My name is Kana Ellis, and I am the infamous Rayquaza Rider.

It's a really long and complicated story explaining how I got to where I am today, and I won't go into it here. However, I will say that I've been up to my old antics lately. For the past couple of years, things haven't gotten much better. I hardly sleep at night anymore. Team Ozone is so active nowadays that I have somewhere to be almost every other night. I have to show up and stop them dead in their tracks—else the telecasters on TV won't have anything juicy to discuss on the morning news the next day. I'll appear on the scene of the crime, toss out some tough pokemon, have Rayquaza shoot up an impressive column of fire, and they'll all be heading for the hills. I do what I have to do. If that means killing off some of the Team Ozone members, then that's what it means. I didn't choose for it to be this way on that fateful day when I captured that Rayquaza—I was naïve then. Now, things are different. I don't really care what people think; as a matter of fact they all are convinced that I'm some twenty-five-year-old guy who sits in front of the TV and doesn't ever get out because all his pokemon are already level 100 anyway. That's far from who I really am, though.

Today is just like any other day—I'm sitting in front of my computer at home, taking a rest from my training earlier this morning. Alakazam is sitting on the beanbag chair next to me, Espeon is curled up on my bed, and Blaziken is eating an Oran berry sandwich on the other side of the room. In the afternoons, I will usually spend my time getting on Team Ozone's top-secret website, which I had easily managed to find on the Internet, and I hack into their email communications so that I can figure when and where their next attack will be. That's how I usually keep up with them—I can't believe that nobody has figured out yet how I manage to track Ozone's activity. It's pretty simple, really; if you have a really talented Alakazam.

I sigh, glancing over at the west wall of my bedroom where all my plaques are hanging. They are all different, and inscribed upon each of them is a congratulatory note commemorating my induction into the Pokemon Hall of Fame. One of them is from the Indigo Plateau, between the Kanto and Johto regions. One is from Sinnoh. One of them is from right here in Hoenn, my home region. The last one is from the faraway region of Unova. My eyes linger on that one for just a little while longer; I can't help but wonder if I will ever get the chance to go back to Unova. There are still pokemon for me to meet and capture there that I can't find anywhere else. But Unova is so far away….either way, I have really fond memories of my adventures there, and I do have some Unovian pokemon…

A little bored, I click over to where I've saved the Ozone website to my bookmarks in my web browser, and once I arrive at the login page, I say, "Okay, Alakazam. Let's have the password."

Their password changes automatically every twenty-four hours. Only the top Ozone officials have access to the password changes—the accounts are all very secure. But I've specially trained my Alakazam. He knows well what he's doing, and as of yet, he hasn't failed me yet.

He gets up and bends over the keyboard, gently pressing the keys with his little fingers until he's typed in a random combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, special symbols, and spaces. Then he pushes the "Enter" key.

"Thanks, buddy," I say as the title screen comes up and I see that there is new email correspondence to read.

I click over to the inboxes of the account owner and the Team Ozone leader—I still don't know what his name is, by the way. I've been trying to figure it out for ages, but even in private email correspondence, officials never actually write the team leader's name. I also can't seem to figure out where he is located. As frustrating as this is, for now I guess all I can do is what I do best, and that is intercept Team Ozone wherever they decide to strike. And speaking of striking, I see that the owner of the account I had accessed is planning to infiltrate Mauville City later tonight, since he heard that they kept a stash of Master Balls in one of the labs there.

I can't help but inhale sharply as I read the messages. That's where my dad works!

Quickly, I skim back through them again. I can't believe they are attacking so close to home. What next? Will they be banging on our front door, demanding to see all of our pokemon as well? I can't let that happen. I am the one who has the shiny Rayquaza—it's me they're after. If they figure out that I am the Rayquaza Rider…there is no telling what they'll do to me and my family.

I turn to the pokemon, and say, "This is a little too close for comfort, you guys…"

Espeon cocks his head to the side, lowering his ears. Blaziken pinches off another small piece of sandwich and pushes it back into his beak, giving me a worried look.

I sigh. "We're busy tonight too, it looks like."

I get up and walk over to my bedside table and pull out the little drawer on it. Inside, there's a random scattering of pokeballs.

