Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, would I be writing my stories on fanfic?

I'm BACKKKKK! :D

Lol. Sorry, but I'm so excited! My finals are finally over and I'm having a blast in not studying. I've been throwing my hands in the air and screaming for quite a bit.

I had fun writing this chapter but there is not a lot of action yet. I'm saving that up for the next chapter. XP

Moving on, I just want to let you know that since my winter break is here, I'll be updating more often. Chapters might be a bit shorter but they'll come faster so I guess that is still good.

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 7:

"It seems that we have intruders," the woman's voice said after the Snagem member left when he delivered the news. This time, there was enough light in the dark and cold room to reveal that she was had long brown hair with corkscrew bangs that hung at the sides. The bottom of her face was covered by a pink silk, making her look like some sort of Arabian princess. Her brown eyes were filled with a haughty look.

"So it would seem…" the cold and calculating voice replied. This came from the sharp looking man with purple shades and a strand of black hair that stuck out like some sort of spring.

"Hehehe," the monkey voice said, "Now things are getting interesting again." This came from the man with a large red and white afro. His retro looking goggles made it impossible to see what color his eyes were. "I was getting bored after we caught that little thief earlier."

"Be careful Miror B.," the low rumbling voice of the final person. He had wild reddish brown hair that made him look wild. His muscular face was expressionless as though it took too much effort to make any sign of emotion. "Wishing for too much excitement will lead to problems."

"Cha, cha, cha," Miror B. said to the giant Tarzan looking man, "You're no fun at all Dakim. Where is your sense of excitement for complications?"

"But… the most interesting piece of information is about the boy," the cold calculating man said, interrupting his colleagues' conversation. He rested his arm on the arm rest and placed his head on top of his head. "Guess he is here to try and stop us." Of course the man used the word 'guess' loosely. He knew what was going on. Like the Grand Master of Chess, all the pieces placed were in the right place because of him. Sure there were unexpected moves like that ranger sneaking into their factory and releasing their hostage, but it didn't change the situation.

The woman covered her mouth with her long pink dress's sleeve and gave a stifled laughter. "Such a fool. He's playing right into our hand."

"Let him try," the black hair man said, looking at the woman, "After all, he is an important piece to our little game. In fact," the man grinned this time as though he thought of a good plan, "Let's give him a warm welcome when he comes…"

…

"Any ideas where this place is?" Wes asked Rui. The red hair girl shook her head as though she too was confused. Wes sighed in frustration. He should've followed Spenser when he had the chance and follow the direction where the place was. Or better yet, held one of those Snagem guys hostaged and beat the information out of him. Wes didn't even bother asking Murph. If Lunick had no idea how to navigate around this place, Murph certainly didn't.

"Do you remember anything about it? Anything?" Wes said, trying a different approach. If they had some sort of clue of what the place looked like, maybe they could figure out what exactly to look for.

"I-I guess, it was some sort of factory…" Rui muttered. "I remembered seeing smoke… and machines… I heard those when I was held there…" Smoke? Wes immediately frowned in confusion. Why would there be a factory here of all places? Wes remembered from last night that those two lackeys mentioned something about delivering new products… Could it be…?

"Something is not right," Wes muttered, shaking his head, feeling like he was missing a piece.

"Hey, you two love birds," Lunick yelled from the side, disturbing Wes and Rui, "Will you explain to me what we're going to do now?"

Wes sighed in frustration. How in the world did he end up in this situation? He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the word 'love birds' that Lunick used. Rui, on the other hand, blushed red and immediately hit Lunick hard on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Lunick said but Rui merely turned her head away in embarrassment.

"Guys," Murph said, in a worried voice, "Should we get moving? We don't know if more people will come."

"Yeah," Wes said, ignoring Lunick as he continued to yell at Rui, "We need to find Spenser. No doubt, he managed to track down those people by now. We'll meet up with them at their base. First we need to find some open space."

"W-why?" Murph asked, surprised at Wes' confidence.

"Simple," Wes said as he pointed to the sky. "We're going to fly there."

…

A couple of minutes later…

"Hey," Lunick said from behind as Rui continued to ignore him. She continued to stare at Wes who was leading the way and was talking to Murph. The sound of rustling grass and fallen leaves crunched underneath her boots. Now that she wasn't trying to run away anymore, Rui was able to enjoy the scenery here. It was similar to her hometown – relaxing and peaceful. This would be a nice place to live.

