A rather well-known character will join in this chapter (you will know who I mean). I have to make clear that this is NOT the character from the anime, but was inspired by the games before it happened in the anime.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.


Chapter 7: Old friends

The next day started just like the others, only a bit warmer and more sunny. All in all, it looked like a great day for training but even the sun couldn't make Ash wake up sooner. As usual, he was the last to get up and only arrived downstairs when their pokémon were almost done with their meal. They looked up and greeted him when he entered the kitchen.

"Ah, my slaking is finally awake," Dawn teased him. "A bit later than usual."

Ash looked at the clock. It was 9:32 AM. Yesterday, the girl rang the bell at the very same time.

"You know ..." Suddenly, the door bell rang. "What the hell?"

"What's the matter?" She sensed his nervousness although she didn't know why.

"Yesterday, at the same time ... she appeared at the door." Ash didn't say who he meant but this time, she knew it.

"Oh well, it's just a coincidence," Dawn exclaimed after a short moment of silence, laughing nervously. Neither of them were superstitious, but the timing seemed just too perfect. "I'm going to open the door."

Ash didn't protest. However, he gave his pokémon a signal to follow him and fight in case something happened. Dawn slowly opened the door, revealing a young woman of medium height with long, blonde hair. She was wearing a red skirt, black shirt and long, black stockings. Her eyes were blue, a bit lighter than Dawn's, and a red hat with sunglasses was resting on her head.

"Aaaash! Daaawn! Long time no see!" she shouted.

"Serena!" both Ash and Dawn exclaimed.

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu was obviously happy to see their friend and jumped on her shoulder, where he got some petting.

"Surprised to see me? You didn't seriously think I would miss one of my mentors' birthday?" the girl told them but Ash was still surprised.

"How did you know about that? I can't recall having told you," he said, scratching his chin.

"I did," Dawn clarified. "She asked me so I told her. She said that she wanted to travel through Kanto anyway and your birthday would be a good start."

"I see. Come in, come in. We can't just let you stand in front of the door, even if the weather is so nice." The other pokémon also cheered when she entered.

Serena was one of the two young trainers traveling through Kalos with Ash and Dawn and some kind of childhood friend of Ash. Her straightforwardness and honesty reminded the others a bit of Zoey, but she was more naive and less experienced. She was also more prone to sudden outburst but those were still rare. She enjoyed shopping, especially when it was about fashion, and dancing, but her greatest passion was singing. There was no doubt to them that her voice was one of the greatest in the world, and she put it to use whenever she could.

Memories of her first journey were still vivid. At first she wasn't sure whether to become a regular trainer or a coordinator so she asked her friends but they couldn't really help her. In the end, she decided to do both. Having two experienced tutors, she became powerful quite quickly. And even though she still lost badly to Ash at the league, it was a wonderful journey. She wasn't the only one to benefit from traveling together. After the disaster in Hoenn, Ash was glad to find someone who valued his experience.

The other one was called Calem. Unlike Serena, he usually kept to himself. Since he wanted to become a champion, he tried to learn as much as he could from Ash. Eventually, he fell in love with Serena but she didn't return his feelings. So he left them shortly before the league to find his own way and to forget about her. They haven't seen or heard from him since.

"I'm very hungry. Could You give me something to eat?" Serena asked upon sitting down in the kitchen.

"I'm afraid I only made breakfast for two but Ash will share his food." The way Dawn said that made it clear that he had no choice.

With a groan he fetched another plate and put part of his meal on it before offering it to his friend.

"Thank you, Dawn," Serena replied with a wink, happily accepting her meal. While eating, she had a good look at the kitchen and everything else she could see from her seat. "You have a very nice house. I wish I had my own apartment at last, but mom says I'm still too young."

"It'll happen sooner than you think," Ash mumbled, still disgruntled about his breakfast. "Besides, this house isn't even that big. I think the garden is much more interesting."

"A garden?" She got up, almost knocking her chair aside. "With berries and wild pokémon and all that stuff? You have to show me!"

"We'll show you, no need to worry. Don't get your hopes up too much, though," Dawn replied, laughing.

