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Over the next few days, Corck allowed FG the opportunity to ask anything and everything about the case at hand, pooling their knowledge together while they had time. The detective even gave FG advice on battle tactics while watching various pokemon matches on TV, the raptor in disguise finding several new moves to be both fascinating and awesome. He only wished that he had the means to teach more of them to his team, if such a thing was even advisable.Corck however was not allowed to tell him everything naturally, with some of the case details being not available to the public per se. But what he did divulge had already been explained in newspapers, and any potentially-related incidents he also explained in order to allow FG to follow along the same lines, such as the abducted kangaskhan from Johto.In return, FG told the detective what little he knew, his greatest detail being that of Sarah the lapras. Her older wounds were indeed consistent to abuse, and Corck requested permission to take a few samples and photographs of her condition, should they ever be needed as evidence. Sarah appreciated the attention, willing to do anything to help arrest her original captors. The raptor in disguise however was curious about the Swift Star Deliveries warehouse, asking Corck during one evening: "So what CAN you tell me about that warehouse?" "Well," said Corck, "as I already told you, we found skin samples of Lapras in the crates as well as seawater from the Sevii Islands. Does Sarah know where she was taken to?" "No, I asked her already, she says a lot of the time she had been either knocked out or closed up in a box. She couldn't tell you where she was taken to at all." "Hmmm...shame. Well, still a ways left to go until this case is over." "What makes you think that these guys we're dealing with now have anything to do with Mother Marowak, by the way?" "Let's just say that this clue you gave me was far too coincidental to ignore." "And you can't tell me why?" "The less you know, the safer you'll be. The less THEY know, the less safe they'll be too." "Hmmm alright then...man, when these guys find out all the trouble they're gonna bring down on them just for trying to steal and sell a bunch of cubone skulls, they're gonna-" "They weren't sold." "...what?"

  "That was the biggest problem of the investigation," said Corck. "The cubone skulls were never sold on the black market, nor were there any records of any similar transactions at all in previous incidents of Team Rocket." "...so...what does that mean?" asked FG. "I don't know. But whatever they wanted those cubone skulls for, it wasn't profit. They steal plenty of other things for profit, like the Slowpoke Well Incident where they cut off the tails off Slowpokes because they were valued. But the

skulls, no." "Christ...well, they can't run forever. Find anything in Celadon City by the way?" "Not yet. Rest assured things'll turn out fine by the end of the month." "End of the month huh? That your gut instinct calling?" "More like a personal deadline. It's good to set yourself a record." "Yeah tha-wait...end of the month, when's that?" "About eight days or so." "Hehehe, wow...you gonna solve a case in eight days?" "Like I said, good to set yourself a record, makes you more determined not to miss a single thing." "True but, you don't wanna make it like a race, then you rush too fast and you go slamming into a wall and break your arm." "...hmph, I see. Alright then, I have to go to my duties." "And I gotta go to bed, man I'm tired." "Alright, hope you sleep well James." "You too sir. Night."Heading off to the hotel to rest once more, Corck smiled at the back of James' head, the red-haired human and his haunter companion walking away together. The glut of information he had been given had filled in one or two holes which certainly pleased him, but what little James knew was strange. Surely if he was being accompanied by spirits he would learn far more than he knew already. Regardless, he made a quick phone call after heading down to the precinct at Celadon City, finding a nice quiet place to speak. "Victoria? Yeah, it went well, don't worry, we won't have to keep an eye on him anymore. Turns out he doesn't know a lot after all, not enough for me to worry about anyway. Has John tapped the trace yet? ...hmm...interesting place for it to be, considering it's right next to an officeful of computers. Get John down with you tomorrow, we're gonna do a little room service."With a plan in mind for what he now knew to be his reason in Celadon City, the detective went to get some sleep, wanting to be up early tomorrow for when his allies would come. Around that same time however, James Campbell was already fast asleep, exhausted after an entire day of walking around with next-to-nothing new in terms of clues. Until a dream came to him.

