Sean staggered to his feet, spitting blood and holding his throbbing cheekbone. Coughing loudly, Sean used the wall to support himself as he snapped out bitterly. "FUCK!" Mark sat back on his heels, his arms wrapped around his ribs as he groaned and coughed. Pryce rolled over on his back, clutching his arm and favoring one of his legs. Sean checked the ground for any of his stuff or pokemon. It was pointless. Nate had gotten it all. Clenching his jaw, he glared at Mark to say darkly. "How do you feel about helping him now?" Mark returned the glare, retorting. "Don't put this on me. I didn't know he'd do that." Sean tossed his hands up, snapping out. "Really? You didn't know that a member of Team Rocket would betray us? WE COULD DIE DOWN HERE!" Mark got to his feet, growling out sternly. "You think I don't know that! I thought... Forget it. You wouldn't understand. You have too much brain and no heart!" Sean felt his anger boil over and he ran for Mark. Mark turned to face him, grabbing his arms tightly. Sean didn't care. He slammed into Mark so hard that Mark tripped over Pryce and they both went splashing into the lake.

Adrenaline fueled Sean into punching Mark as they thrashed in the water. Mark got a few of his own punches in too. Mark then manhandled Sean to shove him beneath the water to keep him there. Sean punched Mark in the balls in the hopes that it would force him to release him. It had worked. Shooting up to the surface, Sean gasped for air. Spotting a rock, Sean grabbed it when Pryce smacked him across the face. His already throbbing cheek burst with enough pain now that he screamed. Pryce then smacked Mark across the face too, yelling out. "Get ahold of yourselves! Your pokemon get stolen and the first thing you do is try to kill each other?!" Sean huddled against the shore, his anger was fading to be replaced with a deep sense of fear and dread. Refusing to look at any of them, Sean felt like he was going to cry. His pokemon were everything to him. They trusted him to protect them and he'd failed. Pryce sat down more comfortably on the bank, telling them both calmly. "Look. We still have the two Dragonites. Let's use them." Sean finally risked looking at Pryce, asking sourly. "How?"

Pryce pointed to the roof where some light was getting in through a crack to reflect off the crystals in the walls. While pointing, Pryce told them rationally. "We use the Dragonites to dig a way out. I take one to go get my pokeball. You two take the other and get help. He's injured. It's unlikely he'll get out of these caves quickly." Mark glanced up at the crack, saying softly. "It could work..." Sean hefted himself out of the water, climbing to his feet to move away from them as he said grimly. "That will take too long... and it's pointless." Mark shrugged, grunting out to him. "Why? Pryce has a point. With help we could get a team together to track him down." Sean straightened up, locking guilty eyes with both of them in turn. Mark read his face better than Pryce, stiffening in the water as he asked him with sudden deep concern. "Sean... What did you do?" Sean swallowed, reluctantly telling them. "Pryce's pokeball isn't out there... It's in my bag." Pryce's face paled as he took in the information with a blank expression. Mark gawked at him, accusing him sharply. "Your bag? The one Nate now has?!" Sean nodded as his only response.

Mark rushed out of the water, pointing at him as he sternly stated aloud. "Let me get this straight. YOU stole from Pryce and have the balls to bitch to me about the 'criminal actions' of Nate? You son of bitch!" Mark started to lunge for Sean, causing Sean to back away. Pryce grabbed Mark's arm to stop him though, butting in quickly. "If he has the pokeball than we have to get to him before he uses it!" Sean shook his head, muttering out. "He wasn't even awake when we talked about Celebi. Or any of the future shit with Pryce." Mark yanked his arm from Pryce, retorting seriously. "He's got Pryce's pokedex. He figures out how to use that and it will tell him everything he needs to know." Pryce nodded, moving to grab the reins of a spooked Dragonite as he said. "We need to stop talking and go. Every second we waste, he gets farther away from us." Sean gestured to the water, commenting dryly. "Be my guest. But I'm not going down there without knowing how far that goes and what is in there."

