Mark clung to the saddle bar, trying to steer Dragonite one handed. He wasn't the best at flying but simply talking to Dragonite seemed to work well enough. Whoever had trained him had done an amazing job. Mark told the Dragonite to swing wide and head back over the trees to head to the East. Beside him, Sean jerked his head to look at him and asked perplexed. "What are you doing?! I was headed to Ice Town! You go that way and you'll take us too close to Fire Town!" Mark kept his eyes forward, answering honestly. "Yes. But that Team Rocket guy was heading toward Fire Town with that Masked Man. And if he has information that Team Rocket finds interesting, shouldn't we investigate that?" Sean narrowed his eyes on him, retorting sternly. "Look as much as I want that ring and to learn more about what the fuck is going on... My pokemon need to go to a Pokestop! Which I can only get from Ice Town. Now turn this thing around!" Mark locked eyes with Sean before saying calmly. "No. I'm not going anywhere near Ice Town. Besides, the longer we wait the farther away they get. I can't afford that. Every second we waste is time they can use to hurt someone."

Sean rolled his eyes, grumbling out. "Ugh... You Instincts are such humanitarians..." Mark clenched his jaw a little to keep from blurting out something he'd regret. Sean didn't stop though as he bluntly asked him. "Tell me, Poke-hugger. How do you plan to beat that grunt if half our pokemon are wounded? You plan to let your pokemon command you to battle? If that ring makes his pokemon stronger, as the other guy said. Then your pokemon are useless. Mine at least stand a chance if I can get them to a Pokestop!" Mark lost it and snapped back at him firmly. "One more bash at my pokemon or my team and I'll kick you off this Dragonite! I didn't have to save you! I could have left you there to die! And I don't recall you complaining when my Raichu saved your smartass!" Sean stared at him a little shocked by his outburst. After a few seconds, Sean told him reluctantly. "I... Look... About what you did. Thank you." Mark chuckled, glancing at Sean as he said teasingly. "Ooo, how badly did that hurt you? Saved by Instinct. Your Mystic pride must be burning." Sean glared at him, grumbling darkly through his teeth. "Tell anyone and I'll kill you. You have my word on that."

Mark chuckled louder, switching the silky reins to his other hand. Extending his free hand out to Sean, he greeted him nicely. "My name is Mark." Sean rolled his eyes, mumbling out. "I didn't ask." Mark leaned closer to him, nicely informing him. "I noticed. It's this new thing called being nice to your rescuer. Or do they not teach manners to you Mystics?" Sean stared into his eyes, sarcastically shooting back in a light voice. "As a matter of fact, they don't. We learn to save our brain power for more important things." Mark shook his head, uttering out softly. "You Mystics kill me... You ever heard that a little kindness goes a long way?" Sean cleared his throat drawing Mark's attention. Mark glanced at him and Sean stated out a bit terrified. "Mark... How about you see how far kindness gets you with HIM!" Mark looked over his shoulder to see the strange pokemon slowly rising up over the trees. It was following them! Cursing, Mark told the Dragonite hopefully. "Hey, Buddy? Can you pick up the pace? He's gaining on us!" The Dragonite let out a small call, then locked its wings as it sped up.

The strange pokemon rose higher above the trees to speed up after them. Mark gawked at how fast the thing was, asking aloud. "Why is it still chasing us?! Is it because we attacked it?" Mark was turning his head to look ahead but stopped as his eyes saw something glowing in Sean's jacket. Sean saw it too and put his hand over the glowing pocket. Their eyes met, before they both said aloud. "The scale?" Mark didn't know what that meant, but it couldn't have been good. The strange pokemon put its palms together and began to make a large purple ball. Sean yelped, huddling against Dragonite's saddle. Mark huffed, telling Sean curtly. "Hang on! And stay low!" Laying close to the saddle, Mark yelled out. "Dragonite! Dive into the trees!" Dragonite dived straight down into the trees avoiding the purple beam of light that rustled the leaves of the treetops. Dragonite weaved between the dense trees, forcing Mark and Sean to stay close in the center to keep from shifting their weight too much. Leaning with him as it quickly navigated between the trees, Mark looked back to see the pokemon had dived into the trees too and was still following them.

Mark huffed in disbelief, saying aloud. "This thing is persistent! Holy shit!" Dragonite yelped as a pokemon jumped down from a tree, forcing it to change course sharply to avoid crashing into it. Going into a barrel roll in the air, it barely avoided the tree because Sean's foot slipped off the saddle's foot peg on his side. Clinging to the front saddle bar, Sean hung off the side of Dragonite screaming. Dragonite let out distressed wails as it had to fly sideways due to the hanging weight. Sean's weight was making Dragonite drift more and more to his right. Mark hooked a foot around his foot peg and leaned down carefully as he yelled out. "HANG ON!" Seeing Sean had a good grip on the saddle bar, he reached out to grab Sean's belt. Dragonite swung wide in a circle, confusing the strange pokemon as it stopped to watch them. Mark snatched Sean's belt, pulling him with all his strength to bring him closer. With his hips closer, Sean got his foot back onto the peg and shifted back up into place. Mark pulled Sean close against him in the center and practically laid over him as Dragonite leveled out and sped up to go straight again.

