Chapter 25

"They are in the first chamber we come to." Kasmir pointed to the mouth of the cave. His expression was passive, but his eyes seemed to glow with excitement.

Corinne was fed up with climbing. She wondered bitterly why Hianna didn't do this herself. Was it because she didn't know Sinnoh very well? The blonde woman sighed angrily and pulled herself up the last ledge of rocks. She panted beside Kasmir, annoyed yet again that he could just psychic powers to float up the cliff face.

Kasmir waited for her to catch her breath. "Do you want me around when you start talking about this secret mission?" he asked with slight disappointment.

"Yeah, I was just joking back there…" Corinne panted and shed her outer jacket. She tied the arms of the jacket together around her waist and straightened herself to look energized. "You can come in and listen, just don't breathe a word outside here about it."

The Mewtwo nodded quickly and beamed. That wasn't a very convincing face.

Corinne walked into the entrance of Iron Island and paused to let her eyes become accustomed to the gloom. Satisfied that she could see, she walked into the cave further. 'Raquaza' heard the low voices of the two men echoing around on the walls. She headed for the sound.

The gloom revealed two men speaking to each other at a close proximity, as if talking in secret.

Kasmir jumped and could hardly restrain himself. He trembled with some emotion and launched himself at Riley. "Sir Aaron!" he called out and nearly hugged the blue haired man to the ground, but stopped short by some sort of self-control.

Riley whipped around and held up his hands in a defensive pose. "You…!" He said unhappily.

Kasmir smiled and scratched his neck nervously. "Heh, hey… I know it's you Riley…" he stammered.

The blue haired man rolled his eyes, but kept his hands up. "This happens every single I time meet you, seriously. Don't you ever learn that I'm not Sir Aaron?"

"But you look so much like him… you even have the same hat and a Lucario…" Kasmir pouted. He had regarded Sir Aaron from Aura Guardian times as his hero, and still missed the hero of old.

"Yeah, and that old hero is mentioned every time you meet me too. Honestly, I could do without repetition." Riley replied tersely.

Corinne frowned. Riley was usually happy and collected. Was Kasmir just getting on his bad side or was something else influencing his emotions? She stepped forward and called attention thankfully away from the Mewtwo. "Hello, it's me, Corinne Martin."

Riley didn't seem in better moods, indicating that something else was going on. "Welcome back. What brings you here, more training?" the Sir Aaron look-a-like responded hollowly.

Byron, who was silent through all the exchange until now, went up to Corinne and gave her a side hug. "Hey, it's been a while, eh? Still training Pokémon nowadays?" His normally red hair betrayed streaks of grey. Corinne had met this gym leader of Canalave when she was challenging the Gym Leaders of Sinnoh to show up her rival. In fact, much of Corinne's training involved the goal of beating May in a battle. She was a bit crazy when she was young; thank Arceous that she had grown out of it.

Corinne shrugged good-naturedly. "I'm not training a whole lot of Pokémon these days anymore." She didn't wish to say that she was the head of the organization that Uchiha unearthed to be vile. That wouldn't do.

"Shame… you had potential too." The scruffy Gym Leader shrugged and stepped back for a normal conversation.

Riley kept his glum expression and waited for her to speak on why she was there. Kasmir seemed slightly embarrassed that he had mistaken Riley for Sir Aaron once again. Byron looked composed, but also waited for Corinne's explanation.

Corinne sighed and pulled out the other 'Raquaza's note. "I'm here to ask you a strange request at behest of my friend." She started, "I was wondering who exactly has ownership of this island."

Byron glanced over to the tense man. "Riley has called this place home for a long time, so I think he owns this place, though I do have a small hideout built from the public eye." The gym leader held out his hand for Riley to speak for himself.

The blue haired man glared. "Sure, I did call this place home, but no trainers have been around here for a while. I've been forced to start a business to make enough money from me to eat. I thought there would be a good number of trainers still around Sinnoh, but I suppose that they are too lazy to ride a boat up here." Riley muttered discontentedly.

Corinne nodded, understanding his frustrations now. "So do you still own this island?"

Riley groaned and said as slowly as he could manage, "I was just talking with the esteemed Gym Leader here about that."

'Raquaza' understood now. "You are in the process of handing over the island?"

The two men nodded solemnly. Kasmir seemed impressed, as if he expected her to be using psychic powers. However, she only guessed at this conclusion due to being a female and sensing emotion better.

"Then I will address both of you as owners until an agreement is reached." Corinne took a deep breath and said as matter-of-factly as possible, "Could I request permission to start construction on some houses on this isle? I will pay for your expenses and materials naturally."

All three men (including Kasmir) looked caught by surprise. "Why would you want houses on this rock?" Riley asked with scorn.

"It's a precaution…" Corinne said quickly. "I have four Pokémon to aid you in building in you so allow me to. Two of these Pokémon were imported from the region of Unova and are good Pokémon to have around construction sites."

"Precaution against what?" Kasmir had curiosity written over his face.

