[Pokémon] Four Journeys

"This is it." Kat said as Mal pulled up the car outside the southern entrance to Rock Tunnel. "The Gym Leader should be right in there."

"What kind of Gym Leader operates from inside a cave?" Gary asked her as he got out of the car. "Is there even an actual Gym here?"

"There used to be one right over there, actually." Kat pointed to the nearby cliff face. "It was destroyed in a landslide not too long ago. It was just a few weeks after I came here during my Pokémon journey, actually. I haven't heard when they plan on rebuilding it but the leader has been staying in the cave for now."

"You do know that there's a difference between a tunnel and a cave, right?" Ciel asked.

Both Gary and Kat glared at her, causing Ciel to back away behind her sister, Mal.

"Anyway," Gary said. "Let's get going."

Gary walked over to the tunnel entrance and stepped inside. It was dark inside Rock Tunnel but enough light filtered in through the entranceway that he was able to see. Kat, Mal, Ciel and Sue all went in after him so that they could cheer him on during his battle.

"So where is this supposed Gym Leader supposed to be, anyway?" Gary asked, seeing that the tunnel appeared to be completely empty.

"He should be in here somewhere." Kat said.

Gary sighed and leaned against the wall of the tunnel, hoping that this wasn't just some wild Farfetch'd chase. He thought that the wall seemed unusually cold and smooth, almost like metal when suddenly it began to shake. Gary had to back away from the wall as it shifted and began sliding rapidly along. It continued moving for several minutes before finally the disappearing and revealing the small candle-lit opening behind it. A large highly-muscled man with long, dark bushy hair sat there, deep in meditation.
Gary took a cautious step towards the man, who immediately stood up onto his feet. The large man towered over Gary and the others as he opened his eyes and looked down at Gary.

"You are here for a Gym Battle." It wasn't a question. "Come, we shall do battle outside."

The man walked right past Gary towards the entrance to the cave and motioned over his shoulder for Gary to follow him. Gary did so hesitantly and they all exited the cave.

"I am Bruno." The large man said as he turned around to face Gary. "I am the Fighting-type specialist of the Kanto Gym Leaders and member of the Elite Four."

"My name is Gary Oak." Gary said, is confidence returning as the shock of the cave moving and Bruno's sudden appearance wore off. "I'm an up and coming trainer who already has five badges and I'm about to earn my sixth."

"Very well, then this will be a six-on-six Pokémon battle that will begin… NOW!"

Bruno suddenly tossed a Pokémon to the ground, sending out his first Pokémon, Primeape. Gary barely had time to react by sending out his own Pokémon, Exeggcute. Gary had just recently added Exeggcute to his team and had not had time to properly train it, or rather them, yet but the six egg-like heads that formed Exeggcute were part Psychic-type, giving them a type advantage against Bruno's Fighting Pokémon.

"Primeape! Use Crosschop!"

The Pig Monkey Pokémon charged up to Exeggcute with its arms crossed in an X-shape and swung them together, hitting Exeggcute from both sides. The six heads were scattered around by the attack, making it so that Primeape wasn't sure which one to target with its next attack, giving Exeggcute enough time to attack themselves. Each of the heads pelted Primeape with a barrage of Bullet Seeds, hitting it from every direction. This proved to make the Primeape angrier as it used its Rage attack to increase its attack power with every hit. As soon as it found an opening, Primeape charged one of Exeggcute's heads and hit it with all of its strength. The other five heads didn't like to see one of their own get attacked and switched up their attack pattern, blasting waves of Confusion at it instead. The Psychic attacks were Super Effective against Primeape, who was knocked out.
Bruno recalled Primeape as Exeggcute regrouped and gathered themselves back up together. Bruno sent out his next Pokémon, Hitmonchan. The boxing Pokémon assumed a defensive position as Exeggcute started spitting Bullet Seeds at it. After blocking the seeds with its boxing-glove-like hands, Hitmonchan dashed to the side and came up close to Exeggcute, hitting them with a Fire Punch. Exeggcute retaliated with Confusion but it was not enough to defeat Hitmonchan, who knocked Exeggcute out with another Fire Punch.

Gary recalled Exeggcute back to their Pokéball and sent out his next Pokémon. Growlithe was another new addition to his team, but he had it for a little longer and was confident in its abilities. The Fire-type puppy Pokémon have a small howl as it Leered at its opponent, causing Hitmonchan to lower its defense slightly as Growlithe ran up to it and bit Hitmonchan in the leg with its Fire Fang move. The attack burned Hitmonchan who knocked Growlithe away with a Close Combat attack. Before Growlithe could pick itself back up, Hitmonchan hit it again with Mach Punch. Growlithe then used Flame Burst, launching a large fireball from its mouth which split apart midair into several streams of fire that struck Hitmonchan and the area directly around it. Hitmonchan used Mach Punch again, quickly striking the Fire-type before it could react and knocked it out. But before Gary could send out his next Pokémon, Hitmonchan collapsed as well due to its burn.

Gary sent out his Nidorino while Bruno called out a Hitmonlee. The Kicking Pokémon leaped high up into the air as soon as it touched the ground and came falling back down with one of its coiled up legs outstretched to his Nidorino with a High Jump Kick. Nidorino was able to side-jump out of the way just in time, however, causing Hitmonlee to injure itself as it crashed into the ground. Nidorino then rammed into Hitmonlee with a Peck attack, followed up with a Poison Jab. Hitmonlee stood back up with great effort and hit Nidorino with a Double Kick, knocking him onto his side, before using High Jump Kick again and this time hitting Nidorino with enough force to knock him out.

Gary recalled his Nidorino and sent out his Nidorina, who immediately hit Hitmonlee with a Double Kick of her own and following up the attack with a Poison Sting. Hitmonlee tried to hit Nidorina with a Mega Kick, but missed and opened itself up to another Double Kick, knocking it out.

Bruno then sent out his fourth Pokémon, Hitmontop, who spun around on the point on top of its head and knocked Nidorina down with a Triple Kick. Unfortunately for Hitmontop, it happened to hit one of her poisonous spikes in the process and was inflicted with Poison. Nidorina got back up again and hit Hitmontop with a simple Scratch attack, which was enough to knock Hitmontop off balance and make it fall down. Nidorina then hit Hitmontop with a Double Kick before it could get back up again and was able to dodge a Close Combat attack from Hitmontop before it jumped back onto its head and started spinning again. Nidorina tried to dodge another Rolling Kick, but was unable to get out of the way and was struck by the attack. Before Hitmontop could follow up with another attack, however, Nidorina was able to hit it with another Double Kick which, when combined with the damage it had already taken and the poison slowly sapping away its health, was enough to knock out Hitmonchan.

Bruno was down to his last two Pokémon now, while Gary still had three, placing him in the lead for the time being. Bruno sent out his second-to-last Pokémon, Machoke. The Superpower Pokémon stared down at Nidorina while flexing its massive muscles. Its biceps were thicker than Gary's head.

"You are doing very well so far." Bruno said to Gary. "Certainly better than most who try to face me, at any rate. Keep this up and you should be able to defeat me without any problem."

"Yeah." Gary replied. "Like there was ever a problem to begin with."

"Machoke! Use Seismic Toss!" Bruno ordered his Pokémon.

Bruno's Machoke grabbed Nidorina and lifted her up. Nidorina tried to use Fury Swipes to get Machoke to release its grip but struggling only made it squeeze tighter. Machoke then jumped up into the air and did a backflip before slamming Nidorina into the ground. Nidorina got back on her feet as Machoke landed back on the ground, holding onto its left arm, which had been scratched by one of Nidorina's spikes. Machoke gave out a howl as its arms suddenly glowed green and he hit Nidorina with a Dual Chop. Nidorina retaliated by jumping at Machoke and using Bite on its leg, holding on with its teeth as she then used Double Kick on the other leg, knocking him down.

Machoke looked furious as it kicked its right leg out in a Low Sweep attack and knocked Nidorina over. Nidorina then used Toxic Spikes, sending out a spray of poisoned bards around the battlefield. Machoke stood back up again as Nidorina charged towards it for another attack. Just as Nidorina was just about to hit with another Double Kick, Machoke assumed a defensive position and started to glow yellow. After the attack hit, Machoke's glow disappeared and he hit Nidorina with a powerful Revenge attack. Nidorina tried to get back up after the hit, but it proved too much and she collapsed.

"Good job, Nidorina." Gary said as he recalled her back into her Pokéball. It was unusual for him to compliment his Pokémon but she was growing on him and had become one of his favorite members of his team. "Alright, now let's finish this Wartortle!"

Gary's starter Pokémon emerged from its Pokéball ready to battle. Machoke ran up to the Turtle Pokémon, ready to hit him with a Karate Chop but before he could get in range for the attack, Wartortle sent out a Water Pulse which disoriented Machoke and caused him to trip and fall to the ground. Wasting no time, Wartortle sprayed a blast of Water Gun at Machoke, knocking it out.

Bruno recalled Machoke and sent out his final Pokémon, Machoke's evolved form, Machamp. The four-armed musclebound gray Pokémon landed straight onto the Toxic Spikes that Nidorina had left behind and became inflicted with their poison. Wartortle then jumped up and used Withdraw to retreat into its shell before it slammed into Machamp's chest with a Rapid Spin attack. Machamp used a Karate Chop to smash Wartortle into the ground, but it didn't do very much damage because Wartortle was still inside of his shell.

Wartortle flipped itself forward and sprayed a Water Gun straight into the ground, sending himself flying upwards and then crashing back down right above Machamp's head. The attempt at a makeshift attack failed, however, as Machamp easily caught Wartortle with two of its hands. Machamp's two free hands then lit up green and he hit Wartortle with a Dual Chop before jumping up and using Seismic Toss. Fortunately for Wartortle, he was able to use Protect to avoid taking any damage from the Seismic Toss. Wartortle finally got back out of its shell and stood up, spraying another Water Gun at Machamp. Machamp was ready for the attack, however, and used Revenge, glowing bright yellow as the attack hit and the immediately punching Wartortle with its full strength.

Wartortle was sent flying towards the nearby cliff face. Wartortle used Withdraw again before he hit the wall and ricochet off of it, straight into Machamp's head. The Superpower Pokémon was knocked down onto its back by the force of the unexpected blow and fell onto the Toxic Spikes still on the ground. Wartortle took this opportunity to come back out of its shell and blast another Water Pulse at Machamp before following it up with a Tackle, knocking Machamp out.

"Very good." Bruno said as he recalled Machamp back into its Pokéball. "You were able to defeat my entire team before you were even left down to your final Pokémon, earning this Valor badge."

Bruno held out a shield-like badge colored yellow on one side and orange on the other, handing it to Gary.

"There is also something else I would like to give you as a reward for your victory." Bruno continued as Gary took the badge. "Steelix!"

The ground around them shook violently as a massive metal snake Pokémon burst out from the mountain which Gary realized must have been the metallic thing he had leaned against earlier. Steelix lowed its head above Bruno and dropped what appeared to be a couple rocks into his hand. Bruno then held the gray-colored rocks out to Gary.

"These are Moon Stones." He explained as Gary took the rocks from him. "They are formed from a rare mineral with special properties that allow certain Pokémon to evolve such as your Nidorino and Nidorina."

"Um, thanks, I guess." Said Gary, who was not used to being given things and felt there must be some ulterior motive. But Bruno gave no indication of such, so Gary simply turned around and started to walk back to the car.

* * *

Looker's team had still gotten no closer to finding any new leads on Team Rocket's actions, so Wes had decided to take a walk around Viridian City to stretch his legs a bit. He was getting bored with waiting around and doing nothing and was considering entering the Pokémon League to alleviate some of that boredom, but figured that the moment he started with that things would start happening with the Team Rocket case and he would be pulled away from it.

"Maybe next year." He muttered to himself as he walked by an empty alleyway.

Or at least the alleyway appeared empty at first. A flash of movement caught Wes' eye as he went by it that caught his attention. Wes turned around and walked down the alley to see what it was just in time to see something crawl up along the wall and out of sight.

"Wait a minute, wasn't that…" Wes trailed off as he noticed light reflecting off of something nearby. He turned to see what it was and recognized it instantly. "Ariados."

Wes approached the cluster of webbing latched onto the brick wall and pulled it off. There was a silver envelope inside the web with a golden "J" emblazoned on it.

"What does she want?" Wes growled as he glared at the envelope before opening it up and reading the letter inside. "Well, this is interesting."

* * *

"So this is the Gym, right?" Ash asked Misty and Brock as they stood outside the Saffron City Gym.

"Yes." Brock answered. "But are you sure we should be here? Carmine said we should wait in the Pokémon Center."

"Oh, what's the worst that could happen?" Ash tried to reassure him.

Ash rested his hand along the six Pokéballs around his belt. Two of them were empty, as Pika and Volty were resting on his shoulders like usual, while the other four contained the remaining members of his team.

"Hey, wait a minute." Ash just realized something was off. "Where'd the Raticate King go?"

"You already have six Pokémon." Misty pointed out. "So it would have been sent to your PC automatically."

"But I had it when we were still in the sewers." Ash pointed out.

"Your Pokédex might not have been able to get a signal down there so it wouldn't have been able to transport until we got back up to the surface." Brock said.

"Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense." Ash turned back to the Gym. "Anyway, here we go!"

The inside of the Saffron Gym was dimly lit by torches set on stone pillars around the sides of the room. Ash could just barely see a chair on the other side of the room with what appeared to be a woman sitting in it.

"Hello?" He called out. "Are you the Gym Leader?"

"Something doesn't feel right about this." Brock muttered under his breath.

The woman stood up and started walking slowly towards them. Ash squinted and tried to make out what she looked like but she was still too far away to see clearly in the torchlight.

"I don't remember this place being so dark." Misty commented.

Pika and Volty fidgeted slightly as the woman continued walking slowly. Ash decided to walk up to try and get a better look, but his legs wouldn't cooperate.

"Guys," He said. "I can't move."

"Neither can I." Brock realized.

"What's going on here?" Misty screamed, which was the last sound any of them made before Sabrina came into view and they blacked out.

Carmine ran out of the Pokémon Center, his dark red hair still dripping yet. He looked around and saw no indication of where Ash and his friends had gone, so he ran off in a random direction, prepared to search the whole city if he had to.

"If Delia finds out about this, she'd kill me." Carmine said to himself as he checked street after street. "And I wouldn't be able to blame her."

As he ran by the entrance to the Gym, he remembered what the Pokémon Center nurse had told him about Sabrina having apparently joined Team Rocket. And if the rumors he had heard about her psychic abilities were true then that Gym was probably one of the most dangerous places anyone could possibly be right now.

"So naturally that's probably were they went." Carmine sighed.

Carmine looked around. Going in there without a plan would be suicidal, so he needed to think of something quick. His attention was quickly drawn to the building next-door to the Gym. It looked like some sort of old, run-down dojo but that wasn't what caught his attention. Situated just above the entranceway to it there was a faded old sign to a Pokémon Gym.

"What's that about?" Carmine wondered to himself. "I suppose I might as well check it out since I don't have any other options at the moment."

He walked up to the dojo and opened the sliding door leading inside. To his surprise the place was actually quite lively. Martial artists and Fighting-type Pokémon filled the main hallway training themselves to the absolute limit of what they could do. Carmine's jaw dropped as he saw the various feats being performed in just the first few seconds after he got there. One man broke through a pile of wooden boards with a single chop while a girl near him was going pushups with another man on her back and a Machamp over in the corner was practicing using Fire Punch, Ice Punch and Thunder Punch all at the same time.

"Greetings, brother." A man in a white gi said to Carmine, startling the veteran trainer. "Can we help you with anything?"

"What is this place?" Carmine asked in awe.

"This is the Fighting Dojo." The man explained. "It is a place where people and Pokémon come from all over to test and train themselves beyond their physical limits."

"But the sign outside said this was a Gym." Carmine pointed out.

"Yes. We got that old sign years ago after the master of this dojo beat Bruno in a fight and took the sign off his Gym barehanded. Oh, that was a sight to behold."

"But aren't you worried about drawing the attention of Team Rocket?" Carmine asked.

"Oh, no. We don't have to worry about them. So long as we don't go outside they don't seem to care. Besides, the only one we really need to worry about is Sabrina, because her psychic powers and Pokémon have the advantage over us, but even then we have ol' Joe over there to help with that."

The man pointed off to the side of the dojo, where an angry looking man in a battered old sea captain's uniform was sitting back-to-back with a foreign Pokémon that Carmine recognized as the Fighting and Dark-type Pangoro.

