Chapter Ten: The Meeting with Mizuko

It could've been a half an hour, it could've been an hour… however long it took to get to the larger island, the group took no notice. Each person (And Morph) had a determined look on their faces, watching as the island came into clearer view. Beginning to descend, the pokemon carrying their trainers lowered slowly.

Amphie slid off the back of her Dragonair-ride rigidly first. Des touched down next to her, feeling her shiver. "That… has to be the COLDEST flight I've ever had… since… FOREVER!" she stated, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

"Don't worry, you'll warm up, inside I mean," Adrienne said, slipping off Aurora with ease and returning the dragon-type to the safety of her pokeball.

"Good point…" Amphie said, looking around the island. It seemed quite deserted, with the exception of the big, black building in the middle of the island.

Tyler and Chaos descended next; sliding off Tyler's Fearow, who looked gracious to get both his trainer and Chaos off him. He ruffled his feathers excitedly, but to his dismay, was returned to his pokeball; which he did quite reluctantly.

"Where's Autumn?" Chaos asked, looking around, her fluffy tail wagging with anticipation.

"It takes her Skarmory a while to descend," Adrienne replied, pointing upwards, where the shadow of a bird slowly descended and touched down next to Chaos.

"Thanks Skarmory," Autumn said in appreciation, returning the steely bird to his pokeball.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Chaos asked, "Let's get in there, and kick some Rocket and Aqua ass!" she shouted, punching her fist in the air. The rest of the group gave a "YEAH!" and they all set off into the forest, scouting around to make sure they were going in undetected.

Twelve different monitors buzzed and hummed; catching every movement and word whispered on the island. One particular one, however, had a moving picture, constantly following the five heroes and their little tag-along.

Mizuko was standing in front of the monitors, two assistants working the keyboards in front of her. One was a snappy Aqua with most-definitely-died winter green hair. She clicked at the keyboard in a brisk pace, barely looking down at her fingers. The other, a skinny, blonde-haired man took his time adjusting the buttons around him, as Mizuko watched the screens with interest.

"Well, they're here…." she said in a cold voice, but it could be detected that she was happy in a way. She then began to speak, not to her executives, but to the screens.

"Good job Swellow. Continue following them, and don't loose sight of Adrienne either!" Mizuko ordered, and one of the screens gave an odd 'Lowww' before continuing follow the group.

"When they come, I'll be ready." Mizuko said incoherently to herself, and spoke up once more. "Make sure all samples, pokemon, and … beasts, are in the helicopters outside. The clones can stay; as will the assigned grunt. You two meet me on the roof. Inform everyone now."

Mizuko then turned on her heel, and walked out of the dark room; heeled-boots clicking with every step. She shut the door with a snap and no more sound was heard in the room.

"Every member is to gather everything left over and to report to the hidden helicopters near the beach. The assigned member is to stay behind. That is all." rang a cool, female voice through the building, and stopped after it had made its message.

Ten minutes later, the group had arrived at the building. Hiding in the bushes surrounding the building, they began to talk furiously of what to do. That is, before Chaos actually said that they might get caught for being too loud.

"Okay, so we'll go in, and keep it low," Autumn instructed. Making sure the others were following the plan, she continued, "and at the right moment, we'll jump them… if no one is there; I highly doubt it, then we'll scout the area for clues. Okay?"

"Agreed," The rest of the group mumbled quietly.

"Now, we need one person to go in, someone who can fit through small places with ease…" Autumn said, and at the same time, everyone looked to Chaos.

"What! I'm not going!" she protested quite loudly. Tyler held his hand over her mouth.

"You have to!" Amphie told her. "Then give us a cue to go."

"That will be quite easy. I'll send my Umbreon in with you," Adrienne said, "and Espeon. Espeon will send telepathic messages to me, and we'll go when I get the signal."

"Sounds good enough," Des agreed. "but maybe two escorts should go too…" He added, looking at the Ninetales and her companion Houndoom.

"Are you considering that we send them in too? What happens if they get caught?" Amphie asked.

"That won't happen!" Tyler and Autumn said at the same time.

"They both have great agility," Autumn mentioned, before Tyler continued.

