=Author's Note=
	Greetings, readers!  I'm sorry about the lateness of this publication, but 
things have been getting interesting for me on a personal level.  However late, 
though, here it is, the third installment of the Hidden Machine Saga.  I hope it 
was worth the wait.  Enjoy!

=Legal Disclaimer=
	I'm beginning to run out of creative ways of saying it, so for this story, 
I'll just flat-out give it to you.  I don't own Pokémon.  I don't own Ash, or 
Misty, or Brock.  Dixie's mine, but I'll loan her out to anyone who asks nicely.  
I don't own that cramma-flamm'n Island, or any of those cute, dangerously 
bizarre creatures that spit fire and water and poison, among other things.  I 
don't write for money, which works out well, because no one pays me for it.

BadgeQuest: The America Chronicles #4
The HM Saga 03

	Alfred Giovanni waited patiently in his office, sipping slowly on a cup of 
black coffee.  It had been a fairly slow day today, which wasn't necessarily a 
bad thing.  A slow day, of course, never meant that it was not a busy day.  
There were always reports to sign, projects to check up on, and the occasional 
disloyal underling to execute in a manner so gruesome as to dissuade his other 
peons from even thinking such traitorous thoughts.  There were a few projects, 
however, that held particular interest to him, projects that hadn't given him a 
report in quite a while.  Project Chronos was particularly behind in its 
updates, but that was to be expected.  He preferred that his scientists be 
careful when trying to locate the single most powerful artifact in the planet's 
history.

	A lone figure entered his office without warning, signaling that it was 
time for the other priority-one project's report to commence.  Despite his 
silent footfalls and fluid, eerie movement, Giovanni had known of his arrival 
for the past five minutes.  It was as it should be; after all, if someone could 
enter his office without his permission and make it through the doorway alive, 
what kind of headmaster of Team Rocket would he be?

	The man walked silently up to the desk, standing at parade rest until he 
was called upon to speak.  He had dusty brown hair, and eyes to match.  His 
entire face was plain and unassuming.  Depending on his expression, he could be 
seen as just another face in the crowd, or even the boy next door.  It was the 
face of a true assassin, one that could fit in everywhere, but didn't really fit 
in anywhere.  His build matched his face well; strong, but not beefy, well toned 
beneath his midnight black bodysuit.

	Giovanni let the assassin stand there for a few moments, pretending to go 
over some report on his monitor.  He was satisfied to see that the man didn't 
flinch or shift uncomfortably.  Finally, Giovanni spoke.  "Report." was all that 
he said.  It was all he ever said whenever the man came in with new business.  
It was all that was needed.

	"I have an update on Omega Red's status," the assassin spoke crisply and 
quickly.  He, like any other member of Team Rocket, knew the price paid for 
wasting their leader's time.  "As well as the Ketchum situation."

	"Well?"

	Omega, leader of Giovanni's elite assassins, the Omega Red, wasn't a man 
who was prone to embarrassment or shame.  However, he felt both of them now as 
he updated his commander.  "I'm afraid that Delta is having even less luck than 
Alpha had in the matter, sir."  Though he remained completely impassive on the 
surface, he burned with humiliation on the inside.  Alpha, the unbeatable ninja 
assassin, had gone after the boy four months ago in the forests of Maine.  After 
giving chase, the mission had ended when the Ketchum boy had dropped a rather 
large tree on his youngest agent.

	"I see." Alfred Giovanni's eyebrow shot up as his finger began rapping 
against the ebony desktop.  Red began seeping up from his collar and into his 
face, betraying his anger.  His voice, however, never rose or changed, but 
remained the same even tone as it had before.  "I assume you are correcting the 
situation."

	"Yes sir." Omega nodded once.  "I've ordered Tau to move in and assist 
Delta."  A small smile passed over his lips before he quickly squashed it, 
regaining his composure.  "We should see results in a few hours, sir."

	"Excellent."  The red disappeared from Giovanni's face as he leaned back 
in his office chair, feeling more at ease with the mission.  Suddenly, a thought 
crossed his mind.  "Speaking of which, Omega; exactly what 'did' happen to 
Delta?"
*		*		*

	Delta tiptoed through the halls of the immense airship, now free of the 
cumbersome jetpack that had gotten him into the bay via a short but exceedingly 
dangerous flight straight through the aerial firefight.  The assassin was unable 
to contain his admiration for Lawrence's fortress.  Just from the fraction of 
the construct he had seen so far, it had already proven to be years ahead of 
anything Team Rocket had.  Despite Giovanni's immense resources and hundreds of 
scientists in his employ, he had never developed anything so advanced...anything 
that hadn't backfired, at any rate.  Every now and then, the station would rock 
ever so slightly, tilting one way or another.  Despite the fact that they were 
several miles up, it reassured him, letting him know that his three agents were 
still out there, waging war with the fortress's automated defenses.

	"NO!"

	The cry of anguish caught his attention, emanating from one of the open 
doors down the corridor ahead.  Seeing and hearing no one around, Delta 
quickened his pace, bringing him to the door in a matter of seconds.  With 
caution bred from years of sneaking, shooting, and being shot at, he stuck just 
enough of his head around.  What he saw nearly caused him to cry out, which 
surely would have meant death.

	"Archimedes, hold." Lawrence told his massive, multi-limbed robot.  As 
ordered, Archimedes froze in position.  Held within three of his four stainless 
steel arms were captives of some kind.  Delta couldn't recognize them from his 
rear angle.  

	Beyond both Lawrence and his mechanical monster was a small table, 
positioned upright, with rough leather straps on each corner to hold captives of 
its own.  Currently, its prisoner was a young boy of sixteen or so, with jet-
black hair, a heavy black Silph Co. jacket, and an old official Indigo League 
Cap from a half-decade ago.  He strained against the bonds to no avail, glaring 
at Lawrence with unmatched hatred pouring from his amber brown eyes.
*		*		*

	"Now, Mr. Ketchum, you know that I am a very busy man." Lawrence explained 
affably, taking a few steps in Ash's direction as he did so.  "In addition, I 
abhor violence.  However, I can and will use it when needed.  Now," he stopped 
two feet in front of his captive with an infuriating smile on his face.  "I 
require a service of you.  I have your friends in my possession.  Perform my 
task, and I will release them."  He shrugged, something he was unaccustomed to 
doing.  "It is that simple."

	"Go sit under a Snorlax, you twisted psycho." Ash snarled, trying to spit 
on Lawrence.  The spittle fell short and landed on the deck in front of his 
captor, which only made Ash angrier.

	"I had something else in mind."  He turned, clapping his hands.  
"Archimedes, crush the redheaded one...slowly.  I want to hear the life drain 
out of her."  

	Archimedes complied, and began to put the squeeze on Misty.  Her face grew 
as red as her hair as the gigantic robot began to draw its arm in against its 
torso, with the Mistress of Water caught in the middle.  She gritted her teeth 
together as her ribs began to collapse inward on her delicate organs, creaking 
and straining.  "Ahh!"  She cried out, hating herself for her own human 
weakness.  Her cries soon grew louder and more frequent as the pain doubled and 
re-doubled.

	Ash closed his eyes, unable to watch.  It was the worst torture of all, 
the worst pain that Ash could ever try to endure.  Physical punishment was 
nothing new to him, but he couldn't bear to have any of his friends suffer for 
his mistakes.  "All right!  All right!" he screamed, lashing his head back and 
forth.  "I'll do it!"

	"Archimedes, stop." Archimedes froze once more, but did not release his 
pressure hold on Misty.  She hung there limply, half-crushed and whimpering, 
tears squeezing out of her closed eyelids.  Lawrence studied Ash's face 
carefully, rubbing his angular chin in thought.  "You're certain?" he asked him.

	"YES," Ash shouted into Lawrence's face, "But for the love of God, LET HER 
GO!  You're KILLING her!"  Even the great aerial battle being waged outside 
seemed insignificant compared to Misty's safety...to all their safety.

	"Excellent!" a triumphant smile blossomed on Lawrence's features as he 
turned to instruct his Mechémon.  "Archimedes, release them, but do not let them 
move.  If they attempt any cheap heroics, kill them." The robot complied, 
dumping Brock, Misty, and Dixie unceremoniously onto the ground.  

	Brock immediately rushed to Misty's side, helping the coughing, moaning 
girl to her feet.  "Are you okay?" he whispered to her.

	She nodded slowly, methodically checking each of her bones to see if any 
of them were broken.  Her entire body ached, but nothing seemed to be too 
serious.  "I will be." She immediately began glaring at Lawrence.  "As soon as I 
strangle him until he's dead, dead, dead!"

	"I'll second that." Dixie snarled, her southern drawl filled with 
uncharacteristic anger.  The Southern Belle very nearly took a step towards the 
pampered villain, but remembered the armored, armed automaton at their backs, 
and wisely kept her place.

	"Now..." Lawrence began, but Ash interrupted him.

	"Hold it." Ash's eyes fixed on a pair of Lawrence's patented containment 
fields, which held two of his Pokémon trapped within the webs of pure energy.  
"I want you to let them *all* go.  That includes Pikachu and Pidgeot."

	Lawrence sighed heavily, as if Ash's demands were nothing more than a 
terrible inconvenience.  "Very well."  The older man snapped his fingers 
casually, without even turning around.  Immediately, the two fields blinked out 
of existence, letting the tiny yellow thundermouse and its feathery companion 
fall to the floor in a heap.  Slowly, the two pocket monsters came around, 
blinking heavily as if waking from a deep, long sleep.

	"Pika?"  Pikachu searched its new surroundings dizzily, trying to make 
sense of what had happened.  Suddenly, its tiny black eyes fell upon Ash, who 
was strapped to the examination table and held upright only a meter from 
Lawrence's position.  "Pikachu!" The electric mouse snarled, and leapt forward, 
intent on tearing out the man's throat with its own teeth.

	"Pikachu, stop!" Ash's words cut through its battle-lusted brain, bringing 
it to a screeching halt.  "Stop." Ash said again, this time more gently.  
"Everything's all right.  I'm fine."  He sighed, letting his head drop in 
defeat.  "I want you to go over with Misty and the others.  You too, Pidgeot."

	"Pika!" Pikachu began to protest, but Ash cut his Pokémon's cries short 
with a glance.  "Pi..." Slowly, never taking its eyes off of Ash and Lawrence, 
Pikachu shuffled over to stand at Brock's side.  Pidgeot soon followed, hopping 
over there on its long, sharp talons.

	"Are you quite done, Mr. Ketchum?"
Ash smirked, despite the tense situation.  "Aren't you forgetting something?"  
When Lawrence gave him a questioning look, he explained, "The original deal was 
that you would give us the HM if I came.  Cough it up."

	"You failed to come alone."

	"On the contrary," Ash objected, "I came alone, just like you asked.  My 
'friends' got here after I did." he gave his companions an annoyed glance, still 
sorry that they were mixed up in all of this.  "Besides, what do you need with 
it?  It's useless to you without the Accelerator.  Now give it to Dixie."

	"As you wish."  He stepped slowly towards the trio of would-be rescuers, 
each of his steps ringing out against the cold metal deck.  As he drew closer, 
he reached into his heavy, full-length jacket.  Dixie flinched inwardly, 
wondering if he was going to draw a gun and go back on his promise to let them 
live.  In the end, though, it was a small chip that he drew from the cloth, and 
not a firearm.  The handsome rogue took Dixie's hand and gently pressed the HM 
into her palm.  "Here it is.  The Hidden Machine chip for the technique of 
flight, as promised."

	"This is the 'Fly' chip?" Dixie examined the small piece of plastic and 
metal, turning it over in her hands.  It was beautiful, just as the first HM had 
been.  Of course, when you hold the last gift your grandfather had ever left to 
you, anything might appear beautiful.

	"Now get going, guys." Ash ordered them.  "I want you out of here, now." 

	"Actually," Lawrence halted them with a gesture, "I'd rather you stayed.  
After all, it is a long trip back to the Orange Islands, and I would appreciate 
the company...as well as the leverage over our young friend here." he added with 
a smirk.

	"Orange Islands?" Brock clutched the wounded Misty to his chest, scowling 
at Lawrence III with confusion.  "I don't understand.  What is it that you need 
Ash for in the Orange Islands?"

	The Collector raised an eyebrow at the teen's inquiry.  "Didn't I mention?  
Mr. Ketchum and I are about to embark on a quest." His eyes sparkled with the 
glimmer of insanity.

