Sorry for the wait! This took a while. But I'm sure you guys figured that out =D You have to people to thank for this being out this soon:

Legend of Zelda 4 life

and

Pokemondude

Yup. This chapter has taken so long because I wanted to meet the high expectations. Plus some of your reviews influenced how the story's now going. So you only have yourselves to blame...

The cool sea air felt good on his face as the skimmer sped along. Volkner had always liked the sea, and was more than happy to hear that the place he would be moving to would be by the ocean. At least, after he discovered his rank in the league. He could remember when Lance had told him what was going on like it was yesterday, though it had been well over a week.

"So how does that sound?" Lance was sitting on the uncomfortable little chair that was placed next to Volkner's bed. The Champion's long legs were stretched out leisurely and resting on the edge of the blonde's mattress, just below the safety rail. The electric trainer felt a little embarrassed that he hadn't really had a chance to get a shower.

"That sounds amazing! But," Volkner had been hesitant, "what's the catch?"

"Nothing, besides the simple fact that you're going to be battling your way through the league currently established to determine your place. But they're amazing. The most advanced league for pokemon trainers I've ever seen, and that's saying something. Plus the Champion is amazing. Her pokemon saved your butt once already and she wasn't even there!" Talking about this new champion, Lances eyes took on a rather dreamy look.

"How exactly was it that you got them to let me in?"

"Let's just say I have connections." Volkner quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, I know the champion. She was here taking care of you for those three weeks but had to go back. She offered you the job knowing your potential. Apparently she watched you battle back when you were in Sinnoh."

"Oh, I see. So when are we going there?"

"As soon as the doctors release you!"

Lance had flown ahead to meet him. At least, he'd flown ahead to the island the boat was set to meet with the dragon trainer. Apparently, the only pokemon that were able to fly in the gales that rocked the air were the native flying pokemon and pokemon that had trained here for quite some time. Needless to say, that wasn't one of Lance's pokemon.

Volkner was going to miss home. He realized this as an aching sensation made its way through his chest. He'd miss the way the solar panels had such a unique color to them at the sunset- that bluish red that glittered, warped, and reflected the puffy clouds as they sailed by. He'd miss how the waves were so magnificent at sunset, dyed a deep maroon and orange color where the crest would roll over to meet the water below, while the sea green danced with foam. The electric trainer sighed. At least he had retrieved all his pokemon, including Luxray. Actually Volkner had feared that he'd lost his pokemon for good, but Galactic had just thrown them under a bush. Flint had dropped them all off.

"Here's your pokemon Volkner! There all happy to see you!" The blond glanced at them, grabbed them, and avoided eye contact with the red head completely, acting as if they had just been floating there.

"So, any plans?" Silence. "Um, oh here! I wrote down a bunch of numbers just in case you lost your phone or something crazy like that." Still silence. Flint sighed. "Look Volk, I'm really sorry. Can we just, err, apologize and make-up? Do at least get an answer?"

"No."

"No to the apologizing or no to the answer?" Flint smirked. Volkner finally looked at him and glared.

"Get out now."

"But Volk…" Flint reached out to touch him on the shoulder.

"GET OUT! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

Volkner really wasn't that sorry about the way he reacted.

Then, thinking of reactions, Volkner thought of that poor psychic trainer that Flint had hospitalized. Apparently he was alive and could still function. He just sometimes acted far away, often letting his mind wander. Now that Volkner thought about it, Flint was really good at screwing up people's lives. Maybe he should do that for a living after he's finally pushed out of the league by the young trainers coming up.

"LAND HO!" The sailor seem quite happy. It had been a rough trip with lots of storms and all manner of things that messes with a person's stomach. Volkner might like the sea, couldn't fathom why people would want to spend every day of their life on it.

The blond latched onto his arm like some short of horribly overgrown leech.

"I'm sorry! I'm bad with names. What did you say yours was again?" Gosh this girl was an addle brained dolt. He'd seen slowpoke who were more up to speed.

"Kronus. Like the Greek god Cronus. Only my name's spelt with a 'K' instead of a 'C'."

"Oh, I understand. So where are we going for dinner tonight…Kranos." The way she pronounced his name made sound more like cranberry breakfast cereal than a Greek god's name. 'Cran-o's? Please.'

If it wasn't for the sake of the mission…well he probably would have strangled her. Then again…No, too risky. Though…hmmm it was quite possible…No, don't even entertain the idea. Divert your thoughts for the sake of all you stand for!

"So Maybelene where did you want to go?" Please not…

"How about 'Muncho's'? That place has my faaaaavorite cookies and burgers." How those two even went together he didn't know. And her high pitched baby voice was- eww. It was murder to the ears. For the past eight dates that was where they went.

