Chapter Twenty Three- taking a loss, down with the ship

His head hurt, was the first thought that came to Mason as he regained consciousness, it felt like someone had taken a nine iron to it for several rounds. With a groan he began to try and push himself to his feet, only to fail when his arms didn't move like he wanted them too and he felt something around his wrists keeping his arms behind his back as he lay on the ground.

That instantly had him on alert and his eyes opened only to blink rapidly to blink the spots out of his vision. As his vision slowly cleared he took stock of his surroundings, he was on the floor of one of the many trainer suites of the ship, and he wasn't alone.

"Well look who's awake," Said the familiar shrill voice making Mason narrow his eyes at the source, the snob, the one who he had beaten in his last battle, and standing behind him were the familiar figures of Jessie, James and Meowth.

"What the hell are you doing you idiot," Mason said as he once again tried to push himself to his feet, "the ship's sinking we have to.." he began to say only for pain to lance across his face as the snob lashed out with a kick across his jaw that sent him onto his back with a groan.

"Shut your mouth trash," the snob hissed at him with a scowl, "I know full well what's happening, and we're going to get off this ship just fine, you on the other hand aren't going anywhere" he said with a hissing little laugh, "that's what these three are for you see, to ensure that."

James snorted from behind the snob with his arms crossed over his chest, "he's paid us a pretty little sum to get you here brat, not that we wouldn't have done it for less" he mused as Jessie giggled next to him.

"Consider this payback for the trouble you gave us both in Viridian and then again in Cerulean," Jessie mused, "once this guy here is through with you we'll be taking your Pokémon as a bonus."

Meowth burst out laughing at that, "considering how rare they all are, we're bound to get a promotion when we turn them all over to the boss" the cat laughed aloud.

"Enough blabbering," the Snob cut in as he stepped forward, "I want what is mine" he growled, his firsts balled at his sides.

Mason looked at the snob, catching on to what he meant, and thinking quickly he snorted, "well that's too bad, I've already sent Tyrunt and Drilbur off to my storage location, so there's no way for you to.." Mason began to lie through his teeth, only to once again be cut off, this time by a kick to his stomach that made him double over.

"I told you to shut your mouth," the snob spat at him, "do you think I care about those pathetic weaklings, the only thing unique about them was their colorings, I have dozens of other Pokémon just like them of other species, do you think I would go this far over two runts like those" he growled before lashing out with another kick to Mason's gut making him grit his teeth so as not to let out a pained noise.

"I want what is mine, I want my stone back!" the snob snarled down at him.

That made Mason's blood run cold, after finding out just how weak he and his team were in the grand scheme of things, the idea of mega-evolution was something Mason clearly needed if he wanted to even the odds. If this punk took the stone from him, he didn't even know how to go about getting another one, he couldn't lose it.

"Are you an idiot," Mason groaned, "you lost both the stone and Pokémon in a registered wager, you can't just.." Mason tried to argue only to get kicked again, his words only seeming to have pissed the snob off even more.

"I don't care, just give it back," the snob startled, "give it to me," kick, "give it to me," kick, "GIVE," kick, "It," kick, "TO," kick, "ME!" Kick.

Mason took each kick as best that he could, seeing as he could do nothing, with his arms bound behind his back, his fists clenched as the snob drove his foot into him again and again as he bit down to keep from letting out any sound, not wanting to give this shit the satisfaction of hearing his pain.

Enraged at the lack of response the snob snarled before lashing out with another kick, this one to Mason's jaw, the force was enough to snap his head back and leave his ears ringing, and also caused him to roll over to his side, the action causing his jacket to open and the case holding the mega stone to fall out at the snobs feet.

"Finally," the snob said with elevation, seeming a bit out of breath, as he knelt down and took up the box and pocketed it with a satisfied smirk, "there wasn't that simpler." he said before turning his back on Mason as he walked to the door, "he's all yours, I'll wait outside." the snob said to Team Rocket as he passed them with a grin on his face.