	"We are going to capture Lugia himself."
*		*		*

	Delta leveled his gun slowly, half-hidden by the edge of the hatch.  With 
practiced ease, he aimed the barrel of his nine-millimeter pistol.  His finger 
passed over the inscription in the side of the barrel, nearly worn down to the 
point of illegibility.  'Rose'...Someday he would find out whose name it was on 
the barrel of his gun.  Maybe it was someone from his own past.  Try as he 
might, he couldn't remember anything before he joined Team Rocket.

	"Focus." he murmured to himself, re-adjusting his aim and banishing any 
stray thoughts.  With a simple squeeze of the trigger, Ash Ketchum's brains 
would be splattered halfway across the room, and his mission would be complete.  
Yet something caused him to hesitate for a moment.  He had heard Lawrence's 
insane proclamation, and had initially brushed it aside as a madman's dream.  
The boy's reaction to it, as well as his friends' reactions, though, seemed as 
if the world was coming to an end.  Thinking back, Delta could remember an 
incident in the Orange Islands a few years ago, one that involved the Legendary 
Bird in question.

	'Never mind that.' a voice in his head told him sternly, 'All that matters 
is killing the kid and getting out while you're still alive.'  

	He took a deep breath, focusing in on the middle of Ash's forehead.  
Already, he could see the carnage in his mind's eye; the boy's head snapping 
back, a fountain of blood pouring from the bullet's entry point as the room 
erupted in horrified shrieks and screams.  The whole scene played over and over 
again in Delta's mind, moving in slow motion.

	"I'll find a way to stop you, Collector." Ash vowed to the twisted madman, 
even as he lay strapped upright to the table, closer to death than he would ever 
realize.  "You won't win."

	Lawrence merely smiled.  "Bold words, Mr. Ketchum.  And I think that it is 
very cute that you believe them."

	Still holding his breath, Delta re-adjusted his aim again.  He knew what 
he had to do, even though he wouldn't like it one bit.  "Four shots ought to be 
enough..." He mentally placed the first shot, readying his pistol.

	Exhale...

	And squeeze...
*		*		*

	"Computer, set course for the O-"
	
	BAM!
	PING!

 	Lawrence began to dictate to his navigational systems, but stopped short 
as a small clap of thunder erupted in the large room, pounding in his ears for a 
split second.  His head whirled around to face his other captives, immediately 
looking to Pikachu with suspicion.  The small Pokémon hadn't even moved, though, 
and was searching the room in confusion, as were the rest of his human and 
Pokémon friends.

	BAM!
	PING!

	The sound rang out again.  Helplessly, Lawrence spun in place, trying to 
figure out what was happening.  He was a man who was accustomed to being in 
control, no matter the situation.  Unknown sounds of such magnitude in his own 
fortress was something he wouldn't tolerate in the least.  His sweeping gaze 
eventually brought him back to Ash...

	Ash...

	His hands were free...

	"What?" Lawrence roared, even as a third thunderclap rang out.  Right 
before his eyes, an invisible assailant shattered the clasp around Ash's right 
leg, reducing it to metallic splinters and freeing the boy's ankle.  Though 
confused, Ash remained absolutely still.  He wasn't sure who or what was behind 
this, but he wasn't about to complain.  As he expected, another shot rang out, 
and the last of his manacles exploded in a hail of shrapnel, slicing through his 
jeans and cutting into his leg.  He winced in pain, but jumped down from the 
table nonetheless, running for his friends.

	"Let's get out of here!" he shouted to them.

	Lawrence shook with fury, chasing after Ash.  His heavy jacket shimmered 
and swayed about him as he bellowed, "Archimedes, STOP THEM!"  His robot bent 
down in response, reaching out to gather up the three intruders back into his 
monstrous arms, when a fifth shot caught him in the back of his metallic skull.  
Sparks began shooting from his twin red ocular scanners as his head began 
emitting small flashes of light.  The children beneath him scattered just in 
time as, with a slow, ominous creaking, the titanium titan toppled over, landing 
with a fantastic crash against the steel deck.

	Ash didn't bother to even slow down, clamping down on Dixie's arm as he 
passed them at full sprint, nearly yanking the poor girl off of her feet as he 
led the way to the only exit in the room.  Brock was quick to follow, carrying 
Misty in his arms.  Both Pidgeot and Pikachu brought up the rear, squawking and 
squealing as they scampered after their trainer.

	The group rounded the corner at full steam, skidding so hard they all 
nearly crashed into the wall.  Ash, being the one in front, was lucky enough to 
be the first to stare down Delta's gunpoint.  He dug his heels into the ground 
and came to a screeching halt in front of the armed assassin.  Without thinking, 
Ash placed himself between the gunpoint and Dixie, glaring defiantly at Delta.  
The agent of Omega Red remained statue-like, keeping the gun pointed straight at 
Ash's heart, his face a mask of stoic silence.

	The stare-down continued for a handful of seconds longer.  Delta was the 
first to move, holstering his gun and half-turning, motioning down the corridor 
he had come from.  "This way.  I have a plane waiting...I hope."

	Ash raised an eyebrow, not budging an inch.  "Why are you doing this?"

	"Shut up and run."  Delta broke off, sprinting down the hall and moving 
out of sight around the corridor's curve.  Muttering a curse, Ash once again 
took off running, still yanking Dixie along.

	"Don't tell me," Dixie huffed, trying to keep up, "That y'all trust that 
guy."

	"Not even as far as I can throw him." Ash answered back between gulping 
gasps, "But what other choice do we have?"  He twisted around, looking further 
back.  "Brock, is she all right?"

	"She," Misty snarled angrily, hanging on tightly to Brock's neck as the 
Rock Master barreled down the hallway with her in his arms, "Is just fine, thank 
you.  Although I'd be a lot better if Brock would let me run on my own."

	"You heard her." Brock quipped, gripping her tighter against his chest.  
He couldn't afford to drop her, for more reasons than one.

	After what seemed an eternity, they caught up to Delta inside some sort of 
large, open bay.  Inside, Ash was horrified to find rows and rows of flying 
Mechémon, the same kind that had brought himself, Pikachu, and Pidgeot into 
Lawrence's clutches.  "There must be a million of these things in here!"

	"And there are another million out there," Delta barked, pulling a radio 
off of his belt and extending the antenna.  "Jessie, do you read me?"

	*Delta?* A high-pitched, strong Brooklyn voice squawked back, thick with 
static.  Delta could hear screaming in the background, drowned out occasionally 
by explosions.  *Is dat you?*

	"Meowth." Delta breathed in relief, glad to know that his team in the air 
hadn't been blown out of the sky just yet.  "Meowth, tell James to swing around 
and pick us up at the bay you dropped me off at."
*		*		*

	Meowth sweated nervously, clinging to the edges of the communication 
console with his jagged claws as their assault carrier shifted beneath his 
wobbly long feet.  The Pidgeot painted plane they had procured was state-of-the-
art Team Rocket technology, but even it was having a hard time keeping up under 
the Collector's barrage.  He looked over at James, who was coated with a thin 
sheen of sweat as he jerked the craft every which way, trying to avoid the 
crimson bolts of death that seemed to come at them from all directions.  Jessie 
sat in the co-pilot's seat, operating their jet's sophisticated weaponry as best 
as she could.  

	"He wants us to pick him up?" James grunted, hauling up on the stick.  
Their Pidjet soared higher, barely avoiding the lancing lasers as they skimmed 
the bottom of their hull, scorching the Pidgeot paint job.  "Is he crazy?  A few 
more direct hits, and there won't be anything left to pick him up in!"

	Meowth shook his head, turning back to the radio equipment.  "Sorry, Mista 
Delta, that's a no-go on pick-up.  Jimmy Boy says that if we tried to land dis 
ting, we'd be toasted!"

	*Meowth,* Delta's angry voice came back over the frequency, *I have 
several...er...hostages here, and we're running out of time.  We need an evac, 
and we need it now!*

	"Wha'dya want me ta do?" Meowth shouted back, straining to be heard as one 
of Jessie's shots turned a Mechémon into an expanding ball of fire and scrap, 
"Use the transploders and beam you over here?  Dis ain't Sev Trek, and my name 
ain't Squatty!"
*		*		*

	"Blast!" Delta vented, slamming the transceiver into an open palm.

	Misty broke from Brock's grasp as he lowered her gently to her feet, 
insisting that she was fine and calmly telling him that she would pound the 
living bejesus out of him if he didn't let her go.  "What is it?" she asked the 
assassin, limping over and clutching her ribs.  Ash remembered his own aching 
ribs from his crash on Pidgeot the day before, which felt as if they were on 
fire after all the jostling he had put them through in the last hour or so.  
"What's wrong?"

	Delta glanced over at her with a furious scowl pressed on his strong 
features.  "They can't land the jet, there's too much flak out there."  A low 
growl rumbled from the back of his throat as he stared out the open port at the 
battle beyond.  It was like a laser light show, but much more beautiful, and far 
more deadly.  "Looks like we're finished."

	Brock appeared thoughtful, examining both the battle and the gaping hatch 
of the landing bay.  "Does this jet of yours have any sort of VTOL 
capabilities?" he inquired, a plan already starting to form in his head.

	The assassin gave him a questioning look, but then began to understand.  A 
smile slowly blossomed on his face as he raised the radio to his mouth once 
more.  "You know, I think it does.  I like you, kid...you have guts."  Brock 
blushed at the praise, even if it had come from a man who had been trying to 
kill them all for the past two or three days.

	"Vee-toll?" Ash scratched his head, confused.  "Isn't that what a 
president uses to say no to different bills?"

	"VTOL: Vertical Take-Off and Landing." Delta snapped, flipping on the 
radio."

	"Oh...I knew that."  He winced as Misty jabbed her elbow into his ribs, 
giving him an annoyed look.  "Hey!"

	"Meowth!" Delta yelled into the comm, "Tell James to start making his way 
towards the landing bay, now!"

	*I told ya!* the tough tabby's voice answered, *We can't land dis boid!*

	"You're not going to." Delta exchanged smiles with Brock for a moment 
before continuing, "I want you to slow down once you get into the bay, and cut 
in the jet's repulsor rockets.  Got it?"

	*Dat's suicide!*

	"It'll have to be a suicide we can survive.  Just do it!"  With that, he 
snapped the antenna down, jamming the radio back onto his belt.  On the surface, 
he seethed and fumed, silently raging against this new and radically powerful 
foe that had come into his life not more than a half-hour ago.  Underneath, 
though, he was as frightened as the teenagers surrounding him were.  Somehow, he 
managed to hide his fear beneath a veil of anger, through years of practice and 
tragedy.  "Come on..." he silently urged the Pidjet, "Come on, blast you!"

	Finally, he saw a glimmer through the raging sea of flashes and 
explosions, a small spark that shot towards their open bay like a bullet from 
the muzzle of a gun.  A heartbeat later, Team Rocket's assault craft came 
screaming into the landing bay.  James, being the adequate pilot that he was, 
managed to fire the retro-rockets and activate the VTOL before the plane smashed 
into the cold metal frame of the fortress.  With a soft click and a whirring 
that was barely heard above the din of the battle, a short, stumpy ramp extended 
from the back of the plane and halted just before it hit the deck.

	"Get on!" Delta yelled, gathering the kids in front of him and shoving 
them towards the ramp.  They stumbled as one, clamoring up the slick metal 
surface and clawing their way into the threshold of the plane.  Delta himself 
was about to follow when a laser bolt struck the ramp, leaving a slagged, 
carbonized crater where his foot would have been in a moment.  With a sinking 
feeling, he turned around and found himself facing a small hoard of Lawrence's 
flying Mechémon.  The midnight black demons had been deactivated when the 
escapees had first arrived in the bay, but now appeared fully awake and had 
found a target.

	"Delta!" Ash yelled, foolishly rushing back down the ramp.  Misty chased 
after him, crying out his name.  "Pikachu, use Thunderwave!" he ordered.

	Pikachu leapt at the villainous robots, unleashing a golden pulse of 
energy that shot out in every direction.  The flash of power shorted out the 
Mechémon, playing havoc with their internal circuitry and melting their 
components like so much butter under a hot knife.  

	Unfortunately, the pulse also struck the Pidjet squarely in its metallic 
hindquarters.  With no operating circuit boards to control it, the plane's VTOL 
cut out.  And with no VTOL to hold it in the air, the Pidjet fell to the deck 
with a titanic, thunderous bang.  The fierce jarring knocked Ash, Misty, and 
Dixie off of the ramp, leaving only Brock at his place inside of the plane's 
rear.

