THE LUGIA CHRONICLES - AFTER CHRONICLES - THE RPG-S

by ArkNorth

Chapter Twenty Eight - Afterglow - A year has passed - it would seem the worlds have almost forgotten about the near destruction of everything caused by the evil Mauvais. And as those effected move on, for some, the end is near - or maybe the beginning? The Roll Play has Ended, but the Story Continues.

21. Team Rocket and the Return to Darkness

NOTE! GRAPHIC VIOLENCE – NOT FOR YOUNG READERS

AFTER CHRONICLES

T h e ¤ R P G / S

Based on the FanFic series

THE LUGIA CHRONICLES

By Anne Ruecroft & R. A. Stott

and

The RPG

'TEAM ROCKET'S HAUNTED HAYRIDE'

Compiled, edited and rewritten by R. A. Stott

Contributing Authors for this chapter -

Lugia42, Rapidash, ArkNorth and TiredGamer

---

Chapter Twenty-One

Team Rocket and the Return of Darkness

"How's the shoulder?" Charmega asked as she and Lugia42 walked slowly down a backstreet of the harbor town.

El rotated her arm and snapped her elbow. "Stiff, but serviceable. Mark could learn a thing or two from these folks," she smirked.

"Mark?" Charmega asked. "Who's that?"

El stopped mid spin with her arm and looked at her. "Uh… a friend… from long ago," was her reply that fell into a whisper. She continued walking as Charmega watched. It worried her every time she would fall into these memories from some time in her past like this.

"I commend you on your choice of colors," El continued, obviously attempting to change the subject. "No one has taken a shot at me, nor has anyone given me the odd glance."

"Which begs to ask how used these humans are with PokéMorphs," Charmega added. She saw the look on her partner's face.

"They have a speaking Slow King, a Persian-morph complete with multiple children and two chatterific Lugia on the peak out there," she pointed out. "I get the feeling that we're nothing special."

Charmega licked a finger and drew a '1' in the air. "Point noted," she cracked. They both laughed.

Nearby though, the undergrowth of the forest started to rustle, which drew their attention.

"What is that?" L42 asked as she listened and looked about.

A Rapidash burst out of the ferns that edged the street. It came charging down towards them without looking and plowed straight into Charmega, knocking her clear across the road and into a telephone pole. Power went out in the nearby houses.

The Rapidash staggered back from the impact and shook its head to clear it. It was a shock at first to Lugia42 when the two forward hooves swung upwards and morphed into humanoid arms that cradled an obviously stunned head. "Where did that wall come from?" it asked the stars it was seeing in its vision.

"Oww…" the muffled voice came from the other side of the street. Charmega withdrew her horns from the splintered wood and noticed the rather large dent that caused the pole to lean. "Dang it," she added to her description of the damage she saw.

"Are you okay?" L42 asked the Rapidash-morph, touching its shoulder.

"Yeah, I think so," a light female voice replied from the now humanoid form. She looked over at the Lugia-morph and blinked. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Charmega walked over, rubbing the top of her skull. "I'm lucky I didn't break anything this time," she grumbled. She stopped when she saw who had run into her. "No way! Rianna?" she shouted.

"Charmega!" The dragon suddenly had to deal with an over-excited Rapidash girl who had effectively tackled her to the sidewalk.

"I know you haven't seen me for a few years but can you please let me up?" the Charizard-morph asked. "This is the second time in the past five minutes you've dropped me to the ground!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Rianna yelped as she clambered off her. She looked up at the lady beside the two heaps on the ground. "So you would be…?"

"I'm Lugia42," El said. Rianna scrunched up her nose at her.

"I know you… but you were black before," she noticed. "Are you dying your feathers girl?"

"Not really," she had to admit. "Charmega changed my coloring a few hours ago."

"Ooh! She did?" the fire-horse asked excitedly. "Can you do me too? I'd love to start with a red mane that swirls down into a yellow lightning bolt down here on both sides…"

"Ahem…" Charmega cleared her throat. "Um, no."

"Aww, why?" she whinnied. "Why'd she do your color change?"

El winced and gestured toward her right shoulder. "The locals are a bit restless, and have a deep hatred of any Pokémon that might be a shade of black," she told her. "I got shot, and that really made a mess of my day."

Charmega snorted, trying to suppress a laugh. "So what the heck are you doing on Shimouti Island?" she asked her. "The last I heard, you were out in the prairie lands teaching young Ponytas how to dance!"

A look ran across her face as she looked down. "I told them to hoof it!" she whispered. "I WAS BORED!" she then shouted. "So I came down here to the Orange Islands to see if I could interest them in opening up a race course on one of the isles."

"What? Racing Ponytas?" El asked, shocked that she would offer her own kind into such a fate.

"Pppppth!" Rianna snorted. "Noooo! Houndoom!"

El and Charmega stared at her with slack jaws and beady swirly eyes. "Gee, I wonder why that didn't go over," they chorused.

"Yea, you know?" Rianna agreed. "So, anyway, I heard about a Lugia egg being stolen and figured, by overhearing a conversation somewhere, that North was also here."

"North?" Charmega asked. "You came here looking for North?"

Rianna suddenly looked as if she had said way too much and turned away. "Umm… yes?" she whispered a whinny. She reached up and scratched around her horn.

"Why would you be looking for the Professor?" Charmega asked, now in a more wise-cracking way.

"He mumble-mumble-mumble-gibberish-lady," she replied with her muzzle buried in her chest and turned away from either of their ears.

"What was that?" Charmega goaded her. "I couldn't quite hear that – could you repeat that for the audience?"

"HE GIVES ME SUGAR CUBES AND CALLS ME A PRETTY LADY!" she shouted at her. She spun about and showed her back to them in a huff.

"Well, he WAS here," L42 told her, "but not anymore. I think he's back up on the Prime right now, and there's no telling when he'll be back, as usual."

Rianna stomped a hoof. "Poo!" she snorted.

Charmega slapped her on the back. "So, since you're not going to cure your sweet tooth, you can just help us, ea?"

She looked at her friend. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Well, since you came here because of that stolen egg as well, we were just talking about it," Charmega said as she guided her down the street. "Care to walk with us? We'll tell you all we know about it!"

"Sure," Rianna said blowing a lock of her fiery mane out of her face. "So, what happened? I don't have any clue why there are Lugia eggs here or why you're even here."

"Well it's like this," Charmega started. "Do you know anything about the Black Lugia?"

Rianna rubbed her cheek. "Mmm, yeah, the Professor told me about that the last time I…" She snapped a stare at L42. "Is THAT why you got shot?" she asked her. "Someone thought YOU were Black Lugia?"

El rolled her eyes. "Someone thought I was A Black Lugia, yes. People these days don't rationalize well, especially now that this beast seems to be able to change into all sorts of things. Then again, if I was Mauvais would I be walking around with the Forrestal here?"

Rianna cocked her head. "Mauvais? Who's that?"

"Our enemy's new name – seems he thought it up himself," Charmega huffed.

Rianna looked up into the dark sky and scratched her chin. "Isn't that "evil" in some language?"

"French," said Charmega.

"Oooh, French Pastries!" she whinnied. "Let's go back and see if the bakery…"

They both grabbed an arm each.

"We're on a mission!" El scolded her.

"From god?" the Rapidash asked.

Charmega tapped her chin. "You know, I heard that there was a goddess and a demon around here somewhere – and you know Roy… he deals with those sorts all the time."

"We hardly look like the Blues Brothers though," El chuckled to herself.

Rianna turned to walk normally, not liking being dragged backwards. "So, Black Lugia now calls himself Mau… Mauv…Mauvais?"

"The English pronunciation of it, yes," El stated.

The other two looked at her curiously. "What 'chu mean?" Charmega asked her.

"Well, everyone we've met has been calling him Mauvais," she explained. "'MOW-VAY-US'… but if you were to say it in the proper French, it would sound more like 'MOOVEY'"

They continued walking slowly.

"I never knew you knew French," Charmega stated.

"I wonder what's playing in town?" Rianna asked out of the blue. The other two ladies looked at her puzzled. "Didn't she just say movie?" Charmega slapped her forehead.

"No, I just pronounced Mauvais' name the way it would have been… oh never mind," El sighed.

"Ah, that would be why I haven't heard about it," Rianna stated sprightly. "Now, explain to me why you are here and everything else. In order."

Charmega looked at L42 with a wince. "This could take all day."

"The next TWO days you mean," El corrected. "With an extra day just to make her understand!"

"That maybe right"

"If you two don't start it's going to take even longer!" complained Rianna about the verbal abuse she was taking. "SPILL IT!"

"That's the problem," L42 told her. "We don't know where to start."

"How about after Black Lu… I mean Mauvais, got defeated the last time?" Rianna huffed as she was getting annoyed.

"Okay," Charmega sighed. "It's like this…"

They walked along slowly retelling what had been told to them when they were debriefed while Lugia42 recovered in the sick bay. It had struck Charmega as odd that El seemed quite familiar with ship-board protocol when it came to accessing the S.A.M. System computers for the data of what had been happening. It was as if she had done it before in her past. But that did not matter as much as getting the full scope of what they were up against, and what was their current situation.

"And that's when you ran into us," Charmega finished as she stretched her wings. "You know the story from there."

Rianna looked dumbstruck. "Wow. It's amazing how much it takes to get rid of that guy. I heard about how much damage he did before they caught him the first time…" She trailed off as she saw the look on Lugia42's face. "Oops… sorry, El. I forgot about that."

Lugia42 waved a wing dismissively. "It's okay. I'm mostly over it by now." 'I just can't believe no one else knows about the showdown between that black monstrosity and me,' she thought, shielding her mind from Charmega.

The dragon lady felt the walls go up and knew something was wrong. 'You're not saying everything,' Charmega sent telepathically. 'Is there something I don't know about?'

'Nothing… Nothing at all,' El lied.

"So what are you two planning to do now?" Rianna asked, sifting some sand through her fingers.

L42 looked about. "Well, first, we need to find out where the hell we just wound up!" she commented, seeing they managed to go further than she had expected in their walk. They had wound up on a beach on the opposite side of Dragon's Peak! "It doesn't look like anyone's looking in this area," she added.

"We were thinking we should help recover the missing Lugia egg," Charmega told Rianna thoughtfully. "Otherwise Lady Lugia will be raging for weeks, and seeing as she's this Level's Guardian of the Sea and has the power to manipulate the ocean… let's just say it wouldn't be pretty. Hey El, are you okay?"

Rianna looked back over her shoulder. She saw Lugia42 was swaying slightly on her feet.

"I…" El stumbled, almost falling to the sand. She felt dizzy, as if she could not get enough air.

"EL!" Charmega shouted. "What's the matter?" She took hold of the legendary's wing to keep her from falling over. "Come on… I've got you… What's going on? You don't look so great."

"Don't feel so great either," she slurred and then passed out.

"What? What the… Aw dang it, not again!" Charmega yelped in a panic. "Rianna, go get help! Something's wrong with her!" She lowered her friend to the sand. "HURRY!"

"But… but… but… can't you teleport her?" she asked prancing around and looking nervously about.

"I did that already today!" the Charizard-Morph shouted. "It takes twenty-four hours for me to be able to do it again! GO!"

Rianna wasted no time, transforming straight to full Rapidash form in one leap. She was shredding through the jungle at over a hundred miles per hour within seconds. Behind her, Lugia42's life seemed to be fading fast.

---

CHACK - CHACK!

The sound made Charm flinch, and made Capone stand back. It was not what she had expected out of the scientist, and the look on his face as he turned towards her with the shotgun he had pulled from his amazing pocket made her blood chill.

"Charlene, why?" he asked the TS agent.

She stood wide eyed. "You… you know my name? My REAL name?"

North looked at the ground and shook his head. "What, you're expecting me to believe someone actually NAMED their daughter Capone? Come on Charlene…"

Capone began to writhe in anger. North… was making fun of her? Mocking her yet again?

"Professor, I've waited a long time for this…" she snarled. "A long time…"

"Yet, you still didn't report to Gio about your Charmeleon vanishing in mid fight… He never knew about those transmats of mine…"

She spat in his direction. "You made me FAIL, you moron!"

"YOU weren't following orders!" North shot back. "Giovanni specifically ordered you NOT to attempt battling Pablo's Pokémon, but to steal it while in its PokéBall! He knew that battling his Pokémon would be fruitless!"

"I COULD HAVE WON THAT BATTLE!"

"It took me six weeks to completely heal Sterno's wounds!" North bellowed furiously. "And we STILL had to retire him!"

Capone stood weeping and cursing the scientist. "DAMN YOU!" she shouted, and slowly drew a gun from her belt. "You have a gun… WHY NOT USE IT!?"

North took a pair of steps back and reached to his belt. "This isn't for you… this is for her…" He nodded towards the beast on the floor as it heaved and sighed.

