SZ: *looks at the reviews* 42 reviews so far...huh. Not much, but it's getting up there.

GT: Oh so very true. I mean, this'll have an estimated 2.8 reviews per chapter thanks to it when we're done with this one. Or basically 3 per chapter if you don't include this one. That's neat, SZ.

SZ: Eeyup. I'm really enjoying working on this story.

GT: Oh so very true. Especially the new ways to do things differently to the first season.

SZ: Oh so very true. *looks at one review* Oh. And to answer your question Tatsurian, yes. I am an Advanceshipper, but I am also a...hmm...what's the shipping between Ash and Serena called again, GT? Amourshipping?

GT: Yes, I believe that is the correct term. Plus, out of all of the girls, Serena's the one with the biggest advantage since she did a kiss. Then again, that girl from Heroes did that, too...or was that Latias? ...Okay, not counting movies, Serena is the one who's the only one that has a kiss involving Ash. *looks at SZ* What were we talking about again?

SZ: Shipping names...nevermind. Point is to Tatsurain, I am both an Advanceshipper, and a Amourshipper. But we'll leave the audience in mystery as to who we might pair up with Ash in the later future.

GT: Aye. I love a good mystery. Now for the big question: do we do the disclaimer or do we move on to the story itself?

SZ: hmm...move onto the story. People already know who we own and don't own and such. So start us off GT

GT: Okay! *pulls out a dime and a Beagle Boy from Ducktales* Hold this dime for me please.

Beagle Boy: Uh...sure. *takes the dime* Okay...now wh-

GT: HIDE, SZ! HIDE! *calls a Charizard Glide and flies off*

SZ: Oh snap! *jumps into the TV*

Beagle Boy: ...Dis feels like a bad idea stayin' here. *the wall behind him blows up, revealing a huffing, puffing, enraged Scrooge McDuck with Shovel Knight's bloody shovel in hand* ...Uh oh.

Scrooge: ME DIME! *tackles the Beagle Boy into a fight cloud*

Beagle Boy: YAAAAAAAAAA-HO-HO-HOOEY~!

Entry 014: Kayjun Faycott reporting once again. After three straight days of walking with intermittent breaks for food and light training with a few incidents involving Onix having to get used to his altered depth perception due to Lancelot's attack taking one of his eyes, we finally arrived to Vermilion City. Once we arrived at the Pokemon Center there-minus the fact we ran into yet another Nurse Joy-we...saw the many 'challengers' that lost against the Gym Leader of Vermilion: Lt. Surge. It...it was brutal. A few of them were even Ground-types and they were sporting electrical burns. It...it was almost as if they came out of a warzone.

It was also there we met one of Ashton's friends from Pallet Town that went on their journey the same day as he; Leaf. ...She reminds me of Makoto in how she acts at times, truly she does. Ahem..moving on. We eventually got to know one another, and learned a few things from her, such as Pokemon Contest; where Trainers-or in this case, Coordinators-have their Pokemon use their moves in inventive ways for the crowd. Nice to know there's an alternative for those who don't want to fight.

Once we all recovered enough, Ashton chose to immediately challenge Lt. Surge instead of spending at least one more day of training. It...was a big mistake. Lt. Surge...The man knew war in all its 'glory.' Being around him...it felt like some of the students that had been involved in the Ikaruga War; that he understood what war really was. He showed us fully evolved Pokemon, all Electric-types, which included Electivire, Vikavolt, and...Raichu. He mentioned how he made them all evolve the moment he caught them and...and then there was...the slaughter. I...I can't even call it a battle. Pikachu's tail was broken from a Rock Smash when Pikachu used an Iron Tail, Raichu's electric attacks overpowered Lightningrod, and the finisher-a Discharge-infused Mega Punch-sent Pikachu through a wall. We barely got Pikachu back to the Pokemon Center.

I waited until after we were sure Pikachu was okay before I pulled Ashton outside. I wanted to understand just why he did that. It turns out that Ash was able to recognize that Raichu from the video, which was rather surprising given that the video was a bit of a poor quality due to electrical interference from the Raichu's attacks. I couldn't help but give Ash a comforting hug when I saw he was showing his actual age when he talked about wanting to beat it for Leaf and then remembering what happened to Pikachu. Speaking of Leaf, she eventually came across us and found out about what happened before she conforted Ashton as well. After a while, Ashton had two choices. One: use a strategy I came up with involving speed tactics; and two: ...evolving Pikachu into a Raichu.

It was around sixteen hours after that when Pikachu finally awoke. Ashton had spent the entire time staying near Pikachu, thinking about his choices. Ashton offered Pikachu the choice to evolve once Tsubaki presented him a Thunderstone she received from Nurse Joy...but Pikachu refused it. I'm not sure what Pikachu said, but I could tell that it wanted to beat Surge's Raichu on its own terms, something that I'm sure many of us could respect. Once Pikachu recovered-and Ashton calling Professor Oak for his Eevee and swapped it for Butterfree- we returned to the Gym so Ashton could have his rematch, only this time...it was in his favor. Lt. Surge, since Ashton was going to use an unevolved Pokemon on him again, let him use both Pikachu and Eevee for the battle while he would just use Raichu again.

When the match began, Ashton put the plan into motion with sending Eevee out to create tunnels beneath the floor with Dig before combining Quick Attack and Shadow Ball to start playing a reverse of Whack-a-Mole...or Whack-A-Diglett in this world...on Raichu. The strategy worked rather well as Raichu could not land a blow on Eevee, even receiving a Headbutt to the...ahem...I'll just stop there for all men out there. After that, Ashton called out Pikachu and begins to implement the second strategy we went over; using a mix of Agility and Double Team to confuse Raichu. When Raichu was unable to land a hit no matter what he tried, Lt. Surge ordered him to use a Thunder-infused Discharge, which would hit everything around Raichu. However, it was Ashton who thought of this during strategizing for the rematch; using his tail as a ground conductor, Pikachu was able to both be unharmed by the attack and also managed to absorb enough of the attack with Lightningrod to boost his power. After a few well timed Valor Strikes, and a super charged Zap Cannon, Lt. Surge's Raichu finally fell, giving Ashton the victory and earning himself the Thunder Badge and the Lieutenant's respect.

Before we left, Lt. Surge suggested the Gym in Celadon City next...while warning us to avoid the Gym in Saffron City. ...I cannot help but feel there is more to his warning then we are taking it for.

"...Whew. That is biiiiig," Makoto gave a slow whistle as the group stood before a large cruise liner ship.

"That's the SS Anne, one of the largest cruise ships ever made," Misty explained with a grin, "It usually makes trips from Kanto to Johto, and so on. I've heard that it's even traveled all the way to Kalos a few times."

"You seem to know a lot about this ship," Mai noted.

"Well...I kinda made a model kit of it a while back," Misty admitted before sighing a bit, "I always wanted to go on the real thing. Travelling the seas while seeing different Water Pokemon, and sunbath on the deck all day. Just a nice, long, relaxing cruise…"

"Which we sadly cannot afford," Brock spoke.

"Oh~" Misty slumped, a depressing aura appearing around her.

"Reality can really bum you out," Ash noted.

"Pi…" Pikachu sadly agreed.

"No kidding...I was honestly liking the sound of that…" Mai added with her own sigh.

"Maybe a trip to the beach w-" Makoto began before some popping sounds startled her and the group, "Ahh!"

"Congratulations!" a pair of….women(?) in school uniforms declared as they appeared before the group, "You guys are way lucky! You can go on a super deluxe sea cruise!"

"..."

"You're, like, probably wondering 'oh? A sea cruise?'" the first woman guessed as she stepped over to them,, a small pile of tickets in her hand "Well it's, like, you know, we have these incredible super cool tickets for you!"

"Cool~!" the second...er...woman(?) Added.

"Cool huh?!" the first one smiled as she showed them the tickets, "These are tickets for the biggest party ever, on board the SS Anne cruise liner!"

"Cool~!" the second woman(?) added.

"Everyone's going to be together and have the coolest party! Plenty of food to eat, and a live performance by the legendary rocker herself, Karai!"

"Cool~!"

"And guess what? The party is for Pokemon Trainers only!"

"Cool~!"

"Step this way!" the first woman stated, "It'll be a radical party, especially since all of the most radical Pokemon Trainers will be there!"

'...' Kajun's eye twitched, 'If that one says 'cool' like that one more time…'

"Do you know anyone who says 'radical' anymore?" Ash whispered to Misty, earning a shake of the head from Misty.

"Okay! Here are your tickets!" the first woman smiled as she handed the group the tickets, "Oh, and don't worry! They are totally free! To-ta-lly free!"

"For free?! Wait...Why are you giving them away?" Ash asked.

"Well, you see, we have to go out with our boyfriends, so we wanted to give our tickets to cool Pokemon Fans," the first woman explained.

"Cool~!" the second woman(?) added.

"We saw you and thought you looked really cool. Just take the tickets and have a really cool time," the first woman smiled a bit.

"Cool~!"

"So have a nice day~!" the first woman said as she and her cohort ran...er, skipped off.

"...You can release me now, Makoto, Mai," Kajun noted.

"Phew. Good thing I saw the signs," Makoto noted as the two let go of Kajun's wrists, "But man that was annoying."

"Very much so…" Tsubaki agreed.

"St-still, at least they were nice enough to give us some tickets, right?" Noel spoke, hoping to change the conversation a bit at least.

"...That is true…" Misty noted before smiling, "Which means we can go aboard the SS Anne!"

"Still...doesn't anyone find this o-" Tsubaki began.

"I'm sure we'll find out. Now come on! I wanna check this party out...and see what kind of food they got!" Makoto beamed as she ran off.

"Emol/Chipa/Vui!" Cherry, Berry and Booster beamed in unison.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Brock shouted as he and the others chased after her, unaware that they were being watched.

"We did it. We got them," the first woman grinned.

"Like, wow, don't I make, like, the coolest girl?" the other giggled...before a glowing green blade was held to her neck.

"Tile…"

"She says for ya ta drop dat act before he makes sure ya can't do dat anymore," Meowth noted.

"N...noted…" the other woman(?) whimpered, shaking like a leaf as their wig fell off, revealing that she was actually James.

"Huh...So much for this," the other girl noted as she put the frying pan she had pulled out away, sliding the orange wig off her red hair to reveal herself to be Jessie.

