Well this story seems to be back up and running again. I do have to say I missed Quil a lot. I have big plans for him and me not writing about him anymore is just, I don't really know what to call it. Anyway, Quil's back. Now I know some of the previous chapters dragged on forever, but I've become a better writer since then, or at least that's what I'm told.

If there are any chapters that should be considered being redone, please PM me and I'll try to make them better. And starting hopefully now, I'll do what I can to make these chapters better. So, please R & R and let me know what ya'll think. Thanks!

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Fear began to overtake me upon the words Tess spoke. Flashbacks of the people dressed in black with the red R's on their shirts quickly popped into my mind. The word Rocket stuck in my mind. So these black clothed people were known as Rockets who hurt pokemon. And they were responsible for the attack on my home. If fear hadn't been gripping me at the moment, I wouldn't know what I would have done. However, I was snapped back into reality by the Rattata's voice.

"Rockets?" he asked confused. "You mean the kind that you light up and watch explode in the air?"

"Not those kind!" Tess yelled. "Team Rocket, an evil organization of people who capture and steal pokemon from around the world. And I bet that they're here for the Silph Scope."

So then what are we supposed to do?" the Rattata asked worriedly. "They'll be up here any second."

"Not to worry," Tess said. "I'll hold them off while you guys get out of here."

"But-" the Rattata began to say, but was cut off by Tess.

"Don't worry about me," Tess said with a smile. "I'll be all right. The main thing to worry about is that Silph Scope. Hope to see you two again." With that said, Tess floated on down the stairs.

"So, what do we do?" I asked after several seconds of silence.

"What do you think?" the Rattata asked. "We have to get out of here with that scope thing without having these Rocket people taking it from us?"

"Yeah but wha if-"I began, but was cut off by the Rattata.

"If there was ever a time to escape, now would be it," he said, grabbing my paw and heading for the stairs in a panic run. We reached the edge and were about to run down it when the Rattata pushed me back, a blackish purplish ball zooming right where we stood a second ago.

I looked up as a large, gray, four legged creature came up from below, a look of determination in his eyes. I gripped the Silph Scope a little more tightly as he stared down upon me, his eyes on what he wanted. "Give me that scope," he growled, causing me to flinch.

"Y-Yeah?" the Rattata said, obviously scared. "And wh-what would someone like you n-need it for?"

"That's none of your concern, Rattata," the pokemon growled again. "I've just been sent orders to retreive that scope. And you will hand it over to me. Now for the last time, hand that scope over and I will allow you to escape with your lives."

I stared at the pokemon before us, staring into his determined eyes to obtain what he came after. I then looked down at the scope I held, my mind racing to figure a way out of the situation we were in. I could either give this pokemon the scope and doom all ghost pokemon, which would leave me feeling guilty for doing something like that, or die from the pokemon's sharp teeth and powerful attacks. Why couldn't I be more like Flare? However, as my mind finally made a decision, a third idea popped into my head. I really don't know how it popped in there, all I knew is that if I didn't act quickly, one of the other two options would happen.

"All right," I said in defeat. "You win. I don't want to die."

"Wise choice," the pokemon said. "Now give me that scope and I'll leave you runts to be."

"But I don't want the scope to be used in the wrong way," I continued. "So if you want it, you're going ot have to retrieve it." With that, I turned about and threw the scope toward the hole the stream of fire made.

"No!" the pokemon screamed, chasing after it. I watched, as time slowed down, the scope flipping about through the air toward its target. My heart was pounding heard against my chest, ready to burst if the scope would miss. The scope hit the floor, some ways from the hole as the pokemon leapt at it just as the scope rolled right toward the hole, the pokemon slamming a paw right on the smaller part of the scope while the bigger part was already tipped down into the hole.

The pokemon sighed with relief. Doing so must have caused him to lose his grip on the scope, for it fell right through the floor. I took the opportunity to grab the Rattata's paw and run down the stairs. We just managed to reach the bottom and turn when the same blackish purplish ball flew right into the wall behind us, the shockwave knocking us off our feet.

I quickly managed to recover first, getting back onto my feet as I saw the pokemon leap down toward us. I jumped back out of the way as the pokemon landed right where I had been moments ago. And the moment he did land, he was engulfed by a stream of fire from the left. It was then I took notice of my surroundings and saw that the entire place was on fire.

Why was it everywhere I seem to have gone, I always ended up in a place that had fire blazing around? First my home was put on fire by the Rockets, then the forest I walked through to get here was caught on fire by a fire turtle, and now I'm stuck in this tower. And guess what? It was on fire too. Whoa! Where'd that burst of attitude come from?

"Come on!" the Rattata said, grabbing me by the paw, snapping me out of my thoughts. "They're off guard at the moment. We've got to get out!"

I turned my attention back to the pokemon that was after us to see that he was on the ground, his fur looking quite singed. Several feet away from him was a black dog with white things upon his body, his mouth open and his eyes wide with surprise.

