I got this chapter done sooner because I wanted it to be done without holding the readers of this fic in suspense for the usual length of time. Also, a new feature.

Review Responses:

RamenKnight: Thank you, it's been my pleasure to write this, and I'm glad that it's well received. As for Misty's attitude smoothing out, well, I suppose just wait and see.

Now, on with the story!


Chapter 12: Coastal Crisis!

The next day, Ash and co. got up bright and early to leave for the harbor where Misty had received the pass. The redhead took the lead with her ticket, looking around at the multitude of giant ships docked that day.

"I wonder which one of these ships is the St. Anne," Ash muttered.

She spotted one of the larger cruise liners and said, "I think that's it."

The trio turned and saw a massive white ship with red toward the bottom of its hull, multiple floors stacked atop the deck with the chimney colored navy blue. They marveled at the truly impressive ship.


Nearby, from further down the harbor, Jessie stood in a fancy uniform, a royal blue and red tailcoat complete with light blue pants and black boots to compliment it. Gold buttons decorated the coat to highlight the other colors. She watched with a smirk as her least favorite Trainers stared before the St. Anne.

Meanwhile, James wore a similar uniform, grinning hugely as he held a ticket before another person, a man with a coonskin cap. "You see, the St. Anne is celebrating its 50th Anniversary by holding a Trainer-exclusive cruise party! And the ticket is complimentary, allowing up to five Trainers, so feel free to bring your friends!"

"Awesome!" the man took the ticket and walked off towards the St. Anne.

Both of the agents waved with big smiles until the man no longer looked at them.

James nodded, "That's the last ticket."

"Let's report in," Jessie added.

After sneaking to a lighthouse concealed among the trees, they ignored the boarded front door and Jessie moved aside a small square of the surface to reveal a keypad set in metal. Jessie punched in the code and a hatch opened in the ground, lifting a bush that rested atop it. The underside of said hatch even had a cylindrical divot filled with soil to have the greenery legitimately planted, so nobody investigated a fake plant near an "abandoned" lighthouse. (1)

The two Rocket grunts walked down the stairs, James idly hitting a button that would seamlessly move the hatch back into place. Down below, they met Meowth who stood by the communication hub and their Pokémon, who were finishing their breakfast prepared by James earlier, their favorites thrown in alongside regular Pokémon food. The team cook wanted every one of their Pokémon to have all their energy.

The trio knew and had told Giovanni that the Trainers onboard the St. Anne likely wouldn't go down easy, especially once they told him their idea to invite Ash's group so they could steal his Pokémon too. So they and the other grunts had brought battle-ready Pokémon along with the design of their Poké-Plucker augmented further to restrain and capture any opponent Pokémon.

Meowth noticed their entry and waved for them to join him at the console. They did so, along with their Pokémon behind them, and he explained, "We got a call from da Boss."

The feline agent pressed a button, and Giovanni appeared onscreen, sitting in his chair while regarding the trio.

"Greetings, sir," Meowth greeted formally.

Giovanni nodded, speaking with his voice distorted by the transmission, in case anybody listened in, "So, the team's all there?"

The trio stood at attention, their Pokémon trained to do the same as they confirmed with a "Sir!"

After that, another feline Pokémon sauntered onscreen. A Persian, the evolved form of Meowth leaned his head towards Giovanni, where the leader started absentmindedly petting him.

Meowth raised an eyebrow with a smile, "What's up, top cat? Been a while since I've seen ya on da horn."

Giovanni's Pokémon meowed a casual greeting to the smaller Pokémon and operative. The two met when Meowth had first applied to be a Rocket agent. At first, Meowth didn't really like Persian, due to past experiences with the species. But he managed to get over it relatively quickly once he accepted that the two were different from each other. The feline agent wouldn't go so far as to call them friends, but they shared a mutual loyalty to Giovanni while expressing it in different ways.

The leader let out a single low chuckle at the two felines' interaction before saying in a firm tone, "This isn't a social call. You have finished handing out all of the tickets to the St. Anne cruise, I trust?"

Regardless of his tone, Meowth knew the Boss favored them just a little bit more with his connection to Persian. If he didn't, he would've phrased the question differently, asking to make sure instead of presuming that they had finished. The "I trust" part was telling to the feline in that regard.

"Yes," Jessie nodded with a smirk. "All of the Pokémon Trainers were delighted to take them."

"Was it really all right for us to give out all those tickets for free?" James asked.

"A small price to pay for what I'll get in return," Giovanni dismissed. "My men have already secretly boarded the St. Anne and set up our fail-safe should the Trainers send out Pokémon of their own. They will take the Pokémon of all the Trainers we tricked into boarding the ship."

Meowth grinned, "Dat's da Boss for ya! A real genius!"

"This time, failure is out of the question," he warned.

Jessie and James stood at attention again, "Aye-aye, sir!"

"We can do it!" Meowth reassured.

Giovanni grinned while Persian gave an approving nod to Meowth's confidence.


Ash looked around the St. Anne, which seemed even bigger up close than from a distance as they boarded the ramp.

"What an awesome ship!" he commented in awe.

