Hey everyone! Got a bit of a longer chapter for you all this time, though I think you all deserve that much at least, after all of the delays and such with this story.

Hope you all enjoy!

"Ash! Wait!" Clemont cried, desperately attempting to keep up with Bonnie and Seth as the three of them continued to chase Ash through the streets of the city.

Ash ignored them, as he had been doing all along, and turned to make his way down the hill leading to the beach. However, as soon as his foot landed on the grainy mass of sand, he froze.

His friends noticed that he had stopped running, and smiled gratefully, thinking that he had finally heeded their calls.

"Ash…you finally stopped…" Seth proclaimed breathlessly, the three of them coming up beside him, though his gaze remained locked on the public bench a few yards in front of him.

"Huh? What's wrong…?" Bonnie asked, following his eyes to the bench situated near the cliff at the back end of the beach. She gasped when she noticed the all-too-familiar item resting atop it. "That's - !"

"Yeah." Ash affirmed, approaching the bench cautiously before picking the hat up. "This is Serena's hat, no doubt about it…"

"But why would she just…leave it here?" Clemont wondered, sharing a confused look with Ash and Bonnie before noticing Seth, who had shifted his attention to the Tower of Mastery, looming over the bay at them.

"She must've swum across."

"What?" Clemont replied in disbelief. "But…that's almost impossible." He declared, taking a few steps toward the water and looking out toward the tower. "Even if you could make it all the way across, there's bound to be a rip current on the other side. And those rocks don't look too friendly, either…"

Seth turned to face him before answering back. "Look, there's no other way across, right? Only the Gym Leader can raise the sand bridge. If Serena was heading over to the island, the only way she could've gotten there was by swimming it."

Clemont frowned, not wanting to accept that Serena had forced herself to do something so dangerous.

"But…if that's true, then…what happened to her after that? Is she okay?" Bonnie questioned sympathetically, putting a hand to her chest as she looked out across the bay as well.

Ash stowed Serena's hat in his bag before turning to face the Tower of Mastery defiantly. "All right, then."

Clemont turned to Ash at once, a fearful look in his eye. "Ash, what are you – "

"I'm going, too!"

"Blaziken, use Blaze Kick, now!"

"Lucario, Bone Rush!"

The two attacks collided, and Lucario ended up sending Blaziken flying back across the field, leaving the dual Fire/Fighting type panting and down to one knee.

Gurkinn gritted his teeth, legitimately surprised by how powerful Korrina and her Lucario had became since he'd seen them battle last. "Either that, or they've been fooling me for longer than I thought…"

Suddenly, he felt a buzzing against his chest, causing him to look down in frustration. "What is it now?!" He grunted, reaching inside his jacket and producing the Holo Caster he was wearing around his neck. It was programmed to go off whenever a challenger was approaching the bridge on the other side of the beach, which usually prompted him to go and raise the bridge for them to see what they wanted. This time, however, it was in the middle of the night, and he couldn't imagine that just anybody would be approaching the island at this hour. "Wait a minute…" He mused, clicking the button that disabled the bridge alarm before stuffing the device back into his coat.

"What's wrong, Grandfather?" Korrina taunted. "We don't have to fight, you know. You're bringing this on yourself."

Gurkinn chose to ignore her, and instead walked up behind his Blaziken. "I know they're stronger than us, my friend…but I need to ask a favor of you."

Korrina saw the two of them muttering to each other, and decided to make a move, more out of her impatience to finish the battle than anything else. "What is it? You got a secret or something, Grandfather?! Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"

Gurkinn backed away from Blaziken as soon as he heard her call the attack, but he had already said everything he need to. Without hesitating for a second, he cried out, "Now, Blaziken, Mega Evolve!"

Korrina's eyes widened in pleasant surprise at his words, and she watched as Lucario's attack hit the energy field that suddenly manifested around Blaziken, and dissipated harmlessly. A moment later, the field vanished as well, and Mega Blaziken was left standing there, having seemingly gained a second wind in the process.

"BLAAAAAZE!" Blaziken roared defiantly.

"Thank you, my friend. Now, go!" Gurkinn called, briefly gesturing at Korrina and Lucario before turning on a dime and running, heading toward the island's front gate.

Korrina smiled when she realized what was going on. "Oh, I see what you're doing. You're lucky you know me so well, Grandfather." She turned to regard Blaziken dashing toward her. "You know I've always wanted to battle you and Blaziken like this! Lucario, Mega Evolve!"