"If it's anything like the Oak ranch, it'll be good enough. I saw some of your pokémon, Ash. Most of them were really nice to me. Most of them." Ash could already guess who wasn't. "Your bisharp mostly ignored me and your hydreigon just snarled."

"I'm not surprised," Ash said before Dawn could protest. "Bisharp is a proud pokémon, who won't talk to you until you have proved yourself. And as for Hydreigon ... she's Dawn's pokémon, not mine."

"What? But isn't it too aggressive and brutal for a contest pokémon?" Serena asked. "I mean, the things my pokédex said ..."

"Actually, she really likes contests, just not the people watching them," Dawn clarified.

"And is she always that rude?" Dawn was about to answer when Ash interrupted her.

"Oh, you should see her when she's alone with Dawn. Like a puppy," he said with a chuckle.

"Better don't let her hear that. But I guess I am the only one she really loves being around. She has come to like Ash, our pokémon, family and friends, especially Iris. She's intimidating but also very loyal and devoted." Ash chuckled again.

"Meaning that anyone making sudden movements in her presence will die a horrible death," he joked.

"Don't listen to him. They might have to stay in hospital for a few months but they will live." Now Serena wasn't sure whether Dawn was kidding or not. "But that makes me wonder, haven't you seen last year's Wallace Cup? She was one of my pokémon in the final battle."

"Well ..." Serena looked at the ground. "I must admit I haven't seen it. I heard that you've won it but no details. You see, I was rather ... preoccupied with ... certain affairs. I don't really like talking about those so please don't ask." Since she was red in the face and clearly embarrassed, they decided to drop the topic.

"No problem. Maybe you should have a look at a few videos. It was easily one of her best battles," Ash told her.

"Hey, don't get her expectations up too much," Dawn protested.

They remembered how they'd caught those two pokémon. It had been during Team Rocket's operation in Unova.


Flashback

"There it is," Iris said, pointing at a camp at the brink of the forest near Striaton City. "A lot of Team Rocket grunts have visited it lately."

Ash, Dawn, Iris and Cilan believed that it had something to do with the increased activities of said team but they were wrong. It was simply a poacher's camp, a large one, but still merely a poacher's camp. However, that didn't make it any better and they were going to act nonetheless. Others might say they were being reckless but they didn't care. In their opinion, it was a crime not to do anything, especially after seeing all those poor pokémon suffering in their cages.

A plan was made. Dawn's crobat would start the battle with his individual move, scream of terror. It was one of the very first (working) individual moves and even though some people claimed that it was simply an improved supersonic move, it remained Crobat's specialty. The horribly loud and shrill noise had a chance of confusing anyone hearing it. In addition, they would be rendered deaf for a short time, making communication between trainer and pokémon difficult so they told their pokémon what to do beforehand. The poachers, on the other hand, weren't prepared at all.

The attack went just as expected. In the chaos, they managed to disarm the guards and defeat their pokémon with ease. Unfortunately, they didn't consider the fact that the scream would also frighten the captive pokémon. Several of them tried to escape but only few succeeded. A deino, whose cage door was destroyed by a pokémon attack, and a birsharp, who managed to break free on its own, were among them.

"I'll find the deino and bring it back!" Dawn told the others. It was too dangerous for the pokémon to just run away. Iris had already gone to catch an axew and Cilan was busy with a ferrothorn.

"Wait! Let me go ..." He got distracted by the rampaging bisharp and when he looked back Dawn was already gone. "Reckless girl! Where did she go? I have to take care of that bisharp first. Charizard, I choose you!"

The fire type released a mighty roar, which immediately turned Bisharp's attention towards him.

"Listen. I don't want to fight you. But if ..." Before he could even finish, Bisharp charged right at his pokémon. "Fine! Let's do this."

Despite fighting bravely, the steel type didn't really stand a chance against Charizard. Even when he was already lying in the dirt, he was still trying to stop Ash but couldn't get up.

"Shaaarp ..." he cried all the time.

"What the hell was that about?" Ash asked. "Solosis, please translate for me."

