FSE

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Pokémon:

Quest of a True Master

Chapter 4

"Shouldn't we be close to the Seafoam islands by now?" The blond-haired gangster asked his partner as they played a hand of blackjack with a deck of cards he'd brought with him. "We got control of the ship... I don't know, two hours ago? It's barely a twelve hour trip from Hoenn to Kanto by boat so we should've gotten the prompt by now."

"Maybe it just hasn't been as long as you think," the other asked, scratching his head through his hat as he looked at the two cards in his hand. "I'll bet you ten bucks, and I'll stay."

"Okay," replied the other, looking at his cards and grinning as he pushed several coins forward and said, "so will I."

"Right-o." The hat-wearing thug slapped down his cards. "Nineteen; beat that, bitch."

"As you wish," returned the blond, showing his cards. "Two tens; I win."

The hat wearing gangster scowled in anger. "You have to be kidding me... twice in a row?!" He demanded. "You have to be cheating!"

"Maybe I'm just lucky," replied the blond, shrugging.

"Not as lucky as me." A voice spoke from the door, before another pair of cards landed on the table; not from a matching deck, but they were an ace and a ten. "Twenty-one; you both lose."

"Who the...?!" The two asked simultaneously before turning towards the door, but they were greeted by something else; a Blaziken and a Sceptile, who immediately struck them. The Blaziken punched the first across the face, while the Sceptile clubbed the other with its tail, knocking him over and banging his head against the floor.

"And I get the jackpot," Randy remarked as he and Mark stepped into the engine room.

"Nice move with the cards," complimented Mark. "You always carry a deck with you?"

"Not always," admitted Randy. "Just so happens this time I had a guy with opposable thumbs travelling with me." He glanced at the Sceptile. "No offense, Thorn; you're still my favorite baseball partner."

"Gluckock," the Sceptile responded.

Mark eyed Randy curiously as the second trainer headed over to the engines. "He plays baseball?" He asked.

"Oh yeah! He makes an awesome batter," Randy replied.

Mark looked at Thorn, eyeing the Sceptile's skinny arms specifically before looking at his face. "How do you hold the bat?"

"Ah," replied the Sceptile, opening his mouth and holding it that way until Mark got the message... which didn't take long.

"Oh..." He blinked a couple of times before he turned to Randy. "That CAN'T be good for his neck!" He declared as he walked over to Randy to see what he was doing.

"Doesn't seem to bother him," replied the second trainer, who was checking the ship's engine; the gigantic machine, rumbling noisily and almost drowning out his voice as he ran around it, searching for any sign of damage. Of course, he wasn't exactly a ship mechanic so he wasn't sure what to look for, precisely, but anything that stood out was bound to be something worth checking.

They both did a full circuit of the machine, checking everything they could find, and were both satisfied with the lack of any outstanding evidence of sabotage. Nodding in approval to one another, the two ran over to the downed bodies of the hijackers, dragging them out of the room with their Pokémon following suite.

Out in the hallway, though, a yapping caught their attention; both trainers turned in the direction of the stairwell, and saw a Mightyena, whom they immediately recognized as Fang, rushing towards them hurriedly, barking in warning to them. "Where's he been; he get lost?" Randy asked.

"No; I told him to stand guard and warn us if someone was coming!" Mark replied, looking at Vitesse, who nodded to him and ran to stand at his side.

As Fang bounded toward them, three men appeared at the hatch he had just come through, chasing him. They halted in their tracks as they spotted Mark and Randy, along with their two downed comrades at their feet. The lead hijacker sneered at them and pointed in their direction. "Get 'em!"

"Vitesse, Flamethrower!" Mark commanded.

The Blaziken stood in front of him and exhaled a cone of flame down the hallway, startling the men and sending them stumbling to the floor to evade the fire. They were not down long, however; the first of them sprang back to his feet swiftly, producing a Poké Ball and tossing it ahead of him.

The ball popped open, light spilling out and taking a shape on the floor. The light expanded, forming into a distinctively humanoid-looking Pokémon with flesh the colour of gray stone and bulging musculature. It had a top-heavy figure, with long, bulging arms, short legs, wearing a thick studded belt and black wrestling shorts. The top of its head was decorated with a yellow-orange cornrow pattern, though it was not actually hair, and its red eyes fixed on Mark and Randy as it flexed its powerful-looking arms.

"A Machoke," muttered Mark. 'Can't risk Fang against that; it's a Fighting-Type.' "Vitesse; you're up!"

The Blaziken stepped forward, her eyes locking with the Machoke's as they stared each other down. The other two hijackers were back up as well, casting out their own Pokémon , both of which were Raticate; large-bodied rat-like Pokémon with huge fangs and long whiskers stretching out front their tiny pink noses, with bristly yellow fur with a cream-coloured undertone, and stood bipedal on their hind legs, unlike their pre-evolved form of Rattata.

"Uh, Mark?" Randy spoke. "We got more company!"

Mark looked over his shoulder, and saw two more people, one man and one woman, dressed similarly to the hijackers, coming up the other corridor. Both of them tossed Poké Balls forward, releasing the Pokémon within; the woman sent out an Arbok, a huge corba-like, purple snake with an impression on the front of its hood and neck, resembling a ghastly, jack-o-lantern style of face with red eyes and yellow centers, and a big black mouth, while the man sent out a Houndoom; a canine Pokémon with a body of all-black fur except for a red underbelly, red muzzle, two backward-curving white horns and a matching ridges across its back. A spear-tip tail waved behind it as it growled at the two trainers.

"I got these three; can you get those two?" Mark asked.