"And they're hard to beat!" Tyler said smiling. The group stared wide-eyed at them.

"What?"

"I bet they're psychic or something…" Adrienne mumbled.

"We psychics cannot release our secrets!" Autumn joked, laughing.

"Well, anyway, let's get with it! They'll make it…" Adrienne said suddenly, cutting everyone off. "Umbreon, Espeon, come on!" she ordered, releasing the sleek Eons.

Chaos mumbled something about 'being little isn't a good thing' and changed into her Growlithe state, joining her current partners in scouting. Flare and Fang joined them, and they all looked at each other.

"Well, get going! And give us the word as soon as possible!" Des ordered. The pokemon all bolted stealthily into the building, and disappeared into the shadows of the open doors.

"What do we do now?" Tyler asked.

"We wait," Adrienne said, the rest of them sat down after she did, all looking about for something suspicious…

But they missed something they shouldn't have. Miro stood at least twenty feet away, completely shrouded by the shadows. He watched the five closely, shaking his head. "Idiots," he mumbled to himself. For he knew something they didn't. Like he always did…

Fang and Flare rushed passed the open doors, and behind some crates; Umbreon, Espeon and Chaos inched in next to them, all looking about.
Suddenly, they began speaking to each other…

"Okay," Fang began in a firm tone, "we need someone to go upstairs, and scout out the upstairs."

"Hey, hey, heeyyy… Who made you head of the operation! Remember, I'm the one who was supposed to come here alone!" Chaos piped up angrily, her redish-orange fur ruffling.

"Oh, you the runt; Gee, if Tyler never saw you, pretending to be helpless, then he never would have picked you up." Fang growled back, baring his white fangs, which he was named for.

"You don't scare me," the twelve-year-old snarled back. "I can do this by myself!"

"So be it," Fang said in the same snarl.

"Shh… Fang, don't be so harsh." Flare said in a soft voice. "Just, let's me and you go in this room here," She said, indicating to the room next to the crates. "and Chaos can go in the room next to it."

"Fine, but I better not have to save your hide, like every time I have to." Fang growled.

"Then I'll go," Chaos barked back, running down the hall a bit and turning into the room in which Flare had told her to go in.

"Okay, now that she's out of here," Fang said slowly, he looked at the female Eevee evolutions in front of him. "you two, go upstairs and scout about. If you don't find anything, give the cue to your trainer, and we'll meet back here, okay?"

"Indeed," the Espeon replied in a royal-like voice, and with that, she touched her sibling with her paw, and the two disappeared; upstairs like they were told.

"Let's move out!" Fang told Flare, and they walked into the partially empty room they were to go in.

No one was in it; at least, that's what they thought. It had eight or ten large metal cages along one side of the wall, and on the other, twelve operating tables. Some had lethal-looking instruments floating above them. All of the tables had leather bounds on them; but fortunately, they were empty. Near the center of the room, there were at least thirty computers and lab benches; some of the computers were on, but showed nothing of interest to the fox-types.

"You take that side, tell me what you found," Fang said slowly to his partner, looking slowly around the room. "I'll take this side near the tables."

"OKay," Flare said simply, padding proudly over to the cages. Sniffing and pawing at the open doors, she picked up the scents of many different pokemon and humans combined.

Fang raised himself on his hind legs, inspecting each operating table, needle, and scraper. Sniffing everything and taking mental pictures of everything suspicious. "They must've done some sort of surgeries or something…" He mumbled absently to himself, walking along the center of the room. He noticed that Flare was doing the same; they reached the end of the table, only to come face-to-face with a Rocket Grunt, who gave a smirk down at the pokemon.

"All alone without a trainer…" he sneered, pulling his black cap down a little lower to make the shadows on his face darker. "Well, I'll take care of you easily."

Flare and Fang looked at each other; thinking the exact same thing. Fang nodded slightly, and they both snarled. Opening snouts wide, they both released a gush of flames at the Grunt, who fell, burned badly, to the ground.

As he attempted to get back up again, they attacked him again; Fang latched onto his left arm, and Flare on his right. They clamped down hard and pinned him to the ground.