The psychic type was reluctant at first, probably because it was a bisharp, who beat him up before he met Ash. Nevertheless, he told him what the steel type was trying to say.

"He begs you to spare the pawniard and take him instead." Ash looked at the cages behind his opponent. They were full of frightened pawniard.

"So he was just protecting them. But still, he was a danger to every pokémon here." He turned to Bisharp. "We aren't here to take anyone. We Just want to free the pokémon from the poachers. All we ask is that you stay here until the police have arrested them."

Of course, Bisharp wasn't sure whether to trust him. However, he didn't really have a choice. When the things Ash said turned out to be true, he decided to join him as a thanks for the help and because he was impressed by Ash's skill.

Meanwhile, Dawn was having a hard time finding the escaped deino. Suddenly, she jumped out of a bush, tackled her and bit the coordinator's arm. She winced in pain but didn't fight back. After all, this poor creature was confused and lost. It was shivering. Besides, in her haste, she had forgotten to take a pokémon with her so there was nothing she could do. Except to talk.

"I'm sure you are afraid, tired and hurt. I can only imagine what you gone through, what those bastards have done to you." Deino loosened her bite. Obviously, the effect of the scream had worn off. "But you must understand, I'm not your enemy. I want to help you. We want to help you. Please don't be afraid."

Deino let go of her, giving her a slightly puzzled look.

"I guess you have only met those bad people. But not everyone is like that. We care about pokémon. You will be free, don't worry about that," Dawn assured her.

She didn't know why but it seemed her voice had a very soothing effect on the dragon type. It almost stumbled and at first, the coordinator was afraid that Deino might be hurt but she just put her head on Dawn's lap before soft snoring sounds could be heard. Instinctively, she used her uninjured hand to pet her.

"Get some rest. Nobody will hurt you now," she whispered.

Dawn thought about carrying the pokémon back to the others but soon realized that with her injured arm, it was impossible. It was quite a dilemma. She couldn't just leave Deino or she might never trust another human again but on the other hand, the bleeding was getting worse. Fortunately, Ash found her a few minutes later. When he tried to help her, Deino woke up and attempted to attack him but was convinced to stop by Dawn. Together, they returned to the ruined camp, where the police was busy arresting the poachers. Pokémon stolen from trainers were returned to those whereas wild pokémon were free to go wherever they wanted. Deino didn't want to leave Dawn, though. She kept following her until Dawn held out an empty pokéball. Without a second thought, she got herself captured.

End of flashback


Even now, she wasn't sure why Deino started to trust her. Maybe the reason he started to trust her blindly was her soothing voice, which was the first thing she heard after the shock of experiencing the scream of terror. It didn't matter to her. She had a new friend. After the final evolution, everyone was afraid that Hydreigon would forget about everything, that she would be become uncontrollable. Fortunately that wasn't the case, only strangers felt that she was even more aggressive and distrustful.

"I wish I could ..." A sudden ring at the door interrupted her. "Oh, who could that be?"

She followed them to the door. Opening it revealed a young man with short, brown hair and green eyes. It was the same guy who was there the day before. There was a brief look of relief on his face, which was replaced by something more grim almost instantly.

"It's about time!" he shouted. "I challenge you to a pokémon battle!"

"Oh, not this again." Ash groaned. "Can't I finish my breakfast first? It's not like there will be any surprises this time."

"It will be different today." He sounded impatient. "Now, do you accept or do you want to chicken out?"

"Look, Marcus. I have a lot to do so can't we do this tomorrow?" Ash asked.

"No, I ..." Marcus noticed someone he didn't know standing behind Ash. "And who is this?"

"I'm Serena from Kalos," she took his hand and shook it. "I'm one of his friends. And you are?"

"Call me Marcus." He turned back to Ash. "Now what about the challenge?"

"Please accept, Ash. I haven't seen you battling for a long time." Serena told him with her best puppy eyes.

"I don't have time for this." Ash wanted to turn around but Serena got in his way .

"Please?" she begged.

Marcus wanted to tell Serena to mind her own business but he couldn't. After all, she was just a child who craved for a good battle and she did help him so he gave her a nod as a silent thank you instead.