Misty smiled, "I'd like to travel around the whole world in this!" She held up the ticket to a brown-haired clerk wearing the same red and blue uniform of the ship's crew.

"Welcome aboard the St. Anne!" he greeted amicably with a bow. Then he pointed to the inside of the ship proper, "This way."

They continued and went into a large ballroom sized chamber with two staircases at the back leading to a balcony around the upper wall, leading to other chambers of the ship. Even with the massive space, nearly its entirety was occupied by Trainers both juvenile and adult.

"Wow!" Ash marveled, looking around at the sheer number of people chatting and the various stalls lined up. "Look at this!"

They walked through the stalls and Misty saw a table that offered various Pokémon dolls and key chains, "It's so cute!"

"It's like a giant Pokémon convention," Ash added.

Misty noticed two boys comparing their Charmanders, "Everyone's a Pokémon Trainer!"

Ash continued looking around, not paying the other two Trainers any mind as he wandered off. He was hardly concerned with whose Charmander was stronger than another; he only trained to make sure his Pokémon could beat Team Rocket.

A crowd of people gathering around a battle about to start, however, did catch his attention.

"All right! Bring 'em on!" the referee called.

Ash started shouldering his way to the front of the crowd right as Brock and Misty noticed that he'd left. Once through, he saw a man dressed in a black tailcoat and top hat with blue pants and a red bow tie facing down a brunette trainer with a green polo shirt and jeans. The man had a Raticate on his side while the younger Trainer had a Starmie.

"Raticate, Hi-Jump Kick!" the senior battler ordered. (2)

The younger retaliated, "Alright, Starmie, spinning Tackle!"

Raticate ran forward before leaping into the air while Starmie span around, flying to meet the Mouse Pokémon. As the two clashed in the air, Ash took out his Pokédex to identify Raticate while Misty and Brock barely caught up to his position.

"Raticate, the Mouse Pokémon. The evolved form of Rattata. It whittles its constantly growing fangs by gnawing on hard things. It can even chew apart cinder walls with ease."

Ash looked up just in time for the man to order, "Raticate, Super Fang attack!" The rat lunged forward, biting into Starmie's gem until he bit a small chunk out, shattering a portion of the gem while cracking the rest and causing Starmie to pass out.

The boy gasped while a sign that said "WIN" glowed over the Raticate Trainer's head.

"Ah, don't feel too badly, young man," he consoled while the boy checked his Pokémon. "It was only a practice match, anyhow, and I just happened to be lucky."

As a brunette woman in a magenta dress came forward to compliment the victor, Ash thought about whether or not to step up next.

"Well now," the gentleman called, "is anybody else brave enough to challenge my Raticate?"

Fired up from the challenge, Ash clenched his fists in excitement, "I can't wait!" He ran to where the other boy had left from his side of the arena while taking out a Poké Ball, "How about a battle against my Butterfree?"

"As you wish," the man agreed readily enough.

Misty rolled her eyes at Ash's enthusiasm, "I hope he knows what he's doing."


"Say Jessie," James whispered as the two of them served drinks disguised as the ship's staff, "this place is packed!"

Jessie smirked and quietly agreed, "Yes, and packed with Pokémon!"

"And soon all of these Pokémon will contribute to the glory of Team Rocket!" James quietly grinned.


"Raticate, Hi-Jump Kick!" Ash's opponent ordered. Raticate rushed forward and jumped high before descending towards Butterfree foot-first.

Ash smiled, having expected the swift opening move, "Throw 'em off with a Flutter, then Supersonic!"

Butterfree beat his wings a few times, changing Raticate's trajectory with the semi-strong wind generated, allowing Butterfree to dodge the attack while the Mouse Pokémon crashed. While he recovered, the bug's antennae vibrated and sent sound waves that confused Raticate.

Brock chuckled a bit while addressing Misty, "I guess that answers your question. Butterfree was a good choice on Ash's part."

"Well anyone can win when they've seen the opponent fight before the actual battle," the redhead justified.

"Now," Ash continued, "a Whirlwind-"

Raticate got picked up by his Trainer, and the man interrupted, "Well, that's enough."

"Huh?" Both Butterfree and Ash stopped in surprise at his stepping onto the ring.

The gentleman held Raticate as he said, "Why don't we just call it a draw?"

He left before Ash could reply and the Pallet Trainer grumbled, "But I was winning."


James walked through the sales booths with his hands folded behind his back, tray gone, since they were out of port now and keeping up the disguise didn't matter as much. If anybody asked, he could just say that he was off to the kitchen to get a new tray.

"Boy! Boy!" a voice called from one of the stalls. "Hey you, boy! Come here!"

The disguised agent glanced at the tanned salesman wearing white clothes and a headband before turning to face him, "Are you addressing me?"

"I want you to have a look at this Pokémon!" the merchant said with a grin as he pointed to a tank built into his counter.

James did so, bending down to look in the tank, and saw a rather large red fish swimming around. It looked at him back with the typical open-eyed expression a fish has as it floated in the tank with its white fins. Along with those characteristics, the (James assumed) Water Pokémon had tan whiskers that extended near its pink lips and similar colored spines on its back and belly.

