A/N: I do not own Pokémon. I don't know who started the trend of writing such disclaimers, but know this…

Whoever you are….

I will find you….

And I will make you watch the entire season of Honey Boo Boo…. Twice.

XXX

"Let's step it up guys! Dewott, Croconaw, Hydro Pump once again! Snorlax, Tyranitar, keep on running, just two more laps to go! Kingler, try to hit Noctowl! Noctowl, use different Psychic type moves to counter Kingler! Pikachu, continue trying to hit the three boulders!" A young, definitely male, voice range out in one of the many leveled out areas in the Johto mountain wilderness. A loud, unified roar… and a whine, came in response.

Ash himself kept on doing his own exercises. Having recognized his faults, Ash had decided to work upon one of the many Trainer Workout manuals integrated in Dexter.

"I *huff huff* can't do any…more!"

Naturally, he found it quite hard to follow.

"One more sir! Just one more and your 50 pushups will be complete!" Dexter was kept in an upright position on a nearby boulder, as its camera faced Ash. While Dexter couldn't "see" in the traditional sense of the word, he could damn sure count the number of pushups Ash had completed.

Grunting with effort, Ash pulled himself up one last time, promptly falling down into a tired heap afterwards. Ash's Pokémon League hat, the one he wore on his first journey, was duly kept beside Dexter. His normal Jacket was off, leaving Ash in his black colored undershirt. His everyday denim jeans were also replaced by the track pants he had packed for his journey.

'Damn…. This is much harder than I thought…' As Ash lied on the ground in a pathetic state, he wondered just why the heck did he not take the time to properly exercise. While it was true that he always journeys on foot, it was also true that they used to take a lot of breaks in between.

The fake cheering audio coming from Dexter didn't help manners. While the smart machine followed orders dutifully, and was mostly productive, that didn't stop it from having its fun once in a while. Namely, by being a complete prick.

Ash pulled himself up against the rock, and despite it not being a thing suggested by Fitness experts, took huge gulps of water. The water produced by the Water type Pokémon was as safe to drink as any bottled water. Also, it contained the necessary nutrients which prevented it from being classified as distilled.

As he looked over the sparse clearing before him, he was much impressed by what he could observe from his Pokémon.

Pokémon had a metabolic and healing rate that far defied any level of rational thinking. Being gifted with super-powers made it a must-have for every Pokémon to have a higher than ordinary healing rate. Non-sentient beings such as Cows, Buffalos and Chickens didn't have any such advantages; a single weak blow might have been enough to kill them.

As if showcasing these advantages, both Dewott and Croconaw flexed their recently built up muscle. Despite having evolved recently, and even less time being through the hard training, both of them had built up quite a lot of strength in their arms, for Dewott, and jaws, for Croconaw.

Dewott's main method of attack were through his prized scalchops. So it was extremely necessary for Dewott to build up a lot of strength in his arms to properly use them with deadliness. It would result in even better results once Dewott evolved into a Samurott.

The raven haired trainer had also included weight training in his regime. Things like heavy lifting and strength training helped the Pokémon to build up their raw strength. While Ash knew that his Pokémon could easily complete such feats while using their abilities, he wanted them to be capable of doing such things with raw power alone. If there was one thing that he learned from watching the battle between Cynthia's Garchomp and Flint's Infernape, it was that not only were they abnormally powerful; they were so even without using their attacks.

Ash hadn't been able to fathom just how had Flint's Infernape been able to reach such a high level; while his own didn't even graze the surface of it. Chimchar was also the Sinnoh starter, but that didn't mean that every trainer's Infernape reached that level. Now, after seeing the impressive improvement in his Pokémon, they secret wasn't that foggy anymore.

Despite how it looked, Cynthia wasn't a teen. She was 27 years old, and had her Garchomp since she was 10, as a Gible. So add all those years of super intensified training, a Dragon type Pokémon, a family full of Pokémon trainers, and you've got a monster on your hand. Adding to this was the fact that Garchomp was a Pseudo Legendary.

'Pseudo Legendary' wasn't just a fancy term for rare and powerful Pokémon. No, these Pokémon had the extreme possibility of reaching the beyond….. The level of Legendaries themselves. Pseudo legendaries had bodies that were more than capable of taking the punishment required to reach such high levels.

The past was full of horror stories featuring these Pokémon in the lead role. Salamance were the most feared Pokémon by the Kings, their Castle destroying abilities were nigh near Legendary. Add to that the nature of Salamance to breathe fire in their celebrations burned down many a wooden village. Garchomps were notorious for being overly protective of their territories, so man's encroachment into their lands wasn't taken too well. Hydreigon and Tyranitar were Dark types, making them more inclined from causing wide scale destructions.

Only Dragonites were a kind of saving grace for the Pseudo legends reputation. The kindly Dragon type maintained a calm and clear demeanor. Also, it helped to rescue as many beings from the seas as it can. With the fishermen and Vikings having mostly a single loyal Pokémon for their safety, an attack by a Pokémon like Tentacruel and Gyrados meant almost certain death, either by a powerful attack, or by starvation in the sea. Lucky sailors often recited tales of their saviors, large yellow colored Dragons, with wings tiny enough to fit into the palm of their hands. Naturally, such people were almost always termed as delirious.

Dragonite's hadn't even been considered a true Pokémon for much time, unlike their land counterparts like Haxorus, or even fellow fliers like Garchomp, Hydreigon and Salamance, they rarely ventured out of the seas they so loved. It was Professor Oak who had trained a Dragonite and showcased his extensive studies to the world.

But just as Haxorus, Salamance, Garchomp and Hydreigon, there was no god that could save one from a thoroughly pissed off Dragonite. Ash had already experienced a fraction of that untamed power when he, Iris and Cilan had first met Iris's Dragonite.

In an age where Pokémon trainers were rare and Pokeballs a mere figment of imagination, humanity had had a hugely difficult task in surviving against the monstrous beings now fondly known as Pokémon.

But that didn't mean that 'normal' Pokémon couldn't reach that level. The Pokémon belonging to the Elite Four and Champions were examples of this, keeping the major Criminal Organizations under control from causing major terrorist attacks.

Ash knew that he had been lucky when Tyranitar accepted him as his trainer; most Pseudo legends wouldn't have been so easy to tame. Tyranitar was one of the more feared ones. But Tyranitar loved Ash so much; it was nigh near impossible for him to turn on him.

Coming back to the matter at hand, Ash had deduced a lot of things, for example- by building up a Pokémon's raw punching power, attacks like Mack Punch and Dragon Claw unleashed would be much more powerful. It was the same as the theory behind weights, if the Pokémon get used to doing things with restraints, they would be unstoppable without them.

That being said, Ash wasn't going to be unrealistic. He knew that despite how much time he spent on it, Torterra would never move like a Rapidash. Things like size and build did matter.

Also, as Ash spent more time with the group of seven, he realized just how smart had he been while keeping the 'Six Pokémon on hand' rule. Despite popular belief, it was indeed possible for many trainers to carry a lot of Pokémon with them. While keeping all of his Pokémon would have been a very exciting thing, by following the six Pokémon rule he was able to scrutinize his Pokémon much better.