"ARBOK!" He cried, in pain and furry; from the shadows, yellow, gleaming eyes shined with malice. The ebony lavender body of an Arbok slithered from the shadows, and Flare and Fang let go. The grunt then shuffled back against the wall, and attempted to stand up; and in hopes of getting away as he murmured something along the lines of, 'Crazy effin' fire-types…'

"OOoh… you're going to get it bad," hissed the Arbok in honeyed tones.

"In-your-dreams!" Fang snarled back, jumping at the Arbok, blood-tipped fangs barred.

"POISON STING!" ordered the Grunt, tending to his profusely bleeding arm.

"NO!" Flare growled, running up behind the Arbok to attack it from behind, but it was too late. Hundreds of little stings came from the Arbok's mouth, each of them drilling into Fang's face and snout. Howling in pain, he made an effort to rub the stings out, but to no avail. Fang, however, still attempted to attack the Arbok with Flamethrowers and Crunches; as did Flare.

After one last Flamethrower, the Arbok collapsed into a twitching coil on the cold tiles. The Grunt hastily returned the fainted Arbok and took no more chances; he pushed himself through an open window; which was quite small, but managed. He scampered away from the building, leaving Flare and Fang to pad back to their hiding spot behind the crates.

Chaos walked past the many tubes, full of glowing green liquid and comatose pokemon; and to her horror, humans. Trainers were floating, fully clothed and lifeless in the large tubes. Hopefully, they weren't dead…

She continued to marvel at the pokemon and humans, and at the end of the room, some Pokemorphs floated and bobbed in the green liquid. To her horror, they were moving freely, but they were not breathing nor were they blinking. Just bobbing, kicking, and flapping their arms wildly.

"I have to get them out," she said to herself, but she heard a voice inside her head; one that was calm and fluid.

"You must not," said a voice. She recognized it right away. It was Adrienne's Espeon, and somehow, she was managing to talk to her through telekinetic waves. "They are going to be moved soon, you have to get out of there! There are more people coming to pick up the tubes. I have no idea how, just go back to the hiding spot and wait for the signal."

And it stopped, just like that. Chaos nodded dumbly, to absolutely nothing, and ran quickly out of the room; to the safety of the shadows of the crates.

"Three rooms, one open, the other locked, and one not explored yet," Said the Umbreon to her sister, who nodded. "can't you even see into the room?"

"All I see is stairs," replied Espeon quietly, she took one last look into the wide-open door before of her, which was the room they had just explored. It only had a black desk, two chairs and some ripped up papers. All the drawers were empty and pulled apart on the floor; as though someone was looking through there just a few moments ago.

"Well, let's go in the next one," Umbreon suggested, padding into the next room, rings glowing purple; a sign of curiosity for the Umbreon.

Buzzing and humming loudly, there were twelve monitors; all blank and showing much static. Except for one, which showed the room with the many, occupied tubes being hauled away through a door. There were only five or seven left over, and then the whole place would be empty; hopefully.

"Hmm, interesting," said the Umbreon to herself. "well, there is nothing here. Send the signal, and let's get downstairs. We all know that the trainers will look through here again." She said coolly.

"Yes, indeed sister," Espeon replied. She shut her purple-tinted eyes, focusing deeply, before padding out of the room.

"Wait for me!" Umbreon yelled, following her sister downstairs to the others.

The group, which had still remained huddled sleepily in the bush, was still waiting intently for the signal to enter the building. The time was plowing past an hour and a half, and slowly, each one of them was growing bored; excluding Adrienne who was watching the building with mild-interest. She suddenly stood up and pulled her knapsack over her shoulders. To everyone's surprise, she began walking towards the building.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked them, as the rest followed.

"Nothing, that was just sudden," Autumn informed her.

"Sudden my butt," Adrienne replied. "Now, they're behind the crates on the far wall. It's all safe, but we should check it over, just in case."

"Okay," Autumn replied, saying nothing more.

They walked in the dimly lit room quietly; they're footsteps echoing loudly in the large room, making it quite hard to be silent. The pokemon soon padded from behind the crates and lined themselves orderly before their trainers. Chaos stepped forward and morphed back into her human form.

"It's quite clean, but we all sensed the presence of others upstairs and on the roof. You just go ahead and check out the rooms, see if we're right. We'll wait here." She informed Des, Amphie, Adrienne, Autumn and Tyler.

