A low voice was heard as Ash was crawling inside the air shaft. He hoped to travel this way to the top floor, where something unusual was taking place. Ash went alone in air shaft, leaving May with his Pikachu in another room. There they would be safe for the time being.

Ash came to an intersection. One went left and another went right.

'Wonder which direction is the right one…' He pondered as he looked both directions. 'I'm one level down from the top floor, so I have to get up at some intersection. There should be some way that go upward'

He finally decided to go right and continued crawling. 'With Pikachu, this would be easier but it has a more important job to do.'

With May and Pikachu

May was still frightened by that voice. She couldn't see who was talking because of the darkness in that room. Pikachu went in front of May and let out sparks, warning this mysterious person not to come closer. This person didn't back up but only continued to come closer to May and Pikachu.

"May, it's me," a male's voice said, sounding close by. When he was close enough, May recognized him.

"Drew? What the heck are you doing in here?" she asked in a very surprised tone. Pikachu stopped sparking and jumped on May's lap.

"I was caught by Team Rocket." He sat down beside her. "But I managed to escape and heard that you're in this building, so I wondered if you need some help."

"Well, I really don't need any help right now, and even if I did, Pikachu would help me, isn't that right?" She petted Pikachu and it gave a nod. "By the way, why did you leave me and Ash at the Pokemon Center a few days ago?"

"Um… Like I said, Team Rocket caught me," Drew spoke a little nervously.

May, feeling suspicious, began firing off questions. "Why'd they capture you? And how did you managed to escape?"

"I can explain later," he said, hoping she'd forget to ask again later. "Can I ask where Ash is?"

"Oh, he went into the air shaft. Why do you ask?" May was stroking Pikachu's fur while talking.

"Just wondering why he left you back here. Anyone could come through the door and catch you. That's quite careless." Drew flicked his hair.

"Are you saying that he doesn't care about me?!" May snapped. Before he could answer, she continued. "If you must know, he is my boyfriend now. And he left me behind because he wanted me to be somewhere safe."

"Your boyfriend? You're with him??" Drew couldn't believe what she said.

"Yep. I suppose I should be thanking you." May placed Pikachu back to the floor, between her and Drew.

"Why?" He wasn't sure what she meant.

"If Ash and I hadn't had that weird misunderstanding, which your kiss caused, I wouldn't ever have told him my feelings," May sighed and closed her eyes. "But now I'm feeling like the happiest girl in the whole world."

May started telling her plans of what to do with Ash once their present heist was over, but Drew wasn't listening.

'This is worse than I thought - they are much closer now. It will be harder to separate them, but I have to do it…' Drew clutched his fist. 'I won't let that looser get May.'

"And maybe then we could go to the movies, watch some romance movie. I'm not sure if Ash would like it, though," May finished explaining. "What do you think, Pikachu? Would he come with me to romance movies?"

"Pika!" It nodded as an affirmative answer.

"Really? Well, alright, then!" May said with a big smile.

"You know what, May?" Drew broke his silence and stood up. "We should get out of here before someone comes."

"I won't leave Ash," May simply replied.

"You wouldn't be leaving him, just moving to a different place," Drew explained to her.

"Another room? Why? I though this room was safe…" She was unsure about Drew's claim and indulged her stimulated curiosity.

However, Drew was becoming annoyed by all of her questions and tried putting a stop to it. "I heard that every single room on this level is gonna be checked. Sooner or later, someone will find you. There is one room on the top floor that you'll be quite safe in."

"How do you know this? I heard that the top floor is under heavy surveillance…" May stood up, grabbing Pikachu on the floor.

"Um… I heard someone say that there's a secure room on the top floor. They said it's impenetrable, but we might find a way to sneak in."

He didn't convince May. "It's too risky. What if we got caught?"

"I promise that we won't," Drew said. May started thinking about it and turned to Pikachu.

"What do you think? We would be closer to Ash and could help him if he needs it." To answer, it nodded.

"Then it's decided." They made their way to the door, and after ascertaining that nobody was currently patrolling the hallway outside, began moving towards the top floor.

