Pokémon

Hello everybody. I'm here with another update. I would have done it earlier but I had to rewrite this entire chapter. Don't ask. It's just been a bad week and I'm sorry if this has some errors in it and it's a bit shorter than usual. Take what you can get. Anyway, enjoy. And a word for my reviewers:

KitsPokePeople - Thank you very much :D

Luxord's Xigbar - Oh no, not Sebation! I don't wanna die young! Plus I don't see how that will help the update any. XP Nice wording by the way.

shineon98 - I hope that's a good thing...?

Chapter # 22 - The Button

His cackling laughter sounded again as he began walking to where his aircraft was hiding, leaving all his turmoil behind.

About one hour prior Soul Salvation Submarine

Shadow sat in a room. It was the same room used to create the alias "Roxy". Her hair was still the same aqua blue as Roxy's, but she had removed her contacts and bright clothes. She could stare at her reflection and see her nearly black orbs staring back. She was dressed only in a fluffy pink robe that just barely brushed her knees. The maids had blow dried her drenched locks and tied it back in a neat braid with her bangs pinned back with the rest of it. Her eyes were highlighted with even more black, lips painted red, and on the plus side she managed to get a fair tan while on the island. Her cheek was pressed into her knuckle as she dawdled the time away from the luxury of the plush chair. She didn't know how long she loitered there, and she didn't really care.

"Countdown: 30 minutes until departure time," Rang the robotic voice over the intercom.

Heaving a sigh, Shadow stood and walked out of the room. She wandered along until she heard the voice of the slithering snake himself. He heard her enter the main area, and turned with a cavalier atmosphere clinging to him. He stood as took his time walking over to her, hands behind his back. "Shadow, you've completed your first task within the Soul Salvation flawlessly. It is my honor to present you with your own uniform. Congratulations, you made it in." He smirked.

Shadow took the bundle of black from his hands, running a finger over the black rhinestone letters SS of the top of it. "Thanks," she said, clutching it over her chest and crossing her arms. "What's happening now?"

"All in good time. Now, why don't you go try the uniform on? Then I will run through the plan with you.

"Countdown: 15 minutes until departure time."

Dimentio gazed up from the detailed diagram, his eyes piercing into Shadow's. "Do you understand?"

'No.' "Yes," She responded.

Looking almost amused, as if knowing her thoughts, Dimentio nodded. "I'm sure you will be fine. You're one of us now. Just do what you feel you're supposed to at the moment and this will go smooth."

'Easy for you to say.' "I know it will." 'Why are they doing this?' Shadow was befuddled. Nothing at the moment was making sense. Why did she come to the SS in the first place? Why had she continued Dimentio's plan?

"10 minutes until departure."

"And after this is through, you can go back to whatever you did before you went on this mission, and I will contact you when we need to. And you're pokemon will be returned to you as well."

'Went on the mission? More like was forced to.' "Can I keep this team as well?" They were letting her free again? That must mean she gained their trust. Or they had a way to watch her. But the point was that she could forget about this whole mess for a short period of time.

"5 minutes until departure time."

"If that is what you wish," he responded with a small bow. "You will be required to use them for each mission I give you as the house leader. I have already cleared it with our boss that you will work at the House of Chaos."

'I wonder how bad the rest of them are.' "I can't wait." 'It will be nice to actually be myself for a while after these two weeks.' Say want she meant, wear what she wanted, and talk to people she wanted to, she never thought such things could sound so appealing. 'Wait, what are we doing to the island?'

"One minute until departure time."

"Positions, everyone," barked Dimentio. He made no movement to get up, but the maids fled the area and a motor started buzzing. The turbines could be heard, spinning through the underwater depths. All at once, it came to life and jolted ahead and up so fast that nobody in the area would see anything but a blur of black. As they shot out from the surface, the rockets kicked in and wings extended so they soared up. Dimentio stood, motioning for Shadow to walk beside him.

