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Pokémon:

Quest of a True Master

Chapter 5

The dining hall was quiet except for the occasional weeping of several sensitive trainers, mortified by the fact their Pokémon were now in the hands of thieves. A few trainers had even attempted to get their Pokémon back, trying to make a mad dash for the crate of Poké Balls only to be beaten to a pulp by the merciless thugs; any who tried to leave the room suffered a similar fate, especially when the guards started calling out their Pokémon, making anyone think twice about bringing up the advantage of numbers; these thugs were not leaving anything to chance, and leaving no openings...

There was no way out.

The guards were also getting nervous and impatient, making them even more prone to acts of violence; there had been no sign of their boss, Marvin, for some time, and all of the other teams had gone silent, including their leader. Occasionally, one of the guards would hear a strange sound coming from below decks, like that of a battle, though none went to check, as they had been ordered to stay in that room and watch the passengers; until told otherwise, that's what they would do.

At the southern door, a knock, breaking the eerie silence of the room and making the guards jump slightly. They and their Pokémon turned to face the door; the hijackers brandished their batons, holding them at the ready as the first of them walked over and slowly pushed open the door, checking to see who it was outside.

The smug face of Marvin stared back at him.

"Hey, it's the lieutenant!" He exclaimed, pulling the door open fully. "You finally made it back, sir. We were starting to wonder about you."

Marvin said nothing...

"Uh... sir? Are you alright?"

He raised his hand, and then beckoned to the three guards, gesturing behind him.

"I think he wants to talk to us about something," one of the others said.

"Why can't we just talk here?"

Marvin grin faded as he glared...

"Oh alright, we're coming."

The three guards followed him out the door, heading around the corner out of sight of the other guards. Marvin stood with his back turned to the three grunts as they waited to see what it was their Lieutenant wanted, but he just stood there, as still as a statue and not uttering a word.

"Well? What's up, lieutenant?"

Slowly, Marvin turned to them... and as he did, the illusion dropped; the image of Marvin seemed to melt away, replaced by a Zoroark, who grinned devilishly at them.

"What the...?!"

"Where'd it come from?!"

"Get it!"

The Zoroark pointed up with one clawed finger; only one of the men actually looked up, and saw a Sceptile and Lucario falling towards the three from the level above. "Heads up!" He cried, but it was too late; the Sceptile stomped him to the floor, the Lucario knocked his partner into the wall, and when the third looked back to see what had happened, the Zoroark struck him on the back of the head, knocking him senseless.

"Nice work fellas!" Randy called from around the corner behind Shadow. He glanced over his shoulder to the sailors gathered near the west door. "Phase two in thirty seconds!" He called before he darted around the corner to join his Pokémon. "Let's get in there, guys!" He urged.

The Pokémon belonging to the three hijackers they had knocked out had come out to check on their trainers; a Weezing and a couple of Mightyena, both of which were easily knocked out by Cairo, and the Weezing was taken out with a single Shadow Claw from... well, Shadow.

With that out of the way, Randy led his Pokémon into the dining hall. "Help has arrived!" He bellowed.

The eight guards remaining in the room spurred into action; one stayed by the loot boxes while the other seven ran over to face Randy, all of them calling out Pokémon and brandishing their weapons. "Surrender now; you're outmatched!" One of them commanded Randy.

"Not likely," replied Randy.

Suddenly, the western doors flew open, and the sailors rushed in. Immediately they went to work, calling out to the passengers to run for the exit. One of them ran around the crowd to confront the guard watching the Poké Balls and items they'd stolen already; the guard turned to face the sailor, and thrust his baton towards him, stunning the sailor. However, he was quickly blindsided by one of the trainers from the crowds, who bludgeoned him from behind with a chair.

"That's for taking my Magmortar!" He bellowed as he slammed the chair down around the hijacker, pinning his arms and head between the legs and standing on it.

The other seven turned to try and regain control of the situation, but Cairo dashed around, blocking their advance. Thorn and Shadow stood at their sides, stopping them from going in any direction. And Randy was only getting started; he produced three more Poké Balls from his belt, and tossed them up. "Let's get ready to rumble!" He called out.