"No prob, but not with him," he said, gesturing at Thorn as he produced his Poké Ball. "Can't send a Grass-type against Poison and Dark/Fire-Types! Thorn; come back!" A red beam struck the Sceptile, drawing him back into the Poké Ball before Randy produced two more. "Cairo, Gemstar, come on out!"

Out of the Poké Balls appeared the familiar Lucario wearing a blue scarf, followed suit by a purple-coloured, star-shaped Pokémon with an octagonal ruby imbedded in its front, and a second star-shape seemingly growing out of its back; a Starmie, yet another Pokémon that Mark recognized. It was the same Starmie his Tropius had beaten at the Hoenn league.

Mark kept his focus on his opponents. "Fang, you take the Raticates, Vitesse the Machoke."

"Ark!"

_ "Chak!"_

_ _ "Go get 'em!" The hijackers commanded their Pokémon.

The last Poké Ball was dropped into the bin, carried by a young girl from the crowd, who was in the midst of crying her eyes out for what she had been forced to do. She backed away reluctantly as the two guards stood between her and the bin. "Please... just don't hurt my poor Dratini," she begged.

"It will serve the Syndicate," the guard stated plainly, "or it is of no use to us."

The girl's face contorted with rage and she lunged at the guard, despite the protest of her friends in the crowd. She didn't get two steps before she was jabbed with the stun baton, falling limp to the floor and convulsing in pain. Her friends stepped to her sides to help her, while two boys in the audience eyed the man in rage.

"You heartless son of a bitch!" He cursed.

"Keep pushing me, boy, and you'll find out just how heartless I am," the guard warned.

"Now, now, Agent; you don't need to make threats," Marvin chimed from the balcony above, standing at the railing. "And how is the bin with our riches looking?"

"Half full with cash and jewelry, boss," the other guard replied. "And your Magnezone already tested them; no fakes in there."

Marvin smiled triumphantly, before he turned back to the railing and peered down to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, I promise your generous contribution will be put to good use," he began.

"Stick it, you bastard!" Someone yelled from the audience, hurling something at Marvin.

Not bothering to see what it was, Marvin ducked, and heard something stick into the wall behind him. He stood back to his full height, and looked back at the object; a fork, grabbed from the dining table, was imbedded in the wooden frame of the doorway behind him, in rather deep.

Marvin's face reddened; his two bodyguards backed away as they saw the look of violent intent on his face; slowly, he turned back to peer over the balcony, spotting the man in the audience who had thrown the fork -the same man who had given his Poké Ball first, and now swallowed nervously as he saw the look on Marvin's face, realizing he had just made a grave error.

"Young man," Marvin said, glowering. "That... was not... very... civilized!" He motioned to his Magnezone; the floating Steel/Electric-type moved towards the trainer, its body already crackling with electricity. "It seems you need to be reminded of just what happens when I lose my patience!"

"Sir?" A voice spoke from behind him.

"_WHAT?!!"_Marvin snapped, whirling around with such force his arm knocked off the hat of the Agent standing behind him, who instinctively backed away, expecting Marvin to take a swing at him.

"W-w-w-we've lost contact with our agents patrolling below decks, sir!" He exclaimed. "The engine room has gone silent and is not responding; I got through to one team but they were cut off; it sounds like they're in a battle!"

"With who?! We have everyone on board right in here!" Marvin bellowed in the guard's face, throwing both hands behind him towards the railing to gesture to the crowd below.

"I was getting to that, sir," replied the guard. "I-I... have also lost contact with the bridge crew; they are n-not responding at all."

Marvin stood almost nose to nose with the guard, who was able to smell his minty-fresh breath as he screamed in his face. "Then go check it out!" He roared. "And you!" He pointed at the other guard. "Come with me; we're going down to the engine room and finding out what's happening!"

"Vitesse, use Fire Punch!" Mark called.

Vitesse lunged at the Machoke as it moved to grapple her once more, but she was faster; her fist struck it directly across the face, its hand aflame and knocking the Machoke clean out with the solid hit. Soon as it hit the ground, its trainer called it back, and backed away as he let his colleagues continued battling. The two Raticate were no match for Fang, though; with a powerful Crunch attack he finished off one before he Body Slammed the other, stunning it and ending the battle there.

Both trainers called back their Pokémon , deciding to switch to their own handheld weapons and charging forward. "Fang, Tackle!" Mark commanded.

The Mightyena leapt forward, plowing into the first hijacker's stomach and knocking the wind out of him and sending him onto his back. The other struck out at Fang, catching him from the side and jabbing him with his stun baton; Fang let out a surprised and pained yelp as he was shocked by the baton; he tried to bite the man, but he was struck across the face with the baton before he was zapped again, howling in pain.

"Hey!" Mark bellowed, charging at the man as he reared his arm back to zap the Mightyena again. Mark sprang up and extended his leg, kicking the man square across the jaw with a flying kick, sending him tumbling into the third intruder, accidentally getting shocked by their baton as they weaved out of the way. "Nobody zaps my Pokémon, you prick!"

The third turned on Mark, brandishing his weapon. "Then I'll zap you instead!" He barked, lunging for the trainer and stabbing at him with his baton.

Mark backhanded the weapon away before he spun around, extending his leg and bending his body to the side as he delivered a punishing hook-kick to the man's head, sending him careening into the wall hard enough to dent the metal. He slid down from the wall, groaning as he hit the floor, lying comically on the metal grating.

Mark immediately turned away from the downed men and stood by Fang's side, checking him; he had a couple of spots with burned fur where the baton had struck him and was whining in pain, lying on his side. "You okay, boy?"

