Ross' Fortune: Part 15.1

"It never matters if you acquire the lost treasures of the world if you cannot even escape with them.  If years of experience have taught me anything, it is always best to have a well-thought out exit strategy."  Lady Ponca Took, Famous Explorer, 1689

The Base of the Waterfall

"So," Bane greeted while forcing Ross out of the water, "you're the famous descendant of Sir Isaac."  A few of his men came out of the brush to grab Napoleon, Cotton, and Danny, while Merry was kept a gun trained on her at all times.  After removing Napoleon's blunderbuss (that was still strapped onto him) and Ross' backpack, Bane continued, "You know, you and your family have caused me and my family much annoyance for many generations.  I guess it is our family's destiny to clash wits and swords.  And this may sound odd, but you're a lot smaller than I expected."

"Rai…" Ross whimpered, remembering all of the stories about this man.  There was no telling what this guy would do to him and his friends now that they've finally caught up with each other.  Being held at gunpoint yet again did not help.

"Anyways, Chumandi," Bane scowled, "apparently you're very hard to keep tabs on; either you outsmarted Baker and my men, or you're just lucky.  Isn't that right, Mark?"  On cue, Ross caught sight of the one man who he could say he had come to loathe on this little voyage- Marcus Baker- being pushed through the bushes by Bane's men, falling right in front of him.

"Had you stayed still," Mark growled as he got up, "we both wouldn't be in this mess, Chumandi."

"(I hate you, too,)" Ross angrily replied.  The Raichu never thought in his life that he would hate someone else more than Napoleon due to his constant bullying.  However, after everything Mark had put him through in the past three days- making him take that unnecessary guilt trip, putting it in his mind that he was too risky to keep on the ranch, knocking him out, kidnapping him, hurting Saria, keeping a gun trained on him as they were marched through a thick jungle, nearly getting him killed in that insane gunfight (or was that Margaret?), and setting Ross up to be killed by the guy who had captured him now- Ross found Napoleon's lifelong antics as childish and slightly annoying compared to what Mark has done to him in three days.  At least Napoleon didn't try to have Ross killed.  In fact, Napoleon had done nothing but help him for most of the day.

"I figured you two would want to see each other again," Bane interrupted the little staring contest.  Pulling out a Poké Ball, he called out an Ambipom.  "Search the lot of them for anything they found.  Kill them if they give you any trouble, but leave Chumandi alive.  I have something... special planned for him."  The Ambipom looked at each of the captured Pokémon, his eyes stopping at Cotton.

After looking her up and down, he licked his lips and grinned, "(With pleasure, master.  Let's start with the Lopunny.)"

Cotton jumped behind Napoleon, and yelled, "(Keep your slimy tail hands away from me!)"

"(Hey, I'm supposed to search you guys,)" the Ambipom shrugged.  "(And usually, the hot chick is hiding the more valuable stuff or the secret weapons.  I'm just saying; how do I know you don't have a flare gun in that sexy fluffy, tail of yours?)"

"(Hey!)" Napoleon spoke up, already hating this Ambipom.  "(If you cop a feel on her, I don't care if I die before you, you will die at my paws.)"

"(It's true,)" Ross added, hoping to convince the Ambipom to not search them down.  "(Napoleon's totally crazy, and he'll kill you.)"

"(But not before I kill Danny and Ross for getting us in this mess!)" Napoleon continued.  Ross, Danny, and Merry all shot the Floatzel death glares.

"(Listen,)" the Ambipom warned, "(I have the right to kill you guys if you refuse to cooperate.  Unless you want to die, stay out of my way, or remove anything you have.)"  Ross looked at Danny and Merry.

"(They're going to find that map of yours, anyways,)" the Raichu insisted, motioning his head towards the Ambipom while removing his helmet, and handing it over.  Danny reluctantly pulled out the map, and gave it to the Ambipom as well.