"Yes… go ahead…" Charm gurgled. "Do it Robert…"

North tossed a PokéBall, which sprung open and deposited a large Charizard between himself and the TS agent. Capone looked hard at the beast.

Even though it had evolved, the scars on its neck were still evident. It was Sterno… her old Charmeleon.

"I thought you'd like to see your old companion," North told her as he turned towards Charm. "He can't use flamethrower anymore, but I'm sure you know why…"

The large dragon flapped his wings then gave out a pathetic squeak rather than the traditional Charizard roar.

Capone dropped her gun. The mighty Charizard… Her own fire dragon… or what was left of it… she stepped over to the beast and touched its wing. It leaned down and nuzzled her head.

She broke down and cried into its shoulder.

North, meanwhile, moved back to Charm's side. He pulled a hypo sprayer and quickly gave her a shot of medication. He then studied his watch as she stirred slightly to the injection.

"What… what was that?" she hissed as she twitched slightly.

North sighed as he stood up and cocked the weapon. "Just a little something to ease the pain," he whispered to her. "Okay… this might hurt a little." He looked over at Sterno. "Hold onto her, boy…"

The Charizard grabbed Capone and held her. She struggled momentarily until she saw what the scientist was doing.

"What? You're not really…"

KABLAMM!

---

He had just delivered Jade Yukanna to the ship. Mr. Button was now concerned with that other problem he had found while in town – where was BJP going? Yes, the baby Pokémon that the lady scientist was something that needed looking in on, but when something or somebody could possibly distract his captain at this crucial time, it was his duty to see that it became less of a problem. He looked at the note BJ had given him and sighed.

But, as Mr. Button exited down the landing ramp from the lower flight deck of Forrestal, he was bowled over by the flaming tail of a Rapidash as it turned out of a jungle trail and squarely into the second in command of the ship! The paper flew away.

"Did anyone get the number of that PokéBall?" Button queried as he rolled back to his feet.

"Uhh… I've crashed again! Flaming hairballs! I need glasses!" the Rapidash said as it too attempted to get up.

Button looked over at the burning heap. "Hey, Torchlight… where's the fire?" he asked the blurry image.

She rolled over and blinked at what she had just run into. "Mr. Button! Am I glad to see you!"

Button adjusted the large glasses that hugged his body. "Rianna, is that you? What's up kid?"

She shook her head to clear the spinning baseballs from her view. "It's L42! I think she's dying!" she yelped.

"What, again?" he asked, picking himself up. "Did someone shoot her again?"

"No!" the Rapidash whinnied as it clambered to its hooves. "She collapsed on the beach down by the Lugia nest!"

"I swear, Dragon's Peak is cursed!" Button grumbled as he turned to look up the ramp. "Medical team! On the double!" he shouted to another officer. A hover-car slid down to them shortly.

"Lead the way," Button said as he climbed into the vehicle. The Rapidash nodded and then sped into the jungle path it had blasted out of earlier.

"Follow that horsie," he told the driver.

---

"I tell you Jessie, you rescued your mother, and yet you've STILL barely seen her!" James complained, while munching on a Belgian Waffle. They were sitting at an outdoor Ice Cream shop in the middle of Shimouti Town, and still had managed to miss most of the action around. "And I feel weird wearing these civvies!" he continued as he stuffed his mouth.

Jessie sighed, resting her head on her right hand while playing with her Sundae with her left. "I know… it's like I've got her, yet I don't… nothing seems to have changed…"

"May I?" a voice asked behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Jessie turned to see the deep purple hair of Myamoto's in her face!

"Mommieeeee!" she squealed.

"Didn't I hear dat Ayeka character on Tenchi Muyo say it like dat once?" Meowth asked.

"I think so," James said, not missing a munch.

"You two watch too much TV!" Ketchup said, as he alighted on the chatty cat's head.

"Git off, ya rat, er I'll see if dat halo of yer's tastes like a DONUT!" Meowth growled.

"Umm… Doughnut!" James cooed.

"Ah heaaa… don't bother with him Mother," Jessie said with a visible sweat drop rolling off her head. "He'd eat a doughnut during a volcanic explosion…"

"I tink he did once… I could be wrong though…" Meowth noted.

"Enough with the doughnuts already!" Ketchup yelled then looked down at Meowth's face, making the cat cross his eyes. "We've got something to ask you three!"

"You remind me of a HootHoot I know…" Meowth had to add…

"Listen, are you busy?" Myamoto asked them. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Whaff's oop?" James managed to say through his mouthful.

"SWALLOW!" Ketchup said, thwacking the Rocket across the head with a wing.

"Thank you," Jessie said to the Pikachu. "No, not really, mother… what's up?"

"Care to help us in the search for the black egg?" she asked.

"The BLACK…" Meowth started.

"Lugia…" James dropped in the middle.

"Egg?" Jessie squealed again to finish the question. James and Meowth did not seem as excited as she was.

"Sure!" Jessie yelped, taking her mother's hand and leaving the table. Meowth and James watched them go.

"Well?" Ketchup asked, still standing on the cat's head.

"Listen ya yellow peril," Meowth yelped while trying to swat the angel with a spoon, "I'll look fer dat egg if I WANT ta!"

The table in the café lit up from a sizable lightning bolt.

"YEAYAYAYAYA!" two Rockets yelled.

"What did I do to deserve that?" James yelled as he puffed some smoke. His waffle vanished in a heap of carbon. Meowth, who had been the central focal point of the burst gibbered incoherently on his back.

"Hey, I might be an angel, but I'm still a Pikachu!" Ketchup barked while floating where the head had once been. "Come on… the ladies are waiting…"

---

North looked down at the floor, as did Capone. She was still held in Sterno's grasp. She was surprised that he had not flinched when North had fired the shotgun. But she was more surprised at what she saw on the floor in front of the scientist.

There were now two bodies.

"Robert!" she heard. "What did you do?"

Capone looked behind her and felt a sudden fear she had never felt before. There was a red lady there, and she had WINGS!

"Ah, Xuru… I expected you…" North said, reloading the shotgun.

"What… what did you do, North?" Capone asked, as Sterno relaxed his grip on her. "Where'd this other body… HUHH! It's HER!"

North pulled his trusty scanning rod out, and began to attend Charm's human form. He pulled a blanket from his pocket storage shunt and covered the shivering form, as she had been extracted without her clothes.

"I injected her beast form with a stimulant," he told them. "It's designed to heighten the hearing. I then shot the ceiling… and let nature run its course…"

Capone looked at the demon beside the girl on the floor. A split running its length was sealing itself.

"So, it thought you had shot it?" Xuru asked, less than impressed. "It convulsed her out?"

"That's about it…" North said. "But I'm not sure if she'll live… actually, either of them… We'll only know once she's back at base… Al?"

Capone stared at North. Did he just call…?

"Here North…" Al, Capone's partner, said as he stepped into the room.

"But… but… but… you're dead!" Capone whimpered.

The burly TS agent smiled. "North's auto save system… gotta love it…"

"Besides," North added, "how'd you think I knew where you were when I transmatted Sterno out during your battle with Pablo?"

Capone slowly looked over at her partner. This was way too much. She slumped over.

"It's gonna be a rough night, if you know what I mean," Al said, nodding over to his partner.

North smirked, but was too busy with what he had to deal with now… Charm's life force was dropping fast, as was the demon's. He picked up the light and petite girl that had been ejected from the beast. She was much smaller than the Charm he knew. Al heaved the beast over his shoulder, and Sterno followed behind with Capone.

North glanced back at Xuru. "Are you coming?"

Xuru glanced at North, and then the draconian creature in Al's arms. "No… I trust you'll do… the right thing… Right now, I have… bigger fish to fry… so to say…" She disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

North turned his head for a moment, but then shook off the feeling. "Let's get out of here!"

Puruu watched the four individuals disappear. North was going to need a great deal more than he could muster if he was going to save those two… She focused her attention back on Level 1.1, her thoughts immediately searching out one individual in particular. A smile touched her lips as she watched the man, then she nodded her head and faded away…

---

Charmega eased her Lugian friend into the surf, making sure her own tail did not touch the water. The salty liquid seemed to ease Lugia42 somewhat, but Charmega could sense that all was not well with her.

"Come on girl, you can't die like this!" Charmega blurted. "What the heck is wrong with you?"

'Leave her! She belongs to me now,' an intense, dark voice commanded.

'No! Never!' Charmega screamed at it in her mind. 'Who are you? What do you want with her?'

'Ask your friend while you still can. She has only minutes left.' It left her mind with a chortle.

"Come on El, wake up! Who is this guy? Why is he killing you?" Charmega growled, shaking her friend. "Tell me!"

"Ergh… wha?" Lugia42 mumbled, her voice laced with pain. Her eyes slowly focused on the fiery dragonish face above hers as she squinted. "Char? Why is Mauvais talking to me?" Then she fainted again.

"M-Mauvais? MAUVAIS? RIANNA!" Charmega roared. "HURRY!"

The Rapidash appeared moments later, though to Charmega it seemed like an eternity. "No need to yell, I can hear you just fine… oh, no." She stepped carefully forward, reverting to her humanoid form.

The hover car that had been following her came to an abrupt stop behind Rianna. A medical team from Forrestal jumped out and approached the Lugia-morph, and Charmega stood back. Her front paws were clenched tight enough to draw blood from the claws on her fingertips. She was shaking hard, and her violet eyes were full of fury. Even Rianna kept her distance.

Mr. Button looked over at the enraged dragon. "Are you okay kid?" he asked her.

Charmega's tail flame blazed higher than ever. "No," she spat. "And neither is she."

"Do you know what did this?" he pressed.

Charmega's head whipped up, and her wings unfurled. "Mauvais!" she snarled. Before anyone could react, she was a blazing speck of fire against the sky, releasing gigantic Flamethrowers that superheated the air within two hundred feet of the source. She shrieked in rage, destroying everything she saw fit to face her wrath. Rocks, trees, even the ocean. A nearby island, completely uninhabited, was reduced to molten glass as the sand overheated.

"Great," Button grumbled, "just what we needed – and overloaded Charizard this close to the nest!" He slapped his com to alert those up on the Peak to hold their fire and to keep the shield generators up.

"Mr. Button," one of the med techs called up to him from the water's edge. "Something's odd here."

Button did not want to venture any closer to the water than needed. "What's up? What did you find?" he asked.

"Well, when we heard her say about Mauvais, we scanned Lugia42 for any signs of him on or in her," he told the second in command.

"And?" he asked almost impatiently.

"Nothing sir," the tech told him. "There's not a spec or sign of any of Mauvais' DNA anywhere on her, sir… but seeing that their chromosomes are so closely matched, that sometimes shifts from positive readings to negative at a moment's notice. Whatever it is that's happening to her seems to be making her phase."

Button took two steps closer to the water and pulled out his own scanning rod. "What?"

"See?" the tech pointed out. "It's like she's in an extremely slow transmat field."

The science officer waved the rod about. "I'm not getting any transmat signals in operation," he stated. "Is she stable enough to be moved?"

The techs nodded. Just then, the enraged Charizard-Morph shot over the tree line.

Rianna covered the group with a fire shield from the random Flamethrower that passed too close for comfort. The med team hauled the stabilized Lugia42 out of the surf and loaded her onto the hover car. As soon as it was into the jungle and away from the open beach, the Rapidash fled as well, leaving Charmega alone to vent her anger and tire herself out.

Charmega noticed she was alone a few minutes later. Not being in her right state of mind, she dove toward the water in an attempt to end this destructive feeling that was wracking through her. She got within splashing distance before her mind finally registered where she was.

"What am I DOING?" she shouted in shock. She pulled out of the dive just in time. She landed on the small, still-burning island she had all but destroyed and collapsed to the sand. She looked around herself.

Along the edge of Dragon's Peak were security officers pointing guns in her direction. She looked over at Temple Island and saw more doing the same there.

She was breathing hard, and her scaly skin was slippery with perspiration. She finally realized the magnitude of what had just happened. "Ohnoohnoohno" she cried. She curled into a ball and bawled like a newborn Charmander, all alone.

She remained like this for hours before she finally sat up, exhausted and completely out of flame, save for the smoldering flicker of her tail. Tired determination shone in her eyes, and she glared at the sky.

"Mauvais will PAY!" she thundered.

---

"She'll be okay, she just needs a little rest…" the doctor remarked as he glanced over at little Angela lying in a hospital bed.

Nyarth let out a sigh of relief. "Danks doc." He glanced back at Ziggy. "Danks fer da lift dere."

The cat-man nodded. "It was no problem. I'm glad she's alright." He turned to leave, but stopped. "Do you two have a place to stay?"

Nyarth scratched his head. "Er, I don' dink so… I dink someone sed sumthin' 'bout 'refugee status'…"

Ziggy nodded. "I see. Well, I can probably arrange a house for you… in the meantime, well… I guess you can stay with my family."