The Mightyena gave Mark a small whimper in reply, and he smiled reassuringly, petting him on the head. "It's okay; you did good." He produced Fang's Poké Ball. "Now, rest up; we can take it from here," he bade as he called Fang back into the ball.

Pocketing it, he turned to see how Randy was doing. The other trainer's Starmie was spiralling through the air, striking the Arbok across the face and bringing an angry hiss out of the large snake, before Randy commanded it to use Psychic. The gem-encrusted center of the Starmie glowed, followed soon by a glow around its body, which transferred to the Arbok; in a split second the snake was thrown into the wall, striking it hard and falling limp.

Cairo easily evaded a Flamethrower from the Houndoom, leaping clear over the trail of fire. "Aura Sphere!" Randy commanded, and Cairo complied, forming the sphere in his paws before even touching floor and hurling it at the Houndoom, blasting it in the side and knocking it off of its paws, the double-effectiveness of a Fighting-Type against a Dark-Type ending the battle then and there.

Their trainers brandished their weapons and charged forward, jabbing at the Lucario with the batons. Cairo backhanded both weapons away before, in a split second, reaching up and bashing the two men's skulls together; they hit the floor dully, and Cairo eyed them for a moment before backing away.

"Nice work, Cairo," complimented Randy. "And to you too, Gemstar."

At that moment, he noticed one of the downed gangsters was still conscious; the one bowled over by Fang previously. He and Mark both took note of this quickly, and walked over to the man, standing over him with their arms crossed, looking imposing -greatly assisted by Vittesse and Cairo standing at their sides.

"We've got a question for you," Mark began.

"W-W-What?" The hijacker stammered.

"Who are you guys, and how many of you are on board?" Randy posted the question, with Cairo punching one paw into the other.

The man swallowed, but managed to force some courage up. "No! Not telling you anything!"

Vitesse punched the wall next to him, her fist leaving a remarkable impression of its shape in the metal; her eyes were fixed on the man, glaring at him with hostility, though the criminal didn't know it was merely a bluff; she would never attack a person unless Mark told her to, and even then she probably wouldn't... unless they really deserved it.

The man broke instantly from the display of Vitesse's strength. "Okay, okay!" He screamed. "We work for the International Pokémon Crime Syndicate!"

"Never heard of you," Mark warned as Vitesse drew back her fist...

"Wait, no! I'm telling you the truth!" The man screamed. "We were founded just a few months after the collapse of Team Flare out in Kalos; we're all made up of former members of the six major crime factions from all the regions; I used to work for Team Rocket in Kanto!"

"How many of you are on board?" Randy demanded.

"Including our leader for this operation and two agents we inserted prior to coming on board, there's twenty-eight of us in total," the man explained. "Twelve of them are upstairs in the dining hall, including the leader -his name is Marvin; the rest are in other areas of the ship!"

"You mentioned Team Rocket?" Mark repeated. "They disbanded years ago; Ethan from Johto broke you guys up."

"And Red from Kanto disbanded your whole group before that," Randy added.

The man nodded. "Yes... after our boss went soft and we failed our return to power, many of us were left with few options," the man explained. "I was working as a dockworker on Cinnabar Island for a year, then the volcano erupted and destroyed the whole town; I was one of the people evacuated but couldn't find work as any more than a pizza guy when I was relocated to Saffron City.

"Then, a few months back, I was approached by these guys -don't ask me their names, I don't know," he carried on. "Anyway, they claimed to be representatives of the Syndicate, and they invited me in for my past experience. Since I was just barely scraping by I accepted the offer; we've been pulling heists, collecting Pokémon across the world from skilled trainers."

"You're stealing Pokémon from their trainers?!" Mark exploded.

The man put up his hands defensively. "I just follow orders, alright?!"

"Not in the least," retorted Mark, drawing back his arm before delivering a punishing punch across the man's face.

He went slack, and let out a long groan as he blacked out from the strike, slumping down to the floor. Mark pulled back his hand, shaking the soreness from it as he considered the man's words; countless trainers were on board the S.S Julia; people from all corners of the world, many of whom would possess rare Pokémon , all of them well-trained and battle-hardened, so why would the trainers not be fighting back? Mark and his Pokémon had just taken on three of their thugs; Fang had been hurt, but Vitesse had beaten the Machoke she'd been fighting almost single-handedly. Surely experienced trainers shouldn't...

Suddenly it hit him; the announcement from before, gathering all of the trainers into the confines of the dining hall. That place was far too narrow for a large scale Pokémon battle with so many people in one place, which would force them to surrender without any resistance! Now he understood their plan...

"Randy," Mark stated, getting the other trainer's attention. "We have to help the other passengers; I think I know what's going on now. They herded the passengers into the dining hall with that fake announcement and because of how confined the hall is, the trainers on board can't fight back; they're trapped in there, and their Pokémon are probably being stolen even as we speak."

"The we better get a move on," agreed Randy, turning towards the stairs and walking over, but Mark put up his hand.

"Someone has to stay down here near the engine room," Mark reasoned, "to make sure these guys don't gain control of it again; they're bound to send backup sooner or later. You stay here; I'll head up."

"You're going up there alone? But Mark, we don't know where the rest of these guys are," Randy reasoned. "How many of them do you think you'll run into before you even make it to the dining hall?"

"If they're anything like these guys were," Mark reminded, gesturing to the unconscious thugs all around them, "I'm not really all that concerned. Vitesse could take all of these guys in her sleep."