"Speaking of which," the man continued, "how did you get here, anyway?"

"Never mind." Carmine answered as he turned around to leave.

Carmine was mentally kicking himself as he left the dojo. How could he have forgotten such a basic part of type match-ups? Dark-types were immune to Psychic, which meant all he had to do was send Sneasel into the Gym to scout out the building. It just seems so simple now.

* * *

"Wake up, Mr. Sleepyhead." The voice of a young girl roused Ash from his sleep. He opened his eyes to see the source of said voice standing in front of him.

"Who, who are you?" He asked hesitantly.

"My name is Sabrina." She said happily. "Who are you?"

"I'm… I'm Ash." Ash tried to stand up but found that his arms and legs were tied to the chair he was sitting in. He looked around and found that Misty and Brock were tied to chair behind him as well, still unconscious. There were no signs of Pika or Volty. "What's going on?"

"You were caught snooping around the Gym, so she knocked you out and had the bad men take you away to here."

Ash tried to wrap his mind around what the girl was saying. "Who's she?"

"Sabrina, of course. Silly boy." The girl giggled.

"I thought you said you were Sabrina."

The girl smiled. "Would you like to play with me?"

Ash stared at the girl in confusion. "No, I want to get my friends and get out of here."

"To bad." The girl said as she shrugged and turned around. "I would have let you go if you had said yes."

"Wait!" Ash called out to the girl as she walked away. "I'll play, I'll play!"

The girl turned back to him. "Too late." Then suddenly she disappeared into nothingness.

"What?" Ash stared at the space where the girl had just been in confusion. "Wait, was she another ghost? Wait a minute… Hanami!"

"Oh, so you finally remembered me, did you?" The ghostly maiden materialized in front of him.

"Uh…"

"Oh, I'm just messing with you." Hanami laughed. "No, that girl wasn't a ghost. I'm not sure what she was, but she definitely wasn't a ghost. And before you ask, no, I can't help get free. I can't interact directly with the material world."

"I guess I'll just have to think of something else then." Ash muttered as he tried he get loose of his bonds.

Unfortunately for Ash, the ropes tying him down proved too thick to break free from.

"Sacred Fire." Ash muttered.

"You should watch your language, young man." Hanami said in a mock scolding tone.

"I guess I've been hanging out with Carmine too much." Ash joked. "Wait a minute, Carmine!" He'll come get us, right?"

"Assuming he can even find you." Hanami said. "You're not in the Gym anymore. The men in black that tied you up dragged you away and brought you here. We're in the basement of the tallest building in the city."

"Hm…" Ash tried to think of another plan. "What about Ghastly?"

"They took away all of your… what do you call them… Pokéballs? Yes, Pokéballs! They took all of your Pokéballs away and I don't know where they put them, so you won't be able to rely on your Pokémon for help."

Ash sighed and tried to see if he could knock his chair over, but it was tied to Brock and Misty's chairs in a way that made that impossible.

"You know, back in my day we used acorns to catch Pokémon." Hanami mused.

Ash tried to ignore the absurdity of that statement as he worked out a way to get free. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on trying to think of another way out. After a moment he opened them back up again.

"What?"

"Did you see that?" Ash asked Hanami.

"See what?"

"Everything just went all bright and colorful." Ash explained.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Everything seemed normal to me. Or at least as normal as it can get when you're a centuries-old ghost, anyway."

"Hold on." Ash said as he closed his eyes again. "They're not lights, they're… people? I see people."

"There's no one else here." Hanami pointed out, starting to get worried.

"No, not here." Ash tried his best to explain. "Up there. It's like I can see everyone in the building above us."

Hanami looked at Ash in bewilderment.

"But they're not just people." Ash continued. "They're all lit up in different colors. Its' like, it's like I'm seeing their souls or something."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Hanami said.

"No offense, but you don't really seem to know much for an ancient ghost."

"Well what do you expect?" Hanami asked defensively. "I'm not some wise scholar or anything. I'm just a poor village girl who's spent her entire afterlife up until point waiting around in a statue."

"Sorry." Ash apologized.

"No, its fine."

"I'm still no closer to finding a way out of here though." Ash sighed and closed his eyes again, looking down at his hands. They were yellow, he noticed, and it seemed almost as if he were made from electricity. "This is really weird."

Mallory sighed and put the phone she was just talking into back onto the receiver. Giovanni wasn't going to like the information she had just been told, but she had no choice but to tell him. She sighed and walked over to the entrance to Giovanni's office, knocking on the door. When there was no response, she opened the door and found that the office was empty.

"Even worse." She thought to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she walked across the empty office to a door on the far end. She opened that door and stepped into Giovanni's private training room, where she found him sparing with his Hitmonlee. What had once been nothing more than his daily morning exercise routine had been steadily been taking up more and more of the man's free time. He may not show it to the rest of the world, but Mallory knew him well enough that this was a sign he was worried. Current events were not going as expected and as much as he tried to hide it, Giovanni was slowly losing control. And he was a man who needed to be in control.

Giovanni did not notice Mallory enter as first. It was only when his Persian, who had been laying down lazily near the doorway noticed her and gave a loud meow to announce her presence that Giovanni glanced over in Mallory's direction. He deflected one last blow from his Hitmonlee before bowing to his sparring partner, who returned the bow and walked away to get a towel for him. Giovanni turned to Mallory and started unraveled his hand wraps as he walked over to her.

"What is it?" He asked angrily.

"Sir!" Mallory stood at attention. "We have a report that several individuals have somehow made it past our defenses and infiltrated Saffron City."

"How?" Giovanni asked as his Hitmonlee returned with a small white towel, which Giovanni took from it and started to wipe off his sweat with.

"We don't know for sure yet." Mallory answered him. "But reports say that there were four people who made it in, three of whom have already been captured and are being held in the lowest basement level of the Silph Corporation building. These three individuals have been identified as the Gym Leaders Brock Takeshi of Pewter City and Misty Sensational of Cerulean City, as well as a young trainer whose identification lists as Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

"Ketchum." Giovanni repeated to himself as he handed the sweaty towel back to Hitmonlee and went to put his shirt back on. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"I cannot say, sir."

"And what of the fourth?"

"We have not been able to confirm his identity, but early reports suggest that he's… well…" Mallory trailed off, not sure how to break the news to him.

"Well, who is it?" Giovanni asked, already suspecting what her answer would be.

"It's… Carmine Noir, sir. The fourth intruder is suspected of being Carmine."

Giovanni glared at Mallory as he finished buttoning his shirt. "And how, may I ask, was he able of getting here without our knowledge?"

"We don't know, sir. Our last report of his whereabouts showed him entering the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town."

"Hm…" Giovanni thought for a moment. "Didn't Silph Corp. recently install a teleport pad there? Is it possible that they were somehow able to hack into it and redirect it to send them here?"

"That is a possibility, sir, though unlikely."

"It doesn't matter anyway. What's important is that he's here and he's a serious threat to our plans. Alert all higher ranking members of the situation. I'm authorizing a city-wide manhunt on Carmine Noir." Giovanni put on his jacket and walked back out to his office, Mallory and Persian both following him out. "Is Elite Squadron still here?"

"Yes." Mallory answered. "They are waiting for a lead on where to start looking for the one who destroyed the S.S. Anne."

"What about our executive members?"

"Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrol are all away on various other assignments."

"That is unfortunate timing, but with any luck, we shouldn't need them."

"He is only one man." Mallory pointed out. "How much of a threat can he really be?"

"Carmine is one of the strongest and most resourceful trainers I have ever known. But, truth be told, he's not the one I'm worried about."

"What do you mean?" Mallory asked.

Giovanni looked Mallory dead in the eyes. "If I'm right, then you'll be finding out very soon."

* * *

"Okay, Sneasel, I just need you to go in there and find the others. It should be a piece of cake." Carmine told his Sneasel as he stood underneath an open window behind the Saffron Gym. "Come back here as soon as you find anything."

The Sharp Claw Pokémon nodded in confirmation and climbed up the side of the building, sliding through the window with ease. The inside of the Gym was dark, but that was no problem for Sneasel, whose eyesight was naturally adapted for low-light environments. He looked around the deserted Gym but wasn't able to find anything. He was just about to head back to his owner when the front door opened and Sneasel quickly ducked behind one of the support pillars lining the room and climbed up to the ceiling.

Sneasel watched as Sabrina walked slowly across the Gym. When she had made her way halfway across to her chair her Pokégear rang and she stopped to answer it. She didn't say anything at first, instead listening to whoever was on the other end of the call.

"Understood." She said, at last, turning in the direction where Carmine was waiting for Sneasel to return. "I know exactly where he is."

Realizing what was going on, Sneasel suddenly jumped over to the window, using Double Team to create several false duplicates of itself to act as distractions, buying enough time for him to get back outside.

"So, what did you find?" Carmine asked the frantic Sneasel.

Sneasel waved its arms around, wishing he had a way to directly communicate to his trainer. Fortunately, Carmine was able to understand the gist of what he meant and recalled Sneasel back into its Pokéball before running away.

"Now what?" He asked himself. "This bad situation just keeps getting worse."

He ran several blocks before turning back to see if he was being followed. No one was there so he sighed and turned back around.

"Hello!" And suddenly he felt like he was about to have a heart attack due to the sudden appearance of a young girl. "Would you like to play with me?"

* * *

"It's starting to get dark." Daisy noticed as she and Giselle were walking through the streets of Celadon City.

"Yeah, I suppose it is." Giselle put her hands behind her head as she looked up at the sky.

"Should we stop somewhere for the night?"

"We could, but I'm sure someone like you will probably be staying at the Pokémon Center, right? No way I'm lowering myself to that."

"Actually, I was thinking about the Pallet House." Daisy reached into her bag to pull something out.
Giselle looked at Daisy in surprise. "That's definitely a bit richer taste than I was expecting from you. Sure you can afford that?"

"Yeah, the Pallet Houses in larger cities like this are definitely a lot larger and more expensive than the one back home, but at least I can still use this thing at them." Daisy pulled out her VIP card.

"What, what?" Giselle stared wide-eyed at the card. "I thought you were poor!"

"No." Daisy looked at Giselle in confusion. "What made you think that?"

"It's just… everything! Everything about you just screams 'I don't have money'."

"My family's pretty well off, actually. Although this was actually a gift from my neighbor, Mrs. Ketchum, who owns the entire chain."

"I must admit," Giselle said. "I had you all wrong. I think we may be more alike than I thought, which makes you all the better as my rival."

"Thanks, I guess." Daisy wasn't sure of that supposed to be a compliment or not. "Although I'd say you're more like my brother than me."

"Really?" Giselle sounded surprised. "I guess I'll need to meet him so I can make him my rival as well."

"I'm not sure if I want to see that meeting." Daisy shuddered. "Either you'd really get along or it would be a horrible clash of egos."

"What was that?" Giselle asked almost threateningly.

"Nothing, let's just get going."

Ash resumed trying to break free of his restraints, this time watching the yellow energy that seemed to flow through his body as he did so. He still had no idea what it was or how it worked, but he noticed that it seemed to flow into his hands as he tried to break out of the ropes.

"I think I have an idea." He said.

"What?" Hanami asked him.

Ash concentrated on the yellow energy. It was apparently a part of him, or so he assumed, so he guessed that if he focused hard enough he should be able to control it to some extent. Sure enough, after some effort, he could feel it flow into his arms. It felt almost as if his strength was leaving the rest of his body altogether and reside solely in his arms. He tried lifting his arms up to break through the robes and was able to put so much force into it that the ropes practically disintegrated as they burst apart.

"How did you do that?" Hanami asked in awe.

"I'm not sure, but, uh… I can't seem to move now." Ash held his arms straight up as he waited for the energy to flow back down and spread throughout his body again. "I can't say that I ever want to experience this feeling again."

Ash slowly stood up. It felt like his legs were asleep as he tried to take a step forward and immediately fell down.

"Oh, right." He muttered as he picked himself back up. "My legs are still tied."

Ash sat back down and bent over to untie his legs from the chair. Once he managed to get that done, he stood up again and took a step forward and away from the chair. He turned around and scanned the room, not surprised to learn that whoever had captured them hadn't left their stuff inside the same room as them.

"Let's see…" Ash said as he reached around to check what all they had taken from him. In addition to his Pokéballs and backpack, it appeared that his captors had also felt the need to deprive him of his jacket, gloves and hat. He then looked over at Misty and Brock. "Should I wake them up and then untie them, or untie them and then try to wake them up?"

"I'd suggest untying them first." Hanami suggested.

"Yeah, that makes more sense."

Ash knelt down in front of Misty and started untying her first, before moving on to Brock. Just as he finished with the last knot, the two started to wake up. Hanami faded away again before they fully regained consciousness, not ready to reveal herself to anyone else yet.

"Wha…what's going on?" Misty asked weakly as her eyes fluttered open.

"I'm not entirely sure." Ash answered. "We got captured somehow and we're being held inside of a basement somewhere."

"Captured by who?" Brock asked as he stood up.

"I don't know for sure, but if I had to make a guess I'd say Team Rocket." Ash answered.

"What?" Misty practically screamed.

"Keep your voice down." Ash told her. "Someone could hear you. Now come on, we need to find our stuff and get out of here."

"It looks like there's a way up over there." Brock pointed to a small staircase in the corner of the room that led up to a door and started walking towards it.

"Hold on." Ash held out his hand for Brock to stop then closed his eyes and looked up at the door to see if there was anyone on the other side. All he could see was the rocky brown of Brock standing at the base of the stairs. "Okay, it's clear. Let's go."

"What are you talking about?" Misty asked, puzzled by his behavior.

"I'm not sure." Ash said. "It's like when I close my eyes I can see… people. I think it's their life energy or something. I'm not sure how to explain it."

"Since when can you do that?"

"It just started a few minutes ago. Now come on, we need to get out of here."

* * *

"Who are you?" Carmine asked the young girl that stood before him. The girl's long dark hair that covered her eyes contrasted greatly with her pale skin and faint pink dress, giving a creepy and almost ethereal vibe to her. There was also something familiar about her, as if he had met her somewhere before.

"My name is Sabrina." She answered him. "Would you like to play with me?"

Carmine face turned to an expression of horror then to confusion as he turned around. Sabrina was the corrupt Gym Leader he was running from, wasn't she? Did this girl just have the same name as her or… "No." He thought to himself. It had to be a coincidence. Carmine turned back to the girl and looked at her more closely. It was then that he realized that the girl's hair wasn't covering her eyes. Her eyes were cloaked in shadow.

"What are you?" Carmine wondered aloud with thinking.

The girl smiled and tilted her head to the side. "Now that's a smart question." She said in a teasing manner. "Play with me and I might just tell you."

Carmine checked behind himself again, took a deep breath and turned back to the girl. "Fine. I'll play."

Sabrina opened her mouth in a big smile. "Yay!"

There was a bright flash and suddenly Carmine found himself in the city of town, but something seemed… off. Not only did Saffron seem as empty as it had before, but there was something different about the town itself. Some of the buildings were different, some weren't there at all and everything seemed slightly larger than it should be. It felt almost as if he had just stepped back in time. In fact, now that he thought about it the city looked almost exactly like it had when he had first visited the city over a decade ago during his first visit to the Kanto region.

"What's going on?" He wondered aloud.

"You sure ask a lot of questions, Carmine." He heard Sabrina's voice as if it here reverberating through the city itself.

"How do you know my name?" Carmine asked her accusatorily.

"You told it to me."

"What?" Carmine was more confused than ever. "When did I tell you that?"

"You don't remember me, do you?" Clouds suddenly formed overhead and rain began pouring down over the city. "Oh, I know! Why don't we act out when we first met? It all happened 15 years ago."
Carmine had no idea what she was talking about. He couldn't remember having ever met her before and there was no way she was old enough to have been around 15 years ago. But that would have been around the time he had first passed through Saffron City and now that he thought about it, something had happened when he was there. But what was it? He couldn't remember.

Not wanting to get any wetter than he had to, Carmine ran over to store that had a canopy above its window so that he could get out of the rain for a moment. He happened to glance at his reflection in the window and was shocked by what he saw. It was certainly his face looking back at him, but it was not a face he had seen in a long time. Carmine was staring at a reflection of his teenage self and quickly realized that it wasn't just his reflection. Carmine had somehow been physically regressed back to his early teens.

"15 years ago." Carmine muttered to himself. "I would have been 14 when I first got here. This is what I looked like back then, isn't it? What the Aeroblast is going on here?"

