Gotta...get...away...

It's getting closer! I can't get away!! Someone, help!! Ahhh!!!!!!

Gaby woke suddenly. Then she felt it again: A distant force, but threatening. She thought she was just imagining things, but then Kieran and Lily woke up at the same time.

"What the...?" Kieran said, looking around.

"What's happening?" Lily said sleepily. The sun hadn't risen yet.

"I...I don't know..." Gaby said. "You felt it too?"

"Yeah...But it's faint," Kieran said.

"Well, it's gone now. Let's get back to sleep," Gaby said. Kieran nodded, and instantly they were sound asleep. But Lily was restless, and it was a long time before she could sleep.

When the sun rose, everyone got up. Now they had to turn to more pressing business: What to do with Kieran?

"Well, I suppose it's your choice," Kip said.

"What's my choice?"

"If you want to come with us or not."

"WHOA! Hold on a second!" Gaby said. "Sure, he can tag along, but remember: I don't have an unlimited supply of food!"

"Oh yeah..."

"That's no problem for me!" Kieran said. They all looked at him. "You forget, I've been living in the wild for 7 years. If I recall, Gaby's only been out for 5, and I've been living on whatever I can get since I was 4!"

"But you forget that I've been on the streets for 13 years, and that I've survived on street smarts," Lily said.

"Really? Wow!"

"You trying living on the streets all your life and you'll learn how to put up with pain! Not to mention hunger!"

"Ok...So, best case scenario, Kieran and Lily get their own food...Somehow...What about the rest of us? I hate to say it, but Kip and I have live a luxury life almost our entire lives," Seth said.

"Well, I've managed food for 5 years, but that was only for me and my Pokémon. How are we gonna find food for 5 people and...31 Pokémon?!?!?!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about our Pokémon..."

"Yeah, they're important too!"

"Right. So...How do we solve this one?"

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!?!?!"

"Well...I've got something for the meantime...But it can't be permanent!"

Everyone started at Seth. He reached into his bag and threw a Pokéball into the air. His Tropius came out.

"See those fruit? We can eat those," he said, indicating the fruit dangling from the Pokémon's neck. Miracle, can we have some?"

The Tropius nodded happily and bent its neck down. Seth pulled of some fruit.

"Here. There's only enough for the humans, I'm afraid."

Everyone quickly ate the fruit...Except for Gaby. She took out one of her Pokéballs and opened it, releasing her Dragonite. Then she gave the fruit to it.

"Gaby, you're gonna stave to death! That's the second time in two days you've given your food away!"

"Your point? My Pokémon are more important then me."

There was a silence. Gaby got up and climbed on her Dragonite.

"Lily! Kieran! Come with me! Kieran, you got a flying Pokémon that you can ride?" Kieran shook his head. "Alright, come with me."

Kieran climbed onto the Dragonite behind Gaby. Lily took out her Charizard and jumped on.

"Wait!! Where are you going?"

"To check something out!"

That said, they took off, flying high until they were out of sight. Both boys just stood there, blinking.

Gaby, Kieran and Lily flew up, up into the sky. Lily rose above them, flying high. Breaking the first clouds, she stopped, looking at the clouds around her.

"What's up, Lily? You look like something bad happened," Kieran said.

"Damn...This is bad..." Lily said. Gaby and Kieran looked at each other, then at Lily.

"What are you talking about?" Gaby asked.

"Look at all the smog in the clouds..." Lily said, pointing ahead. They followed her finger and saw that dark smoke was coming towards them.

"What does it mean?"

"It means that Mount Chimney is going to blow, and everyone in the area is going to die."

"Well that's some cheerful news," Kieran said.

"What?! We have to save them!" Gaby said franticly.

"Calm down, Gaby! Look, I don't know how much time we have, but we better hurry. We're...Where are we?" Lily said.

"Let's go ask Kip. He's the one with the locator," Gaby said. They flew back down and landed by the ticked and confused boys.

"What was that about?" Seth said, standing up straight.

"Kip, give me your locator," Lily said.

"What?"

"NOW!!!!"

Kip hurriedly got out the locator and handed it over to Lily. She pressed some buttons on it. Her eyes widened.

"It could be worse. We're on the large island South-East of Mauville. It should only take...Oh, yeah, there are you people too..."

"Don't jip us on credit before we even know what you're talking about!" Seth said.

"Yeah, what's up?" Kip asked as Lily handed his locator back.

"Wait...I think I know..." Seth said. Lily looked at him, astounded.

"How could you know?"

"Let me guess: Mt. Chimney is going to blow her top?"

"Once again: How could you know?!"

"I know lots of things you wouldn't think I'd know. Mt. Chimney is giving warning signs."

"You're full of surprises, aren't you? Well, let's see if you can live up to your claims. Get your fastest flyer out and get ready, 'cause if you can't keep up with me, you're being left behind."

"That is a lot of information to take in so quickly," Kip said, blinking at the flow of information he had just received in about 1 minute. "So Chimney's blowing?"

"Yup! So let's go! Get your fastest flyer and get on!" Lily said, mounting her Charizard. Out of her bag she pulled out a pair of flying goggles and put them on.

"Nice look," Kieran said. Lily looked down at him.

"You'll see why I need them. Come on!"

She started to take off. Gaby returned her Dragonite and took out her Charizard. Jumping on, she pulled Kieran up with her. She also started to take off.

"Wait for us!!!" Seth said, grabbing a Pokéball. His Flygon appeared. He jumped on as well, just as Kip took out a Pokéball and threw it into the air. Out came Kip's Noctowl. He jumped on. Both boys took off.