"What is this thing?"

"The king of all carp, a Magikarp," the stall runner stated reverently.

James stood back up, looking at the salesman, "What do I do? Eat it?"

"Heheheh!" the man chuckled in response as he hefted the Magikarp out of the water. "See how heavy it is?" He handed the Pokémon to James.

Having gone through the physical training, he had no trouble bearing the weight, but Magikarp started thrashing about, forcing James to concentrate on maintaining his grip.

"Oh! It certainly is lively!" he commented.

"Just between you and me," the salesman whispered, "this Magikarp is a Pokémon gold mine! A Magikarp lays one thousand eggs at a time…"

He continued his explanation, but in reality James had already tuned him out. If any Pokémon could create so many of its kind with its basic reproduction, its value would be dirt cheap. The relatively simple law of supply and demand dictated that.

'But…' James thought as he regarded the still thrashing fish, 'a Pokémon's a Pokémon.'

The salesman noticed that he wasn't really paying him any attention and called, "Hey, boy? Are you listening? This is a once-in-a-lifetime offer!"

"I heard you," James said while petting Magikarp, who calmed down slightly. "But I don't think I could bear to part with Magikarp." He didn't bother calling the man out on his spiel, since he still wanted to buy the Pokémon, and ruining the con wouldn't help his chances. "If this Pokémon can fight with the same energy as it thrashes, it'll be a valuable ally. I'll take it."

Meanwhile, Magikarp stopped thrashing, both from the affection and the belief that James had in him.

The conman decided that, while not the usual reason for his marks buying, a sale was a sale. So he continued, "I normally charge a hundred dollars. But for you I'll throw in- Geh?!"

The man got interrupted as James grabbed his collar and pulled him over the counter with a smile that didn't reach his eyes while holding Magikarp under his other arm. After having to help replace most of their supplies from the Squirtle Incident, biting a huge chunk out of all three of their savings accounts in the process, he didn't feel like being swindled.

Still smiling, James coldly warned, "Don't push your luck, hombre, I just want the Pokémon. Fifty, you said?"

"Y-yeah! Fifty is fine!"

The agent released him, squinting happily, "Good!" After he handed over the cash and received Magikarp's Poké Ball, colored gold instead of the standard red and white, James turned to leave while the conman caught his breath.

"Oh, one more thing…"

The salesman froze up for a bit as James looked over his shoulder. The agent looked serious as he said, "You might want to work on that sales pitch. More Pokémon doesn't equal more money. It's simple economics; the more common a Pokémon, the more its value goes down. You ought to work on that."

With that, the blue-haired boy left and the Magikarp salesman rapidly packed up his stall to leave the ship.


After participating in a few more battles, swapping between Butterfree, Squirtle and Krabby, Ash left with his friends to go try some of the food at the catering tables. It only took one bite for each of them before they started scarfing down the luxurious meals. Ash had meat, Misty had cake and Brock had sandwiches while Pikachu had top grade Pokémon food.

The gentleman Trainer from earlier walked up to their table with the same woman from before, "So, are you having yourself a good time?"

"Yes, sir!" Ash replied happily. "We're having a great time!"

The man nodded, "You know, that Butterfree of yours is quite extraordinary!"

"It's incredible," the brunette woman added. Brock's face lit up with a blush as he stared at her, "She's beautiful…"

Misty waved a hand in front of his face, "Hel-lo in there?"

Ash smiled at the compliment, "Well, I put a lot of work into raising him."

"What'd you think of my Raticate?" the gentleman asked.

"It looked great," Ash replied. "I never heard of a Raticate learning a Hi-Jump Kick; you must have trained it well to teach it that."

"In that case I'll be direct," the adult said. "Why don't we trade?"

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Trade Pokémon?"

"When two people find that they each like the other's Pokémon, they trade," he explained. "It's quite a common practice everywhere."

Adjusting his hat, Ash thought about how to answer.

The gentleman continued, "You see, friends who trade can trade with their other friends, and so friendships grow deeper and continue to spread wider and wider. Trading and making new friends is one of the best things about having Pokémon. That's how Pokémon friendships get to spread all around the world."

"Friendship is wonderful, isn't it?" the woman asked.

While Brock agreed vocally about her opinion, Ash bowed his head slightly, "Well, thank you for the offer, but I already have a Rattata that can evolve into a Raticate, if she wants. Also, Butterfree is the first Pokémon I ever caught, so I don't really feel right trading him away."

"I understand," the gentleman said with a nod. "Thank you for hearing me out, at least."

They left and Ash stood up from the table, intent on finding another battle arena to give his other Pokémon a chance to battle.


"You idiot!" Jessie chastised. "Can't you see you were tricked?!"

"What a dope!" Meowth added.

The Rocket trio stood out of the way in a far corner, where Jessie had dragged James after finding out that he'd bought Magikarp. James held up the golden Poké Ball (gold-plated; he could tell the difference since he came from a wealthy family) and argued his case.

"What matters is that we need more Pokémon for ourselves," he explained. "Now one shows up offered to me on a silver platter, and you're going to criticize how I spend my money?"