 The dark plateau was now long gone behind him, and he had passed through the gateway already into another form of darkness. Isaac had been here, for he could feel his presence somewhere. He remembered having chased him, his tender giggles of carefree joy shifting slowly to that of bells, ringing sweetly upon his ears. Were it not for the darkness weighing down upon him, he would have smiled fondly at such. The bell soon turned louder, as did Isaac's childish laughter, almost as if he were coming up from behind FG. "Lost sumthin'?"An old crackly voice made him jump with a start, as a pair of hands soon set themselves down upon his shoulders to prevent him from moving. He knew who

that voice was, seeing the same old black clothes in his mind's eye blending in with the darkness. His voice, while aged, was clearly quite strong, and somewhat incredibly well-spoken, confident and unwavering as James found himself unable to turn around. "Now now sonny, dontcha be so hasty to start out there havin' yer own adventure. What? Dontcha know how to catch Pokémon?" "I- - - - -don't- - - -"James tried to speak, but his voice could only utter static, hissing across the landscape of black emptiness. He felt something was there, but he wasn't sure entirely what. "I'll show you how to then."He produced a pokeball without even knowing it was there, suddenly forming in his hand. The ball however was unlike one he had ever seen before, black and white. The old man simply smiled behind him, and said: "Now...wander into that there long grass until ya find a rustlin'."Grass suddenly appeared before James upon a small hill. His feet moved unconsciously at first, the cool feel of the grass rubbing across them. Then he felt himself move suddenly five feet to the left. Then ten feet ahead. Then four feet back, shifting in and out of existence until something appeared before him. A bird, black as night sprouting high above him into the dark sky, blending in to the point that he could not even see it. The old man's voice came to him from behind. "First...you need to weaken the target pokemon."The bird unseen was soon attacked by distant forces, a rising shriek of anguish coming from it as invisible strikes came to it from every single direction. James could feel its pain, a sudden twitch of reality before him causing the creature to faze in and out of existence. Soon it had turned weak. "There ya go sonny...now throw it. Throw it."He hurled his pokeball into the night, rising far above his head before it opened suddenly as a little speck of white within black. He saw the light shine from within, as a bird's outline was shown within the night, faceless and shrieking before it was pulled into the ball. Falling onto the grass, the pokeball rumbled softly along the ground, rolling back towards James. The moment it stopped shaking, a violent scream echoed away into darkness. The man's voice remained behind him. "What's yer name boy?" "...James." "...J-...J-j-j...one. Three. Seven." "Hu- - -?" "One. Three. Seven. One. Three. Seven." "Wh-what are- - - - -say- - -?" "One three seven, one three seven, one three seven, one three seven one three seven one three seven ONE THREE SEVEN, ONE THREE SEVEN, ONE! THREE! SEVEN!"

 James was pushed hard and fell onto his front, turning around to see the old man's face twitch with a strange laughter in him. As he laughed, he opened his aged wrinkled eyes, revealing nothing but tears

of black, running down his cheeks cover his whole entirely black-garbed body. "One son...who lived. Th-three...mothers, who died around you. S-seven...days, until your darkness comes."The old man's face started to dissolve, as a howling gale suddenly shrieked from all around the raptor. A fierce violent wind that tore at the man's face, ripping the skin to reveal bit by bit his flesh underneath. But his flesh was not red and pink like a human's would be. It was solid, like stone, carved as strange purple mosaics with occasional tints of faded amber. His last words to James remained as thus. "Your sorrow...is a sea that I shall turn calm. Your rage...is a galaxy that I shall silence. Your joy...I shall bury within a tower of machines. Tell me...James...James one-three-seven...where is she? Where is the mother?" "Cinnabar."

 At that moment, James woke up, the word upon his lips as he tried to control his breaths. Kirie was awake beside him, as morning broke free from the trappings of night by the light of the misty dawn. The first thing he said was: "We have to go to Cinnabar."What? ...why? That is but an island to the south. "I...I don't know. I have to go there."...are you alright James? "Uh...can I, not answer that maybe?"Very well...James. "What?"You...you're bleeding.Gently dabbing his snout, he found blood had begun dripping down from his nostrils. He rubbed them clean before shaking himself fully free of all trepidations, as he stood up saying: "Come on. I don't wanna lose any chance we get. Isaac, let's go."As the cubone popped out of his pokeball, he seemed rather excited all of a sudden, jumping up and down on the spot whilst babbling something of great urgency. Kirie helped translate his desperate tones.He...says that he had a message from his mother, in his own dreams even. He says that we must go to...Cinnabar. "That settles it, we have to go now. I had a dream too about that place Isaac...I think somehow your mum is guiding me too, even without your bell now." "Cuuuu?!" "Least I...think so. What was your dream like?"Isaac says that his dream involved a dark scary place, with a single patch of green upon a hill. He saw her there, sitting at the top, yet no matter how far he climbed, he could never reach her. Just when he was about to give up climbing, he felt her hand reach out to him, smouldered in black purple darkness. And she said unto him..."come to me Isaac...my sweet sorrowful child. Come to me upon the island of Cinnabar."[/i[ "Damn...well, that was a hella lot more direct than my dream so let's go!"If we wish to cross to Cinnabar Island, we must head back to Fuchsia City and go

back to the beach we once went to. The sea route there we can take in order to reach the island itself.