He backed away from the window and back into the rain. He wasn't going to be getting any answered just standing around here, so he decided to start searching around. He turned a corner onto a side street and started walking down it. As he went by an alleyway he happened to turn and look down it. He saw Sabrina run by on the opposite side and he was suddenly pushed back by a strong blast of air that flipped him over in midair before he landed on his face.

"Ow." Carmine said as he pulled himself back up. "What was that?"

Ash led Misty and Brock through the building they were trapped in using his newfound abilities to make sure that they didn't run into any members of Team Rocket and get captured again. The building's layout was simple enough on its own but having to avoid the various guards turned it into a maze.

They made their way along an empty hallway when suddenly Ash stopped right before walking in front of an open doorway. He held his hand up to signal that the others should stop as well, almost hitting Misty in the face in the process. Ash gazed through the wall at the cloudy lavender aura of a Team Rocket Grunt who standing alone in the otherwise empty room as he waited for the man to turn around so that they could get by. After a moment that felt much longer than it actually was, the man walked over to a chair facing away from the door and sat down. Ash put his hand down and the trio hurried past the doorway. They made their way further down the hallway when Ash saw an icy-blue aura coming around a corner up ahead and they had to duck into a custodial closet.

"This is starting to get frustrating." Misty whispered just audibly enough for Ash and Brock to hear her.

"I know, but's all we can do right now." Ash responded to her in a similarly quite fashion, still watching as the person walking down the hallway got closer to where they were hiding.

"Do we have any plan about how we're going to find our Pokémon and our stuff?" Brock asked.

"Not yet." Ash admitted. "Hopefully we'll be able to find them as we make our way out of h-" Ash suddenly stopped talking as the door to the closet creaked open and Ash, Misty and Brock found themselves face-to-face with a member of Team Rocket.

After several painstaking seconds of utter silence, the Team Rocket grunt sighed, rolled his eyes and grabbed a broom that was hanging from a hook on the wall. "They don't pay me enough for this." He muttered as he closed the door again.

"What just happened?" Misty asked in shock.

"I don't know but I guess we should consider ourselves lucky." Brock answered.

"If we were lucky, then we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with."

* * *

Rain continued to pour down as Carmine ran down the alleyway he had just been knocked out of. He was starting to remember now. Fifteen years ago he had visited Saffron and gotten lost in the large unfamiliar city, wandering around aimlessly when he had seen a young girl run by and was shoved back by some unseen force like he had been just a moment ago. He remembered chasing after the girl, but that was as far as his memory would take him. What had happened after that? He needed to know and finding out was likely the only way he would be able to get out of wherever he was trapped right now.
Carmine turned the corner onto a larger road just in time to see the girl run out into another alley. He ran through the steadily increasing rain as he chased after her. When he reached the alley and turned into it he found a dead end, with the girl sitting curled-up against a wall at the end of it, crying.

"What's wrong?" He called out to the girl as he approached her.

"Go away!" The girl screamed. A massive shockwave blasted out of her and sent Carmine flying back several yards.

Carmine pulled himself back up to his feet and approached the girl again. "And leave a girl to cry alone? Never." Carmine had forgotten how noble he had been in his youth. Or stupid, he wasn't sure which this was right now. Either way, he found himself filled with more determination than he had felt in a very long time.

"Leave me alone!" The girl screamed.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Carmine was able to brace himself for another shockwave, only being sent back a few feet this time and he was able to stay on his feet before running up closer to her.

"Don't come near me!" The girl started crying even harder now. "You'll get hurt! Everyone gets hurt."

"Don't worry about me." Carmine said with a smile. He had managed to catch up to the girl now and knelt down in front of her. "I can take anything you can throw at me."

The girl looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. "You aren't afraid of me?" She asked.

"Of course not." Carmine laughed. Something he would never do in the present. "Why would I be?"

"Because…" The girl stared at her knees. "My powers hurt people. Even the other psychics are afraid of me. Even my parents…" The girl's words became unintelligible through her massive sobs.

"It's okay." Carmine tried to comfort her. "I know what it's to hurt people, too. It's pleasant, but running away will only make things worse. You need to face your fears and take control of yourself."

The girls looked up at Carmine again, stood up and suddenly hugged him tightly. Carmine returned the hug and picked the girl up, holding her in a warm embrace.

"Now come on, let's get you out of this rain. I'm sure someone is worried sick about where you are right now. My name's Carmine by the way, what's yours?"

"S-Sabrina."

Carmine could remember everything about that night now. He had taken Sabrina to a nearby Pokémon Center after that before getting her to tell him where she lived so that he could bring her back home. As Carmine had suspected, her parents were terrified by her running away and were relieved to see her home safe and sound. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure how he had even managed to forget that night.

Carmine now found himself standing in a white void with the young Sabrina standing before him.

"The night we met you helped me more than you could ever know." Sabrina said. "But I'm afraid I have to ask you for your help again."

"Sure." Carmine said. "Anything you need."

"When Team Rocket attacked the city I was defeated and knocked out." Sabrina explained. "When I had awoken they had done something to me. They somehow locked my heart away so that I couldn't feel anything. I've become little more than an emotionless slave to their evil ways. But my powers have been able to protect me somewhat, projecting that part of me that had been locked away as this vision of my younger self that you see before you now."

Carmine stared at Sabrina in stunned silence, unsure of what to say to that.

"I need you to rescue me, Carmine." She continued. "I don't know how, but I know you'll be able to find a way to undo whatever it is that they've done to me. Please, Carmine."

"How could I possibly say no to that?" Carmine said at last. "Of course I'll try."

* * *

"Outside the northern entrance to Diglett's Cave." Wes said to himself as he looked around. "This is the place she said she wanted to meet and yet she's nowhere to be seen. Typical."

Wes crumpled up the letter he was holding and shoved it in his pocket. His mother had gone through all the trouble having her Ariados send him a letter asking to meet him and when he went against his better judgment and actually went there, she wasn't there. In many ways, Wes felt that this situation served as a parallel to his relationship with his mother as a whole. He began walking away but quickly had to jump back to dodge a sudden stream of flame that erupted in front of him.

"What was that?" He looked up at where the fire had come from to see an Entei standing on top of Diglett's Cave, staring down menacingly at him. This Entei was different than the one he himself had, however. Its fur was a different shade of brown and the red sections of its face-plate were gray rather than the normal red. Not that anything was ever truly normal about legendary Pokémon.

Wes felt his hair start to rise as a bolt of electricity flew by him and struck the cave. He turned around to see a Raikou walking out of the forest. Its fur was more of an orange color than the yellow that his Raikou had and the cloud on its back was yellow rather than purple.

Wes knew that if an Entei and a Raikou were here, then that would mean that a Suicune was as well, and sure enough, he saw one walk up to him as well so that the three legendary beasts had him surrounded. Like the others, this Suicune was different than his, being a lighter shade of blue and the cape-like mane that flowed from behind its head was dark blue rather than purple.

"Do you like my beasts?" Hunter J stepped out from behind a tree next to Suicune. "I caught them in Crown City, in the Sinnoh region. Although from what I understand, you have a set of your own, don't you? You are my son, after all. Collecting rarities like these are in your blood. Although I must say, these beauties are probably a bit more 'special' than the ones you have."

"What do you want, Mother?"

"Now, now. Is that any way to treat your dear old mother?" Hunter J asked Wes in a mocking tone.

"What do you want?" Wes repeated himself.

"Fine, if you want to be like that." Hunter J sighed. "I'm working on building up a new Cipher and I was hoping that you'd join me in it. With your skills as a trainer and as a 'collector' you could easily serve as my second-in-command. It would also allow us to finally be able to bond as mother and child."

"Yeah, that ship sailed a long time ago." Wes glanced around at the Legendary Beasts surrounding him. "Though it doesn't look like you're giving me much of a choice on the matter."

"Oh, the choice is yours to make." Hunter J reassured him. "Thes boys are just here to make sure that you don't try anything… reckless. Though before you say no, there is something you should take into account."

Hunter J turned to Suicune and reached for something on its back, hidden under the Aurora Pokémon's mane. Wes' eyes widen as she pulled Rui off of the Pokémon, with her wrists bound together and a gag around her mouth.

"I found this one following you here." She said. "You really should keep better track of your friends, Weston, or they could get hurt."

"Let her go." Wes ordered Hunter J.

"Oh, I will. Just as long as you agree to join me, that is."

The muscles in Wes' arms tightened as he clenched his fists. "Fine."

Hunter J released her grip on Rui and shoved the girl forward. Rui stumbled up to Wes, who caught her and helped her stand up straight.

"Or at least that's what I would say she was really here."

Wes suddenly punched Rui in the gut, breaking the Illusion as the Rui suddenly vanished and was replaced with a startled Zorua. The Tricky Fox Pokémon ran off back to Hunter J and jumped up into her arms.

"Very good." Hunter J said, bemused. "What gave it away?"

"That Pokémon of yours needs to work on its disguises." Wes answered. "It may have been able to look like her, but it wasn't able to match her more subtle movements. Body language is important."

"Hm. Yes, I suppose I should work on training him on that sort of thing a bit better. Though I suppose I must have underestimated your bond with that girl if you were able to notice it so easily."

"Also," Wes added, "you forgot to take that Sooth Bell off from around its neck. I could hear it clinging around as it moved."

Hunter J looked down at the Pokémon she was holding in her arms. "Oh, yes. That's what I get for coming up with that idea at the last moment, I suppose. I'm trying to work up my relationship with him. He's almost like the son I was never able to have." She glared at Wes.

"I don't believe that for a moment." Wes retorted. "Or else your memory's fading, because you were the one who abandoned me to be raised by a bunch of common criminals while you went off to join your precious Cipher. And then you abandoned them while I took down the entire organization."

"I was moving up in the world and Cipher was just my ticket up to bigger and better things." Hunter J said defensively. "For both of us. I would have come back for you if you had just been a little more patient."

"And yet somehow I don't believe that, either." Wes shrugged.

"Fine, then be that way." Hunter J said mournfully as she grabbed a Luxury Ball from her belt and recalled Zorua. "But just know that I really didn't intend for it to be like this."

Hunter J snapped her fingers and the three Legendary Beasts all attacked Wes at once, Entei with a Flamethrower, Raikou with a Thunderbolt and Suicune with an Aurora Beam. He had been prepared for this, however, and was able to react quickly. All three attacks exploded around him, creating a thick blanket of smoke and steam around the area. After a moment the air cleared to reveal Wes standing, unharmed, between his own set of Legendary Beasts.

"Well," Hunter J muttered to herself, "I can't say that this is a surprise. Still, it should be interesting."

* * *

Carmine found himself back in Saffron City, sitting on the dry grass where he had been just before he left. Although, he thought to himself, he probably never left that spot. The events that had just occurred probably happened within his mind.

He pulled himself back up to his feet and wiped the grass off of his pants. He needed to come up with a plan and fast. He didn't have any time to spare. But he was already too late, as Sabrina walked up to him from around a corner.

"There you are." She said in a dead monotone.

Sabrina raised her right hand up towards Carmine, apparently about to blast him with a psychic attack. Carmine wasn't sure if she actually needed to raise her arm for that, but he thought that maybe it was her younger self altering her actions just enough to buy him a split second to react. And react he did, in the only way he could think of. He hugged her.

"What are you doing?" Sabrina asked as Carmine held onto her in a tight embrace.

"It's all right." Carmine said quietly. He wasn't sure if this was really going to do anything, but it was the only thing he could do right now. "You're safe now. Just relax and try to fight it. Fight the control they have over you." Carmine couldn't help but mentally groan at how sappy he sounded.

"Let go of me." Sabrina said, though she made no effort to escape from Carmine's grip.

"No. I'm not letting go while you still need my help." Carmine felt Sabrina's weight shift as her knees gave out and he could hear her faint crying as he knelt down on the ground. He rested his chin against the teenaged psychic's forehead as continued trying to comfort her. "That's it. I know you can break out of this."

After a moment, Sabrina spoke again. Her voice now sounded more normal than before. "Thank you. You've saved me again."

"Don't mention it." Carmine said jokingly. "It was nothing."

"No, it wasn't. Also, you can stop hugging me now."

"Right." Carmine let go and leaned back away from her, slightly embarrassed.

"Why do you keep saving me?" Sabrina asked. "You don't even really know me."

"I don't know." Carmine shrugged. "I guess you kind of remind me of my sister or something. As her older brother, it was my duty to protect her, but I failed. I guess I just don't want to fail anyone like that again. Or maybe I just don't like seeing others in trouble so I help them out of the kindness of my heart. Could be either, or neither, I don't know."

Just then, several members of Team Rocket arrived, no doubt drawn in by the commotion.

"I'll handle them." Sabrina said as she stood up to face Team Rocket. "You need to rescue your friends."

"How did you-"

"Psychic." Sabrina pointed out. "Also, I'm the one who captured them. They should be held in the basement of the Silph Building, although…" She paused. "It looks like they've escaped and are trying to find their way out."

"Right." Carmine said. "Be safe, and if you need any help, I'm pretty sure the guys over in the dojo next to your Gym should be willing to lend a hand. Just watch out for the Pangoro."

"What was last part?"

"Bye!" Carmine ran off without answering her question.

* * *

"I feel like we're going in circles." Misty said. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Not really." Ash replied. "But we're bound to find our stuff eventually. Hold on." Ash raised his hand again for the others to stop as he looked up.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure. There's something in the room right above us. Like some kind of large rock or something."

"I thought you could only see people and Pokémon with your… whatever's going on with you right now." Brock asked.

"I know, that's what's odd about it. It doesn't look like any kind of Pokémon, but its glowing bright orange. There's also some kind of darkness coming from it that seems familiar somehow. I think we need to check it out."

"That doesn't sound like a good idea." Misty said. "We need to be working on finding our Pokémon and then the way out of here."

"But what if our Pokémon are up there with it?" Ash pointed out. "It doesn't look like I can see Pokémon if they're in their Pokéballs, which means they could be just about anywhere."

"Fine."

"What's going on?" James asked groggily as he was forced out of bed by the other members of the Elite Squadron.

"Intruders have infiltrated the city." Attila said angrily. "Get your uniform on, we've got to catch them. What were you doing in bed already, anyway?"

"Nothing was going on, so I thought I'd go to bed early." James wasn't sure why he needed to explain this. "Now would you all get out of here so that I can get dressed."

After the others filtered out of James' room he went over to his closet and pulled out one of his new uniforms. While the lower ranking members of Team Rocket all shared the same basic uniform with a black shirt with a red "R" emblem over the chest, a pair of black pants or a black skirt, white boots and gloves and a black hat. Higher ranking agents, however, had custom uniforms that varied in design depending on what squad they were assigned to. When James had been a part of J Squad, his uniform consisted of a white pair of pants and a white jacket with the R symbol on it over a black shirt, with black gloves and boots. James had grown fond of that uniform which made adjusting to his new one even harder.

The uniforms that all members of the Elite Squadron wore were similar in design to the basic Team Rocket uniforms, but with a black jacket over a white shirt. Instead of having a large red R emblem on the front, the jacket had a smaller one on the left side of the chest with a larger one on the back. Thin red stripes ran up the sides of the sleeves and pant legs, going up to the elbows and knees, respectively.

When he finished getting dressed, James sighed and opened the door to join the others. To his surprise, only Jessie and Meowth were waiting for him there.

"Where are the others?" He asked as the trio started walking down the hallway.

"Dat Masque lady left wit' Butch an' Cassidy without sayin' where's they was goin'." Meowth started to explain.

"And then Attila lost his patience, so he and Hun went off ahead." Jessie finished. "We should probably go catch up to them now."

The trio stopped just outside of an elevator and Jessie pressed the button to go down. They waited for a moment for the elevator doors to open then got in.

"How many intruders are there?" James asked.

"It sounds like dere should be's four of dem." Meowth answered. "But apparently threes of dem have already been caught."

"But that means there's only one left." James pointed out. "Why would they need all of us to catch one person?"

"We don't know." Said Jessie. "But he's supposed to be that guy that beat us back in Viridian."

James shuddered, remembering how Carmine had defeated him easily with just his Sneasel. "But we're a lot stronger than we were back then. He couldn't be that powerful, could he?"

Jessie shrugged. "I don't know, but we have orders to capture him, so that's what we're going to do."