Jessie raised an eyebrow, "Magikarp is a no-talent Pokémon that can't do anything but flop around! What made you think buying it was a good idea?"

"A Pokémon's a Pokémon," James insisted. "And I can always train it."

"Da best thing dat fish's good for is as a club!" Meowth countered.

"Then I'll make it the best club it can be!" the male agent vowed in retort.


Back at Team Rocket's headquarters, Giovanni watched the different portions of the ship on four screens, making sure that everyone was in the main ballroom. Centering all of the food, stall reservations and arenas in there helped guarantee that the passengers would gravitate to and stay in that location.

Giovanni chuckled while Persian purred under his petting, "It won't be long now."

His Pokémon looked at the screens and screeched, sending the signal to the grunts in position onboard the ship.


All of the doors leading out closed and the curtains drew over the exits to the outer balconies. Everybody looked around in confusion before the ship's waiters all tore off their uniforms, revealing the black and gray uniforms of Team Rocket, red R's imprinted on their blazers. Each of them also wore one of the standard issue Vacuum Packs for stealing Poké Balls.

After the reveal, the lights went out until one shone on Jessie and James, both wearing Vacuum Packs as well while standing on a table, differing from the other grunts with their white and purple uniforms. They stood back-to-back and recited the motto.

"To protect the world from devastation,"

"To unite all peoples within our nation,"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"

"To extend our reach to the stars above,"

"Jessie!"
"James!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Meowth leaped up on the table from the darkness with an artful flip, "Meowth, dat's right!"

"Team Rocket will now take possession of your Pokémon!" Jessie called.

As the passengers murmured confusedly, the grunts moved forward and activated their vacuums, sucking up several Poké Balls from nearby Trainers.

Meanwhile, one grunt held out his hand, expecting Ash and his friends to be intimidated as he ordered, "Gimme your Pokémon!"

"No way!" Misty refused.

Another grunt got right behind Ash, who glared, "Don't make me take 'em!"

"PIKACHU!" Ash ordered. The Electric Pokémon shocked the grunt with a Thunderbolt, leaving him moaning in pain on the ground. "If you're gonna try to rob our Pokémon, we might as well make it a battle!"

The passengers started rallying around Ash and threw their Poké Balls out.

Jessie smiled and commanded, "Suck up as many as you can before they're released!"

The grunts grinned and did so, managing to get a good portion before the rest of the spheres released their Pokémon. More and more came out as Trainers answered the call to battle.

Once Meowth saw that, he took a deep breath and alerted the rest of Team Rocket by shouting "POKÉMON BATTLE!"

All of the vacuums turned off at once and Team Rocket released their own Pokémon. Beedrill made up a large bulk of their army, with others from Pokémon Tech supplementing. The leading trio's Pokémon also jumped into the brawl as well, save for Fearow, who Jessie wanted to keep in reserve, and Magikarp, since he was too weak right now.

At Meowth's signal, two hatches in the floor opened upward and a massive iron box with both large and small doors built in on all sides also rose up out of the room's floor.


Ash, Misty and Brock stared down the army of Pokémon with Team Rocket. Brock urged, "We've gotta fight them together!"

"Pikachu, go!" Ash ordered.

Pikachu ran forward, joining together with several other Pikachu that leaped over the balcony to the lower floor. They stacked up into a pyramid before they all released a massive charge of electricity.

But before any bolts reached the grunts or enemy Pokémon, they got drawn away towards James, who held up a new Zap Sapper. The gun absorbed the massive charge, and he pressed a new button and slipped out a cartridge, replacing it with a different one in the same motion, absorbing more electricity into the replacement.

Ash's eyes widened, "Pikachu, stop!"

"Thanks for the fuel, twerp!" Jessie taunted as the electricity stopped. "Beedrill, Pin Missile!"

Jessie's Beedrill led the rest in a swarm and they all held up their stingers towards all the Pikachu.

"Zubat, Whirlwind!" Brock ordered. His joined a flock of others and they collectively blew the attack away, making the needles clatter harmlessly against the walls and floor.

The gentleman trainer held one of his own Poké Balls out, "Squirtle, go!"

"You too, Squirtle!" Ash urged as he released his own.

Four Squirtles gathered up while Ash's led them, and they sprayed Water Guns all over the place, soaking a few of the Beedrills' wings and bringing them down to the ground.

One of the grunts ordered, "Electrode, Thunderbolt!"

A red and white spherical Pokémon rolled forward and released bolts of electricity at the Squirtles, forcing them to scatter. As they did so, Zubats, Beedrill and Pidgeotto all fought in the sky, along with two Fearow and a Scyther.

As the battle raged on all through the ballroom, the metal box opened some of its doors, revealing robotic hands on flexible metal arms with camera lenses in their palms.

Ash quickly recognized them and called, "Pikachu, return!"

Pikachu hurriedly jumped off the pile and headed back to Ash's side with Agility, outrunning the hand while two others grabbed a Pikachu each. At his Trainer's prompting, he jumped to Ash's chest for the boy to zip his jacket closed, so as to prevent him from getting grabbed.