"(Only a bag of food, a helmet, an old gun, and some kind of old map?)" the Ambipom questioned with a frown, looking at what they've given up.  "(You bastards pack too lightly for my tastes.)"  Looking at the map, though, the frown on his face flipped over.  "(Or perhaps not.)"  He showed the map to Bane, who only grinned.

"Blank Slate Prison, eh?" Bane realized.  "You know, Chumandi, in another life, we could have been very famous for your little discovery.  However, since your Poké Ball is still with your master, I guess you will have to settle for seeing the true El Pokémon de Dorado… and die knowing I've taken it from you."  Ross' eyes went wide at this statement.  How the hell did Bane figure out so easily that the city wasn't the real treasure!?  Everyone else, Ross included, had until recently thought that the stories were talking about a city!

Bane instantly caught Ross' surprised look, and explained, "Yes, I know about how it's not a city of gold, but a golden idol, Chumandi.  I'm pretty fluent in Spanish to know it couldn't be anything else but a Pokémon made of gold.  For example…"  Turning to his Ambipom, he ordered, "Devuelvele el casco al Raichu, si quiere hacer el papel de un soldado de Hoenn le concedere el honor antes de matarlo."  The Ambipom placed Ross' helmet back on him, much to the Raichu's confusion.  Bane turned back to the stunned Raichu.

"Not only am I proficient in the language," Bane bragged, "but over the years, I have acquired several of Samuel Drake's secret diary entries through several means:  black market, stealing, bribery, everything to know about what really happened here.  This would have been the sight of my ancestor's greatest triumph, Chumandi.  But your forefather Isaac had to ruin it.  Sure, it was underneath Drake's command, but I have no quarrel with him… Dewford's undoing by him was a full circle.  Just like right now, Chumandi… you have your ancestor to blame for this.  You're going to help me find El Pokémon de Dorado and then die.  However… just in case you need motivation to cooperate, Mark did bring something useful."

As if on cue, Scratch and Chewy were marched out of the bushes by Bane's men.  "(Scratch!?  Chewy!?)" Ross gasped in shock.  "(What are you guys doing here!?)"

"(Big brother!)" Scratch cried, rushing towards Ross, and crying into his fur while Chewy jumped over and greeted Ross rather affectionately… by biting his tail.  While everyone else had to wince while Ross screamed in agony, Scratch and Chewy continued to cry.  "(I-I'm so sorry about all of this!)" Scratch hiccupped into Ross' fur.  "(I was in over my head, thinking I could find you!)"

"(Okay, enough of that,)" the Ambipom interrupted, grabbing them both with his tail hands and prying them off Ross- rather painfully, as Ross' tail had burn marks.  "(So, Chumandi… you know these kids?)"

"(Yeah,)" Ross replied, looking at the two struggling children being dangled above him by the Ambipom.  "(I'm their baby sitter.  Now, put them down, they're just kids!)"  The Ambipom blinked at this statement.

"(You mean that you're just an Egg watcher?  We, professional thieves and mercenaries, have been nearly outrun by not a witty explorer, but an Egg Watcher!?  Nothing really special except for that birthmark on the back of your right ear?)"

"(Pretty much, but I prefer the term, 'rancher Pokémon.'  And I'm a lot happier working with impish children than I am with thieves and murderers, so if you'd just let me go back to that…)"

"(Oh, no you don't, Chumandi!)" the Ambipom scowled.  "(If you don't stick with us, these kids' deaths will be on your conscience!)"  Scratch and Chewy were then dangled over the water, making Ross' eyes boggle.

"(Does he honestly think that holding Scratch and Chewy over a lake will intimidate you?)" Napoleon questioned Ross.  "(I mean, they'll only swim out.)"

"(Yeah, if one of them can't swim, being a Fire-type puppy,)" Ross pointed out looking at Chewy struggling and whimpering in fear.  "(Giving the little guy a bath is hard, as he has a phobia of water almost as bad as Vincent's fear of the dark and Saria's fear of bugs.  And if you try anything, Napoleon, they'll just kill you.  So you can't play hero on this one.)"  Sighing, the Raichu lowered his stance and held up his hands.  "(I have to give myself up.)"  Bane snapped his fingers, causing the Ambipom to stop dangling them over the water and over the ground, keeping them in the air just in case Ross needed motivation.

