pretty bad idea."

She got to her feet. "Or if you try digging out, we'd just drown sooner instead of-"

"Hey! I don't want to die yet! We'll get out of here somehow! Maybe if we dig out a good enough sized hole, we can swim out."

"Against the tide?"

He shrugged. "Well it's better than waiting here, I think. Wiggler, use Hyper Beam!"

Wiggler jumped back and a bright aura appeared around its body. It unleashed a bright beam of energy that hit the wall of rocks and dirt like a train, pushing them through, causing sunlight to break through but also allowing more water to pour in. By the looks of it, in the hour or so they had been trapped, the tide had already risen to shoulder height. It poured in through the hole Wiggler had made and Ethan backed up. He backpedaled to the back wall with Jasmine as the water continued to rise. "It's...not pushing the rest of the rocks in."

"I was hoping it would, then it'd be easier to try and swim out. I bet if it was a stronger tide or even a tsunami, it'd easily knock those rocks away-"

"Which would kill us."

He looked at Wiggler, who gasped for air as it floated atop the water. "And he still has to recover after using Hyper Beam. Guess I'll just have to do it myself."

He waded through the water which had risen to his stomach and over to the wall. He grabbed at one of the rocks and pulled it back. He let it roll to the ground before he stood on it and pushed against some of the other rocks. He noticed Jasmine walk up to the other side and do her best to open up the hole. He continued to push at the rocks until they gave way, allowing more water to push through the widening hole. "The tide isn't too strong, we might be able to swim out," she said, the first optimistic thought she had said since they had realized their predicament. He smiled.

"See, I told you! Now-owww!" he yelled as his leg felt as if it had stabbed with a hundred tiny needles at once. Soon his leg went numb and he found it tough to stand, having to grab hold of the rocks to stay up right. Jasmine looked at him in shock.

"What happened?"

He grimaced through the pain, trying to keep ahold. "Something stung me. My leg...has like gone numb. Man that hurt."

She stopped trying to widen the hole and hurried over to him. He grasped the rock with his other hand to steady himself but the pain began to go up his leg and down into his other leg. The pain went from being stabbed with hundreds of needles to a searing hot pain causing him to feel weak and drowsy. He felt his fingers slip from the rocks but Jasmine grabbed ahold of his wrists and shook her head. "You aren't going anywhere! Can you move your legs?"

"...they've both gone numb."

"Then let me pull you through-"

"No, no. You'll just tire yourself out trying to do that. I'll pull myself...out."

She took out a Pokeball and summoned a Prinplup. She pushed herself up to speak as the water continued to rise. "Prinplup, can you take him out first? Take him to somewhere safe and then come back for me."

"H-huh? I can't let you do that-"

"Yes, you can," she said. "I'm fine, I can swim out but you've been stung and you're weak from the sting. If you tried to do it yourself, you might drown."

She walked over to him and pushed him toward the waiting Pokemon. He had his doubts about that small penguin like Pokemon being able to drag him out but as soon as he grasped its legs, it pulled him along with an ease he expected from a larger water Pokemon like Gyrados or Dewgong. It dragged him over to some dry land on Route 47 and he dragged himself up the small embankment and onto the warm grass. He pulled off his backpack and laid down on the grass, gasping for air. He heard a few squeaks and saw Wiggler float over. He gave a weak laugh despite the pain. "Ahh Wiggs. Sorry about that. It got a bit hectic in there."

He closed his eyes, hoping that he could perhaps sleep it off. The searing pain forced him to snap to attention and he reached down to touch his leg. As he did that, the pain intensified again and he pulled back. "Okay, maybe not."

Jasmine returned a minute or two later. She climbed up the embankment and crawled over to him. "H-how are you doing?"

He looked up at her, hair hair clinging to her face and her dress clinging to her body, causing him to look up at the sky instead. "I...uh...am still hurting."

She got to her feet and squeezed out some of the water from her hair. Prinplup crawled up the embankment and she smiled toward him. "Thanks Prinplup but we need to go get some help for him. Don't worry Ethan, I'll be back soon. The Safari Zone isn't far at all."

He nodded. "Yea, thanks. I'll...ugh be fine for now."

She and her Pokemon hurried off while he looked over at Wiggler. "Well...that was fun, right?"

"You know, you were pretty lucky that the sting you got was from a pretty young Tentacool. The weak ones can give you some pretty nasty stings but the symptoms aren't as bad as getting stung by a full grown one or even a Tentacruel," the Ranger said as he administered an antidote to Ethan's leg. Ethan looked up at the other Ranger and Jasmine with a smile.