The cat Pokémon glanced the cat-man over. "Ya sure 'bout dat? Looks like ya got enuff house guests ta last ya…"

Ziggy grinned. "Who said it was going to be free… I need a baby-sitter…"

Nyarth sighed. "I jus' knew dere was gonna be sumthin'…"

---

Edward walked out to the beach, watching the waves roll in slowly against the shore. It was a bit odd to be relaxing here, while back in his own world anything could be happening. At the same time, it was nice to be free of that dark place. No more fearing he would be drawn into an all-out war between the forces of evil and good.

Edward found a place in the sand away from the shore, as it sloped upwards to the more level dirt of the island. It was shaded by some palm trees that hung over the beach. He sat down, watching the waves continue to roll in. Something about the waves relaxed him, eased his mind of all the worries that normally plagued him. He took his jacket off and folded it behind his head, then lay back in the sand to watch the sun slip closer to the horizon, unworried by the prospect of being attacked. As he stared up at the palm trees, the tired feeling returned. It always returned, every day. Instead of fighting it, he slipped into sleep.

---

It was dark and cold. Two people were talking, he was sure of it. Both of them sounded feminine.

"I don't understand…"

"You will, someday… I promise Susan."

Wisps of vapor formed into two people. One of them was a woman dressed in white and blue, with long strawberry-blonde hair bound into multiple braids. Her eyes were crystalline-blue and there were strange markings on her forehead.

The second woman was lying in a bed, wearing a hospital gown. She had shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair and eyes the color of a darkening sky. Barely noticeable on her upper left arm was a tattoo of a sword, point down, with three gold rings encircling its blade. The Latin words "Quod de astrum" were above the blade, and "Pius protestas" hung below it.

It took Edward a moment, but he recognized the second woman. Who was his mother talking to? How was he seeing this…? What was that tattoo? None of this was making sense…

A third woman, a nurse, entered the room holding a wrapped bundle. She seemed not to notice the strangely-attired woman, and instead walked straight to Edward's mother.

'Deep breath, buddy. That's it, just ignore the fact you're watching yourself as a baby, which you shouldn't even remember.'

The nurse smiled at the new mother. "I'll be back in an hour…" She walked out, leaving the two others alone.

The strangely-dressed woman leaned down, smiling at the baby. "He's such a beautiful child, Susan…"

The other woman only nodded her head, eyes filling with tears.

"Do you have the key with you?"

The mother blinked back the tears, nodding again. "I never stop wearing it…" She reached under her gown and pulled out a small, rectangular device hanging from a chain. It looked much like a super-slim lighter, but it was all one piece. "B-But the case is back at the house…"

The strange woman smiled and turned behind her. On the floor appeared a metallic block. It looked to be all one piece as well.

The mother looked over at the block with some apprehension. "I'm afraid, Eirille… Why can't we hide it somewhere else?"

The woman named Eirille shook her head. "This place has so many dangerous people… I can't risk it falling into their hands."

Susan looked down at the baby in her arms. "I wish there was another way…"

---

Edward woke with a start, his senses tingling with power. Then he noticed a long shadow… "You! What are you doing here?"

Puruu walked over, looking down at Edward. "I… uh…"

Edward peered up at the lady goddess. "Do you normally interrupt someone's sleep by stuttering?"

Puruu blushed. "I need to ask a favor of you…"

He rose, brushing the sand off and picking up his jacket. "A celestial asking me for a favor, why am I not surprised?"

Puruu looked hurt. "I'm sorry I woke you…" She turned to leave…

"What is it?" he asked, sighing. 'I really am a glutton for punishment…'

Puruu turned, smiling. "I was wondering if you would help a friend of mine. He lives one level up from here…"

Edward shook the rest of the sand off his shirt and put the jacket back on. "Just one question though… why are you asking me?"

Puruu glanced around nervously. She then turned her attention back on Edward. "I've upset Roy enough today…"

Edward furrowed his brow, trying to figure that out. "What does he have over you… over you two really, seeing that your 'friend' the demon seemed just as worried about him being around as well."

Puruu shifted in the sand slightly. "He is the Supreme – he answers only to our fathers," she stated in a matter-of-fact sort of way.

Edward scratched the back of his head. "Well, that clears that up." It did not.

She held out her hand. "I'll take you there." Then she remembered his reaction earlier and frowned. "Oh… I'm sorry, I forgot…" She started to drop her hand…

Edward took her hand. "I'm not going to hunt your friend down there… It's best if you transport us."

She smiled even brighter. "Thank you…"

He shrugged, puzzling over her reaction. "It's okay."

---

"We've got to work fast…"

His fingers flew over the computer's keyboard, as sensors hovered around the pair lying on two examination tables. North glanced worriedly over at the two as their read-outs continued to drop.

Ziggy of the Prime nodded as he watched North work from his perch atop the fridge. "I didn't think you could split someone like that…"

North nodded absently. "The real fun is getting it to hold, and keeping the two alive. You know how it is… you can't divide one and expect to get two! The advantage is though, they were originally two separate entities to start with." He hustled over and administered an injection to both women before dashing back.

Ziggy glanced down at the two ladies. "Uh, North… not to question your better judgment… but WHY ARE YOU SAVING THE DEMON?"

North did not glance away from his instruments. "Because I might need her demon side, if I have to slam them back together… but that's a last ditch scenario." He moved over with a wound healer and cranked it up, but all it would do is hum. "Damn, even the adjustments don't work…"

"What about the LSV?" queried the cat.

North shook his head. "I'm not going to attempt it… too many risk factors in her current state."

"What about Gabrella?" he then asked.

North rattled about on the controls and grunted. "I don't know – I half expected her to be at the arena, not her daughter."

Ziggy's ears flattened. "What's that…?"

North was about to ask Ziggy what he meant, when two people appeared near the twin tables. One was a beautiful woman dressed in strange white dress. The other was an ordinary man wearing a leather jacket.

North glanced over. "Or her god-daughter… Puruu, what are you doing here? I thought you were back on Level 1.1 giving Roy a headache?"

"I've brought someone that might be able to help you, Robert," she told the scientist.

North stopped and looked the man over. "And this would be?"

Edward pulled his gaze from the two people on the table. "Edward Furgesson," he introduced himself. "I see you did the old 'split' trick." He motioned to the two women.

North looked at the man in confusion. "How did you know? Who are you?"

Edward glanced at Puruu. "Ah, am I to guess we arrived unexpected?"

Puruu blushed. "I took the initiative. Robert, Edward here can help you with your problem."

North walked over and looked Edward up and down. "Okay, I'm game."

Edward shrugged and turned. He studied the women for a moment. "That's a bit of a problem…" He walked around and reached for the scabbard of the sword.

"You might not want to-" North started.

Edward picked the scabbard up and looked it over. "Nice craftsmanship - interesting enchantment on the sword." He put the sword on a work tray. "Ah, there's their true auras…"

North turned to Puruu. "I see you folks worked out whatever made Roy lock the level down… Who is this guy, if you don't mind my asking?"

Puruu smiled, watching Edward. "You are looking at the reason for the lock down."

"Okay… that was a dumb question…" The scientist sighed, watching Edward. He picked up his scanning rod and did some quick readings.

Edward looked at the two women again. "They're losing energy too fast."

North nodded to the man. "I know… but what can we do about it?"

Edward snapped his fingers over the two women and both stopped breathing. He motioned to the current leader of Team Rocket to stand back. "It's a temporary fix, they're both in a temporally fixed state. You might call it a reverse 'time out'. I need some breathing room…"

North pulled out a scanner and ran it over the pair. He looked back at Puruu. "I can see why Roy would be upset." The scientist sighed, looking at the frozen human. "But, a stasis field is a stasis field, even if it's a forced locality projection – I bet those tachyons feel all warm and fuzzy right now… anyhow, now we have some room to maneuver, at least…" he shrugged.

Edward noticed the calmness in the man beside him. "You're not as worried as the Captain would have been," he noted.

North gave a light chortle. "Roy's a mechanic, I'm a scientist," he commented. "Where he would come in with a hammer, I'll come in with a magnifying glass."

Edward smiled and continued to scrutinizes his subjects. "What I wouldn't do for a node right about now…" he muttered.

North glanced up. "Say what?"

Edward waved off the comment. "Never mind… 'just talking to myself…" He reached behind him and picked the sword up. "This thing is half the problem." He unsheathed the blade and it immediately began to jerk in his hand, attempting to spin around. "This thing is attuned to life-force…"

North nodded. "The ShadowFlare has a bad habit of drawing off part of the user's life force… but I haven't figured out a way to make it stop." He looked at Charm. "Do what you have to, even if it means breaking the sword…"

"Now I don't think we'll have to be so drastic, just a little tinkering…" He held the struggling blade out before him and it stopped moving. "There we go… its dormant now." He slid the sword back into its scabbard and put it back on the work tray. "Now what to do, what to do…" Edward shook his head. "If only there was a way to draw energy from somewhere else and channel it into her…"

"You can draw some of my life energy," North suggested.

Edward shook his head. "The answer is no. I'm not draining anyone else's life. I'll just have to wing it…"

A look of concern spread over Puruu. She put a hand on Edward's arm. "I didn't bring you here so that you could sacrifice yourself… There has to be another way."

North nodded. "She's right. Let's not be hasty here…"

Edward shrugged and moved away from Puruu to the head of both tables. "I can handle myself, I'm not going to be jeopardizing anything." He placed both hands gently on the girl's forehead and began to focus on her life force. "Releasing the hold… now." Immediately sensors began to blink and beep warnings.

North glanced over at the read-outs before turning back to Edward. "She's on the brink…"

There was a noticeable hum in the air around the table. Immediately the readings on Charm's life signs leveled out.

"Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?" remarked Ziggy.

North nodded while he read the displays. "The room's getting hotter… but Charm's vitals are strengthening. Amazing, this is better progress than with the LSV, and without the nasty side-effect."

Edward took a step back, and then slid down to his knees. "That should… stabilize her." He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Puruu rushed over and started to grab Edward when he waved her off. "Edward, please let me help you…"

"I… really can't have you… touch me right now." He reached up and grabbed hold of the table's edge, using it to slowly pull himself up.

North turned one of the probes on the man. "Your vitals are near what Charm's were a few moments ago… You said you weren't going to jeopardize yourself!"

Edward shook his head, both in negative response and to clear away the spots in his vision. "If I had said something, you would have tried to stop me." He sidestepped to the demon. "And now for patient number two…"

North looked at the goddess. "Puruu…"

Puruu continued to stand next to Edward. "It isn't worth your life, Edward… please reconsider."

Edward avoided looking at her. "LIFE is worth any price, no matter how 'good' or 'evil' it is. I came here to save a life, and that's what I intend to do… save LIVES." He carefully put his hands on the creature's head and focused on its life force. Sensors and monitors tracked the monster's strengthening vitals. He slowly lifted his shaking hands. "I… think… done…" He slid down to the floor again, taking deep breaths. His eyes had become a dull blue.

North waved a scanner over Edward. "His body temp reads as 79 degrees centigrade… Computer, initiate Hazard Protocol 02!"

"Hazard Protocol 02 initiated. All heat-sensitive objects located and shielded."

North's scanner beeped at him and he turned towards the creature.

Unlike the human Charm, the creature awoke with a start. It immediately reached out and grabbed North's arm in one of its claws, growling

North calmly stared the draconian creature down while extracting himself from its weak grip. "I'm sorry, I don't have a chew toy for you… but how about this." He slipped his hand into a pocket and pulled a hypo, which he used to inject the monster. "Nighty night."

The creature slid back down and fell asleep, an angry look on its face.

Puruu knelt down next to Edward. "Please let us help you…"

He slowly stood up, holding onto the edge of the table. "I'm… okay. I wouldn't mind a trip to that LSV though…"

North checked the scanner again. "I think you've been cooked enough…"

"Char-broiled is more like it…" remarked Edward. He pointed towards a door in the opposite corner of the lab. "Does that lead up and out?"

North nodded. "But you're not seriously considering going for a walk, in your condition?"

Edward nodded in return. "Fresh air does me good…" He smiled weakly and walked to the door. He stopped and nodded to North. "Good to meet you, Mr. North… I hope things work out." He walked out before the scientist could say anything more, leaving the room just a little warmer.

North looked at Puruu. "I don't remember requesting it… but thank you for the help." He looked back at the girl. "Anything in particular that drew you here or was this one of those random acts of kindness?"

Puruu looked after Edward. "She's important to our cause…"

North nodded. "Hmm. I'd appreciate it if you could thank your friend Edward."

Puruu smiled and nodded to the scientist, then faded away.

North looked at the pair on the tables. "Computer, give me a full readings on Mr. Furgesson please. Top to bottom, inside and out."