"(Big brother…)" Scratch whimpered, looking at the pathetic expression Ross was giving.  However, Scratch noticed something out of the corner of his eye.  It was barely noticeable… but he could have sworn he saw a waving motion by something almost invisible.  Once he realized what it was, Scratch grinned.  He looked down at his captor, and chuckled.

Everyone noticed the Pachirisu's mad laughter, and stared at him, confused.  "(What's so damn funny?)" the Ambipom asked.

"(I just realized how stupid I've been acting,)" Scratch replied.  "(I came all of this way out here to save my big brother.  And yet, here I am, blubbering about how I got overconfident and feeling pity for myself.  Now listen up, big guy.  People can pick on me.  They can ambush me.  Capture me, and even take that collar big brother gave me and throw it away- red haired guy.)"  Ross shot a dirty glare at Mark, who had no idea what Scratch just added to Ross' little list of reasons why he had come to hate Mark.  "(None of that matters to me though- I know that I can talk the talk, but I barely ever walk the walk!  But if you even think about strong-arming Ross into working for you only to kill him… well, you don't know the name of the captain you're dealing with!)"

Ross stared in complete confusion at the little monologue Scratch had given.  It was pretty darn awe-inspiring.  Scratch was standing up for him… much more than Ross could say about himself in the past several hours he had been in this godforsaken jungle. The fact that his own little brother believed in him while he didn't made him think about the courage Ross needed in his own life.  However, the speech wasn't without its odd qualities.  There was something very key in that speech that only Ross picked up on.  Could Scratch have given him a hint or something?

"(Scratch…)" Ross slowly questioned, "(did you just call me by name…?)"

"(Yeah,)" Scratch waved off as if it wasn't important.  Ross had to think about it.  Back when they were younger and Scratch had just hatched, he was just as mischievous and overconfident as Ross saw him now… perhaps a lot more so than he was now.  Ross noticed his parents were never watching him, so the boy caused fiasco after fiasco, and pulled prank after prank.  At first, Ross couldn't stand the Pachirisu, especially when Scratch had ruined what could have been the Raichu's most successful confession attempt yet to Saria when he got a hold of Ina's paintball gun and those water balloons full of paint.  Although the Raichu was quite literally black, white, and red all over for a week (black and white because of the paint that took a week to wash out, and red in rage and embarrassment), Saria giggled about how he looked so adorable, like a baby panda.  Ross realized that he only did what he did for attention, so the Raichu took the Pachirisu under his wing.  Eventually, the two Electric-types became considered brothers.  Scratch had never called Ross anything but ever since.

And now, here Scratch was, calling Ross by his name.  Something he hadn't done for a few years.  While nobody else realized it, Ross instantly caught on to what Scratch was trying to say:  he had a plan just for this situation.  And usually, a Scratch plan for something like this involved retaliation of huge proportions.  The Raichu quickly turned around, making sure nothing came from the bushes.  No… if Scratch had someone in the bushes, they would've been noticed by now.  No way could the little guy have set up an aerial attack, either.  That only meant one thing.

Turning to Napoleon, Cotton, Danny, and Merry, he yelled, "(Get away from the water!)"  However, his warning came too late, as a large Wailord emerged from the ocean.  Chewy quickly used Fire Fang on the Ambipom's tail holding him while Scratch used Super Fang on the other tail, causing their captor to scream and let them go on the ground.  The Wailord roared in anger, causing everyone, even Napoleon, to freak out… except Scratch, who knew what was going on and moved Chewy away from their former captor.

That's when all hell chose to truly break loose.  Bane yelled, "Shoot that Wailord down!"  From there, everything happened at once.

Ross.  He quickly rushed towards Scratch and Chewy, grabbing them both, and began to run from the gunfire… and the Wailord that seemed to be ignoring the bullets slamming into its side and following him.  The Raichu quickly grabbed his backpack, and questioned the Pachirisu, "(What did you do!?)"

