A/N: now you sparse readers are in for a treat (maybe). This chapter will be long, but it'll be important. The Trainers heroically run after Hiku's kidnappers, and Raquaza is introduced fully by name. Then a report on the TV that features the leaders of the four allied nations leaves Raquaza trembling. Ok, enough intro, read it! …. Please?

Chapter 10

Forte watched in fascination as the respectable trainer that he had known fighting Vekra fall apart in an angry mess. Jaylon –still trembling in rage– sat by the unconscious man. Forte didn't know what to do or what to say.

Fortunately, Hiku's brother was much more thoughtful and began to spit out orders. His eyes flashed behind his glasses as he observed the scene before him. "Ok, this guy had to do with snatching Hiku. Mom and Chammy will watch over the creep and interrogate him when he wakes up. You two trainers, follow the others snatchers. If you have any Pokémon that can track well, get them following a scent. When you find them, kick their butts. I will send messages to the people around here to report suspicious persons in black, and then we can have friends helping out too." Weyler finished with a look of a calculated and angry Pokémon.

"Weyler…" Mrs. Turret gasped, stunned at her son's ability to order a rescue team so quickly. Maybe he should have been recruited by Raquaza as well.

"My sister is in danger. Move, trainers!" the white haired boy in glasses addressed the idle trainers.

Jaylon slowly released his hold on the man in black and stood to his feet with a haunted look on his face. "My only friend has been taken…" he whispered. He stared at the ground and clenched his fists. His matted hair fell over his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression.

Forte put his chubby Makuhita on the ground and raised his arms in a shrug. "I don't have any Pokémon that smell scents very well. Do you have any?" the loud boy could keep track of orders and was happy to get going on saving a girl.

Rain the Zangoose made a visible exasperated sign. "Zangoose, Zangoose goose Zan!"

Jaylon didn't move.

"Come on! The longer you wait, the farther away they get!" Weyler came up to the brown haired boy and shoved his shoulder. "You can't crumble right now, not when my sister needs a hero the most!"

Jaylon reached up and tightened his headband. "You're right, I can't give up now. There's still hope." He sighed and fingered his bag. "I wish I still had my Poocheyna, he was good at tracking."

The white Zangoose by his side rolled her eyes and head-butted her trainer. "Goose Zan-Zan goose Zangoose go-goose!" she protested.

"You can? That's great! Ok Rain, you ready to get those low-down bad guys?" Jaylon pumped his fists in victory.

Weyler raised his eyebrows. Did that trainer just understand his Pokémon? That was scientifically rare. Who was this guy? Was this the friend she talked so highly of: Jaylon the helper?

Jaylon and his Zangoose ran off into the woods, followed by the tall, black boy with the Makuhita. Suddenly, everything became quiet in Oldale town.

"Weyler, that was incredible." Mrs. Turret remarked.

"We can talk about that later. We aren't finished here. You and Chammy should watch over the guy in black. I'm going to call up our friends and tell them to look out for suspicious characters. That guy with the Zangoose might be Hiku's friend. We can trust him, but I don't know this other tall guy." Weyler shook his head and grumbled to himself. "I can't believe that we were this close to her and we didn't hear anything until it was too late. My own sister was kidnapped right under my nose…"

...

Jaylon ran as fast as he ever had. His arms and legs pumped as the forest flashed by. Rain raced ahead of him, following the trail of scent. He didn't know that Zangeese could be as good trackers as Poocheynas could, but Rain insisted so.

He suddenly got a random idea and pulled out his Pokénav. He hastily dialed his old teammate's number as he dodged trees and leapt over brush after his Zangoose. The receiver picked up and Vekra's bored voice came over the Pokénav.

"What is it now?" she asked in irritation.

"Hey, Vekra. You know what? Hiku's been snatched." Jaylon gasped for air while he talked and ran.

"What?"

"Yeah, our old teammate has been snatched by weird black suited guys. I and your other old teammate are tracking them right now." Jaylon replied, holding back his burning anger from her. After all, she and him didn't get along very well, why cause an emotion mess?

A pause came back over the receiver. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, are you near Oldale town?"

"No, I'm stuck in Johto with Latios. We almost got shot down while riding over the Raquaza's base." She grumbled back.

"You're with Latios?" Jaylon's eyes widened. Was this a captain or the real Pokémon?

"So, what now?" Vekra said carefully.

"Tell Latios, heck, tell every high powered person that she's been snatched. Call Raquaza if you can. Everyone in this whacko organization that made us trainers should know. Maybe we can get more people on our side that way." Jaylon rambled as he ran.

Vekra paused again, then said, "Are you sure that will help?"

"Whatever, just let them know. They are on our side, what's the point of not telling them? Ahh!" he yelped as a tree branch whipped at his hand holding the Pokénav. The device flew out of his hand.