"Alright. Let's go then…"

It took another half hour for the skimmer to actually get to port and then another ten to get docked. The blonde wasn't quite sure if that was the correct term, but he honestly didn't care.

The ship yard was rather busy. The bustle of activities caused a small roar of noise as ships were unloaded, decks swabbed, wares sold and packaged, while women moved to the fresh fish stalls to buy dinner or socialize. It was all very different from Sunnyshore.

"Hey Volkner! Over here!" Volkner glanced around trying to pinpoint the location of the person who called his name. The voice rang out again, this time louder. Someone started waving to him. At least he hope they were waving to him and not someone else.

As the electric type got closer he got a clear view of the person, a woman, who was calling his name. She looked shorter than him by about an inch. Clad in all black she vaguely reminded him of Cynthia. But that's just about where the similarities stopped. Her skin was a pale color stark against her clothes, but she made it look better than Cynthia ever could. Her shirt was fairly tight, but looked more like it worked more like spandex. Tight but aloud the wearer to move freely. The pants were slightly baggy but were made of an extremely tough material. Much like the fabric the Pokemon Rangers used for their pants. They especially enforced the ranger idea with all its handy pockets. The cape she wore looked an awful lot like Lance's, except minus the flashy read lining (Volkner wondered if they shopped at the same store for that or if it was just a gift from Lance).

The smile that lit up her face gave it a more girlish look and to the edge off of her eyes that look as if they'd just been chipped of some unfortunate glacier. Should this girl be the champion he was supposed to meet (which he was pretty sure she was), Volkner could see why Lance would be crushing on this girl. She looked stunning and in excellent condition.

"Volkner! Hi! Lance says he's going to be a little late, so if you want to get lunch we can go right on ahead." She gave him that dazzling smile of hers.

"Um, sure. Lance didn't say anything about meeting you so…" The blonde trailed off unsure of what to do. He figured she was the champion, but with Lady Luck giving him swirlies in the toilet-of-perpetual-bad-luck, he really did not want to get this wrong.

"Oh, I apologize! I really do have manners, I just seemed to have forgotten them." She blushed and offered out her hand. "My name's Moonshadow Grey. I'm the resident Champion of this region." Volkner took the offered hand.

"Volkner Surge. Ex-gym leader of Sinnoh at your service." The little part about the gym leader stung his pride, but for the sake of a new job…He shifted nervously on the planks of the dock a wingull screeching somewhere above.

"Well, let's not stand here all day, eh?" She made a gestures that told him to follow and was off, expertly weaving through the crowd as if it wasn't even there. Volkner didn't have that kind of luck. By the time he got through he had knock over five people, a barrel of fish, and had nearly gotten himself smacked in the forehead by a rather large log being transported through the air via pulley system.

After the blonde finally cleared the mass of people, he found Moonshadow to be quite a ways ahead and had to run to catch up. She peered back over her shoulder and flashed Volkner a smile that made him think that she had been watching the whole thing. The black haired woman giggled and quickened their pace.

The city was a rustic one, with stone buildings and wooden signs. On almost every window sill was a flower box with a delicious aroma coming from them. Pies cooled on some of the open windows, while the bakers aforementioned pies cleaned house. Throughout the whole place the sea could be heard side by side with the sounds that naturally accompanied a large amount of people. For most of the walk they were next to the sea on a cobble/

Just as they were passing a darkened alley (unnaturally dark, Volkner noted) an umbreon drifted out of the shadows where its black body had been virtually unnoticeable in the shadows. The moonlight pokemon put its body in between Volkner and Moonshadow. His hand was already on his pokeball by the time it emerged. Umbreon readied itself for a fight, dropping into its signature stance. The electric trainer noted that this pokemon was larger than any he'd seen at home by at least an inch or two. It let out a piercing growl, and Volkner threw his pokeball. Right as it was about to open a violet aura encompassed the small ball and prevented the pokemon from coming out. There was a small patter of feet and Volkner jumped just in time to avoid having his legs slammed out from underneath him.

The blonde's eyes narrowed and he tensed himself, rolling out off the way to avoid the psybeam attack that shot from the thing that had attacked him from behind. Volkner came to his knees in a ready position. The second pokemon was an espeon and it too was large for its breed. The umbreon growled again gathering darkness in its mouth. Volkner tried to move but found himself held down by that violet aura. The umbreon took only a moment longer to gather the darkness then readied itself to strike. And there wasn't a think Volkner could do about it.