Kingler. The huge crab had much guts and enthusiasm, but sadly the years of battle rust had got to him. From what Ash had been able to observe, Kingler knew a lot of powerful moves, and knew how to use them with devastating effectiveness as well! But that's where his merits stopped. Kingler employed a stationary battle style, which was something Ash knew he had to modify. While Kingler could back up all of the power, Ash wasn't stupid enough to think that all of his opponents will be as weak as "The Amazing" Mandy.

Dewott. The Scalchop wielder was young; but damn if he wasn't motivated. Dewott proudly showed off the better qualities associated with evolutions that made them so much popular. Better speed, more endurance, increased muscle mass, increased capability to take hits... But Dewott did have his faults. His klutzy nature hadn't changed much upon evolving, so he used to screw up once in a while. Ash knew that he had to get Dewott more consistent. Not to mention his habit of springing out of his Pokeball could prove detrimental at times.

Croconaw. The fastest growing Pokémon of his entire crew; Croconaw exhibited a raw strength and power comparable to Blastoise. If Ash had to guess, he would deduce that it was because of the years of laid off evolution that he bloomed so much, so quick. Croconaw used his jaws with devastating effect, easily crunching up the hardest of rocks with ease. Nevertheless, he knew that Croconaw was soon going to reach the third stage of its evolution line, which would create a whole new headache for the poor old Professor Oak. Garchomp and Feraligatr combined… Ash repressed a shiver at the damage they would cause at the ranch. Garchomp already had gotten into multiple scuffles with the insanely powerful Arcanine of Professor Oak's due to his environment UN-friendly ways.

Noctowl. The smartest Pokémon of his crew, Noctowl had an unusually quick thinking. Professor Oak had confessed to him that while studying Noctowl, he had described him as an 'Anomaly'. Noctowl, despite being a flying type, could use Psychic moves with an effectiveness associated with only Psychic types. Noctowl didn't have many flying type moves in his arsenal, which could prove detrimental in the tournament. While a pure Psychic using Noctowl could take a lot of people off-guard, his strategy would be in ruins after the first few stages. His opponents could easily deduce how to counter Noctowl. The shiny Pokémon had never been particularly strong in the areas of speed and strength; those were the things he needed to improve.

Snorlax….. well, what could Ash do about him? Snorlax had excellent endurance, as well as having some pretty powerful moves in his bag of tricks. Snorlax knew multiple damage dealing attacks of different types; an advantage of being a Normal Type. Despite being big, Snorlax had a pretty quick reaction time and good running speed too. He had already demonstrated his above average swimming capabilities in his battle with Clair. So all in all, Snorlax was Ash's 'Jack of all trades'. A Pokémon who could prove advantageous against almost every opponent. The only thing Ash needed to worry about was Snorlax's sleeping habits.

Tyranitar, the newest entrée. Tyranitar had some insanely powerful moves in his arsenal. Brick Break, Hyper Beam, Thrash, Giga Impact… Ash had full belief that Tyranitar could Total anyone's team in the earlier stages, even if it were a full 6v6 battle. Charizard, Garchomp and Sceptile were the other three of his Pokémon capable of similar feats. Tyranitar also had a beast of a defense, even better than Torterra. For some reason, Tyranitar knew the move Iron Defense, a defense boosting move not associated with its species. It was the improved version of the Protect he used when he was a Larvitar; when anyone got too close to him, not named Pikachu or Ash. But despite all this….

….. Tyranitar had an absolutely abysmal speed. Seriously, Tyranitar couldn't even chase after Dewott after the Water type played a prank on it! Instead, Tyranitar chose to deal with things with brute force. In this case, a low powered Hyper Beam on the unsuspecting Otter. But even then, the speed of Tyranitar was something horrible. Even Torterra could run faster than him. That was something Ash knew that he had to absolutely improve. Speedy Pokémon like Sceptile, Garchomp and ….. Latios, could effectively destroy Tyranitar in a serious battle.

Not to mention Tyranitar had developed quite an attitude, and ego, in his time away from Ash. He had also taken quite a liking to his nickname of 'Beast'. It fit like the pants of a man with five penises; like a glove.

All in all, Ash had his work cut out. His Pokémon had full faith in him, and thus put their bodies on the line. True, they liked to battle; it was their instinct. But it was for him that they put so much effort. And he wasn't going to betray them by going half assed in their training.

Breaking from his internal thoughts, Ash got up and jogged towards the area where his Pokémon were training.

Croconaw and Dewott showed exceptional strength with their Hydro Pumps. The jets of water were much thicker than before. This allowed for a greater chance of a critical hit. A well trained Onix could take a normal Hydro pump and continue fighting. But the version which the duo was using could easily knock it out. Also, Pokémon like Magmortar, whose bodily flames were enough for them to shrug off such moves. So it was all the more necessary for water types to have exceptional strength.

Also, Water types were the single most effective type of them all. Able to score critical hits on most Pokémon, all the while taking less damage from their foes. It was no wonder Ash wanted his Water types to be as powerful as they could be. Taking the Champions League as his cue to finally foray into the detailed and convoluted world of Type advantages and disadvantages was a certain experience for Ash.

A few ways apart, Kingler had just finished up a Crab hammer attack, but Noctowl had been able to successfully defend using… some Psychic moves. It was difficult to recognize the attack. Nevertheless, Crab Hammer did cause some damage to the environment, creating a moderately large crater on the ground. Both of the Pokémon had dirt and cuts on them, showing that both had been able to score hits on the other.

In another corner, Pikachu let out a cry as it launched a Thundershock. Only this time, he attempted to engulf the three boulders surrounding him in different spheres of energy. Thundershock was a attack that sent streams of energy all around the attacking Pokémon. What Pikachu was trying to do was centralize the attacks around specific targets, causing a more intense damage. It was similar to a Thunderbolt, but only it affected multiple targets. Ash's main idea behind this was for double battles.

Pikachu could use a Concentrated Thundershock to paralyze and keep their opponents in place, while his partner could destroy the other Pokémon with some super effective move. Pokémon like Donphan could work very well in such strategy.

In a far off corner, Tyranitar was running diligently. If there was one thing that Ash had immediately come to admire about Tyranitar, it was his will to prove himself. Tyranitar never defied Ash's orders, and had taken criticism very well. He recognized that his speed was not up to par and thus followed Ash directions over how to improve it. Charizard had wings, Garchomp had thrusters, but Tyranitar had a bulky armor. Ash knew that it was not possible for his Beast to run or move as fast as his contemporaries, but Tyranitar could get much better. Another advantage that Tyranitar had was that he was an adept swimmer. While Charizard's life could be threatened in water, and Garchomp didn't tolerate it much, Tyranitar despite his Type didn't feel much discomfort in water. That was an advantage in battles where the field could change.

Snorlax….. Ash couldn't help but sweatdrop at seeing the giant Pokémon. Snorlax had tears, real tears, going down his face as he run up a slope half heartedly. He paused momentarily to choke back a sob, all the while looking towards Ash.