	"Bad move, kid!" Delta yelled, but was cut off by another roar.  

	Horrified, he shielded his eyes as the Pidjet's main thrusters suddenly 
cut in, blasting them with a wave of heat and light.  Before their watering 
eyes, the plane roared out of the bay, leaving a trail of sparks as its hull 
scraped against the deck.

	"Where are they going?" Dixie shrieked, pulling herself up off of the deck 
and staring longingly at the jet as it sailed off into the night sky.  "What are 
they doing?"

	"I don't know, but we have to get out of here..."

	Ash immediately knew what to do.  "Pidgeot." he called over his large, 
fluttering bird.  It hopped over obediently, claws clicking and scraping against 
the deck.  "Pal, I need you to carry the girls.  I know it's a lot, but it's 
important they make it."  His Pidgeot nodded, and took off into the air.

	"Who died and made you Eisenhower?" Dixie put her hands on her hips, 
scowling at Ash.  "Besides, what about you?  How will you-"

	All around them, the bat-like Mechémon were beginning to activate, slowly 
being lowered from their hanging racks.  "We don't have time to argue!  Pikachu, 
stick with them."  He picked up his Pika-partner and brought it up to his face.  
"Make sure they're okay.  I'm counting on you.  You got it?"

"Pika!"

"That's my guy." He tossed Pikachu to Misty, who was barely quick enough to 
catch the Pokémon.  "Now, Pidgeot!  Take off!"  With a shrill cry in response, 
Pidgeot swooped down and snatched each of the girls, wrapping a long, sharp set 
of talons carefully around their waists.  With a strong gust from its wings, the 
enormous bird wobbled into the air.

"Wait!" Misty cried out, but it was too late.  With one final cry, Pidgeot 
disappeared over the edge of the deck and began its barely controlled descent.  
Ash stared longingly after the two girls and his Pokémon, his heart sinking as 
he realized that he would probably never see either of them again.

	"Our turn, Ketchum." Delta told him, shouting to be heard over the roaring 
engines and blazing cannons.  He grabbed Ash by the arm and began to run for the 
edge, just as Pidgeot had with its passengers.  His muscles ached, and he had 
the distinct feeling that they wouldn't be getting better anytime soon, but 
nevertheless he knew what he had to do.

Ash didn't fight Delta, but still didn't know whether or not to trust the 
assassin yet.  "What are you doing?" he asked him as they reached the edge of 
the bay.  Behind them, the newly activated Mechémon had become airborne and were 
heading in their direction, guns already aglow with power, ready to tear them 
into burning pieces of flesh and cloth.

"This."

It was déjŕ vu all over again, with the positions reversed, as Delta violently 
shoved Ash out of the bay and into the open air below.  The second-to-last 
thought that passed through Ash's head as he began his free fall was the irony 
behind it all; just a few days ago, he had pushed Misty out of an airship not 
unlike this one in exactly the same manner.  Apparently, it was his turn now.

The last thought was pure, blinding terror as he saw the green landscape yawing 
below him, separated by two vertical miles of air...a space that was growing 
smaller very, very quickly.
*		*		*

"What are you doing?"

Brock climbed into the Pidjet's cockpit, hanging onto the hatchway for dear life 
as the plane danced and jerked beneath his feet.  His eyes fell on Jessie and 
James as they pounded at the smoking, flashing control console, trying their 
best to keep their craft aloft even as it was being hammered by Lawrence's 
furious barrage.  "We have to go back and get them!"

Meowth rolled his large, inhuman eyes, still clinging to the communications 
panel.  "Of all da people to make it aboard, it had ta be you."  His sarcasm cut 
short in a yelp when Brock grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him 
up to the Rock Master's face level.

"Listen up." Brock growled, gritting his teeth.  Anger sparked in his narrow, 
slitted eyes like never before.  It was a fearsome sight for Meowth as the cat 
dangled in the large man's grip, face to face with the fuming breeder.  "My 
friends are still on that deathtrap.  I'm not sure how, but I know that, 
somehow, all of this is your fault.  Now turn this bucket around and get them."

"You have to be crazy!" James grunted, trying to fly the plane and put out the 
fire on his control panel at the same time.  "This thing isn't going to stay in 
the air for more than a minute or two.  We turn around, and that time gets cut 
to zero."

Jessie's head whipped around as she shot James a horrified glance.  "You mean 
we're going to crash?"

"That's exactly what I mean!"  Even as he spoke, the nose of the plane began to 
dip downward, taking the plane lower and lower towards the Appalachian forests 
below.  The engines whined, then began to cough and sputter pathetically.  A 
moment later, they caught fire, spreading the blaze across half of the dying 
Pidjet as it sailed towards the ground.  "Everyone assume crash positions!" 
James' voice reverberated in their eardrums above the death throes of their 
plane.

"What's a crash position?" Meowth screamed back.

"The position you want to be found dead in!" Jessie snapped, pulling her knees 
up to her chest and curling into a ball.  James and Meowth did the same, leaving 
Brock seatless and hopeless as they careened out of control.

"Looks like Team Rocket's crashing down again!"
*		*		*

"I'm really getting sick of this!"

Misty could barely hear the Southern Belle's wails of indignation over the 
rushing of the wind past her ears, to say nothing of the furious, fear-driven 
pounding in her chest.  Pidgeot, Ash's loyal, feathery friend, was doing its 
best to keep the two girls and their Pikachu carry-on aloft, but the weight 
proved to be too much for the bird.  The best it could manage was a semi-
controlled fall, trying without success to slow their nearly two vertical mile 
descent.


"We're going too fast!" Dixie cupped her hands to her mouth, screaming to be 
heard.  Like Misty, she was wrapped delicately in one of Pidgeot's dangerous 
talons, hanging beneath the bird as they 'flew' down.  "It's too much for 
Pidgeot to handle!"

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Misty screamed back, venting her fear and 
anger through frustration as she tried to be heard.  "It's not like we can just 
'teach' Pidgeot to carry more weight!"

Dixie brightened, her eyes going wide with surprise.  "Wait a minute!  Yes we 
can!"

"What?"

Twisting slightly, she managed to reach into her pack.  As she unzipped it, 
several different items rained out, flying every which way; a spoon, her 
sleeping bag, extra clothes...Misty prayed that no one was below them to take 
the brunt of the items' fall, much less their own.  Finally, she pulled out her 
grandfather's miracle device, the HM Accelerator.

"How's this supposed to help us now?" Misty shouted, unable to hold back the 
sarcasm in her voice despite the situation.  Ash had always told her that she 
could always be counted on to be snide, no matter how much trouble they were in.  
She hated it when he was right.  "Are we going to cut our way out of this mess?"

"No!" Dixie pulled a small chip from her pocket, plugging it in to the machine.  
The Accelerator came to life with a series of beeps and hums, its access panel 
lighting up.  "Lawrence gave me the number two chip.  It teaches a flying 
technique."

"What kind of flying technique?"

"I don't know."

"You don't KNOW?" Misty roared, her stomach already sinking.  "What do you mean, 
you don't know?"

"Look, do you have a better idea?" Dixie shot back.  When Misty didn't answer, 
she took it as a 'no'.  "Now look," she explained, splitting the device in half, 
as it was meant to do when used, "We have to get this on either side of his 
temple.  I can't do this alone, not right now."  Straining her arm, she reached 
over to hand the other half to Misty.

The redhead hesitated, wavering in her conviction.  Either side of the bird's 
temple...that meant letting go.  That meant free falling.  She hated free 
falling.

If she made just one mistake...

Just one little mistake...

Splat.

But what choice did she have?

Reaching out, Misty took the Accelerator half, nodding slowly.  She swallowed 
her fear, and told her urge to vomit to stuff it, giving Dixie a weak thumbs-up.

"On three," Dixie shouted up towards Pidgeot's head, "I want you to let us go.  
Understand, Pidgeot?"

"Jyo!" Misty desperately hoped that 'Jyo' meant 'yes'.

"One!" Dixie shouted at the top of her lungs.

"T-two!" Misty took the next number.  Her eye caught Dixie's, and she took 
comfort in seeing that the newest member of their group was just as afraid as 
she was right now.

"THREE!" they shouted together, pushing away from Pidgeot.  As ordered, the 
avian Pokémon had uncurled its talons and let them into free fall, hanging out 
in the middle of air with nothing holding them, save for gravity's unbreakable 
grip.  Misty's mouth opened to scream as she began to drift away from Pidgeot, 
but no sounds came out.  After a half-second of eternity, she shut her mouth and 
forced herself to concentrate on the task ahead.  Pidgeot was just a few feet in 
front of her, with Pikachu clinging desperately to its plumage, tiny eyes 
squeezed shut, and claws digging painfully into the bird's back.  

Beyond the two, Dixie was using her entire body as a modified airfoil, trying to 
maneuver towards Pidgeot without losing too much speed to wind resistance.  
Misty began to do the same, tilting forward, her eyes tearing and burning with 
the incredible wind ripping into her soft features.

At long last, they both reached Pidgeot's neck, each gripping the bird with a 
single arm.  Misty wanted to scream, to dance in celebration at having survived 
so far, but they weren't even close to being done, and there was maybe a single 
mile between them and the Appalachian ground left.

A minute more...maybe two...

"Put it on his temple!" Dixie's voice brought Misty's focus back, forcing her to 
shake off the visions of her own death.  She did as she was told, pressing the 
Accelerator gently on the side of Pidgeot's head.  Dixie nodded in satisfaction, 
doing the same.  "Here goes nothing!"  Taking a deep breath, she triggered the 
activator.

Pidgeot screamed, trilling so loudly that Misty thought her eardrums were going 
to start bleeding at any moment.  She couldn't imagine what it felt like, having 
information imprinted directly onto your brain.  Did it hurt, or was the Pokémon 
merely surprised?  She hoped the latter, and also hoped that she would never 
have to find out firsthand.  Pidgeot's eyes began glowing a deep amber yellow, a 
glow that soon faded.

"Is that it?" Misty shouted across.  She looked worriedly at Pidgeot, who seemed 
a bit dizzy after the ordeal.  "Did it work?"

"We'll find out in a second!" Dixie answered grimly.  "Okay, Pidgeot: Fly!"

Pidgeot's eyes began glowing again with the same golden light.  This time, 
though, the bird Pokémon did not scream.  Instead, it seemed joyful, as if 
instilled with some new kind of power.  Soon, everything around them began to 
glow amber, surrounded in a surreal light.  At first, Misty thought that Pidgeot 
had somehow turned the entire world yellow.  Then she realized that she was the 
one that was glowing, that Pidgeot's new ability, its new power, had grabbed 
hold of her.

First they were in free fall.

Then they were in no-fall.

Misty simply couldn't believe it; she had only placed a single arm on Pidgeot's 
neck to stabilize herself for Dixie's tricky maneuver.  Suddenly, Pidgeot had 
stopped falling, hanging in midair as if it had somehow applied an emergency 
brake.  Stranger still, Misty, Dixie, and Pikachu had all stopped with it.  The 
four of them were floating, but it didn't feel like floating...

It felt like flying!

With a joyous whoop, Pidgeot inverted and dove for the ground in a nosedive, 
taking the rest of them with it.  This time, though, the bird was in perfect 
control.  Dixie was the first to let go, tentatively testing Pidgeot's 
technique; she didn't drop like a rock, as Newton would have insisted her to do.  
Instead, she simply flew right alongside Pidgeot, her arms akimbo, laughing and 
crying with every swoop, every juke that Pidgeot made.  Casting her doubt away, 
Misty let go as well.  It was glorious!  The freedom, the rush of unaided 
flight...it was intoxicating!  Behind her, she could hear Pikachu's tiny voice 
laughing and egging Pidgeot on, trying to get the bird to go faster, be more 
daring.

After a few minutes, and several loop-the-loops, Pidgeot finally them down.  The 
enormous bird was first to touch ground, with the other three setting down 
gently at its side.  A moment later the amber aura faded around each of them.  
They fell to their knees as one, laughing and dizzy from the heady experience.  
Pidgeot merely tilted its head, staring at them as they carried on loudly.

"I never..." Dixie panted, falling back on her butt, "I never imagined anyone 
could do anything like that...ever!"

"It was incredible..." Misty agreed, resting on her knees.   She looked over at 
Pikachu, who still looked loopy from the loops.  "It was phenomenal...It was..." 
Her hand brushed down by her waist, coming into contact with something foreign.  
It took her a minute to remember what it was.  "Hey, Dixie?"