"Espeon, will you and Blaziken go with me tonight?" I ask as I grab Glalie's pokeball, along with Swampert's and Steelix's.

Espeon and Blaziken smile and nod at me. They're always eager to accompany me on one of my wild adventures. I reach into my jacket pocket and carefully run my fingers over the Master Ball that I keep there. Rayquaza is probably getting hungry by now. It's almost his dinner time. Glancing over my shoulder to make sure my bedroom door is locked, I release him into my room and wave my arms at him, signaling that he should be quiet.

His long body takes up about half of my bedroom, but he usually curls up beside the bed comfortably when he eats his meals.

"Hang on, buddy," I tell him, smiling. "Mom made steak tonight. I'll go down to the kitchen and get you some. You're going to need all the energy you can get for later this evening."

I feel a slight twinge, right on the side of my cheek. At first, I don't move a muscle, because I'm not sure what it is and I'm still half dreaming, anyway. But the second time I feel it, I realize that it's Blaziken's talon, poking me awake. I throw the covers back and shoot a quick glance at the bright red numbers on the digital clock next to me. 2:08 A.M. The timing is perfect.

My feet hit the floor without making a single sound. This is just part of my routine now. I reach over, grab two empty pokeballs, and call Blaziken and Espeon into them. I race over to my closet and throw open the doors, diving to the bottom of the piles of clothes were I kept my armor hidden. It had been the finest set of dragon-riding armor I'd been able to find for sale that day at the Dragon's Lair in Johto—I don't even care to think about how much money I spent on it. But I don't care. It's well worth it if it's going to protect me out there. I dress hastily, throwing a dark jacket over my layer of upper body armor and setting some pokeballs in my belt. I pull on my metal-plated boots and snatch Rayquaza's ball off my desk. I pin my scarlet hair up in a large clip to keep it from flying out of my helmet. I affix my headset and microphone on my head, then throw my helmet on over that. After adjusting my visor, yanking my gloves on, and checking to make sure I had a good stock of items in my backpack, I decide I'm ready to go.

I really should make better preparations before I go to bed…one of these days in my haste, I'm going to forget to check something before I leave…

After carefully scanning the tree line outside my window, I slowly push it open and let Rayquaza out. He appears as he always does, with his head angled in toward the windowsill so I can climb onto his back safely. I shoot a glance back into the house, making sure my bedroom door is closed, and then I reach for Rayquaza's jet-black horns and pull myself up onto his back. He doesn't move—he knows to wait for my signal. Once I've got a good grip on his horns, I give him a tap in the side of his neck with my right foot, letting him know he's clear for takeoff. Silently, he veers sharply away from the house and soars upward into the starlit sky.

To get to the site of the attack, we don't have to fly far tonight. There is a part of my heart that sinks, knowing that the flight will be quick. I love nothing more than to fly on Rayquaza; but it's something that I can't do whenever I like, for obvious reasons. I lean into the wind, and I close my eyes for a moment and pretend that I'm flying on my own wings. I can't feel anything other than the wind rushing past my ears and the slight chill of night air around me.

But then, I realize I've got to snap back to reality. I open my eyes and I see Mauville coming into view below. I nudge Rayquaza, signaling to him to head toward the city. We begin a very gradual descent, and as we get closer to town I begin to carefully scan the streets for any unusual activity. There is no telling if Team Ozone is already here or not—I'm just going to have to trust that I have beaten them here. I am pretty sure that they aren't supposed to attack until around 3:00, but…if they have changed their plans…as they are sometimes known to do…

Silently, we ease into town. I lower Rayquaza into one of the streets and glance around cautiously, wondering if anyone is hiding out nearby, waiting to ambush me. Just as I begin to think that I truly have arrived first, I suddenly hear shouting from almost immediately behind me.

"Oh, no! IT'S HIM!"

I whirl Rayquaza around, hardly noticing the three Team Ozone members below who are staring up at me in awe and terror. Without thinking twice about it, I give Rayquaza the signal to randomly select one of them to devour. I cling to his horns as he hastily dives for the man who had cried out in the first place; I close my eyes as I feel my pokemon's jaws snap just mere feet beneath me. Then, I give him a swift kick with my right foot, signaling him again, and he knows what to do. I hold on tight as he throws his head back and sends a blazing column of fire skyward, the crimson blood still glittering on his fangs.