With Ash

Ash was still in the air shaft, searching for a way up. Crawling around in the air shaft, he slowly started to get frustrated. Once again, he came to an intersection.

This time, there was a ventilation duct going up. It was large enough that Ash could fit, and he could climb it if he kept his back, feet and hands tightly on the walls on the way up.

"Finally," Ash said in a low voice and stood. "Now I just have to climb up. Again, climbing…"

He got ready and slowly started climbing. Moving hands and legs one after another, he managed to climb a good way up. Sweat dropped as he strived to climb.

"Almost there," he mumbled and took hold on a corner. Pulling himself up, he managed to get through the top floor's air shaft. Ash panted. After catching his breath, he continued crawling.

'Now I just have to find which room it is. That's easier said than done.'

He peeked inside a room. There were many members of Team Rocket, talking about something. Ash eavesdropped while he recovered.

"This sucks," one of them complained. "We're gonna miss all the fun!"

"'Fun?'" another person spoke. "You don't even know what is happening in the laboratory!"

'In the laboratory?' Ash thought, continuing his vigilant listening.

"I know that there are pokemon you don't see everyday in there," another person spoke. "Wonder if they already started…"

"I heard that they are doing some preliminary analysis of some data before they begin the real work."

'I wonder what's going on in the lab?' Ash was surprised by what he heard. 'Gosh, I should search that laboratory as soon as possible.'

He carefully crept out of his hiding spot and began searching for the lab mentioned by the grunts.

Meanwhile with May and Co.

May, Pikachu and Drew were walking up the stairs slowly, hoping they wouldn't get caught. Pikachu was listening to see if anyone was coming. They still had a way to go.

"I wonder how Ash is doing…" May asked with worry. "I hope he is alright."

"Pika.."

"I hope he will be gone," Drew mumbled under his breath.

"So Drew, how did you manage to escape?" May asked, remembering her earlier suspicion.

"Well..um…" Drew stumbled to figure out something. "A few guards were tired, so I took my chance and escaped."

"That sounded easy. But why did they capture you?"

"I don't know. Let's just stay quiet and hope nobody hears us, okay?" Drew told her and ended their conversation. Walking in silence, they arrived onto top floor. When Drew opened a door, two guard were on the other side of the corridor. They were watching different directions from the room, where May and Co. were heading.

"When I say 'now', you run into that room," Drew explained and May nodded. He made sure that the guards were still not looking their way. When everything was clear, he gave the signal. "Now."

The two of them started running towards the room, quietly. When they got in front of that room's door, Drew opened it quickly and they all went inside. They kept silent a moment to hear if someone was getting closer them. Nothing was heard and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lucky they didn't see us." May then looked around the room. There were many different chemicals and machines. "What is this place?"

"The laboratory's storage room," Drew answered instantly. May, however, was distracted.

"Cool!" May exclaimed. She held a gold pokeball in her hands. "This is such a nice color, great for contests. Don't you think, Pikachu?"

"Pikakap!i" It nodded its head. May placed the ball back on its receptacle.

"There's so much cool stuff in here!" she exclaimed, before realizing something that cooled her cheery mood. "Too bad that Ash can't see this…"

"Now we just stay in here," Drew said, ignoring her last comment.

"Oh no! He's assuming that I'm still where he left me," May suddenly realized. "If he goes in there and can't find me, he's probably going to start searching for me. We didn't think this through!"

"Team Rocket would have found you if you'd stayed in there, so there was no choice but to move." Drew sat down on the floor and crossed his arms. "And if he doesn't come back for you, or can't, I can get you out of there."

"He will come for me. I know it." May sat down at the place where she was, a short distance away from Drew. "But something could happen to him. He is always having some problems. It would be my fault if he gets hurt!"

"Pika Pikachu…" the yellow pokemon tapped her on the back, trying to comfort her. Drew came closer to them.

"Thank you, Pikachu." A smile came on May's face. "It's true that trainers are like their pokemon."

"Yes, it is," Drew said. May nearly forgot about Drew's presence, so his statement spooked her.