 With their time in Celadon City now over, James and his team headed off back south, once again using a disguise to sneak past the guard and walk down the Cycling Road. James was not in the mood to skate, especially after remembering the rather wounding headache he received after summoning them. He did however decided to practice with his group in learning a few new methods back and forth, training them to fight harder, faster, and sharper in both mind and body.Red was especially hyped in wanting to become stronger, perhaps spurred on by his recent Celadon Gym victory, while Spike kept on training to control his fierce invertebrate fury. Isaac happily trained against James, the two of them wanting to be ready for anything that may come while on their way towards their next destination. Bone club upon steel scissors, the raptor and the cubone honing their skills, with James smiling down upon the little one. He almost imagined this was how Glenn must have felt when training him.Despite training well against his team, he wished he had taken some of his favourite jelly from the Mushroom Kingdom in order to soothe the occasional headache whenever he used his nano-powers. But he was soon distracted from any thought of food when he had to face off against a multitude of bikers.While the gang of bikers were not unfriendly, they were most certainly eager to do battle with their pokemon, bringing out the usual fare of koffings, wheezings, muks, voltorbs, as well as machops and another new type FG had not seen. Mankeys, as well as their evolved form of Primeape, round-bodied ape-like creatures with long limbs and piggish snouts, combined with a raging fury deeply ingrained within their species' psyche.The battles were seemingly unending along the long long road, the bikers whom goaded FG into constant battles with their revving engines, their mufflers removed in order to make more noise along the road. Yet despite their thuggish nature amongst cueballs and gearheads, they took defeat well enough, which was their only option after the raptor in disguise wrecked all of their small teams. Isaac took care of voltorbs, Spike handled mankeys and primeapes due to fighting-types not being able to hurt bugs or poison-types very well, and Red just simply tore through everything possible. It was because of this that Red even managed to gain a whole new level of power, when during the middle of the Cycling Road, he began to glow a strange light once more. The light of evolution.The strong feisty charmeleon soon lost his smaller body, enveloped within white to slowly grow taller and taller, the head soon reaching FG's own height. Expansive lengths grew out of Red's back, shimmering into wide arcs as limbs thickened and claws grew. By the end of the change, Red was staring straight into James' eyes, clear

blue into forest green. The raptor in disguise was taken aback, seeing an orange dragon stand before him at almost 6 feet tall, with blue wings, cream-coloured belly and strong snout. "...Red? Did you just...turn into a dragon?"

 The creature simply humphed a deep breath, growling humbly as he looked down upon his new form. The tail was now burning even stronger, with even greater a flame to compensate. But James knew by now it was still Red, chuckling at such a transformation. "Hhhahahaha, holy shit man you're a dragon! I have a goddamn DRAGON in my party! Lemme see what you are!"He pulled out his pokedex to reveal this new form's information."Charizard, a flame pokemon, number six. Possesses the ability "Blaze", it flies about in search of strong opponents. It breathes intense flames that can melt any material. However, it will never torch a weaker foe." "Now that sounds like my Red alright! Brofist!"The charizard bumped fists eagerly with James, as well as Isaac who gasped in awe at his friend's new form. While his capacity for speech was now reduced to but growls and roars, Kirie was still able to translate anything he could say, as they admired his new form awhile before finally heading back to Fuchsia City. Isaac eagerly climbed onto Red's back, who carried the little cubone happily so as they made a little growling song with each other before they went back into their pokeballs to pass through the gate.James contemplated about being able to use Red for riding, despite the fact he was the same size as him. But they had other matters to deal with as they heard a commotion arising from the Pal Park. Smoke was coming out of the main entrance, as a ranger was hastily trying to breathe hard outside of the door. James rushed over to ask: "Wh-what's going on?!" "S-someone...smoke alarm...suddenly went off! Have to...wait for it to clear out!" "Is everyone okay?!" "Other rangers...in the park...no problems, j-just a...technical malfunction." "Did you see anyone suspicious?" "I...no I...one of us said he saw someone, two people maybe, I-hey wait, stop!"James rushed past the ranger and into the smoke itself, remembering his lesson from last time and covering his face as best he could. Kirie guided him through with her supernatural senses, eventually leading him out into the park itself once again. A commotion was going on in the field area nearby, somewhere on his right as he heard voices raised against each other. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" "Get out of our way kid or you'll regret it!" "NO! I won't let you hurt them!" "Then you can join them in the dirt like the little brat you are!"

