Hehe, next chapter. Actually, not much to say now. Besides the fact that there might be some new characters coming up in the next few chapters. You may know them or you may not, but you'll just have to see. :)

Last time: Solana and Spenser made up, which made Jackie feel awkward. Sven and Rena are busy fighting Heatran. Joel and Lucy are chasing after Lavana and Alyssa. Kate is still off on her own while Keith is left worrying about her with Barlow and the Vientown Crew. And… I think that pretty much covers it.

Enjoy!

Joel

"Lucy, watch it!"

"Joel, I'm driving this thing, so just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Another flamethrower narrowly missed, singeing my hair. Who would've known that a Charizard could fly and shoot back flamethrowers at the same time? "Just watch out for its Fire Spin too. I would not want to get caught in one of those."

"Duly noted."

We had almost completely caught up, but now was the difficulty of somehow getting Lavana to give up Alyssa without either of us crashing. We couldn't risk one of Dragonite's Dragon Rage's without possibly hitting Alyssa and we couldn't risk pissing it off by trying to capture it. It was a delicate situation. And Lucy said she was driving, but it was mostly the Dragonite. That thing knew how to fly.

Dragonite gave another push, riding the wind at the same time, as he drew us even with Lavana. I could see Alyssa craning around to look at us, evaluating the distance between us. I shook my head as she met my eyes. She just had to stay put. I didn't want her getting hurt by trying to do something on her own. For now, she had to play the good little captive. Up here, high above the trees and skimming the air, I couldn't even think about what were to happen if she fell.

"Listen, Joel, I'm getting Alyssa."

I glanced at Lucy in surprise as Charizard attempted to ram us and Dragonite swerved out of the way to dodge it. We both almost fell off. "Yeah, I'm getting her too. That's what we're doing, Luce," I said plainly, too busy thinking of a plan in my head to notice what she was doing.

"Cover me."

Next time I looked up, she had jumped. She must have timed it perfectly because she landed right behind Lavana, and although she had to scramble a bit to get a good hold, she was safely on by the time I could react.

"I told you not to be reckless!" I yelled, maneuvering the Dragonite back a bit so I could hopefully catch her if she fell off. This girl drove me crazy.

"This isn't reckless!" She answered back over the screeching wind while ducking down to avoid a punch from Lavana. "It's just not entirely diplomatic."

"I swear, Lucy, I'm gonna have a head full of gray hair by the time I'm thirty. And they're all pretty much going to be your fault." I watched, helplessly, as Lucy attempted to take control of the Charizard. This was chaotic.

Meanwhile, I had an idea of my own. Now was the time to get Alyssa. Making sure that we got Lavana was good, but Alyssa was priority number one. I tried not to worry about Lucy falling off as I signaled the Dragonite to speed up a bit. While Lavana was preoccupied with Lucy, who looked like she was having the catfight of the century, I called for Alyssa to carefully maneuver onto the Dragonite. Again, someone had to jump.

I caught her. Arceus, that was close. She beamed up at me, looking just like Kate at that moment. "Thanks so much, Joel."

"No problem, Alyssa," I answered, ruffling her hair and helping her to adjust. "Just hold on tight. We still gotta get Lucy outta there."

I hadn't noticed how close we'd gotten to the treeline though. Charizard dipped precariously from the force of the struggling fighters and I wanted to get Lucy out of there as soon as possible. The fire dragon looked exhausted. After all those Fire Spins and the high speed chase, I wasn't surprised.

It was heading for a crash landing. Even I could tell that.

"Lucy!"

Lucy was too busy grappling with Lavana to hear me. I could tell she wanted Lavana in for good. Locked up so she couldn't hurt anyone else. That was all well and noble, but I was not having her stay on that Charizard when it seemed to be about to skydive without a parachute. The ground was getting way too close for me.

I got closer, hoping Lucy would notice. "Luce! C'mon, Luce! Over here."

The Charizard's nose was dipping.

"Lucy!"

Then it just lost it. Dragonite pulled up as the Charizard hit the deck, billowing up dust as it crashed into a field. Luckily, they didn't hit something worse. Like a lot of rocks. As Dragonite landed, I peered through the dust, searching for any sign of Lucy or Lavana. Mostly Lucy though.

Lavana separated herself from the mess first, coughing as she reached for the Pokeball conveniently resting on her belt. Damn it. She still had Magmortar lying in wait. At the moment though, that wasn't the biggest of my worries. Lucy wasn't so quick to get up.

