Chapter Two

Team Rocket floated in the water watching the boat sail away. Jessie punched the back of Meowth's head.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" she yelled at him.
"My fault?" Meowth asked, rubbing the back of his head. "How is this my fault?"
"You were the one who suggested we take that Kecleon."
"It was just a suggestion."

James just shook his head and pressed a button on his watch. After a few minutes their Magikarp submarine surfaced a few metres from them. They swam toward it and climbed on board. They entered the submarine and began peddling so that they followed the boat.

The black helicopter landed on a field on an island quite a distance from Cinnabar. John, Giovanni, Archie, Maxie and Cyrus exited the helicopter. There was an extremely large mansion a hundred metres from them. The building was almost 1 mile in length and 6 stories high. Archie, Cyrus and Giovanni stared at it for a few seconds, they had never been here before, and so they were quite taken aback by its size.

John and Maxie however didn't stop and stare, both having been here before. The others caught up with them as they entered the mansion. They followed the two as they walked down a hall to their right. John pushed in the light switch at the end of the hall, and the wall opened up revealing an elevator. The group entered it and John pushed the down arrow.

"We're going down?" Cyrus asked.
"Of course," John said. "The mansion is just a disguise, it's mostly empty. The base is actually four hundred metres underground."
"Mostly empty?"
"It has some equipment and a few bits of furniture here and there," Maxie informed them.

The elevator slowed and the doors opened. As they exited, Cyrus Archie and Giovanni couldn't help but look around. They were in a hall filled with Pokémon locked in unbreakable glass cages. The Pokémon didn't look angry, bored, or even miserable. They looked as if they didn't feel any emotion. Many of them were rare and looked quite powerful. There were Dragonite, Gyarados, Absol, Tyranitar, Aggron, Alakazam, Rhyperior, Magmortar, Electivire, Garchomp, Salamance, Milotic, all 12 fully evolved starter Pokémon and many more. There was hundreds of each of them, lined in rows based on their alphabetic order.

"Oh my Arceus!" Cyrus exclaimed.
"Hmm, there's a lot more than I remember," Maxie said.
"Yes, we've added quite a few since you left us," John said. "I heard a rumour that you actually summoned Groudon?"
"Yes, it was quite an event to witness."
"I imagine I'll get to see it soon enough. You all will."

The boat pulled up in the Vermillion city dock, and the group got off. Dawn looked around, having never been to the Kanto region, she was eager to see it.

"Oh, Ash, I forgot," Delia said suddenly. "I told Professor Oak, and he said he would be delighted if we were to drop by."

Ash nodded absentmindedly, he was busy watching Dawn dart from here to there trying to take in as much as possible at once. She startled a few people doing their shopping as she bolted past them. She staggered to a halt outside of the Gym. It was currently undergoing some renovations and she was watching as the Machop, Machoke and Machamp took down the building piece by piece.

Ash grabbed her wrist and she felt shivers run down her spine, and he pulled on it and she turned and followed him and the others. There was a man standing beside a taxi with a sign that read 'Ash and Friends'. The group walked toward him and he lowered the sign and opened the front and back doors to let them in. They climbed in with Delia sitting in the passenger seat and the others in the back. The driver got in and off they went.

Dawn was beginning to feel nervous sitting next to Ash. She was remembering him grabbing her wrist and was getting goosebumps all over her arms, which Ash noticed.

"You cold Dawn?" he asked her.
"No, I'm fine, thanks," she replied, staring at him until he looked away.

Ash nodded slowly and looked out the window, watching the country side as the sped past it. They passed various cities and more country side and a few forests, but soon, Ash saw Professor Oak's building in the distance. The taxi driver pulled up out front and they saw Professor Oak running down to greet them.

"Ash, Brock, good to see you again," he said, shaking their hands. "You too Dawn, Delia, always a pleasure."

They smiled at him as the driver coughed and held out his hand.

"Oh, right, payment," Oak said, fishing through his pockets. "Ah!"

He pulled his wallet out and handed the driver the money. The driver drove off and Oak turned to face them.

"Well well Ash, Sinnoh Champion," Oak said proudly. "Quite an achievement if I do say so myself."
"Yeah, even we didn't think he was going to win," Dawn said, grinning at Ash.
"Ha ha, very funny Dawn," he said back sarcastically.
"Well, come on up, I'm sure your old Pokémon will be delighted to see you again," Oak said.

They all walked up to the lab and Oak opened the door, allowing the others to enter first.

"SURPRISE!"

As Ash walked through the door, the group inside had yelled out. Gary, May, Max, Misty, Professors Birch, Elm and Rowan, Tracey, Richie, Johanna (A.N Dawn's mother for those who don't know), and Brandon were all there.

"Wow, are you guys all here for me?" Ash asked.
"Of course we are silly," Misty said. "What other reason could we have to all be here?"

Ash merely shrugged as Misty hugged him. May walked up and hugged him after Misty did, and Dawn felt a tinge of jealousy as she watched the two other girls hug Ash.

"You must be Dawn right?" Misty asked her. "I'm Misty, May told me about the contest, the one where you went up against her. Nice win."
"Thanks," Dawn said, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you to."

'Yeah right, I saw that look on your face when May hugged Ash,' Misty thought. 'You're not gonna have him, he's mine.'