"Confirmed," it replied.

---

Puruu appeared to find a large patch of scorched grass. "Edward?" She could feel the familiar tingle of a Time Out.

Edward appeared in the center of the scorched patch. He spun when he saw Puruu. "Oh, hi… sorry if I kept you... bursting into flame inside an enclosed space is not very nice…"

Confusion crossed her face. "Bursting into flame?"

Edward waved the question off. "Never mind… just a side-effect of using my powers, especially that much of it."

Puruu nodded while she walked up to him. "Are you ready to go back to Shimouti?"

He shrugged and stretched out his hand. "One place is as good as another…" He puzzled for a moment why she smiled when she took his hand. "Back to Shimouti."

---

And just like that they were standing on the beach in the exact place they had left from.

But they were not alone.

Xuru looked at Edward, then at Puruu. "What are you doing?"

Edward interrupted. "We were on an errand of mercy… saving lives, you know… the usual hero stuff." He slipped away from Puruu and walked back to that comfy shade and proceeded to take off his jacket and sit down.

Puruu watched after him, confused. She glanced at Xuru for a moment, then back at Edward. "Thank you, Edward…"

He nodded and laid back, allowing his eyes close.

Puruu started to say something, then stopped and simply smiled, fading away.

Xuru looked at Puruu as she vanished, then at Edward. "You went to Level Prime…"

With his eyes still closed, Edward nodded. "I think that's what you call it. Puruu asked me to help someone restore their friend. Except this friend was two…"

Xuru walked closer to the relaxing man. "There was a demon?"

His eyes cracked open as Xuru's shadow fell on him. "Yes, there was a demon, if you could call it that… Looked more draconian to me, but what I know about this place's denizens anyhow…"

Xuru's expression switched to complete surprise as her focus lingered elsewhere. She glanced back at where Puruu had been, and then back down at Edward. "You saved the demon?"

Edward shrugged. "On principle I don't leave work half-done, so yes… I restored it."

Xuru's expression changed to suspicion. "Why? What are you planning for that creature?"

Edward opened his eyes, which had returned to their normal blue. "I did it because all life is precious to me. I don't care what the demon does now… it's not my concern anymore."

Now she was confused. "But… that demon may use its power against you. Weren't you the least bit concerned about what it might do later on?"

"No, not in the least," he told her, resting his head back into his cupped hands. "If that creature is stupid enough to turn on me, it will throw away the life I returned. But I don't use that as an excuse to kill something before it's even threatened me. Ends not justifying the means, you know the drill I'm sure…"

Xuru nervously toyed with one of her earrings. "How can you be a warrior for the light-"

Edward sat straight up, his eyes filled with anger. "Wrong! I am no-one's 'warrior'! All the war between good and evil has done is cost me friends! It just leaves me having to clean up the mess… and mourn…" He let out a deep breath and let the moment pass.

Xuru was startled at Edward's outburst. "I didn't know… I just assumed because of who you gain your power from…"

He moved his eyes upward, looking her straight on. "That I'm Phoenix's lapdog? That I run around fighting the good fight?"

Xuru turned her eyes away. "Yes…" Then she looked back at him, eyes narrowed. "You were only too eager to gallop off with Puruu… if I had-"

Edward interrupted her. "First come, first serve! If you had shown up and asked my help for your demon, I would have gone." He rose to his feet, shaking the sand off of his shirt again.

She studied the human, confused. "You're not lying…"

Edward picked up his jacket and shook it off, then put it on. "Thank you for that vote of confidence. Now if you're finished berating my beliefs and questioning my motives?"

An embarrassed look crossed the demon's face. "I'm… sorry… and…" She studied the sand.

Edward turned and began to walk away. "You're welcome."

Xuru looked up, watching the human walk away. She glared at him – studying him.

"You… you have a hole in your soul," she growled as she looked at his inner self.

She clenched her fists and then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

---

Edward turned and began to walk into the village. He noticed several of the villagers giving him odd looks. 'Best to keep moving, hope they forgot about almost lynching you…' ran through his head. He started down a small path that led towards the mountain the island was named for, Shimouti. He stopped once the village was out of view. "Time to speed this road trip up just a bit…" He blinked and the scenery became a blur, the mountain racing towards him. Finally he stopped, looking around. This was as good as any spot. He walked off the path, entering the dense vegetation.

He stopped in a small clearing, glancing around quickly before snapping a branch off a tree. "So they want to come to me, eh? Let's see them get past this…" He began to draw a circle in the sandy soil, his trained eye guiding him. He then made small marks inside the circle, aware in the back of his mind that these were elements of his old life… and powers that no longer needed silly drawings to work. He sat Indian-style in the middle and concentrated, aware he was about to make it much harder for anyone to get hold of him. But the exhaustion refused to stay at bay, and getting woken by goddesses was not what he wanted right now. The light surrounding the circle began to waver and Edward nodded. He put his hands on both his knees and let himself drift into a trance, letting the energies in the planet flow through him.

---

"Oh, what's he doing now?" Roy asked, pinching his eyes.

Elsewhere, Mr. Button grimaced. "That's a new one," he commented while the world swayed a bit from the energy being sent up the mountain.

---

"Shhh… it'll be okay… I know it hurts…" The woman quietly rocked the crying infant, tears rolling unchecked down her cheeks.

Edward started. 'What? I'm back here?'

"You said there would be no pain! You lied, Eirille…" The woman continued to rock the baby.

Eirille placed a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder. "The shock will wear off, I promised you he would be in no pain. Susan…"

Three people appeared out of thin air just inside the room. The first one, decked out in a gray and gold uniform, pulled out a weapon and pointed it at Susan. "Freeze!"

Susan looked at the man in shock. "What are you doing here!?"

The second, a woman dressed in the same uniform, aimed her weapon at Eirille. "Don't move a muscle!"

Susan looked at Eirille. "You said they would never be able to find this place! You lied - another lie!"

The third person stepped out of the shadows. She was decked out in a dark-green, very suggestive outfit. She had very dark skin and hair the color of the waters at midnight. Her crimson eyes flashed. "She's good at that… nice to see you again, Eirille."

Eirille's eyes narrowed. "Kautte, I should have known you would break the Pact!"

Kautte smiled wickedly and shook a single finger at the other woman. "Now, now… you broke the Pact first by giving this mortal refuge. I'm simply evening the odds."

Eirille turned to the human woman. "Do not listen to this jackal's lies, Susan. She has done far more harm… I did not lie to you about the treachery among your own people. You are looking at the mastermind of that treachery."

Susan stared at Kautte, her grip tightening on the bundle in her arms. In all the commotion, the child had quieted down. "You aren't taking my son away from me… I'll kill you with my bare hands if I have to!"

Kautte laughed. "You useless mortal woman, you couldn't lay a hand on me! I will enjoy watching your own kind court-martial you and send you to prison… It's really a pity your kind stopped using execution, you were so GOOD at it."

The woman standing next to Kautte nodded. "All clear here, no weapons detected."

---

BJ burst through the vegetation at a run, and immediately threw on the brakes. She slid and then was sprawling forward when her boot snagged a tree's exposed root. She bowled the man over, her reflexes putting her into a tumble. She came up and spun, Psyche's PokéBall in her hand in case the stranger decided to attack.

Edward blinked a few times, his eyes catching blue sky. It was bad enough having celestials harass him, or running into a errant paladin like Strom… but being run over was where he drew the line. In a single movement he was standing, staring down the person who had just bowled through him. "You better be a very important person here, because I don't take getting mowed down very lightly."

BJ remained in her battle stance. "I'm sorry, but I didn't see you until it was too late…"

Edward brushed himself off, eyeing the woman. "Just what is that supposed to be anyhow? 'Don't try anything or I'll throw my toy at you' stance?"

Smirking, BJ stood straight, holding her PokéBall up. "You've never seen a PokéBall? And that was my 'I'm ready for a fight' stance… I guess it didn't scare you."

"I don't normally fear women with pink hair, sorry. So you must be a native of this place. You talk like I would know what a 'PokéBall' is…"

BJ slipped the PokéBall back onto her belt. "You shouldn't underestimate someone because of their hair color… You're not from this plane?"

Edward shook his head.

BJ looked up at Shimouti, then back at the stranger. "I would love to stay and chat some more… but I have to get up there."

Edward looked the woman up and down. "Your name wouldn't happen to be JP, would it?"

She looked the stranger over. Only Roy called her that. "Uh, yes… have we met?"

Edward shook his head. "I just got the feeling that you were the one Captain Strom was looking for."

At the mention of that name, BJ moved towards the stranger. "What do you mean he's looking for me? Did Mr. Button give him my message?"

He gave her a quizzical look. "Who's Mr. Button? Ah, never mind that… I'm just relaying what happened after the Time Out."

BJ looked at the man sideways. "You know about the Time Out?"

He smirked. "I was the reason for said Time Out… So you mind explaining why you're running me over and causing your friend no end of worry?"

BJ shook her head, turning back towards the mountain. "I can't talk, I need to get to the mountain…"

Edward shrugged. "I can get you to the mountain faster than your feet."

BJ turned back to the man. "You can? You have powers… like Roy and Ketchup?"

Edward glanced over his shoulder towards where he had been. "If you mean that Pikachu and the good captain, yes I do." He turned back. "I suppose this whole mess has to do with some group named the Dominators and a stolen Lugia egg?"

BJ nodded. "Can you give me a lift up to the summit?"

Edward shrugged. "Sure…" He chuckled when BJ stuck out her hand. "I think your friend would be upset if he knew I was doing this… I can transport us without going on a date."

BJ laughed, but then worry crossed his face. "I hope he isn't mad at me…"

Edward glanced back in the direction of the village. "We better get going…"

Both people disappeared.

Some nearby bushes rustled.

"Yes, I sense his power… I want that power…"

Jessebelle snickered. "Wah Dear, how do ya think you're gonna get it, he's much more powerful than you…"

"I have my ways… as you will see," Mauvais said through her mouth. "Come, I must be close to monitor my spawn on the Lugia shape-shifter."

---

Charmega somehow found the strength to fly back to the Shimouti beach, where Rianna had returned and waited. The Rapidash-Morph eyed her cautiously, wincing when Charmega overshot her landing and rammed into a tree. She rushed to her friend's side as the dizzy dragon sat up. At least the security on the top if the Peak were no longer aiming their guns at her.

"Are you okay?" Rianna asked her.

"How's El?" Charmega asked, shaking her head to clear it.

Rapidash shook her head. "I don't know. They said that Mauvais is so similar to her DNA that at times they can't tell one from the other very easily with their scans. I really have no idea what they can do about it."

Charmega nodded, and then pointed to her rather low tail flame. "Care to charge me up a little? I think that little fireworks show was a bit much."

She snorted. "You're telling ME." Rapidash blew a jet of fire from her mouth onto the tiny flicker on the end of Chars' tail, helping it to glow brighter and the fire to leap higher. "What possessed you to do that anyway?" she asked, somehow speaking around a mouthful of flame.

Charmega started to answer, but then stopped. 'Great balls of fire, why DID I do that?' she wondered in confusion. "Uh…"

"Were you just mad, or did I see you try to kill yourself?" Rapidash asked in a lower voice.

Now the dragon was triply confused. "I don't know!" she whispered as she drew circles in the sand with her toe. "First she was shot, now Mauvais has somehow integrated part of himself into her and is killing her, I'm going crazy and I don't know what to do!" She drew a trembling breath.

"My parents died when I was only a Charmeleon, and for me that was a VERY young age. My boyfriend ran away when I left for the Stratus. All the other siblings from my family's nest were either captured by poachers or killed in life-death matches with Charizard twice their size. I saw every one of them, killed in front of my eyes. And now… seeing El like that…" She sniffled, wiping furiously at the hot tears that were blurring her vision. "I just don't want anyone else to get hurt. Everyone I get close to ends up miserable or dead… all because of me."

"This was not your fault," Rapidash said, helping Charmega to her feet. "Destiny chose that path for them, and there's no use arguing with the past. It's time to let go, Chars. It's time to stop the Black Lugia."

Charmega looked up at her. She snorted and wiped her face, rearing back and standing tall, head up, violet eyes burning with her inner fire. "Let's go."

She started off, leaving a bewildered Rianna behind her. "Where are we going?" she asked, hurrying to keep up with her companion's long strides.

"To find Jessebelle," the dragon lady snarled.

"What does Jessebelle have to do with anything?" Rianna wondered aloud, thoroughly confused. "I thought she was just some annoying country girl."

"Not anymore," Charmega said without turning around. "I got a good lock on Mauvais when he was communicating with me earlier. He's connected to Jessebelle somehow, which means if we find her then we find him."

Rianna looked about in a near panic – she was not ready to deal with something as evil as what this Mauvais character sounded like – at least not without the cavalry following close behind. "Shouldn't we let someone else know first?" she asked nervously.

