Jack ran out of the dojo like a blue lightning bolt, intent on nothing but finding J and taking his friends back. J's presence was easy to track, she practically radiated evil. Jack closed in on her location, having abandoned all thoughts of complex and subtle strategies in favour of a reckless frontal assault.

"J is mine, understand?" Jack told Nova and Razgriz, despite the fact that he had no intention of waiting for them. "The two of you can focus on boarding and disabling her airship, but leave J to me."

"Jack, don't you think you should wait so we can go in together?" Nova replied as she and Razgriz made their way out of the dojo as well.

Jack would've replied, most likely with a grudging acknowledgment that she was right while having no intention of actually doing what she said, but his response was cut short as a bolt of brown liquid shot out of nowhere and almost nailed him in the chest. It would've been a direct hit, but Jack blinked out of existence just before the projectile connected.

Jack reappeared only a few feet from his initial position and quickly glanced upwards. The sky was clear, with only a handful of clouds obscuring the morning sunlight. Jack gritted his teeth, J's ship was still completely invisible to him; it wasn't even making any noticeable noise. Then again though, that didn't mean it was undetectable.

Jack cast out his mind into the sky, scanning in all directions. Almost immediately he found a group of human auras which seemed to be floating in midair.

"Jackpot," Jack thought wryly to himself, a sinister grin spreading across his face.

Jack could sense Nova and Razgriz approaching, but aside from them the area was devoid of life. Jack had intercepted J before she could get within a few miles of Veilstone City, or the dojo, and all the Pokémon in the immediate vicinity seemed to have fled already. Although whether it was because of J or Jack himself was anyone's guess.

Jack stretched the tendons in his neck until they popped, then looked up at the empty sky where he knew J's ship was hiding. The rational part of his mind knew that he should wait for Nova and Razgriz to show up, but he chose to ignore it. He couldn't wait any longer, not when his friends were so close.

Jack conjured a white-hot, tennis-ball sized sphere of flames in his hand and, being careful not to set any nearby trees on fire, he flicked it up into the air towards the invisible ship. The bolt of fire shot upwards as though it had been fired out of a gun, exploding midair in a shower of sparks and smoke after apparently hitting nothing. Once the smoke had cleared though, Jack could see a floating panel of smoking metal where his projectile had knocked out some of the ship's cloaking mechanisms. After a few seconds, the rest of the ship shimmered into view as though the curtain concealing it had been dropped.

Jack narrowed his eyes slightly and set his jaw. J had nowhere to hide now, her only choice was to fight. Jack's hunch was proven correct, as a bolt of crimson energy shot from the underside of the ship directly at him. Not feeling like getting blasted into pieces, Jack teleported away as the blast tore up the ground where he'd been standing; leaving a smoking crater in the earth.

"What's the matter, J?" Jack called out mockingly at the top of his lungs as he reappeared. "Hiding inside that ship of yours like a coward. Are you afraid to fight me yourself?!"

His taunts didn't seem to have any effect, but then again he didn't really expect them to. Now that she knew he was here, J wouldn't be showing her face any time soon. Which meant, of course, that Jack would just have to come to her. Before he did that however, he sent one last message to Nova and Razgriz; who had almost reached him.

"I'm going into the airship," he told them. "Feel free to join me when you get here. And watch out, the ship has guns. Big ones."

"Jack! Seriously! Wait for us!" Nova sent back, her voice practically pleading with him.

"You don't want to rush off by yourself like this," Razgriz added in.

Jack gritted his teeth. He knew they were right, but he didn't care.

"Sorry," he replied, "But I can't wait another second."

With that, he disappeared just as another blast bore down on him. When he popped back into existence, he was in a large room with metal crates of various sizes stacked everywhere. Jack had a sneaking suspicion as to what was in the crates. The thought that his friends might have endured such treatment was even more fuel on his anger, which was already blazing like a bonfire.

"So, it's you again," came a chillingly familiar voice from behind him.

Jack spun on his heel and, without so much as a moment's hesitation, fired a sizzling bolt of electricity at the voice. His eyes followed the bolt until, halfway to its target, it was intercepted by a blast of crimson light. From there his gaze continued until at last he saw the person he had come here to hunt.