All of the Charmanders onboard tried to melt the box with a group Flamethrower, but a Ponyta materialized from his ball in the way. The fire swirled around him until his mane and tail grew several times brighter. (3) A female grunt stood beside him, smirking, "No dice."

The Charmanders dodged the hands, attempting to hit the metal arms with individual Flamethrowers. Meanwhile, Ponyta began attacking the various Grass-types and Butterfree that tried to hit their opponents with powders, his flames burning white instead of orange as he used Flamethrower.

"Bulbasaur! Leech Seed!"

The Bulbasaurs rallied and shot several seeds at the opposing Pokémon, hitting a few Beedrill, a Nidorino and Electrode. But their Trainers simply recalled them, dropping the sapping ivy to the ground and then called them back out, a little tired, but otherwise unharmed.

"Geodude!" Brock and several other Trainers ordered. The Rock Pokémon gathered up, joining hands in a ring and spinning around as they barreled towards the opposing side. A Graveler jumped in their way, catching the group with all four arms and skidding back slightly before throwing them back. The smaller Pokémon broke apart from their formation, but Graveler had let his guard down and got caught by two Squirtles' Water Guns. Even so, with his resistance, he turned around and engaged them next, picking up one of the toppled tables and throwing it.

The mechanical hands caught hold of any Pokémon that let their guard down for too long, snatching an Oddish, a female Nidoran and Raticate along with several others. And any Trainers that tried returning their Pokémon got them sucked up by the Vacuum Packs.

"Vine Whip!"

Several vines flew from the Bulbasaur and other Grass Pokémon such as Bellsprout and Tangela, tangling up several of the Pokémon before slamming them around. Ponyta came in with a Flamethrower, forcing them to retract the appendages or get set on fire, but several Geodude latched on, weighing him down heedless of the flames and stoically taking the residual water as Water Guns hosed down the Fire Horse Pokémon's head.

The remaining Beedrill combed through the ranks, preventing any Pokémon from grouping up and poisoning any unwitting opponents with Twineedle. But they ran into a problem when three Onix reared up, roaring at them. A few got slammed by the giant Pokémons' tails, but James' Mankey and a Sandslash engaged the three, nimbly dodging and curling up to take the assault, respectively.

One of the Onix got badly damaged and his Trainer recalled her, but right as he held the Poké Ball tight to prevent a grunt from sucking it up, he felt claws rake his leg. He screamed out while jolting, losing his grip. His Poké Ball got sucked up and he looked to see a Meowth grin at him.

"Thank ya for yer contribution!"

He tried to kick, but the feline Pokémon slipped back into the crowd, intent on tripping up more Trainers to have their Poké Balls stolen.

Near the other side of the ballroom, a Pinsir stood surrounded by holes.

"Ekans!"

He punched only to hit air.

"Ekans!"

He tried to catch his opponent with his horns.

The Bug-type looked around at the holes, so focused that he didn't notice the floor below him starting to sizzle. The weakened hardwood broke and the Snake Pokémon sprung up before wrapping around her target.

Pinsir's Trainer, green haired with brown and forest green colored clothes, called out in distress before Ekans bit him, piercing the shell and poisoning him. Faced with little other option, the Trainer recalled him, opting to keep the ball in his backpack. But the instant he shrunk it, a Fearow swept it away, scratching his hand in the process.

"Pinsir!"

The battle raged on so much that it took several rocks of the ship before anybody noticed them. The ship tilted to its side. The speakers rang and a deep and distorted voice spoke through them.

"Agents! What are you still doing there?! A massive storm has started, and the St. Anne is in danger! Get out of there with what you have before it capsizes and sinks with you on it!"

"Capsizes?!" several of the passengers shouted.

All of the Rocket agents, Jessie and James in particular, muttered curses towards their luck. But Jessie shouted, "Retreat! All units fall back! We'll hold them off!"

The other grunts returned their Pokémon and scattered while Weezing, Beedrill, Ekans and Fearow discouraged pursuit. Ash knew he couldn't run fast enough to catch any of the agents if they ran as fast as Jessie and James, so he concentrated on the descending cage.

"Squirtle, with me!" he ordered as he ran towards it. The Water-type nodded and pulled into his shell to slide along the ground and on top of the descending cage.

James pointed, "Mankey, stop him!"

Ash put on an extra burst of speed as the Fighting-type charged him, but right as Mankey leapt, the Trainer grinned and reached down his suspiciously lumpy closed jacket.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

He threw Pikachu to intercept Mankey and the Electric Pokémon latched on and shocked him. He fell and tried to pry Pikachu off, but he kept zapping until Mankey passed out. Meanwhile, Ash slid into the opening between the hatches just in time to get on the cage as well.

"Blast it!" James cursed as he recalled Mankey. "He got to the cage!"

"Let him," Jessie dismissed as she focused on the Trainers that hadn't fled yet, trying to get their Pokémon back. "It leads to a submarine. If the twerp drowns, it's not our problem so long as we complete our mission."

Pikachu fled with Misty and Brock and Ash's other Pokémon, and the ship heaved again as more of the Trainers fled.

"Shall we make our escape?" Jessie suggested. "What's left of this resistance can't stop us."

