I figured you guys wouldn't like waiting for two chapters and since I finished this one today... I figured, posting time. :)
"Here we are, the ruins..." Professor Maple thought as he walked through the cave passageway. He was leading the group of Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Emily.
"Wow, these are the ruins?" Dawn asked as the group emerged from the cave way. "They look really old!"
"Yeah, they're pretty old... but I'll save the history lesson for later. We gotta find Leaf and Ryan, wherever they are." Professor Maple said.
"Hey, what's that shaking?" Ash said as he felt a small tremor shaking the ground.
"An earthquake?" Brock asked Professor Maple.
"It couldn't be, the last earthquake recorded in Sinnoh was back in the ancient times." Professor Maple explained.
"And Sinnoh's a continent nowhere near any others, so tectonic plate rupture is out of the question..." He continued.
"Matt, don't go smart professor on us... hey!" Emily stopped as she noticed a figure emerging from the ground. "Look! It's Leaf!" She pointed at Leaf, who saw the group.
"Hey! You guys made it!" Leaf said as she and the group ran up to each other.
"You know it," Professor Maple looked behind Leaf. "By the way, where's Ryan?"
"Here," Leaf gave the rolled up translations to Professor Maple, turned around and ran back towards the stairs leading underground.
"Wait Leaf!" Professor Maple stretched his hand out, calling out. "Where're you going?"
"I'm going back to help Ryan!" Leaf yelled back as she seemed to shove something out of her way.
"Hey, watch it, twerpette!" A familiar voice angrily said.
"Yeah, you don't see us pushin' and shovin'! And we're the bad guys!" Another voice called out.
"She's gone!" Another voice pointed out. The three owners of the voices emerged from the stairs.
"It's Team Rocket!" Ash recognized as the trio of thieves looked over.
"It's the other twerps!" James pointed out.
"Where one twerp goes, they all go." Jessie commented.
"Looks like we gotta get past 'em!" Ash said as he, Dawn, Brock and Professor Maple reached for their Pokeballs, getting ready to battle.
"Come on out Espeon!" Professor Maple called out as he threw Espeon's Pokeball. Espeon materialized in front of Professor Maple and faced Team Rocket.
"Wait a sec twerps- We don't wanna battle!" Meowth said as he waved his arms back and forth.
"Huh? You don't?" Professor Maple asked as the group lowered their guard slightly.
"It could be a trick Matt!" Emily warned Professor Maple.
"N-no! Honest! On Team Rocket honor!" James said.
"What honor?" Dawn commented.
"Don't push your luck, twerpette!" Jessie responded.
"If they're telling the truth, I'm following Leaf!" Professor Maple threw the rolled up translation to Brock.
"Get this back to my Jeep, would ya'? Professor Maple asked.
"Sure thing." Brock said as he caught the rolled up translation in his hands and tucked it underneath his arms.
"Espeon, come on!" Professor Maple called out to Espeon as he ran towards the staircase leading underground.
"Right!" Espeon nodded as he followed his trainer underground. They both disappeared from Ash and the other's sight.
"Nidoking, use Rock Throw!" The Pokemon Hunter commanded. Nidoking grabbed a solid piece of rubble at least a few feet tall and wide and lifted it over it's head.
"Squirtle, we gotta dodge it!" Ryan warned as he ran along side Squirtle.
"Right!" Squirtle nodded.
"I've got an idea- go left! I'll go right!" Ryan suggested.
"What would that do?" Squirtle asked. Even though Ryan still couldn't understand what Squirtle was saying, the look on Squirtle's face was clear enough.
"He can't throw that rock at the both of us- I'll distract them while you attack from your side!" Ryan explained.
"But-" Squirtle was about to reject when Ryan interrupted.
"Now!" Ryan ran to the right as Squirtle noticed Nidoking was about to throw the piece of rubble.
"Hey, over here!" Ryan stuck his tongue out at Nidoking as he ran.
"You dare mock me, boy?" Nidoking growled. "Rock Throw!" Nidoking threw the rubble towards Ryan.
"Ha-ha, can't hit me!" Ryan suddenly stopped and ran in the opposite direction, making sure there was no chance of the rubble hitting him.
"Looks like they fell for it!" Ryan thought. He turned to Squirtle, who ran the direction Ryan suggested earlier. Squirtle was closer to the Pokemon Hunter and Nidoking!
"At that range, Nidoking's gonna get knocked out, especially since it's a Ground type! Good thing Carter always used one back in the day..." Ryan refocused on Squirtle.
"Okay Squirtle, use Water Gun!" Ryan pointed at Nidoking. Squirtle's mouth filled up and he quickly pointed at Nidoking.
"Water Gun!" Squirtle fired a pressured stream of water from his mouth which flew like a steady stream of bullets towards Nidoking.
"Ugh!" Nidoking turned it's head and realized Water Gun was coming at it. The Pokemon Hunter smirked.
"Still as weak as ever- Nidoking, Protect!" The Pokemon Hunter called out.
"What? Protect?" Ryan thought aloud and was interrupted by a sudden green barrier emerging around Nidoking and the Pokemon Hunter.
"What the heck?" Ryan thought. "That attack should've hit and it should've been super effective, too!" He looked at Squirtle, who was now close to the Pokemon Hunter and Nidoking.
"No! Squirtle's vulnerable!" Ryan realized as Squirtle stopped running and looked at Ryan.
"What now?" Squirtle asked.
"Squirtle use Water Gun before-" Ryan called out.
