A.N.: I don't own anything but my own characters! Sorry about taking so long! College life is busy, and I actually have a life! :O Anyway, enjoy!

00000000 Hold the Ship! 00000000

"Hello!" Andy shouted at the receiver. Static was all that responded from it. Andy desperately looked back at Cindy, whose Pokemon were being taken out slowly. Gilbert ran towards the battle and began spinning his bone into a Sandstorm attack. The sudden cloud of dust sent the Clockwork members sprawling back, but wouldn't stop them indefinitely.

Cindy ran to Andy, and they began fiddling with the controls. Cindy noticed a red button near the bottom of the controls, and pressed it without hesitation. Andy and Cindy tensed, but nothing seemed to happen.

"CU!" Andy spun around quickly. A Zubat had flown past the wall of wind and was buffeting Gilbert with its wings. Gilbert couldn't shake it off and keep up the storm. Cindy looked at her remaining Pokemon, her Venonat. Venonat nodded and charged at the Zubat.

"Venonat, use Tackle!" Venonat slammed into the Zubat, who struck the floor hard. The Zubat quickly thrust itself into the air again, and dived towards Venonat. Venonat began shaking, releasing a golden powder into the air. Zubat flew into the Stun Spore, and collapsed twitching. Venonat Tackled Zubat again, knocking it out.

While that was happening, Andy heard a voice on the radio calling "Hello? Is anyone there? What is your situation?"

Andy grabbed the receiver, and called into it, "Help! This is the S.S. Lucrezia! We were boarded by Nightmare Clockworks! We can't hold them back much longer!"

The radio had a sudden surge of static, but then cleared up. "Understood. Help is on the way. We have a vessel that is 5 miles west of your ship, if the reading from your signal is correct. Do your best to hold on!"

Andy groaned. That would mean at least another half hour before help arrived. Andy turned around and called to Gilbert "Can you hold out for a few more minutes? Help is coming!"

Gilbert nodded hesitantly. Cindy said, "We can't hold out at this rate! Once these goons get back-up, we're screwed!"

Andy said grimly, "We can at least take these guys out, then try and distract the rest." He turned to Gilbert and said, "Take a rest from that. Use Tackle!"

Cindy nodded and called out, "Show them your Psybeam!" Gilbert stopped twirling his bone, and began charging at the Zubat. Venonat began shooting rainbow colored rays from its eyes, taking out the Zubat one at a time. Gilbert rammed hard into a Zubat, and then smashed the ground with his club. Parts of the floor broke off, and Gilbert began batting these fragments at the Zubat, Knocking the Zubat around his unconscious.

Momentarily surprised that Gilbert learned Rock Slide so suddenly, Andy simply stood there watching the battle end. Seemingly, the desperate situation caused Gilbert to figure out a new technique that would actually be effective. Gilbert turned around and smiled in pride at taking out so many Zubat so easily. However, the Clockwork Grunts were already retrieving their Zubat and calling out other Pokemon. A Raticate, two Bellsprout, Geodude, two Kricketot, and three Skorupi appeared.

"Great, now they're mad." grumbled Cindy. Venonat and Gilbert stood side by side, ready to fight the horde of Pokemon. Andy gritted his teeth at this undesirable development.

"Gilbert, let's show them your Sandstorm again!" He called out. Gilbert began another raging dust veil when Geodude suddenly charged right through the cloud, completely unfazed by the blistering winds or sand. Gilbert slammed Geodude across the room with a Bone Club, and then parried the Bellsprout's Vine Whip attacks away from itself. The vines wrapped around Gilbert's club, and a ferocious tug-of-war began between the Bellsprout and Gilbert. Meanwhile, Venonat was having trouble holding off the Skorupi and Kricketot. Psybeam was not strong enough to knock them out in a hit, so the bug Pokemon simply did their best to dodge the attacks without disrupting their attack patterns. Meanwhile, Raticate was lashing at Gilbert with Slam, causing Gilbert to cry out in pain. Gilbert was still unwilling to let go of his club, seeing as it was precious to him. The battle was not looking well for Andy's group, as Skorupi suddenly launched a Poison Sting attack at the trainers. A barrage of toxic needles flew at Andy and Cindy, who both barely dodged in time.

