Clothes—of all the things to spend birthday money on…. But if I was gonna wait around in Vermilion for nearly a month until the S.S. Anne left for…for wherever it was going, I’d need a few more outfits. I had chosen a few cool shirts and some pants that had Poké ball holders on them and then realized that I’d need socks and that sort of stuff. I sighed, wishing that I had somehow known to grab some spare clothes when I had left home. Still, I’d had no idea that any of this would happen; I had just planned on riding around town a little while Rudy finished his chores.

I paid for the clothes and stuffed the store bag in my backpack. Outside, I sauntered along the bay toward the Pokémon Center while looking out toward the horizon, awed by the endless stretch of sea that surrounded two sides of Vermilion. The cool, salty ocean breeze filled the atmosphere, and I shivered a little with the chill in the air. Though I commonly wore T-shirts all winter, I still felt cold and wanted to get inside.

I entered the Pokémon Center and strode through the lobby and into the back area toward my room. I was allowed to stay in a room, despite the fact that I wasn’t a trainer, but though I wanted to have my Pokémon healed, I knew that they would check for ID when I paid. I would definitely be in trouble if they found out that I was using Poké balls without a license. In the end, I just decided that it was pointless, as Chibi was recharged by now, and neither he nor Firestorm had sustained many physical injuries from the battle.

Firestorm and Swift usually stayed out of their Poké balls and in our Pokémon Center room, only occasionally coming with me when I had to go shopping. I seriously didn’t blame them; it was boring and they would have had to wait outside the store anyway. As for Chibi—I had no way of restraining him, and he still hadn’t particularly agreed or disagreed to my keeping him. He didn’t really talk much, or even look at any of us for that matter. I rarely let him leave the Center with me.

The wind struck the window as I looked out towards the overcast gray sky. It was gonna be a long three weeks.

I sighed and flipped slowly through the remaining money in my wallet. Between the clothes, food, and staying in the room the past few weeks, I had spent almost all of my cash, despite the fact that staying at a Pokémon Center was dirt-cheap. Every now and then, I pulled out the card I had been given and read it again. It said meet in Vermilion prior to December 7 for further instruction, but I hadn’t seen the guy with Charizard at all and the seventh was coming up in two days. For a while, I had wondered how I was even gonna afford the ticket to board the S.S. Anne.

I stood up off of the bed and replaced my wallet in my pocket before departing the Center again. I walked outside with Swift perched atop my shoulder and Firestorm at my heels and stared at the large array of ships in the harbor. A few days earlier, the S.S. Anne had arrived, and the crew had begun preparing for the voyage. The ship was huge and almost all white except for the top of it and the railing along the deck, which were shiny silver and a black along the smokestacks; it was the typical cruise ship design. I was gazing up at the ship when I heard a rushing of air behind me.

“There you are, I knew I was forgetting someone,” someone said. The voice was vaguely familiar, and I turned to see the guy I had met in the forest flying down on his Charizard.

“Oh, hey,” I said.

The Charizard landed, and the tall, teenaged trainer climbed off the orange dragon’s back. “Since you’re here, I’m assuming you want to join the rebellion.” I nodded and he continued. “Good, cause you’re one of the only ones left that I haven’t talked to out of the people I gave cards to. First of all, I wanna make sure you’re really willing to do this. I don’t want anyone joining and then deciding to quit after they realize that there’s danger involved.”

I shrugged. “Yeah I’m serious about it, but only mainly cause I got nothing better to do.” I then added, “I also have a bit of a score to settle with Team Rocket.”

“Okay,” he said, pulling a small, stiff piece of paper out of his wallet and handing it to me. I took it and skimmed what it said quickly. Gasping slightly, I said, “This is a S.S. Anne ticket.”

“Well, duh, how else would you be allowed on the ship?” he asked rhetorically.

“Yeah, but, if you’re giving tickets to everyone whose joining the rebellion, then—” I started before he cut me off.

“I’ve got a ton of money to spare. I told the crew of the ship that I wanted tickets for the Pokémon Trainer’s party on board and then bought two hundred or so of ‘em. I only have a few left over.”

