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"Where exactly is Lavaridge?" she asked the boy who was now quaking in fright from being so high up. She placed her hands on top of his, patting one of them softly.

"Huh?" he blinked and looked down, shivering again, "Well, it looks like we're over Lilycove right now." Kilik buried his face in her back, closing his eyes tightly, "Just go west a bit further, and it's at the base of a volcano!"

He wasn't so scared in the helicopter, she thought, Must be because there's nothing to stop him from falling this time. Playfully, Rena made her Pidgeot tilt to the right, getting the result she had hoped for. She felt Kilik tense up and pull himself closer. However, when she heard a light whimper come from him, she whispered: "Sorry."

Kilik opened his eyes when he felt a rush of volcanic ash blast up his nose. Turning his head to the right, he let out a massive sneeze. "Seems we're close to the volcano. Not much farther now." He gave a glance over at the Murkrow and shook his head. Thank goodness we're almost down.. He tensed a bit, then pulled his arms back, crossing them over his chest.

Rena blushed lightly when he let go, then tugged lightly on Pidgeot's mane of feathers, telling it to slow down. "We'll land softly and slowly, alright?" She looked over her shoulder to see him nod and looked down at the ground below. Pidgeot gave a mighty flap of its wings, then tilted forward slightly into a dive. Rena looked over at Murkrow to see it follow.

Almost to the ground, almost to the ground, almost to the ground!! he thought, shutting his eyes tightly. When Pidgeot stopped moving and he felt a slight bump from the touchdown, he fell from the bird and kissed the grass. "Oooh! Sweet ground! I never want to leave again!" He stood up, brushed himself off and sighed. "Now. Where is Mike?" He slipped his hands into his pockets and walked away from the landing site.

Rena recalled her Pidgeot and clipped it back to her belt, walking over to Kilik and locking arms with him. Mazarin followed suit, dashing over and walking next to Rena. "So, where's this Mike guy at?"

"Is that him?" Mazarin ask, reaching over and tapping Kilik, "The guy who's got dibs on Flannery? Cause I'll fight over her! He's got no chance!. She's a total babe and I'll do anyth---" he looked over his shoulder as a girl about his height had walked passed, "Uhm. You two have fun with the Charizard boy." He turned tail. "Hey! Chicky! Wait up!"

"Hey, Mikey!" He waved his arm, then swung it quickly to his belt, snatching up Elekid's Pokeball. "How've you been since Vermillion, huh?" He laughed, tossing the ball up and down. Like the boy before him, Kilik wore a smirk.

Her eyes widened and she quickly looked away. He was on Five Island..with that girl with the disgusting blue hair. The one that Kilik had fallen for... She turned her head back to face him, holding out the hand that wasn't clutched around Kilik's sleeve. "I'm Rena. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah," he nodded, then looked over in the direction Mazarin ran off to, "And that was Mazarin. Don't ask about the wings, he's very defensive about them."

A twitch could be felt as he heard Kilik's companion say a word he could have sworn sounded like 'Flannery'. "You better watch what you say," Mike said under his breath. "Over twelve years of fretting will not be undone by your lecherous wants boy." If it was any other time, he would have probably pounced on him right then and there. But for now, he decided civility would be best "Pretty good, although I'd watch out what your friend says before he finds himself in trouble." Mike looked Rena up and down, then carefully accepting her gesture, still eying her carefully. "You know Kilik, for one so hateful towards the Rockets, you do keep some ironic company." Pulling his hand away slowly, the boy returned his gaze to Kilik. "So, right here and now?"

The Charizard's head perked up, a spark going off on his tail at the prospect of a battle.

Sheena hadn't, in fact, gone to the Pokemon to check on Windy. In actuality, she'd merely doubled around the block, coming back to Keegan's house in time to see the two men clad in their neat black suits step out side and raise their sunglasses to their eyes, like a pair of well-trained Growlithe executing tricks. This gave the crafty girl an idea. She kept herself from sight, and released Windy into her hands. "I need you to create a distraction, okay girl?" she asked. Windy nodded, and floated up and around, passing by the two bodyguards slowly. If they'd been watching her, no one would have been able to tell, but it was obvious the Chimecho got their attention when she used her Confusion ability to levitate both pairs of glasses from their noses and carry them away down the street. Both loosed angered grunts and gave chase, giving Sheena ample opportunity to 'storm the front door'. "I hope I know what I'm doing," she mumbled. Steeling herself, she knocked on the door, waiting for an answer.

