What's up guys, sorry I haven't been updating quite as frequently as some of you would like. I've had soccer tryouts last week and after making my school's varsity team I've had practice all of this week, so it's very difficult for me to find time to write within the last few days of my summer. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, sorry it's shorter than usual. As always, leave a review if you have any thoughts you want to share with me; always appreciated.

Chapter 8: Team Flare

~ Camp Sycamore ~

Along with the rest of the kids, Jason watched the camp's five bravest campers sailing straight towards adventure and mystery. He wasn't bitterly envious; he was just a little jealous of Aaron Ketchum. How could he not be? Aaron had it all. He was a novice trainer who had already earned a gym badge, evolved his first Pokemon, and he even had a girlfriend. Well, sort of. It hadn't been made official, but everyone in the camp pretty much knew Aaron and Meredith were made for each other. That still didn't stop other girls from chasing him, though.

Damos felt disheartened as he watched his sister and her friends on the ocean water. He had never been good at making friends; in fact, he had never been good at anything really. Alice was much more gregarious, and just more talented in general. She would probably grow up to be a great trainer if she kept at it, which she definitely would.

– –

"Attention ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Liam speaking. We will be arriving at our destination in just a minute," Liam announced, using an imaginary microphone.

"All right!" Aaron exclaimed, clearly the most excited out of them all. "Charmeleon, come on out!" he said as he tossed a Pokeball into the air. Charmeleon appeared in a bright flash of white light.

Gyarados was about to reach the boat when suddenly Alice noticed a huge net closing in on them from above.

"Guys! We've got a problem!" she shouted, pointing upwards.

Liam and Meredith both gasped as the net began closing in on them. Luckily, Aaron and Brandon were quick to react.

"Charmeleon, use Scratch, now!" Aaron shouted.

Brandon threw out Turtwig's Pokeball and shouted, "Turtwig, use Razor Leaf and cut up that net!"

Charmeleon and Turtwig made short work of the strange net, and soon several pieces of wire were raining down upon them. Aaron looked up at the boat angrily.

"Hey, what's your problem?!" he shouted, his hands gripped into fists. Charmeleon stood next to him, the flame on its tail burning with fiery rage.

– –

"Something is wrong," Ash said grimly. No one could really quite make out what was happening because they were just too far away, but Ash knew that something wasn't right.

Misty squinted her eyes to try to get a clearer view. "It looks like Gyarados has stopped," she said.

– –

"Just who do you think you are?" Alice shouted up towards the three strangely dressed men standing on the deck of the boat. Each had meticulously styled, red-colored hair, and bright red clothes to match. And their sunglasses...they were red, too.

"An ignorant question, indeed. How could you not recognize our unfathomably stylish fashion sense?" the Team Flare member retorted.

Aaron gripped his hands into fists. These people were already starting to piss him off. "What was that net for? We didn't do anything to you!" he angrily shouted.

Brandon stood by him, equally as angry. "Yeah, we could've been seriously injured if we hadn't taken care of your stupid net!"

Meredith watched the scene nervously. She wanted to say something, but had a bad feeling about the men on the boat. They did not seem like the type of people who would travel in a trio...there were sure to be more of them.

Liam grabbed a Pokeball from his belt. "Cyndaquil, let's teach 'em a lesson! Gyarados, bring us up to the deck!" he commanded.

Gyarados extended its long body upward until its head barely touched the railing of the deck. The five young trainers all quickly climbed up the sea serpent's neck and stood face-to-face with the three men.

Only there weren't three of them anymore.

"Outnumbered! Tsk, tsk...children are so impetuous these days. It's because you have no supervision...that's the issue with the world these days," one of the men said.

Aaron turned to his friends. "I counted about 20 of them. If we work together, I think we can beat all of them. Piece of cake. Right? Who's with me?" he asked. Man...now I regret not catching any other Pokemon... he thought.

All four trainers responded confidently, their smiles radiating energy and motivation.

Five grunts stepped up, each with a Pokeball in their hand. After flashes of white light, five Houndour appeared before them, growling menacingly.

Brandon hesitated. "Fire-types..."

Aaron put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you're fine. We'll cover for you. Turtwig can still help out! Type disadvantages don't render him useless, you know," he said reassuringly. Brandon nodded in response.

Liam nodded. "I guess it's time to fight fire with fire," he said as he turned to Cyndaquil. "You ready, buddy?"

"There's no way I'm going to let a bunch of weird-looking hipsters beat us! We don't even know what they're up to though..." Alice said, wondering what these thugs could be doing out at sea so close to the camp.

Liam shrugged. "Act first, think later. Right, Cyndaquil? Go, use Flame Wheel!" he commanded.

Cyndaquil began rolling into a wheel, it's body covered in flames, and spun towards an enemy Houndour. It slammed into it full force, knocking the Houndour back.

Meredith made sure to get in on the action, too. "Mudkip, I need you!" she shouted, tossing Mudkip's Pokeball into the air. "Use Water Gun!"

"Charmeleon, use-" Aaron started, but Charmeleon had other plans. It immediately leapt into the air and released a Dragon Rage attack against a Houndour.

"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf!" Brandon shouted. Turtwig did its best to avoid hitting its teammates as it released a series of sharp leaves towards the group of Houndour.

"Chimchar, come on out and use Ember!" Alice cried out as her starter Pokemon emerged from its Pokeball and shot out small flames from its mouth.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, five blue shurikens flew towards the Houndour at an incredible pace, each one hitting a target. The five Houndour all collapsed, unprepared for such a devastating attack.

