- - - Oh God! I've been stuck for so damn long, and finally I'm going to try and actually write the next chapter! So wish me luck, and I really hope I can still continue the story! So here we go. - - -

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Click. Click. Ching!

Sitting behind a large, gold rimmed slot machine, eyes wide, hardly blinking, was Alex Blackstone. His mouth hung open in a determined manner, and at regular intervals his right arm swung from its hanging position and grasped the golden lever of the machine.

"Come on, baby.."

Around Alex, the Mauville City Game Corner swelled. The building was nothing but a small square located at the center of town, which may have been it's main flaw. Many, if not all of the people standing in the Game Corner were crammed together, jostling and muttering curses towards eachother. The designers of the Game Corner had never planned on there being so much business, and never once thought that the building's diminutive design would be a problem.

Perhaps it was the crowds that kept Alex in his spot, knowing that if he got up his seat would be quickly devoured. It could have been the fact that there were just too many people: no one in the building could tell, but there were at least five hundred people in the casino. Or maybe, just maybe, it was fate that interfered that day.

As Alex contemplated leaving to find Brenna (eventually deciding to stay put), as Brenna was handing the librarian her card, and as Dominic Jenkins marched confidently out of the Mauville City limits, a woman woke up.

Although they would think of it as nothing, Dom, Brenna, and Alex all looked up at the exact same moment, as if listening to a far off call. Dom shook his head and continued to walk. Brenna shakily took back her card and headed out of the library. Alex, who had been slightly dazed to begin with, continued with his gambling. Everything happened exactly so, but somehwere off in the distance, a woman was getting out of bed and mumbling to herself.

"A smarty pants. a bighead. a gambler.oh lunatone what next."

Click. Click. Ching!

* * * * * * * * * *

"MADISON!"

The frigid wind blew Bianca's shiny, purple hair all over her face, giving her a mysteriously evil quality.

"MADISON WE ARE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!"

Nelson, who was hitting a number of buttons on the submarine dashboard, grabbed Bianca's arm and tugged. "C'mon, girl. Madison isn't coming and you're gunna get pneumonia if you don't come inside."

Bianca muttered something under her breath and turned towards the door of the sub. Before entering, she spat out into the ocean. Her saliva quickly froze in the air, dropping to her feet.

Logan stuck his head out of the door. "Damn girl. either it's below freezing out here or you're the White Witch reincarnated!"

"I opt for the latter."

Everyone turned to see Madison at the entrance to Shoal Cave, hands on her hips.

"Finally. get in the sub." Bianca said, turning around and slapping Logan. Madison gave a sly grin and pushed her blonde locks behind her ears.

"Sure. lets get going. we wouldn't want to get the boss mad, now, would we?" she said. As she stepped into the submarine and sat down, her hand felt it's way into her pocket, feeling the smooth texture of the pokeballs that now contained her new pokemon. "We'll get back one day. you just wait." she whispered, stroking the pokeballs.

"What are you saying now?" Bianca said coldly.

"Why don't you go off and ruin some other lives, White Witch?" Madison said, chuckling.

"OOOH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Bianca screamed. The submarine sped through the icey waters back towards the mainland as Madison dodged a punch from Bianca.

* * * * * * * * * *

It's always the thing that you think won't happen that does. Dominic didn't expect to find what he did upon entering New Mauville. Brenna didn't expect to see that old book hidden behind the shelf at the library. Alex didn't think he would lose all his money. And Madison surely didn't think that her actions could have serious consequences, for both her and her teammates. However, things seem to find a way of working themselves out. Some call it fate, some call it luck, some misfortune.

Dominic, although he had only been gone from home for a short time, understood these things completely. His life itself seemed to full of fate, luck, AND misfortune. "Hopefully not much more misfortune." he thought to himself, walking under the shade of several tall, oakish trees. Although his hopes had been crushed mere minutes ago, his plans may be working out after all. If he could work out the power situation at New Mauville, he could get his third badge. If not.