Pryce pulled the Dragonite to the water, chuckling out. "We'll be fine. Dragonite is a marine pokemon. They were known in my time for saving drowning people and helping lost ships to shore." Mark raised his hands to stop both Sean and Pryce as he said seriously. "Wait, before we leave, we should at least address that one of the Dragonites can be used to get out of here..." Sean crossed his arms, bluntly uttering out. "I'm not leaving my pokemon with him." Mark looked to Pryce, who told them both honestly. "I have to get that pokeball back." Mark lowered his hands, mumbling under his breath. "Fine. It's decided then. We all go together." From across the water, Slowking sat up and let out a heavy sigh. Sean saw that he looked a little bruised, but as their eyes met, Slowking told them clearly. "Too late." Mark had just started to bring the second Dragonite over to the water, when the bright crystals on the walls began to fade. The dimmer the crystals got; the more the cave fell into darkness. Sean's heart sank as he stated aloud. "Oh, no..." Mark hefted a heavy sigh, saying mostly to himself. "We're running out of light... This cave is going to get really dark soon."

Pryce looked up at the crack in the ceiling, asking hopefully. "Well, we can dig and try to bring in some natural moonlight?" Slowking rolled to his feet, answering in a cool tone. "That hole goes up a long way and is made up of dense rock. It will take hours to dig it open enough for just one of you to get through." Mark moved from the edge and bent over as he let out a frustrated yell. Pryce hefted a sigh, grimly telling them. "Guess we're camping here for tonight." Pryce patted the scared Dragonite, telling Mark and Sean. "Spread out. Find anything that will burn." Sean rolled his eyes. The cave wasn't that big and the only thing he saw was a lot of rocks. He walked away a bit, before just jumping into the water. Sinking to the bottom, he opened his eyes and winced. His vision blurred badly. Salt water. Going back to the surface, Sean spit water and told the others as he waited for his vision to come back. "There are only rocks... and I can't see if there is anything below. It's all salt water... Which means that this lake leads to the ocean."

Slowking casually walked by him, commenting softly. "Or that the ocean is leaking in. Stay here. I might be able to find you some help." Slowking dived into the water and instinctively Sean got out. Mark sat down against the wall, asking them both curiously. "The Dragonites can see in the dark right? They can guide us through." Sean brushed his wet bangs away from his eyes, retorting. "Even if they got us through the water. We don't know what is on the other side. And without a way to see, we will just put them and ourselves in danger. Plus, cave pokemon are active at night and we are defenseless without our pokemon." Mark removed his hat to run a worried hand through his hair. Pryce gathered a pile of rocks together, setting them up in a circle before telling a Dragonite to heat them. Dragonite blew a gentle flame across them to heat them up. Sean wrapped his arms around his chest. He couldn't tell if the cave was getting colder or if the ocean water had just chilled him to the bone.

Mark scooted closer to the warm pile of rocks and Pryce sat down with the Dragonites around it. Petting a Dragonite, Pryce told them gently. "It won't give us light... but we'll at least be warm. Shamouti gets cold at night, doesn't it?" Mark nodded, extending his wet hands to the stones. Sean kept his distance, taking off his hat to flick the water off it. Pryce suddenly asked him curiously as the light faded more. "Why did you take it?" Sean didn't look at them, he just kept trying to dry off his hat, upon answering casually. "It was something new. It's just what I do whenever I want to learn more about things. Otherwise, nothing ever gets done. Progress is made by those willing to smash boundaries. Not by those that stand behind them. I'm going to prove that I can make this world better... and that's what I'm going to do. No matter the cost." Sean peeked up at Pryce, watching him lift his chin to say softly. "Who are you trying to prove that too. Yourself? Or your Team?" Sean's heart twisted and he lowered his gaze to state out firmly. "Neither. It's none of your business." Sean slid down to the floor, pulling his legs up to hug them against his chest.

He didn't want to talk about his family to a bunch of people that wouldn't get it. They weren't his friends. He owed them nothing. Pryce called out to him after a minute of silence to offer out nicely. "Hey, Sean. Why don't you come over here?" Sean didn't acknowledge them or move. Even as he began to shiver, he refused to go over. He hated himself too much to reward himself with warmth. His pokemon were all he had, and he had foolishly let his guard down to help a man that he knew he shouldn't have. From the little campsite, Mark told Pryce in a low voice. "Just let him pout. It never fails. Whenever anything goes wrong. They always blame Instinct. Their pride just won't let them admit when they are wrong. Yes, he was a criminal. But at least I TRIED to be nice. Sometimes that makes the difference." Sean tightened his arms around his knees. It wasn't his fault that he had never learned how to make friends. He was working all the time. Pryce huffed out a sigh, saying aloud in a warm voice. "You're more than the colors you wear. You know... In the future, they invent this thing called 'Pokemon Leagues.' Where Trainers channel their differences into the different strategies they use to win battles against other trainers from all over the world." 