 Heading across the field farther away from the smoke, three people were standing arguing. The junior ranger Middleton

he recognised first, standing in front of what appeared to be a wounded beige-coloured pokemon who was breathing heavily and unable to get up. In front of them was a strict severe-looking woman that James recognised to be Mrs. Pearl from the warehouse in Vermillion City, as well as an unknown middle-aged man with cold eyes and a grey beard. The older man demanded: "What right do you have to talk to your elders that way boy?!" "I don't care who you are," replied Middleton, "you're not taking her!" "All we want is that one Kangaskhan, child included, you have plenty others in this park." "THAT'S NOT THE POINT, you attacked her! You electrocuted her you bastard!" "What's the damn difference between capturing a pokemon on some special day your park authorises, and taking one for ourselves through the art of combat?" "Because we do NOT tolerate attacking pokemon in this park! Pokemon who live in this park are meant to live good lives without fear or harm, and when we authorise those capture show days, we make sure they're given to good homes with good people who'll train them right as best friends and allies, NOT to people like you! Now get out of here or I'll MAKE you get out of here!" "Stupid brat," said the woman, "you don't even know what you're doing, you're not even a full ranger so why don't you go back home and play with your toys?" "Why don't YOU just FUCK OFF?!" "That's it," said the man, "you wanna talk to us that way then you'll have to be taught respect. Leave this to me dear, I'll discipline him properly like he should have been." "You take one step near me or this kangaskhan and I WILL use force! I took an oath to protect each and every single pokemon in this park and if you hurt even ONE of them, then I'm taking you down no matter who you are!" "You think you even understand pokemon you worthless little punk!? Then let's see how good you are. Debi, double time!" "Right behind you dear." said Mrs. Pearl. "Time to teach you a lesson!"

 Both of them threw out a pokeball, revealing two dark-coloured pokemon. One was an immense cobra, an Arbok, reaching up to 11 feet tall with black, red and yellow markings upon its hooded chest to compose a terrifying face. The other was a large four-winged bat of 6 feet tall, known as a Crobat, flapping above the cobra whilst sneering vehemently upon all down below. Middleton felt nervous at taking on two at once, until someone stood beside him. "...James?!" "Who the hell are you?!" said the man. "HEY," said Debi Pearl, "you're that punk who raided our warehouse!" "Glad you remember me bitch," said FG. "Now why don't we make this a fair fight instead of two-on-one like the fucking cowards you are?" "Don't you DARE talk to my wife that way!" roared Mr. Pearl.

"Arbok, ATTACK!"At the moment the cobra striked, James and Middleton threw out a pokeball each almost instinctively. "CLAUDE!" "RED!"From the junior ranger's pokeball came a huge blue alligator with red frills and a viciously thick jaw. It was clearly a much larger form of his Croconaw, but now it was two feet taller than both FG and Red at a towering 7 feet height, his small pendant of never-melting ice dangling feebly against his huge blue-scaled chest. The size of the beast made FG grin as his Charizard stood defiantly beside him, the raptor in disguise saying: "Woah ho ho, looks like both of our buddies gotten big huh?" "We can take them down together," said Middleton, "fire and water right?" "You got it. Red, work with the big guy." "Claude, watch your aim and don't use Surf, single attacks only okay?"Both dragon and gator nodded with growls of understanding before they readily stood before the arbok and crobat. The battle began with the cobra readily pouncing on the Feraligatr, trying to Bite down on the thick crocodilian skull. Claude in turn countered back with an even deadlier Crunch, taking the bite to his jaw before returning the blow unto the hooded chest, fangs sinking deep into the scaly flesh.Red took on the large bat as he flapped up into the air, who readily tore down with a vicious wing attack, slicing across Red's chest left and right with fierce aerial sweeps around his body. The charizard blasted out with a powerful Smokescreen in order to deter the crobat, who found itself looking lost within the thickening smog. Even its natural echolocation wasn't helping when Red came down hard with a violent projectile of flame, pouring his Flamethrower down hard from above to burn the bat and the ground beneath it.