"Aren't as bad? It hurt pretty bad to me."

He laughed. "They all hurt but the other stings will hurt even more thanks to the additional symptoms you go through."

The other Ranged, who went by the name of Jack, pulled out a notepad and pen. "Just what were you two doing down there around this time anyways? I take it you two were unaware about how the tide is around here."

He noticed Jasmine blush and spoke up before she could. "We knew but kind of overlooked it because we were concerned about some possible criminal activity."

"Criminal activity What kind?"

"Theft from the looks of it. We...had uncovered part of the plot in Olivine," she said.

"Yea and..." he began to say before wincing a bit from the pain. The Ranger tending to him, Olly, shook his head.

"Calm down, you need to rest. She can explain it."

"We had found them smuggling crates full of possessions they had stolen from ships out at sea. They seemed to be searching for something called a Plate. We...weren't sure but we found a map they had dropped and the caves by Cianwood were one of them. That's...why we were out here."

Jack frowned. "We had heard reports about some pirates terrorizing pleasure cruisers and yachts with a Sharpedo so perhaps there's a connection. If so, that explains why a Gym leader got involved."

"Yes...that's the reason why I've been helping out. I understand this area is generally Chuck's jurisdiction but since I had already been involved from the start, I decided to continue asssisting Ethan."

Olly laughed. "That's good and all but shouldn't you have gotten the help of another gym leader?"

Not that again. He let out a groan and heard Jasmine laugh. "I could have but he hasn't been a burden. We would have been fine if we weren't attacked by a couple of men dressed in Team Rocket uniforms."

"Team Rocket? How can that be, they were defeated by the Champion! Didn't they promise not to come back this time?"

"That's what we thought. We didn't really get to ask them much else because they collapsed the cave entrance on us. They tried to bury us, otherwise we might have left before the tide had come in."

Jack shook his head. "That's not good at all. Perhaps we should notify the police so they can be on the lookout for them as well."

"I-It's for the best. They had a couple of crates full of Pokeballs in that cave."

Olly nodded. "Yea, other trainers have been reporting to us about that. We have people fetching them now. If they were stolen, perhaps we can find a way to return them to their trainers."

He stood up. "I've finished here but I'd suggest you to rest for a bit. You don't need to stay here overnight but you need to get some rest before you try to move around again. I'll be back shortly."

"And I'm going to contact the police and explain the situation," Jack said.

The two Rangers left, leaving the two alone in the room. He laid back on the bed and grumbled. "This stinks! I hate being stuck somewhere, unable to do anything. Especially after those guys got away with what they did!"

She put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. If they were after the plate and it was there, they can't get to it either."

"I guess but that was a bit cowardly. They knew they couldn't handle our combined might and had to do something like that instead."

"You weren't scared about being stuck in that cave and possibly drowning?"

He laughed. "Scared? I was scared! I was just too scared of being scared. If I got scared, I might not have tried to find a way of escape. I might have just curled in a ball and waited for the water to overtake me. Or when I had gotten stung, I could have just let go and slipped into the water."

She let out a sigh. "Please just...be yourself. I don't want you trying to hide things or ignoring this...just to impress me. You don't have to."

Yes but was that good or bad? "I don't have to?"

She blushed and looked away. Still as meek and shy as ever. He still wasn't sure where that put their friendship, if there even was one. She had to be the hardest person to read. You think she's happy and she could be sad. She could be frustrated and you wouldn't even know. "I...just...don't know how to say this."

"Well no rush. I'm not going anywhere for a bit."

"Ahh...yes..." she said before he heard a phone go off. It didn't sound like his and he looked over at her. She pulled out one and answered it but not before walking out. Olly returned a few minutes later and looked around.

"Where's your friend?"

"Taking a call. So did your friend get in contact with the police?"

He nodded. "Yep, yep he did. The police were more than a bit concerned about what happened. They'll be looking into it. Actually they asked if you would not involve yourself in this."

He almost sat up and Wiggler let out a squeak. "Wait, why? Do they think I'm some sort of...dead weight or something?"

"Well it's not that. They just think that this is something that the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four should help look into. You're not a Gym Leader or part of the Elite Four. Your claim to fame is getting second place in the Pokemon League."

He laughed. "My only claim to fame?

"Hey, that's what they said. It's not against the law for you to help, it's just they'd really be happy for you to just return home. Live the normal life of a teenager, away from dangers and perils like that."

Jasmine entered the room again and Olly glanced at her. "Oh hey. I was just explaining to your friend about what the police had advised-"

"Yea, like going home and having a nice quiet life, away from all of this. Where's the fun in that."