Wes is so cool, Rui thought in her mind as she continued to watch him. He was having some sort of animated discussion with Murph. Wes was making sure that the mission will be successful. He is the type of guy you could rely on. "Hey, Rui!" Lunick yelled again. This time Rui managed to snap out of her dream like state.

"What?" Rui finally asked, looking completely annoyed. Lunick walked up and glanced at Wes for a second before whispering into Rui's ear.

"What do you see in that guy?"

"Huh?" Rui said, taken aback by the question.

"What do you see in Wes?" Lunick repeated, nodding in the direction that Wes was going. "That guy is the rudest person I've ever seen. Plus, he's a criminal!"

"He's not a bad guy," Rui said, defending Wes, "He's really nice."

"He wouldn't save Solana if she didn't save you," Lunick shot back. He remembered the cold uncaring eyes Wes expressed when asked for help.

"He saved my life," Rui simply said. There was a heavy silence as Lunick tried to digest this new piece of information.

"What?" Lunick said, after he managed to recover from his shock. Wes… saved her? Well, Lunick thought, trying to think of something to make Wes still look bad, he probably just so happened to save her because it collided with something he was going to do.

"I was captured by a couple of those guys back at Orre. Wes was the one who saved me and he saved me countless of times after that," Rui said as she looked up at the green leaves hanging from the trees as though she was reminiscing the past. "Wes… he may be a guy who doesn't want to ask for help from other people, but you have to understand, he had a pretty harsh life. He lost faith in the idea of trust. He lived his most of life by himself. He doesn't even trust anyone. It was hard enough for him to make new friends." Lunick fell silent and stared at Wes who was still talking to Murph. Even in the back, Lunick could tell that Wes was keeping his distance. A look of solitude rest in the guy's eyes.

Don't ever tell me about consequences when you haven't sacrifice anything in your life! Lunick still remembered those words that Wes shouted at him in the tunnel. What in the world has Wes sacrificed that would make him turn like this?

"Anyways, don't be too hard on him," Rui continued as she looked down at her feet this time. She gave a side glance and a small smile. "He is just a guy who doesn't really know how to express his feelings."

…

"How did you meet Lunick?" Murph asked Wes. Wes knew that Murph was trying to be friendly but it was still kind of annoying. There was no point in making conversations like this. Still, it would be nice to be able to complain for once – especially on a guy he found perfect to complain about.

"When I came here," Wes said calmly, "Found him showing off his ranger gear to some tourists. It wasn't really hard to miss him." Wes decided not to go in further details about what happened after that.

"Heh, that's so like him," Murph grinned. "He always wanted to share his dreams to others."

"Dreams?" Wes repeated as though the word was foreign.

"Yeah," Murph said, "I heard he wrote seven letters, asking to join the Ranger base. Spenser was impressed at how much he wrote. Of course, he also said, it must've taken quite a bit of effort to write since Lunick is really bad at writing. There were a lot of crossing out and revisions."

"Wow," Wes said, not knowing what to really say, "That is quite a bit of dedication."

"Yeah," Murph said continuing, "He even came from a different region and still preferred to become a ranger over a trainer." Murph looked back at Lunick who was having some sort of conversation with Rui. "Lunick… His dream is to become the best ranger and help people. A goal he is still striving. Of course, he is a bit hard-headed but that's what makes him move forward."

"Really…" Wes said, looking back and seeing Lunick looking obnoxious as he was talking to Rui. "A dream huh…?"

"You sound a bit doubtful," Murph said, looking confused at Wes, "Don't you have a dream as well?" Wes fell silent for a moment and it seemed a while before he responded.

"No, I gave up on the idea of dreams a long time ago."

…

"Wow!" Rui said as she saw the large wide open meadow. Small buds of flowers dotted everywhere. The smell of fragrance filled the air. The blue sky seemed to be smiling upon them, allowing warm sunlight to shower on top of the land. "It's so beautiful!" And very romantic… But Rui didn't say that last part. She looked over at Wes who looked relieved that they managed to find such an open space.

"Right," Wes said and pointed to Murph and Lunick, who was completely annoyed by the fact that he didn't understand why this was the spot they needed to be. "You guys can get good flying Pokemon right?"

"Huh?" Murph said.

"What?" Lunick responded. Both rangers looked at each other, puzzled by Wes' question. However, Wes didn't elaborate and simply pointed to their styler. "Get some flying Pokemon. Big enough to carry four people."

"What?" Lunick repeated, still not getting it, "Why?"

"Just do it," Wes groaned as he opened his bag.

"Can you explain why at least?"" Lunick retorted back.

"Come on Lunick," Murph said as he took out his styler. "We should hurry up."

