Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Riders Chronicles ❯ Battlefronts ( Chapter 11 )

-As Giovanni unleashes his secret plan, Kris and the others find themselves in fights at every corner! Is it finally time for the showdown? Eleventh in a series.

Pokemon and all related trademarks belong to Nintendo. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

Battlefronts

By Gregory Stephen nightdragon0@hotmail.com

"Ready?" Jade asked.

"Yeah," Firestorm agreed, "let's not keep the others waiting."

He lowered his body and spread his wings, allowing Jade to climb onto his back. Jade did so, plodding on the Charizard's tail in the process. Of course, that caused Firestorm to give off a roar of pain and toss the human off.

Typical day for the Dragon Riders, Firestorm thought.

Following their previous encounter with a part Porygon, part computer virus on the Internet itself, the party had been split into two groups.

Firestorm was just taking off from a small cabin up at Mount Moon to join up with Kris and Nightslice in Cerulean City.

Fate, if you'd call it that, had however planned others things for them…

"Storm, are you going the right way?" Jade asked after five minutes.

"How would I know? You're the one who told me to head South."

"Yeah, but you seem to be heading towards those dark, storm clouds over there…"

As if on cue, the rain began pouring down.

"Now you tell me." Firestorm growled angrily. Water was definitely not his element.

"I just did!" Jade protested.

"Too late."

"And you were the one day dreaming."

"Well, so were you!"

"Plus," Jade continued arguing, "I'm all wet!"

"Excuse me, but DUH! It's raining cats and dogs here!" Firestorm said sarcastically.

A bolt of lightning flashed and descending towards the ground…right in front of the flying Charizard, practically scaring the life out of the pair.

"Yikes! Jeez! Better land ya dumb dragon or we'll end up crispy fried!" Jade yelled, startled.

"If you don't shut up," Firestorm growled over the sound of the pouring rain, "your head WILL end up crispy fried in MY MOUTH!"

Even as he begun to descend, Firestorm realized they were in trouble. The rain was getting unusually heavy and visibility was limited. In addition, a thick mist was beginning to form, making matters even more complicated.

Jade was a wise-cracker by nature, but the 18-year-old understood the severity of the situation and fell silent.

Firestorm was now low enough to notice a large body of water beneath them.

Nope, won't be landing there! He decided.

He held his altitude, having to flap his wings extra hard under the beating rain. Not just that, but the rain was getting into his eyes too. He blinked to get the water out.

Once. Twice.

Then, a huge shadow was suddenly right in his desired path.

"Ship! Storm, pull up! Pull up!" Jade yelled in an extremely panicked voice.

Firestorm's mind raced, unfortunately his body didn't react fast enough.

(Screen pans to show above view of ship.)

"Aaaaarrrrrrrrrggghhhhh!"

"Rrrrrraaaarrrrgggghhhhh!"

BAM! < p> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"How long can it possibly take them to fly here?" Kris wondered aloud, glancing at her watch for the fifth time that minute.

"Dunno." Nightslice shrugged. The talking Scyther had to keep his voice down though.

Seated at an outdoor café, they had to remain as inconspicuous as possible and not draw attention to a talking Pokemon. It was part of their safety measures too, wanting to avoid any unnecessary attention and especially Team Rocket.

Considering they'd screwed up a whole bunch of their plans, Giovanni certainly wouldn't be very happy with them and even less so with the fact that Kris had betrayed him in the past. But that was another story.

Still, having a Scyther peacefully seated at a coffee table was causing heads to turn occasionally and arousing a 'cool' from several passing kids.

And with good reason too, Nightslice grinned silently, I'm fierce, handsome, have sharp fangs, scythes for hands, razor like wings…and was wearing Kris' sunglasses.

"They probably just like the glasses." Kris said. That burst his bubble.

Dammed, at times I'd swear she could read my mind!

Kris' cell phone suddenly begun ringing.

"From Jade?" he asked, half expecting the guy to come up with some hair-brained excuse about being late.

"No, a voice mail from old man Fuji." She muttered, pushing a button to play back the message.

"Kris, please come to Lavender Town as quickly as you can. I need your help." Fuji's recorded voice hinted nothing of panic or alarm. Still, in the time they'd known him, his voice never ever had.

"We going?" Nightslice asked, standing up.

"Hold on." Kris dialed Jade's number. "No answer…strange."

"Great, now what's up with those two?!" Nightslice sighed.

"Beats the heck outta me." Kris said, shrugging. "But I don't think we can afford to wait for them. Old Fuji could be in trouble for all we know!"

And so could Jade and Firestorm. Nightslice thought as he nodded and followed Kris.

Without Firestorm to fly her across and no reliable water route available, the fastest way would be to catch a bus.

The Scyther regretted being unable to fly long distances with a passenger. Personally, he wasn't too hot about going back to the spooky old ghost town; considering that was where he'd nearly been killed before.

And yet, some feeling deep within urged him to hurry.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Hey buddy, you alright there?"

Jade groaned. He'd heard a voice.

"He looks OK, just in shock."

Another voice.

"Here, let me."

SPLOOSH!

"Aarrgghh!" he yelled, bolting up. Icy cold water! "Cold! Cold! Cold!"

"Whoa, calm down there mate." A red-haired girl with an Australian accent pushed him back down onto the deck chair.

For the first time, Jade noticed he was on a ship. A couple of guys dressed in sailor uniforms stood behind the red head.

"Uh, OK." He muttered.

Hey, she's kinda cute!

"Say," Jade asked, "are you the medic?"

"No, I'm the captain."

"A lady captain?!" he gasped.

"Something wrong with that?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Crap! I'm screwed!

"Eh…no, not at all." He staggered. "I was just a little…surprised. Yeah, that's it."

"I see. Well, you're all fine and dandy, which is more I can say for your Charizard over there."

"Firestorm?! What happened?! Is he OK?!"

A roar from over to the left caught his attention. Three big, burly sailors were struggling to hold the Charizard down while a fourth was desperately trying to wrap a bandage around his left wing and hold onto Firestorm's neck at the same time.

"Big fella's got a slight sprain in that wing, ands whining like a baby." One of the other sailors told him, "But nothing too serious. He just won't be doing any flying for a while."

Someone else came running in with a tranquilizer, which calmed Firestorm down enough for them to complete the medical treatment.

"Oh and we're really grateful for your help." Jade said, shaking the captain's hand.

"No worries mate." She replied, "But it sure scared the bloody hell out of us when you two decided to come crashing by."

Jade soon learnt that they'd flown right into the middle of an approaching storm. They'd left too early in the morning, when it was still too dark to make things out clearly. Jade guessed it served him right for not checking the weather forecast that day.

The ship was currently en-route to Vermilion City. Not exactly where they wanted to be, but he figured they'd just hop on a train or bus.

"You know," Jade tapped the captain on the shoulder and struck a pose, "that Charizard actually belongs to a friend of mine. Although she'll be kinda mad when she finds out I screwed her flyer. However, any Pokemon I've trained would have been far better equipped to…"

Apparently, Firestorm wasn't too happy about that. He ignited the back of Jade's jeans and sent the young man jumping overboard.

That scene aroused laughter from the rest of the crew. Firestorm later tossed him a lifesaver and helped pull him back onboard.

The Charizard waited until no one else was within earshot, then grinned evilly.

"No hard feelings, mate!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

1983, Lower Levels of Undersea Lab, Just off coast of Maiden's Peak.

Power. The energy. He felt it.

Scyther had unleashed a Forbidden power dwelling within his being. A power the human researchers had long sort for. Clad in his Golden Dragon Armor, he was more than ready to demolish any fools who dared stand on his way.

A mask covered his entire face, leaving just his eyes, mouth and end of his snout exposed. It was decorated with three sharp horns, one on the nose and two at the back of his head. His shoulders were now covered with a straight set of golden shoulder pads and his upper body with a golden chest plate. Adorning the back of his body armor was the symbol of the Yin and Yang. Scyther's sword-like claws were left unaltered, as was his lower body, the only armor there being a pair of shin pads that stretched from the lower legs down and around the feet.

