Hi! Sorry for the wait. I needed to catch my breath. Anyway, last chapter was a big one. After taking an Ice Beam attack from Beth's Froslass, Serena finally got around to confessing to Ash. The moment was interrupted, however, by Beth coming within mere seconds of killing them both. Fortunately, her Absol's Hyper Beam was cancelled out by a Moonblast attack from Dr. Blanchard's Gardevoir. What happens next? Read on to find out.

Chapter 09

In the meantime, in Dr. Blanchard's study.

James had been searching Dr. Blanchard's computer for what felt like forever. While Jessie and Meowth were standing guard by the door, he was scrolling through file after file. But he had no luck. Clearly, Dr. Blanchard's computer had so many files that it was impossible find the right one right away.

"Tell me you've found it," Jessie said, impatiently.

"I've found it," James said, sarcastically.

Jessie wasn't amused. "That isn't funny!"

Meowth was even more annoyed. "Remind me why we're not down there, nabbin' that stone."

"Tell me if this sounds familiar," Jessie brought up. "Three heads, attacks anything that moves."

"Good point," Meowth said.

Jessie began to go on a long rant, questioning how they wound up taking orders from Beth of all people.

"Oh, I can't wait to wipe that smug look off her face! I mean did you see how she looked when we…"

"I found it!" James said.

"Not now, James," she said.

"I mean it this time," he retorted with conviction.

"What? Really?!" Jessie ran over to the computer, carrying Meowth with her.

"At least, I think this is it," James gestured to the monitor, which showed a picture of an ancient carving showing a picture of a spherical object that had to be the stone they were looking for. Surrounding it were the images of three familiar Pokémon, Entei, Suicune, and Raikou.

"Wait," Jessie said. "This is it?"

"It was the only file on the stone I could find."

"Who cares what it is?!" Meowth exclaimed. "Just download it already! I don't wanna be Hydreigon chow!"

And with that, James went to work, launching the downloading program. The words "Please wait a moment." flashed on the monitor.

The only thing left was to wait for Beth to get the stone.

Back in the Legendary wing.

As Dr. Blanchard and Beth continued to face each other, there was a feeling of suspense in the air. Ash and Serena glanced back and forth between the two, waiting for one of them to make a move.

Beth was the one to break the veil of silence hanging over them.

"Adam," she said, in a false affable tone. "It's been a while."

Dr. Blanchard just continued to stare.

"What do you want, Beth?" he asked, his voice venomous.

"I thought that would have been obvious. I'm here for the stone."

Ash was now even more confused than when he was a few moments ago. Did these two know each other?

"Well, you're out of luck," Dr. Blanchard said. "You know without the right Pokémon, that stone is useless to you."

"I know that!" Beth said, furiously. Then she regained her composure. "But I'm not the one who wants it. My client is paying me a fortune for this, and I don't plan on disappointing him."

She cracked her whip at Absol. "Absol, keep him busy."

Absol charged at Dr. Blanchard and Gardevoir.

Dr. Blanchard pulled up his right sleeve, revealing a wristband with familiar stone embedded in the center of it. Waving his index and middle in front of it, it began to glow pale blue.

A similar reaction was occurring in a pink and green Mega Stone in a necklace around Gardevoir's neck.

"Gardevoir!" Dr. Blanchard shouted. "Mega Evolve!"

As he said those words, Gardevoir became encased in an egg-shaped cocoon of energy. Then a helix symbol appeared above it. Finally, both the symbol and cocoon exploded, leaving only Gardevoir in their place. Only its appearance had changed.

It was now almost completely white. Only its hair was still green. Its gown-like lower body became wider and longer. Its hair was shorter. And it now had two red horns protruding from its chest.

While Ash and Serena were observing Gardevoir's Mega Evolution in awe, Beth was hardly impressed.

"Hah!" she scoffed. "Don't tell me you're still using that cheap Mega Evolution tactic."

She began walking toward the stone's display case.

"We'll see how cheap you say it is," Dr. Blanchard said. He then pointed to the still charging Absol.