"I think we should," James agreed. "With Pikachu gone, there's no reason for us to try catching anymore Pokémon."

Meowth appeared between them as they recalled their Pokémon, "Any idea how?"

The three of them blinked as it hadn't occurred to them on how to get off of the ship. The lifeboats that the other operatives used now had all of the Trainers that escaped near them. They could imagine how well getting on those would work now.

"Huh…" all three of them muttered as they stood alone in the central chamber of a listing ship.


Ash hurriedly shouldered his backpack again as he fastened his rebreather, turning it on as well as the cage lowered onto a larger submarine, fastening with some locks. He still had Krabby with him in his Poké Ball; he'd been worried about letting the small Pokémon out where any of the robot hands could grab him. Ash had noticed several Pokémon get grabbed by this cage, and while he couldn't help the ones caught in the Vacuum Packs, he could save the ones in here.

A hatch opened in front of the submarine, flooding the chamber, and it moved through a metal corridor into the ocean. Ash hissed through his rebreather as the frigid water surged over his body. The seawater near the coast hadn't been nearly as cold.

'I have to tough it out,' he thought to himself as he signaled Squirtle by pointing to the front of the submersible.


Two Rocket grunts sat in the pilot chairs of their submarine's cockpit, having been controlling the hands remotely from underneath the ballroom. The pilot, a girl with pink hair going straight down to her shoulder blades piloted the submarine while a male grunt with lime hair cut short under his hat sat with his arms crossed in the copilot's chair.

"Why did I get stuck with babysitting an HQ grunt when I could've been where the real action is on the St. Anne with my partner?" he grumbled.

The pinkette tutted, "Hey, this may be a dull assignment for you, but this is like a trip to the candy store for me! I get called from standby with the job to pilot a submarine and I get to help operate the Poké-Pluckers! It's like a crane game with moving prizes~!"

"Ugh, tone it down," the guy ordered.

The sub moved in silence aside from its sonar and the pilot's giggles until a thud sounded.

The two looked up, "Huh?"

They saw a kid in regular clothes wearing a hat and a rebreather with a sunglasses-wearing Squirtle beside him clinging to the glass. He started beating against it with his fists.

"Think he's trying to tell us something?" the pilot asked.

Her temporary teammate narrowed his eyes, "Wait… I've read about this kid in Squad 13's mission file!"

The boy turned to his Squirtle and the Water-type nodded before clinging to the glass and kicking it, each one thudding loudly, but doing nothing.

"He's not trying to tell us anything," the field agent continued, "he's trying to stop us by breaking the glass!"

Snorting, the girl said, "Well, that's not going to happen. This sub can take a hit from a sledgehammer. If it can handle that much, then a kid and his Squirtle aren't going to do anything."

"Heh, yeah, I guess," the lime-headed teen agreed. "Plus, we're in the middle of the freezing ocean. The kid'll tire himself out."

But then the Trainer outside called out another Pokémon, a Krabby and pointed at the glass while looking at the crustacean.

Krabby raised its claws and started beating repeatedly on the glass with Crabhammer. The thuds echoed louder, and shook the cockpit a little bit, but showed no visible signs of damage.

"See?" the pilot reassured. "Perfectly-"

The River Crab Pokémon raised both its claws and hit one point at the same time, causing a small crack to form.

"-safe…"

Krabby raised its claws again and crashed them against the front window, more cracks spreading along the glass.

"…Well, I think the kid would really sink us for a chance to get the Pokémon we have back," she observed. "You wouldn't happen to have any Water Pokémon on you, would you?"

"No…"

A third crash and cracks started to criss-cross each other.

She flipped up a case over a button and said, "Then I suggest we skedaddle."


Ash and his Pokémon got thrown off the submarine when the cockpit surged forward, detaching from the rest of the sub with a boom of bubbles floating up between the pieces. With them gone, the rest of the submarine started sinking and Ash swam with his Pokémon to go retrieve it.

Krabby managed to bend and break the metal fastening the cage to the submarine with his pincers, and the rest of the craft sank faster, but the box still descended further into the water. Ash, Squirtle and Krabby tried lifting it, pulling at first before swimming underneath to try pushing with all their might, but still got no results.


Giant waves rocked the ship as Jessie and James looked over the edge.

"Think we can swim to the nearest land?" James asked.

Jessie looked at him, "Nothing but ocean for miles, what do you think?"

"Meowth! We gotta get outta here one way or anotha!" the feline agent urged.

James thought about it and turned to his teammates, "Jessie, you and Meowth take Fearow. She's fully rested and should be able to at least hover towards the nearest port. We'll just have to pick up our supplies in Vermillion later."

"What about you?" Jessie asked.

"I'll swim for it with Magikarp," James answered.

Meowth gawked at him, "We told ya dat fish is worthless!"

"It's our best chance, so just go; I'll catch up!" the blue-haired agent insisted.

Jessie scowled at him, but took out her Poké Ball, "You'd better make it back or I'll never forgive you."

"I fully intend to. Now shoo!" James urgently waved.

Fearow came out and let Meowth climb aboard her back before flying up a bit and grabbing Jessie's hands as the agent stood on the railing. Fearow dipped a little when over the sea, but beat her wings furiously and managed to get some air back before flying off.

