AUTHOR'S NOTE: Greetings, readers! Here is chapter 11 of the continuing adventures of Tristan, Hillary, and Pikachu as they continue their journey through Hoenn. Remember when our heroes met Team Aqua? Well, this time, they're going to me Hoenn's other criminal organization: Team Magma. Both teams are always up to no good, as you well know. But we'll get to their plot later in this story. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy.

TEASER: Tristan, Hillary, and their cousins encounter Team Magma for the first time after discovering a theft. Meanwhile, Taz is still causing who know what kind of trouble for everyone.

Chapter 11: A SECOND NEW ENEMY

(Music Cue: Oldale Town (full version))

Our heroes continue their journey. But before they leave Rustboro City for the next Gym, they decide to do a little sightseeing with their cousins Wayne, Marc, and Lisa.

"All this talk of journeying has gotten me more excited about winning my first badge," said Wayne excitedly as he chowed down on his breakfast in the Pokémon Center's cafeteria.

"That's right, Wayne, as long as you keep your strength up, you'll get it for sure," replied Lisa.

"We know you can do it," added Hillary.

Marc said to Tristan, "I've heard of a place called the Devon Corporation. It's been known for its reputation for making high-tech devices like the PokéNav like the model Wayne has."

"That reminds me," replied Tristan. "Remember that man we all helped? He wanted to thank us after recovering the Devon Parts from that Team Aqua guy."

"Yep, that he did," said Hillary. "Maybe we could do our own thing today while Wayne does his Gym Battle."

"Okay, sis," agreed Tristan. "Then we'll go to the Devon building after we're all finished eating."

Pikachu and Togepi agreed that this was a good idea.

This made Wayne sad, though. "Aww. But don't you wanna watch me beat Roxanne in my Gym Battle?"

"Don't worry, Wayne," Lisa assured him. "Marc and I will be watching your battle. Besides, Tristan and Hillary have their own journey while we have ours. And besides, you wanted to forge your own path after watching Tristan battle, right?"

"Yes, I did say that, didn't I?" chuckled Wayne.

"So here's the deal," said Lisa as the party came outside the Pokémon Center. "We'll meet up back here at the end of the day. We'll tell you how Wayne's battle goes if you promise to tell us how your adventures go."

"Deal," agreed Tristan and Hillary together.

Then Wayne, Marc, and Lisa departed for the Gym.

"We'll see you later, okay?" called Tristan.

"Good luck with your Gym Battle, Wayne!" added Hillary.

"Thanks!" replied Wayne as he, Marc, and Lisa disappeared from view.

"Well, let's head to the Devon Corporation," said Tristan.

"Yeah," agreed Hillary as she, Tristan, Pikachu, and Togepi set their sights on the next day's adventure.

(Music Cue: Team Aqua & Magma Hideout (full version))

Meanwhile, at the Devon Corporation, a suspicious man wearing a lab coat had successfully picked a lock to the front entrance. And with utmost care, he scanned a key card and quietly entered the building.

All the lights were out, and there was no one inside.

The man went straight to his hiding place, took out an earpiece, quietly spoke into it, and said, "This is M-1. Infiltration into the Devon Corporation is a complete success."

"10-4," replied a voice. "The Devon Corporation will be opening for regular business hours soon. Get whatever you can find and get out as fast as you can. You don't want anyone else to be suspicious of you before your mission is complete. And remember, you don't have much time."

"Roger that," whispered the man. He worked as fast as he could and gathered up two of the smallest boxes in one of the most secure rooms. Then just as he was about to leave, he saw a person with white hair wearing a purple suit along with a younger man in a black suit coming toward the building. He knew he had to hide the small boxes immediately without getting caught. So he quickly and quietly ran up the staircase up to the roof. But what he didn't know was that the roof door had a security alarm, and when he opened it, a bell rang loudly.

This alerted the man in the purple suit, who was just outside with the other man. "Someone's broken into the Devon building!" he exclaimed.