It was an awesome sight to behold.

A small group of human guards barged into the room and wasted no time in firing their puny weapons.

Puny indeed. Scyther thought.

He shielded his face with his blades, the bullets ricocheting harmlessly off his shoulder plates. In a split second, he was across the room.

The guards collapsed, dead before they even realized their throats had been slit open.

Scyther realized that the Charmeleon that was his companion was still standing there, staring with his mouth open so wide his jaw hit the floor. (Of course, that was just a figure of speech.)

"Come on!" Scyther growled. Then he frowned, realizing that he might have been a bit too overwhelming for his comrade's limited brain. Equipping this armor gave him the ability to speak in human language and that only added to his friend's irresolution.

<Don't make me repeat myself! > Scyther spoke in his own language, with a greater sense of urgency in his raspy voice.

Charmeleon's body moved, however his mind was clearly still in a state of shock.

The Dragon Armor's primary armament was a pair of missile launchers located beneath either shoulder panel. The ammunition, however, was limited. Scyther immediately used a missile to blow open a large hole in the wall.

<Just follow my lead! > Scyther ordered, <And try to stay alive! >

That had been an unnecessary warning. The pair encountered little resistance. Or to be more specific, little resistance that gave them any serious problems.

Any human guards were swiftly and mercilessly cut down; Scyther's way of expressing his feelings of hatred towards them. Some were using other Pokemon. Various Arcanine, Magnemites, Magnatons and Electrodes.

Scyther did his best not to hurt them too badly. After all, they were slaves just like him.

What I once was. He corrected himself.

His fantastic leaping, springing of walls and various feats of aerobic mastery were quite enough to cause his foes to hesitate long enough for him to take them out. Charmeleon provided some cover fire, throwing fireballs with superb accuracy.

Following their instincts, they kept heading in a general upward direction. Sometimes, that meant going through the ceiling, via a missile created hole.

They were almost there! Scyther could feel it. Almost…

Father?! NO! It can't be!

Scyther hesitated. That voice had not been his own. He was momentarily startled and almost didn't notice the guards.

"Get them!" A man in a white lab coat shouted, "We're can't let them escape!"

Several more guards appeared, bringing the total count up from three to seven.

He aimed a missile, however, something apparently caused him to hesitate. The guards fired and Charmeleon tackled Scyther, knocking him out of way harm's way.

The missile went astray, hitting a wall…and apparently igniting some flammable equipment behind it. For what followed next was a chain-linked series of explosions.

Scrambling to their feet, the Pokemon took off in a wild rush for the opposite direction, leaving the screams and explosions behind.

<I remember there were some of the water vehicles they used, > Charmeleon pointed a clawed finger, <we can use them to escape! >

<Yes…perhaps we can. > Scyther muttered. The previous scene had been strangely disturbing to him and he just wanted to run and be as far away from it as possible.

The duo rounded a corner…and came face-to-face with one angry-looking Blastoise. It was just plain pissed off and looked like it would attack anything and everything that moved.

Scyther's mind had barely registered that thought when the colossal turtle attacked. It charged with an astonishingly swift pace. Scyther took to the air and heard a grunt of pain as Charmeleon went flying into the wall, leaving a deep, lizard-shaped indentation in it. Still in mid-leap, Scyther readjusted his position and prepared to return fire.

Unfortunately, the missile launcher emitted an 'empty' beep. In all the languages he knew, Scyther simply couldn't come up with a swear word that described his frustration.

A little too late, he realized his mind was wavering away from the current situation. A powerful spray of water hit him in the face, the force of the Hydro Pump driving him up against the wall and pinning him there.

Immobilized, Scyther was on the verge of being choked to death when the spray of water finally stopped. In between coughing and regurgitating the excessive water from his system, he saw that Charmeleon was on Blastoise's back, clawing furiously at its eyes.

He actually saved my life! Scyther thought, dumbfounded.

<Go…for the…throat…> Scyther gasped. <At least try to distract it! >

Charmeleon bit down on the back of the turtle's un-armored neck, more out of necessity to keep from being thrown off. It still served its purpose.

Summoning up what remained of his strength, Scyther rushed in and launched a series of kicks and slashes to the body and chest. He then timed his attack and neatly decapitated his opponent.

He was immediately hit by a spray of blood, his own mingling with that of his foes'. He hadn't noticed it before, but he was bleeding all over.

Scyther had known that the Dragon Armor had been rapidly draining his strength, but now, the last of it left his body. His knees buckled and he collapsed.

He never did hit the ground. Charmeleon grabbed him and begun to drag his wounded comrade forward. Scyther's head flopped down onto his chest and he saw that he had reverted back to normal.

The golden armor had completely disintegrated, vanishing as if it never were. And that pain was beginning to burn into his brain.

<Come on! We can still make it! > Charmeleon urged.

Barely conscious, Scyther forced his drained body to move. He couldn't care about anything else, focusing his mind on that single goal.

So close…yet…so far…His mind said. His? Or someone else's?

Explosions. Screams. Alarms blaring. Ringing…Ring! Ring! Ring…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

1998. Present Day.

Ring! Ring!

Kris started, jumping up and hitting her head on the chair in front of her.

A few heads turned towards her cry of pain, but quickly went back to minding their own business. Fortunately, the bus wasn't too crowded.

That dream!

Kris shook her head. It was the 'Dream World', as Jade had named it. Kris ran her hands over each other, just to be sure they weren't the scythe-like claws she'd had moments before.

Wake up Kris! That was the dream. But…

She looked over to Nightslice, still slumped back in the seat next to her, fast asleep. She was almost jealous.

Kris was still slightly stunned. It was the first time the strange phenomena had affected her. She hadn't expected it to be so overwhelming. The 'phenomena' had originally been an effort from Gym leader Sabrina to recover Nightslice's lost memories. Something had gone seriously wrong and now, members of their group were occasionally snapped back to the past for brief sequences.

Kris didn't really like it, feeling as if some unseen person was forcing them to watch, but not wanting them to know too much at once.

It was confusing. Like her consciousness had really been there, in body and mind. She'd felt the pain of the fights and every emotion that had run through his mind. To some extent, even influence his actions.

Which reminded her…

Father! Oh god, I saw him.

Her parents had both been scientists and both had been killed in a tragic laboratory accident when she was 3. She knew them only from the photos her foster father had, but it was unmistakable.

She'd seen her real father there. He'd been there when Nightslice fired the missile. Was that the 'accident' she'd been told about? Nightslice, he'd…

No…

Kris would not allow herself to think that way. She looked over to Nightslice, still fast asleep. It's pretty hard to describe a Scyther of all things as innocent looking, but that was just how she felt.

Even if he was responsible for the accident, it wasn't his fault. He couldn't have known any better. Nor did he have a choice.

How old had he been then? About 5 years? That was young, even for his species, but he was a product of genetic engineering, created for maximum power and intelligence. All in a secret laboratory, the same one that now served as a secret base for them, except that it was completely in ruins.

Had her parents been part of this madness too? Kris believed that there was a limit in which man could play god and they'd simply gone too far.

She didn't want to push the blame to anyone, particularly Nightslice. She'd become especially close to him, coming to care about him as a brother, probably because in the entire group, the two of them were the closest in age.

Sure they were two different species, but with herself at 16 and him at 15, and both having lost almost everything they'd cared about, the bonding was inevitable, coming to treasure even more so the things they had left. Firestorm was older, at 25, and he always liked playing the role of a guardian/bodyguard. And Jade…well, she didn't want to go into detail about him.

They knew that Nightslice had been frozen in an icy tomb for some time, a period of suspended animation in which his body had neither aged nor grown. Considering the facts they now knew, a simple mathematical calculation would reveal that that period was 5 years.

At least the pieces of the over-sized jigsaw puzzle are beginning to come together. We're getting closer and closer to unraveling the mysteries of the past.

All that had gone through her mind in about a minute and Kris realized the phone was still ringing. She dug it out of her jacket pocket and answered.

"Hello, Kris? It's me." Jade's voice came from the other end. "And it's something you won't be happy about."