The three Poké Balls popped open; the first of the Pokémon to appear was Gemstar, dropping to the floor and standing on its lower half, functioning as legs as it readied for battle. The second open, and out popped a bidpedal Pokémon that looked like a cross between a cat and a ferret. It had two pink, cat-like eyes, and arms ending in razor sharp claws; its paws and forearms had red fur, along with its left ear -the marking which extended out into a checkmark-shaped streak over its left eye, and red pattern on its chest like an incomplete lightning bolt. A Zangoose, whom Randy called Velox.

The sixth Pokémon was the biggest shocker of all; the white light took the shape a massive, quadrupedal, winged, reptilian creature. When it emerged from the light, several of the thugs swallowed nervously as they recognized it. The dragonic Pokémon had a blue body, ending in a long tapering tail, with a light gray undertone to its jaw, and a red stripe down the front of its neck, ending just above the chest. Matching red wings grew from its back and a similar pattern to the one on its neck ran along the underside of its tail all the way to the tip. It had a pointed face with three flat fins growing on both sides, with red ridges over its eyes. Finally, it had a light gray underbelly, protected by three dense ridges -almost like a shell, that covered its entire underside from under the chest to between the rear legs.

A Salamence.

"I want my mommy..." One of the thugs whimpered.

"You guys still want to fight?" Randy asked, cracking his knuckles. "I tell ya, this is the first time I've brought out Skyclaw since the League; she really could use some exercise."

"Come on guys, we still outnumber him!" One of the thugs argued. "If we call out all our Pokémon we'll have him outnumbered three to one at least! We don't need to be intimidated by him!"

"Look at all these powerhouses he's packing!" Another argued. "You really think we can take him?"

"We're the Syndicate; nobody can beat us, especially not some punk!"

"Yeah... yeah, we can take this guy! Come on, let's go!"

It was settled; the thugs called over their Pokémon, and began calling out additional ones. The sailors urgently cleared the dining hall as it became apparent the entire room was about to become a battlefield, but some of them stayed to watch the battle. Some of the hijackers had more than others, but by the time they were all brought out, there was a total of twenty-four opposing Pokémon in the room, against Randy's six.

"Well this doesn't seem very fair," said Randy.

"Oh yeah?" One of the thugs asked, scoffing.

"Yeah... there's only a couple of dozen of you. Triple the number, maybe it'd be fair," Randy returned, smugly.

The thug's eye twitched. "You just dug your own grave, punk. Let's see how you joke when you're blind and choking!" He looked at the others. "All Koffing and Weezing, Smog attack!"

Three Koffing and one Weezing were in the group; from the numerous vents all over their bodies, they exhumed massive clouds of smog; Randy backed away, covering his mouth with his arm as the smog enveloped his Pokémon. He heard some of them coughing, but he wasn't that worried; he knew how to handle this.

"Cairo, take out those gas bags!" Randy called.

"How's he going to do that?" One of the thugs bellowed, taunting Randy from outside the. "He's blind as a Zubat in all that smoke!"

"You really don't know anything about the Sinnoh Region Pokémon do you?" Randy called. "They're full of surprises!"

With that, Cairo erupted from the smog, eyes closed and mouth closed, making a single bound towards the levitating Poison-type Pokémon. He did not even open his eyes as he neared the first Koffing, kicking it into the other two; they chuckled frightfully as they went careening through the air and slammed into the wall. Finally, he went after the Weezing, unleashing a flurry of Bullet Punches on it, striking it countless times before ending it with another kick, sending it spiralling across the room. It moaned in horror as it flew, before slamming into the wall on the opposite side of the room with enough force it practically flattened out, belching out more smog from its vents and two mouths before it fell soundlessly to the floor. It was then Cairo opened his eyes, and clapped his paws together, grunting in satisfaction.

"Now, Skyclaw, use Whirlwind!" Randy called.

A torrent of wind rushed through the smog; soon the noxious fumes were being pushed away, right into the hijackers. They coughed and choked as the smog enveloped them, making their eyes tear.

"So this is what this feels like!" One of them barked, rubbing his eyes.

"How do you like tasting your own medicine?" Randy called.