"(Shouldn't you be focused on running for your life!?)" Scratch asked, looking at the gunfire following them as Ross ran with both kids under his arms.  "(I'll explain later!  But whatever you do, don't leave just yet!)"

Danny.  As soon as the gunfire started, he knew what he had to do.  Get that map back.  He rushed over to Bane, who was too busy shooting the Wailord with the shotgun he had in vain to realize what the Sableye was up to.  He snatched the map out of Bane's pocket, and ran towards the jungle.

Merry.  Once the gunfire started, she threw up a Reflect barrier to block the bullets.  The Rotom kept the barrier up while Napoleon returned fire with Water Guns from behind the barrier, knocking several humans and Pokémon back until their fire went away from the Pokémon and to the large Wailord chasing Ross.  However, Merry noticed that Danny was heading towards the jungle with the map.  Without a second thought, she dropped the no-longer necessary shield and followed him.

Mark.  Now that everyone else was distracted by the Wailord, Mark was free to do whatever.  The first thing he did was grab one of Bane's men from behind, and broke his neck.  After stealing the dead man's rifle and pistol.  He then turned to the man who was holding his Poké Ball belt, and quickly shot him with the rifle.  After quickly strapping the rifle on his back and the belt around his waist, he caught the sight of Ross placing his backpack on, and pulled out the pistol.

"Nothing personal, Chumandi," Mark scowled, pulling back the safety and taking aim at Ross.  "You caused me too much trouble than you're worth, and I'll be damned if I let Bane get what he wants."  He then thought about it, and said, "Okay, adding the fact that your trainer's a psychotic bitch when she's angry and your little girlfriend tried to kill me, this is completely personal."

Napoleon.  No longer being focused on, the Floatzel instantly started shooting Water Gun and Water Pulse left and right at the dangerous men from outside Merry's barrier.  Once she had left, though, Napoleon was left alone with his girlfriend behind him.  Napoleon turned to Cotton, and said, "(We've got to grab Ross and get the hell out of here!)"

"(Napoleon, wait!)" Cotton pointed out, looking at something behind him.  The Floatzel turned around, and gasped in shock.  Mark was taking at the Raichu, who was completely unaware that the treasure hunter had a perfect shot at him.  Scratch and Chewy, who were a little more concerned about the Wailord and gunfire already happening to take note of the one man who was intentionally aiming for Ross, would never be able to warn Ross in time.

Napoleon's brain was working fifty miles a second.  There was no way he, even if he quickly spammed Agility and Cotton used Rain Dance while he was using Aqua Jet, that he could reach Mark and stop that shot.  And Merry was gone, so she couldn't throw up a barrier.  Cotton's Mirror Coat only worked on special attacks, and he was pretty sure guns didn't fall into that category.  Nobody could prevent that shot.  So, there was only one thing he could do… "(Cotton, I'm so sorry about this!)"  The Floatzel quickly rushed over towards Ross, much to the Lopunny's shock.  "(Ross, look out!)"

The Raichu realized what was going on behind him, and turned to see Mark pull the trigger, and Napoleon took the bullet.  The Floatzel tumbled towards the ground before finally falling on his chest, eyes closed, mouth hanging open in shock, sprawled out.  "(NAPOLEON!!!!!!!)" Cotton screamed in shock and tears.  While she started crying, another rain cloud began to form.

