Keith: Why does it always feel like forever since you even talked ot us?
Rhythmi: that's because it does. We're going nowhere!
AKCC: There's a pain in the ass called writer's block! I have other stories to tend to!
Isaac: And you still haven't finsihed any of them.
AKCC: ... Shut up.
Isaac: Even when you want to make new ones.
AKCC: ... Shut up.
Rhyhtmi: And it's been over a year too.
AKCC: ...
Rhythmi: Oops. It seems like we may have broken her.
Keith: That would explain the dark corner over there with her sulking.
Isaac: Should we just?
Rhythmi: We always do. Keith!
Keith: Ow! Stop screaming in my ear, woman! I'll do it! AKCC does not own Pokemon. Happy?!
Rhythmi: There's another part!
Keith: I said stop it! And AKCC doesn't own anything she references to either!
Rhythmi: Perfect. Now to the chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ashley's POV
"MEW! GET YOUR FURRY LITTLE BUTT OUT HERE!"
"You don't have to yell." a certain legendary pokemon appeared in front of me, rubbing her ear.
"Did you or did you not appear in front of my cousin?" I glared at her.
"Yeah I did. So?" Mew asked.
"So, he got excited and decided to tell me that you were in the area, but the entire base heard and now they think he's crazy." I answered.
"And what does that have to do with me?" Mew asked.
"You are coming with me to show the base that my cousin is not crazy." I grabbed one of her paws and begin to drag her out of the jungle, resisting the urge to pull her by her tail.
"But what if someone sees me?" Mew whined as she tried to get out of my grip.
"You have the power to turn invisible." I deadpanned.
"Oh right!" she exclaimed as she slipped out of my grip and disappeared.
"Just stay near me until we get back to the base." I glared at the invisible form of Mew. I only know where she is because I can sense her aura.
"Fine." she pouted.
We walked back to the base miracally without Mew showing herself or pulling pranks on the local people or pokemon. Pikachu and I got orders from both Hastings and Spencer to stay in Summerland since there were an increase in Go-Rock sightings ever since the kidnapping of Percy's Politoed.
"Alright, we're back." I announced as I entered the air conditioned base hot, sticky, and sweaty. I missed the weather in Ringtown so much right now.
"Good, but where's Mew?" Percy asked.
"What?" I looked around before realizing that Mew still hasn't revealed herself. "That little pink cat, when I- MEW, YOU DROP THAT MARKER RIGHT NOW AND LEAVE THAT POOR MAN ALONE!"
"Aw, you're no fun." Mew pouted as she revealed herself floating near a sleeping Cameron who has a drawn-on mustache and monocle from the marker in Mew's paws.
"Huh? What?" Cameron woke up with a start. "Holy Arceus, Percy was right." Cameron noticed Mew floating above him. He slapped a hand to his face and dragged it down.
"Does he even know?" I whispered to Percy.
"In three, two, one." Percy counted down on his fingers.
"What the?! How did I get this on my face?!" Cameron was shocked at the mess that was on his hand after dragging down his face.
Mew giggled at the latest victim of her pranks. "He's so stupid!"
"Mew!" I scolded it.
"I thought legendary pokemon were suppose to be helpful and mature." Leilani snapped out of her shock.
"Than she has never met Mew before." Politoed sighed.
"You should meet her clone, Mewtwo. Now he is a pokemon who you do not want to mess with." Pikachu said.
"At least she can be very serious sometimes." Percy whispered.
"Unlike others like Jirachi, Shaymin, and Latias." I whispered back. "Even though they can also be serious, they can cause a lot of trouble."
"What kind of legendary pokemon pulls pranks?" Sunny asked.
"One who knows how to have fun." Mew answered.
"Mew, don't make me get Mewtwo here." I said sternly.
"Eep!" Mew cried before hiding behind the operator's desk.
"Works every time." I whispered to Percy who snickered.