Well, we've made our entrance. Now comes the storm.

I hear another shout below, this time a woman's voice, crying out, "Quick! Run! It's the Rider!" as I urge Rayquaza back toward the ground, trying to figure where the rest of Team Ozone is gathered. I end up following the sound of her voice. It had come from the other side of the building I had landed beside, so I quickly flew in that direction. Sure enough, on my way around the building Ozone members come into view. They're panicking now—I can see it on each and every face. I give Rayquaza's left horn a good squeeze, and he launches a powerful Waterfall attack down the entire street, sweeping a lot of the people away. Some avoid the current, however, and begin making a quick escape down a narrow side street. Hastily, I swerve after them. The man who is leading the escaping group skids to a halt suddenly upon seeing Rayquaza's shadow, and he suddenly hurls out one of his pokemon. It's a very high-leveled Cacturne.

I snatch Glalie's pokeball up and throw it, praying that I had remembered to turn on my headset.

"Glalie?" I ask as she appears on the battlefield. "Can you hear me?"

She glances up at me and nods once, her entire body shaking and her blue eyes filled with determination.

I breathe a sigh of relief, shaking my head and wishing that I could just yell out commands to my pokemon without need of a headset. But if I did that, then Team Ozone would get to hear my voice…

Readjusting my grip on Rayquaza's horns, I say quietly, "Okay, Glalie. You can handle this Cacturne."

I had been about to go on, but right at that moment another pokemon appears, and another. A Houndoom takes the field, followed by a Tentacruel, each commanded by the other Team Ozone members nearby. I inhale sharply, exasperated.

"We've got to work fast," I say. "Quickly, Ice Beam on the Cacturne!"

Without hesitation, the freezing ray erupts from Glalie's throat. However, the Cacturne is already in the air, spiraling toward her packing a Needle Arm move powerful enough to shatter bricks and concrete. Our Ice Beam barely grazes Cacturne's side, but it's enough to bring him crashing down. His Needle Arm lands inches from Glalie's right horn.

"Spin out of the way, now!" I cry out, seeing that Houndoom's trainer is trying to take us by surprise from behind.

Conveniently, Glalie is pretty fast. She dodges the Flamethrower that Houndoom had fired a half a second before, and instead of colliding with its intended target it ends up frying Cacturne, who is still lying on the ground. But Glalie isn't quick enough to dodge Tentacruel's Poison Jab. It strikes her multiple times in the face, as she spun to the left of the field and practically landed right in the middle of the enemy's line of fire.

I cross my fingers. Is she poisoned?

No.

Thank Arceus.

"Glalie, get up," I say, watching her hover on the spot a little and shake off the sudden harshness of Tentacruel's attack. "Now, Crunch. On that Tentacruel."

Immediately Glalie sinks her teeth into the jellyfish, but Houndoom hauls her off of its teammate quickly. She doesn't have time to do much damage. At least Cacturne has fainted and his trainer has fled the scene—that's one less thing I have to worry about.

I can tell by this time that Glalie is getting tired, and there's not too much more of this that she can take. She's outnumbered, but I know she has really good aim, especially when she's injured and her health is at a critical level. So I decide the best thing for her to do would be to attempt her ultimate move and just get rid of these guys. I don't have time to waste here. I have other Ozone members to send home tonight as well, you know.

"Glalie," I say softly, "Let them have it. We've got to wrap this up, already."

I quickly grab Rayquaza's Master Ball and call him into it, falling the short distance to the ground and landing softly on my feet. I don't want him to be out to experience the extreme ice attack that's about to take place. Icy shards surround me; I look up just in time to see a flurry of them fly at the defending pokemon, surrounding them, encasing them in blocks of ice. I smile to myself. Glalie always performed so beautifully—it's two one-hit knockouts for us.

"Nice Sheer Cold," I say, congratulating her on landing the hit. "Now, take a rest."

I call her back to her pokeball and promptly send Rayquaza back out. The two Ozone members are astounded; they can't believe their precious pokemon could have been taken down so easily.

As a matter of fact, it's not that easy. No one could have pulled that off without having put in years upon years of rigorous training time.

