Annime: Hi! Sorry it's been so long!

Ash: Annime doesn't own Pokémon or anything belonging to someone else!

Chapter 3

"I can't believe it," Iris murmured. "He seriously left."

The two were walking down a dirt trail towards the next city. Pikachu was on Cilan's shoulders while he walked beside the purple haired female.

"This is important to him, Iris," Cilan said.

"How could this one girl be more important than his Pokémon; as a trainer he should put them before things like this!"

Cilan sighed and crossed his arms. "It's not like he's not going to be back. And if what he says is true, then a lot of other people could be in trouble too."

Iris huffed. "But why did it have to be Ash?"

"I don't know," Cilan answered truthfully. "But what REALLY matters is that it WAS Ash, and he needs to be careful."

Ash flipped a switch on the controls and then sighed as he sat back in his seat. He looked over at Blake, who was driving the air craft.

"Where are we going?" Ash asked, breaking the silence.

"We think that Team Rocket has a base in the middle of the Unova region," Blake spoke without looking away from the clouds ahead of them. "We are first going to check that out and then the city farthest to the East. The information my parents filtered out stated that the base was in at least one of those places."

Ash nodded, sitting back in his seat. Silence flooded the craft once again, giving the room a tense feeling. Still not looking at the boy sitting next to him, Blake asked,

"You're worried about Pikachu, aren't you?"

Ash sighed as he wiped his hands on his pants. "How can I not? I mean, have you SEEN those jerks lately? They suddenly seem to REALLY know what they are doing no-a-days."

Blake nodded in agreement. "My mom and dad are STILL having trouble finding out what they're mission is."

Ash looked over at the brunette and raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding me, right?" Blake shook his head. "Wow, I never knew they would get such an important mission."

"It COULD be an important mission," Blake corrected. "Or it could be so small that it's under the radar."

"Well, they sure seem to think it's important if they are asking so serious."

"Oh, they could have been fooled into thinking that it's more important than it REALLY is. Team Rocket has been known to do that to their agents to keep them busy."

"Wow, that's kinda cruel."

"Trust me when I tell you that you don't even know the half of it."

After about three hours of walking, the two Pokémon trainers were entering the next city. Well, it wasn't ACTUALLY considered a city, but a small town just like the one they had left. Once they stepped foot within the town's borders, they heard screams around them.

People were running out of the stores and past Iris and Cilan. An explosion filled the air suddenly, making the two cringe. Pikachu bent his ears down since the noise was so loud. Cilan looked up first to see smoke rising into the sky from a building that was down the street. It collapsed automatically, burying anyone who had happened to be left inside.

"Oh no," Iris whispered as she watched the destruction around her. "This is unbelievable." Cilan's facial expression turned from one of shock to one of determination.

"Come on," Cilan told Iris as he started to run into the chaotic city. Iris gave him a look that showed that he was insane, but seeing that she had no choice, she followed him. The tall, green haired boy ran through the streets until he had located the fire station. Unfortunately, it had been dosed with flames. Cilan cursed under his breath and glanced around him. Covering his mouth from the smoke, he saw all of the buildings coming down around him. "Dang it," he muttered. "No one's here! And we don't have any water Pokémon that are strong enough to put out all of these flames." The green eyed boy silently wished that Ash were here, or that he had at least taken Oshawott along with him instead of letting Ash send it to Professor Juniper like the rest of his Pokémon.

"Come on, Cilan," Iris yelled as she covered her mouth. "We have to get out of here! If not we might suffocate on the smoke!"

'Or worse,' Cilan thought as he nodded to Iris. They were about to race back to the exit of the city when something suddenly grabbed Cilan around the waste. As he was yanked into the air, Iris shrieked in pain and fear.

"Oh, and what do we have here?" a voice questioned. "Two little kids coming to try to help save the town?" Cilan glanced up and growled when he saw who the speaker was.

A boy and girl sat in a giant machine that had grabbed both Cilan and Iris. The girl had long, straight green hair with bangs while the boy had long spiky hear that was purple. The woman's eyes were yellow while the boy's eyes were light blue.

"Who are you?" Cilan ordered as he tried to get free from their grasp.

The girl chuckled. "I'm Lunette, and this is my partner, Alester."

"Now, would you look at that darling Pikachu," Alester pointed out, completely changing the subject. Iris bared her teeth.

"You can't have him!" She shouted, trying to get free. Pikachu also struggled since he was placed snuggly between Iris and the metal of the robot.

"Oh, but we can," Lunette corrected. The robot loosened its hold on Iris and Pikachu just enough for Pikachu to slip out. But, just as quickly as the robot smashed Iris again, Pikachu was locked in a glass container.

"I think we can do Jessie and James a favor since they did us one today," Alester spoke.

Lunette nodded. "Yea this might not have been as successful without them."

"Jessie?" Iris questioned for a minute as she tried to breathe. Then it hit her like a brick. "No! You CAN'T give that to Team Rocket!"

Alester raised an eyebrow and pointed at the 'R' on his T-shirt. "Umm…we ARE Team Rocket."

"You know what I mean!" she yelled, still feeling the pain of being squished.

"Well, I don't think YOU are in the position to give US orders," Lunette snapped. "Especially since you are both coming with us?"

Annime: I hope I didn't rush that too much…

Blake: Please review!