 The bat however was tougher than it looked, and shrieked with a daring move through the clouded smog in order to Astonish its foe. Red freaked out at such a sudden scare, the bat screaming out of the fog like a demon as its eyes turned a piercing blood-red before slamming straight into the charizard's gut. It was a low blow, but not enough to stop Red who brought out his Steel Claw, flying straight past the huge bat with a wind-shrieking force, his outstretched claws shining silver as they tore through the bat's body.The crobat shrieked with agony as it readied a desperate attack, glowing eyes of piercing yellow as it emitted a mysterious purple ray from its face. An odd sonar-like sound came pinging loud and clear straight into the charizard's mind. He had felt that feeling before, his mind getting all muddled up with thoughts not of his own as everything began to feel blurry. His vision started turning worse as he began to flap haphazardly in trying to shake off his growing confusion. "RED!" cried out FG. "DON'T LET HIM CONFUSE YOU, FIGHT THROUGH IT! STEEL CLAW AGAIN!"While

the charizard and his trainer were trying to handle this new obstacle of mental confusion, Middleton's feraligatr was having a furious battle of the giants with the grand slithering arbok. The venomous serpent simply smiled as it began to Glare deeply into Claude. Such terrifying eyes the gator had never witnessed before, and it took every ounce of his resolve to not become paralysed with fear. Despite his size, he was not a fierce creature, but one look behind to see the wounded kangaskhan made him realise what he was fighting for.He responded to the cobra's piercing stare with a horrendous Ice Fang, breathing a deep cold breath before biting down hard upon the arbok's neck. Ice-cold saliva dripped deep into the snake's veins, making it shudder and hiss with agony as it tried to bite back at Claude, piercing him with a Poison Sting in an attempt to weaken him. It did the trick enough when Claude backed off after biting deep enough, only to wince slightly at a growing welt upon his shoulder that started to ooze bloody purple.But that did not stop Claude who readily leapt forwards in one desperate attack, biting down once again with his Ice Fang, which in turn made the arbok Screech a horrendous noise. It was piercing to the ears, making the feraligatr wince as the screeching noise continued ringing through his ears. But his fangs were already out, and they sunk in deep once again into the cobra's flesh, ripping grievously as the snake fell back and writhed with intense agony. Violent cold water ran straight through its body, forcing its owner to pull it out of battle.

 In turn, Red had fought through his confusion and ripped through the Crobat once more with his Steel Claw, ripping at least one wing off of it as the creature flapped clumsily to earth. All four battlers quickly switched out their pokemon to change the play of battle. "Worthless snake!" cried Debi, "Rapidash, GO!" Gliscor," cried Mr. Pearl, "take them down!"Appearing before both FG and Middleton was now yet another ground-bound and air-bound duo. A blazing cream-coloured unicorn at 6 feet tall, its mane and tail composed purely of fire with shining hooves and fierce eyes. Flapping above it was a horrifying creature that looked like a cross between a bat and a scorpion, disturbingly large at nearly 7 feet with large wings and scorpion tail. Its golden eyes glimmered cruelly down at the kangaskhan behind both trainer and junior ranger, who cried: "SHIN, GO!" "DECKARD, GO!"Honouring his promise to Shin, James released the scyther into the battle, the green bladed insect immediately putting himself between both gliscor and kangaskhan, snarling at both criminals. Deckard however was no longer a bipedal sheep, but now a fully-formed bipedal Ampharos. A strange creature of yellow body, white belly and a red orb on both forehead and tailtip. Her ears, neck and retail had black bands around

them as she stood at 5 feet tall. A magnet was attached to one of her flipper-shaped arms, tensing herself up for a fight as Middleton said: "Wait, make Shin fight the rapidash!" "Wh-why?!" said FG. "That thing up there's a Gliscor, it's gonna have some fierce moves that'll knock Shin down pretty hard, they won't expect us to swap our targets." "...alright, Shin! Fight the horse, not the flying freak!" "Scy?!" "Just trust me, either way we're gonna fuck these guys up!"The scyther nodded as both him and Deckard agreed on this new tactic, as Shin charged towards the rapidash who neighed furiously into a charging sprint. The horse readily slammed its whole body straight into Shin, who fell back from the force before swiftly getting back on his feet and slashing straight across the chest. The rapidash shrieked as it raised its front legs, ready to Stomp down hard on the giant bug. Shin however quickly dodged away, using a Wing Attack to deftly strike across the horse's face multiple times.Deckard saw that her target was amazingly agile, sweeping back and forth ready to attack with a Poison Jab of its stinging tail. Swinging down hard onto the Ampharos, the gliscor striked back and forth across her face with venomous strikes, knocking the ampharos hard but not poisoning her entirely. She had hoped the enemy would come close enough to allow her to release her Cotton Spore, spinning like a ballerina as fluffy white orbs began to twirl out of her and latch onto the bat.

