Chapter 3

All of the members of Team Ocean, present, ordered their pokemon to attack Alice, Keith and their pokemon while they had no choice but to defend themselves.

"Big Brother! Glacia!" Alice yelled. "Double Slash attack!"

The Ursaring and the Sneasel yelled their battle cries as they ran towards them. Glacia, being the quicker of the two, leapt on top of Big Brother's shoulder and then leapt into the air, confusing their opponents. Using this to their advantage, Glacia dived down towards the pokemon that were focusing on the bear, while Big Brother attacked those that got confused.

"Nice double team there, Alice," Keith commented with a smile.

"Well, as long as you got a great pokemon and strategy you're bound to do something good," Alice replied with a wink.

"Time to show mine," Keith said. "Alakazam! Use your Pysbeam attack!"

A green aura surrounded Alakazam's body as he began to focus his energy and blasted out a green beam towards the opposition, knocking them into confusion.

"Way to go!" Keith yelled. "Umbreon! Use your Swift attack!"

The black dog leaped into the air and the ring patterns on his body glowed energetically as he shot out small energy stars out of his mouth, which hit some of the grunts staggering them.

"Big Brother! Glacia! Get out of there!" Alice yelled.

Big Brother, with his great strength, managed to fend off the pokemon of Team Ocean and get away from them while Glacia struggled to get away but luckily Big Brother bashed his way through to save her and carried her back at a safe distance.

Four of Team Ocean's Tentacruels stepped towards and shot numerous energetic spikes out of their mouths towards their opponents. "Poison Sting attacks!" Keith warned.

"Dodge out of the way!" Keith and Alice yelled in unison. Their pokemon obeyed as they quickly dodge the attack, as did they when the attack was coming towards as they quickly ducked down.

Unluckily for Keith that attack was a decoy as one of Ocean's Walerines rushed and tackled him, sending him flying until his head and back hit the tree. Alice became distracted and yelled out to Keith but he wasn't able to respond because he was unconscious. She then looked back towards the battle scene and saw that her pokemon were struggling against the opposition.

Noticing that their trainer was unable to move, Alakazam and Umbreon ran over to him and tried to wake their trainer up but to no avail as the enemy continued attacking them, not allowing them to fight back.

Alice was in deep trouble as her pokemon were continuously being attacked by Team Ocean. With her partner unconscious and his pokemon left beaten, the numbers game have caught up with her. Realising how badly hurt that Big Brother and Glacia were getting, she quickly took out two pokeballs.

As she was about to toss them out to release her creatures to help Big Brother and Glacia she got knocked down by a charging Cloyster.

She fell harshly to the ground and shook away the dizziness only to be hit by a Poison Sting attack from one of Team Ocean's Tentacruels. "Well, boys," Ruth said. "Let's show her what happens what it feels to be hit by pokemon… especially when they're from Team Ocean." With that, all of the pokemon of Team Ocean began pounding unmercifully on her while the human members watched with cold eyes and smiles.

Meanwhile, Keith slowly moved, shaking his head to remove the dizziness. When he came to, he saw Alice, being badly hurt by Team Ocean and their pokemon while his pokemon lay on the ground unconscious and heavily injured.

He took out his third pokeball and tossed it out, releasing his black Dragonite. Curious of what was going on he looked towards the battle scene and then down on Keith, who was getting to his feet. "Darkness," Keith said. "Get Alice and her pokemon out of here, I'll hold them off."

Darkness became shocked of Keith's instructions and shook his head, refusing to obey them. "I'll be fine," Keith said while he returned his pokemon back into their pokeballs, knowing that his Dragonite doesn't want him to risk his life. "I got three other pokemon left to help me. Just do it!"

Darkness became hesitant but he stretched his wings and flew at the speed of light towards the members, knocking them down in an attempt to grab Alice, Glacia and Big Brother. As he did, he flew off into the sky carrying the badly injured Alice and Glacia in his arms and Big Brother holding onto his back.

"Whatever you do, don't look back!" Keith yelled loudly, hoping that Darkness was able to hear him. He then turned around and saw members of Team Ocean giving malicious looks while he looked back in hatred.

Back at the pokemon center, Black Jack walked around the main hall of the pokemon center with hands behind his back while the Gardevoirs sat on the benches, their backs next to the walls, looking at him in curiosity.

"What's keeping Alice?" Black Jack asked himself. "I told them to be back here by ten earlier today when he asked her out."

"(Don't worry, Black Jack,)" Sonya sent in an assuring tone. "(So what? She's gonna be a little bit late at some point. I mean what could happen)?"