As I turn to head toward one of the pokemon research labs, I hear one of the guys below call after me, but I don't have the time to waste listening. They'll leave. They don't really have another choice—they've lost against me in battle, so it's either leave, or stay here and die. It doesn't really matter, because I doubt they know anything worth killing them for, anyway. For now, I've got to get to the labs. I'm not sure if that first match held me up long enough for Ozone to have the time to escape with any of those Master Balls, but either way, I've got to find out.

Without further ado, I signal to Rayquaza to blast one of the walls in as soon as we get to the first laboratory. We crash through the wall, and I am a little surprised to find Team Ozone members everywhere.

How did they get in so easily? And there are so many of them!

"Shiny Rayquaza!" I hear one of them shout. "Quick, run or fight!"

Some flee immediately. A few others send out pokemon, but I notice that all of them are at least one part flying-type; I suppose that's because they want to be able to fly up to where I am and take me out. But I can't help but smirk. Haven't they forgotten that I taught my Rayquaza Thunderbolt?

Sure enough, they all mount their pokemon and try to fly up to meet me, like fools. There are about five of them total, but I decide that a well-placed Thunderbolt should be able to handle all of them. I nudge Rayquaza, and he gets the signal. The lightning flies from his throat, lighting up the entire room. A couple of the birds crash immediately. A third spirals out of control as his rider dares to leap to the ground for safety. I hear him scream as he lands awkwardly below—he's obviously hurt from the fall, but I don't have time to stop. Two more birds are heading straight for me. One is a sturdy-looking Pidgeot, and the other is an exceptionally fast Skarmory.

I dart back outside, planning to Thunderbolt the Pidgeot first. That Skarmory is going to be hard to hit—I can already tell. But just as I am setting up the attack, suddenly both of them turn and flee, the expressions that passed across their riders' faces incredibly hard to read. A bit confused, I glance around, hoping that there isn't something behind me about to take me by surprise. At first, I see nothing. But then, the entire sky lights up, and my eyes stretch wide as another bird appears, this one all ablaze with the power of the sun itself. Even more shocking, it has a rider. I realize immediately that this individual, whoever it is, is a real force to be reckoned with; most likely a top official of Team Ozone. It's not every day that you happen to see a random Ozone member who commands a Moltres.

I grip Rayquaza's horns, preparing for aerial combat. The Moltres rockets toward me, wings blazing and huge talons outstretched. I signal him to launch a Waterfall at the firebird, but he misses terribly. We have no choice but to flee. I know if I try to attack again, we'll certainly be shredded by those talons.

I'm not really sure how long I lead the chase through the streets of Mauville. I happen to notice that some of the residents of the town have woken up and turned their lights on in their homes, and I'm pleased to see that none of them dare come outside. The last thing I need to worry about is innocent people to protect, as well as pokemon to fight. I dodge a few incredibly well-aimed blasts of fire, thankful for my total awareness skills hinting me at when Moltres was firing an attack. I've never had to flee from a Team Ozone member before, and through my sudden fear I find myself wondering exactly who this rider was. I glance over my shoulder, and I realize that I can't get a good look at him. He's wearing some kind of hood over his face.

It doesn't matter. Whoever it is, he obviously isn't afraid of me, and he's letting me know it.

Suddenly, on the edge of town, Rayquaza is hit. I feel him veer toward the ground below, spiraling out of control as he screams in pain. I look ahead, frantically searching for a safe place to land, and I happen to see that we are right on the edge of Route 118, and there is a body of water ahead. I signal to him that he should try to crash there, if he can help it. Not only will it help his burns feel better but it will also be impossible for the firebird behind us to follow.

We head for the water, and I brace myself, gripping his horns hard. The impact will be icy and wet.

I hold my breath as we hit the water, a little surprised that it's not quite as shocking as I had expected. I suppose it must be my armor providing some protection from it. Thankful for my visor, I open my eyes underwater and fumble for Rayquaza's Master Ball. Hastily I call him back into it and send out Swampert. After successfully grabbing onto his back, we resurface, and a grin spreads across my face. I can't wait to see the Moltres rider. He won't know what to do with himself now!

But I look around, and I don't see him anywhere.