I stared. “Holy crap, you must be rich.”

He shrugged and said, “I won a lot of prize money in Pokémon League competitions. I actually placed second in the World Championships last year. Still, I spent a lot on the tickets and renting the stadium we’re gonna use as headquarters.”

“Which is where…?” I asked, for I had been wondering it for a long time.

“Oh, Midnight Island,” he said, as though that answered my question. I had no idea where that was, but didn’t decide to ask him. There was one other thing I had been wondering at, though.

“Wait, one thing I’d like to ask…you said you were recruiting beginning trainers. Why? Why not more experienced ones that would have a better chance when fighting Team Rocket?” I said, thinking back to the incredible way Ajia had battled.

“Beginning trainers are able to change their strategy easier than trainers who’ve been battling the same way for years. You need to be able to adapt to whatever opponent you face and I also figure I could help train beginning trainers on how to fight Team Rocket a bit more easily. By the way, did you get any more Pokémon?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, I have a Pikachu back at the Pokémon Center,” I said, leaving out the fact that Chibi was only about eighty percent Pikachu, and twenty percent Zapdos.

He nodded. “Your Charmander might be a pretty good fighter if you can evolve it. Same with the Pidgey,” he added. He then walked over and got back on his Charizard’s back once more. “Guess I’ll be seeing ya with the others at Midnight Island.”

“Yeah, later,” I said, watching him fly off on his flame dragon. Right then, something occurred to me. “Hey! What’s your name?”

“Stalker,” he replied before soaring out of sight. I then returned to the Pokémon Center feeling a bit more anticipation for the trip than before.

“Ticket?” the man at the top of the ramp leading onto the ship asked. I retrieved the ticket from my pocket and handed it to him. He looked it over before placing it through a machine, handing me a card key of some sort, and saying, “First and last name?”

“Jade Arenesa,” I answered.

He entered it in on a computer and then said, “Alright, you’re clear, welcome to the S.S. Anne.”

I walked onto the deck of the S.S. Anne and into the bustling crowd of trainers. Many of those who were invited to Midnight Island had their Pokémon out with them for the Pokémon Trainer’s party. Chibi, who had been walking alongside me the whole time, glared into the crowd disdainfully. I wasn’t so sure about having him unrestrained around everyone, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

“Um…Chibi, can I talk to you alone?” I asked, wanting to discuss something with him before the party.

For a while, he didn’t respond. I stared at him expectantly; finally, he nodded. I glanced around, found some stairs leading down to the cargo area, and descended into the immense space filled with crates and boxes of tools and various ship parts. Chibi followed me.

“Alright, look,” I said flatly. “We need to settle this. I’m sorry, but I still don’t entirely trust you. That whole time in Vermilion, I wanted to let you out of the Center more, but I didn’t want you to, well…cause havoc or anything. I want you to just…I don’t know…be normal?” Normal? It wasn’t really the word I was going for, but Chibi got what I was trying to say. I was asking him to act more like a Pikachu. He turned and said simply, “*I’ll be myself,*” I wasn’t sure whether it was progress or not, especially since I knew he had more to say. I was about to ask him what, but he cut me off.

His ranting in Pikachu was quiet as to not alert those upstairs, but filled with as much rage and infuriation as the time he attacked the Rockets and their ship. “*I’m sick of it! Stop treating me like some demented raging animal or something! It seems like you just think that if you release me around people, that I’ll go on a killing rampage! Would you treat any of your human friends, even one with, like, I don’t know, an anger problem or something like this?!*”

The question penetrated me, but Chibi didn’t give me time to think about it. “*You act like you’re in control of me. Yeah, you’re the human, I’m the Pokémon, but if you really want us to get along, then treat me like a friend, not a dangerous pet. And as for battling…*” here he paused before continuing. “*I’m not like other Pokémon…I don’t need a trainer in order to battle successfully, but I’ll listen to you if you want me to during a battle. Just so long as you don’t pull that whole, ‘I’m the trainer so you have to obey me’ thing.*”

I stared long and hard at him, going over what he had said in my mind. Finally, I nodded slowly before holding out my hand. He studied my expression for a little, thinking hard, and then shaking my hand. Without saying a word, we then began to ascend the metal stairs back up to the trainer’s party.