"How did that Lucario find its way through?!" One of the thugs demanded.

"Like I said, you guys clearly know nothing about Lucario," stated Randy. "They aren't just damn good fighters, they can see the Aura of other living things; Cairo doesn't need sight to find his target!" He gestured to his other Pokémon. "Alright guys, sic 'em!"

Thorn, Skyclaw, Gemstar, Velox and Shadow charged into the fray, engaging the Pokémon of the gangsters. The members of the Syndicate ducked and dodged as the two sides clashed, and two of them ducked as a Golbat was tail-clubbed by Thorn and sent spiralling out of control, while another two leapt to the side as Cairo charged past and Force-Palmed a Machoke in the Solar Plexus, knocking the wind out of it. Skyclaw was sportingly chasing several Flying-types through the air and Gemstar was having a Psychic duel with a pair of Hypno while Shadow snuck up on them from the side and struck both of them with Shadow Claw. Lastly, Velox was dashing about with blinding speed, tripping up one Pokémon after another; several tried to catch him, but none could even come close.

The thugs turned their sights on Randy, seeing him standing defenseless in the doorway. "Let's get him!" They barked, raising their batons and charging at the trainer.

"Oh mama..." Randy muttered, before breaking off into a run, fleeing from the gangsters with all the speed he could muster.

They chased him around the room for a bit, before coming to the west door. The moment Randy fled through the door, however, the thugs found their way blocked by the sailors, forming a wall of bodies in the doorway. They cracked their knuckles as they glared daggers at the thugs, some of them even carrying wooden planks or pieces of pipe as weapons as the two sides met.

The elderly, hairy sailor, who had been introduced simply as Bob, pushed his way to the fore of the group, regarding the seven thugs from behind his bushy eyebrows. He grinned a toothy grin, showing a mouthful of bad teeth -some of which were even missing, as he once again took on his pirate-inspired speech.

"All hands on deck! Get 'em!" He barked, and sprang at the first of the thugs like a pouncing cat. The other sailors charged in, and the brawl was on...

Marvin waited until he saw the Blaziken belonging to the trainer he'd seen below decks was out of earshot before he dared come out of hiding, fearing it had been sent in pursuit of him, though it did not linger long before striding off across the deck. He emerged from his hiding place, watching the Blaziken until it turned a corner and was gone from sight.

"Now to get back to business," he said, and began to walk up the deck.

He paused mid-step as he saw the railing... and the coastline of the Kanto Region. The ship was sailing towards the mainland. Running over to the railing he peered in the direction the ship was heading, and to his horror he saw the banks of Fuchsia City directly ahead. As if to confirm his horrifying realization, a flare gun firing split the air, soaring up over the _S.S Julia _and shining brightly. He looked at his watch, which read 14:04pm, Hoenn time. According to his calculations they were at the right distance to be in alignment with Fuchsia, but they were off course; they weren't supposed to be anywhere near the mainland coastline where the ship could be seen, but now it was near enough the Coast Guard would be there in minutes

"No... no! The plan is ruined!" He screamed at his watch as if it would give him an answer. He let his arm drop, tapping the railing frantically. "Okay... Okay this can still be salvaged... I'll gather the men in the hall, we'll take the lifeboats and get to the Seafoam islands that way! Yes!" Pushing away from the railing, he was off, sprinting across the deck. "Can still get those rare Pokémon to the rendezvous; we might be a bit late, but with how many we gathered I'm sure we'll be forgiven!"

Confident, he kept running, more spring in his step as he felt his earlier distress waning; the operation could still be salvaged! He could still prove his worth to the Syndicate -and most of all be spared the wrath of that pompous youth, Kevin!

He rounded a couple of corners, approaching the south entrance of the dining hall.

"Uhhhhhhhh!!!!"

_ _ "WHAT THE...?!" Marvin screamed as he ducked under the flying Koffing, narrowly avoiding an impromptu collision with the Pokémon; it tumbled over his head, faceplanting into a flagpole before dropping, trying to elicit one of its drunken chuckles, but instead resulting in a series of pained grunts. Marvin looked at the downed Koffing for a moment before turning back to the dining hall. "Who in their bloody mind is using a Koffing as a football?!" He demanded as he sprinted up to the door.