"Ash, that's crazy! You can't just jump in and swim across the bay like that!" Clemont continued to protest, restraining himself from physically holding Ash back.

"If Serena did it, then so can I!" Ash reasoned angrily. "Who knows what's going on over there right now…I have to go!"

"We don't even know if Serena made it over there!" Seth pointed out grimly. "You can't – "

"Of course she did!" Ash shot back, clenching his fists. "What are you trying to say?! That she's…she's - !"

Before Ash could finish, they heard a rumbling sound, and the ground began to shake slightly. The four of them looked out at the water in surprise to see the bay parting along the path to the island, with the sand bridge forming in its place.

"Huh…?" Ash remarked skeptically, watching as the narrow trail of sand stretching between the beach and the island gradually came into view. "But…how…?"

"Maybe there's someone on the other side, after all." Seth answered. "Someone waiting for us…"

Ash steeled himself, regaining his vigor despite his surprise at what had just transpired. "Right. Then let's get moving!" He took off running across the bridge, not stopping to see if anyone was actually following him or not.

Clemont and Bonnie glanced at each other nervously before taking off after him, leaving Seth as the last one standing on the beach. He allowed himself a moment to watch Ash as he ran toward the island without a second thought, desperate to save Serena from throwing herself in harm's way for his sake. He smiled to himself briefly as he pondered the words Serena had said to him back on their lunch date before finally running forward himself to join Ash and the others.

After finally making it across to the other side of the bridge, they were met by Gurkinn, who had been waiting for them on the beach. "So…it really was you. I suspected as much."

"Gurkinn!" Ash proclaimed with relief.

"You must be…Korrina's grandfather!" Clemont deduced.

"So you're the one that opened the path for us, then?" Seth inquired.

Gurkinn nodded gravely. "That is correct." He turned to face Ash before continuing. "I believe I owe you an apology for Korrina's actions, at the very least, but unfortunately there is no time for that now. I was battling Korrina when I noticed you arrive on the beach – we must hurry back and aid my Blaziken before it is too late!"

The four of them nodded, each putting the pieces together well enough to understand what was going on. "Right – let's go!" Ash remarked, sounding more determined than ever.

However, they hadn't even taken a dozen steps before Ash spoke up again, glancing over at Gurkinn worriedly. "Oh, right…uh, Gurkinn? Have you seen Serena? Is she here on the island?"

Gurkinn looked back over his shoulder at him, not slowing his pace. "Serena…the young lady, I presume? Yes, she's here. She washed up on the beach shortly before I encountered Korrina. In fact, I probably wouldn't have even discovered what my granddaughter was up to if not for her."

"She's here?!" Ash remarked, a wave of relief passing over the four of them. "Where is she?!"

"Hm? She's with your Pikachu, as a matter of fact." Gurkinn answered. "She didn't look too good when I found her on the beach. If Korrina defeats Blaziken before we get back, I doubt there's much she can do against her."

Ash gritted his teeth. "That's not going to happen!"

Gurkinn couldn't help but smile at Ash's resolve. "I should hope not."

It wasn't much longer before they finally arrived back at the open clearing just outside of Korrina's cabin. Lucario and Korrina still appeared to be battling, as well as Blaziken, though the latter definitely appeared more worse for wear.

Gurkinn ran up to take his place beside his Pokémon while Ash and the others hung back, admiring Mega Blaziken's appearance for a moment. "That's…Mega Blaziken!" Clemont announced in awe.

"Blaziken!" Gurkinn cried, running up to his partner. "Are you okay? Can you continue?"

"Blaze…" Blaziken grunted in anguish.

"Oh, so that's what you were doing! I wondered what was so important that you'd abandon your Pokémon like that. Now it makes sense!" Korrina remarked.

"Korrina!" Ash cried out angrily, running up beside Gurkinn as he glared daggers at the Gym Leader. "Where's Pikachu? Where's Serena?!"

"Oh, don't worry, Ash! You'll get to see them soon enough, I promise. Just let me finish up with Grandfather here – Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"

"Rrrraa!" Lucario grunted, shooting off another ball of energy across the clearing at Blaziken, who was far too tired at this point to dodge. He took the hit head-on while Ash and Gurkinn ran to opposite sides of the field to escape the blast.

"Blaziken!" Gurkinn cried, but to no avail. A rainbow-colored aura appeared around Blaziken briefly while it degenerated back to its base state. "Return, my friend. You did more than I could have ever asked for."