Charmega stopped, tail swishing agitatedly. "Good idea. You go let Mr. Button know, and anyone else from Stratus you can find. I'll meet up with you on Dragon's Peak. Hopefully, there we can let the Lugia know EXACTLY what's happened to their egg. And even better, maybe we can even tell them where it is."

"Yes, ma'am!" In a blur of singed underbrush, Rapidash shifted to her full Pokémon mode and took off for Forrestal yet again. Charmega watched her go, then turned around and cracked her knuckles.

"All right Jessebelle and Mauvais… now it's PERSONAL."

---

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!"

The automatic klaxon had been harping about this ever since a fiery streak had entered the lower landing bay. Not only had security been sent in all directions, but as it passed through the ship, the flaming trail it was leaving was setting all the fire extinguishing systems off.

"RIANNA! STOP RUNNING IN MY SHIP!" finally came over the intercraft from the bridge. The Rapidash stopped and morphed into her humanoid form. She looked around and saw a dozen uniformed officers pointing weapons at her.

"Take me to your leader?" she whinnied.

Roy pinched his eyes as he listened to what the Rapidash-Morph had to say. Mr. Button had joined them after leaving sick bay.

"So let me get this right – Charmega wants to find Jessebelle because she sensed Mauvais with her, and his presence is causing El to collapse?" the captain surmised.

"That's about what I can figure what she meant," Rianna said with a nod.

"And she and you were going to attack her alone?" he added.

"Umm, she wants to attack them on her own," Rianna noted. "I'm all for assistance!"

"You got that straight, if they're the one's controlling the Dominators," Button added. "But what she says make sense to a degree."

Roy looked down from the Captain's Loft at his science officer. "Did you discover something?" he asked.

"Some," he said. "It seems because of their relative closeness of their DNA, Mauvais can trigger some aspects in Lugia42 that he has or had."

"Had?" Rianna asked before the captain could. Roy just looked at Button to continue.

"As the Black Lugia, when he stored enough life-force energy, he could open a rift between dimensions and haul himself and his minions through to attack another world and suck up that level's energy," he started to surmise. "But, in reality, he never really needed as much energy to do the transfer fully – he could always move there by himself. He only needed the extra power to bring his attack force through as well. Now as we know, El can do the same thing, being that she is of course, the Black Lugia of Level 42."

"But El isn't a direct link to the Black Lugia of Level 14," Roy noted. "She's a unimonic."

Rianna crossed her eyes and looked up at him. "A uni-whatis?" she asked.

"She only shows up on one universe, much like yourself," Button told the PokéMorph. "But, like the other Black Lugia, she too can dimensional hop. And it seems that this is what is happening to her."

Roy sat back and thought a moment. "So, you're saying that Mauvais is triggering her teleportation factor within herself arbitrarily?"

"It would seem so," the Lif Sphare said. "He could be trying to get her body, if this is the goo-version we've been dealing with lately. He may have simply decided that two Black Lugia is too many, especially if one he can't control… who knows?"

Roy smacked his console. "Why haven't our satellites found this blob and beamed it off the planet?" he complained.

Button drummed his fingers on the edge of the stairwell up to the loft. "The system automatically shut down when Lugia42 arrived. There was too much confusion in the phase buffers to keep them running while she was here."

He saw the glare coming down from the ship's commander. "Fine tune them," he demanded. "I want them up and running again before the end of shift tonight!"

"Sir!" a cadet in the scanning deck yelled, acknowledging the order.

"Now then, as for just you and Charmega going in by yourselves…" Roy started.

"Well, I have to admit, we've done things like this before," Rianna said, scratching her cheek as she thought about it again.

"What?! Are you crazy? Just the two of you against who knows how many of Jessebelle's cronies? You and Charmega have gone off the deep end this time. There is no way you could pull this off by yourselves safely." Strom stopped and looked at Rianna. "Have you brought this up with the Lugia?" he asked.

"Charmega was thinking about it," she replied. She saw the expression on the captain turn sour.

"No – no- no!" he said. "They are upset as it is! Sending them along could add another element to this problem – an unstable environment!"

"I remember what she did the last time she was made upset like this," Button added. "I'm sure that only the presence of Prime Lugia is keeping her from nuking the world in water."

Strom tapped his console. "I'm assigning you a strike force," he told Rianna. "Have Mr. Kline give them their orders, Mr. Button."

"Roy," Rianna cut in, "Charmega and I can take care of ourselves - We want to do this. And you know once Chars has her mind set on something, nothing can change it."

"That's what I'm afraid of," he grumbled. He nodded to his second. Button left the bridge. "You can expect to find them ready by the time you get to the landing deck."

"Roy! Stop it! What has gotten into you? You were never worried about Chars or me before. Why now? We haven't changed into weaklings. We've gotten stronger. I think all of us have gained a few levels and we were already pretty high. Chars may have even gotten to one hundred already."

He clicked something in front of himself. "Charmega is currently at one hundred and fifty two point five," he corrected her. "Where did you ever get the idea that I never worried about you two? I know more about you than you wish I did kiddo."

Rianna stepped back a hoof. "You… you do?"

He nodded. "And you, Rianna? What level are you now?"

"I don't know - The last time anybody checked it was eighty-five, but that was years and years ago. The Rapidash I merged with was high in the beginning."

He clicked his console again. "You underestimate yourself," he told her. "You're currently near ninety-five point two.

"Really?" she asked a bit surprised by those numbers. "Well, be it as it may, if I don't get going Charmega will go after Jessebelle by herself."

He looked down on her from his seat. He reached under his desk and pulled out two com units and tossed them to her.

"Now then, if you find either one of them, you are to CALL US, understood?" he told her in a strict tone. "If you're wondering why I'm worried more this time than our last encounters, we're dealing with a greater danger than ever before. Make the wrong move out there, and we doom not just this planet, but countless others in countless universes. THAT is why I'm different this time. Plus, we're dealing with an egg… a fragile egg belonging two a pair of water gods, not a land skirmish."

Rianna stepped back a bit. "Okay Roy," she told him. He saw she was a bit put off by his tongue lashing and sighed.

"Hey," he told her in a calmer tone, "I don't mind it you beat the snot out of them, just don't you two get yourselves hurt, or worse."

Rianna looked up at him. "Worse?" she asked.

Roy nodded. "If this is the same goo form we've been dealing with lately, Mauvais can envelop you in himself and take over your body, leaving you merely a puppet going along for a ride. Now you two have the advantage over him in this form."

"We do?" she asked.

He smiled. "If he's in that form, he can't stand fire," he said. Rianna's mane flared.

"Really?" she asked now a bit more upbeat.

"Yup," Roy told her. "Fried him myself in Bird mode. Mind you, it smells really bad."

"Well, Ponyta smell like sulfur if they eat too much onion grass!" she grinned.

Roy stepped down from his seat and stood before her. He rubbed his thumb on her forehead below her horn.

"Use your horse-sense when you're out there, hear?" he told her.

"This from a Bird brain?" she kidded him back.

He smirked. "Git outta here, you!" he said, smacking her on the shoulder.

"Finally! See ya later!" And the girl took off. He watched as he tapped on a com unit.

"Strom to Mr. Button – change of plans," he told it.

Rianna looked at the communicators she had been given – it had an elastic Velcro strap attached to them. She wrapped one to her forearm and changed into full Rapidash form. It stayed nicely on her leg. She changed back momentarily so that she could strap the second one to herself before changing back and running off.

When she got back to Charmega, the fire-dragon was getting ready to leave without her.

"Wait a minute!" she yelled as she slid to a stop in a cloud of dust. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Well… You didn't exactly come back in a hurry, did you?" Charmega groused. "So where's your backup?"

Rianna stood up as she changed back to her human form, further away from her Rapidash than she had been so far. "You know Roy – he was in lecture mode when I told him what we were going to do." She unstrapped one of the communicators and handed it to her friend.

"What's this for?" she asked as she took it.

"Roy wants us to call them as soon as we find either Jessebelle or Mauvais," Rianna told her. "And he would rather we didn't bother the Lugia."

Charmega glared at her as she stopped putting the unit on. "But they have the right to know what's going on!" she shouted.

Rianna glared right back at her. "Which would you prefer, trying to find Jessebelle and Mauvais in clear, gentle tropical calm, or in a hurricane created by a distraught water god?" she flatly stated.

Charmega stroked the air with a finger. "Point to the good captain!" she stated in agreement. "Right! Do you want to run or have me carry you? You know even at your best speed, you'll never keep up with me."

She pointed out the petite human form she now had. "Already ahead of you," she told her. "You'd leave me behind in a blink. Besides, if she's out there," she added pointing out to sea, "I don't tread water very well." She leapt onto Charmega's back. "Let's move out!"

They slowly flew along the coast looking for a boat or building that Jessebelle or her crew could have put the egg into. After about an hour they found a shack with a motorboat docked about twenty or so feet away.

"Do you think that could be what we're looking for?" asked Rianna.

"It's got to be... who else would be this far from town?" the Charizard stated.

"A hermit," her rider suggested.

"With a boat that nice? I don't think so."

"Well, what about that one?" Rianna said. Charmega looked at where she was pointing. A mile or so further along was another shack, and another boat – nicer than the one they had first spotted. This made the Charizard-Morph grumpy.

"Hey! Find anything yet?" they heard. They both looked about at the unseen voice until Rianna looked up.

"Scat Back at eleven o'clock," she alerted Charmega. The dragon caught an updraft and climbed to its height.

"Mr. Kinza, I should have known!" Charmega smirked at the pilot of the attack craft as she lighted on its wing – it was better at hovering than she was, even with all their weight added to only one side. "Haven't found anything yet – we were about to check on those huts down there."

He looked over his wing at where they were. "Well, that one up there is Giovanni's," he told them. "You'd better be careful futzing about there. He might have PokéBall traps in there for unsuspecting PokéMorphs."

"Point to Mr. Fuzzy," Charmega added to her tally. "Have you scanned them yet?"

Kinza cocked his head. "Kid, this island has been scanned continually every since the first goo attack," he told her. "But we also know that the Dominators use scanner scramblers, which is how they got away with the egg in the first place."

"So, how do you get around something like that?" Rianna asked.

Kinza blew air out of his mouth that made his beard frazzle. "You get on you feet and walk – house to house, hut to hut, grotto to grotto… and this island is packed full of them!"

"So what are you doing still up here?" Charmega asked. It seemed silly for him to still be flying about if the ground was where the action was.

"I'm still mapping possible hot spots," he told her. "It seems that the Dominators planned this out a bit. They took advantage of that rain shower we had the other night, and dropped scramblers all over the island." He pulled one out of his breast pocket and showed it to them. It looked like a simple round rock, save for a small screw hole that kept the two halves together.

"What's that do? Screw up your sensors?" Charmega asked. Kinza shook his head.

"They're not that sophisticated," he said. "But a scrambler is still a scrambler – and it still leaves a tell-tale sign to a trained eye. If they had simply put a scrambler on the egg, it would have stood out as if it were just sitting in front of you. But scatter a bunch of those scramblers, and you'll never figure out which one is the right one or not."

"Ingenious!" Rianna stated. Charmega was less impressed.

"Damn it! Well, I'm sensing for Mauvais, not the egg, so I shouldn't be effected as much, right?"

He made a look like he did not know. "The problem is, the scramblers could be used on more than just the egg – Mauvais might have one as well."

"And Jessebelle is just another human," Rianna added.

"Yup, just another life form," he agreed.

"Well, good luck with your scans," Charmega told him as she prepared to take off. "By the way, any idea just who's shack that is right below us?"

Kinza looked at his charts. "Umm, it says here that it belongs to a local Clamperl harvester. Huh, I should let Natsumi know about this guy."

Charmega saluted him. "We'll let you know what we find," she told him as they lifted off. They curved about as the ship moved off.

"We'd better get out of the air in case they see us. Land up in the trees so we can sneak up on it," Rianna suggested.

Charmega was all for the direct approach. "Why bother? Let's just fly over the shack and torch it!"

Rianna reached over and rapped her on the head. "The Lugia egg might be in there! Do you want to fry it?!"

Charmega had to agree with that point as well. They glided in and landed beyond the palm groves.

"There it is," she growled, "Mauvais' hiding spot - That coward. I wish he'd come out and fight me, dragon to mutant. But noooo, he had to make it difficult! I enjoy a challenge." She looked over her shoulder at Rianna as she walked up, still in her human form for sake of camouflage - It's hard to mask your presence when nearly seventy percent of your body in on fire after all.

"Are you ready?" the dragon girl asked the lady beside her.

"No," she flatly stated.

"Too bad," Charmega shot back. Rianna's eyes widened as the Charizard-Morph acted like she was charging the base. She started laughing when she saw her companion's facial expression. "Oh, please! You don't think I'm THAT unstable, do you? I was kidding!"