It took a mere minutes before they were hovering by the clouds. Shadow's face was furrowed in a deep frown. Her black uniform was zippered up and covering almost every inch of her from head to toe. It consisted of a plain black tee covered by a dark, fit jacket, zippered and buckled up the front with a high neck that obscured just under her nose down and stopped right under her behind. Slim cut pants hugged her legs and slipped beneath the knee-highs. Strong gloves were slipped onto her hands and a big cloak with a hood hung off her shoulders, billowing like smoke when she walked. The SS stood out in teal letters on the back.

Shadow and Dimentio went over to the latch and opened it. "Show time," Dimentio whispered as they saw, even at that great distance, a gathering outside of the grand hall. Shadow breathed deeply as the man beside her pulled out a pokeball and called out the pokemon. It was a noctowl; a brown colored owl almost Roxy's size.

Dimentio swung his leg over the bird after helping the girl on, and told the creature to go. It shot out of the aircraft with the two on its back. They skimmed the fluffy, white clouds and swooped down, watching everything play out on the island. Shadow's grip loosened around Dimentio's middle as she strained to see what was happening.

The smooth voice of Dimentio caught the girl's attention. "Raise your hood, please, and take this. It's time, noctowl, for wing attack." The pokemon hooted before going into an intense dive, spreading its glowing wings wide.


"Congratulations, Xena Verboom! You are this year's Queen of the island. Please step forward to receive your fabulous prize," announced Gregory Schurmann, holding a golden trophy in his hands with a jovial grin on his face.

The purplette happily skipped onto the stage while the other participants clapped, most halfheartedly. "Thank you, thank you!" She bowed to the crowd, and turned to accept the cup. Kissing it, she held it high in the air for all to see. She posed center stage for her adoring fans, waving as though thousands were watching her.

"No, thank you," Gregory snickered as he pulled a small contraption from the inside of his jacket and pressed it. Everything went disastrous from that point on.

Trainers shrieked as thick wires shot out of the ground and surrounded them, hissing with electricity. "Where did these come from?" "Hey, what's going on?" "Let us out!" They shouted. They tried to move for their pokeballs, but couldn't do so because they were so crowded.

Xena felt the weight of her backpack removed from her shoulders as one of the Nurse Joy's ran past. "Hey!" She started to chase after the pink haired lady, but the trophy she was carrying suddenly exploded. Now, a pink dome was blocking her way. It was hard like glass as she pounded her fists against the walls. She cursed at the bubble, yelling for the lady to bring her pokemon back.

"Not going to happen." The Nurse teased, pulling the skin down away from her eye and sticking out her tongue before strutting away. All three Joys flanked around Gregory Schurmann as he cackled with laughter.

One kid near the front of the cage stuttered out, "You're not going to get away with this! We'll get out of here at some point!"

The man stopped his sniggering to step up to the bars haughtily. "I've been getting away with this for nearly fifteen years, and who's going to stop me this time? You? No, you're stuck in a jail cell. Officer Jenny? No, she's not here. And whom does that leave? Oh, that's right, nobody!" He burst out with a Mwahaha. "And I'll get away with it every time. You want to know why? Because anybody you tell won't believe that somebody of my status would do something like this. They might even put you in a crazy house. Whatever! It's not my problem anymore!" His cackling laughter sounded again as he began walking to where his aircraft was hiding, leaving all his turmoil behind.

"Not if we stop you!" Stated a voice from the air. The ground in front of the gang shot up with dust as it was struck. A cloaked figure landed in front of them, another on the bubble containing the purplenette. The brown owl stood by the first, squawking at the four trying to make their get away.

The figure on the bubble, Shadow, tossed the pokeball Dimentio had handed her before they touched down. A purple snake, resembling a cobra with its hood, and a chest decorated with an angry face appeared from the light. The girl called, "Arbok, smash the bubble with your fangs." The snake slithered down the side of the pink dome and sunk its pointed teeth into it, making it crack all the way up to the top, where the girl penetrated it with the heel of her boot, thus causing it to shatter into smithereens. The cloaked female went down with the rubble and landed in a crouch by the purplenette.

