Authors Note!

This will be the last chapter I will be able to post up for a while. I am back in school, and this semester has been the worst yet about homework/work load. I will try to write as much as I can, but please dont be expecting and update for a while.

Thank you very much all my readers!

I hope that you all have been enjoying my story.

Chapter 20

The Rocket Hideout

For the next couple of weeks we stayed out in the woods between Goldenrod and Mahogany, training and battling the occasional trainer we would find along the way. We didn't stick to any particular trail or path; instead we just made out own, cutting straight down the middle from the two cities. Whenever we came across a pond or river I let out Gyarados, letting him get some experience too. And when we came across a rocky area that we couldn't go around, I brought out Articuno who was always happy to help. I am glad that she was getting better with me; it makes traveling around much easier.

Arcanine was doing better as well, and me giving him those smashed up rare candies was doing miracles for his healing. Within the two weeks he was almost at 100% and was much stronger than before.

I didn't have my navigation system or anything to help us in our path, so every now and again I would go high up in the sky with Articuno and see if we were on the right track. Most of the time we were, but making sure was always a good thing. It would be bad to get lost in a place like this.

All this walking was doing wonders for Pichu as well. Nearly all of his fatness was gone, and he had almost doubled in power because of it. With him constantly battling and burning that fat he was one fit little mouse.

It was night on the last day of the second week when we finally arrived in Mahogany. We were all so tired that the first thing I did was go to the pokecenter. Me and Pichu went in, looking around to see no one around at all. I was so tired that I didn't even look at the town; I had no idea if it was big, small, city, a hick town or what. And right then, I didn't care.

Pichu ran up on the counter over to the bell. He looked around and didn't see anyone. A sly little smile went across his face and I already knew what he was thinking.

"DING-DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!" The bell went as he slammed his little paws down on the button franticly.

"I'm coming!" I heard a voice scream from the back, but Pichu kept ringing the bell. "I'm coming!" The voice screamed again, but Pichu still kept at it strong. "Darnit! I said I'm coming!" A Nurse Joy screamed as she ran up to the front in her pajamas, which were not even fully buttoned and hanging loosely on her. She slammed her hand down on the bell making Pichu stop.

"And she wasn't lying." I heard a familiar voice say in a very perverse way. Oh no, it can't be. But it was. Standing in the back where Nurse Joy ran from was his long red hair and blood red eyes, staring back at me from the darkness of the hall way. "Well, Kyle, nice get up. Glad to see you actually have some nice clothes in your inventory."

"Ricky, what the heck are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I was doing something before we were so rudely interrupted." Ricky then walked up behind Joy, wrapping his arm around her as he threw me a key. "Hey, Joy, let's give Kyle my room and go on back to yours."

"Oh… okay." Joy said as she began to blush.

"Yeah, no thanks." I said, sliding the key back on the counter. I then reached around, taking another key from under the desk. "I think I'll take room number… 12." I then tossed the key in the air, catching it as I grabbed Pichu and headed down the hall.

I unlocked the door, heading inside and throwing my stuff on the floor. I then fell on the bed, so exhausted from the two-week trip of sleeping on the ground. "Man, a bed feels so good. Don't you think so Pichu?" I looked over at him, but he was already asleep. "Heh. Well, goodnight little guy." Reaching into my bag I took out my pills and a bottle of water. I took a swig, swallowing the pill and laying my head back down. "I guess tomorrow we will look at the town. Maybe even get a badge. I don't know, we might just sleep." I rolled over, and closed my eyes, falling asleep.

***_-Scene Change-_***

Richard and Rachel had just got back to the Rocket base in Mount Silver earlier that day. Their plan to overthrow Conner was already in effect. All the active members of the rebellion were already relocated to the secret Rocket hideout in Mahogany town. Everything was ready for the takeover except two things, which Richard and Rachel were picking up in Mount Silver.

Richard was hard at work retrieving the IP addresses and personal data information needed to manually shut down the 'Conner Projects' (Mew Three project as well as the Neural Entopic Control System project) from a stationary computer, via hacking the database.

Rachel, on the other hand, was also working on getting the bio information on the artificially enhanced pokemon that Conner had on his person. With those last pieces of information Conner's pokemon could be shut down and controlled, as well as his base, and Team Rocket all together.

Richard was only a few clicks away when the videophone overhead kicked on. Richard jumped as a static covered face called out. "Richard! Richard!" The man screamed. "Abort mission! Abort mission!"