"Nice try," J smirked, pointing which looked like a handgun at him. "But you won't beat me so easily this time."

Jack's vision narrowed until all he could see was himself, and J. Nothing else mattered, unless it was directly between them.

"Do you like my collection," J continued nonchalantly, the ghost of a grin on her face as she gestured to the crates around her. "All of these fine specimens are completely unique, for one reason or another. They'll fetch a pretty price on the black market. Of course, none of them can hold a candle to the ones you donated."

Jack saw red. J was intentionally baiting him, and one small part of his mind knew that. The rest of him, however, could think about nothing except beating this sadistic monster to a pulp. Every instinct he possessed was screaming that something was wrong, but he ignored it. He was completely focused on one thing, and one thing alone. J didn't stand a chance.

Jack launched himself at the Pokémon hunter like a bolt of blue lightning, planning to send her flying with the sheer force of his charge. To his surprise however, his shoulder met empty air. Jack felt something hard hit him in the back, and he stumbled forward as he struggled to compensate for his momentum. Jack spun around to look for J, and he was met with a steel-grey blur rushing towards his face.

Jack teleported away just in time, and reappeared on the other side of the room breathing heavily. He could see J, nothing but a few meters and a dozen metal crates between them, but he could barely comprehend what he saw. Protruding from the sleeves of her dark purple trenchcoat were two short, wide, steel knives. They covered the backs of her hands and extended several inches past the tips of her fingers. Jack suddenly became acutely aware of a sharp pain on his back, where one of those blades had slashed him hard enough to lacerate his skin. Jack had no doubt that if it weren't for his indestructible robes, J would've gutted him like a fish. And if he'd teleported away a split second later…

J smirked maliciously at him from across the room, enjoying the fear that had crept into his expression. "Oh, is that all? Here I was expecting you to put up a little more of a fight, or don't you want to rescue your 'friends'?"

Jack forced himself to hold his ground. Rushing in blindly a second time would be suicide, as his instincts told him J would aim for his unprotected neck next. Like a scenario out of his worst nightmares, J seemed to have developed almost superhuman agility and strength. She had not only avoided his blind rush with contemptuous ease, but also landed a solid blow to his back while doing so. To be perfectly honest, the thought of J having superhuman abilities frightened Jack more than an entire room full of Alpha hybrids had. That fear probably saved his life; he wouldn't underestimate J again.

Jack quickly looked J up and down. The Pokémon hunter wasn't wearing her usual hand cannon, which meant she didn't intend to take him alive. She still had her visor though, which was probably packed full of advanced technology; not to mention it kept Jack from being able to tell where she was looking. J had clipped her new gun to her belt, leaving both her hands free. She probably planned on taking him on at close quarters, unless she had some other trick up her sleeves.

Suddenly, the open doorway behind J resonated with a distant explosion and Jack's eyes instinctively flicked towards the sound. He could only assume that Nova and Razgriz had boarded the ship as well and were generally wreaking havok. Jack moved his gaze back to J almost immediately, but 'almost' was too late.

In one smooth motion, J raised her right arm and threw something across the room. Jack dodged to the right as a steel dart whizzed by his ear and embedded itself in the wall behind him.

"Let's take this outside," J commented, smirking maliciously as though the dart had struck home. "Wouldn't want your friends interfering, now would we?"

Jack had just enough time to realize that J was up to something, then the floor dropped out from underneath him. As Jack fell out of the cargo bay door, for that was what he'd been standing on, he glanced behind him to see J's dart embedded in what he assumed was the door's control box.

"No more underestimating J, huh?" Jack thought ruefully as he fell into thin air from several hundred feet. "Well, bang goes that plan."

Jack telekinetically flicked his body upwards several times, enough to slowly cancel his downward momentum. He was about to flick himself back up into the ship, but then he heard a crackling sizzle of plasma from above him. He managed to flick himself to the side in time to avoid the bolt of crimson energy, but it sent him into another uncontrolled fall as he spun every which way in mid-air trying desperately to figure out which way was up.

Jack crashed to the ground, landing on his feet more by luck than anything else, and immediately launched himself backwards. Sure enough, another bolt blackened the ground where he'd been standing. Looking up at the ship, Jack flicked a blast of flames up into the air towards the open bay door. A second before the fire bolt reached its target, Jack saw something drop from the cargo bay. He would've bet any money that the 'something' was J.

