Hi everyone, here's the next chapter : ) This should be where we left off last time before I decided to change the chapter structure of this story : ) Hopefully that means that soon we'll get to some new content, yay! I can't promise weekly updates anymore though, as I do have several projects on the go at once, but I can promise that I'll at least try to keep the updates regular : )

Anyway, thank you so much to everyone that keeps reviewing this story. I really do appreciate the support and it really does help me continue this story when all I feel like doing sometimes is giving up : )

Please remember that Pokemon is not owned by me and I hope you enjoy this chapter : )

The Great Ship Robbery

Out of nowhere, a mechanical hand attached to a rapidly extending pole darted onto the battlefield, snatched up Marina, and proceeded to pull her away before anyone could figure out what was happening.

"What the...?!" Misty gasped in astonishment.

"Poli?" Politoed's attack failed, causing him to look around in confusion.

"Marina!" Tallulah cried in horror.

"What's going on here?!" Ash demanded, hurrying over to join the girls as they both raced to the edge of the battlefield.

A chorus of familiar evil cackling filled the air.

Misty's heart plummeted all the way down to her shoes.

Of course.

She had foolishly believed that maybe this time, she and Ash would have finally shaken them off and left them behind in Kanto, but no.

Of course, they had followed them.

All the way out to sea.

Standing there in the doorway of the room, as bold as you like, was Team Rocket.

Meowth was the one operating that mechanical arm that had snatched up Marina.

"Team Rocket!" Ash seethed, "I don't believe it!"

"Oh, but you'd better believe it Twerp" Jessie laughed.

"Why couldn't you just stay behind in Kanto and give us a break from the constant stupidity you spread around?" Misty grumbled in annoyance.

She really had hoped that for once, maybe she and Ash could travel without the bumbling trio always getting in their way.

"Because we still haven't captured Pikachu" James retorted hotly, "But that's all about to change!"

Before anyone could do or say anything, Meowth deposited Marina the Totodile into a glass sphere that Jessie was holding. She quickly snapped it shut before Marina could escape, trapping the Totodile inside.

Then, before anyone could protest, Meowth used the mechanical hand to pluck Pikachu right off of Ash's shoulder.

"No! Pikachu!" Ash yelled, trying to grab the yellow mouse but the hand retracted back towards Team Rocket too quickly for him.

"Pika!" Pikachu whined in protest.

Laughing menacingly, Meowth used the hand to place Pikachu in a second glass sphere, this one being carried by James.

"Pika!" Pikachu, furious about being shoved into a glass ball, tried to use his Thundershock to break free.

Unfortunately, it had no effect on the sphere whatsoever.

"Marina!" Tallulah cried, horrified at seeing her partner imprisoned, "Let her go now!"

"Sorry blondie, but we can't do that" Jessie smirked, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Tallulah seethed, "And just who do you creeps think you are anyway?!"

Unable to resist the opportunity, Team Rocket all struck dramatic poses.

"Prepare for trouble" Jessie began smugly, "I know who I am".

"And make it double" James added, clearly just as confident, "For I'm the man with a plan".

"To protect the world from devastation"

"To unite all people within our nation"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love"

"To extend our reach to the stars above"

"Jessie"

"James"

"Team Rocket rides the St. Valerie at the speed of light!"

"And we shall be in Hoenn by the end of this night!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet cried, popping out of his pokeball.

Tallulah blinked in utter bewilderment.

"I still don't get it" she shook her head, "Who are you clowns again?"

"Urgh!" Jessie, James, and Meowth all sagged where they stood.

"Hey Blonde Twerpette!" Jessie snarled at her, "Weren't you paying attention?! We're Team Rocket!"

"Team Rocket?" Tallulah repeated blankly.

"They're a group of bad guys Tallulah" Ash grimly informed her whilst glaring at Team Rocket with hatred burning in his eyes, "They're always trying to steal my Pikachu, other pokemon, and all kinds of other stuff too".

"Oh my!" Tallulah gasped, before glaring with a coldness unusual for her, "Well they're not stealing Marina from me! Give her back!"

"Yeah! And give back Pikachu too!" Ash added in agreement.

"Let me think about that..." James rubbed his chin in mock-thought.

"NO!" Jessie, James, and Meowth all yelled together.