"Gardevoir, use Moonblast!"

An image of the moon appeared above Gardevoir, who began drawing energy from it. Then, spreading its arms outward, it began to form a pink energy orb. As Absol was about to attack it, the energy orb was already fired. It collided with Absol in a flash of light, knocking it unconscious.

Beth, who had reached the display case, scowled in disappointment.

"I knew that Absol was worthless," she said, recalling it. Then she turned back to the display case. Hitting it with the handle of her whip, she watched the frost covered glass shatter. She then scooped the golden stone into her gloved hand.

"Got it," she said to herself in satisfaction.

"Hey!" Ash shouted, with Serena's arms still around him. "You can't take that!"

"I can take whatever I want," Beth responded coolly.

Then she pressed her finger to one of her earrings, touching a hidden sensor.

She could only hope Team Rocket had found the file by now.

Back in Dr. Blanchard's study

"Come on," Jessie urged.

"Give me a minute," James said, losing patience with her.

Watching the screen carefully, the trio were waiting for the file to download onto the drive that Beth had given them. And it was taking a long time.

Finally, the words "Download complete" flashed onto the screen.

"Yes!" James shouted. Then he noticed the blue light on the ring Beth gave him was beginning to flash.

"That's our cue!" Meowth said.

Rapidly scanning the room, they searched for a way out. The fastest way they could see was the window.

Jessie opened it and all three tried to carefully climb out. Meowth went first, followed by Jessie, and finally, James.

James tried to climb down carefully, but the smooth marble surface of the walls made it hard for him get a grip. Finally, he slipped, colliding with Jessie and Meowth on the way down.

The trio landed on the ground just below the window, echoing the same position they were in when breaking into Dr. Blanchard's study.

"Not again," they said in a dejected tone.

At the same time, in the Legendary wing

"Well," Beth said in satisfaction, tightly gripping the stone. "It looks like my job here is done."

Ash and Serena could only watch in shock as their adversary smoothly stepped away from what was once the stone's display case.

Dr. Blanchard, scared as he was, wasn't about to let Beth just take the stone.

"You don't realize what you're doing!" he shouted, furiously.

"Oh," Beth replied coolly. "Don't I? You forget, you're not the only expert here on this stone."

Dr. Blanchard just scowled.

Beth took out the Master Ball containing her Hydreigon and threw it in front of her, releasing the three-headed, dragon-like Pokémon.

"Hydreigon," she said, mounting it. Then she cracked her whip. "Get us out of here."

Hydreigon began to ascend to the ceiling in rapid manner. Then it began charging itself at the large glass dome that dominated the Legendary wing's ceiling.

Dr. Blanchard reacted as fast as he could.

"Gardevoir," he said, pointing at the fleeing Hydreigon. "Use Dazzling Gleam!"

Gardevoir closed its eyes, then its body became surrounded in a glowing, rainbow colored aura. The light began to grow stronger and expanded in Hydreigon's direction. But, unfortunately, the attack didn't prove fast enough.

Hydreigon had broken through the glass ceiling, carrying Beth and the stone along with it.

"No," Dr. Blanchard said softly. "She got away."

Gardevoir, powering down from its Mega Evolved form, moved gracefully over to its trainer who was now bending his head over in defeat.

"Gardevoir," it said sadly.

Dr. Blanchard momentarily snapped out of his downhearted state.

"It's okay, Gardevoir," he said reassuringly. "I'm sure you did your best."

He then recalled the Psychic/Fairy type. Then he turned his attention to Ash and Serena.

"Oh," he said, noticing that Serena's legs were still frozen. "Do you need some help?"

"Yes," Serena replied.

Dr. Blanchard threw out another pokéball, this one releasing a Pokémon with a red body and yellow flame designs. It had an actual flame on its tail and metal shackles on its neck and ankles.

He then gestured to the ice that was entrapping Serena's lower body.

"Magmar, use Ember."

Magmar opened its beak-like mouth, letting loose a slow, steady stream of small flames, which began melting the ice that kept Serena from moving.

