As midnight drew nearer, Ash and Cynthia had decided to turn in for the night for more training tomorrow. "Ash before you go, can you do something for me?" Cynthia asked Ash as he made his way to the door. "Sure what is it?" He asked. "Can you and I go for ice cream after the exam next week?" She asked. "Absolutely."Ash said with a smile. "We could make that our first official date if you want." "That would be romantic and great." Cynthia said. Ash walked to her and gave her one last kiss good night and retired to his quarters for the night. Once he made it back, he saw that his Pikachu was still awake with a happy look on his face. "My god bud, you are never gonna believe what just happened." Ash said as he sat next to him on the bed. "Cynthia and I are not only going to have the final exam of my training here next week, but now she is my girlfriend." Pikachu began jumping around for joy, so happy that his best friend was with someone at long last.
Meanwhile at the dead of night in Sinnoh, Cyrus and the rest of the Galactic Commanders reunited at their old base at Veilstone City. "Master Cyrus, I knew we meet up once again." Commander Mars said with a sinister smile. "Same here boss." Saturn said. "Me as well." Jupiter said with a serious face. "It has been so long that I have been trapped inside the Distortion World." Cyrus growled. "But now that I'm free, I can now dominate this world and make it my own. Before we begin with my master plan, we need to get most of our grunts back in action and trained up." As the 3 commanders received their objectives, Cyrus stayed behind at stare at the moonlight. "I hear your looking for a personal guard." Someone spoke out from behind. "You must be the mercenary I hired for this." Cyrus said as he turned around. He eyed a tall man covered with armor from head to foot. His sleeves held slots for 3 Poke Balls in each. In the mercenaries case, 6 Master Balls. He held a military-like bag filled with medicines, and other items needed for traveling. "You called me to help Team Galactic rise up once again, and would pay me handsomely once it was complete." He whispered. "That's correct." Cyrus said. "Plus as an extra bonus, if you were to fend off anyone stupid enough to get in our way, then an added 10% will be added to your payment." "Anyone in particular that you are hoping for?" The mercenary asked. "If you can get rid of Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh, and anyone else that's with her, then nobody will stop us." Cyrus explained. "Deal." The mercenary said as he shook hands with Cyrus in agreement.
Back at the vacation home, Ash and Cynthia continued Ash's final training session before the final exam in 3 days time. During the training, Cynthia was receiving a phone call from an unknown caller. "Hello, Cynthia speaking." She said. "Greetings Cynthia." The voice said. "I, Cyrus, have finally returned from the Distortion world. I'm calling to let warn you to stay out of Team Galactics way of world domination. This time is completely different. Unless you want to be destroyed, stay away from Sinnoh or there will be dire consequences." "CYRUS, YOU BASTARD!" Cynthia screamed out. "IF YOU HURT ANYONE OR ANY POKEMON THERE, THEN ME AND MY POKEMON WILL KILL YOU FOR GOOD!" She hung up with rage and fear. "Cynthia, what happened?" Ash yelled out. "Cyrus is back from the Distortion World." She said. "WHAT?!" Ash shouted. "HOW THE HELL IS HE STILL ALIVE?! IT'S NOT RIGHT!" "Pack up you Pokemon, we are leaving for Celestic Town now." Cynthia insisted. Ash, who was more concerned for her more then ever before, grabbed his Pokemon in less then 3 minutes. By the time he got out of the house and locked it, Cynthia and Garchomp were already leaving for Sinnoh. Ash mounted his Salamence and they caught up with her shortly after leaving. "I don't know what Cyrus is planning on doing this time," Ash said to Cynthia. "but I will ensure you we will do it together." Cynthia agreed entirely. "We need to head back to my hometown in Sinnoh first." Cynthia said. "I need to make sure that everyone there is safe, especially my family."
