A/N: Oh, hello! Sorry for the short hiatus but that should have been nothing to you if you've been following since I published in February. I would very much like to thank anon reviewers, especially 123PleKill. It makes me happy to see that people are picking up the clues and references I'm putting in.
I'm also excited because this story has officially got +1000 hits! I feel like I should do something special, like some art. Would anyone like to see that? And if I do fanart for this story, what should I do? Please review and let me know (or PM me if you like, that works too).
Anyway, I'll let you get on with it...
Things Start Off Scarce
"Corphish, use Vice Grip!" the woman commanded.
"Water Gun!" the man ordered. "Get that Torchic!"
Torchic ducked and scrambled to get out of the way of the jet of water from Poliwhirl's swirl.
"Mudkip, use Tail Whip!" Max shouted. Mudkip gave an uncertain glance to his trainer but lifted his tail to do exactly that. The Corphish advancing on him with an open claw blinked in confusion and its defences were down for a few critical seconds. "Use Tackle!"
Mudkip lunged at the lobster and it suddenly realised that some trick had been played on it. It snapped its claw shut but Mudkip had already slipped passed and tackled it. "Great! Now use Tackle on Poliwhirl."
Mudkip jumped off his previous target before it could get back up and delivered a full-body tackle to Poliwhirl's back. The Water Gun was cancelled and Tyson saw the opportunity for Torchic to make some ground and land a Scratch attack.
"Think you're such a crash hot team?" the man yelled. "Poliwhirl, use Double Slap!"
Poliwhirl slapped Torchic hard across the face and managed to get in a second hit that sent Torchic flying out of reach. It rounded on Mudkip. Max's Pokémon cowered but Max strongly commanded him to use Mud Slap. Mudkip flung some mud into Poliwhirl's eyes but it still landed three hits on him, sending him tumbling into Torchic. The two Pokémon rolled over each other before finally managing to disentangle themselves. They got to their feet looking worse for wear but Torchic was still glaring defiantly. Mudkip stayed close to his friend and stood his ground too. For the first time, Tyson noticed Torchic opening his beak and little flames bursting out.
"Um, hey Max, what do you think that is?"
"It's fire. Torchic's breathing fire!" Max gasped. "Do you think he's finally learning to do an elemental attack? The same one that Woofy uses."
"Ember? Torchic can use Ember now?!" Tyson exclaimed excitedly.
Poliwhirl and Corphish both used their Bubble attacks. Max ordered Mudkip to do Water Gun and Tyson told Torchic to unleash his Ember attack. The water jet and the fireballs collided with the bubbles, popping them before they met their targets.
"Heh! Only denying the inevitable," the woman scoffed. "Your Pokémon are still too weak to stand up to ours for long. Corphish, use-!"
The sound of a siren blasted loudly through the forest, startling some bird Pokémon out of the trees. Tyson and Max turned and spotted a white motorcycle driving up the bumpy path with a Growlithe and a familiar redhead sitting in the sidecar. The motorbike came to an abrupt stop and the third passenger jumped off the back. The Growlithe leaped out of the sidecar as the driver removed her helmet.
"All right, what's going on here?" she demanded.
"Oh shit! It's Officer Jenny!" the man exclaimed.
Max pointed at the pair they'd been battling. "These guys said they're also from Team Aqua."
"There's more of them?" Ray said.
Jenny dismounted her bike. "Just what are you two up to? Why use the Team Aqua name?"
"Don't just use the name, we are the name," the woman retorted.
"Team Aqua is making a comeback 'n' we're putting the world right the way it should be," her partner added, "Starting with the research of the ruin-"
The woman kicked him in the shin. "Don't tell them that!"
"What ruin?" Daichi asked.
"Poliwhirl, use Water Gun."
"KH3, use Flamethrower!" Jenny commanded.
Growlithe's Flamethrower and Poliwhirl's Water Gun collided with a stalemate, which was broken by Corphish jumping in with Bubble. The attack interrupted Growlithe's Flamethrower and it was doused with Water Gun. The woman got out another Pokéball and released its occupant into the crook of her arm. It was a little blue seahorse-looking creature.
"Horsea, use Smokescreen," she said. The seahorse puckered up its tube-like mouth and then blew a thick stream of purple smoke into the air, obscuring them completely. Officer Jenny and the bladers had to quickly cover their mouths and eyes against the billowing cloud. The Team Aqua grunts returned their Pokémon and ran off into the forest.
"Hold it!" Jenny yelled at them but by the time the cloud had lifted enough to not be a hazard they had already vanished. The Growlithe shook the excess water out of its fur but it was still shivering. She returned it to the Pokéball.
"Is Growlithe going to be okay?" Max asked.
"Yes, being in the Pokéball will keep him out of the draughts," Jenny explained. "He'll recover."
