"Unbelievable," Lyra said, stepping back when Lance's cape swept past. Peering at her raised hand, she saw that the two of them had swiftly pointed in unison at their oncoming enemies: a slithering Arbok and a pot-bellied Drowsee. Lyra shook, overtaken by crazed energy. "I finally get to battle alongside Lancer Dragoon..."

"Ha. You flatter me," Lance said, overhearing her. "Are you ready?" He adjusted his sharp black specs, humoring her yet concealing his amusement. Both his Dragonite and her Dunsparce leapt forward, flapping their wings and growling lowly.

"Hm!" Lyra emitted, nodding her head and adjusting her lenses right back at him. She took to his side, braced herself, and raised a hand in a heroic pose. "Team Rocket. The timer went off, and you were done minutes ago," she declared, light glaring off her lenses with an audible 'shiiiing~'. "We– the take and bake purveyors of justice– are here to slide your charred remains off into the trash! Lancer?" Like a radio show host, she was hitting him up for an opinion.

"Y... you're toasted," Lance finally said, startled by Lyra's actions and uncertain of what else he was supposed to add.

"Extra crispy," Lyra said and brandished her arm, heralding in an awkward moment between them and Team Rocket.

"... I can't stand people like you," Ariana finally said, unnerved by their bizarre display but eventually regaining her imperturbability. "Arbok, attack that annoying Dunspace, Crunch!"

"Dragonite, Fly! Right, strike–" Lance said and swept his arm upwards, motioning at the vaulted ceiling overhead.

"Whoa," Lyra said with a gasp, distracted by the dragon's nearly invisible launch upwards. Like Crystal and her team, Lance and his Dragonite are on a much higher level... she thought, exhaling in resolve, and then imitating Lance's arm movements. "Dunsparce, left target," Lyra exclaimed, lifting her hands up overhead as if she were holding up the sky. "Super Attack- Omni Body Slam Love Revolution TWENTY-ONE." Leaping through the air at this, the short yellow snake wrenched her puffy eyes shut and slammed belly first into the bamboozled enemy Drowsee.

"Idiot! Stop re-naming your every attack!" Ariana yelled and raged, stomping and raving. "That's just a normal Body Slam! And you're not actually a super hero!"

"Always sucking the magic out of things... You remind me of a certain someone else," Lyra contemplated aloud, studying the Rocket Executive's red, spiked pompadour. It bares a striking resemblance to Jerkface's honing antenna... Lyra concluded, a Kanto hairstyle?

"Tch, damn it!" the Rocket Grunt hissed, watching his Drowsee slam face-first into the floor. With a quick hand, he threw out his next pokeball, releasing a cross-eyed Grimer with an oozing jaw.

"Now–" Lance called up to Dragonite, letting him know that the time was right. In an orange blur, Dragonite speared downwards, ramming into Arbok and striking her out.

"Hmph! Thinks he's so strong... Murkrow–" Ariana called and belted out her next pokeball, infuriated by her failure so far. "Take Dragonite down with your Nightshade!"

Wordlessly, Lance directed Dragonite back up into the air at a slicing fast speed. Unable to keep up with him, Murkrow twitched her feathered head and glared at Dunsparce, casting a dark shadow over all of them. Trembling in pain, Dunsparce flailed as the shadow crept under her scaly skin.

"Dunsparce!" Lyra yelped, feeling the creature's pain. Odd... It didn't drain her health much, but I felt that... Lyra thought and held her shoulder, shaken. And what the hell is this? Is Lance going easy on Team Rocket? He keeps letting us take all the hits! Standing up straight to stave off her paranoid feelings, she sent Dunsparce charging forward. No... this must be part of his test. That must be it. "Body Slam!"

I see... to be able to feel such a small attack... Lance thought, watching Lyra heedfully. It means that her connection with her pokemon has strengthened considerably since that battle at the Lake of Rage. But how could she improve so much in a mere few hours? By watching me and fine-tuning from there? Her relationship with her pokemon is abnormally different from most trainers– like a Dragon Master, she connects with her partner on a mental level.

Except, she becomes their equal extension instead of their controller.

Slamming into Murkrow, Dunsparce spun back and hovered with her tiny wings, landing softly on the ground as Murkrow fainted and dropped belly-up.