He sighed. The Puppy dog eyes were too much. "Snorlax, if you complete your run, I will give you three super food pills."

Snorlax immediately perked up at that and started running with much more enthusiasm. The ground around him shook as a multitude of small Pokémon escaped. Nidoran, Graveler, Oddish, Pidgey, Starley and Tailow among them.

The super food pills were a new invention designed especially for Snorlaxes, by the Silph corporation. Seeing as Snorlax trainers couldn't well carry the huge quantities of food required to feed their precious Pokémon, the scientists at Silph had designed the micro compressing food pills which satiated the hunger of the Pokémon. Two pills each were to be given to Snorlax as the three meals of the day. The super food pills had beaten the food shrinking containers designed by Devon, their rival company.

All of the seven Pokémon were training very well. Both Dewott and Croconaw could now maintain their Hydro Pumps for longer amounts of time, showing that their stamina had increased. Croconaw's other moves were also coming along well, particularly Aqua Tail.

Things were coming along well for Ash Ketchum and his Pokémon….

XXX

Hoenn

"It's good to be back!" The princess of Hoenn exclaimed as she entered her house for the first time since over a year ago. Having journeyed in Johto for a second consecutive year, and then visiting Ash's house took quite a toll on the young brunette, and she was completely ready to laze it out till the Champions cup. Well, not completely. She did intend to train a lot for the Cup.

"Welcome back May!" Her father was sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper. Norman Maple was enjoying the holiday he had got from the League. Due to the Champions League being open to even Gym Leaders, the League had decided to close the Gyms, so that even the Gym Leaders get ample time to train and create strategies for their teams.

Caroline engulfed her daughter in a bone crushing hug, happy to see her in the person after so much time.

"Its soo~ good to see you May! After your brother left on his journey, it's been really quiet around the house." Caroline commented as she looked over her daughter. May had grown a lot during the one year she spent in Johto, and was now finally maturing into a young woman.

"Thanks mom. And how's Max? Has he called?" May asked as she took her seat .

Norman grumbled from his place, causing May to look quizzically at him. "It's nothing May. Your father is just sulking because Max has gone farther in his journey than he himself did." Caroline explained.

"I'm not sulking…" Normal grouched from his place. Seriously, the amount of distance Max had covered, as well as the different types of Pokémon he had seen and caught; were far better than what Norman had done in his day. Naturally, this had hurt Norman's man pride.

May giggled at her father's expression, although she was quite impressed by the things Max had achieved during his two month long journey. Max was bereft of the rookie mistakes made by Ash during the start of his own journey, as well as May's own. Travelling with Ash and co had already made Max experience and learn just how to travel efficiently.

"So how many Pokémon has Max captured?" May asked rather nonchantly. There was no way Max could have caught more than two Poke-

"Four."

May sprang up from her seat "WHAT!"

Norman nodded "Yup, that was what my reaction had been."

"What Pokémon has Max captured?" May asked in extreme curiosity, although she knew that it must be some starter weaklings like Tailow, Rattata or even an Oddis-

"Mightyena, Kirlia, Abra." Came the deadpan reply from Caroline. All of them were Pokémon that Max had encountered in during their travels.

May didn't really know what to do. Should she be happy for her brother being so adept at being a Pokémon trainer? Or should she weep at being so outclassed by her brother at the initial stage?

XXX

Pokémon Center, Veilstone City, Sinnoh

"Your Pokémon will be all right in a few hours, you can stay here if you like." Nurse joy said as she took the batch of six Pokeballs from the purple haired trainer in front of her.

"Thank you nurse Joy. And by the way, can I use the Computer present here?" Paul asked the Nurse with a calm demeanor. The natural steel in his voice was absent as he conversed with Nurse Joy, the reason being their acquaintance from many years past.

Joy smiled "Of course Paul, you are free to use it. And if you don't mind my asking, why didn't you take your Pokémon to Reggie?" Not that she had a problem with him coming here, it was just that Paul preferred to have his Pokémon treated at home. She was curious about why Paul expressed an interest in using the Computer, although knowing the type of person he was, she didn't pry.

"Our training was a bit…. Harsh. I'd rather not trouble Reggie." Paul explained, while Joy nodded at the answer. Along with the Chancey present next to her, both entered into the ward room present next to the Operation Theater. The faint smell of antiseptics hit Paul as he made his way to the generic computer present in the Pokémon Center.

Paul wasn't a tech-savvie person. He didn't even give much care for such things other than for what purpose it served his Pokémon.

Logging on to the website that Dawn had shown him; albeit with much trial and error, Paul opened up multiple profiles of the various rivals he had encountered throughout his journey. 'Ash… Barry….Tobias… Remy… Hernandez..' the last couple were his Hoenn and Kanto rivals. From what he could see about them, both had remained as he had predicted them to be; average. Hernandez believed in having his Pokémon evolve as soon as they can, leading him to spend too much money on Evolutionary Stones, and catching only the Pokémon who react to them.

This naturally caused a huge gap in his team. He only had Pokémon of a few types, and unlike the Elites, they weren't invulnerable to the types they had the advantage against. Hernandez had reached the Top 8 in Johto this year, which was a fine position is Paul's eyes, but nothing compared to him.

Remy. That guy had been one who had given him the most problem while he was in Kanto, the second year of his journey. Dude had a knack of making excellent strategies, kind of like Conway, but didn't really have the power to back it up. Remy had also reached the Top 16 in Hoenn, as well as Top 8 in Sinnoh, which was again the mark of an average trainer.

Or maybe it was him who was raising the bar too high. 'After all… we are all 16 years old. We aren't 'supposed' to win the League. We are the newbie's, the trainers who are eliminated in the initial stages. But then again, Ash did win Unova, and I did reach the Sinnoh League finals this year.' That had been a bitter loss. Reaching the Sinnoh finals had made Paul overconfident, leading to his loss against some 28 year old guy. Not to mention his two powerhouses, Magmortar and Electivire, had been ineligible due to suffering debilitating injuries in the Semi Finals. His Torterra did take out two of the other guy's Pokémon, but lost nonetheless.

Going to Ash's profile, Paul calmly read through the page, taking his time, before wondering whether he should curse out loud in the Pokémon center or not. Coming to a conclusion, he took a deep breath and prepared to let loose-

"You're such a cutie pwie!" Paul looked towards the nearby window, where little kids were playing with newly born Pokémon. Pokémon centers allowed for children to visit the newly hatched Pokémon in their care.

-or rather not. Still, the information found of Ash's page simply stunned him beyond comprehension. From what he could see, Ash's Pikachu had been able to defeat to defeat a Regice. Or, to be precise, Brandon's Regice. 'How the flying fuck is it possible that Pikachu can defeat a REGICE, yet still lose against my Elekid!? He even knocked out Tobias's Latios! It is totally fucked up!' Paul ranted in his mind. He thought that was the end of surprises for him, but no, that was not to be.