"Huh?"

Misty laughed, unstrapping Ash's Pokébelt from her slender hips, where it had 
been ever since he had given it to her for safekeeping when he first got 
Lawrence's message.  "I had Ash's belt the entire time...we could have ridden 
down on his other flying types."

"We didn't have to go through any of that?" Dixie asked her breathlessly.  Misty 
nodded, which sent Dixie into uncontrollable laughter.  Misty joined in, not 
quite knowing why they were laughing.  She didn't think Dixie knew either.  It 
probably just felt good to laugh again.

It helped drive the terror away.
*		*		*

	Ash groaned, slowly coming around.  The first thing he was truly aware of 
was that his entire body hurt.  His ribs, which had taken more than their fair 
share of punishment over the past few days, were screaming at him in protest, 
aching with every rattling breath he managed to get into his lungs.  His left 
leg was still cut and pierced from when Delta had freed him of Lawrence's 
manacles and his right ankle didn't seem to be facing the correct direction 
anymore.

	All in all, Ash felt like crap.

	But he was still alive.

	Groaning again, he managed to open his eyes.  Above him, wafting, dirty 
pines slowly came into focus, drifting above him as if in another reality 
against the starry night sky.  He was on the ground...but how?  It seemed that 
the last thing he could remember was Delta hauling him out of the bay's huge 
doors, letting the both of them drop like a stone.  Had the assassin been so 
determined to kill him that he would sacrifice himself as well?  If so, he had 
failed.

	But not by much.

	Propping himself up on his elbows, he began to gather his legs underneath 
him in order to stand up.  It took every ounce of will he had not to pass out 
from the pain, as his right ankle refused to do anything but hurt worse than 
anything he had ever felt before.  By God, it hadn't hurt this much when he had 
died...either time!  "AHH!" he howled in pain, his cry echoing off of canyons, 
trees, and other such foresty things.

	He fell back to the ground, hitting his head against something hard and 
cold.  The good thing was that it helped take away from the pain in his 
ankle...the bad news was that, with his luck, it had probably split his head 
open like a cantaloupe.  Absently, he wondered how things could possible get 
worse.

	As if to answer, a dark shadow suddenly monopolized his vision.  Squinting 
through the haze of pain, he saw Delta standing above him, gun already drawn and 
leveled at his head.  Ash felt a cold sliver of fear in the back of his woozy 
brain.  'GET UP, YOU IDIOT, HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" His mind screamed, but he 
knew too well that he was in no condition to even get up, much less run for his 
very life.  It was finally over, after all these years.  Team Rocket had beaten 
him.

	Then Delta did something that genuinely surprised him.  Without ever 
moving his gun, he looked down at Ash and asked, "Any idea where we are?"

	"Somewhere...on the ground...I think." Ash managed to get out, the edges 
of his vision going black.  Why was Delta asking him these stupid questions?  
"Going to...finish the job...and call your friends?"

	Delta shook his head, still aiming right for Ash's heart.  He reached down 
with his left hand and pulled a broken radio off of his belt, showing it to Ash, 
then tossing it to the side.  "My comm broke after those robot things shot my 
emergency chute and we had to make a rough landing."

	"Chute?" Ash murmured, trying to remember.  "Landing?" That would explain 
why he wasn't a smear on the forest floor, but it didn't explain why Delta had 
kept him alive this long, much less why he had shared a chute with the boy.  
Picking his left wrist up weakly, he began to speak into his watch, an action 
that made Delta the surprised one for a change.  "Gear...Location."

	If speaking to a watch had given the assassin pause for wonder, the man 
was floored when the watch began speaking back to the boy in a crisp, very 
feminine voice.  "Location confirmed: approximately two miles south-southwest of 
previous position."

	"Locate...Pokédex." He mumbled again, already slipping in and out of 
consciousness.  It was all he could do to keep himself awake, afraid that if he 
fell asleep, it would be for the last time.  "Are the girls...okay?  What...what 
about P...Pikachu?"

	The Pokégear hummed for a moment, processing the request.  "Unit Pokédex 
location confirmed: approximately four point six miles north-northeast of 
current position."

	"They must've...fallen the opposite direction..." Ash chuckled, more out 
of reflex than of true amusement.  He was immediately relieved to hear that they 
were safely out of harm's way...at least, he hoped so.  If he was going to die, 
at least he would go out knowing that his Pokémon and his friends were all 
right.

	"This hardly seems like the time for laughter, Ketchum." Delta told him in 
a low voice.  His finger applied the slightest pressure to the trigger, letting 
it creak ever so slightly underneath his grip.  "This is serious."

	"If you were about to die..." Ash wheezed, coughing, "What would you do?"  
The Omega Red remained stonily silent for a moment, pondering the situation.  
Then he pointed to Ash's wrist with his free hand, indicating the Pokégear.

	"Is that thing some kind of map?" he asked.  Ash nodded slowly, unable to 
find the strength to speak, and not sure if he even wanted to bother.  Last 
words never really had appealed to him.  "Does it only respond to you?" Again 
Ash nodded, knowing full well that Gear had no real preference, and would 
respond to anyone that strapped it on.  Again, the assassin paused in silence a 
moment, as if pondering something.  Finally, he slipped his gun into its holster 
with a sigh, then bent over to examine Ash's broken form.

	"What..." Ash managed to whisper, but Delta quickly told him to kindly 
shut his mouth.

	"Fractured ribs..." Delta moved up and down Ash's athletic frame, testing 
various points for reactions and pain.  "Plenty of bruises...broken ankle." He 
took a quick look at Ash's head, being as gentle as any Nurse Joy Ash had ever 
seen.  "Your head doesn't look good, either."

	"What's the bottom line, doctor?" Ash managed to joke, half-awake and 
drunk with pain.

	"Stay here.  We're not going anywhere until morning anyway, and not before 
I make sure you can survive the trip."

	"What about your mission?"

	Delta took one last glance at Ash as he got up, dusting his hands off.  
"You let me worry about my mission, kid.  I'll kill you on my own terms.  In the 
meantime, let's see if I can patch you up.  Now rest.  I'll be back in a little 
while."

	Ash was out cold before he ever finished the last sentence.
*		*		*

	Brock groaned in frustration, parting a pair of tree branches in his path 
as he stole a glance over his shoulder.  "Will you three hurry up already?  We 
have a lot of ground to cover!"

	"Quiet, twerp!" Jessie snarled as she clutched a nasty cut on her 
shoulder.  The entire top right part of her split jacket was stained with a 
mixture of crimson blood and dark brown earth.  Every move she made sent a shaft 
of pain lancing through her, which made the trip back to wherever it was they 
were going both long and painful.  "Who died and made you boss, anyway?  We're 
in charge, here."

	James kept his mouth shut, still hauling the unconscious form of their 
feline friend as he remained by Jessie's side.  He was more concerned about how 
they were going to get out of this one than who led them where.  They were stuck 
in the middle of nowhere, lucky to be alive after their multi-billion dollar, 
one-of-a-kind assault jet had made an "emergency landing" in the middle of the 
forest, not too far from where Lawrence's sky fortress still hung.

	Brock rolled his eyes, a movement that was invisible to the Rockets, as he 
tried desperately to keep his patience.  Never again would he complain about 
traveling with his hardheaded teenage companions...not after a few hours in the 
woods with these nimrods.  "Then what would you suggest, oh wise and skilled 
agent of evil?" he asked mockingly, letting the sarcasm drip from his voice as 
if it were basted in his own frustration.

	Jessie looked in either direction, seeing nothing but unfamiliar forest.  
Like the twerps, Team Rocket was still new to America.  She was rapidly getting 
sick of the fresh pine scent, too.  Then she looked up, spying the ominous, 
imposing airship that hung above them, the axe of their would-be executioner.  
"Uh...keep taking point.  James and I will guard our flanks."

	"Aye-aye," Brock turned back, muttering several choice phrases in English, 
Japanese, and a few strings of native islander.  The Breeder let his thoughts 
drift to Ash, Misty, and Dixie.  He hoped desperately that they were all right.  
He could never live with himself if they were still trapped on Lawrence's 
floating island, prisoners of the megalomaniac madman.

	"Keep it moving, Squinty Joe!" Jessie fumed, already renewing her pace 
behind him.

  	With a small smirk, Brock drew back the branches that he held extra far, 
letting them go only after Jessie was well in range.

THWAP!

	"OW!"
*		*		*

	Dixie searched through the remainder of her pack, praying that she hadn't 
lost it.  "It has to be here somewhere..." she muttered, digging through her 
personal items, food, and clothes.  "Where is it?"  If it had indeed fallen out 
during their aerial maneuvers, then it was as good as street pizza now.  
"C'mon..."

	Misty bent over her, balancing Pikachu on her shoulder.  She had managed 
to return Pidgeot to its Pokéball, but Pikachu, as always, stubbornly refused to 
enter the capture/containment device.  Ash had always been the one to tote his 
Pokémon around, but in his absence, Misty was always more than happy to provide 
an arm-up for the tiny mouse.  Together, they examined the inside of Dixie's 
pack as the young blonde dismantled it.  "Wha'cha looking for?"

	"I need to make sure that we still have the Itemfinder." Dixie muttered, 
more to herself than to answer Misty's query.  "Can't have lost it.  It has to 
be here...somewhere."

	The mention of Dixie's personal electronic scanner jogged Misty's mind 
into activity.  She pulled Dexter off of Ash's Pokébelt, still strapped around 
her waist, and flipped it open.  "Dexter:" she commanded, "Scan for Gear's 
tracer chip."  It was simple enough, really; if they found the Pokégear, they 
would find Ash.

	Or at least, what was left of him after Delta was through.

	She shook off the thoughts as the Pokédex began to speak.  
"Ohhhh....Grrrrrr....Doooohhhaaa..."

	"Dexter?"

	Apparently, that caught the machine's attention.  "Hello, how am I?  Oh, 
I'm fine, thank me.  Would you like a scone?"  Dexter's screen was filled with 
hazy static, blinking in and out faster than any strobe light Misty had ever 
seen.

	Dixie pulled her head out of her bag, looking up.  "Is there a problem?"

	Misty nodded as Ash's Pokédex continued to babble on.  "Dexter's 
malfunctioning...I don't understand, though, he had an upgrade just a few months 
ago, the Professor gave him a clean bill of-" Then she noticed it; a series of 
spiderwebbed cracks and fractures on the outside of the Pokédex's glossy 
translucent-red casing.  "Oh no..."

	"What?"

	Misty's mind flashed back to Lawrence's airship, when they had been 
captured and held in the clutches of his deadly Mechémon.  Her ribs ached at the 
mere thought of Archimedes crushing her in his deadly grip.  "Back on the flying 
island..." Misty mumbled, her mind a million miles elsewhere, "When that thing 
was putting the squeeze on me...it must have crushed Dexter in the process."

	"Pikachu..." Pikachu leaned over on Misty's shoulder, staring sadly at the 
broken device as it began to scan about wildly, yammering on about French wine 
and the ambient temperature of bathroom fungus.

	"So?"

	"So?" Misty looked down at the device, which was arguing with itself 
whether Pikachu was a Zapdos or a grilled cheese sandwich.  "So?  So this means 
we can't find Ash, which means we can't meet up with him and start looking for 
Brock!"  Misty's voice squeaked.  She was about three sentences away from panic, 
if that.

	"Hmmm..." Dixie began digging in her pack again, and came out a moment 
later with a cry of triumph on her lips.  "HA!  We won't need the Pokédex as 
long as we have this!"  She palmed the Itemfinder, tossing it up in the air.  
"Ash has HM-Oh-One on him right now, right?"  When Misty nodded, Dixie gave her 
a beaming smile.  "So, all we have to do is use the Itemfinder to lock on to Oh-
One, and Bingo!  Instant Ash!"

	Misty smiled, despite herself.  It was actually very clever...she only 
wished she had thought of it first.  And truth be told, she was glad that they 
wouldn't have to muddle through with the Pokédex.  It was being even more 
obnoxious than usual.

"I am the merry model of the modern mech mechanical..." the machine sang loudly 
in its best show tune voice, "With instruments examination, none of them 
botanical...La la la la la other words, la la la la la la la la...I am the merry 
model of the modern mech mechani-"

Misty shut the Pokédex down before it could embarrass itself any further.  
"Well, what are we waiting for?  Crank it up, and let's find us a trainer."

