Samantha stepped out of the boat, Spark by her side, the others behind her. Vyren took the rear, though his avian companions already departed, taking flight and scouting the surrounding area for anything suspicious. The group beforehand decided it was best to look for the Pokémon Center first and establish a 'camp' there, before exploring and trying to find answers of a certain cruise ship that is always on a cruise.

Vyren placed his hands in his pockets, feeling a slip of paper in it. The sniper mentally slapped himself, remembering what that piece of paper was. Dr. Sapphire gave it to him before the mission, without any real reason. She said call it if he decided to change his life. A friend would be on the other side.

"I wonder who's on the other side…" Vyren thought, pulling the piece of crumpled paper out and reading the number. He wasn't familiar with it at all with the number, and he was curious about why Dr. Sapphire gave it to him in the first place. "Guess she was sure I would 'jump sides'," Vyren thought, reading the number again.

When the sniper finally looked up, he noticed the rest of the group was staring at him. Embarrassed, he quickly put the piece of paper away, exclaiming it was nothing. Samantha just shrugged, continuing on, flanked by her contingent of Pokémon. Vyren followed silently, rubbing the slip of paper between two fingers in his pocket. He would have to call when he reached the Pokémon Centre.

"Any ideas where to start searching?" Karrion asked Kystel, forming on his wing as the pair glided through the air currents. The Fearow continued to search around, on the land, then towards the ocean. His searches came as empty as his counterpart.

"The ocean, of course, but even if this is just one large continent with water in the middle, there is still a lot of water to cover," Kystel remarked, breaking from the formation and using the air currents to guide him towards the ocean. Karrion followed, re-entering formation and keeping up with a 'younger version of herself'. Kystel was impressed, seeing that age didn't slow this Pidgeot down. He increased the pace, diving towards the ocean now. In response, Karrion dived as well, keeping up the pace.

The pair of avian Pokémon blasted downwards, streamlined and increasing the pace. They didn't even glance at each other, just racing as a test of skill and ability. The water grew closer and closer, and they showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

At the last second, each pulled back up, extending their wings, but not enough to snap them off completely, but just enough to stop them from crashing head first into the water. Waves of water erupted from the ocean as they zoomed past and then back up, regaining their altitude. Reaching a nice level, they stopped and admired each other.

"You can still keep up," Kystel admired in awe, confirming age didn't slow this female down one bit, even with inactivity.

"And you're one spunky kid," Karrion answered, grinning, but also impressed that someone so young could manoeuvre so well.

Each Flying type gained more respect for the other now, after a demonstration of their abilities to each other. It would be a long search for both of them, but they knew they could succeed, with this kind of skill, ability, and co-operation at their disposal. Their success was guaranteed. It was just a matter of 'when' that would be a factor in all this.

Samantha headed down one of the main streets outside of the Pokémon Centre, taking Vyren's advice on exploring the town and getting to know the area. The Gym Leader silently agreed, getting flanked by the Pokémon of her party. It drew the attention of more then one pair of eyes as this trainer waltzed down the street with an open team.

As if on cue, another trainer stepped forward, challenging Sam to a duel. The Gym Leader emotionless face slowly turned into a smile, realizing she hasn't really battled for a long while. She glanced down at her party, who didn't seem any quarrel with accepting the challenge. Flare motioned towards Espe and Umbre. Sam glanced at the pair, nodding, seeing that these two needed some training.

"Three on three," Samantha offered, glancing around. She was catching a crowd, fighting in such a busy intersection like this. It didn't seem to bother traffic that much though, as they were also interested, somehow. This female with her team shined with a sense of arrogance and power.

The opposing trainer agreed, releasing his first Pokémon quickly: a Golem. Samantha bite her lower lip softly, before calling her own Pokémon into the battlefield.

"Umbre," she remarked softly, though the Umbreon leaped into the 'arena', in battle stance, alert, anxious, and ready to fight. The Gym Leader enjoyed the Pokémon's enthusiasm, preparing the repertoire of attacks at her disposal.

Vyren placed the piece of paper on the till of the phone, beginning to dial the number on the slip. Each dial prompted a different tone, until the series was complete, followed by the soft ringing. Once, twice, thrice, the phone continued to ring. Vyren sighed softly, ready to hang up until a voice came through, sounding slightly annoyed, but also surprised in a slow like way.

"Hello…?" came the voice, nothing Vyren could recognize initially. The sniper remained silent for a moment, hesitating, unsure of what to do.

"Um…hi…" the sniper replied, wondering just who he was talking to now. More silence engulfed the pair of speakers, neither identifying the other. Another voice came through, distant, though audible to Vyren.

