*Nathan's POV*

Maxwell turns from his Dragonite to me, and I immediately stand up in front of Voltflare.

"You're not harming him anymore- you've caused enough suffering! When I first met you, I thought that you would change, but that never happened! Now, you've forced my hand. Maxwell Graves, you're never harming anyone ever again!"

I turn to the badly damaged Voltflare behind and point at Maxwell. He laughs and backs away from me, though it looks to be more mocking that fear.

"Oh, you're going to sic him on me. Such a magnificent role model- I always wanted to emulate a man who steals research from the place that he works, robs one of the best workers of their job, and then tops it all off by attempting to murder said worker with..."

I quickly interrupt him before he can continue,

"Yes, what I have done to Team Rocket is blatant treason, but I joined the organization on the premise that I would be helping to advance the connection between Pokemon and Trainer. They withheld their end of the 'bargain,' so I dropped mine as recompense. However, the difference between me and you is that I learned from my mistakes. You did not! Voltflare, Thunder Wave!" I command my partner, and he springs into action, electricity coursing through him. A small jolt of electricity leaps from his tail into the air. He follows it with his eyes for a few seconds, then directs his gaze straight at Maxwell. At this sudden jerk of his head, his Thunder Wave speeds from its position in the air into Maxwell's skin. However, he doesn't seem to be in pain- in fact, he's jovial about the shock. My former colleague stares at the spot the bolt entered his skin for a moment and laughs.

"So this is what I was afraid of? Maybe I was wrong about your potential! When I saw you in the lab, you were so..." He stops, mid-sentence, and crumples to the ground.

"You... You...!" his body shakes in frustration. Voltflare's current had finally found its way to his nervous system and had fried it.

Maxwell stares at me, hatred in his eyes. He makes one last grab at Voltflare with a wide sweep of his arms, but the quick Pokemon easily dodges the debilitated man's desperate attempt on his life. Voltflare's fur stands on end, and he channels another bolt of electricity into Maxwell, who promptly falls in a heap on the ground, unable to fight off the second bolt's current. His hands go numb, and he soon falls into a coma.

"That bad man won't be bugging us anytime soon..." Voltflare says, his eyes reflecting relief, terror, and shock, all at the same time.

Well, now that we've solved one problem, we need to finally do what we came here to do- find Clair...

"Why are you still here?" a voice says from behind me. Voltflare and I whirl around, and I instantly recognize the man in front of me to be Lance, Clair's cousin and the Champion of the Johto leader. As he approaches, a knot forms in my stomach- I have a feeling that Lance believes that I'm the one who was sent to "have an appointment" with Clair- and I brace for the worst.

"Vile Rocket, why have you returned?!" Lance growls at me, angrily. A gust of wind begins to billow around him, and his black cape catches in the breeze, making the man look much more awe-inspiring. I would marvel at the crimson-haired Champion if his finger were not pointed at me in a threatening manner.

"I said, why are you here?!" Lance immediately repeats himself, this time pulling a Pokeball from his belt. The sleeves of his regal black garb rustle in the wind.

"Clair is your cousin, isn't she? I need to find her and ask her for..." I attempt to talk with him, but Lance cuts me off in his rage.

"I've heard enough- now I know why you're here, and I won't let you harm her! Dragonite, we have an immoral cur to apprehend!"

As he says this, Lance throws his Pokeball to the ground, and the familiar form of the orange dragon appears out of the ensuing light show. The Pokemon stretches its wings to catch the wind and hover a few inches above the battlefield. Besides this, I notice something different about Lance's Dragonite.

This one, unlike Maxwell's, radiates an aura of power and an unbreakable bond. If he decides to fight me, I'll have no chance until Maxwell's jamming signal wears off! I need to stall him until then...

Voltflare sees the Pokemon appear in a flash of light and instantly hides himself behind me.

"No! S...Stay away from me!" he shouts. His breathing is quite sped-up and erratic, and his voice is quivering. I know that I cannot leave him like this, so I stoop down and begin to slowly pet his head.

"It'll be OK, buddy. I'm not going to let Lance's Pokemon harm you. Then, we can go address your wounds, and..."

Ungh! I squeeze out a small sound in pain when Lance's Dragonite slams its fist into my gut, pushing me backwards at least a few dozen yards and knocking the wind out of me.