Apparently, Ash's Charizard had been able to defeat an Articuno, an Articuno of all things. 'Why the heck didn't Ash use it against Tobias?' Oh wait! There was more! Apparently, Ash had a Snorlax stashed up, who also didn't make the cut against Tobias. Rather, Ash chose to use Torkoal.

No offense to the squinty eyed Pokémon, but he simply didn't match up to Snorlax.

Ash had won the Kanto Battle Frontier, he had won the Orange league, whatever it was, and then, he had always scored in the Top 8 in the regional leagues, bar his prodigious performance in his debut in the Indigo League, where he got Top 16. Wishing to see the interesting strategies which caused his rival to lose, he clicked on the video showing the battle between Ash and someone named Ritchie…

20 minutes later..

-on second thought, that wasn't really prodigious. 'Goddammit! Ash reached the Top 16 in Kanto by pure luck! And the only reason he lost was due to his asshole Charizard!' Paul almost had anime tears going down his face at the luck of his rival. He himself had only managed a Top 64 in the Sinnoh championship in his debut. A record number of participants had taken part that year, so Paul had defeated three competitors to reach that level. Which wasn't a bad accomplishment in itself.

But Ash had performed to an extremely high degree by pure luck alone! And that was something that majorly irked Paul.

Then came the thing which, in all honesty, was a BURN BITCH moment for Paul. Apparently, Ash had won the Kanto Battle Frontier. 'And that means he defeated Brandon…'

Paul also took note of varying Pokémon Ash had in his arsenal. He had to admit, now that he got enough time to observe, Ash's Pokémon really had much potential. While he himself wasn't too far out, his number of Pokémon were a bit less. But then again, most of Ash's Pokémon were poorly trained, so that did provide him an advantage.

Another thing that caught his notice was the ridiculous number of starter Pokémon present with Ash. The Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova starter trio were a extremely rare group of Pokémon, which only a few of the lucky trainers got to have. And that was if they were lucky enough to be in contact with their regional professors.

Oddly enough, there was no mention of Ash's Unova League victory on his personal profile. Rather, there was a large UNOVA FLASH NEWS sticker above his profile picture, which Paul presumed took the viewers to a page containing his victory. 'They really need to update better…'

Getting rid of the thoughts, he clicked onto the profile of Tobias, and was rather shocked, or should he say suspicious, by the information, or lack thereof, on the Legendary Trainer's profile.

Tobias's profile was empty. Literally empty other than his most recent accomplishments. His win against Ash and the two Legendaries he used were proudly displayed on the screen. Tobias's hometown was empty, his Pokémon caretaker name was empty, no family. The only noteworthy information was that Tobias's home region was Sinnoh.

Another thing of interest was that four other Pokémon of Tobias were indeed indicated, but their names had been censored by the website. What could possibly be the reason for something like that?

Tobias had not yet faced the Elite Four; the challenge was to come sometime this year. 'Ash did take out two of his Pokémon, and he wasn't even using his full squad… So maybe Tobias could actually be defeated by someone of the Elite Four? It's not unbelievable that Tobias has many powerful Pokémon. But the thing is…

.. Does he have even more Legendaries…?'

Paul was about to sign off on that note, but it was then that a sudden news flash caught his eyes. It had stickers of *NEW* *NEW* around. Taking a closer look, Paul clicked on the link. He was even more surprised to see that it was news related to the Hoenn League. Or, to be more specific, showing who was the new Hoenn League Winner. Seeing as he had time to kill, he clicked onto the link. Not to mention, whoever the guy who had won the League was, was definitely going to be a major contender in next year's Champions League.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he would see next.

'What the utter frig!?'

XXX

Johto…

"Goddammit come back!" Multiple Tailow and Starly sitting in the canopy of the trees tilted their heads in confusion over seeing an orange haired boy running after something, something which showed no immediate sign of stopping anytime soon.

"Slow down!" The orange-head yelled once more as the Sandwich expertly jumped over a couple of bushes. It was almost as if it had a mind of its own!

As the Kimono wearing boy chased after the rolling sandwich, he ignored all of the loud booms and bangs coming from the direction he was heading into.

Jumping out of a particularly bushy shrub, the Orange head grinned at seeing his sandwich finally stop. The bread was miraculously unharmed by any amount of dirt and grime and looked totally fit to eat. Carrot top quickly ran towards the Sandwich, almost in slow motion.

But it was not to be...

A few feet away..

Snorlax grumbled to himself as he jogged forward. While he was all for getting stronger, did Ash really have to make him do the thing he hated the most? He wasn't supposed to run dammit!

But then again, three super food pills were almost like god's gift for Snorlax, so he had to swallow his pride and laziness, and get down to work. Thankfully, he could laze it out once he gets back to the ranch.

Suddenly, a small object entered into Snorlax's peripheral vision. Normally, he would have cared much for it, only running around it in case it was a little one, but it was the sudden scent which stopped Snorlax cold.

Turning towards the direction, he finally saw it. The object of his salvation, the Holy Grail, the Kryptonite to his training…

An innocent Sandwich, sitting quietly in its place, almost taunting him. 'Foul Temptress! I won't fall to your stupid machinations!' Snorlax thought to himself resolutely stopping himself from going towards the food, a feat comparable to stopping a locomotive train.

But it was then that Snorlax saw the second thing. A boy, no older than his Master, running gleefully towards the Sandwich. The sight was too much for the hungry Snorlax. With rage, and food-lust filled eyes, Snorlax took off towards the Sandwich at an otherworldly speed.

Morrison's slow motion run towards his dear Sandwich had continued, but it was then that the huge obstacle came to his vision. His eyes widened with fear as he saw a Snorlax running in the same direction, towards his Sandwich. Clenching his fists, he narrowed his eyes at the Snorlax, sparks flowing out as he increased his pace.

Snorlax recognized the increase in speed, since he too kicked it up a notch. The background turned pure white between the two as only the Sandwich was visible to their one track minds.

"Snoooooreeee.." Snorlax's voice came out in a slow motioned, low pitched version, as he skidded over one of the boulders like a punk over the hood of a car.

"Nooooooo!" Morrison's voice had turned into a demonic one, slow paced, as did a cartwheel over a fallen piece of log. With athleticism belying his body, Morrison somehow evaded the things he never could have, only for his beloved Sandwich.

Both of them reached the Sandwich almost at the same time, only a split second between them. But it was Snorlax who held the advantage, as he quickly moved his hands towards the Sandwich. Morrison extended his hands in a feeble attempt to win, but he was quickly thrown backwards after bouncing off Snorlax's huge belly.

Morrison watched in dismay as Snorlax happily ate up the Sandwich, taking extra relish in moaning and groaning in appreciation, taunting Morrison with all he could.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Morrison screamed in absolute pain and agony as he fell to his knees, punching the ground in anguish. He would have sulked even more, if not for the voice coming from behind him.

"Morrison!?" An extremely surprised voice took hold of his attention. Morrison wondered just how was it possible that someone who he knew could meet him in the wilderness.

"Pika!" 'Wait…..a Pikachu?'