After a moment, they finally reached the first floor and the doors slid open again. Carmine was standing there and quickly stepped inside. "Going up?" He asked as he pressed the door close button. Jessie, James and Meowth stood there in stunned silence, unsure of how to react.

* * *

Ash stood just outside the closed door that led into the room containing that the strange orange crystal was contained in. Now that he was closer to the crystal he could feel a strange pulse coming from it that almost felt like a heartbeat.

"Okay, it looks like there's one person in there with it." Ash whispered to Misty and Brock. "But he's facing away from us, so if we're quite we should be able to sneak in."

"Why are we even doing this?" Misty asked.

"I don't know." Ash answered as he grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door. He watched the dark metallic aura of the man inside, who seemed to be busy working on something on the table he was sitting at. When the door was fully open, Ash opened his eyes so that he could see with his normal vision.

The room looked like it was some kind of lab. Strange machines lined the walls and the few tables scattered around were covered in what seemed like junk to Ash. The orange crystal was sitting inside of some sort of containment unit on the back wall that was hooked up to several other devices. The crystal seemed to glow just as brightly as it had when he was looking at it through closed eyes. If anything it was even brighter since he could no longer see the dark fog that covered it before.

Ash glanced over at the man seated at one of the tables. He was dressed strangely, wearing a spiked red jacket and some kind of golden helmet. Ash could see over the man's shoulder that he was fiddling with some strange black Pokéballs of a design he had never seen before. Ash figured there was nothing he could actually do here and was just about to leave when he saw something in the corner of the room that caught his attention. His, Misty's and Brock's bags were propped up against a wall with their jackets in a pile next to them and their belts, with Pokéballs still on them resting on the edge of a nearby table.
Ash snuck over to the corner and grabbed his belt off the table, putting it back on around his waist. He was just reaching to grab his jacket when the man sitting at the table swore loudly and Ash froze. He turned around slowly to see the man standing up now while a small plume of smoke drifted up from the black Pokéball he had been working on.

"Not again." The man growled. "And I was so close."

Ash knew that there was no way he would be able to get out of this situation without the man noticing him, so a confrontation was inevitable. Rather than run the risk of the man getting the upper hand, Ash chose to make the first move. He reached down to his belt and grabbed two of his Pokéballs, sending out Sandshrew and Krabby to attack the man. Sandshrew used Rollout to knock the man off his feet and Krabby used Mud Sport, knocking the man out. Misty and Brock both peered into the room to see what just happened.

"What's going on in here?" Misty asked as she saw the unusual scene before them.

"Never mind that." Ash pointed to bags sitting in the corner. "Now grab your stuff and let's get out of this place."

"But didn't you want to find out what that crystal is?"

"I just had my Pokémon knock a guy out. I'd rather not stick around long enough to have to do something like that again."

* * *

Wes and Hunter J stared each other down intensely as they both waited for the other to make the next move. All six legendary beasts stood at attention, ready to make a move as soon as the order was given. Sparks threw through the air, literally due to the two Raikou and figuratively from the sheer tension that had formed between mother and child. Wes' contempt for his mother had been steadily building for as long as he could remember, and at last, he could finally vent his frustration against her. Hunter J, on the other hand, felt angry and a little betrayed that her son refused to see things her way.

"Attack!"

"Now!"

The two Jaegers both shouted to their Pokémon at once. Clouds filled the sky as the winds howled and rain, snow and hail fell from the sky in a mighty storm the likes of which Kanto had not seen in living memory. Bolts of lightning struck down from the sky accompanied by deafening thunder, while fire and lava sprung forth from the ground.

A single Legendary Pokémon was a force not to be reckoned with, with powers far beyond what most mortals could ever dream of having. Even the Beasts, among the lowest of the Legendary hierarchy, barely above the level of regular Pokémon, could leave behind great devastation in their wake if they so choose. And there were currently six Legendary Beasts locked in battle.

Giovanni sat at his desk waiting for some word from the agents currently scouring Saffron City for Carmine. He didn't show it, but the leader of Team Rocket was starting to get nervous. A red light started flashing on Giovanni's desk and he turned to Mallory, who had been standing beside him. She nodded back to him and quickly walked out of the room. Once Mallory shut the door behind her, Giovanni pressed the button underneath his desk.

Nine large screens slid down the wall in front of Giovanni and the center screen lit up. The Foundation's President and Chairman of the Council stared angrily at Giovanni. Giovanni noted that he appeared to have gained several pounds since the last time they had spoken. Giovanni knew the man well enough to know what that meant.

"You're worried about something." It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course I am!" The President could barely contain his frustration. "There's been a lot going on lately."

"Oh, that reminds me." Giovanni said nonchalantly, not willing to show the President any sign that things weren't going well on his end, either. "Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. I hope you liked my gift."

"My wife wanted to burn it as soon as she saw it." The President said. A small smile started to break up his look of discontent as he recalled the memory. But the smile quickly vanished as soon as it appeared. "But that's not why I called you."

"I would assume you're going to tell me when we're having the meeting to vote on who should take Evice's seat on the council." Giovanni said.

The President glanced to the side nervously. "I'm afraid we've already held that vote."

Giovanni absently clenched his fists tightly as he tried to keep his composure. "Then why wasn't I informed?"

"Well, you see…" The President tried to find a good way to tell him. "I'm afraid I don't have time to say right now. Our next meeting is just about to start."

The President pressed the button on his desk that sent out a summons to all of the members of the council. One by one the other screens lit up as the council members answered the call.

* * *

The ferocious battle continued to rage on around Wes and Hunter J as their Legendary Beasts unleashed all of their power against each other. In order to avoid harm from the raging storm the battle brought, Wes called his Suicune over and hopped onto its back, ducking under the cloud-like mane for protection. As he did so he saw that his mother had the same idea, climbing onto her own Suicune's back as well. It pained Wes to know that they thought so much alike.

Unfortunately, Wes could no longer see the battle going on around him, which meant that he could not direct his Pokémon. He trusted that they could take care of themselves, however, so he clung on tightly to Suicune's fur in an effort not to fall off of its back as Suicune continued to fight.

After a few minutes, Wes could no longer hear the battle going on and Suicune seemed to stop moving around. He cautiously climber back down to the ground and looked around to see that Hunter J and her Pokémon had apparently fled the battlefield. Wes' Suicune, Entei and Raikou were now calmly tending to their injuries.

"Well, that was short." Wes commented, trying to figure out why she would just suddenly leave like that. He looked around at the area around them and saw that the battle had completely reshaped the surrounding landscape. "We're going to get in so much trouble for this."

* * *

Hunter J climbed off of his Suicune as soon as she was sure that Wes wasn't following her. She would have liked to finish their battle, but she knew enough not to refuse a summons from the council, as inconvenient as the timing may be. She sent out her camera drone to get a good picture of her and tapped a button on the side of her visor. Several panels popped up along her visor showing the silhouettes of the council members. She knew, of course, that she would not be permitted to see the council members themselves until she was officially inducted into their group.

"Now that we're all here," said a man who Hunter J knew must be the council's chairman, "I call this meeting of the Council to order. We are here now to discuss the results of our last meeting, where we voted on who would take the open seat on the council. At that meeting it was voted for the new council member to be… Greevil Verich."

Hunter J felt like the whole world stopped for a moment. She had been so confident that she would be the one to join the council. She had been working towards this for years. How could she possibly have lost?

"In addition it has been agreed that one of our number shall be taken off the council due to resent events."

Hunter J perked up at this. If someone was leaving the council, then that would mean that there was another seat available. She still had a chance.

"Giovanni Rozzo has been voted off of the council and Jael Jaeger has been voted to take his place."

* * *

"What?" Giovanni yelled furiously. "This is an outrage! You can't do this to me!"

"I'm sorry, Giovanni. But the vote was held. You are no longer a part of the council."

Giovanni raised an accusative finger up to one of the screens, showing a man with short spikey blue hair. "You're the one behind this, aren't you Cyrus? You've always had it out for me!"

"It doesn't matter who suggested you be removed." Cyrus said as cold and emotionless as ever. "You were voted out, which means that your exclusion was the will of the council."

"And can you really blame us?" Asked the man with long bushy green hair. "Considering how erratic you've been lately and how much damage your organization has caused."

"Oh, like your one to talk, Ghetsis." Giovanni said. "We all know how crazed you can get on a bad day."

"That's enough." Said the chairman.

"And you!" Giovanni turned his attention to his old friend. "Are you really going to go with this, Mohn?"

"I'm sorry, Giovanni, but it's not up to me. A vote was held and it was decided that you should be removed from the council. Now, without any further ado, this meeting is closed."

Giovanni tried to object further, but Mohn pressed the button on his desk and the line was cut. The wall of screen retracted back up into the ceiling. Giovanni sat back in his chair and stared wide eyed on the wall. First the intruders and now this. He wondered if things could get any worse for himself, but immediately regretted the thought as the door to his office has flung off of its hinges with Mallory and Agents Jessie, James and Meowth all being thrown into the room. Giovanni tried to regain his composure as a Feraligatr walked in with its trainer right behind it.

"Hey, Giovanni." Carmine said with a false cheer. "Long time, no see. You haven't happened to have seen an obnoxious ten year old and a couple of Gym Leaders, have you? It's kind of in your best interest that I find them safe and sound."

* * *

Hunter J raised her fists in the air triumphantly. Years of working her way up in the world had finally payed off. Having a seat in the council meant that she was now one of the most powerful people in the world. Nothing could take this from her.

Her victory was cut short, however, when she then received a call. She answered it and the image of a short, jolly looking bald man popped up on her visor.

"Hello!" He said cheerily. "You must me Miss Jaeger. I've heard a lot about you."

"Who is this?" Hunter J asked.

"Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself. How rude of me. You can call me Mr. Verich, Grand Master of Cipher and, along with you, one of the newest members of the council. I just called to let you know… that I will destroy you." The man's cheery façade gave way for a second before he resumed his false cheer. "Anyway, congratulations on this great achievement."

Mr. Verich hung up, leaving Hunter J to ponder his words.

"What the Distortion World?" She muttered. "Who does that guy think he is?"

The Iron Masked Marauder slowly stood up, trying to clutch his head with one hand, though his helmet got in the way.

"What hit me, a Rhydon?" He muttered to himself as he looked around at his lab. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary at first until he realized that the items confiscated from the intruders were missing. "Oh, bother. They must have escaped and knocked me out to get their stuff back. And their Pokémon were going to make such perfect test subjects for my Dark Balls."

The Iron Masked Marauder looked over to the black Pokéballs he had been working on earlier and sighed. He was going to pull out his radio and give an alert about the intruders but then decided on another idea. He reached for one of the six black and yellow buttons on the red jacket he wore over his Team Rocket uniform and pulled it out. The Ultra Ball grew to full size as he pressed the button on its front and his favorite Pokémon materialized from the yellow energy released from it. Dark Scizor kneeled before its master, awaiting an order.

"Find those brats and capture them. I think they've just earned themselves the right to be turned Dark. It's what they get for defying me."

Dark Scizor glided out of the room in pursuit of its targets so fast that the Iron Masked Marauder could barely follow its movement. The dark red Pincer Pokémon dashed through the empty hallways of the Silph Corp. building before quickly catching up to Ash, Misty and Brock. It raised back its right pincer as it closed the gap between them and let loose with a Bullet Punch. The attack was just a warning, however, and Scizor used the momentum of the attack to go between Ash and Brock, passing the trio and blocking their way.

"Where did that Pokémon come from?" Brock asked in shock.

"It doesn't matter." Ash reached down to his belt. "It looks like we'll be fighting our way out of here now."

* * *

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Giovanni asked Carmine mockingly as he walked around his desk so that they could face each other directly.

"We were never friends." Carmine growled.

"Oh, you're right." Giovanni corrected himself. "We were something more than that, we were family."
Jessie, James and Meowth all looked at Giovanni in confusion as they stood back up, unsure as to what he was talking about. Mallory, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Speaking of which, where is your sister, anyway?" Giovanni continued. "It's been so long since I've seen Scarlet."

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY HER NAME!"

Without thought or hesitation, Carmine suddenly lost all composure and decked Giovanni in the face. Giovanni's Persian lept up from its resting place and charged at Carmine to protect its master, but stopped as Giovanni held his hand up to it.

"And why shouldn't I say her name." Giovanni taunted, Carmine fist still pressed hard against his cheek. "She is my wife, after all."

"Ex-." Carmine corrected him.

"What does that matter?" Giovanni asked, then knocked Carmine's arm away and punched him in the gut.

Carmine took a step back from the force of the blow and blocked a left hook from Giovanni by ducking down and charging at Giovanni, crashing into the desk. Giovanni slipped out of Carmine's grasp and rolled away towards the large window on the southern side of his office. Carmine chased after him and the two exchanged several more blows before Carmine was able to pin Giovanni against the window by pressing his elbow up against Giovanni's neck.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just toss you out there and let you fall." Carmine said furiously.

"Because-" Giovanni started to say, before kicking Carmine in the shin, causing Carmine to release his hold and allowing Giovanni to grab Carmine by the through and shove him against the window. "That's what I was going to do to you."

Giovanni kicked Carmine in the stomach with as much strength as he could muster, breaking the window and sending Carmine hurtling down towards the streets below. Giovanni backed away from the window and wiped the back of his hand against his mouth. Jessie, James and Meowth stared at their boss in stunned silence, while Mallory simply smirked.

"It looks like I'll be needing a new suit." Giovanni remarked. "This one's stained now."

Giovanni suddenly stumbled back several steps while the others were knocked to the floor as a sudden earthquake shook the area. Giovanni turned around to look out the broken window in horror. A giant red eye stared back at him and a deafening roar echoed through the area.

"Arceus!" Giovanni swore. "I knew he had it."

* * *

Dark Scizor backflipped out of the way of Pika's ThunderShock and landed on the wall, which it then jumped off of to avoid a Water Gun from Misty's Starmie. The Bug-type then charged forward between the two Pokémon and head-butted Brock's Graveler with an Iron Head attack. The Super Effective attack knocked the Rock Pokémon back so that Ash, Misty and Brock had to press up against the walls to get out if its way. Dark Scizor then chased after Graveler and did a mid-air spin as it reached the Rock-type in order to build up more momentum for a Bullet Punch, sending Graveler crashing through the wall.
Pika and Starmie chased after Dark Scizor, who in turn followed Graveler though the newly created hole in the wall into a large empty room full of cubicles. Starmie tried to hit Dark Scizor with a Water Gun as soon as it spotted the Scizor, only to find that it was only a Double Team copy. The copy disappeared as the attack passed harmlessly through it and hit Graveler instead. The real Dark Scizor was hiding behind the now-unconscious Graveler and hit it with another Bullet Bunch to send Graveler flying into Starmie, pinning it against a wall, leaving Pika as the only one of the three Pokémon still able to battle.
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to defeat Dark Scizor in a head-on battle, Pika used Discharge to release his electrical energy around himself, destroying the surrounding cubicles and sending various documents and papers flying through the air. Dark Scizor used Double Team, falling right into Pikachu's trap. The papers flying around the room were filled with a static charge from Pikachu's attack, which caused them to cling lightly to the real Scizor while simply passing through the doubles, allowing Pikachu to easily identify which was the real Scizor.

Pika used a Double Team of its own as a distraction so that Scizor would go after the duplicates, allowing Pika to easily sneak behind Dark Scizor and hit it from behind with a Brick Break. All of Dark Scizor's doubles vanished as the Pincer Pokémon crashed into the carpeted floor, which was filled with even more static. This made it slightly harder for Dark Scizor to get back up, creating just enough extra time for Pika to hit Dark Scizor with a Thunder Wave, followed by another Brick Break. The Bug and Steel-type was now rendered Paralyzed by the Thunder Wave, providing Pika the chance to hit it with two more Brick Breaks before Dark Scizor finally collapsed.

Now that their opponent was defeated, Pika ran to the massive hole in the wall that led back out into the hallway and signaled to Ash and the others that it was now safe. Ash, Misty and Brock hesitantly walked into the room and Misty and Brock recalled their fainted Pokémon.

"Good job, Pika!" Ash said as the yellow rodent climbed up to his shoulder. "And look, that wall is made out of glass."

"Those are windows." Brock pointed out.

"Whatever, it still takes up the whole wall. All we have to do is break through it and we can fly down with Fearow."

"That means we can finally get out of this stupid place!" Misty said excitedly.

"That's right. Now we just need-"

Ash was cut off as a flash of blue light came from outside and a sudden earthquake hit. Ash, Misty and Brock were knocked down to the floor. When they got back up, all they could see outside the windows was blackness as a horrifying roar filled the air.

