Right sorry for the delay, but I've just finished my A2s so now I'll have more time to do this Fanfic. Oh and sorry if this chapter seems shorter than the other ones.

Ash slowly opened his eyes. He could feel they were sore after crying so hard last night. He looked down to see his sleeping Pikachu curled up next to him, which never failed to make him smile. He then looked at his picture of Misty smiling which has the same effect. Ash raised a finger to wipe the tears off the photo and then placed it carefully into his bag. Ash lied on the bed still, while thinking about all that happened. An uncomfortable thought entered his head at having to face his friends after that scene he had made last night. He just prayed that they would not question him about it. Ash looked over to his sleeping electric mouse and rolled over to give it a soft cuddle. The little yellow mouse had a sweet little smile grow on its face as it thought of Ash and Misty.

"What happened to Ash?" asked May curiously.

The group were in the dining area and were sat around the table with their individual breakfasts. May's question was met with silence by Dawn and Paul; however Brock was sat in deep thought as he pondered the possibilities. His immediate thought was that it was to do with Misty, but he was confused why Ash would suddenly be overwhelmed by such emotions. Brock thought back to their old adventures where they were always bickering and fighting, yet they would always remain friends. Brock raised his head and looked at the pondering children around him. Brock let out a soft sigh and answered their question.

"Must be Misty again, he's always so hard on himself ever since he saw her with Team Rocket."

At hearing this May perked up. She remembered meeting Misty and how maternal she was. May was undoubtedly surprised to hear that she had joined the despicable Team Rocket.

Brock heard the dining room doors open and turned his attention to the causer of the sound. The group looked to see the scruffy looking boy enter the room. His jacket looked rumpled and his jeans looked crumpled as if he had slept in them. Ash walked over to the buffet and placed a croissant, a slice of buttered toast and a helping of baked beans. The boy walked over to his friends sitting at the table. Ash smiled softly at his friends as he sat down with them. The other occupants of the table looked at the boy with his messy hair. His eyes were bloodshot indicating that he had been crying. Brock sensing that May might make the wrong comment quickly struck a conversation.

"So Ash what's the plan of action?" Brock inquired.

Ash after swallowing the bite he made of the croissant Ash said "Well I don't really have one as I said last time, we've got no other choice than to hope that the weird man helps us out again"

The group again fell silent. Ash felt awkward as he could tell that they were thinking about last night. May, who was struggling with this, spoke up.

"So Ash what are you guys up to now?" May asked curiously.

Ash happy with the silence being broken said to May "Well we're going to stop Team Rocket and save the world you know the usual stuff". Ash spoke this with a smile and then continued "But there's this smug guy with short blond hair who have us this map on a card and so we're just hoping he'll be kind enough to give us another one. I remember he said something about the 'first ones free'.

May nodded excitedly at Ash's tale. "But I can't help notice that you only have four people in your group, I mean if you faced a group of five grunts you might be in trouble" May said with a cheeky smile.

"Alright you can join" said Ash with a smile, getting at what May was hinting.

May let out a squeal of excitement and jumped up clapping her hands together. The excitement was broken by the sound of the ship's horn blaring to alert its passengers that it was docking at Lilycove city. The group then dispersed to go grab their belongings as the ship was about to make port.

After collecting their things the group to the dock of Lilycove and were walking around the harbour.

"Well now what genius?" Paul remarked sarcastically.

Ash was about to shout at Paul when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Ladies and gentlemen test your luck with this wonderful game and win a great prize. Hey how about you sonny Jim you fancy it?"

The entire group turned their heads in disbelief as they saw a robed man with short blond sitting at a fold-away table. The smiling man held three cards that he was continuously shuffling in his hand. May although had never met the man before was pretty sure this was the one they were talking about on the boat. Ash took the initiative and approached the grinning man.

"How much to play?" Ash asked.

The man smiled at how Ash had gone along with his little 'game'. The man then shuffled the cards and placed them facedown. His eyes then darted up to meet Ash's. The man then chuckled at Ash.

"Didn't I tell you last time that the first one is always free? Now pick." The man said with a smile.

Ash prayed that the card he picked would be the one with the map on it. He thought about it then chose the card on the right. As he picked it up he noticed to his horror that the card had on it the Queen of Hearts. His eyes then shot back to Luord who then asked him a question innocently.

"The cards not play well for you there kiddo?"

"I want another go." Ash demanded.