"Ah, Nidoking, take care of that." The Pokemon Hunter said casually.
Nidoking ran up to Squirtle and swung it's tail like a baseball bat which hit Squirtle, sending him flying back, hitting a debris wall.
"Squirtle!" Ryan called out. His attention turned to the Nidoking now approaching him.
"I gotta help Squirtle out, but how? Nidoking's enormous! If I get hit once, there'll be more than broken bones..." Ryan thought. He turned his attention between the Pokemon Hunter standing in one spot, almost casually watching his Nidoking do his dirty work, and Squirtle.
"First thing's first, Squirtle's gonna need my help!" Ryan started running towards Squirtle, who was slowly getting up. Squirtle looked up and at Ryan.
"What's he... No! Get away!" Squirtle started shouting.
"What's Squirtle saying?" Ryan wondered as he approached him.
"You done, Nidoking?" The Pokemon Hunter suddenly asked. Nidoking nodded.
"What's he talking about?" Ryan turned his attention to the Pokemon Hunter and Nidoking. Ryan's heart started beating harder and faster. An orb of energy sat in Nidoking's mouth- it was a fully charged Hyper Beam!
"There's no way he'll get out of the way in time!" Squirtle thought as he got up, clutching his arm.
"If I get out of the way, the Hyper Beam will destroy the structural soundness, trapping us here, at the least... I don't want to think about the worst..." Ryan tried coming up with a plan, but nothing came to mind. Staying there and taking on the Hyper Beam was definitely not an option, but leaping out of the way wasn't one either!
"Between a rock and a hard place wouldn't even begin to describe this..." Ryan thought as he paused from running.
"I gotta help Ryan!" Squirtle thought in desperation. The tiny turtle started to run towards Ryan, but stumbled and fell forward, landing on his stomach.
"This is what happens to traitors and their friends!" The Pokemon Hunter called out to Squirtle. "Because of you, this boy will be destroyed!"
"Hyper Beam!" The Pokemon Hunter commanded. Nidoking launched the fully charged beam roaring at Ryan.
"Frenzy Plant!" A female voice called out. Something materialized in front of Ryan- a large plant-like creature with a large pinkish purplish flower on it's back.
"A Venusaur?" Ryan recognized the pokemon instantly. He then turned around to see where it came from.
"Leaf!" Ryan said. The Hyper Beam was closing in. Venusaur commanded various thick vines that emerged from the ground, which formed a shield in front of it and Ryan. The attacks collided, sending dust scattering everywhere. When the dust cleared, the vines shrunk back into the ground, after a job well done with absorbing the blast.
"You came back!" Ryan said as he turned to face Leaf.
"Of course! From the looks of things, it's a good thing I did." Leaf commented as she noticed Squirtle clutching his arm.
"Venusaur, can you use Vine Whip to bring Squirtle over here?" Leaf asked Venusaur.
"Of course," Venusaur nodded as it extended it's two vines over to Squirtle and wrapped around him. The vines gently lifted Squirtle into the air, over to where Venusaur was and let Squirtle down onto the ground.
"Thanks." Squirtle thanked Venusaur, who nodded in reply.
"Squirtle!" Ryan approached Squirtle and knelt down. "How bad are you hurt?" Ryan asked as he noticed Squirtle holding his arm.
"Not too bad." Squirtle shook his head, but twitched in pain as his arm begged to differ.
"Squirtle, sorry I wasn't much help at all..." Ryan apologized.
"Hey, Ryan, save it for later- we're still in the middle of something here..." Leaf said, getting Ryan's and Squirtle's attention.
"I guess you're right..." Ryan admitted as he got to his feet.
"We've been attacking him left and right for the past few minutes... nothing seems to work!" Ryan said to Leaf.
"Let me take care of him." Leaf said after looking at the Pokemon Hunter and his Nidoking, who was panting.
"Ryan, stand back, alright?" Leaf asked.
"No way! I'm not letting someone else fight for me!" Squirtle objected.
"You're in barely any condition to move, let alone battle." Leaf stated. Ryan decided to step in.
"She's right, we'd only hurt the cause and slow her down..." He added. Squirtle huffed and turned to glare at the Pokemon Hunter.
"...Fine." Squirtle reluctantly agreed.
"Good. Now, you guys, get back." Leaf finished and started to walk up alongside with Venusaur.
"It's her..." The Pokemon Hunter thought as Nidoking looked back at him, knowing what his master was thinking.
"It's the girl... isn't it?" Nidoking asked through it's huffs and pants. A slight nod, unnoticed to all but Nidoking, answered it's question.
"What do we do? We promised..." Nidoking was cut off by it's master.
"So, you think you have what it takes to even match our power?" The Pokemon Hunter proclaimed.
"As one of my close family friends once said, I don't think, I know!" Leaf answered. Venusaur gave an agreeing cry.
"Leaf seems to have a bit of her old fire back..." Venusaur noticed. "I wonder what sparked it?"
"Whoever said that must have been quite the ambitious man..." The Pokemon Hunter commented with a more intriguing motion.
"He wasn't ambitious, he was my dad's..." Leaf cut her self off and seemed to lose herself a bit.
"Leaf..." Venusaur looked upon it's trainer, knowing it couldn't do much to help her with what bothered her.
"Hmph, very well. Nidoking, let's take care of this girl." The Pokemon Hunter said.
"Right." Nidoking seemed to be taken a bit off guard.
"Is master really going to go against the promise?" Nidoking thought.