"Okay, Des and I'll go check in this room here," Amphie volunteered, walking into the room where Fang and Flare had investigated, only to return no longer than five minutes later, blank look on their faces.

"There was nothing there! Empty cages and tables. Everything is gone, if there was anything," Des said to the others, who all were about to question their looks.

"Let's take a look in this one," Adrienne said, Tyler and Autumn followed her into the room where Chaos went. They looked around; several dead wires were suspended from the ceiling, but there was nothing in the room. Only a few empty tubes, all containing a thick-looking, green fluid that bubbled and gurgled ominously. They too, returned with nothing to report.

"Well, there was one door, upstairs, that was locked," Chaos inquired. Everyone looked at each other, nodding as the same thing ran through their heads.

"Let's go, then!" Adrienne said, after she had returned her Umbreon and Espeon. The others followed her lead, taking their time walking up the rickety, metal stairs that took them upstairs and right to the locked door that Chaos had mentioned.

"This is the door?" Des asked, walking over to the door and inspecting the rusty hinges. "It seems like it can be broken down easily."

"Well, then try," Adrienne said, she looked over to Amphie. "Try a thunder attack or something."

Moaning something incoherently; Amphie reluctantly changed into an Ampharos and gestured for her friends to stand back. Electricity started to flow into her tail, lighting up the red orb at the tip, her thin black and yellow fur wavering as the sparks coursed through her body. Suddenly, she let out a sharp yell, and the sparking tail glowed crimson red and electricity bolted from her tail at the door, forming a Thunder Attack.

The attack stopped suddenly, and Amphie was back to normal; on her knees and panting heavily.

Des moved over to help her up, and smiled. "Good job,"

"Thanks," Amphie replied, continuing to breathe heavily. Will the help of his shoulder, she stood up, and looked to the damage she had caused. Nothing; no damage was made. The only difference was that the black, rusted door became burnt and only looked a little easier to open.

Autumn, until now, was observing quietly until she unclipped one of her pokeballs. Everyone turned to see her release her Haunter, who laughed her usual laugh. "Go inside there, and open it from that side," Autumn instructed. With another 'Hauuunnt-HAH' The Haunter brushed passed the group in a wisp of purple.

"What are you expecting her to do?" Tyler asked, stepping away from the door.

"You'll see. Move away from the door, trust me." Autumn told her allies, who all moved far back from the door. It began to click and shake on its hinges ominously. Purple light glowed from underneath it and then suddenly…. It all stopped. The shaking ceased and the light dissipated.

Des began to advance to the door, but Autumn stopped him. "Don't, I'll take care of it," she volunteered, actually ordered. She walked nonchalantly up to the door; smiling knowingly. Autumn pulled her leg back and kicked the door near the bottom, then jumped out of the way as the door fell down quite easily.

"Woa…." Amphie said in awe. She had seen Autumn do that quite a bit, but never had it been like that.

"Let's go, I wanna see what's up there!" Tyler said, walking into the room and stepping up the stairs. Autumn, Des, Amphie and Adrienne soon followed after Haunter was returned.

The group clambered slowly from the door in the roof, to arrive atop the building. They stepped a few feet away from the door, not yet thinking to look back; until they heard a 'SLAM' and a faint click. Turning around, they all were ready for anything.

The light-green-haired woman stood up and resumed her place beside the skinny man, who had not flinched nor blinked. Mizuko moved up from behind them, knee-long black skirt billowing dangerously in the wind coming from the beach. Her short-sleeve black shirt sported a blue 'A' and a red 'R' overlapping each other, and her black boots looked highly polished.

Adrienne was hit the hardest with this, and she went from the back of the group to the front, holding two pokeballs out. She was furious, it was easy to tell. Tyler, Autumn, Des and Amphie joined her at her side, but she growled.

"This is my battle, back off." was all she said; her friends loyally backed off, watching for signs to step in at anytime.

"You have some nerve to stand up to me," Mizuko started coolly, ignoring the wind as it blew her hip-length, ink-colored hair fiercely behind her. She smiled, watching as her sister flexed and twitched slightly.