Jack fired several bolts of lightning into the air to intercept J, but it was like trying to shoot a fly with a musket. J kept darting from side to side in mid-air as though she had some sort of propulsion system. Unable to shoot her down, Jack kept his eyes locked onto J as she landed on her feet only a few meters away from him. The cloud of dust she raised on impact obscured her movements and, when she launched herself straight at him as though she'd only fallen a few feet, Jack only saw her coming thanks to his aura vision.

Jack decided to stop beating around the bush, and pulled a trick out of J's book. As the Pokémon Hunter closed in on him, Jack launched himself into the air. J saw the manoeuvre coming and jumped up to intercept him, but her arm-blade was met by a golden rod of plasma. The impact of their blades colliding sent Jack spinning midair, and he used the circular motion to swing his glowing sword down at J from above.

J crossed her blades above her head just in time to catch Jack's sword, and the force of the blow sent her back down to earth like a meteorite. Jack flicked himself down at J, who had once again landed on her feet, and prepared to bring his sword down on J's head. Seeing him coming in for another aerial strike, J drew her handgun and fired a bolt of plasma point blank at Jack's chest.

Jack, anticipating a counter-attack, had already prepared to evade it. With a crackle of electricity he disappeared, and then rematerialized behind J but travelling in the opposite direction. Before J realized what he'd done, Jack brought his sword down on J's right arm just below the shoulder. The glowing blade seared its way a good few centimeters into the limb, but then it stopped.

Jack was stunned for a moment, giving J time to twist around and attempt to stab Jack in the gut with her arm blades. Jack barely teleported away in time, warping a good several meters from the Pokémon Hunter. His breathing and heart rate both spiked as panic set in. His blade had done almost nothing to J. What exactly was she?

J surveyed the charred hole in the sleeve of her trenchcoat as though there was a stain on it.

"You've wounded me," J commented dryly. If she felt any pain, she didn't show it. "I can see I'll have to stop holding back."

With that, J began unbuttoning her trenchcoat to reveal a black and red jumpsuit beneath. As she allowed the coat to fall from her shoulders however, Jack noticed that the sleeves of the jumpsuit seemed to go all the way down to her gloved hands. Jack furrowed his brow as he suddenly noticed something. J's arms were free of any kind of mechanical apparatus, so where were her arm blades coming from?

Jack studied the blades as closely as he could at that distance, but he couldn't see anything holding the blades on. It looked almost like… like they were actually extending from her arms themselves. Jack's breath caught in his throat at he realized that J's jumpsuit stopped at her shoulders; her arms had simply been painted. They were made of metal.

Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing. J chuckled; a low, sinister laugh full of hatred. It sent chills down Jack's spine.

"You see?" J said, spreading her arms wide with her palms open. "You see what the accursed Lake Trio did to me when they sank my ship into Lake Valor? When I floated to shore, my body was so mangled I had to put myself into suspended animation just to stay alive long enough to get medical help. My limbs were beyond repair, so I had a new set made to my own specification; in addition to various other… modifications to what was left of my body. It cost me an arm and a leg," J commented bitterly, smirking at her own dark humour, "But being able to defeat you was more than worth the cost."

Jack was still struggling to comprehend the information flooding his mind, but amidst the chaos in his head he managed to pull one thought together.

"You… you knew I was here."

J chuckled again. "Of course I knew. You dropped off the map for months, then suddenly showed up back in Veilstone City. The news spread like wildfire. I'm guessing Maylene's new Lucario was your pathetic attempt to draw me out, am I right?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "If you knew it was a trap, why did you come?"

J's smirk grew by several terrifying centimeters. "Because you're not the only one who wants revenge. Don't get me wrong, stealing your Pokémon right out from under your nose was immensely satisfying, but it didn't break your spirit as I'd anticipated. This so-called 'trap' of yours is proof of that. I want to see you broken at my feet, reduced to pleading for mercy as you forced me to plead all those months ago. Maybe I'll even let you live afterwards to wallow in your helplessness. Then once I'm done with you, I will exact my ultimate revenge on the legendaries who took my arms and legs. They'll wish they'd destroyed me properly when they had the chance!"