"Come on, let's go," advised the other man.

They quickly made their way to the entrance of the building, scanned their key cards, and ran inside. They turned the lights on and didn't see anything out of place.

"I know something's amiss here, and I'm going to find out what's going on," said the man in the purple suit.

"Don't worry, President, we'll find whoever's responsible for breaking in and throw them out of here," replied the other man.

Tristan, Hillary, Pikachu, and Togepi were walking Rustboro City's streets when they saw some police cars in front of the Devon Corporation.

"This doesn't look good," said Hillary nervously. "Do you think some sort of crime has been committed?"

"I don't know, but we'd better go and find out," replied Tristan as he and Hillary quickly made their way to the scene. When they got there, they were stopped by Officer Jenny.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you two in here," said Officer Jenny.

"It's okay, Officer," said a voice.

(Music Cue: Route 29 (as heard at the beginning of "Forest Grumps"))

Tristan and Hillary turned to see the man in the purple suit and the second man approaching them. "I'm sure these two kids don't mean any harm."

"Who are you?" asked Tristan.

"You can call me Mr. Stone," answered the man. "I'm the president of the Devon Corporation. This is my assistant Kennedy."

This made Hillary excited. "The president of the Devon Corporation and his assistant? I can't believe my luck! I'm Hillary. My Uncle Greg has told me a lot about you. This is my big brother Tristan."

"Hello," added Tristan.

Pikachu and Togepi introduced themselves.

"It's nice to meet you both," replied Kennedy. "We heard an alarm ring just before we got here, so when we got inside, nothing seemed to be out of place, but looks, as you know, can be deceiving. So we called Officer Jenny to have the police investigate."

"We'd like to help you out, sir," said Tristan.

"Yeah, we'll help you get to the bottom of this," added Hillary. "After all, we haven't had a crime that we haven't solved yet."

Kennedy and Mr. Stone looked at each other.

"What do you think, sir?" asked Kennedy.

"Well, I think we're in good hands with a record like that," smiled Mr. Stone. "We'll let them help us. In fact, we were just about to take them on a tour of the building."

"Then it's decided," said Officer Jenny. "We'll all need to keep our eyes peeled for any suspicious activity the building, inside and out."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Tristan and Hillary together.

(Music Cue: Team Rocket's Secret Strategy Kanto (as heard in "A Tail with a Twist"))

Meanwhile, not too far away, Taz, as usual, was watching Tristan and Hillary through his binoculars. "Wouldn't you know it?" he grumbled. "Someone's causing criminal mischief inside that building, and that someone ain't me! There has to be some way to get inside of that building so I can cause some mischief of my very own." Just then, he saw Officer Jenny putting up wanted posters for the man wearing a lab coat. "So he's the guy those cops are looking for. I betcha they're wanting to look out for me, too. But not if I try a disguise of my very own." He then ducked into the bushes and, oddly enough, he came out looking just like a police officer. "This...is...genius!" he cried cheerfully. "No one will see me through this disguise. It's time for Operation: Sabotage!" And he put his own evil plan into action.

(Music Cue: Lilycove City (full version))

"You two remind me so much of my friend Max when he was visiting the Devon Corporation a few days ago," smiled Mr. Stone as he and Kennedy led Tristan, Hillary, and Pikachu through the building.

"Who's Max?" wondered Tristan. "You don't mean the one we met in Johto, do you?"

"No, no, a different Max, from Petalburg City," chuckled Mr. Stone.

"Oh, that Max. Wally told us about him."

"He and his friends were visiting us recently when he accidentally spilled a drink on his PokéNav, so he asked us to fix it for him. But we had to deal with someone from Team Aqua first, though. Of course, Max's hunger for adventure reminds me of my own son, Steven, when he was your age."

"Who's Steven?" asked Hillary.

