A warm evening sunset illuminated the streets and sidewalks of the Porto Vista main street. Palm tree's dotted the sidewalks and extended high into the air amongst the vast hotels, acclaimed restaurants and massive department stores that made up the city skyline. Brock, Gary, Paul, Ash and Pikachu were lazily strolling down the road, trying to pick a restaurant to eat at for dinner. The conversation was, of course, all about the wedding.

"So have you set a date?" Asked Ash, both hands in his pockets as he lazily dragged one foot in front of the other.

"We have! It's the last day of summer, three days after the tournament ends."

"What about a venue?"

"It's going to be right here in Porta Vista, at a quiet resort on the other side of the island."

"That sounds amazing Brock, i'm so excited!"

The other boys and Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Paul picked out a Sushi place that he had heard his brother mention. The group waited for a table for a few minutes, enjoying the final warmth of the days' sun, before being led through the restaurant and sat at a table in the corner of the room, beside a large oil painting of a Gyrados. A mirror beside the table gave a clear view of the street. The boys ordered their food. Ash stared out the window, watching hundreds upon hundreds of people walking past, many with a variety of bulging shopping bags from all of the designer stores up and down the main street. As Gary and Paul discussed with Brock their 6-Pokemon teams they were going to enter for the tournament, Ash continued to watch out the window. Normally, he would be passionately telling his friends all about the Pokemon he was considering using, but something had caught his eye across the street. Two men on black motorcycles, dressed entirely in black jumpsuits, with their helmets still on and the visor's down had just pulled up and ran inside the Ancient Pokemon Museum. Alarmed, Ash stood up, clicking his fingers for Pikachu to abandon his meal and follow.

"I just saw something across the street, looks like trouble." He told his confused friends. "I'll be back soon. Come on Pikachu, lets go." He ran out of the restaurant, Pikachu hot on his heels.

Only seconds passed while the group processed what Ash had just said before Brock, Gary and Paul all stood up and hurried to follow Ash outside. Brock had to quickly explain to their waitress that they "would be right back," before running out the door to catch up with the others.

Outside, Ash had just arrived on the opposite side of the road from the museum when the two men rushed out of the building. Each man now had a Pokemon beside them; A rather large, aggressive looking Mightyena, and a Houndoom with huge menacing horns and a scary look in it's eye's. One of the men was carrying something in a small white box, about the size of a shoebox. They looked at Ash across the street. Another man, flustered and panting, ran out of the Museum.

"Stop them!" He yelled at Ash with a desperate tone. The Mightyena barked wildly, making the man flinch and recoil. Ash had seen enough.

"Pikachu!" He shouted, and readied himself for a battle. The two men in black both looked at each other, then sent forth their own Pokemon to attack. The Mightyena leapt forward immediately without instruction, teeth bared. He moved towards Pikachu with good speed, but the electric type was much quicker. "Quick buddy, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu did not hesitate for a second, sending a powerful bolt of lightning to meet his charging opponent. The impact of the bolt was considerable, and Mightyena's attack faltered, but now a blast of fire was hurling towards Pikachu, who managed to dodge it thanks to his honed speed and agility. The Houndoom walked over and drew up alongside his teammate, who was now on his feet awaiting instructions. Suddenly, a huge bolt of lightning crashed into the two opponents Pokemon from the left. When the dust cleared, an Electivire stood with his powerful hands pinning down both the Mightyena and the Houndoom. The two men in black looked over in apparent horror as three more young men ran over to where the battle was taking place.

People had fled in horror as the two men and their Pokemon had begun to attack Ash and Pikachu. The street was empty apart from the few people in shops and restaurant windows trying to video the battle. Paul, Gary and Brock arrived outside to see Ash in a 2-on-1 fight with the two men. They watched as Pikachu stopped Mightyena's advance with a thunderbolt and evaded the fire blast from the Houndoom. Paul drew a pokeball from his pocket and threw it towards the fighting, releasing his mighty Electivire.

"Quickly, Wild Charge!" He yelled with urgency, and his Pokemon responded.

The three boys ran to meet Ash as the dust cleared. The men had mounted their vehicles, and withdrawn both Pokemon to their respective pokeballs, intending to flee rather than fight.