"Fine!" Ash yielded. "We can have a battle in our garden. There is a small field there. Just follow me."

The only one not following him was Dawn, who stayed in the kitchen. Serena, upon seeing this, asked her why she didn't want to watch them.

"Oh, I do want to watch them but I have to make some coffee for all of us. Otherwise, Ash will be grumpy the whole day," she added, laughing.

"Alright, see you soon." Then Serena went to join Ash and his challenger.

When she arrived at the garden, Ash and Marcus were already standing at the opposite corners of the field, pokéballs in their hands. The weather had only gotten better so it was a perfect day for a battle. Only sun blinding the pokémon on Ash's side was an issue but he didn't seem to mind at all.

"A three on three battle enough for you?" Ash asked. Since Serena didn't know how strong Marcus was, she wasn't sure whether Ash sounded arrogant or just confident.

"Good enough for me." Marcus waited for Ash to call out his first pokémon.

"Alright. Noctowl, I choose you!" Ash felt that the flying type could use some real action.

"Oh, look at the color. It's so pretty!" Serena exclaimed.

"Very unusual. Let's see whether it's also unusually strong. Go, Ampharos!" As expected, he used a pokémon with a type advantage. He had to, as this particular pokémon was new to him. "Start with thunderbolt!"

"Dodge it and counter with night field!" Noctowl had no trouble evading the simple move before creating a large field of dark mist, which made watching the battle almost impossible, much to Serena's disappointment. "Echoed voice!"

Not only did the sound waves seem to come from everywhere but they also became stronger all the time. In addition to the dark mist making its eyes useless, the stench almost made it vomit and it couldn't hear where the attacks were coming from.

"Clear it! Use flash!" His voice seemed distant but the electric type heard him and its tail started to glow but the light was absorbed by the darkness almost instantly. "Damn it! Discharge!"

Most of the electricity missed but Ash was a bit afraid that the rest might paralyze his pokémon. Fortunately, this wasn't the case.

"It appears we're not loud enough yet. Use hyper voice!" A powerful, echoing shriek could be heard from within the darkness.

Now Ampharos wasn't able to hear its trainers commands anymore so it started to flail around with thunder punch. The battle continued like that with Noctowl taking almost no damage at all while Ampharos was getting down quickly. Finally, the noise subsided and the mist was cleared by a whirlwind, revealing Ampharos to be unconscious already. Ash's pokémon, on the other hand, was barely injured.

"What the hell was that? And why wasn't your pokémon affected?" Marcus asked in frustration.

"Night field is a move I created myself. Due to his eyes, Noctowl can see just as well whereas other pokémon often have real trouble. Most of our pokémon have moves made specifically for them," Ash told him proudly.

"Amazing, isn't he?" Dawn was suddenly behind Serena, holding four cups of coffee. "Those moves are among our greatest creations. This particular one was to simulate a night battle, in which Noctowl is superior due to his keen senses,"

"I can see that," she replied, taking one of the offered cups. "He has become so much stronger."

"Oh yes. I'm always telling him that he's ready to face Lance but he insists on waiting for me to be ready for Wallace. I don't know why and I don't even know whether I will ever truly feel ready for that," Dawn told her. "But enough of this, you came here to watch this battle, after all."

" Ampharos, return! Staraptor, go!" Marcus hoped that he could use whirlwind just like Noctowl did to get rid of the night field if necessary. "Use quick attack!"

"Wait for it." Noctowl let his opponent hit him. "Now hypnosis!"

From that distance, he couldn't miss and the result was Staraptor falling to the ground. Marcus cursed himself for falling for that simple trap.

"Use dream eater! Then air slash!" The trainer had to watch his pokémon getting hit by several attacks, including a few energy blades until it finally woke up again. However, it had taken so much damage that the battle was basically over.

"Right above you! Endeavor!" It shot right up, hitting Noctowl just as he was about to finish it off.

"Not bad," Ash admitted as his pokémon was hit for massive damage.

"Finish it with quick attack!" Marcus commanded.

"Dodge it and use psychic!" Ash's pokémon dodged the attack just in time. Then his eyes glowed blue and Staraptor was smashed into the ground.

