Riding In

The rocks and reefs around the Petalburg beach appeared and disappeared haphazardly in the choppy waves. With no rudder there was no way to control the boat and with the battle still raging on deck it was near impossible to get out and attach the emergency rudder. Despite the violent tossing and turning Jamie called out his Spinda to face off against Mari's Charizard. Mari gave the order for Flamethrower.

"Teeter Dance," Jamie commanded.

Spinda did a strange little dance that seemed to have no rhythm or pattern. Every move it made seemed to cause it to veer dangerously off balance. It was only helped by the rocking of the boat.

"Whoa…" Ray moaned dizzily, "just looking at that makes me feel a little ill."

The world felt like it was swaying a lot more than it already was. Even Charmy was starting to struggle against the wind that her powerful wings had previously withstood very well. She squinted to see a target that seemed to be tripling and moving. Her Flamethrower hit somewhat nearby, enough to startle Spinda into stopping its bizarre dance. Even Mari and Ray had been coaxed into swaying along with it.

"Ch-Charmy," Mari called out, "use your, uh… your Seismic Toss!"

Charmy swooped down to grab Spinda but missed and crashed into the deck.

Jake and Joise shoved their Pokémon back onto their feet and glared at Max and Daichi. The two boys were looking rather smug at this stage.

"Stop making stupid faces," Jake snapped, "just 'cuz you got the upper hand a little."

"Losing to some weak beginners like you isn't going to happen! Corphish, use Leer."

Corphish stared down Mudkip and Lotad menacingly. Poliwhirl jumped in with Bubble.

"Mudkip, pop those bubbles with Water Gun!"

Mudkip shot a thin jet of water, bursting as many bubbles as he could but some still slipped through and hit their mark. They stung and Mudkip panicked at the attack, stopping his own attack.

"Don't panic," Max tried to assure his Pokémon. "Use Growl."

At the same time, Daichi commanded Lotad to use Water Gun. Lotad hosed them down but by itself the attack didn't do much. Jake and Josie simultaneously ordered their Pokémon to use Bubble.

Meanwhile, Charmy tried to get up off the floor and Spinda clocked her in the head with Dizzy Punch. That only made her all the more confused while Mari – who was almost as confused as her Pokémon – kept insisting that she use Seismic Toss. Charmy reached out to grab Spinda, which was difficult because she was seeing about three of it. Spinda didn't wobble out of the way fast enough and ended up pinned to Charmy's belly as the Charizard took flight. She soared over the boat in an arc and tossed Spinda down hard onto one of the rocks nearby, shattering it.

Jamie returned Spinda. Purrloin hissed and squirmed to get free of his hold, scratching at their opponents threateningly. "Gee, CTFD. Everyone's so…"

The boat scraped against something again. It tripped up Poliwhirl and Corphish, causing them to halt the Bubble bombardment. Daichi jumped on that opportunity, commanding Lotad to use Absorb. It sucked more energy out of Poliwhirl. It blasted Water Gun at Lotad but that didn't last long when Mudkip tackled it head on. Corphish was about to leap on him with Vice Grip again but it was blown away by the Tri Attack from Nature Power.

Jemima screeched in frustration. "This is exactly how things turned out before!"

"Before?" Mari echoed.

"What's with that confused look?! Last time we were here trying to nab some of the old geezer's sea charts you waltzed in like a hurricane!"

"Wait… the thieves who took Mr Briney's stuff last year were you two?!"

"Yeah! How could you forget us, you little twerp?!"

"How was I supposed to recognise you behind those stupid wooden masks you were wearing?" Mari deadpanned, trying to think back to what exactly happened on that day. "Pretty sure you also had different Pokémon."

"Last year was the worst, thanks to you!"

"Jamie! Jemima!" Josie yelled across the deck. She and her partner returned their worn out Pokémon and she called out her Horsea. "We've got to get out of here! Horsea, Smokescreen!"

