I drag myself down the stairs at about 10:50 or so, still not caught up on sleep from last night. I know if I don't get out of bed soon though, my parents are going to start worrying about me again. I wished I had the money to get my own house already. I've been saving up for it for quite some time, but I'm still quite a few thousand dollars short. If I had my own house, though, it would be so much easier for me to be the Rayquaza Rider. It is stressful, difficult, and tiring attempting to keep up this façade of being a normal trainer in front of my parents when I'm out "saving the world" pretty much every other night.

I manage to plop down at the kitchen table, flip the television on, and pour myself some cereal.

"—the Rayquaza Rider of Hoenn, who thwarted yet another attack last night in the city of Mauville," the newcaster had been saying. "Though we aren't sure what Ozone was after, thanks to the Rider, the sensitive documents and items in the Mauville laboratories were untouched by any Ozone members. However, Mauville gym leader Wattson isn't too pleased about the damage that the battles caused around the city…"

I can't even listen anymore. They're going to do what they always do. They'll praise me—talk about how awesome I am and how much they appreciate me running Team Ozone off. Then, they'll have huge debates about whether I should be considered a good guy or a bad guy. Am I a hero or a murderer? Protector of the people or destroyer of city property? I roll my eyes.

I hate the media.

About that time, I hear someone coming. I get up quickly and put my dishes in the sink. I'm not so sure that I want them to know that I have just rolled out of bed and eaten breakfast.

"Kana?"

That's my mother's voice.

I turn around to find that my mom has entered the kitchen behind me. I smile and reply, "Hi, Mom."

"How long have you been up?" she asks.

I hesitate a little before saying, "About an hour."

She chuckles. "You've been awfully quiet this morning!"

"Been messing around on the computer," I say.

Mom walks across the kitchen and picks up the cereal box and the morning newspaper from the table.

"Before you leave, could you put the Skitty out?" she asks, glancing over at the Skitty that lives in our house, more as a pet than an actively battling pokemon.

I walk over and pick up Skitty, saying, "I'm not going out today."

Mom gives me a surprised look, shrugs, and then turns back to her work. I can't help it. There's no way I can go out training this morning—I'm too busy thinking about the events of last night. The Moltres rider finds his way back into my mind. What kind of trainer is he, anyway? The kind that I wish I had killed while I had the chance. I can't shake the feeling that he and I are going to meet again.

I open the back door and carefully place Skitty on the doorstep. She spins around in a circle, happily chasing her furry pink tail before racing off into the backyard. I watch her for a moment, wondering how nice it would be to be as carefree as she is. Then I turn back into the house and climb the stairs back to my bedroom.

Going back to sleep sounds really good right about now, but I know if I do that, my parents might think I'm sick. That's the last thing I need. I sigh, flopping down in front of the computer and turning it on. I can already tell that today is going to be unproductive. Espeon is still curled up on my pillow, yawning from time to time and blinking his eyes at me, almost as if he feels the same way.

I let out Alakazam and click over to Team Ozone's website again without really thinking about it. It's just a part of my daily routine. Though I'm not sure what I'm going to do after I finish checking the accounts, I figure I might as well give it a look. I can never tell what I might find in these messages. It might be the one thing I need to figure out where Ozone's leader is—and that is the piece of information that I've been searching for this entire time, anyway.

"Okay, Alakazam," I say, getting up from the computer and letting him step over to the keyboard.

He closes his eyes as he marches up to the keyboard, and as he's thinking about what the current password might be, I walk over to my vanity on the other side of the room. My hair clip and my headset are lying right there on top where I'd carelessly tossed them this morning after I'd climbed out of bed. I don't suppose that matters—neither of those items is very conspicuous. However, I'm not sure how many times Mom comes in here and pokes around, so I pull out one of my drawers and place my headset inside, just to get it out of view.

About that time, I hear Alakazam cry out in horror.

I spin around, not sure what the problem can possibly be, but I see that Espeon is standing up as well, his neck craned toward the computer and his eyes stretched wide. Alakazam has jumped back, an expression of shock on his face. I race over hastily, and I see that upon logging into the website, a window has popped up on the screen that I've never seen before.

The text has a bold typeface, and the lettering is done in black and red.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS

You have not received permission to access this website. A security breach has been recorded and notifications have been sent to site administration.

Your IP address and location have been logged.

I can't believe it. It's been two years. Two entire years, and Ozone hasn't taken a precaution like this before. At first, I don't know what to do. Once I close the window, it seems that my computer is crashing. I don't know if it's going to shut down, restart, or just kick me off of the website; but honestly, my computer isn't my biggest concern right now. The thing that worries me the most is the fact that now, they have my location. They will suspect that I am the Rider—what other leads do they have? Surely it would make sense that the Rayquaza Rider would be hacking into their personal email accounts.