"Maku hitahita!" called Maku. The little chubby Pokémon jumped and held up the caught Pokénav. It waved the device happily, as if it had found a new fun toy.

"Thanks," Agent J smiled back at the Pokémon and trainer behind him. "I don't need it right now, so you can just hold it."

Forte kept pace, but had a concerned look on his face. "Jaylon? What are we gonna to do once we catch up with these dudes?"

The brown haired boy continued running with a confused look on his face. "I dunno. I was just hoping to get Hiku back. That means that we'll end up fighting those goons off. Ready, Rain?"

"Zan Zangoose goose Zan [Do I have to hold back on these humans?]" the galloping Pokémon asked back.

"Nope, you can go all out on these guys. I don't think I'll be too mad if you end up killing one of them…" Jaylon replied with a grim smile.

Forte's eyebrows shot up. "Then ya might have ta jus' use yer Pokémon, I've only got Maku here and a little cocoon Pokémon. And they don't know how ta fight. They're contest Pokémon, not killers…" he cleared his throat and thundered, "And how could you say that you didn't care if yore Pokémon killed a person?"

The other boy replied angrily, "Because they want to kill my friend, and I can't let that happen!" he broke off from his motivational speech to gasp for breath. "Rain, how much farther ahead are they?"

"Zan-Zan goose, goose Zangoose [We are getting closer, so keep quiet.]" the white and red Pokémon hissed quietly back.

...

The two men in black grunted and tried to run faster with a girl and her Mudkip. "They are catching up, I can hear them." The black suited man grumbled as Hiku's limp form patted his back repeatedly as he ran.

"If we are caught, our mission will be a failure and our cause will be discovered by this Raquaza person. We have to stay as undercover as we can." The second man (clearly the leader) admitted as he crashed through a large bush. He held the stunned Mudkip in his arms, it was the lighter of the two loads to deliver.

"Does that mean we drop her and get out?" the third man asked. "What about Roger?"

The leader in black rolled his eyes. "This is your first time doing it this way, isn't it? First, we drop the girl off a cliff or slit her throat and provide an easy escape for ourselves. Our chopper will be waiting in Petalburg. Roger can take care of himself. He knows that if he is caught and questioned, he will have to be a noble samurai and kill himself. It's how it goes."

"But what about getting the identities of the other rookies?" the third man asked, still confused over the new order.

"There's one following us, and the other with him might be the third Hoenn rookie. We've got all the info we need." The leader replied slyly. "Now drop her and kill her, then we get away while they are grieving, got it?" he continued running with the Mudkip, not waiting for the first man to do the dirty deed.

The third man nodded and dropped the unconscious girl on the grass.

...

Raquaza sighed to herself and flipped on the news channel on her office TV. She frowned as she saw footages of Pokémon fighting humans in a terrible stand-off. The news caster replied, "Yes, this is indeed terrible to watch. All these poor people trying to live in Viridian and suddenly a swarm of violent Pokémon start wounding -even killing- the people. The residents could only react back with violence. We will keep you posted on this bulletin. Now in other news…"

The woman dressed in green sighed and flipped the channel again. She saw that the next news channel was showing the same video clip with slightly different commentary. She thought to herself, this is bad… Pokémon attacking humans, and no trainers in Kanto to stop it… what is this world coming to? At least ten years ago trainers were encouraged to travel around, and even before that, everyone looked up to the Lugia Rider. Now humans and Pokémon are drifting apart…

"We interrupt this story with an emergency broadcast from the Prime Minister of Hoenn's conference room. This is an emergency meeting between the four leaders of the allied regions; Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Hoenn." The TV screen flickered and was replaced with an amateur-looking camera shot showing four men in suits. Raquaza frowned and leaned closer to the screen. What is this about?

"This broadcast is a video of a meeting between the four presidents of the Pokémon regions. Each of the men here gave permission for this bulletin to be broadcasted." The news anchor gave the disclaimer, and then the video began.

The first man dressed in a grey suit with a grey-striped tie stood up and held out his hands in greeting to the other three. This man had greying hair and was the prime minister of the Hoenn region. "Welcome. What is this meeting all about?" The camera zoomed in closer to his face and a title appeared on the screen, Caleb Krei, Prime Minister of Hoenn.

"Obviously you haven't watched very much on Kanto channels," replied a silky voice. The camera zoomed out and focused on the one who had spoken. The under screen read: Mitch Walhof, President of Kanto. This man had slicked back black hair and a long black mustache. He looked at least fifty years old. Mr. Walhof continued, "There have been Pokémon rampages all throughout my region. People are dying, and all I can do is send them false hopes…"

"Johto is beginning to see this Pokémon rage as well." Cut in a forty-year old man with a pink suit and blue tie. He certainly was younger than the other two men shown, but he seemed to have a bad eye for color coordination. The under-screen read: Arynn Hawkes, President of Johto. "Lake Rage has always been a tourist attraction to see Gyrados, but now they are much too wild and aggressive to see anymore. One tourist was nearly drowned and bitten in half. We must do something to protect the people!"