"And pray tell what do you have to buy a second go?" the man questioned.

Ash then quickly responded with "The Queen of Hearts in return for another go. Double or nothing."

The man raised an eyebrow in surprise at Ash "You want to gamble that card for a chance to get the map?"

Ash nodded swiftly and slammed the card on the table. The man shrugged his shoulders and shuffled the cards together and placed the two cards on the table. 'If I pick the wrong card I lose the map and the Queen of hearts which could buy me another go' thought Ash nervously. Ash reached out and picked up the left card and let out a sigh of relief as he saw a map printed on it. The tall man turned over the other card revealing a King of Diamonds.

"Looks like I still hold this card" the man said with a smile.

The man then snapped his fingers loudly and disappeared into his own shadow and then sunk into the ground. May gasped at this and took a few steps back at the sight of what she had just seen. The group turned to see the shocked girl.

"What did he just do?" May gasped.

Ash shrugged "We don't know. He does that to leave the area."

Ash then got a memory jolt and remembered the battle he had with the man called Meyd.

"That reminds while I was in the Sea a Team Rocket member then attacked me from nowhere. Luckily I beat him and I got three questions. Sadly he knew nothing about Rocket's real plans, but I found out that when they battle they use their energy or 'aura' to strengthen. That's why they are weak after they lose".

Brock, Dawn and Paul nodded taking in all the information aside from poor old May who was being overwhelmed from the amount of new and confusing information she was getting in a short space of time.

"Hey Ash could I get a look at that map"? Brock asked curiously

Ash handed the card over to Brock who scanned the card. He then furrowed his brows as he noticed something odd. He noticed that the marking had been made on route 130 which seemed to indicate that there was an island there.

"What's wrong Brock?" Ash asked.

"This map says that we need to go to route 130 and that there will be an island there, but from what I've heard there's nothing there, but water there." Brock stated.

Hearing this May perked up "Wait I remember there was this Mirage Island that we went knocked onto by Team Rocket"

Ash nodded and remembered the moment well. He was about to respond when he was cut off.

"Prepare for trouble"

"Make it double"

"To protect the world from devastation"

"To unite all worlds within our nation"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love"

"To extend our reach to the stars above"

"Jessie"

"James"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight"

"Meowth that's right"

"Oh great" muttered Ash "Ever since Team Rocket suddenly remerged they got you three to stop us?"

The Team Rocket trio looked confused at this statement. They looked to each other before looking at the 'twerps'.

"What do you mean twerp?" Jessie questioned.

"Well you know Team Rocket is back and they took out Team Galatic" Dawn said.

"We never heard about that. Has this happened recently?" James asked.

"They remerged two years ago and have been causing havoc." Brock stated.

The trio looked at each other and then realised how they had been left out of the loop. They rushed over to their Meowth balloon to find their Team Rocket. Ash looked on and let out a sigh at how even after two years they were still useless Team Rocket members. He turned to his friends and told them that they were going to route 130 to try to find the illustrious Mirage Island.

The whirring of the verti-birds propellers slowed down to a halt as Luord stepped out of the vehicle. He made his way to the main doors of the Rocket base with a smile on his face. 'That's another step of the plan complete' He thought happily. As he was walking through he saw in the resting area Misty and Meyd.

"I forgot to ask how did the mission go Meyd?"

Meyd shrugged his shoulders and responded with "Lost, but at least we know what Pokemon he has"

"Wait did you battle Ash?" Misty said out loud.

The two men then turned their heads to the loud red head. Misty could feel her cheeks match her hair colour at the stares she was getting. Luord was grinning at the embarrassed girl and Meyd was chuckling at her.

"Yeah it was him he had fallen off his ship due to my Pokemon using mist and water sport, after that we battled, he won and I gave him three free questions."

"Oh my goodness is he; I mean what happened to him"

The man shrugged his shoulders "Dunno I just left him there".

Meyd got up taking his sitar with him and walked off to go train. He was lucky to leave the room as Misty was close to ripping the mullet straight off Meyd's head. She then looked over at the Luord who was chuckling at her. She then felt embarrassed and tried to cover her red face from him.

"You know I saw him again today"

Misty looked up in disbelief at the man. "Really?" she asked.

"Yep. And I have a feeling that you'll be meeting him very shortly."

Well that's another one. I'll try to get the next one done quicker. Hope you liked it and please review and tell me what you thought of it.