"Pikachu! Use Iron tail on their bikes!"

Pikachu nodded with determination and leapt into action, his tail now glowing a metallic silver as he readied his strike. The men had now started their bikes and were about to take off, but it was clear that Pikachu's iron tail would connect before they could get away. As the little electric type came crashing down towards them, the man with the mysterious white box held it above his head. Ash saw this, and realized if Pikachu's attack landed then the box would be destroyed along with the motorcycles. He had no idea what the contents of the box was, but considering it had just been taken from the Ancient Pokemon Museum it was no doubt priceless.

"Wait! Pikachu pull out! Cancel! Cancel!" He yelled desperately.

Pikachu registered just in time and pulled his attack to the right, missing the two men. Paul ordered his Electivire to try and attack without damaging the box, but Electivire simply shook its head. The black motorcycles sped off into the back streets and disappeared. The man from the museum cursed wildly and kicked the street lamp he had been hiding behind. Ash and the other walked over to him.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't stop them.." Ash hung his head with disappointment. He didn't like it when the bad guys got away and he couldn't do anything about it. It felt like his fault.

"Don't worry about it kid." The man brushed himself off. He was tall, a little on the larger side, with a full head of combed black and grey hair despite being at least 60. He was wearing a smart outfit of black pants and a light blue shirt. He straightened up his thick-rimmed glasses. "You did the right thing by not damaging that map."

"Map?" Ash was confused.

"That man was clearly holding a box of some sort, are you sure it was a map?" Added Paul.

"Yes it was definitely a map, I was about to take it to be cleaned when they came. Thats why it was in that little white box; we call that the conservation box. It's airtight and sealed by glass pressed against it. The box is just the cover."

"What kind of map was it?" Gary looked at the man with a curious gaze.

"Funny you ask. It's a very interesting artefact. We aren't even entirely sure it is a map. It was found in a buried cave on Naval Island, right here in the Orange Archipelago. It's actually a dried piece of cloth, stained with a pattern that we believe is a map of a mega-stones from ancient times. However, the map's depiction's are not similar to any of the regions geographically. It may be from a time when the planet looked a lot different than it does today. What those thugs wanted it for, i'll never know. I suppose it would be worth an incredible amount of money, but it would be a very difficult thing to sell on the black market..." The man paused in thought, then sighed. "I'd better ring the police right away, that artefact is incredibly valuable. No time to lose." He straightened up and bowed. "Thank you for your efforts boys. You are heroes." He then proceeded to shake each of their hands before heading back to the museum. "By the way-" he turned to face them once more. "-my name is Mr Davids, I'm the curator of this museum."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir, my name is Ash, and these are my friends Brock, Gary and Paul."

Mr Davids smiled.

"I've heard those names before. Three fine trainers, and a world class doctor, am I correct?"

The boys all beamed with delight.

"A tad generous Sir, but yes that would be us." Brock replied proudly.

The older man chuckled.

"I'd heard you were in town. Well boys, if there is anything I can ever do for you, you know exactly where to find me." He smiled once more, and strolled off back into the museum.

The boys stood and watched Mr Davids disappear back through the large black door. People were slowly returning to the sidewalks.

"Return Electivire." Paul raised his arm and held out the pokeball, and his Pokemon disappeared in a flash of red light.

"Well done buddy." Ash tickled underneath Pikachu's chin as he perched on his trainer's shoulder.

"Pikaaaa" said Pikachu happily.

The group returned to the restaurant to finish their meal, deep in conversation about the men and the map. They paid the bill, and thanked their waitress before strolling back to the hotel, still discussing the nights events. When they exited the elevator, Ash noticed a small note pinned neatly to the door. It was a plain black card with neat white text. He took the note and read aloud to the curious group.

"You should not have interfered in things that you do not understand

Don't do it again

This is your one and only warning"

The boys stood in silence, stunned by what they had just heard. Ash could not help but feel tense. There was a knot in his stomach. He flipped the card over: there was a logo printed in the middle, one that he knew all too well. The only problem was, he hadn't expected to ever see it again.

"Team Galactic."