"I think that's what they're concerned about. If they're already willing to try and kill you, it's getting pretty serious, not the kind of situation you want to be in. Next time you might not be so lucky."

"Hey...I think I can handle myself. I've been doing so before and I've deal with criminals before. They...just didn't try killing me before."

Olly sighed. "I'm not trying to dampen your hope but if the police ask you politely to not get any more involved, it's for the better. Believe me, I've been there and I was glad I got out when the getting was good."

He was really trying to dampen the mood! Ethan felt like calling him a killjoy but decided against it. "I mean I hear what you're saying but I'm not some rookie trainer. I helped put away Team Rocket last time, like in Mahogany Town where me and Lance chased them out of there or when we confronted Giovanni. I don't know why...oh forget it."

"Well then perhaps you can talk with them and explain. Maybe they'll reconsider."

After Olly had left a second time, he sat up and looked over at her. "Well you don't have to stay here. I'm sure you have stuff to do."

"I...will have to return to Olivine. There are some trainers wanting to earn a badge and I told them I'd be over. I-I-I was wondering if you could...umm...visit."

"Visit the gym? You mean like check it out or actually go there and watch you take on a few trainers?"

She nodded. "Watch me...take on some trainers-"

"Sure thing! I've always wanted to watch gym leaders take on trainers. It's one thing to take them on but it's another to watch them take someone else on."

"Ahhh...thanks. I would like that."

This would certainly be a new experience. So often he was used to coming through the doors of the gym, first taking in his surroundings and finding out which type they specialized in. Then fighting through the various trainers or gym groupies as he like to call them, before finally reaching the gym leader in the back room. Instead he and Wiggler sat atop some rocks that dotted the area where Jasmine would take on the would be challengers. He smiled a bit, remembering the first time he had come in here to take her on. It was after taking a long surf to Cianwood to get the medicine, while making a side stop to take on Chuck before making his way back across the ocean. And even before that, he had to brave the Olivine lighthouse filled with trainers to talk to her in the first place!

He looked over at Jasmine, who had Magneton floating nearby, the Pokemon she seemed to like sending out first. "So how many trainers do you usually get a day?"

"Maybe...one or two. Sometimes more. We're a bit out of the ways so...we don't get as many as other gyms."

"Yea and since you are using a type that is pretty new, most trainers won't know how to attack it yet."

She nodded. "I...remember you getting past me pretty easily-"

"Well yea but I got some pointers from Crystal. When she told me the attacks that would harm Steel, I came up with a way to take them down."

She opened her mouth to speak again but the doors opened and a pair of trainers walked in. One was a young blond haired man, dressed in a colorful biker's outfit. It bore a bunch of logos from various companies but Ethan thought it made him look like a walking glow worm. The girl had a dirty blond look going on and also wore a bike outfit but her's was a bit less colorful and more subtle. The guy noticed him at once and laughed. "Haha, you're telling me we have one more trainer to get past?"

"Perhaps we can have a double battle instead?" The girl asked. She shrugged. "I know he isn't an actual gym leader but-"

Ethan laughed as he hopped down. "Well the problem is that while I'd love to take you two on, I'm not an actual trainer here. I mean...I don't really have any steel Pokemon with me."

The guy laughed. "Then why are you here? I mean all of the other trainers here had some Steel Pokemon-"

"Jon, perhaps he's just visiting or something. I mean it's not unheard of. Didn't we run into that man named Eusine at Morty's gym? And he was just visiting an old friend when we happened to visit."

Jon laughed. "Haha, perhaps you're right. I had forgotten about that."

Ethan looked at Jasmine. "Even so, this is an official Gym leader battle so I can't participate. Though I would love to."

The girl looked at Jon. "What if we put off our official battle and just do an unofficial doubles battle?"

"You mean instead of taking her on for the badge, just have a doubles battle with these too? That doesn't sound like a bad idea Kate. That way we'll be even more prepared for the official battle!"

Jasmine stepped forward. "I don't mind...at all. Ethan doesn't seem to mind."

Ethan pulled out a Pokeball and summoned Wiggler back inside. "Yep, I haven't had too many battles since the Pokemon League so this should be good."

Jon's eyes grew wide. "You were in the Pokemon League?"

Ethan puffed out his chest. "Yep, so now you'll get a chance to see the kind of competition you'll be facing there!"

Jon pulled out a Pokeball of his own. "Then I'll call forth my first one," he said, calling a Dugtrio to the field. Kate summoned a Pokemon of her own, a Hitmochan. He stoked his chin, noting that they had came prepared to deal with steel in a big way. If that were the case, he knew he'd need a Pokemon that could help cover for her Magneton. He pulled out another Pokeball and summoned Juan, his Ludicolo to the field.