"How dare you talk to me!" cried Adrienne in fury. "How dare you talk to me after you did all this! I don't want your crap excuses, Mizuko, I want a battle. I want to show you that you were wrong to leave. That you were too thick to realize what you were slipping into when you joined Aqua. I'm going to show you that I'm stronger than you ever thought I would be."

Everything was silent for a minute, with the exclusion of the wind blowing in everyone's ears loudly. Suddenly, Mizuko began to chuckle… then laugh… then laugh manically.

"You think," she said after she stopped laughing. "that you can beat me! Pathetic. If it's a loss you want, it's a loss you'll get!" she concluded, pulling a pokeball from her back of her skirt and holding it out in front of her.

"Feraligatr, bring her down!" Mizuko ordered as the pokeball opened and the white form of a large gator formed, then materialized into the blue and red body of the Feraligatr.

"Feraalig," he bellowed, opening its jaws wide and flexing its claws dangerously.

"Raichu!" Adrienne ordered instantly, not even thinking as she pulled a pokeball from her chains and tossed it out into the field. The Electric mouse clambered clumsily from the pokeball and immediately fumbled to get into a battle stance.

"What do you say about two-on-two, eh?" Mizuko requested. "I don't have time to stick around here and watch you cry," she stated, watching as Adrienne pulled down her goggles. "and you still have those? My god…"

"FORGET THIS! LET'S BATTLE," Adrienne demanded. "THUNDER!"

The Raichu began gathering electricity, her tail going rigid and her ears stiffening. However, as she began to power up, the Feraligatr waited for no order and automatically sent a gush of Hydro Pump directly at the Raichu.

"RAICHU! DODGE!" Adrienne ordered. But it was too late; the Hydro Pump had made contact, and the Raichu went sliding backwards, past Adrienne and near the edge of the roof.

"Get up, c'mon!" Adrienne persisted, a whimper detected in her voice. "Thunder bolt!"

Raichu jumped up, shaking wet from her mustard-yellow fur. Her red cheeks gave a spark, and bending low, she gave a cheeky smirk to her opponent. A wet trail of water led exactly to the Feraligatr; she used her attack, sending it exactly to the water-type. As it trailed to him, he gave a low "FEERR" before the sparks engulfed him completely.

"Crap," Mizuko mumbled to herself, watching with little remorse as the gator collapsed, sparks still coursing over his rough hide. "Get up. NOW." She ordered.

"Mizuko, you've lost it. He's fainted. He ain't getting up." Adrienne told the twenty-two year old.

Mizuko made no reply; she merely made a movement in unclipping another pokeball, but still continued shouting orders. "BUBBLEBEAM!"

The Feraligatr, as much as he was strength deprived, he began to try and stand up. His legs, not quite able to support his bulky body, but somehow, he managed, slightly. He opened his tired mouth tiredly and sent an affective bubblebeam attack, directly at the Raichu before collapsing once more.

"DODGE!" Adrienne ordered. Her Raichu, being nimble and quick, forced her way around the attack, but strayed too near the water-type. As much as he was weak, he still managed to swing is heavy tail at the Raichu; not before the Raichu delivered one more Thundershock before both pokemon collapsed.

"Return, good job," Adrienne said to her Raichu. She pulled the fainted pokemon into her pokeball, and swiftly unclipped a second pokeball. Her friends watched on, each ready to do whatever if they had to jump in.

Mizuko looking as venomous as ever, glared at Adrienne, holding out her newest pokeball. "You won't beat me, ever," she stated in a mock-sweet voice. "so I'll give you one opportunity, now… Give up now, and never try again, and I'll leave you alone." Smirking, Mizuko watched as her sister squirmed with the voice she was using.

"Never," Adrienne whispered in a deathly-soft voice. But she knew that Mizuko could hear it. "never," she said even louder. "AURORA!" She screamed, releasing the Dragonair.

"Stupid move," Mizuko replied, still using the mock-sweetness. "Sneasel, You know what to do." she said simply, and said nothing after throwing the pokeball into the field.

The dark type emerged from the captivity of her pokeball, tiny hands showing nothing… yet. Aurora's eye's glinted, as she watched the Sneasel flick her small wrists and her extremely long claws flew out from her paws. Adrienne wondered how that was even possible, but made no notion to point it out.