"I'm more worried about your Pokémon," Ray said, crouching down to examine Mudkip and Torchic. "They really took a beating there."
"You should go back to town and take them to the Pokémon Centre," Officer Jenny advised. Then she sighed. "Won't be able to track those guys without KH3's help. This needs to be reported so I'd like you all to come down to the station and make statements."
"Do we have to do it now? We're still kinda busy," Tyson said.
"Right. Your friend," Jenny remembered. "Doesn't have to be right now but the sooner the better." She went back to her bike and opened a compartment on the side. It was filled with a variety of miscellaneous small items, including few berries. She handed Tyson and Max an Oran berry each. "If you really insist on staying out here then give those to your Pokémon. Please remember to come by later."
"Will do, Officer," Max replied as she got on her bike and rode back to town. He and Tyson fed the berries to their Pokémon before returning them to their Pokéballs. "By the way, how did your search in town go?"
"We didn't find her," Daichi admitted.
"But I do have a hunch about where we should continue looking," Ray said. "Since we've met Team Aqua around this area twice, I think Mari may have come this way. We should keep following this road and see where it ends up."
Joined by Ray and Daichi, the bladers continued travelling up Route 103.
Meanwhile at the Pokémon Centre, the broadcast from that morning was finally finished. The coverage was live and lasted hours in what Hilary thought was the most amazing display of anything she had ever seen in her life. She could hardly describe what she'd just seen and thought that perhaps she would need a few minutes just to sit quietly and process it. Not only was there the talking cat, there were monkeys that could shoot stars out of their tails, fluffy bunnies with ice breath, cute fire foxes, walking roses and rodents that generated thousands of volts of their own electricity!
Hilary turned off the TV before the next program could start airing. She sighed and tilted her head up to the ceiling. Ralts had come to join her during the program. She cast a sidelong glance at her Pokémon. She hadn't seen a Ralts during the performances and the battles that followed them but she still wondered if that was something that Ralts could do. Ralts looked at her, seeming to read her thoughts. Then suddenly she gasped and turned around. Hilary lifted her head and looked in the same direction Ralts was, seeing that Kai was coming back from the training yard. He didn't acknowledge them, just walked straight past as if he was about to leave.
"Hey, Kai," she said, making him stop and look at her. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Just out," Kai replied curtly.
"Why?"
"The others aren't back," he simply answered.
Hilary blinked, unsure of why that was a problem until she looked at the clock on the wall near the stairs. "Whoa! It's lunchtime already?! I literally spent all morning watching TV! But you're right. They left hours ago, I wonder where they are." She and Ralts got off the couch and stretched. "At this rate, they're not going to be back for lunch at the Pokémon Centre. Hey, maybe we should take some to them. I'll go ask Nurse Joy if that's okay."
It wasn't much longer until Hilary had finished compiling the lunchboxes. There were sandwich bags and food containers for people to take food away from the Centre and she made sure to pack a bit extra for Tyson and Daichi. Ever eager to help, Chansey found a shopping basket that Hilary could use as a picnic basket to carry it all in. When she was prepared she left the Pokémon Centre, surprised to find Kai waiting for her by the bicycle rack.
"I thought you would have gone ahead," she said as she walked up to him.
Kai made a small, nonchalant noise and started walking ahead of her. Luckily for them, it was quite easy to follow their friends' trails. They'd left a long string of witnesses who saw them going north and so that's where Kai and Hilary headed.
However, when they got to the edge of town and the nice main street became a ragged dirt road they came across two rather strange individuals. They were a man and a woman, both wearing a red poncho with a hood that had ears and what looked like a nose. They were also wearing red arm and leg warmers with black gloves and shoes. The woman wore a grey dress and had locks of blue hair spilling out of her hood. She seemed to be talking to someone on a radio while she leaned against the road sign indicating that this beaten up road was Route 103. The man stood by idly with his hands in the pockets of his grey pants. He had a lock of brown hair falling over his forehead that he kept pushing back under his hood to no avail. He spotted Hilary and Kai and whispered something to his partner. She paused, said something hurriedly into the radio and then hung up. It looked suspicious to Kai but Hilary paid no mind to the odd actions. They were intending to just pass by but the man piped up:
"Hey, where you kids off to?" He glanced at Hilary's basket and waggled his eyebrows. "Romantic picnic in the woods?"
"N-no!" Hilary stammered, face going bright red.
"Careful with him, looks like a bad boy," the man continued, nodding towards Kai. Kai glared at him. Togepi just cooed like a baby.
The woman laughed. "Bad boy with a bad soft spot for something cute."
"We're just looking for our friends," Hilary pouted, not appreciating the teasing.
"Doubt they would have come through here," the woman chuckled. "Only thing at the end of this road is a river and no bridge. Nothing to do there but fish… or get a little private time." She laughed uproariously when Hilary's face turned three shades darker and her ears started to glow with colour.