But it was when he finally recognized the person behind that his eyes widened, and a huge grin came to his face.

"ASH!"

Indeed, it was his long time friend/rival, with his trusty Pikachu ever-present on his shoulder. Ash too, grinned as he slapped his hands with Morrison's. "Nice to see you man! It's been a long time!"

Morrison nodded, the pain of losing his sandwich long forgotten "It sure has Ash! How've you been?"

Ash smiled as he answered, it was good to meet one of his best friends after so many days, "Pretty good actually! I've been to two more regions, Sinnoh and Unova."

Morrison raised an eyebrow in interest "Wow! Unova too? I've been till Sinnoh, but Unova's kind of too far for me….." He drawled off. He didn't want to admit to Ash that the true reason he hadn't been to Unova was because of his phobia of heights. It seemed a pussy thing to say to a fellow man.

Ash nodded, although eh was a tad bit confused about why Morrison hadn't been to Unova "You should go there man, it's a really nice place, and the best of all, it's got a whole new range of Pokémon!" Seriously, more than 100 new species of Pokémon? Count him in!

Apparently, Morrison wasn't as enthusiastic as him, as he nervously chuckled while rubbing the back of his head "Ha ha! Thanks but no thanks Ash! I think I'm pretty happy here…" Seeing Ash continue to pry, he immediately changed the topic. "So Ash, have you participated in any new leagues after Hoenn?"

The raven haired trainer smirked. "Sinnoh and Unova. Both were a blast to be in."

"Really? So… win any trophies? Or the League?" Morrison, though he was sure that it must not be the case. After all, how could his eternal rival be so far in front of him? It just wasn't possible that Ash wins a league while he did not-

"Yeah! The Unova League! It was so awesome man….. the Vertress Conference trophy felt so good in my hands…"

Morrison's mind tuned out Ash. He was shocked. Utterly shocked and stunned and staggered and flabbergasted and bowled over and what not. Morrison felt himself being pulled into a never ending darkness. An endless pit of sorrow and disgrace, an emptiness greater than a Ghost Pokémon, he saw his Pokémon shaking their heads in shame at him, his sandwich being gobbled up an army of Snorlaxes… and Ash!? He could see his buddy, his rival! Oompa Loompas mockingly danced around him, singing the shittiest songs ever made. The songs were so horrible that even a hundred retarded monkeys shitting on a broken typewriter could not produce them. Ash was happily eating his sandwiches, all the while surrounded by hot mama jamas…..

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ash jumped in shock as Morrison started screaming all of a sudden. Morrison's eyes were glazed over as he seemed to be in a dream like state. Seeing his friend turning insane, Ash quickly regained his bearings. Taking hold of Morrison's shoulders, he shook his friend wildly, but it had no effect.

Even the ten slaps Ash gave him were not enough to pull Morrison out of his daze. Finally, having become annoyed by the loud screaming, Ash took drastic measures.

"Pikachu, use a Thundershock on Morrison!" Ash shouted to his partner, who jumped into the air with a 'Pika', and dutifully Thundershock-ed Morrison.

On a side note, Pikachu looked awfully happy while doing so. 'Strange…'

The shock therapy indeed worked as a steaming Morrison looked all around as he lay on the ground.

"Wha…. Where am I…?" Morrison mumbled as he looked around blearily. There were no Oompa Loompas, no crappy songs, no froot looking babes…

"Morrison..? You alright man?" Ash asked his friend carefully. No one should drop their guard against a person who was screaming in an insane manner almost ten seconds ago.

Morrison looked around confusingly for a few seconds, before shaking his head thoroughly and standing up. "Yeah… I'm fine Ash, no need to worry!" Although he really wasn't. The day dream really shook him up.

Ash looked uncertain for a while, but accepted "If you say so Morrison… "

Morrison nodded. Taking a deep breath, he finally smiled, a true smile, at Ash "So…. Finally won the League, huh… guess you're ahead of me now.." Keeping scary dreams, and humor aside, Morrison really was happy for his friend. He hadn't performed badly against Ash in the Hoenn League for no reason; he genuinely felt Ash to be one of his best friends and didn't want to fight against him. Their ideals about battling and Pokémon training matched up a lot. Both also shared the dream of being a Pokémon Master.

Ash felt his cheeks redden a little in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah…" Ash was just about to launch into a speech learned by every successful person, to be recited to their not-so-successful friends, but it seemed Morrison wasn't quite done yet.

"YOSH! It seems you have finally attained your flames of youth Ash! Your position as my Eternal Rival is indeed justified!" Morrison screamed in happiness as waterfall tears fell down his eyes. He gave Ash a huge thumbs up and a blinding smile.

'What the heck is the flames of youth!?' was what Ash could make out in his dazed state. He was still rubbing his burning eyes from the effect caused by Morrison's Coalgate enhanced smile.

XXX

Underground…

"Get outta my way you moron!" Meowth yelled angrily as he pushed his blue haired comrade out of the way.

"Gef ouf of my fwaice Jeffie!" James muffled out as he attempted to push Jessie away from him.

"Dammit Meowth! Why didn't you buy a bigger Moler Mecha Digger!" Jessie then promptly hissed in pain as her hit the ceiling.

The Team Rocket trio were back to their perpetual business i.e. Locating the Twerp, and stealing his Pikachu. Meowth had been commissioned to buy their machinery, which this time consisted of a Seviper shaped Mecha, capable of moving underground. But just as everything in their lives, Arceus found a way to screw them.

"It's not my fault we don't have the funds! If you hadn't bought all that jewoillery, we could have gotten the Super Duper versoin!" Meowth snapped back. He was having enough trouble controlling the machine as it is, he didn't need a female to bitch at him dammit!

While Jessie and Meowth continued their bickering, James took the time to look out of the window, even though there wasn't much scenery to be found.

Suddenly, the machine stopped with a clang, almost as if it had hit something hard.

Jessie blinked at the sudden stop in vibrations around her. "What's the matter Meowth?" She asked the talking cat, who was pressing all of the buttons methodically.

Meowth took a thinking pose, as did Jessie and James. "Hmm, it couild be a problem with the main engine…"

"Or maybe it's the integrated chip of the GPS….?" Jessie thought out loud.

"Can it be a Virus? The shop owner did say that installing 'Galaga' could cause some problems…" James pondered.

"Let's take it slowily guys… We learnt a loit of things in Unova, we couild fix this machine up." Meowth said with a smile as he pushed many of the buttons, taking notes of the various readings coming out.

"Of course we can!" Jessie and James also started checking up all of the internal manuals and controls.

This went on for a good ol' five minutes, before Meowth finally snapped.

"ALRIWIT! THAT'S IT! Let's do it the old fashioned way guys!" Meowth said with a scowl, with Jessie and James nodded in support.

What's the old fashioned way? You might ask, well my friends, the old fashioned way of course is-

"BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF IT UNTIL IT STARTS WORKING!"

Indeed, after a couple of minutes of brutal beatings, the machine finally whirled into a start, with the Seviper head in the front doing its job of drilling through.

