Valencia Island, 08:13 hours.
An individual dressed in military fatigues wearing a helmet with a red visor looked around. The front entrance doors had been shattered completely and all of the windows were broken. He then said to himself, "This is a mess." before turning to the three individuals who were also dressed in fatigues behind him and stating, "Alright, we need spread out and look for clues or any signs of Professor Philena Ivy and her assistants. I'll be searching the main lab."
The entire area was searched, but there was no sign of either Professor Ivy or her assistants. Checking the furniture of the main lab revealed a few concealed security cameras that were linked to a computer in the upper levels of the lab. After turning it on, the red visored person saw that the most recent footage had been corrupted and let out a curse before typing on the keyboard for a few seconds. A CD was then ejected from one of the computer's disc trays which the individual picked up and put inside a CD case. One of the individuals came back and said, "There's no sign of the Professor or her assistants in the bay, Commander Jerome. Nikkari also told me that all the food stored here has spoiled and will have to be thrown out. Not just the human food either, the Pokémon food also spoiled."
Jerome let out a sigh before saying, "I've got security footage that's been corrupted. Recovering the footage won't be our priority though; that's what Isako and her team specialize in along with anything else related to Intelligence."
"Yeah, that's true Jerome. And we'll have to send our report to Professor Samuel Oak."
"And that will be one conversation that I'm not gonna be looking forward to, Oscar. It will take time for Isako and her team to recover the security footage. By the way, did Ezekiel tell you about what his search results were?"
"Yeah, he looked around the forest and no signs of either the Professor or her assistants were found there. We'll need to return to base." Oscar stated.
As he stepped out of the lab with Oscar, Jerome ordered Ezekiel and Nikkari to return to the transport helicopter. The two then got in and waited for a few minutes before Ezekiel and Nikkari came back and got in as well. The helicopter then began to lift off and proceeded to fly away from Valencia Island. Aboard the helicopter, Jerome was wondering what could have happened to make Professor Ivy and her assistants leave the lab suddenly when his radio picked up a transmission.
"...ome... ou copy? Jerome, do you copy?" a voice on the other end asked.
"This is Jerome, over." he answered.
"This is Isako speaking. How did the search on Valencia Island go?"
"Professor Philena Ivy and her assistants were not found on the island. I did find security footage, but it's corrupted. Do you want me to give it to you so that your team can restore it?"
"You got it, Jerome. Isako out."
"Understood. Jerome out." Jerome said before ending the transmission.
In the Orre region, at a little village known as Agate, a young woman with orange hair styled in twintails watched as two residents faced off in a Pokémon battle. She wore a blue jacket with pink lining over a purple shirt along with pink shoes, opaque black tights and a short white skirt. It was relatively peaceful even when the town's residents decided to keep their Pokémon in shape by having a battle. As the girl watched the battle, she let out a sigh as she remembered her partner. "Ah, I can only hope that you come back to visit us back here in Agate Village some day, Wes." she whispered to herself.
It had been two months ago when Wes left Orre to begin a journey in the Unova region on the other side of the continent that Orre was on. While she understood why he was doing it, the girl didn't know why Wes decided to go through this journey alone. She then heard someone call out "Rui, what are you waiting around for? This old man can't find his dentures." Rui shook her thoughts out of her head as she got up to help an old man.
Meanwhile at a base somewhere in the deserts of Orre, two females were arguing inside an isolated laboratory. One of them was a woman who wore a salmon top, black skirt, and pink shoes while the other was a pink-haired teenage girl wearing a blue outfit with black tights.
"I do not intend to help any of you!" the woman shouted.
"Come on now, Professor Ivy. It's not like anyone is gonna come here with the intention of rescuing you." the teenage girl stated back.
The lone male in the room, a young man wearing a white outfit with some yellow details put a hand up to his head as he sighed in frustration. 'Why is my sister Lovrina making a fool out of herself trying to talk this woman into helping us?' he silently thought as Professor Ivy remarked, "Even knowing that, I still refuse to assist whatever devious plan you're involved with!"
"NAPS!" Lovrina suddenly shouted at the male, who yelped as he covered his ears while saying, "What the bloody heck!?"
"This is so all your fault! Professor Philena Ivy is oh so cross with me because you were so rude when inviting her here!" Lovrina shouted.
"As if it was my fault! Gorigan was the monkey who hatched the plan to kidnap Professor Ivy from her lab in the Orange Islands, all I did was follow his orders to the letter!" Naps retorted to Lovrina. An orangutan then ran up the stairs into the lab and whacked Naps on the head before running back down the stairs.
"Oh, he is so going to get a dressing down from me after I've finished fixing up XD001! Naps, you talk to her! I am so done with this!" Lovrina shouted as she stomped down the stairs and out of the lab.
"Arceus damn it, she's in a bad mood now..." Naps said as he brought a hand up to this head and facepalmed.
Professor Ivy asked, "Are you Naps?"
Naps replied, "Yeah... Honestly, I don't know why I ever bother listening to Lovrina. No offense to you, but she is an outright bitch even though she is my sister. The only reason I even listen to her orders is because she got promoted to Admin and I was not. Thing is though, I'm not very good at giving out orders."
"None taken. Would I be correct in assuming that your orders include not letting me leave?"
"Yep. Those were direct orders from Master Ein. He's normally in charge of this base with my sister Lovrina being his apprentice, but he's currently away giving a report to Master Nascour somewhere so she's running the place now. And I don't know where this somewhere is either."
"So what are you people going to try on me now? No matter your methods, my answer won't change."
"I realize that, so I'm going to use the only option that I realistically have: do absolutely nothing other than make sure that you don't leave."