Basically, Firestorm had had a little accident and the pair was now stuck on a ship headed for Vermilion City. She'd learnt to pick out the relevant information from Jade's random babbling.

Being in no mood to talk, Kris updated him on their location and agreed to get back to him later. After which, she hung up and lay back against her seat, a sudden feeling of exhaustion having come over her.

In his seat, Nightslice shifted his head slightly and went back to sleep.

She'd tell him later about the dream, and the information they'd put together. Everything except the part about her parents.

He can't know. Not yet, or he'll never be able to forgive himself.

For now, all she could do was concentrate on the task at hand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Vermilion City. Haven't been here in a while.

Firestorm watched Jade giving some extended parting wishes to the captain before walking over and dragging Jade off by the collar.

"Waaiittt! I haven't gotten her phone number yet!"

Judging by the length of the earlier phone conversation, Kris had been in no mood to talk. Something had happened and he only hoped she'd at least get back to them before jumping into the fray. And thanks to Jade, he'd sprained his left wing too, leaving him unable to fly and help. And with nothing to do but wait.

Or so he thought.

Obviously never having been to a harbor this big, Jade stopped to take a look at some crates being loaded onto a nearby cargo ship. Firestorm however, noticed something else.

The Charizard made it a point to hide between some warehouses as Jade was roughly shoved away by the cargo ship's crew. While Jade dusted himself off, Firestorm quickly dragged the startled teen to his hiding place.

"Hey, what gives?" Jade asked, still looking angry for being so rudely chased off.

"Let me ask you first, you think they're rather odd?" Firestorm whispered.

"Other than the fact that they're bloody rude bastards." Jade muttered, annoyed.

"Maybe. But do you think they're rather paranoid?" Firestorm pushed.

"Like they're hiding something?" Jade looked towards him with interest, "Could be, but they could be just all mean and grumpy naturally."

"Then get this, I may be mistaken, but I'm sure I caught the scent of Pokemon there, around the ship. Faintly, though."

"Transport?" Jade asked.

"On a cargo ship?"

"Maybe they're helping to load the ship."

"I would say they're helping out, but we didn't see any Pokemon anywhere on the entire ship."

The pair peeked out to confirm their suspicions.

"For you to have smelt them," Jade said, "the Pokemon must been currently on the ship. Or…the crates!"

Firestorm nodded. He'd been thinking the same thing.

"You know, I touched one of the crates just now and I'd swear I heard something rattle, but I passed it off as some background noise."

"Rattle…you mean…"

"A cage." Jade snapped his fingers. "I'm sure of it. A cage inside the crates, with Pokemon inside them. But that means…"

Firestorm suddenly growled out something, which Jade recognized as an alerting call to a hostile opponent nearby. By the time Jade turned around, Firestorm already had the figure's neck in his claws and slammed him into the side of the warehouse.

"Ugh…whoa I'm…on your side pal…" the man choked. He was a big man with yellow, spiky hair who looked like a military type.

Firestorm gasped and relaxed his hold slightly because he recognized the figure immediately. Jade, however, did not.

"I'll take it as you're just not just another trainer." Jade said sternly, noting the Pokeballs on the man's belt.

"Not just another trainer?" The man said, managing a grin, "I'll take that as a compliment. I'm Surge, the gym leader."

Jade did his best to hide his astonishment.

"That doesn't prove anything."

"All right, I'll have to convince you. I was spying on the cargo ship and just happened to hear some of your conversation. Apparently, you two have reached the same conclusion I did: that they're stealing Pokemon. For me, I want to see them brought to justice."

"So, how do we know you're not really with them and are trying to back stab us?" Jade asked, growing more suspicious at Surge's calm tone.

"Don't worry, he is one of the good guys." A female dressed in a long brown trench coat with a hat stepped out of the shadows.

"Who are…" Jade begun.

The woman removed her hat to reveal…Officer Jenny!

"Then…what's going on here?" Jade asked, feeling slightly more relaxed.

"We can't talk here," Jenny whispered, "too dangerous. If you want to help us, come to the station and we can talk there."

"I recommend you take up the nice lady's offer," Surge said, straightening up, "I can tell that you're a strong trainer who cares a lot about Pokemon. We really could use your help."

Jade made a quick eye-to-eye check with Firestorm, then nodded.

"By the way," Jade grabbed Surge by the shoulder and waited till Jenny was some distance away, "did you…"

"…hear your Charizard talking?" Surge finished. He shot a friendly glance towards Firestorm, "I'll keep it a secret, since you obviously don't want the world to know about it."

"Thanks." Firestorm whispered to him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"What the heck?! This place is like a ghost town." Nightslice muttered. "More than usual, than is!"

"No kidding. Be on your guard." Kris said grimly.

Their bus didn't go directly into town and travelers normally had to either walk or wait for another bus. They'd taken a shortcut by riding Gyarados to the dock, which was completely deserted when they'd arrived.

Gyarados let off an uneasy growl. He was getting nervous too.

Their journey had taken nearly the whole day and the last rays of the sun were beginning to fade from view. Not like it mattered much; the fog and mist around the area made it seem like there was an everlasting sheet of night.

"Pssssss! Kris, over here!"

The young Ninja instinctively had a hand on her katana, but there was no need for her weapon this time. Kris recognized the young man waving to them from behind some crates. He was one of the community workers in Fuji's group.

Kris gestured for Gyarados to wait underwater, then followed the man into a small boat shack.

"Kris, I'm so glad you came." Gasped the man. He looked extremely panicked.

Behind them, Nightslice entered the shack and closed the door by pulling the handle with his teeth.

"I would say it's nice to see you too, Edmund," Kris replied, putting a hand on his shoulder, "but from the look on your face, I don't think that would be appropriate. What happened?"

"You see, about a day ago, these two people came saying they were doing a history project and wanted to take a look at the Tower. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with that, so Mr. Fuji let them go. Then, all of a sudden, ghosts begun showing up everywhere!"

"Wait a minute! Ghosts?!"

"Yes." Edmund closed his eyes. "Spirits, poltergeists, you name it. Obviously those two people were up to no good. They must've disrupted the ghosts of the dead Pokemon somehow. And now, everyone's either hiding or has skipped town. After sending a message to you, Mr. Fuji went into the Tower despite all our pleadings and hasn't come back yet."

"And no one's done anything about this?" Kris asked.

"You think any outsider would believe these ghost stories? Besides, I'm sure you know how the people from these parts are like when they're unhappy."

"Yeah, you have a point." She sighed.

"But you know, that's not the worst part. Recently, I saw this truck full of men dressed in black pull up beside the Tower and the whole bunch of them just marched in like that."

"Dressed in black?" Kris growled, "Team Rocket."

"I'm afraid so." Edmund breathed heavily, having gotten everything off his chest.

"Damn those bastards! Haven't they played around with the dead enough already?!" Kris snapped furiously.

"I didn't hear what they were planning, but I did hear something about a Silph Scope or something. They seemed to think it was important."

"Silph Scope?" Kris asked, digging deep into her backpack. The team had gotten hold of one back when they'd infiltrated Team Rocket's hideout in Celadon City.

"Hmmm…they don't seem very special or important." Kris muttered, putting the goggles on.

Nightslice gave a sudden roar of pain as the door literally flew off its hinges and slammed into him. Kris glanced towards the source of the disturbance…and cried out in shock.

Hovering in the doorway was an apparition simply too horrible to describe. Like some creature out of a child's nightmare, it was like a mass of limbs and body parts randomly joined and stuck together. To top that off, it glowed with a greenish, neon light.

Edmund frantically glared around, obviously not seeing the horrific sight Kris was witnessing. Nightslice too, pulled himself out from under the door and begun looking around for the source of the attack.

Then it hit her. The goggles! They were ghost detectors!

Before she had a chance to shout it out, the specter had shot across the room and was lifting Nightslice by the neck. Shoving a terrified Edmund behind her, Kris could only imagine her Scyther's terror as he was assaulted by this invisible foe.