However, it was after they dug through what had stopped them, that they finally regretted the decision.

The trio had sweatdrops on their heads as they saw a whole colony of underground dwelling Pokémon, Excadrill, Drilbur, Diglet, Dugtrio, heck, even a couple of Kabuto!

"Guys… is our life some kind of a sick joke?" James asked blankly as he faced the pissed off Pokémon.

"Maybe it is James…" Meowth deadpanned.

The Pokémon took great pleasure in….. escorting the uninvited 'visitors' from their place of dwelling.

XXX

Back to the surface…

"So… this is your team, huh Ash?" Morrison asked rhetorically as he faced the seven Pokémon happily eating their well deserved food.

Ash relaxed his sore muscles as he sat down on the soft grass, Morrison joining him a few meters away shortly afterwards. "Yeah… or rather one of my teams. Since I have a lot of Pokémon, I thought it would be for the best if I train them separately while making groups." He explained.

"Yeah, Most of your Pokémon here are Water Types; you can trick someone into thinking that you are aiming to be a Water Pokémon Master…" 'Seriously, Ash has some wicked Water types over here…. The competition isn't really getting easier.'

"Well.. it's not like I had planned it or anything. I just chose the Pokémon on random. I don't like focusing of any particular type, ya know." 'And the strongest Water type isn't even here….' Ash thought with a small grin. But even then, he had no wish to give away such information to Morrison. Friends or not, with the upcoming Champions League, they were all rivals.

Morrison nodded in praise. "That's good Ash. Even I have been following the same kind of regime. But even then, I always keep my old buddy with me."

Ash raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. "Old buddy…. Is it Metang?" It must be, seeing as how Metang was the preferred, and the strongest Pokémon Morrison had. He followed the same routine, Pikachu always stayed with him, no matter what.

Morrison grinned as he stood up "You'd be surprised!" Tracing his hand inside his Kimono upper wear, Morrison brought out six Pokeballs, all of them in their shrinked up state. "Now that I have seen you current Pokémon, I think it's only fair that you see mine, yeah?" Morrison asked, to which Ash nodded enthusiastically, he really wanted to see the type of Pokémon his rival had gotten in the years since the Hoenn League.

The six Pokeballs enlarged as Morrison tossed them forward "Come on out guys!" Ash's Pokémon also watched with baited silence. Even they were intrigued about the identities of their possible foes.

In a brilliant flash of light, six multi sized figures materialized. In few seconds, theirs forms were truly out of their Pokeballs.

Ash gasped as he saw the multitude of strong looking, and varied, Pokémon that arrived.

A bipedal Pokémon, with a large cobalt blue body and large three-fingered hands. It had two orange gills that protruded from round patches on its cheeks. Its head has two large semicircular black fins that extend from the top of its orange eyes to the back of its head. Its tail fin is big, broad, and black. It has a white underside and orange ridged portions above its hands and three-toed feet.

A Swampert.

Another bipedal, weasel-like Pokémon with a pale gray body and several feathery areas was the second. It had a bright red crown and collar made of wide feathers, and a single, thinner feather on each ear. It had two tail feathers and three claws on each paw. There was a yellow, oval marking in the center of its forehead. Its Red eyes and protruding fangs gave for a menacing appearance.

The third one was a large Sauropod like Pokémon. It had a brown colored body, wrapped in green leaves on its chest and head. It possessed large, broad leaves on its back, used for flight.

A Tropius.

A reptilian Pokémon, green in color, was the fourth. On either sides of its head were yellow frills, which were connected by lines to its yellow lips and rings around its eyes. There were small ridges on its shoulders and a red zigzag stripe around its midsection. The hands and feet had three short digits each, and it had yellow soles. It also had a long skinny tail that was curled tightly in a spiral.

A Keckleon.

Next was a moth-like Pokémon that Ash knew all too well. It had a purple egg-shaped body and tattered, green wings with red circles and streaks. It had yellow antennae and yellow stylized compound eyes. Its legs are red and stubby, and it has a jagged fringe on its rear.

A Dustox.

The last one was what anyone could easily describe as the most impressive of the six. A large robotic Pokémon with a turquoise, disc-shaped body and four legs. The main body appeared to serve as both head and body, and this Pokémon's overall construction gave it the appearance of a mechanized arachnid. A large, metallic cross was situated in the center of its face. On either side of the cross, a red eye peers out from a space in the metallic armor. While the upper portion of the legs were relatively thin, they were considerably thicker below the knee. Each leg had three short claws on the end and a flat, blunt protrusion extending over the knee. The legs could also be tucked in, helping the Pokémon to float in the air.

Morrison's Metagross.

"Pretty good huh..!" Morrison asked with a smirk as he proudly looked at his Pokémon. He was cheering internally for choosing a strong squad for the month.

Ash was highly impressed. "Wow…. This is a really great team Morrison… and I don't recognize any of the Pokémon other than Metagross. They sure weren't with you in the Hoenn League."

Morrison nodded "Yup! Tropius, Dustox, Weavile and Keckleon were caught by me during my second journey through Hoenn. Also, feel yourself lucky, you are looking at the team which helped me to reach the Hoenn League finals this year!" Although the last part was said in a much more subdued manner than he had originally expected to. Seriously, Ash winning the Unova League!? And before him to boot!?

Ash looked in surprise at Morrison "You reached the Hoenn League finals!? Did you win?" Ash asked excitedly, before cringing at the crestfallen look present on Morrison's face.

"No man… My opponent was a real badass…. I couldn't even defeat half of his team…." Morrison said sadly. Ash was extremely surprised by that. Seeing how strong Morrison's team was, he couldn't fathom just who could have been powerful enough to crush his team like that.

Ash put his hands on Morrison's shoulders in support. "Don't worry Morrison. You can defeat that guy in the next years Champions League, you just gotta train hard. I know how bad it was for me when I lost to Tobias in the Sinnoh semis…" Ash was jerked violently as Morrison turned to look at him in shock and disbelief.

"Tobias…. Did you say Tobias?" Morrison's voice came out as a whisper.

"Yes….." Ash drawled out, unsure of what he should say.

Morrison looked at Ash with a serious gaze "Mysterious looking guy…. Has a cool looking hat….. uses Legendaries…. Starts with Darkrai?" Morrison asked Ash, who nodded.

"Yup, that's his MO. But how do you know that Morrison?" Ash asked. Did Morrison see Ash's battle with Tobias?

"Because he was the guy who beat me." Morrison said seriously. Ash would have spit out his coffee if he was drinking any.

'Tobias won the Hoenn League too?' Ash was stunned by what Morrison would go on to tell him next. Apparently, Tobias didn't just win the League; he did it in the same fashion as he did in Sinnoh. He used Darkrai against every opponent of his. 6v6, 3v3, it didn't matter. Tobias's Darkrai was undefeated until he reached the final match against Morrison. But what caused Ash's jaw to drop, quite literally, was the second Pokémon which Morrison told Tobias took out.