 It did the trick perfectly, slowing down the batscorpion creature as its wings were now weighed down, its air resistance increased in struggling to get an advantage. Deckard took this opportunity use her Thunderpunch, slamming her arm brutally into the gliscor's maw. Despite the conflicting resistance of its ground/flying-type, the force of the punch was so tremendous, that the magnet upon Deckard's arm glowed powerfully strong, sending an even greater shock right into the beast. One shrieking electrocution and it was down for the count.Shin was keeping himself agile around the ferocious fire horse, the Rapidash neighing with violent anger as it soon aimed its horn towards the scyther. The shining point of the equine's head began to glow a sudden firey light, blasting straight towards Shin before circling around him like a serpent about to strike. The flames soon raged higher and higher, burning the scyther within and trapping him in the ring of fire. Roars from within came as his carapace was scarred darker and darker with the heat, striking out at the hot flames to break free.Soon, he felt his chance after being burnt thrice, the flames weakening before he sliced out with a furious Slash, straight across the unicorn's abdoment in a streaking rush attack past it. The Rapidash shrieked, and was about to attack once more until a powerful lightning-charged first

collided straight into its skull. An explosion of thunder burst through the air around it as its body twitched before falling over. If it wasn't the grievous pain that did it in, it was the paralysis that followed after in seizing up the muscles, the legs struggling to not fall hard.

 Both Mr. and Mrs. Pearl looked rather stunned for a moment, before fiercely sneering at both younger opponents as they tried to run. But a flash of burnt green soon rushed itself past them as they found two shining blades placed barely against their throats. Shin snarled with an insulted fury, cautiously warning them to stay perfectly still as Middleton cried out: "Arachne!"Throwing out another pokeball, the red-purple-yellow spider pokemon of the junior ranger's team skittered about mischievously before he commanded: "Spider Web!"Dutifully obeying, she turned herself around before shooting out a thickening sticky thread, even more thick than an ordinary String Shot would be around both bodies of the Pearls. Soon they felt their balance impeded, their legs tried together along with their arms as they struggled their best, before Shin simply pushed them lightly with the flat of his bladed arms to fall flat on their backs. "G-GAH!" cried out Debi. "You snot-faced little shit! UNTIE US!" "Not until the police get here," threatened the junior ranger, "THEN you'll be leaving the park with them. And if you try anything, I got an ariados, an ampharos-" "And a scyther to cut off your limbs," added FG, "that'll stop you running off anywhere." "Why can't you understand?!" said Mr. Pearl. "You stupid little bastards are so blind to not understand what we're capable of, what we can do with pokemon to improve them as servants to mankind!" "They are NOT your servants!" cried Middleton. "They're living creatures who deserve every right as anyone else! More than YOU!" "Don't be so naive, they're just animals, you can't even think tha-" "I CAN THINK WHATEVER I WANT! You have no right here because in this park, I AM THE LAW, I'm a junior ranger and I took an oath to protect every pokemon in this park! So you're gonna sit there, shut up, and get sent to jail for what you did! Mr. Campbell, could you call the cops for me while I make sure these suspects stay where they are? I need to make sure this kangaskhan is okay too." "Gladly, Mr. Middleton."With the battle now over and both suspects detained, James walked away smugly with Kirie as always alongside him in order to find a phone and call Corck's number directly. Middleton, guarded by three pokemon, was now able to heal up the wounded kangaskhan properly, despite both spider-webbed assaulters desperately trying to struggle free underneath the scyther's watchful eye. Middleton was a little nervous about Shin, but he knew from his eyes alone that he no longer

considered the junior ranger to be a threat, and allowed him to work unhindered.