"Luce?"

She was pinned under the motionless Charizard, probably hacking up half a lung as she made a half-hearted attempt at getting free. I rushed over to her, kneeling down in front of her, trying to guage how she was. Her face was covered in dust and her curly red hair was the same, and I carefully pushed some of the hair that had fallen out of her braid.

"Hey. You okay?"

She nodded, despite the fact that she obviously was not. I motioned to Dragonite and it lumbered over to help, using its strength to push Charizard off her. I checked the Charizard as Lucy sat up, recovering. Its pulse was weak and I was no Nurse Joy, but if we got this over with soon enough and called in back-up, it might be okay.

Meanwhile, Alyssa was watching Lavana fiercely, just waiting for her to make one move. The pink-haired villan's eyes were still watery from the dust and she looked strangely vulnerable. However, that didn't last long as her face transformed into a snarl, some mix between extreme fury and hatred. So much for pity.

"Joel." Lucy nudged my arm and I finally looked at my surroundings for the first time. Some dozens of small, round faces stared at me in shock and apprehension. We just happened to land in the middle of schoolyard of Boyleland Elementary School with the raving lunatic of a woman the Ranger Union had been tracking down for the last two years. The worst part: It was recess time.

Jackie

Looked like someone was happy.

Happy wouldn't even begin to describe it. Spenser was practically a new man. While I had been undercover, Joel had told me everything that happened. I mean everything. I could still see the outline of Spenser's black eye. Apparently Solana could too.

"Hey, Spense, your eye looks a little discolored. You okay?"

"Er," I watched in amusement as my blue-green-haired best friend squirmed under Solana's question. "Funny you should ask that, Solana."

However, at that moment, we reached the upper deck. Spenser seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as we paused and Solana glanced around the corner, her face adopting a look of concern. "There are Dim Sun guys crawling everywhere. I don't know if I'll make it to the bridge without being seen. I mean, the undercover idea was good and all, Jackie, but a hat and a uniform doesn't necessarily constitute cover."

I was a bit put out, but, nonetheless, I got her point. "No problem. We'll just think of another plan."

We all looked at each other. I swear you could hear a pin drop.

"C'mon, Jackie, you do this for a living," Spenser complained, seeming to have recovered from his near miss with Solana. I made a face at him, clearly annoyed. I stepped past Solana, peering around the corner to see the many Dim Sun lackeys walking around, doing various tasks. The blue-haired leader of Dim Sun was nowhere to be seen though. Ice had to be skulking around here somewhere. I glanced up to see the stairs leading up to the captain's room, where the wheel for directing the ship would be. That must be where he was. Where ever Ice was, the Vatonnage style was sure to be. My eyes carefully took in our surroundings, observing our assets and liabilities. I assessed the situation and did my job, the one I was paid so luxuriously for. Yeah, right.

"Well, there is something we could do…"

Ice

"You, check with the people in the engine room," I directed the order toward the most intelligent-looking of the Dim Sun grunts in my office. None of them really looked all that smart, but I suppose when compared with me, they'd never win.

I snorted in contempt. Heath was a total idiot. Lavana was dumb too, but at least she was attractive. I could always kill some time harassing her. Even Kincaid, who I'd recently been in touch with from the main base, was an imbecile at best. His one, tangible contribution to the Altru Tower scam was the genius professor, but look how that ended up backfiring on us. Let's all face it. I'm the only one smart enough to lead us.

I walked to the window, observing the proceedings that were going on. Everything was going perfectly. We had a Vatonnage styler and a ranger with the skills to use it. While the Ranger Union and that dithering genius professor were busy trying to regain their research and track the Darkrai in the Sekra Mountain Range, I was heading right for where it really was, Chroma Ruins. All thanks to the newest genius recruit, Meagan. She had been so easy to fool, it had been even easier than Isaac. All we had to do was feed her some crap about Isaac holding her back and getting the chance to really do something and she'd eaten it up. She was already jealous of Isaac and that crazy, bubbly blonde's relationship and his purposeful snubbing of her. Plus, it didn't hurt that she had family in the organization.

I was still looking out the window when something caught my eye. What the heck?

It was a Chatot, flitting through the air innocently. I wouldn't have looked twice besides wondering what the heck a Chatot was doing on my ship. They weren't exactly commonly found in the middle of the ocean. And none of my grunts would be pansies enough to have a Chatot for a partner.

That was when all hell broke loose.