"Okay," Ash Ketchum laid out a rough blueprint in front of the four other operatives. "Hostiles have taken roughly twenty hostages in the one hundred and twentieth section inside the events center. We're going to take the side route up and head backstage to get a bead on them. The police are going to try and make contact with the bad guys and negotiate a release, although the real tactic is to stall them so that we can get into position."

"I had Petalburg police gather up a report on the hostages from the tickets of people in that section. Nothing notable stands out, except all were in their early to mid-twenties." Decker added, "Now that seems like a common denominator, but nearly seventy five percent of those who attended this concert fits the age group too."

"Have them keep looking. In the meantime, before we hit the stage, nobody reported seeing Lisia or her bodyguard from exiting. They may still be inside. I'm having Decker and Arron go to check that out while we map out potential strike targets." Ash looked around at everyone as they rocked from side to side in the back of the armored van, "Any questions?"

They all shook their heads.

"Good. These amateurs think they know stakeouts, let's show them how we roll." He peered out the window and was greeted by the familiar red and blue flashing of several law enforcement vehicles surrounding the dark parking lots.

The van finally came to a halt and they opened the door to be greeted by flashing lights and several voices as dozens of police officers milled about. Several were clustered around a couple of cruisers and turned seeing Ash walk on up.

"Lieutenant Ketchum?"

"Sir."

"We're expecting you. I assume you've briefed your team on most of the things so I'll fill in what I can." The police captain said, "We've been trying to initiate contact with the hostiles inside to negotiate a safe release and their only reply was that we stay out until they are ready to talk."

"They're stalling," Another officer chimed in, "Question is what for?"

"Not sure," Ash accepted his combat vest from Damien and slipped it on, "But we're on the clock here, so we're going in."

Back at the van, Brendan popped a hatch in the back where a large locker full of tactical gear was stored. He started putting on the ballistic combat vest as the others did the same. Next came earpieces that would help the team keep communication flowing from them and to the police force on the outside and finally came their weapons.

G3KA4 rifles, the smallest of the weapon family. For now it was going to serve as the Urban Warfare Specialist's standard assault rifle. Although it was fairly old, the gun still had quite a bite to it and remained a reliable one on the field.

Clicks and metallic sounds came from the van as the team collected their gear. Ash slipped his P226 pistol into his right holster, the others carried the FNP. He had four extra magazines of ammunition for both his primary and sidearm. As a Commando he had been told that you can never take too much ammo. His response was more the likes of; in some situations yes, others no.

"Everyone ready?"

They all gave him a thumbs up or said their affirmation.

"Alright, my lead. Just like in the sim."

Instead of taking the main entrances to the events center, they opted for the side area where several docks were seen. Here event staff and transportation personnel would load or offload crucial supplies to whatever was going on. From there, they could have immediate access to the main floor and nearby elevators could move plenty of cargo to the other floors.

It was eerily quiet and dark as they made their way down the long docking part. Ash was in front on point with Decker just behind them. Jewell and Zack flanked a few steps behind and Damien brought up the rear.

The entire docking area was clear, so they hustled inside. Again silence.

"Okay, Decker. Head to the backstage on the second floor. Jewell, Hammond and I will be on the main area."

"I'm on it." Decker tapped Zack on the shoulder and they quietly shifted to the left.

"Okay," Ash turned back to them, "On me."

Once again, they all couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at the place. It was that it was such a massive building and that no sound except for the humming of machinery was heard. The concrete was thick enough in there to block out the noise of the outside. From years of experience, a silent building could mean foes lying in wait to unexpectedly ambush.

Ash was first up one of the staircases that led to the stands and he aimed up at the top in case of a potential threat. With his free hand, he gestured for the other two to move on up. He kept his eye through the red reflex sight mounted on the top rail until they cleared the upper floor.

This new level had much more of a recent human presence. Food stands had some machines still operating, but much of the panic had neglected several things. In the midst of the mass exodus of a few gunman, they didn't see it but could easily imagine zealous Lisia fans snagging some of her overpriced touring merchandise. Shirts, hats and several other clothing apparel for sale were strewn all over the floor and leaning over it, Hammond could see that some of the boxes with new products had been messily torn open and the entire contents of whatever was inside gone.