Mark chuckled, sarcastically replying. "Really? Why on earth would they do that?" Pryce stretched his legs out, answering simply. "Because there is more to being a Trainer than just fighting each other all the time. In my time, we encourage Trainers to be more than just one thing. We send them out to start a journey to learn about different cultures and their pokemon. To find themselves and become the person they don't just have to be but want to be. It's about rebuilding our world with stronger bonds. To have fun together and never stop pushing yourself to be better." Sean lifted his head to listen better, watching Pryce say in a gentle tone. "Get all the Teams together and have them remove their colors. Then tell me if you can spot who belongs to which Team. I bet you won't be able to tell. Because the only lines that divide us are the ones you make. We're human. We don't always get along. But doesn't the world have enough problems? You look at him and see blue. He looks at you and sees yellow. Whether you like it or not, he is human. Just like you. He feels. He bleeds. You are brainwashed to hate his Team... But do you even know why that is?"

Sean tried to think beyond his personal issues with both Team Instinct and Valor. He had joined Team Mystic... but he honestly couldn't recall them ever saying why the other Teams were bad. He was just told they were. Pryce watched Mark think, before adding to him with a small smile. "See? You can't be a better person if you don't think for yourself. You both chose to help him. You both were hurt by the outcome. However, instead of working things out... You're trained to turn on each other. To point blame. It doesn't matter how an issue got started, it only matters how you chose to finish it. So if I see you two fight one more time. I'm going to tie you both together and force you to get over your issues by working together. Got it?" Mark chuckled, then looked over at Sean. Sean averted his eyes with a blank expression. Slowking crawled out of the lake, flicking water off of himself. Hefting what looked like a bag made from a fishnet, Slowking made his way to Pryce and said happily. "Your solution." Slowking set the bag down, opening it to dig through wraps of seaweed to remove what looked like a ball of ice.

Mark blinked, stating out as nicely as he could. "I think you misunderstood what we meant. We need something that feeds a fire. Doesn't just melt with it..." Slowking blinked in return, then waved with his fingers for one of the Dragonites to blow on it. The Dragonite leaned in, snorting a tiny flame from its nose onto the ice. Both Pryce and Sean gawked at it in awe. The little ball of ice was burning like a fire. Slowking set the ball in the little rock circle, informing them like a wise teacher. "Methane clathrate. Produced by organic matter degradation in the sea floor under low temperature and high-pressure conditions. Thus, I give you. Frozen Methane Gas. What we call Fire Ice. Burn it slowly. Go too fast and it will explode... and the damage will be devastating. I've seen this stuff blast apart the seafloor." Sean finally moved closer to the fire to get a better look at it. It was simply stunning to look at. His brain couldn't get over the idea of a snowball burning like this. Sitting down on his heels, Sean asked Slowking curiously. "Where did you get this stuff?"

Slowking smirked, casually telling him. "It's all around the islands. The sea currents that run between the islands of Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Shamouti create this stuff. The Legendary Birds use their elemental powers to affect the ocean's temperatures. You could even say that they keep the heart of the ocean running by controlling the vital currents that spread all over the world. They keep the ocean in constant motion." Sean and Mark both turned wide eyes on Slowking, who calmly told them with some dismay. "As long as the birds are in harmony with each other, the ocean is at peace. But if they turn on each other..." Slowking drifted off, his eyes lowering to the fire as a distant look crossed his face. Mark leaned over his raised knees now, asking anxiously. "And if they fall out of harmony...?" Slowking's eyes rose to meet Mark's, answering in a morbid tone. "They will fight. Creating a storm that will destroy everything, before flooding the earth." Mark inhaled, half chuckling out. "Well, let's not do that..."

Slowking bowed his head, softly informing them all in a grim voice. "Too late. You brought the shadow with you.The war has already begun." To Be Continued...