Suddenly, Dominic reached the top of the hill he had been climbing. Although he was still under the shade of the trees, he raised his hand to block the shining light that gleamed from the tips of Cycling Road. The purple structure was standing tall in the distance, and Dom could barely make out the figures of tiny cyclers zooming to and fro. He himself had been on the same road only a little while ago, but it felt like ages. A lot had happened since he came off that road.

Dom focused his attention to the road that he was on now, the one that would hopefully lead to his destination. With a sudden burst of energy, he ran down the hill. Before he could even reach the base, he found his ankles becoming wet. His pace halted, and when he looked down, Dominic saw that he was standing in a watery, muddy mess. This was the swamp that he, Alex, and Brenna had avoided by traveling on Cyling Road. "Duh, you idiot! Why can't you even look where you're going?" Dom glanced up and saw much more of the swamp ahead of him. A faint path was somewhat marked, but it would have been very difficult to travel through all of it. Thick swamp plants sprung up in random locations, small frogs jumped about in the murk, and other pokemon Dom had never seen were hopping and swimming about. Even though his pant legs were damp, Dom smiled. "There's always some kind of life wherever you go around here.." Looking further to his left, he saw that the swamp ended in about 50 yards, where it fed into a river. Checking his map quickly, he saw that this was indeed the direction he should be going. While he was not happy at the fact that he would have to swim, Dom knew it was all for the good. He moved slowly through the mud towards the river with high hopes.

* * * * * * * * * *

Brenna shoved her way through the crowd outside the Game Corner and walked in, despite the shouts of others waiting to get in. Pushing through the loud, rowdy, and often drunk occupants of the building, she spied Alex in the distance. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she marched to him and grabbed his arm.

"Alex! Get up! I have something to show you."

He looked up at her and she realized that something was wrong. "Brenna. my money."

"Your money? Your. YOUR MONEY? Oh PLEASE tell me you didn't lose your money!"

"Well. this machine is so addicting. I mean, I'm sure YOU would have doen the same thing."

Brenna brushed her hair away from her eyes and crossed her arms, avoiding the elbow of a passerby. "I wouldn't have BEEN here in the first place! Now you're telling me that you lost all of your money.. and I don't know where Dominic is." She grabbed Alex's shirt and pulled him up out of his chair, sitting in it herself. Hands on her head, she began to moan.

"Brenna! It's okay. it's not like I need anything! I can do some battling and win some cash. pokecenters are free, you know." Alex said, sounding anything but hopeful.

Brenna straightened her glasses, stood up, and grabbed Alex's hand with a grip stronger than any he had ever felt. "Come on. I have to show you what I found."

"You aren't mad?" Alex said as they rushed through the mass of gamblers.

"Oh I'm mad." she said, "I just don't want to hurt you in public. Unlike you, I don't have a criminal record."

* * * * * * * * * *

The world suddenly muted as Dominic plunged his head into the waters of the swamp river. Why the location of New Mauville was so remote baffled Dominic. if there was no other way to restore the power to the city, why make it so hard to reach?

Dominic was determined not to bring up another mystery in his journey, so he simply swam with the flow of the river, trying to enjoy the calm water. He figured everyone else who came must have taken a boat, but Wattson hadn't informed him about transportation. was Wattson intending for him to fail? Could he just be sending Dom on a wild goose chase to get him out of his hair?

"The badge, Dom. just focus on getting the badge and you can forget about goddamn Mauville City!"

Dominic kept swimming until he finally felt his feet touching ground. Drenched from head to toe, he came out of the water onto a stone terrace. Looking up, he realized the enormity of the building he now faced. New Mauville was far from what Dominic had imagined. With four tall, staid walls surrounded by a barbed wire fence and a single wooden door, New Mauville looked more like a prison than a power plant.

Hands on his hips, Dominic stuck the key into it's hole in the doorknob, twisted it, and walked inside.

What he found when he walked in was.nothing. Through the door was nothing but pitch black darkness. "Shit! Why didn't I think of this?" he said aloud. Muttering to himself, he reached for manectric's pokeball and tossed it to the ground. "You up for the challenge?"

Manectric blinked lazily. "I think I'm a little better. still sorta dazed."

"It's alright. you won't have to fight in here. we just need a little light."