"Section one twenty is down there."

"Roger," Ash pointed to another set of stairs that went upwards above the section. "Hammond, take the executive suites and provide an overwatch. We may need a briefing on the hostiles before we strike."

"Got it." Hammond broke off from the group and jogged up the stairs.

The closest door to the one twenty section suites was shut and he quietly eased it open. Stepping through, he checked the left side, clearing out the main room before proceeding to the windows.

The entire center looked untouched from the takeover. All the concert equipment was untouched and no visible damage was seen. It might as well have been hours before it started.

However what caught his eye was down in the section where the hostiles had attacked.

There was nobody there.

"Boss, we got a situation."

"What kind of situation?"

"I have eyes over the section where the Syndicate reportedly took over. There's nobody."

"Breaching." Ash and Jewell entered from the section's walkway below a moment later and quickly gave the area a once-over. "Clear."

"Backstage is clear," Decker reported. "We've found Lisia and her bodyguard in the makeup room."


When the Specialists emerged from the main entrance, Ash waved an all clear. In response, the police and several hundred civilians began to clap, giving them a standing ovation.

Had he chosen any occupation except maybe a soldier, it would have been a welcome sight, instead he threw a hand up and jogged over to meet with the police captain.

"Nice work Specialist."

"I wish I could say the same," Ash's seriousness had put aside any of their confidence. "We have a problem. No sign of the Syndicate members or the hostages."

"How could they have gotten out? We had the entire place under surveillance even before the attack and pulled security footage didn't show them until they struck and then went backstage."

"They could have smuggled themselves in from the trucks and left in the same way." Jewell suggested.

"We would have seen them from cameras and it doesn't coincide with the times of the truck's arrival."

Ash sighed, "Lock the place down. Nobody gets in without mine or Lieutenant Decker's approval."

The police chief nodded, "You got it."


Lisia was quite a brave girl and pretty, he had noticed. She wore a sparkly blue dress with a short skirt and wavy turquoise hair with a very pretty tiara. Ash had only seen her on television once while being deployed and she had a very energetic personality that was easily infectious to even the most cynical person. Nevertheless, she maintained a cool composure even an hour after armed gunman stormed her concert. The event still shook her; the fact that people like that could gain easy access to harm people meant that celebrities could also be quite in danger.

"Lisia," Ash put his weapon down and sat on a concrete block opposite her, "My name's Ash Ketchum. I head the Specialized Urban Warfare Tactics group. We go after the most dangerous and elusive criminals against Hoenn. If I may, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." Her voice was far from the usual excited one.

"First off had you had any enemies recently?"

"Not that I know of."

"I initially thought that maybe this was an attempt on your life," He added, "I see you're quite disappointed that your concert didn't go on as planned."

"It's frustrating," She sadly said, "Most of the beneficiaries for this one were going to go to the Petalburg Children's Hospital to those that have rare or incurable diseases. This event tonight was one I was really looking forward to."

"I'm sorry about that. Believe me, my team and I are going to get the people who did this and get those that they had just kidnapped back."

His words seemed to inspire a bit of confidence in the pop star and for once she had perked her head up. "I haven't had any threats against my life for years."

"That's good. Then maybe you were not the priority. Let's go back to before the attack. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary before the attack?"

"Yes I did." That got Ash a bit intrigued. Maybe she had an indirect key into how the Syndicate members had gotten in.

"I heard what sounded like an explosion. It wasn't very loud, but for a moment the studio shook like it was in the middle of an earthquake. I was about to head onstage and report it to security but then Freddie, my bodyguard had put me inside the closet, saying that men with guns had stormed the stage and that it wasn't safe for me out there. He stayed at the studio's entrance and then came to get me when two rescuers arrived."

"Those men were part of my team," Ash said, "Thank you so much for your help Lisia."

"I'm not sure what good it will do for you."

"Maybe it won't be," He shook her hand, "But it's a start right?"

Striding back to the van, he met the rest of his team, who each had been busy interviewing witnesses that had come forward to assist the authorities.

"Gear up guys, we're going back in."

"What why?" Brendan asked.

"We might have a reason why they weren't there."


Ash had to add water storage tank rooms to uncomfortable places to be.