Mark watched the strange pokemon pick up the chase again, telling a panting Sean beneath him. "We've got to figure out a way to lose it!" Sean pointed toward the mountains, answering shakily. "We might be able to hide in a cave in the mountains if we can shake him just long enough to hide." Bursting from the tree line and out across a dirt road, they forced Nate to yank his Rapidash into a rear as its hind hooves slid across the dirt. Nate cursed loudly, then screamed as the strange pokemon burst from the wood line behind them. With no choice, Nate wheeled his Rapidash to run alongside their Dragonite as he yelled out bitterly. "You idiots! You led that thing straight toward us!" Mark huffed, yelling back. "As if we had a choice!" The Masked Man on his Dragonite removed something from his pocket that scanned the pursuing pokemon, but whatever it said to him was drowned out by the pokemon letting out a sharp sound that sounded like metal nails on a stone wall. The Masked Man quickly stashed his device away, removing a pokemon ball from his belt and calling out. "Froslass! Confuse ray!"

From the man's pokeball a pokemon popped out that resembled a human wearing a white kimono with a red obi sash around its waist. It had no feet but long graceful looking arms that flared out at the wrists to resemble sleeves. It had a head that looked like a water droplet with a white mask that had two little ice crystals that looked like shaved horns. Through the holes in the mask, two stunning blue eyes with yellow sclerae could be seen. Froslass raised her hands gracefully before her to present a small blue ball of light. Then tossing it, the ball shot forward and struck the fast approaching pokemon in its glistening pointed face. The Masked Man recalled Froslass as the strange Pokemon swung blindly at the spot she had been. The swipe caused it to spin in place and hover off kilter as it tried to correct itself to keep following them. It had slowed it down enough though. Mark removed a pokeball from his belt, holding the bottom of it as he called out. "Chad! Double Team!" Popping from the pokeball, Chad landed on Mark's hips. While sitting there it casually let two ghostly black arms creep out from under its costume to multiple itself out like a wall.

With them all made, Mark shouted out to Chad. "Dazzling Gleam! Now!" All the multiple versions of itself began to glow with a blinding light that sparkled with multiple colors. Growing brighter and brighter, until it was too painful to look at. Mark used the cover of the blinding light to veer Dragonite into an upcoming cave. Which forced Nate to veer in as Dragonite cut him off. The last one to enter was the Masked Man on his Dragonite. Half blinded by the dazzling gleam, the Masked Man's Dragonite clipped the side of the cave, causing it to crash and tumbled into the cave. The Masked Man was knocked off the Dragonite, but not before his shifted weight sent his Dragonite into a rapid barrel roll through the air wildly. The out of control Dragonite slammed into Mark's Dragonite, sending them both into the cave wall. Dust shot up as the wall shook and caused the cave entrance to collapse. Rocks of all sizes fell from both the outside and inside of the cave, until the cave was consumed in a pitch-black darkness.

The mountain eventually stopped shaking, finally settling into silence. Groaning, Mark felt around to check his surroundings. He was still on Dragonite, but Dragonite must have been knocked out because it wasn't moving... but it was still breathing. Feeling around to see if there were rocks pinning Dragonite, his hand moved over a rough material. He had forgotten Sean was beneath him, until Sean growled out. "Get your hand off my ass or I'll snap it off at the wrist!" Lifting his hand off him, he blushingly mumbled out. "Sorry. I thought that was your thigh." Sean moved beneath him, snapping out. "Why would that make it any better?! Don't touch me! Now get off me!" From somewhere, Nate asked curiously in the darkness. "Alright. Who's alive? Sound off?" Mark and Sean both groaned stiffly as they moved to untangle themselves. The sound of a pokeball opening brought forth Rapidash. It's firey mane and tail giving the cave small dim lighting. Nate raised a hand from a pile of rocks on the ground to pet the pokemon's nose, asking hopefully. "Are you ok, Buddy?" Rapidash let out a happy whiny that quickly turned into concern as it pawed the rocks around Nate.

Nate groaned in pain, causing Rapidash to rear and whiny as it looked around in a panic. Mark stiffly staggered to his feet, stepping around fallen rocks to make his way over. Rapidash snorted and pawed the ground with its hooves as Mark approached. Raising his hands, he told the Rapidash calmly. "Easy. Easy now." Stepping careful around Rapidash in the hopes of not getting burned, he asked Nate curiously. "Hey... Nate, was it? How are you doing?" Nate winced, shifting to his side a little as he groaned out. "I can't move my leg. I think it is either pinned or broken." Mark moved some smaller rocks around him, taking a knee to look. Rapidash lowered its head to look, its hair lighting up the rocks better. Mark had to smile a little. Despite this guy being a member of Team Rocket... his pokemon loved him. That was enough tell him what kind of trainer Nate was at the very least. Moving more rocks, Mark swallowed nervously. Nate didn't look as he asked bluntly. "How bad is it?" Mark looked at the large rock that had landed on Nate's shin, telling him calmly. "It's pinned and broken..."