Without thinking, Kris threw a shuriken, which harmlessly passed through the phantom. It simply turned in her direction and swung one of its grisly, disfigured limbs at her, slamming her to one side.

That moment, Gyarados burst through the wall with a roar. That seemed to spook the spook enough and it dropped Nightslice, allowing him to roll away to safety.

"Gyarados, Dragon Rage! 20 degrees to your right!" Kris yelled.

The watery leviathan reacted swiftly and accurately, the dragon-type move hitting its mark. The phantom's limbs twitched wildly as it slowly begun to fade from existence.

Everyone took a moment to actually breathe.

"Thanks pal," Kris said, "you really saved us by showing up when you did."

"That was…" Edmund begun.

"An extremely pissed off ghost." Kris cut him off, "And there'll be more if we don't do something about it. Nightslice, you come with me. Edmund, you'd better find some place to hide. Gyarados, make sure he gets someplace safe, then you go underwater and wait."

As an afterthought, she let out Wartortle to stay with Gyarados.

"Kris…be careful." Edmund said. "And please try to get Mr. Fuji back safely!"

"Don't worry about me." Kris reassured him, "I understand now that these goggles are ghost detectors. And whatever Team Rocket's up to, I'll put a stop to it!" She punched a fist into her palm. "Nightslice!"

The Scyther nodded and the pair took off in an all out sprint, leaving the rest of their group behind.

"So the ghosts ARE real!" Nightslice muttered as they ran.

"We'll have to be extra careful," Kris warned him, "the ghosts apparently take no damage from physical attacks…"

"Yeah…and those make up the bulk of my arsenal." Nightslice muttered.

"We barge straight in," Kris decided as they approached the huge doors of the Pokemon Tower, "and blast through anything that gets in our way, until we've rescued Fuji and put and end to this madness."

"Got it." The Scyther nodded.

The pair kicked the heavy doors wide open…and froze dead in their tracks.

Sprawled across the floor in front of them were at least half a dozen dead Team Rocket agents. The worst part was that each one wore an utterly terrified look on his face, like they'd been literally scared to death.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Ugh!" Jade grunted, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

Dusk had settled over the port side town and the time for action had come.

Several hours earlier, Jade and Firestorm had forged a plan with Jenny and Surge. Jenny had her suspicions about the ship, but she was afraid that if the police confronted the thieves, or even got near the area, the criminals might resort to some unpleasant means of escape, which could involve innocent Pokemon getting hurt.

So, Jade had decided to accompany Surge as the Lieutenant infiltrated the ship to cause a distraction and give the police, hidden around the area, enough time to storm the ship. Jade was carrying a flare gun, which they planned to use to signal their reinforcements.

The soldier extended a hand, which Jade took, and pulled the young man up. They then quickly coiled up the rope they'd used to get onto the ship and ducked behind a stack of crates.

"Phase 1 accomplished." Surge whispered.

Jade took a peek through a crack in the nearest crate and gasped.

"Lt., take a look!"

He moved slightly and allowed Surge to see an Exeggutor imprisoned within a steel cage. The poor Pokemon appeared sickly and neglected.

"Why those despicable, heartless…" Surge trailed off, clenching his fists to control his anger. "Come on kid."

Jade nodded and followed. The solider handled himself well, instructing Jade exactly when and where to hide. Quite a bit of tiptoeing, crawling and dashing around was involved, making Jade wish he was in better physical shape, but he still managed to keep up with the soldier's pace.

Together, they made it down the stairs to the cargo hold without being detected. Surge peered into the room through a small opening in the door and nodded that it was 'all clear'. Jade let Firestorm out of his Pokeball and the trio entered the room.

"This must be where they're holding all the kidnapped Pokemon." Surge told him. He walked over to one of the crates and pressed his ear to one of them.

Jade and Firestorm walked over to the other side of the room.

"Hey, what's this?" Jade muttered, noticing something on the floor, "A Pokeball?"

He reached down to pick it up, and immediately felt a crackle of electricity in his hand.

"BBBZZZZTTTTT!"

"Yeowch! Voltorb!" Jade stumbled back, holding his hand.

Firestorm opened his mouth to say something, but the Charizard never managed to get it out. He abruptly collapsed, hitting the floor with a loud thud.

"Storm?! What happened?!" Jade asked, stunned.

"I'd say it's been shocked, wouldn't you?" came a voice.

At it's sound, Lt. Surge immediately snapped up. The lights suddenly came up, revealing a squad of Team Rocket agents pouring in through the door they'd used moments before. Jade turned his head and saw another squad entering from a door on the opposite side.

They were trapped.

Another man calmly entered the room, only he was dressed in a green army uniform. The man who had spoken. Behind him hovered a Magneton, obviously the thing that had shocked Firestorm.

"Sergeant Isiac!" Surge roared, his face flushing red with anger, "YOU FILTHY TRAITOR! What's the meaning of this?!"

"Oh, isn't it painfully obvious, sir." Isiac laughed evilly, "I set you up. We knew about your 'secret' infiltration plans from the very beginning…"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"By all the gods…" Nightslice muttered, shocked.

"The Rockets don't give a dammed about their own troops," Kris whispered, "everyone is expendable as long as they get what they want."

Then, some footsteps came from above the stairs.

"Come on!" Kris yelled, making a quick sweep of the area to be sure there were no ghosts around.

None. Obviously the Rockets had taken care of the ones here.

Fortunately, the Sliph Scope also served as a pair of night vision goggles. That feature practically saved her life. As sharp as she was, whilst running ahead of Nightslice in the darkness, she wouldn't have noticed the two Rockets at the top of the stairs if not for the night vision.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

She tackled Nightslice and managed to get both of them out of range, landing back down on the ground floor. Both of them rolled beneath the stairs.

"So, you've finally come." One of them sneered. Both were fully armored and were equipped with the same night vision/ghost detecting goggles she had.

Kris gestured to the stairs above them and Nightslice blew a hole in it with a Hyper Beam. Startled, but not defeated, the two agents retreated. Kris and Nightslice leapt up through the hole and gave chase.

The Rocket agents lead them up, floor after floor, until they were just three floors from the top. This particular room was wide and flat, with many graves and tombstones arranged in neat rows. Their foes were running towards a large, marked out square area in the center of the room.

Although it seemed like just a square with funny patterns drawn with white paint, Kris recognized it as a 'cleansing' area. She had read that some channelers, psychics and practitioners of similar arts made these drew these holy markings in order to ward off devils and evil spirits.

As the second Rocket turned to fire his handgun, Kris executed a forward roll and let loose her remaining Pokemon, Ivysaur and Jolteon.

"Go!"

"Rrrrrrrr!"

Firing off a Razor Leaf and Pin Missile respectively, the Pokemon's attacks threw the criminal off balance. He stumbled away from the safety of his 'cleansing' area and fell onto one of the graves.

The floor suddenly gave way beneath him, and the man's expression suddenly changed to one of pure terror. He was clinging onto a nearby tombstone while screaming and firing his handgun. Obviously, whatever he was firing at wasn't being affected in the least by the 9mm bullets.

Kris was actually glad she couldn't see too much. She saw a tentacle rise up and wrap itself around the man's neck, then tighten and jerk. The Rocket's screaming was cut off by a dull snap. His body lay still, but then it was suddenly dragged down to the level below. A bone splitting crunch, followed by the tearing of flesh and the splattering of blood gave away unimaginable possibilities to his fate.

What a horrible way to die, Nightslice thought, even for a miserable Rocket….

The Scyther then noticed that Kris was rapidly closing the gap between herself and the remaining Rocket. He roared for his comrades to catch up as well.

The last agent was stunned, but not for long. Nightslice saw to unmistakable forms materializing in front of the agent.

Haunter and Gengar. And they were simultaneously launching their Night Shade attacks.

"Kris!"

He threw himself forward and furiously beat his wings, managing to get Kris away from the worst of the attacks. He heard cries of pain as Ivysaur and Jolteon were knocked out by the blast, not being as fortunate as to escape the blast.