Richard knew this person from the resistance, and called back out. "What are you talking about?" Richard asked. "We are only seconds away fro-"

Richard stopped what he was saying as he saw Conner's face appear on the monitor. "Well, well, Richard." Conner said, as he watched Richard behind his desk. "So you are the one behind this mutiny."

"The only one guilty of mutiny here is you!" Richard screamed. "You are the face that ruined Team Rocket! You are! I'm just the one that is going to set it straight!"

"Oh really? Are you?" Conner laughed. "Richard, I know about your idiotic attempt of a revolt in Mahogany." Richard gulped as he listened. "I have known about it for a long time. But, what I didn't know, is that you were in charge of it."

"Conner, its over!" Richard said, typing in the rest of the keys. "I have all the information I need to end you, now!" He hit the enter key, but nothing happened. He hit it again, and again, and then he heard Conner laugh.

"Do you take me as a fool?" Conner asked. "Do you really think I am that blind? Do you think I am that stupid? Well, obviously you do or you wouldn't have tried it. You will never get those authorization codes! They are scrambled every hour, so even if you were able to hack it, they would simply regenerate by the time you went to use them." Richard then backed away from the computer. "Oh yes, and Richard. You better hope that your wife isn't in this building that I'm about to shut down, because if I find out she is in here, I'll do what I have always wanted to do to her." He then got really close to the camera as he spoke in a deep low voice. "I'll make her scream in soooo many ways. Hahah!" He then bellowed and laughed.

"She doesn't have anything to do with this!" Richard screamed. "It's all me! And I don't care to say it! It was all me!"

"You know…" Conner spoke low. "I really hope you are lying to me. I want to have some fun with her before she dies." He laughed again as he shut the call off.

"Shit!" Richard screamed as he called Rachel on his cell phone.

The phone rang as Rachel picked up. "Yes dear?"

"Rachel, Conner knows, but he doesn't now about you." The phone was quite so Richard continued. "Stop looking that stuff up, now! If you don't he can trace that it's you. Right now he only knows about me, so stop, now!"

"What about the people in Mahogany?" Rachel asked.

There was a long pause before Richard spoke again. "We all fell right into his trap."

***_-Scene Change-_***

I was awoken early the next morning by pounding on the door. I groaned, rolling over as the pounding persisted. "What? What is it?" I yelled in a half asleep voice.

"Kyle!" Ricky called out. "Kyle get up! Hurry it up!"

I rolled out of bed as Pichu sat up, yawning. I walked over to the door, cracking it open. "What, what is it?" I asked.

"Kyle, you need to come with me, right now!"

"Why, what's going on?" I yawned. "Did you end up getting some one pregnant?"

"No, its more serious than that." He explained. "I'll tell you in the lobby, but hurry up and get dressed." After that he ran down the hall.

"Wow. That's sad." I said as I put on some deodorant. "He brushed off someone getting knocked up like it was no big deal. What an awful relationship he has with his women." I yawned as I slipped on my nice shirt and pulled up my pants. I strapped on both belts and walked out and down the hall to the lobby. I popped in a breath mint for my horrid morning breath as I sat down on the couch next to Ricky. "What's up?"

"Kyle, listen." He said, leaning in towards me. "I was out early this morning when I saw some Team Rocket members head into the radio tower beside this building."

"Team Rocket?" I looked at him uneasily. "Ricky, I'm sure you just saw something else." I said, brushing it off. "If you were out early this morning then I'm sure you were just seeing things. It happens to me all the time when it's early."

"Kyle, I know what I saw." Rick looked at me sternly.

"Wow, you're serious?"

"Of course I am, and I'm not going to sit back and let them get away with whatever they are doing." Ricky then stood up. "Kyle, I need you to help me, I can't take them on by myself."

"That's a job for the police." I said, standing up and heading back down the hall. "Let them handle it."

"Fine! Be that way!" Ricky called out. "But I'm going in there with or without you! Those people are the reason my father is dead and I'm not going to let the person responsible for his death get away with it!" With that Ricky ran out the door of the center, letting it slam shut behind him.

"Pi?" Pichu said as he walked around the corner of the hall that connected the rooms to the lobby. He was still sleepy and was rubbing his eyes with a paw.

I turned around, looking at the door. What should I do? On one hand I have Ricky fighting an entire team of Rockets by himself, and on the other I can go on back to bed and act like nothing ever happened. I began to walk down the hallway when I stopped. Pichu stopped as well, taking the opportunity to scurry up my pant leg and sit on my shoulder. I stood still for a while before I turned back around. "Well, crap."