The fourth man stayed silent, contemplating the discussion. This man was by default the Sinnoh President, Andrew Rozeboom. He wore a black suit with a red tie. Mr. Rozeboom was the youngest of the leaders, but appeared the most thoughtful.

Mr. Krei shook his head. "I am dreadfully sorry to hear that. What can we do to stop this?"

"Get Pokémon trainers to fight them back." Raquaza said out loud to the TV set. Even though she knew that they couldn't hear her, she wished they did.

The video continued.

Mr. Walhof and Mr. Hawkes nodded to each other and Walhof continued. "We of the Johto and Kanto regions have decided on the best mode of action. If Pokémon are becoming rampant, then we must defend ourselves."

Mr. Hawkes, complete with pink suit, continued to elaborate, "We could set up projects to build walls so the Pokémon can't get through. We can arm the general public in case an attack becomes common. We have even proposed that-"

"-Pokémon hunts are made to be legal again." Walhof finished.

The Prime Minister of Hoenn looked shocked. He adjusted his grey suit to hide his nervousness. "Now, really, isn't that harsh? Pokémon hunts were banished nearly a millennia ago. Isn't it barbaric to turn the rules around to then?"

The forty-year-old Hawkes glanced around nervously. "Not when our people are dying, sir. That's why this meeting was called. We, Walhof and I, wanted the rest of the allied regions to sign a document that states that our citizens will be safe. Our alliance states that all regions must be in accord on any ground-breaking laws brought to the public's attention. We must have all leaders agree on this treaty, even if this includes Pokémon hunts. This is all in self-defense."

Walhof nodded slowly. "Who knows, maybe if the Pokémon rampages are stopped, then fewer trainers would disappear. Maybe the Pokémon are to blame for the disappearances of the Pokémon trainers as well."

Raquaza leaned back and frowned. Were Pokémon responsible for Pokémon Trainer snatchings? Could that really be the case? She was almost sure that it took human intelligence for these kidnappings? Uchiha's letters seemed to confirm that it was chaos in Kanto, but now she was gone, along with any other clues.

The Sinnoh President finally spoke up and the under-screen read: Andrew Rozeboom, President of Sinnoh. "If you don't mind, could I share something that some researchers have shown me?" the younger man stood up and removed a folder from his black suit. He flipped it open and began reading, "Some statistics have shown me that the number of registered Pokémon trainers and the number of Pokémon attacks are inversely related."

He flipped over the folder for the others and camera to see. The graph showed a long bar graph. The first division was labeled "Kanto". There was a big, red bar next to a small green bar. The next was labeled "Johto" and it showed a slightly lower red bar and a slightly bigger green bar. Hoenn had the red and green bar even, and Sinnoh showed a much higher green bar than red one.

"Let me explain this. The red bar shows the number of reported Pokémon attacks, and the green bar is showing the number of trainers. Kanto has a low number of trainers and a high rate of attacks, while Sinnoh has many, many trainers and attacks are seldom. My experts say that this is a true inverse relationship. There are no other factors that I can see that can modify this evidence." Andrew Rozeboom laid the folder on the coffee table in front of the others for them to see for themselves.

"That's IT!" Raquaza cried and grinned widely at the TV. "You have certainly got it right on the nail!" she cheered for the younger man that had proven her theory as truth.

The video camera focused in on Walhof and the black haired man shook his head. "I can't accept this as proof, Rozeboom. My people are dying and your idea is to put more lives in danger by rising up trainers? That will only encourage Pokémon attacks!"

"Now look here-" Rozeboom stammered and picked up his folder again. "This plan does not mean putting more lives at risk."

"If Pokémon are responsible for trainer disappearances, then it is dangerous! You are only digging us deeper in our hole." Walhof stood up angrily and threw down the folder.

"No… listen to the Sinnoh President…" Raquaza pleaded again to the TV.

Walhof stomped on the folder's contents and gave Rozeboom an angry stare. "We have to stop these killings as soon as we can! I say we sign a treaty that will allow Pokémon poaching to save the people."

"Calm down now," Mr. Krei held up his hands to stop Walhof. "We will have another meeting after we have all thought about this matter more. I will call you for a later time." the older man bowed politely and the video grew black. Then, the regular news caster concluded the video and launched back into regular news concerning Pokémon attacks, natural disasters, and celebrities.