"Who is it, Alex?" were the words, faint, but could still be heard. Vyren gasped silently, realizing he was now talking to someone who mutinied from the ship only so long ago.

"I don't know, but I doubt its really important. Just go on ahead, I'll catch up," Alex answered to other voice, turning his attention back towards the other speaker.

"A-Alex…it's me…Vyren," the sniper spoke, knowing he could trust the Psychic Angel on the other line. The pair had an odd bond of trust. Odd, but it got by. They minded their own business, and each other's, without telling anyone else. Besides, the Psychic Angel himself 'resigned' from Team Rocket as well.

"Vyren? How did you get this number?!" Alex asked sternly, surprising Vyren with the reaction. The sniper composed himself, coughing softly before speaking.

"Dr. Sapphire gave it to me," Vyren responded calmly. The Psychic Angel remained silent, contemplating something that the sniper will probably never know of. "She told me to call this number if I wished to 'change my life'." More silence followed.

"You jumped ship," Alex responded in a matter of fact tone. He let off a soft chuckle, before continuing on. "Yes, you've called the right numbers. How does it feel to know the truth?" the Psychic Angel asked.

"Strange…" Vyren replied, glancing around. He didn't see any suspicious activity around him. "Since I'm back at the Trilands now, helping out Samantha. They're out to kill her, and we're going to stop them." Silence once again overtook the conversation, before Alex spoke up.

"And you want me to help out…" the Psychic Angel remarked. More silence overcame them. He continued on. "I'll try, but I have my own Chimera problems to work with right now, so I don't know when I can come."

"As long as you can come before we're all dead, it's good," Vyren commented, looking down at the piece of paper. "Before dying would be nice too." Alex laughed out loud, taking a bit to calm down.

"Just stay alive then, I'll come," Alex answered, in a much more serious tone now. "Until then, watch your back. I shall see you around, Sky Angel." With those last words, the phone clicked, signalling the end of the conversation. Vyren still held the phone to his ear, unable to drop it yet.

"Alex…" he whispered, replacing the phone onto its hook and pocketing the slip of paper. He turned around, scanned the surrounding area for any activity, then headed out, wondering where Samantha went.

Umbre disappeared from reality again, before slamming into the Golem as an invisible shadow, reappearing behind the Rock Type. Once more, the Golem groaned, but still didn't feel anywhere close of going down. Umbre backed off, watching the Golem slowly turn around and lumber towards him. Sam kept her cool, seeing this was becoming a tiresome pattern of Faint Attacks.

"Umbre, Confuse Ray," she commanded. The Umbreon agreed silently, staring towards the towering Golem, not showing any fear, though he was clearly intimidated. Nevertheless, the Umbre went on, his eyes shimmering red. A beam of energy shot out, dazing the Golem, but not before the Trainer could get a command out.

"Rollout!"

The Golem curled up into a ball, dashing forward. The beam hit the shell, but it wasn't clear if the attack worked or not. Umbre didn't want to stay to find out, quickly using Agility to speed out of the way of the rolling locomotive.

The answer of the effectiveness of the attack came clear, as the Golem continued to roll out of control, nearly bowling over the crowd as they quickly thinned out to make room for the Golem. It all ended when the Rock type was recalled, unable to battle without making a mess of the area. Umbre stood still, breathing deeply, nearly being crushed over by a giant rock. He was relieved when Samantha recalled him, tired out by that one battle.

Samantha was then about to call out Espe, until the ground around them quakes uncontrollably, forcing everyone to their knees or their bottoms as the land shook. An resounding explosion was heard nearby, followed by smoke appearing. Samantha quickly regained her bearings, looking up and seeing the black clouds fly into the sky.

"Come on!" she exclaimed, rushing towards the scene of the disaster, followed quickly by Spark and Flare. Charles lagged behind a bit, making sure Espe and Umbre were alright, both dazed by the shock. Sam didn't wait, however, letting Charles handle the kids as they recovered. Flare glanced back while running, seeing an 'a-okay' sign from her husband. She wanted to hesitate, but couldn't bring herself to, turning her gaze back forward. She wouldn't get distracted now, especially with more then half the team temporarily unavailable. They turned the corner, vanishing from the sight of the other three.

Vyren was quickly upon the scene of the disaster, a building before him, rubble all around. Near the top was a large, gaping hole that almost went all the way to the ground. The sniper stared in awe, wondering just what could have made such an explosion to the building. It was very tall, just rather large, like a complex of sorts. It was painted white, though that hardly matters now with the mess made. Windows were blown out, casualties everywhere, what ever happened, it was big.

It then came to his attention that a helicopter was flying overhead, hard to see through the smoke, but it was there. The sound of its rotors was made clear in Vyren's ears.