"That was weak. Return!" Its trainer growled.

"It did its best. No need to scowl it," Ash told him with a grim look. "Good job, Noctowl. Take a rest now. Marcus, do you really want to finish this battle? I ..."

"Of course I do!" he retorted.

"Fine. Gallade, I choose you!" The fighting stood proudly. Nearly all of his friends in this team had gotten a battle but now it was his turn.

"Oh great." Marcus had no pokémon with a type advantage left. "Tangrowth, it's your turn! Start with vine whip!"

Two large tentacles emerged from the mass and shot towards the fighting type.

"Counter with psycho cut!" He shot two energy blades from his arms, cutting the tentacles and hitting Tangrowth's body. Apart from cutting a few more tentacles, they didn't do much damage, though. "Very well, we have to try something a bit more effective. Use ice punch!"

He teleported right in front of the grass type before hitting it twice with his icy arms. However, more tentacles came from its body, wrapping themselves around his arms, basically entrapping him. No matter how much he pulled, they were too strong.

"Very good! Now use sleep powder and giga drain!" Gallade was hit by the powder right in the face, putting him to sleep instantly. Then the tentacles around his arms glowed green and started to drain energy from him. "Keep it up!" But suddenly, he woke up.

"Get out of there with teleport!" Gallade vanished with a bright flash only to reappear next to Ash.

Thanks to a special training, Ash's pokémon were slightly resistant to status effects like sleep and poison, waking up earlier and taking less damage. It took years but in the end, he felt it was worth it. Dawn had other priorities, her specialty was controlling the opponent and their moves.

"Use vine whip, full power!" Dozens of tentacles were coming towards Gallade.

"Whirling defense!" He extended his purple glowing arms while spinning rapidly, cutting every tentacle coming close enough. "Alright, let's get really serious now. Use ice punch on psycho cut!"

He created several energy blades, which were held in the air by psychic. before using ice punch on them, both turning them blue and shooting them towards his opponent with tremendous force. Upon impact, there were massive, icy explosions but Gallade wasn't done yet.

"Now ice punch assault!" The explosions pushed the grass type back, where Gallade teleported to follow up with another ice punch from behind. "Now finish it with another combo!"

"Attack it with power whip!" Marcus shouted desperately.

Two even larger tentacles tried to tie Gallade up but he teleported next to Ash before it could happen. Then he held his left arm, which now glowed purple, vertically in front of him. His right arm started glow blue and her started slapping the other one with it, releasing blue energy blades with each hit. They started flying around Tangrowth, who tried to block them with protect but as soon as the shield dissolved, the blades hit it at the same time, knocking it out.

"Well done. Take a good, long rest now," Ash said, recalling him.

"Damn it. Return!" Marcus felt more frustration than anger. "Why? Why can't I win against you or the Elite Four? I've been training so hard but I stand no chance."

"You always make the same mistakes. Use more combinations. So far you've only used simple attacks. The strength of your pokémon is clearly on Elite Four level but they seem a bit tired and frightened. I think you may have pushed them a bit too hard," Ash explained.

"I didn't ask you for your advice!" Marcus yelled.

"See, you don't even listen to me after this battle," he pointed out. "You have to learn or face the consequences."

Marcus's resistance to good advices and his poor treatment of his pokémon made Ash angry and frustrated, he wasn't unlike the old Paul in that regard. The difference was that Ash was superior in every way, which almost made it worse since he meant well and just couldn't understand why someone like that wouldn't listen to him.

"He's right. Please calm down," Dawn said, offering him a cup.

"I don't want your advice or your coffee!" He slapped her hand, spilling the coffee.

"MARCUS! You will apologize immediately!" He froze as he knew that voice all too well.

"Sis? When did you arrive?" he asked.

"Dawn opened the door for me while she was making coffee," she replied. "Now apologize!"

Serena had a closer look at the new face. It was a young woman, probably around 20 years old, with light green eyes and brown hair in a ponytail. She was wearing a white shirt, black socks and a black skirt, which went to her knees. A younger girl with long, silver hair and purple eyes, perhaps around fourteen years old, was behind her, looking upset.