"Hold your hormones." Dixie snapped back, strapping the device onto her head and 
fitting the lens over her left eye.  She clicked the machine into activation and 
was about to request a lock on the Hidden Machine Ash had in his possession, 
when it began emitting a wild beeping sound.  "What the..." Dixie touched the 
trackball embedded in the earpiece gently, moving the cursor on her screen about 
as she attempted to discern the cause of the Itemfinder's excitement.  "Well, 
I'll be."

"You found him?"

"Better."  She pointed off towards the southwest excitedly, closing up her pack 
and strapping it to her back.  "Just a few miles from here, we have ourselves 
another Hidden Machine!"

"Pika?"

"What?"  Misty could hardly believe it.  The last couple of HMs they had 
encountered had been separated by over a thousand miles.  Now, they found the 
third right in the backyard of the second.  "That doesn't make sense..."

"Maybe so, but the Itemfinder doesn't lie.  Now grab your pack and let's go!"

"Wait!" Misty protested as Dixie began walking hurriedly in the direction of the 
elusive device.  "What if Ash and Brock aren't in that direction?"

"And what if they are?" Dixie countered, already thrilled at the prospect of 
finding another of her grandfather's machines.  "Look, do you have a better 
idea?"

Misty had to admit that she didn't.  With a sigh, she pulled her heavy pack on, 
trying to keep up with the other girl as they tromped through the forest.  She 
silently wondered how on Earth they always got themselves into messes such as 
these, or if they truly deserved the trouble that life was giving them right 
now.
*		*		*

As he had been doing for the past three hours, Delta couldn't help but wonder 
exactly what had possessed him to let himself get into this situation.  There he 
was, stuck in a strange new country, lost in some mountainous woods, with 
nothing but moonlight to guide his way, and the target he had been sent to kill 
was leaning on his shoulder, walking only because of a makeshift splint that 
Delta himself had constructed.  Every fiber of his training told him he should 
be killing Ash Ketchum, that he should be doing whatever it takes to see to it 
that the boy never saw another sunrise.  So why hadn't he?

"We need to stop." Ash's hoarse voice murmured down by Delta's shoulder.  Delta 
looked down at the boy's face, now a mass of dried blood and swelling bruises.  
Ash had taken the fall much worse than Delta had, who had been spared injury 
thanks to his training.  That bump on Ash's head still had Delta a bit worried 
as well.  He was almost positive that it was a concussion.

"We're going to keep moving." Delta told him firmly, trying to put some disdain 
and hate into his voice that he just didn't feel.  The truth was, he felt sorry 
for the kid.  Here he was, only sixteen years old, and already he had 
responsibilities that some adults never even knew of.  "If you can't handle the 
pace, I'll gladly leave you somewhere to die by a tree."

"We have to stop...now." Ash said, this time with a little more conviction.  He 
tried digging his heels into the ground, slowing the pair down.  "Stop." he 
insisted groggily.

Snorting, Delta released his grip on the Ketchum boy, letting him drop to the 
ground.  Helping him was one thing, but the Omega Red refused to take orders 
from the boy, pity or no pity.  "Fine.  Stay here and bleed to death for all I 
care.  At least then my mission will be complete."  He kept walking, throwing 
his hands up in the air.  "Try to help the kid," he spoke as if Ash weren't 
there, "And what does he do?  He tells you to stop.  What an idiot."

"Actually," Ash half-moaned, half-chuckled from the ground, "I'd say that you're 
the idiot right now."

Delta whirled around, his hand on his gun.  "Oh yeah?  What makes you say that?"

"Because, I'm not the one who walked in between an Ursaring and her Teddiursa 
cub."

Delta's blood ran cold, chilled to a stream of icy fear as he looked off to his 
left.  Sure enough, he saw a tiny teddy cub with a ringed tummy, tilting its 
head in curiosity at him as it stared with beady black eyes.  A deep, snarling 
rumble from his right confirmed Ketchum's observation, and told Delta that he 
was about to be in a whole world of hurt.

The mother Ursaring charged from out of the wooded thicket, roaring in fury at 
the interloper who dared to come between herself and her pride and joy.  Before 
Delta could clear his gun from its holster, mama bear had overtaken him.  With a 
single swipe from its claw, the assassin was carried off of his feet and knocked 
a good fifteen feet away, falling to his rump with a bone-jarring thud.  He 
managed to roll with the attack, which meant that nothing was broken, but that 
was about it.  He again reached for his gun, only to find that it was missing.  
He managed to find it out of the corner of his eye, lying just beyond reach.  If 
he could have another second...

...A second that the Ursaring wasn't going to give him.  The enormous mass of 
muscle, teeth, and brown fur bore down on Delta, rearing up on her hind legs and 
bellowing at the man with uncontrolled fury.  Just as Delta was about to kiss 
his miserable existence goodbye, Ursaring was struck in the side of the head by 
a small rock, drawing a tiny rivulet of blood from her muzzle.  With a snarl, 
the enormous bear Pokémon's head snapped back, looking in the direction of the 
attack.

"Hey ugly!" Ash Ketchum shouted, palming another rock.  "Why not try picking on 
someone only half your size, huh?"  He tossed another rock, catching the Pokémon 
square between the eyes.  Years of practice with Pokéballs had made him a crack 
shot, and rocks weren't all that different from the capture spheres.  

"C'mon, over here!  Why eat him when you've got a nice piece of wounded meat to 
chew on?"

Ursaring saw only red as it charged towards Ash, her previous prey forgotten.  
She would tear the arrogant newcomer apart right before her cub's eyes, though 
she was loathe to do something so gruesome in front of her child.  
"Urrrrrrrrsssssssaaaaaaa!!!" she screeched, bearing down on the animal.

"That's right, right here!" Ash shouted.  He glanced over, catching Delta's eye.  
The assassin couldn't have been more shocked if the boy had stood up on his 
busted ankle and ripped off a mask to reveal the face of Alfred Giovanni beneath 
it.  "What are you waiting for, you idiot?" Ash yelled at him, "Get your gun!  
Scare her off!"

That shook Delta out of his stupor.  In one fluid motion, he dove for his gun, 
rolled off of his shoulder and came up on one knee with Rose in his hand.  With 
careful aim that came from years of experience, he squeezed the trigger and sent 
a round off.  The concussion of the gun rocked his arms back as the bullet flew 
out at tremendous speed.  

Without any sort of warning, the mother Ursaring suddenly found itself with a 
small jolt of blinding pain coming from her hindquarters.  Caught off her guard, 
Ursaring tripped and fell, tumbling head over claws and rolling right past Ash 
until she finally came to rest beneath a tree.  She began to moan and whine, 
picking and gnawing at the bullet wound in her behind.  Her cub waddled over, 
bleating questioningly at its mother.

Delta picked himself up and limped over to Ash, scowling down at the boy.  As a 
reflex, he pointed the gun square at Ash's melon, ready to splatter his brains 
across the forest floor.  Ash sneered up in contempt, trying to pick himself up.  
"Go on," he spat weakly, still too tired and injured to stand on his own, 
"Finish it.  We both know that's what you'll do eventually."

Delta nearly did just that, putting a minute amount of pressure on the trigger.  
He could feel it trembling beneath his finger.  Another ounce of pressure, and 
the gun would go off.  In the end, though, he simply holstered the gun once more 
and grabbed Ash by his jacket collar, hauling the boy to his feet with one arm.  
"Come on.  We need to move before mother dearest realizes that it's only a flesh 
wound."

Thankfully, Ash didn't bother to question why the assassin hadn't killed him 
yet.  He did, however, risk a smirk in Delta's direction.  "I told you that you 
were the idiot."

"Shut up."

"And then I had to go and save your life."

"Shut up."

"So now you owe me one, huh?"

"I'm going to kill you, kid." Delta muttered, not sure if he meant it or not.

	Ash couldn't help but smile.  "I know that.  That's why I'm having a 
little fun while I can.
*		*		*

"Here?"

"Here."

Misty peered into the murky waters of the tiny pond she, Dixie, and Pikachu had 
come across in their trek.  Following the Itemfinder's electronic breadcrumb 
trail to the new Hidden Machine had been a fairly easy task, and now it seemed 
that their labors were about to bear fruit.  "I don't see anything." she got 
down on her hands and knees, nearly putting her face into the cool, calm water.

Dixie shucked her pack, letting it drop to the ground as she tweaked the 
Itemfinder range display.  "The Itemfinder said that the HM's about twelve to 
fourteen feet below us..."

Misty stood, stretching her arms and touching her toes.  "Piece of cake.  I'll 
have that thing out of there before you can say 'waterlogged'."  Small twinges 
began popping up all over her lower back and hamstrings, but she wasn't about to 
let on that she wasn't in top condition for a dive.  

Reaching in to her backpack, she pulled out her trusty one-piece bathing suit, 
the one she had kept over from her old shows back at the Cerulean Gym's stadium.  
As she slipped her T-shirts over her head, she made a mental note to pick up a 
new one at the next town they hit; this one was wearing thin in a few key 
places.  She had just gotten her shirt bundled up underneath her chin when she 
saw Pikachu staring nervously at her out of the corner of her eye.  Clearing her 
throat loudly, she gave the Pokémon an annoyed glare, and it turned around 
sheepishly.

"Pika..." Pikachu protested softly as the Mistress of Water continued to strip, 
"Pikachu.  Pika-pika, pika-cha, pi, pikachu pika pika cha pikachu."

"I'll be fine, Pikachu." Misty insisted as she pulled the shoulder bands of the 
suit up and over her slender, sinewy arms.

"Pika.  Pi cha, Pika pi chu."

She smiled softly, shaking her head.  "I know what Ash told you, but I'm a big 
girl, and he isn't my father."  She picked up Ash's Pokéball belt and strapped 
it around her waist, pulling the band down tight.  Though she had plenty of her 
own Pokémon to take along, she wanted to make sure that nothing happened to 
Ash's Pokémon, even for a moment.  She knew it was something that Ash would have 
wanted... 'Stop it,' she forcefully ordered herself, 'You're thinking like he's 
already dead.  He isn't dead...is he?'

"Pika?" the mouse asked hopefully.

	The smile disappeared.  "Or my boyfriend.  Now stop being silly."  With 
that, she reached again into her bag, this time withdrawing a pair of Pokéballs.  
"Let's go, guys."  With a tap of her thumb and a flick of her wrists, she 
released the stars of her own little water show, Staryu and Starmie.  "We have a 
chip to find."

"Hyah!"

"Hoo!"

Dixie walked Misty to the water's edge, reluctantly handing her the Itemfinder.  
Silently, both of the girls individually prayed that the device had been 
waterproofed.  "Good luck." Dixie offered her redheaded friend.

Misty gave her an encouraging smile.  "When you're as talented as I am, you 
don't need luck.

Together as one, and with a unison that sprung from years of synchronized 
practice, Misty and her Pokémon dove into the murky waters of the pond, 
submerging in the blink of an eye as they disappeared beneath the surface.  Just 
as she had predicted, the water was ice cold against Misty's pale ivory skin, 
chilling her to the bone within a moment.  She shivered, careful not to let her 
lungs lose the precious air inside.  Blinking a few times to adjust her eyes, 
she began her search for the HM, letting her gaze play about the sandy bottom.  
Though she didn't see anything but large rocks and dirt, Dixie's one-of-a-kind 
machine was telling her that their treasure was right under her, stuck somewhere 
beside a particularly large boulder.

With a few frog kicks, she managed to propel herself down to the bottom, and 
began sifting her delicate fingers through the gritty brown muck.  Staryu and 
Starmie flanked her, keeping close watch over her as she worked.  Who knew what 
dangers lurked in this pond?

Misty's lungs began to burn for air, but she continued to sift and probe the 
bottom.  A small patch of grassy plants...no, not there.  Somewhere to her 
left...no, not there either.  She was just about to give up and head back up for 
a breath when a small glint caught her attention, down low near the base of a 
large, precariously balanced rock.  Could it be?  

Yes!  The Itemfinder's eyepiece lit up like a Chinese New Year the second she 
laid eyes on the small metallic chip.  With another kick, she reached the rock 
and began digging at the edges of the chip.  Whoever had put it here must have 
put the chip into the rock, then the rock into the water, she mused, even as her 
body desperately screamed out for a fresh supply of oxygen.  Even though her 
body panicked, her mind stayed focused.  'This is no time to panic,' she 
thought.