I rounded my head back to attention as we reached the stairs and was about to run down with the Rattata when something caught my eye. There, lying not too far from the black dog, was the scope I threw. I yanked my paw out from the Rattata's grasp and ran for it. I heard the Rattata's pleads for me to come back, but I was determined to get the scope back, despite how scared I was at the moment.

When I felt like I was in range, I dove for the scope. However, as I did, I felt more intense heat engulf me. But nevertheless, I managed to grab the scope, my entire body shaking from the fear. However, a paw smashed down on one of my paws, causing me to grimace in pain.

"You're going to pay for what you made me to do my friend," came a very angry voice. I looked up, opening an eye to see the black pup looking down at me with a very angry expression upon his face. He opened up his mouth and was about to release the stream of fire on me when he was tackled by the Rattata, his paw lifting up off mine.

"Get up!" the Rattata said, helping to lift me up. However, my attention was turned toward the black pup as he ran at the Rattata, leaping up into the air and coming down on him. Before he could smash down on the Rattata, I did something that even surprised me. I gripped the Silph Scope tightly in my paw, raised it in the air, and whacked the black pup as hard as I could in the face.

I was completely shocked at what I just did as the black pup fell to the ground. My mind was racing a mile a minute, knowing that escaping was our only hope of getting out of this mess. I grabbed the Rattata's paw again and ran for the stairs, running down them. Luckily we didn't encounter any pokemon along the way this time, nor the next floor.

However, as we reached the next floor, another black pup flew right into the wall. And I mean into the wall. I stopped and looked ahead, seeing nothing but the familiar black clothed humans with the red R's on their shirts. There weren't that many, maybe five or six at the most from what I counted. They all had pokemon out fighting with the pokemon that must have belonged to the other humans who were dressed in brown.

"They're blocking our exit," the Rattata said. "How are we going to get through that without them seeing us?"

"You can leave that to me," a familiar voice replied. Both the Rattata and I looked up to see Tess floating there. "Glad to see you boys made it this far."

"Tess!" the Rattata cried. "The tower! It's on fire!"

"Really?" Tess said, not sounding all that surprised. "I couldn't tell."

"You said you could get us past them?" I asked, desperately wanting to get out.

"Of course," Tess said with a wink. "Just close your eyes and think of the outside and you'll be there before you know it."

I did as Tess told me and closed my eyes, thinking of standing outside of the tower. I felt a strange, tingling feeling pass through my body. The sound of fire all around suddenly disappeared and the heat I felt instantly cooled. I felt something soft beneath my feet and something cooling sweep past me.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was no longer in the tower, but outside of it. In my hands I held the Silph Scope and right beside me was the Rattata that had accompanied me. We were both outside, away from all the danger. I sighed with relief as I sat down, feeling some of the burns get agitated by the grass as I did so.

"She must have teleported us out," the Rattata said. "But where exactly did she send us to?" I watched as he looked around, trying to figure our destination when he looked up and stopped, his head looking in that certain direction. Having a feeling at what he was looking at, I turned around as well and looked into the air to see black smoke rising up above the trees.

"She must not have teleported us too far," the Rattata said. "After all, she did say her teleportation was short-ranged. So she must have been able to get us away from the tower."

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, continuing to stare up at the smoke.

"I say we let the humans deal with the problem now," the Rattata said. "There's nothing more we can do."

I continued staring up at the smoke, something running through my mind. What of the pokemon on the upper floors? What if they got burned alive up there? I would never be able to feel right if I didn't do anything. And Tess. After all she had done for us, was I really about to just leave her to the demise of her burning home? And why were all these thoughts running through my head?

"But what about Tess?" I asked the Rattata.

"I'm sure she can handle things on her own," the Rattata said. "Besides, we need to get that scope to Saffron before the Rockets come after us."

However, I wasn't feeling right in the stomach. I couldn't leave Tess and never find out what happened to the tower. If she died, it would be all my fault. And I would never stop blaming myself. I knew what I had to do and broke my gaze away from the smoke, facing the Rattata.

"So," he said. "Ready to go?"

I looked down at the scope I held in my paws and actually felt myself smiling for once. I felt my heart beating against my chest happily, letting me know that I was doing the right thing. I looked up at the Rattata again and grabbed a paw. He opened it, looking at me confused as I placed the scope in his paw, in which he closed it automatically.

"I'm sorry I can't go with you," I said. "I wouldn't feel right if I left not knowing if Tess made it out all right. Sure I may be afraid of putting my life on the line in a burning building, but Tess would have done the same thing."

"But the scope," the Rattata said.

"You better hurry if you don't want anyone to take it," I said. "Goodbye. And thanks for your help." With that said, I turned around and began running in the direction of the black smoke, leaving a stunned Rattata behind.

"Quil!" I heard him yell after me, but I already made my decision. I couldn't let anyone die just because of the way I was.

"Hang on, Tess," I thought. "I won't let you burn alive."