Jack could feel hatred radiating off of J, but there was a strange… 'wrongness' to it. He couldn't describe it exactly, but J's emotions felt muddled and murky; like nothing he'd ever seen before. The waves of these dirty emotions rolling off of J made the hairs on the back of Jack's neck stand on end. Jack didn't know it at the time, but that feeling was madness. J's pain and rage had driven her insane. If anything, this made her even more dangerous.

What Jack did know, on the other hand, was that if J really had been holding back until now then he'd have to kick it into high gear as well. While J monologued Jack took the opportunity to send tendrils of power into the sky, gathering a bank of dark stormclouds overhead; a thunderstorm waiting to happen. By the time J finished speaking, the energy packed into the clouds was extremely eager to be released and Jack was happy to oblige.

"I already wish they had," Jack commented grimly.

J was about to respond, but Jack suddenly lunged forward and lashed out with his sword at her midsection. He closed the distance between them in less than a second, but J was faster. Circuit-like patterns that coiled around her arms and legs glowed a sinister purple as she moved with inhuman speed, swinging one of her arm blades up to intercept Jack's sword. With almost contemptuous ease she knocked his attack aside with one hand and, in the same motion, sent her other blade into Jack's stomach.

Just before J's blade connected however, there was a burst of searing heat, blinding light, and deafening sound. Any normal human would have had their eardrums shattered, and then been seared to a crisp, but neither Jack or J were normal humans. As it was the lightning bolt partially melted the ground at Jack's feet, and flung J backwards like a ragdoll. The Pokémon hunter landed on her feet and, seeming completely unfazed, immediately drew her pistol and fired off a shot at Jack who was standing still where the lightning bolt struck.

Jack moved so quickly he left a slight after-image in his wake, along with a trail of golden sparks. He dodged the bolt from J's gun effortlessly, and then closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. He swept his sword at J in a backhand stroke, and J just barely managed to raise her right arm in time to block it. A shower of sparks flew into the air as Jack's blade crossed J's, but neither of them took the time to notice.

Jack didn't so much as hesitate as his first strike failed, and instead merely allowed his body to transition flawlessly into the next attack. His focus narrowed to include only J, himself, and anything that could give him an advantage. If J gave him even one opening, he'd strike at it without hesitation. He couldn't afford to lose this fight.

Jack kept up the pressure on J, launching long, complicated strings of attacks that seemed to come from every direction at once. His sword was a glowing arc that cleaved the air itself in two, rising and falling several times a second in a sharp staccato rhythm and leaving a blur of light in its wake. No matter how many times Jack struck however, J never failed to intercept his blows with one of her arm-blades. It was as though Jack was striking at a solid dome that defied his every effort to find a crack. J matched him blow for blow and, any time Jack let up for even a split second, she launched attacks of her own to try and force him onto the defensive.

The stalemate lasted for over a minute, although it seemed to stretch on for an eternity. All that could be seen with the naked eye was flashes of gold and purple, and showers of red-hot sparks that flew in all directions. Every time one of them seemed to gain ground, the other would always win it back the very next second. Jack had longer reach and slightly faster reflexes, but J's double blades easily nullified those advantages. In terms of speed and strength, they were almost perfectly matched.

There was one thing that separated them, however. Jack was flesh and blood, but J's arms and legs felt no pain or fatigue. Even when Jack's lungs were heaving for air, J was barely breathing heavily. This was what eventually broke the stalemate, as Jack eventually began to slow down. His reaction time increased, and his strikes began to come at longer intervals.

As soon as she realized that Jack had reached his limit, J used the opening to completely change her stance. She switched from defense to offense in a heartbeat, and Jack suddenly found himself struggling to keep up with the flurry of blows J rained upon him. Her shorter reach meant she couldn't actually land a blow without leaving herself wide open to a counter-attack, so she bided her time and wore Jack's stamina down gradually until, eventually, he made a mistake.

