Ash had retreated to his room and had removed his jacket, 'What was Luca's problem? Why was he constantly trying to get rid of that girl?' Ash though to himself, then he remembered how J had tried to kill him on numerous occasions, "Flareon, let's go and check on the Castform's," he said, petting the Fire type and pushing himself off the bed.
"Uh, I don't think I'll ever get the hang of teleportation," moaned Luna, clutching her head as a dizzy spell settled among her, she placed Pikachu on the ground and thanked Claydol, she then pulled out a second Pokéball and Ariados appeared, "I think we would have a better chance of finding Pichu if we split up; Ariados, you go to the left, Claydol, the right, I'll go this way and Pikachu, you go that way, OK? If you see J, her two goonba's or her goon squad, attack at will, meet back here in ten minutes… let's go," and the four of them took off down their paths.
J was standing in one of the holding rooms and was shortly joined by Ash, who was accompanied by Flareon, "Kevin told me that you apprehended the two Castform's, is that correct?" he nodded, ashamed. J grabbed his chin and twisted it up so she could see his eyes, fortunately, he had his goggles still on, "I'm proud of you, brat and you can only get better," suddenly the door opened and in walked Luca, who was carrying a third stone statue, "What is that?" she released her grip and moved her fingers over the bar, freeing the Pokémon down to their midsection.
What none of them knew was that they were being watched, "Doesn't that Pichu belong to that girl?" Ash asked, knowing that it was, Luca smiled evily and moved the bar on the Fire type Castform's container, "Why did you capture her? She wasn't your target," Ash said in anger,
"What's it to you? Any extra Pokémon we catch will be placed in the magazine,"
"While Dark Raven is correct, I would like to know what happened to your mission, you were supposed to capture a Castform, but instead, I hear you decided to goof off and catch something that wasn't your target, why may I ask?" J asked with a hint of evil entering her voice, Ash backed away to the door and noticed that it was open on ajar, he quickly excused himself, leaving J and Luca alone.
'Why have a got a sinking feeling about these intruders?' Ash thought to himself, "I've got to find them before anyone else does," and took off to the left, Flareon close behind him.
Luna felt as though she had ran down the same corridor twenty times, everything looked the same, she finally fell upon where she and the Pokémon had first split up, she was quickly joined by Pikachu who took his place on her shoulder, shaking his head sadly, "Don't worry Pikachu, Claydol and Ariados might have found something," as she said that, Claydol appeared in front of her, also with no luck. Ariados, however, came scuttling along and motioned for them all to follow him, "Awesome. Ariados must have found something," they peered round a corner and saw J and two of her goons, carrying Dark Raven out of the holding room, Luna watched in confusion, "What is going on?" suddenly, a hand clamped round her mouth,
"Bronzong, use Hypnosis on all of them," and the Steel/Psychic Pokémon used its command, its eyes began to glow multicoloured, releasing circles from its body, hitting the three Pokémon and Luna, placing them into a trance, "Follow me quickly," he said. He led them to his room and closed the door, then he tied Luna's hands behind her back, walking over to the bathroom door and slamming it loudly, waking them up from their trance's,
"Huh? What the -" the long black haired trainer tried to move her hands, but to no avail, "You," her eyes eventually fell upon Night Crawler, who was standing by the main door,
He shushed her, placing his hand over her mouth, "Be quiet, if you want Pichu back, you've got to trust me, I know its difficult for you to do that but I can help you get Pichu out of here, okay?"
Luna couldn't believe her ears or eyes, she was agreeing with a crooks plan, she looked down at Pikachu, with unsure eyes. He glanced at the boy and so did Luna, 'He seems familiar,' she thought to herself, "Okay, you got yourself a deal,"
Unfortunately, there was one part of the plan that Night Crawler hadn't told her, 'She's going to hate me for this,' and he aimed his cannon at Claydol and then at Ariados, Luna gasped and ran towards him in anger, "Bronzong, Hypnosis," and the Bronze Bell Pokémon emitted the multicoloured circles in Luna's direction, allowing Night Crawler to turn his best friend to stone as well, 'Sorry buddy,' he then told Luna to follow him. He led her back to the holding room and slammed the door, awakening Luna from her trance,
Luna shook her in confusion, "What the… What's going on?" she said as Night Crawler freed Pikachu, "Pikachu! Thank goodness. Where are the…" she trailed off when she saw her team inbedded in stone, "Claydol! Ariados!" then her eyes settled upon Night Crawler who was about to release Pichu,
He moved his fingers over the female Pokémon's case and picked her up, gently, "There we go, little one, now here's your -" but Night Crawler fell to the floor,
"That's for turning my team to stone!" Luna yelled, holding her fist in pain, she had never hit someone before, but sometimes, needs must, Pichu jumped onto the floor and stood in front of the boy, "Move aside, Pichu," but she refused to move, "What's with you?" the boy began to move and pulled himself up, "Pichu, why are you protecting…" but then, she realised. She watched him move his fingers over the bars on Ariados and Claydol's containers, freeing them both from their stony structures.