"He's a very powerful Pokémon Trainer who loves to collect fossils," explained Mr. Stone. "He loves to travel, but he's currently on Dewford Island. I think you two would be very interested in meeting him one of these days."

"Yes, we sure are," said Tristan and Hillary excitedly.

Pikachu and Togepi were just as excited.

Mr. Stone and Kennedy then led Tristan and Hillary to one of the rooms in the building.

"This is the Fossil Restoration Room," explained Mr. Stone. "It won't be long before it's completed, but once it is, the machines can restore ancient Pokémon Fossils back to life."

"Wow, we'd love to see that, wouldn't we, sis?" smiled Tristan.

"That would be prehistoric!" agreed Hillary.

Next, Mr. Stone and Kennedy led them to another room.

"Here's a Pokémon Dream Projector," explained Mr. Stone. "This shows us what a Pokémon is dreaming about, but it's not quite ready."

"Wouldn't it be exciting to enter a Pokémon's dreams and see what they're seeing?" smiled Hillary.

"Yeah," agreed Tristan as he closed his eyes and daydreamed about seeing Lugia, dreaming about flying with him and Pikachu at supersonic speed in the sky. But he didn't daydream long when he realized that Hillary, Mr. Stone, and Kennedy were almost out of the room. "Hey, guys, wait for me!" And he quickly caught up with them.

"Officer Trudge reporting for duty, ma'am," said the disguised Taz as he entered the Devon Corporation and gave a salute.

"Very good, Officer Trudge, you may..." began Officer Jenny. But then, she stopped and became suspicious. "Hey, wait a minute. I don't believe I've seen your face before, sir. How do you know you're an officer I can trust? And why aren't you clean-shaven?"

Taz cringed. He knew he was in real big trouble, so he thought fast. "Uh, well, you see, Officer, I heard you had too few cops to help you crack the case, so I volunteered to help out in order to help solve it."

"What do you mean, 'volunteered?'" wondered Officer Jenny.

Taz gulped and thought, I guess I gave the wrong answer. Sweat dropped from Taz's face.

"Next, we have the Pokémon Speaker & Translator," said Mr. Stone as he and Kennedy led Tristan and Hillary through the third room. "This gives us the capabilities of understanding what the Pokémon is saying...but it's not finished yet."

Tristan and Hillary groaned.

"If only we could understand a Pokémon's language when it speaks," sighed Hillary sadly.

"But we can, sis," replied Tristan. "Don't you remember? We communicate through their hearts. Right, Pikachu?"

Pikachu agreed.

"Yeah, that's right," chuckled Hillary. "I guess I forgot."

Togepi had to let off a cute laugh after that.

"And now, I'd like to show the both of you something that only a select few Trainers have had the privilege of seeing," said Mr. Stone as he and Kennedy opened a secret door in the wall.

Tristan, Hillary, Pikachu, and Togepi all wondered what was inside as the doors opened and the lights inside the room came on.

There were boxes of materials used for building things.

"This is the room where electronic devices are built and programmed, specifically, Pokémon Navigators, or PokéNavs for short," explained Mr. Stone.

"Like the one Wayne has?" asked Hillary.

Mr. Stone nodded. "I had recently heard reports that someone had stolen our Devon Parts, and four Trainers joined forces to get them back. I've heard tales that two of those Trainers are the both of you, so we figured..."

"President!" interrupted Kennedy as he pointed to an empty space on the table in alarm. "Look over there!"

(Music Cue: Ash's Decision to Fight! (Decision (full version as heard in "The Mystery Menace")))

Tristan, Hillary, and Mr. Stone rushed over and looked.

"This is bad!" gasped Mr. Stone. "Two of our smallest packages on the table are missing! I knew something was amiss here, and it turns out it was those two small boxes."

"Then we have to work fast to get them back," replied Kennedy. "Tristan, Hillary, we're gonna need your help to find the person or persons responsible for this theft, okay?"

"You got it," replied Tristan. "Ready, guys?"

Hillary, Pikachu, and Togepi nodded in agreement.