"W-what's going on?" Misty asked, terrified.

"What… is that thing?" Brock said as he cautiously approached the windows.

"I'm not sure." Ash answered them both. "But… I think I have an idea. There's something that I used to hear stories about when I was younger, but I never thought I'd ever see it myself. A monstrous Pokémon that ravaged Johto before I was even born, but was stopped by my dad and Carmine: The Cianwood Tyranitar."

"That's it, I've had quite enough of this." Giovanni said as he turned his back on the Cianwood Tyranitar. "Initiate Operation Pay Day."

Mallory pulled out her Pokégear to send the order out for him but was interrupted, as a shard of ice shot past her hand. Giovanni turned around to see that the black Tyranitar had lowered its head to reveal Carmine kneeling there with his Sneasel beside him, ready to launch another attack if necessary.

"Belay that order." Carmine said as he jumped back into the room.

"Come back for more?" Giovanni asked him bitterly.

"Not exactly. You see, I have a bit of a…" he paused, trying to find the right word, "proposition for you."

"I think you mean ultimatum."

"Yes, well, you'd be the expert on that, wouldn't you?"

"Just get on with it."

"Fine, fine." Carmine shrugged. "What I'm offering is a battle, one-on-one. If you win, I'll stop going after you. From that moment on, I promise never to get in your way again so long as you stay out of Pallet Town."

"And if I lose?" Giovanni asked, intrigued that Carmine would be willing to make such a huge gamble.

"You're still the Gym Leader of Viridian City, right?"

"Yes." Giovanni had no idea where Carmine was going with this.

"If you lose, then you will shut down everything involving Operation Payday and remove all of your operations from Saffron City. In addition, the winner will be rewarded with an Earth Badge." Carmine turned to leave back out the window.

"Why would you want an Earth Badge?" Giovanni asked him.

"On the roof, five minutes. If you don't show up, well, my Tyranitar out there can easily take down this whole building with you in it if I give him the order. I'd suggest you show up." With that, Carmine jumped out onto Tyranitar's head, leaving Giovanni to ponder his options.

* * *

"Brock, can you have one of your Pokémon break through the window so that we can get out?" Ash asked Brock.

"Are you crazy?" Was Brock's response. "There's a monster out there."

"It's okay, that thing's on our side. Now, can you break the window or not?"

"Fine." Brock relented. He pulled out one of his Pokéballs and called out Rhyhorn. The gray Pokémon smashed through the windows with its horn, it's tough armor protecting it from the broken glass.

"All right!" Ash yelled excitedly before jumping out the window into the open air, falling between the building and the black Tyranitar.

"Ash!" Misty screamed, running up to the window. She immediately had to take a step back, however, as Ash's Fearow fly up, with Ash riding on its back.

"Come on, grab onto his legs." Ash called out to Misty and Brock. The two hesitated, but knowing that they had no other options, they both jumped out and held desperately onto Fearow's legs. The large bird Pokémon dropped down briefly before flying up even higher.

They flew up above the Cianwood Tyranitar's head, where they found Carmine standing on the flat of its head above its eyes. After circling around a couple times, Fearow landed atop the Tyranitar and the three climbed off of the Beak Pokémon.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked Carmine, noticing the injuries from his earlier brawl.

"I'm fine." Carmine answered without turning around to face them. "What about you?"

"We've been better, but we're alright for now."

"Good. And what about your Pokémon?"

"They should be fine. Why?" Ash asked, confused.

"Because you've got a battle coming up. Now follow me." Carmine lifted up an Ultra Ball and a Skarmory flew out. He grabbed onto the Armor Bird Pokémon's legs and it flew him up to the roof. Ash and the others followed on Fearow.

"What's going on?" Ash asked Carmine as he recalled Fearow back into its Pokéball.

Carmine finally turned around to look at the others as he recalled his Skarmory. "You two." He pointed at Misty and Brock. "You're Gym Leaders, right? What do you know about the Viridian Gym Leader."

All three kids looked at him in confusion.

"Uh… well, he's supposed to be the Ground-type specialist of the region." Misty said hesitantly.

"We've never actually met him." Brock explained. "In fact, I don't think anyone's ever seen him in years. Why?"

"No reason." Carmine turned around again to face the roof access doorway just as it started to creak open. "Oh, look. He's here already."

Giovanni walked out onto the roof, accompanied only by his Persian and looking surprisingly calm given the situation. "Let's get this stupid game of yours out of the way, Carmine. Who is it you want me to beat."

"I believe you mean, 'who do I want you to be beaten by?'." Carmine mockingly corrected him, placing a hand on Ash's shoulder.

"Oh, you've got to be joking." Giovanni let out a chuckle. "A child? You do realize how much you're putting at stake with this battle, right? You do know what Operation Pay Day is, don't you?"

"Oh, of course I know. But I know how much you enjoy talking about that master plan of yours so why don't you explain it anyway, so Ash here knows what he's dealing with."

Ash looked back and forth between Carmine and Giovanni, having completely lost track of what was going on. Misty and Brock were similarly confused.

"Alright then." Giovanni turned his attention to Ash and pulled something out of his pocket. "Can you tell me what this is, boy?"

"T-that's just a coin." Ash answered nervously.

"Yes. Specifically, it's the kind of gold coin that the Pokémon known as Meowth keeps on the center of its head. Humans have coveted these simple golden coins since time immemorial, even going so far as to use them as a form of currency, one that is still widely used today. Meowth and their evolved form, Persian, are capable of creating these coins using their special attack, Pay Day. The reason these coins are able to be used as a proper currency even though they can easily be created from almost nothing is because many of these coins are removed from circulation for one reason or another, be they lost, damaged or otherwise just neglected. The number of new coins created remains relatively close to the number of those lost, allowing us to use them as money without worrying about too many being created, which would cause them lose their worth and destabilize the economy. However, if someone were to, say, gather thousands of Meowths and Persians and have them all use Pay Day as much as they can, it wouldn't take more than a few days before they could completely devastate the economy and if you were to equip them all with Lucky Coins, which double the number of coins they can make, then you could do it only half the time. Operation Pay Day is exactly that. If I give the order then I have operatives all over that will order their Pokémon to create as many coins as they can. By the time the sun rises tomorrow morning, the nation's economy would be left in ruins. By the end of the week, the entire planet would be left in utter chaos. And once I beat you, boy, I will give that order."

Ash stared at Giovanni in horror. He wasn't able to fully grasp all of what he had been told, but he knew it was bad. He turned to Carmine to see that the man looked perfectly calm.

"Oh, you won't be giving that order, Giovanni." Carmine said. "You see, Ash isn't just a kid, he's the son of Graham Ketchum."

Giovanni's smile faltered as he recognized that name. "What does it matter who the boy's father was? I will defeat him all the same."

"I've been training Ash personally ever since he started his Pokémon journey. He may have started off rough, but he's come a long way since then and I've seen in him the potential to be even greater than his father was. It's true that I'm putting a lot at stake in this battle, but that's only because I have every confidence in Ash. He can defeat you, Giovanni." Carmine turned to Ash and smiled. "I know you can. Now give him everything you've got."

Ash stared at him, unsure of what to say. Carmine just nodded at him and Ash turned to face Giovanni, who pulled out an Ultra Ball and held it out. A beam of yellow energy shot out and from it materialized the large, imposing form of a Rhydon.

"Come on, boy." Giovanni said. "Show me what you've got."

Ash inhaled sharply as he tried to build up his courage. Just when he was thinking that this night couldn't get any worse, he somehow got roped into a Pokémon battle against the leader of Team Rocket himself. Ash felt that he was woefully unprepared for this, but he had no choice. Taking another breath, Ash reached down to grab his Krabby's Pokéball and wishing that he had taken his training more seriously and evolved the water-type already so that it would be able to stand a better chance against the powerful Rhydon that served as their first opponent.

"Metal Claw!" Ash yelled as he threw the Pokéball.

Krabby emerged from the Pokéball, leaping towards Rhydon, his right pincer shining a bright silver from the energy of the attack. Rhydon tried to defend against the attack by crossing its arms in a defensive stance, only for Krabby to switch the attack to its other pincer at the last second and hit Rhydon in the stomach with it. Rhydon was forced to take a step back from the attack but quickly regained its balance. It closed its eyes for a second as two rings of glowing white energy surrounded it. Krabby tried to attack with a Bubble Beam but Rhydon's eyes suddenly flashed as its Stone Edge attack was ready and rocks started launching out of light rings, popping all of the bubbles in Krabby's attack as they flew right towards Krabby. Krabby was expecting this, however, and was able to dodge the attack by side-jumping out of the way and he launched another Bubble Beam. Rhydon, furious, tried pelting Krabby with another volley of Stone Edge while preparing its next move Horn Drill.

Rhydon took several steps back and leaned forward to brace itself on its forelegs, assuming a charging stance. Krabby was too busy trying to avoid the Stone Edge to get out of the way of the attack, but to both Krabby and Ash's surprise, Rhydon didn't charge. Instead, Rhydon Pokémon lept forward, spinning in midair so rapidly that it looked as if the Drill Pokémon had become an actual drill. Krabby didn't have time to dodge the attack and there was no way it would be able to take the full force of the blow, leaving Krabby with only one option. If his timing was even a fraction of a second off, then it would be the end for him, but this was no time to second-guess himself. Krabby raised its pincer, which glowed silver in preparation for another Iron Claw. Just as Rhydon was about to reach Krabby, the River Crab Pokémon was able to strike it with Iron Claw, knocking the Drill Pokémon off its projector and knocking it into the floor. Ash and the others had to dodge the debris that flew everywhere as Rhydon crashed through the roof and fell into the building below.

Krabby's whole body began to glow, a sign that it was evolving. Giovanni sent out his next Pokémon, Golem, and had it us Rollout in an attempt to hit Krabby before he could finish his evolution, but was too late. Instead, Golem crashed straight into the newly-evolved Kingler's Metal Claw. The boost in power it gained from both its evolution and its now enlarged left pincer allowed Kingler's Iron Claw to hit even harder than it had against Rhydon, causing Golem to be sent bouncing back in an almost comical fashion, cracking the roof each time it landed before it was able to get back onto its stumpy feet. Kingler sprayed a Bubble Beam from its mouth at Golem. Golem took the attack head-on before retracting its head, arms and legs into its rocky exterior and rolling towards Kingler. Kingler prepared to hit Golem with another Iron Claw, but as soon as the attack landed, Golem used Explosion. Kingler was sent flying into the air before crashing back down next to Ash while Golem was sent rolling out of control, nearly falling off the edge of the roof before Giovanni recalled it.

"Good job, Kingler." Ash whispered as he recalled his Pokémon back into its Pokéball. He was feeling much more confident than at the start of the battle and was beginning to think that he might actually win this.

"Don't let this go to your head." Giovanni warned him. "Just because it seems like your winning now doesn't mean that I will allow you to make any further progress in this fight. I underestimated you, or rather, I underestimated your luck. I will not make that same mistake again."

Giovanni tossed another Ultra Ball, revealing his next Pokémon to be a Nidoqueen. Ash considered which one of his Pokémon to use next and decided on Sandshrew, hoping that the Ground-type would be able to evolve like his Krabby had. The moment Sandshrew set foot on the roof, however, Nidoqueen launched an Ice Beam at it. Ash hadn't been expecting the Poison and Ground-type Nidoqueen to have any Ice-type moves and was thrown off by this, but fortunately, Sanshrew's small size had it easy to dodge out of the way. Before Nidoqueen was able to fire another Ice Beam, Sandshrew used Magnitude, sending a shockwave through the floor beneath him which caused the section of the roof between the spots that Golem had cracked earlier to collapse under Nidoqueen's feet. Nidoqueen tried to jump to safety, but Sanshrew jumped up and slammed into Nidoqueen with a Rapid Spin, causing Nidoqueen to fall below like Rhydon had earlier. Sandshrew began to glow like Krabby had and, sure enough, evolved into a Sandslash.

Giovanni clenched his fists tightly. "It would appear that I was wrong. Apparently I was still underestimating that luck of yours. But we'll see how long that lasts. Blizzard!"

Giovanni sent out a Nidoking, whose horn began to glow light blue as the winds around them started to blow around violently and the temperature dropped substantially. Snow and ice began shooting out of Nidoking's horn and was blown around by the wind, pelting Sandslash mercilessly and not providing any way for him to escape the attack. By the time the Blizzard stopped, Sandshrew had fallen unconscious.

Ash's confidence was beginning to waver again, but he was still winning. Unfortunately, he was running out of good Pokémon to use. Ghastly was his only real option at this point, as Fearow would fall to Nidoking's Blizzard attack as easily as Sandslash had, and Pika and Volty would both be almost useless against Giovanni's Ground-type Pokémon.

It was at that point that Ash realized something. Right before the battle started, Carmine had asked Misty and Brock knew about the Viridian Gym Leader. It seemed random at the time, but Misty had said that he was a Ground-type specialist and so far all of Giovanni's Pokémon had been Ground-types. Did that mean…

"No." Ash told himself. "That couldn't be. But still, it would make sense."

"What are you mumbling about?" Giovanni asked angrily. "Have you realized that you have no hope of defeating me?"

"No." Ash said as he grabbed Gastly's Pokéball off of his belt. "I was just wondering how you can still be so full of yourself when it's so obvious that you're going to lose."

"Funny, I could say the same thing. Now, are you going to send out your next Pokémon anytime soon, or are you just going to admit defeat?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hold your Ponytas." Ash said as he tossed Gastly's Pokéball. The black and purple Gas Pokémon floated in the air in front of Ash with a confident smile that mirrored Ash's own.

Nidoking took a step forward, but he was too close to the damaged section of the roof, which started to crack beneath him, causing Nidoking to have to step back. This distraction proved disastrous for Nidoking, as it gave Gastly enough time to use Hypnosis. Nidoking was lured to sleep, which allowed Gastly to bombard Nidoking with Nightshade. Nidoking awoke quickly, but Gastly immediately used Confuse Ray, creating a ball of light that flew into Nidoking and inflicted it with confusion. Nidoking's horn started to glow as it tried to use Blizzard again, but due to its confusion, the attack backfired and Nidoking knocked itself flat on its face, causing the roof to collapse underneath him.

"That's an interesting strategy you have." Giovanni said, sounding almost impressed. "With each one of my Pokémon you defeat, you manage to take out more and more of the battlefield, making it harder for my Pokémon due to their large size and heavy weight. Unfortunately, that strategy won't work any longer, as my last two Pokémon are both quite nimble and light on their feet. Now! Go Hitmonlee!"

"A Fighting-type." Ash muttered to himself. "So I was wrong, after all."

Giovanni's Hitmonlee emerged from its Ultra Ball and landed safely on the damaged rooftop. The Kicking Pokémon's extendable legs allowed it to easily avoid the many holes that littered the area. Despite this, Ash remained confident that at the very least, he had the advantage in the current match-up in that his Gastly would be immune to Hitmonlee's Fighting-type moves. His confidence soon began to waver again as Hitmonlee opened with a Blaze Kick, the flames of the attack being able to burn Gastly, but he held fast.

"Gastly, use Night Shade!"

The Gas Pokémon let out a wave of spectral energy that knocked Hitmonlee back, almost knocking it into the hole behind where it had been standing. But unfortunately for Ash, Hitmonlee proved that its arms were just as stretchy as its legs and it was able to catch itself, dangling from all for limbs over the hole leading down to the floor below. Not wanting the battle to go on any longer than it had to, Gastly decided to use Curse, sacrificing his own health to cause a dark aura to surround Hitmonlee and quickly sap away its remaining health.

"I think we've had enough of this." Giovanni said calmly. "Foresight."

Hitmonlee's eyes suddenly flashed brightly as a strange glimmer passed through them. It launched up into the air and struck Gastly with a High Jump Kick, despite the fact that the move shouldn't have had any effect on him. Knowing that something was wrong, Gastly used Night Shade again in the hopes that it, along with the effects of Curse, would be enough to finish Hitmonlee off. Unfortunately, it was not and Hitmonlee struck him with a Mega Kick. Ghastly didn't have much longer before he would pass out, so he used Lick on Hitmonlee in the hopes that his paralyzing saliva would prevent HItmonlee from attacking again. It didn't seem to have any effect though, as Hitmonlee leapt up into the air for another High Jump Kick. However, Hitmonlee's joints froze up mid-kick, allowing Gastly to hit it with another Night Shade and Hitmonlee was knocked down into one of the holes and crashed into the floor below.
"Hah, take that!" Ash taunted Giovanni. "You're down to your last Pokémon!"