Raquaza swore inside her head. The only sensible one of the leaders seemed to have been shut down by the desperate ones. How could instant gratification come before a logical answer? Were Pokémon really to blame for trainer 'snatchings'?

"Things aren't looking good for us, huh?" a new voice started Raquaza to whip around in her seat. She smiled as she recognized the person.

"Hey, did you just see that?" she indicated to the TV set.

The arrival jumped on the couch next to her and nodded. He was serious, but not for long. He was a blonde boy with normal, modern clothes on, but his purple eyes betrayed him as a young, spunky person. "Yup. Things are taking a turn for the worse, especially for my kind."

"What do you mean?" Raquaza raised her eyebrows.

The boy shrugged and laughed a bit. "We've got to watch out for crazy people like that Walhof guy."

"I thought that was the norm for you." Raquaza laughed back at him.

He joined her giggles. "True…" he admitted.

"So, how's life, Kasmir?" Raquaza asked politely. "You look different."

Kasmir shrugged and smiled in a carefree way. "I can look the same if you want me to." Suddenly, his appearance changed and he took on a more childish look. Now he had a flowing green cape and medieval looking clothes.

Raquaza punched his arm lightly. "I swear, you are my favorite Pokémon in the world!"

Kasmir's look changed back to his first appearance and he gave a happy look. "Really? I didn't know that, Corinne."

"Yes, I like your kind of Pokémon… JUST DON'T CALL ME BY MY NAME! IT'S RAQUAZA NOW!" She suddenly changed her expression and shouted at him. She shook her blonde head and sighed. "You keep on forgetting that I'm Raquaza now, and that you can't call me that."

Kasmir looked a bit scared, but recovered quickly. "I see that you are still your old, crazy self."

"Yeah, and you're a naïve Pokémon from the past who wishes he was a human…" Raquaza added darkly.

The boy/Pokémon screwed up his face in a pout. "So?"

The door opened and a figure walked in. Both occupants turned to see who had walked in on their conversation. The newest arrival was a blonde as well. She was an older woman with long, blonde hair. In fact, she much resembled Corin- erm, Raquaza. The woman sighed and said, "Really, Raquaza, you shouldn't be talking with friends while on duty."

"I know, Raquaza," the first woman replied back. These two similar women had agreed to take on the job as Raquaza together, so they shared the same name and had to address each other by that new name. "But it wasn't my fault that I was talking with him…"

Kasmir jumped up, nearly floating off the ground. "What? Hey!"

"And you," the second Raquaza addressed Kasmir in a serious tone, "no Pokémon are allowed in the study."

Kasmir crossed his arms defiantly. "No problem here, I AM a human…"

To prove her point, the second Raquaza pulled out a Pokédex and the Pokémon encyclopedia beeped. "Mewtwo, the genetic Pokémon…"

Kasmir sighed and held up his hands as he floated off the ground. "Ok, fine. I'm a clone of a super clone of Mew… What does that make me then?"

"A Chimchar's uncle?" the first Raquaza smirked.

The second Raquaza remained calm and placid. "Kasmir, you know the rules. You can chat all you want with her after Raquaza is done with her work." She turned her attention to the first and younger Raquaza, "And you ought to pay more attention to your work. We have to pass as one person, and I will not have you goofing off."

The first Raquaza sighed. It was hard to pretend to be such a serious person. "Yes, Raquaza…"

The second, serious Raquaza glanced at the human-looking Mewtwo. "Shouldn't you get going?"

The purple eyed boy sighed and waved goodbye. He suddenly vanished due to a teleport attack.

The second Raquaza sighed and eyed Corinne carefully. "You were having a good chat with the Pokémon?"

The first Raquaza nodded, determined to not show too much emotion to her counterpart.

"He's quite taken to you if you couldn't tell…"

The first Raquaza shrugged. "He was a friend of my brother's…"

"Well, while you and him were talking, I got a call from Latios. First off, he sends his regrets once again that he will not be present for a while. And secondly, he heard through the grapevine that Hiku has been 'snatched'." The second Raquaza added coolly.

"What?" Corinne jumped. "No, not Hiku…" Hiku had been her choice of trainer when the spy cams were sent out over Hoenn. That girl had the making of a loving trainer. But now… "Is there any other word? How could this have happened?" First Uchiha, now Hiku?

"I don't know, the news was fresh, so I don't know what could have happened. Hiku may be dead or disappeared like Uchiha. Either way, we have to get those rookies somewhere safer and teach them proper safety." The second and older Raquaza kept her voice even. "Send out the Pokémon to pick them up, wherever they are. We cannot have the rookies killed."

"But it was our original plan for the rookies to figure out the life of a trainer on their own." Corinne/Raquaza protested.

"It's far too late for that now."