Chapter Twenty Two- Battle for the SS Anna, what goes around

Mason wasn't sure how long it had been since things started out in earnest. At first the Grunts had been slow on the uptake but within a few moments after the first few attacks, all out battles were breaking out all over the ballroom. Ten minutes later the doors had been blown open and the battles had spilled out into the hallways and the multiple decks.

He had long lost count of the number of rocket grunts he had battled since things got started, he had been rather surprised to see that there hadn't just rocket grunts in the ballroom but all over the ship, raiding the rooms of the various passengers and storage areas, he guessed they were after more than just the Pokémon which made sense given how many wealthy trainers were on board, he wasn't the only one fleecing them for their cash.

Their numbers hadn't been the only thing to shock him, but the variety of their Pokémon did as well, he had been expecting the standard fair of dark and poison types from Kanto, with the others mixed in too, but he hadn't been expecting the foreign Pokémon, Poochyena, Dustox, Spinarak, Ariados, Absol, Mightyena, Kadabra, Hypno, Zangoose, Serviper, Duskull and Dusclops to name but a few, Team Rocket's arsenal was clearly larger than he had suspected and they were putting up a real struggle to subdue everyone on board.

Mason for his part had been running from place to place with Dratini around his neck and Scyther by his side as he carried his egg, while calling out attacks on the fly, only stopping when he couldn't get a quick win. There were so many grunts that if he stopped for too long and put up any real offense then they would start ganging up on him. He had long since lost the others a couple of decks back when they had split up to cover more ground.

Busting through another set of doors, Mason found himself out on the walkway around the side of the ship that he had been at earlier, stalls had been tipped over, their contents ransacked, and their owners long gone. Looking out over the sea, Mason could see the water was getting rough but the skies were still clear, no sign of any storm still.

'Just what the hell is going on,' Mason thought to himself before movement in the corner of his vision caught his eye and he threw himself to the side narrowly avoiding a large mass of purplish goop that was coming his way.

The goop hit the steel railing he had been near and let out a hiss immediately melting it into nothing, telling him just what it had been, acid.

Turning in the direction the attack had come from, Mason immediately scowled when he saw two familiar Rocket grunts sneering at him, and next to them two strong looking Pokémon, A Weezing on the left and a Houndoom on the right.

"Looky, looky, looky, remember us ya little punk" grunt one growled.

And he did, it was the two grunts that he had faced back in cerulean, at the nugget bridge. 'Guess they didn't get picked up by the police like I had thought' he sighed in his mind.

"It's pay back time ya brat," grunt two grinned, "you caused us a lot of grief, time to pay up."

"Came back for a repeat of what happened last time," Mason taunted them, though he glanced at their Pokémon and frowned, "where'd you steal these two from."

"You're gonna pay for the grief we got over that punk," grunt one snapped, "we're gonna take it out of your hide."

"Our boss was pissed at us for what happened, but he was even more pissed off about a punk like you doing it," Grunt two chuckled, "these are his Pokémon, and he gave us specific orders, no one makes a fool out of those in his division you see, so as punishment we're gonna use them to beat the crap out of you and and your Pokémon and then take them to replace our own in order to redeem ourselves."

'Well that explains things, no way these two clowns could train up two Pokémon like these since I last saw them, but even if they are stronger, they aren't exactly geniuses when it comes to battling' Mason thought to himself as he clutched his egg container tighter to his chest, "Big words, but can you back it up, Scyther Vacuum wave, Dratini Dragon rage!" he ordered.

Both Scyther and Dratini moved to obey, both their attacks launching at the same time, and hitting their marks, the draconic fireball hitting Weezing and the blades of air hitting Houndoom head on, neither moving to dodge the incoming attacks.

As the dust from the impacts faded Mason's eyes widened when he saw both Pokémon still standing unfazed from the dual attacks, while both grunts stood grinning now a few steps behind them.

"You think you stand a chance, that's cute, these are our bosses Pokémon, not only are there no Pokéballs for you to smash this time, but our boss is a Rocket Executive, means he can afford the best of the best for his Pokémon, even if these aren't his top battlers they are leagues better than anything some snot nose brat like you can have," grunt one grinned sadistically, "You're little attacks won't even be able to phase them."

That made a cold sweat trickle down Mason's neck, he remembered Brock's explanation earlier about how Pokémon were classified and realized then that was exactly what he was facing, Pokémon whose strength was classified well above the regular classification of levels one to one hundred, this wasn't good.

"Not feeling so hot now are ya brat," Grunt two chuckled, "Pay back time, Weezing, Thunderbolt that punk!"

Mason's eyes widened as the Weezing moved, it's large floating form sparking with huge bolts of electricity as it let out a charge right at him, far faster than he had seen anything before.

But before the attack could hit, Mason saw something small blur into the path of the lightning bolt and realized only a second later when he heard the cry just what it was, Dratini had used Agility to put himself in the path of the attack that was aimed at him.