"I know where we can find the suspect," said Mr. Stone. "Quick, follow me!" And he led Tristan, Hillary, and Kennedy out of the room.

"Oh, I must've hidden that blasted thing somewhere," grunted the man in the lab coat as he tried looking in a big box for something. "Rats! I left that rocket at our base!"

"Stop right there, buster!" said a voice.

The grunt turned to see that voice belonged to Hillary as she, Tristan, Kennedy, and Mr. Stone confronted him. "Just great," he growled. "I've been busted."

"Give us back those packages you stole!" ordered Mr. Stone.

"And tell us who you are right now!" added Tristan.

The man gave an evil chuckle as he threw off his lab coat disguise and revealed his true identity.

(Music Cue: Team Magma Appears (full version))

He had on long gray pants, red boots, and a red short-sleeved shirt containing a hood with a pair of gray horns. The shirt had an 'M' on it. "I'm part of a group known as Team Magma. I'm only a Grunt, but now, I must vanish in a puff of smoke. Golbat, Haze attack!" He threw a Poké Ball.

His Golbat emerged from the white light that shot out of it and it quickly unleashed a black cloud of smoke, enveloping Tristan, Hillary, and their friends in it, forcing them to cough.

The Haze attack cleared only seconds later, but it was just enough time for the Grunt to escape.

"Look, he's gone!" gasped Tristan.

"Quick! After him!" ordered Mr. Stone.

And everyone rushed after the Team Magma Grunt posthaste.

Meanwhile, the disguised Taz was still trying to prove to Officer Jenny that he was no threat. "Well, you see, Officer..." he began.

But the discussion was interrupted when the Team Magma Grunt flashed past with Tristan, Hillary, Pikachu, Togepi, Kennedy, and Mr. Stone in hot pursuit.

Officer Jenny knew instantly that the Grunt was the suspect who broke into the Devon building and stole something. "Hey, you! You're gonna be placed under arrest for this!" And she joined in on the chase.

But the distraction was the opening that Taz needed, for he sighed with relief and threw off his cop disguise, revealing his true Team Rocket identity. "It's time I went after those goodies." And he quickly went after the fleeing party.

Meanwhile, the Team Magma Grunt still led Tristan, Hillary, and their friends on an ensuing chase out of the Devon building.

"You won't get away with this!" warned Tristan.

"Wanna bet, little boy?" retorted the Grunt. "Watch in amazement as I make one of the most historic discoveries in the history of Team Magma." He took out the two small packages, but just as he was about to open them up, a giant claw appeared from above and snatched them!

Everyone gasped in surprise.

"Hey, who took my discovery?!" demanded the Team Magma Grunt.

(Music Cue: Team Rocket Appears (as heard in "Mother of All Battles"))

A cackle from an Electabuzz-shaped hot-air balloon was heard as a response. "Hello down there. I hope you don't mind, but I figured I'd fly home with these two prizes."

"It's Taz!" exclaimed Tristan and Hillary.

"It's that fake police officer!" gasped Officer Jenny.

"You get down here and fight like a man, or you'll be sorry!" yelled the Team Magma Grunt.

"Wish I could, but I'm afraid of reaching new lows," chuckled Taz. "Now I've gotta fly high and say 'bye-bye!'" And with a triumphant laugh, he started taking off.

"No, you don't! Golbat, stop that buffoon with Wing Attack!" ordered the Team Magma Grunt as he threw his Poké Ball.

Golbat emerged from the white light that shot out of it as its wings glowed and it flew straight at Taz's balloon.

"Oh, Electabuzz, shoot it down with Thunderbolt, won't you please?" commanded Taz as he threw his Poké Ball.

Electabuzz emerged from the white light that shot out of it and it unleashed a yellow bolt of electricity at Golbat, scoring a direct hit and knocking it out instantly.

"Golbat!" cried the Team Magma Grunt.