Horsea chirped and covered the deck in a thick, black smoke. There was the sound of footsteps running across the boards but nobody was able to find the owners before the smoke settled enough to see. The grappling hooks were gone and the Team Aqua members were already attempting to manoeuvre their dinghy on rough waves.

"Come back here!" Daichi shouted, shaking his fist at them. Max put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"There's no point, Daichi. We'd already won anyhow."

"Great but there's a bigger issue," Layla interrupted. "Really close to the rocks here and we won't have time to put on the spare rudder."

"Even if we did," Nicky added, "the waves are so rough we might end up capsizing or crashing anyway."

Stomachs dropped as the implication of that news sunk in for everyone.

"Um… is there a Plan C or are we doomed?" Max asked nervously.

"Might be…" Mari mumbled. She returned her Charizard and instructed everyone to do the same. "Find some rope and tie yourselves down, this might be really rough."

She brought out another Pokéball and this time, while she held it contemplatively, the others noted that it was different to the regular red and white balls. It was aquamarine and covered in black stripes like a net. "Come out, Rush!"

The weasel-like Pokémon from before appeared on the deck and screamed quite terrifyingly. Daichi's eyes did that sparkly thing again and the Pokédex came out almost immediately. "It's that one again! I really want to know what it is."

"Floatzel, the sea weasel Pokémon. It floats using its well-developed flotation sac. With the sac inflated, it can carry people on its back. It deflates the sac before it dives."

"Okay Rush, listen carefully," Mari said. "Use Surf – the biggest one you can muster. Aim for the boat and the shore. Got it?"

Rush growled and nodded before shrinking that yellow sac around its body and diving into the climbing waves.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute!" Layla exclaimed. "That's more dangerous!"

"That's why I said to tie yourself down," Mari replied with a smile plastered on her face to hide her own uncertainty. Max handed her a rope to tie around her waist. "Sad reality is that we have three ways we can go and only one of them ends with us possibly being alive."

The sea around and beneath the boat suddenly swelled tremendously, lifting them higher than any normal wave. It surged towards the beach. It was moving incredibly fast and as it approached it managed to break. White water rushed over the deck and the boat was tipping. Nobody could tell what was happening beyond the white foam and the taste of salt except that the yacht seemed almost certain to capsize. Except it didn't. They all felt and heard the unmistakable grind of the hull sliding against something before finally coming to a rest. The water ran off the slanted deck so that everyone could finally see where they were.

"Oh wow… don't believe it…" Nicky muttered.

"W-we made it…" Layla said shakily.

The boat had successfully washed up to shore. The huge wave took quite them a way up the beach before it sucked back to the sea, leaving the boat stranded on the sand. The occupants untied themselves and jumped off the wrecked vehicle. Even the seafarers were glad to be back on dry land.

"Hey!" they heard Hilary calling down to from the top of the cliff surrounding the beach. She was up there with Tyson and Mr Briney and they came running down the steps of the beach as fast as they could. "Are you guys okay?"

"Thankfully, it looks like we're all fine," Ray replied.

"Where's Nicky and Layla?" Mr Briney demanded, barging past the teens. He grabbed the cousins around the shoulders and embraced them tightly. "When I saw that boat riding the surf in, could hardly believe me eyes," he laughed heartily. "Glad you two are still kicking after that. What about Peeko?"

Peeko squawked from the rail she had decided to perch on and flew down to land in her old trainer's arms.

"Ah, there ye are! Glad yer well too."

Mari giggled, trying to get her Floatzel to stop nuzzling her. "But…" she started, pushing Rush away and looking up seriously, "the boat…"

"Don't worry about it!" Mr Briney laughed. "Rather me boat be destroyed than me precious family. Thanks fer yer help again, Mari."

"Don't thank just me," she said, blushing and rubbing the back of her head. "Ray, Max and Daichi helped me out."

"But you were the one who figured out how to get us back to shore," Daichi pointed out.