When he saw the chaos in the hall, his heart sank, any hope he had of salvaging the operation dying in a single moment as he saw his henchmen being overpowered by angry sailors, and their Pokémon being overwhelmed by six others. He jumped as a Golbat hit the wall beside him, and turned to see a Sceptile, bringing its tail back to proper position, before glaring at Marvin with its fierce stare. That Sceptile was between him and the Poké Balls; if he even attempted to go for them the large Grass-type Pokémon would catch him before he made it ten steps.

Marvin saw no other option. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he bellowed out as loud as he could. "ENFORCERS!" Several of the gangsters responded to the sound of his voice, looking over at him. "Abandon operation; make for the ship's lifeboats! We're leaving; get to the boats and meet at the base!"

When Martin took off in a sprint once more, the thugs hesitated, skeptical about their leader. "Is that really him this time?"

"The last one didn't speak," another reminded him.

"Good point... Let's get out of here!!"

Breaking off from the fight, the gangsters hurriedly recalled all of their Pokémon and fled from the sailors. It was something of a scramble, but eventually they managed to escape the angry ship workers, fleeing out of the west door.

Randy saw the gangsters fleeing, laughing as the sailors pursued them out the door. He looked at his Pokémon, nodding in approval. "Great job guys," he said, producing their Poké Balls and recalling them, all except for Cairo. "Come on, let's go watch the show."

"Arru!" Cairo agreed.

In response to the flare fired off by the Captain, the Coast Guard were at the ship within minutes; swarms of police boats skimmed across the water, creating plumes in the water as they raced to assist the ship. The gangsters escaping in the motorized lifeboats were chased down; some of them were caught, but many managed to get away. The ones on board the ship quickly surrendered as it became apparent that their mission was over, and had ended in failure. The Coast Guard detained them, and took them away in their boats.

The _S.S Julia_was delayed as the Coast Guard combed the ship for any remaining members of the syndicate, and also helped reunite trainers with their Pokémon. Thanks to the unexpected interference of Mark and Randy, nothing was stolen from the ship. It was difficult reorganizing the Poké Balls though; a few trainers marked theirs in order to identify them, but those who hadn't had to open the balls one at a time to find out what Pokémon lived inside, and letting the Pokémon itself find its trainer in a row of people.

Trainers were overjoyed to be reunited with their partners; some of them were even apologizing repeatedly to their Pokémon for giving them up as they had -though most of the Pokémon likely weren't even aware of it. If they were, they weren't holding any grudge for it. They were back together, and that was what mattered.

Mark joined Randy on the upper deck later. When he arrived, he was carrying his Charmeleon, Coal; the Charmeleon was awake, but looked exhausted, cradled in Mark's arms and wrapped in fresh bandages in several areas of his body. "Hey, is he alright?" Randy asked.

Mark nodded. "He'll recover," he said. "Had a heck of a battle with this powerful Magnezone, and then he got poisoned by a Tentacruel; Vitesse fetched my med bag, so I gave him some Antidote and Super Potion. Just needs a little rest." He patted Coal's shoulder. "His first real battle, and he fought like a pro; I couldn't be more proud."

"And to take on a Magnezone; type advantage or not, that's a feat. Magnezone are very powerful," Randy commented, nodding in approval.

Mark nodded, glancing down at Coal, who smiled weakly back at his Trainer, shutting his eyes and resting his head against Mark's shoulder. Mark turned his gaze back to Randy. "How about you, how'd you do?"

"Took out all the thugs on the bridge with some help," replied Randy. "Sailors were happy to get some payback while I dealt with the Pokémon. Despite there being a whole lot more of them than my guys, they were pretty lousy. If that's what the Syndicate employs, I'm not too worried about them in the future."

"I don't know; that Marvin guy was fairly good, so we can't go assuming all of their operatives are weak," said Mark. "I have a feeling they weren't expecting any opposition on this heist, so they weren't ready when it came. This is just something for them to learn from now."

Randy shrugged "Either way this caper's been foiled. No skin off our backs, man."