"(Napoleon!)" Ross gasped, looking at the Floatzel on the ground while it began to rain, much to Chewy's discomfort.  The Raichu and Lopunny came to the same conclusion that Napoleon was dead.  He looked at the shooter, and growled as he called out his Electabuzz, Raiden to hold Ross down.  Sure, the Raichu didn't like Napoleon for everything he did to him and was hoping karma would work for him and get back at the Floatzel, but he never wished that Napoleon died.  Especially not like this.  This was the last straw he had with Mark.  "(You killed Napoleon, you son of a-)"

"(Chumandi, shut-up!)" Raiden yelled, shooting a Thunderbolt straight at Ross.  The Raichu dropped the kids, and shielded them from the attack, howling in pain as the electricity pumped into his body.  Everyone watched as Ross doubled over in pain.  Raiden breathed as he lowered his hand that was still crackling hand, and walked over to Ross.  "(Chumandi, I hate to do this to you, and you could've been a great treasure hunter.  But I promise that I'll make this quick.)"  He was about to slam a crackling Thunder Punch into Ross' head, but Scratch and Chewy stepped in the way.  "(Kids, get out of the way.  I'm only here for Chumandi, not you.)"

"(You've been after my big brother for too long!)" Scratch replied.  "(Even if I have to beat you myself, I'll make sure you and your trainer never hurt someone ever again!)"  Raiden just drew back the Thunder Punch, but was clocked by an Ice Hidden Power in the face.  Before he could recover, a larger, more powerful blue Thunderbolt slammed into him, paralyzing the Electabuzz on the spot.  A few blue streams of electricity slammed into Bane's men, knocking them back.

"(You know,)" Ross warned with a slightly darker tone as he stood up, but kept his head lowered, "(you shouldn't have done that, Raiden.  Everyone has their limits… I've been dangerously close to mine.)"  The Raichu's cheeks were sparking with electricity as he looked up with the wrath of Arceus in his eyes.  "(And you just pushed me over the edge.)"  The next thing the Electabuzz knew, the Raichu crashed tackled Raiden to the ground with a Slam before slamming a fist into Raiden's face, knocking a bloody tooth clean out before going in for a second punch.

"(Whoa, Mr. Ross is awesome!)" Chewy gasped, looking at the enraged Raichu beat the shot out of Raiden.  Scratch just said nothing, just watching Ross' tail.  He had seen this only a few times before.  Ross was much different than normal Raichu.  While most were hostile, arrogant, and brash, Ross was shy, timid, and kind.  However, Scratch had, in one prank, overcharged Ross with electricity… and the Raichu's personality drastically changed into a wild, destructive force.  Ross rarely lets it happen, though, as he's scared of this personality; he discharges his electricity often just to make sure nobody sees him like that.

And Raiden, who had betrayed Ross, hurt Jake, captured Scratch and Chewy, possibly threatening them, and just tried to electrify Ross to death after his trainer killed Napoleon, deserved more than just the sudden one-sided beating Ross gave him.  However, as much as Ross deserved his every right to beat at least one of his captors down, Scratch couldn't let Ross do it in front of Chewy… and the kids he and Chewy knew were in the sub.  The Pachirisu knew there was only one way to do so… but it would be risky.  Scratch jumped onto Ross' tail, and lowered the tip into the ground, unleashing a massive surge of sparks throughout the crowd, slamming into some of the mercenaries, knocking them out.

After the huge discharge of Electricity, Ross was brought back down to earth to look at what he had done.   Raiden's face was a complete mess now that the Raichu was through with it- a black eye, a few missing teeth, and a broken, bloody nose.  Ross looked at his blood-stained paws, and gasped in horror.  "(I-I-I let it happen,)" Ross gasped in shock.  He whimpered, "(Oh Arceus...)"

"(The guy deserved it,)" a familiar male voice spoke up.  Ross turned to see Napoleon pushing himself off the ground.  Cotton instantly jumped over and tackled him.  "(Babe, that hurts!)" the Floatzel laughed as the Lopunny hugged him with all of her might.

"(I thought you were dead,)" Cotton whispered into his ears as the rain stopped.  Napoleon smiled at this, enjoying the hug.

"Such a sweet moment," Mark commented, rolling his eyes while pointing his gun at Ross.

"Don't pull that trigger if you know what's good for you!" Bane warned, pointing his own gun at Mark's head.  He was completely aware of Mark's actions this time, and was prepared to end the treasure hunter's life if he tried to shoot his enemy again... Ross' death was something only he possessed the power to grant.

