Chapter 23 will be the last chapter for quite a while. This week coming is exams, which I need to study for, and the week after I have no school (where I get all my work done.) Since I still have tons of games I wanna play, I wont be doing any of the story at home, so don't expect any new chapters until February 2nd at the earliest.

Chapter 22: Royal blood

Lloyd didn't know what was going on or who had taken him, he couldn't see anything with the bag over his head and he knew nothing of the island itself. Was it a bandit out for his reward from the castle? Was it another fugitive out to capture him like Zar and Maverick had tried to do?

After about an hour, his captor finally stopped somewhere in the forest. Lloyd could hear many voices around him, a bright orange light, like from a fire, shined through the bag. Someone grabbed the bag and pulled it off his head, his kidnapper put him back on his feet.

He was surrounded by grass type pokemon, all staring at him. He was brought to some kind of camp in the forest, the only illumination came from the blazing fire nearby.

"What do you want with me?" He asked, not speaking to any specific person.

One of them stepped forward, it was a Meganium, Chikorita's final evolutionary form. It looked at him accusingly, like he just got caught stealing something.

"What were you doing in the castle?" She asked, ignoring Lloyds question.

"My friend wanted to go, she dragged me there."

"Liar! My scouts saw you go in with a Chikorita, and come out alone with this!" She kicked the bag that contained his ten million poke reward, the shining coins spilling out across the dirt. "Why were you in the castle?!"

"I told you! Rita dragged me here! Its not my fault!"

"Who is Rita?"

"My friend, the Chikorita, we met a few days ago in the wasteland!"

The Meganium stopped looking angry now a look of concern on her face. "This isn't good...."

"What do you mean?"

She looked angry again. "That's none of your concern, you need to leave this island right away!"

"I can't leave without Rita! I refuse!"

"Hey, hey, hey everyone, what's going on here?" The voice didn't come from either of them, instead it came from a totally new voice that Lloyd recognized. He looked in the direction he heard the voice, he saw the green shelled Squirtle he had met going to Pipton, and then later in Tesla Depths.

"What are you doing here?" Both Lloyd and the Meganium asked.

"I could ask you the same thing Lloyd, everywhere I seem to be, you are as well."

"Who is this squirtle?" The Meganium asked Lloyd.

"We met him a few times... He lost his memory and is looking for something... Right?"

"That's exactly right, but once again my search was for nothing. I was on my way to the dock to wait for the boat when I saw you get nabbed, so the good guy I am just had to follow and make sure you were ok. Your welcome by the way."

"Wait a second!" Said Meganium, directed towards Squirtle. "You know this guy, do you know if he has a Chikorita friend?"

"Oh yeah, I know her, she rescued him from the bottom of a mystery dungeon a little over a week ago, haven't seen them separated since."

"See?" Said Lloyd. "I told you she was my friend!"

"Fine, fine, so you're her friend, but that still doesn't mean you wouldn't have betrayed her for the money!"

"I keep telling you! She was the one who dragged me along, I didn't want to go because I knew it was a trap!"

"And how did you know it was a trap, hmm? Awfully good of a guess."

"Its not the first time, trust me, I've had four different pokemon try to capture me, and without Rita's help they would have succeeded long ago."

"Listen there, miss whoever-you-are..." The Squirtle said. "I've never seen two pokemon been through so much together in such a short time, you might not trust him, but I trust him enough to know he wouldn't do that to anyone!"

Everyone went silent, the only sound came from the crackling fire next to them. A few moments passed, and Meganium began to speak, the anger in her voice gone.

"Listen, Umm..."

"Lloyd."

"Lloyd... I apologize, it was wrong of me to accuse you so quickly. This is that false kings fault, not yours. How about you and your friend stay the night? We can't offer much for bedding, but we'll do all we can."

"Thanks I guess." Said Lloyd. "What's your name anyways?"

"Meryl, now please, you both must be tired at this late hour, lets discuss everything tomorrow."

---

Lloyd was laying on a thin mattress in a small teny, he couldn't sleep after so much had happened.

Who are these people anyways?

It was obvious they opposed the king, and after meeting with him, Lloyd figured that wasn't a bad thing.

Lloyd heard the flap of his tent being opened, so he sat up to see who it was. It was the Meganium, Meryl.

"Umm, hey?" Lloyd said, confused that she came to see him.

"Hey... Umm, I really couldn't wait for tomorrow to ask this, could you tell me what Rita is like, how you would describe her?"

"That came out of nowhere... Why do you wanna know so bad? You know her or something?"

"Yes... Very much so." Meryl looked away from Lloyd for a second, looking like she was staring off in the distance. "Just, please, what is she like?"

"Well..." He thought for a moment. "She's... It's hard to describe her really. She's nice most of the time, a great friend. But she had a bit of a temper, and she's kinda overly obsessed with money and stuff, and she's really reckless at times."