James made sure they were safe before another wave rocked the ship, nearly pushing him back against the wall behind the railing. He took the golden Poké Ball and opened it, picking up Magikarp immediately after he materialized.

"Listen," he urged, "I know that others have said you have no ability, but I know for a fact that you're a Water Pokémon. All I need you to do is float so I can kick us to safety."

Magikarp stilled under James' words before touching a whisker to his Trainer's forehead with a "Karp!"

"Good," James nodded before getting up to the railing and jumping off holding Magikarp under his arm, "GERONIMO!"

He hit the water about thirty feet below, a hard fall, but he'd had worse. Immediately kicking back up to the surface, he let out a breath before holding Magikarp before him. The Fish Pokémon moved his fins, straining his weak swimming muscles to try helping James as he kicked.

They made a little bit of progress, even though the water was cold. But James heard a metallic groaning sound and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…"

He dove down with Magikarp as the St. Anne capsized, the hull of the ship fast approaching him.


Meanwhile, Ash started getting colder and colder as they continued sinking with the cage of Pokemon. Before too long, he tried rubbing his arms, only to generate no warmth that deep in the ocean. Squirtle and Krabby noticed, both of them shooting Water Gun as they pushed, trying to get the cage to the surface faster. It slowed it down, but didn't push it up.

After a little while longer of no progress, Ash was visibly shivering and Squirtle looked between him and the cage.

'Have to keep going…' the Trainer thought. 'Have to save…'

His eyes widened as he got grabbed by the arm and hauled upward by Squirtle.

"S-Squirtle…! N-n-no! We c-c-can't leave them! G-go b-b-back!" he ordered with his teeth chattering under the mask.

The Water-type didn't listen, taking him up further. Down below, Krabby kept trying to lift the cage by himself.

'Have to lift this!' Krabby repeated to himself. 'Save the Pokémon, or Trainer won't forgive himself.'

Getting frustrated, the crustacean started beating the bottom of the cage with Crabhammers, hoping the impact would knock the cage upward. But while he had power, the cage was too heavy for him to lift with impact alone.

Continuing to furiously beat the cage, he didn't notice that it did start rising, or that he started glowing. It wasn't until the cage grew smaller in his eyes that he focused on lifting it with renewed effort.


Moving underwater had assured that the wave of displaced water would push James away before getting hit with the metal hull. But he got separated from Magikarp in the process. After it turned fully upside down, no longer trapping James underneath, he started swimming up to the surface again. However, from getting pushed so far underwater by the massive side of the ship, he started running out of air, which meant his muscles got even weaker in the cold water.

Eventually, with the still churning waters and his weakening, he couldn't make any progress at all with swimming upwards. As he tired out and started sinking, he still held his breath, but couldn't for much longer.

'Sorry, Jessie… I won't make it.'

He could already see the white light at the end of the tunnel while he passed out. But before he did so, he noticed it getting much larger.

'Am I moving towards the light…?'


Misty and Brock looked worriedly over the water around the capsized ship, not seeing any sign of Ash. Pidgeotto was flying over the water, looking for his Trainer.

Soon, Pidgeotto spotted Ash and Squirtle floating in the water, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon supporting the subdued and shivering Trainer.

"Pidgeo! Pidgeo!"

Squirtle looked up and nodded before beginning to swim over to the lifeboats. But before he got far, a large object breached out of the water beside them. As the water cleared, the metal cage was lifted above the water now, held from below by a familiar, yet different Pokémon.

Still glowing with a wispy white aura, Krabby had grown larger. He was still dwarfed by the cage he held, but his claws had grown, one now much larger than the other and the two points at the top of his carapace had grown four more alongside them, giving him a crown-like crest.

"Krabby…?" Ash muttered in surprise before shaking the water off his Pokédex and pointing it at him.

"Kingler, the Pincer Pokémon. The evolved form of Krabby. Its claws can pinch with the power of 10,000 horsepower."

"All right!" he cheered, forgetting his fatigue for the moment. "Great job, Kingler! Is that a new move, or ability?" Dexter pinged and registered Kingler's appearance before answering.

"Move identified: Strength. The user concentrates its power for a devastating attack, able to lift up to three times its own weight."

Ash smiled, "Thanks, Kingler."

"Kuki, Kuki-ki-ki!" Kingler rasped happily in reply.

The moment got interrupted as a massive amount of water surged upward on the other side of the ship. Ash and everyone from the life boats looked at the giant serpentine form that rose with a roar.

Its scales were light blue with a beige underbelly and same-colored lips open wide with fierce fangs lining them. It had two long blue whiskers, one of them holding a smaller figure and had several spiky fins along its back. On its face, there were two white fins on the side of its ridged head and a three-pronged crest on it's forehead, jutting outward past its head.

Many of the sailors on board instantly paled when it emerged and started stuttering, "A G- a G-Gya...!"

"A Gyarados!" Misty shouted. "Bulbasaur, tow Ash and Kingler along with Vine Whip, Brock hold him down! Everybody else, tie a Water Pokémon to your boats, we need to get out of here now!"