"If I'm going out, Bane," Mark yelled, "I'm going out knowing I took your chance to earn the gold!"  His finger squeezed-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!

All of a sudden, the entire deck of the shipwreck exploded, sending a huge geyser of fire through the air, and it began raining fireballs down on the shore, several hitting the Wailord that had been chasing Ross all over the place, and others incinerating some of the mercenaries.  Bane himself and his Ambipom had to roll out of the way of a large one that killed two of his men that weren't fast enough.  Everyone looked at the boat, looking at the source- a Torkoal and Politoed climbing out of the wreckage, the latter coughing because of the smoke.

"(Maybe you should have let me get out of the boat before having Cole use Eruption,)" Velma wheezed into her singed walkie talkie.

"(Sorry,)" another voice replied to her.  "(I thought you were already out.)"

"(Cole and Velma?)" Ross questioned after he recovered from the shock, looking at Scratch and Chewy.  "(What's going on, here?)"

"(Big brother,)" Scratch replied while watching everyone get up from being thrown off guard by the explosion, "(I said I'll explain later.  Right now, we have bigger problems.)"  The Wailord decided now to take action, and it rushed towards the boat the boat, but stopping close enough for Cole and Velma to jump on.  The Wailord turned around, and charged towards the shore.  "(Move out of the way!)"  Ross' group- Ross, Napoleon, Cotton, Scratch, and Chewy- barely jumped out of the way before the Wailord crashed onto the shore, beaching itself.

"(I think this is where we get off,)" Velma concluded, jumping down onto the ground perfectly while Cole landed in her arms.  All of the sudden, a hatch opened up where the porthole was, and out came Andrew, Mesprit, Helen, and Sakura.

"A submarine?" Bane asked while the young Pokémon (and Mesprit) landed next to Ross.

"(I thought you were trying to scare them off,)" Scratch whispered to Andrew as the group had their backs to the Wailord submarine.

"(I was,)" the Flaaffy replied.  "(I guess people with guns don't fear random Wailord attacks.  So, when that wasn't working, I called Cole to blow up the boat.)"

"(Terribly sorry about the damage done to the submarine, by the way,)" the Torkal apologized.

"(You guys a lot of explaining to do,)" Ross whispered to all of the kids.

"(Never mind that, Ross,)" Napoleon changed the subject.  "(What we need is an exit strategy.)"

"(I could teleport,)" Mesprit suggested with a grin.  Everybody looked at her as if she was crazy.

"(We need an exit strategy that won't send us halfway across Hoenn,)" the Floatzel decided.  Bane, after everything Ross and the kids pulled off, had to sinisterly chuckle.

"That was quite a performance," the man laughed.  Getting a straight face, he continued, "But it was just that:  a performance.  It was a good show, and I have cornered the legendary Mesprit to boot, but if that was an attempt to rescue your Pokémon, Canelli… it didn't really work.  You can come out of the sub, now."  For a few minutes, nothing happened.  The submarine didn't have anyone coming in or out.  Bane scowled at the lack of development.  He turned to some of his men, and ordered, "Search the sub.  Anyone or anything in it, kill on sight."  The men soon began their climb into the submarine.

"(My offer still stands,)" Mesprit whispered into their ears.  Ross and Napoleon had to think.  There was no telling where they all would end up with Mesprit- or if they would have any emotions after it.  Someone had to think of a safer plan that wouldn't send them to the middle of the ocean or worse.

"(We're better off just having Cole create a smokescreen or something,)" Andrew suggested.  He then realized what he said.  "(Of course!  Cole!  Get ready to use Smokescreen!)"

"(What do you mean by 'get ready?')" Helen asked.  "(Why not now?)"

"(Because you haven't used Confusion to throw something,)" the Flaaffy replied.  Helen smiled, and placed her hands on her head.  "(Try something big.)"

"(Like that guy,)" Ross suggested, looking at Raiden's unconscious form.  He then noticed Mark aiming at him yet again, and asked, "(Can you bean that red-haired guy?  He was my kidnapper in all of this.)"