Xena had her eyes closed and was ducked down to avoid the raining glass-like substance. When they fluttered open to see a dark, looming figure over her, she lashed out screaming, "You'll never take me alive!" She kicked out her feet wildly, intending to keep back the person who had jumped back with alarm.

"Xena!" She hissed. "It's me, Roxy, your partner. Calm down!"

The trashing girl never even hesitated with her flailing. "You're just saying that so I'll stop. Well it's not working on me!"

"Look at me!" Shouted the figure as she tugged the hood until her hair was showing. "My name isn't really Roxy Monroe. I'm Alex, the one your cousin is looking for. You can't tell him, though, please. Listen, I'm really sorry about this, but you have to trust me so we can get your pokemon back," Roxy/Alex/Shadow convinced the girl at last, as she had stopped and now looked in shock. Shadow pulled the hood back over her face and ran after the fleeing Nurse that was running with Xena's bag. She noticed Dimentio was occupied with a nasty typhlosion – a rather bearish pokemon with dark teal fur covering its back, cream on its stomach, face and inner of its bulky legs and arms, and a collar of flames - that was called out by Gregory as she swerved past.

"She really is a secret agent," whispered a dumbfounded Xena. She slowly turned to where her savior had taken off and noticed a very bad thing. Her face turned red as she sprung up and charged ahead. "Nobody messes with my friends!" She screamed as she tackled Gregory Schurmann to the ground, knocking the gun, which was aimed directly at "Secret Agent" Roxy, from his hands in the progress.

Roxy had turned just in time to see the rescue, and smiled thankfully as she sprinted faster to catch up with the Nurse. She reached her and pulled on her hair, which was the closest thing she could reach, but the thing was, it fell into her hands. Both females stopped in astonishment. Roxy glanced from the wig to the girl in front of her and back again.

"Surprised?" The woman smirked, leafy green hair curling down her shoulders. She smirked at the smaller character evilly.

"Surprisingly no. It's been a strange week," Shadow pondered, thinking back to her wacky and wild adventures with Xena and her roommates. She stood back, pulling down her hood and stared out into space, crossing her arms.

"Tell me about it!" The woman exclaimed, taking up the same stance as her. From the pair's far right shouted another female voice of another fake Nurse Joy. It yelled, "Jade, take the remote before this lunatic takes it. Ow! She bit me!"

Shadow turned in a daze to see her crazed purplenette friend attached to another purplenette's back, a pink wig in one hand with the other flailing toward the woman's hand which held a remote. The woman who was unwillingly giving the girl a piggyback ride was shaking and jerking and turning in circles, trying to throw the weight on her back off. The object in her hand was launched into the air, heading in the cloaked person and the green haired person.

Feeling a sudden jolt of what she was previously doing, Shadow grabbed a strap of Xena's backpack and tugged. The woman on the other side kept her grip and tugged back. Neither of their attentions on the flying remote, it ran through its course and slammed into the woman's noggin. With a slight sway, the woman passed out right at Shadow's feet, releasing the bag. She smiled, "Thank you, lady!"

"Shut up you little brat. I wasn't helping you. Get. Off. Me! HA!" The woman shouted triumphantly finally managing to flip Xena into the ground. As her head shot up, her long hair flipping back its normal and straight as a pin state. Once her brain stopped spinning round, she pointed an reproachful finger at the head of teal hair, growling, "You."

Shadow's eyes shot from the remote on a silver key chain with a big, inviting red button, which had bounced oh-so-conveniently about half the distance between the females.

"Let us out already!" Demanded a sharp-mouthed Nicky from the cramped cage.

Slinging an arm through the bag straps to keep it safe, Shadow shot for the small button, noticing the woman do the same. Her cape billowed behind her, making her feel rather heroic or villainous; she wasn't sure which. She skidded to the ground to grab it, the purplenette tripping over her and causing a wrestling match of trying to gain possession of the remote.