 An hour later was all it took for Detective Corck to arrive on the scene, flying down on his lugia smoothly so before landing on the open park plains and returning his winged beast back into his pokeball. Both suspects were still trapped and well-secured, as the rest of the police forces had arrived already from Fuchsia City to make sure everything ran smoothly, as well as fully disarm them of their weapons which appeared to be handheld tazers of an unusual design. Corck was especially pleased at seeing both criminals, taking the tazers while adding: "Well well well, Mr. and Mrs. Pearl. Looks like I'm the one that's gonna have to write up a manifest for transporting you two away." "Shut up," said Debi, "just because you have a fancy card doesn't give you any right to lord it over anyone else! You wouldn't understand anything!" "I'd say the same to you, I know what you've been doing down at the warehouse. Your husband however I'm not familiar with but it's good to see a married couple working so closely together...even if it is for various acts of pokemon abuse that I've been finding out." "If you just LISTENED," said Mr. Pearl, "you'd actually comprehend what we're trying to do, to make this world better with pokemon beneath us, where they always have been! You're all too stupid and weak to even realise that with your pathetic hippie upbringings and weak-willed sentiments!" "I think you'll find that neither of those apply to me, Mr. Pearl. I'll talk to you two later, then you can help enlighten me on your world views."The police took them away to Fuchsia City's precinct, as Corck stayed behind to interview both James and Middleton. The junior ranger was nervous, but his recent battle had kept a strengthening confidence about him as they both approached. "Good job on you boys," said the detective, "helping me find two criminals caught in the act of assault and pokemon abuse makes me very happy." "Heh no problem sir," said Middleton. "Is the kangaskhan alright?" "Oh yeah, sh-she's fine, the tazer really bruised her but I was more worried about the baby. Both of them are fine, she took most of the hit to make sure the baby didn't get hurt, but she'll recover in a few days." "Good. I know James here already but I didn't talk to you before, what's your name?" "Middleton sir, I'm a junior ranger here." "How long you been working this park?" "About two weeks or so, I recently came over from Johto Safari Zone, transferred, came over by ship actually." "Really?" asked Corck. "You know there's a train that goes between Kanto and Johto right?" "Yeaaaah but I don't have a pass for it yet, it's super-expensive and all...would love to ride it one day. To be

honest, I was really nervous about going on the ship." "Why's that?" "Well, can't help but think about what happened to the S.S. Aqua a year ago or so, you remember that right?" "Oh yes...terrible business." "Wait what happened exactly?" asked FG.

  "You don't remember?!" squawked the ranger. "That baby Lugia that got killed by the ship, its mom went crazy and just DESTROYED it! Killed almost everyone on board!" "Holy shit really?! ...how did I even miss that?" "I dunno, it was HUGE at the time, they didn't even know why it went at the time. They only found out when they checked the wreckage and found the li'l one all...in the propellers." "Jesus that's terrible. And they fix that ship up in a year?" "It got rebuilt by the island council," said Corck, "and the Joint Island Councils put together a bill that made encaged propellers mandatory on all seafaring vessels." "Why the hell didn't they do that before?" "I dunno," said Middleton, "politics man, they don't DO anything unless a hundred or so people get killed, assholes." "Right." "...you really care about pokemon don't you?" said Corck. "Well, I'd be a pretty shitty junior ranger if I didn't, heheh..." "Of course. Now, tell me everything that happened from the beginning." "Alright, I was doing my duties when I heard a kangaskhan cry out in distress from nearby, so I ran over and I saw those two just tazering the hell out of her! She was turning away trying to keep her baby safe when they kept using those taser things on her back until she started to pass out." "Hmmm..." "Those things can't be legal right," said Middleton, "I mean that voltage has to be really high to even hurt a kangaskhan?" "Definitely not legal no...hmmm...anything else happen?" "No, but...something I just remembered." "Oh?" "They wanted this kangaskhan specifically, like they went into their territory and everything. Didn't those guys a few days ago also kidnap some kangaskhan?" "They did," said Corck, "we're still in the process of recovering them." "And I remember, back when I was in Johto, the safari zone there had a few incidents too by Team Rocket ALSO kidnapping kangaskhan! You don't think it's related do you?!" "We don't even know if the Pearls are involved with Team Rocket or acting on their own, despite being rather coincidental." "But why would anyone even WANT to kidnap kangaskhan? They're normal-types, they don't have anything particularly special about them compared to everything else in this park." "Again I don't know. We'll keep an eye out and let the park know of any developments. Take care now Mr. Middleton." "You too sir."