"AURORA, TAKE HER OUT, NOW!" Adrienne ordered, taking no regard that the Sneasel was an Ice Type.

Aurora nodded grudgingly, the tip of her horn glowing green. She watched as the Sneasel began powering up too; snow particles beginning to form around her claws. Guessing it was a Blizzard attack, Aurora sent her Dragon Rage attack directly at the little beast.

However, the Sneasel being far to fast forgot about her attack and dodged behind the Dragonair; she almost made no movement to do it what-so-ever.

"BLIZZARD, NOW!" Mizuko called, smirking as the Sneasel did exactly as she was ordered. The well-built Blizzard attack went flying, making a direct hit.

Adrienne pulled her goggles down over her eyes as some of the snow flew her way. She made no movement to cover herself, she didn't even flinch. Clumps of snow and pieces of ice flew at her, several ice shards hit her face, and she watched as her pokemon flew up higher to escape the attack.

Panting heavily, cut in several places, and several parts of her body partially frozen, Aurora watched as the Sneasel stopped her attack abruptly to see her victim still floating, and readying another attack.

"Slam it, now." Adrienne said darkly, sapphire orbs sheathed with the dark goggles too dark to even see her eyes blink.

Aurora nodded briefly and slammed down, hard, on her attacker. Forty-five pounds of pure force came upon the small creature, which could not move fast enough. Feeling it squirm underneath her, Aurora flew up a foot once more, and slammed down again. However, this move was quite stupid the third time she tried, because the Sneasel had used an Ice Beam attack. The whole under-body of the serpentine-like dragon froze over completely and she collapsed; fainted and defeated.

With little emotion, Adrienne returned Aurora, watching as the Sneasel limped over to her trainer. Autumn and the others rushed over to Adrienne's side to make sure she was alright, but she didn't move. She was solid, watching as Mizuko smirked.

"I told you. You can't beat me, Adrienne. Give it up, because I have better things to do, than play-fight with you. That was barely worth the effort." Mizuko said to her sister, before turning around to look at the woman.

"Call the helicopters," she said plainly, then turned back to Adrienne.

"Come looking for me, and I'll make sure to terminate you, and your friends," She said with a low growl. Soon, a loud buzzing was heard. Soon, it became louder, and louder, and soon, fifty or so raven helicopters were hovering overhead, one lowering a ladder. The executives climbed up the ladder first, and then the woman looked down at Mizuko, hair flowing fiercely in the wind.

"QUICKLY, BOSS," She shouted to Mizuko. "WE MUST GO!" And she soon disappeared into the helicopter.

"Remember my words," Mizuko said in a snarl, and soon began to climb up the ladder and she too, disappeared into the helicopter. The fleet of helicopters soon flew off, towards the south, and disappeared into the sky; appearing as little black dots in the sky soon after.

The group remained shocked and quiet, all of them watching Adrienne, who was still quiet. Suddenly, she collapsed on her knees and looked downcast. She then, began speaking fluently in French.

" Je vous trouverai, Mizuko, et je vous montrerai, je suis meilleur que vous." she growled, then took off her goggles. Tears began to pour down her pale face, burning bitter tracks of hatred down her face.

"You knew it was going to happen," a voice said from behind them. Miro stood, arms crossed, watching the group attempt to comfort Adrienne, his face emotionless.

"Shut up," Adrienne growled, "I don't want your cheap talk now. Get lost."

"Fine, I shall do that. But refrain from your blubbering," Miro added, beginning to walk down towards the edge of the roof. "se don't need to hear you crying over a dumb sister as she." And with that, he jumped calmly over. Tyler ran over to the where Miro jumped off.

"He's gone…" he concluded after a moment of looking. He walked back to the others slowly, watching as Adrienne got up slowly.

"We'll find her. And we'll stop her plans." Autumn said to her friend, who smiled at Adrienne; she returned it with a curt nod.

"Let's go then," Amphie stated. "If we're going to win, we'll have to move."

And once more, our five heroes and one friend were off, flying in the direction of the helicopters. They were determined, they were going to win, and they were going to conquer Mizuko. Once and for all.