"Don't get overconfident, man," warned Randy. "Some of these guys can be dangerous, especially if they have members from all of the major criminal factions; Team Magma and Aqua were fanatical nutcases; they weren't beaten easily, and nearly brought about the end of days when they set loose Groudon and Kyogre."

"I know that, but if they kill the ship's engines, then we'll get trapped out here," Mark pointed out. "There's nobody else still free on the ship except the Captain and right now he's all that's keeping this thing from running aground or getting lost. One of us has to head up to help the passengers while the other has to stay here."

Randy knew Mark was right... if they abandoned the engine room, someone could come and sabotage it, but if one of them didn't go help the passengers, the gangsters could get away with stolen Pokémon. Time wasn't on their side right now -theirs or any trainer on board, and they had to act fast.

"Alright," agreed Randy. "But you'll stay here."

"Why me?" Mark asked.

"You're down two Pokémon ; you can't use Tanker while on this ship and Fang's already hurt," Randy explained. "I've got all of my guys raring to go. Furthermore, the dining hall's going to require a team of close-range combatants; no offense to Vitesse but Cairo's a much more fluid fighter and better in a tight space. Along with him I've got Shadow, Thorn, Skyclaw and Velox."

"Velox; which one's that?" Mark asked.

"My Zangoose."

"Oh..." Mark let out a sigh of exasperation. "Well I guess you have a point; my best physical attacker besides Vitesse is Fang or Tanker, and like you said, I can't use them -even if I could Tanker's too big for the dining hall." With another sigh of defeat, he nodded to Randy again. "Alright; this one's all you then. I'll keep the engine room safe."

"Right on," agreed Randy. "Don't worry; we'll be fine." He produced Gemstar's Poké Ball from his belt, calling it back before looking at Cairo. "Let's go, buddy!"

"Arru!" Cairo barked in reply, and took off in the lead, with Randy running after him shortly after, wishing Mark luck as they made for the stairs.

Mark looked at Vitesse, nodding to her; she nodded back, and with that, Mark grabbed two more Poké Balls from his vest and tossed them into the air. "Coal, Siren!"

The balls popped open, and from the light formed the Charmeleon and Milotic. Coal let out a feisty little growl, ready for action, while Milotic squealed and reared up on her tail, glancing at Mark as she awaited instructions.

"We're going to be protecting this engine room," Mark explained to them, telling them why they were there. "We've got to keep the hijackers who've taken this ship from getting in here to sabotage the engines." He turned back to the door into the engine room, reopening it and stepping in. "We'll have a more defensive point in here; come on!"

Vitesse, Coal and Siren followed Mark through the door; the trainer shut it behind them, and stood back from it, watching and waiting to see who would return first; the thugs, or Randy. Either way, he and his team were ready.

Up above, Randy had just come up on deck when he heard footsteps coming. Acting fast he ran back down the metal stairs and ducked behind them, followed promptly by Cairo, who stood ready to defend his trainer if they were spotted. They stood, completely silent, as the footsteps grew closer, stiffening as they touched down on the first metal step.

Randy's heart rate increased steadily as he saw two figures descending down the steps; two men, one dressed like the thugs before, and one other, but he was dressed differently; a guest on the cruise liner, maybe? Randy completely discarded that notion as he remembered the thug he and Mark had interrogated mentioning that their leader was on the ship too -he was even more doubtful when he saw the Magnezone floating over that man's head. He began to weigh his options, wondering if he should risk exposure without knowing what he was dealing with. Cairo, of course, waited patiently for his trainer's command, though he could sense Randy's uncertainty.

Then, the green-vested man turned to the other. "Any news on the radio yet?"

"Nothing yet, sir; it's still silent down here," the other man replied.

"Fine; let's get to the engine room then," stated the green-vested man.

"Do you suppose one of the crew got loose?" The grunt inquired.

"Nonsense; they're all locked up in the galley under guard. It must be some stray passengers we missed."

"Just the same, sir, perhaps one of us should go check. If the crew got out of the galley, they could be the ones controlling the ship now, steering us away from the isles."

The green-vested man was silent for a moment, considering the words of the grunt. Randy watched attentively, waiting to see what they'd do, until he saw the vested man nod. "Very well; you go check the galley. I'll head to the engine room."

"Yes sir, Marvin. I'll report in in seven minutes."

"Good show. Now go."

'The crew, eh? They could be of help getting this place back under control,' thought Randy, looking at Cairo. The Lucario met his gaze, and seemed to understand what he was thinking, nodding to his trainer.

The two separated; the Grunt went back up the stairs, while the green-vested man continued down the corridor, the Magnezone following him dilligently. Randy waited until the man was out of earshot before he and Cairo emerged from their hiding place and tailed the grunt. Randy had little doubt Mark could handle the green-vested man by himself; he had to get the crew free as they could help him free the rest of the passengers who were trapped in the dining hall.

But as Randy pursued the man, a thought crossed his mind.'That guy we interrogated said there were twenty-eight of them on board... he said twelve in the dining hall, two of which I think were these guys; that green-vested man seems to be the boss he mentioned. So, there are probably ten in the hall now; Mark and I beat seven down here and four on the bridge, and of course those last two that Shadow and I dealt with at my cabin and the two more we knocked down on our way to the bridge. That means there is at least one more of these guys unaccounted for; that'll probably be the one watching the crew.'

Certain of his deduction, Randy carried on, following the grunt cautiously with Cairo at his side, and began to formulate a plan for freeing the rest of the passengers...

Meanwhile, Mark and his team were still standing and waiting, their eyes on the door. They couldn't hear much over the engines, but Mark knew that the door in front of him was the only way into the engine room; he'd be able to see anyone coming through. Though his thoughts were always on Randy; he knew that he could take care of himself, but they didn't known how much of what that guard told them was true, about how many of these hijackers there really were. Unfortunately, it was all the information they had, and he had to work on that assumption.