Little by little, the rock chipped away, revealing at last the edge she needed 
to pry the chip loose.  With a few hearty tugs, she felt the chip give away into 
her hands.  She slipped it underneath the top of her swimsuit for safekeeping, 
gave her stars a thumbs-up, and began making her way for the surface.

It was then that disaster chose to strike; the precarious rock that Misty had 
been clawing at finally gave in to gravity, tilting over and beginning a slow, 
painful descent towards the mucky pond bottom.  Even as Misty began to swim for 
the top, the boulder crashed down noiselessly, coming down at her with 
tremendous weight.  Some might have called her lucky; if she hadn't started 
swimming when she did, the rock might have crushed her.  As it was, all it ended 
up doing was trapping her strong, slender legs against the soft, gritty floor.  

Misty screamed involuntarily as the rock dragged her back to the bottom, letting 
out precious air and replacing it with a belly full of water.  Staryu and 
Starmie circled her furiously, already hysterical that their trainer was trapped 
underwater.  She pointed frantically up towards the surface, trying to signal 
for them to get help.

'Now it's time to panic...' she thought, even as her vision grew dim.
*		*		*

Dixie peered down, kneeling on the pond's slippery edge.  She exchanged worried 
glances with her yellow-furred companion, loathe to take her eyes from the water 
in case Misty would return.  "She's been down there an awful long time, 
Pikachu."

"Piii..." Pikachu wrung its tiny paws, biting down on its lower lip as it stared 
the water down in anticipation and anxiety.  "Pikachu."

Dixie sighed with frustration.  Why was it that she was the only one who didn't 
understand Ash's rodent sidekick?  Her frustration changed to hope as soon as 
she saw something break the water's surface, but returned when she saw that it 
was Staryu and Starmie, unaccompanied by either Misty or her grandfather's 
hidden chip.

"Hyah!  Hyah!"  Staryu circled the pair excitedly, trying to say something to 
them.  Starmie merely hovered above the water, shivering with impatience and 
buzzing at the landlubbery pair.  "Hee, hyah!  Hyah!"

"Pika?"

"Hyah!!!"

"Pika!"  Pikachu's ears shot up as it turned to Dixie, tugging on her arm and 
pointing at the water with furious conviction.  "Pika, pika pikachu!" the tiny 
mouse shouted, dancing around.

"I don't under..." Dixie stopped herself, thinking rationally for the first time 
that day.  Fact; Misty's Pokémon had come up.  Fact; Misty had not.  Fact; 
Pikachu was freaked out.  Fact; Pikachu didn't get freaked out easily.  
"She can't make it up, can she?"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, jumping up and down.

Without hesitating, without even thinking things through, Dixie kicked off her 
boots and leapt into the water, splashing clumsily into the water for a moment 
as she got her bearings.  Then, she took a deep breath, inverted, and dove under 
the water, kicking and pumping her legs with fear-driven, adrenaline-charged 
power.  In no time at all, she found Misty beneath the rippling water's surface, 
half of her trapped, the other half floating limply, a thin stream of bubbles 
trailing from her face.  Her vibrant blue eyes were closed, which sent a wave of 
terror over Dixie.

The Southern Belle grabbed hold of Misty's shoulders and tried to shake the 
other girl awake, but Misty's consciousness had left for lunch and didn't appear 
to show any signs of coming back early.  Letting go, Dixie swam downward to the 
base of the rock and tried pathetically to lift the boulder off of the Water 
Mistress's legs.  Even with all of her might behind the heave, she could barely 
get the rock to budge.  She needed help, but how?  Misty's Pokémon were still 
above surface, but they wouldn't have been of any use here.  After all, how 
could an overgrown starfish help lift anything if it didn't have arms?

Panicking, Dixie began looking about, as if something would just swim by and 
start lifting the rock for her.  How could she have been so stupid?  He didn't 
bring her Croconaw down with her, or any of Misty's Pokémon along.  The only 
Pokémon they had down here was Ash's Pokébelt, and it contained the majority of 
his flying force.  Pidgeot, Fearow, Articuno, Charizard...

Dixie paused for just a moment, her heart freezing in a mixture of fear and 
hope; with those four, plus Pikachu, Ash had room for one last Pokémon on his 
team, which was planted firmly in its catch on the Pokébelt looped round Misty's 
waist.  Ash had traded in either Ivysaur or Wartortle to bring in his Fearow, 
which meant that she had a fifty-fifty chance here.  Either she would release 
his Wartortle, which could easily help her lift the rock and save Misty's life, 
or she would end up drowning not only Misty, but also Ash's beloved seed 
Pokémon, and probably herself as well in the process.

Hesitating only another half-second, she ripped the Pokéball from Misty's 
lifeless form and triggered the release, holding it in the palm of her hand as 
the ball split in twain and exploded with a shower of dazzling energy.  A 
horrifying moment of tension later, Ash's blue turtle Pokémon floated before 
her, getting its bearings among the new surroundings.

Dixie nearly whooped with delight, but had to stop short before she swallowed 
half the pond.  Gesturing to Wartortle, she pointed down at Misty's predicament 
and made lifting gestures, indicating her plan.  The Pokémon gave her a wink and 
a grin, and swam down, getting its stubby hands beneath the boulder.  Dixie 
moved opposite of it, and together they began lifting.  Dixie was more than a 
little embarrassed when she realized that Wartortle was doing more than ninety 
percent of the work, but she put in as much as she had, and then some.  

Slowly but surely, the rock lifted up and off of Misty's legs.  Now free from 
her bond, the Mistress of Water began to float towards the surface even as Dixie 
and her Pokémon partner heaved the rock off to the side, careful not to get 
caught beneath it.  Then, like an aquatic bullet, Wartortle shot up towards 
Misty's receding form, catching her and aiding her ascent towards the precious 
air that she needed so badly.  Dixie swam after them, coming up to the surface 
of the water a few seconds behind them.

Even as Dixie hauled herself out of the icy water, Wartortle had Misty lying 
flat near the water's edge, pale and lifeless.  Quick as she could, Dixie 
scrambled over the shore and hovered above Misty, unsure as to what she should 
do.  First things first, she took the Itemfinder from her friend's face and 
tossed it aside so that it would not get in the way.  "Come on, 
Misty...Breathe!" she slapped the girl's face a few times, but there was 
nothing, not even a twitch.  Pikachu, Staryu, Wartortle, and Starmie began to 
crowd around.  Though Pikachu and Wartortle were the only ones with a face, 
somehow all four managed a worried expression as they stood over their redheaded 
friend's still form.

Forcing herself to calm down, Dixie began to perform CPR.  She pressed her lips 
down onto Misty's, forcing air down into her body, then began pumping on the 
girl's diaphragm.  One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  Five...still nothing, not even a 
twitch.  She repeated the process all over again, trying not to give in to the 
hysteria that was gnawing at her.  Breathe...One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  Five.

"Come on, come on!" Dixie pleaded, tears stinging in her eyes and dripping down 
her cheeks.  She leaned over again, once more giving her friend the kiss of 
life...

And was delighted when Misty coughed up a vile concoction of mucus, saliva, and 
pond scum straight into her mouth.  Dixie reeled back, spitting out Misty's 
"gift" even as the other girl sat up, wracked with fitful coughing and spasms as 
she tried to trade off the water in her lungs for air.  "You're okay!" Dixie 
kept screaming, again and again.  "You're okay!  You're okay!"

"Dixie," Misty coughed, pounding a fist on her chest, "Take it easy.  I'm going 
to live, all right?"  She smiled as the four Pokémon onlookers broke out into a 
cheer, yelling and dancing about.  Pikachu leapt into Misty's arms and wrapped 
its tiny claws around Misty's neck in a big hug, crying and scolding and nursing 
her all at once.  "It's okay, Pikachu.  I'm fine." She said, even as she coughed 
up another pint of pond water.

Dixie collapsed onto the ground, remembering her own exhaustion now that the 
ordeal was over.  "Oh, man..." she sighed, thanking her lucky stars that 
everything turned out all right.  "I was so worried about you.  I really freaked 
when I saw you trapped down there."

"Yeah..." Misty said uneasily.  Then she cleared her throat, her voice becoming 
unsteady.  "Dixie?  Uh...I wanted to...What I mean is..."

"Hmm?"

Misty blushed.  "Thanks for coming after me."

"Hey," Dixie smiled at her, lacing her hands behind her head as she stared up at 
the night sky, "What are friends for?"

Misty nodded, realizing for the first time that Dixie really was her friend.  
Not just the kinds of friends they met and made wherever they went, the kinds 
they always helped on their adventures.  Dixie was one of her true friends; the 
kind she could trust, the kind that adventured right alongside her.  She was as 
much a friend as Brock or Ash, and that surprised her a little.

"Yeah." she said at last, returning Dixie's smile, "What are friends for?"

The sound of a throat being cleared loudly behind them gave pause in the moment 
as Misty and Dixie turned.  Standing behind them was a tall silhouette, one that 
neither of them recognized.  Suddenly, a bright light flashed on, blinding the 
girls.  They squealed in protest, even as their Pokémon took a defensive 
position between their trainers and the new threat.

"Sorry!" a quiet, musical voice apologized through the bright haze.  Quickly, 
the light was shone down towards the ground, creating a soft ambient glow.  
Blinking the stars away, Dixie was able to make out the vague lines of a 
ranger's forest green uniform, clinging to the outlines of what must have been a 
woman.  "I didn't mean to shine it in your eyes, ladies.  My name's Ranger 
Tausan.  I'm part of a team investigating some strange goings-on that have been 
happening in the area recently."

"Are we glad to see you!" Misty leapt to her feet, despite her exhaustion.  
Finally, they would be able to get some help in their fight against Delta and 
the insane Collector.

"Do you ladies know anything about a flying island?"

"Do we ever!" It was Dixie's turn to stand.  She recalled Ash's Wartortle and 
began to describe the events of the past two days, leaving out some key parts, 
like the Hidden Machines, or Ash's previous encounters with Lawrence, leading up 
to their final leap from the airship and their miraculous survival.  Ash she did 
so, Misty retrieved her own Pokéballs, recalling Staryu and Starmie and placing 
them carefully back into her pack along with the rest of her pocket monsters.

"I see..." the ranger said.  "Well, it sounds like this one friend of 
yours...Ash, did you say his name was?  It sounds like he'll need medical 
attention immediately.  Do you know where he is?"

Dixie paused for a moment, then retrieved her discarded Itemfinder.  "We can 
look for him with this!"  As the ranger regarded it with some skepticism, she 
strapped it on to her own face.  "Trust me.  With this thing, we'll find Ash in 
no time."

"Good." was all the ranger would say.  Within moments, the girls were all packed 
up, and Dixie had reprogrammed the Itemfinder to locate Hidden Machine Oh-One, 
which was safely on Ash's person...she hoped.  Together, the group trudged back 
into the forest, with Dixie leading the way, and the ranger bringing up the 
rear.
*		*		*

	The sun was just beginning to rise over the Appalachian ridge, sending a 
cascade of colors boldly across the darkened sky.  It glazed the forest in a 
soft bath of orange and yellow as night once again yielded to day, just as it 
always had, and just as it always would until the day the sun refused to shine 
anymore.

	Hobbling along, Ash couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he had lived 
to see it all at least one last time.  He wasn't fooling himself, and Delta 
wasn't fooling him either; he had no doubt that the assassin would finish the 
job eventually.  The waiting, the tension in every moment as he waited for the 
sweet kiss of oblivion, was beginning to get to Ash.  As they hobbled together 
towards a clearing ahead, the prodigy Trainer couldn't help but wonder if that 
would be his final resting place.

	 "Let's stop up ahead in the clearing," Delta grunted without looking down 
at him, "And take another reading on your friends."  It had been hours since the 
Ursaring incident, and Ash could tell that Delta was forcing himself to ignore 
whatever injuries the bear Pokémon had given him.

	Ash tried to put a little humor in his voice.  "I could use a rest 
myself." he smirked.  Delta just snorted in contempt, dragging Ash along as they 
reached the edge of the clearing.  It wasn't all that large; just a small spot 
on the ground where the trees had decided not to grow.  Both Ash and Delta were 
disappointed that there wasn't any water, but neither was willing to say a word.

	"I don't need to rest."

	"Y'know," Ash grunted as he eased himself down onto a boulder with a long, 
painful sigh, "It's okay to be human.  No one'll hold it against you."