Mark irked an eyebrow at him. "Is that really what you think?" He asked.

Randy looked at him curiously. "Why; what's wrong?"

"You and I are the reason this 'caper' of theirs went south," Mark pointed out. "Some of these guys might not be too happy about that. We may have just made ourselves enemies of this new Syndicate."

Randy chuckled and shrugged again. "We're both former champions, Mark; I took on members of Team Aqua AND Magma not so long ago and I owned every one of them. I really don't think we have anything to fear from these crooks; they're just another cluster of punks that think the world revolves around them."

Mark grimaced. "Some of them may be... but I have a hunch a lot of these guys mean business, and sooner or later we'll find out just how much."

The boats shook as they ran aground on the ruined shores of Cinnabar Island. It had been several years since the eruption of the great volcano that the island housed; years since the town, along with its historical landmark Pokémon Mansion and the Fire-type Pokémon Gym, had been reduced to nothing but ash. Since then, the island had been completely deserted; nobody even came to see it now, since there was nothing else out this way. It was all but forgotten, but one day, someone would likely come to resettle it.

Until then, though, it was the territory of the Syndicate. Within the volcano, where the Fire-type Gym had been prior to the island's destruction, a base had been established by Team Rocket before they were disbanded by the Johto Champion. Under the nose of the law and the government, the Syndicate had made this forsaken place its base of operations for the Kanto Region, a short sail from the mainland and with a clear escape route if they were ever found.

Marvin stepped out of the boat, followed closely by his associates. Of almost thirty operatives only ten of them had escaped the Coast Guard and the angry crew of the S.S Julia; thanks to the interference of those unknown trainers -according to one of his men, it had only been one who had battled their Pokémon in the dining hall- the entire heist had failed... and now Marvin would be forced to grovel at the feet of that wretched Kevin Zane...

Oh how he wished he could silence that boy... but despite his youth, Kevin outranked Marvin or any of the operatives with him, and as the beneficiary of their attempted heist, they were at his mercy the moment they entered the base...

Remembering where the entrance was, Marvin led the way to the doors, concealed behind a large rocky outcrop, watched by cameras hidden on the ledges above in the event someone came too close to finding the base, even by accident. He would be easily recognized though, and they'd open up for him. Maybe if he were fortunate, Kevin was called away, and he could just slip off and let one of the grunts give the explanation. That way he wouldn't have to suffer the...

His heart sank as the door opened, and none other than Kevin Zane walked out, accompanied by four guards. They met Marvin partway to the door, and Kevin eyed him with a displeased stare, arms crossed and eyes narrowed with annoyance.

"There are far less of you than I sent to that ship," he stated. "And I don't see anything of value in your possession... do you want to explain, Marvin, why you have come to this island, and you bring nothing for our benefactors, coming back with a third the number of men I sent with you, and in lifeboats? And don't tell me the ship sank, because I have it on good authority it is, right now, on its way to Vermillion City." His gaze hardened. "So start talking..."

'Go stick your head in a Seviper pit you little bastard,' thought Marvin. He cleared his throat, and began explaining. "We... ran into some trouble on board," he began. "There was some resistance; a pair of trainers who didn't heed the announcement, and when they figured out what was happening, they fought back."

"A pair trainers?" Kevin repeated. "You're telling me an entire heist that we spent weeks preparing for was stopped, by just two trainers? Two trainers have now just cost us perhaps a small army of rare Pokémon, hundreds of thousands of dollars in valuables, and perhaps even a few benefactors because we couldn't bring them what they wanted -all of this, by just two ordinary trainers?!"

"There was nothing ordinary about the one we saw!" One of the grunts barked in aggravation, though shrank behind Marvin as Kevin gave him a hard look. "He-he-he-he had these powerful Pokémon! We all ganged up on him but the ones he had threw around our Pokémon like rag dolls!"

"So all of you," he pointed at the men behind Marvin. "Were beaten by only one of those trainers? And what about this second one, Marvin?" He looked at the man. "Am I to presume you fought him?"

"I did," replied Marvin.

"And tell me, how is it that you lost to him?" Kevin asked.

