No time for your nonsense, Touko. For both of our sakes, behave.

"N," Rosa said as she hesitantly placed the front tip of her right shoe on the gangplank's rusted surface, "How did you-"

"Get on, now!"

The rusted metal creaked beneath her weight, but Rosa only hesitated a second longer before she was flying up the gangplank to meet her stormy-eyed friend. The slapping of Curtis's steps followed behind her.

Commotion on the top deck grew louder as she approached. N turned his back to the land, his feet edging towards the gangplank. In one elegant motion, N pulled a pokeball from his belt and tossed it into the air. Red light poured from its surface, but Rosa couldn't see what Pokemon had appeared before enormous flames erupted from the top deck.

An ear-piercing shriek shattered Rosa's eardrums. She stumbled, losing her footing as the metal beneath her moved off the sandy beach to rise in an upright position. Pain seared through her wrists as she landed on them, but then Curtis had her around the waist and back into an upright position before the ache could fully register.

From above their heads, another pop sounded followed by a spurt of orange flame shooting skyward. Shouts of alarm rang out, and drumming footsteps.

Rosa was still stumbling, fighting to keep her balance as Curtis propelled her forward and the bridge beneath them inched to reach a forty-five degree angle. Finally reaching the top panel, Rosa's shoes hit the metal deck.

Chaos awaited them. Plasma members and their defending Pokemon swarmed like army ants, storming from opened doors Rosa knew led to lower levels of the frigate. They pushed towards their former king, human barriers to surround N and prevent his escape.

N did not look afraid.

From above the rafters, a raging Darmanitan fell and crushed a pair of plasma members standing directly in front of N. Flames roared from its enormous head, and with muscle-bound arms it twirled and landed a giant fist down onto a Cryogonal's back. It's screams were cut off by the dancing fire Darmanitan spewed into its glowing blue eyes.

Panic stirred Rosa to action, and she snatched the pokeball containing Zaveid from her belt.

"Ghetsis is onboard somewhere," N shouted. Rosa's hands stilled. "I don't know where this ship is going, but I can't imagine the destination leads anywhere good."

"But you can't possibly beat-"

"I am still the king of Team Plasma. I don't plan on being dethroned today. Now go."

Without another thought to weigh her down, Rosa reattached Zaveid's pokeball and hurled herself towards the opening Darmanitan created. Heat from the ape's flamethrower warmed her face as the creature blasted towards the torrent of Koffing and Trubbish swarming to fill the gap. Someone's gloved fingers caught her wrist as she moved, but Rosa twisted and wrenched her hand away without taking her eyes from the doorway she was going for.

The last time she'd been on the Plasma frigate, Colress had hauled her from one of the doors that lead down into the right hand side of the ship. What had Hugh endured being kept on the left?

After all this time, what if he was still there?

Another hand caught Rosa around the waist, but Curtis slammed a fist into the attacker's stomach and the man's grip on her slackened. Rosa shoved against him and he fell, and so on until enough of a gap was reached that she was able to throw herself into one of the ajar doors.

Together Rosa and Curtis slammed the door and leaned against it. The familiar scent of rust and sea foam churned her stomach, but she didn't allow her thoughts to stray back to her tiny prison cell. Ghetsis was ahead. She was going to reach him.

And Hugh.

Finally, her Hugh.

The room they'd entered was small, only a long hallway with a large blue rug at the end. A quick glance told her that besides themselves, it was empty, and Rosa was relieved. The opposing wall had something strange, though. A panel glowing forest green, making visible the small electric panels sitting on either side of it.

"Warp panels." Curtis murmured. "Technology developed by Colress to make navigating this place much faster. For those who know where each panel leads, that is."

"So not us."

A coy smile pulled at Curtis's lips. "Not you. I worked for Team Plasma and tried to plan a rescue mission once, remember?"

"If you can get me to Ghetsis, I'll consider forgiving you for that."

The smile lines around his eyes vanished. "This control panel will take us to the second-floor basement. Ladies first."

With that, Rose stepped fully onto the glowing panel and vanished. In an instant the world fell away, turning her senses into darkness. She tried to breathe again but found no air, her innards found their way into pockets where they didn't belong, her eyeballs were forced into the back of her head. Rosa stretched her arms to feel for something, anything, familiar. A wall, a door, the ground-

Then she was back on her feet, her lungs expanded, and she doubled over and coughed loudly. Her eyes streamed, and she felt like she'd just been forced through a plastic straw. It was a few seconds before she realized the basement had fallen away. She was now standing in a dimly-lit room with blue panels outlining the walls and plasma crests adorning the metal floors. An electric fence buzzed behind her, and behind it, a door. A moment later and Rosa was on the ground with Curtis's heavy body pinning her to the floor.

Beside them, there was a gasp.

"Rosa?"

Rosa tilted her head up from the floor. A Plasma member leered over them, their large eyes widening in disbelief as they stretched down to push their nose near her face. The pale face was beautiful, almost otherworldly, and Rosa immediately knew that if the black hat the knight wore was removed, a cascade of shocking red curls would fall into the plasma member's shoulders and brush her cheeks.

Giving Curtis a hard shove, Rose offered her hands to the plasma member who in turn yanked her into a hard hug.

"I knew it was you! Lord N told me you'd be here, I just knew you'd come!"

Rosa hugged Ella tighter and savored the delicate pine scent of her skin before pulling away to look at her face. "What are you doing here? I thought you were hiding in Driftveil with Rood!"

"I've been waiting for you, of course. I told you that if you ever needed help kicking Ghetis's butt to call me." Her full lips turned into a pout. "Spying is a rotten job. All I ever hear about is how horrible Lord N is, and how he betrayed Team Plasma. As if they didn't betray him first! Natural risked his life sneaking us both on this ship to help you."

"He's fighting off an army by himself as we speak," Curtis interrupted. "So, there's little time for happy reunions."

Ella's grasp on Rosa's hands tightened, and Rosa winced.

"Right," Ella's eyes flashed. "This electrical panel behind us stops anyone from reaching the upper floors of the ship. You'll need a card key to enter the password that will deactivate the fence. Ghetsis's office is up there."

"Do you know where the keycard is?"

"All members of the Shadow Triad carry one. Their rooms are located on this floor, but you'll have to get through their weird maze of pipes to reach them. Oh, and they're guarded by Plasma members."

Great, no sweat. "And the password?"

"Arceus," Ella finally released her grip on Rosa, but it was only so she could hug herself. "What does that mean for us?"

"That Ghetsis is messing with things he doesn't understand," Curtis said. He pulled out a Pokeball, and in a flash Espeon stood before him, her large ears perked and red jewel pulsing. "To the Triad's rooms, Rosa."