Kris was bleeding at the forehead and had a number of cuts at many other places. Nightslice wasn't too good either, feeling bruises all over his body.

However, neither of them had time to lick their wounds. Both were immediately surrounded but a pillar of purple light.

"Aaaaarrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!" Kris screamed.

"Rrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh!" Nightslice roared out in anguish.

Nightslice was barely aware that he was being lifted off the ground. Barely aware that Kris was beside him, held in mid air. Barely aware that the agent was gloating.

"Powerful Hypnosis, isn't it?" he was bragging, "It was our mission here to stir up the ghosts here and let our ghost-type Pokemon take them on and absorb their spiritual energy. Of course, we had casualties. The weak had to make way for the strong. So here we have, the most powerful ghost Pokemon in the world."

Nightslice was growing further and further away now. All control of his body having been stripped from him, he was being turned to a lying position on his back, except he was still suspended in the air. Kris was right next to him, being held in a similar state.

"And now my friends, do you know what ghost Pokemon do once they've caught their victims with Hypnosis?"

As hard as he tried, Nightslice could only force his eyes to open slightly. With that, he could see the eerie purple light forming into a solid shape around them.

Ironically, it was…a coffin.

"Convenient too, that I won't have to take you two anywhere once I'm done with you."

Then, Nightslice got the absolutely sickening gut feeling that they were going to die.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Sergeant, you are a disgrace to your uniform!" the Lt. snarled.

"Oh please sir, couldn't you have come up with something better than that?" Isiac mocked, moving several steps closer to Surge. "So what if I just happened be liberating theses poor, pampered Pokemon from a bunch of weak trainers. They'll certainly be able to reach much greater potential here, with Team Rocket."

Surge was cursing in some unrepeatable swear language. Jade was beginning to wonder if the soldier had actually lost his cool when he noticed the Lieutenant had one hand behind his back, at his waist level. His finger was pointed at something behind Jade.

He chanced a look, noticing the stack of crates behind him was not very well balanced. Firestorm too opened his eyes and winked at Jade, to show he was all right and ready for action. The Charizard quickly closed his eyes again, making it look like he was still out cold.

"And it just so happened I managed to make a huge profit and become a commander at the same time." Isiac continued bragging.

All eyes and guns were trained on Lt. Surge as he seemed to lose his temper in another series of vocal vulgarities. Jade, however, knew better. The soldier was attracting all attention towards himself, allowing Jade to slowly creep towards the stack of unbalanced crates.

Slowly…slowly…

He was there. And all the Rockets were still focused on Surge.

1…2…3!

"Yargh!" With a yell, Jade kicked the lowest crate. That resulted in a chain reaction of toppling crates, which instantly brought chaos throughout the entire room.

Surge used the distraction to tackle Isiac, and knocking the traitor's handgun away before he even had time to think about drawing it. Jade sprinted for the nearest doorway, pushing a couple of guards out of the way. The seemingly unconscious Firestorm suddenly rose up, torched a few guards, and exited through the ceiling via a tremendous leap.

"Don't fire you idiots!" Isiac yelled at the guards who remained, "Get the others! Ugh!"

He received a punch on the jaw.

The remaining guards quickly left the room, leaving the two soldiers to duke it out in a furious wrestling match.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

On the level above, Firestorm had burst into a room full of Team Rocket guards. Bad thing was that he previous hit he'd taken had drained much of his strength, leaving him unable to muster up any effective flame attacks. All that in addition to the fact that his wing was injured.

Fortunately, suddenly barging in through a hole in the floor distracted the guards for long enough. The Charizard rolled towards what he felt gave the best cover, a large desk, desperately grabbing a pair of sub-machine guns off the desk at the same time.

Although everyone was screaming at once, none of the guards had the sense to fire. Two or three made a run for it.

Firestorm knew only two things about guns. One; pull the trigger. Two; shoot. The weapons hadn't been designed for his larger, three-fingered claws, but he managed to get a good grip and let loose.

Next thing he knew, the weapons had minds of their own. He actually had to struggle to grip onto the guns. When he finally took his fingers off the triggers, all the guards were either dead or injured.

The fact that he'd actually enjoyed that made him feel a little sick. He certainly didn't want to think of himself as some trigger-happy gun-mon, but he didn't have a choice this time. It was do or die.

"Time to play Metal Gear for real now." He muttered as he headed for the door.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Sensei, you said that this was Pokemon training." She'd said. Kris had been around 8 or 9 then.

"Indeed, it is." Wang Long replied. The old Ninja master was as firm as ever.

"Then why do I have to do this?" she gasped, letting her katana slip back to the ground, "Shouldn't I be calling the Pokemon? Why do I have to strengthen my own body if this is Pokemon training?"

"You are young," the old man laughed, "perhaps you do not yet understand."

"Understand what, Sensei?" Kris asked, getting into a Seiza, a kneeling position on both calves.

"In a Pokemon battle, the trainer simply watches, plans and gives orders. He suffers no injury whatsoever. The only ones fighting are the Pokemon."

Kris looked up as her teacher came closer.

"But you see Kris," he continued, "before you can claim to train Pokemon, trainers MUST first train THEMSELVES."

"Themselves?"

"You may still win, but that is a victory on part of the Pokemon alone. A trainer can only truly experience the battle when they feel the pain, the determination, and the exhaustion. By taking the attacks and being able to hone your own. In essence, you must become one with your warrior. And more so with your enemy."

"Become one? I don't understand…"

"You may not be able to grasp the sword now, Kris. But sometime in the future when you do, remember this: When you can see as they do, when you can put your heart within theirs, then your Pokemon will be able to understand your will. And your bond will forge the most powerful weapon of all. Now…take the sword…"

Take the sword.

Take the sword…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Take the sword…

Kris shook, snapping back to reality. She'd been lost in a dream. A dream of the past, back then when she was young.

In the present, she knew she was in grave danger. The Dream Eater was steadily draining her life's energy while she slept. Beside her, Nightslice seemed to twist about in agony, like he was having a nightmare. She was briefly aware the Rocket agent was mocking them, although she could not make out anything he was saying.

We're slowly dying in the midst of our dreams! She thought, We've got to escape from this Dream Eater, but how? Sensei…

The Rocket agent was suddenly yelling.

Kris focused, shutting out all distractions around her. In her mind, she saw the tower. Wartortle had appeared through the window, riding a jet of water that could only belong to Gyarados, down below on the ground. Ivysaur and Jolteon were beginning to get up. They'd all come to help her.

Kris made a plan, and called out to each of her friends. Not vocally, but reached down, deep into her heart…and into theirs.

Hear me…help me…you must distract him. Anyway, any attack no matter how weak. I know all of you can do it! I believe in you!

Each one did his part. Water Gun, Razor Leaf and Thunderbolt all hit their mark.

Kris felt the ghosts' hold over them weaken as they returned fire. The three Pokemon were violently tossed away and Kris could only hope they'd be all right. But they had played their part well.

"Nightslice! NOW!" She called out.

With a shattering sound, Nightslice burst open the coffin.

"What?!" the agent gasped, "No! Those attacks were all distractions!"

Kris and Nightslice were still on their backs, suspended in mid-air. Still with their eyes closed, only being half-conscious.

"Not like any of your Scyther's physical attacks will be of any use." The agent muttered. "Not against a gaseous Pokemon. You can't slice air with a sword!"

Kris wasn't listening to any of that. Her mind was set on the memory of one of her teacher's lectures.

"You may not be able to grasp the sword now, Kris." He'd said, "But sometime in the future when you do, remember this: When you can see as they do, when you can put your heart within theirs, then your Pokemon will be able to understand your will. And your bond will forge the most powerful weapon of all."

Kris grasped the hilt of her katana, unsheathed it and raised it above her head.

Feel my mind, Nightslice. Together with me!

Nightslice raised his right, sword-like claw, mimicking Kris' position.

I hear you, Kris. I feel your will…your courage…our weapon. Our sword!

The Rocket agent was beginning to back away.

Take hold of the essence of the enemy…and let your soul slice through an opponent without form!

At that moment, both sprung to a standing position, eyes snapping open, faces set with grim determination.