"And if I don't?" She answered immediately by slapping him. "Hey, not in front of ..."

"What did I just say?" she asked.

"I won't ..." He got slapped again. "Alright, I'm sorry." He picked up the cup and handed it to Dawn. "I won't bother you any longer." Without another word he turned to leave and Serena followed him.

"Hey, no need to be so grumpy. Ash is really powerful. You handled yourself quite well," she told him once they were far enough away.

"You don't understand. I've been training for years to challenge the Elite Four but I haven't been able to defeat even one of them." He sighed. "Only four league victories. I also won at the battle frontiers in Kanto and Johto but those don't count. They were laughably weak. Without their legendary pokémon they would be nothing."

"Come on, you can't say that isn't impressive," she said to him. "Many people don't get that far. Hell, I would be happy to have one league victory. Somehow, I always mess up or get extremely powerful opponents. You have four and I'm not that much younger than you."

"Yeah, yeah but I want more than that. I have to become a champion. A true champion," he explained.

"Why? Why do you have to?" she asked.

"I owe it to my father. He has been my motivation to get this far. If only he were still alive ..." He shook his head.

Actually, Marcus had no idea why he was telling her this. Maybe it was because she was the first one to be impressed by his accomplishments so far, including his father.

"Well, bye," he simply said.

"Okay. See you. " Serena was curious but even she was sensitive enough not to ask about his father.

Still lost in thoughts about that battle, she returned to Ash and Dawn. Marcus's sister greeted her.

"I'm sorry you had to see this. Marcus can be a real brat sometimes." She stepped aside so that the younger girl was in plain sight. "This is my younger sister Eileen. I'm Catelyn Tanner, but just call me Cat. Everyone does. Pleased to meet you," she introduced herself.

"Hello." Eileen offered a bright smile, but she didn't sound really enthusiastic.

"My name is Serena. Pleased to meet you too. That name sounds familiar." Everyone was quiet all of sudden, which only made her more curious. "Is something wrong?"

"It's alright, we're used to it. You have heard of the Sorlan Massacre?" Cat asked with a sad smile.

"Yes, now I remember," she blurted out. "That traitorous guard's name was also ... oh."

"Yes, he was our father." Serena was quite embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," she stammered.

"It's alright. As I said, I'm used to it. Just don't mention it in front of Marcus. He gets upset easily," Cat told her.

"Now I understand. He said he wanted to make his father proud."At this moment, Serena was really glad that she hadn't inquired any further.

"He's a fool." She looked up, a bit shocked by those words. "Our father failed as a trainer and got the idea that his son might do it for him. I don't know why Marcus looked up to him like that. He wasn't a good father. Was too busy for his family. I took care of his son for him. But of course, his death made things even worse. I don't know whether he really was a traitor. Marcus doesn't think so. Anyway, other people started to blame him as well so please forgive him if he acts a bit grumpy. It's a really bad situation for him."

"I see." Obviously, Ash and Dawn already knew about that.

"Of course he was already quite grumpy before. He has been trying to defeat the Elite Four for months now but he's failed miserably every time so far. I think he simply lacks talent. But there's nothing I can do about it. He doesn't respect me. Sometimes he's so rude that I have to slap him until he sees reason." Serena chuckled, remembering the scene a few minutes ago. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you with this."

"It's no problem. At least now I can kind of understand him," the blonde answered.

"I wish I could." Cat sighed. "I'll try to make him stop bothering you, Ash."

"The battles aren't the problem, just his attitude. And sometimes he really chooses an odd time." Ash wondered how those two could be related.

"Don't be so hard on him and dad, Cat," Eileen suddenly said. "Hitting him won't improve anything. He just does what he thinks is best."

"Which it obviously isn't. You don't have to protect him." She sighed. "Alright, I better get moving now. There are still so many things to do. Bye, everyone." It was then that they realized how tired she looked.