I headed for the PC, logging in as I removed Articuno's pokeball. When I logged in, I noticed I had a message.

Message From:

Debbie Gray

Subject: Retrieval Needed

Pokemon Number: 3167389 – Name: Typhlosion – needs to be sent immediately. Transfer as reply to message.

"Come on, again?" I said. "Ahh, fine, whatever, but only because I'm in a hurry and I'm not using him anyway." I attached Typhlosion to the message and hit send. After that I put Articuno's pokeball on the deposit unit and exchanged it for the only pokemon left in my box. The pokeball sparked and vanished only to have another appear. I took the pokeball out and placed it on my belt. "Darnit Ricky, you had better be right about this."

***_-Scene Change-_***

I walked outside and noticed that this town was rather large. Not as big as Goldenrod, or even Olivine for that matter, but it was still pretty big. There were a couple nice houses with a few stores here and there, and also a radio tower, like Ricky said, which was located right beside the Pokecenter.

"Eh," I said, looking at Pichu. "Shall we?"

We walked into the radio tower. There were leather chairs and sofas everywhere all over the lobby, with large TV's and classic radios as well, that were all tuned into the same channel. The only strange thing about this place was that it was deserted. Not a soul anywhere.

CRASH! I heard come from the back as people began to scream.

"Get him, men! Don't back down! We got him where we want him!"

I ran back to where the crash came from, jumping over a counter and swinging open a door from behind the main desk. Inside I saw Ricky, with Swampert drawn out, and about thirty or so men in full Rocket uniforms with their pokemon ready to attack.

"Who's that kid?" One of the Rockets shouted.

"Who cares? Take care of him too!" The man then pointed to Ricky. "If he's with him he's our enemy as well!"

"Kyle!" Ricky said. "Nice of you to join me."

"I haven't joined you yet." I reached for a Pokeball around my belt. "Go, Dragonite!"

"Drraaaa!" Dragonite roared as she landed beside Swampert.

"Hey, I didn't know you had one of those." Ricky gawked. "Those things are super rare."

"Well don't get too distracted." I said watching as three Crobats began to fly at us. "Dragonite! Dodge left and use Twister!"

"Swampert, dodge right and use Whirlpool!" All three Crobats flew at Dragonite and Swampert, who both dodged and used their attacks together, creating a dragon/water attack that dealt great damage to the bats. All three of them fell to the ground before being recalled.

"What else do you guys have?" Ricky asked in a sinister way that was almost scary.

"We are here to stop you!" One of the lead Rockets said as he stepped forward. "You will not get away with all you have done!"

"Wait." I looked at the man who was speaking. I know that man. That is, that's the guy I met before at the Hot Spring Resort. That's Charles.

"What?" Ricky asked, looking back at me. But when he did five electrodes rolled through the group of rockets, heading right for Swampert.

"Ricky! Look out!" I pointed as I gave Dragonite a command. "Dodge! Fly to the ceiling!"

Dragonite took off and hovered a few feet off the ground, only being inches away from the ceiling, since he was such a big pokemon. When Dragonite was off the ground, Ricky made his move. "Earthquake!" He screamed. The ground shook as rocks and steel jetted out of the floor around the Electrodes, stopping them in place only a few feet away from Swampert.

"Now!" One of the Rockets screamed as the Electrode in the rear exploded. The force of the explosion caused the other four to spring out of the jetted rocks that were holding them in place as they hovered and landed on Swampert.

"Now!" Four more Rockets screamed as all four of the Electrodes exploded.

The room was filled with smoke from the explosion as Ricky still stood there, not making a move. The rockets were all cheering as they recalled their pokemon, but as they did the smoke cleared and Swampert was still standing, pretty beat up, but still standing.

How is that possible? I looked at the mud fish as it panted. That was four explosions at close range. That shouldn't have just knocked it out, it should have killed it, but, it's still… up.

"Oh God." Charles said. "It's not shut down." They all began to back away. "Richard… Richard that bastard must have told him! Richard betrayed us!"

"What do we do now?" One of them asked.

"You should try to kill me." Ricky said as his eyes turned from just a red to a blood red. "Before I kill you."

I backed away from him as they all began to charge their pokemon at full blast towards him. Dragonite looked back at me, asking silently what to do, but honestly, I didn't know. All of them were fighting Ricky, just Ricky, and here Ricky just threatened to kill off all of them. What in the world is going on?

I watched as Swampert stood up to several more single hit K-O attacks before Ricky recalled him, throwing out his Ursaring, which began thrashing everything that came close to it. "My Gosh." I said, watching the bear take hit after hit. "Its almost like those pokemon are not real, like they are some kind of machines that are only meant to kill."