"Now that I showed that your cousin is not a hallucinating madman, I think I'll go before Mewtwo learns about what happened here. Bye!" Mew teleported away in a flash of light.
"She's a different kind of pokemon." Cameron wiped the rest of the mess on his face away with a towel.
"A hallucinating madman?" Percy looked at me accusingly.
"I did not call you that." I said in my defence. "I only called you crazy."
"How is that better?" Percy raised an eyebrow.
"At least I didn't make you sound like you need to be checked in an institution for the mentally insane." I stated.
Voicemail! Voicemail!
"Anything wrong, Spencer?" I asked as I picked up the call.
"Come back to Fall City. Professor Hastings just called a meeting at the base and he wants you to come." Spencer replied.
"I'll be right there." I said before hanging up.
"You've been a big help to us here, Ashley. But I guess a great ranger like you needs to be put onto the more important stuff." Cameron said.
"Say hi to my sisters for me!" Sunny waved. Oddly, Sunny, Mai, Autumn, and the operator at the Wintown base, Hailee, are all quadruplets, even though they each have different hair and eye color.
"It was nice to hang out with you again." Percy gave me a hug.
"You too." I hugged him back. "And don't give up on Leilani. I know she's the one for you." I whispered into his ear.
"Hopefully the next time you visit, Cameron will actually have this hunk of junk up and running for you." Leilani pointed to the soon-to-be submarine in the corner of the room.
I laughed along with the rest of the base. "See you later guys!" I waved before running out of the base with Pikachu on my shoulder.
"What do you think Hastings needs us for?" Pikachu asked.
"I don't know but it must important if he wants me back right away." I answered.
"After more than three weeks under the sun here, I think he's also saving you from getting any tanner." Pikachu pointed to my arms. She was right. I gotten really tanned during my stay here, even when I put sunscreen on.
"Hey Lapras. Do you think you can take us back to Fall City?" I asked the pokemon.
"No problem. Get on." she turned around so we could hop on her shell.
"Let's get out of this weather. I want some cooler air." Pikachu said as she leaped from my shoulder and onto Lapras' shell.
"You heard her, Lapras. Let's get going!" I exclaimed as I jumped on after Pikachu.
"You're awfully excited." Lapras said as she headed into open waters, towards Fall City.
"What do you expect? After that Gyarados incident, almost everyone in Fiore no longer sees me as a rookie!" I exclaimed.
"You even have the scars to prove it!" Pikachu added, pointing to my right arm and my collarbone.
"You got that right! And now Hastings wants me at a meeting with him and the other base leaders!" I exclaimed.
"Well that might take a little longer to get there." Lapras nodded her head ahead of us. "There are whirlpools ahead. Hold on tight!"
I looked past Lapras and saw that the ocean was a minefield filled with multiple whirlpools. Lapras was trying her best to avoid them, but the currents were too strong and we were getting pulled in every which way.
Voicemail! Voicemail!
"Are you kidding me?!" I exclaimed as I accepted the call while holding onto Lapras' neck.
"Hey Ashley. What are you doing?" Luana's face showed up on the screen with Ash next to her.
"Not a good time right now. Ow! Pikachu! Get your claws out of my shoulders!" I cried as Pikachu was digging her very sharp claws into my shoulder.
"What's going on? What's happening?" Ash said as the both of them looked concerned.
"Just trying to avoid a sea filled with whirlpools. You know, nothing out of the ordinary." I said. "Lapras! Look out!" I pointed ahead.
"Hold on!" Lapras cried as we got pulled into the biggest one in the middle of the smaller ones.
"We're going to die!" Pikachu cried.
"We are not going to die!" I exclaimed.
"Ashley! Are you okay?" Luana exclaimed.
"Just fine. Don't wor-" I got cut off as we got spun around faster. "Eeeekkk!"
"Ashley!" both of my siblings cried over my styler before the screen turned black.
"Ugh..." I opened up my eyes and sat up. "Is everybody okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine." Lapras answered.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Pikachu had a green face with her tongue sticking out.