"Slash attack!" they simultaneously called out.

Together, the descended and struck. A spectacular explosion then followed, leaving no trace of the two ghost Pokemon.

Kris dropped down on her knees. Though it had been but a few minutes, it had felt like hours to Kris. It had been a grueling battle of the mind and they'd won.

Sensei! I did it! I grasped the sword!

It wasn't really all that simple. The 'sword' wasn't the katana she wielded, as Kris had originally thought he'd meant, but instead the entire concept. She had achieved most of what her Sensei had been trying to teach her and the phrase 'know yourself well, know your enemy better' basically summed it all up.

Until now, she'd understood everything except the part about the weapon. Kris now realized that it was their will.

In the spiritual world, only the strongest mind won and the will to do so had been their greatest weapon. They'd practically turned the dream against their foes, utilizing the high amount of spectral energy to forge weapons out of their very emotions.

And they'd done it together.

Unfortunately, while the ghosts had been defeated, the human still remained, though injured as well. Both mentally and physically exhausted, Kris had failed to notice that until she heard the click of his gun.

"Watch out!" Nightslice was suddenly there, throwing himself between his friend and the weapon.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The Scyther's eyes went wide with both pain and shock. He collapsed into Kris' arms.

"NNNNNNOOOOOO!"

It was too late. Kris could feel it as much as she could see the bloody red wounds appear on her friend. Nightslice had taken a bullet to his head.

Their opponent made use of this time to limp towards the stairs leading up. He was more than halfway up before Kris finally came back to her senses.

Tears were dripping from her eyes and collecting in her goggles, but she never noticed. She was bruised and hurt in too many places to count, but none of that mattered. No words were able to escape her lips.

Slowly, she pushed Nightslice's eyes close and kissed him on the forehead. A great sense of rage drowned out everything else in her mind. Kris wasted no more time, pulling the Sliph Scope off and tossing it away. She snatched up her katana and sprinted for the stairs.

The murderer would pay the price.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Shit!" Jade cursed.

Thanks to a couple of armed guards firing at him, Jade had to turn back and run the way he came, which wasn't a very permanent solution considering he knew there were guards behind him too.

In the midst of the chaos, he'd found himself chased up onto the upper deck. He still had the flare gun, but could not find any time to fire it off and call in their reinforcements. Finally, he ran to the railing and scrambled over, leaping down onto the lower deck.

He landed right in front of a guard, who immediately went for his handgun. Jade was quicker, however, driving a fist straight into the guy's solar plexus.

Jade spun around at a scraping noise…only to find a dozen more guards with their weapons aimed at his head.

PRANG!

At that instant, Firestorm entered the scene (with a Matrix-style effect) by crashing through a large window just above the group, firing off a pair of sub-machine guns. Time seemed to slow as he fired off the first two shots, then suddenly sped up again as he crossed his arms and begun firing.

The Rockets scattered, some running, some struck down where they were, others jumping off the boat.

Firestorm attempted to land with a forward roll, but ended up with a belly flop straight down to the deck.

"Ow…" Jade muttered, cringing, "But thanks Storm, you saved my life."

A brave guard suddenly leapt into view and was just as abruptly dragged off the boat and tossed away. A familiar-looking Dragonair popped her head up.

"Dracia! Nice timing!" Firestorm cheered.

"Knew we could count on you"! Jade added in.

"Hey boys, don't start the celebrations yet," she warned, "and fire the flare for goodness sake!!!"

"The flare? Oh yeah!" Jade reached down and pulled it off his belt. He pointed it up into the night sky and pulled the trigger.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Hidden on top of a nearby warehouse, Jenny waited patiently as she had been doing for the past two hours or so, praying that their friends had been successful.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally saw the flare, despite the fact that she knew the hard part was just beginning.

"There's the signal people," she spoke into her walkie-talkie, "let's move!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

The room became completely still from the moment Kris left. Ivysaur, Jolteon and Wartortle all lay where they'd fallen, wounded, unconscious, but at least alive. Which was more than could be said for the Scyther lying in the middle of the room.

And such, no one was able to witness the deep purple glow that suddenly materialized. Much like a torch light held in space by some unseen force, except the source of the purple glow was a small stone tablet.

Though it seemed like an ordinary piece of rock, any one of the Dragon Riders would've recognized it as a relic containing one of the Forbidden skills. This tablet, however, moved by itself and came to rest just above Nightslice's body.

Then, a figure seemed to appear out of no where. Not really a figure, but more like a hologram.

It was roughly Scyther-shaped, and clad from head to toe, in completely in black armor with only a red visor across its helmet for its eyes.

"I am you and you are me." The voice reverberated throughout the empty room, although it was clearly addressed at the lifeless form in front of him. "Our time is at hand…"

The glowing stranger raised a hand above the body.

Nightslice's eyes flew open.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Yyyaarrgghhh!" with a yell, Surge shoved his traitorous comrade into a pile of crates.

The battle had taken the two out of the cargo hold and into a smaller store packed with crates of tools and weapons.

Isiac seemed to have taken a bad knock on his head, and Surge saw he had an opportunity.

"Go Raichu!" he ordered, letting out his electric Pokemon, "Thunderbolt!"

The glare was so bright that Surge had to turn away. However, when he looked back, Isiac was just standing there and smiling, seemingly unaffected by the attack.

"What?! How?!" Surge gasped.

"Shockproof suit." Isiac patted his chest, "Because I knew you'd try something like that. But now, it's my turn! GO Magneton!"

BBZZZTTTTTT!!!

"Aarrggghhh!" Surge cried out in pain. The powerful electric attack even seemed to be badly hurting his Raichu.

He then realized that the Magneton had been storing up its electricity the whole time. Surge had just assumed it hadn't because Isiac had been standing very close to it earlier on. And a Magneton storing up electricity in that manner would've shocked anyone nearby…anyone not wearing a shockproof suit.

Ignoring the pain in his body, Surge painstakingly dragged himself to his feet. He wasn't ready to give up without a fight. Raichu was doing the same and Surge was silently thankful for his Pokemon's determination.

"This…isn't over yet!" he growled.

"So, keep playing tough guy!" Isiac taunted. His Magneton unleashed another Thunderbolt, knocking both of them back.

Surge was already formulating a plan in his mind. He just hoped that Raichu would understand.

"Magneton, charge up to your full power and finish them off with a Thunder attack." Isiac ordered.

"Now Raichu, Swift attack." Surge crawled to his knees and tapped his chest.

Raichu launched a series of star-shaped projectiles. Isiac was prepared to dodge, but found that the projectiles missed him and his Pokemon by a hair.

"Looks like you're aim's off, Lieutenant." Isiac sneered. He could practically taste the victory that was at hand.

"Oh, that's not where I was aiming." Surge grinned.

Even as he finished his sentence, a series of tears appeared in Isiac's suit.

"What?! NO! Magneton stop! AARGGGGHHHH!"

All of a sudden, Isiac no longer insulated and the electrical energy his Magneton had been storing up suddenly jumped towards him like a magnet. Without its trainer's orders Magneton continued charging until overloaded itself and blew up.

Surge and Raichu had both jumped away and ducked. Now, they uncovered their heads and surveyed the scene.

What was left of the Magneton was scattered in dozens of pieces all around the room. Sgt. Isiac lay on his back, his eyes wide open with shock, his mouth contorted in a voiceless scream. He was dead, electrocuted by his own Pokemon.

"Nicely done Raichu!" Surge gave his Pokemon a high-five. "You got exactly what I was thinking." He then looked over to Isiac's body. "Have a nice, long stay in hell!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Firestorm ducked behind the door as the bullets ricocheted off the walls.

Nuts! I'm pinned.

There were suddenly several screams, followed by just as many splashes. Then, it was quiet.

The Charizard looked out to see Dracia hovering there, wearing a wide grin on her normally featureless face.

"It's pretty easy to sneak past humans when you're long and slender," the Dragonair laughed, "and not big and fat."

"Thank you very much." Firestorm muttered sarcastically.