"Sceptile," Evergreen slightly nodded as she Lowered the blade, causing James to sigh in relief.

"She's here ta take us to see Aoiro fer a status update wit' da boss," Meowth informed.

"Got it," the two nodded before Evergreen lifted them up by the scruff of their shirts and carried them off towards the nearby lighthouse and into the basement.

"On time as usual, Evergreen," Aorio noted, sitting at a computer console with a large monitor set up, "Were you able to hand out all the tickets you were given?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jessie saluted.

"Good," Aoiro nodded before looking back at the screen and pressed a button, causing the screen to show a shadowed figure in a business suit, "Everything is set, father."

=Good. I knew I could count on you, my eldest daughter= the figure stated as a slender, lioness-sized feline with a red gem on its forehead walked up to him, letting him rub his hand on its head.

"Meowth?! What's wit' da Persian?!" Meowth exclaimed before Evergreen's Leaf Blade was at his neck, "Ulp. Objection retracted..."

"U-m, s-sir. I have a question," James spoke up, "Was it really okay to give all those tickets away for free?"

=It's a small price to pay for what we'll get in return= the figure answered =My youngest daughter Karai has already secretly boarded my men into the SS Anne. When she and Aoiro give the signal, they'll take the Pokemon of every Trainer that was tricked into boarding the ship=

"Of course, father," Aoiro nodded.

=Failure is out of the question, but with my daughters helping out, this plan will surely succeed=

"Of course, father," Aoiro nodded, "We won't fail you..." she then shot a cold glare at Jessie, James, and Meowth, "And I'm sure they won't too…"

"You can count on us, sir!" Jessie saluted with James and Meowth.

"Wow~! What an awesome ship!" Ash awed as he and the others were now walking onboard the SS Anne before walking inside the main interior, seeing a large group of people inside, "Woah!"

"That is a lot of Pokemon Trainers…" Mai noted with a whisper.

"H-Hai…" Noel gulped, moving a bit closer behind Makoto while holding Yuki closer.

"Don't worry, Noellie. Just stick by me," Makoto whispered to her in assurance.

"It's like a giant Pokemon convention," Ash awed as he looked around.

"Everyone here must be a Pokemon Trainer," Tsubaki noted.

"Indeed…" Kajun nodded...while pulling her notebook out, "Which means we can get some new information on some of the Pokemon here. Hopefully there are ones here that are not native to Kanto."

"There are some booths, too," Brock noted, "I think there are some selling different kinds of Pokeballs."

"Neat," Makoto smiled a bit before she smelled something, "...W-wait….that smell...ooh...that smells so good…"

"M-Makoto?" Noel blinked before the squirrel girl dashed off, "Ahh! W-wait!"

"Might as well look around," Mai shrugged as she looked at their tickets, "Looks like we're split between three rooms on the ship if we're going to be going on the cruise so maybe we split up and look at the stuff and meet by the cabins in a few hours?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Tsubaki nodded, "It'll give us time to look around."

"Okay. So we'll meet in about two hours then? It'll be around lunchtime then, so if we decide to stay for the cruise, we can just head for the complimentary buffet," Brock noted.

"Sounds like a plan," Kajun nodded, 'Provided Makoto hasn't already eaten everything in the buffet.'

"Mmm~! So good~!" Makoto beamed as she stood before the breakfast buffet, the squirrel girl carrying a large tray full of food, "Oh my Arceus these pancakes look so fluffy! I'll take ten of those, some of these waffles...ooh! I'll definitely take some of these muffins!"

"M-Makoto, m-maybe you should slow down…" Noel noted, sweatdropped a bit, "P-people are starting to stare…"

"Meh. They can stare all they want," Makoto snorted, "Sides, I'm sharing with you, Needles, Cherry, Berry, Booster, Yuki, and Nymph, right?"

"...W-well...I guess that's true…" Noel admitted, "J-just try and not to go overboard."

"Since when have I gone overb-ooh~! They have a chocolate fountain! Cherry, Berry, Booster, grab as many bananas as you can!"

"Pachi/Gamol/Vuii!"

"A-and we completely lost her…" Noel sighed as Makoto ran off.

"Vul…" Yuki nodded a bit in agreement.

"Psst! Hey! Hey you, young lady!"

"Hmm?" Noel blinked as she turned around, seeing someone waving over from their booth, "D-do you mean me?"

"Yes, yes, you over there," the booth owner said, "I want you to take a look at this Pokemon here."

"Hmm?" Noel blinked as she looked at the tank, seeing what looked like a Feebas in it, only its scales were more of a silver-like hue, "Wh-what is that?"

"Feebas, a really rare Water pokemon from Hoenn," the man explained, "Sure it may look ugly, but you should see it once it evolves into a Milotic."

"M-Milotic?" Noel repeated before the man pulled out a picture of an elegant serpent-like Pokemon with hair-like fins above its eyes, a long cream-colored body ending with a blue tail, "O-Oh my…!"

"Yes indeed!" the man grinned, "Milotic, the Tender Pokemon. Her beauty is unmatched that even artisans could never truly capture its natural beauty. Many Pokemon Coordinators have sought after this Pokemon as it's beauty alone will make whoever owns one the most famous Pokemon Coordinator ever!"

"F...famous…"

"Yes. And with the right move set, the crowd will be in awe at not only it's performance, but her Coordinator as well," the man awed, "It is even said owning one will increase one's beauty and figure."

"?!" Noel's eyes widened at that, "O...one's beauty...and...figure?"

"Wow, Noel! I can't believe how fast you grew!" Mai awed, looking at a more developed Noel.

"No kidding! You're almost as big as me now, maybe even bigger!" Makoto added.

Noel giggled sheepishly.

"You truly are beautiful now, Noel…" Tsubaki commented.

"Indeed," Kajun nodded, "Though it is to be expected, You are the most beautiful woman in the world now."

"Eh heh...I suppose I am…"

"Eh heh...heh heh…" Noel began to chuckle a bit, a smile starting to grow on her lips.

"Normally I'd charge extra for the Feebas alone, but just for you little lady, I'll throw in a spare Shiny Feebas I have which-like the one in the tank-has its beauty maxed out, has the Egg Moves Dragon Pulse and Mirror Coat, and a Premiere Ball to keep it in," the booth owner offered, "What do you say?"

"So…!" Noel began before Cherry landed on her head, "Cherry?"

"Hmm? Something up with y-"

"What are you doing?" Noel turned to see Makoto standing next to her, a serious expression on her face.

"Well...I was just about to sell this nice young lady a Shiny Feebas," the booth owner answered, "Is that so wrong?"

"Then show us."

"Eh?"

"Show us the 'Feebas' you were gonna give her," Makoto stated, causing the man to tense up a bit.

"Su-sure…" the man chuckled a bit as he pulled out a Premiere ball, "S-see? It's a Shiny Feebas inside."

"..." Makoto said nothing as she looked at the ball, "...That's a Magikarp you repainted."

"?!"

"M-Magikarp?" Noel repeated.

"And the Premier Ball? Obvious a PokeBall you painted white. You can even see bits of the original red coloring on the top."

"Uh...uh…" the man began to sweat nervously.

"You weren't thinking of ripping her off...were you?" Makoto asked as she leaned in.

"Uh….w-well…"

"Because if you were, I was gonna hunt you down, tie you up, and hang you at the edge of the ship by your thin mustache," Makoto said in a rather...unnerving tone.

"I...h…" a river of sweat fell off him.

"So here's what you're gonna do…" Makoto paused as Cherry and Berry hopped onto her shoulders, "You're gonna give my shy friend her the Shiny Feebas you promised her-specifically the one you have in the fish tank here- for free. You try anything funny, I'll have Cherry and Berry here give you a rather…'interesting' electroshock therapy. Right, girls?"

"Chi," Berry pointed at Makoto's belt.

"Ooh~ Good idea, Berry," Makoto grinned, "Actually, forget the electroshock…" the man sighed in relief before squeaking as a very angry Needles had a stinger aimed at him almost nonchalantly so as to not draw attention, "Why not acupuncture? Though with Needles here having Corrosion as her Ability…" a drop of poison fell from Needles' namesake and easily burned a hole through the table and then the floor, "Can't really say if it'll be good or not."

"..." the man's eyes shrank to dots before he pulled out a real Premier Ball, used it to recall the Shiny Feebas in the fish tank, and gave the ball to Noel, "Thank-you-have-a-very-nice-day!" he shouted quickly as he grabbed his wares and ran off.

"...Ano...wh-what just happened?" Noel blinked.

"Me saving you from a conman, Noellie," Makoto answered before frowning a bit, "No one rips off my friend and gets away with it."

"Emol/Pa/Drill," Cherry, Berry, and Needles nodded in agreement.

"But enough about that…" Makoto paused, smiling a bit as she looked at Noel, "So what're ya gonna name your Feebas?"

"Oh, right! Um…" Noel looked at the Feebas in her ball, "...Umi. Her name is Umi."

"Nice," Makoto smiled, "I bet it's because we're on a cruise liner in the middle of the ocean, huh?"

"H-hai," Noel nodded.

"That's great. Now you've got half a full team. Three to go," Makoto grinned.

"Y-yeah…" Noel nodded as she looked back down at her new Pokemon, 'A...Pokemon Coordinator...hmm…'

"Wow...look at all these people…" James whispered, both he and Jessie disguised as waiters.

"Yes. People with lots of rare Pokemon for the taking," Jessie smirked.

"And to think they'll be all for us!" James beamed a bit to himself...before something smacked him hard on the head, "Ow!"

=Shut it, dumbass!= Karai's voice hissed from a communicator in James' ear =Also, they're not for you guys! They're for pops!=

"Yes, yes, of course. I meant the organization when I meant 'us,' ma'am," James gulped under his breath.

=You better…Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for my 'concert'=

"Y-yes, ma'am," James nodded nervously before someone bumped into him, "Hey! Watch it, buddy!"

"Sorry!" a certain booth owner apologized as he ran...before stopping and looking at James, "...When you're free, come and find me. I have a special offer for you."

"Hmm?" James blinked at that as the man ran off, "Special offer?"

"James, just focus on your job!" Jessie hissed before turning back at some people, "I'm sorry, sir and madam. Here's your order."

"So this is a Quick Ball...interesting," Kajun noted as she looked at a few different types of PokeBalls laid before her and Tsubaki, the one she was holding being a light blue and yellow color, "And you say this has a high chance of catching a Pokemon on the first try?"