Giovanni smirked. "Are you sure about that?"

Suddenly, Hitmonlee jumped back up and hit Gastly with a Mega Kick, knocking the Gas Pokémon out cold. Ash begrudgingly had to call Gastly back into its Pokéball and send Fearow out into the battle. The large Beak Pokémon fly imposingly over the battlefield as Hitmonlee assumed a crane-stance at it awaited Fearow's first move.

"Use Aerial Ace!" Ash ordered his Pokémon.

Fearow flew up high and then dove back down towards Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee's eyes glowed menacingly as Fearow approached it and suddenly dodged out of the way at the last second, avoiding Fearow's move.

"Wait, what? But Aerial Ace can't be dodged." Ash pointed out in confusion.

"Not under normal circumstances, no." Giovanni laughed. "But with Detect, any move can be dodged. A rare move for Hitmonlee to have, yes, but one that has come in handy a lot over the years."

Ash swore under his breath. "He is good. But I can still win this."

Fearow turned around in the air and flew towards Hitmonlee for another Aerial Ace. Hitmonlee tried to use Detect again but wasn't fast enough. Fearow hit its target squarely in the chest and knocked Hitmonlee onto the ground. Hitmonlee was able to use its momentum to get back up again immediately, however, and hit Fearow with a Mega Kick, knocking the large bird to the ground in the process. Fearow lifted itself up and used Pluck, striking Hitmonlee in the arm with his beak. Hitmonlee winced and tried to hit Fearow with another Mega Kick, but Fearow was able to fly back into the air and dodge the attack before swooping back in for another Aerial Ace. Hitmonlee stumbled back from the blow and walked straight into a hole, falling back down to the floor below. Ash and Fearow both waited for Hitmonlee to jump back up again, but it never did, so Ash looked over at Giovanni who was smirking again.

"Retaliate!" Giovanni yelled as he pointed his finger at Fearow. His Persian, which had been standing idly at his side since he came out onto the roof, suddenly pounced into action, slashing at Fearow with its sharp claws and knocking him out.

Ash held out Fearow's Pokéball and recalled the Beak Pokémon before returning the Pokéball for his belt. His only remaining Pokémon were Pika and Volty. The two were similar in power, with Pika being slightly stronger while Volty was faster and more agile. He wasn't sure which would be the better fit for this fight, but he had to make a decision.

"Pika! Volt Tackle!" He said as he pointed at Persian the same way Giovanni had pointed at Fearow just a moment earlier.

The Electric Mouse Pokémon eagerly ran along Ash's arm and jumped off, surrounding himself in electricity as he hurtled through the air like a rocket and crashed head-first into Persian. The Classy Cat Pokémon stumbled back as the electrical current continued to flow through its body until it dissipated thanks to Persian's Limber ability. Persian's right paw then began to glow with purple energy as it lashed out with a Night Slash. The attack struck Pika across the face, but Pika didn't let it faze him. Instead, he jumped up into the air and hit Persian in the back with a Brick Break. Persian let out a roar and used Feint Attack, disappearing for a second before reappearing behind Pika and hitting him in the back. Pika then used Discharge and jumped up into the air again to hit Persian with another Brick Break. Persian tried to dodge the attack, but the Discharge slowed Persian's reaction time so that it was unable to get out of the way in time and took the full force of the attack.

Persian quickly whipped around and smacked Pika across the face with a Tail Whip followed up with a Bite. Pika tried to use Discharge to force Persian to let go, but instead, the Classy Cat Pokémon tightened its jaw, squeezing Pika even harder. Knowing that there would be no other way to escape, Pika tried one last plan. He let loose a Thunder Shock, aiming straight down Persian's throat and electrifying its insides. This proved to be enough to force Persian to loosen its grip just enough for Pika to force himself out of Persian's mouth and smack Persian in the head with one final Brick Break. Pika retained a defensive position as Persian slouched onto the ground, ready to fend off another attack. But that attack never came.

"I… I don't believe." Giovanni's face had a look of utter shock as he dropped to his knees. "I was beaten… by a child…"

"And of course you remember our agreement." Carmine said.

Giovanni glared at Carmine as his anger returned to him and he got back to his feet. "Of course I do. It will take some time, but all of our forces will be out of Saffron by this time tomorrow. It will be almost as if we were never here."

"And?" Carmine egged him on.

"And I disband all teams assigned to Operation Pay Day. If one day, the economy lies in shambles due to a glaring flaw in the system, it will only be due to the inevitable and not by my hand."

"I believe there was one more thing."

"Fine." Giovanni growled as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small object which he tossed at Ash, who caught it reflexively. "The next time we meet, I will make sure to repay you all a hundred-fold for this humiliation and you, Ketchum boy, will regret the day you ever dared to face me."
With those final words, Giovanni recalled his Persian into its Ultra Ball and headed back into the building the way he had come out. Ash held out his hand, staring at the small object he now held.

"I was right after all." He muttered to himself before turning to show it to Misty and Brock.

"Wait, that's an Earth Badge. Why would he…" Misty didn't need to finish her question.

"Giovanni was the missing Gym Leader." Ash turned to Carmine. "And you knew this whole time."

"Of course I did." Carmine shrugged. "Why else would I have arranged for you to fight him instead of beating him myself? You're probably the first person in years to earn that badge. And that wasn't even a Gym Battle, you beat him head-on in a full-on battle. Admittedly, he only had a few minutes to prepare, so those were probably just the Pokémon he had on hand and not his real battling team, but still. You did good kid. Anyway, we should probably get going now. It wouldn't be a good idea to stick around here for much longer."

The lush, dark green grass of Route 7 waved gently as it was blown by the night's wind. The sound of flapping could be heard getting closer and closer as two large birds flew in and landed on a small hill across the road from the entrance to the Underground Path. Carmine and Brock climbed off the back of Carmine's Skarmory while Ash and Misty climbed off Ash's Fearow.

"Now what do we do?" Brock asked as the two bird Pokémon were recalled by their owners.

"We wait." Carmine answered. "An old friend is going to meet us here."

"Who?"

"That would be me." Brock, Misty and Ash all turned around to see who had spoken and started to panic as they saw Sabrina slowly walking up to them. "Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you again. Carmine was able to reverse the effects of Team Rocket's brainwashing."

"What?" Ash asked in confusion. "Brainwashing?"

"It's a long story." Sabrina said in place of an explanation. "One which I won't go into detail yet because I'm sure that Lance the other Gym Leaders will want to learn of the events that have transpired tonight. I'm already sent a message to Lance and I'm sure he will be calling an emergency meeting very soon. In fact, we might as well head over to the Indigo Plateau right now. My Alakazam can teleport us all there right now."

"Then what are we waiting around here for?" Carmine asked impatiently. "Let's get going."

"Wait!" Ash shouted without meaning to. Everyone's eyes focused on him, making Ash a little uncomfortable, but he continued. "I want an explanation. What's been going on? Why is the leader of Team Rocket a Gym Leader? Why did you put so much at risk to have me fight him? Why do I suddenly see people's spirits when I close my eyes?"

Carmine and Sabrina both opened their eyes wide in surprise when they heard that last question.

"What do you mean by 'see people's spirits'?" Carmine asked Ash, with a worried tone to his voice.

"I don't know." Ash said. "Whenever I close my eyes I see… colors… where people should be. I can even see through solid objects with it."

Carmine and Sabrina turned towards each other, both recognizing what Ash was describing.

"He can sense Auras." Sabrina confirmed. "I can feel it in him."

"Oh, Lugia." Carmine swore. "And I was so sure he hadn't inherited that."

"What's going on with me?" Ash cried desperately.

"I have good news and bad news." Carmine said as he turned back to Ash. "The good news is that you have a power that very few people in this world have and that will no doubt come in handy countless times as you head into the future. The bad news is that it comes with a great burden of responsibility as well. Your father had, no, has that power and it was the reason he was always going off to help out whenever people were in need before he disappeared. It wasn't just because he was the strongest trainer around and felt he should help people. I mean, it was partly that as well, but the main reason was because it was his duty as an Aura Guardian."

Ash stared blankly into space as he tried to take in what he had just been told. His father had this ability too? Why hadn't anyone told him? "Wait… but does that mean…" Ash started to ask.

"No." Carmine answered before Ash finished his question. "Your father would have gone to investigate Celadon Cave even he didn't have those powers. He still would have disappeared. Anyway," Carmine tried to change the subject, "We should probably be going now. We can figure out what to do about this later."

* * *

Red slowly woke up and opened his eyes. It was still dark out, so he tried to go back to sleep, but it was too late. He was already awake now. He stretched and sat up, looking around. Yellow was still sound asleep in Red's sleeping bag. He really needed to get a new one for her, so that he wouldn't have to keep lending her his bag. He was getting kind of tired of having to sleep on the ground. Red then looked over to Sable who, to Red's surprise, was still wide awake and staring at the campfire, which she must have re-lit after Red went to sleep.

"What are you still doing up?" Red asked the mysterious woman.

"I can't sleep." Sable replied. "But it would appear that I am not the only one with that problem right now."

"I guess not." Red said and he got up and walked over to sit by her.

"Where do you come from?" Sable asked Red as he sat down.

"I'm from Pallet Town, over in the western part of the reason."

"And now you are here, far from home and having to spend your nights in the wilderness. Why is that?"

"I'm on my Pokémon journey." Red explained. "I'm traveling the region to train and earn Gym Badges so that I can enter the Pokémon League and become the Champion."

"But what about her." Sable gestured to Yellow. "Is she also on a Pokémon journey?"

"No, that's a bit complicated. Yellow has no memories of who she is or where she came from so decided to travel with me in the hope that she will be able to find some clue of who she is or someone who knows her."

"But you haven't been able to find anything, have you?"

"Not really." Red admitted. "She has been able to get back little bits and pieces of her memory, but it's mostly just random facts that she knows and nothing that can really help us find out who she is."

"Well, I hope you find something soon. I would like to know why she exists as well."

"What-" Red started to ask, but Sable cut him off.

"Thank you for answering my questions, but I think it's time that you go back to sleep."

"But I'm not… tired…" Red suddenly slouched to the side, resting on Sable's shoulder and fast asleep. The fire blew out as Sable continued to sit there. She stared at Yellow for a moment, before looking up at the treetops nearby, where she was being watched from.

"I know you're there. You may not want to make yourself known just yet, but I know you're watching her. Just like me." Sable didn't say a word and yet the Pikachu was still able to hear her speak. "I'm curious about you, too, but I am willing to wait."

* * *

Gary found himself standing on the beach. The sun shone brightly overhead while the roaring blue waves splashed against the golden sand underneath him. Gary turned around to try and figure out where he was, but then suddenly he felt himself being dragged into the sea by some unknown force. He fought against it but was quickly pulled in under the waves. The force that was pulling him down went away, but Gary was no falling down deeper and deeper into the dark ocean. He tried to swim up, but couldn't move his arms or legs.

Suddenly a massive stone structure came into view and he landed just in front of what appeared to be some sort of ancient temple or palace. He walked through the entrance way into the temple, not paying any attention to the fact that he could suddenly move again. Statues of various Pokémon lined the ornate hallway that led deeper into the temple. The end of the hallway opened up into a large chamber with a throne sitting at the other end, behind which was a giant statue of some ancient king. Gary felt drawn towards the throne and sat down in it. The same mysterious force that had pulled him beneath the waves before suddenly returned. Gary let out a scream and watched as the air bubbles streamed from his mouth.

Gary closed his eyes and opened them to find himself back in his dad's car. Kat and Sue were sitting to either side of him while Mal was in the front passenger seat and Ciel was driving. He looked up at the sky to see that the sun was just starting to rise above the horizon.

'Was that just a dream?' Gary thought to himself. He couldn't remember having a dream that vivid before, but there was no way it could have been real. He wondered briefly if it could have meant something, but quickly put that thought behind him. That was silly, it was just a strange dream, nothing more.

Wes made his way back to the Adonis Detective Agency just as dawn was breaking. To his mild surprise, Rui was waiting for him just outside the front door, leaning against the doorway. Her Pichu was resting lazily on her shoulder while her Riolu appeared to be having some sort of sparring match with its own shadow against the wall.

"Where have you been?" Rui asked as Wes approached her.

"Out." Was Wes' reply.

"Out where?"

"None of your business, mom." Wes said sarcastically but then froze as he realized what it was that he had just said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to compare you to that woman."

"It's fine." Rui replied, apparently not having even realized the connection until he pointed it out. "I knew what you meant. Anyway, Looker wanted to see us. He said it was important."

"Then I guess we better not keep the boss-man waiting much longer. But before that…" Wes walked up to Rui, reaching his hands into his pockets as he leaned up close to her with a sly smile. Rui backed up against the wall and closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes again to see Wes handing Pichu a small treat, which the baby Pokémon accepted greedily. "She looked hungry."

Rui glared at Wes with an expression he couldn't quite read as he stepped away from her.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." Rui replied a little too quickly.

"Eh, whatever." Wes stuck his hands back in his pockets and headed inside.

Rui sighed and brushed off the newly-formed pile of crumbs on her shoulder before heading in after him. Pichu squealed in protest as she was going to save those crumbs as a snack for later. Meanwhile, Riolu remained oblivious to everything around it as it continued its impromptu training session.

* * *

"It's good to see that you are finally here." Looker said as Wes and Rui each took a seat across from him in his office. "Where is it that you have been all night?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find out soon." Wes said as he leaned back in his chair. "So where are Lance and that blonde girl?"

"That was certainly an ominous answer." Looker replied uneasily. "Lance is currently on route to the Indigo Plateau for an emergency meeting with his fellow Gym Leaders regarding a number of urgent events that have transpired last night. Apparently, there was some sort of commotion regarding Team Rocket in Saffron City that resulted in massive property damage and there are reports coming in of some kind of massive storm along Route 2 that has completely reshaped the terrain to an almost unrecognizable form."

"What?" Rui gasped.

"Now that is news." Wes said, not yet willing to admit his involvement in the second of those two events.

"Lance will report back to us after the meeting to give us more details about what has happened and what they plan to do about it. As for agent 009…" Looker suddenly lowered his voice. "I have sent her away for the night to gather information about a possible Team Rocket sighting. I do not think she will be able to find any information on it, however."

"And why is that?" Wes asked, intrigued.

"Because I have sent her after a false lead." Looker's explanation caught Wes' attention even more. "You see, I think that we may have a Diglett in our organization."

"What?" Rui gasped again.

"I have had my suspicions about agent 009 for some time." Looker went on. "At first I thought it was my investigative instincts making me distrustful of those around me, but the facts just don't seem to add up and last night's incident in Saffron has proven to be the last piece of evidence I needed."

"I don't follow." Wes sat up in his chair. "Isn't 009 the one who finds most of our intel on Team Rocket's plans? Why would she keep giving us information about them if she's working for them?"

"I thought the same thing. But it has always felt to me like we were missing something. 009 has never revealed to me where she gets her information and what she gives us always feels like it is just a small part of their true plans. It feels as if we are being fed only the information that Team Rocket wants us to know as a form of misdirection. Moreover, during our search for possible leads into Team Rocket's whereabouts, 009 was insistent that she search Saffron City alone and that she found nothing even remotely suspicious there. That itself was cause for concern, being such a large city and the center of commerce for the entire region it seemed out of place that Team Rocket would not have any sort of base there, but based off of what I have now been told it sounds as if the entire city has been under Team Rocket's direct control for some time as their base of operations."

"What?" Wes and Rui both asked in astonishment at the same time.

"Yes, it is very shocking news. I still don't know all of the details as reports are still coming in, but it appears as if they have had the entire city in lockdown several months now and have been operating out of the Silph Corporation headquarters."

"But isn't Silph Corp. the largest company in the area?" Wes asked. "How could they possibly pull that off?"

"Exactly. We should have heard of this sooner. It would appear that the former CEO of the company recently retired and moved away to the Alola region after some sort of corporate buyout. No one was sure who had bought the company from him, but current evidence suggests that it was none other than Giovanni himself."

"This is a lot to take in." Rui commented. "But if this is all true and it turns out that 009 is a traitor, then what do we do now?"

"I am not sure." Looker answered honestly. "For now, we should all just pretend that this conversation never happened. We act as if we know nothing of what happened in Saffron City and do not let her know that we suspect her until we have solid evidence that she is working for Team Rocket so that we can arrest her. Also, in the increasingly likely case that she is working for Team Rocket, 009 would not be a traitor. It would mean that she has never been on our side to begin with."