Just as he began to wonder how long he'd have to wait, the door suddenly creaked; Mark and his team snapped to attention as they saw the handle on the door slowly turning. "Coal, get ready," Mark instructed. "Vitesse, Siren, keep to the side; stay out of sight."

The Blaziken and Milotic followed Mark's directions, moving to the side where they wouldn't be seen by whoever was coming through that door, while Coal stood poised to attack, his two blue eyes fixated on the door. Slowly, it began to open. Mark held up his hand to order Coal to wait, but the command to attack was still on his lips, waiting to be said.

Suddenly, the door stopped opening. Mark and Coal froze, never averting their gaze as they waited...

But in a split second, Coal jerked and suddenly wheeled about, turning on his trainer and lunging at him, tackling him to the floor! Mark cried out in surprise, and was about to ask what Coal was doing, when...

KRONG!!!

The door suddenly flew off of its hinges, flying at them. Thanks to Coal knocking Mark down before, the door missed them, hitting the wall behind where Mark had been standing a mere second before with enough force the trainer would have been pancaked if Coal had not saved him. Mark stared wide-eyed at the door at that knowledge, and looked at the Charmeleon lying on top of him, looking at him for a few seconds before petting his head. "Good boy," he said.

"Knock, knock; anybody home?" A voice called from outside; the cause of the door flying off its hinges remained unseen, but Mark knew that had to have been the doing of a Pokémon ; nothing else could blow a steel door off of its hinges like that. He and Coal scrambled back to their feet, moving closer to the door, gesturing to Vitesse and Siren to remain quiet.

"Come on out," the voice outside continued to call out to them, mockingly. "There's no escape for you; you might as well surrender."

"Fat chance, dirtbag!" Mark shot back, calling through the door.

"You can't honestly believe you can stop us all, do you?"

"Why don't you ask your seven pals out there? They were pushovers compared to the kind of opponents I usually face."

"You expect me to believe you beat all of these men by yourself?"

Mark decided it was time to step into the light and let his opponent see his face. He motioned for Vitesse and Siren to wait another moment before he stepped forward, with Coal walking at his side as he approached the door. He tucked his hands into his pockets as he stepped through, emerging into the hallway and peering to the left, where he knew he'd heard the voice coming from before, and saw a man in a green vest and white clothes standing further up the corridor, with a Magnezone floating at his side. 'So that's how he blew the door off... that Magnezone might be pretty strong. Fortunately for me I have two fire types to deal with it.'

_ _ Carrying on with his bluff, Mark met the man's gaze. "I did," he said, leaving out any mention of Randy. "At their level, I could've beaten them all in my sleep," he taunted the hijacker as Coal stepped out and stood at his side. "Don't suppose you could do better? My friend here is pretty bored."

The man glanced at Coal, eyes lighting up with interest as he spotted the Charmeleon. "Well now, there's a rare Pokémon indeed," he said. "You don't find too many of the Charmander-evolutionary line in Hoenn -I assume that's where you are from?"

"Correct," replied Mark. "And who are you supposed to be; are you the boss of these scumbags?"

"Not quite the boss, but the leader of this operation, yes," the man replied, giving a courtly bow. "I am Marvin of the IPCS. And who might you be?"

"If I gave you my name, you'd get it dirty," Mark replied.

Marvin's eye twitched visibly at that remark, but he retained his composure. "I see... so that is how it's going to be?" He asked, crossing his arms as he and Mark stared each other down. "Clearly you need to be taught a lesson in proper manners, young man."

"I know my manners. I just don't show them to punks."

Marvin's eye twitched again; Mark was starting to get a rise out of him. "Fine. Have it your way," the hijacker returned. "But you know I still must get into that engine room, so kindly step out of the way." His Magnezone inched forward a little. "Or I shall have to make you do so."

Mark stood stalwartly between the engine room door and Marvin, crossing his arms and refusing to budge. "Why don't you try and make me?" He asked.

"Magnezone," Marvin stated, growling angrily as his eye twitched repeatedly now, clearly at the end of his patience -made more apparent by the fact he was putting a Steel-type against a Fire-type, clearly having the disadvantage in this battle... or he was confident in his Magnezone's power.

Mark could not underestimate him. Although Vitesse would be an even better choice for this battle, since Magnezone's Steel-typing would be vulnerable to Vitesse's dual Fire/Fighting-type nature, Mark didn't know what other Pokémon this guy had; he needed to save his big guns for later. Coal wasn't his strongest, but the Charmeleon could very well hold his own; Mark had trained him just as well as he had his other Pokémon , and felt confident in the Charmeleon's abilities.

"Alright, Coal; you ready?" Mark asked him.

"Graaaahh!!" The Charmeleon returned, baring his fangs at the Magnezone.

"I'll send you and your little lizard to the infirmary!" Marvin barked. "Magnezone; Thunderbolt!"

The Magnezone's body crackled with electricity, trailing all over its form and gathering at the end of its two magnet 'arms' before they exploded from the magnets, surging through the corridor towards Coal. The Charmeleon leapt out of the way prior to discharge, and charged forward, zig-zagging as he approached the Magnezone, avoiding two more Thunderbolts, before Mark gave him his first command.

"Coal, Flamethrower!"