Everyone looked up to see Ash flying in on the back of his Charizard. Seconds later, Greninja's body flickered into view as he stood on the deck, satisfied with his Penta Kill.

"Dad!" Aaron shouted, running up to his father's Charizard.

The rest of the kids followed Aaron and they all crowded around Charizard and Greninja, admiring the powerful Pokemon. Ash did not look happy at all as he stared down one of the Team Flare Admins on the deck.

"So you're back, then? I didn't teach you a good enough lesson the first time?" Ash shouted as he stepped off of Charizard's back, walking towards the Admin. He brought out another Pokeball and pressed the button.

Within a matter of seconds, Sceptile was behind the Admin, who now had two Leaf Blades barely grazing the skin on his neck.

More men in red suits appeared on deck, and they all looked as if they wanted to act, but were fearful of what might happen to their Admin.

Two, four, six... Alice counted the number of grunts in her head. Twenty-eight, thirty. Thirty of them, plus the Admin that makes thirty-one.

Despite being on the brink of excruciating pain, the Admin remained relatively calm. He laughed as he said, "Yeah, we're back. And looks like someone got all grown up, didn't they?"

A few of the grunts chuckled in the crowd.

Ash gripped his hands into fists and tried to restrain himself from punching him. He remembered all the pain this organization had caused, the fear, the agony; the world had been lucky that Ash and Alain had been there to stop them back then.

But now, they were back. And he wasn't going to let things escalate this time.

"Do you mind calling off your stupid green gecko thing here? It's getting rather bothersome," the Admin said in a smart-ass tone.

Ash looked him in the eye. "That green gecko is one of my trusted Pokemon partners, and at any second I could tell it to cross its arms and end your life," he said. His voice was angry, but somewhat quiet.

To everyone's surprise, the Admin just laughed again. "You think you have all the bargaining power right now, don't you?" he said arrogantly. Then he shouted, "Have all submarines surface and advance, now!"

Ash's eyes widened and he took a step back. "Wh-what?" He ran to the side of the boat, where his son and the rest of the kids were already watching four submarines ascend from underneath the water and slowly make their way towards the beach.

– –

"I hope everything is okay," Serena said, her hands clasped together worriedly. Although she knew Ash was strong, no one knew who was on the boat.

May put a hand on Serena's shoulder. "Don't be so worried, Serena. Your son is strong. And I'm sure he's using his strength to protect my daughter and the rest of the children," she said.

Serena wiped a tear from her eye. "You're right..."

Dawn fidgeted nervously next to them. "Something is wrong...something is definitely wrong," she said anxiously.

"What are those, dear?" Mairin asked her husband, pointing out at the four objects in the water.

Alain frowned as he tried to get a closer look. "They're submarines," he said as he turned to the campers, who were all watching in awe. "Everyone get inside the main building. Hurry, before things get dangerous."

With a few groans and complaints, all of the kids started making their way into the building.

In a bush nearby a cabin, a pair of eyes watched the children evacuate the beach.

– –

"C'mon, everyone, we need to get off this boat now!" Ash shouted. "Noivern, come out!"

In a flash of white light, Noivern appeared with its huge wings spread wide in an intimidating fashion.

Ash mounted Charizard's back again, helping up Brandon, Liam, and Alice. Then he turned to his son and nodded. "You know how to fly Noivern, right Aaron?"

Aaron nodded confidently. "Of course! C'mon, Noivern, let's go!" he shouted as he and Meredith climbed onto the Sound Wave Pokemon. Mudkip hopped onto Meredith's shoulder and they were ready to hit the air.

"Don't let them escape!" the Admin shouted, but he didn't look distressed. He was laughing.

Several grunts threw out their Houndour and Electrike, commanding them to attack. Numerous Ember and Thundershock attacks sped towards Charizard and Noivern.

To everyone's surprise, Mudkip blocked the attacks with Mud Sport, a move Meredith hadn't even known about before.

"Nice job!" Aaron said with a smile. Meredith smiled and hugged her Mudkip. "That was awesome!" she said, lavishing it with praise.

As Charizard and Noivern flew away back towards the beach, they could still hear the Admin laughing on deck.

– –

"Misty, could you please go around and take a head count? We should have twenty-five kids here right now," Alain said.

"Sure, no problem," Misty said, walking around the room counting by two's.

Serena looked out the window, watching for any signs of her husband and son. Her eyes lit up when she saw Charizard and Noivern soaring through the air towards them, carrying everyone on their backs.

Brock stared out at the submarines approaching the beach. They were just about a few meters away from the shore.

"Twenty, twenty-one, hey, you three! Stop running around! Sit still while I count all of you," Misty shouted as she continued counting. "Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four. Wait...twenty-four? That can't be right!"

She desperately looked around all over the room for two more kids, but they were nowhere to be seen.

– –

A young, fourteen-year-old girl with bright orange hair had a satisfied smile on her face as she stood inside one of the submarines. She was the new leader of Team Flare, striving to restore the organization to its former glory; the prestige in which the organization once reveled.

Her name was Lyneth, and she had a legacy to reclaim.

"How long until we reach the shore?" she asked one of her Admins calmly.

"About two minutes, boss. Preparing to deploy all units upon arrival," the Admin answered.

"Excellent. Thank you for your hard work!" she said cheerfully. Judging by her general demeanor, you would have never guessed that she was the leader of an evil group of Pokemon thieves.

– – – –

What is Team Flare up to? How did a girl as young as Lyneth reach the highest rank within the Team Flare organization? Is she really that evil? Stay tuned for her backstory! Thanks for reading, everyone.

Again, I apologize for the brevity of this chapter.