In a desperate bid to retake the initiative of the fight, Jack overextended himself just a little too far. He lashed out with a simple stab to J's left shoulder, but the Pokémon hunter deflected the blow and allowed it to pass harmlessly by her head. Jack stumbled forward a half-step before regaining his balance, but he was too slow. J jabbed her right blade into his gut, knocking the wind clean out of him even if it didn't penetrate through his robes. Then, before Jack could catch his breath, J brought her left blade down towards his unprotected neck.

Time seemed to freeze for Jack. This was how he was going to die, in a vain attempt to save his friends. The thought of them at J's mercy turned his blood to ice, then into liquid fire as anger flooded his mind. It couldn't end like this, he wouldn't let it. He would rescue his friends, and anything foolish enough to get in his way would soon regret it. Jack sensed the sharp blade about to hit his neck and, pouring all the power he could muster into one thought, he willed the blade to stop.

It was at this moment that Jack realized he could move his body again. He looked up to see J still seemingly frozen in place, but she seemed to be struggling against some invisible force. Jack slowly backed away from the Pokémon hunter, and took a moment to survey his handiwork. J was standing stock still, but Jack could hear her mechanical limbs straining themselves trying to move. Her entire body was being held in place by powerful tendrils of telekinetic energy that wrapped around J like chains.

Then one of the chains around J's right arm snapped, and she immediately drew the limb back to throw something. Jack felt a mix of anger and panic explode inside him, and he directed the energy into J's shoulder at the joint. With the sound of wires snapping and metal being twisted out of shape, J's right arm seemed to explode off her shoulder leaving a sparking metal socket where the joint had connected. J cried out as her right arm was ripped away, but Jack suspected it was more from shock than actual pain.

J glanced down at her mangled bionic shoulder, then fixed her gaze on Jack again with a look that spoke of a fury comparable to Jack's own. Any sane person would have admitted defeat then and there, but J's fragile mind wouldn't allow her to accept another loss at Jack's hands; she literally couldn't even consider the possibility. If looks could kill, Jack would've been dead where he stood.

"You little brat," she snarled, "Let me go this instant."

Jack could've almost laughed, but he wasn't in the mood. As it was, his scowl grew more pronounced. "You're in no position to be making demands, J. If you move so much as a finger, I'll tear it off."

J chuckled maliciously. "Don't try and bluff me, kid. You can't hold me here forever. And as soon as you run out of energy, I'll kill you."

Jack set his jaw. "I don't have to hold you forever."

J grinned. "Oh, what are you going to do then? Kill me? Nice try kid, but I think we both know you don't have the stomach for that."

"Would you bet your life on that?" Jack replied coldly, looking J in the eye. With how much pain and suffering the Pokémon hunter had caused, if it came down to it Jack honestly wasn't sure what he'd do. If he did kill her, Jack knew he wouldn't lose any sleep over it; and at any other time that knowledge would have disgusted him.

However, Jack's steel-cold stare sent a sliver of doubt worming its way into J's demented mind. Jack could see it in her eyes, she was starting to realize that she was at his mercy. Jack could also feel his energy reserves starting to run low. If J tried to break free again, he might not be able to stop her. He needed to end this.

Fortunately, at that moment Jack heard the loud hum of engines from above them. J's ship had stopped hovering, and it was descending slowly. From J's expression Jack guessed this was not according to her plan, which meant that Nova and Razgriz had succeeded in taking the ship.

Jack grinned. "Like I said, I don't have to hold you forever. My allies have already taken control of your ship, it's only a matter of time before they arrive to back me up. You've lost, J; just accept it. You're going to be turned over to the authorities, and I'll take my friends back."

J paused for a moment, then she looked Jack in the eye with a smile of such unbridled malice that it sent chills down Jack's spine.

"Your... friends?" she said, her voice dripping with sadistic glee. "The ones you smuggled yourself into Saldara, and got yourself caught up in a war, in a vain attempt to rescue? The ones you'd give anything to save, including your own life? The ones I stole right out from under your cocky nose?"

Jack felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, even while his blood was slowly turning to ice in his veins. J's next words would not be good news, of that he was certain. Not trusting himself to speak, all Jack could do was nod slowly.

J's malicious grin widened by several centimeters. "I sold them. They're halfway across the world by now."