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't you ever do that again!" Rianna scolded her. "So now what do we do?"

"We sneak in and find out where they're keeping that dang egg. You need me to do a camouflage job on you?" she offered.

Rianna was about to say something when she looked around and thought she was by herself. But a slight movement to her right made her realizes that for the first time since landing, Charmega's scales were changing color to match the foliage.

"How do you DO that?" she wondered aloud. "It's like one of those chameleons I've heard so much about from people on other levels."

"Ever noticed how chameleon and Charmeleon sound the same, almost?" Charmega noted. "So, you want to stay like that, or do you want me to disguise you?"

"Actually," she grinned and pulled out a PokéBall, "I've got a better idea."

Charmega looked at her – the expression was… not normal.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

---

"You are SO going to pay for this!" Charmega grumbled from the inside of the PokéBall. It was fortunate that the communicator was sucked in with its host, and that it still worked, though its communication's link was on the same body that now held it secure to a belt.

"Come on, you know it's the easiest way to get inside. An eleven-foot-tall talking dragon girl is sure to attract attention, whereas a normal human such as myself can sneak around ignored," Rianna argued. She was acting as if she were a typical beach-jogging tourist with a music player strapped to her arm – it was convenient that it came with a set of ear buds headphones.

"And since when are you normal?" Charmega asked curmudgeonly.

"I knew you were gonna say that," she said as she trotted out to the end of the dock and acted as if she were stretching. She bent down to touch her toes and looked behind herself. There was no movement from the hut. She twisted back and forth. To one side she saw nothing but the beach and the far end of the island which curved away out of sight. To the other direction, she could just see the end of Giovanni's dock, and a large man out there looking down towards her with binoculars.

"Ea… there's someone out on the end of that other pier," she whispered.

"What's he doing?" Charmega asked.

"L-looking at me with binocs!" she squeaked as she kept up her exercise ruse.

"Is he doing anything else, like calling anyone?" Charmega probed.

"Umm, no," Rianna said. "He's just… looking…"

Charmega though a moment. "Try waving," she suggested.

"What?" Rianna yelped, almost leaping at the thought.

"Just DO it!" Charmega said.

Rianna sheepishly looked in the man's direction and gave a slight wave. To her shock, the man waved back… vigorously. She quickly jogged back behind the hut and grabbed the support pillar that held up the ramshackle porch roof.

"Okay… that was creepy!" she gasped.

"Easy girl, you're just a regular heart-breaker!"

Rianna swatted her com unit as if that would hit Charmega. She looked at the boat that was bobbing beside her. It certainly did look a bit out of place here. It was an extra fancy launch-type, one that should mate up with a much larger yacht. She looked at the hut and sighed as she reached for the door.

"Okay, they're entering the hut now," Kinza reported from his vantage point high in the sky.

"Okay, keep a scanner lock on them," he heard Roy say over his speaker. "Have you got the frequency to their com units I gave them?"

"Locked on – if I loose a scanner lock, at least I'll have something to follow them by." The Tomassamassa shifted in his seat and watched.

Rianna opened the door and looked around. Nothing was suspicious at first glance. There was just a bunch of dusty fishing equipment piled to one side and some heavy rugs on the floor. But in the thick layer of dust on the floorboards, there were many footprints. Here and there, small black stains were spattered about. At the foot of a cupboard sat something extremely out of place for this place though - women's dress shoes, size 7, their glaring red standing out like a beacon in the dim and dirt. Inside the cupboard she found a set of black overalls, which, like the rug on the floor, bore a large "D" on it.

"What are you doing?" Charmega asked as she heard cloth rustling around the microphone.

"Protecting my assets," Rianna told her as she zipped up the overall. She then lifted the rug, revealing the hidden door in the floor. "I knew it. Thanks to Hollywood for letting us all know where to find a secret base," she mumbled. Rianna pulled on the iron handle, opening it with no sound at all. She formed a small ball of fire on her hand to light the passageway, revealing a dark stairway.

"Here goes nothing," she said, taking the first descending step into danger.

Kinza scanner bleeped. The signal vanished.

"Scrambler!" he cursed. He switched to the com channel and found static as well.

"Scragg!"

---

"Man, they're everywhere!" Rianna breathed in amazement as people in uniforms of the Dominators walked down the corridor in front of them. "How in the world did they manage to get a base down here without anyone knowing, and so quickly?"

"Who's their neighbor?" she heard Charmega ask in her ear. "I bet that slime Giovanni put them here before these guys 'borrowed' them. Let's just go find Jessebelle and that black Lugia egg."

"Right," Rianna nervously said as she looked around. "Can you, like, put a cloaking field around me or something? You're a psychic, you can do that, right?"

"Sorry, I haven't mastered that yet," Charmega admitted. "But I can blank the minds of anyone who sees you, and they'll only lose a few seconds of their memories. But once we get to Mauvais, I can't guarantee anything. Besides, aren't you dressed like one of them?"

Rianna looked at the overalls she was wearing versus the turtlenecks and slacks the others had on and gulped. Then she saw another jumpsuit like she was wearing and sighed in relief.

"Okay, I'm ready," she heard. "Get going."

Rianna walked out into the hallway, praying no one would notice her. People passed by without even a glance, no acknowledgement of her presence. 'Which way should I go?' she thought to Charmega, not trusting her voice.

"Try the north passage first. People like these tend to keep important stuff in that direction," Charmega suggested. A mental arrow appeared in Rianna's mind, showing the way she should travel. "Dominators. They think they're so smart."

'What are you talking about?' she thought to her as she worked her way through the crowded hallway. 'You're assuming this as well!'

"Hush you and just get going!" Charmega snorted. "The sooner you're there, the sooner I'm out of this ball! By the way, you remembered to turn the taming circuit off in this thing, right?"

'I didn't know you could turn that off,' she joked as she continued on.

Rianna finally found a heavily guarded room at the end of the north hall, just as Charmega had suggested – perhaps she was correct about the Dominators' habits, or more likely, Team Rocket's, since along the way, she had seen some red R's on doors with a crude X painted over them in Dominators Green.

Six men with pistols and what looked like combat knives guarded the entry. The door itself had a heavy padlock and a coded keypad. Whatever was in there, they did not want anyone getting in or out. There was no one else in sight - there had not been for the past five minutes.

"That's got to be it!" Charmega exclaimed as she tapped into Rianna's vision. "I can feel it! The Lugia egg is in there… and so is Mauvais." She growled the last statement angrily.

'How do we get in?' Rianna asked.

Charmega thought about it for a moment, peeking out to see what Rianna could see every once in a while. "We need to knock out the guards somehow," she stated. "Do you know any Sing or Hypnosis attacks?"

'That's an odd thing to ask a Rapidash,' Rianna told her, 'but I did learn Sing a while ago. Why?'

"I need you to use that attack on them," she told her. "I'll use my powers to enhance it a little, but I can't risk too much while keeping this memory-shield up."

'Or while you're in a PokéBall,' Rianna added. 'Are you sure you can create enough power while in there?'

"You're asking me?" Charmega yelled, causing Rianna to wince. "You're the one who put me IN here!"

'All right, but you'd better be right about this.' Rianna shifted to half Rapidash and began her Singing, a slow, soothing melody that had immediate effects on the guards. A few fell asleep almost instantly, but the others took a psychic nudge from Charmega before they subsided into Dreamland. Rianna dragged them into a side room and removed their weapons, throwing them in a nearby trash container. She kept two pistols, one for her and one for Charmega, just in case they needed them. As much as she despised fighting and blood, the Rapidash girl also slipped one of the knives into concealment on her belt.

"Now that that's over with, let me outta here!" Charmega roared, shaking the PokéBall furiously.

Rianna took the ball out and released her claustrophobic friend into the hallway. Charmega stretched her wings and swished her tail. "Oh, much better. What's a Rapidash doing with a PokéBall anyway?"

She shrugged. "I always wanted to see what would happen if you used one on a human," she blithely said, until she realized what she had just said. She saw the look on Charmega's face.

"You were going to try and use that on the Professor, weren't you?" Charmega snorted.

"I have no idea what you mean!" Rianna said as her human face turned scarlet. "Just… just get that door open already!"

Charmega grinned. "I can read you like a book!" she snickered. "Now, to see to that lock…"

Rianna watched in astonishment as Charmega picked the padlock with one of her finger claws in mere seconds. She then moved onto the keypad. Having absorbed the code from the mind of a sleeping guard, she proceeded to punch it in. The door opened.

Jessebelle spun around, surprised at the interruption. A slimy black film quivered on her arm, looking almost furious at the intrusion. At the other side of the room sat the black Lugia egg, inside an incubator of some sort.

"Umm… hi," Rianna said as she twiddled her fingers at them.

"YOU!" the black goop on Jessebelle's arm screeched through her mouth. It stretched towards the form of the large Charizard woman that had entered behind the smaller pale human.

"Yes, us," Charmega said bluntly. "Can we just get on with it? You know me, I know you. You're killing my best friend and stole the egg. That's enough for a fight, right?"

"Ladies first," Mauvais laughed.

"Wah thankie, dahlin!" Jessebelle sneered as she aimed a gun at the large Charizard-Morph.

Charmega swung her tail at the evil creature, trying to incinerate it. As a countering move, Jessebelle stepped back and began firing, creating several dents in the metal walls.

"My dear, you're a terrible shot!" Mauvais shouted through the right side of her mouth.

"Honey, I am right handed! If you had decided ta take up residence on mah LEFT SIDE, this would be oh so much EASIER!" she screamed back.

"That's just freaky," Rianna droned.

"Rianna! Get the egg and get outta here!" Charmega yelled as she dodged the poorly aimed bullets. "I'll be okay, just make sure the egg is safe!"

"I'm not going to leave you here!" Rianna yelled as she shifted into her full Rapidash form. Then she charged Jessebelle and knocked the gun out of her hand.

But then she felt something tap her on her hind quarters. She looked back to see Jessebelle's right goo-covered arm pointing at her.

"Tag! You're it!" Mauvais leered through Jessebelle's face.

"You idiot!" bellowed Charmega. She saw the mass spread quickly across her friend's back.

But Rianna simply backed away and smiled.

"Yea, really… a friend of ours told me how to fight this," she told them, and then promptly burst into a huge ball of fire in the corner of the room.

Charmega covered her face. "ARE YOU MAD?" she shouted. "WE'RE IN AN ENCLOSED ROOM UNDERGROUND!"

Rianna stepped out of the oven-like corner of the room. "You're just jealous because you didn't get to do it first, Miss One Hundred and Fifty Two Point Five!" She trotted over to the egg cleaned of the black, but smelling not so ripe.

"PHAA!" Charmega groused. "You're getting a bath when we get back!"

Rianna reverted to her humanoid form and examined the thick-glass box the egg was in – there did not seem to be any way to get it out. She looked at her hand and shaped it back into its hoof and thwacked it twice, shattering it into small crumbly cubes.

"Gotta love tempered glass!" she yelled as she gathered up the egg that was nearly the size of her torso and ran out the door, only to be confronted by Dominators.

"Great…"

"That thing has the egg!" one of them yelled.

Rianna looked over the top of her burden at the lead Dominator who had said that.

"Thing?" she asked. "THING?" She held up a hand in a 'wait a moment' gesture to them and put the egg down behind her. She then turned and filled the hallway with her Flamethrower move, sending screaming Dominators scurrying.

"I'M A PRETTY LADY, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!" she finished as she picked up the egg again.

Charmega in the meantime had crushed Jessebelle's gun and was powering up for big time frying.

"It's just you and me, Mauvais!" she grinned.

"Now… now jest a minute, dearie," Jessebelle protested, "Ah seem ta be in direct line…"

FOOM! A blast of white hot flame had erupted from Charmega's mouth and encased the woman's arm.

"YAAAAAA!" Jessebelle screamed. But even at this close range, she was shocked to feel no pain nor heat!

"You can't do anything to ME, weakling!" shouted Mauvais through her. "Now give back that egg!"

"Die already!" Charmega yelled between blasts. "I didn't come all the way out here to have you laugh in my face! Rianna, get over here and help me fry this nasty thing!"

"No!"the Rapidash-Morph called back as more Dominators were approaching. "We have to get the egg out of here! We can get Mauvais later!"

"We have to get him NOW when we know where he is!"

"CHARMEGA! WE HAVE TO LEAVE! I CAN'T GET THIS EGG OUT OF HERE BY MYSELF!"

"You heard the girl!" she then heard. "Get out of there with your package!"

Charmega looked around. "Roy?" she asked. "Where are you?"

Then it dawned to her – the com link strapped to her arm!

"Roy, why can't I fry this thing like Rianna did?" she shouted as she sent another stream into the room at the black mass. Jessebelle was now standing and leering at her, walking slowly towards her using the covered arm as a shield.