One by one, all the Rockets ran out of Pokemon, and almost as soon as they were all out, police sirens could be heard from outside the radio station. Ricky then turned to look at me. "Did you call the cops?"

"Yeah." I smiled, recalling Dragonite. "Right before I left the center."

"Everyone freeze!" A police officer said as they ran into the back where we all were. His gun was drawn and was pointing it around at everyone. He then grabbed his walky-talky in his free hand, still holding out his gun. "I found them. Back part of the room, everything looks secure."

Shortly after Officer Jenny walked in behind him, carrying a nightstick with her as she walked up to me. "You Kyle?"

"Yeah." I said. "I'm Kyle Gray, the one that called it in. That's Ricky." I said, pointing over to him. "He's with me."

"Wait, you're Kyle Gray?" One of the Rockets said as he screamed at me. "You idiot! Don't you know who that kid is?"

"What?" I looked at him strange as he pointed at Ricky. "You are a complete idiot if you haven't noticed it by now! You're being thieved out of your ow-"

"Shut-up, scumbag!" Ricky said as he kicked the man in the gut. "No one is going to listen to your lies. You're all going to jail, and there's nothing you can say to change that!"

"That's right." Jenny said, walking up to Ricky as she squeezed his right butt cheek.

"Oh, gross." I cringed as she looked at Ricky.

"I want to have a few words with you later." She winked, and then turned to look at the other cops. "Alright boys, book them and take them down to headquarters."

"Yes ma'am!" They smirked and began cuffing all of the Rocket members.

Me and Ricky turned to walk outside as all the Rockets tried to revolt. "You idiots! He's right there! That's him! That's him!" I heard them scream. "Get him! Not us!"

When we got outside Jenny was already there, hiking her leg high on the cruiser and motioned for Ricky in a seductive way with her finger. "Hey, Kyle, thanks for everything, but I gotta…" He pointed over to Jenny.

"Ricky." I stopped him. "Before you go, what was that back there that I saw?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Your Swampert. Back when we fought Chuck you used a move I had never even heard of, and now I just saw it go through enough damage to kill any normal pokemon five times over." I looked at him sternly. "What the heck did you do to that thing?"

"Ah, you know." He smiled. "We all have our ways to train." He then motioned to the car again. "I'll catch up to you later." He then ran off, hopping in the back of a cruiser with Jenny.

"Yeah. Right." I said, walking away. "No mater how much training you have, a pokemon is not going to be able to stand up to something like that."

I was walking back to the center when the first cop brought out a Rocket. The Rocket looked at me and then spoke. "Hey, kid."

"What?" I asked as I walked beside him.

"He's stealing them. He's stealing them right from under your nose."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, as he was hit in the ribs by the cop that was pretty much dragging him.

"Shut up!"

"Agh!" The man coughed, spitting up blood. "If he gets Mew Three… then there will be no stopping him. Stop him…"

"I said, shut up!" The cop screamed as he kicked him into the back of a squad car. "Now be quiet! If you know what's good for ya!" He then slammed the metal doors shut as he turned to look at me. "Don't pay them any mind kid, they will say anything to get out of jail."

"Yeah." I said, continuing down the path to the center. "I guess."

***_-Scene Change-_***

The center was much busier now than it was when I first arrived yesterday. People were filing in, healing their pokemon, and, from what looked to be a very serious ice battle. Nearly every one of the pokemon that came in was either frozen or frostbit. If I were to guess it would be the Gym Leader's doing. Man, to brush off all those people just today, he must be one heck of a trainer.

I bypassed all the trainers and made my way to the PCs/videophones in the corner. I needed to find something out. I need to know what to make of that Rocket. My thoughts then trailed back to only a few moments before.

"He's stealing them. He's stealing them right from under your nose."

I waited for the video to cut to a blue screen as the dial tone came on. I punched in the number. The eleven-digit number appeared on the screen and began to call. It rang once, twice, and then a woman in her forties with frizzy short blonde hair came up on the screen.

" Cinnabar Research Fa-" She stopped when she saw me. "Yeah, what is it now, Kyle?" Her voice changed from an almost annoyed tone to a completely pissed off one.

"Hi, mother."

"If you have something to say go ahead and say it." She griped. "I don't have all day to listen to your whining. Spit it out so I can get back to work."