 As Corck walked off towards the park gate in order to interrogate the suspects down at the station, James Campbell followed on after him to try and pull out some extra information from him. "You know those two are totally in with Team Rocket right?" "It seems very clear that's the case yes." "What about the whole company, Swift Star Deliveries right?! That whole warehouse and all, what if it's a front, what if the head of them's up on all this?!" "There is no evidence to state that the company ITSELF is involved with Team Rocket, James. For all we know it could just be one rogue group using the company as a cover, there is nothing to imply that it goes higher up." "Seriously?" "If I march down to Mr. Swift's office right now and try to cuff him for something his employees had done illegally, he would suit up with his lawyers faster than a landslide of golems, and it'd be just as destructive to my case if he puts down any injunctions to cause me any delay in finding out what happened to them. So unless you are certain that anyone higher up is involved, I'm keeping my feet on the ground." "Hah, says the guy who just flew in on a giant wing-bird-fish...thing." "His name is Victor, and he is a lugia."Corck crossed his arms with disapproval. "You can't just go around accusing people of things without evidence James. You didn't even know the guy who ran the company's name, now did you?" "...n-no I...guess not." "That is why I want you to keep your head as well. I let you go about your business with your case, so I'm asking you to not do anything that might hinder my own case. Alright?" "...alright, fair enough, maybe I am kinda jumping ahead." "Good. Now, I have two people to question so you take care." "Alright man, laters."With that, the detective left, and James was soon left to his own devices once again before figuring out a way to move on to his next destination. He headed back towards the junior ranger, asking: "Hey uh dude...do you know I can get to Cinnabar Island?" "Cinnabar?" asked Middleton. "Why you wanna go there?" "I uh-"You're going for the next badge. "Heading for my next badge." "Well...that's not gonna help ya, nobody lives on Cinnabar anymore after the volcano erupted." "...there's a volcano?" "Yeah man, like two years ago, totally destroyed the town there, only the pokemon center's there now. The volcano I dunno if it's dormant or not but every other building's just buried down underneath." "Shit...well, what about my badge then?" "OH don't worry, the gym got relocated to the Seafoam Islands along Route 20, you can still go there!" "Awesome," said James, "so how do I get

there?!" "You need a pokemon that knows Surf, or Fly if you already know where it is." "...well I got a charizard and a lapras so...wait can't I just get my charizard to fly me there?" "Nnnnnot exactly," said Middleton, "you need to teach them that skill specifically so that they know how to fly while carrying YOU specifically, there's a whole buncha musclework they gotta consider when carrying extra weight. Then there's the flying itself, handling winds, all for your safety as well as theirs, that's why you need a Hidden Machine." "Ohhhh right those things. So, you have any?" "I don't have Fly, but I DO have Surf, the park gave me one cuz I got Claude and all, since you helped me out I'll let you teach your Lapras it too." "Sweet! Thanks man." "Heh, no prob...it's getting a bit late though to go out surfing, you wanna head indoors, maybe get some feeding time in for all of us while your Lapras can learn?" "Sounds good to me."

 Both Middleton and Campbell headed back to the junior ranger's lodgings, after making sure that their own pokemon were not too badly harmed from the battle beforehand so they could eat well with the others. Sarah was given James' Technical Machine Case, which used a borrowed CD from Middleton in order to present her with the proper dynamics of how to Surf across the open waves. She watched with patience, learning about how to maintain stamina, poise and speed all while escorting travellers upon her back for maximum comfort and ease to both her and passenger.James and the junior ranger watched the rest of the team eat merrily away with each other. Red and Claude both impressed each other with fine full-grown muscles, despite the feraligatr being clearly 2 feet taller than his firey dragon friend, as both of them started to playwrestle with each other in a feat of strength. The rest of them watched with fascination, with Middleton's Machop now evolved into a surly robust Machoke, despite still eating on her own.Spike the beedrill eventually found himself weaving away from the crowd in order to communicate with the junior ranger's Ariados, the two insect pokemon chittering to each other pleasantly. Middleton's Golem, the Bronz, was still trying to find his way into Muscle the Machoke's heart, which was as cold as her shoulder was towards him. Deckard the Ampharos was still a tease to Claude, pinching him with the odd jolt to make him blush with a manly yelp.At one point, Kirie and Isaac went off together at the cubone's bequest, not being missed by anyone who was too busy watching Red and Claude compete in a little friendly rivalry with each other. By the time they were ready for bed, Sarah had learnt her move with a full understanding of surf-based dynamics and transporting of passengers safely, at least moreso than ever before. Isaac however asked if he could sleep outside of his

pokeball tonight, feeling rather lonely and needing company more than ever.At first James thought it was just a typical change in mood due to Isaac not being particularly involved with the group feeding. But then he heard a sound he had not heard in a long time. The sound of a cubone crying itself to sleep, the first time he had ever heard Isaac do so. His heart sank a little, wondering what dreams had come to him. His mood did not stop there, for the next morning James was up and ready to head out onto the sea, with both Isaac and Kirie alongside him as they readied Sarah to Surf. "Alright this is it. We're off to Cinnabar Island whichaccording to my map, is pretty much the last place we ever need to go."Not including the Indigo Plateau. "Right but that's not important. You ready Isaac?" "Cu."Isaac's reply was short and tense, nodding firmly as he hopped on board of Sarah's shell back and waited for James to come on board. The raptor noticed his mood even moreso as they began their great expedition across the inner sea of Kanto. Far into the horizon were two islands floating in the middle of the ocean to the west. Beyond them, he knew lied his next destination.