"That's correct, ma'am," the PokeBall booth owner nodded, "The Quick Ball has built-in sensors that detect both a Pokemon you've just encountered in the last five minutes and if you've already used a Quick Ball on it."

"I see...interesting," Tsubaki noted before looking at a PokeBall that was pitch black with bits of green on it, "And what's this one, sir?"

"Oh. That's a Dusk Ball, used to capture Pokemon at night, or inside caves," the owner explained, "Due to a special refining process, their capture power increases when night or a cave is detected by built-in sensors."

"Interesting," Tsubaki nodded.

"May I ask about this one?" Kajun asked as she held up an unusual Pokeball that was blue at the top and orange at the bottom with a black line going down the middle of the orange half.

"That's a Typing Ball," the owner chuckled, "If you have a Pokemon Encyclopedia, or PokeDex for short, you can tap the PokeDex with the Typing Ball to connect it to it. When you encounter a Pokemon, just type the correct name of the Wild Pokemon and throw the ball. Typing the correct spelling greatly improves the chances of the Pokemon being caught by the Typing Ball while incorrect spelling will make it have the same catch rate as a normal PokeBall. They were invented when the maker was trying to think of a new PokeBall design while their kid was learning how to type."

"I see…" Kajun noted, looking at the PokeBall carefully as she wrote the info down in a notebook, "Interesting."

"Thanks. So do either of you young ladies like to buy a few?" the owner asked.

"...well...it w-" Tsubaki began before she heard a commotion, "Hmm?"

"Oop. Looks like someone's having a Pokemon battle," the owner noted, seeing a small crowd gathered not too far from where his booth was set up, "You girls better check it out. I'd go, but I need to watch my booth in case anyone comes by."

"You sure?"

"Of course. You go enjoy yourselves," the owner chuckled a bit, "I bet you'll find some rather rare Pokemon there."

"And there goes Kajun…" Tsubaki sighed as her friend blurred over to where the battle was happening, "Wait up!"

"Alright Kage, use Water Shuriken on his Incineroar!" a young man in a deep blue jacket and black jeans declared, a bit of his dark-brown hair covering his left eye.

"Deflect with with Brutal Swing!" a taller man with long black hair that fell to his shoulders wearing a black hooded coat with red stripes that had it's sleeves torn off with a black muscle shirt underneath and matching pants.

The large humanoid cat pokemon with red and black fur in a striped pattern with a flaming belt roared as it raised a red clawed paw/hand before it swung it in a backhand that knocked away shurikens made of actual water. It grinned, revealing it's fangs as the tufts of fur on the side of it's face poked up, with it's smile. It roared in challenge as it raised its left hand and made a come here motion.

"Grenin…" a humanoid frog-like Pokemon frowned a bit as it stared at its opponent, its long tongue wrapped around its neck acting almost like a scarf in a way.

"Our turn! Dark, Flame Charge to close the distance!" the taller Trainer ordered.

The now named Dark grinned as it's entire body was now covered in fire as it dashed forward closing the distance. It roared as it charged for a tackle only for the Pokemon named Kage to jump over the obvious attack.

"Now use Darkest Lariat!" the trainer ordered as Dark stopped mid dash just under Kage.

Dark growled as it began spinning as black flames covered each of its arms. Spinning in a twister motion as the resulting spin caused a change in air current bringing Kage closer to Dark's range. It then swung and grabbed Kage by the neck before slamming it down into the ground with great force.

"Gre…" Kage grunted out before slipping out from underneath Dark.

"He's tough…" the young man whispered as his Pokemon landed back in front of his, "...and so are we. Kage, Double Team into Scald!"

"Greninja!" Kage nodded as he charged forward, splitting into multiple copies of himself as they circled around Dark at high speed.

Before Dark could make an attempt, the clones all fired a steaming of stream of water at him, causing it to grunt out a bit. Dark grunted, falling to one knee as the Scald continued to pour on to the point it formed a large cloud of thick steam.

"Dark," the older trainer spoke calmly, "The show is just getting started!" he shouted as the Pokemon jumped high into the sky above the field. "Scary Face into Flame Charge!" he ordered.

Dark roared, sending out a pressure that caused all the clones to stumble for a second before the feline Pokemon ignited into flames again as it fell down in a drop kick that took out several of the copies.

"Brutal Swing!" at that, Dark jumped while kicking as it took out a large number of the copies until just barely missing the real one.

"Gotcha…" the young man smirked, "Kage, use Scalding Ice!"

"An original move?" the Older Trainer blinked in surprise. "Exciting, isn't it, Dark?" he smiled as his Pokemon smirked happily.

"Gre~ninja!" Kage called out as he fired another stream of steaming hot water, the water connecting as it hit Dark, the large feline like Pokemon grunting out as the water began to slowly solidify into ice.

"Took a bit to master this, but it leaves the opponent frozen with ice so cold, it burns," the young man smirked as Kage kept the attack going.

"Your an interesting one indeed." the Taller trainer smiled, "But this is just the pinch we wait for! Dark, Cross Chop!" he shouted.

Dark roared as it crossed its glowing arms while slowly inching closer and closer. Its arms acted to shield it from the attack as it gained ground with each step. It then roared as it swung both arms down and shattered the attack before jumping into the air, surprising Kage. Midway into a backflip, Dark's flame belt erupted with fire, sending it flying down as its arms crossed again. Kage looked up as the attacking Pokemon grew ever so closer.

"Kage, use Double Team to dodge, ten counter with Water Shuriken!" Kage's trainer quickly ordered.

"Gre…" Kage began as he began to split into multiple clones.

"Dark merge Darkest Lariat!" Dark's trainer ordered as it swung its arms around as the black flames mixed with the glow of the Cross Chop. Dark began spinning while upside down and moved around in a circle, hitting all the clones before striking the real one and sending it flying away.

"Ahh! Kage!" the young man gasped as his Pokemon crashed into the wall.

"Gre….nin…" Kage grunted out, trying to stay up before he fell over, "Ja…"

=Ken's Greninja is unable to battle. Winner is Takuma and his Incineroar= the PA system called out.

Dark landed on its feet and raised its arms to the crowd watching with a roar of victory.

"Man..that was so close too…" Ash whispered as he and Pikachu stood within the crowd, the two watching the young man running up to his pokemon.

"You okay, Kage?" Ken asked his Pokemon in concern, earning a slight nod, "Phew...thank Arceus...still, you did a great job out there, buddy."

"Gre…" Kage nodded a bit.

"That was a good match." Takuma said, walking up to his opponent, Dark trailing behind him while still basking in the crowd's applause, "You held the type advantage but we have trained for that for a while now. Still you got us with that original tactic there. Right, Dark?" he asked, elbowing his Pokemon who sheepishly scratched the back of it's head.

"Eh heh...thanks. Though you sure took us by surprise by combining Cross Chop with your Pokemon's signature move," Ken chuckled a bit as he helped his Pokemon up, "Not even Kage expected something like that."

"It was something I tried before, but I guess I had to improvise since real battle is different from practice. But I had to think of something to match your tricks. Next time let us have a full battle." Takuma stated, holding out his hand.

"I'd like that," Ken smiled as he accepted the handshake.

=To any trainers who would like to challenge Takuma to a battle, please step forward=

Ash grinned in excitement at that, about to get up before Misty and Brock held him back, "H-hey! What gives?! I can take him on!"

"Ash, did you see how hard those two were going?" Misty asked, "Those are professional Pokemon Trainers there. I doubt th-"

"I'd like to fight, please."

The three looked over to see a young woman walk up, her long blue hair pulled into a ponytail while she wore an old red and white hat with a navy-blue tee under a white jacket and white shorts. On her neck was a necklace that seemed to be made from seashells with a strange stone with a stylized 'Z' on it.

=Oh we have a challenger! Please come down to the field if you'd please!=

"My nickname's La," the young woman greeted, "I hope we have a great time."

"Oh." Takuma nodded with a bow, "We hope to have a fulfilling battle." he smiled as Dark nodded and bowed along with its trainer.

La giggled before pulling out a normal Pokeball, "Let's go, Manny!"

She tossed the Pokeball into the air before, instead of opening, turned into a white energy that turned into an Incineroar wearing a red scarf with a scar over its shut right eye. Manny inhaled before letting out a loud roar, making the boat shake a bit.

=Oh ho! Looks like we're having a battle of Incineroars!=

=Incineroar, the Heel Pokemon, and the final form of Litten. Incineroar's flame belt is produced from within its body and burst from its navel and waist as its fighting spirit rises. This Pokémon disregards the safety of its opponents and on-lookers, sometimes striking the opposing Trainer with attacks. It is a violent Pokémon, and will sometimes ignore its Trainer's orders when it is not in the mood to listen. In addition to spewing fire from its navel, it uses ferocious kicks and punches= Dexter spoke up once Ash had pulled it out.

"How entertaining." Takuma smiled as Dark did the same.

"Manny, are you ready for this?" La asked, earning a thumbs up and a grin from her Incineroar.

=It's Trainer Takuma and his Incineroar Dark Vs Trainer La and her Incineroar Manny!= the announcer called out =No time limit! Let the battle begin!=

La gave a sharp clap before Manny shot at Dark, pulling Dark into a hold and released a stream of flames right into his face.

"Unspoken commands...amazing." Takuma smirked.

Dark roared as it lifted Manny over its head. It then began spinning before tossing Manny away. Dark grinned, puffing out its chest and slamming its fist into it repeatedly in a taunting manner. Manny performed a flip in the air before skidding to a halt on his landing.

"Dark, counter attack time. Brutal Swing as many times as you can!" Takuma ordered.

Dark dashed forward before suddenly jumping to the left as Manny moved to catch a swing. Dark then began punching from the left, taking Manny by surprise. Manny quickly turned, only for Dark to jump around and strike from the right. Manny growled before La gave a sharp, soft whistle, causing Manny to grin and spin like a top just as Dark began another strike, black flames erupting from Manny's claws mixed in with the flames erupting from his belt. The spinning Manny managed to strike Dark several times with the flames and black flame-coated claws before finishing with a backhanded lariat, sending Dark careening back.

Dark flipped and dug its claws into the ground decreasing its momentum. Dark rubbed its hand across its jaw with a smirk. Manny just chuckled while making a 'come on' motion.