"I have a question." Wes said. "Why are you letting us in on this? How do you know we're not working for them, too?"

"Wes!" Rui yelled, startled by his question.

"No, he is right." Looker said to Rui before turning his attention to Wes. "The truth is that I don't know for sure that I can trust you and I am taking a considerable risk in telling you all of this. The two of you did take down Cipher last year, but they could have been seen as a rival organization to Team Rocket and Team Rocket seems to have benefited greatly by their downfall, taking a lot of the resources that Cipher left behind as their own. You, in particular, have an extensive criminal record that makes you a difficult man to trust."

"We're not with Team Rocket." Rui was on the verge of tears. "We could never align ourselves with a group like them."

"That may be the case for you, but I did work for a group like them." Wes pointed out. "I was a member of Team Snagem for most of my life. I was raised to steal Pokémon and take whatever I want from others."

"Exactly." Looker said. "So, what argument do you have that I can trust you?"

"All you have is my word." Wes answered sincerely. "I left Snagem because I've come to view my former life as a disgrace. I will never return to thievery and I will never associate with criminals like that again. I've seen the kind of corruption that infects people like Team Snagem or Team Rocket and I no longer want anything to do with it. If the word of an ex-thief can mean anything to you, then you know that I am not with them. Also, Rui here is too much of a goodie-two-shoes to even consider it."

"Hey!"

"What? That was a compliment."

"Thank you." Looker said solemnly. "I already knew that I could trust you, but it means a lot to hear you say it with such passion. That is why I have chosen to confide in you."

"Hey guys!" Kat said as she walked into the hotel lobby of the Fuchsia City Pallet House, where the others were waiting. She ran over to the couch where Mal, Ciel and Sue where holding a conversation about something. Gary stayed by the entrance, looking around absently.

Gary was starting to feel like he was missing something in his Pokémon journey. While being able to ride around the Kanto region in his dad's car with the girls was more convenient than walking aimlessly, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing out on the experience that traveling on his own would bring. The only one of his chaperones that offered any real help to him was Kat, but she only rarely gave him any advice and he was more interested in figuring things out on his own anyway. And even if he did regularly stop to train and catch new Pokémon, it was still probably less than if he were hiking through the forests and caves of the region by foot. It was with these thoughts that Gary looked over at the girls and made a decision. The four who were supposed to keep watch over him and make sure that he didn't get into trouble were too wrapped up in their discussion to notice their charge turn around and walk out.

Gary hesitated just outside of the door, having second thoughts about his decision. But after a moment he tightened his fists and continued walking. He did not know the layout of the city, but he was going to find the Gym, even if it took him all day. When he returned to the hotel that evening he would have his eighth badge. Or maybe he wouldn't return at all. Maybe he would just keep going, making his way to the Indigo Plateau and challenging any more Gyms that he found along the way. He could do it. He was a Pokémon Trainer, one that was determined to be the best that there ever was. And more than that, he was an Oak. He was part of the longest line of Pokémon Masters that the region had ever known. There were even rumors that the Oak family was descended from the ancient kings of the Kanto region.
Gary chose a direction and started walking, sure that his trainer's instincts would lead him directly to where he wanted to go. It was in his blood, after all, to seek out challenge and overcome any obstacle. After having walked about two blocks south, he started to hear something. It was faint and he could barely make it out, but it sounded almost like a woman singing off in the distance. He felt enthralled by the song and his feet instinctively pulled him forward, closer to the source of the distant sound.

* * *

"Alright, that didn't take as long as I thought it would." Carmine said, looking approvingly at Ash's Fearow. "Your Pokémon is certainly a fast learner. Now I think we should move on to your Sandslash. He should be good with both attack and defense, so I'm going to focus on increasing the type diversity of his moveset. Brick Break, Poison Jab, Shadow Claw, Iron Tail and X-Scissor all seem like good moves. It probably won't take much time for him to learn them, though, so let's work on your Kingler as well. Save time by training both together. I'm going to teach him Brick Break and X-Scissor, like Sandslash, and also a few different moves. Ice Beam, Rock Tomb and Rain Dance all seem like good choices as well as False Swipe."

"What's that?" Ash asked him.

"False Swipe is a fairly standard Normal-type move but with one little quirk. It can't actually knock out an opponent." Carmine explained.

"That sounds useless."

"In competitive battling, it is more or less pointless unless you just want to taunt your opponent for some reason. The main utility of the move is for catching wild Pokémon. Since all kinds of Pokéball can only work if the target Pokémon is conscious, but also work better the more weakened the opponent is, False Swipe can make it a lot easier to catch Pokémon that you might otherwise have trouble with."

"Okay, I guess that does sound useful." Ash agreed. "Alright, let's get started then."

"Good." Carmine nodded. "And then once we've finished training these two we can move on to your Gastly. I'm a little less certain of what to teach that one since I don't really know what he already has, but if we're lucky we'll be done by nightfall, just in time to head back and get dinner and some sleep before heading home for your birthday tomorrow."

* * *

"I think I see Fuchsia City!" Daisy said, holding her hand above her eyes to block out the sunlight as the city came into view.

"Well it's about time." Giselle said. "I feel like we've been walking for weeks and basically nothing's happened."

"It's only been a few hours." Daisy pointed out. "And we did get to fight a few wild Pokémon on the way."

"You know, when I decided that I wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, I didn't think that there would be so much mindless walking involved. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should have stayed at Pokétech after all."

"But I thought that you said that barely anyone from there ever managed to get into the Pokémon League."

"That's true." Giselle relented. "But I could have still been one of the few to actually do it. At least when I was there I could spend every day training rather than just this endless walking. My feet are killing me."

"Again, we've only been walking a few hours." Daisy said.

"The fact that you can say that its 'only' been a few hours just shows how much time gets wasted just getting from one worthless place to another. Let's just keep going so that we can get there and take a break. I don't know how much longer I can last at this rate."

* * *

Before Gary knew it, he had found himself walking out onto the shore on Route 19, just south of Fuchsia City. This was definitely not the way to get to the Gym, but he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that this was the way that he needed to go. He could still hear the singing, which was clearer now and a little louder than it was before. Gary was sure that he was moving closer to its source and that he would soon be able to make out the words of the song. He made his way along the narrow beach, wedged between two rocky cliffs, and passed by a pair of swimmers warming up for a long trip across the calm ocean. It was clear that this beach was not one of the more popular of the Kanto shore, which was probably due to its small size. But Gary wasn't really thinking about that as he reached the edge of the deep blue water, where it beat across the shore.

He looked out at the massive rocks that were sticking out of the water in the distance, likely another reason why few people used this beach for recreation. One rock stood out to him in particular and he thought that he could see something, or perhaps someone, sitting on top of it. He was sure that whatever it was, it was the source of the song. He closed his eyes and listened for a moment. He felt at peace listening to the serein melody but was quickly pulled back to reality as he felt the cold water rise up to his ankles. He tried to take a step back but found that he couldn't move his feet. It was almost as if the ocean itself was holding him in place. He struggled against it, but it was no use. The water rose up to his knees. Desperately, Gary let out a scream as he tried his hardest to break free, but it was too late. A sudden wave washed over him and he was dragged out to sea.

The two swimmers had heard his scream, but when they ran out to where he had been there was no sign of Gary. It was as if he had never even been there.

Ash sat in a chair in the Pokémon League lobby staring at the dark brown tiled floor. Misty and Brock had left to wait for their meeting while Carmine had run off saying that he had to use the bathroom, leaving Ash alone. The initial excitement of visiting the Pokémon League was starting to wear off and boredom was starting to fill in its place.

"Hey, kid! It's been awhile."

Ash suddenly leapt up to his feet, startled by the unexpected greeting.

"Uh… hi, Surge." Ash said hesitantly as he looked up at the large, intimidating man standing in front of him.

"That's Lieutenant Surge." The Viridian City Gym Leader corrected him.

"I'm sorry, Lt. Surge." Ash apologized nervously. He could feel his legs shaking beneath him.

Lt. Surge started laughing heartily and slapped Ash on his empty shoulder. "I'm just messing with you. There's no need to be that formal. So, how's my old Pikachu doing, anyway? Have you managed to teach Volty how to use Volt Tackle yet?"

"Uh…" Ash trailed off. "No. I kind of forgot that I was supposed to do that."

Ash reached down to Volty's Pokéball resting on his belt and held it out. He pressed the button on its front and the red beam of energy shot out towards his shoulder, where Volty materialized and gave an energetic "Chu, Pi!"

Lt. Surge laughed even harder. "That's fine. To be honest, I never really expected you to. I thought she'd be happier with you then she was with me and it looks like I was right about that."

"Thank you."

Volty smiled and let out sparks from her cheeks as Lt. Surge patted her gently on the head.

"You've done a fine job of taking care of her so far. She looks to be quite healthy and happy."

"Thank you." Ash said again.

"I'd like to stay and chat longer, but I should probably go see the other Gym Leaders. I don't want to keep anyone waiting."

With that, Lt. Surge waved goodbye and headed towards the back where Misty and Brock had gone earlier, leaving Ash alone again with his Pokémon, but feeling a lot better about himself than he had before. Ash hadn't even realized how much the events of the previous night had affected him until that moment.

The two Pikachu on Ash's shoulders jumped down onto the floor and started playing as Ash sat back in his chair. He briefly wondered how long the meeting was going to take, or at least how long it would take for all of the Gym Leaders to get there. "Then again," he thought to himself, "not all of the Gym Leaders will be here, will they. After all, the main reason they're even having this meeting in because of Giovanni."

* * *

"I expected this place to be more like a cave." Sable commented as she, Red and Yellow entered the Underground Path to Celadon City. Bright lights hung from the steel walls, shining down onto the wooden floor which was brown, save for the two stripes painted along it, one blue and the other red.

"So you've never been down here before?" Red asked her.

"No." Sable said. "I've never had the chance before. It would appear that I haven't missed anything, though."

"Yeah, not really." Red agreed. "The other Underground Path was a lot like this, too. That's why we're going to use Teleport so that we can get across quickly. Speaking of which it's probably time to get Abraham out."

"Right." Yellow said as she held out a Pokéball. The yellow Psi Pokémon suddenly appeared hovering in the air in front of her before she even pressed the button. "Come on."

It only took a few minutes before the group had made their way all the way to the other side and headed up the staircase leading to Route 7.

"That probably would have taken us at least all day if we had walked the whole way." Red said as they took their first steps back outside again.

"Yeah." Yellow agreed. "It's a good thing we have Abraham to help us out." She squeezed the sleeping Pokémon tightly, but Abraham didn't seem to mind or notice.

"You seem quite attached to that Abra." Sable noticed.

"Yeah, he's a good friend and he helps us out a lot. He's also the only Pokémon that I've ever caught, even if it was only by accident."

"Maybe there are no such things as accidents."

"What do you mean?" Red asked Sable, but she didn't answer.

"I like Maggie, too." Yellow said. "But I didn't catch her and she hasn't been as fun since she evolved. She's so big now that I haven't even had a chance to let her out in a while."

"I'm sure you'll get a chance to play with her again soon." Red reassured her. "But in the meantime, we've almost reached the city."

Sure enough, they were just approaching the edge of Celadon City. Though it was hard to tell, as most of the buildings were painted a dark green color that blended in partially with the trees that surrounded the city on all sides. Some buildings on the other side of the city stood noticeably taller than the rest.

"Celadon City. The city of rainbow dreams." Sable said. Red and Yellow turned their attention to her and she pointed to the large sign she had just read aloud. "That's what it says, anyway."

"Well, hopefully, it can help us reach our dreams." Red spotted the familiar orange roof of a Pokémon Center amid all the green and set off towards it. "Come on, this way."

* * *

Hanami floated in the air above Ash, looking around at her surroundings. She had head people mention the Pokémon League over the years but had never imagined that she would even visit it herself. Much had changed in the centuries since she had lived and a building like the one she was in now couldn't have even been dreamed of in her time. Things like electric lighting and air conditioning were completely new concepts to her and just the one room was larger than any of the buildings in her village had been. The other buildings they had been to were similar in a lot of regards, but she hadn't really had much of a chance to admire them due to the dire circumstances.

She looked down at Ash sitting beneath her. Hanami had only been following him for a couple days now and yet it already felt much longer. She wondered if his life was always this busy, it was certainly more exciting than her life had ever been, at any rate. Traveling around the region, meeting new people and facing new challenges as he went. She had never even left her home village before now. She felt for a moment that she would never get used to how different things were now than in her time, but that thought was interrupted.

"…"

Hanami turned around quickly. She thought for sure that she had heard someone speak, but there was no one there.

"…"

The sound came again, slightly louder. Like someone calling out from the distance. Hanami couldn't tell what had been said, or who had said it, but there had definitely been a voice. A deep, rasping voice calling from far away. Hanami felt a shiver run through her, but it wasn't cold and even if it was, a ghost wouldn't be affected by it. Without thinking, she began to recite an ancient prayer she had not heard in many centuries.

"Lords of Ice, Lighting and Fire,
Sons of the Silver Flier,
The beatings of thy wings spread winds of fate across the land,
And the birds sing thy praises,
A shadow of destruction falls upon us now which we cannot withstand,
Unless we rely upon thy strength and darkness thy power razes."

She did not know if the Legendary Birds could truly hear her prayer or not, but she felt a warm feeling of peace pass over her as soon as the words left her intangible lips. There was something big on its way. Something that she was sure no one was prepared for. But she felt confident, at least for the moment, that they could make it through whatever was coming. She only hoped that it would not come without too great a cost.

Carmine stepped out of the bathroom and stretched his arms up high while yawning. He hadn't gotten much sleep lately, which was normal for him but combined with all of the action as of late was starting to wear him down. He decided that he would lie down and try his best to take a nap while the Gym Leaders had their meeting.

"I really should get a Hypno one of these years." Carmine muttered to himself. "I don't know why I've been putting it off so long."

A loud beeping noise suddenly went off, startling him. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out his Pokégear, checking who was calling him.

"Well, there goes my nap." He sighed before answering the call. "I had a feeling I'd be getting this call. Though I thought it would take a bit longer."

"You sound almost amused." Looker said from the other end of the call.

"No, I'm just kind of tired. Anyway, I'm guessing this is about last night?"

"You would be correct in that guess, but you already knew that. There are multiple eye-witness accounts of a giant, black Pokémon rampaging through the streets of Saffron City in the early hours of the morning. I think it is safe to assume that we both know what Pokémon that was."

"It sounds like your eye-witnesses need to get their eyes checked." Carmine replied. "There was no rampaging going on."

Carmine's comment was met with an uncomfortably long silence.

"But yeah, it was the Cianwood Tyranitar. We had a bit of a skirmish with Team Rocket. I tried to keep the property damage to a minimum, but we did cause quite a bit of damage to the Silph Corp. building. And Tyranitar probably did some damage to the nearby streets, now that I think about it. He's kind of heavy."

"I want a full report." Looker said dryly. "Now."

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you what I know."

* * *

Looker pondered everything he had just been told as he put his phone down. Giovanni was a Gym Leader? That was big news. And he had been beaten by a child? He could barely even process that part. This "Ash" that Carmine talked about must be some kind exceptional trainer to pull that off. Although now that he thought about it, Looker remembered that he had already met Ash, right after the incident at Mt. Moon not too long ago, and his name had been on the passenger list for the S.S. Anne. That boy had had more run-ins with Team Rocket since Looker entered the country than Looker himself at this point.

"I should run a background check on him." Looker said to himself. "To learn who that kid actually is. The knowledge could prove valuable."

There was a knock at the door to Looker's office. He called for the person to come in and 009 opened the door.

"You called for me, sir?" She asked calmly, as if nothing had happened.

"Come in, take a seat." Looker gestured towards one of the old, green chairs in front of his desk and waited for her to sit down in it. "What do you have to report?"

"Nothing, sir." 009 answered. She was a hard person to read, but Looker was starting to understand her better and it was becoming obvious that she was intentionally hiding something. "Everything's quiet except for a small earthquake near Saffron City. I also heard something about a storm over on Route 2."
Looker stared at the girl for a moment. "Was there anything unusual about the earthquake?"