Yes, it's strange, but I've heard of this before, Lance thought and furrowed his eyebrows, concentrating. There's a whole nation filled with such empathetic trainers in the west. They even go so far as to keep their pokemon outside of pokeballs. Whoever she picked up the basics from came from this distant nation... and at one point, they must've trained in my clan. Once again Lance flew Dragonite down, swooping Grimer and splattering the pile of purple ooze across the room.

Ariana exhaled fretfully as reached for the last pokeball on her hip. Glancing aside, she looked at her defeated Grunt. "Go get it," she said to him, secretly ordering him to grab the technology which they had initially arrived for. Obeying her wordlessly, he rushed into the open radio transmitter room.

"Gloom," she called, chucking down her last pokeball. "We'll hold them off–"

"Light box, check. Pokie markers, check," Petrel said, patting his large purple traveling bag while opening and checking its various compartments. "Wait. Where's my pen?" Grumbling to himself, he set down a big round hat box and checked his uniform's pockets.

"Would you hurry up?" Scientist Gregg complained, hoisting a large, boom box-like machine over his frail shoulders. "We need to get this to Goldenrod, A-SAP!"

"Gregg, as much as I enjoy your blathering," Petrel said, flipping through a thick sketchbook. "I need you to shut up."

"What are you even doing?"

"I still need to finish six more pages for this week's chapter of Pokemon Explosion. It's due tomorrow, you know!" Petrel replied, opening a toolbox to reveal a large stash of erasers, rulers, pens, and cutting blades. "But I lost my favorite pen again." Due to an invisible distraction, he froze and glanced over his shoulders. "Smells like Murkrow..." He sniffed at the air.

Gregg simply ignored him in favor of grumbling to himself.

"Where's my pen?" a squeaky voice resounded from around the corner. "Where's my pen?"

"FAT BIRD," Petrel called, instantly realizing who it was.

"Faaaaat biiiird," the voice eagerly responded.

"Petrel, what is all this?" Gregg nagged, bending low to check through Petrel's various trunks and bags. "Cos...cosplay outfits? You should leave all this behind!"

Murkrow finally came zooming into the hall, bobbing his head and clicking his gizzard. Petrel gazed at the dark bird pokemon, waiting in apprehension. Slowly, he pulled a carrot out of his back pocket and laid it on the floor. Murkrow immediately scrambled to peck and nibble at it.

"Huh?" Gregg uttered, stopping and adjusting his glasses to watch the time-wasting creature.

Murkrow stood up straight, and after some deliberation, stretched upwards. Shaking his tail feathers, he puffed his belly out and silently dropped a pasty load onto the rusted floor. Glistening in the small, tidy pile of doo was a black art pen.

"There it is," Petrel said, instantly grabbing it out. "Murkrow can store items in his belly. Isn't it disturbing?"

"EUAH, GROSS," Gregg groaned, horrified by Petrel's unsanitary actions. Murkrow, almost as if he were pleased by the scientist's disgust, scratched his talons on the rusted floor and did a little jig.

"Calm down now," Petrel said, wiping the pen off on the edge of his shirt. "it's just bird seed."

"Just bird seed?" Gregg exclaimed in disbelief, unwilling the trust the contents of Murkrow's excrement. "JUST bird seed?"

"Yes... now stop your Chatoting."

"Har-har!" Gregg spat bitterly; he was not amused.

"Let's go, Fat Bird," Petrel said, kneeling and offering his shoulder to the pokemon. Flapping lightly, Murkrow jumped up onto it and situated himself proudly.

"Yes, fine! Can we go now?" Gregg whined, trembling with apprehension. "You've been wasting all this time, dragging us behind schedule– haven't you heard? It's unsafe here! There's reports of yet another brat running around... why, it's a brat INFESTATION."

"What?" Petrel asked with a scoff, putting his hands on his sides. "Are they breeding in the walls now or something?" He felt that the word 'infestation' was an unsuitable choice when referring to children.

In correlation to their discussion, a noise bumped in the wall beside them. Disturbed, the scientist, executive, and fat bird hunched their heads and listened carefully. Nervous sweat poured down Scientist Gregg's face as he filled with terror.

After a moment of thick silence, a black shoe kicked in through the wall.

"Eyaaaagh!" Gregg screamed in falsetto, nearly dropping his heavy machinery.