"The people in town saw them going this way, so this is the way we're going," Hilary retorted. "We're not dating!"
"Suit yourself," the man shrugged. "Although I've heard that there's some shady pirate-looking characters hanging around here. Might want to be on alert."
The woman sniggered and Hilary wondered if she just found everything funny. "Thanks for the tip. We'll steer clear if we see them."
Hilary stomped off while the woman laughed and the man smirked. Kai followed her, casting a suspicious glance at both of them. As far as encounters with strangers go, that was amiable and inconsequent. Yet Kai couldn't shake the feeling that he should be on alert for those two in the future. He kept it in mind as he and Hilary traversed down the dirt road.
It wasn't long before they came across a second strange encounter along this route. There were four similarly dressed people – two women and two men – with one Pokémon between them. Hilary suddenly stopped and grabbed Kai by the arm to hold him back.
"Wait, Kai. Don't you think those guys look like pirates?" she asked, noting the nautical theme in their outfits. "Those two we ran into before said to be wary of them."
Kai glanced at Hilary and then looked at the small group ahead of them. His eyebrows furrowed as if noticing something weird and he yanked his arm out of Hilary's grasp. He stalked up to the group. He could hear them arguing and the conversation got clearer as he approached.
"You stole a friggin' Growlithe?! What we gonna do with a fire-type Pokémon?" the man in a bandanna said. "Them's crap Pokémon to have!"
"Oh, come on! Trust me!" the lavender-haired woman said. "It'll be useful somehow."
"For what?" the woman with a nasally voice snapped. "We're out here looking for a ruin and you were supposed to be tracking down anyone with inside info or research about it."
"We did! Archaeologists and professors come through here every once in a while but no one's gotten the funding for a project on these ruins for a couple of years; nobody around to steal from. So we decided to advance team interests in another way! Besides, it's not like you've done any better at securing the location!"
"You done crap!" said the man in the bandanna. "Shoulda nabbed the Mudkip instead."
The Growlithe in question was on its back with its feet tied together and its muzzle clamped shut with a tight rubber band. Kai growled and decided to make his presence known.
"Hey!" he yelled and they all started. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Um, Kai," Hilary said in a low voice, "I don't think this is a great idea…"
"Wazzat? More of 'em twits?" the man in the bandanna barked. He drew a Pokéball from his pocket.
"Leave them, they're just beginner trainers," the lavender-haired girl said, glaring at Kai and Hilary. The Growlithe spotted them and started to wiggle, whimper and whine loudly.
"That's awful!" Hilary gasped, seeing the helpless Pokémon. "Why are you doing that to him?"
"It recognises us…" Kai muttered. "It must be Mari's. Hand him over and we might let you get away."
"Pfft! Yeah, right! I'm not afraid of some amateur," the lavender-haired girl cackled. "Haven't you heard the memo?"
"Don't do the memo," the man and woman in the bandannas groaned.
"Sorry…" the frizzy-haired man piped up.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nations."
"To denounce the evils of truth and woe."
"To extend our reach to the depths below."
"Jemima!"
"Jamie…"
"Team Aqua, diving deep at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."
"Shut up!" Kai snapped, taking one of his own Pokéballs out. "Give that Growlithe back to us or we'll take it from you!"
"Rude…" Jamie muttered.
Jemima hefted Woofy onto her shoulder. "Jake! Josie!" she screeched. "Give us cover! Jamie'll keep them busy!"
"Hey, wait…" Jamie drawled, only looking slightly less bored than he was before.
Josie didn't give him enough time to argue before she released Horsea and used Smokescreen again. Kai lifted his scarf over his nose (as well as wrapping it around Togepi's face) to go charging into the cloud but a purple, green-winged moth suddenly appeared in front of him in a flash of white light. He skidded to a halt and backed up.
"Sorry it had to…" Jamie said, not bothering to finish that sentence. "Kinda works out for me, though. Running away is P awful, IMO. Needs effort. Pokémon battles… guess I can handle…"
Kai was about to throw his Pokéball but Ralts appeared in front of him in a white flash before he could try anything.
"Confusion attack!" Hilary ordered. Ralts held onto her helmet and channelled her energy into her horns. The waves of psychic power were visible, giving Dustox a distorted appearance but aside from causing Dustox to waver a little the attack didn't seem to have much effect.
"Psychics are no good against bugs," Jamie snickered, "since they aren't too big on central nervous systems. Dustox, Poison Sting."
Dustox spat a barb at Ralts that hit her right in the chest. Ralts was knocked over but quickly removed the barb herself and threw it away. She stood up again, ready to fight and thankfully appeared to have not been poisoned.
"Hilary, leave Ralts out of this," Kai said, releasing Poochyena. "This won't end well for her."
"Hey! We've only just gotten started," Hilary snapped.