Even though he was expecting it, J's words hit Jack like a hammer blow. He felt the blood drain from his face, and for one brief moment his mind ground to a halt completely; unable, or unwilling, to fully process the statement. He had no doubt that it was true, the look of cruel joy in J's eyes convinced him of that.

The next thing Jack knew, J had halved the distance between them. In Jack's brief lapse of concentration, J had shattered his psychic shackles like so much glass. She lunged at Jack, her remaining arm drawn back for a blow to his midriff. Jack felt fear like a river of ice flowing through him and, acting on instinct more than anything else, he forced that bone-chilling cold out from his body into the air around him.

J's headlong rush was met with a blast of super-cooled water that froze around her instantly, encasing her entire body up to her neck in a slab of solid ice that sprayed out behind her like crystalline porcupine quills; although if the sudden cold affected her, she didn't show it. J struggled against the icy prison, and tiny cracks started to form around her remaining arm. Knowing that the ice wouldn't hold J for long, and desperate to end things once and for all, Jack hastily flung out his mind like a spear at J.

The Pokémon hunter's mental defenses were like so much rice paper in the face of Jack's psychic assault. Whatever else she was, J didn't have any psychic abilities and Jack blasted his way into her mind with ease. No sooner had he breached her defenses however than he was almost swept off his feet. J's mind was like a tornado of emotions that battered at Jack from every direction, and he was hard pressed to stay anchored. It was especially hard to avoid getting swept up, because the most prevalent emotion in J's mind was a blind rage that clawed viciously at Jack's mind.

Jack could've destroyed J right then and there. He could've torn her mind to shreds, and part of him desperately wanted to. He wanted J to pay for what she'd done. Still, something about the way J's emotions were flying around made Jack curious. He could sense something at the center of J's mind, a cold, hard ball of emotion around which all the others were circling. Almost as if they were protecting it, or… containing it.

Spurred on by curiosity, Jack fought through the whirlwind of J's emotions toward the center. J's mind pushed back against him more and more strongly as he went on, but it couldn't stop him. Then, with one final push, Jack breached the last barrier in his way; and his mind was suddenly flooded by a pain so intense that he almost blacked out. Someone screamed in agony. It might have been him.

Then, the pain ebbed momentarily. In that one instant of relief, Jack threw up a powerful ward around his mind; and just in time, as another wave of pain soon washed over him. Jack could feel it even through his ward. It was a pain the likes of which he'd never felt before, as though his entire body was burning from the inside out.

The pain continued to come and go in regular pulses, and Jack winced at each one. He knew what this was, it was the pain J had felt at Lake Valor when her body had been all but destroyed. From the center of J's mind, Jack could read her memories like an open book. When J had put herself into suspended animation, she wasn't thinking about keeping herself alive until she could get medical attention; she'd done it in a desperate attempt to stop the pain, and she hadn't wanted to be revived. Even after her doctor, a scientist by the name of Yana, had repaired her body to the best of his abilities the pain didn't subside; J's internal injuries were too severe. Ever since then, J had to be on painkillers constantly; and even then the pain didn't go away completely.

Flipping through J's memories, Jack couldn't find a single one that wasn't bitter with pain. Jack couldn't even imagine what that pain must have done to her, but he didn't have to. He only had to look around him at the vortex of emotions surrounding him; keeping the pain in, bottling it up so that it wouldn't paralyze her.

Jack tried to hate J. He tried to convince himself that she deserved to die. He couldn't do it. J had done terrible, horrible things, but at that moment Jack felt nothing for her but pity. He had barely endured that pain for two seconds, J had lived with it for months now and it had all but shattered her mind. All the rage swirling around in her head was a buffer against the pain, to keep it from overwhelming her. It was the only anesthetic that worked, and it was all that had kept her from breaking down a long time ago.

Jack couldn't bring himself to stay inside J's mind any longer. He quickly sifted through her memories until he found a specific one, then he withdrew back into his own mind. All told, barely ten seconds had passed. J was unconscious in front of him, still trapped up to her neck in solid ice. She likely wouldn't wake up for several hours, Jack hadn't been particularly gentle about breaking into her mind.

With a snap of Jack's fingers, the ice surrounding J shattered into dust and the Pokémon hunter collapsed to the ground. The Veilstone City Police Department would already be on their way, and she'd be in a cell long before she woke up. With a sigh, Jack turned towards where J's airship had landed and started walking.