Suddenly, Chibi stopped and twitched his ears. He turned back toward the crates, glaring apprehensively.

“What?” I asked, slightly lost.

“*Someone’s back there…*” he whispered, running back and taking small, silent steps. I followed extremely slowly and noiselessly after him, wondering what he had heard that had alarmed him. Finally, he stopped and slowly peeked around the corner of a crate, pulling himself back again almost immediately. “*Listen,*” he muttered. I strained my ears to hear what only he could hear, apparently. Right then, however, whoever it was started talking and I realized that more than one person was there.

“D’you think the kid and the Pikachu are gone?” the voice whispered.

“Most likely. I heard footsteps going up the stairs,” the second said. “Good thing, too. She could’ve been one of the ones on this ship that’re gonna join that rebel team.”

My heart skipped a beat when he said that. They had to be on Team Rocket, but how could they have known about the rebellion already? I mean, it hadn’t even started yet! What the first Rocket said next, though, made me feel better.

“How do we even know that this thing is even really gonna exist? We’re just going by a bunch of weird rumors going around with the new Pokémon Trainers.”

“Not exactly. A few of the kids that got cards were actually among our new recruits. We know the rebellion’s real,” the first Rocket explained. “Unfortunately, though they waited in Vermilion, they never got a ticket. I guess whoever’s behind all this made sure no Rockets could get within his or her ranks. I s’pose that’s the only reason we’re on this mission.”

“Cinnabar Island…” the second muttered. “Cinnabar Island, why start a rebel team there? Besides, the island’s pretty populated.”

“Who knows?” the other said, with a tone of finality, as though he didn’t want to talk anymore with an underling who was uninformed of the mission. I, however, was thoroughly confused. Cinnabar Island? The ship was going to Midnight Island. The Rockets obviously had their facts wrong, which was a good thing for Stalker. Otherwise, he’d never even get a chance to start the Team Rocket rebellion.

I headed back toward the stairs and motioned for Chibi to follow. We walked up the stairs, making sure not to create any noise, and returned to the main area of the ship.

I finally found a map framed on one of the elaborately decorated walls and stared at it before finally figuring out that Midnight Island was just off the eastern coast of Kanto near a tiny town called Lavender. Cinnabar, on the other hand, was quite a ways off of Kanto’s southwestern tip. Why did the Rockets think we were going there? I then wondered why Stalker hadn’t just bought us tickets for some ferry in Lavender Town. It had to be a lot cheaper.

Later that night, I lay in bed inside the room that corresponded with the card key I had been given. The past few hours had been very boring, seeing as I couldn’t participate in many of the trainers’ activities like special battles, contests, and such, and the Team Rocket matter had been constantly lingering in my head.

Whatever the Rockets were going to do, I doubted they would do it while everyone was still at the party, but I didn’t have any idea what their plans were.

Firestorm was on the end of the bed, his tail resting on some non-flammable cloth, Swift was perched on a chair, his head buried in the down feathers on the back of his neck, and Chibi had snuggled down into the sheets. Finally, I just set my watch to go off in the middle of the night and eventually drifted off to sleep.

A tiny beeping noise awakened me at one in the morning. Groaning to myself, I reached to turn it off and slowly lumbered out of bed. I pulled on some shoes and regular clothes and walked toward the door.

“Char…?” Firestorm sleepily said.

I turned back to see him opening his eyes and lifting himself up to look at me. I replied, “I’m goin’ out to figure out something. If any of you want, you can come.”

“*I’m pretty tired, so I guess I’ll pass, but I’ll ask Swift and Chibi,*” he said, walking to the front of the bed and pulling up the covers, revealing Chibi curled up in a ball with the spikes of his fur sticking out.

“*Hey…*” Chibi mumbled.

“*Just wanted to tell you…Jade’s leaving to go figure out…uh, something,*” he said, looking back at me questioningly. Chibi raised an eyebrow at me and I whispered, “Team Rocket.”

“*Ohhh…*” he said in realization before jumping off the bed and walking over to me.