Corinne hesitated and answered, "My friend feels that our place is threatened, and that we might have to flee… She wants a haven to flee to." She continued in a stronger voice, "But I don't think such a thing will be necessary. I'm only setting up a few buildings as a fall-back."

Riley and Byron still looked confused, but the Mewtwo was concerned. "She's that scared? She thinks we have to hide?"

Corinne nodded slightly to the Mewtwo.

Oan the Swallot was released from his Pokéball. But instead of finding a battle field and angry Pokémon to duke out, he found himself in the stands of a decent sized-crowd. He blinked his little red eyes and took in where he was. It was very strange to see his trainer in the battle field and not be with his trainer.

The purple blob Pokémon suddenly saw the raven-haired girl that was his trainer's partner. He remembered meeting her before. He suddenly felt elated. Hiku was the trainer of Akama the Kirlia!

Oan looked and saw that Hiku's Pokémon were all seated, watching the battle. Oan's heart leapt as he saw the beautiful green-haired Pokémon sitting so daintily on the other side of Tamaki the Breloom.

Tamaki looked over at the Swallot in surprise, but then let his face smooth over in a mask of complacency. What brings you here, poison-type? The fighting/grass Pokémon asked flatly.

Oan lifted his blobby hands in a shrug to compensate for the lack of shoulders. I don't know… he trailed off as he saw the female Kirlia. Can I sit by Akama? He asked quickly.

Tamaki looked at Oan with a slight hint of distaste.

Nano, sitting on top of Tamaki's mushroom head, smiled and chirped. Hey, Oan! Great battle last time! I didn't know that you'd evolve so soon. I guess that weird Mewtwo knew though. I don't hate you 'cause you beat me. The sassy Pokémon wagged his little finned tail.

The Swallot smiled slightly, but waited to sit by the prettiest Pokémon in the world.

Nano tapped Tamaki's mushroom cap head and chirped, come now and let Oan sit by Akama. He did help me when the evil Tentacool hurt me way back when.

The Breloom made room for the large purple blob to cross and sit (if Swallots could be considered to have the ability to sit without legs) by the dainty Kirlia. Oan let his skin heat up as he was closer to Akama.

The Kirlia looked at him with her red eyes and forced a smile. Uh… hi? She said.

Oan could float from happiness. She had said 'hi' to him! Hhhhiiiiiiii… he dragged his words with a dreamy expression on his face. Maybe Jaylon had let him watch the fight to be with Akama. What a nice trainer!

Cancer the Slowbro emerged from the Pokémon into the cheering area. He wasn't expecting an audience, but he remained calm. He could feel that his trainer was nervous, so Cancer told himself that he had to give confidence to his trainer.

Cancer the Slowbro saw another flash of light and saw the quirky Grovyle from before leap out beside him. The Slowbro might have been slow in talking and feeling pain, but he wasn't completely stupid. He suspected that his trainer and the female trainer were forming a double-battle team.

Zuni jumped and spun around to take in the stands with fifty or so people. Crap! I've never fought with a crowd! How the heck am I supposed to take all of them on? The Grovyle fretted.

Cancer sighed and forced his slow speech the express a need for calm. Wweeee oooonllyyyy aarrrreeee ffiiiggghtinnnnngg tthooooseee trraiiinnerrrrssss. He pointed to Jaylon and Rin pulling out Pokéballs.

Zuni jumped again, nerves taut. So, we are partners in this fight? I hope Vekra knows what she's doing…

Cancer was used to being underestimated. He took no offense. He turned his head slowly to see who he would be fighting. He absentmindedly pulled an Oran berry from his shell covered tail and nibbled on it. He used his spikey shell to impale berries on and then eat them at his leisure. The pink water/psychic Pokémon watched as the red flashes indicated the opponents.

He was surprised to see the stubborn Riolu standing in the field. The other Pokémon was a Zangoose. At first, the Zangoose looked a bit like Pieces, but cancer knew the difference. This female Zangoose was older and had a slightly different red marking than that of Pieces. He let himself smile slowly. He had practiced against Zangeese before and knew their strengths and weak points.

Zuni saw the Riolu and Zangoose and mustered up the courage to take a battle stance. So, I get to battle the fierce Zangoose! Wingull and Metang kind of fear you, but I don't!

And so the word fight before a Pokémon fight began.

Rain the Zangoose sniffed and waved her tail high in the air. Please, I could wipe out all of your team with one claw!

Frost the Riolu glanced over and was surprised not only that he was called out as the first choice, but that Rain was his partner. What stupid schemes was Rin concocting? Hey, he addressed Rain, why are we our trainer's first choice?

Rain shrugged and purred ever so slightly at his presence. Our trainers are just stupid; they think the pressure of a crowd will make us listen or something.

Zuni jumped up and down, releasing nervous energy. Come on, quit stalling! I want to pummel you Pokémon!

Cancer observed the Pokémon with his own way. He didn't like talking. The fight was going to be tough, but Cancer was a determined Pokémon. He had the advantage of feeling pain slowly. The pink Slowbro put his Oran berry back on his shell-tail and waited for the match to start.