"Chan, go after the Magneton. It's the biggest threat here, take it out!"

Her Hitmochan spun its fist around before charging straight at the Magneton. Jon's Dugtrio dove under the ground and he could only figure it was going after the Magneton as well. Either they were giving Jasmine a huge amount of respect or they were going after the weakest link but he didn't see much use in ignoring his own. "Juan, how about we take the fight out of both of them."

Juan opened its mouth and let out a beam of icy energy, which it shot ahead of the two Pokemon's paths. A small area of ice appeared on the ground, causing the Hitmochan to slip and almost fall but its focus allowed it to stay on its feet. He could see the small trail of dirt where Dugtrio moved almost unseen but as soon as the beam crossed its path, it stopped the Pokemon right in its tracks. Jon gasped. "Doug!"

"He'll be fine."

Slowed a bit by the ice, the Hitmochan was unable to land a solid hit on the Magneton. Magneton countered with a powerful bolt of electricity. Hitmochan stumbled back from the attack before falling to one knee. "Ahh, it's been paralyzed! Let me heal it first before-"

"Hey Juan, think you can distract it for a bit? I'm sure Magneton would love the oppurtunity to get another attack off!"

Juan began to jump and dance around. It usually had a pair of maracas when it felt like dancing but without any music, it'd might be a bit tough to get him more in the mood. It let out a weird sounding but alluring tune from its throat, a tune that often had the effect of causing other Pokemon to get swept up into the music. Soon, despite the fact it's legs were paralyzed, the Hitmochan began dancing any way it could. It was a bit of an interesting sight with it dancing while on one knee and he began to laugh. Jasmine blushed and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"Chan, get your head in it! This isn't the time to be dancing around! I guess I'll have to use a Full Heal this time, "Kate said with a sigh. Ethan winked at Juan, who danced its way over to the Hitmochan before turning away. While the Hitmochan was still distracted and Kate was still making her way over, Juan spun around and laid into Chan with a sucker punch. Despite its stubby arms, it laid Chan out in an instant. "Hey, you can't do that! Can you?" She asked, looking at Jon.

"It's legal. Dark Pokemon are fond of using it but I guess other Pokemon can learn it too."

"But-but I don't get it. It's a Grass and Water Pokemon and used a couple of attacks that aren't its type and yet it nearly knocked both of our Pokemon out in one hit!"

Ethan shrugged. "Hey, I did say I was in the Pokemon League."

Jon smiled. "I guess you did say that. I'm guessing there's more to you then meets the eye," he said as he summoned a Pidgeot. Kate summoned her own bird Pokemon, a Fearow. Ethan gritted his teeth. Even with its ice attacks, any attacks from those two birds would cause some damage. Before he could suggest something to Juan, the Pidgeot flew straight at him.

"That's right! Take him out with Drill Peck!" Kate said. Ethan looked up and saw the Fearow dive at Juan, a moment or two after Pidgeot. A tag team attack, that might do the trick.

"Juan, be prepared to-"

"Thunderbolt," Jasmine said. A large bolt of electricity came out of nowhere and zapped the incoming Fearow. It continued to spin to the ground before crashing headfirst into it, looking stunned and dazed. Juan shot another icy beam at the Pidgeot, causing the bird to pull out of its attack and fly up and away from Juan. It didn't get very far as it took a slow descent to the ground, joining Fearow on the ground as well. Ethan smiled, having to remind himself that this was a doubles battle, not a two on one. He flashed a smile at her.

"Thanks for the save."

Jon recalled his Pokemon back. "That's four of our Pokemon down and you two still have your original two out, without taking any damage. Change of plans!"

Kate recalled her own Pokemon back and summoned an Arcanine. "Fang, focus on Magneton for now! We need to start making some ground."

"And I'll take out this Ludicolo," Jon said as he summoned a Heracross. Ethan frowned and looked at Jasmine. She gave him an affirming nod, mainly to just keep doing what they were doing. The Heracross charged at Juan with its large horn in front, a surefire sign about what was coming.

Did they always telegraph their attacks like this? He pulled out another Pokeball and summoned Juan back and brought out his next one, Krunk the Steelix. Jon let out a gasp as Heracross' Megahorn attack hit Krunk's shiny hide and bounced back with almost no effect. As Heracross rolled back from its useless attack, Krunk turned and swatted it aside with its tail, knocking it out with ease. Ethan smiled. "Good to see you're back in shape Krunk."

