A/N: Yeah. Not much to say here. It's just Beach Cave. ...Now with new and improved evil Sneasel and evil Charmeleon!

And YES, they are ACTUALLY GOING TO ATTEMPT TAKING OVER THE WORLD. (Of course!) Unlike Team Meanies and Skull. And of course they have an uber coolio leader! But I won't tell you who he is yet, just that he's freaking awesome. But not as awesome as the guy that shows up in the next chapter! (By the way, this chapter is kind of dull, but the one after is mostly battling. It might be a bit short though)

Thank you to these people for reviewing: Dawnmoon and Dusksun, Karpil
And to Dawnmoon and Dusksun for faving. I appreciate it, guys!

I'm also trying to limit my comma and "..." usage a bit. Tell me how I'm doing please!

See disclaimer in Prologue: The Rise of Dark Dialga. Now let's get on with the show!

Chapter II – Beach Cave

I looked into the cave's gaping, wet mouth wondering if this was such a great idea after all. The rocks forming the entrance created a shadow that loomed over us and blotted out the sun. The stalactites, dripping stale seawater, looked like the fangs of an enormous beast.

"Are you ready?" Kylos glanced over his shoulder to where I was standing at his left.

Swallowing my fear, I said, "Let's go!"

We dashed into the cave, slowing as we looked at our surroundings. The dank cavern was dripping with seawater on the walls and from small stalactites. The sand beneath us was broken frequently by patches of medium to large sized gray rocks, even discarded Corsola branches and Shellder shells on occasion. There was little light from worn openings in the ceiling, creating a dim atmosphere. The ocean's roar echoed in the cave.

A tingle of suspicion crept up my spine. Instinctively, I began to tiptoe cautiously, flicking my gaze from shadow to shadow. Once I thought I saw two red eyes staring at me, but when I looked again, I saw a simple brown rock.

Kylos actually seemed pretty excited about this creepy place. Upon asking him, he replied, "This is a mystery dungeon! See those two paths ahead of us?" I nodded. "They will each lead to different rooms, which will have more passages leading to other rooms. Sometimes there're dead ends though, so you have to be careful."

"So, kinda like a maze?"

"Sort of. But sometimes you can find items to help you explore, or even treasure!"

Suddenly, a brown rock similar to the one I had seen earlier flew at us! I managed to dodge, but Kylos didn't see it coming. The rock shot out three pairs of yellow claws and latched onto his head, hissing and scratching. They weren't rocks, I realized as I saw three more crawling up to us, red eyes aglow. They were Kabuto.

I tried to attack the one on Kylos, but two tackled me. "This is our territory!" screeched one, and unleashed a double Fury Swipes at my weaker underbelly. The last Kabuto went for Kylos.

"Yaaah!" I exclaimed in pain. From beside me, I heard my new friend shout, "Razor Leaf!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw six crescent-shaped leaves slam into the cavern wall, carrying the horseshoe crab-like Pokemon with them.

That's right! I remembered. If I'm a Pokemon… I should be able to use moves! "Mud-slap!" I yelled instinctively, though I had no idea what moves I knew. To my relief, I knew the technique, and flicked an earth-covered tail to knock off one, and muddy paws to smack off the other.

Breathing hard, I watched the four Pokemon scurry off frantically, then turned to Kylos. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, piece of cake," he shrugged.

"But why did they attack us?"

"Beats me. But maybe it has something to do with the flow of time." He continued moving deeper into the cave, and I followed suit.

"The flow of time?"

"Yeah. You see, one day, a Time Gear in this place called Treeshroud Forest was stolen."

Seeing my confused look, he added, "Time Gears are mystical blue-green gears that are located in hidden places. There are five of them in all." We paused to decide which way to go when we encountered a triple fork in the path, then he continued, "But everyone knows that if a Time Gear is taken, time in that area will stop."

"Stop?!" I gasped. "So, everything is in suspended animation or something?"

"Yep."

"What if a Pokemon was in that area when time stopped? Would they…"

"Yes, they'd be trapped in time while the world changed with the time around them. And they'd be there for all eternity."

I mulled it over for a minute while we marched forth. "You're right. And it's not like anyone or anything could save them, since they'd be frozen too."

Kylos opened his mouth to reply, when we saw a blockade of about five pink and white Corsola standing in our path. "Um… excuse me? Could we get past, please?" he asked.

"None shall pass!"

"But-"

"None shall pass!"

"All right. In that case, we'll have to take you down!"

Um… I think that's a bit too bold…

But before we could do anything, one Corsola said, "Bubble!" and soon all five filled the air with shiny spheres.

I blinked incredulously. This was their attack? Looking at Kylos, I could tell he had the same idea, when all of a sudden, they gleamed and turned a bright shade of blue.

"Don't let down your guard!" I warned the Turtwig. Then the bubbles came shooting toward us at high speed, and I found out the hard way why they had bothered to use this attack. It was as if we were being pelted with exploding rocks!

"Ouch!" cried Kylos, but the bubbles just kept coming, knocking us back into a wall like we had just done to the Kabuto. There was no way to reach the Corsola from this distance… or was there? My eyes widened. I had an idea.