"Hm...Dark, pull back and use Bulk Up." Takuma ordered as Dark nodded and growled as a red aura covered it as its muscles began to do as the moves name implied and bulk up.

"Bulk Up?" Ash repeated.

"It's a move that increases both a Pokemon's Attack and Defense," Brock explained, "Perfect for Pokemon that mostly use close-combat moves like Machamp or Incineroar."

"Swagger and into Bulk Up again." Takuma said as Dark grinned and flexed while its muscles grew once again.

Manny glowed red briefly before shaking his head, feeling like his mind was going through syrup. Reaching under his scarf, he pulled out a green berry and popped it into his mouth. After swallowing, the syrup feeling went away. Dark kept flexing despite seeing Manny eat the berry, as if it was taunting it's opponent to make the first move.

"I guess he wants us to go first, Manny," La noted.

"Grrr?" Manny looked over his shoulder at her.

"Well, we don't want to disappoint," La smiled before pulling out a red diamond-shaped gem and put it on her necklace, directly over the stylized 'Z.'

"What's that gem?" Ash pondered.

"I'm not sure."

"Woah!" Ash yelped in surprise, turning around to see Kajun and Tsubaki sitting behind him, Misty, and Brock, "When did you two get here?"

"During the first battle," Kajun answered, her eyes focused on La as she kept her pen ready.

La swung her arms up, making an 'X' before her face. Manny copied her movements, the two acting in synch, as they swung their arms down to the sides and then forward in a crossed shape. Azure and ruby flame-like energy began to erupt from the crystal as the two slumped before slowly rising up and swung their arms out in menacing poses. The energy erupted from the crystal and into Manny as he knelt down with a paw and knee on the ground with the other clenched into a fist. Manny rose up with a roar...and the ground beneath Dark erupted, revealing a wrestling stage made of flames.

"Woah! What the?!" Ash gawked.

"Can you smell what Manny is cooking?" La questioned as Manny charged at the stage and jumped onto one of the posts, "Manny…" black and red flames erupted from Manny's belt, engulfing the scarred Heel Pokemon within them, "HYPER DARK CRUSHER!"

"Dark, let us met them with all we have." Takuma grinned as Dark was enveloped in flames that formed into a giant aura of fire, "FLARE BLITZ!" he shouted as Dark crouched down.

La pointed at the sky with both her pointer fingers. Manny shot into the air and spun around in a 450 degree frontal spin before shooting straight down at Dark in a bellyflop maneuver.

"Darkest Lariat...DARKEST FLARE BLITZ!" Takuma roared along with Dark as the Pokemon began spinning and shooting up as a spiraling pillar of black and orange fire.

The two collided and the stage erupted into a massive explosion, forcing many watching to shield themselves from the resulting smoke and winds. Slowly, the smoke began to clear and reveal that the arena was surprisingly intact with no signs of the flaming stage being there. In the center, the two Incineroar stood, panting. Manny collapsed to a knee, grunting while holding an arm. Dark groaned as red sparks raced across its fur from the recoil of its Flare Blitz.

"Manny…" La whispered as the scarred Incineroar managed to get back up as a powerful red aura erupted off his body, making her gasp, "Blaze."

Dark grunted, crossing its arm as it roared and the sparks disrupted. Manny looked over his shoulder at La and nodded, a determined look on his face.

"One last attack?" La offered to Takuma.

"Dark...how are you doing buddy?" he asked his Pokemon in slight worry. Dark turned and grinned while giving a thumbs up.

Dark then roared as it spread its legs while its fur began to lift up as the same red aura exploded from it.

"What's that aura?" Ash pondered, taking Dexter out again.

=Blaze, an Ability shared amongst Fire-type Starters in many regions. When a Pokemon is low on health and Blaze activates, the power of their moves are drastically increased, but only if those moves are Fire-type= Dexter explained.

"Their Pokemon are so well trained, and they are actually pushed to the point their Abilities are activated." Brock noted as the two Pokemon awaited the command.

"Truly remarkable," Kajun noted, scribbling as fast as she could in her notebook.

"Time for the final round. Dark, let's pour every last ounce of energy we have into this. We've been backed into that perfect pinch." Takuma spoke as Dark smirked happily and nodded.

"Manny, you seem so excited right now. We haven't have this much of a great fight in a long while," La noted as Manny grinned over his shoulder at her, "Since they're pouring everything they have into it, so will we."

The two Incineroar's closed their eyes for a moment before snapping them open and stomping the ground.

"Manny…"

"Dark…"

"FLARE BLITZ!" With that, the two Incineroar's roared while erupting with flames covering their whole bodies as they charged forward with their legs causing large shockwaves from the first step.

Both raced across the field with their arms held up in preparation of the impact. Both masses of flames collided causing a second huge explosion, the flames being blown off the two Pokemon for a moment as they tackled into one another and began grappling with one another. After a few moments, the flames collided back onto them, causing a large burst of heat and smoke that obscured the entire field.

"...Who...who won?" Misty asked, recovering from her surprised shock as the smoke began to slowly die down.

=And…= the announcer spoke as the last of the smoke cleared to reveal both Incineroar flat on their backs, foaming from the mouths and twitching with smoke coming off them =It's a draw!=

"A draw?!" Ash gawked.

"Hahaha…." Takuma laughed slightly as he jogged over to his Pokemon and pushed it up as he patted its chest, "You did good, old buddy, I'm proud of ya." he smiled as he pulled out a pokeball and returned his Pokemon to it before he tucked it into a pocket inside his coat.

"Manny!" La called as she ran over to the Incineroar in worry, "Oh...Oh no. Please be okay…"

"Zzzz…"

La's eye twitched at the snoring Manny as she returned him into his Pokeball, "Of course you'd do something like that…"

"I owe you one." Takuma spoke up as he stood up dusting his jacket, "You gave me and Dark a great battle. It's been awhile since that lovable goof got knocked out that good."

"Right," La nodded with a small smile, "I've never seen anyone push Manny to that sort of limit except for a few occasions outside of all out spars with the other Pokemon I see as Ohana."

"I thank you for your honest challenge, and the fight. I hope we can battle again." Takuma bowed respectfully. He then held his hand out to help her up.

"Likewise," La smiled as she took his hand into her own for a handshake, "Mahalo plenty."

=And that's the battle, boy how do we rule that one?= The Announcer muttered, =Alright well folks given it was a double knock out, feel free to challenge either one of our two great trainers here to a battle! Any takers? Come on why let the show stop after all of that?=

"..."

"...Ash, don't you d-" Misty began.

"I'll take one of you o-" Ash began before his stomach grumbled, "..."

"Maybe we should get something to eat before you even attempt to challenge anyone, Ash," Tsubaki suggested.

"...Good idea."

"James, did you see that?" Jessie whispered, having watched the battles from behind the crowd, making sure to not be seen, "The boss is gonna be happy when we get him those primo Pokemon!...James?" she blinked as she looked around, seeing not trace of her partner anywhere, "James? ...Where did he go?"

"S-sorry!" she turned to see James running up to her, holding a gold colored PokeBall, "I was just talking to someone and ended up buying a Magikarp!"

"...What?" Jessie's eye twitched.

"I know. He even gave me a sp-gah ha! Not the ear!" James whined when Jessie dragged him off.

"Phew...I swear it's like a maze in here…" Mai whispered as she walked around in the dining room, looking for her friends as it was now the exact time they were supposed to meet up, "Where are they?"

"Oh my god these are so good~!"

"...I guess I follow the sound of Makoto's joy of food," Mai sweatdropped.

"Holy...just how much more can they eat?" Ken whispered with wide eyes as he, La, and Takuma watched Ash and co wolfing down food after food, the three currently sharing a table, "I swear that cosplayer is on her...what? Twentieth plate now."

"Hah...I think it's been awhile since the poor girl has been able to eat so much. She looks like she hasn't eaten a filling meal in a month." Takuma noted as he took a drink of his soda. "Yet strangely...I can't turn away from the carnage of it all…"

"True," La agreed as Manny huffed, sitting beside her in sunglasses and an Alolan shirt, "Do I have to remind you of the last time we went to the Battle Buffet back home?"

"So you guys feel hungry now too?" Takuma asked.

"I've seen worse so, yeah, I am hungry," La noted.

"Very much so…" Ken nodded, "Wonder if they have any Malasada?"

"Becond Table on d…" Makoto paused before she swallowed her food, "Second table on the far right!"

"Thanks!" Ken said as he ran off to get some.

"Wait for me." Takuma stated as he got up and followed after him, "La, you want in on this?"

"I'm fine, thank you," La replied, "I'm hoping to try some cuisine from another region."

"Kay!" they both replied as they made their way to the table.

"Hmm? Why did you stop eating, Tsubaki?" Misty asked, pausing from eating a piece of cake.

"...I'm not sure, but…" Tsubaki paused as a waiter walked by her, "...Something doesn't...feel right about this."

"What do you mean?" Mai asked as she sat down.

"First off; those tickets we were given. Don't you think it was too convenient to get them from those two women we met?" Tsubaki asked quietly, "Furthermore, don't most of the employees here seem rather….suspicious to you?"

"Hmm?" La blinked a bit, intently listening in on the group's conversation.

"Now that you mention it, yeah," Brock replied, "They've been tense most of the time I've seen them."

"So? They're probably stressed from tending to so many people," Ash spoke up, pausing from eating his food.

"...That's another thing I want to bring up. A majority of the people here are Pokemon Trainers…ones with rare Pokemon that aren't native to Kanto," Tsubaki stated, "Doesn't that strike you odd?"

"Grr…" Manny growled under his breath to La.

"I know you told me so that it was too good to be true," La sweatdropped.

"Hey. We're back," Ken spoke as he and Takuma returned, carrying a few trays filled with Malasada.

"What did we miss?" Takuma asked as he immediately popped one into his mouth as he sat down.

"Did either of you happen to get your ticket for free from a girl and a crossdresser free of charge?" La asked.

"I knew that was a dude!" Takuma exclaimed, "My friends told me I was being rude, but I knew it."

"...Come to think of it, yeah" Ken answered, "That crossdresser was trying way too hard to act like a girl...plus that 'cool~!' of his was starting to get annoying…"

"I know, right?!" Takuma exclaimed.

"True. There's good acting and then there was him," La nodded, "Now look at the workers here, but don't let them know you're looking. Don't they seem tense as if expecting something?"