"I'll take that as a yes." I sighed. "Where are we even?" I looked around. It was a undersea cavern where the only place to get out was going underwater.
"I can hear something from up here." Lapras swam forward where there was a small tunnel leading into another part of the cavern.
"I don't like the sound of it." Pikachu said as a low growl echoed through cave. "It sounds angry and in pain."
"Oh my Arceus." I gasped as we reached the end of the tunnel. A massive blue whale pokemon, covered in scratches, open wounds, and bruises was waiting there, clearly resting after an attack from something. "Kyogre."
"It must been attacked from something, but it escaped and came here to recover its strength." Lapras explained.
"Or someone. Look." I pointed to Kyogre. "Those wounds look like it was made by a knife."
"I think there's one still stuck in there." Pikachu pointed to Kyogre's side where was a small dragger was sticking out.
"Grrr..." Kyogre growled. I spotted something on its head before it was surrounded by a blue shield of energy. When it broke, Kyogre had bright yellow energy flowing through its veins, with the alpha symbol on both of its fins. Primal Kyogre launched a Surf attack on us. Luckily, we were far way so when it did hit us, Lapras was able to cruise on it.
"It's still angry after whoever attacked it. You have to capture Kyogre." Lapras said.
"Already on it." I readied my styler, preparing to capture the Primal Reversioned pokemon. "Capture on!"
"This might help." Pikachu said as she launched a Thunder Wave at Kyogre.
"Good job, girl." I praised her. "Now let's finish this." I looped the capture disk at the now paralyzed Kyogre until it was surrounded by a bright light. "Capture complete."
"Grrr..." Kyogre moaned when it was calmed down.
"Don't worry. We're not going to hurt you." I said as Lapras swam closer. I placed my hand on Kyogre's head. He reverted back to his original form as a blue orb fell down from its head. I caught it and saw that it was the Blue Orb with a fading alpha symbol on it.
"It hurts." Kyogre moaned.
"I know. I know. But I can make it better." I soothed him as I placed the orb in my bag. Lapras swam closer to Kyogre's side with the knife sticking out.
"Please." Kyogre pleaded.
"This may hurt a bit, but after that, it's all going to be better." I said as I grabbed the handle of the knife. WIth one swift move, I yanked the knife out of Kyogre. He thrashed around a bit after I yanked the weapon out.
"Aarrgghh!" Kyogre cried.
"Kyogre! It's okay! It's out! Nothing is going to hurt you anymore!" I assured him.
"Ashley, look at the insignia on the handle." Pikachu pointed to the knife. I looked down and saw in gold letters the words, 'Go-Rock'.
"Those monsters. Stabbing a pokemon. And a legendary one no less." I growled as I gripped the knife harder.
"Thank you for getting that out." Kyogre sighed, snapping me out of my rage.
"Don't mention it." I said as I place the knife in my bag carefully and got medicine and bandages out. "Can you tell me what happened to you?" I asked as applied some medicine onto the knife wound.
"I was swimming in the vast ocean when I sensed several pokemon swimming away from something. I went to the area where all of them were swimming away from and I got shocked. I blacked out and when I woke up, I was in a white room with several people dressed in disco outfits walking around. I tried to attack them, but they had other pokemon to attack me. After I knocked out their pokemon, they used those knives and stabbed me. I was able to break free and escape from them. I swam here in order to recover, but the remaining knife in my side prevented that." Kyogre explained. "And somehow the Blue Orb has been regenerating here after Hoenn, landing on my head and causing me to transform."
"That sounds awful. You've been through a lot." I said as I finished putting a bandage on the last wound. "But don't worry. I'm also trying to take those guys down so I can make sure that they will pay for this."
"Thank you. You have done so much for me already." Kyogre nodded.
"No problem. It was good to see you again anyways." I patted Kyogre.
"Sorry for shocking you." Pikachu said.
"Don't worry, little one. I understand why." Kyogre said.
