They whirled around. A band of Rockets, maybe thirty Grunts or so, stepped out of the forest behind them, leering. "Well, what do you know?" a Rocket Grunt, who seemed to be the leader of the group, smirked. "You kids know a Legendary."

The teens exchanged glances as he continued. "Well, this is pretty convent. You see, me and my gang have been ordered to find Legendaries. So..." He stepped toward them menacingly. "What do you know?" The rest of the Grunts followed suit.

Yamato shouldered to the front. "We're not telling you guys anything!" he growled.

The Rocket raised an eyebrow. "Ah, it's Bird Boy. Figures you'd be here. Found another way to get under our skin, huh?" He sighed. "The Boss is getting majorly ticked off at you, and you REALLY don't want that."

"I could care less."

"Really now?" Yamato's glare was enough of an answer. The Rocket pursed his lips. "Fine then. It's about time I taught you a lesson." He grabbed a Pokeball from his belt. "Go, Crobat!" There was a red flash of light and the winged Pokemon appeared in front of them, an evil looking glint in its eyes.

As the Rockets grabbed for their Pokeballs, Yamato glanced over his shoulder. The rest of the teens already had theirs out and, with another flash of red, the battle had begun.

Yamato let out his Garchomp, who roared at the Grunts before him. The enemy Crobat swooped at them, its fangs preparing for a Poison Fang attack. "Garchomp! Use Flamethrower!" Yamato commanded. Garchomp quickly fired flames at the Crobat, who tried to dodge, but was hit directly on the wing.

The Crobat spiraled downward. "No!" the Rocket cried. "Crobat, return!" The Pokemon disappeared back into its Pokeball, and the Grunt turned back to Yamato. "I'm not finished with you yet!" he snarled. He held up another Pokeball. "C'mon out, Primeape!"

The giant monkey-like Pokemon looked angry. It stamped the ground, ready to fight. "Garchomp, let's finish this Rocket off. Dragon Pulse!"

Garchomp's mouth glowed purple, gathering energy. Primeape didn't wait for the attack and dodge like Pokemon usually do. "Primeape, Ice Punch!" The Primeape lunged forward, its fist glowing white. Garchomp let loose the powerful Dragon Pulse, but the charging Pokemon blocked it with its fist and continued on. The Rocket laughed. "We grunts have been doing a LOT more training, you know," he smirked, then yelled, "Primeape! Another Ice Punch!"

The fighting type's fist began to glow again, but the attack was quickly interrupted. "Gardevoir, use Psychic to throw Slaking!" Yamato barely had time to look up before a giant Slaking fell... right on top of the Primeape.

The Primeape's eyes glowed red. It quickly redirected its attack, sending a sharp blow to the Slaking's jaw. The Slaking growled and rushed at the Primeape. The Rockets ran toward the fighting Pokemon. "No!" the Slaking's trainer wailed. "That's not supposed to happen!"

Yazaki glanced at them. "That's one way to do it," he remarked before moving to help Iris and her Umbreon, Romeo, take on a couple more grunts.

Yamato gazed around the clearing. Most of the Grunts had run off, but a few of them lingered, scattered around the area. Rein's Mightyena, Fennir, was up against an Arbok, which was trying to dodge a flurry of Shadow Ball being shot at it. Jay's Gyarados had a Nidoking up against a tree, drenching it with a Waterfall. Tyson's Arcanine and Vii's Staraptor, Etoile, were launching Extreme Speeds and Quick Attacks at a Kingler and two Azumarill, who were trying and sadly failing to defend off the attacks.

Yamato barely had time to blink before the Grunts started running for the hills. The Leader turned around and snarled, "You've made a huge mistake here, kiddies." He paused, glaring at them, before adding, "Legendary or not, we'll be coming for you." And with that, he turned and ran after the rest of his gang.

Yamato glanced around at the teens scattered around the clearing. "Everyone ok?" he asked.

The group slowly shook their heads. "Hey, Yamato," Cori spoke up. "How did they know you?"

Yamato looked away. "Ah, let's just say we don't agree on a lot of things," he said.

Jay smirked. "I think we can all say that."

"Yeah," Dallen spoke up. "I wish those guys would just mind their own business!"

Tyson pumped his fist in the air. "It's high time someone taught them a lesson!"

"Well, duh," Sazaki rolled his eyes. "What do you expect? We merge with Legendaries who tell us to take down Team Rocket... And you didn't get the message... how?"

Tyson gave him an angry glare and was about to say something, but was interupted. "Dude, give him a break," Adrian returned. "This hasn't been the most normal day for any of us."

Leaning on a nearby tree, Sazaki just rolled his eyes and didn't offer a comment. Adrian sighed, turning to the rest of the group. "So what do we do now?" he asked.

Yamato stood up. "Well, one thing's for sure. We can't stay here much longer. Those guys'll come back with reinforcements and we really don't want to be here when that happens."