"Ouchie. What a meanie," Xena whined, pulling herself up. Her golden orbs turned fiery with revenge. "Hey, let those people go fatso!" she screamed, choosing the island-owner as her new target. She ran and leapt onto his back, tugging his hair with her hand while the other curled around his neck.

The slightly cloudy, bright day turned suddenly as dark billowing clouds rolled in. They brought with them a deep rumbling noise that rumbled across the island. Lightning streaked across the sky, glowing yellow all around the battle zone. High winds whistled through the trees and tossed flower petals to dance through the air, which was turning damp as water pellets began to plunge down to cool down the atmosphere.

"Arg, my hair!" Shrieked the purplenette woman, getting pinned to the ground by Shadow. "It's going to be ruined."

"I just finished drying too," Shadow sighed sadly, pulling her hood back over her head for extra protection.

The woman took the advantage to push the girl off and grab the remote. "Ha-ha ha ha-ha," she sang, flaunting the palm-sized mechanism. "Try to get it now!" she taunted, throwing her arm back and letting it soar once again. Not being very heavy, it got caught on the wind and flew somewhere in the depths of the Symme-tree Forest.

Gregory Schurmann struggled with the girl on his back, seeing as soon as he threw her off she was too fast for him and nearly knocked him over by a surprise attack. He spun towards the two. "Damn it, Amethyst, you idiot. The keys were on that!"

"What? Why would you put the keys with the button? That's just stupid!"

"Because I didn't think anybody would be dim-witted enough to chuck it off into the middle of nowhere. Honestly, this is why you were supposed to stay with Jade. Now go find that remote!"

"Stop bossing me around, you know I hate that!" Amethyst screamed over the wind, jogged in the way she had tossed the device.

"Not again. I've had enough running today," cried Shadow, gloomily heading off with her body sagging unhappily.

Xena, however, stopped all movement as soon as she felt the vibrations pulsate through her body. The thunder drowned her hearing and she dropped to the ground, eyes wide. She curled into the fetal position and began to rock soothingly back and forth, clapping her gloved hands to her ears. She tried to omit the rumbles and cracks of thunder as it roared.

Dimentio took Xena's place of going against Gregory while his winged noctowl continued to take on the blazing typhlosion. "Give it up. I'm taking you out," he growled. He launched his fist towards the man's face and missed. "Noctowl, use arial ace."

"Finish it with blast burn," Gregory countered.

"Ahahahaha!" Laughed Shadow manically, bursting through the sting of trees and pouncing on a certain remote. "Huh?" She looked around questioningly. "Is it just me or am I getting shorter?"

"You are short." Amethyst stuck her tongue out slipping the device into her own manicured hands. She then tried to run away, but didn't move an inch. "Hey, I can't move!" she struggled, sinking more.

"It's sinking sand!" Shadow gasped. She whipped around, filled with panic, trying to find a rope or branch or something to pull herself out. She smiled as a familiar purple snake slithered towards them "Arbok! Come on, pull me out and use that tree as an anchor."

"Not without me, you don't." Amethyst clung around Shadow's middle and got dragged out with the girl. She had tears in her eyes. "Now my outfit is completely ruined. And it's all your fault," she cried, pointing at Shadow.

"Ha-ha, sucker! I got the button!" She sang, swiping the remote and skipping away, leaving the weeping girl to stumble haphazardly after. "Come on, arbok. Let's press it! But what if it blows up the whole island? But it looks so nice and push-able, how can I just ignore it? Hm, what to do?" Shadow felt unexplainably exhausted at that time and didn't really have the most rational thoughts. With a final shrug and a dramatic slow-motion finger motion, she was about to press the big red button, her finger touching its smooth surface, when she was stalled by an ear-piercing scream.

The button hit the ground, being pushed when it fell.

"NO!"


Ahahaha another cliffhanger! Well I feel really evil now. Well I'm going to bed now so goodnight to everyone. Feel very welcome to leave a review or message me.