"He's concentrated on her," he explained. "All he's doing is absorbing your strength now! GET OUT OF THERE!"

"ARRHHGGG!" she shouted as she grabbed her head in anguish. "I'll be back Mauvais! You will pay for what you did to El!"

"Sweet, isn't it?" she heard. "I will control your friend like a puppet! Once I have total control, I will simply send her out as my forward observer! She will be my eyes on the other worlds I will devour!"

Roy sat back in his chair and looked at Mr. Button. "That's what he wants her for - Her trans-dimensional teleportation capability!"

Button grimaced. "But it's about as accurate as a brick!" he noted.

"You forget, the Black Lugia is an expert on dimensional jumps – he'll tweak her!" Strom moved back to the microphone. "Good job, Charmega! Now get out of there! NOW!"

Charmega did not flinch. She was just staring stunned at the arm in front of her, and the evil it intended to do on her friend.

"NnnnnNNNNNOOOO!" she thundered. She grabbed the metal door frame and wrenched it out of the wall, in the process, caused the reinforced concrete that it had been attached to, to crumble and block the advancing menace.

"CHARS! DO YOU WANT TO END UP WITH A BUNCH OF HOLES LIKE EL TOO?" she heard behind her. There was the sound of gunfire in the hall.

"Attention Dominators," a speaker announced, "STOP FIRING! The EGG IS OUT THERE!"

Charmega spat – it had been the voice of Mauvais. She had not dropped the building on him as she had wished. She spun and raced back down the path to her friend.

Rianna was in full Rapidash form, sending the occasional stream of fire back up the hall they had come in through. The egg was behind her, safely tucked in a nook to avoid stray shots from earlier.

"Carry the egg!" the Rapidash yelled. Even with the order to stop firing, stray shots were still being taken, and the odd knife was being tossed as well – one bounced off Charmega, who snorted and sent a much tighter streak of fiery hell back in the direction the blade had come from.

"Why should I carry that blasted thing?" she complained.

"YOU HAVE ARMS!" Rianna shouted.

"She has a point," Roy said over the com unit.

"SHUT UP YOU!" the lady dragonoid shouted as she gathered the hefty thing and covered it as much as she could with her broad and muscular arms. "Where's that cavalry you went to him for?" she asked her partner.

"I told Roy we could do this ourselves!" she admitted just as she bolted down the hallway to clear a path.

Charmega stood agape. "Of all the stupid, idiotic, moronic, absolutely insane things to TELL HIM!"

"That's what I told her as well – you read my mind well," Roy again commented. "Reinforcements are on their way."

"Damn it," she groused as she crashed down the hall behind the fire-horse. She felt a twinge of pain coming from her left leg. A glance down found a bullet hole she had not noticed before.

"Great," she growled. She torched those who had duck for cover earlier and were brazen enough to try and come up from behind them. Stupid Dominators!

There it was – the way out! They flamed and torched everything they could before hopping into the entry room. Charmega dropped some large planks that were in there to block their pursuers way. She looked back and found Rianna standing there – in human form.

"What… what the hell are you doing looking like that?" she barked.

She tapped the LADDER.

"Oh, right – hooves and rungs don't work very well," she remembered. "GIT UP THERE!"

The two of them made their way out of the underground tunnel and back into the forest. The egg was fine as far as they could tell by a quick check on the run.

"Oooh, I wanted to fry Mauvais to a CRISP!" Charmega growled. "He was right there!"

"And so was the egg flame brain!" Rianna reminded her. "Which was more important at this point? Making sure Mauvais didn't get a new body or us getting killed?"

"ARGH!" she yelled and slammed her fist into a palm tree, snapping the trunk clean and dropping it into the path they had entered. She then picked it up and heaved it like a javelin at the hut. The roof caved in just as the first of the Dominators started coming out.

"Oooh, nice!" Rianna commented. "That should hold them till we're out of here!"

The hut exploded. Now there was just an open hole in the ground, and Dominators spewing out of it.

"Keep running!" Rianna shouted as she changed to Rapidash form again. "I'm going to give our friends back there some hot feet!"

"What?" Charmega yelped. "Get back here you flea-bitten broom-tail!"

Rianna ignored her as she skirted into the underbrush.

The Charizard-Morph spat and looked at the black egg.

"DAMN IT!" She gathered it up and ran into the jungle.

---

Rianna shifted back to human form so she would not be as noticeable in the brush as much and found the leading edge of pursuers. They were gathering on the beach, obviously setting up their plans, as they were pointing in the direction hers and Charmega's footprints in the sand lead them. A leader was pointing about, probably setting up a parameter search in an attempt to cut off their escapees.

"I'm not that way, idiots!" she said to herself with a grin. She then changed to full Rapidash form and shot a firewall about one hundred feet in front of them.

"Let's see them get through THAT!" she snickered. "What…?"

She felt something run through her – an odd sensation that her human self had never felt, but the Rapidash had long ago, and it made her senses tingle.

Then she started to glow.

"What the heck!" she yelped. She saw her firewall burst wider and higher than before as it reacted to its creator's energy pattern. "I can't be evolving! Rapidash is it! No more! End of the line!"

Roy looked at his monitor as he watched the backup he had sent head towards the cove on the backside of Shimouti. He smirked.

"Looks like someone just hit level one hundred," he said as he tapped a recorder button.

"Data received," S.A.M. reported.

Rianna felt herself grow larger and something happened to her back. It felt weird to her.

The firewall suddenly dropped. Those who remained lowered their arms to see what had made the blaze, and were shocked by what they saw.

"Umm, isn't that a bit bigger than what we were after?" one asked a Dominator kneeling beside him.

"Daaaamn!" was all he could muster.

As the glow faded, Rianna quickly checked herself over. The ground seemed further away – her mane now extended all the way to her tail without a break – and…

Wings! There where wings on her back! But how?

She looked at the beach, and at the men and women who were looking up at her. How tall was she now?

"How do I look?" she coyly asked.

"Daaaamn!" They all chorused.

"Thanks," she smiled. She then proceeded to pound the area with fire darts and moving firewalls. She would figure out just what happened later.

Charmega hefted the heavy egg in her arms, grumbling Charizardish curses the entire way. She was limping slightly from the bullet hole in her leg.

That dang-blasted RAPIDASH would not let her get revenge - even for that! So why did Rianna think that she could go back if she would not allow herself? It just made no sense to the dragon girl's enraged mind.

"Horse sense," she heard.

"What?"

"Charmega, you've been talking to yourself all this time," Roy told her from her com unit. "I told her to use her horse sense."

"YOU PUT HER IN CHARGE?" she thundered.

"Don't scramble that egg with your shouting," he warned.

She fumbled it slightly as she realized what she had done. She set the egg down in some deep grass and curled her tail around it, acting as temporary incubator until Rianna came back.

"What's she doing?" Mr. Button asked as he looked over Roy's scanner readout.

"MMMMM! ACTCH! Damn it!" they heard.

"Are you all right?" the captain asked.

"I just pulled a bullet out of my leg," she replied. "Now be quiet! I need to concentrate!"

"By all means," Roy told her.

While she had time for it, she began to slowly heal her wounds. That left part of her brain to contemplate what had just happened.

'Rianna and I just saved the Lugia egg - That means Mauvais is stuck with Jessebelle for the time being… I wonder why he doesn't just take her over completely?'

The wound pinched her, and she winced.

"If that damn Rapidash-Morph gets back here in one piece, I'm going to personally make sure she doesn't stay that way!" she growled. "Then again, she's only trying to protect me and the future of all humankind and Pokémon on this mud ball. And those in between, of course."

A tall winged horse burst through the foliage, startling her out of her thoughts and making her fall off the egg. "Jeez ya winged torch, watch where you're… what?" Charmega howled as she stood up and looked at first down, and then up to see her face now at her own height. She looked closer. "Dang, is that you, Rianna?"

"Umm…" she pranced in place. "Yeah. I dun'no what happened… I fired off my Firewall, then suddenly FOOSH! I evolved!"

Charmega scratched her head. "Umm, okay, I'll ask… how?"

"I have no idea," Rianna started, but stopped when Charmega clamped her hand over her mouth.

"I wasn't asking you, fluffy fire-head!" she snapped. "Roy?"

The Captain leaned back in his chair. "Your friend there seems to have hit level one hundred," he told them. "Now, normally, in a Rapidash, level one hundred is just another power increase…"

"Yea, but she's a PokéMorph," Charmega stated.

"Exactly," Roy continued. "The human side probably suggested wings, and the Rapidash side agreed, and hey-walla, instant Unipeg!"

"Uni-what?" Charmega asked.

"A mix between a Unicorn and a Pegasus," Rianna said through the gag Charmega had on her face.

The Charizard-Morph scrunched up her face. "What the hell are those?"

"We'll tell you later," the com on her arm squawked. "Just get that egg out of there before you get caught up in the strafing!"

"The what?" they asked, just as a line of Scat Backs blasted overhead heading for the beach area. But now she could hear those who had left that area starting into the trees around them.

"Have you learned how to use those things yet?" she asked gathering up the egg.

"N-no," Rianna said with a bit of shame to her tone. "But I can fire missiles now! Look!"

"You can fire what?" was all Charmega got out before she was diving for cover as the fiery mane on the horse started launching pointed fireballs that started to cover the foliage behind them with explosions and yelling Dominators scurrying away.

"Damn girl!" Charmega said as she staggered to her feet and saw that most of the jungle between themselves and the beach was now cleared of EVERYTHING – foliage and people alike! She replaced the breech with a new Firewall.

"That won't last long," she said with a puff of smoke. "What do we do now?"

Charmega thought fast, hearing the yells of the Dominators getting closer. "Open your wings a little, and make a little cradle for the egg. Hurry!"

Strom punched the microphone key. "Wait a minute, what are those wings made of?" he asked.

Charmega snatched the egg back. "What do you mean 'what are they made of'? They're wings! Like on a bird!"

"Not fiery extensions of her mane, right?" he asked for more information.

"No, why should they be?"

Button snorted, which is something to behold in someone without a nose. "I take it she never met Fuego?" he asked.

"Who's Fuego?" they heard.

"A flying Flareon with fire wings," Strom stated. "Wow, say that three times fast! What were you planning on Charmega?"

"Umm, we need to keep the egg warm, so I was going to have Rianna make a cradle with her wings," she explained.

Roy looked at Button then spun his scanner around. "Umm, Char, what's that running down her back?"

The Charizard looked at the maximized Rapidash's back. "It's her mane, of course!" she stated bluntly.

Roy pinched his eyes. "Char, it's made of fire - you'll cook that egg if you put it there! It runs the length of her back!"

Charmega stood back and rethought that - A point to the captain for pointing out the obvious.

"Might I just suggest you just run?" Mr. Button urged them. "The cleanup crew will protect your escape."

"He has a point," Rianna said as she nervously looked around. Her firewall was fading out, and the remaining Dominators were starting to show signs of wearing fire suits!

"Now we run!" Charmega said, slapping the horse on her rump. She took off instantly, leaving a trail of fire darts behind herself. Charmega followed on foot, not wanting to risk the egg with a possible airborne attack. Besides, it would not have been fair to leave Rianna to fend for herself on the ground.

"What say I teach you how to use those wings when we get back?" Charmega yelled ahead, provoking a big grin from her friend.

"Anytime!" she replied.

---

The jungles of Shimouti, even for a small island, were dense and slow to move through. They no longer heard the Dominators, or anyone, following behind them. Rianna had reverted to her human form, as it moved through the thick foliage easier.

"That was great! Did you see the look on Jessebelle's face when we busted in there?" Charmega laughed, lightly slapping her friend on the back.

"Yeah! And what do you think the people from Stratus will think when we march up to Lady with her missing egg?" Rianna giggled.

"I think we already know," the com on her arm chirped.

"Ah, yes… I forgot about this," she said as she yanked on the Velcro strap and slipped it off. "Thank you, Captain."

"Always a pleasure," he told her. "And nice upgrade there kiddo!"

"Umm, she seems a bit taller even as a human," Charmega noted.

She looked down and noticed that she was indeed showing a bit more midriff. "My clothes! They won't fit!" she peeped.

"Horrors!" Charmega faked shock and horror. "You'll live until we go shopping next!'

"Ooh! Shopping trip!" she squealed.

It was at that point that Charmega realized that all her rage, or at least a good deal of it, was gone. Her mind was clear once again, and she was having a great time tromping through the jungle. Sure, the Dominators and Mauvais would be after them, but at least she could do something right to make up for what happened to Lugia42.

…Lugia42…

"SHOOT! We forgot all about El!" Charmega exclaimed. "We should'a looked around for some weapon they use to keep Mauvais in check, or some antidote, I dunno… just something to make his influence on her go away!"

"We didn't have enough time," Rianna pointed out. "You know that."