"Good morning to you too." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I was wondering when you planned on sending me back my pokemon. I have several gym battles coming up and I-"

"I don't have any of your pokemon." She spat, cutting me off. "The only one I have over here is the one that is automatically sent here when it is deposited."

"So you haven't been sending me emails about pokemon?" I asked, almost in shock at what she just told me.

"No, I haven't." She then raised her hand to the monitor. "Now if that is all, I have work to do. Don't ever call me here again." With that, she clicked the call off.

I reclined back in my seat, thinking deep about this. If she hasn't been sending me emails, then where are those emails coming from? I closed out of the phone program and opened up my PC login. As I plugged in my information I checked my pokemon boxes, only seeing a grayed out icon for Articuno. If she doesn't have my pokemon, then where have they all gone?

"Oh! I got it!" I said as I closed out of my pokemon boxes and opened up my mail, going straight for the outbox. I checked the sent information, and then thought again. How is that possible? That is my mothers email, her ID number, even her private contact info as well. I sent it to that email, I know I did.

"Well, I suppose there is always one person I can call." I sighed as I minimized the inbox info and opened up the phone program again. I plugged in the number and waited for it to ring in.

"Hello?" Bill picked up, half asleep, as usual. His face didn't show up on the monitor because I called his cell phone, but I knew it was him.

"Hey, Bill." I said. "I need your help."

"Again?" He groaned. "Kyle, why do you always need my help so early? It's like… 8am. A computer programmer needs his sleep."

"Bill…" I said in a serious voice. "You know how I have been sending my pokemon to my mother?"

"Yeah, why?" He yawned. "What's up? Something happen?"

"I just called my mother." I paused. "She doesn't have them. And she said she hasn't emailed me."

Bill was quiet for a while, so I continued.

"She used to send me emails saying to send her back pokemon through the PC, then one day I got an email from her saying to sent the pokemon as an attachment to a letter. From then on the emails were sent like that, and now she says she doesn't have any of my pokemon.

"Kyle, when was the last time you sent one out?"

"About and hour or two ago." I said, bringing up my inbox. "I actually have it brought up right now."

"Good." I heard Bill get up and shuffle some things around. "I want you to forward me that email. Send it to my private email address, .com."

"Alright." I said, typing the address in and clicking the send button. "Here ya go, I just sent it."

I heard a ding on the other end when Bill spoke up. "Yeah, I just got it. Now lets see." I heard keys being struck and a series of beeps and clicks. "Kyle, this is a hacked email." Bill said. "Your pokemon are being stolen."

I felt my throat get dry as my stomach sunk. I felt sick, almost like I was going to throw up. "Stolen?"

"Yes, stolen." Bill said as I heard keys being struck more. "They were able to hack into your mothers computer, her main master computer over their entire network at the Cinnabar Research Facility." The noises from the keys and computer continued. "Whoever is behind this is good, really good. It takes more than an amateur to pull off a hack job like this, trust me, I know."

"Is there anyway you can tell me where they are being sent to?" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry Kyle, but they have this so bugged out I cant get anywhere here. I would need to get back to my lab in Kanto before I could do anything else. Even then, I don't know if I can."

"How long will it take you to get back?" I asked.

"Two days?" Bill guessed. "That is if I drive. But, Kyle, to be 100% sure I need to see the email before you send it."

"I'm not sending another one out!" I jumped up, watching as she people stopped to look at me. I sat back down pulling up closer to the computer. "Sorry, Bill." I said. "There's people in here, ya know?"

"Kyle, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you need to play along with this for a little bit longer." Bill spoke calmly. "This person isn't selling, killing, or getting rid of them, because it looks like they were not removed from the emails, rather they are being stored elsewhere through it. If you let, whoever it is, know that you are catching on then they will probably terminate your pokemon on the spot."

"Then what should I do?" I asked.

"Keep it down. Act normal." Bill said. "Kyle, we will catch this person, but until then keep your strongest ones on you, at all times, never let the person have them. Next time they ask for one, I will get them." Bill then paused. "Kyle, did they get… you know… her?"

"No." I said calmly. "She is transferred to a different place all together every time she is deposited."

"Is there anyone else that has seen her besides you, me, your mother, the gym leader you were with, and Professor Oak?"

I paused, thinking back to when I saw Ricky in the cave, looking out at Articuno before I put her up. "No. I guess not"

"Then I think the person that is stealing them can't look into your PC storage system." Bill then said. "Kyle, I hate to tell you this, but the person stealing your pokemon is spying on you. Probably, you have even met them before and you don't even know it."

"Really?" I asked. "Why do you say that?"