"Now that you mention it…" Takuma muttered as he leaned back as it stretching and used that moment to spot all the workers he could, "They look ready to strike. Way too tense even for regular people working in the service industry…"

"...He's right…" Ken frowned a bit, "They do look like they're waiting to strike...as if waiting for someone to give the call…"

"Aside from your Greninja and your Incineroar, do either of you have any other Pokemon on hand?" La asked.

"Full team all the time." Takuma said opening his jacket to reveal little latches his six PokeBalls connected to within each one a custom coloring of red and black.

"I have my team with me all times," Ken nodded, motioning to the six different Types of PokeBalls on his belt.

"I keep my Ohana close to me," La nodded, motioning to the eating Manny and then to five PokeBalls of different colors and designs on her waist, most being Dusk Balls.

"We should try to warn as many others as possible." Takuma spoke up, "If we are correct, then this way less and less people will be caught off guard, and if we by chance are wrong we could always say it was a prank."

"...Even so, we better be careful," Ken advised, "Whoever has this set up, we need to make sure they don't find out, otherwise they'll be onto us…"

"Or onto them," La spoke, motioning over to Ash and Co's table, "I was listening in on their conversation, and it seems the crimson-haired girl was the first to notice things were wrong."

"You think she's with the International Pokemon Police?" Ken asked quietly.

"No. Most likely a recent graduate of a military academy," La replied, "I know people who work or worked with the IPP. The way she holds herself is more of a recent graduate."

"You are incredibly observant." Takuma noted.

"It's a gift," La replied.

"Well since it is clear they also share our suspicions, it would be useful for us to talk with them." Takuma spoke, "It's always beneficial to know your partners before you work with them."

"Good idea," Ken nodded before whispering to the two, "Though just to be safe, either of you two seeing anyone listening in on us or them? Last thing we need is a spy."

"None as far as I can tell…" Takuma muttered, looking around carefully, "Oh...Manny what of you?" he asked the Pokemon, "Can you tell if anyone is eavesdropping?"

Manny snorted.

"No one's heard us talking yet. Our conversation is blending into the sounds of conversation from the other guests," La informed.

"Good, then let's try talking to them." Takuma offered.

"Okay," Ken nodded before looking over at Ash and Co's table, "Hey~!"

"Hmm?" Ash blinked as he and the others looked over, "Oh! It's them. The trainers from before."

"If ya have enough room, mind if we sit with ya?" Ken asked.

"...I don't see any problem with that," Ash shrugged a bit.

"From how you spoke just now, you saw the battles, hm?" La asked as the three Trainers and one Incinerator joined the table.

"Yeah."

"Pi…" Pikachu looked up at Manny, who grinned and offered a bottle of ketchup, "Cha~!"

"Big guy knows what he likes," Makoto noted, nibbling on a piece of acorn with Cherry and Berry.

"Y-yeah," Noel slightly nodded, Yuki resting in her lap as she slept.

"Manny may be rough in battles, but he's more like an overgrown kitty out of them," La explained, earning an annoyed noise from Manny, "Oh, you so do act like one. Do I even have to point out your obsession with those shirts?" Manny snorted as he tugged his Alolan shirt.

"I don't see any problem with it," Makoto shrugged a bit, "Looks pretty cool on him honestly."

"Oh thank you." Takuma nodded as they all sat down.

"So how long have you been Trainers?" La asked.

"A few months," Kajun answered, pausing from eating a bit of pasta made with alfredo sauce, "Ashton started two months ago."

"Please don't call me that…" Ash muttered with an embarrassed blush.

"Two months so far? That's nice to hear," La smiled gently.

"...Aren't you one of the Waterflower sisters at the Cerulean Gym?" Ken asked, looking right at Misty.

"Yes, actually," Misty replied.

"...You look cuter than the dolls they had of you at the gift shop."

"...I'm afraid to ask what they look like…" Misty sighed.

"I still can't believe they put a gift shop in a Gym," Brock sweatdropped, "A museum or aquarium I could understand. But a gift shop?"

"Took me by surprise too when I visited the place when I was in Cerulean," Ken shrugged, "Still better than one of the gyms me and Kage visited over in Unova...I mean seriously. Evaluation Battles? I know she wanted to go out and fly her plane, but that doesn't give her the right to shirk off her duties."

'Fly her plane instead of battling? Huh…' La noted.

"So what was that thing you did to make that arena of fire appear?" Ash asked, "That was awesome!"

"Hm?" La looked at Ash, "Oh! Well, that was a Z-Move."

"Z-Move?" Kajun repeated before taking out a new notebook, "Tell me more, please."

"They're originally from the Alola Region," La explained, "To perform a Z-Move, you need three important things: a Z-Ring-or Z-Necklace in my case-, a Z-Crystal like the Incinium Z that I used for the battle, and a Pokemon that has the right move for the Z-Crystal, like Manny."

"Rrr?" Manny looked up from the bowl of chocolate ice cream he was eating.

"Just mentioning you in an example, Manny," La giggled, "Though...I think I made a small error. You also need one more thing; the movements."

"Movements?" Makoto repeated as Manny resumed his eating.

"You didn't think that Manny and I did those movements for amusement, did you?" La shook her head, "Each Z-Crystal requires a special set of movements to activate a Z-Move."

"Like those movements you did during your battle with Takuma?" Ash asked, motioning to the tall man.

"That's correct," La nodded, "They help channel the energy in the Z-Crystals into the Pokemon that's going to use the Z-Move." she reached into her jacket and pulled out a case and opened it, revealing dozens of them, "In Alola, we don't have Gyms but Island Trials where the end of them gives us a Z-Crystal."

"Huh...interesting…" Ken noted as he looked at the case, "So much different than the Mega Stones over at Hoenn and Kalos."

"Mega Stones?"

"I'd explain, but…" Ken paused as a waiter walked past him, "I'm afraid they are listening in."

"They?"

"He means the employees," Takuma answered.

"...you three noticed too then," Tsubaki quietly noted as she looked at the three.

The three older Trainers nodded.

"We wanted to help out anyway we can," Ken whispered, "But also make sure whoever's behind this doesn't find out."

"We're kind of hoping all of us can work together when whatever happens happens," La added as the other two nodded.

"You idiot! How could you do something so stupid!?" Jessie snapped at James.

"What do you mean?" James asked, "The Magikarp I got is a gold mine. Look, it's even in a golden Pokeball, too!"

"That's not real gold, you idiot!" Jessie snapped, "That's just a gold-colored casing!"

"What?!"

"Plus Magikarp are nothing more than weak cannon fodder!"

"...I was gypped!"

"Where did you get the money for it anyway?" Jessie asked, making him tense up, "...What did you do?"

"I...may have put our savings into getting it," James replied.

"...You what?" Jessie's eye twitched violently.

"Wait, wait, wait!" James yelped as he dug out a deck of cards and started going through it, "It's a goldmine! I'm sure of it! Just, uh...Ah! Here's the card!" he pulled out a card with a Magikarp on it, "Thank goodness all Team Rocket teams on this mission were given these cards with basic information on Pokemon that we might run into on this ship…"

"James…"

"Yes J-ack!"

"You go find who swindled you and get my money back right now!" Jessie snapped as she comically choked him.

"See anything suspicious yet?" Tsubaki whispered, standing near Takuma as they, along with the others, stood around different spots in the main room.

"None out of the norm." Takuma replied, rolling his shoulder, "They all seem the same level of nervousness as before."

"They could be waiting for a set of events to be their signal," La noted before the ship's horn went off.

"Looks like the ship's ready to leave," Misty noted.

"Stay sharp," Ken advised, "If I had to guess, they're gonna strike the moment we're far out in the ocean."

"I'd like to see them try," Makoto whispered, cracking her knuckles a bit as Berry and Cherry stood ready.

"Maybe th-" Mai began before a guitar riff went off, "?!"

"What's up, my Dragsters and Dragbros?!" a voice declared, making everyone in the room turn to the top of the stairs, "Sorry t' keep ya waitin', but the Dark Flame Dragon Queen Karai is in the house~!"

"..." La leaned over to Kajun and Takuma and whispered, "Any idea who she is?"

"I'm not sure..." Kajun answered, "Takuma?"

"Not...sure. I've met a lot of showy people in my travels, but this one is par the course for new." Takuma spoke, "Could she be another trainer who was brought here like us?"

"I know what you're all thinking. 'Who is that badass rocket girl and what's she doing here?'" Karai asked with a cocky smirk, "Well, I'm here to give ya one hell of a show, and a surprise none of you will forget! YEAH~!" she yelled as she did a riff on a crimson-red and black dragon-themed guitar.

"Rocket Girl?" Takuma repeated in confusion.

"I got a bad feeling about this…" Tsubaki whispered.

"And before I start things off, I'd like ta introduce my partner! Come out, A-"

"There's no need to shout, sister…" a woman with long silver-white hair spoke as she walked up next to her, wearing an azure and white suit, "And greetings, Pokemon Trainers from around the world."

'?! That voice...it can't be…' Kajun thought.

"We like to thank you all for coming," the woman explained before a serious expression grew on her face, "Unfortunately, your Pokemon will have to be confiscated for the remainder of the trip."

"Well that was faster than expected." Takuma spoke loudly.

"And to any who objects...well...Let loose the drums…" Karai began as she raised her hand up, "Of…" she then slammed it down hard on her guitar, letting out a extremely loud guitar riff that almost sounded like a dragon's roar, "WAR~~~!"

Before anything could be said, all the doors leading outside suddenly shut tight before a metal wall covered it, startling everyone else in the room. The workers there merely smirked before tossing off their outfits, revealing that they were wearing pure black outfits underneath, a large 'R' right on the front of their outfits.

"A large 'R'?" La pondered before her eyes widened, "T-Team Rocket?!"

"You know we should have seen that coming when the loud one called herself a Rocket girl." Takuma growled in anger.

"No kidding…" Ken frowned before a pair of spotlights turned on, "Eh?"

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie declared as she hopped into the spotlights.

"Ugh...Make it Double…" James groaned as e slumped in, a depressing aura around him.

"To prot-"

"You even finish that crappy motto, I will put you and your cat on sewer duty for a year!" Karai snapped at the two, making them tremble in fear, "Sorry about that, folks. They're just idiots. Now...get ready to hand your Pokemon over! Hit it, boys!"

