Yo, it's me again! I'm bringing you yet another chapter for my pride and joy of a fan fiction, Hoenn Chronicles. Seriously, this has probably been the most frequently updated fan fiction I have ever written, not to mention the most inspired at points. I'm almost never stuck for an idea... And, you get to see more examples of that this chapter! And, guess what, we get to see ANOTHER character... okay, two characters to be honest! I will say this now; they both belong to Dark Magician Girl Aeris. They have appeared in Anomaly (another pokémon fan fiction which happens to be related to this one) and I have been given full permission to use them in my own story. Their names are Reiko and Kazu. If you haven't read Anomaly yet, you're missing out on a lot about what these two did in the past and such. Not to mention that if you don't read Tales of Flame (authored by Buwaro), then parts of Anomaly won't make sense either. So, read them both if you haven't already, thank you so much for reading Hoenn Chronicles so far, and without further delay the chapter shall begin!

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Kazu's POV

"I still can't believe you convinced me to go through with this transfer. You knew I didn't want to go back," I sighed as I sat with my long-time friend down in the cargo hold; we both knew that she was on Team Rocket's shit list by this point because she was the only one they definitely knew helped the second clone escape. So, what does she come and do? Blackmails me into helping her escape to the Hoenn region where Team Rocket's reach was weakest. And, since I was still trusted and Cheryl and Yota were busy with other things, I was the one nominated to stow her over there while requesting for a transfer. And, unfortunately, I was accepted right away to work on a goddamn mind control device they were testing over there.

"Too bad, Kazu. If you don't help me then you'll get busted too, remember?" How could I forget, that was the one thing that was sure to keep my mouth shut and the woman with bubblegum-pink hair in front of me knew it. I sighed again before shaking my head and looking blearily at her; ever since we left the port in Olivine City, keeping Reiko's presence on the boat under wraps had been nothing short of nerve-wracking. She was too adventurous to be a stow-away, and then I always had to bring her food because she couldn't explore the deck without someone else from Team Rocket spotting her. And then, "Besides, you never told me why you hated the Hoenn Region so much. Either spill the beans or listen to me nagging you for the four hours left on this boat ride."

"You know, I'm starting to doubt that Team Rocket robbed you of your childhood. It seems like you never really grew up."

What I got in return was Reiko sticking her tongue out at me before playfully punching me in the arm. Then she fell back onto the make-shift bed made of the blankets used to cover various crates in storage before she started talking to me again, "Fine, I won't ask. We can just lay low in some town away from your little hell hole for a while. Until Team Rocket stops trying to kill me, y'know?"

"You'd get too bored with that," We both smirked at that before I ended up shaking my head, "Fine, let's stay away from Littleroot Town then. I'd say Rustboro City too but that's where I'm supposed to be stationed."

"The base is out there?"

"There's more than one. There's another one on Dewford Island but that's mainly for communications with the grunts and executives in Hoenn; apparently there's a lot of rare pokémon in the caves near there as well."

"Sounds like something the higher ups would do," Reiko sighed this time while boredly looking around the storage room, "But this mind control project is in Rustboro City, huh? So... how're you gonna sabotage it?"

"I won't know until we get there," I shrugged before looking back to Reiko; honestly, I hadn't even seen the plans nor the person they were testing this on. But, the inventors of this thing wouldn't be stupid enough to not have a way to deactivate it in case of emergency. And, since I was working on making improvements, I'd be one of the first on our side to know how to turn it off. No amount of money or recognition would be worth making a thing that made people and pokémon lose their free will, after all, "In the mean time, we've got to get you a grunt's uniform so you can get off of the ship without everyone on your ass."

"I always hated those things. They look too gloomy and I'm not a real fan of black."

"And you choose now to be picky about the uniform?"

"You're acting as if my hating the uniform is a bad thing."

"I never said that and you know it. But, hate it or not if you want to get off of the ship without getting caught you have to wear it."

"I know... can I at least wear the guys' uniform? Skirts were never really my thing."