She's just going to come after you again.

Jack set his jaw. "Then I'll defeat her again."

...You're not going to change your mind, are you.

"No, I'm not."

You know, for someone in her condition… a painless death might be considered merciful.

Jack froze in his tracks. He couldn't bring himself to look back at J, lying on the ground. It was true, as soon as J woke up she'd be in pain again. She'd have to go back to sedating herself just to get to sleep. And even with all his skill at healing, complex internal injuries were beyond what Jack could fix. Even so…

"Human life is sacred," Jack thought to himself, setting his jaw. "It doesn't belong to us, it's a gift from God. And no one but God has the right to decide when it starts or ends."

Jack didn't move for several seconds. Everything seemed to have gone deathly quiet all of a sudden, and Jack was acutely aware of his own racing heartbeat.

You know what… I'll let you have this one. I know you took the ship thing pretty hard, and I'm sorry about taking over like that. But still, you need to learn that mercy is a luxury you won't always be able to afford. That saintly optimism of yours is going to get you killed some day.

"If that day ever comes…"

I'll say I told you so.

"Deal."

Satisfied that he'd made the right choice, Jack walked deliberately away from J's unconscious form. He could see the airship in the distance, and he made his way towards it at a fair pace; although not with any undue haste. Why should he rush? After all, his friends weren't on the ship.

Jack gritted his teeth and forced that thought to the back of his mind. Time enough later to focus on that. He was having enough trouble keeping himself together as it was, without thinking about where his Pokémon really were. He'd pulled the memory straight out of J's mind just before he left. She really had sold them halfway across the world.

As Jack approached the landed airship, the first thing he noticed was the large hole in the cockpit's windshield. Jack allowed himself a rueful chuckle at that. Apparently Nova and Razgriz had a little fun with their side of the plan.

Jack walked up the the ship, and quickly locked onto Razgriz's aura signature. He wasn't keen on teleporting inside though, for fear of ending up halfway inside a wall another person or something. So, instead of teleporting he telekinetically flicked himself up and into the hole in the cockpit.

Landing carefully to avoid stepping on any glass, Jack surveyed the scene inside the command center of the airship. Nova and Razgriz were sitting at the back of the bridge watching over the crew that was still present. A few other guards had tried to force their way into the cockpit as they waited on the ground, but at this point they were too disorganized to retake the bridge. The two of them looked up at Jack as he lept through the glass.

"How did things go on your end?" Razgriz inquired.

Jack shrugged dismissively. "As well as can reasonably be expected. J should wake up in a cell in a few hours. How'd it go for you?"

"Well, I think you could take a guess at that. You told us to get the ship on the ground, and here it is," Razgriz replied as he gestured towards the ship.

Jack nodded, his expression unreadable. "Well, there is that. In that case, good job. Sorry for going AWOL on you, it… it was just something I wanted to do alone. I know it was dumb of me, but thanks for having my back. I really appreciate everything both of you have done to help me out."

"Don't mention it… I am well aware how… controlling emotions can become around those considered to be family," Razgriz responded, his voice dropping ever so slightly.

Jack raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment. "Anyway, the authorities should be here any time now to clean up the mess. Need any help holding down the fort until they arrive?"

"I think I got these guys under control. A thorough thrashing followed by brute intimidation usually gets the job done," Razgriz said as he looked around at the remaining humans, who had all gathered in one corner of the bridge.

Jack nodded again. "Alright then. I that case if you'll pardon me, there's some business I need to attend to in the hold."

Without another word, Jack started walking towards the door of the cockpit; which he noticed had been blown off its hinges and was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the hole in the windshield made a lot more sense.

"Just a warning, there are still a few guards that don't know when to quit," Nova stated as Jack walked past her. "Not that they will be a problem for you though."

Jack chuckled, but didn't look back. "Yeah, I was gonna say; what's the warning? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

With that, Jack walked out the door. He wished momentarily that he'd taken the layout of the ship from J's mind too, but it was a minor inconvenience at most. There were only so many ways to go, so Jack just picked one and went down it.