James nodded to him as he moved went to Mason's curled up form, "sucks to be you hm," he mused as he went to start taking Mason's Pokéballs from his belt, only to freeze after taking the first one when the four of them heard the sound of something breaking outside the door the Snob had just left through, followed by the screech of metal being bent.

Jessie immediately went to try the door only to shriek when the handle came away with her hand, "the door handle broke!"

"Then just bust it down," Meowth said as he threw himself at the door to tackle it, but the door didn't even budge.

"And it's blocked from the outside" Jessie said realizing what was happening, "we've been double crossed!"

"But that's our shtick," James said as he stood up again, not liking what was happening, and that was when Mason struck.

With his hands still bound Mason twisted himself on the ground and lashed out at the backs of James' knees with his feet making the tall blue haired man cry out as he suddenly went down, Mason's Pokéball falling out of his hand as he did so.

Mason, having seen which Pokéball James had taken, knew just who was inside it and called out, "Scyther, X-Scissor now!"

The second the Pokéball hit the ground it burst open and Scyther appeared in a burst of light, having heard the command and was already moving, his bladed arms glowing a sickly green before it lashed out with both arms sending his attack at the first thing he saw.

Jessie gave another shriek as she threw herself out of the way of the attack that collided with the door behind her, the door being shredded by the attack and blowing open on impact.

"Damn it," James cursed as he lunged for the Pokéball again, hoping to recall Scyther before things went sideways, only to come up short when Scyther turned on him and blocked his path with one of his bladed arms while shooting him a glare daring him to try again.

"Screw this, I'm outta here" Meowth said and ran out the now open door, not intending to stick around, Jessie following after on her hands and knees, with James doing the same, clearly not wanting to continue now that their opponent could fight back.

Mason sighed seeing that he and Scyther were now alone in the room, let himself fall onto his side once more wincing at the pain in his gut where he had taken the most of the snobs' kicks.

"Scy," Scyther said as he came to Mason's side to check on his trainer.

"I'm okay buddy, just a little beat up," Mason said to reassure him as he tried to get his breath back after such a shitty time.

Scyther nodded before noticing his restrains and with a quick slice of his bladed arms cut through them freeing him.

"Thanks Buddy," Mason said as he rolled onto his back, his arms immediately going to his front to try and rub his tender stomach as he slowly began to force himself to his feet only to stumble slightly when he found his balance was slightly off as his head was still spinning.

"Damn it," Mason cursed as he only just barely kept himself from going face first into the ground. His first instinct was to get up and go hunting for that Snob and get his mega stone back, but with his head ringing like this he knew he was in no condition to do so, he could barely stand up. Plus there was the fact that the ship was sinking, he needed to figure out just how bad things were and then get the hell out of this tub before things went from bad to worse.

"Help me up," Mason told Scyther who nodded and carefully began to help Mason to his feet as he began to hobble out of the room using Scyther as a support, making sure to grab Scyther's Pokéball as they left.

It was slow going but they made it out into the hallway and Mason took a look back at the door and frowned, some of the piping on the ships walls had been bent from the wall towards the door and Mason realized just what the Snob had done, using it to keep the door from being opened from the inside.

'Bastard, if I ever see him again I'm going to make him pay' Mason thought to himself, realizing just what the snob had intended, planning to lock the four of them in the room while the ship sank and he made his getaway.

'Maybe we can still catch him,' Mason thought as he and Scyther made their way down the hall towards one of the staircases up to one of the higher decks, only to stumble as the ship began to lurch sideways.

"Oh fuck," Mason cursed as he and Scyther hit the opposite wall and the lights above began to flicker, "this tub's going down and fast" he said as he and Scyther began to push they way along the wall towards the stairs again.

"Mason!" A voice called from the upper levels making Mason look up to see Ash, Misty and Brock hanging onto the railing of the stairs.

Mason's eyes widened when he saw them, "What the hell are you three doing here, this ships going down!" he yelled as he and Scyther got closer to the stairs.

"We know that's why we came to find you," Misty said as they made their way around and down to him.

"What happened to you?" Brock asked as he saw him using Scyther for support.