"What's going on?!" he exclaimed, surprised. His gaze returned towards ground level upon hearing shouting from the distance. He identified a blue mass running towards him, being chased down by a pair uniformed soldiers carrying some menacing looking weapons. There were flanked by a Scizor, Crobat, and Beedrill. On closer inspection, Vyren noted the blue mass was a Totodile, making an escape from the soldiers. Deciding it was best to try to save the little water type, GS quickly dropped his pack and began digging through the parts, assembling the rifle quickly, while the troopers were still in the distance.

"Hold it!" Vyren ordered, putting the scope to his eye and taking aim, to no one in particular, just wanting to give the visage of threatening. The Totodile kept running, but the others halted, upon seeing the sniper.

"Do not get involved in this, and you will not be hurt," one the soldiers shouted, though the comment didn't budge Vyren's position. The trio were at a stand off, the Pokémon watching, waiting on orders. Vyren glanced around nervously, keeping an eye on the pair with one eye, the other eye looking around. A glint caught his attention up at the roof of the blown out building. Vyren reacted.

He rolled backwards, a bullet blasting past where his head previously was. The ex-Team Rocket sniper quickly laid back, raising his rifle in that direction and taking aim. With one shot, he fired, with no serious aim, but the shot hit the arm of the other sniper. That sniper fell back, the cover of the building protecting him, though Vyren was sure he wouldn't be bothered by that person anymore.

But the others would, as they opened fire with their assault rifles and CAWs. Vyren, not wanting to perforated just yet, quickly dived behind some rubble, using the fallen debris as cover. The Totodile leaped in with him, finally reaching him, taking cover as well.

"Aren't you the hunted one," Vyren remarked bitterly, glancing down at the water type, who only nodded, pressing his back towards the fallen debris. Bullets ricocheted off the cover, the pair levelling suppression fire. It became clear to Vyren they were doing that to keep him pinned, until they were upon him. Then, it would be quick work for the Scizor and Beedrill to dispose of him. He glanced up, seeing the Crobat hovering over head, marking his position, but flying around quickly as not to get shot.

Surprise came as the key element for Samantha's group, as they ambushed the advancing pair and their Pokémon. Fire lashed out at the group, halting their attack as they cried out in pain of the searing heat. They advance was halted, and the suppression fire ended. The Crobat halted in place, surprised by the flank. Vyren needed no encouragement, taking a shot at the Crobat. The bullet cut through two of the four wings of the bat, forcing it to a crash landing. The Scizor and the Beedrill, on the other hand quickly engaged the two Pokémon known as Flare and Spark, Sam staying behind and supervising the battle. When the heat wore off, one of the soldiers recalled his Crobat, before levelling his weapon towards the Trainer of the two fire types.

"No way!" Vyren shouted out, taking aim. He pulled the trigger, the shot placing a clean hole into the soldiers arms, forcing him to drop the assault rifle. He clutched the wound, staggering backwards. He glanced to his fellow companion, who nodded. With that, he retreated. Vyren did not interrupt combat anymore, as the soldier and his Scizor and Beedrill engaged Samantha's pair in a 2 on 2 tag team combat.

"There he is!" another voice shouted. The sniper quickly turned around, seeing more soldiers approach him, flanked by various Pokémon of different shapes, sizes, and types.

"Oh CRAP!" Vyren exclaimed, knowing he nor Sam would stand a chance against those odds. Four soldiers, with about twelve Pokémon in tow. The Totodile didn't seem very concerned, however, preparing the engage them all. "You're kidding, right?" the sniper inquired. The Water type shook his head, leaping into the air farther then anyone would believe possible with those tiny legs. Weapons were trained on the tiny guy, though they never had a chance to fire.

The Totodile fired a narrow beam Water Gun attack, but it wasn't your average one. Instead, the power of the blow blasted right into the ground, throwing rock shrapnel everywhere. Another blast came, blasting into one of the soldiers. A third hit a Pokémon. And so on, continuing to rain fire as they all retreated for cover. Vyren quickly returned his gaze towards Sam's battle, seeing the Scizor take a double Flamethrower attacking, knocking it out cold. The battle seemed to be going in their favour, somehow.

A retreat was called, apparently, as the group began to fall back, piling back into the building. The helicopter was still overhead, probably a transport helicopter, regaining the deployed troops into the area. The Totodile was once again by his side, but he seemed very much fatigued.

"Hi, nice to meet you…" the Water type spoke softly, only audible to Vyren. Sam was quickly approaching, though she only heard to last sentence of the Totodile: "My name is Hydra." With that, he fell onto the ground, unconscious.

Author's Note:

For those of you who are wondering who Ryu is, considering reading Renegades by Izumi Ryu. It'll probably answer it.