"Gosh! How long have you been there?" Her pulse slowly returned to normal. "You scared me!"

"I'm sorry. I just thought it would be safer if we're closer." The green haired boy was now half a foot away from her. "I didn't mean to freak you out like that."

"Um… I guess you're right," May mumbled. "But I think we're close enough."

"Ok." Drew stayed there, keeping a respectable distance from May. "You know what, you're looking beautiful today."

With Ash in the air shaft

Ash's knees were almost bleeding because all the crawling. He was still searching for the laboratory, feeling fatigued at this point. His whole day had been frustrating and searching for a laboratory in a large building wasn't helping at all. Ash didn't even know he was going in circles. The air shaft was like a maze, turns came right after another.

Ash came, once again, to another intersection. Looking at both ways, he decided to continue to the left.

'I've been here for at least an hour and found nothing. How hard can it be to find a laboratory…' Ash crawled forward until something happened. He didn't notice until too late that a panel of the duct was missing, and he fell through the gap to the floor below. He quickly got back to his feet and blinked, wondering what happened. After his vision had finished adjusting to the new lighting conditions, he saw one large machine next to a weird, stone-like object.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" a voice called from behind him. Turning around, Ash saw who was talking. "You just can't stay away from here, can you?"

Ash could not mistake the identity of the Rocket Boss. After all, there was nobody who was shrouded in mystery quite like Giovanni.

"I know what it is you plan to do. You won't get away with it!" Ash shouted to the man who was standing about ten meters away from him. Giovanni only laughed.

"You think you're the one to do it? Oh, I'm quaking where I stand!" He stopped laughing, taking a look at Ash. "But you came here alone."

"If only someone would have listened to me, this would all be over already!" Ash again shouted. Behind Giovanni came a man, who was wearing a white coat.

"Everything is ready," the man told to Giovanni. An evil smile came to his face.

"Good. Wait for my signal," the boss said to the scientist, who nodded and sat down next to the large monitor. "Well, now. It seems you have a great opportunity to see the world's strongest pokemon. I would be grateful if I were you."

"But you aren't!" Ash grabbed one pokeball off his belt. "And I won't let you succeed in this."

"Hm. You're little too late. We got the last key yesterday, so you're too late," Giovanni calmly spoke. Ash gritted his teeth. Every word that Giovanni said only raised his anger.

"We'll see about that. Go, Sceptile!" Ash tried to release his pokemon out of the pokeball, but nothing happened. "What the…?"

"You remember when I told how we are going to capture Arceus? It is all thanks to this wonderous machine," Giovanni said, nodding towards the large machine. "It also transmits waves at such a frequency that they effectively deactivate the normal mechanics of an ordinary pokeball. Thus, you can't call any of your pokemon." A large, purple creature came from behind him.

Ash gawked at the sight. He didn't have any idea what to do. Giovanni smirked, turning away from Ash.

"All right, bring the fifth key!" Giovanni shouted to the man. He opened some kind of box and took the key, which was two feet long. The scientist walked past Giovanni, towards the other keys. As the scientist came closer, something came to Ash's mind.

"You can't fulfill that plan without one key!" He started running towards the scientist and tried to steal the key. He was a few meters away from him, when Giovanni used his pokemon.

"Nidoking, stop him with Hyper Beam!" The purple pokemon shot a bright, orange beam. Ash quickly stopped running as he saw it coming closer. The beam went past of him, slightly touching his body and impacted with the wall.

Meanwhile May, Pikachu and Drew

May blinked as Drew touched her hair. Soon she came to reality and slapped Drew's hand off.

"What are you doing?!" May shrieked. She stood up and took few steps away from him. Drew also stood up, and tried to explain, but May stopped him.

"You damn well know that I'm with Ash! You had your chance with me, and it's gone now!"

"What do you see in him!?" Drew shouted, slightly scaring May. "What makes him so darn special?!"

"I love him, that's what! There is a big difference!" May shouted back to him.