I noticed Swift hadn’t stirred yet, but I decided not to wake him. I turned to Chibi. “Guess it’s just you and me,” I said as we walked out in the darkened hallway.

Very few people were still awake and most of the lights had been dimmed. We entered the main room to find it completely dark. All of the lights had been turned out, though in several other rooms that came off of the central area, light could be seen through the doors. I walked with Chibi down the side passage and opened the door to the cargo bay. We silently tiptoed down the metal stairway and into complete darkness. I felt my foot collide with something, and I quickly struggled to prevent myself from tripping over a crate of supplies at the end of the stairs.

“It’s too dark to see. Chibi, could you make it just a little bit brighter?” I asked. He nodded and strings of electricity formed around his body as he began to glow with a dim yellow light. I don’t know why he took the precaution, though. It didn’t matter if it was a dim light or if it lit up the whole room, Team Rocket would see us if they were here.

Apparently they weren’t here, because they sure weren’t where they had previously. We ran back up the stairs and looked around. Any paths leading out of the main room either had one of the crewmembers in it or led to the passengers’ rooms. Wherever the Rockets were planning, they obviously had already started it in a remote part of the ship. I looked back at the passage to the cargo bay, which continued further into the shadows.

“Of course…” I muttered to myself. “Come on Chibi,” I said as we slowly walked down the hallway and down another flight of stairs that descended into seemingly infinite blackness. Chibi had stopped glowing a few seconds earlier, for he knew it was crucial for us to not be seen. At the bottom was a second corridor along which we continued for nearly a minute. I could hear distant voices and footsteps. Chibi had raced ahead noiselessly to see if it was just crewmembers or the Rockets. The latter was more likely, for I seriously doubted that the crew would be down here with it so dark.

I knew I was nearing the end of the passage when Chibi ran back to me.

“*Oh yeah, it’s them alright, about thirty feet ahead, be quiet, though,*” he warned.

I could see the glow of several flashlights piercing the blackness as we neared the Rockets. They were in the engine room, and fortunately, it didn’t look like they had gotten there more than ten minutes ago. I knelt and walked with my back along the wall. The second I made it to the large chamber, I ducked back behind some storage crates and listened, though I couldn’t pick out most of what they were saying.

“Chibi,” I whispered. He turned and ran over to me. “Hey, can you hear what they’re saying?”

“*Yeah, sure, but unfortunately it sounds like they’ve already been all over the ship,*” he said, his voice lowered.

“Doing what?!” I asked frantically.

“*Hold on a sec,*” he said, twitching his ears and making occasional glances around the side of the boxes. After a few seconds he turned back to me and said, “*Not good….they’ve got explosives set up all over the ship. They’re rigged to go off when activated by some remote thing that the leader’s got. I guess they’re gonna get off this thing and then blow it up.*”

“We gotta stop them and getting the controls is our best bet,” I said.

“*Couldn’t I just knock all of ‘em out?” he asked.

“We can’t risk it. If one of them is holding on to it, it’d get short-circuited, and that could activate the explosives.”

“*Fine then, I’ve got an idea,*” he said.

“What can I do?” I asked eagerly.

“*You can be there to catch the remote when I throw it to you after getting it away from them,*” he said.

“Hey,” I said and was about to protest but he had already jumped out from behind our hiding place.

He turned back one last time, gave me a skeptical look, and said rather loudly and noticeably, “*Come on, fighting Rockets is a Pokémon’s job. What else could you do?*” Of course, the Rockets probably couldn’t understand him, but they sure had heard him.

“A Pikachu?” one of them asked. Another one turned his flashlight on Chibi, who stood completely still, eyeing them. The Rocket studied Chibi for several seconds before finally recognition hit him.

“Of course…” he muttered in realization, before yelling to the others, “It’s the escaped experimental Pikachu! All who have Pokémon release them, now!” Instantly, there was a huge white flash that disappeared just as soon as the Rockets’ Pokémon materialized from within the Poké balls. The darkness hid them the second they emerged, and the only things I could see were where the flashlights were pointed. Chibi jumped out of the beam of light and slipped behind the opposing Pokémon. The Rockets aimed the flashlights in that direction, but he was already gone. It had just begun to dawn on the lead Rocket that they were at a serious disadvantage.