The Charmeleon exhaled a cone of flame from his mouth, sending it blasting towards the Magnezone. Much to Mark's dismay, however, the magnetic Pokémon floated out of the way of the attack. "Use Electro Ball!" Marvin commanded. More electricity burst from Magnezone, forming into a condensed sphere in front of its body, before with a jerk of its arms, the attack went flying at Coal, too quick for him to evade.

Coal took the attack directly, putting up his arms and skidding back upon impact, but managed to stay on his feet; clearly somewhat hurt, but not enough to stop him. Fortunately, Electro Ball was more powerful against slower opponents, and Coal was quick on his feet, so the attack didn't do very much damage to him, though the Magnezone had been rather quick to avoid Coal's Flamethrower attack too. "Pretty fast for a tin can," stated Mark. "Coal, try a Flame Burst!"

The Charmeleon spat a large ball of Flame from his mouth, lobbing it towards the Magnezone; the metal Pokémon swerved to avoid the attack, but as it struck the ground behind it, the flame exploded, sending smaller embers everywhere and hitting the Magnezone repeatedly in the back. Magnezone whined and crackled from the attack, its metal body burned by the searing hot flames.

"Magnezone, use Magnet Bomb!" Marvin commanded.

The Magnezone held up its magnet-fists again, and from its arms were launched dozens of tiny steel magnets, all of them shooting towards Coal, sticking to his body. Coal quickly tried to brush off the little magnets, but they detonated before he could; the blast sent him flying backward down the hall, hitting the floor hard and sliding on his back.

"Coal! Are you okay?!" Mark called after the Charmeleon.

Coal responded quickly, getting back to his feet and shaking his head to clear it, but he had many breaks in his skin and flowering bruises where the mini-bombs had detonated, but besides that the Charmeleon was okay; fortunately, Steel-type attacks were not very strong against a Fire-type Pokémon -the damage looked worse than it actually was.

Mark had to finish this battle now; Coal knew two other attacks that Mark could try, but one of them wouldn't be very effective against a Steel-type and likely would not finish off Magnezone. The other attack was sure to finish the battle, but Coal hadn't practiced the move very much since learning it, and might not be able to pull it off... but it was all Mark had left to try. "Okay, Coal, get ready," said Mark. "We're going to have to try something new here."

The Charmeleon growled in reply, running over to stand by Mark and await his command.

"Magnezone, end this with Thunderbolt!" Marvin commanded.

"Coal, use Fire Blast!"

Coal fired first as the Magnezone charged up its attack; the fireball erupted from Coal's mouth and met the lightning just as it surged away from Magnezone's body, the flames exploded in five different directions, becoming distinctly shaped like the symbol for 'Big' as they collided, causing a massive explosion. From the ensuing smoke, Magnezone went spiralling comically through the corridor, clanging to the floor twenty feet away and buzzing noisily as it lay awkwardly on the floor.

"Magnezone!" Marvin exclaimed.

"Yes!" Mark cried, turning to Coal and hugging him. "Nice work, little guy!"

The red reptile croaked happily, returning his trainer's embrace and adding to it with a lick to his cheek, making Mark chuckle before pulling away; this was Coal's first real battle, having fought only in sparring matches with several of Mark's Pokémon , and he'd won with flying colours considering he was up against something as powerful as a Magnezone.

However, after taking their eyes off of Marvin, the gang boss had sneakily called out another pair of Pokémon . Seconds after pulling apart, something lashed around Coal's belly, trapping his arms together before yanking him off his feet. The Charmeleon cried out in surprise; Mark made an instinctive grab for him, but missed, and Coal was pulled through the air, the unusual binding whipping around to encompass more of him.

When Mark followed it back to the source, he saw a Tentacruel -a Water/Poison-type, jellyfish Pokémon propped up on its numerous, long rubbery tentacles was the culprit, binding Coal in its grasp. The Pokémon had a dome-shaped head, with two large crystal spheres encrusted in its head, reflecting the lights above, and below that large head was its main body, where its two black eyes could be seen peering out from under the rim of its head, and its ten tentacles grew out from. The Tentacruel was not alone, either; at its side was another Pokémon , one with a yellow body shaped like a cup, with two large leaves growing out from its sides, and one more upon its top, covering a large mouth, below which its eyes peered towards Mark; this one was a Victreebel, a Grass/Poison-type.

"Hey!" Mark bellowed. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"This Charmeleon is quite remarkable," Marvin replied. Just as Coal tried to breath fire at him, another tentacle suddenly looped around his throat and then around his muzzle, shutting his mouth and restricting his breathing slightly. "I've decided to keep him; with how powerful he is now I can only imagine what he'll be like when he evolves."

"Oh no you're not!" Mark retorted, producing Coal's Poké Ball and using the return function. But just as the beam neared the Charmeleon, the Victreebel dashed in the path of the beam, blocking it and cancelling it out. "Get out of the way!" Mark screamed, his blood boiling with anger.

"I'm afraid there's no stopping me, kid," Marvin taunted, looking at Coal as the Charmeleon struggled to break free. "But fear not; your precious Charmeleon will serve the Syndicate well, soon as we break him in."

"Over my dead body, you filthy piece of shit!" Mark bellowed at the top of his lungs, holding up his wrist and tapping the key stone in his bracelet; immediately at his touch, it began to emit light...

"What's that; a key stone? But a Charmeleon cannot..." Marvin paused as he saw the glow emanating from inside the engine room. "What?!"

"I'm not using it on Coal!" Mark retorted.

At that, Vitesse emerged from the engine room door, turning her gaze on Marvin and his Pokémon , but immediately fixing her eyes on the entrapped Coal. Her face contorted with anger, restraining herself only until Mark ordered her to act. Siren followed Vitesse out, coiling up at Mark's side and staring down the gangster and his Pokémon with her fierce, ruby-red eyes.