"Why are you taking orders from him?" Lunick hissed so that Wes couldn't hear them. The two rangers moved a bit away. "He didn't even want to help us in the beginning!"

"Oh come on now," Murph said, grinning. "He's not a bad guy. Besides he is helping us now and is doing this to save Solana. Shouldn't we work together? At least for her sake?" Lunick paused and immediately frowned in frustration. Murph really stumped him this time.

"Tch, I still don't trust him," Lunick said stubbornly as he walked off, "Keep an eye on him Murph. I'll capture those Pokemon." Murph sighed as Lunick walked off. Figures that he would act like that, but at least he had skills. He, Murph, is still a level one ranger even though he is a senior. Even capturing simple Pokemon was hard enough for him. Murph looked over at Wes who was talking to Rui about something. Whatever it was, it sounded serious because Rui looked slightly pale and a bit frightened.

"Is something wrong?" Murph asked as he waddled over toward the two.

"Nothing really," Wes muttered but Murph could tell that the two were hiding something. "We just need to figure out a strategy in getting in. I highly doubt they're just going to let us waltz in."

"Oh," Murph said, a little bit uncomfortable. Wes sounded like he was a professional in this sort of thing and Murph was indeed curious as to what the plan might be. But Wes didn't elaborate and instead said, "Why aren't you helping out Lunick?"

"Wes," Rui said in a tone to signify Wes' rude remark.

"Well, um, I'm not good at capturing Pokemon," Murph said, though he didn't seemed to be too embarrassed about this – as though he was used to being asked this question many times. Wes, however, bore his eyes straight into Murph's small squinty eyes, making the ranger feel very uncomfortable. "You know, I'm just going to go check and see if Lunick is… well… yeah." And Murph hurried off, apparently more afraid of Wes than Lunick.

"Wes, that was kind of rude," Rui belittle the white hair trainer but Wes didn't say anything and turned back at Rui.

"Are you sure you didn't see any of those Shadow Pokemon?" Wes repeated in a softer voice, making sure Murph couldn't overhear them.

"Yeah," Rui said, looking worried instead of relieved. "I didn't see any. Even when they were coming after us. There might have been one or two that belonged to those Snagem people, but… that's not what you're asking about right?" Wes nodded, trying to formulate a general idea. Factory was made to build something but it wasn't like in Orre.

"Then that means the factory isn't producing Shadow Pokemon," Wes said slowly. "They are making something else… but what…?" Wes had a nagging feeling that he knew what it was but he decided not to share it yet. No need to make Rui more scared now. Plus he wasn't sure if it really is what he suspected.

"Is it something far worse than Shadow Pokemon?" Rui whispered, worried. "Wes, maybe we should tell them what we –"

"No," Wes said firmly, "We don't need more complications added to the factor."

"But, they need to know," Rui said, a hint of plead in her voice, "What happens if they-?"

"The less they know, the better. I'm sick and tired of having people trying to butt into my business," Wes said in a darker tone, signifying that the conversation was over. Rui gave a frustrated sigh and looked away. But when Wes turned his head in deep thought, Rui stole a glance at him. Rui knew what Wes really meant when he said that. The guy would rather take the burden by himself than give it to others.

"Then… what are we going to do…?" Rui said, after several minutes of silence.

"Well, first off, I'm going to need you next to me when we get in," Wes said.

"Huh?" Rui said, her face immediately red. "Need me?" Rui could feel her heart pounding faster.

"Yeah, there is something I need to figure out, but I'm going to need your help," Wes continued and paused a moment before adding, "You're the only one who can see them."

"Oh, yeah that's right," Rui said, feeling silly now. Of course that's what Wes really meant. She sighed and looked down at the grass so that Wes can't see her red face.

"YO!" Lunick yelled and Rui was glad that Wes looked away toward the direction of the sound. "I got what you asked for!" Right behind him were four Scyther and one flustered Murph. "Now what?" Lunick was obviously unhappy at the fact that Wes was taking charge of the whole situation.

"Now," Wes said unconcern at the hostility, "Let's fly."

Author's Notes

Hmm, I wonder how this will turn out. Now we learn a bit more about Wes and Lunick. I promise a huge major battle scene in the next chapter. In fact, it'll probably be two chapters of major battles. I will hopefully get the next chapter up by this month. Like I said, no school means more free time for me to write.

Anyways, let's thank my reviewers before I go.

…

741852AuthorNicolaStarlaLili

Jarkes

littlmidget123

…

That's it from me.

I'll see you in the next chapter.

-JapanDreamer