Garchomp and Salamence took off at top speed to reach the Sinnoh Region fast. They managed to reach the Sinnoh Region in before late afternoon. They touched down at Celestic Town right by her old place. When they entered, she saw that nobody was home. "Grandmother!" She called out. "Are you here?" "Look there's a note on the table." Ash said as he pointed. "What does it say?" She picked up the note and read, 'Cynthia, if you are reading this, then you are already in knee deep of severe danger of not only yourself, but your family as well. We are holding them captive at Veilstone City at are headquarters. If you ever want to see them alive, then come to our headquarters and fight your way to them. If you dare. Commander Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.'" Cynthia just stared at the note and began to clench the note in her hand. "Cynthia, it's clearly a trap." Ash said. "We have no choice, we have to go get them." Cynthia demanded. "I need you to take your Pokemon and head for Route 215, and I'll come in from 214. I'll take on the headquarters and you take on the underground warehouse. We need to cover ever part of the place until we find them."
Ash knew that Cynthia was getting very scared of what happened to her family. "Hey, Cynthia." Ash said as he put his hand on Cynthia's shoulder. "If something does go wrong, I want to let you know that I will always love you no matter what. Here." He handed him his cell phone number to her. "If you find them, call me and I'll fight my way out." "Ash, I love you the same way." Cynthia said as she turned around to face him. She then handed him her phone number as well. "You do the same." She said. "If you find them, alert me immediately. I'll come running with my team. Are you ready?" "I'm ready for anything." Ash said. Cynthia gave him one last kiss that lasted for about 5 minutes until she mounted her Garchomp. Ash watched as his loved one flew off towards Route 214. "Come on Pikachu, we have a job to do." Ash said as he mounted Salamence. They flew off, but kept at a low level to prevent being seeing coming from the west.
As Cynthia approached the front door of the Galactic Headquarters, she ordered her Garchomp to blast it with dragon pulse. After it blasted the doors opened, they walked through the smoke and prepared for the battle at hand. "ALRIGHT PUNKS!" Cynthia shouted. "UNLESS IF YOU WANT TO BECOME SHARK BAIT, THEN YOU BETTE TELL ME WHERE IS SHE!" "Ahh, we were just expecting you to show up.' A grunt said on her left. "We knew you would come here to save your grandmothers life, but I hate to be the bringer of bad news for you, you won't find her." This really pissed off Cynthia so much. "You better tell me where the hell she's at, or my Garchomp will have you for target practice." Cynthia demanded as she walked towrds the grunt.
Meanwhile, Ash managed to sneak into the underground warehouse underneath Veilstone City. He had his Spiritomb, Lucario, and Pikachu on standby. Ash was using his aura sensing powers to find anyone that looked like Cynthia's grandmother. Once he managed to find her just a level underneath, he prepared for a plan to get her out. "Spiritomb, I want you to use your hypnosis to put the guards to sleep." Ash explained. "Pikachu, I want you and Lucario to work together to break open that lock without tripping any alarms. Me and the rest of my team will cover you guys." Once they were ready to go, they made their way down to the basement of the warehouse. Before Ash moved on after reaching the stairs, he called Cynthia on his phone. "Cynthia, it's me." Ash spoke quitely. "We found your grandmother. She is still alive, but very weak. She is at the basement of the warehouse and we are moving in." "Great news Ash." Cynthia said. "I also gotten some very interesting information for you, but it's best we get her out of there and head to Rowan's Pokemon Lab. I'll be there as soon as I can."
After Ash's phone call, he began to sense the presence of a highly hostile enemy coming from behind him. He turned around fast and saw a tall man covered in armor with his Master Ball sleeve slots open for battle. "Who are you?" Ash called out. "And what have you done to her." "That is not any of your concerns boy." The man said. "As for my name, the names Wade Johnson. I'm a high ranked mercenary under the command of Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic. He promised me big money to help him accomplish his dream, and a bonus to stop anyone from getting in his way." Ash sensed his aura from within. It was pure red with no traces of goodness within. "Wait a minute, I heard that name before." Ash said. "You are a wanted criminal in multiple regions. You attempted on being the deadliest mercenary on the planet." Wade chuckled with amazement. "It looks like me reputation precedes me." He said. "But enough talk, it's time for you to disappear forever." He pulled out two Master Balls, one on each arm, and released a Rhyperior and a Gengar. The battle between Ash and Wade the mercenary began. Will Ash be able to overpower Wade's Pokemon and save Cynthia's grandmother, or will he fall and fail everyone? These answers will be revealed as the story continues.