Marvin's jaw dropped at the sight of both Pokémon . "A Mega Blaziken and a Milotic?!"

"This Blaziken," Mark stated. "Is going to be your worst nightmare."

Marvin backed away, clearly seeing the situation was no longer in his favor even with Coal as a hostage. "N-N-Now, let's not be hasty, good sir; remember I still have your friend here," he bluffed. "One word and my Tentacruel will strangle him."

"And it'll be the last mistake you ever make," returned Mark. "Vitesse... attack!"

"Victreebel, Sleep Pow...!" Marvin did not even get to finish before he saw the blurry image of the Mega Blaziken kicking his Victreebel with such force the plant Pokémon was launched to the other end of the corridor, landing near the stairs -more than twenty feet away.

But she did not stop there; Vitesse wheeled about and made a beeline right for Tentacruel's flank; its eyes widened as she lunged at Tentacruel, delivering four punishing punches to its face until it loosened its grip on Coal. Feeling his bonds loosen, Coal forced his arms open and slid free of Tentacruel's grasp, collapsing to the floor. Siren darted over as Vitesse kicked the Tentacruel away, launching it down the hall to land at Victreebel's side, while the Milotic coiled around Coal protectively, shielding him with her body in case Marvin tried to go after him while he was defenseless.

Marvin, without hesitation, put up his hands in surrender, backing against a wall as Vitesse turned on him, glaring at him with her fierce blue eyes. She looked ready, and was certainly able, to bring a world of pain down on the human, but in a show of restraint she held herself back, refusing to act without orders from her trainer.

"You crossed a bad line on my last nerve, asshole," Mark warned, storming up to Marvin. "I should beat you senseless."

"I am merely doing as ordered, my boy," Marvin returned, keeping his voice even. "I was ordered to collect rare Pokémon -strong, rare Pokémon , and I was doing just that."

"And what gives you the right to take Pokémon from others?!" Mark demanded. "Who died and made you king shit of turd island?!" His glare intensified, staring daggers into Marvin's eyes. "You tried to take my friend; I should beat your head against that wall until it splits!"

"But you won't," replied Marvin, discreetly curling his hand back.

"And why not?" Mark asked.

"Because you're taking a nap," Marvin replied before a long metal rod extended from his sleeve; before Mark could react, Marvin jabbed the rod into his stomach.

Instantly, Mark felt the electricity course through his body; he grit his teeth as he felt every muscle from the neck down to his toes suddenly tense and become stiff, beginning to fall from the floor, but stopped as Marvin grabbed him by the sleeve arm and hurled Mark at Vitesse; out of instinct the Mega Evolved Blaziken caught her trainer, and Marvin turned to run, fleeing over to his Pokémon and recalling them into their Poké Balls before striding up the stairs.

Vitesse laid Mark down on the floor and was about to give chase, but Mark put up his hand. "No girl; let him go!" He urged. "We've beaten him for now... and by now I'm betting Randy has already reached the other passengers." He pushed himself back up into a seating position; Vitesse knelt down at his side, suddenly reverting back from her mega form to her regular self, putting both her hands on Mark's shoulders to steady him.

"Chik-chak?" She clucked, eyeing him with concern.

"I'm okay girl; it was just a stun... thing," replied Mark in assurance.

Siren suddenly squealed loudly in alarm, startling Mark and Vitesse a little; they glanced over at her, seeing she was still coiled up around Coal, but she was looking at the Charmeleon with concern. "Siren, what's wrong?"

At his question, the Milotic uncurled, exposing Coal and showing him lying propped up against her body. Mark's eyes widened with horror as he saw Coal; the poor Charmeleon pale, and his breathing was labored, drawn in raspy gasps and exhaled with great effort. His eyes were shut, and his tail was laid strewn over the floor, the flame at the tip smaller and dimmer than it should've been.

"Coal!" Mark cried, finding his strength again and scrambling over to the Charmeleon, putting a hand to his forehead. "His skin's cold, but he's feverish," he said; not a good sign for a Fire-type Pokémon . Promptly, Mark examined Coal's body, checking him over carefully... and then he saw it. One of the wounds on his back from when he'd been hit by Magnezone's Magnet Bomb was a dark purple, but not that of a bruise; the colour was all wrong, and the festering of the wound was far too soon to be an infection.

"He's Poisoned!" Mark exclaimed in horror, cursing at his idiocy; Tentacruel had poisonous tentacles -a mere touch could inflict potent toxicity on a Pokémon or person without protection, and the tentacles had touched an open wound, increasing that toxicity. Although Tentacruel tendrils weren't toxic enough to be fatal on their own, left untreated a Pokémon could become terminally ill, even die without immediate care.

"Vitesse; get back to our cabin and grab my medicine bag; it's the white one with the red cross on it!" Mark instructed his Blaziken. "Let nothing and no one stop you; run as fast as you can!"

Vitesse didn't even let him finish before she was off in a sprint, her long powerful legs carrying her at speed greater than a professional athlete. She reached the stairs, but instead of climbing them, she jumped them, launching herself out of the lower decks and then charging off again, heading back to Mark's room to find some medicine for Coal...

The battle between Mark and the leader of the hijackers had just begun by the time Randy found his way to the galley. As anticipated, he found only one guard watching the door, which was tightly shut, but the guard was not alone; standing at his side was a bidpedal Pokémon with fox-like ears, a downward curving nose, two sleepy eyes and yellow skin with a white-furred collar. In its left hand, it held a Pendulum, which it was polishing with its right hand, keeping it very shiny.