"Because it seems as if they steal pokemon in the order they see them." Bill then pushed some more buttons. "You withdrew Pidgeot, used her in a battle against Bugsy, if I'm not mistaken, and then she was stolen. After that you withdrew Primeape, and shortly after him and Scyther were stolen. You withdrew Umbreon for Morty and after that, well, he was stolen as well. Kyle, they are stealing them as you use them. They must be somewhere around you, watching you, and then stealing the ones they see you have."

I slammed my fist on the table with the computer on it. "I must be the worst trainer in the world."

"Kyle, do you have any idea what they could be doing with them?"

I sighed, thinking back to the Rockets. "Today I busted into a Rocket hideout. When the cops showed up one of the Rockets told me my pokemon were being stolen, and then said something about… about a, Mew Three."

Bill was silent.

"Bill," I asked. "Do you know anything about this?"

I heard him sigh, as he spoke. "As you know, Mew is an extinct pokemon. About ten years ago scientist found the remains of one, mummified in a tomb in the high north regions on one of Sinnoh's islands. One of the scientists that discovered the sample stole it and it went missing. About six years ago some rumors went around about some members of Team Rocket having the sample and doing tests on it to try to create the world's strongest pokemon. This experiment was called Mew Two." Bill then sighed as he went on. "Giovanni, the old leader of Team Rocket, claimed that they had succeeded in creating it about a year ago, but he stated that it blew up his headquarters and flew off into space. He was forced to leave and took shelter in one of his 'stolen pokemon storage units' in Viridian. He was found by some trainers and was then turned into the police."

My eyes opened wide as I listened to the story. That, that was me and Shonna. We found him and shut in down almost a year ago! My hand raised to my forehead as I began to breath heavily.

"Bill," I asked. "Do you think my pokemon are being used to make a Mew Three?"

"I don't know." Bill said. "I guess anything is possible, but it seems highly unlikely. Since Giovanni is in prison now, police estimate only about three or four Rocket hideouts are left around. I doubt there would be enough people left to even make a dent in the amount of scientific knowledge that would be needed to create something as sophisticated as that."

"Okay, Bill." I said reaching my hand to the disconnect button. "Thanks for your help. I'll let you go now."

"Kyle, wait." Bill said as my finger hovered over the button. "Act normal. Act like you don't know what's going on. If you act out, you may never see your pokemon again. Also, look out. Someone is watching you. Very close. Don't tell a soul, no one, not even your own pokemon! Don't tell a soul!"

"Alright." I said. "I got it. And I'll give you a call when I get my next email."

"Okay. I'll be leaving for home soon. I should be there when the next one comes." There was a short silence. "Good luck, Kyle."

"Thanks." I then clicked the call off, putting my shoulders on the table as I shoved my face into my hands. "My, God. How can he expect me to sit here and do nothing when my pokemon are being stolen?"

"He's stealing them. He's stealing them right from under your nose."

"He's stealing them?" I began to speak to myself. "He's stealing them?"

The door to the center swung open as a familiar voice echoed through the lobby. "Ahhh!" Ricky stretched. "Nothing like kicking some booty and getting' some in the same day! Am I right, Kyle?" I heard him stop talking as footsteps came closer and closer to me. "You alright, Kyle?"

"Yeah." I said, taking my hands off my face as I threw myself back in the chair, closing my eyes. 'Don't tell a soul!' Bills words echoed through my head. "Just sleepy, man. You woke me up so freakin early, I'm dead."

"What are you doing at the PC?" Ricky asked, pointing to my email.

"Eh, nothing." I leaned up, closed out of my stuff and logged off. "Just checking my mother's email. I swear, that woman is taking too many of my pokemon." I stood up, trying to swallow my bitterness as I walked away. "And, really, what's up with you waking some one up so gosh darn early? It was barely daybreak."

"Oh, come on." Ricky said, wrapping his arm around me as he reached into his jacket, pulling out an eight ball. "I'll make it up to you." He then held the ball in his hand, twisting his hand as it spun up his finger and rested on the top of it, still spinning. "We still haven had a rematch yet like we said we would. I need to win back my title, remember?"

"Oh trust me." I half-heartedly laughed. "You have kept your title as a 'womanizing show off' quite well. I don't think anyone can strip you of that."

"Yeah, that's true." Ricky said, tossing the ball in the air and catching it. He then looked at me with his blood red eyes. "Come on." He motioned to the door. "One game of pool, what do ya' say?"

I smirked, and then shrugged his arm off me. "Sure, why not?"