"A Suicune!?" Ash asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, a Suicune. The guys destroyed half of my team with it. Metagross was able to do some damage, but the sombitch was so fast that even he didn't fare too well against him." Metagross lowered his head in a little shame, although Pikachu tried to cheer him up.

Ash decided to share with Morrison a news that would cause an equal amount of shock to his rival. "Morrison, you might have been just the second person ever to defeat Tobias's Darkrai. I did so too in the Sinnoh Semis..." This statement caused Morrison to look at Ash in a whole new light. Darkrai was a crazy strong Pokémon with amazing endurance. He knew it all too well. "…but the second Pokémon he used against me wasn't Suicune, it was a Latios." Morrison's eyes widened at that. 'Yup… definitely the desired response…'

"So… that could mean that Tobias has even more Legendaries?" Morrison gulped.

Ash wasn't faring much better. He knew better than perhaps anyone else just how powerful Legendary Pokémon could be. His previous confidence against Tobias had stemmed from the fact that he had believed Tobias to have just two Legendary Pokémon; Darkrai and Latios. While he could think of a hundred different strategies to defeat the two, six legendaries might just be too much for his team…

On the sidelines, Pikachu watched with growing annoyance as his Trainer and his friend went into depression over facing a Trainer. That wasn't the attitude Pikachu expected from the two! Looking towards Metagross for permission, Pikachu jumped into the air, and gave a mighty cry.

"PI-KA-CHUUUUU!" A huge Thundershock hit the two trainers, who were promptly singed as they twitched on the ground uncomfortably.

"W-what w-was t-that f-for Pika P-pal…" Morrison barely made out. Ash groaned in support of the statement.

Pikachu promptly got on his back two legs as he faced the two trainers. Folding his arms in a scolding manner, he promptly gave a dressing down to the duo.

"Pika. Chu cha Pika pi. Pika chu chu chika pi pi pika chu cha Pikachu cupikachupi chu pika. Chu pi ka pi ka pi cha. Pi ka pi ka pi ka chu. Ka Pika. Chukapi, chu chu. Pikachu pika pi pi ka cha chu. Pikachu pika. Ka chukka, ka chaka, pika chu pika chu. Ka cha ka cha chu ka chu ka, pikaaaachuu." Pikachu explained, as best as he could, the value of integrity, passion, bravery, and win or lose never give up attitude, to the two.

"So… you mean to say that we could totally defeat Tobias if we train hard enough..?" Ash asked tentatively.

"And we could even win the Champions League, even though we are like a 1: 1 billion odds for it….?" Morrison asked with a similar expression.

Pikachu gave a thumbs up to the two. "PIKA!"

Metagross also grunted his acknowledgement.

Morrison and Ash stood up, new resolve filled within their youthful eyes.

"I feel sooo much better now! Ash, your Pikachu is the best motivational speaker I have ever met." Morrison praised honestly as he shook hands with Ash.

Ash looked on to Pikachu proudly. Maybe the electric rodent did have a career out of battling. "it certainly seems so Morrison."

The speech had rejuvenated Morrison's spirit, and it was just begging to burst out. "Ash, now that we are back to our older selves, would you like to have a battle!?"

Ash grinned, but before he could say yes, a loud boom caught their attention. Both the trainers, and Pikachu, whirled back towards the source of the noise, but were stunned by the absence of Morrison's Pokémon.

"M-MY POKÉMON!" Morrison started looking for his Pokémon in a frenzied manner.

Ash was about to send out his Pokémon for a search, before a voice, a familiar voice, hit his ears.

"Not so fast Twerp!" A man's voice cut through gleefully, a voice Ash knew as well as he did of his best friends.

He groaned, knowing what was about to follow. "Not these guys again….. I thought I had lost them…"

A ridiculous looking Mecha emerged from the ground. The Mecha had the shape of a bipedal robot, with a spherical container used for seating the trio. The machine also had extendible arms, along with rubber coated hands and feet. The structure itself stood up to 30 feet in height, and Ash had to admit that this was one of the better ones as of late. A large 'R' was emblazoned on the front of the Mecha.

But what caught Ash and Morrison's attention was the cage in between; all of Morrison's Pokémon were present there. The cage was small enough to prevent any movement, thus negating any chance of an attack being used, due to fear of recoil damage.

Three familiar figures emerged from the top of the Mecha. A man, a woman, and yours truly, Meowth!

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie said.

"Make it double!" James held a rose in his hands.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

"Team Rocket…." Ash growled. Electricity sparkled from Pikachu's cheeks dangerously.

"Return my Pokémon Team Rocket!" Morrison yelled in anger. The ridiculous motto and the accompanying poses finally reminded Morrison of Team Rocket from the time he had faced them years ago.

The trio laughed in glee "Not so fast Twerp! These Pokémon belong to Team Rocket now!"

The three jumped back into the Mecha, being rather safe than sorry.

"Oh no you don't! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said to his Pokémon, who nodded in the affirmative.

Jumping with a loud 'Cha', Pikachu let out an absolutely massive Thunderbolt onto Team Rocket's Mecha. The accompanying beam of light was so large that the two trainers had to cover their eyes.

"It won't work on us this time twoip!" Meowth yelled in victory. "The super duper Mola Mola 9000 is immune to electric attacks!"

Ash grit his teeth in anger. But nevertheless, he had more Pokémon on his disposal now. Sporting a mischievous grin, Ash's hand twitched towards one of the Pokeballs on his belt…

But Team Rocket didn't know this. "And we know that you don't bring any other Pokémon with you when you go on a new journey, so you can't stop us this time twerp!" Jessie exclaimed happily.

Morrison looked even more worried as he turned to Ash "Please Ash, you've gotta do something!"

Ash smiled in a placating manner towards his friend "Don't worry Morrison, I will save your Pokémon…"

"Tyranitar….. I CHOOSE YOU!" The trio's eyes widened in fear and disbelief as Tyranitar came out roaring in all his glory. The power of Tyranitar was such that the ground beneath his shook as he roared.

Meowth looked in fear towards his comrades. "Um, guys…. When did the Twoip catch such a powerful Pokémon?" Jessie and James were still shell shocked, and were unable to answer.

Tyranitar growled in anger as he looked at Team Rocket. He had once been separated from his mother by the same type of people; he won't let it happen here.

Jessie, James and Meowth had regained their bearing by this time, and knew full well that they didn't stand a chance before this beast, so they were attempting to run away.

"Faster Meowth! Faster!" James yelled at Meowth, who was controlling the machine fervently.

But Ash didn't have any of it. "Tyranitar, stop them using Dark Pulse!"

"Ra…" Tyranitar focused all of his dark thoughts, and in a matter of seconds, manifested them into a Dark Colored basketball sized sphere in the palm of his hands. Giving a loud roar, Tyranitar launched the ball at blinding speeds towards the escaping Team Rocket Mecha. The ball had a bright center, from which lightning appeared to be escaping.

Although they were able to prevent a critical hit, the ball did hit one of the hands, creating a loud explosion and blasting it, and the structure, off the ground. The sheer power of the Dark Pulse was visible to Ash and Morrison as the explosion was larger than any they had ever seen before.