With that, the team Rocket Grunts turned on the backpack-like machines on their backs, causing tubes to coil out as they began to creature a powerful suction of air, pulling in the Pokeballs of almost every Trainer there.

"That has to be one the silliest methods of theft I've ever seen." Takuma muttered, keeping his jacket closed.

"This is in my top five, actually," La replied, Manny shielding her from the suction, "Number one being two guys thinking it was a good idea to use a stick to wake up a sleeping Golisopod they thought was a Wimpod."

"Well…they sure sound stupid." Takuma grunted as he ended up being dragged near one of the Rocket Grunts. "So...any regrets in career choice about now?" he asked ,lifting the man up with one arm.

"G...y-" the grunt began.

"Hiyah!" Ken yelled as he kicked a Rocket Grunt away, causing the others to look at him with wide eyes, "...What? Like I'd let a bunch of grunts take my partners away from me."

"Hey, kid!" Ash tensed as he saw a grunt standing behind him, "Hand over your Pokemon now!"

"CHU~!"

*BZZT!*

"...Or not…" the now soot-covered grunt wheezed out, a trail of smoke coming out of his mouth before he collapsed flat on his face.

"You know...that's not a half bad idea." Takuma realized, "They want our Pokemon...well let's show them what they're biting for."

"I like the sound of that," Ken nodded as he pulled out two PokeBalls, "Kage, Sora, let's go!"

"Grenin!" Kage called out as he formed.

"Noi~!" a Wyvern-like Pokemon called out as it formed next to Kage.

Its body was pitch black with a purple belly and the interior of its membrane wings were green in color, it had three red claws at the top of each of its wings, red horns over its nose, and a spiked tail. A white mane of fur covered its neck, and two large speaker shaped ears twitched on top of its head.

Manny grinned as he flexed, ripping his Alolan shirt to shreds before crushing his sunglasses in a fist before giving out a loud roar.

"I'm not buying you another shirt and sunglasses," La deadpanned, causing Manny to gawk at her with a roar of surprise, "Scramble, Ho'oilo!"

She tossed out a pair of normal Pokeballs. Like with Manny's, instead of opening they instead transformed into the two Pokemon. The first looked more like a metal oval with a pair of metal balls on the sides, the front of each sporting an eye with the center eye being bright red. Three magnets spun around on the back of the oval and the front of the two balls with screws emerging from their tops and a yellow antennae emerged from the top of the oval.

=Magnezone…= the Pokemon let out a metallic echoing call.

Yuki paused in her shivering in Noel's arms when her eyes laid upon the other Pokemon. Gracefully landing on her paws was a fox-like Pokemon that size of a Volkswagon beetle with soft, icy-blue/grey fur. Its nine tails gently swayed behind her, resembling a large snow cloud due to how close they were to one another. Fluffy cloud-like fur wrapped around its neck while flowing locks of fur went down its head into bangs. A circle of stars briefly appeared around her.

"Ninetails~" the fox Pokemon let out.

"Oh..oh my...beautiful..." Noel whispered in awe, unaware of a Rocket Grunt sneaking up on her.

"Oh no you don't! Needles!"

"BEEDRILL!"

"Ahh!" the grunt yelped as he narrowly avoided the stinger aimed at him.

"Eh?! Wh-what's up with that Beedrill?!" Ken gawked as he, La, and Takuma looked at Makoto's Beedrill.

"Regional Variant?" La pondered.

"I dunno, but I like it," Takuma smirked a bit as he pulled out a pair of PokeBalls as well, "Come on Musashi, Jin!"

The two balls opened as two lights formed revealing the named Pokemon. The first was a tall bipedal shark, it had a long tail ending in two fins, legs with three claws and spikes extending from the thighs, two thin arms with two spikes extending from the upper arm, with one claw at the end of each arm and long fins hanging down from the forearms. Its eyes opened as it opened its jaw to roar, drawing a lot of attention to the blue scaled creature named Musashi.

The second was another humanoid Pokemon. Its body was covered in bright red feathers with yellow feathers covering the ends of it's legs, a dull white down of feathers covered its chest and melded to the feathers on its head that even jutted back like wings/hair. Its arms were coated in red feathers just a little past the elbows before dull grey scales covered the rest of the arms and ending in sharp claws. The Pokemon opened its red beak, unleashing a burst of fire as it gave a battle cry.

"Blazi!" Jin shouted as fire ignited around his wrists.

'I-is that a land shark?!' Mai thought with wide eyes, looking right at Musashi.

"Alright guys, free for all!" Takuma shouted.

Musashi wasted no time pouncing on the Rocket members, sending them flying and grabbing one man by his leg and spun around before tossing him into another. Jin dashed forward and passing by multiple grunts, who all passed out with blank eyes from strikes they could not even see coming.

"You heard him, guys! Let's go nuts!" Ken shouted.

"Greninja!" Kage nodded before vanishing, reappearing behind a few grunts before delivering a round his kick, scattering them about while Sora let out a loud screech, unleashing a loud blast of compressed sound as it sent more of the grunts flying.

"Gotcha!" a grunt shouted as they jumped at Ho'oilo.

"Nine…" Ho'oilo waved her tails...and a Blizzard erupted from her, encasing the grunts trying to grab her in blocks of ice except for their heads.

Scramble's body glowed before a metallic silver beam shot out of his center eye, striking the ground between a group of grunts and sent them flying from the explosion before a Discharge from the Magnezone zapped them good. Manny pulled a grunt into a headlock before throwing the grunt at another before jumping and slamming them with a bodyslam.

"No use in escaping, girl," A grunt spoke as a few surrounded Kajun.

"...Hikari, Koko. If you'll please?"

The grunts cried out as they were sent flying by a blast of psychic energy, courtesy of Kajun's Ralts and Espeon.

"Luca/Terra, let's go!" Tsubaki and Mai called out as they sent out their Pokemon.

"Lu/Rew!" the Riolu and Sandshrew cried out as they charged into battle.

"Grab them!" a grunt shouted as a few dogpilled on top of the two Pokemon...only to be blasted back by a combined Force palm and Rapid Spin, "Ahh!"

"What are ya guy doin?! Yer supposed t' be professionals!" Meowth snapped as he watched the grunts being beaten back by the Trainers' Pokemon as more Trainers began to throw their own Pokemon out to beat them back.

"..." Aoiro looked around, "Not a single grunt has a Pokemon on them. Karai, you made sure to remind them that they had to keep at least one on them at all times, correct?"

"..."

"...Ugh…" Aoiro groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose to quell the incoming headache, "You forgot again, didn't you?"

"...Maybe?"

"..." Aoiro whacked Karai upside the head with an oversized paper folding fan with the kanji for 'You idiot' on it.

"OW!"

"Honestly," Aoiro sighed before hearing a grunt scream.

"Wilheim!" another Grunt cried before a humanoid Pokemon with four, muscular arms and a beak mouth grabbed him, "...Mercy?"

*CRUNCH!*

"My leg!"

"Seriously...this is the most joke like crime I've ever seen!" Takuma shouted, punching a grunt and knocking him out.

"No kidding," Ken added as he kicked a few grunts, "If these guys are supposed to be professional thieves, I'd hate to see what their boss is like."

A tick mark appeared on both Aoiro and Karai's heads upon hearing that. Nearby, La cringed at Ken's statement before Manny picked her up and jumped over a Grunt that tried to tackle her, landing near the other side of the room.

"James, don't just stand there and mope! Help out!" Jessie hissed, shaking a still depressed James, "We are not letting all these primo Pokemon sl-"

"Grenin/Blaze."

"?!" Jessie tensed as she slowly looked over, seeing both Kage and Jin staring right at her, "...uh….Parlay?"

"Greninja-nin."

"He says dat only woiks fer piraites…" Meowth gulped.

"Blaz-bla-ken!"

"And he says they're gonna hurt us now." Meowth paled.

"Gh?!" Jessie tensed at that, grabbing James and Meowth as she attempted to run from the two.

"BLAZE!" Jin shouted as he unleashed a flamethrower that swallowed up several grunts on it's path to hit them.

"Not the face!" Jessie cried before yelping, narrowly avoiding a Scald from Kage.

"...Think we should intervene?" Karai asked as she and Aoiro watched more and more of the Rocket Grunts being knocked back, "Seriously, this is just getting annoying."

"...Agreed," Aoiro sighed a bit before pulling out a PokeBall, "Lancelot, come forth!"

"Lade…" Lancelot whispered as he formed.

"Bringing your knight out eh? Well…" Karai began as she pulled out a pitch black Pokeball, "Can't have a Knight without a Dragon, sis. Chaos, let's rock!"

Emerging from the pitch black Pokeball was a three-headed, draconic Pokémon with six thin, black wings that each ended in two points on its back. It had a fuchsia-colored collar on its neck which surrounded its head. The main head was dark blue and had black eyes with fuchsia pupils. Its two hands were also black and each one harbored a head; these were similarly blue with black eyes with small fuchsia collars on the inside. Its abdomen had two fuchsia stripes and its feet appeared atrophied, having no claws or defined soles and two or three small toes. Its tail also sported a fuchsia stripe and ends with a black tuft.

"HYDREIGON!" the dragon roared.

"Holy!" Ash gawked.

"Wh...w...what is that?" Noel asked nervously, instantly shooting behind Makoto.

"A Hydreigon…" Ken whispered with wide eyes, "...Not good."

"A very powerful Dark and Dragon type Pokemon." Takuma explained

"It's known as the Brutal Pokemon for a good reason," La added as Ho'oilo moved over to beside her.

"Yup! And to take care of the big threat for him…" Karai began as she did a loud guitar riff, "Chaos, hit that Ninetails with Flash Cannon!"

"Jin!" Takuma shouted as the Blaziken stopped before it vanished from eyesight.

Chaos charged up energy in its three jaws but was caught by surprise when its center head was suddenly pushed up, making its shot go up to the roof. The Dragon growled in surprise at that as everyone blinked at the new hole in the ceiling.

"Jin is a special Blaziken...his ability isn't Blaze like a normal one; it's Speed Boost." Takuma said as Jin vanished again before reappearing clear on the other side of the room.

"Damn...another pain…" Karai growled, "Sis, mind handling the oversized chicken?"

"Oh she didn't…" Takuma groaned, "He really doesn't like that."

"How bad does he hate it?" Misty asked, her Staryu and Starmie washing away some Grunts with Water Guns.