	Delta remained standing, looming above Ash.  Still, Ash could tell that 
his unlikely traveling companion was taking the opportunity to catch his breath.  
Delta's shoulder sagged with fatigue, and his breath was a little ragged.  "I'm 
not human." he stated in a bone-chilling monotone.  "Not even close.  I'm Omega 
Red."

	Ash was about to respond when a flying blur came out from behind them and 
struck Delta, tackling the larger man and bringing him to the ground.  Ash was 
astonished, but not enough so that he forgot how crippled he was at the moment, 
and remained seated.

	"ASH!" Brock shouted as he struggled with the Team Rocket assassin, "RUN!  
GO!"  It was clear that Delta was about to break the chokehold Brock had on him.  
He had another ten seconds at best before the assassin flipped him on his butt 
and showed him the proper technique for a choke...a lethal one.

	"Brock, you have it all-" Ash started to say, but a pair of smoke bombs 
cut him off, exploding in the middle of the clearing and obscuring his vision.  
He coughed pathetically, cursing his own weakness and his lack of Pokémon.  How 
could he have been so stupid as to leave his team with Misty?  Stupid.  Stupid, 
stupid, stupid...and dumb.  Without his Pokémon, he was just a kid with a hat 
who shouted orders.  Stupid!

	"Prepare for trouble!"

	Speaking of stupid...

	"Make it double!"

	A pair of shadows emerged from the unnatural fog, followed by a third, 
much shorter shadow.  Even Delta and Brock had stopped their grappling as the 
pair began to speak, their words ringing out across the sun-kissed clearing.

	"To protect the world from devastation,"

	"To unite all peoples within our nation,"

	The smoke began to clear as Jessie and James continued their motto, much 
to the aggravation of Ash's headache, which had just tripled.  "To denounce the 
evils of truth and love,"

	"To extend our reach to the stars above,"

	"Jessie," the scarlet-crowned Rocket wench stepped through the last wisps 
of the smoke, casting off her wispy mask with a haughty smirk.

	James did likewise, a large rubber net casually slung over his shoulder.  
"James," he added, almost as an afterthought.

	"Team Rocket..." Jessie stopped, tilting her head in Ash's direction.  
"Wait a minute...hold the motto!"  She stomped over to the young boy, her hands 
sternly on her hips as she glared straight into Ash's eyes.  "You!  Boy!  
Where's your Pikachu?"

	"He's not here..." Ash said slowly, wondering not for the first time (nor 
the last) if Jessie was mentally stable.  "I left him with Misty."

	"Just great!" Meowth threw his claws into the air, totally exasperated.  
"We follow dat squinty, stupid blockhead through da forest, waiting for a shot 
at Pikachu, and we end up finding da wrong twerp, which," he added, shaking a 
scornful claw at Ash, "Should have been da 'right' twerp.  Shame on you for not 
keeping your own Pokémon with you."

	"Yeah.  Right.  Sorry about that." Ash muttered, rolling his eyes.  James 
sullenly dropped the net, kicking up some dust and muttering about never getting 
to capture Pikachu anymore.

	"Well, let's cut our losses." Jessie sighed, folding her arms across her 
rounded bust.  "James, call the jet." she ordered.  James simply stood there, 
staring at her as if she had grown a second head.  "Well?"

	"Uh, Jessie," he scratched the back of his neck.  "We crashed the jet, 
remember?"

	"Oh.  Right." she cleared her throat, trying not to blush.  "All right 
then, call the balloon."

	"Can't." Meowth shook his oversized head.  "We had to trade the balloon in 
to get the jet."

	Jessie turned red, but from anger, not embarrassment.  "Well, call 
SOMETHING!" she screamed, stamping her foot.

	"How about an ambulance?"

	The stray quip from the edge of the clearing grabbed Jessie's attention, 
just in time to catch a blast of concentrated air full on in the chest.  Jessie 
flew back, screaming as she crashed back into the trees and disappeared from 
view.  Ash's Pidgeot hopped into view on the opposite side of the clearing with 
Misty mounted on its back.  Dixie walked up beside the enormous bird, with 
Pikachu and Wartortle at her side, hands curled deftly into fists.  A third 
figure stood behind the two girls and their Pokémon squad, folding her arms and 
smirking at the whole scene, as if she found something cute about it.

	"The cavalry's here, guys!" Dixie called out, "And they brought 
reinforcements, too." She glanced back at their ranger friend, and was a little 
unsettled when the ranger's piercing gaze fell on her, the smirk still firmly in 
place.

	"I'm afraid not, little girl." The ranger grunted.  With a single hand, 
she reached out and grabbed Dixie by the neck, wrapping her fingers around the 
girl's esophagus and lifting her off of the ground with unbelievable strength.  
With a free foot, she caught both Wartortle and Pikachu in a football punt that 
sent the two Pokémon flying.  Dixie's eyes bugged out of her head as she 
struggled to breathe, punching and kicking the ranger to no avail.  "Well, 
actually, you're half-right.  You just brought the cavalry for the wrong side."

	"Tau!" Delta shoved the stunned Brock off of him, rising unsteadily to his 
feet.  "This is my assignment," he growled angrily, pulling out his gun.  "Butt 
out!"

	"I was just sent in to clean up your mess, Delta." Tau commented 
offhandedly, tightening her stranglehold on Dixie as she stepped forward.  "Now, 
kindly finish off these gawkers while I take care of the main target."  She 
tossed the blonde bombshell aside effortlessly, shocking all that stood before 
her.

	A sudden gust of wind blew the assassin off of her feet, knocking her to 
the ground.  "Forgetting something, Ms. Ranger?" Misty called out from atop 
Pidgeot.  Her feathered steed hopped forward, wings spread and ready to attack 
again.  "If you want a piece of him, you'll have to tangle with us first."

	"Gladly."  Without warning, Tau leapt up in a handstand and sprung up, 
flipping over and leaping high into the air, coming down on top of the pair 
before they ever knew what hit them.  With a single kick, the deadly, diabolical 
woman sent Misty sprawling and tumbling onto the ground.  Landing on top of 
Pidgeot, she wrapped her legs around its neck and twisted.  For half a heartbeat 
Ash was terrified that she would snap the bird's neck, but instead she merely 
drove Pidgeot's head straight into the ground, stunning it.  At the end of the 
three seconds it took all of this to happen, Tau stood up and calmly brushed 
herself off, grinning from ear to ear.  She looked down at Misty, who was 
groaning and clutching her ribs, grimacing in pain.  "Is there anyone else who 
would like to stand up for the boy?"

	"Piii..."

	Delta grimaced as Ketchum's tiny, battered Pikachu hobbled over, standing 
between Tau and its trainer with arms akimbo, as if it could hope to stop the 
super-strong assassin.  True, Ketchum's Pikachu was no ordinary Pokémon, not by 
a long shot, but even with all of the training it had received, it was still no 
match for Tau's pseudo-muscular bionic implants.  Even now, the arrogant 
assassin was cracking her knuckles, advancing on the tiny Pikachu with booted 
foot aching to squash the rodent.

	"Brave little fellow..." she chuckled, placing her hands on her hips.  
"But you're a little out of your element, aren't you?  This is no Pokémon 
battle..."

	"The heck it isn't." The voice surprised Tau; it was the first time Ash 
had spoken up since her arrival.  "Pikachu:" his voice quavered, filled with 
fatigue, pain, and fear, but somehow Ash managed some semblance of his former 
composure.  "Defensive stance."  Pikachu nodded back at Ash, going down on all 
fours and snarling at Tau ferociously.

	"Oh, this is rich." Tau's laughter rang like a mean-spirited bell as she 
guffawed at the boy and his Pokémon's tiny, pathetic defense.  "What, are you 
honestly going to stop me?"

	"Pikachu, Thunderbolt." Ash croaked, scowling as Tau stood there, laughing 
at them.  Taking only a moment to power up, the thunderous rodent let loose with 
a bolt of pure energy that streaked towards its target at the speed of 
light...only the target wasn't there anymore.  Defying every limit of human 
speed, Tau had somehow managed to dodge lightning itself, and had made it look 
considerably easy.

	"Is that all you have?" she asked, folding her arms calmly.  "You'll have 
to do better than the same old, tired tricks you've used in the past, boy."

	Swallowing his fears, Ash gave her a confident smirk, one he didn't 
completely feel.  "No problem.  Pikachu," his mind began racing; if he was going 
to beat Tau, he was going to have to be smarter and faster.  Since the latter 
wasn't possible, he would really have to work on the former, which meant making 
use of Ash's least favorite activity, heavy thinking.  "Agility Charge!"

	Pikachu disappeared in the blink of an eye, moving so fast that none of 
the on-lookers could follow.  Tau could, though, and began moving as fast.  
Human and Pokémon began a terrible dance, attacking one another.  Because of 
their tremendous speed, neither one was able to land a blow or a bolt of 
electricity, but still they tried, tearing up the landscape.  Every now and 
then, they would slow down just enough for Ash to catch a glimpse of what they 
were doing; a headbutt here, blocked by Tau's forearm; a vicious kick that 
nearly took off Pikachu's tail...

	After a moment of eternity, Ash decided to implement part two of the plan 
that was still forming in his head.  "Pikachu!  Red Light!"

	Pikachu came to a screeching halt, reacting in an instant to Ash's orders 
and flipping out of the way of Tau's latest attack.  The assassin hadn't been 
expecting a sudden stop, and was forced to let her kick continue all the way 
through the nearest tree, which toppled over with a sickening thud next to the 
pair.  In the midst of the chaos, she lost track of Ash's oversized mouse.

	"Atomic Tick!" Ash shouted again, praying that Pikachu could remain hidden 
for just another second.  As Tau spun about, looking for her prey, Pikachu 
appeared from behind her, leaping out of the brush and latching on to her back, 
right between the shoulder blades.

	"Get off of me, you wretched little vermin!" Tau snarled, trying to reach 
around to snatch the rat off of her back.  She managed to grab a few fists full 
of its short, wiry hair, but her iron-hard muscles prevented her from reaching 
around far enough to detach Pikachu from her back.  Pikachu, in the meantime, 
was holding on for dear life, digging its claws through her ranger's disguise 
and into her back.

	Despite the situation, Ash couldn't help but grin.  His grin soon 
disappeared, however, and he swallowed hard.  It was now or never.  "Pikachu, 
Thunder!"

	The sky above them crackled, shimmering with a supernatural power as 
Pikachu's most potent attack began to charge.  The clouds swirled, and the 
heavens opened up, pouring down a stream of pure golden light that slammed down 
onto Tau and her unwanted passenger.  Pikachu, naturally, was unaffected by the 
enormous bolt of lightning that struck them.  Horrified screams pierced the air 
as every cell in Tau's body burned with electricity, screams that would haunt 
Ash for a long time.  He never enjoyed attacking other humans with his Pokémon, 
and he had never subjected a single person to Pikachu's Thunder attack.

	It was over as quickly as it had begun, lasting only an instant.  Pikachu 
dislodged from Tau's back, letting the smoking assassin's unconscious form drop 
onto the ground like a smoldering sack of grain.  She lay on the ground, 
twitching and spasming uncontrollably.  Pikachu trotted over to Ash, looking 
slightly guilty but otherwise satisfied with their victory.  "Good job, 
Pikachu." Ash wearily patted his Pokémon on the head, fighting the urge to drop 
into a deep sleep.  "We should be okay, now."

	"Wrong." the cold muzzle of Delta's gun pressed painfully against the base 
of his skull as a dark shadow fell over Ash and Pikachu.

	Ash didn't turn around.  He saw Brock, Misty, and Dixie, who had managed 
to collect herself and Ash's Wartortle, freeze in place.  It was obvious that 
they desperately wanted to help him, but knew that they couldn't do anything.  
Down by his feet, Pikachu was snarling and hissing at Delta, furious with the 
assassin at this latest turn of events.  Ash, however, tried to remain calm.  "I 
saved your life." Ash told him flatly, not moving a muscle.  "You owe me."  
Delta remained silent, but Ash could feel the gun's barrel waver against his 
neck.  "You owe me." he repeated, this time more forcefully.

	"Owe?" a cackling voice from the forest laughed at Ash, signaling the 
return of Team Rocket from their Pidgeot-powered trip.  "Team Rocket never pays 
its debts, boy." Jessie sneered, dragging James and Meowth out into the 
clearing's edge with a wicked smile planted on her dazzling features.  Both of 
her male counterparts nodded, but each of them looked exhausted, as if they had 
endured more than enough for today.  Ash could easily sympathize with them, 
though he didn't feel any pity.