"Well, I guess I should've warned you that you in for a shock," smirked Taz. "The time is late, and I must go."

"You're not going anywhere! All right, Mightyena, I choose you!" yelled the Grunt as he threw his second Poké Ball.

A canine-like Pokémon with mostly short and gray fur emerged from the white light that shot out of it. Its lower legs, its tail, and the thick shaggy strips starting behind its eyes through the length of its body were all black. It gave a growl as it looked at Taz's balloon.

Hillary was instantly frightened and clung tightly to Tristan. "Tristan, I'm scared now."

Even Taz seemed a little nervous about facing a Mightyena, but then he quickly got over it and smirked, "Hey, I like your style. Perhaps I should steal your Mightyena instead. Go get 'em, Electabuzz!"

Electabuzz leaped out of the balloon and charged at Mightyena.

"Send it back with Roar!" ordered the Magma Grunt.

Mightyena gave one short, but powerful echoing roar, and just like that, Electabuzz turned into red energy and shot back inside Taz's Poké Ball, much to his surprise.

"Whoa! What happened?!" gasped Taz.

But the Magma Grunt simply ordered, "Do it, Mightyena!"

Mightyena made a huge leap toward the balloon, and using its teeth, popped it, sending it and Taz skyward, forcing him to drop the two boxes as he went.

"Hey, no fair!" yelled Taz as he blasted off into the sky.

DING!

Unfortunately, the Magma Grunt caught the boxes in his hands as his Mightyena growled at Tristan, Hillary, Mr. Stone, Kennedy, and Officer Jenny. "Just stay right there, or these go bye-bye."

"Hand them over now," ordered Kennedy. "They're of no use to you, but they're incredibly useful to us."

"All the more reason to take them then," smiled the Grunt evilly.

Tristan quickly looked up Mightyena in his Pokédex.

(Music Cue: Hoenn Pokédex Music as heard in the 4Kids dub)

"Mightyena, the Bite Pokémon. Mightyena is the evolved form of Poochyena. They move primarily in packs, working together to capture their prey."

The Grunt looked at Tristan, who gulped when he saw him. "Getting a little nosy, aren't we? I guess I'm gonna have to open these boxes and destroy what's inside."

"Put them down!" ordered Kennedy, his voice getting louder and more forceful.

(Music Cue: Team Aqua & Magma Grunt Battle (as heard in "In the Knicker of Time"))

But a sudden Water Gun from behind the Grunt forced him to lose the two boxes, causing them to fall safely into Tristan and Hillary's hands.

"Whose Water Gun was that?" wondered Hillary.

"Hey, guys!" called a friendly voice.

Tristan and Hillary turned to see that Wayne and his Lotad, accompanied by Marc and Lisa, had once again come to help. "Hi, Wayne!"

"Figured you could use a helping hand," smiled Wayne.

"But what about your Gym Battle?" wondered Tristan.

"That comes later, but right now, let's get that guy outta here," replied Wayne.

The Team Magma Grunt seethed impatiently. "You're gonna pay for interrupting my fun, kid. Mightyena, get that pesky weed out of our way!"

Mightyena charged toward Lotad, who cringed.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt attack!" ordered Tristan.

Pikachu unleashed a yellow bolt of electricity at Mightyena, stopping it in its tracks before it could reach Lotad.

The Magma Grunt growled in anger, seeing now that he was clearly outnumbered. "We have no choice, we have to retreat! Mightyena, return!" he ordered as he quickly recalled Mightyena back into its Poké Ball. "I won't forget this." Then he beat a hasty retreat.

"Hey, you get back here!" shouted Officer Jenny as she chased after the Grunt to try and arrest him.

Tristan, Hillary, Wayne, Marc, and Lisa were left confused.

"That was pretty weird," remarked Tristan and Hillary.

"I'll say," agreed Wayne, Marc, and Lisa together.

That evening, as everyone sat down to dinner at the Pokémon Center...