Voltflare tries to run over to me, but, at Lance's command, the Dragonite quickly grabs him with one hand. The Equilibrium Pokemon struggles in the dragon's grasp, and I slowly approach the chaos, my legs buckling from the pain running through my body.

As I draw closer, Lance walks up to Voltflare and examines him.

"So what is this? What did you do to this Pokemon?! Or is it even one?" he turns to me and shouts. His Dragonite throws Voltflare to the ground and places its foot over his broken body. I cringe as the Pokemon begins to slowly shift more weight onto Voltflare, crushing him. He cries out in pain, and I try to run to his side- to comfort him, anything. Lance's Dragonite however, prevents me from helping my partner and forces me to the ground with a swipe of its tail.

I can only watch as the Dragonite continues to crush Voltflare under its weight. He cries out in pain, and I feel helpless, with no way to help my friend- the one I swore to protect with my life. And now, I'm the one on the ground, while Voltflare is half-digested and struggling to hold the weight of a dragon over twice his size.

I crawl, on my knees, towards Voltflare, but, as soon as I draw close enough, Lance's Dragonite rakes its claws across my chest, effortlessly picks me up, and tosses my limp body across the landscape.

My spine arcs when I hit the ground, and spots dance across my vision. I struggle to remain conscious, more for Voltflare's sake than mine.

There's got to... Got to be something I can do to save him!

I try to scrape myself off the ground, but my legs buckle, and I fall into a slump on the cold earth. It's all I can do to lock eyes with Voltflare, both of us struggling with the worst kinds of pain imaginable, and I attempt to offer him a semblance of moral support with my gaze.

Voltflare nods, and he shouts in pain when the Dragonite forces its foot further and further on top of him. A few more minutes of force, and Voltflare's body will probably shatter apart from the intense force.

"Lance... Can't you see what you're doing?!" I force the words out, but the Champion ignores my words, as if they mean nothing, and refocuses his attention on the broken Equilibrium Pokemon.

Then, a loud shout from the direction of the Dragon's Den causes both Lance and his Pokemon to freeze.

"Lance! Stop it! Enough! Leave that poor Pokemon alone!"

I turn to the sound of the voice, and a blue-haired girl, dressed in the same ornate garb as Lance, runs into the middle of the chaos. She looks at Lance and crosses her arms. A determined, yet fierce expression adorns her face.

"What's gotten into you?! That Pokemon has done nothing to you, and yet you still try to kill it?" she yells at him.

"But, Clair... That man over there- can't you see that he's a..." Lance points at the red insignia on my tattered lab coat. Then, he notices the fallen Maxwell on the ground a few dozen feet behind me. Seeing that the unconscious man also bears a Team Rocket outfit, recognition crosses Lance's face. At least, I hope that's what his new emotion is.

"Did you? Did you do this?!" he asks me, more out of pent-up anger than inquisitiveness.

I nod, and he turns to Clair to discuss something. I cannot quite make out what the two are whispering, but Lance finally commands his Dragonite to release Voltflare from under its weight.

The Equilibrium Pokemon gasps for air, his emaciated body faltering, and he painfully walks over to me. I could tell each movement of his legs hurt him- most likely a repercussion of both being in a stomach and being crushed, one almost directly right after the other- and I let my tears flow when I embrace him.

He must be completely drained, physically and emotionally... I slowly stroke Voltflare's head, and Lance finally addresses me in a less-condescending tone,

"You're not like them, are you? Those other criminal rejects...Hmph! Fine, I will give you a chance to explain yourself. Tell me, what happened to you and your Pokemon, and why are you here in Blackthorn?"

I sigh in relief, knowing that I'll finally be able to get the help that I need. Clair gives me a "thumbs-up," and I begin to recount the tale of Voltflare, starting with the Rocket attack on Jake's village and ending with the confrontation with Maxwell.

...

"So, in essence..." I wind down my epic adventure.

"You're a rebel," Lance finishes my thought for me. He gives me another stern look, and, after a long pause, sighs.

"Well, any man who allies against Team Rocket is on our side. But I can't help feeling sorry for poor Jake- losing his family, friends, and future like that. At the very least, you have learned your lesson. Regardless of what you've done to him, that is behind us. Now, our only enemy is Team Rocket..." He stops when a cry reaches our ears.