	"That's okay!" Misty yelled, hopping off of Pidgeot, "We're the ones that 
owe you something."  She locked eyes with Pidgeot for a moment, then gave it a 
nod.  "Pidgeot, Fly attack, now!"

	Pidgeot's eyes began to glow with a golden amber radiance, an unnatural 
light that amazed Ash and frightened Team Rocket.  Soon, the light had 
surrounded Pidgeot's entire body.  The Pokémon screeched, spreading its wings 
and crying out at Jessie, James, and Meowth.  Then, without warning, the three 
villains were surrounded with the same aura.  Screaming and fumbling, the 
treacherous trio was lifted into the air, kicking helplessly against the thin 
mountain air.

	"My turn." Dixie's eyes narrowed on her targets as she spoke.  Down by her 
feet, Ash's Wartortle grunted its agreement, stepping forward to get in on the 
action.  "Wartortle: Surf, now!"

	Wartortle leapt ahead, pulling its head and limbs into its thick, heavy 
shell, landing with a thud on the hard forest floor.  Then it began to spin, 
spraying thick columns of water out of its shell.  At first, Ash thought it was 
merely a Hydro Pump attack.  Then he noticed something...the water from 
Wartortle's attack wasn't disappearing, or soaking into the ground.  The water 
was rippling in mid-air, turning around and gathering under Wartortle.

	The water was alive!

	Soon Wartortle was spinning atop a massive pile of water, a mountain of 
the liquid that was writhing and flowing beneath him, held in check by 
supernatural forces that no one understood.  Once the column was as tall as the 
trees around them, Wartortle stopped his Hydro Pump, coming out of his shell and 
standing atop his watery tower, king of the aquatic mountain.  Its eyes shone 
with a sapphire light, twin beacons of blue brilliance above his wide, grinning 
mouth.

	"Tortle!"  The column suddenly dropped out underneath of Wartortle, 
sending him splashing down to the ground.  Ash feared that Wartortle had somehow 
lost control, that he had somehow lost the magic.  He should have known better, 
though; hundreds of gallons of water fell to the Earth, forming itself into a 
small, focused tidal wave that roared across the clearing with Wartortle riding 
atop it.  Horrified, Team Rocket realized all too late what was happening, 
turning to run just before the wave swept them off of their feet and into the 
thicket of trees that lay beyond the clearing.  Ash's aquatic Pokémon leapt down 
from the wave just as the three Rockets hit the first of what would be many, 
many trees in their path.

	"Looks like Team Rocket's splashing off again!" Meowth gargled as they 
sped out of sight, slamming into trees as the tidal wave dragged them through a 
painful tour of the forest.  Ash would have laughed, but he was too amazed at 
what he had just seen his Pokémon do.  Defying gravity?  Tidal waves in the 
middle of a continent?  It was impossible, wasn't it?  Then he looked over at 
Dixie, and realized that it had to have been her, that it had been Dixie's 
Hidden Machines.  It was no wonder that Shades and Spike were after them so 
badly.  What power!  Ash was so impressed, he hardly noticed that Delta's gun 
was no longer planted in the back of his head.  It was only when he heard a 
grunting and scraping off to the side that he broke his gaze with Dixie.

	Delta stood with his back to Ash, gun holstered and Tau encumbering his 
shoulder.  He began walking off at a quick pace, limping slightly as he did.  
Though he spoke softly, Ash could hear him saying something as he left.

	"Now we're even."

	And with that, he disappeared into the forest, vanishing from sight.  
Somehow, though, Ash knew that it wasn't the last time he would see Delta...not 
by a long shot.  At the moment, though, he didn't care.  He simply slumped 
forwards, falling to his hands and knees.  With the adrenaline rush of the 
battle wearing off, all of the aches and pains, the cuts and fractures and 
concussions, were coming back in full force.  He heard a very distant 'Ash!'  
Who was saying his name?  It sounded like a girl.  Dizzily, he looked up at his 
three friends, accompanied by his three Pokémon, as they crowded around him.

	"Are you okay?" Misty's mouth moved, but the words didn't seem to match 
her lips, and her tiny voice sounded as if it were a million miles from him.  
"Can you hear me?"

	"I must be losing it..." he mumbled back, shaking his head.  A thrumming 
sound of rushing air had filled his ears, blocking out any attempts at thinking 
he may have had.  "I hear something..."

	Dixie pointed up at the sky excitedly, sounding just as distant as Misty 
had.  "No, look!  Something's coming!"

	"Lawrence?" Misty's voice sounded worried, but Ash couldn't be sure.  "Did 
he find us?"

	"No!" Brock squinted hard (no small feat for a man who never opened his 
eyes to begin with), fending off the glaring dawn with his hand.  "No, it's a 
helicopter.  It's a chopper!  We're saved!"

	"Great..." Ash murmured.  "I'll just pass out then, all right?" And he 
did, slumping onto the ground in a heap of aching limbs and exhausted muscles.
*		*		*

	"Miss, could you please excuse me?  I'd like to make sure this boy is 
going to live."

	Misty apologized, and slunk out of the way of Ash's doctor for the 
millionth time.  She had been hovering over Ash's sick bed in the hospital like 
a hawk, ever since he had underwent the emergency regeneration treatments.  The 
former champion was now in the Intensive Care Unit, though no longer in mortal 
danger.  

The doctors and nurses had been muttering and nattering about fractures and 
lacerations and shocks to his physiology, but all Misty knew was that Ash was 
hurt ten times worse than any of them were.  Brock had come away smelling like a 
rose, while Misty and Dixie had only required a few bandages, and some tape for 
Misty's ribs.  Ash, though, needed IV drips and monitoring equipment, and a 
plethora of other things that his feminine friend couldn't understand.  
Pikachu was curled up and sleeping by his side, refusing to leave even after one 
of the nurses had attacked him with a bedpan.  Ash was awake now, as awake as a 
person could be on as much painkillers as was physically safe for the doctors to 
give to him...and give them to him they did!

"This would be much easier if you would get out of the way." the doctor groused, 
lightly grabbing Ash's wrist and looking down at his watch as he checked Ash's 
pulse.  "Your friend needs his rest."

"She can stay." Ash croaked, his lively amber eyes dulled by the powerful 
sedatives.  "I want her to stay."  He looked up at the doctor, his voice sleepy 
and soft.  "I'll be out of here soon anyway, right?"

"Out of here?" the doctor repeated incredulously, "Soon?"  He laughed at this, 
slapping his knee as he chortled.  "Oh my, that's rich.  You'll be in here until 
I say you can leave, and not a moment before."  He gathered his clipboard and 
left, still chuckling as he closed the door behind him.  "Soon, he says.  Oh, 
Maple will get a kick out of that one."

Misty was all too glad when he left.  She sat down on the edge of Ash's bed, 
taking the hand that wasn't hooked up to the intravenous tube.  "Hey."

"Hey..."

She smiled at him, giving his hand a squeeze, and was relieved to feel him 
squeeze back.  "How are you feeling?  Does it hurt much?"

"Well," he said thickly, as though his tongue had become too large for his 
mouth, "I think it should hurt..." He lifted his other arm, indicating the IV.  
"But I think they have me on morphine."  He giggled.  "A lot of morphine."  He 
started giggling again, which got Misty going.  After a moment, though, he 
stopped, groaning.  "I can't believe they're keeping me in here.  I'm probably 
going to lose a whole week of training."

Misty silently berated him, forcing down the urge to tell him to count his lucky 
stars.  Before the development of cellular regeneration, the injuries he had 
sustained would have slowed him down for several months.  "Well, maybe a break 
won't be so bad."  She leaned forward, giving him a kiss on his forehead, 
letting her lips linger a bit longer than she should.  "Get some rest, okay?"  
He nodded as she got up to leave.  As she walked towards the door, it opened 
from the other side, revealing Dixie as she walked into Ash's room.

"Hi." Dixie greeted her softly.  Misty returned her 'hi' in kind, giving Dixie a 
smile.  "I just wanted to pop in for a moment, I won't stay long."  The redhead 
gave her a nod, slipping out of the room and closing the door behind her with a 
soft 'click'.  Now it was Dixie's turn to sit at Ash's side.  She gave Ash an 
encouraging smile, being careful not to wake Pikachu as she plopped down on his 
bed.  "Hi Ash."

"Hi..." Ash grinned at her, half-asleep.  "How are you?"

"I was just going to ask you the same thing." Dixie rubbed her arm, careful to 
avoid the bandages the emergency room had put on.  There was no easy way of 
saying it, so she was just going to have to say it.  "Um...Ash?"

"Hah?"

"Look, I..." She shifted uncomfortably, her courage betraying her.  "Ash...I was 
so afraid that you were going to die out there...and I wasn't sure why.  Then I 
figured it out..." She smiled at him, taking his hand in hers.

"Figured what out?"

She rolled her eyes, exasperated.  "I have a thing for you, Ash."

"Really?  Where?"

"You idiot, I like you!" She wasn't sure if he was jerking her around or not.  
The dawning look of realization on his face, though, told her that he was 
genuinely confused.

"Really?" his face became apologetic in a tired sort of way.  "Sorry."  There 
was a long pause, and then he said.  "I like you too."

"Really?"

He nodded, giving her hand a sleepy, sloppy kiss.  It was cute nonetheless, 
though.  "Uh huh.  Could you do me a favor, though?"

"Sure...what?"

He let his head drop back onto the pillow, thoroughly exhausted.  "D'you think 
you could remind me that we had this talk?  I'm on a lot of medication right 
now, and I don't know if I'll remember."

She laughed, leaning over to give him a hug.  "No problem."
*		*		*

Misty closed the door behind her.  Brock was standing out in the hall, waiting 
for her.  He held a pair of Styrofoam cups in his large hands.  He handed one to 
Misty, who took it gratefully and took a long drag of the hot chocolate in the 
cup.

"So how is he?" Brock asked between sips of coffee.  She looked back, watching 
Dixie talk to him through the small window in the door.  "He looks pretty out of 
it."

"He is," she nodded, still watching the pair, "But he'll be fine."

"You must have been pretty worried."

She whirled her focus back on Brock, her eyebrows upturned with confusion.  
"What makes you say that?" she asked.

He shrugged, taking another long drink of the Colombian blend.  It wasn't nearly 
as good as Mount Moon's coffee, but it wasn't bad at all.  "Well, if the girl I 
loved had been through what Ash was just through, I'd be worried sick."

Misty felt a wave of anger sweeping through her.  Where did Brock get off making 
all these assumptions?  "Listen, you!" she jabbed her free finger at him, poking 
him in his broad, muscular chest, "I'm sick and tired of you and your 
stupid...your stupid...oh, I'm just sick of it!" she growled, looking in on 
Dixie and Ash.  The blonde had taken Ash's hand into hers now, and was saying 
something that clearly made her uncomfortable.  "Look, I am not Ash's 
girlfriend."  Now Ash was saying something, something Dixie had laughed at.  "I 
am Ash's good friend.  I-" She stopped cold, dropping her cup of cocoa at the 
sight that heralded her beyond the meshed glass of the door's tiny window.

Dixie was hugging Ash.

Ash was hugging Dixie.

They were hugging.

Misty couldn't believe it.  She watched on as Ash and Dixie locked gazes, 
staring into each other's eyes with a look that Misty had seen before.  It was a 
look she had only seen in Ash's eyes once before.  It was the look he used to 
give her, back when they had been together, when they had been a couple.  It was 
the look...it was 'her' look...and now he was giving it to Dixie.

"Misty?" Brock placed a strong hand on her shoulder, his voice filled with worry 
and questioning.

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to turn away.  There were tears in her eyes, 
tears she couldn't explain.  She wasn't sure if she wanted to explain them.  She 
just stood there for a moment, crying softly, without making a sound.

"I am going to be sick." she sobbed weakly, and flung her arms around Brock's 
neck.  He reeled back in surprise, but wrapped his arms around her waist all the 
same.  He had a feeling that she was going to be crying into his shoulder quite 
a bit in the days ahead.

End

-Quiet Hindsight-
	As I said above, I hope it was worth the wait.  Oh, and I hope that I'm 
not the only one who appreciated my reference to John Cook's Sev Trek.  What can 
I say, I'm a hopeless Sci Fi geek.  I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys 
science fiction, or to anyone who doesn't, either.  sev.com.au, or use a search 
engine.  

Next:		BadgeQuest: The America Chronicles #5
		The Hidden Machine Saga 04