"A Hypno," whispered Randy. "This is a job for Shadow." He produced the Zoroark's Poké Ball, looking at Cairo and putting a finger to his lips to tell the Lucario to be quiet; Cairo nodded back to his trainer, keeping absolutely silent as Randy opened Shadow's Poké Ball, releasing the Zoroark contained within.

Before Shadow could make a sound, Randy repeated the motion he had with Cairo, and then gestured around the corner. Carefully, Shadow peered around, spotting the Hypno and the hijacker with it; a grin crossed the Zoroark's features and he nodded to his trainer. He cast his Illusion ability, transforming into an exact duplicate of Cairo. Randy smiled and nodded to his Zoroark, giving him the go-ahead. Shadow waited only a few seconds more before leaping out of hiding, catching the attention of the two immediately and sticking his tongue out at them, waving his paws in the air.

"What the... a Lucario?" The hijacker asked. "A very silly one; where's its trainer? Ah screw it; Hypno, blast it with Psychic!"

Hypno complied immediately, waving its pendulum about and thrusting its right hand towards the disguised Shadow. A blast of Psychic energy struck Shadow, and had absolutely no effect; both the hijacker and his Hypno were left utterly dumbstruck, not knowing it was actually a Dark-type in disguise -which Dark-type are immune to Psychic attacks- until Shadow dropped his illusion, turning back into a Zoroark and grinning wickedly at the gangster.

"Oh crap! Hypno, use...!"

Too late. Cairo sprang out of hiding and blind-sided the gangster, slide-kicking into his legs and sending him falling to the floor, while Shadow lunged at the Hypno, striking it with Shadow Claw; completely caught off guard the Hypno was knocked out from the single strike, fainting and falling to the floor, while Cairo promptly knocked out the guard, preventing him from shouting for help.

"Quick and clean; oh yeah," chortled Randy, doing a little moonwalk as he approached the door, trying the handle. It was stuck... He flushed as he realized he hadn't considered it'd be locked, and looked at Cairo, who was eyeing him curiously. "Eheheh... slight oversight," he said, before turning on his heel to the downed guard.

He spotted the keys on the guard's belt, and crouched down to retrieve them, undoing the belt and sliding the keys free from the leather, twirling them on his finger before turning to the door; it took a few tries before he found the proper key, unlocking it and pushing it open. "Pizza delivery!" He called out in jest.

He barely saw the bucket flying at him.

"AH!" Randy yelped.

Cairo, with his lightning-fast reflexes, blocked the bucket with his paw, deflecting it from his trainer; the bucket tumbled noisily to the deck, clanging to its side and rolling.

"Avast ye scurvy rat!" A gruff voice bellowed from the room.

"What?" Randy asked, looking into the room in time to see a short, hairy man in a sailor's uniform come charging out at him, waving a lead pipe like a club.

"I'll grind ye into chum for the Sharpedo!" The man yelled as he sprang at Randy.

"Hey!" Randy yelped, ducking under the pouncing man before running across the deck.

"Get back here, ye yellow-bellied snake!"

"I'm not the bad guy!"

Other crew members emerged from the room, and quickly chased down their co-worker, subduing him and gently urging him to settle down; the man was red in the face and looked ready to pass out by the time he finally relaxed, and dropped the pipe just seconds ago he'd tried to pummel Randy with. When it was finally over, Randy stood panting with his hands on his knees, both Shadow and Cairo at his sides.

One of the other sailors approached Randy. "Sorry about the old man there," he said. "He's not normally so... high-strung?"

"Clearly delusions of being a pirate, though," muttered Randy, before he turned to the sailor. "Is this all of you?"

He nodded "Yes; the whole crew is here. My name's Joseph; I'm the head of maintenance on this ship."

"Randy Calvin; just your everyday passenger," returned Randy. "Okay, listen up; I'm going to need your help. The hijackers have the passengers locked up in the dining hall, and based on what my friend and I learned, they're stealing Pokémon from them even as we speak. We need to get in there, stop the hijackers and free the passengers."

"But they'll have Pokémon with them, and they already took away all of ours," the sailor replied.

"Leave their Pokémon to me; I need you guys to deal with the hijackers themselves and keep the passengers safe," said Randy. "Some of you also need to go help the Captain and head down to the engine room."

"The Captain? He's okay?"

"What about the First Mate; Albert?"

"Albert is apparently working for these guys," Randy replied. "But that's not important right now; the Captain's on the bridge all by himself, and my friend is protecting the engine room from saboteurs; we've got to work together on this."

The sailors glanced at one another, some murmuring to each other as they considered Randy's words. Many of them were showing signs of doubt on their faces -Randy even caught a few saying they should make for the life boats and abandon ship. Joseph seemed to catch that too, because seconds after the first person said it, his face hardened, and he raised his voice as he addressed them.

"What is the matter with all of you?!" He demanded. "Those passengers and their safety are our responsibility; our priority! You guys are going to forsake that just because some bozo's with zappy sticks are on board?" He pounded his fist into his palm. "How can you call yourselves sailors? We brave the dangers of the sea every day, and you're afraid of some two-bit punks? We can turn the tables on them; they think we're still locked up, so I say we get to work, men; we've got to get this ship to its destination, and every passenger that belongs on this ship is going to get there; I say we throw the intruders overboard!"

"He's got it, ye scallywags!" The hairy old man piped up. "We'll make 'em walk the plank for messing with our ship!"

"Uh... right," returned Joseph, turning back to Randy. "This speech would probably work better if we had a plan?"

Randy grinned. "Oh, I've got one... listen up."