Drew gritted his teeth, and started walking towards May. Pikachu was confused by what was going on. Drew came closer to her every second, anger in his face. Terrified, May took a step back for each step Drew took towards her. Drew almost reached her, when an explosion came. Because of that explosion, Drew lost his balance and fell on the floor. After the smoke cleared, May saw what had happened. In the wall was a huge hole, and other side of that hole was her love.

"Ash!" May and Pikachu ran towards Ash, who blinked when he saw them on the other side of the hole.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked as May and Pikachu got to the laboratory's other side.

"We're-" May was about to say something but someone grabbed her arm. Turning around, she saw Drew, who very tightly held her arm. "Don't touch me!" May tried to escape his grasp, but he didn't let go, only tightening it.

"Drew?!? Let her go!" Ash shouted as he saw what he was doing to her. But still, Drew maintained his grip on his captive tightly. Drew took out of his pocket a knife, placing it against May's throat.

"One wrong move and she will die."

Ash was speechless. His girlfriend was in danger and he didn't know what to do. When Giovanni saw that Ash wasn't paying attention, he gave a sign to the scientist. The scientist nodded as he placed the key in the middle of the machine. Pushing the key deeper, a bright flash came, momentarily blinding everyone. Ash turned towards the scientist and the machine. Every key was glowing in it.

"Now it's just a matter of time," Giovanni laughed as the scientist ran to the computer.

"We only need to analyze it," the white-coated man said while typing something at the computer. "Then we'll be able to bring it in."

"And then we use our second machine," Giovanni continued. He turned towards Ash, who was still speechless and confused. "Too bad for you, kid. I was thinking to get rid of you first."

'Is it really over? Did I betray everyone?' Ash though, and turned to May. 'May is in danger - because of me. I promised to protect her, but I failed…'

"Ash! Don't just stand there, do something! I believe in you, Ash!" May shouted. Ash snapped out of his trance, looking at her in confusion.

'She believes in me - but how I can help her without putting her in harm's way? My pokeballs don't work in here as long that device is on…' Seeing Pikachu, he got an idea. 'That's it!'

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Drew!" Pikachu's trainer commanded. The yellow pokemon's tail glow as it jumped into the air. Drew wasn't able to dodge it, and was too slow to be able to hurt May as the tail hit its mark. Falling to the floor, Drew was knocked out cold. This time, May was confused. She shook her head and start running towards Ash, but he stopped her.

"May, please, stay there!"

"Why?" May asked as she slowed her speed.

"Keep eye on Drew, in case he comes to." Ash looked back at Giovanni, who was smiling triumphantly. "This isn't over yet…"

"Face it!" Giovanni walked over to the computer where the scientist was typing something. "It looks like the project is thirty percent is done. Your time is ending."

'Ugh… He can speak so irritatingly,' Ash bit his lip, making a plan in his mind. 'Wonder if I could pull out some of those keys. Then it won't finish analyzing. But can I take that risk?'

Ash eyed Giovanni's direction and the whole laboratory. Next to Giovanni was his pokemon, its eyes fixed on him. The distance between Ash and the machine where the keys were was about ten meters. Ash and Giovanni's distance was twenty or more.

'If I run to the machine, that Nidoking would hit me with Hyper Beam. And even if I reach there, Giovanni would catch me. I have to bluff them.'

"Forty percent," Giovanni said, an evil smirk on his face.

'Here goes, all or nothing…' Ash looked at Pikachu, and it somehow knew what he was thinking. "Pikachu, use Volt Tackle on them!"

The electric Mouse started running towards the scientist, Giovanni and his Nidoking at full speed. When yellow, electric light surrounded Pikachu, Ash headed towards the keys. Giovanni was confused and didn't know what to do. If he commanded Nidoking to use Hyper Beam, Pikachu would hit them. And there was a risk it would hit the machines, too. Giovanni finally made his decision on what he would do.

"Nidoking, use your Protect!" A transparent shield surrounded all of them. Pikachu kept running until it made contact with the barrier. Ash gritted his teeth as Pikachu flew backwards, screaming in pain.