"(Yeah, it's not like she's dealing with a couple of muggers)," Orion sent.

"You two don't go out much, do you?" Black Jack asked in response.

He looked outside his window and saw a black dragon flying towards the center and spotted Alice and Glacia in his arms and Big Brother on his back. His eyes widened with shock. "Alice!" he said loudly as he rushed outside, followed by the Gardevoirs.

As he got outside, Darkness safely landed to the ground. He placed Alice on the ground and she rushed towards him and started to hug him as tears began to form in her eyes while her pokemon ran to comfort her. "Alice," Black Jack said in a concerned tone. "What happened?"

"Uncle…" Alice sobbed. "I'm sorry… it's Keith…"

Back at the park, Keith was being held at by the arms by two men, making him immobile, and was getting battered, bloodied and bruised by his 'teammates'.

"That's enough, boys," Ruth said, holding her hands out, stopping her men from attacking him. "Hold him up."

She walked a distance closer to him and then slapped him on the face. Keith slowly looked back with a look of hate on his face. "I recognise that face," Ruth said. "We had a feeling that you would betray us again sooner or later."

"I never wanted to team up with you freaks anyway," Keith growled.

"You owe us, Keith. Remember our deal? We would tell you when you are through and you're not even close," Ruth said arrogantly as she backslapped him on the cheek.

"You punks!" Keith said. "I worked hard enough to take a trip to Hawaii."

"Hawaii's not on schedule," Ruth said as she took out a knife out of her sheath attached to her belt. "But if you wish I can send you to hell."

She raised her knife above her head and then quickly moved it, aiming for his forehead. "Ow!" yelled a voice, immediately stopping Ruth's attack. They looked at the direction where the voice was heard and it turned out that one of the grunts' was rubbing his hurt head. He looked down and saw an empty beer bottle. "Hey, where did this come from?" he asked.

"Behind you!" snarled a familiar angry man's voice. Everyone looked into the man's direction and it turned out to be Black Jack, accompanied by his 'young cub', Darkness, the Gardevoirs and his pokemon. "You think you can pick on my niece and get away with it? It looks like you did a lot of damage on her and now it's time I do the same…" he cracked his fist into the palm of his hand and then cracked his other fist. "Only heavier."

"I doubt that," Ruth said. "We, of Team Ocean, plan to capture all of the strong water pokemon trainers and the rarest water pokemon on the planet. I see that you have met one of our former comrades, Keith Marsden. He and his father owe us a little favour and made them follow our orders."

"Team Ocean?" Black Jack said. "Sounds like a rip-off version of Team Aqua that Ketchum beaten up years ago." Without waiting for a response he and his pokemon, plus the two Gardevoirs and Darkness, got into battle against Team Ocean.

As the battle started Black Jack and the pokemon that sided with him, using physical force, were knocking down all of the grunts and their pokemon. After they were all knocked down, Black Jack and his teammates looked at each other and nodded, splitting up into different directions.

Chan the Blaziken came close to his chosen victims and got into his fighting stance. The Ocean grunts and their pokemon slowly picked themselves up, surrounding him. One of them attempted to attack him from behind but the red fiery fighter sensed it coming and quickly turned around while kicking him in the face. The other grunts tried to attack him as well but the Blaziken countered each and every one of them with his quick and vicious kicks. He looked around to see how many were left standing. As he was about to choose his next couple of opponents, another standing grunt came charging towards him from behind but he countered him with his back fist punch, yelling out his battle cry, without turning around, knocking him out.

Feraligatr was knocking down each and every one that was on Team Ocean's side that attempted to attack him. "(Hey! Feraligatr)!" his friend Nidoking called, catching his attention. "(Tag me! Tag me)!"

Feraligatr turned his attention towards his Poison Drill friend, who was holding the grunt from behind by the arms. The blue crocodile walked over to him and tagged him by the paw and then punched the grunt in the stomach, making him fall the ground withering in pain.

On another part of the battlefield, Metagross was using its psychic powers to make his victims float in the air and unable to move. The grunts and the pokemon looked up and saw the blue dragon Salamance and the black dragon Darkness flying above them and saw what was coming next as they had cold sweat drops on their faces. As expected, Salamance and Darkness stopped flapping their wings and fell at a great height, crashing down on top of their enemies and squashing them onto the ground.