"Lance! Help me!" Clair screams. The both of us whirl around to the sound and see the brief outline of Maxwell's Dragonite, who had recently recovered from Voltflare's electricity, receding into the sky. Maxwell, however, is still unconscious.

"Why you little..." Lance fumes at the comatose Rocket before he mounts his own Dragonite.

"Hop aboard- we have a Pokemon to deal with!" Lance calls to me.

I leap onto an empty spot on the Dragonite's back and motion for Voltflare to do the same.

"It'll be fine- come on, buddy!" I chide him. He backs up, his body quivering.

Voltflare, come on! Clair needs us!

Finally, I just give up and return him to his Pokeball, just as Lance's Pokemon takes to the sky in a flurry of wind and scales. I had never experienced the thrill of flying on a Pokemon's back myself, and the massive increase in altitude and pressure makes me sick to my stomach, but I manage to hold on for dear life. Meanwhile, Lance is already acclimatized with the fierce conditions and is currently scanning the sky for Maxwell's runaway Pokemon.

Birds scatter as we zip past them, and I can't help but admire the view, knowing that this would probably be my only chance to fly like this. After about five minutes, I catch something out of the corner of my eye. Lance follows my gaze and roars,

"Now I see you, you little vermin! Dragonite, after it!"

The Dragon Pokemon under us picks up speed, and a startled Wingull flying overhead smacks me in the face. Laughing, I pull the annoyed Pokemon off of me and look for Maxwell's Dragonite.

I spot it a few seconds later, as the Pokemon circles around a large building in Goldenrod City. I immediately realize where it is taking Clair.

The Radio Tower! So that was your plan all along, Giovanni? Well, let's just take the fight to my old HQ! I'm sure that he will be pleased to see me when I bring down Team Rocket with his own "Hybrid Experiment!" I think to myself, never taking my eyes off Maxwell's Pokemon.

The Dragonite quickly lands on the ground and runs inside. Lance's own Dragonite touches down a few seconds later, and we quickly leap off its back and sprint for the door. Lance recalls his Pokemon and I bring out my own, now that there is no more Dragonite near us.

The Equilibrium Pokemon breathes a sigh of relief when his paws impact the ground.

"What was even going on back there?! I could feel the wind ripping outside, and the noise was quite deafening. At least, we're finally safe now..."

He stops when my walkie-talkie beeps in my pocket.

Not good... He knows that we are here!

Grimacing, I pull out the object and turn up the volume to as high as I can. I want Lance to be able to hear this, too.

A small burst of static serves as the interlude for Giovanni, whose snarling voice greets us a few seconds later.

"Ahahaha! Good show, Nathan! You've really outdone yourself- I've been working on a few modifications to your DNA experimentations, and I think I've created the perfect hybridic slave! In fact, an entire army of them! Do you really think you can stand against your own research, Traitor?! Why don't you bring along your little box of sentient lab research and show me?! Meet me at the Goldenrod HQ, and we can discuss matters further. Come alone, or the girl dies! Ahaha... *beep* ..."

"That underhanded..." Lance grows under his breath. He turns to me and Voltflare.

"Come, let's go- I'm not letting those criminals lay a finger on her!" He charges for the door, and I quickly stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Didn't you hear what Giovanni said? He wants me to come 'alone.' Just me and my Pokemon! I would recommend not playing games with Giovanni- he takes his 'business deals' very seriously, especially when lives are on the line."

Lance's gaze grows extremely cross, and his voice lowers at least two octaves. He grabs my by the shirt and levels eyes with me.

"You had better make sure that they don't hurt her at all! I'm warning you, if they even touch her... But, you are right, if you go, alone, there is still a chance to save her. Can you really stop him? Now is the time to find out! Go!"

Lance shoves the two of us from behind, and we step into the foreboding building.

Immediately, the doors slam behind us with a loud crash. I jump in surprise and instantly try the lock. It doesn't budge.

Well... I look at Voltflare and ask,

"Are you ready?!"

He smiles back at me, but, before he can respond, all the lights in the lobby go out.

Thrust into darkness, the only visible light on the floor is the neon green glow of Voltflare's eyes and ears. Admittedly, I am greatly unnerved.