"(Okay!)" the Psyduck replied, her eyes glowing blue.  However, her concentration was broken by something so sudden- Matthew landing straight in between the two groups.

"(Now, Sibelus!)" the Honchkrow yelled up to the sky.  The small Chatot landed on top of Matthew's hat, and unleashed a huge Heat Wave, startling Bane's men while Elizabeth and Tick came down, utilizing Bug Buzz and Air Cutter respectively and Matthew himself launched a Dark Pulse.  To add to the ambush, a few Charge Beams erupted from within the jungle, killing two of Bane's mercenaries and a Venomoth flying around, while three Hydro Pumps knocked a lot of the mercenaries off of their feet.  This stopped most of Bane's men, but not Mark, who still had a good shot at Ross.  However, his aim was messed up when his K.O.'d Electabuzz started floating in the air, enwrapped in a purplish aura.  He was soon knocked to the ground by Raiden before Cole sharply inhaled, and exhaled a huge amount of smoke from his nostrils, creating a black fog to hide Ross' group.

Once the smoke was clear, Bane simply stood up, and saw that Ross' group had fled.  However, he wasn't the only one missing- Mark had disappeared as well.

---

In the Jungle

Ross' large group had paused in the jungle, trying to catch their breaths.  Ross first turned to Napoleon.  "(I can't believe you took a bullet for me!)"

"(Yeah, I know,)" Napoleon waved off.  "(But it wasn't exactly me who took your bullet.)"  He pulled out Sir Isaac's diary, which had a dent on it.

"(It looks like Sir Isaac took one for you both!)" Matthew concluded while Ross took back his ancestor's diary and looked at it.  Matthew and Ross both noticed that the bullet wasn't in the diary.  "(I guess Mark shot you with a blank- we were worried when you got hit, Napoleon.)"

"(I'm happy that it was a blank.  I almost thought I went to heaven for a minute.)"  Turning to Cotton, he smiled, "(And you were my beautiful angel.)"

"(Aw, Napoleon,)" the Lopunny giggled with a blush.

"(Now zat only happens in the movies!)" Elizabeth had to admit, looking at the book.  "(But vhy do you have Sir Isaac's diary, Ross?)"

"(Danny and Merry stole it from Mark when I first escaped,)" the Raichu answered, opening it up towards the map pages to plot a course off of the island- they were pretty close towards the north side.  "(Thanks for saving us back there, by the way.)"

"(No problem,)" Matthew smiled, patting Ross on the head.  "(Sibelus insisted that Scratch organized this little rescue party, and when he came to me to get help to rescue both him and you, I just had to.)"

"(Yeah,)" Ross replied, looking at Scratch.  "(Scratch, don't ever do something like this again!  What if you guys got hurt!?  Or worse!?)"

"(S-s-sorry big brother,)" Scratch sighed.  "(I just wanted you back at the ranch.  We all did.)"

"(I came for the heck of it,)" Mesprit waved.  The kids all rushed over and hugged their Raichu baby-sitter.

"(We love having you around, Mr. Ross!)" Sakura cheered, rubbing her head affectionately into the Raichu's stomach.  Ross had to return the hugs with a sincere smile on his face.  They had come all of this way for him- it was very touching and bold of them.  Sure, their parents would be angry with both them and him, but Ross felt it was almost worth the amount of hell he'd catch when he arrived at the ranch.  All of a sudden, a female Cranidos walked out of the bushes.

"(Daddy!)" she called into the bushes.  "(I found Miss Jenna's young Pokémon!)"  Everyone stared at the random Cranidos looking at them.  While Napoleon, Cotton, Tick, Matthew, and Elizabeth had seen her, the rest had not seen her yet.  The Cranidos then looked at Ross, and blinked.  After a brief tug at his right ear, she spotted his birthmark, and squealed in delight.

"(Be right there, honey!)"  The next thing anybody knew, a male Sceptile wearing an eye patch jumped out of the bushes, tackling Ross away from the kids to the ground with a Leaf Blade to the Raichu's throat.  "(Don't mess with my daughter, you son of a-!)" the Sceptile warned.