"Well, I have to admit, that was pretty fun." Korrina admitted, and true to her word, Lucario did appear to be somewhat exhausted from the battle. Even so, it was still standing, and appeared ready to continue fighting. "But now what are you gonna do? You want to try your Lucario against mine?"

Gurkinn grunted angrily, replacing Blaziken's Poke Ball inside his jacket. Before anyone else could make a move, however, a voice erupted from the open door of Korrina's cabin, taking every single one of them by surprise.

"Ash!"

Ash turned to find the source of the voice and was met with the sight of Serena shakily running out of the cabin toward them, an unconscious Pikachu in her arms. At that moment, something strange seemed to trigger inside of the young Pokémon trainer, and to him, Serena seemed almost angelic all of a sudden. He blinked awkwardly for a moment, letting the impact of what he was seeing and feeling sink in, before allowing his face to break into a grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Serena! Pikachu!"

Seth, Clemont, and Bonnie all smiled as well when they saw her running toward them. She was covered in bruises and appeared to be having trouble moving, but there was no time to interrogate her. Korrina saw her coming toward them as well, and turned to regard her.

"Oh, looky here. See, Ash? I told you that you'd get to see them soon!" Korrina remarked happily, almost smugly. "But you know, Serena, I can't just let you go and take Pikachu like that." She gestured at Lucario, and it moved at once to block Serena's path.

Serena stopped and back up slightly as Lucario jumped in front of her, arms stretched wide to block her from getting past. Ash reached for a Poke Ball, but Korrina noticed, and turned to regard him before he could make a move. "Don't even think about it, Ash! I really don't want to do it this way, but if you're gonna try and gang up on me like that, then I've got no choice, really. If you try and help her, I'll just have Lucario take her out!"

Ash froze on the spot, and Clemont turned to her angrily. "What's wrong with you?! Don't you have any pride as a Gym Leader at all?!"

"Of course I do. That's what all of this is about, right? I'm trying to provide people and their Pokémon a chance to live a better life together – through Mega Evolution!"

Clemont hesitated, not sure what she was referring to exactly. This gave Seth an opportunity to step in. "Mega Evolution…? What are you talking about?"

Gurkinn narrowed his eyes in frustration. "It's what she's doing all of this for. Supposedly, she has a contact – or contacts – that possess a machine with the ability to force Mega Evolution onto any Pokémon. That's what she plans to use Pikachu for – an experiment."

Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and Seth all turned to face Korrina in surprise and disbelief. "Korrina…" Ash began slowly. "Is that really true…?"

Korrina smiled wide at him. "Of course! Doesn't it sound amazing? Don't you wish your Pikachu could Mega Evolve? I'm just trying to help you guys out!"

Bonnie ran forward, a mix of betrayal, anger, and sadness present on her face. "No you're not! You're not our friend at all! You just want to take Pikachu and use him for whatever you want!"

"Mega Evolution is a symbol of the trust a trainer shares with his Pokémon." Gurkinn explained ruefully. "It is NOT something to be manufactured in a laboratory! That is an abomination!"

Korrina sighed, seeming to be genuinely saddened by his words. "I wish I could make you understand…I thought you of all people would listen to me, Grandfather."

"If that is so, then you obviously don't know me as well as you think you do!"

Meanwhile, Serena was still stuck behind Lucario, who was staring her down, refusing to budge. She knew that even if a shadow of a chance of her getting around it existed, it was null at this point anyway, since it had already Mega Evolved. She knew that with Pikachu being unconscious, and Korrina prevented the rest of her friends from using their Pokémon, there was only one way out of this for them.

Shifting Pikachu over to one arm under her shoulder, she reached into her skirt pocket with her free hand and produced the one occupied Poke Ball in her possession. "Fennekin, please! I need you!"

"Fennnnnekin!" Fennekin chirped, materializing in the small space between Serena and Lucario. This caused everyone else to turn their heads in shock, especially Korrina.

"Excuse me?" Korrina chuckled. "Not to be rude or anything, Serena, but…you're not serious with that, are you?"

"There's no way that Fennekin can beat Mega Lucario…even if it does have a type advantage!" Clemont deduced.

Serena narrowed her eyes, returning Lucario's gaze adamantly. "Fennekin, use Flamethrower, now!"

"Fennnnnn!" Fennekin roared, blasting a wave of fire out of its mouth toward Lucario.

Korrina's eyes widened, but she didn't miss a beat as she allowed her battling instincts to kick in and take over. "Jump and dodge it, Lucario!"