However, just as the Skorupi was about to launch another barrage at them, a loud crash was heard, and a voice called out, "String Shot!" A long strand of silk covered the Skorupi's stinger. Everyone turned to look at the door, which was busted wide open. Standing there at the doorway was Don and his Pokemon. However, Sentret and Rattata seemed to be exhausted from tackling down the door, though Don had helped as well (it was quite a heavy door). Only Kakuna seemed to be strong enough to keep fighting.

Don seemed to be alright though, as he called out, "Kakuna, String Shot!" Kakuna sent a long strand of silk onto the air above the enemy Pokemon, catching the Bellsprout, Kricketot, and Skorupi in the webbing. However, Raticate had escaped the attack with its amazing speed. Raticate leapt at Kakuna, ready to use Bite on it, when Kakuna used its Harden attack. Raticate bit Kakuna, only to leap back in pain; it had felt like biting solid stone. Kakuna glowed again, hardening its body. Then it suddenly burst forth from the ground and landed in front of Raticate. Kakuna then sent a spray of Poison Sting at Raticate, striking it from close range; Raticate was quickly knocked unconscious.

Kakuna began glowing brightly; its form began to change. When the light stopped, the new Pokemon was buzzing above the ground. The new Pokemon was yellow with black rings on its body, which was separated into three round segments. It had large, red eyes and a large stinger on its tail and on each of its forearms.

Andy pulled out his Pokedex and scanned this new Pokemon, "Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokemon. Beedrill has three poison barbs. The barb on its tail secretes the most powerful poison. They sometimes attack in swarms."

Everyone was so shocked at the sudden evolution that no one was prepared for what happened next. Beedrill sped through the air in a blink of an eye, and struck the enemy Pokemon with its powerful Fury Attack. In less than half a minute, all of the Clockwork grunt's Pokemon were rendered unconscious.

"Wow." Cindy said in awe. No one had expected Beedrill to be this powerful. The Clockwork grunts were quickly rounded up with String Shot, and thrown unceremoniously in the corner. Don ran up to the control panel and began fiddling with the buttons.

"There's no point," Andy said. "Help won't arrive for at least half an hour."

"We're going to have to hold out until they arrive then," Cindy muttered quietly. "We need to find a more effective strategy to use. Being cornered in this room isn't a good idea." The other two nodded in agreement. They recalled all their Pokemon (except Cubone of course) and ran out of the room. Any Clockwork grunt they encountered was quickly taken down with a Bone Club, courtesy of Gilbert. They reached a staircase marked "Personnel Only!" and forced it open, unheeding the command. They ran up the staircase and exited to the top deck, right above the control room; from there, the sent out all their Pokemon who could still fight. Gilbert, Venonat, Beedrill, Rattata and Sentret lined up in a row in front of their trainers, ready to protect them.

As they waited for the enemy to appear, Don turned to Cindy and said, "So… want to get some coffee after this is over?"

Cindy looked stunned at this sudden question; Andy just looked up at the sky while the Pokemon were waiting for any sign of their enemies. "Err, I don't think this is the time!" Cindy mumbled. Don looked a little disappointed, but then, they all heard footsteps from the deck below them. A dozen Clockwork grunts filed onto the deck.

"Venonat, use Sleep powder," whispered Cindy. Venonat began to sprinkle a blue dust down towards the Clockwork grunts below them. Before they knew what hit them, the grunts were out like a lightbulb.

Unfortunately, they all heard noise from right behind them; the door to the top deck was flung wide open, and seven Clockwork grunts were suddenly pouring out onto the deck. The grunts parted to allow their captain through.

"Ah, so you are the kids who were giving my subordinates trouble," leered the villain. "Well let I, Clockwork Captain Hauss, teach you a lesson for interfering with Nightmare Clockworks' operation!" Hauss threw a Pokeball into the air and Weepinbell appeared.

"Use Sleep powder!" commanded Hauss. Weepinbell blew out a wave of blue powder at the kids and their Pokemon. Gilbert tensed his bone, ready to blow the powder away.

All of a sudden a mighty wind struck the ship surface, blowing the Sleep Powder away.

A.N.: Yeah, I know this chapter has been a long time in coming. Well, if anyone still wants to read this, please review! Or not I guess. :\ Hopefully this story gets read at least. Anyways, next chapter will hopefully be the end of this long boat ride. Stay tuned!