The passengers of the St. Anne did just that in a frenzy while Bulbasaur managed to reach and reel Ash in while the Trainer held onto Kingler with his legs. Squirtle swam on ahead and let himself be tied to one of the boats without a Water Pokémon.

However, while they moved in a frenzy, the leviathan Pokémon hardly paid them any mind. Instead, he set the small figure he held in his whisker atop the upturned hull of the St. Anne.


James woke up coughing out water as he felt an insistent pressing on his torso. He nursed his nearly crushed abdomen as the force let up and he lurched upward, clearing out the remaining liquid.

Blearily looking around, his vision cleared as he saw something blue and skinny right in front of him. James shook his head and looked at it clearly to see a blue tendril. Naturally, he followed it out of curiosity to see what it was attached to.

His jaw dropped as he shook in fear from the giant Pokémon face-to-face before him. All the bombs he carried were useless with their gunpowder soaked. And even though the Zap Sapper still worked, it would likely just anger the serpent so he was pretty much a free meal for the sea monster.

Gyarados noticed his fear and touched his whisker to James' forehead in attempted reassurance. The appendage covered the entire upper half of his Trainer's face with the absurd size difference, but it got the message through.

"M-M-Magikarp?!" he stuttered in surprise.

Gyarados nodded with a soft growl, trying not to scare him.

James beamed and pulled himself up to his feet, hands out to pet the massive Pokémon's face. Gyarados closed his eyes and leaned closer, enjoying the affection.

"You've evolved! And what an evolution!" he congratulated. "And Jessie and Meowth said you were a no-talent fish. Let's go rub it in their faces!"

The Atrocious Pokémon growled an agreement before lowering his head alongside the ship for James to climb aboard. He had to watch his footing at first, due to Gyarados having just surfaced from the water, but he found the crest at his forehead to be good for holding onto.


Having panicked in their bid to escape Gyarados, the passengers of the St. Anne wound up fleeing to the island of Porta Vista instead of back to Vermillion. Regardless, the limited number of passengers that had their Pokémon caged were glad to have them back.

It didn't bring back the Pokémon Team Rocket got away with, but Ash felt that at least he made a difference. At this point, it was all that let him sleep at night.

As thanks for getting his Raticate back, the gentleman Trainer from earlier booked them in a hotel for the week until the next ferry to Maiden's Peak on the other side of the bay took off from Hutber Port. Ash wanted to refuse at first, saying they could stay at the local Pokémon Center, but the man insisted.


As Jessie flew discreetly after the lifeboats, having been left behind, but getting the general direction, she was surprised when James appeared alongside her. He looked soaked, but he gave her a sideways glance with a smirk.

"Lovely evening for a swim, isn't it?" he quipped.

She and Meowth looked and gawked at James standing atop Gyarados' head. The male agent simply turned to them with his smirk turning into a smug grin, "Yeah, you know that 'no-talent fish'? He evolved. Meet the Pokémon that all sailors fear, the leviathan of the deep blue, Gyarados!"

He had asked Gyarados to try pronouncing his name on the way there, just so that he could give that entrance. The sea serpent didn't pronounce very well, more suited to roars, but James got the message.

"Fine," Jessie deadpanned. "You were right and we were wrong. Would Gyarados mind giving me a ride? My arms feel like they're about to fall off, and Fearow can't be doing much better."

"Very well," James agreed as they boarded. "You were following the twerps?"

"Just ta see where they were going," Meowth answered.

Jessie returned Fearow, "We still need to steal some transport back to Vermillion and get our supplies back, and file our report to the Boss. Though with Gyarados, we can probably get to our hideout in Vermillion tonight, file our report in the morning and be back wherever the twerps are by noon tomorrow."

"Right. Full speed ahead, Gyarados!" James commanded in a mighty tone.

Gyarados roared in agreement and sped up, traveling much faster than Fearow's flight.


Done! The St. Anne battle went much differently because Team Rocket actually brought Pokémon to battle against the passengers' instead of just the Vacuum Packs. Instead of the passengers just siccing their Pokémon on the poor unarmed grunts, they could fight back and capture more of the Pokémon. Also, in the anime, they never address the poor Pokémon that got sucked up into the vacuums before the Trainers rallied around Ash. Seriously, watch the episode again. Unless those were empty Poké Balls that went flying from the Trainers, a fair few got sucked up at that point, and even more when the passengers moronically threw their Poké Balls instead of releasing them manually.

Notes:

1. They never explain why all of that tech is suddenly there. It just transitions from them walking towards the lighthouse (which may or may not be actually abandoned) and then they're suddenly in a high-tech room. This is my attempt to explain that.

2. Raticate cannot learn Hi-Jump Kick in the games, but in the anime, Pokémon can learn moves that they could logically learn through training to use them. Case in point, Raticate was trained to jump high with his leg out in a kick. Ergo, Raticate learned Hi-Jump Kick.

3. In case it wasn't clear, the ability is Flash Fire.

Anyway, the St. Anne battle is over and done with. And as you can imagine, the Pokémon Shipwreck episode was completely averted. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and any reviews will be answered in the next one.

See you when I see you.

-AJ203