Lucario obeyed, leaping high into the sky and easily avoiding Fennekin's attack. However, this gave Serena the opening she had planned for, and instantly ran forward as soon as Lucario left the ground. "Fennekin, Hidden Power!"

Lucario and Korrina both saw what Serena's plan was, but before Lucario could land and prevent her from rejoining her friends, half a dozen balls of white energy surged forward from Fennekin and collided with it in midair.

Korrina frowned for the first time that night. "Go, Lucario!"

"RAAAAAAA!" Lucario roared, rolling into its midair fall and dashing toward Serena, slamming into the ground in front of her, still a good few dozen yards from Ash and the others. Serena jumped and ended up falling over backward when Lucario landed, leaving her sprawled out on the ground defenseless as it summoned its Bone Rush and swung it toward her –

"FENNNNNNN!" Fennekin squeaked, flying in front of the attack before it could collide with Serena. Fennekin was swatted away like a fly and launched across the clearing, slamming into a tree before crumpling to the ground.

"Fennekin!" Serena cried out sadly, reaching out toward her fallen Pokémon before being cut off by Lucario's bone club. She looked up at it fearfully, and it stared back down at her angrily.

"I warned you not to try and battle us, you know." Korrina remarked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Stop it, Korrina!" Ash demanded. "That's enough!"

"Sure!" Korrina agreed. "I take it that you and Pikachu are coming with us, then?"

Ash hesitated. Korrina waited a moment for his answer before sighing. "Then I guess we gotta keep going." She turned to Lucario. "All right, let's wrap it up, Lucario. You probably don't have much more left in you, right? Take her out and grab Pikachu!"

"No!" Serena exclaimed desperately, covering the small Mouse Pokémon with her arms. "You're NEVER getting Pikachu! You hear me?!"

Ash's eyes widened as he watched her defend his Pokémon with her life. He couldn't remember anyone else other than himself going so far to protect his partner like that. "Serena…"

Lucario raised its weapon. The sun had finally begun to rise on the distant horizon, though none of them could see it from their position. The sky was beginning to turn from dark black to light purple and orange. Fennekin opened its eyes blearily and saw just enough to tell that Serena was about to be hurt badly, possibly killed. At that moment, its blood pressure spiked, its ears shot up, and it let loose a battle cry the likes of which Serena had never heard.

"What?!" Korrina remarked in disbelief as Fennekin shot across the battlefield like a bullet, cloaked in a mane of fire as it struck Lucario and knocked it away from Serena.

"F-Fennekin?!" Serena stammered, just as surprised as Korrina was. Fennekin landed in front of her, growling angrily at Lucario as it stood its ground, maintain a faint orange aura around its body as it did so.

"What was that?!" Ash cried in surprise.

"I think that was Flame Charge!" Clemont answered. "And…that must be Fennekin's Blaze, as well!"

"Blaze…?" Serena murmured to herself, faintly remembering the ability's description from her Pokedex. "Fennekin…"

"Well, I have to admit, I'm impressed." Korrina admitted. "Not like it's going to make any difference, though. Lucario!"

Lucario nodded, shaking off its own shock at Fennekin's sudden burst of power and raising its weapon yet again. Fennekin stood its ground as the club was brought down, and a second before it made contact, a brilliant white light engulfed the small Fox Pokémon, repelling Lucario's attack and causing it to stagger backward.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding…!" Korrina exclaimed in disbelief.

"No way! Fennekin's - !" Ash began, but was swiftly cut off by Seth.

"It's evolving!"

Serena merely stared on in awe as she watched Fennekin within the white glow as it quickly morphed into something…else. A few seconds later, the glow dissipated, and in Fennekin's place was a somewhat larger fox, now standing upright, and with a much broader air of respect and power about it. As soon as it emerged from the evolutionary glow, it quickly scanned the ground and picked up a twig, examining it briefly before stuffing it into its tail, apparently satisfied with it.

"Fenne…kin…?" Serena said slowly, almost a question to her newly evolved partner. It turned back to look at her reassuringly, a massive smile present on its face.

"Braiiixen!" The Pokémon replied triumphantly.

I almost just kept going and finished everything up in this chapter. But I figured it was the right time to take a break in the action instead, instead of trying to rush all of the resolution that's going to happen after this in order to fit into the same chapter as all this.

As usual, I hope you all enjoyed! I'll be back before Thanksgiving with the next update, for my American readers!