"Dratini!" Mason yelled as the attack stopped and Dratini dropped to the ground and he rushed over to his partners twitching form worried, he could see sparks of electricity still coming off his form but he didn't care and lifted him worry taking over as Scyther moved putting itself between them and the Rocket grunts who were laughing at the sight.

"Ha, stupid thing, thought it could take the attack, what a moron!" grunt two laughed.

"And look at that oversized bug, thinking it can stand up to us now, what a joke," Grunt one grinned, "Houndoom, roast that thing, Flamethrower!"

Hearing the command Mason looked up his eyes wide as he saw Houndoom move to obey as flames gathered in its maw ready to unleash them as Scyther crossed his bladed ready to take the attack that came the next second as a pillar of flames was released from the hounds maw towards them, scorching the deck as it came.

Mason could feel the heat like it was the sun itself bearing down on him as his breath caught in his throat, 'Shit!' was all he could think as he curled around Dratini putting his back to the flames and Scyther, both of them wanting to shield the small injured dragon.

But the flames never came as they were met half way by an equally powerful stream of water, and a cry of "Milotic, Hydro Pump!"

The two opposing elements met and the walkway was immediately engulfed in steam. The two Rocket grunts cried out as they were met with the scalding hot steam full on though Mason was spared thanks to his coat which was quickly soaked as the steam lingered in the air around them.

"What the hell!" Grunt one yelled through the steam.

"Who's there, show yourself!" Grunt two snapped.

"Well well, what do we have here," the voice replied as a two figures appeared in the mist from further down the walkway, "you Rockets really are ballsy to attack a league sanctioned event like this."

Mason looked in the direction of the voice as the mist began to fall way and began to pick out parts of their appearance, he was a tall man with black hair wearing a blue overcoat, his hair cut short though highlighted with a silver fringe that was spiked up at the front, he also had a thin mustache and a small goatee, and beside him was an elegant Milotic, its body long and slender, executing both grace and power.

Mason recognized the trainer immediately, Jaun, the gym leader from Sootopolis City in the Hoenn region. 'What the hell is he doing here?' Mason thought for a second but then completely forgot about it, he couldn't really care at the moment and was just grateful that he had some back up, because clearly he was out of his depths at the moment.

Jaun approached Mason glancing down at him and Dratini before looking back at the rocket grunts with an unpleasant look in his eye, "don't you two ruffians know it's not nice to pick on young tadpoles who have yet to leave their small ponds and see the wide ocean that awaits for them beyond," he stated, his tone glacier cold.

Both grunts had seemed to have frozen in shock at the sight of him, knowing exactly who he was, and clearly not expecting to run into him here.

"W-What are you doing here," Grunt one stuttered out in shock.

Jaun snorted, "oh come now, surely you didn't really expect the leagues to organize such a cruise for all these little tadpoles and not have some of the bigger fish around to drive off scavengers like you lot. Since I was able to leave my Gym in the hands of my apprentice for the time being I gladly volunteered for such a duty." he explained, ''Speaking of which, Milotic, show these two what we think of bullies."

Milotic gave a cry in agreement before she moved and in a split second launched another powerful pillar of water at the duo, catching them both and their Pokémon and launching them down the walk way and over the railing at the end, the power behind the attack far too strong to be resisted in the slightest.

Mason could only gape in shock as he saw the attack, he had seen Hydro pump being used before by Poliwhirl, but as he mentally compared what he had seen to what he had just witnessed, it was like night and day. He had no doubt that if his Pokémon and Milotic went up against each other that Milotic's Hydro pump would overwhelm Poliwhirl's in an instant with no contest at all.

"Are you okay young man," Jaun broke Mason from his shock.

"Y-Yeah," Mason said, not exactly sure what else to say as he looked down at Dratini who was still in his arms, no longer letting off static discharges but out cold, "I just wasn't expecting…" he said before stopping himself, not sure what he was expecting anymore, his whole world had grown rapidly in less than a day, and he suddenly felt a lot less prepared than he had before.

What good was his knowledge from the anime and video games, if he only had part of the story, things were a lot more than he was expecting.

Jaun seeming to tell his mood sighed, "Don't blame yourself young man, you are only at the start of your journey, against much older and stronger opponents you wouldn't have stood a chance, despite how well you have clearly trained your Pokémon" he said gesturing to Dratini and Scyther, "Power isn't something that comes easy, it takes time and there are no shortcuts, all you can do is keep pressing forward," he added as he reached into his pocket and took out what Mason recognized as a Full restore and handed it to him.

"You are off to a fine start," were his last words before moving off back inside with his partner leaving Mason standing on the walkway looking down at Dratini as he clutched the full restore in his other hand, his inner jacket pocket where his newly won mega stone sat feeling all the more heavier.

-Time skip-

It took ten minutes before Mason pushed his confrontation on the walkway to the back of his mind, and another five minutes before he had gone back to looking for rocket grunts to fight, Dratini healed and returned to his Pokéball in protest.