When Will first woke up in the hospital he found someone stroking his hair. Not being sure of who – or what – it was he tried to shy away from it. Only to find that he couldn't move. That took a moment to process. Process. What a funny word? Who came up with that word I wonder? What a strange word. But it was more than not being able to just move. He was in pain all over. Pain. Who had come up with the conscept? Given it a name, a definition?How queer. But he still didn't know who was stroking his hair. But it feels good. So good. To be cared for. Why bother wondering at all? Will's eyes cracked upon just enough to see a bright spotlight…spotlight. Whatever was the light spotting? Him perhaps? and a blurry silhouette of a woman. She had long grey hair grey? Maybe that was just a perception. Maybe to other people it was his blue, while to others it was his red. The psychic trainer just wished his head would stop hurting enough to help him think clearly. Clearly? What was clearly? His perception or a definite thing? Could clear be defined? Will groaned.

"Oh Will! Your awake!" The noise of her noise vibrated through his eardrums and he wondered if she had a megaphone held against his ear. Or did she? After all it was possible…

"Stop yelling please…" Will whispered. He knew he had whispered, but why did it sound like he had just yelled. Perhaps he did just yell…Yell at the lady stroking his hair, something she probably wouldn't ever have done if she thought he was conscious.

"Will, oh gosh. I thought we'd lost you. We all did. I was so worried I got here as fast as you could. They didn't think you'd ever wake up." Wake up? Why not? Don't normal people wake up? Was he not normal enough for her? Will felt a growing anger in his stomach. He didn't know why but pushed away into the back of his mind like he always did. Like he always did. One day the flood gates would open and then… Will finally recognized the sillouhette.

"Karen what happened?" She gave him a worried look. But why, what was there to be worried about? Worried about his sanity?

"Don't you remember what happened?" Karen looked worried and a little…relieved? What happened that was so horrible it would be a good thing to forget? Had Koga done something? Koga the man tormented him every day. He would get back sometime wise men wait three years. Will thought hard trying to remember everything that had happened. The last thing he remembered. The distress call. Koga mad at him for interpreting it. Them transporting to the coordinates given. Koga infuriated for going to the right place. The misunderstanding. He wasn't a field agent, so he wouldn't understand. The clearing up of things. Koga employing him for a pillow to drop the girl on. The vision. Koga worried? Koga perhaps just wanted the information. He was originally from Team Rocket… And then…And then that red-headed afro-ed freak… Flint. Would pay dearly for what had happened.

It was one of those creepy sensations. The ones where the hairs on the back of your neck rise and your arms get those little bumps that crawl up them. Flint shivered. Sheez, he kept his room awfully cool lately…

He glanced around, looking for the thermostat. Not once before had he ever had to turn up the temp. His pokemon normally kept it nice and toasty. Flint supposed that perhaps Cynthia was still mad at him. She had managed to keep him out of jail and in the pokemon league. What lies she had told the authorities to keep him there, he probably wouldn't ever know. Wouldn't ever want to know. Cynthia was scary when she had an objective.

But Lucian was even scarier. Granted, he had quickly gotten over what had happen to Volkner (if he had even cared to begin with) and Flint thought he had gotten over Will by simply dismissing him as a second rate practitioner. Unfortunately for Flint, the room he had used to question Will had happened to be Lucian's room. Ya, he had kind of mixed up priorities. Or was it that Lucian had dismissed the room and was still mad about Will? Flint shook his head, afro bouncing.

As Flint turned up the temp on the thermostat he had a feeling that something had just been in the room with him and just left. But, then again, maybe he was just paranoid…

Umbreon prepared to annihilate Volkner, plain and simple. The blond tensed his muscle as Umbreon's eyes grew red and then…the darkness just dissipated and the psychic pressure lifted slowly at first and then suddenly it was gone. Volkner sat up, wary of what had just happened.

"I apologize for them. They didn't recognize you and thought you were following me for some reason." Moonshadow smiled sheepishly, though in her eyes Volkner could see she was secretly laughing at him.

"Their…yours?" Volkner stood up shakily. The air had been knocked out of him.

"Yes. They're excellent guards. But don't let that fool you. Their main goal was to- in short- knock you on your butt and keep you there till I gave them the go ahead to take you out." The amusement in her eyes now crept into her smile.

"And you didn't see fit to tell them? Or do something sooner?" Volkner had had enough of these games. And he didn't l like being kept in the dark.

"Nope, she just likes to keep people on their toes." Somebody clapped in on the back from behind, laughing in a rich, almost dark way, highly amused by the whole situation. Volkner whirled around to see the Johto champion casually eating an apple.

"Take note, you didn't even hear me come up behind you. But don't get offended by it. She did the same thing to me when I first came to the town to meet her." Lance gave Volkner a knowing smile and plucked his pokeball out of the air and handing it back to Volkner. With that the espeon proceeded to rub itself against the Dragon Tamer's legs.

"You know Lance, you're going to lose your appetite."

"Pah." Moonshadow stuck her tongue out at him and sauntered off, cooly ignoring to two men behind her. Lance just chuckled beckoning Volkner to follow him.