"Any sort of bug-type attack will put Ralts in bad shape," Kai warned before ordering Poochyena to Tackle. Dustox easily hovered out of the way.
"Silver Wind," Jamie commanded. "Go for the Ralts."
Dustox turned around to ignore Poochyena and blew a gust of silver powder at Ralts. Ralts tried to evade it but tripped over her own tails. Kai yelled at Poochyena to block the attack and she jumped in front of Ralts, taking the brunt of the gale.
"Kai! That was a prime opening to attack it from behind," Hilary admonished.
"Your Ralts would have been out of the battle immediately if she took a direct hit from that," Kai retorted.
Jamie sighed as if this was hard work but said: "Man, this is too easy. Sleep Powder. K.O. them."
Dustox's wings sparkled with blue powder that it was preparing to spread. Hilary cringed, realising that it was the same stuff she'd found on the boys the night before. She had to think of something good and fast. "Ralts, use Confusion. Concentrate on its wings, just like the flags."
Ralts primed her psychic attack again and let it loose just as Dustox was about to fan sleeping powder everywhere. Its wings began to shudder and while the attack couldn't do any damage Dustox couldn't control its wings properly, causing it to throw the powder into the air all around itself. It slowly, drowsily dropped out of the air and fell asleep on the grass.
"Tch… WTF…" Jamie returned Dustox to its Pokéball. "Creative battling… You'll go far."
"Where'd your buddies run off to?" Kai demanded.
"Classified," Jamie replied cheekily.
Kai thrust Togepi into Hilary's arms. Hilary's eyes widened in fear of what would happen but Togepi only wailed quietly. She had sensed the dark aura sweeping off her trainer that was hot with anger and was rather happy with being in someone else's arms for a little while. Kai grabbed Jamie by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to make eye contact.
"Tell me. Or do we have to start fighting again?"
"Nah, CBF," Jamie replied lazily. "But I'm not telling…"
Kai made a fist with his free hand to punch Jamie in the face but the Team Aqua member caught it easily. He twisted Kai's arm and the world in Kai's eyes flipped as Jamie threw him to the ground. Kai found himself staring at the sky and wondering how such laziness could have belied such swiftness.
"The others are prob P far from here already," Jamie mused, looking at the surrounding forest with a dull expression.
Hilary gasped and ran over to her friend's side. "Kai, are you okay?" she asked, kneeling beside him and looking him over to see if anything was quite obviously wrong. Togepi made a high-pitched wail and reached out to him as best she could with her stubby little arms.
Kai sat up, grunting at the ache all down his spine. He waved Hilary off, saying, "I'm fine." Bruised, but fine.
Jamie was already walking off towards the town. "Wait a minute!" Hilary shouted at him. "Where are you going?"
"Leaving," Jamie answered curtly. "Don't feel like battling… Would've won anyhow."
Poochyena barked at him and Ralts growled. Poochyena's hackles rose and Ralts' eyes were glowing for another psychic attack.
"No, don't!" Hilary exclaimed.
"Stop," Kai ordered. Both Pokémon ceased their build-up and looked at their trainers confusedly. Kai glared at Jamie's retreating back. "This isn't over."
"Don't care," Jamie shrugged, not even bothering to look back. "The Team's P strong… Gaining numbers too. What are the chances of us meeting…?"
Kai stood up quickly. Hilary rose with him and put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from rushing off. "Never mind, he's not worth it," she said. "He probably has more Pokémon with him too. Ralts and Poochyena would have been in real trouble if he decided to bring out another one."
Kai clenched his jaw and shrugged his shoulder out of Hilary's hand. He returned Poochyena to her Pokéball and retrieved Togepi. Then he marched off to the north as Hilary scrambled to get her Pokémon and basket together and catch up to him. She just hoped, after this encounter, that she wouldn't find the others in terrible condition.
A/N: Jamie and Jemima are doing their memo again! Oh god, make them stop! I'm terrified of reading through that bit every time I proofread. Anyway, Hilary seems to have discovered Pokémon Contests and Team Aqua is awful forever. Growlithe is an adorable Pokémon. I only realised after a third proof that there is so much Growlithe bashing in this chapter. Poor Woofy. Poor KH3...
Speaking of which, special trivia note about police force Growlithes:
Anyone remember that episode in the first season where Officer Jenny tells her Growlithe to use Flamethrower and calls it 'Arcanine'? Well, at the time I thought she was either stupid or the dubbers were stupid and couldn't tell the difference between a Growlithe and an Arcanine but I later learned that it was actually a code: R-K-9. So I got it in my headcanon that all police force Pokémon have these little code nicknames that are based on 3 things: the Pokémon regiment they're in, the region and they have an individual number. So RK9 is in Regiment R of the Kanto Pokémon police force and is #9 in the squad. Likewise, KH3 is in Regiment K of the Hoenn Pokémon police force and is #3 in the squad.