"That Squirtle said that she rescued you from a mystery dungeon, is this true?"

"Yep, I was unconscious all the way down in the basement of some ruins, Rita supposedly brought me up and all the way to town by herself by carrying me on her back. But I don't remember anything from before that, my memory is completely gone."

"That's awful, but I'm glad to hear Rita turned out to be such a wonderful girl."

"Ok, I told you about her, I think it'd be fair if you'd tell me how you know Rita, and why you care about her so much."

"Well... Ok." Meryl took a deep breath. "I'm... I'm her mother."

"Your Rita's mom? Why are you here then?"

"On Oasis Island, and not in the wasteland like her? Its a long story."

"I have time, go ahead."

"Well... It all started sixteen years ago..."

---

One seemingly normal day, I was visited by an unexpected guest.

In the nearby swamp, there was many rumours of a witch who lived somewhere deep within it. Nobody ever saw her before, and the swamp was far too dangerous to go into, so nobody ever confirmed the rumour.

The guest that came to see me was that same witch, who came to me with a warning.

"You must leave with your daughter immediately," She said to me, "you are in grave danger!"

"Why should I believe you? Your just some crazy old loon!"

The witch didn't debate with me, instead she just placed her hand on my head, and suddenly I saw a vision, like a dream. In it, I saw me, my newborn daughter and my husband, murdered by King Noah himself.

The images were horrifying, and felt so real.

I took my daughter and went to find my husband, but like in the vision the witch had shared with me, he was murdered, right before our eyes. There was nothing I could have done to save him.

I ran as fast as I could, with my daughter, and ran to the docks where I just barely managed to catch the last ship leaving the island for quite a while.

Once nightfall came, a great storm came with it. The ship rocked back and forth from the huge waves that the wind created, and the rain was so heavy, so thick, you couldn't see more then a few feet from the ship.

I thought nothing of it, dismissing it as just simple rain, but eventually, there was thunder and lighting as well. It crashed and banged, the sounds getting louder and louder. Eventually one bolt of lightning hit the ship, both me and my daughter fell overboard and the ship sank. I managed to find an intact lifeboat floating nearby, but I couldn't find my daughter anywhere, I feared that she was lost along with the ship.

By the time I reached the shores of the wasteland region, it was morning. There was no chance in my mind that my daughter would have survived, I was sure that she was dead. I spent weeks living in an inn located in a nearby town I came across.

I didn't leave until I heard from some travellers that there was a new king, King Noah. I knew I had to change this, to dethrone him no matter what, even if it costed me my life.

At first I planned to never return, to forget about my life on Oasis Island, and live in wasteland for the rest of my life. But I realized that it was a cowardly thing to do, I realized I couldn't just leave like that. I returned as soon as a new ship came to take passengers to Oasis Island, and boarded it.

A few years passed, I gathered up as many people as I could who also hated the king, and created the "Oasis Renegades", these people here, a group who's sole purpose is to one day return the throne to its rightful heir.

How I found out my daughter was alive wasn't a very complicated story. Two days ago, I listened to the radio, specifically PNR. The radio station had been offline for sometime, Kane congratulated three pokemon from the Brotherhood with fixing everything. Kane has always been known as a lady's man, so he took quite a bit more time describing Rita then either of you two.

"... And lastly, the young, the beautiful Rita. A Chikorita with some of the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen, green and shining like emeralds, a very special thanks goes out to you from me and all my fans. Now, on to today's news..."

It was the green eyes, both me and my husband had them too. I was sure it was her, It had to be. It wasn't long before a Renegade scout came to me, telling me that he heard that the king was looking for the same Chikorita from the Brotherhood, which made me sure that this Chikorita, Rita, was my lost daughter.

---

"And that's all I know, I have no idea how she survived the storm. And I don't know how she survived the wasteland at such a young age."

"There's one thing I'm confused about... Why did King Noah want to kill you and Rita anyways? Did you do something to make him mad or something?"

"No, it is because I am, or at least I was, the queen of Oasis Island. King Noah wanted to kill the three of us so he could steal the throne, and become the new king."

Lloyd couldn't believe his ears. "Wait, that means that Rita is... A princess?"

"Yes, and eventually, she would also become the new queen to replace me."

"Wow... That's incredible!"

"I want to thank you Lloyd, for telling me about her, I never got to know her and even though I'll never get the chance to raise her myself, it makes me glad to know she's doing well."

"Its no problem, I didn't know much about her either... But wow, a princess!"

Meryl laughed. "You'd best be getting some sleep Lloyd."

Meryl went outside and closed the flap. The tent was empty again, Lloyd layed back down, looking up at the top of the tent.

I can't believe it, Rita of all people, royalty! I wonder how she'll react when she finds out? I'm gonna make sure I get to see that reaction, I'm doing anything I can to save her. Not just for me, but for her mother too, Rita will be freed.