"BLAZE!" Jin roared as he disappeared again before appearing behind Chaos and slamming a Flaming Kick to its back, sending it crashing down to the ground.

"Asked...and answered," Misty sweatdropped.

"...Sis…"

"Fine...Lancelot, meet him head on!" Aoiro ordered her Gallade.

"Lade…" Lancelot nodded as he dashed towards Jin.

Jin jumped over a slash aimed at his back before slamming another Blaze Kick to Lancelot's head. Lancelot shot back up before the two began trading blows, their arms swinging at one another rapidly.

"Now that he's distracted, let's try this again," Karai looked over at La and Ho'oilo...with the former doing a set of movements, "Huh?"

"Those movements...Where have I…?" Aoiro whispered before her eyes widened, "Karai, call back Chaos!"

"Huh?" Karai looked at Aoiro as La ended with her arms and a leg raised to make it look like she was posing as a fairy...the pink Z-Crystal on her Z-Necklace erupting in aura that shot into Ho'oilo, "What the…?"

Ho'oilo began to float into the air before a pink aura erupted off her, forming butterfly wings on her back.

"Ho'oilo, Lovely Star Impact!" La called.

"Lovely What?" Ash and Co blinked.

"Nine…" Ho'oilo shot off at Chaos, her 'butterfly wings' washing over Chaos and causing it to cry out in pain, "TAILS!"

"Drei?!" Chaos cried out as he was sent flying, shooting past Karai as he smashed into the wall, leaving a hole in it.

"?!" Karai's eyes widened as she slowly looked back, seeing one of Chaos' heads hanging out of the hole, his eyes replaced with swirls, "Ch...Chaos!"

"Vul…" Yuki awed as Ho'oilo flew down and began to walk once she touched ground, her wings dissipating into sparkles by her.

"Tails…" Ho'oilo seemed to giggle, giving the Vulpix a pleasant look.

"Th...th...THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Karai snapped in anger, her eyes slit, "Aoiro, what the actual hell was that?!"

"A Z-Move..something exclusive to Alola," Aoiro explained as her Gallade continued to trade blows with Jin.

"Jin, playtime is over!" Takuma ordered, "You can cut loose now!"

Jin smirked as he grabbed Lancelot's next slash, the Gallade confused as it was unable to release it's arm from the grip. Jin's fist began to glow with bright blue energy as he ducked down slightly.

"BLAZE!" Jin roared landing a Sky-Uppercut that sent Lancelot high into the air; Jin followed close behind as his entire body was covered in blue fire.

"Bravebird!" Takuma ordered as the flames turned into the shape of a phoenix as Jin shot forward and into Lancelot before crashing into the ground and dragging across it before an explosion of blue flames tossed Lancelot away and through another section of wall.

"Lancelot," Aoiro spoke up before a spot beside her flickered to reveal Lancelot and Serenade, the Galade panting while holding a large wound on his chest, "I see...Then I should stop holding back." she sent out Evergreen as Lancelot got back up and stood beside him, "To think a group of annoyances would make me use this."

"Blaze!" Jin shouted, not even visibly harmed by his move's own recoil.

"What is she talking about?" Ash pondered as she placed a pair of fingers on the gem with a leaf-like symbol within on her before eight bolts of energy erupted from it and slammed into the gems on Evergreen and Lancelot, "?!"

"Lancelot...Evergreen...it's time to unleash your true power…" Aoiro whispered before her eyes snapped open, revealing them to be slit as well, "Mega Evolve!"

The energy seemed to swell up immediately at that declaration, causing both Pokemon to be engulfed in orange energy. The two Pokemon growled as their bodies began to transform. Evergreen's head crests became more pointed with a round portion missing from the middle. Red marking surrounded its eyes, which became smaller and more narrow. The yellow seeds down its back grew larger as the last pair of seeds turned red, while the pair above it turned orange. Red stripes encircled the base of its tail and ran across its lower belly. The leaves on its wrists became more pointed, and the upper ones had red tips and half-circles cut out of the middles. Covering its chest and shoulders were plates of leaves similar to those that formed its tail. As its tail grew longer and developed a red stinger at the tip, the energy dispersed in the shape of a multicolored leaf/DNA strand fusion before it.

Lancelot grunted as his cape vanished while red plates emerged on his arms, and the helmet and cape-like protrusions on its head and back growing to give it a more knightly appearance. A long black 'cape' grew from its back and shoulders as his lower arms elongated in the back with the red plates, making them more like curved blades in appearance as the energy dispersed in the same way Evergreen's did before him, revealing his upper body had turned pitch black/near black-gold in coloring.

"Yeah...see? That...That's Mega Evolution, Ash," Ken informed, pointing at the two Pokemon.

"Evergreen...Dragon Ace on Blaziken…" Aoiro whispered, snapping her fingers, "Lancelot, Phantom Blade's Garden."

White energy swirled around Evergreen's fists before he vanished from sight. He appeared below Jin, the energy now in the form of large dragonic claws with a bluish-purple tint to the white energy. Jin was about to move back when he froze, his shadow now connected to Lancelot's extended one. Dozens upon dozens of shadowy tentacles ending in blades made of green energy erupted from the shadow as Evergreen slammed his claws into Jin's gut, creating an explosion before the blades stabbed into the smoke, Jin letting out cries of pain from within.

"Ah!" Everyone gasped at that.

"Jin!" Takuma shouted as the smoke cleared to show the Blaziken still standing, shocking the attacking Pokemon.

Jin growled as his eyes opened and he grabbed Evergreen's arms, slowly pulling them away. As it did, the Mega evolved Pokemon looked at Jin's chest and its eyes widened, seeing a necklace tucked away in the feathers.

"A Mega Stone…" Aoiro whispered, "I see… you've been holding back as well."

"It wasn't my intention...but we only use this trick for one or two fights, one where we want to give it our fullest against a good and fair opponent, and the other is when we get so pissed off...all we can think about is taking the other person down." Takuma explained as his belt buckle clicked open to reveal a key stone as it began glowing.

Bolts of energy shot out and into Jin's necklace as he began to glow. His body was suddenly enveloped in a spiraling burst of fire as his body began to change. The feathers on his head lifted up as the two horns that acted as eyebrows grew and merged into a single horn. The fire dispersed as the same symbol flashed before Jin for a moment, the feathers on his chest having grown out slightly as his legs where now covered in black feathers and ended in red at his feet, the flames on his wrists now billowed out like hanging arm wraps of a fighter.

"BLAZE!" Jin shouted, kicking Evergreen away.

"...Karai, you deal with the rest of the trash," Aoiro ordered, narrowing her eyes at Takuma, "I'll handle him."

"Deal. Besides...I get to use my Ace as well," Karai smirked.

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Makoto admitted as the others stood ready.

"Simple, cutie…" Karai paused as she pulled out another pitch-black Pokeball, only this one had flame decals on it, "You're about to get whooped...badly. Blackfire...time to burn~"

"She's using Blackfire! RETREAT BEFORE IT EATS US WITH FIRE!" a grunt screamed in pure panic as the grunts all began to run away as fast as they could through the two holes in the walls.

"That can't be good…" Ken whispered as Karai tossed the ball into the air, letting it unleash a flash of darklight as it landed on the ground.

Standing there was a massive pitch black dragon, easily bigger than a bus. The inside of its wings were a bloodshot red while dark-orange/blackish-red flames came out of the tip of its tail. It had a pair of horns on the back of its head while its burning red eyes snapped open, glaring at them all, as a swirl of stars briefly came and went around it.

"?! A...A Charizard…" Ash whispered with wide eyes.

=Charizard the Flame Pokemon and the final evolved form of Charmander. This Pokémon flies in search of powerful opponents to battle, and its fire will burn hotter as it gains experience. Its fiery breath is capable of melting boulders, massive glaciers, and has been known to accidentally cause forest fires= Dexter spoke up.

"Wh...why is it black?" Noel asked nervously.

"Must be a shiny variant…" Tsubaki noted.

"Let's deal with these scrub trainers before moving to the main course, Blackfire," Karai smirked, licking her lips a bit as she stared at Ash and the others, "Flamethrower…"

Blackfire inhaled as a dark light began to shine in its jaws. It then swung its head down at them, unleashing a wave of black flames, burning away everything in its path towards them. Many Trainers began to use their strongest Water-types and their best Water-type attacks, yet the water evaporated before it could even touch the oncoming flames.

"Musashi, counter with Sandstorm!" Takuma ordered as the Garchomp roared and unleashed a spirally twister of sand that served to block the flames path, creating a wall of glass between them and the Fire/Flying-type.

"What...What is with that Pokemon?" Misty gasped.

"I've never seen a Charizard that powerful before," Brock noted.

"It's far stronger than expected, such a Pokemon can't be taken lightly." Takuma said as Musashi defended him.

"He gets it," Karai smirked, "If he wanted to, Blackfire could burn this entire ship down...but he's being grateful by only using half his strength."

"Half?!" everyone gasped as some of the other Trainers on the ship backed away from the glass wall, trembling at the sight of the black Charizard behind it.

"This is bad...we could lose the very thing keeping us from falling into the ocean." Brock gulped as the Charizard just glared at all of them.

"Not gonna lie...I'd rather that happen then lost my Pokemon." Takuma spoke as Jin tossed Evergreen into Lancelot, giving him breathing room.

"Then it's your own Funeral...shame he can't use Draco Meteor, but...I supposed the next best thing will do...Blackfire.." Karai paused as she did a loud guitar rift, "Dark Dragon's Roar!"

Blackfire roared, preparing to use the attack before the ship began to tilt, "?!"

"H-hey! What gives?!" Makoto yelped as she caught her footing.

"...We're in a storm," Aoiro spoke, seeing the waves outside become wild and rapid, "We've sailed into the eye of a storm."

"Looks like you guys really didn't plan this out well...I mean, really? A storm?" Takuma asked, "Have you ever sailed before?"

"We would've had things done if you hadn't interfered…" Aoiro argued before sighing, "But I suppose it cannot be helped...Evergreen, Lancelot, return."

"Tile/Lade," the two Pokemon nodded as they jumped back, returning to their mistress' side.

"Karai, order whoever is left aboard to retreat," Aoiro ordered, "We're heading back to base."