"I guess they are," Petrel exclaimed nervously, stepping back as the air filled with dust and chunks of plasterboard. Out from the wall stepped a scowling, redheaded boy in a dark, red-trimmed jacket.

"... Petrel." Silver said coolly, recognizing him. "You, and all of Team Rocket will make your graves here."

"Boss brat... How nice to see you again." Petrel smiled at Silver, opening his arms to accept the serious boy. "Could you break away from your play and give uncle a hug? Or are you too big for that?"

"FOOL," Silver yelled childishly, stepping away. "You can't influence me, nor can you make such claims. Team Rocket is no longer my family. Just as I have said before... I'll destroy you all!"

"Sfft..." Petrel laughed into his sleeve, glancing away to compose himself. "Sorry... Coming from you, that was just so cute."

Fuming, a vein popped on Silver's forehead as he filled with uncontrollable rage. "Cute?" he sputtered, unable to tolerate the notion; "I was making a death threat, you ASSHOLE."

"Tsk tsk, don't make me wash your mouth out with soap again! Say, you're working with that Lyra girl, aren't you? " Petrel asked him, switching topics mid-way. "I was surprised, actually. You've really matured a lot since that time you ran away... With your personality, I didn't expect you to get a girlfriend so soon."

Struck speechless by Petrel's suggestion, Silver's mouth gaped open but remained overwhelmingly silent. With a burning face, he frowned and knitted his eyebrows in an effort to appear angry and indifferent. "You know nothing," he managed to say.

"Sure," Petrel said, shaking his head while abruptly grabbing up his luggage. "I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm a little jealous of you, but... best wishes, anyway." Turning with Murkrow on his shoulder, he smirked as both he and Scientist Gregg dashed down the hall.

"H–hey," Silver yelled, finally realizing that he had been tricked. "I'm not done with you yet...!"

After a swift and brutal Body Slam from Dunsparce, Gloom impacted the floor and bounced. Squeaking in pain, the bulbous flower pokemon drooled out a final statement before fainting:

"...loom."

"A FRUITLESS effort," Lyra declared pointlessly, commenting on the succulent's demise.

"Tch, you really are strong," Ariana said and held her head, overwhelmed by her crushing defeat. "It's too bad. If you were to join Team Rocket, you could become an Executive." Silently, her accomplice walked up beside her, seemingly tucking something into his boot. Watching carefully, Lyra narrowed her eyes.

"We both know," Lyra replied, jerking her chin back, "that's a lie. You're only saying whatever you can just to buy some time to escape! You're that desperate now that we're in your way."

"Oh?" Ariana said as she silently grinned. "But that's fine," she continued, backing away. "The broadcast experiment was a total success. It doesn't matter what happens to this hideout now."

"Lyra?" Lance spoke uneasily, confused by the cryptic conversation. "What is she..."

"–They're not done yet," Lyra answered and shook her head anxiously. "There's more to their radio wave scheme than this."

Ariana chuckled, somewhat impressed by Lyra's perception thus far. "Yes. We have much bigger plans," she finally let out. "You'll come to appreciate Team Rocket's true power soon enough. Enjoy yourself while you still can... Hee hee hee..."

A far off clank sounded and all the dingy florescent lights went out at once. In the pitch black confines of the four-way hall, all that could be heard was Ariana's slow laugh and various fleeting footsteps.

"Lance!" Lyra yelled, no longer sensing him nearby. It seemed as if he had ran off as well, leaving her in the unsettling dark. After several moments, his far off voice called to her.

"I'm here," he yelled. "They flipped off the circuit breakers, so I'm locating the panel."

Lyra felt herself sigh. There was something eerie about that hallway in the dark. Or any hallway in the dark. In a confined, narrow space– where all the lights go out simultaneously. She shuddered in thought; Even during that fight with Crystal, it was frightening when all the lights went.

Vanishing lights... inside a small, compressing space.

In her ears, the phantom sound of something screeching and crunching shook her core. It was an unending sound of movement as enveloping as the ocean yet as harsh as wheels thumping over steel grating. As if running out of breath, her stomach tightened and her chest prickled sharply. Is this happening again? she thought. Breathing slower. It won't stop. She folded her arms over her head, disgusted by her profuse sweating and trembling legs. Ever since she had lost it in front of Silver earlier, her ability to hold back her mental terror was breaking. I refuse to succumb to these anxieties... People are not ruled by their memories!