He wasn't claustrophobic, but it was the fact that there were tons of awkward angles to clear through and any one of them could have a waiting tango to ambush.

Slipping the rifle on his back, he opted for his trusty handgun for its smaller size.

There were about six tanks in three rows, so he and Jewell stuck to one side while Decker, Arron and Hammond had the other. Most of the time, he was aiming his weapon in one direction, but quickly looked in the other in case of another lurking threat.

It wasn't long before they reached the back part of the storage room. However judging by Lisia's experience, this was the most likely place where intruders could have entered. Water storage was isolated from the rest of the facility while maintaining a close and easy access past all the security barriers.

A perfect place to stage an ambush.

"Did they smuggle themselves in a water tank or something?" Hammond asked.

"No," Ash replied, although his eyes were scanning the floor. "There was an explosion, so we need to look for debris."

"Not seeing anything."

Ash took another step and heard a grinding sound coming from his shoe. He looked down and swiped a finger across the concrete floor. Instead of no residue, his fingers collected a fine gray powder.

"Plastic explosives." He concluded after taking a whiff. They had used a lot to blow something up, but just enough to keep the building stable. A form was unstable enough to level the entire building, should it be placed correctly.

"That explains the explosion."

This time the Commando's gaze drifted to the water tank where more powder was sporadically placed. Underneath one of the water tanks.

The bulk moved with a slight difficulty, since it had been mostly empty. When he had shifted it on over, all five stared in complete shock at how the Syndicate had gotten in.

The crater had blasted a hold roughly three feet in diameter, revealing a pitch black hole.


Back at the congregation, the five specialists crowded around as one of the crime scene unit officers was processing a piece of paper. Arron had found sections of a phone number written on it and the message "Help me"

One of the hostages had managed to write a distress call as well as their phone number. Although water had gotten on the tiny slip of paper, a bit of delicate handling with a mobile crime lab was in the process of decrypting the evidence.

"They've gotten away with it." Ash said to the Army general on the other side of the conference. "These guys strategically made their entrance alerting next to nobody and took a full group hostage. They're not going to be found unless we do it first."

"Understood Lieutenant."

"Hey!" Jewell called over from the large blue van, "We got a hit!"

Ash and Brendan jogged over.

She laid out a dossier of a pretty girl with slightly blue hair and eyes, "The name and the phone number belongs to a Dawn Berlitz. She's a student at Broadstone University and according to her mother was excited about heading to this concert. Been a Lisia fan most her life. She lives by herself in an apartment complex in west Petalburg."

"Any reason why she was taken?" Ash asked.

"Not that we can tell, most of the people in attendance had the same background, so it could be random."

"Or not." Brendan said. He had been rather quiet after discovering the hole. "Look at the amount of people in comparison to the seats taken. Of course the front ones will be the most sought after, but the side that the hostages were taken was the closest one to their covert entrance. So it might not be random after all. Grab the max amount of people you can and then get outta dodge, same way you arrive in."

"Telling the cops not to come in was just a stall so that they could disappear." Zack added.

Jewell typed a few more commands into the computer, "Okay, got a hit. Dawn's phone just got responded with my emergency ping and it has been traced to the Southern Ocean, roughly twenty miles away from Littleroot."

"Good work Jewell." Ash gave her a pat on the shoulder before taking out his phone. He punched in a few numbers and held to up to his ear. "General, I think we've located the hostages. I'm going to need a bird fully fueled and flown to the Petalburg Events Center. We're going after them…..Just get me the damn bird! Every minute we waste arguing here is another minute the hostages have until they're tortured, assaulted or killed. I don't care if I have to fly it myself, I have certifications for the two heavyweight classes anyway….Yes, understood General. Okay, Ketchum out."

Arron, Hammond and Brendan were all congregated around when Ash had walked up to them, "Helo's going to be here in ten. Grab whatever extra gear you need for expecting dozens of hostiles. If you're running low on sleep, the flight's the time to grab it."

Both Zack and Damien scoffed, "Sleep…who needs sleep anyway when you can rescue hostages?"


Raise your hand if you want an epic rescue scene next chapter. That's what I thought.

Now a lot of the future chapters in this story will be having some M rated moments, including the next one. I just thought I would give proper warning, but I imagine everyone here reading will be able to handle such things. Right?

Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.