I sighed and shook my head while smiling weakly, this was almost like dealing with a teenage girl. But, considering that she was nabbed when she was a teenager, it kind of made sense. There were also things I wasn't exactly proud of, like joining Team Rocket for the purposes of money and fame... everyone else on our side either had someone to take care of and desperately needed the money or was nabbed as a kid. Admittedly I felt kind of sorry for Reiko... but, then again, she'd be free to live her own life once the boat ride was over.

"I think there's a box of uniforms around here," I snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Reiko making her way over to the only cardboard box in the area; that was more than likely the box we wanted, Reiko proving me right once she opened it, "There we go... looks like this one will fit like a glove. No peeking, Kazu; just because you're helping me out doesn't mean you get a free show!"

I laughed and turned my back to her as the girl changed; then, when she said she was done I inspected her; the uniform did fit, it hid her chest well enough so that she could pass as male. However, there was one thing that was a dead give-away.

"You have to wear the hat too, you know."

"You're no fun..." Reiko smirked at me before lifting up one of the hats in the box, fitting it onto her head low enough so that her hair was pretty close to invisible; I almost pissed myself laughing when she tried to imitate a male voice, "Well, how do I look?"

"As long as you don't talk to anyone you'll be fine," I shook my head while wiping away a tear of laughter, and thankfully Reiko seemed to think her 'male' voice was funny as well, "Now come on. You can probably get away with being on deck for the rest of the trip like that."

"Sure thing. First place I'm headed to is the kitchen, I'm starving..."

I was thankful that nothing from the storage room could be heard up on deck then as we replaced the box (now missing one uniform), then throwing around Reiko's former bed so that the blankets covered the crates once more. However, what caught both my and Reiko's attention was the group of grunts crowded around a radio box; when I listened in, some truly shocking news was caught by both Reiko and me.

"... I repeat, Dewford base has been infiltrated and destroyed. Rustboro base will have increased security measures because of this break-in. All members of Team Rocket will be required to show their ID as a result, along with only the pokémon they have registered in the database; all unregistered pokémon must be caged immediately to avoid further implications in the future. I, Kujaku, along with the test subject, will meet you all at the port north of Rustboro City to check your identification and pokémon. Kujaku out."

"It looks like there are a few pokémon who don't like us out there," Reiko murmured that under her breath before she turned to me once more; she was probably thinking the same thing that I was. ID could only mean trouble, meaning there was only one alternate route of sneaking her out...

"Let's go," We nodded to each other before slipping (hopefully unnoticed) into the storage room again. Then, I saw an empty crate in the corner before looking at Reiko. She stared at me before whipping off the hat and throwing it at me, "H-hey! You know we have to!"

"Doesn't mean I have to like it! And you're the only one around I can take it out on without getting busted," I sighed while she glared at me, right before she gingerly climbed into the wooden box. I sighed before tossing an apple I had in my pocket in there with her, the pink-haired woman taking it gratefully before looking up at me, "What, nothing else?"

"Everything else would get really soggy in there with you if you waited. I'll take you out for dinner when this is all over if we get you out alive, all right?" I sighed, that was probably going to burn a hole in my wallet. I saw that the crate had a 'this side up' marking on it, and after making sure that it was where Reiko's head was I finally closed the crate. I just wanted this damn boat ride to end already...

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Reiko's POV

I hated this already. I was stuck in a damned uncomfortable wooden box while wearing the black uniform. Now I kind of wished that I had kept that hat though, it would have made a good pillow. Thoughts like that were consuming me as I chewed on the piece of apple in my mouth; Kazu had been kind enough to make a few air holes to make sure I could breathe comfortably for the time left, but I still couldn't stand the smell of the now rotting apple core. It was getting really stuffy in there...

I think that at some point I actually fell asleep. However, I jolted awake when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs; they were going to start moving stuff now. And, as luck would have it, my crate was taken first. I couldn't hear what the people carrying me were talking about, but my stomach lurched when I saw the end of a crow bar coming into the top of the box; crap, they were going to open it. That meant I would have to make a run for it. Which would be hard to do, considering how many grunts there were... but, I'd manage somehow, wouldn't I?

The moment the top came off I jumped out of the crate, punching both of the grunts that had opened it. And then, there was only one thing left to do; run like hell.