Ash Ketchum let out an excited laugh as he saw Professor Oak's lab come into view while Brock remained calm. It had been a hard battle in the Sinnoh League and although Ash had ultimately lost, nobody could deny that he was getting better as he got into the top 4. As he got closer, Ash slowed down to a steady walk and rang the doorbell expecting someone to answer. To his surprise, it was someone dressed in military fatigues. He asked, "Are you Ash Ketchum?"
"That's who I am. Who are you and why are you here?" Ash replied.
"The name's Nikkari and as for why I'm here, we need your help with something very important." the man said as Ash entered the lab and closed the door after Brock. The two trainers followed Nikkari into the main area of the lab to see three other men dressed just like him with only one of them being different because of a helmet with a red visor along with Professor Oak. The man in the red visor turned around and saw Ash before speaking, "Ah, you must be Ash Ketchum. My name's Jerome, and I'm part of a special unit aiding the International Police along with Nikkari, Ezekiel, and Oscar. Who is your companion?"
"I am Brock, the former leader of the Pewter City Gym." Brock replied.
"Excellent. Yesterday, Isako arrived and gave me this CD case." Jerome stated before pulling out a CD case that had a CD inside of it. He then continued, "It has important security footage detailing whatever happened with Professor Philena Ivy."
Brock suddenly withdrew into a corner of the lab. Jerome ignored him and removed the CD from its case before putting it inside the disc tray of one of the lab's many computers.
[Beginning Playback of 07/22, 16:35]
Brock was busy sweeping the front area of the lab when the front entrance shattered completely because of a Voltorb using Selfdestruct. The sudden noise startled Brock, and the dust kicked up by the Voltorb's Selfdestruct also prevented him from seeing four men dressed in white and black outfits charge in. One of them saw Brock and pulled a Poké Ball out before saying, "Chinchou, paralyze that guy with your Thunder Wave!" and then threw the ball out.
The Poké Ball opened to reveal a Chinchou which proceeded to release a thin stream of electricity from its antenna orbs at Brock, paralyzing him. The men and the Chinchou then charged into the sight of another camera which saw Professor Ivy and her assistants preparing Pokémon food before they yelled, "All of you, freeze! Don't move a muscle or we'll attack." as they sent out the rest of their Pokémon.
One of Professor Ivy's assistants asked, "What have you done with Brock?!"
"He's not necessary to our plans, but we're not gonna kill him. We're going to force him to watch us kidnap you ladies. Naps, is your Voltorb ready to go boom again in case things go pear-shaped?" One of the men answered.
"Yeah, I revived it after it fainted from going boom when we broke in. Murkrow, grab one of the Professor's assistants. Roxir, have your Chinchou paralyze the Professor and her assistants to make this kidnapping easier." a second man replied.
"Way ahead of you, Naps." a third man said as his Chinchou used its Thunder Wave to paralyze the females. The Murkrow that Naps sent out grabbed one of the assistants, who started screaming for help before one of the men dressed in the white and black outfits knocked her out with a blow to her head.
The fourth grunt looked towards the concealed camera and said, "This won't do us any good if the cops find out we were here. Tentacool, use Acid on that camera." before a Tentacool shot a ball of black acid from one of its tentacles toward the camera, which caused the screen to static out.
[Playback ended.]
"The camera feed ended there, didn't it?" Ash asked.
"Yep. Isako and her team were able to identify those strangely-dressed men as well as recover the footage." Jerome answered as he retrieved the CD and put it back in its case.
"Kinda odd thought that Brock didn't want anyone to mention Professor Ivy's name if this is what happened."
Brock came out of his corner and shouted, "Those goons sprayed me with Tentacool Acid to screw with my memory of the incident! I won't forgive them for that and for kidnapping the Professor!"
"They didn't mention which criminal organization that they worked for though. It will be hard to find out where they are now without that knowledge." Professor Oak stated.
"That's where Isako and her team came in. Thanks to them, we know that those men who kidnapped Professor Philena Ivy and her assistants are part of an international criminal organization known as Cipher. Five years ago, their Orre branch was decimated by a young man known as Wes. Along with the help of a girl named Rui, Wes proceeded to neutralize Cipher's operations in the Orre region. Of their personnel in Orre, the only notable arrests were of their leader Evice and his second-in-command Nascour. Unfortunately, during a prison transfer eight months ago Cipher attacked a convoy transporting Nascour to a secure facility in Hoenn and freed him. As a result, he's gone back into hiding." Oscar replied.
"What about their other leaders during that time? Weren't Miror B, Dakim, Ein, and Venus also thrown in jail?" Ash asked.
"They were able to escape being arrested and went into hiding. For some reason however, Miror B decided to split off from Cipher seven months ago and has formed his own group. Calling themselves Team Miror, Miror B along with his four subordinates Folly, Trudly, Reath, and Ferna have supposedly made it their goal to capture all known Pokémon in the world. Oh dear, it seems that I forgot to introduce myself to you. I am Ezekiel. Nice to meet you, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Brock of Pewter City." Ezekiel answered.
'It's nice to meet you as well, Ezekiel." Ash said as he shook hands with the man.
Jerome cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone in the area and then stated, "Alright, now that you two know the details of what had happened or Brock's case remembered them accurately, I would like to ask you two for assistance in a highly-dangerous mission."
Ash had a look of steel in his eyes and said, "I'll help you guys out on this."
"Same here. Cipher has made this a personal matter for me." Brock added.
"Excellent. Our mission will be to attack the Cipher Laboratory located near Mt. Battle in the desert that is Eastern Orre and rescue Professor Philena Ivy. Isako and her team were able to verify that she's being held there, but are not sure if her assistants are being held elsewhere. More details will be given later." Jerome stated.
A/N: I honestly didn't think that I would find myself writing this. For now, it will be a one-shot but if people want me to continue this it will become its own full-fledged story.