Then, before Ash, Misty or Tallulah could do a thing, Team Rocket turned on their heels and took off out of the room, taking the stolen Pikachu and Marina with them.

"Come back here!" Ash yelled furiously.

He set off after them.

"Give back my Marina!" Tallulah shrieked, following him.

Misty meanwhile quickly returned her Politoed to his pokeball and hurried over to the booth the arena's manager had been in before. To her complete astonishment, she found him hunched over, completely lost to sleep.

"Hey! Wake up!" she yelled angrily.

With a jolt, the manager woke up.

"Huh? What?" he blinked sleepily.

"Two pokemon were just stolen by a group that call themselves Team Rocket" Misty wasted no time in filling him in, "You have to alert the ship's security before they can escape".

The manager looked confused for a second.

Then her words set in.

"What?!" he yelped in horror, "I'm on it!"

He snatched up the radio he used to communicate with the captain and other important staff members aboard the St. Valerie.

"This is Battle Arena One!" he shouted into it, "We have an emergency!"

Satisfied that the man would get the message out to everyone else on the ship, Misty sprinted off after her best friend and her new friend.

It took a couple of minutes for her to catch up with them since they had a head-start on her, but within moments she rounded a corner and found a furious Ash and Tallulah looking around frantically.

"Oh man!" Ash grumbled in his anger, "Where did those three disappear too?!"

"I don't know Ash" Tallulah's lip trembled, obviously in fear of never seeing her beloved Marina again, "But we can't give up! We have to find them!"

"Guys" Misty alerted them to her presence, "I told the battle arena's manager to get the message out, so soon every staff member will be looking for them".

Ahead of them, a door opened, and out stepped a burly man in a stripy sailor's shirt and dark blue shorts. With him stood an even more muscular Machoke.

The man spotted them and didn't hesitate to approach.

"I just received a message that two young trainers had some of their pokemon stolen" he said, and Misty was relieved he wasn't wasting times with any pleasantries, "Are any of you three those trainers?"

"I'm one of them" Ash grumbled, "My Pikachu's been stolen".

"And so has my Marina" Tallulah exclaimed, "She's a Totodile".

"My name is Captain Stanley" the man - no, the captain - greeted them kindly, "Don't worry kids. Every member of my crew is going to do everything they can to get your pokemon back".

"That's great Captain Stanley" Ash beamed at him, "Thank you!"

"We're so grateful for your help" Tallulah nodded her gratitude as well.

"Come with me" the man gently ushered them towards the room he had just exited, "We're going to find them".

Misty immediately felt reassured purely by the conviction in the man's voice alone.

Soon enough, the four humans were standing before a piece of equipment that Misty suspected was the most advanced security system she had ever clapped eyes on. It had lots of monitors and screens, and there were lights flashing randomly all over it.

Captain Stanley sat at the machine and began typing on the keyboard, his jaw set tightly and his eyes determined.

Theft, especially that of a pokemon, was not something he tolerated on-board his ship, thank you very much.

"What's that?" Ash couldn't help but ask.

No sooner had the words slipped his lips did an image of the ship appear on the central screen.

"It scans the entire ship" the Captain explained, not looking up from his work, "And helps me to find the potential hiding places of any stowaways that might be on-board".

Misty couldn't help but roll her eyes in disbelief.

If it was that great, then how on Earth had Team Rocket managed to get on-board in the first place?

She highly doubted that they'd bought tickets after all.

"And now you're using it to try and figure out where the creeps that took Marina and Pikachu are hiding, right?" Tallulah asked the Captain hopefully.

Captain Stanley nodded grimly.

At the moment, the security system detected something and started to beep, alerting them that it had reached a potential result.

"Ah" the Captain smirked victoriously, "The food storage area on the lower deck".

"Then what are we waiting for?" Misty looked around bracingly.

She saw three determined faces looking back at her.

"Marina and Pikachu are depending on us!" Tallulah cried, angry that those people had dared take Marina from her.

If it was the last thing she ever did, Tallulah was going to make them pay.

The four humans, along with Togepi and Machoke, immediately set off running towards the staircase that led to the lower deck.

Their goal was blatantly clear.

They were going to rescue the captive pokemon and show those crooks a thing or two whilst they were at it.

Captain Stanley led the three teenagers down to the food storage area on the lowest deck of the boat, and once they arrived outside, he silently signalled for them to wait.