As one bubble hurtled toward me, I leapt up and bounced on it, then the next and the next until I got to the pesky coral Pokemon.

"Water Gun!" I shouted, and blasted them with a jet stream of water. The bubbles ceased immediately, and Kyloquercha joined in from afar with another Razor Leaf to send them scrambling.

I was about to keep going when Kylos said from behind me, "Look!" I turned around and saw a medium-sized seed on the dank floor.

"What is it?"

"Hmm… from the looks of it, this seems like a Blast Seed. That might help if we have to fight more Pokemon."

"How do you use it?"

"If you throw it at your opponents, it'll explode!"

"But there's one problem. Where are we going to keep it?" I said, looking around.

"Oh. Um… I don't know; I guess one of us should carry it?"

"…Hey, Kylos?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we have company."

While sweeping my gaze around the dark cave, searching for somewhere to place the Seed or something to carry it in, I saw two Shellder. And they didn't look friendly. Oddly enough, though, the larger one was garbed with a white scarf spotted with gray.

"Let's do it!" Kylos cried. "Tackle!" Instantly the smaller Shellder was knocked out.

My target wasn't so easily defeated. I attempted to use Mud-slap, but the other Pokemon easily withdrew into its shell and struck back with Lick. I tried using Water Gun only to find myself immobile, save for a few involuntary spasms. Is this Paralysis? I still can't believe I'm a Pokemon…

The shellfish Pokemon began charging up some Special Attack on its tongue, but it never got the chance.

My Turtwig friend smacked the leafy twig on his head into the Shellder so hard that its shell chipped. It didn't need another warning. As it fled, the scarf snagged on a jagged cave wall. The Shellder tugged a few times to free itself, then skedaddled, leaving the cloth behind.

"Shadon! This is so awesome! That's a Defense Scarf!"

"Uh?" I said, but he had already gone darting off to retrieve it. I called after him with a paralyzed mouth, "Uh ha E-e A?" What's a Defense Scarf?

"Oh, right. Sorry, Shadon. Are you okay?"

"Ah i." I'm fine.

Seeing as we had no Cheri Berries, we waited about two minutes, until the paralysis had worn off. Then Kylos sprinted deeper into the cave, where the Defense Scarf was. I followed suit.

"So, what is a Defense Scarf?"

"It's a basic scarf for raising your Defense. Like your physical defense," he said eagerly. "Can I try it on?"

"May I try it on?" I smirked. "Sure."

"Now let's see if it works!" a voice called.

I went rigid and swallowed. "That sounds like-"

Sure enough, Sneasel swooped down, ninja-style, from a tall, dark ledge we hadn't noticed before, and Charmeleon surprised us by seemingly melting out of solid rock. Then I recognized the ability as camouflage – an ability most Charmeleon didn't have. He'd even managed to extinguish the flame on his tail! Of course it flared up now, as he stomped over to his teammate. I shivered.

"Heh heh! So you want your rock back that bad, huh?" Sneasel grinned nastily at me. "What, did you think you could just ask for it back? Nah, we're not like that, kid. See, most Pokemon are going crazy, what with time being screwed up. But we're smarter than that. When times started getting rougher, I turned to crime. I met Charmeleon and some others, and joined forces."

"Others?" Kylos interjected nervously, but she paid him no heed.

"We're better than the others, especially since we met him. We'll be the only ones to survive this crisis, by stealing from those half-wits!" She leaned closer to the two of us. "Now, I'll offer you a deal. We saw how powerful you guys were, taking down all those insane Pokemon. So we got a common goal. Tell ya what. If you join Team ShadowBlaze, we'll not only give your stone back, but all the riches in the world. Well, once we divide it 'mongst ourselves first. Whatta y'say?"

I remained silent on the exterior, but inside, random ideas blared orders and objections. Perhaps I can oblige at the moment, then work undercover? No, that wouldn't work; I'm amongst thieves, for crying out loud! Could I keep her talking while Kylos thinks of a plan? Maybe… but something tells me if I can't figure out what we should do, neither can he.

As it turned out, my skepticism was correct. "You're not better than other Pokemon," the Turtwig growled. "Taking advantage of them like that – you're worse!"

If I wasn't in front of two now-angered Pokemon thieves in a dark, maze-like cave straight from When Rocks and Coral Attack, I would have pivoted on my paws, turned to the nearest wall, and begin banging my head into it multiple times in succession.

"Humph! You're defying the might of Team ShadowBlaze?" Charmeleon scoffed, speaking for the first time since their paths had crossed on the beach. "You're either really brave… or really stupid!" he laughed, displaying three wickedly sharp claws.

Sneasel crossed her own hooked talons in an X. "Don't blame us if you get hurt, kiddos!"

A/N: Uh-oh, they're in trouuu-ble...

Team WaterDawn and Team Darkstar are ready to go! If you want your team to cameo, review!! There's only one more spot left!! Dibs it before anyone else does!

Good morning/day/night to all, and to all a good morning/day/night.