Ash and Dawn knew that she worked as a nurse in Saffron City. It was a hard job with low pay but she needed the money for the family as she was the only one actually earning money since her father's death. Their mother had died of cancer when Marcus was still a small child. Even in Cat's free time, she was busy taking care of a spoiled brat who didn't show any gratitude. At least Eileen behaved, and helped whenever she could, trying to please everyone. Without her efforts to keep the family together, it might have broken a long time ago.

Together with Serena, Ash and Dawn finished their meal before starting to talk about their plans for the day. Ash wanted to create his appeal for the Wallace as he tried to do the day before. Dawn still wanted to get him a proper present but of course, she pretended that she wanted to train and even invited Serena to join her. However, once again, before they could do something else, the door bell rang.

"What the hell is wrong today?" Ash groaned.

When they opened the door, a tall man in a black suit bowed deeply. In front of their house, a rather large and expensive car was standing.

"It is an honor to meet you. I bring you a letter from Nathan Sorlan, the president of Sorlan Corporations." He handed them the letter, which Ash opened.

Dear Ash and Dawn,

I am a great fan of both of you so I've been hoping to meet you in person for a while now. And I believe your victory over Team Rocket is good reason to meet you and thank you for everything you have done (you don't need to deny it, I have friends at the international police who told me about your accomplishment). Because of those, we were able to recover many stolen things from Team Rocket.

I understand you are busy preparing for the upcoming battles so I won't take too much of your time. Since, as you may have heard, there has been quite a tragedy lately, it would mean a lot to me (and also to my pokémon).

A special present is waiting for you at our company buildings in Viridian City. The man who brought you this letter can drive you there if you wish (the seats in the car are really comfortable, you should try it). I hope to see you in a few hours.

Yours,

Nathan Sorlan

"Well, that was a lot less formal than I expected," Ash finally said. "What do you think?"

"If it really means so much to him, we should do it. You do remember that tragedy he spoke about don't you?" Dawn didn't even need to ask.

"Of course. We spoke about it when Cat was here." Ash put the letter back into the envelope.

Sorlan Corporations were specialized in pokémon medicine, venoms and, recently, pokéballs. With the help of a traitorous guard, who was believed to be Marcus's father, Shira's organization found a way into their headquarters during an important conference. They not only stole a lot of materials but also butchered every single man and woman attending the meeting, including Nathan's father. Nathan himself was late for the meeting due to technical problems with a plane. When he arrived, he could only watch as the lifeless bodies of his father and nearly every high ranking member were taken to the morgue. The traitor got his reward as he was betrayed by the criminals and shot along with the others. As a result, Nathan became the president and immediately increased the security.

"Alright, let's do it. Shall we drive or teleport there?" Ash finally asked.

"Teleport. It's much faster. Besides, I don't like getting into a stranger's car." Then she remembered something. "But we should ask where it is. After all, we only know that it's in Viridian City."

"You're right." He turned to the man who brought the letter. "We'd like to teleport there. Can you tell us where to find those company buildings?"

"Of course, it is your decision. The buildings are in the east of the city, near the gym. You will recognize them immediately as the main building is the largest one in the entire city. There is a large ekans, formed like an S on it," he explained.

"Oh, it's a shame I can't go with you," Serena suddenly said. "Your rewards will probably be amazing." She decided to ask them later what those accomplishments were.

"Well, you can feel at home here or you can visit the Oak lab. There you can also meet nearly all of our pokémon. It would probably take you a while to get to know all of them." She just squealed, already looking forward to it.

"I can't wait. You two also have fun. Bye!" Before they could answer, she was already gone.

"She really should meet Barry and Bianca. I think they would be good friends," Dawn said, laughing.

"She probably will if they accept our invitation. Let's go now. Thank you for the information," he told the messenger.

"It was my pleasure." He bowed once more before getting into the car and driving away.

"Gallade!" Ash called out the psychic type. "Please take us to the Viridian City gym."

In an instant, they were already next to the gym but there was also a new building nearby. Just as the messenger had told them, there was a S, which was actually an ekans. It was a symbol for both its powerful venoms and the useful medicine made from it.

"Thank you, you can rest again." Ash recalled his pokémon.

Then they went to the entrance of the building. The doors opened automatically, revealing a futuristic entrance hall. Soon they would meet .