I almost made it out of the docking area too, but unfortunately there was something that came into my face that stopped me in my tracks; this little kid in the female grunt's uniform stepped in front of me and cocked a gun that was aimed at my head, "Oh... shit."

Two other grunts grabbed me and started to march me back towards the woman checking everyone's ID while the kid followed us. She was probably still pointing the gun at my head, but that wasn't what was scary about her; what was frightening was that she had this blank look in her eyes, as if her head was empty of all thought...

"Ah... good work, kid. You've apprehended the fugitive," I stuck my tongue out at the woman while she smirked at me, but then I saw Kazu's widened eyes; unfortunately, the woman seemed to catch that with a smirk, "Don't move, Kazu. I know you're behind it as well. We only have proof of Reiko's involvement but I'm sure we can dig up something on you..."

I saw Kazu wincing before I saw the kid step forward, this time aiming the gun at Kazu; there was a metal thing on her head, something that made my stomach flip. Was this... they were testing things on a little kid? She was hardly older than the little girl used for the second clone!

"How do you like her, Kazu? She is the current test subject; what you're needed to do is monitor her brain to make sure no resistance shows. You see... this device isn't one hundred percent efficient."

I blinked while the woman (I guessed that she was Kujaku by then, since she said she was checking all of the IDs on the radio) beckoned for the kid to come forward. Then, she indicated the arm that was still holding the gun pointed towards Kazu's head; it was trembling, something that made me feel even more sickened as Kujaku spoke again, "She's showing resistance, Kazu. We need you to fix that."

"You honestly expect me to do this to a human girl? She's just a kid!"

Finally, Kazu was showing some backbone. I smiled weakly to him but ended up glaring at Kujaku again as she laughed coldly; just what the hell was that bitch thinking? "Look, it's either this kid's life... or your dear friend Reiko's."

I could feel my eyes widening as the gun was pointed at me again, the two other grunts on either side of me still holding me so that, no matter how I struggled, I couldn't run or even hope to dodge the bullet if she shot at me. I could see Kazu thinking this over, his eyes going down... he wasn't seriously going to keep experimenting on this kid, was he?

"Kazu you idiot! Don't you listen to them! They were going to kill me anyway! Don't let them take over that kid's mind!" Frantically I started shouting at him, there was just no way! All of that work freeing the second clone was because we believed Team Rocket was going too far, but Kazu was seriously thinking this over? "Forget about me, get that kid out of here!"

"... Let her go."

"What's that, Kazu?" Kujaku was smirking at the defeated form of my friend... "I can't hear you."

"Let her go. If I agree to help you, you have to stop chasing after Reiko and leave her be," I couldn't help but stare at Kazu as he lifted his head again; he was making probably one of the toughest choices of his life, between two lives... Why did the idiot choose me over that poor kid? Team Rocket already robbed me of my childhood, he was seriously going to let them do that to someone else?

Kujaku laughed before nodding to the kid, said kid then lowering her arm and dropping the gun before Kujaku spoke to Kazu again, "Fine. But, we're not letting Reiko go until you finish perfecting that device... just to avoid any sabotage or anything else like that. You two, make sure she's locked away so that we can keep a proper eye on her."

"NO! Kazu you bastard, I'll kill you! I swear to god I'll kill you!" There were no words to describe exactly how pissed off I was; I could hear Kujaku's cruel laughter echoing in my ears as I was taken into the cave-base before being thrown into a cell, said cell being locked immediately as I got to my feet and tried to claw at the two guards; they merely stared at me before walking away, and after furiously trying to rip away the metal bars I fell to my knees. Tears were welling up in my eyes as I just screamed furiously... How could he have betrayed our cause like that? Just when I was starting to think that he was an all right guy...

Why Kazu...? Why...

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End chapter! All right, we've got insight into these two characters. Just so you know, this is one day after the crap that's happened on Dewford Island. Translation, it's going to be a short time before these two see any sign of any of the pokémon. Thank you for reading, Hoenn Chronicles has finally reached 50 Reviews! I love your support and I hope to see more input from you guys in the future! Until then, farewell!