Misty pressed her ear to the metal door to listen.

Ash, Tallulah and the Captain all did the same.

It took a moment, but soon enough Misty could hear voices from inside.

She furiously bared her teeth at the familiar voices.

"Poor Pikachu" Jessie's voice said smugly from inside, the sound muffled slightly due to the thickness of the door, "You're just wasting your volts with those Thunderbolts".

"That little glass sphere will suck up every single watt you can dish out" James' mocking voice added.

"So why don't you be a good little pokemon, and sit back and enjoy this peaceful sea cruise?" Meowth's voice taunted.

No sooner had they all heard that remark did Ash's fragile control shatter.

Ignoring the protests of the other three - who all wanted to come up with some kind of plan before they just went marching in - Ash threw open the door to the storage facility and stormed in.

Scowling, Misty followed him.

Underneath her anger at the situation however, she could understand his hot-headedness.

If it was one of her pokemon in there, she wouldn't be waiting around either.

And if it was her Togepi... well, heads would be rolling be now.

"There's nothing peaceful about it!" Ash yelled angrily.

Misty stood next to him, with the Captain and Tallulah behind them.

Team Rocket whirled around in horror.

Misty looked around, and could see Pikachu and Marina still trapped inside the small glass spheres.

Her heart went out to those poor pokemon.

It had to be incredibly cramped and uncomfortable inside those things.

Her resolve to rescue them only strengthened.

"Huh?" Team Rocket all blinked up at them dumbly.

Based on their bulging checks and the food in their grubby little hands, it was obvious that the villainous trio was in the middle of stuffing their faces with the ship's food.

"Pika Pi!" Pikachu cried happily from the sphere.

"Toto!" Marina looked positively joyous to see Tallulah again.

"You've got some nerve stealing Ash's Pikachu and Tallulah's Totodile from them" the Captain boomed angrily.

"That's us" James scoffed rudely, "Nerves of steel!"

"If that was true you wouldn't have ran off like cowards!" Tallulah snapped.

"Give back Pikachu and Marina!" Ash seethed.

"In your dreams Twerp" Meowth snarled back in response.

"I've had enough of this" Misty rolled her eyes, "Look, we all know you're going to mess something up and we'll get them back anyway, so why don't you just save us all some time and hand them over?"

"Ha! We're haven't messed anything up yet Twerpette" Jessie chuckled smugly.

"Yeah! Only a nifty organisation such as ours could have pulled off this kind of feat with zero mistakes" Meowth said, his voice oozing smugness.

"So far" Misty rolled her eyes, "And if you're so great, how did we find you so quickly?!"

"Twerpy luck - but we still got Pikachu, and the Totodile - so that zero mistakes thing is still holding out" Meowth smirked at them.

"You're wrong about that!" Captain Stanley snapped angrily, "Stealing those pokemon was a big mistake! Go Machoke!"

Captain's Stanley's Machoke lunged forwards, just as Jessie and James whipped out their pokeballs and flung them.

"Arbok, I choose you!" Jessie called.

"Come on out, Weezing!" James added.

The two poison types appeared before them, but Machoke didn't looked worried in the slightest.

Ash reached for a pokeball of his own.

"Alright! I choose Bulbasaur!" he cried, tossing the pokeball.

Bulbasaur appeared in a haze of scarlet light next to Machoke.

"Bulbasaur" he growled when he saw that Team Rocket was up to their old tricks again.

"Now are you glad we talked you out of your lame idea?" Misty couldn't help but ask in a teasing voice.

"I sure am" Ash nodded, knowing that without his other pokemon he'd be screwed right now, "But perhaps this isn't the right time to rub it in".

"Fair enough" Misty shrugged, before tossing a pokeball of her own, "Go for it Politoed!"

"Poli!" Politoed appeared next to Bulbasaur.

"I... I'm sorry, but I can't battle them" Tallulah whimpered, looking for all the world like she was lost, "Pearl and Brooklyn haven't been healed yet, and Marina's the only other pokemon I have".

"It's okay" Misty assured her new friend, "We're going to get both Pikachu and Marina back, I promise".

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep" Jessie spat angrily, "Arbok! Use Poison Sting!"

Arbok coiled through the air and began spitting out a barrage of deadly looking needles from his mouth, all of them dripping with poisonous purple acid.