Then, that leaves the question:

How long will it take them to get here?

"Alakazam!" I shout, "Quickly, get inside your pokeball!"

He disappears into his pokeball without question. I grab my laptop and throw it into its case faster than I ever had before. I run to my closet, throw open the doors, and snatch up one of my big traveling backpacks. I stuff my armor into it, along with the rest of the things I need to become the Rayquaza Rider, should the need arise. I run across the room and start grabbing up all of my pokeballs from the drawer in my desk, shoving them down into my backpack as quickly as possible. I throw all of these things on my bed, and then I run out the door and downstairs to Mom. I don't know what I'm going to say to her, I only know I've got to tell her something.

She's in the living room with the television on, the volume turned down low as she's reading a magazine.

"M-Mom," I stammer, exasperated. "I…I…"

I struggle to find the words. I don't know how to say that Team Ozone might be headed this way right now.

"Is everything all right?" she asks, seeming a bit worried. "I thought I heard some noise coming from upstairs…"

In this very moment, I realize that the less she knows, the better off she'll be. I try as hard as I can to compose myself. This is for my mother's safety.

I slowly take a deep breath, and say, "Everything's fine. However, I've decided to spend the rest of the day out training. I'll probably be gone long into the night. Could you do me a favor, and go down into the basement and see if you can find that little cooler for me? I've got to pack lunch and dinner."

She gives me a questioning look, as if trying to figure why I had so suddenly decided to do that.

"Well, if you're sure…" she mutters, putting her magazine down and getting up.

"I'm positive," I reply, trying not to sound like I'm rushing her. "There's no telling where it is—you'll have to look for it. Once I finish getting my meals together, I'll come help you."

I don't stop to make sure she's safely in the basement before I take off back upstairs, running as fast as I can. Dad will be home any minute. What will I do about him? I don't have time to think about things like that. I snatch my jacket off of my bed, grab my computer and my backpack, and just as I'm getting ready to run out into the hallway I hear a pounding coming from the front door of the house.

They're here.

Damn!

Throwing everything down again, I spin back into my room, calling out, "Crobat! Flygon!"

Immediately the two pokemon appear. They aren't sure what's going on, but I can tell that they sense my urgency. I throw open my bedroom window.

"Quickly, both of you," I say, pointing out the window. "There are some Team Ozone representatives here. I don't care what you do—just make them leave!"

Both of them shoot out the window and head toward the front of the house. For a moment, I just stand there at the window. I can't let Team Ozone see me—I can't have them suspecting that I am the Rayquaza Rider, mainly because I'm not the only one that would be at risk. There's no telling what would happen to my family, my friends, other people around me; if they thought that it might be me.

Suddenly, Flygon and Crobat reappear, not a scratch on them anywhere. They nonchalantly glide into my room, giving me funny looks.

Before I can even question them, I hear the door open downstairs. I race out into the hallway, motioning for my pokemon to follow me. I skid to a halt at the top of the stairs, and I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief when I see that it's my father, home from work.

"Kana…?" he asks. "Where's your mom? And…is everything all right?"

For a few intense seconds, I just stand there, unable to say anything. Then, I happen to notice out the window directly behind him, there are about twelve large flying-type pokemon heading straight for the house—fast.

Okay. Now that really IS them.

"Mom is in the basement…." I say carefully. "You should go join her. She's looking for something and she could probably use some help."

He stands there and looks at me for a moment before shrugging and placing his briefcase on the little desk beside the front door. Out of the corner of my eye I see him head in the direction of the basement door, but I can't tear my eyes away from the incoming pokemon. As soon as I hear the basement door close behind my father, I run down the stairs and start turning all the lights off and closing all the blinds. Crobat and Flygon help too, and we have the entire first floor finished in just a few seconds. We race back up the stairs and do the same thing. By this time I'm exhausted, but I can't stop now. I come up with another idea, hastily calling Glalie and Alakazam back out of their pokeballs. I run back to my room, throw my backpack over my shoulders, climb onto Flygon's back, and send the other three back around to the front of the house.

Flygon glances over her shoulder at me, and I say, "I don't care where you go, as long as it's anywhere but here."

With that, she shoots out the window and we soar off into the sky. Crobat, Alakazam, and Glalie work well together—I am certain that they'll be able to deal with Team Ozone. Maybe not without taking a few considerably damaging hits, but at least this way, my parents will be safe and so will I. I'm not sure where Flygon and I are headed now, but I know that Alakazam will be able to find us, no matter where we end up.

However, I can't help but worry about them. They'll be injured after the fight. Will they be able to make it okay without me for maybe a day or two?