"We must be going now, but it was an honor to meet you." Lapras nodded her head.
"Bye Kyogre." I waved before Lapras swam out of the cave.
When we were where we began. Pikachu and I took a deep breath before Lapras dove underwater. I held on tight to Lapras' neck until she swam towards the surface. When we broke surface, I gasped and looked around to see that we were at the Fall City pier.
"That was convenient." Pikachu said as she shook off the water in her fur when we were on the pier.
"Watch it!" I exclaimed as I shielded myself as best I could from the flying drops of water. "Must you always do that?"
"It's in my nature. I have too." Pikachu shrugged.
"Whoa Ashley, is that you?" I looked up to see Spencer waiting there for us.
"Hey there, Spencer." I waved.
"You seriously changed ever since you left Ringtown. A couple of new scars and a tan. Fiore really changed you." Spencer took a good look at me.
"You better believe it." I sighed.
"Why are you wet?" he asked.
"It's a long story. One involving a legendary pokemon and a knife." I said. "Can we head towards the base now? I need to get dry because of somebody here." I glared at Pikachu.
"Sorry." Pikachu said.
"Let's get going than." Spencer turned around and walked towards the base. Pikachu hopped onto my shoulder and we followed him.
When we arrived at the base, Hastings and Joel was there waiting for us.
"About time." Joel said.
"Don't blame me. Your niece was taking forever getting here." Spencer pointed to me.
"She's your ranger." Joel countered.
"So it's my fault that she wanted to take a swim here?"
"It's your fault for allowing her to go to Summerland in the first place!"
"Will you two stop it!" I yelled. "Arceus, you are both grown men and yet you bicker like two five-year-olds."
Hastings chuckled at the scene unfolding before him. "She's certainly more mature than her uncle and her base leader."
"Hey!" both Joel and Spencer whined.
"Can someone tell me why you guys need me here?" I asked.
"Right," Joel said, pushing up his glasses. "We've been getting increased sightings around Fiore of the Go-Rock Squad."
"It's just not Summerland anymore," Spencer said. "Grunts have been seen around Fall City, Ringtown, and even Wintown."
"And since you have been trailing the team for a long time, we believe that you may have some information on them." Hastings said.
"Actually I do." I nodded as the three of them stared at me. "A separate group of admins, called the Go-Rock Quads seems to be the ringleaders of the team while the actually boss is unknown right now. They have developed a new styler from the Super Styler the grunts stole from Professor Hastings last month. However, there is a flaw in their new stylers." I paused. "When the pokemon they captured are captured again by a ranger, the pokemon snap out of a hypnotic state and run off without any commands from the ranger."
"Interesting; this may aid us." Hastings pondered out loud.
"But that's not all. On my way here, Pikachu and I got caught up in some whirlpools and we found an injured Kyogre. I noticed that he had some wounds made from a knife like this." I pulled out the knife out of my bag. "The Go-Rock Squad was trying to control Kyogre, but when it rebelled, they resorted to stabbing it."
"Looks like they been trying out their new stylers on both regular and legendary pokemon." Spencer said as Hastings picked up the knife and examined it.
"If only we knew where they were making their stylers than we can stop, or at least, hinder the Go-Rock Squad." Joel said.
"I had an urgent message for me in Almia, but I can't go until I know for sure that no more of my Super Styler gets made." Hastings said as he placed the knife on the counter.
"Joel!" Aria ran through the doors. "I think we found their hideout!"
"Really? Where?" Joel asked.
"The Dusk Factory at the edge of the city. I think that's where they're producing those stylers we've been seeing." Aria said.
"Than we must hurry!" Hastings tapped his cane on the floor. "Ashley! Are you up for this?" he turned to me.
"Just leave it all to me." I grinned.
Isaac: why does it seem like she is always putting us in danger?
Keith: That's because she is.
Rhythmi: Why does this sound so familiar?
AKCC: Not again. *turns to readers* Don't forget!
Cast: Review!