A/N: Sorry about the previous chapter. I forgot the word "leaders", at the end.

Chapter 2—Discovery of a plan

"I must not panic," she scolded herself silently, taking deep breaths of salty air. "Remain calm… I'm still here, I can do something about this…"

Then she remembered the person who had fallen into the water earlier. With any luck, he or she was still alive, and that person would be of help. With a spark of hope in her heart, she began to search the churning deep blue water for a sign of life where Pacifidlog had been just minutes ago, before it had started moving.

Suddenly, she heard a shout. It was half drowned out by the sound of the waves, but she could just discern it. It sounded slightly familiar…

"Get…me…outta here!!" the voice yelled again, weakening. "Help! Anyone…"

The shouting was suddenly replaced by sputtering and coughing. Then, it stopped altogether. Winona slapped her forehead. Why had she hesitated? She commanded Altaria to fly low over the water, which splashed sea spray at her face.

Then she thought she saw bubbles rising to the surface of the sea. Quickly, she made Altaria dive down steeply at that spot, and she reached into the cold water. A hand met hers underwater, but its grip was weak. Winona tried to ignore that and grabbed on to the person's hand as hard as she could.

"Altaria, fly upwards!" she screamed, pulling as hard as her strength would allow. Altaria began to flap its cloudy wings quickly, and slowly, the person, who turned out to be Falkner, was out of the water, drenched completely. Winona pulled his body onto Altaria. His originally messy black hair was completely weighed down by the water, and it was plastered to the sides of his face.

"You awake?" Winona asked, shaking him by the shoulders.

Suddenly, he began to cough up a lot of seawater.

"Huh…" he mumbled, opening his eyes.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alive!" she exclaimed. Falkner sat up and looked around, confused at first. Then, he looked down at the sea.

"What's happened to Pacifidlog Town?" he asked, confused. "And all the other gym leaders? I remember you… You were the one who went outside to check the place and came back, telling us to run!"

"I think I know you…" Winona replied. "You're the Violet City gym leader. A Flying type gym too, if I'm not wrong. What was your name?"

"Erm…Falkner," he replied. "How about you? I'm a new gym leader. I just became one, so I don't know most of you."

"I'm Winona," Winona told him. "The gym leader of Fortree City in Hoenn. Oh yes, you asked about Pacifidlog… it sank, somehow…"

"No wonder! That explains why I thought I was having a vision of flying over Pacifidlog's roofs when I was underwater," Falkner said. "Pacifidlog was actually sinking."

Suddenly, he seemed to realise what that meant, and he sat up straight in shock. "You mean…the gym leaders and all the other people were there on it as well?"

Winona nodded sadly. It also meant that they might die underwater, and that would spell disaster for the three regions. She felt tears forcing their way out of her eyes as complete despair enveloped her at that thought. Then she blinked them away quickly. Only weak girls would cry! She had to be strong.

"So what do we do then?" Falkner asked, breaking into her thoughts. His voice was strangely calm.

Suddenly, a pokémon came flying in their direction, and somehow, Winona felt they had to hide.

"Quick, Altaria! Climb!" she whispered harshly. Altaria rose upwards quickly, struggling with the weight of the two gym leaders, until they were out of sight of the pokémon. Winona strained to hear what it was saying.

"Finally," it snarled, triumph evident in its voice, as it surveyed the empty space. "That floating town's gone! And I have full control of the Ocean Stone! All I have to do now is to build my transmitter over it, and channel its energy to myself and the transmitter, and I'll soon be in control of everyone in the world!"

Suddenly, Winona realised, with a sickening lurch in her stomach, that it was Mewtwo. Power-hungry Mewtwo! All it wanted was to be greater than the humans, and this Ocean Stone was its key to that, total control.

Mewtwo soon left, most probably to find materials for this transmitter of his. Breathing out with relief, Winona told Altaria to go lower.

"Don't you think your Altaria needs a rest?" Falkner asked. Altaria staggered again with the weight.

"Rest?" Winona replied fiercely. "My Altaria is just fine!"

"Oh, well, if you say so," he answered. "But you should be less demanding of it. Don't you think you are? Look, it's almost completely exhausted—"

"It's my pokémon, not yours!" Winona cut in angrily. How could this new gym leader tell her what to do?

"Fine," Falkner replied. "Come on out, Pidgeot!" The flying pokémon flew from its pokéball. Falkner jumped onto it in one swift move.

"Alright, since we're the only who know about Mewtwo and his plan to control the world, we have to try to stop it, right?" Winona asked.

"Well…yeah, but how?" Falkner replied. "You decide. You are a more experienced gym leader, after all."

Winona thought she could here a trace of resentment in his voice, but she chose to ignore it. "In this kind of situation, we'll need the help of a legendary pokémon," she suggested. "But which one…I don't know."