"I'll explain later, right now we just have to…"Mason began to reply only for a loud shrieking noise to cut him off, the sound of metal tearing and giving out under pressure, followed by the whole ship shaking under their feet.

"What was that!" Ash said in fear before they heard it, water, thousands of gallons of it rushing into open space.

Mason only had a second to look over his shoulder back down the corridor that he had come from, to see a wall of water rushing at them from somewhere beyond.

"Shit!" Was all Mason could get out before the water slammed into the five of them, Mason being caught by it first was lifted right off his feet and driven into the ceiling, the last thing he saw was that of one of the large overhead ceiling pipes coming at him before his vision once again went dark.

-Time Skip-

If the first time he came around felt like he had been hit over the head with a nine iron, the second time felt like he had been hit by a truck. His head throbbed, his entire body was aching, and his lungs burned as he pushed himself over to his side and began to cough and wheeze, splitting hard as he expelled the water from his lungs as Brock knelt behind him patting his back to try to help him get the water up.

"Easy Mason easy," Brock told him with a concerned voice as he began to get his breath back, "You're in a bad way."

"No shit," Mason said as he turned and let himself fall on his back again panting hard clenching his eyes shut from the pain in his skull, fuck he felt like shit.

"Can you move?" Brock asked concerned and Mason nodded in response.

"Yeah," Mason said before frowning, "any idea how long I was out?" he asked, his stomach dropping as he realized that the worst had probably happened and they were now in the one situation that he didn't want to be in.

"About half an hour if I had to guess," Brock said as he stood up, "the water hit us and I woke up here with you, no idea where the others are."

Mason nodded, wincing slightly at the pain from doing so but slowly managed to get up onto his feet, the sight that greeted him confirmed just what he feared, everything was upside down, the ceiling was the floor and the floor was the ceiling.

"Well shit, either I got hit on the head one to many times or everything is really upside down," Mason said as he used the wall for support.

Brock shook his head, "no you did get hit in the head, but that's not the cause of this," he said grimly, "I'd guess the damage more to one side of the ship and the water flooding in caused the ship to tilt completely, just look out there" he said gesturing to one of the porthole windows.

Mason looked and swallowed hard, it was extremely dark, but he could make out enough, the ship was completely underwater. "Well crap," he said, closing his eyes, "this is the place we want to be."

"Understatement," Brock mused, "come on, we need to find the others, you can fill me in on what happened while we search."

Mason grunted in the affirmative as they began to move looking for the others, Mason could only hope that things hadn't gone completely to shit with his involvement and that both Ash and Misty were still alive, after all from what he remembered the group hadn't been separated in the anime, but then again it had been a storm that had sunk the ship then and not explosions from Electrodes under team rocket orders, that had him worried and for a whole other reason.

The ship had been mostly intact when it sunk in the anime, that had been what had given the gang the chance to escape and swim out, but this wasn't the case here, he didn't know if things were going to play out like they had, in short they were nearly completely off script and Mason didn't like how things were going. Not one bit.

-Time skip-

"So that's what happened," Brock said with his fists clenched by his side as he and Mason made their way through the hallways of the ship, Mason having just finished recounting to Brock how he had been blindsided by Team Rocket on orders of the Snob he had beaten in his last battle.

"Yeah, I was so stupid, I should have seen it coming, pricks like that would never just roll over without trying something," Mason said as the reality of everything that had happened as well as their current situation was starting to sink in.

Not only had he lost his rightfully won mega stone, but now they were likely miles below sea level with no way of getting out. Things were really not looking good for them.

"Don't beat yourself up, you can't blame yourself for other people's actions," Brock told him shaking his head, "what matters most now is that we find the others and get out of here."

"And how do you suggest we do the second thing on that list," Mason asked plainly, true he knew just how the gang had done so in the anime but realistically speaking there was absolutely no way it was feasible physically speaking, "even if we somehow get out of the ship, we're miles below sea level, the water pressure alone down here will kill us."

Brock shook his head, "I'm not sure, but we can worry about that after we find the others, that should be our concern right now."

