Remember when I said I'd update frequently? Yeah, me too. ;)

Political promises aside, this is the second to the last chapter of what is shaping up to be one of the best (and only) stories I've ever written.

Chapter 21: The Part where Everything Goes Crazy

After about three hours of eager waiting, our spirits began to wane. There was a distinct lack of any badass wall-smashing by police officers, and the waiting slowly chipped away at our excitement. Soon, we were stuck back in the same boring, tiresome phase of hanging around and doing absolutely nothing. Just like old times, I thought.

Matt was the first to break the silence that was slowly closing in around us. "Hey Bernie," he started sharply, "where's the police, huh? Thought you got us a rescue party." Sitting up from my "bed" of moss, I saw that Matt was very angry. Looking over at Bernard, I saw a hint of fear creeping its way across his face. Without responding, Matt continued. "I want to get out of this goddamn prison! Where's the police?!" In a flash of light, he changed into his hybrid form and lunged for Bernard, who was now frozen with fear. There was a loud crack as Matt hit the yellow-haired teen smack in the center of his chest. He was thrown against the wall with another thud that made me cringe. Ready to help "calm" Matt down, I jumped up and changed in to my hybrid form as well. As I did so, I felt an enormous sense of comfort wash over me. Wow! It was as if I had been trapped in a tight suit for months. I felt the aura flowing around me in full detail now. It felt great! Looking around, I saw the others changing as well. When the light settled, they all had the same look of astonishment that I most likely had. Even Bernard had changed, and he looked the most excited out of all of us. Matt, his rage dissipated, approached the fallen pikachu hybrid and reached to help him up. There was a slight smirk as he reached up to grab Matt's hand, and in the blink of an eye Matt went soaring backwards, head over tail, across the faux-forest and into the pond. From behind me, I heard a loud, screeching voice. Brandy ran past me and into the center of the clearing, loudly yelling "Impromptu battle tournament!" at the top of her lungs. She turned to me, and suddenly I was flying right towards her. In her outstretched hand lay a ball of dark energy, and I had no doubts about who it was intended for. Before I could even react, however, she was knocked sideways by a pair of dark wings; Nicol had joined the fray. I watched as he curved up and around, nodding at me as he flew towards Matt and Bernard, who were now locked in a furious battle of fire vs. electricity. I had never felt more alive than at that moment. For once, I had forgotten where I was; forgotten that I was being held captive by a fictional madman from another universe.

Brian Harvey was never more thankful for his Lugian abilities. He had followed the helicopter's scent all the way to a small rural airport, where after a little 'convincing' the on-duty mechanic had given him more information than he ever could have asked for. The kids were being held in an old power plant several miles north. Locking in the location telepathically, Harvey took off right in front of the man, large silver wings protruding from his coat. He chuckled as he looked back to see the man standing in utter shock, before running inside and slamming the door shut. Once he was far enough from anyone who might see him, he transformed into his full Lugian form and sped towards the towering smokestacks visible in the distance. Almost there kids, he thought to himself, just hold on.

Officer Jim Pierzynski awoke to the sound of dripping water. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a dim and dismal scene. He was laying on a hard, cold shelf protruding out of a damp concrete wall. The room he was in was no larger than a closet, with one small window high above him, letting in more rain than light, and the whole scene reminded him of the disused jail cells back at the station. That was not a good sign, either.

He sat up and was greeted with a wave of nausea, almost causing him to vomit then and there. As he became more aware of his senses, he noticed that his shoulder and side were both extremely sore. He rolled up his sleeve and saw a large, bloodied hole. His side had a similar wound. Suddenly, the events of the past hour came flooding back. He jumped up moved towards the door, ready to pound until someone could answer his questions. Just as he was about to being knocking, it slid open, revealing a tall but lanky man wearing a labcoat.

"Hello," the newcomer greeted in a very polite voice, "I see you're awake. That's good. It's better when they're awake anyway." He muttered the last sentence, half to himself and half to Jim. Without hesitation, Jim lunged at the tall man. Before impact, he felt an enormous wave of pain hit his entire body like a gunshot. He fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Suddenly, it all stopped. As the echoes of Jim's screams faded away, all he heard was the slight chuckling the man was letting out. "Please, there's no need to fight," he said in the same courteous tone. "You'll only make this harder for yourself."

Another stream of water shot above my head as I ducked once again. Adrienne and I had been exchanging water and aura for a good three minutes, while near us Nicol was flying in between balls of energy from Brandy. Behind us, Matt and Bernard were locked in an intense Harry Potter-esque duel of fire and lightning, with neither one gaining on the other. As I was about to swoop in with a Bone Rush for the final hit, a loud klaxon blared across the "forest" causing us all to stop where we were. A loud, metallic clang resounded off the trees, and a corner of the forest opened to reveal a very pleased Sam with a very confused and battered police officer.

"Hello children," Sam began with a grin. "I assume you're all doing-why is that tree on fire?" He pointed to the tree that Matt had ignited and tossed at Bernard.

"Oh, err," Matt stuttered, "we-"

"Nevermind," the doctor interrupted, shaking off the question. "This is my good friend Officer Per...pier...pars..." he struggled for a moment while the officer looked around at us, in our hybrid forms, looking very, very disoriented. "...this is Jim." Sam finally said, giving up. "He thought it'd be nice to pay us a little visit, so I thought we should give him the old 'Camp Silph welcome.'"

"Yeah!" Brandy said, breaking the silence with her enthusiasm. Sam's face became very confused. He blinked, regained his composure, and continued.

"It's time for me to return home, children, and there's only one way I can do that. Mr. Jim here has kindly volunteered to help me get where I want to go, so why don't we get this show on the road."

"What's going on here?" the officer, Jim, asked, finally able to speak. "Why are these kids half-animals? Who are you? Where am I?" He continued on as Sam conjured up a small syringe.

"Now children," he explained, "you haven't seen me in a while, and that's because I was working on this." He held up the needle with much satisfaction. "It took me ages to decypher that man Harvey's notes, but I've finally got the perfect batch made." Without hesitation, he jabbed the needle into Jim's arm, causing him to gasp in pain.

"You see," Sam continued, "the problem with that fool Martin's formulas was that the results were a little too...free. Luckily, I fixed that right up, so there should be nothing but pure loyalty from Jim here."

"What...what's that supposed to mean?" Jim finally asked. "What did you just-AH!" Jim collapsed to the ground, moaning and writhing around. He began to glow that familiar glow, expanding and reshaping as rainbow streaks wrapped around his outline. He grew larger and larger, towering over us as well as the already tall doctor. It looked as if he was going to hit the sky-ceiling, but just as the top of the figure gently brushed the skybox, it stopped growing.

"Holy hell," I heard Nicol blurt out. Suddenly, the sounds of morphing stopped, and we waited in anticipation and fear to see what the results of the doctor's labors would be.

A large flash of light blinded us all, followed by a shockwave that nearly knocked me off my feet. Looking up, I saw a very familiar character towering over the group. Red eyes, pink crystals, and white, stoney skin all came together to form the epitome of an entire generation of Pokemon fans. Palkia.

"Palkia," I heard several members of our group whisper.

"Palkia!" Sam yelled with joy. "At last!"

*drifts in driving a very expensive sports car and takes off shades* Oh yeah! I'm back people!

You don't know how good it feels to finally write some of this story again. School's really taken its toll on my ability to possess any free time whatsoever, and it took me a while to even remember where I had left off in this story.

Now that I've given you a terrible excuse for not writing for a good portion of a year, it's a good time for me to let you know that there's only one chapter left. *cue dramatic flourish* Are you ready? I'm...probably not.

Chao!