"Alright. I can do that." said manectric. Instantly a stream of electricity shot towards the ceiling and illuminated the surrounding area. Dominic was anything but surprised at what he saw. The floor was tiled white and yellow, and a few generators were scattered here and there. The interior of New Mauville wasn't too different from the interior of the Mauville Gym. "So exactly where are we going, Dom?"

"Well." Dominic looked around and settled his eyes back on his pokemon. "I guess we just look around until we find a power box."

The two began to move forward, Dominic scanning the walls for anything that resembled a power box. It was fifteen more minutes of strolling and searching before they heard the cry.

"Do you hear that, Dom?" manectric said, halting in his spot.

Dominic cocked his head to one side and put his hand to his ear. "No. what is it?"

"Someone. someone else is in here."

Dominic felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard a soft noise coming from his right. Turning slowly around, he tapped manectric on the head, indicating for him to shine his light in the direction of the noise. They began to walk slowly until the sound. the cry. became louder.

"Who would be sitting here, crying in the dark?" Dominic said, taking a firmer grip of manectric's fur.

Manectric turned a corner and spun around, aiming the light toward a wall. "Him."

There, crouched in a corner, was a boy slightly younger than Dominic. Hands over his eyes, it appeared he was in distress.

"Woah. hey. who are you and how'd you get in here?" said Dominic.

The boy looked up from his position and gasped. "Omigosh! I'm saved!" He jumped up from the floor and jumped onto Dom, pulling him to the ground. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Mind getting off of me?" Dom said, trying to escape the boy's clutch. "Who ARE you and why are you HERE?"

"Oh, jeez, sorry." the boy stood up and brushed himself off. "I've been stuck here for a couple hours. I'm Jeremy Woodbridge. My. uh. I somehow found my way in here. my flaaffy was lighting the way and then she fainted. I couldn't find my way anywhere and I didn't want that thing to come back. that thing." Suddenly the boy collapsed again and began to sob. "That THING!"

Dominic glanced down at manectric and back to the boy. "What thing?"

Jeremy looked up and shook his hands. "I don't KNOW! He attacked us and he made my flaaffy faint. omigosh!"

Dom glanced up, confused, and saw just what he was looking for: the power box was attached to the wall directly above where Jeremy lay crying. "Oh! Uh. Jeremy. the power box was right above you the whole time. come on we'll flip it on and head back to Mauville."

Jeremy looked up and wailed even louder. Sighing, Dominic walked over to the box and flipped all of the switches. Suddenly, the room was flooded with bright, neon light. Manectric wimpered and crawled closer to Dominic, shaking from the sudden electric current he had obviously just felt.

"I'm so stupid! I'm a helpless, pathetic loser who'll never be the next great trainer." Jeremy said as he stood up and followed Dom towards the exit.

"It's alright, Jeremy. you just might need to take some time and get over what you just went through. It may have been traumatic."

"Yeah." manectric added. "It's always scary when the lights go out."

Jeremy sniffled and nodded. The three walked in silence until they were outside again. Dom recalled manectric and looked toward Jeremy. "You're a trainer?"

"Yeah. obviously not a good one." Jeremy said.

Dom chuckled. "I'm sure you're not. every trainer has their bad moments, you know? Do you wanna come along north with me and my friends?"

"Wow. that would be awesome! I've been lonely traveling by myself."

"Yeah? Are you getting your badges?"

"Oh, no. I could never do that. I kind of want to be the next great dual- type trainer."

"Really?" said Dominic. "What types do you train?"

Jeremy smiled. "Grass and electric. I have a flaaffy and a jumpluff that I caught a few years ago."

"That's all?"

"Yeah. what's wrong with that?" Jeremy said, his voice quivering.

Dom was beginning to realize that Jeremy wasn't the easiest person to talk with. "Nothing. nothing! I bet you're a great trainer!"

Jeremy sniffed again. "Thanks."

Dom looked down at the water. "Well, we'll have to swim back to shore." Jeremy nodded and the two waded into the river. "So. what scared you back there, anyway? Was it a gigantic electrode or something?"

Jeremy shook his head. "It was a ratatta."

Dominic gulped. This kid was going to be a lot harder to deal with than he imagined.