"Ready?" Lily said, flashing an evil smile back at the rest.

"Ready!" Came the answer from all of them.

"Let's go!!!"

Red took off at such speed that it looked like she had teleported. Only the whoosh of air told them that she had flown away.

Seth and Kip took off after her, disappearing at top speed. Kieran hugged tightly to Gaby's back. Gaby looked back at him.

"What, you don't like flying?"

"I'm just not used to takeoffs! Now just go!"

Gaby smiled reassuringly at him, then faced forward. Then Kieran felt the air rush past him. He squeezed tighter as they climbed in altitude. Then a huge rush almost pulled him off of Gaby as they flew forward.

"It's ok Kieran," Gaby said, reaching back and ruffling his hair. "We've caught up. But brace yourself. We need to get faster." Kieran nodded, shutting his eyes tighter.

The Charizard used Agility. Kieran and Gaby themselves felt themselves get lighter and quicker. Then the Charizard zoomed forward.

Kieran got the nerve to open his eyes. He spotted Seth and Kip flying alongside them.

"Hey Kieran!" Kip yelled over the rush of air. "Got used to Agility yet?"

"Hehe..." Kieran said.

"We're making great time!" Lily called. Only Kieran heard this.

"Where's Lily? I don't see her," Kieran said, looking around for her.

"Lily? She's a mile ahead. Why?"

"I just heard her..."

"Heard her...? Wait...Your ears..."

"Oh yeah! My hearing! It's loads better then anyone else's!"

"So? What'd she say?"

"She said we're making great time."

"Alright. Let's catch up!"

Gaby leaned forward on her Charizard. It gave a burst of speed forward. Seth and Kip flew along beside her.

"How much longer?!" Kieran said.

"About half an hour."

Suddenly Gaby started coughing. Her Charizard slowed down. Gaby continued having coughing fits.

"It's the ash," Kip said. "We need to get lower."

They all ducked down beneath the clouds. A thin grey smoke was coming from ahead of them. They saw Lily as a small orange dot far ahead of them.

Gaby was still coughing, but soon got over it. She pushed forward in an attempt to catch up to Lily. But the smoke was getting stronger, and Gaby was feeling light-headed. She passed out, falling off her Charizard.

"Please! Someone! Help!!!"

"Gaby!!!!!!" Kieran said. Sapphire dove down, trying to catch Gaby, but she righted herself, her eyes closed.

"Gaby? You ok?" Kip asked, flying down to her level. Her eyes opened halfway.

"Must...Go...Trapped...Afraid..." Gaby said. She floated off rapidly, passing Lily.

"What the...?" Lily said. She stopped and the rest caught up. "What's with Gaby?"

"I don't know, she just black out and fell off her Charizard," Kieran said, looking at the last place he had seen Gaby. "Then she started talking funny...What's up?"

"Let's follow her!" Lily said. They all flew forward, following Lily. They caught up to Gaby, who was slowing down. They stopped beside her.

"Gaby, what's..."

"East..." Gaby said in an emotionless tone. Then she zoomed off again, her body looking like a loose puppet. They all looked at each other before following.

They caught up to her again. They found they were right over the bubbling volcano. Gaby was simply floating over it, like a rag doll.

"I can't control her anymore!"

"What?"

"Hmm? We didn't say anything."

"But I just heard..."

"I can't support her anymore! She's going to fall!"

"It's telekinesis!" Seth said, looking at Kip's eyes. "From Gaby?"

"No, it's not her...It's someone else..."

"Someone, help! Someone get her!!! Ahhh!!!"

Kip realized what was happening just in time. He flew towards Gaby. A second later, she dropped from the air, her eyes closed, unconscious. Kip flew right under her, managing to grab her wrist before she fell into the lava.

But Kip's Noctowl was straining under the weight of two people, and was dropping lower and lower into the lava. Lily jumped off her Charizard and flew in mid-air with her own wings as the Pokémon took Kip with Gaby from the straining Noctowl.

They all flew back down to the ground, landing on a rocky shelf on the volcano. Kip set Gaby down gently. She opened her eyes, then began coughing up blood.

"Gaby!!" Kip said. "What happened? Are you ok?"

Gaby tried to answer but kept coughing more blood up. The Charizard whacked her on the back with its tail, making her cough up more blood, but made it cease all together.

"T-Thanks..." Gaby said, rubbing her head. "W-What happened?"

"We were going to ask you," Lily said.

"You went all limp and started flying towards the volcano....You said something..."

"Wait...Now I remember! I was possessed...But I didn't fight it...Why didn't I...?" Gaby said slowly. Then her eyes shot open. "Wait! That girl!! She was leading me here!!!"

"What girl?"

"That little girl...She possessed me and led me to here...But I don't think she wanted to harm me."

"That voice I heard! It said it couldn't hold you up anymore...It asked for help!" Kip said.

"I remember! Guys, there's a little girl trapped somewhere in this volcano...And I don't think she's alone!"

"There's many...There are a ton of them...At least 30, plus two...no, three adults," Kieran said slowly.

"How do you know that?!"

"I can sense them. Their fear...I can sense fear," Kieran said. "There are 32 people trapped inside this volcano, and they can't get out."

"That's not the worst part!" Lily said, sticking her finger in the thick ash and hot bubbly liquid oozing out from the volcano. "This thing's gonna blow in two hours, taking the people in and out of the volcano with it!"