It wasn't long before he ran into a group of the guards Nova had warned him about, but Jack wasn't worried. On the other hand, he also wasn't in a very good mood. You have to feel sorry for the guards. They managed to fire off a few stasis bolts, but Jack stopped the projectiles midair without so much as lifting a finger. After that it took him about three seconds to dismantle the entire group one by one. Most of them would just be one giant bruise from head to toe when they woke up, with no idea what hit them.

Jack continued on his way towards the ship's cargo hold, only running into one more group of guards along the way; which he dispatched with similar ease. He had to backtrack a few times when he took the wrong path, but eventually he found what he was looking for.

With a sigh of resignation, Jack entered the hold of the ship. There were still assorted metal and wooden crates piles everywhere, full of Pokémon that were considered rare and valuable. The police would ensure that as many of them were returned to their homes as possible, but there was one Pokémon there who Jack knew would never be able to return home.

Hearing footsteps in the corridor behind him, Jack turned around. A quick auric scan told him that Nova and Razgriz had followed him, and that the Veilstone City Police Department had finally arrived along with Maylene.

Jack couldn't resist. He quickly seated himself on a nearby crate, folded his hands, and smiled ominously at Nova and Razgriz as they entered the room.

"Hello. I've been expecting you," Jack said, lowering his voice as much as he could.

Both Nova and Razgriz looked at each other with a bit of confusion as they walked towards Jack.

"Okay…" Nova said as she turned towards Jack, one of her ears tilted over to the side.

Jack sighed. "Never mind. Anyway, I assume the police have things well in hand?"

"They were just entering the bridge when we cloaked up and came down here," Nova stated as the two of them stopped in front of the crate Jack was sitting on.

"So… why did you need to come down here? Is J keeping your Pokémon here?" Razgriz inquired.

Jack's shoulders fell slightly, and he took a long, deep breath before replying. "No, I'm down here for someone else. My friends… I looked through J's memories, and they're not here any more."

"Did you at least find out where they are?" Razgriz inquired as he looked up towards Jack.

Jack nodded, although he couldn't look Nova or Razgriz in the eye. "Yeah, I did. They're… in the Kanto region. J sold them to an organisation called Team Rocket."


Jack: Tell me something, are you ever not going to end a chapter with a cliffhanger?

Me: Not in the foreseeable future, no.

Razgriz: I have been instructed to give you this sternly worded letter about the ending of this chapter.

Nova: There are some harsh words in there.

Me: Harsh words? I lived through the YouTube comments section. I'm not afraid of one letter.

Jack: I smell famous last words.

Me: Aaanyway, one thing I do want to mention is that, as a few of you readers probably noticed, my overall depiction of Hunter J in this chapter was very similar to how the character was portrayed in a fanfic called 'Keldeo and the Swords of Justice- Season Two' by Matthias Unidostres. And yes, I admit, I borrowed a lot of ideas from his depiction of J.

Jack: Alright, that's all we needed to hear. Lock him up!

Razgriz: should I call the Spanish Inquisition?

Jack: Uhh… I dunno, I somehow feel like that would be crossing a line...

Nova: since when have you ever been shy about breaking the fourth wall?

Jack: It's not that. It's just that if we call them in, that means we'd be expecting them.

Nova: ah, I see the problem...

Me: Guys, just hear me out okay?

Jack: Fine, we'll reserve judgement. For now.

Me: Thank you. As I was saying, I drew a lot of inspiration from Matthias's story; but I'd been planning to bring Hunter J back for a final, climactic fight ever since she was first introduced in Book 1. I just couldn't figure out a viable way of letting her hold her own against Jack in open combat, and after the events of this collab with OseanSoldier she would've stood even less of a chance. So when I saw what Matthias did with the character, it was exactly the breakthrough I'd been looking for. So I'd like to once again thank Matthias for inspiring me with his writing, even while he's not writing any more. That, and I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend that you check out his stories; they're absolutely fantastic, and cover a wide range of different genres and fandoms so there's something for everyone.

Jack: Did… you just turn an apology for borderline plagiarism into a sellout…?

Me: Uhh…

Jack: …

Me: Leave a review…? o:)

Spanish Inquisition: NOBODY EXPE- DANG IT!