Junpei nodded his head. "That would appear to be the case," he replied. "But how will we leave? The Grunts will know us." He gestured around. "We are a rather large group. Do you think that we would be able to get out unnoticed?"

Yamato paused, thinking. "Yeah, you're right. We can't stay together; that would just be suicidal."

"So we have to split up." Everyone turned to look at Jeremy. He shrugged. "It's not that hard to figure."

Iris pursed her lips. "How? I mean, won't they still recognize us?" she questioned.

Jeremy spoke up again. "Maybe, but it'll be a whole lot less likely." He hesitated before adding, "Well... Our chances of escape would be a lot higher if Yamato took off his armor-"

"What?! C'mon, I can't do that!" Yamato cried, his hand rising to his helmet.

Jeremy shrugged. "You could put it my backpack," he suggested, pointing at a yellow backpack laying a the base of a nearby tree.

Yamato looked at it. "Do you seriously think that all of my armor is going to fit in that?"

Jeremy glanced at him. "Well, yeah." He grinned slyly. "It can hold more than you think."

Yamato crossed his arms. "I'm not-"

Kai interrupted him. "Just do it already! We're wasting time arguing."

"...Fine." Yamato reluctantly shed his armor and handed it over to Jeremy.

Jeremy folded it up carefully and brought it over to his backpack, placing it all inside. Miraculously, the armor seemed to fit inside with room to spare. He turned to them, smirking. "Told you it would fit."

Rein gave a half smile before she became serious. "Yeah, well, anyway... We should hurry."

The others nodded. Meg frowned. "But... Who's going to go with who? And where the heck are we going, anyway?"

Valerie stepped forward. "Well, shouldn't we go after Team Rocket? I mean, isn't that what we have to do?"

"Yeah," Vii answered, "but the thing is, we don't have a clue where their base, or bases, is."

"Then we've got to find them." Everyone's eyes turned to Gabi. She glanced at the ground, not meeting their eyes, before continuing. "I mean, we've been chosen by Legends. We're up for it."

Yamato nodded. "Right." Glancing around at the group, he added, "We can split in groups of four. That'll make things even."

Gabi stepped forward. "I want to go with Dallen and Cori."

Dallen shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Cori nodded. "I'm ok with that."

Sazaki spoke up. "I want to go with Iris."

Iris looked at him strangely. "Why me?"

"You're probably one of the easiest in the group to put up with."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a complement."

"I would like to go with Vii," Junpei announced. "We both have abilities that have to do with the water, so I believe it would be helpful to travel together so we may help each other learn."

"Sounds good enough," Vii agreed.

Rein crossed her arms. "I'm going with Valerie."

Valerie nodded in agreement.

"Jeremy and I will go with them," Kai stated.

"Fine with me," Jeremy said. Rein and Valerie shrugged indifferently.

"Can I go with Tyson and Adrian?" Meg asked.

They nodded. "We don't care," Adrian said. Glancing over his shoulder, he added, "We should hurry. I can hear some pretty weird noises."

"Ok, I guess I'll go with the first group. Jay can go with Meg, Adrian, and Tyson. Vii, Junpei, Iris, and Sazaki will be a group. Sounds good?" Yamato hurriedly decided.

No one objected to the plan, so he continued on. "We need to search places Team Rocket seems to be most interested in. Gabi, Dallen, Cori, and I'll head over by Saffron. Team Rocket's been up to something at the Silph Company." He turned to Vii's group. "You guys should go and check Vermilion. I've heard some people say the grunts there are acting strangely around the ports and have been seen carting around suspicious cargo." Turning to the next group of Jeremy, Kai, Valerie, and Rein, he added, "The Game Corner has been rumored to have been opened back up as a secret base. It's worth checking out. Tyson, Adrian, Meg, and Jay; Cerulean City has suddenly upped its number of grunts stationed there. I think it's because of the powerful Pokemon in Cerulean Cave, but it's still a good place to head over and check out."

Sazaki held up a hand. "I have a question- no, wait, make that two."

Yamato crossed his arms. "Yes?"

"Who made you leader? And how the heck do you know this stuff?"

The noises were getting closer. Rein cut in. "We don't have time to argue! We have a good plan, let's stick to it!"

Tyson put in, "Uh, guys? I think we need to go, like, now."

Yamato nodded. "Ok, let's keep in touch by PokeNav, and if that doesn't work, send a Pidgey or something. We'll talk once we all get where we're going."

"Sounds good."

As each group dashed off in separate directions, a lone phrase sounded through the forest.

"Good luck, be safe, don't die."

Alright, sorry about the long wait. I haven't been able to write as much with school and sports and all that. Can't wait to finish the next chapter :) I have a feeling it's going to be very interesting ;)

~~~~~~~~Ins4ne Gam3r~~~~~~~~