'I'm sorry, Pikachu…' While running, Ash looked behind. May picked Pikachu up into her arms and then he knew it would be safe. He felt relieved and ran the last few meters.

"How much time is left?" Giovanni quickly asked the scientist as Nidoking's Protect faded away.

"Only thirty percent," the scientist answered. Giovanni looked at the keys. Ash managed to get there and took hold of one of the keys.

"You fool!" Giovanni exclaimed. "There is no way that you'll be able to pull it off, so give up already!"

Ash wasn't listening to him. He tightened his grip and slowly started pulling the key out. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to budge, which made Ash feel frustrated.

'No. It can't end this way. If I can't get this off, then everyone's gonna be in trouble. Their dreams and everything…' Thoughts of saving everyone gave Ash more incentive to succeed. Gritting his teeth tightly, he pulled the key. This time it moved, but only a few inches. He kept pulling.

The computer began sounding an alarm.

"This is bad."

Giovanni went beside the scientist and looked at the computer. "What is it?"

"One of the keys has been pulled from the machine." The scientist glanced at Ash and the key he was pulling. "I'm afraid that he managed to free that key. Analyzing won't continue until it's closed."

"That stupid, irritating brat…" Giovanni mumbled and started heading towards Ash. "I'll take care of him."

The trainer was trying to pull the key off with all his strength. Sweat dropped at his forehead as the half-meter long key was moved almost ten centimeters. All of Ash's strength was burned out and Giovanni was coming towards him. Ash decided to take a quick break, trying to collect some strength.

'It shouldn't be much longer,' Ash panted, catching a look at Giovanni, who was coming closer. 'But I'm running out of time to do it.'

Ash took hold of the key again and stopped panting. 'I have to pull this thing off, no matter what!'

Taking a deep breath, Ash prepared for his last chance. He quickly pulled, moving the key and suddenly electrical sparks started coming out of the machine, where all the keys were. Ash kept his hold on the key despite receiving small shocks.

"Ash! Get out of there!" May shouted, an unconscious Pikachu in her arms. "You can get hurt!"

But Ash wasn't listening to May and kept pulling. He was feeling terrible pain because of the shocks, but that didn't slow him down.

Giovanni was coming closer to Ash, with careful steps. The machine was still shooting off sparks and unfortunately for Giovanni, he got hit. Screaming in pain, Giovanni flew meters backwards, to where where the scientist was.

"What is happening?"

"One of the keys has been pulled from the machine completely," the loyal scientist said. "That key must be put back, or we'll never finish this."

Giovanni clutched his fist very tightly and slammed it against the table. "It can't be!"

Ash was still trying to get the key off as the electricity filled his body.

'Only little bit more…' Ash's pain was only increased but he kept going. As the key moved, the machine started sparking more and more. By now, the sparks were starting to disrupt the mechanics of the room.

"This can't be good…" The scientist said in a low tone. "If that machine gets too much electricity, it might explode. We have to shut the power down."

"No!" Giovanni shouted. The scientist was about to continue but Giovanni stopped him. "You shut up and do something!"

May was watching in terror as her boyfriend was hurting himself. "Ash, please, get out of there!"

But again, Ash wasn't listening. His mind was fixed only on the key and getting that off. The key started moving much faster than before, and by then Ash knew it was out of there. Ash was relieved. Finally it would be over. The capturing machine next to him started making a weird noise. Ash pulled the key out and turned towards the machine, which continued its strange emission.

"What's wrong with that?" Ash asked confused and then he heard May's voice.

"Ash, get out of there!"

And without warning, the machine exploded. May, Pikachu and Drew flew many meters back because of the force of the explosion. Giovanni, his Nidoking and the scientist all hid under the table, which protected them. A few seconds after the explosion, May stood up and began coughing.

"What happened…" She looked around, feeling a little confused. The smoke from the fires filled whole laboratory. May tried to look through the smoke, but it was too thick to see anything. She started squeezing Pikachu harder when she didn't see her boyfriend. "Ash!? Ash!! Where are you!?"