Two guards suddenly appeared from around the corner.

"Get down!" Firestorm yelled, raising his guns.

Dracia complied, dropping herself down to the ground. Firestorm let loose with a spray of bullets that caused the guards to dive for cover. They prepared to return fire, but Firestorm accidentally hit a silver cylinder between them, which promptly blew up, sending both flying overboard.

"Whoa!" Dracia muttered, flying around the corner to take a look. "Hey dragon-breath! Come take a look!"

Firestorm ran over to where his ally was hovering…and found an entire row of the silver cylinders neatly lined up.

"LPG gas." He read the label, "Flammable, keep away from open fire."

Both dragons glanced at each other with evil grins.

"Know what I'm thinking, sister?" Firestorm asked.

"Same thing I am." Came the reply. "Things that go BOOM are our specialty."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"You won't get away!" Kris took the steps three at a time.

After what seemed like hours to her exhausted body, Kris finally reached the top…only to find her enemy with his gun pointed at Mr. Fuji's head.

Damn! He's got old Fuji hostage!

"Drop the sword girl," he said coldly. "Or the old man gets it!"

With his helmet still on, Kris couldn't tell what his expression was as she dropped her katana on the ground.

"Don't worry about me Kris!" Fuji shouted, "Save your…ugh!"

The Rocket knocked him out with the butt of his gun.

"He'll live, as long as you don't try anything funny. Now, kick it over here!" he ordered, referring to her weapon.

Kris did as she was told.

The black clad man stepped over the sword and tossed Fuji to one side, now aiming his weapon at Kris.

"At least I'll get a big bonus for all the trouble you put me through, bitch!"

"Look out!" Kris yelled, pointing behind him, sounding extremely panicked.

"Oh, that's not going to…" he begun, thinking it was a trick. All of a sudden, he felt a cold breath down the back of his neck.

Shaking, he slowly turned around…and found himself looking into the eyeless hollows of a skull. That skull reassembled some sort of dragon head. It was attached to a massive jumble of bones…which were slowly forming into a more recognizable shape. Not any recognizable Pokemon, but it still looked like a dragon skeleton on all fours.

"WHO DISTURBS OUR SLEEP?" the creature's voice chanted.

The Rocket agent, who had previously been petrified with terror, now begun screaming wildly. Kris however, used the situation to her advantage.

She ran forward and gave the man a hard kick, sending him straight into the abomination. Not wasting even a second, Kris turned and ran even as the screams were replaced by the horrific crunching of bones.

The young Ninja had almost made it to the stairs when the creature suddenly leapt the entire distance, landing on top of her desired escape route. Kris begun to back away fully aware that she was in serious trouble.

Her sword was too far away to reach in time and the only possible escape was blocked, unless she planned to jump who-knows-how many stories out the window.

With a roar, the zombie dragon descended upon her.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

"Guys! Hurry!" Jade yelled.

Magmar and Electabuzz used their respective elemental punches to bash a couple of guards away.

Firestorm and Dracia had run off saying that they had a plan. Jade and his group were just barely holding their position, which was at the front of the ship on the upper deck.

Hey, where are you two?! Jade was wondering when the vessel's control room abruptly blew up. OK, question answered.

The room next to that exploded. Then the next one.

Jade realized the explosions were getting closer.

"Shoot!" Jade and the Pokemon backed off towards the railing. "Jump!" he shouted.

Magmar protested about not liking water, but Jade just grabbed onto both of them and used the momentum of his jump to push them over the side.

The group hit the dark waters with a loud splash.

A rope was suddenly tossed to them. Jade looked up to see Firestorm and Dracia waving to him from the pier.

"Just what the hell did you two do?!" Jade demanded once his party was back on dry land.

"Erm…just roll a bunch of pressurized gas canisters into a few rooms." Dracia said sheepishly.

"And I had to use up the bullets in these guns." Firestorm showed off the guns, then tossed them into the dark ocean. "But look, the police seem to have it under control."

The Charizard was right. Police officers were storming the ship, quickly taking control of the situation…and anything that they hadn't blown up on shot to pieces.

"Let's just hope Surge is OK. And those Pokemon too." Jade muttered.

"Don't worry." Dracia assured him, warping her tail around his shoulder. "It'll work out."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

This is it…Kris thought grimly.

The zombie dragon was practically in front of her when its head abruptly separated from the rest of its body.

Instinctively, Kris rolled away and turned towards the source of the blast.

"Nightslice?!?" she stared.

No, it was the metallic Scyther, Nightslice's cybernetic form. Kris stared harder, having to squint in the dimly lit room.

It was somewhat…different.

It was still mostly Scyther-shaped, with some distinguishable differences. The claws…actually they were now five fingered hands with blades mounted at their wrists.

The twin, waist mounted machine guns were the only thing that seemed familiar. With the exception of those guns and several silver sections on its chest, it was completely clad in black armor, leaving a red visor across the helmet for its eyes. He didn't look very robotic anymore, but more like a traditional Ninja warrior instead.

Kris saw his chest rising and falling beneath his black suit, which seemed to have been woven out of a very smooth and fine cloth. The helmet was the only other thing that even seemed metal at all.

He could've been a knight in shinning armor, except he was all black and looked more like the bad guy.

"Kris! Run for it." He shouted, "I'll take care of this one!"

The dragon zombie shot off a frost breath at him. Nightslice responded by using a Light Screen to shield himself. Suddenly, he was in the air and firing off blue lightning bursts that seemed to greatly harm the creature. As it let out some grisly howls of rage, Nightslice landed and raced towards it on the ground.

Performing his trademark faster-than-eye Slash, the creature was reduced to a pile of bones and dust.

"Nightslice!" Kris ran over to him and caught him as he stumbled into her arms.

"Kris…I," Nightslice reached up with his hands and removed his helmet, revealing his normal face beneath it.

"Nightslice...how? What?" Kris struggled to form a question.

"Kris, feel this!" Nightslice pushed her hand to the back of his head, where he'd been shot.

The wound was completely gone, leaving only a barely visible scar.

"How?" Kris asked, still shocked.

"Kris, I understand now." Nightslice said, standing up. "What Alugard said to me, what they all wanted."

"Explain…" Kris begun.

"Kris," Nightslice stared her straight in the eye. "I am the dark dragon. I am Kaiser…reborn."

"Have you lost your mind?!" Kris couldn't help blurting out.

"Look at this!" Nightslice yelled, pointing to his head, "I took a bullet here! I should've been dead!"

He then noticed the remorseful look on Kris' face.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, "But the thing is that I have Kaiser's spirit energy within me. And while it's within me, I am essentially immortal. That's what I meant when I…"

Kris suddenly shoved him aside. No, he realized. She was pushing him out of harms' way and attacking something behind him.

She blocked two attacks with her bare hands and gave the intruder a kick in the chest.

"Ugh…not bad…for a human." An unfortunately familiar voice muttered.

"Alugard!" Nightslice yelled, spinning around.

"Relax kid," the old warrior said, getting to his feet, "I didn't come to fight you today."

"I find that hard to believe." Kris said, assuming a fighting stance.

Nightslice growled menacingly.

"So, now you know." The cyborg Scyther continued on calmly, "But not everything I do, however. I know that you're a result of a genetic experiment, Nightslice. Those scientists back then, took the necessary materials from two others, mixed them around a little, and created you."

Kris and Nightslice relaxed a little. He was either an extraordinary liar, or he was actually telling the truth.

"They did get what they wanted; a wild, salvage Pokemon breed with great human-like intelligence and raw power. But they got something else they didn't expect: they got…well, you know that part already."

"And you decided to show up to tell us that?!" Nightslice growled.

"One more thing, that what you have within you is only part of Kaiser's spirit. The rest, is hidden somewhere else. When you find it and reunite…well, you know that part too."

"Do you think I'm actually crazy enough to do that?!" Nightslice asked.

"Destiny is inevitable." Alugard said and he turned and begun to walk away. "And remember this, you've probably noticed, but you CAN feel pain and get hurt. You just can't die. Well, both our parties have learnt something new today."