"What?! But me a-"

"Now…"

"...You guys got lucky…" Karai frowned as she glared at the group, "But I promise ya, we'll be back to settle this with you all…" she then smirked a bit at Makoto, licking her lips a bit, "That includes you as well, babe~"

Makoto shuddered, 'Why do I not like the look she's giving me...and that I feel that I need to cuddle with Noellie to make the bad feelings go away?'

"Later, losers!" Karai cackled as she recalled Blackfire, the ravenette walking off with Aoiro as they disappeared into the ship.

"...Who knew there'd be such dangerous people like them here in Kanto?" Ken whispered with a slight frown.

"They're Team Rocket. I've heard stories that they've killed Marowak for their bones to sell on the black market," La noted before collapsing to her knees and sighing in relief, "I'm so glad they retreated…"

"Yeah...if it weren't for the storm, w…" Mai began before her eyes widened.

"The storm!" the group exclaimed before the ship began to tilt over once more.

"So...lifeboats?" Takuma asked.

"Manny! Brick Break!" La called.

A second later, the doors buckled before being blasted off the ship and into the storm. Manny gave a loud, sharp whistle and earned the attention of the panicking Trainers and stall owners that had been caught up in the attack. He pointed at them and then at the open path before screaming and jumped out of the way of the rush of people.

"Easy people! There's only so many Lifeboats to g-" Ken began before he noticed one of the lifeboats being lowers, the captain of the ship standing on it, "….Seriously?"

"What? I'm...just checking to see how well they float," the captain defended.

La held up a hand and her three Pokemon glowed before turning back into Pokeballs that she caught and put in her jacket, "Of course you are…"

"That's just not cool." Takuma said as hereturned his pokemon to their balls and put them back in his jacket.

"What happened to 'A captain must go down with his ship?'" Ken deadpanned as he returned both Kage and Sora to their PokeBalls.

"In this storm? No thank you…Besides, I'm only two weeks away from retirement anyways," the captain stated before his ship was suddenly crowded, "Ahh!"

"Karma at it's finest," Makoto smirked before thunder rumbled with a flash of lightning, "Okay! To the furthest lifeboat!"

"Furthest?" La repeated.

"Yeah. Because everyone goes to the nearest," Makoto replied.

"She has a point," Takuma nodded.

"Thank you...now, to the furthest boat!"

"I swear this boat is l-woah!-like a maze!" Jessie snapped as she, James, and Meowth ran.

"Put da lead out! We gotta get t-oof!"

"Hey! Watching it y-oh. It's you three idiots."

"Ah! K-Karai!" the trio yelped and saluted.

"What are you three still doing here?" Aoiro asked with a frown, "Did you not hear the order?"

"Wh-what order?" James asked.

"The order to retreat since this big metal tub is about to capsize due to the heavy storm outside," Karai answered.

"Sorry, Karai, boss lady ma'am! We was knocked through da wall wit Lancelot when he got hit wit' dat attack and knocked into da laundry chute in dat room!"

"...Have fun…" Karai said as she turned around.

"Wait! Don't leave us here!" Jessie begged as the trio grabbed her leg.

"H-hey! Let go!"

"No! Besides, I need to find that man who scammed me out o-"

"You were scammed? ...for what?" Aoiro asked.

"A….Magikarp for my and Jessie's salaries?"

"...PFFFT!" Karai began to laugh, "Y-you spent your entire salaries on a freakin' Magikarp?! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"James…" Jessie growled as James was looking through his cards once more.

"Finally!" James held up a card depicting Magikarp, "Now let's see…" he mumbled under his breath as he looked it over before freezing, "...I do not care about our salaries anymore."

*CLONG!*

"SAY THAT AGAIN!" Jessie roared, a broken frying pan in hand as James laid crumpled on the floor, twitching with a large bump growing out of his head.

"AHAHAHAHAAHAH! I-I can't breath!" Karai cackled, kicking her legs up into the air as she held her gut, "H-how can you be that stupid?!"

"Ugh…" Aoiro sighed as she walked up to the trio, "We'll discuss this once we reach dry land…" a frown then grew on her face, "And we'll discuss your punishment on spending the money father gave you…"

"...mommy…" the two awake members of the trio gulped.

"And there goes the SS Anne…" Ken whispered, the group on the last of the lifeboats as they watched the giant cruiseliner completely tilt over, seeing it sink into the ocean.

"Wah...it almost looks like something out of a super long movie." Takuma noted.

'Yeah...only thing missing is a giant iceburg," Makoto commented.

"You get the feeling that a Butterfree on the ship would've caused people to get stuck in there upside down near the bottom of the sea and have to get out by going up the upside-down ship and swim up with Water Pokemon?" La asked, earning looks from everyone else.

"...Oddly yes...I think…" Mai admitted with a slight sweatdrop.

"Oh good! So it wasn't just me," La smiled.

"It sounds...honestly possible. You know if someone made a really stupid mistake." Takuma added, "But...sounds adventurous...in a hypothetical only scenario."

"Though...I do have another question," La added before lightning hit the ship, "We send out our Water-types, tie ropes to them, and get back to shore? I...I'm not comfy with storms."

"I'm game. You guys?" Takuma asked quickly..

"I'm up for it," Ken spoke, pulling out Kage's PokeBall.

"I have a Buizel," Mai spoke up.

"All my Pokemon are Water-types," Misty added, holding up the balls of Goldeen, Staryu, and Starmie.

"Squirtle, I choose you!" Ash called, sending his tiny turtle out.

"Come on Sameharu!" Takuma shouted as a Sharpedo came out of a ball and landed in the water.

"Jack, come out please!" La called, sending out a large blue Pokemon with armor like shells growing out of the sides of its upper limbs and a shell on top of its head with white/blue whiskers.

"...You named it because of that cartoon and it's a Samurott, didn't you?" Misty asked.

"I regret nothing," La confirmed.

"...I like it," Ken commented, "Now all we need is some ro-"

"W-wait!" Noel spoke up, earning everyone's attention, "Um...I-I have a Water Pokemon…"

"...Oh! You mean Umi, right?" Makoto asked.

"Umi?" the others repeated before Noel held out a Pokeball, letting out her Shiny Feebas.

"Y-You have a Shiny Feebas?!" Ken gawked, "How?!"

"I...got her from someone who...well...tried to scam me," Noel answered.

"...Did he happen to have a thin moustache and tried to rip people off with Magikarp?" Ken asked, earning a nod from the shy blonde.

"I almost fell for it, but Manny scared him away when he walked over," La replied.

"I know a scammer when I see one," Ken added, "What about you, Takuma?"

"Eh...oh...I ignored him. I could tell all his Pokeballs were very poor paint jobs." he explained, "If you're gonna make a custom ball, at least put genuine care into the craft." he smiled, holding his red and black ball, "So once I saw his cheap works...I knew he wasn't the kind to do business with."

"Yeah...I could tell right away when he tried scamming her," Makoto spoke up, "He instantly regretted it once I brought out Needles, and he was 'so kind', that he gave Noel the Shiny Feebas for free."

"...You care a lot about your friends, don't you Miss Nanaya?" Ken asked.

"I do. If anyone messes with my friends…" Makoto paused as she gained a serious expression, "I will personally hunt them down and make. Them. Pay…"

"Well you can threaten potential dangerous people after we find some dry land." Takuma spoke as he pet his Sharpedo, "Now...long shot but who has actual rope on them? That is...enough for all of the Pokemon?"

"Oh, I think I do," La replied as she opened her small bag, reached in and began to pull out rope...rope...even more rope…

"Did you and Brock shop at the same store?!" Ash and Makoto gawked as La kept pulling out rope.

"What do you mean?" Brock and La asked in unison.

"Let's just put today behind us…" Tsubaki sighed as they began to put the ropes on the Water-types.

"Agreed...only thing I wanna do with the ocean is the beach…" Ken agreed.

"...And I still haven't had anything to eat…" Mai sighed a bit, her stomach grumbling.

"Oh! M-maybe I c-"

"NO!" those that knew Noel shouted, causing her to flinch.

"...Anyone feel like there's some context missing here?" Ken asked La and Takuma, earning a shrug from La.

"Most likely, but I feel I'd rather not find out." he explained as he gently fastened some rope around Sameharu who bit down on a thick braid of it so as to pull. "Good boy...be careful not to bite through it." he joked, massaging his head.

"Looks like other trainers had the same idea," Brock noted as he saw lifeboats being pulled off towards the nearest shore by Water-types...and a stone-like rhinoceros on their hind legs with drills for horns riding on surfboards, "...Did anyone else just see that?"

"See what?" Tsubaki asked.

"Er...Nevermind," Brock replied, 'A Rhydon surfing...I...what?'

SZ: Well...things certainly ended differently here compared to the anime episode.

GT: Very true. But I guess this is where we go off the grid in terms of that bit of the anime.

SZ: Yeah...still, it was a pretty good chapter. A lot of stuff was revealed, and Noel ended up getting a new Pokemon in the form of Umi the Shiny Feebas.

GT: *nods* And the group got to see the latest mechanics in Pokemon games: Mega Evolution and Z-Moves.

SZ: Eeyup. I really do enjoy both of those mechanics, especially Mega Evolutions. They make certain Pokemon look even more awesome, like Lucario and Charizard, who has TWO Mega Evolutions!

GT: Mewtwo also has two Mega Evolutions while Mew has an exclusive Z-Crystal to its name.

SZ: Yup, and Marshadow has a Z-Crystal as well...though we'll have to wait for it to come out in who knows how long…*looks at a calendar*...just...sign us off GT.

GT: Okay. Sorry for no Extra at the end of the chapter. Maybe we'll have one next chapter. Hope everyone reads and reviews! *waves*

Ash Ketchum: Pikachu [Starter], Butterfree(At Professor Oak's ranch), Pidgeotto, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Krabby(At Prof. Oak's ranch), Eevee

Misty: Goldeen, Staryu, Starmie [Starter]

Brock: Geodude, Onix [Starter], Zubat

Makoto Nanaya: Berry(Pachirisu) [Starter], Needles(Beedrill), Cherry(Emolga), Booster(Eevee)

Noel Vermillion: Yuki(Alolan Vulpix) [Starter], Nymph(Eevee), Umi(Feebas)

Tsubaki Yayoi: Luka(Riolu) [Starter], Astrea(Eevee)

Mai Natsume: Terra(Sandshrew) [Starter], Aqua(Buizel), Celsius(Eevee)

Kajun Faycott: Hikari(Ralts) [Starter], Koko(Espeon)