"Remind me never to help you again, ow, you sure can pack a punch," Night Crawler chuckled, rubbing his chin. Thankfully, the girl hadn't gone for his goggles, "Now, do yourself a favour and get out of here," he said, taking her shoulders and pushing her into a corner, along with her Pokémon and Pikachu, he then took hold of Pikachu's cheeks and stared deep into his eyes, "You look after her… Buddy," he whispered, making the Electric Pokémon double look at him. "There is one more thing you can do for me," Luna looked up at him, "Ariados, use String Shot on me," Luna's mouth fell open, "Just do it," so Ariados bound his arms to his body and the boy thanked him, causing Luna to stare at him in utter disbelief,
BANG BANG! "Night Crawler? Are you in there?" that was Luca.
Luna watched the boy mouth to her to get out and she nodded, "Claydol," she turned to face him and he whisked her and the Pokémon away.
Once they were gone, Ash fell to the floor and pretended to be unconscious, Luca entered the room to see his prize gone and his enemy lying on the floor, "What in Arecus happened? Where is that Pichu?" then suddenly, J and Kevin appeared, "Sir, I don't know what happened, but its obvious that Night Crawler had -"
"Shut up," J shouted, smacking him across the face, "I don't care what happened here, just be lucky none of the merchandise got away," she glanced down at Ash's body.
He moved slowly, sitting up on his knees, "Uh, my aching head," he said, gently rubbing his temples, "J? Kevin? How long have you both been standing there?"
J walked over to him, pulling him to his feet and wrapped her fingers around his shirt collar, "What happened?"
He shook his head, "I don't know, I was ambushed. After I left you and Dark Raven, I was about to head back to my room when I remembered he brought the camera in here," Ash pointed over the huntress's shoulder at Luca and to where the camera was sitting next to the Fire Castform, "Then everything went black and…" but J had heard enough, she released her grasp, slowly dropping him to the floor where he landed on his feet,
"Kevin, escort Night Crawler and Dark Raven back to their rooms, any trouble, you know what to do," and she turned on her heel, leaving the males alone.
"Sir!" he said, standing to attention as his boss left his sight, "Right, come on, you two," he grabbed Luca's top and threw him out of the door, Ash followed behind and closed the door.
Claydol teleported his trainer to the outside of her house, she returned him and Ariados to their Pokéballs and stepped inside, her mother was watching TV and stood up when she saw her daughter, "Luna?" her daughter didn't answer, instead she went straight upstairs. Rebecca watched her disappear from sight and shrugged, returning to the sofa.
Luna changed into her Water type and Fire type pyjamas, then she climbed up to her treehouse, she wanted to be alone. 'Who was that boy? Why did he help me? What did he say to Pikachu?' all these thoughts were flying around in her head. Then, she felt something push her, she glanced round to see Pikachu and Pichu, both standing there, "Hey you two," Pikachu sat on her left whilst Pichu sat in her lap. They stared up at the sky, lost in a daze. It was beginning to get late and Pichu had fallen asleep in Luna's lap, she carefully picked her up and placed her in her Jigglypuff house, covering her with a small pink blanket, Pikachu watched her with a smile, "There, she's settled for the night," Luna said as she returned to Pikachu's side. "Ash is still out there," she said to herself, rubbing her eyes, Pikachu jumped to her shoulder and wiped a tear from her cheek, "Thanks," she scratched him between the ears, which made his cheeks spark happily, she sighed and stared up at the star filled sky.
Ash placed his hands behind his head and glanced up at the ceiling, he was happy but sad, 'Thank goodness that girl got away without getting caught, Pikachu seems to be really happy with her,' he thought, half smiling, half frowning,
Then he heard banging coming from next door and a shout, "Please, stop!" that was Luca's voice, no question about it. Ash sprung from the bed and exited his room, he was met by J's "goon squad" who were desperately trying to get into the room, when they opened it, they saw a man. A man with a Pokéball, held tight in his hands and Luca, flinching with fear in the corner, "Father, please. I'm sorry," Ash stood there in shock as J's men pried the older man away from the trembling blonde,
As he left the room, Ash walked over to Luca and put his hand on his shoulder reassuringly, "You okay?" Luca responded by pulling the black haired boy into a hug, "Its going to be okay," Ash whispered, holding Luca tight and twisting round to see the doorway empty.