Mason sighed and nodded, "right one thing at a time," he said as they continued on, coming to another stairway that they couldn't use due to everything being upside down.

"Any thoughts," Brock asked as they looked at the water in the upper decks now beneath their feet.

Mason nodded, "I could send Poliwhirl down and see if he find anything"

Brock nodded, "Do that, being a water type he'll be able to handle the water pressures at this depth"

Mason nodded and reached for Poliwhirl's Pokéball, but before he could take it from his belt, the water began to bubble and both Mason and Brock took a step back from the water just as a pink head breached the water's surface.

Mason blinked as he immediately recognized the Pokémon that began to come out of the water, "is that a Slowbro?" he asked, completely bewildered by the appearance of the Hermit Crab Pokémon that came out of the water and looked at the pair of them.

"Yeah it is," Brock confirmed just as confused as Mason, "but where did it…" he began to say before the Slowbro's eyes began to glow a bright blue, and suddenly Misty, Scyther and Ash with Pikachu on his shoulder appeared in the hallway next to them.

Mason jumped at their sudden appearance, "whoa, what the hell!" he said seeing them appear, "where did you guys…" he began to ask only for Slowbro's eyes to glow blue again and the strangest sensation Mason had ever felt came over his body. His everything tingled before suddenly it felt like all the air was pulled from his lungs and he staggered forward as everything around him shifted.

Mason blinked rapidly and looked around suddenly finding himself somewhere completely different and much darker, "what in the.." he said not sure what just happened.

"That was weird," Ash voiced as he fell back on his butt before letting out a disgusted sound, "oh yuck, what is this, it's so slimy"

Then a light shone on them making Mason hold up his hand at the sudden bright light, "My apologies for the less than comfortable conditions, but given the direness of the situation, I didn't have many other options," a familiar voice spoke out as a familiar figure approached them.

"Juan," Mason said after a second to blink the light out of his eyes and look around to take in just where they were. Everything that he could make out was a pinkish red, and the ground under their feet was uneven, and just like Ash had found out, slightly slimy, it only took him a second to realize just where they were and it made him blink several times fast, "Um, are we were I think we are?"

Juan chuckled softly, "well that depends, if you believe you all are currently in the mouth of my Wailord, then the answer is yes," he mused with a small smirk.

Just then in another flash the figures of James, Jessie and Meowth appeared several feet from them all unconscious, along with the same Slowbro that they had seen before.

"Of course, that Slowbro is yours as well isn't it," Brock said in realization, "you sent it in to teleport anyone it found still on board here."

Juan nodded, "Indeed, When it came to light after checking things over that not everyone was able to get off the ship in time, I immediately went down with my Pokémon to start search and rescue" he explained, "you're the third and last batch that I've recovered, the others have already been taken back to the surface" he explained before looking to Slowbro, "they are the last right?" he asked.

Slowbro gave a slow nod in response, making Mason frown.

"Wait there should have been another, a boy about our age, shoulder length blond hair, dressed in silk," Mason voiced wanting clarification.

Jaun frowned at that before taking out a palm sized screen from his pocket and after tapping it a few times handed it to Mason, "Are any of these him?" he asked.

Mason took the device and began to scroll through it, it had trainer IDs displayed with pictures and names, and it didn't take Mason long to find who he was looking for, "this is him," he said as he handed the device back to Jaun, "Micheal Fawly," now he had a name to go with the face of the bastard himself.

Taking the device back Juan tapped it a few more times before nodding, "you have nothing to worry about then," he stated before showing him the screen again, "according to the records the young man had a Kadabra on his person, and as Slowbro here cannot sense anyone else on board the ship, it is likely he teleported off the ship and back to land." he said before with another tap nodded, "yes here he is, he reported his arrival back in the Kalos region just more than half an hour ago"

That made Mason clench his fists, then it meant that there had never been a chance for him to even try to get the mega stone back, the bastard had teleported right back to Kalos as soon as he believed that he was trapped, and he was now completely out of his reach for the time being. 'Damn it!'