“Manectric, use Flash!” a female Rocket commanded. Right after she said that, there was a crack of static electricity as a bright glow of energy was generated from a large blue and yellow dog Pokémon with a long mane on the back of its head that stored power. The engine room was completely illuminated, but Chibi was nowhere to be seen. The Rockets switched off their flashlights and their Pokémon looked around in confusion. I noticed Chibi long before they did. He had somehow managed to use his power to cling to the metal roof. He struggled to control the electricity so it would make no noise as he walked along the ceiling. He stopped to position himself and I wondered why until I saw that he was above the Rocket holding the controls for the explosives.

“*Look!*” the Manectric called out, generating a bright yellow bolt of lightning and firing it upward at Chibi. He lunged out of the way and landed in the middle of the Rockets.

It was complete pandemonium. Chibi rushed away from the Rockets, immediately jumping to avoid two of the Rockets’ Pokémon and launching a neon blast of Thunderbolt at the green thunder dog. I understood his plan—take out the Manectric to make it dark and also get rid of the one Pokémon there that could sense his electricity, being an Electric Pokémon itself. Unfortunately the blue dog managed to elude his assault and ducked back behind the other Pokémon. Chibi attacked the closest Pokémon to him but was unable to dodge a stream of blazing flame that struck him along the back. He fell in mid-jump and slid along the floor into the wall, his back burned, and his fur singed.

“That’s it, I don’t care what Chibi says, he needs help,” I muttered to myself, but then I suddenly realized the Firestorm and Swift were asleep back in my room. Chibi had struggled to stand just as all of the Rockets’ Pokémon fired their attacks at him. He then pulled off a series of moves that I seriously wish I could have seen in slow motion.

Just when all of the attacks were inches away from him, he channeled all of his energy into generating an electric force field, simultaneously absorbing the Manectric’s power and blocking the other attacks. He then raced across the floor, jumped up above the Rockets, and swung his tail forward, knocking the control out of the lead Rocket’s hand. Since he was behind several of the Rockets, he didn’t have to worry about being attacked by their Pokémon as he grabbed the remote in his mouth and tossed it behind the crates.

“*I’ll stall ‘em, get outta here, now!*” Chibi shouted.

As fast as I possibly could, I snatched the remote-like device up off the floor and sprinted out into the passage the led back to the main area of the ship without looking back. I could hear blasts of electricity from behind me—probably Chibi keeping the Rockets from pursuing me.

I studied the remote and saw that it had a screen at the top and several buttons underneath. It was a lot more complex than I had figured, so I pushed a small button directly under the center of the screen. It lit up instantly with a menu screen that said Location, Timed Activation, and Settings. I selected Location and the screen cleared before showing around twenty small red dots and a larger, blinking blue one.

“Of course…” I said in realization. “This thing shows where all of the bombs are….” The blue dot had to be where the remote was in relation to all of the explosives and it was nearing one of the red dots on the screen. Using the minimal light given off on the screen, I scanned the walls for anything out of the ordinary and, sure enough, found a small, circular device stuck to the wall. I tugged at it with my fingertips and found that it wasn’t hard to detach it before heading back to the main room and searching for all of the bombs.

For nearly half an hour I ran all over the S.S. Anne, realizing exactly just how immense it was in the process. Every so often, I would go out on the deck and throw all of the bombs I had collected so far off the ship and into the sea, where they sank to the ocean floor. I couldn’t help wondering, however: where was Chibi? Could he possibly have been fighting this whole time?

I had just thrown the last three overboard when I started running back to the rooms. I quickly pulled out my ticket and swiped it along the card scanner on my door, opening it.

“Firestorm, Swift, wake up,” I said almost immediately while flipping the light switch on. The noise and sudden brightness made both of them awaken instantly. Firestorm stood and said, “*What’s going on?*”

“Team Rocket was planning to kill everyone, and Chibi seriously needs our help,” I said, grabbing my Poké balls and wallet and sticking them in my pockets. Swift flew over to my shoulder as Firestorm jumped off the bed, ready to go. I was about to run back out the door, but then I grabbed my backpack, just in case I didn’t get a chance to get back to the room. We raced down the hallway and, once again, into the central area of the ship.