At last the fluorescent lights snapped back on, flickering and fighting to remain lit all before beaming brightly. Lyra quickly uncovered her head, moving slowly to normalize herself and appear unaffected by her delusions. Lance watched her intently, however, and quickly noticed that something was wrong. After observing her shifty movement for a little while longer, he walked closer.

"Do you have a fear of the dark?" he asked.

Lyra pulled a stiff grin and laughed strangely. "Why ask such a question!" she said before foolishly adding: "I like walking around at night." She felt much better when Dunsparce shuffled to her heels.

"I wasn't asking about the night," Lance said, irritated by her dodgy answer, "I was asking about the dark. Forget it."

"What's the difference!" she responded, posing gravely with her arms akimbo. "But I have an even greater question for you, Lancer Dragoon." Her solemn expression was quickly replaced by childish glee. "Are you satisfied with my test results? Just asking– since you mostly supervised. You were making me do all the leg work, so I figured you were busy grading my super abilities."

The man in question choked. How could a child put him in his place so easily? The guilt from making her fight the brunt of the battle earlier, along with gathering all the passwords, finally caught up with him– compelling him to apologize. "Forgive me, Lyra," he said, catching himself from lowering his head. "I saw how well you were doing, so I just hung back."

"Of course!" She took it all in stride. "Super heroes must have serious methods to test their side kicks. What now?"

"Now all there is left to do is to turn off that odd radio signal." Though he spoke to Lyra with authority, he felt himself faltering in his seriousness to do so. Her childish make-believe which was once lighthearted and fun was starting to feel like a joke. It was as if she had sensed his escapist nature and was now pandering to it with full-hearted enjoyment. This girl, it dawned upon him, is bad for my ego...

Lance stepped into the adjacent room, completely aware that Lyra was diligently staring at his back and following. Glancing at the wall of machinery before him, Lance motioned for his Dragonite to check the far right corner. Pacing back and forth, they both searched for a method to shut off the giant generator's sparking yellow plugs and cables. At the end of each one, as they had noticed, sat an Electrode– all of whom were pumping the cables with magnetic energy while screeching like motors. Coming face to face, both Dragonite and Lance lowered their eyes as they acknowledged their only option.

"It's this machine that's causing all the problems. I don't see a switch on it..." Lance stated, crossing his arms as if to brace himself for his following words. "We have no choice. We have to make all the Electrode faint. That should stop this machine from transmitting that strange signal."

"Hm," Lyra emitted, glancing at the glowing green pie charts on the back wall's flat monitors. But it's strange. That radio signal stopped bothering Typhlosion awhile ago... she thought. And I think Team Rocket pulled some part from this machine. Is this all really necessary?

Lance, after expressing his sadness over the victimized Electrode, abruptly looked over both his shoulders at the massive machine. "Lyra," he called her to attention, "let's split the job."

"I don't think we–" Before Lyra could finish her statement, the flat monitors on the back wall began to glow red. Starting low at first, hidden sirens began blaring deafeningly as the current on the cables reversed, resisting the electricity flowing from the Electrode.

"What the–" Lance yelled, his voice drowned out by the alarms. Perturbed, he turned to check his frightened Dragonite.

Gazing at the back monitors, Lyra realized that pie charts which had once been only a third filled were now full and flashing red. That's right, Team Rockets removed a part from the machine, she remembered. Is it causing a disturbance? "Overload!" she shouted frantically. "It's going to self-destruct, just like a battery in the microwave...!"

"This isn't a battery." Lance frowned, feeling that it was necessary to scold her for such a comment. He strongly disapproved of her experience on the subject. "But I think you're right on that overload part..." Thought he didn't want to admit it, the Electrode were beginning to appear even more strained and tormented. Electricity was wildly arching off their domed heads, randomly shooting up spurts of white flame and causing them to screech even louder.

"Right. So we can't wait any longer," Lyra said hurriedly, withdrawing Dunsparce and sending out Aerodactyl. "We need to remove the Electrode!" Blasting out from his pokeball, the chiseled dragon trilled and flapped his grey wings, immediately gagging on the acrid fumes gathering in the room. Just as Lyra sent him at the first row of Electrode, a massive white flame gathered over their polished heads and bursted outwards. Lyra, who was sent tumbling from the blast, rubbed her dazed eyes as Aerodactyl roared in confusion.