"No, sir. It was just an earthquake. If I had to make a guess, I'd say it was caused by the Diglett and Dugtrio that inhabit Diglett's Cave."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, the storm at Route 2 would have happened just outside the cave's northern entrance. It's possible that the storm could have scared the Diglett and Dugtrio inside the cave and caused them to stampede through their tunnel networks, which in turn could lead to a potential increase in seismic activity in the area."

"Yes, that would make sense." Looker said. It was a sound theory, but her delivery sounded almost rehearsed. She had been anticipating that question and had already come up with her reply. Looker was more sure than ever that she was a spy, but what he wasn't sure of yet was whether to confront her about it now, or bide his time and wait later. He opted for the latter option.

"Very well. I want you to investigate that storm. From what I've been hearing about it, it sounds like it may not have been a natural occurrence. If so, I want to know what caused it and why."

"Yes, sir." 009 stood up and turned to leave. Looker watched the girl as she walked out of his office.

"I wonder…" He muttered. "How long as she been with them? She's not that old. She's still only in her teens. How young was she when she joined?

* * *

Pikachu ran along the rooftops of Saffron City. She would prefer to travel through the woods than the city, but she didn't really have a choice right now. She knew that Yellow would already be on the other side of the city by now and she had to get back to her as quickly as possible. She didn't trust the new woman that was traveling with Yellow. Something about her seemed… off. Pikachu was sure that the woman had somehow known she was there waiting in the treetops last night and that made her uneasy. She had also not been able to make contact with Abraham since the woman showed up, almost as if she was somehow interfering with their mental link somehow. The woman was dangerous, Pikachu knew that much. But was she actually hostile or not? Pikachu had no way of knowing the woman's intentions or not. She could be a threat, but was that her intention?

Pikachu decided to put away those thoughts for now. Her priority was to catch back up to them. There was nothing that she could do to protect Yellow unless she was there with her to do it. Then again, was there anything she could do even if she was there? Pikachu's attacks had proven utterly useless again the one she wanted to protect Yellow from and the boy, Red, had so far proven capable of protecting her from everything else on his own. In fact, Pikachu wasn't sure that she had actually managed to accomplish anything whatsoever since the destruction of their home other than just follow Yellow and she hadn't been doing a very good job of that either. The only reason she had not already completely lost Yellow possibly for good was thanks to Abraham, and it looked as if she would not be able to rely on his help any longer.

"Maybe it's time." Pikachu said to herself as she rested for a moment on the edge of a roof. "Time that I actually meet up with her in person. But then again, how will she react? She won't remember who I am. She doesn't even know that he is after her, or why."

Pikachu sighed and leapt over to the next building. It was no use wondering at this point. It was only a matter of time before she would have to make her presence known, so it might as well be sooner, rather than later. There was no telling what kind of complications it could cause, but then again not revealing herself could also cause problems down the line. She had finally made up her mind, she would reintroduce herself to Yellow as soon as she had the chance.

"Hello."

The unexpected greeting caught Pikachu off guard, causing her to trip and fall off of the ledge she had been running along. She managed to grab hold of the ledge and keep herself from falling down to the ground below as she looked up at the serene smiling face staring at her.

"You." Pikachu said, startled. "But how? Why?"

"I told the others that I wanted to look around on my own for a little bit before I meet up with them again later. Which is actually true, for the most part." Said Sable, who was looking back down at Pikachu from the roof. Or at least that's what Pikachu thought at first, but then she relieved that Sable wasn't on the roof, she was floating in the air across from it.

"How are you…?"

"I'm here because I have some questions for you." Sable interrupted. "And I'm sure you have quite a few questions of your own, so why don't we help each other out?"

Pikachu felt her strength fail her and she lost her grasp on the edge of the roof. She closed her eyes as she fell, not wanting to see the end. But then she opened them again when she realized that she wasn't actually falling. She was floating in the air, like Sable.

"What's going on?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

?Well, it looks like we?re all finally here.? Lance stood at one end of a long table and looked around the conference room they were in. Every Gym Leader of the Kanto region, save for Giovanni, sat around looking back at him. ?Which means we can get started with this meeting. Now, I know some of you already know what this is about, but for those who don?t, I?m afraid I must be the bearer of bad news. You see, it has recently been discovered that the leader of the criminal organization known as Team Rocket is in fact none other than Giovanni Rozzo, leader of the Viridian Gym.?

The sound of murmuring reverberated throughout the room and the Gym Leaders quietly discussed this sudden revelation amongst themselves.

?This news has come as a great shock to all of us and naturally we must react to it. Giovanni will be removed from his position of Gym Leader as soon as possible and a new Gym Leader will be appointed in his place. In addition, we will be changing the requirements for obtaining Gym Leader status by adding more comprehensive background checks in order to assure that something like this will never happen again. Does anyone here have objections to these policy changes or any comments they would like to add??

Lance looked around again for a moment, but no one spoke up. ?Alright then. In that case, we will move on to the next item on our agenda. There are a number of situations that must be attended to, which the other members of the Elite Four and I have made assignments for. First off, a mysterious storm has caused the northern entrance to Diglett?s Cave to collapse on Route 2. Bruno, Flint and Brock are to go there and rebuild the cave?s entrance and investigate what happened there. Lt. Surge and I are to assist Sabrina in overseeing the reconstruction effort of Saffron City. Lorelei, Daisy, Lily, Violet and Misty are to investigate the wreckage of the S.S. Anne to see if there are any possible clues as to what Team Rocket might be planning. Everyone else should return to their regular Gym Leader duties. Now, if no one has anything else to add, then this meeting is now adjourned."

* * *

?Stop the car!? Kat shouted as Mal drove past some sort of old, decrepit looking theater house along the side of Route 15.

?Why?? Mal asked her as she slowed the car to a stop.

?Trust me. Gary?s going to want to check this place out.?

?What are you talking about?? Gary asked her, thinking that his cousin must have gone crazy.

?You?ll see.? Kat smiled and tilted her head to the side mischievously as she opened the car door to get out.

Gary looked up and the run-down building before him as he got out of his father?s car. The old theater was painted white and red, which looked like it had once been bright and vibrant but was now faded and peeling off of the rotting woodwork. A sign hung up above the front door, but it was too damaged for Gary to be able to read it.

?What is this place?? Gary wondered aloud.

?Why don?t you go in and find out?? Kat suggested as she climbed back into the car. ?We?ll wait for you.?

?Fine. But if I die in there, it?s your fault!? Gary sighed and turned back to the building. He walked up to the staircase leading up to the front doorway and lightly set foot on it. The stairs seemed sturdy enough, so he walked up and entered the theater house.

The interior was dark and dusty as if the building had been had been abandoned long ago. Gary honestly had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for in there. Some kind of rare Ghost Pok?mon, maybe? He pulled out a Pok?ball and called out one of the newer additions to his Pok?mon team.

?Go, Growlithe.?

The Fire-type Puppy Pok?mon landed on the creaky old floor. He sniffed the air and let out a small howl before breathing out a small stream of flame to light up the dark theater.

?Whatever?s in here had better be worth it.? Gary muttered to himself as he and his Growlithe made their way deeper into the run-down building.

* * *

?Wait, you?re both leaving?? Ash asked Misty and Brock once they had returned and told Carmine and himself about the meeting.

?Yeah.? Brock shrugged. ?But we?ll meet back up with you once we?re done with our assignments.?

?This is so unfair.? Ash complained. ?Why do you both have to go??

?Because they both have obligations as Gym Leaders to help wherever they are needed.? Lance said as he walked up to the group before turning his attention to Ash. ?So you must be this Ash everyone?s been talking about. I?ve heard that you?ve been shaping up to be quite the skilled trainer. I hope that you?ll stop by my Gym after this whole Team Rocket situation has been dealt with so that we can have a battle. I?m looking forward to it.?

And with that, Lance turned around with a swish of his cape before giving Ash a chance to respond.

?Wow.? Misty?s jaw hung slightly ajar and she and Brock both stared at Ash in amazement. ?I?ve never seen Lance send anyone a challenge like that before. That?s amazing.?

?You?ve certainly come a long way since I beat you in our first match.? Brock added.

?It doesn?t mean much.? Carmine said. ?It?s still just a Gym Battle. A test of strength to make sure that a Pok?mon Trainer has reached a certain level of ability.?

?Well, I?m still going to beat him.? Ash said defiantly. ?No matter how strong he is.?

?Were you even listening to me?? Carmine asked.

?I should probably be going now.? Brock said. ?I don?t want to keep the others waiting. See you again soon!?

Brock shook Ash?s hand and headed off towards where his father and Bruno were waiting for him, waving goodbye. Ash, Carmine and Misty watched as they headed out the door before Misty and Ash turned to each other.

?I should be heading out too. My sisters can get kind of impatient sometimes.? Misty turned to leave.

?Hold on.? Ash said, grabbing her wrist to stop her. ?Before you go, I wanted to give you something.?

?What?? Misty couldn?t hide the surprise in her voice.

?Volty.? The two Pikachu resting on Ash?s shoulders both turned to their trainer in surprise from this unexpected turn of events.

?What do you mean?? Misty asked.

?I want you to take Volty with you, at least until we meet up again. After all, you gave me Krabby the last time you left us.?

?I suppose that is true.? Misty sighed. ?I guess you?ve got a deal.?

Ash pulled out Volty?s Pok?ball and handed it too Misty. Pika and Volty quickly touched their noses together and let off a fly of sparks from their cheeks to say goodbye, almost lighting Ash?s hair on fire, before Volty hopped off of Ash?s shoulder and into Misty?s outstretched arms.

?I promise to take good care of her.? Misty said as she turned to go. Pika and Volty both reached out to each other as a final parting as Misty walked away.

?Well.? Carmine said awkwardly. ?I can?t say that I expected any of that, and now I forgot what I was going to say. Oh, right, I was going to tell you that I think we should spend this time focusing on your training. Things are only going to get harder from here on out and who knows what other unexpected situations we?re going to face in your journey. You need to be ready for any challenges you may encounter.?

?Sounds like a plan.? Ash agreed.

?Good. But before that, we should probably get some rest. I don?t think either of us has gotten any sleep in a while.?

The mere mention of sleep suddenly caused Ash to be overwhelmed by a sudden wave of fatigue. He had not realized before that point how tired he was, but now it was all he could think about.

?Yeah.? Ash yawned. ?We should do that.?

?Come on. I?m sure there should be someplace to rest somewhere around here.?

Red and Yellow walked into the Celadon City Pok?mon Center and headed for the front desk. The nurse there asked if Red wanted his Pok?mon healed, as per usual. After the nurse healed Red?s Pok?mon and handed them back to him, they walked over to the lounge area. A couple couched sat around a glass table and off in the corner of the room was a PC meant for public use. The PC had a paper taped onto its screen saying that it was out of order and someone appeared to be tinkering with its inner wires and circuitry. Red felt like he had seen the man before.

?Bill?? Red asked hesitantly.

The man tried to stand up but accidentally hit the back of his head hard against the underside of the keyboard. He then made sure to back away from the computer and stood up slowly, clutching the back of his head, and turned around. Sure enough, it was the same man that they had helped out back at the lighthouse on Cerulean Cape.

?Oh, hi!? Bill said once he recognized Red and Yellow. ?Fancy seeing you around here.?

?Hi!? Yellow said cheerfully.

?What are you doing here?? Red asked.

?This old PC here isn?t working right, so they?ve asked me to come in and take a look at it. For some reason, it won?t seem to connect to Pok?mon Storage System, so trainers can?t use it to deposit or withdraw their Pok?mon and who better to ask to fix that kind of problem than the guy who created the system in the first place??

?You created the Pok?mon Storage System?? Red asked in astonishment.

?Or at least the current system, sort of. I led the development team that created it, but most people tend to forget about the people I worked with. I?m also the administrator for the system her in Kanto and also in Johto.?

?Why didn?t you mention that when we met before??

?I guess it just never came up.? Bill shrugged. ?So how have you been, anyway??

?Fine.? Red answered. ?We were just going to explore the city a bit before I take on the Gym.?

?Well good luck with that. I think the local Gym specializes in Grass Pok?mon.?

?Well, that should be pretty easy to take on with my Charmeleon.? Red said, then sighed. ?Although I suppose I should still work on catching more than just two Pok?mon.?

?Two?? Bill seemed confused. ?I remember seeing your account in the storage system just recently and you had more than that.?

?Only half of my team right now is actually mine.? Red explained. ?Two of them are Yellow?s, but she can?t actually have Pok?mon of her own yet.?

Yellow grinned and held up her two Pok?balls. ?These are Maggie and Abraham.?

Bill thought for a moment. ?You know, you could probably get a permit for her to have her own Pok?mon.?

?A what?? Red asked flatly.

?A Trainer?s Permit. It?s kind of a new thing, so I wouldn?t be too surprised if you haven?t heard of them before, but it?s now possible for those under age to have Pok?mon. They can?t battle and they don?t have access to the storage system, though. Normally you?d need the permission and supervision of a parent or guardian that has a license, but I might be able to pull some strings for you and see if she can get one.?

?Really?? Red and Yellow both asked.

?Yeah, sure. It?s the least I can do for when you helped me out before.?

?Thank you.? Said Red.

?I?m so excited!? Yellow jumped with joy.

* * *

?Okay, I think that should be enough for now.? Squirtle said as he fell onto his back from exhaustion.
Charmander sat down next to Squirtle with a groan. ?Why do we have to train so hard?? He whined.

?Because it is the only way to assure that we will be able to take on any challenge that comes our way and always come out on top. Although I think we?ve reached a point where we can continue our journey for at least another Gym or two.?

?Thank Arceus.? Charmander laid back with his stubby arms underneath his head and his tail resting by his side. ?I feel like I could just fall asleep right now and not wake up again for days.?

?I feel similarly, but we do need to get back up in the morning to start making our way to the next town and with it the next Gym.?

The two Pok?mon stared up at the morning sky for a while in contemplative silence.

?Do you think we?ll really be able to do it?? Charmander asked.

?Of course we will.? Squirtle replied. ?But only if we believe that we can.?

?You always manage to be so confident and brave. Where does your courage come from??

Squirtle reflected for a bit before answering. ?I?ve mentioned before that when I was young I had a trainer, a young girl by the name of Samantha. She had been dangerously sick for her entire life and yet never gave up hope no matter how bad things got. In order to honor her legacy I?ve vowed to always do the same.?

?Wow.? Was all Charmander could think to say to that.

?Also, we both watched a lot of anime and I always looked up to the heroes that never gave up even in the face of danger. We?d dress up as the characters a lot and play out our favorite scenes together. That?s actually where my sunglasses came from. They are a replica of the pair worn by our favorite character.?

?Do you ever miss her??

?Always.?

* * *

Pikachu sat on the roof of the Celadon City Pok?mon Center, staring at her paws and contemplating everything that she had just learned. It was a lot to take in and yet somehow she knew, almost instinctively, that it was all true. She became filled with renewed doubts. She wanted to reach out to Yellow and make her presence known but she was sure that this was not the time to do so.
She mentally slapped herself for thinking that. She should reach out to Yellow and join her properly but she just couldn?t bring herself to do it. She was scared. Scared that the girl now calling herself Yellow would not be the same as when they had grown up together. The girl still had no idea of who she was, or what she was, and with what Pikachu had just learned she was no more uncertain than ever.

?Why is this so hard?? Pikachu complained to herself. ?She?s basically right there beneath me and yet I just can?t do it. What?s wrong with me??

?I think only you could answer that question.?

?Go away. I want to be by myself. Besides, shouldn?t you go back to the others before they get suspicious from your absence??

?Why would they be suspicious? They just think that I?m looking around a city I?ve never been to before. But I suppose if you want to be alone then I won?t bother you anymore.?

Pikachu sighed and turned around just in time to see a bright pink flash of light and the one she had been talking to was gone. She heard the sound of the Pok?mon Center doors opening and she knew that ?Sable? was about to rejoin Red and Yellow.

?Why did he have to mess things up?? Pikachu asked herself. ?We had all been so happy before he had to tear us all apart. They had a good life, all things considered, but then he had to go and blow everything up. Literally. Their home was gone. Their friends were gone. As far as Pikachu knew, she and Yellow had been the only ones to survive his rampage. And now all she could do was do her best to make sure that he never found them again, even though she knew that she wouldn?t be able to stop him if he did. He was too strong, more powerful than anyone else she knew. Although, that might not be the case anymore. It was possible that she did now someone who was at least close to matching his level now. Maybe she would be able to do a better job of protecting Yellow than Pikachu could. But then again, would she even try to? ?I wish that something would happen. Something that would let us be able to stop him.?