“Chibi!” I yelled as loud as I possibly could, not caring if I woke someone up. “If you can hear me, get to the main area, now!” I knew Pikachus had incredibly acute hearing, but would if he was too injured to make it here? I was running back toward the passage to the engine room when I heard several footsteps running toward me.

“Crap!” I said, turning around as fast as I possibly could and running the opposite direction.

“Not so fast!” the lead Rocket yelled. Slowly I turned to see all of them standing behind me with Chibi limp in the lead Rocket’s arms and all of the Rockets’ Pokémon out in front.

Chibi managed to look up at me and said, “*Used all my energy…hope you got another plan ‘cause they quit usin’ the Manectric against me a long time ago and I’m spent….*” They had to have realized that Chibi could absorb electrical attacks and had recalled his only remaining source of power.

“Shut it, you!” the Rocket yelled at Chibi before turning to me. “I thank you for returning Experimental Pokémon Number Nine back to us. Now that we know that it was successful after all, it could be a big help in our current experimentation. That said, you have something else that’s ours.”

“No way you’re getting this back!” I yelled, clutching the remote.

“*Swift and I can battle ‘em!*” Firestorm said excitedly.

“What, no way! You guys can’t take down all of their Pokémon!” I exclaimed.

“*Chibi may be the strongest of us, but that doesn’t mean we cannot fight,*” Swift said. I turned in surprise, not really familiar with the voice because he didn’t usually talk. I nodded and said, “Okay….”

“If you’re through talking with your Pokémon, then let’s get down to business…Ninetales, attack!” the lead Rocket yelled. The large, cream-colored fire fox that had managed to injure Chibi rushed forward, its nine graceful tails swirling dramatically as it leaped into the fray.

“Niiiiiine!” Ninetales yelled as a sort of battle cry before unleashing a wave of flame upon Firestorm. Swift took flight and entered the fray while Firestorm lunged to the side, barely evading the attack. While Ninetales was dealing with Firestorm, Swift had swooped downward at it, his wings glowing in a Wing Attack. The fire fox turned aside and smacked Swift right along the back with its slender paw. Swift let out a cry as he went flying into the wall with three wide lines of blood staining his feathers.

“I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” I said to myself, realizing immediately that the Ninetales was clearly stronger than the other Pokémon. I quickly pulled out Swift’s Poké ball and recalled him. “Firestorm, you sure you don’t wanna bail?”

Firestorm shook his head and turned back to Ninetales resolutely.

“Enough of this, Ninetales, Fire Spin!!!” the lead Rocket shouted.

I gasped. Fire Spin wasn’t exactly the most powerful flame technique around, but it was nearly impossible to avoid. It completely surrounded an opponent in a column of fire, leaving them trapped within a swirling inferno. The amount of time for which the move could be used in official competitions was limited, as to not injure the Pokémon too badly, but this was no League battle.

“No, Firestorm!” I yelled, but it was too late. He had been caught in the attack and thrown into the blaze. I pulled out his Poké ball to recall him, but the flame blocked the beam of red light that shot out of the center of the ball to draw him into it. I could see his silhouette in the assault, curled into a ball and very nearly collapsed. Suddenly the fire pillar expanded around the middle and the rush of flame burst into hundreds of embers that dissipated into the air. I looked closer and saw Firestorm engulfed in a sphere of flame that burned brightly around his body.

“What the—?!” the Rocket yelled.

“…Rage…” I said slowly. It was an ability that could only be used when a Pokémon was under great stress, anger, or pain and tremendously heightened a Pokémon’s power. From within the fire, an incredible white light came forth and completely illuminated the immense room. The shielding flame around Firestorm ceased and his body shined with the glow as, before our eyes, he grew over two feet in size and completely changed in shape.

His scales changed to a reddish color, the burns and blisters from the previous attack faded, and his limbs grew more defined from his body. Elongated and thickened, his arms ended in heavy blade claws, and his muscular tail was covered in flame on the end. Finally, a single horn sprouted from the back of the skull and his face stretched into more of a dragonish snout.