"He had some rare and powerful Pokémon with him," replied Marvin. "He fought my Magnezone with a Charmeleon; he won, and then I tried to capture the Charmeleon with my Tentacruel. Soon as I did that, he went ballistic and set loose a Blaziken and a Milotic."

"A Blaziken and a Milotic?" Kevin repeated. "You have a Water-type and a Grass-type; you had the perfect Pokémon to take on those odds, and you still failed?"

"A Mega-Evolved Blaziken," Marvin stated firmly, nearly at the limits of his patience.

"Don't make up fantasies with me, Marvin; Blaziken are rare enough but their Mega Stones are even moreso; the likelihood of you facing one is one in a thousand at best."

"I am making up nothing!" Marvin finally exploded. "It was a Mega Blaziken; the trainer called it 'Vitesse' or something stupid like that."

Kevin hesitated at those words. "A Mega Blaziken... called Vitesse?" He asked.

"Yes," replied Marvin. "And it was fast and powerful. It took out both my Victreebel AND my Tentacruel before I could even speak; I know what I saw!"

Kevin put a hand to his chin and thought carefully about what he had just learned, remembering something he'd heard about not long ago. "A Mega-Evolved Blaziken known as Vitesse... interesting."

"Sir?" Marvin asked.

"Suddenly, I'm not so surprised you lost," he replied. "If that's the trainer I'm thinking of, you were battling with a former Champion of the Hoenn Pokémon League."

Marvin's jaw fell slack, eyes widening as he stared at Kevin. "A former Hoenn Champion you said?"

Kevin nodded. "Indeed. I don't remember his name, but I do recall hearing about a Champion who had a Mega Evolved Blaziken, and defeated the former Champion, Steven, with it. But he lost the title; I assumed he retired after that; now what would he be doing on a ship to Kanto?" He looked past Marvin. "You said there was another trainer; who was he, what Pokémon did he use?"

"I didn't get a good look, sir; I barely recognized some of them, but I definitely recognized a Sceptile and a Lucario among them," one of the grunts replied.

"A Salamence too."

"And a Zangoose and Starmie."

"Don't forget that damn Zoroark that impersonated Marvin so it could blindside us!"

"Impersonated me?" Marvin inquired, having not been made aware of this before.

Kevin nodded. "Now it makes more sense," he stated.

"It does?" Marvin asked.

"Yes. That second trainer is also a former Hoenn Champion, known for using Pokémon from various regions. In fact, he's the one who defeated the other one; you were up against two Ex-Regional Champions," informed Kevin. "With that in mind, I suppose it was beyond any of you to be able to defeat them."

Marvin released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding; the grunts behind him all sighed with relief, suddenly feeling they were out of the woods...

Until Kevin continued. "However... countless operatives have now gone missing, likely apprehended by the Coast Guard, because you left them behind; we don't leave members behind where they can be interrogated by Law Enforcement; now our base may be compromised. They could even be on their way here now." He pointed at the men, making them flinch. "Because of your carelessness, we must relocate; we can't take the chance of being discovered here. Get into the base, now, and begin packing all of the equipment; get it aboard the submarine. We're heading to our base in Johto until further notice."

"Yes sir!" The grunts returned, and immediately maneuvered around Marvin, forming in a 2-by-2 row and sprinting towards the base doors, with Marvin bringing up the rear, walking casually.

His gaze met Kevin's as he passed; Marvin had difficulty supressing the disdain he held for the young trainer; however skilled he was, Kevin lorded his position over them much more than Marvin was willing to accept and wished just once he could turn the tables on him, teach him to respect his elders... but Marvin had learned long ago that he could not defeat Kevin Zane... as a trainer he was virtually undefeatable -he had never lost a single battle, and as a member of the Syndicate he held a much higher place in the order; to even raise a hand against them would have Marvin severely punished. For now, he would have to tolerate it...

As he left, Kevin slipped into thought once more, considering what he had learned from the operatives. "So... two Hoenn League Ex-Champions, here in Kanto; I wonder what they could be doing here?" He crossed his arms as he pondered the question, continuing to talk to himself. "It may be a bit out of our way... but we may need to keep tabs on those two."