"Indeed they have," Nightslice said softly, "…father."

At the sound of the last word, Alugard stopped and turned his head.

"So, now you know."

"I knew. I just didn't want to accept it."

"Your mother…" Alugard closed his eyes, "I truly cared about her. She died soon after they took the genes from her."

"There is no weakness in compassion." Kris said, noticing that the usually calm warrior was trembling.

"I came into this world knowing I had a mission." Alugard continued, ignoring Kris' statement "But even then, I didn't know how everything would work out. I was unprepared for what was to come. Which was why I ended up being captured by those Team Rocket scientists in the first place. Because I stumbled into their lab."

"Who are you, really?" Kris asked, curiously.

"In another lifetime, I fought in that great battle. I was one of Kaiser's best warriors. And it so happened I was the one chosen to carry out another mission: to bring him back, many lifetimes later."

Alugard finally opened his eyes and looked up.

"Hmmm…I wonder if the others are still lingering around in this realm somewhere. If you choose to seek out the other Knights, they just might be willing to share a few thoughts…and maybe even a secret technique or two. We weren't really a very tight group, so some of the others may have different views. Besides, they'll be spirits who've been hanging around this world for who knows how long. That could certainly have an affect on one's mental stability."

The veteran fighter grinned, showing a slight hint of humor.

"Look's like I've told you quite a bit already. Seems like our future meetings will be so much more…interesting. There was no battle between us today my friends, but tomorrow is another story."

He jumped up onto a window ledge and gave one last look back.

"Oh and by the way, I picked out a little piece of information you may like. Giovanni was using these missions to distract you, and keep your party away from his main objective. As for what that is, you'll have to find that out for yourself."

"And you're telling us?!" Nightslice yelled.

"I have no love for Team Rocket either." Alugard turned his back and spread his wings, "That's one thing we have in common. Farewell."

With that, Alugard activated his jets and speed off, disappearing into the night sky.

Leaving Kris and Nightslice with a whole lot of information to take in and a sense of uncertainty about whether the half of it was true.

"Hey you know," Nightslice finally broke the silence, "my Metallic Scyther form is gone. It's been upgraded to this." He said tapping his chest. He'd made it a deliberate attempt to change the subject.

"Then we won't need this anymore." Kris pulled out the small, rectangular control device for the Metallic Scyther. She dropped it and crushed it beneath her foot. "In some ways, good riddance too."

"But I need a new name," Nightslice said, "for this form."

"The Night Blazer." Kris immediately replied.

"Cool. But where'd…"

"It just hit me, that's all." She said, shrugging.

Then she begun laughing. And so did Nightslice. It was to let out some steam more than anything else.

"Come on. You revert back to normal and we'll take old Fuji out of here before he gets a heart attack." Kris paused, "And of course, we have to help our other Pokemon too."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Jade made it a point to have his group sneak out before the reward ceremony. They'd walked quite a distance along the road before the sun rose again.

The police raid had been a success and all the kidnapped Pokemon had been rescued unharmed. Although the police had arrested an entire squadron of the evil doers, they were all just lowly grunts and knew absolutely nothing. Shame, really.

He could imagine Surge saying something to Jenny like: "Ah, the kid wants no reward. It just goes to show that there are some really honorable people in today's society."

And rightly so too. Jade had thanked the soldier in the medical bay before they'd left.

But, you know that was a whole bunch of cash that I passed up. Jade thought, I wonder…

Magmar was suddenly pulling his shoulder.

"What the…hey! That's my laptop!"

All at once, Jade saw his backpack was open and the other three Pokemon were clustered around the laptop, held by Firestorm.

"Jade, take a look at this." Dracia called him over. The Dragonair had a rather serious tone in her voice.

The power wasn't even on, but Jade saw a series of words appearing across the screen.

Sabrina?!

"Let's move it guys!" Firestorm declared.

"Yeah, Saffron City!" Jade agreed.

The group needed only to head North along the straight road.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Elsewhere, Kris' group was watching the same sunrise.

It had been a hell of a night. Old Fuji had insisted on going back up to the Tower the moment he regained consciousness. He knew how to perform a ritual that would calm the enraged spirits. Fortunately, they'd encountered no further mishaps.

Leaving Fuji, Edmund and the rest of the community to clean up, Kris had gotten her Pokemon healed and quickly departed. She prayed that this time, the dead would be left to rest for good.

Riding on the back of Gyarados, Kris watched Wartortle swimming around in the water. Ivysaur and Jolteon were huddled against each other, fast asleep.

Nightslice, however, hadn't uttered a single word since they'd left. He was sitting facing towards the back of Gyarados, staring at the waves.

"Hey Nighty," Kris shifted her position so she could sit beside her friend, "get whatevers troubling you off your chest."

"I feel like I just sold my soul to the devil. If I even have one of my own, that is." Nightslice muttered, without looking up. "I've had to accept a lot of hard truths. But even I was unprepared for something like this. Those five years I was frozen up on the Snowy Mountains, I survived because Kaiser's spirit wouldn't let me die. But I still felt the pain."

He paused and looked towards the rising sun.

"Being with you, Storm and even Jade, I thought I saw a path beginning to unfold in front of me. Somewhere I could look forward to going. I feel like some great wave just washed the bridge out in front of my eyes."

"Nightslice…" Kris put an arm around his shoulder, "That doesn't mean you should just give up. And if it still doesn't work, try and try again until something does."

"But what will? The voices I sometimes hear, I now know they belong to him, calling out to me-his other side. I've only brought pain and misery to everyone around me in the past. And with things going the way they are, I'm only going to cause pain and misery to everyone now if I stick around…"

"No, that's not true." Kris cut him off, "We may be beginning to piece everything together, but parts are still missing. We can't afford to leave anything out." Kris hesitated and closed her eyes, "And back then, in the Tower, when I thought I'd lost you for good, my…my heart broke."

Nightslice looked straight up at her.

"No matter what all the prophecies in the world say, I know that you will always be you. Nightslice, you're an individual and a very special one too. You're sentient; you have a right to choose. Sensei used to tell me that we all write our own paths. The future is not fixed; it's made by those who are willing to take that first step."

"Kris…you say that, even knowing…" Nightslice trailed off. "Knowing that someday, I'll be the only one alive, watching the rest of you grow old and die? Or that maybe we may even confront Kaiser himself?"

"Even if fate brings us to meet him someday, who's to say what will happen after. We still have to bring in the light, to balance out the darkness." Kris pointed to the sun, whose rays were now beginning to stream across the calm waters and filtering out the darkness of the waves.

"We could even…defeat him?"

"We've come through so much together," Kris smiled, "and yet, we still have so much to go through. Together, we will find our answers."

"Thank you, Kris. For everything." Nightslice quickly wiped away a tear before Kris noticed.

"Just be sure not to get any more armored forms." Kris suddenly grinned, "Or I won't be able to keep track of you!"

Nightslice burst out laughing.

"Then I should be glad humans don't evolve!" He replied.

"Humans do evolve all right. In ways you'll never know!"

"Speaking of that, do you know we Scyther can evolve?"

"Why don't you try evolving before bringing that subject up again?"

"I'll evolve, you just wait and see! When…I figure out how, that is."

Their moment of peacefulness, however, was promptly interrupted.

"Kris," Jade's voice came over the cell phone, "it's Sabrina. She sent a telepathic message to my computer just now. A distress call!"

"Go on." Kris urged.

"It was very brief, like she didn't have time to finish it or something. But she did specify that Saffron City was in danger."

"You headed there?" Kris asked.

"We're already on the road."

"Good. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up. Just be on your toes and watch your backs!"

"I'll be sure to watch the rest of him too." Firestorm could be heard in the background.

"Good hunting, Storm! Over and out."

"Was this the 'main objective' that Alugard told us about?" Nightslice wondered.

"If it is," Kris said, storing her phone, "then I'm certain I know what Giovanni's after. And it's big."

Kris tapped Gyarados and pointed towards an upcoming river channel.

"Follow that river Westward!" She ordered, "We're headed to Saffron City, full speed!"