Rapidash panted heavily, letting out soft cries of concern. Mark carefully pet Rapidash's warm white nose, saying sweetly. "You recalled your pokemon when the cave was collapsing... To save it?" Nate huffed dryly, replying. "What? You think because I'm with Team Rocket that I'm heartless?" Mark licked his dry lips, mumbling out. "I'm just surprised. It never occurred to me that..." Nate removed his dark sunglasses, looking him in the eyes as he finished for him. "That my pokemon are mine and not stolen? Ya... Well, shows how much you know..." Nate tried to move and ended up biting his arm as he wailed in pain. Mark put a hand on his shoulder, telling him warmly. "Hey. Don't move. I'm going to try and move the rock off." Nate laid back down, pulling his shirt up over his nose as he coughed from the dust. Mark stood up, positioning himself over the rock. To his surprise, Sean moved in to stand opposite of him. Leaning down they both grabbed the sides of the rock as Sean told him seriously. "Lift it slowly. If you move it off of him too fast it could send him into shock." Mark nodded, moving only as fast as Sean did. The rock was heavy but between the two of them, they were able to move it off him.

Dropping the rock aside, Sean rushed over to look over Nate's broken leg. While examining it, Sean asked Mark seriously. "Why are you helping him? He was trying to steal from us. He's a criminal." Mark took a knee to be at Sean's level when he said coolly in return. "Probably for the same reason you are helping him right now. Because it's the right thing to do." Sean huffed, mumbling under his breath. "I just don't like seeing people or pokemon suffer... Doesn't change what he tried to do to us. He doesn't make a difference to anyone. Criminals only make things worse." Mark pointed to Rapidash who was watching them with big bright brown eyes. Sean looked to Rapidash, before Mark leaned in to tell him seriously. "He makes a difference to that pokemon. Who are you to judge his worth?" Sean stared at Rapidash, who in turn looked at him with fragile glassy eyes. Nate coughed, straining out through the pain. "His name is Dash... And for your information... I rescued him from a pokemon hunter. Steel trap broke his hind leg... They said he'd never run again..."

Sean slowly looked at Nate with guarded eyes, asking curiously. "Why are you telling me this?" Nate pointed to Mark, answering weakly. "I'm telling him... because if I pass out... Dash isn't going to understand... He's going to be worried..." Sean inhaled deeply, telling him confidently. "You're going to be ok." Nate's breathing slowed and before too long he passed out. Dash started shifting from foot to foot, letting out small calls and tried to nudge Nate's foot. Sean waved Rapidash back, removing his backpack to fish out an emergency med kit. Mark stood up, moving to Rapidash to hold his nose as he pet him to keep him calm. Chad crept over between Rapidash's legs, wrapping its ghostly hands around Rapidash's front legs and mimicking how Mark was petting him. Cooing to Dash that he'd be ok, he looked around the cave. In the far corner, the Masked Man was working on making a small fire. He looked ok, but it concerned him that the man didn't seem to care about what they were doing.

Turning his eyes to the Dragonites, he sighed to himself. They were both hurt pretty bad now, but they were snuggling together like they were close friends. He didn't know where they had come from originally, but they were dressed too nicely to belong to Team Rocket. Telling Chad to stay with Rapidash, he shrugged off his own backpack and searched for some healing potions. He usually kept a few with him. Removing a bottle, he stroked one Dragonite and sprayed all the wounds he saw carefully. The stuff stung the pokemon a bit, but disinfecting wounds was never gentle. In an hour though, the Dragonite would feel better. While he worked on the Dragonites, Sean asked him from across the way as he worked on Nate. "Can I ask why you call your... interesting pokemon there... Chad?" Mark chuckled, answering casually. "He's a Mimikyu. They come from my Homeland. I call him Chad because... Well... I named him after my ex-boyfriend." Sean snorted, chuckling out. "Can I ask why?"

Mark smirked a little to himself, replying nicely over his shoulder. "Well, After I broke up with him... He became a stalker. Started following me around... acting weird. Just like THAT Chad. He liked the name one day when I accidently blurted it out in a fit of panic... He likes to sneak up on me like the real Chad used too. So, that is what I call him." Sean chuckled softly, mumbling out under his breath lightly. "You're weird." Mark chuckled himself, finishing up as he answered in return. "Well, at least I'm not boring." Turning around, Mark froze as he saw Sean smile. It was a small smile... but enough to make him look adorable in the dim lighting. Mark found himself smiling a little. Did Sean know he had a nice smile? To Be Continued...