By the time the ice was thawed, Ash helped Serena to her feet.

Then, something caught his attention.

"What about Pikachu?"

Dr. Blanchard looked around, until he noticed the electric mouse backed against the wall, trapped by several icicles.

"Oh," he said. "Magmar, Flamethrower."

Magmar opened its mouth again and a larger stream of fire began making its way toward the icicles, melting them and freeing Pikachu.

"Pika!" it shouted

As it ran over to its trainer, Ash let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Are you alright, Pikachu?" he asked.

"Pikachu!" it squeaked happily.

Dr. Blanchard looked at the enormous hole in the skylight dome that Beth's Hydreigon had left, unease filling his face.

"Dr. Blanchard," Serena said. "Do you know her?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Dr. Blanchard replied. "Her name is Beth and she's part of the reason why so many of these exhibits had to be transported here secretly."

"Why?" Ash asked. "Who is she?"

"Magmar, would you mind thawing out the rest of this room for me?"

Magmar nodded at its trainer, then let out another small Flamethrower, this one making its way around the room and melting the ice.

"She's a notorious thief and world class Pokémon Hunter. And she's wanted in several parts of Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova."

"So why did she want the stone?" Serena queried.

"I don't know," Dr. Blanchard answered. "But whatever the reason is, it can't be good."

Soon after the conversation had concluded, the Legendary wing was no longer covered in ice. Magmar had done its work.

"Magmar, return," Dr. Blanchard said, recalling it.

Ash was relieved that he and Serena made it out of that mess alive but he couldn't help but think back to her… unexpected confession that was made just after taking that Ice Beam for him.

He still couldn't believe it. Serena had feelings for him the whole time. Granted, he should have seen it before. But he only wondered one thing: just how should he feel about it?

"Hey!" a voice shouted from the doorway. "Are you two alright?!"

The voice turned out to belong to Misty, who was standing in the doorway along with the others.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ash said. He was a little confused, but alright.

As Ash and Serena walked out of the Legendary wing, Dr. Blanchard found himself staring up at the broken skylight. That wasn't what worried him. That could be repaired easily. But the stone, on the other hand, couldn't. And even then, that was the least of his worries.

"Beth," he said, in a melancholy voice. "Why are you doing this?"

At that moment, in the skies above Pallet Town

Sitting on top of Hydreigon's back, Beth tightly gripped the stone she had successfully stolen. Other than the interference of those other two trainers, it went off without a hitch.

She held up the stone to her face, looking at her reflection in it.

"It's been a long time since I last held this," she said.

"Hey, wait for us!" a familiar voice shouted.

She turned around to see Team Rocket's balloon right behind her. In no time at all, it was right beside Hydreigon.

"So," she said, not looking away from the stone. "Did you find the information we need?"

"Of course," James said, holding up the flash drive containing the file.

Beth's cold expression didn't change. "Looks like you three are less moronic than I thought."

"Hey!" Meowth shouted. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Exactly what I said."

James nudged Meowth to the back of the balloon, trying not to incite Beth's wrath.

"So, just how much is the boss paying you?"

Keeping her eyes on the stone, Beth shook her head.

"More than you three make in a year," she said. "But I don't care. Unlike you, I'm not just in this for money."

"Really?" Jessie asked. "Then what?"

Beth finally faced them. "Let's just say I have a score to settle with Dr. Blanchard."

Once again, sorry for the long wait. I realize it's been almost a month since I last updated. But I was planning other projects. For example, my upcoming Sun and Moon novelization, Light of Alola, the first chapter of which I am working on.

Fear not, I plan on completing this fic by the end of the year. Now, back to the story. This chapter ended with both good news and bad news. The good news is Ash is beginning to understand Serena's feelings for him though he's still wrapping his head around the revelation. The bad news is Beth and Team Rocket got away with both the stone and the information on how to use it. And on top of that, we seem to have gotten a look into what motivates Beth. Specifically, a grudge against Dr. Blanchard, who she seems to have a history with.

Next chapter will provide a small break from the intensity that has been happening since Beth made the scene. Read and review!