Dearh Dieary,

Today my prehcess Kranos took me to 'Mewnchoes'. We had so mutch fuhn. The hole tihme he looked at me lihke he wahnted to be wright next to me. his eye whould twitch like he had too restrain hismelf like the Edwerd guy from those vAmpire movies Twilight or watevehr. He is juhst so cute! I wahnt to marry him! But today he told me under his breathe that I was an "Insuhfferable lihtle imbelcile." He's juhst so sweet not telling me he llikes me that mutch to myh face.,

Sihgned

Maybelene =D A smileh 4 u.

The small group had been seated at the rather busy restaurant. Volkner got the distinct feeling that had Moonshadow and Lance not been champions they probably wouldn't have gotten a seat till late next week.

It was pretty here. The waves made small roaring sounds as they threw themselves against the pillars that held the deck of the restaurant up. The sun danced and wove through the cerulean waters making shapes and casting shadows. The blond could see the barest outlines of fish as they swam through the waters.

"So Lance, why was it you were so late?" Moonshadow asked casually, drinking her ice tea. Though Volkner wondered if it could even still be called tea since she had poured at least ten packets of sugar in it.

"Late? As if. But I was slightly held up by something." Lance quirked an eyebrow at her and smiled. He barely managed to resist propping his feet up on the table. Moonshadow gave him a look that said she knew what he was about to do.

"Okay Mister Lance. Why were you slightly held up?"

"Well, there was an incident where some kid, Barry something-or-other was bothering a group of Aquas telling them that he was going to fine them a million dollars if they didn't give him directions. And well, you know how Team Aqua is. Never accepting threats. In short they attempted to feed him to the fishes."

"What kind of fishes, and what stopped their attempt." Moonshadow asked politely.

"Well they were Sharpedoes and Carnahva. As of yet I'm not quite sure what kept them from eating him, their next attempt would have been drowning. Which to be honest to you, if I wasn't on duty I would have help them with. When I pulled him out of the water, he started telling me he was going to fine me if I didn't get him dried off. So I dumped him back in." Moonshadow giggled, Lance chuckling at his own story.

"Well I can probably tell you why they wouldn't eat him." The two quirked eyebrows. "He's so foul, he wasn't worth the aftertaste." Moonshadow started laughing, losing her balance and falling on her back.

"Ow."

)()()()()()()()()(

"Well Volkner here's the plan. You challenge all the gyms as if you were taking a league challenge You're given the same resources as any other trainer taking the challenge. You are a loud two tries at each gym. After you have used you two tries. You will remain at that level. Should you lose to the third gym leader, you well become the third gym leader and the rest will move up. Should you beat the eight, you will become the new eight gym leader."

"Should I lose to the first?"

"I would expect better of you, but should you lose to the first, the rest will be bumped up. And in actuality, you'll only be battling seven gym leaders, because our twins have combined. Clear?"

"Crystal." Moonshadow smiled.

"Excellent. Let the games begin."

Will was finally able to come home. The doctors announced that his condition was stable enough to be able to be on his own without having to be subject to the use of a defibrillator. Koga couldn't even count all the times he had thought they would lose their youngest member. The poison type trainer realized that he was a little harsh at times to the psychic.

There was a nagging little worry in the back of his mind. He didn't know why but it had started with the nurses at the hospital told him that the young man had been muttering strange things in his sleep. When Koga had asked what kind of strange things the nurse frowned deeply, looked up at him, and simply said "I don't quite remember." He hadn't pushed her for anymore, though he didn't quite know why.

YOU KNOW YOU NEED ME!

Will woke with a start. Something had been stirring in his mind. He shook it away with a little effort, pushing it to that same dark corner.

"Will, are you alright? You were muttering in your sleep." Karen looked worried.

"What was I muttering." Karen bit her lower lip wondering what to say.

"You were…" Will waited expenctantly.

"I don't remember anymore…" Karen frowned. Memory. What are memories but a thing I can toy with?

So how did you like that ending? Crazy Will is your fault. All yours. Yup.

Oh, and don't worry too much. The champion doesn't show up all that frequently because I would really prefer to use all game/comic verse characters.

And Pokemondude requested that Barry be in here. So I included him yup.

Oh, also. I had Lv100Meganium (I hope I spelt that correctly...=D) has offered to beta. For the next few, I think I'll take her up on that.

Virtual cookies to anyone who manages to figure out who "Cran-o's" (a healthy part of a complete breakfast) is. If you can't I shall tell you!

P.S.: I shall probably be telling everyone the story's up, because I think (don't quote me on this) that someone asked me to put the name up on my Exiled chap, and if you're like me you forget about something for a while! =D

Thanks so much for all your support! Please review! =D