Jon smiled as he called back his Heracross. "So you did have a steel Pokemon. And you just played it off so we weren't ready for it."

Ethan shrugged. "Something like that. So who's next?"

Juan sighed as he summoned his last Pokemon, a Blastoise. Ethan frowned, wondering if he should keep Krunk out or let Rai get his turn in. He shrugged and called back Krunk. To be replaced by Rai, who seemed to be wincing in pain. "Huh, what's wrong with him?"

"Constipated. He stores too much electrical energy sometimes and he often unleashes-"

Before he could finish, Rai let out a little cry before it unleashed an enormous bolt of electricity from its body. Ethan jumped back as it lit up the entire room. He had only seen this happen a few times and when it did, it always caused him a bit of fright. When the light subsided and they could see again, Blastoise lay sprawled on the ground, the unfortunate target of Rai's little attack. Rai bounced up and down, feeling a lot better now. Too bad they couldn't say the same about the poor Blastoise. Ethan rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. Jon grumbled. "Well I'm out."

"Sorry about that. Sometimes he just has to let loose a bit like that," he said before looking over to see how Jasmine and Kate were doing. Or how they weren't even battling. Jasmine had sat down atop one of the rocks and Kate was busy twiddling her thumbs. "What, don't tell me you two are already finished?"

Kate sighed. "I tried to use both of my last Pokemon to take down her Magneton but it knocked them out before they could do much."

Jon laughed. "Well that battle went as well as I would have liked. I guess you two are really out of our league."

Jasmine stood up. "It's...okay. You did your best."

Jon glanced at Ethan. "And you said you had been in the Pokemon League. I've fought a few other people who were in it but was able to beat them."

Ethan laughed. "Well...okay there's more to it than that. I finished second in the tournament, losing only to the eventual Champion and I have all sixteen badges."

Jon nodded. "When you put it that way, I can see why you defeated nearly all our Pokemon in one shot. Don't think I'll take this loss lying down! I will want a rematch with you. Both of you in fact but especially you."

After they had left, Ethan once again let Wiggler out and looked over at her. "I guess I'm not that experienced in doubles battles. I keep forgetting about working together with my partner and instead just doing my own thing."

She shook her head. "It's okay. I don't do them much either. This is my...first one in some time."

He folded his arms. "I see. I think I need to take a trip out to the Battle Frontier and do a few more of them."

"Your leg is doing fine?"

He shook it a bit. "Eh, I'm fine. I can walk on it fine but I still feel a little weak. They said to take it easy for a couple more days so I guess I can't help you on that investigation until then."

She shook her head. "I...think I still am trying to come to terms with the fact that they tried to kill us."

"I guess you're right. I guess I kinda forgot about it already. I just hope they don't pull it again."

"Maybe with the police also involved, we will have some more help. More eyes looking out for them."

"So then what do we do with this plate I have? If they find out that I have it, they might come after me."

She looked at him and frowned. "I...don't know of a good place to hide it. I wish I did but I only think of people you could leave it with but...it'd be bad to get them involved."

"I'll just keep it with me for now. It'll be safest that way," he said, just as his phone went off. He took it out and answered it. "Hello, this is Ethan."

"Good to see you answer your phone. I have a deal for you," a gruff and mean voice said on the other end. Ethan turned away from Jasmine and frowned.

"A deal? What are you talking about?"

"You have something that belongs to me, a lime green plate to be exact. I want it back of course."

"And why should I give it to you?"

There was a pause at the other end. "Well, it'd be pretty terrible if some...unfortunate accident happened to Crystal. Being way out in the middle of nowhere, people can just...disappear without a trace you know. It-"

"You..."

"So if you don't want anything terrible to happen to her, you'll bring me that plate. I'll be at the Lake of Rage if you need me. Oh and do come alone. If you try to be smart and bring your gym leader friend or someone else, I will renege on my promise and it won't be pretty."

He heard a loud roar in the background and the guy laughed. "The Lake of Rage."

"Yes. Don't drag your feet either. Salamence can get cranky if he's kept waiting."

The other end went dead and he felt like crushing his own phone with his bare hand. So now they were really going to start playing dirty. While they were nasty, he didn't remember Team Rocket ever being this ruthless or cruel. He looked over at Jasmine and laughed. "Ahh sorry about that but...I have to be going somewhere real quick."

"Who was that? You...sounded pretty angry there."

He laughed. "Angry? Haha, I was just faking it."

She frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing. Trust me. I'll be back soon enough. It's just a quick errand I have to run!"

A quick errand that would end with a knocked out Salamence if he could manage.