"AAAHH! Meowth do something!" James yelled frantically. Due to the closed structure of the Mecha, they couldn't even use their own Pokémon; not that it would have been much help.

By this time, Ash and Co had reached the area.

"Tyranitar, use a Hyper Beam to cut off the legs!" Ash yelled to his Beast.

Tyranitar growled as he created a yellow colored sphere in his mouth. The procedure only taking a split second, Tyranitar launched the sphere in the shape of a Beam towards the legs. A massive advantage that Tyranitar possessed was that it could used its Hyper Beam continuously for a long time, as well in quick succession. The Beam was launched with a blinding light and exploded near the bottom section of the Mecha, taking out the legs and massive chunks of the armor.

Ash now turned towards his electric rodent "Pikachu, use Iron Tail to break up the bars!" Pikachu moved with a blinding speed to cut off the bars. The trio screamed in dismay as the captured Pokémon made their way out quickly.

Morrison had gotten pretty pissed off by this point, and immediately took matters into his hands.

"-Metagross!"

"-Pikachu!"

"-Tyranitar!"

"Hyper Beam! /Thunderbolt! /Fire Blast!" Three cries came out as the Pokémon dutifully followed.

Metagross, whose anger level in all of his four brains was pretty high, launched the Hyper Beam with a newfound vengeance as his five comrades cheered him on. Tropius, in particular, looked pretty happy.

Pikachu launched the Thunderbolt as if it were a normal thing for him to fry two humans and a talking Pokémon; which it was, and Tyranitar created a mini Fire Blast, but still pretty big, and launched it. Tyranitar's Fire Blast was in the form of a Fireball, so it created an explosive damage, rather than an arson form.

The three attacks hit the sphere which protected the trio, effectively smashing it, and launching them off into the clear sky.

"We should have been more prepared…" Jessie groaned.

"But we came so close for real!" James said as anime tears ran down his face.

"But that doesn't matter cause.." Meowth began.

"Team Rocket is blasting off again!"

Ash and Morrison watched with deadpan stares as Team Rocket blasted off into space, eventually disappearing with a 'Ping'.

Morrison looked at Ash with beady eyes. "They seriously do that even now?" He asked in disbelief.

Ash deadpanned, as if Morrison had asked a stupid question. "Of course they do… it's their MO.."

Morrison grinned as he faced Ash. "Hey Ash, as I was saying before, would you like to have a Pokémon battle!?" Morrison asked, as he reiterated his question from before.

Ash smirked. "You didn't really need to ask!"

As they made their way towards the clearing, Ash looked in slight worry towards the sky. Even though he didn't 'Like' the Team Rocket trio, he didn't hate them. They had become a sort of constant for him through every journey he had taken till now. He still remembered how the trio had almost sacrificed their own lives once to help him with Lugia.

"They seriously need to stop doing their 'Blasting off' thing…. One day they are gonna get hurt.." Ash murmured worriedly, earning a nod from Pikachu.

Little did he know…

XXX

A large distance away…. 5 minutes later…

"JAMES! DON'T YOU LEAVE THAT BRANCH, OR I SWEAR IMMA KILL YOU!" Jessie roared from her position on James's leg, as Meowth held on to her own.

"I'M TRYING, OKAY? BUT THE BRANCH IS TOO SMALL!" James yelled back as anime tears fell from his eyes.

"I'M TOO YOUING TO DWIE! ME-OWTH!" Meowth wasn't doing so well himself. Feeling himself slipping off, his claws protruded reflexively, earning a pain filled yelp from Jessie.

Jessie's head appeared to have gotten ten times it size as she yelled at Meowth. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MEOWTH!" While Meowth flashed an apologetic grin at her, the cat Pokémon turned towards his blue haired partner with a grin.

"James! Your Carnivine! He can save us, call him out!" Meowth yelled, relief seeping from every word.

James got a huge grin as he turned to Jessie "Jessie! Get Carnivine's Pokeball from my belt!" He himself could not have gotten it, seeing as he was holding onto the branch.

Jessie frantically reached for the Pokeballs, only to balk in shock when she didn't find any. "B-But there aren't any Pokeballs here!" She screamed in fear to the two.

Meowth eyes widened at that. "Oh shitoit! I had place all of ouir Pokeballs in the bag! IT FELL ON THE TREE NEAR THE CLIFF!" Indeed, the bag was easily visible from their place as it comfortable lie on the large tree.

It was almost as if fate itself was mocking them.

"Oh no! The branch is slipping….!" James held on to the branch for dear life, but it was not to be since the branch eventually did give way.

"AAAHHHH!" The three would have fallen to their deaths, if not for a very familiar screech filling the air…

XXX

A few minutes earlier…

A large yellow Pokémon happily jumped around as it feasted on the several flies and insects trapped in its pitcher. Having a large supply of fruits didn't dampen matters.

"AAAHHH!" The Pokémon looked up in interest as the scream reached its ear. While the Pokémon would have usually not paid much attention to such matters, it was when it finally saw just who was screaming that its eyes widened.

The Pokémon didn't care for anything in its path as it made its way; as fast as it could, towards the direction the trio were flying into.

'Master….' The Pokémon jumped over obstacles, used its vines in ways it never had imagined before, and moved with an agility belying its size and build.

"Oh no! The branch is slipping!" The Pitcher Pokémon's eyes widened in fear as it finally reached the cliff. Stopping the edge, it expertly used its vines to grab onto the trio. Even though the weight was far more than what he had ever carried before, the Pokémon didn't give up, and heroically pulled the trio back up.

Jessie, James and Meowth huddled with their backs to each other as they took a huge sigh of relief.

"Damn, that was a cloise one!" Meowth was the first one to speak.

James however looked at the two, confusion present in his eyes. "But what saved us? Carnivine's Pokeball is still in the bag, as is Seviper…" It was then that James looked at the stupefied expression on Jessie's face, as if she had seen a ghost.

"Huh? What's the matter Jess?" Meowth asked.

Jessie pointed a shaky finger into the direction where their savior was present. "L-LOOK! I'ts V-V-"

James immediately recognized the Pokémon immediately. Tears sprang into his eyes as he looked at the Pokémon, who was looking at him with an equally nostalgic gaze.

James jumped forward to hug the Pokémon, who returned it immediately.

"V-Victreebel!"

XXX

A/N: Wow…. A Lot happened in this chapter, didn't it?

So… James gets back his Victreebel, the first one, mind you. I always felt that letting Victreebel go was a very insensitive thing done by James. Victreebel obviously cared a lot for his trainer, so I didn't like that one bit.

I hope you liked this Chapter guys! Also, thanks a lot for the awesome feedback to the last chapter. WE FINALLY CROSSED THE 100 REVIEWS MARK!

Next chapter will contain a lot of plot progression, as well as a battle. Heck, I might include a Pokémon capture by Ash!

PS: I have used a couple of ideas from the fic 'Pokedex' by Birdboy.

Till next time, Tango Charlie O.U.T