Roy sat back and glared at the console in front of him. Mr. Button leaned over and pressed the mute button.

"What do you think?" he asked his commander. "Is there anything we can do to prevent Mauvais from doing to her what he threatened?"

Roy sighed through his cupped hands that he was holding against his chin. "There's something I can do, but just when to do it?"

"What's that?" Button asked with a bit of trepidation.

He sighed again. "I can take away her dimensional teleporting powers."

---

Suddenly they were there.

So naturally this is when things would get hairy.

"What in the world?" Edward called out.

BJP covered her face as a blast of air kicked up dust. "Someone's not happy!" she yelled. "And this isn't the top of Shimouti Mountain!"

Indeed, that someone was Lady, the female Lugia of this level. At that moment she was flapping her wings and screaming at her mate, another Lugia from a different dimensional level.

Edward glanced back over his shoulder. "Oh boy… it's about to get weirder!"

BJ turned and nearly fell over from another blast of wind. She laughed and pointed. "That's just Charmega and Rianna!"

Edward looked at her. "Just? What exactly are they?" he asked.

"PokéMorphs!" she told him. "It's what happens sometimes when the boys down in the Splice and Dice Department get a bit out of hand!"

Edward thought back and remembered the huge Persian-Morph he had met, Ziggy. "Yes, I've already met one and his family," he said. "I must say, they certainly… vary…"

"Then you haven't seen anything then," BJ told him with a smile. "Rianna can change herself at will, and become her host human, or her co-host Rapidash."

"What's a Rapidash?" he asked. BJ gave him a surprised look.

"You don't know what a Rapidash is?" she asked him.

"I'm a city-boy, so nope," he replied.

"Well, it's hard to say… do you know what a Ponyta is?"

He held a hand out, palm flat. "Small equestrian? Lots of fire on their head?" he asked. "Nyarth was talking about them to Angela before."

"Right," she said. "Rapidash is their evolution."

Edward looked even more puzzled at her. "Evolution? They evolve?"

She looked him over. "You don't know about evolving? Where are you from?"

"A place that doesn't have as many creatures like these," he told her. He watched the pair as they lifted over the edge of the cliff face. Something the girl on the dragon woman's back caught the glare of the sun as they did.

"What… I don't believe it!"

Edward looked at the pink-hair girl beside him. She was cupping her hands over her eyes to get a better view of them.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

BJ looked back at the pair behind her. "Lady! LADY!" she shouted. "Lady, LOOK!"

The wind died down for a moment as both Lugia looked at their friend, who was pointing at the large Charizard-like creature flapping towards Dragon's Peak. On her back sat a strange woman who looked a great deal like a humanoid Rapidash, and she was cradling something.

---

Jessebelle clambered aboard the yacht, having escaped the onslaught of the Forrestal's attack craft on her ex-land base. The majority of their forces had been captured. She was covered in soot and dirt and was less than happy with the black mass covering her right arm.

"How could ya let 'em get away?" she bitterly complained.

"Calm down, Jessebelle," Mauvais told her. "They have not won. Not in the least…"

The petite woman looked down at the black goo. "Ya got somethin' in mind, honey?"

"Let's just say, they will receive a surprise very soon…" Mauvais chuckled in the woman's mind.

The other Dominators on board glanced sideways at their leader as she burst into laughter for no apparent reason.

---

White Lugia turned to the Charizard morph. "You have our thanks," he told them as his mate nuzzled and caressed the returned egg.

The female morph nodded and then turned to her friend, Rianna. "We're not finished with that slimy black monster yet…"

"Yes," Lugia agreed. "It disturbs me that he still exists. Did the Captain say why?"

Charmega gritted her teeth remembering what Kinza had told her – Lugia42's arrival shut down the automatic removal system the satellites were using, and probably those scramblers the Dominators were using was protecting the core of the monster.

"The ship… has not told me yet," she partly lied. She looked up to see a Scat Back approaching to make a landing behind the nesting area.

BJ sighed as she watched it as well. "This is going to bite…" she remarked.

Edward caught her comment. "Excuse me?"

She glanced over at the stranger she had run over just twenty minutes ago. "I have a feeling I'm going to get a lecture from Roy… Thanks for getting me up there at least… even though I was wanting to go up there…" She pointed at the tip of the mountain behind them.

He looked at his feet. "What is this?" he asked.

BJ laughed. "This is Dragon's Peak, the peninsula that sticks out into Shimouti Bay."

Edward looked at the place she had meant they go to and tapped his chin with his thumb. "Oops!" he said. "Well, I can still take you up there if you want to go…"

She dragged her hand through the swirl of pink bangs on her forehead. "No, the reason I wanted to go up there has been returned," she noted with a gesture towards Lady and her precious bundle.

The man shrugged. "Sorry… I could tell it was important."

"That's okay," BJ told him and sighed.

Charmega glanced over at her with a smirk. "You're having Roy problems too?" she asked.

The man in question had been working at his bridge station at that moment. He looked at his com unit as the Charizard-Morph had said that – she had forgotten she was still wearing hers.

"Roy problems?" he asked himself.

"No, I'm not having problems," he then heard BJ say. "I just would rather not have to explain myself to him right now."

He almost opened his mouth at that point but thought better of it. He just sat down and listened.

"If you want, we can always use some back-up," Charmega suggested to her with a thumb pointing to her back. "Besides, with her new mode, Rianna won't be riding my back any time soon!"

"I rode you here!" she complained.

"You were holding the egg!" Charmega reminded her. "Besides, these folks haven't seen your new form yet!"

BJ looked at the girl. "New form? What do you mean?"

Rianna rubbed her hands together and blushed as she stared at the ground. "Roy says that when my fighting level hit one hundred, and because I'm part human, part Pokémon, I evolved again."

BJ looked at her curiously. "Really?" she asked. "I didn't think that was possible with a Rapidash."

"I… I didn't think it was either, but…" she stood back slightly and began her morphing processed. She bent over and rapidly grew in size, surpassing her old form as her mane crackled down her back to her tail, and the wings sprung forth.

They heard a whistle behind the Lugia. "Nice one Rianna! We're gonna have to call in Nightwatch to meet you!" Kinza walked around the nesting pair with his scanning rod humming.

Edward found BJ hiding behind him. "Would you like me to cloak you?" he asked her. She shook her head no.

"What's a Nightwatch?" Rianna asked. She heard Charmega snap her fingers.

"The Chevarian!" she smiled. "Oh, you've never met him, have you?" Rianna shook her head. "Oooh, are you in for a treat if we ever get to see him. El and I ran into him once. Tall, dark and the biggest blackest wings you've ever seen!"

Rianna looked a bit disgusted at her. "What? Is he another Black Lugia type?" she asked.

"No – no!" Charmega laughed. "He equine, just like you! And get this – he's got a human transformation as well!"

Rianna took a step closer. "Really?" she asked as her tone changed.

"Oh yea – big, burly, long black hair, dark body-length leather jacket, and this white diamond on his forehead in all his incantations," the lady dragon described almost swooning herself. "I wonder where he is right now?"

"I believe he's in the Legendary's Domain up in the Heart of the Stratus," Kinza remarked as he continued with his readings. "He's working with an old acquaintance of his." [1]

"Oh poo," Rianna said.

Charmega felt a tug to her wing, which she found was also being used as a shield to block the Tomassamassa's view of a certain Rocket agent.

"Can we get going?" BJ asked her in a whisper.

Charmega snickered. "You make it sound like you're ducking out on him."

Roy pondered his knee. He swiped it a few time removing imaginary dust and sighed.

BJ looked over at the stranger and smiled. "It was nice meeting you… even if you missed where I wanted to go…"

Edward nodded. "Sorry about that – a bit of misunderstanding on my behalf. If you don't mind though, I would like to send someone with you. Call it professional courtesy to your friend."

Roy stopped swiping and listened intensely. "Courtesy?" he asked.

BJ quirked an eyebrow. "Send someone with us?" She glanced around the nest area. "Who?" she asked.

The man held out his arm and a bird flew down and alighted on it. It looked a bit like a Pidgey, but its feathers were reds and oranges instead of browns. "This someone," he said, "and it's not really a Pokémon, so I wouldn't recommend trying to capture it."

BJ watched the small bird as it stared at her. Something about it gave her the creeps. "Uh, thanks, but-" She stopped and put up her arms when it leapt off Edward's hand and flew towards her. When she looked again, it was neatly resting on her head… yet she did not feel any weight, or the bird's claws keeping it balanced. She lowered her arms and motioned to this gift's presenter. "Can you get it off me?" she asked, but jumped again when it hopped down onto her shoulder.

It turned its head, glancing at the nervous woman. "Whadda ya mean 'get it offa me'? You think I'm carryin' somethin'?"

BJ rolled her eyes. "Great, another talking bird… just what I need."

Edward shrugged. "It won't get in your way," he told her, then addressed the bird with a, "right?" He eyed the feathered creature.

It mock-saluted the man back with its wing. "Yes sir, orders are orders sir!"

"Umph, a chatter-brain, smart mouthed ball of feathers," the Charizard-Morph snorted at the new arrival. She bent down to let BJ onto her back.

"Umm, why not I ride on her?" the Rocket agent asked with a point towards Rianna.

"Umm, first, see the flames running the length of her back?" Charmega noted. "That would make for a very hot seat. Also, she hasn't flown with those wings yet!"

BJ quickly mounted the dragon-lady. Charmega snorted and pointed to the Rapidash Unipeg. "Okay, Ho-Ho Rianna," she told her, pointing towards the cliff edge.

Rianna looked over at it. She then looked back at her friend. "Really?"

"I said I was going to teach you, didn't I?" Charmega said. "Now then… spread your wings wide."

"Umm… like this?" Rianna asked as she stretched the wings she was not used to yet out.

"You're doing great," Charmega told her as she quietly got up behind her. "Do you feel that breeze? Taste that updraft! Now CATCH IT!" She smacked her on the rump.

The surprised Rapidash leaped up three strides before the lip of the cliff and was airborne, at least in glide mode. Charmega leapt off behind her. Kinza stood beside Edward and watched them go.

"You heard everything going on there, didn't you?" the Mage asked him.

"With these ears?" Kinza pointed to. "She would have had a hard time trying to stop me from hearing her. Scragg, what's going on with those two now?"

"You're doing great!" Charmega told Rianna again as she got closer towards the water. "But you've got to flap them!"

"How am I supposed to flap them?" Rianna shouted in a near panic. She looked as if she were struggling to just keep them out to her sides, let alone moving them up and down. She finally tried one pump, and found that her altitude dipped slightly, but then rose significantly. She did that again, and found that she was gaining on her downward track. She finally gave it a full pump, and rocketed up into the sky.

"Did you see that?" BJ asked her ride. "She generated a ball of fire under each wing. She's creating her own thermals!"

Charmega looked over her shoulder at the woman on her back. "How'd you figure that out, Rocket Girl?" she asked her.

"That's my job," she replied watching the flying horse overhead. "Strategy and surveillance - Observe, note and create plans – know what you have available, and know how to use it. That's why I wanted to get to the peak of Shimouti Mountain when we were still looking for the egg. Team Rocket has an old observation post up there. I was going to use it to see if I could find the egg that way."

"Huh, it's a shame we can't go back there and ask Mr. Kinza if he's checked that place out yet," Charmega said as she banked.

"Why is that?" BJ asked.

The dragon-lady puffed a ring of smoke. "We found the egg in an old Team Rocket underground bunker the Dominators were using."

"You found them in Giovanni's tunnels over by the Rocket Island Headquarters?" BJ asked stunned. "Where were the Team Rocket members?"

Charmega shook her head. "I never saw them – unless they changed their uniforms." She felt her rider shift.

"That's not a good thing – Team Rocket and the Dominators are certainly not on the same side," BJ surmised.

Roy checked over this scanner readings. "Deck commander," he barked. "Give me a reading on what you're seeing up on the peak of Shimouti Mountain."

A young ensign went over her readings. "Umm, nothing sir – just the rock of the peak," she replied.

She saw the Captain leaning over his post at her. "Now try that with a history scan, please," he told her.

She looked a bit confused at first. She overlaid a reading made a year prior with the current scan and gasped.

"Sir, there was an observation post up there that formed the peak… but it's not there anymore!"

Roy looked up at the large main screen as the image was relayed to it. "S.A.M., shut those scramblers down up there," he told the ship's computer. "I want to see what's going on there right now."

Charmega glanced back at BJ. "Want to check it out?" she asked. BJ nodded. "Okay, but you'd better hang on, this is going to be a quick ride…"

The bird on BJ's shoulder ruffled its feathers. "I've seen fasssssstteeeerrrr!" it finished as the pair took off, followed by the whooping winged fire horse.

And the Roll Play Rolls On…

---

[1] See After Chronicles – Year of the Cat here on FFN

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