"What?!" exclaimed Wayne in surprise. "That guy was from Team Magma?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I wish we were," sighed Hillary.

"No way!" put in Marc. "First, we had to deal with that punk from Team Aqua and now we have to deal with Team Magma, too?"

"And I thought dealing with Taz on a daily basis was challenging enough," remarked Tristan. "Not to mention one evil team on occasion."

"It's obvious that Team Aqua and Team Magma are up to no good," said Lisa. "And it's pretty clear to me that we've become their latest enemies, so we can't let our guard down while they're still out there."

"Well, the good news is that thanks to all of your hard work, we got the two small packages back safe and sound," replied Kennedy. "You all have my gratitude."

"Thank you," replied Tristan. "We were just glad we could help."

Mr. Stone then whispered in Kennedy's ear.

"Oh, yes!" continued Kennedy. "The President wants to say something."

"Yes, you all remind me so much of me when I was out traveling with friends of mine many years ago," said Mr. Stone, "so I decided that I should hand these to Tristan, Hillary, Marc, and Lisa." And he handed out four small packages to them.

Everyone was delighted.

"Thanks so much, Mr. Stone," replied Hillary as she and the others accepted them.

"I wonder what's inside?" said Marc as he opened his package.

(Music Cue: Petalburg City (full version))

To the Trainers' pleasant surprise, there was one PokéNav, one for each of them who didn't have one, and were all custom painted. Tristan's was green, Hillary's was pink, Marc's was blue, and Lisa's was red.

"Aww, what about me?" wondered Wayne, who seemed a little jealous.

"This is our way of saying thanks for helping us recover the Devon Goods from Team Aqua and the packages from Team Magma," explained Kennedy.

"These PokéNavs are custom-built by Devon," added Mr. Stone. "Greg also helps with the repairs from time to time and he's really a good mechanic."

"My dad would certainly be thankful for your kind words," put in Wayne.

"Also," continued Mr. Stone, "these devices have GPS navigation systems with your current location and the destinations you're wanting to go to. In addition, these devices have a cell phone function in case you need to get in touch with anybody you know. There are other features you'll have to see for yourself to believe."

"Wow, nifty!" said Hillary. She was excited to try it out.

Wayne gave a sigh. "I wish mine did that."

"But it does," replied Mr. Stone.

"What do you mean?"

"During our search for that Team Magma crony, I secretly had the scientists upgrade your PokéNav to include the cell phone function too. So here, Wayne, is your newly upgraded PokéNav." And he took out Wayne's yellow PokéNav and handed it back to him.

"Wow! Thanks so much, Mr. Stone!" smiled Wayne. "No wonder I had a few problems with it earlier. Now I can tell that this is going to be a better journey than ever before!"

"So, Tristan, I understand you and Hillary are on your way to see Steven, right?" said Lisa.

"Yeah," replied Tristan. "But I don't know where to find him, nor do I know where I can get my second badge."

"Why don't you check your PokéNav and find out?" suggested Marc.

Tristan turned on his machine.

The screen flipped open and the map function turned on. A yellow dot showing the current location was seen along with a red dot showing the next location that he and Hillary needed to go.

"Rustboro City is where we are now, and it looks like it's pointing us to Dewford Town on Dewford Island," said Hillary. "Does that mean that...?"

"It must! It's gotta have a Gym!" replied Tristan. "Okay, that settles it...next stop: Dewford Town on Dewford Island!"

Pikachu and Togepi were ecstatic to hear that because they were looking forward to something new once again.

"I'll see about contacting Mr. Briney and see if he can escort you straight to Dewford Island first thing tomorrow morning," said Mr. Stone.

"Thanks, Mr. Stone, that'd be great," replied Tristan.

And so, our heroes receive a PokéNav, and after dealing with Team Magma for the first time, I'd happily accept one myself. But for now, they can focus their attention to their next adventure on Dewford Island, which is just ahead.

TO BE CONTINUED...