Mason wanted Dratini to rest some before coming out to fight again and so was relying on the rest of his team as he worked his way through the ship's levels one at a time, being careful as he went.

As he watched Scyther cut down yet another opponent and the rocket grunt retreat he stopped for a breather and frowned as he looked around, he had made his way into one of the ship's lower dining halls that was surprisingly empty, in fact most of the lower levels had less and less rocket grunts as he went, maybe only five or six and got fewer and fewer as he went, it didn't sit right, something was off.

Then he felt the ship shudder under his feet and tilt to one side, his eyes widened as he grabbed onto one of the mounted tables to keep his balance, "what the hell was that" he said in shock and looked around just as the lights above on the ceiling turned amber and began to flash and the speakers in the roof began to repeat a message that made his heart drop into his stomach.

"Breach in deck seven and eight, all crew and passengers please make their way to the life rafts immediately"

"Shit" Mason cursed as he recalled Scyther to his ball and turned on his heels to run back to the stairs and back to the ballroom to try and find the others, it seemed even without the storm this ship was going to go down.

-Scene break-

Misty and Brock were the first two that Mason came across, apparently having met up again and battling a slew of tougher looking Rocket grunts all with Zangoose who were putting up a fight and preventing them from moving forward.

"Need a hand," Mason called as he saw them and plucked a Pokéball from his belt.

"Mason!" Misty called, relieved to see him as he tossed the Pokéball into the fray and Marowack burst free, releasing a stream of flames at the five Cat Ferret Pokémon to give them some breathing room.

"I'll keep them busy, you guys…" Mason began to say as he looked over their Pokémon but blinked and gave them a second look.

Brock had both Geodude and Rhyhorn out, their hard exteriors proving harder for Zangoose to get through, and Misty… "When did Oddish evolve?" he asked as he looked at Misty's newly evolved Gloom.

"Oh about ten minutes ago actually," Misty smiled, "all this battling seemed to be just what she needed to finally become strong enough."

"Hm, fancy that," Mason mused before shaking his head, "But never mind that now, we need to get out of here."

"We're trying," Brock said after giving his Pokémon more commands, "but these guys have every other exit guarded, same with the lifeboats, we heard what happened, apparently some idiot let out a trio of electrode on the lower decks and had them self destruct, apparently they think the trainers will gladly hand over their Pokémon if they think it will save their own skins"

Mason blinked at that, damn, that was something he hadn't seen coming by a long shot, seems whoever was in charge of this heist had some pretty dark plans, he didn't think Jessie or James would have the stones to do something like that. Then his mind went back to what those two grunts from earlier had said about their boss, he didn't think they meant Giovani, because they mentioned something about a division of team rocket, so it was likely whatever Rocket Admin that was in charge of this mission that had order this tactic, the same one that apparently was pissed off at him, great.

"Any idea where Ash is?" Mason asked as he watched the Rocket grunts move their line back to regroup as another two came forward with a pair of Hypno to put up barriers.

"Two corridors down, he's helping another group trying to fight through another blockade like this," Brock sighed.

"You should go help them, we can handle ourselves," Misty told him as she called out her Staryu and Starmie and began to attack the barriers with twin water cannons.

Mason nodded and recalled Marowak, "Good luck," he told them before he went to run to give Ash a hand.

Turning the corner he ran around the bend and ran in the direction that Brock had said Ash's group were in, heading down through a row of cabins following the nearest sound of battle, readying himself for the next bout.

Unfortunately his attention was so focused on that he didn't notice one of the cabin doors being partly open as he ran past it, nor the metal bar that was swung out of it before it hit the back of his head, and all he knew was darkness as his vision faded and he fell to the ground, his egg incubator rolling off down the corridor as he hid the floor just as the ship shook with a second explosion on the lower levels.

-Time skip-

Misty sighed with relief as she and Brock finally managed to beat the final group of rocket grunts back, twenty minutes or so after Mason had gone to help Ash, she was exhausted and sore from having hit a few walls dodging attacks at them from the rocket grunts trying to take cheap shots, but they were finally in sight of the life boats that had already been cleared of rockets by another group of trainers.

"Misty, Brock!" Ash called as he came up behind them.

Misty turned, expecting to see him and Mason, but frowned when she only saw Ash… who was carrying Mason's egg incubator in his arms.

"Have you seen Mason?" Ash asked concern in his voice.

"He just left twenty minutes ago, we thought he went to help you and your lot get through your blockade," Brock said concerned as well.

"We broke through a few minutes ago, and I decided to come back here to see how you guys were doing. I found this along the way." Ash explained.

"That's not good," Brock said with a frown.

"There's no way Mason would have left it willingly, something must have happened to him," Misty said with worry.

"We need to find him," Brock stated and the other two nodded as they ran back into the ship to begin looking for their friend.