"He's right," Layla agreed. "Wish we could offer you guys something in return, like free passage to Dewford Town but with the boat the way it is…"

"Don't feel you need to compensate us," Mari said, standing up. "We're friends after all, right?"

"What's in Dewford Town?" Tyson wondered.

"Another Gym," Mari answered. "There's also a great beach and a super cool cave with some interesting Pokémon in it. Met Mawi in that cave."

"Aw… and now we can't go there," Daichi pouted.

"We'll get there eventually," Max said. "We have to for the Gym badge."

"Those Team Aqua guys are really weird, though," Ray mused, looking out to sea thoughtfully as if he might find them on the water. "And they said they were here last year trying to steal Mr Briney's sea charts."

"Some of the sea shards too," Layla added. The trainers looked at her questioningly so she continued: "When gramps was younger he collected a lot of stuff during his voyages, so he has this collection of valuable treasures. Some of them are old relics from shipwrecked vessels and sunken ruins."

"Couple of weird guys in wooden Pokémon masks and assassin outfits tried to make off with them," Nicky finished. "Had no idea who they were even after the whole ordeal was over."

"That's…" Mari trailed off, following Ray's example of searching the waves.

"Is something wrong?" Hilary asked.

"Just makes everything so much weirder," Mari murmured, more to herself. "Those wooden mask thieves were odd but they were pretty competent. Jamie and Jemima are…"

"Idiots," Max finished for her.

"Yeah… not sure I believe they really were the ones who stole the charts but then how did they know about it?"

"We can think about it more back at the Pokémon Centre," Hilary suggested. "It's getting really cold out here."

"What happened to catching rare Pokémon in the storm?" Tyson protested.

"When did you start liking Pokémon?"

"I-I don't! But that was the plan! Why aren't we doing that?"

"In case you haven't noticed, the boat that was going to take us has been beached," Max said, jerking his thumb at the vessel behind him.

"And our Pokémon got beaten up fighting against Team Aqua," Ray added. "We need to go back to the Pokémon Centre to heal them."

There were no good arguments against that so the group ended up just saying their farewells to the Briney family and apologising for the damaged boat. As they made their way back to the more populated area of the city, Mari couldn't help looking back at the sea uneasily. They hadn't seen the Team Aqua members since Rush's Surf pulled them in. Not to mention the assertion from Jemima had given her a weird feeling about those two. A hand patted her gently on the shoulder and she turned around. Ray was giving her a sympathetic look.

"Are you really that worried about those two?"

"How'd you guess?"

"You seemed really anxious about it down on the beach. Look, I'm sure there are plenty of possible reasons why they did what they did then and why they're doing what they do now but I have a hunch that you'll figure it out eventually."

"Dunno," Mari mumbled, looking down miserably. "What if I never see them again after this?"

"You totally will. You've still got to get your Pokémon back from them." Ray winked.

"You're right," Mari giggled. Her mood seemed to have lifted instantly. She quickened her pace to catch up with the others who were already ahead.

Ray was about to follow suit but he heard a roar from above. The group in front of him didn't seem to hear it or maybe they just dismissed it since it sounded like a random Pokémon cry. However, something about it made him tingle. He looked up. The sky was completely covered in clouds. Some of them were thin enough to have the sun shine them white from behind. In these patches of brightness he saw a monstrous shadow streak through like a serpent swimming through the sky. There was a flash of lightning and the shadow was suddenly gone. That flash seemed to have opened up the heavens and rain began to fall, pelting the earth as if it was making up for lost time.

"Ew! Now it's raining!" Hilary complained. "Hurry up, Ray! Or we'll all catch colds standing out here!"

Even though he'd heard he stayed put for a moment, wondering if he'd be able to catch a glimpse of that shadow again. Unfortunately it seemed to be gone for good. He sighed disappointedly and started running back to town, wondering what that could have possibly been.

A/N: A quick update this time but I'm giving you something to think about.

Review, please?