She could hear Keegan's voice yelling, and then things were quiet again. A moment later, a kind-faced woman with green eyes just like Keegan's (but nicer) opened the door to look at her. "Is there something I can do for you honey?" she asked, wiping her hands on her apron. "We're in the middle of something here, so if you'd politely come back tomorrow--"

"Look, I know this isn't a good time," Sheena cut her off, trying to peer around her. "But I think I can help." With that, she pushed past Maggie, and looked around, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the woman who was sitting at a chair, daintily scrawling her name across a sheet of paper. "Ah-hem!" the pink-haired girl cleared her throat loudly, causing Mrs. Hollingsworth to look up.

"Oh, now this is quaint. Look what the Delcatty dragged in," she said rather snobbishly, and finished her signature. "What's the matter, Sheena? Run out of money and need a loan? I'll tell you this, little sister, but my purse isn't open to ungrateful runaways like you."

Sheena's lower lip trembled, but she stood her ground. "I-I don't want your stupid money, Sheridan."

"Well that's good." He said, flicking his unruly bangs out of his face. "It'd be a shame for a girl this cute and innocent looking to be wasted with that evil group." Mike smiled, tilting his head at Rena. "No hard feelings."

As Elekid was released, the boy let out an impressed huff. "I see you've been training him." He said, unclipping Napalm's Pokeball. "Let's see if he can stand up to my little squirt." With that, he launched out the ball, releasing the Magby, who shook his head quickly, as if to regain his senses. Little dribbles of magma landed on the ground, causing blackened holes in the dirt. His eyes darted around, then caught glimpse of Elekid. Instantly his posture went rigid, jumping back and narrowing his eyes. Napalm's body began to radiate heat, as the nearby spouts of grass folded under the strain.

"Ready set?" Mike said, eager to begin.

Nina shook her head just a little as she turned around to see Raimundo walking toward her. "Hey, Raimundo. Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but I just need a little time to myself. Is that okay?"

The boy crossed his arms across his chest, flinging a bit of hair out of his face. "Well, I know that," he said, "but I was thinking that if you were having a problem or something, I'd be willing to listen if you wanted to talk about it."
"Really, Rai. I'm fine, I promise."
The boy raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Yeah, really."
"Nina, you and I both know that's a blatant lie. You hardly spoke at all after Whitney woke you up. Something's bothering you."

A sigh. "Okay. You're right," she admitted. "See, I had a dream when I fell asleep. In it, Whitney was a lot smarter than me, and it was like everything I said, she made me feel as if I was a lesser person or something, like she had more power than I did." She blinked. "Well, okay. She DID have more power than me, in a sense, but in this instance, the power in question was knowledge."

"How does that relate to your battle with Jasmine, though?" Raimundo asked, a little confused.
"Well, it's not exactly my favorite thing to admit... but, Rai, I suck at battling more than you can believe."

"Not money?" scoffed Sheridan. "What then? Have you come crawling back to the family you so loathe? There has to be a reason."

"What's going on?" Maggie asked, confused. "Mrs. Hollingsworth, who is this girl?"

"That is my baby sister," Sheridan replied, nodding her head. "Sheena Naokumi. She ran away from home but still keeps our name. How pathetic."

"Naokumi?" repeated Todd. "You don't mean..."

"Yes," Sheridan answered. "Lukas Naokumi is our father. The one and only."

Keegan had done nothing more than merely go to his room and stand there, looking stupidly at the floor. It wasn't until he heard that wretched woman speaking again, in that horrid tone that sounded like she was speaking through her nose, and what he thought was Sheena's voice that he dropped his backpack on the ground, and inched to his door, opening it a crack.

Sheena felt her cheeks redden as Todd and Maggie were now staring at her. She clenched and unclenched her fists and took a deep breath. "Yeah, so what. My dad is one of the richest people in Hoenn. That doesn't make him the nicest! And I'll tell you why I'm here, Sheridan! What you're doing right now is absolutely horrible! It's mean, and it's underhanded! You and I both know very well that you had ample time to come here and claim your Pokemon. You just didn't want to put forth the effort to raise it! I overheard you talking to Vincent about it."

"So this was before you ran away from home, then?" Sheridan asked, in a bored voice as she dug around inside her purse for something. "But it doesn't matter. I'm taking the Pokemon, Sheena, whether you like it or not. And you know what else? I'm taking you, too. Back home, that is. I'm sure Daddy will love to have a talk with you about the dangers of running away from home."