Meanwhile, another bunch of grunts and their pokemon were pounding on Orion and Sonya while Tyranitar and Black Jack knocked down another grunt, they saw that their Psychic comrades were in trouble. The green dinosaur quickly walked ahead of Black Jack and kneeled down with his head leaning forward. Black Jack saw what his pokemon's intention was as he quickly ran up towards him from behind and leapt on his shoulder; he then leapt off and crash-landed on top of his enemies, not only knocking them but his teammates down as well. "(Lucha libre)!" his Nidoking roared excitedly after he saw the stunt Black Jack performed.

As the battling continued, despite Team Ocean's strength in numbers, the pokemon that sided with Black Jack were dominating against them. Realising this, half of grunts ran away while the others stayed and got beaten in the process.

Black Jack and his pokemon looked around to see if there was anyone else standing. "Jeez, there's always one left when we think we're done," Black Jack said in an annoyed tone as he looked at Ruth, standing behind the weakened Keith while holding a knife by his throat.

"Step any closer and the boy dies," Ruth threatened as she stepped away from them while holding him.

"You're a little late to say that, aren't you?" said a young girl's voice.

Before Ruth could react, a familiar pair of hands grabbed her wrist that was holding the knife. As they struggled to gain control of the knife, Ruth accidentally let Keith go as he fell to floor.

Black Jack quickly ran towards them to help Alice but she made Ruth drop the knife before he could. He stopped and stood where he was, looking at Alice's angry face while she glared angrily at the now scared Ruth.

Ruth held her hands out towards her. "Don't… don't hit me," she begged. "I'm just leaving."

She took a step away from her… and then aimed to slam her fist on her face. But Alice blocked her punch with her hand and then slapped her in the face with the other, staggering her. Ruth became stunned and shocked for a brief second and turned her angry face towards her. "You slapped me?" she shouted. "No one slaps me!"

She was about to attack Alice again but Black Jack grabbed her from behind, he forcefully turned her around and headbutted her on the forehead, knocking her down. After shaking off the dizziness off her head, Ruth placed her hand inside her pocket and took out a mirror. She was horrified when she saw a huge purple bruise on her forehead that Black Jack inflicted. "My face…" she sobbed. "My beautiful face… don't you know how to treat a lady?"

"I do," Black Jack replied. "But for you I'm making an exception. Now get out!"

Ruth took her chance to escape as she ran out of the scene, leaving Black Jack with a nasty look on his face. He then turned and saw Alice kneeling down towards Keith, who was badly injured.

"Keith," Alice whispered sadly. "Are you okay?"

Keith let out a small groan in response as he struggled to move. "It's okay," he said. "I'll live."

Black Jack moved towards them, still with a nasty look on his face as he stared down on Keith and Alice noticed it.

"He… he saved me, uncle…" Alice said, sounding slightly scared. "And…"

Black Jack moved his hand towards Keith, offering to help him up. "Get on your feet, kid," he said.

"Huh?" Keith muttered, unsure of what Black Jack's intentions were.

"I said get up, kid!" Black Jack said loudly, assuming that Keith did not hear him properly the first time. "Get up!"

Keith quickly grasped Black Jack's hand and Black Jack pulled him up so that he could stand upright with Alice helping him. "Let me help you get to the pokemon center, Keith," Alice said as she wrapped his arm around her shoulders, attempting to help him stand upright. "It's the least I can do."

Keith looked at her concerned face and gave a small nod, allowing her to carry him to the pokemon center. She struggled to help him walk to the pokemon center; despite her weak and hurt body she had a strong heart and soul.

Black Jack noticed this and grabbed hold of Keith and hoisted him on his shoulder. "What are you doing, uncle?" Alice asked.

"This way, Keith doesn't have to walk and you can take it easy," Black Jack replied.

"Actually, I feel kinda oozy," Keith said feeling his gut being slightly squeezed.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a dark room a familiar man looked down on Ruth with a disappointed look on his face. "Ruth, I'm disappointed," he said. "You allowed that brat to be free from our grasp… now he's in the hands of Black Jack."

"Yes, sir," Ruth said with her head hanging low. "Even though I wish for it, I know I cannot be forgiven… I'm ready to receive my punishment."

"Silence. You are already punished at the hands of Black Jack when he humiliated you and headbutted you in the head," the man said. "To him, this is a warning to you and he could do much worse plus this is the first time you failed me. Therefore, I shall spare you this time. Now leave."

"Thank you, sir," she said. Still feeling ashamed, she made her way out of the room. After she left, the man stood where he was. "Keith's betrayal and Black Jack's interference were not part of the original plan… but maybe… maybe…"

Next episode: Alice enters a pokemon contest that features three of the most difficult judges to impress. Can she win it? Wait and see.

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More coming! Reviews please!

EDIT:

A/N: In memory of Eddie Guerrero, 1967-2005