“He’s…evolved into a Charmeleon…” I whispered in awe. Pokémon evolution was usually triggered by age, as it was a Pokémon’s only way of maturing, although battle experience had a lot to do with it. Firestorm turned back to me, his eyes a different shape with much larger whites surrounding the blue irises. He was brimming with pride and confidence as he turned back and resumed the battle once more.

The Ninetales was slightly stunned from having its attack broken up like that and its trainer had been in wonder at the sudden burst of power Firestorm had gained, but the Rage had worn off by now and Ninetales knew it and was ready to fight. It crouched defensively and snarled.

“I’m sick of playing around,” the Rocket said, recalling his Ninetales. “Pokémon Training never was my thing and wasn’t how I earned my position with Team Rocket. Besides, only wuss Rockets rely on their Pokémon to get their way.” Here he paused and reached into his pocket to pull out a small metal item, hidden by the darkness, but glinting with a silver sheen as it caught the limited light of the moon shining through the windows. I hesitated and was lost for words as he pointed the gun right at me. “Don’t even think of running and hand over the remote.”

I stared mindlessly at the weapon, completely lost for words as I felt a surge of terror spread like ice in my veins. I was about to say something, but then I had a sudden thought that even if I gave him the remote he would probably shoot me anyway. But even still…if I did give it to him, both me and everyone else on the ship was dead. Then I noticed Chibi motioning to me. He kept shaking his head and winking at me. I mouthed the words, “You sure?” and he nodded. And then I got it: he had most definitely charged up a limited amount of power in the past few minutes.

“Well, what’s it gonna be?” he said. “You got five seconds.”

“*Now!!!*” Chibi yelled, channeling all of his power into the Rocket, who slumped to the floor under the attack. Just as I took off running with Firestorm, Chibi wrenched himself free and followed us.

“Someone tranquilize the damn thing already!” the lead Rocket yelled in fury. Several seconds later I heard the sound of something small and fast whizzing through the air behind me.

“Pika!” Chibi gasped, dropping to the ground. I turned and saw a dart sticking out of his left shoulder. I was about to run over to pick him up, but he yelled, “*Get outta here! They need me brought back alive, but they’ll kill you in a second if you wait around here, now go!!!*” I obeyed and ran off, making as many turns around corners as I could, to make it impossible for them to shoot me without catching up first. Repeatedly, I glanced over my shoulder, both to see whether I was being pursued, and in wonder of whether Chibi was all right.

*****

The Rocket that had shot Chibi with the tranquilizer gun ran over and picked him up. He tucked him under his arm as he turned back to his leader, who was struggling to stand after being under the effects of the electricity.

“What should we do about the girl?” he asked. The lead Rocket was about to answer, but one of the others interrupted.

“Let me handle this,” she said, releasing her Manectric. “It’ll be much faster.”

Sure of what to do, the Manectric nodded, raced off into the darkness, and was gone for a little over a minute. The Rockets waited in silence until it ran back, out of breath with strings of electricity leaping from its fur.

“Did everything go accordingly?” its trainer asked. The Manectric nodded. “Was the girl knocked out at least?” At this, the Manectric shook its head. The Rocket cursed and said, “But you’re sure you managed to short-circuit the remote?” The Manectric nodded its head vigorously yet again.

“That’ll do then,” the lead Rocket said as all of the Rockets recalled their Pokémon. He turned to the others and said. “We’re done here. Now let’s go.”

They all pushed a button on their backpacks, which made two small jets burst out of the sides and activate. Energy blasted of the jetpacks in an invisible force as the Rockets lifted off the deck and soared away.

*****

I slowly stood to my feet after the Manectric ran back to the Rockets. It had zoomed toward me using its electricity to run at super speed before firing a Thundershock attack at me and leaving before Firestorm even had a chance to attack. As the weakest of all electric techniques, it hadn’t hurt immensely—sort of like an extremely bad static electricity shock, only all over my body. The remote that was still in my left hand was sparking, though, and the screen was jumbled. With a sinking feeling, I read the words that had appeared on it: Automatic Timed Detonation Activated.