I pause for a moment. Where has he gone? Has he given up the chase, realizing that diving into a body of water with a fire-type pokemon would be suicide? Swampert fidgets, and starts paddling uneasily beneath me, his radar fins turning this way and that on his head. At first I think he's just nervous, but then I realize that he's being slowly pulled to the left by a swift current.

I look behind me, and to my horror, I realize that right under my nose a colossal maelstrom has formed in the water, so huge that it stretches almost all the way across the little inlet.

"Swampert, fight it!" I cry, knowing that if he tries, he can escape the brutal tugging of the currents.

Swampert struggles violently, and even so, we are almost pulled to the center of the swirling vortex before we manage to Dive out of its reach. Protected from the water by the power of my pokemon's Dive, I inhale sharply. Just barely visible at the heart of the whirlpool is the Moltres rider, only now, he is astride the most mighty Kingdra that I believe I've ever seen—there's no doubt, it's got to be no less than level 100. I signal to Swampert that he should shoot a torrent of mud into the whirlpool; that might be enough to interrupt it. His Mud Shot fires slowly due to the water, but it eventually catches in the whirlpool and forces it to collapse. However, Kingdra and rider are not finished yet. They explode out of the swirling mud and water at me, catching me off guard and attacking my Swampert head-on with a furious headbutt. The impact knocks the breath out of me, and throws me out of the water and up onto the bank outside. I land awkwardly, shivering from the sudden cold. Swampert struggles to his feet, shaking off the shock from the impact, just as Kingdra and its trainer are surging toward us, riding on a giant wave.

"Swampert," I say, "stop that wave! Surf!"

Swampert leaps forward valiantly, sending up a giant wave of his own. The two waves crash in the middle of the inlet, sending pokemon and trainer caught in the middle flying toward the shore. Kingdra lands with a soft splat in the mud that had washed up near the shore. Unscathed by the impact of the landing, it wriggles its way back into the shallow water. The rider crashes on the grass near me—hard. He doesn't move.

I glance back at Mauville City as I approach the mysterious trainer with caution. It seems that Ozone has left; there is no more unusual activity that I can see. I can only hope that they have. But I have to be sure that this particular trainer is dead. I've never in my life had so much trouble battling just one Ozone member—if all Ozone executives are this powerful, I honestly don't even care to think of the terrors that I would be dealing with if I faced the Ozone leader himself. I don't care to face this trainer again, either. Ever. His battle style is unforgiving, and I can even see in his pokemon that they aren't happy with him. I would be doing them a favor by killing this guy—they could all return to the wild and be free to find better trainers who will love them and care for them.

At first, I'm afraid to get too close to the guy. I can't tell if he's breathing or not, though, so I really don't have a choice. I drop to my knees beside him, push the hood out of his face, and I'm a little surprised at what I see.

This guy doesn't seem to be that much older than I am. He's got a head full of scruffy black hair, shoulder-length, with a little bit of natural curl to it. He's pale-complexioned, and judging by the shadows around his eyes it doesn't seem that he's been sleeping well lately.

Suddenly, I realize that his chest is just barely rising and falling, and I leap up immediately once I see that he's still alive. After that, Espeon appears beside me, choosing to leap right out of his pokeball. His expression is urgent. I don't know what he's so upset about, but I don't doubt him. I call Swampert back, and turn my attention to Espeon. He knows something is about to happen—I can tell by looking at the fibers in his fur.

Keeping my voice quiet as I speak into my headset, I say, "Espeon, I trust you. Do what you will."

He spins around without warning, glowing bright pink with his psychic power, and leaps into my arms. I catch him, caught up in his Teleport just as the man on the ground beneath me springs to his feet and tries to grab me.

I collapse on my bed, Espeon in my arms. My entire body is shaking as I pull my helmet off and toss it over the edge of the bed. My hair has fallen down, once again. It does that every single time. Annoyed and exhausted, I carefully pull off my armor and my headset and throw all of it over behind the bed. It can stay there until I wake up; nobody will notice it, and I'll get up first thing tomorrow and return it all to its hiding place. I rub Espeon on the head, quietly thanking him for appearing when he did, and then I collapse in the bed. I'm certain I'll be asleep in no less than three minutes tonight.