"Dodge, Machoke!" the Captain yelled.

Machoke managed to jump out of the way.

"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!" Ash commanded.

"Bulba!" from the bulb on Bulbasaur's back, a flurry of lethally sharp leaves were launched into the air towards Team Rocket.

"Weezing! Smoke Screen!" James shouted.

Weezing stormed through the air, opening his jaw wide. A cloud of smelly, filthy smog poured out, forming a large black cloud around Machoke, Bulbasaur and Politoed.

"Oh no!" Tallulah cried in anguish, "They can't see!"

"Alright Weezing!" James's voice could be heard from behind the smoke, "Tackle it! Tackle Machoke!"

"Arbok, use Double-Edge on Bulbasaur!" Jessie's voice added.

For a moment, nothing could be seen, but then the smoke parted slightly, and before anyone knew what was happening, Weezing and Arbok rammed into Machoke and Bulbasaur respectively, and the fighting type and grass/poison dual type were sent crashing back into the far wall.

"No, Bulbasaur!" Ash cried in horror.

"Bulb..." Bulbasaur groaned in pain.

"Politoed, use your..." Misty was cut off before she couldn't finish her order.

"Arbok! Finish it up with Acid!" Jessie screamed as the smoke finally cleared entirely.

The gigantic purple cobra slithered through the air and opened his jaw, spitting a projectile of sludgy bile from its mouth.

"Machoke! Look out!" the Captain called warningly.

"Dodge Politoed!" Misty cried in alarm.

"Bulbasaur, roll out of the way!" Ash yelled.

All three of the pokemon managed to dodge in time, but the blob of acid hit the wall behind them instead. Misty realised for the first time that it wasn't a wall, but instead a giant tank of water.

A hole was burnt through the surface of it, and gallons of water began fountaining out.

"Oh no!" Ash gasped.

"The water storage tank!" the Captain yelled.

"We broke it!" Misty exclaimed.

"Now it's leaking!" Tallulah shrieked in horror.

Before anyone could react any further or do anything to prevent it happening, the four humans and all the pokemon were swept away by the makeshift tidal wave they'd accidently created with their battle.

Ash and Misty barely managed to return their Bulbasaur and Politoed respectively before they lost them.

Over the thrashing of the pooling water, they could hear the yells and screams from their opponents. It was more than a little obvious that Jessie, James, Meowth, Pikachu, Marina, Weezing and Arbok all had been caught by the wave as well.

Misty tried in vain to keep Togepi out of the water as they were swept into the corridor, and she gasped in pain and shock as she was suddenly sucked beneath the surface of the current.

She felt her body slam into something painfully solid, and opening her eyes, Misty saw that she'd hit the staircase, which was now underwater.

The orange haired girl quickly swam to the top and broke the surface, and watched as Team Rocket emerged and made a beeline across the deck, with a furious Ash right behind them.

Growling in anger, Misty also started chasing after the trio.

Behind her, she heard Tallulah doing much the same.

"Come back here Team Rocket!" Ash yelled as Misty and Tallulah both managed to fall into line with him.

"Give back our pokemon!" Tallulah screamed at their retreating forms.

Ahead of them, Misty watched as James suddenly pulled up a small canon-like device he had strapped to his belt, and when he activated it, Misty could just about make out a rope flying out of the end of it and tying itself around one of the ship's gigantic smoke funnels.

With the glass sphere with Marina inside tucked under one arm, along with Meowth - who still had Pikachu in his own sphere in his grasp - Jessie, and Wobbuffet all clinging onto him, James leapt off the side of the boat, swinging them away from the ship.

"They're getting away!" Tallulah sobbed.

"Oh no they're not!" Ash retorted angrily.

"Follow us Tallulah!" Misty yelled.

Ash, Misty and Tallulah all put on an extra burst of speed, and Ash and Misty leapt off the edge of the ship after Team Rocket.

Tallulah was momentarily stunned, but realising she might never see Marina again if she didn't follow, jumped right after them.

Ash barely just managed to cling onto Wobbuffet, but tightened his grip around Jessie's blue pokemon. Misty grabbed onto Ash's legs, and below her, she felt Tallulah doing the same to her.

Wobbuffet slipped and was forced to cling onto Jessie instead of James.