But I can't let that stop me! I have a mission here, and I can't fail, not here- not now!

*Voltflare's POV*

I look around the darkened lobby with Nathan for a few minutes, until a familiar scent finds its way to my nose. I wince, as the pain of the attack on my village comes back to me.

This place smells of Eevee, among other unknown objects. I have a feeling that it's due to all of the machinery that was here last time.

I follow the scent, Nathan right behind me, until we come into a small door in the wall. It looks like the machinery from the Team Rocket lab, and Nathan curses his luck.

"The elevator's busted- the control panel is broken. I can't call it or force it to open..."

I trip over something unseen on the floor, and I accidentally fall into Nathan. The sudden impact dislodges a Pokeball from his belt, and he looks over at me, offering a hand down to me.

As he pulls me back on my paws, he looks at the Pokeball on the floor with a smile.

"Good thinking, Voltflare! Metagross could help us fix the broken control panel!"

Nathan reaches down and grabs the Pokeball, throwing out his Metagross in the same motion.

"Metaaaa!" the metallic creature bellows when it appears, although I can barely see it in the darkness.

"Metagross, can you fix this?" Nathan asks the Pokemon, pointing to the elevator's panel. Metagross shrugs, or as much of a shrug as a metalloid behemoth can, and looks at the monitor for a second. It looks back at Nathan a few seconds later, and a deep voice rumbles throughout the chamber- I assume this is Metagross talking through telepathy, a common trait among Psychic-type Pokemon-

"My arms are too big to work with these miniature wires, but I know what needs to be done."

"Then tell me what to do- I'll be your 'hands' for now," Nathan says, turning to the control panel. In response, Metagross' eyes glow a bright blue, and Nathan looks around, confused.

Is Metagross controlling him? I think so... I didn't know it could do that... I think, meekly, as the same blue glow surrounds Nathan; he hurriedly turns to the control panel and begins work on it. He pulls out few metal tools from his bag and unscrews the cover. I watch him as he manipulates the insides of the mechanism. Behind the base plate, two of the wires inside are cut, and Nathan pulls a very odd-looking object from his belt and places it next to the wires. The object excretes a very hot, metal liquid that gives off steam as it comes into contact with the air. Nathan works quickly to push the two wires together while the ends are both coated in the substance. He pulls a smaller, red wire from a box on his belt, cuts a slit in it, and envelops the now-smoldering combination of wire with it. Finally, he takes a small piece of a sticky black something and covers the entire thing in it.

"That should do it," he says as he stands up,

"The elevator will be coming up shortly- the wire is repaired, insulated, and covered. It should work now."

Nathan walks over to the elevator and pushes the bright white button. It lights up, and, we stand in the near-darkness for a few minutes. Finally, the doors emit a loud ding and open to reveal the same elevator that we had used to escape from Team Rocket's HQ earlier. However, before we step inside, a voice from outside the Radio Tower catches my attention.

Quickly, I jump at Nathan and push him to the ground. He almost makes a sound of pain as he falls onto his back, but, then, he hears the voice outside as well.

Shhh... I silently tell him, as a Rocket grunt, about the same size as Nathan, opens the door and steps into the darkness along with us.

"I just need to get back, and everything will be fine- just need to report what happened to Maxwell when he was in Blackthorn. But, why would he really care if he has Clair... Hey! You again!" the grunt calls when he notices me.

"Use Thunder Wave- hurry," Nathan whispers, and I immediately know what he's planning to do.

As the grunt runs for the open elevator, a burst of electricity from my tail intercepts him and causes him to fall to the ground, unconscious.

I guess I overloaded him a little bit too much... Oh well, it works.

"Wait a minute- I have an idea," Nathan says, returning both me and Metagross to our respective Pokeballs.

"Sit tight in there, this is going to get a little bit interesting. I'm not going to let you out for a while, because I don't want to draw any suspicion to us. I'm going to masquerade as the person that was supposed to report on Maxwell's behalf, so, if I look different, that would be why," he tells me and steps into the elevator. He stuffs his traditional lab attire into his bag and dons the fallen grunt's uniform. Soon, I hear the elevatorsdoors close, and I wait for what will happen when we get there.

Well, this is it- we either stop Team Rocket right here and now, or they'll definitely kill us. Come on, Nathan- we can do this!

}[u}