"Removing them won't be so simple," Lance yelled over the still blaring alarms. "I'm sorry. I regret ever dragging you into this– it was irresponsible of me. But I never believed it'd be this dangerous... Leave this up to me and go."

...What? Lyra thought, shaking away her blurry and spotty vision, and then watching as Lance held his palms outwards at the machine, outstretching his fingers and bracing himself. You want me to leave now?

"Dragonite!" he called deeply, his arms suddenly outlined by a glowing blue light. "Let's go–"

Lyra continued to watch, her eyes widening in disbelief. Once when she was very young, she recalled, there was a time when a powerful storm had gathered over her home's nearby waters, extending across to Tohjo Falls. Since the water had bubbled with violence from the monsters living in it, her father had resorted to summoning the power of a terrible technique to quell them... An unnatural, dark storm to wipe them all out.

Almost as if enacting Lyra's memories, Dragonite slashed blindingly through the air and circled overhead. Spinning around in circles like a revolving disk, the dragon filled the room with a blur of movement; fighting off the growing flames and chaos, he increased in speed and brought a sudden, booming whirlwind into existence.

This can't be! He's trying to summon such a storm alone? Lyra thought and stumbled upwards, stricken with disbelief. But I know... This can't be done alone–

"The Dragon Sky Land Storm," her father had once told her, pushing her toward the cliff's very edge. "Must be enacted with two dragons..." Many times her father would bring her to the bluffs of Tohjo Falls in order to break her fear and make her brave– and to pass on everything he had been taught– from his criminal father and siblings, through his many world tours, and up to his time training in Johto. "Two dragons must wield the storm," he had said to her, engraving the meaning in her heart. "Or else the resulting vortex will grow out of control and shred everything in it's path–"

"I told you to go!" Lance yelled angrily, interrupting her thoughts. "Once this begins, you won't be able to leave!"

"I already can't leave," Lyra said, stubbornly resisting. Because I won't stand back and watch anymore, she added in thought. "For a super hero, you sure are quick to die."

"You–" Though Lance wished to scold her for being a pinhead, he had to turn his attention back to Dragonite and the overloading Electrode before him.

"Aerodactyl," Lyra bellowed over the screeching noise, "sync up with Dragonite when I give the signal, tail to tail–"

"Dragon–" Lance boomed, the air chilling and whistling as soon as he began calling the attack, "Sky Land–"

Lyra flinched, afflicted by a squeezing pain in her right ear. A warm sensation trickled out from her inner lobe. As she touched it and pulled her hand away, the warmth revealed itself to be blood. The pressure in the air space is reaching its highest level, she thought. At this time, a changing air pocket has sealed around us. Looking up, she nodded at Aerodactyl. "I'll be guiding you," she said, grabbing his grey, slab-like jaw and gently positionimg it. "You'll jump..." Without much more warning, she shoved him. "Rocket up and join the circle!" she yelled, bracing herself against the current as he went. "Tail-to-tail Clamp, Lock!"

Connecting and wrapping into the dragon vortex like a film into a reel, Aerodactyl clamped his razor sharp teeth into Dragonite's plump yellow tail. Startled, Dragonite fought to concentrate and bit a hold of Aerodactyl's rock-like tail in turn.

Lance gasped, startled by Aerodactyl's sudden participation. Though clamping onto each other's tails kept the dragons from spinning apart due to their lack of coordination, it was an unorthadox method. She found a way to compensate for her and Aerodactyl's low skill level, Lance realized, unable to believe this insane miracle. He doesn't have the mastery to stay nose to tail with Dragonite, so this was the only way... But where did she learn all this?

"Sa–" Lyra choked, disturbed by the increase of force in the violent gale, but then managing to speak at last.

"–Storm–" the two of them called out over the lashing wind, the both of their voices reverberating together. As their energy cumulated, their dragons' whipping force swept the Electrode from their plugs and ripped up the transmitter machine's long, iron body.

One by one, the Electrode self-destructed in midair, sparking as their flames were vacuumed away.

~To be continued...~

Special artings alert– more Official Art Work has been added! Check out Vladisnovampir's super cool Typhlosion and Super Jump Girl poster here:

reeleer .tumblr post/3606680113/fanart-of-marlinmarlens-fanfiction -if-i-lost-on

*copy, paste and remove spaces*