"Gotcha!" Ash yelled, holding on for dear life.

"Team Rocket!" Misty yelled up at them angrily, "Give us back Pikachu and Marina!"

"They're not your pokemon" Tallulah shrieked in outrage, "They're ours!"

Jessie looked down and noticed them hanging on for the first time.

She gritted her teeth in frustration and looked ready to wring Ash's and Misty's necks with her bare hands.

"Wobbuffet! Please be a loyal pokemon! You've got to let go of my leg now!" she pleaded.

But apparently Wobbuffet had no interest in being a loyal pokemon. He didn't let go, and showed no sign of doing so anytime in the near future.

Aggravated, Jessie decided to shake them all off herself, and began kicking back and forth, but thankfully Wobbuffet didn't want to let go, and Ash, Misty and Tallulah held on just as tight.

"Quit shaking us! And give back those pokemon!" Misty screamed angrily.

"This seems so much safer in the movies!" James cried from above them, "Can I get a stunt double?"

"SOMEONE YELL CUT!" Meowth suddenly screamed.

Misty gasped in surprise as they all struck the side of the smoke funnel.

She hissed in pain and hoped with all her heart that Togepi, who she had placed in her backpack whilst chasing Team Rocket, had not been injured.

Before she knew what was happening, all of them were falling.

The orange haired trainer groaned in pain as she landed on some wooden crates that stood on a pier not far from the ferry.

She had no idea why the St. Valerie had got so close to land when it wasn't scheduled to dock before reaching Hoenn, but right now she didn't care.

She was simply grateful for it.

There were far bigger fish to fry right now after all.

Namely - stopping Team Rocket and getting Pikachu and Marina back from them.

Misty heard a secondary grunt of pain, and turned her head to see that Ash had landed right beside her.

A third thud and moan told her that Tallulah had safely landed with them as well.

Forcing her eyes open, Misty saw that Team Rocket, minus Meowth, had landed on the top of a truck, whilst Pikachu and Marina (no longer in their spheres as they had shattered upon landing) and Meowth had landed on the roof of another truck.

Misty vaguely wondered which island they were at, but quickly decided she didn't care.

They needed to focus on retrieving the stolen pokemon.

Nothing else mattered right now.

"Wait there… Pikachu!" Ash grunted in sheer but pained determination, "I'm coming for you!"

"Pika" Pikachu cried.

"Marina! Hold on!" Tallulah struggled in vain to get up, "I'll save you!"

"Toto" Marina whimpered.

Misty regretfully knew it was already too late though.

The two trucks started their engines up.

Misty, Ash, and Tallulah were powerless to do anything but watch them drive away.

Pikachu and Marina going with them.

And there we are : )

So, I hope that now we're back to where we were last time, I can finally get this project moving forwards again. I wish I could continue weekly updates, but that might not be possible because I have another project that's been going on longer than this one, and I really just want to get that one finished now. So hopefully they'll be a chapter next week, but no promises ; )

Anyway, it's time for us to start the game : )

Firstly, Congratulations to - JuptileNamudori253, Pokesean, SPeCTeR-117, Marylopez0812, Flamelily274, Lykos, DT-THUNDER, RHatch89, Sexy Fox Girl, Guest, Nonny Mouse, Kagedoragon, OverseerBishop, Siggimondo, Legoboy20, YDdraigGoch94, Jeet Granger, Sesshoru, Magic135, DragonMack, Echoing Hunter, Guest (2), Link The Hero of Light, TRAINER RUSS, ShadowWolfAlchemist, Breakawayfan, JG13145, JZuCuadra, Teddi 8347, UltimateCCC, Fog Repair Ship Akashi, Pokemon Trainer Tom, Infernoinside, and LovingGinger30 - the correct answer was indeed Banette.

Better luck next time to - Kitsunells, QUEENSPELLER67 and Mewmaster89 who were all very close with Shuppet, and Tayaboo72 who guessed Gengar.

WHO's THAT POKEMON?

This Pokémon's abdomen is a honeycomb for grubs, which are controlled via pheromones that this pokemon releases. It feeds off honey and is eligible for sky battles. This pokemon is in its final stage of evolution, and there are no males in this breed of pokemon, only females.

And there we are : )

Thank you once again to everyone that reviewed the last chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Until the next time, keep on reading : )