"(Logan!?)" Matthew asked, looking at the Sceptile.  Logan stared in shock at the Honchkrow addressing him.

"(Daddy,)" the Cranidos whispered, "(that's Mr. Chumandi.)"  The Sceptile looked down at Ross, and blushed in embarrassment upon the realization that he was about to kill the person he was supposed to be looking for.  Logan withdrew his Leaf Blade, and sheepishly helped the Raichu up.

"(S-sorry,)" the Sceptile groaned.  "(Crazy island, daughter squealing, your parental instinct kicks in and you want to gut the immediate threat.)"

"(For once, I wasn't the one who screwed up!)" Koops announced as he held Danny and Merry in his hands.  The Sableye and Rotom looked pretty banged up with teeth and burn marks.

"(There you two are,)" Cotton told them as the Blastoise set them down.  "(We could have used your help back there.)"

"(You guys seemed to have everything under control,)" the Sableye insisted while healing his wounds with Recover.  "(Besides, we had bigger problems.  We got mauled by a Luxray!)"

"(Yeah, you did,)" Pride agreed, shooting the Sableye a dirty look.  "(And this Luxray is happy about his revenge.  I think we're even for the Claw of Howl job, now.)"  Turning towards Ross, the Luxray greeted, "(Chumandi, how are you doing?)"

"(Wondering what's going on, here,)" Ross replied, looking from Koops to Pride to Logan.  "(And it's Ross, Pride!)"

"(Well,)" Napoleon began, "(After you got kidnapped, Elizabeth and I interrogated Koops and Pride, respectively, and got this location out of Koops- Pride was on jetlag, so he wasn't much help.  It was the day Becker Drake showed up.  We flew to Hoenn last night, and we were introduced to his Pokémon, Logan and Lizzie.)"

"(Once again,)" Logan smiled while shaking Ross' paw, "(I'm terribly sorry for the ambush.  Lizzie means a lot to me.  They call me Logan Drake, Mr. Chumandi.  I'm happy to see you survived this ordeal.)"  Both Ross and Logan then noticed Lizzie holding up a book and a pen.  "(Liz, now's not the time to be asking for Ross' autograph.)"

"(Okay,)" the Cranidos sighed, putting the pen and book away.

"(Anyways,)" Cotton continued, "(after our trainers jumped out of the plane, we split up and started looking for you… and here we are.)"

"(Saria and your master were worried sick,)" Jadis added as she walked out of the bushes with Iris.  "(And so were we.)"

"(We should probably find them,)" Iris suggested, looking at the setting sun.  "(We're almost out of daylight.)"

"(Agreed,)" Pride decided.  "(Let's get out of here.)"  The group started walking, with Pride catching up to Ross.  "(That was a nice fight, by the way.  I really like what you did to Raiden.)"

"(T-that was an accident,)" Ross replied with a blush, surprised that Pride and the others watched that entire fight.  Pride noticed this, and decided to drop it.  Perhaps Ross didn't want that deeper, darker, side of him to show itself.  Well, the Luxray would respect his wishes….

"(Accident!?)" Koops asked.  "(If you going all Dark Side back there was an accident, you should have more-)"  The Luxray zapped him yet again with a Charge Beam, knocking him out yet again in one shot because of its increased power.

"(This 'accident' will slow us down a little,)" Pride grumbled before walking behind the unconscious Blastoise, "(but we should be able to make up for it if we put a speaking ban up until we reunite with our trainers.)"  The Luxray then used Strength to push the large Blastoise towards the way they were walking before.

"(What does a speaking ban mean?)" Chewy asked Pride.

"(We're playing the quiet game,)" the Luxray replied.  "(If you talk, you're out!  And… go!)"

"(Aw,)" Sibelus groaned, "I hate the quiet game!)"  He was smacked in the back of the head by his uncle.  "(Never mind.)"  The group soon walked away, glad to have this mess nearly finished.  However, little did they know that someone was following them.