“What?! But…we got rid of all the explosives!” I yelled, but then I realized the obvious: the Rockets had to have had more of them that they hadn’t positioned yet when I ran off with the controls. After I thought I had thrown all of them off the ship, the Rockets probably just put all of the ones they had left in the engine room afterward.

The screen started to change and slowly formed a sort of countdown, with four minutes and thirty-two seconds left. I thought fast, but there was no way to stop the detonation. The engine room was too far away; there was no way I could get them off them ship in time. Only one logical solution remained….

“Come on, Firestorm,” I said, dashing back to the main room as fast I could. On the side of a wall to the right, I saw it. I ran over and pulled the switch down.

I don’t know what I expected, but the S.S. Anne’s emergency alarm put school fire drills to shame. An earsplitting, high-pitched screech blared out of speakers in every single room in the whole ship. I held my hands against my ears as I dashed up a flight of stairs to the captain’s quarters. Halfway there, a tall, gray-haired man in a white suit ran down toward me, yelling, “What is going on?!” as loud as he could to be heard over the noise.

“No time to explain, the ships gonna blow up in four minutes, we gotta get everyone off!” I yelled.

“You sure about that?” he asked, running his fingers through his beard in thought. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of prank?”

“You’ve gotta trust me!” I yelled, thrusting the controls into his hands. “Or else we’re all dead!”

He studied the remote for a second before nodding and running back up the stairs. Several seconds later, the alarm quieted slightly as the captain used the speakers and yelled, “This is not a drill! Get to the lifeboats immediately to evacuate the ship!” Right after that, he ran back down the stairs and toward the central area, followed by the rest of the crew. Already, people had started to gather in the room, most of them still in their nightclothes and almost all of them yelling in panic trying to be heard over the constant blare. People were tripping over one another either trying to get outside or run back to find their friends. The captain pulled out a radio and yelled into it, though I couldn’t hear him and I wasn’t sure whoever he was talking to could either.

By this point, most of us had managed to group together and race out onto the deck, where the cold air pounded against us as we ambled on towards the back. Apparently, there were supposed to be lifeboats there, since that’s where the captain was leading us, but the racks for storage along the back of the ship were empty, most likely the Rockets’ doing. The captain sort of stood there shocked, but then regained himself, put away his radio, stood on a table so everyone could see him, and yelled instructions to us, which was easier out here since the alarm was louder inside.

“For whatever reason, the lifeboats are gone, so there’s no way off the ship! I’m afraid we’re going to have to jump! Those that can’t swim well, get help from someone who can, and if you have big enough Pokémon with you that can swim or fly, release them now!”

After he said this, several of the trainers pulled out Poké balls to release Flying Pokémon and jumped onto the backs of the various aerial beasts to fly off the deck. Those that had Water Pokémon didn’t hesitate to jump overboard and release their Pokémon to help them swim in the choppy waters. Rain was pouring down on us the whole time and the waves in the ocean were rough. Most of the passengers hesitated before finally plunging into the sea. I shot a look at the remote, which now read thirty-nine seconds, before running back to the main area, where more of the passengers had just run out of their rooms and were lost on what to do.

“Quick!!!” I shouted. “We have to jump overboard, now, so use Flying or Water Pokémon to help you if you have ‘em, and if not, just get off the ship and worry about the storm later!”

They followed my instructions and ran out onto the deck, where most of the others had already jumped over the railing. There were only about two hundred people that had gotten out here so far, but there wasn’t time to get all of the rest of them out here. I ran back outside and was one of only eleven people who hadn’t jumped yet. The remote now had a bright red fifteen that was flashing as a warning.

“You better get in here, cause it’s gonna get wet,” I said to Firestorm, pulling out his Poké ball and recalling him. I then wondered exactly how powerful the bombs were. There weren’t that many of them, but what if the explosion ended up big enough to hit people in the waters right next to the S.S. Anne? Finally, I shook myself from all of my thoughts and took off running toward the side of the deck without looking back. I jumped up onto the railing, kicked off, and let myself fall.